Leading Egyptian Government newspaper: ‘Al-Zarqawi is an American Agent'

[ECH1969]

"All Evidence Proves that Al-Zarqawi Works for America"

"All the evidence proves that Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi is working for America, because his victims are Iraqis and not the coalition forces under the command of the American occupation forces in Iraq. Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi's official title is 'leader of Al-Qa'ida's faction in Iraq.' Osama bin Laden is the commander of the Al-Qa'ida organization, and this proves that bin Laden, has been an American agent ever since he operated against the USSR forces in Afghanistan in favor of the Americans!

"Let's read the statement issued two days ago on behalf of Al-Zarqawi in Iraq after he killed and wounded dozens of people from among the Interior Ministry and Iraqi army forces, by means of booby-trapped cars in a number of cities in Iraq!

The Massacre of the Iraqi People is Aimed at Strengthening the U.S. Occupation in a Region Vital to American Interests "In addition, why is Al-Zarqawi massacring innocent Iraqi citizens and the Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi army and the Iraqi Interior Ministry? Al-Zarqawi undeniably aims to harm the Iraqi people and members of the Iraqi forces, who undergo training to protect homeland in the future. This massacre of the Iraqi forces and the Iraqi people is meant to strengthen the American occupation of the region the main route to Central Asia, formerly under USSR control, rich in oil wells, and surrounds Iran and the Caspian Sea..."

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP92305

[democrat_patriot]

1. Holy crap.

I'm n ot sure what to make of this. Source reliable?

[ECH1969]

2. What this does is

It shows what the Middle East thinks of us.

[The Magistrate]

11. 'Memri" Translations, Sir

Are accurate within reason. the organization is often accused of cherry-picking to make the Arab press look bad, but there is no doubt the confront a veritable cherry orchard in that regard.

The paper mentioned is not "the" leading paper in Egypt, that is al'Ahram. The press is government controlled in Egypt, so certainly nothing is published without official vetting. Much is allowed in print, however, as a sop to radical feeling in the country, the government having learned the art of leaving its subjects to let off steam to avoid explosion of the whole boiler in revolution, and thus should not be taken as indicative of the government's official positions.

The claim is nonesense, and the opinion piece cites no real evidence for the claim, but rather considers it "logical", and that by an elaborate exercise in begging the question and deliberate obtuseness.

[Igel]

3. Ah, the notorious "cui bono?" argument, yet again.

I suspect many will think MEMRI is a biased source. You may get a ding or two to your rep because of it.

Not that their translations are wrong, or they falsify stories; some folk have had quibbles here or there, but quibbles count for little. It's just a "tainted" source for many.

[ECH1969]

5. I am not saying any of it is true

I am just saying this goes to show what the opinion of the people of the Middle East about America today.

[Igel]

16. In which case, I whole-heartedly concur. n/t

[Just Me]

4. *shit* That's not funny!!!

Not at all!!!

[Kraklen]

6. Makes as much sense as what the American media says.

Zarqawi's been killed and resurrected more times than a comic book superhero.

[smoogatz]

7. The logic here is incredibly tortured

No explanation of Bushco's potential motive in sending al Zarqawi to attack the Iraqi soldiers and police it's attempting to train and supply.

[Ravenseye]

8. It really honestly doesn't make sense what he's doing

I don't know where any of there evidence is but honestly it's odd.

Yes they're attacking our troops as well, but these attacks on Iraqi's, Iraqi Police, etc...

It's not what I'd be doing if I were an Iraqi insurgent I'll tell you that. The Iraqi people are actually warming up to their new "government".

I just can't believe that our government has controlled these guys for 20 years and arranged multiple terrorist attacks against us the first WTC, the USS Cole, 9/11...I just don't buy it. Multiple presidencies....It'd implicate not just Reagan, both Bush's but Clinton as well...

Unless it's a rogue arm of the government, but I just dont' buy that kind of conspiracy stuff.

[smoogatz]

14. It makes perfect sense.

They see anyone who works for the U.S.-sponsored Iraqi government as a collaborator. Of course they're going after them. The longer they can delay the training of Iraqi police and military forces, the bigger the bind they put the U.S. government in. The military picture there is incredibly complicated now, precisely because the insurgents are attacking so relentlessly on so many fronts. It shows the Iraqi people that we can't defend anyone or anything outside of our heavily fortified enclaves there--just like in Vietnam.

[donsu]

9. Egypt got it right

and if Egypt would stop torturing people for the criminal bushgang things could get better

[madeline_con]

10. Maybe not...

Isn't the mission of this crew to prevent the U.S. backed Iraqi government from remaining in power, not strengthen it? If I'm wrong, please enlighten me.

[oblivious]

12. Zarqawi's American all right... an American myth.

Who can believe that a foreigner could go in there and take over the resistance. As if Saddam's former generals, republican guard, secret police, army, etc. would submit to this small-time foreign loser terrorist who spent most of the 90s in a Jordanian prison.

This is so ridiculous.

[anarch]

13. sure, he "works" for bushco....

the mythical, demonic enemy...a lesser version of OBL....

"Somewhere or other he was still alive and hatching his conspiracies: perhaps somewhere beyond the sea, under the protection of his foreign paymasters, perhaps even -- so it was occasionally rumoured -- in some hiding-place in Oceania itself."

[JackRiddler]

15. The myth of Al-Zarqawi is a plus to the U.S. occupation

Does Al-Zarqaqi even exist in the form that the U.S. claims, as a major resistance leader in Iraq?

Fighting the American-led invasion that has brought so much death and sorrow to Iraq is an indigenous resistance of the people led by former Baath loyalists, former army officers, and patriots both secular and religious. U.S. commanders themselves will admit that 99 percent of the insurgents are Iraqis. And it's not just a Sunni phenomenon. One of the largest anti-occupation forces is Shiite.

A myth has been propagated, entirely within a bubble of pro-U.S. media, that the resistance is actually led by a foreign, Sunni-extremist, fanatic al-Qaeda member who hates Shiites (the Iraqi majority) and mainly kills civilians at random. The one-legged man's secret messages are always instantly available to the Americans, proving his connections to Osama Bin Ladin. Despite this, he has miraculously survived a number of bad woundings.

Bullshit. This story on its face is more ridiculous than the Egyptian conspiracy theory.

I doubt Zarqawi is a U.S. agent, simply because it seems even likelier that he is an invention of U.S. propaganda (at least in the form that he is fed to us). I don't even know if he exists, any more than I can tell which of the many Osama doubles who have appeared to tell conflicting stories in the mostly fake videos might be the "real" one.

I do know that the U.S. military made no secret of its plans to launch an "Operation Phoenix"-style solution of the insurgency. That means death squads.

How many of these dozens of dead people being found near "insurgent centers" (who are listed but never identified in the U.S. press) are actually suspected insurgents or "civilian leaders" massacred by U.S.-armed death squads?

[Al-CIAda]

17. Interesting. n/t