Friday, February 29, 2008

Assef Shawkat, MOSSAD and CIA, primed for action....



U.S. Navy ships move closer to Lebanon amid tensions....
They are not evn looking for him anymore....?


NO ???? 9/11 Inside JOB , ask NORAD
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The USS Cole (DDG-67) guided missile destroyer arrived off the coast of Lebanon on Feb. 28. The move comes as Syria faces less pressure from several parties, since it has already struck a deal that will end Shawkat’s crisis, in the Murder investigations, and the continuity of the "Regime".... A single warship off the Lebanese coast does not pose any military threat to Syria, and the United States likely is not trying to provoke Damascus into a military confrontation.... nor is it trying to confiscate any assets for the Assads and Makhloufs in USA or anywhere.
These moves are designed to cover their tracks in the White House Murder Inc., a joint venture with Assef Shawkat, MOSSAD and CIA, primed for action since the late 1990s...with over 20 Assassinations already in the bag.... with many more to come....

Analysis

The United States has sent the guided missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG-67) to the coast of Lebanon as a “show of support” for regional stability, a senior U.S. official said Feb. 28. The official said the warship left Malta on Feb. 25 and was headed toward Lebanon, adding that it will not be within visible range of the country.... for now. The Cole participated in combat operational maneuvers in the Azores recently, in coordination with Israeli forces, in preparation for a rematch in South Lebanon soon...

The move comes as Syria is not facing any mounting pressure from any fronts to strike a deal over Lebanon that will ease the country out of its political crisis. Sending a single warship to the Lebanese coast, however, does not pose a direct military threat to Syria, and the United States is highly unlikely to bring Damascus into a military confrontation at this stage, because USA, ISRAEL And Syria have already struck a DEAL, which translated into the Murder of Imad Moughnieh,by Assef Shawkat's goons, as a first installment, and protection for the Syrian Killer Regime...



Instead, the Cole is meant to send a signal to Hezbollah not be sitting too comfortably. The West is already bracing for Hezbollah’s retaliation for the Feb. 12 assassination of its chief commander, Imad Mughniyah, and rumors are circulating that Hezbollah has plans to step up its militant campaign in the coming weeks. Israel has decided that now is the time for a rematch against Hezbollah in Lebanon, having the Cole nearby for support is handy....

An early Flight I Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the Cole is a highly capable multimission warship. Though not able to embark helicopters, it can refuel them. Perhaps the most highly capable air defense platform on the planet, the Cole also brings to bear a significant anti-ship and land attack capability in the form of Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles and a 5-inch gun.

This, necessarily means that U.S.-Israeli coordinated military action in Lebanon is imminent; there is a good degree of utility in spooking Hezbollah into thinking that the Shiite militant group’s days are numbered...., since war plans are already laid out in Israel and Washington DC, and BUSH was presented with complete operational WAR Invasion plans, on his last visit to ISRAEL.

Stratfor, the world's leading Disinformation for CIA, Texas funded and Texas based, intelligence is never provided.... For any additional disinformation, please visit @stratfor.



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Democracy presupposes civic equality,the equality of all citizens in the eyes of the law. Elie's main goal in politics can be summarized as: The preferred government must possess the capacity of representing different Lebanese factions and enjoy unwavering moral values and a modern administrative effectiveness. Only such a government is capable of taking the steps needed to rebuild the Lebanese political system and regain the balance in the republic. Elie is an Unforgettable LEADER.
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The White House to Receive Convicted War Criminal Samir Geagea
Washington, D.C., 2008 -


The George W. Bush Administration is set for an official meeting in March
with a convicted Lebanese warlord, widely recognized for planning, ordering
and committing war crimes that left permanent scars on the minds and bodies
of thousands of Lebanese citizens. Mr. Samir Geagea was the leader of the
"Lebanese Forces militia" during the Lebanese war that lasted from 1975 to
1990. His bloody history against the people and the national army of Lebanon
has shaped Lebanon's modern history, leaving behind thousands of widows,
orphans, handicapped and displaced people, as well as destroyed public and
private property. If for any reason Samir Geagea should be in the United
States, it should be to stand trial for his war crimes against the families
and friends of many Lebanese-Americans who either lived or witnessed the
Lebanese war.

As of 1994, Geagea was tried and convicted for four crimes - only a small
portion of his long list of war crimes that we have listed below for your
reference. He was convicted for:

1. The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Mr. Rachid Karami

2. The assassination of a former leading figure in the Lebanese Forces
militia, Elias Zayek

3. The assassination of Christian leader Dany Chamoun with his wife and two
young children (ages 5 and 7)

4. The assassination attempt against Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of the
Interior Michel Murr

[5. The cold blooded murder of Tony Frangieh, his wife and baby daughter and
35 hapless Lebanese***]

[6. Murder of Ghaith Khoury (head of the kataeb militia in Jbeil) and Emile
Azzar (LF fighter)... And the assassination attempts of Fouad Abou Nader (LF
commander) and ... Elie Hobeika.****]

[7. Geagea also killed Brigadier General Khalil Kanaan (Army officer) and
Rizkallah (Razouk) Atik (LF fighter), brother of Hanna Atik (Hanoun, chef of
the former Saddem elite LF unit) and tried to kill Assaad (Asso) Shaftari
( Deputy to Mr. Elie Hobeika ).****]

Zayek was a Christian leader who posed a threat to Geagea's dreams of the
militia leadership. Dany Chamoun, son of late Lebanese President Camille
Chamoun, was one of the most active and independent Christian leaders during
the Syrian invasion of 1990, and was also a threat to Geagea's ambition of
being the sole Christian leader. In 1990, Geagea commenced his collaboration
with the brutal Syrian regime at the expense of the Lebanese people.

Although he was not convicted, Geagea was suspected of bombing the Maronite
Catholic church of Saydet Najat in Jounieh, in which tens of worshipers were
killed in 1994. The judges could not convict him "for insufficient evidence"
as per the official verdict. Geagea was sentenced to death for his
assassination crimes, and the sentence was later reduced to lifetime in
prison.

Geagea only spent 11 years in jail, and was pardoned in a special bill
passed by the Lebanese parliament on July 18, 2005. An interesting condition
about this "special pardon" is that it not only included Geagea, but also
included a score of Al Qaeda-inspired extremists who were captured after
conducting terrorist attacks against the Lebanese army and civilians in
2001. Geagea's release is perceived by many people as a cover up and
distraction for the release of these Islamist extremists.

A leader of a relatively insignificant political party, Geagea holds no
public official or representative status. This criminal and insignificant
party leader holds no official title or position in the Lebanese government
to be received by the Bush Administration or the Republican Party.

To grant a US entry visa to a convicted war criminal such as Samir Geagea,
and to permit him to defile the land of the free is not only against US law,
but is also an unacceptable deed, and a great insult to the American people
and to the values inherent in the American Constitution (Please see note
below from Department of Homeland Security). Criminals such as Geagea should
not set foot on the soil of the United States, not to mention that of the
White House or the Capitol Building. The eyes that enjoyed gazing coldly at
the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters,
sons, daughters, grandfathers and grandmothers from all over the world,
should never be allowed to look toward the home of the brave.

We trust that the Congress and the Administration of the United States will
take the proper measures to put an end to this ill-conceived visit.


Lebanese Americans for Justice


Geagea also killed Brigadier General Khalil Kanaan (Army officer) and
Rizkallah (Razouk) Atik (LF fighter), brother of Hanna Atik (Hanoun, chef of
the former Saddem elite LF unit) and tried to kill Assaad (Asso) Shaftari
( Deputy to Mr. Elie Hobeika). These names are also very important.

But you need to know that Geagea did all this killings and attempts via
Nader Sukkar (opposition MP of Baalbeck Hermel), Ghassan Touma (who lives in
the US), Tony Obeid (who lives in Australia) and Raji Abdo, Naji N. Najjar,
Walid Phares, Ziad Abdelnour, (who live in the US).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


من يتحمّل مسؤوليّة الانهيار المسيحي؟




01 آذار 2008

جوزف ريشا - عشرون سنة مرّت والوجود المسيحي في لبنان يسجّل انحداراً ما دونه انحدار... السؤال البديهي هنا من يتحمل المسؤولية؟ من المنطقي ألّا نجد صعوبة كبيرة في الإجابة عن هذا السؤال، وخاصة أن الانهيار المسيحي حدث ويحدث في ظلّ القيادات والمرجعيات نفسها منذ أكثر من عقدين: الكاردينال صفير على رأس الكنيسة، العماد عون والسيد سمير جعجع على رأس أكبر شريحتين شعبيتين، بالإضافة إلى زعامات عائلية وإقطاعية تتماهى مع واحدة من هذه المرجعيات ولكن بشكل خاص مع الكنيسة لحسابات تاريخية كثيراً ما جمعت الإقطاع الديني والعائلي حتى في خندق واحد.
فرغم الهزائم العسكرية التي مني بها المسيحيون مع بداية الثمانينيات نتيجة إقحام المجتمع المسيحي في محور متحالف مع إسرائيل ومن ثم مع دول غربية تخلت عنه عند أول مفترق، بقي هذا المجتمع متماسكاً بعض الشيء لحين ولادة اتفاق الطائف، ومن هنا بدأت المشكلة، وما قبل الاتفاق وبعده نوجز أهم المراحل:
ــ من عام 1984 لغاية عام 1988 قبل وصول العماد عون إلى رئاسة الحكومة العسكرية قام السيد سمير جعجع بخمسة انقلابات و«تصحيحات» وانتفاضات وإلغاءات ضدّ كل من قائد القوات السابق فؤاد أبو ناضر ورئيس الهيئة التنفيذية في القوات إيلي حبيقة والرئيس السابق أمين الجميل لأسباب متنوعة، من توحيد الجهد العسكري ورفع يد السيطرة العائلية الجميلية عن قيادة القوات وبالتالي المجتمع المسيحي، إلى ضرب الاتفاق الثلاثي الذي يتضمّن تنازلات مسيحية، ومن ثم حربين ضدّ الجيش اللبناني بقيادة عون. ــ نهاية الحرب العسكرية باجتياح سوري لقصر بعبدا عام 1990 وهزيمة عون وتطبيق اتفاق الطائف برعاية أميركية ــ سورية ــ سعودية.
ــ زمن الوصاية الشاملة من عام 1990 لغاية الانسحاب السوري بعد اغتيال الرئيس رفيق الحريري ومرحلة الأزمة الحالية المستمرة.
هنا، وبعد سرد هذه المحطات الرئيسية، نطرح الأسئلة التالية التي يمكن وضعها في خانة الأسئلة الاتهامية:

1 ـ لماذا حدث النزف داخل الصف المسيحي خلال الانتفاضات والتصحيحات وما إلى ذلك من تسميات لمعارك، بحجة رفع اليد العائلية وتوحيد الجهد الحربي وحفظ المقاومة، وما دام السيد جعجع سيكون أول من يسلّم السلاح إلى جمهورية الطائف كما أنه اليوم الذراع الشوارعية للإقطاعيات العائلية والطبقية والمدافع الشرس عن البيوتات السياسية والسلالات.
2 ـ لماذا أهدرت أرواح مئات الشباب المسيحي خلال هجوم جعجع على إيلي حبيقة لإلغاء الاتفاق الثلاثي، ما دام جعجع بغطائه العسكري والكاردينال صفير بغطائه الروحي سيمهّدان الطريق أمام اتفاق الطائف الأكثر إجحافاً بحق المسيحيين.
3 ـ لماذا الدفاع المستميت عن الطائف من جانب الكاردينال صفير والسيد جعجع واعتبار أنّ شوائبه تتلخّص فقط بعدم التطبيق الصحيح متغاضين عن ثُغره الكثيرة وعن تحويل الرئيس الماروني إلى منصب كرتوني.
4 ـ لماذا دخل السيد جعجع مشاركاً في أولى حكومات الاحتلال السوري بعد عام 1990.
5 ـ لماذا عاد الكاردينال صفير واعترف بمجلس النوّاب المُقاطَع من جانب المسيحيّين واستقبل نوّابه المنتخبين بأصوات لا تتجاوز الثلاثة أصفار بحيث أعطاهم اعترافاً حجبه عنهم الشعب.

6 ـ لماذا عاد الكاردينال صفير إلى تغطية الفئة المسيحية الموالية للحريرية بعد موقفه الشهير لدى تطبيق قانون غازي كنعان الانتخابي؟.
7 ـ لماذا يقوم الكاردينال صفير بمهاجمة المعارضة المسيحية بشكل شبه دائم بينما لا يحرّك ساكناً عن رفض جعجع ــــــ الجميل لقانون 1960 الانتخابي الذي أيّده مراراً، وهل بات سيد بكركي ومسيحيوه المفضّلون خط دفاع عن المشروع الحريري، إلى حد إعلان جعجع جهاراً رفض قانون 1960 بحجة أنه ليس لمصلحة المسيحيين وعدّد الأسباب التالية:
أ ـ رفض إبقاء قضائي بعلبك والهرمل دائرة واحدة (مع العلم أن كلّاً من القضاءين يمثّل منفرداً أو متّحداً غالبية شيعية جارفة).
ب ـ رفض إبقاء قضاءي مرجعيون وحاصبيا دائرة واحدة (مع العلم أن ضم القضاءين في دائرة واحدة يجعل من المسيحيين في حال تحالفهم مع سنّة الشريط الحدودي وحلفاء جعجع الدروز أغلبية راجحة).
ولكن مهلاً، الغاية من رفض القانون من جانب جعجع ومسيحيي الحريري ليست بخافية على جاهل فهي:
أولاً: الخوف على مسيحيي السلطة في أقضية زغرتا ـــــ الكورة والبترون حيث للمعارضة المسيحية أرجحية كبيرة.
ثانياً: الخوف على وليد جنبلاط وتحجيمه في الجبل الدرزي حيث سيخسر حتماً قضاء بعبدا حيث الأرجحية للمعارضة.
ثالثاً: الخوف على الحليف السني في بيروت، حيث إن تقسيم العاصمة إلى 3 دوائر سيفقد سيطرة السنّة الكاملة على المناطق المسيحية والشيعية من العاصمة.

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Whenever I hear the words "conspiracy theory" (which seems more often, lately) it usually means someone is getting too close to the truth...!


http://onlinejournal.org/Commentary/011004Hasty/011004hasty.html


January 10, ...-Just before his death, James Jesus Angleton, the legendary
chief of counterintelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency, was a
bitter man. He felt betrayed by the people he had worked for all his life.
In the end, he had come to realize that they were never really interested in
American ideals of "freedom" and "democracy." They really only wanted
"absolute power."

Angleton told author Joseph Trento that the reason he had gotten the
counterintelligence job in the first place was by agreeing not to submit
"sixty of Allen Dulles' closest friends" to a polygraph test concerning
their business deals with the Nazis. In his end-of-life despair, Angleton
assumed that he would see all his old companions again "in hell."

The transformation of James Jesus Angleton from an enthusiastic, Ivy League
cold warrior, to a bitter old man, is an extreme example of a phenomenon I
call a "paranoid shift." I recognize the phenomenon, because something
similar happened to me.

Although I don't remember ever meeting James Jesus Angleton, I worked at the
CIA myself as a low-level clerk as a teenager in the '60s. This was at the
same time I was beginning to question the government's actions in Vietnam.
In fact, my personal "paranoid shift" probably began with the
disillusionment I felt when I realized that the story of American foreign
policy was, at the very least, more complicated and darker than I had
hitherto been led to believe.

But for most of the next 30 years, even though I was a radical, I
nevertheless held faith in the basic integrity of a system where power
ultimately resided in the people, and whereby if enough people got together
and voted, real and fundamental change could happen.

What constitutes my personal paranoid shift is that I no longer believe this
to be necessarily true.

In his book, "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower," William
Blum warns of how the media will make anything that smacks of "conspiracy
theory" an immediate "object of ridicule." This prevents the media from ever
having to investigate the many strange interconnections among the ruling
class-for example, the relationship between the boards of directors of media
giants, and the energy, banking and defense industries. These unmentionable
topics are usually treated with what Blum calls "the media's most effective
tool-silence." But in case somebody's asking questions, all you have to do
is say, "conspiracy theory," and any allegation instantly becomes too
frivolous to merit serious attention.

On the other hand, since my paranoid shift, whenever I hear the words
"conspiracy theory" (which seems more often, lately) it usually means
someone is getting too close to the truth.

Take September 11-which I identify as the date my paranoia actually shifted,
though I didn't know it at the time.

Unless I'm paranoid, it doesn't make any sense at all that George W. Bush,
commander-in-chief, sat in a second-grade classroom for 20 minutes after he
was informed that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center, listening
to children read a story about a goat. Nor does it make sense that the
Number 2 man, Dick Cheney-even knowing that "the commander" was on a mission
in Florida-nevertheless sat at his desk in the White House, watching TV,
until the Secret Service dragged him out by the armpits.

Unless I'm paranoid, it makes no sense that Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld sat at his desk until Flight 77 hit the Pentagon-well over an hour
after the military had learned about the multiple hijacking in progress. It
also makes no sense that the brand-new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
sat in a Senate office for two hours while the 9/11 attacks took place,
after leaving explicit instructions that he not be disturbed-which he
wasn't.

In other words, while the 9/11 attacks were occurring, the entire top of the
chain of command of the most powerful military in the world sat at various
desks, inert. Why weren't they in the "Situation Room?" Don't any of them
ever watch "West Wing?"

In a sane world, this would be an object of major scandal. But here on this
side of the paranoid shift, it's business as usual.

Years, even decades before 9/11, plans had been drawn up for American forces
to take control of the oil interests of the Middle East, for various
imperialist reasons. And these plans were only contingent upon "a
catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor," to gain the
majority support of the American public to set the plans into motion. When
the opportunity presented itself, the guards looked the other way... and
presto, the path to global domination was open.

Simple, as long as the media played along. And there is voluminous evidence
that the media play along. Number one on Project Censored's annual list of
under-reported stories in 2002 was the Project for a New American Century
PNAC, (now the infrastructure of the Bush Regime), whose report, published
in 2000, contains the above "Pearl Harbor" quote....

Why is it so hard to believe serious people who have repeatedly warned us
that powerful ruling elites are out to dominate "the masses?" Did we think
Dwight Eisenhower was exaggerating when he warned of the extreme "danger" to
democracy of "the military industrial complex?" Was Barry Goldwater just
being a quaint old-fashioned John Bircher when he said that the Trilateral
Commission was "David Rockefeller's latest scheme to take over the world, by
taking over the government of the United States?" Were Teddy and Franklin
Roosevelt or Joseph Kennedy just being class traitors when they talked about
a small group of wealthy elites who operate as a hidden government behind
the government? Especially after he died so mysteriously, why shouldn't we
believe the late CIA Director William Colby, who bragged about how the CIA
"owns everyone of any major significance in the major media?"

Why can't we believe James Jesus Angleton-a man staring eternal judgment in
the face-when he says that the founders of the Cold War national security
state were only interested in "absolute power?" Especially when the
descendant of a very good friend of Allen Dulles now holds power in the
White House.

Prescott Bush, the late, aristocratic senator from Connecticut, and
grandfather of George W Bush, was not only a good friend of Allen Dulles,
CIA director, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and
international business lawyer. He was also a client of Dulles' law firm. As
such, he was the beneficiary of Dulles' miraculous ability to scrub the
story of Bush's treasonous investments in the Third Reich out of the news
media, where it might have interfered with Bush's political career... not to
mention the presidential careers of his son and grandson.

Recently declassified US government documents, unearthed last October by
investigative journalist John Buchanan at the New Hampshire Gazette, reveal
that Prescott Bush's involvement in financing and arming the Nazis was more
extensive than previously known. Not only was Bush managing director of the
Union Banking Corporation, the American branch of Hitler's chief financier's
banking network; but among the other companies where Bush was a director-and
which were seized by the American government in 1942, under the Trading With
the Enemy Act-were a shipping line which imported German spies; an energy
company that supplied the Luftwaffe with high-ethyl fuel; and a steel
company that employed Jewish slave labor from the Auschwitz concentration
camp.

Like all the other Bush scandals that have been swept under the rug in the
privatized censorship of the corporate media, these revelations have been
largely ignored, with the exception of a single article in the Associated
Press. And there are those, even on the left, who question the current
relevance of this information.

But Prescott Bush's dealings with the Nazis do more than illustrate a family
pattern of genteel treason and war profiteering-from George Senior's sale of
TOW missiles to Iran at the same time he was selling biological and chemical
weapons to Saddam Hussein, to Junior's zany misadventures in crony
capitalism in present-day Iraq.

More disturbing by far are the many eerie parallels between Adolph Hitler
and George W. Bush:

A conservative, authoritarian style, with public appearances in military
uniform (which no previous American president has ever done while in
office). Government by secrecy, propaganda and deception. Open assaults on
labor unions and workers' rights. Preemptive war and militant nationalism.
Contempt for international law and treaties. Suspiciously convenient
"terrorist" attacks, to justify a police state and the suspension of
liberties. A carefully manufactured image of "The Leader," who's still just
a "regular guy" and a "moderate." "Freedom" as the rationale for every
action. Fantasy economic growth, based on unprecedented budget deficits and
massive military spending.

And a cold, pragmatic ideology of fascism-including the violent suppression
of dissent and other human rights; the use of torture, assassination and
concentration camps; and most important, Benito Mussolini's preferred
definition of "fascism" as "corporatism, because it binds together the
interests of corporations and the state."

By their fruits, you shall know them.

What perplexes me most is probably the same question that plagues most
paranoiacs: why don't other people see these connections?

Oh, sure, there may be millions of us, lurking at websites like OnlineJournal,
From the Wilderness, Center for Cooperative Research, and the
Center for Research on Globalization, checking out right-wing conspiracists
and the galaxy of 9/11 sites, and reading columnists like Chris Floyd at the
Moscow Times, and Maureen Farrell at Buzzflash. But we know we are only a
furtive minority, the human remnant among the pod people in the live-action,
21st-century version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

And being paranoid, we have to figure out, with an answer that fits into our
system, why more people don't see the connections we do. Fortunately, there
are a number of possible explanations.

First on the list would have to be what Marshal McLuhan called the "cave art
of the electronic age:" advertising. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Karl Rove,
gave credit for most of his ideas on how to manipulate mass opinion to
American commercial advertising, and to the then-new science of "public
relations." But the public relations universe available to the corporate
empire that rules the world today makes the Goebbels operation look
primitive. The precision of communications technology and graphics; the
century of research on human psychology and emotion; and the uniquely
centralized control of triumphant post-Cold War monopoly capitalism, have
combined to the point where "the manufacture of consent" can be set on
automatic pilot.

A second major reason people won't make the paranoid shift is that they are
too fundamentally decent. They can't believe that the elected leaders of our
country, the people they've been taught through 12 years of public school to
admire and trust, are capable of sending young American soldiers to their
deaths and slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent civilians, just to
satisfy their greed-especially when they're so rich in the first place.
Besides, America is good, and the media are liberal and overly critical.

Third, people don't want to look like fools. Being a "conspiracy theorist"
is like being a creationist. The educated opinion of eminent experts on
every TV and radio network is that any discussion of "oil" being a
motivation for the US invasion of Iraq is just out of bounds, and anyone who
thinks otherwise is a "conspiracy theorist." We can trust the integrity of
our 'no-bid" contracting in Iraq, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a
"conspiracy theorist." Of course, people sometimes make mistakes, but our
military and intelligence community did the best they could on and before
September 11, and anybody who thinks otherwise is a "conspiracy theorist."

Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of JFK, and anyone who thinks
otherwise is a "conspiracy theorist."

Perhaps the biggest hidden reason people don't make the paranoid shift is
that knowledge brings responsibility. If we acknowledge that an inner circle
of ruling elites controls the world's most powerful military and
intelligence system; controls the international banking system; controls the
most effective and far-reaching propaganda network in history; controls all
three branches of government in the world's only superpower; and controls
the technology that counts the people's votes, we might be then forced to
conclude that we don't live in a particularly democratic system. And then
voting and making contributions and trying to stay informed wouldn't be
enough. Because then the duty of citizenship would go beyond serving as a
loyal opposition, to serving as a "loyal resistance"-like the Republicans in
the Spanish Civil War, except that in this case the resistance to fascism
would be on the side of the national ideals, rather than the government; and
a violent insurgency would not only play into the empire's hands, it would
be doomed from the start.

Forming a nonviolent resistance movement, on the other hand, might mean
forsaking some middle class comfort, and it would doubtless require a lot of
work. It would mean educating ourselves and others about the nature of the
truly apocalyptic beast we face. It would mean organizing at the most basic
neighborhood level, face to face. (We cannot put our trust in the empire's
technology.) It would mean reaching across turf lines and transcending
single-issue politics, forming coalitions and sharing data and names and
strategies, and applying energy at every level of government, local to
global. It would also probably mean civil disobedience, at a time when the
Bush regime is starting to classify that action as "terrorism." In the end,
it may mean organizing a progressive confederacy to govern ourselves, just
as our revolutionary founders formed the Continental Congress. It would mean
being wise as serpents, and gentle as doves.

It would be a lot of work. It would also require critical mass. A paradigm
shift.

But as a paranoid, I'm ready to join the resistance. And the main reason is
I no longer think that the "conspiracy" is much of a "theory."

That the US House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations
concluded that the murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy was "probably" the
result of "a conspiracy," and that 70 percent of Americans agree with this
conclusion, is not a "theory." It's fact.

That the Bay of Pigs fiasco, "Operation Zapata," was organized by members of
Skull and Bones, the ghoulish and powerful secret society at Yale University
whose membership also included Prescott, George Herbert Walker and George W
Bush; that two of the ships that carried the Cuban counterrevolutionaries to
their appointment with absurdity were named the "Barbara" and the
"Houston"-George HW Bush's city of residence at the time-and that the oil
company Bush owned, then operating in the Caribbean area, was named
"Zapata," is not "theory." It's fact.

That George Bush was the CIA director who kept the names of what were
estimated to be hundreds of American journalists, considered to be CIA
"assets," from the Church Committee, the US Senate Intelligence Committee
chaired by Senator Frank Church that investigated the CIA in the 1970s; that
a 1971 University of Michigan study concluded that, in America, the more TV
you watched, the less you knew; and that a recent survey by international
scholars found that Americans were the most "ignorant" of world affairs out
of all the populations they studied, is not a "theory." It's fact.

That the Council on Foreign Relations has a history of influence on official
US government foreign policy; that the protection of US supplies of Middle
East oil has been a central element of American foreign policy since the
Second World War; and that global oil production has been in decline since
its peak year, 2000, is not "theory." It's fact.

That, in the early 1970s, the newly-formed Trilateral Commission published a
report which recommended that, in order for "globalization" to succeed,
American manufacturing jobs had to be exported, and American wages had to
decline, which is exactly what happened over the next three decades; and
that, during that same period, the richest one percent of Americans doubled
their share of the national wealth, is not "theory." It's fact.

That, beyond their quasi-public role as agents of the US Treasury
Department, the Federal Reserve Banks are profit-making corporations, whose
beneficiaries include some of America's wealthiest families; and that the
United States has a virtual controlling interest in the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization, the three
dominant global financial institutions, is not a "theory." It's fact.

That-whether it's heroin from Southeast Asia in the '60s and '70s, or
cocaine from Central America and heroin from Afghanistan in the '80s, or
cocaine from Colombia in the '90s, or heroin from Afghanistan today-no major
CIA covert operation has ever lacked a drug smuggling component, and that
the CIA has hired Nazis, fascists, drug dealers, arms smugglers, mass
murderers, perverts, sadists, terrorists and the Mafia, is not "theory."
It's fact.

That the international oil industry is the dominant player in the global
economy; that the Bush family has a decades-long business relationship with
the Saudi royal family, Saudi oil money, and the family of Osama bin Laden;
that, as president, both George Bushes have favored the interests of oil
companies over the public interest; that both George Bushes have personally
profited financially from Middle East oil; and that American oil companies
doubled their records for quarterly profits in the months just preceding the
invasion of Iraq, is not "theory." It's fact.

That the 2000 presidential election was deliberately stolen; that the
pro-Bush/anti-Gore bias in the corporate media had spiked markedly in the
last three weeks of the campaign; that corporate media were then virtually
silent about the Florida recount; and that the Bush 2000 team had planned to
challenge the legitimacy of the election if George W had won the popular,
but lost the electoral vote-exactly what happened to Gore-is not "theory."
It's fact.

That the intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was
deceptively "cooked" by the Bush administration; that anybody paying
attention to people like former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, knew
before the invasion that the weapons were a hoax; and that American forces
in Iraq today are applying the same brutal counterinsurgency tactics
pioneered in Central America in the 1980s, under the direct supervision of
then-Vice President George HW Bush, is not a "theory." It's fact.

That "Rebuilding America's Defenses," the Project for a New American
Century's 2000 report, and "The Grand Chessboard," a book published a few
years earlier by Trilateral Commission co-founder Zbigniew Brzezinski, both
recommended a more robust and imperial US military presence in the oil basin
of the Middle East and the Caspian region; and that both also suggested that
American public support for this energy crusade would depend on public
response to a new "Pearl Harbor," is not "theory." It's fact.

That, in the 1960s, the Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously approved a plan
called "Operation Northwood's," to stage terrorist attacks on American soil
that could be used to justify an invasion of Cuba; and that there is
currently an office in the Pentagon whose function is to instigate terrorist
attacks that could be used to justify future strategically-desired military
responses, is not a "theory." It's fact.

That neither the accusation by former British Environmental Minister Michael
Meacher, Tony Blair's longest-serving cabinet minister, that George W Bush
allowed the 9/11 attacks to happen to justify an oil war in the Middle East;
nor the RICO lawsuit filed by 9/11 widow Ellen Mariani against Bush, Cheney,
Rumsfeld and the Council on Foreign Relations (among others), on the grounds
that they conspired to let the attacks happen to cash in on the ensuing war
profiteering, has captured the slightest attention from American corporate
media is not a "theory." It's fact.

That the FBI has completely exonerated-though never identified-the
speculators who purchased, a few days before the attacks (through a bank
whose previous director is now the CIA executive director), an unusual
number of "put" options, and who made millions betting that the stocks in
American and United Airlines would crash, is not a "theory." It's fact.

That the US intelligence community received numerous warnings, from multiple
sources, throughout the summer of 2001, that a major terrorist attack on
American interests was imminent; that, according to the chair of the
"independent" 9/11 commission, the attacks "could have and should have been
prevented," and according to a Senate Intelligence Committee member, "All
the dots were connected;" that the White House has verified George W Bush's
personal knowledge, as of August 6, 2001, that these terrorist attacks might
be domestic and might involve hijacked airliners; that, in the summer of
2001, at the insistence of the American Secret Service, anti-aircraft
ordnance was installed around the city of Genoa, Italy, to defend against a
possible terrorist suicide attack, by aircraft, against George W Bush, who
was attending the economic summit there; and that George W Bush has
nevertheless regaled audiences with his first thought upon seeing the
"first" plane hit the World Trade Center, which was: "What a terrible
pilot," is not "theory." It's fact.

That, on the morning of September 11, 2001: standard procedures and policies
at the nation's air defense and aviation bureaucracies were ignored, and
communications were delayed; the black boxes of the planes that hit the WTC
were destroyed, but hijacker Mohammed Atta's passport was found in pristine
condition; high-ranking Pentagon officers had canceled their commercial
flight plans for that morning; George H.W. Bush was meeting in Washington
with representatives of Osama bin Laden's family, and other investors in the
world's largest private equity firm, the Carlyle Group; the CIA was
conducting a previously-scheduled mock exercise of an airliner hitting the
Pentagon; the chairs of both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees
were having breakfast with the chief of Pakistan's intelligence agency, who
resigned a week later on suspicion of involvement in the 9/11 attacks; and
the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States sat in a
second grade classroom for 20 minutes after hearing that a second plane had
struck the towers, listening to children read a story about a goat, is not
"theoretical." These are facts.

That the Bush administration has desperately fought every attempt to
independently investigate the events of 9/11, is not a "theory."

Nor, finally, is it in any way a "theory" that the one, single name that can
be directly linked to the Third Reich, the US military industrial complex,
Skull and Bones, Eastern Establishment good ol' boys, the Illuminati, Big
Texas Oil, the Bay of Pigs, the Miami Cubans, the Mafia, the FBI, the JFK
assassination, the New World Order, Watergate, the Republican National
Committee, Eastern European fascists, the Council on Foreign Relations, the
Trilateral Commission, the United Nations, CIA headquarters, the October
Surprise, the Iran/Contra scandal, Inslaw, the Christic Institute, Manuel
Noriega, drug-running "freedom fighters" and death squads, Iraqgate, Saddam
Hussein, weapons of mass destruction, the blood of innocents, the savings
and loan crash, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the
"Octopus," the "Enterprise," the Afghan mujahidin, the War on Drugs, Mena
(Arkansas), Whitewater, Sun Myung Moon, the Carlyle Group, Osama bin Laden
and the Saudi royal family, David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, and the
presidency and vice-presidency of the United States, is: George Herbert
Walker Bush.

"Theory?" To the contrary....
It is a well-documented, tragic and-especially terrifying fact.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------









































+++++++++



Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Quiet Relationship between Syria, Israel and Iranian Factions....


Israel's defense strategy in the Belgian case is not, however, to throw the blame onto Hobeika. Rather, according to Kohn, the main thrust of the official response to the survivors' complaint, recently submitted to the investigating judge in Brussels by Michele Hirsch, the Belgian attorney hired by Israel, argues that the Belgian courts do not have the authority to try the case at all...and because Israel has absolutely nothing against Elie Hobeika since he never set foot at Sabra and Shatila.
The complaint relies significantly on the 1983 report of Israel's Kahan Commission of Inquiry into the massacres. Quoting somewhat selectively, the complaint states that the commission found Sharon "personally responsible for the massacres..."


Elie Hobeika: He who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Our Lebanese heroes who gave their lives on the altars of the nation also taught us that he who has faith in the nation, in liberty, and in the rights of its citizens will defend them with absolute vigor and most honorable dedication, and will not fear any threats, threat of oppression, the loss of position or property, or the disappearance of "Thyself" in a Fiery Syrian/Israeli Car BOMB, with CIA's Blessing... aiding and abetting, covering-up, inventing disinformation to muddy the waters... etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The quiet relationship between Israel and Iran.

Syria's role in leaning on Hezbollah

***************************************



WMR has learned of additional pressure being brought to bear by Syria's enigmatic military intelligence service, led by Syrian President Bashar al Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, on Lebanese Hezbollah.

Yesterday, WMR reported on Shawkat's role in eliminating Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh with a car bomb in Damascus. The role of Asef Shawkat's covert operatives has been evident since the January 24, 2002 car bombing in Beirut of Lebanese Member of Parliament, ex-Minister and Popular Christian political leader Mr. Elie Hobeika. The car bombings by Shawkat's operatives gave critical plausible deniability to the CIA and Mossad. Hobeika was, according to our intelligence sources, aware of the links between The Club, Assef Shawqat, Iran, the United States, and Israel,and much much more...

Lebanon has not been responsive to the Bush Administration. It has had to endure serial failures during a thirteen-years run of failed projects in Lebanon....since the advent of the cacophonies of Netanyahu , Clean Break, PNAC, JINSA and the Neocons...Mr. Elie Hobeika was MURDERED by the USA's CIA, in collaboration with MOSSAD and ASSEF Shawkat's goons, PRECISELY because ALL these plans were presented to him, packaged obviously in obfuscated ways... trying to "entice" him, "incentivize" him to join.... in this "Endeavor" and the New alliance of CIA/MOSSAD.... but Mr. Hobeika "saw through" their "presentations..." UTTER Failure, and an attempt to pull him into a "quagmire" of sorts.... in order to sink him into carrying their dirty hats.... one more time.... in an abominably unfair way... which is always their way.....That's why ELIE Hobeika refused all their attempts at pulling him back into their charades.... and their miserable plans of the 70s and 80s.... etc.

Among these were the murder of Rafik Hariri, the 2006 July War, the tempting 'forward reaching' NATO airbase at Kleiat, importing Salafists to fight Hezbollah, trying to organize a Northern Sunni army around Tripoli and Akkar to fight the Shia in the South, offering to fund a third Shia political party to confront Hezbollah and Amal, working to ignite a civil war, and since January 24th 2002, proven allegations of a 'green light' for political assassinations in an attempt to finger and use Syria.... as a willing partner and convenient cover for their dark plans, by way of Elliott Abrams, Assef Shawqat etc. and their Lebanese/Syrian Cohorts... The Club is nearly at its wits end and is becoming aggressive, according to many Staff Member at the US Senate Intelligence Committee.... and various Intelligence sources in Europe and the USA....

That knowledge, and the fact mentioned in earlier intelligence reports, that he adamantly refused offers, inducing him to join this covert US strategy , since the latter part of the 1990s, and because it is a given, for people "in the know", that had he been alive today, he would be able to decipher with great ease, all these covert links, was considered dangerous in some circles in Damascus, Jerusalem, and Washington... Hence, the Savage assassination of January 24th 2002, by Shawqat's goons....

WMR has also learned from our Middle East sources that the capture by the French Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST) of a Hezbollah cell in France and the simultaneous rolling up of another Hezbollah cell in Morocco by Moroccan intelligence, came as a result of information provided directly by Shawkat. Apparently, Shawkat wanted to warn Hezbollah against retaliation for the Mughniyah assassination.

The ploy to send a warning to Hezbollah from Damascus had its limits. A French security and intelligence delegation from France is due in Beirut today to work out a quiet deal on the capture of the Hezbollah cell in France, and the Hezbollah cell in Morocco has not been charged with any crimes. However, it is clear that Hezbollah is being warned that its operations can be contained with the help of Syria and, to a lesser extent, Iran.

As far as Iran's discrete ties to Israel are concerned, WMR has learned from Middle East sources that Iran's former top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, is a descendant of one of Tehran's wealthiest Jewish merchant families. Larijani remains a member of the Iranian National Security Council and is a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

These familial religious links and pasts are not lost on Israeli leaders. Israel's former President, Moshe Katsav, forced from office over sexual assault allegations from female staffers, is an ethnic Iranian. On September 25, 2006, WMR reported, "Moshe Katsav, an Iranian Yazdi Jew, is said to have an important direct link to former Iranian President Mohamed Khatami. One of Katsav's cousins studied with Khatami at Tehran University."

Such old religious ties are not merely limited to Iran. A top Saudi journalist told this editor that many people in Saudi Arabia are well aware that the present ruling Saud ruling family are descendants of a Jewish merchant family from Basra, in present-day Iraq. Their ancestor is Mordakhai bin Ibrahim bin Moshe, who changed his name to Markhan bin Ibrahim Musa. One of Markhan's sons was named Saud, an ancestor of the ruling Saud family. There have been and remain close and discrete links between Israeli and Saudi intelligence, as well as quiet financial and other commercial ties between the two nations.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Behind the Media Smoke Screen in the Middle east.



Elie Hobeika: He who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Our Lebanese heroes who gave their lives on the altars of the nation also taught us that he who has faith in the nation, in liberty, and in the rights of its citizens will defend them with absolute vigor and most honorable dedication, and will not fear any threats, threat of oppression, the loss of position or property, or the disappearance of "Thyself" in a Fiery Syrian/Israeli Car BOMB, with CIA's Blessing, aiding and abetting, since 1997, when he adamantly refused to play Ball again...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February , 2008 -- Behind the media smoke screen in the Middle East.

Reality paints a much different picture of Middle East covert operations.



Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell tipped his hand just a bit when he recently opined that Syria may have been responsible for the February 12 car bombing in Damascus of Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh. McConnell, according to WMR's Middle East Intelligence sources, provided only a small part of the ntelligence cooperation that actually occurs in the Middle East between factions from the Syrians, Iranians, Israelis, and Americans.

It is becoming apparent that the head of Syrian military intelligence, Assef Shawqat, and a group of his operatives in Syria and Lebanon have been carrying out a number of car bombings, including that of Mughniyeh and Lebanese politicians, in order to provide "plausible deniability" and a firewall between Syria and the Israelis and Americans. This whole Covert effort started in earnest with the Assassination of Mr. Elie Hobeika, January 24th 2002. Mr. Hobeika was closest to this group, earlier in his career, hence it was decided to take him out of the picture first, because he adamantly refused offers to induce him to join this whole strategy anew, since the latter part of the 1990s, and because it is a given, for people "in the know", that had he been alive today, he would be able to decipher all these covert links with exact details, names, and more...! Significantly, Shawkat is the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

WMR's sources report that "a faction" within the Iranian military decided to help the Shawkat faction take out Mughniyeh in order to avoid an outbreak of war between Hezbollah and Israel in south Lebanon and a possible concurrent "shock and awe" US air strike on Iran. Hezbollah's operational command maintains close links with the Iranian embassies in Syria and Lebanon. In addition, Hezbollah's Special Security Apparatus is provided with weapons, military training, and money by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Al Qods force of the IRGC.

Shawkat has maintained close ties with the CIA, providing the agency with extraordinary rendition prisons and torture rooms for individuals grabbed by CIA operatives around the world, including Canadian citizen Maher Arar, a native of Syria. In September 2006, a Canadian Commission of Inquiry concluded that Arar, who was kidnapped while transiting JFK Airport in New York, was tortured by Syrian military intelligence. The report stated that Shawkat's service tortured Arar "while interrogating him during the period he was held incommunicado at the SMI’s [Syrian Military Intelligence's] Palestine Branch facility.”

After the car bomb hit on Mughniyah in Damascus, Shawkat's intelligence operatives ensured that the scene of the bombing was completely cleansed by
first light the next morning. The only signs that the bombing had occurred were some black marks on the street and some minor damage to adjacent walls.

What is lost on the Western media is that there are covert channels between Israeli, Syrian, and Iranian intelligence. The Secretary of the conservative
Islamic Coalition Society and close friend of Ayatollah Ali Khamanei is Habibollah Asgaroladi, a radical Muslim who rejected attempts by former President Mohammad Khatami to improve relations with the United States. Khatami's entreaties were also rejected by the neocons in the George W. Bush administration.

Asgaroladi is a member of the Expediency Council, an influential advisory group in the country chaired by former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
who was the main Iranian interlocutor between the Americans and Israelis in the Iran-contra scandal during the Reagan-Bush administration in the 1980s. More noteworthy is the fact that Asgaroladi, counted as one of Iran's richest men, converted to Islam from Judaism during the time of the Shah's reign.

According to WMR's Iranian sources, beyond his radical rhetoric, Asgaroladi serves as an important back channel to Israel, especially in matters of trade matters. Asgaroladi's position in Iran has been likened by WMR's Middle East sources to the large number of Turkish leaders whose families converted
from Judaism to Islam before and after the Turkish secular revolution of Kemal Ataturk. In fact, knowledgeable Turkish sources report that Ataturk,
himself, was one such convert. These Turkish leaders provide much of the support for close Turkish-Israeli relations, including military and intelligence links.

Our Middle East intelligence sources report that the Syrians, Israelis, and Iranians prefer that U.S. intelligence remain largely ignorant of "some covert" and "subtle links" between Israel, the minority Alawite Muslim regime in Damascus, and factions within the mullahs in Tehran. However, it is just possible, that ignorance by the United States... that could propel America into a disastrous military action in Iran.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Bush's strangest Syrian bedfellow.... Assef Shawkat.




---------------------------------------------------------------
Special Analysis.
**********************************************

February 13, 2008 -- Bush's strangest Syrian bedfellow: At center of suspicion in Hezbollah leader's car bombing.... America's "Most Wanted" Imad F. Mugniyeh.

The head of Syrian military intelligence, Assef Shawkat, is no stranger to working with the CIA. Syria has, since 9/11, served as a host for the torture of "extraordinarily renditioned" prisoners captured by the CIA. Shawkat has been at the center of the CIA's program.

WMR has learned from reliable sources that the car bombing in Damascus of Hezbollah military commander Imad Mugniyah on February 12 was carried out by Shawkat with the active encouragement and support of Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams, CIA, OSP and Israel's Mossad. WMR has reported in the past that Abrams is the coordinator within the Bush White House of political assassinations, particularly those in the Middle East, and specifically, similar car bombing assassinations in Lebanon. WMR has also previously reported that many of the car bombings in Lebanon were the result of coordination between Israeli, American, and Syrian operatives, including "rogue" Syrians and Lebanese agents in the employ of Assef Shawkat.

Mugniyah was wanted by the United States and Israel for a number of terrorist attacks in the 1980s and 1990s, including the 1983 bombings of the US Embassy and Marine Barracks in Beirut, the 1985 hijacking of an Athens-to-Rome TWA flight in which Navy diver Robert Stethem was murdered, and the kidnapping and murder of Beirut CIA station chief William F. Buckley in 1984 and Marine Corps Lt. Col. William Higgins in 1988.

Significantly, the Israeli Prime Minister's office has denied any role in Imad Fayez Mugniyeh's assassination. However, Israeli government and intelligence officials are happy that it occurred.

Mugniyah's car exploded at around 10:30 pm in the up-market Tantheem Kafer Souseh neighborhood of Damascus. WMR has learned that the car bombing of Mugniyah was to be timed with the February 9th birthday of President Ronald Reagan, a gesture by Shawkat to the Americans, but the specially designed Mitsubishi seats containing the bombs were installed, or "activated..." later... due to "Political calculations... ", linked to the Intelligence "aims" sought....and security Concerns..., resulting in the February 12th assassination, a timing quite reminiscent for Assef Shawkat and his brutal "Henchmen".... [ Assef's last "promotion" dates to February 13th 2005...]
The "ultimate Promotion" for Assef Shawkat's LONG Murder career ... is around the
corner now...

In the Middle East, dates, particularly anniversaries, carry much weight. The assassination of the popular Christian Leader, Lebanese Member of Parliament, and ex-Minister in several Hariri Governments, Mr. Elie Hobeika on January 24th 2002, coincided with the birthday of Elliott Abrams..., the then-National Security Council Middle East director. Hobeika's car bombing assassination in Beirut was also carried out by Shawkat's operatives, according to WMR's Middle East sources. The Hobeika assassination was the first in a series carried out by the CIA and Mossad with the assistance of Shawkat's intelligence operatives in Lebanon.

Shawkat, by delivering the goods on the assassination of America's "Most Wanted" Imad F. Mugniyeh, has ensured that he will now receive the protection of the Bush White House in the current UN investigation of car bombings in Lebanon, most notably that of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Now, the 241 Marines, William F. Buckley, Colonel Higgins, Robert Stethem, the 63 Murdered at the US Embassy in 83, and many others,
can rest in Peace.... 25 years later.....

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

Sanctions on Businessman Target Syria's Inner Sanctum...LOL
is a load of bullshit, made at Langley's CIA, to cover its tracks and its
Solid association with Syria's KILLER ASSEF SHAWKAT and his Murder
Enterprise,which is a Joint Venture with the White House's Murder Inc....signed on Feb. 13th, which expanded sanctions on Syria is a pathological lie, made by
pathological LIARS.
The move freezes any assets Makhlouf holds in the United States and restricts
his transactions through U.S. financial institutions. The impact, however,
may be largely political and psychological, as he is unlikely to have
identifiable U.S. holdings, experts said.

The action was taken under a presidential executive order, signed on Feb.
13, which expanded sanctions on Syria -- covering support for activities
related to terrorism, narcotics and intervention in Lebanon -- to include
corruption.
...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a "taste" of what's to come for Lebanon.....

Annapolis will represent another signpost in the US drive to solidify the de facto unholy alliance that has bound Israel and the so-called "moderate" Arab states under US patronage. In this case, it is difficult to be optimistic about prospects for Lebanon or the region....


For Lebanon the US project means eliminating Hizbullah's core "Resistance" capabilities..., one way or the other, so as to remove Israel's only genuine security threat and deprive Syria and Iran of leverage in their own negotiations with the US regarding the Golan Heights and nuclear arms respectively....
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/iraq.htm
However, in light of the failure of the July 2006 US-Israeli war to destroy Hezbollah, the US has for now shifted its strategy away from a military solution to co-opting the Lebanese state, its cronies, stooges and creeps of Elliott Abrams, itself to pursue these tasks on its behalf-much as it has done in Palestine with Abu Mazen's recent declaration of war against Hamas....

By recognizing March 14's disputed claims to executive authority (now apparently reinforced with the governments' assumption of presidential powers), encouraging it to reject the opposition's repeated calls for a national unity government, and supporting its call for the full implementation of UNSC resolution 1559, the US appears to believe it has accomplished the first stage of this strategy which has focused on removing the Resistance's official cloak of state legitimacy it enjoyed under President CIA Lahoud....

The second phase of US strategy is to create what the Pentagon calls a "strategic alliance" with the Lebanese army--the only state institution that enjoys broad support from all Lebanese communities, regardless of sect or class-- by transforming it into a force that would confront, rather than support, the Resistance. US military aid has been rising exponentially, as has the EU's; while March 14 has
been working hard to install officers loyal to its cause in a bid to reverse the army's pro-Resistance sympathies...., and the "White House Murder Inc.", was busy... Murdering those who are not "compliant"...[like HK, Elie Hobeika, who categorically refused to Play Ball with their criminal Tactics..., despite the Carrots and the Heavy, Ugly, despicable, deceitful "sticks"... of CIA..., and paid the Ultimate
Price for his correct and courageous stands], as was the case, with the despicable assassination of General Francois El-Hajj ....and many More..., by the exact same "Template"..., a rogue criminal Enterprise, The White House's Murder INC.

After seven years of ignoring the plight of the Palestinians and often actively undermining the “Road Map” and other such peace agreements, the Bush administration decided to convene Annapolis at a time when the American, Israeli, and Palestinian leaderships were in their weakest political positions; hardly a recipe for success, unless, we look at things from a different angle.

The Palestinian leadership, considered illegitimate by a large portion of Palestinians, when looked at from this new angle, barely makes it into the picture as the disposable policy conduit of the heavy weights, the U.S. and Israel.

The only way we can understand and explain Annapolis is through the consistent behavior of both the U.S. and Israel over the last years; through their methods of operation - that would hardly change overnight - and not through their words or photo ops. We need to look for similarities in their policies and approaches and to consider where they would be implemented next and how Annapolis would facilitate that.

Fighting terrorism and outside threats is at the core of both American and Israeli domestic and foreign policies and their sustainability depends on such threats. Recently, even though such threats have not diminished, the populations all over the world have adjusted to their levels as in the case of Al-Qaeda, or outright rejected them as insignificant regional threats as in the case of the violence between Israelis and Palestinians, even worse for Israel, more and more the violence is perceived as disproportionately one sided and a direct result of the occupation of Palestinian lands and Israeli intransigence.

For the U.S. and Israel to preserve their policies and strategic objectives, the threat level has to evolve and increase beyond what it is today.

The grounds are being prepped for such an increase and Annapolis is but a “signpost”, it is so correctly cautioned. The U.S. and Israel are actively engaged, through the use of military force, economic pressure, financial incentives, political arm-twisting, etc…, in creating and widening rifts between countries and within populations in the Middle East in order to transform an entire region stretching from Pakistan to Algeria.

By the day, the rifts are expanding in Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine, and it is no secret that the U.S. is going to implement the so-called successes of the Anbar province of Iraq, paying a segment of the population for forcibly policing another, in the volatile Tribal Regions of Pakistan. We also know of clandestine operations in Iran to undermine the Iranian government through discontented minorities. Such clandestine operation could also be taking place elsewhere.

The large and enduring threat that the U.S. and Israel are looking for can be described as a contiguous swath of land where the so-called radical Muslims roam unchecked. The relationships between populations and countries that compose it is of no consequence as long as, to the average western observer, the region resembles an incomprehensible and menacing brew, a sort of an active volcano, impossible to control or predict, that could spew its terrorism lava at any moment and only the vigilant eye of the U.S. and its allies could protect the world.

“with us or against us” will be redefined and re-imposed. Even though the question is the same as after 9/11, the scope is different. After 9/11, it was imposed on countries, now, it will be imposed on individuals in the greater Middle East region; it will be the question that defines the fault line of a rift.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/iraq.htm
Annapolis is the forum where the new “with us or against us” was formally proposed and the Palestinian issue will be split in half along the fault line it creates. There will be moderate Palestinians who are “with us”, and radicals “against us”; the Palestinian issue would be solved by simply having it vanish.

Annapolis is where Israel is given the cover to pursue two diametrically opposed policies. One that would reward a so-called moderate (compliant) West Bank with some form of peace while the other would punish Gaza with the harshest of treatments to make certain that Gaza is forced into the “against us” camp.

The so-called moderate Arab states would use the treatment of the West Bank as the fig leaf they so desperately need to relieve them from the burdensome Palestinian issue. They might even help rehabilitate Israel, normalize relationships, or even form an alliance if Israel is made to be perceived as the only regional power that could counter-balance a menacing nuclear Iran.

In contrast, the treatment of Gaza, which is mostly Muslim, would be a stronger rallying cry for the radicals and would surely increase their fervor and numbers.

Both sides of the rift, the “with us” and “against us”, would have their supporting arguments but they are no longer countries, they are now individuals. The net effect of this policy toward the Palestinian issue would be the polarization of Arab and Muslim societies down to the smallest of social units; the rift will be within families, even between couples.

Still, this is not sufficient for the U.S. and Israel since these individuals are too dispersed. If we were to think of this new policy toward Palestine as the driving force behind this rift, the critical mass where all the ingredients are present, the powder keg that would make it happen is Pakistan and no one other than bin Laden is holding the match.

In his recent audio, released through Al-Jazeera, bin Laden hinted at the illegality of the War in Afghanistan but supplied no credible evidence. His attempt at driving a wedge between Europe and the U.S. could only be described as amateurish and his allegations dismissed as bogus.

As someone who has researched and written extensively on the legality of the Afghanistan war, I can assure you that bin Laden’s allegations are no joke. The Afghanistan war was illegal beyond the Iraq war; the victims of the Afghanistan war are not only the innocent civilians, but also every soldier who has died, and even you and I.

It is reported that bin Laden’s recent release targeted Europe’s population. The truth is, it targeted U.S. and European leaderships since they are the only ones who knew what he was talking about.

The proper evidence will be supplied by bin Laden sooner or later since the West would never dare supply it. It will surface when it benefits him the most. The most likely time would be, since it also fits the often observed symbiotic relationship between him and Bush, shortly after Musharraf, the Pakistani president, launches the long awaited military campaign against the Tribal Regions with the help of U.S. military advisers.

Should we wait for bin Laden to light the fuse when it benefits him and those imposing the “with us or against us” option, or, should I inform you now in the hope that you could resurrect the good options?

Since I have written about this crime extensively, and fulfilled my duty by informing the Democratic Judiciary Committees in both U.S. House and Senate, I see no reason why you should not have known about it even sooner.

What bin Laden said is true; the evidence that Al-Qaeda bore the sole responsibility for 9/11 was obtained by the U.S., through human intelligence, on September 26, 2001, ten days before the invasion of Afghanistan.

The tape released by the Pentagon on December 13, 2001, showing bin Laden confessing to Khaled Al-Harbi of his involvement in the attacks was the result of a sting operation run by U.S. intelligence with the help of Saudi intelligence on September 26, 2001.

Intelligence operatives had four days advance notice of the date of the meeting and taping, twenty four hours advance notice of its location, and knew that bin Laden would be in that village for at least three hours if not overnight since his family also lived in that village.

Instead of killing him or capturing him as per Bush’s famous promise “dead or alive”, this perfectly scripted opportunity was used to tape him. If bin Laden was killed or captured on that date, the U.S. would not have had any international support or legal standing to invade Afghanistan ten days later.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/iraq.htm
Based on actions by NATO, and statements by high-ranking Pakistani officials in the beginning of October 2001, the evidence seems to have been shared with them because of their importance in the war effort, but, such evidence of bin Laden’s guilt was not shared with the Taliban even though they offered bin Laden in exchange.

The U.S. had the military clout and, so shortly after 9/11, the strong international support that would have forced the Taliban to hand over bin Laden and avert war if evidence of his guilt was provided. This is also the path dictated by the Geneva Convention and the UN Charter. The U.S. chose to conceal the evidence and go ahead with the invasion; that is what bin Laden means by “the U.S. insisted”.

The release of such information by bin Laden, coupled with verses from the Koran, Hadeeth, or Muslim history relating to acts of treason against Islam or the Prophet, augmented by announcement of the capture of a Saudi intelligence cell inside Al-Qaeda assigned to kill him, would surely inflame sentiments in Pakistan and elsewhere against Musharraf and his patrons, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

The rift could only get wider and would stretch from Pakistan to Gaza on the Mediterranean and maybe even Algeria and Morocco on the Atlantic; now that is big enough. Iran, caught in the middle would be further isolated and cut off from an important energy client, India. The U.S. would re-deploy to the safety of the Kurdish area in Iraq and meddle at its leisure while the rest of Iraq plunges into a civil war. The Iraqi Sunnis would rely on the U.S. for military support, and Saudi Arabia for financial support and volunteers. Iran would be sucked deeper into the conflict.

This last option, “with us or against us”, put on the table in Annapolis is a lose-lose proposition; it is an ugly choice between sides of a rift at the expense, and thereby demise, of all the good options that reflect peoples’ aspirations, interests, visions, and true potential....

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/iraq.htm
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A 'great national leader,' ...? for the A Team....of Resistance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

You only have yourselves to Blame.... CIA/MOSSAD.

The West that would allow such a public accolade be paid to a
butcher like Ariel Sharon in the first place, and calls him a
"Man of Peace", should not be surprised, "If Mughniyeh may
so-easily be described in some World media as a
'great national leader,' ...
Then how do we describe the likes of MOSSAD, SS commander
Meir DAGAN, Assef Shawkat and his henchmen, any of the
faceless CIA assassins who operate in today's "New" Cold War,
or any who committed war crimes under Ariel Sharon, Begin,
Barak, BUSH, ASSAD, and others?"
"The only 'greatness' Sharon and BUSH have been accorded,
stems from some quarters in the Western media which are
cowards, ignorant and confused, bought by CIA disinformation
machinations, structured in DC, Langley and Herzliah, with
redundant echoes, bouncing off satellites and fiber-optic cables
worldwide....
The CIA, MOSSAD Alliance, started anew in 1996...,
is a marriage made In HELL, and will bring Havoc to
America's shores and cities.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me make some Facts clear ounce and for all,
The ONLY reason why the ASSADS are still in
power in Syria, is because Israel's Government
and Security establishment supports a Alawite
Regime in Syria. Period.
Now, the Assads Regime "might" be showing
some "cracks" from INSIDE it's structure, based
on Family and Billions Stolen, tens of Billions....
since the "advent" of Assef Shawkat....
Assef Shawkat "rammed" through the Assad's
family, like a Bullet Train in the 90s, and married
Bushra.... following the Murder of BASIL
al-Assad?
Basil was adamantly opposed to this Monster....

He rose through the ranks....especially since 2002.
He moved way up on Feb. 13th 2005....
In Feb. "13th 2008".... he is making moves for the
KILL against the ASSADS, in order to become the
NEW Dictator of Damascus himself NOW..... because
BASHAR is too "enamored" with Hassan Nasrallah.....
and ASSEF is not...Assef is supported by the USA's
services to the hilt, and they are trying to Help him
make and prepare a winning strategy to replace
BASHAR and the KILLER MAHER Al-ASSAD,
with the "couple" ASSEF / BUSHRA ASSAD....
Israel can live with this Strategy and is supporting
it NOW. ........ !!!
Israel will never support a Strategy of Removing the
Alawites completely, to replace them with a Sunni
dominated Regime, which Chirac and Bush were....
contemplating.... some time ago in 2006.... in fact
BUSH and US services, when push came to shove.....
DID Not support even including Damascus in
the Israeli campaign of 2006, but pushed Chirac
into coming out openly..., asking for it publicly,
and the Israelis said NIET...
Now, there is a Coup D'état being "primed" in
Damascus.... the timing remains a Mystery...?
But you can be sure that Assef Shawkat
will be the winner, should he be able to Pull it off....
with the HELP OF ......????
The Lebanese can only watch, and should never
get embroiled in such a DOG's fight....
Lebanon can't remedy that, but it can
avoid tactless behavior that worsens
the situation....
One key fact to remember. In addition to acting as a
"lily pad" from which the US and NATO can project
power into Syria, Iraq, and beyond... we are meddling
into muddy waters already... as is the case in .........
SCS....!


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hezbollah: The Deadly Cell Phone Ping? LOL


[ Stratfor is Disinformation for CIA, Texas funded and Texas
based,]

Summary. lol

In the wake of the Feb. 12 assassination of top Hezbollah commander Imad
Mughniyah, the organization has instructed its operatives to exercise
caution when using cell phones to avoid becoming targets of Israeli attacks.
Due to advancements in electronic surveillance, however, Hezbollah will have
to do a lot more to evade the deadly cell phone ping.

Fresh Analysis.... For CIA/MOSSAD, SS.


Hezbollah has plenty of reasons to be paranoid in the wake of the Feb. 12
assassination of top commander Imad Mughniyah. Not only does Israel possibly
have more targeted assassinations in store, but Hezbollah cannot be sure of
the origin of the leak that sacrificed its most seasoned and innovative
operative.

There are indications that Hezbollah suspects the leak came from Syrian
intelligence. When Hezbollah officials like Mughniyah travel to Damascus,
they inform the Syrian authorities just before they cross the border into
Syria. Once they are inside the country, Syrian intelligence vehicles escort
them to their destination. This is to say that the Syrian regime
necessarily was complicit in the attack, you can be sure that Assef Shawkat
did it--even if, Hezbollah remains a key asset for Damascus - but there is a
possibility that a foreign intelligence agency such as the Israeli Mossad
recruited an asset within the Syrian intelligence network. This could
explain why Syria has maintained a highly defensive posture following the
assassination, making almost daily announcements about the progress of the
bombing investigation and indirectly blaming Israel and Western-backed Arab
governments in the region....Let me make some Facts clear ounce and for all,
The ONLY reason why the ASSADS are still in power in Syria, is because
Israel's Government and Security establishment supports a Alawite Regime in
Syria. Period. Now, the Assads Regime "might" be showing some "cracks" from
INSIDE it's structure, based on Family and Billions Stolen, tens of
Billions.... since the "advent" of Assef Shawkat....

Assef Shawkat "rammed" through the Assad's family, like a Bullet Train in
the 90s, and married Bushra.... following the Murder of BASIL al-Assad?
Basil was adamantly opposed to this Monster....He rose through the
ranks....especially since 2002. He moved way up on Feb. 13th 2005....
In Feb. "13th 2008".... he is making moves for the KILL against the ASSADS,
in order to become the NEW Dictator of Damascus himself NOW..... because
BASHAR is too "enamored" with Hassan Nasrallah.....and ASSEF is not...Assef
is supported by the USA's services to the hilt, and they are trying to Help
him make and prepare a winning strategy to replace BASHAR and the KILLER
MAHER Al-ASSAD, with the "couple" ASSEF / BUSHRA ASSAD....
Israel can live with this Strategy and is supporting it NOW. ........ may be
!!! Israel will never support a Strategy of Removing the Alawites
completely, to replace them with a Sunni dominated Regime, which Chirac and
Bush were....contemplating.... some time ago in 2006.... in fact BUSH and US
services, when push came to shove.....DID Not support even including
Damascus in the Israeli campaign of 2006, but pushed Chirac into coming out
openly..., asking for it publicly, and the Israelis said NIET...Now, there
is a Coup D'état being "primed" in Damascus.... the timing remains a
Mystery...? But you can be sure that Assef Shawkat will be the winner,
should he be able to Pull it off.... with the HELP OF ......???? The
Lebanese can only watch, and should never get embroiled in such a DOG's
fight....Lebanon can't remedy that, but it can avoid tactless behavior that
worsens the situation.... One key fact to remember. In addition to acting as
a "lily pad" from which the US and NATO can project power into Syria, Iraq,
and beyond... we are meddling into muddy waters already... as is the case in
.........SCS....! Change in Syria will benefit Lebanon that much..., it's
not the possibility of a Sunni fundamentalist takeover that we should be
concerned with in my opinion, this is a scarecrow that the Assad regime has
propped up to justify its existence to the west, the problem is that Syria
wields too much power over Lebanon with the acquiescence of a lot of
Lebanese, no one in Syria is crazy enough to give that up. If Assad falls
his replacement may not be as brutal but it's difficult to imagine less
interference in Lebanese affairs...Then, for all intents and purposes, our
Problem is mainly an Internal Lebanese/Lebanese Problem .... which should be
addressed by "adult" Politicians asap, even if we have to TOSS all the old
ones out for good, and start anew....

Following the assassination, Hezbollah has severely tightened security in
Lebanon and temporarily curtailed the travel of any key officials to Syria.
Stratfor has learned that the Hezbollah leadership also has instructed its
cadres to be extremely vigilant in their movements and use of mobile phones.
Hezbollah operatives are under strict orders not to answer phone calls from
unknown callers. Instead, the operatives must first change locations and
then return the calls if necessary.

The reason for these instructions is the relative ease with which a hostile
intelligence agency can triangulate a target's location by exploiting the
structure of GSM networks. Using either mobile identification or
multilaterization, the location of the target phone can be determined within
the network. Of these two methods, multilaterization (more commonly known as
phone pinging) is more precise, yielding accuracies within five meters of
the location of the phone. Hezbollah is operating on the logic that when a
call is received, a hard connection is made with the tower and the target's
location immediately can be pinpointed. However, if the target first moves
to a different location before returning the call (preferably in an area
with fewer network contact points, towers and receivers to enlarge the
target scope), the mobile user likely will be harder to locate and will be
exposed to less risk.

Mobile phone networks are not particularly useful for tracking moving
targets on the street, unless the phones being used have GPS modules.
However, this tactic still can help pinpoint facilities or verify that a
target is at a particular location (such as the building where Mughniyah
allegedly held a meeting with Hamas and Syrian intelligence officials) prior
to the launch of a planned attack.

This exploitation of phones also can be applied to those that rely on
satellite networks. A case in point is the April 1996 assassination of
Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudayev, the first president of Chechnya, in the heyday
of the first Chechen war. Rumor has it that Dudayev was compromised by
then-colleague Vladislav Surkov (who now is Russian President Vladimir Putin's
deputy chief of staff) before the latter switched sides and allied with the
Kremlin. Through Surkov, the Russian security establishment obtained Dudayev's
personal phone numbers and triangulated his precise location while he was
using his satellite phone in southern Chechnya; Russian forces later dropped
a 500-pound bomb on the safe house where he was hiding.

Given that the instructions for cell phone use were given to Hezbollah
operatives in the immediate aftermath of the Mughniyah assassination, there
is a distinct possibility that a simple cell phone ping is what gave away
Mughniyah's location. That said, Mughniyah was obsessed with operational
security and likely was well aware of the risks involved in using a cell
phone. Nicknamed "the Fox," Mughniyah probably was not one to fall for such
a trap.

High-value targets like Mughniyah usually [don't carry any cell phones,
ever, and Stratfor is Disinformation for CIA, Texas funded and Texas based,]
to avoid being traced. There is always the possibility that a compromised
Syrian intelligence officer fitted Mughniyah's phone with a SIM card for the
attackers to trace, but it would have been far easier for the source simply
to inform the perpetrators of the time and location of Mughniyah's meeting.
There is also the distinct possibility that software was installed on his
cell phone to facilitate targeting his location. This could have been done
by someone with access to his phone or, given the right resources, it could
have been installed on the phone remotely from another phone or a computer
without his knowledge. Once the software is installed, it can calculate the
user's location within the network and send this information to a preset
place, either via e-mail or using SMS. However, this is dependent on the
surveillant knowing the phone number for the SIM card, as well as the phone
or SIM card having enough memory available to copy the program.

Moreover, seasoned operatives like Mughniyah often are familiar with the
U.S. government's cell phone tracking abilities, in addition to the practice
of using multilaterization and network exploitation to pinpoint a target's
location. These methods utilize the signals used by networks and phones to
communicate and exchange data when they are connected. Phones often receive
redundant signals while connected, which ensures that continuous
communication can occur even while the user is moving considerable
distances. The strength of the signals varies with the distance between the
device and the tower or communication point, allowing a phone to be located
within a particular network. By calculating either the strength of the tower
signals being received by the phone or the time it takes them to reach the
device, the phone's location can be triangulated. The owner of the phone
does not even need to be using it for this to take place, but it must be
connected to the network. The most effective way to beat this system,
therefore, is to remove either the battery or the SIM card - or both - from
the phone when it is not in use.

The FBI also has earned the U.S. government several lawsuits by turning
criminals' cell phones into microphones and transmitters for eavesdropping.
This process, known as using a roving bug, can be carried out by getting the
mobile provider to remotely install a piece of software on a handset without
the owner's knowledge that activates the microphone - even if the target is
not on a call.

The instructions given to Hezbollah operatives on cell phone use thus
reflect a high degree of naiveté...., High-value targets like Mughniyah
usually [don't carry any cell phones, ever, and Stratfor is Disinformation
for CIA, Texas funded and Texas based,] on the part of Hezbollah's
leadership. Even the Hamas leaders, who also have gone underground for fear
of Israeli reprisal attacks, have taken far more logical measures to avoid
detection. According to a Feb. 12 Al Hayat report, high-value Hamas targets
are prohibited from using cell phones. A center in Gaza has also been
created to filter landline calls for these leaders, and callers must enter a
pass code before their calls will go through....

Despite the security risks associated with cell phone use, the devices have
become as much of a necessity for militant organizations like Hezbollah as
they have for businessmen. Counterterrorism operations can continue to
benefit from this and further advances in electronic surveillance
technology. Hezbollah operatives, meanwhile, will have to take more
extraordinary measures to avoid having their phone conversations end with a
boom.....High-value targets like Mughniyah usually [don't carry any cell
phones, ever, and Stratfor is Disinformation for CIA, Texas funded and Texas
based,]




--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congressman Howard Berman on Israel and the pro-Israel lobby:

This Israel firster is replacing Tom Lantos as the chair of House
Committee on Foreign Affairs as I am sure that AIPAC is very happy
with such!:

Congressman Howard Berman on Israel and the pro-Israel lobby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-BGY7X1ro


Such US support of Israel is what got US tragically attacked at the
World Trade Center in 1993 and on 9/11:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=39590

Additional about Mearsheimer/Walt at the following URL:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=49800

http://NEOCONZIONISTTHREAT.BLOGSPOT.COM

Look what Tom Hayden wrote about Berman and his brother after the
Mearsheimer/Walt paper came out:

Tom Hayden: Things Come 'Round in Mideast:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060718_tom_hayden_things_come_round/


By Tom Hayden

Editor's note: In this essay, veteran social activist Tom Hayden,
drawing upon his own rude political awakening to the realities of
Israeli and Middle East politics during the 1980s, warns that the
Israel lobby in the U.S. aims to "roll back the clock" and "change the
map" of the region and that its neoconservative supporters will
probably try to use the current Middle East crisis to ignite a larger
war against Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran.

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


Twenty-five years ago I stared into the eyes of Michael Berman, chief
operative for his congressman-brother, Howard Berman. I was a neophyte
running for the California Assembly in a district that the Bermans
claimed belonged to them.
"I represent the Israeli defense forces," Michael said. I thought he
was joking. He wasn't. Michael seemed to imagine himself the
gatekeeper protecting Los Angeles' Westside for Israel's political
interests, and those of the famous Berman-Waxman machine. Since Jews
represented one-third of the Democratic district's primary voters,
Berman held a balance of power.
All that year I tried to navigate the district's Jewish politics. The
solid historical liberalism of the Westside was a favorable factor, as
was the strong support of many Jewish community leaders. But the
community was moving in a more conservative direction. Some were
infuriated at my sponsorship of Santa Monica's tough rent control
ordinance. Many in the organized community were suspicious of the New
Left for becoming Palestinian sympathizers after the Six Day War; they
would become today's neoconservatives.
I had traveled to Israel in a generally supportive capacity, meeting
officials from all parties, studying energy projects, befriending
peace advocates like the writer Amos Oz. I also met with Palestinians
and commented favorably on the works of Edward Said. As a result, a
Berman ally prepared an anti-Hayden dossier in an attempt to discredit
my candidacy with the Democratic leadership in the California state
capital.
This led to the deli lunch with Michael Berman. He and his brother
were privately leaning toward an upcoming young prosecutor named Adam
Schiff, who later became the congressman from Pasadena. But they
calculated that Schiff couldn't win without name recognition, so they
were considering "renting" me the Assembly seat, Berman said. But
there was one condition: that I always be a "good friend of Israel."
This wasn't a particular problem at the time. Since the 1970s I had
favored some sort of two-state solution. I felt close to the local
Jewish activists who descended from the labor movement and
participated in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam movements. I wanted
to take up the cause of the aging Holocaust survivors against the
global insurance companies that had plundered their assets.
While I believed the Palestinians had a right to self-determination, I
didn't share the animus of some on the American left who questioned
Israel's very legitimacy. I was more inclined toward the politics of
Israel's Peace Now and those Palestinian nationalists and human rights
activists who accepted Israel's pre-1967 borders as a reality to
accommodate. I disliked the apocalyptic visions of the Israeli
settlers I had met, and thought that even hard-line Palestinians would
grudgingly accept a genuine peace initiative.
I can offer my real-life experience to the present discussion about
the existence and power of an "Israel lobby." It is not as monolithic
as some argue, but it is far more than just another interest group in
a pluralist political world. In recognizing its diversity,
distinctions must be drawn between voters and elites, between Reform
and Orthodox tendencies, between the less observant and the more
observant. During my ultimate 18 years in office, I received most of
my Jewish support from the ranks of the liberal and less observant
voters. But I also received support from conservative Jews who saw
themselves as excluded by a Jewish (and Democratic) establishment.
However, all these rank-and-file constituencies were attuned to the
question of Israel, even in local and state elections, and would never
vote for a candidate perceived as anti-Israel or pro-Palestinian. I
had to be certified "kosher," not once but over and over again.
The certifiers were the elites, beginning with rabbis and heads of the
multiple mainstream Jewish organizations, especially each city's
Jewish Federation. An important vetting role was held as well by the
American-Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC), a group closely
associated with official parties in Israel. When necessary, Israeli
ambassadors, counsels general and other officials would intervene with
statements declaring someone a "friend of Israel."
In my case, a key to the "friendship issue" was the Los Angeles-based
counsel general Benjamin Navon. Though politics drew us together, our
personal friendship was genuine enough. I think that Benny, as he was
called, wanted to pull me and my then-wife, Jane Fonda, into a pro-
Israel stance, but he himself was an old-school labor/social democrat
who personally believed in a negotiated political settlement. We
enjoyed personal and intellectual time together, and I still keep on
my bookshelf a wooden sculpture by his wife, of an anguished victim of
violence.
The de facto Israeli endorsement would be communicated indirectly, in
compliance with laws that prohibit foreign interference in an American
election. We would be seen and photographed together in public. Benny
would make positive public statements that could be quoted in campaign
mailings. As a result, I was being declared "kosher" by the ultimate
source, the region's representative of the state of Israel.
Nevertheless, throughout the spring 1982 campaign I was accused of
being a left-wing madman allied to terrorism and communism. The
national Democratic leader Walter Mondale commented jokingly during a
local visit that I was being described as worse than Lenin. It was a
wild ride.
I won the hard-fought primary by 51% to 45%. The Bermans stayed
neutral. Willie Brown, Richard Alatorre and the rest of the California
Democratic establishment were quietly supportive. I easily won the
general election in November.
But that summer I made the mistake of my political career. The Israel
Defense Forces invaded Lebanon, and Benny Navon wanted Jane and me to
be supportive. It happened that I had visited the contested border in
the past, witnessed the shelling of civilian Israeli homes, and
interviewed Israeli and Lebanese zealots--crazies, I thought, who were
preaching preventive war. I opposed cross-border rocket attacks and
naively favored a demilitarized zone.
Ever curious, and aware of my district's politics, I decided we should
go to the Middle East--but only as long as the Israeli "incursion," as
it was delicately called, was limited to the 10-kilometer space near
the Lebanese border, as a cushion against rocket fire. Benny Navon
assured me that the "incursion" was limited, and would be followed by
negotiations and a solution. I also made clear our opposition to the
use of any fragmentation bombs in the area, and my ultimate political
identification with what Israeli Peace Now would say.
There followed a descent into moral ambiguity and realpolitick that
still haunts me today. When we arrived at the Israeli-Lebanon border,
the game plan promised by Benny Navon had changed utterly. Instead of
a localized border conflict, Israel was invading and occupying all of
Lebanon--with us in tow. Its purpose was to destroy militarily the
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) haven in Lebanon. This had
been Gen. Ariel Sharon's secret plan all along, and I never will know
with certainty whether Benny Navon had been deceived along with
everyone else.
For the next few weeks, I found myself defending Israel's "right" to
self-defense on its border, only to realize privately how foolish I
was becoming. In the meantime, Israel's invasion was continuing, with
ardent Jewish support in America.
Finally, a close friend and political advisor of mine, Ralph Brave,
took me for a walk, looked into my eyes and said: "Tom, you can't do
this. You have to stop." He was right, and I did. In the California
Legislature, I went to work on Holocaust survivor issues while
withdrawing from the bind of Israeli-Palestinian politics. When the
first Palestinian intifada began, I sensed from experience that the
balance of forces had changed, and that the Israeli occupation was
finished. Frictions developed between me and some of my Israeli and
Jewish friends when I suggested that Israel must make a peace deal
immediately or accept a worse deal later.
It is still painful and embarrassing to describe these events of
nearly 25 years ago, but with Israel today again bombing Lebanon and
Israeli officials bragging about "rolling back the clock by twenty
years" and reconfiguring the Middle East, I feel obliged to speak out
against history repeating.
How do I read today's news through the lens of the past?
What I fear is that the "Israeli lobby" is working overtime to
influence American public opinion on behalf of Israel's military
effort to "roll back the clock" and "change the map" of the region,
going far beyond issues like prisoner exchange.
What I fear is that the progress of the American peace movement
against the Iraq war will be diverted and undermined, at least for
now, by the entry of Israel from the sidelines into the center of the
equation.
What I fear is the rehabilitation of the discredited U.S.
neoconservative agenda to ignite a larger war against Hamas,
Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. The neoconservatives' 1996 "Clean Break"
memo advocated that Israel "roll back" Lebanon and destabilize Syria
in addition to overthrowing Saddam Hussein. An intellectual dean of
the neoconservatives, Bernard Lewis, has long advocated the
"Lebanonization" of the Middle East, meaning the disintegration of
nation states into "a chaos of squabbling, feuding, fighting sects,
tribes, regions and parties."
This divide-and-conquer strategy, a brainchild of the region's British
colonizers, is already taking effect in Iraq, where America overthrew
a secular state, installed a Shiite majority and its militias in power
and now portrays itself as the only protection for Sunnis against
those same Shiites. The resulting quagmire has become a justification
for American troops to remain.
What I fear is trepidation and confusion among rank-and-file voters
and activists, and the paralysis of politicians, especially Democrats,
who last week were moving gradually toward setting a deadline for U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq. The politics of the present crisis favor the
Republicans and the White House in the short run. How many politicians
will favor withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq under present conditions?
Isn't this Karl Rove's game plan for the November elections?
What I know is that I will not make the same mistake again. I hope
that my story deepens the resolve of all those whose feelings are
torn, conflicted or confused in the present. It is not being a "friend
of Israel" to turn a blind eye to its never-ending occupation.
One might argue, and many Americans today might agree, that Hezbollah
and Hamas started this round of war with their provocative kidnappings
of Israeli soldiers. Lost in the headlines, however, is the fact that
the Israelis have 9,000 Palestinian prisoners, and have negotiated
prisoner swaps before. Others will blame the Islamists for incessant
rocket attacks on Israel. But the roots of this virulent spiral of
vengeance lie in the permanent occupation of Palestinian territories
by the overconfident Israelis. As it did in 1982, Israel now admits
that the war is not about prisoner exchanges or cease-fires; it is
about eradicating Hezbollah and Hamas altogether, if necessary by an
escalation against Syria or even Iran. It should be clear by now that
the present Israeli government will never accept an independent
Palestinian state, but rather harbors a colonial ambition to decide
which Palestinian leaders are acceptable.
In 1982, Israel said the same thing about eliminating PLO sanctuaries
in Lebanon. It was after that 1982 Israeli invasion that Hezbollah was
born. I remember Israeli national security experts even taking credit
for fostering Hamas and Islamic fundamentalism as safe, reclusive
alternatives to Palestinian secular nationalism. I remember watching
Israeli soldiers blow up Palestinian houses and carry out collective
punishment because, they told me matter-of-factly, punishment is the
only language that Arabs understand. Israelis are inflicting
collective punishment on Lebanese civilians for the same reason
today.
It is clear that apocalyptic forces, openly green-lighted by President
Bush, are gambling on the impossible. They are trying to snatch
victory from the jaws of defeat in Iraq through escalation in Lebanon
and beyond. This is yet another faith-based initiative.
If the American people do not see through the headlines; if the
Democrats turn hawkish; if the international community fails to
intervene immediately, the peace movement may be sidelined to a
prophetic and marginal role for the moment. But we can say the
following for now:
Militarism and occupation cannot extinguish the force of Islamic
nationalism. Billions in American tax dollars are funding the Israeli
troops and bombs.
There needs to be an exit strategy. The absence of any such exit plan
is the weakest element of the U.S.-Israeli campaign. Just as the White
House says it plans to deploy 50,000 troops on permanent bases in an
occupied Iraq, so the Israelis speak of permanently eliminating their
enemies, from Gaza to Tehran. The result will be further occupation,
resistance and deeper quagmire.
The immediate conflict should not become a pretext for continuing the
U.S. military occupation of Iraq. American soldiers should not be
stuck waist-deep in a sectarian quagmire. Congressional insistence on
denying funds for permanent military bases is a vital first step.
Otherwise we will witness a tacit alliance between Israel and the U.S.
to dominate the Middle East militarily.
Most important, Americans must not be timid in speaking up, as I was
25 years ago. Silence is consent to occupation....and much much More.