Celebrating diversity!

[Yonivore]

David Rising of the Associated Press does some digging into the backgrounds of the men allegedly behind last weekend's foiled terror plots in the United Kingdom:

They had diverse backgrounds, coming from countries around the globe, but all shared youth and worked in medicine. They also had a common goal, authorities suspect: to bring havoc and death to the heart of Britain.

The eight people held Tuesday in the failed car bombing plot include one doctor from Iraq and two from India. There is a physician from Lebanon and a Jordanian doctor and his medical assistant wife. Another doctor and a medical student are thought to be from the Middle East. . . .

"To think that these guys were a sleeper cell and somehow were able to plan this operation from the different places they were, and then orchestrate being hired by the NHS so they could get to the UK, then get jobs in the same area--I think that's a planning impossibility," said Bob Ayres, a former U.S. intelligence officer now at London's Chatham House think tank.

"A much more likely scenario is they were here together, they discovered that they shared some common ideology, and then they decided to act on this while here in the UK," he said.

Although, fortunately the project failed in its ultimate goal, no doubt there are lessons here for the corporate world in how to bring diverse people together in a common purpose.

From the standpoint of counterterrorism, however, it may be more productive to focus on what they have in common rather than their differences. Bob Ayers suggests that the suspects may share "some common ideology," but what could it be? We noticed a few clues that may warrant further investigation.

Here is a list of the suspects' names and nationalities from Rising's piece:

• Muhammad Haneef, from India.

• "Another Indian doctor."

• Mohammed Jamil Asha, "from Jordan of Palestinian heritage," and his wife, Marwa, nationality not specified.

• Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla, from Iraq.

• Khalid Ahmed, from Lebanon.

Two unnamed suspects "thought to be from the Middle East. . . . British media said they were from Saudi Arabia, but police refused to comment."
So the countries from which the suspects hail or may hail are India, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia. Well, that is diverse. Certainly there's no pattern here.

Or is there? Rising's report includes this intriguing bit of information:

Dr. Shiv Panbe, former chairman of the British International Doctors Association, said the two Indian nationals in custody were Muslims.

That got me to wondering what the religious background of the other suspects was. Rising doesn't say; he was probably embarrassed to ask. After all, religion and politics are two things you just don't discuss in polite company.

But looking at that list of countries again, I had a hunch. We checked the CIA World Factbook and found these statistics:

• Iraq is 97% Muslim.

• Jordan is 92% Sunni Muslim.

• Lebanon is 59.7% Muslim.

• The West Bank is 75% Muslim, and the Gaza strip is 98.7% Muslim.

• Saudi Arabia is 100% (!) Muslim.

Now, maybe the Lebanese guy is a Christian. Maybe those from "the Middle East" are Israelis, not Saudis. Maybe the fellow who is of "Palestinian heritage" is part of the violent settlers' movement. But there is also the possibility, however remote, that all eight of these terror suspects are Muslim.

Why would that matter? Well, last month, Reuters quoted Jessica Stern, a Harvard expert on violent extremism, as saying, "The problems arising from Christian or Jewish extremism are not threatening to the world in the same way as Muslim extremism is."

Now, I strenuously caution you against jumping to any conclusions. Maybe the suspects are animal-rights zealots or antiabortion fanatics. Even if they are all Muslims, who's to say that isn't a crazy coincidence? We're just putting this out here as a lead for David Rising or some other enterprising reporter to follow up on.

But, wait a minute, The BBC elaborates on another common thread tying together the alleged conspirators in the British terror plot:

Eight people arrested in connection with failed car bombings in Glasgow and London all have links with the National Health Service, the BBC has learned.

Seven are believed to be doctors or medical students, while one formerly worked as a laboratory technician.

Yesterday the Times of London offered this chilling report:

An al-Qaeda leader in Iraq boasted before last week's failed bombings in London and Glasgow that his group was planning to attack British targets and that "those who cure you will kill you," The Times has learnt.

The warning was delivered to Canon Andrew White, a senior British cleric working in Baghdad, and could be highly significant as the eight Muslims (Aha!!! My hunch was accurate!) arrested in the wake of the failed plot are all members of the medical profession.

Canon White told The Times that he had passed the general warning, but not the specific words, to a senior official at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in mid-April.

Of course, the warning would probably have been taken more seriously if "those who cure you will kill you" were not also a description of business as usual at the NHS...regardless of the doctors' religious, ideological, or psychological bents.

[boutons_]

So dumb Yoni is using these terrorist doctors to trash the UK NHS, as if the NHS caused these assholes to become terrorists and therefore the NHS should be condemned along with them.

damn, you neo- s and conservatives are really a bunch of ideologically driven dumb s.

[Oh, Gee!!]

No, I don't think Yoni is blaming the NHS. I think he's using somebody's blog (without crediting the source BTW) to tell us what most of us figured out a week ago.

[Yonivore]

No, I don't think Yoni is blaming the NHS. I think he's using somebody's blog (without crediting the source BTW) to tell us what most of used figured out a week ago.

Actually, I was poking fun at the Associated Press's refusal to point out the fact that all eight terrorists were Muslim. No we all figured it out last week, but, apparently, the media (in this case, the AP) are having trouble coming to that conclusion.

And, actually, I blame the Brits lenient Visa policies to fill such jobs -- apparently, they buy into the meme that only poor and disaffected youths are terrorists. Ooops!

By the way, is that still the apologists position? That only poor and disaffected Muslims are joining the Jihad?

The last comment, yeah, it was a cheap jab at the socialized medical model. So, sue me.

[gtownspur]

No, I don't think Yoni is blaming the NHS. I think he's using somebody's blog (without crediting the source BTW) to tell us what most of us figured out a week ago.

Or we can blame your stupidity.

[Yonivore]

Actually, I think the British NHS does bear considerable responsibility...

NHS Opened the Door

The NHS is the nearest thing to a religion that the British now have. For half a century the British have convinced themselves that the NHS is the envy of the world. It is — for the third world. And it is the third world's doctors and nurses who keep alive this socialist cult of security from cradle to grave.

No politician dares to reform the NHS, which is still run by its white-coated medical priesthood. Even Margaret Thatcher, who was fearless with terrorists, quailed before the doctors and nurses. "The NHS is safe in our hands," she said. But the question has long been: are we safe in the NHS's hands?

Aneurin Bevan, the man who created this monster, explained how he had persuaded the senior doctors to submit to the state: "I stuffed their mouths with gold." But training our own doctors is expensive. Today, the agencies that supply the NHS with doctors recruit their staff throughout Africa and Asia. Many are Muslims and, inevitably, some of them are Islamists.

[smeagol]

Radical Muslims are at war with the US.

Both parties are to blame for the war, radical Muslims and the US.

On a side note, doctors trying to bomb people is ing nuts.

[Yonivore]

Radical Muslims are at war with the US.

Both parties are to blame for the war, radical Muslims and the US.

On a side note, doctors trying to bomb people is ing nuts.

Okay, exactly how is the U.S. responsible?

[boutons_]

"The NHS is the nearest thing to a religion that the British now have."

False. How about Henry VIII's Church of England? There is also a sizeable chunk of Catholics, Like the USA and all industrial countries, England is a secular country in government and in culture.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=293

"For half a century the British have convinced themselves that the NHS is the envy of the world."

False. There are continuous attempts to reform and improve NHS. Some English people end up going to France for treatment. Like the Repugs have convinced most the USA to hate government (except when Repug-run corps are receiving corporate welfare, no-bid war-profiteering contracts,etc)

"And it is the third world's doctors and nurses"

Ever notice how many Hispanics and blacks work in low-level jobs in the medical industry in USA? Ever notice how many nurses and doctors in the USA are foreign born? There is a shortage of medical workers everywhere, so immigrants from poor countries pour in to fill the need. While Yoni thinks foreigners immigrating to USA proves USA is The Best Country in the Univeerse, when immigrants go to UK, it means something totally negative.

"still run by its white-coated medical priesthood."

Very much like the US medical system isr run with impunity by the AMA, Big Pharma, insurance companies, and HMO, for their own enrichment, to the detriment of care-seekers (maximum profits while giving minimum care, and no medical security). More UK people get more medical care for less $$$ than US people get in the USA.

So, how has the NHS turned the foreign doctors into terrorists?

================

"When the (New York) Sun was born in 2002, media soothsayers predicted that it would never find a permanent place in New York's brutally compe ive newspaper market and that the hearse would arrive within two years. But the Sun is still here, and on April 16 it will mark its fifth anniversary. Although it is funded by a coterie of wealthy individuals, published on a shoestring and edited by a tenacious journalist, Seth Lipsky, the paper is not a financial success: Last year Lipsky told journalism students at Columbia that the Sun lost $1 million a month. But those losses amount to pocket change for the proprietors, whose investment and ongoing commitment have yielded something else: a broadsheet that injects conservative ideology into the country's most influential philanthropic, intellectual and media hub; a paper whose day-to-day coverage of New York City emphasizes lower taxes, school vouchers and free-market solutions to urban problems; a paper whose elegant culture pages hold their own against the Times in quality and sophistication; a paper that breaks news and crusades on a single issue; a paper that functions as a journalistic SWAT team against individuals and ins utions seen as hostile to Israel and Jews; and a paper that unapologetically displays the scalps of its victims."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070430/sherman

ie, the NY Sun is radical conservative rag founded, run, and financed by Jews, who will always give a "fair and balanced" view, especially of Muslims.

[xrayzebra]

boutons, you forgot to say that 50 percent of the doctors in the
UK NHS are imported from other countries mostly the ME.

Oh, and you forgot to add to your statement: "There are continuous attempts to reform and improve NHS." that those reforms and improvements are because they always claim they
haven't got enough money for the NHS. One reason they
have to close hospitals. And wait months for treatment or
operations. And refuse treatment for incurable diseases.
You know much like what happens in Canada. Where people
die waiting on what we consider routine test.

And another little tidbit for your slow thought process.
England is such a religious country that they are selling their
churches or converting them to apartments. Walk into one of
them other than the Abbey or some other such historic
"structure" and you will be appalled at the poor condition of
the place.

[smeagol]

Okay, exactly how is the U.S. responsible?

You guys decided to invade Iraq.

C'mon, you think the US' foreing policy over the last 50 years has not alienated America from the rest of the world?

[Yonivore]

You guys decided to invade Iraq.

Isn't this kind of a chicken v. egg kind of statement? Radical Islamists were pouring into Iraq from Afghanistan prior to the invasion so, how does that make the U.S. responsible for the war?

C'mon, you think the US' foreing policy over the last 50 years has not alienated America from the rest of the world?

No, I think anti-Americanism, appeasement in the face of Islamo-fascism, and America's refusal to appease is responsible for our alienation by certain segments of the world.

I believe our foreign policy has been a benign justification for Islamist terrorism. After all, it was the Islamist's rancor at our presence in Saudi Arabia, not the Saudi Arabian government's, that they used to justify terrorist acts.

I think people are looking at our foreign policy all wrong. It's been wrongly called "imperialism" but, name a country, in the past 50 years, upon whose soil we've claimed sovereignty and planted our flag. Name a country, in which we've stationed troops that did not request our presence. Then, name a country, in the last 50 years, we've invaded, that did not overtly threaten peace and stability in their region of the world -- and, in the case of Iraq, while giving aid, comfort, and sanctuary to people who were actually responsible for terrorist acts against the United States, its allies, or its interests.

[Nbadan]

I think people are looking at our foreign policy all wrong. It's been wrongly called "imperialism" but, name a country, in the past 50 years, upon whose soil we've claimed sovereignty and planted our flag. Name a country, in which we've stationed troops that did not request our presence. Then, name a country, in the last 50 years, we've invaded, that did not overtly threaten peace and stability in their region of the world -- and, in the case of Iraq, while giving aid, comfort, and sanctuary to people who were actually responsible for terrorist acts against the United States, its allies, or its interests.

Building a virtual city-state and a Imperial Place to Duyba in the heart of Baghdad that even Saddam would envy qualifies as imperialism Yoni.

[Yonivore]

Building a virtual city-state and a Imperial Place to Duyba in the heart of Baghdad that even Saddam would envy qualifies as imperialism Yoni.

Yeah, that would explain why Iraq is cutting oil deals with China.

You're an idiot.

[Nbadan]

Yeah, that would explain why Iraq is cutting oil deals with China.

You're an idiot.

Globalist don't care who they sell too, even communist. It's American blood being spilt to pump that oil out of the ground.

[Yonivore]

Globalist don't care who they sell too, even communist. It's American blood being spilt to pump that oil out of the ground.

You've got a conspiracy to fit any situation, don't you?

[Nbadan]

You've got a conspiracy to fit any situation, don't you?

For the first time ever we have a globalist army of mercinaries fighting in Iraq, but yeah, it's all a leftist conspiracy.

[Yonivore]

For the first time ever we have a globalist army of mercinaries fighting in Iraq, but yeah, it's all a leftist conspiracy.

Well, it's some kind of whack-a-doo conspiracy.