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February 21, 2009
Paper: British Muslims aiding Taliban
British Muslims are providing the Taliban with electronic devices to detonate roadside bombs in Afghanistan. So reports an article in today's London Telegraph, which notes:
The disclosure is the latest in a string of suggestions from British commanders about the connections between British Muslims and violence in Afghanistan.In August, Brigadier Ed Butler, the former commander of UK forces in Afghanistan, told the Telegraph that there are "British passport holders" in the Taliban ranks. Other officers believe their soldiers have killed British Muslims fighting alongside the Taliban.And last year, it was revealed that RAF Nimrod surveillance planes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan had heard militants speaking with Yorkshire and Midlands accents
How ironic that Pakistan is not the only problematic allay that the Obama administration has in its effort to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. The land of Chaucer and Shakespeare (and let's not forget multiculturalism) is turning out to be problematic, too.
Coincidentally, the Telegraph's report comes as Sec. of State Hillary Clinton concluded a visit to Indonesia -- a country that she proclaimed provides evidence that modernity can coexist with Islam. Clinton can take that message to some of London's Muslims, many of whom sympathized with the young Muslim suicide bombers who carried out the 2005 attack in London on three subways and a bus, killing 52 people. As one disquieting survey in Britain noted about that attack:
...more than one in 10 British Muslims thought the London bombers should be regarded as “martyrs.”An additional 16% – or 150,000 people – said that although the attacks may have been wrong, the cause was right.Two percent said they would be proud if a family member joined Al Qaeda, and 16% said they would be indifferent.
For a presidency whose mantra is "hope and change," the Obama administration has much work to do.
Update: London Telegraph: "Islamic fundamentalism promoted on websites at some Muslim schools in the UK, think tank finds"