1 April 02
'GUARDIAN[:] [British government] Ministers indefinitely delayed publishing a dossier revealing damning evidence against Saddam Hussein.' (ITV Teletext, reviews of today's papers)
--They have no evidence. They know that ttheir faked-up drivel won't stand up to public scrutiny. They are sordid puppets of American cabalistic imperialism.
2 April 02
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has 'blasted' (well, actually, muttered at -- he was talking mainly to his shoes) 'states like Iran, Iraq and Syria [who are] inspiring and financing a culture of political murder and suicide bombing' -- with special reference to current Palestinian reactions to the Israeli onslaught, of course. (BBC Ceefax, 2 April 02 [for America, 1 April], p.115)
Meanwhile, the US State Department has shown a less supportive attitude to the Israelis than President Bush. (ABC News, 1 April 02, shown on BBC News 24, 2 April, 1:40 - 1:55 a.m. BST)
Iraq has called on Islamic oil-producing states to use oil as a weapon to punish countries supporting Israel. (Ibid., Business Report 2:30 a.m. BST)
Hezbollah has fired a rocket and mortars into Israel from southern Lebanon, according to Israeli security sources. This is the first such attack since Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon in 2000. (ITV Teletext, 2 April 02 at 2:50 a.m., p.308, etc
'Israeli forces have arrested more than 700 people in the West Bank city of Ramallah ...' (ibid., p.309/2)
'... Troops have moved into the towns of Qalqilya and Tulkarm and tanks are poised on the edge of Bethlehem. ...'
We can see the immediate tactics of the American cabal laying themselves out. Comrade Israel bashes the Palestinians until other Middle Eastern Muslim states (even in their current demoralized condition) are driven to militarily attack Israel. Then the cabal militarily intervenes on Israel's side, tattoos the Middle Eastern Muslims into the ground and gets its grubby little hands on the region's oil reserves.
This is, of course, only the simplest and most obvious scenario. Probably a more complex pattern will unfold itself in practice, as the cabal (and the other participants) play it by ear. And, after all, the Middle East is the home of chess.
The Palestinian security HQ in Ramallah, now being stormed by the Israelis, was built with CIA help. (BBC 6 O'Clock News)
'ARAFAT TERROR LETTER FOUND'
'Israel has said it has found a letter in Yasser Arafat's compound from a group requesting funds for explosives.
'The document details costs incurred by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, Israeli intelligence has claimed.
'Senior Palestinian Saeb Erekat said he had not seen it and "Israelis are very busy fabricating things".'
(ITV Teletext, 2 April 02, p.305)
--Cf. the got-up boatload of munitions, alllegedly destined for the Palestinian Authority (see Diary, Jan. 2002, under 6 Jan.). It also reminds me of the 'evidence' of al-Qaeda's alleged involvement in developing weapons of mass destruction, largely 'found by US special forces in Afghanistan', but more likely originating in Langley or other US 'intelligence centre'.
The US claims to have captured a leading figure in al-Qaeda, Abu Zubaydah, the organization's chief organizer/recruiter/military man.
3 April 02
Vanity Fair quotes an unnamed 'Iraqi defector' as saying that Iraq is working on a 'dirty nuke' capable of contaminating a wide area with radioactive material, and that Iraq is also developing a missile capable of reaching the capitals of Turkey, Iran and Cyprus. The 'defector' is quoted as saying that he himself bought radioactive materials from an East European group while he was in 'Saddam's service'. (ITV Teletext, p.311)
Last December Vanity Fair reported the 'evidence' of another 'Iraqi defector', this time about an elite sabotage and assassination squad run by Saddam's son Uday. (See Diary, 2001, under 22 Dec.) This, and other 'evidence' publicized at that time, on Iraq's supposed resumption of work on weapons of mass destruction, was clearly intended to provide a justification for an invasion of Iraq. This bandwagon is now being revived.
Vanity Fair is apparently a right-wing mouthpiece in the Iraq-attack camp. The inclusion of a 'threat' to Ankara and Tehran is obviously designed to encourage the former to acquiesce in a US attack on Iraq, and to try to undermine any support which Iran has for Iraq.
4 April 02
President Bush is sending his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, as America's upgraded 'peace envoy' to Israel. He has been forced to go through the motions of calling back Israel from its assault on the Palestinians, but his harshest words were for the Palestinian leadership.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister Arial Sharon has echoed Us Defence Secretary Rumsfeld's condemnation of Syria and Iran (see above, 2 April), blaming them this time for the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas' attacks on Israel. (BBC Ceefax, p.106) A base guitar to Rumbo's lead guitar, say.
5 April 02
'IRAN LEADER CALLS FOR OIL BAN ON WEST
'Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Arab states to launch a "symbolic" one month oil embargo against Western countries.
'The move would put pressure on the West to stop supporting Israel, Mr Khamenei said in a sermon during Friday prayers.
'"Arab governments can use oil as a weapon. They can cut off the flow of oil to all the countries," he said.
'Leading Arab oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have both rejected the idea first raised by Iraq on Monday [1 April].'
(BBC Ceefax, 5 April 02, p.202)
--These pitiable disorientated gestures wiill only provide a further excuse for the American cabal to attack these countries.
6 April 02
Oil workers in Venezuela are on strike in protest at the Venezuelan president's policies. This appears as another threat to world oil supplies.
The cabal has managed to pick a fight with Islam at last. Its previous attempt, via Afghanistan, failed because the war was won too quickly. The cabal had evidently hoped to provoke the Islamic world by carrying the war on through Ramadan and throughout the winter. But fighting only continued at a much lower level than it "should" have done, due to the rapid collapse of the Taleban.
Now, via its proxy Israel, the cabal is provoking outrage against both Israel and America throughout the Middle East. Demonstrators in the Gaza Strip have burnt the American flag; ones in Bahrain have attacked the American embassy. We need not doubt that these incidents are but the tip of the iceberg.
7 April 02
'USA[:] A BP Amoco pipeline rupture sent about 90,000 gallons of oil pouring into a south-east Louisiana coastal area known as Little Lake.' (ITV Teletext, p.318)
'ALASKA[:] The cost of repairing the trans-Alaska pipeline and cleaning up a 286,000 gallon oil spill caused by a bullet hold has risen to £16m.' (Ibid.)
A week or two ago an oil or gas pipeline in Baluchistan (southern Pakistan) suffered a breach.
--This illustrates the practical impossibiility of using pipelines in hostile territory. To run a 'Caucasian oil pipeline' through Afghanistan, a wide area on either side would have to be depopulated; this would apply too to densely-populated Baluchistan -- probably impracticable even for the US cabal.
As for possible sabotage of the Alaska and Louisiana pipelines -- and possible motives -- I can only speculate.
8 April 02
'[ISRAELI] AIR STRIKE ON LEBANON BORDER
'Israel's warplanes and artillery have mounted attacks on a disputed border area in the southern Lebanon.
'The army briefly ordered northern residents into bomb shelters before the attack, on what has been a largely dormant front since 2000, went ahead.
'Officials said it came in retaliation for recent Hezbollah guerrilla attacks that had wounded six Israeli soldiers.'
(ITV Teletext, at 5:30 a.m. BST, p.308)
9 April 02
'ADVISER DISMISSES OIL THREAT
'America's national security adviser Condoleeza Rice has dismissed Saddam Hussein's threat to stop oil exports.
'"We ought to remind them that they're going to have a hard time eating their own oil," she said, suggesting Iraq needs money more than the US needs their oil.
'Speaking at a College Station, Texas, she said oil threats would not deter the President's quest to oust Saddam."
(ITV Teletext, p.311)
--On the contrary, it must inflame Dubya's quest (and the rest of the US oil cabal). But Condy may go down as another Marie Antoinette.
Thirteen Israeli reservists were killed in an ambush in a refugee camp in Jenin in the West Bank. These are the worst military losses in the last 18 months. (BBC Ceefax, p.112)
The FBI has 'leaked more information' to the press on its anthrax investigation. The powder mailed to Senate offices in October 'was not routine', said one anonymous official. The powder contained an unnamed chemical designed to preserve its 'free flow'. 'Somebody had to have special knowledge and experience to do this', said the official.
'Powder Used in Anthrax attacks "Was Not Routine"', Washington Post, 9 April 2002, p.A09.)
We're left to speculate whether the powder was 'developed' from the US-Army stocks, or if the FBI has succumbed to pressure to divert attention from the true source.
10 April 02
Arial Sharon has pledged to continue the offensive against Palestinian militants 'until they are crushed'. (BBC News 24, 5 a.m. BST)
11 April 02
The Israeli army says it has arrested 4,185 Palestinians since it began its sweep of the West Bank on March 29. (BBC Ceefax at 2 p.m. BST) Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by the army in the same period.
'US Secretary of State Colin Powell has arrived in Israel confident that he can still secure a Middle East Ceasefire ...' (BBC Ceefax)
'USA[:] Despite vehement US opposition, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal will come into force on July 11, the New York-based United Nations said. (ITV Teletext, p.318)
12 April 02
The Venezuelan military has deposed President Chavez after huge demonstrations against him. Chavez had, however misguidedly, tried to help Venezuela's poor and take more taxes from international oil companies extracting the country's petroleum. This was against the interests of the American oil cabal; Venezuela was the USA's third-biggest supplier of oil.
Though some say that Chavez was installed by the American government and CIA in the first place. In order, presumably, that his policies cause the chaos that has now happened, the better to establish right-wing pro-US control in the end. What are the Venezuelan military leaders like? Will they hand the country over to American oil interests?
The Israeli army has admitted that it has killed hundreds of Palestinians in Jenin in the West Bank, but says they were fighters rather than civilians; it denied carrying out a massacre. Palestinian officials say that 500 people were killed, and that their bodies were bulldozed into trenches or sewers to cover up the crimes.
13 April 02
'US SENIOR SOLDIER RAPS EUROPEAN FORCES
'The most senior soldier in the US has rapped Europe for its "inability" to contribute to the war against terrorism.
'Few European countries had the military capability to be full partners on the battlefield, General Richard Myers said.
'The Afghanistan war showed a widening military gap between Europe and the US, he wrote in the British Royal United Services Institute journal.
'The Joint chiefs of Staff chairman said Europe should spend more on defence.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.109, at 7 a.m.)
14 April 02
An Israeli government minister has now denied that hundreds of Palestinians were killed in Jenin; he says it is 'dozens'.
'CHAVEZ RETURNS AFTER COUP
'Venezuelan populist President Hugo Chavez has returned to power after a military coup collapsed amid protests and a rebellion by loyal troops.
'The ex-paratrooper returned to the presidency from La Orchila island where he had been held by military top brass, who briefly ousted him as leader.
'Prosecutors are quizzing businessman Pedro Carmona, who displaced him.'
(ITV Teletext, 14 April 02, p.306)
15 April 02
'US URGES CHAVEZ TO RETHINK POLICIES
'The US government has urged the reinstated President of Venezuela to consider changing his radical policies.
'Hugo Chavez returned to power two days after he was deposed in a military coup.
'US National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice said Mr Chavez, who had built up ties with Cuba, Iraq and Libya, should take the chance to "right his own ship".
'A BBC correspondent said Mr Chavez's rapid comeback was embarrassing for the US, which welcomed his fall.' (Curses! Foiled again!)
(BBC Ceefax, p.115)
'Attacks by Hezbollah guerrillas along Lebanon's border with Israel may widen the conflict in the Middle East, the US Secretary of State [Colin Powell] has warned.' (Powell is visiting Lebanon and Syria.)
--Fingers crossed, cabal! You lose some, you win some! 16 April 02
'CHAVEZ TO PROBE SUSPICIOUS US AIRCRAFT
'Reinstated Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has said he will investigate the presence of a US-registered plane on the island where he was briefly held.
'Mr Chavez was ousted in a military coup last Friday [12 April], but regained power after supporters demanded his return.
'He said an American plane was on the island of La Orchila where he was held.
'But he said official US statements appearing to welcome his removal were the result of misinformation.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.142)
17 April 02
US DIPLOMATS TOLD TO LEAVE VENEZUELA
'The US State Department is withdrawing all non-essential diplomatic staff from Venezuela following the attempted coup.
'Fears of renewed political violence had prompted the withdrawal, a spokeswoman said. Venezuela was a "volatile" destination for US tourists.
'US officials had met leading opponents of president Hugo Chavez recently.
'But the Bush administration has denied sanctioning the foiled coup attempt, which ousted Mr Chavez for two days.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.122)
--Possibly the US is clearing the decks foor military action against Chavez.
'BIN LADEN "SLIPPED AWAY"
'The US has admitted its let Osama bin Laden slip through its hands in the battle for Tora Bora, it is reported.
'US intelligence said the interrogation of al-Qaeda fighters gave "decisive evidence" that bin Laden was in the Afghan caves during the offensive.
'Commanders said they were too slow to deploy US troops and an over-reliance on local allies led to his escape.'
(ITV Teletext, 17 April 02, p.313)
It appears that the US cabal has belatedly decided to play the bin Laden card -- as a last desperate resort to back up its imperial drive?
'NEW US DEFENCE FORCE TO GUARD HOMELAND
'The US has announced the creation of the Northern Command to defend its soil.
'NorthCom, the first force of its kind in the US, will be responsible for land airspace and sea defence.
'The aim is to streamline a command structure seen as complex and, in many ways, rooted in the Cold War era.
'President Bush is expected to nominate Air Force General Ralph Eberheart as first commander of the force, due to start operating on October 1.'
(BBC Ceefax, 17 April 02, p.124)
--To take on the traditional function of <South American armies -- suppression of their own people and civilian governments? (Under guise of fighting foreign terrorism, at first.)
18 April 02
'UN ENVOY DESCRIBES "HORROR" OF JENIN
'The United Nations envoy to the Middle East has described the devastated Jenin "horrifying beyond belief".
'Terje Roed-Larsen said the area, targeted by Israeli army bulldozers and tank shells during two weeks of fighting, had "the stench of death".
'Palestinians claim hundreds of people may be buried beneath the rubble.
'Meanwhile, the Israeli army has begun to withdraw from Jenin and Nablus.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.108)
'Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi is rushing back to Italy from Bulgaria to attend a meeting of the country's crisis unit after a plane hit a Milan skyscraper. ...
'[But] Early reports suggest the pilot hit the 30-storey Pirelli tower after making an SOS call to say he had lost control of the Piper plane while waiting to land[, i.e. it appears to be an accident].'
(ITV Teletext, 18 April 02, p.304)
--But the Pirelli Tower is the almost the only skyscraper 'for miles around'.
19 April 02
'BUSH'S ALASKA OIL DRILL PLANS DEFEATED
'The US Senate has rejected plans by President Bush to allow drilling for oil in parts of Alaska.
'Mr Bush put forward the idea as a means of making America more self-sufficient in energy production.
'But the policy depended on approval for a motion to let drilling go ahead in a wildlife preservation area.
'The Senate, which is dominated by opposition Democrats, defeated the proposal by 54 to 46.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.142)
'BERLUSCONI UNDER FIRE OVER MEDIA ROLE
'Italy's centre-left opposition has accused the country's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, of endangering democracy and freedom of information.
'The attack follows a reorganization at the state-run broadcaster Rai which gave government supporters key posts.
'Mr Berlusconi's Mediaset company already owns three private TV stations, and the opposition says he now controls 90% of national programming.
'The Rai chairman and government supporters have rejected the criticism.'
(Ibid., p.143)
'US BANKS ON TERROR ALERT
'FBI agents claim [!] to have received insubstantiated information regarding possible terror [attacks] against US banks in the north east of the country.
'Authorities cautioned that they had no information about a specific plot or threats to any specific institution.
'[The FBI] said the threat of "physical attacks" was based on information from Abu Zubaydah, the highest-ranking al Qaeda terrorist leader in US custody.'
(ITV Teletext, 19 April 02, p.306)
--This is ahead of the IMF-World Bank meetting in Washington, and may be tailor-made for it.
'... this conspiracy against the United States ... campaign against the United States', Attorney-General Ashcroft mumbled; even he is evidently tired of periodically churning out this drivel.
20 April 02
"Israel and the US have agreed to a UN fact-finding mission into the West Bank military campaign, the UN has said. ...'
(ITV Teletext at 00:30 a.m. BST, p.303)
'VENEZUELA AIR FORCE CHIEF DIES IN CRASH
'The newly-appointed head of the Venezuelan Air Force and nine military officers have died in an air crash.
'The helicopter they were travelling in crashed in a mountainous zone near the north-east of the capital, Caracas.
'General Luis Acevedo was appointed just days ago by President Hugo Chavez, who returned to office after being ousted in a two-day coup.
'Some military members supported coup plotters, others supported Hugo Chavez.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.114) --The new Evil Empire strikes back.
Ecuador's foreign minister said that the USA has 'backed down' on claims that Al-Qaeda and (the Lebanese) Hezbollah have set up bases in Ecuador's Amazon region (ibid., p.143). Perhaps the CIA/cabal are trying to put out disinformation that they're idiots, and therefore incapable of world conspiracy. They're beginning to fool me.
Turkmenistan's 'dictator', Muhammad Nazarov, has thwarted a plot by his security chief to overthrow him, according to today's London Times. Turkmenistan is key to the American cabal's plans for Caspian oil and gas pipelines through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the sea. Perhaps this plot was one of the CIA's machinations to improve America's position in Turkmenistan.
'Police have barricaded streets and are guarding buildings in Washington, in readiness for anti-capitalist protests at and IMF and World Bank meeting. ...' (BBC Ceefax, 20 April 02, p.108) (This coincides with the latest 'terror-alert'.)
'USA[:] A small earthquake in New York state rattled homes, shaking furniture, and waking people from New York City to New Hampshire, authorities said.' (ITV Teletext, 20 April 02, p.318)
21 April 02
BBC 2's "Correspondent" this evening, dealing with the murder of the Ukrainian journalist and the related issues of heavy-squadism and corruption in the Kuchma government, said about a US investigation linking to "illegal arms sales" by the Ukraine:- missiles to Iraq were specifically mentioned. The US cabal is evidently muscling in on this issue with its own agenda. Already, last October, it appears to have shot down a Russian airliner with dozens of Israeli passengers, and put the blame on a "misfired Ukrainian missile".
'ISRAEL DISPUTING UN MISSION MAKE-UP
'Israel has said it will not accept three UN officials as members of a mission being sent to Jenin.
'It claims UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, UN head of relief works in Jerusalem, Peter Hansen, and UN human rights chief Mary Robinson are biased. [It also made disparaging 'Quisling' remarks about Larsen's Norwegian nationality.]
'Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer has vowed to co-operate with the UN.
'But members of the mission should be chosen "for their technical skills and not their political leanings", he said.
(BBC Ceefax, 21 April 02, p.108)
Or as Henry Ford remarked, they can have any colour they like as long as it's black.
Mary Robinson previously backed up Amnesty International's call for an investigation into the massacre of Taleban and al-Qaeda PoWs at Qala-e-Jangi in Afghanistan last November (see my diary, Oct - Dec 2001), so the US cabal and its Israeli counterpart have a common enemy in her.
22 April 02
'ANTI-CHEMICAL WEAPONS GROUP HEAD OUSTED
'The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has sacked his chief, Jose Bustani, the OPCW has announced.
'The UK was among states to back a US proposal to dismiss the Brazilian over a dispute about Iraqi arms inspectors.
'He had tried to coax Iraq to join OPCW and submit to new weapons inspectors which the US said would be "too soft".
'Analysts believe the US was concerned that the plan might create an obstacle to a possible military attack on Iraq.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.107) This follows the removal, at US instigation, of the head of the UN environmental body concerned with global warming. In this case, his position was contrary to that of the American oil lobby. 23 April 02
The 'senior al-Qaeda field commander', Abu Zubaydah, now in US custody, has 'confirmed' that al-Qaeda 'knows how to build' a dirty nuke, capable of dispersing radioactivity over a wide area. 'US officials said they were not sure whether to believe his claims'. (BBC Ceefax, p.142) This follows 'information', also supposedly from Abu Zubaydah, of a 'terrorist threat to banks in the north-east US' (see above).
On 3 April no less worthy a publication than Vanity Fair, supposedly quoting a nameless Iraqi defector, claimed that Iraq was working on a dirty nuke (see above). Evidently CIAgitprop is working hard on this line, struggling both to produce sufficient 'evidence' to justify an Iraq attack, and to tie Iraq and al-Qaeda together -- no mean feat, this latter aim, but desperate times call for desperate measures. (Cf. Financial Times, 20 March 02, 'CIA chief alleges that Iraq has links with al-Qaeda'.)
Note: the US claimed to have captured Abu Zubaydah on 2 April, the day before Vanity Fair made its claim about the 'Iraqi defector's dirty nuke information' (see above). -- Agitprop threads getting tangled up?
The Israeli government has now withdrawn its co-operation with a UN team commissioned to investigate the killings in the West Bank town of Jenin. 'The inclusion of former Red Cross chief Cornelio Sommaruga is said to have aroused particular opposition.' (BBC Ceefax, 23 April 02, p.106)
--Looks like no-one will please theem! (They have already rejected UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN's head of relief works in Jerusalem, Peter Hansen, and UN human rights chief Mary Robinson as members of the team, saying they are biased [!]. The latest Israeli rejection was said to have been made after a meeting between Prime Minister Sharon, his defence minister and army chiefs.
They are of course giving themselves more time to cover up any massacre.
24 April 02
'IRA "PART OF TERROR NETWORK"
'The IRA is part of a global terror network based in Colombia, training Marxist rebels alongside Iranian and Cuban officials, a report claims.
'The US Congress report says the provisionals have threatened Colombian democracy and US national [?security] by helping Farc guerillas.
'It claims only Afghanistan rivals Colombia as a terror breeding ground.'
(ITV Teletext at 1:30 a.m. BST, p.303)
Wrong! Maryland far outstrips them both together!
They've done it at last! You could see those little cogwheels turning round and round in cabalistic heads, and finally out comes the punch tape! The "IRA" gives the US cabal handy leverage to get its hooks into Britain too. Colombia a centre of international terror including Iranians! 1984 may be 18 years late, but it has surely come! A Congressional committee?! Is it controlled by conservative Republicans? [It is the House of Representatives' Committee on International Relations.] These are the main 'Republican terrorists'!
'The claim follows a nine-month investigation by the Congress' (BBC Ceefax, p.113). The three 'IRA FARC trainers' were arrested in August 2001, which was presumably the starting-point of the 'inquiry'. (This was about the time that the final preliminaries of the cabal's terror-conspiracy were set in motion.)
Too bad about not 'finding' any al-Qaeda or Hezbollah bases in Ecuador (!!!, see above); oh well, you can't have everything.
'A British Government representative put pressure on a US Congress committee to probe alleged IRA links with Colombian rebels, Gerry Adams has claimed. ...' (ITV Teletext, 24 April 02 [later], p.309)
'WORKERS ARRESTED AT WASHINGTON AIRPORTS
'More than 90 employees at three Washington airports have been arrested in a crackdown on airport security.
'Attorney General John Ashcroft said those held obtained security clearance and access to sensitive areas by allegedly lying or committing fraud.
'Officials said they had no evidence of whether any of the detainees were connected to any terror organizations.
'The arrests were part of a continuing crackdown after September 11.'
(BBC Ceefax, 24 April 02, p.120)
See also 'More Than 100 Area Airport Workers Arrested', washingtonpost.com, April 23, 2002; 'Airport Workers Charged In Sweep', Washington Post, April 24, 2002, p.A01.
The latter article says that more than 140 employees at the Washington areas three major airports have been indicted on charges of lying about their identities or criminal pasts, etc. Ninety-five employees were arrested at National and Dulles International airports, and 43 others from there were still being sought. Many were illegal immigrants, but many more were US citizens. Since Sept. 11, there have been similar raids at a half-dozen airports, including Salt Lake City, Denver and Miami [though not, I think, on the same scale -- I think something like 20 were arrested in Miami or somewhere down south a few months ago.]
I wonder if the Salt Lake and Denver raids were during the unprecedented 'security operation' in Salt Lake during the Winter Olympics? At the end of the Olympics there was also a seemingly ferocious crackdown on drunken rioters, with 'rubber' or foam-tipped bullets. About the same time, there was a public 'terror attack drill' in nearby Denver.
At the time I wondered if all this amounted to some practice, in 'quiet' thinly-populated mountain states, for a Washington putsch. Is that putsch now beginning to stagger into effect? (It's a first for America, and it's not going to be an efficient lightning-strike. And we're still far from the stage where everyone is going to lie down and quietly consent to being raped. In fifty years, though, it might be as routine as in traditional Latin America.)
Meanwhile,
'POLICE TARGET CHILD PORN TRADE
'... In the biggest operation of its kind ever in the UK, officers searched 75 addresses in England, Scotland and Wales and N Ireland, making [wow!] several arrests.'
(ITV Teletext, 24 April 02, p.304) 25 April 02
(5 a.m.) Colin Powell has seen no evil in Jenin; meanwhile Israeli tanks are reported to have rolled into Hebron; it isn't clear whether it is the start of a full-scale invasion.
26 April 02
A report to the British government says that the anti-Muslim violence in Gujerat was pre-planned, bore the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing, and (? was supported by) the province's governor, who is a member of the BJP (the right-wing Janata Party, which controls the national government too).
(BBC World Service news at 1 a.m.)
28 April 02
Yasser Arafat and Israel have approved a plan, put forward by President Bush, to have the convicted assassins of the Israeli travel minister guarded by US and UK personnel. This plan is a compromise on what has been a sticking-point on the Israelis lifting their siege of Arafat's compound in Ramallah. (The guards will probably be ex-soldiers and police.)
However, Israel is still stalling on the admission of a UN team to investigate the 'massacre' in Jenin.
Israel also claims that it has foiled (thanks to its invasion of the W. Bank town of Qalqilya) a Palestinian plot to attack Tel Aviv skyscrapers by placing huge car bombs under them.
29 April 02
'BUSH "TOLD INVASION OF IRAQ NEEDED"
'The CIA has told President Bush that a full-scale invasion of Iraq is the only way to overthrow Saddam Hussein, a US newspaper has reported.
'Aiding a coup or a covert operation is thought to be unlikely to remove the Iraqi leader, USA Today said.
'This follows reports of plans for an attack involving up to 250,000 troops. ...'
(BBC Ceefax, p.121)
30 April 02
How routine and boring all this has become! A decrescendo from the heady days of September 11 and its immediate aftermath. Perhaps when we are all asleep, the real Phase 2 will begin.
Israel's continued refusal to admit a UN investigative team to Jenin tends to confirm 'massacre' reports.
Russian and Tadzhik guards on the Tadzhik-Afghan border report a four-fold increase in the cross-border flow of heroin from Afghanistan.
Give them horse and videos.