Not all fighters going to Syria are extremists, says former UK minister Shahid Malik

 ' ''The point I was making is that we should not jump to conclusions that the young people who want to fight are extremists,'' he said.'

 The point I might make is that extremism in defence of liberty is no vice, a point first made by Barry Goldwater when running for the US presidency, though in his case I think by liberty he meant racism.

 Shahid Malik was saying this while a guest of the Qatari government, so those who would rather nothing was done about Assad would say this is him trying to get in with them, and they are probably right. But it is still much preferable to politicians who label the fight for Syria's freedom as jihad.