Londonistan is alive and kicking

By Olivier Guitta

Recently, I had the opportunity to ask Iain Duncan Smith, British M.P. and former leader of the Conservative Party (2001-2003), about the appointment of Swiss Islamist Tariq Ramadan to the Blair�s taskforce on fighting extremism. He went blank and had no idea whatsoever what I was talking about. After the London bombings, this is highly worrisome and just confirms that our British friends still don�t get it or sometimes don�t know anything about our common enemy- Islamism. Tariq Ramadan is a case in point as I show in this article.
Here is an excerpt:
Regarding his views on terrorism, Ramadan wants us to believe that he forcefully called on Muslims to condemn the September 11 attacks. But consider that in an interview on September 22, 2001, Ramadan explained with his usual gifted vagueness that he couldn't say for sure that Bin Laden was behind the attacks. He then asked the question: "who profits from the crime?" and answered that no Arab or Muslim cause would be better off. This is exactly the argument of Islamists who accused Israel and the Jews of masterminding the September 11 atrocities. In a 2004 interview with French newsmagazine Le Point, Ramadan evoked what he called the "interventions of New York, Bali or Madrid." So, September 11 was not a terrorist attack, it was rather just an "intervention." Of course, nowhere in this interview did Ramadan condemn terrorism. Also when recently asked by an Italian magazine if car bombings against US forces in Iraq were justified, he was quoted as saying: "Iraq was colonized by the Americans. Resistance against the army is just."
Some troubling allegations can be found in a lawsuit filed by the victims of the September 11 attacks: Ramadan greatly influenced Djamel Beghal, a French citizen arrested for plotting to bomb the US Embassy in Paris. According to Sylvain Besson from the Swiss daily Le Temps, the court papers show that Djamel Beghal "was in charge of preparing Tariq Ramadan's speeches." Ramadan has always answered that he never met Beghal and refused to comment after Besson left numerous messages at his home. Also, Beghal was living in Leicester in 1998, while (surprise!) Ramadan was studying at the Islamic university of Leicester. Lastly, regarding Ramadan's terrorist links, Daniel Pipes, the renowned Middle East expert, reported that he met a senior Department of Homeland Security official a few weeks ago who looked him hard in the eyes and assured him, "The evidence we have is damning."

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