I’m not saying I agree with the article. It just came over my PC and I thought some of y’all might be interested. They say it’s real until the spin shows that it might benefit Bush. Then they say it’s fake so maybe it’ll hurt Bush? I dunno :smack:
It was a letter to the editor, that they published. Plus read the comments.
Make note too that the paper offered no rebuttal. Dr. Kareem would normally blast any idea as transparent as this.
I didn’t say I backed the idea. I thought it was interesting that they would even print such an idea. The spin doctors at work from the other side.
Dismiss it if you want. I think I’ll follow Al Jazeera’s spin for awhile and see what other bullshit surprises they come up with.
I also liked the story about how the tape just appeared…nobody saw who dropped it off. It didn’t come in the mail. It was left at the gate, a guarded gate.
Just about each and every major paper and media outlet around the world, except New York’s Village Voice, does not provide rebuttals to Letters from the Editor.
I didn’t read the comments on the page you linked to, but the letter itself just said “the US could fake it if they wanted to, and they would want to, so they probably did”. It’s not a very convincing arguement. Also note “Dr. Kareem” didn’t respond because he’s out, not because he found the letter convincing.
I think that Al-Jazeera is an excellent source of reform in the Arab world where all media used to be dominated by paranoid gov’ts. They also provide an Arab prospective on things like the Iraq war, etc. for us westerners.
That said, they also reflect their audiences love of conspiracy theories and sometimes publish things that are, well, a bit fanciful without a lot of evidence. A good example is the article in the OP. If there’s any evidence the tape was forged, I’d be willing to give it a looksee. But as of now, the tape and its official story is completely consistant with what I know about OBL, Al Jazeera and the US gov’t.
How does that make the tape a forgery. I’d say Al-Qaeda is more likely to have suruptitious means of dropping things off at the local Al Jazeera field office then the US gov’t is.
And, speaking as a publishing man, it’s generally policy to not rebut.
Hell, there’s one moron here in my town that wrote in to the local paper that the people who tore up his Bush/Cheney signs are ‘budding terrorists’ who should be ‘arrested and sent to prison’ before they could ‘fall deeper into violence’.
God dammit I didn’t say the tape was a fake. Learn to read.
I said, they printed an article claiming it was fake and didn’t rebut the POV. "And, speaking as a publishing man, it’s generally policy to not rebut"
They nearly ALWAYS rebut an article that is this one sided.
The fact that Kareem is “out of town” doesn’t excuse printing the piece. The interesting part of the articles is the readers comments.
Dropping the tape off doesn’t make it a forgery and YOU obviously don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. The tape was dropped off in Pakistan.
Fukit…never mind. I thought maybe somebody would appreciate seeing the spin at work from the other side. The tape didn’t produce the desired effect so now what. Let’s discredit the validity of the tape.
Do I think the tape is real…hell yes the tape is real. BUT it didn’t make the US citizens go flocking to Kerry. Instead it has pissed off more people…there’s a comment in the article I linked to where it says the US is considering nuclear strikes against the Arabs and let Israel reap the spoils. But if you’re not going to even read what I linked to then there’s no need in discussing it.
OKAY…there’s the OP again. The title indicates that somebody thinks or is posing the idea that the OBL tape is a fake. The thread title is a descriptive phrase. It doesn’t imply that the OP agrees with the statement. There are a lot of threads that propose a stand against the thread title.
So, I say…Al Jazeera printed an article making a claim. Then I say…read it and weep. This comment should indicate to you that I don’t agree with the editorial.
Then, I link the article and actually say I don’t agree just to make sure there is no misunderstanding. I also make the remark that I simply thought you might be interested. If not, that’s cool. Leave and forget about it.
Then I give my opinion on what the purpose of printing the article is. The attempt to discredit the tape and damage control any votes that may have gone to Bush. NOWHERE did I imply I thought the tape was fake. Nowhere have I even remotely implied anything other than it is just spin control. There are other threads asking HOW this tape will influence voters. There are threads curious about the way it will be twisted to either Kerry or Bush’s advantage. This thread was an attempt to show how it might be twisted a different direction.
I was curious to know what effect it might have upon voters to see “Al Jazeera” promoting the idea that the tape is a fake.
But we can’t seem to get past the thread title. My mistake.
The delivery of the tape was a simple comment and irrelevent to the OP.
Sorry I wasted y’alls time.
So did you also read the article where Pakistan sent XXXnumbers of troops to a location this morning. Supposedly where OBL has been suspected of hiding?
By printing a letter to the editor (or whatever that is)?
I’d hope those pissed off people are realizing that…wait, Osama’s STILL ALIVE!!! I thought Bush was going to “smoke 'im out” and git 'im, dead or alive, about 3 years ago. Why else would anyone be pissed off? Oooh, look at that guy, he’s taunting our president!
Are people really that stupid? The polls say yes.
It’s a letter to the editor (or something) from a very anti-Israel reader. Besides, google “depleted uranium Iraq” and you’ll see that we’ve already, in essence, nuked the country. Ghod help us.
I couldn’t say if the OBL tape is real or not, I haven’t seen any of it. I do think the tape from the other day, the “American al-Qaeda member” was faker than a 3 dollar bill.
“It’s a letter to the editor.”
Yes, it is a letter to the editor printed in bold face with a whole page without a rebuttal and additions by readers in support of the idea. It is in a sense, promoting the idea, at least from my point of view.
“running to Kerry”.
I would hope they would’ve said that too but polls I’ve read indicate that Bush is getting more support out of the deal than Kerry is. People see his remarks as unpatriotic.
Real or not doesn’t matter if the idea makes the news. That’s just a few more votes swayed due to the bullshit. There are a lot of people voting HERE that read this paper. Matter of fact many of the readers comments are from the US. They have already influenced the voters. That’s what this is all about.
Which remarks? I didn’t watch or read the news at all yesterday. I do know that Kerry gave at least 1 speech before he even knew about the tape. The Bush camp knew about the tape for hours before they told the Kerry people. That’s wrong in itself. National Security matters are supposed to be shared with the challenger.
What do they mean by “fake”? What are we looking at, a Muppet? Don’t give me some elaborate CGI scenario either, the guy is supposed to be living in a cave, for cripes sake.
How could it be faked? Very easily. I DON’T THINK IT IS but it could be faked by various means. The easiest would be that Pakistan actually has Osama in custody and forced him to make the tape.
Another could be that it is a double for Osama.
Then another is the tape is actually an old tape that has been dubbed.
etc etc.
Why would whoever even want to fake a tape of Osama and present it now. Obviously the tape was released in hopes of swaying votes.
Where? When? Give me a cite for that. If not where Kerry said it, because I don’t believe for a minute that he did, then where you heard that he said it.
He said it last night on the news.
and
Well let’s see…just about everytime he opens his mouth he says that he could do a better job. He said we let OBL slip through our fingers at Tora Bora…yesterday he said that if we had captured OBL already then we wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.
Basically everytime he says he could do a better job capturing and killing the terrorists he is putting down the troops.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Bush fan. matter of fact I can’t stand the lying son of a bitch. But Kerry ain’t much better sweetheart. To be disillusioned about Kerry’s abilities and integrity out of hatred for the BushMonster isn’t right either. Yeah, I’m gonna vote Democrat…but I know it’s simply a choice between the lesser of two evils. I really didn’t want to go down this road. It seems every political thread does though.
I have good friends in Iraq and they don’t appreciate the comments. They want to come home, believe me, they are tired, but to act like they haven’t been doing their job to the best of their ability is a slap in the face. One of my best buds was in the last two weeks and goes back Tuesday. That’s his take on it.
He’s also pissed about the worn out shit they’re having to use too. He was supposed to be out last year. He said they’re talking about being over there for another four or five years.
Oh give me a break, the troops didn’t make the decision to withdraw and let the Afghani warlords take responsibility for capturing ObL. It was a tactical mistake from the highest level, and that is where the Kerry’s criticism is directed. I’m getting sick of all the spin that ignores the focus of the criticism by getting all weepy for the troops, when no such put down is evident.
