Rense.com



Arab Shout: It's All A Forgery!
By Marsha Kranes
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/36160.htm
12-14-1

The U.S.-government released Osama bin Laden videotape was dismissed as unconvincing propaganda in many parts of the Arab world, with some blasting it as a complete fabrication.
 
Only in a few Arab countries did government officials and citizens view the video as evidence of bin Laden's active role in the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes.
 
Viewers throughout the Mideast were able to see the videotape on both Al-Jazeera and CNN. And while state-run Arab networks didn't air the video, commentators angrily denounced it and questioned its authenticity.
 
 
Part of the problem was the poor sound quality of the footage and the reliance on U.S. translations, Arab commentators said.
 
Egyptian stockbroker Sherif Abdelkhalek questioned whether bin Laden actually appeared.
 
"I don't know if it's bin Laden or not," he said. "This is not evidence for [the] U.S. to say bin Laden did this. The tape was not clear . . . the voice of all the sentences bin Laden said did not sound the same."
 
Abdul Latif Arabiat, head of Jordan's Islamic Action Front - considered a "mainstream" party - called the footage "shameful."
 
"Do Americans really think the world is that stupid to think that they would believe that this tape is evidence?" he asked.
 
"Of course, it is fabricated," said Dia'a Rashwan, a Cairo-based expert on Islamic movements.
 
"If this is the kind of evidence that America has, then the blood of thousands who died and were injured in Afghanistan is on [President] Bush's head."
 
In Bahrain, a viewer who accepted the video as real shrugged off its significance, claiming, "It only adds that bin Laden was aware of the incident but not necessarily that he had planned it."
 
Among the few Mideast officials to welcome the tape as evidence of bin Laden's involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks were leaders of the United Arab Emirates, a U.S. ally.
 
"There is no doubt in my mind that bin Laden was behind those operations," said the country's information minister, Sheik Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan.
 
He added, "We, Arabs and Muslims, should punish them for offending Islam, Muslims and Arabs."
 
In Israel, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the tape provided "unequivocally incriminating evidence" against al Qaeda. "You could just see the sinister plot that was concocted there and the glee of these people."
 
 
MainPage
http://www.rense.com
 
 
 
This Site Served by TheHostPros