We don't want to see the truth about radical Islam

The authorities are astonished that although three men were convicted of conspiracy to murder in the plane bomb plot trial, no defendant was convicted of targeting the aircraft.

The police even had martyrdom videos in which, for instance, Umar Islam declares: "We are doing this in order to gain the pleasure of our Lord and Allah loves us to die and kill in his path."

There is likely to be a retrial, so I need to be careful what I say. I can, however, make the wider point that we as a society don't understand radical Islam - and don't want to understand it either. The dumber parts of the Left blame opposition to the second Iraq War - as if Jihadis are just Liberal Democrats with bomb belts.

They never think that the overthrow of Saddam was opposed by millions who would no more attack the London Underground than congratulate Tony Blair for supporting George W Bush.

The dumber parts of the Right blame Islam itself, as if being a Muslim were enough to make you a terrorist. Even though they have seen al Qaeda do its worst to Iraq for years, it doesn't occur to them that radical Islam is a fascistic movement whose first aim is to kill Muslims who believe in democracy, free-thinking, gay rights, women's rights or any rival version of islam that conflicts with their psychopathic theology.

Examining that theology is a treacherous task. When Channel 4's Dispatches uncovered Saudi-financed clerics preaching hatred in Birmingham and London, the Crown Prosecution Service claimed that the broadcasters had invented their footage.

The CPS had to apologise and pay libel damages but the authorities' instant reaction was instructive: this can't be true, we don't want to know. As the national broadcaster, the BBC had a duty to investigate the mass murder in London on 7/7, and it duly sent a reporting team to Leeds.

The journalists won the confidence of the bombers' families and produced a picture of a ghetto where young men rebel against the traditional Islam of their parents and get sucked into the global cult of death. I've seen the result of their investigation and it is a brilliant and disquieting examination of a hidden world.

Even though an acclaimed playwright produced five versions of a script for a drama-documentary, the BBC cancelled the project . It, too, didn't want to know.

We may be lucky and the terror threat may be passing. But the cries of disbelief coming from the police suggest otherwise. The first task in confronting it is to face our country honestly. We have nothing to lose but our preconceptions.