Islamic fundamentalism: a product & tool of the USA…

2001-10-07

Richard Moore

>Bcc: contributors.


in my opinion...

The Cold War was invented by the West & forced on the
Soviets, who never wanted it and couldn't afford it.  The
reason?  To provide a plausible reason for world-wide U.S.
interventionism in support of global capital growth. 
Islamic fundamentalism / terrorism is a similar project with
an identical goal.  It was, for example, the U.S. that
engineered the Ayatollah's taking of power after the Shah,
in preference to a progressive movement which would have
taken over otherwise.  Some interesting pieces below...

peace,
rkm

============================================================================
From: •••@••.•••
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 13:49:49 EDT
Subject: How Carter and Brzezinski helped start the Afghan mess
To: •••@••.•••

In light of what's happened, I think it's important to give
the following very wide currency.  So start forwarding:

Interview of Zbigniew Brzezinski
Le Nouvel Observateur (France), Jan 15-21, 1998, p. 76*
  
Q: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in
his memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence
services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months
before the Soviet intervention.  In this period you were the
national security adviser to President Carter.  You
therefore played a role in this affair.  Is that correct?

Brzezinski:  Yes.  According to the official version of
history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that
is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec
1979.  But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is
completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that
President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid
to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.  And
that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I
explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to
induce a Soviet military intervention.

Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert
action.  But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry
into war and looked to provoke it?

B: It isn't quite that.  We didn't push the Russians to
intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that
they would.

Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by
asserting that they intended to fight against a secret
involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people
didn't believe them.  However, there was a basis of truth. 
You don't regret anything today?

B: Regret what?  That secret operation was an excellent
idea.  It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the
Afghan trap and you want me to regret it?  The day that the
Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President
Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR
its Vietnam war.  Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to
carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict
that brought about the demoralization and finally the
breakup of the Soviet empire.

Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic
[intégrisme], having given arms and advice to future
terrorists?

B: What is most important to the history of the world?  The
Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire?  Some
stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and
the end of the cold war?

Q: Some stirred-up Moslems?  But it has been said and
repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace
today.

B: Nonsense!  It is said that the West had a global policy
in regard to Islam.  That is stupid.  There isn't a global
Islam.  Look at Islam in a rational manner and without
demagoguery or emotion.  It is the leading religion of the
world with 1.5 billion followers.  But what is there in
common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco,
Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian
secularism?  Nothing more than what unites the Christian
countries.

* There are at least two editions of this magazine; with the
 perhaps sole exception of the Library of Congress, the
version sent to the United States is shorter than the French
version, andthe Brzezinski interview was not included in the
shorter version.

The above has been translated from the French by Bill Blum
Author, "Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions
Since World War II" and "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's
Only Superpower" Portions of the books can be read at:
http://members.aol.com/superogue/homepage.htm (with a link
to Killing Hope)

If anyone whose French is better than mine can translate the
bracketed word, "intégrisme", I'd appreciate hearing from
them <•••@••.•••>

============================================================================
[The beginning of the end of Internet activism?... - rkm]

From: B.
To: •••@••.•••
Subject: RE Bill Weinberg Afghanistan Report Pt.2
Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2001 05:57:54 -0400

WORLD WAR III REPORT
#. 2. Oct. 6, 2001
by Bill Weinberg

---<snip>---

WEB SITES SHUT DOWN BY "HOMELANDS SECURITY"

On Sept. 29, Radio Free Eireann on New York's WBAI reported
that IRARadio.com, the web site which archives all Radio
Free Eireann broadcasts, has been taken down because the web
service provider was threatened with seizure of assets if it
continued to host "terrorist" radio programs. Travis E.
Towle, founder and CEO of Cosmic Entertainment Company,
which put up IRARadio.com, was told by their service
provider, Hypervine, that they had been "strongly advised"
to take the web site down. A Hypervine representative read
Towle a statement that, under an Executive Order recently
signed by President Bush, the newly-created Office of
Homeland Security can seize all assets-"without any
notice"-of any company found to "support terrorism."
Hypervine is a subsidiary of the New York based Skynet.

Cosmic Entertainment also hosts the web sites archiving two
other WBAI radio programs, "Our Americas" hosted by Mario
Murillo, and "Grandpa Al Lewis Live," featuring commentary
by the actor and political activist who starred in "The
Munsters" and "Car 54 Where Are You?" The "Grandpa Al Lewis
Live" site has apparently also been taken down.

Radio Free Eireann, which broadcasts Saturday afternoons at
1:30 on WBAI 99.5 FM, has covered the conflict in Northern
Ireland for over twenty years. Guests have included
Bernadette Sands, the sister of IRA hunger striker Bobby
Sands; Rauri O'Bradaigh, the President of Republican Sinn
Fein; Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness; and
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.


============================================================================
Delivered-To: moderator for •••@••.•••
From: "Brian Davey" <•••@••.•••>
To: [long list]
Subject: Saudi Arabia - not a rogue state 
Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2001 10:14:29 +0100


"Putting out a fire with gasoline"

This is largely based on an article in Der Spiegel 40/2001
by Erich Follath.

Just as there are different varieties of Christian belief,
so are there different varieties of Islamic belief. In a
number of Islamic countries, for example, particularly in
Morocco and Jordan, as well as among a great many ordinary
Muslims who are living as migrants in western countries,
there is not felt to be a contradiction between Islam as a
belief system and way of life, and the ideas of human rights
and democracy.

So, of course, it is a long way from being the case that all
Muslims are potential suicide terrorists - however
practically all Islamic suicide perpetrators are adherents
of a particular trend in Islam called Wahhabism. This is
true for Palestine, Kashmir, the Taliban and the terrorists
who struck down western tourists in Egypt. The world centre
for Wahhabism is not Afghanistan it is Saudi Arabia - the
country with 25% of the world's oil reserves. Indeed
Wahhabism is virtually the state religion there.

Mohammed Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703 - 1793) lived very close to
what is now the Saudi capital Riyadh. He preached a "back to
the strict source" version of Islam - with no music apart
from drumming, no decorative elements, draconian measures
against alcohol consumption and any other modernising
influences. It was his version of Islam that was taken up by
the Saudi royal family when the current boundraries and
regime of Saudi Arabia were agreed in a compromise with
British colonialism in 1932. Today "our ally" Saudi Arabia
recognises no political parties, no trade unions, no free
press and women have far fewer rights than in Iran - for
example they are not allowed to drive. The law is Sharia law
- thieves have their hands amputated, there are public
beheadings and whippings, while stoning is the punishment
for marital infidelity. As in Afghanistan the practicing of
other religions - including Christianity and Judaism is not
permitted - and whoever tries to convert anyone to their
religion is threatened with death penalty.

Yet Saudi Arabia is no "rogue state". Why?

In 1933 the Saudi royal family gave the first oil concession
to the Standard Oil company for $250,000. But it was not
until after World war Two that that the oil revenues started
flowing big time. In 1945 the Americans were permitted for
the first time to put their bases on Saudi soil, in Dharan.

The oil revenues have enabled the Saudi royal family to keep
their subjects sweet - for example by the provision of free
schools and hospitals. However the luxiourous life style of
the Saudi royal family has never gone down well with radical
Wahhabi believers. So, in order to head off any challenges
and possible assassination attempts, a good part of the oil
revenues has gone into funding the world wide spread of the
radical Wahhabi cause as well. When new Mosques and
religious schools appeared in Usbekistan, in Pakistan, in
Algeria, in Nigeria, the money mostly came from
Riyadh......who had largely got it from oil sold at American
gas stations.....by the oil barons who now head American
politics, e.g. the Bush family and Dick Chaney of the
Halliburton group. (It is well established that the Bush
family and the bin Laden business empire, from which Osama
bin Laden originally stemmed, have been connected. )

At least 12 of the 15 suicide attackers of the World Trade
Centre and the Pentagon were Saudi citizens (there were no
Afghanis nor Palestinians as far as is known). They all came
from one region in Saudi Arabia, the one too from which
Osama bin Laden came - the province of Asir where militant
fundamentalists from Egypt have long had a presence. The
Saudi secret service have largely left the fundamentalists
there alone.

In 1979 when the Soviets went into Afghanistan, young
aristocrats from Saudi like Osama bin Laden were outraged
and with the help of huge amounts of technical support,
intelligence, weapons and from the CIA, flowing through the
Pakistani intelligence services, the ISI, they develop a
Holy War against the soviet army. When he returned to Saudi
in 1990, proud and confident that the job had been well
done, he was soon to be horrified to find huge numbers of
American troops, and worse of all female troops, on Saudi
soil to throw Saddam Hussein out of Kuweit.

In his eyes the Saudi royal family had betrayed Wahhabism
bringing these infidels into the Holy Land of Mecca and
Medina, where the Messenger of God had first established a
Holy Society and State. After agitating against the Saudi
regime bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1994,
taking refuge in the Sudan. In 1995 and 1996 attacks on
Americans in Saudi Arabia claimed 24 victims. Investigators
from the USA found officials in Riyadh less than helpful and
information was withheld from them - but to appease their
American oil customers Saudi judges had 4 people beheaded -
after confessions. After the WTC attack the Saudi Royal
family is not allowing FBI agents access to the Asir region.

Meanwhile in Saud Arabia there is a power transfer taking
place inside the Royal family. King Fahd is dying of cancer
and power is being transferred to his brother Abdullah.
Abdullah was opposed to the stationing of American troops
during the Gulf war. He has being making his peace with
Syria and Bagdhad and has even made a security agreement
with Iran. Significantly Osama bin Laden has not attacked
Abdullah in his denunciations of the Saudi Royal Family.

With Pakistan, Saudi Arabia has been one of the few
countries that has recognised the Taliban regime and there
is a lot of support for Taliban fundamentalism in Saudi
Arabia - as Wahhabism and Talibanism are closely related.
However, the Saudi Royal Family is dependent on sales of oil
to America - and is trapped on the horns of a dilemma. In
1979 when the Soviets went into Afghanistan there was
actually an occupation of Mecca by outraged militants like
Osama bin Laden. If America and Britain go into Afghanistan
it is not unreasonable to assume that that kind of thing
might happen again - indeed Osama bin Laden must dream of
returning to his homeland as a conquering hero, to throw out
the infidel, as well as those who have betrayed Islam to the
Great Satan. He would not be without considerable support
there - and who knows, in extremis, Abdullah migh move his
way.

In one possible scenario an enraged fundamentalist Saudi
Arabia might then turn off the oil taps - perhaps, as things
evolved, with the support of Iraq, Iran, Lybia. That would
be one strategy to bring down the "Great Satan".

Brian Davey - based largely on an article in Der Spiegel by
Erich Follath.

============================================================================
Delivered-To: •••@••.•••
From: magellan <•••@••.•••>
To: •••@••.•••
Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2001 20:40:40 -0300
Subject: US defense industry, Bush & Laden: all in the family


Wall Street Journal

New York  September 27, 2001

Special Report: Aftermath of Terror

Bin Laden Family Could Profit From a Jump
In Defense Spending Due to Ties to U.S. Bank

By DANIEL GOLDEN, JAMES BANDLER and MARCUSWALKER
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


If the U.S. boosts defense spending in its quest to stop Osama
bin Laden's alleged terrorist activities, there may be one
unexpected beneficiary: Mr. bin Laden's family.
Among its far-flung business interests, the well-heeled Saudi
Arabian clan -- which says it is estranged from Osama -- is an
investor in a fund established by Carlyle Group, a
well-connected Washington merchant bank specializing in
buyouts of defense and aerospace companies.


Through this investment and its ties to Saudi royalty, the bin
Laden family has become acquainted with some of the
biggest names in the Republican Party. In recent years,
former President Bush, ex-Secretary of State James Baker
and ex-Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci have made the
pilgrimage to the bin Laden family's headquarters in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia. Mr. Bush makes speeches on behalf of Carlyle
Group and is senior adviser to its Asian Partners fund, while
Mr. Baker is its senior counselor. Mr. Carlucci is the group'schairman.
Osama is one of more than 50 children of Mohammed bin
Laden, who built the family's $5 billion business, Saudi
Binladin Group, largely with construction contracts from the
Saudi government. Osama worked briefly in the business and
is believed to have inherited as much as $50 million from his
father in cash and stock, although he doesn't have access to
the shares, a family spokesman says. Because his Saudi
citizenship was revoked in 1994, Mr. bin Laden is ineligible
to own assets in the kingdom, the spokesman added.


The bin Laden family has long disavowed Osama, and has
cooperated fully with several federal investigations into his
activities. The family business, headed by Osama's
half-brother Bakr, epitomizes the U.S.-Saudi alliance that the
suspected terrorist often rails against. After the 1996 truck
bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 U.S.
servicemen, Saudi Binladin Group built military barracks and
airfields for U.S. troops.


But the Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued subpoenas
to banks used by the bin Laden family seeking records of
family dealings, a person familiar with the matter said. This
person said the subpoenas weren't an indication the FBI had
found any suspicious behavior by the family. A family
spokesman said he had no knowledge of the subpoenas but
that the family welcomes them and has nothing to hide.
People familiar with the family's finances say the bin Ladens
do much of their banking with National Commercial Bank in
Saudi Arabia and with the London branch of Deutsche Bank
AG. They also use Citigroup Inc. and ABN Amro, the peoplesaid.
"If there were ever any company closely connected to the
U.S. and its presence in Saudi Arabia, it's the Saudi Binladin
Group," says Charles Freeman, president of the Middle East
Policy Council, a Washington nonprofit concern that receives
tens of thousands of dollars a year from the bin Laden family.
"They're the establishment that Osama's trying to overthrow."
Mr. Freeman, who served as U.S. ambassador to Saudi
Arabia during the Gulf War, says he has spoken to two of
Osama's brothers since hijacked airplanes rammed the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11. They told him, he
says, that the FBI has been "remarkably sensitive, tactful and
protective" of the family during the current crisis,
recognizing its longstanding friendship with the U.S.


A Carlyle executive said the bin Laden family committed $2
million through a London investment arm in 1995 in Carlyle
Partners II Fund, which raised $1.3 billion overall. The fund
has purchased several aerospace companies among 29 deals.
So far, the family has received $1.3 million back in
completed investments and should ultimately realize a 40%
annualized rate of return, the Carlyle executive said.


But a foreign financier with ties to the bin Laden family says
the family's overall investment with Carlyle is considerably
larger. He called the $2 million merely an initial contribution.
"It's like plowing a field," this person said. "You seed it once.
You plow it, and then you reseed it again."


The Carlyle executive added that he would think twice
before accepting any future investments by the bin Ladens.
"The situation's changed now," he said. "I don't want to spend
my life talking to reporters."


A U.S. inquiry into bin Laden family business dealings could
brush against some big names associated with the U.S.
government. Former President Bush said through his chief of
staff, Jean Becker, that he recalled only one meeting with the
bin Laden family, which took place in November1998. Ms.
Becker confirmed that there was a second meeting in January
2000, after being read the ex-president's subsequent
thank-you note. "President Bush does not have a relationship
with the bin Laden family," says Ms. Becker. "He's met themtwice."
Mr. Baker visited the bin Laden family in both 1998 and
1999, according to people close to the family. In the second
trip, he traveled on a family plane. Mr. Baker declined
comment, as did Mr. Carlucci, a past chairman of Nortel
Networks Corp., which has partnered with Saudi Binladin
Group on telecommunications ventures.


Former President Carter met with 10 of Osama's brothers
early in 2000 on a fund-raising trip for the Carter Center in
Atlanta. According to John Hardman, executive director of
the center, the brothers told Mr. Carter that Osama was
completely removed from the family. After Mr. Carter and
his wife followed up with breakfast with Bakr bin Laden in
New York in September 2000, the bin Laden family gave
$200,000 to the center. "We don't have any reason to think
there's a connection" between Osama and the rest of thefamily, Mr. Hardman
says.


During the past several years, the family's close ties to the
Saudi royal family prompted executives and staff from
closely held New York publisher Forbes Inc. to make two
trips to the family headquarters, according to Forbes
Chairman Caspar Weinberger, a former U.S. secretary of
defense in the Reagan administration. "We would call on
them to get their view of the country and what would be of
interest to investors."


Mr. Weinberger said no trips to Saudi Arabia were planned.
"If we went," he said, "we may or may not call upon them. I
don't think the sins of the son should be visited on the father
or the brother and the cousins and the aunts."
There is no indication President George W. Bush has met any
of the bin Ladens, but he was indirectly linked to one of them
two decades ago. His longtime friend James W. Bath, who
met Mr. Bush when they were both pilots in the Air National
Guard, acted as a Texas business representative for Osama's
older brother, Salem bin Laden, from 1976 to 1988, when
Salem died in a plane crash. Mr. Bath brought real-estate
acquisitions and other deals to Salem bin Laden, an ebullient
man who headed the family construction business. Mr. Bath
generally received a 5% interest as his fee, and was
sometimes listed as a trustee in related corporate documents.


Mr. Bath acknowledged that during the same period he
invested $50,000 in two funds controlled by Mr. Bush but
said that stake was unrelated to his dealings with Mr. binLaden.
Among the properties that Salem bin Laden bought on Mr.
Bath's recommendation was the Houston Gulf Airport, a
lightly used airfield in League City, Texas, 25 miles east of
Houston. But Mr. bin Laden's hope that it would develop a
major overflow airport for Houston never materialized, in
part due to concern over wetlands. Ever since his death, his
estate has sought to sell the airfield -- without success.
Today, it is still on the market.


-- 

============================================================================
Richard K Moore
Wexford, Ireland
Citizens for a Democratic Renaissance 
email: •••@••.••• 
website & list archives: http://cyberjournal.org
content-searchable archive: http://members.xoom.com/centrexnews/

    "A Guidebook: How the world works and how we can change it"
    http://cyberjournal.org/cj/guide/

    A community will evolve only when
    the people control their means of communication.
            -- Frantz Fanon

    Capitalism is the relentless accumulation of capital for the
    acquisition of profit.  Capitalism is a carnivore.  It
    cannot be made over into a herbivore without gutting it,
    i.e., abolishing it.
    - Warren Wagar,  Professor of History, State University 
      of New York at Binghamton

Permission for non-commercial republishing hereby granted - BUT 
include and observe all restrictions, copyrights, credits,
and notices - including this one.
============================================================================

.