The ideological odyssey of a mind once attracted to extremist ideology always makes for a fascinating (if not always trustworthy) spectacle, and this Harry’s Place piece about the strange journey of one Hassan Butt is a must-read.

Note, in particular, this extract from an interview he gave to CBS:

“The position of moderate Muslims is that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. Do you buy that?” [the interviewer] asks. “No, absolutely not. By completely being in denial about it’s like an alcoholic basically. Unless an alcoholic acknowledges that he has a problem with alcohol, he’s never gonna be able to go forward,” Butt argues. “And as long as we, as Muslims, do not acknowledge that there is a violent streak in Islam, unless we acknowledge that, then we are gonna always lose the battle to the militants, by being in complete denial about it.” Butt’s private life is a shambles right now. His family has called him a traitor to Islam and his former friends from the network have threatened his life. He’s writing a book about his transformation and his challenge to Muslims. He says he wants to make right what he calls the bad work he did before – bad work that may have included more direct involvement in terrorism than fund raising and recruitment. Asked if he considered the work he used to do bad, Butt says, “Yeah, absolutely, not just bad work. I mean, bad is an understatement. It’s evil, wicked work.”