posted on October 30, 2003 07:18:56 AM new
Cheney's hawks 'hijacking policy'
By Ritt Goldstein
October 30, 2003
A former Pentagon officer turned whistleblower says a group of hawks in the Bush Administration, including the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is running a shadow foreign policy, contravening Washington's official line.
"What these people are doing now makes Iran-Contra [a Reagan administration national security scandal] look like amateur hour. . . it's worse than Iran-Contra, worse than what happened in Vietnam," said Karen Kwiatkowski, a former air force lieutenant-colonel.
"[President] George Bush isn't in control . . . the country's been hijacked," she said, describing how "key [governmental] areas of neoconservative concern were politically staffed".
Ms Kwiatkowski, who retired this year after 20 years service, was a Middle East specialist in the office of the Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, headed by Douglas Feith.
She described "a subversion of constitutional limits on executive power and a co-optation through deceit of a large segment of the Congress", adding that "in order to take that first step - Iraq - lies had to be told to Congress to bring them on board".
Ms Kwiatkowski said the pursuit of national security decisions often bypassed "civil service and active-duty military professionals", and was handled instead by political appointees who shared common ideological ties.
There was speculation earlier this year that such an ideologue group had emerged, and that it was behind the US attack on an Iraqi convoy in Syria in June.
The New York Times quoted Patrick Lang, a former senior Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) official, as saying that many in the Government believed the incursion was an effort by ideologues to disrupt co-operation between the US and Syria.
Ms Kwiatkowski said there was an extra-governmental network operating outside normal structures and practices, "a network of political appointees in key positions who felt they needed to take some action, to make things happen in a foreign affairs, national security way". She said Pentagon personnel and the DIA were pressured to favourably alter assessments and reports.
In a separate interview, Chalmers Johnson, an authority on US policy, said that the Administration's neo-conservatives had in effect seized power from Mr Bush.
Dr Johnson said the neo-conservatives had pursued an agenda outlined in the controversial 1992 Defence Planning Guidance. That document, drawn up at the direction of Mr Cheney when he was defence secretary, said the world's only superpower should not be cautious about asserting its power.
posted on October 30, 2003 04:42:08 PM new
skylite, both of your recent posts are interesting, how come you don't post links? I'd like to check out the sources of these articles. Thanks in advance.
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In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken
"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it." - A Few Good Men
From his plush, high-tech headquarters in London, Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad runs a worldwide Islamist organization that defends Osama bin Laden.
Part of his Al-Muhajiroun empire is an English-language website – one that calls for the death by crucifixion, or worse, of the real terrorists: Americans and their Muslim proxies in Pakistan.
According to Sheik Omar, Muslims in the West have very serious responsibilities in preparing the people to embrace Islam or to accept the Islamic way of life.
Al-Muhajiroun calls for Muslims in the West to "be the front line of the coming Khilafah … to become strong and united in order to become the fifth column, which is able to put pressure on the enemies of Islam and to be able to support the Muslim Ummah worldwide." The organization believes that "bonding the Muslim community in the West with the Muslims globally" is the secret to setting off a "worldwide Islamic revolution."
Sheik Omar makes no bones about his outright support of the Taliban, while proclaiming Osama bin Laden innocent of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. or any other terrorist incidents.
Instead, he is on record in many public interviews blaming the Mossad for the destruction.
Almuhajiroun.com publishes a fatwa against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and the U.S.
What's the verdict? "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement."
Who is this Sheik Omar? He was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1958 and – like bin Laden – raised among the privileged in a wealthy Muslim family.
He became a serious student of Islam and the Koran. He received his B.A. in Shari'ah and the foundations of Islamic law from Shari'ah University in Damascus. He got his M.A. in Islamic jurisprudence from the University of Al-Imam Al-U'zaie in Beirut. He claims to be the author of 43 books and booklets about Islam in Arabic and English.
Through the website, he sells videos and books and announces rallies and lectures – mostly in the United Kingdom.
He claims to have hundreds of thousands of followers throughout the world – including many in the U.S. He is also the judge of the Shari'ah court in the UK, the secretary general of the Islamic World League and the spokesman for the International Islamic Front.
His goal, like bin Laden's, is to re-establish the Khilifah – the worldwide domination of Islamic rule.
"Al-Muhajiroun has many organs which are active within society under its leadership," he claims. "These organs specialize in different fields, such as: the Society of Muslim Lawyers, the Society of Converts to Islam, the Society of Muslim Parents, the London School of Shari'ah, the Shari'ah Court of the UK, the Society of Muslim Students, the Islamic World League, the Muslim Cultural Society and the Party of the Future."
Almuhajiroun.com is just one of dozens of radical Islamist, English-language websites that appear to be specifically designed to influence and recruit in the West.
Another one is Khalifornia.org.
No, this is not a site promoting California as the next Islamic state – not quite.
Here's how the purveyors of this website explain the name: "When we came across the following explanation for the name of California, that being the domain of the Khilafah, we thought this would be a challenging name for a publication calling the Muslims to the full application of Islam and a return to the Khilafah State. However, it is not implied that California is in any way the chosen or designated for this state. Edward Hale, author of 'The Man Without a Country,' reported in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society that the name California was to be found in work of Montalvo, a Spanish author of popular romances of chivalry in the early 1500s. This was the same period as the Spanish conquest in America. … 'Califerne was the domain of the Caliph, the ruler of the Mohammedan world.'"
A French etymologist suggests that "Montalvo was inspired to borrow the Frankish Califerne and Hispanicize it California," explains Khalifornia.org.
So, while some Mexicans have their eye on reclaiming California, they may have competition from Islamists.
Then there is the Sheffield Hallam University Islamic Society website, also out of the UK.
Like many of the other radical Islamic sites, this one reserves special angst for the Musharraf regime in Pakistan.
"Pakistan currently is subservient to the international order dominated by America," it explains. "She is subjugated to economic enslavement by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank and accepts the sovereignty of the United Nations over her. Currently the government is planning to resume a $1.5 billion IMF loan program."
It's for this reason the site bemoans that "Russia did not blink an eyelid due to any type of fear for the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan before bombarding the Muslims of Chechnya."
Ramadhan.org prominently features an interview with bin Laden and horror stories about Muslims being persecuted in the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
You can also send e-cards to all your friends observing Ramadan.
Khilafah.com, one of the more sophisticated sites of its kind, leaves little doubt about where it stands on the issues of the day.
"President Bush's 'Wanted Dead or Alive' call evoked memories of how the 'West was Won' by a brutish and arrogant people," notes one prominent article entitled "How the West Was Lost." "The native Indian civilization was wiped out. Could it be that the West will be lost due to this continuing brutish and arrogant behavior?"
The article goes on to suggest that America's action in Afghanistan "may well be the beginning of the end for the supremacy of the Western civilization, if a viable alternative world order comes into being that is truly universal. This is not as crazy as it might sound."
The viable alternative world order suggested by Khilafah.com is, of course, one ruled by Islam.
Don't believe those moderate Muslims in the Western media who tell you that jihad means "overcoming adversity," says Khilafah.com.
"In fact, the Shari'ah meaning of jihad is to exert one's utmost effort in fighting the disbelievers for the sake of Allah, directly by fighting in the battlefield or indirectly by helping this struggle by monetary means, scholarly verdicts, and encouraging people to participate in the jihad," an article on the site proclaims.
"Other tasks which may be difficult and thus involve some exertion but are not related to fighting, such as fixing a boiler or making a chair, are not termed jihad as understood in the Shari'ah."
Hizb-ut-tahrir.org warns that an "alliance with America is a great crime forbidden by Islam.
The website goes on to explain that it is not concerned about who attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 – but, at the same time, it believes the evidence against bin Laden is lacking.
The site blames the Jews for inciting the rulers of America to take revenge against the whole Islamic world for the attacks – for which, of course, bin Laden has since claimed responsibility.
Isla.org also gives prominence to an interview with bin Laden. Much of the rest of the site is in Arabic.
Does the Koran justify terrorist attacks like America witnessed on Sept. 11? Without a doubt, answers Tanzeem.org.
"Ameer of Tanzeem-e-Islami explained that the Islamic viewpoint on the matter is that an attack may be launched by Muslims, without any ultimatum, against an enemy with whom the Muslims are not bound by a treaty," explains the website. "Whereas upon a nation with which Muslims have signed a treaty, it is not allowed to attack them without an ultimatum (in case they violate the terms of the treaty first). He said that guerrilla war is also condoned in Islam in a situation in which either a people are pushed against a wall and have no other means to raise their voices or where the enemy is overwhelmingly strong and cannot be otherwise defeated. He said that an attack in which civilians are killed is very much disliked in Islam. Nonetheless, the oppressed and the persecuted have the right to retaliate terror with terror."
Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com.
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a search on 'ask jeeves' with the words 'who publishes XXX [the name of the site.com] gives lots of information on anti-American groups.
[ edited by Linda_K on Oct 30, 2003 06:02 PM ]
posted on October 30, 2003 08:12:16 PM new
hi profile
reason i copy and paste is the links eventually die out and you link to a non existing story.........
