[IMC-Editorial] Article - War on Terrorism employing Terrorists and Torturers in Iraq and Afghanistan - approx 800 words

Wed Sep 3 15:11:57 PDT 2003

Dear Editor ,

This is an 800 word article about the contrast between the US government's public policy of 'de-Ba'athification' and condemnation of terrorist groups and the Pentagon's actual policy of hiring former Mukhabarat intelligence officers and torturers while rebuilding the formerly Saddam-backed Mujahedin e-Kalq terrorist organisation under its own control for use in Iraq and Iran. It also refers to parallells with similar policies in Afghanistan. I can re-write it to different lengths as necessary. I'd be grateful if you could tell me whether you'd be interested in publishing it.

I am a freelance member of the NUJ - membership number T0914569

All the best ,

Duncan McFarlane

Email calgacus17 at btinternet.com

Phone 07774121818 or 01555 771316

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'War on Terrorism' employs Terrorists and Torturers

by Duncan McFarlane 

copyright ã Duncan McFarlane 2003

The 'war on terrorism' has become a total war employing torturers and terrorists.

While publicly pursuing a policy of 'De-Ba'athification' which supposedly rids Iraq of those responsible for the brutality of Saddam's regime the US is actually firing ordinary Ba'ath party members while hiring Saddam's former torturers and agents (1,2). Saddam's Mukhabarat intelligence service has been reconstituted under Pentagon control for use against Iraqi resistance groups. Notorious torturers, the Mukhabarat are also blamed by the US Governor of Iraq Paul Bremer for the assassination of Iraqi Shia clerics (3,4,5). 

The Pentagon is also reportedly using the Mukhabarat to plan operations against Iran in conjunction with the 5,000 strong Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK) terrorist organisation of Iranian exiles - more former allies of Saddam(6,7,8). Again the Pentagon publicly disown the MEK, which was declared a terrorist organisation by the US government in 1997 (9,10). In June the Bush administration seized all US-based assets of the National Council for the Revolution in Iran accusing it of being a political front for the MEK (11). The US signed a cease-fire with the MEK in May - but US forces subsequently attacked MEK forces in Iraq who then agreed to hand over their weapons (12,13,14). Yet it's now rumoured that the MEK like the Mukhabarat is being rebuilt under Pentagon control as a proxy ground force for future operations in Iran and Syria (15).

While the Iranian secret services employ torture and assassination. the MEK is accused of terrorist attacks including a bombing in Mashhad in 1994 which killed 25 people (16,17,18,19). Responsibility for such attacks remains disputed.

Who is behind the assassinations of the Iraqi Shiite Muslim leaders of the Supreme Council for the Revolution (SCIRI) in Iraq - notably Ayatollah Abdul Hakim - is equally hard to know. The SCIRI leadership have links with the Iranian government but were willing to co-operate in the US governing council - though under protest since the US Governor retains the final say in any decisions made by the council and no date has been set for elections. Saddam loyalists have denied responsibility for the attacks - as has Al Qa'ida , though both have cause to hate SCIRI who opposed Saddam and are Shia Muslims whereas Al Qa'ida are Sunni. The US wish to weaken Iranian influence in Iraq - while rival Iraqi Shia clerics including Ayatollah Al Sadr also opposed Hakim's links to Iran and compromises with the occupying forces.US forces are seen by many Iraqi Shia as having allowed the assassination by leaving security in Najaf lax under Iraqi police forces (20,21,22).

Similarly everyone from Al Qa'ida to the Bush had something to gain from the bombing of UN headquarters in Iraq. An Islamic group claiming links to Al Qa'ida claimed responsibility. Bush and Powell expected the bombing would encourage other governments to send troops to Iraq under US command, but instead Japan and others ruled out the deployment of their troops as peace-keepers (23). Did the Pentagon and the CIA look the other way and do nothing to prevent this attack? The Bush administration resents UN criticism of its hand-over of all Iraqi industries from oil to telecommunications to its friends in multinationals like Bechtel, Halliburton and World.com (24,25,26).

This all parallells events in Afghanistan where , almost 2 years after 'liberation', A war of occupation, repression, terrorism and resistance still rages. Afghan civilians and coalition soldiers are still being killed. There is still no solid date for elections, no 'reconstruction' other than some lucrative contracts for foreign firms (27,28,29). Our 'allies' the warlord of the 'Northern Alliance' factions continue to use torture and execution without trial with impunity - sometimes with American military intelligence officers involved - just as the Taliban did before them (30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38).

The US and the CIA have shown themselves in the past to be capable of alternately aiding then fighting the same terrorists. The Taliban and Al Qa'ida developed from CIA and MI6 covert aid to Bin Laden and other Islamic fundamentalists fighting the Soviets and Communist regimes in Afghanistan. The Taliban were similarly receiving American support through Pakistani intelligence up until mid-2001 (39,40,41,42). The CIA, Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon were allied to Saddam, the Mukhabarat and the MEK in the 1980s and are quite capable of allying with them again now to occupy Iraq and target Iran (43,44). The priority of the firms driving Bush administration policy is profit by any means. In 1953 the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP), MI6 and the CIA overthrew the elected government of Iran to prevent nationalisation of its oil industry (45). The invasion of Iraq was also about privatising its industries for the benefit of multinational firms - as is the proposed invasion of Iran. Subsidiaries of Halliburton oil - former and undoubtedly future CEO Dick Cheney - are operating in Iran in violation of a US embargo just as they were in Iraq (46,47,48,49,50).

copyright ã Duncan McFarlane 2003

Sources

(1) = Guardian 30 Aug 2003 US decree strips thousands of their jobs - 

Anti-Ba'athist ruling may force educated Iraqis abroad 

(2) = Washington Post 24 Aug 2003 U.S. Recruiting Hussein's Spies; Occupation Forces Hope Covert Campaign Will Help Identify Resistance 

(3) = International Herald Tribune 23 July 2003 America is said to be seeking help of former spies on Iran

(4) = AP Worldstream 24 Aug 2003 Bomb rips through home of leading Muslim Shiite cleric; Americans recruiting Saddam intelligence agents 

(5) = Washington Post 24 Aug 2003 U.S. Recruiting Hussein's Spies; Occupation Forces Hope Covert Campaign Will Help Identify Resistance 

(6) = International Herald Tribune 23 July 2003
America is said to be seeking help of former spies on Iran 

(7) = The Hill 23 April 2003 Letters to the Editor - Ney: MEK of same lot as al Qaeda and Hamas 

>From Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio): http://www.hillnews.com/index.asp ; 

http://www.hillnews.com/letters/042303.aspx

(8) = Asia Times 21 Jun 03 US finds a communist ally against Iran , 

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EF21Ak03.html

(9) = M2 PressWIRE 09 Oct 1997 USIA: State Dept list of terrorist organizations -

Notice in the Federal Register 

(10) = United Press International 09 Jul 2003 U.S. NOT USING MUJAHEDIN AGAINST IRAN

(11) = United Press International 15 Aug 2003 U.S. shuts offices of Iran rebel group

(12) = Guardian 1 May 2003 Iran furious at ceasefire deal with terror group 

(13) = The Hill 23 April 2003 Letters to the Editor - Ney: MEK of same lot as al Qaeda and Hamas - From Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio): http://www.hillnews.com/index.asp ; 

http://www.hillnews.com/letters/042303.aspx

(14) = International Herald Tribune 17 April 2003 U.S. Bombed Bases of Iranian Rebels in Iraq 

(15) = Newsweek Online 27 Jun 2003

Most-Favored Terrorists - What's behind the French arrests of Iranian freedom fighters? 

http://www.msnbc.com/news/932244.asp?cp1=1

(16) = Reuters 30 Jul 2003 Iran says Canadian journalist likely murdered ,

www.reuters.ocm

http://www.btopenworld.com/news/world/0,,csn=647|csr=3999148,00.html

(17) = Amnesty International 2003 AI 2003 World Report - Country Report - Iran -

http://web.amnesty.org , http://web.amnesty.org/report2003/Irn-summary-eng

(18) = Independent 21 Jun 1994 Bomb kills 25 and injures 70 at Iran's holiest shrine 

(19) = Independent 2 May 2000 Mortars rock Tehran 

(20) = Guardian 4 Jun 2003 Iran helping religious militias in Iraq, British envoy warns 

(21) = Guardian 30 Aug 2003 Obituary - Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim

(22) = Toronto Star 14 Aug 2003 Terrorists sprouting under nose of American troops? 

(23) = The News Insider - Dissident Dispatch - 22 August 2003 The Message Behind the Blast - The UN was Hit for a Reason , http://www.newsinsider.org/, 

http://www.newsinsider.org/atkins/The_message_behind_the_blast.html

(24) = Observer 11 May 2003 Bush ally set to profit from the war on terror 

(25) = Sunday Herald - 13 April 2003 Firms that gave to Bush get contracts 

http://www.sundayherald.com/33046

(26) = Guardian 15 April 2003 Jobs for the boys: the reconstruction billions 

(27) = Guardian 1 July 2003Afghan anarchy may delay election 

(28) = Guardian 1 Sep 2003 US troops die in week-long fight with Taliban 

(29) = Reuters 31 Aug 2003 Two U.S. Troops Killed in Afghan Fighting 
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=53UVG1GQAGTSGCRBAELCFEY?type=topNews&storyID=3364103

(30) = Guardian 14 Sep 2002 Afghan massacre haunts Pentagon ;

(31) = Sunday Herald 16 June 2002 Did the US massacre Taliban?

(32) = Observer 2 December 2001 Warlords bring new terrors ;

(33) = Guardian 28 Nov 2001 Burkas stay on as women of Kabul wait for their liberation ;

(34) = Newsnight BBC2 10.30pm GMT 7th December 2001

(35) = The Independent 31 July 2002 UN keeps damning report on Afghan massacre secret

(36) = Observer 13 Jan 2002 Gun terror of Kabul's liberators ;

(37) = Guardian 9 July 2003 Afghan jails taken over by warlords

(38) = The Guardian 9 Apr 2003 10.45am update US bomb kills 11 Afghan civilians 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4644176,00.html

(39) = U.S. INTERESTS IN THE CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS - 
HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC OF THE
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION FEBRUARY 12, 1998

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa48119.000/hfa48119_0.HTM

(40) = GLOBAL TERRORISM: SOUTH ASIA--THE NEW LOCUS -

HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION , JULY 12, 2000 , Serial No. 106-173 - U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access] [DOCID: f:68482.wais] - http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?IPaddress=wais.access.gpo.gov&dbname=106_house_hearings&docid=f:68482.wais

(41) = Times of India 7 Mar 2001 "CIA worked in tandem with Pak to create Taliban",
http:www.timesofindia.com/today/07euro1.htm 

(42) = Afghan Azadi Radio 18 Jan 2001 Pakistani Battalions Enter Afghanistan As received by AAR Afghan Azadi Radio , Office of the Islamic State of Afghanistan in Washington D.C. , Thursday, 18 January 2001 -http://www.afghanradio.com/news/2001/january/jan19m2001.html

(43) = Guardian 31 Dec 2002 Rumsfeld 'offered help to Saddam' -

Declassified papers leave the White House hawk exposed over his role during the Iran-Iraq war 

(44) = The News Insider 09 May 2003 Inventing Evidence http://www.newsinsider.org/madsta/inventing_evidence.html</= TT

(45) = Curtis , Mark (1995) The Ambiguities of Power - British Foreign Policy since 1945 Zed , London ,1995 , p87-96

(46) = Sunday Herald 01 Jun 2003 No weapons in Iraq? We'll find them in Iran 

; http://www.sundayherald.com/34271

(47) = Guardian 27 May 2003 Bush may take first step to Tehran regime change 

(48) = Washington Post 25 May 2003 U.S. Eyes Pressing Uprising In Iran - Officials Cite Al Qaeda Links, Nuclear Program 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A35772-2003May24&notFound=true

(49) Telegraph 24 Mar 2003 Halliburton faces row on Iran link
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fmoney%2F2003%2F03%2F24%2Fcnhall24.xml

(50) Dallas Morning News 23 Jun 2001 Cheney firm had stake in Iraqi transactions: VP earlier said he had policy against such links

copyright ã Duncan McFarlane 2003

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-editorial/attachments/20030903/bb963a27/attachment.html