In this issue:

Straussian Intelligence Unit Targetted by LaRouche Is Now Under Investigation

LaRouche Movement Leader Amelia Boynton Robinson Honored for Civil Rights Record

Poor Treatment of Iraq Wounded a National Scandal

J.D. Crouch, Neo-Con Underling, Resigns From DOD

New Pentagon Report Promotes Mini-Nukes

Byrd Amendment: Make Iraq Overseer Accountable

Senators Blast Ashcroft for Ducking Questioning

Will Bush Veto Increase for Veterans' Health Care?

From Volume 2, Issue Number 44 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Nov. 4, 2003

United States News Digest

Straussian Intelligence Unit Targetted by LaRouche Is Now Under Investigation

In a major development, as of Oct. 31, the U.S. Senate has put the Defense Department's Office of Special Plans (OSP) on notice it is are under investigation. Since May 2003, following the cessation of "major combat" in Iraq, Republicans have blocked repeated attempts by senior members of the House and Senate to investigate the OSP, a rogue intelligence group that was one of the centers of power for the followers of philosophy professor Leo Strauss, who taught that public servants have to lie to the "commoners" to keep them in line.

The Straussian operations in the OSP were exposed in the pamphlet, "The Children of Satan: Ignoble Liars Behind Bush's No-win War in Iraq," which was put out by the campaign of Democratic Party Presidential pre-candidate, Lyndon LaRouche.

As of Oct. 31, it appears that Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, Chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, has conceded to Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (D-W.Va.) demands that the committee's probes be extended to the Defense Dept., Executive branch, and the "policy makers," as required by the mandate of the Committee.

On Oct. 30, the full Committee sent letters demanding documents from the National Security Council, and the Defense and State Departments. The scope of the investigation is now reported to include the Pentagon's OSP, run by Doug Feith and William Luti, as well as Cheney's agent-of-influence John Bolton in the State Department. The Niger yellow-cake uranium hoax is a specific focus of the committee's inquiry, two sources said, according to the Los Angeles Times on Oct. 31.

LaRouche Movement Leader Amelia Boynton Robinson Honored for Civil Rights Record

On Oct. 17, Amelia Boynton Robinson was honored in Washington, D.C., at an event sponsored by the National Visionary Leadership Project, co-founded by Camille Cosby and Renee Poussaint. Mrs. Robinson, the 92-year-old civil rights trail-blazer and vice chairwoman of the Schiller Institute, was among an elite group of civil rights leaders over the age of 70, who were recognized for their contributions to the civil rights struggle.

The National Visionary Leadership project had conducted a two-hour video-taped interview of Amelia earlier in the year. Video excerpts of the interview are on the organization's website (www.visionaryproject.com). The group's basic idea was to capture the experience of veteran civil rights leaders on videotape, and pass on that heritage to today's youth, by making the videotapes available to universities and public school systems. The plaques received by the recipients are reproductions of the webpage on which their interviews appear.

The day was filled with events honoring some of the greatest living contributors to civil rights in America. At a luncheon in the Library of Congress, Amelia, Dick Gregory, and Dorothy Height (president emeritus of the National Council of Negro Women) were awarded plaques for their visionary leadership.

After the luncheon, a summit was held on the state of black America, during which a few of the honorees, such as former Sen. Edward Brooke, former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, Dorothy Height, former Congresswoman Cardiss Collins, and historian Dr. John Hope Franklin fielded questions from young people in the audience.

In the evening, the event shifted location to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. There, a black-tie awards gala, hosted by Phylicia Rashad, the mistress of ceremony, who played Mrs. Bill Cosby in the comedian's long-running TV show, honored such performers as Ray Charles, Dick Gregory, Jimmy Heath, Geoffrey Holder, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Odetta.

Perhaps the most important thing about this event was the fact that its sponsors chose to honor Amelia for her historic contribution to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, and for her continuing work in behalf of human and civil rights as vice chairwoman of the Schiller Institute, in association with Lyndon and Helga LaRouche.

Poor Treatment of Iraq Wounded a National Scandal

As reported in last week's EIW InDepth, the outrage of the families of Iraqi soldiers and veterans's groups is so great that both parties on Capitol Hill are planning an investigation to put an immediate stop to the scandalous mistreatment of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq. Following an Oct. 17 UPI wire story about the miserable conditions in Ft. Stewart, Ga., Steve Robinson, the executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, went into action. So did several U.S. Senators.

Two members of the U.S. Senate, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) and Christopher Bond (R-Mo), the co-chairmen of the Senate National Guard Caucus, initiated a staff investigation of the conditions of the reservists at Fort Stewart, Ga. The investigation found that the soldiers were being kept in quarters designed for annual National Guard training, not for the housing and care of sick and wounded soldiers. The investigators also found that there was insufficient medical staff at Fort Stewart, "which has caused excessive delays in the delivery of care."

In a statement issued on Oct. 24, Bond said "The situation we have in Fort Stewart is totally unacceptable, and my first priority is to ensure our troops are receiving the health care they need." Leahy added "We need to take swift action to immediately get these soldiers into more appropriate living situations, but more importantly, we need to fix a system that lets these men and women down."

The day after the Leahy-Bond report was issued, Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee went down to Fort Stewart to see for himself how the reservists were being treated. He vowed afterwards that the Army will "make those improvements" in the living conditions of the soldiers in medical status. He also declared that what had happened at Fort Stewart "is not just a Fort Stewart issue," but "an Army issue. The people at Fort Stewart did what they could with what they had, but the Army has more assets and we'll focus those assets to solve any problems we've found, here."

See EIW next week for more on this report.

J.D. Crouch, Neo-Con Underling, Resigns From DOD

A leading proponent of mini-nukes, Assistant Secretary of Defense J.D. Crouch, who is an intimate ally of the top DOD Straussians, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, suddenly resigned, effective Oct. 31. In January 2003, Crouch briefed the press on the classified Nuclear Posture Review, which discussed the development of "mini-nukes" which the U.S. could use offensively—even against non-nuclear nations. Crouch has been part of the Cheney cabal since the early 1990s, when he worked for Cheney, then the Secretary of Defense.

According an article by liberal reporter Jim Lobe of InterPress Service, Oct. 31, Crouch has long-standing neo-con/Likudnik credentials. Lobe reports that Crouch worked with Wolfowitz (his superior at the time), Feith, and Lewis "Scooter" Libby (VP Cheney's National Security Advisor) on the infamous 1992 Defense Planning Guidance, which was the precursor to the 2002 preemptive war doctrine. Crouch is a former member of Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy, and is a protege of William van Cleave, who heads the Washington office of the Jerusalem-based Institute of Advance Strategic and Policy Studies (IASPS).

Lobe believes that Crouch's resignation shows that a "significant foreign-policy shift" is underway in the Bush Administration. He quotes a source who asserts that Crouch is "not being fired, but they're starting to move people around. It's all about reelection and how to get rid of the loonies without looking like they screwed up." Council on Foreign Relations member Charles Kupchan told Lobe: "What's new is that Bush's poll numbers are nose-diving, and he's scared."

Elected officials and leading political figures nationwide have been demanding—and waiting for—President Bush to fire the Pentagon civilians responsible for the Iraq mess, but intelligence sources have told EIR that Cheney is protecting his "team."

New Pentagon Report Promotes Mini-Nukes

As reported first on Oct. 23, the Pentagon's Defense Science Board has produced a report advocating the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons. The report is entitled "Future Strategic Strike Forces" and was likely produced by the Task Force of that name, which has been meeting for many months. Although not mentioned in the press coverage, it seems likely that the report is also an outgrowth of the August conference on new nuclear weapons held at the U.S. Strategic Command headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha.

The report was leaked to Jane's Defense Weekly, in advance of its January publication. It proposes steps to make U.S. nuclear weapons "relevant to the threat environment" in the era of the war on terrorism, and it argues that low-yield nuclear weapons would be a more "credible" threat to adversaries than traditional atomic weapons.

The report recommends resurrecting earlier, tested weapons, and modifying them for "greater precision, deep penetration [and] greatly reduced radioactivity," so that they pose a more credible threat to adversaries. The report also calls for the development of "enhanced" electromagnetic pulses weapons and neutron bombs.

EIR has reported that the call for a "new generation of nuclear weapons" goes back to the period when Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense in the first Bush Administration. It is not known if the leak of the report is linked to the sudden resignation of J.D. Crouch, one of its architects, and the promoter of military strikes against North Korea (see report above).

Byrd Amendment: Make Iraq Overseer Accountable

On Oct. 27, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) challenged the Senate to hold the Bush Administration accountable for its war in Iraq, by passing an amendment to the Fiscal 2004 foreign operations appropriations bill to make the head of the Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) a Presidential nominee, subject to confirmation by the Senate. He told the Senate that the House has already put such a provision into its version of the $87 billion Iraq War Supplemental bill, in reaction to the news that President Bush had appointed National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to lead a task force that would assume the responsibility for rebuilding Iraq. He noted that the National Security Advisor traditionally does not testify before Congressional committees, except under extraordinary circumstances. "It is an unconfirmed position," he said, "and its actions are hidden from the view of the Congress, the media, and the public."

Likewise for the head of the CPA, Amb. Paul Bremer; Byrd has little confidence that Bremer will testify in front of Congress when he is not asking for money. "The Congress has a responsibility on behalf of the American people," said Byrd, "to ensure that whoever is running things in Iraq is answerable to the Congress and to the American people." Byrd pointed out that the CPA "is an entity that has not been sanctioned, which has not been approved by Congress.... It is operating without any mandate from the American public."

As he has done previously, Byrd contrasted the Bush Administration's Iraq policy with the post-World War II Marshall Plan. He noted that the Marshall Plan was only passed after seven weeks of public hearings, and the Congress specified that the head of the plan would be subject to Senate confirmation. "On the other hand," he said, "the Coalition Provisional Authority and its administrator can claim none of that."

However, the amendment—strongly opposed by the White House—was defeated by a vote of 44-53 on Oct. 28.

Senators Blast Ashcroft for Ducking Questioning

Along with Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General John Ashcroft's days may also be numbered in the Bush Administration. All are coming under increasing attack, both from outside and inside their own agencies.

On Oct. 21, at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ashcroft came under fire for not showing up to be questioned about the USA/Patriot Act.

Kennedy objected to lower-level Department of Justice (DOJ) officials testifying, instead of the Attorney General, about "extreme measures, which may well threaten basic freedoms more than they prevent acts of terrorism."

"Only the Attorney General can supply adequate answers to our questions..." Kennedy continued. "He has not reported to the Committee since early March, yet he has the time to barnstorm the country in an exercise that's far more public relations" than law enforcement.

Sen, Joseph Biden (D-Del.) warned the DOJ officials that "the [Patriot] Act will be repealed if you don't get your act together," and start sharing information with Congress. "And the idea that the Attorney General of the United States has to be in Philadelphia ... or whatever the hell or heck he's doing, and not being willing to be here before this Committee, is outrageous. It's absolutely outrageous that he wouldn't be here."

Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Ut.) defended Ashcroft's stalling, but faces opposition to the fascist DoJ measures within his own Republican Party.

Will Bush Veto Increase for Veterans' Health Care?

On Oct. 21, the House voted 277-139, in a nonbinding motion, to support an extra $1.3 billion for veterans' health care, which is included in the Senate version of the $87 billion Iraq War Supplemental appropriations bill. The extra funding would eliminate the $250 deductible that some veterans are paying to use Veterans Administration hospitals, as well as allow them to get prescription drugs at lower rates. The motion also called for the House to support the Senate provision to convert $10 billion of the $20 billion Iraq reconstruction aid into loans.

Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who was a co-sponsor of the Senate amendment, told reporters on Oct. 22, "Our veterans need to know that America is with them and that we owe them a debt of gratitude.... [and] it's got to be with deeds and resources," including health care. She complained that the Bush Administration, whose proposals she described as "Spartan and skimpy," had the gall to object to the additional money. She vowed that "we're going to fight for this money because we believe that promises made" to veterans "should be promises kept."

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