UK Woman Reporter captured by Taliban converts to Islam

Guardian ^ | 8.2.002 | Emily Wilson

[swarthyguy]

Yvonne Ridley is the burka-clad Express reporter who was captured donkey-riding on the wrong side of the Afghan border shortly before the US bombing began last October. She was banged up for 11 days before being set free by her "courteous and respectful" Taliban captors.

Ridley wrote a few hundred thousand words on the subject in her paper on her return, but it was only in her subsequent book that one really got a sense of how long and truly terrifying those 11 days were, although of course, as she never fails to point out, the Taliban were very polite. And, as a comrade who has read her book points out, nothing very exciting actually happened once she'd been wrestled from her donkey.

But the Ridley story does not end there. First, there was her return to Kabul and a "highly-charged" reunion with the two men who guided her into Afghanistan and who were captured alongside her but were not treated with respect - in fact, they were beaten and tortured by Ridley's courteous hosts.

Now Ridley is converting to Islam. This week she told the BBC that one of the conditions of her release was that she read up on "the faith". This she did, and now she is ready to put her drinking days behind her. So, the BBC reporter asked, as a Muslim-to-be, did Ridley have any problems with working for a paper owned by a pornographer? "No," replied Ridley, quick as a flash.

[swarthyguy]

!?!?!

[swarthyguy]

Talking about lefties converting, you won't believe this.

[Selara]

This sounds to me, like a publicity move to promote her boring book.

[MinuteGal]

Stockholm Syndrome......or looking for an Islamic husband to beat her up a little more.

Leni

[ikka]

I would say that it appears to me that the reporter has a weak mind. You would think a hard nosed foreign correspondent would be a little more skeptical.

[Salman]

It's a proven fact that some folks just plain like to suffer. We'll see how this plays out.

[Salvation]

I pray that she reconsider converting.

[pubmom]

Perhaps this may shed some light on her conversion:

Hit by friendly fire

Since her release, her story has become increasingly personal, focusing, above all, on her nine-year-old daughter, Daisy, and Ridley's responsibility as a single mother. Daisy is the daughter of a Palestinian (her father, whom Ridley regards as 'a great friend', is head of Northern Refugee Services)

[Timesink]

People with serious alcohol abuse problems often find solace in the first religion that catches their eye and helps them overcome their boozing ... at least temporarily. I'll be very interested to see how long this lasts, and its correlation with how long it is before or after her next tipple.

[Timesink]

It's a proven fact that some folks just plain like to suffer.

Yup. I have a friend who always uses the loopiest dentist in town. There's nothing wrong with his work, but he's not big on any sort of anesthesia. Basically, she likes experiencing as much pain as possible, and fully admits it. She's also bulimic, has been for years. She tries to hide it from others, but everyone knows it. And even though she's worked in the medical field most of her life, much of it in hospital administration, she's never made the slightest attempt to ask any doctor for some help. She doesn't want to. She's not bulimic because she has any sort of body dysmorphic disorder; she just likes starving herself and suffering.

[TheFilter]

Wow, that's pretty bizarre. I avoid pain as much as possible, personally!

Yvonne Ridley is known to be a little bit of a fruitcake.

[Pistolshot]

We'll see how 'converted' she is, if she lets herself be subject to mutilation by removal of her clitoris. To which almost ALL Muslim women are subjected.

[happygrl]

Just more evidence for my contention that liberalism is a mental illness.

[dennisw]

What she couldn't find in Leftism and the bottle, she found in Islam?

AllahuAhkbar!!!! One billion strong and growing!!

[dennisw]

First, there was her return to Kabul and a "highly-charged" reunion with the two men who guided her into Afghanistan and who were captured alongside her but were not treated with respect - in fact, they were beaten and tortured by Ridley's courteous hosts.
______________

Did they convert too?

[dennisw]

Yvonne Ridley is known to be a little bit of a fruitcake.
______________

Her problems are now in the hands of Allah, his Profit and the holy beard of the Profit. I can't wait 'till she marries some funky foreign Moooslim to kick it all up a notch, to further experience the miracle that is Islam.

[cynwoody]

[Fintan]

Good Lord, a Hillary wannabe...

[piasa]

What she couldn't find in Leftism and the bottle, she found in Islam?

Think of Islam as the worm in the tequila.

[piasa]

She does sort of look like a whipped dog in that picture...