Archive for November 8th, 2007
Sarkozy : Nous ne quitterons pas l’Afghanistan
Nicolas Sarkozy n’exclut pas l’envoi de renforts en Afghanistan
MOUNT VERNON (Reuters) – Nicolas Sarkozy a laissé entendre mercredi que la France pourrait envisager l’envoi de moyens militaires supplémentaires en Afghanistan, où elle est déjà présente aux côtés des Etats-Unis.
”Nous ne quitterons pas l’Afghanistan parce qu’il en va de la solidité et de la pérennité de notre alliance et parce que c’est le combat contre le terrorisme“, a déclaré le président français à la presse à l’issue d’entretiens avec son homologue américain à Mount Vernon, près de Washington.
“Nous réfléchissons à la meilleure façon d’aider à l’émergence d’un Afghanistan démocratique”, a-t-il ajouté lors de cette conférence de presse commune avec George Bush. “Est-ce que c’est en renforçant l’effort de formation pour poser les bases d’un Etat afghan moderne ? Est-ce que c’est en donnant d’autres moyens, militaires ? Nous sommes en train d’en discuter.”
Quelque 1.100 soldats français participent aujourd’hui à la Force internationale de stabilisation de l’Afghanistan (Isaf), forte au total de plus de 41.000 hommes.
Mercredi matin, dans un discours devant le Congrès américain, Nicolas Sarkozy avait déclaré que la France resterait engagée en Afghanistan “aussi longtemps qu’il le faudra”.
“Ce qui est en cause dans ce pays, c’est l’avenir de nos valeurs et celui de l’Alliance atlantique”, avait-il expliqué devant les représentants et sénateurs américains réunis en session commune. “Je le dis solennellement devant vous: l’échec n’est pas une option.”
“Le terrorisme ne gagnera pas parce que les démocraties ne sont pas faibles, parce que nous n’avons pas peur de cette barbarie. L’Amérique peut compter sur la France”, avait ajouté le président français.
Lors de leur conférence de presse commune, George Bush a salué la position de Nicolas Sarkozy et sa “détermination” sur la question de l’Afghanistan.
Lorsqu’il n’était encore que candidat à l’Elysée, Nicolas Sarkozy s’était interrogé le printemps dernier entre les deux tours de l’élection présidentielle sur la pertinence du maintien d’un contingent français en Afghanistan. Il avait même laissé entendre qu’il était favorable à un retrait de ces forces.
Sa position a cependant très vite évolué après son installation à l’Elysée. Le retrait des forces françaises d’Afghanistan risquerait de donner un signal négatif à d’autres pays contributeurs de l’Isaf, estimait récemment le ministre français de la Défense, Hervé Morin, qui craint un effet “domino”.
yahoo news
US Democracy applied at full in Georgia, riot police, tear gas, water cannons, tv station closed
US Democracy applied at full in Georgia, riot police, tear gas, water cannons, tv station closed
Riot police used tear gas and water cannons to break up demonstrations against Georgia’s pro-Western government Wednesday before bursting into the offices of a pro-opposition television station that went off the air moments later.
The Georgian Health Ministry said that around 360 people have so far been injured in the clashes, and 109 remain in hospital.
Imedi TV said protests have now spilled over into other Georgian cities. The largest provincial rally is taking place in Batumi on the Black Sea coast.
Georgian riot police use tear gas, water cannons on protesters
07/ 11/ 2007
TBILISI, November 7 (RIA Novosti)
Georgian riot police used water cannons and tear gas on Wednesday to disperse rallies of thousands of protesters demanding President Mikheil Saakashvili’s resignation and early elections.
After hundreds of riot police with shields and batons broke up a rally outside parliament, opposition supporters staged a new protest on the city’s Rike Square. Harsh methods were again used to dispel the crowd, including rubber bullets and tear gas.
Opposition arrests and police beatings have angered the crowds, now gathering for a sixth day in central Tbilisi.
The Georgian Health Ministry said that around 360 people have so far been injured in the clashes, and 109 remain in hospital. Health Minister David Tkeshelashvili said the state would pay for the medical treatment of those injured.
Georgian Interior Ministry troops and army units have been deployed on the streets to prevent the protesters from breaking through to the parliament’s building. All 23 metro stations in the capital have been closed.
Aside from President Saakashvili’s resignation, the Georgian opposition is demanding early elections in April 2008, electoral reform, and the freeing of “political prisoners”. Saakashvili has so far refused to negotiate with the protesters.
At the peak of the protests, between 50,000 and 100,000 people, according to different estimates, rallied on Friday, the first day of Georgia’s worst unrest since the 2003 “rose revolution” that brought Saakashvili to power.
Protesters accuse the president of corruption, authoritarianism, and failed economic reforms. Many continue to support former defense minister Irakly Okruashvili, previously a key ally of the president, who in late September publicly accused Saakashvili of ordering the murders of political opponents and of plotting the forceful seizure of breakaway South Ossetia. Days after the comments he was arrested and charged with blackmail, money laundering, and abuse of office, but was later released.
Imedi TV channel reported that Giorgy Khaindrava, a Georgian opposition leader detained earlier today, had launched a hunger strike. Khaindrava announced the measure after being taken to a Tbilisi court to face charges of inciting public disorder and resisting police. He was later released by the court after paying a fine of around $250.
National media also reported that authorities are searching the office of businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, who earlier pledged to finance political opposition in the country and said he was ready to spend his entire fortune to overthrow “Saakashvili’s Nazi regime”.
Georgian lawmaker Levan Gachechiladze, who had been taking part in a hunger strike outside parliament, said he had been attacked by police, but warned that “the people will soon beat Saakashvili in the same manner”.
The opposition People’s Party said that their leader, Koba Davitashvili, was abducted by unknown individuals and forced into a car at a market where he had arrived to buy a sound amplification system for the anti-president rally.
Imedi TV said protests have now spilled over into other Georgian cities. The largest provincial rally is taking place in Batumi on the Black Sea coast.
The head of Georgia’s Orthodox Church voiced his concern over the unrest, and pledged the church’s support in resolving the standoff.
“The situation in Georgia is slipping out of control,” Patriarch Ilia II said. “I think there is only one route – and that is dialogue between the leadership and the opposition. If there is willingness from both sides, we are ready to take part in this dialogue.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the ongoing unrest is an internal affair for Georgia but stressed that Russia is concerned by the events. “What is happening in Georgia is its internal affair, and I would not like to comment in detail on the situation. But it is of concern to us,” he said.
The minister said that in addition to the crisis in Tbilisi, Georgia’s leadership is attempting to scupper talks on regulating the country’s conflicts with its breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The European Union and NATO said they were closely watching the situation in Georgia and urged the country’s authorities and opposition to refrain from confrontation.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20071107/87002706.html
Russian army chief says U.S. aggravating Georgia’s conflicts
16:29 | 07/ 11/ 2007
MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) – American interference is aggravating relations between Georgia and its two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the chief of the Russian General Staff said on Wednesday.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is pushing his country for NATO membership, enjoyed until recently Western backing in his ongoing disputes with Russia, in particular over two breakaway regions that have strong ties with Moscow.
“Events in Georgia are occurring with the interference of the United States,” Gen. Yury Baluyevsky said. “Who finances Georgia’s $820 million military budget? Who is creating this force, which tomorrow might be used against its own people? I am not ruling this out.”
Baluyevsky also said that an incident involving Russian peacekeepers in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia in late October was incited by Tbilisi.
“This was a provocation, and President Saakashvili is one of the initiators of that provocation, which threatened Russian peacekeepers,” Baluyevsky said.
The Russian peacekeepers detained five Georgian officers in the village of Ganmukhuri in late October, saying the Georgians had threatened to open fire on them. Georgia said Russian peacekeepers attacked the police officers and beat them up. The officers were released after the Georgian president arrived in the area to intervene.
Georgia has repeatedly voiced its goal of regaining control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which declared independence in the early 1990s. It has also accused the CIS peacekeeping force, mainly represented by Russians, of backing separatists.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071107/86979875.html
By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI, Associated Press Writer
6 minutes ago
TBILISI, Georgia – Riot police used tear gas and water cannons to break up demonstrations against Georgia’s pro-Western government Wednesday before bursting into the offices of a pro-opposition television station that went off the air moments later.
Six days of demonstrations in Tbilisi have fueled the worst crisis that U.S.-allied President Mikhail Saakashvili has faced since he was propelled to power in the 2003 Rose Revolution mass protests.
Saakashvili said in a televised address that Russian spy agencies were behind the protests and that several Russian diplomats had been asked to leave because of espionage activities.
There was no immediate response from Moscow, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed similar previous allegations by Saakashvili as “farce.”
The Imedi television station describes itself as independent but is seen as a key opposition mouthpiece by authorities. It has carried statements by opposition leaders and broadcast footage of police breaking up protests Wednesday. More than 100 people were hospitalized after police drove opposition demonstrators from two protests in the capital, Tbilisi. Police used truncheons on some protesters and rubber bullets at one demonstration.
“Riot police are here, something horrible is going on,” the Imedi announcer said before the station went off the air.
The Interior Ministry said it would put out a statement on the situation at Imedi later in the day.
“Journalists aren’t in danger, they will be allowed to go home,” ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told The Associated Press.
Salome Zurabishvili, a former foreign minister who is now an opposition leader, said she was inside Imedi’s headquarters when more than 100 police broke into the building and took control.
Zurabishvili said that the shutdown of Imedi means that Georgia no longer has independent television because Rustavi 2 television, which is technically independent, has toed the official line.
Imedi was founded by Badri Patarkatsishvili, a prominent businessman who authorities claim is behind the protests against President Mikhail Saakashvili. Patarkatsishvili earned his fortune in Russia during the turbulent 1990s, but he returned to his native Georgia in 2000.
Patarkatsishvili recently handed over his controlling stake in Imedi to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., saying he wants to focus on supporting opposition parties.
The main demonstration Wednesday was in a street outside Parliament, where Saakashvili opponents have gathered since Friday, first to demand changes in election schedules and legislation and then to demand his resignation.
As police advanced, protesters retreated down Tbilisi’s main avenue. Police fired tear gas from the beds of pickup trucks. Many wore gas masks, and live television broadcasts showed several people choking, including police. Scattered fist fights broke out between uniformed police and protesters.
Later, riot police again used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to break up another demonstration in downtown Tbilisi. Some police used truncheons to beat protesters who clambered over the city’s walls, threw stones and taunted police.
About 360 people sought medical assistance, and more than 100 of them have remained hospitalized, Health Ministry spokeswoman Nino Kochorashvili told The Associated Press.
Saakashvili said he regretted the use of force, but argued that it was necessary to prevent the country from sliding into chaos.
link
Study: 1 Out of 4 Homeless Are Veterans – Sexual Trauma Haunts Many Female Vets – The truth comes out about Gulf War Illness
Study: 1 Out of 4 Homeless Are Veterans
Thursday November 8, 2007
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) – Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.
And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.
The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness, a public education nonprofit, based the findings of its report on numbers from Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau. 2005 data estimated that 194,254 homeless people out of 744,313 on any given night were veterans.
In comparison, the VA says that 20 years ago, the estimated number of veterans who were homeless on any given night was 250,000.
Some advocates say the early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless. Advocates worry that intense and repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable.
“We’re going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous,” said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa.
While services to homeless veterans have improved in the past 20 years, advocates say more financial resources still are needed. With the spotlight on the plight of Iraq veterans, they hope more will be done to prevent homelessness and provide affordable housing to the younger veterans while there’s a window of opportunity.
“When the Vietnam War ended, that was part of the problem. The war was over, it was off TV, nobody wanted to hear about it,” said John Keaveney, a Vietnam veteran and a founder of New Directions in Los Angeles, which provides substance abuse help, job training and shelter to veterans.
“I think they’ll be forgotten, Keaveney said of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. “People get tired of it. It’s not glitzy that these are young, honorable, patriotic Americans. They’ll just be veterans, and that happens after every war.
Keaveney said it’s difficult for his group to persuade some homeless Iraq veterans to stay for treatment and help because they don’t relate to the older veterans. Those who stayed have had success – one is now a stock broker and another is applying to be a police officer, he said.
“They see guys that are their father’s age and they don’t understand, they don’t know, that in a couple of years they’ll be looking like them,” he said.
After being discharged from the military, Jason Kelley, 23, of Tomahawk, Wis., who served in Iraq with the Wisconsin National Guard, took a bus to Los Angeles looking for better job prospects and a new life.
Kelley said he couldn’t find a job because he didn’t have an apartment, and he couldn’t get an apartment because he didn’t have a job. He stayed in a $300-a-week motel until his money ran out, then moved into a shelter run by the group U.S. VETS in Inglewood, Calif. He’s since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.
“The only training I have is infantry training and there’s not really a need for that in the civilian world,” Kelley said in a phone interview. He has enrolled in college and hopes to move out of the shelter soon.
The Iraq vets seeking help with homelessness are more likely to be women, less likely to have substance abuse problems, but more likely to have mental illness – mostly related to post-traumatic stress, said Pete Dougherty, director of homeless veterans programs at the VA.
Overall, 45 percent of participants in the VA’s homeless programs have a diagnosable mental illness and more than three out of four have a substance abuse problem, while 35 percent have both, Dougherty said.
Historically, a number of fighters in U.S. wars have become homeless. In the post-Civil War era, homeless veterans sang old Army songs to dramatize their need for work and became known as “tramps,” which had meant to march into war, said Todd DePastino, a historian at Penn State University’s Beaver campus who wrote a book on the history of homelessness.
After World War I, thousands of veterans – many of them homeless – camped in the nation’s capital seeking bonus money. Their camps were destroyed by the government, creating a public relations disaster for President Herbert Hoover.
The end of the Vietnam War coincided with a time of economic restructuring, and many of the same people who fought in Vietnam were also those most affected by the loss of manufacturing jobs, DePastino said.
Their entrance to the streets was traumatic and, as they aged, their problems became more chronic, recalled Sister Mary Scullion, who has worked with the homeless for 30 years and co-founded of the group Project H.O.M.E. in Philadelphia.
“It takes more to address the needs because they are multiple needs that have been unattended, Scullion said. “Life on the street is brutal and I know many, many homeless veterans who have died from Vietnam.
The VA started targeting homelessness in 1987, 12 years after the fall of Saigon. Today, the VA has, either on its own or through partnerships, more than 15,000 residential rehabilitative, transitional and permanent beds for homeless veterans nationwide. It spends about $265 million annually on homeless-specific programs and about $1.5 billion for all health care costs for homeless veterans.
Because of these types of programs and because two years of free medical care is being offered to all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Dougherty said they hope many veterans from recent wars who are in need can be identified early.
“Clearly, I don’t think that’s going to totally solve the problem, but I also don’t think we’re simply going to wait for 10 years until they show up, Dougherty said. “We’re out there now trying to get everybody we can to get those kinds of services today, so we avoid this kind of problem in the future.
In all of 2006, the National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that 495,400 veterans were homeless at some point during the year.
The group recommends that 5,000 housing units be created per year for the next five years dedicated to the chronically homeless that would provide permanent housing linked to veterans’ support systems. It also recommends funding an additional 20,000 housing vouchers exclusively for homeless veterans, and creating a program that helps bridge the gap between income and rent.
Following those recommendations would cost billions of dollars, but there is some movement in Congress to increase the amount of money dedicated to homeless veterans programs.
On a recent day in Philadelphia, case managers from Project H.O.M.E. and the VA picked up William Joyce, 60, a homeless Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair who said he’d been sleeping at a bus terminal.
“You’re an honorable veteran. You’re going to get some services, outreach worker Mark Salvatore told Joyce. “You need to be connected. You don’t need to be out here on the streets.
Vets in 1932, how the promise we made them will be break this march by famous US Generals ( Patton, Eisenhower)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7059671,00.html
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Sexual Trauma Haunts Many Female Vets
By Randy Dotinga, HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) — Shedding light on the challenges facing women in the military, a new study shows that more than one in seven female Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking VA medical care reported experiencing sexual trauma during their service.
Veterans who reported sexual trauma, such as rape and threatening sexual harassment, were three times more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
“These mental health conditions are getting recognized, diagnosed and treated,” said study co-author Joanne Pavao, a researcher with the VA Palo Alto Health Care System’s National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, in California.
Pavao and her colleagues analyzed the records of 89,960 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who sought medical care in the VA health-care system between Oct. 1, 2001, and Oct. 1, 2006. They were expected to present their findings Tuesday in San Diego at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting.
A total of 1,849 women — 14.5 percent — reported experiencing sexual trauma during their service; 471 men — 0.6 percent — said they’d experienced sexual trauma.
A study released in 2007 found that 22 percent of female veterans and 1 percent of male veterans reported sexual trauma in VA health-care surveys conducted in 2003. That study looked at veterans of all types, not just from Afghanistan and Iraq.
The new study found that these men and women were three times more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness than those who didn’t report experiencing sexual trauma.
Among women who reported experiencing sexual trauma, 76 percent were diagnosed with a mental condition, compared to 47 percent of other female veterans. The rates were similar in men.
According to the study, the most common mental health conditions among the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders (which cause stress and other problems during certain situations), and drug addiction or alcoholism. All were more common in men and women who reported sexual trauma; post-traumatic stress disorder was much more common in women than men in that group.
It’s not clear where the sexual trauma occurred. “It’s sexual trauma that occurred during active military duty,” Pavao said. “It could have occurred at any point during the service history of these men and women.”
All veterans who seek health care within the VA system are screened for sexual trauma, Pavao said. “When this is detected, they’re offered free health care for all conditions that the clinicians determine to be related to military sexual trauma. This is part of the VA’s large-scale efforts to treat these conditions in a timely way.”
If they get treatment, many women who experienced sexual trauma can recover, said Edna B. Foa, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania who studies sexual violence.
About 20 percent of women who are raped in the general population develop post-traumatic stress disorder, she said. “Even if they don’t meet the criteria of the disorder, many of them will have symptoms that will cause them distress, difficulties having sexual relationships, etc….,” she said. “Having a sexual trauma is serious.”
SOURCES: Joanne Pavao, M.P.H., researcher, National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Calif.; Edna B. Foa, Ph.D., professor, psychology and psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Oct. 28, 2008, presentation, American Public Health Association annual meeting, San Diego
http://www.wave3.com/global/story.asp?s=9252561&referer=sphere_related_content
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Military Sees Rise in Troop Suicides
Shame on USA
War Vets Suffer Intensified Mental Distress Over Time, Study Finds Soldiers from Iraq, Afghanistan Cope with Combat StressSummary.
The army reports that suicides among active duty personnel have doubled in recent years. With low recruitment levels and wars continuing in both Iraq and Afghanistan, many soldiers have had to deploy multiple times, which might be contributing to the increase.
This report tells one family’s story of battling with the mental effects of going to war and struggling to get adequate therapy and tools to deal with post traumatic stress. The NewsHour’s Betty Ann Bowser also talks to the Army and Department of Veterans Affairs about how they are responding to the rise, and to veterans’ advocates fighting for better mental health services.
The Army has started several programs aimed at reaching soldiers suffering from depression; including hiring more mental health workers and starting a suicide hotline, but some advocates say it is not enough.
Quotes
“I was not prepared for the man that came home. No one told me what to prepare for, what to look for. No one said he would be different. No one said he’d be angry.” – Tracy Eiswert, wife of specialist Scott Eiswert
“Our research supports the more deployments that you have, the higher the likelihood of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.” Col. Elspeth Ritchie, U.S. Army
“It’s happening all across America right now because the V.A. system has become so adversarial and because V.A. is under an enormous burden of demand from hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans filing claims. They don’t have the time and the staff to provide the level of assistance that they should.” Paul Sullivan, Veterans for Common Sense
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/video/blog/2008/11/military_sees_rise_in_troop_su.html
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The truth comes out about Gulf War Illness
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Elizabeth Schulte reports on a new study that contradicts the U.S. government’s long-held position that Gulf War Illness doesn’t exist.
November 21, 2008
AFTER AN agonizing 17 years, the U.S. government will finally have to admit what veterans and their families have long known–Gulf War Illness is a very real and debilitating condition that has affected one-quarter of soldiers who served in the 1990-91 war.
The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (RAC-GWVI)–a committee of scientists and veterans appointed by Congress in 2002 to investigate the illnesses experienced by veterans of Operation Desert Storm–presented its 450-page report to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake on November 17.
The new report, which chronicles the ailments suffered by some 175,000 Gulf War veterans–including memory and concentration problems, persistent headaches, unexplained fatigue, widespread pain, respiratory symptoms, digestive problems and skin rashes–contradicts previous reports, which denied that Gulf War Illness even existed.
Among those previous reports, a 2006 National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine, claimed that the soldiers were simply suffering from merely suffering from stress disorders typical to any combat zone.
What else to read
The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses report is available on the Boston University School of Public Health Web site.
As the RAC-GWVI report plainly states:
Gulf War illness fundamentally differs from trauma and stress-related syndromes described after other wars. Studies consistently indicate that Gulf War illness is not the result of combat or other stressors and that Gulf War veterans have lower rates of posttraumatic stress disorder than veterans of other wars.
According to the committee’s scientific director Roberta White, veterans “have been plagued by ill health since their return 17 years ago. Although evidence for this health phenomenon is overwhelming, veterans repeatedly find that their complaints are met with cynicism and a ‘blame the victim’ mentality that attributes their health problems to mental illness or non-physical factors.”
Lea Steele, who served as RAC-GWVI scientific director, told the Washington Post, “VA docs often know nothing about it and aren’t able to help them. Sometimes, they treat them as if they are head cases or malingering.”
As Anthony Hardie, national secretary for Veterans of Modern Warfare, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “It really closes one of the darker chapters of the legacy of the Gulf War, and that is Gulf War illness.”
Hardie, a 23-year-old sergeant during the war, now suffers from respiratory problems, fatigue and chronic pain. “The report clearly lays out that Gulf War illness was caused by unique exposures; it lays out clearly that Gulf war illness is not a stress-related or trauma condition, that it is not the same as in wars before or since. It is unique,” he said.
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THE REPORT cites two main causes of Gulf War Illness–exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides that were used against sand flies and other pests, and pyridostigmine bromide, or PB, a drug administered to troops that was supposed to protect them from nerve gas.
At least half of all troops in the 1991 war took PB, a drug that was not approved by the Federal Drug Administration, but for which the FDA gave the Defense Department a waiver for informed consent. In other words, soldiers were being used as guinea pigs, and they had no way of knowing.
The committee also did not rule out some other causes of Gulf War Illness, including exposure to nerve agents and smoke from oil well fires, and receiving a large numbers of vaccines. Department of Defense reports show that about 100,000 U.S. troops may have been exposed to low-level nerve agents after the demolition of Iraqi munitions near Khamisiyah, Iraq, in 1991. Even being exposed to low levels of nerve gas can have lasting brain deficits.
The report cites a veteran who said:
I arrived in Theater on January 6, 1991…During official visits to strategic military cities, there were frequent SCUD attacks during which I heard chemical alarms sound. When I asked if these alarms meant chemicals had been detected, I was told that the chemical alarms had malfunctioned.
I became ill and was treated for nausea, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea and high temperature. Rashes I had over my body I thought were normal and expected since I spent most days in the sand, wind and sun, with all the attendant fleas, flies and desert parasites. Headaches I attributed to fatigue and lack of sleep. The symptoms…continued after I returned home and got progressively worse.
British Gulf War veterans are also seeing the effects. “Recognition of the full extent of the illnesses suffered by these veterans of the conflict and the obligation owed to them is long overdue,” said David Craig, Marshal of the Royal Air Force and chief of the defense staff during the Gulf War. “They are victims of the war, as much as any one struck by a bullet or shell.”
While the report did not link depleted uranium (DU) to the Gulf War Illness, the widespread effects of soldiers’ exposure to DU are also a part of the report. Said one veteran:
I knew we were shooting DU rounds, but we were never told to stay away from vehicles that were hit by DU rounds. Now I know that we probably got DU dust all over us. But we didn’t know any better, and we were dipping, smoking and eating without having washed our hands.
Right after the war, we saw lots of guys from other units climbing on the vehicles we had shot with DU rounds…In April 1991, while we were in Kuwait, I started getting diarrhea, nausea, stomach cramps, headaches, and tightness in my chest. My problems have gotten worse since then.
According to the RAC-GWVI report, Gulf War veterans developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease] at twice the rate of nondeployed veterans. It also found that personnel stationed downwind from the Khamisiyah munitions demolitions have died from brain cancer at twice the rate of other Gulf War veterans.
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THE REPORT showed that very few veterans have recovered from Gulf War Illness, and the researchers had no recommendations for treatment. This is hardly surprising, since the government has done everything it could to refuse to recognize that the condition even existed.
And even though millions of federal dollars have gone to supposed Gulf War research, little has changed for sick veterans of the war. “In recent years, both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs have reported a lot of studies that weren’t Gulf War illness as Gulf War research,” said the RAC-GWVI’s Steele. “Some of the money was misused.”
The Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs claim they have spent nearly $440 million since 1994 on Gulf War research. But the RAC-GWVI found that the money was largely used to fund research that had nothing to do with Gulf War Illness.
A lot of the DOD money actually went to projects for soldiers currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the report, the department has cut funding for the Gulf War research from about $30 million a year in 2003 to less than $5 million in 2006.
This is hardly unique for the soldiers sent to fight U.S. wars. It took 20 years for the soldiers suffering from the effects of Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant used during the Vietnam War, to force the government to acknowledge their illness.
Now that the facts are finally exposed on the impact of Gulf War Illness, we have to press the federal government to spend the money necessary to find a treatment for the tens of thousand of veterans who are paying for the U.S.’s wars with their health.
socialistworker.org/2008/11/21/truth-about-gulf-war-illness
Stop watching TV, lie after lie, year after year…
Don’t be a Sheep all your life, when few make money on the death of your Child,
Don’t Die for Zion, the civils killers, or Die if you choose to believe their lies.
ALQAIDA IS Zion False Flags
Unraveling The Myth Of Al Qaida
7/7 London Bombing : The Brainwashing – MI5 did 7/7 london Bombing
Attentats de LONDRES du 7 JUILLET 2005 - Conspiration
Al-Qaeda, the Eternal Covert Operation: War on Terror Propaganda
“The U. S. is supporting Israeli-sponsored terrorism”
What Nobody Wants To Know About Somalia And Why; And What That Means
Islamabad Hotel Bombing: A CIA/MI6/MOSSAD false flag like Bali and Jakarta
Who is behind Human Rights Watch? Why human rights are wrong
Conspiracy of Silence: Corporate Media Refuses to Cover Bilderberg Confab
By Way of Deception
By Way of Deception
Victor Ostrovsky a grandi en Israël, bien que né au Canada.
A 18 ans, il est devenu le plus jeune officier de l’armée israélienne, puis il fut promu au grade de lieutenant en charge des tests d’armes pour la marine.
Il a été officier du Mossad de 1984 à 1986.
Le livre (en anglais) de Victor Ostrovsky peut être commandé sur http://www.librad.com : By Way of Deception:The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer (Par la tromperie : construction et démolition d’un officier du Mossad) par Victor Ostrovsky et Claire Hoy – 371 est paru en octobre 1990 aux éditions St Martin’s Press – 371 pages – ASIN : 0312056133.
Est-il besoin de le mentionner, le lobby israélien a exigé (et obtenu, dans une large mesure) une mise à l’index de cet ouvrage, tandis que des experts pro-israéliens s’ingéniaient à tenter de le descendre en flammes à chaque fois que l’opportunité leur en était offerte.Révéler les faits dont j’ai été amené à connaître en ayant eu le privilège insigne de passer quatre années de ma vie au Mossad ne fut pas pour moi chose aisée.Venant d’un milieu ardemment sioniste, on m’avait inculqué que l’État d’Israël était absolument incapable de toute mauvaise action. Que nous étions David, dans une lutte éternelle contre un Goliath monstrueux et d’année en année plus puissant. Que personne ne nous protégerait si nous venions à être menacés, et que nous ne devions compter que sur nous-mêmes. Ce sentiment était, de plus, corroboré par les survivants de l’Holocauste, qui vivaient parmi nous.Nous, la nouvelle génération d’Israélites – la nation ressuscitée sur sa propre terre, après plus de deux millénaires d’exil – étions dépositaires du sort d’une nation entière.
On appelait les commandants de nos armées ” î” et non pas ” généraux “. Nos dirigeants étaient des sortes de grands timoniers tenant bon la barre d’un navire géant. En apprenant que j’avais été sélectionné pour le Mossad, j’étais sur un petit nuage : c’était pour moi un immense honneur, un privilège insigne, d’entrer dans ce corps d’élite.
Mais ce que j’allais y découvrir, c’est la perversion des idéaux et un pragmatisme autiste, couplé à la rapacité, à la dépravation et à l’absence totale de respect pour la vie humaine, de cette soi-disant ” équipe “. C’est ce qui m’a poussé à écrire ce livre, afin de témoigner sur ce que j’ai vu.
C’est par amour pour Israël, mon pays – un pays libre et juste – que je mets ici ma propre vie en jeu, en osant défier ceux qui se sont arrogé le droit de faire du rêve sioniste le cauchemar éveillé qu’il est devenu aujourd’hui.`
Le Mossad, en tant que service de renseignements investi de la responsabilité d’écrire le scénario que devront suivre les dirigeants présidant aux destinées du pays, a trahi la confiance placée en lui. Complotant pour son propre compte, au service d’objectifs à courte vue et égoïstes, il a placé la nation sur la trajectoire de la guerre totale.
L’un des principaux thèmes de cet ouvrage est mon intime conviction que le Mossad a échappé à tout contrôle et que même le Premier ministre, en apparence (mais en apparence, seulement), aux manettes, n’a pas d’autorité réelle sur les décisions qu’il est censé prendre.
Victor Ostrovsky, ancien agent du Mossad, a consacré deux ouvrages au terrorisme d’État israélien prenant pour cible les ennemis d’Israël, afin de les “neutraliser”. Dans l’un de ces deux ouvrages, il expose le sort de Palestiniens qui avaient pénétré clandestinement en territoire israélien, à la recherche d’un emploi en Israël.
Plusieurs milliers de ces jeunes hommes ont tout simplement disparu ; personne n’a plus jamais eu aucune nouvelle à leur sujet, après qu’ils eurent été capturés par l’armée israélienne. Certains d’entre eux ont été emmenés au centre de recherches ultra-secret ABC, où ils subissent les horreurs indescriptibles d’expérimentations d’armes chimiques, biologiques et nucléaires, pour lesquelles on leur fait jouer le rôle de cobayes.
Le Mossad – je sais, cela paraît incroyable – n’a que 30 ou 35 officiers spécialisés, les “katsas”, en opération en même temps à travers le monde entier. L’explication principale de cet effectif extraordinairement est qu’à la différence des autres pays, Israël peut mettre à contribution tout un réseau loyal et très développé, dans le monde entier, au sein de la communauté juive de la diaspora. Cela est réalisé au moyen d’un système unique en son genre, celui des “sanayim”, qui sont des supplétifs volontaires juifs (diasporiques) (du Mossad).
Durant mes six premières semaines au Mossad, il ne se passa pas grand-chose. Je travaillais dans un bureau en centre-ville ; mon travail était essentiellement celui de n’importe quel employé de bureau. Mais, par une journée glaciale de février 1984, j’embarquai dans un minibus, en compagnie de quatorze autres agents… C’était l’effectif d’une promotion de “cadets” du Mossad, qui portait le nom de Cadet 16. En effet, c’était la seizième de la série.
Le formateur entra en trombe dans la pièce et alla s’asseoir au bureau, tandis qu’avec les autres, nous nous assîmes au fond de la salle. ” Je m’appelle Aharon Sherf “, dit-il. ” Je suis le directeur de l’Académie. Bienvenue au Mossad ! Le nom complet du service est : Ha-Mossad Lé-Modi’in ou-lé Tafkidim Méyuh’adim (Mossad, Institut du Renseignement & des Opérations Spéciales). Notre leitmotiv est le suivant : ” Par la ruse, la guerre tu feras “.
” C’est le vieux truc du Trojan “. Il alluma un clope.
” Qu’est-ce que c’est, le “truc du Trojan ?” ” Je ne pouvais m’empêcher de sourire bêtement : je n’avais jamais entendu parler de cette opération en ces termes.
” Je savais que cela allait vous intriguer “, reprit-il, avec un sourire entendu. ” Shimon a lancé l’Opération Trojan, en février de cette année “.
J’acquiesçai. J’étais déjà au Mossad quand cet ordre avait été donné et, en raison de ma formation navale et de ma familiarité avec la plupart des commandants dans la marine israélienne, j’avais participé à la préparation de l’opération, en tant qu’agent de liaison avec la marine.
Un Trojan, c’est un appareil de communications très particulier, qui peut être implanté profondément en territoire ennemi par des commandos. Cet appareil, une fois placé en un lieu idoine, pourra servir de station-relais permettant de diffuser des informations volontairement trompeuses, produites par l’unité de la désinformation du Mossad, appelée LAP, et conçues pour être captées par les stations d’écoute américaines et britanniques. Provenant d’un bâtiment de l’armée israélienne croisant au large, les émissions digitales préenregistrées seront alors rediffusées sur une autre fréquence – une fréquence utilisée pour des communications officielles dans le pays ennemi – ce après quoi elles finiront par être interceptées par les “grandes oreilles” américaines, en Grande Bretagne.
Les auditeurs intercepteurs ne douteront pas un instant avoir intercepté une communication authentique, et c’est de là que découle le nom de Trojan, qui évoque le mythique cheval de Troie. Ensuite, le contenu des messages, une fois déchiffré, confirmera des informations provenant d’autres sources du renseignement. En l’occurrence : du Mossad… Le seul problème était que le Trojan lui-même devrait être déposé aussi près que possible de la source normale de ce genre de transmissions, en raison des méthodes très sophistiquées de trigonométrie (triangulation) que les Américains, et les autres services de renseignements, ne manqueraient pas d’utiliser afin de s’assurer de “leur” source.
Dans l’opération particulière à laquelle Ephraïm faisait allusion, deux unités d’élite de l’armée s’étaient vu confier la responsabilité d’aller implanter l’appareil Trojan dans l’emplacement le plus approprié. Une de ces unités était l’unité de reconnaissance Mat’Kal(1). L’autre était la Flottille 13 : elle est composée de commandos marins. Les commandos furent chargés de “planter” l’émetteur Trojan en un endroit précis de la capitale libyenne, Tripoli.
Dans la nuit du 17 au 18 février, deux vedettes lance-missiles israéliennes – le SAAR Moledet de 4ème classe, armé de missiles surface-surface Harpoon et Gabriel (entre autres munitions) et le Geula, un navire lance-missile de classe Hohit, avec piste de décollage pour hélico et l’armement habituel d’un SAAR 4 – effectuaient ce qui ressemblait à une patrouille de routine en Méditerranée, et faisaient route vers le détroit de Sicile, en passant juste au ras des eaux territoriales libyennes. Juste au nord de Tripoli, les deux bâtiments de guerre, qui apparaissaient tous deux sur les écrans radars tant à Tripoli que dans l’île italienne de Lampedusa, ralentirent l’allure, descendant jusqu’à quatre nœuds – vitesse permettant sans problème la mise à l’eau d’une équipe de douze commandos marins, à bord de quatre sous-marins “humides” [c'est-à-dire, sans habitacle étanche : ce sont des engins comme en utilisent parfois les amateurs de plongée sous-marine, mais militaires et armés, Ndt], que les militaires surnomment “cochons”(2) ainsi que deux hors bords ultra rapides et extra plats, que les militaires surnomment “oiseaux”. Les “cochons” pouvaient tracter deux commandos chacun, avec tout leur équipement de combat.
Les “oiseaux”, équipés chacun d’une mitrailleuse MG de 7,62 mm de calibre, montée sur la proue et d’un stock de missiles antitanks portables (sur l’épaule, comme les bazookas), pouvaient emmener chacun six commandos, tout en remorquant les “cochons” inutilisés. Les “oiseaux” amenèrent leurs “cochons” aussi près que possible de la rive, réduisant d’autant, ce faisant, la distance que les “cochons” auraient eu à couvrir s’ils eussent été utilisés depuis les deux vedettes lance-missiles. (Ces “cochons” sont submersibles silencieux, mais relativement lents).
Arrivés à deux miles marins au large de la côte libyenne, les lumières de Tripoli étaient visibles : elles scintillaient, plus au sud-ouest. Huit commandos se glissèrent doucement à l’eau, s’arrimèrent à leurs “cochons” et ils se dirigèrent vers la côte. Les “oiseaux”‚ restèrent en arrière, face au point de rendez-vous, prêts à parer à toute éventualité. Une fois sur la plage, les commandos abandonnèrent leurs engins en forme de cigare, au fond d’une eau peu profonde, et ils se dirigèrent à l’intérieur des terres, portant un cylindre vert foncé, de six pieds de long et sept pouces de diamètre : le Trojan ! Un homme seul ne pouvait le porter : ils étaient deux à le faire.
Une camionnette grise était arrêtée, à environ cent pieds du bord de la mer, sur le bas-côté de l’autoroute reliant Subratah à Tripoli, et qui se poursuit ensuite jusqu’à Benghazi. A cette heure avancée de la nuit, le trafic était pour ainsi dire nul. Le conducteur de la camionnette grise semblait en train de réparer un pneu crevé. Il s’arrêta d’y travailler lorsqu’il vit le commando approcher, et ouvrit les portières arrières. C’était, lui aussi, un combattant du Mossad. Sans un mot, quatre des hommes montèrent dans la camionnette, et ils démarrèrent : direction : Tripoli. Les quatre autres retournèrent à la mer, où ils prirent des positions défensives, près des “cochons” immergés. Leur fonction consistait à maintenir cette position, afin d’assurer une voie de repli pour l’équipe qui fonçait vers la capitale.
Sur ces entrefaites, une escadrille d’avions de combat israéliens se ravitaillaient, au sud de la Crête, prêts à apporter assistance. Ils étaient capables de maintenir à bonne distance des commandos toute force terrestre (libyenne), en leur assurant ainsi une voie de repli, bien qu’imparfaitement sure. A ce moment-là de l’action, la petite unité de commandos se divisa en trois sous-groupes – elle se retrouvait ainsi dans la phase la plus délicate de toute l’opération. Eût l’un quelconque des détails fini aux mains des forces ennemies, ils avaient l’ordre d’observer la plus extrême prudence, à moins que l’ennemi n’engage les hostilités.
La camionnette alla se garer derrière un immeuble situé sur la Rue Jumhuriyyah, à Tripoli (Rue de la République), à moins de trois blocs d’immeubles de la caserne de Bab al-Aziziyyah, connue pour abriter le quartier général et la résidence privée de Kadhafi. A ce moment-là, les hommes de la camionnette s’étaient changés : ils s’étaient déguisés en civils. Deux d’entre eux restèrent dans la camionnette, pour faire le guet, et les deux autres aidèrent les combattants du Mossad à monter le précieux cylindre (le Trojan) sur la terrasse de l’immeuble, qui comportait cinq étages. Le Trojan avait été roulé dans un tapis !
Dans l’appartement, une des extrémités du cylindre fut ouverte, un petite antenne parabolique en fut extraite, puis placée devant une fenêtre orientée au nord. L’unité émettrice fut activée : le cheval de Troie était dans la place!
L’agent du Mossad avait loué l’appartement pour une durée de six mois, et il avait payé la location cash et d’avance. Personne ne pouvait donc avoir le moindre soupçon en voyant l’agent secret déguisé en locataire y pénétrer. Inversement, personne d’autre n’avait rien à faire dans cet appartement. Toutefois, dût un intrus avoir le malheur de pénétrer dans cet appartement, le Trojan se serait autodétruit, emportant dans sa formidable déflagration l’ensemble de la partie supérieure de l’immeuble. Les trois hommes retournèrent à la camionnette, puis ils roulèrent vers leur rendez-vous avec leurs amis, “à la plage”.
Après avoir déposé les commandos sur la plage, le combattant retourna à vive allure à Tripoli, où il avait pour mission de surveiller le travail de transmissions et de désinformation du Trojan durant les semaines à venir. Les commandos, une fois sur la plage, ne traînèrent pas eux non plus, et ils prirent le large, grâce à leurs “cochons” et leurs Œoiseaux‚. Ils n’avaient pas du tout envie de se faire pincer dans les eaux libyennes à la levée du jour. Ils se dirigèrent donc, en poussant à plein régime leurs cochons trop poussifs à leur goût, vers un point de rassemblement convenu à l’avance, où ils retrouvèrent les deux vedettes lance-missiles, qui les hissèrent à bord.
Vers la fin du mois de mars, les Américains commençaient déjà à intercepter des messages diffusés par le Trojan, qui était activé seulement durant les heures de pointe de transmission de télécommunications. Grâce au Trojan, le Mossad s’efforçait de donner à penser qu’une longue série d’instructions en vue d’attentats terroristes était en train d’être transmise aux différentes ambassades libyennes à travers le monde entier (ou, plus exactement, pour reprendre la terminologie des Libyens eux-mêmes, les différents Bureaux Populaires…) Conformément aux attentes du Mossad, les messages transmis (par le Trojan) furent déchiffrés par les Américains, qui les présentèrent comme la preuve irréfutable que les Libyens soutenaient activement le terrorisme. Pour enfoncer le clou, des rapports du Mossad venaient systématiquement confirmer les accusations comminatoires américaines ! ! !
Toutefois, ni les Espagnols ni les Français n’étaient dupes. Ils ne gobaient pas ce flot subit d’informations. Il leur semblait extrêmement suspect que soudain, de but en blanc, les Libyens, qui avaient fait montre d’une prudence de Sioux, jusqu’alors, se mettent du jour au lendemain à faire de la publicité pour leurs supposés actes terroristes futurs. Ils trouvaient suspect, aussi, qu’à plusieurs reprises les rapports du Mossad aient été rédigés en des termes très proches des messages codés libyens. Ils avançaient – plus important – l’argument que s’il y avait eu, effectivement, des messages codés libyens rendant compte d’attentats avérés, l’attentat contre la discothèque La Belle, à Berlin Ouest, commis le 5 avril, aurait pu être évité, car il y aurait sûrement eu des messages concernant cette attaque avant qu’elle ne soit perpétrée, ce qui aurait permis aux services d’écoute de la prévenir. Etant donné que cet attentat n’avait pas pu être évité, ils pensaient que ce n’était pas les Libyens qui en étaient à l’origine, et que les ” nouvelles communications ” soi-disant libyennes étaient un leurre. Les Français et les Espagnols voyaient juste. L’information était bidon, et le Mossad ne disposait pas du moindre indice sur qui avait bien pu déposer la bombe qui tua un soldat américain et en blessa plusieurs autres, dans cette discothèque berlinoise. Mais le Mossad était lié à la plupart des organisations terroristes européennes, et il était convaincu que, dans l’atmosphère trouble qui s’était emparée de l’Europe à cette époque-là, un attentat causant une victime américaine était dans l’ordre des choses : ce n’était qu’une question de temps. Les dirigeants du Mossad comptaient sur la promesse que les Américains leur avait faite (qu’en cas d’attentat contre eux), ils se vengeraient au centuple sur tout pays dont il aurait pu être prouvé qu’il soutenait le terrorisme. Le Trojan fournit aux Américains la “preuve” dont ils avaient besoin. Le Mossad se chargea d’introduire dans l’équation l’image de lunatique dont était affublé Kadhafi, ce qui n’était pas difficile en raison de ses multiples déclarations tonitruantes, qui n’étaient destinées, en réalité, qu’au seul usage interne…
Il faut se rappeler qu’à l’époque, Kadhafi avait en quelque sorte tracé une ligne passant au large, fermant le Golfe de Sidra qu’elle transformait de facto en eaux territoriales libyennes, et qu’il qualifiait la nouvelle frontière passant au milieu de la mer de ” ligne de la mort ” (ces agissements n’avaient pas peu contribué à endommager son image de dirigeant modéré). Finalement, les Américains tombèrent tête baissée dans le piège tendu par le Mossad, entraînant les Anglais et les Allemands derrière eux, bien que ces derniers traînassent quelque peu les pieds. L’opération Trojan fut l’un des plus grands succès remportés par le Mossad. Elle entraîna le bombardement aérien de Tripoli, promis par le président américain Reagan – et ce bombardement eut trois conséquences extrêmement importantes. Tout d’abord, il fit tourner court un compromis qui aurait permis de libérer les otages américains au Liban, chose qui permettait de conserver au Hezbollah (Parti de Dieu) son statut – très précieux pour Israël – d’ennemi numéro Un aux yeux de l’Occident. Ensuite, le bombardement américain sur Tripoli envoya un message à l’ensemble du monde arabe, lui signifiant très précisément où les États-Unis en étaient, quant au conflit arabo-israélien. Enfin, il redorait l’image du Mossad, puisque c’était lui qui, par un habile tour de prestidigitation, avait incité les États-Unis à faire ce qui convenait! Seuls les Français ne mordirent pas à l’hameçon du Mossad, et ils restèrent déterminés à ne pas prêter une quelconque assistance à l’agression américaine. Les Français refusèrent le survol de leur territoire aux bombardiers américains, en vol pour leur sinistre besogne en Libye.
Le 14 avril 1986, cent soixante bombardiers américains lâchèrent soixante tonnes de bombes sur la Libye. Les attaquants bombardèrent l’aéroport international de Tripoli, les casernes de Bab Al-Aziziyyah, la base navale de Sidi Bilal, la ville de Benghazi et le terrain d’aviation de Benine, dans la banlieue de cette dernière grande ville. L’escadrille de bombardiers consistait en deux ensembles principaux, l’un venait d’Angleterre et l’autre avait décollé de porte-avions voguant en Méditerranée. D’Angleterre vinrent vingt-quatre F-111, depuis la base de Lakenheath, cinq EF-111 d’Upper Heyford et vingt-huit tankers de ravitaillement qui avaient décollé de Mildenhall et de Fairford. Durant l’attaque, les F-111 et les EF-111 de la Royal Airforce furent rejoints par dix huit avions d’attaque et de soutien A-6 et A-7, six avions de combat F/A-18, quatorze avions de brouillage électronique EA-6B, ainsi que d’autres avions de soutien logistique. Les avions de la US Navy furent catapultés par les porte-avions Coral Sea et America. Du côté libyen, on enregistra environ quarante morts. Tous, des civils, dont la fille adoptive de Kadhafi. Du côté américain, un pilote ainsi que son officier servant furent tués dans l’explosion de leur F-111…
Immédiatement après les bombardements américano-anglo-allemands en Libye, le Hezbollah mit fin aux négociations autour des otages qu’il retenait au Liban, et il en exécuta trois, dont Peter Kilburn, un Américain. Quant aux Français, ils furent remerciés de leur attitude de non-participation dans l’attaque anti-libyenne par la libération, à la fin juin, de deux journalistes français retenus en otages à Beyrouth. (Comme de juste, une bombe “perdue” avait endommagé l’ambassade de France lors du bombardement de Tripoli…)
Ephraïm venait donc de tout raconter, confirmant ce que je savais déjà. Puis il poursuivit. ” Après le bombardement en Libye, notre ami Kadhafi va certainement être en dehors de la photo pour encore quelque temps. L’Irak et Saddam Hussein sont la prochaine cible. Nous commençons dès maintenant à en faire le grand méchant loup. Cela prendra un peu de temps, mais à la fin, une chose est sûr : ça marchera ! “
” Mais Saddam n’est-il pas considéré comme plutôt modéré à notre égard, puisqu’il est allié à la Jordanie et qu’il est l’ennemi juré de l’Iran et de la Syrie ? “, objectai-je.
” Ouaip… C’est bien pour ça que personnellement, je suis contre cette mission. Mais ce sont les ordres, et je dois les suivre. Heureusement, vous et moi, nous aurons terminé nos petites manigances avant que quoi que ce soit de géant n’arrive. Après tout, nous avons déjà détruit les installations nucléaires de Saddam, et nous sommes en train de nous faire des couilles en or en lui vendant de la haute technologie et des équipements, par l’intermédiaire de l’Afrique du Sud… “
Au cours des semaines suivantes, on eut droit à un flot croissant de révélations toutes plus alarmantes les unes que les autres au sujet des éléments de la machine de guerre de Saddam, dont le fameux “canon géant” ! Le Mossad a fait tout ce qu’il a pu, jusqu’à la quasi-saturation du monde parallèle de l’espionnage, afin de diffuser des informations sur les intentions malveillantes de Saddam la Menace, en misant sur le fait que celui-ci aurait à sa disposition une longueur de corde suffisante pour se pendre, avant longtemps. Le but global du Mossad était extrêmement clair. Il voulait que l’Ouest mène sa guerre à sa place, comme les Américains l’avaient fait en Libye, en bombardant Kadhafi. Après tout, Israël ne possédait pas d’avions gros porteurs ni d’une énorme puissance aérienne, et bien qu’il eût démontré sa capacité à bombarder un camp de réfugiés (palestiniens), à Tunis, ce n’était pas la même chose. Les dirigeants du Mossad savaient que s’ils pouvaient faire apparaître Saddam comme quelqu’un de suffisamment mauvais, représentant une menace pour les approvisionnements pétroliers en provenance du Golfe, dont il avait été jusqu’alors le protecteur, dans une certaine mesure, alors les États-Unis et leurs alliés ne le laisseraient pas obtenir quoi que ce soit, mais prendraient des mesures qui ne pourraient qu’entraîner la destruction totale de son armée et de son potentiel en armement, tout particulièrement si l’on parvenait à leur faire croire qu’il s’agissait là de leur dernière opportunité, avant que Saddam ne devienne “nucléaire”…
Notes
(1) Plus précisément le Sayeret Mat’Kal, qui dépend du Ra’Mat’Kal (chef d’état-major israélien), actuellement, le rav alouf (lieutenant-général) Moshé “Bougui” Yaalon. Le poste a été occupé par l’ancien Premier ministre israélien, le major-général (CR) Ehud Barak, qui fut également patron du Sayeret Mat’Kal.
(2) Vient de l’italien, “maiale”, une invention de la Decima Mas (10ème Flotille) italienne du prince Borghese, lors de la 2ème Guerre Mondiale.
Traduit de l’anglais par Marcel Charbonnier.
source: http://www.geostrategie.com
Bush and Sarkozy declare Iran aim
Bush and Sarkozy declare Iran aim
US President George W Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have said they will work jointly to convince Iran to give up its nuclear programme.
After talks at Mount Vernon, near Washington, Mr Bush praised his French counterpart as “a partner in peace”.
Mr Sarkozy earlier received a standing ovation during the first address in more than a decade by a French leader to a joint session of Congress.
He pledged to US lawmakers that France would support the US in Afghanistan.
But he also urged Americans to do more in the fight against global warming and complained that the Bush administration had allowed the dollar to plummet against the euro.
‘Unacceptable’
In a press conference later following talks at Mount Vernon, the historic home of inaugural US president George Washington, Mr Bush said the pair had agreed to “work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear ambitions for the sake of peace”.
“The idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is dangerous and therefore now is the time for us to work together to diplomatically solve this problem,” he added.
I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France
Nicolas Sarkozy
Mr Sarkozy told reporters: “It is unacceptable for Iran at any point to have a nuclear weapon.”
But the French leader emphasized that Iran was entitled to develop civilian nuclear energy, which Tehran argues is the sole aim of its programme.
The BBC’s Justin Webb, in Washington, says Mr Sarkozy has taken on the mantle of the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in the affections of the US.
It is a stark contrast to the frosty relations under Mr Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac, he adds.
‘Eternal debt’
At Congress earlier, the current resident of the Elysee Palace was cheered for more than three minutes before he even began his 45-minute address.
He delighted his audience by saying: “Let me tell you solemnly today, France will remain engaged in Afghanistan as long as it takes, because what’s at stake in that country is the future of our values and that of the Atlantic alliance.”
Mr Sarkozy, 52, who was elected in May, said he wanted France to “resume its full role” in Nato’s military command structure after several decades outside it.
He also urged Americans to “stand alongside Europe in leading the fight against global warming”.
And he raised concerns over the dollar’s fall against the euro, warning “monetary disarray could morph into economic war” and “we would all be its victims”.
Mr Sarkozy devoted much of his speech to expressing gratitude for US heroism on French battlefields in World War II, and to praising American values, spirit and culture.
“America liberated us. This is an eternal debt,” he said, adding: “I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France.”
‘L’Americain’
Analysts say Mr Sarkozy’s warmly-received visit went a long way towards achieving his promise to “reconquer America’s heart”, which he declared upon his arrival on Tuesday.
Mr Sarkozy spoke warmly of French-US relations
Relations were strained in 2003 when France opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq – and French fries were renamed “freedom fries” on Congress canteen menus.
At a White House dinner with Mr Bush on Tuesday, Mr Sarkozy said differences over Iraq should not weaken their alliance and Mr Bush agreed.
The French leader, who spent the afternoon with Mr Bush while on holiday in New England in August, is widely known back in France as “l’Americain” for transatlantic leanings.
In 1996, many US lawmakers boycotted an appearance by Mr Chirac at the US Congress to protest against France’s nuclear testing in the South Pacific.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7083339.stm
U.S. Plan Envisioned Nuking Iran, Syria, Libya
U.S. Plan Envisioned Nuking Iran, Syria, Libya
By Spencer Ackerman – November 5, 2007, 1:00PM
Despite years of denials, a secret planning document issued by the U.S. military’s nuclear-weapons command in 2003 ordered preparations for nuclear strikes on countries seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including Iran, Saddam Hussein-era Iraq, Libya and Syria.
A briefing (pdf) on the document obtained by the Federation of American Scientists, showed that the document itself was created to flesh out a 2001 Bush administration revision of long-standing nuclear-weapons policy, known as the Nuclear Posture Review.
That review was a Defense Department-led attempt to wean nuclear policy off a Cold-War focus on Russia and China, but the shift raised questions about what purpose nuclear forces would serve apart from deterring an attack.
In March 2002, leaks indicated that the review would recommend preparations for nuclear attacks against WMD-aspirant states. Arms Control Today pointed out at the time that planning to attack non-nuclear states that were signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty reversed decades of U.S. nuclear policy.
The administration’s response was to deny that the review moved the U.S. from deterrence to a first-strike posture. After the leaks, the Defense Department issued a statement in March 2002 saying cryptically, “This administration is fashioning a more diverse set of options for deterring the threat of WMD. …
A combination of offensive and defensive, and nuclear and non-nuclear capabilities is essential to meet the deterrence requirements of the 21st century.” Speaking to CNN around the same time, General Richard Myers, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Nuclear Posture Review was “not a plan, it’s not an operational plan.
It’s a policy document. And it simply states our deterrence posture, of which nuclear weapons are a part.” Vice President Dick Cheney said at the time that the notion that the review paved the way for “preemptive nuclear strikes” was “a bit over the top.”
But that now looks to be an explanation too clever by half. Perhaps the review itself didn’t contain operational plans. But guidance documents created to flesh it out did.
One such document is known as OPLAN 8044 Revision 03. That document is an update of the basic nuclear-weapons plan, formerly known as the Single Integrated Operational Plan. It was created by the U.S. Strategic Command (Stratcom), which has responsibility for nuclear-weapons planning, doctrine and maintenance.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, the Federation of American Scientists obtained a briefing on how Stratcom’s OPLAN 8044 Revision 03 changed the nuclear-policy paradigm. For the first time in U.S. nuclear history, plans for nuclear attack on regional targets around the world were included in the basic nuclear war planning document.
It’s not entirely easy to tell from the planning document what WMD-desiring countries are listed as targets for a possible U.S. nuclear attack. (See page 11 for all the redactions on this crucial point.) But the FAS hazards an educated guess based on photography included in the briefing document: Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Syria.
The briefing document also references a “target base” for prospective elimination with nuclear weapons. However, the actual document redacts what that target base might be. FAS contends it probably refers to either the stockpiles of WMD themselves or the command center for any state seeking to deploy WMD.
And that’s a further sign of specific planning for a full-blown nuclear conflict, the FAS writes:
”The creation of a ‘target base’ indicates that the planning went further than simple retaliatory punishment with one or a few weapons, but envisioned actual nuclear warfighting intended to annihilate a wide range of facilities in order to deprive the states the ability to launch and fight with WMD.”
It’s difficult to tell whether OPLAN 8044 Revision 03 is still in place. A further revision of the plan, known as Revision 05, was still in effect as recently as July. “Presumably,” writes FAS, Revision 05 carries with it planning for nuclear strikes on Iran, North Korea and Syria.
The new glimpse of OPLAN 8044 Revision 03 comes at an awkward time for the Bush administration. Just last week, a State Department official at an international arms conference met with rebuke for suggesting that U.S. nuclear forces weren’t on “hair-trigger alert,” even though the U.S. nuclear arsenal is known to experts to be capable of launching within minutes of an order.
Certainly Iran, North Korea, and Syria are wondering at whom those weapons are currently aimed.
7 Countries Considering Abandoning the US Dollar (and what it means)
By: Jessica Hupp
on: 07.11.2007
It’s no secret that the dollar is on a downward spiral. Its value is dropping, and the Fed isn’t doing a whole lot to change that. As a result, a number of countries are considering a shift away from the dollar to preserve their assets. These are seven of the countries currently considering a move from the dollar, and how they’ll have an effect on its value and the US economy.1. Saudi Arabia: The Telegraph reports that for the first time, Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates along with the US Federal Reserve. This is seen as a signal that a break from the dollar currency peg is imminent. The kingdom is taking “appropriate measures” to protect itself from letting the dollar cause problems for their own economy. They’re concerned about the threat of inflation and don’t want to deal with “recessionary conditions” in the US. Hans Redeker of BNP Paribas believes this creates a “very dangerous situation for the dollar,” as Saudi Arabia alone has management of $800 billion. Experts fear that a break from the dollar in Saudi Arabia could set off a “stampede” from the dollar in the Middle East, a region that manages $3,500 billion.
2. South Korea: In 2005, Korea announced its intention to shift its investments to currencies of countries other than the US. Although they’re simply making plans to diversify for the future, that doesn’t mean a large dollar drop isn’t in the works. There are whispers that the Bank of Korea is planning on selling $1 billion US bonds in the near future, after a $100 million sale this past August.
3. China: After already dropping the dollar peg in 2005, China has more trouble up its sleeve. Currently, China is threatening a “nuclear option” of huge dollar liquidation in response to possible trade sanctions intended to force a yuan revaluation. Although China “doesn’t want any undesirable phenomenon in the global financial order,” their large sum of US dollars does serve as a “bargaining chip.” As we’ve noted in the past, China has the power to take the wind out of the dollar.
4. Venezuela: Venezuela holds little loyalty to the dollar. In fact, they’ve shown overt disapproval, choosing to establish barter deals for oil. These barter deals, established under Hugo Chavez, allow Venezuela to trade oil with 12 Latin American countries and Cuba without using the dollar, shorting the US its usual subsidy. Chavez is not shy about this decision, and has publicly encouraged others to adopt similar arrangements. In 2000, Chavez recommended to OPEC that they “take advantage of high-tech electronic barter and bi-lateral exchanges of its oil with its developing country customers,” or in other words, stop using the dollar, or even the euro, for oil transactions. In September, Chavez instructed Venezuela’s state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA to change its dollar investments to euros and other currencies in order to mitigate risk.
5. Sudan: Sudan is, once again, planning to convert its dollar holdings to the euro and other currencies. Additionally, they’ve recommended to commercial banks, government departments, and private businesses to do the same. In 1997, the Central Bank of Sudan made a similar recommendation in reaction to US sactions from former President Clinton, but the implementation failed. This time around, 31 Sudanese companies have become subject to sanctions, preventing them from doing trade or financial transactions with the US. Officially, the sanctions are reported to have little effect, but there are indications that the economy is suffering due to these restrictions. A decision to move Sudan away from the dollar is intended to allow the country to work around these sanctions as well as any implemented in the future. However, a Khartoum committee recently concluded that proposals for a reduced dependence on the dollar are “not feasible.” Regardless, it is clear that Sudan’s intent is to attempt a break from the dollar in the future.
6. Iran: Iran is perhaps the most likely candidate for an imminent abandonment of the dollar. Recently, Iran requested that its shipments to Japan be traded for yen instead of dollars. Further, Iran has plans in the works to create an open commodity exchange called the Iran Oil Bourse. This exchange would make it possible to trade oil and gas in non-dollar currencies, the euro in particular. Athough the oil bourse has missed at least three of its announced opening dates, it serves to make clear Iran’s intentions for the dollar. As of October 2007, Iran receives non-dollar currencies for 85% of its oil exports, and has plans to move the remaining 15% to currencies like the United Arab Emirates dirham.
7. Russia: Iran is not alone in its desire to establish an alternative to trading oil and other commodities in dollars. In 2006, Russian President Vladmir Putin expressed interest in establishing a Russian stock exchange which would allow “oil, gas, and other goods to be paid for in Roubles.” Russia’s intentions are no secret–in the past, they’ve made it clear that they’re wary of holding too many dollar reserves. In 2004, Russian central bank First Deputy Chairmain Alexei Ulyukayev remarked, “Most of our reserves are in dollars, and that’s a cause for concern.” He went on to explain that, after considering the dollar’s rate against the euro, Russia is “discussing the possibility of changing the reserve structure.” Then in 2005, Russia put an end to its dollar peg, opting instead to move towards a euro alignment. They’ve discussed pricing oil in euros, a move that could provide a large shift away from the dollar and towards the euro, as Russia is the world’s second-largest oil exporter. What does this all mean?
Countries are growing weary of losing money on the falling dollar. Many of them want to protect their financial interests, and a number of them want to end the US oversight that comes with using the dollar. Although it’s not clear how many of these countries will actually follow through on an abandonment of the dollar, it is clear that its status as a world currency is in trouble.Obviously, an abandonment of the dollar is bad news for the currency. Simply put, as demand lessens, its value drops. Additionally, the revenue generated from the use of the dollar will be sorely missed if it’s lost. The dollar’s status as a cheaply-produced US export is a vital part of our economy. Losing this status could rock the financial lives of both Americans and the worldwide economy.
Georgia’s president (USA’s puppet) issues state of emergency decree – where is West’s media, condemnation, embargo ?
TBILISI, November 7 (RIA Novosti) – Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili has issued a decree declaring a state of emergency in the country’s capital, Tbilisi, Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said on Wednesday.
He said the decree, which bans all public demonstrations and other events, was submitted to parliament, which will consider it within the next 48 hours.
Konstantin Gamsakhurdia, the son of Georgia’s ex-president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, and an opposition leader was detained, an opposition party leader said on Wednesday.
Georgian Rustavi-2 channel also reported on Wednesday that Georgian police detained two opposition leaders, and the chief of the news service at the Imedi television company, the police though, have denied arresting the Imedi journalist.
“Moscow regards the latest idiocy by Georgian authorities as political irresponsible provocation. An appropriate response will be made, and Russia will remain true to its commitments regarding assisting in the settlement of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts and the protection of Russian nationals living there,” the Russian Foreign Ministry statement said.
The ministry said, “The most important thing is that assessments by certain public figures in Tbilisi for using force to settle conflicts do not materialize.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has urged all those who have any influence on Tbilisi to caution the Georgian leadership against taking “destructive steps.”
Referring to the Georgian president’s accusations that Russia’s special services were behind recent events in Tbilisi, the ministry said such steps were fraught with unpredictable consequences. Sakaashvili’s comments were made earlier on Wednesday during an address to the nation on Georgian TV.
Opposition supporters have been demonstrating in Tbilisi for the past six days, demanding President Mikheil Saakashvili’s resignation and early elections. Riot police used water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas on Wednesday to disperse protesters.
