In this issue:

What Did the Spanish Police Know, and When Did They Know It?

German President Calls for Return to Common Good

Danish Daily Declares U.S. Has Lost Iraq War

LaRouche Friends Promote Israeli-Palestinian 'Aeroponics' Project

European Allies Recoil from Prisoner Scandal

British Labour Faction: Blair Must Go

German Budget Gives New Meaning to 'Red Light Districts'

From Volume 3, Issue Number 20 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published May 18, 2004

Western European News Digest

What Did the Spanish Police Know, and When Did They Know It?

Spanish media are reporting that police had tapped the phone of one of the top March 11 train bombers, Jamal Zougam, nine months before the bombing; conveniently, Zougam was among the six killed when the police stormed their apartment. This latest revelation comes on top of reports that one of the detained terrorists had been a police informant for more than two years. Further, reports El Pais May 9-10, the reason given by police for why the wiretap of Zougam's phone gave them no forewarning of the bombing, borders on the ridiculous: Jamal Zougam allegedly spoke an Arab dialect for which the police had no translators.

Furthermore, the top story in the May 7-8 weekend press, is that Spain's CNI (national intelligence center) was providing Madrid for more than a year with special dossiers detailing the alleged existence of massive security threats from Islamic terrorist networks. Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero's government has announced a full parliamentary investigation.

German President Calls for Return to Common Good

In his last speech as German President, delivered May 12, Johannes Rau harshly attacked those elitist circles in politics and the media that lobby for their own interests, rather than serving the common good.

Deliberate pessimism and catastrophe scenarios are being pushed by circles at the center of industry, society, and politics, serving exclusively egotistical objectives that are to be pushed through, Rau charged. He mentioned media witchhunts against individuals and the manipulation of truth, as disgusting examples of such often outright blackmailing conduct at the expense of confidence, solidarity, and optimism. Furthermore, decisions are made more and more in exclusive, small circles of power. The result is a collective mood of depression and cynicism, followed by outbursts of potential political and other violence, which may be hidden at present, he warned.

Germans mostly do not pay attention to the fact that the German reputation is positive in most parts of the world, Rau said, and the German nation should work actively to build a stable society based on industriousness, justice, and solidarity.

Rau made special mention of the younger generation, whose "highly developed sense of fairness and respect" and "engagement for others ... for the fight against hunger and poverty in the world" should be encouraged and supported by organizations and institutions.

Rau's unprecedented harshness against the establishment elites to be seen in the context of his leaving office on May 23, when the new President is elected in Germany. But the critique he voiced, is to the point on many counts.

Danish Daily Declares U.S. Has Lost Iraq War

The May 11 editorial in Denmark's conservative daily Jyllandsposten declares: "The war is lost!"

The conservative, previously pro-war paper editorializes: "We must quietly, and with deep resignation, admit that the USA has lost the war in Iraq.

"Now, the only question is, how and when the USA will pull out, without leaving a totally incalculable situation, with the danger of further conflicts and bloodshed. Its authority, as the foremost representative of a free and democratic world, is irreparably lost. It is neither Saddam Hussein, nor his cronies, nor international Islamic madmen who have done this. It is the USA itself.

"The USA has met its Vietnam to the second power, not because of a stalwart Viet Cong army, not because of massive support from a communist dictatorship in the north, nor because of a well organized resistance of people loyal to Saddam Hussein in Iraq, but because of its own soldiers' perverse acts, and, maybe, because of the acceptance, or in the worst case, under direct orders, from high-level military and political leaders. It is enough to drive one to despair."

Next to the editorial is a cartoon of an American general and his shadow, which is a silhouette of the now-famous prisoner with a hood and a cape, standing on top of a box, with electrodes attached to his fingers. The caption is, "The mistreatment of the Iraqi prisoners, is thought to be approved by the highest level of the American Defense Department."

LaRouche Friends Promote Israeli-Palestinian 'Aeroponics' Project

The Italian firm SAID, based in Vicenza, the developer of the unique "aeroponics" method of earthless and (almost) waterless agriculture, has signed a joint venture with the University of Jerusalem for an Israeli-Palestinian project. Aeroponics creator Dr. Giancarlo Costa (who was recently interviewed by the Lyndon LaRouche-affiliated 21st Century Science & Technology and its Italian-language sister publication Fusione on his method), as well as SAID manager Giannino Bonato, took part in a meeting between 107 Italian, 67 Palestinian, and 79 Israeli firms, which met last Dec. 15, under the sponsorship of the Italian Foreign Trade Ministry, to develop the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue through concrete forms of economic cooperation. Four joint ventures were developed: three in the field of olive oil production, and one on aeroponics.

In an interview with the daily Milano-Finanza Jan. 17, SAID manager Bonato stated: "We signed a contract with Israel and the University of Jerusalem to develop greenhouses allowing any kind of vegetables and fruit to grow with minimal doses of water, or better, with a solution which we have patented. But the target is to supply such technologies also to Palestinian territories."

European Allies Recoil from Prisoner Scandal

One of the remaining leading allies of the Coalition in Iraq, Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said May 11 that he and all of his nation are shocked at the "horrifying pictures from Iraq," which have done "irreparable damage" to the human rights reputation of the West. Rasmussen announced that during his May 28-30 visit to the United States, he would bring the issue up with Bush, and insist that the "highest standards" be introduced in the U.S.-run Iraqi prisons.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, receiving the news about the first Dutch soldier killed in Iraq, said that, whereas at present, he sees no reason to pull back the 1,300 soldiers of his nation's Iraq contingent, their future stay and legitimacy depended on the "future role of the United Nations in Iraq."

Italian President Azeglio Ciampi said that the torture of prisoners in Iraq was "disgusting" and "not tolerable for any democratic state." Those that were responsible for that, should be tried in public, Ciampi said, demanding that a new United Nations resolution hand over power to an Iraqi civilian government.

Spain's Defense Minister Jose Bono announced that his country's soldiers would be pulled out even before the May 27 deadline, in light of a new report he received from Gen. Jose Enrique Ayala, the commander of the Spanish contingent in Iraq. Ayala sent him a devastating critique of the U.S. military strategy in Iraq, including a report that U.S. commanders would not take any criticism from a Spaniard, as they told him, because their directives come from the Pentagon and not from Madrid. Ayala sent his report also to Polish Gen. Mieczyslaw Bieniek, the chief commander of the entire contingent of 9,000 soldiers which the Spanish troops belong to, and Bieniek stated he can only share the Spanish views on the matter. Ayala attacked the U.S. approach especially because it destroyed efforts to reach a certain degree of cooperation with the Iraqi Shi'ite institutions, leading to confrontation instead.

British Labour Faction: Blair Must Go

Labour Peer Lord David Puttnam, reportedly a personal friend of Prime Minister Tony Blair, said on ITV television May 9 that "the Prime Minister is synonymous with Iraq, and Iraq will only deliver bad news. If I were him, I would go before the summer [parliamentary] recess."

There will be both local elections and European Parliament elections in Britain June 10, and the fear is rising in the Labour Party that it will be hit hard at the polls.

An opinion poll published on May 9 in the Mail on Sunday reported that Labour could only win an overall majority at the next election if Blair steps down and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown takes over. The opposition to the Iraq War is at the highest ever. Only 4 out of 10 people now believe Britain was right to invade, down from 6 out of 10 last April.

Even with Brown in, the poll indicated, Labour would win a majority of only 77 seats. In 2001, it won a majority of 167 seats.

German Jobs Are Disappearing Faster Than Being Created

The absolute number of jobs in Germany keeps decreasing: In the first quarter of 2004, there were 139,000 fewer jobs available compared to the same period of 2003. During the fourth quarter of 2003, 233,000 jobs were eliminated.

This means that while two years ago about 7 million jobs that should have existed, did not exist, the figure is now close to the 8 million mark; which also means that chances of getting the 4.34 million officially registered jobless back to a job, are getting smaller and smaller by the month.

At present, 37.7 million Germans out of 82 million have a job, with "jobs" ranging from one hour per week to 30 and 40 or more a week. As for the creation of new jobs, options are not so good either, because firms prefer putting workers on reduced hours back to full schedule, rather than employ new staff. In April, short-work figures shrank by an amazing 27%, especially in firms of the machine-building sector, which saw a net increase of exports by 2% (the only sector with an increase) in that month.

German Budget Gives New Meaning to 'Red Light Districts'

The absurdity of the ongoing debate of keeping the Maastricht criteria while, at the same time abandoning them, is indicated by the proposal of the Federal Accounting Office (BRH) where officials have urged Finance Minister Hans Eichel to finally implement the "brothels tax." That tax, on "services," including value-added taxes, would add at least 2 billion euros to the budget, per fiscal year, the penny-pinchers claim.

There may be, therefore, a new meaning implied in by those who refer to fiscal instability with the phrase "the red lights are on."

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