Squawk Like an Egyptian

WSJ.com ^ | 10/02/02 | Claudia Rosett

[What Is Ain't]

The U.S. ambassador to Egypt, David Welch, has "deviated from all diplomatic norms," complains Mustafa Bakri, editor of the Egyptian weekly Al-Usbu.

Mr. Welch answered a spate of columns and stories in the Egyptian press pegged to the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Local journalists and scholars seized on the date to give yet another airing to conspiracy theories that circulate widely in the Middle East, which claim Israelis or Americans themselves had staged the atrocities. "Leading Egyptian newspapers and magazines in the past two weeks alone have published columns by senior columnists who suggested governments or groups other than Al Qaeda were responsible," wrote Mr. Welch. "A leading Egyptian professor of sociology, in a public lecture on Sept. 11, spent nearly half an hour trying to cast doubt on Al Qaeda's culpability, and even went to far as to implicate the American government by asserting that America had benefited from the attacks."

[Burkeman1]

The ability of the Arab world to hold two opposite points of view at the same time is truly disturbing. On the one hand vast numbers of them- a majority even- cheered and celebrated on 9/11 and have a sneeking pride in Osama for the 9/11 deeds. But when challenged on this they blame the US and the Isrealis for staging the attacks themselves. They are a very disturbed culture.

[Mo1]

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[etcetera]

"...the ambassador spoke as if he were addressing slaves or the citizens of some banana republic..."

Puhleez! You're insulting the banana republics...