The Left and Islam

Commentary magazine has an excellent essay on the Left and Islam. They focus on Lynne Stewart, the lawyer who represented Sheik Abdel Rahman and was indicted on charges of abetting terrorists:

Though roughly the same age as Stewart, Abdel Rahman seems to have missed out on many of the famously tolerant ideals associated with her generation of activists. He has called for the slaughter of Jews, and for women to have little public role in society. Yet, with Sheik Omar, Stewart allegedly took a step beyond mere legal advice. Videotapes reportedly show that Stewart loudly spoke nonsense words while her client, under the din, instructed a man traveling with Stewart and posing as a translator to execute a new terrorist plot. For this, Stewart has been charged with providing material support for terrorism, since the dangerous sheik is forbidden from contacting his followers.
At Stewart’s trial this fall, an FBI agent told the court that Sheik Omar later issued a proclamation, found in Stewart’s office, announcing that “Any statement that comes from her . . . should be taken as if I said it.” Also at the trial, an Egyptian reporter for Reuters testified that, at roughly the same time as this proclamation, he had received a call from Stewart relaying a message from Omar to his followers that they should break their cease-fire with another Islamist group.
Revelations of her complicity with known terrorists left Stewart nonplussed. “We hit if off,” she gushed to the Washington Post about her interactions with the sheik. “He’s really an incredible person.”

A long but excellent read.