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dreamer_easyFred Nile's colour glossy, "Aussie Values versus Radical Islam", shows a picture of two women wearing burkas with the caption: "Innocent Muslim woman or suicide bomber? Britain's most wanted cop killer Mustaf Jama fled England dressed in a burka and using his sister's passport. Political correctness meant that no-one asked the fugitive to remove his veil for an identity check." (my emphasis)
Jama is wanted in connection with a robbery and murder, and as far as I've been able to find out, has nothing whatsoever to do with suicide bombing, radical Islam, or terrorism of any kind. He's thought to have fled the UK - not wearing a burka, but a niqab, which covers the face except for the eyes.
More to the point, the claim that "political correctness" prevented his detection is not true. Reports in last December's Telegraph make it clear that the real problem was lax airport security. A bombing suspect also escaped last year, despite a police bulletin - and without the benefit of transvestism. Immigration checks of the majority of outgoing passengers, which included lifting the veil as a matter of course, had been dropped for cost reasons, not to avoid offending anyone's sensibilities. These checks ought to have been reinstated in response to the police bulletin about Jama, but were not.
The burka is a weird thing for Fred to be picking on anyway. Are there actually any women in Australia who wear it? (ETA: Apparently there are some; I've never seen one myself.) Fred claims that "hiding deadly weapons is made much easier for terrorists if they wear such clothing", although he doesn't mention any such incident, and I can't think of one.
ETA: It must be remembered that the whole Jama-in-a-veil story is speculation. In fact, Reuters quoted a police officer: "He could have been wearing a pantomime horse outfit as well. But until we get him, we won't know for sure."
Jama is wanted in connection with a robbery and murder, and as far as I've been able to find out, has nothing whatsoever to do with suicide bombing, radical Islam, or terrorism of any kind. He's thought to have fled the UK - not wearing a burka, but a niqab, which covers the face except for the eyes.
More to the point, the claim that "political correctness" prevented his detection is not true. Reports in last December's Telegraph make it clear that the real problem was lax airport security. A bombing suspect also escaped last year, despite a police bulletin - and without the benefit of transvestism. Immigration checks of the majority of outgoing passengers, which included lifting the veil as a matter of course, had been dropped for cost reasons, not to avoid offending anyone's sensibilities. These checks ought to have been reinstated in response to the police bulletin about Jama, but were not.
The burka is a weird thing for Fred to be picking on anyway. Are there actually any women in Australia who wear it? (ETA: Apparently there are some; I've never seen one myself.) Fred claims that "hiding deadly weapons is made much easier for terrorists if they wear such clothing", although he doesn't mention any such incident, and I can't think of one.
ETA: It must be remembered that the whole Jama-in-a-veil story is speculation. In fact, Reuters quoted a police officer: "He could have been wearing a pantomime horse outfit as well. But until we get him, we won't know for sure."
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 02:56 pm (UTC)That sounds like a Monty Python sketch.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 03:57 pm (UTC)Do you think secretly he wants us all to go naked?
no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 04:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 10:23 pm (UTC)What does surprise me is not only did the British Customs miss Java, they also don't have tapes of him passing thru an airport?
no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 10:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 07:02 am (UTC)Jack: "You don't want to know..."
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 08:05 am (UTC)Generally speaking though it's a very small minority who wear the full burqa, most practising Muslim women seem to go for some variation on the headscarf, if that.
Dear god I hate that man
Date: 2007-03-13 08:28 am (UTC)Re: Dear god I hate that man
Date: 2007-03-13 10:29 am (UTC)