Another Qaeda sympathizer whitewashed

American authorities continue to treat Muslim terrorists and terrorist sympathizers almost as obtusely as Holocaust deniers treat the Holocaust. Just as the deniers refuse to admit the existence of a Nazi operation to destroy the Jews of Europe absent a signed order by Hitler to that effect, U.S. police and media, it sometimes seems, will not report a perpetrator as a Muslim or as a terrorist, notwithstanding all indications to the contrary, unless he carries an official piece of paper saying “Member in good standing of Al Qaeda under orders to commit acts of terrorism against America.”

The latest chapter in this epic of denial concerns Charles Bishop, né Charles Bishara, the 15 year old boy who committed suicide last January by flying a small plane into the 28th floor a downtown Tampa office building. Not only did Bishara occasionally tell schoolmates that he was a Muslim, not only did he carry a two-page note in his pocket on the day of the crash expressing sympathy for Osama bin Laden and supporting the September 11 attacks on America, not only did he copy the attack on the World Trade Center, but now it appears that he flew the plane “just a few feet” over nearby MacDill Air Force Base control tower and then 75 to 100 feet over two loaded tanker planes on the flight line, before a helicopter pursued him and he proceeded to Tampa and his death. And that’s not all. MacDill Air Force Base happens to be the headquarters of U.S. Central Command, responsible for U.S. operations in the Mideast and the military’s nerve center for the war in Afghanistan.

Naturally, the official story remains that Bishara was a disturbed youngster, not that he was a disturbed youngster who supported Al Qaeda, who may have been a Muslim, and whose father (whereabouts unknown) is probably a Muslim.

Bishara, by the way, is also the middle name if Sirhan Sirhan.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 11, 2002 06:37 PM | Send