In this issue:

Fight About Dimensions and Costs of War

American Viceroy Jay Garner To Rebuild What His Company Destroys?

Report That U.S. Prepares To Use Banned Chemical Weapons

Pentagon Wants Congress To Rescind Ban on Development of 'Mini-Nukes'

Washington Cleric Slams Bush's Religious Belief as 'Triumphalism'

Claim U.S. Government Running 'Dirty Tricks Campaign' Against UN Security Council Members

Jim Gilmore: Danger to Civil Liberties in U.S.

Say FBI Is Ignoring Criminal Cases

Profiles in Corruption: DNC Chairman McAuliffe, DNC Treasurer Tobias, and 'Dope, Inc.'

McCain Calls for Realignment of Democratic and Republican Parties

From Volume 2, Issue Number 10 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Mar. 10, 2003

United States News Digest

Fight About Dimensions and Costs of War

Both Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz have, according to the Feb. 28 New York Times, derided Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki's estimate that the occupation of Iraq would require several hundred thousand U.S. troops, and for a considerable period. But Shinseki, through an aide, stuck with his estimate.

In Congressional testimony, Wolfowitz also denied the recent leak that the Pentagon had increased its estimate of the immediate military costs of a war, from $40 billion, to $60-95 billion. Wolfowitz told Congressmen that the Pentagon had no estimate whatsoever, since no one knew what would happen, but that the war would cost less than $95 billion.

Congressmen were not convinced. "I think you're deliberately keeping us in the dark," said James Moran (D-Va.). "We're not so naive as to think that you don't know more than you're revealing." Darlene Hooley (D-Ore.) told Wolfowitz, "I think you can do better than that."

American Viceroy Jay Garner To Rebuild What His Company Destroys?

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle at the end of February noted that retired Gen. Jay Garner, who is to be Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's viceroy in Baghdad postwar, was until a few weeks ago, the head of a company which is building electronic systems for the Pentagon that will be used to destroy Iraq. "It's very curious," said Ben Hermalin, a professor at University of California—Berkeley's Haas School of Business, who studies professional ethics. "You have to wonder what the Iraqis will think of this guy and how much trust they'll place in him." Furthermore, Hermalin added, "If it's not a conflict of interest, it's certainly being tone deaf."

Garner's former company, SY Technology, is now a division of L-3 Communications, handling dozens of contracts for the U.S. Army, many of which are with the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, which Garner commanded in the mid-1990s. David Kirp, another professor of ethics at UC Berkeley, said the Bush Administration is sending a profound message to the Iraqis by putting such a man in charge of reconstruction and humanitarian aid. "This is a lovely example of our indifference to the people of Iraq. It truly bespeaks a lack of serious thinking on the Administration's part," he said.

Not mentioned in the Chronicle article is Garner's Israeli connections, previously reported by EIR, which are not limited to his collaboration with JINSA (Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs). SY Technology also has contracts for work on the Israeli Arrow anti-missile missile, work which it does through a U.S. Army contract.

Report That U.S. Prepares To Use Banned Chemical Weapons

The U.S. Marine Corps confirmed two weeks ago, according to an article in the London Observer March 2, that CS gas and "riot-control" pepper spray have been shipped to U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf. The Defense Department said that the decision to use riot-control agents "is made by the commander in the field."

These and other "calmative" gasses, such as were used by Russian police in last year's theater siege, are prohibited for combat use by the Chemical Weapons Convention. The U.S. military is developing a range of such weapons whose use can kill as well as merely "incapacitate."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, commenting to the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 5, attacked the "straitjacket" that treaties have imposed on using chemical weapons. President Gerald Ford in 1975 banned chemical weapons use by U.S. forces.

A Navy commander during the first Gulf War, Rear Admiral Stephen Baker, told the London Independent that U.S. Special Forces had gases which can "neutralize" people, and he said, "I would think if they get a chance to use them, they will."

The Observer quotes Parliamentarians and government officials worried about the U.S. pushing the boundaries of international chemical warfare conventions, with a disastrous potential for terrorism and the collapse of any limits in warfare.

Pentagon Wants Congress To Rescind Ban on Development of 'Mini-Nukes'

According to a March 7 article by Julian Borger, Washington correspondent for the London Guardian, the Pentagon is asking Congress to rescind its 10-year ban on the development of small nuclear warheads, or "mini-nukes." Borger called this "one of the most overt steps President George W. Bush's Administration has taken, towards building a new atomic arsenal." Borger was the correspondent who revealed crucial features of the U.S. "usable nukes" strategy in a Feb. 19 Guardian feature.

The March 7 article revealed that, buried in the U.S. Defense Department's 2004 budget proposals, was a single-line statement marking a sharp change in U.S. nuclear policy, by calling on the Congress to "rescind the prohibition on research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons."

A Pentagon official, who asked not to be named, declared that the research ban on smaller warheads "has negatively affected U.S. government efforts to support the national strategy to counter weapons of mass destruction, and undercuts efforts that could strengthen our ability to deter or respond to new or emerging threats."

Kathryn Crandall, a nuclear weapons expert at the British American Security Information Council, told the Guardian: "It's significant, because this is the first time the Administration—and it comes from the Department of Defense—has said that it wants low-yield weapons."

John Spratt, a Democratic Congressman and one of the authors of the ban on "mini-nukes," accused radicals in the Bush Administration, of hypocrisy: "My greatest concern, is that some in the Administration and in Congress seem to think that the United States can move the world in one direction, while Washington moves in another—that we can continue to prevail on other countries not to develop nuclear weapons, while we develop new tactical applications for such weapons, and possibly resume nuclear testing."

Washington Cleric Slams Bush's Religious Belief as 'Triumphalism'

A Washington cleric writing an op ed in the March 2 Washington Post slammed President Bush's Christianity as "triumphalism," singling out the references to hymns, Biblical phrases, and End Times constructs used by the President, for example in his State of the Union speech. Fritz Ritsch, pastor of Bethesda (Md.) Presbyterian Church, noted that the President will not meet with representatives of mainstream Christian denominations about their opposition to the war, while he uses the "bully pulpit," acting as "theologian in chief."

Ritsch's column, titled, "Of God, and Man, in the Oval Office," gives a detailed and theological critique of Bush's rhetoric, and that of the so-called religious drive for war and empire. While Ritsch does not take up explicitly, the matter of the role of Bush's lead speech-writer, Michael J. Gerson, an evangelical Episcopalian, Ritsch does specify and denounce specific words and phrases in Bush's speeches.

Ritsch writes, "Contrary to popular opinion, the religion that this group [Bush's religious supporters] espouses is Triumphalism, not Christianity. Theirs is a zealous form of nationalism, baptized with Christian language. The German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred by the Nazis, foresaw the rise of a similar view in his country, which he labeled, 'joyous secularism.' .... [I]f, as I believe, this worldview is really American triumphalism, Christianity has taken a backseat to joyous secularism"—i.e., Nazism.

Bush, Ritsch says, "asserts a worldview that most Christian denominations reject outright as heresy: the myth of redemptive violence, which posits a war between good and evil ... God [versus] ... Satan.... Christians have held this view to be heretical since at least the Third Century.... In contrast, the Judeo-Christian worldview is that of redemption...."

Ritsch points to ways that the ignorant Bush misuses received religion. For example, "The President used the words of a hymn 'There's Power in the Blood,' to strengthen the religious rhetoric of his State of the Union speech. He spoke of the 'power, wonder-working power' of 'the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people.' The original words of the hymn refer to the 'wonder-working power' of 'the precious blood of the lamb'—Jesus Christ. The unspoken but apparently deliberate parallel between Americans and Jesus is disturbing, to say the least."

Claim U.S. Government Running 'Dirty Tricks Campaign' Against UN Security Council Members

According to the March 2 London Observer, the U.S. government is conducting a "secret dirty tricks campaign" against UN Security Council delegations in New York, as part of the battle to win votes for war against Iraq. The report received massive attention throughout the European media and caused outrage, among leading officials in various governments.

The Observer says it was leaked a document, detailing an "aggressive surveillance operation," involving interception of the home and office telephones, and the e-mails of UN delegates in New York. Wrote the British paper: "The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the [U.S.] National Security Agency, ... and circulated to both senior agents in his organization, and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency, asking for its input."

It gives orders to the NSA staff, to step up surveillance operations, particularly directed at UN Security Council members, "to provide up-to-the-minute intelligence for Bush officials, on the voting intentions of UN members regarding the issue of Iraq." According to the Observer, the clear targets are the delegations from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea, and Pakistan, whose votes are being aggressively fought over. Further, wrote the Observer: "Dated Jan. 31, 2003, the memo was ... sent by Frank Koza, chief of staff in the 'Regional Targets' section of the NSA, which spies on countries that are viewed as strategically important for United States interests."

Added the paper: "Sources in Washington familiar with the operation said, last week, that there had been a division among Bush Administration officials, over whether to pursue such a high-intensity surveillance campaign, with some warning of the serious consequences of discovery. The existence of the surveillance operation, understood to have been requested by President Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, is deeply embarrassing to the Americans, in the middle of their efforts to win over the undecided delegations."

Jim Gilmore: Danger to Civil Liberties in U.S.

"It is very dangerous, what we are doing to civil liberties," said James Gilmore, chairman of the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, (the "Gilmore Commission"). Gilmore, a former Republican Governor of Virginia and former Republican National Committee chairman, noted last week that people commonly say that "9/11 changed everything," and he said that it is true, that we are a transformed society, one which is diminishing civil liberties. "This country is thoroughly terrorized," he said.

Addressing a breakfast meeting of the American Bar Association's committee on national security law, Gilmore said that it is especially important for lawyers "to stop and think about where we're going, and what is it going to look like when we get there." He said that this is the most technologically advanced society in history, where we have the capability of putting cameras everywhere, monitoring communications, and finding out what people are buying and where they are going. But, he added, we know that people conduct themselves differently, when they are being watched and observed.

"This is a profound change," he stated. "We have to deal with the issue of what we are becoming. We are becoming a marcher state. We may be on the way to that now, if we have to all buy water and duct tape, and live on a constant trigger point."

Gilmore attacked the idea that we have to "strike a balance" between liberty and security. This means that the terrorists control our civil liberties, because the more they increase the pressure, the more we come down on the side of security. He said the test should be that anything we do (1) must make us more secure, but (2) must preserve our civil liberties absolutely and wholly. That means we'll have to live with a degree of risk, but we can't make ourselves more secure by destroying all our civil liberties.

Reviewing the work of the Commission, which was established in 1999, Gilmore said they have concluded in the first year, that a domestic attack using weapons of mass destruction was highly unlikely (in contrast to much of the current hysteria), and that a conventional terrorist attack was much more likely to occur.

Say FBI Is Ignoring Criminal Cases

The FBI's emphasis on terrorism—a focus coming from Attorney General John Ashcroft—is causing the Bureau to cut back its investigations of criminal activity, including drug-trafficking and street violence. The number of violent drug cases referred to the U.S. Attorney by the FBI for prosecution in Washington, D.C., dropped 41% in FY 2002 from the previous year. In the FBI's D.C. field office (which includes Northern Virginia), more than half of the 300 agents previously assigned to criminal cases have been transferred to counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence squads. This is putting additional pressure on local police to handle major cases previously handled jointly with the FBI.

Nationwide, the FBI has reassigned 2,500 of its 11,500 agents to anti-terrorist assignments; The FBI now has 65-75% of its resources devoted to terrorism and counter-intelligence, as compared to 40% previously.

On Jan. 9, the U.S. Attorney in Baltimore sent a letter to the head of the local FBI office, saying that the FBI "has become distracted and almost useless" in dealing with criminal matters, because of trying to figure out how to deal with terrorism. "The FBI should be the lead agency for Federal law enforcement in the state, and instead they are a marginal presence at best," said U.S. Attorney Thomas DiBiaggio.

This was precisely the problem identified by Lyndon LaRouche in the last part of his Jan. 28 State of the Union address, in which he pointed out that law enforcement is the "first line of defense against terrorism," and identified Northern Virginia drug gangs as representing the major security problem in the area.

Profiles in Corruption: DNC Chairman McAuliffe, DNC Treasurer Tobias, and 'Dope, Inc.'

Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe, whose principal claim to recognition is as a big-bucks fundraiser, bought American Heritage Homes, a large Florida home-building company, in 1996. The money was put up for McAuliffe by Dope, Inc.'s Carl Lindner—the godfather of the [Michael] Milken Monsters—through the American Financial Group, Lindner's Cincinnati holding company. McAuliffe became chairman of American Heritage Homes, but Florida business journalism sources say McAuliffe kept a low profile with the company. Lindner was the real power there. McAuliffe's father-in-law, Richard Swann, reported that McAuliffe left American Heritage in October 2000, to become DNC chairman as of January 2001.

McAuliffe was in essence Lindner's employee throughout the Clinton-Gore second term.

As DNC finance chair, McAuliffe had arranged (beginning 1995 or before) for huge contributions Lindner made to the Clinton-Gore Democratic Party, which continued into the second term, now that McAuliffe was Lindner's business partner. Gore (personally) and McAuliffe both solicited Lindner for large donations.

McAuliffe arranged for the use of the Lincoln bedroom for donors, and personally brought Lindner into the White House. Then the Administration, and trade representative Mickey Kantor, went into the "banana wars" (tariffs, etc.) against Europe on behalf of Lindner's company, Chiquita Banana (formerly United Fruit/United Brands.)

In the early 1990s, Richard Swann, McAuliffe's father-in-law, had steered his Florida-based Pioneer Savings Bank into bankruptcy, dealing in junk bonds, etc., at great taxpayer cost. McAuliffe sprang into action, using the IBEW pension fund, and he and his father-in-law bought back the assets of the bankrupt S&L at below market value. McAuliffe made lots of investment profits, having apparently put up virtually nothing himself.

Meanwhile, DNC treasurer Andrew Tobias, a wealthy speculator and author of get-rich books, is tied into speculation and looting in Russia, as he describes in his book My Vast Fortune—connected to the cabal of Vice President Al Gore and Viktor Chernomyrdin in the late 1990s, which involved control and loot Russian natural resources; that reached a peak in 1998, and in 1999 Tobias was named DNC Treasurer.

Meanwhile, a recent John Zogby poll published last week in the Washington Times shows a shambles in Democratic Presidential preference. In New York, Al Sharpton is leading, but with only 13%, Joe Lieberman with only 12%, and Dick Gephardt with 11%.

Lyndon LaRouche said that this reflects the mess that the Bull Moose gang has made out of the Democratic Party: you've got an anti-war party with a pro-war leadership, which is gangster- and organized crime-connected. They hate people, LaRouche commented said—call them the Purple People Haters. "You don't believe they're purple? Just mention my name!" the Presidential pre-candidate quipped.

McCain Calls for Realignment of Democratic and Republican Parties

Speaking before the Magazine Publishers of America on March 3, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was asked whether he believed religious conservatives have too much influence in the Republican Party. McCain recalled the speech he had given during his 2000 Presidential campaign attacking Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, then added:

"Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell on the right. ... The Democrats should reject Sharpton."

Washington Post writer Dan Balz in a March 4 piece commented that this is Sen. McCain's view of "moderate voters." More appropriately, it is the "suburban middle class" in the "vital center" sought by proponents of a "Third Way," whether they be in the Democratic Leadership Council or McCain spokesman Marshall Wittmann's "Bull Moose" option.

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