Should we trust media reports? Since Tony Blair declared the recent London bombings to be the work of Muslims, the media have firmly kept the words Islam and Muslim in the articles they are writing. The 'serious' media carry reports about the Muslim community, their views on the bombing, whilst speculating on the possibility of suicide bombing. The links are not always directly made, nor accusatory, but nevertheless the association is made. The tabloid media, which has done its utmost to heighten public emotions, is altogether more frank in its association of the words Islam, Muslim and terror.
We have sadly become used to this, and even though 'blame before proof' has been flagged up to them many times in the past, we have come to accept the fact that Islam and Muslims cannot expect fair treatment from the media, even to the point that by any normal standard this kind of atmosphere could never really allow fair justice to occur if charges were made against a Muslim. But should we really pay any attention to the western media's portrayal of these events? If we scrutinise the evidence of the reporting of this case we can see that there are serious unanswered questions that the media has ignored. Furthermore if we dig deeper into the make up of the media we may see that their independence maybe seriously compromised. The Unanswered Question Amongst the questions the media has not asked is the site of the bombings. Most Muslims who live in London will have been shocked by the blame immediately attached to Muslims by these bombings, because of their location. Edgware Road has a very large local Arab Muslim community with halal restaurants and shisha cafes frequented mostly by Muslims. Aldgate East is a stones throw from Whitechapel a place with Londonâs largest Muslim population. Any person who travels to the City by the Underground will know that commuter trains that travel through Liverpool Street and Aldgate are full of Muslim workers to the City every morning. It hence remains bizarre that anyone should assume that bombs planted in areas that were heavily populated by Muslims, should have been planted by Muslims. All of this remains unanswered, along with the question of who benefits most from such bombings. An Independent media? I don't think so The print media and much of the satellite media are owned by corporate giants, whose financial prospects through investments clearly prosper from the exploitation of resources and markets in far off lands. Furthermore, media moguls like Rupert Murdoch [owner of the Times, the Sun, and Sky TV] or Conrad Black [former owner of the Telegraph] have openly Zionist political views that support the WOT. The BBC is the state broadcasting network of the UK. The language and styles they use maybe less blatant than the state networks in Russia or China, but in reality they tow the establishment line indeed they are an integral part of the establishment. An article in the Guardian in June 2000 [see link below] goes through detailed arguments of how journalists are manipulated and recruited by the intelligence services. False terror attacks and fabricated evidence? Some people may think it surprising, but it has been done before. Declassified State department documents show the USA once planned terrorist actions in Florida and near Cuba in order to blame it on the Cubans, in order to justify an invasion of Cuba. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf In 1954 the Israelis were caught bombing British and American interests in Cairo and attempting to blame the Muslim brotherhood. (David Hirst's book: The Gun and the Olive Branch, 1977, 1984, Futura Publications ). http://www.mideastweb.org/lavon.htm In the 1993 WTC bomb the FBI planted Emad A Salen to infiltrate an Arab group and actively incite violent attacks. There is a history of so called "Fake terror attack" used to justify war and oppressive actions. Indeed, we should even be sceptical of video tape and supposed website evidence. In 2004 Glen Jenvey (alias Pervez Khan) setup a false Islamic website to lure "Islamic Extremists", the evidence he obtained was apparently used to hold Abu Hamza. No one doubted the legitimacy of the website. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/16/eveningnews/main636344.shtml We should also not forget that in the age of Hollywood, where dinosaurs can come alive, light sabre fights occur, and hobbits march side by side with wizards. In our view a healthy scepticism of the media is a sign of a rational and open mind. *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
