"To a great many people in this part of the world, to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization is to choose sides in the defining conflict of the Middle East, an intensely political decision for any government." - Neil MacDonald, CBC News, Beirut.
A Toronto Star report on December 13th offered more detail of CBC reporter Neil Macdonald's findings. Macdonald, the article reported, who traveled to Lebanon to investigate:
"...could not make the facts fit with Martin's account of them. Not only did Nasrallah not make the speeches when and where Martin had reported, there was no evidence the leader had ever incited suicide bombers to go global.... An Associated Press report of December 11th noted that, "Recent statements attributed to a Hezbollah leader called for expanding terrorist attacks outside the Middle East. That convinced Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham to ban the entire organization." ("Canada Adds Hezbollah to Banned Groups", Tom Cohen, Associated Press Writer, 11 December 2002).
The effect of the initial reports was dramatic. "The [government's] defence completely fell apart last week," declared Bill Rogers in the Ottawa Sun, "when the leader of Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, encouraged Palestinians in a speech in Lebanon 'to take suicide bombings worldwide.'" ("Canada takes aim at Hezbollah", 12 December 2002).
Keith Landry president of the Canadian Jewish Congress was quoted as saying that "Nasrallah confirmed what we, and others, have been telling the government all along, Hezbollah is one of the most dangerous international terrorist networks in the world. Their fundraising, recruitment and operations - including a significant Canadian-based component - have a long global reach." ("Social wing of Hezbollah raised money for terrorism, says Solicitor General", Canadian Press, 11 December 2002)
In the same article, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham expressed the government's understanding as now being that Hizbullah "still does (humanitarian) works, it still does hospitals, it does things but it was clear from the leader's comments the other day that, in fact, it was not distinguishing itself from terrorist activities."
However, an excellent Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) report by CBC journalist Neil Macdonald , has uncovered the surprising reality that the alleged remarks were not made by Hizbullah leader Nasrallah at all. Here is a transcript from the 11 December 2002 CBC broadcast:
PETER MANSBRIDGE: Well now to that crucial quote, the one that helped kick-start the change in Canadian policy and attributed to Hizbollah's Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. The CBC's Middle East correspondent Neil MacDonald went to Beirut to investigate what was said and what was not. Here's his revealing report.
NEIL MACDONALD (Reporter): This unremarkable cleric enjoys legendary status in the Arab world. The man whose fighters drove Israel out of Lebanon. Israel and its supporters, though, regard Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah as a cold-blooded terrorist and say his own words have now provided the proof. Certainly the quotes attributed to him last week and reported widely in most Canadian media were ominous. "Suicide bombings should be exported outside Palestine", he was reported to have said. "I encourage Palestinians to take suicide bombings worldwide, don't be shy about it." Canadian Jewish groups and their allies immediately pressed their demand that Canada classify Hezbollah as a terrorist group. Ottawa resisted doing that, given that Hezbollah also runs a social network with projects like this one which retrains and offers work to disabled Lebanese. Hassan Nasrallah's heavily reported new quotes merely had an impact. The only problem is there is simply no evidence Hassan Nasrallah ever made a speech promoting global suicide attacks. There is no record of such a speech here, and there would be. It was not broadcast on Hezbollah's television station, as was reported. Hezbollah, which vigorously publicizes Nasrallah's every word, says the remarks were never uttered and the Canadian embassy in Beirut has tried and failed to document the quotes. The story originated not in the Middle East but in London, with this man. Paul Martin freelances for "The Washington Times," a right wing newspaper owned by the Unification Church. He cannot back up the quotes his story attributes to Nasrallah. Nevertheless, he believes he understands Nasrallah's true agenda.
PAUL MARTIN (The Washington Times): Nasrallah said we look at America as the enemy of this nation. He then adds, we will fight the enemy or them anywhere and everywhere and says that we need to work on the culture of suicide missions.
MACDONALD: There is nothing new in Nasrallah's support for Palestinian tactics in the occupied territories and in Israel. Just recently, Nasrallah praised Palestinians he says are, quote, "willing to sacrifice themselves fighting Israel with whatever weapon", suicide bombs included. But, says Hezbollah legislator Mohammed Raad, Nasrallah has specifically instructed that Hezbollah's fight with Israel is military in nature and not to be taken outside the region. Raad says "The Washington Times" story about exporting attacks as part of a propaganda orchestrated by America's pro-Israel right wing. Indeed, there does seem to be a theme to "Washington Times" stories. Earlier this year, the paper ran a report by a reporter named Sayed Anwar accusing Palestinian Muslims of raping, executing and extorting Christians in Bethlehem. When the story was questioned, Sayed Anwar turned out to be a fictitious name. A composite for Paul Martin and two of his researchers. Martin refused to discuss that incident on camera. Ottawa now knows that the Nasrallah quotes in the "Washington Times" about exporting suicide attacks were almost certainly never uttered. Of course what this all really boils down to is the old question of what constitutes terrorism. Is Hezbollah a national liberation movement or, as Israel and its supporters maintain, a murderous global menace? To a great many people in this part of the world, to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization is to choose sides in the defining conflict of the Middle East, an intensely political decision for any government. Neil MacDonald, CBC News, Beirut.A Toronto Star report on December 13th offered more detail of CBC reporter Neil Macdonald's findings. Macdonald, the article reported, who traveled to Lebanon to investigate:
"...could not make the facts fit with Martin's account of them. Not only did Nasrallah not make the speeches when and where Martin had reported, there was no evidence the Hezbollah leader had ever incited suicide bombers to go global.
"I watched the videos. I watched the speeches. I have done more research than maybe the Canadian government has done, certainly more than Paul Martin has done," Macdonald told me on the phone from Jordan last night. "He came up with three quotes, one of which, to be charitable, was a gross mistranslation, and the other two were never even uttered."
When CBC confronted Martin for Wednesday's edition of The National, he "got very upset and jumped up and said this interview is over." Eventually, he fingered Walid Phares, a Florida Atlantic University associate professor, as his source."
Source: Curious silence greets discredited Hezbollah tale, Antoinia Zerbisias, Toronto Star, 13 December 2002.Of course, a simple Internet search for Walid Phares quickly identifies him as a pro-Israeli Lebanese ultra-nationalist activist who has contributed policy briefs to the Middle East Quarterly, the publication of Daniel Pipes' well known think tank, the Middle East Forum.
Once again, as in the case of statements falsely attributed to Palestinian Authority officials in the wake of the Israeli war crimes in Jenin, we must note that a "Chinese whispers" effect in the media has produced a massive real world ripple with negative consequences for a series of medical and educational facilities that are widely considered to be beneficial.
The source? A journalist who has previously propagated false information under a false indentity, who works at an irresponsible newspaper that refuses to hold him accountable. His source? A "Middle East Expert" who holds clearly partisan views.
Once again, fact checking is exposed as a seemingly insurmountable problem for media organisations covering the Middle East.
Heads Up: 3 Cities 3 Drills by Naveed from 911 TruthAction
Don't you people forget that on 7/7/05 and 9/11/01 attacks they used Drills for carrying out their "operations"
PLZ pass this on to other lists!
As the burglar approaches the house, we have to squak like geese to scare him off!
RED ALERT: 9/11/06
( Chicago , Detroit & Houston )
Four-Square Analysis: The Who and Why
Almost five years after the first 9/11, all America is divided into three equal parts, and all of them have strong beliefs:
A third says it just doesn't trust this government, citing Iraq or Katrina as the main reasons why. They want to get out of the war in Iraq and stay out of the war with Iran .
A third says it simply hates this government, and wants to remove it for ordering or allowing 9/11 five years ago to take us to war in the Middle East . They say the media covered up 9/11 and is setting up the second, follow-up 9/11, so they use the Internet to get around the media, and the media calls them conspiracy theorists.
A third says it supports the government, which is run by the Neocon Republicans, and who now say that the only way to win the global war is to start a world war. Almost five years after 9/11, their war has been an utter failure, and they are fighting mad about it. In recent days they have threatened consequences for their foreign and domestic enemies, calling the one group fascists and the other appeasers. The joke in Washington now is that they'll need Osama Bin Laden to save the Republican Congress on the 11/7 elections, or to save their president from impeachment afterwards.
The Neocons wrote their "Project for a New American Century" world domination plan in 2000, stating in it that the US would be difficult to lead to war without "some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor ." 9/11 was just the kind of thing they'd wanted, and on the night of 9/11, their president wrote in his diary that "the Pearl Harbor of the 21st Century took place today," and the next day they began their war plans.
They have used the threat of Al Qaeda in the last two elections, but the threats aren't budging falling poll numbers any more. Only a second 9/11 might reverse this slide, and energize the public -- like a another new Pearl Harbor . If it were to happen, they could lead the nation to a second war, this time with Iran instead of Iraq ; they could shut up appeasers at home; and if necessary they could arrest, confine and prosecute the conspiracy theorists who think that the government had anything to do with either the first or the second 9/11.
The media has spent five years saying that a second 9/11 is inevitable, and all this summer they've said that homegrown terrorists in Canada , Florida and the UK are planning to blow us up in our buildings, airplanes and tunnels. Last week they said Homeland Security was setting up terror exercises in major Midwestern cities around 9/11/06, to protect us. The conspiracy theorists don't feel protected, though, since they have learned that on 9/11/01 the US government was holding exercises to protect us from the very attacks that happened to us, and on 7/7/05 the UK government was holding exercises to protect their citizens from the very attacks that happened to them. To conspiracy theorists, it's clear that the terror exercises were setting up the terror events.
Three Targets and Times: The Where and When
CHICAGO, 9/7/06: Chicago has major terror exercises on 9/7, four days before 9/11/06. Recently the Chicago Sun-Times carried the story "Daley: Loop evacuation drill to be spontaneous". The media says that Al Qaeda once wanted to destroy the Sears Tower ago on 9/11/01, and once Al Qaeda has chosen a target, they're sure to strike it sooner or later. Just this spring media said that Al Qaeda was casing the Sear Tower , and just this summer they said that a Florida Al Qaeda cell was planning to blow it up. Citizens of the Windy City were terrified during the strange 7/11 train derailment in one of their underground tunnels. When it happened everyone on the train immediately thought of the London 7/7 train bombings of just over a year before -- and of the Bombay 7/11 train bombings of that very day. They believed their city was the next terror target, and they may still be right.
DETROIT, 9/9/06: Detroit has major terror exercises on 9/9, the two days before 9/11/06. The Windsor Star recently carried the story "Detroit on guard for huge disaster". The Motor City is quite close to the Canadian border, where media said a Canadian homegrown terror was plotting, and who would be surprised if they crossed the border to do something in Michigan ? The exercises are reacting to tunnel attacks, and recent exercises have practiced falling buildings like the Twin Towers or Sears Tower .
HOUSTON, 9/11/06: This summer Houston media has said that Al Qaeda is a strong local threat, and would like to blow up area refineries, which are abundant around the Bayou City. The Houston media has kept a tight lid on a series of major, market-rocking explosions in the Texas City British Petroleum and Beaumont Exxon Mobil refineries, all of which I predicted and published weeks in advance. I covered the subject in my 7/17/06 Lone Star Iconoclast commentary, "9/11, 7/11, 3/11 Terror Dates -- Is there an embedded code, and can we use it to save ourselves?". If there is a petro-9/11 the biggest city of the Bush home state, look for Big Oil to make a killing on price changes -- and for that reason keep a close eye on them and their refineries.
A Pair of Points: The What and How
We Americans want our liberty back, especially our liberty from state terror, but we must pay for it with simple and sensible efforts to behave like a free people. In the 19th Century the American Wendell Phillips wrote "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." I urge every American to buy back their liberty due vigilance, especially from now to the 11/7 elections. We must speak, write and act freely, even if it is an unwelcome duty from which too many have hitherto hidden. As a lifelong military man, I swore an oath in 1977 to defend my country and its constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Writing and posting this commentary is my way of that duty, that I still carry in my middle years, even if it means they may be my last years.
It is worthwhile to oppose the tyranny of our times because it's clear -- at least to me -- that we shall regain our balance. Five years ago we lost it badly when we were shoved into a quicksand war from behind, then told that the people the Neocons wanted us to attack had done the shoving. It was all a lie. Our true enemies are apparent now, and becoming more apparent with each passing day. The once-powerful Neocons are but a poor copy of the real Nazis who proclaimed and pursued a Thousand Year Reich. Their war plan has failed, their New Ameican Century, which was the proclamation and pursuit of their Republican Reich.
