Maajid Nawaz is a charismatic man with riveting perspectives. Although he describes a hero’s path for us, I am uncertain about his story. He denies current establishment ties but has worked with many evil actors. Since I am not an expert on politics, international relations, or recent history outside of medicine, I would like my readers to let me know what they think.

This is a guest post from Peter McCormack’s What Bitcoin Did podcast, which is the best introduction to Bitcoin. I have listened to many of his episodes and am using this interview with his kind permission. HERE is the link to the original discussion. I recorded this one at 1.25 speed. 

Nawaz is a British Pakistani who was a leader in an Islamist group. In December 2001, when he was 20 years old, he was arrested in Egypt. Although nonviolent, he was sentenced to five years for promoting their ideas and thrown in with some of the most notorious criminals in the Middle East. Some of the others who served time with him were just university professors advocating change.

When he was not in solitary confinement or being forced to watch others being tortured with electric shocks, he studied. He learned enough from the other prisoners to get the equivalent of several degrees in international relations. Nawaz became convinced that the violent Islamist approach was a mistake, and when he was released from prison at 28, he renounced the extremist group.

Luckily, his former colleagues decided not to kill him. He became a commentator and consultant and is now, at 43, a prominent critic of Islamism. He has testified before Congress. He knows George Bush, David Cameron, and was a senior advisor to Tony Blair. He trained the FBI, CIA, and similar British agencies. He has been on the Joe Rogan show. Lately, he has been labeled a “conspiracy theorist” and censored for telling the truth about Covid.

Nawaz said he met many sincere underlings in the British and US government service. But he believes that all regimes and government agencies hoard power and wind up as corrupt tools of the powerful. After his experiences, Nawaz concluded that interference with the free flow of information had profoundly evil effects. He said that the best protection the world has now is the US Constitution.

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