Again correct, Islamists operated freely in London
Reader comment on item: Londonistan Follies
in response to reader comment: Anti-British racism: Yes, I do have a chip on my shoulder!

Submitted by tim conway (Australia), May 24, 2006 at 23:10

Again something that is bemusing to a lot of people here. We don't get it. Plenty of articles in London newspapers ( start with the Daily Telegraph ) that question the role of MI5 with regard to activities of Islamist groups in London. A number of articles on this site about the so-called Islamic covenant that protected UK from terrorist attack as long as Islamists were allowed to operate freely here. If true it seems bewilderingly stupid and short sighted. Apologists would argue that UK has long been first port of call for dissidents of all sorts of regimes, a tradition that goes back as far as the Huguenots, then Jewish refugees from Tsarist Russia in late 19th Century, more recently Chechens and Kosavans and Kurds, and so on. Whether the British establishment and secret services have ulterior motives in all this, it's very possible. The French gave sanctuary to the Ayatollah Khomeini, and Kaiser's Germany allowed Lenin's train free passage to Russia, so this cynicism is not unique to us.

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