http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/breaking_news/12156724.htmPosted on Sun, Jul. 17, 2005
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One young man's concern on extremism
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SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
Associated Press
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LEEDS, England - Nineeteen-year-old Fazel, a British-born Muslim who is angry about his "immoral" surroundings, seems ripe for the picking by the recruiters of Islamic extremism. "I would go if they approached me," he says.
"I want to get away from here. I don't have a job. I want to learn everything about Islam," said Fazel, who refused to divulge his last name during an interview Saturday a mosque here. His remarks suggested he hoped to find his way to a Muslim country where he could further study the religion and develop his beliefs.
Like three of the four named suspects in the July 7 suicide bombings in London, Fazel was born in Leeds. His parents were from the Pakistan-controlled portion of disputed Kashmir. Three of the four bombers also had Pakistani parents. The fourth alleged attacker was born in Jamaica but converted to Islam while growing up in Luton, north of London.
Islamic radicals inside the British Muslim community who are searching for men to become suicide attackers or foot soldiers in the global jihad are thought to recruit disaffected young men like Fazel, sending them for religious or military training in Islamic countries.
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He denounced, however, Prime Minister Tony Blair's characterization that the bombers were inspired by an "evil ideology."
"The evil programs on TV, the music, the literature, the magazines ... are all responsible for the terrorist attacks. People are becoming rebellious because they are against fornication, gambling, alcohol."
"Until they get rid of Eminem and Marilyn Manson, they can't get rid of our preachers," he said.
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