Posted on 08/07/2006 3:43:15 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
Tehran & Damascus Move to Lebanon Lebanon-born Walid Phares is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Author of the recent book Future Jihad, he was also one of the architects of 2004’s United Nations resolution 1559, which called for the disarming of Hezbollah. NRO editor Kathryn Lopez recently talked to Phares about what’s going on in the Mideast, what happened to the Cedar Revolution, and this war we’re all in.
Kathryn Jean Lopez: What is “Future Jihad”? Are we seeing it in the Mideast now?
Walid Phares: “Future Jihad,” which has already begun, refers to a new and potent form of Islamic terrorism, characterized by a Khumeinist-Baathist axis. These are the two trees of jihadism, so to speak — the Salafism and Wahabism embodied in al Qaeda and the sort of jihadism led by Iran and also including Syria, Hezbollah, and their allies in Lebanon.
The alliance has not been in entire agreement as to strategy. The al Qaeda branch began its “Future Jihad” in the 1990s; its efforts culminated on 9/11 and have continued explosively since then. The international “Salafists” aimed at the U.S. in the past decade in order to strengthen their jihads on various battlefields (Chechnya, India, Sudan, Algeria, Indonesia, Palestine, etc.). “Weaken the resolve of America,” their ideologues said, “and the jihadists would overwhelm all the regional battlefields.”
As I argue in Future Jihad, bin Laden and his colleagues miscalculated on the timing of the massive attack against the U.S. in 2001. While they wounded America, they didn’t kill its will to fight (as was the case, for instance, in the Madrid 3/11 attacks). I have heard many jihadi cadres online, and have seen al Jazeera commentators on television, offering hints of criticism about the timing. They were blaming al Qaeda for shooting its imagined “silver bullet” before insuring a strategic follow up. But bin Laden and Zawahiri believe 9/11 served them well, and has put a global mobilization into motion. Perhaps it has, but the U.S. counter strategy in the Middle East, chaotic as the region currently appears, has unleashed counter jihadi forces. The jury is still out as to the time factor: when these forces will begin to weaken the jihadists depends on our perseverance and the public understanding of the whole conflict.
The other “tree” of jihadism, with its roots in Iran, withheld fire after 9/11. They were content to watch the Salafists fight it out with the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention within the West, as terror cells were hunted down. Ahmedinejad, Assad, and Nasrallah were analyzing how far the US would go, and how far the Sunnis and Salafis would go as well.
The fall of the Taliban and of the Baath in Iraq, however, changed Iran and Syria’s patient plans. The political changes in the neighborhood, regardless of their immediate instability, were strongly felt in Tehran and Damascus (but unfortunately not in the U.S., judging from the political debate here), and pushed the Khumeinists and the Syrian Baathists to enter the dance, but carefully. Assad opened his borders to the jihadists in an attempt to crumble the U.S. role in Iraq, while Iran articulated al Sadr’s ideology for Iraq’s Shiia majority.
A U.S.-led response came swiftly in 2004 with the voting of UNSCR 1559, smashing Syria’s role in Lebanon and forcing Assad to withdraw his troops by April 2005. In response, the “axis” prepared for a counter attack on the Lebanese battlefield by assassinating a number of the Cedar Revolution leaders, including MP Jebran Tueni. In short, the attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah and the kidnappings of soldiers were the tip of an offensive aimed at drawing attention away from Iran’s nuclear weapons programs and Syria’s assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. Hezbollah was awaiting its moment for revenge against the Cedar Revolution too.
What we see now is 1) a Syro-Iranian sponsored offensive aimed at all democracies in the region and fought in Lebanon; 2) Israel’s counter offensive (which it seems to have prepared earlier); and 3) an attempt by Hezbollah to take over or crumble the Lebanese government.
Lopez: So…did the Cedar Revolution fail?
Phares: Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the Cedar Revolution was failed. The masses in Lebanon responded courageously in March 2005 by putting 1.5 million people on the streets of Beirut. They did it without “no-fly-zones,” expeditionary forces, or any weapons at all, for that matter, and against the power of three regimes, Iran, Syria, and pro-Syrian Lebanon, in addition to Hezbollah terror. The “revolution” was for a time astoundingly successful; since then it has been horribly failed, and first of all by Lebanon’s politicians themselves. One of their leaders, General Michel Aoun, shifted his allegiances to Syria and signed a document with Hezbollah. Other politicians from the “March 14 Movement” then stopped the demonstrations, leaving them with the support of God knows what. They failed in removing the pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and brought back a pro-Syrian politician to serve as a speaker of the house, Nabih Berri. Meanwhile, even as they were elected by the faithful Cedar Revolution masses, they engaged in a round table dialogue with Hezbollah, a clear trap set by Hassan Nasrallah: “Let’s talk about the future,” he said — with the implication, of course, that they forget about the Cedar Revolution and the militia’s disarming. While political leaders sat for months, enjoying the photo ops with Hassan Nasrallah, he was preparing his counter offensive, which he unleashed just a few days before the Security Council would discuss the future of Iran’s nuclear programs.
The Lebanese government of Prime Minister Seniora also abandoned the Cedar Revolution. His cabinet neither disarmed Hezbollah nor called on the U.N. to help in implementing UNSCR 1559. This omission is baffling. The government was given so much support by the international community and, more importantly, overwhelming popular support inside Lebanon: 80 percent of the people were hoping the Cedar Revolution-backed government would be the one to resume the liberation of the country. Now Hezbollah has an upper hand and the government is on the defensive.
The U.S. and its allies can be accused of certain shortcomings as well. While the speeches by the U.S. president, congressional leaders from both parties, Tony Blair, and Jacques Chirac were right on target regarding Lebanon, and while the U.S. and its counterparts on the Security Council were diligent in their follow up on the Hariri assassination and on implementing UNSCR 1559, there was no policy or plan to support the popular movement in Lebanon. Incredibly, while billions were spent on the war of ideas in the region, Lebanese NGOs that wanted to resume the struggle of the Cedar Revolution and fighting alone for this purpose were not taken seriously at various levels. Policy planners thought they were dealing with the “Cedar Revolution” when they were meeting Lebanon’s government and Lebanese politicians. The difference between the high level speeches on Lebanon and the laissez-faire approach from lower levels is amazing. Simply put, there was no policy on supporting the Cedar Revolution against the three regimes opposing it and the $400 million received by Hezbollah from Iran.
The Cedar Revolution was basically betrayed by its own politicians and is now essentially without a head. Nevertheless, as long as the international support remains, the Revolution will find its way and will face the dangers. The one and a half million ordinary citizens who braved all the dangers didn’t change their minds about Hezbollah’s terror. The resistance and counter-attack was to be expected. Unfortunately, thus far Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah have outmaneuvered the West and are at the throats of the Cedar Revolution. The international community must revise its plans, and, if it is strongly backed by the U.S. and its allies, including France, the situation can be salvaged. The good seeds are still inside the country.
More at link...
Police warning over stolen rail detonators
Yorkshire Post Today - Leeds,Yorkshire,UK
POLICE have issued a safety warning after railway detonators, which
contain
explosive charges, were stolen. The detonators are used ...
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1084&ArticleID=1695908
Haaretz
Last update - 08:45 15/08/2006
Report: Halutz sold investments 3 hours after soldiers' abduction
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/750789.html
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz went to his bank branch
and sold an NIS 120,000 investment portfolio only three hours after two
IDF soldiers were abducted by Hezbollah on the northern border, the
Ma'ariv daily newspaper reported Monday.
Several hours after the abduction, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared
war on Hezbollah and Israeli warplanes began bombarding targets deep
inside Lebanon.
But as the country's political and military echelons met urgently to
discuss the possible declaration of war, Halutz went at 12.00 P.M. on
July 12 to sell an investment portfolio.
In response to the report, Halutz confirmed to Ma'ariv that he sold the
portfolio on that date and at that time, but denied it had anything to
do with the possibility of an imminent war. The IDF chief said he sold
the portfolio because of recent losses he took prior to July 12.
The IDF spokesperson said that Halutz owns a bank account like any
other
Israeli citizen and needs to perform transactions in the account from
time to time. Any attempt to link between personal matters of the Chief
of Staff and Israel's national security is inappropriate, the army
said.
Haaretz
Last update - 09:09 15/08/2006
IDF: Logistics chief didn't say looting of Lebanese shops okay
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/750463.html
The IDF Spokesman's Office said Monday that comments attributed to
Brigadier General Avi Mizrahi, the head of the army's logistics branch,
to the effect that soldiers deep inside Lebanese territory without food
could break into local stores, had not been made by him.
Earlier Monday, Army Radio's website had quoted Mizrahi saying, "If our
fighters deep in Lebanese territory are left without food or water, I
believe they can break into local Lebanese stores to solve that
problem."
Mizrahi did tell Army Radio that if the army was "at war and there is a
danger that the soldiers will not be able to carry out their
operational
mission like they should, and what they need to do is to take water
from
a store, then yes, they can take it."
Mizrahi's comments followed complaints by IDF soldiers regarding the
lack of food on the front lines.
An infantry soldier serving last week in south Lebanon reported that
his
unit was not being supplied with food and that he and his comrades were
taking food supplies from a local supermarket.
Not suspicious, huh?
Sydney synagogue attacked again
August 15, 2006 12:00
News.com.au
A SYDNEY synagogue has been damaged in what Jewish leaders say is the latest of a string of anti-semitic attacks within weeks.
New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said the front door of the Parramatta Synagogue was damaged by blocks of cement hurled at it in the overnight attack.
The incident comes just weeks after projectiles were thrown at the synagogue's roof and blocks of concrete were thrown at two cars, in an attack believed linked to the violence between Lebanon and Israel.
In another incident two weeks ago, an attempt was made to set alight a Jewish youth movement centre at Bondi.
Mr Alhadeff condemned the escalating numbers of anti-semitic attacks as “a deplorable violation of the right of Jewish Australians to be Jewish”.
“Such conduct has no place in our society and is condemned in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
Posted on August 15, 2006 at 04:53 PM in "Religion of Peace", Australia
http://aussie_news_views.typepad.com/aussie_news_views/2006/08/islamic_sociopa.html
Bomb Threat on Wilmington Bus
WECT - Wilmington,NC,USA
AUGUST 14, 2006 -- A bomb threat aboard a Wilmington City bus tied up
traffic
during evening rush hour Monday. Police say a man ...
http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=5280867&nav=2gQc
Fired officer's ex-partner testifies in bomb threat trial
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscription) - Milwaukee,WI,USA
... Kurt Lacina was one of several Milwaukee officers who took the
witness
stand in the first day of Bartlett's trial on charges he called in a
bomb
threat to the ...
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=483301
Battle of Baghdad 15
News
Counterfeit-proof uniforms: The U.S. military unveiled a new uniform
Monday for Iraq's national police that will be difficult to copy the new
bluish-gray uniform is similar to that worn by U.S. soldiers but with
the Iraqi flag embedded in the fabric's print. It will be issued
beginning in October. (Washington Post) Aug 14, 2006
From Iran with Love: "We know that some Shiite elements have been in
Iran receiving training," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B.
Caldwell told reporters. "But the degree to which it is known and
endorsed by the government of Iran is uncertain." (ABC News) Aug 14, 2006
You arrest, we kill: "Insurgent bombers sent a deadly response to a
rash of successes by Iraqi security forces on Sunday, when they triggered
a series of blasts in a crowded Baghdad market and killed at least 20
civilians. Earlier, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government had
announced the arrest of a 16-strong gang accused of launching car bomb
attacks in the capital and plotting to kill or kidnap members of the
premier's own family." (Press Trust of India) Aug 13, 2006
Opinion
Better but needs to get better: Iraq the Model responds to the new
security operation in Baghdad and suggests ways it can get better. August
12, 2006
Previous coverage is here.
Full article:
http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/08/battle_of_baghdad_15.php
Small Town Misfit » Reported Stolen
Police said a load of lumber and plumbing pipe worth $100000 was stolen
from a semi-truck on Highway 58. James Reedy Jr. said he parked the
International
...
http://www.smalltownmisfit.com/archives/category/reported-stolen/page/2/
Stolen truck causes chaos on roads
Globe and Mail - Canada
... movie, but there was nothing fake about the mayhem that ensued on
Lower
Mainland roads over the weekend when police chased a stolen
semi-trailer
truck for more ...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060814.BCCHASE14/TPStory/National
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060814.BCCHASE14/TPStory/National
Good morning. :-)
August 15, 2006 Anti-Terrorism News
US-Afghan Forces Kill Al Qaeda Suspect, Arrest 13
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208373,00.html
(Iraq) 15 killed in bombing, gunbattle in Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060815/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Bomb blasts kill 2, wounds 9 in southwest Pakistan
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=315590&sid=SAS
(British Terror Plot) 'Mass murder on an unimaginable scale' -
Investigation turns up new evidence that changes some thinking about terror
plot
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14349464/
(UK) Muslims face extra checks in new travel crackdown
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C2-2313135%2C00.html
Top Muslim policeman slams UK "terror profile" plan
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-08-15T114051Z_01_L15325551_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-BRITAIN-PROFILING.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-7
(UK) Airline fury over security as long delays continue
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2313525,00.html
(UK) Police 'to stay visible at Channel ports'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2313089,00.html
Experts: London plot not Osama's encore - Terror kingpin said preparing
bigger strike on U.S. 'ground
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51535
Iran will fire ballistic missiles on Israel if attacked: cleric
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/August/middleeast_August398.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
Israel begins troop pullout from Lebanon
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060815/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_israel
Israel humbled by arms from Iran
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=2CHVXIDZSS1MLQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/08/15/wmid15.xml
Lebanon government compromise would allow Hezbollah to keep hidden
weapons in south
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/750448.html
Hizbullah likely to retain weapons
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525877356&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Syria) Assad: American plan for a new Mideast has collapsed
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525878536&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Report: X-Rays Don't Detect Explosives
http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/T/TERROR_PLOT_SECURITY?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
(Australia) Terror suspect claims he was abducted
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20138463-1702,00.html
'Al Qaeda' threat to Bahrain man
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=152562&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=29148
(Sri Lanka) Seven die as bomb blast hits envoy's motorcade
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2312872,00.html
Yes, and no to the article.
I posted last night that Iran is releasing its worst inmates from the prisons, if they will go to Lebanon.
It is also paying $10,000. to fighters to go to Lebanon.
I also posted that the bullets found, were from the Syria military dept and stamped made in Russia.
Rush just read a news flash, that said the UN (Annan) Had written to Israel and told them to not fight back.
Israel has said that is not acceptable.
Something is going on, and I am not sure that I understand it at all..........except that Kofi annan is a jew hater and has always been, and the muslims are, so they win again.
Our President is restocking the forces in Iraq, sending them back a month after they arrive home. That impresses me.
I suspect that the phone sales were not meant to be front page news and of course the media jumped on them with both feet.
If it is known how important the cops think they are, then the terrorists will find another way to get them.
Anyway you figure it, that is a lot of secret phone calls or a lot of bombs.
It appears the cops have let the cellphone sellers, know what they want and Walmart has certainly been reporting the sales.
It did not need to be front page news for a week.
No wonder, everthing is called "nothing of importance here."
Good morning to you.
Slept an hour and the phone rang, no one there, so I fixed the problem...
LOL, turned on the computer......with one phone line, it can ring or the computer can compute.
Google Alert - hostages
US citizen may be among Nigeria hostages: embassy
ABC News - USA
Aug 15, 2006 — ABUJA (Reuters) - The United States embassy in Nigeria
said on Tuesday that it had received reports that an American citizen
was among oil ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2314254
US citizen may be among Nigeria hostages: embassy
Reuters - USA
... We are monitoring the situation closely," an embassy spokesman
said.
The British High Commission in Nigeria said two Britons were among the
hostages. ...
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-08-15T094546Z_01_L15763215_RTRUKOC_0_US-NIGERIA-KIDNAP.xml&archived=False
Google Alert - explosion
Explosion Reported in Eastern Turkish City of Tunceli
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
By Cihan News Agency. A major explosion occurred in the eastern Turkish
city of Tunceli at around 11:00 am on Tuesday morning, according to
initial
reports. ...
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20060815&hn=35673
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.zaman.com/%3Fbl%3Dhotnews%26alt%3D%26trh%3D20060815%26hn%3D35673
Homeless Man Killed In Explosion
WESH.com - Winter Park,FL,USA
Orlando Police are working to determine what sparked an explosion that
kiled one person on Tuesday. It happened off John Young Parkway, WESH
2 News reported. ...
http://www.wesh.com/news/9680022/detail.html
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.wesh.com/news/9680022/detail.html
[If it was not so sad, I would laugh. Do the democrats take their stand on the U.S. attacks, directly from the mid east or does the mid east take their stand from the democrats?
The words are identical, so they are taking orders from the same planner and are traitors.....my opinion....
Another arrest in England, 21 now, per radio news.......
granny]
Google Alert - white terrorist
Wanted: Terrorists to Resuscitate Republican Party
Alarab online - London,UK
... White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and Republican Party Chairman
Ken Mehlmen because all of them are trying to convince us that the
“thwarted”
terrorist ...
http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2006%5C08%5C08-15%5Czopinionz%5C969.htm&dismode=x&ts=15/08/2006%2005:16:02%20%C3%A3
Was all this a plot or unprecedented flop?
New Anatolian - Ankara,Turkey
... The fact that Blair supported the White House that turned a blind
eye
to Israel ... There is speculation that Blair and Bush cooked up this
a terrorist farce just ...
http://www.thenewanatolian.com/opinion-12793.html
[modern brainwashing]
Slayer - Christ Illusion
IGN - Brisbane,CA,USA
... His voice drops down to a lower growl than in the past, but it
still
... Never ones to avoid controversy, the song "Jihad" is about
terrorism
from the terrorist's ...
http://music.ign.com/articles/725/725459p1.html
AIM Report: Media Blame Bush for Clinton Legacy - August B
August 15, 2006
The other critical factor that has to be considered in evaluating the approach to Iran and North Korea is that failures or misguided policies by the Clinton Administration have constrained the Bush Administration's ability to resolve these serious problems.
MEDIA BLAME BUSH FOR CLINTON LEGACY
*By Roger Aronoff
Time magazine's much-publicized July 17th cover story, "The End of Cowboy Diplomacy," has been viewed as a seminal media effort to capture the transformation of the Bush Administration from a trigger-happy approach in foreign policy to reliance on other nations and the U.N. But a careful analysis shows that Time exaggerated and distorted the facts in order to produce a story that would entice and mislead its readers.
It would be foolish to insist that changes in the Bush foreign policy have not been made. Since Condoleezza Rice became Secretary of State, she has clearly been relying more on the bureaucracy, including such figures as Clinton holdover Nicholas Burns, the Undersecretary of State, to make policy.
But it has never been the case that the Bush Administration has been a tough-talking, unilaterally-acting power, short on diplomacy and long on bullying. The cowboy metaphor is designed to create the impression that the Bush Administration has been acting alone, pursuing preemptive wars and presenting non-negotiable demands. Such a charge is designed to hurt the President's party at the polls this November.
A valid criticism, not made by Time, is that the Bush Administration has promoted democracy for a region of the world that has become so radicalized by propaganda from Arab TV channels such as Al-Jazeera that it doesn't yet seem quite capable of accepting it. The effort, however, still has to be considered a noble cause that was a far better option than maintaining a status quo that produced al Qaeda and 9/11. This struggle will continue for years, if not decades, and holds the promise of making the region—and America—safer in the long run. Our media have no patience for such an approach.
The other critical factor that has to be considered in evaluating the approach to Iran and North Korea is that failures or misguided policies by the Clinton Administration have constrained the Bush Administration's ability to resolve these serious problems.
The premise of the story was that Bush has used up his and the nation's credibility because of a misbegotten war in Iraq, and that it has been forced by circumstances to pursue an alternative course. Mike Allen and Romesh Ratnesar of Time wrote that "...the very fact that parts of Iraq remain on the edge of chaos after three years of fighting and the deaths of more than 2,500 Americans are incontrovertible evidence of how the Administration's miscalculations have come back to haunt it."
Media Onslaught
Miscalculations have been made, but these have included a failure to understand how anti-war propaganda—by the U.S. and European media and outlets like Al-Jazeera—would encourage the enemy and make victory more difficult.
The Time reporters wrote that Bush came to office with goals to "pursue a 'humble' foreign policy that would avoid the entanglements of the Bill Clinton years."
But then everything changed. "After Sept. 11, however, the Bush team embarked on a different path, outlining a muscular, idealistic and unilateralist vision of American power and how to use it. He aimed to lay the foundation for a grand strategy to fight Islamic terrorists and rogue states by spreading democracy around the world and pre-empting gathering threats before they materialize..."
What was left unsaid, of course, was that 9/11 could have possibly been avoided if the Clinton Administration had been able to accomplish something more in the war on terrorism than merely indicting Osama bin Laden and bombing one of his empty training camps in Afghanistan.
However, the event that seemed to trigger Time's conclusion that a major change had taken place in the Bush foreign policy was the reaction to the July 4th incident in which the Communist North Korean regime test-fired several missiles. President Bush had warned the week before that such action was "unacceptable." Time said, "Under the old Bush Doctrine, defiance by a dictator like Kim Jong Il would have merited threats of punitive U.S. action—or at least a tongue lashing. Instead, the Administration has mainly been talking up multilateralism and downplaying Pyongyang's provocation." They added, "cowboy diplomacy, RIP."
Others picked up on the Time theme. New York Newsday wrote that "The arrogant prerogative of go-it-alone preventive war to crush rogue nations was replaced by cautionary words urging patience with the slow and often frustrating work of diplomacy."
It added, "This is not the same Bush who ignored all of his allies' objections to invade Iraq."
Bush-Bashing
We have said this many times before, but it bears repeating. Bush went into Iraq after getting an authorization from Congress and a unanimous Security Council resolution, 1441. Though unable to pass a second Security Council resolution after Hans Blix had returned from Iraq to say that Saddam Hussein was still refusing to cooperate, Bush gained the support of 50 nations, more than 30 of which sent troops to Iraq. Some of the major nations which didn't support the effort, such as France and Russia, had billions of dollars of contracts with Iraq and were implicated in the U.N.'s oil-for-food scandal.
Time referred to the "entanglements" of the Clinton years without explaining how the Clinton Administration itself engaged in "cowboy" diplomacy. First, Clinton bombed Iraq for several days in December of 1998 with no Congressional or United Nations approval. In the end, however, Clinton left the festering problem for Bush to deal with.
Clinton's War On Serbia
Second, Clinton waged war against Serbia in violation of the War Powers Act, without the approval of Congress or the U.N., using NATO as an offensive rather than defensive force. That violated the NATO treaty. Today, because of the Clinton policy, a Muslim state is being constructed in the Serbian province of Kosovo, creating another foreign policy crisis for the Bush Administration that it must address immediately.
Regarding Iran, which was taken over by fanatical Muslims when then-President Jimmy Carter made human rights a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy, Bush has faced another difficult problem that Clinton contributed to. Bush has pursued diplomatic options along with the European Union while insisting that the Iranians stop enriching uranium and give up their nuclear-weapons ambitions.
Clinton, by contrast, actually enlisted Iranian help in arming the Bosnian Muslims against the Christian Serbs and helped establish a militant Islamic base in Bosnia. In a scandal that the major media conveniently ignored, a Senate Republican report said that the Clinton Administration was unwilling "to come clean with the Congress and with the American people about its complicity in the delivery of weapons from Iran to the Muslim government in Sarajevo."
Iran also expanded into other areas, such as southern Lebanon, leading to the current war between Hezbollah and Israel.
In regard to North Korea, Clinton was snookered by the North Korean communists, after providing them with massive amounts of aid, while they cheated on their promise to abandon their nuclear weapons program. With North Korea, Bush has insisted on working in the context of the six-party talks, and recently helped secure a Security Council resolution condemning the regime's missile tests. At the same time, he has pursued a national missile defense for the U.S., designed to protect America against missile threats from North Korea and other enemies.
In the Middle East, Clinton wasted eight years with the so-called Oslo process, during which Israel and the Palestinians were supposed to make peace, and he entertained Yasser Arafat repeatedly at the White House. In the end, Israel was under attack again and the region was ablaze in a second intifada. That is the situation that the Bush Administration inherited.
If Bush is indeed a cowboy, and there is a showdown with North Korea or Iran, the U.S. will probably have Britain, Australia, Japan, Israel and a few dozen more allies lined up with us. This "cowboy" has a posse.
*Roger Aronoff is a Media Analyst with Accuracy in Media. He is the Writer/Director of "Confronting Iraq: Conflict and Hope."
A HIGH DEFINITION DAN RATHER
By Roger Aronoff
We wish Dan Rather had been willing to just let it go. But he won't, so we can't either. Angry and frustrated by his unceremonious departure from CBS News after more than 40 years, Rather is moving on to the cutting edge high-definition HD Net owned by the maverick billionaire Mark Cuban, who also happens to own this year's NBA finalist, the Dallas Mavericks. There Rather is promised complete editorial and creative control of what is starting out as a one-hour-a-week show on whatever topics Dan wants. He is going to be freed from the corporate shackles that have bound him all these years. It will be Dan Rather Unplugged. We thought he's been unplugged for a long time.
Rather chose the Larry King Live show as his platform to rail against this mythical figure who prevented him from really speaking out and doing the kind of journalism he always wanted to do. That's a laugh, of course. He has been the subject of many of our AIM Reports over the years, as we initiated the campaign to "Can Dan" long before he used the phony Bush National Guard documents and embarrassed himself and CBS News. Rather stayed in the anchor chair far too long.
But we felt a twinge of sympathy for Rather when he spoke of the shabby way he was treated at the end of his CBS career by the top brass. Larry King asked him about CBS's "unkept promises" to him:
Rather: "Well, I was told that I was going to be a regular correspondent on 60 Minutes. I wasn't. That's an example. There were unkept promises. And I asked several times that the promises be kept, and-"
King: "What'd they tell you?"
Rather: "Well, I was told through third parties, we think we're keeping them. That was part of it. In some cases it was demonstrably true that they weren't keeping it. You know Larry, as I talk about this and I want to answer your questions as truthfully as I can, as candidly as I can, but compared to what news ought to be doing, concentrating on whatever happened to Dan Rather at CBS News, how he left, under what circumstances, and even the story in which I didn't, we didn't do as good a job as I thought we should have done. And I do want to make clear, you've played several times the clip of what I said on the air: That was, first of all, I was playing team. I meant every word of it. In that the, we had a lot, a lot of corroboration, of what we broadcast about President Bush's military record. It wasn't just the documents. But it's a very old technique used, that when those who don't like what you're reporting believe it can be hurtful, then they look for the weakest spot and attack it, which is fair enough. It's a diversionary technique."
King: "You're saying that was a fair report, I mean that was you believe that report to this day?"
Rather: "Do I believe the truth of the story? Absolutely."
King: "Have you ever thought of entertaining a lawsuit?"
Rather: "Notice that I pause."
King: "Pregnant pause."
Rather: "I'm not going to talk about that."
So Rather quickly went from victim of CBS to the fantasy world of still believing in the bogus Bush National Guard documents. King played a clip of an interview with Mike Wallace, also of 60 Minutes, who said that he thought Dan should have resigned when his producers on the segment were fired. If Rather really believes in the Bush National Guard story, that would have been the right thing to do.
What Rather and his team did, back in September of 2004, was inexcusable. On consecutive Wednesdays, on 60 Minutes II, just two months before the presidential election, they ran with a story challenging President Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard, in terms of attendance, performance and how he got in the Guard in the first place. After 12 days, Rather went on the air and apologized, and said they could no longer stand behind the authenticity of the documents used to make their case. They weren't saying the documents were forgeries, but they would no longer claim they were authentic.
CBS appointed a commission headed by former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and former Associated Press chief Lou Boccardi. The report was devastating, and resulted in four producers being either fired or forced to resign. Rather stayed, but he was ousted from his anchor chair after 24 years, one year less than he had assumed and desired. His main producer, Mary Mapes, had been trying to nail this story down for five years, unsuccessfully, but went on the air with it anyway. She wrote a book claiming the story is still true and that the bogus documents are in reality genuine copies of the originals. Nobody else except Rather seems to buy it.
Boccardi and Thornburgh said they couldn't find evidence that the story was politically motivated, but one could draw no other conclusion. After all, the source of the phony documents was Bill Burkett, who carried a grudge against Bush.
Not only were the documents phony and the story politically motivated, it was a complete fraud in its main assertions. The claim, of course, was that Bush got special help to get into the Guard in order to avoid Vietnam. But the facts showed that Bush chose to go in as a pilot of an F-103, for which there was no waiting list. He didn't need any connections. And he was one of the highest-rated pilots after more than a year of intense flight training. What's more, the Boccardi/Thornburgh report showed that he volunteered to go as a pilot to Vietnam but wasn't needed.
If this kind of reporting is what Rather brings to Mark Cuban's network, we have to admit it will make for some interesting programs. Who knows? Former CBS correspondent Daniel Schorr is about to celebrate his 90th birthday, and is still going strong as a correspondent for National Public Radio. Rather could be with us for years to come. We might have to get our "Rather Biased" paraphernalia out of the AIM attic. At Cuban's HD Net channel, however, Rather will have a much smaller audience.
http://www.aim.org/aim_report/4782_0_4_0_C/
AIM Report: Al-Jazeera Promotes Global Terrorism - August A
August 1, 2006
As the AIM "Terror Television" DVD demonstrates, the channel's first managing director acted in effect as an agent of the Saddam Hussein regime.
AL-JAZEERA PROMOTES GLOBAL TERRORISM
In the same way that Al-Jazeera television has complicated the prospect of a U.S. victory in Iraq, the channel has dramatically increased the Islamic terrorist threat to Israel, helping to produce the war with the Hezbollah terrorist group.
The U.S. and Israel will not be able to win this global war on terrorism unless the role of Al-Jazeera in radicalizing Arabs and Muslims throughout the world is recognized and addressed.
As a result, Accuracy in Media is redoubling its effort to keep the English-language Al-Jazeera out of U.S. media markets. If Al-Jazeera International is allowed to reach English-speaking Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. with its incendiary messages, we could see suicide bombings on the streets of America and the development of more al-Qaeda cells plotting 9/11-type terrorist attacks.
Recon Operations
But Al-Jazeera's threat has taken another form, as Israeli authorities during the war with Hezbollah arrested several Al-Jazeera employees on suspicions of aiding the enemy. One charge was that Al-Jazeera employees in Israel were airing live footage from the scene of Hezbollah strikes in Israel, helping Hezbollah adjust the aim of the rockets it was firing. Another charge was that Al-Jazeera was filming sensitive locations which could be targeted in missile strikes.
Here, Al-Jazeera journalists have been caught visiting the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico border areas.
Al-Jazeera International made a visit in May to Crosby, North Dakota, prompting inquiries from the local Sheriff and U.S. Border Patrol. The local paper, the Crosby Journal, quoted a Border Patrol official as asking, "What is the interest of an Arab news organization in Crosby, North Dakota?" It reported that Sheriff Lauren Throntvei "said the hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he heard they were in town." The paper said that a U.S. Border Patrol agent asked for the names of the Al-Jazeera journalists, whether they had been near the border, and their stated motivations. The agent "said there were potential international implications to the journalists' visit, on which he could not elaborate."
The Al-Jazeera International delegation claimed to be doing a positive story about the people of northwestern North Dakota. However, Al-Jazeera International is not yet on the air and may not be up and running until the fall.
The Minutemen group previously denounced an attempt by Al-Jazeera to visit the U.S.-Mexico border area as a "recon" operation to benefit those who want to illegally enter the U.S. A Minuteman spokesman called Al-Jazeera a "terrorist TV station."
As the AIM "Terror Television" DVD demonstrates, the channel's first managing director acted in effect as an agent of the Saddam Hussein regime. Al-Jazeera's Baghdad bureau has been closed since August 2004 because of its sympathetic coverage of terrorist acts. The channel, however, is operating in the Kurdish-ruled area of the north and still broadcasts into Iraq. Indeed, it was reported recently that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, during a visit to Kurdistan, refused to entertain questions from the Al-Jazeera correspondent, saying, "I told him that I will not reply because we have position against Al-Jazeera." Al-Maliki added, "I blame my brothers in Kurdistan to allow Al-Jazeera to work although it is banned from that because it incites sectarianism day and night in Iraqi circles." This statement reflects recognition that Al-Jazeera, like al Qaeda, has been trying to spark a civil war in Iraq.
In the broader Middle East, Al-Jazeera has been doing whatever it can to thwart a reasonable approach to a peace settlement. Despite a series of unilateral Israeli concessions, Al-Jazeera has provided what sympathetic observers call "intensive coverage" of the Palestinian cause. That means that its coverage has encouraged violence against Israel. Its "reporters" openly refer to Palestinian suicide bombers as "martyrs." Honest Reporting, a media watchdog group, has documented how Al-Jazeera has run inflammatory articles on its website referring to President Bush giving the government of Israel a "license to kill" and suicide bombers as "self-sacrifice operations."
Al-Jazeera has played a clear role in the rise of Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement) and its Palestinian election victory in January. From the start, Al-Jazeera has been accused of undermining Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in order to build up Hamas. Arafat even temporarily closed down the Al-Jazeera bureau in Ramallah after it aired an "unflattering image" of him. Fatah supporters in May burned three cars belonging to Al-Jazeera because the channel did not cover an anti-Hamas demonstration in the city.
As part of its pro-Hamas bias, Al-Jazeera in March broadcast a conference in Yemen where a supporter of al Qaeda praised Palestinian suicide bombers and called on the crowd to financially support Hamas. Coverage of this event is available at the website of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which monitors the media in that part of the world. Al-Jazeera in May aired a Hamas fundraising event in Gaza, where a jacket worn by the "martyred" former Hamas Chief Sheikh Salah Shehada was auctioned off. Shehada, who was responsible for hundreds of attacks on Israeli citizens and security forces, was killed by Israel in 2002.
Hate-America TV
Stories bashing Israel have to compete with the channel's well-documented bias against America. In our DVD on "Terror Television," we show some film footage of Al-Jazeera television staff in Ramallah in an anti-American demonstration chanting "Down with fascist America."
Here, Al-Jazeera continues to promote conspiracy theories that Muslim terrorists were not really behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Al-Jazeera recently ran an article about a Los Angeles conference that viewed the 9/11 terrorist attacks as "an orchestrated U.S. attempt to incite world war." One of the participants was identified as Webster Tarpley, who wrote a book, 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA. As the title implies, Tarpley insists that the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon were an example of "state-sponsored, false-flag terrorism," undertaken by a faction of the U.S. Government in order to "start the war of civilizations." Tarpley is a long-time associate of "anti-Zionist" and former Marxist activist Lyndon LaRouche, who himself has appeared on Al-Jazeera.
The Al-Qaeda Connection
Al-Jazeera knows this is a bunch of bunk because its own reporter Yosri Fouda interviewed the al-Qaeda architects of 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and co-authored a book about it entitled Masterminds of Terror. Peter Maass wrote a fascinating story about Fouda's contacts with al Qaeda in an article in the New York Times Magazine entitled "When Al Qaeda Calls." Ron Suskind's new book, The One Percent Doctrine, takes the story one step further, alleging that Fouda's information about the possible locations of both al-Qaeda operatives led to their ultimate capture. Suskind claims the Emir of Qatar provided the information to then-CIA director George Tenet.
Insisting that it "never communicated any information that it has obtained to any political, security or any other party whatsoever," Al-Jazeera has rejected Suskind's claims as ridiculous and baseless. The channel said it was "well known for its editorial independence" and its "commitment to protect the rights of sources." The implication, of course, is that some of Al-Jazeera's "sources" are terrorists or their agents.
This is part of the problem we face as Al-Jazeera International, which is financed by the same Arab government which brought the world Al-Jazeera, prepares its launch. Even if the Suskind story is true, the capture of these al-Qaeda operatives cannot make up for the murder of almost 3,000 Americans on 9/11, especially because Qatar had links to al Qaeda and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed before 9/11. Today, however, the Wahhabi Muslim regime postures as a friend of the U.S. and hosts American forces.
Al-Jazeera International is busy constructing its new Washington, D.C. bureau on K Street in the nation's capital. Employees say salaries and benefits are good, but former ABC Nightline anchor Ted Koppel, who interviewed for a job there, said he would have nothing to do with it. The new channel has put tremendous resources, including the public-relations muscle of the British-based firm Brown Lloyd James (BLJ), into a campaign to secure carriage on American cable and satellite systems. So far, AIM has stopped them.
Subscribers to the AIM Report received copies of postcards they could send to Michael Holtzman, BLJ executive vice president. The cards noted a report that $1 billion is being spent on Al-Jazeera International and asked, "How much of that is your firm getting?"
BLJ should not be underestimated. The company boasts that Holtzman, who is handling the Al-Jazeera International account in the U.S., "managed the successful global campaign on behalf of China's bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games." The company website says this "extraordinarily successful engagement" was named "Campaign of the Year" by PR Week in 2001.
If the entry of Al-Jazeera International into U.S. media markets becomes another "Campaign of the Year," it is predictable and inevitable that Americans will suffer and die because of it.
Partners In Crime
But stopping Al-Jazeera Inter-national won't be enough. As reported by Hugh Miles, Al-Jazeera has "sharing agreements" with CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox, Japan's NHK, and Germany's ZDF, "all of which regularly use Al-Jazeera's footage and reports." Miles, the author of a fascinating but sympathetic book about Al-Jazeera, makes this point in the context of insisting that "Journalists around the world treat Al-Jazeera with the same respect they treat news from any other major international news network." What they "respect" is the ability of Al-Jazeera to get terrorist "news" from bin Laden and al Qaeda.
CNN was the first U.S.-based network to sign a "resource-sharing agreement" with Al-Jazeera. This relationship was on display when CNN aired part of an interview that Al-Jazeera's then-Kabul-based reporter Tayseer Allouni had conducted with Osama bin Laden. This was described at the time as the only television interview bin Laden had granted since before 9/11. Allouni was later convicted of being an agent of al Qaeda and is now serving seven years in prison in Spain.
Al-Jazeera also has a sharing agreement with the Telesur channel of Venezuelan lunatic ruler Hugo Chavez.
Rep. Connie Mack had criticized the venture, saying, "When Hugo Chavez launched Telesur…to spread his anti-freedom rhetoric throughout Latin America I raised numerous concerns that he was creating a TV network patterned after Al-Jazeera. Today, Hugo Chavez has gone even further. It wasn't enough for him to spread his socialist propaganda throughout Latin America. Now he's in cahoots with the original terrorist TV." Mack said the alliance "has the effect of creating a global television network for terrorists and other enemies of freedom."
ROBERT NOVAK TOLD THE TRUTH
The Washington Post on July 9 published an article, "When in Doubt, Publish," which began by saying that, "It is the business—and the responsibility—of the press to reveal secrets." It was signed by five major figures involved in the field of journalism education. In fact, however, it attempted to justify the publication of some—but not all—"secret" information. In the process of trying to sound like guardians of the public's right to know, they disclosed their preference for keeping the American people in the dark about what the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says is a major faction of the CIA that is deliberately subverting the foreign policy of the Bush Administration.
While the New York Times' violation of the law barring publication of classified communications intelligence information was justified by these titans of modern-day American journalism, there was said to be "no justification" at all for conservative columnist Robert Novak to have written a column identifying Valerie Plame as a "covert CIA officer." Claiming she had been "unmasked" by Novak, they implied that her employment status in the agency was a closely held secret and that revealing this information about her was a major threat to the national security of the U.S.
The signers of the Post column were Geoffrey Cowan, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California; John Lavine, dean, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University; Nicholas Lemann, dean, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University; Orville Schell, dean, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California at Berkeley; and Alex S. Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center, Harvard University.
The Times is being excused for compromising secret programs to apprehend terrorists, while Novak was excoriated for writing about a CIA employee working a desk job and running a "front" company.
In contrast to the conduct of the Times, which disclosed a highly classified NSA program in clear violation of Section 798 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Novak's publication of Valerie Plame's name and affiliation with the CIA was not a violation of the law. The law which drove the investigation of the case did not apply to Novak, who was simply passing on information from administration officials about her role in getting her husband Joseph Wilson sent on a CIA mission to Africa. The law covered those who deliberately exposed a CIA officer's secret identity for the purpose of damaging U.S. intelligence. That was not the case here, and no charges in that regard have been filed.
Novak's Public Service
Novak, who has now come forward to explain why he wrote his column, should be praised, not criticized, for bringing forth information that is still critically important to understanding the nature of the Wilson mission and the rogue CIA elements behind it. It is a story that we still need to know if U.S. intelligence agencies are to remain under the clear control of elected officials.
As strange as it may seem, the erroneous claim about Plame's "covert" status at the CIA appears to have been taken from transcripts of the Chris Matthews MSNBC Hardball show, whose correspondent, David Shuster, had erroneously predicted that White House aide Karl Rove would be indicted for his role in talking to Novak and allegedly "outing" Plame. Shuster was also responsible for the completely unsubstantiated claim that Plame was a top agency operative on the trail of Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Her supposed intelligence "cover," like the Rove indictment predicted by Shuster, was a figment of the liberal imagination. There was at least one thing truly secret about her, however. Wilson had desperately wanted her role in getting him on that trip kept confidential. That's why he raised it in his book, The Politics of Truth, saying it would be a violation of federal nepotism laws if she had played such a role, and then categorically denied that she had done so. This preemptive strike was his way of discouraging the press from unraveling the pretense that he was an objective observer who simply uncovered the facts about the Bush Iraq policy and was retaliated against for innocently providing them to the Times. Unfortunately for Wilson and his CIA backers, the Senate Intelligence Committee found documents proving that Plame did play a role in the Wilson junket.
On the same day the Post article attacking Novak's public-service journalism was published, the New York Times inadvertently revealed the thinking of a top member of Congress, with access to the most sensitive information about U.S. intelligence activities, on the significance of the Wilson/Plame affair.
The Rogue Agency
The Times reported that Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, had sent a private letter to President Bush about a range of intelligence issues. Predictably, The Times focused on a vague reference in the letter to secret programs that Hoekstra had wanted Congress to be briefed on. The Times thought this was proof that the administration was running illegal programs, a favorite theme of the liberal media in their zeal to discredit Bush.
But the Hoekstra letter was quite specific about what is going on in the CIA. The Times article, however, did not highlight that part of the letter in which Hoekstra referred to events in the Valerie Plame affair as the result of "a strong and well-positioned group" within the CIA that "intentionally undermined the Administration and its policies." Readers of the on-line Times were able to read the whole letter, which was posted on the paper's website. The Hoekstra letter also refers to Stephen Kappes returning to the CIA as Deputy Director when it is believed that he "may have been part" of the group that was determined to sabotage the Bush Administration.
The real story, suggested by Hoekstra, is that CIA officials were behind Wilson's visit to Africa, and that the purpose of his trip was to come back and discredit the President's well-documented claim that Saddam Hussein had sought uranium there.
For her part, Plame had contributed to the Al Gore-for-president campaign through her CIA "front" company and would surface as a financial contributor to the Kerry-for-President campaign through a group called America Coming Together. Her husband would sign up as a Kerry adviser. All of these developments would confirm what had been suspected by the Bush Administration. The Africa trip and Times op-ed were part of an obvious plan by partisan political forces in the CIA to sabotage the President's Iraq policy.
The Hoekstra letter is terribly important if we are going to begin to have any understanding of how our democratic republic has been subverted by intelligence officials operating outside of our elected government.
What You Can Do
Send the enclosed cards or cards and letters of your own choosing to Qatar's Ambassador to the U.S. and "Angry Arab" blogger As'ad AbuKhalil. Also, please consider a contribution to AIM as we move ahead with our campaign against Al-Jazeera.
http://www.aim.org/aim_report/4752_0_4_0_C/
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