We may be four years on but.... this is a fascinating observation from The Captain's Quarters about an largely overlooked article which appeared in the State-owned Iraqi newspaper Al-Nasiriyah two months prior to 9/11.

There's a killer point of course, which I'll come to, but almost as interesting is the way the writing treats the psychology of Iraqis. One really important realisation is how a state-owned (and controlled) newspaper could be so supportive of Osama Bin Laden, before his full post-9/11 Arab hero status:

'The phenomenon of Bin Ladin is a healthy phenomenon in the Arab spirit. It is a decision and a determination that the stolen Arab self has come to realize after it got bored with promises of its rulers: After it disgusted itself from their abomination and their corruption, the man had to carry the book of God and the Kalashnikov and write on some off white paper ``If you are unable to drive off the Marines from the Kaaba, I will do so.''

Talk about the 'stolen Arab self' reminds me of our own Orla 'Israel stole thirty-eight years from them; today, many were ready to take back anything they could' Guerin. But the pseudo-psychology reminds me of the typical western analysis of the self nonsense (link randomly plucked from a morass). One can't forget that Saddam drew for inspiration on the kind of mystical revolutionary Arabist socialism of Euro-educated Michel Aflaq.

One can't also emphasise enough that this article was carried in the Saddam-worshipping and brutally controlled press- yet sang the praises of Bin laden. It was a product of a newspaper in a Shia area, so I'd say we can assume its purpose was partly to intimidate, shackle and, if possible, indocrinate the local population with propaganda.

Given the recent declaration of war against the Shia by Al Qaeda, Iraq branch, this is more interesting still.

But the real crux of interest in the article is that it mentions all three of the targets on 9/11 in connection with Bin Laden. The last apparent reference may actually not be one, but it is certainly curious: 'the revolutionary Bin Ladin is insisting very convincingly that he will strike America on the arm that is already hurting. That the man will not be swayed by the plant leaves of Whitman nor by the ``Adventures of Indiana Jones'' and will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs.'. (boldenings mine)

It's so interesting- I'd like to read a better translation, but one can see that there is some clever name-dropping going on, and that someone like Bin Laden is quite philosophically consistent with the Baathist presses' mission. It's old stuff, true, but what strikes me is that on so many occasions in not being willing to believe we have an enemy that is widespread and charged with ideology and hatred towards us we've missed many things (like the clear Al Qaeda links to the London bombings, of which many are stupidly sceptical). It wouldn't surprise me if these really were references to 9/11, or that Al Qaeda reps were boasting in the coffee bars of Baghdad and elsewhere before, as well as after, the attack. (hat-tip to Mark Steyn- again)