That's good. They can use that anti-cult legislation to round up some Scientologists, too.

Just wondering how useful any comments Juan Cole has to make may be in the regard, given that he wrote a commentary immediately following the bombings in which he categorically denied that British Asians could possibly be involved.

Cole's analysis was not wrong per se. Rereading his comments he correctly focused on the take and tone of the probably real claim by the "al-Qaeda in Europe"

Precisely he said
Britain's South Asian Muslim community is almost certainly not the origin of this attack. The statement celebrated Arabness or `urubah along with Islam. No Bangladeshi-Briton or Pakistani-Briton wrote that.

He's right, it was a very Arab statement.

The statement was probably not written by a second-generation Arab Briton or even by a long-term, integrated Arab Briton resident.

That is probably correct too.

Here is where he went wrong:
So, if the statement is a guide to the identity of the attackers, this bombing could not have emanated from the British Muslim community.

Of course it depends on how strongly one reads "emanated." All in all it was an overstatement, not an incorrect analysis of the content of that note - I agree with his sense - but an overreading of the menaing of the note. A mistake, but not one driven by complete misjudgement.

Certainly given the recent leads pointing to an Egyptian radical as the possible/probable "brain" one could argue the attack "emanated" or was motivated by an outsider brainwashing four donkeys.

Complex, I see no reason to attack Cole over what was an understandable mis (or rather over)reading of the evidence.

Well, BBC is currently saying a fifth suspect may have planned the attacks and then left the UK, and law enforcement is also looking for an Egyptian chemistry student:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4683555.stm

Something that struck me in Juan Cole's analysis:

One important point to note here is that satellite channels like Zee TV and B4U concentrate on South Asian popular culture and Mumbai [Bombay] films, with lots of dancing and flirting, and if they are popular it shows that a lot of the community is not interested in Muslim fundamentalism.

Bit of an odd generalization to make about British Pakistanis, simply on the basis of their viewing habits. ZeeTV et al have a lot of South Asian focused news in addition to standard Bollywood fare. Also important to note that Pakistani soap operas and movies are often different in tone and substance. From my own observation (anecdotal, naturally) younger Pakistanis can be surprisingly devout and will often make comments about their extremely strict parents or relatives back home. Of course, when considering subcon Muslims, there is a pretty broad spectrum when it comes to adherence, integration, dress style, etc. Some are very much in touch with mainstream Indian culture (and even some Hindu traditions), others not so much.

And hey, if you come to Beirut and look at all the billboards up around town (or see what's broadcast on Lebanese teevee), you'd think there was no way any kind of conservative Islamic party would have much influence in this country.

But gosh, people are not all the same.