I recently came across the web site for The Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI). Their About Page says in part
- The Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization. MEMRI was established in February 1998 to study and analyze intellectual developments and politics in the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict, with a particular emphasis on its Israeli-Palestinian dimension . . . MEMRI relies on primary source material that it translates from the original Arabic and Hebrew.
I really can't find much else out about them. Much of what the publish are just translations of Arabic and Israeli news articles. One of their most recent dispatches quoted the "Editor of Leading Egyptian Government Daily Al-Ahram" as writing:
- America's Humanitarian Aid May be a Crime Against Humanity
"The U.S. tries to prove in every way possible that its military campaign is not directed at the Afghani people, but at the Taliban movement and the Al-Qaida organization. It has tried to express this in ways considered exceptional in the history of warfare. American planes drop humanitarian aid from the air on Afghani soil, as aid for the starving Afghani people, while American fighter planes, bombs, and missiles crush other regions in Afghanistan. This method poses serious risk . . . for the Afghan people, because [it] is dropped in areas full of landmines, which cause damage to the Afghani citizens trying to gather it up."
"Similarly, there were several reports that the humanitarian materials have been genetically treated, with the aim of affecting the health of the Afghani people. If this is true, the U.S. is committing a crime against humanity by giving the Afghani people hazardous humanitarian products, as it was said in those reports..."
I know that we've had some differences with Egypt over the approach we should take in Afghanistan. Criticizing us for dropping food seems a little weak to me though. I think you'll be seeing more links to MEMRI in the future.