|
Home
Search
Subscribe Online
Archives
About
Us
Cartoons
Online
Book Store
E-Greetings
Jobs @ MG
Advertise
on MG
Our
Team
Contact Us
Muslim
Matrimonials
Our Advertisers
| |
Media's attempts to plug holes in
Washington's stories reveal how absurd stories really are
By Stephen Gowans
That grunting you hear is the sound of
journalists struggling to fit facts to a theory . The last time guttural
explosions like this were heard, Marlon Brando was trying to squeeze his
ample bottom into a pair of 36 inch-waist jeans. The result wasn't pretty
-- and neither is the fact fitting of journalists.
The latest labored exertion in the newsroom concerns the discrepancy
between the claim that the September 11th hijackers were Islamist holy
warriors, but that they cavorted in strip bars the night before the
attack. Since fundamentalist Muslims could hardly be expected to frequent
strip clubs, let alone get drunk in them, the question arises, How do you
reconcile these patently contradictory claims? Not very convincingly, it
turns out.
The first attempt at reconciliation I heard was from a friend who
explained that the suspects, "were drinking so they could fit in.
That way no one would suspect them."
Suspect them of what -- of being Muslim? While at times one might be
forgiven for thinking that in the aftermath of September 11th being Muslim
is now a crime, it certainly wasn't thought of that way before September
11th. So exactly what were the accused trying to evade suspicion of?
And in an October 4th, Ask the Globe feature, the Toronto Globe and Mail
explains, "those hijackers believed to have been drinking in bars or
sitting in a strip club the night before the attacks may have been seeking
cover." It's the Islamic principle of "taqiyya" the Globe
says, which "permits Muslims to use all necessary subterfuge to throw
suspicion off their real goals."
Are we supposed to believe that some equally inebriated strip-club patrons
were sitting on bar stools eyeing the swarthy men sitting in the corner,
thinking , "I wonder if these guys are bin Laden operatives planning
to crash a jetliner into a skyscraper tomorrow? Nah, they're drinking and
ogling the strippers. Couldn't be"?
But absurd as the claim is, it's made, and worst, believed. The underlying
thinking goes, "These were the bad guys, no question, so if they were
doing something that's inconsistent with what the bad guys are supposed to
do, there must be some reason."
The alternative, and I daresay more parsimonious possibility -- that they
weren't the bad guys, or were, but weren't fundamentalist Muslims -- is
never considered. Instead, we're treated to something that makes Ptlomy's
model of the solar system -- an over-elaborate model developed to validate
the assumption that the earth is the centre of the universe -- look spare
and economical.
Ask yourself a few questions: Exactly what were the suspects seeking cover
from? The entire premise of the argument is that an Islamic man,
practising his faith, would have aroused suspicion prior to September
11th, so he acts as a fundamentalist Muslim wouldn't. Imagine this. The
perpetrators of a crime are said to be orthodox Jews. But it's also
claimed the night before the crime is committed, our suspects are seen at
a pig roast, hoovering down huge slabs of greasy pork, while drinking
glass after glass of milk. When it's pointed out that orthodox Jews
wouldn't eat pork, the reply is, They were just trying to fit in so no one
would suspect they were Jews.
Why would anyone care? And isn't it more reasonable to grant as a very
strong possibility that they weren't orthodox Jews?
Before September 11th, seeing a Muslim man eschew strip clubs and alcohol
would hardly arouse suspicion. On the contrary, carrying on loudly and
drunkenly in a strip club is more likely to have attracted attention, if
not arouse suspicion. Indeed, it did. This might be the first time ever
the utter failure of a strategy is advanced as evidence that it was being
pursued.
Exactly what is meant by cover, anyway? Pretending you're not a
fundamentalist Muslim, so the terror attacks can't be pinned on an
fundamentalist Islamic group later? But why would anyone, sitting in a
strip club on September 10th, have any reason to believe that the swarthy
drunks sitting at the next table were going to crash a plane into the
World Trade Centre the next day? If you wanted to stay under cover,
wouldn't it have made more sense to stay out of sight -- and pray?
And if the perpetrators were bin Laden operatives, why would they want to
conceal their identities after the fact? Isn't that the point of terrorist
attacks -- to make plain who's carrying them out, and why? When the IRA
set off bombs in London, did it take pains to ensure that the British
authorities wouldn't know the IRA was responsible?
If you believe this folderol, you believe the accused were crafty people,
brilliant really, but then enormously stupid, too. They're smart enough to
pull off a brilliantly executed and co-ordinated terrorist attack, but
can't remember to take responsibility for it, or to explain their
motivation and goals -- the whole point of a terror attack. In fact, for
some reason, they're trying to cover up their responsibility, though --
and here their brilliance leaves them -- with little success. They're
brilliant enough to evade the notice of the considerable US intelligence
establishment, but stupid enough to draw attention to themselves the night
before the attack, so they'll be remembered. I don't know about you, but
if I wanted to keep a low profile, evade notice, and not be remembered, I
wouldn't be drinking boilermakers in a strip-joint while making loud and
boisterous remarks to the staff and patrons. On the contrary -- that's
what I'd do if I wanted to be remembered.
The same characteristic of being at once both brilliant and crafty but
stupid and blundering was attributed to Washington's last hobgoblins --
the Serbs. The Serbs were said to be crafty and cunning enough to hide the
bodies of the ethnic Albanian Kosovars alleged to have been murdered in
the tens of thousands -- a story that began circulating when forensic
pathologists couldn't find the bodies Washington warned were strewn across
Kosovo. At that point, the media, and public, might have said, If the
pathologists can't find the bodies maybe there aren't any. Maybe
Washington lied. It's not as if Washington hasn't lied before, to provide
a pretext for war. But that's not what the media said. Instead, it started
grunting, trying to pull size 36 inch waist jeans, over a 60 inch waist
theory. It said, instead, the reason the bodies couldn't be found is
because the Serbs hid them.
The "crafty Serbs hid the bodies" cover-up recalls other
tortured -- and tortuous -- explanations. When it was pointed out that the
ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians wasn't happening, and therefore
bombing couldn't put an end to something that hadn't happened, it was
said, "Ah, but it would have happened, had we not bombed."
In other words, every time one of Washington's stories starts to fall
apart, another story is crafted to prop up the first.
So, to prop up the story that bodies couldn't be found in Kosovo because
the cunning Serbs had hidden them, (again, evading the massive US
intelligence apparatus, including its spy satellites that surely would
have noticed the disinterment and subsequent reinterment of mass graves),
another story had to be told -- that the hidden bodies had finally been
found. But how were we to know they were actually the bodies of ethnic
Albanians? Because the Serbs, crafty and cunning in so many ways, weren't
crafty enough to remove tell-tales signs that the corpses belonged to
ethnic Albanians -- like their identity papers!
Repeatedly, Washington issues stories that make no sense. Rather than
calling a spade a spade, and pointing out the contradictions, the media,
latter day Ptolemy's and ever the faithful enabler of Washington's
mendacity, bend over backwards to explain away the inconsistencies. But
not without a lot of grunting.
Mr. Steve
Gowans is a writer and political activist who lives in Ottawa, Canada.
q
|
Subscribe
Now
|
