Emotional bomb

And how those three girls were influenced to go to Syria.

But there seems to be no recognition as to why they did what they did.

People go on about how Muslims should recognise British values. That’s a joke. Most of us no longer live out those so-called values, and good Muslims recognise the huge gap between what we profess and the way we actually live. And they’re not impressed.

We don’t comprehend the strength of grievance they have. Having been treated as second class for so long, the level of humiliation has built up.

A psychiatrist once described humiliation as ‘the nuclear bomb of the emotions’. That’s why, when a movement like Al Qu’aeda starts up, with Bin Laden bold enough to seek revenge on a massive scale in the name of Allah, so many of our bored, listless and unemployed young Muslims rally to the cause. A chance to live for something great, and die for it if necessary.

Graham Turner wrote in the Daily Telegraph in 2002 of his three-week tour of the Middle East: “Even from the mildest of people there was a torrent of fury… I met gentle, hospitable people – with a startling sense of grievance.” He also quoted one Muslim who claimed: “We could provide a million suicide bombers in 24 hours.”

So, killing ISIS is not the answer. It takes a passion to cure a passion. We need statesmen and women who can engage with them in secret diplomacy to really hear what they have to say, absorb it, and be humble enough to acknowledge their feelings. That’s the very beginning of establishing respect. Then trust may follow.

It’s my generation that should take the lead in this, before we die out – to recognise that what our grandfathers did was misguided, deceitful and sometimes downright wrong.

We can’t apologise for what we ourselves have not done, but we should darned well recognise the mental attitude that has filtered down since the First World War and beyond.

John Murno

Westbury Lodge

Arundel

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