The ‘War on Terror’

We have seen heavy and vocal criticism of the alleged US airstrike on a Syrian-based Al-Qaeda operative which resulted in the death of eight innocent civilians.

This (if true) is obviously a tragedy. But let us be quite clear. You cannot take a pick and mix approach to defeating terrorism. You cannot stay within state lines when you are trying to extinguish a raging fire of hatred and contempt.

If a country will not take active measures to defeat home-grown terrorism then others must.

That is not to say that ‘hard power’ is the only tool in our toolbox. Much is made of winning the battle on the field. That is imperative of course. But what about the battle off the field?

The ‘soft power’ tool at our disposal is the one for hearts and minds. Hearts and minds in both those zones of conflict and at home need to won.

The current government has done immeasurably more to undermine this battle for hearts and minds. ID cards and the statutory criminalising of the ‘silent majority’ place us directly in harm’s way and give our opponents a stick with which to beat us.

Our whole approach to the ideological struggle of our times must be met with the same tenacity and aggressiveness as the last great ideological challenge of our times.