THE TRUE FACE

I bumped into a senior BBC reporter at the weekend, and the conversation briefly turned to Hizb'ut Tahrir and the Dilpazier Aslam fiasco. Actually, he hadn't heard about Aslam, which I found somewhat odd. What impressed him was that the HT spokesman he'd recently heard being interviewed was a physician who'd treated victims of the London bombings. He was articulate and reasonable too. The BBC man thought this was a strong argument for treating HT as just another community organisation.

No doubt you could have said the same about many National Socialists. There were plenty of urbane, cultivated lawyers in Nazi uniform. Some of them turned up at the Wannsee Conference.

Over at Harry's Place, you'll find an excellent guide to HT, explaining why we should treat it in the same way as the BNP: ie don't ban it, but make sure everyone knows what the movement really stands for.

UPDATE:  I think we know where former tabloid reporter Yvonne Ridley stands on the big issues. Here's how the NY Times (via Armavirumque) reported her comments at a Muslim conference in Manchester on Sunday:

"I thank Allah that I was captured by the Taliban and not the Americans," she said. She told her audience: "It is time to stand up together. Resistance is our duty." And she warned Prime Minister Blair: "If you want to make war against Islam, I am ready."

More on the rights and wrongs of outlawing HT from Tim Worstall.

Comments

[ilana]

How amazing that a "senior BBC reporter" should have such naive views, and not have heard about the Aslam affair. They really do seem to live in an ivory tower.

[Hal]

It came as no suprise to me that Yvonne Ridley converted to Islam and joined Respect. What I was hearing of her after her capture in Afghanistan made me think she is a pretty unpleasant person, and a tv interview with her after her release confirmed it. Just her persona and manner of answering questions made feel she was very unpleasant, but what clinched it was when she was asked if she knew anything about the fate of the two Afghans who had been with her. She just said "They knew the risks they were taking". Not a word of concern for them or the slightest interest in finding out what had happened to them or if she could do anything to help. Just the sort of callous self-absorbed person one would expect to embrace Islamofascism.

[gudone]

What an affectational, doe-eyed bint that Ridley is .. and this just about sums up her dumb suggestability....

"I was just about to hang up when he (Abu Hamza) said, 'But there is just one thing I want you to remember. Tomorrow, if you have an accident and die, you will go straight to hellfire'.
"I was so scared that I carried a copy of the vows in my purse until my final conversion last June."

She was so scared?.. just coz Hamza the Hook said she'll go to hellfire??
What a spaz.