It’s been reported in England and the U.S. in recent days that two years before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to blow up Flight 253, the college Islamic Society of which he was president organized a “War on Terror Week.”
But the poster from that University College London event, which has a corner notation “Approved by Umar Farook,” has not been in circulation. Check it out below.
Set on the background of a picture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the poster advertises talks and screenings on torture, Gitmo, and “jihad vs. terrorism.” George Galloway, the outspoken British politician, reportedly canceled and did not speak at the 2007 event.
An Islamic Society news Web site reported in 2007 that the War on Terror Week was a success. “The audience got involved with a good mixture of Muslim and Non-Muslim attendees asking tough questions of the speakers.”
The New York Times, in an article on Abdulmutallab’s time in Britain, reported:
“Friends, relatives, a teacher and fellow Muslim students say they cannot point to a trigger moment in recent years in which an amiable and privileged young man, devout if also disaffected, aspired to mass murder.”