@@ U.S. and Isreali proxies pushing the next neocon war @@
Arash
November 18, 2005
Detlev Mehlis's Murky Past; U.S. and Isreali Proxies Pushing the Next Neocon War
Faking the Case Against Syria
By Trish Schuh
Another slam dunk forgery is being used to convict Syria. The United Nations' Detlev
Mehlis inquiry into the murder of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafiq Hairri
depends on a central witness, Zuhir Ibn Mohamed Said Saddik, who has faced
accusations of being a swindler and embezzler.
Der Spiegel exposed Zuhir Ibn Mohamed Said Saddik's brags of "becoming a
millionaire" from his testimony to the Mehlis Commission. Saddik was referred to the
Mehlis Commission by Syrian regime critic Rifaat Assad, the uncle of current Syrian
President Bashar Assad. Rifaat has been lobbying the Bush administration to become
the president of Syria in the event his nephew Bashar is ousted.
The record of the UN's investigator Detlev Mehlis does not inspire faith in his
credibility. As Senior Public Prosecutor in the German Attorney General's office
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detlev_Mehlis), Detlev Mehlis investigated the 1986
LaBelle Discotheque bombing in Berlin. Relying on alleged National Security Agency
intercepts of coded messages between Tripoli and Libyan suspects in Germany (later
revealed by former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky
(http://www.victorostrovsky.com/the_man.html) as false telex signals generated by
Mossad itself), Mehlis provided the 'irrefutable proof' of Libya's guilt that then
justified Ronald Reagan's bombing of Libya
(http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers/ostrovsky.html).
In the case of the accusations against Syria, Detlev Mehlis's case revolves around a
series of questionable phone conversations and intersecting calling card numbers
allegedly dialled by the perpetrators. It contains no definitive forensics on the car
bomb explosives used. Outside investigators have said it could have been RDX
plastique, not TNT as Detlev Mehlis suggested in his report. The German Mercedes
manufacturers were also perplexed at how Hariri's vehicle, reinforced by the heaviest
steel-titanium alloy, was "melted by the force of the explosion", after-effects
usually associated with high density DU munitions.
The car bomb vehicle (stolen in Japan and never fully traced) was possibly driven by
a suicide bomber, whose identity is still unknown. Detlev Mehlis's report then
states: "Another only slightly less likely possibility is that of a remotely
controlled device".
Detlev Mehlis conclusions on the case , due on December 15 could justify an attack on
Syria, using the Hariri assassination as justification. But from Beirut to Damascus,
the "Arab Spring" was a neocon forgery designed to destabilize the Levant and redraw
the map of the middle east.
Near the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut, I
interviewed a founder of the Martyrs' Square tent city and asked about US-Israeli
sponsorship of the 'Independence Intifadah'. Surrounded by red and white Lebanese
flags, soldier Michael Sweiden of the Lebanese Forces emphasized he was Christian
Lebanese. "We love Israel", he told me. "Israel helps us. Israel is like our mother".
Years before its role in the so-called "Cedar Revolution" (a moniker coined by U.S.
Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1120), a signatory to the Project for a New
American Century http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/pnac.php), Israel awarded
citizenship and grants of up to $10,000 to South Lebanon Army soldiers who
collaborated with the Israeli Defense Forces during Lebanon's civil war.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed, "Senior officials at Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's office were in touch with Lebanese leaders even before the current crisis".
Backed by American and Israeli neocons, a Christian Lebanese Likud is proxying
Israel's second invasion.
One example is the Lebanese Foundation for Peace (http://www.free-lebanon.com), a
self-styled "Government of Lebanon in Exile in Jerusalem" founded by former Lebanese
Forces' military intelligence officer Nagi Najjar
(http://www.jerusalemsummit.org/eng/short.php?speaker=240&summit=31).
Nagi Najjar, a CIA consultant, testified not so long ago in support of Ariel Sharon's
"complete innocence" in the Sabra and Shatila affair against charges by Human Rights
Watch and regional governments.
Nagi Najjar has also paired with Mossad agent Yossef Bodansky while lobbying the U.S.
congress to intervene in Hezbollah-dominated south Lebanon
(http://www.freemuslims.org/march/endorsers.php).
Nagi Najjar NGO, The Lebanese Foundation for Peace, endorsed the AIPAC-sponsored
sanctions against Syria, known as the Syria Accountability / Lebanese Sovereignty
Restoration Act of 2003.
On his LFP website featuring an Israeli flag, Najjar's "government in exile" issued
an official declaration; "We, the people of Free Lebanon, thank Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom for the campaign launched by the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Afffairs aimed at ousting Syria from occupying Lebanon".
Another NGO of the Lebanese Likud is the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/uscfl.php). Its President, Ziad Abdel Nour
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/957) is the son of wealthy Lebanese Minister
of Parliament Khalil Abdel Nour.
USCFL
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=United_States_Committee_for_a_Free_Lebanon)
partners with designated "democratizers" such as the American Enterprise Institute,
AEI (created by Lebanese-American William Baroody, Sr.
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/aei.php), Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, JINSA
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/jinsa.php), Republican Jewish Coalition,
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Middle East Forum
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/mef.php), the Hudson Institute
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hudson_Institute) and kindred pro-Israel
lobbies.
The USCFL hails former Lebanese president Amin Gemayel
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amine_Gemayel) for signing a peace deal with Israel in
1983. (According to the UAE's late leader Sheik Zayed bin sultan Al Nahyan, Saddam
agreed to leave Iraq before the war in 2003 to halt the invasion. But Amin Gemayel,
the mediator between Saddam and the U.S. administration, wrongly informed the U.S.
that Saddam had rejected all offers of exile).
Khalil Abdel Nour's other links include the World Lebanese Organization, which
advocates Israel's re-occupation of south Lebanon. In 2000, he and neocon Daniel
Pipes (http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1316) composed the policy paper "Ending
Syria's Occupation of Lebanon: the U.S. Role" and together co-author the Middle East
Intelligence Bulletin (http://www.meib.org). The bulletin is a project of the neocon
Middle East Forum and is a frequent resource for American intelligence agencies. On
November 2, 2005 Khalil Abdel Nour updated me on the Syrian crisis by phone.
TRISH SCHUH: What is the future of Syria, of President Bashar Al Assad's situation?
KHALIL ABDEL NOUR: Both the Syrian and Lebanese regimes will be changed- whether they
like it or not- whether it's going to be a military coup or something else... and we
are working on it. We know already exactly who's going to be the replacements. We're
working on it with the Bush administration. This is a Nazi regime of 30 years,
killing ministers, presidents and stuff like that. They must be removed. These guys
who came to power, who rule by power, can only be removed by power. This is
Machiavelli's power game. That's how it is. This is how geopolitics -- the war games,
power games -- work. I know inside out how it works, because I come from a family of
politicians for the last 60 years. Look, I have access to the top classified
information from the CIA from all over the world. They call me, I advise them. I know
exactly what's going on. And this will happen.
TRISH SCHUH: So would they remove the entire Assad family?
KHALIL ABDEL NOUR: Why not? Who is Bashar Al Assad?
TRISH SCHUH: I didn't see forensic proof in the Mehlis report that would legally
convict Assad of Hariri's death in a court of law.
KHALIL ABDEL NOUR: I don't give a damn. I don't give a damn, frankly. This Bashar Al
Assad-Emil Lahoud regime is going to go whether it's true or not. When we went to
Iraq whether there were weapons of mass destruction or not, the key is -- we won. And
Saddam is out! Whatever we want, will happen. Iran? We will not let Iran become a
nuclear power. We'll find a way, we'll find an excuse- to get rid of Iran. And I
don't care what the excuse is. There is no room for rogue states in the world.
Whether we lie about it, or invent something, or we don't... I don't care. The end
justifies the means. What's right? Might is right, might is right. That's it. Might
is right.
TRISH SCHUH: You sound just like Saddam. Those were his rules too.
KHALIL ABDEL NOUR: So Saddam wanted to prove to the whole world he was strong? Well,
we're stronger- he's out! He's finished. And Iran's going to be finished and every
single Arab regime that's like this will be finished. Because there is no room for us
capitalists and multinationalists in the world to operate with regimes like this. Its
all about money. And power. And wealth... and democracy has to be spread around the
world. Those who want to espouse globalization are going to make a lot of money, be
happy, their families will be happy. And those who aren't going to play this game are
going to be crushed, whether they like it or not! This is how we rule. And this is
how it's going to be as long as you have people who think like me.
TRISH SCHUH: When will this regime change take place?
KHALIL ABDEL NOUR: Within 6 months, in both Lebanon and Syria.
TRISH SCHUH: Some names of replacements?
KHALIL ABDEL NOUR: It is classified. There are going to be replacements and we know
who they are, but I cannot mention the names.
TRISH SCHUH: Will this be done peacefully?
KHALIL ABDEL NOUR: It doesn't matter. The end justifies the means. I don't care about
how it's done. The important thing is that it is done. I don't rule out force. I'm
not against force. If it's an option, it will be an option.
TRISH SCHUH: But if it's just trading Syrian control for American or Israeli control?
KHALIL ABDEL NOUR: I have -- we have -- absolutely no problem with heavy U.S.
involvement in Lebanon. On an economic level, military level, political level,
security level... whatever it is. Israel is the 51st state of the United States. Let
Lebanon be the 52nd state. And if the Arabs don't like it, tough luck.
US-Israeli intervention in Lebanon has a long history. In 1950's Beirut, The U.S. oil
companies and the CIA paid bribes to Maronite Catholic President Camille Chamoun
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Chamoun) to buy allegiance against Lebanese
Muslims, and the pan-Arab threat of Nasser.
In his book "Ropes of Sand"
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393013367), CIA case officer Wilbur
Crane Eveland (http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0390/9003028.htm)
revealed, "Throughout the elections, I traveled regularly to the presidential palace
with a briefcase full of Lebanese pounds, then returned late at night to the embassy
with an empty twin case" to be refilled again with more CIA funds. Journalist Said
Aburish recalled, "The convergence of interest between the Camille Chamoun government
and CIA agents produced a bizarre atmosphere which altered Beirut's character. It
became a CIA city..." frequented by such covert operatives as Kermit Roosevelt Jr.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_Roosevelt,_Jr.), who organized the Iranian coup
against Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mossadegh).
Soon the Israelis joined in, supplying weapons to Chamoun's son Dany, an arms trader.
Dany's weapons sales to Maronite gangs created a precedent for the country's civil
war militias. (See Aburish's "A Brutal Friendship: The West and the Arab Elite"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/031218543X)
A more recent US-Israeli role commenced in mid-November, 2004. A demonstration was
called by former Christian General Michel Aoun
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Aoun). General Aoun testified to the U.S.
Congress in 2003, and Congress favors him as a post-Assad Lebanese president.
U.S. diplomats coached a vanguard of unwitting Lebanese youth in CIA "Triple U"
techniques (uncontrollable urban unrest). Opposition sources revealed that a downtown
rally of 3000 mostly Christian student activists protesting "Syrians Out!" had been
organized by the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
The Associated Press reported on November 19, 2004, "One demonstrator appealed to the
U.S. president, holding a placard that read: 'Bush help us save Lebanon'. Another
dressed up as Osama bin Laden but with the words "Syrian Terror" on his chest. He
held a toy gun to the head of a protester who was wrapped in the Lebanese flag..."
Lebanese riot police allowed this unprecedented pre-Cedar rehearsal without arrests
because of a deal worked out beforehand with U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman
(http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/35948.htm).
Ambassador Feltman, closely linked to Ariel Sharon and Karl Rove, is an associate of
the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, OSP
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Special_Plans) that created the false
evidence and "mushroom cloud" intelligence used to justify attacks on Iraq. This 2004
rehearsal demonstration was answered by a counter protest of 300,000 on November 30
against UN Resolution 1559.
When the stage show opened for real after Rafiq Hariri's death, America's Wag the
Flag performance was camera-ready. Janes.com exposed that the flashy demonstrations
and rallies were being engineered by one of Lebanon's top advertising agencies and
the London-based Saatchi & Saatchi. Michael Nakfour of the corporate events
management company, Independence 05 - Civil Society, helped manage the Freedom Square
tent city by distributing food, flags, supplies and theatrical effects, prompting
American Enterprise Institute scholar Hedieh Mirahmadi
(http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.93/scholar.asp) to marvel; "Who would imagine
one could find posters, in downtown Beirut, with the picture of President Bush in
between American and Lebanese flags?" (NY Sun, 3/18/05)
Reporter Mary Wakefield, of The Spectator was also surprised. "Only 1000 or so
people?... it felt less like a national protest than a pop concert. Bouncers in black
bomber jackets wore laminated Independence '05 cards round their necks, screens to
the left and right of the platform reflected the crowd ... To the left of the main
speaker, a man in a black flying suit with blonde highlights, mirrored Oakley
sunglasses and an earpiece seemed to be conducting the crowd. Sometimes he'd wave his
arms to increase the shouting, sometimes, with a gesture he'd silence them... 'Out
Syria! Out Syria! Out Syria!' Production assistants with clipboards busied themselves
around trucks full of monitors and amplifiers.... The truth is that the Cedar
Revolution has been presented and planned in just the same way as Ukraine's Orange
revolution and, before it, the Rose revolution in Georgia. But just because it is in
American interests doesn't mean it's an American production". ("A Revolution Made for
TV" 3/12/05)
Why not? The New York Post: "U.S. intelligence sources told The Post that the CIA and
European intelligence services are quietly giving money and logistical support to
organizers of the anti-Syrian protests to ramp up pressure on Syrian President Bashar
Al Assad to completely quit Lebanon. Sources said the secret program is similar to
previous support of pro-democracy movements in Georgia and Ukraine, which also led to
peaceful demonstrations". (3/8/05).
On the streets of Beirut, one 'grassroots' project, "Pulse of Freedom", inadvertently
exposed its U.S. origins by utilizing uniquely American street theater tactics. Then
in a slip, reminiscent of Baghdad's Firdos Square when U.S. troops covered Saddam's
statue with the Stars and Stripes, or when the Republic of Georgia's military band
played the US national anthem instead of its own during the Rose Revolution, "Pulse
of Freedom" portrayed Lebanon's national Monument of Sovereignty as the Statue of
Liberty.
Spirit of America, the NGO that created "Pulse of Freedom" provided protesters with a
billboard-sized electronic 'Freedom Clock' for 'Freedom Square' to "countdown to
freedom". Spirit of America's tax deductible donations helped maintain the tent
city's food, shelter and other basic necessities "so that the demonstrators can keep
pressure on for political change and world attention on the struggle for Lebanese
independence". Spirit of America also spawned a plethora of revolution bloggers,
foremost among them Tech Central Station columnist Michael Totten whose boss was
Spirit of America's founder Jim Hake.
A registered charity, Spirit of America (http://www.spiritofamerica.net/site/mission)
exemplifies the regime change industry. Advised by U.S. Ambassador Mark Palmer
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Palmer), Vice Chairman of the Board of Freedom
House (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Freedom_House), and co-founder of
the National Endowment for Democracy (http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/ned.php),
Palmer served as speech-writer to three U.S. Presidents and six Secretaries of State.
He also helped the U.S. government destabilize Slobodan Milosevic and Muammar
Qaddafi. Capitalizing on his color revolution skills, Ambassador Palmer wrote
"Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators Without
Firing a Shot".
Another Spirit of America governor is Lieutenant General Michael P. DeLong, Deputy
Commander, U.S. Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.
http://www.usmc.mil/genbios2.nsf/0/C69030FEC6C7348385256803006F46FF?opendocument
Lieutenant General Michael DeLong
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_DeLong) manages a budget of $8.2
billion and "conceived and implemented the Global War on Terrorism, Operation
Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom". As top Deputy to former General Tommy
Franks, DeLong's listed expertise at places such as the Army War College, the
Department of Defense and the Amphibious Warfare School included Artillery, military
intelligence, coup détats, supporting democracy.
Mike DeLong in his autobiography Inside Centcom alleged "Syria had been shipping
military supplies, including night vision goggles to Iraq". The New York Times and
Washington Post later revealed that these data had been fabricated "smoking gun"
evidence. Charles Duelfer of the UN Iraq Survey Group also confirmed that WMD charges
had been "exaggerated" by now-US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/bolton/bolton.php), when he was Under-Secretary
for Arms Control in 2002.
Lebanese history professor Habib Malik, affiliated with the Middle East Forum,
defended the anti-Syria protesters to journalist-in-residence Claudia Rosett of the
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies as being "utterly spontaneous and
coercion-free". (NY Sun, 3/11/05)
But an American Hezbollah expert in Beirut, Dr. Judith Harik, informed this writer
that the pro-Syria crowds were misrepresented in the media. "As you are hearing, the
Bush administration is labeling the opposition "the people" and everyone else as
Hezbollah terrorists. Tomorrow's [March 8, 2005] demonstration will include Sunnis,
Druze of the Arslan faction, Christians of all the leftist nationalist parties and
the entire south and Bekaa, along with Orthodox Christian areas of Mt. Lebanon. Again
the Bush administration is misleading the public by 'mistakenly' lauding a loud
minority that supports its middle east policy".
Each side eventually held a mass demonstration numbered in the hundreds of thousands,
prompting a truce. But the US-Israeli machine declared war. Using language formerly
reserved for Yasser Arafat, Bush parroted Ariel Sharon. "Syria is an obstacle to
peace" and an "obstacle to change". Texas Congressman Sam Johnson
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Johnson) advised, "Syria -- put two nukes on 'em";
Jerusalem Post: "Israel hails Bush's Islamist attacks"; Jewish Forward; "U.S.
promises Israel to tackle Hezbollah".
A deck of 'Most Wanted' playing cards appeared, a technique used by the Israeli
newspaper Maariv to target Palestinians, and later used against the Iraqi Baath
Party. Likud MK Yuval Steinetz, head of the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affairs
Committee crystallized the priorities: "It's a clear Israeli interest to end the
Assad dynasty and replace Bashar Assad." Evoking the "absurd Arabs with their Arab
conspiracy theories" slur, Geostrategy-Direct headlined: "Is Bashar Assad paranoid or
is the U.S. really plotting to undermine him?"
When Israel's commandeering of U.S. middle east policy became too overt, defter
tongues moved to quell the uproar. "Bush Administration Advises Israel to be Quiet on
Lebanese Politics", said the New York Times. It wasn't the first reprimand to Israel
by some of its own. In November, 2003 Israel's former head of military intelligence,
Major-General Shlomo Gazit publicly warned Sharon against threatening Syria and the
Israeli "jab, jab policy orchestrated to incite and humiliate Damascus. It is only
going to be a matter of time until the Syrians are unable to hold back and then the
big blaze will begin". But that was Sharon's intent and he spoke of Iraq as a
justification to attack Hezbollah; "it will give us a great pretext. But we'll hit
them in any case". (Daily Times, 3/4/03)
The Jerusalem Post wrote; "Rumsfeld considers striking Hizbullah to provoke Syria",
and the Pentagon assessed that "the time is coming to oust Assad and the ruling
generals by targeting Syria via Lebanon..." Former National Security Council/CIA
analyst Flynt Leverett confirmed Rumsfeld's belief that by instigating the right
crisis in Lebanon, regime change could be executed in Syria. One Rumsfeld project,
P20G, or the Proactive Pre-emptive Operations Group
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P2OG), existed specifically to provoke terrorist
attacks that would then justify "counter-attacks". Neocons such as Douglas Feith
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/feith/feith.php) and David Wurmser
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/wurmser_d/wurmser-d.php) envisioned this
graduated destablization as the "constructive instability" of "total war"
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1261).
Rumsfeld's team had already begun discussions with Israeli intelligence about
assassinating Lebanese officials -- particularly "Hezbollah and their supporters" in
2002, and intelligence operatives were dispatched to Lebanon. (This writer was
introduced to at least one Israeli 'student' studying Arabic at AUB in Beirut. He
travelled with an American passport, coming to Lebanon "to study 'the enemy' to find
out how they think"). The Sunday Times (6/5/05) revealed that Mossad had been using
Trojan Horse email surveillance on President Assad's wife Asma, labelling her family
correspondence a "legitimate soft target".
By January 2005, the Pentagon were preparing for military operations in Lebanon to
destroy "insurgency strongholds along the Lebanese-Syrian border". Simultaneously,
Israeli approval for a military operation in Lebanon was given after Hezbollah killed
an IDF officer. Political-security cabinet members comprised of PM Sharon, Deputy PM
Ehud Olmert, Vice Premier Shimon Peres, and FM Silvan Shalom had authorized the
action. (Haaretz, 5/3/05). But then Rafiq Hariri was killed, and the door to Syria
swung open.
Syria may become America's 53rd state, if Farid Ghadry's NGO, the Reform Party of
Syria rushes through that opened door. Ghadry
(http://www.reformsyria.org/Misc/bio_of_farid_n_ghadry.htm) is a Syrian Christian who
worked for EG & G (http://www.urscorp.com/EGG_Division), a Department of Defense
contractor. EG & G assisted in the development and testing of nuclear weapons and in
many of the U.S. military's top secret atomic projects.
Farid Ghadry's Reform Party coordinates with the Syrian National Council, and
transmits Radio Free Syria from Cyprus and Germany to destabilize Syria. The CIA and
Mossad have long used Kurds to target nations in the region. Journalist Jack Anderson
wrote in 1972 about Israeli envoys delivering $50,000 a month to Kurdish leader
Mullah Mustafa Barzani (http://old.krg.org/reference/culture/bio.asp) to destabilize
Iraq.
In March 2004, this writer was approached in Damascus by Kurds from Qamishli and
Hasaka (one whose brother was arrested in the riots) wanting to "thank Bush for
helping us get rid of Assad". News accounts later verified that the chaos up north
had been orchestrated by the U.S. and Israel, using Turkish and Iraqi Kurds.
'Protesters' at the height of the melee even waved posters of President Bush and
American flags. The ringleaders were sponsored by the Department of Defense and the
U.S. State Department. "Let the Damascus spring flower, and let its flowers bloom,"
said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. So sprouted another color catastrophe --
Syria's "Jasmine Revolution".
Reform Party of Syria's Farid Ghadry has been a featured speaker at the Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs, and is himself a member of AIPAC
(http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/aipac.php). When repeated calls to his
organization went unanswered, I visited the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the RFP.
Reform Party of Syria is the office of "super-Zionist" lobbyist Jack Abramoff
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff). Middle Gate Ventures, Abramoff's
'political advisory company' partners with RFP. Abramoff is a top Beltway lobbyist
now under intensive FBI investigation concerning, among other things, his proposed $9
million fee to get Gabon's president an Oval Office session with Bush.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abramoff-Reed_Indian_Gambling_Scandal
As a College Republican in the 1980s, Jack Abramoff founded the International Freedom
Foundation
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=International_Freedom_Foundation), a
project linked to the South African Defence Forces. The International Freedom
Foundation was the PR branch of sister NGO Strategic Communications, a covert
organization charged by former spy Craig Williamson in the Weekly Mail and Guardian
for 2/24/95 with being involved with frame-ups, extreme violence and dirty tricks
campaigns.
According to the Weekly Standard (12/20/04), one Abramoff venture was his
organization of a 1985 global "summit" of underworld thugs. With Citizens for America
sponsorship, Contra leaders, guerilla rebels and right wing 'freedom fighters' from
around the world convened in the African hinterlands to strategize. During this
period, Abramoff's membership/financial transactions with the secretive Council for
National Policy
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Council_for_National_Policy), which
included Oliver North and Richard Secord, became a template for how to mask money
that still remains partially hidden. (Nizkor Project)
Recently Jack Abramoff's interventionism has focused on the Middle East.
Tomflocco.com reveals that Abramoff's long-time employer, Greenberg Traurig
(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greenberg_Traurig), partially financed a
Homeland Security Government Contract Team trip to Israel for the U.S. House/Senate
Armed Services Committee and defense contractor CACI (California Analysis Center
Incorporated), accused of Abu Ghraib torture
(http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=10828).
The delegation reviewed IDF "resistance to interrogation techniques" used in
Palestine, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. The Lebanon Daily Star reported that the group
visited Beit Horon "the central training camp for the anti-terrorist forces of the
Israeli police and border police" and were able to "witness exercises related to
anti-terror warfare". Legislators' names were not disclosed.
Jack Abramoff also works with the World Zionist Organization and the Christian
Coalition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_right) to bankroll illegal Israeli
settlement activities. According to Israeli prosecutor Talia Sasson they are part of
a larger international problem. Some $60 billion worldwide has been illicitly
funnelled to Israeli settlements via different foreign donors, quasi-NGOs and secret
military accounts.
In one such case, according to Senate testimony and news reports in Newsweek and The
New Republic, an Abramoff charity, Capital Athletic Fund, underwrote sniper scopes,
camouflage suits, thermal imagers, night vision goggles, hydration tactical tubes,
shooting mats and other paramilitary equipment through Greenberg Traurig to right
wing settler Shmuel Ben-Zvi.
Jack Abramoff wanted to help ultraorthodox settlement Beitar Illit "neutralize
terrorists" and wrote to Ben-Zvi; "Thanks brother. If only there were another dozen
of you the dirty rats would be finished".
Apparently angling for cover and a tax deduction, Beitar Illit seminar director
Shmuel Ben-Zvi suggested invoicing the weaponry to the Israeli Defence Forces on
'Sniper Workshop' stationery with a sniper logo and letterhead to qualify it as an
educational entity. Payments were partially run through "Kollel Ohel Tiferet", an
entity not publicly listed or traceable. Beitar Illit Mayor Yitzhak Pindrus claims
never to have heard of it. (Newsweek, 5/2/05)
Jack Abramoff dollars may also have found their way to the Israeli Defense Forces'
Lebanon Border Unit, the civilian SF troops that patrol the Israel-Lebanon border.
Yaagal, supposedly disbanded after Israel's 2000 pullout from south Lebanon, still
conducts clandestine reconnaissance, plans ambushes and carries out cross-border
incursions into Hezbollah-held areas of south Lebanon. As so often with lobbyist
Abramoff's entities, the tools and trails remain murky.
Indicted AIPAC lobbyist Steven Rosen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aipac) told the
New Yorker; "A lobby is like a night flower: it thrives in the dark and dies in the
sun". But Abramoff's own words to Ralph Reed
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_E._Reed%2C_Jr.) in 1983 are even more apropos;
"It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistance" with opponents. "Our job is to
remove them permanently". Flowery language for forged freedoms, an "Arab Spring"
Machiavelli-style.
http://www.counterpunch.org/schuh11182005.html
refugeed...@yahoo.co.in
Georgia? Out of curiousity.
Are the americans really planning military operations in Lebanon?
I met a Turkish guy -- ex member Turkish army. said he used to take
part in miltary operations INSIDE Syria. Dont know whether he was
bullshitting.