Å stanse radikaliseringen av unge muslimer i Storbritannia kan ta 30 år, advarer Storbritannias sikkerhetsminister.

Lord West sier at britiske myndigheter er i dialog med det muslimske miljøet, men at det ikke finnes noen raske løsninger på problemet med ekstremisme.

‘This isn’t going to change just like that,’ he told the Commons Defence Committee.

‘To stop this radicalisation of extremists is going to take about 30 years I would think.
‘But it will become a virtuous circle. It will start getting better and better.’

Lord West, a former head of the Royal Navy, said that radicalisation could not be dealt with through security policies alone.

‘We cannot arrest and protect ourselves out of this problem,’ he said.

Sikkerhetsministeren erkjente at britisk utenrikspolitikk er en problematisk sak for mange muslimer i landet, men insisterte på at dialog produserer resultater.

‘We would accept that certain aspects of our foreign policy have caused difficulties with them but now at least we are engaging in a debate with them,’ he said.

‘I have found that when you talk to them the first discussion with a group is pretty hardcore stuff for you, but actually the second and third time they are beginning to understand, once you explain why you are doing things.’

Britiske aviser opplyser i dag at 5 menn i alderen 29 til 36 er arrestert under «the Terrorism Act» i Birmingham, etter det som beskrives av anti-terrorenheten i West Midlands som en «lang og kompleks etterforskning».

Daily Mail: ‘It could take 30 years to end radicalisation of young Muslims in Britain,’ says security minister