Weird Conspiracy Theories

[cerulean]

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David Duke believes, along with some large percentage of the world's Muslim population, that Israel led the attack on the World Trade Center.

There is an obvious sympathy between David Duke and his supporters and Islamic terrorists.
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"Palestinian civilians--men, women and children--are being maimed and murdered by Israel in our own time, in our own world, many at this very moment. And the man behind this murder it is none other than Ariel Sharon. As a loyal and patriotic American, my heart grieves at the support given by American traitors to the world's worst mass murderer and war criminal Ariel Sharon. Sharon has killed, maimed and tortured more people than Osama Bin Laden could only fantasize about. In fact, I will present to you compelling evidence that Sharon and the Mossad aided and abetted the horrible terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. By supporting Sharon and his criminal government in Israel, American traitors have not only supported Sharon's crimes against the Palestinian people, and have become accomplices in mass murder and torture, but they directly aided terrorists who have inflicted terrorism on America. American traitors who support Israel have damaged our most vital interests in the world and caused Americans to be hated the world over."

--David Duke, "A radio broadcast on `the world's most dangerous terrorist,'" printed in the Saudi English-language daily Arab News, May 15


http://www.thenewrepublic.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020527&s=notebook052702duke

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Another weird conspiracy idea, apparently popular in France:

http://sg.entertainment.lycosasia.com/arts/seen/seencl/5949.html

PARIS (Reuters) - The French are lapping up a September 11 conspiracy theory which argues the plane that smashed into the Pentagon never existed and that the world has been duped by a murky U.S. government plot.

Thierry Meyssan's book "The Frightening Fraud" is flying off shelves according to booksellers and has topped bestseller lists.

Meyssan, president of Reseau Voltaire, a respected left-wing think tank, reckons the American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon in Washington killing 189 on September 11 did not exist and that the whole thing was staged by the government.

....

[Vic]

Such theorists certainly enjoy the attention paid to them

[L@mplighterM]

Ripley's "Believe it or Not".

[JustPat]

And what, the buildings just vanished? UFOs strike again!

[elke]

No, there were never any buildings. I used to float up to where the 84th floor would have been once a week, just on the wings of wishful thinking. That Building 7 I used to see outside my classroom window was a mirage...

[Mediocrates]

Maybe Ground Zero is a 21st. Century Eastern Island Head Crop Circle Megalith Area 51 Landing Pad.

[elke]

Originally posted by Mediocrates
Maybe Ground Zero is a 21st. Century Eastern Island Head Crop Circle Megalith Area 51 Landing Pad.

Wow! It could have fooled me... :)

[Gatorade]

I don't really know much at all about Iraqi Jews but came across this website and it seemed pretty wacky.

http://www.bintjbeil.com/E/occupation/ameu_iraqjews.html

Who was behind the rioting in the Jewish quarter in 1941?
Yosef Meir, one of the most prominent activists in the Zionist underground movement in Iraq, known then as Yehoshafat, claims it was the British. Meir, who now works for the Israeli Defense Ministry, argues that, in order to make it appear that the regent was returning as the savior who would reestablish law and order, the British stirred up the riots against the most vulnerable and visible segment in the city, the Jews. And, not surprisingly, the riots ended as soon as the regent's loyal soldiers entered the capital.

On January 14, 1951, at 7 p.m., a grenade was thrown at a group of Jews outside the Masouda Shem-Tov Synagogue. The explosive struck a high-voltage cable, electrocuting three Jews, one a young boy, Itzhak Elmacher, and wounding over 30 others. Following the attack, the exodus of Jews jumped to between 600-700 per day.

Zionist propagandists still maintain that the bombs in Iraq were set off by anti-Jewish Iraqis who wanted Jews out of their country. The terrible truth is that the grenades that killed and maimed Iraqi Jews and damaged their property were thrown by Zionist Jews.

In attempts to portray the Iraqis as anti-American and to terrorize the Jews, the Zionists planted bombs in the U.S. Information Service library and in synagogues. Soon leaflets began to appear urging Jews to flee to Israel. . . . Although the Iraqi police later provided our embassy with evidence to show that the synagogue and library bombings, as well as the anti-Jewish and anti-American leaflet campaigns, had been the work of an underground Zionist organization, most of the world believed reports that Arab terrorism had motivated the flight of the Iraqi Jews whom the Zionists had "rescued" really just in order to increase Israel's Jewish population."

[elke]

There is no "abot us" section there, but I went to the home site, and it is all in Arabic. It seems to be at best a Lebanese creation, and at worst a Hizbollah site. I can't tell - I can't read Arabic.

The particular article sounds like the usual lies to me... The Sephardic Jews I have personally known (although most of them were Moroccan and Yemeni), all had non-too-warm feelings for the countries of their birth; with the exception of the Persians. Go figure! :)

[Vic]

Originally posted by elke
The Sephardic Jews I have personally known (although most of them were Moroccan and Yemeni), all had non-too-warm feelings for the countries of their birth; with the exception of the Persians. Go figure! :)
The Persians do seem to have different opinions on Jews - on personal level. I have heard good and bad stories from fmr. Soviet Central Asia and Afghanistan too.

[elke]

I know. My father spent much time in Uzbekistan during WWII. He is actually rather fond of Uzbeks. As far as Iran is concerned, of course historically they were very friendly to Jews for centuries. It is doubtful that 20 years of madness would completely wipe out the tradition of cosmopolitan worldview...

[Vic]

Not completely, but, alas, I have had some strongly antisemitic fellow students from Iran...

[cerulean]

It's obvious why Meyssan's book would be eagerly received by the Arab League.

From http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD38302

On April 8, an Arab League think tank - The Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow Up (ZCCF) - hosted a lecture titled "Who masterminded the attacks of September 11th?" The guest speaker, Theirry Meyssan, was described by the center as "the famous French author and writer." The event served partly to promote Meyssan's book, "The Appalling Fraud," in which he accuses the U.S. military of being behind September 11. The following are excerpts from the center’s summary of the lecture as well as from the Arab media's favorable coverage of the event:

...

[JustPat]

Originally posted by cerulean
It's obvious why Meyssan's book would be eagerly received by the Arab League. And anywhere else there is a shortage of manure.

[JustPat]

Isn't it funny how conspiracy theorists spout their theories as fact when there is absolutely no hard evidence to prove it. Though I realized governments, the US included, are capable of some dastardly things, there is plenty of physical evidence to prove the events of September 11. Talk to the firefighters and rescue workers who carried body parts out in five gallon buckets. Talk to family members whose loved ones were on board the flights, or whose body parts were recovered from the wreckage. How fancifully ludicrious Meyssan and his kind are. What a shame that there are so many fools to give him an audience.

[cerulean]

Conspiracy Theory Grips French: Sept. 11 as Right-Wing U.S. Plot
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/22/international/europe/22FRAN.html

Although the theory is gaining some popularity in France, mainstream media sources are discrediting it.

Quote from the article:
A Pentagon spokesman said, "There was no official reaction because we figured it was so stupid."

[alexbmn]

What did Al Bundy say, "its good to hate the French "? I couldnt have said it better myself.

[elke]

Originally posted by alexbmn
What did Al Bundy say, "its good to hate the French "? I couldnt have said it better myself.

Wow! How profound! And what did Homer Simpson say? :D

[alexbmn]

when a supervillain poised to test his doomsday device asked Homer "what was his least his favorite country,Italy or France",Homer quickly replied that it was France.And in return he was told "that no one ever says Italy." And Homer also said that the "French have no word for victory".

[alexbmn]

the Simpsons' greatest contribution to the great library of anti -French phrases is "Cheese eating surrender monkeys".

[elke]

I guess, we are in good company here: Al Bundy, Homer Simpson, what's next? We'll be quoting Beavis and Butthead? :D

[James]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cerulean
[B]===============
David Duke believes, along with some large percentage of the world's Muslim population, that Israel led the attack on the World Trade Center.

There is an obvious sympathy between David Duke and his supporters and Islamic terrorists.
================


David Duke is sick,sick,sick!

[James]

Originally posted by cerulean
Conspiracy Theory Grips French: Sept. 11 as Right-Wing U.S. Plot
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/22/international/europe/22FRAN.html

Although the theory is gaining some popularity in France, mainstream media sources are discrediting it.

Quote from the article:
A Pentagon spokesman said, "There was no official reaction because we figured it was so stupid."


Right, why would any intelligent person respond to anything so
abhorent?

[L@mplighterM]

Originally posted by cerulean
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David Duke believes, along with some large percentage of the world's Muslim population, that Israel led the attack on the World Trade Center.



I can’t be certain but I don’t believe that Duke believes that Israel had anything to do with 9/11. David Duke most likely gets many donations from Muslims and that’s why he pretends to believe that the Jews did it.

[JustPat]

Opportunists, like David Duke, seize any banner headline that can be twisted to bring bucks into thier coffers. What a shame that there are so many who share his hatred and are willing to give him their money.

[Mediocrates]

David Duke really is a former Grand Wizard of the KKK - it's not just about headlines for him. He's for real.

[JustPat]

Originally posted by Mediocrates David Duke really is a former Grand Wizard of the KKK - it's not just about headlines for him. He's for real. I don't mean to say that he does not believe what comes out of his mouth, but he grandstands for the money. If the well goes dry, he'll find a different avenue to vent his hatred.

[cerulean]

http://www.danielpipes.org/articles/1992.shtml

Dealing With Middle Eastern Conspiracy Theories
by Daniel Pipes
Orbis, 1992

A ten-year-old article, but still relevant. He has some good strategic ideas.

[cerulean]

Some of the September 11 conspiracy theories are a little more sophisticated than the idea, which was floated by Mohammed Atta's father, that a bunch of Zionist pilots put on masks to look like Arabs. One version of this theory is that Bush decided to go to war in Afghanistan, rather than some other worthy country, for the purpose of being able to lay a natural gas pipeline through the region. The following article debunks that idea as well.

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From The American Prospect:

http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/14/silverstein-k.html
No War for Oil!
Is the United States really after Afghanistan's resources? Not a chance.

By Ken Silverstein
Issue Date: 7.22.02

The war in Afghanistan is a sham. The Bush administration had advance knowledge of the September 11 attacks but took no action, using the assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as an excuse to topple the Taliban regime and legitimize the takeover of Afghanistan. Well-placed government insiders, knowing of the impending attacks, made fortunes by betting on a huge fall in airline stocks. The war is not about terrorism but about America's desire to control energy in Central Asia and promote corporate plans to plunder the region's reserves. The chief U.S. concern all along has been to help Unocal Corporation build a pipeline across Afghanistan, which would carry natural gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.
By now all of this is obvious -- that is, it's obvious if you get your information from the Internet or from certain far-right or left-wing circles, where conspiracy theories about the war run rampant.
[...]
These sorts of conspiracy theories, especially the ones concerning oil supplies, aren't just circulating in fringe circles; they've found their way into mainstream outlets, too.
[...]
What's common to all these theories, from the most delusional to the more sophisticated, is that their authors display little understanding of the Caspian or of energy markets.
...
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According to the article, Afghanistan is unlikely to play any role at all in the development of the Caspian. Furthermore, Afghanistan is likely to remain unstable, and few corporate types want to pour money and make plans for long-term development in that type of environment.

[cerulean]

Another article about the French author who claims 9/11 was essentially an illusion. The article also notes two French journalists have gone to the trouble of painstakingly rebutting him.

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http://argument.independent.co.uk/regular_columnists/john_lichfield/story.jsp?story=315126
Our Man in Paris: When the 'internut' drives out reality
John Lichfield
22 July 2002
Apart from his impudent, mournful expression, Thierry Meyssan is an unlikely looking left-wing activist. He wears a suit and a tie and he has short, dark hair. He looks like a door-to-door insurance agent from the 1950s. To France's shame, Mr Meyssan, 44, is a bestselling author. His breathtakingly silly book L'Effroyable Imposture ("The terrible imposture") has been hanging about in the French bestsellers' list for weeks.
[...]
Meyssan has become a hero for the America-hating, French far left. And yet, much of his disinformation was lifted, Dasquié and Guisnel point out, from the American, anti-government, anti-Semitic far right, including the dotty Lyndon LaRouche, the man who believes that our own dear Queen is an international, drugs-smuggling mastermind.
[...]
First, there is the evidence of a shared paranoia, an internet-assisted short-circuit of lunacy, between the far left and the far right. The same delusions and distortions that feed Meyssan's imagination feed the darkest pools of the "internut", such as the British-run, neo-Nazi website selected by President Jacques Chirac's would-be assassin last week to announce that he would soon become a "star". ...

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Once again, we see the far left and far right converging on the same beliefs and goals.