"In June 2001 he went on a trip to Afghanistan. A lot of people have done that in their time." - MGOH

"He insists he only went there to get away from a bad circle of acquaintances in London who had led him into drug addiction and to see for himself how the Taliban's strict Islamic regime worked." (Independent)

I'd like to examine the above statements just to see how incredulous they actually are:

- Was Afghanistan a "hot" destination for tourists in the summer of 2001?? I don't think so; countries in the middle of extremely violent civil wars do not make good holiday destinations.

- So a drug addict decides rather commendably to distance himself from a bad circle of acquaintances in London and goes where?? Afghanistan, oh that's right there are some here who believe that there were no drugs in Afghanistan under Taleban rule. This of course is rubbish, under Taleban rule only those loyal to the Taleban were allowed to grow it. Nowadays of course the Taleban don't give the farmers of Afghanistan any choice in the matter they have to grow it or their families get killed.

This will probably turn out like the Tipton Taleban (Former Gitmo inmates) who all pleaded their innocence and spun the story about going out to Pakistan for a wedding then becoming "aid" workers in Afghanistan. The extremely gullible Brits decided to believe them, only later comes the admission that they did attend an Al-Qaeda Training Camp.

One other thing about BM's capture - he was arrested by the Pakistani Authorities - who on balance have probably a greater working knowledge of Al-Qaeda and the Taleban than any other organisation in the world, they undoubtedly have the best contacts. Under pressure to produce evidence of their commitment to the cause, BM, a small fish, and a foreigner to boot was probably sacrificed for the greater good.