Communities United Against Terror

I came across a blog link to these guys while surfing on Blog Explosion. At first glance (and only a glance) the concept didn't seem too terribly impressive, and I left behind a comment saying so. This prompted one of those heated responses which challenged me to take a second look. They may have something.

Communities United Against Terror, according to Brit blogger John Holroyd, "Is an unapologetic stance against terror. We are not going to sit around and listen to those who tell us that somehow this is our own fault, that suicide murderers are really people we can negotiate with, it is about telling politicians that we don't want appeasement because we don't believe appeasement is possible... And that we won't accept our politicians removing our freedoms in the name of security."

From looking more closely at the site, and from the comments made by John H., it appears that CUAT is attempting to drum up an international grass roots response to terrorism; an effort to put some pressure on those democracies which are nominally opposed to terrorism but otherwise inactive; perhaps an effort to make the "Coalition of the Willing" a little more willing.

You might say they want to be like the International Red Cross or Amnesty International, only they won't be trying to help the enemy.

They have a petition on their front page with an attached list of signatories chiefly from the U.S. and the U.K., although I've seen Italians, Brazilians and others included as well.

It may be a worthwhile effort. I will subscribe to the weekly bulletins to this group and give my impression of them from time to time. I will also add a link to their organization on the sidebar.

And to John Holroyd at Towards a Free World: I apologize for my hasty judgment and thank you for challenging me to take a second look.