AUSTRALIA'S most radi cal Islamic group has defied John Howard by launching a provocative public campaign to persuade Muslims the 9/11 terror attacks were a massive US-inspired conspiracy.
| Even though Binny's long since taken credit for them... |
The contentious move by the group, led by fundamentalist Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran, comes despite the Prime Minister calling for the nation's Islamic leaders to avoid making inflammatory comments about terrorism.
| Or maybe because of it... |
Sheik Omran was last month snubbed by Mr Howard, who did not invite him to the summit with Muslim leaders in Canberra.
| So his tender little Islamic feelings are hurt and he needs Dire Revenge™ to retrieve his Dignity and Honor™... |
The unprecedented public campaign by Sheik Omran's group comes on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, which killed almost 3000 people.
| What better time to either deny that it happened at all or to claim that they all deserved it?... |
The latest edition of a new Islamic newspaper launched by Sheik Omran's Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association argues that a plane did not crash into the Pentagon in Washington in the September 11 attacks and that the story was instead a major hoax. The newspaper, called Mecca News, then promises that "in future editions we will uncover the rest of the questions which surround 9/11". Using pictures to support its arguments, which include claims that there were no remains of a plane found inside the Pentagon, the paper accuses Australia of only now "catching up with the debate" about what really happened on September 11, 2001.
| You see, we actually bombed the Pentagon ourselves, as part of a fiendishly clever plan to... ummm... do something. |
"It is not seen as 'patriotic' to challenge the widely accepted theory, however things are changing," the newspaper states.
| Not as quickly as Sheikhy seems to think... |
The newspaper credits its editor-in-chief and founder, Sheik Omran, with "breaking the ice" by raising questions in Australia about who was responsible for 9/11. Sheik Omran recently angered the Government and moderate Muslims by effectively proclaiming that Osama bin Laden was a good man and by questioning whether the London bombings in July were carried out by Muslims.
| I guess it depends on your definition of "good." And your definition of "Muslims," since one of the boomers appeared on tape with Ayman. But it probably depends on your defintion of "Ayman," as well... |
Sheik Omran has also angered moderate Muslim leaders by saying he believed the US, rather than bin Laden, were behind the 9/11 attacks. This opinion - shared by many radical Muslims - comes despite bin Laden himself admitting involvement in 9/11 attacks in a video broadcast late in 2001, during which the al-Qaeda leader expressed delight that the death toll had far exceeded his own expectations. "We calculated in advance the number of casualties," bin Laden said in the video. Sheik Omran, who yesterday said he was not aware of bin Laden's comments, told The Australian he wanted to spark "healthy debate" with the newspaper. "If all society agrees on something, that is very unhealthy," he said.
| That's a patently stoopid statement. There are lots of things all of society can agree on, to include the teeny-tiny, infinitesimal size of Sheikh Omran's soul... |
Sheik Omran launched his monthly newspaper last month, saying it would be "educational" and "a breath of fresh air in the field of media and journalism for Muslims in Australia". Accusing the media of being anti-Muslim, Sheik Omran wrote: "Some issues, if left in the hands of a misinformed journalist, may lead to the spread of disease in our society, causing fear, Islamaphobia, suspicion and hatred amongst the Australian society as a whole."
| "So don't show it to no infidels, okay?" |
The newspaper claims a circulation of 10,000. But Sheik Omran's decision to use the paper's September edition to convince Australian Muslims that 9/11 was a US-inspired conspiracy is likely to further anger moderate Muslims, who last month urged the cleric to tone down his rhetoric.
| I haven't seen the tar and feathers come out yet... |
The newspaper devotes a feature to supporting claims made by a US author, David Ray Griffin, that a plane never crashed into the Pentagon and that the story was an elaborate US Government hoax. The feature asks: "The hole created in the (Pentagon) facade was not big enough to fit the nose of a plane let alone an entire (Boeing) 757 - the question is how could such a big airplane have created such a small hole?" In accompanying commentary, the paper said Australian Muslims sceptical of the official version of 9/11 are subjected to "ideological attacks". |