Our English correspondent Seneca III sent us the tip for this article, and included the following note:
This is odd, and I say odd because in a long (mostly military) life I have never before seen a case of AWOL reported by the BBC, or commented on in this way by the Met, and the wording of the statement does strike me as odd.
AWOLs are not uncommon and never have been. I will keep an eye on this.
So what makes this absconder, Mehmet Ali Osman, different from any other soldier who decides to do a runner for a couple of weeks? What was his assigned duty in the Modern Multicultural Royal Army? He wasn’t by any chance in Signals Intelligence, was he?
In any case, the authorities thought his going AWOL was important enough to report it to the BBC. Very interesting indeed.
Seneca III also reminds us that Mehmet is a Turkish form of Mohammed, which gives this case a Mohammed Coefficient of 100%.
Here’s the story from the BBC:
Serving UK Soldier Vanishes From London
A serving British soldier has gone missing from south London, the Metropolitan Police has said.
Mehmet Ali Osman, 25, was last seen by his family at an address in Southwark on 31 May.
The soldier was due to report for duty at Catterick army base in North Yorkshire but did not turn up.
Police think he may have travelled to an address in Fife before going missing again.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Mehmet never kept his appointment. His family and police are now very concerned for his welfare.”
Mr Osman is about 5ft 11ins tall and of proportionate, muscular build.
An MoD spokesman said: “We can confirm we are aware he has been Awol but we don’t have anything else to add.”
For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.
12 comments:
they already have clandestine migration operations.. an event is in progress..
that's the basic jist I get from this post..
London -> Yorkshire -> Fife -> ???
This is slightly worrying!
Just a small point, and a finickity one I know, but there is no such thing as the "Royal Army".
We have a Royal Air Force, and a Royal Navy (if you can call it a Navy any more), but the "British Army" is formed of corps and regiments only some of which have the designation "Royal".
Though with savage cuts the British Armed Forces expected, that can only compund ones we've had already, this point is rapidly going to become moot as we are all subsumed into a monolithic EU defence force.
Pierre,
Yes, I know that. I was trying to be facetious -- that's why I preceded it with "Modern Multicultural". But I guess that didn't come across.
I must learn to keep my little jokes to myself...
Also, it is unlikely he was involved in spooky type work because of the base cited. If it had been Chicksands, that would have been different.
I think that if there is an Islamic dimension to his disappearance, which is of concern to the authorities, it is much more likely to be of this tenor:
Islamic extremist gang 'plotted to kidnap British Muslim soldier and behead him like a pig'
About 3 to 4 years ago, there was an incident of a Muslim-American soldier going AWOL from his deployment in Iraq, and I believe he went to Syria or Lebanon, then returned and gave a suspicious explanation for his disappearance.
Not remembering any of the details, I'd have a difficult time Googling it. What I do remember is that Hugh Fitzgerald of Jihad Watch mentioned that case rather frequently, as illustrative of the larger problem of our inability to trust Muslim citizens of our own Western countries serving in our armies.
@Hesperado
You mean like the Muslim Army shrink in Texas who shot all those people yelling "alluha akbar!"?
To this day the authorities have no clue as to the motive. What a joke.
cumpa_29, I think Hesperado is referring to an older case . . .that of Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun who surfaced in Lebanon after purported kidnapping then charged with desertion (2004-05)
@heroyalwhyness,
I should have been more precise. I was merely refering to hesperado's comment on the danger of muslim citizens serving in western armies.
Thanks herroyalwhyness, that's the guy.
As Hugh Fitzgerald wrote:
See the record of Muslim soldiers, for example, including [American] Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who killed two officers and wounded many others out of his solidarity with Islam, and Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, who deserted not once but twice and is now apparently living back in Lebanon, and a host of other examples -- this does not exactly bring to mind the display of loyalty and bravery of the Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd regiment, does it?
(And that was in 2005, before Ft. Hood.)
cumpa,
If I had my druthers, of course, I wouldn't allow any Muslims in the West at all, let alone the US Military...
@Hesperado
agreed
Copied from Islam Q&A:
“Praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds. Military matters are problematic, because they involve helping these kuffaar to wage war against the Muslims or those who have entered into a treaty with the Muslims. If no such thing is involved, it may be advantageous for Muslims to work in these armies so as to learn their secrets and be aware of their potential evil. In other words, if working in these armies could be of benefit, it may be permissible, otherwise it is not allowed.”
"Whoever fights to make the word of Allaah supreme and to protect the Muslims and their lands from the enemy, is fighting for the sake of Allaah, and if he is killed he is a shaheed (martyr). What counts is the aim and intention. You can have an intention which is different from the intention of the army, such as intending to make the word of Allaah supreme in your jihaad (so long as it is permissible, according to sharee’ah, to fight the group against whom you are fighting), even if others have different intentions, such as fighting for their country. "
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