‘How Hillary Clinton created the Islamic State’
<http://americac2c.com/forum/topics/how-hillary-clinton-created-the-islamic-state?xg_source=msg_mes_network>
Started by Robert M
(Thank you Robert, for posting the discussions today. I am traveling so
time is short.
Also, thanks to Ilona, who seems to know when I need her.)
... a new Mideast conspiracy theory
By Adam Taylor <http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/adam-taylor>
WorldViews <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/>
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton attends a recent signing event
for her memoir "Hard Choices" in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Mike
Groll/Associated Press)
For the past few weeks, a number of Arabic-language social media users have
been sharing screenshots and excerpts of a Hillary Clinton autobiography
called "Password 360." Many are shocked by one particular passage, in which
the former secretary of state appears to concede that the United States,
with the help of the Muslim Brotherhood, helped engineer the Islamic State
extremist group.
That would be a startling admission — if it were true. Clinton's new memoir
contains no such passage. In fact, it isn't even called "Password 360" —
it's called "Hard Choices." Direct U.S. involvement in the rise of the
Islamic State is a conspiracy theory at best.
Unfortunately, it's a powerful one. The BBC's Suzanne Kianpour reports
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28745990> that the idea appears
to hold sway in Lebanon. According to Kianpour, the Lebanese Foreign
Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador David Hale to explain the rumor, and the
U.S. Embassy in Beirut wrote on Facebook that any stories of American
involvement in the creation of the Islamic State were
<https://www.facebook.com/USEmbassyBeirut/photos/a.394882054334.174126.190211939334/10152415233759335/?type=1>
"pure
fabrication."
The rumors have been around for quite some time, too: On Aug. 3, the online
magazine 7iber published an article debunking the story
<http://www.7iber.com/2014/08/fake-news-ammon-clinton-egypt/>, which it
noted had been picked up by at least one major Jordanian media outlet. Lina
Ejeilat, editor in chief of 7iber, says the story appears to have begun on
obscure Egyptian Web sites before being picked up on more mainstream news
sites and spreading through the Arab world. Although it initially
talked specifically about the creation of an "Islamic state" in Egypt's
Sinai region, it appears to have evolved to also include the supposed U.S.
creation of the Islamic State militia currently creating havoc in Syria and
Iraq.
Ejeilat says the spread of the rumor on social media was remarkable. "Many
people just wanted to believe it," she explains in an e-mail. However,
Ejeilat also notes that many others have recognized the theory as absurd
and clearly fake: Twitter users have been using a satirical hashtag
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D9%85%D8%B0%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA_%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A_%D9%83%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86?src=hash>
("#مذكرات_هيلاري_كلينتون"
or "Hillary Clinton's Memoirs") to mock the fake excerpts by making up
their own, even sillier excerpts.
The rumors about the Islamic State and Clinton are a new variation on an
old theme: that the United States supports the interests of the Muslim
Brotherhood in the Middle East. That theory has unified supporters of
Egypt's post-coup government, Shiite Muslims suspicious of the reach of
Sunni groups such as the Brotherhood, and even America's right wing.
Clinton has been singled out in these theories for some time. In 2012, for
example, Rep. Michele Bachmann suggested that a close Clinton aide, Huma
Abedin, had infiltrated the U.S. government
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/michele-bachmann-huma-abedin-muslim_n_1680083.html>
for
the Muslim Brotherhood. Bachmann's comments led to a scathing editorial
from The Post
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michele-bachmanns-baseless-attack-on-huma-abedin/2012/07/19/gJQAFhkiwW_story.html>.
When Clinton visited Cairo not long after
<http://pallynews.com/lebanon-rapt-by-is-conspiracy-theory/>, she was
greeted by placards that said things such as "Clinton is the supreme guide
of the Muslim Brotherhood."
Sponsor-Generated Content How to stop an aircraft in its tracks
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/brand-connect/wp/enterprise/commercial-airline-carbon-braking-systems-enhance-military-aircraft/>
By United Technologies Commercial carbon brakes promise efficiency for
military aircraft. READ MORE
The Middle East is home to its fair share of conspiracy theories. To some
degree, it is understandable, of course. There are plenty of historical
examples of the West involved in secret dealings in the Middle East with
disastrous results, and it is certainly true that the United States has a long,
complicated history
<http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/feb/05/washingtons-secret-history-muslim-brotherhood/>
with
the Muslim Brotherhood. Besides, the sudden, terrible rise of the Islamic
State is difficult to comprehend for anyone, anywhere.
The reality of Clinton's view on the U.S. role in the rise of the Islamic
State is less conspiratorial but still damning. In an interview with the
Atlantic
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clinton-criticizes-president-obamas-foreign-policy-in-interview-with-the-atlantic/2014/08/11/46d30564-2170-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html>,
Clinton criticized President Obama for not arming Syrian rebels in the
early days of the rebellion against Bashar al-Assad's regime. She said this
decision "left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled.” Clinton
herself acknowledged that she can never know whether arming the rebels
would really have made a difference, and some, such as the Monkey Cage's
Marc Lynch
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/08/11/would-arming-syrias-rebels-have-stopped-the-islamic-state/>,
have argued that she is wrong. Perhaps it is a better representation of
recent U.S. policy toward the Middle East: hard choices, and plenty of
regrets.
*Laura J Alcorn*
*Let's Invite More
<http://americac2c.com/main/invitation/new?xg_source=msg_mes_network> to
our social network. *
*Send these post to your email groups and friends.*
*Like us on Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/AmericaConservative2Conservative> *
Visit America Conservative 2 Conservative at:
http://americac2c.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
To control which emails you receive on America Conservative 2
Conservative, click here
<http://americac2c.com/profiles/profile/emailSettings?xg_source=msg_mes_network>
--
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"PoliticalForum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
