Lebanese Member of Parliament Walid Jumblatt Interview: Al-Qa'ida and bin Laden are Tools of U.S. Intelligence Agencies

On November, 19, 2003, it was reported that the U.S. State Department cancelled the diplomatic visa of Lebanese Druze leader and Parliamentarian Walid Jumblatt, following revelations that Jumblatt had expressed regret that U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz was not killed in a missile attack on the Al-Rashid Hotel when he visited Baghdad. [1] Jumblatt, who has been known to make statements such as "we are all happy when an American soldier is killed," [2] and "the fall of one Jew, whether soldier or civilian, is a great accomplishment," [3] recently gave an interview to Al-Arabiyya TV. The following are excerpts from the interview: [4]

Walid Jumblatt: "Until now, the consequence of Mr. Bush's and Blair's historic lie that the reason for invading Iraq was weapons of mass destruction, is that everything is being doubted.

"Who invented Osama bin Laden?! The Americans, the CIA invented him so they could fight the Soviets in Afghanistan together with some of the Arab regimes. I am of the opinion that somewhere, someplace, there is an intelligence agency profiting from Al-Qa'ida and Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden is like a ghost, popping up when needed. This is my opinion."

Question: "Even 9/11?"

Jumblatt: "Even 9/11. Since there are many circumstances… Why didn't the sirens go off when the four hijacked planes took off? This happened only after an hour and a half or an hour and twenty minutes. That is peculiar. The largest country in the world, with the largest intelligence budget of $70-80 billion for various agencies, could only put out a warning after an hour and twenty minutes?! A peculiar story.

"The U.S. always needs an enemy. It comes and goes. Today it is Islam. According to this plan or ideology of the born-again Christians who formed an alliance with Zionism - Islam is the monster, Islam is the target.

"[The blast] in Madrid is suspicious. I condemn what happened in Madrid, but it is suspicious… If tomorrow there will be another bombing, in France for example, who will gain power? Of course not Jacques Chirac, but Le Pen. There is a racist attack against Muslims, and Arabs, Algerians, Moroccans, and Tunisians in France. This is why there is something suspicious in the Madrid bombing."

Question: "Your message to the youth tonight, is to die a martyr's death."

Jumblatt: "Do you have another option?"

Question: "That they live."

Jumblatt: "There is no other option. That they live?! No one can live under degradation. It is difficult. No one can live in any situation and accept any situation. No."