The key question after all the great analysis of the Van Gogh murder and its origins is, where do we go from here? The Dutch cabinet yesterday announced a set of drastic measures to more effectively wage the war on terror. It’s good news that there is now a clear recognition of what’s happening and that half-baked measures (monitoring radical mosques, stepped up alertness) do not longer work. But I have my doubts about their effectiveness. Firstly, any overhaul of the justice and security systems needs to be done on a pan-European basis. One of the more disastrous implications of the new European Union is the open border policy and it was one of Fortuyn’s wishes to reinstate border controls, simply because it is a very simple way to enhance security. The other qualifying statement needs to come in terms of the commitment to wage this war, if you look at the reaction to the “Thou Shalt Not Kill” sign you can see that the Dutch have ways to go and leave their pre-programmed politically correct values behind. Only time will tell if the required mentality change has indeed materialized. But there is one other component that will be an integral part of the fight against Islamist terror, here’s what it is.

Amsterdam deputy mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb – yes, Amsterdam has a Jewish mayor and a Muslim deputy mayor, both from the left-leaning Labour party – showed guts earlier this week. A very emotional Aboutaleb addressed his fellow Muslims in an Amsterdam mosque shortly after the murder, focusing in on the core values of Dutch society and the need for immigrants to accept these:

“For people who do not wish to share the fundamental core values of our society is no room in a society like the Dutch one”.

“Everyone who does not share these values is best advised to make his or her conclusions and leave. It just can’t be that someone demands all of us to respect his viewpoints and at the same time refuses to respect the viewpoints of others”

And yes, he was not afraid to discuss Van Gogh:

“A noisy and willful artist who in Amsterdam had found a stage to work on his ideals: an undivided city where everyone can be his own person”

And finally:

Don’t as Muslims let someone take away your faith. Don’t let fanatics take your faith hostage”

Take that OBL. He also encouraged those present to report radical activity to the police and to instill these important values in young children, learning them to fight with words rather than guns. This was probably strong stuff for the mosque audience as it was revealed shortly after his speech that Aboutaleb was on the death list of the group that assassinated Van Gogh; although he may well have been on that list before the killing. In essence his performance proves a crucial point: the importance to co-opt those Muslims that have or are willing to successfully adapt to their new world and are prepared to accept the basics of a free and democratic society. This equally applies to Iraq where jihadist insurgents scare and terrorize regular folks away from building a better society for themselves. It requires guts to line up for a police job in Baghdad and you equally have to be willing to risk your life to walk into an Amsterdam mosque and explain the principles of freedom of expression. Without these courageous Muslims this war can never ever be won. Let’s help them, let’s enlist them, they are the most important ingredient in this struggle for freedom and democracy.