They wanted to kill freedom of expression too. They wanted to intimidate every other journalist and writer to prevent them commenting on Islam.

They wanted to spread fear across society in order to cower people into silence and self-censorship. That, after all, is the whole point of terrorism. It is less about physical killing, horrific as it is, and more about the killing of our minds and hearts.

It is about paralysing us into stupefied submission, effectively shattering our judgement as much as their bullets shatter our bodies. The sad fact is that for years they have been succeeding. They have succeeded because western leaders have shied away from offending Muslims, preferring denial and political correctness instead. From George Bush telling Muslims after 9/11 that Islam's teachings were purely 'good and peaceful', to David Cameron's declaration that there was 'nothing in Islam to justify terror' after the Lee Rigby murder, to the US authorities describing the Fort Hood shootings as an act of 'workplace violence' to Boris Johnson's insistence that Muslim terrorists 'wrench (quotes) out of context' from the Koran, there is a persistent refusal to 'Islamise' jihadist violence.

Media outlets too refer to the attacks of 'militants' without mentioning their religious affiliation, (see this on the astounding behaviour of the BBC). Instead of explaining that jihadism arises from extreme, theologically ultra conservative interpretations of Islam with millions of adherents and many sponsors worldwide, we are told that terrorism is a problem of isolated extremists and psychologically maladjusted individuals.

On this view, 'terrorists' emerge from a culture free swamp and only coincidentally imbibe the concepts of their faith. Such denial is then accompanied by the ubiquitous accusation of 'Islamophobia', a staple of western discourse, and a blatant attempt to stifle any criticism of Islam.