The spirit of Doris Day and Winston Churchill (and the ghosts of failures past & present)
Remember that old Doris Day song?
Yes, that’s the one:
“When 9/11 was just a normal date
we asked our leaders, what will we be
Will we sit pretty, will we be rich
Here’s what they said to us.
Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
but we will fuck things up, you’ll see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.”
Or, as the fat man sang,
“We shall fuck things up on the seas and oceans,
we shall fuck things up with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,
we shall fuck things up on our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fuck things up on the beaches,
we shall fuck things up on the landing grounds,
we shall fuck things up in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fuck things up in the hills…”
… and, if only he’d known, he would, no doubt, have added,
“we shall fuck things up in Iraq,
we shall fuck things up in Afghanistan and
we shall fuck things up in all the world’s ‘correctional institutions’, from Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison to Long Lartin prison, in Worcestershire and Belmarsh prison, south London.”
“We shall never surrender”, indeed – and we are so winning that batlle for hearts and minds…:
“SOME of Britain’s most dangerous Al-Qaeda leaders are promoting jihad from inside high-security prisons by smuggling out propaganda for the internet and finding recruits. In an authoritative report, Quilliam, a think tank funded by the Home Office, claims “mismanagement” by the Prison Service is helping AlQaeda gain recruits and risks “strengthening jihadist movements”.
Abu Qatada, described by MI5 as “Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe”, has published fatwas — religious rulings — on the internet from Long Lartin prison, in Worcestershire, calling for holy war and the murder of moderate Muslims, it reveals.
Abu Doha — said to be Al-Qaeda’s main recruiter in Europe — has taken courses in Belmarsh prison, south London, enabling him to mentor other inmates.
Abu Hamza, jailed in 2006 for inciting murder, has preached radical sermons to followers using water pipes in his Belmarsh cell, and Rachid Ramda, the Algerian leader of the Paris Métro bomb plot, led Friday prayers in the same jail.”
Bush & Blair, Obama & Brown: Still making the streets of Britain and the USA safer and safer, each day…
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