Usman Khan, the ISIS terrorist who knifed people in London last Friday, was a student of the Cambridge “Learning Together” program. A program which played a big role in enabling Khan to carry out this attack.

As I wrote here, Khan was definitely not your average criminal. Instead he had been convicted of plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange and more. He was a student of known terror supporter Anjem Choudary, and the judge bluntly warned that Khan along with his co-conspirators need to be kept under lock and key.

Khan was released early. As were several others in his terrorist gang, and so was Choudary. How did this happen?

Somehow, while in prison, Khan got hooked up with the Learning Together program. He became one of their so-called success stories, wrote a poem prominently featured on fundraising literature, and penned a gushing thank you letter after receiving a Chrome Book.

“Learning Together is about opening minds, unlocking doors, and giving voice to those who are shut down, hidden from the rest of us,” he wrote. “It helps to include those who are generally excluded.

“I cannot send enough thanks to the entire Learning Together team and all those who continue to support this wonderful community.”

Isn’t that wonderful! I’m sure the families of his victims, a coordinator and volunteer. are still going to support Learning Together…right?

Here’s the thing, the conditions of Khan’s release involved the following conditions.

• No travel to London
• Wear an electronic tag
• Zero use of the internet

What did the willfully blind organizers of Learning Together do? Fundraise to get him a laptop so he could continue writing!! Oh, and have permission granted to let him travel to London, WITHOUT police escort, for the conference at Fishmonger Hall! That poor misunderstood terrorist is rehabilitated y’all, so cut him some slack!

The willful blindness regarding terrorism has permeated Europe. In the midst of a tense exchange between Trump and Macron about NATO (which Marta wrote about here) and terrorism, this happened.

ISIS fighters are a minority problem in Europe according to Macron. Do I need to go into the sheer number of attacks and thwarted attacks that we’ve seen in just the last three years across Europe? Yes, ISIS is still prominent in the region, and yes, they aren’t going away. But to say that ISIS is only a very small problem, nothing to see here guys, is glossing over the realities of misguided authorities releasing KNOWN TERRORISTS from jail for “good behavior.”

Even more egregious is …this.

WHAT? He wasn't even referred to the Parole Before before release? This scandal gets worse by the second. https://t.co/rSb92lPYjj

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 30, 2019

Oh, so that conditional release discussed above was put together in a vacuum and the Parole Board was left in the dark. Unreal.

Let’s go back to the Learning Together folks shall we? They’ve been running this program for four years or more. It’s a program that crows about unlocking prisoners learning potential. Yeah, I’d say some learning potential was certainly unlocked on Friday!

The program scrubbed their website within a day of Friday’s attack, yet is being defended!

#cambridgeuniversity and their “learning together” initiative is wonderful. What they have achieved should not be undermined by #LondonBridgeAttack I am obviously aware that two prisoners were involved – the attacker and a second who tried to prevent it.

— Prof David Wilson (@ProfDavidWilson) November 30, 2019

Law student Jake Thorold doesn’t get it. 

““Certain shameless politicians are attempting to use his death to legitimate draconian sentencing changes, and so I think it’s important to emphasise what he and Learning Together stand for.

“Learning Together insists on seeing the best in people. It is unflinching in saying that – no matter someone’s past – everyone has something to contribute.”

“insists on seeing the best in people.” They must’ve dug really really deep to find anything deemed “best” about Usman Khan. Either that or everyone supporting and involved with Learning Together ignored all the warning signs. I’d say it is a combination of both.

Meanwhile, according to the chancellor at Cambridge, the founders of Learning Together, Ruth Armstrong and Amy Ludlow are oh so sad!

What is infuriatingly SAD about this, is the attack was preventable. Cambridge and Learning Together, by ignoring all the warning signs, essentially enabled Usman Khan in carrying out his attack by providing work arounds to his release conditions.

Terrorists can’t be reformed. Period. It’s shameful that those involved with and those who support the Learning Together program refuse to understand that.

Feature Photo Credit: Kings Chapel at Cambridge University via Pixabay, cropped and modified