New airport security measures 'unavoidable' says Sir Malcolm Rifkind

Many of us can remember that golden age when one could enter an airport and be reclining in the departure lounge, with a coffee, five minutes later.

Since the 9/11 bombings in New York that has become a distant memory. Long queues work their way through security, our clothes are removed, our luggage inspected and our own bodies often examined. As of this week it has got worse, especially for flights to the United States.

Is it really necessary? We have seen no planes hijacked for many years. None have exploded in the air, like the PanAm flight over Lockerbie in 1988. Apart from the terrible murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, the last successful Islamic jihadi terrorist outrage in Britain was the London bombings back in 2005.

This has resulted in complacency amongst some of the public which is seriously disturbing. It is simply foolish to believe that the threat is either minimal or now behind us.

We have, indeed, been fortunate but, sadly, this has not been because the terrorists have, since 2005, given up trying to do us harm. As Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, has made clear, each year there have been serious plots which if they had not been identified and disrupted would have led to the deaths and mutilation of many British citizens.

The police and the security services have been very successful but we must not underestimate the devilish technical skill of those terrorists who design ever more sophisticated means of concealing explosives in mobile devices, in clothing and in otherwise innocent objects. They have been hard at work over the last year.

A week before the public announcement I was briefed as to why new security measures at our airports would be necessary. I have received fuller information than it has been possible to publish in the newspapers. I have no doubt, from what I have learnt, that these new steps are not bureaucratic nor an overreaction . Sadly, they are unavoidable.

But why are obscure terrorists in Syria or Yemen determined to do us harm in Britain or in the United States? Western involvement in the Middle East is much less than it has been for many years. There are no British troops in Iraq and there will soon be none in Afghanistan. Nor has there been any military involvement in the Syrian civil war.

In the United States President Obama has made it clear that the last thing he wants is US combat troops returning to any Muslim country. The US and the Iranians are negotiating on their differences and the Americans have been trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to put pressure on the Israelis to stop building new settlements on Palestinian territory.

So why do al Qaeda and ISIS still see the US and the West as deadly enemies and prime targets for their terrorist planning?

They are fighting in a civil war in Syria. They have occupied much of the north and west of Iraq. ISIS has declared the caliphate of their dreams. Why do they dilute their energy and strength by trying to blow up transatlantic airliners of western countries?

The explanation is not that they have become so strong that they can do both with impunity. They are , in fact, weak. The threat that they are aware of is not from Western soldiers but from what are called Western ideas and values.

The ultimate objective of these violent jihadi terrorists is to impose an extreme, intolerant, theocratic state throughout the Muslim world. But they know that a very large majority of Muslims, throughout the world, reject that vision and the cruel, violent behavior that goes with it.

Muslims, both in Britain and around the world are law-abiding, peaceful hard-working people. They want to be free to practice their religion but the vast majority have no desire to impose it either on non-Muslims or on the adherents of other forms of Islam.

These beliefs are often described as Western values but, in reality, they are universal ; the vision of billions around the world.

Because these values of tolerance and moderation are incompatible with jihadi ambitions, groups like ISIS and al Qaeda continue to plan terrorist attacks against Britain and the United States.

The hundreds of British jihadis who have travelled to Syria are not just being used to attack the Assad regime. Wherever they are willing they are being trained to return to Britain with expertise in bomb making and other terrorist skills.

In the last couple of days we have heard a British jihadi , who has joined ISIS in Syria, declaring his ambition to return to the United Kingdom and ensure that the black flag of the ISIS caliphate flies above Buckingham Palace and Downing Street.

Of course, these are fantasies but they reveal a mind set of fanaticism and murderous intent which some of these British-born jihadis will make every effort to carry out.

In contrast, how splendid it was to see over 100 Imams, around Britain, preaching in the mosques, on Friday, that young Muslims must reject terrorism and the perversion of their faith , and should not travel to Syria to join the jihadis.

How encouraging it is that more and more Muslim parents are working with the authorities to discourage and prevent those of their children, that might be tempted, from ruining their lives by turning to extremism.

The jihadi terrorists hate Britain, America and their fellow Muslims because of our tolerance, respect for the rule of law, and determination to allow every person to decide for themselves how to live their lives and pray, if they wish, to their own god.

That is why they see us in Britain as their enemy. And that is why we must all, of every faith and of none, work together to defeat them.