Conspiracy Theories

It's only April, and already 2005 has seen its share of conspiracy theories
from the Middle East. They began to appear in the early days of January,
immediately following the tsunami, which was blamed on the usual suspects:
America and Israel. The most popular accused America, Israel, and India of
performing nuclear tests in the Indian Ocean, which caused the disaster. The
following are the top 10 conspiracies so far this year:

10 ) On Iran's Sahar TV, an Iranian former Education Ministry official spoke
on a February 8 program devoted to a Zionist ship sailing around the world
kidnapping children to harvest their organs.

9 ) The Palestinian Authority's ambassador in Sri Lanka, Attallah Quiba, was
quoted by the Malaysian National News Agency on March 19 as stating that
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was killed by Israelis using powerful
lasers.

8 ) Egypt's adviser to the United Nations, Shahida Al-Baz, was interviewed
on Iqra TV on February 10, discussing drug abuse in his country explaining
why Israel is responsible: "Although some people say this is a conspiracy
theory, it is not... There is an enemy. Israel serves as a channel for
drugs. Israel profits from this financially, and at the same time corrupts
our youth."

7 ) The Syrian daily Teshreen on March 7 claimed the CIA and Mossad were
behind the attacks of September 11, 2001: "The September 11, 2001 events in
New York and Washington were a pretext to justify the implementation of the
new domination strategy, knowing that the real perpetrators of the tragic
events have been a toughly-controversial issue as many analysts still argue
that those events were the creation of the U.S. CIA and the Israeli Mossad."

6 ) The Saudi Royal family Web site Ain-Al-Yaqeen reported on April 8, "A
Palestinian official has unveiled news about the Israeli forces use of
killer radiation in its war against the Palestinians. The Director of Al
Shifa medical complex in Gaza Jom'a Al Saqa said Israeli troops force the
Palestinian crossing the borders from Egypt and Jordan to enter into close
chambers, remove their clothes and subject them to electromagnetic
radiations. He added that electromagnetic radiations cause dangerous... and
these include damage in the blood cells, breaking of blood platelets,
cancerous tumors, blindness, mental retardation, and infertility."

5 ) Saudi journalist Suheila Hammad appeared on Saudi TV Channel 1 on
February 3 and discussed conspiracy theories: "I'm not saying I believe in
conspiracy theories, but, by Allah, this is a conspiracy. [The Americans]
say so. The neocons have said: 'Within 30 years, we will eliminate Islam.'
Among the targeted regimes are Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and Iran. This is
part of the existing conspiracy. It will divide all the Arab countries into
ministates... Sudan is being divided so that Darfour will become a secular
state... the south will become a Christian state, and there is a conspiracy
and a secret agreement among the Egyptian Copts in the U.S. for establishing
a Coptic autonomy in the south of Egypt."

4 ) A report in the Tehran Times of March 8, citing Al-Jazeera as its
source, claimed that the CIA and the Mossad were involved in kidnappings and
beheadings in Iraq as well as claiming the American military tried to
assassinate Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena in Iraq.

3 ) Following up from leading Arabic dailies in Saudi Arabia and Syria
reporting that American soldiers are stealing the body parts of Iraqis, the
general commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Yahya
Rahim-Safavy, told Iranian Channel 4 on February 6 that American soldiers at
Fallujah harvested and sold the organs of dead Iraqis.

2 ) Discussing the killing of Lebanon's Prime Minister Hariri, Syrian
columnist Hassan M. Yousef wrote in the Teshreen daily on February 16 that
"the U.S. and Zionist entity" were behind it. A Tehran Times headline report
on February 16 was titled "Mossad Behind Hariri Assasination." Rakan Majali
contended in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustour on March 7 "that the killing ...
was part of the American scheme to start a confrontation between Syria and
Lebanon. "The latest hit song of Egypt's most popular singer, Abdel-Rahim,
whose songs include, "I Hate Israel" and other songs that blame the attacks
of September 11, 2001, on America, holds Ariel Sharon accountable for
Hariri's death.

1 ) Egyptian journalist Sayyed Nassar appeared on Dream 2 TV on February 6
to explain that the Iraqi elections were a theatrical production conducted
by an American filmmaker.

http://www.memri.org/bin/media.cgi?ID=131305
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Is it any stretch of the imagination to wonder why the source of the two
greatest religions of the world originated from the Middle-East where
"stories" are a tradition and have been propagated for over a millenium?
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Following Pope John Paul II's visits to the Middle East in 2000 and 2001,
some prominent Muslim leaders openly discussed the future dominance of Islam
in Europe, including a conquest of the Vatican.

....one of the most important issues the next pope will face is the
"increasing secularism in Europe, CONTRASTING with the religious revival in
the Islamic world ... and the rising number of Muslim immigrants in Europe."

Sheik Muhammad bin Abd Al-Rahman Al-'Arifi, a Saudi and imam of the mosque
of King Fahd Defense Academy, predicted Muslims would gain control of the
Vatican. Citing a Hadith posted on the Kalemat Web site in 2002, he said,
"We will control the land of the Vatican; we will control Rome and introduce
Islam in it. Yes, the Christians, who carve crosses on the breasts of the
Muslims ... will yet pay us the Jiziya [poll tax paid by non-Muslims under
Muslim rule], in humiliation, or they will convert to Islam ..."

Sheik Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who
is head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and the founder of
the International Council of Muslim Scholars, posted a fatwa, or decree in
2002 about the "signs of the victory of Islam" in Europe. Also, citing a
well-known Hadith, Al-Qaradhawi wrote, "The Prophet Muhammad was asked:
'What city will be conquered first, Constantinople or Romiyya?' He answered:
'The city of Hirqil [i.e. the Byzantine emperor Heraclius] will be conquered
first' - that is, Constantinople ... Romiyya is the city called today
'Rome,' the capital of Italy ... and we hope and believe [that it too will
be conquered]."

Al-Qaradhawi elaborated on what this means today. "This means that Islam
will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor, after being expelled from
it twice ... I maintain that the conquest this time will not be by the sword
but by preaching and ideology ..."
[...and anti-western, anti-Christian propaganda and conspiracy theories.]
....
http://www.memri.org/bin/media.cgi?ID=130305
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"History has already proven that when hostile forces want to create disorder
in a society and subvert a political power, they often first make a
breakthrough with ideology and start by confusing people's thinking," - Hu
Jintao