Have Your Say, 2001:
Can state assassinations be justified?
US President George Bush has told the CIA to find and destroy Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network.
The president has given the agency the green light to do “whatever is necessary” – which could include an assassination attempt – and has given it £700 million in funding to carry out the mission.
The operation will include the CIA working with commandos and other military units to act immediately on intelligence uncovered by American spies about enemy targets.
Should the CIA have been given the go ahead to assassinate Bin Laden? Can such actions ever be justified?
Have Your Say, 2011:
Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden dead: Your reaction
BBC News website readers in Pakistan and Afghanistan have been sharing their views on the death of al-Qaeda’s founder and leader, Osama Bin Laden.
Osama Bin Laden evaded the forces of the US and its allies for almost a decade, despite a $25m bounty on his head.
Enough said.
UPDATE May 3: Der Spiegel asks the question the BBC has curiously stopped asking:
I wonder how the bbC would react if I was to start handing out sweets outside Bush house over the death of Osma Bin Laden?
Indeed; parts of Bush House, the Strand, and the BBC Arabic TV Service, Broadcasting House, London, will probably have some sad people today.
“Osama bin Laden is Dead,
But His Legacy of Terror Will Survive”
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9398/pub_detail.asp
What really pisses me off is how the bBC is really pushing the ‘He should have been captured alive?’ agenda. In otherwords the US didn’t respect his human rights to a day in court. In other news this text message is currently doing the rounds:
“Typical of the Yanks to take a Bin out on a Public Holiday”
Notice also the Beeboids refraining from asking pundits if there were any doubts about whether or not it actually happened as there are no pictures and no physical evidence other than “DNA samples”. Funny how now there’s no need to give voice to conspiracies.
INBBC supports Egypt ‘uprising’ with Muslim Brotherhood.
Muslim Brotherhood supports Bin Laden.
“Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood condemns killing of bin Laden”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/05/egypts-muslim-brotherhood-condemns-killing-of-bin-laden.html#comments
So the West knows for sure where the Muslim Brotherhood stands. I’ll bet the liars and deniers at the Beeb will still pretend it’s a democratic organisation.
Anybody else find it interesting how the bBC remains silent on how the likes of Hamas and the Muslim brotherhood are bitching over the death of Bin Laden.
You’d think they were keeping stum for a reason.
So the last BBC correspondent I just heard on the News Channel closed his report by saying that The Obamessiah “has been strengthened immeasurably” by killing Bin Laden. Yes, the US President who violates international law, invades yet another foreign country, and targets someone for assassination without due process of law, is “strengthened”. Not a single word on the BBC for the last three hours about violations of international law. That’s only for when Bush was in charge.
There will be a spike in popularity but will it last until 2012? Stomping Saddam Hussein didn’t win re-election for George Bush (41).
Oh, and according to The Daily Mail, they got on the trail of Osama (or should I say Obama, as the broadcasters including the BBC have been calling Bin Laden today?) via someone in Guantanamo who gave them the nickname of one of his couriers. It took a while to find out where this courier was operating but they got there in the end. Obama and Guantanamo, Beeboids! What do you think about that?
Yes, The Obamessiah, Nobel Peace Prize winner, ordered the killing of a foreign national without due process of law, with no intent to capture.
U.S. team’s mission was to kill bin Laden, not capture
The U.S. special forces team that hunted down Osama bin Laden was under orders to kill the al Qaeda mastermind, not capture him, a U.S. national security official told Reuters.
“This was a kill operation,” the official said, making clear there was no desire to try to capture bin Laden alive in Pakistan.
Any thoughts, BBC? No critical voices available today?
And not only that, they allegedly did it without the Pakistani authorities’ consent or knowlege. (Not that that’s a bad thing, of course. This compound where ObL was holed up was right next to a Pakistani police station and Military Academy. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least – given the sympathy the Pakistani populace have for Islamic terrorists – if there was some collusion between ObL and the aforementioned institutions.) Can you imagine if this had happened under Bush? Or if the Israelis had done it?
I wonder how long it will be before the BBC compare it with the fantastic Turkish special forces operation in Kenya to capture the PKK baby-killer Ocalan. They could easily have killed the scumbag, but chose to put him on trial and he is now in prison.
Why didn’t the US capture bin liner instead of killing him ? etc. etc. blah, blah, blah…….
PS Pounce,
Sorry, I wrote my above post before reading yours !
Have Your Say, 2001:
Have Your Say, 2011:
Enough said. Indeed, t
hough, if I may presume to add one more word: ‘unique’.
This just in. Video of OBL’s last moments
They made that one fast… and there are muslim people angry that there were crowds of people celebrating in the news. While the whole middle east was one big party after 911. I will never forget the videos of people handing out sweets and dancing in the west bank. Guess its america’s turn,show em how its done.
Heh. Thanks for that. I stuck it up on my little blog.
BBC 1 News at 6
Long eulogy from John W****r Simpson included ” in person he was gentle, polite and soft-spoken” .
Frank Gardner ” the non-violent Muslim Brotherhood” and Bin liner’s “sinister charisma “.
Sophie “airhead” Raworth on especially stupid form. Repeatedly asking the Pakistani High Commissioner how no-one could know Bin Liner was in the compound. Well, Sophie, if he stayed inside and only other people came and went, how would they know. Do you know who is in your next door neighbour’s house ?
Most of the day on the BBC , it has been Americans celebrating in “Washington and New York “. I now learn on BBC news at 6 that it is ” all across the USA”
My God, the BBC is pathetic !
She is far from stupid. The bit I heard shows that she skewered him, actually.
She stumped him with a question to which he had no answer: how could he know that he had only arrived in the last few days if nobody knew he was there?
Silence followed: Oh, how I laughed. Then finally, the poleaxed liar recovered his voice only to ramble off into some nonsense about how the Americans had lured him there. Nice one, Sophie! Sometimes a Beeboid delivers. A rare and delicious moment perhaps, but how I enjoyed it. 😀
Millie,
I agree the Paki was useless, but I wonder at the motive for Sophie getting out of her pram.
Any propect of the BBC being involved in the death of Bin Laden due to their phone number being found on that Al Queda list of contacts that Wikileaks told us about?Funnily enough neither the BBC nor the Guardian seem to be following up on this story. Julian Assange surely deserves better than this.
Pounce mentioned earlier that news was breaking about the key lead – finding Bin Laden’s courier – coming originally from information obtained from interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. Has any one heard or seen this on the BBC today? It’s not been mentioned on the BBC website.
According to the BBC’s account:
For years US intelligence had been unable to name the courier. But four years ago they worked out who he was and two years later they discovered where he operated.
The story about the Guantanamo lead is from the New York Times:
Detainees at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had given the courier’s pseudonym to American interrogators and said that the man was a protégé of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
American intelligence officials said Sunday night that they finally learned the courier’s real name four years ago, but that it took another two years for them to learn the general region where he operated.
And, just now, the Telegraph names the much-waterboarded Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and terrorist operations chief Abu Faraj al-Libi as the Guantanamo sources (back when you-know-who was president).
It will be very interesting to see how the BBC reports this.
Remember when the defenders of the indefensible told us that a McCain Administration would just be four more years of Bush policies? Who’s been ramping up Bush policies now, BBC?
I didn’t quite get the quote but on BBC TV they were suggesting that Bush gave up on the hunt for Bin Liner, but Obama resurrected it and Hey Presto !!! Is there no limit to this man’s powers ?
Grant, I heard a similar suggestion on the BBC earlier today. Funny how He Himself said in last night’s announcement that He was the one who decided to go after Bin Laden, as sue points out in her comment below. As if Bush had told the boys to forget about it.
The BBC is the foreign branch of the White House press office.
So the clip of US soldier (could have been officer class, I didn’t see a credit) telling interviewer that he ISN’T out in Afghanistan looking for Bin Laden, was faked? And on Channel4? that well known scion of the BBC?
Roger,
What are you rabbiting on about ?
“Guess which newspaper does not have OBL on the front page?”
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/05/02/guess-which-newspaper-does-not-have-obl-on-the-front-page/#more-39198
JHT
Beyond belief !
Now I posted OBL’s satellite phone number on here last week –
00-873-68-250-5331.
I’m reliably informed by my man in the State Department that the number of calls from UK to Abbotabad in the last few days lit up a CIA monitoring algorithm at In-Q-Tel and – in went the choppers.
So well done to all concerned.
Now that you’ve ended global terrorism let’s turn the sights back on the BBCC.
ps never underestimate the power of t’internet.
I believe that time was if you emailed qusaysaddamhussei@yahoo.com you would have got through to the son of Saddam.
Don’t bother now though =-O
qusaysaddamhussein@yahoo.com
Channel 4 news this evening quite balanced. Mind you anything would be compared with the BBC.
I know it’s difficult to keep oneself out of the picture, but this section of Obama’s speech featured a veritable plethora of Is and mys.
“And so shortly after taking office, *I* directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority”[….]
“after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, *I* was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden.[ ….. ]
*I* met repeatedly with *my* national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, *I* determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and *(I)*authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.
Today, at *my* direction, the United States launched a targeted operation…. ” and so on.
In this particular bit of his speech Obama seemed desparately keen to let the world know who had made it all possible. It seemed boastful and childish.
Sue,
Yes, I noticed that too. I wonder what he would have said if the operation had gone wrong ?
Taking up another point from Pounce, other that a couple of tiny mentions on its live online coverage stream, the BBC website, usually so quick to bring us daily articles from Gaza, is still holding off on an article about Hamas’s condemnation of the killing of “holy warrior” Bin Laden. For that you have to turn to the Telegraph again, which seems to be doing a hell of lot betting at actually reporting things these days than the uniquely-funded BBC.
Hamas’s statement, if widely reported, will undoubtably open a lot more people’s eyes to the full extent of its continuing support for (and practice of) terrorism. It needs widely reporting. The BBC needs to fully report it.
Where is Jon Donnison?
Craig,
Yes, this is one to follow carefully. I would have thought it is big news !
The BBC actually has reported this. Oh, except that it’s only in their Arabic language service. The very last sentence, in fact. Your license fee hard at work.
Yes, the BBC would hide anything that would reveal Hamas’ true colours and undermine the Hamas-Fatah unity deal.
Hope that Osama died happy in the knowledge that Fernando Torres had finally opened his account at Chelsea!
Note that the BBC are already musing on who might replace Osama as leader-not sure yet whether Al Quada prefer AV or first past the post,but already the runners and riders are being sounded out by the BBC.
These chumps would go ANYWHERE for an election would`nt they?…let`s hope that the Bottyboy Hilton is primed for Snow,Paxman and the others sure to tell us about the postal votes being crucial!
Oh Lord-and now it`s an aimless controversy about whether Bin Laden was given a proper burial in accordance with Islamic law, or not!
Surely his head will point to Mecca at least twice a day-even more if the Dubai Imam can check the tide tables…and how much more washing of the body do they want for Allahs sake?
Expect Polly, Gareth Pierce, Michael Mansfield to be circling the sharks any day now waving their no win no fee claims to the Bin Ladens…Tuscany IS on the Arabian Sea right?
Who now is the worlds most wanted-how do the rankings change now I wonder?
Apparently, his last tape is out there.
Apart from the blow to the audio cassette industry, surely BBC Enterprises can rush release his recordings now as a “tribute” to their man! Did Buddy and Elvis no harm as I recall!
I would have thought the DVD of Bin Liner’s death would be the biggest selling in history, if the US govt. would release it. Maybe the royalties could go to the families of his victims.
One thing is clear, the MSM is full of sh*t, in the vacuum of real concrete evidence the MSM is making it up as they go along, expanding on th little they do know with ooodles of complete tripe.
The BBC story changes all the time, the lack of solid facts makes for a mish mash of crap. One thing is clear though, the BBC are talking through their collective arses.
Cassie,
Quite right. This event has shown up all journalists for the crap they are. The BBC leading the field by several lengths , of course. What is wrong with journalists ? What goes on in their tiny minds, if anything ? One of the mysteries of the Universe.
Just a competitive reporter’s impression (though Craig may have a more factual basis) to be sure, but the weary inevitability of this is beginning to grate…
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harrymount/100053227/america-should-be-praised-for-the-brilliant-military-operation-that-killed-bin-laden/
‘On the Today Programme this morning, several critics came up with ingenious ways to carp at the operation. ‘
Now I am the first to appreciate a spread of viewpoints (though wondering why that spread seems to evaporate when it doesn’t suit the BBC narrative), but is there not something a tad out of sync when the national broadcaster of a close ally sees its default position is to field several critics to carp? And does so every darn time when things do not pan out according to the world view in their incestuous little bubble, requiring a gathering of the inbred clans to access the airwaves to try and ‘correct’ majority thinking?
All on our dime, whether we agree, or approve, or not. Unique.
Just for kicks…
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100086053/liberal-pantywaists-more-upset-about-osama-bin-ladens-death-than-911/
Gave up on SKY rehashing the same stuff they (along with the rest of the MSM) don’t know yet over and over, and wheeling out any retired talking head happy to accept a cab fare as an expert, so revisited Breakfast News after a long break.
Landed in an ‘interview’ of a Minister by the fragrant, fragile, feathlight… and brained Sian. No change there then.
Notice, though, that the BBC is steering the various arguments well away of any actual criticism of The Obamessiah for an illegal, targeted assassination. It’s more the default anti-military action noise, an area with which the Beeboids are very comfortable.
The BBC site carries an “obituary” for Bin Laden. Given the following definition of the word in the OED is this apporpriate.
2. A record or announcement of a death, esp. in a newspaper or similar publication; (in later use) (also) spec. an appreciation appearing in a newspaper or news broadcast, of an eminent or well-known person who has recently died, typically including a brief biography. Also in extended use. Also (formerly): †the section of a newspaper in which deaths are announced (obs.).
This prompted me to look up the origin of the word. It’s interesting. The Latin obitus, meaning death, is in fact a euphemism for death, similar to the expression, “going to meet your maker”.
Obituary
1706, “register of deaths,” from M.L. obituarius “a record of the death of a person,” lit. “pertaining to death,” from L. obitus “departure, a going to meet, encounter” (a euphemism for “death”), from stem of obire “go to meet” (as in mortem obire “meet death”), from ob “to, toward” + ire “go.” Meaning “record or announcement of a death, esp. in a newspaper, and including a brief biographical sketch” is from 1738. A similar euphemism is in O.E. cognate forðfaran “to die,” lit. “to go forth.” Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Famous Quotations obituary “All publicity is good, except an obituary notice.”The quotation is attributed to Brendan Behan, Irish author and playwright.
BBC newspaper review on the death of OBL:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13263487
take one guess at which rag takes pride of place? They could at least pretend to not all be Guardian readers.
Despite all, INBBC is committed to Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Of course, INBBC sees the large Islamic population of Pakistan, over 150 million (an undiversified 96% Muslim 🙂 , non-Muslims have no desire to live there), plus the large Pakistani Muslim diaspora in Britain, as part of the INBBC’s global political constituency.
Like the British main political parties, INBBC does not see the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for what it is: an enemy of the West, not an ally.
So, INBBC relegates discussion of this:
“Why Pakistan Produces Jihadists”
(by S. Dhume)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703866704575223832888768098.html
I see that a day after Hamas and the Muslim brotherhood objected to the killing of Osma Bin Laden the bBC still hasn’t aired their view of how this Islamic warrior was taken out by the nasty evil Americans. Funny enough the bBC have aired a story about Gaza today. It’s about somebody who is going to travel all the way to Gaza so as to give the improvised country a free music gig. The funny thing is the very people in Hamas who object to the killing of OBL also object to…Music.
I wonder why the bBC doesn’t mention that snippet.
Barenboim has long been a useful idiot.
BTW Interesting last paragraph.
Barenboim’s entry through Egypt’s Rafah crossing comes amid Israeli criticism of plans by Egypt’s new military rulers to open up the border, our correspondent says. Former President Hosni Mubarak tacitly supported the blockade.
My dictionary says ‘tacitly’ means understood without being openly expressed; implied. Nothing tacit about it. Mubarak directed his army to blockade Gaza and now the new/old government has directed the army not to blockade.
Musicians, actors, artists and all the assorted luvvies should stick to entertainment. If they want to get involved in politics, stand in an election. Their opinions are no more relevant than any of ours.
Agreed, deegee, Barenboim has long been a useful Jew. He is out of his depth, just a pawn.
Shame because, as a little boy, my introduction to Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas were recordings he made when he was quite young. I still have the vinyl LPs.
FPM draws interesting parallels between the capture of Saddam and the capture of bin Laden. I don’t think of them as direct parallels as the operational circumstances were different, but I still
think valid points are made, although I don’t share the author’s regret that Obama didn’t
suffer more before dying.
When the military found Saddam Hussein hiding in a spider hole in Iraq in 2005, President George W. Bush announced that “United States military forces captured Saddam Hussein alive.” He announced that the success of the mission was “a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq.” When he used “we,” he specifically lumped himself in with Americans. There was no personal triumphalism, nor was there any minute-by-minute rundown of his authorization of any specific actions. Bush was expected to take actions in the best interest of the United States. He did, and Saddam was captured, tried, and executed.
Erm, make that Osama.
Hippie,
No , leave it as it was !
Sellafield, and INBBC’s ‘five men’.
Of course, INBBC doesn’t mention if the five men are all MUSLIMS, and if they are inspired by the Islamic jihad of Osama Bin Laden:
“Sellafield nuclear site terror arrests made”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13268834
‘Evening Standard’:
“Terror suspects held at nuclear plant: UK on alert after Osama bin Laden’s death”
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23946239-terror-suspects-held-at-nuclear-plant-uk-on-alert-for-reprisals-after-bin-ladens-death.do
Note to Laura Trevalyan and BBC News: a covert operation to kill Bin Laden IS NOT a Foreign Policy success. Quit trying to suggest otherwise, please. It’s a domestic boost, sure, but nothing to do with last months historically low poll rating about Foreign Policy.
This doesn’t make anyone feel better about His failures regarding China and Russia and Iran.
“Peter King: Bin Laden’s Death Came From Waterboarding”
Not BBC, but Sarah Smith ( daughter of the late John Smith, former Labour Party leader ) on Channel 4 News just said ” Americans will now follow Obama in Afghanistan, Iraq and anywhere in the World “.
She must be angling for a job with the BBC !
Hmm, so there I am watching a discussion on Channel4. A channel I know is unknown to regular conspirators on here, seeing as the opinion/views seen on there, can be spun to be seen as BBC Bias when seen fit. The discussion was about Osama, Assassination or caught in crossfire. Could he have been captured?
Must be BBC bias that such a thought could be considered. What with the thought that labelling him with anything more than evil terrorist thug shows unbelieveable bias. Oh hang on. Channel4 uses ITV sources, and is miles from BBC studios. Must be that pernicious airborne bias well known to conspiracy theorists.
If the BBC didn’t take the Fox News ideology to heart as seems popular on here, and go Gung-Ho on labels for Osama, surely that would be seen on most sites as unbiased. Giving him a label like that, regardless of how one might think he deserves it. (I personally think he deserves it) must be an epitome of bias.
Is it REEEEAALLLY bias if in reports of Yankie celebrations miss out 99.9% of place names in a list of major population centres. With the announcement being so late, many god-fearing places would be tucked up in bed. Leno/Letterman’s ratings aren’t great, and would have been the slots Obama used to announce his news.
What are you on about, Roger? This site says “BBC” on the tin, not Channel 4 or ITV. They are irrelevant. Any speculation about whether or not Bin Laden might have been killed accidentally is based on utter BS as the order was “shoot to kill”, full stop. Like it or not, that’s what the gung-ho President ordered. So perhaps the BBC isn’t biased for not asking that question but rather sticking to reality. However signs of BBC bias in His favor might be that they’re not making a meal out of the fact that He did something they condemned when Bush was in charge, or that the intel which made this possible was gathered using naughty interrogation techniques which He campaigned against on inmates at Guantanamo which…wait for it….He also said was wrong and pledged to close the minute He took office. Too bad you missed that.
He’s probably not the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to have someone killed without due process of law, but surely that’s worth discussing on the BBC as well? The silence is deafening.
Do you have any thoughts about BBC bias, such as why they’ve suddenly stopped asking whether or not this targeted assassination was illegal according to international law? They used to ask when Bush was in charge, but have refrained from doing so now. Any other thoughts about possible bias at the BBC on this? Or did you just come here for a *yawn* partisan fight?
Roger,
Could you try re-writing that in English ?
Roger, a word or two back to the wise :
Many thanks for you enlightenment about a TV channel known as 4.
But as someone from Yokr who thinks the BBC is biased, why has it taken you so long to put me on the straight and narrow and realise how much of a fool I have been ? and why now ?
Would you be prepared to tell me how I can find these fair minded and realistic TV stations (or if you prefer : stayshuns )?
Thunks !
It’s quite hard to tell what you are on about, particularly when you mention some obscure point about place names. But the idea of praying in aid Channel 4 as somehow negating evidence of BBC bias is quite amusing.
The bBC and its mission to rehabilitate Bin Laden as a victim:
Since yesterday the bBC has gone all out in which to reinvent Public enemy Nbr 1 as a victim so we have:
Osma was unarmed when shot
His daughter saw him shot
Boy who lived nearby was given bunny rabbits by Osma
Bin Laden’s wife shot in leg by US military.
Bin Laden’s burial at sea didn’t respect Islamic values
Woman who lives next door opines to the bBC that they were so scared during the attack that her children hid under their beds.
Why was he not captured and brought to court? Isn’t he a human being that is entitled to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson GQ said that to call the killing of Osama Bin Laden justice is “a total misuse of language”. He told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme: “Justice means: fair trial in front of an independent and impartial court.
The women and children who were left alive in the compound had their hands tied with plastic tags, our correspondent reports:
Anybody else get the impression that the bBC is hell bent on remaking OBL into somekind of saint.
Everyone is confusing justice with war. Under justice there is an arrest, a trial and a sentence. Under warfare soldiers kill enemies. Guilt or innocence has nothing to do with it.
I’m glad there is at least a tiny bit of criticism of something The Obamessiah did and is claiming credit for. For a minute there I thought they were going to remain utterly silent on this issue. The World Service is very brave to challenge Him.
Of course, this needs to be the main topic on Today and Newsnight in order for the BBC to escape my accusation of bias in the main post.
Pounce,
It is really funny it has taken the BBC about 36 hours to get their narrative together. One can’t help laughing at them. This one really caught them on the hop, and that is not meant to be a bunny joke.
I saw reports that Bin Liner used one of his 5 ( ? ) wives as a human shield which was why she got killed. Don’t know the truth , of course, but wonder if the BBC have covered this aspect ?
To be fair, it’s been difficult for the BBC to get their Narrative straight only because it’s taken the White House this long. The Obamessiah Administration officials gave all kinds of wrong info yesterday, and the amateurs were a bit confused about what happened, even though they supposedly watched it all via a live feed and were briefed before and after.
Can’t blame Mardell and North and Frei for garbling the Narrative when they’re only repeating what Katty Kay’s personal friend feeds them.
David P,
I have caught up with this now. Rather takes the gloss off Obama a bit. I don’t understand it. I assume the Seals gave an accurate account, so what could have gone wrong in the White House ? Wonder how the BBC will deal with it
The bBC and its mission to rehabilitate Bin Laden as a victim (Part 2)
Taken from a so called bBC historians view on Bin laden
“ Bin Laden’s construction billionaire father had migrated to Saudi as a child in the 1920s from Yemen’s harsh Hisdradut region.”
And here is how somebody corrected the bBCs version of Osmas humble beginnings:
34. Pizarro
He means Hadramawt, which by the way is not “harsh”. Remote perhaps, but the populated parts of it are both fertile and contain significant seats of learning. Histadrut, on the other hand, is the Israeli trade union movement. Doh!
Wonderful ! The BBC’s usual standard of accuracy. My God, they are crap !
Oh look what I’ve turned up:
Jeremy Bowen lectures Queen Mary students in Islam & The West
The BBC’s Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen—first British journalist to interview Gaddafi since the start of the Libyan uprising—is speaking to university students in London’s East End tomorrow (Wed) about ‘Islam and the West’.His lecture at Queen Mary’s University of London college campus at Mile End tomorrow night (Wednesday) is the first in a series to mark the start of its Masters course in Islam, which covers everything from the Crusades to Islamic terrorism.
“Jeremy very much has his finger on the pulse of the Middle East,” said Dr Tom Asbridge from the college’s School of History.
“He offers a unique perspective through his well-honed journalistic expertise and background as a published author in the field.”
The MA course explores the fundamental issue of the relationship between Islam and the western world, charting a 1,400-year period from the birth of the Muslim faith in the seventh century to the present day, going beyond spheres of politics, warfare and religion. It involves shared knowledge in science, maths and astronomy.
“Students are taught by experts in specialist fields,” Dr Asbridge explained. “These cover migration, literature, the modern Middle East, the Crusades, Medieval Islam, Sharia Law and Islamic terrorism.”
Jeremy Bowen, who has been a war correspondent for much of his career reporting from 70 countries, mostly in the Middle East and in the Balkans, won the ‘News Story of the Year’ award on the arrest of Saddam Hussein two years ago and an International Emmy for his BBC coverage of the 2006 Lebanon War.
And a little more info.
How appropriate that the Muslim part of the lovely image at the top covers two-thirds of the space and is slowly taking over the Christian part.
Queen Mary University? Is it a centre of learning, probably not.
http://www.studentrights.org.uk/tag/queen-mary/
Prof. Al Bowen !
“Jeremy very much has his finger on the pulse of the Middle East,” said Dr Tom Asbridge from the college’s School of History.
should read-
Jeremy very much has his finger on the switch of anti jewish rabble rousing hate-mongering at the BBC
If they are providing a Master’s degree, the least they could do would be to find some scholars to teach the course, not some journalist who merely skims the surface of things, providing instant reports on events as they happen and has a platform and a mask of authority but no real in-depth knowledge or expertise on Islam – or anything else, probably.
While not exactly bBC bias here is what former senior bBC producer( BBC Ten o’clock News /Newsnight).Aditya Chakrabortty has to contribute to the demise of OBL on the Guardians CIF:
Are al-Qaida and the Taliban driven by the desire to help others?
and here is the first reply to his article:
Rather than adopting the somewhat risky and rather counter-intuitive position that the jihadist nutters’ hearts are basically in the right place, I prefer the SEAL Team Six ‘solution’: shoot the bad guys in the head and dump their corpses overboard with the trash.
The Taliban as Social Workers ? Love it !
in Laden’s Death: Illegal Assassination or Legitimate Target? Depends On Who’s President….. or who is being interviewed?
Mixed Muslim reaction to Osama Bin Laden’s death
Anjem Choudary vs. Dr. Taj Hargey
I loved the bit where Jeremy Paxman after pushing Choudary to condemn 9/11 is asked to condemn the British and Americans for Iraq and Afghanistan and ignores the question. (2:40)
I realise that neutrality is in the BBC’s genes but wouldn’t it have been invigorating if Paxman had answered him in an unambiguous negative?
A point in favour of the BBC. Rather than follow their normal policy of choosing a extreme supporter of radical Islam and placing him opposite an embarassed apologist for radical Islam they found a Muslim who (although his language was a bit sophisticated to be truly effective) completely opposed it.
Hope we hear more from Dr. Hargey on the BBC but I’m not holding my breath.
INBBC ‘Today’ gives Bin Laden the kind of positive political treatment it never affords to e.g. Geert Wilders, or the English Defence League.
From ‘Today’ this morning:
(Passing over –
“0744
Thought for the day with Abdal Hakim Murad, Muslim chaplain at the University of Cambridge. “)
We get to this:
“0822
To many in the Western world, Osama Bin Laden is perceived as a terrorist, responsible for killing thousands of people and inspiring hatred. But to some he was a hero. Paul Rodgers, professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University and The Observer’s Jason Burke analyse the reaction to Bin Laden’s death.”
In contrast, Glenn Beck, ‘Fox News’ (3 min video clip):
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/glenn-beck/index.html#/v/4675136/beck-more-or-less-safe/?playlist_id=86917
BBC live coverage of “Osama bin Laden dead”:
0914: A reconciliation deal which rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas are due to finalise today is a “smokescreen,” Israel’s home front defence minister Matan Vilnai has said: “Nothing will change after this… Hamas and Fatah don’t agree on anything and the best example of that came with the killing of the super-terrorist Osama Bin Laden,” reports AFP news agency.
I still can’t find anything from the BBC on Hamas and Fatah’s condemnation of the death of OBL.
“Moderate” Fatah, Jerusalem Arabs honor Bin LadenUS: Hamas mourning of bin Laden death is ‘outrageous’
The BBC did mention it in the very last sentence of one article on their Arabic language website. Your license fee hard at work.
Well what do you know. Yet another bBC reporter (Mohammed Hanif) airs his views on the Guardians CIF:
Osama bin Laden death: No mourning or celebration in Pakistan
There were no celebrations. And there was no mourning. It didn’t occur to anyone to make an Obama effigy; no American flags were burnt. There were no heated debates about whether Osama was a martyr or not. The buses that were set ablaze in Karachi had nothing to do with the high drama in Abbotabad. The crowd in front of Karachi Press Club was a group of private bank employees wanting their jobs back. The little group at the gates of the electricity company offices was demanding nothing more than some good, clean electricity.
As you may guess, nearly every post, corrects the bBCs Mohammed that contrary to his view (and the bBCs?) nearly every city in Pakistan saw people mourning the demise of their ideological hero.
“clean electricity ” ???
There’s been zero about it on the World Service. They’re hiding it.
But Fatah apparently approved of bin Laden’s demise.
Not necessarily TT:
http://hurryupharry.org/2011/05/03/fatahs-military-wing-mourns-death-of-shahid-bin-laden/
The BBC still celebrating the Hamas/Fatah pact as a move towards “peace”.
Vowing revenge for Bin Laden in Jerusalem, Gaza (videos)
What a shock. The News Channel had shown footage of and mentioned several officials from various places like NATO stating that the killing of Bin Laden was “justified”. Not a single voice so far on air from an anti-this war crowd claiming that it was an illegal assassination, nor even a mention in passing that somebody thinks that.
Funny how things change when The Obamessiah does it and not Bush.
In light of how the bBC has remained somewhat stum on how Hamas publically comdemed the killing of OBL. Anybody suprised at how the bBC is remaining quiet on how the British foriegn Sec (William Hague) has berated Hamas:
Britain criticises Hamas’ mourning of bin Laden
LONDON (AFP) – Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday criticised the militant Islamic movement Hamas for mourning Osama bin Laden’s death.
After the Al-Qaeda chief was killed by US forces, the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, said: “We condemn any killing of a holy warrior or of a Muslim and Arab person and we ask God to bestow his mercy upon him.”