London and the world is reeling from the video from yesterday of two Muslim men who killed and mutilated the body of an English soldier and then asked people to film them as they raved about their atrocity. The men reportedly screamed “Allah Akbar” as they butchered the soldier. A man now identified as Michael Adebolajo is shown promising onlookers that “you and your kids will be next.” In the midst of this horror scene however there was inspirational moments including a woman who gets off her bus to confront Abebolajo covered in blood and holding a meat cleaver.
In the disturbing video below, Abebolajo proclaims “The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers.” Of course, he did not have the courage to confront the soldier head on. He hit him with his car before butchering him and posing for YouTube. Abebolajo is shown telling viewers “Remove your governments – they don’t care about you. You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start bursting our guns? You think politicians are going to die?”
He warns that more will die and “No, it’s going to be the average guy, like you, and your children. So get rid of them – tell them to bring our troops back so we can… so you can all live in peace.” Abebolajo is known by the Muslim name Mujahid. He adopts the same excuse used throughout the ages by those who use religion to justify their blood lust: “We swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
He then added a bizarre claim of regret . . . not for the murder of course but the women watching: “I apologise that women have had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don’t care about you.”
It was in this disgusting scene of religious violence that a true representative stepped forward. She is mother-of-two Ingrid Loyau-Kennett and was on a bus when the scene unfolded. She got off the bus and, when others were walking by or cowering, she walked up to the killer and demanded that he stop.
One of the killers insisted “We want to start a war in London tonight,” but she replied calmly “Right now it is only you versus many people, you are going to lose.”
Yes they will Ingrid, but it is because for every grotesque monster like these two men, we have Ingrid Loyau-Kennett and human beings like her.
Spacey , So you think it’s just a coincidence?
“characterization of this as religion-inspired violence is silly”
I don’t think I could agree with that statement.
The man on camera is not protesting the deaths of Iraqis, Afghans, or Taliban tribesmen. He is not objecting to the deaths of members of a nation state or members of a tribe or members of a specific ethnic group.
His objection relates specifically to the deaths and presumed injustices to members of a specific religious group.
This individual’s remarks make it clear he understands and explains his actions in terms of his religious belief. I think it is fair to say that for this man the world divides along lines of Muslims and non-Muslims. For him it does not matter whether the Muslim supports democracy or totalitarianism, human rights or repression.
For this man what matters is whether the person in question is Muslim or not. He does not distinguish civilians from members of the military. He does not distinguish those who are legitimate targets from those who are victims. For this particular man the issue is religion, not the politics, not the nationality, not the tribe, not the economic situation of those damaged or victimized by the west.
The question for us is how do we respond to others who have views similar to this man. How do we adjust our foreign policy, how do we express our legitimate national interest when others see our actions in the context of religion rather than globalization, economics, national interest, colonialism, commerce, etc, etc.
I think there is an important lesson here. Many of us are not very interested in religion. Whether we support or oppose foreign policy, religion is simply not a consideration. That way of viewing current events ignores a vital aspect.
There are those, probably many, for whom religion is a primary consideration. We cannot avoid religious conflict simply because religion is not important to ourselves. If religion is important to those where we are involved then religion is a vital issue – not because of our view on religion but because of their view of religion.
Lets see… The English eat goat and lamb…. The Muslims date goats, lambs and camels….. Oh…. Yes….. There must be some reason why…… Maybe they should have said…. Don’t mess with my date and I won’t f$&@ you up mate…..
@Dave But terroristic violence neither exclusively nor mostly comes from Muslims. In light of that, blaming Islam for it makes little sense.
We’ve heard it before.
“The two men accused of beheading a British soldier were previously the target of an investigation in London, a British official said Thursday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said no further details about the previous questioning can be released—offering only that it was an investigation into their “possible terror links.”” -from the following link
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2013/05/23/london-hacking-suspects-were-suspicious.html “London Hacking Suspects Were Suspicious”
@scapegoat
But again, it goes back to justifying said violence, which the psycho clearly employs: via the plagiaristic, mythic writings of our ignorant ancestors. So to say religion isn’t culpable is to dismiss reality. Religion mandates behavior.
If there were no muslims there would be no 9-11 , no fort hood shooting, no Boston bombing, no butchering in London and the list goes on, the world be a better place
@Dave Definitely not. I find all violence morally repugnant: http://www.hypersyl.com/strong-men-use-nonviolence/ . I just think solving a problem is unlikely if your understanding of it is wrong.
@scapegoat
So the solution is more murder? How moral.
@Dave Americans somehow don’t need Islam to justify butchering thousands of innocent people in foreign countries.
@spacegoat
In the video, the myth-deluded psycho invoked the Qur’an numerous times to justify the action taken. While Western wars were the spark, it wouldn’t have lit without the fuel.
Religion is Man’s most vile invention.
Adebolajo’s point about what Britain (and US) are doing to Muslims is accurate.
That is simply not true. The fact is that if US or NATO forces accidentally kill innocents in a WAR zone, the US PAYS blood money in accordance with long time Muslim practice and apologizes. It is crap like this that encourages these terrorists. To say that it is equivalent is absurd and an outright LIE. It also overlooks the FACT that more Muslim innocents are being killed, murdered by other Muslims. The US has been trying to stop such killings and is being caught in the middle. It is a thankless task and the only way to stop this is to eradicate Islam in those countries. If you don’t do that, this will only continue and so we need to get out and let them kill each other off. In fact, the best thing would be to arm both sides with the most lethal weapons that can only be used for short range and let them decide which Islam is the real one.
Your characterization of this as religion-inspired violence is silly when the explicitly stated motivation was retaliation for the deaths of Muslims in Western military campaigns.
Wait, as Emily Litella would say, “Never mind.” Mr. Turley has it @ the end of this post.
There’s a great piece in The Daily Beast about a woman named, Ingrid Loyau-Kennett. She stood up to these armed monsters.
Quite a religion.
The men have a message and used a brutal way to make it heard. Unfortunately, the brutality of the way they emphasized the message allows those intended to hear the message dismiss them as thugs. Adebolajo’s point about what Britain (and US) are doing to Muslims is accurate. Muslim women, if they aren’t killed or maimed themselves, get to see similar brutality done to their own families.
War is illegal. See the Kellogg-Briand pact, law that is still on the books.
I guess he didn’t get the coexist bumper sticker.
England, build some more ”Titanics” and start shipping Muslims home, by way of the Suez Canal….