"Al-Qa'ida is a virulently anti-Shia Sunni group...Hizbullah, a virulently anti-Sunni Shia group"

[ProSense]

Cable News as Propaganda Agents

by
Larry C Johnson

Today's coverage of the violence in Lebanon reveals a remarkable degree of bias and stupidity. CNN and Fox News are the most egregious. All are busy pandering to neocons and suporters of Israel who tend to favor a Likudnic view of the world. Consider the following reported on CNN:

Smoke billowed Monday from a Palestinian refugee camp as Lebanese forces battled Islamic militants linked to al Qaedafor a second day near the northern city of Tripoli. The clashes have left dozens dead and wounded. The fighting was sparked Sunday when Lebanese Internal Security Forces raided a building in a neighborhood north of Tripoli, army sources said. Militants from Fatah al-Islam began shooting at the forces, who returned fire, triggering clashes in the vicinity of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp. . . .
Nayla Mouawad, Lebanese social affairs minister, said the militants have "Syrian allegiance and only take orders from Syria."

<…>

If you are like George Bush you may not appreciate the fact that there are Sunni muslims and Shia muslims. Radical Sunnis and radical Shias dislike each other intensely. Each considers the other a heretic. So what the hell is the media up to? Let's ask Pat Lang, who posted some keen insights at Sic Semper Tyrannis:

<..>

Now, think about it, folks Al-Qa'ida is a virulently anti-Shia Sunni group. Everyone "knows" how much Syria supports Hizbullah, a virulently anti-Sunni Shia group. So, which is it? Which side does the Syrian government support? Does the Syrian government support both at the same time? If you believe that, then you really are a sucker for propaganda.

<…>

The media has an obligation and a responsibility to report news and to report it accurately. Syria is not and has not been an ally or supporter of Al Qaeda. The former head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was not buddies with Syrian President Assad. Yet CNN, Fox and MSNBC are helping spread the propaganda that Syria is in league with al Qaeda, who in turn is stirring th pot in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Palestinian refugees are caught in a meat grinder. And you wonder how we were "mislead" into a war in Iraq?

link

[DireStrike]

1. Actually, why couldn't they be playing both sides?

We do it all the time.

[me b zola]

2. The coverage has been driving me crazy

It is quite appearent now that anytime anything goes wrong in the world it will somehow be reported as "a group with ties to al Qaeda".

Once again, thank you Larry Johnson.

[azurnoir]

3. More frightening is the implication

that the Palestinians have ties to AQ, that is just the excuse several players need for a "decisive strike" against the Palestinians

[dave_p]

5. It's a tiny faction

... which enemies say isn't even Palestinian-led.

I doubt there's much mileage in this for the warmongers. The group's surfaced in Fatah's camps, but Fatah wants it out. And Israel just now doesn't want Fatah eliminated.

Lebanon - and Palestinians - just said no to aQ. That should be seized on to build common ground. The chance will dountless be missed.

[dave_p]

4. It's perfectly simple

Fatah ul-islam's a minority Sunni faction now under attack from Lebanon's Sunni-led government.

Hezbollah's a Shia-based pro-Iran and pro-Syria Lebanese nationalist group. It's not "virulently anti-Sunni": its allies include Hamas, which is overwhelmingly Sunni. Hezbollah's with most Sunni in supporting the army over this action.

It's simple. Nobody in Lebanon likes al-Qaeda: not the government, not Hezbollah, not Hamas, not Fatah. Neither do Syria or Iran.

A smart west would recognize that and seek common ground. Smartness is in short supply these days outside Lebanon.

[ProSense]

6. You're making interesting points, but the main point of the piece

is the propaganda to link disparate groups.

[dave_p]

10. Oh yes

The people who led us into Iraq aren't the sort to let the truth get in the way of WW3.

It was the characterization of Hezbollah as "virulently anti-Sunni" (not challenged in the piece) that I objected to.

If we're to counter the propaganda, we have to do better than that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Some explanation of Fatah al-Islam

Fatah al-Islam emerged in November 2006 when it split from Fatah al-Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon.
...
The Lebanese government has linked Fatah al-Islam to the Syrian intelligence services. Syrian officials and Fatah al-Islam deny the connection.
...
Abssi has said that his group has no organisational links to al-Qaeda, but agrees with al-Qaeda's ideology of fighting and killing non-Muslims.

Fatah al-Islam's statements have appeared on Islamist web sites known for publishing al-Qaeda statements.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6676369.stm

An earlier article on them

Some Islamic groups are 'virulently anti-' the other sect. But not all - and I don't think Hizbullah can be called 'virulently anti-Sunni':

Twice in less than 24 hours, on Monday evening and Tuesday morning, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah felt the need to tackle the issue head on in his Ashura sermons. Earlier, on Thursday, he had issued a fatwa (religious edict) forbidding Muslims from killing one another. "A Lebanese who shoots another Lebanese is akin to an Israeli. Any weapon that is used against a Lebanese is an Israeli weapon, no matter what the reasons," he said.

On Tuesday's Ashura sermon Nasrallah told his audience, "the Bush administration is preparing the ground in Lebanon, through their agents, for a Sunni-Shia rift". He vowed that Hizbullah, which controls 14 seats in parliament and until recently had two members of Fouad Al-Siniora's cabinet, would not be dragged into civil strife.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/830/re7.htm

Syria also has a Sunni majority population; it's quite reasonable to suggest it could support a Sunni group in Lebanon.

[dave_p]

12. Not Syria's kind of group

"Syria also has a Sunni majority population; it's quite reasonable to suggest it could support a Sunni group in Lebanon"

Syria's Alawi leaders tend to be closer to Lebanon's Shia, as in the present relationship with Hezbollah. Fatah al-Islam isn't Syria's kind of ally: Danascus already has friends in the PFLP-GC and DFLP, as well as Hamas. And the last thing it wants is a second Iraq on its border.

[Jim__]

8. "...CNN, Fox and MSNBC are helping spread the propaganda ..."

My guess is that's exactly what's going on. The CNN, MSNBC, and FoxNews profit-centers are reading government-released propaganda statements. Washington sends it, and the news media parrot it. It's so cheap and easy.

[Strelnikov_]

9. Add NPR to the list as "militants linked to al Qaeda" has been their lead in

all day.

[ProSense]

11. AP clarifies: How does Fatah Islam fit into all this?

Q: How does Fatah Islam fit into all this?

A: The group's leader, a Palestinian named Shaker al-Absi, has said he is inspired by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and is training militants to carry out attacks in other countries. A U.S. counterterrorism official said America considers al-Absi a double threat because he has a Syrian past as well as al-Qaida links.

Al-Absi's most direct al-Qaida link comes from his association with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq killed by U.S. forces there. Al-Absi was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan, along with al-Zarqawi, for plotting the 2002 assassination of an American diplomat.

Al-Absi was in a Syrian jail at the time, accused by Syria of planning terror attacks there against Western tourists. Released by Syria last year, he moved to Lebanon.

Lebanese security officials say his group has only about 100 members — both from Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Syria and local sympathizers from the conservative Sunni Salafi branch of Islam, the same branch al-Zarqawi championed.

Q: Is there a direct Syrian connection to the latest fighting?

A: That's a matter of debate.

Syria denies any role and says it has been working to round up Fatah Islam's leaders, not support them. Syria does have serious problems with al-Qaida-inspired militants — who have targeted its own regime — and some Western officials believe the Syrian regime genuinely does fear militants like al-Absi.

But Lebanese officials accuse Syria of using groups like Fatah Islam to stir up trouble in Lebanon — keeping it destabilized and thus distracted from U.N. investigations into Hariri's death.

more

A Palestinian named Shaker al-Absi, inspired by al-Qaida, associated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, spent time in a Syrian jail.

Syria has problems with al-Qaida and al-Absi, but according to the MSM Syria's connection is debatable!

[Eugene]

13. Syria says militants in Lebanon work for al Qaeda

Source: Reuters

Syria says militants in Lebanon work for al Qaeda
21 May 2007 21:16:10 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (Reuters) - Syria's U.N. Ambassador said
on Monday that militants fighting Lebanese troops had been jailed in
Damascus a few years ago for links to al Qaeda, and would be
rearrested if they returned.

Denying accusations that Syria had links to the Fatah al-Islam group
battling the Lebanese army, Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said several
members of the group had spent "three or four years" in Syrian jails
"a couple of years ago" because of ties to al Qaeda, then were
released and left the country.

"If they come to Syria they will be jailed," he told reporters. "They
are not fighting on behalf of the Palestinian cause. They are fighting
on behalf of al Qaeda."

He said the leaders of the group were mostly Palestinians, Jordanians
or Saudis and perhaps a "couple of them" were Syrians. After the
leaders were free they began "terrorist practices" and trained "new
elements" on behalf of al Qaeda, but had left Syria before they could
be jailed again.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21357304.htm