July 2, 2007
Media did our work for us - ex-terorist
The U.K. Daily Mail presents a column by former jihadi Hassan Butt, in which he notes the media's supportive role in doing work for the terrorists:
When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network - a series of British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology - I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy.By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair's bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
He is not shy about his prescription for ending the problem:
I believe that the issue of terrorism can be easily demystified if Muslims and non-Muslims start openly to discuss the ideas that fuel terrorism.Crucially, the Muslim community in Britain must slap itself awake from its state of denial and realise there is no shame in admitting the extremism within our families, communities and worldwide co-religionists.If our country is going to take on radicals and violent extremists, Muslim scholars must go back to the books and come forward with a refashioned set of rules and a revised understanding of the rights and responsibilities of Muslims whose homes and souls are firmly planted in what I'd like to term the Land of Co-existence.
A must-read. Especially for all the "experts" who act as apologists.