The War on Terror is like any other war in that there are inevitable twists and turns. An enemy at the start of a war may for some remarkable reason be an ally by the gruesome end of the war. The War on Terror began as a war specifically against al-Qaeda, (which had its origins in Western support for fighters in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s), after they had allegedly attacked the United States in September 2001. Lately, in Syria the West was in a de-facto alliance with Islamist groups closely linked with al-Qaeda. It is within this inevitable context that one needs to appreciate the fate of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg since his release from the notorious Caribbean detention camp in 2005.

In February 2014 he was detained and held on remand in Belmarsh by the British authorities only to be released in October of the same year uncharged. The previous years had seen him travelling to the war zone in Syria on ostensibly humanitarian pretexts. But according to a BBC report, British authorities alleged that Begg had attended a terrorist training camp between October 2012 and April 2013. Upon his release from Belmarsh he gave an interview to Channel 4 News where he acknowledged that British domestic intelligence, MI5, green lighted his journey to war torn Syria. When the reporter, Darshna Soni asked him whether he fought or trained anyone to fight, Begg replied, Continue reading →