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

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This Week You Need To Know

BUSH & CHENEY: THE VIETNAM DODGERS' TEAM

by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.

August 15, 2004

The issue is simple: President Bush and Dick Cheney, who successfully avoided military service in Vietnam, challenge the war record of the Senator Kerry who did serve. Bush did a state-side thing with the Texas National Guard, and Cheney managed to avoid the draft at the virtual last minute.

Admittedly, that war should not have occurred. The war was a creation of that "military-industrial complex" of Allen Dulles & Company, against which President, and General of the Armies Dwight Eisenhower had warned the nation. It was the war against which the greatest military commander of his time, General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur had rightly and prophetically warned. Nonetheless, the lunatic right-wing utopians, such as McNamara, did plunge us into a form of asymmetric warfare we did not, and could not win.

Many, like Bush and Cheney, avoided service in Indo-China; but, some did it out of conscience, and without pretense. Bush and Cheney have never shown any relevant conscience in the matter. There is strong evidence to believe that Cheney has no conscience, and that the ordering of the internal processes of Bush's mind is yet to be plumbed to a point of professional certainty.

The point is, that the neo-conservative, compulsively lying madmen of today are typical of those behind Bush and Cheney, who, against the counsel of all sane military professionals, have plunged us into a new round of asymmetric warfare which, in the end, we could not win, and have done that by means of a great fraud perpetrated on the nation and the world by joint efforts of the Tony Blair government of the United Kingdom and the Bush-Cheney Administration of the U.S.A.

Senator Kerry was among those who went into McNamara's Indo-China war in good, if misguided faith. Two dodgers of active military service in that war, Bush and Cheney, have used official lies, in concert with the liberal-imperialist Fabian Prime Minister Tony Blair, to push the world into a spreading series of asymmetric wars in Southwest Asia, and into possibly China and North Korea, and other places, not far distant from now.

Bush's and Cheney's war record is clear; it is a record of men whose attacks on Kerry's service-record makes them as men without honor. Thus, all the issues of the Indo-China and Iraq wars taken into account, anyone who takes seriously the Bush team's efforts to cover up the facts of their own military service record by a fraudulent attack on Kerry's, simply prove, once again, in one more way, their unfitness for any high-ranking posts in government. What can be said, then, of those citizens foolish enough to vote for any representative of the slimy-backed pack with that team-record of the Bush-Cheney management?

Latest From LaRouche

LaRouche Addresses Youth Cadre School:

THIS PLANET WILL NEVER FORGET ME

Here are the opening remarks of Lyndon LaRouche to the East Coast Youth Cadre School on Aug. 14, 2004.

All right. As advertised, there are three essential topics today, and they are of international moment, but especially addressed to the needs of younger people, younger adults, who have to carry the burden on this. But, my main point, is to get you to understand, what life is all about, and to give you, from my personal experience, that is, aspect of my experience which are of international, historical importance today, what it is like to be a human being, and how to shape your motivations, for dealing with serious problems of society in general, that is, problems of a principled nature, as opposed to personal discomfort, in the short term.

All right, so, the three subjects are: First of all, how I changed history—all three of them—one, how I changed history from 1971 on; number two, how I changed world history, including causing the opportunity, which occurred in Germany, in Saxony, in 1989, which I caused in the period between 1977 and 1983.

So, I made history. You don't understand, what's happening in Saxony, today, in terms of what happened in Saxony in 1989, in the death of the DDR [East Germany] unless you understand the combined effect of what I personally did, to change history in such a way, that these events have happened, in the way they've happened.

My point is, to get you to understand, how you can look at your life, and how you should look at your motives, for the kinds of effects you're going to produce by your actions, individually and as a layer of the population, with a certain kind of patience, of concentrating on the long-term effects of what you do, as much more important, more significant, than the short-term effects. Many people make the mistake—and most people, most foolish people—judge the consequences of their action for good or bad, based on their personal feedback experience, in the short term, of reactions to what they've done. And ignore what are the more important reactions, which are over the long term—if they are important at all.

And, finally, in addition to the question of what happened in 1971, to change your life today, that I did, what happened between 1977 and 1983 to change your life, and to cause the opportunity that happened in Saxony, in 1989 and today; and thirdly, what is the method by which we must understand historical processes, which most people, including leading political figures—history professors, political science professors, and so forth—absolutely do not understand. And, of course, the President doesn't. So, most of the things they say about history, are foolish, because they don't understand history. They only understand how it "feels," to get the feedback, that they get in the very short term, as reaction to what they do.

They have no sense of what it is to be really a human being.

Okay, and you, in the time we're entering now, if you're going to provide leadership, or personal actions which are significant for humanity, which make you significant to humanity, you're going to have to understand these things. So, I'll give you the two examples first, and then the explanations of how these things work, third.

All right. What happened, is this: A long time ago, back in the 1950s, I defined, in my work as a management consultant, doing as an executive for a consulting firm, did a study which showed me clearly, how the recovery, which had been organized by Roosevelt, and continued into the post-war period, was now in serious jeopardy, in the long term. This is in late 1956, early 1957.

So, on that basis, I recognized that the United States was about to head into the most serious of the post-war recessions. And that this recession represented more, than simply a recession. It revealed a long-term underlying development, which, if continued, would lead to the collapse of the existing world monetary system, the so-called Bretton Woods system.

In the early 1960s, at the end of the 1950s-early '60s, I committed myself, in a forecast of limited circulation—both as an economist and otherwise—to the warning, that if the tendencies associated with people like Arthur Burns' policy, under the Eisenhower Administration, were to be continued into the middle of the 1960s, then the second half of the 1960s would see the eruptions of a series of monetary crises within the Bretton Woods system; that, unless policies were changed to remove this factor, this series of monetary crises would lead into a breakdown, or actions which would be a breakdown, of the Bretton Woods system.

Now, that's exactly what happened in August of 1971: That, during the second half of the 1960s, we had a series of monetary crises, beginning with the 1967 crisis of the British pound-sterling, caused by this kind of change in British policy; and a second change, caused by the U.S. reaction, under the Johnson Administration, in January to early March of 1968, to the effects of the collapse of the British pound-sterling, on the international system.

This, followed by the continuation of the same mistaken policies, in a radical way, by the Nixon Administration, led to the Nixon decision—made in 1971, first, and then at the Azores Conference of 1972—which destroyed the present world monetary system, or the existing world monetary system; and set into motion the floating-exchange system, which is the cause, or the principle cause, of most of the crises of today.

And also, this led toward a political crisis, which would pose, again—that is, the continuation of the floating-exchange-rate system—would pose the question, of fascism, again, unless we dealt with these problems. As the question of fascism is put clearly on the table, by such examples as the policy of the Bush Administration, under the control of people such as Vice President Cheney—otherwise known as the key advisor to "Bubblenezzar"—today.

Now, my intervention was first this: That, in 1971, I reacted to the fact that I had been vindicated, in my long-range forecast, by what happened under Nixon, and the actions which followed—that is, what happened under Nixon in August of 1971, was the first step in the collapse of the monetary system, that is, the Bretton Woods monetary system. The reaction by the Nixon Administration—and by others, but especially the Nixon Administration—to that action, that Nixon had taken, was to introduce Schachtian methods of so-called "fiscal austerity" against the U.S. population.

I denounced these as Schachtian, and at that time, I stated publicly, with my associates—all over New York City and elsewhere—that the so-called "great economists" teaching at universities and similar locations, were a bunch of "quackademics." Because, not only had all of them failed, to foresee what, for me, was obvious, that this kind of crash would occur; but, they had said, that the existing system, with its "built-in stabilizers," would prevent that from occurring ever again. And, many people in Economics 101 were brainwashed into that doctrine, and similar kinds of doctrines.

So, I challenged them. I said, "You guys are quackademics! You're committing a fraud upon your students, and upon society, by what you're teaching. And the present event has just proven that. I was right, and you quackademics were wrong." Well, that stuck. And they got very upset about that, because we had that story all over the place. We were organizing about it, at that time when my associates at that time were a youth movement, before they became old fogies, like today.

So, we organized. And the academics and others said, "We've got to do something about this. This guy has challenged our honor. We've got to pick a champion, to demolish this guy in debate." So, they picked a leading Keynesian of the time, who was then teaching as the "super-honorary professor" with special fees, and special honors, and trumpets, and whatnot, at Queens College, one of the major city universities in New York City: Abba Lerner.

So Abba Lerner and I entered into a debate. And, there was a row of academic and related celebrities in the front line, and behind them, masses of students and other onlookers. This went on. Well, at the beginning, I challenged Lerner, saying, "Your policies, as typified by your recommended policies for Brazil, are policies of Hjalmar Schacht. These are fascist policies. This is the direction this county is going to go in, if your kind of policies continue. And these are the policies which are being accepted, by much of the economic profession, today. This is quackery." That was my argument.

And we went all around. He kept ducking the issue and so forth. And finally, as the debate drew to a close, in the course of the back and forth, he emitted the following statement: He said, "Yes. But, if the German trade unions had accepted the policies of Hjalmar Schacht, then, Hitler would not have been necessary."

There was a gasp throughout the audience. Lerner had settled the debate: I was right. He was wrong. And he came out obviously wrong.

So, a group of people, who were a dominant group in the New York area and elsewhere, associated with the Congress for Sexual Freedom—or, whatever, Cultural Freedom—said, this guy is a menace. We can never allow him to appear on a public platform again! He has got to be a non-person. We're going to eliminate him, because he's a menace. He's going to be blocked out. Nobody's going to pay any attention to him. We're going to organize things that way. And that's what they tried to do.

But, what they did, but the steps that were taken, in the U.S. and elsewhere, at the Azores Conference, first of all; where George Shultz officiated that, which set up the floating-exchange-rate system, which led to an absolute disaster. Then, you had the second part of the 1970s: deregulation, wild-eyed deregulation, under Zbigniew Brzezinski. And also, a threat of going into nuclear war, which came from a section of Brzezinski's gang, associated with James Rodney Schlesinger—the Committee on the Present Danger. This was a revival of the Truman-era Committee on the Present Danger, which had proposed a progress toward nuclear war, against the Soviet Union.

So, I ran a campaign, in 1975-76, especially the '76 phase of the campaign, on these issues: Number one, the 1971 crisis. The incompetence of economic policy and austerity. Number two, the issue of period ahead, where we were going, including an emphasis on the developing countries: the destruction of the developing countries, the violation of the promise of Roosevelt to free the former colonies, and free them from the kind of conditions associated with colonial treatment. Then, thirdly, this Committee on the President Danger revival, under Schlesinger, which I recognized.

So, I ran a Presidential campaign, under the sobriquet of the Labor Party, U.S. Labor Party, as a revival of the Whig political current in the United States. The main feature of that, was to denounce Brzezinski's policy, as a commitment to a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union. We bought one half-hour television spot, and a shorter, five-minute spot, on national television, in which this issue, of the Committee on the Present Danger's threat, that the incoming administration would go to the threshold of nuclear war, was the major feature.

As a result of that campaign, the effective of that campaign, we stopped the Committee on the Present Danger, at that time. They backed off, because of the exposure I'd given. It made me much more hated than before, as a result.

At a later point, when I was running as a Democrat, and I ran into Ronald Reagan, we had an amiable exchange, which led to some other exchanges with his people, during the transition period between his election and his inauguration.

And, these discussions led to a discussion of my agenda: What was my agenda for the 1980s? The Reagan Administration wished to know. And among the things that attracted the President's attention, or the attention of his key advisors at that time, was my proposal, which I had already developed, for developing an alternative to the policy of thermonuclear confrontation, that is, the so-called MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction. But, using the technologies, which we were in the process of developing, which could do two things: It could lead to a system of strategic weaponry, which would be able to deal, to a large degree, with the threat of a thermonuclear ballistic missile attack, in the coming period. If we could get the superpowers and others to agree to that, to that development perspective, away from MAD, away from the idea of Doomsday, Mutually Assured Destruction, we could then proceed to economic development, of the planet, on the basis of using the very technologies, or the technological breakthroughs, which development of these alternative systems would mean.

The President liked that, eventually. But, in the meantime, I was in the middle of conducting a back-channel discussion on behalf of the Reagan White House, with the Soviet government. This went on, actually actively, from February of 1982, through and slightly beyond February of 1983. My last meeting with the Soviet representative channel, was February 1983.

In February 1983, before the March 23, 1983, international television broadcast by President Reagan, the report-back from Moscow had been, to me, that the Soviet government would reject the offer which I had proposed, if the President of the United States were to make it. And, the qualification was, that, what I said, about technology, was accepted by the Soviet government, that this would work. But: They were persuaded that the United States would beat the Soviet Union economically, in such a partnership. So, they were going to reject it.

But, furthermore, they would develop their own, alternative approach, to a confrontation, a strategic confrontation, and indicated the general direction that was going in. I replied at that time, I said, "You must tell them to reverse this policy. Because, if the Soviet Union were to adopt the posture, which you report to me, then, tell your government, that their economy would collapse within about five years."

Then, later, the President, of course, was informed of this discussion I had with the Soviet representatives, but decided to go ahead anyway; and, at the conclusion of a televised address, which was broadcast internationally, actually, at that time, the last five-minute segment included the famous proposal of Reagan, to the Soviet government, for cooperation in developing systems to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, revenge weapons, as a policy.

Now, this made me extremely hated, and feared, by a certain faction in the United States, and by the Soviet government. The second of a major series of attempts to either have me killed, or imprisoned, was launched in late 1983, and actually was put on the table in the course of 1984. All of the major legal problems, and security problems we had, from the U.S., from the Soviet government, and in a certain degree Europe, during that period, were the result of the adverse reaction by a certain faction, in both the Republican and Democratic Party, to this proposal, what became known as the Strategic Defense Initiative; and, the reaction, of course, by the Soviet Union.

Now, in the process, we had developed a big support for what became known as the SDI, throughout much of Europe and elsewhere. Large sections of the German military, and related establishment, were on board, in cooperating with us. Key parts of the Italian security establishment, were cooperating with me, with us. Key sections of the French military establishment were cooperating, and in other nations, as well.

In the German view, among the German strategists associated with us, in this effort—this was during this period—the view was, that I had changed the situation for Europe, had given the Europeans a strategic option, which did not previously exist. They could begin to discuss real strategy, instead of just the Doomsday routine, that had been stuck on them through NATO at that time. So there was a wave of optimism, in German, in France, and in Italy, based upon the impact of their knowledge of what I was doing with the Reagan Administration, and what my policies were.

But, in the process, the governments of Europe changed, the parties changed. The Italian political parties were destroyed in the early 1990s.

In the meantime, I was sent to prison. I was sent to prison, because the decision was made in 1986, either to kill me, or to put me in prison. Get me out of the way. In other words, if I didn't go to prison, I would be killed. That was the decision. That was the discussion, in the establishment in the United States and elsewhere: Either you convict him, and put him away, in prison—or, we kill him! And, that's the way things are done, often, in these kinds of matters. So, I was put into prison.

But, in the meantime, before I went to prison, in 1988, on Oct. 12, 1988, knowing what was coming down, Helga and I went to Berlin—which was then West Berlin. And we visited Helga's favorite place, the Charlottenburger Schloss area there, Schloss park, and a few other locations—which I'd never seen West Berlin before. And, then, on the following day, at the Bristol Hotel—which was then a much more modest, British-style hotel, in Berlin—I delivered a message, which was my Berlin, Oct. 12, that is, Columbus Day address. Which was then recorded, and played back, as televised, on national television in the United States.

In that broadcast, I indicated that the Soviet system is in the process of crumbling. I said that, by the middle of the year, we should expect Poland to take the lead, in breaking free of the Soviet security/economic system. We should expect this to spread to other countries, in Eastern Europe. And then, back to the Soviet Union itself. Therefore, I said, we must have a policy of offering cooperation with these countries—not victimize them—but offer cooperation, for development, of economic development, which would be beneficial to us both. And to help them solve their economic problems, from which they're suffering today.

Now, at that point, Helga took the lead, with a few collaborators, in implementing a two-phase process. The first was called the European Productive Triangle. I defined for them—I said, you take Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. You take that area, which contains the greatest concentration of industrial and related productive power in Europe, and you begin to mobilize all of Europe, around that triangle, as an engine for a revival of the world economy. And use that triangle as the thrust into Eastern Europe, and into the Soviet Union, which was about to go into a crisis." That was our policy. That's what we worked on.

They, with some consultation with me, also went further, to develop what became known as the Strategic Triangle. And the Strategic Triangle became our policy as an association, from that time on. This would have included the proposal for a maglev system, a magnetic levitation system of mass transit, from places such as the Atlantic port of France, to China, that is, the Pacific Coast of China, and beyond, as a way of integrating the development of Eurasia.

Now, our policies on this, also continued my policy of the middle of the 1970s: the policy of development for the so-called developing sector. Because Asia is a different part of civilization, even to this day, than European civilization in the main. And therefore, civilization is moving to the point, where the greater part of the human population is concentrated in what are considered developing countries, or Asian countries. And therefore, the question of cooperation between nations, which are predominantly European civilization, as such, and nations which are like the Asian nations, which are not of the European tradition as such: To bring these together for cooperation and development among nation-states, on a global basis, this was the policy. The policies which we had been working on, to the present day.

It was in these circumstances, that what happened in 1989 happened.

Now, you can't take anything away from the people of Saxony, who did the Monday demonstrations, which were crucial in the freedom of Germany, at that time. But, the possibility of this occurring, occurred because of what we had done, in several ways: First of all, the orientation, toward the reunification of Germany, which I had said would happen soon, rather immediately, in my famous remarks of Columbus Day in Berlin in 1988. At which I said, we're on the verge, of a break-up of the East European bloc, starting with Poland and spreading to other countries; and the prospective reunification of Germany, with Berlin adopted as its future capital once again. This was happening in 1989—just over a year later, a year after my broadcast, this was happening! And, this was what the demonstrations were in Eastern Germany.

Our work, therefore, had created the circumstances, in which this reunification of Germany was possible. And, if you look back, up to Oct. 12, 1988 and beyond, you will find no one was forecasting the reunification of Germany. It was not in the cards, for any German politician at that time—certainly not for the East German politicians. But, it was what we did, combined with the realization of the break-up of the Soviet economic system, or the Warsaw Pact economic system, the Comecon system, which created the opportunity, in which people of courage, such as the Saxony demonstrators, were able to set fire to combustible material. And to bring about the freedom, their freedom, and the unification of Germany—a prospect which was spoiled, by the way the thing was conducted, under various pressures, in the period following.

That's how history is made. History is made, not by the way people interact in the short term with each other. History is made by those actions, which introduce changes in principle, that is, principle which govern the way decisions are made, in the long term.

So, it's the way you affect the long-term structure of ideas, not the short-term aspect. All the idiots will tell you that politics is made in the short term. Or, they will tell you also, that you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube: You can't change current trends.

But, the essence of history, is the sudden reversal of what has seemed to be "current trends"! Therefore, those who say, "Our experience tells us, that this is the trend, and what you're saying will not work," that is precisely where they're wrong! That is precisely the mark of intellectual and moral incompetence, in a politician who says that! Because the essence of history, is change of trends. Sudden changes of trends. Because, a principle, which has ruled society, as if with an iron fist, up to a certain point—the iron crumbles! And a new principle comes into play. A new principle, which was there, the seed had been planted, but it took off. And it's making those long-term injections of new principles, that great changes, in society, occur—for better, or for worse.

So, the fight over principles, the fight over long-term thinking, not short-term, so-called "practical experience" thinking, is what really makes history. Those who go by practical experience, are the great fools of history. The practical politicians are the greatest of all fools! Because they think they know how to do things. And it's the very principles on which they think their success is based—which do them in! As you're seeing now, in Germany: All the parties—all of the political parties of Germany are totally incompetent, in terms of their present policy commitments and present structures. None can do anything good! There may be politicians who break the mold, because they see the need to break the mold, for practical reasons; or because, they proceed from principle.

But, the essential thing, in this case—look at what happened in Saxony: About four-odd weeks ago, Helga launched what became the Monday demonstration process, which is now shaking Germany. A vacuum existed. No party was capable of governing Germany, under those conditions, that is, no long-term perspective. The incumbent government was looking at the axe, the executioner's axe. But, it was held up mostly, by the fact that no other party, or visible combination of parties, was capable of assuming the responsibilities of government, in a responsible way!

So, into the vacuum Helga moved—with a handful of youth and contacts, and their work. And moved, with a resolution, on a solution, an alternative to the thrust of the crisis—the economic policy—and moved with this proposal to revive the Monday demonstrations in Saxony. And within three weeks of those demonstrations, an explosion occurred in Germany. Just on the impact, of the third successive week, of those Monday demonstrations: Suddenly, the entire political system of Germany was convulsed! As the world will be convulsed. And is still convulsed. Because something had happened, which was not supposed to happen, but did happen.

The long-term effects, of what Helga represented in Germany, as the leading spokesman for our international policy, in Europe—and in Germany, in particular—had suddenly come ripe. The long-term process, going back to 1972, '73, '74: That long-term process had now become reality, 30 years later, because of the work, done over that 30-year period. And that's the way you make history.

And that's how the Monday demonstrations have taken off, in east Germany. Not as some spontaneous development, but as the impact of the collision of forces in motion, over periods of a generation, and longer. This is the way I played the game of history, and you see it works. You see the way Helga played the game of history, in Europe, in particular, and what the options of Europe—and the options of Germany, in particular, are nothing other, than the policies she has represented, in our organization's work in Europe, over that period. That the 1974 campaign, which she was involved in, in a leading way, the election campaign, was the root of what happened in Saxony so far, in the recent period.

Now, the key thing here, to go back to the fundamental principle: This is why, in the development of the youth movement, I insisted on the use of Gauss, in particular, the 1799 attack on Euler and Lagrange, as the basis for the self-education of a youth movement, taking that example—the Gauss example, and its implications—and using that, as the basis for understanding history.

Because, what are we talking about? We're talking about what Euler did. Euler was an empiricist, which is actually—an empiricist is actually an Aristotelean, who took the short course. He couldn't pass the university course, so they sent him to a quick-fix school, where he learned the short- course, which is called empiricism. But, it's all the diseases of Aristotle, packed into an oversimplified version. Of which the most oversimplified version, is called positivism, or existentialism.

But, what the empiricists said, along with this idiot Newton, was that the universe is composed on the basis of predetermined, Aristotelean presumptions: That there are fixed, self-evident principles, of definitions, axioms, and postulates. And that is the way the universe, as we could possibly know it, is organized. Therefore, science must be limited, to the interpretation of events, as isolated events, in terms of those definitions, axioms, and postulates, as arbitrarily, a priori, so-called self-evident—not proven, but self-evident—principles. And that's the trap.

So, what Euler and Lagrange were doing—and Euler was a fanatic on this. You think he was mathematician? This guy was a bloody, raving fanatic, on this issue! And he lied! Because he was capable of knowing that he lied. Many professors today, know when they're lying, but Euler knew he was lying; he had the intelligence and skill to know he was lying.

And Gauss attacked this, as a young man. And he attacked it, by defending a principle which is as old as Plato, and older: The principle of Pythagorean physical geometry, as opposed to arithmetic.

And this goes to the very definition of man. What's the difference between man and an animal? What's the difference between a human being and Dick Cheney, for example? Dick Cheney was not born to be an animal, but he behaves like one! He's a man with no principle. He's a man, like a piece of flotsam, in a sewer stream. Buffeted by whatever comes down the stream, reacting to it, snarling at it, saying with the famous words he says to whatever passes him by.

But, human beings are capable, as no animal is, of discovering the actual physical principles of the universe, as Gauss emphasizes this, in his 1799 paper, which is on the subject, actually, of the complex domain.

So therefore, the understanding of history, the understanding of science, is based of understanding this notion of powers. That, you can discover principles, which exist as mental objects, exist beyond sense-perception—that is, you can not detect these principles directly, as objects, by sense-perception. Not the way you think you define the objects of sense-perceptions. But, they are mental objects, which you prove they exist, by indirect methods, the indirect methods of hypothesis, and experimental proof. Once you have made the experimental proof of the hypothesis, now it becomes a principle, it becomes a mental object. It's a mental object, which corresponds to something which existed in the universe, before you discovered it.

But, now that you recognize it and know how to use it, the relation of man to the universe changes. And by changing the relationship of man to the universe, several things happen. First of all, through the transmission of knowledge of these principles and their application, man becomes an immortal species. No animal is immortal. Animal species are semi-immortal, in a biological sense: That is, one generation comes after the other, genetically.

But, in the human species, the evolution and development of the species, is willful. Because the ideas that we develop, those ideas that correspond to universal principles, as typified by universal physical principles, these ideas, as transmitted as ideas, and for practice, by society, from one generation to the next, distinguishes the human being as absolutely superior to any other species in the universe. We are capable of creating. We use principles which previously exist in the universe. But, by discovering these principles, and using them, we change the universe, to the advantage of our species. And thus, we become—even in our mortal life—when we do that, we become immortal: Because the good we contribute to the discovery of ideas, and the perpetuation of those ideas, to coming generations, is an immortal act. It's the immortal act of a person, who achieves actual immortality, through living and acting in that way.

And thus, human beings require a different kind of society than we have for animals—or, for empiricists, which are a variety of would-be animals.

Thus, to be human, is to have an understanding of oneself. It's an understanding, which you better develop while you're young. Because, if you don't develop it while you're young, you're not likely to develop it when you become older. You become crusty. About the age of 35, a thick layer of crust develops around your mind. It's difficult to make these new discoveries. When you're younger, you can discover things more quickly. When you get out of adolescence, which is a special condition of mass insanity, into young adulthood, you have the option of having the energy, the mental power, to make discoveries—if you wish to. And therefore, you can lay the foundations for your implicit immortality, in the work you do, in that period.

And you see, from my own experience, my own experience in discovery goes way back. But, the discoveries I've made, in principle, which sometimes have seemed to be odd-ball, not in the mainstream: But it's precisely those kinds of discoveries, which I've made, which enable me, as an individual, to have an exceptional effect, upon the history of this planet, over the long term. Because, my commitment was to act for the discovery and application of principle, rather than trying to learn, dog-like tricks, circus-like tricks, of how to perform from the lessons of experience in the short term.

And that's how I changed the history of the planet, already. And it will change more. This planet will never forget me. I'm getting older now, but this planet's never going to forget me, and I haven't finished doing my work, yet. I'm still working on principle. It's a habit. It's a joy, that I have.

And that's what you have to learn. Not, that I'm saying you should wait 40, 50 years, or 60 years, to realize the importance of your life as an individual, or as a group of people. But, to recognize that what you do, may be significant in the short term—and should be. But, that what is really important about you, is the ideas you represent, which will show their effect over the longer term, of one or two generations to come. If you have a sense of yourself, as that kind of person, kicking against the pricks, doing the things you have to do today, but always governed by a sense, a zeal, a zest, for principles which have long-term effects, you probably can not fail.

If you look back in history, that's about the case. Take the case of Dante Alighieri: Now, Dante is one of the great, most important people in modern society, but he didn't live in modern society. He died in the early 14th Century, some decades before the outbreak of the collapse of the ruling banking system of that time, the Lombard banking system. But, in his lifetime, what he did, in defining the role of language, in defining the significance of the nation-state—which was not a new idea with him, but it was one he brought to a certain level, with his De Monarchia. And he educated people through this great Commedia of his, which was the basis for the development of a literate language, in Italy. Literate Italian, as opposed to some crude dialect, is largely a refinement of Italian, centered around Florence, but based on the influence of Dante's Commedia, in particular.

Then, you had followers like Petrarca, a follower, intellectually, of Dante, who also made contributions. You go back further; you find Abelard of Paris, even though he died under terrible conditions, and was tortured along the way: His impact is embedded, in the achievement of the creation of the modern nation-state. And Charlemagne, in his own way, pioneered in the direction of the modern nation-state. Or, Augustine, Augustinus, who actually reorganized Christianity in the West, and made it a mass movement; which was kicked out of Italy, went to Spain, where it influenced Isadore of Seville; it went north among the Irish, where the Christians were concentrated at that time. And the Irish Christianized the Saxons, until the Normans came in, and de-Christianized them, and made modern England out of that.

But, the long-term impact of ideas, such as the ideas of the pre-Aristotelean, Greek Classic thinkers; or the Egyptians before them, who made the Greeks possible: The long-term role, on behalf of principle, by the individual in history, is the secret of human existence, the secret of history, and the secret of choosing to live a life that is worthwhile.

Thank you.

Feature:

As the Economy Sinks, 'Bush Doesn't Give aDam'
by Marcia Merry Baker
'President Bush's record $2.4 trillion budget for 2005, intentionally or not, continues to strangle ports and waterways, and other important programs of the Corps of Engineers,' warns a press release on an Army Corps of Engineers website. The case of the McAlpine Locks and Dam on the Ohio River in Kentucky is the latest example of the Bush Administration's abandonment of economic infrastructure, while it inflates the economy with lunatic annual tax cuts and even suggests replacing the income tax with a regressive Federal sales tax.

  • Decrepit U.S. Dams Are 'A Recipe for Disaster'
    by Mary Jane Freeman
    Kentucky's dam woes are not limited to the Ohio River net- work. On Aug. 5, the Kentucky Herald-Leader reported that the abutment wall to Lock and Dam 3 on the Kentucky River collapsed. The Kentucky River Authority plans a $200,000 emergency fix. Spring floods are blamed for the wall's wash- out, but the dam's age cannot be discounted as a factor. It is a timber structure filled with rocks and covered with concrete, built in 1842 and refurbished in 1882! If it fails, it will threaten Lock and Dam 4, which holds the water supply of the capital city, Frankfort.
  • Louisville: Decline of An American Hub City
    by Richard Freeman
    Two months ago, the last of the workers at Louisville Ladder, based in Louisville, Kentucky, were fired. At its height, Louisville Ladder's assembly lines hummed with activity, employing 500 workers who manufactured residential and industrial ladders made of steel, aluminum, and wood. Now the plant is empty. Louisville Ladder moved its production facility to Monterrey, Mexico, but indications are that it may shut down this operation, and move production to China, where wages are even cheaper.

Bush's 'Don't Give a Dam' Creates Poverty in the U.S.
by Paul Gallagher
Poverty in the United States—systematically measured by the U.S. Census Bureau since 1960 and currently defined by an income of $9,573 or less for an individual, $18,860 or less for a family of four—has been increasing sharply during the Administration of President George W. Bush. The number of Americans in poverty rose by nearly 1.5 million a year between 2000 and 2002.

Economics:

LaRouche Sparks Anti-Austerity Demonstrations in Germany
by Rainer Apel
The European LaRouche Youth Movement (LYM) held its fourth Monday Rally in Leipzig on Aug. 2, to protest the German government's planned new brutal round of budget cuts (the infamous Hartz IV package), and to propose instead a complete reorientation of economic policy away from monetarism. Protest events that were not directly organized by the LYM, but inspired by the Leipzig rallies, also took place in several other cities ineastern Germany.

Great Projects To Reindustrialize Saxony
by Lothar Komp

Reprinted from Neue Solidarität, the weekly of the LaRouche movement in Germany.
Fifteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the unfinished job of rebuilding the eastern German economy is about to be abandoned altogether. Capital investments into industry and infrastructure had already peaked in the mid-1990s. Since then, the volume of orders and employment in the construction sector has imploded. The density of industrial jobs per capita is still extremely low; and official unemploment remains
at a very high level.

Schachtian Law Targetting Pensions and Social Security Approved in Mexico
by Benjamín Castro Guzmán

The ghost of Hitler's central banker Hjalmar Schacht walked the halls of the Mexican Congress in July and August, thanks to the efforts of the Vicente Fox government. Always quick
to comply with the wishes of international bankers, the Fox
government and its allies in the opposition PRI party presented two bills to the Congress that, together, exemplify the fascist essence of Schachtian policy—destruction of the physical economy and living standard of the productive labor force through fiscal austerity and, somehow or other, prop up the speculative bubble.

Classic Tragedy Today:
The Decline of The Monterrey Group
by Benjamı´n Castro Guzma´n
In the early morning hours of Saturday, July 24, Don Eugenio Clariond Garza, the 85-year-old founder of the group Industrias Monterrey S.A. de CV, better known as IMSA, died of what the Mexican media described as 'an illness.' However, no one missed the fact that Don Eugenio's death occurred just four days after local and national newspapers announced the sale of Enermex—manufacturer of the popular LTH car battery—a company Don Eugenio founded in 1947, a key part of the IMSA consortium.

Election 2004:

THE LAROUCHE SHOW
From Now to November: Prevent The U.S.A. From Going Fascist
Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. was interviewed on 'The LaRouche Show' Internet radio program on Aug. 7, by Harley Schlanger, the former Western States coordinator for LaRouche's campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination. The LaRouche Show is webcast live every Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, at larouchepub.com.

International:

U.S. Flight Forward in Iraq: Is Iran the Next War Target?
by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
In the good old days of traditional geopolitics, a` la Zbigniew Brzezinski, the U.S. policy toward the two oil giants of the Persian Gulf, Iran and Iraq, was known under the rubric of 'dual containment.' Now, since the 2000 Supreme Court (s)election of the Cheney-Bush duo, this has been changed to 'dual extermination.'

Sharon Prepares To Strike Iran
by Dean Andromidas
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his generals have completed contingency plans for striking Iran's nuclear installations, and developments over the past weeks indicate that the strike date could be fast approaching. The big question is, will it occur before or after the U.S. elections.

Iraqis Order Chalabi Arrest in Murder Plot
by Michele Steinberg
On Aug. 8, warrants were issued by Iraq's interim government to arrest two of the top members of the hated Chalabi family in Iraq—both of them favorites of Vice President Dick Cheney and the neo-conservative cabal in the Bush government— who are leading figures in the American occupation government.

Georgia's Saakashvili Boasts U.S.-U.K. Approval for Showdown
by Rachel Douglas
Michael Saakashvili, whose accession to power in Georgia at the end of last year was a project of mega-speculator and geopolitics dabbler George Soros, is provoking more tension around South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two districts in Georgia, bordering on Russia, which have been autonomous for the past decade.

Interview: Sen. Aquilino Pimentel
'The Americans Are Bound To Continue With This Retaliation'
by Michael Billington.
Aquilino 'Nene' Q. Pimentel is a leading opposition Senator in the Philippines, having served as both Majority Leader and Minority Leader of that institution. He is currently in the forefront of efforts to bring about an investigation of alleged fraud in the May 10 Presidential election.... Senator Pimentel was interviewed by telephone on Aug. 7

A Proposal to Actually Solve the Sudan Crisis
by Uwe Friesecke
The Sudanese government and the United Nations signed an agreement in Khartoum on Aug. 10, to create safe havens within the next 30 days, as a first step to resolve the Darfur crisis. The action plan was worked out between Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail and UN envoy Jan Pronk, after the Sudanese government in early August accepted the July 30 United Nations Security Council resolution, demanding that the Sudanese government disarm the militias in Darfur and create the conditions for better access to the almost 1 million displaced people.

  • Why the British Hate Sudan: The Mahdia's WarAgainst London
    by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
    Reprinted from EIR, June 9, 1995.
    One reason that the British harbor such a visceral hatred for Sudan, is that they have never fully recovered from their experience with the Mahdist state, which lasted from the early 1880s to 1898. This was an independent, sovereign Sudanese state founded by a charismatic Islamic leader—an 'Islamic fundamentalist'—which treated the colonial British as no other state had done.

National:

Senate Must Not Capitulate To Blackmail on Goss Nomination
by Edward Spannaus
Were the Senate to go along with the Administration's provocative nomination of Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) for CIA Director, it would mark a cowardly capituation to the stonewalling of any investigation of the crimes of Vice President Dick Cheney and his cronies in the Bush Administration. The Administration's obstruction has been aided greatly by the Republican leadership of key Congressional oversight committees, and in this, no one has exceeded the role played by Porter Goss, as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

'Veterans of Watergate' Attack Kerry's Record
by Gregory B. Murphy
The so-called 'grass roots' Vietnam veterans organization that is attacking the war record of Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry in a national ad campaign should be called the 'Watergate Veterans' group. The misnamed 'Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,' is nothing but a Republican dirty tricks operation linked to the original Watergate criminals in the Nixon White House. Armed with hundreds of thousands of dollars from rich Texas supporters of the rightwing fanatic Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the organization is running TV ads with false statements and slanders across the country.

Not Scared Yet? Try Connecting These Dots
by Ray McGovern
Ray McGovern (rmcgovern~school.org) worked as a CIA analyst from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush. The following guest commentary was first published on Aug. 9, by CommonDreams.org.

Interview: Dr. Justin Frank
George Bush: 'A Puppet Who Chose His Puppeteers'
Dr. Justin Frank, the author of Bush on the Couch, a devastating professional psychoanalytic profile of President George W. Bush, was interviewed on July 26, 2004, byEIR Senior Editor Jeffrey Steinberg. Dr. Frank is a practicing psychoanalyst in Washington, and is on the faculty of the George Washington University Medical School.

  • Book Review
    The Ugly Truth About G.W. Bush
    by Jeffrey Steinberg
    Bush on the Couch—Inside the Mind of the President
    by Justin A. Frank, M.D.

    New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2004
    219 pages, hardbound, $24.95
    Dr. Justin Frank has performed a courageous and insightful mission. On the eve of the most important Presidential election of our lifetime, he has applied his decades of clinical experience as a psychoanalyst to offer an in-depth profile of President George W. Bush. To be more precise, Dr. Frank has provided American voters with a case study in what is called 'applied psychoanalysis.'

U.S. Economic/Financial News

Bulk Coal Being Moved by Truck to Ohio

The Army Corps of Engineers crews continue to work on repairs on the McAlpine Lock gate in Louisville, Ky., while the 981-mile Ohio River corridor remains, in effect, out of service, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Aug. 12. Though the Corps officials gave shippers all the time they dared allow, to rush-ship commodities over the June-July period, and to make alternate freight arrangements, there is still mad scrambling to make up for the August two-week closure of the Ohio Mainstem navigation system. But all U.S. transport is so decrepit, there are no alternatives!

For example, the Western states rail system is so congested right now, due to lack of locomotives, cars, lines and all, that Toledo Edison Co. has resorted to bringing in at least 60,000 tons delivered by truck to its generating plant in Oregon, Ohio! A spokesman for FirstEnergy, parent company of Toledo Edison, said that coal stocks are dwindling, and "normal means" of shipment are not working. Coal for the Ohio Bayshore plant of Toledo Edison, which normally comes from Powder Basin, Wyoming, by "rail/boat", that is by train and Great Lakes shipping, now, is coming in by "boat-truck" instead.

Middle-Class Americans in 'Deep Economic Trouble'

Millions upon millions of American families are in deep economic trouble, and Bush has no plan, said New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in an op-ed Aug. 9. "Despite the rosy rhetoric that comes nonstop from the administration, millions upon millions of American families, including many that consider themselves solidly in the middle class, are in deep economic trouble," he said, adding: "The first essential step ... is to recognize and acknowledge the sheer enormity of the problem."

According to Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren: "This year, more people will end up bankrupt than will suffer a heart attack. More adults will file for bankruptcy than will be diagnosed with cancer. More people will file for bankruptcy than will graduate from college.... Americans will file more petitions for bankruptcy than for divorce."

A Century Foundation debt study showed that "a family with two earners today actually has less discretionary income, after fixed costs like medical insurance and mortgage payments are accounted for, than did a family with only one breadwinner in the 1970s."

Skyrocketing Cost of University Education

The average basic cost of a year's tuition plus room and board at a private four-year U.S. college has risen from $15,098 to $29,119, since 1990, a 93% increase, not including books, computers, and other essential costs, USA Today reported Aug. 10. For four-year public college, a year's tuition, room and board (for students attending schools in their home state), the increase rose 87%, from $5,324 to $9,953. In some states, such as New York, the rate hikes for public community colleges (which typically offer two-year programs) are estimated to have risen 23%.

GM To Lay Off Most Lansing Assembly Workers

General Motors said it will lay off most of its Lansing, Mich. car assembly workers—2,200 employees—for about three weeks, beginning Aug. 23, according to the Lansing State Journal Aug. 11. Plus, the automaker is cutting 300-400 jobs by eliminating one work crew at its Saturn assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., effective Sept. 7. The shutdown and job cuts, blamed on GM's falling U.S. auto sales, will likely trigger layoffs at GM parts suppliers.

Meanwhile, auto supplier Grand Vehicle Works will permanently close its plant in Union City, Ind., in October, eliminating 118 jobs.

Machinist Union Calls for Bankruptcy Trustee at United

The International Association of Machinists, which represents about a third of United Airlines employees, has called the judge in UAL bankruptcy case to appoint a trustee at UAL, USA Today reported Aug. 12. The IAM took this action after United stopped payments to the union pension plan that covered 125,000 active and retired employees.

The bankruptcy law allows for the appointment of a trustee in cases of fraud and mismanagement. The union is alleging gross mismanagement.

The Machinists union is getting backup from the flight attendants' union, whose representative said that the action was appropriate. The attendants' union has posted a notice on their website, calling on all members to vote no-confidence in United's management team. The pilot's union has so far had no comment.

Police Union Protests Pittsburgh Austerity Plan

Several hundred active and retired police officers, including national officers of the Fraternal Order of Police, held a noontime demonstration on Monday, Aug. 9 to denounce the economic austerity plan call "Act 47" which is being imposed by Pittsburgh's mayor and city council, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Tribune, reported Aug. 10. The FOP leaders warned that the Act 47 "recovery" plan for the financially distressed city is nothing more than an attack on organized labor, and would jeopardize public safety. "This is not just a police issue, ... this is a labor issue," declared Michael Havens, Jr., president of the Pittsburgh police union, adding: "It's nothing more than coming in to destroy the union."

Also hit hard are the firefighters who, last month, gathered and turned in 20,000 petition signatures, demanding a change in the Home Rule charter so as to require Pittsburgh to meet national fire-response-times standards—something which will not happen with the Act 47 slashing of 168 firefighter jobs, and closure of 35 fire stations. The economic plan is cynically called the "recovery plan."

The police union is challenging the austerity plan in court, and the city's fire union has filed a similar lawsuit. The plan calls for $33 million in further spending cuts and $41 million in tax increases to plug the budget gap. It mandates cutbacks in wages, benefits, and workforce levels in the next police contract.

Ohio Home Foreclosure Auctions Skyrocket

Home foreclosure auctions in Ohio jumped 26% last year, due to job losses and banks' predatory lending practices. More and more Ohio families lost their homes in 2003, as county sheriffs' departments across the state put more than 36,425 foreclosed residential properties up for sale at auction, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer Aug. 12. This number represents a 26% increase from the level in 2002—and a 57% leap from just two years earlier, according to a study by Policy Matters Ohio. About one in every 117 Ohio households, lost their homes to sheriff sales of foreclosed properties.

More than 57,000 new foreclosure filings were made in Ohio courts during 2003, up 3% from a year earlier, up 31% from 2001—and more than double the number in 1998. Ohio's foreclosure rate is the second-highest in the nation, behind Indiana; as of June, the state had lost a total of 232,000 jobs—173,00 jobs in manufacturing—since January, 2001.

Five Greater Cincinnati counties were hit by double-digit percentage increases in both foreclosures and sales between 2001 and 2003.

World Economic News

CMS Demands Its Pound of Flesh From Argentina

The lawsuit brought by U.S. gas company, CMS, against Argentina opened Aug. 9 in the Paris headquarters of the World Bank-founded International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), Clarin reported from Paris Aug. 11. CMS charges that the delinking of the Argentine peso from the dollar in 2002 constituted an "expropriation" of their investment, and demands $265 million in compensation. What happens in ICSID "trials" is supposed to be confidential, but lead Argentine lawyer, Justice Minister Horacio Rosatti, informed the tribunal that the Argentine Constitution requires the publication of its public officials' actions, and they could not guarantee confidentiality.

Rosetti argued in his opening argument, that the change in the value of the peso resulted from the fact that Argentina "was on the brink of dissolution as a State," by the end of 2001.

CMS lead lawyer Nigel Blackaby countered that there was only an economic crisis in Argentina, and no political or social crisis, because "only" 20 people died—the same number as die on the highways, and therefore Argentina owed his client "its" money. (The Argentine delegation "bristled" at that "unfortunate phrase," Clarin reported!)

"No one believes that Argentina is in a condition [to pay] the US$16 billion" being demanded by the 32 private companies, which, like CMS, argue that the government must pay them for their losses, Rosatti told Argentina's Radio Rivadavia, from Paris. Sixteen billion dollars would be equal to nearly a full year budget of all three Argentine branches of government, combined, and is almost equal to its total reserves. Should the court rule against Argentina, the ruling would have to be accepted as Constitutional under Argentine law, before the government would act on it.

British Housing Bubble Continues To Grow

The price of houses in Britain rose 1.8% in June, according to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in London, and the average British home now costs 173,756 pounds! The report says that prices are rising by 13.9% annually, but the Halifax (Britain's biggest mortgage lender) reported that house prices were actually rising by 22.1% a year.

When it raised interest rates another .25 points last week, the fifth such rise since last November, the Bank of England had claimed that the housing market was "starting to ease," but there was much skepticism about this among economists in Britain, according to the Daily Telegraph Aug. 10. According to the Land Registry, prices in Wales and the North had risen by 26%-27% in the year June 2003-June 2004, although prices in these areas are lower than in the southeast, where an average house costs 213,828 pounds.

The Telegraph quoted Roger Bootle, economic adviser to Deloitte, saying last week: "In my view, the monetary policy committee [of the Bank of England] should have gone the whole hog. Consumers need to be brought up short. Moreover, the housing boom needs to be stopped before it leads to catastrophe."

Italian Public Debt Is at All-Time High

Figures published by the Banca d'Italia Aug. 12 show that in spite of the Maastricht-dictated budget-control policies implemented since 1992, the Italian public debt has increased, instead of diminishing. State debt in May 2004 was at 1,466,377 million Euros, 106% of GDP and 3.8% more than in May of last year. In 2004, Italy will pay 69.2 billion euros interests on that debt, the Italian central bank said.

Italian state debt inflated as a result of IMF therapies in 1974 and 1976, and definitely as a consequence of capital and currency liberalizations in 1980. As a study published by EIR in 2003 shows, Italian state debt in 1978 was already high, but still at about 50% of GNP. With the post-Moro (after 1980) "restoration" governments, a currency and capital liberalization, combined with the Thatcher-Volcker high-interest-rate policy, the Italian public debt skyrocketed, and, in 1991, surpassed the GNP.

Two-thirds of Italian public debt used to be owned by Italian citizens (one-third families, one-third banks); post-1992 governments have promoted an internationalization of the debt, which is today 50% owned by foreigners.

One-Third of Italian Firms Are Owned by Foreigners

A study published by Mediobanca R&S based on a survey of 1,945 Italian firms, shows that 570 are owned by foreigners, representing 29% of the turnover. The quota of foreign ownership, however, is higher in key sectors, such as chemicals (60%), food processing (39.1%), and mechanics-electronics (35.7%). The study shows a general decline of manufacturing production, in the red for 4.5 billion euros. Profits were made by firms operating in the service sector (9.1 billion) and energy (5.4%).

Expansion of Bankers 'Toxic Waste Dump'

On the heels of Banco Santander's announcement that it will buy Britain's Abbey National, come reports that both Lloyds TSB and the Royal Bank of Scotland are considering counterbids for Abbey. In Japan, UFJ Holdings said it is considering a bid from Sumitomo Mitsui in addition to the bid already made by Mitsubishi Tokyo. Either combination of these Japanese banks would form the largest bank in the world, with either $1.6 trillion or $1.75 trillion in assets. There are currently seven banks in the trillion-dollar club—Citigroup, Mizuho, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, HSBC and Deutsche Bank—thanks to the hyperinflation of financial assets. Citigroup, the current leader at $1.3 trillion, just announced an expansion of its toxic waste dump with the $225 million purchase of the derivatives business of Knight Trading. These are all zombies, jockeying for better deck chairs on the Titanic.

United States News Digest

This article is reprinted from the New Federalist of Aug. 16.

LaRouche: End Coverup in Trial of MP Lynndie England
by Edward Spannaus

The travesty of charges being brought against seven low-level guards at Abu Ghraib prison is continuing, while the Defense Department continues to cover up the responsibility of top civilians in the Pentagon and higher-ranking officers who transmitted their demands down the chain of command. The only charges that have been brought in connection with the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib are those against the seven MPs (Military Police); meanwhile, the Defense Department persists in dragging its feet in other investigations, such as that involving the role of Military Intelligence.

Former Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche said on Aug. 8 that "we demand justice and the truth" in these cases, especially that of Pfc. Lynndie England. Who is responsible for this young woman acting as she did? LaRouche asked, noting that she posed for the pictures that have been shown around the world.

We cannot tolerate a coverup in this matter, LaRouche insisted. "We reject the legacy of coverup, which Nixon Administration officials Cheney and Rumsfeld have brought to this Administration." - Cheney Testimony Sought -

Vice President Cheney, and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, are among the 160 witnesses whose testimony has been requested by lawyers for England, the 21-year-old MP who is charged with 19 counts of misconduct. A preliminary military hearing was adjourned indefinitely on Aug. 7 after five days, so that the hearing officer can consider the requests for witness subpoenas.

Another high-level officer being sought is Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, who was sent to Iraq to "Gitmo-ize" Abu Ghraib. The worst torture-abuses took place shortly after Miller's first trip to Abu Ghraib. Stephen Cambone, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, told a Senate committee in May that he had sent his military assistant, the Muslim-hating Gen. Jerry Boykin, to Guantanamo to deploy Miller to Abu Ghraib.

England's lawyers contend that she and others were following orders coming from Military Intelligence officers who were in charge of interrogations at Abu Ghraib, and they say that she is being made a scapegoat for the actions and policies of higher-up officers.

Another witness being sought is Sgt. Kenneth Davis, also with the 372nd MP Company, who told AP last week, in much detail, how Military Intelligence agents directed the prison guards to abuse the prisoners, and themselves directly mistreated prisoners.

Davis said that after he had complained about MI officers interrogating naked prisoners, his platoon leader told him: "They are MI and they are in charge." - Cambone and the Torture Memos -

Paul Bergrin, a civilian lawyer for Sgt. Javal Davis, another of the seven who have been charged, told this news service recently that he has asked to interview Cambone as well as Rumsfeld. Bergrin wants to ask Cambone and other top officials about the legal memoranda they directed to be written, which asserted that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to prisoners captured in Afghanistan, so that they could use interrogation techniques which are in violation of the Geneva agreements. It is clear from many accounts, and from Gen. Miller's trip to Abu Ghraib, that techniques used in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo, were subsequently used at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers in Iraq.

As this news service has reported, one of the key memoranda, a Jan. 25, 2002 White House memo advising President Bush that he should repudiate the Geneva Conventions, was actually written by Cheney's top lawyer, David Addington. This memo also warned Bush that there was a danger that he and other top officials could be prosecuted for war crimes. - Guantanamo Torture -

Top Administration and Pentagon officials have steadfastly maintained that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were restricted to seven rogue soldiers—a few "bad apples"—and that nothing of the sort took place elsewhere.

The most recent and powerful evidence refuting this "few bad apples" cover story has come from three Muslim men from England who have provided graphic, first-hand accounts of their experiences after being captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 by Northern Alliance forces under General Dostum. They were transported in shipping containers to Kandahar (they were among the 20 survivors of 200 who were packed into the containers), and then eventually handed over to U.S. military custody and shipped to Guantanamo. At all points until arriving at Guantanamo, they were beaten, held without adequate food, clothing, and sanitation. The abuses and torture continued at Guantanamo, and intensified dramatically after the first commander was relieved and replaced by Gen. Miller.

In particular, they report that sexual humiliation of prisoners began after Miller took over; this was accompanied by religious humiliation, all of which, the men believed, was targetted at those who would be most affected by it.

Eventually, conditions became so unbearable, both physically and psychologically, that many prisoners confessed to things that they had not, and could not have, done. One of the three, Asif Iqbal, confessed to being a person shown in a videotape with Osama bin Laden. However, since his release, it has been proven that he was living and working in England at the time the videotape was made.

Their accounts are almost identical to what is portrayed in documents unsealed recently in Federal court in Seattle, which describe how another Gitmo inmate was subjected to prolonged isolation and beatings, in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni, says he was kept in isolation for at least eight months at Guantanamo, and he says he had been regularly beaten by American guards in Afghanistan, before he was taken to Guantanamo.

His lawyer, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, says in a separate affidavit, that Hamdan exhibits symptoms that medical experts say indicate a profound and worsening mental illness attributed to the prolonged isolation.

The British detainees described being held in small cells and not being allowed to talk or to pray, and being subjected to beatings and humiliation when they were taken out of their cells. They said there had been "several hundred" suicide attempts, and that as many as 100 of the 600-700 prisoners at Guantanamo had become observably mentally ill, with at least 50 "so disturbed as to show that they are no longer capable of rational thought or behavior."

Ibero-American News Digest

Looking Towards Malaysia: Argentina Suspends Negotiations With IMF

A showdown is once again underway between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund. On Friday evening, Aug. 6, Argentine Economics Minister Roberto Lavagna announced that his country was suspending further talks with the IMF on a new program, until at least December or January. The following Monday morning, Lavagna announced a 10% increase in pensions of all retirees who receive 1,000 pesos, or less, a month, effective September. The measure benefits 95% of Argentina's retirees, 3 million people who have been trying to survive on $325 a month.

While Argentine officials publicly insist they have not broken with the IMF, nor do they have any intention of doing so, their actions speak for themselves: They suspended negotiations with the IMF to put off the fight over the new conditionalities, which were to apply for 2005-2006, so that, in the time gained, they could take measures to reactivate the economy which the IMF would not permit.

"We want to follow the example of Malaysia, which kicked over the chessboard of orthodox IMF policies, without breaking with the IMF," a high-level official of Argentina's Economics Ministry told La Nacion on Aug. 11. "That way we can gain a margin of action. An energy company, or a development bank could be created, retirees paid more, or the dollar [N.B.: not the peso] could be allowed to revalue."

President Kirchner's Chief of Cabinet, Alberto Fernandez, announced Aug. 10 that the President's office is studying how to raise wages, in both the private and public sector. Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez told Radio 10 the same day that a raise in private and public sector wages is "inevitable," and a meeting of the Minimum Wage Council would meet to consider the amount "in the short term."

Likewise, Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido stated on Aug. 10, that an increase in electricity rates "is not on the agenda," and that for the moment, there is "no possibility" increases will be granted. The privatized electricity companies were demanding a 30%-40% "seasonal adjustment" for the Aug. 1-Oct. 31 quarter—and the IMF was backing them up.

Each of those measures violates the conditionalities which the IMF is demanding. These include, that Argentina (a) not spend any money on pensions, wages, and public works, but instead "improve" its offer to the creditors, by giving them cash up front; (b) revalue the peso now pegged at slightly over $3.00, to $2.30; (c) impose sanctions on provinces which violate the "Fiscal Austerity Law" which forbids them from spending more than their revenues, the which would require a change in the Constitution; and (d) raise the primary budget surplus—the money extracted from the national economy for debt payments—from today's 3% of GNP, to 4%.

Kirchners Recommend: Ignore IMF 'Whims'!

Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner—who is also the wife of President Nestor Kirchner—told a Buenos Aires audience Aug. 9, that Argentina should act like the United States, which has "never heeded the IMF." By ignoring it, the country "will do better than the rest of the countries which have paid heed to the IMF," Senator Kirchner pointed out. Argentina should "follow its own model, which is to make policy which suits Argentines."

President Kirchner told a ceremony opening a new facility at a plant of the German company Siemens two days later, that Argentina is going to discuss with "firmness and total rationality" with the IMF. "It costs us too much to pile one coin on top of another, to continue accepting the twists and turns, or the whims of the international organizations, who have not acted very well with Argentina," he said, reportedly with a vigor which set some of the German and Argentine businessmen present squirming—particularly given the crowd of Peronist activists invited to the event, who were cheering Kirchner on.

A 'Friendship' Bridge To Build South American Unity

Inaugurating two bridges linking their three nations on Aug. 11, the Presidents of Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia spoke of creating "a great South American nation." Presidents Lula da Silva, Alejandro Toledo, and Carlos Mesa met in the Amazon city of Cobija, Bolivia to open a binational bridge, named "Friendship," which is to connect Cobija with the Brazilian city of Brasilea, in an area where 101 years ago their nations were at war. The US$2-million bridge is being financed by Brazil, as part of the South American Regional Infrastructure Integration (IIRSA) initiative, which aims to connect the South American continent, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, by 2010.

From Cobija, the Presidents flew by helicopter to the Brazilian city of Vila Asis, which borders both Peru and Bolivia. There, they laid the cornerstone for another bridge, this one uniting Vila Asis with the Peruvian city of Inapari, which also lies near to the Bolivian city of Bolprea. The three Presidents and their Foreign Ministers held a long meeting to discuss the feasibility of building a complex of petrochemical and power plants in that undeveloped region of the Amazon, which could use Peruvian and Bolivian gas supplies to supply domestic needs, and perhaps provide for energy exports.

Brazil's President Lula, in particular, located their endeavors as part of a broader vision, that of "the construction of a great South American nation, which passes through its physical integration.... I want to end my life seeing South America transformed into a true, single nation," Lula stated. This is the vision first launched in August 2000 in Brasilia, at the first ever South American Heads of State summit by then Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who was promptly overthrown.

Bolivia's President Mesa echoed Lula, calling the three countries companeros in this effort. "My shoulder, President Lula, is with yours; my shoulder, President Toledo, is with yours." Capitalizing on the presence of Bolivia's Brazilian big brother, Mesa added an undisguised message to Chile, which last week held military war games simulating a war with Peru and Bolivia, near its border with both of those countries. While not mentioning any specifics, Mesa said that "any country which invests in armament excessively, I believe is going down a mistaken path in relation to the integration [of the region].

Who's Out To Trigger a Rerun of the 1879-84 War of the Pacific?

Since Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's November 2003 declaration that he dreams of bathing at a Bolivian beach on the Pacific Ocean (which Bolivia has not had since Chile seized its territory during the British-instigated War of the Pacific), the foolish talk of reopening old border conflicts among Chile, Peru, and Bolivia has become a self-feeding process, which has reached the dangerous point of Chile's military holding exercises to practice scenarios for war with its neighbors.

The Mesa government, fighting for its existence since it took office in October 2003, first foolishly linked Bolivia's exports of natural gas to achieving its historic demand for access to the sea. Then, this past July 28, Peru's President Alejandro Toledo, a Soros-owned playboy, whose own hold on power is tenuous, joined the fray, with the announcement in his Independence Day speech, that Peru was giving Chile 60 days to open negotiations on its maritime border with Peru. His Defense Minister, Gen. Roberto Chiabra, stated that Peru was in condition "to confront a war with Chile," a provocative lie which Peru's Foreign Minister requested he retract, but which was then supported, and repeated, by Toledo's Second Vice President, David Waisman (the same man who, as Defense Minister in 2001, purged Peru's Armed Forces, and cut Peru's military budget by close to 65%).

Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Patricio Zuquilanda added to this insane discussion, by declaring on Aug. 3—from Santiago, Chile, with the Chilean Foreign Minister at his side—that Ecuador sided with Chile in its dispute with Peru. Zuqilanda was rapidly "corrected," however, by Ecuadoran President Lucio Gutierrez, who stated that Ecuador had nothing to do with Peruvian-Chilean border issues.

The Chilean government's position is that the maritime border was settled by treaties in 1952 and 1954, and will not be reopened. A planned visit by Chile's Foreign Minister to Peru in August was cancelled.

Then, Chile, the best-armed country in South America, outside of Brazil, and still close to the British who instigated the original War of the Pacific, added a military show of force. On Aug. 4, the Chilean military's most modern tanks were deployed in a military exercise in the northern Iquique desert, a few miles from the Peruvian border. The scenario for the war games, saw Chilean forces containing the advance of a coalition of two enemy countries, one of which had "an aspiration for an access to the sea to be able to export its gas reserves"—i.e., a war game against Peru and Bolivia. Defense Minister Michelle Bachelet and Army Commander in Chief, Gen. Juan Emilio Cheyre, personally oversaw the exercise.

Chavez Says He Has Christ in His Corner

With the countdown toward the Aug. 15 recall referendum raising the levels of tension in Venezuela, the levels of lunacy are also rising. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez addressed a rally of hundreds of thousands of supporters in Caracas Aug. 8, where he insisted that the referendum was a contest between himself and U.S. imperialism. He declared that a vote against his recall, in fact, would be "Christ's vote against imperialism."

Chavez also warned that, should he be defeated in the referendum, the result could be instability in Venezuela which would send already high oil prices shooting up to well over $100 a barrel. "Only we can guarantee peace," Chavez insisted.

Whether he has the high-level religious backing he claims to have, the crazy Venezuelan Jacobin does have significant backing from foreign financiers and oil multinationals. The Financial Times put out the line with its Aug. 9 headline, "The Oil Industry Seeks Decisive Chavez Poll Win," a story echoed by the New York Times on Aug, 12. As one oil analyst summed up the case: The oil companies "have become convinced that Mr. Chavez is a man they can do business with." Wall Street's Bloomberg wire service, projecting on Aug. 13 that Chavez will survive the referendum, cited the evaluation of Nicolas Field, a top executive at London's WestLB Asset Management, that "a victory for Chavez would boost confidence in Venezuela ... because he has shown a commitment to paying interest on the nation's $22 billion foreign debt."

Should the opposition win the referendum, Presidential elections are to be held within 30 days. The opposition forces, however, have no single candidate. So, they say they will organize a national "primary" among their contending power-hungry representatives, and then campaign behind him—all within 30 days! Meanwhile, national election officials in Venezuela brag that the results of the election may be made known within three hours of the polls closing, because the vote is being counted by touch-screen electronic voting machines. But should the vote be a close one, they say they may not release any results until the full four days the law permits are up.

Western European News Digest

Polish Prime Minister To Visit the U.S.

Poland's Prime Minister Marek Belka, after having received U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell in Warsaw for the 60th anniversary celebrations of the 1944 Warsaw uprising, left on Aug. 8 for his first official visit to the U.S., to explore ways to reorganize the Polish-led multinational force in Iraq (which originally comprised 9,500 troops under Polish command responsible for South Iraq, and now is down to 6,200, after several countries like Spain pulled out). Poland has stressed that it wants to reduce its force to 1,000 next year. During his trip to Washington, Belka will meet with President Bush as well as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and discuss with U.S. officials the possibility that U.S. military bases might be moved to Poland as part of the Pentagon's global realignment plan, and also the possibility of putting anti-missile defense sites in Poland.

However, according to Polish military sources who spoke to EIR recently, these BMD (ballistic missile defense) plans are not official. What was confirmed was that reconnaissance missions, for selecting potential sites, have been undertaken in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary, for the last eight months.

Lafontaine Calls for Overthrow of Chancellor Schroeder

In an interview published in the Aug. 9 Der Spiegel weekly, former Social Democratic Party chairman and ex-minister of finance, Oskar Lafontaine, said that "things do not work anymore with Schroeder." The party either has to replace him and his policy, he said, or it will be faced with the emergence of a new left-wing party—which Lafontaine said he would then get engaged with.

Lafontaine, a populist of the first order, even went so far as to say in the interview that in contrast to Schroeder, former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt had a policy of reducing unemployment. The reference to Schmidt is somewhat ominous, as Lafontaine did play a catalyst role in the overthrow of Schmidt in the autumn of 1982. Lafontaine has repeatedly been mentioned in the past weeks as a potential leader in a new left-wing party, along with Gregor Gysi, the former party chairman of the PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism).

Bernd Boehning, the new chairman of the Jusos, the SPD youth organization, tooting on the same horn as Lafontaine, said in Berlin today that the new Monday rallies show that "Hartz IV has failed," and with Hartz IV, the government has failed, too.

European Observers To Monitor U.S. Elections

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will send a team to observe the November Presidential vote in the United States. Democrats sought monitors because they felt that some ballots weren't counted in 2002, particularly in Florida.

Some OSCE representatives have observed U.S. elections before, but this will be the first time they will report publicly afterward, the State Department has said.

The Notorious Mandelson Appointed EU Trade Commissioner

Peter Mandelson has been appointed to the post of EU Trade Commissioner in Brussels, but has first to be approved by the European Parliament, according to British press reports Aug. 13. Hearings on the appointments are to begin Sept. 27. He was appointed, along with a crew of other globalization advocates, by incoming European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Mandelson, who helped create "Prime Minister Tony Blair," has been forced out of the Blair cabinet twice, due to sleazy scandals, but Blair has always insisted on bringing him back into office. In the 1980s, Mandelson became director of Labour Party Campaigns and Communications, and supported the Blair bid for power in the party in 1994. Mandelson ran the New Labour election sweep in 1997, and entered Blair's cabinet, becoming Minister without Portfolio and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. But he had to resign just a year later in a personal financial scandal. In 1999, Blair brought him back in house as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, but by 2001, Mandelson had to resign again due to a new scandal, illegally easing passport regulations for some sleazy South Asian businessmen.

The trade post is one of the most powerful in Brussels. Mandelson's job as EU trade negotiator with the rest of the world, will be to force through even more extreme "reforms" along the lines of the Blair-promoted "Lisbon agenda" for total globalization of the European Union economies.

Mandelson greeted his appointment with typical "globaldigook": "I'm excited at being given this responsibility, both for trade policy and the international dimension of competitiveness. Europe will continue to benefit from globalisation as long as trade and investment are further liberalised and if Europe preserves its long-term competitiveness, its capacity for innovation and its social market economy. We need to sustain a win-win, multilateral process of negotiation."

Mandelson was excited by other things in the past. In December 1998, he got a 373,000 pound house loan from Labour Party "moneybags" and Paymaster-General Geoffrey Robinson, and was forced out by the scandal. This was after he had become known all over London, including in Parliament, as "Lord Mandy of Rio" after he was exposed in Punch magazine for his government-paid romp through homosexual haunts in Rio de Janeiro in July 1998.

Mandelson is a total post-industrialist and ardent Thatcherite (as is the rest of New Labour). He is also a media-control obsessive, whose operations, along with Alistair Campbell, took Blairite media control to Josef Goebbels levels, as one former Labour insider told EIR at the time.

Russia and the CIS News Digest

Russian Gov't, Parliament Rip Up Guarantees for Population

On Aug. 7, the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of the Federal Assembly, voted up the law on entitlements, which was passed earlier in the week by the State Duma. The conversion of in-kind benefits, such as subsidized access to transportation and to medicines, into fixed cash payments, affects over 30 million people directly. The Federation Council vote was nearly unanimous (only 1 against), despite widespread fears among its members, the governors of Russia's regions, about the new system, which requires regions to pay part of the cash outlays. Governor Oleg Chirkunov of Perm Province said in an interview with the latest issue of Novaya Gazeta, that the entitlements reform will cause some regions to go bankrupt and lead to social unrest.

The law was one of dozens, rushed through the Duma before it recessed until September. Another blow to the general population is a bill that passed in the first reading, which cancels the 100% Federal guarantee of deposits held in Sberbank, the state savings bank. Accounts existing before October 2004 will supposedly continue to be fully insured (though people were never compensated for the wipe-out of their Sberbank savings by the devaluations of 1992 and 1994), but thenceforth, the guarantee will be equal to what commercial bank deposits enjoy: a maximum of 100,000 rubles ($3,400) is insured. The government argument in favor of this change, is to end Sberbank's unfair competitive advantage over commercial banks. Sixty percent of personal savings accounts are in Sberbank. Evidently the idea of using Sberbank's deposit base to underpin the creation of credit for productive investment in infrastructure and other real economic development of national importance, which was laid out in the State Council's Ishayev Report several years ago, has fallen by the wayside.

Russia's Poor Are Getting Poorer

Even without the undermining of the well-being of a huge part of Russia's population by the draconian "monetization of privileges," just approved by the State Duma, social stratification in Russia has increased during the past two years. President Putin's rhetoric about the "struggle against poverty" is turning into a lie, as is obvious from figures, published in Izvestia. In 2002, the poorest 10% of Russia's population received 2.1% of the total personal income in the country. Now their share has shrunk to 1.9%. The deepening impoverishment of the poor is especially visible against the backdrop of the enrichment of the wealthy. Most of the 20% growth in total incomes goes to the top 20% income category of citizens, who receive over 50% of the aggregate incomes.

Economist Yevgeny Gavrilenkov from Troika Dialog Bank attributes this tendency for increased social stratification, largely to the "flat" tax rate—the across-the-board 13% personal income tax, the imposition of which was the first triumph of the Mont Pelerin Society ideologues within Putin's economics team. It resulted in an inefficient redistribution of monetary resources. Even though industrial production reportedly rose by 7% in the past year, the number of jobs in private industry shrank, said Gavrilenkov, adding, "We are just repeating the failed experiments of other countries, like Britain under the Labour government."

Reports Show Crisis of Children in Russia

Several new reports on the demographic and social welfare situation in Russia have come out recently, which show that the crisis of Russian children that emerged during the 1990s is getting worse. These reports come on top of the horrific estimate, presented earlier this year, that Russia and Ukraine are at the take-off point of the HIV epidemic, with infection rates of 1% of the adult population—where South Africa, which now has a 20% infection rate, was a decade ago.

On June 1, Interfax reported a press release issued by the Russian Children's Foundation, which estimated that there were 700,000 homeless children in Russia at the close of 2002. That is close to the absolute number of homeless children in the Soviet Union after World War II. Moreover, RCF chairman Albert Likhanov said that the total number of children in Russia has fallen from 44.3 million in 1992, by 14 million—over 30%. "The pace at which the number of children has been declining suggests that the situation will only get worse," Likhanov said. Thus, over 2% of Russian children are homeless.

Another report, issued by the Citizens Commission for Human Rights (an international NGO; the reliability of statistics is not known to EIR), claimed that 600,000 Russian children—another 2%—are living in mental institutions.

The RCF release said that a recent nationwide tabulation of medical checkups showed that only 32% of Russia's children are healthy. Among the children in orphanages and other institutions, the RCF cited a survey by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, which found that 40% of children in institutions become alcoholics or drug addicts after they leave, "40% of them join criminal groups, 10% commit suicide because they have no place to live, and a mere 10% are able to live a normal life."

Pravda.ru on July 19 carried a report from Novyye Izvestiya newspaper, that only 10% of women of childbearing age in Russia are truly healthy. One out of every six women of childbearing age is unable to conceive, many as a result of undergoing abortions, which also remains the number one cause of female mortality.

Wage Demonstrations Flare in Southern Russia

Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported Aug. 5 on rising tensions over wage arrears in the south of Russia, on a scale the paper called "unprecedented" in recent years. In the Rostov area, employees of over 200 companies—both public and private sector—have unpaid wages totalling 500 million rubles ($17.2 million). Russian news services monitored by RFE/RL Newsline reported that a picket line of laid-off workers from a bankrupt electric power construction firm in Volgodonsk was broken up Aug. 4 by police on the pretext of a problem with their rally permit. City officials also complained that the workers were using political slogans in an "economic" protest, including demands for Volgodonsk Mayor Alexander Kleimenov, a founder of the bankrupt company, to resign.

Russia Takes a Stand on NATO Observers

Russia will continue strict limitations on visits by NATO representatives to its nuclear projects and exercises, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters Aug. 9, commenting on the results of the Avaria (Accident)-2004 exercise on defense of nuclear facilities. He noted that such exercises are conducted in Russia every year. Observers from 17 NATO countries were present for the first time at such an exercise, carried out near Murmansk. "However, we have never permitted and will not permit them to visit nuclear projects and to see our nuclear ammunition. It is quite another thing to familiarize our partners in the alliance with the organization of the system of protection and overcoming of aftermaths of a possible accident with nuclear ammunition," Ivanov explained.

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.

Asia News Digest

Private Mercenaries May Flood Afghanistan Soon

With the Afghan Presidential elections scheduled to be held on Oct. 9, and the threat of anti-U.S. and anti-Kabul groups inciting violence to disrupt the elections, private mercenaries from the United States and United Kingdom are pouring into Afghanistan. Afghanistan is reportedly getting close to $100 million in additional money from the international donors to conduct the elections. With money and violence in abundance, it is now open season for the mercenaries.

Dressed in civilian clothes, but packing lethal firepower, the presence of the "private security" people is felt very much in Afghanistan, eyewitnesses report. According to International Alert, a magazine that keeps tabs on the mercenary "industry," the global market for private security—part of the "service sector," in economic jargon—is expected to grow to $210 billion by 2010, from the $55.6 billion recorded in 2000. A third of the U.S. budget for the war in Iraq is reportedly spent on private military companies, such as the British-based ArmorGroup and Global Risk Strategies; and the U.S.-based Dyncorp and Blackwater Security Consulting, for example.

Wolfowitz Laments Weak U.S.-Pak Military Relations

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on Aug. 10, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said: "I think one of our problems in Pakistan today is that for too long we deprived ourselves of one of the most important instruments of influence.... In a country where the military is one of the most important institutions, the United States severed the contact between our military and their military." Wolfowitz, along with two senior U.S. generals, was called in by the Committee to discuss policy and the implementations for the U.S. military in the war on terror.

Wolfowitz outlined a two-pronged strategy for dealing with this problem: an enormous increase in U.S. economic assistance for Pakistan and working with the Pakistani military in a comprehensive way.

Pentagon Steps Up Central Asian Agenda

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is in Azerbaijan and has met with President Ilahm Aliyev. "I agree completely that our security relationship continues to grow and to strengthen," said Rumsfeld at the start of that meeting. Said Aliyev: "We are very happy, we have high-level cooperation in the military sphere." Beyond the expression of happiness, Aliyev's Defense Minister Safar Abiyev, in no uncertain terms, asked Rumsfeld to help Azerbaijan wrest control of Karabakh from the Armenians. Abiyev made clear that Azerbaijan is unhappy about the "failure" of the Minsk Group of 11 states, led by Russia and France, to help Baku on Karabakh.

Rumsfeld's visit followed closely the visit by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to Baku (Aug. 5-7). Khatami's visit to Azerbaijan is part of the now-adopted Iranian strategy to improve relations with its neighbors. Rumsfeld's trip was to counter Khatami's trip and keep the Azeris hostile toward Iran.

There are indications that the Pentagon is moving definitively to ensure a stronger presence in Central Asia, where Russia and China meet. U.S. Chief of Staff Richard Myers was in Uzbekistan where he met with President Islam Karimov on Aug. 12 and assured him an additional $21 million in military aid. The United States maintains a military base in Uzbekistan.

Ex-Defence Chiefs, Diplomats Denounce Howard Deception

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been stung by a publicized statement, endorsed by 43 retired senior defense officials and diplomats, which calls for "Honest, Considered and Balanced Foreign and Security Policies," the Canberra Times reported Aug. 9.

The statement read (in part): "We believe that a re-elected Howard Government or an elected Latham government must give priority to truth in government. Australians must be able to believe they are being told the truth by our leaders, especially in situations as grave as committing our forces to war. We are concerned that Australia was committed to join the invasion of Iraq on the basis of false assumptions and the deception of the Australian people. Above all, it is wrong and dangerous for our elected representatives to mislead the Australian people. If we cannot trust the word of our Government, Australia cannot expect it to be trusted by others."

Prominent among the endorsers were two former chiefs of the Australian Defence Force, Adm. Alan Beaumont and Gen. Peter Gration. Gration endorsed a statement advertised in a major daily by the Australian associates of Lyndon LaRouche, the Citizens Electoral Council, last June. General Gration was viciously harassed for this action. This time, he has been joined by 43 others of similar standing, and their intervention has severely embarrassed the Howard government, in the lead-up to the elections.

Wiser Heads Likely To Prevail on Attendance at ASEM Meeting

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said on Aug. 4 that he is confident that the October Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam. The meeting will induct the 10 new EU members along with three ASEAN members—Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. The ruckus surrounding whether or not Myanmar would attend appears to have been settled.

Hassan, who was speaking as the spokesman for the current ASEAN Chairman, Indonesia, told AFP: "Asia and the 15 members of the European Union realize the importance of this process. Therefore, I am confident that all parties feel it is imperative that ASEM not to be sidetracked and its role not to be diminished only because of the issue of Myanmar."

A senior Myanmar official said: "I am confident wiser counsel will prevail."

Philippines President Grasps at Straws To Deal with Power Shortage

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo suggested on Aug. 6 that the Bataan nuclear power plant (BNPP), which has remained mothballed since 1986, due to stiff political opposition, should be converted into a gas-fired utility. Her suggestion was met with skepticism and questions about whether such conversion plan exists.

The BNPP plant was built during the regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos. His successor, Corazon Aquino, shut down the plant in 1986, before it was even commissioned. Meanwhile, the government is still paying $155,000 a day in interest charges on a loan for the plant that will not be fully paid up till 2018.

Opposition politician Crispin Beltran has suggested that instead of reviving BNPP, the government should buy back the oil refinery Petron, which was privatized in the 1990s under Fidel Ramos. The Philippines government still holds a 40% share of Petron.

Saifullah Arrest Is Significant

Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed confirmed on Aug. 8 that Qari Safullah Akhtar, a link between foreign jihadis (a.k.a. al-Qaeda) and the Pakistan domestic varieties, has been arrested in Dubai, and will be extradited to Pakistan shortly.

Qari Saifullah's arrest is a very significant arrest, not simply because Frances Townsend, President Bush's Homeland Security adviser, said so while talking to the Fox New Sunday program, but because Qari Saifullah used to head the Harkatul Jihad al-Islami (HUJI), which has been lined to al-Qaeda. In fact, intelligence reports indicate that Saifullah played a key role in bringing the Taliban supremo Mullah Mohammad Omar and al-Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, together.

Saifullah used to run six al-Qaeda training camps along the Pakistan-Afghanistan borders, including the high-powered one in Khost, where, reports indicate, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Chechens were trained for "action" in Chechnya.

Interestingly, Qari Saifullah is also known as "Mr. Arakan," i.e., the man-in-charge of the Arakanese Muslim militants who are engaged in a violent uprising against the Myanmar government, which seeks an autonomous region in the Arakan hills of Myanmar. A significant number of Arakan Muslims are safe-housed in Karachi.

India, Myanmar Sign Telephone Service Deal

India announced the week of Aug. 1 a $7 million loan to Myanmar for establishing a direct telephone-link between the two countries, a diplomatic source in Yangon stated. The project, which is expected to begin in the next few months, will include installing new telecommunications equipment in Yangon and Mandalay, as well as establishing a fiber-optic-cable connection between Tamu and Moreh on the India-Myanmar border.

Currently, the telephone connection between the two countries is routed through Britain, which makes the tariff on phone calls between the two countries very expensive and a security hazard.

Ricciardoni Returns to Philippines To Renew U.S. Threats

Filipino Foreign Secretary Delia Albert held talks with the U.S. Ambassador Frank Ricciardoni, who had flown home for consultations with his superiors after Washington accused Manila of caving into terrorists. Speaking to the press after the meeting, they exchanged statements of continued friendship, being friends for 100 years, but Ricciardoni added: "I wouldn't suggest to you nothing happened. We did have a very serious disagreement. It is one that has an impact on our interests and also on the Philippines, as well as our allies and the Iraqis, and there is no gainsaying that."

Ricciardoni backed up U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher's earlier statement that the Philippines was out of the "coalition of the willing."

Hysterical Outburst at LaRouche, CEC in Australian Court

A senior member of Australia's Howard government cracked under political pressure on Aug. 10, with a hysterical outburst against Lyndon LaRouche and the LaRouche-affiliated Citizens Electoral Council (CEC), in the Australian Senate. Queensland National Party Senator Ron Boswell, who has attacked LaRouche and the CEC in Parliament before, made the same old references to the CEC as a "cult," and LaRouche as a failed Presidential candidate who preys on the "vulnerable, gullible, and elderly" for money, using "voodoo economics."

Although not much was new, Boswell did give away the two sources of his fear: CEC's high-profile election campaigns, particularly in his home state; and the youth movement. Defending Australia's Jabotinskyite Leibler brothers, Boswell attacked a recent youth deployment to a Jewish community function, and charged that young people are used to raise most of the CEC's money. He also railed at the CEC's election advertising in a north Queensland district, and its funding.

Following his outburst, a rival Senator called in to the CEC office, to says: "You are really hurting them."

Africa News Digest

Arab League Foreign Ministers Reject Sudan Sanctions

The Arab League Foreign Ministers, attending an emergency meeting in Cairo, announced Aug. 8 that they will oppose sanctions against Sudan, Reuters reported. The Arab League statement said sanctions "would only result in negative effects for the whole Sudanese people and complicate the crisis in Darfur." The statement also rejected hints of any "forced foreign military intervention in the area," and called on the two insurrectionary movements in Darfur to drop their preconditions for talks with the government.

Amr Moussa, the League's Secretary General, told the meeting that the agreement between Kofi Annan and the government of Sudan to solve the crisis "enables Sudan and the Arab League to challenge any calls for the imposition of sanctions on Khartoum." He also called for the "completion of the disarmament of the outlaw militias and the bringing to trial of those accused of human right violations."

Moussa announced that the League had reached agreement with the UN and Khartoum to be part of a team monitoring Khartoum's progress.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Sudan may need up to 120 days to solve the crisis.

EIR notes that Anglo-American commentators had been saying for months before the UN Security Council resolution, that it was doubtful whether the government in Khartoum had the ability to impose its will on the Janjaweed and other militias in Darfur—at all.

Nothing has emerged from the meeting so far concerning the proposal for an Arab League peacekeeping battalion to come in, within the framework of the African Union (AU) forces. The plan was apparently rejected by Khartoum along with the AU plan for peacekeeping forces, in addition to the planned AU monitoring force that Khartoum has accepted. Khartoum also rejected a requested increase in the size of the AU protection force for its monitors.

Arab Press: Will Sudan Be Next Iraq?

There is wide recognition in the Arab world that Sudan is meant to be another Iraq, the Aug. 8 BBC weekly roundup of Arab Press suggested. In BBC's roundup of Aug. 1, only Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London) and Al-Ahram Al-Arabi expressed this view. (Al-Ahram Al-Arabi a weekly magazine, published simultaneously in Egypt and Kuwait.) This week's roundup includes the following:

Al-Ra'y (Jordan, independent): "Even if the [UN Security Council] resolution is complied with, occupation is coming. British troops are at the western gates waiting for the order."

Al-Ba'ath (Syrian ruling party paper): "[T]here appears to be a desire [by the Anglo-American powers] to keep this brotherly country under the scourge of civil war ... and make it another stage for military intervention after Iraq, to make it easy for hostile powers to take control."

Al-Bayan (UAE, pro-government): "It is also an entry point for American imperialism and the Zionist project."

Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London): "We shall stand by Sudan to confront this conspiracy.... But we ask Sudan to help us and itself by confessing its mistakes and working seriously to confront their effects."

The BBC did not include Al-Sharq (Qatar), which was quoted at length by Al-Anbaa in Khartoum Aug. 7: Al-Sharq says that the Anglo-American powers knew that 30 days was not enough time to resolve the conflict that they themselves had fueled, when they imposed that deadline. "This means whatever the government of Sudan has tried to do to normalize the situation there, the external parties will go on refueling the problem to continue its burning till the deadline terminates and thus the routes would be well paved for an external military intervention."

Al-Anbaa also reported Aug. 6 an exclusive statement sent by Nabih Berri, Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament. Berri attacked the Bush Administration. "He said, there are many questions ... and they do not concern the Sudan and its sovereignty only, but ... the future of all the Arab countries," according to the Khartoum daily.

Sudan Opposition Calls for Gov't of National Unity

Sudan's opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), led by the British-influenced Muhammad Uthman Al-Mirghani, has called all Sudanese political forces within and outside the country to a conference to initiate a government of national unity, according to the Jiddah accord of December 2003. The accord calls for power-sharing between the government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the umbrella group of all and sundry opposition forces. This news was reported by the Sudanese paper Al-Ra'y al-Amm Aug. 5.

For its part, the government has arrested members and leaders of the Darfur Call, a recently established group drawing on the opposition forces, allegedly "to mobilize the public by peaceful means to provide speedy humanitarian relief to the people of Darfur," according to the Sudan Human Rights Organization (SHRO) in Cairo, Aug. 7. The leaders arrested include representatives of the DUP, Communist Party, Congress Party, Nasserist Unionist Party, and 'Abd al-Mageed Cultural Center.

"Lately, fliers have appeared in Khartoum mosques urging jihad," Sam Dealey wrote from Al-Fashir in the International Herald Tribune Aug. 9.

Deutsche Presse Agentur, in a profile of Hassan Al-Turabi, "Khartoum's jailed eminence grise," Aug. 5, speculated that, "A possible rebellion in the army, which draws many of its soldiers from Darfur where Turabi has strong support, could offer him the opportunity to regain power." The article claims—as others have—that the Darfur rebellion is a result of the power struggle between Turabi and President Bashir. It does not explain how that process intersects the intervention of the SPLA/M and NGOs to build that rebellion.

Sudan Accuses Israel of Involvement in Darfur Crisis

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail accused Israel of being involved in the Darfur crisis, the Jerusalem Post reported Aug. 8. Ismail said Sudan has "information that confirms media reports of Israeli support" for the rebels. He added that he was "sure the next few days will reveal a lot of Israeli contacts with the rebels." Osman Ismail said that Israel "had recently become active in entering the Darfur issue from different sides, whether through its active presence in Eritrea, or through its active diplomatic missions."

Anglo-Americans Effect Policy-Shift in Central, East Africa

The Anglo-American powers have adjusted their friendships in Central and East Africa (but not their policy). It is now clear, that the Anglo-American powers have decided that the transitional government in DR Congo, led by President Joseph Kabila, is a suitable vehicle for their intentions. Their corollary is, that Rwanda must get out of Congo to facilitate its peaceful exploitation. The most explicit, and most public, confirmations of this shift are these:

* Gareth Evans, former Australian Foreign Minister and now president of the International Crisis Group (ICG)—an instrument of the Anglo-American powers—called, in the International Herald Tribune July 26, for "international diplomatic pressure on Rwanda to cease all military involvement in Congo, whether through its own armed forces or through arming or otherwise encouraging Congolese surrogate forces." He criticized the UN's lack of combativeness in the recent months' Rwanda-fuelled conflicts, and called for the UN to "radically improve its capacity for monitoring movements of weapons across Congo's borders."

* The committee of ambassadors in Kinshasa, known as the International Committee to Accompany the Transition (CIAT)—dominated by the U.S., Britain, France, and Belgium—issued a communique July 16 stating in part, "CIAT, which fully supports the government of transition, asks that it declare in a clear and transparent fashion ... the disciplinary and other measures to be taken to put an end to the activity of Nkunda and to determine the fate of Mutebusi and his men." General Laurent Nkunda and Col. Jules Mutebusi, both close to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, are puppet Congolese insurrectionaries. A report of the communique was published by Agence France Presse the same day.

The Anglo-American shift may go back several months, and is likely reflected in the report of French antiterror judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, leaked to the press March 10, which identified Kagame as having deliberately set off the Rwandan genocide in 1994 by assassinating the then Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi. It certainly goes back to a CIAT-gram of June 5, in which CIAT identified Rwanda as behind the June 2 Nkunda-Mutebusi insurrection; and to ICG's report on Congo published July 7, from which Gareth Evans took his text.

Apartheid Party To Merge With African National Congress

In South Africa, the New National Party (NNP)—the renamed National Party that ruled from 1948 to 1994, and imposed apartheid—has announced it will merge into the African National Congress (ANC) that is now in power. A spokeswoman for the NNP told SAPA that NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk will apply for ANC membership in the next few weeks and the NNP leadership will then tour the country with the ANC to persuade NNP members to join.

In 1994, the Afrikaner-based National Party formed a coalition government with the ANC, moved into opposition in 1996, allied itself with the British free-trade party in 2000, and shifted back to an alliance with the ANC in 2001. After the 2004 elections, in which it won only seven seats in parliament, more than 100 leading Afrikaners signed a letter to President Thabo Mbeki, pledging their support for his government.

This Week in History

Lafayette Returns as 'Guest of the Nation'

August 16-22, 1824

The United States was just shy of 50 years old, when the leading members of the American patriotic faction extended an invitation to the last surviving general from the Revolutionary War, General Marquis de Lafayette, to tour the country whose independence he had played a critical role in winning. In late 1823, General Lafayette, then living on his estate in France, received an invitation from President James Monroe to be a "Guest of the Nation," through 1824 and 1825. The General began his tour on Aug. 16, 1824, and spent more than a full year travelling through all 24 states of the Union, before he left on Sept. 9, 1825.

General Lafayette's tour sparked the most extraordinary outpouring of celebration, and patriotism, wherever he went. It was the occasion for the revival of a revolutionary spirit, which included the re-emergence of the Society of the Cincinnati, and other historical and philosophical groupings. Most importantly, the political climate which the visit inspired, provided a crucial margin in the election to the Presidency of John Quincy Adams, who went on to carry out the mission of public improvement in domestic and foreign policy which the Founding Fathers had advocated, but which had been coming under increasing attack by subversive interests.

General Lafayette, then 67 years old, who was travelling with his son George Washington Lafayette, and his secretary, began his visit in New York City. Five days of celebration ensued, including banquets, receiving lines, plays, and concerts. There, as in every other city he visited, that dwindling generation of Revolutionary War veterans came out to meet the man who was the embodiment of the sacrifice made by French patriots, and other international republican forces, and to rekindle their resolve to defend the ideas for which he, and they, had fought. They were joined by others, down to the very young. Everybody knew and spoke about the hardships Lafayette had suffered, he having been thrown into an Austrian prison during the period of the 1790s, and rescued by his wife, and then gone on to fight a losing battle in France itself against the Napoleonic beast. The nation poured out its gratitude, including with a gift of money and land, which he could use to finance republican operations at home.

This grand tour played both a public and private role in mobilizing the nation's patriots. Among the public highlights were Lafayette's two addresses to joint sessions of Congress, one on Dec. 9-10, 1824, and the other, just before his departure, on Sept. 6, 1825.

Speaker of the House Henry Clay greeted Lafayette at the December joint session, with the following words:

"The vain wish has been sometimes indulged, that Providence would allow the patriot, after death, to return to his country, and to contemplate the intermediate changes which had taken place—to view the forests felled, the cities built, the mountains levelled, the canals cut, the highways constructed, the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning and the increase in population—General, your present visit to the United States is a realization of the consoling object of that wish. You are in the midst of posterity. Everywhere, you must have been struck by the great changes, physical and moral, which have occurred since you left us."

President John Quincy Adams took a different tack, when he said farewell to the General, before the September 1825 appearance:

"Go, then, our beloved friend—return to the land of brilliant genius, of generous sentiment, of heroic valour; to that beautiful France, the nursing mother of the Twelfth Louis, and the Fourth Henry; to the native soil of Bayard and Coligni, of Turenne and Catinat, of Fenelon and D'Aguesseau. In that illustrious catalogue of names which she claims as of her children, and with honest pride holds up to the admiration of other nations, the name of Lafayette has already for centuries been enrolled. And it shall henceforth burnish into brighter flame; for if, in afterdays, a Frenchman shall be called to indicate the character of his nation by that one individual, during the age in which we live, the blood of lofty patriotism shall mantle in his check, the fire of conscious virtue shall sparkle in his eye, and he shall pronounce the name of Lafayette. Yet we, too, and our children, in life and after death, shall claim you for our own...."

Lafayette, the person who had dubbed the victorious United States the "Temple of Liberty, ... a lesson to oppressors, an example to the oppressed, a sanctuary for the rights of mankind," back in the 1780s, expressed again his great optimism for his adopted country, and its influence in the world, during his last speech before the U.S. Congress:

"I have had proudly to recognize a result of the republican principles for which we have fought, and a glorious demonstration to the most timid and prejudiced minds, of the superiority, over degrading aristocracy, or despotism, of popular institutions founded on the plain rights of man, and where the local rights of every section are preserved under a constitutional bond of union. The cherishing of that union between the states, as it has been the farewell entreaty of our great paternal Washington, and will ever have the dying prayer of every American patriot, so it has become the sacred pledge of the emancipation of the world, an object in which I am happy to observe that the American people, while they give the animating example of successful free institutions, in return for an evil entailed upon them by Europe, and of which a liberal and enlightened sense is everywhere more and more generally felt, show themselves every day more anxiously interested...."

While Lafayette did not succeed in creating a true republican revolution in Europe, he knew he had made a lasting contribution to history by creating the United States. It was up to later generations to ensure that the United States lived up to its mission, as this great man and his collaborators conceived it.

All rights reserved © 2004 EIRNS

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