NYT: Militant Imams Under Scrutiny Across Europe

[DeepModem Mom]

Militant Imams Under Scrutiny Across Europe
By DON VAN NATTA Jr.
and LOWELL BERGMAN

Published: January 25, 2005


LONDON, Jan. 24 - In nightly sermons broadcast on the Internet, Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad, a 46-year-old Syrian-born cleric, has urged young Muslim men all over the world to support the Iraq insurgency on the front line of "the global jihad," investigators say.

He struck a similarly defiant tone this month at a rally attended by 500 people at a central London meeting hall, where a giant screen behind him showed images of the World Trade Center falling. "Allah akbar!" - "God is great" - some audience members shouted at the images.

After eavesdropping for months on his nightly praise of the Sept. 11 hijackers and of suicide bombings, Scotland Yard said last week that it was investigating Sheik Omar, the leader of Al Muhajiroun, Britain's largest Muslim group, and officials are exploring whether they can deport him. "We're fed up with him," said a senior British official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He needs to be stopped, or he needs to go."

The more aggressive approach toward Sheik Omar is part of an increasing effort to monitor and restrict militant imams in Britain and across Europe. Authorities have stepped up surveillance of militant mosques in several countries, including Germany and France. French officials deported an imam this month after officials said he was inspiring men to join the jihad.

One major concern, officials say, is that more heated religious rhetoric is encouraging young men to leave home to fight in Iraq....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/international/europe/25imams.html?hp&ex=1106715600&en=ec4624f04036c6ee&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[FlemingsGhost]

1. And yet, Blair is free to lie his ass off to help slaughter Iraqis.

Anyone challenging or investigating him? Anyone that lives to tell the story, of course.