Alan Johnson writes at Idealism Without Illusion:
Here is a fact that might surprise you. In 2009 a Gallup poll found 77 percent of British Muslims identified “very strongly” or “extremely strongly” with Britain, a higher percentage than the British public as a whole (at 50 percent).
Here is another. In 2010 a group of British Muslim women in partnership with the Armed Forces Muslim Association (AFMA) attended a memorial event. They were responding to a miniscule group of Islamists that had, by disrupting the now-traditional parade of soldier’s coffins through the town of Wootton Bassett, dominated the national news.
As Kalsoom Bashir put it, “Other organizations—that represent nobody—have tried to hijack the message from UK Muslim communities. We are here to claim it back.” She added, “There was a strong feeling of disgust in the Muslim communities that anyone would try to exploit the grief of families at Wootton Bassett.”
In attendance was the family of Jabron Hashmi, the first British Muslim serviceman to be killed in action in Afghanistan. Group Captain Zahur Ulhaq from AFMA said, “There is a strong history of Muslims playing an integrated role in the UK armed forces. It is important to recognize the contribution that these communities have made.”
I think there is a conspiracy of sorts to keep facts like this from us. The conspirators are an odd bunch—not just the Islamists (who shout, “Are you Muslim or are you British?” and “The West is dar al-harb!”—“a house of war”) but also the Islamists’ allies on the Left (who scream, “Down with the West!,” “We are all Islamophobic!,” “The War on Terror is a War on Islam!”) and the Islamists’ enemies on the Right (who shriek, “Eurabia!,” “Stealth Jihad!,” “Fifth Column!”).
Read the rest here.
