Well, well, well. It seems as if Scott Burgess hit a nerve in outing Guardian intern Dilpazier Aslam as a member of a radical Islamic group. You should read the Guardian piece and then Scott's response because the response is devastating. By doing the Guardian's work for them, Scott has exposed the Guardian as not only employing a fundamentally flawed editorial policy, but not at all adept at investigative work.
Scott further catches the Guardian in a possible lie by pointing out discrepancies in account of Aslam's hiring:
The Guardian's stated reason for releasing Mr. Aslam raises the most interesting question of all. The Guardian seems at first to have denied all knowledge of Mr. Aslam's affiliation. As the Independent put it:
"It is understood that staff at The Guardian were unaware that Mr Aslam was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir until allegations surfaced on "The Daily Ablution", a blog run by Scott Burgess."
However, an article published Friday by the Guardian states quite clearly that the fact was well known, even among senior editors:
"Subsequent to joining the Guardian, Aslam made no secret of his membership of this political party, drawing it to the attention of several colleagues and some senior editors."
Scott further shows that the Guardian had, in 2003, named Hizb ut-Tahrir as "Britain's most radical Islamic group."
There is more of this that one needs to read, at least for the sheer pleasure of watching a self-important puffed-up media outlet get the puncture.
I have only two things to add, here: One, isn't it interesting that the writer who's hiding is from the Guardian and not some pajama-clad blogger? And two: I find it quite telling that we have a lowly blogger not only doing the work that should have been done by the Guardian, but doing it better and more efficiently.
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