In this issue:

U.S. Marine Lt. Colonel, Others Blast Rumsfeld Utopians

Where Are the Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mr. Blair-Bush?

Amram Mitzna Resigns As Labor Party Chairman

Jordanian FM Prioritizes Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Rumsfeld Speaks of 'Liberation' as U.S. Troops Shoot Civilian Demonstrators

Garner's Meeting of the 'Opposition' Flopped

U.S. Eyes Iraqi Oil, But Could Face British Empire's Fate

U.S. Invasion Destroyed Iraqi Hospital System

Inspirer of Rabin Assassination Visits the U.S.

From Volume 2, Issue Number 18 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published May 5, 2003
Mideast News Digest

U.S. Marine Lt. Colonel, Others Blast Rumsfeld Utopians

On April 24, Lt. Col. Dale Davis, a retired Marine Corps counterintelligence officer, now at Virginia Military Institute (VMI), was interviewed on the Public Radio International program, "To the Point" regarding the Pentagon's lack of preparation for the power vacuum in Iraq, which is now being filled by Shi'ite clerics. Asked if there had not been 12 years of study of the situation in Iraq, Davis said the problem is not a lack of intelligence, but "the refusal" of certain key leaders within the Administration to accept the advice of the people who are more familiar with the nuances of the region. He cited Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and others, "who are motivated by strong ideological views," and who refused to accept the advice of "the people they refer to as the 'woolly-headed Arabists' in the State Department and the Pentagon, because it conflicts with their ideological view."

Davis said that the situation in the south of Iraq "can be traced back to one single flawed assumption— that we'd be welcomed with open arms by the Shi'ites." Asked about Ahmed Chalabi, Davis said "Ahmed Chalabi and his band of merry men," the Iraqi National Congress, "have absolutely no credibility in Iraq." He said some of them are tainted by the association with the Saddam Hussein regime, and others of them are tainted by their involvement in fraud and corruption.

Quoted in the Baltimore Sun of April 25, Davis also said the U.S. had enough combat troops to topple Saddam Hussein, but not the military police, civil affairs officers, engineers, and water-purification experts needed to stabilize the country and begin returning to normality. As a result, Davis says, the mosques filled in the security and services needs of the population. David added that the Administration had a misconception that when Saddam Hussein fell, lower-level government workers would stay on the job.

The Baltimore Sun cited a rising chorus of criticism of the Bush Administration for misjudging the potential for this dangerous power vacuum in Iraq. This includes some senior Republicans, such as Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who said, "There are not sufficient troops.... There were sufficient troops to win the war but not sufficient troops to win the peace." The Sun article also notes that Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki had warned that several hundred thousand troops would be needed for occupation duty, an estimation that was ridiculed by Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz as "wildly off the mark."

In addition to these public statements, it is widely reported that the Chickenhawks' Iraq war has created much ferment in both the military and foreign service community. One retired official has described the situation in the Bush Administration as a "peaceful coup d'etat" in the United States, by a "small ideological group" that have misused Sept. 11 to create an atmosphere of intimidation on the basis of "patriotism."

A very senior military official said that only when President Bush realizes that it was the group of Vice President Cheney's neo-conservative ideologues who are responsible for the chaos in Iraq, where they have created a new crisis like Tehran 1979, will Bush do what is necessary—purge these dangerous elements from the Administration policy making.

Where Are the Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mr. Blair-Bush?

With the humiliating message that Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered in Moscow to visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair, this week, taunting him as to where Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction might be (see Russia Digest,) the long overdue questions about the disinformation and lies created by the Washington-London-Israel neo-conservatives is being examined. The former head of the UN weapons inspection team, Rolf Ekeus, who headed UNSCOM, the predecessor to Hans Blix's UNMOVIC, told the Los Angeles Times on April 26 that it is unlikely the U.S. will find WMD caches in Iraq. "There should be a few drums or some old artillery shells lying in scrap heaps, but the Iraqis were focusing on production capabilities," not stockpiles. Ekeus, and Scott Ritter, a chief weapons inspector with UNSCOM have repeatedly said that the UNSCOM teams destroyed the WMD that were found in Iraq between 1991 and 1998, when UNSCOM was withdrawn by the United Nations in New York.

Ekeus's comments came in the context of the release of debriefing transcripts of Hussein Kamel Majid, the brother-in-law of Saddam Hussein who defected in August 1995. According to the transcript of his session, which Ekeus participated in, Majid said that Iraq had built an impressive array of chemical and biological weapons that could be spread by artillery shells, but that he himself had ordered all such weapons destroyed. Majid also told the inspectors, "You should not underestimate yourself. You are very effective in Iraq." He said that the inspections had stopped the production of long-range missile engines, because "it was a losing battle" trying to get around the inspectors. On April 27, another piece in the London Independent is called "Revealed: How the Road to War was Paved With Lies. Intelligence Agencies Accuse Bush and Blair of Distorting and Fabricating Evidence in Rush to War." "The case for invading Iraq to remove its weapons of mass destruction," writes Raymond Whitaker, "was based on selective use of intelligence, exaggeration, use of sources known to be discredited and outright fabrication." Much of the information on WMD had come from Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, which received Pentagon money, with the implication that "they polluted the whole U.S. intelligence effort," said Glen Rangwala, the British expert who has exposed the lies embedded in Downing Street's dossiers.

In response to a growing international criticism, the Bush Administration is scrambling to keep the UN inspectors out of Iraq while trying to come up with some explanation of where the WMD are. One assertion is that the WMD were destroyed on the eve of the invasion—which experts find laughable since traces would easily be found in testing. Other Administration officials boldly assert that WMD was never the reason for the attack on Iraq—it was always regime change, which both the UN Security council and the U.S. Congress had rejected. On April 27, the New York Times reported that the Bush Administration is planning to triple the size of its team searching for alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and for Iraqi scientists. About 1,000 people will be added to the 500 who are already involved in the search. One of the fears of the international community, and from U.S. intelligence sources, is that the Rumsfeld/Cheney operatives will plant weapons of mass destruction—to cover their tracks.

Amram Mitzna Resigns As Labor Party Chairman

Israeli Labor Party Chairman Amram Mitzna resigned, May 4, reported Ha'aretz, quoting the Haifa mayor as saying, "Today, I am returning the mandate I received from members of the Labor Party and I will resign as head of the Labor Party." Mitzna added, "I was elected by a huge majority, but unfortunately there were people in the present [Labor] leadership who did not internalize or respect this... they put their personal interests before the party."

While Mitzna did not "name names," Ha'aretz states that Mitzna's "main opponent in both the Party primary last November, and since," has been former Party Leader and Minister of Defense in Ariel Sharon's "unity" coalition government, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. Ben-Eliezer, now a Labor Party Knesset member was defeated by Mitzna in the leadership election last November.

Mitzna added that he had discussed the timetable with Labor Secretary-General Ophir Pines, who said he would convene the relevant Party bodies within ten days to discuss whether new elections would be held or whether a temporary Party leader would be appointed. The names that surfaced as possible replacements for Mitzna, according to Ha'aretz were Ben-Eliezer, Matan Vilnai, Avraham Shochat, and Party Whip Dalia Itzik.

As EIW reported, the Labor Party's strong showing prior to the January 2003 election, over Sharon's Likud seems to have been destroyed after Democratic Leadership Council Jewish Mafia figure and Mega member Michael Steinhardt, arrived in Israel in the middle of the elections, and denounced Mitzna for refusing to join any government with Sharon.

Ben-Eliezer has continued to work against Mitzna over the question of joining Sharon's government. With the delivery of the "Road Map" plan for beginning the process of talks leading to a Palestinian state, this week, the Israeli government may be going into a new crisis, along with the Labor Party.

Jordanian FM Prioritizes Israeli-Palestinian Peace

On the eve of his visit to Washington, where he met Secretary of State Colin Powell, Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher, wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times of April 27, of a time of opportunity in the Middle East, if it is approached with respect and wisdom. On the one side, he writes, the moment has come for the Arab world to engage in a homegrown evolutionary and orderly process of democratization, "one that will respect Arab culture while at the same time giving citizens the power to be part of the political process." But, he warns, "It's important to remember, though, that ... forcefeeding democracy will lead not to reform but to radicalization. A wiser approach would be to respect the ability of Arab countries to take matters into their own hands."

Muasher also said that those in the U.S. who call for remaking the region, he says "would do well to stop such talk. They are alienating Arabs and jeopardizing the efforts of genuine reformers, who now cannot advocate democracy without being accused of doing America's bidding."

The U.S. must also take a larger role in helping to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. He writes, "No action can better restore a sense of balance" in the region than that. On Tuesday, Muasher and Powell held a press conference, where Powell, to the chagrin of Administration "Chickenhawks" who oppose Middle East peace, preannounced that the "Road Map" would be released upon the confirmation of Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen. It was in fact released last week.

Rumsfeld Speaks of 'Liberation' as U.S. Troops Shoot Civilian Demonstrators

At least three more Iraqi civilians were shot to death and others wounded, in a new attack on demonstrators in the town of Faluja, on April 30. On Monday, at least 13 were killed and 75 wounded by U.S. troops firing on the crowd. Witnesses and medical personnel told AFP that in Wednesday's incident there was no gunfire from the demonstrators. Witness Safa Rusli is quoted by AFP saying, it "was a peaceful demonstration. Religious leaders told us not to be armed." Rusli added that American soldiers riding in jeeps and armored vehicles opened fire after children started throwing shoes and stones at them. Rumsfeld's imperial march into Baghdad has caused even more anger, both in Iraq, and throughout the Arab and Islamic war. Within hours of the second day of U.S. military killings of civilians, Rumsfeld taped a statement for Iraqi radio and TV that says that the U.S. goals are to create a free country where leaders answer to the people, he said, "instead of murdering them." After Rumsfeld's statement, Viceroy Jay Garner angrily chastised reporters and said that the media should focus less on anti-American protests, and more on the good things that the U.S. troops are doing—or else. Protests are still continuing over the U.S. military killing of independent reporters in Baghdad, when soldiers fired on the Palestinian Hotel, after having been informed that journalists were staying at that location. Washington sources say that the anti-American and British protests are going to get far worse. An indication of how bad it has already become, was the incident that occurred in al-Azzijah, near al-Kut, on April 28, reported by the German weekly, Der Spiegel. Two members of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Aid (ORHA), Garner's outfit, went to meet with a group of local tribal chiefs, at the "luxurious villa" of Sheikh Jamal Ali al-Bateech. As they talked with the 20 men, about cooperation to rebuild, a group of Iraqis gathered outside the villa, to demonstrate. The reason: the Sheikh is a well-known Baath Party leader. Demonstrators shouted "No Baathist! No Saddam! No USA!" As the crowd swelled to 1,200, the atmosphere got heated, and the first stones were thrown. A guard of the Sheikh fired shots from the rooftop, which further incensed the crowd, which then attacked the ORHA cars, and set them ablaze. The Americans had to call for help, and be airlifted out by helicopter. The incident shows what a dilemma the U.S. forces are in: They cannot organize the real political leaders of Iraqi organizations, so they have to fall back on tribal chiefs, formerly loyal to Saddam. This does not wash with the population. The two ORHA men went to Baghdad to discuss with Garner, what to do. The incident is not an isolated one, and by May 1, it was being reported that arrangements are underway to appoint a "superior" to Viceroy Garner. The name of Paul Bremer, the former head of counter-terrorism for the State Department, has been floated.

Garner's Meeting of the 'Opposition' Flopped

The April 28 meeting in Baghdad of opposition leaders was another flop ,?at the same time that the Bush Administration warmongers are desperately trying to form a "Government" of Iraq, made up of Iraqis, before June 3, when the "Oil for Food" program of the United Nations has to be extended by the UN Security Council. Under the UN resolutions, the oil money belongs to the people of Iraq, and their elected representatives—andd cannot, and will not—be turned over to the U.S., which is demanding it. But the fast track for the Iraq puppet government is not working. Official reports stress that 250 persons attended representing Shi'ite, Sunni, Kurdish, and other leaders, including tribal leaders. The fact is, no LEADER of any of the organizations attended, but only very low- level delegates. Talebani and Barzani, the Kurdish leaders, did not go. The bulk of the attendants were tribal leaders, many of them linked to the Baath Party, whom the US must turn to, for lack of other support. TV coverage focussed on Garner, inside the meeting, speaking. But there was no coverage of what was going on outside, where 30-40,000 demonstrators shouted slogans, demanding an Iraqi government, formed without the US.

U.S. Eyes Iraqi Oil, But Could Face British Empire's Fate

An April 30 feature story in United Press International (UPI) by Hussain Hindaw & John R. Thomson, notes the importance of both Iraq's oil and its water. Iraq may eventually prove to have the world's largest oil reserves and highest production. It is expected to take two years to raise the current 2.5-2.8 million barrels day to the 3.6 million level that existed prior to the 1991 Gulf War. Beyond this, Iraq's Oil Ministry had been planning to expand to 6 million barrels/day with the help of France and Russia. One scenario expects the U.S. to go for 8 million barrels/day, with the intention of breaking OPEC. Iraq, uniquely among Arab nations, also has large water supplies, the UPI story notes; its agricultural potential is so great, that it could become a net exporter of food in 3-5 years. But, the key questions will be fought out in the political arena. Many expect the U.S. to dominate Iraq, but some Iraqi analysts don't rule out an armed Iraqi national resistance which would force the U.S. to withdraw, as it did 30 years ago from Vietnam. Analysts are reminding the Americans of what happened to the British after its World War I invasion of what is now Iraq. Hundreds of British troops died in the 1920 revolt. American Viceroy General Garner is now promising democracy and Iraqi control over its resources, but so did the British, the authors note.

U.S. Invasion Destroyed Iraqi Hospital System

More than three weeks after the fall of Baghdad to invading U.S. military forces, not one of the 34 hospitals in that city is functioning. Not only are war casualties suffering as a result, but also patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, are unable to get treatment or the drugs they require to control their conditions, and people are dying, everyday, as a result. So reported Dr. Morton Rostrup, international president of Doctors Without Borders, on May 2, who spent the war and two weeks afterwards in Baghdad, volunteering his services in Iraqi hospitals. He particularly hit at the fact that the U.S. invasion force apparently had no plan to secure the hospitals, once the central authority collapsed, or to reconstitute the health care system in the aftermath. Dr. Rostrup said that the hospitals were not hit as hard by the looting as he had expected, since security was organized for some of them, not by the U.S. military, but by the doctors and militias organized out of local neighborhoods.

Inspirer of Rabin Assassination Visits the U.S.

On May 2 the Israeli paper Ha'aretz reported that the inspirer of the Rabin assassination, Rabbi Benny, Alon, one of the leaders of the Fascist National Union and a supporter of transfer (ethnic cleansing), left for Washington where he will campaign against the road map. Elon can be called the spiritual murderer of Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In fact, Yigal Amir, the man who shot Rabin in 1995, said in an open court that he told Elon that he was going to carry out the murder. Elon denies this, but cannot deny that he met Amir.

Elon was also the Rabbi at the Temple Mount Yeshiva, where he trained an entire generation of Temple Mount fanatics, who were dedicated to the rebuilding of the Third Temple of Solomon upon the destruction of the Islamic holy site Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem.

Elon said he will discuss his "Marshall Plan" for the region, which is nothing but marshalling Palestinians into their new state, which will be Jordan. He proposes that the international community financially support this "population exchange."

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