Campus Watch in the Media

Prof Rallies to Osama's Defense [on Natana DeLong Bas]

by Candace de Russy
Phi Beta Cons (NRO)
January 4, 2007

http://phibetacons.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzI2ZTg3ZTVhMWVjMmNlYmVlY2EwNmZjYTY3MzNkYmY=

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/3015

The Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, D.C., has been promoting the work of Natana DeLong-Bas, a professor at Brandeis University, according to Steven Stalinsky of the Middle East Media Research Institute (in the context of an overview of the conspiracy theories abounding in the Arab media).

The London daily Asharq Al-Awsat recently interviewed DeLong-Bas while she was vacationing in Saudi Arabia. She claims that there is no evidence connecting Bin Laden with 9/11, and that Saudi Wahhabism is not a radical form of Islam. Campus Watch features this disturbing interview, including the following excerpt:

Q: "What about Osama bin Laden — do you think that he was behind 9/11?"

DeLong-Bas: "I think that the Western media and the world have given Osama bin Laden more weight [than he has in reality] and exaggerated in depicting the danger he poses. Likewise, I do not find any evidence that would make me agree that Osama bin Laden was behind the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. All we heard from him was praise and acclaim for those who carried out the operation."

Like a '60s Maoist groupie waving the Little Red Book, DeLong-Bas spouts the party line of the Wahhabis she so clumsily defends. One can't help asking: is her culpability in aiding and abetting the enemies of the West a case of invincible ignorance or one-sided, Saudi-rewarded proselytism?

(Tip: Winfield Myers)

Note: Postings in "Campus Watch in the Media" do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch.

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