ISSUE:
#. 30. April 21, 2002
SPECIAL REPORT: VENEZUELA & THE GLOBAL
ENERGY WARS
By Bill Weinberg
with David Bloom, Special Correspondent
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. What Happened in
Jenin?
2. Israel Bars UN Human Rights Chief
3. UN Human
Rights Commissoin Blasts Israel
4. Human Rights
Groups: Mass Detainments Illegal
5. Israel Re-Opens
Desert Detainment Camp
6. Human Rights Watch: IDF Coerces
Civilians
7. "Defensive Shield" Not Over Yet
8. Ramallah Radio
Ransacked
9. Bethlehem Stand-Off Enters Third
Week
10. Widespread Destruction in
Bethlehem
11. Clueless Tourists Provide Comic
Relief
12. Violence in Gaza
13. Bush: Sharon
"Man of Peace"
14. Sharon: I Won't Evacuate
Settlements
15. Zeevi Killers in Ramallah?
16. Tanzim Chief
Barghouti Arrested
17. IDF Claims: Arms From Iran, Iraq Uncovered in
Ramallah
18. US Wants Israel to "Get Rid" of
Arafat?
19. Arafat Condemns Terrorism; Bush
Oblivious
20. Endorsements and Praise for Suicide
Bombers
21. Protests Follow Powell
22. Powell Sends
Surrogate to Jenin
23. Foreign Military Intervention Seen
24. S&P's
Downgrades Israel's Economic Outlook
25. Pro-Israel
Rally in Washington
26. Pro-Palestine Rally in Washington
ELSEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE
EAST
1. Al-Qaeda Linked to Tunisian Synagogue Blast
2. More US Troops to
Yemen
3. Kristof Does Yemen; Approves of Police State,
Disses Food
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. Muslim-Jewish
Peace Vigils Persist in Jerusalem
2. Arab-Jewish Comedy
Team Stands Up for Peace
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. Return of the
King
2. Warlords Jockey for Loya Jirga
3. Survivors of
"Operation Anaconda" Demand Compensation
4. US Bombs
Canadians
5. US/UK in New Offensive Against
Taliban/al-Qaeda
6. More US Troops Killed
7. Green Beret Shot in
Kandahar
8. Acid Attack on Woman Teacher in
Kandahar
9. More Strife in Khost
10. More Strife in
Wardak
11. US Drug Czar Sees Long Opium War in
Afghanistan
12. UN Running Out of Money for Refugee
Repatriation
13. Archaeologists Launch Cultural Salvage
Mission
14. Amnesty International Blasts US on
Detainees
15. US Opposes New Provision on Convention Against
Torture
THE PHILIPPINE FRONT
1. More US Troops
to Mindanao
2. Terror Blast in Mindanao
3. FBI: Abu Sayyaf
Funds al-Qaeda
THE ANDEAN FRONT
1. Venezuela: Anatomy
of the Coup D'Etat
2. Instant Counter-Coup
3. US, IMF Hail Coup
Attempt
4. Was White House Pulling Strings?
5. NYT: White House
Officials Met with Coup Plotters
6. Petro-Oligarchs Pissed at
Chavez
7. More Bombs in Colombia
WATCHING THE SHADOWS
1. Powell Pawn of
Petro-Oligarchs
NEW YORK CITY
1. Idiot Politicians
Exploit 9-11
2. Demographics on 9-11 Victims
Released
3. Indicted Attorney Lynne Stewart Speaks Out on Case
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. WHAT HAPPENED IN
JENIN?
As Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) troops began to
withdraw from Jenin, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to send a
fact-finding mission to look into what happened at the devastated
Palestinian refugee camp. But following heavy diplomatic pressure from
the US and Israel, the resolution does not describe the mission as an
investigation. As camp residents are starting to retrieve bodies from
the ruins, Israeli authorities insist there was "no massacre." (BBC,
April 20) Palestinians claim up to 500 residents were killed in Jenin,
while Israel puts the death toll at about 50 Palestinians and 23 Israeli
soldiers. (CNN, April 19)
Writes reporter Phil Reeves on the scene in Jenin: "A
residential area roughly 160,000 square yards about a third of a mile
wide has been reduced to dust. Rubble has been shoveled by bulldozers
into 30ft piles. The sweet and ghastly reek of rotting human bodies is
everywhere, evidence that it is a human tomb. The people, who spent days
hiding in basements crowded into single rooms as the rockets pounded in,
say there are hundreds of corpses, entombed beneath the dust, under a
field of debris, criss-crossed with tank and bulldozer treadmarks...
Around the central ruins, there are many hundreds of half-wrecked homes.
Much of the camp--once home to 15,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948
war--is falling down. Every wall is speckled and torn with bullet holes
and shrapnel, testimony of the awesome, random firepower of Cobra and
Apache helicopters that hovered over the camp... Every other building
bears the giant, charred, impact mark of a helicopter missile. Last
night there were still many families and weeping children still living
amid the ruins, cut off from the humanitarian aid." While Jenin remains
a "closed military zone," ringed by Merkava tanks, Red Cross ambulences
are finally being allowed in. They had been barred for a week, "in
violation of the Geneva Convention."(UK lndependent, April 16)
After touring Jenin, UN special Middle East envoy Terje Larsen
said the scene was "horrifying beyond belief," that the most heavily
destroyed area "looks like there's been an earthquake here," and is
permeated with the "stench of death." Reported Larsen: "I saw people
using their bare hands to dig out the body of a 12-year-old boy. More
than 2,000 people have been left without a roof over their heads and
there is an acute lack of water and food in the camp and town."
(Haaretz, April 18)
But Brig.-Gen. Eyal Shlein, commander of the troops in the Jenin
area, claimed the area where the buildings were destroyed occupies only
a 10th of the camp, a radius of 70 by 100 meters. He also claimed all
the destroyed buildings were booby-trapped or used as fortified
positions to attack Israeli soldiers. Local Palestinian authorities
claim that 80 bodies have been recovered. Israel says 25 have been
recovered, and only three of them civilians. Most of the bodies were
booby-trapped, said IDF sources. (Jerusalem Post, April 19)
There is controversy over possible IDF removal of bodies to an
"enemy's cemetery" at a remote location in the Jordan Valley (see WW3 REPORT #29). In an April 18
press
release, the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human
Rights & the Environment cites numerous eye-witness accounts of IDF
trucks removing bodies from Jenin. A petition to Israel's high court by
Knesset member Mohammed Barakeh demanding a halt to removal of bodies
from Jenin was denied April 14.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres invited UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan to send a fact-finding mission to look into Jenin.
"Should the secretary-general send someone to look into the facts of
what happened in Jenin and elsewhere, it would be welcome," said a Peres
spokesperon. (CNN, April 19)
[top]
2. ISRAEL BARS U.N.
HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF
UN human rights chief Mary Robinson
human rights chief repeatedly urged Israel to allow her travel to the
country for a delayed fact-finding mission on the conflict, citing
"growing concerns over recent events in Jenin." Israeli authorities
refused to approve the planned five-day visit by Robinson, who was to
travel with former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and South
African independence leader Cyril Ramaphosa. Finally, Robinson's office
announced that the mission had been cancelled because it "will not be
facilitated by the Israeli authorities." (AFP, April 19)
[top]
3. U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS
COMMISSION BLASTS ISRAEL
The UN Commission on Human
Rights in Geneva condemned Israel for "acts of mass killings" and "gross
violations" of humanitarian law April 15. The resolution was approved by
40 votes in favor and five against. The UK and Germany voted against but
six other European Union states, including France, Belgium, Spain,
Portgal, Sweden and Austria, voted for. Germany's UN ambassador, Walter
Lewalter, said Berlin voted against because the resolution contained no
condemnation of terrorism. (AFP, ADP, April 15) The resolution also
invoked a 1982 UN resolution affirming the legitimacy of "all available
means, including armed struggle" by nations resisting occupation.
(Jerusalem Post, April 19)
[top]
4. HUMAN RIGHTS
GROUPS: MASS DETAINMENTS ILLEGAL
Israel's High Court of
Justice gave Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government 15 days to respond
to a petition by human rights organizations protesting the mass
detention of Palestinian civilians. The court instructed the Israeli
government to prove that its policy of indiscriminate arrests does not
violate international law. According to figures presented by the
government at the hearing, the IDF detained 5,600 Palestinians during
Operation Defensive Shiled, and has released 3,900. Under a provisional
military order signed by Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak Eitan on April 5, detainees
may be held for 18 days before being brought to a judge and are
prohibited from consulting a lawyer. Attorney Leila Margalit of the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel wrote that the order "is illegal
because it contradicts the basic principles of constitutional law, which
is binding on IDF operations in the territories." (Jerusalem Post, April
19)
[top]
5. ISREAL RE-OPENS
DESERT DETAINMENT CAMP
Israel has re-opened the harsh
detainment camp at Ketziot in the Negev Desert to hold captives from the
West Bank. Ketziot held thousands of Palestinians in the first Intifada
(uprising) from 1987-93, and was closed six years ago. Prisoners were
overcrowded and exposed to searing heat in the summer and bone-chilling
cold in the winter. The IDF says 387 of the thousands detained in Desert
Shield are known "terrorist suspects." (Daily News, April 17)
[top]
6. HUMAN RIGHTS
WATCH: IDF COERCES CIVILIANS
Human Rights Watch released
an emergency report, "In a Dark Hour: The Use of Civilians During IDF
Arrest Operations," documenting how the Israeli Defense Forces have
taken civilians at gunpoint to open suspicious packages, knock on
suspects' doors, and search the houses of "wanted" Palestinians in
military operations. The report is based on in-depth investigations into
four separate IDF arrest raids in late 2001 and early 2002, and claims
the practice continues today in "Operation Defensive Shield."
Journalists, doctors, and other civilians have reported being coerced at
gunpoint to assist soldiers during the most recent IDF incursions into
the West Bank. The report is on-line.
[top]
7. "DEFENSIVE
SHIELD" NOT OVER YET
While the IDF has pulled out of
Jenin, the camp remains surrounded. Defense Minister Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer said troops would also be withdrawing from occupied West
Bank towns. But anticipating future fighting, Ben-Eliezer said he
prefers to call the withdrawal a "redeployment": "The Palestinians have
not responded to the demands of US Secretary of State Colin Powell to
halt the terrorism and, in practice, they are not prepared to enter into
the Tenet and Mitchell plans... Therefore I said 'redeployment' and not
'withdrawal.'" (Jerusalem Post, April 19) On the 21st, Sharon declared
an end to "this stage" of Defensive Shield, ordering troops out of
Nablus and Ramallah, except for the ring around Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat's compound. "We have finished this stage of the operation
called Defensive Shield," Sharon told reporters. "We have achieved very
profound results but the struggle against terrorism continues. However
this time, it will work according to a different method." This is
apparently a reference to establishing military "buffer zones" around
Palestinian-controlled areas. Sharon also promised that Israel would not
relinquish control of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, where ultra-Orthodox
protestors barricaded themselves the night of the 20th, ahead of the
IDF's withdrawal from the area. Sharon said he would demand Israeli
control of the holy site once talks with the Palestinians resumed.
(Haaretz, April 21)
[top]
8. RAMALLAH RADIO
RANSACKED
Daoud Kuttab, director of the Institute of
Modern Media at Jerusalem's al-Quds University, described in a New York
Times op-ed piece April 6 how the Institute's al-Quds Educational
Television station in Ramallah was ransacked by IDF troops. The studio
and offices were broken into, equipment destroyed and two staffers
arrested.
[top]
9. BETHLEHEM
STAND-OFF ENTERS THIRD WEEK
As the Church of the Nativity
standoff between Israeli forces and armed Palestinians entered its third
week, Bethlehem's mayor Hana Nasser said he would ask Pope John Paul II
to come to the holy city and seek a solution. "If we cannot reach a
reasonable agreement that could guarantee and and protect those inside
the church, I have no other choice but to invite the holy father...in
order to save the mother of churches, the Church of the Nativity,"
Nasser said. About 200 armed Palestinians dashed into the church on
April 2, and it was quickly surrounded by Israeli troops. Leaders of
Catholic, Orthodox and evangelical churches in Jerusalem proposed a
solution to visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell, urging a
three-day Israeli withdrawal from the city to allow the men inside to
lay down their weapons and go home. Israel insists the armed men must
either face trial in Israel or accept exile. Israel has pledged not to
storm the 1,400-year-old church, but there has been periodic gunfire
exchanges over the course of the siege, and the Greek Orthodox section
of the compound caught fire. (AP, April 18) Palestinians in the church
cancelled face-to-face negotiations with Israeli and US officials after
the Israelis refused to allow European Union reps to observe the
meeting. (Haaretz, April 18)
On April 21, five Palestinians in the church surrendered to IDF
troops, but Israeli authorities said they were not among the men wanted
for arrest. Raising memories of Waco, the IDF also claimed several
Palestinian youth are being held by gunmen in the basement of the
church. The claim is based on the testinomy of 20-year-old Palestinian
Tair Manassra, who was shot in the leg--likely by an IDF sniper--when he
ventured outside the church to pick herbs, and said several Palestinian
youths in the basement were running out of food. In a special address in
Rome, the Pope asked for prayers so that both sides could find "the
courage of peace." "May Israelis and Palestinians learn to live together
and may the Holy Land finally return to being a sacred land and a land
of peace," the pontiff said. (Haaretz, April 21)
[top]
10. WIDESPREAD
DESTRUCTION IN BETHLEHEM
The siege of Bethlehem comes
just after a $250 million renovation project of the ancient city was
completed, funded by foreign aid agencies and aimed at drawing
tourists--especially for the 2000 Millennium celebrations, which brought
Pope John Paul II and numerous heads of state to the town of 30,000. Now
much of the town is in much worse shape than before the project.
Reported the Washington Post April 14: "Israeli tanks have turned
historic Madbassah Square into rubble, three years after it was
renovated at a cost of $2 million. Fires and explosives have ruined a
300-year-old pilgrims' hostel with soaring arches that took two years to
refurbish. A once-sparkling new artists' colony, recently completed for
$600,000, has been ransacked and defaced... [A]rmored personnel carriers
rumble through the narrow and deserted streets of the Old City daily,
ripping up sidewalks, sideswiping stone pillars and banging into
storefronts with centuries-old facades."
The extent of the destruction is difficult to measure because
residents are confined to their homes under night-and-day curfew,
allowed out only for three hours every few days to buy food and
medicine. Journalists are also tightly restricted, and forbidden from
going anywhere near the Church of the Nativity and other sections of the
Old City. But the Post writes that "a survey of winding streets west of
the Nativity church revealed few buildings left unscarred. Broken glass
and piles of rubble were underfoot everywhere, the wreckage of blackened
automobiles littered the alleyways, and the acrid smell of burning
plastic mixed in the air with the stench of rotting garbage that hadn't
been picked up for almost two weeks. At Bethlehem University, on a hill
overlooking the Old City, the heavy masonry walls of classrooms and
office buildings have been pockmarked by artillery fire. Even the
library didn't escape the shelling."
"To me, it's wanton destruction," Brother Joe Loewenstein, a
Franciscan friar and a former president of the university, told the
Post. "I don't think there is any window that hasn't been broken. Every
single car in sight has been damaged beyond repair. It's heartbreaking.
I go home and cry for these people."
[top]
11. CLUELESS
TOURISTS PROVIDE COMIC RELIEF
Wrote Haaretz from
Bethlehem's besieged Church of the Nativity April 18: "Two Japanese
tourists, eager to visit the church, were so engrossed in their guide
book Wednesday they did not notice they had wandered into the scene of a
siege. It was only when news photographers in flak jackets and helmets
spotted the oblivious couple and pointed out the bullet-pocked buildings
and military hardware around them that they decided to call off their
trip to the Christian shrine. 'We have been on the road for the last six
months and we did not watch television or read the newspapers,' a
bemused Yuji Makano told one photographer, after being informed of
recent developments."
[top]
12. VIOLENCE IN
GAZA
On April 19, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians
in confrontations in Gaza, and a Palestinian bomber blew himself up in
an attack on an Israeli military checkpoint. A day later, an Israeli
border officer was shot to death by a Palestinian gunman in the Gaza
Strip before being gunned down himself by return fire from an Israeli
tank. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah
movement, claimed responsibility. Hundreds of chanting Palestinians
marched in a Gaza City funeral procession for two of those killed,
reportedly Islamic Jihad militants. (AP, April 20)
[top]
13. BUSH: SHARON
"MAN OF PEACE"
President George Bush weighed in on
Operation Defensive Shield April 19, stating: "I do believe Ariel Sharon
is a man of peace. I think he wants, I'm confident he wants Israel to be
able to exist at peace with its neighbors. I mean, he's told that to us
here in the Oval Office. He has embraced the notion of two states living
side by side." Bush said he was satisfied that Sharon was acting in good
faith. "He gave me a timetable, and he met the timetable" for beginning
withdrawal from re-occupied towns. He also said "Mr. Arafat did condemn
terrorism, and now we will hold him to account." (CNN, April 19;
Haaretz, April 20) A few hours later, Arafat, in a telephone interview
with Tunisian TV, called Sharon "bloodthirsty" and said "his history is
known. His hands are stained in blood." (CNN, April 19)
[top]
14. SHARON: I WON'T
EVACUATE SETTLEMENTS
Ariel Sharon told his weekly cabinet
meeting April 21 that no government headed by him would evacuate Jewish
settlements on the West Bank. Banging on the table, Sharon said he would
not even discuss evacuating the settlements until the elections, set for
October 2003, or even beyond should he be elected for a second term. The
statement came in response to a TV report that top IDF officers are in
favor of evacuating isolated settlements. (Haaretz, April 21)
[top]
15. ZEEVI KILLERS
IN RAMALLAH?
In his statement, President Bush said he
understood why Israel was keeping troops in Bethlehem and in Ramallah,
where the suspects in last year's assassination of ex- tourism minister
Rehavam Zeevi are believed to be in the compound with Arafat. "These
people are accused of killing a cabinet official of the Israel
government," Bush said. "I can understand why the prime minister wants
them brought to justice. They should be brought to justice if they
killed a man in cold blood." (Haaretz, April 20) Sharon rejected an
offer by Arafat to try the suspected killers of the far-right Zeevi in a
Palestinian court. (Reuters, April 20)
[top]
16. TANZIM CHIEF
BARGHOUTI ARRESTED
April 15 the IDF announced the arrest
in Ramallah of Marwan Barghouti, the Fatah politician and Palestinian
Legis-lative Council representative who turned Tanzim from a civil guard
into a West Bank militia that organized suicide bombings. Israeli
authorities say they will consider whether Barghouti will stand trial or
be deported. (Haartez, Jerusalem Post, April 16)
[top]
17. IDF CLAIMS:
ARMS FROM IRAN, IRAQ UNCOVERED IN RAMALLAH
Weapons
uncovered in Operation Defensive Shield include Soviet-made RPG
rocket-launchers that were modified by Iraq, and Iranian-made RPG
models, IDF sources said. The sources said the weaponry was probably
smuggled into the territories in Arafat's helicopters, which have now
been damaged and grounded by the IDF. (Haaretz, April 18)
[top]
18. U.S. WANTS
ISRAEL TO "GET RID" OF ARAFAT?
Bush administration
officials who met recently with former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu
asked why Israel is not "getting rid" of Arafat, Netanyahu told Ariel
Sharon in a meeting April 18. While in the US, Netanyahu met with
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney,
and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Netanyahu updated Sharon on his
recent mission to bolster US support for Israel. (Jerusalem Post, April
19)
[top]
19. ARAFAT CONDEMNS
TERRORISM; BUSH OBLIVIOUS
On April 7, AP reported that
President Bush said Arafat "needs to speak clearly, in Arabic, to the
people of that region and condemn terrorist activities. At the very
minimum, he ought to at least say something." But Daoud Kuttab for the
Electronic Intifada compiled a number of quotes
from Arafat and other Palestinian leaders condemning terrorism in
Arabic. On March 28, after the Passover suicide attack in Netanya, an
Arafat speech broadcast on Palestinian TV in Arabic stated: "On this
occasion, I would like once again to reiterate our condemnation of
yesterday's operation in Netanya, in which a number of innocent Israeli
civilians were killed and wounded. This operation constitutes a
deviation from our policy and a violation of our national and human
values..."
[top]
20. ENDORSEMENTS
AND PRAISE FOR SUICIDE BOMBERS
Palestinian president
Yasser Arafat's wife Suha Arafat endorsed suicide bombing attacks in a
London-based Arabic magazine, al-Majallah. According to the New York
Times, she told the magazine if she had a son, there would be "no
greater honor" than to sacrifice him for the Palestinian cause. "Would
you expect me and my children to be less patriotic and more eager to
live than my country men and their father and leader who is seeking
martydom?" Suha Arafat, who has no son, is currently living with her
daughter in Paris. (NYT, April 15) Four Palestinian mothers have lost
their daughters in suicide bombing attacks this year (see WW3 REPORT #29). Four more almost
lost theirs in foiled attacks, two this past week. (Haaretz, April 19)
The Saudi ambassador to Britian, Ghazi Algosaibi, a well-known
poet in the Arab world, wrote a poem published in the London-based
Al-Hayat praising Ayat al-Akras, who blew herself and two Israelis up in
a Jerusalem supermarket on March 29: "Tell Ayat, the bride of
loftiness... She embraced death with a smile... Doors of heaven are
opened for her" (AP, April 15)
Two prominent Islamic clerics have also endorsed suicide
bombings. Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the most prominent religious scholar
at al-Ahzar University in Cairo, called "martydom operations" the
"highest form of jihad operations" and that such attacks were "an
Islamic commandment until the people of Palestine regain their land and
cause the cruel Israeli aggression to retreat." (NYT, April 15) (see WW3 REPORT #26) According to the
Times, Egypt's new mufti, its highest religious authority, declared that
"the solution to the Israeli terror" lies in suicide attacks "that
strike horror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah. The Islamic
countries, peoples and rulers alike, must support these martyrdom
attacks." (NYT, April 15) Last year, a ruling by the grand mufti of
Saudi Arabia "declared suicide to be against Islam" (AP, April 15)
One Christian cleric has also endorsed suicide bombing.
According to well-known Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, Greek
Catholic bishop Hilarion Capucci recently spoke at a rally in Italy
where he "thank[ed] in the name of God the kamikazes who massacred Jews
in pizzarias and supermarkets, calling them martyrs who go to their
deaths as if to a party." (Panorama, Rome, April 15) Capucci was
arrested in 1974 for smuggling explosives for Palestinian militants, and
released only after intervention by the Pope, who promised Capucci would
not take part in political activity again. (Jerusalem Post, May 25,
2000) Fallaci's article has caused an uproar in Italy, where leaders of
the Green and Communist parties accused her of impugning the Catholic
church for letting Capucci appear at the rally. Said Communist Party
parliamentary leader Franco Girodano: "The words are shameful beacuse
they feed hate between religions." But others have defended Fallaci,
including defense minister Antonio Martino. "I believe she has grounds
[for the article]," he said. (AFP, April 12) (David Bloom)
[top]
21. PROTESTS FOLLOW
POWELL
Secretary of State Colin Powell moved on from
Israel after having visited the scene of a suicide bombing that killed
six Israelis in Jerusalem--but not Jenin, the site of far greater
carnage. Powell's arrival in Beirut was met by thousands of protesters,
who burned US and Israeli flags. Demonstrations also followed him to
Damascus, where over 300 students held a sit-in outside the UN offices.
(AP, April 15) At a Cairo protest, a university student was reported
killed and over 100 injured as police opened fire with buckshot, tear
gas and water cannons. (NYT, April 10)
[top]
22. POWELL SENDS
SURROGATE TO JENIN
Colin Powell did send Assistant
Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William J. Burns to visit
Jenin after the Secretary himself had already left Israel/Palestine.
Burns called the scene at Jenin a "terrible human tragedy," but
refrained from explicitly criticizing Israel, or commenting on Israeli
claims that what happened at the camp was a "battle" and not a
"massacre." (NYT, April 21)
[top]
23. FOREIGN
MILITARY INTERVENTION SEEN
Writes commentator Aluf Benn
in the April 18 Haaretz: "Operation Defensive Shield has fomented a deep
change in the political debate in Israel and redrawn the demarcation
lines between left and right, which had become blurred in the decade of
the Oslo accords and the brutal clash with the Palestinians. The right
is now urging that Israel retake control of the territories, while the
left is pushing for an enforced settlement with the aid of an
international force. Occupation or internationalization: These are the
parameters within which the public discourse will henceforth be
conducted in Israel." Benn argues that there is "no longer any prospect
of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. Not a permanent
settlement, not an interim agreement, not even a temporary cease-fire."
[top]
24. S&P's
DOWNGRADES ISRAEL'S ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
The international
credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's has lowered its outlook for
Israel from stable to negative as a result of the continuing conflict
and fiscal deficits. "Although the emerging global recovery is expected
to provide some relief later this year, we rule out a substantial
rebound in Israel's economic activity in 2002, due to the persistence of
the highly volatile and tense security situation," said S&P's credit
analyst Konrad Reuss. Israel's credit rating remained unchanged.
(Haaretz, April 13)
[top]
25. PRO-ISRAEL
RALLY IN WASHINGTON
An April 15 Washington DC rally
organized by American Jewish organizations in support of Israel drew a
crowd of 100,000 to the steps of the Capitol. The message from the
various speakers consistently hit the same note: that Israel's current
military action in the West Bank is justified and part of the same War
on Terrorism being waged by the US. "Israel and the United States are
fighting the same battle, the same enemy," former right-wing Israeli
prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the rally to big applause. "The
only way to defeat this enemy is to destroy it." Saying that the War on
Terrorism now stretches from Afghanistan to what he called
"Arafatistan," Netanyahu said "Arafat is like bin Laden with better PR."
Among the day's other speakers were Congressmen Richard Gephardt and
Dick Armey, New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani (who also received big
applause), and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz--who, despite
his hawkish credentials, was booed by the crowd when he said, "We know
the Israelis are not the only ones suffering. Innocent Palestinians are
suffering and dying in great numbers as well. It is critical that we
recognize and acknowledge that fact." Mention of Ariel Sharon brought
cheers from the crowd, and chants of "No more Arafat." Perhaps the day's
most extreme message came from Janet Parshall, a Christian evangelist
radio host and head of the National Religious Broadcasters Association.
"We will never give up the Golan," she said "We will never divide
Jerusalem. And we will call Yasser Arafat what Yasser Arafat is: a
terrorist." (JTA, April 15, and WW3 REPORT Special Correspondent on the
scene)
[top]
26. PRO-PALESTINE
RALLY IN WASHINGTON
75,000 demonstrators converged in Washington on April 20 for the largest pro-Palestinian rally ever in the US, according to the DC police (Washington Post, April 21). Anti-globalization protesters in town for the IMF meeting mixed with Arab and Muslim demonstrators bused in from around the country. Pro-peace placards could be seen, often with Hebrew and Arabic lettering on the same sign. "The only territory Israel doesn't occupy is the moral high ground" read one. One from a Jewish peace group read, "We did not survive Auschwitz to bury Jenin." Some signs pictured an Israeli flag with a blue swastika in place of the Star of David, or Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon depicted as Hitler. Chants of "long live Palestine" and "free, free Palestine" could be heard. Palestinian activists led cadenced chants in Arabic from truck-mounted loudspeakers, much like demonstrations in the West Bank or Gaza, followed by chants in English. At one point, the speakers blared "long live Intifada," a chant taken up by marchers of all backgrounds. At a rally in front of the White House before the march, a variety of speakers exhorted the US to end aid to Israel. In addition to Muslim, labor, and church leaders, speakers representing Jewish groups spoke out in support of Palestinian rights. The rally was simulcast by C-SPAN radio.
Also that day, the Committee for Palestinian Solidarity protested the meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) at the Washington Hilton, while the Mobilization for Global Justice and various anarchist grouplings rallied against the IMF/World Bank meeting. (The Nation, April 26) But the main pro-Palestine demonstration was organized
by International ANSWER , (AP, April 19), a group
associated with the International Action Center (IAC), which itself is a front
organization for the cultish neo-Stalinist Workers World Party (WWP). IAC/ANSWER's unlikely frontman is
former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who was a featured speaker at
the event. The demonstration was initially intended to protest the US
campaign in Afghanistan, and was originally called by the
April 20th
Mobilization, a coalition of anti-war groups
(National Youth & Student Peace Coalition,
NYC Labor Against the War, War Resisters League, Colombia
Solidarity Committee, Nicaragua Network),
who actually maintained their own separate stage near the Washington Monument, MC'd by Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio. But ANSWER, after securing an agreement from the A20 Mobilization to coordinate the two events (see "Unity Statement"),
launched the most aggressive and visible publicity, at least in the NYC area. Well-financed and tightly run, IAC/ANSWER provided marchers with its own mass-produced placards, and also organized buses from New York. For more on ANSWER's attempts to manipulate the mobilization in Washington, see Liza Featherstone's article
in The Nation.
The IAC and Ramsey Clark support former Serbian strongman Slobodon Milosovic, now on trial for war crimes, including genocide, by the International Tribunal for War Crimes in the Hague. Shortly after Milosevic's arrival in the Hague, Ramsey Clark offered to defend him, and now serves as his legal advisor (AP, Nov. 24). (See The Mysterious Ramsey Clark: Stalinist Dupe or Ruling
Class Spook?" by Manny Goldstein in The Shadow) (David
Bloom with Bill Weinberg) [top]
Sounds of the protest, with interviews
Audio Interview with two Palestinian-American women at the protest
ELSEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
1. AL-QAEDA LINKED
TO TUNISIAN SYNAGOGUE BLAST
A group with the same name as
one linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network claimed responsibility
for the April 11 explosion at Tunisian synagogue that killed 15 people.
In front-page reports April 17, the London-based pan-Arab dailies
al-Quds al-Arabi and al-Hayat said they had received a claim of
responsibility from a group calling itself the "Islamic Army for the
Liberation of the Holy Sites"--the same name used by a group claiming
credit for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The
1998 claim called bin Laden a "source of inspiration" and referred to
him as the "warrior sheik." Tunisia's government described the April 13
explosion of a gas-laden truck at the Ghriba synagogue on the resort
island of Djerba as a "tragic accident." (See WW3 REPORT #29) But German federal
prosecutors, involved because 10 of the dead were German tourists, said
April 17 they believed it was an act of terrorism, and that police had
arrested a person in Germany believed to have been in contact with those
involved.
Al-Hayat said the statement was received in its Islamabad office
by fax without reference to the originating phone number. Al-Hayat said
the statement was in Arabic and on stationery with al-Qaeda's logo. The
statement read: "The martyrdom operation is a response to Israeli crimes
against the sons of the Palestinian people... The martyrdom operation is
a retaliation to the [Arab] governments refusal to allow their peoples
to join Jihad against the Jews."
Al-Quds said it received the statement along with a will said to
have been left by the truck driver, identified as Nizar bin Mohammed
Nawar and by the nom de guerre Seiful Dinn el-Tunisi, or "Sword of the
Faith, the Tunisian." Nawar was quoted as calling on his parents,
brothers and sister to contribute to holy war "with their souls and
money." The will was dated July 5, 2000. (Jerusalem Post, April 17)
Two days later, German Interior Minister Otto Schily announced
he will visit Tunisia with German Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm to discuss
new evidence the incident was a terrorist attack with Tunisian
authroties. (Jersualem Post, April 19)
[top]
2. MORE U.S. TROOPS
TO YEMEN
Pentagon officials told NBC News April 19 over
60 US Special Operations forces will soon arrive in Yemen to train
Yemeni forces in "counter-terrorism tactics" for hunting down suspected
al-Qaeda militants. (See WW3 REPORT
#23) But anti-US protests broke out in Sanaa, the capital,
that same day. Police fired in the air and used tear gas and clubs to
prevent about 5,000 pro-Palestinian protesters from reaching the U.S.
Embassy, witnesses said. The protests follow an April 12 bomb attack in
the same district as the embassy (see WW3 REPORT #29). The New York
Times reported April 10 that 300,000 marched in support of Palestine in
Sanaa, and one protestor was killed in the port city of Aden.
[top]
3. KRISTOF DOES
YEMEN; APPROVES OF POLICE STATE, DISSES FOOD
Security
measures don't seem to be lacking in Yemen. Freedom-hating New York
Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof couldn't resist throwing in a
fatuous adjective worthy of tourist-guidebook exoticism as he applauded
the regime's efficient police state: "It was reassuring to find myself
almost arrested as I arrived in this magical country." Lest anyone
accuse him of undue cultural sensitivity, Kristof described the lunch he
was served as "brown gobs and green gook" when he visited with Sheikh
Othman Mujali al-Fayid, member of parliament and traditional tribal
leader, who warned him, "People do not accept foreign powers in Yemen.
We don't want anyone involved in our business." (NYT, March 15)
[top]
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. MUSLIM-JEWISH
PEACE VIGILS PERSIST IN JERUSALEM
The premier issue of
Brooklyn's Judeo-hipster "Heeb" magazine, "the New Jew Review," (Winter
2002) reports in its "Radical Rabbinics" column on the Old City Peace
Vigil, a weekly interfaith gathering at a plaza overlooking the Temple
Mount/al-Aksa Mosque. The vigils, which attract both long-haired rabbis
and Muslim faithful, include drumming, singing and dancing as well as
prayer and silent meditation. "People speak of their hopes and
nightmares," says NJ-born student Devorah Brous who co-founded the vigil
a year and a half ago. "It has a different dynamic each week." Another
founder, Haj Ibrahim Ahmad Abu el-Hawa, from a small village near the
Mount of Olives, says, "There are three religions but only one God. We
need love, and we need to pass that love to one another." The Vigil also
organizes efforts to paint over the racist graffiti which has become
common in Jerusalem ("Death to the Arabs," "Revenge"). But the
authorities are not happy with these good-hearted peaceniks. A recent
gathering was broken up by police, who claimed it was a political
demonstration and needed a permit. Most Muslim-Jewish dialogue groups
have fallen apart, and the peace movement is "in shambles."
[top]
2. ARAB-JEWISH COMEDY
TEAM STANDS UP FOR PEACE
Ahmed Ahmed, an
Egyptian-American stand-up comic from California, and Bob Alper, a rabbi
from Vermont, have teamed up for a comedy act they are taking to
synagogues and Jewish community centers around the East Coast. Ahmed
became a comedian riffing on the Arab-American experience after
frustrations trying to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. "I found
myself typecast as as a terrorist, a cab-driver, sleazy Arab princes,
7-Eleven owners and stuff like that." His biggest role was "Terrorist
No. 4" in the 1996 Kurt Russell thriller "Executive Decision." Says
Alper, who recruited Ahmed for the project: "While I'm not a ful-time
practicing rabbi anymore, in a way I really think I am with what I'm
doing--going around the world and making people laugh has a very strong
spiritual component to it... I know laughter is healing. My feeling,
from the Jewish perspective, is that when the Jewish people in the
audience see an Arab-American and can laugh with him and see that he's a
sweet and decent human being, it's very helpful. Humor bridges
cultures." (Newsday, April 12)
[top]
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. RETURN OF THE
KING
Former Afghan king Zahir Shah returned to Kabul from
Rome April 18 amid tight security after 29 years in exile. Delegations
from all over Afghanistan--holding flowers and pictures of the former
king--greeted him at the airport as a newly-trained Afghan honour guard
stood at attention. He was escorted home from Italy by Afghanistan's
interim leader Hamid Karzai and six government ministers. But in a sign
of political sensitivities surrounding his return, there was no
announcement of it on radio or TV, and no flags or welcoming banners in
the city streets. A joint Afghan-Italian security force will be guarding
him during his stay, aimed at convening a Loya Jirga, or tribal summit,
set for June to establish a permanent government for Afghanistan.
Powerful members of the government--especially those from the Northern
Alliance--are wary of his return, fearing it could provide a rallying
point for their opponents. Meanwhile, some southern Pashtun groups are
calling for a return to monarchy. (BBC, April 18)
[top]
2. WARLORDS JOCKEY FOR
LOYA JIRGA
Rory Carroll writes in the UK Observer April
14 that Afghanistan's warlords are playing a bloody game to consolidate
their local rule and weaken rivals in advance of Loya Jirga, or tribal
summit set for June to establish a permanent government. "There are
still a lot of different groups trying to make trouble. I think most of
them are hold-outs from the Taliban and al-Qaeda, plus small groups
linked to [Gulbuddin] Hekmatyar," said Agriculture Minister Saeed
Hussein Anwari. The ultra-fundamentalist Hekmatyar has ostensibly agreed
to recognize the interim regime (see WW3 REPORT #25), but is now said to back
Taliban/al-Qaeda efforts destabilize the new government. Hekmatyar's
location is unknown. Meanwhile, according to a confidential UN document,
the interim authorities are jailing and intimidating their own political
rivals to smear them as "terrorists" and destabilize preparations for
the Loya Jirga. The memo was written by the UN's chief negotiator,
Michael Semple, and addressed to the organization's senior political
officers in Kabul, Anders Fange and Karl Fischer.
[top]
3. SURVIVORS OF
"OPERATION ANACONDA" DEMAND COMPENSATION
Every morning, a
procession of local residents whose homes or loved ones were destroyed
in the US-led Operation Anaconda (see WW3 REPORT #24) gathers at the gates of
the governor's compound in Gardez, demanding compensation. "They are so
angry, angry at the Americans," said Gen. Sahib Jan Loodin Alozai,
deputy governor of Paktia province, who processes the complaints. "They
blame the Americans for all their troubles." Some petitioners claim US
airstrikes killed their relatives or destroyed their homes. Farmers
complain that US troops blocked access to their fields, ruining their
spring planting season. People on the street glare and curse at passing
American reporters. A Canadian reporter was seriously wounded last month
by a grenade tossed into her vehicle just outside town. (LAT, April 14)
[top]
4. U.S. BOMBS
CANADIANS
An US F-16 pilot near Kandahar apparently
mistook Canadian soldiers for enemy forces and dropped a 500-pound bomb,
killing four and wounding eight, Pentagon officials said. As an
investigation begins, a key question was why the US forces didn't know
the Canadians were training in the area. Canadian Defense Minister Art
Eggleton, who called the deaths shocking, said one of the injured had
life-threatening wounds and the other seven were in stable condition.
(AP, April 18)
[top]
5. U.S./U.K. IN NEW
OFFENSIVE AGAINST TALIBAN/AL-QAEDA
US-led forces have
launched their first major combat operation in a month against
Taliban/al-Qaeda forces. The new offensive involves US, British and
Afghan troops, marking the Afghan war combat debut for Britain's elite
force of Royal Marines, trained to operate in mountains that rise over
10,000 feet. At Bagram air base near Kabul, British spokesman Lt. Col.
Paul Harradine said "They're going to sweep through, destroy any
al-Qaida and Taliban that are there and then deny the group control of
that area." Authorities did not give a location for the fighting.
[top]
6. MORE U.S. TROOPS
KILLED
At least four US troops were killed and several
are injured or missing following a mishap while blowing up unexploded
rockets outside Kandahar. "It doesn't appear to be hostile fire--it is
related to ordinance," said spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan. This brings
the number of US fatalities in the Afghanistan campaign to 36. (BBC,
April 15)
[top]
7. GREEN BERET SHOT IN
KANDAHAR
A US Special Forces soldier was wounded April 17
in what military sources called a "hit-and-run attack" in downtown
Kandahar. Maj. A.C. Roper told reporters at the US base in Kandahar the
soldier was on patrol when he was shot in the face by an unknown
assailant and was taken to the base, where he is in stable condition.
"We're under a constant threat here, not only on the air base but also
in the city," Roper said. "There are elements of al-Qaeda and non-Afghan
Taliban forces that don't want us here. They don't like the progress
that we've made, but we're here to accomplish the mission, and we will
not be deterred." (CNN, April 17)
[top]
8. ACID ATTACK ON WOMAN
TEACHER IN KANDAHAR
An woman teacher in Kandahar was the
target of an acid-attack following a leaflet campaign in the former
Taliban stronghold, according to a city official. An assailant threw
acid on the teacher as she walked home from school, and tried to flee
before being apprehended, Commander Dost Mohammad told Reuters. The
hand-written pamphlets warned men not to send their daughters to school
or their women to work. Mohammad said he did not know how badly the
woman was hurt, but said Kandahar authorities had arrested 37 suspects
named by the detained man and found more acid. "Five of them were
wearing the Afghan military uniform," he said. Leaflets were also found
warning residents not to collaborate with foreign troops. Read the
leaflet: "The American forces will leave the country sooner or later,
but you will remain here. People helping Afghan security forces are
being marked." (Reuters, April 17)
[top]
9. MORE STRIFE IN
KHOST
At least three people were killed and two injured
when an explosion rocked the main bazaar in Khost April 18, the Afghan
Islamic Press reported. The blast occurred within 100 feet of the city's
military hospital, the Pakistan-based news service reported, quoting
witnesses. It was the third blast in Khost since the fall of the Taliban
regime last year. US troops are also stationed in Khost and there have
been at least three rocket attacks against them, the report said. (AFP,
April 18)
[top]
10. MORE STRIFE IN
WARDAK
Fighting has erupted between the forces of rival
warlords in Wardak province, Afghan Islamic Press reported. Nine were
killed and 12 wounded as the forces of interim regime loyalist Commander
Muzaffaruddin and rival Ghulam Rohani Nangali fought around Maidan
Shahr, the provincial capital, 30 miles west of Kabul. Rockets and
artillery were used in overnight fighting April 13. (Reuters, April 13)
[top]
11. U.S. DRUG CZAR
SEES LONG OPIUM WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
Tribal leaders and
commanders from Helmand, Paktia and Nangahar provinces demanded
"leniency" in implementing the new opium-eradication policy, fearing
resistance from farmers. When the eradication program began April 8,
protests by opium farmers turned bloody (see WW3 REPORT #29). The CIA estimates
Afghanistan supplied 70% of the world's opium before the Taliban cracked
down in 2000, and US officials fear a return to those levels if the
spring harvest is not eradicated. Pakistan's NNI news service calls the
opium face-off the "most serious chalenge so far" for interim leader
Hamid Karzai: "Karzai needs to curb opium production to win the backing
of the international community, but doing so would undercut his position
at home, where local warlords still rule much of the country." (NNI,
April 13) Meanwhile, White House Drug Czar John Walters told the
Washington Times, "We can not allow Afghanistan again to become a haven
for illicit money, a haven for terrorism." He said that crushing the
Afghan opium trade would be a long struggle, contingent on a US-allied
regime remaining in control. "It will require staying power perhaps as
long as two to three years, but banning opium production has got to be a
priority," he said. (Frontier Post, April 17)
[top]
12. U.N. RUNNING OUT
OF MONEY FOR REFUGEE REPATRIATION
UN High Commissioner
for Refugees Ruud Lubbers urgently appealed for funds for the $271
million program to repatriate Afghan refugees. Over 267,000 refugees
have returned from Pakistan since the program was launched March 1.
Another 5,000 have returned from Iran under a similar program launched
in April. Lubbers warned the programs would not be able to continue
unless international donors come through with promised aid. (UNHCR press
release, April 17) The programs offer returning refugees an assistance
package including both food and non-food items, as well as a small cash
grant. (IRIN, April 17)
[top]
13. ARCHAEOLOGISTS
LAUNCH CULTURAL SALVAGE MISSION
Shortly before the
Taliban issued orders to blow up the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan in March
2001, a squad systematically ransacked Kabul's National Museum, working
from noon to night to smash every "idolatrous" relic--including
priceless Greco-Buddhist statuary from the Kushan dynasty. More relics
had been pirated for sale on the international market as Mujahedeen
factions fought for Kabul in the mid-1990s, but much had been sent to
the Switzerland's Afghanistan Museum for safekeeping ahead of the
Taliban take-over. The UN Educational, Scientific & Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) designated the Switzerland museum as Afghanistan's
respository in exile, and authorities are consideriung if it is now safe
to return the relics. Nancy Hatch Dupree of the Society for the
Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage says "It is too early to
ask for the return of objects, but certianly not too early to talk about
it." Meanwhile, UNESCO has dispatched teams of archaeologists to
Afghanistan to assess the damage to sites in Kabul, Bamiyan and Herat,
as well as the 12th-century minaret at Jam and the ancient city of
Balkh. The most ambitious project is inteirm leader Hamid Karzai's
proposal for rebuilding the Bamiyan Buddhas. (NYT, April 15)
[top]
14. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL BLASTS U.S. ON DETAINEES
Amnesty
International has attacked the US for its treatment of prisoners held in
Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay Naval base in Cuba. Said the statement:
"The US government has refused to grant any of the detainees in
Afghanistan or Guantanamo Bay prisoner of war status, or to bring any
disputed cases before a competent tribunal as requested under the Geneva
Conventions... The United States' pick-and-choose approach to the Geneva
Conventions is unacceptable, as is its failure to respect fundamental
international human rights standards." Among other charges, Amnesty said
Washington holds prisoners in conditions that could amount to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment and has refused to grant them access to
legal counsel. The US is holding 300 Taliban/al-Qaeda suspects at its
Camp X-Ray prison in Guantanamo Bay, and more than 200 others at US
facilities in Afghanistan. Amnesty said it would renew its bid to gain
access to the detainees, as its initial request was not acknowledged by
US officials. (Reuters, April 15)
[top]
15. U.S. OPPOSES NEW
PROVISION ON CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE
The US is aligned
with some of its worst enemies in opposing efforts to strengthen an
international treaty that bans torture, diplomatic sources say.
Washington finds itself on the same side as Cuba, Libya and Syria in
trying to block a proposal before the UN Human Rights Commission in
Geneva aimed at giving more teeth to the Convention Against Torture. US
diplomats insist they do not oppose strengthening the 1987 convention,
but say they disagree with the international prison-inspection program
proposed by Latin American and European nations. "It's pretty scandalous
that some states claiming to defend human rights are blocking this,"
said Mark Thomson of the Geneva-based Association to Prevent Torture.
"If they succeed, it's really putting a spanner in the works in terms of
implementing the convention in a meaningful way." (Christian Science
Monitor, April 19)
[top]
THE PHILIPPINE FRONT
1. MORE U.S. TROOPS
TO MINDANAO
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo sanctioned
deployment of hundreds more US troops for the country's restive southern
region of Mindanao. Several hundred US troops are already stationed on
the island of Basilan assisting Philippine forces against the Abu Sayyaf
rebels, allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network (see WW3 REPORT #26). Arroyo said some
300 military engineers will join the 660 US troops helping to hunt down
Abu Sayyaf militants, who are holding a US missionary couple and a
Filipina nurse hostage. The US forces provide training for local troops
but are barred from fighting except in self-defense. Another 2,700 US
troops are due to arrive to take part in the second phase of the
"Balikatan" joint exercise in the northern island of Luzon next week,
including amphibious operations and night-flying skills. There were
daily protests when the exercises began in January, and officials
stressed that the US forces will not be involved in combat. (BBC, April
19)
[top]
2. TERROR BLAST IN
MINDANAO
A bomb blast killed 14 people and wounded 55
others outside a department store in the southern Philippine city of
General Santos. Minutes after the mall blast, a second explosion went
off about one kilometer away in a residential part the city. Police
arrested two men in connection with the blasts, and charged them with
possession of handguns and grenades. A call to a local radio station
claimed responsibility for the mall blast in the name of Abu Sayyaf.
(CNN, April 21)
[top]
3. FBI: ABU SAYYAF
FUNDS AL-QAEDA
Abu Sayyaf guerrillas have been channeling
ransom money to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network, said
Philippine Justice Secretary Hernando Perez, citing US FBI sources.
Perez said Philippine authorities are working to track the funds with
the assistance of the FBI, which alerted the government to the Abu
Sayyaf-al-Qaeda financial link. "That is what the FBI is telling us,"
Perez told reporters. "The volume of money is apparently significant. We
were told that perhaps money already in the hands of terrorists here is
going toward bin Laden. And I am referring to the Abu Sayyaf." The group
is believed to have collected over $20 million in ransom from kidnapping
dozens of locals and foreign tourists since 2000. (Financial Times,
April 2)
[top]
THE ANDEAN FRONT
1. VENEZUELA: ANATOMY
OF THE COUP D'ETAT
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
returned to power April 14 after his civilian and military supporters
overturned a two-day attempted coup d'etat. (AP, April 14) The week
leading up to the April 11 coup was marked by heated conflicts between
Chavez supporters and opponents. On April 4, middle and upper-level
managers began a strike at the state-owned oil company, Petroleos de
Venezuela (PDVSA), to protest Chavez's replacement of the board of
directors. On April 6, Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV) president
Carlos Ortega and Chamber of Commerce Federation (FEDECAMARAS) president
Pedro Carmona jointly announced a 24-hour strike for April 9 to support
the PDVSA strike. The unions that represent PDVSA workers were divided
on the strike.
PDVSA's sales of 2.43 million barrels/day provide 80% of
Venezuela's hard currency income and establish the nation as the world's
fourth-largest producer--and third-largest supplier to the US, after
Canada and Saudi Arabia.
In his weekly radio program April 7, Chavez announced the
firing of seven PDVSA managers and the forced retirement
of 12 others, and urged an end to the strike. He also announced a 20%
increase in the minimum wage for public-sector workers, to take effect
May 1, and called on Venezuela's private sector to match the
public-sector increase. Chavez refused to negotiate with the CTV, saying
the union's leadership is "illegitimate and does not represent the
workers of the country." (Miami Herald, April 8; AFP, April 8, 9)
The April 9 strike-which Chavez's opponents said was widely
observed and which the government called a failure-was extended to April
10 and then extended indefinitely. On April 10, National Guard Maj. Gen.
Rafael Damiani accused Chavez of responsibility for violence against a
group of strikers outside a PDVSA facility in Caracas that day. Earlier
that day, army Gen. Nestor Gonzalez accused Chavez of lying about his
government's support for Colombian leftist guerillas. Gonzalez claimed
Chavez had him transferred from a command position near the Colombian
border to an administrative post because his troops had been fighitng
Colombian rebels who entered Venezuelan territory. (AFP, EFE April 11)
On April 11, shooting broke out as a group of some 200,000
anti-Chavez demonstrators confronted about 5,000 Chavez supporters
outside the presidential palace in Caracas. At least 13 were
killed--mostly Chavez supporters--and some 150 wounded. The
opposition-controlled media portrayed Chavez and his supporters as
exclusively responsible for the violence. Chavez responded by ordering
temporary suspension of private TV stations he accused of carrying out a
"defamation campaign" and inciting violence. (AFP, April 12)
One witness told New York's
Weekly News Update on the Americas the gunfire came from snipers in surrounding buildings,
city police and Chavez supporters. The city police are under the control
of Caracas mayor Alfredo Pena, a Chavez opponent. The snipers were said
to be members of an extreme opposition group called Bandera Roja. The
Sweden-based e-newsletter Vientos del Sur (pagina.de/visur) confirmed
that the snipers were from Bandera Roja, an ultra-left group working
with the right opposition. (VISUR, April 13)
Army commander Brig. Gen. Efrain Vasquez and nine high-ranking
military officers-including Gonzalez and Damiani-responded by demanding
Chavez resign. FEDECAMARAS president Carmona offered to head a
transition government that would call new elections as soon as Chavez
left. (AFP, April 12) Early on April 12 Carmona announced he was
assuming the presidency because Chavez had resigned. Carmona quickly
dissolved the National Assembly and dismissed the Supreme Court. Carmona
insisted Chavez was "in custody, not arrested," and that soon the ousted
president would travel "according to his wishes, outside the country."
Anti-Ch˝vez demonstrators attacked the Cuban embassy, believing that
Chavez's vice president, Lt. Diosdado Cabello, was hiding there. (El
Nuevo Herald, Miami, April 13)
On April 12, Chavez's daughter, Maria Gabriela Chavez, confirmed
that her father was being detained. She told Cuban TV she had spoken
with him that morning and he told her to "let the world know that at no
moment did he resign, and at no moment has he signed a decree dismissing
Vice President Cabello." (La Jornada, Mexico, April 13)
[top]
2. INSTANT
COUNTER-COUP
On April 13, tens of thousands took to the
streets of Caracas and other Venezuelan cities in a popular uprising to
demand Chavez's return. The slums spontaneously mobilized, and hundreds
gathered outside the presidential palace in downtown Caracas, defying
police tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to chant "Chavez will
be back!" and "Democracy, not dictatorship!" (AP, April 13) Some Chavez
supporters seized control of the state TV station. More violence and
repression ensued, with at least 9 more killed. (BBC, April 14)
On the afternoon of April 13, commanders at Maracay air base
rebelled against the coup leaders and proclaimed their loyalty to
Chavez. Gen. Vasquez announced that the armed forces would support
Carmona's government only if 12 points were respected, including
reestablishment of the legally elected powers-of-state. The National
Assembly then reconvened and swore in Cabello as president; Carmona
resigned and was promptly arrested, along with other coup leaders. At
1:45 a.m. on April 14, Chavez headed by helicopter from the Venezuelan
island of Orchila in the Caribbean, where he had been detained, to
Caracas to reclaim the presidency. Before noon on April 14, Chavez
returned to the presidential palace and appeared in public, cheered by
thousands of supporters. (La Jornada, CNN, AP, EFE, April 14)
The New York Times reported: "Bleary-eyed from emotion and
exhaustion, Chavez walked into a throng of supporters like a war hero."
"What I feel is a people full of love," he said. "This is one of the
biggest days in history... I say thank you, God." In a nationally
televised speech just before dawn, Chavez described the uprising that
brought him back to power as a "counter-revolution to a
counter-revolution." (NYT, April 14)
Both Gen. Vasquez and co-plotter Gen. Ramirez Poveda are
graduates of the US Army School of the Americas (SOA)--renamed last year
as the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation (WHISC).
Vasquez attended the school, in Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1988, taking a
course in "Command and General Staff Officer Training." Ramirez took a
course called "Auto Maintenance Officer Training" in 1972, when the
school was located in Panama.
(SOA Watch, April 12)
[top]
3. U.S., IMF HAIL COUP
ATTEMPT
Although the US stopped short of recognizing the
de facto government that briefly replaced Chavez, White House
spokesperson Ari Fleischer refused to protest Chavez's overthrow or even
to describe the events as a coup. "We know that the action encouraged by
the Chavez government provoked this crisis," he told reporters on April
12. (New York Times, La Jornada, April 13)
A New York Times editorial April 13 called Chavez "a ruinous
demagogue" who "courted Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein." With his
"resignation...Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a
would-be dictator... Washington has a strong stake in Venezuela's
recovery. Caracas now provides 15% of American oil imports, and with
sounder policies could provide more..." (NYT April, 13)
IMF spokesperson Thomas Dawson said April 12, "We stand ready to
assist the new administration in whatever matter they find suitable."
(Xinhua, April, 13)
About eight hours after Chavez was removed from power, Merrill
Lynch, the largest US brokerage firm, upgraded its assessment of
Venezuela. "With a change in the government, the odds are very favorable
for an improvement in the economic and political situation," the firm
announced. (La Jornada, April, 13)
Chavez's "demise as a political leader likely means a power
vacuum and declining influence for the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries," the Miami Herald's Gregg Fields wrote before
Chavez's return to power. "For the United States, it looks like a
win-win: Lower oil prices, and the departure of a Western hemisphere
leader who never missed a chance to annoy Washington." Chavez had pushed
OPEC to reduce production, forcing up oil prices. (MH, April 14)
International oil prices fell about 6% on April 12, when it seemed
Chavez was out of the way. (NYT, April 13) They immediately rose again
as the coup failed, jumping 75 cents in one day to $24.22. (CBS News,
April 15)
Latin American governments were less supportive of the coup. At
a special OAS summit in Costa Rica called to address the crisis, Mexican
President Vicente Fox said Mexico "will abstain from either recognizing
or not recognizing the new government in Venezuela and will limit itself
to continuing diplomatic relations with that government." Cuba's
government condemned the "coup mafia" and called for the "immediate
return" of Chavez. But Colombian foreign minister Clemencia Forero Ucros
described de facto Venezuelan President Carmona as a "great friend" of
Colombia, adding, "We expect to have the best relations with the interim
government." (MH, April 13)
[top]
4. WAS WHITE HOUSE
PULLING STRINGS?
An April 13 New York Times editorial
insisted the attempted "removal" of Chavez (the Times never called it a
"coup") "was a purely Venezuelan affair." But an April 14 analysis piece
said while there "is so far no evidence that the United States covertly
undermined Mr. Ch˝vez...the open White House embrace of his overthrow
will not be lost on Latin American leaders who dare thumb their noses at
the United States, as did Mr. Ch˝vez." The article noted that US
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Otto Reich was
involved in efforts to overthrow Nicaragua's leftist government in the
1980s. Reich is a rightist Cuban-American and former US ambassador to
Venezuela (1986-1989). (See WW3 REPORT #27) "The fall of Mr. Chavez
is a feather in [Reich's] cap," according the Times article, written
before Chavez's return to power. (NYT, April 13)
The coup attempt coincided with a visit to Washington and Miami
by Venezuelan Air Force Col. Pedro Soto, who in February became the
first officer to call for Chavez to step down. Soto said he had planned
to meet with two right-wing Cuban-American legislators, Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Dâaz-Balart (both Republicans of Florida), but
avoided answering questions about possible meetings with US officials.
Soto denied that his trip had any particular purpose. "It was just in
response to invitations," he said. (La Jornada, April 13)
(Above reports condensed from
April 14 issue of Weekly News
Update on the Americas, 339 Lafayette St., NY NY 10012)
[top]
5. NYT: WHITE HOUSE
OFFICIALS MET WITH COUP PLOTTERS
Senior members of the
Bush administration met several times in recent months with leaders of
the abortive Venezuelan coup, and agreed that Chavez should be removed
from office, White House officials admitted. "They came here to
complain," one anonymous official said of the anti-Chavez group. "Our
message was very clear: there are constitutional processes. We did not
even wink at anyone." A Pentagon official involved in Venezuela policy
was less committal: "We were not discouraging people. We were sending
informal, subtle signals that we don't like this guy. We didn't say,
'No, don't you dare,' and we weren't advocates saying, 'Here's some
arms; we'll help you overthrow this guy.' We were not doing that."
The disclosures come as rights advocates and Latin American
diplomats accuse the White House of having connived in the coup. In the
immediate aftermath of the ouster, White House spokesperson Ari
Fleischer suggested the administration was pleased. "The government
suppressed what was a peaceful demonstration of the people," Fleischer
said, which "led very quickly to a combustible situation in which Chavez
resigned." (NYT, April 16)
A State Depatment official also admitted that Assistant
Secretary of State Otto Reich telephoned de facto president Pedro
Carmona on the very day he took over, and urged him not to dissolve the
Natoinal Assembly, saying it would be a "stupid thing to do." The
official said, "In our opinion, he needed to work with them," meaning
Carmona and his co-conspirators. Carmona ignored Reich's alleged appeal,
and shut down the National Assembly and Supreme Court, sparking the
counter-coup that returned Chavez to power. (NYT, April 17)
[top]
6. PETRO-OLIGARCHS
PISSED AT CHAVEZ
In December, Venezuelan president Hugo
Chavez introduced a new law nearly doubling the royalties private oil
companies must pay and giving the state a majority share in all new
projects. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves outside of the Middle
East, and international oil companies called the new legislation hostile
to private investment. But Chavez defended it, saying, "This a
liberating law because it breaks the chains that have bound us for so
many years. This is a law for the poor. Of every 10 Venezuelans, seven
are poor. One of the reasons for this was the mismanagement of the
petroleum industry." Under the law, which took effect Jan. 1, the
state-owned company PDVSA must hold a minimum 51% stake in all future
Venezuelan oil development. Venezuela's private-sector bosses first
started calling for a strike against the Chavez government after the law
was passed. (BBC, Dec. 1)
International investors are looking to Venezuela as an artery
for exploiting the oil wealth of South America's remote interior. A new
transmission line bringing Venezuela hydro-power from the Orinoco River
over the Gran Sabana plateau to the cities of the Brazilian Amazon was
just completed, and is to be followed by a parallel gas pipeline to
carry Amazonian fossil fuels to global markets via Venezuela. (See:
"Arteries for Global Trade: Consequences for Amazonia,"
Amazon Watch,
April 1997) The Arawako, Pemon and other Indian nations of the Gran
Sabana had repeatedly blockaded construction roads through the region.
(WBAI News, April 30, 1998) But in 2000, local Indian groups and the
National Indigenous Council of Venezuela (CONIVE) both signed off on the
project--partially in return for autonomy guarantees in the new
constitution instated by Chavez. (Christine Halvorson, Rainforest
Foundation, New York) Both these autonomy provisions and Chavez'
insistence on a government stake in the development are seen as
hindrences to unbridled corporate exploitation of the Amazon-Orinoco
region. (See also: "Amazonia: Planning the Final Destruction," by Bill
Weinberg,
Native Americas, Fall/Winter 2001, Cornell U.)
During its brief tenure in power, the de facto government
overturned 49 economic laws passed by the Chavez-controlled National
Assembly which they said bottlenecked foreign investment. (NYT, April
13) The Venezuelan coup attempt came as oil prices are rising--and just
a week after Iraq announced an embargo of Western markets in protest of
the Palestine carnage, calling for a replay of the 1973 Arab boycott
(see WATCHING THE SHADOWS).
[top]
7. MORE BOMBS IN
COLOMBIA
A bus exploded as the motorcade of Colombia's
leading presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe passed outside a market in
Barranquilla April 14, leaving the ultra-rightist politician unharmed
but killing three bystanders and wounding 15 others. Gen. Armando
Sandoval, local police commander, said "Attributing blame at this moment
would be speculation. We know it was a remote-control device." Uribe is
a hardliner who wants to expand Colombia's bloody counter-insurgency war
against leftist guerillas. (AP, April 14)
On April 7, a coordinated two-bomb attack in downtown
Villavicencio killed 12 and wounded dozens more. The first bomb killed
four, and drew spectators from bars and restaurants. Then the second,
larger one, hidden under a car, exploded, killing eight more. National
Police commander Gen. Ernesto Gilbert blamed the Colombian Revolutionary
Armed Forces (FARC). That same week, a car bomb exploded in Fuente de
Oro, injuring 13, and a priest was shot to death by attackers during a
service just south of Bogota. (AP, April 7)
[top]
WATCHING THE SHADOWS
1. POWELL PAWN OF
PETRO-OLIGARCHS
Secretary of State Colin Powell's Middle
East peacemaking mission is being closely watched by oil analysts, wrote
Tom Raum for the AP April 13. While the US is better positioned to ride
out a disruption in Mideast oil now than during the 1973 Arab boycott,
tensions in the region have helped drive up fuel costs for Americans.
With the summer driving season approaching, US gasoline prices have
already risen by 32 cents since February, to an average price of $1.46
per gallon. "There's no oil shortage as such," said John Lichtblau,
chairman of the New York-based Petroleum Industry Research Foundation.
"It's all fear. If Powell does manage to get a cease-fire, there's no
doubt that the price of oil would decline."
Iraq's announced 30-day cutoff of oil to Israel's allies caused
a spike in prices the first week in April. President Bush warned that
higher prices could stall the economic recovery, and prodded the Senate
to approve opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil
exploitation. "You know my opinion about Saddam; the world's not going
to follow him. But it just goes to show how important it is to diversify
our supply away from places like Iraq," Bush said. Republican Sen. Frank
Murkowski of Alaska, sponsor of the Alaska proposal, called the Middle
East crisis "justification for moving as rapidly as possible" on the
legislation.
Analysists say Powell's failure to strike a deal could drive the
price of crude to $30 a barrel. It has already risen to about $26 from
$16 last fall, and reached $27 after the Iraqi cutback. Raum writes,
"The picture had been complicated by labor turmoil affecting oil
shipments in Venezuela, the world's No. 4 oil exporter and the third
biggest supplier to the United States. But army commanders just ousted
the leftist president, Hugo Chavez, and the businessman picked by the
military to lead the country promised an end to anti-Chavez strikes that
had severely cut oil production." Analysts predicted that Venezuela's de
facto president Pedro Carmona would abandon Chavez's strict compliance
with OPEC quotas.
[top]
NEW YORK CITY
1. IDIOT POLITICIANS
EXPLOIT 9-11
New York gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo
(Clinton's HUD chief and son of former governor Mario Cuomo) cynically
exploited both 9-11 and the personality cult around former NYC mayor
Rudolph Giuliani to score cheap points against his rival, sitting
governor George Pataki. Said Cuomo: "There was one leader for 9-11: It
was Rudy Giuliani... It defined George Pataki as not being the leader.
He stood behind the leader. He held the leader's coat." Pataki said he
was "stunned" by the comments, and Giuliani immediately came to his
defense, saying, "I held his coat as often as he held mine." (NYT, April
18) NYC fire union president Pete Gorman was livid. "It's an outrage
that someone like Andrew Cuomo, who had no formal role in the World
Trade Center aftermath, [would] criticize Gov. Pataki." (Daily News,
April 19)
[top]
2. DEMOGRAPHICS ON 9-11
VICTIMS RELEASED
The NYC Health Department released data
on the gender and ethnic breakdown of the 9-11 victims. The preliminary
summary based on 2,617 death certificates showed 2,008 males to 609
females, and 1,987 "non-Hispanic white" to 630 combined Black,
Asian/Pacific, Hispanic and other. (Newsday, April 19)
[top]
3. INDICTED ATTORNEY LYNNE
STEWART SPEAKS OUT ON CASE
New York activist attorney
Lynne Stewart, accused of violating federal prison rules governing
visits with a client accused of terrorism conspiracy (see WW3 REPORT #29), slammed the US
Justice Department's case against her as political grandstanding. "It
smacks of the fact that they're running out of gas" on the 9-11 case,
she told reporters while leaving a hearing at federal court in
Manhattan. She noted that her indictment came down when Attorney General
John Ashcroft was in town to visit Ground Zero. But the client in
question, the "Blind Shiek" Omar Abdel-Rahman, was not linked to the
9-11 attack. The blind Egyptian cleric was convicted of plotting to blow
up other New York City landmarks in 1995. Stewart is accused of
violating SAMs or "special administrative measures" prohibiting her from
passing on communications from the imprisoned shiekh to his followers.
But Stewart notes that the government continued to allow her to visit
the shiekh for two years after the alleged violations. Meanwhile, the
FBI has seized Stewart's files and Rolodex, and dozens of her
clients--including mafia turncoat Sammy "the Bull" Gravano--will have to
go before judges to decide if they still want to be represented by a
woman accused of terrorist links. Stewart says issues of attorney-client
privilege are at stake, and vows to fight to the end. "I think I'm being
used as an example and they feel that if they can defeat me in this
case, basically everybody else can be a pushover." (Newsday, April 11)
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