What's In A Name

From the Daily Express: Brown: Don’t say terrorists are Muslims. (via Little Green Footballs)

Gordon Brown has banned ministers from using the word “Muslim” in connection with the terrorism crisis.

The Prime Minister has also instructed his team – including new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith – that the phrase “war on terror” is to be dropped.

The shake-up is part of a fresh attempt to improve community relations and avoid offending Muslims, adopting a more "consensual" tone than existed under Tony Blair. ...

Mr Brown's spokesman acknowledged yesterday that ministers had been given specific guidelines to avoid inflammatory language. "There is clearly a need to strike a consensual tone in relation to all communities across the UK," the spokesman said. "It is important that the country remains united."

Anyone else starting to miss Tony Blair?

From the New York Post: 'ISLAMOPHOBIA' IDIOCY by Amir Taheri. (via Iran Press News)

THE car-bomb/suicide-terror operations in London and Glasgow should have provided a fresh opportunity for reminding everyone, especially Muslims in Britain, that terrorism in the name of Islam still poses a major threat to public peace and safety. Yet this is not what is happening.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown keeps repeating that the attacks have nothing to do with Islam - but, at the same time, keeps inviting "Muslim community leaders" to Downing Street to discuss how to prevent attacks. If the attacks have nothing to do with Islam, why invite Muslim "leaders" rather than Buddhist monks?

Brown hasn't deemed fit to tell it like it is: that Muslims in Britain, indeed all over the world, must come out and condemn terrorism in unambiguous terms.

Instead, we are hearing that the attacks may have been prompted by "Muslim bitterness" about Salman Rushdie's knighting, the latest addition to the Islamist litany of woes. Some "moderate community leaders," like a certain Baroness Uddin, drop hints that Muslims have "foreign-policy issues" that might make them unhappy. The barely coded message: Unless Britain reshapes its foreign policy to please al Qaeda, it must expect to be attacked.

UPDATE -- July 6: From Daily Mail: Terror-spooked EU: 'Don't say Muslims'. (via Little Green Footballs)

Gordon Brown's ban on the word "Muslim" in relation to terrorism can be blamed on the EU.

The prime minister has told Cabinet members not to mention "Muslim" and "terrorism" in the same breath.

It comes after the European Commission issued a guide for government spokesmen to avoid offence by ruling out the words such as "jihad", "Islamic" or "fundamentalist" in statements about terrorist attacks.

It has been working with governments to make sure "non-offensive" phrases are used when announcing anti-terrorist operations or dealing with terrorist attacks.

It is not the first time the EU has tackled the issue of language - last year its guidelines suggested that the phrase "terrorists who abusively invoke Islam" should be used rather than "Islamic terrorism".

The prime minister avoided labelling the terrorism in his statement to the nation following the Glasglow Airport attack on Saturday.

Posted by Forkum at July 5, 2007 04:00 PM