How did these converts to Islam so spectacularly misunderstanding their new, peaceful religion? In any case, don't be concerned. I am sure that Ahmed Rehab of Hamas-linked CAIR is hard at work right now, on his way to London to put up a few of his edgy new jihad-is-really-all-about-riding-the-ferris-wheel bus ads, and they will fix things right up. "Dart, Alom and Mahmood plead guilty to terror charges," by Dominic Casciani for the BBC, March 15 (thanks to Mick):
Three British men have pleaded guilty to planning to carry out a terrorist attack overseas.One of the men used to be a police community support officer and another was a recent convert to Islam.
Richard Dart, Jahangir Alom and Imran Mahmood all pleaded guilty at a hearing at the Old Bailey ahead of their expected trial.
They were arrested in London weeks before the Olympic Games in July 2012. They will be sentenced later.
The three men were charged last year with engaging in preparation for acts of terrorism by travelling to Pakistan for training between July 2010 and July 2012 and by "advising and counselling" acts of terrorism by providing information about how to go to the country for the same purpose.
'Completely misguided'
Alom, 26, of Stratford in East London, used to be a police community support officer.
Using the name Abu Khalid, he appeared in a video posted on YouTube to talk about why he left the job.
"Before I was practicing, I used to be in the Met police. My profession was a Police Community Support Officer," he says.
"I was kind of misguided, completely misguided. I didn't know what Islam was at the time and I used to support police officers on the frontline and carry out Section 44 Terrorism Stops [a form of stop and search].
"I used to implement the kuffar [unbeliever's] law on the streets of London and I used to support the kuffar regime."
In the video, he says he became a PCSO to help his community, Muslim or not, and had hoped to climb up the police career ladder to become a chief inspector.
Asked why he left the police, he says that the decision came after he met a number of "brothers" who taught him the true path.
They convinced him that it was sinful to be in the police, despite leading scholars saying different.
'Foolish people'
His co-defendant Richard Dart is a 30-year-old white convert from Dorset who moved to London.
His step-brother made a BBC documentary in which he explored why Dart had turned to a radical interpretation of Islam and had taken the name Salahuddin al-Britani.
After moving to London he briefly worked as a security guard for the BBC.
In one incident in the film, Dart is seen on a megaphone at a protest in Barking, East London, as the 1st Battalion Royal Anglians return from Afghanistan.
"When are people going to wake up," he said. "You foolish people risk your life… misguide you into the hell fire… educate yourself… you foolish people."
In another incident, he accused football fans of leading "degenerate lifestyles" and of enslaving themselves to the devil.
Dart also appeared at events in London in which he said he was a representative of Muslims Against Crusades.
The home secretary subsequently banned the group in November 2011, saying that it was the latest incarnation of a group already on a list of proscribed terrorist organisations.
The leading public figure in the group before its ban was Anjem Choudary. He converted Dart and has appeared at the same events as him.
No evidence has been presented in court as to how Dart and his co-accused were recruited to commit the offences to which they have pleaded guilty - and Mr Choudary said he had no idea either.
"I have a responsibility towards my Muslim brothers and sisters," he told the BBC.
"But that does not mean we are training anyone, that we are sending anyone abroad to fight. We don't have any military colleges where someone is learning how to make bombs.
"If someone is doing anything like that - and I don't think Salahuddin and Jahangir are, by the way - they are doing it behind the scenes, they are not doing it from encouragement by us."
'Bomb plot'
Alom's wife, Ruksana Begum, previously pleaded guilty to possession of information likely to be useful to a terrorist by having a memory card carrying copies of a jihadist magazine, Inspire.
The publication - aimed at English-speakers - included information about using handguns and remote detonation of explosives....
A jihadist magazine talking about handguns and explosives? Haven't they seen the Hamas-linked CAIR billboards?
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You really couldn't make this up.