Posted on 06/12/2006 10:23:43 AM PDT by bwteim
Our Condolences
12/06/2006
Tariq Alhomayed
Clearly, many in the Arab world were shocked by the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the "Boss of all evils" in Baghdad. The murderer of women, children, young and old, Sunnis and Shiites, Sayyids and Sheikhs, Arabs as well as foreigners.The masterminded responsible, for last year's bombings in Amman that killed sixty innocent people in three weddings., the man who couldn't tell the difference between bird hunting and cold blooded murder.
His role as a corruptor was well documented, bearing in mind that his last message to the world encouraged civil war in Iraq. Yet despite all this, there are those who were saddened and shocked by his death. To them we should extend condolences.
Our deepest sympathies go out to all the fundamentalist websites, particularly Alsaha.com. Our sympathies also go out to all the conspiracy theorists, who said that Al-Zarqawi was a fictional character created by the Americans, to justify their shortcomings in Iraq at the expense of innocent Iraqi and Jordanian lives.
One particular conspiracy theorist that use to always call Zarqawi an illusion, said upon hearing the news of his death, that now America's act will spawn many more Zarqawi's more dangerous then their prototype.
We should also comfort the wounded Arab Media, which has lost a major source for extremist videotapes. These recordings became the benchmark of excellence in our industry, where the criterion for success was set by the most ignorant of individuals, particularly when it comes to standards of professionalism in journalism.
We sympathize with all of them. The writers, journalists and the TV channels. An honorable mention should go out to our friends at Al-Jazeera, who refused to answer a simple question by one of our journalists about why their Zarqawi coverage seemed slanted. Their reply; "we do not wish to speak or deal with Asharq Al-Awsat."
I do not know if this was their genuine position, our just a byproduct of the shock they are going through, but it is important to point out that an Iraqi viewer named Hassan Salman called on a live program on Al-Jazeera, and said the following;
" I value this channel. However, I hope you commit yourselves to objectivity. The Iraqi people are celebrating the death of Zarqawi while you are holding a funeral in your channel."
Of course, we do not expect our friends in Doha to alter their coverage of Al-Zarqawi just for our sake, baring in mind that we published a piece on al Zarqawi that included some sympathetic elements, However, we can never claim that Al Zarqawi spent his days busy encouraging Iraqis to read more, grow better harvest or build schools.
Al Zarqawi's hands are smeared with the blood of Muslims from all sects. Homes, schools, houses of worship and even relief organizations that worked to help the Iraqi people were not safe from his blood lust. How could an entire media organization ignore this?
It is because of this that we extend our condolences to those who followed and loved Zarqawi, as well as those who had high hopes for him. We say these not out of sympathy or spite, but rather to document our position for the record, since the most distinctive features of our nations are absentmindedness and negligence.
" I value this channel. However, I hope you commit yourselves to objectivity. The Iraqi people are celebrating the death of Zarqawi while you are holding a funeral in your channel."
Ping
....
Iraqi people are celebrating the death of Zarqawi while the drive by media are holding funerals on their channels
"They aaahh *hic* killed Zarqawi? Ahhh *hic*...I`m having aaah *hic* chest pains *hic*.."
Catch the editor's reference to lefty conspiracy theorists??
"Our sympathies also go out to all the conspiracy theorists, who said that Al-Zarqawi was a fictional character created by the Americans, to justify their shortcomings in Iraq at the expense of innocent Iraqi and Jordanian lives."
"Zarqawi...T-they killed h-him. I-I- am *sob*.."
I've got to hand it to them - that's some grade-A sarcasm.
OK now lets go to the phones. Line 3 is Abdul from Amman. Go ahead Abdul you're on live with Jihad Today.
Thanks for taking my call. Longtime listener, first time caller:
" I value this channel. However, I hope you commit yourselves to objectivity. The Iraqi people are celebrating the death of Zarqawi while you are holding a funeral in your channel...."
OK thanks Abdul everyone is entitled to their opinion but we have to go to a commercial break.
In the next hour: we'll talk about the amazing childhood of Brother Zarqawi (peace be upon him)....
LOL. Sound too plausible, guess we've all been listening to the Drive-By-Media too much.
Dear Al Jazeera, is it true that Zarquai had "relations" with a pig 52 minutes before he died?
Go, Asharq Al-Awsat!
In the end it will be the Muslims themselves who will determine the fate of the world in first half of the 21st Century. They must reject the barbarians, apocalyptics, fascists, and tribalists in their midst.
Asharq Al-Awsat looks like a voice of reason in the Islamic world.
....as well as hear tributes from John Murtha, Cindy Sheehan, Ted Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich, John Kerry, Howard Dean, Maureen Dowd, John Conyers, Fortnoy Stark, Al Gore, Helen Thomas....etc, etc.
Ping.
"Go, Asharq Al-Awsat! "
From the link, here is short bio on editor:
Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that position. Mr. Alhomayed has an acclaimed and distinguished career as a Journalist and has held many key positions in the field including; Assistant Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, Managing Editor of Asharq Al-Awsat in Saudi Arabia, Head of Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper's Bureau-Jeddah, Correspondent for Al - Madina Newspaper in Washington D.C. from 1998 to Aug 2000.
Mr. Alhomyed has been a guest analyst and commentator on numerous news and current affair programs including: the BBC, German TV, Al Arabiya, Al- Hurra, LBC and the acclaimed Imad Live's four-part series on terrorism and reformation in Saudi Arabia. He is also the first Journalist to conduct an interview with Osama Bin Ladin's Mother.
Mr. Alhomayed holds a BA degree in Media studies from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's degree from George Washington University in Washington D.C. He is based in London.
"We are disheartened by this great loss to the glorious DU cause. Once again, we find that the Evil Bush is at fault!"
"Another brave DU warrior loss, why?"
Another hero of the Democrat Party bites the dust thanks to GW Bush
bttt
"We will hunt the terrorists in every dark corner of the earth. We will be relentless."
George W. Bush 2001
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