In this issue:

American Congressman Rahall Visits Baghdad To Stop War

LaRouche Widely Reported in Arabic Press for Exposing Neo-Conservative Warmongers

Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter in Iraq Exposing Propaganda Lies

Egyptian Presidency Still Questions 'Official' 9/11 Accusations

Mohammed Atta Was A Secret Service Agent

Israeli Ex-Foreign Minister Attacks Iraq War Drive

Barenboim Performs Beethoven To Overcome Israeli-Palestinian Hatred

Sharon Puts War Crimes Veteran Dagan in Charge of Mossad

From the Vol.1,No.28 issue of Electronic Intelligence Weekly
Mideast News Digest

American Congressman Rahall Visits Baghdad To Stop War

West Virginia Democrat Rep. Nick Rahall, is leading a delegation on a four-day trip to Iraq to try to convince Iraq's leaders to go along with unfettered United Nations inspections, because the Bush "Administration's threats are not idle." Representative Rahall's staff told EIW on Sept. 12 that he believes "everything should be done to resolve the crisis without warfare." Also on the trip is James E. Jennings, from Conscience International, an organization which trains medical doctors in Iraq. Former South Dakota Democratic Senator James Abourezk is on the delegation, as is Norman Solomon from the Institute for Public Accuracy, and Michigan businessman H. Samhat.

The trip is an extremely important step for the United States, after Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and other top officials asked that the U.S. Congress send a delegation, accompanied by experts in chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons inspections, to quickly restore calm about Iraq, and lead to a normalization of relations between Iraq, the U.S., and UN member nations. The Iraqi requests had gotten a negative response.

According to Rep. Rahall's staff, the delegates have a meeting scheduled with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri and have requested a meeting with Saddam Hussein.

On Sept. 14, during a meeting with Tariq Aziz, Rep. Rahall said, "It is time to cool the rhetoric and start a dialogue between our two countries." He said, "We feel very strongly that this open dialogue is much better than going to any harsh military action that will only evoke more suffering upon the people of Iraq and more suffering on our environment." Senator Abourezk said that the delegation was planning to ask the Iraqis to let weapons inspectors back into the country. Rahall added, "We also want to tell the Iraqi people that the American people for the most part are peace-wageing individuals and not warmongers."

LaRouche Widely Reported in Arabic Press for Exposing Neo-Conservative Warmongers

On the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 irregular warfare attacks, the name of Lyndon LaRouche appears in many editorial, op-eds and news articles in the Arabic press, especially because of LaRouche's widely known role as the leading American statesman opposing the war against Iraq, and the doctrine of "preemptive imperial war" in general.

Over the past week, the article by Jeffrey Steinberg, "Sharon in September 11 Provocation," (see EIW #27) appeared in the Saudi daily Al-Watan and the Egyptian semi-official weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi. The Arabic translation of the LaRouche in 2004 campaign statement "The Pollard Affair Never Ended" which was the EIW editorial for Issue #27, was published on Middle East Online News website's front page, accompanied by a photo of LaRouche speaking at a May 2002 European conference. On Sept. 13, the Saudi daily Al-Watan published an elaborated version of the Pollard article by Steinberg.

The Dubai-based Al-Bayan daily referred to LaRouche twice on Sept. 11 in the Editorial of its Wednesday political supplement, and in commentary on the daily's "Arab Affairs" page.

Al Bayan also published an op-ed on Sept. 13 by well-known Egyptian Brig. General (ret.) Hosam Swelam, a renowned military strategist, who says that LaRouche indicated that the growing negative U.S. tilt against Egypt is the result of the growing influence of rightwing Zionist and Israeli circles inside the Bush Administration. Swelam also refers to the Jabotinskyite schemes for the redrawing of the map of the Middle East. and stresses that "President Mubarak has been fully aware" of these developments, and therefore has been acting prudently and on the basis of principle in his dealing with the Bush Administration.

The world's largest Arabic daily, London-based Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat, had brief items referring to LaRouche's identifying the internal U.S. "military-industrial complex" and clash of civilizations and religious war faction factor in the events. It stated that LaRouche spelled this out on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, as he was being interviewed on an American radio station.

Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter in Iraq Exposing Propaganda Lies

On July 31 and Aug. 1, 2002, W. Scott Ritter, one of the UN's chief weapons inspectors in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, was kept off the witness list of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's hearings on Iraq. Both Ritter, and former UN Ambassador Hans Von Sponek, who had headed the UN humanitarian mission to Baghdad for years, have spent many years in Iraq, including up to the last few months.

Ritter and Von Sponek were kept out of the hearings because they oppose military action in Iraq. However, since Sept. 6 Ritter has been in Baghdad, where his activities are helping to expose what the U.S. Senate was too cowardly to allow in Congressional testimony. Ritter has addressed the Iraqi Parliament, and has led teams of Western journalists to examine various sites around the country. According to press reports, he will be meeting the delegation that includes Rep. Nick Rahall, and former Senator James Abourezk, to attempt to avert war.

On Sept. 9, in an interview with CNN reporter Paula Zahn, Ritter did heavy damage to the glib assertions made by Vice President Dick Cheney in a series of television interviews about the Iraqi danger. Excerpts appear below:

ZAHN: "...Saddam Hussein has been trying to obtain materials to build nuclear weapons, particularly trying to buy thousands of aluminum pipes that could be used in the manufacture of a centrifuge and ultimately used to manufacture weapons."

RITTER: "What an absurd statement. Thousands of aluminum pipes, and we're going to go to war over thousands of aluminum pipes? Even the IISS report that you cite says that if Iraq was to have trying to do uranium enrichment, it would take them many years before they could do it. This is patently ridiculous. These are aluminum pipes coming in for civilian use. They are not being transferred to a covert nuclear processing plant or any covert nuclear activity whatsoever.

"But the best way to figure this out is to send the weapons inspectors in. If they, if the United States has this evidence that Iraq has these pipes, why not, heck, give me the data. I'll come to Iraq, hunt it down and we'll bring it to a close. That would save us going to war, killing thousands of people and destroying our reputation in the international community.

"We cannot go to war because Vice President Cheney's worried about some aluminum pipes. This is ridiculous..."

ZAHN: ... The International Institute for Strategic Studies.... In this report, it suggests ... that Iraq could make a nuclear weapon in months if it had foreign help. Let me read to you what the conclusion was, that:

"War sanctions and inspections have reversed and retarded but not eliminated Iraq's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and long-range missile capabilities, nor removed Baghdad's enduring interest in developing these capabilities."

RITTER: "Paula, what do we have here? Rhetoric? Where's the facts? 'Enduring interest' in weapons capability? What does that mean? What evidence do they cite for this 'enduring interest'? You know, ballistic missiles. They say he has 12. What, did they grow? Where are they? They didn't have 12 when I was a weapons inspector.

"Chemical weapons? Biological weapons? They talk about bulk agent in terms of Iraq's biological weapons program. What bulk agent? Where did they make it? A bulk agent has a three-year lifetime in terms of storage in ideal conditions. The last time Iraq was known to have produced bulk agent was in 1990. That stuff, even if they held onto it, is no longer viable. So to have bulk agent today, Iraq would have had to reconstitute a manufacturing base in biological weapons. Where is it?

"This report is absurd. It has zero factual basis.... it's meaningless without, you know, with the sad exception that hawks in the Bush Administration are going to point to this as justification for war...."

ZAHN: "What makes you think that if UN weapons inspectors went in now, after not being on the ground for four years, it would be any different than the last time around, when Richard Butler, who was the chief UN weapon inspector, said the Iraqis often moved stuff when they knew you guys were going to be on the ground?"

RITTER: "I had been there since 1991 working under Ralph Ekeus, when the vast majority of the actual disarmament took place. By the time Richard Butler came, we had already destroyed Iraq's weapons programs. We were hunting down for, you know, missing items, you know, a piece of metal here, some documents there.

"And, yes, Iraq could have moved them, but this does not constitute a weapons program. It's illegal, and this is what inspectors need to do, come back here, finish the job so that Iraq can get on with rebuilding its economy, ... Richard Butler knows for darned sure that the Iraqis were not moving weapons from his weapons inspectors.

"The weapons inspectors were trying to get into some of the most sensitive facilities in Iraq that dealt with presidential security. I was the guy leading these inspections and Richard knows that he allowed the United States to use my inspections to spy on Iraq, which is why they don't trust the inspection process.

"So let's not bring up Richard Butler. Frankly speaking, he has no credibility on this issue."

On Sept. 10, Ritter took Western reporters on Sept. 10 to the Salman Pak facility near Baghdad, which an Iraqi defector working with U.S. and British intelligence agencies and Western media, claimed was being used to train terrorists in hijacking techniques, sabotage, urban warfare, etc. The defector's claims were published in the New York Times last December.

Ritter revealed the site was over 20 years old, and had been set up with British assistance in the 1980s to "train Iragi elite forces in hostage rescue techniques." An old, beat-up Iraqi Airlines Boeing 707 is parked at the site, and it used for training anti-hijacking squads. Ritter said he had visited it many times when he was a UN weapons inspector, and that it was of no interest. "America cannot go to war because this airplane is parked in this place, and some Iraqi defectors claim it was used to train the hijackers of Sept. 11," Ritter said.

Egyptian Presidency Still Questions 'Official' 9/11 Accusations

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's number one adviser, Osama al Baz, told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Sept. 11, 2002, "I have no certainty on bin Laden's responsibility, I have not seen the documents and the evidence the U.S. claims to possess.

"...The United States supplied some countries, including Egypt, a synthesis of what they have. But I, in my capacity as a lawyer, cannot draw conclusions on the basis of this synopsis. We have not seen the evidence, such evidence has not been crosschecked, you do not know whether it is substantial. Everything is of vital importance for a trial." The interviewer recalls that Mubarak, who has been a professional pilot, last November stated publicly that he did not believe that a beginner like Atta could have flown the airplane right into the World Trade Center. "In a successive meeting, Mubarak's political adviser, Osama al Baz, has confirmed Egypt's skepticism at the highest level," writes La Repubblica.

Mohammed Atta Was A Secret Service Agent

Diah Rashwahn, chief expert on radical Islamic movements at the Center of Strategic Studies in Cairo, was interviewed by the Italian daily La Repubblica of Sept. 11. Rashwahn says that "evidence given on Atta's guilt is fragile and ridiculous, both from the Islamic standpoint and from the investigative standpoint ... you become Islamist only if you are part of an Islamic group ... well, so far neither the German nor the American security authorities have told us who had recruited Atta and which group he was part of. For me, Atta's behavior is more similar to a secret service agent than to an Islamic militant."

Israeli Ex-Foreign Minister Attacks Iraq War Drive

Shlomo Ben-Ami, the former Foreign Minister of Israel, penned an attack on the Bush Administration's post-Sept. 11 policy for the Jerusalem Post of Sept. 8, 2002.

Ben-Ami cautions, "It is to be hoped that the Bush Administration will not be tempted to let itself be persuaded by its own rhetoric to launch an all-out offensive against Iraq; there would be no justification for it in the eyes of Arab regimes or their public. In 1990, the case was cut-and-dried: Iraq invaded a sovereign neighboring state....

"Today, with no such clarity— there is no proof of nuclear weapons in Iraq ... the U.S. is obviously in no position to form a coalition with the nations of the Middle East and their rulers (who would never support what is, at bottom, a preemptive strike against Iraq). And the European Union is letting itself dwindle into a military midget and almost certainly won't join the attack, so there is no doubt that an American offensive against Iraq will unleash anti-American and anti-Israeli feelings throughout the Arab world, on an apocalyptic scale.

"At such a time, bin Laden and al-Qaeda will return, and fundamentalist Islam will become the driving force behind every frustrated and humiliated young Muslim. The publicity awarded al-Qaeda by the Bush Administration's obsessive rhetoric, along with the Internet, the broadcasting of videotapes, and of course the collapse of the World Trade Center, turned al-Qaeda into the dream of innumerable young men and women in the Muslim world. An offensive against Iraq will give this process added momentum, which will hit hard at the foundations of Arab nations too. The American experience in Afghanistan, the single piece of reality to date in the war on terror, was not an overwhelming success, and it is doubtful whether it augurs well for further and more intricate adventures in Iraq."

He also warns that the attack on Iraq could lead to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, with the resulting instability constituting an "existential threat to Israel." In a separate initiative Ben-Ami joined two other officials of the Ehud Barak government which he served, in sending a letter to President George W. Bush to urgently request that Bush intervene forcefully to lead the way to a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Barenboim Performs Beethoven To Overcome Israeli-Palestinian Hatred

Israeli-Argentine pianist Daniel Barenboim, defying Israeli security authorities, performed Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata before 200 Palestinian students in the West Bank city of Ramallah, reported the International Herald Tribune on Sept. 12.

"Each one of us has a responsibility to do what is right, and not to wait for others to do it," Barenboim said at the concert. "My way is music. What I can do is play music for you and maybe this way, in a very small way for these few moments, we are able to overcome the hatred that is so much in the region."

Barenboim said further, "I'm not a politician. I don't have a plan to end the conflict. but I think the lesson we have to learn from the 20th century is that every human being— small, young like you or older like me— has to think of his responsibility as a human being and not always depend on the politicians and the governments. I came to stretch out my hand to you and to hear about your life." In answer to his Israeli critics he said, "Anyone who criticizes my being here today, I only have pity for him."

Barenboim, who is the Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the General Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, played before the highly respected Friends School. After he performed Beethoven, he invited the students to perform for him. Three girls rose to the challenge. One, Sileen Khoury, 15, performed a Chopin piece and another, Nadia Arouri, 15, performed Mendelssohn's Barcarole. A third, Amr, 14, was so nervous she forgot the name of her piece. Nonetheless she said, "It was nice of him, because he took all the trouble to come here through checkpoints and everything."

Khoury, expressing the general excitement of the event, said, "I was a bit nervous, but with Barenboim beside me I felt safe. Actually it was an honor for us. The Israelis try to stop us from learning, working, but they can never stop us from playing music."

The concert was arranged by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti (whom EIR recently interviewed), director of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees. Commenting on the event, Barghouti said, "After Barenboim was prevented from coming to Ramallah in the past year by Israeli Authorities for alleged security reasons, today's concert represents great hope. It illustrates that nothing is impossible, as well as the fact that Palestinians are able to differentiate between those who want peace to prevail and those who oppress them."

Barghouti also gave Barenboim a small tour of the city and the Ramallah Medical Center. Barenboim, a few weeks ago, played at Bar Zeit University, also in the West Bank. The German embassy provided him with a diplomatic car to facilitate his passage past the Israeli Checkpoints. Barenboim, a harsh critic of Ariel Sharon's policies, used his Argentine passport (he has dual citizenship) to attend the Ramallah event.

But because of his courageous act of hope, Barenboim has received death threats and has been stalked by the rightwing fascist Israeli thugs of the Kach Party. Kach, which was founded by the late American Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was assassinated in 1990, also played a major role in the killing of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin in 1995. On Sept. 12, reports the Argentine daily Clarin, Barenboim was approached while he was dining in a Jerusalem restaurant by members of the outlawed Kach Party, who screamed "terrorist, go back to Ramallah," "go back to your friend Arafat," and threatened the musician physically. After Barenboim's wife threw a plate of salad at one of the fascists, police removed them. According to Clarin, Israeli authorities were pressured by Likud parliamentarians to charge Barenboim with "breaking the law" which prohibits Israelis from entering Palestinian territory without permission.

Sharon Puts War Crimes Veteran Dagan in Charge of Mossad

The appointment by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of General Meir Dagan as the head of the Mossad, signals Sharon's intention to use the spy agency for active and provocative operations.

Amir Oren writes in Sept. 11's Ha'aretz, "It is the security appointment of national significance that Sharon alone has made. It reflects his wish, on the eve of an expected American campaign against Iraq, and as Iran and other Arab states build up stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, for a combative team at the head of the military-intelligence establishment.

"Dagan complements Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon. Twelve years ago, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, then Brigadier General Dagan was head of operations in the general staff and initiated some far-reaching operations deep inside Iraq. Some were meant for the Paratroop Brigade, commanded by then Colonel Ya'alon."

According to Ha'aretz, Dagan goes back a long way with Sharon. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he served under Sharon in the 143rd Division. In the 1970s, he headed the so-called Sayeret Rimon unit, which was a military death squad deployed into the Gaza Strip to assassinate Palestinian leaders and fighters. He was appointed by Sharon when the latter was commander of the Southern Command.

He was also involved in Sharon's operations in Lebanon which eventually led to the Lebanese war. In fact, he lead a provocative military operation under the command of then Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan, a collaborator of Sharon, and Northern Commander Yanosh Ben Gal, which was done by deceiving then Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who was also Defense Minister. Shortly thereafter, Sharon became Defense Minister and deceived Begin again and launched the 1982 Lebanon War. Dagan then organized the Israeli-controlled puppet South Lebanese Army, which was the group that carried out the massacres of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

Dagan's appointment has come under fire because of his pronounced affiliation to the Likud and the fact that he ran Sharon's election campaign.

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