Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Lebanese government is now being blamed for the death of a prisoner in its custody. I would not be surprised if the Lebanese and Syrian governments (both of which have committed torture in the past and the present--the Syrian Ba`thist record is notorious in this respect) tortured the prisoner to death. It will not be the first time. Perhaps they were too eager to manufacture an Al-Qa`idah plot to please the American government. And the Minister of Interior in Lebanon is the king of uncovering plots--mostly wild and imaginary, having uncovered a "diabolical" plot by Satan Worshippers last year. He appeared on LBC TV last year and talked about the plot, and said that he had documents showing that the Lebanese Satan worshippers also engaged in "sexual deviance." His father (a silly puppet of the Syrian government) got him the job of Minister of Interior; his father Michel Al-Murr paid Lebanese deputies to "elect" Israeli criminal puppet Bashir Gemayyel in 1982, and then switched his allegiance to Syrian government in the mid-1980s. Former prime minister of Lebanon Salim Huss who tried to exclude corrupt Al-Murr from his cabinet in 1998 told me that Syrian government insisted on including him. Do not be surprised if the Lebanese government now uncovers Al-Qa`idah plots on a daily basis, and that would lead to American support for the Lebanese (and Syrian) government. I have been watching Al-Arabiyya TV news channel, having recently added it to my vast collection of channels. What a Saudi propaganda outlet, although it projects an unrepresentative agenda and message of the true essence of the Saudi government. They make an effort to not show the religious-fanatical agenda of the House of Saud. But they manage subtle or not so subtle things that show the truly colors. Yesterday, they ran several times a day a documentary on the former Cat Stevens (who is a religious fanatic and who supported Khumayni's fatwa against Salman Rushdi). And to project a non-religious message, AlArabiyya brought Lebanese journalists with background in Lebanese right-wing Christian militias: like Elie Naquzi (who almost works unofficially as a media advisor for Iyad `Allawi and travels with him) and the highly obnoxious Jizel Khuri. Both of them (typical of these right-wing Lebanese militia supporters types in Lebanon) have a lousy command of the Arabic language and cannot manage a full sentence in Fusha (classical Arabic). So they speak in that highly annoying colloquial Lebanese dialect of East Beirut, made popular by Israeli-supported criminal Bashir Gemayyel. Add a new title to Iyad `Allawi. A blatant and lousy liar. He sat for an hour interview yesterday with...Elie Naquzi, who is preparing a documentary on...`Allawi for AlArabiyya. (I was interviewed for a documentary on US elections for AlArabiyya and am certain that my interview will not run.) The interview was incredible: like the King of Jordan, `Allawi says one thing in Arabic, and another in English. Regarding his meeting with the Israeli fascistic foreign minister, he now says that he shook his hands without knowing who he was, and that because he was fairskinned, he assumed that he was European. He also claimed in Arabic that his visit to US increased the poll standing of George W. Bush. In English, `Allawi claims (especially in New York Times and Washington Post) that he has bravely met with insurgents and resistance leaders in Iraq. The New York Times and other newspapers reported that as a sign of his tough and gutsy persona. In Arabic interviews, you learn that he did not actually meet with any resistance or insurgent leaders. He talked about meeting with tribal leaders from Fallujah, who have even met with US military officers. But these are details that may disturb the pro-war agenda of John Burns of the New York Times, or the editorial policy of the Washington Post. House of Saudi is really scared of the US government, and of Kerry in particular. I assure them that every American administration will protect the corrupt and obscurantist House of Saud. To appease the US, all Saudi-run media in the Arabic world are now singing the same American tune. Whenever AlArabiyya reports about US bombings of site in As-Sadr city, they precede it by saying that As-Sadr's forces bomb US military bases non-stop. But the accounts of Iraqis on the ground tell a different story, even on the screen of AlArabiyya. AlArabiyya is now run by `Abdur-Rahman Ar-Rashid, who used to run the conservative Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat daily. Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat is run by a media conglomerate run by Prince Salman bin `Abdul-`Aziz, who is aspires to be king, as one former US ambassador in Saudi Arabia told me. But there is a big paradox in Saudi media (AlArabiyya, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, Al-Hayat, and Elaph.com among others): the now claim to promote an enlightened and liberal position, but they yet support the...HOUSE OF SAUD and Wahhabi fanaticism. Resolve that contradiction for me, would you. I watched some of Bush's interview on Fox News. I really now get it. I have always wondered why he--whenever is asked on Iraq--cannot manage to say anything intelligent except: "freedom, liberty, potato, democracy," on and on and on. It struck me that he has the most simple mind I have ever seen on a human being. He really is incapable of more than that. It is beyond his capacity. Yet, he will win, and probably with a wide margin: he effectively scared the US public making it sound that he is running against John Bin Ladin, and John Kerry is the worst candidate possible. With a second Bush administration, I am bracing myself for a world that is destined to be less safe, less free, and less secure. That George W. Bush is resolute and firm pleases the American people, but worries me a great deal. I do not want somebody who is intellectually lazy and lacks basic knowledge of world affairs and geography (although he noted twice last year that US is surrounded by oceans--that is a step in the right direction of knowledge) to be firm and stubborn. But that is me.