Muslim Contact Unit
Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism unit set up in 2002 the wake of the September 11 attacks to 'thwart extremist attempts to recruit young British Muslims to violent jihad, by working with Islamic communities.' Similar units were established by other police forces after the 7/7 bombings of July 2005. [1]
Neocon attacks
The Muslim Contact Unit has been heavily criticised by neoconservatives because of its approach to engaging with Islamic communities.
- Given such a challenge to official orthodoxy there has been opposition to the Muslim Contact Unit's approach in both the police and government - and reportedly pressure for it to be wound down or disbanded. Its work has been singled out for attack by Dean Godson, research director of Policy Exchange, the Tory-linked thinktank whose recent research on extremist literature in British mosques was found to have been based on faked material. The unit has, Godson argued, been suffering from "ideological Stockholm syndrome". [2]
People
- Bob Lambert - Former head of the unit.
Notes
- ↑ Special Branch to track Muslims across UK, by Vikram Dodd, Guardian, 20 July 2005.
- ↑ We need to listen to the man from special branch, by Seamus Milne, Guardian, 14 February 2008.
