It's all about me!

One would think that Muslims would be issuing public statements about standing with Britain and doing everything they can to bring the malfeasors into their community to justice. But no. It turns out they're the victims, and Britain just owes them more TLC:

Muslims gathered uneasily for afternoon prayers Friday, murmuring about fears of a backlash. A bomb threat forced the evacuation of one of London's largest mosques, and someone dumped gasoline near a suicide bomber's home. A tremor of apprehension shook Britain's Muslim community of 1.6 million Friday after undercover officers on the London subway shot and killed a man described by witnesses as a South Asian. The shooting followed a series of small bombings Thursday in which four men placed backpacks of explosives on three trains and a bus. The attacks came two weeks after four suicide bombers killed 52 other people on three London subways and a bus. 'We are getting phone calls from quite a lot of Muslims who are distressed about what may be a shoot-to-kill policy,' said Inayat Bunglawala, Muslim Council of Britain spokesman.

To give credit where credit is due, the manager of one of London's largest mosques did publicly side with, well, the public:

Mosque manager Ali Khan said he felt no need to further increase the precautions, largely because words like Blair's reassured him. Khan condemned the attacks, and said if those responsible came to his mosque seeking refuge, they would be turned over to police. "There is no refuge for culprits," he said. "We are a British organization like any other."

Those who worship there, are not so helpful:

But many of the hundreds praying Friday at the London Central Mosque seemed apprehensive. Guner Bahadir, sitting in a prayer room for women, said she felt solidarity with Muslims involved in conflicts around the world, and that with Britain's involvement in the Iraq war, she wasn't surprised by the attacks. "This is the war, and now it is here," said the 40-year-old Bahadir, who immigrated from Turkey five years ago. "They (the West) say they're helping us, but they're not. They're killing us," she said. "We don't need their help." A man in his 50s who immigrated from Pakistan said, "I am certain one day I will be killed. Many of us feel this." He declined to be named because he didn't want to stand out in a community he said was already "being targeted as a scapegoat." "This was a peaceful place. Muslims from all over the world could come because they knew they would be safe. They love the way they are treated here," said Abdullah Alesayi, 40, who said he has been vacationing in London every summer since 1971 from Saudi Arabia. "I hope this country continues this way. It is my second home."

It doesn't seem to occur to these Muslims that, if they were to stand up with the British, the average British man on the streets would be less likely to view them all as equal threats.