Washington, Dec. 31 : The United States has accused Britain of being a “menace to the outside world” because of its perceived failure to tackle Islamic extremism.

Senior policymakers in the United States said the attempted suicide bomb attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is thought to have become radicalised in London, was further evidence that one of the biggest threats to US security came from Britain, where the capital has been dubbed “Londonistan” by critics.

There was also criticism of the “ghettoisation” of British Muslims, compared with the “assimilation” of Muslims in America.

Muslim immigrants to the US were much better integrated in society and considered themselves Americans “within a generation” because the US embraced the “melting pot” concept, said Marc Thiessen, former chief speechwriter for President George W Bush and a former Pentagon aide.

“That doesn’t exist in Europe in the same way and particularly in Britain, which is a more socially stratified society than the US,” he said.

“They live in Muslim ghettoes and feel alienated from the larger society and not accepted,” he added.

Daniel Pipes, a scholar on radical Islam and former adviser to Rudolph Giuliani during his presidential campaign, said: “The UK is a menace to the outside world. It’s been a problem for years now. This is just one more example.”

“We are in grave danger as a result of the fact that we are lowering our defences by doing away with vital tools in the war on terror that have proven successful – all in response to the hue and cry from the European Left and to appease European opinion,” said Thiessen. (ANI)