Two Germans vs. Islamism Two Germans vs. Islamism

Despite the widespread dhimmitude in much of Europe, some Europeans are starting to wake up to the dangers of potential terrorists in their midst. (No doubt the barbaric attacks by Islamic "insurgents" on the Moscow subway, the British Underground, the Madrid trains, the Beslan schoolhouse massacre, etc., etc., started some people thinking...)

Daniel Pipes writes that some measures are being taken in Germany to prevent terrorist acts:

The interior ministers of two German states have recently advanced important measures for containing radical Islam. They bear close attention across the West.

In Baden-Wurtenberg, Heribert Rech of the ruling Christian Democratic Union party has overseen the administering of a 30-topic loyalty test for applicants to become naturalized citizens. Following an intensive and sophisticated study by the Baden-Wurtenberg government of Muslim life, it developed a manual for the naturalization authorities explaining that applicants for citizenship must concur with the "free, democratic, constitutional structure" of Germany.


Heribert Rech

Because survey research finds that 21% of Muslims living in Germany believe the German constitution irreconcilable with the Koran, the written yes-no questions of yesteryear are history for Muslim applicants for citizenship.

The second initiative originates in Lower Saxony, where the interior minister, Uwe Schünemann, also a CDU member, has stated he would consider making radical Islamists wear electronic foot tags. Doing so, he says, would allow the authorities "to monitor the approximately 3,000 violence-prone Islamists in Germany, the hate preachers [i.e., Islamist imams], and the fighters trained in foreign terrorist camps." Electronic tags, he suggested, are practical "for violence-prone Islamists who can't be expelled to their home countries because of the threat of torture" there.

The electronic tagging of terror suspects is also not unprecedented. In Britain, the method has been used since March 2005 and, other than a glitch-plagued start, it has been applied to ten suspects with reasonable success. In Australia, counterterrorism measures implemented last month permit tagging for up to a year. (Complete article)