Asking the right questions

Richard Norton-Taylor commends to us what he finds in some internal Whitehall correspondence. He cites a letter from a senior official at the Home Office, Sir John Gieve. Norton-Taylor writes:

He [Gieve]... referred to "anger" - a word he emphasised - among many young British Muslims borne [sic] out of a perception of double standards in British foreign policy, where democracy is preached but oppression of the Ummah (one nation of believers) is practised or tolerated.
.....
"The perception is," wrote the permanent secretary at the Home Office, "that passive 'oppression', as demonstrated in British foreign policy, eg non-action on Kashmir and Chechnya, has given way to 'active oppression' - the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan are all seen by a section of the British Muslims as having been acts against Islam."

Sir John referred to the lack of any tangible "pressure valve" to vent frustrations or dissent - leading to a desire for what he called a simple "Islamic" solution to the perceived oppression.

And Norton-Taylor goes on to say that 'the Whitehall mandarins and the security agencies are asking the right questions' - unlike Tony Blair. But he doesn't spell out precisely what he takes these questions to be or what he sees as being right about them; readers are left to infer this for themselves. Well, here are some observations.

Note, first, that Sir John Gieve speaks of 'a perception' among young British Muslims (and also writes 'are... seen [by them]... as'), without commenting as to whether the perception is accurate or not, or partly accurate and partly not, etc. But what you think about a perception makes a difference to what, if anything, you think you need to do about it. Second, and relatedly, I'd say the same means for expressing frustration and dissent are available to those holding the perceptions Sir John Gieve mentions as are available to everybody else: the normal means of democratic communication, organization, pressure, protest, use of the ballot, appeal to the law. Norton-Taylor doesn't comment specifically on this. Third, he also doesn't say explicitly whether or not he agrees with the perception that the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan were 'acts against Islam'. He should clarify the point. If he thinks the perception is wrong, then he will think, presumably, that it ought to be argued against as in fact a misperception. And if he thinks the perception is right, then he really ought to tell us. But even if he does think it is right, he must know that millions of others, both Muslims and non-Muslims, think otherwise. So it's back to the democratic process, the anger notwithstanding. He surely doesn't believe that British foreign policy should be determined by the perceptions, even angry perceptions, of one group of people. Since Norton-Taylor leaves us none the wiser on any of these points, I'm left with my own questions - as suggested here.