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| The Alliance |
| Muhajiroun leader 'unable to condemn September 11 attack' |
| 2002-07-13 |
| In a question and answer session, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed launched into an hour-long lecture into his Islamic beliefs. The "worldwide" leader of the militant Al-Muhajiroun group said as a Muslim he could not condemn the September 11 attacks on America or even offer his condolences for what happened. "I do not support the bombing of September 11 ... he said, piously... because it is against the Islamic principle but I do respect the views of other people," said the sheikh. Gesticulating, he said he must support the acts of fellow Muslims - "the brotherhood"- even if he would "always act within the margin of the law". In other words, no matter what they do, no matter how depraved, how brutal, there's no condemnation because they're Brothers. But if you take that position, and accept any benefit that will come from their lawless acts, it would seem that you should also accept the consequences of those acts... "You see what happens when you let the government carry out its evil policies throughout the world," he said, underscoring his vehement belief that arrogant US and British foreign policies triggered the attacks. Targeting the Taleban and al-Qaeda in retaliation for September 11 without fair trial reinforced this stance, he said. Nations don't start wars after a "fair trial." And nations do retaliate when attacked without provocation... "Bin Laden is a great man," he said, before a backdrop of brightlypainted community centre walls plastered with pro-Islamic and anti-democracy posters. "He has earned his leadership. They are Muslims and they are on the right course." You can tell by the trail of corpses left in their wake... The bearded sheikh, however, denied he was a terrorist or that he had sent UK Muslims to fight in Afghanistan, although he said he knew of many that had gone. I'm surprised this bunch is still around — though I recall reading a warning about them on Taliban-On-Line (now defunct) a couple months ago. Unfair as it may sound to someone like the Sheikh, if you're going to run an overt fifth column organization, I guess you can expect to have it infiltrated by government agents... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |