Western European News Digest
Die Zeit Exposes Cheney Inner Circle Role in Iraq War
Germany's Die Zeit weekly ran a one-page article in its Oct. 30 issue, targetting Vice President Dick Cheney and his inner circle's role in orchestrating the Iraq war. The article, largely compiled on the basis of material already published on U.S. media during the past weeks, has been noticed with high interest among numerous senior analysts. Outside LaRouche's publications, the article has been the first, to date, to present the issue in more detail to a broader audience in Germany. It should be noted that former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt is one of the co-publishers of the Hamburg-based weekly.
Spiced with interviews conducted by Die Zeit's Washington, D.C. office, with former officials of the Pentagon (Karen Kwiatkowski, Judith Yaphe), the CIA (Vincent Cannistrano), and State (Greg Thielmann), the article documents select phases of the development from the formation of the Office of Special Plans to the war. Beside Cheney, also Lewis "Scooter" Libby, William Luti, Paul Wolfowitz, and Richard Perle are named, in key roles.
One of the passages referring directly to Cheney, reads: "Politics finally usurps direct access to Langley. It is an unmistaken gesture, when Vice President Richard Cheney suddenly appears at the entrance to the CIA headquarters. He is meeting with section heads on the Iraq dossier, again and again. Does the man have an information deficit? Like the President, Cheney receives a personal CIA briefing six times a week. In case he has questions, they'll be answered the next day, at the latest. The excursions of the Vice President into the world of agents, a CIA official said, had signalled that specific statements were desired from here."
"Putting the blame on George Tenet alone, would mean to blame the water kettle for boiling over, rather than the people that turn the heat on," the article concludes.
Belgium Nixes Troops to Iraq, Turkey Has Yet To Decide
As of Oct. 26, Belgium will not send troops to Iraq, and Turkey has yet to commit. Belgian Defense Minister Andre Flahaut said the latest UN resolution does not give the UN sufficient control over peacekeeping, according to radio RVI, and therefore Belgium will send no troops. Instead it will send more troops to Afghanistan.
According to the Turkish Daily News, "Plans for Turkish troops to join a U.S.-led multination force in Iraq have stalled in the teeth of Iraqi objections, maybe for good." If troops do deploy, it would be for low-level jobs, like securing arms dumps, it reported. A U.S. diplomat confirmed what Prime Minister Erdogan stated last week, that the U.S. had asked for a break in talks about troop deployments. It is mooted that the Iraqi Governing Council, which rejects the Turkish troop idea, could delay any decision until after Ramadan.
Leading Business Paper Takes Note of LaRouche Youth
The Oct. 26 Sunday supplement of Frankfurt's leading business newspaper, FAZ, took notice of the LaRouche Youth Movement's leafleting campaign in Berlin, at a public event at which former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke. FAZ reported: "Saturday morning. What looks like left-wing demonstrators in front of the Renaissance Theater, are just the leafletters of the weird Lyndon LaRouche, who warns the world against the fascistoid power-grab by Arnold Schwarzenegger in California."
Political Crises Far From Over in Britain
Revelations about Princess Diana, and the controversy surrounding Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, are creating a highly dramatic situation in Britain, a high-level British political source told EIR. "It might appear this would be a diversion from the troubles of Prime Minister Tony Blair, but, you must remember that "this is the land of Shakespeare, and the powers-that-be know that such diversions will not really save Blair. If Blair's sins were on the front page every day, people would get bored with them," he said. But, towards the end of the year, the Hutton Inquiry report will come out, and attention will go back to Blair's troubles, with even greater effect, said the source, a lover of Shakespeare.
The source, who knows the Tory Party very well, thinks that Iain Duncan Smith could be out of his leadership position in 24-48 hours, and the newspapers all confirm that view. At this point, despite the shambles in the Tory Party, it will be better off without the hapless Duncan Smith. What could happen, is that Tory MPs would hold a no-confidence vote against him, and that would be the end. He has no support in Parliament, and his supporters in the regions would not be able to save him from the MPs.
On the latest developments regarding Princess Diana's death, the source said that the revelations of her butler Paul Burrell are "quite interesting," although most are matters which were either already known, or certainly suspected by a lot of people.
The source noted that on Oct. 24, an ITV television program, made a very cogent case for reopening the investigation of Princess Diana's death. However, that would be the last thing that the government wants to do. It will use the fact, that various cases are still going on in France, as an excuse to further delay any British inquiry. Considering the degree of cooperation there has already been with the French, the British government may be able to hold things off this way, at least for now.
Iain Duncan Smith Out as Conservative Party Leader
In a vote of "no confidence," that was 90 against versus 75 for him, Smith was ousted as Tory leader on Oct. 29. He will remain in place, however, for possibly some time, due to the laborious job of finding a replacement. At present, shadow finance minister Michael Howard, who had been a minister in John Major's government is tipped to have an early lead, largely because the Conservative Party's shadow deputy prime minister David Davis said that he would not run and endorsed Howard. However, there are several other potential candidates.
Former Lover Calls for Full Inquiry into Diana's Death
Princess Diana's former lover James Hewitt has said he is not convinced that Diana's death was just an accident. Hewitt's statements were published in the British tabloid News of the World on Oct. 26.
In reaction to the letter that the Princess of Wales' butler Paul Burrell has published, Hewitt told the News of the World that the Princess "maintained that sort of suspicion all the time I knew her. She'd say, 'I think I'm being bugged. I think I'm being followed. I think I'm being tracked.' It was something that was evidently on her mind."
Hewitt said that bugging devices had been found in his home in Devon, and that he had been "regularly followed" during his five-year affair with Diana.
He also said that the Princess had been convinced that British intelligence officers had already "arranged" the motorbike crash that killed her police bodyguard Barry Mannakee in 1987. "She was sure it wasn't an accident," said Hewitt. "She said he'd been getting too close to her."
German Intelligence Chief Says 9/11 Planned in Afghanistan
The chief of German domestic intelligence testified that the 9/11 attacks were planned in Afghanistan, not Hamburg. Appearing in a court in Hamburg on Oct. 24, Heinz Fromm, director of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, said that the "Hamburg cell" of Mohammad Atta did exist, but had no active leading role in the planning of the 9/11 attacks. Members of the group went to Afghanistan, where they originally thought they would be recruited and trained for missions in Chechnya, but instead, were recruited for the attacks on the U.S., in September 2001.
Fromm referred to "evidence" contained in two Al Jazeera interviews with the two al-Qaeda leaders, Kalif Sheikh Mohamad and Ramzi Binalshib (both now U.S. custody), as well as in the most recent U.S. Congressional report, 10 pages of which report are taken up in a 10-page cover story in Germany's Der Spiegel weekly.
Whereas the Fromm testimony does not call into question the official story of al-Qaeda as the mastermind behind 9/11, it does undermine a Hamburg court's sentencing, to occur on Feb. 15, of Mounir el Motassadeq, who is facing 15 years in prison for complicity in the killing of nearly 3,000 civilians in the World Trade Center. Motassadeq's lawyers had argued along the line that Fromm gave just now, that Motassadeq and others of the Hamburg group had been lured to Afghanistan, but that their "good faith" had been misused by bin Laden for a different operation, i.e., 9/11, which they were not fully aware of. In any case, Fromm's remarks will influence the ongoing trial against Abdelghani Mzoudi, another member of the "Hamburg Cell."
Italian Red Brigades Caught with Intelligence Pass
On Oct. 24, Italian police arrested seven alleged Red Brigades terrorists, suspected of participating in the assassination of Labor Minister adviser Massimo D'Antona in 1999. One of the suspects, Marco Mezzasalma, possessed a security pass released by CESIS, the coordinating body of both military and civilian intelligence agencies SISMI and SISDE. The putative reason why Mezzasalma had the pass is that he works in a defense-related electronics firm, supplying, among other things, radar systems for U.S. Blackhawk helicopters. Such passes are only issued after a thorough screening, including the individual's friends and acquaintances. At the time Mezzasalma's pass was issued, in 1995, Mezzasalma was already inserted in the terrorist structure. Investigators believe that with such a pass, terrorists could access government papers with information on D'Antona.
German Police Conduct Raids on Neo-Nazi Networks
German press reported raids on neo-nazi networks in northern Germany on Oct. 28. In a concerted operation in the three northern states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and Lower Saxony, 300 policemen raided 50 flats and other sites, related to a network of neo-nazis linked to the British group Combat 18.
Material and equipment was seized in the raids, which shows the "dangerous potential" of the network, police said, adding that evidence of links to arms-dealing networks of the organized crime scene was found, as well. The raids were made in a follow-up operation to the arrests of pro-terrorist neo-nazis in the Munich region, in September.
Maastricht Budget Rules Must Be Modified
Widely covered in Oct. 27 press, French and German leaders have endorsed modifications of the Maastricht criteria. In separate interviews with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, both French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Rafarrin and German Finance Minster Hans Eichel, along with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and EU Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, endorsed a discussion about modifications to the Maastricht rules. All of them insisted that the Maastricht system as such should not be abolished, but reformed in order to put greater emphasis on growth-promoting measures. The German Chancellor and the French Prime Minister are expected to deepen their discussion on the matter, at their Franco-German "regional economic cooperation" meeting in Poitiers, France.
Franco-German Poitiers Meeting Reiterates Calls for Maastricht Modifications
At the conclusion of the two-day "regional cooperation" conference in Poitiers, France, ending Oct. 28, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that it may be hoped that the upcoming EU Finance Ministers meeting would not pass unwise decisions concerning the present budgetary policies of the governments of France and Germany. The finance ministers should omit everything that could spark bigger conflicts in Europe, Schroeder said, without going into further details.
He said neither of the two governments wanted to abolish the Maastricht system, but both were fully aware of the crucial role that their national economies, being the two biggest ones in Europe, has to play for promoting growth in Europe. The Maastricht Pact is, after all, a "pact for stability and growth," he added, and emphasis had to be put on growth at present.
Germany Looks East for New Opportunities
Germany has a potentially leading role in Iran's petrochemical industry. In an exclusive interview with the FAZ on Oct. 30, Reza Nemazadeh, president of the national petroleum company, NPC, of Iran, says that by 2015, Iran wants to achieve the status of an exporter of mainly petrochemical products, instead of crude oil as today. Iran has already invested $11 billion dollars in the transformation in the past six years that he has headed the NPC, and will invest another $15-20 billion during the next 10 years.
By 2015, 60 million tons of the 75 million that Iran will produce in the petrochemical sector, will be finished products and yield an export revenue of $20 billion for Iran. This will be a share of 5% in the world market, and one-third of what the entire region will produce, in this sector, Nemazadeh says.
Germany is the biggest partner of Iran, at present, with a 50% share in foreign investments in the petrochemical sector.
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