Sen. Murray Praises bin Laden's Good Deeds

Newsmax.com

12/20/02

Vancouver, WA - Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is under fire today for praising terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, leader of the 9/11 attacks that killed thousands of Americans.

"We’ve got to ask, why is this man [bin Laden] so popular around the world?" Murray said to pupils Wednesday at a government high school in Vancouver, Wash. "Why are people so supportive of him in many countries ... that are riddled with poverty?

"He’s been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven't done that.

"How would they look at us today if we had been there helping them with some of that rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan?" Murray said, according to The Columbian, the daily newspaper in Vancouver.

Blame America First for Not Being a 'Better Neighbor'

The Associated Press today quoted Murray as telling the students: "War is expensive, too. Your generation ought to be thinking about whether we should be better neighbors out in other countries so that they have a different vision of us."

Most mainstream media have largely downplayed or even ignored Murray's remarks.

Until the ever-dependable Sean Hannity brought up the issue tonight, even Fox News Channel barely mentioned Murray. Like the other media, it was too busy in the feeding frenzy over Trent Lott, toppled for his far less offensive comments.

'Outrageous and Despicable'

Chris Vance, chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, said Murray’s comments were not only offensive but untrue.

"It is absolutely outrageous and despicable to imply that the American government should learn a lesson from the madman who murdered thousands of American citizens," said Vance. "I know Senator Murray has a habit of sticking her foot in her mouth, but this goes way beyond a simple gaffe.

"Patty Murray sent the message to these students that the United States somehow deserved or brought on the September 11 terrorist attacks. I think all decent people can agree that we most certainly did not, that this was an unprovoked attack of terrorism.

"And where on earth does Senator Murray get the idea that Osama bin Laden built roads, schools and day cares? He ran terrorist camps in Afghanistan that trained the killers who carried out the 9/11 monstrosities. It is the American government and the American people who lead the world in helping people of impoverished countries, not murderers like bin Laden.

"If Patty Murray really believes what she said, she should think twice about running for re-election. It’s one thing for her to be wary of engaging in war, but to say these kinds of outrageous and untrue things is just beyond the pale."

Osama's Gift of Hatred

Michael Swetnam, chairman of something called Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Arlington, Va., told the Associated Press:

"Mostly he did underwrite - and so did many Arab charities - several fundamentalist Muslim schools throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan that teach a very, very fundamentalist, right-wing version of Islam that preaches hatred for the West," Swetnam said.

Hatred for the West? That sounds like the P.C. left wing, not right wing.

Bin Laden’s version of Islam tells Muslims that "people in the West are trying to attack your religion, oppress you, and the only way to fight that is to rise up against the United States and its crusader buddies, Israel and Europe," Swetnam said.