ISSUE:
#. 31. April 28, 2002
THIS ISSUE: SPECIAL REPORT ON EUROPE & THE BALKANS
BUSH, SHARON & MILOSEVIC: FEARFUL SYMMERTY
By Bill Weinberg
with David Bloom and Sarah Robbins, Special Correspondents
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. Amnesty Probe in
Jenin: "We Are Talking War Crimes"
2. ICRC:
International Humanitarian Law Not Respected
3. Did Israel Remove
Bodies on Refrigerator Trucks?
4. UN Jenin
Fact-Finding Mission Delayed
5. IDF Incursion into Qalqilya
6. IDF Incursion
Into Hebron
7. Gaza Next?
8. Siege Wears on at
Church of Nativity
9. Palestinian Leaders Condemn Underage Suicide
Bombers
10. Barghouti to Roll Over?
11. US Cool on Saudi
Peace Plan
12. Saudis Mass Troops on Jordan Border
13. Hezbollah to
Open New Front with Israel?
14. Mubarak: Israel Guilty of "State
Terrorism"
15. Egyptian PM: Give Us 100B and We'll Wage War on
Israel
16. Likud Minister: Peacenik Beilin Has A Right to
Speak
17. Beilin Proposes Labor Party Leave
Government
18. Stephanopoulos' Sister: We're Israel's
Captives
19. PA Finds PFLP Men Guilty of Israeli Minister's
Murder
20. Arafat Can Leave Compound Under US-Brokered
Deal
21. Jerusalem Post Sees Little IDF
"Misconduct"
22. Haaretz Reports "Operation Destroy the
Data"
23. Use of Palestinians as Human Shields by IDF Soliders
24. IDF Broadcasts pornography for Ramallah Residents
25. Niger Breaks Ties with Israel
26. Jewish Cabinet
Minister in South Africa Calls for Boycott
27. World Medical
Body Threatens to Expel Israeli Doctors
28. Scandinavians
Call for Boycott of Israel
29. British Union Calls For Israel
Boycott
30. European Scientists Want Boycott of Israeli
Colleagues
31. Council of Europe: Suspend Israel Economic
Agreement
32. Al-Ahram: Boycott of Israel Not So Easy to
Implement
33. Jimmy Carter: Suspend Economic Aid to
Israel
34. Soccer Associations Decide Not to Boycott
Israel
35. City of Berkeley: No Boycott of
Israel
36. $200 Million in Counter-Terrorism Aid to Israel
Ditched
37. Sharon Exploits Anti-Jewish
Violence
38. Jewish Agency: Israel's Actions Threaten Diaspora
Jews
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. Jewish Dissidents
Issue Stockholm Manifesto
2. Israeli Peace Movement Organizes
Solidarity
3. Givat Haviva: Israeli Peace Center Hangs
On
4. Solidarity With Colombia in DC
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. Rumsfeld
Schmoozes Warlords
2. US Attempting to Mediate in Paktia
Warfare
3. 50 Lawyers Arrested in Pakistan
4. Shiite Mosque
Bombed in Pakistan
5. UN War Crimes Court: Eyes on
Afghanistan
EUROPE
1. "Back to the Dark
Ages"
2. 100,000 Protest Le Pen
3. EU Condemns
Anti-Jewish Violence
4. Paris to Kiev: Europe's April of
Atavism
5. 4-20+6: Germany Gets "Columbine
Massacre"
6. Al-Qaeda on Trial in Germany
7. More Arrests in
Germany
8. Milan Skyscraper Hit: 9-11 Copy-Cat?
9. Red Brigades
Re-Emerge in Italy
10. US Terror Alert for Italy
11. "Terror Tunnel"
Discovered Under Rome's Streets
12. Spain Arrests al-Qaeda
Suspect
13. EU Counter-Terrorist Police to Target
Activists?
14. Belfast Rocks
BALKAN FRONT
1. "Enduring Freedom"
and "Defensive Shield" Aid Milosevic
2. UN Official: Balkans
"Importing Afghan Danger"
3. Terror Threat Closes US Embassy in
Sarajevo
4. Bosnians Protest Double Standard on
"Terror"
5. France Finks Out to Bosnia Butchers?
6. US Working to Shut
Down Hague Tribunal?
7. Indicted War Criminal Resists Extradition--to the
End
8.
NATO Troops Clash with Serbs in Kosovo
9. Dutch Scandal Reveals
NATO-Jihad Balkan Arms Pipeline
10. Mujahedeen in Macedonia?
11. Uranium Traces
Found in Serbia's Soil
CAUCASUS FRONT
1. Rebel Ambush in
Chechnya Rains on Putin's Parade
2. Russian Defector:
Army Kills Civilians in Chechnya
3. Human Rights Watch
Blasts Russia's Chechnya Campaign
4. Chechnya War
Destabilizes Georgia
5. Green Berets to Take Pankisi Gorge?
6. KGB Dirty Tricks
Behind "Russia's 9-11"?
THE WAR AT HOME
1. New FBI Terror
Alert
2. Moussaoui Wows the Media
3. Moussaoui and Walker
Face Harsh Time
4. Al-Qaeda Jailbirds in the News
5. Judge Denies '93 WTC
Bomber FBI File
6. Ashcroft Loosens Rules for NCIC
Database
7. Palestinian Activist Arrested in NYC
8. Senate Passes
Tough Immigration Bill
WATCHING THE SHADOWS
1. US Boycotts War
Crimes Court, Wants Blanket Immunity
2. Henry Kissinger:
Wanted in Chile, Spain, France
3. Nixon Tapes Reveal Kissinger Chat on 'Nam
Nuke Option
PALESTINE FRONT
1. AMNESTY PROBE IN
JENIN: "WE ARE TALKING WAR CRIMES"
An initial probe into
the circumstances surrounding the Israeli Defense Forces attack on the
refugee camp in Jenin led an Amnesty International delegate to declare
at a London press conference "we have concluded that very serious
breaches of international law were committed, and we are talking here of
war crimes." Javier Zuniga and Derrick Pounder made a preliminary
three-day investigation of the camp shortly after the IDF pulled out.
"Nothing short of a full international inquiry will do," said Zuniga.
Pounder, a forensics expert who has participated in war crimes
investigations in Bosnia and Kosovo, said that what was needed was "the
same type of investigation as in the Balkans that was so successful for
those in The Hague tribunal." Pounder also said "The claim that only
fighters were killed is simply not true--a mixture of bodies were
clearly civilians and combatants."
Pounder examined five of the 21 bodies, including three women,
found during the delegation's visit. Two were clearly Palestinian
fighters, but one was a 52-year-old man who was wearing sandals and
appeared to be a civilian; another a 38-year-old man who was dressed in
civilian clothing.
"What was striking was what was absent," said Pounder, noting
there were "very few seriously injured people in the hospital," and said
that it was unlikely that in this type of conflict "that there were not
large numbers of seriously injured." Pounder said that normally the
injured should outnumber the dead three to one: "The question to the
Israeli army is: where are the severely injured? No seriously injured
persons arrived at the hospital. We draw the conclusion that they were
allowed to die where they were." (UK Guardian, April 23) Pounder was
quoted in Agence-France Press saying "there must be many more because we
could smell the corpses. The death toll grows daily. How many exactly is
not possible to say." (AFP,April 22)
Another member of the investigating team, Dr Kathleen Cavanaugh,
said "there is sufficient evidence to indicate that there have been
serious violations of international law. The question of whether this
constitutes war crimes...is what we want to ascertain." (UK Guardian
April 23)
Pounder posited: "What's certainly true is there was a mass
killing of civilians there-both of combatants and civilians."(Scotsman,
April 25) "It was a tragic sight of devastation and loss of human life.
But more than that it was a scene of serious breaches of international
law." Pounder accused the Israelis of "maltreatment of detainees,
denial of access to the ICRC, and failure to create circumstances under
which noncombatants could escape the area."
Pounder also said the camp should be considered "a crime scene"
since allegations had been made but the facts not yet ascertained.
Pounder said Palestinian Authority claims of mass graves and a
"massacre" at the camp employed "terms which are emotive and
inappropriate." He cautioned that using such terms "polarize people
before they look at the facts. Let's just look at the facts." (Boston
Globe, April 28) (David Bloom)
[top]
2. ICRC:
INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW NOT RESPECTED
Rene
Kosirnik, regional head of the International Committee of the Red Cross,
accused Israel of violating the laws of war in Jenin: "When we are
confronted with the extent of destruction in an area of civilian
concentration, it is difficult to accept that international humanitarian
law has been fully respected. What the law says is that you cannot
attack or destroy civilians or civilian property. If you are in a
military operation you have to take utmost care. If you suspect that
your operation will cause disproportionate damage to civilians or
civilian property then you have to stop the operation." Kosirnik also
accused the Israelis of blocking emergency medical aid to the camp: "We
were there for six days offering our services and we were refused. As
long as Jenin refugee camp was occupied by the Israeli Defense Force,
the first responsibility lies with the IDF to save lives. It is the
responsibility of the force concerned to deliver services, to care for
friend and foe. That is the rule." (UK Guardian, April 23) (David Bloom)
[top]
3. DID ISRAEL REMOVE
BODIES ON REFRIGERATOR TRUCKS?
Originally the Israeli
army announced they intended to remove bodies from Jenin and bury them
in a "special cemetery" in the Jordan valley, according to the April 14
New York Times (see WW3REPORT# 29"). The army said it had
shelved this plan after a challenge by human rights groups in Israeli
supreme court (UK Independent, April 25). On April 20 the Times reported
that Israel had "fanned suspicions" by first announcing it was
"removing and burying some bodies, then insisting it had not done so."
But CNN correspondent Shiela Macvicar reported the Israeli
military doing just that:
MACVICAR: "The Israeli military is now collecting bodies on a
hill a few minutes away. They have refrigerator trucks waiting. The
Israelis say they are taking away the dead from the camp they still
control to prevent the Palestinians staging evidence of a massacre."
MOSHE FOGEL, IDF SPOKESMAN: "Many of the bodies are still being
held by the Palestinians themselves in a propaganda ploy, simply that
when we leave the area, they'll be thrown out in the street or displayed
to create the wrong impression that they were massacred." (CNN, April
13)
Palestinians have accused the Israelis of removing the bodies in
order to hide evidence of a massacre. Israel originally announced 200
Palestinians dead in the fighting at Jenin, but have revised that
figure down to 43. (Independent, April 25; NYT, April 20) (David Bloom)
[top]
4. UN JENIN
FACT-FINDING MISSION DELAYED
Initially welcomed by the
Israeli government, the UN fact finding team--led by former UN High
Commisioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata and including former Finnish
president Martti Athisaari--is still in Geneva waiting for the go-ahead
from the Israeli government to go to Jenin to investigate what happened
there. The UN Security council met April 28 to discuss the refusal of
the Israeli cabinet to let the fact-finding team in. Israel has objected
to the makeup of the team, which includes human rights experts, but not
military experts as full members. Israel says military experts are
necessary to determine the aftermath of the battle is consistent with
the "assymetrical warfare" of a counter-terrorism action. The UN has
rejected the Israeli request that retired US general Bill Nash be made a
member of the team. Nash is currently one of the team's three military
advisors. The UN has agreed to one Israeli demand--that anyone who
testifies before the team be immune from prosecution. Israeli Minister
Rueven Rivlin, speaking for the Israeli cabinet, said the team's
composition insured that its report would implicate Israel. "This awful
United Nations committee is out to get us and is likely to smear Israel
and force us to do things which Israeli is not prepared even to hear
about, such as interrogating soldiers and officers who took part in the
fighting, No country in the world would agree to such a thing."
(Haaretz, April 28) The UN has said that fact-finding team will travel
to Israel April 29 regardless of whether Israel grants approval or not
(Haaretz, April 29)
[top]
5. IDF INCURSION INTO
QALQILYA
Citing new intelligence information on the
location of Palestinian militants, the Israeli Defense Forces made a
one-day incursion into the West Bank city of Qalqilya on April 26. Two
Palestinian militants were killed, including local PFLP leader Raed
Nazal. According to the IDF, Nazal was responsible for orchestrating a
suicide bombing attack in which three settlers were killed on the
Israeli settlement of Karnei Shomron. According to Qalqilyah's mayor,
Mustafa Malki, the IDF destroyed an empty four-story building and two
apartments. The IDF claimed the buildings contained a bomb factory,
grenades, explosives, and weapons. Witnesses said 20 tanks were involved
in the incursion and that IDF soldiers conducted house-to-house
searches, detaining at least 16 in nearby villages who the IDF said were
"suspected of carrying out terrorist activities." (Haaretz, April 26)
The incursion follows a pattern used throughout the West Bank--entering
towns, then withdrawing and encircling them, re-entering when new
intelligence reveals the whereabouts of militants. The incursion into
Qalqilya came just hours after President George Bush had asked the
Israelis to complete their withdrawal of the Palestinian territories.
(BBC, April 26) After the incursion Bush said the "Israelis understand
my position. I've been very clear and there has been some progress, but
it's now time to quit it altogether; it's time to end this." (AFP, April
26) (David Bloom)
[top]
6. IDF INCURSION INTO
HEBRON
On April 25, seven Israeli tanks entered a
Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron, "firing in all directions,"
according to Palestinian security sources. Apache helicopter gunships
hovered overhead, and the IDF was heard making demands over
loadspeakers. The IDF had no comment on the incident. On April 24, the
IDF entered a different neighborhood under Palestinian control, killing
"two terrorists who were formerly involved in carrying out many bombings
and shootings in the Hebron area." Seven Palestinian militants suspected
of terrorist activity were arrested. (CNN, April 24) A day earlier, a
missile from an Israeli helicoptor gunship killed the local head of the
al-Aksa Martyr's Brigade in Hebron, 30 year-old Marwan Zalum.
(Jerusalem Post, April 24) (David Bloom)
[top]
7. GAZA
NEXT?
In response to questions from Knesset Member Uri
Ariel of the right-wing National Union party as to why the IDF stayed
out of Gaza and Hebron during Operation Defensive Shield, Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon simply said, "There is no place where terrorists will be
immune." (Haaretz, April 24) Sharon noted that although Palestinian
security services in Gaza had been left undisturbed by the IDF during
Defensive Shield, "nonetheless the terror attacks continue unabated."
(Jerusalem Post, April 23) (David Bloom)
[top]
8. SIEGE WEARS ON AT
CHURCH OF NATIVITY
Negotiations to end the
Israeli-Palestinan standoff at the Church of the Nativity continued
without resolution this week, despite several developments in the siege.
On April 28, a group of international peace activists were prevented
from bringing food to the 1,400-year-old church where more than 200
Palestinians, including about 30 gunmen, took cover April 2. (AFP, 4.28)
Earlier that day, the priest in charge of the church was escorted to
another nearby church to celebrate Palm Sunday; he returned a few hours
later, saying he had agreed to stay for the sake of peace. (AP, April
28) Chief negotiator Salah al-Taamari said April 28 that after his first
meeting with Israeli negotiators, some consensus was achieved but no
agreement could be reached. Taamari convened with Palestinian Authority
President Yasser Arafat the day before, at the president's compound in
Ramallah. (Haaretz, April 28) Israel rejected a Hezbollah proposal to
release some of its Israeli prisoners in exchange for freedom for those
trapped in the church and in Ramallah. (Haaretz, April 28) Nine young
Palestinians emerged from the church on April 25, carrying the bodies of
two Palestinians who were killed more than a week earlier. The previous
day, three Armenian priests left the compound after displaying a "Please
Help" sign. (AP, April 24) On April 26, four Palestinian policemen
surrendered to Israeli troops surrounding the church and two other men
in the compound were wounded by Israeli snipers. (Newsday, April 27)
Just outside the confines of the church, two Palestinian gunmen were
fatally wounded during a fight on April 24. (AFP, April 25) (Sarah
Robbins)
[top]
9. PALESTINIAN
LEADERS CONDEMN UNDERAGE SUICIDE BOMBERS
The Palestine
News Agency/WAFA issued a statement condemning child suicide bombers.
The statement was in response to increased parental concern
following the death of three 14-year-old boys, who, armed with homemade
ammunition outside a Jewish settlement in the Gaza City were shot and
killed by Israeli soldiers April 23. "Due to narrow-minded mistaken
thinking, we haven't opposed the participation of children in the
struggle against the occupier.. [W]hen these acts grew to become a
phenomenon, it is time when we should strongly object," WAFA wrote. The
statement goes on to say that encouraging youngsters to complete suicide
missions is "an unforgivable mistake and even a crime."
Though both Hamas and Islamic Jihad denied responsibility for the
boys' attempt, one of the slain, 14-year-old Yusef Zaqout, had a poster
of the "great martyrs" of Hamas in his bedroom; in his suicide note, he
requested Hamas pay for his funeral. (NYT, April 25) In response, Hamas
has asked speakers in the mosques and educators in the schools to appeal
to students to refrain from attacks on the settlements until they become
adults and receive training. (Boston Globe, April 27) (Sarah Robbins)
[top]
10. BARGHOUTI TO
ROLL OVER?
West Bank militia chief Marwan Barghouti,
arrested by the IDF in Ramallah on April 15, is about to tell all,
according to a security source quoted by the Itim News Agency. "Marwan
Barghouti is losing his self-confidence, and we expect he will break
soon," the source said. The account says Barghouti has already started
to divulge information. As chief of Fatah's Tanzim militia and head of
the al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigade, Barghouti is believed to be responsible
for suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis. (Itim News Agency,
April 24) Barghouti's kinsman Ahmed Barhouti, also arrested two weeks
ago, has reportedly implicated the militia chief during his
interrogation, saying Marwan was aware of and approved all
Tanzim-related terrorist attacks in advance. (Haaretz, April 26)
Barghouti, 43, is frequently mentioned as a successor to Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat. Formerly a supporter of the Oslo peace accords,
Barghouti served a long sentence in an Israeli prison for activities
during the first Intifada, before joining Yasser Arafat in exile in
Tunis. His current arrest has raised his stature in the Palestinian
community. The Israelis intend to try him. (Haaretz, April 23) (David
Bloom)
[top]
11. U.S. COOL ON
SAUDI PEACE PLAN
During a visit to Texas, Crown Prince
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia presented an eight-point proposal calling for
an end to the Israeli siege of Ramallah and deployment of an
international peacekeeping force. This complements an earlier Saudi
land-for-peace initiative for normalizing relations with Israel that was
adopted by Arab leaders in Beirut in March. Abullah was reportedly
frustrated he failed to win administration approval for the plan before
leaving the country. (New York Times, April 27) US National Security
Council spokesman Sean McCormack called the proposal "a basis for
discussion." (Reuters, 4.27) (Sarah Robbins)
[top]
12. SAUDIS MASS
TROOPS ON JORDAN BORDER
On April 24, a Saudi Arabian
Defense Ministry official denied reports that his country is gathering
forces to its border with Jordan in response to the Palestinian
conflict. The official said the deployment of 8,000 soldiers equipped
with armored personnel carriers and missile launchers to the Tabuk
region, about 930 miles northeast of the Saudi capital Riyadh, is a
routine training exercise. The action was reported as a Saudi reaction
to intelligence that Israeli forces had amassed on Israel's southern
border with Jordan. An Israeli army spokesman said Israel has not
increased troops along that 15.5-mile strip of Jordanian territory that
separates Israel from Saudi Arabia. (AP, April 24) (Sarah Robbins)
[top]
13. HEZBOLLAH TO
OPEN NEW FRONT WITH ISRAEL?
An article in London-based
Jane's Defense Weekly cited in the Jerusalem Post says Hezbollah is
almost completely in control of southern Lebanon and will attempt to
open up a second front with Israel. The Shiite Hizbollah militia is said
to be working in conjunction with the Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), an ultra-left faction
led by Ahmed Jibril. The two groups are cooperating despite religious
differences in an effort to seize Jerusalem from Israel. Jane's says
that a recent redeployment of Syrian forces away from Beirut has left
control of southern Lebanon entirely to Hezbollah. Jane's claims the
Syrian army has withdrawn to avoid strikes by Israelis in retaliation
for Hezbollah attacks. The journal notes the Syrian army is decrepit and
wants to leave the front-line fighting to Hizbollah/PFLP-GC. UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for the Lebanese army to
re-deploy in the south to keep order. Recently four members of UNIFIL,
the UN's international military presence in Lebanon, were beaten in
southern Lebanon, drawing an apology from Hezbollah secretary-general
Sheik Nasrallah. (Jerusalem Post, April 25) (David Bloom)
[top]
14. MUBARAK: ISRAEL
GUILTY OF "STATE TERRORISM"
In a speech commemorating the
20th anniversary of the return of the Sinai peninsula to Egypt from
Israel, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Egypt would continue its
policy of restraint, but labeled Israeli actions during Operation
Defensive Shield "state terrorism." In a televised speech, Mubarak said
Israel "has prevented aid agencies and media from entering towns,
villages and refugee camps in order to conceal the brutal crimes the
Israeli army committed." He said Israel "uses arguments equating
legitimate Palestinian resistance with occupation and terrorism...to
avoid its ugly Israeli practices being depicted as state terrorism."
Mubarak added that Israel "crossed all borders with its siege of the
Church of the Nativity and the crude violation of human rights in
Palestinian cities, and in the matter of Jenin." (Haaretz, April 25)
(David Bloom)
[top]
15. EGYPTIAN PM:
GIVE US 100B AND WE'LL WAGE WAR ON ISRAEL
On April 24,
Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebied indicated to Al Itiihad, a Perisian
Gulf newspaper, that Egypt would wage war on Israel if the Arab states
sent $100 billion to fund the effort. When asked why Egypt was remaining
on the sidelines during Operation Defensive Shield, Ebeid replied "If
you want to take action, if you are ready to rise to the challenge, you
must send $100 billion." When al Itiihad asked him to "expel the Israeli
ambassador" from Egypt, he said "I told you that we wanted $100
billion." (Haaretz, April 25) Ebied went on to say, "Make the Arab
world put $100 billion of the Arab funds available around the world and
say 'this is a confrontation budget... here you go, Egypt, you
leader--this budget is at your disposal, go ahead and begin the
confrontation.'" Ebied later said his remarks were taken out of context.
He said he did not tell al Itiihad that Egypt would make war against
Israel if the Arab states gave Egypt sufficient funding, but that if
they did, "your calculations change." Ebied added, "I am in no need to
confirm that Egypt's army is not an army of mercenaries and that our
will and decisions cannot be bought by money." (AP, April 25) (David
Bloom)
[top]
16. LIKUD MINISTER:
PEACENIK BEILIN HAS A RIGHT TO SPEAK
Likud Communications
Minister Reuvan Rivilin was one of only a few on the right to defend
former Labor Justice Minister--and unrepentant architect of the Oslo
Peace Accords--Yossi Beilin's right to speak at Ben-Gurion University. A
group of 43 professors at the university tried to cancel Beilin's
lecture cancelled, saying the "Oslo criminal" was an inappropriate
choice to speak at the University. "Yossi Beilin is a Zionist without a
doubt and it is the good of the State of Israel that motivates him,"
Rivlin told Israel radio. "Regretfully, he is mistaken. But silencing
him is unacceptable. His dream is one that has been broken, but to say
that Yossi Beilin is a criminal? Heaven forbid." In the past two months,
calls to have the Oslo architects labeled criminals have increased among
voices of the right in Israel. (Jerusalem Post, April 24) (David Bloom)
[top]
17. BEILIN PROPOSES
LABOR PARTY LEAVE GOVERNMENT
Former MK Yossi Beilin has
collected the 100 signatures needed to convene a Labor Party conference
where he will propose that Labor leave the National Unity government.
"After the conclusion of Operation Defensive Shield, Sharon has revealed
to Labor that he has no intention to launch a peace process. The Labor
Party therefore has no longer has an excuse to stay in this failure of a
government, neither for security or economic reasons," he said. But
Labor Party chief and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer says that
that Israel is currently in the "midst of war" and is trying to move
towards a peace process. (Jerusalem Post, April 26) (David Bloom)
[top]
18. STEPHANOPOULOS'
SISTER: WE'RE ISRAEL'S CAPTIVES
The sister of former
Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos, a Russian Orthodox nun whose name is
now Mother Agape, says the 30,000 residents of the Israeli-occupied West
Bank town of Azaria are "virtual prisoners" of the Israelis. "Every day
we see Palestinian men at the checkpoint being lined up by Israeli
soldiers, made to stand there all day while there ID's are checked. It
seems to me to about humiliation and psychological control-- a
psychological game to break the Palestinian people." Agape said it's
easy for a terrorist to circumvent checkpoints and the curfew, as she
recently did on the way to a dentist appointment. "If a middle-aged,
overweight nun can get into Jerusalem, then anyone can find a way in."
(Daily News, April 26) (David Bloom)
[top]
19. PA FINDS PFLP
MEN GUILTY OF ISRAELI MINISTER'S MURDER
In a makeshift
court inside Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's compound, four
members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were
convicted for the murder of right-wing Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavem
Ze'evi. The men were given sentences ranging from one to 18 years in
prison. The Israeli government had demanded the extradition of the men
to Israel to stand trial for Ze'evi's murder. Ze'evi was killed in
retaliation for the Israeli assassination of the PFLP's political
leader, Abu Ali Mustafa, who himself was killed in retaliation for a
successful strike on a Gaza IDF outpost by PFLP operatives. The trial
was dismissed as a farce by Palestinian human rights activist Bassem
Eid. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, "It would have been
possible to avoid trying them twice, as they will anyway be brought to
trial in Israel." (Haaretz, April 26) (David Bloom)
[top]
20. ARAFAT CAN LEAVE
COMPOUND UNDER US-BROKERED DEAL
Under heavy US pressure,
Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accepted a deal under which
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat can leave his Ramallah compound,
where he has been besieged by Israeli forces since March 29. Sharon
dropped his demands that the four PFLP men accused of assassinating
hard-line Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi be extradited to
Israel, accepting a US proposal that the men be held in a Palestinian
prison under watch by US and British guards who will be sent to the
region. (Haaretz, April 29) (David Bloom)
[top]
21. JERUSALEM POST
SEES LITTLE IDF "MISCONDUCT"
According to the Jerusalem
Post, there were 24 cases of suspected looting or excessive violence by
IDF troops in Operation Defensive Shield. These include stealing
money from a Palestinian prisoner, breaking window blinds, smashing
chairs, and stealing two cameras. While stating that the IDF will treat
these allegations "with the utmost seriousness"--with possible
punishments including days' imprisonment or demotion in rank--Col Aviv
Kochavi noted that there were cases in which Palestinians damage their
own property and blame it on the IDF so as to later obtain compensation
from the Palestinian Authority. Kochavi also noted that property damage
was light compared to the results of campaigns in Chechnya or Somalia.
(Jerusalem Post, April 25)
[top]
22. HAARETZ REPORTS
"OPERATION DESTROY THE DATA"
A different picture emerges
in an article by Amira Hass in Haaretz entitled "Operation Destroy the
Data." Hass asserts that there was a "systematic destruction of data
banks," with computer terminals smashed or burned, hard drives and
diskettes broken or missing, cables cut, and printers and scanners
destroyed. The Palestine Authority's Education, Higher Education and
Health Ministries have all had their data destroyed in what Hass calls
an act of "organized vandalism." Also lost is the data from "non-
governmental organizations and research institutes devoted to developing
a modern health system, modern agricultural, environmental protection
and water conservation, human rights organizations, banks and private
commercial enterprises, infirmaries, and supermarkets." Hass says that
rather than an attack on the terrorist infrastructure on the West Bank,
"there was a decision made to vandalize the civic, administrative,
cultural infrastructure developed by Palestinian society." Hass posits
that this "sabotag[es] for years to come the Palestinian goal for
independence, sending all of Palestinian society backward. It's so easy
and comforting to think of the entire Palestinian society as primitive,
bloodthirsty terrorists, after the raw material and product of their
intellectual, cultural, social and economic activity has been destroyed.
That way, the Israeli public can continue to be deceived into believing
that terror is a genetic problem and not a sociological and political
mutation, horrific as it may be, derived from the horrors of the
occupation." (Haaretz, April 24) (David Bloom)
[top]
23. USE OF
PALESTINIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS BY IDF SOLDIERS
Although the
IDF denies the practice takes place, the Christian Science Monitor
reports use of Palestinian civilians as human shields by IDF troops. One
reservist who took part in the fighting in Jenin said an officer
instructed him to employ Palestinians to help the soldiers search homes
and open doors. The "set procedure" for doing so: "when soldiers want to
go from one house to the next, they tell the owner to go to the
neighbor's house, knock on the door, and ask to open the door." Another
soldier related to the army's Bamahane magazine that he and other
soldiers used one Palestinian to search another's home during the IDF
incursion in Qalqilyah: "According to custom, we grabbed one of the
Palestinian neighbors to comb the area. He opened all the doors and
closets, but did not find anything. We shook his hand, thanked him, and
entered." A Human Rights Watch Report detailed four similar incidents
that took place in the west bank between late 2001 and early 2002. "In
each case, the army routinely coerced civilians to perform
life-endangering acts that assisted Israel Defense Force military
operations," a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. (CSM, April
26) Amira Hass reported in Haaretz on April 19 that Palestinian
civilians were made to walk in front of soldiers and knock on the doors
of houses (Haaretz, April 19)
[top]
24. IDF BROADCASTS
PORNOGRAPHY FOR RAMALLAH RESIDENTS
On March 30, the
first day of Operation Defensive Shield, Israeli soldiers reportedly
broadcast pornographic videos to the besieged residents of Ramallah from
the city's three TV stations, captured by the IDF. According to
Agence-France Press, Muslim residents of Ramallah were offended by the
videos. "I am furious, these are the people who are shooting at us that
also play this disgusting trick on us," complained Anita, 52, a mother
of three. "We are desperate for news and constantly flipping channels
and get these terrible pictures instead," An IDF spokesman denied
Israeli soldiers were behind the broadcasts. "The Israeli security
forces have no interest in putting pornographic and racist movies on
Palestinian television," he told AFP. "The only reason we are in these
buildings and in this city is to fight against terrorists and their
infrastructure after giving the Palestinians various chances to do it
themselves," he said. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel
Nachshon said "I cannot believe that Israeli soldiers would engage in
such despicable behavior." (AFP, March 30) (David Bloom)
[top]
25. NIGER BREAKS
TIES WITH ISRAEL
Niger became the first country to cut
relations with Israel since the current Intifada began, with government
Secretary-General Lawal Kader Mahamadou going on state television to
announce the break. Mahamadou accused Israel of "genocide." Niger had
renewed diplomatic relations with Israel in 1996, following a 23-year
break that occurred after the 1973 Yom Kippur war. (AP, April 23) (David
Bloom)
[top]
26. JEWISH CABINET
MINISTER IN SOUTH AFRICA CALLS FOR BOYCOTT
Former African
National Congress (ANC) guerilla and Water & Forestry Minister Ronnie
Kasrils has backed calls for a boycott of Israeli goods and an isolation
of its government. Explaining that "since Israel purports to speak and
act in the name of Jews everywhere...we are saying: no, not in my name.
Never." Kasrils has circulated a "not in my name" petition amongst South
Africa's 75,000 Jews, 300 of whom have signed it so far. Kasrils told
Reuters: "People are saying that there should be boycotts, there should
be sanctions... I support the call now for the isolation and the boycott
of Israel. I support sanctions." (Rueters, April 25) (David Bloom)
[top]
27. WORLD MEDICAL
BODY THREATENS TO EXPEL ISRAELI DOCTORS
The World Medical
Association (WMA), an organization made up of 130 member states that
meets next week in Geneva, is considering expelling the Israel Medical
Association (IMA). The IMA is planning to defend itself in Geneva from
what the Jerusalem Post describes as "the ongoing political campaign
against Israel." IMA chairman Dr. Yoram Blachar, the WMA's second
highest official, says the "chance of being ousted from the WMA is
small, but we do expect verbal attacks and anti-Israeli resolutions."
(Jerusalem Post, April 24) (David Bloom)
[top]
28. SCANDINAVIANS
CALLS FOR BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL
According to Haaretz, the
General Workers Union in Denmark (SiD) called on its country's citizens
to boycott Israeli goods to protest aggression in the West Bank.
(Haaretz, April 26) Last week, the largest trade union in Norway,
800,000 members strong, called for a consumer boycott of Israel.
Supemarket chains attached special labels to Israeli labels to help with
the boycott. Norwegian truckers have refused to transport Israeli goods
from Norway's ports. (Haaretz, April 22) On April 4, Coop Norge became
the first Norwegian food chain to issue a boycott call of Israeli goods.
(AFP, April 4) Norway has traditionally been supportive of Israel, but
Professor Nils Butenschon, director of the Norwegian Institute of Human
Rights, explains that "many Norwegians feel betrayed. Israel
disappointed them from a moral standpoint and crossed red lines."
(Haaretz, April 26) The Norwegian Academy of Sciences has also condemned
Israeli behavior in the occupied territories (Haaretz, April 25) (David
Bloom)
Norwegian academics have also called for a boycott. In an open
letter titled "Professors are abetting war crimes," published in a
Norwegian paper this month, law professor Edvard Vogt wrote: "Among the
Western countries, there is only one, Israel, that is involved in a war
of expansion, that annexes and conquers the land of a neighboring
people, bombs and destroys the neighboring people's infrastructure,
shoots its children and aspires to ethnic cleansing. But most Israeli
academics refrain from protest... An educated Israeli who doesn't take a
clear stand against his country's policy is a collaborator. And if we
continue to cooperate with Israeli academics without holding them
responsible, we are also collaborators... Just as Hitler did in Mein
Kampf, Sharon and his partners have made their intentions clear... There
is no doubt that Sharon wants to establish 'greater Israel.'" (Haaretz,
April 26)
A letter in Sweden's largest morning daily, Dagens Nyheter,
signed by 34 academics, publicists and cultural personalities called on
Sweden to Boycott Israeli Products. (AFP, April 4) (David Bloom)
[top]
29. BRITISH UNION
CALLS FOR ISRAEL BOYCOTT
The largest trade union in
Britain, the public service worker's union UNISON, has called for a
boycott of Israel "until such time as the Israeli Government agrees to
comply with UN resolutions and return to the negotiating table,"
according to an April 24 statement. UNISON affirms its solidarity and
support for Palestinian Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions
(PGFTU), noting that its headquarters in Nablus was damaged during
Operation Defensive Shield. In addition to condemning the "Israeli
Government for its continuing policy of state terrorism in violation of
UN resolutions and international law." UNISON also condemns the
Palestinian side for killing civilians with suicide bombs, but notes
such acts are "fueled by the deep frustration and despair of the
Palestinian people living under Israeli occupation, and by the
indiscriminate use of brute military force against innocent civilians."
The union also called for an end of military sales to Israel. (UNISON
statement, April 24
) (David Bloom)
[top]
30. EUROPEAN
SCIENTISTS WANT BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI COLLEAGUES
Echoing a
similar boycott of South African sciences during the apartheid regime, a
petition circulated by two British scientists to re-consider cooperation
with their Israeli counterparts now has 270 signatories throughout
Europe. The petition suggests European research institutions stop
treating Israel as if it has the status of a European country in
cooperative research efforts until Israeli obeys UN resolutions and
negotiates in good faith with the Palestinians. The petition also has
ten Israeli signatories. A counter-petition circulated by Israeli
scientists has 4,000 signatures from Israeli, American, and European
scientists. The Hebrew University researchers who initiated the
counter-petition believe that boycott contradicts the principal of
scientific freedom, and will prove counter-productive, hardening
attitudes towards the European position. (Haaretz, April 25) (David
Bloom)
[top]
31. COUNCIL OF
EUROPE: SUSPEND ISRAEL ECONOMIC AGREEMENT
On April 25,
the Council of Europe recommended to the European Union that it suspend
its economic agreement with Israel. It also recommended the EU impose an
arms embargo on Israel,, citing allegations of human rights abuses in
the territories. France, Germany and Hungary all objected to the
decision. Norway became the first country to formally boycott military
sales to Israel. But Germany lifted its temporary embargo of arms sales
to Israel, its chancellor Gerhard Schroeder noting that "given our
special historic responsibility, no embargo measures against Israel will
be agreed to or backed. We are bound [to Israel] by [its] intact and
functioning democracy and by a basic consensus on democratic values."
(Haaretz, April 25) (David Bloom)
[top]
32. AL-AHRAM:
BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL NOT SO EASY TO IMPLEMENT
An April 24
article in Egypt's al-Ahram details the difficulties in implementing an
Arab boycott of Israel. The Council of Arab Foreign Ministers has
decided to "reactivate the Arab Bureau for the Boycott of Israel, until
such time as Israel responds by implementing resolutions of
international legitimacy, honoring the terms of reference of the Madrid
Peace Conference and withdrawing from occupied Arab territories to the 4
June 1967 boundaries." But one Arab official notes that "Boycotting
Israel is something we talk about and include in our official documents,
but it is not something we actually carry out-- at least not in most
Arab states." An Oct. 2001 meeting of the Bureau in Damascus was not
attended by Egypt or Jordan, citing their peace agreements with Israel,
or Mauritania. Syria, Lebanon, and Libya were more ready to engage the
boycott. Once clause of the boycott calls for not doing business with
companies that do business with Israel, but al-Ahram points out it would
be difficult to imagine the Saudis not doing business with US oil
companies that work with Israel. Al-Ahram also notes that some western
countries have laws to "impose economic sanctions on countries that
boycott Israel."(al-Ahram, April 24)
Another article in al-Ahram, "The Boycott Backlash," details how
the Boycott Israeli Goods (BIG) list is making the rounds anew after
first being suggested two years ago, at the start of the current
Intifada. The list, which includes US companies that do business with
Israel, is circulating in Egypt. "Stop using Nescafe, and drink Jacobs
instead." But some Egyptians cannot countenance giving up Nescafe: "I
can't stop drinking Nescafe," says Dina Hossam of Citibank. "I believe
in the Palestinian cause, I will donate blood, and money. I participated
in the demonstrations at Cairo University. But stop Nescafe? I won't."
Notes one Egyptian saleman: "We haven't really seen a difference in
sales." (al-Ahram, April 27) (David Bloom)
[top]
33. JIMMY CARTER:
SUSPEND ECONOMIC AID TO ISRAEL
In an April 21 op-ed piece
in the New York Times, former US President Jimmy Carter suggested using
economic and military levers to help persuade the Israelis to pursue a
peace agreement with the Palestinians. Carter notes "the legal
requirement that American weapons are to be used by Israel only for
defensive purposes, a premise certainly being violated in the recent
destruction in Jenin and other towns of the West Bank. Richard Nixon
imposed this requirement to stop Ariel Sharon and Israel's military
advance into Egypt in the 1973 war, and I used the same demand to deter
Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 1979." Carter recommends suspending aid to
Israel: "The other persuasive factor is approximately $10 million daily
in American aid to Israel. President George Bush Sr. threatened this
assistance in 1992 to prevent the building of Israeli settlements..."
Carter blames both sides for the violence, saying that "Yasir Arafat
never exerted control over Hamas and other radical Palestinians..."
Carter goes on to note, "Tragically, the policies of Mr. Sharon have
greatly strengthened these criminal elements, enhanced their popular
support, and encouraged misguided young men and women to sacrifice their
own lives in attacking innocent Israeli citizens." (NYT, April 21)
(David Bloom)
[top]
34. SOCCER
ASSOCIATIONS DECIDE NOT TO BOYCOTT ISRAEL
Union of
European Football Associations (UEFA) has decided not to consider a
request from Arab countries to suspend Israel from international soccer
matches. "We will continue to monitor the situation in Israel and follow
the guidelines laid down by the United Nations," said UEFA president
Lennart Johansson. The request came from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait,
Oman and Libya. The world-wide International Federation of Football
Associations (FIFA) has also refused to ban Israel from play. (Jerusalem
Post, April 25) (David Bloom)
[top]
35. CITY OF
BERKELEY: NO BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL
The city of Berkeley
California, which led the world in the movement to divest in apartheid
South Africa, rejected a resolution to boycott Israeli-made goods.
Judith Scherr, former editor for the Berkeley Free Planet, writing for
Palestine Chronicle, says an alternative resolution supporting
peacekeeping forces in the Middle East and opposing the sale of US
weapons to be used against civilians was also struck down, even after
the divestiture clause was removed. Outside the meeting, rival groups of
protestors chanted "two, four, six, eight Israel is a racist state" and
"hey hey, ho ho, Arafat has got to go." Those who opposed the measure
claimed that it would "intensify anti-Semitic sentiment," reported to
be growing in the city. (PalestineChronicle.com, April 24) (David Bloom)
[top]
36. $200 MILLION IN
COUNTER-TERRORISM AID TO ISRAEL DITCHED
A Congressional
attempt to add up to $200 million in emergency aid to Israel as part of
a $27 billion emergency spending bill initially met with receptiveness
from the Bush Administration. "Of course we won't oppose supplemental
funding for Israel," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told
the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid. Israel currently
receives $3 billion in US aid, and wanted 800 million more. (Reuters,
April 18) But the White House has convinced Republican leaders in
Congress to drop the idea. (Haaretz, April 29) When asked if there would
be a movement in Congress to provide funds for rebuilding Palestinian
property destroyed during Operation Defensive Shield, Rep. Nita Lowey
(D-NY) of the subcommittee said, "I think it is too early. Right now
they're totally focused on getting the parties together to stop the
suicide bombers and come to a negotiated settlement." (Reuters, April
18) (David Bloom)
[top]
37. SHARON EXPLOITS
ANTI-JEWISH VIOLENCE
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
drew an explicit connection between accusations of a "massacre"
committed by his army in the Jenin refugee camp--which he called
"libels"--and recent anti-Semitic attacks in Europe. "I am very
concerned about the global convergence of terrorism and anti-Semitism,
which is very alarming," he said in a message via satellite to a
conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) aired
live on CNN. "Recent weeks have seen repeated attacks on synagogues and
Jewish cemeteries through Europe and the blood libel of an alleged
Israeli massacre in the Jenin refugee camp," Sharon said. Once again,
Sharon drew a parallel between Israel's struggle against "Palestinian
terrorism" and the US campaign against international terrorism after the
9-11 attacks. "In Afghanistan, the United States is fighting terrorism
[and] sometimes innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire. Israel
is fighting terrorism on our doorstep. We have a moral right and
obligation to defend ourselves." (AFP, April 23)
[top]
38. JEWISH AGENCY:
ISRAEL'S ACTIONS THREATEN DIASPORA JEWS
Israel's military
operations in the Palestinian territories could threaten Jews in the
diaspora, warned Salai Meridor, chair of the Jewish Agency, before a
meeting of the Knesset immigration committee. "Jews abroad are in danger
of being harmed on the backdrop of the Israel Defense Forces' security
operations," he said. (Haaretz, April 10)
[top]
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. JEWISH DISSIDENTS
ISSUE STOCKHOLM MANIFESTO
1,328 Jews from 28 countries
have currently signed a statement describing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
as Israel's worst enemy, condemning his aggression against the
Palestinians, and calling for an unconditional and immediate end to the
occupation. The petition, drawn up by the Stockholm-based Jews for
Israeli-Palestinian Peace (JIPF), is based on Rabbi Hillel's teaching,
"That which you find hateful to yourself, do not do unto others."
Entitled the Jewish Manifesto, the petition first appeared in Dagens
Nyheter, Sweden's biggest morning newspaper, April 5, with 34
signatures.
States the JIPF: "Many of us who have initiated and signed this
manifesto lost family members during the Second World War. They died in
concentration camps or perished in the mass graves of Eastern Europe...
Others of us are survivors of Nazi persecution. We totally repudiate
Ariel Sharon's claim to speak in the name of world Jewry. He certainly
does not speak in ours."
The statement recalls Sharon's past as commander of the IDF's
elite Unit 101, which carried out grisly reprisals on the Palestinian
and Arab side of the armistice lines. In the 1950s, Sharon's Unit 101
carried out two attacks on Palestinian villages that left nearly 100
civilians dead. In 1982, Defense Minister Sharon led "Operation Peace in
Galilee"--Israel's invasion of Lebanon--which left 20,000 dead and over
100,000 homeless. An Israeli commission headed by chief justice Yitzhak
Kahan concluded that Sharon had connived in the massacre of 800 unarmed
civilians by Israeli-backed Christian militias at the Sabra and Shatila
refugee camps in Lebanon. Now, less than two years into office, Prime
Minister Sharon "has managed to torpedo the agreements that took Israel
and the Palestinians many years of patient accommodation to achieve."
(JIPF press release, April 17)
[top]
2. ISRAELI PEACE
MOVEMENT ORGANIZES SOLIDARITY
A group of several dozen
Israeli and Palestinian peace activists are preparing to bring food and
other necessities to Palestinian villages under siege. The activists are
planning to go to villages around Bethlehem and Beit Jala. In related
news, the student movement "Green Line" demonstrated in Jerusalem,
handing out stickers to motorists and calling for an Israeli withdrawal
from Palestinian territories. A similar demonstration was held in Tel
Aviv. A massive peace demonstration is scheduled to be held May 11 at
Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, under the slogan "Leave the territories-stop
the war." (Jerusalem Post, April 26) (David Bloom)
[top]
3. GIVAT HAVIVA:
ISRAELI PEACE CENTER HANGS ON
The war with the
Palestinians is straining the efforts of Givat Haviva, a center in the
Galilee cited by UNESCO for promoting Jewish-Arab coexistence. Writes
Haaretz April 23: "It should have been a boost, but when the Jewish-Arab
Center for Peace at Kibbutz Givat Haviva won the UNESCO prize for peace
education recently, it failed to stem the tide of young people dropping
out of its programs." Participation is down 60%. "We've been running
face-to-face meetings for Jewish and Arab high school pupils and youth
movement members for years," said Givat Haviva's Mohammad Darawshe.
"There's been a drastic reduction in numbers this year. Even if the kids
are interested--and some are eager--their parents are often too scared
or stigmatized to send them." Founded in 1949, Givat Haviva, then a
kibbutz seminar center, is named after Haviva Reich, a Jewish resistance
fighter executed by the Nazis in Slovakia in 1944. It developed into the
Jewish-Arab Center For Peace in the 1970s. Says peace center director
Riad Kabha, "While similar dialogue centers buckled--Neveh Shalom ceased
operations for three months after October 2000--we kept on preaching
peace and coexistence... Even in times of war and crisis, the center has
never closed its gates for 38 years--but we're in financial straits
right now, and cutting back."
[top]
4. SOLIDARITY WITH
COLOMBIA IN D.C.
On April 22, two days after the national
march for Palestine in Washington DC (see WW3 REPORT #29), over 2,000
marched from the Washington Monument to protest US military aid to
Colombia. 37 were arrested blocking an entrance to the Capitol Building.
Among those arrested was Liz Carlisle, 21, of Ithaca, NY, who said "Our
government sends billions of dollars in military aid to Colombia which
only escalates an already violent conflict." Carlisle, a Cornell student
and president of the Committee on US-Latin American Relations (CUSLAR),
added, "The majority of the victims are not armed guerrillas but
innocent civilians, over 20 each day." (CUSLAR press release, April 23)
[top]
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. RUMSFELD
SCHMOOZES WARLORDS
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
promised Afghanistan's interim regime the US will commit money to train
a national army. But the offer did not commit US troops to an
international security force wanted by interim prime minister Hamid
Karzai. Rumsfeld, in a visit to the Afghan capital, said the French are
offering to help the US train a national army, and that US assistance
will begin next month pending Congressional approval. Later, in a visit
to Herat, he met regional warlord Ismail Khan to woo him on
incorporating his own 30,000-man force into a national army. The
national army has just started training its first class of 600. At
Bagram air base, Rumsfeld hinted Washington already has bigger fish to
fry than Afghanistan, telling US troops that the country is the "proving
ground," not the final battleground, for the War on Terrorism. (AP,
April 28)
[top]
2. U.S. ATTEMPTING
TO MEDIATE IN PAKTIA WARFARE
US forces in Afghanistan's
troubled eastern province of Paktia held talks with rival warlords in a
bid to halt clashes which have left up to 90 dead since January. The
forces of Padsha Khan are raining down rockets on the provincial capital
Gardez in a campaign to wrest control of the city from the
Kabul-recognized governor Taj Mohammad Wardak. Khan first tried to take
Gardez in January after interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai appointed him
governor. But Saif Ullah, the leader of the local shura, or council,
routed Khan's forces in a bloody rebellion. Karzai blamed the fighting
on Khan and appointed Wardak, from northern Badakshan province, the new
governor. Khan's forces remain in resistance. Maj. Bryan Hilferty
confirmed that "we are in conversation with some of the leaders."
Stability is a US concern in Paktia, a stronghold of Taliban sympathies.
US forces came under attack in Gardez from suspected Taliban/al-Qaeda
forces two weeks ago, although no troops were injured. (AFP, April 28)
[top]
3. 50 LAWYERS
ARRESTED IN PAKISTAN
Riot police in Pakistan charged a
protest by members of the Pakistan Bar Council against Gen. Pervez
Musharraf's move to retain power for five more years through a
referendum. 50 attorneys were arrested, chanting "We will not accept
military rule." Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in Oct. 1999, is
seeking to extend his term in the name of stability. (See WW3 REPORT #28) Most of the
country's main political parties have rejected the referendum and called
for its boycott. The Bar Council accuses Musharraf of violating the
constitution. (AFP, April 26)
[top]
4. SHIITE MOSQUE
BOMBED IN PAKISTAN
A powerful bomb exploded near midnight
April 25 at a mosque in central Pakistan during a religious festival,
killing 12 worshipers, all of them women and children. The explosion,
which wounded at least 23, took place in the women's section of a mosque
in Bukker, in eastern Punjab province, where thousands of Shiites had
gathered from around the country to mark the death of Hussain, grandson
of the Prophet Muhammad. This appears the latest in a series of attacks
on Pakistan's Shiite minority. Dozens of Shiites have been killed in
Pakistan this year. 11 died when gunmen fired on worshipers at a mosque
in the northern city of Rawalpindi Feb. 26. (NYT, April 27)
[top]
5. U.N. WAR CRIMES
COURT: EYES ON AFGHANISTAN
A day after the birth of the
International Criminal Court (ICC), Afghans told the UN news agency IRIN
they demand investigations of war crimes in the nation's 23 years of
strife. "We need an independent body in Afghanistan to start compiling a
list of the worst human rights abusers followed by an effective judicial
process," a member of the Loya Jirga said on condition of anonymity. The
ICC came into being April 11 after 10 nations ratified the Rome statute
of 1998, taking the number of ratifying countries well beyond the 60
needed to put the treaty into effect. The court, with its own prosecutor
and 18 judges, will have jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes committed after 1 July this year. The court will
not have retroactive powers, but abuses in Afghanistan appear to be
ongoing. A new report from Human Rights Watch, "Paying for the Taliban's
Crimes: Abuses Against Ethnic Pashtuns in Northern Afghanistan,"
documents cases of summary executions, beatings, sexual violence,
abductions and looting that have been committed since November 2001,
when the Northern Alliance forces regained power in the north.
Meanwhile, in central Bamiyan, mass graves are being unearthed where
local Hazara ethnics were apparently massacred by the Pashtun-dominated
Taliban last year. An earlier HRW report documents two such massacres,
estimating at least 200 executed and thrown into shallow graves. (See WW3REPORT#21) Meanwhile, some accused
war criminals sit in Afghanistan's interim regime. "There is a need to
prevent warlords and others who are accused of crimes from being
involved in the government but we cannot really stop that," vice-chair
of the Interim Authority Sima Samar told IRIN.
[top]
EUROPE
1. "BACK TO THE DARK
AGES"
It's "Back to the dark ages," proclaimed David
Landau in Haaretz April 27. "In France, a century after the Dreyfus
Affair, anti-Semitism is back at center-stage, in the person of Jean
Marie Le Pen"--the right-wing extremist now facing a run-off with
incumbent Jacques Chirac for the presidency. Landau notes that the
"Jewish state, which was supposed to provide a solution" for
anti-Semitism, "serves as the cause, or at least the excuse." The return
to medieval tribalism in Europe and Israel reflect and fuel each other:
"With macabre timing, on the day that le Pen restored dark and
irrational French anti-Semitism to its former glory, Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon, drunk with his victory over Jenin, proclaimed that he
would never dismantle a single settlement."
[top]
2. 100,000 PROTEST LE
PEN
Over 100,000 took to the streets throughout France
April 22 to protest the ascendance of Jean-Marie Le Pen to the second
round of presidential elections. Many of the protestors were high school
students, not yet of voting age, who walked out of classes to join the
demos. With banners calling Le Pen a fascist, the protesters marched
peacefully in over 20 cities. The popular chant was "Down with the Front
National," referring to the anti-immigrant party Le Pen founded in 1972.
The demonstrations began late the previous day, when Le Pen's upset
victory bumped Socialist candidate Prime Minister Lionel Jospin from the
presidential race. The run-off is May 5. A former French Foreign Legion
parachutist, Le Pen once described the Nazi death camps as "a detail" of
World War II's history. (DPA, April 22) Russian extremist Vladimir
Zhirinovski immediately sent a telegram to Le Pen congratulating him on
his "brilliant victory." (Kyodo, April 22)
[top]
3. E.U. CONDEMNS
ANTI-JEWISH VIOLENCE
The European Union April 25
condemned a wave of anti-Jewish attacks and pledged to beef up security
at potential targets. The joint statement by 15 EU interior ministers
said the body "strongly condemns the racist acts perpetrated in various
places" and said it wishes to "step up preventive action and the fight
against racist violence and anti-Semitism." (AP, April 25)
[top]
4. PARIS TO KIEV:
EUROPE'S APRIL OF ATAVISM
Jewish organizations call it
the worst wave of anti-Semitic violence since World War II. In the most
serious case, a synagogue in Marseille, France, was burned to the ground
on March 31, its Torah scrolls and other sacred books destroyed. On
March 29, some 15 masked youths rammed two stolen cars through the main
gates of Lyon's La Duchere synagogue, and set light to one of the
vehicles inside the prayer hall. The doors and facade of a synagogue in
Strasbourg were badly damaged in another arson attack that night, while
in Toulouse a gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher's shop. Within
days, a Jewish school was broken into in Sarcelles, north of Paris, and
a young Jewish couple--the woman pregnant--were beaten up by five youths
in Villeurbanne in the Rhone region. (UK Guardian, April 2) Molotov
cocktails were hurled at a synagogue in the Paris suburb of Bicetre
April 3, damaging graves. A homemade bomb was found at a Jewish cemetery
in the eastern city of Strasbourg, which was the target of an arson
attempt a few days earlier, with a prayer pavilion was set fire. (AP,
April 6) On April 10, members of a Jewish soccer team practicing in a
suburban Paris sports field were set upon masked youths with sticks and
metal pipes. Most managed to flee, but three were injured and one
briefly hospitalized with a head wound. (NYT, April 13) The French
interior ministry counted nearly 360 anti-Semitic incidents (including
graffiti) in April, and said 16 suspects had been arrested, mostly of
"Maghreb origin" (Arabs from North Africa). (AP, April 18)
Also on March 31, Zalman Teldon, 21, an American rabbinical
student, was beaten in downtown Berlin, where he was volunteering at a
local synagogue. Easily identifiable by his Orthodox garb, Teldon was
attacked by some 10 men. Although the attackers yelled "Juden!"--the
German word for Jew--as they punched Teldon, police said the assailants
were "Suedlaendisch," meaning "southern" and generally referring to
Arabs and North Africans. (Newsday, April 2) Berlin police prompted a
scandal by suggesting Jews stop wearing yarmukles or Stars of David to
avoid provoking attacks. (AP, April 23)
Vandals destroyed or desecrated some 135 gravestones at a Jewish
cemetery in Kosice, Slovakia's second city on April 20. Authorities
noted that the attack came on the 113th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's
birthday. (RFE, April 22)
In Kiev, some 50 youths attacked the central synagogue, hurling
rocks and bottles, and beating a rabbi. Kiev Chief Rabbi Moshe-Reuven
Azman said the mob shouted "Kill the Jews!" as they descended on the
synagogue. Tzvi Kaplan, rector of Kiev's yeshiva, was hospitalized after
being knocked to the ground and pelted with stones. Azman's 14-year-old
son and a security guard also suffered injuries. Police denied it was an
anti-Semitic attack, calling it "soccer hooliganism." Countered Azam: "I
call this act a pogrom." (AP, April 15)
[top]
5. 4-20+6: GERMANY GETS
"COLUMBINE MASSACRE"
A 19-year-old who had been expelled
from Johann Gutenberg Secondary School in Erfurt, Germany, opened fire
on teachers and students with a revolver and shotgun April 26, killing
15 adults and two youngsters before killing himself. Interior Minister
Otto Schily noted the "macabre coincidence" that the shooting came the
same day the government pushed through a bill to impose tighter controls
on gun ownership and harsher penalties for illegal possession. (LAT,
April 28) The schoolhouse massacre drew immediate comparisons to the
1999 incident in Columbine, CO, which left 15 dead. But media
commentators failed to recall that Columbine's "Trench-Coat Mafia" chose
April 20 as their day to act because it was Hitler's birthday (WP, April
21, 1999). The Erfut massacre took place six days after the Fuehrer's
birthday.
[top]
6. AL-QAEDA ON TRIAL IN
GERMANY
Five Al-Qaeda suspects made a dramatic opening to
their Frankfurt trial April 16. One defendant was thrown out of the
courtroom after shouting anti-Jewish slogans and using threatening
language. The trial's opening was delayed for two hours by a legal
dispute over whether the men could be filmed in court. A camera was
allowed to film the first five minutes. Four of the five, who are all of
Algerian descent, are accused of plotting to bomb the market in the
French city of Strasbourg in December 2000. They are all also charged
with "membership in a terrorist group." The prosecution alleges the five
were trained in camps in Afghanistan. Germany has been a focus of
investigation into al-Qaeda cells after it emerged that three of the
9-11 hijackers had studied in Hamburg. Since Sept. 11, Germany has
launched its biggest post-war criminal investigation to track down
al-Qaeda suspects. Concrete blocks have been placed outside the
courthouse, and extra surveillance cameras installed throughout the
building. The defendants are escorted to and from the building by masked
officers. "These are the highest security measures ever to be employed
in Frankfurt," said court spokesman Wolfgang Frank. (BBC, April 16) In
an opening statement, one of the defendants, Aeurobui Beandali, said "I
expressly distance myself from the attacks on the World Trade Center.
The death of innocent people there is exactly as bad as the death of
innocent people in Algeria or Palestine." But he also said, "I admit to
plotting to blow up a Jewish synagogue in France." (NYT, April 24)
[top]
7. MORE ARRESTS IN
GERMANY
Police in Frankfurt arrested 11 accused members
of an Islamic militant cell known as al-Tawhid which authorities say
provided false ID papers and financial aid to international volunteers
for the Taliban in Afghanistan. (NYT, April 24)
[top]
8. MILAN SKYSCRAPER HIT:
9-11 COPY-CAT?
Authorities investigating the April 18
crash of a small private plane into Milan's tallest building, the
Pirelli tower, ruled out suicide, Italian news reports said. The pilot,
Luigi Fasulo, and two women working in the building were killed. Police
quickly ruled out terrorism, saying from the outset they believed it was
suicide or a technical problem. Prosecutor Bruna Albertini has now
dismissed suicide as well. "Evidence gathered so far leads us to rule
out a voluntary act," she told Italian news agencies. Fasulo had
reported landing gear problems on his approach to Milan's airport on a
short flight from Switzerland, and air traffic controllers had diverted
him. Minutes later, his Rockwell Commander 112TC struck the 26th floor
of the landmark tower. (AP, April 24)
[top]
9. RED BRIGADES
RE-EMERGE IN ITALY
Italian police say the long-dormant
ultra-left Red Brigades faction claimed responsibility via an Internet
communique for the March 19 slaying of Labor Ministry advisor Marco
Biagi outside his home in Bologna by two men on a motorcycle. The
26-page statement said Biagi was "executed" for his role in drawing up
labor reforms for the right-wing government of Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi. The document was signed by the "Red Brigades for the
construction of a Combatant Communist Party" (BR-PCC), which authorities
call the "second generation" of the group responsible for a wave of
killings in the 1970s and 1980s. Suspicion was already on the Red
Brigades after evidence emerged that the same gun might have been used
three years ago to kill another labor ministry official, Massimo
D'Antona. In the statement, posted on the Caserta24ore website, the
BR-PCC vowed to fight Italy's "anti-proletariat project" and create the
"political-military" conditions necessary for prolonged class war. The
statement also praises the perpetrators of the 9-11 attacks, saying that
they demonstrate the "need for the forging of alliances between
anti-imperialist and revolutionary forces in the regions of Europe, the
Mediterranean and the Middle East." (BBC, March 21)
The Red Brigades were believed crushed after several of their top
militants were sentenced to long prison terms in a co-ordinated effort
involving police across Europe following the group's 1978 kidnap-slaying
of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978. The last Red
Brigades fugitive in the Moro slaying, Alvaro Loiacono, was arrested in
Corsica in 2000. (BBC, June 3, 2000) On March 11, just a week before
Biagi slaying, another man, Nicola Bortone, was arrested in Zurich on
charges of "supporting a subversive organization " (the Red Brigades)
in Italy. (AP, March 11)
The proposed reform of Italy's labor laws will make it easier to
fire workers, and is strongly opposed by unions. Berlusconi called for a
one-day general strike in protest of the reform to be called off in the
wake of the killing. (BBC, March 21) Millions joined the April 16 strike
nonetheless, bringing virtually the entire country to a standstill.
Florence saw the biggest protest, with 300,000 people. (BBC, March 16)
[top]
10. U.S. TERROR ALERT
FOR ITALY
Italian officials are warning against needless
fear after the US Embassy in Rome issued a warning that unnamed
extremist groups were planning attacks against US citizens in Venice,
Florence, Milan or Verona over the Easter weekend. "The US government
continues to receive credible reports that extremists are planning
additional terrorist actions against US interests," the statement said.
"These groups do not distinguish between official and civilian targets."
Italian Interior Minister Claudio Scajola told CNN the threat is
believed to of an "Islamic nature." But he also warned against
unnecessary alarm, saying there was no evidence suggesting the four
cities were threatened. "There is no specific threat," Scajola said.
"There is a confidential warning that caused us to raise our guard and
tighten our security, but we had no specific confirmation." Milan public
prosecutor Gerardo D'Ambrosio was more critical: "I think it's a mistake
to keep on banging the drum over this sort of thing. It's just what the
terrorists want." Milan mayor Gabriele Albertini also criticized the US
statement: "There is no need for alarmism. There is no concrete evidence
of a threat." Former Italian ambassador Sergio Romano, writing in the
newspaper Corriere della Sera, said: "If terrorism is aimed at creating
insecurity then yesterday's statement risks gifting al-Qaeda a partial
victory without a shot being fired." (CNN, March 29)
[top]
11. "TERROR TUNNEL"
DISCOVERED UNDER ROME'S STREETS
US officials arrived in
Rome in late February to inspect a tunnel which Italian investigators
suspect may have been part of a plan to launch a chemical attack against
the US embassy. Rome was then under a heightened alert in the following
the detention of nine Moroccans found with large quantities of a
cyanide-based compound and maps of the water network in the area around
the embassy. Italian officials stress that evidence suggesting the men
were planning an attack is circumstantial, and that the hole--while not
authorized for its exact location--may have been dug by workers for
standard utility maintenance. Scientists have also pointed out that the
compound found in the Moroccans' apartment, potassium ferro-cyanide, is
a harmless substance in itself, and that turning it into a gas capable
of killing people would involve a complicated process.
Following the arrests of the Moroccans, police said they had
evidence from intercepted telephone calls linking some of the men to
four Tunisians jailed a week earlier on suspicion of al-Qaeda links. The
four Tunisians were convicted of conspiring to traffic in forged
documents, weapons, explosives and hazardous chemicals. Police say one
of the men, Essid Sami Ben Khemais, was himself planning an attack on
the US Embassy in Rome last January. They also accuse him of being a
key European operative for Osama bin Laden.
Security in Rome was also beefed up following a small bomb blast
near the Interior Ministry Feb. 26, damaging several vehicles and
blowing out the windows of nearby apartments. Authorities say an
explosive was attached to a scooter on the pavement outside the
ministry, and blamed "internal subversion" rather than international
terrorism. Last August, a left-wing "anti-imperialist" faction claimed
responsibility for a bomb blast at a Venice courthouse a day before
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was due to visit. Other small
explosions have hit Milan, Trieste and Bologna in the past year. (BBC,
Feb. 26)
[top]
12. SPAIN ARRESTS
AL-QAEDA SUSPECT
Spanish police arrested Ahmed Brahim, an
Algerian suspected of raising money for al-Qaeda, at his home near
Barcelona. Hooded agents removed boxes of material from his apartment.
Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy boasted "We have discovered a very
important part of al-Qaeda's financial network." While authorities say
much of the planning for 9-11 took place in Hamburg, Germany, telephone
and financial records are now said to indicate a network of cells
operating in France, Italy and Spain. (NYT, April 15)
[top]
13. E.U.
COUNTER-TERRORIST POLICE TO TARGET ACTIVISTS?
The
European Union has repeatedly stated that activists would not fall under
the new anti-terrorist laws, and that the distinction between political
activists and terrorists would not be blurred. But new proposals from
Spain seek to do exactly that. According to Spain, European authorities
have noticed "a gradual increase at various European Union summits and
other events, in violence and criminal damage orchestrated by radical
extremist groups, clearly terrorizing society." The Spanish proposal
says the anti-globalization protests are the work of "organizations
taking advantage of their lawful status to aid and abet the achievements
of terrorist groups' aims." The European Working Group on Terrorism,
made up of representatives from law enforcement and intelligence
agencies from each member state, is currently studying the Spanish
proposal for a special Europol network to monitor organizers of legal
protests. (Heise Online, Feb. 8)
[top]
14. BELFAST
ROCKS
Police and British army troops came under attack in
northern Belfast while intervening in a riot between Catholic and
Protestant residents at the border of two neighborhoods. Youth threw
fireworks, gasoline bombs and homemade explosives at each other and
security forces. Police were criticized for opening fire with rubber
bullets, which have killed people in the past. (NYT, April 23)
[top]
BALKAN FRONT
1. "ENDURING FREEDOM"
AND "DEFENSIVE SHIELD" AID MILOSEVIC
Bush's
"counter-terrorist" campaign in Afghanistan and Sharon's in Palestine
are great news for accused war criminal Slobodan Milosevic and his
international fan club. The former president of Serbia and Yugoslavia is
defending himself before the ad-hoc International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague on charges he ordered genocide and
other war crimes in Bosnia and Kosovo. The crux of his defense strategy
is that his armies were battling Islamic terrorists bent on destroying
his country--just like Bush. Milosevic fan Jared Israel, writing on the
web page
of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic, noted that on March 7, his hero cross-examined one Sabit Kadriu,
who Israel gripes is known as a "human rights
activist...by virtue of his membership in the so-called 'Council for the
Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms,' a group run by Adem Demaci."
Demaci is identified as a former political adviser to "the terrorist
Kosovo Liberation Army."
While the KLA was never on the US State Department terrorist list
, Interpol has traced ties
between the KLA's heroin rackets and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network
(see WW3 REPORT #5). In his
account of Milosevic's cross-examination of Kadriu, Jared Israel notes
interruptions by Judge Richard May. After Milosevic asks, "So you want
to say that you know nothing about their [al-Qaeda] activity," May jumps
in: "No, he says there are no Mujahedeen in Kosovo. That's what he
says." Milosevic replied dryly: "All right, but he doesn't need so much
assistance." However, upon reading the actual transcript accompanying
Israel's account, it appears that Kadriu had already said "That is not
true that there were Mujahedeen in Kosovo. You have invented that. That
is the fruit of your imagination." May only interjected after Milosevic
continued to brow-beat Kadriu about al-Qaeda.
Also on the ICDSM site is a list of the 1,354 signers of their
"FREE SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC!!!" petition. Signatory number two is ICDSM
co-chairman Ramsey Clark, former US attorney general, current Milosevic
legal advisor and frontman for the International Action Center, a so-called "anti-war group" in the United States.
[top]
2. UN OFFICIAL: BALKANS
"IMPORTING AFGHAN DANGER"
A March 15 account in Canada's
National Post portrays global technocrats starting to see militant Islam
rather than Serb nationalism as the primary threat in the Balkans.
Michael Steiner, UN administrator in Kosovo, warned of "importing the
Afghan danger to Europe," claiming several cells trained and financed by
al-Qaeda remain in the region. "Many members of the Kosovo Liberation
Army were sent for training in terrorist camps in Afghanistan," said
James Bissett, former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia. "Milosevic is
right. There is no question of their participation in conflicts in the
Balkans. It is very well documented." According to Lenard Cohen,
professor of political science at Simon Fraser University, Mujahedeen
fighters who traveled to Afghanistan to resist the Soviet occupation in
the 1980s later "migrated to Bosnia hoping to assist their Islamic
brethren..." After the Bosnian war, "hundreds of Bosnian passports were
provided to the Mujahedeen by the Muslim-controlled government in
Sarajevo," wrote Cohen in a recent article, "Bin Laden and the War in
the Balkans."
[top]
3. TERROR THREAT CLOSES
U.S. EMBASSY IN SARAJEVO
The US Embassy in Sarajevo, the
Bosnian capital, closed "until further notice" following an unspecified
terrorist threat. NATO forces in Bosnia and Kosovo were also placed on a
higher level of alert. The threats came after Bosnian police, at US
behest, raided the Sarajevo and Zenica offices of an Islamic charity,
Bosnian Ideal Future, arresting four. The charity's parent organization
is the US-based Benevolence Foundation International, whose assets were
frozen by US authorities in December. (NYT, March 23)
[top]
4. BOSNIANS PROTEST
DOUBLE STANDARD ON "TERROR"
January saw protests in
Sarajevo over the Bosnian government's summary extradition of six
Algerians to US authorities, without formal proceedings (see WW3 REPORT #18) Amnesty
International said the extradition put the men "at risk," and also
protested the extradition of two Egyptians in Oct. and Nov. 2001,
apparently on a request from Egypt and similarly without formal
proceedings. Amnesty accused the Bosnian government of not living up to
its obligations under the Convention Against Torture. (Amnesty International press release, Jan. 17) Bosnian newspapers report that the
suspects were named by Algerians who had been arrested fighting for
al-Qaeda in Afghanistan under interrogation at Guantanamo Bay. (National
Post, Canada, March 21) Bosnia Deputy Interior Minister Tomislav Limov
announced that his ministry has collected considerable evidence about
former officials with links to Islamic terrorists. This cooperation is
was rewarded by Bosnia's official entry into the Council of Europe in
April. (RFE, April 23) Meanwhile, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the
two Bosnian Serb leaders sought by the International Criminal Tribunal
on charges of war crimes, mass rape and genocide, remain at
large--presumably in Serb-controlled Bosnia.
[top]
5. FRANCE FINKS OUT TO
BOSNIA BUTCHERS?
NATO officials are trying to identify a
possible mole at the military alliance's Brussels headquarters who may
have tipped off Bosnian Serb police about an arrest operation for war
crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic. British intelligence is said to have
intercepted a call made shortly before 6AM Feb. 28, as NATO troops threw
up roadblocks and moved on the village of Celibici where wartime Bosnian
Serb president Karadzic had been hiding. Thanks to the warning, Karadzic
evaded arrest. The recording of the conversation with someone believed
to be based at the police station in Foca, southern Bosnia, is now being
analysed by linguistic experts. The conversation is said to suggest that
whoever made the call must have been close to the small planning group
that drew up the secretive arrest operation. NATO secretary-general Lord
Robertson dismissed as "pure speculation" European press accounts that
the mole was a French intelligence agent. The call was carried out in
Serb-Croatian, but it was not the caller's native tongue. (NYT, March 4)
The UK Guardian immediately came to the defense of France,
saying the "US military was using France as a scapegoat for the
embarrassing episode." French ambassador to NATO Benoit d'Aboville also
said the story was made up as an excuse for the failed operation. But
German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt quoted Shaun Byrnes, head of the
US diplomatic observer mission in Kosovo, as saying: "A French officer
revealed the imminent operation." The journalist, Franz-Josef Hutsch,
said he received confirmation from one of Karadzic's bodyguards that a
warning had been given. The bodyguard, known as Beli Vuk (White Wolf)
said Karadzic had fled in a black Jeep Cherokee 45 minutes before NATO
forces arrived. (UK Guardan, March 9)
This is far from the first accusation of French duplicity in the
Balkans. In December, a former French Army officer, Pierre Brunel, was
convicted of treason for leaking NATO bombing plans to Belgrade during
the Kosovo crisis. (Reuters, March 4) French forces did arrest wanted
Serb war criminal Momcilo Krajisnik in 2000. (Boston Globe, April 4,
2000) But prosecutors at The Hague call NATO's failure to arrest
Karadzic and Mladic "scandalous," and say they are believed to be hiding
in the French-controlled section of Bosnia. (Montreal Gazette, July 2,
2001) In 1998, the New York Times quoted unnamed US officials similarly
claiming plans to arrest Karadzic had been dropped after French army
Maj. Herve Gourmelon met with Karadzic to tip him off. (NYT, April 23,
1998)
[top]
6. U.S. WORKING TO SHUT
DOWN HAGUE TRIBUNAL?
The US is working behind the
diplomatic scenes to shut down the ad hoc UN tribunals on Yugoslavia and
Rwanda, the NY Daily News reported Feb. 26. "We don't expect this to
extend indefinitely and the tribunals need to think about what the
strategy is for shutting them down," said one anonymous "senior US
official." Even Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor for the Hague
tribunals, said in November she was starting to consider an "exit
strategy" under which the tribunal would end in 2008. But she told the
United Nations: "There may be people who are saying [after Sept. 11] the
world has moved on and the issue of the day is now terrorism. We cannot
take that view of international justice."
US ambassador-at-large for war crimes Pierre-Richard Prosper has
proposed a deadline of 2007 for the tribunal on Yugoslavia. But some
rights activists suspect he is aiming for an earlier cut-off date. In
December, Prosper said that while the US was proud of its leadership in
creating the tribunals, "to fulfill the spirit of the [UN] Security
Council, they must begin to aggressively focus on the endgame."
Meanwhile, rumors swirl in Belgrade about a plan to shut down the
tribunal even sooner if former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic
and his general Ratko Mladic were arrested. The idea was aired in a
Jan. 21 article in the newspaper Glas Javnosti by Kosta Cavoski, a law
professor and close associate of President Vojislav Kostunica. The
article said an unnamed "special US envoy for war crimes" in January
offered Belgrade officials a deal: "You immediately surrender [Karadzic
and Mladic] to us...and we promise that the spectacular trial to the
world's most famous troika... will be the last trial before the Hague
court."
[top]
7. INDICTED WAR CRIMINAL
RESISTS EXTRADITION--TO THE END
Vlajko Stojiljkovic, 65,
Milosevic's former secret police chief and indicted war criminal, shot
himself to death in front of the federal parliament building in Belgrade
hours after passage of an extradition bill for war crimes suspects. The
US conditioned financial aid to war-ravaged Yugoslavia on cooperation
with the tribunal. (AP, April 12)
[top]
8. NATO TROOPS CLASH
WITH SERBS IN KOSOVO
French NATO troops fired tear gas
and stun grenades to break up a "riot" by hundreds of Serbs protesting
the arrest of a local leader in the divided town of Mitrovica in
occupied Kosovo. The arrested leader is a member of the so-called
"bridge brigade" that prevents Serbs and Albanians from crossing over
from their respective sides of town. (AP, April 8)
[top]
9. DUTCH SCANDAL REVEALS
NATO-JIHAD BALKAN ARMS PIPELINE
Evidence of US
co-operation with Islamic extremists in arming the Bosnian Muslims has
surfaced in a previously unnoticed section of the official Dutch report
into the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, leading to the fall of the Dutch
government and the resignation of its army chief. The Dutch report
reveals how US, Turkish and Iranian intelligence groups worked with the
Islamists in what the report calls the "Croatian pipeline." Arms bought
with Saudi money were flown into Croatia by the official Iranian
airline, Iran Air, and then distributed in Bosnia by a fleet of black
C-130 Hercules aircraft.
The report says Mujahedeen fighters were also flown in, and that
the US was "very closely involved" in the operation, in flagrant
violation of the arms embargo. The operation was promoted by the
Pentagon, rather than the CIA, which was cautious about using Islamists
as an arms conduit, and about breaching the embargo. When the CIA tried
to place its people on the ground in Bosnia, the agents were threatened
by the Mujahedeen fighters and their Iranian trainers.
The report, "Intelligence and the War in Bosnia, 1992-1995,"
portrays the UN peacekeeping force in Bosnia as having been undermined
by clandestine arms deals and intrigues. The Dutch peacekeepers
supposedly maintaining Srebrenica as a "safe area" were "deprived of the
means and capacity for obtaining intelligence" for their job. Serb
forces are accused of the summary slaughter of some 8,000 Muslim
residents when they took the city in July 1995--with no resistance from
the Dutch.
The report also reveals that the secret services of Ukraine,
Greece and Israel were busy arming the Bosnian Serbs. Mossad, Israel's
secret service, was particularly active, concluding a substantial arms
deal with the Bosnian Serbs at Pale in return for the safe passage of
the Jewish population of Sarajevo. Writes commentator Richard Aldrich:
"Subsequently, the remaining population who could not escape was
perplexed to find that unexploded mortar bombs landing in Sarajevo
sometimes had markings in Hebrew." (UK Guardian, April 22)
[top]
10. MUJAHEDEEN IN
MACEDONIA?
Macedonian police claimed 7 suspected
terrorists killed in a police operation in March were members of an
Islamist underground group linked to al-Qaeda. Authorities claimed the
men were all foreigners working with Macedonia's officially disbanded
Albanian guerilla group, the National Liberation Army (UCK). Police said
they seized four assault rifles, eight grenades and eight rocket
launchers in the raid. They said the men were part of a radical UCK
breakaway faction, the Albanian National Army (AKSh). AKSh spokesman
Alban Berisha immediately dismissed the accusations, charging that the
Ministry of Interior was "setting up the farce to justify continuous
state terror against Albanians." He further charged that the incident
was a provocation by a Macedonian Slav paramilitary group, the Lions.
(DPA, March 20)
[top]
11. URANIUM TRACES
FOUND IN SERBIA'S SOIL
United Nations scientists
announced that they had found widespread traces of depleted uranium from
NATO munitions at five sites in Serbia and Montenegro. While insisting
the level of contamination posed no immediate health threat, they warned
authorities to take precautions, particularly before allowing
construction on the sites because of the risk of stirring up potentially
toxic soil and dust. The team, organized by the United Nations
Environment Program, went to six areas in the two Yugoslav republics and
found "widespread but low-level contamination" by depleted uranium at
five. Depleted uranium is used to harden the tips of tank-busting shells
and missiles fired by NATO during its attacks on Serb forces in the air
war against Yugoslavia in 1999. "The study concludes that the DU sites
studied do not present immediate radioactive or toxic risks for the
environment or human health," UNEP said in a statement. The report was
ordered after a number of soldiers who served in NATO forces in Kosovo
and Bosnia contracted leukemia, raising fears that exposure to depleted
uranium might have been the cause. (Reuters, March 28) For more on
depleted uranium in the current Afghanistan conflict, see WW3 REPORT #26.
[top]
CAUCASUS FRONT
1. REBEL AMBUSH IN
CHECHNYA RAINS ON PUTIN'S PARADE
Hours before Russian
President Vladimir Putin told his nation on TV the war in Chechnya "may
be considered concluded," bomb attacks on two vehicles loaded with
pro-Russian Chechen troops left 17 dead in Grozny, the Chechen capital.
It was the most deadly attack by separatist guerillas since July 2000,
when suicide bombers killed 44 in a neighboring city, Gudermes. Also,
six Russian troops were killed in a blast in a village south of Grozny.
Russia re-took Chechnya from the separatist regime in 1999, accusing it
of harboring terrorists, but still faces an active insurgency. (NYT,
April 19)
[top]
2. RUSSIAN DEFECTOR:
ARMY KILLS CIVILIANS IN CHECHNYA
Capt. Andrei Samorodov
of Russia's 21st Airborne Brigade says he was forced to flee Russia
after attempting to interfere with the execution of civilians in
Chechnya. He was arrested by fellow soldiers after intervening in a
roadside summary execution of captive civilians. After his release, he
was returned to his unit--but harassed, beaten and threatened. When
unidentified men showed up at his home in Stavropol and killed the
family dog in front of his 13-year-old son in 1999, he deserted, making
his way to Mexico and crossing into the US at Laredo. After six months
in a detention center, he was granted asylum and is now a fencing coach
in San Antonio, TX. Samorodov says the abuses were carried out by young
recruits in an army secret society known as the "Russian Knights,"
organized by Aleksandr Barkashov's neo-fascist Russian National Unity
party. (NYT, March 17)
[top]
3. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
BLASTS RUSSIA'S CHECHNYA CAMPAIGN
A new Human Rights
Watcg report, "Swept Under: Torture, Forced Disappearances and
Extrajudicial Killings During Sweep Operations in Chechnya," accuses
Russia of indiscriminately rounding up civilians in sweeps of villages
in Chechnya. While most are eventually released, many are tortured in
custody, with electric shocks, asphyxiation and other methods. The
report also accuses Russian authorities of looting homes and leaving
bodies of captives who die under torture in unmarked common graves.
(NYT, Feb. 28)
[top]
4. CHECHNYA WAR
DESTABILIZES GEORGIA
US charge d'affaires in Georgia
Philip Remler told a local newspaper that dozens of Arab terrorists
"connected with bin Laden" are holed up among some 7,000 Chechen
refugees in the country's rugged Pankisi Gorge. The US has sent military
advisors, there has been talk of a joint Georgian-Russian military
action in the gorge (see WW3 REPORT #23). The US is now
said to be accepting Russia's long-standing claim that the Chechen
rebellion, which spills over into neighboring Caucasus republics, has
become a subsidiary of the global Islamic terror network headed by Osama
bin Laden. "We are talking about an international network that shares
the same sources of funding, political support, weapons, training, and
ideology, operating in Chechnya, Afghanistan, and many other places,"
said Sergei Ignatchenko, spokesman of Russia's FSB security service,
successor of the Soviet KGB. "These are not nationalists or
independence-seekers. They are disciplined international terrorists,
united by a single aim: to seize power and bring in a new world order
based on sharia [Islamic] law." Officials have even broached the
possibility that Osama himself is in the gorge.
Chechnya, an autonomous republic within Russia under the Soviet
system, declared independence as the USSR was breaking up in 1991.
Russian troops invaded in 1994, and the subsequent war killed an
estimated 80,000 and destroyed the capital, Grozny. Russian forces
withdrew in 1996, effectively defeated by Chechen guerillas, and agreed
to recognize the republic's de facto independence until a formal
referendum is held. Just before the war's end, Russian special forces
assassinated Chechen independence leader Dzhokar Dudayev with a missile
that homed in on his satellite phone. Analysts say this killed the last
hope for secular nationalism in Chechnya. Islamic warlords, including
the Arab-born Commander al-Khattab, began to integrate their private
armies with the global terror network, according to the FSB. In the
summer of 1999 forces under warlords al-Khattab and Shamil Basayev
invaded the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan. That same year a
wave of terror bombings killed 300 Russians, and in Oct. 1999 Russia
again invaded Chechnya. The FSB asserts that the 1999 bombings were the
work of the same people who plotted the 9-11 attacks. Though Chechnya is
now almost entirely occupied, the war continues to kill about a dozen
Russian soldiers each week, and nearly a quarter of a million Chechen
civilians remain refugees. (CSM, Feb. 26)
[top]
5. GREEN BERETS TO
TAKE PANKISI GORGE?
Georgii Baramidze, chair of the
Georgian parliament's Defense and Security Committee, told Time.com that
"quite an amount" of US special forces troops will come "quite soon" to
assist in re-taking the Pankisi Gorge. "We don't have any problem with
numbers," he said. "It's up to the US government." While Russia is
pressuring Georgia to clean out the gorge, the Kremlin is said to be
unhappy about a US military role. Russia's relations with Georgia, bad
since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, worsened when Russia
launched its operation to regain control over Chechnya in 1999. Moscow
asked Georgia for permission to launch an invasion through Georgian
territory. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze refused, and Georgia's
sympathies for Aslan Maskhadov, the elected President of Chechnya,
remain a source of friction. Georgian officials insist Maskhadov, whose
forces are resisting the Russians in Chechnya, is not connected to
international terrorism. (Time.com, Feb 15)
[top]
6. KGB DIRTY TRICKS
BEHIND "RUSSIA'S 9-11"?
The UK Independent Jan. 6, 2000
claimed to have obtained a videotape on which a Russian military
intelligence officer captured by the Chechens "confesses" that a Russian
special services unit committed the Moscow apartment-block bombings that
ignited the latest war in Chechnya and propelled Vladimir Putin into the
Kremlin. On the video, shot by a Turkish journalist in Grozny, the
captured Russian identifies himself as Alexei Galtin of the GRU, Russian
military intelligence. The bearded captive acknowledges as his own
papers displayed by the Chechen guerillas, identifying him as a "Senior
Lieutenant, Armed Special Services, General Headquarters for Special
Forces of the Russian Federation." On the video, Lt. Galtin said "I did
not take part in the explosions of the buildings in Moscow and Dagestan
but I have information about it. I know who is responsible for the
bombings in Moscow. It is the FSB [former KGB], in cooperation with the
GRU, that is responsible for the explosions.." He then listed other GRU
officers by name. The Russian Ministry of Defense said it was checking
whether there was such a GRU officer. Said one official: "Even if he
exists, you understand what methods could have been used on him in
captivity." Nearly 300 people died when four apartment blocks were
destroyed by terrorist bombs in September 1999. The attacks provoked
Putin, appointed prime minister the month before, to launch a new war in
Chechnya.
[top]
THE WAR AT HOME
1. NEW FBI TERROR
ALERT
The FBI issued a new alert for terror attacks
against malls, shopping centers and supermarkets based on the
interrogation of accused top al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, believed
to be Osama bin Laden's second-in-command. The alert follows a similar
one for banks a week earlier, also based on Zubaydah's alleged claims.
(New York Post, April 25) Zubaydah was arrested in along with 50 other
suspects in FBI-coordinated raids in Pakistan in March. (See WW3 REPORT
#27)
[top]
2. MOUSSAOUI WOWS THE
MEDIA
On trial in Alexandria, VA, Zacarias Moussaoui,
accused "20th hijacker" in the 9-11 case, wowed the world media by
attempting to fire his court-appointed lawyers and announcing "I pray to
Allah...for the destruction of the Jewish people and state and the
liberation of Palestine by the Muslim... for the return of the Islamic
emirates of Afghanistan and the destruction of the United States of
America." Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered Moussaoui to undergo a
psychiatric exam before he would grant his request to defend himself,
but Moussaoui responded: "I will not entertain any discussion with
people who advance theories that man is driven by an incestuous desire
toward his mother." Moussaoui also said he wanted to use the $30,000 in
his bank account to hire a Muslim lawyer, but the feds have frozen the
account, claiming it came from an al-Qaeda agent in the United Arab
Emirates who wired money to the 9-11 hijackers. (Newsday, New York Post,
April 23) Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, faces the death
penalty. For more on his case, see WW3 REPORT #s 5, 11, 12& 27.
[top]
3. MOUSSAOUI AND WALKER
FACE HARSH TIME
9-11 defendant Zacarias Moussaoui and
US-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, both facing trial in
Virginia, are held in near-total isolation in a jail a few miles from
the Pentagon, target of one of the hijacking attacks. A press account
describes the conditions: "Like the narrow openings in their cells that
pass as windows to the outside, each is allowed only a small slice of
normal life. Lindh, for instance, gets to use the StairMaster exerciser
he likes. Both have copies of the Quran, but may not participate in
Muslim group prayers. They are confined to their cells 22 hours a day
without radio, television, videos or music. Even when taken for a shower
or to the gym they do not interact with other prisoners. Officials say
the danger of passing messages is too high. The cells in the Alexandria
Detention Center have no desks or chairs. But they also have no iron
bars just doors with a small window and a food slot. When Lindh said his
cell was cold, officials gave him long johns to wear under his green
prison jumpsuit." (AP, April 22)
[top]
4. AL-QAEDA JAILBIRDS
IN THE NEWS
Authorities are claiming more progress
against al-Qaeda on the legal front. Issaya Nombo of Tanzania was
arrested in Apex, NC, after a document from Voyager Aviation flight
school congratulating him on receiving his airline transport pilot
license (ATP) was allegedly found in a cave in Afghanistan. (NYT, April
18) Abu Doha, an Algerian jailed in London on charges of plotting to
blow up US targets on New Years Eve 1999, is fighting extradition to the
US, charging the UK held him illegally after British charges were
dropped. Arrested by British authorities in Feb. 2001 on charges of
plotting to blow up a market in Strasbourg, France, he was subsequently
named by Ahmed Ressam, the accused al-Qaeda operative who was arrested
while driving a car full of explosives into Washington state from Canada
in Dec, 1999, apparently planning to blow up the Seattle Space Needle
for Y2K. (Daily News, April 24) Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a Sudanese
arrested in Germany in 1998 and currently serving a federal prison term
in the US as an al-Qaeda agent, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and
conspiracy in the near-fatal stabbing of a prison guard two years ago.
US authorities say Salim helped organize the 1998 embassy bombings in
Tanzania and Kenya, and ran al-Qaeda training camps and safe houses in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Newsday, April 4)
[top]
5. JUDGE DENIES '93 WTC
BOMBER FBI FILE
A Manhattan federal judge rejected a
request by Nidal Ayyad, one of four convicts in the 1993 World Trade
Center bombing, to obtain his FBI file. Judge Kevin Duffy cited national
security concerns. The 1993 WTC bombing killed six and injured some
1,000. (Daily News, April 26)
[top]
6. ASHCROFT LOOSENS
RULES FOR N.C.I.C. DATABASE
US Attorney General John
Ashcroft ordered suspected terrorists--not just convicts and
fugitives--to be placed on the FBI's National Crime Information Center
database, routinely used by national, state and local law enforcement
for background checks when they stop someone. (Newsday, April 12)
[top]
7. PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST
ARRESTED IN NYC
Faruk Abdel-Muhti, a Palestinian
activist in New York City, was arrested by NYPD and INS agents at his
home at the Lefrak City apartments in Corona, Queens, in a dawn raid
April 26. When they first knocked, the officers said they wanted to ask
Faruk questions about 9-11. When Faruk's room-mate Bernard McFall
asked if they had a warrant, they said they didn't need one and
threatened to break down the door. To avoid a violent confrontation,
McFall opened the door. Once inside, they asked farouk for ID, and then
arrested him on immigration charges. Although they had told McFall they
suspected explosives were in the apartment to induce him to open the
door, they took farouk away in handcuffs without first searching the
apartment. (Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants press release,
April 26) The apartment had been visited by FBI agents on April 9, when
Faruk was being interviewed in the studios of WBAI Radio. (See WW3 REPORT #29)
[top]
8. SENATE PASSES TOUGH
IMMIGRATION BILL
A measure to require closer scrutiny of
foreign students and visa applicants from countries thought to support
terrorism passed the Senate unanimously. The bill is sponsored by Edward
Kennedy (D-MA), a notorious liberal who was careful to lay on the
sugar-coating. "Immigration is not the problem; terrorism is," he told
the press. "We must identify and isolate potential terrorists, not
isolate America." (NYT, April 19)
[top]
WATCHING THE SHADOWS
1. U.S. BOYCOTTS WAR
CRIMES COURT, WANTS BLANKET IMMUNITY
The International
Criminal Court to judge war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide
was officially created April 11--despite strong opposition from the US,
which boycotted the ceremony at the UN. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said "The long-held dream of the International Criminal Court will now
be realized. Impunity has been dealt a decisive blow." But the Bush
administration argues the court will open US officials to frivolous or
politically motivated suits. The US signed the treaty calling for the
court in Dec. 2000, in the last days of the Clinton administration, but
Bush officials say it will never be sent to the Senate for ratification.
Five members of Congress, led by Henry Hyde (R-IL), chairman of the
House International Relations Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of
State Colin Powell requesting he ask the UN Security Council to write
into every future peacekeeping proposal a grant of absolute immunity
from the Court for all US forces and officials. Evan Davis, president of
the New York Bar Association, said opposition to the treaty would
"weaken US international standing at the very time we need international
cooperation for the war against terrorism." (NYT, April 12)
[top]
2. HENRY KISSINGER:
WANTED IN CHILE, SPAIN, FRANCE
With a trial against Gen.
Augusto Pinochet now unlikely in Chile, victims of the country's 17-year
military dictatorship are pressing legal actions in both Chilean and US
courts against Henry Kissinger and other Nixon administration officials
who cooperated in the bloody coup d'etat that brought Pinochet to power
on Sept. 11, 1973. Judge Juan Guzman has formally asked Kissinger,
former US national security adviser and secretary of state, to answer
questions about the killing of a US citizen, Charles Horman, after the
military rebellion against Chile's Socialist president Salvador Allende.
Pinochet, who ruled until 1990, was arrested in London in 1998 on a
Spanish warrant charging him with human rights violations. After 16
months in custody, he was released by British authorities because of
declining health. Arrested in Chile in 2000, he was ruled incompetent to
stand trial. The death of Horman, a young journalist, was the subject of
the 1982 movie "Missing." A suit brought by his widow Joyce Horman in
the US was withdrawn after she was denied access to relevant US
government documents. But the new legal action against Pinochet and the
declassification of some US documents led her to file a new suit in
Chile. Relatives of Gen. Rene Schneider, Chilean armed forces commander
assassinated in Oct. 1970, have also filed a $3 million civil suit in
Washington against Kissinger, ex-CIA chief Richard Helms and other
Nixon-era officials.
In his books, Kissinger says he initially followed Nixon's orders
in Sept.1970 to organize a coup, but claims he ordered the effort shut
down a month later. However, the released documents indicate the CIA
continued to plan the coup, and provided money to military officers
jailed for Gen. Schneider's death. Human rights attorneys in Chile have
also filed a criminal complaint against Kissinger accusing him of
helping organize Operation Condor, the regionally-coordinated program of
political repression. Under Operation Condnor, military dictatorships in
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay kidnapped and
killed hundreds of exiled political opponents. Argentina has also
launched a judicial investigation into US involvement in Operation
Condor. Argentine Judge Rodolfo Cancioba Corral said he regards
Kissinger as a potential "defendant or suspect."
During a visit to France last year, Kissinger was visited at his
Paris hotel by police and served with a request from a judge to answer
questions on the Chilean coup, in which French citizens also
disappeared. Kissinger refused to respond to the subpoena, referred the
matter to the State Department, and flew on to Italy.
The controversy may have prompted Kissinger to cancel a trip to
Brazil. He was scheduled to make a speech and receive a government medal
in Sao Paulo on March 13, but withdrew after rights activists pledged
protests and called on prosecutors to detain him for questioning about
Operation Condor. A spokesperson for Kissinger Associates in New York
attributed the change of plans to a "scheduling conflict." But the
organizer of the event, Rabbi Henry Sobel, said "the situation had
become politically uncomfortable" both for Kissinger and local Jewish
community leaders who had invited him. Rabbi Sobel told the New York
Times: "This was a way to avoid any problems or embarrassment for him
and for us." (NYT, March 28)
Britain rejected a request from a Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon
to question Kissinger on an April visit to London. Garzon is seeking
evidence against Kissinger on human rights abuses and terrorist acts by
Latin American dictatorships in the 1970s. (AFP, April 23)
[top]
3. NIXON TAPES REVEAL
KISSINGER CHAT ON 'NAM NUKE OPTION
Among the tapes of
Nixon White House banter just released by the National Archives is an
April 25, 1972 conversation in which President Richard Nixon and his
National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger mull using nuclear weapons in
Vietnam. The conversation took place weeks before Nixon ordered an
escalation of the war, and he told Kissinger, "I'd rather use the
nuclear bomb." Kissinger cooly replied, "That, I think, would just be
too much." Nixon responded matter-of-factly, "The nuclear bomb. Does
that bother you?" Then he closed the matter by telling Kissinger, I just
want you to think big. He also said "I don't give a damn" about
civilians killed by US bombing. (AP, March 1)
[top]
4. FRANK CARLUCCI
CENSORS SELF OUT OF "LUMUMBA"
When HBO aired the movie
"Lumumba," former US Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci succeeded in
pressuring the film's distributor to bleep out his character's identity.
In 1960, Carlucci was the second secretary in the US embassy in
Kinshasa, Congo, when, according to declassified State Department cables
and testimony to the Senate's 1975 Church committee on assassinations,
the CIA plotted with the army chief Mobutu Sese Seko and the Belgians to
bring down independence leader Patrice Lumumba, just chosen as prime
minister by a Brussels "roundtable" of Congo leaders. After a
parliamentary investigation, the Belgian prime minister earlier this
year apologized to the Lumumba family for his country's role in the
assassination. Carlucci, however, appears to have no regrets. The scene
he objects to shows US Ambassador Clare Timberlake and his own character
in a meeting plotting the assassination. The Carlucci character makes a
clearly disingenuous remark about how the US doesn't "meddle" in other
nation's affairs. Carlucci claims he wasn't at the meeting, calling the
scene "totally inaccurate," and insisting the US had "no role
whatsoever" in Lumumba's death.
Filmmaker Raoul Peck says he believes his portrayal is accurate.
A Haitian, Peck spent 25 years in Congo/Zaire after his father fled
there as an exile from Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier. His film won
prizes at festivals in Los Angeles, Santo Domingo, Milan and Acapulco,
and was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. The State Department's
official "Analytical Chronology of the Congo Crisis" discusses a plan
"to bring about the overthrow of Lumumba and install a pro-Western
government... Operations under this plan were gradually put into effect
by the CIA." Ludo De Witte, author of "The Assassination of Lumumba,"
wrote Peck that "there was a de facto collaboration and exchange of
information between all important personnel in the U.S. Embassy...on
efforts to get rid of Lumumba." Carlucci went on to a stellar career,
including posts as ambassador to Portugal, CIA deputy director,
assistant to the President for National Security affairs, and Secretary
of Defense. He is now chairman of the Carlyle Group, a defense industry
investment firm with close ties to the Bush administration (see WW3 REPORT #21). (Lucy Komisar
for Pacific News Service, Feb. 14) [top]
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