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Mid-East Realities
"News, Information, & Analysis That Governments, Interest Groups, and the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know!"
8 September 2003 www.MiddleEast.Org (202) 362-5266 Email: MER@MiddleEast.Org


MER FLASHBACK - Washington - www.MiddleEast.Org - 8 Sept 2003:
Those who were reading MER five 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.



THROWING GASOLINE ON THE FIRE OF HATRED

MER - Washington - Mid-East Realities - 8/251998:

Like throwing gasoline on a simmering fire, America's modern-day "gun-boat diplomacy" is having its counter-effect -- one the Israelis have greatly stimulated and are so pleased to have helped bring about.

Throughout the Muslim world Osama bin Laden is now seen as a kind of Arab "Che"...and he may well meet the same fate. Throughout that complex and stirring world anti-American groups will now dig themselves, literally and figuratively, deeper underground. And those representing the Americans, and their allies, will find themselves increasingly nervous, on guard, and more and more separated from the "natives" and the "street" in the very countries they most want continue to dominate and control.

This article from Islamabad published a few days ago in The Observer is but the journalistic tip of the iceberg as East and West collide.


US WARNED OF "WAR WITHOUT END"

The death of an Italian officer in Kabul may be the first of many Islamic extremist reprisals against the West

By John Sweeney in Islamabad
[The Observer, 8/23/98].

The first instalment of the bill for President Clinton's missile attacks on Afghanistan came through the airport here yesterday wrapped in the sky-blue flag of the United Nations.

Pall bearers carried the coffin of Lieutenant Calo Carmine with as much dignity as they could muster through the chaotic sweatbox of Islamabad airport.

The Italian officer had been shot in the Afghan capital Kabul, and died of his wounds. This was the first reprisal for the US cruise missile attacks on 'terrorist' bases inside Afghanistan. There will be more reprisals, and more homecomings in body bags as key ally to Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi multimillionaire and the West's Public Enemy Number One, declared yesterday: "The Americans have started a war that will never end."

What sounded horribly like the opening salvos of a new and pitiless conflict rang out from the messianic figure of the Grand Emir Gullana Fazal-ul Rehman Kahalil. A terrorist leader close to bin Laden. His head swathed in a large turban of the deepest black, the thickly bearded Emir spat hatred at the Americans and their sex-obsessed President throughout a heaving and unruly press conference held, incongruously, underneath the chandeliers of Islamabad's Holiday Inn.

But just so no one misunderstood the Emir's Urdu, he had brought 20 like-minded Islamists, and a bodyguard toting a Kalashnikov, the gun butt decorated with a verse of the Koran.

Speaking through a number of conflicting interpreters, the Emir said that 21 of his men were killed and 40 wounded in the cruise missile attack which "completely destroyed" his camp. He insisted that the camp was not a military facility, but an educational centre. His minder brandished the Kalashnikov at the press to force home the educational point. "Were the bombs in Kenya and Tanzania and outrage or a legitimate act?" asked The Observer.

"The Americans did it themselves to take attention away from Monica Lewinsky," said the Emir.

"What evidence have you that the Americans bomb their own embassies?"

"It's been in the newspapers all over the world," said the Emir. He was invited to name one.

"The Americans should first produce their evidence that the bases in Afghanistan were used for terrorism," he said. "The Americans are well-practised at killing people from small countries."

Then one of the Emir's sympathisers started screaming that a Pakistani journalist present at the press conference worked for the CIA.

A second sympathiser bawled out in English: "The war between America and Islam has started." And the press conference broke up in chaos. Later at the airport a team of UN officials and aid workers from charities like Medecins Sans Frontieres arrived from the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. One aid worker said: "The atmosphere in Kandahar after the cruise missile attack was extremely tense. "We felt relatively safe because the Taliban security are very much in control of the city, but nevertheless it was very unpleasant being trapped inside the UN compound, not being able to move around."

Pakistan yesterday was swept with a series of feverish rumours that the Americans would launch more strikes. The mood in the northwest frontier of Pakistan, next to the Afghan border, was described as being extremely tense and the British Foreign Office has advised all nationals to leave the area.

Thus far the Pakistani Foreign Minister has voiced moderate criticisms, calling the strikes counter-productive. Reports sourced to Pakistan intelligence officers says that the six targets hit by American cruise missiles belonged to three separate groups: one controlled by bin Laden himself, one controlled by the Emir himself from Pakistan, and a third group also run by Pakistanis but consisting of many different nationals from throughout the Islamic world.

The almost exclusively Arab camp run by bin Laden was at Khost, some 21 kms from the other two camps.

He lost 21 of his men, thought to be all Kashmiri.

The Pentagon has yet to provide any hard evidence that the Emir's group, the Harkat-ul Mujahideen, was responsible for the bomb outrages in Africa.

There is evidence linking bin Laden's faction with the attack through the testimony of Mohammed Saddiq Odeh who is said to be "singing like a canary" to the Kenyan CID and the FBI in Nairobi.

Some reports suggest that the attacks on bin Laden's stronghold did not harm very many fighters because most were on the frontline in north Afghanistan fighting with the Taliban "soldier monks" against the remnants of the former government.

A few weeks ago Pakistan tested its own nuclear device underground, its response to an international crisis started by India. The possibility, still remote but no longer unthinkable, that Pakistan may be so destabilised by the American missile attacks that its government - and its nuclear capability - fall into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who wish to wage total war against America must count as a new nightmare for the American administration and its loyal friend in Britain Tony Blair.




Copyright © Mid-East Realities & The Committee On The Middle East.
MER@MiddleEast.Org

Phone (202) 362-5266 Fax (202) 362-6965 Web http://www.MiddleEast.Org


September 2004


Magazine






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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