Book Review: Londonistan

Towards the end of October, I came across an op-ed piece by Melanie Phillips. Mrs. Phillips is a columnist for London’s Daily Mail. I was intrigued by her article, so I looked for anything else she had written. I came across Londonistan. Mrs. Phillips makes an argument in the book that Britain may already have lost its own “War on Terror”. I don’t get to read much from the other side of the ocean, so I thought this might be interesting.

Mrs. Phillips argues that while America and the UK focus on battlegrounds in the Middle East and elsewhere, the UK is losing the war at home, and is in danger of loosing it for good. She backs up her arguments with straight forward logic, and some very startling facts. She quotes British sources as saying, “…up to sixteen thousand British Muslims either are actively engaged in or support terrorist activity…with several hundred thought to be primed to attack the United Kingdom.” From here she traces how the UK has been loosing the war at home for years.

On July 7th, 2005, suicide bombers blew up three London trains and one bus. Even more startling, the bombers in this case were from middle class London. A tape from one of the bombers showed a terrorist like those in tapes from Al-Jazeera, but with a definite British accent. Britain had been loosing a war it wasn’t even aware it was fighting for some time. Mrs. Phillips traces how the UK placed the interest of United Nations and the interest of the world community ahead of the security of its own citizens. Because of that, terrorist turned London into their own recruiting ground.

As Mrs. Phillips points out, we are engaged in a war with a particular brand of Islam, and not in a war with Islam. However, the Muslim community must look inward and recognize that there are Muslims trying to kill Christians, Jews, and other Muslims in the name of their interpretation of Islam. At the same time, British judges and lawmakers must realize that in order for the UK to survive, British common law must come before UN resolutions. While reading this book, I couldn’t get over how eerily certain passages echoed in today’s political world.

I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to protect the West from those who would have us give up our freedoms. This book should be a required read for anyone who ever admired what the UK once was, or wishes to keep America from following a similar path.