The Council on American Islamic Relations (along with the University of South Florida's Muslim Student Association) yesterday sponsored a talk by Yvonne Ridley, the British journalist who famously converted to the Taliban's extremist brand of Islam. At the talk, as reported in the school paper, The Oracle, Ridley told how before her conversion, she had bought into the "Bush-Blair propaganda" of the Taliban being "the most brutal, evil regime in the world." But the regime treated her "with dignity and respect." In her new incarnation, she is not "entirely convinced that Al-Qaeda, as an entity, actually exists." and Abu Hamza, the hooked Islamist who praises the 9/11 hijackers, she finds "sweet."
Ridley travels the world, sometimes at CAIR's behest, spreading a Taliban-style version of Islam. If it is still needed, CAIR's sponsoring her points again to that organization's nature. (March 31, 2004)
April 1, 2004 update: The United Muslims Association of Florida, Tampa Bay Area Chapter announces today (in less than perfect English) that "CAIR is making copies of Yvonne.s story onto audio tapes that will be sold," further linking it to her.
