Akram, Angry Arab's chief correspondent in Syria, sent me this:
"For
me, reading NY Times follows a constant pattern: Each time, I start reading an
article with a sincere will to continue to the last line… then on a particular
point, I stop reading to wonder: How, for God sake, could they write something
like this? It happened again to me here.
Some quickly
pointed the finger at a major fighting group based in Homs, Al Farouq Brigade,
which is considered Islamist but is opposed to Mr. Absi’s [local leader in
Aleppo of "Jabhat An-Nousra", an Islamist group affiliated to Al-Qaeda who was
killed last week] hard-line ideology.
How Mr.
Kirkpatrick concluded that "Al-Farouq Brigade" is ideologically opposed to
"Jabhat An-Nousra"? Is it for example because:
- The first is part of the Free Syrian Army while the latter isn't? Has someone told Mr. Kirkpatrick that FSA is a secular, or better, a leftist group with a Trotskyist or a Maoist flavor?
- The first opposes the car bomb "revolutionary" tactic that kills people indiscriminately (i.e. not on sectarian basis), and prefers, instead, the more targeted and more sectarian Kidnap-and-kill approach against the Alawites?
- The first prefers a governing regime of Syria that is inspired by the Sudanese model while the second prefers the Taliban-based one?
- Or is it simply what his Middle East advisers in Beirut told him?
Any of
the above may be true, though I think that the real reason, for Mr. Kirkpatrick
thoughtful conclusion, is the English-language translation
of a video footage of "Al-Farouq Brigade" and the fluent English used by
one of its fighters in asking the western powers to intervene
in the war to topple Mr. Assad (the publications of Jabhat An-Nousra are
poorly limited to Arabic). Speaking English fluently is a conclusive evidence
that you are a deep-rooted secular with a western liberal leanings!!!
But
just in case Mr. Kirkpatrick doesn't know, here is a glimpse
for him and for his employers in NYT as well to know better how much liberal and
humanist are "Al-Farouq Brigades" angels."
PS Akram should know that when Kirkpatrick was dispatched by the New York Times to cover the "Arab Spring", he expressed his admiration and gratitude for the paper because it is willing to send somebody without any background or knowledge of the Middle East--he meant that this is a good thing.
