Why do these young Muslims hate us?

Date: 10/03/05

Last year's 11 March bombings in Madrid prompted EU leaders to appoint the Dutch former Liberal MEP Gijs de Vries as the Union's first anti-terrorism co-ordinator.

A year on, he insists that a holistic approach is needed if further atrocities are to be deterred. Hard security measures, meticulous intelligence-gathering and effective legislation are all needed, he feels. So too is an understanding of the reasons why some young people - generally men - arewilling to kill and maim indiscriminately, purportedly to advance a political agenda.

A major theme of his plan for 2005 is a strategy on preventing terrorist organisations from luring alienated sections of society into their ranks. De Vries plans to present his ideas to EU leaders in June.

"Any strategy on recruitment must start with the analysis that the majority of Muslims do not share the abuse of their religion made by Osama bin Laden and others," he says. "In Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorist organisations literally tried to bomb the electorates out of the elections and they failed.

"Most Muslims there ran a great personal risk in insisting on the compatibility between Islam and democracy. We must look at the elements that facilitate radical propaganda, the way that radicals abuse the conflict in Iraq and the Middle East for recruitment purposes. One key question is the role of moderate Muslims. We must strengthen the hand of moderate Muslims."

Progress in Iraq and the Palestinian territories is essential to the success of a strategy. Moving closer to the sadly elusive goal of peace in the Middle East "indirectly plays a role in thwarting terrorist propaganda", he says. Financial assistance to the newly formed government in Baghdad is also vital, he adds.

In late 2004, the Counter Terrorism Group at the Council of Ministers and the EU's Police Chiefs' Task Force called for increased surveillance of mosques, the internet and prisons, as these have been identified as 'hot spots' by Islamic extremists seeking terrorist recruits.

But de Vries maintains that there is "no intention in any member state that I'm familiar with to single out mosques" for surveillance. "Of course, dialogue with the leadership of mosques is also an important component [in the fight against terrorism]. It is clear that radicalisation is not prevalent in all mosques. Nor is radicalisation limited to mosques."

Still, Muslim rights groups in several European countries have complained about the excessive attention paid to followers of Islam since the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US. Last week Hazel Blears, the UK minister for counter-terrorism, said that Muslims would have to accept as a "reality" that they will be stopped and searched by police more than the rest of the population. But most of those affected are never charged with any offence. Of the 17 people found guilty of terrorism in Britain since 11 September 2001, just four of the 12 whose religion is known were Muslim, according to the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

De Vries does not accept the allegation of heavy-handedness. Effective co-operation between the French and German authorities helped foil an attack on the Christmas market in Strasbourg last year, he insists, resulting in several convictions. He has a checklist of essential security measures for a robust anti-terrorism system to be established.

The "mechanisms of co-operation" to stop terrorists from gaining access to chemical, radiological, biological and nuclear weapons need to be enhanced. Weak spots in transport, energy and telecoms networks need to be addressed (the Madrid bombers picked commuter trains as their targets).

Terrorists' attempts to gain access to funds must also be stalled, he warns. Arab charities allegedly raising money for extremists have aroused the suspicions of western policymakers.

De Vries is perturbed that only Bahrain and Saudi Arabia of the six members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) have signed the UN's convention for the suppression of the financing of terrorism.

By ratifying this 1999 charter, they would be obliged to act against any charities that raise money for the men of violence.

According to some estimates, the total cost of the explosives, detonators and mobile phones that were used to kill 192 people in Madrid last year could have been just over €10,000. "Terrorists need money," says de Vries.

"They don't always need much but they do need money. We must make it more difficult for them to raise funds."

Article outlining the views of Dutch former Liberal MEP Gijs de Vries, who is the EU's first anti-terrorism co-ordinator. He insisted that a holistic approach was needed if further atrocities were to be deterred. Hard security measures, meticulous intelligence-gathering and effective legislation were all needed, he felt. So too was an understanding of the reasons why some young people - generally men - were willing to kill and maim indiscriminately, purportedly to advance a political agenda.