Bombing IS in Iraq is not the answer: the threat is here

The Dutch Ministry of Defence has warned its soldiers, sailors and airmen not to wear uniform on public transport as “a precautionary measure” - in case they are attacked by jihadists in retaliation for the involvement of six Dutch F16s in air raids against Islamic State fighters in Iraq.

This underlines the paradox at the heart of the West’s difficulty in understanding and dealing with the jihadist threat.

In one sense it is “over there”: IS controls territory in western Syria and eastern Iraq; other affiliated organisations thrive in the ungoverned space of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and large chunks of north Africa from where they dream up increasingly fiendish plans to attack Western targets, particularly civilian aircraft.

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And so, in order to stop these attacks, we must take the fight to the enemy – killing leaders and preventing them from encouraging and or issuing orders to their - apparently numerous - supporters in the West. That’s the theory, anyway and its flawed logic is once again being trotted out by our professional politicians to justify yet another military intervention in the Middle East.

But the truth is much more disturbing and our politicians are unwilling to confront it effectively.

The jihadist threat is not “over there” - it’s here. It’s in every Western country that has a Muslim population of any size. ‘Jihadi John’ was in all likelihood born, shaped and made aware in the UK, and there are hundreds of others like him, Brits and Europeans serving IS’s grisly purposes.

Bombing the hell out of parts of Iraq may have its compensations but it is not going to solve the problem. The Dutch Ministry of Defence gave the game away: just as its air power is deployed two thousand miles away, at home its service personnel are forced into disguise.

There is another curious paradox highlighted by the members of the alliance attacking IS, which our MPs, gathering in Westminster today, seem keen to join.

Taking part in the air strikes so far, alongside the United States, have been warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Qatar – home to the sponsors - with money, equipment and intelligence - of the sort of Sunni jihadists this air armada is attempting to destroy.

Some of the accompanying propaganda has been eagerly snapped up by the more gullible elements of the British press: photographs of a handsome Saudi prince (one of seven thousand plus) in the cockpit of his plane and, heavens above, a glamour piccie of the first female fighter pilot in the UAE's air force – just in case we thought their countries were anything other than forces for good in the Muslim world.

Interestingly, the royal families of both countries are frequent and honoured guests of our own royal family and so, we are led to believe, they must be OK. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Saudis, especially, finance and underwrite Wahhabism, the most severe and anti-western form of Islam that is the state cult in the desert kingdom.

If Syria’s President Assad had any sense he would have made himself a king. And let’s remember it was the deliberate undermining of the Assad regime by the West and the likes of Saudi Arabia that created the space for IS in the first place.

If David Cameron were serious about getting to grips with Islamist extremism he would start by acting here at home instead of breathlessly recommending yet another military campaign abroad. Secure our borders first. Bring to an immediate halt any further immigration from countries with a history of Islamist extremism.

Then we need a clampdown on behaviour incompatible with the British way of life arising from this extremism – in all its forms. It would win him the next election and the one after that and see off Ukip and half the Labour party for a generation. But as ever he prefers breathless posturing to real action.