Banish that word!

The whole world is talking about the 3 failed bomb attacks in Britain.
Each new day brings news of the latest development or the latest arrest, or the latest soundbite by a Brit leader.

All very well and good... but there's something else about the whole thing that has raised my ire.

Don't get me wrong. I am just as appalled as the average Joe about the attempted terror attack. Shocked and angry that a plot to wreak havoc is done in broad daylight with ordinary people milling about. Worried too for my friends there.

But I am at the same time, galled by Gordon Brown's use of the term radical "Islamists" to speculate on those responsible for the attacks.

Will someone ban that word already!

Why can't he use just the word 'radical' or 'militant', without alluding to one particular religion? Why is Islam being implicated? Why is the whole Islamic community being smeared in one broad stroke?

Sure, you may point out that these guys claim to do this in the name of Islam.
Do they really?

And I take umbrage at the implicit suggestion that somewhere in the teachings of Islam, killing in any form is permitted.

The answer to why they do this should be obvious.

Has anyone noticed that one of the arrested persons is an Iraqi? The other Jordanian. What does that tell you? It should tell you that the 'war against terror' in Iraq is far from seeing a happy ending.

Iraq is a festering wound.

Let's see what Brown has to say when he unveils his agenda as Britain's new PM. What will he say of Iraq, of his plans for the British soldiers there and Britain's anti-terrorism bill which he inherited from Blair?

Brown has said this much: "We will not yield, we will not be intimidated". And he's been hailed as a cool and composed leader in his first baptism of fire as PM.

Let's hope he's as rational and level-headed as he's made out to be.