UK police: Restaurant blast suspect a Muslim convert

I. UK police: Restaurant blast suspect a Muslim convert

May 23, 2008

By Associated Press London

The Jerusalem Post

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211434087731&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

II. Summary

On Thursday, May 22, a man was Nicky Reilly was arrested right after he was injured in the face by a small explosion in a restaurant that he preceded into right before the event. The man had a history of a mental illness and was reported as being a recent Muslim convert. It is said that he was taken advantage of by terrorists due to his new state in the Islamic community.

III. Reactions

A) This article relates to the AP World History theme of cultural, religious, and intellectual developments. Reilly, changing his faith, allowed him to be associated with a small group of Muslims that use violence and terrorism to get their points across. Obviously, not all Muslims follow this way of life, and Reilly had a choice not to. His decision to convert could have ended in happiness but he was taken advantage of.

B) The cities of the United Kingdom have said to have had many terrorist-related arrests since September 11, 2001. Many of these attacks have been very serious like the suicide bombings in 2005 that killed 52. A large number of terrorist acts harmed the UK during the 1990s as well as previous attacks throughout the World Wars. Although these attacks were present throughout the 20^th century, the groups have changed now in the early 21^st century.

C) The author of this article is unknown individual but is listed as a group.

D) The Associated Press does not have a biased view point of this issue as they seem to be just reporting the incident in a very factual way. There are some quotes from only one side of the story which does only give one perspective but little influence one the issue can be cause by it.

E) To gain a full perspective on the article, you must understand that this man had a mental disorder that could’ve changed his overall decision making. Information from his doctors about his problem or his family could show if he should have been allowed to be on his own. It would also be helpful to find out his previous faith to see if he had bad intentions on his conversion or he just wasn’t supportive of his previous faith.

F) I think that this man was taken advantage of be a group that should be blamed, not Reilly. He was used as their puppet like any suicide bomber would be used as. The United Kingdom seems to be a hot spot for terrorist attacks and it must be very scary to go out to work everyday and not know if can trust the guy next to you on the train.