Replies

To: opinion@seattletimes.com

Re: Your editorial, entitled "Sen. Murray asks students to ponder bin Laden’s popularity"
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134599925_webmurray20.html

Greetings!

I feel that you're political slip is showing.

I don't quite see how direct quotes of a United States Senator can be viewed by your editor as "spin and distortion". Unless, of course, that the Senator is a Democrat and not a Republican.

Sen. Murray stated quite clearly that Usama bin Laden built roads, schools, homes and (unbelievably) day care centres. Fine. Where? Specifically? Did she check that "fact"? And as a news organisation, did you?

Sen. Murray stated, again with crystal clarity, that bin Laden did these things, but that the United States did not. What is she (or you) using to explain the logic underlying that conclusion? Has she forgotten the BILLIONS that the US Government sends of our tax dollars to help countries and peoples around the world? Has she forgotten the Peace Corps? Has she forgotten the hundreds of millions of dollars that we as a country sent to Afghanistan in aid and support PRIOR to 9/11? Apparently, she has.

Either that, or she's just lying.

And you're editorial repeats, and indeed augments, that lie.

You stated in your editorial, "Fact is, Murray's information about bin Laden is right. The Associated Press quoted a bin Laden expert saying the senator's comments were "a generalization, but mostly accurate." However, let's look at that a little closer. The "expert", one Michael Swetnam, has been quoted, but his research material hasn't been examined very closely. It is, in fact, nothing more than a 54 page "book" (booklet, more accurately), mostly photos, with no real analysis of Usama bin Laden or Al Qaeda. Not exactly what I would view as an "expert". Well, perhaps your standards are lower than mine. Much lower, in fact.

The truth is, Murray is wrong. Dead wrong. Her words have already spread to this region, and pro-bin Laden sites are trumpeting her words as a way to garner more support. She is providing aid and comfort to the enemy (in this case, Usama bin Laden in particular, and all terrorists in general). The last I checked, the Constitution of the United States (you know, the one she supposedly swore an oath to preserve and protect), describes her actions quite clearly. It's called "treason". You may want to check this out yourself - Article III, Section 3.

Unlike you, I happen to actually live in the Middle East. I have now for many years. I've gained a great deal of respect for the people I work for and with. And with the exception of a (very) few bigots which you will find in any culture, every single one of them thinks that Usama bin Laden is a dangerous and evil man, who perverts the religion of Islam to his own twisted purpose. They know he's not a "humanitarian", as Sen. Murray tried to portray him.

The only "nonsense" I can find is in your support of her. Senator Patty Murray must (not should) resign immediately. The other option is for her to be impeached from her seat in Congress. There is ample evidence to support this action.

Many thanks.

Doc Farmer
Doha, Qatar

You stated in your editorial, "Fact is, Murray's information about bin Laden is right. The Associated Press quoted a bin Laden expert saying the senator's comments were "a generalization, but mostly accurate." However, let's look at that a little closer. The "expert", one Michael Swetnam, has been quoted, but his research material hasn't been examined very closely.

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.