Conspiracy theories abound in the Middle East: Seven years later, it remains conventional wisdom here that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda could not have been solely responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that the United States and Israel had to have been involved in their planning, if not their execution, too.…
Showing all posts tagged al-Qaeda
The Independent Weekly examines Blogging book
The following book review of The Blogging Revolution, in Adelaide’s Independent Weekly, was published by Kate Lockett on August 29: Did you know that Iran has around one million bloggers, that Farsi is in the top five languages used on the internet or that 20 per cent of Saudi Arabians are now online? Australian journalist…
As worthless as trash
A Whitehall counter-terrorism unit is targeting the BBC and other media organisations as part of a new global propaganda push designed to “taint the al-Qaida brand”, according to a secret Home Office paper seen by the Guardian. The document also shows that Whitehall counter-terrorism experts intend to exploit new media websites and outlets with a…
The final days of hedonism?
Lebanon is a tinderbox and could blow at any time (and al-Qaeda is rising). Enjoy the good times while they last.
Quick easy steps to help terrorism
Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid on the disastrous effects of the Bush administration’s “war on terror” policies. Democracy Now!, June 10: And now you have huge efforts by al-Qaeda to train European Muslims, to train white European converts to Islam. They’ve set up training camps now with language facilities. That means if you’re a German Muslim,…
The “national suicide” myth
George Bisharat, Los Angeles Times, June 9: Anew buzzword is arising from the network of Israeli think tanks and security-oriented academic departments bent on instigating a U.S. attack on Iran: “national suicide.” The term describes a supposed Arab Muslim tradition of politically motivated suicide at the national, not just individual, level. Arab Muslim regimes have…
An insignificant Iraq withdrawal
My following article appears in today’s ABC Unleashed: Retired Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, the onetime commander of US troops in Iraq, has recently released a book about his time in the country. In Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story, he recalls a teleconference with US President George W. Bush soon after four contractors were…
Time to find new friends
How Bush and his mates are increasingly irrelevant in the Middle East. (Though this doesn’t stop many Western NGOs still supporting the worst aspects of Israeli occupation policies.)