BRITS ON THE CASE – AT 7:18 P.M. ET:  No sooner is it revealed that the airline bomber attended London University – and not as a soccer cheerleader – that Brit reporters are on the case.  Here, London's Telegraph reveals what goes on at that institution of lower learning:

American public opinion will be quick to seize on this incident as yet more evidence that British universities, especially those based in the capital, are the natural habitat of potentially dangerous extremists.

As the Telegraph reported in September, the British authorities are still pursuing charges against Waheed Zaman, the former president of the Islamic Society at London Metropolitan University, whose trial for conspiracy for murder ended in a hung jury at Woolwich Crown Court.

And the beat goes on:

A Telegraph report three years ago established that London Metropolitan University had been extremely careless, to put it mildly, about providing facilities for jihadists.

More beats:

Earlier this month, Queen Mary college at London University was forced to withdraw an invitation to a spokesman for the Islamist group Hitzb ut Tahrir to address students.

Meanwhile, London University’s School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) continues to attract accusations that it provides a platform for extremists.

Finally:

I’m not accusing the university’s governing body of sympathising with terrorists, but many of its academics are knee-jerk anti-Americans who are more worried about causing offence to Muslim students than in keeping a watchful eye on political extremism. (SOAS is particularly shameless in this respect.) If, as seems likely, the Detroit incident is an example of a London University alumnus involved in Islamist terrorism, I bet you it isn’t the last.

COMMENT:  Very brave of this British writer to write that column.  It won't get him any party invitations from the London elite, but it will get him respect from people who admire decency.

December 26, 2009