- Pravda.Ru Lisbon office received today a translation
into Portuguese of what purports to be an interview between Al Jazeera
and Mohammed Al-Asuquf, the third in command of Al Qaeda, in which he makes
shocking affirmations as to the lack of security in the USA of George W.
Bush. From what I have just experienced, I am not in the least surprised.
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- To start with, we should explain how these things work.
The editorial offices of Pravda.Ru in Moscow and Lisbon, like any other
newspaper, receive hundreds of e-mails every day. Some of these offer encouragement,
others insults, others spoof stories and others, useful leads for us to
investigate.
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- Today's material, in journalistic terms, is a potential
neutron bomb. It is the transcript of an interview supposedly between Al
Jazeera and Mohammed Al-Asuquf, in which the third in command of Al Qaeda
claims that there are seven atomic devices already in the USA, that these
had been taken in before 9/11, that security in the USA prior to and after
9/11 is a joke and goes on in graphic detail to describe how the devices
were taken to the USA and from whom they were bought.
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- The document is supposed to have been translated into
Portuguese by a Professor from the Arabic community in southern Brazil,
and claims to be the only non-Arabic version in print. From southern Brazil
it was sent swiftly to the Lisbon office of Pravda.Ru, where it sits on
my table in front of me.
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- The document could be a load of nonsense, invented by
some bored (but imaginative) seventeen-year-old with nothing better to
think about. However, when nuclear bombs are being spoken about in the
world of today, it is worthwhile investigating the veracity of the document
and alerting the potential victims of the chatter out on the Net. Much
as we disagree with the policy of George Bush, we do not want to see more
people getting hurt.
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- So, I telephoned the US Embassy in Lisbon and asked to
speak to someone about a matter of National Security. "OK Sir, hold
a moment please!". Three times. Then "Er..sir? I'm afraid there's
no-one in the building from security. Could you please telephone Mr. X
at the British Embassy? He has the same functions".
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- So the British Embassy does Mr. Bush's work in Lisbon,
does it? OK so I telephone the contact at the British Embassy. I receive
a recorded message saying he is not in. I leave my message and contact
number and wait for his call.
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- Now to checking my sources. I telephone Al-Jazeera in
Qatar, where I try to verify the veracity of this interview. I am told
to call another number. I call this number and am passed to another one
which rings 70 times without answer. I hang up.
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- I am not going to reveal the entire contents of the document
because I cannot simply copy on to the Net everything that is sent to me,
without checking the source. I am therefore waiting for a reply from Al-Jazeera
(a written message was sent).
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- I am still waiting for the British Embassy to call me
back. If the contents of the supposed interview are a hoax, then nothing
is lost or gained. But if they are true, how does it feel to be reading
this article, with the terrible implications it could hold for the National
Security of the USA, before the security services of that country or its
closest ally have any idea as to what is going on?
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- Does the American public feel safe in the USA of George
W. Bush?
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- <http://english.pravda.ru/author/_78.htmld>
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