______________________________
ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN
News * Analysis * Research * Action
______________________________
- AFIB No. 322, November 17, 2001 -
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL! FREE LEONARD PELTIER!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS & PRISONERS OF WAR!
U.S. OUT OF VIEQUES!
However distressed the civilian specialists of the foreign-policy
establishment may have become as they sniffed out the details of
counterterrorism, their higher allegiance tended to be to the policies of
their respective agencies. High-level institutional priorities required
straight-faced defense of client armies (let alone the United States' own
programs), and these took precedence over matters of ethics. The critical
insiders' approach to counterterror, then, was by necessity an oblique one,
a critique of the consequences, the body count, and the potential
repercussions in Congress. Perhaps the greatest handicap was posed by the
inability to speak of counterterror in blunt language--because the very
notion of counterterror as terrorism was forbidden while circumlocution was
the norm. -- Michael McClintock, Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerrilla
Warfare, Counterinsurgency, Counterterrorism, 1940-1990 [New York, Pantheon
Books, 1992] p. 306.
Contents: Number 322
01. WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE [London]: Military Tribunals, Monitoring of
Lawyers: Bush Announces New Police State Measures.
02. THE CONSORTIUM FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM [Arlington, VA]: Gore's Victory.
03. RAWA, Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan [Quetta]:
The People of Afghanistan Do Not Accept Domination of the Northern Alliance!
04. ALTERNET [San Francisco]: U.S.-Backed Rebels Accused of Wholesale
Slaughter.
05. IRISH REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST PARTY [Belfast]: American Company Culpable
for Killing of Turkish Death Fasters.
06. BADIL RESOURCE CENTER [Bethlehem]: Public Protest: Right of Return is
the Palestinian Consensus!
07. THE A-INFOS NEWS SERVICE [Canada]: Anti-Fascist Prisoner Chris Plummer
to be Released Soon.
08. WEEKLY NEW UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS [New York]: New Bush Contragate Coverup?
09. SOLIDARITY PUBLISHING [Montreal]: Publishing Update.
10. PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE [San Francisco]: Swiss Bank Denies Link to
Bioweapons, Islamic Militants.
11. THE GUARDIAN [London]: Belgium Blamed for Icon's Murder. Ministers and
King Knew of the Plot to Kill Lumumba, MPs Say.
12. MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: The Enigma of Allies and Enemies.
* * *
WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE
Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)
Web: http://www.wsws.org/
E-Mail: editor@wsws.org
- Saturday, 17 November 2001 -
-----
____________________________________________________________________
Military tribunals, monitoring of lawyers:
BUSH ANNOUNCES NEW POLICE-STATE MEASURES
____________________________________________________________________
News & Analysis: North America
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/trib-n17.shtml
By Kate Randall
In the space of little more than a week, the Bush administration has issued
a series of executive orders that amount to the most far-reaching assault
on democratic rights in modern legal history. The directives violate
protections laid down in the US Constitution and upheld by judicial
precedent over many decades.
On Tuesday, Bush issued an executive order allowing for the use of special
military courts to try suspected terrorists. This followed by days the
announcement that Attorney General John Ashcroft had authorized the
monitoring of conversations between lawyers and clients in federal custody,
including people who have been detained but not charged with any crime.
Other recent executive orders include the following:
* A directive empowering the attorney general to authorize the indefinite
detention of some non-citizens, a rule that could affect "hundreds of
individuals," according to the Justice Department.
* An order to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to carry out "voluntary"
interviews of more than 5,000 mostly Middle Eastern men, ages 18 to 33, who
are living in the US, ostensibly to gather information concerning future
terrorist attacks.
* A new policy on visa applications affecting men, ages 16 to 45, from 25
Middle Eastern and African countries. All such applicants will face intense
scrutiny and long delays in the processing of their requests. Their names
will be checked against databases maintained by the FBI.
* The suspension of running tallies by the Justice Department of the number
of people rounded up by law enforcement agencies in the anti-terror
dragnet. The last figure released by federal authorities was 1,187.
These sweeping changes have been enacted by executive proclamation, over
the heads of the people, with no discussion or vote in Congress. Coming on
top of the far-reaching provisions of the "anti-terrorism" bill passed last
month by Congress, they are major steps toward establishing the
institutional and legal framework for police-state rule in America.
Seizing on the events of September 11 as a pretext, the Bush administration
has instituted measures that would have been politically unthinkable prior
to the terror attacks. They are components of a reactionary agenda
long-sought by the most right-wing sections of the political establishment.
The military tribunals authorized by Bush would be the envy of any
totalitarian state. According to Bush's order, they can be employed against
suspects who are non-citizens, with the proceedings being held in the US,
abroad or even at sea. Trials conducted by these tribunals will be held in
secret. The military prosecutors will not be required to reveal any
information about the proceedings to the public. The tribunals can render
sentences up to and including life imprisonment or execution.
The president will designate who is to be tried by these tribunals.
According to the November 15 New York Times, the Pentagon is already
preparing for the possible transfer to military custody of immigrants
currently detained by federal authorities.
The accused will have no recourse to appeal, and will be barred from
seeking remedy from any US state or federal court, any foreign court or any
international tribunal, such as the World Court at The Hague. This means
that, on George W. Bush's directive, a suspect could be arrested, tried in
a foreign country in a secret trial, and summarily executed.
A unanimous verdict is not required to convict. Defendants can be convicted
and sentenced by a two-thirds majority of the military officers presiding,
who will be selected by the secretary of defense. The qualifications of
these officers are not specified by the presidential order, and their
identities could be concealed from the public. The effect would be similar
to the use of hooded army officers in Latin American military courts, as in
the recent trial in Peru of American Lori Berenson, a left-wing journalist.
The tribunals will not be required to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt
and will not be obligated to follow established rules of evidence. This
license for frame-up violates the most elementary principles of legal
justice and discards procedures that are required not only in civilian
courts, but also in existing military courts.
According to Eugene R. Fidell, president of the National Institute of
Military Justice, "The accused in such a court would have dramatically
fewer rights than a person would in a court-martial."
In comparison to the process laid down in Bush's executive order, the 1999
trial of Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan by a Turkish
military court--condemned around the world as a judicial frame-up--looks
like a model of due process. In the Ocalan trial, representatives of the
media and international observers were permitted, and the defendant was
able to appeal his death sentence to a Turkish appeals court.
Bush's military tribunals and all of his other "anti-terror" measures
violate one of the most basic democratic principles of US law: the
presumption that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. Now
defendants can be stripped of their right to due process by virtue of
presidential fiat. If the president names a non-citizen as a terrorist
suspect, he can be turned over to the military for summary conviction and
execution.
Defending Bush's order, Vice President Dick Cheney said terrorism suspects
"don't deserve the same guarantees and safeguards that would be used for an
American citizen going through the normal judicial process," and that a
military tribunal "guarantees that we'll have the kind of treatment of
these individuals that we believe they deserve."
While the executive order specifically refers to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda
network, these kangaroo courts could be used against any non-citizens
alleged to be involved with terrorism. It should be kept in mind that
Bush--who wields absolute power in deciding who is to be prosecuted by
these tribunals--demonstrated his instincts for fair play and compassion by
presiding over 152 executions during his five-year term as governor of
Texas.
The official justifications provided by the Bush administration for
establishing these military star chambers do not hold water. The major
claim is that civilian trials of terrorists would compromise US
intelligence. This assertion, however, is belied by the existence of
provisions allowing federal courts to keep sensitive information sealed
from the public record.
What the government is really concerned about is concealing from the
American people the truth about its operations. The holding of swift,
secret trials would allow the authorities to continue to keep the public in
the dark.
In particular, military tribunals would serve two purposes:
First, the government would be able to prosecute and convict those, such as
bin Laden, who it alleges are guilty of terrorist crimes, without having to
prove its charges. Various government spokesmen have acknowledged since
September 11 that they do have sufficient evidence to convict bin Laden in
a court of law. By bringing terrorist suspects before secret military
tribunals, where the outcome is guaranteed and the defendant has no legal
rights, the government would be able to claim it "proved" its allegations
without fear of public scrutiny or independent review.
Such a legal farce has obvious political advantages, since the Bush
administration's justification for going to war against Afghanistan hinges
on the claim that bin Laden and Al Qaeda are responsible for the September
11 attacks, and the Taliban regime is guilty of sponsoring and protecting
them. A public trial which revealed that the government had no serious
evidence to back up the claim that bin Laden and Al Qaeda organized the
hijack-bombings would have serious political consequences, both in the US
and abroad.
Second, a closed military process would negate the possibility of
information emerging that might undermine the government's version of the
September 11 disaster. A host of unanswered questions remain about the
strange and murky circumstances that allowed men identified as Islamic
terrorists to organize and execute a complex plot to attack key centers of
American economic and military power, supposedly without any advance
knowledge on the part of American police and intelligence agencies.
A normal trial might expose facts suggesting that US authorities were not
as oblivious to the terrorist conspiracy as they claim, or even the
existence of prior contacts between some of the perpetrators and American
intelligence operatives. In one way or another, a normal trial would be
certain to bring forward politically damaging information about the
greatest security breach in US domestic history.
The authorization of secret military tribunals clearly flies in the face
the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution, which applies to "persons," not
just citizens. Under current legal standards, anyone in the US--citizens
and non-citizens alike--can file a writ of habeas corpus, asking for a
judge to take up his or her case.
Inevitably, Bush's authorization of military tribunals will be challenged
in the courts and end up before the Supreme Court. It is likely, however,
that a majority on the high court will back the measure.
Comments made in the aftermath of the terror attacks by Associate Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor--generally considered a "swing vote" on the
Court--indicate that behind-the-scenes discussions have been going on about
sanctioning "military justice." In a speech on September 30, O'Connor said
the terror attacks "will cause us to reexamine some of our laws pertaining
to criminal surveillance, wiretapping, immigration and so on."
She continued, "It is possible, if not likely, that we will rely more on
international rules of war than on our cherished constitutional standards
for criminal prosecutions in responding to threats to our national
security."
Predictably, the fascist-minded editorialists of the Wall Street Journal
defend the tribunals "as a matter of common sense, as a way to shield an
essential part of the war effort from the excesses of the modern US
criminal justice system." The Journal, which reflects the views of major
sections of the corporate elite, adds in a November 16 editorial: "Do we
really want to give people bent on destroying the US the right to throw out
evidence based on the exclusionary rule?"
However, Bush's barrage of executive orders has provoked unease and concern
within parts of the political establishment and sections of the press. In a
column in the November 15 New York Times, entitled "Seizing Dictatorial
Power," long-time Republican operative William Safire writes that "a
president of the United States has just assumed what amounts to dictatorial
power ... with the replacement of the American rule of law with military
kangaroo courts." "On what legal meat does this our Caesar feed?" he asks.
A November 16 editorial in the Times, headlined "A Travesty of Justice,"
comments, "With the flick of a pen, in this case, Mr. Bush has essentially
discarded the rulebook of American justice painstakingly assembled over the
course of more than two centuries."
That the Times, which has disgraced itself in the recent period by praising
Bush's "statesmanship" and political "maturity," should feel obliged to
make such a pointed comment, testifies to the vast scope and extreme
character of the Bush administration's assault on democratic rights.
Some senators from both parties have called for hearings on the setting up
of military tribunals, the monitoring of lawyer-client discussions and
other measures enacted by the Bush administration without congressional
input. However, working people can place no confidence in the liberal media
or the Democrats to wage a struggle against the assault on democratic
rights. They have consistently adapted themselves to the drive by the most
reactionary layers of the ruling elite to curtail basic rights.
While the current rash of anti-democratic measures largely targets
non-citizens, mainly of Middle-Eastern descent, they constitute a
fundamental attack on the basic rights of the entire population. These
attacks will be extended to American citizens, especially those who oppose
the government's policies, sooner rather than later.
Copyright 1998-2001 World Socialist Web Site. All rights reserved.
*****
THE CONSORTIUM FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
Suite 102-231, 2200 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
E-mail: consortnew@aol.com
Web: http://www.consortiumnews.com
- Monday, 12 November 2001 -
-----
____________________________________________________________________
GORE'S VICTORY
____________________________________________________________________
By Robert Parry
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2001/111201a.html
So Al Gore was the choice of Florida's voters -- whether one counts hanging
chads or dimpled chads. That was the core finding of the eight news
organizations that conducted a review of disputed Florida ballots. By any
chad measure, Gore won.
Gore won even if one doesn't count the 15,000-25,000 votes that USA Today
estimated Gore lost because of illegally designed "butterfly ballots," or
the hundreds of predominantly African-American voters who were falsely
identified by the state as felons and turned away from the polls.
Gore won even if there's no adjustment for George W. Bush's windfall of
about 290 votes from improperly counted military absentee ballots where lax
standards were applied to Republican counties and strict standards to
Democratic ones, a violation of fairness reported earlier by the Washington
Post and the New York Times.
Put differently, George W. Bush was not the choice of Florida's voters
anymore than he was the choice of the American people who cast a half
million more ballots for Gore than Bush nationwide. [For more details on
studies of the election, see Consortiumnews.com stories of May 12,
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2001/051201a.html, June 2
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2001/060201a.html and July 16,
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2001/071601a.html.]
The Spin
Yet, possibly for reasons of "patriotism" in this time of crisis, the news
organizations that financed the Florida ballot study structured their
stories on the ballot review to indicate that Bush was the legitimate
winner, with headlines such as "Florida Recounts Would Have Favored Bush"
[Washington Post, Nov. 12, 2001].
Post media critic Howard Kurtz took the spin one cycle further with a story
headlined, "George W. Bush, Now More Than Ever," in which Kurtz ridiculed
as "conspiracy theorists" those who thought Gore had won.
"The conspiracy theorists have been out in force, convinced that the media
were covering up the Florida election results to protect President Bush,"
Kurtz wrote. "That gets put to rest today, with the finding by eight news
organizations that Bush would have beaten Gore under both of the recount
plans being considered at the time."
Kurtz also mocked those who believed that winning an election fairly, based
on the will of the voters, was important in a democracy. "Now the question
is: How many people still care about the election deadlock that last fall
felt like the story of the century -- and now faintly echoes like some
distant Civil War battle?" he wrote.
In other words, the elite media's judgment is in: "Bush won, get over it."
Only "Gore partisans" -- as both the Washington Post and the New York Times
called critics of the official Florida election tallies -- would insist on
looking at the fine print.
The Actual Findings
While that was the tone of coverage in these leading news outlets, it's
still a bit jarring to go outside the articles and read the actual results
of the statewide review of 175,010 disputed ballots.
"Full Review Favors Gore," the Washington Post said in a box on page 10,
showing that under all standards applied to the ballots, Gore came out on
top. The New York Times' graphic revealed the same outcome.
Earlier, less comprehensive ballot studies by the Miami Herald and USA
Today had found that Bush and Gore split the four categories of disputed
ballots depending on what standard was applied to assessing the ballots --
punched-through chads, hanging chads, etc. Bush won under two standards and
Gore under two standards.
The new, fuller study found that Gore won regardless of which standard was
applied and even when varying county judgments were factored in. Counting
fully punched chads and limited marks on optical ballots, Gore won by 115
votes. With any dimple or optical mark, Gore won by 107 votes. With one
corner of a chad detached or any optical mark, Gore won by 60 votes.
Applying the standards set by each county, Gore won by 171 votes.
This core finding of Gore's Florida victory in the unofficial ballot
recount might surprise many readers who skimmed only the headlines and the
top paragraphs of the articles. The headlines and leads highlighted
hypothetical, partial recounts that supposedly favored Bush.
Buried deeper in the stories or referenced in subheads was the fact that
the new recount determined that Gore was the winner statewide, even
ignoring the "butterfly ballot" and other irregularities that cost him
thousands of ballots.
The news organizations opted for the pro-Bush leads by focusing on two
partial recounts that were proposed -- but not completed -- in the chaotic,
often ugly environment of last November and December.
The new articles make much of Gore's decision to seek recounts in only four
counties and the Florida Supreme Court's decision to examine only
"undervotes," those rejected by voting machines for supposedly lacking a
presidential vote. A recurring undercurrent in the articles is that Gore
was to blame for his defeat, even if he may have actually won the election.
"Mr. Gore might have eked out a victory if he had pursued in court a course
like the one he publicly advocated when he called on the state to 'count
all the votes,'" the New York Times wrote, with a clear suggestion that
Gore was hypocritical as well as foolish.
The Washington Post recalled that Gore "did at one point call on Bush to
join him in asking for a statewide recount" and accepting the results
without further legal challenge, but that Bush rejected the proposal as "a
public relations gesture."
The Bush Strategy
Instead of supporting a full and fair recount, Bush chose to cling to his
official lead of 537 votes out of some 6 million cast, Bush counted on his
brother Jeb's state officials to ensure the Bush family's return to
national power.
To add some muscle to the legal maneuvering, the Bush campaign dispatched
thugs to Florida to intimidate vote counters and jacked up the decibel
level in the powerful conservative media, which accused Gore of trying to
steal the election and labeled him "Sore Loserman."
With Bush rejecting a full recount and media pundits calling for Gore to
concede, Gore opted for recounts in four southern Florida counties where
irregularities seemed greatest. Those recounts were opposed by Bush's
supporters, both inside Gov. Jeb Bush's administration and in the streets
by Republican hooligans flown in from Washington. [For more details, see
stories from Nov. 24, 2000, http://www.consortiumnews.com/2000/112400a.html
and Nov. 27, 2000 http://www.consortiumnews.com/2000/112700a.html.]
Stymied on that recount front, Gore carried the fight to the state courts,
where pro-Bush forces engaged in more delaying tactics, leaving the Florida
Supreme Court only days to fashion a recount remedy.
Finally, on Dec. 8, facing an imminent deadline for submitting the
presidential election returns, the state Supreme Court ordered a statewide
recount of "undervotes." This tally would have excluded so-called
"overvotes" -- which were kicked out for supposedly indicating two choices
for president.
Bush fought this court-ordered recount, too, sending his lawyers to the
U.S. Supreme Court. There, five Republican justices stopped the recount on
Dec. 9 and gave a sympathetic hearing to Bush’s claim that the varying
ballot standards in Florida violated constitutional equal-protection
requirements.
At 10 p.m. on Dec. 12, two hours before a deadline to submit voting
results, the Republican-controlled U.S. Supreme Court instructed the state
courts to devise a recount method that would apply equal standards, a move
that would have included all ballots where the intent of the voter was
clear. The hitch was that the U.S. Supreme Court gave the state only two
hours to complete this assignment, effectively handing Florida's 25
electoral votes and the White House to Republican George W. Bush.
A Third Hypothetical
The articles about the new recount tallies make much of the two
hypothetical cases in which Bush supposedly would have prevailed: the
limited recounts of the four southern Florida counties -- by 225 votes --
and the state Supreme Court's order -- by 430 votes. Those hypothetical
cases dominated the news stories, while Gore's statewide-recount victory
was played down.
Yet, the newspapers made little or nothing of the fact that the U.S.
Supreme Court's decision represented a third hypothetical. Assuming that a
brief extension were granted to permit a full-and-fair Florida recount, the
U.S. Supreme Court decision might well have resulted in the same result
that the news organizations discovered: a Gore victory.
The U.S. Supreme Court's proposed standards mirrored the standards applied
in the new recount of the disputed ballots. The Post buries this important
fact in the 22nd paragraph of its story.
"Ironically, it was Bush's lawyers who argued that recounting only the
undervotes violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. And
the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Dec. 12 ruling that ended the dispute, also
questioned whether the Florida court should have limited a statewide
recount only to undervotes," the Post wrote. "Had the high court acted on
that, and had there been enough time left for the Florida Supreme Court to
require yet another statewide recount, Gore's chances would have been
dramatically improved."
In other words, if the U.S. Supreme Court had given the state enough time
to fashion a comprehensive remedy or if Bush had agreed to a full-and-fair
recount earlier, the popular will of the American voters -- both nationally
and in Florida -- might well have been respected. Al Gore might well have
been inaugurated president of the United States.
Favored Outcome
But this outcome was not the favored hypothetical of the news
organizations, which apparently wanted to avoid questions about their
patriotism. If they had simply given the American people the unvarnished
facts, the reality that the voters of Florida favored Al Gore might have
bolstered the belief that Bush indeed did steal the White House. That, in
turn, could have undermined his legitimacy during the current crisis over
terrorism.
In its coverage of the latest recount numbers, the national news media also
showed little regard for the fundamental principle of democracy: that
leaders derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, not from
legalistic tricks, physical intimidation and public-relations maneuvers.
It is that understanding that is most missing in the news accounts of the
latest recount figures.
Presumably, the American people are supposed to accept that everything just
turned out right -- the Bush dynasty was restored to power, the proper
order was back in place. Anyone who begs to differ is a "conspiracy
theorist" or a "Gore partisan."
Copyright 2001 The Consortium for Independent Journalism
*****
RAWA
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
Mailing address: RAWA
P.O. Box 374
Quetta, Pakistan
Mobile: 0092-300-8551638
Fax: 001-760-2819855
E-mails: rawa@rawa.org, rawa@iname.com
Web: http://www.rawa.org
- Tuesday, 13 November 2001 -
-----
____________________________________________________________________
THE PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN DO NOT ACCEPT DOMINATION OF THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE!
____________________________________________________________________
Now it is confirmed that the Taliban have left Kabul and the Northern
Alliance has entered the city.
The world should understand that the Northern Alliance is composed of some
bands who did show their real criminal and inhuman nature when they were
ruling Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996.
The retreat of the terrorist Taliban from Kabul is a positive development,
but entering of the rapist and looter NA in the city is nothing but a
dreadful and shocking news for about 2 million residents of Kabul whose
wounds of the years 1992-96 have not healed yet.
Thousands of people who fled Kabul during the past two months were saying
that they feared coming to power of the NA in Kabul much more than being
scared by the US bombing.
The Taliban and Al-Qaeda will be eliminated, but the existence of the NA as
a military force would shatter the joyful dream of the majority for an
Afghanistan free from the odious chains of barbaric Taliban. The NA will
horribly intensify the ethnic and religious conflicts and will never
refrain to fan the fire of another brutal and endless civil war in order to
retain in power. The terrible news of looting and inhuman massacre of the
captured Taliban or their foreign accomplices in Mazar-e-Sharif in past few
days speaks for itself.
Though the NA has learned how to pose sometimes before the West as
"democratic" and even supporter of women's rights, but in fact they have
not at all changed, as a leopard cannot change its spots.
RAWA has already documented heinous crimes of the NA. Time is running out.
RAWA on its own part appeals to the UN and world community as a whole to
pay urgent and considerable heed to the recent developments in our
ill-fated Afghanistan before it is too late.
We would like to emphatically ask the UN to send its effective
peace-keeping force into the country before the NA can repeat the
unforgettable crimes they committed in the said years.
The UN should withdraw its recognition to the so-called Islamic government
headed by Rabbani and help the establishment of a broad-based government
based on the democratic values.
RAWA's call stems from the aspirations of the vast majority of the people
of Afghanistan.
*****
____________________________________________________________________
U.S.-BACKED REBELS ACCUSED OF WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER
____________________________________________________________________
ALTERNET
Feature Story
Thursday, November 15, 2001
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11925
James Ridgeway, Village Voice
Welcomed here as a heroic, victorious force just yesterday, the Northern
Alliance today is being painted as a gang of murderers on the loose. The
Pakistani press today reports two alliance massacres of Taliban soldiers.
One involved the wholesale slaughter of 1,700 troops, many of them students
from Pakistan who'd joined the Taliban army south of Kabul. The Northern
Alliance forces were under the command of Afghanistan's Burhanuddin
Rabbani, whom the alliance reportedly named president of the country
yesterday. They were also advised by British and American military units
inside Kabul.
According to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the American officers
are there to "provide advice and counsel" to the alliance.
Reports from Mazar-i-Sharif say several hundred Taliban supporters --
including Arabs, Chechens, and Pakistanis -- were shot dead in a massacre
after that city fell to the alliance. A UN spokesperson said officials had
received reports of hundreds of children being massacred by Northern
Alliance forces at one school. She disclosed that alliance soldiers had
looted many offices of the UN and other nongovernmental organizations in
Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the Pakistan News Service. In addition, the UN
said it fears the opposition troops may actually have shot some UN drivers.
UNICEF said it was postponing the sending of aid convoys into Afghanistan
until the situation becomes more stable. The World Food Program postponed
its truck convoys carrying food into Afghanistan because the drivers are
frightened of reprisals.
While it may appear the U.S. and the Northern Alliance are mopping up
pockets of Taliban resistance, some argue the Taliban are not in
disorganized retreat, but are rather making a deliberate shift in their
military strategy. This theory holds that Taliban commanders are giving up
towns and cities and moving as predicted into the mountains, where they can
conduct guerrilla raids on allied supply lines -- just as the mujahideen
did in the war against the Russians.
This time it will be much more difficult. During the war against the
Soviets, mujahideen were well equipped by Pakistan and the CIA. Now, the
U.S. has at least temporarily neutralized Pakistan and made it harder for
Taliban sympathizers there to ship supplies across the mountainous border.
The danger here is that a guerrilla war, if not quickly snuffed out, could
spread into neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, where President
Pervez Musharraf's support for the American military campaign remains
controversial.
Despite glowing press reports, intelligence estimates say the Taliban's
arsenal of 250 to 300 Scud missiles remain hidden in the mountains. They
are expected to be used against cities captured by the Northern Alliance
and perhaps for strikes into Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Among the other oddities of the war are the weird alliances of troops in
the field. Various intelligence and press reports have U.S. Special Forces
fighting in the north alongside Iranian Special Unit men. Meanwhile,
Chinese Muslims are said to be on the Taliban lines. U.S. planes were
reported to be zeroing in on a group of several hundred Saudis who had been
brought in to fight for the Taliban. If true, this last would be yet
another embarrassing development in U.S.-Saudi relations.
Copyright 2001 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
*****
IRISH REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST PARTY
Republican Socialist Publicity Bureau
Costello House, 392 Falls Road
Belfast, BT12 6DH, Ireland
Tel/Fax No: 028 90 330786
E-mail: irsp@netwizard.net
Web: http://www.irsm.org
- Tuesday, 13 November 2001 -
-----
____________________________________________________________________
AMERICAN COMPANY CULPABLE FOR KILLING OF TURKISH DEATH FASTERS
____________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Irish Republican Socialist Party
The International Department of the IRSP today said that they had
identified the company who manufactured the gas grenades used by Turkish
forces against the death fasters and their supporters in Istambul. The gas
used against the Turkish hunger strikers and their supporters by the
government is called 5230 CS Riot Smoke. It is made by an American firm,
Combined Systems Inc., based in New York.
"While the company did not lob the gas grenades which were used to kill six
on the death fasters, they supplied them to the government who used them
against their own citizens," IRSP International Department spokesperson
Peadar Baile said. "The supporters of the IRSP in the U.S., the Irish
Republican Socialist Committees of North America, are calling for all those
concerned to write Combined Systems to protest their sale of these gas
grenades to the repressive Turkish regime."
Mr. Baile provided the firm's mailing address as: Combined Systems Inc.,
226 Newtown Road, Plainview, New York 11803. Their telephone number was
given as: 516-777-7888.
"These are the folks who killed Arzu," said IRSP's International Department
Co-Secretary Terry Harkin, form London. "They killed her. Maybe they did
not throw the bomb into the house, but they made it and exported it to a
bunch of bastards who did so. They are culpable in my eyes. They do not
have an office here, but our comrades in the U.S. are initiating a protest
against the company, which I fully endorse."
"We are asking all those who support the Turkish hunger strikers, all those
who support human and civil rights, to write protesting Combined Systems'
culpability in these deaths and asking for them to cease all further sales
to the Turkish government, so long as they continue policies of repression
and violence against their own citizens," Mr. Baile said. "Those who create
these weapons and supply them to reactionary, despotic regimes must be
called to account for their actions.
"The murder of six death fasters was an act of inhumanity, and the IRSP
reiterate our call upon the Irish government to recall their Ambassador to
Turkey in protest."
*****
BADIL RESOURCE CENTER
PO Box 728
Bethlehem, Palestine
Tel/fax. 02-2747346
E-mail: info@badil.org
Web: http://www.badil.org
- Friday, 16 November 2001 -
-----
____________________________________________________________________
Public Protest:
RIGHT OF RETURN IS THE PALESTINIAN CONSENSUS!
____________________________________________________________________
BADIL Resource Center
For immediate release, 16-11-2001 (E-61-2001)
Public Protests against the Surrender of Basic Palestinian Rights Promoted
by Palestinian Intellectual Sari Nusseibeh
In recent weeks, Israeli and international media and politicians have
welcomed and heralded what is perceived as "new Palestinian flexibility" on
core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The source for their
enthusiasm is the Palestinian academic and intellectual Dr. Sari Nusseibeh,
who is being offered ample media time to present his "new ideas," such as:
the need for the Palestinian leadership to reconsider its demand for
refugees' right of return to Israel proper, which represents an obstacle
for a political agreement with Israel over a two-state solution; the need
to explore the option of so-called "population exchange" (absorption of
refugees in Israeli colonies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to be vacated
by Israel); and, the call upon Palestinians to recognize Israel's
existential ties to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Dr. Sari Nusseibeh's media statements have triggered anger and protest
among the broad Palestinian public and the whole spectrum of political
parties and national institutions in Palestine and the Palestinian exile.
Despite the fact that Dr. Nusseibeh emphasizes that his old-new ideas about
the Palestinian role in facilitating a political agreement with Israel are
being made in his personal and private capacity, and do not reflect the
official Palestinian position, nor derive from his office as responsible
for the PLO Jerusalem portfolio, the large majority of Palestinians feel
that he is abusing his office and his connection to western media in order
to deal yet another blow to international support for basic Palestinian
rights.
In a statement issued by the All-Party Coordination Committee in Jerusalem
on 8 November, representatives of all Palestinian political factions state:
"We and all our people are asking what is the purpose of such surrender in
the name of 'rationalism'? What is the benefit of assuring that Israel will
not accept the right of return? Are these statements serving the
Palestinian or the Israeli position? It would be much better for these
'rational people' to focus on our sovereign right over the Haram al-Sharif
(Al-Aqsa compound) in Jerusalem, to call for Israel's immediate withdrawal
from Palestinian towns and villages, and to launch efforts for the
re-opening of the Orient House and other Palestinian national institutions.
We approach Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, who wants to represent Jerusalem and call
upon him to return to the Palestinian national consensus. We affirm here
that there is no legitimacy for any person in any official position, who
substitutes his personal opinion for his people's rights."
Not surprisingly, Palestinian refugees who feel most directly affected by
Dr. Nusseibeh's new ideas, have been in the forefront of public protest
against the challenge of their right of return. In a public meeting
convened yesterday in Balata refugee camp/Nablus, refugee community
activists were joined by members of the Palestinian Legislative Council
(PLC) and National Council (PNC), in order to formulate steps for an
effective public response. The meeting, hosted by Yafa Cultural
Center/Balata Camp and BADIL Resource Center, decided not to focus its
response on Dr. Nusseibeh personally, but to launch a series of activities,
which will serve to challenge the political environment that opens the gate
to Palestinian individuals who do not reflect the public consensus. The
Balata camp meeting decided among others, to activate and improve
coordination among grass-roots organizations and Palestinian institutions,
especially those operating among Palestinian refugees; to hold a series of
rights awareness raising activities during the month of Ramadan; to launch
a renewed media effort aimed at clarifying the Palestinian consensus on the
right of return; to convene a popular refugee conference at the earliest
date possible; and, to submit a memorandum of protest against the
suggestions promoted by Dr. Nusseibeh to the official Palestinian
leadership.
BADIL Resource Center aims to provide a resource pool of alternative,
critical and progressive information and analysis on the question of
Palestinian refugees in our quest to achieve a just and lasting solution
for exiled Palestinians based on the right
of return.
*****
THE A-INFOS NEWS SERVICE
News About and of Interest to Anarchists
E-mail: a-infos@tao.ca
Web: http://www.ainfos.ca
- Friday, 16 November 2001 -
-----
____________________________________________________________________
ANTI-FASCIST PRISONER CHRIS PLUMMER SOON TO BE RELEASED
____________________________________________________________________
Source: Antiprison, antiprison@lycos.com
After more than 8 years of imprisonment, Christopher Lee Plummer will has
been granted parole in Texas. Chris was placed in prison on a 15 year
sentence for an anti-fascist action in Houston, Texas. While imprisoned he
faced severe repression by both the state and nazi gangs in the prisons.
Several attempts on his life were made, resulting in permanent injures that
will effect him forever. Much of his time in prison was spent in solitary
confinement for his efforts to organize prisoners and fellow anarchists.
During his 4 years stay in solitary the prisoncrats went so far as to
accuse him of attempting to smuggle a pistol into the prison. The state
went all out to stop him. After more than ten times being turned down for
parole he has finally been approved for release on 1/2002. Just a few
months from now. He will be staying in Texas and working with the Austin
ABC chapter. Chris has made firm commitments to his fellow anarchist
political and social prisoners stating that if he can't get them the
support that they desperately need he wil return to prison for trying.
Chris will be facing huge difficulty when he is released, will need all of
our support and solidarity. While he has many friends and family it will
take large amounts of money to secure an attorney to represent him while on
parole. He feels that if he does not have an attorney to stand by him, he
will certainly be sent back to prison for any minor violation. One of the
conditions that he has had to comply with for release is "super intensive
parole" this means that he will be placed on a monitor and will have to
report in person twice a week, this type of parole is normally reserved for
sex offenders and murderers. The fact that they are going to this extreme
type of supervision implies that they fear his ability to continue solid
anarchist agitation.
Chris asks that folks work to raise funds for his release over the next few
months. The movement nees to support this dedicated anarchist political
prisoner. This is the crucial time.
If you can offer any help, please contact:
Rebecca Plummer
PO Box 101
Austin, TX 78767
USA
Tel : (512) 476 3446
If you would like to contact Chris directly before his release you can
write him directly until 1/2002 at:
Christopher Lee Plummer
TDCJ #677345 PO Box 4500
TN Colony, TX 75886
USA
Please consider doing benefit shows or other type of fund raisers'. He
starting completely over, this means huge expenses. He also wishes to
express sincere love and gratitude to all of those dedicated anarchists
that have given their support and love over the past very difficult 8 years.
*****
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
Nicaragua Solidarity Network of New York
339 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10012
Tel: 212-674-9499
Fax: 212-674-9139
E-mail: wnu@igc.apc.org
Web: http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html
- Issue No. 615, November 11, 2001 -
-----
____________________________________________________________________
US: NEW BUSH CONTRAGATE COVERUP?
____________________________________________________________________
US president George W. Bush signed an executive order on Nov. 1 severely
restricting legally mandated access to the papers of former president
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989). Under the Presidential Records Act--which
Congress passed in 1978 as a reaction to the Watergate scandal--presidents
are required to release confidential communications with their aides 12
years after the end of their terms.
The 68,000 pages of Reagan's papers were due to be released on Jan. 20,
2001, the day that Bush took office. But the Bush administration delayed
the release three times, ostensibly so that it could establish a process
for dealing with the papers. Then the administration issued the Nov. 1
executive order, under which both the former president and the sitting
president must agree to the release, and researchers must show a
"demonstrated, specific need" to get access to the material.
Hugh Davis Graham, a presidential historian at Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, said the Bush order "turn[s] [the law] right on its head,
gutting it. It's an astounding reach." Vicky Pelaez, a columnist at the New
York Spanish-language daily El Diario-La Prensa, calls the order
"bloodcurdling."
Critics note that the Bush White House includes several former Reagan aides
who are almost certainly mentioned in the Reagan papers. Bush's own father,
former president George Bush (1989- 1993), was Reagan's vice president.
Presumably the papers would contain references to the Reagan
administration's illegal funding of Nicaragua's rightwing rebel contras,
along with US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ties to Saudi millionaire
Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1979-1989. Scott Nelson, a lawyer at the
Public Citizen Litigation Group, said his consumer-advocacy group, along
with historical associations, will "very likely file litigation" against
the order. [Christian Science Monitor 11/6/01; ED-LP 11/6/01]
Check Us Out on the Resource Center of the Americas website at:
http://www.americas.org
Weekly News Update on the Americas (ISSN 1084-922X) is published every
Sunday by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York. A 1-year
subscription is $25 within the US. Free one-month trial subscriptions are
available; back issues and source materials available on request. Update
items are available in searchable form on the web at
http://www.americas.org. Feel free to reproduce these updates or reprint
information from them, but please credit us. The Update is also available
electronically: contact us at: wnu@igc.org for info.
*****
SOLIDARITY PUBLISHING
2035 Boul. St-Laurent
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2X 2T3
E-mail: solidarity@tao.ca
Web: http://www.tao.ca/~solidarity
- Tuesday, 13 November 2001 -
-----
____________________________________________________________________
PUBLISHING UPDATE
____________________________________________________________________
Greetings from Solidarity
This is a short update from us. Like most people the events of September
11th caused us to re-evaluate and orient ourselves to the new political
context we are all now living in. Our schedule of publishing was delayed
and reorganized as we decided to go full steam ahead with a publication to
respond to the present crisis. The result is a 78 page booklet titled 'S11,
TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES: radical perspectives on September 11". It is
available from our distributor, Kersplebedeb Distribution
(info@kersplebedeb) for $4. Wholesale rates for bulk orders are available
and encouraged. Check out the section on our website devoted to this new
publication (http://www.tao.ca/~solidarity/s11).
We are fast-tracking a book project titled POLICE STATE AMERICA edited by
Tom Burghardt, with articles by Frank Morales, Douglas Valentine, Mitzi
Waltz and Michael Novick. It is an excellent and timely analysis of the
coming domestic repression from counter-intelligence and counter-insurgency
programs that have been in the works for the last decade, and which have
now been given the green light for implementation as a result of September
11th.
Our publishing schedule will also be continuing with several titles
previously in the works, starting with the BLA's MESSAGE TO THE BLACK
MOVEMENT, David Gilbert's LOOKING AT THE WHITE WORKING CLASS HISTORICALLY,
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE - Nuh Washington, and 500 YEARS OF INDIGENOUS
RESISTANCE. Work is still continuing at various stages on about 20 other
books and pamphlets.
That's it for now,
The Solidarity collective
*****
____________________________________________________________________
SWISS BANK DENIES LINK TO BIOWEAPONS, ISLAMIC MILITANTS
____________________________________________________________________
PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
Feature Story
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
http://www.pacificnews.org/content/pns/2001/nov/1114swissbank.html
By Lucy Komisar, Pacific News Service
When tracking down the terrorist money trail, Washington will inevitably
wind up in Switzerland. Swiss banks have long been used by shady characters
worldwide to launder money. One of them, writes PNS contributor Lucy
Komisar, might be a good starting point for U.S. investigators seeking
terrorist funding sources and illicit bioweapons trade. Komisar
(lkomisar@msn.com) is a New York journalist who writes on offshore bank and
corporate secrecy and money-laundering.
GENEVA--To protect America from terrorist attack, the United States must
investigate illicit trade in biological weapons and trace the movement of
terrorist money. A good starting point is a controversial Swiss bank that
may have facilitated the sale of hazardous biological materials to Islamic
militants.
The bank, Banca del Gottardo in Lugano, appears to have handled one or more
sales from a known Russian biological weapons producer to a Swiss company
with links to several radical Islamic groups.
The bank denies involvement, and no document has appeared which might
confirm an illicit bioweapons trade. Nevertheless, an examination of
documents here, interviews and other sources raise enough red flags to
suggest that those tracing terror money might look closely at such deals.
A December 1993 list of contracts with the Interplastica company obtained
by this reporter lists a $20 million purchase of "injectables" by
Biopreparat, the Russian state developer of biological weapons. According
to two former Soviet Biopreparat insiders, bioweapons production at the
plant was hidden under the cover of pharmaceutical work.
Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik, who was the administrative head of Biopreparat,
defected to Britain in 1989 and revealed to British intelligence the true
nature of Biopreparat. Dr. Kenneth Alibek, a former deputy director of
Biopreparat who also defected and came to the United States in 1992, told
the same to the CIA.
Biopreparat since at least 1973 carried out offensive biological weapons
research, development and production. It produced and stockpiled hundreds
of tons of anthrax and dozens of tons of plague and smallpox.
Interplastica is registered in Switzerland as an engineering and trading
company dealing in chemicals and plastics. Founded in the 1960s, it
specialized in helping the countries of the East bloc pierce Western
embargoes.
>From the early 1990s, the Banca del Gottardo exercised control over the
indebted Interplastica through bank official Franco Peduzzi, according to a
source in Switzerland familiar with the bank's operations. A fax message
accompanying the list of contracts is addressed to Franco Peduzzi at the
bank. In a phone call, Peduzzi denied knowledge of the company.
A September 1994 fax to the bank indicates that the Banca del Gottardo
handled what appears to be another Interplastica deal with Biopreparat. The
memo notes that "for our friends of Torola, 'Biopreparat' deposited through
'Interplastica‚' two cont. of 20 kg of material in the security box of the
bank. P. Mamaladze advised -- ready for transaction [of] 'bonds.'"
Torola is a shell company registered in Lugano and run by several
individuals of Georgian and Yugoslavian origin. One of them, Paata
Guramovich Mamaladze, was identified by a source familiar with the
contracts as a Georgian arms trafficker.
The rest of the document purports to be about "trade related claims against
bonds." Biopreparat is not in the business of bond trading. The phrases
referring to "bonds" are set apart in quotation marks throughout the
document.
Franco Rogantini, spokesman for the bank in Lugano, said a bank
investigation showed "no record of any commercial dealings with
Biopreparat." The bank denied "having knowingly entered into business with
weapon producers and traders."
The Banca del Gottardo has already been the object of legal inquiries in a
Russian corruption and money-laundering case. A Swiss investigative
magistrate accused Pavel Borodin, who managed Russian state property, of
skimming $30 million from Russian government construction contracts. The
Swiss dossier details how Beghjet Pacolli, a native of Kosovo and head of
the Mabetex construction company, funneled payoffs to Borodin and other
Russian officials, including Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his
daughters.
The Banca del Gottardo held accounts for Borodin and other alleged culprits
and moved money through its branch in the offshore secrecy haven of the
Bahamas.
Pacolli ran Interplastica, and Pacolli is linked to radical Islamic groups.
Pacolli finances the radically anti-Serb newspaper "Bota Sot," based in
Zurich, which has been condemned for sowing "hate, intolerance and strife"
by the head of the Kosovo mission of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe. Through the Fund for Reconstruction of Kosovo
(FORK), in Lugano, he finances the Kosovo Liberation Army, or UCK, (known
in the West as KLA) described by Robert Gelbard, America's former special
envoy to Bosnia, as "Islamic terrorists." Europol (the European Police
Organization) says the UCK is involved in drug and weapons trafficking,
prostitution and illegal immigration.
Attempts to reach Pacolli through phone and e-mail messages to his Lugano
headquarters, his Swiss residence, and Mabetex offices in Florida and
Albania yielded only an e-mail response from Lugano: "Mr. Behgjet Pacolli
worked for Interplastica till 1990 and there is absolutely no relation with
what you mentioned in your e-mail. He does not know anything about it
because he has left the company [a] long time before. Thanks for taking
notice."
Interplastica is now in the process of liquidation. Renzo Peduzzi, listed
in the government registry as a member of its board, refused to take a
phone call.
Banca del Gottardo President Claudio Generali is a leader of the Radical
Democratic Party, which governs Switzerland. The bank appears to enjoy
protection from serious official scrutiny. Washington should encourage
Swiss authorities to investigate.
Copyright 2001 Pacific News Service
*****
____________________________________________________________________
BELGIUM BLAMED FOR ICON'S MURDER
Ministers and king knew of the plot to kill Lumumba, MPs say
____________________________________________________________________
THE GUARDIAN
International News
Saturday, 17 November 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,596268,00.html
Ian Black in Brussels
Belgian government ministers bore "moral responsibility" for events leading
to the murder of the Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba in 1961,
a parliamentary inquiry found yesterday.
In a messy, controversial end to 40 years of soul-searching about one of
the darkest chapters of the country's colonial past, MPs said that King
Baudouin knew of the plans to get rid of the charismatic African leader,
but did nothing to save him.
It is the first time for more than half a century that parliament has
criticised the normally sacrosanct monarchy.
No single conclusively incriminating document was found in the two-year
inquiry, but it did unearth a telegram from Count Harold d'Aspremont
Lynden, then minister for African affairs, which spoke of Lumumba's
"definitive elimination".
Two Belgian officers linked to other attempts to kidnap or kill Lumumba
operated under Aspremont Lynden's "political responsibility", the MPs said.
He and other ministers lied about their role.
Lumumba, an articulate nationalist, was freed from jail in 1960 and elected
prime minister when the Belgians left the vast country they had ruled with
a mixture of greed, and paternalism since King Leopold II won his "place in
the sun" 80 years earlier.
But there was a bloody civil war, provoked by an attempt by the copper-rich
province of Katanga to secede. This was led by Moise Tshombe, who recruited
Belgian, French and South African mercenaries to fight the elected
government. Lumumba was deposed by an unknown colonel, Joseph-Désire
Mobutu, who took over, renamed the country Zaire, made a fortune from
western mining companies and ruled with an iron fist until he was
overthrown in 1997.
Geert Versnick, chairman of the all-party commission, said the inquiry had
concluded that the execution of Lumumba and two colleagues on January 17
1961 was carried out by police officers from Katanga, and watched by
Belgian officers paid by Brussels.
They had been transferred to Katanga on a Sabena plane on the orders of
Aspremont Lynden and the Belgian foreign minister, Pierre Wigny.
The commission was set up after the 1999 publication of a book by Ludo De
Witte, an Africa expert, which claimed that there was clear evidence of
Belgian state responsibility for the murder. He accused the Belgians of
carrying on where the CIA had left off.
Later Gerard Soete, a former police commissioner, claimed that he had
helped chop Lumumba's body into pieces and dissolved it in acid. In a
macabre twist, he kept two of the victim's teeth for a time.
The commission was told that King Baudouin, shocked by Lumumba's famous
attack on Belgian colonialism - "humiliating slavery imposed on us by
force" - at the independence ceremony in 1960, knew of plans to eliminate
him.
"We are not going to allow an undertaking spanning 80 years to be destroyed
by the hateful politics of one man," the king was reported to have written
in October that year.
Ultimately inconclusive arguments about the king's precise role turn on
handwritten notes on a letter from Colonel Guy Weber, a military adviser to
Tshombe, to Baudouin, referring to the "neutralisation" of Lumumba.
Admired and reviled in life, Lumumba became in death an icon of the African
liberation struggle, seen as a victim of cold war power politics in which
he was falsely labelled a communist. But he was no innocent in Congo's
tribal struggles, and acted ruthlessly against the secessionists.
"Neither Congolese nor Belgians have exorcised the demons of the past," the
commission said.
The foreign minister, Louis Michel, is expected to issue a statement with a
view to bolstering Belgium's standing in Congo and central Africa. By
coincidence, he will tour of the Great Lakes region next week.
The investigation uncovered details about secret funds, plots and the name
of a mixed-race assassin known only as Georges, controlled by a shadowy
colonel who admitted that he had been offered "a crocodile hunter" to "bump
off Lumumba".
The investigators raided houses and confiscated suitcases full of
documents. A code breaker was brought in to decipher diplomatic
communications.
Many witnesses claimed to be unable to remember anything and an angry Mr
Versnick accused them of having a "selective memory".
Dan Schalk, a Socialist MP, called for a debate on the role of the royal
family in the light of the inquiry.
"Even if Belgium didn't explicitly order Lumumba's death in writing," he
said, "it refrained from asking for him to be kept alive when it knew
exactly what awaited him."
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
*****
____________________________________________________________________
THE ENIGMA OF ALLIES AND ENEMIES
____________________________________________________________________
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
[Col. writ. 11/8/01]
Source: Afrikan Frontline Network, nattyreb1@home.com
- Friday, 16 November 2001 -
What a difference a month makes!
As the United States continues to bombard the feudal state of Afghanistan,
with the gleeful (yet anxious!) connivance of a bevy of assorted junior
partners, the playlist of who's who seems to get rewritten by the hour.
Unperturbed by the Churchillian axiom that a nation has no permanent
friends, nor permanent enemies, but only permanent interests, the U.S. has
cast a wide, imperial net, to scoop up a bucket-full of buddies.
The resultant quasi-'Coalition' is a reflection of the wide and deep
contradictions that emerge, when one considers what the U.S. announces is
its foreign policy, and what it is in realpolitik. If the U.S. is the
target of the "terrorists" because of 'its wonderful democracy' (as
non-majority-elected President Bush suggests) why is it bundled up with
nations that see democracy as a bad word?
Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are many things, but democracies
they ain't!
Only one person voted for Gen. P. Musharraf to become President of Pakistan
-- himself! Because he was General, his was the only vote that counted. In
clear, unalloyed terms, Pakistan is a military dictatorship. Worse, it is
an unstable state where upwards of 80% of its population support the
Taliban of Afghanistan -- which exists, in part, because of the
machinations of Pakistani military intelligence!
The Saudi Kingdom is, in essence, a theocracy, where the Royal Family rules
with an iron hand, and where women aren't even allowed to drive! The
Bin-Laden clan is one of the First Families of the kingdom, builders of
many of the structures in the Islamic holy places of Mecca.
The Wahabbi sect of Islam promoted by the Royal House is but a variant of
that practiced by the Taliban.
The madrassas in Pakistan (of which there are over 10,000) were, for the
better part of two decades, training schools for the Taliban, and, in fact,
educated perhaps 75% of it's leadership. Pakistan, being a desperately
poor, post-colonial nation, cannot afford public education for its teeming
young population. The madrassas therefore, being the only free schools in
the region, are plush with students, who learn a thorough Koranic
education, with history from an Islamic perspective.
The backers of the madrassas? Saudi Arabia.
"OK, Jamal -- What's the point?", the thoughtful readers ask.
The point is that the two best buds of the USA -- Ally No. 1 -- Pakistan;
and Ally No. 2 -- Saudi Arabia, -- are the prime movers, backers,
supporters, and sustainers of the so-called 'enemy': the Taliban.
If 80% of Pakistanis support the Taliban (in a region where one's ethnicity
or tribal allegiances may go deeper than religion!) what can any government
-- even a military dictatorship -- do to suppress that expression?
The American bombing campaign is sowing the pregnant seeds of civil war in
Pakistan, and rolling instability in the whole region.
For the closer the US nestles to Pakistan, the more nervous the
(democratic!) Republic of India gets. The two nations are already involved
in an on-again, off-again, shooting war over the northern Indian (or is it
western Pakistani?) province of Kashmir.
Kashmir, with its overwhelmingly Muslim population has been agitating for
homerule, and national independence for decades. To the Indians, Kashmiri
militants are "terrorists." To the Pakistanis, they look a lot like
"freedom fighters." (Isn't that the same thing that was said about the
Taliban when they were mujahadeen fighting the Soviets?).
The US charges into a thicket, knowing neither its enemies, nor its real
friends.
It is a time of danger, that holds dangers not just for the US, nor even
the region: but the world.
Copyright 2001 Mumia Abu-Jamal. All rights reserved.
THEY ARE PLANNING TO MURDER MUMIA!!
SAVE THE DATE - DECEMBER 8TH FOR MUMIA!
PLEASE PASS THE WORD!
"We are fighting the last battle to Free Mumia, and need support now more
than ever. We need donations of money, calling cards, copy cards, etc. and
we really need manpower. We need people to be in the streets every day
putting out information, demonstrating, raising money, and doing whatever
you can to help."
PLEASE CONTACT: International Concerned Family & Friends of MAJ; P.O. Box
19709, Philadelphia, PA 19143; Tel: 215-476-8812; Fax: 215-476-6180;
E-mail: icffmaj@aol.com; Web: http://www.mumia.org AND OFFER YOUR SERVICES!
Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:
Mumia Abu-Jamal
AM 8335
SCI-Greene
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370
!! PEOPLE GET READY !!
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Kersplebedeb, CP 63560, CCCP Van Horne, Montreal QC, Canada H3W 3H8
++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++
++++ see: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++
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Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
collective based in Toronto, Canada. Our focus includes a wide
variety of material, including political prisoners, national
liberation struggles, armed communist resistance, anti-fascism,
the fight against patriarchy, and more. We regularly publish our
writings, research, and translation materials on our listserv
called ATS-L. We also publish pamphlets and books as part of a
joint project with Solidarity, a Montreal-based group. For
more information, contact:
Arm The Spirit
P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1P7 Canada
E-mail: ats@etext.org
ATS: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats
Solidarity: http://www.tao.ca/~solidarity
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/archives/ats-l
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