Informazione
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20944
Anticipating An Attack For several years prior to the events of 9/11, top American strategists had been acknowledging the necessity of what they oft-termed a “new Pearl Harbor”, a momentous attack upon America itself, in order to mobilize the American populace for a new global war of domination. As Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote in his 1997 book The Grand Chessboard, “America's primary interest is to help ensure that no single power comes to control this geopolitical space [of Central Asia] and that the global community has unhindered financial and economic access to it.”[1] Brzezinski acknowledged in his book that, “the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public’s sense of domestic well-being.”[2] He also wrote that, “The public supported America’s engagement in World War II largely because of the shock effect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.”[3] In 1999, Andrew Krepinevich, Executive Director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments testified before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. He stated that the US faces an “unprecedented challenge”: [T]he need to transform our armed forces into a very different kind of military from that which exists today, while sustaining the military’s ability to play a very active role in supporting U.S. near-term efforts to preserve global stability within a national security strategy of engagement and enlargement.[4] After advocating a massive re-imagining of the role and nature of US military might, pushing the notion of a “revolution in military affairs” and an acceleration of imperial ambitions, he told the Senate Committee: There appears to be general agreement concerning the need to transform the U.S. military into a significantly different kind of force from that which emerged victorious from the Cold and Gulf Wars. Yet this verbal support has not been translated into a defense program supporting transformation. [. . . ] While there is growing support in Congress for transformation, the “critical mass” [i.e., public support] needed to effect it has not yet been achieved. One may conclude that, in the absence of a strong external shock to the United States—a latter-day “Pearl Harbor” of sorts—surmounting the barriers to transformation will likely prove a long, arduous process.[5] In 1999, Graham Fuller, former Deputy Director of the CIA’s National Council on Intelligence, advocated using Muslim forces to further US interests in Central Asia. He stated that, “The policy of guiding the evolution of Islam and of helping them against our adversaries worked marvelously well in Afghanistan against [the Russians]. The same doctrines can still be used to destabilize what remains of Russian power, and especially to counter the Chinese influence in Central Asia.”[6] In June of 2000, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Pentagon released Joint Vision 2020, outlining the American military strategy that the Department of Defense “will follow in the future.” The emphasis in the report was put on the notion of “Full Spectrum Dominance,” which means “the ability of U.S. forces, operating alone or with allies, to defeat any adversary and control any situation across the range of military operations”: Joint Vision 2020 addresses full-spectrum dominance across the range of conflicts from nuclear war to major theater wars to smaller-scale contingencies. It also addresses amorphous situations like peacekeeping and noncombat humanitarian relief.[7] The neoconservative think tank the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) released a report in September of 2000 called Rebuilding America’s Defenses in which they advocated for a massive expansion of America’s empire and “full spectrum dominance” as well as the necessity to undertake a “Revolution in military affairs,” and undertake multiple simultaneous wars in different regions of the world. Several members of the think tank and authors of the report would go on to enter key policy positions within the Bush administration several months later (including, but not limited to Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Zalmay Khalilzad). While acknowledging the massive undertaking this “project” would be, the report stated: Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”[8] In January of 2001, the Rumsfeld Commission, which was set up to analyze the US National Security Space Management and Organization, chaired by incoming US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (who had also been a signatory to and member of the Project for the New American Century at the same time). It advocated an expansion of military capabilities in Space and a total reorganization of the armed forces and intelligence agencies of the United States. The report stated that: History is replete with instances in which warning signs were ignored and change resisted until an external, “improbable” event forced resistant bureaucracies to take action. The question is whether the US will be wise enough to act responsibly and soon enough to reduce US space vulnerability. Or whether, as in the past, a disabling attack against the country and its people – a “Space Pearl Harbor” – will be the only event able to galvanize the nation and cause the US Government to act.[9] As early as 1998, the President was warned in his CIA daily briefing that, “bin Laden and his allies are preparing for an attack in the US, including an aircraft hijacking.” NORAD, the “North American Aerospace Defense command also conducted an exercise to counter a terrorist attack involving smashing an airplane into a building.” In August 1999, “the Federal Aviation Administration's intelligence branch warned of a possible "suicide hijacking operation" by Osama Bin Laden.”[10] In October of 2000, the Pentagon undertook an emergency response exercise in which “there was a mock terrorist incident at the Pentagon Metro stop and a construction accident,” and it further envisioned a “downed passenger aircraft” in the Pentagon courtyard.[11] For years, NORAD had been conducting military exercises and drills in which it envisioned planes being hijacked and flown into buildings in the United States.[12] One of the intended targets in the NORAD drills was the World Trade Center: In another exercise, jets performed a mock shootdown over the Atlantic Ocean of a jet supposedly laden with chemical poisons headed toward a target in the United States. In a third scenario, the target was the Pentagon — but that drill was not run after Defense officials said it was unrealistic.[13] As the Guardian revealed in April of 2004: Five months before the September 11 attacks, US military planners suggested a war game to practise a response to a terrorist attack using a commercial airliner flown into the Pentagon, but senior officers rejected the scenario as "too unrealistic".[14] In May of 2001, an exercise involving U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Joint Forces Command took place in which the military establishment “forecasted” the first war of the 21st century so closely that, “Nostradamus couldn't have nailed the first battle of the next war any closer than we did,” as articulated by a former top official with the exercise, Dave Ozolek. The exercise, Unified Vision 2001: [G]rew out of the realization that the threat was changing. Ozolek said the scenario was a major regional threat emanating from the Middle East. The scenario called for global deployment into a landlocked country with hostile terrain and a lack of basing and agreements with neighboring countries for U.S. access. [. . . ] The threat we portrayed was an unstable and hostile state, but the primary enemy was not the state itself but a transnational actor based out of that area, globally connected, capable and willing to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S. as part of that campaign. [. . . ] "Many of the participants in Unified Vision, 100 days later, were war planners," Ozolek said. They took their experiences in Unified Vision back to their commands and put them to use as the commands created plans for operations Enduring Freedom and Noble Eagle, he said. They had an idea of the tactics, techniques and procedures needed to operate against such an enemy, he noted. Ozolek said Unified Vision refutes the pundits who make a living out of critiquing the Department of Defense. "The first thing they like to talk about is that we always dwell on the last battle of the last war," he said. "What we're showing them is that this time we got it right: We really were looking at the first battle of the next war, and we nailed it pretty darned close."[15] After 9/11, in May of 2002, Condoleezza Rice stated that, “I don't think anybody could have predicted that ... they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile.”[16] So Condi is a fool or a liar, because that statement is nothing if not entirely and utterly false. The national security apparatus had fully anticipated, and even war gamed and drilled this very scenario. It was expected, planned for, and no less with war plans waiting in the wings. The 9/11 Commission Of critical importance in understanding the events of 9/11 is taking note of the funding for the operation. The 9/11 Commission itself stated: To date the U.S. government has not been able to determine the origin of the money used for the 9/11 attacks. Ultimately the question is of little practical significance.[17] However, one should take issue with this claim. The fact is that any comprehensive investigation, criminal or otherwise, should pay special attention to the role of financing; follow the money. This is not the only failure of the 9/11 Commission, as has been amply documented. From its inception, the 9/11 Commission was plagued with problems. The Bush administration had resisted attempts to form a commission to investigate the attacks of 9/11 for over a year, even pressuring Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle not to launch an inquiry.[18] In May of 2002, President Bush voiced his opposition to the formation of a 9/11 commission.[19] In September of 2002, Bush reversed his previous decision and backed the proposal to form an “independent” commission to investigate the attacks.[20] Within a month of this statement, the White House began undermining the process, as “an almost completed Congressional deal was suddenly undone in October after a Republican lawmaker involved in the final negotiations received a call from Vice President Dick Cheney,” which led to a stalling of the process.[21] In mid-November, Congress approved the creation of a bi-partisan 9/11 Commission to investigate the attacks, with 10 Congressmen, 5 Democrats and 5 Republicans, with the Chairman appointed by the Bush administration and the Vice Chair appointed by the Democrats.[22] The Bush administration chose as the Chairman none other than Henry Kissinger, former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State for Nixon and Ford, “a consummate Washington insider,” not to mention war criminal. Even the New York Times had to admit: Unfortunately, his affinity for power and the commercial interests he has cultivated since leaving government may make him less than the staunchly independent figure that is needed for this critical post. Indeed, it is tempting to wonder if the choice of Mr. Kissinger is not a clever maneuver by the White House to contain an investigation it long opposed.[23] Two week later, “Facing questions about potential conflicts of interest, Henry Kissinger resigned” as Chairman of the 9/11 Commission.[24] He was replaced with former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean. As of November 2003, one Commissioner, Max Cleland, claimed that the “investigation is now compromised” by the White House.[25] Shortly after the release of the final 9/11 Commission Report in 2004, Harper’s Magazine called it “a cheat and a fraud,” declaring the report a “whitewash.”[26] In 2006, the two co-Chairs of the Commission published a book in which they claimed that the Commission was lied to by both the FAA and the Department of Defense, specifically NORAD.[27] Several commissioners are on the record as saying they felt that the Pentagon purposely lied to them in order to mislead them.[28] Further, much of the information the commission received and used in its report “was the product of harsh interrogations of al-Qaida operatives - interrogations that many critics have labeled torture.”[29] As it turned out, the Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, was a man of dubious priorities and connections. He was the ultimate author of the final report and controlled the research staff of the commission. Zelikow, “a former colleague of then-National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, was appointed executive director of the 9/11 Commission despite his close ties to the Bush White House, and he remained in regular contact with [Karl] Rove while overseeing the commission.” Zelikow “secretly spoke with President Bush's close adviser Karl Rove and others within the White House while the ostensibly autonomous commission was completing its report.” Zelikow had even previously co-authored a book with Condoleezza Rice. Following the publication of the report, Zelikow then went to work as an adviser to Condoleezza Rice in the White House.[30] The Bin Ladens There are many fascinating and important revelations regarding the intricate relationship between the CIA, the ISI, and al-Qaeda in the lead-up to the events of 9/11 that deserve to be subjected to more scrutiny. First, let’s take a look at Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, whose relationship with the CIA in the past had been well documented, reportedly acted as a rogue following the 1991 US Gulf War against Iraq and American stationing of troops and military bases in Saudi Arabia. However, there are reports that would indicate that the relationship between bin Laden and the US intelligence apparatus remained, at least to some degree, for many years. We must remember the nature of al-Qaeda, as an organization, or network, of intelligence assets funded, armed, trained and dispersed around the world by a complex network of intelligence agencies from the United States, France, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. A French court undertook a probe into the financial network of Osama bin Laden, who was widely assumed to simply be independently wealthy, and financed al-Qaeda operations through his own funds. However, it was revealed that Osama maintained a joint bank account with his half-brother Yeslam bin Laden in Switzerland between 1990 and 1997. Of particular interest to investigators was “a 241 million euro transfer made to Pakistan in 2000 from an account belonging to a company called Cambridge, a SBG [Saudi Bin Laden Group] subsidiary, that was opened at Deutsche Bank in Geneva,” with the funds “transferred into an account belonging jointly to Osama bin Laden and someone of Pakistani nationality.”[31] Der Spiegel, a major German newspaper, was granted access to thousands of pages of intelligence documents relating to bin Laden and al-Qaeda. In the report on the documents, the authors revealed that when bin Laden needed financing, “The Saudi elite -- and his own family -- came to his assistance.” The list of financiers: is a veritable who's who of the Middle Eastern monarchy, including the signatures of two former cabinet ministers, six bankers and twelve prominent businessmen. The list also mentions "the bin Laden brothers." ... Did "the bin Laden brothers," who first pledged money to Al-Qaida and then, in 1994, issued a joint press statement declaring that they were ejecting Osama from the family as a "black sheep," truly break ties with their blood relatives -- or were they simply pulling the wool over the eyes of the world?[32] Osama bin Laden’s sister-in-law even stated: I absolutely do not believe that the bin Ladens disowned Osama. In this family, a brother is always a brother, no matter what he has done. I am convinced that the complex and tightly woven network between the bin Laden clan and the Saudi royal family is still in operation.[33] Following the death of Osama’s father, Salem bin Laden, Osama’s brother, became head of the company, Saudi Binladen Group (SBG). As Der Spiegel reported: Salem bin Laden established the company's ties to the American political elite when, according to French intelligence sources, he helped the Reagan administration circumvent the US Senate and funnel $34 million to the right-wing Contra rebels operating in Nicaragua. He also developed close ties with the Bush family in Texas.[34] While Osama was fighting in Afghanistan against the Soviets, he would often be personally visited by Saudi Prince Turki, the head of Saudi intelligence, and was funded by both the Saudi Binladen Group (SBG) and the Saudi royal family. In 1990, when King Fahd of Saudi Arabia allowed the Americans to establish military bases in Saudi Arabia, the SBG got the contract to build the bases.[35] Though the Bin Laden family claimed Osama was a “black sheep” and that they cut off ties with him in the early 1990s, the evidence remains strong that not only did Osama maintain ties with his family, but he maintained his ties with Saudi intelligence. While Osama was in Sudan in the early 1990s, Saudi intelligence would so frequently send his family over to meet with him, and kept in such close contact with him, that the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, believed Osama was a Saudi spy. In 1994, under intense public pressure, both Saudi Arabia and the bin Laden family publicly revoked their ties with Osama.[36] Yet, even after this, when Osama returned to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s to work with the Taliban, Prince Turki of Saudi intelligence would still maintain contact and even visit Osama, even bringing “gifts” such as dozens of trucks: According to a former member of the Taliban intelligence service, Prince Turki and OBL [Osama bin Laden] made a deal: The Saudis would support al-Qaida financially, but only under the condition that there would be no attacks on Saudi soil.[37] On January 9, 2001, Osama attended his sons wedding in Afghanistan, accompanied by his mother and two brothers, hardly the actions of a “black sheep”. Further, two of Osama’s sisters traveled to Abu Dhabi in February of 2001 to “deliver large sums of cash” to an al-Qaeda agent. In the United States, the Bin Laden family had diplomatic passports, so following the 9/11 attacks, they could not be questioned, but instead were flown out of the country. The Bin Ladens were also in business with the Bush family through the investment company, the Carlyle Group.[38] No one ever seemed to question why the bin Laden family had diplomatic passports, a strange occurrence, it would seem, for a Saudi ‘business’ family who weren’t engaged in any official or formal ‘diplomacy’. In March of 2000, it was reported that Osama bin Laden was sick and suffering from kidney and liver disease.[39] A western intelligence source told the Hong-Kong based magazine, Asiaweek, that bin Laden was dying of kidney failure.[40] In July of 2001, Osama bin Laden spent 10 days at the American hospital in Dubai for treatment. He traveled from Pakistan to Dubai on July 4, 2001, to be treated in the urology department. While he was in the hospital, Osama was visited by several members of his family, Saudi officials, and the CIA. One visitor was Saudi Prince Turki al Faisal, the head of Saudi intelligence, and the CIA station chief in Dubai, who was soon after recalled back to Washington.[41] On September 10, 2001, the night before the attacks of 9/11, Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan “getting medical treatment with the support of the very military that days later pledged its backing for the U.S. war on terror in Afghanistan.” Pakistani intelligence reported that bin Laden was quickly taken to a military hospital in Rawalpindi for kidney dialysis treatment. As one medical worker said, “they moved out all the regular staff in the urology department and sent in a secret team to replace them.” Pakistani President Musharraf openly stated in public that Osama suffers from kidney disease and is near death.[42] The Pakistani ISI and 9/11 Throughout the entire time of overt and covert assistance by Pakistan’s ISI to both the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the CIA had maintained its close ties with the ISI that they had developed during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s, in which they used the ISI as a conduit; as was set up through the Safari Club in the 1970s, which was the organization of western intelligence agencies which used Middle Eastern and Asian intelligence agencies as conduits for their covert activities. Thus, the CIA maintained its extensive contact with the ISI, and so would be well aware of its activities.[43] A top Indian intelligence official even stated that, “America's Defence Intelligence Agency was aware that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was sponsoring the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but the Bush Administration chose to ignore its findings.”[44] Is it inconceivable that since the CIA maintained its extensive contacts with the ISI, and the ISI maintained and expanded its contacts with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, that the CIA was not in fact sponsoring both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda through the ISI as well? We know that the CIA was supporting the Taliban through the same network of the ISI that was supporting al-Qaeda operatives,[45] thus it would take a stretch of the imagination to think that the CIA would be unaware of its subsequent support for al-Qaeda. Whether direct or indirect, the CIA was supporting al-Qaeda. Shortly after 9/11, Indian intelligence became aware of the fact that General Mahmoud Ahmad, head of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had wired $100,000 from Saeed Sheikh, a convicted terrorist who had associations with the ISI, to Mohamed Atta, the purported ringleader and one of the 9/11 hijackers. Thus, the ISI in effect, financed the 9/11 attacks. However, there are several more ambiguous facets to this story. It just so happens that General Mahmoud Ahmad went to Washington, D.C. on September 4th, 2001 for a weeklong visit. On September 10, the day before 9/11, a Pakistani newspaper ran a story on Ahmad’s visit: ISI Chief Lt-Gen Mahmood's week-long presence in Washington has triggered speculation about the agenda of his mysterious meetings at the Pentagon and National Security Council. Officially, State Department sources say he is on a routine visit in return to CIA Director George Tenet's earlier visit to Islamabad. Official sources confirm that he met Tenet this week. He also held long parleys with unspecified officials at the White House and the Pentagon. But the most important meeting was with Mark Grossman, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. ... What added interest to his visit is the history of such visits. Last time Ziauddin Butt, Mahmood's predecessor, was here during Nawaz Sharif's government the domestic politics turned topsy-turvy within days. That this is not the first visit by Mahmood in the last three months shows the urgency of the ongoing parleys.[46] General Ahmad, while in Washington, met with CIA Director George Tenet and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. On the morning of 9/11, General Ahmad was in a meeting with the Chairmen of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, Senator Bob Graham and Representative Porter Goss, a former 10-year veteran of CIA clandestine operations. Porter Goss was later put in charge of a joint House-Senate investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks, and later became the CIA director.[47] General Mahmoud, having wired $100,000 to Mohamad Atta, the purported lead 9/11 hijacker, implicates the ISI in the attacks of 9/11, at least from a financial standing. The FBI even confirmed the transaction took place.[48] The ISI’s extensive ties to American intelligence and the fact that Ahmad was in D.C. talking to high level legislators, State Department, Pentagon and intelligence officials begs the question of what the precise nature of these secret meetings were. Michael Meacher, a former British MP and member of Tony Blair’s cabinet, wrote in the Guardian that: Ahmed, the paymaster for the hijackers, was actually in Washington on 9/11, and had a series of pre-9/11 top-level meetings in the White House, the Pentagon, the national security council, and with George Tenet, then head of the CIA, and Marc Grossman, the under-secretary of state for political affairs. When Ahmed was exposed by the Wall Street Journal as having sent the money to the hijackers, he was forced to "retire" by President Pervez Musharraf.[49] Meacher further discussed the case of Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator-turned-whistleblower who tried to expose evidence of what she saw as collusion between intelligence agencies and the terrorists behind 9/11. She was subsequently gagged by the U.S. Department of Justice: She is a 33-year-old Turkish-American former FBI translator of intelligence, fluent in Farsi, the language spoken mainly in Iran and Afghanistan, who had top-secret security clearance. She tried to blow the whistle on the cover-up of intelligence that names some of the culprits who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, but is now under two gagging orders that forbid her from testifying in court or mentioning the names of the people or the countries involved. She has been quoted as saying: "My translations of the 9/11 intercepts included [terrorist] money laundering, detailed and date-specific information ... if they were to do real investigations, we would see several significant high-level criminal prosecutions in this country [the US] ... and believe me, they will do everything to cover this up".[50] In August of 2009, Sibel Edmonds revealed that, “the US was on 'intimate' terms with the Taliban and al-Qaeda using the militants to further certain goals in central Asia,” and stated, “With those groups, we had operations in Central Asia.” She explained that Washington used those groups “as we did during the Afghan and Soviet conflict.”[51] In other words, the US was arming, funding and using al-Qaeda for its own objectives, just as it always had. On September 11, 2009, 8 years to the day of the events of 9/11, a major British newspaper, the Daily Mail, ran a story critical of the official story regarding Osama bin Laden. In it, the author posed the question: What if he has been dead for years, and the British and U.S. intelligence services are actually playing a game of double bluff? What if everything we have seen or heard of him on video and audio tapes since the early days after 9/11 is a fake - and that he is being kept 'alive' by the Western allies to stir up support for the war on terror?[52] The article quoted former U.S. foreign intelligence officer and senior editor Angelo M. Codevilla, a professor of international relations at Boston University as saying, “All the evidence suggests Elvis Presley is more alive today than Osama Bin Laden”: Prof Codevilla asserted: 'The video and audio tapes alleged to be Osama's never convince the impartial observer,' he asserted. 'The guy just does not look like Osama. Some videos show him with a Semitic, aquiline nose, while others show him with a shorter, broader one. Next to that, differences between the colours and styles of his beard are small stuff.'[53] Interesting to note is that following the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden, in at least four separate statements to Middle Eastern press and media, stated that he did not take part in the 9/11 attacks, while the video in which he supposedly claimed responsibility for the attacks has him wearing gold rings, which is forbidden by his Wahhabist religion, as well as writing with his right hand, whereas the FBI website says that he is left handed, and his face is blurred and difficult to make out. On September 28, 2001, Osama bin Laden said, “'I have already said I am not involved. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge... nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act.”[54] Osama bin Laden was even reported to have died of kidney failure on December 13, 2001, in the mountains of Tora Bora on the Afghan-Pakistan border. On that same day, the U.S. government released the fateful videotape in which Osama claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, the bin Laden in the video was very different from the known images of the real bin Laden, and even had a different shaped nose, his beard was darker, his skin paler, and his fingers were no longer long and thin, as well as the fact that he looked to be in good health.[55] As the Los Angeles Times reported in November of 2009, the extensive and close relationship between the CIA and the ISI has not diminished since 9/11, but had in fact, accelerated: “the CIA has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Pakistan's intelligence service since the Sept. 11 attacks, accounting for as much as one-third of the foreign spy agency's annual budget.” Further, “the payments to Pakistan are authorized under a covert program initially approved by then-President Bush and continued under President Obama.” Further, “the CIA has routinely brought ISI operatives to a secret training facility in North Carolina,” and as the article pointed out, “the CIA also directs millions of dollars to other foreign spy services. But the magnitude of the payments to the ISI reflect Pakistan's central role.” As the report in the Los Angeles Times explained, the CIA financial support to the ISI began during the Afghan-Soviet conflict, and has not stopped since then, and since 9/11, it has actually accelerated.[56] The Nexus Personified: The Case of Ali Mohamed Perhaps the perfect example of the complex relationship and nexus between intelligence agencies and al-Qaeda is the case of a man named Ali Mohamed. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2001, “A former U.S. Army sergeant who trained Osama bin Laden's bodyguards and helped plan the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya was a U.S. government informant during much of his terrorist career.” Ali Mohamed, an Egyptian-born US citizen had approached the CIA in the mid-1980s to inform for them. He also spent years as an FBI informant, all the while being a top-level al-Qaeda operative, even training Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards, as well as training terrorists in camps in Afghanistan and Sudan, and planned the 1998 US Embassy bombing in Kenya.[57] State Department officials proclaimed this was merely a sign of the problems associated with recruiting informants, that Mohamed was a double agent working for al-Qaeda, and they should have “known better.” However, the ignorance plea can only go so far, and considering Mohamed’s extensive ties to not one, but several US agencies, there is no doubt he was a double agent, but perhaps it is more likely he was working as an al-Qaeda operative for the US government. After all, it is one thing to say the Ali Mohamed was lucky in his evading being caught, but he was continuously lucky, over and over again. One wonders when ‘luck’ is organized. In 1971, Ali Mohamed joined the Egyptian Army, rising to the rank of major. Well educated in Egypt, he was fluent in English. In 1981, he joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, “a group of radical Muslim fundamentalists opposed to the Egyptian government's ties to the United States and Israel that included members of the Egyptian military.” The very same year, in 1981, Mohamed traveled to the United States for the first time, “graduating from a special program for foreign officers at the U.S. Army Special Forces school at Fort Bragg, N.C.” In 1984, Mohamed left the Egyptian military.[58] In 1984, Ali Mohamed approached the CIA office in Egypt offering to be a spy. Officially, the CIA then cut off contact with him shortly thereafter, as he made contact with terrorist organizations and informed them he was working with the CIA, supposedly proposing to spy on US intelligence agencies. So the CIA had the State Department add him to a “watch list” so that he could not enter the United States. However, the next year, Ali Mohamed obtained a visa from the American Embassy and went to the United States. He then joined the American Army and “served with one of its most elite units.”[59] From 1986 until 1989, Ali Mohamed served at the Army’s Special Forces base in Fort Bragg, N.C., until he was honourably discharged in 1989. While on active duty, he went to New York where he trained local Muslims in military tactics to go fight in the Afghan-Soviet war. One of his students was “El Sayyid A. Nosair, the Egyptian immigrant convicted of killing Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the Jewish Defense League, in 1990,” which was the first recorded al-Qaeda operation on U.S. soil.[60] In the early 1990s, Ali Mohamed began working for the FBI. Mohamed then forged ties with Osama bin Laden as early as 1991, and assisted in a variety of ways, such as helping bin Laden and ‘al-Qaeda’ obtain fake documents, assisted with logistical tasks, and even helped Osama relocate from Afghanistan to the Sudan in 1991. Many terrorists that Mohamed trained were subsequently involved in the 1993 plot to blow up the World Trade Center. In 1992, Mohamed returned to Afghanistan to continue training militants. That same year, he was detained by officials in Rome, yet was released shortly thereafter.[61] In 1992, Ali Mohamed created an al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Kenya, and in 1993, bin Laden asked Mohamed to scout for potential terrorist targets in Nairobi, Kenya. He took photos of and scouted the French Embassy, the US AID office and the American Embassy. Bin Laden subsequently chose the American Embassy as the target.[62] In 1993, he was detained by the RCMP in Vancouver, Canada, “while traveling in the company of a suspected associate of Mr. bin Laden's who was trying to enter the United States using false documents.”[63] However, after the RCMP were told to contact his FBI handlers, Mohamed was released.[64] He subsequently masterminded the American Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.[65] However, there are implications that may suggest that Ali Mohamed’s ties to the CIA did not end or evaporate in the 1980s. Following 9/11, several revelations were reported in the media about a covert program of allowing high-level terrorists to enter the United States under a secret CIA program which had the State Department issue visas to terrorists in order to enter the United States. |
L'URLO DEL KOSOVO
libro e DVD
sulle conseguenze subite dalla popolazione civile dopo i bombardamenti della Nato del 1999 sulla Jugoslavia
di Alessandro Di Meo
edito da ExOrma - 2010
Il libro e il dvd - L'Urlo del Kosovo - sono disponibili in edizione unica al costo di 18 euro. Le copie si possono richiedere direttamente all'autore (alessandro.di.meo@...), all'associazione Un Ponte per... (posta@... o info@...), a ExOrma edizioni (o.pagnani@... o m.sassara@...) o attraverso il sito internet di Un Ponte per...
presso AGRICOLTURA CAPODARCO, Via del Grottino snc, 00046 (RM)
(da Grottaferrata prendere viale San Nilo, quindi Via del Grottino)
tel.06-94549191 email info@...
presentazione del libro e del DVD
L'URLO DEL KOSOVO
dalle ore 16 fino a notte inoltrata, ci sarà una bella iniziativa che gli amici della comunità di Capodarco (Agricoltura Biologica e Biosolidale, a Grottaferrata) hanno preparato in solidarietà con famiglie della ex Jugoslavia, vittime dei bombardamenti del 99 e residenti in villaggi serbi del Kosovo e Metohija.
Nell'occasione, come recita il volantino, verrà proiettato il documentario "L'Urlo del Kosovo" (intorno alle ore 19-19,30).
Intervenite numerosi!
In occasione dell'80° anniversario
della fucilazione dei quattro antifascisti
(Ferdo Bidovec, Franjo Marušič,
Zvonimir Miloš e Alojš Valenčič)
presso il poligono di Basovizza
giovedì 9 settembre alle ore 17,
presso la Sala Tessitori
piazza Oberdan 6
conferenza - dibattito:
LA PRIMA
RESISTENZA EUROPEA
parlerà
Milan Pahor,
presidente del
Comitato per le onoranze ai Martiri di Basovizza
organizza
Il Coordinamento antifascista di Trieste
in collaborazione con il
Gruppo consiliare regionale della Sinistra Arcobaleno
---
V 80. obletnici
ustrelitve štirih antifašistov
(Ferdo Bidovec, Franjo Marušič,
Zvonimir Miloš e Alojš Valenčič)
na zastrelišču pri Bazovici
V četrtek 9. septembra ob 17 uri,
v dvorani Tessitori
Trg Oberdan 6
predavanje:
PRVI
EVROPSKI ODPOR
Govoril bo
Milan PAHOR
predsednik
Odbora za proslavo bazoviških junakov
organizirata
Tržaški antifašistični odbor
in
Deželna svetniška skupina Levica Mavrica
Trodnevna Konferencija koja se u Beogradu održala krajem jula i početkom avgusta predstavlja događaj od velikog međunarodnog značaja.
Centralna tema trodnevne konferencije evropskih komunističkih omladinskih organizacija bilo je održavanje 17-tog Svetskog festivala omladine i studenata koji se održava svake četiri godine u organizaciji Svetske federacije demokratske omladine – WFDY, koja je naslednica Kominističke omladinske internacionale-KOI i okuplja preko stotinu komunističkih i progresivnih organizacija iz celog sveta. Cilj je da se koordinarira i sinhronizuje rad svih evropskih komunističkih omladina na organizovanju značajnog događaja koji se ove godine održava u Južnoj Africi. Ovogodišnji festival će se održati od 13. do 21. decembra u zemlji bogate istorije borbe protiv aparthejda, kolevci istaknutog revolucionarnog borca Nelsona Mendele. Taj skup dobija poseban značaj pošto se obeležavaju godišnjice nezavisnosti više afričkih država: Namibije, Zimbabvea, Angole, Mozambika i Gvineje Bisao, datumi koje će se obeležiti u okviru festivala, na kome će se odati i priznanje Kubi na nesebičnoj pomoći koju je u duhu internacionalne solidarnosti pružila borbi za oslobođenje afričkog kontinenta. To će biti prvi put da Južna Afrika organizuje jedan veliki omladinski politički skup koji će okupiti progresivnu i antiimperijalističku omladinu sveta spremnu da izrazi svoje ubeđenje u nastavak borbe protiv imperijalizma. Mladi Južnoafrikanci u ovom trenutku vode svoju borbu za besplatno školovanje i zdravstvo, za nacionalizaciju prirodnih resursa i za poboljšanje uslova života čitavog siromašnog stanovništva koje je većim delom crnačko.
Festival će biti održan pod sloganom „Za svet mira, solidarnosti i društvenih promena, porazimo imperijalizam!“
Trodnevna Konferenciji u Beogradu je prisustvovalo više od 30 delegata iz 25 organizacija iz cele Evrope. Tokom trodnevnog skupa mladi komunisti raspravljali su o predstojećem Svetskom festivalu omladine i studenata ali su i u organizaciji NKPJ i SKOJ položili vence na spomenik ubijenim radnicima RTS-a u NATO agresiji i na Groblju oslobodilaca Beograda.
Omladina je uvek bila vitalna snaga razvoja svakog društva. Sa svojom prirodnom kreativnošću, voljom za promene i snagom, zahtevi omladine za slobodu, mir, obrazovanje, posao, demokratska prava i društvene promene, uvek su igrali značajnu ulogu u borbi za pravedniji svet. Dok imperijalizam nastoji da zavlada svetom, usred jedne od najdubljih strukturalnih kriza kapitalističkog sistema, odgovorne za pogoršanje stanja omladine i za rastući broj mladih bez posla, povećavaju se beneficije eksploatatorskih grupa naspram čega takođe raste broj ljudi koji pružaju otpor, bez straha od kazne, blokade i imperijalističke okupacije. U trenucima u kojima se povećava broj vojnih baza i takmičenje za osvajanje tržišta i prirodnih resursa, sa neumerenim povećanjem vojnih budžeta, Zemlja se pretvorila u veoma opasno mesto za život. Imperijalizam je svakog dana sve agresivniji prema progresivnim, demokratskim i komunističkim organizacijama, što zahteva od omladine pojačan napor u borbi za mir. Učestale provokacije protiv progresivnih vlada u Latinskoj Americi i na Karibima, proganjanje studentskih i omladinskih pokreta u Kolumbiji i u zemljama Istočne Evrope, izjednačavanje komunizma sa nacizmom, napadi na UJSARIO Zapadne Sahare, zločini protiv omladine i naroda Palestine koje vrši cionizam uz podršku imperijalizma, nastavak okupacije Kipra i Kosova, agresija na Irak i Avganistan, imperijalistički pritisci na DNR Koreju ugnjetavanje domorodačkih naroda su ključni elementi za razumevanje imperijalne strategije dominacije.
Svetski festival omladine i studenata se organizuje kako bi motivisao i ohrabrio milione mladih koji se bore za mirnu budućnost bez imperijalizma.
Za svet mira, solidarnosti i društvenih promena, porazimo imperijalizam! Snagom naroda protiv moći kapitala!
Sekretarijat SKOJ-a
3. avgust 2010. god
Interview with member of the Secretariat of the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia and secretary for International Affairs of the League of Communist Yugoslav Youth (SKOJ) comrade Marijan Kubik (Mariyan Kubik) about SKOJ and situation in Serbia
Tell us briefly about the history of the organization. Which party inspires its political orientation?
The League of Communist Yugoslav Youth (SKOJ) was re-established on January 25, 1992 in Belgrade as the continuator of revolutionary traditions of the original SKOJ which emerged in 1919, and was abolished in 1948. SKOJ was revived in the form a youth organization of the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NKPJ), the only Marxist-Leninist party in the territory of the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, but it is also active as an independent political organization, therefore it is registered as such at the competent authorities. The SKOJ members make one third of the entire NKPJ membership. SKOJ is the only youth organization from this region which is registered as a member of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.
Which changes have your organization undergone in respect to the disintegration of Yugoslavia? You are active only in Serbia?
The Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) did not disintegrate, as some people argue and try to prove it. It is violently thrown and broken up. The collapse of SFRY was perpetrated by Western imperialism. The easiest way for removal of socialism in our country was inspiration of ethnic conflicts that led to a local bloody, fratricidal war. In their anti-Yugoslav operation, the Western capitalists profusely used the services of separatist and nationalistic governments. SKOJ will be putting a word for the restoration based on voluntary, equal and mutually useful principles of the union of all Yugoslav nations and national minorities in the territory of the entire former Yugoslavia. In accordance with such endeavors, SKOJ has members in all Republics of the former Yugoslavia.
How would you describe your relations with Communists and Komsomol members in Croatia and other former Yugoslav Republics?
Our relations with youth communist and labor organizations in the territory of the former Yugoslavia with whom we share the same ideals and pursuits are marked by respect and solidarity. The common pursuits and actions were confirmed during this year’s regional meeting held in Belgrade on July 30.
It has been more then 10 years now since the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. Do the Serbian people still remember this aggression? What do people think about it?
Between 24 March and 11 June 1999, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its 12 million inhabitants were faced with the ruthless attack of the strongest military force in the world. Bearing in mind the human potential of the aggressor countries 764 million inhabitants, the ratio was 1:70. The territorial ratio was 1:234, and economic power 1:676. A comparison of the military might is hard to set, due to the complete qualitative and quantitative disproportion. In the NATO aggression on FR Yugoslavia, nearly 27.000 sorties, were made. More than 8.200 involved the use of weaponry.. About 2.300 strikes were carried out against 995 sites ("targets") in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A significant number of infrastructure facilities have been destroyed, more than 50 bridges were demolished The Serbian Broadcasting Corp (RTS) Building in the heart of Belgrade was bombed, causing the death of 17 RTS employees. The Novi Sad Radio-Television building was also destroyed, as well as several other electronic when the "Usce" business tower in Belgrade was targeted. 37 radio and TV relay towers and broadcasting facilities have been bombed. The telephone-telecommunication installations throughout the country were also raided. The list includes the TV tower on Mt. Avala, relay towers on Mt. Kopaonik, Mt. Jastrebac and Mt. Cer, the "Prilike" satellite station near Ivanjica, and the post office buildings in Uzice and Pristina. The aggressor planes bombed 53 medical facilities, and direct hits or aftereffects of bombing damaged or destroyed more than 300 preschool facilities, schools and tourism facilities. the "Dr. Dragisa Misovic" Hospital, the Surdulica Health Center, the Nis Clinical Center, the "Marija Bursac" elementary school in Belgrade, the elementary schools in Resnik, Batajnica and Rakovica, the "Jugoslavija" Hotel in Belgrade and the "Baciste" Hotel on Mt. Kopaonik are just a few examples of what the military structures pharisaically called legitimate military objective or collateral damage. The history of warfare will also mark the bombing of the embassy of PR China in Belgrade, when three Chinese citizens were killed. The overall damage to the economy and infrastructure is estimated at 100 billion dollars In the aggression on FR Yugoslavia, NATO breached dozens of international conventions, amongst others the convention on damages caused by oil pollution, on benzol poisoning, on the prevention of cancer risks, on transborder air-pollution over great distances, on the ozone layer protection, on the preservation of flora and fauna... Out of the 1.200 civilians killed 30 per cent were children, and out of the 5.000 wounded, as much as 40 per cent were the small ones. NATO aggression over FRY was imperialistic attack. The goal of western imperialists was very clear; they want to bring occupation troops on territories of Kosovo and Metohija. The least we can do is not to join, ten years later, the union whose war tactic rested at forcing Serbia into capitulation through making as much collateral damage as possible.
What position Serbia’s current government holds in relation to such events?
In 2006 Serbia was admitted to the Partnership for Peace Programme. In his speech at the session of the North Atlantic Union, the Serbian President Boris Tadic said that the admission of Serbia to the Partnership for Peace is only the first step which would culminate by the entire integration of the region into NATO. He marked the admission to the Partnership for Peace as the commencement of a new chapter in history of democratic freedoms in the South-East Europe. SKOJ acts in opposition to such policy. Neither Partnership for Peace nor NATO is place for Serbia.
Is it possible to talk about the Europeanization of Serbia? How strong is the impact of mass culture in contemporary Serbian society?
The advocacy of the European Union is evident at every step in Serbia. The accession to the European Union is presented as the final solution of all problems in Serbia, and each problem is interpreted as a consequence of the fact that Serbia is not in EU. Whoever is against EU is labeled as backward by the pro-imperialist bourgeois Serbian regime.
Is Serbia planning to join the EU? What is the attitude of its government in that regard? What do people think of such an idea?
In December 2009, the Serbian Government submitted the official application for EU membership. The opinions of Serbian citizens are strongly divided due to the heavy pressures by EU as well as the enormous propaganda whose purpose is acceleration of Serbia’s admission to an imperialist organization. SKOJ expressly opposes Serbia’s accession to EU. Let us only remember the EU’s role during the bloody fratricidal civil war in the territory of Yugoslavia the direct inspirer of which was EU itself backed by the imperialist United States of America and NATO. EU’s aim is not unification of nations, but the absolute liberalization within economic sphere which should ensure extra profits for the financial oligarchy which in collaboration with USA and NATO implements the imperialist politics all over the world. There is no doubt that the EU’s expansion towards the East should only enable the Western bourgeoisie to extend its markets for the sake of exploitation as well as to provide maximal protection of the invested capital in harmony with the laws dictated by the EU itself, whereby it gains enormous profit and profusely employs cheap and rightless labor force. The all capitalist “reforms” in Serbia, carried out on its “European path”, and similar “reforms” carried out in the former European socialist countries made us regress to the period of the bandit-like original accumulation of capital, transforming the economy into the peripheral workshops of multinational companies that sweep away, in the atmosphere of unequal powers and discriminating conditions, billions of Euros of profit to the imperialist West. Today, more than ever before, Serbia is in the firm hands of the foreign capital. The major part of the gross domestic product accounts for the private sector which is absolutely dominated by the Western capital. SKOJ does not call for closing, isolation and confrontation but for equal and mutually useful cooperation accompanied by mutual respect.
The perspective that the Communists offer is not the Europe united on the capitalist bases, but democratic, freedom-loving, SOCIALIST EUROPE.
What is your attitude in regard of the problem of Kosovo? What are the prospects for resolving this problem?
One of the most complex causes of today’s Kosovo drama stems from the impaired international relations provoked by domination of the USA after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Those nations who live in Kosovo must independently decide on all issues related to economic, cultural, political and social development. After the armory aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia NATO troops came to Kosovo and built the biggest military base in Europe – Bondsteel. During the NATO bombing, American airplanes discharged to the territory of Kosovo about ten millions of impoverished uranium. According to Pristina journal “Ekspres”, Kosovo took over the leading position in the region in regard of the number of cancer-caused deaths, since around 5,000 people annually dies of cancer due to the increased radioactivity, which is tree times more than it was the case before the war. What illustrates the seriousness of this problem with impoverished uranium is the fact that out of 225 Italian soldiers who took part in the KFOR mission, 45 of them died of malign diseases, whereas 25 of them got children with genetic abnormalities. About 73 percent of working population is unemployed, and more than a half of the unemployed is under 35. Kosovo and Metohija produce almost three times less electric power than before 1999. Factories almost do not operate at all, or utilize only 10 percent of its capacities. The major problems of Kosovo are organized crime and corruption as well as endangered state of human rights. The major industries are in hands of the NATO occupier which freely disposes of and collect profit from what was created in the best interest of the peoples of Kosovo Metohija in the last five decades. The current occupation is not in the long-term and real interests of the peoples of Kosovo and Metohija, it is only in the interest of imperialist-expansionist goals of NATO. The goals of various international “peace” committees’ policies is further intensification of the existing state on basis of the principle “divide and conquer”. Peace, unity and progress of all Balkan nations are possible only if the imperialism leaves the historical-political scene. Peace, unity and progress of all Balkan nations will be possible only when the imperialist domination, guided by the dictum “divide and conquer” gives way to the unity of working people of the Balkans, their resistance and collapse of the imperialist, neocolonial gives. SKOJ is of the opinion that Kosovo and Metohija are integral part of Serbia which is occupied by the Western imperialism. Therefore, SKOJ demands that the occupation NATO troops leave Kosovo and Metohija.
Does your organization operate in Kosovo?
SKOJ and NKPJ have their members on Kosovo. There are Albanians among them as well. Many of them were the victims of repression due to their pro-Yugoslav orientation in the last two decades.
What is the role of the Church today, is it progressive or reactionary?
Serbian Orthodox Church in this moment is primarily recognizable as a dominant political force in continual partnership with power structures. It is part of what ecclesiastical history identifies as ‘the union between throne and altar’. The Church is present today in all pores of the public life. The leadership of the Serbian Orthodox Church supported in 2000 the opposition in its fight against Milosevic, it has the decisive impact on introduction of religious teaching at school, and it has its representatives in the Republic Broadcasting Agency. The Serbian Orthodox Church belongs to circle of conservative societies, it is traditionally fused with the state government and it spent ages praying for the emperor, and obeying the Emperor. Accordingly the Serbian Orthodox Church does not have a single answer to the global-scale contemporary problems which it can provide as an official church. The Serbian Orthodox Church, that used to be reputed for ages as a poor church in terms of material resources, for the first time in its history is not poor, and is exposed to numerous financial scandals and corruption. Bourgeois political structures in Serbia accepted the Church wholeheartedly as a pillar of its power and the Church decided to play along. Today the Serbian Orthodox Church defends the quisling chetnik movement, presenting it as a victim of Communism. In 2003, the Serbian Orthodox Church canonized Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic. This canonization was carried out on the basis of a purely political principle: Nikolaj Velimirović was an ideologist of the movement of Dimitrije Ljotic who openly, with riffle in his hands, was fighting four years on the Nazi’s side in Serbia. When in April 1945 Hitler committed suicide, Velimirovic still called for the “fight against plutocratic West, Jews and masons”. His books contain the most drastic anti-Semitic references. Not only was he a chauvinist and anti-Communist but an ardent follower of Nazis as well. For instance, Nikolaj Velimirovic said the following about Hitler: “Nevertheless, we must give full credit to the present German leader who as a common craftsman and one of the ordinary people realized that the nationalism without religion is an abnormality, a cold and frail mechanism. Now in the 20th century, he came to the idea of Saint Sava, and although an amateur he undertook the most important action for a nation, an action that befits only saints, geniuses and heroes”.
How does once ruling party - the Socialist Party of Serbia - look now? How would you describe its political course?
In July the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) celebrated two decades of its operation. After having spent three years and a half in opposition after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, in 2004 socialists supported the minority government of Vojislav Kostunica, and after the parliamentary elections in 2008, it became part of the present government. The President of SPS is the first Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Internal Affairs, and the Party has three ministers in the government: for infrastructure, energy and mining, and education. The President of Serbia and Democratic Party Boris Tadić congratulated the Socialist Party of Serbia on “the first 20 years” and wished to this Party unlimited duration. Tadić said that the historical compromise between the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party of Serbia rests at his agreement with the SPS leader Ivica Dačić in regard of Serbia’a membership in the European Union. SKOJ does not approve the political agenda that SPS has been pursuing since it joined the government formed by the pro-imperialist parties headed by the Democratic Party. At the moment SKOJ does not make any essential difference between the activities of the Socialist Party of Serbia and pro-imperialist parties headed by the Democratic Party.
Relations between Serbia and Russia?
Since 1948 and the clash between Tito and Stalin, constant reminding about the threat of so-called Soviet occupation was in full force. Such a politics was further continued by the pro-imperialist opposition from the 1990s, i.e. current government which is entirely West-oriented. Nevertheless, people believe that the positive changes in Russia will lead to changes in Serbia which will radically transform the present situation.
Can you extend some wishes to the Russian young communists?
Dear comrades, on behalf of the League of the Communist Yugoslav Youth – SKOJ, I wish to extend combative, revolutionary greetings and best wishes for new victories. The temporary collapse of socialism in Europe in the 1990s for a moment stopped the progress of our planet; however, thanks to the communists from all over the world and socialist countries, the success of the capitalist globalization was only temporary. We are convinced that that the wild anticommunism will not terminate our struggle for socialism, but, on the contrary, will only help us unite even more and lead us to the final victory.
