Drive to Recruit More Muslims to British Armed Forces

Here's a very interesting and disturbing story which I found via Vlad Tepes:

Guardian Post. U.K.
Defence minister urges more British Muslims to join armed forces:

The defence minister, Bob Ainsworth, has appealed to British Muslims to join the armed forces, saying that it was “vitally important that our army, navy and air force are reflective of the hugely diverse society in which we live”.

In an address last night to the Armed Forces Muslim Conference, Ainsworth said the services were a “fundamental and very positive part of British society, and that they need to be a positive part of Muslim society as well”, the Ministry of Defence said today.

His address follows last month’s Royal Anglian Regiment homecoming in Luton at which a group of Muslims protested, prompting angry scenes involving some of those who had been welcoming the return of the troops.

Ainsworth described the protests as acts of extremism which was the “true enemy of our society”.

The minister said that “there is an enemy within, but it isn’t the Muslim community in this country, it is extremism in any and all of its forms”. He went on to say that “it is people who are not prepared to participate in the conversation, who are not prepared to try to change people’s lives, not prepared to use politics, logic, engagement to discuss the wars, but would rather shout abuse, threaten people and at their extreme kill people”.

Political opinion and respect for service of the state needed to be clearly distinguished in the Muslim community, he said. He did not think there needed to be “conflict between being a British Muslim and a serviceman or woman”.

Ainsworth said that from what he knew of the Muslim community in Coventry North East, his parliamentary constituency, “the values that they hold are exactly the same values espoused in the military; duty, sacrifice, serving other people” adding that “there ought to be easy passage into the armed forces for Muslims”.

Imam Asim Hafiz, the Muslim Chaplain to the armed forces, also spoke at the conference. According to the MoD, he said: “It is great that the work and contribution of Muslim service personnel inside and outside the armed forces is being recognised. It is possible to be a British Muslim and to serve our country in the armed forces, and the people here today are testament to that”.

There are about 390 Muslims serving across the armed forces. The first Muslim Civilian Chaplain to the armed forces was appointed in 2005.

My first reaction is that the purpose of the Army is to protect this country and defend its people and values, not be some bizarre social engineering programme.

However, there are potentially slightly more dangerous consequences to this move - what about infiltration and sabotage?

Taking Muslim recruits on their own individual merits is one thing, but a drive of this nature generally leads to lax standards and letting anyone with the right name through then moving Heaven and earth so they pass the course and the targets are met.

Perhaps this story from merely a month ago puts such a notion into perspective:

BRITISH troops in Afghanistan are being killed by Muslim fanatics from the UK who have joined forces with the Taliban.

The radicals have linked up with ­insurgents in Helmand where thousands of British ­troops are fighting on the frontline of the war against terror. Only yesterday it claimed four more soldiers’ lives.

Last week on a visit to Afghanistan, Foreign Secretary David Miliband was shown Taliban bombs containing British-made components. They had either been sent from Britain or brought from the UK by a home-grown recruit.

­Tal­­i­ban fighters with Yorkshire and West Midlands accents have also been heard talking in intercepted communications, according to a security agency briefing. Radicalised young British-born Muslims are known to have been going to Iraq and Afghanistan as “seemingly committed jihadists” to join the insurgencies.

One analyst said British soldiers were ­effectively in a “surreal civil war” being fought thousands of miles from home.

The evidence for British jihadists in Afghanistan is based on radio eavesdropping by British forces, both by troops on the ground and on RAF Nimrods above the war zone.

One senior military source said: “We have been hearing a lot more Punjabi, Urdu and Kashmiri Urdu rather than just Pashtu, so there appears to be more men from other parts of Pakistan fighting with the Taliban than just the Pashtuns who have tribal ­allegiances with the Afghan Pashtuns.

“It is this second group, the Urdu, Punjabi speakers etc, who fall back into English in, for example, Brummie accents. You get the impression that they have been told not to talk in English but sometimes simply can’t help it.”

The former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Brigadier Ed Butler, said: “There are British passport holders who live in the UK who are being found in places such as Kandahar.

“There is a link between Kandahar and urban conurbations in the UK. This is something the military understands but the British public does not.”

Last night Tory MP and former infantry officer Patrick Mercer, chairman of the ­Commons counter terrorism sub committee, said: “I am aware from the troops I have ­spoken to that there are British-born insurgents working and fighting with the Taliban."

What better way for a Jihadist to make his mark than to join up then plant a bomb on a transport plane, or start shooting in the main camp when everyone is relaxed and off guard?

It simply does not bear thinking about, but it proves one thing; the government cares far more about appearing tolerant and making sure everyone else is than it does the lives of British soldiers.