More British Muslims Support Terror?

An advisor to the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mr. Haras Rafiq, has told Scotland Yard that one in 11 British Muslims, or nine percent, “proactively support terrorism.” That’s according the  London Daily Mail.

If accurate, that’s an increase in the number of terror sympathizers who responded to a London Times poll in 2005.

Nine percent might sound small, but there are an estimated 1.6 million Muslims in the UK, and nine percent of that is about 144,000 people supporting terrorism.

The London Times previously reported that a quarter of terrorism suspects were asylum seekers in Britain.  It recounts the tale of one convicted terrorist who entered Britain claiming to be “an Iraqi fleeing persecution. In reality, he had come from the Netherlands where he had shared a flat with other extremists.”

But there’s hope for Britain when a man like Haras Rafiq is advising the British government.  I met Rafiq, who is a very pro-western, pro-democracy, Sufi Muslim, in London after the failed plot to blow up transatlantic jets. He told me “One of my biggest concerns is when middle England wakes up and decides enough is enough. We don’t like Muslims. We don’t like Islam and we don’t want that anymore in our country.”