“Providing haven for terrorists is apparently a small price for the London glitterati to pay for the advantage of feeling proud of their multiculturalism. Their children are sheltered from the massive influx of Muslims into some schools, and their own neighborhoods and social services are unaffected by the pressures created by an unassimilated immigrant population.

“And continued belief in multiculturalism by the elites suits many Muslims just fine. Unlike immigrants who come to America in pursuit of the American dream, many Muslims come to Britain and other European countries determined not to assimilate into cultures they despise. They insist that neither British food is served, nor traditional British tolerance practiced, in the schools their children attend, demands the authorities find reasonable….

“Britain, with the wreckage of 7/7 only recently cleared, even now is willing to allow Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Muslim cleric who defends suicide bombings, to enter the country…. Al-Qaradawi’s reception on his last visit tells us a great deal about the differences between Britain and the United States. London mayor Ken Livingstone, a hard-left politician who blames the 7/7 bombings on U.S.-U.K. foreign policy, embraced al-Qaradawi, told him that he is ‘truly, truly welcome’, hailed him as a ‘leading progressive Muslim’, and denounced al-Qaradawi’s critics for fanning the flames of ‘Islamophobia’.”

Irwin Stelzer of the Sunday Times provides the US Right with a portrait of Britain as a society run by woolly liberals unwilling to wage a sufficiently vigorous “war on terror”.

Weekly Standard, 1 August 2005