Stolen valor for mujahadeen
Scott sends us a CNN article about famed anti-terrorist and former terrorist Walid Shoebat who has been making the speaking circuit condemning Islamic terrorism as a former participant since 2001;
It’s a message Shoebat is selling based on his own background as a Palestinian-American convert to conservative Christianity. Born in the West Bank, the son of an American mother, he says he was a Palestinian Liberation Organization terrorist in his youth who helped firebomb an Israeli bank in Bethlehem and spent time in an Israeli jail.
“I have never heard anything about Walid being a mujahedeen or a terrorist,” said Daood Shoebat, who says he is Walid Shoebat’s fourth cousin. “He claims this for his own personal reasons.”
CNN’s Jerusalem bureau went to great lengths trying to verify Shoebat’s story. The Tel Aviv headquarters of Bank Leumi had no record of a firebombing at its now-demolished Bethlehem branch. Israeli police had no record of the bombing, and the prison where Shoebat says he was held “for a few weeks” for inciting anti-Israel demonstrations says it has no record of him being incarcerated there either.
Shoebat says he was never charged because he was a U.S. citizen.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that the Israelis would have no problem locking up a troublemaker in spite of his citizenship. Of course, there’s one of two things at work here; either CNN is trying to discredit Shoebat because he’s been a powerful voice against jihadists over the past ten years, or Shoebat is an opportunist profiting from American fears.
Category: Media, Terror War
Or he wants a wild and crazy ggod time with zee American foxes!
He may be profiting from speaking, but he’s got a Little-Satan-sized death fatwa on his head. I vote for the discredit theory.
Wow. CNN knows how to verify claims of combat? Cuzzz. . . they never did that with John Kerry or Tom Harkin or Richard Blumenthal.
Good for them. I guess they think verification is important now. Wow.
I agree with FASTAC 6. CNN has only ever employed research and verification skills in service to its financial agenda.
CNN is a global corporation seeking to improve market share on par with Al Jazeera. Nailing Shoebat does that quiet nicely.
I’m kind of two minds on this. Either CNN is asking the wrong people (known to happen) the people involved might also be trying to lessen the damage to Palestinian causes by trying to discredit him even flat out lying(cuz really when have Jihadist ever done that), OR he really is making it all up, which is pretty ballsy considering what happened to the Dutch Cartoonist. Pissing off said people in such a way that you become a VERY clear target is NOT a good idea.
the man knows his Qor’an. He also has pretty good details about terrorist organizations.
John Do you have any details on when he had his “come to Jesus” moment and when he started speaking out about Jihad? If he really started Pre-9/11 then its less likely he’s making it up.
PJM is calling it a hatchet job:
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/07/20/cnn-v-walid-shoebat-and-vice-versa/
Watch the entire thing. They do a good job tearing the CNN report apart.
It looks like Shoebat’s site is also handling this:
http://www.shoebat.com/