United States News Digest
'Children of Satan' Attack U.S. Military Leaders for Opposing Imperial Wars
The gang of neo-conservative ideologues that Lyndon LaRouche has identified as the "Children of Satan: The Ignoble Liars Behind Bush's No-End Iraq War" (the title of a mass-circulation LaRouche in 2004 campaign pamphlet) has launched a massive propaganda campaign to attempt to regain the policy "upper hand" in the aftermath of the Iraq War quagmire, and in the midst of continuing investigations of Vice President Dick Cheney (see this week's InDepth).
Carrying the ball for this operation, are Richard Perle and David Frum, using the vehicle of a new book called An End of Evil, in which they lay out a "recipe" for winning the war on terrorism: use of military force for regime change in Iran, Egypt, Syria, Libya, and North Korea, among others. Inside the U.S., they suggest the institution of national identity cards.
As part of the whirlwind tour promoting their book, Perle and Frum co-authored a ranting attack in the Jan. 7 Wall Street Journal on U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (a decorated Vietnam War veteran), Gen. Anthony Zinni (USMC-Ret.), and Gen. Brent Scowcroft (USA-Ret.) as ideological "soft-liners," who live in a fantasy world that believes in diplomacy and war-avoidance.
Colin Powell was asked by Ted Koppel about the piece on the Jan. 7 ABC Nightline program. Powell said he had read it, and responded: "What I'm trying to do for the President ... and the American people, is to help the President conduct a foreign policy that is consistent with our values and consistent with the need for us to have partners and friends around the world. Not every problem lends itself to a hard-edged solution."
Pushed on the "softie" label, Powell continued: "The State Departmentgood heavens! They're diplomats over there. Good heavens! They reach out and talk to people. Good heavens! They try to prevent wars. Yes, guilty. We do that. But what we really do is serve the President. And, yes, there are occasionally very sharp differences within our team." He then listed the Subcontinent (India/Pakistan), Sudan, Libya, and North Korea as examples of successes for diplomacy.
Texas DA Begins Criminal Probe of DeLay Machine Funds
Travis County, Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle has initiated a criminal investigation into whether corporate money, raised by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's machine, illegally financed state legislators' electoral campaigns. The GOP victories directly attributable to these funds gave Republicans control of the Texas House of Representatives for the first time in 130 years, allowing the party to rig the Texas Congressional redistricting.
The money being probed went through 1) Texans for a Republican Majority, a sub-project of the Americans for a Republican Majority which DeLay set up in 1994 with seed money from Enron; and 2) TABan Austin-based funding mechanism, coordinating directly with the personnel of DeLay's group.
The DeLay men funnelled corporate donations into support for individual GOP candidates, whereas state law only allows indirect corporate support for political parties.
Among millions in payments being probed, Philip Morris donated $20,000. The company's chief lobbyist is the wife of Roy Blunt, DeLay's Republican Whip.
American Mayors Denounce USA/Patriot Act
At its annual meeting at the end of December, the National League of Cities passed a resolution declaring that sections of the USA/Patriot Act "compromise the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights," and calling on Congress to amend it "to restore protections of the fundamental civil liberties of Americans."
The NLC resolution specifically cited, as threats to civil liberties, provisions of the Patriot Act which:
permit searches with no one present, and with delayed notification;
permit the FBI to obtain access to records from bookstores and libraries, and give law enforcement officials access to sensitive mental-health, library, business, financial, and educational records;
give to the Secretary of State broad powers to designate domestic groups as "terrorist," and give to the Attorney General powers to detain indefinitely or deport immigrants even if no crime has been committed.
Leon Fuerth, Suspected Israeli Mole, Joins Dean Campaign
Leon Fuerth, formerly National Security Advisor to Al Gore during the Clinton-Gore Administration, is now becoming the chief national security and foreign policy adviser to Democratic candidate Howard Dean, the Washington Times reported Jan. 8.
Fuerthan ardent supporter of "regime change" in Iraqplayed a particularly rotten role in many respects during the Clinton years. He was a key figure in both the "Principals Committee" (made up otherwise of the President's Cabinet-level advisers) and also the "Deputies Committee." The Principals Committee was notorious for going behind President Clinton's back to launch air strikes against Iraq in late 1998.
Fuerth was also described as the "virtual day-to-day manager of U.S. relations with Russia"implementing the corrupt arrangements growing out of the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission, and Gore's dirty ties to Russian organized-crime networks typified by his links to the Golden ADA diamond-smuggling operation. Fuerth was personally instrumental in covering the organized-crime connections of former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, and of free-market "reformer" Anatoli Chubais.
The New York Times reported that during Al Gore's bid for the Presidential nomination in 1988, that "Mr. Fuerth helped him formulate an uncritical pro-Israeli line." At one point, Fuerth was even suspected of being Israel's "Mega" mole within the Clinton Administration. A June 16, 1998 Washington Post profile of Fuerth reported, "He sputtered with anger upon being told that some officials in the State Department believe he is the conduit by which inside information is passed to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu."
Powell Renews U.S. Warning to Taiwan: Don't Provoke War with China
At a State Department press conference on Jan. 8, EIR's Bill Jones asked Secretary of State Colin Powell about Asia scholar Kenneth Lieberthal's warnings that Taiwanese President Chen Shui-Bian is bringing the world closer to war than most are willing to acknowledge. Powell answered that the President had been very clear in rejecting the concept of a referendum on Taiwanese independence, and that Chen had definitely heard the message, and that we must see what he doesa clear renewal of President Bush's warning.
In a Washington Post op-ed, Jan. 8, China expert Lieberthal, who was the National Security Council director for Asia under President Clinton, wrote that "Chen is both reflecting and creating facts on the ground that have profound implications for the US, China, and Taiwan itself," and that "the stakes could not be higher." He warns that, while Korea and other issues may be moving toward a peaceful solution, "developments in Taiwan could drag the US and China into armed conflict. That outcome is so horrendous as to be almost unthinkable, but it is also increasingly likely unless serious steps are taken soon. One tail is, it seems, wagging two dogs."
Lieberthal says Bush was right to bluntly warn Chen to drop his plan for a referendum, but that Chen has gone forward anyway. The lack of a follow-up from Washington, Lieberthal fears, is destroying U.S. credibility, encouraging Chen to proceed not only with the referendum on China's missiles (a symbolic provocation), but with the more serious threat to move for a referendum on a new constitution by 2008, if he were to win the March election. This would be a clear tripwire for China to move militarily to prevent the independence of Taiwan. In that case, if Beijing believed the U.S. were not stopping Chen's reckless moves, they would likely move militarily, sooner rather than later.
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