In this issue:

LaRouche Campaign Releases Dossier on Bush War Plan Scandal

Leader of Ansar al-Islam Denies Link Between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda

EIR Editorial Board Member Interviewed by Iranian National TV

EIR Editorial Board Member Interviewed by Iranian National TV

Washington Post Hypes Sharon's 'Temple Mount Plot' Against Islam in Jerusalem

Swedish Foreign Minister Says Israeli Election Results Endanger Peace

United Nations Praises Iraqi Food Distribution System

Iraq War Propagandist Friedman Admits American People Don't Support War

Arab League Convenes Emergency Meeting; Says Powell Evidence is Weak

From Volume 2, Issue Number 6 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Feb. 10, 2003
Mideast News Digest

LaRouche Campaign Releases Dossier on Bush War Plan Scandal

A Feb. 7 statement released by the campaign of U.S. Democratic Party Presidential pre-candidate, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. is a call to arms to reject the hoax of "evidence" against Iraq and Saddam Hussein that was apparently foisted on U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell when he appeared at the UN on Feb. 5.

LaRouche says that the reactions to Powell's speech by his Democratic Party rivals in the upcoming 2003 Presidential primaries, show that they are lacking the "combined intellectual and moral qualifications needed to deal with the combined onrush of a general economic collapse, and a desperate push toward a spreading dark age of world wars."

At issue is "a suddenly unleashing, already raging international scandal over certain dubious elements included in U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's U.N.O. Security Council address," says LaRouche, which "tends to discredit my Democratic Party rivals even more than a Powell who was plainly carrying out a mission crafted by others." See this week's EIW EDITORIAL for the full dossier released by LaRouche.

Leader of Ansar al-Islam Denies Link Between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda

On Sunday, Feb. 1, The Los Angeles Times reported that Mullah Krekar, the leader of the Kurdish Ansar al-Islam group which would be cited in Colin Powell's disastrous Feb. 5 UN address, disputes any connection to Iraq's government. Krekar was quoted as saying: "I can say to you that this is not true that I am a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda."

Krekar also told The Los Angeles Times in a telephone interview from Oslo, Norway, where he has asylum: "I will wait until Wednesday [Feb. 5], and if Powell says anything against me, I can use documents to prove it is not true."

Krekar has been interviewed twice by the FBI, but U.S. officials acknowledge that they don't have any evidence to get him extradited to the U.S. as an al-Qaeda combatant or terrorist. He said he told the FBI, "I can come to America and prove it's not true in your court."

Kreker named Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as the people pushing President Bush to go to war. He said of his group, "Our aim has always been the toppling of the Iraqi Ba'ath regime," but added that he opposes a U.S. attack, because "Saddam attaches no importance to humanitarian values, and if he is cornered and realizes that he is going to be hit, he will sink the boat with everyone and everything in it."

EIR Editorial Board Member Interviewed by Iranian National TV

On Feb. 5, Iranian TV taped a 30-minute interview with Muriel Mirak-Weissbach, a member of the editorial board of EIR, on the subject of Colin Powell's report that same day to the UN, and on U.S. policy towards Iraq. The 30-minute interview with Mirak-Weissbach was to be broadcast on Feb. 7.

The first question was, "What were the crucial, key points in Powell's speech?" Mirak-Weissbach cited LaRouche's characterization of the Iraq policy, and detailed how the "facts" supposedly presented, had no basis in reality, including those attributed to "human sources," defectors, etc. She added, in this context, that the Chinese, and especially Russian, responses were important. She also explained the factional situation inside the U.S. Administration, and LaRouche's role in the institution of the Presidency. She also reported on the contrast between the pro-war party and the view of the majority of the American population, who oppose a war.

At the end of the interview, when asked about the Iranian revolution of 1979, Mirak-Weissbach developed the point that Iran represents a crucial element in the Eurasian Land-Bridge perspective, and, especially under the current government, has rightly identified its foreign policy from this standpoint. She concluded by reporting on the role of the LaRouche movement in campaigning for the Eurasian Land-Bridge, and the LaRouche movement's perspective of organizing the U.S. to support and join the effort, as being in Iran's interest.

'Elder Statesmen' Arrive in Baghdad To Stop War Against Iraq

According to the Feb. 1 issue of The Times of London, Hans Von Sponeck, former Assistant Secretary General to the United Nations, arrived in Baghdad as part of a delegation of the Centre for Economic and Social Rights, in an effort to prevent a U.S.-led war against Iraq. Also on Feb. 1, former British "Old Labour" Member of Parliament Tony Benn (Anthony Wedgwood Benn), who had served in British Cabinets and remains a Privy Councillor, arrived in Baghdad on the same mission (see EUROPEAN DIGEST for Benn's interview with President Saddam Hussein).

It is planned that three former heads of state, including U.S. President Jimmy Carter and South Africa's President Nelson Mandela, will also arrive in Iraq in an effort to avert war.

Von Sponeck was humanitarian coordinator with Iraq at the UN, and resigned in 2000 in disagreement with UN policy of blocking the delivery of humanitarian goods to Iraq under the sanctions regime. He has repeatedly debunked the "weapons of mass destruction" hype, and has eloquently documented the terrible conditions imposed upon the Iraqi population by the economic sanctions. He has been one of the most persistent and convincing opponents of a new war against Iraq.

Washington Post Hypes Sharon's 'Temple Mount Plot' Against Islam in Jerusalem

On Sunday, Feb. 1, in the Washington Post's Style Section, two articles entitled, "Ancient Jerusalem Scale Models on Exhibit" and " Discoveries Could Rank With Biggest Biblical Finds," served to promote the Christian Zionist and ultra-right-wing Jewish believers' claim to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

This Post report was part of a $400,000 mass advertising campaign which Ariel Sharon's backers are carrying out in Israel for rebuilding the Third Temple of Solomon on al-Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem, which is currently occupied by the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa Mosque marking the spot where the Prophet Mohammed is said to have been carried up to Heaven.

One of two articles on the subject in the Feb. 1 Washington Post hypes two Temple-related discoveries. The first is the alleged burial box of Jesus' brother James, first announced by the British Quatuor Coronati ("Four Crowns")-affiliated Biblical Archaeological Review magazine on Oct. 21, 2002.

The second is an alleged 2,800-year-old Phoenician tablet concerning repairs to the first Temple. The Post reports that: "The Temple tablet could also affect the unending religious tensions in the Holy Land that center on the tract Muslims call the Haram Sharif (Noble Sanctuary)... This is Islam's third-holiest site and Muslim leaders often seek to deny that the great Temple ever stood there. The new find could undergird the geography of Judaism."

The Post is forced to note, however, that one prominent U.S. archaeologist, Steven M. Ortiz, at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, reported that "initial discussions among scholars speak of a hoax."

The second article is a promotional for a Washington, D.C., exhibition of models of Solomon's Temple commissioned by one Benjamin Adelman, "a retired government worker with a passion for the subject." The models were made by British specialists "based on evidence provided by Dutch archaeologist Leen Ritmeyer." Ritmeyer is the personal archaeologist of the Rothschild family, and figures prominently in the December 2000 EIR Special Report, "Who Is Sparking A Religious War in the Middle East?" The models are on display from now through Jan. 11, 2004 at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, 3900 Harewood Rd., NE, Washington, D.C.

Swedish Foreign Minister Says Israeli Election Results Endanger Peace

Speaking at a ceremony awarding the 2002 Olof Palme Prize to Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh declared: "I fear that the Palestinian people soon will lose all hope of an independent state, and that Israel will lose its moral values. Israel is a democracy balancing on a thin line." Lindh's statements were reported on Feb. 3, in the rightwing newspaper, the Jerusalem Post.

Lindh added that the outcome of the Israeli election "unfortunately points to continued confrontation, instead of security and of peace. To me this policy is cynical, not least because Israeli authorites fight the work for reform in the Palestinian Authority. That was evident when the Israeli government denied [permission for] three Palestinians to leave the country for a peace conference in London, when universities are closed down, and when timing always seems to be suited to violence, not negotiations."

She also attacked the idea of a wall along the Green Line between Israel and the Palestinian territories. "Now a wall is constructed, about 350 kilometers long, 8 meters high by 60 meters broad. Israelis call it protection. Palestinians call it rightly confiscation."

The Israeli government was chewing the rug, but could not summon Sweden's Ambassador to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, because Sweden has yet to name a new ambassador, since the previous one was withdrawn after being promoted. The Israeli Ambassador to Sweden will have to deliver a protest notice himself.

United Nations Praises Iraqi Food Distribution System

Reporting from Baghdad on Feb. 3, Rajiv Chandrasekaran writes that the UN has called the Iraqi system the largest and most efficient food-distribution system of its kind in the world. Although the piece describes the program as "social control" designed to keep Saddam in power, it also admits that it "reflects the philosophy of Hussein's Ba'ath Party government, which promotes modern, technocratic Arab nationalism, and had invested heavily in education and infrastructure before the 1991 Persian Gulf War."

The program provides every Iraqi with 180 pounds of flour, rice, sugar, oil, beans, peas, tea, soap, and other essentials, each month, all for 60 cents. Since October, everyone is getting double rations so they can stock up in case of the launching of an American bombardment.

Iraq War Propagandist Friedman Admits American People Don't Support War

In the Feb. 4 issue of the New York Times, columnist Thomas Friedman, who supports a U.S. attack on Iraq, says that he is struck by the "incredible contrast" between what the Bush Administration intends to do in Iraq (a war, and then supposedly a postwar rebuilding of Iraq along the lines of Germany and Japan after World War II), versus "the narrow base of support that exists in America today for this audacious project."

"I've had a chance to travel all across the country since September," Friedman writes, "and I can say without hesitation there was not a single audience I spoke to where I felt there was a majority in favor of war in Iraq."

Friedman described the dominant mood in the country as follows: "Mr. President, we don't want to be against you in a war on terrorism. But do we really have to do this? My 401(k) is now a 201(k), heading for a 101(k). Osama bin Laden is still on the loose. The Europeans are uncovering new terrorist cells right and left. And I have walked through so many airport metal detectors in the last year that I now glow in the dark. I understand what the Afghan war was about and would have volunteered with a pitchfork—but I just don't get this war."

Friedman adds that he doesn't care what the polls say, that this is the real mood of the American people.

In a similar vein, on Feb. 5, the British Guardian reported on a survey of American newspapers by Editor & Publisher magazine showed that the further you go from the big cities, the more skeptical the editorial columns are about war on Iraq. Many of the columnists questioned how the Administration can justify the cost of a war when state and local budgets are being slashed.

Arab League Convenes Emergency Meeting; Says Powell Evidence is Weak

Both the web site Albawaba and the Washington Post report on Feb. 6, that Arab League ministers plan to meet Feb. 16 in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss efforts to head off a U.S.-led attack on Iraq. Also on the agenda will be moving up the League's next summit meeting from March 24 to early March, and holding it in Cairo instead of Bahrain. One unidentified diplomat commented that while the League knows that there are few options left, it wants to send a message to the U.S. and Saddam Hussein: "Iraq should cooperate, and the U.S. needs to hold its horses."

Meanwhile, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa commented on Powell's UN speech, saying that "these proofs are insufficient" on their own and must be given to the "inspectors to check" them out. Mussa emphasized, "It is still possible to avoid war. The inspectors must continue and intensify their work and the Iraqi government must ... redouble its cooperation...."

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