In this issue:

Sistani Warns UN: Occupation's Constitution Is Unacceptable

JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ STAGE WALKOUT ON POWELL PRESS CONFERENCE

UN Human Rights Commission Condemns Israel for Yassin Assassination

Jordan's Hassan Warns of Danger of World War III

U.S. Military Officer: Hamas Is Not Al-Qaeda

About Face: Army Drops Spy Charges vs. Muslim Chaplain

From Volume 3, Issue Number 13 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Mar. 30, 2004
Mideast News Digest

Sistani Warns UN: Occupation's Constitution Is Unacceptable

Iraq's Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has again asserted national sovereignty, in a letter to the United Nations envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, the head of a UN delegation that began arriving in Baghdad on March 24.

Despite grudging approval of Iraq's interim law ("constitution") by Shi'ites on the Iraqi Governing Council who had met with Sistani, the Grand Ayatollah's letter warns that the UN must not accept the constitution, nor pass any resolution internationalizing it. "The religious establishment fears the occupation authorities will work to include this law in a new UN resolution to give it international legitimacy," the letter states. "We warn that any such step will not be acceptable to the majority of Iraqis and will have dangerous consequences." Sistani objects in particular to the three-person Presidential council, made up of a Sunni, a Shi'ite, and a Kurd, who would have to make unanimous decisions. "This builds a basis for sectarianism. Consensus would not be reached unless there is pressure from a foreign power, or a deadlock would be reached that destabilizes the country and could lead to break-up," Sistani writes.

Sistani also said he would boycott the UN mission "unless the UN takes a clear stance" that the so-called constitution does not bind the future Iraqi National Assembly in any way.

[Source: AP, March 19] JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ STAGE WALKOUT ON POWELL PRESS CONFERENCE

A reporter and a cameraman for Arab satellite television station Al-Arabiya died on March 19, after U.S. soldiers shot them at a checkpoint, the station told Associated Press. A total of five journalists died in Iraq in violent incidents during that week.

That day, when Secretary of State Colin Powell made a surprise visit to Iraq, flying by cargo plane to Baghdad, where he met with proconsul L. Paul Bremer, the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) staff, the press, where the situation blew up. One Arab journalist stood up as soon as Powell walked into the room at the Baghdad convention center, and read a statement saying that after one year of he termed "the U.S. occupation," Americans could not provide security in Iraq. "We demand an open investigation in front of the mass media," the statement said, adding: "We also demand that security be guaranteed to journalists working in Iraq."

After a moment of silence, 20 predominantly Arab journalists walked out of the press conference.

UN Human Rights Commission Condemns Israel for Yassin Assassination

Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on March 20, the UN Commission on Human Rights condemned the Israelis' extra-judicial killing by assassination, of Palestinian Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, spiritual leader of Hamas (see this week's EIW InDepth).

The Commission voted 31 in favor, two opposed, and 18 abstentions. As the country in the dock, Israeli Ambassador Yaakov Levy denounced the special meeting as "Israel-bashing" at its worst.

Levy stated: "Today, this forum has clearly reached its nadir, by lending a hand and moral standing for supporting the most despicable and horrendous of evils—that of terrorism—while denying the right of self-defense against that evil. Whatever remains of the credibility and dignity of this body, is at stake today." He went further, condemning the commission for lending support for terrorism instead of renouncing them. He added that there is no equivalence between those who perpetrate terrorism and those who fight it in self-defense.

Pakistan's Ambassador Shaukat Umer spoke on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which requested the special session. He said when the killings of Palestinians and their leaders stop, there will be no need for meetings such as this. "But as long as these horrors continue, and as long as these outrageous killings continue, the people of Palestine have every right to knock on the doors of this Commission and ask for justice and ask for protection of their human rights and demand respect for international humanitarian law."

The European Union representative, Mary Whelan of Ireland, effectively condemned attacks on both sides, but then abstained on the vote. U.S. Ambassador Richard Williamson hypocritically criticized the commission for taking up a matter that is before the Security Council—the U.S. vetoed the UNSC resolution condemning the assassination.

Jordan's Hassan Warns of Danger of World War III

In the aftermath of the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by the Israelis, Prince Hassan of Jordan has warned that World War III could break out, starting in the Middle East. Speaking to BBC's Radio Four on March 26, he said it was an "extremely depressing" time. Extremist voices in the region were rising, and not only individuals, but states, were taking the law into their own hands, the prince said, adding that he feared the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would spread to other countries in the region.

"I'm afraid we'll see spill-over into hostilities with Lebanon; already Hezbollah is bombing in the north," Prince Hassan said. "A spill-over into hostilities with Syria [is possible] ... and of course Iran, is still very much in the axis of evil." What the situation needs, he said, is an Arab intermediary, and for the international community to focus not just on security, but also a longer-term dialogue.

On a wider scale, he said recent events in Madrid showed that moderate forces worldwide were under threat.

For there to be any chance of progress in the Middle East, the international community needed to be clear about the different reasons for their involvement in the region, he said, adding, "We have to sort out the cards again—the war on terror, the question of Palestine, the question of Iraq, the question of Afghanistan, WMD [weapons of mass destruction], Iran."

"It is such a hodge-podge at the present time that I'm afraid the making of a Third World War is actually taking place in front of our very eyes."

A French diplomat with extensive experience in the Middle East, in discussion with EIR on March 26, said that he had been with Prince Hassan in Amman at the time that the news broke, about the assassination of Sheikh Yassin. "We turned to each other and both thought that this is the way the First World War began. 'We are entering World War III in the Middle East,' the Prince said."

But, the diplomat said, "this will be a different kind of war, asymmetric warfare in which movements of resistance and terrorism will strike against the power of the U.S. and Britain in the region." He said that he thought we were "on the verge of the moment when the Israel-Palestine situation could go completely out of the control of moderates."

In his view, the current situation has parallels to Europe in 1929-30. At that time, he said, "the French and the Germans were on the brink of an agreement for creating a European federation; there was a speech by [French Foreign Minister Aristide] Briand to the League of Nations, proposing that France and Germany be the center of a European-wide agreement. It was similar to what later emerged as the Schuman Plan." (The Schuman Plan called for the Coal and Steel customs union, and European cooperation around the Franco-German relationship.) The source continued, "It was the sponsorship of Hitler's rise to power by powerful financial groups, which deliberately smashed this plan." He concluded that, in his view, such financial groups are behind the current push for war.

U.S. Military Officer: Hamas Is Not Al-Qaeda

A retired U.S. military officer, with years of experience in the Mideast, has again asserted that there is no parallel between Hamas and al-Qaeda. However, because of the Israeli assassination of Sheikh Yassin, the U.S. may, for the first time, become a target of Hamas and other Palestinian groups that have, up until now, waged a nationalist struggle against Israel, and refrained from any premeditated terrorist attacks against the U.S. The officer noted that, since 9/11, the hardliners in Israel have tried to equate the U.S. fight against al-Qaeda with the Israeli fight against Hamas, creating the false notion of a monolithic "Islamic" terror threat. The objective was to get the U.S. to give Israel carte blanche to carry out assassinations and other attacks on Palestinians.

Now, there could be a turn against the U.S. by Hamas and other Palestinian nationalist militants, based on the perception that the U.S. has blessed Israel's actions. Then, the officer warns, Sharon could get his way, and draw the U.S. into backing Israel's plans for massive military operations in the Gaza Strip.

About Face: Army Drops Spy Charges vs. Muslim Chaplain

The U.S. Army has dropped all espionage charges against Captain James Yee, the Muslim chaplain at the Guantanamo prison camp, who was arrested in September 2003, and initially accused of espionage and threatened with the death penalty. Officials acknowledge that the case has become a major embarrassment for the military.

After his arrest, Captain Yee was held in solitary confinement for nearly three months, while prosecutors tried to build their case, but all they could charge him with was mishandling classified information, and adultery.

It has been reported that some senior officers at Guantanamo were paranoid about having Muslims and Arab-Americans involved with prisoners at Guantanamo, and were suspicious when Muslims met one another. The triggering event was reportedly a number of Friday dinners that Captain Yee held for Islamic members of the garrison at his quarters. On at least two occasions, the dinners were attended by Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, who was also later arrested and charged with passing secrets to Syria. The charges against Halabi have been reduced.

The Army claims that it is dropping charges to protect classified information, but Yee's lawyer scoffs at that explanation, saying that the trial could have been conducted without exposing any sensitive information. All that Yee will now face, is an administrative hearing, and the only penalty would be having an official rebuke placed in his record.

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