MaxedOutMama
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Indigestion
This article in BakuToday reviews Arab/Islamic reaction to the Bin Laden tape:
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Saiid, the head of the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, says Osama bin Laden has taken full responsibility for the September 11th attacks for the first time. Some in the Arab world have theorized that the attacks were carried out by Israel's secret service or by the CIA.
"Here, he is talking about: 'we planned it, we made it, for so and so and so.' And that is a very big, I would say, confession," he said. :And that will be a big blow to many of the conspiracy theorists in the Arab world."
Oops. And what was the message and purpose of the videotape according to Al Ahram center?
Expert on Islamic affairs and columnist for the the al-Ahram newspaper Fahmy Howeidi says Osama bin Laden's statement has two main goals.
"He is hoping for two things," he said. "Number One, he wanted to tell the people that he is still there. He is still challenging [President] Bush and all his allies in the area. Number Two he is trying to convince people that, if they do not vote for [Mr.] Bush they will be more safe, more secure."
But do we believe it? That's the question.
The invaluable MEMRI reports on the elephant in the international living room - the Oil for Food program and those who profited from it:
The most intriguing of all is the case of Benon Sevan, the UN director of the Oil for Food Program. Mr. Sevan, who was identified in the lists with the United Nations but listed under African-Middle East (Panama), has received several vouchers. The last one for 1.5 million barrels appears to coincide with Mr. Sevan's visit to Iraq and his meeting with Iraq's Deputy President Taha Yassin Ramadan in February, 2002.
The Iraqi government daily Al-Thawra compared Sevan to "other honest employees of the United Nations," Dennis Haliday(an Irish national) and Hans von Sponeck (a German national) who served, in succession, as UN Representatives in Iraq for Humanitarian Affairs. [6] Until the fall of Saddam these two UN officials had given numerous interviews on visual and written media denouncing the UN sanctions as harmful to the people of Iraq.
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Saiid, the head of the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, says Osama bin Laden has taken full responsibility for the September 11th attacks for the first time. Some in the Arab world have theorized that the attacks were carried out by Israel's secret service or by the CIA.
"Here, he is talking about: 'we planned it, we made it, for so and so and so.' And that is a very big, I would say, confession," he said. :And that will be a big blow to many of the conspiracy theorists in the Arab world."
Oops. And what was the message and purpose of the videotape according to Al Ahram center?
Expert on Islamic affairs and columnist for the the al-Ahram newspaper Fahmy Howeidi says Osama bin Laden's statement has two main goals.
"He is hoping for two things," he said. "Number One, he wanted to tell the people that he is still there. He is still challenging [President] Bush and all his allies in the area. Number Two he is trying to convince people that, if they do not vote for [Mr.] Bush they will be more safe, more secure."
But do we believe it? That's the question.
The invaluable MEMRI reports on the elephant in the international living room - the Oil for Food program and those who profited from it:
The most intriguing of all is the case of Benon Sevan, the UN director of the Oil for Food Program. Mr. Sevan, who was identified in the lists with the United Nations but listed under African-Middle East (Panama), has received several vouchers. The last one for 1.5 million barrels appears to coincide with Mr. Sevan's visit to Iraq and his meeting with Iraq's Deputy President Taha Yassin Ramadan in February, 2002.
The Iraqi government daily Al-Thawra compared Sevan to "other honest employees of the United Nations," Dennis Haliday(an Irish national) and Hans von Sponeck (a German national) who served, in succession, as UN Representatives in Iraq for Humanitarian Affairs. [6] Until the fall of Saddam these two UN officials had given numerous interviews on visual and written media denouncing the UN sanctions as harmful to the people of Iraq.
