Countering Al Qaeda in London

Robert Lambert recounts the remarkable story of two peaceful, pioneering projects to reduce Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism in a major Western city. By partnering Muslim community groups with police forces in London, one project empowered Muslims to exile the Egyptian Sunni activist Abu Hamza and his violent hard-core supporters from Finsbury Park Mosque in North London. The other bolstered long-standing efforts by Brixton's Muslim community to challenge and diminish the influence of the...
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Robert Lambert recounts the remarkable story of two peaceful, pioneering projects to reduce Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism in a major Western city. By partnering Muslim community groups with police forces in London, one project empowered Muslims to exile the Egyptian Sunni activist Abu Hamza and his violent hard-core supporters from Finsbury Park Mosque in North London. The other bolstered long-standing efforts by Brixton's Muslim community to challenge and diminish the influence of the violent extremists among them, notably the radical clerics Abu Qatada and Abdullah el Faisal.

These antiextremist projects set important paradigms for future community-based counterterrorism efforts, proving centralized government involvement is often less effective than direct, localized action, especially during times of war. Lambert explains how channeling genuine and reasonable Muslim grievances about Western foreign policy-in ways that are familiar and acceptable to Western audiences and anathema to Al-Qaeda-can create unparalleled outcomes throughout the world.