In this issue:

Polish President Takes Position Opposite to Pope on Question of War and Peace

British Circles Want To Discredit Schroeder, Undermine French-German Relations

Britain Running Biggest Propaganda Campaign Since Suez in 1956

Manufacturing Hit Hard in Britain, Germany

France Breaks with Britain, U.S. on Zimbabwe

From Volume 2, Issue Number 4 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Jan. 27, 2003

Western European News Digest

Polish President Takes Position Opposite to Pope on Question of War and Peace

Polish President Aleksandr Kwasniewski has taken a stance totally opposite to that of Pope John Paul II (who is a great hero in Poland), on the fundamental questions of war and peace. The Pope recently came out with a statement against any war on Iraq—a statement then echoed by key figures in the Vatican Secretariat on Foreign Affairs, including Cardinal Angelo Sodano; former UN Ambassador Archbishop Renato Martino, currently president of Justitia et Pax; Cardinal Tauran; and Cardinal Roger Etchegarray.

However, after President Kwasniewski's Jan. 14-15 visit to the U.S., where he met with President Bush, it seems that Poland has been selected as a lever in the attempt to split the resistance among continental European governments to a possible U.S. war against Iraq.

The Bush Administration, which considers Poland "its most loyal ally" in Europe, seems to be trying to use President Kwasniewski—who is mooted as a potential successor to NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson—as an Anglo-American Trojan Horse in Europe. In January, the Bush Administration sold 48 F-16C fighter jets to Poland, providing exceptionally favorable financing conditions. Earlier the U.S. had donated an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate to the Polish Navy.

During Kwasniewski's visit to Washington, the Bush Administration signalled that it sees Poland as a key ally against Saddam Hussein, and as a "counterbalance" to European allies who mostly oppose a war against Iraq. President Bush called Kwasniewski "his best friend" in Europe. In turn, the Polish President spoke about a "new chapter" in U.S.-Polish relations, and promised that Poland would contribute troops in a possible war with Iraq.

Similarly, the government of Hungary is helping the U.S. in preparations for conflict. According to the Jan. 15 issue of the German paper Handelsblatt, the U.S. Army is using the military base Taszar, south of Budapest, as a training ground. At the end of January, 3,000 Iraqi exiles are to arrive there, to be trained by 1,500 U.S. Special Forces—so that these exiles can be used in Iraq in the "post-Saddam era" in administrative jobs and as liaison officers with the U.S. military. For seven years the U.S. military has been using this military base, from which U.S. peace-keeping forces were deployed during the Balkan Wars.

On Dec. 20, the Hungarian government gave permission for the U.S. to use the base in Taszar as a training ground. Originally, the U.S. had considered using one of its bases in Stuttgart, Germany.

But since the Hungarian agreement, U.S. military equipment has been delivered and the U.S. Army has hired 500 Hungarians to help set up. Some of the residents, Handelsblatt writes, fear terrorist revenge attacks, if war should start.

On Jan. 17, Hungarian Defense Minister Ferenc Juhasz told a news conference that his government is ready to make its airspace available to the United States, in case of war.

British Circles Want To Discredit Schroeder, Undermine French-German Relations

"There are high-level British interests who are determined to discredit [German Chancellor Gerhard] Schroeder, because they are very concerned, about the recent upgrading and improvement of Franco-German relations," a well-informed City of London source told EIR Jan. 20. He was commenting on the fact that the Mail on Sunday tabloid had published a new round of "scandal revelations" against the German Chancellor on Jan. 19, after having defied a court ruling that it could not continue printing its anti-Schroeder "revelations."

The City of London source said: "Schroeder has been becoming much more friendly with the French. There is a great deal of concern in London at the last Franco-German moves to reform the European Union institutions, and to set up a two-Presidency structure for the EU. And then, this week, there are the big Franco-German meetings, for the 40th anniversary of the Adenauer-de Gaulle agreements of 1963. There is much sensitivity to this in London." (For coverage of the Franco-German Treaty, see INDEPTH.)

"Relevant to this, is that Tony Blair's own office announced this weekend that the British referendum on the euro would be delayed. This also shows a cooling toward the EU. Frankly, the British establishment was much happier with Schroeder, when he put himself forward as the continental counterpart to Tony Blair. But this pro-French orientation irritates them."

The source also said that Iraq is "a background factor" in the whole mood in London, given the reluctance of the "euro-zone" countries about the war, in contrast to Blair's gung-ho support for the war, but the Franco-German moves, in and of themselves, strike a more immediate and deeper chord.

Britain Running Biggest Propaganda Campaign Since Suez in 1956

"We are currently in the midst of the largest propaganda campaign waged by any British government since the attack on Suez in 1956," charged Mike Berry, head of the University of Glasgow Media Group, in the lead letter to the London Guardian Jan. 22, published under the title, "Scare Tactics over Iraq."

Berry wrote: "The Blair government has tried the Iraq weapons dossier—rubbished by defence analysts and the Iraq human rights dossier—condemned as cynical and opportunistic by Amnesty International. Now it appears to have embarked upon a massive propaganda effort, to link Iraq to terrorism, and has started fabricating stories about imminent terrorist threats to Britain. These have been done by having the security services leak unattributable stories to various media organs."

He then enumerated the recent barrage of stories, as well as the high-profile arrests in London of alleged al-Qaeda members found with supplies of the highly toxic ricin. In this and similar cases, Berry charged, the suspects are usually released without charges being brought, "but by then, the operations have already served their purpose, in helping to generate a climate of pervasive fear across the country. The purpose of this, is to scare the population into believing that an attack on Iraq will somehow improve their security, by removing a potential terrorist sponsor."

Berry asserted: "In the days and weeks leading to the Anglo-U.S. attack on Iraq, no doubt more lurid threats will be 'uncovered.' Recently in Glasgow, there have been reports that terrorists are planning to poison the water supply. No proof or evidence of any kind offered, just rumour. I hope that the Guardian will treat such stories, which fit so closely with the government's agenda, with a healthy dose of skepticism."

Blair is signalling precisely what Berry warned about. The Guardian reported on Blair's fanatically pro-war statements to a British Parliament group, and then wrote: "He also bluntly warned that an attempted attack on Britain by terrorists was inevitable, despite the arrest of 3,000 terrorists worldwide since Sept. 11." The Guardian quoted Blair: "Do we really doubt that, if these terrorists could get hold of these weapons of mass destruction, that they would not use them? The most frightening thing, is the coming together of fanaticism and the technology capable of delivering mass destruction and mass death."

Manufacturing Hit Hard in Britain, Germany

The British industry association CBI has put out a new report, noting that the number of UK manufacturing companies operating below capacity has climbed to a 20-year high. The leader of Britain's biggest private-sector trade union warned that manufacturing in the United Kingdom could be dead with 20 years.

Meanwhile, according to the Financial Times Jan. 24, European machine-tool production plunged by 14% last year, due to rapidly falling demand worldwide. CECIMO, the European machine-tool association which covers the 15 largest European producers, including those from Switzerland, Turkey, and the Czech Republic, reports that output last year fell to just 17.1 billion euros, compared to 19.8 billion in the year before. It was the first annual decline in output since 1993. The producers associated with CECIMO account for about one-half of the global machine-tool production. European demand for machine tools fell by 17% last year, while sales to U.S. manufacturing plunged sharply as well. Output in France and Italy fell by 5%, in Spain by 8%, in Germany by 17%, in Switzerland by 20%, and in Britain by 29%.

Police Conduct Raids on Islamist Cells in Germany

Six hundred policemen were deployed in raids on Islamist cells in Germany Jan. 24. In what comes as a German move in the context of a European-wide police operation, police searched offices, flats, meeting sites, and cars, as well as computers, of altogether more than 1,000 members of groups with suspected links to the al-Qaeda network. Three arrests were made in Lower Saxony, which was the main focus in the police operation in Germany.

Threats of new al-Qaeda terrorist acts were also pointed at by German Interior Security Minister Otto Schily, after talks with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Schily did not specify the nature of the threats, but said that security measures would be upgraded to counter the threats.

Also Jan. 24, the Bundeswehr began deploying almost 3,000 troops for 24-hour protection of 95 U.S. military and military-related installations throughout Germany. This is being done under a decree of the German Ministry of Defense, in response to an official U.S. request.

France Breaks with Britain, U.S. on Zimbabwe

France is breaking with Britain and the U.S. on Zimbabwe, and has invited President Robert Mugabe to a Franco-African summit. The invitation to Mugabe to attend the summit in Paris on Feb. 20-21, signed by French President Jacques Chirac, has produced "fury" in the British and U.S. governments, and among British and European parliamentarians, according to the Zimbabwe Independent Jan. 24.

Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) are to "discuss at their general affairs council meeting [Jan. 27] what MPs on both sides of the English Channel are calling the most serious breach of the sanctions regime yet," says the Independent. The U.S. State Department said the French decision was "regrettable" and urged the application of EU sanctions in a "consistent and effective manner," according to Voice of America News Jan. 25. France, however, cites the exception in the sanctions regime for meetings promoting democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is now supposed to have reached agreement with the French government, according to which he will drop objections to Mugabe's attendance in exchange for a commitment from France to back the renewal of EU sanctions, which expire Feb. 18. Sources told the Independent that Blair had to accept the deal "after it emerged that some EU countries including Italy, Portugal and Greece, were unwilling to support the resumption of sanctions, claiming they were not working." Renewal requires the unanimous vote of all 15 EU members.

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