Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: sarcasm; Drango; ExSoldier; visualops; F14 Pilot
Did you read the full article?

I did just now, thanks. The most concrete comment is: "The family has said they've cut him off, but that's a fiction," said Steven A. Cook, an Arab policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations..

So far we have the argument that since a mother will take calls from her doomed son (no surprise there), on speculation, the family monetary ties to Osama are probably still connected. Where is the evidence? Where are the bank statements, the post-9/11 intelligence agency data?

Cook is a CFR flack. Are we sure he isn't on the "unelect George W. Bush" campaign, too? Isn't it possible that CFR isn't happy with President Bush's bold policies, and wants to smear him with the details he has on the bin Laden family? I'm sure Michael Moore has found these people, too. We'll have front row seats if we get our hands on one of his free Farenheight 911 DVDs. Consider that CFR is responsible for a good deal of our policy toward Saudi Arabia during the fat years when we didn't mind their hatred toward Israel, and looked the other way as they funded anti-semitic, fascist ideology all over the world. Where was CFR then? President Bush has said several times that he's changing our whole strategy now. CFR may not be happy. Their Machiavellian and often unprincipled intellectual capital is now worthless because of 9/11 and this presidency.

By the way, the bin Laden Group worked with Minoru Yamasaki, the designer of the WTC, in Saudi Arabia. He designed an airport and several other major projects. One interesting problem Osama had with the WTC was that it had Islamic motifs built into it. That would be a no-no, now wouldn't it? A symbol of the Zionist Entity's commercial success paying homage to oriental culture in such a blatant manner... They just had to bring it down. After all, it was a true symbol of respect that the west had erected. But it was blasphemy, as well.

Thomas Friedman, who is a liberal in disguise but is nonetheless an intelligent observer of the mideast, says that the war on terror is really a civil war inside Saudi Arabia that has been exported around the world. This is a typically incomplete Friedman thought because it doesn't take into consideration what's happening in Iran, but the Saudis have money everywhere.

But you can bet that a lot of wealthy businessmen like the bin Ladens know their country or at least their standard of living is going to vanish if Osama and the extreme fundamentalists get their way.

There are two ways to fight the influence the Saudis have on global terrorism:

  1. Burn down their country. This can be done in a variety of ways, but each one will lead to a Taliban style government there. It is in fact Osama's strategy to see this happen.
  2. Admit how naive we were during the Cold War to allow the Saudi royal family to sponsor Wahabbism all around the planet with their riches, and work on cutting that flow off. Work with them against al Qaeda. Work with them as they themselves realize what chaos is in store.
I think GW has chosen the most humane approach. I refuse to assume it's fraught with corruption until I have facts. So far it's CFR inuendo and Michael Moore spreading rumors. My criticism is from a different perspective. I don't want to accept a "cold war," as President Carter or President Clinton would have done. I want a full-on push to bring down Islamism as though our lives depended on it. Right now it seems like it's being conducted as a cold war. If GW is actually more bold than he says he is, I think Americans would rally to him. It's his very concern that we might not accept his boldness that leaves some undecided.
11 posted on 06/13/2004 2:00:15 PM PDT by risk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies ]


To: risk

– Still America's Partner?

by Steven A. Cook
"Spokesman for the White House: Mubarak Performs an Important Leadership Role in the Middle East"
Headline in Al-Ahram (Cairo), March 28, 2000


Excerpt:


EgyptAir Flight 990

Egypt's troubling response to the investigation surrounding the loss of EgyptAir flight 990 serves as a metaphor for all that is wrong in the U.S.-Egypt relationship. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Cairo's streets, universities, offices, and restaurants were rife with competing theories concerning the Boeing 767's mysterious plunge into the Atlantic Ocean. When an American agency, the National Transportation Safety Board, directed suspicion for the crash toward relief co-pilot Jamil al-Batuti, the Egyptian state's machinery kicked into high gear to refute this possibility. The most energetic author of these conspiracy-laden accounts was Samir Rajab, editor-in-chief of the government controlled daily Al-Jumhuriya, but he was quickly joined by the other major dailies and magazines. Four explanations for the EgyptAir tragedy gained the most currency in Egypt:

1. A secret U.S. military battle station located on the eastern end of Long Island brought down the plane with either a surface-to-air missile or a "death ray."

2. There is something taking place in the waters off Long Island that caused three airliners and John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane to go down in the same area between 1996 and 1999.

3. Jews control New York City and thus "Jewish groups" engineered the downing of flight 990.

4. Israel's intelligence service, Mossad, placed explosives aboard the aircraft.

The unfortunate fact that there were thirty-three Egyptian military officers on the plane added ominous undertones to these theories and fueled an increasing hysteria in the Egyptian media.

After a two-month lull, the EgyptAir 990 story once again became the subject of headlines in February 2000. First, the crash of Alaska Airlines flight 261 prompted Egyptian editorialists to question why the NTSB was not blaming the pilots, despite the clear evidence of mechanical failure. The very fact that the Alaska Airlines crew was not under suspicion indicated to Egypt's media that the NTSB and the U.S. government were smearing the good name of EgyptAir and the Egyptian government. Then on February 4, 2000, Hamdi Hanafi Taha—a senior pilot for EgyptAir—requested political asylum in London, claiming knowledge about the loss of flight 990 (though it appears he did not in fact have such information). Egypt's press and even the chairman of EgyptAir suggested that Taha was in the employ of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and being used to slander the airline and Egypt.

Particularly disturbing about the EgyptAir episode is the fact that the Egyptian authorities abet this type of activity. Indeed, not a single government spokesman sought to refute the media's allegations as the conspiracy frenzy actually served the state's ends. The regime often uses the press, which Cairo disingenuously claims is free and reflects public opinion, to establish a basis for pursuing an agenda contrary to Washington's interests. In this way, Cairo insulates itself from official protests or other expressions of displeasure by claiming that public opinion is driving its policies. This strategy is in fact a recurrent feature of Egyptian-Israeli relations and has been employed increasingly with regard to Sudan and United Nations sanctions on Iraq.
CUT http://www.meforum.org/article/58


12 posted on 06/13/2004 4:58:55 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson