Topic: WorldNetDaily
In recent days, WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein has been accusing the Obama administration of fomenting unrest in Egypt, with the presumed goal of helping the country's Muslim Brotherhood faction. But all of Klein's major claims rely on anonymous sources, and he has given his readers no reason why they should be trusted.
The claims and their anonymous sources:
Jan. 29: "The Egyptian government suspects elements of the current uprising there, particularly political aspects, are being coordinated with the U.S. State Department." Source: "A senior Egyptian diplomat." As we've noted, this same story also misleadingly portrays Mohamed ElBaradei as an "ally of the Muslim Brotherhood" by cropping a quote.
Feb. 1: "The Egyptian government has information a diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Cairo secretly met yesterday with a senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the nation's major Islamist opposition group." Source: "an Egyptian intelligence official."
It sounds like Klein is shilling for the Mubarak regime, doesn't it? Does Klein really despite Obama that much?
In another Feb. 1 article, Klein attempts to build a case that Obama andhis administration "have an extended history of reaching out to the organization representing the main opposition now in Egypt's unrest, quietly building ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and its worldwide allies." But that article is filled with spurious claims as well. Klein writes that "Muslim Brotherhood members reportedly were invited to attend President Obama's 2009 address to the Muslim world from Cairo." In fact, Obama did not invite them as Klein suggests; Fox News reported at the time that "officials said invitations were only sent out by Cairo University and Al-Azhar University."
Klein writes, "Also in 2009, the Egyptian daily newspaper Almasry Alyoum ran a report claiming Obama had met with U.S. and European-based representatives of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood that year." But that report is unsubstantiated; when Haaretz repeated the Egyptian paper's claim, it offered no evidence that the claim was investigated and verified.
Keep in mind that WND has a habit of treating any old claim in a foreign newspaper as true if it conforms to its agenda. Remember how desperately WND clung to the claim that Obama's trip to India cost $200 million a day well after the claim was discredited by every other news organization that cared about facts?
Klein also asserts that 'there have been multiple reports the past two years of behind-the-scenes contact with Hamas, which was founded as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood." Again, Klein names no actual person making the claim, only "Multiple top leaders of Hamas in Gaza." But if they're terrorists who hate America, why should anyone believe what they have to say? And why is Klein granting anonymity to terrorists in the first place?
Klein his a long history of granting anonymity to anyone who will hurl claims he think will hurt Obama -- even terrorists. Yet he's allowed to appear on Fox News channels to spout fearmongering claims about Egypt.
If Klein will protect a terrorist, what moral authority can he possibly cite for any reader to trust his reporting?
