Bin Laden tapes are as phony as Sept. 11's connection to Islam

[RBHam]

by Kevin Barrett, The Capital Times
Feb. 14, 2006

As a Ph.D. Islamologist and Arabist I really hate to say this, but I'll say it anyway: 9/11 had nothing to do with Islam. The war on terror is as phony as the latest Osama bin Laden tape.

It's a tough thing to admit because I know on which side my bread is buttered and dropping Islam from the 9/11 equation is dropping my slice of bread butter-side-down. The myth that 9/11 had something to do with Muslims has poured millions, if not billions, into Arabic and Islamic studies. I finished my Ph.D. last year, so all I have to do is keep my eyes in my pocket and my nose on the ground, parrot the party line, and I'll be on the fast track to tenure track.

The trouble is, it's all based on a Big Lie. Take the recent "bin Laden" tape, please! That voice was no more bin Laden than it was Rodney Dangerfield channeling my late Aunt Corinne from Peoria. I recently helped translate a previously unknown bin Laden tape, a real one from the early '90s, back when he was still alive. I know the guy's flowery religious rhetoric. The recent tape wasn't him.

The top American bin Laden expert agrees. Professor Bruce Lawrence, head of Duke University's religious studies department, has just published a book of translations of bin Laden's speeches. He says that the recent tape is a fake and that it is possible bin Laden is not even alive.

Fake bin Laden tapes, "verified" by the CIA, are nothing new. Every supposed bin Laden statement since 2001 has been blatantly bogus. The last we heard from the real bin Laden came in his post-9/11 statements to Pakistani journalists:

"I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation. ... I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. ... I had no knowledge of these attacks."

more truth...
http://www.unknownnews.org/060214a-Barrett.html

[Carni]

1. That's bizarre because I studied the transcripts of those tapes

And I don't know how to speak Arabic and I came to the very same conclusion--the tape he sites as the last authentic tape is the same one I thought was the last authentic tape.

I think bin forgotten has been dead for a LONG time!

[Pryderi]

5. Bush "wasn't concerned" with bin-Laden because he's dead. I wonder what

people would say if it were true...that Bush has known bin-Laden has been dead for years.

[Carni]

7. I think bin laden has been dead

Since Clinton bombed whatever it was he bombed in Afghanistan (that the repukes had so much folly with) that cole bombing was a little too beneficial to the GOP right before the 2000 election.

[frylock]

17. the cole bombing..

I've recently wondered the same thing myself. Was the attack on the USS Cole another MIHOP used to set up 911? Why were so many restrictions put on Federal Agent John O'Neill's invesigations by the US Ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine? Was O'Neill getting a little too close?

[serryjw]

24. Yes, Do we KNOW how O'Neil

go the job at the WTC? Was that also a coincidence that he started one day before 9-11? Isn't it also a coincidence how Rice silenced Richard Clarke? OMG, I hate all these coincidences :sarcasm:

[MadisonProgressive]

2. MIHOP

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Bush has used Islam and Muslims

as bogeymen to forward his own agenda. Sometimes the propaganda campaign has been so effective that even people here at DU have been fooled. If one takes the time to find out even just a tiny bit about Islam, they can see that what the professor says is true. Personally, I think the Wahhabists in Saudi Arabia, who are Bush's buddies, really are glad Bush is doing this because it makes it easier to press their hard line and to stifle more moderate voices.

[Cleita]

8. Bingo!

I agree with you. I think the Saudis are big players in this plot.

[greyl]

11. Bush said Jesus was his favorite philosopher.

Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet.

Muslims and Christians use their idea of God to justify killing each other.

[reprehensor]

4. Here is another dissertation...

Nafeez Ahmed: Subverting "Terrorism"
http://www.gnn.tv/B12624

[serryjw]

25. It is all because of Nafeez Ahmed I'm here

I was started fundraising for the DNC two weeks before 9-11, A donor told me about War on Freedom 3/02. Nothing has been the same since.We all owe him a lot for his courage.

[Vexatious Ape]

6. Nothing?

I understand the reason we were attacked on 911--really bad foreign policy and arrogance on the part the US. But to say Islam had nothing to do with it is absurd. Only the irrationality of religion would drive someone to blow themselves up or fly airplane into buildings.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Let me guess

Are you an atheist? Just want to know so I understand where you are coming from.

[greyl]

12. Poor form, ayeshahaqqiqa.

You think it's reasonable to discount the opinions of atheists? Why?
You also find it easy to discount the opinions of Muslims you disagree with, hmm.

[stickdog]

14. Suppose they didn't know they were flying into buildings ...

then ANYBODY could have done it. Right?

[serryjw]

27. You're making the assumption that THEY

did it!Do you KNOW who died in the planes?

[Pastiche423]

10. A'yup

I believe he's been dead since December 2001.

What surprises me the most, is the gullibility of the majority of U.S. citizens. Or is it lack of curiosity?

When the wanton boy said, "You know, I just don't spend that much time on him to be honest with you. I truly am not that concerned about him" in March 2002, wasn't that like a HUGE clue?

OBL was suppose to be the reason "we" bombed Afghanistan, and the wanton boy doesn't give a shit about him?

[serryjw]

26. Curiosity?

I would bet most of Americans have given ZERO thought to it. We are at war in 2 countries, destroyed the Bill Of Rights and raped the US Treasury AND no one is concerned that we have not 'found' OBL???
OBL is like ROE it has become this great wedge that THEY take out when ever it is convenient. Joseph Goebbels would be proud.:sarcasm:

[greyl]

13. That essay is pathetic.

It makes a strong attractive claim in the headline, but doesn't offer reasonable support of the headline.
It's preaching to the choir, and the choir eat it up as expected.

[stickdog]

15. How does YOUR favorite "analysis" compare?

[sabbat hunter]

18. i will find

i will find the thread that disposes of the "fat/thin" osama theory.

[greyl]

19. Very favorably.

You are using an altered picture. Honest detectives don't fudge and hide evidence.

[stickdog]

21. That's no more Osama than it is my mama. (nt)

[greyl]

22. Watch the hour long video here:

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/response/investigation/011213.binladen.tape.html

You need to realize that you've been depending on an altered photo as your proof.
Pretty funny, huh?

[stickdog]

23. You need to realize that it isn't Osama. Not even close. (nt)

[sabbat hunter]

20. see this link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x71483

explains thoroughly the falsehood of the thin v fat osama. there is only one.

thanks greyl

[Jose Diablo]

16. Well Kevin, welcome to the reality based world

It's ok to feel a little out of it when first emerging from the cocoon. Just rest for a while and continue looking around with newly cleansed eyes. Don't be surprised if you begin to see other things that you have never seen before. It's perfectly normal for people to see what they expect and want to see. Whats hard is seeing what is, for that requires internal honesty, no matter where it leads.

Just hold tight to reality, and everything is gonna be alright.

[Psychovise]

28. Muslims rejoice on 9/11

This may be a bit off-topic, but does anyone here remember the news footage we all saw of Muslims celebrating in the streets at the news that America had been attacked? A friend of mine recently pointed out that even though that footage depicted a bright daylight / afternoon setting, it would have already been dark in the middle east at that time… Has this been discussed before or anything? Personally, I don't know what time the news began airing the scene, nor do I know whether there's a way it could have worked out time-wise, but it seemed like an interesting observation and I'd appreciate any information or ideas on the matter…