Something's Rotten in Dubai: The Ports Deal, The President's Bro, Homeland Non-Security & ICE

Debbie Schlussel.Com ^ | Feb. 23, 2006 | Debbie Schlussel

[Wolfie]

Debbie Schlussel: Something's Rotten in Dubai: The Ports Deal, The President's Bro, Homeland Non-Security & ICE

By Debbie Schlussel

Something's rotten in Dubai. And it's not just the deal to control six of America's ports.

The approval of Dubai-owned DP World to run the ports has brought out a lot of security issues that should have been raised at least 4.5 years ago, after 9/11. But there are a lot of issues associated with this that HAVEN'T come to light.

First, there's the President's refusal to re-examine the deal, despite the fact that he admittedly didn't know about it until the public furor. What you don't know is about the President's brother, Neil Bush, and his ties to Dubai.

I'm not saying the President's brother had anything to do with this absurd deal. He probably did not. But we don't know for sure, and even the appearance of impropriety is unacceptable in the War on Terror. Certainly, this is a huge conflict of interest. Does President Bush really want to give Michael Moore the grounds to make "Fahrenheit Ports 911"?

Neil Bush Speaks in Dubai to This Audience

Neil Bush with Datamatrix of Dubai's CEO Ali Al-Kamali

Remember Billy Carter, Jimmy Carter's brother, and his couple hundred-thousand dollars "loan" from Libya's Muammar Ghaddafi?

If you liked Billy Carter, you'll love Neil Bush. No beer products and advertising or redneck wit and wisdom. But the situation's the same. Neil Bush is in bed with Dubai and its confederation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He's getting money for it solely because he's the President's brother. And it's disturbing.

Neil Bush is a frequent visitor to and paid speaker in Dubai, showing up there right after 9/11 trying to get investors for his failed Ignite! educational software company. While there, "[Neil] Bush held talks with Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum and Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan on the 'world economy in light of recent events, as well as higher education in universities," Arab American Business reported. Bush was in Dubai so much that he e-mailed his wife of his desire for a divorce from his Dubai hotel room.

(Bush's relationship with the Dubaian and UAE royals has a lot to do with his Syrian-American Ba'athist boss, Jamal Daniel, who paid him $60,000 a year for only a few hours work. Bush's marriage to his second wife was held at Daniel's palatial Houston mansion.)

At a Saudi speech, he encouraged conferees to expand lobbying and PR efforts to change "perceptions" about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. One wonders if the content is similar at his meetings and speeches in the Emirates. At least Billy Carter was a lot more aw-shucks honest. ("The only thing I can say is there is a hell of a lot more Arabians than there is Jews.")

It's not just Bush's paid speaking engagements courtesy of Dubai's Datamatrix. While Neil Bush is prominently displayed on the company's website (and listed as "Brother of US President George Bush"), so are Clintonistas Al Gore and Sandy Berger (he of document pants-stuffing fame).

It's also Neil Bush's paid speeches to the Zayed Center, which was funded by UAE's President, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, who recently died. As my friend, Rachel Lea Fish of The David Project, wrote in the Wall Street Journal:

Sheik Zayed also funds the Abu Dhabi-based Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up, a prominent think tank of the Arab League, founded in 1999. The Zayed Center, described on its Web site "as the fulfillment of the vision of Sheikh Zayed," promotes Holocaust denial, anti-American conspiracy theories and hate speech in its lectures, symposiums and publications. In August 2002, the Los Angeles Times quoted Mohammed Murar, the executive director of the Zayed Center, saying about Jews that "the truth is they are the enemies of all nations." His comment came on the heels of a Zayed Center report stating that "the Zionists are the people who killed the Jews in Europe."

The Zayed Center has a history of giving Holocaust deniers like David Irving a forum to promulgate their ideas. In 1998, Sheik Zayed's wife donated $50,000 to finance the defense of infamous Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy in a French court.

In April 2002, the Zayed Center hosted Thierry Meyssan, the French author of "The Appalling Fraud," which claims that the U.S. military staged the 9/11 attacks. The center translated Mr. Meyssan's book into Arabic, hailed its publication and widely advertised the work. A month later, Lyndon LaRouche, the fringe political figure who has made disparaging remarks about Judaism, was an honored guest. Just last month, the center hosted Umayma Jalahma, a professor of Islamic Studies at King Faisal University, who declared: "The Jewish people must obtain human blood so that their clerics can prepare for holiday pastries."

It's bad enough the President's brother took money from this organization. It's much worse that the confederation, whose leader funded, this despicable group will be rewarded with controlling OUR ports. This is what they think, and we are going to trust them with our valuable points of entry for goods?

Then, there is the Homeland Security hype in support of this deal. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff made the rounds of the Sunday political shows praising the deal and defending it. His predecessor, Tom Ridge, also touted the deal on FOX News. Ridge is the same man who signed a Memorandum of Understanding with John Ashcroft, taking away ALL terrorism investigations away from Homeland Security and giving them to the bureaucracy that bungled 9/11, the FBI.

Finally, there is the other problem with port ship and shipment investigations associated with the creation of Homeland Security and the reorganization of the former INS and U.S. Customs Service into ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). When two huge tasks that don't jibe are foisted on one agency in a merger, as happened with ICE, one falls by the wayside. Since Immigration is now the primary--but far from diligently enforced--focus of ICE, former Customs investigations into smuggling from foreign countries has fallen by the way-side.

As ICE agents have pointed out, who will be investigating the ports controlled by Dubai? While Customs and Border Protection does inspections, the investigations are still supposed to be conducted by ICE. Don't hold your breath for any degree of thoroughness for an agency already stretched to the limits and its budget for this year already spent. It doesn't help that the unqualified Julie L. Myers, with no law enforcement experience--let alone Customs experience, is "running" ICE.

As one career ICE agent wrote,

I am at a loss to explain this administration's blind allegiance to the Port takeover deal with a company owned by the Arab terrorist-supporting country of the United Arab Emirates. . . . I am amazed that Sec. Chertoff is blindly supporting this as well.

Doesn't our military ships use these Ports??? For that reason alone this deal should be scrapped! Let alone the vulnerability to smuggle in weapons and contraband that will harm this country. What are they thinking????

Allowing the UAE to take over these important Ports is akin to allowing Michael Jackson to baby-sit your children, or allowing Bill Clinton to take your wife along on a business trip!!!!

Amen.
Posted by Debbie on February 23, 2006 01:27 AM to Debbie Schlussel

[Keeper of the Turf]

If UAE wanted to smuggle a nuke into the USA, they would bring it in over the Mexican border and keep their investments sound.

If UAE wanted to, they could just load a nuke onto a ship in any one of their many ports and detonate the thing just off the NY coast.

If they are so untrustworthy, then how can we possibly accept containers that origionated from one of the many ports that they manage worldwide?

[Paloma_55]

" Ok then, lets change the scenario and see if you are still ok with it. Lets assume that the deal was announced with Hutchison Whampoa (subsidiary of Chinese army, operator of Panama Canal, Freeport container port, etc). Also assume that things are tense with Taiwan. Now word has came out that President Clinton (past or future) throws their full weight behind it and threatens to veto anyone from either party's legislation over it. Next word comes out that Bill Clinton's worthless brother has been seen raising money and talking strategic policy in Beijing.

Are you saying that everyone here including yourself would be "OK" with that?"

Great question.

To be honest, I would have a problem with that. But the key question is "Why?" and the answer "Clinton".

Lets' face it, the character of the people in question is key. Clinton was a self-promoting, lying, cheating, scum and that was obvious to anyone with an open eye.

Bush is a disciplined, tenacious, and cautious man who thinks about the country.

If we were to ban *any country* that the pres's brother ever spoke with, that would be a huge policy blunder. It would require the president to ban his family from ever speaking overseas.

I acknowledge the queazy feeling this gives...it gave me one... but then again, we ELECT people to represent us and deal with the policy and details. What sense does that make if we are going to challenge every decision they make..especially when we have someone who we can actually trust.

Now if you don't trust Bush, I understand your concern. But despite some of his actions which I disagree with, I trust the man. Making up conspiracy theories to scare people away from trusting him is not a valid debating tactic and I refuse to accept it.

[quack]

I wouldn't either Russ,but if you look at many remarks speculating that we'll lose the ability to station ships over there if we don't comply with the lease,you can see what I mean.Personally,friend or foe,I don't want another country holding such cards in their hand or be willing to do so.If that were transpire "IF" the deal is dropped,I'd say we found out what kind of friends they really are.

[FreeInWV]

"Schussel is citing Old stuff from 2002"...

So what! Things Senator Byrd did 65 years ago are trumpeted daily here and considered fair game for political attack. Improper or not, Neil's actions have already created an illusion of impropriety, which will be attacked for political gain.

If President Clinton proposes something similar with the Chinese, the uproar here would be deafening. Freeper heads would be exploding.

Hutchison Whampoa is owned by the Chinese military just like DP World is owned by the govt of UAE. Just imagine having chinese military routinely stationed in all of our ports. Even if they were not performing any security functions, they would be in a position to study them and identify weaknesses to exploit.

I see nothing to defend this deal except blind faith in the President.

[voteconstitutionparty]

No US political family has stronger personal and business ties with those on the Arabian Peninsula than the Bush family.

It's no surprise that they would lean in their direction.

[kaktuskid]

If President Clinton proposes something similar with the Chinese, the uproar here would be deafening. Freeper heads would be exploding.

Except he did it...COSCO runs West Coast ports

[GunnyBob]

Port Call: UAE Royals Directly Linked to Bin Laden

On 24 March 2004, in sworn testimony before the National Commission On Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet stated that in the late 1990s, a planned U.S. air strike on Osama bin Laden’s camp in Afghanistan, called the “hunters’ camp” or “desert camp,” had to be called off because intelligence just in revealed many members of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) were in the camp as well, apparently conducting business with al Qaeda. They certainly were not there delivering Easter baskets.

Tenet testified under oath that the strike was called off because of the political, diplomatic and economic ramifications killing the royals in collateral damage would bring the United States.

Yes, we might have been able to kill Osama years before the attacks of 9-11, but had to abort the mission because quite a few high-ranking members of the U.A.E. royal family (as Tenet put it, the U.S. strike “might have wiped out half the royal family in the U.A.E. in the process”) had suddenly and mysteriously arrived at a secret al Qaeda terror-training camp in remote Afghanistan. The Commission also reported: “According to CIA officials, policymakers were concerned about the danger that a strike might kill an Emirati prince or other senior officials who might be with Bin Laden or close by.”

This is the same family that now wants a company it owns to take over half a dozen American ports.

This is the same family whose country sends substantial financial support to Hamas via organizations disguised as charities, such as the World Congress for Islamic Youth, World Islamic Organization and Interpal.

This is the same country that refused to cooperate fully with the 9-11 investigation.

This is the same country that was one of only three to formally recognize the Taliban.

This is the same country whose port-operations company allowed nuclear-weapons- technology smuggler A.Q. Khan to distribute his deadly wares to North Korea, Iran and Libya. Yes, the same port ops company now wanting to run some U.S. ports.

This is the same country that allowed its banking system to be used to help fund the attacks of 9-11.

Why has the Bush administration suddenly changed course after declaring after 9-11 that any country that supports terrorists would be viewed as enemies of the United States?

Consider the impact if the ports deal is shot down.

Acting in revenge (a time-honored principle in the Muslim world), the U.A.E. could then cancel the purchase order for 80 U.S.-built F-16 “Block 60" fighters, which are the most advanced F-16s in the world and which are only being sold to the U.A.E. at the moment.

They could cancel the huge order for Boeing 777s destined for Emirates Airlines.

They could cancel the $265 million deal for a space port to be built there by a U.S. company called Space Adventures.

They could terminate all military and intelligence support for the United States, including barring Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle flights from the U.A.E., which are spying on Iran’s nuclear weapons development program.

They could cancel all other military support, including docking and resupply facilities for our Navy vessels and landing rights for U.S. military aircraft.

They could stop sharing intelligence with us, which they do now because of the wall we currently have them pinned against.

They could require U.S. business representatives to go through a lengthy visa process to visit the Emirates.

They could order a massive increase in funding for Hamas.

They could order all U.S.-flagged hotels and other businesses to get out.

The United States is again learning the bitter lesson of how treacherous it can be to hold the hand of the devil.

[FreeInWV]

First off, I agree with everything you said about Clinton (either of them!). I will never trust a Clinton. That being said, I would not trust a similar port deal, no matter who was President. Just because I like the sitting president does not make it pass muster. Such a port deal needs oversight and thorough review. It was ramrodded through "under the radar". Practical concerns like port security didn't seem to occur to the secret tribunal that approved the deal. It smacks of influence peddling. And creating that impression with large numbers of people hurts the party.

One of the President's biggest weaknesses is that he is too trusting. He often supports and backs people because he likes them, not because they have the neccessary skills or background. He sometimes supports people that are not working in his, the GOP's or our best interest.

[Wolfie]

And the roar was deafening, and Freepers heads did explode.

[Wolfie]

ping

[abu afak]

BUMP

[hedgetrimmer]

One of the President's biggest weaknesses is that he is too trusting a "free traitin'" globalist.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.

..................

Not directly relevent to the ports deal, but indicative of personal and financial coziness with the arab world, and perhaps a blind spot. Another unmentioned not necessarily connected tidbit, [James] Baker-Botts opening an office in Dubai last fall. If it turns out that Baker and Botts are involved in the deal, and there's no reason they shouldn't, political points will be lost.

Nor does the author mention that the Zayed Center, a rather despicable place, was shut down not long after Neil Bush's apparent speech. Maybe they listened to his advice about getting better press, in which case it might be a plus for the UAE, indicating a movement away from terror and hate. Certainly paints Neil as a jerk. Think Clinton's brother addressing the KKK, tell me what the reaction would be.

<a href=http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6464>ZAYED CENTER FOR COORDINATION AND FOLLOW-UP </a>

 

Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates

• Official think-tank for the League of Arab States
• Disseminates its anti-Semitic and anti-American message through its speakers and publications
• Executive director has referred to Jews as "the enemies of all nations"
• Closed in 2003

The Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up (ZCCF) was founded in 1999 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the official think tank for the League of Arab States. According to a September 15, 2003 Anti-Defamation League report, "The [ZCCF] regularly publishes anti-Semitic and conspiracy theory literature and promulgates anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism through its speakers and official publications." Among the guest speakers whom the ZCCF hosted over the years were: ex-Nazi Kurt Waldheim; financier of Munich Olympics attack Abu Mazen; French 9/11 conspiracy theorist Theiry Meyssan; a Saudi scholar who declared that Jews use the blood of non-Jews for Purim pastries, Umayma Jalahma; Holocaust deniers David Irving and Roger Garaudy; and Hezbollah supporter James Zogby. An independent review of the Zayed Center found that it offered programs called "Zionist Collusion with the Nazis," and "Jewish Control of the American Government and Media."  Moreover, the Center's executive director once began a symposium there by referring to Jews as "the enemies of all nations."

Amidst mass criticism, the Zayed Center was shut down in August of 2003.

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

< href=http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/zayed_center.asp>The Zayed Center Updated: September 15, 2003 Update: The government of the United Arab Emirates announced the closure of the Zayed Center in August 2003. The closure followed increased attention by the international community to the extremist speakers featured at the Zayed Center podium. In a statement issued August 18, the Anti-Defamation League welcomed the UAE government's decision and called on the Arab League not to resuscitate the discredited think-tank. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow Up, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, was established in 1999 as the official think-tank of the League of Arab States, an association of 22 Arab nations. The founding chairman of the Center is H.H. Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, who continues in this role. Sheikh Sultan is the son of UAE President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Though the Zayed Center hosts lectures by Western heads of state and diplomats - its roster of past speakers includes former President Jimmy Carter, former Vice President Al Gore and former Secretary of State James Baker - the center also provides a platform for extremist speakers to promote virulently anti-Jewish and anti-Israel views. The Center regularly publishes anti-Semitic and conspiracy theory literature and promulgates anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism through its speakers and official publications. The center promotes an extreme, anti-Israel agenda, including efforts to delegitimize the Jewish State with speeches and literature seeking to deny Jewish religious and historical ties to Israel and Jerusalem. The Center has provided a platform to speakers who promote the view that the war in Iraq was merely a "strategic" step in a U.S. conspiracy whose goal is the "domination of the Middle East and [the] world." The Center's Web site claims that the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. were actually orchestrated by the U.S. military in an effort to blame the attacks on the Muslim world. The Zayed Center's poisonous proclamations on Jews and Israel have continued to increase in intensity. Recent speakers have described Jews as "enemies of all nations" and "cheaters whose greed knows no bounds." The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an infamous anti-Semitic forgery created in the 19th Century to vilify and persecute Jews, has been held up as a factual account of a Jewish plan to "control the world," and speakers have accused Israel of trying to sterilize Palestinian children by lacing the water "used by some Palestinian schools" with chemicals. Some Zayed speakers have engaged in attempts to deny the Holocaust, though all references to Holocaust denial on the English pages of the Center's Web site were removed in 2002. As part of its virulently anti-Semitic agenda, the Zayed Center has reached out to American extremists and anti-Semites. In March 2003, for example, the Center provided a platform to Michael Collins Piper, an American extremist and writer for the American Free Press, a conspiracy-oriented, anti-Semitic publication. Piper's speech was laced with references to "Jewish control" of the U.S. government and media and bizarre conspiracy theories, such as the theory that Israel and the Mossad were behind President John F. Kennedy's assassination and the Watergate scandal. Recent Zayed Center activities described on its Web site include: Lectures May 20, 2003 Mr. Rami Tahbob, advisor to Al Quds' File on Arab Affairs, falsely claimed that Israel was trying to control the Palestinian population through the use of "chemical drugs." According to the Zayed Center Web site, Tahbob said that "Israel police not only use [chemical] drugs for getting information, but also for changing social structures in Palestinian society," and claimed that "some sterilizing drugs were found in water reservoirs used by some Palestinian schools." May 1, 2003 Dr. Yussuf Abdallah Al Zamel, a "Saudi Economic Expert," blamed the war in Iraq on "radical Zionist and right-wing Christian" influence. He said that America's war against Iraq "aims at achieving visions and comprehensive plans in the area according to the objectives of certain radical Zionist and right wing Christian powers planning behind the scenes to push the American government towards destructive wars." April 13, 2003 Dr. Shawqi Shaath, an "Archaeology and Heritage Expert" for the Arab League, alleged that Israel is currently engaged in a campaign to "wipe out Palestinian, Arab and Islamic archaeological and historical landmarks" in its own territory in order to "confer [historical] legitimacy on the Zionist Entity." He added that Israel intends to destroy such sites in "Syria, Lebanon and Iraq." He claimed that Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the ancient Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BCE, had never been built, and called into question the Jewish historical connection to the land of Israel. "On the contrary," he said, "scientific findings prove that Palestine and its people are Arabs who have been living in it since thousands of years." April 6, 2003 Saleh Al Qallab, former Jordanian Information Minister, claimed that influential "rabbis" in the Washington administration were seeking to "reshape the world" through U.S. military intervention, and urged that the political leadership in Washington should be "removed." April 5, 2003 Dr. Gad Taha, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Ain Sham University, asserted that agents of "international Zionism" have implanted themselves throughout the world, and claimed that "in every Western country" there is a "minister working in a shadow government" whose job is to "impose support for Israel and raise funds and aid for it." March 11, 2003 According to the Zayed Center Web Site, the American anti-Semite Michael Collins Piper presented a lecture in which he claimed that the Jewish conspiracies for world domination described in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the infamous anti-Semitic forgery, are "not a theory but a real fact." He described President Bush's policies as deriving from his "Christian fundamentalism" and the President himself as a "classic fanatic Zionist." He also claimed that Israel is developing an "ethnic bomb" that will "eliminate the whole Arab race." Piper elaborated on the classic canard of Jewish/Zionist control of the American media and government, and claimed that Israel and the Mossad were responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Watergate scandal, and the Monica Lewinsky affair. Publications The Zayed Center also published a number of tracts that repeated anti-Semitic and anti-American themes: In American Media and the Arab Israeli Conflict (4/14/03), the Zayed Center gives anti-Semite Michael Collins Piper a platform from which to espouse his conspiracy theories regarding Jewish/Zionist domination of the U.S. Among its other inflammatory, anti-American claims, the Zayed Center alleges in Oil in the American Foreign Policy: Oil Calculations in the War on Iraq (3/26/03) that the goal of the United States is "domination of the world" - and that the US launched a war in Iraq in order to seize its oil resources to aid in this goal. In Policy of Domination and Contemporary World Tensions (3/24/03), the Zayed Center alleges that Israel is an agent of "forces of world hegemony" and rehashes the canard that the Jewish state has imperialist designs on other Arab lands. The publication further alleges that the United States and Israel are both pursuing aggressive strategies to "re-shape the Middle East" in conformation with Israeli "expansionist ambitions" and American dreams of "hegemony." It describes Israel as "diabolical." Even after it was revealed and confirmed by a number of investigations that reports of a "massacre" of Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp by Israelis in April 2002 had been fabricated by Palestinian activists, the Zayed Center continued to disseminate the myth that Israel had deliberately exterminated hundreds of innocent civilians. Jenin: Massacre against Humanity (1/21/03) published in Arabic and Spanish, claims that, "Hundreds of Palestinians civilians were killed, many crushed as their homes were demolished while they were still inside. Israel Defence Force removed bodies in trucks, buried them in mass graves and many remained under the piles of debris. News reporters, aid workers and other outsiders were prevented from entering the camp over a 14-day period. What happened in Jenin, exceeded all norms. Even in the worst wars and military confrontations, massacres of this scale hadn't taken place." Previous Activities: Publications and Symposia Deny the Holocaust On August 28th, 2002, the Zayed Center hosted a symposium on "Semitism," which included Holocaust denial. The press release announcing the event noted that this symposium would "counter the historical and political fallacies propagated by Israel." In particular, the Center noted Israel was "spreading lies and exaggerations about holocaust [sic] in order to squeeze out huge sums of money from European countries through worst [sic] forms of blackmail." The conference labeled the Holocaust a "false fable" perpetuated by Israel. The Zionist Movement and its Animosity to Jews, a report published in October 2001 claimed that "the Zionists," not the Nazis, "were the people who killed the Jews in Europe." According to the report, the Zionists murdered fellow Jews and sent them to die in "Nazi concentration camps" so other Jews would be terrorized into migrating to Israel. The report maintains that the Nazis cooperated with the Zionists by supplying weapons to "the Zionist army in Palestine" and helping to force "scores of Jews to immigrate to Palestine." In Those Who Challenged Israel (February 2001), the Center denied the destruction of European Jewry during World War II, lauding such Holocaust deniers as the French radical Roger Garoudy and disgraced British historian David Irving. Speakers Support Terrorism In a June 19, 2002 presentation sponsored by the Center, Archimandrite Father Atallah Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem praised Palestinian "martyrdom" attacks. He stated that he supports "martyrdom or suicide bombing" because it serves "the continued Intifada for freedom." According to Hanna, "the Israeli Zionist regime" is "committing genocide in Palestine" and the Palestinians have the right "to defend themselves from the Israeli barbarism and atrocities." Father Hanna also stated that "the conduct of the Zionist movement is characterized by its racist nature, and that it is completely in contradiction with the Moslem and Christian values." The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate later issued an official statement condemning Father Hanna's remarks, and removed him from his post. Hanna was questioned by the police in Jerusalem about his statements made at the Zayed Center. In a March 2, 2002 speech at the Center, religious scholar Dr. Mohamed Saeed Al Bouti, Islamic Studies Professor at Damascus University, stressed that "all military operations done by Palestinian militants" should be "classified as martyr operations and not suicidal operations." He explained that those militants are "sacrificing their lives to defend their families, land and brothers, and are considered as martyrs." Promoting September 11 Conspiracy Theories A June 2002 Zayed Center conference, titled "The Middle East as a Strategic Crossroad," featured presentations by government ministers from Middle Eastern nations and a speech from the notorious American anti-Semite Lyndon LaRouche. In the question-and-answer session after his speech, LaRouche detailed his paranoid beliefs about the September 11 attacks and the Jews he claims are controlling American foreign policy. According to LaRouche, Osama bin Laden "could never have" orchestrated the September 11 attacks, which he believes "could not have happened without the connivance of something inside, very high level, inside the United States military command." LaRouche pointed to the "Zionist lobby," "Jewish gangsters," and "Christian Zionists" as forces that have sought to control U.S. policies towards Israel and have been "bought by money, the so-called Zionist money, and the mega crowd in New York." In April 2002, the Zayed Center hosted a talk by Theirry Meyssan, author of a book that claims the U.S. military was responsible for the September 11th attacks. Meyssan claims that the Pentagon was damaged by a missile launched by the U.S. military, not a hijacked airplane. In addition to hosting Meyssan as a speaker, the Zayed Center translated his book, The Appalling Fraud, into Arabic in July 2002. Speakers, Publications Dispute Existence of Second Temple Zayed Center publications and lectures have consistently denied the historical existence of the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, site of the current-day Al-Aqsa Mosque. Chasing History: Israel and Palestinian Antiquities (August 2002) accuses Israel of plotting to demolish the Al Aqsa Mosque "to build their so-called Solomon Temple." In January 2002, Dr. Hassan Ali Khater, a Palestinian researcher and editor of the Al Quds Al-Sharif Encyclopedia, questioned whether the Temple of Solomon actually existed and claimed that the Al-Aqsa Mosque may collapse due to Israeli archeological excavations. Khater claimed that "Israelis are falsifying history" by carving "Jewish inscriptions on rocks" and then "calling international experts to rediscover" the rocks "as Jewish monuments." Al Buraq Wall Not Wailing Wall (December 2001) calls "simply baseless" the "Zionist alleged rights to the [Western] Wall" that was in fact part of the Jewish Temple site, adding for good measure that the Al Aqsa Mosque was built "more than a thousand years before [King] Solomon." Claims of 'Jewish Control' of America Zayed Center publications perpetuate the myth of a "Jewish conspiracy" manipulating American foreign policy. In Role of the Jews In Distorting Arab Image in the Western Culture (July 2002) the Center asserts that Zionists control 70% of the print media and 80% of the electronic media in the United States and claims that they use this control to distort Americans' image of Arabs. The "study" blames "Zionists" for using words and phrases in the media that lead Americans to feel "hostility towards Arabs and Muslims." The report also attacks the respected scholar, Bernard Lewis, for allegedly depicting Islam as the successor to Communism as the primary "evil" endangering America in a "clash of cultures." The Battle of Armageddon and the End of the Arab-Israel Conflict as Viewed by Some American Circles (July 2002) claims that Zionists believe in an impending nuclear apocalypse that will be followed by a world Jewish theocracy, and that they have encouraged this belief among Western Christians as well. Bemoaning the "alarming influence of Zionism on the United States of America," the document argues that "a number of American presidents like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Reagan were greatly influenced by the Zionist thought and believed that everything is ready for 'Armageddon.'" Does Israel Rule the World? (August 2001) explains that "the Jewish lobby" in the United States is responsible for Israel's successes because "this lobby controls the media, the Congress and monopolies."

[Stellar Dendrite]

argh, paragraphs :(

[SJackson]

I'll try the second half again.

The Zayed Center

Update: The government of the United Arab Emirates announced the closure of the Zayed Center in August 2003. The closure followed increased attention by the international community to the extremist speakers featured at the Zayed Center podium. In a statement issued August 18, the Anti-Defamation League welcomed the UAE government's decision and called on the Arab League not to resuscitate the discredited think-tank.

---

The Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow Up, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, was established in 1999 as the official think-tank of the League of Arab States, an association of 22 Arab nations. The founding chairman of the Center is H.H. Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, who continues in this role. Sheikh Sultan is the son of UAE President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Though the Zayed Center hosts lectures by Western heads of state and diplomats - its roster of past speakers includes former President Jimmy Carter, former Vice President Al Gore and former Secretary of State James Baker - the center also provides a platform for extremist speakers to promote virulently anti-Jewish and anti-Israel views.

The Center regularly publishes anti-Semitic and conspiracy theory literature and promulgates anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism through its speakers and official publications. The center promotes an extreme, anti-Israel agenda, including efforts to delegitimize the Jewish State with speeches and literature seeking to deny Jewish religious and historical ties to Israel and Jerusalem.

The Center has provided a platform to speakers who promote the view that the war in Iraq was merely a "strategic" step in a U.S. conspiracy whose goal is the "domination of the Middle East and [the] world." The Center's Web site claims that the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. were actually orchestrated by the U.S. military in an effort to blame the attacks on the Muslim world.

The Zayed Center's poisonous proclamations on Jews and Israel have continued to increase in intensity. Recent speakers have described Jews as "enemies of all nations" and "cheaters whose greed knows no bounds." The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an infamous anti-Semitic forgery created in the 19th Century to vilify and persecute Jews, has been held up as a factual account of a Jewish plan to "control the world," and speakers have accused Israel of trying to sterilize Palestinian children by lacing the water "used by some Palestinian schools" with chemicals.

Some Zayed speakers have engaged in attempts to deny the Holocaust, though all references to Holocaust denial on the English pages of the Center's Web site were removed in 2002.

As part of its virulently anti-Semitic agenda, the Zayed Center has reached out to American extremists and anti-Semites.

In March 2003, for example, the Center provided a platform to Michael Collins Piper, an American extremist and writer for the American Free Press, a conspiracy-oriented, anti-Semitic publication. Piper's speech was laced with references to "Jewish control" of the U.S. government and media and bizarre conspiracy theories, such as the theory that Israel and the Mossad were behind President John F. Kennedy's assassination and the Watergate scandal.

Recent Zayed Center activities described on its Web site include:

Lectures

May 20, 2003
Mr. Rami Tahbob, advisor to Al Quds' File on Arab Affairs, falsely claimed that Israel was trying to control the Palestinian population through the use of "chemical drugs." According to the Zayed Center Web site, Tahbob said that "Israel police not only use [chemical] drugs for getting information, but also for changing social structures in Palestinian society," and claimed that "some sterilizing drugs were found in water reservoirs used by some Palestinian schools."

May 1, 2003
Dr. Yussuf Abdallah Al Zamel, a "Saudi Economic Expert," blamed the war in Iraq on "radical Zionist and right-wing Christian" influence. He said that America's war against Iraq "aims at achieving visions and comprehensive plans in the area according to the objectives of certain radical Zionist and right wing Christian powers planning behind the scenes to push the American government towards destructive wars."

April 13, 2003
Dr. Shawqi Shaath, an "Archaeology and Heritage Expert" for the Arab League, alleged that Israel is currently engaged in a campaign to "wipe out Palestinian, Arab and Islamic archaeological and historical landmarks" in its own territory in order to "confer [historical] legitimacy on the Zionist Entity." He added that Israel intends to destroy such sites in "Syria, Lebanon and Iraq." He claimed that Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the ancient Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BCE, had never been built, and called into question the Jewish historical connection to the land of Israel. "On the contrary," he said, "scientific findings prove that Palestine and its people are Arabs who have been living in it since thousands of years."

April 6, 2003
Saleh Al Qallab, former Jordanian Information Minister, claimed that influential "rabbis" in the Washington administration were seeking to "reshape the world" through U.S. military intervention, and urged that the political leadership in Washington should be "removed."

April 5, 2003
Dr. Gad Taha, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Ain Sham University, asserted that agents of "international Zionism" have implanted themselves throughout the world, and claimed that "in every Western country" there is a "minister working in a shadow government" whose job is to "impose support for Israel and raise funds and aid for it."

March 11, 2003
According to the Zayed Center Web Site, the American anti-Semite Michael Collins Piper presented a lecture in which he claimed that the Jewish conspiracies for world domination described in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the infamous anti-Semitic forgery, are "not a theory but a real fact." He described President Bush's policies as deriving from his "Christian fundamentalism" and the President himself as a "classic fanatic Zionist." He also claimed that Israel is developing an "ethnic bomb" that will "eliminate the whole Arab race." Piper elaborated on the classic canard of Jewish/Zionist control of the American media and government, and claimed that Israel and the Mossad were responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Watergate scandal, and the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Publications

The Zayed Center also published a number of tracts that repeated anti-Semitic and anti-American themes:

• In American Media and the Arab Israeli Conflict (4/14/03), the Zayed Center gives anti-Semite Michael Collins Piper a platform from which to espouse his conspiracy theories regarding Jewish/Zionist domination of the U.S.
  
  
• Among its other inflammatory, anti-American claims, the Zayed Center alleges in Oil in the American Foreign Policy: Oil Calculations in the War on Iraq (3/26/03) that the goal of the United States is "domination of the world" - and that the US launched a war in Iraq in order to seize its oil resources to aid in this goal.
  
  
• In Policy of Domination and Contemporary World Tensions (3/24/03), the Zayed Center alleges that Israel is an agent of "forces of world hegemony" and rehashes the canard that the Jewish state has imperialist designs on other Arab lands. The publication further alleges that the United States and Israel are both pursuing aggressive strategies to "re-shape the Middle East" in conformation with Israeli "expansionist ambitions" and American dreams of "hegemony." It describes Israel as "diabolical."
  
  
• Even after it was revealed and confirmed by a number of investigations that reports of a "massacre" of Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp by Israelis in April 2002 had been fabricated by Palestinian activists, the Zayed Center continued to disseminate the myth that Israel had deliberately exterminated hundreds of innocent civilians. Jenin: Massacre against Humanity (1/21/03) published in Arabic and Spanish, claims that, "Hundreds of Palestinians civilians were killed, many crushed as their homes were demolished while they were still inside. Israel Defence Force removed bodies in trucks, buried them in mass graves and many remained under the piles of debris. News reporters, aid workers and other outsiders were prevented from entering the camp over a 14-day period. What happened in Jenin, exceeded all norms. Even in the worst wars and military confrontations, massacres of this scale hadn't taken place."

Previous Activities:

Publications and Symposia Deny the Holocaust

• On August 28th, 2002, the Zayed Center hosted a symposium on "Semitism," which included Holocaust denial. The press release announcing the event noted that this symposium would "counter the historical and political fallacies propagated by Israel." In particular, the Center noted Israel was "spreading lies and exaggerations about holocaust [sic] in order to squeeze out huge sums of money from European countries through worst [sic] forms of blackmail." The conference labeled the Holocaust a "false fable" perpetuated by Israel.
  
  
• The Zionist Movement and its Animosity to Jews, a report published in October 2001 claimed that "the Zionists," not the Nazis, "were the people who killed the Jews in Europe." According to the report, the Zionists murdered fellow Jews and sent them to die in "Nazi concentration camps" so other Jews would be terrorized into migrating to Israel. The report maintains that the Nazis cooperated with the Zionists by supplying weapons to "the Zionist army in Palestine" and helping to force "scores of Jews to immigrate to Palestine."
  
  
• In Those Who Challenged Israel (February 2001), the Center denied the destruction of European Jewry during World War II, lauding such Holocaust deniers as the French radical Roger Garoudy and disgraced British historian David Irving.

Speakers Support Terrorism

• In a June 19, 2002 presentation sponsored by the Center, Archimandrite Father Atallah Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem praised Palestinian "martyrdom" attacks. He stated that he supports "martyrdom or suicide bombing" because it serves "the continued Intifada for freedom." According to Hanna, "the Israeli Zionist regime" is "committing genocide in Palestine" and the Palestinians have the right "to defend themselves from the Israeli barbarism and atrocities." Father Hanna also stated that "the conduct of the Zionist movement is characterized by its racist nature, and that it is completely in contradiction with the Moslem and Christian values." The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate later issued an official statement condemning Father Hanna's remarks, and removed him from his post. Hanna was questioned by the police in Jerusalem about his statements made at the Zayed Center.
  
  
• In a March 2, 2002 speech at the Center, religious scholar Dr. Mohamed Saeed Al Bouti, Islamic Studies Professor at Damascus University, stressed that "all military operations done by Palestinian militants" should be "classified as martyr operations and not suicidal operations." He explained that those militants are "sacrificing their lives to defend their families, land and brothers, and are considered as martyrs."

Promoting September 11 Conspiracy Theories

• A June 2002 Zayed Center conference, titled "The Middle East as a Strategic Crossroad," featured presentations by government ministers from Middle Eastern nations and a speech from the notorious American anti-Semite Lyndon LaRouche. In the question-and-answer session after his speech, LaRouche detailed his paranoid beliefs about the September 11 attacks and the Jews he claims are controlling American foreign policy. According to LaRouche, Osama bin Laden "could never have" orchestrated the September 11 attacks, which he believes "could not have happened without the connivance of something inside, very high level, inside the United States military command." LaRouche pointed to the "Zionist lobby," "Jewish gangsters," and "Christian Zionists" as forces that have sought to control U.S. policies towards Israel and have been "bought by money, the so-called Zionist money, and the mega crowd in New York."
  
  
• In April 2002, the Zayed Center hosted a talk by Theirry Meyssan, author of a book that claims the U.S. military was responsible for the September 11th attacks. Meyssan claims that the Pentagon was damaged by a missile launched by the U.S. military, not a hijacked airplane. In addition to hosting Meyssan as a speaker, the Zayed Center translated his book, The Appalling Fraud, into Arabic in July 2002.

Speakers, Publications Dispute Existence of Second Temple

Zayed Center publications and lectures have consistently denied the historical existence of the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, site of the current-day Al-Aqsa Mosque.

• Chasing History: Israel and Palestinian Antiquities (August 2002) accuses Israel of plotting to demolish the Al Aqsa Mosque "to build their so-called Solomon Temple."
  
  
• In January 2002, Dr. Hassan Ali Khater, a Palestinian researcher and editor of the Al Quds Al-Sharif Encyclopedia, questioned whether the Temple of Solomon actually existed and claimed that the Al-Aqsa Mosque may collapse due to Israeli archeological excavations. Khater claimed that "Israelis are falsifying history" by carving "Jewish inscriptions on rocks" and then "calling international experts to rediscover" the rocks "as Jewish monuments."
  
  
• Al Buraq Wall Not Wailing Wall (December 2001) calls "simply baseless" the "Zionist alleged rights to the [Western] Wall" that was in fact part of the Jewish Temple site, adding for good measure that the Al Aqsa Mosque was built "more than a thousand years before [King] Solomon."

Claims of 'Jewish Control' of America

Zayed Center publications perpetuate the myth of a "Jewish conspiracy" manipulating American foreign policy.

• In Role of the Jews In Distorting Arab Image in the Western Culture (July 2002) the Center asserts that Zionists control 70% of the print media and 80% of the electronic media in the United States and claims that they use this control to distort Americans' image of Arabs. The "study" blames "Zionists" for using words and phrases in the media that lead Americans to feel "hostility towards Arabs and Muslims." The report also attacks the respected scholar, Bernard Lewis, for allegedly depicting Islam as the successor to Communism as the primary "evil" endangering America in a "clash of cultures."
  
  
• The Battle of Armageddon and the End of the Arab-Israel Conflict as Viewed by Some American Circles (July 2002) claims that Zionists believe in an impending nuclear apocalypse that will be followed by a world Jewish theocracy, and that they have encouraged this belief among Western Christians as well. Bemoaning the "alarming influence of Zionism on the United States of America," the document argues that "a number of American presidents like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Reagan were greatly influenced by the Zionist thought and believed that everything is ready for 'Armageddon.'"
  
  
• Does Israel Rule the World? (August 2001) explains that "the Jewish lobby" in the United States is responsible for Israel's successes because "this lobby controls the media, the Congress and monopolies."

[CWOJackson]

Same old debunked BS...different day. LOL!

[SJackson]

see 55

[Walkin Man]

Jeez if a demorat would have proposed the Muslim takeover of American ports the repub's would have called for a civil insurrection!

But it GW so its all good! (PUKE!)

Heres what works with both political party...FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!

[Mo1]

I'm sorry .. but this sounds like something Air American would talk about

[SJackson]

Same old debunked BS...different day. LOL!

I'm not sure Neil's stupidity in speaking to this organization is his brothers fault, so it doesn't necessarily relate to the ports deal. But the thrust of her article is Something's rotten in Dubai. And it's not just the deal to control six of America's ports. It's not, and it's a culturally rotten place. IMO speaking before the Zayed Center does no credit to Neil Bush, nor to Al Gore, Jimmy Carter or James Baker, none of whom would I trust on security issues.

What BS is she quoting and where has it been debunked? The UAE may be allies, but that doesn't make them angels.