In their pursuit of “religious understanding”, the good folks at the University of Pennsylvania have decided to invite Yvonne Ridley, a former journalist for the London Times and convert to Islam, to address students on the topic of Islam. There’s just one problem: Ms. Ridley is has expressed sympathy for the Taliban and is a supporter of suicide bombing, per Militant Islam Monitor:
While the country is fighting a war against terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, the question needs to be asked as to why UK citizen Yvonne Ridley, is being allowed into the United States to speak when she is a known supporter of jailed terrorist leader Abu Hamza Al Masri, who called her to offer his congratulations on her conversion to Islam. Ridley has expressed her support for suicide bombings at a forum which included a member of Al Muhajiroun, (a group which was connected to London subway attacks), and has made it her mission to propagandize on behalf of the Taliban, who inspired her conversion to Islam.Ridley has described jailed terrorist Abu Hamza Al Masri "as a sweet guy" and proudly related that he gave her books on Islam. In an article about her conversion she taunted members of US intelligence agencies as "incompetent spooks" and joked about opening a Madrassah for recruits from my flat in Soho".
Ms. Ridley, as a journalist in Afghanistan, was once held captive by the Taliban. She was so impressed by her captors that she decided to convert, giving new meaning to the term “Stockholm” syndrome:
"...Several days later I was released unharmed on humanitarian grounds on the orders of Mullah Omar, the Taliban's one-eyed spiritual leader. My captors had treated me with courtesy and respect and so, in turn, I kept my word and set out to study their religion."
Ms. Ridley later justified her support for the Taliban by stating that they had received “unfair press.”
If this babe thinks islam and the Taliban are so great, I would expect her to wear a burka and cover her ankles. Does she? Or is her "conversion" really only a political posture?
This woman's views are far more provocative than those of Yusuf Islam, who never made it off the plane onto American soil.
I say provocative because that's how this poor woman seems to get her kicks these days. She's an attention-seeker and wants headlines. Occasionally she gets them.
Like that of many converts, hers is 'look at me' Islam.
I say look away.
3 failed marriages says it all and she has to be a bit of a bone head to try and enter a fundementalist country in disguise. I had a quick look at her website, Effractor you have her spot on. Please US ban her from entering your country.
"UPenn invites Taliban sympathizer to address students"
What’s the big deal! I mean the US did actually invite the Taliban a while back, what’s wrong with sympathisers? (sarcasm)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/west_asia/37021.stm
Its strange that the people here want the US to become more isolated. I remember one of the funniest things ever, Bush giving a speech at the UN. You could actually hear booing from people outside, when are the true Americans going to claim their country back?
The rest of the world is with the true Americans.
http://www.sorryeverybody.com/
Yvonne Al Ridley.
Ho, ho, ho.
Failed journalist - & by that I mean she was never in the running for any top flight gig in that profession, & just had to make her name for herself somehow, someway. Journalism takes more than being a maverick married to a terrorist - you do need a modicum of talent as well.
What better than to achieve fame & notoriety by rejecting her heritage, deleting herself from humanity speaking up for the Taliban?
How else would such a non-entity get to be invited to speak all over the world?
In 1939, if a British National had joined Germany's Nazi Party, we would have dealt with them the only way nations that value their heritage, culture & freedom could & should.
She would have been interned, & if treason could be proved she would be hung.
May the sane days of Great Britain in 1939 come again, & may I live to see the day when all the Ridleys, Pilgers, Sir Iqbals, Livingstones & Galloways are taken from The Tower to Traitors Gate.
ia786, you know as well as I that if the Taliban had not protected OBL they would still be in control of Afghanistan. The article you posted is from 1997 before OBL's wake up call.
Seeing as you are here, perhaps you can give me your take on the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights, I personally find it incompatble with the UDHR and would value your input.
ia786 is correct when he asks, "when are the true Americans going to claim their country back?"
But I think he may sorry when we do. The brainiacs at sorryeverybody look like a very sorry lot to begin with.
>..I would expect her to wear a burka
Not quite - but she does effect particularly ugly (IMHO) full hijab, and the last time I saw her being interviewed on the appeasement channel, something approximating to potato sacking.
I have linked this story before on the subject of Yvonne Ridley but it bears repeating.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/2001review/story/0,1590,624363,00.html
Quote - What did she hope to find when she crossed the border into Afghanistan? She was suffering, she says from a common journalist's problem: 'I wondered: what the hell am I going to write about this week?'
She bristled at the criticism that she was totally irresponsible to cause her mother and daughter such distress, particularly by her lies to them as to where she was.
She's got to make a living somehow, and I don't think the islamic conversion is the career move she expected. Not since she got the sack from Al Jazeera for snitching on her boss's shopping habits at Marks and Spencer.
She is one of the most slimy and repulsive people on Earth - seriously - and i would not be surprised if she ends up blowing herself up in front of some Jews or other kaffirs - she is that deranged and fanatical.
Zico, I remember your story of attending one of her cringingly embarrassing lectures.
Zico, do you have the URL of your story, so I could look at it. I seem to remember thinking that the woman was a loon when she got caught.
ia majority of Americans voted Bush. face it. BTW I dont see Muslims apologising to the world for the death and destruction caused by ur "tiny minority" of extremists.
BTW I'm working with AI on his conspiracy... we'll b needin more volunteers.
IA786-
You are right, it is time for true Americans to take back their country.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation."
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy."
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid.
As a rule, dictatorships guarantee safe streets and terror of the doorbell. In democracy the streets may be unsafe after dark, but the most likely visitor in the early hours will be the milkman.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!
Any doctrine that weakens personal responsibility for judgment and for action helps create the attitudes that welcome and support the totalitarian state.
Life in freedom is not easy, and democracy is not perfect.
If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own.
“I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but the people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take power from them, but to inform them by education”.
“I regret that I have but one life to give for my country”
“I have not yet begun to fight"
“Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”
“Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute”.
Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe delivered a terse one-word reply to a German demand for surrender: "Nuts!"
“If ye love wealth better than liberty and the tranquility of servitude better than the animated contest of freedom, then crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly on you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!
"Give me liberty or give me death!"
“Are you guys ready? Let’s roll.”
Ms. Ridley, as a journalist in Afghanistan, was once held captive by the Taliban. She was so impressed by her captors that she decided to convert, giving new meaning to the term “Stockholm” syndrome:
"...Several days later I was released unharmed on humanitarian grounds on the orders of Mullah Omar, the Taliban's one-eyed spiritual leader. My captors had treated me with courtesy and respect and so, in turn, I kept my word and set out to study their religion."
Ms. Ridley later justified her support for the Taliban by stating that they had received “unfair press.”
I guess both Ms. Ridley, and the UPenn idiots who invited her to speak both missed the part about the Taliban prohibition against females receiving an education or working outside of the home. And doubtless nobody brought this to the attention of the audience.
ia786:
Before you gloat too much over whatever booing Bush received from the peanut gallery that gathered outside of the UN (as you did over the Hitchens - Al-Gallowi debate where the audience was so craven as to applaud that sleazy theiving friend to Saddam and Bashir Al-Assad), I'd like to point out that, as opposed to the groundswell of the anti-Vietnam movement, the turnout around the world to this weekend's anti-regime change protests were absolutely pathetic.
The American public are doubtless concerned and unhappy with the financial and human costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but I suspect they are pretty clear as to the threat militant Islam and its patrons pose to the world, despite all MSM efforts to the contrary. And disgusted to the core by the Michael Moores of the world who would have us believe that the bloodshed in Iraq is about patriots trying to liberate their country from Crusader occupying forces.
Q: Do you think you would have become a Muslim if you had not been captured by the Taleban?
A: I very much doubt it. I think that I would have continued to cover the Middle East as many journalists do without fully understanding Islam. This is too bad since Islam is more a way of life than a religion so journalists should make every attempt to understand it. Had I not had the experience, I probably would have remained a Christian. I have often said that I wore a veil before - a veil of bigotry and prejudice concerning Islam and sadly, I guess that I would probably still be wearing it had it not been for my experience.
Q: What do you think about the way the Western media has written about your experience?
A: The Western media is at a total loss as to how to explain my conversion to Islam. Most critics point to Stockholm Syndrome and say that this is a classic case of that syndrome. But the reality is that I did not bond with my captors. I was abusive toward them, spat at them, and cursed them. The only people I bonded with were the six Christian fundamentalists that I was locked up with in prison in Kabul.
Q: You have spoken about zero-tolerance regarding anti-Islamic attitudes. Please elaborate.
A: There should be zero-tolerance for people who are blatantly Islamophobic. If someone shouts abuse at Muslims because they are Muslims, they should be reported immediately as criminals. Unfortunately too many Muslims in Europe are willing to walk away because they do not want to make waves or make an issue. But they really should, because, I think that people would be shocked by the amount of Islamophobia. We keep hearing about the rise in anti-Semitism but a study by the Islamic Human Rights Commission recently showed that 80 percent of Muslims will at one time or another experience some form of Islamophobia in Britain. Converts are exposed to higher amounts and it is only if we report every single incident that the authorities will take the problem seriously. We have to be well equipped to deal with critics and we have to fight back logically and systemically.
Q: Are you planning a movie based on your book "In the Hands of the Taleban?" What message would you want to convey?
A: A Hollywood director did express an interest in making a film. I had a conversation with him and it became very clear, very quickly, that the film would be total fiction and fantasy and would have demonized the Taleban. I am not a supporter of the Taleban but I do not want to see them being demonized and misunderstood.
Q: Where does the project stand now?
A: It is still being talked about but until I see some papers to sign, I am not taking it too seriously. I would like a faithful portrayal of the events and a faithful portrayal of my treatement which was nothing like Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay. Let's face it: Hollywood is not going to put a glossy image on my captivity. They would hijack the story and turn into nonsense.
Q: What about your other book, "Ticket to Paradise?"
A: It is a fictional thriller. It is based on the events of 9/11 and the characters are fictional. It opens in New York and takes the reader on a journey through London and the Middle East with a soul-searching look at the whole issue of martyrdom operations. It features a Hamas fighter on the front cover and the dedication inside is to the people of Jenin and their martyrs. It has been banned in Israel. I often call for a boycott of Israeli goods so I guess the Israelis are just getting their own back.
Q: Do you think Afghanistan is better off now than before?
A: America has proved that it is not a nation-builder. You have to look at Afghanistan. It is fractured, lawless and unsafe. Even last year there were kidnappings in the capital and attacks by the resistance. Hamid Karzai cannot even trust his own people to protect him. He has to have American bodyguards. There might be a few bits of hope in the capital, but the rest of the country is a mess. I have been back four or five times and wherever I have gone, women and men have said that they long for the security they had under the Taleban. The first time I went back, the prison cell where I was held in Kabul was packed with young girls aged 12-16 whose only crime was that they had run away from home because they didn't want to be second and third wives for men twice their ages. The Taleban stamped out the practice of child brides but it has obviously come back. The country is still in crisis. The only success story concerns the opium fields that have made Afghanistan the number one producer of opium in the world. This translates into heroin on the streets of the West. The pornography industry is thriving - pornography that one would expect to find sold under the counter is now on display in Jalalabad and Kabul. The Americans have given the Afghans liberation in the form of sex, drugs and rock and roll.
Q: How do you think the events unleashed by 9/11 will end? Or will they ever end?
A: I don't think 9/11 was the start of anything; it was the continuation. I wish that the American people had stood back and asked why 9/11 happened. I fear 9/11 is an indication of things to come. Unless American foreign policy changes dramatically, I think that there will unfortunately be more catastrophes. It is a never-ending war.
Q: How has 9/11 changed the world media, especially in the West?
A: The American media has become hysterical. The great days of American investigative journalism have all but vanished. With the exception of people such as Seymour Hersh, the American media is gutless. It is not giving the American people the truth. Thankfully, the European media has not yet sunk so low but there are signs that it could happen.
Q: What about the Muslim media?
A: The Arab world has got to begin accepting journalism as a noble profession. There are many heroic journalists in the Arab world. In fact, I have been pleasantly surprised by the reporting in Saudi Arabia since I arrived. The newspapers seem fairly free, open and robust in their reporting of events.
Q: You performed Haj very soon after accepting Islam. Why?
A: My present job is with the Islam Channel, a European and African satellite TV station based in London with global ambitions. We sent a team of journalists and presenters to cover Haj and I was lucky enough to be among them. I managed to perform Haj as well as do a job. Haj itself was a very moving experience simply because of the huge number of Muslims involved. It is incredible. Anyone who hasn't been on Haj should do so. It makes you aware of your roots as a Muslim. The experience was absolutely unforgettable and deeply moving for me.
One day I was running late for prayer and was going down the winding streets toward the Haram. There were tens of thousands of pilgrims in the streets. It was totally chaotic - everybody was pushing and jostling and bumping in order to get to the Haram on time. Suddenly there was the call to prayer and everybody stopped and out of the chaos, people snapped into little lines straightaway. I thought there wasn't a single army in the world that could have stood to attention so quickly. And I just thought of Allah's army and that I am a part of it. My eyes fill with tears when I think of what I witnessed.
It made me very proud to belong to this huge family. There we all were, many different languages, nationalities and skin colors. One prayer call and we all understood and we were all united. Out of the chaos, a beautiful uniformity. It also made me very sad, because I thought if we could be as strong as that in only a few seconds, then why can't we do the same after prayers as well.
Q: Tell us something about the Islam Channel.
A: It was launched only a few months ago and is very exciting English-language 24-hours-a-day television with a global vision. It covers Europe and West Africa at the moment but it has a global vision and plans to cover the entire world. Its main aim is religious propagation and we have scholars who assist us in producing live English language programs. We also plan to have international television news coverage. Basically we are beating Al-Jazeera at their own game because they have been talking about launching their own English service for a long time. Well, we are doing it. We are not just talking about it. We are also looking at making documentaries and current affairs programs. We have only been up and running a few months and we have already had a stunning success. Just before we left for Haj, we had an Irish woman call us during a live discussion. She was so inspired by the Qur'an, she actually made the shahada - profession of faith - on the telephone; it has been described as the world's first hi-tech shahada. By happy coincidence we had a Muslim religious scholar in the studio and he agreed that it was perfectly acceptable for her to make her shahada by phone. I said to her, "If you are still out there listening, pick up the telephone and do it.' She did. It was an incredibly moving experience. I get quite emotional when I see people making their shahada because it reminds me of when I made mine on June 30, 2003; that was a very emotional experience for me.
Q: You have a daughter. How old is she?
A: She is 12, at boarding school and she is interested in Islam. That would be my greatest achievement next to becoming a Muslim - to see my daughter become a Muslim. She is being brought up by Muslim values. It is very difficult because I have only been a Muslim for 18 months. That means it is very difficult for me to teach her when I still have so much to learn.
Here is the link to the above interview.
http://www.yvonneridley.com/links.asp
Re: the interview transcript Carolyn2 has reprinted
I have made a similar point before, but it bears repeating: the fact that someone can simply pick up a phone and make shahada (ie become Muslim) speaks volumes about this 'religion'.
Also, further to Ridley's reply about the state of Afghanisan, can someone direct her here:
http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/selective_perception.htm
Ms. Ridley: Congratulations on your stupidity.
A Trot in a burka - a true symbol of how low the left has sunk.
I'm waiting for Maddie Bunting to convert next - she seems to be absolutely in thrall to Islam. I think it's something to do with the macho image of their men that sets her a quivering.
Ridley:'Aint Islam wunnerful','just full of gushy love vibes'. Lets hold hands and pray to Allah...
Swami: Yawn...
Has anyone noticed how much this whacko lady looks like Cindy Sheehan? Ridley could easily pass for the traitor's younger sister and on a dark moonbat nite, pass for one another. Just an observation.
Ridley; "I don't want to demonise the Taleban". Says it all really.
Londongirl - From her Observer interview above, post release, pre conversion.
"How well did she know her captors? What were their names?
'Hamid was my translator, Mounir Abdullah was responsible for my security. He had amazingly luxurious, thick, curly hair and was incredibly good-looking. These were things I could still appreciate, even though I was in fear of my life.' She smiles slightly. 'I negotiated with him not to lock my door. He told me I must lock myself in.' But one night she forgot. Mounir was furious. He said: "Anything could have happened to you, there are 50 or 60 men out there."'
More from Ridley...her hajj.
Since the sole purpose of Hajj is the worship of Allah, it would be churlish to
complain of the over enthusiastic pushing and jostling.
I desperately wanted to see the Black Stone but my much more wiser and patient
companion pointed out that to do so would involve some real heavy duty elbowing to get near it.
This would have brought on injuries to other pilgrims so it was better not to, and I agreed.
Although I am going to give it another go when things have quietened down next week.
The fact I lost one shoe and a bag of stones on the way to stone the Shaytan at Mina
was frustrating and a subsequent crush was more than a little scary.
Interesting picture....
http://www.yvonneridley.com/USA/Cross-on-Quran.jpg
Yes, that cross painted on an inanimate object is a terrible, terrible, terrible abuse of human rights!
Why are we nattering on about throat slittings, decapitations, and mass murder of civilians when this is obviously so much more important.
Silly Infidels.
Has anyone noticed how much this whacko lady looks like Cindy Sheehan? Ridley could easily pass for the traitor's younger sister and on a dark moonbat nite, pass for one another. Just an observation.
Posted by: William The Crusader at September 28, 2005 05:30 PM
then they must both look like prince charles
Good grief dms, they do!
ridley: 'The fact I lost one shoe and a bag of stones on the way to stone the Shaytan at Mina'
You still had the rocks in your head. Just use them.
I wish her name wasn't Ridley, since Ridley (Sigourney Weaver) was the epitome of a hero in the Alien series. Why doesn't she change. That's what all the guys do when they 'revert.'
Revert always sounds like 'flip flop' to me which makes sense since you flip then you flop. Flip flop! In this case you flop onto the wacky speaker circuit.
John Sobieski, PI
The Pedestrian Infidel Blog
Her name was Ripley, not Ridley, John... so you can still watch the Alien movies without having to puke!
Granny - wow! sounds like she's into a bit more than religion to me.
Ridley, on the subject of her 12-year old daughter: "That means it is very difficult for me to teach her when I still have so much to learn."
Ahhh...truer words never spoken. =)
And this: "I have often said that I wore a veil before - a veil of bigotry and prejudice concerning Islam and sadly, I guess that I would probably still be wearing it had it not been for my experience."
In a brief moment of surprising candour, she then added directly to the Prophet (Geoff, BBUH): "Of course, now I have to wear a veil, a REAL one, all the time. Well, I guess since I'm living in the West and have actual human rights, I don't really have to. It's more all my 'sisters' in islamic nations who have to wear them or...or risk facing the love of Allah. But I don't worry about them. So the veil I wear now, besides being a physical veil which all my 'sisters' have to wear or risk being beaten or stoned or having acid thrown in their faces, is also basically a veil of ignorance and bigotry. So, same thing. Except now I have a nifty burkha!'
Prophet Geoff