I watched a brief bit of new UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech after the near catastrophe of the weekend and I couldn't help but be struck by the contrast between him and Blair. To be fair this is the first time I've watched Brown speak but he seemed wooden and uncharismatic and comparing him to Tony Blair reminded me very much of John Major vs. Lady Thatcher - at least in style (and perhaps in substance).
Perhaps its an attempt to distance himself from his predecessor but the official British response and ridiculous lengths that the UK authorities have gone to not say "Islam" or "Muslim" and no longer use the term "War on Terror" is deeply troubling. It seems as if the UK is thinking about these attacks and figuring that they can solve it the same way they solved the IRA "Troubles" back in the 1970s. Except that to approach it as another police action, albeit a big one is to adopt the Clintonian approach in the 1990s which didn't work.
Failing to call an enemy an enemy isn't going to turn the Islamofascists into Sufis - it is stupid and will be seen by the enemy as abject weakness.
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