As Middle-East expert Daniel Pipes reported recently, "British-based terrorists have carried out operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Israel, Morocco, Russia, Spain, and America. Many governments -- Jordanian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Spanish, French, and American -- have protested London's refusal to shut down its Islamist terrorist infrastructure or extradite wanted operatives." So why has Great Britain gone wobbly in cracking down on radical Islamists in its midst? Pipes gives some insight in describing an incident at Denbigh High School in Luton, a town 30 miles outside London -- a site where Tuesday police found a car loaded with explosives that may be related to the London bombings.
"Denbigh," writes Pipes, "has a student population that is about 80 percent Muslim. Years ago, it accommodated the sartorial needs of their faith and heritage, including a female student uniform made up of the Pakistani shalwar kameez trousers, a jerkin top, and hijab head covering. But when a teenager of Bangladeshi origins, Shabina Begum, insisted in 2004 on wearing a jilbab, which covers the entire body except for the face and hands, Denbigh administrators said no."
The case ended up in court, and Ms. Begum won the right to wear the jilbab, hailed at the time as "a victory for all Muslims who wish to preserve their identity and values despite prejudice and bigotry" by her lawyer at the appellate level -- none other than Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife, Cherie Booth.
Britons seem to have given up on assimilating their Muslim population, with many British elites patting themselves on the back for their tolerance and multiculturalism. Meanwhile, an increasing number of Muslim youth in Great Britain grow more alienated and hostile to their adopted country. Obviously there is a big leap from wearing the jilbab to blowing up trains, but it would be naive not to recognize that a fanatical brand of Islam -- unchallenged and unchecked -- is at the root of both.