 As the death toll in the London bombings rose to 55 and police finally removed the mangled wreckage of the No. 30 bus from Tavistock Square, the battle for the âhearts and mindsâ of young British Muslims started in earnest with Prime Minister Tony Blair firing the first salvo at a Labour Party national policy conference yesterday morning. âWhat we are confronting here is an evil ideology,â he told delegates. âIt is not a clash of civilizations â all civilized people, Muslim or other, feel revulsion at it. But it is a global struggle and it is a battle of ideas, hearts and minds, both within Islam and outside it. This is the battle that must be won, a battle not just about the terrorist methods but their views. Not just their barbaric acts, but their barbaric ideas. Not only what they do but what they think and the thinking they would impose on others. This ideology and the violence that is inherent in it did not start a few years ago in response to a particular policy. Over the past 12 years, Al-Qaeda and its associates have attacked 26 countries, killed thousands of people, many of them Muslims. They have networks in virtually every major country and thousands of fellow travelers. They are well-financed.â |