Rita Boustani
Daily Star staff

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt believes the US Central Intelligence Agency and Israeli secret service bodies were behind last week’s deadly attacks in the US, and that Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden is an “American agent.”
“There are several questions regarding the people behind the attacks in America,” Jumblatt told a Saturday ceremony in the Chouf.
“I think (the attacks) were a coup carried out by the secret services. The CIA and the Mossad could be behind (the attacks) to provoke a new war and occupy the Middle East.
“Osama bin Laden is an invention of the American secret services, who chose to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan with US backing,” Jumblatt added.
“It is surprising that a great state, which has a military budget of $350 billion, wasn’t able to thwart these attacks … One should find out whether the American (secret) services are implicated in starting a merciless war between America and the racist West against the Arabs and the Muslims.”
Jumblatt also called for a moment of silence in memory of people killed during the attacks, as well as for “Arabs killed in Palestine, in south Lebanon, in Syria, Jordan and Iraq in the war against Israel,” he said.
Jumblatt’s ally, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, reiterated the government’s condemnation of the attacks, calling them “unacceptable … We have shown solidarity with the US regardless of its policies,” he told al-Sharq radio Saturday.
Aridi said both bin Laden and the Taleban regime in Afghanistan were a product of the US, and that Washington should clarify the definition of terrorism to avoid “plunging the world into chaos.”
He urged Americans not to wage an international campaign against a certain group of people “just because they are Arabs and Muslims.”
He also asserted that Lebanese resistance was not based on terrorism. “We have never occupied land or attacked anybody or committed crimes against humanity,” he said.
Other ministers spoke out against the US’ international role and possible reaction to Tuesday’s deadly attacks.
Energy and Water Minister Mohammed Abdel-Hamid Beydoun said the US had to punish those who killed innocent people, but only according to international law, not merely to let “Americans heal their wounds by causing the death of more innocent victims.
“Any act that doesn’t comply with international law is condemnable and is a terrorist response to terrorism,” Beydoun told a graduation ceremony in Sarafand.
Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh said Sept. 11 would be remembered as the start of a “re-balancing of power.” During a TV interview Saturday, Salameh said there had been a drastic change in America’s strategy now that it had become a victim.
“The call from the US for an alliance to restore its military prestige against one person means that we have … a real problem. The enemy is now a person working through international networks,” he said.
Social Affairs Minister Asaad Diab, speaking Sunday, said that, had the international charter of human rights been better applied by world leaders, the attacks would not have taken place.
For his part, Baalbek-Hermel MP Assem Qanso said the attacks were the result of past humiliations inflicted by the US, as well as its pro-Israeli bias.
“A day will come when the whole Palestinian people will stage operations against the US and Jews, due to much pressure on them,” Qanso.
Meanwhile, France’s Ambassador Philippe Lecourtier said all countries should cooperate to fight terrorism, though he stressed a need to first define it.
Asked if he considered Hizbullah a terrorist organization, Lecourtier responded: “Don’t try to make me fall in this trap.” ­ With agencies