NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America has praised the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt for publicly exposing what he called the “crazy conspiracy theories” and “attacks on the United States” that appear regularly in the Egyptian government-controlled press.
According to the Washington Times (Oct. 28, 2003) Ambassador Welch said in a speech at the American University in Cairo on October 20: “I have sometimes been accused of being critical of the media here. Actually, I don’t think I’ve been as critical of the media here as I might have been. Considering the number of regrettable articles I’ve seen, proposing crazy conspiracy theories or attacking the United States in very hostile terms, I think I’ve been quite measured in my reaction.”
As an example, Ambassador Welch cited an Egyptian newspaper’s report alleging that the U.S. masterminded the bombing of the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, Iraq. He also mentioned an article in the Egyptian government newspaper Al-Gumhuriya calling the October 4 suicide bombing in a Haifa restaurant “a brave commando operation.”
The Egyptian Journalists’ Union responded by accusing Ambassador Welch of making “impudent declarations” and promoting “Zionist conspiracies against the countries of the region.”
The ZOA notes the irony of the Egyptian government press peddling anti-American hate, when Egypt has been receiving more than $2-billion annually in American military and financial aid for the past twenty-five years—a total of more than $50-billion.
Some examples of additional conspiracy theories and anti-U.S. rhetoric in the Egyptian government press:
* “AMERICA IS LIKE NAZI GERMANY—AND MAY HAVE CARRIED OUT THE 9/11 ATTACKS ITSELF”: An article in the Egyptian government newspaper Al Ahram Weekly on May 15-21, 2003 declared: “Today, the United States is governed by a junta of war criminals who took power through a coup. That coup may have been preceded by (dubious) elections: but we should never forget that Hitler was also an elected politician. In this analogy, 9/11 fulfills the function of the ‘burning of the Reichstag,’ allowing the junta to grant its police force powers similar to those of the Gestapo.”
* “AMERICANS MUTILATE IRAQI CORPSES”: “The cannibals were barbaric creatures similar to beasts of prey, took vengeance upon their enemies. They would slaughter them, tear them limb from limb, and mutilate the corpses, exactly as the American forces did to the bodies of Saddam Hussein’s two sons Uday and Qusay, whose distressing and shocking pictures were circulated by the world media. Every place that it destroys, annihilates, and plunders treasure and oil [from], America does no less than what primitive cannibal tribes did in the prehistoric era!!” … “The fight against America will be continued, Allah willing, by the peoples waging Jihad against the original pirates and criminals [i.e. the Americans] – or, to be more precise, against the cannibals and the human corpse-disembowelers!!” (from the Egyptian government newspaper Al Akhbar, Aug. 6, 2003; translation courtesy of MEMRI.)
* “BUSH IS A MURDERER AND TYRANT”: An article in the Egyptian government-controlled newspaper Al-Gumhuriya on May 29, 2003, declared: “It has been proven that Bush and Saddam are the two sides of the same coin, they are both murderers, oppressors, tyrants, [and] dictators who turn their backs on international laws and standards.”
* “RUMSFELD IS A NEW HITLER”: An article in the Egyptian government-controlled newspaper Akhbar al-Yom on August 17, 2002, declared: “[U.S. Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld is a new Hitler in America… Ultimately, Rumsfeld will meet his fate, like the other crazies relegated to the dustbin of history.” (Translation courtesy of MEMRI.)
* “CHENEY, RICE, AND RUMSFELD ARE THE AXIS OF EVIL”: An article in the Egyptian government-controlled newspaper Al-Akhbar on July 3 2002, stated: “[Vice President] Dick Cheney, [National Security Adviser] Condoleeza Rice, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are the axis of evil in the American administration.” (Translation courtesy of MEMRI.)
* “AMERICA IS WORSE THAN THE NAZIS”: An article in the Egyptian government-controlled newspaper Al-Ahram on January 26, 2002, declared that America’s Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba has been “turned into a base for torturing Al-Qaeda members from Afghanistan, in a way unprecedented in history—worse than what Hitler did to his rivals from among the Jews and Christians.”
* “AMERICA IS SPREADING ANTHRAX”: An article in the November 2002 issue of the Egyptian government science magazine Al’Ilm claimed: “The cases of anthrax infection in the U.S. emerged simultaneously with the beginning of the American war against Afghanistan. News coming from Afghanistan mentions symptoms of a strange disease … causing fever, headaches, and hemorrhaging… [the alleged U.S. germ warfare in Afghanistan] is not the first such incident … The U.S. used germs against Vietnam, North Korea, and China.”
* “AMERICA IS DROPPING POISONED FOOD IN AFGHANISTAN”: The editor of the Egyptian government newspaper Al Ahram asserted that the U.S. food packages being dropped into Afghanistan may have been “genetically treated, with the aim of affecting the health of the Afghani people. If this is true, the U.S. is committing a crime against humanity.” (Washington Post, Oct. 30, 2001
* “BUSH IS ARROGANT AND CONCEITED”: An article in the Egyptian government-controlled newspaper Al-Ahram on Sept. 25, 2001, accused President Bush of “arrogance and conceit” for urging the international community to support America’s war against terrorism.
* AMERICA IS TO BLAME FOR 9/11 ATTACKS: An article in the Egyptian government-controlled Al-Ahram Al-Arabi (the weekly edition of Al Ahram) on September 22, 2001, offered this comment on the September 11 terrorist attacks: “For many long years, America made many peoples in the world cry. It was always [America] that carried out the acts; now, acts are being carried out [against] it. A cook who concocts poison must one day also taste the poison! The world has discovered that the strength of the oppressed is great when the situation has become unbearable.”
* “POWELL IS ARROGANT … STUPID … DECEITFUL”: An article in the Egyptian government-controlled newspaper Al-Akhbar on March 11, 2001, called Powell “arrogant” and accused him of “stupidity, ignorance of the rules of diplomacy, and intervention in what is none of his business.” An article in Al-Akhbar on Feb. 27, 2001, stated: “Powell is even more stupid and deceitful than Mrs. Madeleine Albright. Two days ago, he…revealed that he has the brain of a bird. Colin Powell, the black American…acted like a stupid teenager.” It also asserted: “The American Secretary of State shed his skin, tore himself from his roots, and today he represents only himself and has no connection to the Black American community which led the revolution for democracy, equality and human rights.”