Airstrip One

I'm sure slander was not intended...

Iain Murray thinks I'm now condoning suicide bombing:

Saying "Oh, poor dears, you've got to make allowances" is a dreadful thing to say about people who meticulously plan and execute mass murders.

I don't say that, and neither in that one line did Mrs Blair.

Not being a Muslim, let alone one who believes that I will go to heaven if I end my life in committing mass murder, I do not know whether despair is totally absent.

However the very idea that you can believe this tripe does show that there is a certain amount of despair. If you were leading a perfectly happy and well balanced life are you likely to turn out to be (a) homicidal, (b) suicidal, (c) religiously fanatic let alone all three at once? Add to the fact that Palestinians have a long history of secularism (Hamas was given a helping hand by Israel in order to counter the PLO) and it is many of the secular organisations that are running these suicide bombers. I think saying that Muslim fundamentalism is the sole cause of this is going to go nowhere.

One wouldn't say that the Tamil Tigers who also practiced this were perfectly well balanced souls.

That the culture, families and leadership of the bombers have something to do with the despair I don't doubt, but it doesn't stop it being despair simply because you can't lay all the blame on the Israelis.

Even scum become scum for a reason. Although this doesn't stop them being scum.