Islam versus Europe

Robert Fisk, who has been Middle East correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent for a long time, had the "honour" of a personal recommendation from the late Osama Bin Laden as a messenger of al Qaeda's propaganda.

According to a memorandum made public two months ago by the US military's Combating Terrorism Center, Osama Bin Laden had last year asked for advice on how to take advantage of the 9/11 anniversary for propaganda purposes among Muslims through the mainstream media.

Bin Laden suggested contacting Al-Jazeera.

"You can point out to them that this way they will be showing the other opinion," he said.

But he also wondered if it would be good to work with an American channel, suggesting CBS as "close to being unbiased". Bin Laden added that the organisation should approach a British journalist, Robert Fisk of the Independent, and other reporters to press home the message that the major powers would be better concentrating on climate change than pursuing al-Qaida. He wrote:

"This is a chance to explain our motives for continuing the war. The wise people would tell you to give people their rights in order to be able to focus on other vital issues such as global warming. They have the option to stop the war, but we do not have any option, except to defend our nation. This is a conflict between the biggest cultures in the world at a time when the climate is changing rapidly." [Emphasis added]

Apart from the interesting fact that Bin Laden believed in man-made global warming, the memo shows which media he and his advisers considered the most al-Qaida-friendly.

Al-Jazeera and all major American TV channels, with the exception of Fox News ("let her die in her anger"), were accepted, but what is enlightening from a European perspective is the choice of Robert Fisk and what US-born al-Qaida spokesman Adam Gadahn wrote to Bin Laden: the intent was to "show the fairness of our case to the whole world and the European peoples in particular".

They obviously realize how easy it is to manipulate Eurabia's public opinion.


To better understand why Fisk got this recommendation, this piece by American scholar of Arab and Islam history Raymond Ibrahim, an expert on the condition of Christians in the Muslim world, could give you a good idea:

Robert Fisk Demonizes Mideast's Persecuted Christians

In it Ibrahim explains how Fisk, taking his cue from the Islamists themselves, practically blames the victim, condemning Egyptian and Syrian Christians for not supporting the (Islamist) "revolutions" that have already made and will continue to make "their lives a living hell" through a level of persecution unknown under the secular rules of Mubarak and Assad, which will end with the imposition of Sharia law dictating for Christians a dhimmi status of second-class citizenship.

The ending of his article sums it up nicely:

"He and the Independent should be ashamed of themselves."

By Enza Ferreri