Monday, May 22, 2006

BREITBART.COM - Protests, Applause Greet Rice at BC

BREITBART.COM - Protests, Applause Greet Rice at BC

BlondeSense: McCain's aide posts a response to Jean Rohe's blog entry at huffpo

BlondeSense: McCain's aide posts a response to Jean Rohe's blog entry at huffpo

The Blog | Zack Exley: Message for '08 Dems: Only cowards think we're at war | The Huffington Post

The Blog | Zack Exley: Message for '08 Dems: Only cowards think we're at war | The Huffington Post

[political-researchp] Bloglines - In open split with Bush, top US conservative calls for independent movement

Bloglines user bill.giltner@gmail.com has sent this item to you.


Friends of Liberty
Friends of Liberty

In open split with Bush, top US conservative calls for independent movement


by Maxim Kniazkov
Sun May 21, 6:13 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The patriarch of US conservatives has urged his followers to halt their financial support of the Republican Party and start an independent movement, signaling a major political shift that could result in heavy losses for the US ruling party in upcoming elections.

Richard Viguerie, who was instrumental in cementing the winning coalitions behind Ronald Reagan in 1980 and George W. Bush in 2000, declared that conservatives were "downright fed up" with both the president and Republican-controlled Congress.

"At the very least, conservatives must stop funding the Republican National Committee and other party groups," Viguerie wrote in a lengthy essay in The Washington Post Sunday.

He suggested conservatives "redirect their anger into building a third force," which he defined as a movement independent of any party, and laying the groundwork for the 2008 election campaign.

Traditional conservatives, who abhor big government and excessive spending, equate abortion with murder and emphasize individualism over collectivism, have always formed the so-called "base" of the Republican Party and determined its viability as a political organizations.

The integrity and loyalty of this core is considered key to the party's success in any election.

The defeat of George H.W. Bush, the current president's father, in the 1992 election is largely attributed to being abandoned by conservatives.

Viguerie's public outburst and his suggestion that conservatives should sit out the next election is seen as another ominous sign for the party less than six months before the November congressional vote.

A Washington Post-ABC News opinion poll released last week found that Republican disapproval of Bush's presidency had increased from 16 percent to 30 percent in just one month.

Viguerie acknowledged that a conservative boycott in November will likely spell defeat for the Republicans, but insisted it would be for the long-term good of the conservative movement.

"If conservatives accept the idea that we must support Republicans no matter what they do, we give up our bargaining position and any chance at getting things done," he reasoned. "Sometimes it is better to stand on principle and suffer a temporary defeat."

Conservatives have privately grumbled about some of Bush's decisions, but his immigration reform, announced in a nationally televised address last Monday, appeared to have marked the breaking point...




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[political-researchp] Bloglines - Yahoo News: "Settlers can kill, shoot, attack, do anything"

Bloglines user bill.giltner@gmail.com has sent this item to you.


CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS
CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS - LiveJournal.com

Yahoo News: "Settlers can kill, shoot, attack, do anything"

Palestinians, Israelis horrified at Hebron 'jungle'
"There is no justice. It's a jungle law here. Settlers can kill, shoot, attack, do anything," complains Palestinian coffeeshop owner Hani Abu Haikal to a group of visiting Israelis in war-torn Hebron.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060521/wl_mideast_afp/mideasthebronsettlers_060521063749


Settlers attack schoolchildren
Palestinian school children from Um Touba village, in the West Bank, were attacked on Sunday morning by an extremist settlers group living in the Ma'oun illegal settlement outpost.
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/18770/1/


Palestinian film focuses on Israel's 'apartheid' wall
"We are proud of South Africa, that you have brought that evil down. I wish that after you watch the documentary you do something about it," he told the audience. The film documents the establishment of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, and the growth of this phenomenon during each Israeli prime minister's tenure. It also looks at the impact of the settlements on the peace process from a Palestinian point of view.
http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=342&fArticleId=3249772


Abbas powerless to speak for Palestinians -Olmert [Translation: "We won't negotiate with ay-rabs"]
"So how can he represent that government in the most crucial, complex and sensitive negotiations, about which there are so many divisions within the Palestinian community?" the Israeli leader said. Olmert spoke as his two top deputies met Abbas at an economic summit in Egypt
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21308233.htm


Israeli forces fire tear gas at Nablus market, close Beita-Ousrin road
Israeli Forces also closed the Beita-Ousrin road with an earth mound to stop residents from using it. Eyewitnesses said that Israeli military bulldozers dug three big holes on the road on Saturday evening. This action came after Israeli settlers were shot at on the Za'atara bypass road, south of Nablus.
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/18778/1/

Hamas: Israel can't use PA tax money for medicine
Hamas on Sunday stated that Israel did not have the right to use money taken from Palestinian taxes - not even in order to buy medical supplies for Palestinians.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961387395&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Olmert and the Administration / The U.S. wants time, not convergence
The success is in the fact that the visit will be conflict free, because the Americans will shower Olmert with respect as only they know how; they will welcome him with warm words and red carpets, and they will stand and applaud his address to Congress.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/717944.html

This false news item would, perhaps, deserve no special mention, if it were not typical of the whole media coverage, not only of this specific demonstration, but of all joint demonstrations of Israeli peace activists and Palestinians. More than that, it throws light on the close connection between the Israeli media and the occupation regime. Without this connection, it is doubtful if the occupation could have lasted for the 39 years it has so far.
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/30546



Palestinians, Israelis horrified at Hebron 'jungle' 
by Jennie Matthew
Sun May 21, 2:37 AM ET
AFP 

"There is no justice. It's a jungle law here. Settlers can kill, shoot, attack, do anything," complains Palestinian coffeeshop owner Hani Abu Haikal to a group of visiting Israelis in war-torn Hebron.

He tells them he was arrested last year after hardline Jewish settlers, who live in the occupied West Bank city, attacked and broke the windows of his hilltop villa while he was entertaining Christian and Israeli friends.

And when his elderly father collapsed in shock, it took three days to negotiate an ambulance to take him to hospital. When he died, settlers danced around the ambulance going to the cemetery, handed out sweets and called death to Arabs.

As Hani talks, some of the visiting Israelis, descendants of Jews who lived in Hebron before deadly riots in 1929 forced them out, drift away distracted.

But 58-year-old Jerusalem lawyer Amnon Birman gets up and comforts him. "I was so shocked. You know my mother was born here. My great-grandfather was a grand rabbi," Birman says.

Heavily guarded by soldiers, the nine Israelis walk around downtown Hebron, controlled by Israel, to see the homes where their descendants once lived in harmony with Arabs but which today resembles a war zone.

The once bustling Palestinian market, now occupied by Jewish squatters, is a deserted mesh of barbed wire, camouflage netting, a rooftop Israeli sniper and walls defaced by Hebrew graffiti proclaiming "Death to the Arabs".

The group watches a Palestinian father slither on the sand under waist-high barbed wire in a dank, smelly alley as a short cut from his isolated home to the Palestinian-controlled sector. Pregnant, his wife cannot get through.

Nearby Jewish children set fire to abandoned Palestinian debris, the tassels of their prayer shawls dangling under their shirts. Settlers routinely attack Palestinian children, prompting international peace observers such as 78-year-old John Lynes from Britain, to walk them to school each day.

"Chiefly it's stone throwing, but they are also deliberately trying to terrify them. Quite often young kids and sometimes grown-ups," says Lynes. Born Jewish and now a quaker, cries of "Nazi" from the settlers fall on deaf ears.

Three years after a crazed Jewish settler assassinated 29 Palestinian worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in 1994, Hebron was split in two.

Most of the 166,000 Palestinians live in H1 under Palestinian control, but at least 10,000 are still trapped in the Israeli-controlled H2, held hostage to curfews, restrictions and intimidation by 500 Jewish squatters.

But things in Hebron weren't always the same. In the early 20th century, a moderate Jewish community once lived in peace with the Arabs.

Abu Haikal's grandfather ran a grocery shop with a Jewish partner and lit the homes of Jewish neighbours on the Sabbath, which under Jewish law is considered work. During the 1929 riots, he personally shielded Jews from death.

"I used to ask my father why did you protect them? He told me we lived with the Jews and looked after each other as humans," says Hani, unable to quite understand how it could have changed in a generation.

Against a backdrop of heightened Arab fear about Zionist intentions for a state in Palestine, 67 Jews were killed and another 60 were wounded in Hebron during riots in 1929 that the British proved unwilling or powerless to stop.

Despite the massacre, the descendants of those who survived are livid that today's hardline settlers seek to legitimise their presence -- in defiance of international law -- as their ancestors' natural successors.

"I see them as lunatics, thieves and liars. My grandfather believed in friendship with the Arabs," said Birman, whose daughter was seriously wounded in a Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 1997.

"I don't know how you can let 400 or 500 people dominate the lives of tens of thousands. It's unbelievable," he said.

Shulamith Rahav is a retired art appreciation teacher from Tel Aviv whose father survived the massacres. Her grandfather, who taught at a Jewish seminary specialising in mysticism and tolerance, uncle and aunt were killed.

"I remember the values instilled in me by my father. The lesson was no more travesties, no more stealing and to remember all men are created in the image of God," she says, as a crowd of hostile settlers, some armed, gather round.

"We're not against settlers being here, but against what's happening here," she shouts back, Palestinians such as Hani having long since drifted away.'

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060521/wl_mideast_afp/mideasthebronsettlers_060521063749

Comments



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[political-researchp] Bloglines - I HOPE THIS ISN'T TRUE

Bloglines user bill.giltner@gmail.com has sent this item to you.


Cosmic Iguana - Voice of the Evil Doers
Faith-based News for Extra-Terrestrials

I HOPE THIS ISN'T TRUE

By cosmici

But I'm afraid it might be. PEACEFILMS:

...If he didn't answer the way we liked, we would shoot his youngest kid in the head...[*]

That wasn't a quote from a mafia gangster, but a former Army Ranger in Iraq.




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[september_eleven_vreeland] Digest Number 1366

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http://us.click.yahoo.com/97bhrC/LGxNAA/yQLSAA/vY7plB/TM--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

There are 3 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. 911 - video - What's The Truth?
From: "smacko" smacko9@comcast.net
2. 911 - 2nd Pentagon Video Released.
From: "smacko" smacko9@comcast.net
3. American military used microwave-laser directed energy weapon
From: "norgesen" norgesen@yahoo.com

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message 1
From: "smacko" smacko9@comcast.net
Date: Sun May 21, 2006 5:12am(PDT)
Subject: 911 - video - What's The Truth?

What's The Truth?

Full Movie: How Indeed Did The Twin Towers Collapse?

http://www.911podcasts.com/view.php?cat=0&med=0&ord=Name&strt=0&vid=95&epi=275&typ=0&form=1

http://tinyurl.com/mbqjo
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message 2
From: "smacko" smacko9@comcast.net
Date: Sun May 21, 2006 7:39pm(PDT)
Subject: 911 - 2nd Pentagon Video Released.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/flight77.shtml

http://www.911blogger.com/2006/05/new-footage-of-911-pentagon-attack.html

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message 3
From: "norgesen" norgesen@yahoo.com
Date: Sun May 21, 2006 7:41pm(PDT)
Subject: American military used microwave-laser directed energy weapon

American military used microwave/laser directed energy weapon
American military used microwave/laser directed energy weapon on bus of Iraqi civilians in 2003 'Baghdad Airport battle'.

Italian video docu. (25 mins) with english translation - inc. special mention for Raytheon, maker of 'active denial' microwave pain infliction.

http://www.rainews24.it/ran24/inchieste/guerre_stellari_iraq.asp

US Troops to Use Banned Laser Weapon in Iraq
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/2029964/

Administration Conducting Research Into Laser Weapon
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1913091/

Is the NSA Conducting Electronic Warfare On Americans?
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/2037859/

-------

Radiation and Satellite Surveillance Existing Technologies Article
http://www.rhfweb.com/hweb/shared2/usexist.html

High Power Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapons
http://www.luxefaire.com/HPRF.html

Star Wars,NMD,Lasers,Oil, weapons
http://www.cybertime.net/~ajgood/forces5.html

----

The Last Circle, by Carol Marshall
CHAPTER 15, Part 1

I was never able to rectify the purpose behind the biological technology that Robert Booth Nichols was involved in developing with the Japanese. Why did his patents stress the "Method for Induction and Activation" of Cytotoxic TLymphocytes? It is noteworthy that Harold Okimoto, Nichols' godfather and a member of his Board of Directors, had allegedly been a high ranking intelligence officer during World War II.

While reading Dick Russell's book, "The Man Who Knew Too Much," I came across a chapter referencing Japanese biological experiments conducted during World War II. In one passage (pp. 125-126), Russell noted that, at the end of World War II, Charles Willoughby, General Douglas MacArthur's chief of intelligence, had seized Japanese lab records on germ warfare. When the Pentagon determined that the biological research might prove useful in the Cold War, the Japanese responsible for the experiments received immunity from prosecution in exchange for their cooperation.

At least three thousand people died as a result of those experiments, including an unknown number of captured U.S. military personnel. "Only in 1982 did this seamy story come to light, including the Pentagon's 1947 acknowledgement of Willoughby's `wholehearted cooperation' in arranging examination of the human pathological material which had been transferred to Japan from the biological warfare installations," wrote Russell.

Another publication, entitled "Unit 731" by Peter Williams and David Wallace, gave a detailed background on bacteriological warfare experiments conducted by all of the major combatants during World War II. When the United States government determined that the Axis Powers, including Russia, were evaluating this weapon, it became necessary to study the possibilities. This lead to the thought that if one prepared for offensive bacteriological warfare, then one must also prepare for defensive bacteriological warfare.

However, history shows that that reasoning broke down with the first use of nuclear weapons by the United States in Japan to finish the war in the East quickly. That action saved American lives if a land attack on the islands had been effected, but the principle is obvious. Would the U.S. do the same thing with viruses and bacteria?

In 1939 the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York studied the virulent, unmodified strain of yellow fever virus, ostensibly for the purpose of developing a cure for the disease. The laboratory at that time was under the direction of Dr. Wilbur Sawyer. It was in 1939 that a Japanese Army doctor, Dr. Ryoichi Naito, visited the laboratory with credentials from the Japanese military attache in Washington to obtain a sample of that strain of the Yellow Fever virus.

A report of that incident was subsequently sent to the Army Surgeon General and after evaluation of similar incidents, it was determined by Army Intelligence that Japan was interested in the yellow fever virus for bacteriological warfare purposes.

Based on that information, along with other corollary information, the decision was made to build Fort Detrick near Frederick, Maryland to provide a secret laboratory for the study and development of defensive and offensive capability to wage bacteriological warfare (BW).

The secrecy of the project was of the same magnitude as the nuclear work done within the Manhattan Project. From the writings and speeches given by the military men associated with this project, it is apparent that they were genuinely concerned for the security of the United States, but inside this organization and within the government at large, was a potential for ulterior motives. (More on that later).

By 1944, more than sufficient evidence had been gathered by American intelligence units to indicate that Japan was deeply involved in bacteriological warfare. Thirty thousand bombs, manufactured at the Osaka Chemical Research Institute in Japan, containing typhus, diptheria and bubonic plague were sent to the Chinese front.

By then, overwhelming evidence was coming in, particularly regarding research being conducted by Major General Shiro Ishii who was awarded a Technical Meritorious Medal with highest degrees. After the war, American intelligence learned that General Ishii, through an organization called "Unit 731," conducted his more serious research at a camp in northern Manchuria. It was here that General Ishii experimented on human beings.

The experiments conducted on those human beings made Japan the world's leading authority on offensive and defensive bacteriological warfare systems. No other country, Ishii reasoned, would have equivalent technical data on how epidemics spread and how to protect against them.

Japan's fascination with biological warfare dates as far back as 1932, when experimentation on prisoners already sentenced to death was conducted at Harbin, but later during the war with China, the Japanese used prisoners of war. White Russians, caught in the area of Japan's war with China were also used, according to an interrogated Japanese army officer.

Each prisoner was placed in a closely guarded cell where the experiments were conducted. After each prisoner died, they were cremated in an electric furnace to remove all evidence of what had occurred. Starting in 1935, motion pictures of the experiments were taken and these were shown to senior army officers. It was reported that 3,000 were sacrificed at a separate test site called Pingfan. Why was it required to use so many humans?

The Japanese had learned that epidemics occurred naturally but the method for inducing and activating them artificially was more difficult. In order to find the most efficient method of transmittal, many experiments were needed to find the lethal doses required to spread the agent. What would work with animals might not necessarily work with humans. Also, a method was needed for immunization and only humans could be used for that purpose.

General Ishii thought that the West's moral codes would not allow for such experimentation and that alone would put Japan on the leading edge of such technology. Healthy humans were needed, so extensive medical tests were even conducted on prospective prisoners. Diseases were forcibly injected or administered with a special stick shaped gun. Some prisoners were infected through food or drink. Cholera, anthrax, TB, typhoid, rickettsia and dysentery were but a few of the bacteria used in the tests.

Live human prisoners were also exposed to chemical warfare agents such as mustard gas, hydrogen cyanide, acetone cyanide and potassium cyanide. Hydrogen cyanide was given extensive study because of its potential for ease of delivery into water supplies. In some instances, live human victims were actually opened up to observe the progress of various diseases and chemicals.

At one point, American intelligence learned that Japan had developed techniques for efficient delivery of Botulinus, a germ that attacks the central nervous system followed by paralysis and rapid death. Vast quantities of Botulinus germs were developed at Fort Detrick and a vaccine was hurriedly injected into all military personnel involved in the invasion of Europe.

What the United States subsequently did with the technical data from the Japanese experiments, under the direction of General Charles Willoughby, was shocking. During the War Crimes Trials in Japan following World War II, "sweetheart deals" were arranged between the United States and Japan to secure that data. Colonel Murray Sanders was assigned to General Douglas MacArthur, along with General Charles Wiloughby (Chief of Intelligence) and Karl T. Compton (Chief of Scientific Intelligence). General MacArthur specifically assigned these men to investigate the Japanese bacteriological warfare experiments.

During the war, Lt. Col. Sanders, a medical doctor, had been responsible for investigating and analyzing the capabilities of the Japanese in bacteriological warfare. He had also overseen the Fort Detrick experiments. When the Legal Section of the U.S. government tried to obtain the Japanese lab records on human experimentation from General MacArthur's staff, they were stonewalled. MacArthur's staff reasoned that if the U.S. Army's investigative evidence was given to the Legal Section in Washington D.C., the Russians would have access to the records. This sounds logical on the surface, but the resulting memorandums tell another story.

The State War Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC) responsible for coordinating and overseeing the war crimes trials in Japan, made an extraordinary statement which conclusively supported the intelligence community's stance on the matter. One excerpt read as follows:

"Data already obtained from Ishii and his colleagues has proven to be of great value in confirming, supplementing and complementing several phases of U.S. research in BW, and may suggest new fields for future research. This Japanese information is the only known source of data from scientifically controlled experiments showing direct effect of BW [bacteriological warfare] agents on man. In the past it has been necessary to evaluate effects of BW agents on man from data through animal experimentation. Such evaluation is inconclusive and far less complete than results obtained from certain types of human experimentation.

"It is felt that the use of this information as a basis for war crimes evidence would be a grave detriment to Japanese cooperation with the United States occupation forces in Japan. For all practical purposes an agreement with Ishii and his associates that information given by them on the Japanese BW program will be retained in intelligence channels is equivalent to an agreement that this Government will not prosecute any of those involved in BW activities in which war crimes were committed. Such an understanding would be of great value to the security of the American people because of the information which Ishii and his associates have already furnished and will continue to furnish."

The astounding conclusion went as follows: "The value to the U.S. of Japanese BW data is of such importance to national security as to far outweigh the value accruing from `war crimes' prosecution. In the interests of national security it would not be advisable to make this information available to other nations as would be the case in the event of a `war crimes' trial of Japanese BW experts. The BW information obtained from Japanese sources should be retained in intelligence channels and should not be employed as `war crimes' evidence."

Communications between Washington D.C. and General MacArthur's headquarters in Japan were very revealing. One excerpt read as follows:

" ... The feeling of several staff groups in Washington, including G2, is that this problem is more or less a family affair in the Far Eastern Command."

No mention was ever made during the war crimes trials in Japan about bacteriological warfare or chemical warfare experiments being conducted on human test specimens. No indictments were ever handed down against those who had perpetrated these crimes. Colonel Sanders was ordered back to the United States to brief scientists at Fort Detrick but shortly thereafter became ill with tuberculosis and spent the next two years in bed. Oddly, the expert who was sent to replace Colonel Sanders, Arvo Thompson, committed suicide following his work for the Far Eastern Command and the scientists at Fort Detrick.

What happened to all of the Japanese officers and scientists who worked in the Manchurian labs during World War II? The military officers were retired on sizable pensions and the civilian scientists continued their work with some of the largest chemical and medical companies in Japan. Some became presidents and professors at leading universities, others became a part of the industrial complex which so successfully competed with the West for international trade.

(NOTE: Insert names of Japanese scientists and officers and their relationship to the Japanese scientist's names on MIL [Nichols' corporation] agreements for development of biological technology with Japanese. )

Numerous board directors of F.I.D.C.O., of which Nichols was also a director, had been closely associated with General Douglas MacArthur. In fact, Clint Murchison, Sr. had helped finance MacArthur's presidential campaign.

******

The Vanity Fair article by Ron Rosenbaum had noted on page 98 that not long before his death, Danny Casolaro had reportedly approached a nurse he knew and asked her closely about the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and brain diseases.

Rosenbaum had asked himself what had been going on in Danny's head as he was being whipsawed between the shadowy Riconosciuto and Nichols and their death warnings? In Danny's notes, Rosenbaum had found references to germ warfare and slow-acting brain viruses like Mad Cow Disease which could be used against targeted individuals. Had Danny thought HE'D been targeted?

A subsequent conversation with Michael Riconosciuto confirmed Rosenbaum's suspicions. According to Riconosciuto, Danny had not only been concerned, but had an obsession with the story because he suspected he'd been "hit by these people." A source had allegedly told Danny that he, among others, had been targeted with a slow acting virus. Riconosciuto had advised him to go to a doctor and get tests. The tests had been inconclusive. "Now, what he probably had was the genesis of a naturally occurring ailment," said Riconosciuto to Rosenbaum.

Rosenbaum had described the entire Inslaw/Casolaro affair as "Kafkaesque weirdness." Indeed, after Nichols had handed me the book, "The Search for the Manchurian Candidate" at his Sherman Oaks apartment, I had obtained a copy and recalled the author, John Marks, referring to the CIA MKUltra (Manchurian Candidate) interrogation methods as Kafkaesque in nature. Though Danny's notes mentioned nothing about "mind-control," and Bill Hamilton later noted that Danny had spoken mainly about the biologicals, I found it difficult to believe that he was not subjected to some form of mind control either subliminally or otherwise by someone in the field.

******

"The Search for the Manchurian Candidate" gave significant background on the history of biological warfare and mind control research by the CIA. The author, John Marks, obtained much of his material from seven boxes of heavily censored MKUltra financial records and another three or so Artichoke (CIA behavor control program), documents supplemented by interviews.

As early as 1943, the CIA, or actually its predecessor, the OSS, initiated "humanistic psychology," or studies of what the brain can do, during World War II when a "truth drug" committee headed by Dr. Winfred Overholser conducted experiments with marijuana and mescaline to find a way to induce prisoners to confess. A parallel OSS group had also investigated the use of "quietus medications" lethal poisons for possible use against Adolf Hitler.

The original program was headed by General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, a burly, vigorous Republican millionaire who had started as White House intelligence advisor even before Pearl Harbor. A former Columbia College and Columbia Law Graduate, Donovan early on recruited Richard Helms, a young newspaper executive who had gained fame for interviewing Adolf Hilter in 1936 while working for United Press. He would subsequently become the most important sponsor of mind control research within the CIA, nurturing and promoting it throughout his steady climb to the top of the Agency.

Despite harsh condemnation at the Nuremberg trials after World War II of Nazi scientific experiments, U.S. investigators found the research records from the Dachau prison camp to be "an important complement to existing U.S. knowledge." Doctors connected to the S.S. and Gestapo had conducted experiments that led to the testing of mescaline on prisoners at Dachau. Their goal had been to "eliminate the will of the person examined."

The Japanese, for their part, had stockpiled chemical and biological warfare substances during World War II and even went so far as to drop deadly anthrax germs on China during the early stages of the war. OSS responded by individualizing CBW (Chemical and Biological Warfare) and creating methods of secretly disorienting, incapacitating, injuring or killing an enemy at Fort Detrick.

The CIA's post World War II mind control program was headed by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, who presided over investigations that ranged from advanced research in amnesia caused by electroshock to dragnet searches through the jungles of Latin America for toxic leaves and barks. Gottlieb's office not only found ways to make Fidel Castro's beard fall out, but he personally provided operators with deadly poisons to assassinate foreign leaders like the Congo's Patrice Lumumba.

Other areas of CIA sponsored research included explorations of personalities. Henry Murray, a former Donovan protege, devised a battery of tests which could size up the personality of potential CIA recruits as well as predict future behavioral patterns. "Spying is attractive to loonies," wrote Murray. "Psychopaths, who are people who spend their lives making up stories, revel in the field." The program's prime objective, according to Murray, was to weed out the crazies, as well as the "sloths, irritants, bad actors, and freetalkers."

Murray's assessment system subsequently became a fixture in the CIA and some of his assistants went on to establish CIA like systems at large corporations, starting with AT & T.

It is important to remember that at the beginning, the OSS (precurser to the CIA) researchers from Security and Scientific Intelligence shared jointly the literature and secret reports seized from the Germans and the Japanese after World War II. They had theorized that in order to build an effective defense against mind control and CBW, it was necessary to understand the "offensive" possibilities. But as the years went on, the line between offense and defense if it ever existed soon became so blurred as to be meaningless.

In 1947 when the National Security Act created not only the CIA, but also the National Security Council, in sum, the command structure of the Cold War, a warlike posture was developed against the new perceived enemy, the Soviet Union. The men in the CIA took this job seriously. "We felt we were the first line of defense in the anticommunist crusade," recalled Harry Rositzke, an early head of the Agency's Soviet Division. "There was a clear and heady sense of mission, a sense of what a huge job this was."

A contingent of the CIA behavior control program, code named "Artichoke," developed a program whereby guinea pigs for mind-control experiments were obtained from the flotsam and jetsam of the international spy trade: " ... individuals of dubious loyalty, suspected agents or plants, subjects having known reason for deception, etc," as one agency documents described them. Artichoke officials looked upon these people as unique research "material" from whom meaningful secrets might be extracted while the experiments went on.

As one CIA psychologist who worked in the mind-control program put it, "One did not put a high premium on the civil rights of a person who was treasonable to his own country ..." Thus the Artichoke teams were given mostly the dregs of the clandestine underworld to work on.

In one experiment in the early 1950's, an alleged Russian double agent was brought to a safe house and plied for information with a mixture of drugs and hypnosis under the cover of a "psychiatric medical exam." A professional hypnotist had accompanied the team, giving his commands to an interpreter through an elaborate intercom system, who, in turn, was able to put the Russian into a hypnotic trance.

Afterward, the team reported to the CIA's director that the Russian had revealed extremely valuable information and he had been made to forget his interrogation through hypnotically induced amnesia. The Russian was also used in a subsequent experiment where he was given Seconal, Dexedrine and Marijuana in combination in a beer delivered during the cocktail hour. There were little, if any, positive results.

Nevertheless, the CIA was still consistently on the cutting edge of specialized behavioral research, sponsoring the lions share of the most harrowing experiments. One CIA psychiatric consultant provided a small personal glimpse of how it felt to be a soldier in the mind control campaign. The psychiatrist, who insisted on anonymity, estimated that he made between 125 and 150 trips overseas on Agency operations between 1952 through his retirement in 1966. "To be a psychiatrist chasing off to Europe instead of just seeing the same patients year after year, that was extraordinary," he said.

CHAPTER 15, Part 2

Later, due to bureaucratic squabbling, the CIA transferred its behavior work to a (CIA) outfit with Ph.D.'s called the Technical Services Staff (TSS). Under TSS's Chemical Division, research was conducted on the use of chemicals and germs against specific people. LSD had been used extensively between 1951 and 1956 by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, a native of the Bronx with a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cal Tech; Gottlieb continued to oversee most of TSS's behavorial programs up to and including 1973.

At the top of the Clandestine Services (officially called the Directorate of Operations but popularly known as the "dirty tricks department"), Sid Gottlieb had a champion who appreciated his qualities, Richard Helms. For two decades, Gottlieb moved into progressively higher positions in the wake of Helms' climb to the highest position in the Agency.

Under the TSS leadership of Gottlieb and Helms, research on the covert use of biological and chemical materials progressed under the code name of "MKUltra." The operational arm of MKUltra was labeled MKDelta, the purpose of which was to "investigate whether and how it was possible to modify an individual's behavior by covert means." Hashish had been around for millennia, but LSD was roughly a million times stronger by weight. A two-suiter suitcase could hold enough LSD to turn on every man, woman, and child in the United States.

But the CIA was concentrating on individuals. TSS understood that LSD distorted a person's sense of reality and they felt compelled to learn if it could alter a person's basic loyalties. Could the CIA make spies out of tripping Russians or visa versa?

Suddenly there was a huge new market for grants in academia, as Sid Gottlieb and his aides began to fund LSD projects at prestigious institutions. Author John Marks ("The Search for the Manchurian Candidate") identified the Agency's LSD pathfinders as: Bob Hyde's group at Boston Psychopathic, Harold Abramson at Mt. Sinai Hospital and Columbia University in New York, Harris Isbell of the NIMH sponsored Addiction Research Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Louis Jolyon West at the University of Oklahoma, and Harold Hodge's group at the University of Rochester.

The Agency disguised its involvement by passing the money through two conduits: The Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation and the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research, a Washington D.C. family foundation, whose head, Dr. Charles Geschickter, provided the Agency with a variety of services for more than a decade.

Beginning in 1952, TSS had an agreement with the Special Operations Division (SOD) of the Army's biological research center at Fort Detrick, Maryland, whereby SOD would produce germ weapons for the CIA's use with the program called MKNaomi. Under MKNaomi, the SOD men developed a whole arsenal of toxic substances for CIA use.

Wrote Marks: "If Agency operators needed to kill someone in a few seconds with say, a suicide pill, SOD provided super deadly shellfish toxins." Agency operators later supplied pills laced with this lethal food poison to its Mafia allies for inclusion into Fidel Castro's milkshake.

In other instances, "If CIA officials wanted an assassination to look like a death from natural causes, they could choose from a long list of deadly diseases that normally occurred in particular countries," wrote Marks. When CIA operators merely wanted to be rid of someone temporarily, SOD stockpiled for them about a dozen diseases and toxins of varying strengths. "At the relatively benign end of the SOD list stood `Staph enterotoxin,' a mild form of food poisoning, mild compared to botulinum," noted Marks.

Even more virulent in the SOD arsenal was "Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis" virus which usually immobilized a person for 2 to 5 days and kept him in a weakened state for several more weeks. If the Agency wanted to incapacitate someone for a period of months, SOD provided two different kinds of "brucellosis." This incapacitating agent was allegedly placed on the monogrammed handkerchief of an Iraqi colonel in 1060 who was said to be promoting Soviet bloc political interests, but the colonel was shot by a firing squad before the handkerchief arrived."

SOD was forever developing more virulent strains," wrote Marks. Perhaps the most important question was whether a germ could be covertly delivered to infect the right person. One branch of SOD specialized in building "delivery systems," the most notorious of which was a dart gun fashioned out of a .45 pistol which ex-CIA Director William Colby once displayed at a 1975 Senate hearing.

The Agency had long been after SOD to develop a "nondiscernible microbioinoculator" which could deliver deadly shots that, according to a CIA document, could not be "easily detected upon a detailed autopsy." One high Detrick official noted that the best way to infect people was through the respiratory system. SOD rigged up aerosol sprays that could be fired by remote control, including a fluorescent starter that was activated by turning on the light.

A former newspaper journalist turned narcotics agent, George White, was recruited by MKUltra chief Sid Gottlieb to test drugs on unsuspecting subjects at a San Francisco "safe house" on Telegraph Hill. The apartment was bugged with four DD4 microphones disguised as electrical wall outlets hooked up to two F301 tape recorders which agents monitored in an adjacent "listening post."

The San Francisco safe house specialized in prostitutes who brought unwitting victims back for study. In addition to LSD, TSS officials gave White even more exotic experimental drugs to test. One TSS source noted, "If we were scared enough of a drug not to try it out on ourselves, we sent it to San Francisco."

According to a 1963 report by CIA Inspector General John Earman, in a number of instances, the test subject became ill for hours or days and, in one case, hospitalization was needed. Wrote Marks, "The Inspector General was only somewhat reassured by the fact that George White maintained close working relations with local police authorities which could be utilized to protect the activity in critical situations."

At another safehouse located in Marin County, TSS scientists tested such MKUltra specialties and delivery systems as glass ampules that could be stepped on to release itching or sneezing powders, a fine hypodermic needle to inject drugs through the cork in a wine bottle, and a drug coated swizzle stick.

At one point, an attempt was made to spray LSD from an aerosol spray can at a house party, but the heat of the summer caused all the windows and doors to be open. "Years later," wrote John Marks, "George White wrote an epitaph [in a personal letter to Sid Gottlieb] for his role with the CIA: `I was a very minor missionary, actually a heretic, but I toiled wholeheartedly in the vineyards because it was fun, fun, fun. Where else could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, rape, and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the All Highest?'"

Not every scientist cooperated with the CIA. While conducting experimental studies on monkeys at the National Institute of Health, Dr. John Lilly discovered a method of inserting electrodes into the brain to stimulate precise centers of pleasure, pain, fear, anxiety and anger. As Lilly refined his brain "maps," officials of the CIA and other agencies descended upon him with requests for briefings.

Lilly insisted that all briefings remain unclassified, completely open to outsiders. Other scientists ordinarily had their work officially classified, which meant that access to the information required a security clearance. But Lilly's imagination had conjured up pictures of CIA agents on deadly missions with remote controlled electrodes strategically implanted in their brains, and so he withdrew from that field of research. By 1958 he had finally concluded that it would be impossible for him to continue working at the National Institute of Health without compromising his principles, so he resigned.

MKUltra officials were clearly interested in using grants to build contracts and associations with prestigious academics. The CIA-funded Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, later known as the "Human Ecology Fund," (HEF) supported such publications as the "Research in Mental Health Newsletter" published jointly at McGill University by the sociology and psychiatric departments.

Similarly, HEF gave grants of $26,000 to the well-known University of London psychologist, H.J. Eysenck, for his work on motivation. Marks noted that the MKUltra documents acknowledged that this research had "no immediate relevance for Agency needs, but it would lend prestige to the Human Ecology Fund."

A whole category of HEF funding, called "cover grants," served no other purpose than to build the organization's false front. A TSS source explained that grants like these "bought legitimacy" for the organization. Nevertheless, one small grant to a psychologist from the University of Pennsylvania provided valuable information on "confidence men." The CIA was intrigued with the ability of con men to manipulate human behavior. As one CIA official put it, the psychologist unwittingly gave them "a better understanding of the techniques people use to establish phony relationships" a subject of interest to the CIA.

Marks wrote that at one point, the CIA took the "Svengali" legend to heart. In 1954, Morse Allen, the CIA's first behavioral research czar, simulated the ultimate experiment in hypnosis: the creation of a "Manchurian Candidate," or programmed assassin. Allen's "victim" was a secretary whom he put into a deep trance and told to keep sleeping until he ordered otherwise.

He then hypnotized a second secretary and told her that if she could not wake up her friend, "her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to kill." An unloaded pistol was placed nearby. Even though the second secretary had expressed a fear of firearms of any kind, she picked up the gun and "shot" her sleeping friend. After Allen brought the "killer" out of her trance, she had no recollection of the event, denying she would ever shoot anyone.

Some of the CIA's experiments wandered so far across ethical borders of experimental psychiatry that Agency officials ultimately conducted much of the work outside the United States. The CIA's Human Ecology Fund provided financing to foreign researchers and American professors to collect information abroad. The MKUltra men realized that ninety percent of their experiments would fail to be of any use to the Agency, but the "behaviorists" continued to search for the elusive answer to human control.

Unbound by the rules of academia, the CIA took stabs at cracking the human genetic code with computers and finding out whether animals could be controlled through electrodes placed in their brains.

Within the Agency itself, the one significant question remained to be answered: Will a technique work? CIA officials zealously tracked every lead, sparing no expense to check each angle many times over, yet no foolproof way was found to brainwash another person. Specific methods worked "fantastically" on certain people, but not on others. It wasn't predictable enough, noted one official."

In the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy reportedly vowed to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces," wrote John Marks. In the end, he settled for firing Allen Dulles and his top deputies. Until that point, the TSS (Technical Services Staff) had been the Agency's largest scientific component. Under the new head of CIA, John McCone, TSS was stripped of its main research functions including the behavioral one and Seymour Russell, a tough covert operator, was brought in as the new chief. But the highest deputyship at TSS went to Sid Gottlieb, who became number-two man under Russell.

In his new job, Gottlieb kept control of MKUltra. His emphasis switched back to chemical and biological substances "not because he thought these could be used to turn men into robots," wrote Marks, "but because he valued them for their `predictable' ability to disorient, discredit, injure, or kill people." A $150,000 a year contract was signed with a Baltimore biological laboratory which provided TSS a private place for "large-scale production of microorganisms" for biological weapons without the Army's germ warriors knowing about it.

Dr. James Hamilton, the San Francisco psychiatrist who worked with George White in the original OSS marijuana days, was brought back to MKUltra by Gottlieb to conduct "clinical testing of behavioral control materials" on prisoners at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville. Hamilton worked through a nonprofit research institute connected to the facility to conduct his research. Marks estimated that he experimented on between 400 to 1,000 inmates between 1967 and 1968.

In July 1977, after receiving notification that the CIA had located 7 boxes of MKUltra financial records, author John Marks held a press conference in which he criticized then CIA Director Admiral Stansfield Turner (later a Wackenhut Board member) for several distortions in describing the MKUltra program. Turner had described MKUltra as only a program of drug experimentation and not one aimed at behavior control to President Carter and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Marks responded by releasing a score of CIA documents to reporters that indicated the flavor of the CIA behavioral efforts. The documents set off a media bandwagon that had the story reported on all three network television news shows as well as others. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Senator Edward Kennedy's Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research soon announced they would hold public hearings on the subject. The CBW program at Ft. Detrick was subsequently shut down.

In 1979, Marks concluded that he could not be positive that the CIA never found a technique to control people. CIA officials actively experimented with behavior control methods for another decade AFTER Sid Gottlieb and company lost the research action. The Office of Research and Development (ORD) picked up the ball by creating its own latter-day version of the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology.

Located outside Boston, it was called the Scientific Engineering Institute and had originally been used by the CIA as a proprietary company to conduct radar research. In the early 1960's, ORD officials built a new wing to the Institute's modernistic building for "life sciences" or human behavior research.

According to Marks, one scientist from the institute recalled a colleague joking, "If you could find the natural radio frequency of a person's sphincter, you could make him run out of the room real fast."

"Just as the MKUltra program had been years ahead of the scientific community, ORD activities were similarly advanced," wrote Marks. One researcher noted that MKUltra looked at the manipulation of genes and gene splintering as early as 1965, eleven years before the rest of the world even thought about it. Added the scientist, "Everybody was afraid of building the super soldier who would take orders without questioning, like the kamikaze pilot. Creating a subservient society was not out of sight."

******

The above research was conducted thirty years ago! What had been developed along those same lines by 1994? Even the most rampant imagination could not conceive of what might be underway in CIA laboratories today.

With today's cutting and splicing techniques, scientists can attach any genes they choose to certain carrier genes. These linked genes, called "recombinant DNA," are then conveyed inside a host cell, which virtually adopts the new gene as one of its own. The object of most current experiments is to transplant genes from the host to bacteria. These tractable, microscopic cells proliferate faster than rabbits. On a simple cheap diet a single bacterium makes a few billion copies of itself overnight. Its DNA, including that of the transplanted gene, is reproduced at the same rate.

Biochemists at Stanford University have found a technique for combining DNA from "two different sources" and putting it into a common bacterium. The bacterium they chose was "E.coli bacteria," commonly found in the intestine of every living person. Modified E.coli, containing certain cancer genes, could become a biological bomb. The bacterium carrying its little package of cancer genes, could then be passed as easily as the common cold from one human to another.

The U.S. is not the only country to have this technology. A classified report prepared for the National Security Council (U.S.) and obtained by the Washington Times claimed "the Soviet Union was using genetic engineering to create virulent new biological weapons that could be deployed as early as 1989 - if in fact some had not already been deployed." Robert H. Kupperman, a chemical warfare expert at Georgetown University's Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Times that "it's like making designer drugs."

A report was prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency which outlined extensive violations by the Soviets of two anti-biological warfare treaties. The report noted "the Soviets were using recent advances in biotechnology, such as genetic engineering, to develop a new class of CBW [chemical, biological warfare] agents that can be rapidly produced for deployment."

Recent scientific findings on the Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) indicate genetic material common to Gulf War-era veterans could provide a clue as to why so many became sick after serving in the 1991 war. In a study presented to Gulf War veterans at a conference in Tampa, Florida, microbiologist Dr. Howard Urnovitz said the genetic marker could point to the existence of a "virus." The virus, in turn, could make veterans exposed to chemical agents or other toxins more susceptible to illness, he added.

Beginning on Veterans Day, November 11, 1996 and continuing through November 17th, KREM T.V. out of Spokane, Washington (509) 838-7350), an affiliate of Northwest News in Seattle, telecast a series on Gulf War Syndrome (GWS). Reporter Tom Grant interviewed numerous doctors, one of which was Dr. Garth Nicholson, a microbiologist, who maintained that GWS contains "altered genetic structures" similar to AIDS. He suggested GWS is a genetically engineered biological warfare organism, and it's contagious.

Dr. Larry Goss, in Walters, Oklahoma, not only confirmed Nicholson's findings, but said on public T.V. that he and his wife "caught" GWS while treating Gulf War veterans. Dr. William Baumzweiger, a neurologist/psychiatrist at the V.A. hospital in Los Angeles found brain-stem damage in GWS vets, and noted the virus turns the immune system against itself.

GWS veterans were warned NOT to have unprotected sex or have any more children. The vets themselves were interviewed along with their families. Tragically, their wives and children were now suffering from the same GWS symptoms. Pictures were shown of the children, providing indisputable proof of the infectiousness of the disease.

Doctors warned the public that GWS could soon enter the general populace, and it could be terminal. However, on November 17th, Dr. Nicholson noted that treatment was available through antibiotics.

******

Scientists have long suspected the existence of a "lab-created" virus which attacks the immune system. In January 1986, the French-born and trained biologists Professor Jakob and Dr. Lilli Segal, published a pamphlet entitled, "AIDS: USA-Home Made Evil; Not Imported from Africa." The two scientists, a biophysicist and a biologist affiliated with the Humboldt University in Berlin, pointed out that examination of the genes making up the HIV retrovirus revealed it "could not have come about by a natural way known to biologists." They called the virus a "chimera," originally created in 1977 at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

The Segals were not the only researchers to suggest that "genetic engineering" was involved with AIDS. John Seale, M.D., a London venereologist, also stated that the molecular structure of HIV suggested "manipulation of viruses" rather than a natural mutation from known retroviruses. And Dr. Robert Strecker, M.D., a Los Angeles internist, has made the same assertion.

These advocates of the artificial HIV theory all note the structural similarities of HIV to visna virus, a pathogen found in sheep with similarities to AIDS. The scientists argue that the visna virus was artificially combined with the HTLV-I virus, another retrovirus which causes human lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells.

CHAPTER 15, Part 3-END.

Today designer viruses are limited only by the imagination of the scientist creating them. Thus, bio-labs in both the U.S. and abroad are in a race to find vaccines which build the human immune system - or search out and destroy killer T - Cells.

A new study, recently released by Dr. Jeffrey Leiden, director of a research team at the University of Chicago, showed that genes can be injected directly into "muscle tissue" to cause production of proteins needed to correct some blood disorders, such as anemia. Genes in the injection are taken into the nucleus of cells in the muscle tissue and become, in effect, a pharmaceutical factory, increasing red blood cell levels as high as 64%. In the past, gene therapy involved using "viruses" to transfer genes into the body, a technique that was "poorly controlled," according to Dr. Leiden.

And another finding by Arthur Vandenbark, of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Oregon noted the discovery of a new vaccine which enables the human immune system to churn out more T - Cells, thus preventing multiple sclerosis patients from becoming sicker.

The ultimate irony of the 21st century could be the development of vaccines, in response to the threat of biological warfare, which boost the human immune system to such a degree that people become completely disease resistant. The question is, with overpopulation looming on the horizon, would the U.S. government release such a vaccine to the general populace -- if not, who would have access to it? The Chosen Ones?

Interestingly, Robert Booth Nichols' manuscript, entitled "Acceptable Casualty," copyrighted at the Library of Congress in May 1987, outlined an identical scenario.

******

Within Michael Riconosciuto's secret files in the Mojave Desert, I had found a box marked "Ted Gunderson," which I had dragged home along with the rest of the material.

This particular box had contained records of most of Gunderson's investigations, but one report particularly caught my attention. It was titled, "From PSYOP to MindWar: The Psychology of Victory" by Colonel Paul E. Vallely with Major Michael A. Aquino.

The 12 page Army report was undated but it outlined the use of "Psychotronics," intelligence and operational weapons systems employing the use of mind control, commonly known as Psychological Operations (PSYOP).

Wrote Aquino, "In 1967 and 1968 alone, a total of 29,276 armed Viet Cong/NVA (the equivalent of 95 enemy infantry battalions) surrendered to ARVN or MACV forces under the Chieu Hoi amnesty program the major PSYOP effort of the Vietnam War. At the time MACV estimated that the elimination of that same number of enemy troops in combat would have cost us 6,000 dead."

Aquino argued that the U.S. lost the war in Vietnam "not because we were outfought, but because we were out PSYOPed. Our national will to victory was attacked more effectively than we attacked that of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, and perception of this fact encouraged the enemy to hang on until the United States finally broke and ran for home."

The lesson, according to Aquino, was not to ignore U.S. PSYOP capability, but rather to change it and strengthen it "so that it can do precisely that kind of thing to our enemy in the next war." To begin, there would be a name change from Psychological Operations to "MindWar." Noted Aquino, "We must reach the people BEFORE they resolve to support their armies, and we must reach those armies BEFORE our combat troops ever see them on battlefields."

Aquino went on to compare his proposal with the definition of Psychological Warfare first introduced by General William Donovan of the OSS in his World War II era "Basic Estimate of Psychological Warfare" in which Donovan discussed the need to destroy the will of the enemy. But an attendant 1947 letter stressed the need for a "synonym which could be used in peacetime that would not shock the sensibilities of a citizen of democracy."

Aquino indicated contempt for the U.S. Army's inability to accept PSYOP in its "most effective configuration," adding that "the reluctance with which the Army had accepted even an `antiseptic' PSYOP component" was well documented.

Having read about General Donovan's "behavioral control" program in the MKUltra book, I didn't perceive it to be exactly "antiseptic." Aquino's report, obviously written after the Vietnam war, suggested that future MindWars should be fought through "skillful use of communications media."

"MindWar," noted Aquino, "states a whole truth that, if it does not now exist, will be forced into existence by the will of the United States ... A MindWar message does not have to fit conditions of abstract credibility as do PSYOP themes; its source makes it credible."

Aquino continued, " ... The MindWar operative must KNOW that he speaks the truth, and he must be PERSONALLY COMMITTED to it. What he says is only a part of MindWar; the rest and the test of its effectiveness lies in the conviction he projects to his audience, in the rapport he establishes with it."

As I read the document it was difficult not to recall Oliver North's diary in which he called his associates, "The True Believers." (More on that in another chapter). Aquino noted that the recipient of the statement by the MindWar operative would judge such messages not only by his conscious understanding of them, but also by the mental conditions under which he perceived them. "For the mind to believe its own decisions," wrote Aquino, "it must feel that it made those decisions without coercion. Coercive measures used by the MindWar operative, consequently, must not be detectable by ordinary means ..."

Aquino's basis for his report came from various publications which were listed at the back of the document. "More effective configurations" of MindWar as noted by Aquino may well have included the following (taken from the back of the document):

"ELF (extremely low frequency) waves (up to 100 Hz) ... are naturally occurring, but they can also be produced artificially ... ELF waves are not normally noticed by the unaided senses, yet their resonant effect upon the human body has been connected to both physiological disorders and emotional distortion. Infrasound vibration (up to 20 Hz) can subliminally influence brain activity to align itself to delta, theta, alpha, or beta wave patterns, inclining an audience toward everything from alertness to passivity. Infrasound could be used tactically, as ELF waves endure for great distances; and it could be used in conjunction with media broadcasts as well."

So, the human brain can be aligned to infrasound through media broadcasts. Was that technology used on Manuel Noriega when he was forced to surrender in Panama under blaring radio broadcasts? And hadn't the Branch Davidians been subjected to loud music and chants for extended periods of time?

Another section of the Aquino report noted that "ionization of the air" could be used to control an individual's emotions. "An abundance of negative condensation nucleii (air ions) in ingested air enhances alertness and exhilaration, while an excess of positive ions enhances drowsiness and depression. Calculation of a target audience's atmospheric environment will be correspondingly useful."

After his retirement from the Army, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Aquino, an ex-Green Beret, was later written up in the San Francisco Chronicle as the head of the Temple of Set, a satanic, devil-worshipping church. The November 1987 headlines read as follows: "Army Says Constitution Lets Satanist Hold Top-Secret Job," by reporters John Whittinger and Bill Wallace. The story went on to say that "the high priest of a San Francisco based satanic church is able to keep his top-secret security clearance because his activities are constitutionally protected, Army officials said yesterday. "Lieutenant Colonel Michael A. Aquino, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, is the founder and president of Temple of Set, a satanic church headquartered in Aquino's Russian Hill home ...

"Aquino, a psychological warfare officer who has worked in military intelligence, holds a top secret security clearance that allows him to handle information whose release would gravely damage U.S. security, according to Defense Department regulations.

"He maintains the clearance even though he has performed Nazi occult rites and has described himself as the `Anti-Christ' in literature published by the Temple of Set ..."

Temple of Set literature described a coming apocalypse in which only followers of Satan would be saved. Readers were encouraged to read such works as "Mein Kampf," "Hitler: The Occult Messiah," and "The Occult Roots of Nazism."

Aquino conducted occult rituals patterned on ceremonies performed by Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler in a German castle once used by the Nazi SS for black magic ceremonies during the Third Reich. Nazis considered the black arts and satanic worship part of an ancient Germanic tradition.

Aquino, in his book, "Crystal Tablet of Set," wrote that he performed the rituals to recreate an order of Knighthood for followers of Satan. He even encouraged his followers to study the beliefs of the Nazi terrorist group, the Vehm, the Thule Gesselschaft, and the Ahnenerbe, two fanatic rightwing Aryan groups that existed before and during Hitler's reign.

When the two reporters from the Chronicle inquired about Aquino's security clearances, Major Rixon declared that "to the best of his knowledge, there was no part of the liturgy of his church that caused any (security) problem." Aquino admitted to being involved in devil worship for 22 years.

Ted Gunderson's box contained reams of literature written by Aquino along with other documents pertaining to identical subject matter. It was no secret that Gunderson lectured on the subject of Satanism, as I learned from a July 1993 Colonel Bo Gritz newsletter which advertised Gunderson as a featured speaker on one of Gritz's national radio broadcasts.

But it was not the Satanic aspect of Aquino's writings that caused me to scrutinize his earlier writings for the Army. Shortly after the Waco incident in Texas, a secret "classified conference" was held at the Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico. Through a friend in Maine, I was able to obtain an official copy of the speaking agenda for the November 1993 conference and, oddly, the subject matter under discussion correlated with not only the original Aquino Army report, but also with the MKUltra behavior research underway during the 1950's and 1960's.

The title of the conference was "Non-Lethal Defense" and just a few of the speakers included such dignitaries as the Honorable U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno; Dr. Edward Teller who had helped develop the nuclear bomb; Dr. Milt Finger from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Mr. Andy Andrews, Non-Lethal Project Leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory; LTG William H. Forster from Army Research, Development and Acquisition; Dr. Clay Easterly from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Dr. Henry Brisker from U.S. Army Research Laboratories; Ms. Astrid Lewis from the U.S. Army Chemical Research & Development Command; Lt. General Richard G. Trefry, former Military Advisor to President George Bush; and many more.

The most noteworthy "non-lethal" technology presentations included the following: "High Power Microwave Technology" "Application of Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields to Non-Lethal Weapons" "Voice Synthesis" "Incremental Aggression: Requirements for the Future" "Chemical/Biological Anti-Terrorism" "Biological Challenges" "Non-Lethal Research: Fracture & Dynamic Behavior, Biotechnology & Structural Ceramics, and many more.

Interestingly, the opening address was given by General E.C. Meyer (Ret.), former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army the very same General Meyer who had set up the Department of Defense conference in which Michael Riconosciuto had been the principal speaker from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to a group of senior level national security research and development officials.

The objective and scope of the 1993 Los Alamos conference included exploring a non-lethal approach to apply force against not only wartime enemies (the Soviet Union had already fallen) but against "terrorists" and "international drug traffickers" as well. The introduction noted that the purpose of the conference was to bring together "industry, government, and academia to explore the potential of non-lethal defense and identify requirements so that the defense community can work together in leveraging the non-lethal concept."

"Industry [law enforcement], particularly, will benefit from a more precise understanding of requirements and operational constraints regarding non-lethal defense technologies," noted the conference's sponsors, The American Defense Preparedness Association.

Additionally, non-lethal defense was described as "an emerging technological option being developed conceptually with a sea of technical opportunity."

Based upon the technical presentations listed in the brochure, it didn't appear to me that such technology as acoustical, high power microwave, laser, ELF/RF weapons and "psychotronic" systems were particularly NEW in the field of military or intelligence applications. Obviously, what was occurring at this conference was the presentation of these formidable weapons to law enforcement for domestic (U.S.) applications.

In late November 1993, a letter came to my attention which discussed the abovementioned conference. The letter had been written to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno by a former CIA employee, Julianne McKinney, on letterhead stationary originating from the "Association of National Security Alumni, Electronic Surveillance Project, P.O. Box 13625, Silver Spring, Maryland 209113625."

Portions of the letter read as follows: " ... In December 1992, when `Microwave Harassment and Mind Control Experimentation' was published, U.S. Government representatives routinely took the position that directed energy technologies were nothing more than mere figments of physicists' imaginations, still on the drawing boards. Shortly following publication of this report, information concerning these technologies began to appear in such noteworthy organs as The Wall Street Journal, Defense News, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Tactical Technology, Defense Electronics and, most recently, The Washington Post.

"In a flurry of activity these past 10 months, directed energy based surveillance and antipersonnel systems have suddenly leaped off of physicists' drawing boards into the world of reality, thus obviating the criticism, it would appear, that the attached publication [Los Alamos conference brochure] concerns nonexistent technologies.

"Indeed, directed energy technologies appear to have evolved at such a rapid rate that they are now being promoted as the `Final Solution' to crime preliminarily, at a classified conference sponsored by the Los Alamos National Laboratory ..."

McKinney's concern focused primarily on future law enforcement application of "psychotronic" tools, or directed energy weapons technologies. "What, so far, has prevented this government and its contractors from testing these technologies on U.S. citizens under involuntary circumstances?," she asked.

The letter went on to outline various instances in which people had complained to her organization of alleged symptoms of directed energy technologies in such areas as the United States, England, Canada and Australia.

******

After reading "The Search for the Manchurian Candidate," I couldn't help wondering if Danny Casolaro had been subjected to some form of hypnosis.

Any such far-reaching scenarios were outside the boundaries of normal human experience, indeed no mainstream journalist would pursue such a theory. But, then Robert Booth Nichols, Michael Riconosciuto and the CIA were not within normal human experience. And, who would have believed, ten years ago, that the CIA would be investigated by Congress in 1996 for drug trafficking in Los Angeles?

At one point in time Danny had signed an agreement with Nichols in which Nichols was to give Danny a $25,000 loan against his home in Fairfax, Virginia. Nichols had offered to take Danny overseas to find the answers to his questions and Danny had needed the money to make the trip. Where had they planned to go? What possible motive could Nichols have had for enticing Danny to go overseas for several months?

During one of my conversations with Bobby Riconosciuto, she had mentioned a private installation at Alice Springs, Australia which Michael had visited with Nichols. The tour of the installation had upset Riconosciuto to such a degree that he had become ill and cut the trip short. Nichols later confirmed the trip, and recalled that Michael had indeed become anxious and ill, but would not discuss the purpose of the trip.

When I subsequently questioned Michael about the Australian installation, he first asked where I had learned of it? When I noted the information came from Bobby, he explained that the underground facility had been built during World War II to be used as a bomb shelter. It was capable of housing thousands of people and was completely self-contained.

I asked Riconosciuto if he had been inside the facility? He said he had, it was owned by a private corporation; inside was a city of sorts, containing sophisticated communications equipment, laboratory equipment and other items which he would not define. He chose not to discuss it further, but concurred that what he saw made him realize that it was time to terminate his relationship with Robert Booth Nichols.

Both men had confirmed to me that the Australian trip marked the end of their 20-year association. I later contacted a journalist in Alice Springs to gain more knowledge of the mysterious "installation." I was able to confirm that the installation existed, that it was leased by a private corporation, and that it was heavily guarded, but no one seemed to know what it was being used for.

******

On November 22, 1992, I received a call from Michael Riconosciuto. It was the first time I had spoken with him in nine months. The first thing he asked me was, "Did Bob Nichols threaten you?"

I explained to him that I had nothing to fear from Nichols as long as I didn't reveal the contents of the meeting. Michael pressed further.

"Did he attempt to destroy my credibility, or did the meeting pertain to HIS activities?"

"Well, essentially, I asked him questions specifically about what he was doing with his corporation in Japan and overseas ..."

Mike knew I was referring to the genetic engineering project. Michael interjected, "That is so heavy. I've got a full paperwork trail on that."

I answered, "I have the paperwork trail on it."

Michael: "He didn't like that, did he?"

CM: "No, but after he knew I had information on it, he came right out and talked about it."

Michael: "Did he tell you what it was for?"

CM: "I think he did."

Michael: "Isn't that a `Dr. Strangelove tale'?"

CM: "Yes, I need to ask you some things ..."

Michael cut in. "Let's not talk about that over this phone."

Once again, Michael became evasive when confronted with the biological technology Nichols was involved in. This seemed to be one of the few subjects he refused to discuss over the phone.

His next question caused me some alarm. "Where did you send the metal cannister you found in my files in the desert?"

I replied, "I sent it out to have it analyzed. I haven't received the results yet ..."

Michael: "Oh, Jesus. Where ... If they don't know how to handle it ..."

I stammered, "... I haven't heard from them yet ..."

Michael took a deep breath. "Oh, God." Then silence.

I was alarmed. "What is it? Tell me the truth."

Michael seemed shaken. "It's a military concept where you can genetically engineer these biological agents ... you see, a specific penetration group can be immunized, and everybody else dies. Now, whoever you sent that to, if they're not set up ... if they're not a class4 facility, they better call someone who can handle it and get rid of it ..." Mike stopped abruptly. "Has anyone opened or touched the cannister?"

I responded that it had not been opened. He drew another deep breath and seemed to relax somewhat. "Alright, it's not your problem anymore. As long as it's off your property."

http://www.american-buddha.com/last.circle.15.htm

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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[imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1397 (10 messages)

imra Mon May 22 02:20:03 2006 Volume 2 : Issue 1397

In this issue of the imra daily Digest:

CABINET COMMUNIQUE
Knesset Christian Allies Caucus to Present
Newly Created Women's Council
Anthony Julius Tells University of
Haifa Audience of New Boycott Attempt
Text: President Abbas speech at WEF at Sharm El-Sheikh
(wants negotiations - silent on acting against terror infrastructure)
Malaysia To Give US$16 Million To Palestinian Government
Excerpts: Hamas Euro smuggler caught.
Hamas - Fatah fracas continues 21 May 2006
Explosion at the Palestinian General
Intelligence Headquarters
REPORT URGES BUSH TO
REJECT ISRAELI PULLOUT
Report: PM Olmert's Planned WB Withdrawal:
A Threat to U.S. Interests and Security
CONGRESS MAINTAINS U.S. AID TO EGYPT

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: CABINET COMMUNIQUE

CABINET COMMUNIQUE

(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)

At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), 21.5.06:
1. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert paid tribute to the late Yitzhak Ben-Aharon
( http://tinyurl.com/ofjtf ): see http://tinyurl.com/omtk7 for details.

Prime Minister Olmert referred to the strike by intestinal cancer patients,
who are demanding that certain drugs be included in the health basket. He
said that following consultations with Health Minister Yaacov Ben-Yizri,
Minister Rafi Eitan and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, he spoke this morning
with the requisite officials and asked that the health basket committee
urgently reconvene in order to reconsider the issue and allow the Cabinet to
make decisions that will allow lives to be prolonged and saved. He noted
that while the Cabinet cannot set professional-clinical priorities for the
committee and its expert members, "We are very sensitive to these patients'
suffering. Their appeals are heart-rending and we will act according to the
recommendations of the specially-appointed professional committee. I hope
that these patients will stop their strike, which certainly does not make
their health situation any better, and return home, and will receive the
best possible treatment." I hope that we will be able to make decisions on
these issues soon."

Prime Minister Olmert thanked Minister Eitan for his recent efforts on the
matter, including the generous good will of the Ofer family and the Ofer
Foundation on the issue, the assistance of which cannot come in place of the
state's obligations.

2. Representatives of various regional authorities, in cooperation with the
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, ahead of Jerusalem Day (this Friday,
26.5.06, which is also the day on which Israel's rural communities salute
Jerusalem) and the Shavuot holiday (Friday, 2.6.06;
http://tinyurl.com/r4r39 ), presented ministers with the traditional first
fruits. Prime Minister Olmert said that this was an opportunity to bless
Israel's capital city of Jerusalem ( http://tinyurl.com/5dhg8 ).

3. Defense Minister Peretz briefed ministers on the security events of the
past week - including the increased Kassam and GRAD rocket fire from the
Gaza Strip - and the increasing confrontation between Abu Mazen and Fatah,
and Hamas. He also discussed the security forces' counter-terrorist
efforts, both vis-a-vis the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria, as well as the
continued easing of restrictions on the Palestinian civilian population.

4. The Cabinet discussed the provision of humanitarian aid to the
Palestinian population in the form of medical assistance, and decided - in
keeping with its previous decisions and in order to allow humanitarian
assistance to the Palestinian population - as follows:
* To transfer to international aid organizations, as determined by Defense
Minister Peretz in coordination with Prime Minister Olmert, NIS 50 million
worth of medicines and medical equipment, to be financed by the funds which
it has been decided not to transfer to the Palestinian Authority (PA), for
transfer in turn to Palestinian medical institutions. The medicines and
equipment will be transferred after coordination with the aforesaid medical
institutions via the chosen international aid organizations.
* The Cabinet also decided to authorize the Defense Ministry to contact the
international aid organizations in order to implement the foregoing.
At its 19.2.06 meeting ( http://tinyurl.com/h56zo ), the Cabinet decided
that, "Towards the conclusion of the caretaker government, money will not be
transferred from Israel to the Palestinian Authority." At its 11.4.06
meeting ( http://tinyurl.com/edulo ), the Cabinet decided that, "The
Palestinian Authority is a terrorist authority that is hostile to Israel;
The State of Israel, and all of its official representatives, will not hold
ties with the Palestinian Authority and its elements.Israel will coordinate
with the international community regarding humanitarian assistance for the
needs of the Palestinian population, not via the Palestinian Authority
establishment." In light of existing humanitarian needs regarding medicines
and medical equipment at PA medical institutions, the Cabinet decided as per
the foregoing.

Prime Minister Olmert said: "The State of Israel feels bound - above and
beyond its formal obligations - to see to humanitarian concerns, and to the
health of those who are ill anywhere. We cannot, under any circumstances,
bear the thought of a sick child without medical assistance, solely because
of a shortage of drugs, and this has nothing to do with any kind of formal
obligation. This is a moral and fundamentally Jewish concern that we want
to uphold. We have no intention of helping the Palestinian government, we
will not transfer so much as a penny to any Palestinian official, but I say,
we will render such assistance as may be necessary for humanitarian needs.
This is, has been, and will be, the way of the State of Israel."

5. The Cabinet decided to allocate NIS 500 million to the SELA Disengagement
Authority in order to expand temporary structures - via the Construction and
Housing Ministry - designated as residential quarters for special needs
families. This sum is in accordance with SELA Disengagement Authority
estimates, in response to applications from families in the wake of various
special needs such as disability and limited mobility, social situation,
overcrowding, etc.

6. The Cabinet appointed the following ministerial committees:
a. Ministerial Committee Regarding Unauthorized Outposts;
b. Ministerial State Control Committee;
c. Ministerial Committee on Advancing the Status of Women in Israeli
Society;
d. Ministerial Committee on Intellectual Property;
e. Ministerial Committee on Road Safety; and
f. Ministerial Committee on Regional Economic Development.

7. Pursuant to the 1959 Civil Service Law (Appointments), the Cabinet
appointed Aharon Abramovitch as Foreign Ministry Director-General to replace
Ron Prosor, effective 4.6.06 (see http://tinyurl.com/j8j7h for details).

8. The Cabinet discussed human trafficking and decided to establish a
permanent directors-general committee to oversee coordination of the
struggle against human trafficking in the spheres of law enforcement,
victims' rights and the preparation of preventive plans. The Justice
Ministry Director-General will chair the committee; its other members will
include the directors-general of the Public Security; Social Welfare;
Interior; Industry, Trade and Employment; Health and Foreign ministries and
the Israel Police Commissioner (or their senior representatives). A senior
Justice Ministry official will be appointed as interministerial coordinator
and will oversee - inter alia - both intra-government coordination and
coordination with NGO's.
It should be noted that the 2001 US State Department report to Congress on
human trafficking ranked Israel in the lowest ranking. In the 2002-2005
reports, Israel was in the intermediate ranking.

The State of Israel will do its utmost, and will use all means at its
disposal, in the struggle against human trafficking.

9. The Cabinet noted that Prime Minister Olmert will leave for the US today
in order to meet with US President George Bush as well as with senior
government and Jewish community officials.

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Knesset Christian Allies Caucus to Present
Newly Created Women's Council

The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus to Present the Newly Created KCAC Women's
Council in its First Meeting of the Seventeenth Knesset

Kay Arthur and Janet Parshall, renowned American Christian leaders, and
Israeli women MKs will form new KCAC Women's Council

Judeo-Christian Values at Center of Council's Strategy to Liberate Oppressed
Women Around the World

Sunday, May 21, 2006- The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus (KCAC) will meet
to launch the KCAC Women's Council on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 at 4:00PM in the
Knesset's Lecture Hall.

An Israeli board of directors in Jerusalem and an international board of
directors in Washington will govern the Women's Council through a joint
steering committee. MKs Amira Dotan and Orit Noked and former MKs Gila
Finkelstein and Gila Gamliel will represent the Israeli board at this
meeting. Kay Arthur, Chairwoman of the international board, will represent
the international board at this meeting along with renowned Christian leader
Jane Hansen, president and CEO of AGLOW.

MK Yuri Shtern, founder and chairman of the caucus, commented, "The modern
struggle for women's rights is based on the values revealed in the Ancient
Bible. By establishing a women's council, our caucus aims to create strong
cooperation between Israeli politicians, Israeli women's rights activists,
and faith based women's rights campaigners and politicians abroad."

The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, established in 2004 during the
sixteenth Knesset, is continuing to promote this new relationship between
Christians and Jews in the current seventeenth Knesset. For over two years,
this body has succeeded in opening formal and direct lines of communication
between the representatives of the Jewish people and Christian leaders
around the world.

We sincerely hope you will join us at this historic meeting. Your
attendance is very important and highly appreciated.

Media Contact:

Miya Keren
Administrative Assistant, Knesset Christian Allies Caucus
yshtern1@knesset.gov.il
054-697-4172

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Anthony Julius Tells University of
Haifa Audience of New Boycott Attempt

Anthony Julius Tells University of Haifa Audience of New Boycott Attempt

HAIFA. May 21(University of Haifa)-Anthony Julius, the British litigator, is
once again defending Israeli academic institutions. Speaking today at the
opening session of the University of Haifa's Board of Governors Meeting,
Julius revealed that he was representing an American professor at Oxford who
is against the boycott that his union, the Association of University
Teachers (AUT), may be forced to accept without debate when it merges on May
30th with the National Association of Teachers in Higher Education (NATFHE).

The latter is expected to pass a resolution at the end of the week (May 27)
calling for the boycott of all Israeli Universities, not just specific
institutions. The 60,000-member NATFHE is a larger union, but mainly
represents teachers less prestigious colleges, according to Julius.

"What happens if the resolution passes?" Julius "Does it bind the new
union?"

"This," he continued, "is the pressing legal question now being debated in
England."

Julius, who successfully defended Deborah Lipstadt against Holocaust denier
David Irving, last helped overturn the AUT boycott against the University of
Haifa and the Hebrew University.

The University of Haifa is conferring an honorary doctorate on Julius this
evening.

Describing boycotts as "the weapon of choice" in assaults against Israel,
the litigator said that he expected to be the first "correspondent" of the
new union. His client will introduce a motion declaring the NATFHE motion
illegal and without validity if it is passed and appears to be binding on
the joint union.

AUT officials told him that there is nothing they can do at this point,
since they cannot interfere in the affairs of another union. Julius thought
the response disingenuous. He said the union had an obligation to safeguard
its members, but was doing nothing about the new boycott attempt.

"It is not clear whether the resolution will be binding," he admitted. If
it is, then his client is not being an opportunity to speak out against it
and his dues will be used to finance speakers promoting the boycott.

He related that the new motion invites members to "consult their
consciences" in regard to a boycott, rather than mandating it outright as
did the AUT resolution last year. The present move, he said, is more
sophisticated and harder to beat down.
Julius thought that boycott issue was finally gaining the attention of
Israel's friends unlike the situation several years.

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Text: President Abbas speech at WEF at Sharm El-Sheikh
(wants negotiations - silent on acting against terror infrastructure)

President Says Committed to Put Results of Negotiations with Israelis to
General Referendum
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=6335

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, May 21, 2006 (WAFA - PLO news agency)- President Mahmoud
Abbas said Sunday that he is committed to put the results of negotiations
with the Israelis to a general referendum.

In a speech before the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in the
Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, President Abbas stressed that "peace is
not merely the signature of leaders, it will need the approval of the
people, and hence came the idea of a general referendum."

He emphasised that "we will continue to work together to achieve a
historical peace treaty between the Palestinian and Israeli sides."

"It is time to end occupation and conflict in the holy land, President Abbas
said. "I know that this is the aim and objective of the vast majority of
Israelis and Palestinians and all peoples in the area and worldwide, in
order to live in peace, stability and prosperity for all."

"We have no choice but to resume a meaningful peace process that leads to
the implementation of the Road Map," the President added. "The only way we
have is a real peace process that leads to ending the occupation and ending
conflict on the basis of implementation of the relevant resolutions of
international legality addressing to all the issues reserved for permanent
status negotiations (Jerusalem, settlements, borders, refugees and water)
and many other issues of common interest."

President Abbas said that some may say how can you resume negotiations with
the existence of a Palestinian government that does not recognise Israel? "I
say that I will continue to exert every possible effort to obtain the
agreement of the Palestinian government to my political platform, especially
regarding the political solution to the conflict and negotiations to
establish two states."

"The political negotiations with the Israeli government are the historical
choice of the Palestinian people and are the responsibility and the
jurisdiction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) which executive
committee I head. Negotiations will take place through the Negotiations
Affairs Department of the PLO," he added. "The Palestinian government will
not object to this and will not create obstacles before these talks."

The President expressed hope that the new Israeli government will abandon
the slogan of "no partner", and accept our invitation to return to the
negotiating table. "The drawing of the final borders cannot happen through
dictations, but rather in the negotiations."

He warned that "unilateralism will quickly put an end to the two-state
solution and will increase violence."

President Abbas expressed his deepest gratitude to Egypt and for President
Mohammed Hosni Mubarak for his unwavering commitment to achieve a historic,
lasting, comprehensive and just solution that will guarantee the
establishment of a Palestinian state next to the state of Israel.

Here by is the full text of the speech:

H.E. President Hosni Mubarak

Mr. President:

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen distinguish guests:

Thank you for your kind invitation, and I am honoured to speak to you today
at this highly respected forum which became a gathering for international
Leaders searching for development, progress and cooperation in all economic
fields leading to a positive impact on security, peace and stability in the
region and the world at large.

Ladies & Gentlemen:

I realise what goes in your minds about the Palestinian situation, and I
address you once again, with hope that paralysis and melancholy will not
prevail, and you will not follow a policy of the possible instead of the
needed. It is you who found solutions to the most difficult international
and economic crises when you knew what is needed to resolve these crises and
confronted challenges with prudence and sharpness until the needed has been
accomplished although it might have appeared impossible for many.

Despite all the political changes and financial crises, there is one
constant and that is that the Palestinian people simply seek freedom - real
liberation - on 22% of what remained of our land. A compelling majority of
Palestinians accepts Israel's right to exist on the remaining 78%.

What is necessary is to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land,
and hence I introduced my political platform that was the basis of my
Presidential election campaign. This program included recognition of the
State of Israel, recognition of the principle of two states and the
establishment of Palestine and Israel on the borders of 4 June 1967, it also
included rejection of violence and the pursuit of resolving the conflict
with Israel through peaceful means and through the peace process that leads
to implementing the Road Map as a whole in order to end the Israeli
occupation which began in 1967.

This political platform came as a continuation of the historical decision of
our people in 1988 when the Palestine National Council adopted the
Palestinian peace initiative and adopted Security Council resolutions 242
and 338 and presented an opportunity to accomplish a historical
reconciliation.

These principles did not change even following the most sever blows to the
peace process, primarily settlement construction, Wall construction and land
confiscation to create facts on the ground that prejudice the results of
negotiations. This platform did not change because it is the historical
choice of the Palestinian people at home and in exile. I re-affirmed it in
the assignment letter to the Prime Minister from the Hamas party.

I stressed before him that the government's political guidelines are the
principle of two states, acceptance of the Road Map, rejection of violence
and participation in the peace process. But moving from opposition to
authority requires big changes that take some time. Today, the government is
only seven weeks old, and it is my view that it should be given a chance to
adopt the historical choice of the Palestinian people. I will continue to
exert every effort with the government in order for it to accept the
platform that was the basis of its assignment.

For this reason, I will lead the Palestinian National Dialogue with the
government participation due on the 25th of this month, with the objective
of unifying our goal that aims to achieve the two states solution and our
people legitimate rights through peaceful negotiations.

At the same time, I consider that cutting aid and collective punishments
will not contribute to the democratic process of the internal Palestinian
dialogue, and will not create the appropriate atmosphere that allows the new
government to adopt the platform according to the letter of assignment, and
will definitely lead to a humanitarian catastrophe that will affect all
sections of the Palestinian people.

The balance here lies in the continuation of international aid to our
people, and at the same time continuation of every possible effort towards
the government to accept the platform in the assignment letter which is
based on international and Arab legitimacy and Palestinian Authority
previous commitments. In addition, Israel's seizure of the Palestinian
clearance revenue collected in Israeli ports and withholding it from the
Palestinian Treasury, will not contribute to political solutions.

This action is against all international agreements and international law
and takes away from the teacher, the doctor and the policeman their
livelihood and the food of their children.

Ladies and gentlemen:

I called upon the new Israeli government to avoid the path of unilateral
actions, construction of walls and settlements, incursions, assassinations,
arrests, siege, closure and the imposition of facts on the ground,
especially regarding the city of Jerusalem. These policies and practices led
during the past decades to expanding the cycle of violence, to chaos,
extremism and bloodshed.

Few days ago, I called the Israeli Prime Minister Mr. Ehud Olmert and
congratulated him on successfully forming his new coalition government. I
also congratulate Mrs. Tzipi Livni on gaining confidence as a deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Foreign affairs. I expressed to Mr. Olmert my
desire to resume partnership with him for the sake of peace. We have no
choice but to resume a meaningful peace process that leads to the
implementation of the Road Map. The only way we have is a real peace process
that leads to ending the occupation and ending conflict on the basis of
implementation of the relevant resolutions of international legality
addressing to all the issues reserved for permanent status negotiations as
stipulated in Oslo Accords (Jerusalem, settlements, borders, refugees and
water) and many other issues of common interest.

Some may say how can you resume negotiations with the existence of a
Palestinian government that does not recognise Israel? I say that I will
continue to exert every possible effort to obtain the agreement of the
Palestinian government to my political platform, especially regarding the
political solution to the conflict and negotiations to establish two states.

On the other hand, the political negotiations with the Israeli government
are the historical choice of the Palestinian people and are the
responsibility and the jurisdiction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation
which executive committee I head. Negotiations will take place through the
Negotiations Affairs Department of the PLO. The Palestinian government will
not object to this and will not create obstacles before these talks.

On my part, I committed to put the results we reach in negotiations to a
general referendum. Peace is not merely the signature of leaders, it will
need the approval of the people, and hence came the idea of a general
referendum.

Ladies and gentlemen:

I hope that the new Israeli government will abandon the slogan of "no
partner", and accept our invitation to return to the negotiating table. The
drawing of the final borders cannot happen through dictations, but rather in
the negotiations. Providing security, peace and fulfilling commitments will
not be achieved by walls and military solutions. It can only be achieved
through a comprehensive and a just political solution, and through the
implementation of the Road Map according to an agreed timetable.

This requires creative economic solution, provide real freedom for trade,
investment, free passage and genuine economic that can take us toward the
future.

Unilateralism is a tempting mirage that tempts the exhausted and bitter with
such illusions that seem like solutions because they are the easy and the
possible thing to happen, and not what is needed to solve the conflict and
involves effort. Unilateralism tempts with the false claim of more security
for the two people at a time when our basic human rights are violated and
when it puts us in a suffocating misery and prisons that become increasingly
smaller. Unilateralism falsely promises us "permanent" arrangements
impossible without resolving any of the main issues of conflict: security,
borders, Jerusalem and refugees. Unilateralism cannot put an end to
occupation, end to the conflict and end to claims. On the contrary
unilateralism will quickly put an end to the two-state solution and will
increase violence.

Therefore, this is the choice that we face today. Are we, Palestinians,
Israelis and international community, ruling out the possibility of peace
for the future generations in the Middle East by accepting what is not
sustainable? Or will we make and choose an opportunity for real peace in the
region. Will we succumb to a vicious paralysis or choose to rise above the
shackles of ideology or our own shortsightedness and do what we all know is
needed and necessary to be done? If we now allow the two-state solution to
die, we will be limiting and destroying the dreams of our grandchildren for
tomorrow.

It is time to end occupation and conflict in the holy land. I know that this
is the aim and objective of the vast majority of the Israeli and the
Palestinian peoples and all peoples in the area and worldwide, in order to
live in peace, stability and prosperity for all.

Once again, I thank you for this invitation. I believe that I spoke to
friends and partners who share with us the values of freedom, democracy,
peace, stability and dialogue. I trust that we will continue to work
together to achieve a historical peace treaty between the Palestinian and
Israeli sides.

At the end I hope successful results for this forum, and I would to express
my deepest gratitude to Egypt and for my brother President Mohammed Hosni
Mubarak for his unwavering commitment to achieve a historic, lasting,
comprehensive and just solution that will guarantee the establishment of a
Palestinian state next to the state of Israel. I also express my thanks and
appreciations to Professor Claus Schwab President of World Economic Forum
for this opportunity

Thank you.

S.A.S. (15:53 P) (12:53 GMT)

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Malaysia To Give US$16 Million To Palestinian Government

Malaysia To Give US$16 Million To Palestinian Government
From Amer Hamzah Md Sap Amer
www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=198864

SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Egypt), May 21 (Bernama-The Malaysian National News
Agency) -- Malaysia is ready to give US$16 million (RM57.6 million) to the
cash-squeezed Palestinian Authority, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi.

He said the aid was to help the Palestinian government provide for the need
of the Palestinian people following an aid boycott by major Western donor
countries after the radical Hamas movement won elections in January.

"I have discussed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on their need,"
he said at a news conference after he addressed a session at the World
Economic Forum on Middle East at this Egyptian Red Sea resort Sunday.

The session was also attended by Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmad Mahmoud
Nazif, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan and Lebanese Prime
Minister Fouad Siniora.

Abdullah said the details of how the aid would be given to the Palestinian
Authority would be discussed when Abbas visits Malaysia.

Saturday, Abbas said he had accepted an invitation to visit Malaysia from
Abdullah at a time and date yet to be decided.

Abdullah said Malaysia would channel the aid to the Palestinian Authority
through Abbas.

However, he said, the time would come when all sides would have to deal
directly with the Hamas-led government.

International donors who included the European Union and the United States
suspended aid to the Palestinian Authority unless Hamas, which they
categorised as a terrorist organisation, agreed to renounce violence and
recognise Israel.

Abdullah, who is the current chair of the Organisation of Islamic Conference
(OIC), today also held bilateral meetings with the Egyptian premier and OIC
Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.

-- BERNAMA

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Excerpts: Hamas Euro smuggler caught.
Hamas - Fatah fracas continues 21 May 2006

Excerpts: Hamas Euro smuggler caught.Hamas - Fatah fracas continues 21 May
2006

+++HEADING:"Rival security forces stage bloody showdown in gaza city"
Compiled by Daily Star Staff.
QUOTE FROM TEXT:
"senior Hamas member was caught trying to smuggle hundreds of thousands
of euros into Gaza ... Abbas called for an immediate investigation"

A senior Hamas member was caught Friday trying to smuggle hundreds of
thousands of euros into Gaza, prompting a fresh showdown with Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas, who called for an immediate investigation. The
showdown came just hours after bloody clashes in Gaza City between security
forces loyal to Abbas and a new unit run by the government that left four
people wounded.
In growing defiance toward Abbas and the Bush administration, Premier Ismail
Haniyya vowed during Friday prayers not to disband a new government-led
security force and said he was prepared to increase its size.
"Sami Abu Zuhri tried to cross with 639,000 euros ($816,000) which has been
confiscated by the Palestinian customs authorities," ... .
He said that passengers were authorized to cross the Rafah terminal with
$2,000 but that any greater amount of money had to be declared, with
documentation of where it was coming from and where it was going to.
Samir Abu Nahla, the Palestinian director of the Rafah crossing, said Abu
Zuhri "was wrapping the money around his belly and that was an illegal act."
... the president had ordered an investigation by the Palestinian attorney
general.
Rafah is guarded by Abbas' presidential guard, raising fears of fresh
Palestinian infighting after overnight clashes. Abbas' elite guard also
called in reinforcements, as gunmen from the armed wing of Hamas, the
Izzeddine al-Qassam Brigades, fanned out around the crossing and departed
only after Zuhri was released.
Security sources told AFP that the Hamas spokesman had been in Doha and
Cairo before trying to return to the impoverished Gaza Strip.
Zuhri told reporters the confiscated money would be submitted to the
Palestinian Interior Ministry.
He was detained until government spokesman Ghazi Hamad and a political
adviser to Haniyya arrived to collect him after consultations with the head
of the crossing.
. . .In the overnight clashes, members of the new force surrounded the
main police station in Gaza City and traded fire with security men taking
cover inside.
. . ..
Police accused Hamas of starting the clashes by opening fire on the police
station.
The clashes sent terrified residents fleeing from the streets, where tension
has soared amid fears of civil war.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the emergence of rival
security forces a "dangerous situation."
Haniyya said the force would not be disbanded.
"We do not intend to make one step backward," he said. ...The 3,000-strong
government-backed force, formed under the authority of Interior Minister
Saeed Seyam, was deployed in a challenge to the authority of Abbas. . . .

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 21 May '06:"PA Intelligence Chief Hurt in Bomb
Attack",Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News -
QUOTE FROM TEXT:
"head of Palestinian genral intelligence ... assassination plot"
:"Some Fatah members demanded Abbas dissolve the Hamas government and
call early elections"

GAZA CITY, 21 May 2006 - The head of the Palestinian general intelligence,
Gen. Tareq Abu Rajab, was injured yesterday in an assassination attempt at
his Gaza City headquarters. One of Abu Rajab's guards was killed and nine
others were wounded when the elevator that the general took exploded.
"It's a clear assassination attempt. We are launching an investigation to
get to the perpetrators," a senior General Intelligence Agency official
said. Abu Rajab escaped an assassination attempt in 2004.
President Mahmoud Abbas ordered an immediate investigation into the
explosion. He called the blast "unfortunate" and said it poses a "grave
danger" to the Palestinian Authority.
Some Fatah members demanded Abbas dissolve the Hamas government and call
early elections.
Tawfiq Tirawi, Abu Rajab's West Bank-based deputy, said Hamas was
responsible for the 2004 assassination attempt. Asked if Hamas was also
responsible for yesterday's attack, Tirawi said: "Everything is possible. I
don't rule anything out for now."
The initial investigation, carried out by Palestinian security forces loyal
to Abbas, found that a homemade bomb packed with metal pellets had been
planted under the elevator's floor, Tirawi said.
The wounded were driven to nearby Shifa Hospital in cars of the intelligence
service. Fellow agents fired in the air from the windows of the vehicles to
clear the way. Several members of a new Hamas militia fired toward the
vehicles, possibly because they believed they were coming under attack,
witnesses said. Abu Rajab underwent surgery at Shifa Hospital where doctors
stopped the bleeding and stabilized him before taking the intelligence chief
in a heavily guarded Palestinian ambulance to the Israel-Gaza border
crossing. Israeli medical personnel treated Abu Rajab on the spot before
putting him on the ambulance and transporting him to Tel Aviv's Ichilov
Hospital.
After his arrival at Ichilov, the hospital said Abu Rajab was in serious
condition, under sedation and hooked up to a respirator.. . .

Sue Lerner - Associate - IMRA

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Explosion at the Palestinian General
Intelligence Headquarters

PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

Security Chaos and Proliferation of Small Arms
Attacking Public Institutions and Officials

Field Update
21 May 2006

Explosion at the General Intelligence Headquarters
Ten Injured, including the Director of General Intelligence, and One Guard
killed

Yesterday morning, a mysterious explosion rocked the headquarters of the
General Intelligence (GI) in the Sudaneya area of Gaza City. The explosion
killed Ali Abdel Aziz Abu Hasira (22), who is employed in the GI, and
injured ten others, including the Director of GI, General Tariq Sh'neiwra
"Abu Rajab" (55).

PCHR's preliminary investigation indicates that at 10:20 on Saturday, 20 May
2006, General Abu Rajab and three of his guards were in the General's
private elevator at the GI Headquarters. A huge explosion occurred in the
elevator, killing Abu Hasira, and injuring Abu Rajab. The General's legs
were broken in the blast and he sustained shrapnel injuries all over his
body. He was transferred for treatment to an Israeli hospital, where his
injuries were described as moderate. GI staff members were also injured by
shrapnel. They were taken for treatment to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Four of the injured suffered serious injuries. The injured are:
- Mustafa Ali Bakir (54), sustained fractures to the skull and lost
a hand. His condition is serious;
- Husam Hmeid (25), sustained shrapnel injuries all over his body
and burns to the face. His condition is serious;
- Mervat Shaheen (20), sustained shrapnel injuries all over her
body. Her condition is serious;
- Mohammad Hmeid (50), sustained shrapnel injuries all over his
body. His condition is serious;
- Mohammad Ibrahim Abu Hasira (30), sustained shrapnel injuries all
over his body;
- Basem Sha'ban Jarad (33), sustained shrapnel injuries all over
his body;
- Baha Hosni Zeino (26), sustained shrapnel injuries all over his
body;
- Osama Mohammad El-Mobayed (29), sustained shrapnel injuries all
over his body; and
- Haitham Zeyad Hmeid (29), sustained shrapnel injuries all over
his body.

PCHR views with great concern the repeated attacks on public officials,
which are part of the ongoing security chaos plaguing the Occupied
Palestinian Territory. The Centre calls upon the Palestinian National
Authority, represented by the Attorney-General, to investigate these attacks
and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Public Document
**************************************
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8
2824776 - 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip.
E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
-----------------------------------
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and write "subscribe" in the subject line.

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: REPORT URGES BUSH TO
REJECT ISRAELI PULLOUT

REPORT URGES BUSH TO REJECT ISRAELI PULLOUT

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- A U.S. security think-tank has urged President George
Bush to reject an Israeli government plan for a unilateral withdrawal from
90 percent of the West Bank.

The report by the Washington-based Center for Security Policy,
www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/Olmerts_Convergence_Plan.pdf regarded as
close to the Defense Department, warned that the plan prepared by Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would destabilize the Middle East and threaten
U.S. interests in Iraq and Jordan. The report said the West Bank would
quickly come under the control of Iran and other U.S. adversaries.
"Although an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and the dismantlement of
Israeli communities there seems consonant with traditional American policies
in the Middle East, in light of the radicalization of Palestinian society,
as evidenced by Hamas' electoral victory in January 2006, it is unclear how
an Israeli withdrawal today will align with U.S. national security interests
and goals," the report, entitled "Ehud Olmert's Convergence Plan for the
West Bank and U.S. Middle East Policy," said. "Unfortunately, it seems
evident that an Israeli retreat from the West Bank will empower the terror
supporting, anti-American de facto Palestinian state and will create a new
base for global terrorism."

The report marked an effort by Republican Party conservatives, who include
leading members of the House and Senate, to oppose Olmert's plan.
Conservative supporters of Israel, including the Christian Right, did not
lobby against U.S. support for Israel's decision to withdraw from the Gaza
Strip in 2005.
========
NOTE: The above is not the full item.
This service contains only a small portion of the information produced daily
by Middle East Newsline. For a subscription to the full service, please
contact Middle East Newsline at:
editor@menewsline.com for further details.

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Report: PM Olmert's Planned WB Withdrawal:
A Threat to U.S. Interests and Security

CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY www.CenterforSecurityPolicy.org

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Planned Withdrawal from the West Bank:
A Threat to U.S. Interests and Security
www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/tps_glick_513.doc
[For full report:
www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/Olmerts_Convergence_Plan.pdf ]

Background: Israel's new Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to visit
Washington, DC later this month in order to secure administration and
congressional support for his plan to withdraw Israeli civilians and the
Israeli military from between 90-95 percent of the West Bank and large
sections of the city of Jerusalem. On the budgetary side, Olmert asserts
that the implementation of his plan will cost $10 billion and he intends to
seek U.S. financing to underwrite this cost.

Olmert's plan involves expelling between 50,000-100,000 Israeli civilians
from their homes and the destruction of between 50-100 Israeli communities
in the West Bank and the redeployment of Israeli military forces to
garrisoned positions. He claims that this plan will enhance regional
stability, improve Israeli security, increase the prospects of peace between
Israel and the Palestinians, and boost Israeli and American standing in the
international community. These claims are identical to those advanced by
former prime minister Sharon when he advocated Israel's withdrawal from the
Gaza Strip which took place last September.

- Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last year failed to do any
of these things. Indeed the actual consequences of the withdrawal have been
the exact opposite of what Sharon predicted. A reenactment of that operation
on the West Bank - which is both 20 times larger than the Gaza Strip and
vastly more significant on a strategic level - will exacerbate the failure
of the Gaza withdrawal strategy to the detriment not only of Israel's
national security, but the stability of the Jordanian regime and American
national security interests.

- Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip fomented the transformation
of Gaza into a Taliban-like state. The Palestinians perceived Israel's
decision to retreat to the 1949 armistice lines as a victory for Hamas and
the jihadist ideology that negates Israel's right to exist. This perception
contributed greatly to Hamas' stunning electoral victory in the Palestinian
legislative elections in January. Under Hamas's leadership, Palestinian
society is being swiftly transformed into an Islamic extremist society like
Taliban-led Afghanistan.

- After Israel withdrew, Gaza was flooded with terrorists and terror
armaments that passed through Gaza's international border with the Egyptian
Sinai. Katyusha rockets, anti-aircraft missiles and advanced anti-tank
missiles have all been brought into the area.

- Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards all set up
forward operating bases in Gaza. Hamas itself has become a client of Iran.

- The destroyed Israeli settlements in Gaza are now used as
terror-training camps and as missile-launching sites. Israeli artillery and
air strikes against terrorist elements in Gaza since the withdrawal have
been ineffective in preventing the escalation of missile, rocket and mortar
attacks against all Israeli cities and villages bordering Gaza.

- An Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank will cause a similar
situation to arise in the areas abandoned by Israel. But unlike the Gaza
Strip, the West Bank provides the Palestinian and global terrorist elements
that will operate freely in the area with the ability to launch missile and
rocket attacks against all of Israel's major cities, highways and civilian
air traffic taking off and landing at Ben Gurion airport. While Olmert
claims that Israel will be protected because the completion of the security
barrier between the West Bank and Israel will be completed by the time
Israel carries out the retreat, that barrier will be unable to protect
Israel from missile and rocket fire on its densely populated cities.

- Even if the IDF retains a presence in the areas after the expulsion
of the civilian population is accomplished, its counter-terror capabilities
will be compromised by domestic political considerations, international
pressure and the increased military capabilities and basing prerogatives for
local and global terrorist elements.

- The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will be destabilized by Israel's
withdrawal from the West Bank. Jordan's citizenry is 80 percent Palestinian.
Al Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas all have a strong presence in the
country. A redeployment of Israeli military forces will degrade Israel's
ability to prevent the convergence of these terror forces on the east bank
of the Jordan River with those on its west bank for the purpose of toppling
the Hashemite regime. Al Qaeda commander in Iraq Abu Musab Zarqawi, a
Jordanian citizen, has already attacked the regime and called for its
overthrow. Hamas has similarly committed itself to the overthrow of the
regime.

The following are the likely impacts of an Israeli withdrawal from the West
Bank on U.S. national security:

1. Establish a new terror refuge in the West Bank that will serve as a
training ground for terrorists who will fight not only against Israel and
Jordan, but also against U.S. forces in Iraq.

2. Weaken U.S. logistical capabilities in Iraq. The destabilization of
Israel and Jordan through the establishment of a Taliban-like regime in the
West Bank will endanger the overland supply route used by U.S. forces from
Israeli ports through Jordan and into Iraq. This will increase U.S.
dependence on Persian Gulf ports and thus motivate Iran to create crises in
the Straits of Hormuz.

3. Enhance the prestige of declared enemies of the U.S. including Iran,
Syria, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Wahhabist extremists in Saudi Arabia and
Salafist extremists in Egypt at the expense of the U.S. The widespread Arab
and Islamic perception of Israel as a U.S. client state will cause an
Israeli retreat and the consequent destabilization of Israel and Jordan to
be perceived as a strategic defeat for the United States. This will motivate
thousands throughout the world to join the forces of global jihad against
America.

4. Decrease motivation to cooperate with the U.S. in the war against
Islamofascism throughout the Arab and Muslim world. The perceived victory
for the global jihad will harm U.S. efforts to gain the support of regimes
and individuals in the Arab and Islamic world such as leaders like Gen.
Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan. He, like democracy activists in Iraq, and
advocates of Islamic moderation in Europe, will be undermined by the
perceived strategic victory of the jihadist forces in the aftermath of
Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank.

In light of the above the U.S. should not lend its support to the Israeli
premier's planned withdrawal from the West Bank. Instead, it should
encourage him to pursue strategies that will deny victories for forces at
war with both the United States and Israel.

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

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: CONGRESS MAINTAINS U.S. AID TO EGYPT

CONGRESS MAINTAINS U.S. AID TO EGYPT

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Congress has rejected efforts to reduce U.S. military
aid to Egypt.

A House subcommittee spared Egypt of cuts in foreign aid for fiscal 2007.
Under a bill passed by the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee on May 19,
Egypt would receive $1.3 billion in military aid and $400 million in
economic aid, the same as current U.S. assistance.

"Fifty million dollars of this assistance is set aside for political reform
programs and $50 million is provided for education initiatives," a House
statement said. "Continues previous reforms that limit expenditures of funds
until Egypt implements financial sector reforms."

Egypt receives the second largest amount of U.S. assistance. Israel receives
$2.3 billion in U.S. military aid per year.
===

NOTE: The above is not the full item.
This service contains only a small portion of the information produced daily
by Middle East Newsline. For a subscription to the full service, please
contact Middle East Newsline at:
editor@menewsline.com for further details.

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

From: imra-owner@imra.org.il
Subject: IMRA Subscription Info

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End of [imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1397 (10 messages)
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