More than twenty people have been arrested in Britain in a plot to kill thousands of innocent air passengers. The British press is undoubtedly looking frantically for somebody to blame. But they won't see the most obvious one: the tax—funded BBC.

If you were a young Muslim teenager growing up in Leeds, you too might be fertile soil for Islamofascism. The reason is simple: In a culture pervaded by the BBC, the message of the Labour Left would be drummed home to you over and over again: Britain is evil, America is evil, Israel is evil, capitalism is evil, democracy is a fraud. The education system would teach you a damning picture of the British Empire, which had its immoral side, but was also the greatest civilizing agent in the world for centuries.

Americans were the first to rebel successfully against the Empire, but we are very much aware of how much we owe it; we consider ourselves part of the larger English speaking tradition. India's rising prosperity and modernization owes much to the English language, the unification of the subcontinent under the Raj, and much more. Many Indians are Anglophiles, like many Americans. All that is damned and slandered in the official education given to young people in Britain, pervaded by BBC Labour Leftism.

No one should have been surprised when the suicide—murder squad in the Underground bombing of 7/7 turned out to be local lads. Britain has been preparing for its own demise ever since the rise of Fabian socialism around 1900. The Fabians founded the Labour Party, which has been in power now for nine* years solid. In a parliamentary system, such power is nearly total. The "internationalist dream" ——— which is a nightmare ——— still pervades the hopes of all good people in Britain; nation states are constantly denigrated. That is why the Brits are such easy suckers for the elitist "coup from above" of the European Union. The propaganda ——— and national self—hatred ——— of the Left has sunk into the psyche to such a degree that even Conservatives cannot protest against the constant sabotage of British sovereignty. Tens of thousands of regulatory commands are now coming from Brussels, not London, from above, thanks to the French—style unelected bureaucracy of the EU. It's all very progressive.

So when some local imam starts to preach hatred of Britain, America, Israel, and Western culture, they are tilling fertile soil. British teens are all prepared to hate their country; it's the in thing to do. They are given a constant set of provocations: Guantanamo, and the "torture" of Muslims; the toilet—flushing of Korans by the evil Americans; the "imperialism" of America and its "poodle" Britain. Israel killing children in Qana. Just recently the BBC produced a "comedy" show with airplanes flying into Westminster, in imitation of 9/11. Is 9/11 the stuff of comedy? It is for the Bolshie Beeb. The show features guest appearances by the two news readers of the BBC. It's all a big joke to the Left, which secretly sympathizes with the fascists of Londonistan.

Like the United States, Britain is in bad, bad shape to fight a war for civilization. London Mayor "Red Ken" Livingstone and Oily George Galloway are constantly whipping up more resentment against the West. Muslims from pre—medieval places like Pakistan are easily winning the demographic race. The Jewish vote is now scattered and negligible, and Labour is not above using anti—Semitic cartoons depicting Jewish Conservatives as flying pigs.

Like George Bush, Tony Blair is virulently hated on the British Left, which feels sure that we are not being nice enough to militant Muslims. Let's throw them some red meat — Israel, the Anglo—American relationship, maybe Sharia in parts of the country where the police can no longer go. A few hundred honor killings of women can be ignored. Like the American Left, the Brit Left is the most destructive political force in the country, castrating the police and enabling criminals.

There is a silently appalled majority in Britain watching it all happen. But they are passive. There is no Rush Limbaugh. There are some excellent blogs, but not enough.

One major difference is that the average British taxpayer has been bought off: the welfare state is perceived as a generous parent rather than a parasite.

So there will be more home—grown terrorism, and down the road, perhaps defeatism and appeasement. If Gordon Brown becomes the next Prime Minister he might try the appeasement road. The United States can no longer be sure that Britain will stand for civilized values in the world; we have to find new allies in India, Japan, Eastern Europe, and Middle Eastern countries that are in the path of jihadi imperialism.

*not a dozen, as erroneously first posted

James Lewis is a frequent contributor.