The BBC paid for a paintball trip that included men now accused of training Islamic extremists for terrorism. The British television network included the activity in its "Don't Panic, I'm Islamic" reality series that poked fun at Western Islamophobia. In this case, however, the "joke" is on the Beeb.
Wacky Islamic terrorist fun fer sure! The head fun lover was one Mohammed Hamid who referred to himself as Osama bin London. Even better,
After the bombing, the BBC didn't bother to go to the police with the information, even after Hamid confirmed his association with the two perpetrators. This decision got made at the highest levels of the BBC. The network management decided to withhold information from a national-security investigation because, and I quote, "“I got the sense that he was already talking to the police." One of the biggest news organizations in the world couldn't just ask whether Hamid had gone to the police, or advise him to do so? "I don’t think it’s my obligation to tell another adult that he should go to the police.”
No word on which planet the BBC executives beamed down from and as usual the joke is on us.
