AL-QAIDA - TIME TO THINK THE UNTHINKABLE

30-05-2008

Northern Ireland prison boss Hugh Orde comes up with a shocking suggestion today – one which many people will find appalling and even distressing. Yup, he wants the chew the cud with Al-Qaida, the terrorist masterminds who downed the Twin Towers and killed 56 civilians in London.

Orde tells The Guardian that he can’t think of a single terrorism campaign in history that hasn’t ended in negotiation – and he draws from the experience of dealing the IRA (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/30/alqaida.terrorism).

To many his comments will smack of appeasement – and of giving succour to those who wish to destroy Western civilisation.

They have a point, too.

But if not talking means that millions of people around the world continue to be put at risk on a daily basis – not to mention the thousands of British troops putting their lives on the line in Iraq and Afghanisatan – then as Orde says, maybe it’s time to “think the unthinkable”.

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