Mideast News Digest
LaRouche: U.S. Must Denounce Israeli Army Killing of American Woman
On March 16, U.S. Democratic Party Presidential pre-candidate Lyndon LaRouche said that if George W. Bush cares as much about the lives of Americans as he insists he does, and as he gives as the reason for the Iraq crisis, then the United States should immediately denounce the killing of the 23-year-old American woman Rachel Corrie by the Israel Defense Forces bulldozer on March 16, when she was crushed to death by a tank at the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip as one of a group of peace volunteers who are protesting the deadly IDF demolitions of Palestinian homes.
"The point is, the U.S. must make an immediate denunciation of the Israeli killing of an American woman in this incident," said LaRouche. "All this talk about defending Americans lives. Doesn't the President think an American life is worth anything?"
LaRouche has also condemned the actions by the government of Ariel Sharon in Israeli military invasions of the occupied territories in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, and the killing of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in recent weeks. "Sharon is manufacturing the evidence for his own coming war crimes trial," said LaRouche.
FBI Investigating Faked Evidence on Iraq Nuclear Program
On March 13, the Washington Post and MSNBC-TV reported that the FBI is looking into the forgery of documents purporting to link the Iraqi government to purchases of materials and equipment for developing nuclear weapons. According to the Washington Post, the FBI is looking into the possibility that a foreign government was trying to use the forged documents to influence U.S. policy and to foster support for a military attack on Iraq.
The documents are reported to have come to British and U.S. intelligence from a third country. The existence of the fake documents was disclosed last week by the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed ElBaradei.
Some sources have reported that the documents were first provided to British Intelligence, and then to the United States. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had questions about their reliability, and decided not to include them in its file on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program.
The Post article notes that the FBI has jurisdiction over foreign counterintelligence operations by foreign governments against the United States. A number of sources have advised EIW that Israel is at the top of the list of suspects as having been the source of the forged documents.
Bush 41 to Cheney and Wolfowitz: You Were Wrong About Saddam in 1991 ... and Wrong Now
On March 10, two of the world's leading English-language publicationsBusiness Week, and The Times of Londonwrote articles saying that former President Bush "41" has intervened on his son, President George W. Bush "43," to warn the current President against going to war outside of the UN Security Council.
The warning came in a public speech at Tufts University Feb. 26, not a private chat. EIW obtained the full speech, which contains an extremely clear reference to the 1991 imperial war plan of Cheney-Libby-Wolfowitz to "march on Baghdad" that was rejected by Bush 41 at the time. Bush 41 told the audience at Tufts that after Desert Storm, when he went to the Madrid Conference and saw "a room full of Arabs and Israelis sitting across from each other beginning to talk about peace," it made a "profound impression" on him. He said, "It can happen again. As long as I live I can't get it out of my mind...."
But, he added: "Incidentally, the Madrid conference would never have happened if the international coalition that fought together in Desert Storm had exceeded the UN mandate and gone on its own, had gone into Baghdad after Saddam and his forces had surrendered and agreed to disarm. The coalition would have instantly shattered. And the political capital that we had gained as a result of our principled restraint to jumpstart the peace process would have been lost. We would have lost all support from our coalition, with the possible exception of England. And we would have lost all support from the smaller nations in the UN as well."
The Times commentary characterizes the message as Bush 41 telling 43 to "bridge the rift" with France and Germany, and "resist his tendency to bear grudges." It should also be noted that Business Week last week had a very powerful attack on the Christian fundies and their influence on the White House. The full text of Bush 41's speech is on the Tuft University website.
Kofi Annan: U.S. in Danger of Violating UN Charter
In a press conference on March 10, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated: "If the U.S. and others were to go outside the Council and take military action it would not be in conformity with the UN Charter." Annan strongly promoted the need for unity at the UN, and citing the intense discussions prior to Resolution 1441, he said that the Security Council "faces a great choice," and that a unified decision is possible "even at this late hour."
But, unlike President Bush, who likes to threaten the UN with becoming irrelevant if it doesn't support the U.S. position, Kofi Annan says that "the legitimacy and support for any such action [taken outside the UN Security Council] will be seriously impaired....
"War must always be a last resort, arrived at only if and when every reasonable avenue of achieving Iraq's disarmament by peaceful means has been exhausted."
Israel Kills 11 Palestinians Within 24 Hours
During the interval between the evening of March 13 and early morning of March 14, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed 11 Palestinians in the West Bank. Six were killed in the Jenin refugee camp, when IDF troops backed by 10 tanks, surrounded a house, shooting everyone inside. Another five were killed in the nearby village of Tamoun during house-to-house searches.
One wonders whether these were revenge killings for the IDF's own mistaken killing of two Israelis on March 13. The killing of the two Israeli guards by Israeli troops, is a prime example of how the Israeli military rules of engagement have been reduced to "Shoot first, ask questions later."
The two Israeli guards had been guarding a so-called illegal outpost, which the IDF is supposed to defend. Although the military claims they had reports of a potential attack in the area, their intelligence did not indicate a car.
According to eyewitness reports appearing in the March 14 issue of the Israeli paper Ha'aretz, the car was just sitting by the roadside, and a man was standing outside of it, apparently armed. When he was shot, the other Israeli guard, who was some meters distance away, ran to give aid to the fatally wounded man, at which point an Israeli helicopter hit the second man with a rocket.
It turns out the car was clearly marked as a security car, and yet it was totally riddled with bullet holes.
One obvious question is: How many totally innocent Palestinians have been killed in this devil-may-care IDF manner?
Turkey in Turmoil Over War Pressure
According to Agence France Presse on March 12the same day that AKP Party chairman Erdogan became Prime Minister of Turkeythe Turkish political fight over U.S. military troop presence, and, more broadly, support for a possible war against Iraq, exploded.
In Parliament, tensions rose when a petition was presented by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) demanding a Parliamentary probe into U.S. military activities, which it said had "turned the country into a theater for war preparations." The AKP-dominated Parliament rejected the petition.
"You are all American footmen," one opposition MP shouted at AKP colleagues, sparking fistfights, scuffles and an exchange of insults. However, Parliament once again rejected a demand for U.S. troops to be deployed in Turkey.
The CHP petition says, despite the no vote by Parliament on March 1, "Some practices have recently turned the country into a theater for war preparations.... It is understood that new logistical bases are being set up, that seaports, land bases, and certain facilities are being rented to foreigners.... The Parliament was not asked to authorize such activities in the motion it approved."
Meanwhile, also on March 12, hundreds of people demonstrated outside Iskenderun, the Turkish port where the U.S. military has been unloading equipment. Police fired warning shots in the air to impose order on the demonstrators, some of whom were chanting "Yankee go home" while others waved banners reading "No to war."
Turkish television showed scuffles between police and demonstrators in the southern port, and Anatolia News Agency said several were later taken in for questioning.
Bush-Erdogan Phone Call Ends in Acrimony
The New York Times on March 12 quoted White House sources on a telephone call between President George W. Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, to the effect that "It was not a great phone call." Bush had phoned to try to get the Turkish leader to hurry a second vote through Parliament, on use of Turkish soil for a U.S. invasion of Iraq.
On March 13, the Turkish Ambassador to the United States told reporters that not only the presence of U.S. ground troops, but also use of Turkish airbases and Turkish airspace, would have to be approved by the Parliament.
Confirming that there really is no alternative to invasion through Turkey, an officer at the U.S. European Command, which includes Turkey, told a reporter: "It's a big deal. There are many options that are available. But ultimately, we've got to wait to see how the Turks work through this."
In a related development, armed Kurds are taking up positions on the Iraqi side of the Iraqi-Turkish border, in response to a large Turkish military convoy which moved to the border area last week. "American officials have been trying to broker a deal between the two sides, but the date of a planned meeting in Turkey has not been set," Kurdish officials told the Times.
Council on Foreign Relations Waffles on War With Iraq
On March 11, former Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Defense Secretary James Rodney Schlesinger made something of an effort by the striped-pants set to warn of the consequences of a war, without really coming out in opposition to it. At a CFR event in Washington, D.C. on that date, the two CFR Task Force chairmen said that the main emphasis of their report was "to win the peace."
The Task Force which worked on the report represents a broad array of individuals, ranging from former Clinton Administration officials such as former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Shalikashvili to old "Bush 41" types like Edward Djerejian of the James Baker III Institute, which had already issued a parallel report. The omnipresent Amb. Pickering straddles both Administrations. The primary concern expressed in the CFR report was that the U.S. not abandon Iraq after the war, but rather stay heavily engaged, politically and economically, with clear commitments of massive aid for Iraqi reconstruction. The report urges "re-engaging" the Europeans and the UN to participate in the reconstruction effort. The report also urges the Administration as soon as possible to bring the other countries in the region into the reconstruction and administration efforts.
The report also called for an immediate revival of the Arab-Israeli peace initiatives and establishing regional economic and security cooperation with the countries in the area. "How the United States deals with the postwar situation in Iraq will determine the future of Iraq as well as the future of the United States in the Middle East," Schlesinger said. While CFR Task Force spokesmen took it for granted that war is inevitable, they are smart enough to realize that the future of the United States and its role in the world is at play in this high-stakes operation. "It's important that the United States be seen as committed to the welfare of Iraqi citizens," Schlesinger said.
In response to a question from EIW regarding the real agenda of the "Chickenhawks" in revamping the entire region in line with the new U.S. proconsul role in the region, Pickering ridiculed the "new theology of liberation which seems to be sweeping Washington these days." Schlesinger also took a swipe at this "liberation theology" crowd. "Democracy requires an organic growth," Schlesinger said, adding: "It takes time. What is more important is a stable government. It won't be like the U.S. And don't try to make it a model for the neighborhood. It won't work."
But while some individuals are resigning in protest, the CFR characters hope to remain "relevant" as the "Chickenhawks" take the U.S. into war.
State Department Report Questions Bush's 'Democratic Domino' Theory
Greg Miller, who is with the Los Angeles Times Washington, D.C. Bureau, wrote a March 14 article that appears to have received wide distribution, been based on the leak of a Feb. 26 State Department classified report entitled: "Iraq, the Middle East and Change: No Dominoes." This report was issued by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (BIR), which Miller said had also been strongly supported by the Central Intelligence Agency and other U.S. intelligence institutions. Most significant, the report was issued on the same day that President George W. Bush, speaking at the neo-con American Enterprise Institute, asserted that: "A new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom for other nations in the region."
This latter is a theme frequently struck by Vice President Dick Cheney, behind whose dominant figure the "Chickenhawks" often slide through their policy, according to Miller. In particular, this theme that "liberal democracy" will arise out of the ashes of crushing Saddam Hussein, has been propounded by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and by chairman of the Defense Policy Board Richard Perle, as Wolfowitz has said that toppling Saddam Hussein would "cast a very large shadow, starting with Syria and Iran but across the whole Arab world." And, Perle has said that reformation of Iraq "has the potential to transform the thinking of people around the world about the potential for democracy, even in Arab countries where people have been disparaging of their potential."
The BIR report finds that 65 million adults in the Middle East cannot read or write, and 14 million are unemployed, with burgeoning, poorly educated youth populations. A BIR officer, who leaked portions of the report, said: "It couldn't hurt. But to sell [the war] on the basis that this is going to cause 1,000 flowers to boom is naive." The report states that "Middle East societies are riven" by political, economic and social problems that would undermine stability "regardless of the nature of any externally influenced or spontaneous, indigenous change." The report cites "high levels of corruption, serious infrastructure degradation, and overpopulation." The report continues: "Liberal democracy would be difficult to achieve," and, it might be exploited by "anti-American elements."
U.S. Trains on Southern Flank for Iraq Invasion
According to Agence France Presse March 14, thousands of U.S. troops and hundreds of armored vehicles from the Army's 5th Corps, which now oversees an estimated 100,000 troops in Kuwait, practiced an invasion of Iraq including smashing through obstacles, filling tank traps, etc. Essentially, this exercise was to train the vanguard for thousands of vehicles to enter Iraq.
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