Dr. Ihsan Al-Tarabulsi, a Lebanese writer living in the U.S., published an article on the progressive Arabic website www.metransparent.com, blaming the Egyptian media and the Egyptian intellectual community for contributing to the ills of the Arab world. He accused them of supporting the dictatorial Arab regimes and of propagating extremist nationalist and religious attitudes, as well as terrorism. The following are excerpts from the article:

"The Egyptian media and the Egyptian intellectual community are among the primary causes of the alarming proliferation of the gnats, mosquitoes, and viruses of terrorism, which has placed the Arabs at the basest level and on the lowest rung of progress, civilization, and human treatment of various issues. Look at what kind of Fatwa s are issued by some sheikhs of Al-Azhar and other Egyptian sheikhs in the Gulf states and elsewhere, with regard to the terrorism now occurring in Palestine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and other countries. They sell these terrorists documents of indulgence and martyrdom. [They sell them] prime tickets to paradise and marriage and incessant intercourse with the virgin Houris, as though the brains of the Arabs are not in their heads, but in their genitals.

"Read what most of the Egyptian establishment journalists, such as Fahmi Huweidi, Samir Rajab, and others, write about the terrorist acts in Palestine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria. They announce to the Arabs an imminent victory, such as the victory of Yasser Arafat and before him of [Gamal] Abd-Al Nasser and Saddam Hussein and a whole host of Arab dictators. Look at what most of the Egyptian intellectuals say on Egyptian television and on Arab satellite TV channels, commenting on events in Iraq, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

"Have you heard the views of the Egyptian intellectuals about what happened in the catastrophe of September 11, 2001? The most prominent of them, [Muhammad Hassanein] Haykal, the one who taught them witchcraft, said that this was the work of the Serbs. Fahmi Huweidi, their learned jurist, said that this was the work of the Mossad. Mustafa Mahmoud, the most dim-witted among them, said that this was the work of the American Seventh-Day Adventists. And Mustafa Al-Faqih, the craziest among them, said that it was planned by the American CIA. And Anis Mansour, their buffoon, said that it was the work of genies and devils. This is the stupidity to top all stupidity, the buffoonery to top all buffoonery, the trickery to top all trickery, in the manner of Isma'il Yasin, Samir Ghanim, Sha'ban 'Abd Al-Rahim, Mustafa Al-Bakri, Sayyid Nassar, Tal'at Rumeih, and 'Isam Al-'Aryan and other buffoons of the infamous pan-Arab era."