ME: Good news, great news, and same old @#%&
Posted by Richard on May 5, 2005
Little Green Footballs, your one-stop Middle East news and commentary source, informed us of three interesting developments yesterday.
In the "Networks Judge It Not As Newsworthy As A Suicide Bombing" department, LGF reported that, according to the Army News Service, Iraqi and US forces captured 84 suspected terrorists in 19 separate combat operations on May 1 and 2. How’s that for starting the month with a bang?
In the "News Too Big to Ignore, But We Can Find Some Euros to Poo-poo It" department, LGF linked to the NY Times story of the capture of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, successor to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the number three man in Al Qaeda. Of course, the Times had to provide the appropriate context:
In any case, with few victories in their hunt for Osama bin Laden, both Pakistani and American officials seized on the arrest as vindication of their efforts. …
However, some European and Middle Eastern intelligence officials raised questions about Mr. Libbi’s importance to the Qaeda organization.
And finally, in the "News About Palestinians That CNN, al-AP, and al-Reuters Missed" department, LGF noticed that Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party (the liberals’ current favorite "moderate voice" of Palestinians) remembered Saddam Hussein’s birthday with an ad in the official Palestinian Authority newspaper. Palestinian Media Watch provided a translation:
"Blessings to the leader of the masses, Saddam Hussein the faithful, the legal President of the Iraqi Republic on the occasion of his 68th birthday.
"… We wish him long life for the sake of Iraq and to free the Arab nation from the enslavement of foreign imperialism. Oh, the glory of victory, with the help of Allah."
PMW noted that the Palestinian Authority has been honoring Hussein for a long time:
As PMW has reported numerous times, Saddam Hussein is seen as a hero by the PA leadership and population. During the war in Iraq, PA political and academic leaders called for armed terror against US soldiers, and a music video calling for Iraqis to kill US troops was played daily on PA TV. PA society, media and leadership actively mourned his fall.
LGF, apparently practicing their British understatement skills, observes that:
Fatah’s open admiration for the ruling style of Saddam Hussein, one of the ugliest monsters ever to blight the Middle East, might cause some to question whether they really are ready for their own state.
Ya think?
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