Posted on 12/24/2002 7:45:41 AM PST by Kate in Palo Alto
THis is what the Seattle Times thinks of efforts to call Patty Murray to account:
Election time is the silly season, and state Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance and Congressman George Nethercutt already have started the shenanigans for the 2004 U.S. senate campaign.
Their gasbaggery last week over U.S. Sen. Patty Murray's conversation with a Vancouver, Wash., high-school class was all spin and distortion.
Wednesday, Columbia River High School honor students studying world history were treated to a discussion with their U.S. senator about world events and U.S. policy. Murray, a former teacher, noted many people in the Muslim nations view the United States with suspicion and posed a question:
"We've got to ask, why is this man (Osama bin Laden) so popular around the world? Why are people so supportive of him in many countries that are riddled in poverty?"
She noted the wealthy bin Laden, believed to be an architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has established goodwill because over the years he built buildings, roads and other facilities for poor areas.
See the rest of the article at:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/134601690_murrayed24.html
Agreed!!!
I live across the lake in Redmond with the normal people.
Well, most here are normal... *\;-)
...and slaughtered over 3,000 innocent people, all of whom I hope I hope Patty Muuray meets face-to-face in the afterlife... |
And Afghanistan specifically, including before Sept 11th:
Afghanistan: Complex Emergency Situation Report #1 (US aid BEFORE 911) September 6, 2001
USG Humanitarian AssistanceOn September 22, 2000, Assistant Secretary Karl F. Inderfurth re-declared a complex humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan for FY 2001. In addition, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan William B. Milam issued a disaster declaration for Afghan refugees in Pakistan on February 2, 2001. To date, FY 2001 USG humanitarian assistance provided by USAID/OFDA, USAID/FFP, USDA, the Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM), the joint Department of State/Department of Defense Demining Program, the Department of State's Bureau International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (State/INL) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) totals $173,588,887, including both assistance inside Afghanistan and assistance to Afghan refugees in neighboring countries.
Breakdown of the $173 million is detailed in the source. Interestingly this report is dated September 6, 2001, just five days before 911.
And for a briefing, by deputy assistant secretary of defense for stability operations Joseph Collins, on US aid since the liberation, and many other relevant links, see:
Humanitarian Work Progressing in Afghanistan
(I posted the full transcript of the briefing in message #7, which is quite long. Be sure and scroll on through, however, as there are many more links beginning with message #9.)
See link in message #45 above.
Because they agree with her.
Probably won't happen...there is a large chasm between heaven and hell...
She was probably high on roofies when she talked to those high school kids.
Of course. Someone has to watch the kids while Mommy goes to the soccer stadium to get beheaded.
True, but God occasionally has a sense of humor. |
Prevailing on Swetnam for further clarification (hopefully there are some news/talk producers reading this) might help get and keep this controversy on its legs. Contact info here:
The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies - Staff Page (Swetnam is the Chairman of the Board and CEO)
For the record, this is the most complete account I could find (in a very quick search) of Swetnam's remarks from the AP report The Times editorial references (some papers cut the reference to hate spewing madrassas at the end!):
An terrorism expert who co-wrote a book profiling bin Laden and al-Qaida said Murray's comments, published Friday in the Columbian newspaper, were mostly on the mark."That's kind of a generalization but mostly accurate," said Michael Swetnam, chairman of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Arlington, Va.
Since about 1988, bin Laden, believed to be the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, has been on a mission to build schools, roads and even homes for widows of those killed in the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan, Swetnam said.
"Mostly he did underwrite--and so did many Arab charities--several fundamentalist Muslim schools throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan that teach a very, very fundamentalist, right-wing version of Islam that preaches hatred for the West," Swetnam said.
~~~excerpted from The Chicago Sun-Times
Finally, more from a Washington (Tacoma) reporter here:
Bin Laden remarks give Murray grief
Exactly how much bin Laden has done to support schools, medical facilities and infrastructure remains conjecture in the intelligence community, though there is evidence he engaged in such activities, particularly in Afghanistan and Sudan.
A Defense Department fact sheet indicated bin Laden had imported heavy equipment to build roads, tunnels, hospitals and storage facilities in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation and in connection with the establishment of paramilitary training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mark Burgess, an analyst with the Center for Defense Information, a nonpartisan group that tracks defense issues, said bin Laden spent five years in Sudan using his own money to fund a number of infrastructure projects for the government.
"He and his organization have been involved in various welfare-type projects and charitable work," Burgess said.
Michael Swetnam, a terrorism expert who co-wrote a book on bin Laden and al-Qaida, told The Associated Press that the terrorist leader has been on a mission to build schools, roads and even homes for widows of those killed in the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan.
But Swetnam said the schools he financed taught mostly fundamentalist Islam that preaches hatred for the West.
In short UBL apparently has built some infrastructure on his own expense, much clearly for nefarious purposes, in other cases less obviously so. (I suspect road building in Sudan falls into the later category. Not directly nefarious, excepting that he was attempting to ingratiate himself at a time, before the move to Afghanistan, when he seems to have been planning to use Sudan as his terror base.)
Little if any of this appears to be firmly nailed down. Let's be careful, folks, to be scrupulous and not mischaracterize the evidence. We want to take this bitch down, and making the case with both passion AND integrity is the best way to do so.
Don't they already have a statue of Stalin in one of their parks ?
vsm
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