December 12, 2009

CNN idiotically imagines: "Al Qaeda offers 'condolences' for innocent victims."

That is a CNN headline purporting to summarize an English-language apology that is phrased thusly:
"We express our condolences to the families of the Muslim men, women and children killed in these criminal acts and we ask Allah to have mercy on those killed and accept them as shohadaa (martyrs)...

"We also express the same in regard to the unintended Muslim victims of the mujahedeen's operations against the crusaders and their allies and puppets, and to the countless faceless and nameless Muslim victims of the murderous crusades..."
In the body of the article, outside of the quotes, CNN says things like:
Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American, appeared in a 17-minute video released on Islamist online forums late Friday, offering condolences to the families of innocent people killed in al Qaeda attacks....

It is a rare example of al Qaeda offering condolences to the families of those killed in the group's own attacks.
Is this willful misreading or crashing idiocy? Gadahn says "Muslim" and CNN turns it into "innocent." Read on and we see that these are not peaceful sentiments. This is a call specifically aimed at Muslims to side with al Qaeda. Gadahn says:
"Those who have made the foolish decision to stand with America and its allies in their losing war against Islam ... you have not only betrayed Islam and Muslims and left the fold of faith, but you have also caused the destabilization of nations and the displacement ... of thousands of weak and oppressed people," Gadahn said.

"The blood of countless Muslims is on your hands, and the security and very future of the countries you claim to defend and serve has been placed in jeopardy because your external enemies are taking advantage of your heedlessness as you fight and kill your fellow countrymen for American dollars."
Clearly, he does not regard the peace-loving citizens as innocent. He is explicitly saying they are guilty. They have betrayed the faith and the blood of countless Muslims is on their hands.

There isn't even an expression of "'condolences' for" the victims. It is "condolences to." To not for. If you went to the funeral of a murder victim, you'd express condolences to the family, and it would in no way suggest that you were taking responsibility for the death. The murderer could express condolences for what he did. And here, the people CNN portrays as "innocent" are the very people Gadahn is calling the murderers!

It is mind-boggling stupidity. At least the quotes are there to let readers see how embarrassingly stupid it is.

36 comments:

kentuckyliz said...

AQ apologizes for dead Muslims, Azzam the American apologizes for the dead innocent people.

Azzam is still too American...you're only supposed to apologize for dead Muslims!!!t

traditionalguy said...

The phrase that 'We are awash in lies" is shown so clearly in the CNN output since 2004. They will mis-state and mis-quote and lie about everything on their news shows and fear nothing. And some of the FOX News stars and the RINOs will dothe same thing, although they add some balance offsets to it.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

People project their own reasons for doing things onto others.

We can't imagine offering condolences only to members of one religion, so many of us automatically filter that out.

You see the same thing at work when people try to explain Al Qaeda's grievances in Western terms. There's no reason to do that- they are quite explicit in their many published writings and videos. There's a well developed ideology for their movement.

Yes, it's religiously motivated and bigoted. Yes, it's very, very antidemocratic. Yes, it's fine with murdering innocent people in the name of the Caliphate. I wish more people would engage what the enemy says it's doing, rather than what we think we'd be doing in their place.

It's like people don't want to see it, because then they'd have to oppose it.

Anonymous said...

CNN and its bastard child, Headline News?! Stupidity meets hubris, and if you fly anywhere you are exposed to it in every airport in such a terrible way that a two-hour flight delay will make you seriously consider suicide.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

On its own terms, I think this statement shows that Al Qaeda feels a need to justify itself for mass murdering so many Muslims. Public support in the Arab world has plummeted because they've stopped killing infidels and instead are killing the faithful.

We're hitting the enemy at a weak point by forcing them to violate their own ideology. They're supposed to be hitting the infidels, but their own methods are best used against civilians. So, they're in a bind. Since they don't seem capable of attacking Western targets very often, the only way out is more propaganda.

YoungHegelian said...

@John,

No, it's much worse than the left projecting their own feelings and concerns. Such misreadings are not mere accidents of either marxist or post-modern leftism.

It's all about false consciousness. You see, Group X, thinks that they're doing Y because of their own silly reasons. But the leftists know that Group X is a victim of false consciousness, and the leftists know the real sociological reasons for Group X.

That's why we need the vanguard of the proleteriat (i.e. them) to lead us to true consciousness.

WV: Moties, like emoticons, but more abbreviated

Unknown said...

I'd love to see the survivors and the victims' families descend on Atlanta and give these morons a collective smack.

Synova said...

This is the same thing that Wright and Hitchens were talking about isn't it? With apologies to Wright who undoubtedly holds a thoughtful view, it's a wrong and even evil view because it assumes that the people killing are not responsible for their own actions when they are acting with complete understanding *themselves* of what they are doing.

In Iraq they did not *accidentally* wait until American soldiers were surrounded by Muslim children to attack them. And then, without irony, they *themselves* say that those children would not have died if the Americans were not there.

Then someone like Wright explains that the violence would not have happened if the Americans were not there.

Here's a clue.

The enemy knows what they are doing.

They are not simple or child-like brown people who don't know better or who are being tossed, to and fro, by events that are beyond them.

They may or may not believe their own propaganda, but they do understand psychological warfare and engineer the massacre of children with the explicit knowledge and understanding of just *how* they can jerk *our* chains.

So... "We are sorry that there are dead Muslims, that we shot into a crowd of them, that we planted IED's, that we blew up that Mosque, that we were forced to go through your village and dispense justice and left the bodies in the street to be found."

And the thing is... America and the West has NOTHING to combat this with because we simply refuse to do so. We have no one who's job it is to broadcast our side of the story, to put the information out there over and over that by far the most Muslims killed are not killed by us but are killed by those we are fighting. And it's the truth! It's the truth, so why doesn't our media push it voluntarily? Why don't they make certain that every person knows the atrocities committed by Muslims on other Muslims. Why don't they?

When we have found and documented rooms with shackles and blood on the walls...

The response to a dead and *gutted* woman in Iraq who had spent her life working to help people there was an insipid "oh, dear" followed by... "but they made a prisoner at Gitmo look at pornography."

The response to butchered and defiled Americans was "screw them". The response to defiled, dismembered and tortured to *death* American soldiers was "OMGAWD we poured water on someone's FACE!"

Someone is enabling this sort of thing, abetting, and participating.

And AQ is *sorry* that Muslims asked for it, oh well... lets blow up more Muslim kids and blame it on America.

Unknown said...

Synova said...

This is the same thing that Wright and Hitchens were talking about isn't it? With apologies to Wright who undoubtedly holds a thoughtful view, it's a wrong and even evil view because it assumes that the people killing are not responsible for their own actions when they are acting with complete understanding *themselves* of what they are doing.

Precisely, these people knew exactly what they were doing.

When they were slaughtering people by the dozen in Iraq with their suicide bombs and IEDs, they said the victims' families should be proud, that they had become martyrs.

Needless to say, that's why AQ got very unpopular in the Moslem world.

Ralph L said...

Why was the video in English?

The headline isn't idiotic--if it were written by a jihadi.

Cedarford said...

In war there is no such thing as "an innocent civilian". Just because a soldier stepping up to serve his people or a cause does not become guilty of anything, nor his life of less value than a "precious civilian". Indeed, in terms of empirical value to society, a skilled brave soldier who is addressing a security to society situation is like a fertile woman or a very skilled doctor - worth far more than an old guy, a retard, a kid...or a 4F sort of guy unfit to face the enemy.

What you actually have are just combatants and non-combatants, with rules sometimes abided..mainly by more civilized nations...that say combatants and certain civilians may be legitimately killed, but the rest of the civilians (which may be fully culpable as enemy supporters and direct contributers to the AQ, Soviet, etc...war machine) must be avoided, if possible.

What AQ does is go out of it's way to kill and terrorize non-combatants. Which exposes them to backlash. At the same time, they and the progressive Jews and other Western liberals are masters at smearing the armed forces in the West for ANY loss of non-combatant life or any transgression of 'the rules".

CNN and other Western media were so swept up in Bush hatred that they adapted a template, as Synova said, of deliberately obscuring Islamoid atrocities while hyperinflating very mild American misconduct into Aushwitz comparisons....all to show that Chimpy McHitlerburton guy a thing or two.
They also recaptured the maddening "moral equivalency" argument concocted by French Jewish-Left intelligensia back in the Algerian War, put in mainstream in the Left in the 60s, and put it back into daily use. YES, AQ went into a village and cut off the noses of 7 men who did not have beards, BUT...Americans are equally bad because they went into the same village at night on a raid once and bustled Muslim women out of their homes as they seized the men's IED materials and AK-47s without any consideration for letting the women cover their hair - an atrocity marally equivalent to AQ's multilations!! Shame on the Americans, they should apologize to the women victtim's families and the soldiers involved be investigated and prosecuted!!!

TMink said...

"It is mind-boggling stupidity."

Not stupidity, just an example of how hatred for America colors people's thoughts and feelings.

Not stupidity, just true colors.

Trey

AllenS said...

Brilliant public relations move. You don't see beheadings on the internet anymore, do you? Muslims are becoming more aware of their image. Cool, real, real cool.

Anonymous said...

Is this willful misreading or crashing idiocy?

Can't it be both? It is a deliberate formulation and it is fucking blindingly stupid.

You see, to CNN, Muslims are the only victims. Any Muslims killed by al Queda are merely an accidental side effect of gravity when our sky scrapers come tumbling down.

But make no mistake about it, to CNN, we deserve it.

I will no longer mourn for CNN journalists killed by terrorists nor express my outrage when it occurs.

Fuck them. They're on the other side. Enemies.

Ironclad said...

Let's be even clearer about what is being said here - the condolences are for the Muslims only - and that does NOT include and kaffirs (read non-muslims) and especially those who practice "shirk" in their view (read as Shia, Amadhi, or any sufficient non-pious individuals). Those that are killed are in fact lucky - because they died in an act of jihad - so they automatically become shaheed (martyrs) and go to heaven. That is the reasoning of these people - and that is how they justify their acts of mass murder.

I am waiting for CNN to explain THAT concept on the evening news sometime soon - I am sure that hell will freeze over before that happens too.

Again - until someone can stand up and explain this with "Nuance" to the American people - that this is the mindset we are trying to suppress, we are wasting out times. And then while they are at it - perhaps they can explain clearly WHY these people get such ideas (quoting verse and text) - I am sure that when that happens, all these problems will end.

It surely must be easy - why, one hears that line all the time from the usual suspects that these people just misunderstand things. Except they never quite work out how to make them misunderstand, and they never will.

The Drill SGT said...

Ironclad said...
Let's be even clearer about what is being said here - the condolences are for the Muslims only - and that does NOT include and kaffirs (read non-muslims) and especially those who practice "shirk" in their view (read as Shia, Amadhi, or any sufficient non-pious individuals).


The short version:

CNN is not on our side. They are "journalists"

Journalists First, Americans Second

Synova said...

Even so, Drill SGT.

Why not tell the truth?

Someone can be a "journalist first and American second" and still tell the truth.

DADvocate said...

willful misreading or crashing idiocy

Their liberals minds can't accept reality, thus reality is twisted and tortured to meet their desired perception.

paul a'barge said...

CNN.

Welcome to blowmetown

Anonymous said...

Executives at CNN should be arrested and investigated as to how they came to be in possession of this information.

CNN has rights of a free press, but they stop at becoming the propaganda arm of a terrorist organization.

I want Republicans to commit to launching a Congressional investigation (once they take over the Congress in 2010) against CNN for providing material support to al Queda, a terrorist organization.

CNN is acting as their spokestaff ... making their airwaves available for al Queda to communicate possibly coded message.

CNN should have their FCC broadcast licenses put under review. It's time to quit pussyfooting around with these co-conspirators and put some fuckers in the dock and under oath to answer for their crimes.

lucid said...

They don't mean to be bad. They are just a little dim-witted. Remember, they thought it was necessary to fact-check a Jon Stewart riff just because it criticized Prez Bambi.

Jason (the commenter) said...

It's nice to know that someone still watches CNN and cares enough about what they broadcast to blog about it. There's still hope for them, but for how long?

Maybe they're just going through the motions now, and there's nothing that's going to snap them out of it.

KCFleming said...

Gosh, CNN a fifth column?

I'm flabbergasted.
I mean, whoda thunk?

The leftist media actively colluding with Al Qaeda?
Zounds.
This is all just too hard to grasp!

KCFleming said...

Next you'll be telling me that scientists all across the world have been faking climate data and conspiring to keep out contrary voices, or that our government would be taking over 15% of the economy and taking over every little bit of our lives under the guise of 'social justice'.

Say it ain't so!

Unknown said...

CNN and MSNBC and Editor and Publisher have all chosen to market their product to the anti-American hard left. It turns out that is a smaller population than they thought it was.

Tough titty.

Wince said...

CNN owes a courtsey flush after that story.

Leon said...

Some have called CNN the Communist News Network. I prefer the Clueless News Network after this.

Unknown said...

CNN was founded by a criminal drunk and sustains itself by crimes against human intelligence...

AST said...

My mind has long since stopped being boggled by this kind of idiocy in the news media. I'm surprised CNN still reports anything about Al Qaeda.

vbspurs said...

Al Qaeda? Never heard of them.

Anonymous said...

True colours, shinin' thru
True colours, that you so crazy.

WTH really? I wonder if it really gives comfort to Al Qaeda that the useful idiots are this magesterially brainless. I'm pretty comfortable with the analysis that there's a strong but still subtle bias in the classic media milieu. One that can easily and often is confused with sensationalism or plain dumbness.

But this is long past that - I can't even begin to attempt an analysis of it. The most sensible thing that comes to mind is CNN is so crazy like a fox that they are fooling AQ into thinking this PR works on anyone. Like the kid in Newsies saying Jack isn't betraying the strike, "he's fooling 'em"

Because without that betrayal is all that's left. Either that or such a frightening level of stupid and wishful thinking that I cannot come to terms with it.

veni vidi vici said...

Listen all,

I just don't see the big deal here. After all, we're only talking about man-made disasters consequent to some remote overseas contingency operation. Now, go back to sleep!

RebeccaH said...

Hey, it's CNN. What did you expect?

Franco said...

CNN actually has a much better newsgathering infrastructure than most (all?) networks, and it is not as if they don't spend lots of time on popular gossip stories, so what are they doing wrong?

CNN thinks they know things that they actually don't, and too many people can see that.

Ilíon said...

Well, you know, when Moslem *say* 'innocent' they always mean only Moslems (and only Moslems with practices of which they themselves approve). In their view, you and I can never be called 'innocent,' since we are 'infidels.'

submandave said...

It's actually worse than what the Prof says. I haven't seen anyone else comment on it, but the condolences were not for the innocent, not even for the Muslims, but for the "unintended Muslim victims." In other words, they acknowledge that there were intended Muslim victims, and for them they have no regrets at all.

Truly the evil and disgusting filth of humanity.