Been There Before

"Lee was lovely. He would do anything for anybody, he always looked after his sisters and always protected them. His family meant everything to him. He was a loving son, husband, father, brother and uncle and a friend to many. He took a 'big brother' role with everyone.
"All he wanted to do from when he was a little boy, was be in the Army."
Rigby Family statement

The family of Drummer Lee Rigby on Sunday visited the site of his murder in Woolwich. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

 

Was it even remotely possible that Drummer Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers had a premonition that something drastically wrong might occur to him? Might that explain the note he wrote to his mother assuring her of his deep appreciation for all that she had done for him, of his everlasting love for her? It would not be possible that he knew the two men now being held for his murder as "suspects" in a terrorist attack, had watched him after selecting him as their target, making certain they became familiar with his routine.

The two murderers who cold-bloodedly ran him down in the street, then rushed to repeatedly stab and hack at him killed Lee Rigby and mutilated him horribly, in a frenzy of hatred. He was their selection to represent the British military and the government that sent them abroad to pursue their war on Islam, according to the rabid Islamist propaganda that succeeds so admirably in recruiting young Muslims to a sacred war meant to bring the wrath of Islam down on its enemies.

The two murderers, Michael Adelbolajo and Michael Adebowale, respectfully referred to as "suspects" by the media, both Muslim converts, were wounded in their take-down by specially armed London police.

But matters appear to have progressed to the point where it seems there was a network, a cell of jihadists. The ninth person has now been taken into custody, suspected of being involved in a plot that took the life of Drummer Lee Rigby. He had faced the Taliban in Afghanistan, and likely never imagined he would be facing rabid jihadists in his own country.

Police had raided six separate addresses, including the Lincolnshire home owned by Mr. Adebolajo's father Anthony, a mental health nurse with the National Health Service. Obviously enough, neither of the two accused murderers grew up in straitened circumstances, which usually is the excuse that the left uses to explain why and how it is that people turn to violence; the reason being that they have been left behind by society, marginalized economically and socially as disadvantaged people who finally arise in unappeasable anger at the injustice.

To demonstrate the level of their righteous anger they threaten the stability of society through inducing terror on the population, and randomly select innocent targets to slaughter as sacrifices to their noble act of jihad.

The son of devout Christian Nigerian immigrants, Michael Adebalajo, 28, attended the local school, a young boy that his friends described as a "regular guy". The 'regular guy' disappeared, they said, when he began using drugs as a teen. "Michael was into his football and was a Spurs supporter. All his friends were white. He was just a normal lad but as he got older he started to go off the rails", said one of his network of old friends.

He had been arrested six years earlier when he was involved in violent protests by extremists, a small group of hardcore fanatics. It was his habit to distribute Islamist material and to preach his anti-Western hate-mongering, at the very place in Woolwich where he murdered Lee Rigby.
Omar Bakri Mohammed, a cleric who had been banned from Britain, claims to have converted Mr. Adebolajo. He was known by Anjem Choudary, leader of the banned radical group al-Muhajiroun, whose hate-sessions he attended.

Both men had been on the British intelligence radar for the last six years. Known for the company they kept, for their participation in demonstrations held by some of Britain's most notorious hate clerics. There are, in fact, so many individuals under suspicious watch that it is not possible that they can all be under close scrutiny at all times. Anjem Choudary had been interviewed by the BBC with respect to this case; giving a measure of respectable credibility to a viral hate-monger, encourager of jihad.

It is suspected that there are thousands of British Muslims susceptible to radicalization, and the country's home secretary has expressed interest in banning jihadist Internet sites and consideration to censorship of extremist groups, as well as placing pressure on universities and mosques -- hotbeds for jihadist recruitment and viral Islamism -- of their duty to reject the presence of  Islamist hate preachers.

For their part,  the Muslim Council of Britain has expressed its reservations at those proposals. It stated: "We must be vigilant and ensure we do not inadvertently give into the demands of all extremists: making our society less free, divided and suspicious of each other. Lessons from the past indicate that policies and measures taken in haste can exacerbate extremism.

" We acknowledge that there is a difficult conversation to be had about extremism and the role of our mosques and religious institutions. We have been here before."


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