Sen. Murray blistered over bin Laden remark

WASHINGTON — In a lunchtime discussion this week, Sen. Patty Murray told a group of high-school students to think about how Osama bin Laden's generosity to the poor may have helped him win support around the world.

Maybe, the Washington Democrat said, the United States should consider following his lead.

The statements sparked criticism yesterday from Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, and Washington state Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance, who called Murray's statements everything from ignorant to despicable.

The reaction made Murray the subject of local talk-radio discussions and landed her at the top of the Drudge Report, an Internet gossip and news column that gained notoriety during the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.

And even some of the 40 or so world-history students at Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Wash., found the statements a little off, according to the principal.

At the end of a wide-ranging, 45-minute discussion, Murray, who is up for re-election in 2004, left the students with final thoughts on Wednesday:

"We've got to ask, 'Why is this man (Osama bin Laden) so popular around the world?' " Murray said, according to The Columbian newspaper. "Why are people so supportive of him in many countries ... that are riddled with poverty?

"He's been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven't done that.

"How would they look at us today if we had been there helping them with some of that rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan?"

The questions were meant to be thought-provoking, aides to Murray said. Vance characterized them as "way beyond a simple gaffe."

"It is absolutely outrageous and despicable to imply that the American government should learn a lesson from the madman who murdered thousands of American citizens," he said.

Nethercutt — a potential candidate for the Senate — disputed claims that bin Laden has been involved in humanitarian work.

"It borders on negligence. It borders on misinformation. It borders on a lack of sensitivity of the state of the world that surprises me of a United States senator," said Nethercutt, who sits on the House defense spending panel. "I have never had any briefings that suggest that Osama bin Laden is any kind of humanitarian. It smacks of ignorance in saying something like that or suggesting it for intellectual exercise."

Yesterday, Murray called her statements "off-the-cuff remarks," generalizations about how bin Laden has used his money to win support in Third World countries.

In an interview, Murray said her words weren't meant to be a major policy statement or a speech from the Senate floor, but rather a discussion about "an evil man."

"What is important is that we have to have thoughtful debates and discussions in this country and raise questions and answer them without being pulled into some right-wing media frenzy," Murray said. "That is truly frightening to me.

"While we continue to search every corner of the globe to destroy Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network, should we also consider the longer-term issue of what else can be done to improve relations with all nations including the Arab world?" Murray asked in a statement released yesterday. "How else can we bring America's values to those who do not understand us?"

Murray's aides note that the State Department Web site says bin Laden built roads, tunnels, hospitals and storage depots in Afghanistan. The site also says the infrastructure was used to help fight the Soviet Union.

The Washington state GOP was quick to point out that the United States provides billions of dollars in humanitarian aid worldwide.

In February 2001 — seven months before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon — the U.S. Agency for International Development announced an emergency airlift of supplies into Pakistan and Afghanistan.

At the time, the agency noted the U.S. was the largest single donor of assistance to Afghanistan, contributing about $115 million that year to improve health, water, sanitation and nutrition.

Daniel Benjamin, a former staff member of the National Security Council, said radical Islamic groups have used social-welfare policies to improve their popularity.

"But I don't believe that's the reason why (bin Laden) is popular in the Arab world," Benjamin said, adding that bin Laden's primary appeal in the Middle East was instead his virulent anti-Americanism.

Benjamin, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., said al-Qaida had done limited social-service work in Afghanistan, though he was not aware of any specific project.

Other groups linked to terrorism, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, he said, are much more active in supporting schools and providing financial assistance to families.

Benjamin, who read about Murray's comments yesterday on the Drudge Report, was reluctant to answer questions about them. "It just looks like a story that is going to be demagogued a bit," he said.

Although high-school Principal Mike Stromme was delighted Murray visited his school, he said her comments almost guaranteed some sort of political fallout. "In this climate, it doesn't surprise me that someone would clamp on this."

He said some of the students questioned Murray's analysis. "Some thought her partisanship may have shown through there. These kids are pretty savvy."

Humanitarian Work Progressing in Afghanistan
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2002 -- When coalition forces ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan last year, U.S. officials estimated up to 8 million Afghans were in danger of starving or freezing to death.
"Thank goodness, very little of that happened," largely because of humanitarian efforts by the American and other governments and international aid organizations, a senior Defense Department official said in the Pentagon today.
Much of the immediate potential for humanitarian disaster has passed, and much of the country is more secure than it's been in decades. Now, the official said, the focus of coalition operations in Afghanistan is ready to shift from combat to what's being called "stability operations."
Joseph Collins, deputy assistant secretary of defense for stability operations, told reporters that at the end of the war with the Taliban one year ago, Afghanistan was "an exhausted nation on the brink of a humanitarian disaster."
He noted one in four Afghan children don't live to see their fifth birthday, and he compared being a mother in Afghanistan to "being a front-line soldier in severe combat -- so many of them die."
Still, Collins said, he doesn't think it's fair to compare Afghanistan to many other parts of the world. Instead, it's important to measure progress there against what the country was like before coalition forces liberated it.
He called the Taliban "one of the most ignorant, repressive and ineffective governments ever to rule a country on the Earth." Afghanistan was also a "wholly owned subsidiary of the al Qaeda terrorist movement."
"It was a quintessential failed state," he said. Today, Afghanistan has a democratically elected president, chosen through the traditional loya jirga, or tribal council, process.
President Hamid Karzai and his advisers are working, with international assistance, to change the currency, modernize the laws and reconstruct the country's infrastructure.
International aid, stymied at the outset, is now flowing into the country, Collins said. Early this year, 65 nations pledged $6.5 billion in aid, $2 billion of which was to be for use in 2002. Nearly all the $2 billion has been spent already or is on the way, earmarked for specific projects, he said.
The U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration have overseen some tremendous progress, Collins said. He noted they've been responsible for the construction or repair of 600 schools and the donation of 10 million textbooks, 7,000 metric tons of seed, and $200 million in aid to refugees.
Military civil affairs assets have had a hand in another 127 schools, 400 wells and 26 medical clinics. Collins said a top priority in the coming year will be constructing a series of maternal health clinics throughout the country.
He added that 150 international aid agencies and six separate U.N. organizations assisted in all these humanitarian efforts.
Of the 33 provinces in Afghanistan, 26 exhibit "moderate to good security," Collins said. However, "major problem areas" still exist in some east, southeast and urban areas.
Particularly vexing, the terrorists and anti-government forces aren't working in groups. They're "appearing in ones and twos to work their evil," he said.
Collins said U.S. and other coalition forces are coordinating closely with the International Security Assistance Force maintaining security in and around Kabul and working to train and equip a multiethnic Afghan national army.
In early 2003, as part of the transition to stability operations, the United States will be deploying eight to 10 joint regional teams throughout the country. The teams will be commanded by a field-grade officer and consist of about 60 people, including Special Forces, civil affairs, State Department and USAID representatives, and individuals from other coalition militaries, Collins explained.
He said U.S. officials hope these teams will help Karzai reach out to more of the country, increase stability and help target reconstruction funds.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2002/n12192002_200212194.html

An Open Letter To Senator Patty Murray

Dear Patty,

This letter is a special request, one I hope you'll heed. It is a request for your immediate resignation from the United States Senate.

Y'see, Patty, you've made a rather large mistake. You've praised a known terrorist and murder as "humanitarian". Worse, this terrorist has killed US citizens on US soil. This country is currently at war with this terrorist and his organisation, which is not in any way a charitable group. They do not build day care centres - there is no need for such a thing in a country where Taliban rules forced women to stay at home with the children. They did build schools, but only those which boys could attend - boys who were inculcated with hatred through a perversion of the Noble Qur'an by Usama bin Laden and his cohorts.

You stated in your comments to high school students that bin Laden has done more charitable works than the United States. Let's see - bin Laden blows up 3,000 people on September 11, 2001. While the United States sends BILLIONS to countries around the world, including Afghanistan (which received over $100 million in the past year, if memory serves). Unless you call the wanton murder of innocents a charitable act, I think you're barkin' up the wrong tree here.

Your words were not meant to "foster debate", madam. They were meant to harm the United States. You know this, although you'll never have the guts to admit it publicly. If you want to blame yourself for your failings, be my guest. But don't blame the United States for the evil acts of others, and then pretend that those evil actors are instead "humanitarians".

Oh, and when you tender your resignation, I suggest you read the Constitution of the United States. You know, the one you supposedly swore an oath to when you became a senator. The one you were supposed to defend. There's a specific passage I'd like you to focus on -

Article III, Section 3
"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."

You have, by your words, given aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States during a time of war. As a member of the leadership of this nation, your words are given much greater range and strength, thereby compounding your guilt.

I would say that you should be ashamed of yourself. But it seems obvious that you have no shame. Sad, really.

Please resign immediately.

Doc Farmer
Doha, Qatar

BTW, the vote right now is 94% for resignation, 6% against...

"Benjamin, who read about Murray's comments yesterday on the Drudge Report, was reluctant to answer questions about them. "It just looks like a story that is going to be demagogued a bit," he said."

DEMAgougery* is the central theme of the u>DEMOcratic Party.

Hence the term "DEMADEMON"**

I say let Murray accompany the peacekeepers in Afghanistan a couple of months to get a real look at demagoguary.

I'm surprised the liberal press allowed this to leak... must be a glitch in the system.

*dem·a·gogue = A leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.

DEMODEMON = A typical democratic member of the senate or congress; an opportunist; a professional polititian motivated by greed, deception, and the lust for power and control

Things people can do:

Write your U.S. Representative, asking him or her to speak on the floor of the House about this outrage
Write to your local media/columnists, informing them about her comments and how it is making people feel outraged across the country
Write to your Senators, demanding that she be censured!

People can use Project Vote Smart to find out who their elected representatives are, and how to contact them.

You just put in your ZIP+4 in the left-hand column and click "GO", and a clickable list of your elected representatives will appear, with full contact information within each link.

While we might have a hard time getting the media to do a Trent Lott on her sorry rear, we might have a better chance shaming our Senators into censuring her comments.

Also, a hand-written letter is most effective.

After that, a typed letter; after that, a fax, and least effective of all is email.

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