People on this thread are correct when they say that violence begets terror, which begets more violence... etc. The IRA was beaten not by British bullets but by courageous people in government gritting their teeth, negotiating with the scum, and removing their spurious emotional excuses for blowing up little boys in supermarkets.

If there is a wave of anti-Muslim violence then the terrorists win. A Muslim man duffed up in the back streets of Bradford will become an instant 'martyr' and his fate be noised abroad in the Islamic loony faction to inspire more lethal attacks. By showing tolerance to the majority of Muslims among us who are not loony terrorists but decent people, we will create a critical mass of people who will slowly direct Islam away from the insane turn it has taken in recent years, and back to the position of comparitive tolerance it held in the Middle Ages, when it was Christians who were the main religious killers. This doesn't mean one has to like Islam - I detest it - but tolerance is not only the morally correct course but the best policy.