The Diplomatic Times Review

« Oil Exploration in Southern Sudan Hinges on Peace Process | Main | Russia Threatens to Punish ABC For Interviewing Shamil Basayev »

August 03, 2005

Puzzling Over 'The Mystery of British Muslims'

Washington Post Columnist Anne Applebaum says in an August 3, 2005 column that, "Since the bombing attacks in London last month, a welter of columnists, writers, talking heads and ordinary people have puzzled over the mystery of British Muslims, one in four of whom recently told pollsters that they sympathize with the July 7 suicide bombers."

She added:

The idea that British Muslims, whose parents received asylum, found jobs, and made lives in Britain, could be so deeply affected by the "oppression" of Muslims in countries they have never visited seems incomprehensible. The notion that events in distant deserts should lead the middle-class inhabitants of London or Leeds to admire terrorists seems inexplicable. But why should this phenomenon be so incomprehensible or inexplicable, at least to Americans? We did, after all, once tolerate a similar phenomenon ourselves.I am talking about the sympathy for the Irish Republican Army that persisted for decades in some Irish American communities and is only now fading away

It's not really a mystery. Every Muslims, whether he or she voices it, generally has sympathy for Muslims under siege, wherever they are in the world. And whereas most would never pick up a gun or become suicide bombers, there is an admiration for those who strive to drive the U.S. and England out Iraq; the Russians out of Chechnya; the Israelis from Palestinian lands; the Chinese out of East Turkmenistan; the U.S. out of Afghanistan, etc.

For more of Ms. Applebaum's analysis, see "The Discreet Charm of the Terrorist Cause."

Posted by Munir Umrani at August 3, 2005 01:36 AM

Comments

Post a comment