Are Muslim radicals trying to provoke a civil war in Britain?

Posted By: Con Coughlin

The shameful protests by a group of Muslim extremists demonstrating against the return of British soldiers serving in Basra are wrong on so many levels.Let's set aside for the moment the gross insult of those who claim to be British citizens hurling abuse at those who have risked their lives to defend our liberties.

The Muslims who shouted abuse at the homecoming march by 2nd Battalion, the Royal Anglican Regiment, such as "Baby Killers" and "Terrorists" forget that they would not enjoy this right if it were not for the bravery of the British service men and women who fight to protect the British way of life.

Certainly such freedoms would not exist if the Muslim radicals demonstrating yesterday had their way and created an Islamic state in Britain, where public demonstrations of dissent would be punishable by death.Nor do the Muslim demonstrators seem to have no understanding of what British forces are doing in Basra.

They are not there to murder innocent women and children - they are there to protect innocent Iraqi civilians from extremist Muslim groups that want to take over the country and crush Iraq's attempts to establish itself as a functioning, Western-style democracy.

I don't think we have much difficulty in deciding which side those demonstrating in Luton yesterday support. Whether in Britain or Iraq, Muslim extremists are viscerally opposed to the Western way of life and, even though they have more than happy to enjoy its benefits - particularly the generous welfare hand-outs and the benefits of free speech and the rule of law.

One of the more heartening aspects of yesterday's events was the way the overwhelming majority of patriotic British citizens who had turned out to welcome the Anglians back from their arduous tour of duty turned on the Muslim agitators - who in another age would be locked up as posing a threat to national security.But there are risks in this.

We already know that British-based Muslim extremists are equipping, funding and supporting the Taliban in their attempts to kill British soldiers in southern Afghanistan. But we do not want the civil war that is currently being fought in the desert wastes of Helmand between British Muslims and the British Armed Forces to spill over onto the streets of Britain.