WESTERN EUROPEAN NEWS DIGEST
Milan Plane Crash: Terrorism Cannot Be Ruled Out
Three official investigations have begun into the April 18 plane crash into Milan's Pirelli building, in which the pilot and two others were killed. Despite reports to the contrary, the hypothesis of a terrorist attack cannot be ruled out, according to April 19 reports from Italy based on Parliamentary records, and an ongoing investigation by EIR staff. As reported in EIW #6 (April 15), a series of terrorist incidents and terrorist threats in Italy, are part of an intelligence agency-linked destabilization, to derail important Italian government and Vatican efforts to stop the Anglo-American imperial faction's drive for war.
On April 19, at a Parliamentary hearing called to review the April 18 crash, among the important issues were those raised by Rep. Magnalbo (AN), who said: "There are strange circumstances to be checked and controlled, that is: We are dealing with a spectacularly mistaken maneuver, connected to dysfunctional landing gear, which, for an experienced pilot, is not a grave circumstance; the last two minutes went out of control, therefore, the flight became uncontrolled, but it ended with aiming at a symbol. Therefore, there are many questions: Was [pilot] Fasulo an expert? Was Fasulo alone in the plane? Has Fasulo been found? If he [the pilot] has been found, was he Fasulo? Had the plane been sabotaged? Did Fasulo commit suicide by choosing as a symbol the tower called Pirellone? These are all questions for which we expect serious, urgent checking."
According to the official reconstruction delivered to Parliament by Transport and Infrastructure Minister Pietro Lunardi, the plane, an ARC112 TC Rockwell, had left the airport in Locarno, Switzerland at 17:30 hours, with fuel for four hours of flight.
The plane contacted the Linate control tower at 17:39, asking permission to land on the tourist runway. The air traffic controller told the pilot that the runway was closed, inviting him to land on the main runway. At that point, the airplane moved in the opposite direction--that is, northwest. The controller asked for an explanation, and the pilot communicated a minor problem with the landing gear, which he said he would solve quickly. The controller allowed the plane to stay on its westward course, and told the pilot to keep the tower posted on his intentions.
In the meantime, another tourist plane, coming from Genoa, was approaching, and was told to stay clear. Meanwhile, the ARC112 had turned west-southwest; the pilot told the air traffic controller that he stil had some minor problems, but was dealing with them. The pilot sent out no SOS. One minute later, Linate control tower lost radio contact.
What happened after that has to be reconstructed, but apparently, the ARC112 flew in the direction of Milan, dropped altitude, and two minutes later reached the Pirelli skyscraper. The plane thereupon crashed head-on, perfectly perpendicular, into the center of the building between the 25th and 27th floors, about 100 meters up.
The probability of such an impact's occurring as a result of a mechanical or human failure, is assessed at less than one in a million. For such a crash to have occurred a few months after 9/11, the probability is less than one in 100 billion. If one excludes human or mechanical failure (or a combination of both), then only two hypotheses can be raised: suicide or terrorist attack.
EIR investigators are following several leads that link both the pilot, Marco Fasulo, a professional and experienced operator, and the airport from which the plane came, the Locarno-Agno airport, to intelligence activities. These include the infamous Banco Ambrosiano case in Italy, which produced the most spectacular "suicide" in recent history--the hanging of the bank head, Roberto Calvi, beneath the Blackfriars Bridge in London, and reported weapons traffic. The Locarno-Agno is a small airport, which began in 1941 as a military airport, and since then has been the training base for all Swiss military pilots. While military structures are still being expanded, Locarno-Agno is not open to commercial flights. See EIW's INDEPTH reporting in future issues for more.
Italian Deputies' Support for New Bretton Woods in Parliament
Reflecting a recognition of the global economic crisis superior to that of most of the world's Parliaments, six members of the Italian Chamber of Deputies presented a motion for a New Bretton Woods reorganization of the international financial system, to the Italian Parliament April 16. Siegfried Brugger and five other parliamentarians introduced the same motion earlier introduced by Sen. Peterlini and 46 other Senators in the Italian Senate. The six deputies are members of the "Gruppo Misto" of the Senate, and all come from the South Tyrol Popular Party, which is part of the opposition coalition. It is expected that deputies from other parties will sign the motion.
The motion calls for the Italian government to take measures in support of Argentina and to promote a New Bretton Woods conference to deal with the systemic global financial crash. The proposal for a New Bretton Woods reorganization of the world's economy was first put forward by American economist and Presidential candidate Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.
British Condemn Israeli Actions in West Bank
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw isssued a strong attack on Israeli military actions in Jenin, denouncing the "disproportionate and excessive force" used, and demanding that investigators be allowed into Jenin, to judge for themselves what happened. "There is a strong case for Israel to answer," Straw affirmed, speaking before the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
According to the Times of London, Straw's assessment was based partly on the findings of the British military attaché to Tel Aviv, Col. Tim Fitzalan, who visited Jenin this week, and was highly critical of the conduct of the Israeli military. The Times' on-site correspondent says the situation in Jenin is "apocalyptic," and says the death toll continues to mount every day.
A senior British military figure told EIR on April 18 that one key source of information that Col. Fitzalan drew upon, for his report on Jenin, was "direct accounts from inside the Israeli Army. The fact is, while the Israeli population and military largely remain behind Sharon, there are active and senior people in the Israeli Army, who are not happy with Sharon, and what the IDF has been doing in the past days." He said that it can't be expected that there will be a decisive public move by such discontented active-duty Israeli Army figures, against Sharon at this point, but that this is a trend that must be watched.
Another British senior strategist told EIR, "I have been a friend of Israel all my life, and an active member for decades of the Labour [Party] Committee for Israel, but what the Israelis have been doing in the past days, is so vicious and outrageous, that they have lost my sympathy. We haven't heard all the details of what really happened in Jenin, but what I can tell you with certainty, they have done something terrible. This will have very serious consequences for Israel. Political support for Israel in Europe has literally evaporated."
Vedrine Concerned Over 'Violence of Attacks on Colin Powell in The U.S.'
An interview with French Defense Minister Hubert Vedrine published in Le Monde April 18, and articles in Liberation subsequently, indicate that French diplomats realize, as does Lyndon LaRouche, that the American Administration is divided and that Secretary of State Colin Powell could well be on the ejection seat of the plane.
On the question of Ariel Sharon's proposed international conference on the Middle East without European participation or that of Arafat, Vedrine commented, "Such a conference couldn't take the place of implementation of the UN resolutions." A conference without the participation of the Europeans "would make no sense," and the idea that such a conference could conclude without the participation of Arafat is "an illusion," he said.
Asked whether such analysis was clear in the U.S., Vedrine said that the Americans "are highly divided. I am struck by the violence of commentaries [emphasis added--ed.] against Powell and his visit to Arafat." Vedrine said he hoped that President Bush would carry out his "new" policies fully to their logical conclusion.
Ditchley Park Conference: U.S. Fixation on Iraq Could Wreck NATO
In what must be an intentional leak of the usually very confidential proceedings of a conference at Ditchley Park, American reporter-abroad William Pfaff reports in the April 18 International Herald Tribune that there were massive disagreements on the issue of a new war on Iraq, between the U.S. and its NATO allies. These, according to Pfaff, "could destroy NATO. Worse than that, it could set the former allies against one another."
Ditchley Park is one of the most important think-tanks of the British elites.
Pfaff notes that usually, Ditchley Park conferences have been dedicated to Anglo-American understanding, but, "The latest conference here, last weekend, was therefore noteworthy, because the issue that forced itself upon all the participants was mounting division between the United States and its allies.... None of America's friends and allies is against a war against terrorism, but [America] has failed to provide an explanation ... that convinces or reassures [the Europeans] that Washington understands the risks of what it is doing."
Pfaff says, "Those Americans at Ditchley who are close to the Bush Administration insisted that the next step in the war against terrorism must be an attack on Iraq.... Allies who can't believe their story, and oppose an attack on Iraq, were twice reminded by Americans at the conference that the United States does not need allies. It was suggested that if NATO fails to support the United States on Iraq, it might find itself out of business."
To this, Pfaff reports, a Canadian participant retorted that the United States has no international mandate to make war on Iraq, and if it does so, it will have no allies. Pfaff concludes: "What was plain was that the United States and its old Cold War allies no longer have a shared view of the world and its dangers. The Europeans ... think that launching a new war against Iraq will make things worse, not better. The Bush Administration obviously disagrees. The disagreement is the most important that has existed between the allies since NATO began."
Pfaff's report echoes a similar report published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung by its Washington correspondent Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, on the recent meeting of the Trilateral Commission, which ws also the scene of sharp disagreements between the U.S. and Europe over an Iraq war.
European Mass Demonstrations Protest Against Israel's Assault on West Bank
Tens of thousands of Europeans demonstrated on April 13 in European capitals in protest of Israel's assault on the West Bank. There were at least 11,000 in Berlin, more than 5,000 in Frankfurt and Duesseldorf, 15,000 in London, and 10,000 in Amsterdam. Only the Amsterdam rally turned violent, according to the New York Times. There were smaller demonstrations in other German cities, France, Corsica, and Istanbul. In Germany, there is growing criticism of German government support for Israel, reflected in the demonstrations. While the demonstrations were not without radicals, one of the best slogans was that of a 30-year-old Palestinian, who held a placard in front of the site of the planned Holocaust Museum: "The Holocaust must never be repeated!! Palestinians are also human."
French General: Alternative Policy Needed to U.S. War Drive
I wonder if we have not already entered World War III, mused Admiral Lanxade on April 16 at a breakfast organized by the Institut de Diplomatie et de Defense in the French Senate. Admiral Lanxade, a former chief of staff of all French armies, gave a highly interesting strategic overview, the gist of which was to say that the U.S. policies are increasing tensions worldwide and that Europe must offer an alternative policy. Talking about the dominant role of the U.S. in the world today, Lanxade indicated that pursuant to the Sept. 11 attacks, everybody had expected that the U.S. attitude of unilateralism would change towards the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this was not the case: The U.S. decided, on the contrary, to launch its war against the "axis of evil" and level its threats against Iraq, aggravating the tensions in the world.
Lanxade said that France and Europe have a choice to make: Either let the U.S. dominate all, and accept taking part in this or that small operation, or work to develop a real multipolar world in which Europe will have full standing. Things cannot be left as they are now, he stated.
In conclusion, Lanxade said he was "extremely worried" about present trends and wondered if "we are not already in World War III," if Europe and France are not much as they were in 1938. September 11 was like a Pearl Harbor to the U.S., he said, and then there was the war against Afghanistan, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and now the war which the U.S. plans against Iraq.
Millions of Europeans Could Die of AIDS and TB
"Millions of Europeans could die of AIDS and tuberculosis in the comign years," warned Knut Ipsen, president of the German Red Cross, at the European Regional Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference, according to a Red Cross release of April 17. The week-long conference is discussing ways of tackling the crisis. While Africa and Asia have the highest number of AIDS cases, the former East Bloc has the highest growth rate, with 250,000 new cases in 2001. But not only AIDS is rampant. According to Ipsen, 30,000 people in Russia alone die of tuberculosis every year--at a rate of 90.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, double the European average.
This represents a health crisis far beyond Eastern Europe. Because of the high number of poor people migrating to Western Europe to make a living, "We are faced with a creeping crisis," Ipsen warned.
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