Finally there is good news on the jobs front for the Obama
administration. Al Jazeera, or “Terrorism TV,” as it used to be
known for celebrating the three thousand Americans killed on 9/11
and other exploits by Osama bin Laden,
announced plans to create some 200 jobs in the United States
over the next six months — in its headquarters at the UN in New
York, in Washington, D.C., and in bureaus in Detroit, New Orleans,
San Francisco, and other cities.
“Imagine six or seven years ago, trying to find real estate for
Al Jazeera in Washington,” gushed Rob Wheelock, the former ABC
executive who is in charge of establishing Al Jazeera in the United
States. “We’re going to have signage just like CBS, ABC, CNN, CBN,
just like everyone else. We’re psyched.”
Perhaps the signage will include skull-and-crossbones, or some
other fitting image of human slaughter.
Yes, as Mr. Wheelock said, it is hard to believe the cable
network enterprise that did so many fawning interviews with the
late terrorist leader — and others chanting “Death to America” —
would have stood any chance of putting up its own news rooms in New
York, Washington, D.C., or any other American city during the
George W. Bush administration.
And that is another sign of how far our nation has regressed
over the past four years.
Even now, with the beginning of the second Obama term, Sheik
Hamad bin khalifa Al Thani, the ruler of Qatar, must be rubbing his
goatee in disbelief at how easy it is to open a large propaganda
network in the United States of America (which, at the outset, will
include seven “investigative reporters” in the D.C. office for the
presumed purpose of vilifying legislators who oppose Islamic
extremism or support Israel).
He spent $500 million to acquire the money-losing and low-rated
Current TV — owned by Al Gore and friends — which is still a
great catch because it has the potential to reach 41 million homes
in the U.S. on cable channels.
Half a billion dollars may sound like a lot of money, but it was
no more than a scrap from the oil sheik’s table. Still, it was more
than enough to compensate Gore for abandoning his green friends and
his green principles — in striking a deal with one of the princes
of Big Oil. His portion of the proceeds was one-fifth, or $100
million. Pobre hombre, even though he tried his hardest,
he didn’t act
fast enough to protect his share of the loot from the higher
U.S. taxes that took effect at the beginning of 2013.
Still, Al Gore is doing a great job of following in his daddy’s
footsteps to greener pastures in the purely monetary sense. After
losing his Senate seat from Tennessee in 1970, Albert Gore Sr. used
his political connections to help oil baron Armand Hammer, the head
of Occidental Petroleum, which struck it rich in Libya with the
help of visas that the elder Gore helped to procure when he was a
U.S. senator.
Al Jazeera has two faces. There is the Doha-based broadcast
center that has ceaselessly celebrated Islamic extremists (and is
also home to Al Jazeera English); and there is newly established Al
Jazeera America. Now we are supposed to believe that the face which
has always been contorted in the most violent rage is false (or at
least receding), while other represents the transition to a
peaceful and democratic future.
To believe that, you have to believe that the lion will lie down
in peace with the lamb. That is to say, you have to believe that
all it will take to quell the Islamist extremists who hate
westernization in all its forms — most especially, the
emancipation of women and open acceptance of homosexuality, but
also including an in-built hatred of democracy and representative
government — will be to break bread on a regular basis with
politically correct progressives, who share their distaste for free
markets and limited government, but nothing else beyond that.
And Obama is clearly one of those believers in the lion lying
down with the lamb.
Said Obama to a group of political donors: “He [the Emir] is a
big promoter of democracy all through the Middle East. Reform,
reform, reform — you’re seeing it on Al Jazeera.”
Unfortunately, that is false, false, false.
In fact, on Obama’s watch, Egypt, the largest and long one of
the most westernized and open countries in the Arab Middle East,
has fallen under hard-fisted and increasingly intolerant Islamist
rule — and other countries are following.
While the Qatari Emir is rich beyond belief — and able to host
major tennis and golf events — he is also using his money to
foment unrest around the region — contributing to Hamas,
Hezbollah, and others who regard America as the “Great Satan.”
Illustration: Chip Bok for The American Spectator.
