Law enforcement was actively pursuing a theory that Mohamed Atta, pilot of the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center, was a homosexual.
November 9, 2001 11:22 AM   Subscribe

Law enforcement was actively pursuing a theory that Mohamed Atta, pilot of the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center, was a homosexual.
<?php insert($tongue, $cheek); ?> wherever you have jets impacting skyscrapers, a homosexual is sure to be nearby.
posted by quonsar (37 comments total)
 
"As rumors persist that the hijacking ringleader was gay, the question that should really be asked is ‘who cares?’"

Exactly.

But I guess msnbc thinks enough people will care and score msnbc some page-views off the story.
posted by msacheson at 11:30 AM on November 9, 2001 [1 favorite]


I think it’s pretty obvious why this story is significant. It plays squarely into the belief held by American Christian Fundamentalist that Homosexuals are out to destroy the world.
posted by wfrgms at 11:32 AM on November 9, 2001


Why is that even significant?
Is that why he was a terrorist? Is that why he murdered all those people? I guess I don't get it.
posted by Hugh2d2 at 11:32 AM on November 9, 2001


Will the FBI be looking into the secret love between Osama and Bert next?
posted by MrBaliHai at 11:35 AM on November 9, 2001


Your headline is misleading. It should begin "There was a rumor that law enforcement was actively..." The article neither confirms nor denies the activities of law enforcement.
posted by turaho at 11:36 AM on November 9, 2001


Now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing too many women hangin' with Bin Laden in his cave... hmmm
posted by cell divide at 11:37 AM on November 9, 2001


Your headline is misleading.
good thing this isn't an unbiased news source like slashdot, eh?
posted by quonsar at 11:38 AM on November 9, 2001


that article was gay.
posted by Satapher at 11:38 AM on November 9, 2001


1. If he turns out to have been gay, there goes the promised Paradise. Muslims not supposed to have butt boys as lovers.
2. If he is gay, the FBI will smirk and say it reminds them of J. Edgar, except this guy did not cross dress.
Now if they can show that Bin Laden practisews bestiality....
posted by Postroad at 11:51 AM on November 9, 2001


70 Veiled Virgins Express Increasing Annoyance With Atta's Two Month Long "Headache".
posted by Optamystic at 11:51 AM on November 9, 2001


wherever you have jets impacting skyscrapers, a homosexual is sure to be nearby.

Are you saying, quonsar, that if he had been a lesbian, he would have flown the plane into the Lincoln or Holland Tunnels?
posted by LeLiLo at 11:53 AM on November 9, 2001


Homophobia is gay.
posted by SweetJesus at 11:54 AM on November 9, 2001


Are you saying, quonsar, that if he had been a lesbian, he would have flown the plane into the Lincoln or Holland Tunnels?
ROFLMAOASTC!
best. comment. ever.
posted by quonsar at 11:57 AM on November 9, 2001


1. If he turns out to have been gay, there goes the promised Paradise. Muslims not supposed to have butt boys as lovers.

Yeah. It'd be interesting if our government was spreading this idea in order to damage the terrorists' Muslim bona fides. Not that I credit them with that much sophistication...
posted by lbergstr at 11:57 AM on November 9, 2001


It plays squarely into the belief held by American Christian Fundamentalist that Homosexuals are out to destroy the world.

No, more likely it is good propaganda to feed to Muslim Fundamentalists and moderates to discredit the terror causes.
posted by scottfree at 12:03 PM on November 9, 2001


PLEASE: If you're posting something related to the Current Situation, try and make sure it is new information? And if so, is the URL you are linking to contain new information with plenty of evidence to back it up? Almost every possible point has been discussed thus far, so please, show some restraint on the Current Situation stuff.

It's not new: London Times October 3 and MSNBC October 31. Even MSNBC's story asks: "As rumors persist that the hijacking ringleader was gay, the question that should really be asked is ‘who cares?’" Your adding "insert tongue in cheek" doesn't make this post any less insulting to gays MeFiers.
posted by Carol Anne at 12:07 PM on November 9, 2001


So what if all the terrorists were gay? What if al-Qaeda was a secret homosexual Wahhabi splinter group? Guess people will have to figure gays come in all stripes. Just like... people. Or they can say, I knew I hated those rotten gays for a reason!

Signorile has gay journalist tunnel vision. Sexuality and identity are the least of my concerns while we're at war--unless in this violent time gay-bashing is becoming more frequent or something.

And isn't it all a little foolish? The army guys called someone a fag! Nuh uh! That really is some earth-shattering news. I know I'm shocked.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 12:12 PM on November 9, 2001


I could give a rat's who somebody sleeps with, but I find it curious that folks who have been on a crusade to out historical figures who they say were closeted homosexuals all of sudden claim disinterest when the suspect is evil and unpopular.
posted by nobody_knose at 12:13 PM on November 9, 2001


It's not new: London Times October 3 and MSNBC October 31.

A. It hasn't been on MeFi before.
B. 10 days does not an old article make.


Your adding "insert tongue in cheek" doesn't make this post any less insulting to gays MeFiers.

Um...yes it does. We're all big boys and girls here, Carol Anne. I think we can all understand a little sarcasm. Even those among us who are gay.


the question that should really be asked is ‘who cares?'

Obviously the point of the post is not the question of Atta's sexual preference. The real question is whether the US is launching a PR campaign to discredit Al Qaeda in the minds of its supporters. Or did that escape you?
posted by jpoulos at 12:23 PM on November 9, 2001


Your adding "insert tongue in cheek" doesn't make this post any less insulting to gays MeFiers
i suspect CarolAnne='insulted just waiting to happen'
posted by quonsar at 12:24 PM on November 9, 2001


I can't wait to watch the 700 Club tonight.
posted by octavius at 12:26 PM on November 9, 2001


but I find it curious that folks who have been on a crusade to out historical figures ...

I find it curious that you manage to lump people all together like that, you right-wing, abortion-clinic-bombing, militia member.
posted by jpoulos at 12:26 PM on November 9, 2001


Carol Anne, this gay MeFier saw the humor and wasn't in the least insulted by the post.
posted by mw at 12:27 PM on November 9, 2001


I see this, and I can't help but instantly connect it to The Sexual Rage Behind Islamic Terror, a curious article published in the right-wing Front Page magazine, and subsequently passed around in related circles, but not far beyond.

The argument in that article is that Muslim men spend too much of their lives separated from women, for obvious religious reasons; which leads to situational homosexuality being rampant, up to and including sodomy quasi-rape of young men and even of slim, effeminate grown men. The end result of all this -- which is for all purposes analogous to situations that in the West would be classed as rape -- is a repressed PTSD that in some cases expresses itself as violent rage.

Now, there are all kinds of problems with this article, not the least of which its reliance on nudge-nudge sourcing rather than any kind of objective research. I found it most interesting for the single reason that a right-wing magazine was using the "but he was a victim" explanation-justification which they so despise when used by the left (then again, the writer is a "former leftist"). But there were some interesting insights to be had. How common is homosexual behavior among Islamic, or at least Arab, men -- especially those who spend much time isolated from women, situations we know in the West can lead to pragmatic, um, solutions. Do Taliban madrasses and al-Qaeda cells or training camps also foster this kind of behavior? Do Muslim men so raped have greater anger and shame for religious or cultural reasons?

Perhaps there's a grain of truth to this. And why would it be surprising that 1 of 19 hijackers were gay? Shouldn't it be 1.9 hijackers? {sly wink}

I also instantly connected this with Pincus's work on what makes people become violent criminals. It turns out that three elements are almost always present: mental illness, retardation, or sexual abuse. Generally two, sometimes all three. Pincus doesn't argue that any one of these alone turns people into murderers, but that their conjunction can (and he argues, like a good liberal, that this we can thus lower the crime rate by lowering the number of people subject to these problems).

Anyway, even if Atta were gay, what of it? Some criminals are gay; some gays are criminals. I hope when that happens we can talk about it.
posted by dhartung at 12:48 PM on November 9, 2001


? I guess I don't get it

Right. He probably didn't like cats or dry martinis either. So??!! I don't have any stats at hand but I'd guess gays and lesbians probably commit a lot less crimes than straights. J.Edgar Hoover lurking again, or what?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:51 PM on November 9, 2001


It's not a big deal (although tied in with the strip club visit, these guys are as devout Muslim as Ron Jeremy), but couldn't you say the same for the guy who attacked the terrorists on the Pennsylavnia flight? His sexuality seemed to have been made an issue with some.
posted by owillis at 1:15 PM on November 9, 2001


Ron Jeremy...devout Muslim..must find...appropriate follow-up wisecrack...circuits overloaded...damndamndamndamn...

**collapses in frustration and rage**
posted by BT at 1:31 PM on November 9, 2001


so who going to bear the brunt the "misguided hate crimes" that Sikhs are experiencing now? does jesse jackson still use the term 'rainbow coalition'?
posted by danOstuporStar at 1:35 PM on November 9, 2001


jpoulos: Who did I "lump together," stress queen?

The group of folks I referred to was clear - people who promote the "outing" of folks who are long dead. They know who they are, they've been chattering on about closeted gays in history for quite a while now.

I'm sorry you're having such a bad day, but I didn't call anybody any names or make any silly accusations about bombs, so what are you so worked up about?
posted by nobody_knose at 1:41 PM on November 9, 2001


"Stress queen". I kinda like that.

You're lumping together people who want to "out" famous goodguys and those who "claim disinterest when the suspect is evil and unpopular." Who says they're the same people?

I'm not at all worked up. I was trying to demonstrate my point by hyperbolic example--which maybe wasn't clear. It would be ludicrous of me to assume that, just because you're right of center, you bomb clinics. It is equally wrong to assume that people who have no interest in Ata's sexuality are the same ones who take great interest in Alexander the Great's.

No offense intended. It was a (poorly executed) attempt at absurdity.
posted by jpoulos at 2:30 PM on November 9, 2001


jpoulos: fair enough -- I may have been jumping to conclusions. I still don't really expect gay media to really be trumpeting the rumor that Ata was homosexual the way they do with others.
posted by nobody_knose at 2:46 PM on November 9, 2001


ron jeremy does get on his knees facing 'mecca' at least five times a day.
posted by danOstuporStar at 2:53 PM on November 9, 2001


My little theory, posted and promptly yanked some weeks ago rears itself again! I feel somewhat vindicated, though I did take it on the chin during the thread's short thirty minute lifespan.
posted by crasspastor at 3:02 PM on November 9, 2001


crasspastor, thank you! I knew I'd seen this on MeFi before.
posted by Carol Anne at 3:38 PM on November 9, 2001


When I was in Paris this past summer, I was eating dinner, and there was a table with several people of differing nationalities, including a Saudi Arabian woman (sic? Are they Saudi Arabians or Saudis?). And I overheard her saying that there was rampant homosexuality in Saudi Arabia because of the complete isolation men had from women. And she was pissed about it. I mean, livid, to the point where I didn't have to try to eavesdrop because she was broadcasting this fact to the entire bistro.

And gay or straight, forced religious abstinence will make you very, very angry.
posted by solistrato at 3:40 PM on November 9, 2001


Saudi Arabia is an odd country, and Saudis as a whole are odd too - I have some Saudi friends, but behind the religious image of most, especially the upper class, there is, err, not too religious an outlook on life.. Apparently some parties there are.. interesting..

Mind you, monarchy is unislamic and only in place there cos America didn't want a democracy (heh).

If you commit Sodomy then it is considered one of the most unnatural and disgusting of sins in Islam, and would require a great deal of repentence to make up for - is it just me, or do the hijackers appear to be really quite rubbish muslims? All the stories about the alcoholism, leaving Qu'rans in strip clubs, girlfriends, boyfriends(?) - whats up with all that? Aren't these meant to be fundamentalist terrorists?
posted by Mossy at 3:59 PM on November 9, 2001


A search at PlanetOut didn't show any hits for Atta's name, but then the article seems to be speculation, not news . . . unlike, I guess, the 'Hitler was gay' meme.

I might point out that heterosexuals don't tend to notice that most serial killers, child molesters and dictators are hetero. Just like most financial criminals and politicians (in this country) being white -- something that led to specualtion that there might be a genetic basis for this disgusting behavior, back in the S&L scandal days. Measuring the equation of "white" or "heterosexual" with normalcy and any other labels with deviancy is a useful barometer of the cultural dominance of Euro-Americans in our country as the melting pot continues to swirl.

(PSA announcement, 2050: "He could be bright -- white's all right!")

That said, I think I do share some impatience with nobody when people start projecting terms like "hetero" and "homo" back in time when what we refer to are constellations of sexual behavior that have crystallized (again, in this country) only in the last hundred years and are getting more fluid all the time. (Just like fuzzifying the term "outing" when that referred to contemporary figures -- Malcolm Forbes, Roy Cohn, whatshisface the founder of Young Americans for Freedom -- who maintained a public profile at odds with their private practices, often a politically anti-queer one.)
posted by retrofut at 5:15 PM on November 9, 2001


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