Please justify your
use of this list for those two recent emails on suicide bombers - what
exactly do you mean by ‘there could be something in this’ - are we getting
into junk (i.e. unsolicited) politics mail here? I have my own private
networks for political email forwarding and don’t want to see this kind of
use of a group list, particularly when the agenda is not made clear. Or is
there some non-obvious connection to a debate about
embodiment…??
Alex
Ryan
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Interdisciplinary discussion on human embodiment
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Sue McPherson
Sent: 18 July 2005 14:50
To:
[log in to unmask]
Subject: the
disaffected
There could be something in this (see
article below), if the authorities cared to investigate. Fazel isn't
the only one uncomfortable with Western mores, and out of a job.
Unfortunately, talking to the educated isn't the solution, as they are just
as likely to be under the influence of society's mores as any other
group.
&call_pageid=968332188854&call_pagepath=News/World&pubid=968163964505&StarSource=email&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
`I would go if they approached me'
SCHEHEREZADE
FARAMARZI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEEDS, England—Fazel, a 19-year-old
British-born Muslim who is angry about his "immoral" surroundings, seems
ripe for the picking by the recruiters of Islamic extremism. "I would go if
they approached me," he says.
"I want to get away from here. I
don't have a job. I want to learn everything about Islam," said Fazel, who
refused to give his last name during an interview Saturday at a mosque here.
His remarks suggested he hoped to find his way to a Muslim country where he
could further study the religion and develop his beliefs.
Like three of the four named suspects
in the July 7 suicide bombings in London, Fazel was born in Leeds. His
parents were from the Pakistan-controlled portion of disputed Kashmir. Three
of the four bombers also had Pakistani parents. The fourth alleged attacker
was born in Jamaica but converted to Islam while growing up in Luton, north
of London.
Islamic radicals inside the British
Muslim community who are searching for men to become suicide attackers or
foot soldiers in the global jihad are thought to recruit disaffected young
men like Fazel, sending them for religious or military training in Islamic
countries.
For example, Shahzad Tanweer, a
22-year-old member of the alleged bombing team, reportedly visited two
religious schools on a trip to Pakistan.
Fazel's comments came as
British officials rejected criticism that lax policies toward Muslim
political refugees helped facilitate terror recruiters.
"In terms of asylum, our policy is: If
you are in fear of persecution, you are entitled to come here," Charles
Falconer, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, said yesterday on BBC
television. "Obviously, if you then seek to attack the very state that you
come to, that gives rise to different questions."
Despite Fazel's growing contempt for
Western mores, he said he disagreed with the London bombings of four
Underground trains and a bus because "Islamic scholars said it was wrong."
The attackers "should have talked to more educated people."
He denounced, however, Prime Minister
Tony Blair's characterization that the bombers were inspired by an "evil
ideology."
"The evil programs on TV, the music,
the literature, the magazines ... are all responsible for the terrorist
attacks. People are becoming rebellious because they are against
fornication, gambling, alcohol."
"Until they get rid of Eminem and
Marilyn Manson, they can't get rid of our preachers," he said.
Fazel called himself a former kafar
(infidel), who once enjoyed drinking with his friends and the company of
young women.
Then, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11,
2001 attacks on New York and Washington, he read about Al Qaeda and its
leader, Osama bin Laden.
Images of the twin towers of the World Trade
Center collapsing, he said, fuelled his curiosity about the faith of his
ancestors.
"Allah pointed me to him (bin Laden),"
said Fazel, dressed in a white shalwar kameez, the traditional loose
tunic-and-trouser common to men in South Asia.
The young man denied he was confused
about his faith and asserted just as vehemently that he did not "give a damn
about the world."
Zahir Birawi, an official at the mosque where Fazel
was interviewed, later said he had seen the young man a few times at prayers
and assured a reporter Fazel's views were not normal.
He said officials at the mosque would
tell police about Fazel if his views did not moderate.