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| The Alliance |
| Al Muhajiroun condemns attacks. Wotta surprise. |
| 2001-10-08 |
A senior British Muslim today condemned the military strikes on Afghanistan and said yesterday had been "a very, very sad day". Muslim Parliament leader Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui said the United States should have given diplomatic efforts longer to take effect. Ministers from Islamic states were due to meet on Wednesday amid optimism they could persuade the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden for trial at an international court, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He said: "The first casualty of this attack has been the rule of law. The Americans have lost their credibility. They had this opportunity to somehow recover the moral high ground. The only people who will be happy will be the American arms industry and oil companies. It's a very, very sad day. They should have explored all other options." Asked if the military action would have the support of ordinary British Muslims, he said: "The Americans should have carried the world opinion with them but I don't think this has been the case. There are a lot of question marks and I think they have missed a lot of opportunities." North London-based Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, leader of the fundamentalist Al Muhajiroun (The Exiles) group, said the strikes were themselves a terrorist act. There was "overwhelming condemnation" of the response in the Arab world. "You cannot behave like terrorists to deal with terrorists. We can deal with terrorists ... in very civilised ways. We would like to see Osama bin Laden on trial but there's no proof been established until now," he told the programme. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |