Around the ninth anniversary of 9/11, the discussion in the Arab and Muslim world on the issue was indicative of tension between the U.S. and the Muslim world – against the backdrop of U.S. foreign policy, the proposed construction of an Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York, and Florida pastor Terry Jones' threat to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary itself. Numerous articles in the Arab and Iranian press on this anniversary reflected tension and suspicion vis-à-vis the U.S. and the U.S.'s decreased prestige in the region.
In contrast with past anniversaries, most of the articles' writers did not condemn the attacks, and did not refer to the need to deal with extremism in the Muslim world. Many writers in the Saudi, Syrian, Iranian, and even Jordanian government press presented conspiracy theories, and claimed that the U.S. and Israeli intelligence services were both involved in the attacks.[1] Some mentioned various studies – among them studies conducted in the U.S. – that claimed to undermine the official U.S. version of the events; other writers, while rejecting such theories, downplayed the severity of the attacks and accused the U.S. of taking advantage of them to carry out terrorism on a similar or even broader scale. Another said that the U.S. is in need of some serious introspection for its anti-Muslim policy and for accusing Muslims of the attacks.
Other writers addressed the issue of U.S.-Muslim relations, with some warning of a possible religious war between the West and the Arab countries, against the backdrop of the damage that the West is causing for the Muslims; others called for dialogue and understanding to avert catastrophe.
The following are excerpts from articles on this issue.
Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Press: The West's Claims Regarding the 9/11 Perpetrators' Identity Are False
In Iran, doubts were voiced regarding who the 9/11 attackers really were. During a visit to the Qatari capital Doha, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: "No one must... try to state the [identity of] the perpetrators... because to date no one knows who the real perpetrators of this deed were."[2]
The Iranian daily Kayhan, which is close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote in an editorial that the U.S. administration was "planner and executor" of the 9/11 events, and that even the citizens of the U.S. consider the administration to be behind the attack: "The U.S. administration's involvement in the above affair [9/11] is so obvious that there is no need to present claims in support of it... Today, [even] the U.S. citizens, who have been bombarded with false propaganda on this subject, reject Muslim involvement [in the attack] – and even reject the involvement of the infamous Al-Qaeda – and believe that 9/11 was an inside job." The paper added that 9/11 was "the West's most important security project, after World War II, [serving as an excuse for the West] to ignite war in the Middle East... and to instill the theory that 'American security is as important as the security of [the entire] world...'"[3]
Conspiracy Theory in the Syrian Press: "The Victim of the Attacks Is In Fact the Criminal"
Similar articles also appeared in the Syrian press, in this case featuring claims that the U.S. is the perpetrator, not the victim, of 9/11. Dr. Ibrahim Za'ir wrote in the government daily Al-Thawra: "It is not inconceivable that the American intelligence apparatuses facilitated the perpetrators' [attack], so that it could exploit the events for purposes already on the agenda of President Bush Jr.'s administration, and for American foreign policy. [The aim] was to restore the U.S.'s image and status as the world's only superpower after the collapse of the Soviet Union – because, according to the logic of Washington and the neo-conservatives close to Bush Jr., [the U.S.] is entitled to be the unrivalled master of the world. For [the U.S.] to be able to gain absolute mastery, there was a need for a mighty and terrifying event that would harm American security so that it could be taken advantage of – exactly as happened – in order to start criminal wars under false slogans, with the most prominent of these [wars] being 9/11 and the global war on terror."[4]
Columnist Khaled Al-Ashhab wrote, in the same issue of Al-Thawra: "A long time may pass... until the truth [comes to light] regarding the 9/11 events, the identity of the perpetrators, and the purpose [of the attacks]... With time, the world may start asking questions... and wondering whether the facts manufactured by the powerful [are true], or are a fabrication and a forgery which the weaker [parties] are discussing but cannot investigate, even though the whole world has heard [their claims]. What if the world finds out that the U.S. itself or Israel perpetrated the attacks and attributed them to Al-Qaeda? What if it turns out that the [purported] victim of the attacks is actually the criminal? Who will punish the criminal then, and who will bring justice to the victims?..."[5]
In the Saudi Press: Israeli Mossad, U.S. Intelligence Apparatus Are Involved in the Attacks
While every anniversary of 9/11 yields articles, primarily in the Syrian and Iranian press, accusing the U.S. of involvement in the attacks, this year such articles appeared in the Saudi government press as well – indicative perhaps of the Saudis' disappointment in the U.S. and their suspicions of it, and also of the increasing closeness between Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The London-based Saudi daily Al-Hayat daily published an article by 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Khatib stating that 9/11 was not carried out by Muslims or Arabs at all, but rather by American officials or Mossad operatives. He wrote: "...This year, several enlightened Europeans began to point an accusing finger at the Israeli Mossad and at several figures in the U.S. who were influential at the time. What underscores this theory's accuracy is the U.S.'s malicious intent to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, long before [9/11]. Likewise, the American authorities had advance knowledge, from the German and Spanish intelligence services, [of contacts] between [9/11 cell leader] Muhammad 'Atta and his group after they tailed them daily for two years without arresting them... [Further proof of U.S. involvement] is the sharp drop in the price of shares of U.S. airline companies 24 hours prior to the events, and the bringing in of emergency teams from outside New York into the city, also 24 hours before the events."
Further on in his article, Al-Khatib points out the possible Jewish connection with the attacks: "The [incident of] the five Jews found with maps of the city in their possession – with the Twin Towers marked – who danced and sang with joy over the attack, and who were deported to Israel that very night, is downplayed. None of the Jews who worked in the towers came to work [that day], claiming a day off for religious reasons – even though that day was not a Jewish holiday. The American Fox News network [exposed] the story of 120 Israeli Mossad operatives who entered the U.S. on student visas only three months before the incident, and stayed near the homes of the Arabs who were later accused of [perpetrating the attacks]."
Al-Khatib added: "American forensic experts who autopsied the bodies and body parts... found no proof of DNA linked to Arabs..." He also mentioned several books "disproving the official American stories, proving that they were faked, and indicating the involvement of the Israeli Mossad and American intelligence services, which faked the event in order to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq so that the U.S. could be close to nuclear Pakistan and to rejectionist Iran and Syria, and also to the Gulf countries to assure a steady [supply of] oil."[6]
In a column titled "Nine Years and the Truth is Still Unclear" in the Saudi daily Al-Yawm, columnist Maghazi Al-Badrawi wrote: "As time passes, doubts grow among many in the world regarding the truth behind these events [9/11] and the responsibility for them. Demands for investigating [the events] have proliferated, and U.S. Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, who died last year, understood the considerable doubts [regarding the truth behind] these events; [that is why] he demanded, more than once, an open investigation of the events, but to no avail... [Likewise], the question regarding the involvement of Al-Qaeda, led by bin Laden, in these events is still greatly disputed throughout the world. Many, including large countries, were from the outset unconvinced that this organization, with its pathetic capabilities, could carry out such a large-scale operation, that no large country could undertake...
"While the elements that assassinated the late American president John Kennedy succeeded in hiding and obscuring the traces of this crime for these long decades, today things are completely different, in a world where it is difficult, even impossible, to hide anything, and particularly large-scale events like this [9/11]. Doubtless many countries with veteran intelligence apparatuses know the truth all too well. The U.S.'s status and influence in the world do not allow the truth [to be known] at this time – but sooner or later it will come out."[7]
Kuwaiti Columnist: 9/11 was a Jewish Attack Executed by the Americans
In his column in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa titled "The Distorters and the September Raid," attorney Ahmad Yousef Al-Mlaifi claimed that the U.S. and American Jews were involved in 9/11: "What else, oh America? What else is left on Satan's agenda? Wasn't it you who established the foul regime in Iran? Wasn't it you who created Saddam [Hussein], Al-Zawahiri, bin Laden, Al-Zarqawi, and [the Lebanese terrorist group] Jund Al-Sham? Moreover, you are involved in the killing of millions of Americans in Vietnam, [not to mention] your tremendous crime against Japan. Isn't it you who sowed misery, fear, and death among the Americans on 9/11, [and isn't it you who is now] killing them daily in Iraq, Afghanistan, and everywhere [else]? So what else, oh America?...
"We ask what is happening in the world and why America is raiding itself and killing itself. Who wants to destroy America? In America, the Jews found what they were looking for – [a tool to] carry out all their crimes across the world. They have turned America into a ladder by which they are accomplishing their goals, and into a pickaxe and a hammer by means of which they are destroying the peoples of the world, and America itself... These are Jewish plans that have infiltrated into the American entity, and knowingly or unknowingly, [the Americans] are willy-nilly carrying out this Jewish agenda. The Jews are hostile not only to the Arab or Muslim world, but to all the peoples of the world. Moreover, humanity as a whole, and they as well, believe that they have the right to commit crimes against the world in retribution for the past...
"The result is great vengeance, Jewish vengeance against the world. The picture becomes clear, and thus we understand why America is fighting the world; this is not an American war, but a Jewish war in America's name, and [America] itself [was the war's] first victim."[8]
Syrian Former MP and Presidential Advisor: The U.S. Is the Main Exporter of Terrorism
Other articles, while not explicitly expressing doubt concerning the identity of those behind 9/11, downplayed the severity of the attacks, claiming that U.S. policy in the Middle East was no less terrorist than 9/11.
In the Syrian government daily Teshreen, Syrian presidential advisor and former minister of expatriate affairs Buthayna Sha'ban wrote: "It would be true to say that the events of 9/11 were aimed chiefly at finding justification for declaring war on the Muslims and to cover up the Zionist crimes committed by the Zionist entity in Palestine... What right do these people have to besmirch Islam as terrorist when it is they who are perpetrating [terrorism] and are funding and training terrorists? We all know that the American intelligence apparatus plays a role in training those same terrorist cells that it links to Islam... What right have they to speak of Islam as a source of terrorism? How can they accuse the Muslims of terrorism when they themselves are the main exporters of terrorism?...
"Does [America] – which uses torture, explosions, and assassination, [spreads] corruption, and wages war as a professed method for occupying Islamic countries one by one, and murders millions of innocent Muslims – have the right to accuse those who defend freedom, dignity, and sovereignty of [carrying out] terrorism? [Does it have the right] to dictate to us Muslims meanings, ideas, and values that are the essence of our religion, while at the same time exporting terrorist values, [both] secretly and openly...?
"It is [the Americans] who breed terrorism, whatever their religion, and even those who were seduced into blowing up their own streets and killing their own people are victims of their terrorism. We know who trains and funds them, and who directs their crimes against us. [And it is] we Muslims who are the eternal victims of their terrorism."[9]
Ms. Buthayna also wrote, in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: "The West has declared – through actions, measures and laws - that Islam is the enemy, and that Muslims are the target. Muslims have been blamed for the 9/11 attack, despite the large number of questions raised about the event, its objectives and the credibility of what has been published about it."[10]
Teshreen editor Samira Al-Masalma wrote: "The events of 9/11 in the U.S. were by any criteria a terror operation – as were the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the blockading of countries, and the imposing of sanctions upon them. The war against Gaza was also a terror operation, as was the aggression against Lebanon and the Freedom Flotillas.
"What do all these events have in common? The collective killing of innocent, defenseless civilians by the most abominable and destructive means..."[11]
The U.S.'s Disproportionate Response to 9/11
Source: Akhbar Al-Khaleej (Bahrain), September 11, 2010.
The Arab World Is Still Paying for 9/11
Source: Al-Bayan (UAE), September 11, 2010.
Articles in Egypt and Qatar: The U.S. Is Exploiting 9/11 to Justify the Oppression of Muslims
Other articles recognized the severity of the attacks, but accused the U.S. of exploiting them for political goals planned in advance, particularly goals of targeting the Muslims. An article in the Egyptian government daily Al-Akhbar stated: "The events of 9/11 opened the door to anyone with an agenda hostile to Islam and the Muslims, [who sought to further it by] exploiting the ignorance of Islam's precepts... The stability and security of the Islamic world are in the crosshairs, [as seen] daily in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, [and] Somalia. Hundreds are killed and wounded every day. Islam is the religion suffering the grossest ongoing attacks... [and these] attacks increased following 9/11 in New York. We have [even] heard of a call to make September 11th 'Burn a Koran Day' in America."[12]
An editorial in the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhouriyya read: "Nine years have passed since the attacks in Washington and New York, which were planned by Osama bin Laden and his colleagues as retaliation against the U.S. – which they considered responsible for the sorry state of the Islamic peoples. But these attacks sparked a crazy offensive, named the 'War on Terror' by the enemies of Islam and their allies. [This offensive's] aim was to actualize previous plans aimed at breaking the will of the peoples, stripping them of their right to freedom and independence, and minimizing their aspirations for progress – as happened in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, and Pakistan, which saw killing and destruction, and as is planned for Sudan, Yemen, and [other] Islamic places..."[13]
Following 9/11, The U.S. Is Struck by Islamophobia
Source: Al-Mustaqbal (Lebanon), September 11, 2010
The Repercussions of 9/11
Source: Al-Intiqad (Lebanon), September 12, 2010
An editorial in the Qatari daily Al-Watan expressed doubts regarding U.S. President Barack Obama's statements that the U.S. is waging war on terrorism, not on Islam: "The gap between words and deeds is wide. Since the U.S. launched its 'war on terror' in 2001, this war has been waged not only in Muslim countries, where the American apparatuses target the Muslims... [but] throughout the world, including against Muslim Americans, who face official discrimination. For nine straight years, a growing number of innocent civilians are dying one after the other in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq at the hands of the U.S. forces. Is it sheer coincidence that the war on terror is limited exclusively to the peoples of the Muslim ummah?"[14]
U.S. Exploiting 9/11 to Bleed the Arab World
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), September 11, 2010.
Al-'Arab Al-Yawm (Jordan), September 13, 2010.
Subhi Ghandour, director of the Arab Dialogue Center in Washington, called on the American people to reflect on their handling of 9/11. In an article published in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai and the United Arab Emirates daily Al-Bayan, he wrote: "[9/11] is a symbol of terrorist activity that does not distinguish between criminals and innocent people. Likewise, it is a day that served as justification for the institution of a policy, American in form and Israeli in content, led by the neocons in Washington and involving the nurturing of sentiments of fear on the one hand and anger and hatred on the other... In the U.S. there are two conflicting attitudes. The first is a racist attitude that regards the 2001 terror attack as an Islamic and Arab attack... The second regards this act of terror in America as a warning signal prompting the Americans to better understand the world and what is going on around them after dozens of years of ignorance about the other outside of America. [The proponents of] this approach call for an investigation into the reasons that led dozens of people to blow themselves up with the intent of killing a large number of civilians in America.
"The U.S. today is at a crossroads. It can take advantage of the [9/11] events in order to build national American unity without discriminating among [people] on the basis of faith, race, color, or culture; or it can take a different path that will rend the unity of America's [social] fabric, [which is characterized by] religious, ethnic, racial, and cultural pluralism. I hope the 9/11 commemoration this year is [used] by America as an opportunity for reassessment, and as a time to examine itself. A time to engage in self-reflection instead of just accusing the other."[15]
There Is Religious Extremism in the U.S. Too
Many columnists addressed the issue of tensions between the U.S. and Muslims, and between Muslims and Christians. An editorial in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram called for interfaith dialogue in order to avert a confrontation between Christianity and Islam: "There is no doubt that relations between the Christian West and the Islamic East are heavily burdened by a legacy of mistrust, crusades, Western imperialism, and the looting of the Arab and Islamic countries' natural resources. Today, these relations have begun to collapse under the weight of the 9/11 events in the U.S., the American invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, America's inclination toward Israel, and the European silence in the face of the Israeli occupation of Arab land. And the spreading phenomenon of Islamophobia in Europe and the U.S has now added [even] more fuel to the fire.
"The call of extremist pastor Terry Jones [to burn copies of the Koran on 9/11]... was nothing but the latest expression of what can be called religious terrorism, and an attempt to spark a new bloody war between the members of the great monotheistic religions... In the wake of terrorist calls and measures such as burning the Koran – which may well be followed by incitement to deport Muslims [from the U.S.] and return them to their countries of origin – it would be no surprise or wonder if a great fitna [strife] were to erupt: a new religious war in which people are killed all over the world because of their [religious] identity... President Obama and the rest of the world leaders, [including] the Arab and Muslim leaders, must assemble for an urgent world summit [to enable] interfaith dialogue and to settle the conflicts between the religions, lest an unprecedented war break out that would leave nothing behind."[16]
While mentioning recent religious tensions in the U.S., most writers avoided the topic of religious extremism in the Islamic world, choosing instead to stress that the U.S. has its share of religious extremists, such as Terry Jones. Columnist for the London based daily Al-Hayat 'Abd Al-'Aziz Sweid wrote: "If pastor Terry Jones [is recognized as] representing only a small group of Christians... why is the same [principle] not applied to Al-Qaeda, which represents only a small group of Muslims?! Why do the Muslims, their lands, and their resources pay the price for the crimes of a small group that is still shrouded in [mystery], while at the same time Western extremists are welcomed in Germany [a reference to Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard who drew the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad] and are protected by U.S. law? The hypocritical West is the first to support and take advantage of extremism and terrorism. It is proven daily that it is [the West] that is the official sponsor and supporter [of extremism and terrorism], which repeatedly revives [terrorism] throughout the ages."[17]
Western Extremism against Muslim World
Al-Hayat (Saudi Arabia), September 11, 2010.
Bin Laden's Extremism vs. That of Terry Jones
Al-Imarat Al-Yawm (United Arab Emirates), September 13, 2010.
An article in the Qatari daily Al-Sharq said: "The 9/11 attacks, which were carried out by Muslims Arabs, were condemned by the Arabs and Muslims themselves, and what is more, the Islamic states invested every effort in fighting extremism... The American administration, [on the other hand], did not think to do what it is demanding of others. It is completely paralyzed in the face of a small group hostile to Islam and the Muslims [i.e., Terry Jones and his supporters], and it justifies this paralysis by [saying that] the state cannot interfere in the actions of individuals. But it never stopped demanding that the Islamic states fight and uproot the gangs that oppose American policy."[18]
Qatari Daily Praises Obama's Comments on Islam
In contrast, an editorial in the Qatari daily Al-Raya expressed satisfaction with Obama's handling of the Terry Jones affair: "Obama's speech [on September 11, 2010] abounded with positive content. He emphasized that America was not at war with Islam, and that Islam was welcome [in the U.S.]. This was an honest response to the call of the extremist American pastor, Terry Jones, to burn the Koran, which he ultimately abandoned altogether... In light of the notions of religious and cultural conflict that are spreading in America, and in light of the war on terror in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, there was no avoiding a judicious American speech that would change the way America operates vis-à-vis the Islamic world, instead of [reiterating] the destructive ideas of the Bush administration about a new Middle East and Axes of Evil."[19]
Saudi Columnist: We Have Failed to Fight Extremism; We Must Adopt New Religious Interpretations
Among the few who addressed the question of religious extremism in Muslim society was 'Abdallah bin Bjad Al-'Otaibi. In an article for the Saudi daily 'Okaz, he claimed that the efforts made by Muslims and Arabs over the past decade to repair their image following 9/11 had amounted to nothing, and that the Muslims must take up a new religious discourse that would fit the times: "Ever since that evil day, we have been trying to repair our image and explain that this Al-Qaeda group represents nobody but itself; that it has targeted Muslims more than others, and that, in carrying out its [acts of] destruction, it does not distinguish between victims of different religion, color or gender.
"Great efforts have been invested to correct the error, to emerge from the quagmire, and to pick up the pieces after this anomalous incident. However, [these efforts] have not borne fruit... We must ask: where does the fault lie? Slogans of religious reform were [heard] in most of the Arab and Islamic states from Morocco to Bahrain, and the struggle to reform education [in these countries] reached a climax after the dreadful defects [in education] were brought to light... Reasonable people convened dialogue [conferences] between the civilizations, religions, and ethnicities. Everyone tried to undo the evil before the [whole] world went up in flames, but so far to no avail.
"There are two perspectives... regarding the most efficient way to deal with extremism, terrorism, Al-Qaeda, and the like. The first perspective, which is the predominant one, is manifest in the attempt to compete with Al-Qaeda in [interpreting] the traditional discourse upon which [Al-Qaeda] has relied... and to offer alternative interpretations to that same discourse... The second [perspective], which is less prevalent, attempts to offer a [completely] new religious outlook, one that is freed from the fetters of the traditional discourse, and which strives to provide modern interpretations that better fit the times and [contemporary] interests. The gates of ijtihad [independent reasoning on issues of religious law] must always remain open to all new perspectives in interpretation, criticism, and renewed reading...
"The first theory has not brought much benefit... and the second has yet to be tried... It has received neither political nor popular support... We must try the second theory, a theory of real renewal and of thinking outside the box of the traditional, the customary, and the usual..."[20]
Endnotes:
[1] See, for example, a September 12, 2010 article in the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm, and an article from September 13 in the Qatari daily Al-Watan.
[2] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), September 12, 2010.
[3] Kayhan (Iran), September 12, 2010. Kayhan also stated that Florida pastor Terry Jones' initiative to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11 was on orders of the U.S. administration.
[4] Al-Thawra (Syria), September 12, 2010.
[5] Al-Thawra (Syria), September 12, 2010.
[6] Al-Hayat (London), September 8, 2010.
[7] Al-Yawm (Saudi Arabia), September 12, 2010.
[8] Al-Siyassa (Kuwait), September 13, 2010. In an article on the same date in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustour, Rakkan Al-Majali claimed that there was no evidence implicating Arabs in the 9/11 attacks; also, a September 15, 2010 article in the Jordan Times expressed doubt about the identity of the attackers.
[9] Teshreen (Syria), Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), August 30, 2010.
[10] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), September 16, 2010.
[11] Teshreen (Syria), September 11, 2010.
[12] Al-Akhbar (Egypt), September 11, 2010.
[13] Al-Gumhouriyya (Egypt), September 12, 2010.
[14] Al-Watan (Qatar), September 12, 2010.
[15] Al-Rai (Kuwait), September 2, 2010; Al-Bayan (United Arab Emirates), September 9, 2010. Ghandour's website can be accessed at http://www.alhewar.com.
[16] Al-Ahram (Egypt), September 13, 2010.
[17] Al-Hayat (London), September 12, 2010.
[18] Al-Sharq (Qatar), September 13, 2010.
[19] Al-Raya (Qatar), September 12, 2010.
[20] 'Okaz (Saudi Arabia), September 13, 2010.
