In this issue:

Hutton Report: 'Beyond a Whitewash'

European Press React to Hutton Report

Exploring Mars Has the Beauty of a Beethoven Quartet

German Transport Minister Supports Land-Bridge, Maglev

Chinese President Visits France, Meets Chirac

German Chancellor Calls Off New Austerity Measures

Londoner: 'Cheney Is a Very Dangerous Man'

Blair Is 'Dead Man Walking'

Call for Independent Inquiry on Blair's 'Unnecessary War'

From Volume 3, Issue Number 5 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Feb. 3, 2004

Western European News Digest

Hutton Report: 'Beyond a Whitewash'

"It is outrageous, I can barely contain my anger," commented one of Britain's leading experts on Iraq, speaking about the findings of Lord Brian Hutton, as outlined in his final report, which was released Jan. 28. The source added, it is "beyond a whitewash."

While British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the No. 10 Downing Street apparatus is clucking with glee over the findings, there is an immediate massive backlash, apparent from the coverage in the British press Jan. 29. The London Independent's front page is two-thirds white; in the middle of this white, in red ink, appear the words, "Whitewash: The Hutton Report." The pro-Labour Party Daily Mirror's front page has, along the top, the words "UNFOUNDED ... the charge they 'sexed up' dossier," with photos of Blair, his erstwhile spin doctor Alastair Campbell, and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, and then underneath: "UNFOUNDED ... the WMD they took us to war over." The paper's top story demands that Blair "must tell the truth" about Iraqi WMDs.

The London Guardian is filled with commentaries castigating the report. Seamus Milne writes that "Hutton's report could scarcely have been more favorable if it had been drafted, or even sexed up, by Tony Blair's former spinmeister Alastair Campbell himself.... Hutton's unqualified endorsement of the government's behavior is bound, in the current climate, to be widely regarded in the country as a cover-up. It will have no credibility for millions who opposed the war on Iraq.... There is no way in which the Iraq war can somehow be put behind us."

With the Iraq war, warns Milne, "the precedent of preemptive war" has been created, and there is "poison released in the British political system by a war launched on a false prospectus.... The priority must now be to bring the Iraqi opposition to an end, and for those who launched the war to be held to account." What is required is not only an "independent inquiry" into how and why the war was launched, but bringing Tony Blair to account.

Of Hutton himself, Milne writes that he is a "scion of the Northern Irish Protestant ascendancy who himself represented British soldiers" at the notorious Lord Widgery 1972 inquiry into that year's "Bloody Sunday" massacre, the which inquiry ended up clearing British soldiers of any blame. Widgery's findings were a "flagrant establishment whitewash," and now, charges the author, Hutton "has, if anything, outdone Widgery in his service to the powers that be."

European Press React to Hutton Report

A survey of continental European press conclude:

*Die Presse, Austria's leading daily, noted Jan. 29 that the Hutton Report will not relieve Blair from the broad public's belief that he cheated them on the Iraq war, nor relieve him from the deep discontent reflected in two recent opinion polls: the MORI poll gave Blair 32% support vs. 59% rejection; a Daily Telegraph poll gave Blair's Labour Party only 35% support to the Tories' 40%, were parliamentary elections held now.

Die Presse reports the social, economic disaster underlying the deep discontent: per-capita debt of Britons is the highest in all of Europe; an increase of interest rates by the Bank of England would blow the housing bubble apart; 1 million Britons must endure long waits for surgery or other "special" treatment; the railway sector has not improved at all; the London metro is a disaster as is much of the social situation of London in general.

*Germany's Tageszeitung daily wrote that the thin majority in the Parliament shows that Blair is "no longer architect of his victories," but dependent on a Labour Party "which now can withdraw support for him at any given moment, ... more and more sections of the party consider their chairman the problem, rather than the solution.

"The next palace revolt and the next scandal—no matter which issue is involved—is but a question of time. Blair is a pending Prime Minister: his time is running out. Maybe he is the last to notice that."

Exploring Mars Has the Beauty of a Beethoven Quartet

This is the culturally optimistic theme which was featured in, of all places, the British press on Jan. 23, in its coverage of the discovery by the European Space Agency, of water on the planet Mars. All the papers carried the story on the front pages, with color photos, of the ESA's Mars Express. Typical of the coverage was a London Independent banner headline, "Is This Evidence of Life on Mars?"

There is much excited commentary accompanying this reportage, with Dr. John Murray, of London's Open University, and a member of the Mars Express team, telling the Times and Guardian: "There are times when science is more like hearing a Beethoven quartet than poring over reams of numbers. Yesterday was one of those occasions. To look at the pictures from Mars Express's high resolution stereo camera was to see something so supremely beautiful that I had to remind myself it was science, not art.... It's just so beautiful, as well as awe-inspiring. It's just art and science and beauty and exploration all mixed up together."

German Transport Minister Supports Land-Bridge, Maglev

German Transport Minister Manfred Stolpe declared himself in favor of the Eurasian Land-Bridge, in response to a question from LaRouche representative Frank Hahn during a panel discussion held at Deutsche Bank in Berlin Jan. 23, on the subject "Can We Still Rescue the East?" Stolpe also expressed his support for a French-German-Polish maglev line.

"It is true that there is a strong connection between infrastructure development and job creation," Stolpe responded when asked about the necessity of great projects like the New Silk Road. "We calculated that 1 billion euros of infrastructure investment will create 22,000 new jobs, and we will spend this year eu11 billion. But this is not enough, at all!"

Stolpe continued: "We need new sources of financing.... Nonetheless, we are very happy that we are encouraged to do something by the Presidents of Poland and France, who asked the German government to build a Transrapid [maglev] line from Paris via Berlin to Warsaw! I am pushing, beyond this, for a quick modernization of the East Asian railroads, so that the freight transport between Asia and Europe can be reduced by 21 days. But I need allies and supporters for this idea."

Stolpe said Russia's Transport Minister had told him that 100 years ago, the Germans were able to finance and build the Trans-Siberian Railroad. So, why should they not be able to do the same today?

On the same panel, the Mayor of the eastern German city of Erfurt demanded the construction of a high-speed railway connection to Erfurt to bring investment into Thuringia. Stolpe reassured him, by reporting that a decision will soon be made on the high-speed line from Stockholm to Naples, which route will integrate Thuringia.

Chinese President Visits France, Meets Chirac

Chinese President Hu Jintao made a four-day state visit to France beginning Jan. 26, which visit included the traditional Chinese New Year celebration, with all the bells, whistles, and dragon dances, involving an estimated 200,000 celebrants along the Champs Elysée. The visit marks the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, in honor of which the Eiffel Tower will be bathed in red lights for the entirety of the state visit.

China's President held a 90-minute meeting with President Jacques Chirac at the Elysée Palace, and French Foreign Minister de Villepin welcomed President Hu, stating that China is "a privileged partner of the European Union's and has a major and responsible position in the international system," adding that the two nations share a commitment to "multi-polarity" in world affairs.

On Jan. 27, President Hu Jintao became the first Asian head of state to address France's National Assembly.

German Chancellor Calls Off New Austerity Measures

Faced with a drastic increase of popular discontent, German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder pulled the emergency brake on new austerity measures. In an unannounced press conference in Berlin Jan. 28, Schroeder declared that the planned "share-of-burden" in funding the special-care insurance has been called off, and that for the time being, no new austerity projects will be undertaken. "We have reached the limit of tolerance," he said; "the population cannot bear any more."

Overwhelming majorities in strike votes in the metal and newspaper sectors indicate that a big strike wave is possible this spring. Metalworkers began warning strikes in Berlin and several other big cities Jan. 29.

The latest FORSA opinion poll gives Schroeder a rating of less than 20%, and his SPD party 24%; with the Greens getting 9%, the red-green alliance would receive only 33% of the vote, were elections to be held now. The opposition has a solid majority: The CDU-CSU would get 50%, and the FDP 8%. Even the post-communist PDS, which mostly is based in eastern Germany, would get 5% and seats in the Parliament.

Londoner: 'Cheney Is a Very Dangerous Man'

Dick Cheney is vulnerable to attack, and it is nearly certain that attacks on him will mount, both in the U.S. and in Britain, said a senior London Atlanticist who is close to "centrist," anti-neo-con strategic groups on both sides of the Atlantic.

He emphasized that Cheney is "soft-spoken, but ominously self-assured, as I have witnessed from a personal encounter with him. He's a very dangerous man, it's dangerous to get on the wrong side of him, unless you have enough on him to put him on the defensive. But the time is coming, when he will be in lots of trouble."

Blair Is 'Dead Man Walking'

"Tony Blair is a dead man walking. He's in office, but he's not in power," a London insider told EIR Jan. 28, commenting on the "victory" of Blair the previous day on the Parliamentary vote on Blair's scheme to charge 3,000 pounds-sterling per year to students and their families for college and university. Blair's "Higher Education Bill" passed by only five votes, even though Blair's Labour Party has a majority of 161 in the House of Commons. In the end, it only passed because of massive pressure and desperate concessions from 10 Downing Street, and because Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown mobilized supporters of his to drop their opposition to the bill. Brown, not Blair, emerges looking like the center of power in the government.

The insider stressed: "The situation has become much too irksome for Blair, I think he will psychologically crack, and it is likely he will be out by Easter. I sense that his office is already preparing people for his departure, since, for the first time since he came to office, we are seeing photographs of him looking not at all well, his hair graying, his face drawn."

Call for Independent Inquiry on Blair's 'Unnecessary War'

Charles Kennedy, Britain's opposition Liberal Democrat leader, has called for an independent inquiry into how Britain was lured into the Iraq war by Prime Minister Tony Blair. In the Independent Jan. 28, he writes: "I believe the Prime Minister made a disastrous error of judgment over Iraq.... Mr. Blair took us to war on a false premise.... Mr. Blair drove us into an unnecessary war." He relied on one source for the notorious "45 minutes" claim, and chose to "suppress" other advice from the intelligence community, which called into question going to war against Iraq. Now "he's starting to look silly," as the "Iraqi WMD" hype unravels by the day.

An independent inquiry is required, says Kennedy, as "Lord Hutton's report should be the opening curtain, and not the last word." Blair is always saying that "history will be his judge," and he shouldn't "deny history the opportunity of getting the whole truth."

Kennedy noted a recent poll in Britain showing that 48% of British voters believe that Blair lied in getting Britain into the Iraq war, a figure that is "enormously damaging" to trust in the Prime Minister.

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