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President Bush gestures as he speaks at a campaign event in
New York, Monday, Sept. 20, 2004.
(AP) | |
President Bush might have been able to say it was simply a slip of the
tongue when he confused two terrorists in a campaign speech Monday in New
Hampshire. Trouble is, he's made the same misstatement at least 10 times
before.
During remarks in Derry, N.H., Bush said the terrorist Abu Nidal killed
Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old Jewish American who died after being
tossed - along with his wheelchair - off a hijacked cruise liner named
Achille Lauro in 1985.
"Do you remember Abu Nidal?" Bush asked the crowd. "He's the guy that
killed Leon Klinghoffer. Leon Klinghoffer was murdered because of his
religion. Abu Nidal was in Baghdad, as was his organization."
He repeated the mistake Monday evening at a campaign event in New York
City: "Abu Nidal was a cold-blooded terrorist killer who killed Leon
Klinghoffer."
Actually, it was Abul Abbas, the leader of a violent Palestinian group,
who killed Klinghoffer.
The White House had no immediate comment on the mix-up.
Abbas, who was captured in Baghdad last year, was the mastermind of the
Achille Lauro hijacking. His faction of the Palestinian Liberation Front
operated out of Tunisia until the cruise ship attack, then relocated to
Iraq. U.S. officials say Abbas died of heart disease on March 10 while in
U.S. custody in Iraq.
Abu Nidal, a Palestinian renegade, died in Baghdad
in 2002. His terrorist organization had been blamed for scores of
atrocities, including the 1985 attacks on Rome and Vienna airports in
which 20 people were killed and the 1986 attack on a synagogue
in Istanbul in which 22 Jewish
worshippers were massacred.
Bush's mistake, overlooked for weeks, is buried in his stump speech - in the section where
he makes a case that Saddam Hussein had links to terrorist groups. Indeed,
Abu Nidal is believed to have had connections to the former Iraqi leader.
But he didn't kill Klinghoffer.
"Remember Abu Nidal?" Bush asked Aug. 28 in Lima, Ohio. "He's the guy
that killed Leon Klinghoffer because he was Jewish. He found safe haven in
Iraq. In other words, terrorist groups were in this guy's country."
"We knew Saddam Hussein's record of aggression and his support for
terror," he told another crowd Sept. 13 in Battle Creek, Mich. "Abu Nidal,
the guy who killed Leon Klinghoffer, he and his organization were in
Baghdad."
(Agencies) |
周一（9月20日），布什总统在新罕布什尔州发表竞选演讲时又一次混淆了两个恐怖分子的名字。他也许会辩解说这只是口误，但问题是此前他已经出现至少10次同样的口误。
在新罕布什尔州德里的演讲中，布什说1985年恐怖分子阿布·尼达尔杀害了69岁的美籍犹太人利昂·克林霍弗。（恐怖分子）把他绑在轮椅上，并把他从劫持的“阿奇里·劳罗”号大型游艇上扔入大海。
布什问在场的听众说：“你们还记得阿布·尼达尔吗？是他杀害了利昂·克林霍弗。利昂·克林霍弗因为他的宗教信仰被杀害了。阿布·尼达尔和他的组织都藏在巴格达。”
周一晚，在纽约举行的竞选运动中他又犯了同样的错误。他说：“阿布·尼达尔是谋杀利昂·克林霍弗的冷血恐怖分子。”
事实上，杀害克林霍弗的凶手是一个残暴的巴勒斯坦组织的头目——阿布·阿巴斯。
白宫并没有立即对名字混淆事件发表评论。
阿巴斯去年在巴格达被抓，他是劫持“阿奇里·劳罗”号大型游艇事件的策划者。劫船事件发生前，他的巴勒斯坦解放阵线组织一直在突尼斯境外活动，此后，他们撤回到伊拉克。美国官方称阿巴斯在伊拉克被美军监禁期间于3月10日死于心脏病。
阿布·尼达尔是巴勒斯坦叛徒，他于2002年在巴格达死去。他的恐怖组织因犯下累累罪行而臭名昭著。其中包括1985年袭击罗马和维也纳机场，导致20人丧生；1986年袭击伊斯坦布尔犹太教堂，使得22名做礼拜的犹太人丧生。
几周来，没有人注意到布什政治演说中的错误。在演讲中，他试图举例说明萨达姆·侯赛因和恐怖组织有联系。阿布·尼达尔确实和前伊拉克总统萨达姆·侯赛因有联系，但是他并没有杀害克林霍弗。
8月28日在俄亥俄州利马的演讲中，布什问道：“大家还记得阿布·尼达尔吗？是他杀害了利昂·克林霍弗，就因为他是犹太人。伊拉克是阿布·尼达尔的避难所。换句话说，萨达姆的国家窝藏恐怖主义集团。”
9月13日他在密歇根州的巴特尔克里克演讲时说过：“我们知道萨达姆·侯赛因有侵略的记录，他还支持恐怖主义。杀害利昂·克林霍弗的凶手阿布·尼达尔和他的组织都藏在巴格达。”
（中国日报网站译） |
Updated: 2004-09-22 10:40