Post by lennie on Sept 10, 2007 6:50:42 GMT -5
The art of Middle Eastern conspiracy theories
By Middle East correspondent David Hardaker
from ABC Online
The reporter's job is to get the facts. Sounds simple enough, but try doing that in the Middle East.
Recently there has been a re-run of an old theory that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died not because he was a naturally ailing 75-year-old, but because he was poisoned.
The claims come from no less an authority that Mr Arafat's personal physician of 18 years, Dr Ashraf Kurdi.
The trouble is, the doctor has brought forth not an ounce of proof. All he has is a heap of suspicion about why he was not allowed to see Mr Arafat when the old leader was on his deathbed in Paris three years ago.
But Dr Kurdi is far from alone. Most Palestinians simply assume the poisoning story to be indisputably the truth, and that of course it is Israel's secret service, Mossad, that did the job.
The "Arafat was poisoned" story is but the latest in a long line of lurid conspiracy theories in the Middle East. In some ways, it is its own art form.
The most famous conspiracy theory of course, surrounds the September 11 attacks on New York. They were carried out by Mossad and/or the CIA.
Why? To justify the United States launching an all-out attack on the Muslim world.
And this particular theory usually comes with a wonderfully revealing subtext. "We Arabs couldn't have done it", you will hear, "because we're not capable of it".
The attacks in London of July 7, 2005 have brought the same explanation. This time, rather than the CIA, it was Britain's intelligence service, MI5, that did the job, or at least was behind it.
I remember getting really agitated with a good friend of mine from Egypt, a man who was well educated but refused to budge from this belief.
"Where are the facts?" I would say. "Why would Britain kill 52 of its own people and wound hundreds more? What's the point of them doing that?"
The answer, "To justify persecuting Muslims". Of course.
Soon after that episode with my friend, I saw the same agitation in an Englishman I got to know during a train journey from Cairo to Alexandria.
An executive with a high-powered international PR firm, he was in Egypt to counter a conspiracy theory which was doing severe damage to his client.
An Egyptian journalist had written that a well-known brand of soft drink was manufactured using pig fat, and that this was being done for political reasons.
Lurid it may be, but the claim had taken on a life of its own, and Egyptians were deserting the brand in their tens of thousands.
I have by and large ceased to be shocked now by the leaps of logic that abound in Middle Eastern conspiracy theories. However, since being in Israel, I have heard a new one, which I admit, did set me back a bit.
It was a couple a months ago now, and two rockets had been fired into the north of Israel from Lebanon. For a moment, it looked like the Israel-Hezbollah war all over again.
So, I asked a Palestinian friend of mine, again a very well-educated man, who he thought had fired the rockets.
His answer: Israel. So, Israel attacked Israel?
"Yes," he told me, "This happens whenever an Israeli Prime Minister is in Washington."
Then came the clincher. "Israel intelligence always arranges suicide bombing whenever the Prime Minister was with the US President. This is how they get their money."
A little later, I watched a documentary on Yasser Arafat's last years.
One of his close confidants spoke about how embarrassing it was when Mr Arafat would tell visiting dignitaries that Israel was behind the latest suicide attacks on Israelis. This time though, I was not surprised in the least.
It would take a fair-sized book to explain the pathology of conspiracy theories in the Middle East, and in a part of the world where little is as it seems, one chapter would have to be devoted to the very many conspiracies which are real.
Truth might be stranger than fiction, but in the end, there is one overriding lesson for reporters and for policymakers. Fiction is far more powerful than truth, especially if it is said by someone with power.
By Middle East correspondent David Hardaker
from ABC Online
The reporter's job is to get the facts. Sounds simple enough, but try doing that in the Middle East.
Recently there has been a re-run of an old theory that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died not because he was a naturally ailing 75-year-old, but because he was poisoned.
The claims come from no less an authority that Mr Arafat's personal physician of 18 years, Dr Ashraf Kurdi.
The trouble is, the doctor has brought forth not an ounce of proof. All he has is a heap of suspicion about why he was not allowed to see Mr Arafat when the old leader was on his deathbed in Paris three years ago.
But Dr Kurdi is far from alone. Most Palestinians simply assume the poisoning story to be indisputably the truth, and that of course it is Israel's secret service, Mossad, that did the job.
The "Arafat was poisoned" story is but the latest in a long line of lurid conspiracy theories in the Middle East. In some ways, it is its own art form.
The most famous conspiracy theory of course, surrounds the September 11 attacks on New York. They were carried out by Mossad and/or the CIA.
Why? To justify the United States launching an all-out attack on the Muslim world.
And this particular theory usually comes with a wonderfully revealing subtext. "We Arabs couldn't have done it", you will hear, "because we're not capable of it".
The attacks in London of July 7, 2005 have brought the same explanation. This time, rather than the CIA, it was Britain's intelligence service, MI5, that did the job, or at least was behind it.
I remember getting really agitated with a good friend of mine from Egypt, a man who was well educated but refused to budge from this belief.
"Where are the facts?" I would say. "Why would Britain kill 52 of its own people and wound hundreds more? What's the point of them doing that?"
The answer, "To justify persecuting Muslims". Of course.
Soon after that episode with my friend, I saw the same agitation in an Englishman I got to know during a train journey from Cairo to Alexandria.
An executive with a high-powered international PR firm, he was in Egypt to counter a conspiracy theory which was doing severe damage to his client.
An Egyptian journalist had written that a well-known brand of soft drink was manufactured using pig fat, and that this was being done for political reasons.
Lurid it may be, but the claim had taken on a life of its own, and Egyptians were deserting the brand in their tens of thousands.
I have by and large ceased to be shocked now by the leaps of logic that abound in Middle Eastern conspiracy theories. However, since being in Israel, I have heard a new one, which I admit, did set me back a bit.
It was a couple a months ago now, and two rockets had been fired into the north of Israel from Lebanon. For a moment, it looked like the Israel-Hezbollah war all over again.
So, I asked a Palestinian friend of mine, again a very well-educated man, who he thought had fired the rockets.
His answer: Israel. So, Israel attacked Israel?
"Yes," he told me, "This happens whenever an Israeli Prime Minister is in Washington."
Then came the clincher. "Israel intelligence always arranges suicide bombing whenever the Prime Minister was with the US President. This is how they get their money."
A little later, I watched a documentary on Yasser Arafat's last years.
One of his close confidants spoke about how embarrassing it was when Mr Arafat would tell visiting dignitaries that Israel was behind the latest suicide attacks on Israelis. This time though, I was not surprised in the least.
It would take a fair-sized book to explain the pathology of conspiracy theories in the Middle East, and in a part of the world where little is as it seems, one chapter would have to be devoted to the very many conspiracies which are real.
Truth might be stranger than fiction, but in the end, there is one overriding lesson for reporters and for policymakers. Fiction is far more powerful than truth, especially if it is said by someone with power.