Mideast News Digest
LaRouche's June Speech at Abu Dhabi Zayed Centre Published in New Book
On Aug. 15, the United Arab Emirates-based Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up (ZCCF), put out a press release announcing the publication of a new book containing the speeches and working papers presented at the June 2-3 international conference on "Oil and Gas in World Politics." Lyndon LaRouche, who was the main featured Western guest, presented a paper entitled "The Middle East as a Strategic Crossroads" (see EIW #14, June 10).
Below is the text of the ZCCF's press release:
'Oil and Gas in International Security Policies'
"Considering the great interest shown in the issue of oil and sources of energy, the Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up compiled and published working papers, articles, and discussions in the form of a book entitled Oil and Gas in International Security Policies.
"The working papers and articles were presented at the two-day international conference attended by the UAE Oil Minister, HE Obaid Bin Saif Al Nasiri, Mr. Lyndon Larouche, renowned American economist and the prospective candidate for the American Presidential election. It also included a number of prominent experts in the field of oil and gas from many Arab countries.
"The publication is significant as it deals with the problem of energy in general, and oil, in particular. Besides, it is directly linked with all political, strategic, economic and social issues. It is of vital importance to Arab oil-producing countries because it constitutes a major source for their development.
"HH Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the ZCCF stressed the need for initiating a serious dialogue between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries for reaching fair and stable prices for oil. He particularly pointed to the low level of the prices that resulted in hindering the process of development.
"The study also discusses the possibility of using oil as a political leverage to resolve Arab conflicts, its positive and negative impacts. The publication focuses on the emergence of Arab competitors in the Caspian region and other areas. It also sheds light on non-OPEC oil-producing countries, how to compromise and coordinate with them for the sake of oil stability in the oil market. Oil pipelines and new world investments in the field of oil and gas have also been explored thoroughly in this publication."
For more on LaRouche and his EIR associates at the Zayed Centre, see the URL: http://www.zccf.org.ae
Cairo Weekly Newspaper Features LaRouche for President
In its Aug. 17 edition, the semi-official Egyptian Arabic weekly magazine Al-Ahram Al-Arabi described Lyndon LaRouche as the representative of the true American intellectual tradition. A lengthy article by Author Marwa Meshali details LaRouche's real policies in the Middle East, while asserting that forces in the U.S. based "Zionist Lobby" are "frightened by the ideas of LaRouche who wants American policy-making to be independent, away from the Zionist ambition." The URL for the Arabic version of article is: http://www.ahram.org.eg/arabi/ahram/2002/8/17/WRLD4.HTM
Israel's Elder Statesman Calls for Israeli/Palestinian Jerusalem
Former Mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek, now 91, called for dividing Jerusalem, and turning over the Arab neighborhoods to the Palestinians, along the lines of the proposal by President Clinton in 2000.
"I think there needs to be an arrangement and we need to give something to them [the Arab residents of Jerusalem] and have part for ourselves," he wrote. He said he agreed with the Clinton plan, including turning over the Haram Al Sharif (Temple Mount), except for the Western Wall.
"Listen, they [the Palestinians] have been sitting there for so many years and feel that it is theirs. You can't achieve calm if you don't give them part of what they want and can control. There's no solution without this," said Kollek. He was speaking after the arrest of four East Jerusalem residents who were accused of organizing several attacks, including the one on Hebrew University which killed a number of students, including Americans.
Anti-Saddam Terrorists Assault Iraqi Embassy in Berlin
The embassy of Iraq in Berlin was seized Aug. 20 by a group of Iraqi opposition figures, who said they were the Democratic Iraqi Opposition in Germany, a group heretofore unknown to EIR. They were armed, and fired weapons; two persons were injured (and released for treatment). The perpetrators took hostages, among them the Iraqi ambassador.
Reached by EIR, calling into the embassy shortly after the news broke on the Internet, one unidentified person, presumably a hostage-taker, replied, when asked for the ambassador or his replacement, suggesting the caller "call back in two weeks." When asked to confirm the wire reports of a takeover, he said, "We have taken our land back," but would not or could not explain who "we" were. He said, "The police know." When asked, if he were with the opposition Iraqi National Congress, he seemed not to know what that was.
Five hours after the occupation, German police retook the embassy and freed the hostages, without any injuries.
Anglo-American War-Mongers Behind Berlin Embassy Takeover?
According to Neue Zuercher Zeitung-Online of Aug. 20, the Iraqi opposition group that took hostages at the Iraqi Berlin embassy issue the following press release:
"In name of the Iraqi people and their legitimate leadership, the Iraqi opposition, we declare that the liberation of Iraqi territory has begun today. We are taking over the Iraqi embassy in Berlin and thus [take] the first step in the direction of freeing our beloved fatherland. This first step against the terror regime of Saddam Hussein and his killers, which is taking place with friendly intentions, should make the German people, organizations, and political forces understand, that our people have a will to freedom, and will achieve it. The Germans understand our cause. The German people too formulated once the foundations of democracy in the Pauls Church, and they too, suffered and bled under the tyranny and terror of Hitler's National Socialists. These parallels unify our democrats. Our action is peaceful and temporary. Our way is the liberation of Baghdad. The way of freedom and justice of our people and its legitimate leadership, the Iraqi opposition, which stands here united and determined...."
However, despite American support for a "regime change" in the "axis of evil" country of Iraq, the White House was quick to disavow any connection to the Berlin terrorist incident. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the U.S. "had no prior knowledge of this group, and no contacts with them." He told the press at President Bush's ranch that "actions like this takeover are unacceptable. They undermine legitimate efforts by Iraqis, both inside and outside Iraq, to bring regime change to Iraq."
Blix Questions WMD Reports; Says Drumbeat for War Could Defeat Inspection Efforts
If Iraq believes it will be attacked in a U.S.-led war for a "regime change," no matter what it does to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspections, then there is a good chance there will be a war. Thus observed Hans Blix, the designated chief weapons inspector for the UN. Blix previously spent years with the UN in Iraq, between 1991 and 1998, evaluating and investigating whether Iraq was developing nuclear weapons. The mission concluded there was no nuclear weapons capability.
On Aug. 16, Blix told Associated Press that he can't say that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction for certain, "...[I]f we had real evidence here that they have weapons of mass destruction, we would bring it to the [UN] Security Council." He said that he receives intelligence from governments, but "It's not my job to speculate on the veracity of what different intelligence agencies come out with. I'm not assuming that they are right, but it would be naive of me to rule the other way. It's an open issue, and hence one that requires inspection on the ground." As for whether inspections would be sufficient, he said, "I think there are some limitations to what you can achieve by international inspections, just as there are some limitations on what you can achieve by military power."
On Aug. 17, Blix told BBC-1 that if an invasion seemed inevitable, Iraq "might conclude that it's not very meaningful to have inspections." He stressed that while Baghdad had still not agreed to the specifics of Blix's demands, negotiations to readmit inspectors are ongoing. Blix commented: "If inspectors are allowed in, and if they are given really unfettered access with no delays, ... we would be eager to do that, and to help towards a non-belligerent solution."
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld proved Blix's point last week with an hysteria-filled speech comparing Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler. (See INDEPTH for the international policy battle against the Iraq war hysteria, and the rightwing Israeli agents in the U.S. Defense Department.)
Al-Qaeda in Iraq: Baghdad Assets, or American Ones?
The Washington Post reported on its front page Aug. 21 on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's assertions in recent days that there is a substantial "al-Qaeda presence" inside Iraq. He refused to provide any details. However, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told CBS News on Aug 20 that the al-Qaeda personnel operating inside Iraq are in the northern part of the country, the area under the control of Kurdish leader Jallal Talabani, "an ally of Mr. Rumsfeld."
The Post reported, "Qubad Talabani, Washington representative of the Kurdish Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, said a group of about 120 Arabs with some links to al-Qaeda did arrive in the eastern town of Biyara last September." Talabani also said their numbers have grown since the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan began.
For months there has been an increasingly desperate effort among the neo-conservatives to link Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda, and, by implication, to the 9/11 attacks. The Post admitted that there is no such proof, including of the so-called Prague meeting between Mohammed Atta and a senior Iraqi intelligence official in April 2001.
Earlier this year, Jeff Goldberg, a "reporter" retired from the Israeli military, had written an article in The New Yorker magazine, claiming that Saddam was sponsoring an al-Qaeda-linked Kurdish Islamist group, Ansar al-Islami.
However, knowledgeable sources told EIR that, while the group does exist, it is at war with the Baghdad regime, and operates out of the Kurdish region of the north, where the U.S. and Britain maintain a no-fly zone. The Ansar group are Islamic fundamentalists, and don't get along with the Talibani and Barzani secular Kurdish groups, but they are not part of any Baghdad-bin Laden alliance. So the propaganda flows hot and heavy, but evidence seems to point more towards al-Qaeda and Taliban refugees being safehoused in the U.S./British-controlled area of Iraq, and being primed for action similar to the 1980s era of the mujihadeen war against the Soviets in Afghanistanwhen Osama bin Laden was a certified American asset.
Tariq Aziz Says George Junior Will Not Win His War
The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, had the following to say to CBS on Aug. 21: "We are defending our independence, we are defending our integrity, we are defending our national interest; and any aggressor cannot win a war against us." Asked about President Bush the elder's failure to remove Saddam Hussein, he said: "Could he do that? ... His son is now planning to do it. Let him try, and he will find that he will lose this plan, he will lose this endeavor." He said the younger Bush was not so wise as the elder.
Egypt Won't Let U.S. Warships Use Suez Canal for Iraq War
Dr. Osama Al Baz, political adviser to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said that Egypt will not allow passage through the Suez Canal of ships headed to attack Iraq, according to the Qatar News Agency Aug. 19. Baz said Egypt rejects any military attack on Iraq, and that any such attack represents a very dangerous step endangering the security of the region.
Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah warned that a U.S. attack on Iraq "could have adverse effects and destabilize the region and the world and lead to a humanitarian catastrophe."
Israeli Reporter: Sharon Has a 'Whopping Hard-On' for Iraq War
Misgivings about an attack on Iraq are being expressed in Israel as well as reflected in a commentary in Ha'aretz of Aug. 20 by Yoel Marcos. Entitled "Scared to Death," Marcos's editorial reads: "Our head honchos are going to keep at it until they scare us all to death. In America, enthusiasm over attacking Iraq is actually starting to fade.... Over in America, serious thought is being given to the risks, to the cost in human life, to what will happen after the war, and of course, to what the actual chances of winning are.
"Only around here, everything is clear. When Saddam attacks Israel with smallpox, sarin gas, mustard gas, poisoned hotdogs, nuclear warheads or extra strength ameba; when he sends over pilot-less planes and missiles he has or doesn't have, we'll be ready for him. With our might, with our whopping hard-on, we will erase Iraq from the face of the Earth, helped by nuclear weapons, of course" (emphasis added).
He writes, "In America, not a soldier has made a move toward Iraq, but around here, the COA (Cover Our Ass) specialists are already working full steam."
It is insanity to have Israel contemplating being the first nation to use nuclear weapons since World War II. "Can't they see what this does for our standing and our security?" writes Marcus. "Don't they understand that even saying such things is disastrous for our image, which has already hit rock-bottom? After this reckless leap from the height of discretion to swaggering talk about blowing a country to kingdom come, it's not clear anymore who we should be scared to death of."
Israeli F-16s Can Carry Nuclear Weapons
According to Nuclear Notebook, published by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in the September-October 2002 issue, Israel's American-supplied F-16s can carry nuclear weapons. The report highlights the fact that Israel's F-16 and F-15 are capable of delivering nuclear weapons, and it also details the squadrons, including their bases, which are trained and prepared to deliver these weapons. It further notes that the Pentagon's 2001 assessment report on nuclear proliferation failed to mention Israel, although a U.S. Strategic Air Command report written as early as 1991 listed Israel as a "de facto" nuclear power. The significance of the report, given major play this week in Ha'aretz, lies in the fact that it comes out now, at the height of the Iraq war debate, and is splashed on the front pages of the Israeli press at a time when the Sharon government is on a propaganda drive for an Israeli attack on Iraq.
Israelis Assassinate Brother of Jailed PFLP Leader
The Israelis assassinated Mohammed Sa'adat, the 22-year-old brother of Ahmed Sa'adat, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who is currently sitting in a Palestinian jail. This was done on Aug. 21, within hours of the implementation of the so-called "Gaza First" agreements between the Israelis and Palestinians, whereby the Israelis would start withdrawing if the Palestinians dealt with the security situation. Sa'adat's brother denounced the assassination, saying that "every Palestinian, children included, has become an assassination target, whether by bullets, planes or house demolitions."
As with the July 23 assassination in Gaza City of 17 Palestinians, including infants and children, the Sharon wing in Israel obviously did this to provoke conflict among the various Palestinian factions, since now the Palestinians look more like the "Jewish police" who were set up by the Nazis as enforcers in the Warsaw Ghetto. The action is not surprising, since the new head of the Central Command which is responsible for the West Bank, is Major General Moshe Kaplinski, whose previous assignment, which ended only a few weeks ago, was military adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The assassination occurred before the Gaza pullout negotiated between Palestinian Interior Minister Yehiyeh and Israeli Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer, could even be implemented. On the same day, Israeli tanks and troops moved into the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Southern Gaza and killed one Palestinian civilian when the Israel Defense Force began blowing up buildings they said were used as cover for snipers. The IDF claims that a sniper had killed an Israeli soldier in Gaza.
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