Jack Straw to Muslims: “This isn’t about you.”

Jack Straw, recently fired by the Bush Administration as British Foreign Minister, has sparked a controversy in the United Kingdom with remarks critical of the veil worn by some Muslim women. Speaking at a Labour Party conference, Mr Straw said that he requested that veiled women remove their veils before meeting him.

“I understand that some of these women are very religious and it’s a terrible affront to be asked to remove their veil in front of a man they are not related to,” Straw told Satirical Muslim. “But to that I say, ‘this isn’t about you, love’. This is about me. I’m the one with the problem.”

Straw rejects accusations that his call is religiously or racially motivated.

“And this isn’t about Muslims either. Only last week, an elderly Christian lady constituent came to see me about getting her war widows pension sorted out. I told her I found it confronting that she was covering her legs and I wasn’t going to see her unless she came back wearing something a little more revealing.”

“How can the elderly expect us to take them seriously when they dress like they were born in the 1920s or something?”

This is the first time that Straw has spoken out against what he sees as issues in the British Muslim community. Critics have long been concerned about his failure to address issues such as integration, the spread of extremism, or a pet issue for many Western feminist critics of Islam, FGM.

“FGM?” Straw laughs. “I’m more of an FHM man myself.”

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