YOUR LETTERS

Allah is the Arabic word for God just as Dios is the Spanish one. Just as God is not protestant, Dios is not Catholic nor Allah Sharia. The use of the word Allah is universal in the Moslem world because their Koran was passed down in Arabic and the very writing became sacred and not allowed to be translated for religious purposes (just as the Bible was restricted to Latin for centuries).

The relevance of Anjem Choudary's profession (lawyer) escapes me as does the statement that he is unemployed. If he is on the dole he must at least have been working previously. Does that count against him? Whether he is anti British I do not know. He is anti the British military policy in Iraq like many British Christians who for obvious reasons cannot be deported.

We should not demonise the Muslim community in the UK (about 2 million) because of the 12 fanatics in Luton. Terms like “the luck of Allah” or “the flag of Allah” are meaningless but can be demeaning. It is also unreasoned scare mongering to predict a Sharia takeover of Britain. Our own Muslims would be the first to object, in addition by shear demographic calculations this could not happen in any foreseeable future.

I agree with Anna that they have generated disproportionate publicity. They are best ignored as an insignificant and unrepresentative faction. But soldiers have to face up to such criticism as appeared on some of the placards. We must be realistic over their profession. They can be dispatched, uninvited, to lands they may not have heard of, whose peoples have customs that appear bizarre to them, whose language they cannot understand but have still, from this depth of ignorance, to be prepared to kill on command. Death of innocent women and children are inevitable consequence.

Notwithstanding the above I am in favour of the Afghanistan Invasion and the Troop Parades and for peaceful demonstrations against them.

Mike Lillico
Playa de Palma