Hometown Jihad, Part 3

Well, my old friend and neighbor Salah Sultan is back in the news. You might remember that he was the subject of my Hometown Jihad article back in April. And just a few weeks ago he was defended by the Columbus Dispatch, who tried to airbrush Sultan's extensive record of terrorist collaboration and anti-Semitic tirades and who likened me and FrontPageMag.com (where my article was published) to neo-Nazis for daring to make Sultan's record public. That was the subject of Hometown Jihad, Part 2 blog post.

Last week Salah Sultan appeared on Al-Risala TV in Saudi Arabia, where he enlightened the world by claiming that the 9/11 attacks were organized "to enable the U.S. to control and terrorize the entire world, and to get American society to agree to the war declared on terrorism" and defending al-Qaeda cleric and fellow 9/11 conspiracy-monger, Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani, who has been listed by the US as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" and was the subject of a 2003 National Review report, Yemeni Sheikh of Hate.

Yes, the US is terrorizing the world, not Islamic jihadis.

MEMRI has provided a translation of Sultan's Al-Risala interview, and also offers a full video clip of the interview on their MEMRI TV site. Here's what Sultan had to say:

"The film 'The Siege,' starring Denzel Washington, portrayed the Muslims in a very bad light. They are shown calling for prayer, performing the ablution, praying, and then planning multiple bombings - a government building, a security agency, the FBI, a bus carrying young men and women, adults and children. They bombed shops.

"The film came out in April 1999. It paved the way for 9/11, since it was filmed in Brooklyn, New York. The truth is that immediately after 9/11, I said people should view these events in the context of 'The Siege,' because these events were identical.

"This scenario... I still believe to this day... This scenario still baffles me. I share the view of many Americans, French, and Europeans, who say that 9/11 could not have been carried out entirely from outside [the U.S.] - by Muslims or others. The confessions by some people could have been edited. But even if they were not edited, I believe that these people were used in a marginal role. The entire thing was of a large scale and was planned within the U.S., in order to enable the U.S. to control and terrorize the entire world, and to get American society to agree to the war declared on terrorism - the definition of which has not yet been determined.

"The U.S. remains the only country to determine who is a terrorist, and what is the definition for terrorism, and it can pin it on anyone. The most recent instance is the case of Dr. Al-Zindani, who has been accused of terrorism, even though he is known worldwide for his refinement, virtue, and broad horizons."

Yep, that Salah Sultan is a real moderate if I've ever seen one. I'm sure the Columbus Dispatch is going to be thrilled that the man they took to defend has been caught going off the deep end not even two weeks after their whitewash appeared.

Couldn't happen to nicer people.

Thanks to Jihadwatch.org for making me aware of the MEMRI report.