In this issue:

Saudi Newspaper Warns of Bush as 'America's Nero'

Tariq Aziz Faces Death Sentence

Breaking News: Temporary Truce Established in Najaf

European Union Slams Israel for House Demolitions

EU: No Evidence of PNA Use of Funds for Terrorism

Mossad Ex-Deputy Director Attacks IDF as 'Soulless'

Bereaved Israeli Parents Launch Anti-IDF Campaign

From Volume 3, Issue Number 33 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Aug. 17, 2004
Southwest Asia News Digest

Saudi Newspaper Warns of Bush as 'America's Nero'

The leading Saudi newspaper, Al Riyadh, which is close to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, ran an editorial Aug. 11, entitled, "America's Nero: Will He Set The World On Fire?" It gives a detailed picture of what plans may be, in the U.S. and Israel, for blowing up the region, and beyond. The following is a rough translation:

"There is a race between America and the [Southwest Asia] region, and there is a race going on inside the United States, for the White House. This race is bound to the failure or success of [operations in] the Arab region and Iran.

"Israel is building up its forces on the borders with Syria and Lebanon, and the Israelis are distributing anti-radiation pills to the population. There are problems of resistance, and of European animosity. Israel benefits most from decisions made inside closed American rooms. Currently, Israel is the most trusted ally of the U.S. in the region.

"Iran has become the real concern, a scary concern, this is how it's being painted. And Iran is still considered part of the "axis of evil." Now [the U.S. and Israel] are talking about stopping its nuclear program by diplomatic means or probably by the use of force against installations.

"Here there is speculation and analysis in different forms. America knows the size of Iran and its sensitive position on the sands of the Gulf, neighboring Iraq and Central Asia.[*] Probably any strike that would be coordinated and timed with Israel, for simultaneous attacks on Syria and Lebanon, will give major impetus to the two allies, to finish off what they call "outlaw states."

"But these are plans on paper. When one calculates all the consequences, they could lead to worse results [for the U.S. and Israel] than those that have been planned on paper. Who could guarantee that Iran would not use chemical weapons or conventional weapons to strike Israel, and the oil platforms in the Gulf; an uprising of the Shia in Lebanon and Iraq and Central Asia? Or, who could guarantee that there would not be a Syrian-Lebanese reaction, though limited, that could set the whole region in flames?

"The oil will become a global problem that will tear apart allies and friends, if the American adventure goes beyond all limits. The wheel of production stops, through the principle: "After me, the deluge." [...] that Iran will make the war more widespread and more painful in the whole region, and outside the region.

"The American right wing is moving up, and all its motivations come from religious-imperial thinking, but this adventure would set big fires in the whole region.

"Some people might think that this doesn't matter, that it's for the sake of getting to the White House. They think it's okay to have a new Nero to set fire to the whole world."

* Significantly, in listing the areas where Shi'ite uprisings could be triggered, the newspaper does not mention Bahrain, Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia itself, which all have large Shi'ite communities.

Tariq Aziz Faces Death Sentence

Former Iraqi Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister under President Saddam Hussein, Tariq Aziz has asked his relatives to hire defense lawyers as he faces mass murder charges in Iraq, The Scotsman reported Aug. 10. Imprisoned, Tariq Aziz, a Christian and a Ba'ath Party leader, has told his son that he faces the death sentence after being accused by Baghdad of responsibility for mass killings in 1979 and 1991. It was the first time the charges against Tariq Aziz have been made public.

"Of course, according to the Iraqi penal code, the punishment for those two counts is death," Tariq Aziz wrote from his prison in a letter to his son.

In his letter, Tariq Aziz requested, among others, that former Attorney General Ramsey Clark represent him. Among Clark's noted cases defending the Constitution, he represented Lyndon LaRouche in appeals against the Justice Department's political prosecution of him.

Breaking News: Temporary Truce Established in Najaf

On Aug. 13, following nine days of heavy fighting, and one day after the U.S. Marines launched an assault on the city. The truce was made possible by the intervention of Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, currently in London for medical treatment. On the night of Aug. 12, al-Sistani issued his first statement about the fighting, calling on both sides to desist. "We demand all sides [seek a] ceasefire to preserve the holy sites. All efforts should be directed to finding a peaceful solution. A military solution will resolve nothing," said al-Sistani's aide, Hussein Shahristani.

Talks were taking place between aides to Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shi'ite leader of the anti-government fighting, and the Iraqi government. The U.S. was not involved. Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Naqib told the Reuters news agency that al-Sadr would "not be touched" if he left the shrine peacefully. "We will go after the criminal elements which have penetrated the Sadr movement, but not Moqtada," he said.

This represents a turnaround, since the declared position of the government, as reiterated over the past week by Prime Minister Allawi, has been that it would not negotiate with al-Sadr's group. The U.S. position also had been, surrender or die. A U.S. military official said troops had been given orders to halt the offensive, which was launched on Aug. 5, with 2,000 U.S. Marines and 1,800 Iraqi troops.

"We are allowed to engage the enemy only in self-defense.... That was a blanket order for everybody," Major Bob Pizzitola from the 1st Cavalry Division was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency. Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, Deputy Director of Operations for coalition forces stated: "Multinational forces are operating under firm instructions not to pursue Moqtada and not to conduct operations within the exclusion zone surrounding the Imam Ali and Kufa Mosques."

European Union Slams Israel for House Demolitions

The European Union has slammed Israel for its policy of demolishing Palestinian homes, according to Ha'aretz Aug. 11. After announcing a $1.6 million grant to aid over 3,800 Palestinians who were made homeless by the Israeli military during the recent operations in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, EU representative Poul Nielson charged, "These funds do not absolve the occupying power of its responsibilities to uphold international humanitarian law. House demolitions are disproportionate acts that contravene international humanitarian law ... and show reckless disregard for the lives of civilians."

This was the second grant this year to help finance aid to victims of Israel's demolition policy.

EU: No Evidence of PNA Use of Funds for Terrorism

The anti-fraud office of the European Union (EU), in its investigation, which has been ongoing for a year and a half, has found no evidence of the Palestinian National Authority using EU funds for financing terrorism. The probe began on Feb. 6, 2003, in the wake of charges by members of the European Parliament that the EU aid granted to the PNA from 2000 to 2002, had been wasted or diverted to support anti-Israeli propaganda or terrorism. The European Commission has always denied that funds could be used for this purpose, noting that the IMF monitors the disbursement, which is mainly to help cover the PNA payroll for 125,000 employees.

In a statement reported by the Jerusalem Post Aug. 11, the anti-fraud office said that investigators from the EU's justice, police, and financial departments made several missions to the region, and closely examined documents, including those seized by the Israelis, who claimed they were "proof" that the PNA was financing terrorism. The investigation is still ongoing.

Mossad Ex-Deputy Director Attacks IDF as 'Soulless'

The former deputy director of the Israeli Mossad, Shmuel Toledano, launched an attack on Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff General Moshe Ya'alon, during a lecture Aug. 7, sponsored by the Council for Peace and Security in Israel.

After asking those in attendance how they can tolerate the current, brutal IDF policies, he then turned to Ya'alon, demanding: "What do you intend to do in order to return to our IDF, and not your IDF, which is soulless and merciless. There is a feeling among the public that the IDF under your command has entirely lost the sacred value of military ethics following the death and destruction the IDF is spreading at checkpoints."

Toledano went on, "How does a Palestinian girl who is in her home back yard get killed by IDF fire aimed into the air, according to the Army?" He went on to denounce the brutality which is seen every day at IDF checkpoints: "There must be security checks at the checkpoints, but why abuse the Palestinians.... After the army destroys the home of an old man, killing him while is still in it, after we watch televised beatings at checkpoints, how can you still love the IDF?"

Toledano's pointed questions drove Ya'alon into a fit, in which he made the absurd accusation that Toledano was using "enemy propaganda."

Toledano also upset the Council for Peace and Security, which is comprised of former senior military officers and members of the Mossad and Shin Bet. Although the organization is relatively dovish, supporting a two-state solution, they were not prepared for such a forthright display of the truth. Many shifted in their seats and demanded that Toledano get to his question. Toledano not only refused to desist, he quit the Council, saying, "I planned my words carefully. I have reached these conclusions after watching the events, day by day."

Israeli sources told EIR that Toledano was later interviewed on Israeli TV, where he reiterated his remarks and went further, to denounce targetted assassinations in which innocent people are killed, including the dropping of a one-ton bomb in July 2003, that was used to target a Hamas leader, killing 14 children in the process.

Bereaved Israeli Parents Launch Anti-IDF Campaign

A group of bereaved parents, whose sons were killed while serving in the Israel Defense Forces, have launched an anti-induction campaign, Ma'ariv reported Aug. 11. They will begin distributing a harshly worded leaflet at the IDF's main induction center.

The leaflet states, in part: "We are not recommending that you refuse to join the IDF. On the contrary, we encourage you to join, since the country's oligarchy and political elite needs an army to ensure that nothing happens to their ill-gotten gains, which they have amassed at the expense of the average Israeli, having been given a license by the politicians to pillage the national economy, by purchasing major publicly owned economic assets for a pittance.

"Do not be fooled by the officers spinning good lines about joining elite units. Forget the stories about battle and glory; you are young, inexperienced, and easily deceived. The truth is that your chances of returning alive are not great, and if you fall on duty, you will be forgotten after a few months, as unimportant to the powers that be as the earth under which you will lie for eternity. As a national serviceman, your sole value is as cannon fodder.... If you die, your parents will receive the country's thanks, platitudes soon forgotten and a NIS 1,200 check.

"Your commanders are no better, seeing you as stepping stones to higher rank. Negligence and indifference abound, resulting in the needless deaths of dozens of soldiers every year."

Meanwhile, the number of reservists and draftees who are categorized as deserters has reached the thousands. In one week, the military arrested 180 deserters. In 2003, over 10,000 were arrested for desertion.

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