UK Telegraph vs. The Washington Post on roots of jihad

Post lifted from Jihad Watch

The Unalienable Right blog (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist) makes an important point by comparing a story from the Washington Post to one from the Telegraph:

From the Washington Post:

Young Muslim Rage Takes Root in Britain, Unemployment, Foreign Policy Fuel Extremism

"...Britain has become an incubator for violent Islamic extremism, fueled by disenchantment at home and growing rage about events abroad, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." .... In one of Europe's largest Muslim communities, young men face a lack of jobs, poor educational achievement and discrimination in a highly class-oriented culture. Prime Minister Tony Blair is the most outspoken ally of President Bush, and their policies in Iraq and Afghanistan are seen by many Muslims as aimed at Islam.

But from the UK Telegraph, contrast the article headlined "University students at centre of terror plots":

The recruitment of Muslim students at British universities to take part in terrorist attacks is at the heart of the alleged plot to blow up passenger jets, it is feared. A dossier of extremist Islamic literature has been uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph on the campus of a north London university, one of whose students has suspected links to the alleged terrorist attack. Waheed Zaman, 22, a bio-chemistry student and the president of the Islamic Society at London Metropolitan University, was one of 24 people arrested last week. Material found at two portable buildings used by the society includes documents advocating jihad and a pamphlet on how to deal with approaches from the security services....

Extremist Muslim groups had been detected at more than 20 institutions, both former polytechnics and long-established universities, over the past 15 years, Prof Glees said.... According to security sources, "several" of the 23 people still in custody over the alleged plot last week are suspected of links to universities, appearing to confirm growing fears that campuses are providing Britain's biggest security threat.

So which is it? Are they poor and uneducated, or relatively well-off university students? As the Unalienable Right blog goes on to point out, the Post is simply repeating the old poverty-causes-jihad myth, and if the facts are otherwise, so much the worse for the facts.




Bungling British bureaucracy again: "Police are investigating how a 12-year-old boy with neither a passport nor a boarding pass was able to walk on to an international flight at Gatwick at a time when security staff were supposed to be on high alert. The child, who had run away from a care home, boarded a plane bound for Portugal early on Monday, even though security had been raised amid fears of a terrorist attack".