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MAJOR 2002 STORY ABOUT ISRAELI
SPYING KILLED OFF AND COVERED UP
MER -
Mid-East Realities - MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 10 Sept 04:
A
little more than a year after 9/11, starting on 16 November 2002, FOX
News broke an exclusive story about Israeli spying in and on the U.S. and possible Israeli
knowledge in advance that a 9/11-type attack of one kind or another was
being planned against the U.S.
The four-part series created quite a stir at
first in Washington but then the story was spiked and in fact
'disappeared' from the FOX News website, not to be mentioned
again. Suspicions at the time were that the Israelis,
using their extensive list of allies, lobbyists, and major money and
media agents-of-influence, had pulled out all stops and gotten the
story quickly stopped in its tracks.
Now that there are more media groups
involved, that FBI investigations have already been publicly exposed,
that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) itself is
involved, and that the Jewish neocons are so fingered for having
instigated the Iraqi War and the false 'intelligence' that led to it,
the situation is much more complicated in Washington.
But AIPAC and
Israel's many official and unofficial lobbyists are now mounting a
major campaign to bring the FBI investigation to an end with only minor
charges involving 'mishandling' of classified documents.
The pressures on everyone in Washington are no doubt intense;
especially in this election
year. And so what happened in November 2002 should be
especially instructive; and in view of the most recent charges and
investigations should be
resurrected:
Fox News Series On
Israeli Spying
In America
Fox News Special
Report - Part One -
- BRIT HUME, HOST: It has been more than 16
years since a civilian working for the Navy was charged with passing
secrets to Israel. Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit
espionage and is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders
claimed Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took
responsibility for his work.
-
- Now Fox News has learned some U.S.
investigators believe that there are Israelis again very much engaged
in spying in and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn't
tell us before Sept. 11. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has
details in the first of a four-part series.
-
- (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
-
- CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Since
Sept. 11, more than 60 Israelis have been arrested or detained, either
under the new patriot anti-terrorism law, or for immigration
violations. A handful of active Israeli military were among those
detained, according to investigators, who say some of the detainees
also failed polygraph questions when asked about alleged surveillance
activities against and in the United States.
-
- There is no indication that the Israelis
were involved in the 9/11 attacks, but investigators suspect that they
Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance,
and not shared it. A highly placed investigator said there are
"tie-ins." But when asked for details, he flatly refused to describe
them, saying, "evidence linking these Israelis to 9/11 is classified. I
cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified
information."
-
- Fox News has learned that one group of
Israelis, spotted in North Carolina recently, is suspected of keeping
an apartment in California to spy on a group of Arabs who the United
States is also investigating for links to terrorism. Numerous
classified documents obtained by Fox News indicate that even prior to
Sept. 11, as many as 140 other Israelis had been detained or arrested
in a secretive and sprawling investigation into suspected espionage by
Israelis in the United States.
-
- Investigators from numerous government
agencies are part of a working group that's been compiling evidence
since the mid '90s. These documents detail hundreds of incidents in
cities and towns across the country that investigators say, "may well
be an organized intelligence gathering activity."
-
- The first part of the investigation focuses
on Israelis who say they are art students from the University of
Jerusalem and Bazala Academy. They repeatedly made contact with U.S.
government personnel, the report says, by saying they wanted to sell
cheap art or handiwork.
-
- Documents say they, "targeted and
penetrated military bases." The DEA, FBI and dozens of government
facilities, and even secret offices and unlisted private homes of law
enforcement and intelligence personnel. The majority of those
questioned, "stated they served in military intelligence, electronic
surveillance intercept and or explosive ordinance units."
-
- Another part of the investigation has
resulted in the detention and arrests of dozens of Israelis at American
mall kiosks, where they've been selling toys called Puzzle Car and Zoom
Copter. Investigators suspect a front.
-
- Shortly after The New York Times and
Washington Post reported the Israeli detentions last months, the carts
began vanishing. Zoom Copter's Web page says, "We are aware of the
situation caused by thousands of mall carts being closed at the last
minute. This in no way reflects the quality of the toy or its
salability. The problem lies in the operators' business policies."
-
- Why would Israelis spy in and on the U.S.?
A general accounting office investigation referred to Israel as country
A and said, "According to a U.S. intelligence agency, the government of
country A conducts the most aggressive espionage operations against the
U.S. of any U.S. ally."
-
- A defense intelligence report said Israel
has a voracious appetite for information and said, "the Israelis are
motivated by strong survival instincts which dictate every possible
facet of their political and economical policies. It aggressively
collects military and industrial technology and the U.S. is a high
priority target."
-
- The document concludes: "Israel possesses
the resources and technical capability to achieve its collection
objectives."
-
- (END VIDEO CLIP)
-
- A spokesman for the Israeli embassy here in
Washington issued a denial saying that any suggestion that Israelis are
spying in or on the U.S. is "simply not true." There are other things
to consider. And in the days ahead, we'll take a look at the U.S. phone
system and law enforcement's methods for wiretaps. And an investigation
that both have been compromised by our friends overseas.
-
- HUME: Carl, what about this question of
advanced knowledge of what was going to happen on 9/11? How clear are
investigators that some Israeli agents may have known something?
-
- CAMERON: It's very explosive information,
obviously, and there's a great deal of evidence that they say they have
collected - none of it necessarily conclusive. It's more when they put
it all together. A bigger question, they say, is how could they not
have know? Almost a direct quote.
-
- HUME: Going into the fact that they were
spying on some Arabs, right?
-
- CAMERON: Correct.
-
HUME: All right, Carl, thanks very much.
- Part 2
-
- BRIT HUME, HOST: Last time we reported on
the approximately 60 Israelis who had been detained in connection with
the Sept. 11 terrorism investigation. Carl Cameron reported that U.S.
investigators suspect that some of these Israelis were spying on Arabs
in this country, and may have turned up information on the planned
terrorist attacks back in September that was not passed on.
-
- Tonight, in the second of four reports on
spying by Israelis in the U.S., we learn about an Israeli-based private
communications company, for whom a half-dozen of those 60 detained
suspects worked. American investigators fear information generated by
this firm may have fallen into the wrong hands and had the effect of
impeded the Sept. 11 terror inquiry. Here's Carl Cameron's second
report.
-
- (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
-
- CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT
(voice-over): Fox News has learned that some American terrorist
investigators fear certain suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks may have
managed to stay ahead of them, by knowing who and when investigators
are calling on the telephone. How?
- By obtaining and analyzing data that's
generated every time someone in the U.S. makes a call.
-
- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What city and state,
please?
-
- CAMERON: Here's how the system works. Most
directory assistance calls, and virtually all call records and billing
in the U.S. are done for the phone companies by Amdocs Ltd., an
Israeli-based private elecommunications company.
-
- Amdocs has contracts with the 25 biggest
phone companies in America, and more worldwide. The White House and
other secure government phone lines are protected, but it is virtually
impossible to make a call on normal phones without generating an Amdocs
record of it.
-
- In recent years, the FBI and other
government agencies have investigated Amdocs more than once. The firm
has repeatedly and adamantly denied any security breaches or
wrongdoing. But sources tell Fox News that in 1999, the super secret
national security agency, headquartered in northern Maryland, issued
what's called a Top Secret sensitive compartmentalized information
report, TS/SCI, warning that records of calls in the United States were
getting into foreign hands - in Israel, in particular.
-
- Investigators don't believe calls are being
listened to, but the data about who is calling whom and when is plenty
valuable in itself. An internal Amdocs memo to senior company
executives suggests just how Amdocs generated call records could be
used. "Widespread data mining techniques and algorithms.... combining
both the properties of the customer (e.g., credit rating) and
properties of the specific 'behavior.'" Specific behavior, such as who
the customers are calling.
-
- The Amdocs memo says the system should be
used to prevent phone fraud. But U.S. counterintelligence analysts say
it could also be used to spy through the phone system. Fox News has
learned that the N.S.A has held numerous classified conferences to warn
the F.B.I. and C.I.A. how Amdocs records could be used. At one NSA
briefing, a diagram by the Argon national lab was used to show that if
the phone records are not secure, major security breaches are possible.
-
- Another briefing document said, "It has
become increasingly apparent that systems and networks are
vulnerable.Such crimes always involve unauthorized persons, or persons
who exceed their authorization...citing on exploitable vulnerabilities."
-
- Those vulnerabilities are growing, because
according to another briefing, the U.S. relies too much on foreign
companies like Amdocs for high-tech equipment and software. "Many
factors have led to increased dependence on code developed overseas....
We buy rather than train or develop solutions."
-
- U.S. intelligence does not believe the
Israeli government is involved in a misuse of information, and Amdocs
insists that its data is secure. What U.S. government officials are
worried about, however, is the possibility that Amdocs data could get
into the wrong hands, particularly organized crime. And that would not
be the first thing that such a thing has happened. Fox News has
documents of a 1997 drug trafficking case in Los Angeles, in which
telephone information, the type that Amdocs collects, was used to
"completely compromise the communications of the FBI, the Secret
Service, the DEO and the LAPD."
-
- We'll have that and a lot more in the days
ahead - Brit.
-
- HUME: Carl, I want to take you back to your
report last night on those 60 Israelis who were detained in the
anti-terror investigation, and the suspicion that some investigators
have that they may have picked up information on the 9/11 attacks ahead
of time and not passed it on.
- There was a report, you'll recall, that the
Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, did indeed send
representatives to the U.S. to warn, just before 9/11, that a major
terrorist attack was imminent. How does that leave room for the lack of
a warning?
-
- CAMERON: I remember the report, Brit. We
did it first internationally right here on your show on the 14th. What
investigators are saying is that that warning from the Mossad was
nonspecific and general, and they believe that it may have had
something to do with the desire to protect what are called sources and
methods in the intelligence community. The suspicion being, perhaps
those sources and methods were taking place right here in the United
States.
-
- The question came up in select intelligence
committee on Capitol Hill today. They intend to look into what we
reported last night, and specifically that possibility - Brit.
-
- HUME: So in other words, the problem wasn't
lack of a warning, the problem was lack of useful details?
-
- CAMERON: Quantity of information.
-
- HUME: All right, Carl, thank you very much.
-
- Part 3
-
- BRIT HUME, HOST: Last time we reported on
an Israeli-based company called Amdocs Ltd. that generates the
computerized records and billing data for nearly every phone call made
in America. As Carl Cameron reported, U.S. investigators digging into
the 9/11 terrorist attacks fear that suspects may have been tipped off
to what they were doing by information leaking out of Amdocs.
-
- In tonight's report, we learn that the
concern about phone security extends to another company, founded in
Israel, that provides the technology that the U.S. government uses for
electronic eavesdropping. Here is Carl Cameron's third report.
-
- (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
-
- CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT
(voice-over): The company is Comverse Infosys, a subsidiary of an
Israeli-run private telecommunications firm, with offices throughout
the U.S. It provides wiretapping equipment for law enforcement. Here's
how wiretapping works in the U.S.
-
- Every time you make a call, it passes
through the nation's elaborate network of switchers and routers run by
the phone companies. Custom computers and software, made by companies
like Comverse, are tied into that network to intercept, record and
store the wiretapped calls, and at the same time transmit them to
investigators.
-
- The manufacturers have continuing access to
the computers so they can service them and keep them free of glitches.
This process was authorized by the 1994 Communications Assistance for
Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. Senior government officials have now
told Fox News that while CALEA made wiretapping easier, it has led to a
system that is seriously vulnerable to compromise, and may have
undermined the whole wiretapping system.
-
- Indeed, Fox News has learned that Attorney
General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were both warned
Oct. 18 in a hand-delivered letter from 15 local, state and federal law
enforcement officials, who complained that "law enforcement's current
electronic surveillance capabilities are less effective today than they
were at the time CALEA was enacted."
-
- Congress insists the equipment it installs
is secure. But the complaint about this system is that the wiretap
computer programs made by Comverse have, in effect, a back door through
which wiretaps themselves can be intercepted by unauthorized parties.
-
- Adding to the suspicions is the fact that
in Israel, Comverse works closely with the Israeli government, and
under special programs, gets reimbursed for up to 50 percent of its
research and development costs by the Israeli Ministry of Industry and
Trade. But investigators within the DEA, INS and FBI have all told Fox
News that to pursue or even suggest Israeli spying through Comverse is
considered career suicide.
-
- And sources say that while various F.B.I.
inquiries into Comverse have been conducted over the years, they've
been halted before the actual equipment has ever been thoroughly tested
for leaks. A 1999 F.C.C. document indicates several government agencies
expressed deep concerns that too many unauthorized non-law enforcement
personnel can access the wiretap system. And the FBI's own nondescript
office in Chantilly, Virginia that actually oversees the CALEA
wiretapping program, is among the most agitated about the threat.
-
- But there is a bitter turf war internally
at F.B.I. It is the FBI's office in Quantico, Virginia, that has
jurisdiction over awarding contracts and buying intercept equipment.
And for years, they've thrown much of the business to Comverse. A
handful of former U.S. law enforcement officials involved in awarding
Comverse government contracts over the years now work for the company.
-
- Numerous sources say some of those
individuals were asked to leave government service under what
knowledgeable sources call "troublesome circumstances" that remain
under administrative review within the Justice Department.
-
- (END VIDEOTAPE)
-
- And what troubles investigators most,
particularly in New York, in the counter terrorism investigation of the
World Trade Center attack, is that on a number of cases, suspects that
they had sought to wiretap and survey immediately changed their
telecommunications processes. They started acting much differently as
soon as those supposedly secret wiretaps went into place - Brit.
-
- HUME: Carl, is there any reason to suspect
in this instance that the Israeli government is involved?
-
- CAMERON: No, there's not. But there are
growing instincts in an awful lot of law enforcement officials in a
variety of agencies who suspect that it had begun compiling evidence,
and a highly classified investigation into that possibility - Brit.
-
- HUME: All right, Carl. Thanks very much.
-
- Part 4
-
- This week, senior correspondent Carl
Cameron has reported on a longstanding government espionage
investigation. Federal officials this year have arrested or detained
nearly 200 Israeli citizens suspected of belonging to an "organized
intelligence-gathering operation." The Bush administration has deported
most of those arrested after Sept. 11, although some are in custody
under the new anti-terrorism law.
- Cameron also investigates the possibility
that an Israeli firm generated billing data that could be used for
intelligence purpose, and describes concerns that the federal
government's own wiretapping system may be vulnerable. Tonight, in part
four of the series, we'll learn about the probable roots of the probe:
a drug case that went bad four years ago in L.A.
-
- (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
-
- CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT
(voice-over): Los Angeles, 1997, a major local, state and federal drug
investigating sours. The suspects: Israeli organized crime with
operations in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Canada, Israel and Egypt. The
allegations: cocaine and ecstasy trafficking, and sophisticated
white-collar credit card and computer fraud.
-
- The problem: according to classified law
enforcement documents obtained by Fox News, the bad guys had the cops'
beepers, cell phones, even home phones under surveillance. Some who did
get caught admitted to having hundreds of numbers and using them to
avoid arrest.
-
- "This compromised law enforcement
communications between LAPD detectives and other assigned law
enforcement officers working various aspects of the case. The
organization discovered communications between organized crime
intelligence division detectives, the FBI and the Secret Service."
-
- Shock spread from the DEA to the FBI in
Washington, and then the CIA. An investigation of the problem,
according to law enforcement documents, concluded, "The organization
has apparent extensive access to database systems to identify pertinent
personal and biographical information."
-
- When investigators tried to find out where
the information might have come from, they looked at Amdocs, a publicly
traded firm based in Israel. Amdocs generates billing data for
virtually every call in America, and they do credit checks. The company
denies any leaks, but investigators still fear that the firm's data is
getting into the wrong hands.
-
- When investigators checked their own
wiretapping system for leaks, they grew concerned about potential
vulnerabilities in the computers that intercept, record and store the
wiretapped calls. A main contractor is Comverse Infosys, which works
closely with the Israeli government, and under a special grant program,
is reimbursed for up to 50 percent of its research and development
costs by Israel's Ministry of Industry and Trade.
-
- Asked this week about another sprawling
investigation and the detention of 60 Israeli since Sept. 11, the Bush
administration treated the questions like hot potatoes.
-
- ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY:
I would just refer you to the Department of Justice with that. I'm not
familiar with the report.
-
- COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm aware
that some Israeli citizens have been detained. With respect to why
they're being detained and the other aspects of your question - whether
it's because they're in intelligence services, or what they were doing
- I will defer to the Department of Justice and the FBI to answer that.
-
- (END VIDEOTAPE)
-
- CAMERON: Beyond the 60 apprehended or
detained, and many deported since Sept. 11, another group of 140
Israeli individuals have been arrested and detained in this year in
what government documents describe as "an organized intelligence
gathering operation," designed to "penetrate government facilities."
Most of those individuals said they had served in the Israeli military,
which is compulsory there.
-
- But they also had, most of them,
intelligence expertise, and either worked for Amdocs or other companies
in Israel that specialize in wiretapping. Earlier this week, the
Israeli embassy in Washington denied any spying against or in the
United States - Tony.
-
- SNOW: Carl, we've heard the comments from
Ari Fleischer and Colin Powell. What are officials saying behind the
scenes?
-
- CAMERON: Well, there's real pandemonium
described at the FBI, the DEA and the INS. A lot of these problems have
been well known to some investigators, many of who have contributed to
the reporting on this story. And what they say is happening is
supervisors and management are now going back and collecting much of
the information, because there's tremendous pressure from the top
levels of all of those agencies to find out exactly what's going on.
-
- At the DEA and the FBI already a variety of
administration reviews are under way, in addition to the investigation
of the phenomenon. They want to find out how it is all this has come
out, as well as be very careful because of the explosive nature and
very political ramifications of the story itself - Tony.
-
SNOW: All right, Carl, thanks.
|
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September 2004
Iran and Syria now Targeted (September 30, 2004)
Now the Americans and Israelis have Iran and Syria in their sights.
MER Warned About Jewish Neocons and Israeli Lobby Years Ago (September 30, 2004)
Think back now to the days before the Bush/Cheney regime took power in Washington, before the term 'neocon' and the policy of 'pre-emption' were in wide use, and to before 9/11 was even imagined by all but a very few. MER was already long ago raising the warning flags, explaining what was really happening in Washington as well as in the Middle East, previewing what has since come to be; all while so many others were proclaiming the 'peace process is irreversible' and Yasser Arafat was the most frequent foreign guest at the American White House!
MER Articles - Sept 1998 (September 30, 2004)
Intifada II Enters Year Five (September 28, 2004)
The figures for the Intifada are brutal. Adjusted for the size of the U.S. population, that is if the Israeli occupation were taking place in the U.S., over 300,000 Americans would have been killed in just the past 4 years alone, well over a million seriously injured, many millions imprisoned and tortured, plus considerable land confiscated, homes destroyed, and occupying Jewish 'settlers' taking over.
MER Articles - September 1997 (September 28, 2004)
These MER Articles were published in September 1997. The perspective they offer on events since is crucial.
Maps tell the Real Story 'on the ground' where it counts (September 26, 2004)
The Israelis now control all Palestinian areas through hundreds of military Checkpoints, No-go zones, By-pass 'Jews only' Roads, Settlements, Outposts, and in recent years Fences, Walls, and Electronic Monitoring systems throughout the West Bank similar to what was done in the past to Gaza. In addition all Palestinians must even receive Israeli military permission to travel from one city and village. The situation is today far worse than Apartheid was in South Africa. As a result, no real, contiguous, and even minimally sovereign Palestinian State is possible any longer in the area that was Palestine in 1947.
Anglican group calls for Israel sanctions (September 24, 2004)
A few months ago the American Presbyterians officially took the first major Church steps to sanction Israel, recalling how South Africa was treated in the days of Apartheid not that long ago. Now an influential Anglican group is pushing for a combination of boycott and divestment from Israel when their senior Church leaders next meet.
USA at MOMENT of NATIONAL CRISIS (September 24, 2004)
"Over the last three years, practicing a philosophy of deliberate deception, fear-mongering and abuse of authority, the Bush administration has done more to undermine the republic of Lincoln and Jefferson than the cells of al-Qaida. It has willfully ignored our fundamental laws and squandered the nation's wealth in bloody, open-ended pursuits.... We have arrived
at a moment of national crisis."
Sy Hersh - Readers' Comments (September 23, 2004)
Important articles and exclusive insights like this would not be easily available, or oftentimes available at all, but for MER. These Readers' Comments this week concern the recent MER article about Washington journalist Seymour Hersh and his recent interviews and talks about his new book Chain of Command:
ARAB AMERICANS - REALITIES NOT DECEPTIONS (September 22, 2004)
The real message to the tough-minded politicos in Washington is this: There's nothing to worry about from Arab Americans...working overtime they can only mobilize quite few in numbers...they are not even protesting against the upcoming agreement itself likely to be soon signed across the street...they know nothing about the power of civil disobedience...they have no powerful or even significant allies...their leadership is naive and oftentimes foolish...and the Arab organizations we work with can be counted on to keep them under control come what may.
IRAN - The U.S. and Israel Prepare to Attack (September 22, 2004)
The new massive arms sale of 'bunker busting' bombs to Israel has two major purposes at this point in addition to furthering the Bush/Cheney election campaign -- to prepare for real war with Iran sooner rather than later, while at the same time attempting to further intimidate one more time those in Tehran to 'comply, resistance is futile'.
About MER - Please Read and Contribute Today (September 21, 2004)
Reorganizing and overcoming all the obstacles has come at a considerable price in time, effort, and funds. We have to appeal now for your substantial financial support; for a truly independent and hard-hitting organization must have truly independent funding or it cannot continue and have impact. Please contribute today to make MER possible and of growing impact. Thank you!
Sy Hersh - Israeli Disinformation and Cover-Up? (September 21, 2004)
In fact, the more one thinks about this, the more one reaches the possible conclusion that while Hersh is on target (though incomplete) when it comes to the torture scandal, when it comes to the geostrategic, especially when it comes to matters relating to Israel, Hersh may well be being used for disinformation and continually engages in a kind of self-censorship and cover-up.
Journalists and Professors With Chilling Warnings (September 20, 2004)
"Every generation has its test of principle in which people of good faith can no longer remain silent in the face of authoritarian ambition. If we cannot join together to fight the abomination of American camps, we have already lost what we are defending."
The 'Fucking' Crazy and Stupid Washington Neocons (September 19, 2004)
Of course they only talk this way when they've really had it and when they think the befuddled largely ignorant general public won't hear. But the reality is these two top American Generals who have been saluting to power their whole lives, and who themselves are very much a part of the terrible corrupted system, are known to feel the senior neocons empowered by Bush and Cheney are out of control and sometimes a little fucking out of their minds!
Feith of Israel (September 18, 2004)
MER 'Washington Scene'EXCLUSIVE:
Click to Listen to Douglas Feith at an Israeli lobby White House rally while Bill Clinton was still President, Feith was not yet back in government, and more than a year before 9/11 was to happen. For some time in Washington Feith has been a prominent member of the extended Israeli-Jewish lobby speaking at times as harshly and unrelentingly as any Israeli propagandist. Persons in the media should contact MER for more extensive information and additional audio and video clips of Feith - 202 362-5266 and press@MiddleEast.Org
Crude Politics: How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism (September 17, 2004)
But, when writing about the situation in Washington and the linkages between persons and groups that brought about the Iraqi invasion/occupation, Sperry makes significant contributions in his book Crude Policies that need to be understood.
Washington's Pathetic Arabist Hustlers - National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (September 16, 2004)
But the most tragic reality of all is that in the process of what they have done for themselves this pathetically incestuous Washington cabal of 'Arabists' has squandered crucial decades, all together more than a hundred million dollars, and even now with the Middle East on fire and Washington gripped by policy warfare very very few even want to bother to come and get their free lunch with them.
Iraqi Debacle, Iraqi Disaster (September 16, 2004)
Most senior US military officers now believe
the war on Iraq has turned into a disaster
on an unprecedented scale
EYEWITNESS TO SLAUGHTER IN BAGHDAD (September 15, 2004)
On Sunday as the details of this murderous U.S. attack on a Baghdad crowd were first being reported, MER asked an officer on Commanding U.S. General Abizaid's staff how could the U.S. be using attack helicopters to fire on crowds in Baghdad and still think Iraqis wouldn't hate the Americans. He suggested it must have been to protect troops still in the damaged vehicle. A few hours later when told that was not the case, that the troops had already been rescued, he suggested maybe there was a need to destroy the vehicle for 'intelligence' reasons. When told the vehicle was already destroyed and on fire he could only shrug... How telling... This unusually gripping first-hand report from the exploding streets of Baghdad:
Bin Laden More Popular Than Bush in Egypt (September 14, 2004)
With Iraq exploding, the Americans attacking street crowds in Baghdad with bombs and missiles, and the U.S. military already stretched to the breaking point both in terms of manpower and credibility, Washington's propaganda machine is in overdrive both at home and abroad. Even so, even in long-time American ally Egypt, Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda are considerably more popular than George W. Bush and the U.S.
Iraq Exploding in Rebellion and Death (September 12, 2004)
At least 37 people were killed in Baghdad alone. Many of them died when a U.S. helicopter fired on a disabled U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle as Iraqis swarmed around it, cheering, throwing stones and waving the black and yellow sunburst banner of Iraq's most-feared terror organization.
'Fucking Crazies' Powell Explodes - Withdraw from Iraq Financial Times Editorializes (September 12, 2004)
The U.S. policy in the Middle East is already a disaster of historical proportions. In a new book being published in a few days no less an authority than U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell himself is quoted describing the top neo-conservatives in the Bush administration as 'fucking crazies' during the build-up to war in Iraq.
9/11 - 'War of the Worlds' (September 11, 2004)
Immediately when 9/11 occurred the publisher of MER was asked to quickly write about it's meaning and ramifications for the about-to-be-published October issue of a European Edition of Playboy Magazine.
9/11 began a long time ago and for very real reasons (September 11, 2004)
Those who were reading MER six years ago were giving a prescient foretaste of what has since come, and why. This MER article was originally published on 25 August 1998. Read it now keeping in mind that what has been happening since was being caused and was foreseeable then; just as what is being done now is creating the still bleaker future now ahead if today's course in Washington is not significantly altered...and soon.
Chechnya - Crucible for Hatred and Terrorism (September 10, 2004)
It is a genocidal war Vladimir Putin is personally responsible for more than any other. But then neither the U.S. nor the European powers nor the U.N. for that matter have had the vision, the determination, and the courage to step in. And thus the fingers of responsibility and blame should be pointing in many simultaneous directions at this time.
Israeli Spying in USA Fox Series Spiked and Covered-Up (September 10, 2004)
AIPAC and Israel's many official and unofficial lobbyists are now mounting a major campaign to bring the FBI investigation to an end with only minor charges involving 'mishandling' of classified documents. The pressures on everyone in Washington are no doubt intense; especially in this election year. And so what happened in November 2002 should be especially instructive; and in view of the most recent charges and investigations should be resurrected:
Chechnya - Crucible for Hatred and Terrorism (September 8, 2004)
This look back on the terribly brutal Russian war in Chechnya to prevent Chechnyan independence must be understood to be the crucible in which the horrifying events of recent days were brewed. It is a genocidal war Vladimir Putin is personally responsible for more than any other; but then neither the U.S. nor the European powers nor the U.N. for that matter have had the vision, the determination, and the courage to step in. And thus the fingers of responsibility and blame should be pointing in many simultaneous directions.
Aljazeera Caves Again (September 8, 2004)
Coerced self-censorship and forcing the media to constantly be wary of offending the powers that be is a long-time hallmark not only in the Middle East, Russia, and China, but also in the West and the United States. The techniques and methods are different, especially when it comes to the American scene, but in many cases the results are similar.
Chechnya, Palestine, Iraq, Kashmir - Occupations All (September 7, 2004)
Brutal occupations all -- Palestine, Chechnya, Iraq, Kashmir. All examples of when overwhelming military force is used by a major power to put down popular resistance to historical subjugation and injustice.
IsraelGate + (September 6, 2004)
Major efforts are now underway in Washington to head off, cover up, derail, what we earlier today for the first time called ISRAELGATE.
IsraelGate is potentially the most significant scandal to rock relations between the U.S. and Israel ever -- since the Lavon Affair and 1956 war when President Eisenhower faced down the Israelis, then 1967 with the attack on the U.S.S. Liberty, and then the Pollard spy affair nearly twenty years ago now.
But now the stakes are much much higher than ever for the following three reasons:
ISRAELGATE! (September 5, 2004)
Now that the new Israeli spy scandal has broken into public view, the top-level connections between the Jewish neocons at the Pentagon and the National Security Council -- among them Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, and Elliott Abrams -- the following and associated stories first published earlier this year deserve much more than a second look. They should in fact be the basis for a full-fledged journalistic investigation into what could yet be called ISRAELGATE.
Israel, Neocons, Lobby, and Spying (September 4, 2004)
For there are those in Washington and in the media who know very well that it was the Israelis and the Jewish neocons, working in tandem, who worked relentlessly to push the U.S. into the invasion and occupation of Iraq. And there are those who are well aware that the Israelis and the Jewish neocons are now working in tandem to push and cajole the U.S. to take on Iran, Syria, and all who stand in the way of their plans for the U.S. and Israel in partnership to control the Middle East strategically, politically, and economically.
Revered Muslim Cleric Calls On Muslims To Fight The U.S.Occupier (September 3, 2004)
"Al-Qaradawi was one of 93 prominent Muslim figures
who in August called on Muslims around the world to
support resistance against US forces in Iraq and its
apppointed interim Iraqi government."
Bush Speaks, Eocons (Christian Evangelicals + Jewish Neocons) Rule (September 2, 2004)
As George W. Bush prepares to outline his 'vision' and 'agenda' to the American nation tonight from besieged New York City he today published the following appeal to American Jews in The Forward newspaper. Ironically, in the same issue of The Forward, the latest Israeli and Jewish Lobby spy scandal gets much play including the additional article below:
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