Now why would a Welsh grandfather end up gun-smuggling in Afghanistan? Well, he was a convert to Islam. Yet somehow all the peaceful teachings of the religion that we keep hearing so much about don’t seem to have had much of an effect on him.
The problem of the radicalization of converts is ongoing. Some analysts argue that they join jihad groups because of their relative ignorance of the Qur’an and Islam in general; they are, in other words, easily misled. Others point out that they come to the Qur’an and Islam without cultural baggage and preconceptions, and are in a better position to evaluate Salafi claims to represent “true Islam.” In that case, the fact that any of them at all join jihad groups should be pondered carefully by government and law enforcement officials.
I doubt they are doing so.
“Grandad held for gun-smuggling,” from icWales, with thanks to Twostellas:
A WELSH grandfather has been arrested on suspicion of gun smuggling in Afghanistan.
It was revealed yesterday that electrician Peter Eaton, 52, was arrested on October 12, and has been in Kabul prison ever since.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed last night the father-of-three from Hakin, near Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, was being held, “on suspicion of weapons smuggling offences.”…
Mr Eaton converted to Islam after meeting his Samoan wife-to-be, a Red Cross translator, while working in Kuwait after the first Gulf War.
He has also worked in Bosnia, and has spent much of the past decade abroad, although he has visited the Milford Haven area, where he owns several properties, up to four times a year.