Angry in the Great White North

From the News Telegraph on July 20:

Ken Livingstone yesterday blamed western policies for contributing to the spread of the extremist beliefs that inspired the London bombers. The mayor of London highlighted the West's role in the creation of al-Qa'eda by saying: "We created these people. We built them up. We funded them."

Mr Livingstone also defended Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the controversial cleric who visited London at his invitation last year and who had been scheduled to attend a conference in Manchester next month.

He said Mr al-Qaradawi was a "leading progressive Muslim" who was not actually going to the conference and who had condemned the London attacks.

Asked about Mr al-Qaradawi's apparent support for Palestinian suicide bombers, Mr Livingstone said the cleric's views had been misreported.

Misreported? Boy, first 9/11 and 7/7 are the fault of the West, and now we can't even quote Muslims accurately.

Well, fortunately, yesterday al-Qaradawi chose to clarify his statements that were misreported:

A controversial Islamic scholar who is backed by London Mayor Ken Livingstone has said it is a duty of Muslims in Iraq to become suicide bombers.

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, speaking at a conference of Islamic scholars in Egypt last Monday, criticised a fellow scholar who said the Koran categorically forbids suicide but an individual has the right to take such action.

Al-Qaradawi said: 'I think that saying it is a legitimate right in Palestine and Iraq is not enough because a right is something that can be relinquished. It is a duty..."

So let's be clear. Not only do Muslims in Israel and Iraq have the right to detonate a car packed with explosives in and around women an children in order to kill as many Israelis and Americans as possible, they must do so?

I wonder if Ken Livingstine regrets going to bat for al-Qaradawi:

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has threatened to take the British government to court if it banned moderate Muslim scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi from entering the country under the new controversial terror guidelines.

"If nobody else takes the government to the courts if they banned Dr. Al-Qaradawi, I would," Livingstone told BBC radio on Wednesday, August 24, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).

"I don't think he should be banned. He has opposed all acts of terrorism by Al-Qaeda around the world. He urged Arabs to donate blood after September 11," added Livingstone, a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party.

Livingstone warned the governments against exploiting the new guidelines against the likes of Qaradawi who support the Palestinians' legitimate resistance against the Israeli occupation of their land.

"…there will be very few Muslim scholars or leaders that will ever be admitted to Britain because the vast majority of Muslims identify with the struggle of the Palestinian people".

The mayor of London went on: "I see real parallels between what happens in Israel-Palestine today with the bombing campaign run by the ANC (African National Congress) against the white apartheid regime 20 years ago in South Africa."

Sounds like the UK government has a case to deport Ken Livingstone. Too bad they can't really do it. On the other hand, the US can add Livingstone, now on record as supporting someone who supports suicide bombers in Iraq who have killed many Americans, to the list of people banned from entering the United States, right beside al-Qaradawi who is already listed.

Makes you realize just how lucky New York was to have Rudy Giuliani at the helm on 9/11.

[Michelle Malkin did a round-up of Livingstone follies just after 7/7]