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Last update - 02:17 19/12/2003
Lapid lambastes `barbaric' settlers
By Haaretz Staff

Justice Minister Yosef Lapid yesterday launched a verbal assault on Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, describing their behavior as "barbaric," and accusing them of having "de facto" control in Israel.

Lapid said that the settlers "in their heart of hearts dream of the transfer of Palestinians to the [eastern] banks of the Jordan [River], a solution which is not only barbaric, but also utterly impossible."

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, Lapid said that "even though Israel is an exemplary democracy, it is de facto controlled by a small minority of Yesha [West Bank and Gaza] settlers who represent a minority within the settlers themselves."

He added: "Their answer to the demographic problem is for another million immigrants to arrive in the country, although no one knows from where."

The Yesha Council said in response to the justice minister's speech that "Lapid is preaching a unilateral withdrawal under fire."

Lapid also called for the peace process to be speeded up, citing, among other reasons, the development of nuclear weapons by Iran and Pakistan, as well as the demographic problem posed by the Palestinians.

Speakers at the Herzliya Conference yesterday referred to the controversial comments made by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day before, in which he said that the Israeli Arab population posed a demographic threat to the country.

Dr. Yitzhak Ravid, a senior researcher at Rafael, Israel's Armament Development Authority, proposed during a short speech under the heading "Learning from Iran and Egypt," that the state implement a stringent policy of family planning in relation to its Muslim population, claiming that "the delivery rooms in Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva have turned into a factory for the production of a backward population."

But Brigadier General (res.) Uzi Dayan rejected claims that citizens of the state would ever pose a demographic threat, and warned that the central problems were the relations between Jews and Arabs and the lack of social coherence.

Netanyahu's remarks came under fire all day, with left-wing Knesset members and a civil rights group offering up severe criticism.

Netanyahu had told the conference Wednesday that he was not greatly concerned by the demographic problem posed by Palestinians, and that Israel would eventually relinquish control over lands that were home to most of them. He said that he could not foresee a future in which "any sane Israeli" could try to make Palestinians either Israeli citizens or "enslaved subjects."

Instead, the finance minister blamed Israeli Arabs for tilting Israel's demographic balance, and said if the percentage of Arab citizens rises above its current level of about 20 percent, Israel will not be able to remain both Jewish and democratic. "If there is a demographic problem, and there is, it is with the Israeli Arabs who will remain Israeli citizens," Netanyahu said, adding that a good economy was necessary to attract Jewish immigrants.

Of Israel's 6.6 million citizens, about 1.3 million are Arabs.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel announced that it had sent a letter of complaint to Netanyahu about his remarks. "Comments like these fan the flames of hatred, racism and discrimination that are the daily reality of Israeli Arab citizens and undermine the basic trust that underpins a democratic society," the organization said in a statement.

Industry and Trade Minister Ehud Olmert defended the comments that some Knesset members decried as racist, saying Netanyahu had pointed to an existing demographic problem, but that the more important problem lies "between the Jordan [River] and the [Mediterranean] Sea."

MK Azmi Bishara of Balad (National Democratic Alliance) said that describing the original residents of the land as a demographic problem would be considered racist in any country. "No people in the world like to hear that their actual existence causes a demographic problem," Bishara told Army Radio. "Even in undeveloped countries, this is thought of as racist."

Yossi Sarid (Meretz) said Netanyahu set in motion an irrevocable deterioration of relations between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. Sarid said it was amazing to see how "great leaders are exposed as small bigots. The Palestinian problem in the territories has not yet been solved, and already some insist on creating a new problem with Israeli Arabs."

Netanyahu warned that a Jewish majority was necessary for Israel to remain both Jewish and democratic. "If their numbers reach 35-40 percent of the country, than the Jewish state will be annulled," he said. He also said that if the Arabs remain at 20 percent of the population but relations are tense and violent, this will also harm the state's democratic fabric. He said it was necessary to improve education standards, especially for Arab citizens.

He also said that the separation fence would help to prevent a "demographic spillover" of Palestinians from the territories.




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Source:http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/373706.html

Nettavisen: News in English: "SADDAM'S SPIES:
Six Saddam spies caught in Sweden
Tilrettelagt av Carin Pettersson 18.12.03 12:43, ny 18.12.03 13:34

At least six Swedish citizens with Iraqi heritage have been spying for Saddam Hussein�s regime in Sweden for several years.

(AP)The six persons have identified thousands of people with Iraqi heritage in Sweden.
The information was revealed when documents from the Iraqi intelligence service Muhabarat were released after the fall of Saddam�s regime, according to Sveriges Radio.
The documents include information about the individual�s families, work, leisure activities, political opinions, dress, behavior and personality.
One of the spies worked in the Swedish Migrationsverket, the directorate of Immigration, and the man is described as a �very important agent� in the documents. The man could obtain information regarding Iraqi asylees in Sweden.
According to Sveriges Radio, the man was questioned by the Swedish police security service, S�po, last week. The man has also allegedly been excluded from Assyriska Riksf�rbundet, a Swedish organization for persons with Iraqi heritage.
The man himself claims that the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm tired to recruit him as a spy, but he in spite of repeated threats never was recruited"

US launches 22-million-dollar employment program for Iraqi WMD scientists: "US launches 22-million-dollar employment program for Iraqi WMD scientists

WASHINGTON (AFP) Dec 18, 2003
The United States on Thursday formally launched a two-year program that will spend up to 22 million dollars to employ former Iraqi weapons scientists in peaceful civilian fields.
The State Department said the program was aimed at keeping those scientists from selling their expertise to terrorist groups or rogue states and assisting the reconstruction of Iraq's shattered infrastructure and technology sector.
'This is a program to put people to work to give them more productive uses of their expertise, their intelligence and their energy, than work on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs,' spokesman Richard Boucher said.
It is not, he said, intended to pay Iraqi scientists for providing evidence that Saddam's ousted regime possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Under the program, which is similar to schemes initiated with scientists from the former Soviet Union, the department will spend two million dollars to establish an office in Baghdad, identify those eligible and point out possible projects for them to work on, he said.
Those aspects of the program -- which will include workshops, training and preliminary work on a desalination plant -- is expected to begin in February, Boucher said.
An additional 20 million dollars is envisioned to be spent over the course of the program on stipends for the scientists and other expenses but the exact funding mechanism for that money has not yet been determined he said.
'Over the next two years, the Iraqi International Center for Science and Industry will work closely with the Iraqi government to identify, develop and fund activities in support of Iraqi reconstruction,' Boucher"

Missing U.S.-Iraq History: "Missing U.S.-Iraq History"

Missing U.S.-Iraq History
____________________________________________

With all the hoopla surrounding the capture of Saddam Hussein—“caught like a rat,” read the Chicago Tribune headline—it is time to take a step back and consider the full story of the Saddam Hussein and his long time relationship with the U.S. government, beginning in 1959, when the CIA put Saddam on its covert operations payroll in a plot to assassinate then Iraqi Prime Minister Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim.

In almost all of the instant histories that filled the news pages and the airwaves after his capture, the relationship between Saddam and successive U.S. presidential administrations has been ignored. National Public Radio, the Washington Post, the New York Times, all ignored the documented fact that for the decade of the ’80s, Saddam was a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.

What follows is an article by investigative reporter Bob Parry, in which he fills in some of the missing pieces. It originally appeared February 23, 2003, before the war started, on Consortiumnews.com. As a correspondent for the Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s, Robert Parry broke many of the stories now known as the Iran-Contra Affair. His latest book, Lost History, is available on the Consortiumnews.com order page. —Joel Bleifuss

Before George W. Bush gives the final order to invade Iraq—a nation that has not threatened the United States—the American people might want a few facts about the real history of U.S.-Iraq relations. Missing chapters from 1980 to the present would be crucial in judging Bush’s case for war.

But Americans don’t have those facts because Bush and his predecessors in the White House have kept this history hidden from the American people. When parts of the story have emerged, administrations of both parties have taken steps to suppress or discredit the disclosures. So instead of knowing the truth, Americans have been fed a steady diet of distortions, simplifications and outright lies.

This missing history also is not just about minor details. It goes to the heart of the case against Saddam Hussein, including whether he is an especially “aggressive” and “unpredictable” dictator who must be removed from power even at the risk of America’s standing in the world and the chance that a war will lead to more terrorism against U.S. targets.

For instance, George W. Bush has frequently cited Saddam Hussein’s invasions of neighbors, Iran and Kuwait, as justification for the looming U.S. invasion of Iraq. “By defeating this threat, we will show other dictators that the path of aggression will lead to their own ruin,” Bush declared during a speech in Atlanta on Feb. 20.

Leaving aside whether Bush’s formulation is Orwellian double-speak—aggression to discourage aggression—there is the historical question of whether Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush actually encouraged Saddam’s aggressions for geopolitical reasons or out of diplomatic incompetence.



Carter’s ‘Green Light’?

This intersection of Saddam’s wars and U.S. foreign policy dates back at least to 1980 when Iran’s radical Islamic government held 52 Americans hostage in Tehran and the sheiks of the oil-rich Persian Gulf feared that Ruhollah Khomeini’s radical breed of Islam might sweep them from power just as it had the Shah of Iran a year earlier.

The Iranian government began its expansionist drive by putting pressure on the secular government of Iraq, instigating border clashes and encouraging Iraq’s Shiite and Kurdish populations to rise up. Iranian operatives sought to destabilize Saddam’s government by assassinating Iraqi leaders. [For details, see “An Unnecessary War,” Foreign Policy, January/February 2003.]

On Aug. 5, 1980, as tensions mounted on the Iran-Iraq border, Saudi rulers welcomed Saddam to Riyadh for the first state visit ever by an Iraqi president to Saudi Arabia. During meetings at the kingdom’s ornate palaces, the Saudis feted Saddam whose formidable Soviet-supplied army was viewed as a bulwark against Iran.

Saudi leaders also say they urged Saddam to take the fight to Iran’s fundamentalist regime, advice that they say included a “green light” for the invasion from President Carter.

Less than two months after Saddam’s trip, with Carter still frustrated by his inability to win release of the 52 Americans imprisoned in Iran, Saddam invaded Iran on Sept. 22, 1980. The war would rage for eight years and kill an estimated one million people.

The claim of Carter’s “green light” for the invasion was made by senior Arab leaders, including King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, to President Reagan’s first secretary of state, Alexander Haig, when Haig traveled to the Middle East in April 1981, according to “top secret” talking points that Haig prepared for a post-trip briefing of Reagan.

Haig wrote that he was impressed with “bits of useful intelligence” that he had learned. “Both [Egypt’s Anwar] Sadat and [Saudi then-Prince] Fahd [explained that] Iran is receiving military spares for U.S. equipment from Israel,” Haig noted. “It was also interesting to confirm that President Carter gave the Iraqis a green light to launch the war against Iran through Fahd.”

Haig’s “talking points” were first disclosed at Consortiumnews.com in 1995 after I discovered the document amid records from a congressional investigation into the early history of the Reagan administration’s contacts with Iran. At that time, Haig refused to answer questions about the “talking points” because they were still classified. Though not responding to direct questions about the “talking points,” Carter has pooh-poohed other claims that he gave Saddam encouragement for the invasion.

But before the U.S. heads to war in 2003, both Carter and Haig might be asked to explain what they know about any direct or indirect contacts that would explain the Saudi statements about the alleged “green light.” Saudi Arabia’s longtime ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar also might be asked to give a complete account of what the Saudi government knows and what its leaders told Saddam in 1980.

[Haig’s “top secret” talking points have been posted on the Web for the first time here.]


Reagan’s Iraqi Tilt

Through the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, as first one side and then the other gained the upper hand, the Reagan administration was officially neutral but behind the scenes tilted from one side to the other.

When Iran appeared to be winning in 1982, Reagan and his advisers made a fateful decision to secretly supply Saddam’s military, including permitting shipments of dual-use technology that Iraq then used to build chemical and biological weapons. Tactical military assistance also was provided, including satellite photos of the battlefield.

While congressional inquiries and press accounts have sketched out some of these facts over the years, the current Bush administration continues to plead ignorance or question the reliability of the stories.

Last September, for example, Newsweek reported that the Reagan administration in the 1980s had allowed sales to Iraq of computer databases that Saddam could use to track political opponents and shipments of “bacteria/fungi/protozoa” that could help produce anthrax and other biological weapons. [Newsweek issue dated Sept. 23, 2002]

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va,, asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the Newsweek story at a Senate hearing on Sept. 19. “Did the United States help Iraq to acquire the building blocks of biological weapons during the Iran-Iraq war?” Byrd inquired. “Are we, in fact, now facing the possibility of reaping what we have sown.”

“Certainly not to my knowledge,” Rumsfeld responded. “I have no knowledge of United States companies or government being involved in assisting Iraq develop chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.”

So even the current U.S. secretary of defense—who served the Reagan administration as a special envoy to the Middle East in 1983-84 and personally met with Saddam—says he doesn’t know about this secret history. Promises of further investigation last September also haven’t brought answers to Byrd’s questions.


Senior Bush’s Advice

Beyond those “dual-use” supplies, other unanswered questions relate to whether then-Vice President George H.W. Bush urged Saddam to use greater ferocity in waging his war with Iran, advice that led the Iraqi air force to bomb civilian centers in Tehran and other Iranian cities in 1986.

A lengthy article by Murray Waas and Craig Unger in the New Yorker in 1992 described the senior Bush passing on advice to Saddam, through Arab intermediaries, for this more aggressive bombing campaign. Yet the historical question has never been settled. The senior Bush has never been subjected to a careful questioning, though it is true that Saddam did intensify his air campaign after Bush’s trip.

The answer would be relevant now as the younger Bush asserts that Saddam’s penchant for military aggression justifies a new war. If Bush’s father actually was counseling Saddam to be more aggressive, that’s a fact that the American people ought to know.

Waas and Unger described the motive for the Reagan administration’s tactical advice as a kind of diplomatic billiard shot. By getting Iraq to expand use of its air force, the Iranians would be more desperate for U.S.-made HAWK anti-aircraft missile parts, giving Washington more leverage with the Iranians. Iran’s need to protect their cities from Iraqi air attacks gave impetus to the Reagan administration’s arms-for-hostage scheme, which later became known as the Iran-contra affair. [See The New Yorker, Nov. 2, 1992.]


Another ‘Green Light’?

The devastation from the Iran-Iraq war, which finally ended in 1988, also set the stage for the Gulf War of 1990-91. The eight-year war had crippled the Iraqi economy and left Saddam’s government deeply in debt.

Having been egged on by the oil-rich sheikdoms to blunt the revolutionary zeal of Iran, Saddam felt betrayed when Kuwait wouldn’t write off Iraq’s debts and rejected a $10 billion loan. Beyond that, Saddam was furious with Kuwait for driving down world oil prices by overproducing and for slant-drilling into Iraqi oil fields. Many Iraqis also considered Kuwait, historically, a part of Iraq.

Before attacking Kuwait, however, Saddam consulted George H.W. Bush’s administration. First, the U.S. State Department informed Saddam that Washington had “no special defense or security commitments to Kuwait.” Then, U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie told Saddam, “we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait.”

As Foreign Policy magazine observed, “the United States may not have intended to give Iraq a green light, but that is effectively what it did.” [Foreign Policy, Jan.-Feb. 2003]

While Glaspie’s strange diplomacy drew some congressional and press attention during the previous Gulf crisis, the full context of George H.W. Bush’s relationship with Saddam—which might help explain why the Iraqi dictator so disastrously misread the U.S. signals—has never been made explained.


A Clinton Cover-up?

Beyond that missing history of U.S.-Iraq relations, there’s the secondary issue of cover-ups conducted by the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Democratic sources say Clinton heeded personal appeals from the elder Bush and other top Republicans to close the books on the so-called “Iraqgate” investigation—as well as probes intosecret Reagan-Bush dealings with Iran—soon after the Democrat defeated Bush in the 1992 election. Some Democrats say Clinton agreed to shelve the investigations out of concern for national security and the country’s unity. Others suggest that Clinton was tricked by the wily elder Bush with promises that a pullback on the Iran-Iraq investigations might win Clinton some bipartisanship with the Republicans in Congress, a tantalizing prospect that turned out to be a mirage.

Whatever the reasons, Clinton’s Justice Department did bail out the Reagan-Bush team in the mid-1990s when more disclosures about the secret dealings with Iraq flooded to the surface. Perhaps the most important disclosure was an affidavit by former Reagan administration official Howard Teicher that was filed in connection with a criminal trial in Miami in 1995. The Teicher affidavit was the first sworn public account by a Reagan insider of the covert U.S.-Iraq relationship.

Teicher, who served on Reagan’s National Security Council staff, traced the U.S. tilt to Iraq to a turning point in the war in 1982 when Iran gained the offensive and fears swept through the U.S. government that Iran’s army might slice through Iraq to the oil fields of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

“In June 1982, President Reagan decided that the United States could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran,” Teicher wrote in his affidavit. Teicher said he helped draft a secret national security decision directive that Reagan signed to authorize covert U.S. assistance to Saddam Hussein’s military.

“The NSDD, including even its identifying number, is classified,” Teicher wrote in 1995.

The effort to arm the Iraqis was “spearheaded” by CIA Director William Casey and involved his deputy, Robert Gates, according to Teicher’s affidavit. “The CIA, including both CIA Director Casey and Deputy Director Gates, knew of, approved of, and assisted in the sale of non-U.S. origin military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to Iraq,” Teicher wrote.

In 1984, Teicher said he went to Iraq with Rumsfeld to convey a secret Israeli offer to assist Iraq after Israel had concluded that Iran was becoming a greater danger. “I traveled with Rumsfeld to Baghdad and was present at the meeting in which Rumsfeld told Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz about Israel’s offer of assistance,” Teicher wrote. “Aziz refused even to accept the Israelis’ letter to Hussein offering assistance because Aziz told us that he would be executed on the spot by Hussein if he did so.”

Another key player in Reagan’s Iraq tilt was then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, according to Teicher’s affidavit.

“In 1986, President Reagan sent a secret message to Saddam Hussein telling him that Iraq should step up its air war and bombing of Iran,” Teicher wrote. “This message was delivered by Vice President Bush who communicated it to Egyptian President Mubarak, who in turn passed the message to Saddam Hussein.

“Similar strategic operational military advice was passed to Saddam Hussein through various meetings with European and Middle Eastern heads of state. I authored Bush’s talking points for the 1986 meeting with Mubarak and personally attended numerous meetings with European and Middle East heads of state where the strategic operational advice was communicated.”

Teicher’s affidavit represented a major break in the historical mystery of U.S. aid to Iraq. But it complicated a criminal arms-trafficking case that Clinton’s Justice Department was prosecuting against Teledyne Industries and a salesman named Ed Johnson. They had allegedly sold explosive pellets to Chilean arms manufacturer Carlos Cardoen, who used them to manufacture cluster bombs for Iraq.


Red-Faced Prosecutors

Prior to trying the Teledyne case, Clinton’s Justice Department declared that its investigation “did not find evidence that U.S. agencies or officials illegally armed Iraq.” But the review noted, curiously, that the CIA had withheld an unknown number of documents that were contained in “sensitive compartments” that were denied to the investigators. Despite that denial of access, the Clinton investigators expressed confidence in their conclusions.

Two weeks after that exonerating report, however, Teicher’s affidavit was filed in federal court in Miami, embarrassing senior Justice Department officials. After taking the word of former Reagan-Bush officials and agreeing not to examine the CIA’s “sensitive compartments,” the Justice Department officials looked gullible, incompetent or complicit.

They took their fury out on Teicher, insisting that his affidavit was unreliable and threatening him with dire consequences for coming forward. Yet, while deeming Teicher’s affidavit false, the Clinton administration also declared the document a state secret, classifying it and putting it under court seal. A few copies, however, had been distributed outside the court and the text was soon posted on the Internet.

After officially suppressing the Teicher affidavit, the Justice Department prosecutors persuaded the judge presiding in the Teledyne-Johnson case to rule testimony about the Reagan-Bush policies to be irrelevant. Unable to mount its planned defense, Teledyne agreed to plead guilty and accept a $13 million fine. Johnson, the salesman who had earned a modest salary in the mid-$30,000 range, was convicted of illegal arms trafficking and given a prison term.

Before a U.S. invasion of Iraq begins, former President Clinton might be asked whether he was approached by George H.W. Bush or a Bush emissary with an request to drop investigations into Reagan-Bush policies in the Middle East.

Teicher, who has since 1995 refused to discuss his affidavit, could be given a congressional forum to testify about his knowledge. So could other surviving U.S. officials named in Teicher’s affidavit, including Gates and Rumsfeld. Foreign leaders mentioned in the affidavit also could be approached, including former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Mubarak and Aziz.


Junior Bush’s Hidden Records

George W. Bush also has some questions he should answer before missiles start crashing into Baghdad. When he took office in 2001, one of his first acts as president was to block the legally required release of documents from the Reagan-Bush administration.

Then, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as a stunned nation rallied around him, Bush issued an even more sweeping secrecy order. He granted former presidents and vice presidents or their surviving family members the right to stop release of historical records, including those related to “military, diplomatic or national security secrets.” Bush’s order stripped the Archivist of the United States of the power to overrule claims of privilege from former presidents and their representatives. [For details on Bush’s secrecy policies, see the New York Times, Jan. 3, 2003]

By a twist of history, Bush’s order eventually could give him control of both his and his father’s records covering 12 years of the Reagan-Bush era and however long Bush’s own presidential term lasts, potentially a 20-year swath of documentary evidence.

As the junior Bush now takes the nation to war in the name of freedom and democracy, he might at least be challenged to reverse that secrecy and release all relevant documents on the history of the Reagan-Bush policies in the Middle East. That way, the American people can decide for themselves whether Saddam Hussein is an aggressive leader whose behavior is so depraved that a preemptive war is the only reasonable course of action.

Or they might conclude that Saddam, like many other dictators through history, operates within a framework of self-preservation, which means he could be controlled by a combination of tough arms inspections and the threat of military retaliation.

Without the full history—as embarrassing as that record might be to the last five U.S. presidents—the American people cannot judge whether the nation’s security will be enhanced or endangered by Bush’s decision to put the United States on its own aggressive course of action.

Real History Archives Hidden History Collection - The Teicher Affidavit: "The Teicher Affidavit: Iraqgate

The Teicher Affidavit: Iraqgate

Following is the sworn court declaration of former NSC official Howard Teicher, dated 1/31/95,
regarding 'Iraqgate.' The document is currently under seal by the US District Court, Southern District of Florida. The original document bears Teicher's dated signature.


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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,


Plaintiff,

v. Case
No.:


93-241-CR-HIGHSMITH
CARLOS CARDOEN,
FRANCO SAFTA,
JORGE BURR,
INDUSTRIAS CARDOEN LIMITADA, DECLARATION OF
a/k/a INCAR, HOWARD TEICHER
SWISSCO MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC.
EDWARD A. JOHNSON
RONALD W. GRIFFIN, and
TELEDYNE INDUSTRIES, INC.,
d/b/a,
TELEDYNE WAH CHANG ALBANY,

)
Defendents.
_____________________________________________


I. Howard Teicher, hereby state that, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, the facts presented herein are true, correct and complete. I
further state that to the best of my knowledge and belief, nothing stated
in this Declaration constitutes classified information.

1. My name is Howard Teicher. From 1977 to 1987, I served in the
United States government as a member of the national security bureaucracy.
>From early 1982 to 1987, I served as a Staff Member to the United States
National Security Council.

2. While a Staff Member to the National Security Council, I was
responsible for the Middle East and for Political-Military Affairs.
During my five year tenure on the National security Council, I had
regular contact with both CIA Director William Casey and Deputy Director
Robert Gates.

3. In the Spring of 1982, Iraq teetered on the brink of losing its
war with Iran. In May and June, 1982, the Iranians discovered a gap in
the Iraqi defenses along the Iran-Iraq border between Baghdad to the north
and Basra to the south. Iran positioned a massive invasion force directly
across from the gap in the Iraqi defenses. An Iranian breakthrough at the
spot would have cutoff Baghdad from Basra and would have resulted in
Iraq's defeat.

4. United States Intelligence, including satellite imagery, had
detected both the gap in the Iraqi defenses and the Iranian massing of
troops across from the gap. At the time, the United States was officially
neutral in the Iran-Iraq conflict.

5. President Reagan was forced to choose between (a) maintaining
strict neutrality and allowing Iran to defeat Iraq, or (b) intervening and
providing assistance to Iraq.

6. In June, 1982, President Reagan decided that the United States
could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran. President Reagan
decided that the United States would do whatever was necessary and legal
to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran. President Reagan formalized
this policy by issuing a National Security Decision Directive ("NSDD") to
this effect in June, 1982. I have personal knowledge of this NSDD because
I co-authored the NSDD with another NSC Staff Member, Geoff Kemp. The
NSDD, including even its indentifying number, is classified.

7. CIA Director Casey personally spearheaded the effort to ensure
that Iraq had sufficient military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to
avoid losing the Iran-Iraq war. Pursuant to the secred NSDD, the United
States actively supported the Iraqi war effort by supplying the Iraqis
with billions of dollars of credits, by providing U.S. military
intelligence and advice to the Iraqis, and by closely monitoring third
country arms sales to Iraq to make sure that Iraq had the military
weaponry required. The United States also provided strategic operational
advice to the Iraqis to better use their assets in combat. For example,
in 1986, President Reagan sent a secret message to Saddam Hussein telling
him that Iraq should step up its air war and bombing of Iran. This
message was delivered by Vice President Bush who communicated it to
Egyptian President Mubarak, who in turn passed the message to Saddam
Hussein. Similar strategic operational military advice was passed to
Saddam Hussein through various meetings with European and Middle Eastern
heads of state. I authored Bush's talking points for the 1986 meeting
with Mubarak and personally attended numerous meetings with European and
Middle East heads of state where the strategic operational advice was
communicated.

8. I personally attended meetings in which CIA Director Casey or
CIA Deputy Director Gates noted the need for Iraq to have certain weapons
such as cluster bombs and anti-armor penetrators in order to stave off the
Iranian attacks. When I joined the NSC staff in early 1982, CIA Director
Casey was adamant that cluster bombs were a perfect "force multiplier"
that would allow the Iraqis to defend against the "human waves" of Iranian
attackers. I recorded those comments in the minutes of National Security
Planning Group ("NSPG") meetings in which Casey or Gates participated.

9. The CIA, including both CIA Director Casey and Deputy Director
Gates, knew of, approved of, and assisted in the sale of non-U.S. origin
military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to Iraq. My notes, memoranda
and other documents in my NSC files show or tend to show that the CIA knew
of, approved of, and assisted in the sale of non-U.S. origin military
weapons, munitions and vehicles to Iraq.

10. The United States was anxious to have other countries supply
assistance to Iraq. For example, in 1984, the Israelis concluded that
Iran was more dangerous than Iraq to Israel's existence due to the growing
Iranian influence and presence in Lebanon. The Israelis approached the
United States in a meeting in Jerusalem that I attended with Donald
Rumsfeld. Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir asked Rumsfeld if the
United States would deliver a secret offer of Israeli assistance to Iraq.
The United States agreed. I travelled wtih Rumsfeld to Baghdad and was
present at the meeting in which Rumsfeld told Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq
Aziz about Israel's offer of assistance. Aziz refused even to accept the
Israelis' letter to Hussein offering assistance, because Aziz told us that
he would be executed on the spot by Hussein if he did so.

11. One of the reasons that the United States refused to license
or sell U.S. origin weapons to Iraq was that the supply of non-U.S. origin
weapons to Iraq was sufficient to meet Iraq's needs. Under CIA DIrector
Casey and Deputy Director Gates, the CIA made sure that non-U.S.
manufacturers manufactured and sold to Iraq the weapons needed by Iraq.
In certain instances where a key component in a weapon was not readily
available, the highest levels of the United States government decided to
make the component available, directly or indirectly, to Iraq. I
specifically recall that the provision of anti-armor penetrators to Iraq
was a case in point. The United States made a policy decision to supply
penetrators to Iraq. My notes, memoranda and other documents in my NSC
files will contain references to the Iraqis' need for anti-armor
penetrators and the decision to provide penetrators to Iraq.

12. Most of the Iraqi's military hardware was of Soviet origin.
Regular United States or NATO ammunition and spare parts could not be used
in this Soviet weaponry.

13. The United States and the CIA maintained a program known as
the 'Bear Spares" program whereby the United States made sure that spare
parts and ammunition for Soviet or Soviet-style weaponry were available to
countries which sought to reduce their dependence on the Soviets for
defense needs. If the "Bear Spares" were manufactured outside the United
States, then the United States could arrange for the provision of these
weapons to a third country without direct involvement. Israel, for
example, had a very large stockpile of Soviet weaponry and ammunition
captured during its various wars. At the suggestion of the United States,
the Israelis would transfer the spare parts and weapons to third countries
or insurgent movements (such as the Afghan rebels and the Contras).
Similarly, Egypt manufactured weapons and spare parts from Soviet designs
and porvided these weapons and ammunition to the Iraqis and other
countries. Egypt also served as a supplier for the Bear Spares program.
The United States approved, assisted and encouraged Egypt's manufacturing
capabilities. The United States approved, assisted and encouraged Egypt's
sale of weaponry, munitions and vehicles to Iraq.

14. The mere request to a third party to carry out an action did
not constitute a "covert action," and, accordingly, required no
Presidential Finding or reporting to Congress. The supply of Cardoen
cluster bombs, which were fitted for use on Soviet, French and NATO
aircraft, was a mere extension fo the United States policy of assisting
Iraq through all legal means in order to avoid an Iranian victory.

15. My NSC files are currently held in trhe President Ronald
Reagan Presidential Archives in Simi Valley, California. My files will
contain my notes and memoranda from meetings I attended with CIA director
Casey or CIA Deputy Director Gates which included discussions of Cardoen's
manufacture and sale of cluster bombs to Iraq. My NSC files will also
contain cable traffic among various United States agencies, embassies and
other parties relating to Cardoen and his sale of cluster bombs and other
munitions to Iraq and other Middle Eastern states.

16. Under CIA Director Casey and Deputy Director Gates, the CIA
authorized, approved and assisted Cardoen in the manufacture and sale of
cluster bombs and other munitions to Iraq. My NSC files will contain
documents that show or tend to show the CIA's authorization, approval and
assistance of Cardoen's manufacture and sale of cluster bombs and other
muntions to Iraq.

17. My files will contain notes, memoranda and other documents
that will show that the highest levels fo the United States government,
including the NSC Staff and the CIA, were well aware of Cardoen's arrest
in 1983 in Miami in a sting operation relating to the smuggling of night
vision goggles to Cuba and Libya. My files will also show that the
highest levels of the government were aware of the arrest and conviction
of two of Cardoen's employees and his company Industrias Cardoen.

18. CIA Director William Casey, aware of Cardoen's arrest and the
conviction of his employees and his company, intervened in order to make
sure that Cardoen was able to supply cluster bombs to Iraq. Specifically,
CIA Director Casey directed the Secretaries of the State and Commerce
Departments that the necessary licenses required by Cardoen were not to be
denied. My files will contain notes, memoranda and other documents
showing or tending to show that CIA Director William Casey's intervention
was in order to maintain Cardoen's ability to supply cluster bombs and
other munitions to Iraq.


I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and
correct to the best of my memory and recollection.


Executed on 1/31/95

Howard Teicher (signature appears on original)


(end of document)

Iraqi Shiites Want U.S. Out, Threaten Resistance

________________________________________________________________-

Iraqi Shiites Want U.S. Out, Threaten Resistance


An Iraqi holds a poster during a demonstration in Baghdad against the killing of a Shiite scholar by a U.S. tank (AFP)


By Aws Al-Sharqy, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD, December 18 (IslamOnline.net) – A number of Shiite religious leaders pressed the U.S.-led occupation forces to withdraw now that ousted president Saddam Hussein has been captured, warning of armed resistance if they fail to do so.

"Given Saddam’s capture, Iraqi national and religious powers should close ranks and unite in calling the occupation forces to get out," Mortada Ga’afar El-Mousawy, representative of Shiite leader Shiite leader Moktada Al-Sadr in Baghdad, told IslamOnline.net.

"Those making gains from the status quo must not sell to the Iraqi people the culture of accepting the occupation and collaborating with occupation authorities," he said.

"They must stop hinting that Shiites support the occupation troops in Iraq, because Shiites took the lead in the 1920 revolution against the British occupation," Mousawy stressed.

He threatened that "armed resistance is, no doubt, the answer if the invading troops do not respect the will of the Iraqi people and leave our homeland."

Healing Rifts

Shiite scholar Mohamed Ali Al-Muzafar echoed similar position asserting that Shiites were skeptical that Saddam might jump again to power.

"Now that he is in custody, the page of his regime is closed for ever. Hence, Iraqis should forget past differences and ask the Interim Governing Council for swift elections to draft a constitution and drive the occupiers out."

Speaking to IOL, he underlined that Shiites were never in favor of the occupation and only adopted a wait-and-see approach until security and stability are restored.

This, said the Shiite scholar, was only "meant to text the real intentions of the occupiers whether they came to liberate Iraq and hand over power to the Iraqi people.

"After the capture of Saddam we demand the occupation forces to leave and transfer power to the Iraqis."

Muzafar threatened the U.S.-led occupation forces of die-hard resistance unless they pull out of the country.

"The Americans should realize that our silence to the occupation was a temporary thing dictated by the circumstances. If they insist on staying in Iraq and refuse to hand over the power to Iraqis, the Shiites’ reaction will be different, as was the case with the British occupation in the early 20th century, Shiites will have a different position.

Moussa Al-Kerbassy, a leading Shiite scholar, exhorted Iraqi religious leaders to use their leverage and help Iraqis heal their rifts.

He called on the Governing Council to give the Iraqi people a saying in choosing their leader and government, urging Iraqis who attack police and state facilities to stop such operations.

Shame

Iraqi political analyst Hussein Mohamed Ali expected, for his part, armed resistance against the occupation to be "affected after Saddam’s capture, [operations carried out by] the Baath party."

Other groups involved in resisting the U.S.-led occupation will pursue their operations because their operate with the religious conviction that occupation is a shame that must be eliminated, he told IOL.

"Most of these groups believe that the only way to drive out the U.S. troops is through force," he said, recalling several explosions and attacks that followed the capture of Saddam.

He argued that the withdrawal of the U.S. forces before maintaining security and stability "may drag the country into a whirlpool of problems and conflicts the Governing Council will not be able to control.

"Iraq will not taste stability until a constitution is ratified and a new government is elected by the Iraqi people."

The U.S. army announced Sunday, December 14, the capture of Saddam during an operation near his hometown of Tikrit a day earlier.


Even when the A,ericans create Death in the Shites Political Party, the layman citizens of Iraq know that their real enemy is the American invader, and targets the real enemy, no matter what the Americans and their collaborators want them to believe. Even if a civil war happens in Iraq, the American will only loose.

ABCNEWS.com : Terror Threats to U.S. Cities Reported

Intel Surge
U.S. Intelligence Learn of Possible Threats to New York and Other Cities




Intel Surge
U.S. Intelligence Learn of Possible Threats to New York and Other Cities


Dec. 19
— Authorities are evaluating a surge of information related to possible terrorist threats to a number of cities in the United States, including New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., ABCNEWS has learned. Threat information is coming from intelligence intercepts, interrogation of recent detainees and other methods, sources say. Intelligence and law enforcement officials are currently evaluating the threat information.

Sources say the threat to New York City possibly involves a female suicide bomber, but no specific target has been identified and intelligence sources are still evaluating the credibility of this threat. The New York City Police Department released a statement saying it has "no credible intelligence pointing to a specific or imminent terrorist threat" in the city.

In the threats received for other cities, including Los Angeles and Washington, no mode of attack has been identified and no location or specific cells were named.

Senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security, intelligence and law enforcement have a planned meeting Monday to evaluate the recent surge in information related to possible terror threats.

"We have remained concerned about the volume of reporting of threats and that is why the Department of Homeland Security has sent out several bulletins over the past few weeks to homeland security officials and law enforcement personnel, urging all to continue be on heightened state of alert especially, as we enter the busy holiday season," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said today at a news conference.

Preparations Already Under Way

Officials around the nation were already actively engaged in serious discussions with the Department of Homeland Security about whether events, chatter and the time of year warrant elevating the threat level inside the United States to orange, or high, for the upcoming holiday season that starts tonight at sunset.

Considerations underpinning the discussions include the capture of Saddam Hussein, information gleaned from online chat rooms, classified information arising from one of the former Soviet republics and increased concerns of authorities in Italy, the United Kingdom and Poland, sources say.

The discussions are part of an intense series of conference calls and personal meetings between officials that have been ongoing since at least Wednesday, as the nation enters the holiday rush.

An estimated 500,000 people are expected to flood into New York City for this year's Times Square New Year Eve's bash. There, they will watch as retired Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, a former prisoner of war in Iraq, will press the Waterford crystal button that signals the dropping of the ball.

Mitigating against raising the level to orange are fiscal considerations. State officials say the cost of raising the threat level is too high unless there is a specific threat. Today in New York City, law enforcement officials began finalizing their plans for the New Year's security package, which will include the welding shut of manhole covers, the removal of post office boxes, and the preparation of a rodeo-like series of pens and gates that funnel backpack-less revelers into the area along Broadway.

Heavy weapons teams, bomb squads, city, state and federal weapons of mass destruction units, bioterror sensors, undercover agents, thousands of uniformed officers and so-called Arch Angel convoys — units trained to remove dignitaries in case of an incident — are all part of the plan.

Sources said there is only a "slight chance" the nation could go to orange and it is much more likely that additional alerts will go out and local officials can then choose how to respond on their own.

The five levels of terrorism alerts, as well as recommended government and private-sector responses include the following:

Green: Low risk of terrorist attacks.

Refine and exercise planned protective measures.

Ensure emergency personnel receive training.

Assess facilities for vulnerabilities and take measures to reduce them.

Blue: Guarded condition. General risk of terrorist attack.

Check communications with designated emergency response or command locations.

Review and update emergency response procedures.

Provide the public with necessary information.

Yellow: Elevated condition. Significant risk of terrorist attacks.

Increase surveillance of critical locations.

Coordinate emergency plans with nearby jurisdictions.

Assess further refinement of protective measures within the context of the current threat information.

Implement, as appropriate, contingency and emergency response plans.

Orange: High risk of terrorist attacks.

Coordinate necessary security efforts with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies or any National Guard or other appropriate armed forces.

Take additional precaution at public events and possibly consider alternative venues or cancellations.

Prepare to work at an alternate site or with a dispersed work force.

Restrict access to threatened facilities to essential personnel only.

Red: Severe risk of terrorist attacks.

Assign emergency response personnel and preposition specially trained teams.

Monitor, redirect or constrain transportation systems.

Close public and government facilities.

Increase or redirect personnel to address critical emergency needs.

ABCNEWS' Richard Esposito, Pierre Thomas and Chris Isham contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2003 ABC News Internet Ventures.
Click here for Press Information, Terms of Use & Privacy Policy & Internet Safety Information applicable to the site.

Deception and the JEW
________________________________________________________

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last update - 06:57 18/12/2003
Rabbis issue prohibition against evacuating settlements
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

The rabbinical council representing the West Bank and Gaza Strip issued a public statement Wednesday saying the government must not evacuate settlements and outposts.

"The government is forbidden by a total religious prohibition to evacuate any outpost or settlement, and has no right to give away parts of the land of Israel to strangers, and anything done toward this aim is void," said the statement from the Yesha rabbinical council, named for the Hebrew acronym for the territories.

The ruling, which comes ahead of the anticipated evacuation of the West Bank outpost of Migron, is not legally binding, but is likely to be respected by many Orthodox Jews.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz cancelled a meeting with National Religious Party Ministers Effi Eitam and Zevulun Orlev to discuss the evacuation of outposts, Israel Radio reported Wednesday night.

Associates of Eitam, the party chairman, told the radio they were angry with Orlev, who they said leaked news of the meeting to the press. By doing so, they said, he had prevented a quiet resolution of the conflict over the anticipated evacuations.

Members of the Yesha rabbinical council, who met Wednesday evening at Migron, said thousands of yeshiva students will come to the outpost to try and keep Israel Defense Forces troops from evacuating it.

The rabbis said the protesters must refrain from violence against the soldiers and police officers involved in the evacuation.

Among the rabbis who showed up Wednesday were Rabbi Avraham Shapiro, head of the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem, and Rabbi Chaim Drukman, who is affiliated with the B'nai Akiva religious youth movement, Channel Two reported.

Migron is the largest of all the outposts, Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, a spokesman for the Yesha Council of settlements, said last week. "It began like all the outposts: an antenna with a guard. Later, the guard brought his friends," he said.

Some 45 families now live in Migron, which is located in the Judean desert, about 20 minutes from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev.

Also Wednesday, settlers rebuilt two buildings that had been removed from the Havat Hashaked outpost in the West Bank earlier this week.

The Yesha Council on Tuesday marked the beginning of its struggle against outpost evacuations and against a plan for unilateral withdrawal that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to present.

The council members met at Migron, where eight caravans and a large tent have been set up in anticipation of people arriving to protest the evacuation. The council said Tuesday it expected to recruit 5,000 people to help Migron residents remain at the outpost.

In the next few days, settler protest activity will be centered at Migron as a symbol of the settler's struggle.

Rabbi Mordecai Eliyahu - one of the spiritual leaders of the NRP, which is closely associated with the settler movement - told settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein this week that he instructed NRP Knesset members and ministers to resign their posts if the government decides to evacuate a settlement or outpost.

Eliyahu called on the public to go to places due to be evacuated in an attempt to prevent any evacuation from taking place.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



________________________________________________________

Throughout their history : Deception

My Way News: "Bias Keeps Internet From Global Expansion"

Bias Keeps Internet From Global Expansion


Email this Story

Dec 18, 3:31 PM (ET)

By ANICK JESDANUN

(AP) Rahul Dewan from India, Managing Director of SRIJAN technologies, explaining the purpose of his new...
Full Image


GENEVA (AP) - Rahul Dewan typed "India" into the search box of an online stock photo service, hoping to find digital images of his native country. He found only three - all of flags. Dewan then typed "Switzerland," a country smaller than his, and found 33, while "USA" returned 72.

His demonstration underscores a major challenge in getting the developing world online: Even with access, the Internet remains meaningless to most of the world's population, its Web sites heavy in English and reflecting a Western tilt.

Dewan, managing director of the New Delhi software company Srijan Technologies, ultimately settled for Western faces and hands on his Web site, after failing to find Indian images he could use or a similar photo service catering to Indians.

So much for promoting his company as a homegrown business.

"They probably think this company belongs to somebody in the USA," Dewan lamented at last week's U.N. information technology summit. "Everything caters to the Western audience."

People and organizations who work on connecting villages and schools throughout the world say their work only begins with providing Internet access and teaching people how to use computers.

There must be compelling information, in native languages and mindful of local traditions and distinctions - such as audio and illustrations for the illiterate.

"Getting technology into people's hands is one thing. Getting people to use it is key," said Daniel Wagner, director of the International Literacy Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

Much of the Web these days is built by private ventures - mostly in the West and mostly targeting where they believe the money is: the industrialized world.

As a result, there's little specific to developing countries, which remain largely offline. According to the U.N. International Telecommunication Union, 1.5 billion villages have no access at all to phones or the Internet, and 70 percent of Internet users live in countries that make up only 16 percent of the world's population.

Some delegates to last week's U.N. World Summit on the Information Society complained that even when Web sites aren't in English, they are usually in French, Spanish or one of a handful of other languages common in the industrialized world.

Adama Samassekou, Mali's former minister of education, said languages spoken by millions of Africans, including Mandingo and Kiswahili, are virtually nonexistent online.

With more than 95 percent of Pakistan's literacy base in Urdu, the Internet is relevant to only the country's elite 5 percent, said Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Pakistan's minister of information and technology.

The solution involves more than translating English sites.

To address illiteracy, South Africa is developing speech recognition, text-to-speech and other voice technologies, starting in Zulu. An open source model will let others adapt the tools for additional languages at little cost.

Sherrin Issac, a policy director at South Africa's Department of Science and Technology, said many existing, Western technologies are inadequate - one voice compression algorithm, for instance, drops some "clicks" in conversations, changing the meaning of words.

Bulgaria, South Korea and other countries, meanwhile, are producing government sites in native languages. But Internet users often must type English addresses to reach them.

One Korean company, Netpia, has developed a proprietary keyword system, so a Korean typing "Yahoo" in that language would automatically get the Korean version of Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) Netpia executive Jason Sohn said some sites saw traffic triple after using such keywords.

The Internet's key oversight body also is studying domain names entirely in non-English characters - instead of requiring ".com" or another English suffix.

Other challenges remain.

The Canadian government still must adapt its internal search engine to accommodate online materials in Inuktitut, the Inuit language. English and French speakers can find synonyms like "fast" and "quick" in one search, but extending that capability to Inuktitut first requires creating an electronic dictionary.

In recent months, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) began a local language program to help universities and governments adapt its software to more languages. King Letsie III of Lesotho, meanwhile, is promoting open source and free software as a way to let countries adapt tools for their domestic needs.

A desire also exists to ensure that Web sites are culturally relevant - not limited to white faces, U.S. dollars and Western values. That, for instance, could mean write-ups in support of marrying cousins, a union rejected in the industrialized world.

Jerry Kennelly, whose Irish-based photo service Stockbyte was the site Dewan had demonstrated, acknowledged that only a fifth of people featured there are non-Caucasian, reflecting marketing demands.

"We're not in the business of running a charity," Kennelly said. "The minute we see a justifiable demand, we will be on it like a dog out of the traps at the greyhound races."

Until then, the task of diversifying content has largely fallen on groups like Viva Rio, which has trained residents of Brazil's urban slums, the favelas, to write about themselves, countering the news about crime and other problems dominant in Western outlets.

"The point is to produce more content that is useful," said Bernardo Sorj, an adviser to Viva Rio. "If people go on the Internet and do not find good content for themselves, then they go to pornography."

---

Anick Jesdanun can be reached at netwriter(at)ap.org

Poll: 43 Percent of Americans Feel Israel Threatens World Peace - from Tampa Bay Online


Dec 17, 2003

Poll: 43 Percent of Americans Feel Israel Threatens World Peace
By Jonathan M. Katz
Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) - Some 43 percent of Americans believe Israel is a threat to world peace, according to a poll presented Wednesday by a Jewish group, but many more are concerned about North Korea, Iraq and Iran.
The Anti-Defamation League said its survey showed much less concern about Israel among Americans than a recent poll in Europe, where Israel was at the top of the list of countries perceived as threatening world peace.

The ADL poll showed that 43 percent of Americans believe Israel is a threat to world peace, placing it behind seven other countries. In last month's Eurobarometer poll, 59 percent of Europeans chose Israel, ranking it number one.

North Korea ranked first in the U.S. poll at 77 percent, with Iraq and Iran tied for second at 76 percent. About 37 percent of Americans said the United States itself was the greatest threat.

A Boston-based research firm interviewed 1,200 American adults by phone earlier this month for the ADL. The survey's margin of error was 4 percentage points. The poll was presented during a national security conference in Herzliya attended by Israeli leaders and world figures.

The poll showed about 40 percent of Americans sympathize primarily with Israel in the Mideast conflict, compared to just 15 percent that sympathize with Palestinians, numbers Foxman said have remained consistent since 1991.

About 73 percent said the United States was more likely to be attacked by terrorists because of its support for Israel, but 62 percent who gave that answer said the support should continue anyway.

The poll did not gauge opinion on controversial areas of policy, like Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip or construction of a security barrier in the West Bank, both of which have come under sharp criticism from Palestinians and foreign governments.

"We try to keep our poll consistent with (past years' questions). This month the fence may be an issue. Next month something else may be an issue," Abraham Foxman, the ADL's director, told The Associated Press.

Foxman, 63, a Holocaust survivor, also said that anti-Semitism around the world is at a higher level than he ever expected to see. The ADL's main mission is fighting anti-Semitism.

AP-ES-12-17-03 1720EST

This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAIIN9YBOD.html






???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

NOT FOR THE LOVE OF PALESTINIANS / OR ARABS ! (God Forbid !)

Cheers Israel !

Igor Ivanov: Our companies will take part in Iraq's reconstruction - PRAVDA.Ru: "In his statement to PRAVDA.Ru in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, said Russian companies 'will take part in Iraq's reconstruction process', because Baghdad provisional authorities 'know what they need'."

_________________________________________________________

Ok, I know many people who will jump and say that Russia is doing that and saying this only for its own advantage, and to "blackmail" the USA in order to gain this or that.

To those people , my reply is : Fu*k You

Since when is it better to have only one "Seller" from whom you purchase?
and
Since when is it better to have one "Buyer" for whom you sell ?


Ok, Russia does have its interests. So, what , what is unnatural about that

or is it only the fu*ken USA that is given legetemacy of interests by some one's "God"

I'd rather buy and sell with Russia !

Vladimir Putin's online interview - PRAVDA.Ru: "Iraq is a special case"


_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

Q: Americans finally captured Hussein. But I think it would not better situation in Iraq, and another Vietnam can become of it. Will there be chaos, how do you think?

A: We-re not interested in the USA losing their fight against international terrorism, we are their partners in it. But Iraq is a special case, there were no international terrorists there under Hussein. Use of force out of one-s borders can be allowed only by UN Security Council sanctions, this is international law. Hence everything done without such sanctions can not be approved as legitimate, neither be justified. And it is speaking softly. But in the history of humankind great countries, empires, have always suffered a number of problems: feelings of invulnerability, of greatness, of infallibility. This has always worked against them. I hope it wouldn-t happen to our American parners.

Q: What do you think about extending the presidential term and possibility for three and more terms?

A: I am opposed to this.



_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________


Putin is not a lover of Arabs, No, But he is a Man, a real Man that acts from his free will and is not a puppet. This president of Russia is not a puppet of the USA.

أُسر صدام فهل أُسرت المقاومة؟!!

كيف يشعل الغباء نار الكراهية؟

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
____________________________________________________

Cardinal says U.S. treated Saddam "like a cow"
Tue 16 December, 2003 13:05

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A top Vatican official says he feels pity and compassion for Saddam Hussein and criticises the U.S. military for showing video footage of him being treated "like a cow".

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department and a former papal envoy to the United Nations, told a news conference on Tuesday it would be "illusory" to think the arrest of the former Iraqi president would heal all the damage caused by a war which the Holy See opposed.

"I felt pity to see this man destroyed, (the military) looking at his teeth as if he were a cow. They could have spared us these pictures," he said.

"Seeing him like this, a man in his tragedy, despite all the heavy blame he bears, I had a sense of compassion for him," he said in answer to questions about Saddam's arrest.

Martino was referring to the videotape released by the U.S. military which showed a grubby, bearded and dishevelled Saddam receiving a medical examination by a military doctor after his capture in an underground hole on Saturday.

Martino was one of the Vatican officials most strongly opposed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

"It's true that we should be happy that this (arrest) has come about because it is the watershed that was necessary... we hope that this will not have worse and other serious consequences," Martino said.

"But it is not the total solution to the problems of the Middle East," he said.

Martino said the Vatican hoped the arrest of Saddam "can contribute to promoting peace and the democratisation of Iraq."

He added: "But is seems to me to be illusory to hope that this will repair the dramas and the damage of the defeat for humanity that a war always brings about."

The Vatican did not consider the war in Iraq "a just war" because it was not backed by the United Nations and because the Vatican believed more negotiations were necessary to avoid it.

Martino said the Vatican wanted an "appropriate institution" to put Saddam on trial but he did not elaborate.

U.S. forces were keeping the ousted 66-year-old dictator at a secret location for interrogation before he is put on trial in the months ahead. He could face the death penalty.

The news conference was called for Martino to present the World Day of Peace message, in which Pope John Paul took a swipe at the United States for invading Iraq without the backing of the United Nations.



____________________________________________________

APOLOGIES are hereby extended to the Vatican. I had a misunderstanding on the news yesterday.

So, NOT Fu*k the Vatican

Democracy Now! | "His Mistreatment is Pretty Much What The Roman Emperors Used To Do To Defeated Barbarian Kings" - Francis Boyle Discusses Saddam’s Capture

Joint Task Force Told 8/14 Blackout Was a Military Test

Did something in the same category, but on a smaller scal, happen prior to 9/11 !

LION OR WOLF?: LION OR WOLF?

Saddam's daughter Raghad said she and her sisters wanted an international trial to ensure justice.

"He should not be tried by the Governing Council which was put in place by occupiers," she said in Jordan where she lives.

"A lion remains a lion even in captivity," she said. "I am really proud that this man is my father."

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first public comments, chose a different animal to compare Saddam to.

"The Iraqi nation has suffered greatly under this bloodthirsty wolf. Now it is apparently free of him," he said. "The Islamic world and all those who know what a savage animal he was feel delighted."

A Vatican official said he felt pity for Saddam who had been treated "like a cow" in U.S. military footage.

Let the downfall of Sharon be an End to Zionism

Special Document: Statement by the Iraqi Branch of the Arab Socialist
Baath Party.


In the name of God, the Merciful, the Mercy-giving.

The Arab Socialist Baath Party.

"One Arab Nation, With an Everlasting Mission."

"Unity, Freedom, Socialism."


Statement on the imprisonment of our comrade the General Secretary by
the occupation forces in Iraq.

Sons and daughters of the Iraqi people and the Arab Nation!

Baathist Comrades!

In the course of the on-going confrontation between the heroic Iraqi
Resistance led by the Arab Socialist Baath Party and the occupation
forces and their stooges in Iraq, and at a time of intensified
operations by the occupation forces as they desperately attempt to
strike at and stop the escalating armed Resistance, American
occupation forces with the help of mercenary traitors managed to
carry out a combined operation that targeted a number of alternative
points  both real potential locations and decoy locations  in
various parts of Salah ad-Din Province while our comrade General
Secretary was on the move. The operation made use of biologically
effective interventions in order to take our comrade, the General
Secretary and Chief Secretary of the Iraqi Branch of the Party, the
militant Saddam Hussein, prisoner. That event took place before
midnight on Saturday, 13 December 2003.

The heroic armed Resistance, guided by its political and strategic
programs, will never stop. No, it will continue, escalating its
designated line in accordance with tactical demands and the strategic
aim of "expelling the occupation forces, liberating Iraq, and
preserving it as one unified homeland for all Iraqis." That which
has been laid out by the Command of the Political Resistance and that
which has been learned by fighting detachments will continue to be
implemented with lofty zeal, fighting spirit, clear vision, and firm
resolve, embodying the principled and militant characteristics and
virtues of our comrade the General Secretary.

The Baath, the Resistance, and all noble minded Arabs and human
beings are certain that his firmly rooted faith, his strong fighting
spirit, his authentic Arab honor, his iron Iraqi unyileldingness, and
his unique personal potency will inform the great battle of defiance
that our comrade the General Secretary will wage inside the enemy
prison camp, a battle that will add a new and eternal epic chapter to
the life of Saddam Hussein, a man dear to the hearts of Iraqis,
Arabs, and all progressives in the world.

Long live free Iraq! Defeat the occupation!

Long live the heroic Iraqi Resistance!

Long live the Comrade General Secretary and Chief Secretary of the
Iraqi Branch of the Party, the militant Saddam Hussein!

Long live Palestine, beloved of comrade Saddam Hussein, Free and Arab!

God is Greatest! God is Greatest! And may the despicable be
despised!

System of Political Information and Publication,
Arab Socialist Baath Party.
15 December 2003.

Google

How much will it matter?Saddam Hussein's capture may not end attacks by insurgents. But for a day, Iraqis celebrate.

The celebrations in the streets of Baghdad were very little ,a and very staged. Amazing how CNN was happy to show a handfull of red flags waved by member of the Iraqi communist party. (Rreminds me of the famous term coined by the Iraqi poet Mothaffar A- Nawab > "This Stupid Left" <

I dont believe that Sadam was captured only yesterday. I have reasons to doubt that he was actually captured some time a ago, and this timing was not correct.

Also the capturing story seems like an american movie, and also with a jewish producer, no less

So.

1 Idol humiliated, OK, however, not in the interest of Imperialism, that happened, even if in the very short run it looks as if it was !!!

Cheers !