The collective response of Europeans to the Brussels attacks is: “Kick them out. Ship them back home. Lock them out.” And yes, during these times when fear and death stalk innocent men, women and children going about their everyday lives, it seems like an appropriate response.

Why shouldn’t we isolate and ship off the murderers among us and drop them off at their blood-drenched caliphate and let them kill and maim each other there? If they are into beheading innocents, stoning women, slaughtering gay people and turning their children into killers, why can’t they do it on their own turf and leave us out of it?

We have no truck with it, we never asked for this carnage and if these bearded terrorists are going to insist on blowing themselves up to hitch up with the (reputed) scores of expectant virgins in the afterlife, they should preferably be doing so on their own patch and not take us with them.

That is the very understandable reaction to the Brussels attacks. It was the same in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, the Charlie Hebdo murders, that of Lee Rigby and of other atrocities. It seems reasonable to want to remove and distance those wanting death and destruction from the rest of us.

So the solution seems to be clear: send them back where they came from. There’s nothing that we wouldn’t like more. And despite the criticism of European leaders as ninny-pinny, liberal, politically correct do-gooders, I’m quite sure they would like nothing more than to see the back of these terrorists and they do not secretly harbour a wish for the extremist Islamic takeover of the European continent.

One thing that won’t work is blaming the victims’ society for the atrocities committed by the terrorists

So what is stopping us from packing up these terror suspects and sending them home with a one-way ticket to their caliphate badlands? Very simply put, it’s because the terrorists are already home. The masterminds and perpetrators of the recent attacks were born and raised in Europe and are European nationals.

There is no ‘home’ to send them back to – they are already home. That leaves us with no option but to deal with the problem facing us right here.

Again, there are no easy answers. One thing that won’t work is blaming the victims’ society for the atrocities committed by the terrorists. I keep on reading articles saying that perpetrators of these attacks feel marginalised and excluded by decadent European societies and that this is their form of protest. We really shouldn’t buy into this form of thinking.

Despite the trappings of this being a ‘holy’ war inspired by the Islamic ideology and the establishment of the caliphate, the known perpetrators of these acts of terrorism lead a lifestyle which is as ‘decadent’ as that of the Western societies they profess to hate.

The mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, never showed any interest in religion before leaving for Syria. He attended a prestigious school in Brussels, owned fast cars and a shop and was a carousing womaniser. His father, originally a migrant, said he had turned his back on a “fantastic life”.

Similarly, the Abdeslam brothers owned and managed a bar in Brussels where they served alcohol. They smoked and drank and indulged in ‘unIslamic’ activities. The Bakraoui brothers responsible for the Brussels attacks were hardly down-and-out migrants scrabbling around in poverty for a leg-up in Belgian society. They were seasoned criminals with several convictions to their names.

Even airport suicide bomber Najim Laachraoui was hardly an example of a poverty-stricken, hard done-by product of Belgian society. Suffice to say that his brother Mourad Laachraoui, who was raised in the same environment and circumstances, represents Belgium in Taekwondo and has won medals in the discipline.

Why does one sibling grow up into a standard bearer for Belgium while the other turns into a killer? The answer to that question is not clear, however much of the evidence regarding the terrorists’ lifestyles indicates that they have enjoyed the freedoms and benefits of Western society until the turning point when they were radicalised.

The reasons for this horrific shift and the even more heinous shift to murderous action are many and should be studied and analysed. But blaming the victims – Western societies in this case – makes as much sense as blaming the victims of Mafia massacres for the inequalities inherent in society.

David Cameron summed it up best during a speech last year when he highlighted the fact that ultimately responsibility lies with the individual. He said: “Too often we hear the argument that radicalisation is the fault of someone else. That blame game is wrong and it is dangerous.

“By accepting the finger pointing – whether it’s at agencies or authorities – we are ignoring the fact that the radicalisation starts with the individual.”

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt