In this issue:

Warning to Bush: War of Aggression Is a Nuremberg Crime

Egyptian Military Historian Commends LaRouche for Truth and Character

As Threatened, U.S. 'Thwarts' Return of UN Weapons Inspectors to Iraq

Bush Signs Jerusalem Law, Then Calls It Unconstitutional

Jordanian Foreign Minister Confirms Sharon Plans That 'Jordan Is Palestine'

'Sharon Will Exploit the Iraq Case To Crush Us'

From the Vol.1 No.31 issue of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published October 7, 2002
MIDEAST NEWS DIGEST

Warning to Bush: War of Aggression Is a Nuremberg Crime

Planning and initiating aggressive war is a "Nuremberg crime," as was defined by the four-power agreement creating the International Military Tribunal, signed on Aug. 8, 1945 in London. This agreement, signed by the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, which is sometimes called the "London Charter," included the following provision:

"II. Jurisdiction and General Principles

"Article 6

"The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:

"(a) Crimes against peace: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing; ..."

The first Nuremberg indictment, in October 1945, for the trials of the major Nazi war criminals, contained four counts: 1) Conspiracy, 2) Crimes against Peace, 3) War Crimes, and 4) Crimes against Humanity.

Count Two read: "All the defendants with divers other persons during a period of years preceding 8 May 1945 participated in planning, preparation, initiation, and waging wars of aggression which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements and assurances."

Twelve of the 22 defendants who were tried, were convicted on Count Two, in various combinations with other counts. Seven were sentenced to death by hanging, the other five were given sentences of imprisonment ranging from 10 years to life.

The principles of law recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal were formally ratified by the United Nations General Assembly in 1950.

Moreover, the principles of law declared in the Nuremberg Charter are binding, not only as a matter of natural law, but as a matter of positive law expressed by treaty and agreement between sovereign nations. This was expressed by the Chief Delegate of the United States, Warren R. Austin, in his opening address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on Oct. 30, 1946:

"Besides being bound by the law of the United Nations Charter, 23 nations, members of this Assembly, including the United States, Soviet Russia, the United Kingdom, and France, are also bound by the law of the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal. That makes planning or waging a war of aggression a crime against humanity for which individuals as well as nations can be brought before the bar of international justice, tried, and punished."

Egyptian Military Historian Commends LaRouche for Truth and Character

With all the coverage and respect that Lyndon LaRouche has gained in Egypt, it is no wonder that the U.S. Ambassador, David Welsh, is burning the lines to stop this (see INDEPTH article on Welsh's attempt to censor Egypt).

On Oct. 1, Ahmed Hamroush, renowned Egyptian military historian, writer and member of Gamal Abdel Nasser 1952 Revolution's Free Officers, wrote an article in the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat, the world's largest Arabic daily, on the collapse of the peace process in the Middle East, but stressed that "there are still some rays of light" shining over the dark situation. He then prominently cited Lyndon LaRouche as a source of hope.

Under the title "Calculations of Peace Become Very Complicated," Hamroush wrote: "The chances for peace in the Middle East, which had emerged with the 1991 Madrid Conference, have vanished, and there has been no foreseeable hope for any possibility of achieving peace, since Sharon came to power." Hamroush, however, added: "There was no ray of light left to break the darkness which Sharon brought over the region but the Palestinian Intifada, Arab solidarity, and the support provided from outside by good and peace-loving governments and personalities."

Hamroush reviewed Sharon's crimes, and Arab efforts to launch initiatives for achieving real peace such as Saudi Prince Abdullah's plan, which was adopted by the Arab League in March 2002. He also denounced Shimon Peres and those Arabs, mainly Egyptians and Jordanians, who still work with Peres on initiatives such as the "Copenhagen Group" for Arab-Israeli dialogue. Egypt's doors should not be opened for Peres as long as he helps Sharon, he argued.

Nonetheless, in the conclusion of his article, Hamroush said: "Finally, these words are not meant to expropriate the freedom of the movement for peace, because, although the Israeli people are definitely responsible for Sharon's crimes because they elected him, there are still Israelis who are calling for peace and fighting for it ... [despite] that they are a minority facing an avalanche of expansionist Zionist ideology. There are still among the leaders of the [European Union] and other nations, those who support the Palestinian people's right to free their land and establish an independent state.

"Even in America, despite all Zionist control, there are people who realize the fact of the matter truthfully and with a humanist attitude. For example, Lyndon LaRouche, the potential Democratic candidate for the coming U.S. Presidential elections, who said that he wants to save civilization, and the issue in the Middle East is a just cause, and therefore he is obliged to do something for the human objectives of this cause. He described the situation in the region like a hand grenade being thrown on civilization, and that this (hand grenade) would destroy itself as well in the process, because Israel is the third largest nuclear power in the world. But, it is destroying itself. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and others understood, but those people are just a minority facing a group of fanatics who are obsessed by the so-called Masada complex. They are ready to foolishly die and take everyone else down. But they will not win the kind of war they want to launch, and they will never get the empire they are dreaming about. Thus, even with the diminishing chances of peaceful settlement in the Middle East, the fight for peace should not stop, but this fight has to be conducted in the right way and with the persons who truthfully express the will of their nations."

Hamroush mentioned only LaRouche as an example of this kind of person.

Two weeks ago, Hamroush mentioned LaRouche in another article when he defended the UAE-based Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-up against the vicious slander campaign launched by the ADL and other Zionist organizations. In that context, Hamroush wrote: "The officials in the ADL obviously got their nerves stretched and worked out as a result of the Centre's invitation to the American writer Lyndon LaRouche to attend a conference held in June. In that conference, he said that the Jews [this is from the original slander] are controlling U.S. foreign policy, and that Osama bin Laden could not have coordinated the September attacks which could never have happened without complicity of very high level command of the military of the U.S." Hamroush's articles are usually printed simultaneously in several Arabic newspapers in Egypt and other Arab countries.

For a recent profile of Hamroush see: http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2001/544/profile.htm]

As Threatened, U.S. 'Thwarts' Return of UN Weapons Inspectors to Iraq

On Oct. 3, UN weapons inspectors led by Commissioner Hans Blix were forced to postpone their Oct. 15 mission to Baghdad, despite the agreement in Vienna, Austria by the Iraqi government to admit the inspectors without conditions. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher had warned the UN that the U.S. would go into "thwart mode" if the weapons inspections began. On Oct. 4, Blix planned to meet U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, to discuss how the safety of UN inspectors could be secured during inspections in the "no fly zones" that were unilaterally declared by Britain and the U.S. to be perpetual targets of British/U.S. air strikes.

The "thwart mode" threat by the United States is another indication of the raving insanity of the U.S. government under Bush and Cheney.

Before the U.S. and Britain blocked the mission through intense pressure on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the UN Security Council members, Annan had announced that he was ready to leave and be in Baghdad by Oct. 17. The U.S. and British ambassadors argued strongly that there was no sense in going to Baghdad with a "weak" resolution.

Chief Inspector Hans Blix of Sweden stated on Oct. 3 that everything appeared ready for the mission, the meeting in Vienna between Iraq and Blix having been successful. There were only a few "loose ends," Blix said, the main one being how the UN inspectors could get guarantees for protection from the Iraqi authorities when in the "no fly zones" that are actually under U.S./British control.

With the U.S. and Britain in "thwart mode" to stop Blix's mission, Blix told the media, after his presentation to the Security Council, that he was going to wait for the end of the debate on the new Anglo-American resolution. He stressed that, legally, the previous resolutions on the books allowed his teams to begin work. "It would be awkward if we were doing inspections and a new mandate with new changes in directives were to arrive," Blix said. "We hope it wouldn't be a long delay, and we are ready to go at the earliest practical opportunity."

Bush Signs Jerusalem Law, Then Calls It Unconstitutional

On Sept. 30, in violation of more than 14 UN Security Council resolutions, President George W. Bush signed a bill designating that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The UNSC resolutions identify Jerusalem as territory occupied following the 1967 Israeli-Arab war.

The bill came to Bush's desk as part of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, with a clause requiring the U.S. to identify Jerusalem as Israel's capital in all U.S. government documents. However, following the signing, the White House immediately put out a statement denouncing the measure as "unconstitutional."

What is behind this apparent schizophrenia? Organized crime's MEGA operation in the Congress, and the nest of Israeli agents in the Defense Department and Vice President Cheney's office.

There is no question that the Jerusalem part of the foreign relations bill—which is the appropriations for Colin Powell's State Department—was a provocation by the neo-conservative chickenhawks in the Congress and Administration who want Arafat and Saddam Hussein dead, and who are pushing for a global war against Islam.

No doubt, President Bush was threatened by MEGA's gangsters in the Senate—Lieberman and McCain—to sign it as a sign to Ariel Sharon that he will get his transfer policy against the Palestinians in due time. At the same time, however, the measure would jeopardize the pressure that Team Bush is putting on the Arab and Islamic nations to drop their opposition to the Iraq war.

So, Bush had spokesman Ari Fleischer (who last week called for the "cheap" assassination of Saddam Hussein with a single bullet) declare on Oct. 1:

"Well, as the President made clear last night in the signing statement that was issued as he signed the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Section 214 of the Act deals with Jerusalem, and it does so in a way that we deem—the Administration deems unconstitutional. The opinion of the Administration—and we will act on this—is that the language passed by the Congress impermissibly interferes with the President's Constitutional authority to conduct the nation's foreign affairs. And the President made that perfectly plain. And so our—the status of Jerusalem under current law will remain unchanged...."

Bush's denunciation of the bill that he signed did little to calm international outrage.

Bush's signing the Jerusalem measure constitutes a position that neither the U.S government, nor any other government except for the Fiji Islands and Costa Rica, has recognized since the founding of Israel in 1948.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said Bush's signing "undermines all efforts being exerted to revive the peace process and put it back on track.... Such resolutions could mean Palestinian and Israeli lives." A U.S.-based Arab organization itemized the 14 UN Security Council resolutions that Bush has violated.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Confirms Sharon Plans That 'Jordan Is Palestine'

At a Council on Foreign Relations event for Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher on Oct. 3, a reporter for EIRNS said that several sources in the Middle East—including some Israelis—have reported that, if there is war with Iraq, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will implement his program that "Jordan is Palestine." "Absolutely, that is true," replied Muasher, adding, "I was surprised that nobody asked that during the broadcast."

The same questioner asked whether it were not transparent that the suicide bombings serve to give Sharon the excuse to attack Arafat and demolish most of the Palestinian Authority main compound. Muasher said, "Yes, that is why he is there," meaning that is what Sharon intended from the beginning. Though Muasher did not mention it, many Middle East experts, including honest Israeli voices, have exposed that Sharon built up Hamas as a terrorist force "on command" that he could depend on to cause panic inside Israel.

'Sharon Will Exploit the Iraq Case To Crush Us'

Interviewer Lorenzo Cremonesi in Italy's Corriere della Sera of Oct. 3 published an interview with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat under the above headline. Cremonesi was part of a delegation of European parliamentarians who were allowed to visit Arafat in Ramallah during the latest Israeli siege.

Asked what he expects from an attack against Iraq, Arafat answers: "I fear that the Israelis will be ready to exploit it. They could use the fact that the world attention is diverted by the Iraqi events and implement actions against us Palestinians."

Arafat is physically strained by the Israeli siege, says Cremonesi, but he "enjoys a double victory: he has become again the symbol of his people's sufferings and has regained international legitimacy."

Arafat stressed the seriousness of the situation: "The Israelis look at my Ramallah office as in 1982 they looked at Beirut.... [Ariel Sharon] is destroying our schools, prevents the farmers from harvesting olives, imposes the curfew on all our cities in the West Bank.... Why did the world react so promptly when the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas and yet, does nothing when the Israelis vandalize the Roman archeological remains in Nablus?" And, despite Bush's call on Sharon to stop the siege Sept. 29, "the Israelis never moved. Their tanks are just beyond our courtyard."

On Oct. 3, Associated Press reported that "Israeli security sources, meanwhile, confirmed a report in the Ma'ariv daily that the Israeli military is ready to expel Arafat at short notice." Israeli troops have practiced expelling Arafat by helicopter and, the sources said, commandos are ready to carry out the plan at short notice. At Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah (largely demolished by the Israelis), advisers denied reports that the Palestinian leader was considering relocating to Bethlehem. "The President is staying here," said Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rdeneh, and the complex will be rebuilt.

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