Author Salman Rushdie doesn’t mince words in his defense of former British Foreign Minister Jack Straw, who has been embroiled in Muslim Veil Rage:

Prime Minister Tony Blair and author Salman Rushdie praised a British official on Tuesday for raising the difficult issue of whether Muslim women visiting his office should remove their veils.

The comment by Jack Straw, a former foreign secretary who now is leader of the House of Commons, has plunged Britain into a debate over Islamic integration.

“It’s important these issues are raised and discussed, and I think it’s perfectly sensible if you raise it in a measured and considered way, which he did,” Blair said of Straw during an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. television outside his office. “I think we can have these discussions without people becoming hysterical either way about it.”

Rushdie, whose book “The Satanic Verses,” once led to death threats against him by Islamic clerics, told BBC radio that Straw “was expressing an important opinion, which is that veils suck, which they do. I think the veil is a way of taking power away from women.”

And more from Rushdie:

“Speaking as somebody with three sisters and a very largely female Muslim family, there’s not a single woman I know in my family or in my friends who would have accepted wearing a veil,” he said.

“I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women, so in that sense I’m completely on (Straw’s) side.”

I can hear the renewed cries of “Islamophobe!” already.

Maybe this is what was motivating Straw, via the London Times:

A male suspect in a major anti-terrorist investigation in Britain escaped capture by allegedly disguising himself as a Muslim woman dressed in a burka, The Times can reveal.

The man, who was wanted in connection with serious terrorist offences, evaded arrest for several days as police searched for him across the country.

The fact that a fugitive remained at large after disguising himself in an Islamic dress which covered his face will further fuel the debate sparked by Jack Straw, Leader of the House of Commons, about the wearing of the veil.

Details of the man’s true identity were circulated to ports and airports to try to prevent him leaving the country.

He was eventually caught and is now one of more than 90 suspects in British prisons awaiting trial on terror charges.

The suspect’s name and the detail of the offences he is accused of cannot be revealed because of the danger of prejudicing his forthcoming trial.

It is the first time that a male suspect has allegedly disguised himself as a Muslim woman in Britain. However, the tactic has been used frequently by Islamist fighters — including suicide bombers — in Iraq and Afghanistan. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, often dressed in a burka to evade American forces hunting him.

Counter-terrorist agencies in Britain and Europe have long been concerned about the readiness of male Islamist terrorists to wear female clothing.

On a related note, reporter Anila Baig at The Sun writes with disbelief of being waved through an airport in Britain while wearing a full veil and not being checked:

I breezed through airport security in a veil that left just my eyes on view.

It beggars belief no one checked my face.

No one tried to properly identify me at Leeds-Bradford airport.

It was only in France that I was asked to lift the veil and have my face checked against my passport photo.

What if I wasn’t who I said I was?

Baig contrasted her lax treatment in Britain with more vigilant security officers in Paris:

At first I felt pleased airport officials had been so considerate. They’d obviously had their diversity training. But then I thought: “What if someone had stolen my passport?”

Paris was a different story. After a night in the romantic capital, I returned to the airport. I approached the BMI desk and a very courteous woman told me she would have to check my face against my passport.

She asked if I minded going to a more private place with her, the toilets — and I agreed.

At the next set of security checks another policewoman asked me to again quickly lift my veil. I did not feel threatened — only vastly reassured.

I had no objections to being checked in Paris and I would feel much happier if Bradford did the same.

Last night aviation expert David Learmount said: “This is an area that can be exploited and has been in the past. In 1994 two Chechen women wearing full Muslim dress were able to board planes out of Moscow with bombs strapped under their clothing. I am sure airport staff in the UK don’t want to wait until two planes are blown out of the sky to get over their embarrassment.”

Tory MP Mike Penning said: “I hope this is an oversight rather than political correctness.”

No, it’s political correctness and abject stupidity. Maybe they should put Rushdie in charge of airport security.

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Robert Spencer, author of the daring Truth about Muhammad out this week, sheds light on Straw and Veil rage at Front Page Mag.

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