ISRAEL MUST BE WIPED OFF THE MAP...Origins of Treasongate

By Doug Krieger

CARTHAGE MUST BE DESTROYED

Carthage was Rome’s implacable foe; thus, did the Roman Senator Cato conclude whatever the topic at hand on the floor of the Senate with: “Carthago delenda est” – Carthage must be destroyed! Eventually, once the Senate of Rome realized her proximity to the pesky Punic, they attacked with impunity and wiped them off the map in the Third Punic War (149-146 BC), salting Hannibal’s commercial bastion, never to have her rise again; thus Rome’s supreme illustration of brutality and imperial ambition incorporated, like the Borg of Star Trek, the commercial aspects of Empire.

Alas! Meeting the challenge of President Bush’s infamous remarks hurled at the Axis of Evil (which clearly includes Iran), and reinforced by his NED speech given on October 6, 2005 to wit:“ . . . authoritarian regimes, allies of convenience like Syria and Iran, that share the goal of hurting American and moderate Muslim governments, and use terrorist propaganda to blame their own failures on the West and America, on the Jews . . . we’re determined (against Syrian and Iran) to deny radical groups the support and sanctuary of outlaw regimes . . . STATE-SPONSORS like Syria and Iran have a long history of collaboration with terrorists, and they DESERVE NO PATIENCE FROM THE VICTIMS OF TERROR. The United States makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor them, BECAUSE THEY’RE EQUALLY AS GUILTY OF MURDER. Any government that chooses to be an ally of terror has also chosen to be an enemy of civilization . . . and the civilized world must hold those regimes to account.” . . . Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decided to fight fire with fire: ISRAEL MUST BE DESTROYED! He shot back at the “World Without Zionism” conference held in Tehran this week against the United States and Israel (a.k.a., the USA=The Great Satan; Israel=The Little Satan…DiscoverTheNetworks). Ahmadinejad called Israel a “disgraceful blot” on the Islamic world, and the US Middle East “roadmap” nothing more than a diversion from the crusader wars between the Islamic world and perceived imperialists like the USA (http://news.viewlondon.co.uk)“Israel must be ‘wiped off the map’ . . . she is a ‘disgraceful blot’ on the Islamic world . . . the US Middle East Roadmap to peace is a diversion from the crusader wars between the Islamic world and perceived imperialists such as the United States. Furthermore, Iran’s President attacked other Muslim nations which recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish state (an obvious allusion to Egypt). Israel is naught but the product of an ideological struggle between the ‘Arrogant World Order’ and ‘Islamic rule.’” (News.viewlondon.co.uk)

Quoting Mr. Ahmadinejad:“Over the past 100 years, the last bastions of the Islamic world have collapsed. The World Arrogance turned the Zionist regime occupying Jerusalem into a staging-ground to dominate the Islamic world . . . there continues a historic war between the World Arrogance and the Islamic World, the roots of which go back hundreds of years ago.”

Now that sounds vaguely familiar. In my last article, “The Crusader vs. The Caliphate” President Bush targeted the source of terrorism’s frustration:“The excuses for violence (range from) the Israeli presence on the West Bank . . . the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia . . . the defeat of the Taliban . . . or the CRUSADES of a thousand years ago.”

ISRAEL: AMERICA’S AIRCRAFT CARRIER

Putting it bluntly: The problem, President Bush, is the Israeli aircraft carrier—the USS Israel—poised on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, ready (as far as the Middle Eastern edge of the Axis of Evil is concerned—Syria/Iran) to launch its cruise missiles throughout the Islamic lands in order to expand its Arrogant World Order (a.k.a. the Decadent West—The American New World Order System) under the guise of democracy, women’s rights, religious freedom, and, of course, economic globalization; in sum: Western world hegemony.

In 1991, Daniel Pipes in Commentary described the then unnamed Axis of Evil by inquiring:“Why did British and American imperialists want Israel to exist? Arabs have a rich assortment of answers to the question. Ash-Sha’b, a leftist Egyptian newspaper, portrays Israel as a branch-office of the Central Intelligence agency, one which requires CIA “approval and support” before taking almost any step. Ahmad Jibril (leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command) dubs Israel ‘America’s Mideast aircraft carrier.’ Khalid al-Hasan, another PLO leader sees Israel as ‘something like a conglomerate-General Motors, for example.’“And what functions does this intelligence office/aircraft carrier/multinational corporation serve? To jeopardize whatever it may be the speaker holds most dear. Thus, for Nasser, the Pan-Arab leader, Israel endangered Pan-Arab nationalism. His 1962 Charter of National Action dubbed Israel ‘the tool of imperialism’ and ‘a whip in their hands to fight the struggling Arabs.’ In 1968 the PLO was still under Nasser’s influence, so its Covenant accused Israel of being ‘a geographic base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to combat the hopes of the Arab nation for liberation, amity and progress.’”

SO WHAT’S NEWS? THE “CLEAN BREAK”

Hating and annihilating Israel is not news. However, the hate rhetoric’s been ratcheted up a great deal—especially the “religious” overtones and undertones, greatly! Instead of President Carter and the Ayatollah Khomeini, who founded the first modern Islamic Republic (Iran) chattering away over American hostages for 400+ days—we now have President Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (perhaps to the right of the original supreme leader Khomeini) blasting away at one another.

Somehow, the current war in Iraq, the intel scandal rocking the nation, and Israel-America being fed up with Moslem terrorists (who more and more interfere with our quest for “hidden treasurers” in the Middle East—i.e., OIL), has got to be dealt with. Is/was there a plan to effect this sea change in the Middle East—i.e., put the terrorists on notice (and to flight) after the collapse of the Soviet Union and their little war they lost in Afghanistan, as we, the Americans, supplied millions to the likes of Osama ben Laden and his Mujahadeen (Holy Warriors) to defeat the red menace?

Indeed, thus was laid the plan entitled “Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.” The document was prepared in 1996 by an Israeli think tank, the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies. The document was a precursor to the then-incoming government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The plan was, according to the London Guardian, Brian Whitaker and syndicated columnist Georgie Anne Geyer, designed to reshape Israel’s “strategic environment” (Christian Century) Alas! The proposal/plan has turned out, according to Geyer, to be Bush’s blueprint for Iraqi policy—and, I hasten to add, the centerpiece for an upcoming confrontation with both Syria and Iran.

The 1996 plan called for the removal of Saddam Hussein, the installation of a monarchy akin to Jordan’s—similar to one that ruled Iraq in the mid-1900s. Next, with Saddam eliminated, Jordan and Turkey would team up, along with Israel, to severely weaken Syria. Thus, “Israel will not only contain its foes, it will transcend them.”

Naturally, to orchestrate the plan, Israel would need extensive American downfield blocking. Thence, was born the linguistics of the Cold War to persuade the Americans to get on board; and, after all, it would (in the long/short run) secure America’s insatiable quest for cheap energy. Hard to say who was pushing whom here . . . the Israelophils/Israelis the Americans or the Americans the Israelophils/Israelis!

In any event, by 2000 the Americans under the then (now deposed) Richard Perle—perhaps the most prominent of the war hawks after 9/11 insofar as Iraq is concerned, and strong proponent of Dr. Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations, wherein the Judeo-Christian West vs. Islam is a defacto reality of life (apparently, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unwittingly embraces the same reality)—drafted additional expansions of “Clean Break” – to wit:“Following is a report prepared by The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies’ ‘Study Group on a New Israeli Strategy Toward 2000.’ The main substantive ideas in this paper emerge from a discussion in which prominent opinion makers, including Richard Perle, James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks, Jr., Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser participated. The report, entitled ‘A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,’ is the framework for a series of follow-up reports on strategy.As group leader, Perle (also of the American Enterprise Institute at the time, and still is), knew full well the immediate plans insofar as Syria were concerned:“Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one with which America can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon, including by:

• Striking Syria’s drug-money and counterfeiting infrastructure in Lebanon, all of which focuses on Razi Qanan. • Paralleling Syria’s behavior by establishing the precedent that Syrian territory is not immune to attacks emanating from Lebanon by Israeli proxy forces. • Striking Syrian military targets in Lebanon, and should that prove insufficient, striking at select targets in Syria proper. It is safe to say that Perle, who has spent considerable time in Israel, is a staunch supporter of Israel’s conservative Likud Party. Furthermore, while the 2000 report wholeheartedly supports the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime (i.e., “regime change”), it wholly backs the encirclement and neutralization of Syria:“Given the nature of the regime in Damascus, it is both natural and moral that Israel abandon the slogan ‘comprehensive peace’ and move to contain Syria, drawing attention to its weapons of mass destruction program, and rejecting ‘land for peace’ deals on the Golan Heights.”And, finally, the coup de maître:“Israel can make a clean break from the past and establish a new vision for the U.S.-Israeli partnership based on self-reliance, maturity and mutuality — not one focused narrowly on territorial disputes.”Perle headed up the discretionary-funded Defense Policy Board (Advisory Committee) which provided the Secretary of Defense, under Bush (i.e., Donald Rumsfeld), “independent, informed advice and opinion concerning major matters of defense policy.”

Prior to “financial indiscretions” which brought Perle down (March 28, 2003), Perle was a member of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC—an original signer of their January 26, 1998 letter sent to President Clinton. An outstanding article/intentions of PNAC can be found at the 11th Hour, by Frank Reilly. The group’s fascination with “American Dominance” is no small accusation (to say the least, throughout the whole world). Interestingly enough, in today’s light, original signers included: “Richard Armitage, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush, Ellen Bork (the wife of Robert Bork), Dick Cheney, Zalmay Khalilzad, Lewis Libby, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. A large number of its ideas and its members are associated with the neoconservative movement.”

NEOCONS AND MICHAEL LEDEEN

In case you haven’t noticed, the NEOCONS (that most despised of expletives hurled from the Left) are peppered amongst the PNAC group and ipso facto, main backers of the demise of Saddam Hussein, and aggressive democratization of the Middle East—in particular, Syria and Iran. In defense against the British Left’s accusations, Ledeen, currently National Review Online contributing editor, author of The War Against the Terror Masters, and resident scholar in the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute (among other “items”—we’ll discuss later) remarked in a July 13, 2005 piece for NRO entitled THE JEWS, War and a Sickness:“The final component of British blindness on the subject of the Middle East is one we are not supposed to talk about in good company: the Jews. Yet I don't know any country this side of the Levant in which there has been so much anti-Semitism, so many complaints that ‘Zionists,’ ‘Likudniks,’ ‘Jewish hawks,’ and — the single epithet that sums up all of the above — ‘neocons’ had manipulated America and its poodle Blair into the ghastly blunder of Iraq. The BBC has devoted hours of radio and television to slanderous misrepresentations of places like the American Enterprise Institute, where I sit, and of such Jewish luminaries as Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, William Kristol, and Paul Wolfowitz. Sometimes it seemed one was reading translations from the Saudi or Egyptian or Iranian press, so total was the hatred of the Jews.” (My emphasis.)Ledeen, who also heads the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, expressed his foreign policy initiatives in his recent release:“The awesome power of a free society committed to a single mission is something [our enemies] cannot imagine. ... Our unexpectedly quick and impressive victory in Afghanistan is a prelude to a much broader war, which will in all likelihood transform the Middle East for at least a generation, and reshape the politics of many countries around the world.”Ledeen’s co-worker at the American Enterprise Institute, Richard Perle, has articulated a new neocon book entitled: An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror. Check out this review:“Billed as a ‘manual for victory’ in the war on terror, the book suggests ‘reinvigorating homeland security with a new security agency; waging a global campaign against the terrorist ideology…’ Among the book's proposals are: funneling U.S. aid to Iranian dissidents to help them overthrow their government; promoting the secession of Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province; and rejecting the jurisdiction of the United Nations Charter, unless it is modified to accommodate the doctrine of preemption. According to Frum (co-author) and Perle, militant Islam has replaced communism as the main threat to U.S. and global security. ‘There is no middle way for Americans,’ they write. ‘It is victory or holocaust.’” (My emphasis.)A group, comprising of many of these same people, was formed around the time of the Iraqi incursion—CLI: Committee for the Liberation of Iraq . . .“Like most front groups, the CLI was a transitory political project (Note: Membership included . . . Robert Kagan, Richard Perle, William Kristol, Joshua Muravchik AND Senator Bob Kerrey, former Congressman Steve Solarz, Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute (an offshoot of the center-right Democratic Leadership Council), Sen. John McCain, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, and former Secretary of State George Shultz, who served as honorary chairman of the CLI advisory board.) . . . that (i.e., the CLI’s mandate) faded as soon as the invasion was launched – despite its professed mission of working beyond the ‘liberation’ to ensure the reconstruction, democratization, and institution of the rule of law in Iraq. For CLI organizers, the toppling of the Hussein regime constituted, as President Bush declared on May 1, 2003, evidence of a ‘mission accomplished.’ Thus, the attention of the new crusaders turned to Iran, Lebanon, and Syria, while talk continued about restructuring Saudi Arabia and the Muslim nations of North Africa.Two months prior to the Iraq invasion, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton (now US Ambassador to the UN), an early associate of PNAC and a former AEI vice president, traveled to Jerusalem to meet with Ariel Sharon. Bolton promised Sharon that the Iraq offensive would be just the first of the disarmament wars, declaring that “it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran, and North Korea afterwards.” FPIF CommentaryLedeen, considered by some to be . . . “. . . the neocons' point man on regime change in Iran (and in Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia), is apparently capable of viewing diplomacy only through the barrel of a gun, arguing in a November 2003 piece for the National Review Online that the ‘appeasers’ in Congress and the State Department ‘don't want to know about Iran, because if they did, they would be driven to take actions that they do not want to take. They would have to support democratic revolution in Iran, and they prefer to schmooze with the mullahs.’ He concludes, ‘I guess some top official will have to die at the hands of (obviously) Iranian-supported terrorists before the Pentagon is permitted to work on the subject.’” (Unpunished Failure, NRO, Nov., 2003 and the International Relations Center).Now, the Road to Damascus (title of Ian Williams’ article below) appears on the horizon, but a close second (to Ledeen and other neocons) is the Prince of Persia (Iran) . . . listen to Ian Williams in his November 28, 2003 article which appeared in the Interhemispheric Resource Center (Foreign Policy in Focus publication of IRC):“The neocon chorus and Vice President Cheney made it possible—in defiance of the UN, major allies, and much of Congress—to stampede the U.S. into a paroxysm of righteous patriotism against Iraq by manipulating claims of WMDs, terrorism, and similar bogeys. They have made it plain that they would like to do it again for Syria, and they may find allies in the White House who are more expedient in their views about Damascus. Syria would be a good scapegoat for continuing failure in Iraq during an election year. Taking another capital in the Spring is unlikely to hinder Republican prospects in the Fall. To paraphrase Woody Allen, just because I'm paranoid does not mean that they won't try to follow Iraq with Syria.”The DEAD-WRONG intelligence afflicting the administration on the incursion of Iraq, quite frankly, was overruled by the presuppositions and passions for a CLEAN BREAK with the status quo in the Middle East—which, as far as they were concerned—could only get worse. But, let’s look at another aspect of that faulty intelligence—through the eyes of Michael Ledeen.

ALL ROADS LEAD THROUGH MICHAEL LEDEEN TO ROME

The on-going investigations regarding outing Valerie Plame-Wilson as a CIA agent via Mr. Irv Lewis “Scooter” Libby, et al, is naught but a side bar to the real story—which everyone knows—on how in the world did all this “disinformation” and so-called “intelligence” get started in the first place?

Ultimately, the preemptive invasion of Iraq occurred. Now the pending conflicts in both Syria and Iran seem inevitable (now that today, November 4, 2005, we hear of massive movements of war materials through Iran’s borders into Iraq (not a new story), and of the continued insurgency in Iraq and support of the same through Syria—to say nothing of the US/UN pressure upon Bashir Assad to give up both his brother and brother-in-law who allegedly orchestrated the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri).

But, the initiation of the bogus intelligence that Saddam attempted to purchase “yellowcake” from the Central African nation of Niger (which later on Ambassador Joe Wilson investigated and found utterly preposterous) in order to make WMD, was confirmed by the British, and announced in the now famous “16-word” utterance by President Bush during his January, 2003 State of the Union Address, to wit:“The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa .”The retribution (“treasongate”)—i.e., “getting back” at Joe Wilson for having his article published in the New York Times exposing the bogus “yellowcake deal” (July 6, 2003) by having Robert Novak “out” Joe’s CIA-wife, Valerie-Plame, in a syndicated article on July 14, 2003—leads us to backtrack. The “who said, he said, she said” smokescreen is NOTHING compared to the origination of the fraud itself!

So, what’s Rome got to do with Ledeen, the British, Niger, Joe Wilson, Saddam, and ultimately, the war in Iraq? Much, in every way . . .

After 9/11, 2001, events rapidly changed…by October, 2001 the US moved on the Taliban in Afghanistan…but it was not until March 20, 2003 that Iraq was invaded. The “yellowcake” via Niger to Iraq intelligence was somehow hatched in Rome and some very interesting people showed up for the Roman party.

First of all, Michael Ledeen (Karl Rove’s foreign policy advisor!) and others met in Rome with Italian intelligence in December 2001 (over a year before Bush’s infamous “16-words”). Their intention was to procure evidence against Iraq as an excuse for war.

THE “ROMAN-YELLOWCAKE-URANIUM PARTY”

It is repugnant to me to “concoct a conspiracy” through guilt by association; however, this appears so convincingly suspicious, that it begs the question: If it smells like a duck, looks like a duck, and swims like a duck, it ain’t no elephant. Now, including Ledeen, the party roster:(1) Larry Franklin – Mr. Franklin, 58, was apprehended at a restaurant in Alexandria, VA, in June of 2003 by FBI agents. As a former Pentagon analyst on Iran and an Air Force Reserve colonel, it was most fascinating to observe him meeting with two agents of AIPAC (the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee, i.e., the “Israel Lobby” in America). Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman had been under surveillance for a couple of years by the FBI. When Franklin showed up with the two from AIPAC, the FBI began to investigate Franklin. Eventually, they arrested Franklin on May 4, 2005 and accused him of disclosing highly classified information to AIPAC (i.e., spying for AIPAC); however, he is now free on bond pending trial.To clarify Franklin’s background a bit:“The story reported the FBI had uncovered a spy working as a policy analyst under Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz. He was later identified as Larry Franklin, a colonel in the US Air Force Reserve, who had previously served as an attaché at the US embassy in Israel and was one of two mid-level Pentagon officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense responsible for Iran policy in the office's Northern Gulf directorate. Franklin is not Israeli, nor is he Jewish. He has since been demoted within the Defense Department and no longer has his previous security privileges.” (Washington Post)It’s hard to pass up this James Bond thriller…so, here’s how Justin Raimondo describes how reporters Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball reported it in Newsweek:“He (Franklin) had sensitive information about the possibility of pro-Iranian groups in Iraq, such as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the Dawa Party, launching attacks on American occupation forces. Franklin, known as a committed ideologue of the neoconservative persuasion, and passionately committed to Israel, divulged the contents of a document marked ‘top secret’ and dated June 25. The FBI agents who were listening in were shocked: they had the Tivoli (an Italian restaurant in Alexandria) bugged that day as part of a larger and long-standing investigation into Israeli covert operations in the U.S. When Franklin barged in unexpectedly on the assembled cabal (which included Naor Gilon, chief of political affairs at the Israeli embassy in Washington), he stumbled into a web of espionage in which he was soon ensnared.”Here’s the kicker in the Franklin affair, as reported by the Washington Post last year (2004):“The FBI is examining whether highly classified material from the National Security Agency, which conducts electronic intercepts of communications, was also forwarded to Israel."Franklin’s trial is being conducted by prosecutor Paul McNaulty, who no doubt is sharing information with prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the Scooter Libby/Valerie Plame “treasongate” affair. But, in sum, here’s the essence of the matter (and, yes, I intend to get back to my party roster):“The Washington, DC, grand jury of US Attorney Fitzgerald will obtain indictments in the outing of CIA's Valerie Plame, sources say, and one could be George Bush's closest advisor, Karl Rove. In Alexandria, VA, the grand jury of Paul McNulty, investigating Israeli espionage against the US, has indicted a neocon Pentagon analyst, Larry Franklin. With these and other probable indictments, there will be trials that will EXPOSE FIXED INTELLIGENCE and ISRAELI MANIPULATION that pushed us toward war. Also, Italian officials promise to request soon the extradition of CIA man Bob Lady, a key figure in the IRAQ BETRAYAL. See how these events are converging.” (Tennessee Independent Media Center, October 21, 2005).Finally, Justin Raimondo’s conclusions are more striking:“The Franklin affair branches off into so many different separate-but-related investigations – Chalabi's follies, the Niger uranium mystery, the ‘outing’ of CIA agent Valerie Plame – that, as I wrote last year, we might as well merge the scandals breaking out all over into one big Neocon-gate. Franklin's arrest is the first act of that unfolding drama. ‘It's not legal to out CIA agents,’ as I wrote last summer, and ‘feed forgeries to U.S. intelligence’ – but even in an administration where every allowance is made for Israel, and such shenanigans are routinely overlooked, one has to draw the line at espionage.” (May 6, 2005, ANTI-WAR.COM)Now, I don’t want to loose you here—guests are still arriving at the party. Incidentally, if it could be said that Karl Rove is President Bush’s brain, it can also be said that Michael Ledeen is Karl Rove’s brain—when it comes to foreign affairs. You see . . . “Michael Ledeen, Rove’s ‘brain,’ is one of the leading advocates for a US attack on Iran. The Washington Post quoted Ledeen as saying that Rove told him, ‘Anytime you have a good idea, tell me.’ I guess that means we can look forward to the Bush team drumming up a war with Iran. [For more, see articles by Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post -- the main man of the mainstream media pursuing the Rove Scandal.] George Bush Jr., when he assumed the presidency in 2000, already knew that he was going to settle the family score with Saddam Hussein. His ‘brain,’ Rove, quickly enlisted Ledeen to trump up a causus belli.” (Bella Ciao, July 29, 2005)Now, back to Ledeen’s party in Rome . . .

ENTER THE ITALIAN SPY VIA FRANCE, NO LESS

What’s a spy thriller without the French-Italian connection? Nothing! So, although he didn’t show up for the December 2001 party in Rome, this guy sure had lots to do with the Ledeen bash:

Here’s how the Bella Ciao article details the role of one, Rocco Martino, who inadvertently brought the “yellowcake” to the party:“Rocco Martino is a 66-year-old Italian gentleman who worked on and off for the Italian SISMI (analogous to the CIA) for many years and who also peddled the same information to various spy organizations and publications -- a convicted felon and international stool pigeon, just the kind of person Ledeen’s associates needed. After being fired by SISMI (for receiving stolen checks, among other things), he convinced the French intelligence in 2000 that he knew all about Africa and the trafficking of conventional and non-conventional arms. To avoid stepping on the toes of Italian intelligence, the French gave him a contact, or handler, in Brussels. Martino’s handler in Brussels asked him to obtain every type of news or reference to contraband uranium from Niger ("NYE-jer) -- a former French colony in the Sahara desert (not to be confused with ex-British Nigeria in W. Africa), where mining was under the jurisdiction of two companies controlled by the gigantic French mining company Cogema.”The serpentine trail of Martino is fraught with James Bond intrigue. Having read many sources on this, I simply summarize my findings as is the case with bloggers—it is up to you to conclude the matter right or wrong—but within the bounds of honest reporting I shall attempt to be concise.

First of all, Martino was well on his way to fabricating documents PRIOR to the Ledeen bash in Rome. In 2000 Martino got his marching orders from his “handler” in Brussels (Merci Monsieur, French for “thank you man”). He showed up at the Niger embassy in Rome where he met a “lady” (but no “lady” was this Italian functionary—some suggest that “lady” was none other than Robert Seldon Lady Sr., a man who headed up the now infamous 20+ CIA agent apprehension and torture of Abu Omar in Italy; Bella Ciao, July 29, 2005) who assisted him in securing Niger documents (forged) which ultimately “validated” Saddam’s quest for “yellowcake” uranium via Niger. Initially, however, the docs. appeared as simple trade plans that one would exchange between, for example, Arab oil states and third world nations.

When Martino presented these bland elements to French intelligence, they jumped to conclusions and determined that Iraq was interested in uranium . . . “We need additional confirmation and more detailed information.”

Naturally, Martino set out to suffice the French secret service regarding their suspicions.

BREAK-IN AT THE NIGER EMBASSY, JANUARY 2001

So a year before the Ledeen meeting in Rome, a mysterious break-in occurred at the Niger Embassy (between the first and second of January, 2001). The mysterious thief burglarized the residence of the counselor in charge of the Niger embassy in Rome. Some letterhead and seals were missing—thus did the SECOND dossier of Niger-Iraq trade documents “appear” in Martino’s dirty little paws.

A little doctoring (and bogus it was) and the “Second Coming” now included references to uranium! Martino claims he got these documents from Niger embassy personnel and that they were genuine. Now the French secret service had the goods on Saddam (and, handsomely paid Martino for the “evidence”).

But, Martino was a bit greedy—and slipped the “Second Coming” to the Italian magazine Panorama (which turns out to be a super backer of both Bush and Italian president Silvio Berlusconi). Panorama, in order to authenticate the “evidence,” sent a female journalist to Niger. Likewise, Panorama turned the “Second Coming” over to the US Embassy in Rome for “cross-checking” in the US.

The female journalist told Martino the “Second Coming” was a hoax. Likewise, the French secret service informed Martino the “Second Coming” was bogus. Thence, the French and Italians came to their senses—and, way back in early 2001 (long before 9/11) Bush’s war rationale—at least from this source—was ludicrous! Never mind, though, now the US herself had the “Second Coming” – simply resuscitated the “evidence” and decided to have a party in Rome in December 2001 (of course, by then, 9/11 had taken place and Afghanistan’s Taliban was defeated).

ITALIANS LOVE A PARTY

Now, guest No. 3 (Ledeen and Franklin have already been seated) . . .

Nicolo Pollari, is head of the Italian SISMI (again, equivalent to our CIA). Incidentally, Ledeen is a personal friend of Pollari, who, like himself, is a master of card game bridge!

Guest No. 4 was Italy’s Minister of defense, Antonio Martino (sorry, not related to James Bond want-to-be Rocco Martino). As you can see, this little party was not comprised of small potatoes.

Guest No. 5 was Harold Rhode. Rhode is a protégé of Ledeen and member of Vice-President Cheney’s Office of Special Plans—and, no less, a go-between the CIA and the discredited, but ever-resourceful, Iraqi exile-now-enmeshed in Iraqi politics, Ahmed Chalabi.

Ledeen’s Italian connections go way back . . . “In 1980 [Ledeen] entered into a collaboration with Francesco Pazienza, an agent of the Italian secret service (SISMI) and a member of Rome's extreme right-wing Masonic Lodge, P2 (Propaganda Due), headed by the fascist Licio Gelli. In an Italian criminal court in 1985, Pazienza was judged guilty of political manipulation, forgery, and the protection of criminals and terrorists, among other offenses. Indeed, according to the findings of the court, Pazienza falsified information about the Bologna bombing in order to divert attention away from the real (right-wing) terrorists who had staged the attack.” (August 18, 2004, Rigorous Institution)Now with all the party goers seated around the table (I suspect another Italian restaurant would have been a great venue here.) the little group reviewed Ricco’s brilliant forgeries and Saddam popped out of the yellowcake—uranium references had been confirmed once and for all!

Was Ledeen’s old bud, Francesco Pazienza, recruited by Ledeen to fabricate the now infamous forgery? Who knows? But one thing is certain—a great time was had by all the party goers!

One thing more—depending upon who’s winning the war—Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, now running for re-election, flatly denies that the Italians were hoodwinked by the forgery and told the US as much. Berlusconi was adamant that he warned Bush not to go to war, especially over this bogus information . . . to wit:“‘I have esteem for Gen. Nicolo Pollari. I have followed his work with trust and I have always appreciated and continue to appreciate what he's doing at SISMI,’ Berlusconi said in a statement issued as Berlusconi traveled to Washington for a meeting Monday with President Bush. Berlusconi's office has denied reports last week in the daily La Repubblica that Italy was involved in giving the United States and Britain documents known to be forged that detailed a purported Iraqi deal to buy 500 tons of uranium from Niger.” (Associated Press, October 31, 2005).Not to be outdone by Berlusconi, Washington seconded the motion:WASHINGTON (Reuters) – “President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, denied on Wednesday that he or his staff received fake documents in 2002 that showed Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger, a claim that formed part of the administration's case for going to war.“After consulting with a member of his staff ‘to refresh my memory,’ Hadley told reporters that the documents were first obtained by the State Department and then shared with the CIA, and that he does not recall ever discussing the issue with Italian intelligence officials.“‘Suffice to say they didn't come to me. They didn't come to the NSC,’ Hadley said, referring to the National Security Council.“Bush, in making a case for war in his 2003 State of the Union address, said there was evidence that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa to further apparent nuclear-weapons ambitions. Bush cited British intelligence as the source of the information.”By the way, the White House acknowledges that this is the same Stephen Hadley who took the blame for the reference that showed up in Bush’s State of the Union speech (the 16-words), and the same Stephen Hadley, who on September 9, 2002 met with Italy’s intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari. (Note: Exactly one month later, on October 9, 2002, an Italian journalist provided the U.S. Embassy in Rome with copies of documents about the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium sale, according to a U.S. congressional investigation. Copies of the documents were then sent to State Department headquarters and the CIA, the congressional report said.) (From Reuters, November 2, 2005, by Adam Entous).

Now that this nefarious trail involves the media—media like Robert Novak and Judith Miller who outed, via Scooter Libby (Cheney’s chief aide), Valerie Plame-Wilson to get back at her husband, Joe Wilson, who debunked the myth of the “Niger-Saddam Yellowcake” intelligence—and said so—who knows where it will lead—but you can just imagine!

TIT-FOR-TAT: SYRIA & IRAN MUST BE DESTROYED!

This article started off with the title: ISRAEL MUST BE DESTROYED (i.e., “Wiped Off The Map”). However, if you were Israel, and you were Jewish, like so many of the neocons in this piece who have apparently teamed up with American politicos, mostly Republican, who as well have had it with terrorism/terrorists/rogue regimes (for whatever reason), then you might be considering Michael Ledeen’s summation of the matter:“Now Michael Ledeen is calling for regime change beyond Iraq. In an address entitled Time to Focus on Iran -- The Mother of Modern Terrorism, for the policy forum of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) on April 30, he declared, ‘the time for diplomacy is at an end; it is time for a free Iran, free Syria and free Lebanon.’“Ledeen has advocated total war . . . In a 2003 essay for the American Enterprise Institute, he wrote: "There is every reason to believe we will succeed in revolutionizing the Middle East, for we have always excelled at destroying tyrannies.... We wage total war, because we fight in the name of an idea -- freedom -- and ideas either triumph or fail." (Center for Media and Democracy, August 25, 2005).

JEWS IN AMERICA AND ISRAEL ARE JUSTIFIED IN THEIR CONCERN

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: The evidence appears overwhelming . . . neocons, many of whom are Jewish, have decidedly taken up Israel’s quest for survival in the Middle East. This drive for survival among Jews in the Diaspora, and most certainly Israel, is NOT unjustified—to say the least—given the recent holocaust of the 20th Century, let alone centuries of persecution. The rhetoric of Islamic leaders, and the VAST majority of Arabists throughout the world, and, in particularly the Middle East, has repeatedly concluded the harshest conclusion to the State of Israel: ANNIHILATION!

Faced with this real and present danger, desperate things are done by desperate people—they are calculated, persistent and formidable. Time does not permit a discussion of the political alliance formed between the Neocons and the Pro-Israel Evangelicals in the United States; however, it is this bulwark of Judeo-Christian Civilization that alone can wage war and ultimate victory against the implacable foe: Radical Islam.

The current “scandal” swirling around Washington—what did he/they know, and when did they know it?—should be rephrased to: Who knew it? How did they go about doing it? The biggie: Why did they do it? . . . is altogether obvious!

“YOUR TREATY WITH DEATH YOUR AGREEMENT WITH HELL!” “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement . . . when the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves . . . Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it . . . as often as it goes out it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night; it will be a terror just to understand the report” (Isaiah 28:15, 18-19)“He shall confirm a covenant (i.e., “treaty”) with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering, and on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolator” (Daniel 9:27).The Herculean efforts of Israel, and her American allies amongst the Neocon-Evangelical alliance, are steadfast and sure . . .

ALAS! IS THIS NOT YOUR AGREEMENT WITH DEATH AND HELL, THE COVENANT THAT ANTICHRIST SHALL FABRICATE? Is this not the false hope of PEACE and SAFETY that will ensue shortly after Israel tears down her wall and dwells in safety?“After many days you will be visited. In the later years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them DWELL SAFELY” (Ezekiel 38:8).The mysteries surrounding the imbroglio of “treasongate” appear unending and so massive that it boggles the mind—grief, the whole world is being sucked into this black hole! Even so is the prophecy being fulfilled in our ears, in our day:“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling (drunkenness) to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem . . . and it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it . . . For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished” (Zechariah 12:2-3; 14:2).What has been described here—notwithstanding all the great and noble intentions of man—is naught but the “arm of the flesh” which fails; the Machiavellian machinations of a fallen creature; an attempt, like Abraham of old, who sought the fulfillment of the promise through the Hagarian Option only to witness for centuries the contestation of cousins: Arabs vs. Jews.

The world sits precipitously upon the edge of a Middle East conflagration that will sweep the entire earth into its vortex. A PERFECT STORM of apocalyptic fulfillment awaits humankind—and, like Katrina’s wrath: WE ARE UTTERLY UNPREPARED to weather this calamity!

This is no half-pint, stupid, little, bungled Watergate burglary being pulled off by Castro-hating Cuban exiles. The Keystone Cops within the Nixon cover-up cannot be compared to the scores of intelligence operatives throughout the world who pulled off this caper! No, no, no—this is a massive juggernaut of immense political consequence involving numerous governments and staggering conspiracies whose trails and tales lead to the highest echelons of world leadership and whose sources reach to the lowest rungs of Dante’s inferno!

Juggernaut? Because NOTHING CAN STOP IT! The inexorable drive for war in the Middle East—ALL OUT WAR—is inevitable and irreversible. You altruistic lefties/progressives and patriotic constitutional conservatives—try though you may—the quest for cheap energy, survivability—couched in the pompous dialect of ideological democracy and freedom—and the moralistic intolerance of religious hyperbole (from Christian, Moslem, and Jew)—is so all-consuming that any reasonable argument—any rational thought to the contrary—pales into insignificance.

Yes, I confess, I have become an absolutist to the max! Without DIVINE INTERVENTION no one will be saved from this drunken monster—this WILLFUL KING who threatens to plunge the nations into Armageddon. Well was it said of him by Daniel the Prophet:“At the time of the end the king of the south shall attack him (ANTICHRIST); and the king of the North shall come against him (ANTICHRIST) . . . and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through . . . he (ANTICHRIST) shall enter the Glorious Land (Israel), and many countries shall be overthrown . . . he (ANTICHRIST) shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape . . . he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians (all of Africa) shall follow at his heels . . . but news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; YET HE SHALL COME TO HIS END, AND NO ONE WILL HELP HIM!” (Daniel 11:40-45).Try, though you may, to say this “Willful King” is Antiochus Epiphanes IV and these be his exploits of yesteryear . . . but to surmise this superficiality you have unwittingly become part of the Apostle Paul’s “Great Apostasy” in the latter days.

No, Daniel could not figure it out; and, why?“Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, ‘My lord, what shall be the end of these things?’ And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.’” (Daniel 12:8-9).Simply put: There was no “need to know.” But all that has radically changed . . . now:“Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:10).On the one hand, sad to say . . . but it will be through the process of purification and refinement through suffering at the hands of these deceits, lies—wars, and rumors of wars—but on the other hand, those who “know their God” shall overcome these falsehoods and the Father of Lies and Distortions . . . “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him . . . and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:9 & 11)“And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time, and at that time your people shall be delivered . . . those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:1b & 3).

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