Egypt's opinion on 9/11

rightfulownership · Sep 10, 2008

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CAIRO — Seven years later, it remains conventional wisdom here that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda could not have been solely responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that the United States and Israel had to have been involved in their planning, if not their execution, too.

Many in Cairo see the attacks as part of an anti-Muslim plot.

This is not the conclusion of a scientific survey, but it is what routinely comes up in conversations around the region — in a shopping mall in Dubai, in a park in Algiers, in a cafe in Riyadh and all over Cairo.

“Look, I don’t believe what your governments and press say. It just can’t be true,” said Ahmed Issab, 26, a Syrian engineer who lives and works in the United Arab Emirates. “Why would they tell the truth? I think the U.S. organized this so that they had an excuse to invade Iraq for the oil.”
It is easy for Americans to dismiss such thinking as bizarre. But that would miss a point that people in this part of the world think Western leaders, especially in Washington, need to understand: That such ideas persist represents the first failure in the fight against terrorism — the inability to convince people here that the United States is, indeed, waging a campaign against terrorism, not a crusade against Muslims.

“The United States should be concerned because in order to tell people that there is a real evil, they too have to believe it in order to help you,” said Mushairy al-Thaidy, a columnist in the Saudi-owned regional newspaper Asharq al Awsat. “Otherwise, it will diminish your ability to fight terrorism. It is not the kind of battle you can fight on your own; it is a collective battle.”

There were many reasons people here said they believed that the attacks of 9/11 were part of a conspiracy against Muslims. Some had nothing to do with Western actions, and some had everything to do with Western policies.

Again and again, people said they simply did not believe that a group of Arabs — like themselves — could possibly have waged such a successful operation against a superpower like the United States. But they also said that Washington’s post-9/11 foreign policy proved that the United States and Israel were behind the attacks, especially with the invasion of Iraq.
“Maybe people who executed the operation were Arabs, but the brains? No way,” said Mohammed Ibrahim, 36, a clothing-store owner in the Bulaq neighborhood of Cairo. “It was organized by other people, the United States or the Israelis.”

The rumors that spread shortly after 9/11 have been passed on so often that people no longer know where or when they first heard them. At this point, they have heard them so often, even on television, that they think they must be true.

First among these is that Jews did not go to work at the World Trade Center on that day. Asked how Jews might have been notified to stay home, or how they kept it a secret from co-workers, people here wave off the questions because they clash with their bedrock conviction that Jews are behind many of their troubles and that Western Jews will go to any length to protect Israel.

“Why is it that on 9/11, the Jews didn’t go to work in the building,” said Ahmed Saied, 25, who works in Cairo as a driver for a lawyer. “Everybody knows this. I saw it on TV, and a lot of people talk about this.”
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i don't know if this is a result of nutcase propaganda or a national mistrust of their own government officials, but either way i'm confused how Isreal and Jews got pulled into the conspiracy (with no major leaks to the press in 7 years either!).

oldfella1962 · Sep 10, 2008

These are the type of people that want Obama elected.
Can we register these people as Democrats?

Dan Leach · Sep 10, 2008

What a crock of shit.
Its like listening to the opinions of hicks in some bar in Alabama then reporting what they say as Americas official opinion.

If this is journalism then its Americas official line is that they didnt actualy land on the moon and an alien spacecraft landed at Roswell

JohnM · Sep 10, 2008

Fuck those towelie motherfuckers.

gul · Sep 10, 2008

While the idea that Arabs might consider themselves too stupid to have pulled it off might appeal in some quarters, it is a rather sad commentary on Arab self-loathing. The attacks were incredibly easy, and were an obvious enough opportunity that anybody with some money could have done it. For years before then (and still somewhat to this day), I marveled at the relative lack of terrorism in the U.S. We are an open society without a lot of internal security infrastructure. The question shouldn't be how could Arabs pull this off, but what took them so long?

Forbin · Sep 10, 2008

CAIRO — Seven years later, it remains conventional wisdom here that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda could not have been solely responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that the United States and Israel had to have been involved in their planning, if not their execution, too.
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They'll never realize that our mindset isn't geared toward suicidal self-sacrifice like theirs.

Marso · Sep 10, 2008

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Egypt's opinion on 9/11

rightfulownership Fresh Meat

oldfella1962 the only real finish line

Dan Leach Climbing Staff Member Moderator

JohnM SUPREME ALLAH

gul Revolting Beer Drinker Administrator Formerly Important

Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

Marso High speed, low drag.

Log in or Sign up

Egypt's opinion on 9/11

rightfulownership Fresh Meat

oldfella1962 the only real finish line

Dan Leach Climbing Staff Member Moderator

JohnM SUPREME ALLAH

gul Revolting Beer Drinker Administrator Formerly Important

Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

Marso High speed, low drag.

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