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Crash Test Dummy
Warnings : 3
Ministerial
Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 4911
Location: London(ish)
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A video in which July 7 bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan tells the British public they are to blame for the London atrocity is to be broadcast by Arab television al Jazeera tonight.
The 30-year-old West Yorkshire man, who detonated explosives on a Circle Line train, claimed bombings in London and in Madrid have been the fault of "Western citizens".
Delivering his message in a calm tone, the teaching assistant, who lived in Dewsbury, tells the public they should no longer feel safe as they would be targeted again in future.
Ayman al Zawahri, said to be al Qaida's second in command, also features on the video and confirms the terror group was behind the attacks in the capital which claimed 52 innocent lives.
Scotland Yard tonight said it was aware of the existence of the tape.
A spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the tape and it will form part of our ongoing investigation." |
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mrs brother
Senior Villager
Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 104
Location: London/Cyprus
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Thats horrible!!!  |
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cannedmoose
Warnings : 4
Moderator
Joined: 12 Aug 2005
Posts: 5357
Location: National Forest, England
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Saw that, a pretty chilling message it was too... :?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4206708.stm
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| Prime Minister Tony Blair was not commenting on the tape, said BBC political editor Nick Robinson. The Foreign Office has also said it will not comment on any aspects of the video. |
I think it's pretty scandalous that both the PM and FCO are refusing comment. Whether you agree with these people or not, the upshot is that this is a widely held view in the Islamic world that the UK supports oppression of Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere. I noticed that Ken Clarke (prospective Tory leader) broke the consensus of silence today and said that the war in Iraq had a lot to answer for vis-a-vis terrorism and I agree with him. |
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brother
Warnings : 3
Site Admin
Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 8920
Location: London/Cyprus
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I think it's pretty scandalous that both the PM and FCO are refusing comment. Whether you agree with these people or not, the upshot is that this is a widely held view in the Islamic world that the UK supports oppression of Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere. I noticed that Ken Clarke (prospective Tory leader) broke the consensus of silence today and said that the war in Iraq had a lot to answer for vis-a-vis terrorism and I agree with him.
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So many people that are pro-Blair like my MD argued with me about that and today i will reap the benefits when i say i told you so. |
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thebrix
Mukhtar/is
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
Posts: 526
Location: London, United Kingdom
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| Giorgio wrote: |
| A video in which July 7 bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan tells the British public they are to blame for the London atrocity is to be broadcast by Arab television al Jazeera tonight. |
I think too much is made of such videos and similar statements; the usual checks and balances (such that they are) are ignored in the rush to publish them. I heard, on the radio a few weeks ago, a very interesting piece by a philosopher named John Gray (who might have been Noam Chomsky in disguise) who said that the media needed "narratives", with a coherent story from beginning to end and stereotypical heroes and villains fitting neatly into slots; such communications pander to that weakness.
For example, there were (as I remember) N claims of responsibility after the first London bombings. By definition at least N-1 of these were lies, yet the usual "Web sites say this" stories appeared, and remained uncorrected, despite there being no conceivable verification I can think of (the owner of the hosting server is hardly going to give away the IP address of the poster which, in any case, is not definitive).
As for the latest video, as far as I can tell not one half (as appears to be being demonstrated) but both halves could have been filmed at any time and joined together by anyone! Only someone with their head in the sand for about 10 years would not know the likely targets, and it would be easy to guess what the results would be and write scripts which sound convincing but actually have no information that was not already known or was guessable; I suggest that that has been done, or even a retrospective construction after the event based on information already in the public domain - that is probably even more plausible as it took a long time for this video to come out after the events it describes.
So, in my opinion, all this stuff I read about "chilling" videos is patronising rubbish designed to make the readership think in a certain way (so that knees knock and newspapers sell); they are as carefully constructed, and as artificial, as a chess problem.
Alastair |
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cannedmoose
Warnings : 4
Moderator
Joined: 12 Aug 2005
Posts: 5357
Location: National Forest, England
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| thebrix wrote: |
| So, in my opinion, all this stuff I read about "chilling" videos is patronising rubbish designed to make the readership think in a certain way (so that knees knock and newspapers sell); they are as carefully constructed, and as artificial, as a chess problem. |
Please don't patronise me either then. If you weren't chilled to the core by the London bombings you should doubt your humanity. I used to ride the tube on one of the routes at that time each day, so it certainly chilled me to think that had life taken a different turn, I would potentially have been sitting next to him. I've also been to the Gaza Strip, so I think I have a greater appreciation than most as to what these people believe they represent and how they are radicalised to think in this way. I agree that newspapers represent stories how they want to, but I only saw the video of this man's will and testament, which was obviously heavily edited, but it was him saying those words. What made it more 'chilling' to me was that this was a man born and brought up in the UK, with a broad Yorkshire brogue, not some arabic-speaking refugee from elsewhere. UK society had managed to produce this man, yet he had still been radicalised against his own country. I'm no sucker, I realise our government plays us every day to follow a certain line, when I said 'chilling' I meant that it chilled me personally, I wasn't merely repeating some nonsense written in the sun or elsewhere.
Anyway, time for my 3 week hiatus... I seem to be in angry mode today with some posters... |
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thebrix
Mukhtar/is
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
Posts: 526
Location: London, United Kingdom
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| cannedmoose wrote: |
Please don't patronise me either then. If you weren't chilled to the core by the London bombings you should doubt your humanity. I used to ride the tube on one of the routes at that time each day, so it certainly chilled me to think that had life taken a different turn, I would potentially have been sitting next to him. I've also been to the Gaza Strip, so I think I have a greater appreciation than most as to what these people believe they represent and how they are radicalised to think in this way. I agree that newspapers represent stories how they want to, but I only saw the video of this man's will and testament, which was obviously heavily edited, but it was him saying those words. What made it more 'chilling' to me was that this was a man born and brought up in the UK, with a broad Yorkshire brogue, not some arabic-speaking refugee from elsewhere. UK society had managed to produce this man, yet he had still been radicalised against his own country. I'm no sucker, I realise our government plays us every day to follow a certain line, when I said 'chilling' I meant that it chilled me personally, I wasn't merely repeating some nonsense written in the sun or elsewhere.
Anyway, time for my 3 week hiatus... I seem to be in angry mode today with some posters... |
That is rather unfortunately put, especially to someone who went through Edgware Road about 90 minutes before the first bombs.
I was making a distinction between what people believe and what people are told to believe; although very few people would not believe that the video and the acts that were led from it were "chilling" - or whatever similar adjective comes to mind - I don't need anyone to tell me that they are "chilling"!
The degree of "leading of thought" - to coin a phrase - that the media indulge in intensely annoys me, as does its lack of analysis.
Alastair |
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