Egypt’s Military have Sold Out the Egyptian People to the Imperial Powers & Israel

By: Stewart Brennan
World United News
http://worldunitednews.blogspot.com/
 

It appears that the Egyptian Military has sold out the Egyptian people to the Imperial Powers and are proving that they are a willing part of the larger US / UK plan to remove all regional opposition to Israel.

In a nut shell, the People of Egypt want the siege of Gaza lifted and the Rafah border crossing opened; So how the Egyptian Military or Interim Government of Egypt treat the Palestinians of Gaza is a litmus test to prove who they really work for...and right now they have failed with a capital "F" because the Egyptian Military have been tightening the Israeli siege on Gaza since they took Morsi out of office.
 
Here's a look at what has happened in the region since the Popular Coup against Morsi took place.
 

1. The Egyptian Army closes the Rafah Border and cuts all human life lines to Gaza.

Palestinians in Gaza react to Morsi's ouster, closure of Rafah crossing

 

Source Video: The Real News

http://youtu.be/wntB-Okh3nk

2. The Egyptian army has openly declared Hamas an enemy

Source Video: Russia Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QniI5EtGYDk

3. The Egyptian Military has destroyed most of the lifeline tunnels from Egypt to Gaza

Source Video: Press TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyn_221b3Gs

4. The Egyptian Army has now occupied El Arish

Note: El Arish is the only Port city near Gaza not controlled by Israel where aid can flow into Gaza from other countries.

Egypt army launches counter-extremist operation in Sinai

Video Source: Russia Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wwvss3G17M

5. The Egyptian Army have declared war on the people of the Sinai

 

The Egyptian Military are in the process of ramping up unrest in the Sinai region while locking down their border with Gaza. This is a tactic that has been employed by the USA, UK, Israel & the Saudi regimes throughout the entire Middle East, Eurasia, and Africa.

Egypt set for “Fattah 2 offensive” on Sinai Islamist terror. Gaza sealed. US and Israeli forces on alert

http://www.debka.com/article/23126/

Here are three unrelated reports in regards to Egypt’s Military but are significant in the over all story of what is actually taking place in the region. 

6.The EU has placed Hezbollah of Lebanon on the terrorist list.

Source Video: Press TV

http://youtu.be/Xf6uqEnyvIA

7. Saudi Arabia Sign Arms Deal with Israel.

Press TV: Saudi Arabia Sign Arms Deal with Israel

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/27/315771/s-arabia-israel-army-sign-arms-deal/

8. Prison Escapes in Libya, and Iraq planned by US Backed Terrorists will Bolster the decimated Saudi sponsored attack on Syria and in Egypt's Sinai

Benghazi Jailbreak: 1200 inmates escape from Libyan prison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvlMK_6H2Bo
US Backed Al-Queda in Iraq free 1000 Jailed terrorists
http://youtu.be/V5TaaL-thkc
Libya: 1000 Prisoners escape as protests rage over activist killing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdckuMhIGeQ

The Prison breaks in Libya, and Iraq seem to coincide with the need to bolster the terrorist ranks that are wrecking havoc throughout Syria, Iraq, and now Egypt. In all probability, some of these terrorists will now show up in the Sinai to give legitimacy to the Egyptian Military’s lock down and siege of the Sinai and Gaza. No doubt the terrorists will be magically armed because the terrorist groups and the people in charge of the said countries of Iraq, and Libya are controlled by the USA through the CIA, hired Mercenary Groups and other US Government agencies and proxies.

The US, UK, agenda is to smash all opposition to the State of Israel while enabling the Israeli destruction and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. For Egypt, this means destruction through planned divisions of the Egyptian people and for the region it means the destruction of all links between Iran, Syria, and Lebanon with Palestine.

Morsi Also a US Government Puppet

It has been well proven that Israel, and Saudi Arabia are active in the destruction of Syria while using the weapons supplied by all associated NATO countries including Turkey.

But in a surprise outburst of insanity in mid June 2013, Egyptian President Morsi declared war on Syria seemingly out of the blue, which begs the question “Why?” Why did Morsi support the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria? The only conclusion one can draw is that Morsi was taking orders from the USA, which also means he was siding with Israel & Saudi Arabia who were also actively involved in the destruction of Syria.

Morsi Silenced

Since Morsi was removed in a Military Coup soon after no one has heard from him and there is a reason why you do not hear anything from Egypt’s former president. If Morsi was allowed to speak he would tell the World exactly what he said to the American government to have them stop the Israeli attack on Gaza in Nov 2012.

US threatened, pulls Israel out of Gaza: Richard Becker

Source Video: Press TV

http://youtu.be/DiuY6eMYUq4

What deal did Morsi broker with the US Government behind closed doors to have them halt the Israeli attack on Gaza? Could it have had anything to do with the Suez Canal? Because the Suez Canal is the single most Important and strategic area in the World to the Imperial Powers and to the Saudi's. Unfortunately, we will probably never know, but it certainly would explain the reason why the Saudi’s no longer liked Morsi or why the USA stopped the Israeli attack on the people of Gaza.

Indeed, what deal did Morsi strike with the Imperial powers to boldly side against Syria and to side with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the USA? In all appearances, Morsi sold his soul and paid the price in a double deception...and now the Egyptian Military which is also under the US influence has Morsi in custody after taking him out in a Coup.

Everyone deserves a fair trial...but of course the USA, does not uphold justice as we see in the case of Bradley Manning after he exposed the US Military for War Crimes. I believe Morsi will receive a fate much worse since they will want him silenced on what transpired during Israel’s war on Gaza. Egypt's Military has imprisoned Morsi so it is doubtful that there will be justice served considering that they take their orders from the US Government. The trial alone has the potential to tear Egypt apart through sectarian lines. 

Morsi’s ouster was a tactical move on the part of the Western Imperial Powers. They removed Morsi from power, and at the same time, crushed the Egyptian peoples revolution through the sectarian division that rose with Morsi's ouster.

The Imperial powers have played their cards but they have been exposed by their actions and are very vulnerable should a sudden shift in position by the Egyptian people occur. If anything, the people, weather they are for or against Morsi are united in their hatred of the US and Israeli governments. If the people of Egypt take the road of reconciliation and move forward together to make real change, the Imperial Powers will lose and the people of Egypt will win.

Who Benefits from a Divided Egypt and Sectarian War throughout the Middle East?

In every single case, Israel and the Imperial Powers benefit, which tells you who and where the Egyptian governments and military commanders get their orders from.

The Egyptian people must unite if they do not want the Zionist Imperial forces to divide the peoples revolution. The Egyptian Military by its subservience to Washington is sending Egypt down the road of division, sectarian violence and chaos so that Israel can continue to destroy its neighbours in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. The Egyptian people must rise up together and demand the end to the violence in Egypt and also very importantly, they must push to end of the siege on Gaza...as goes Gaza goes Egypt and the rest of the World.

At least 150 people killed in Egypt clashes

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/27/315769/people-killed-in-egypt-clashes/

Final Thoughts:

The State of Israel and Saudi Arabia were created by the Imperial Powers to destroy any attempts by the Arabic people from uniting and becoming a power as they once were under the Ottoman Empire. The major reason is because a large portion of the Worlds oil and gas supply is under Arabic lands, and because Oil powers the Imperial Empires, they will do everything in their power to control it and thus will stop the people of the Arabic speaking nations from uniting or rule themselves.

Israel is their wedge in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia is their hammer. That is why Israel was created in 1948 and why there is a push by the Imperial powers to create sectarian war throughout the Middle East, Eurasia and Africa via Saudi Arabia. Egypt is now the latest victim in this evil plot.

Egypt is Palestine's Protector

Egypt must free itself from bondage by the Imperial powers and must continue to be the hope and protectors of the people of Palestine.

Palestine must be free and reunited for the people of ALL sects so that the native people of the region can live together in harmony once again…and that means a united rule that includes a peaceful coexistence between all sects and beliefs, be they Muslim, Christian or Jew. The enemies of peace are the ones pushing for sectarian division and sectarian dominated rule. They are easy to spot.

In the quest for independence, the Egyptian people must seek out unity amongst all sects with moral foundations help each other rebuild communities and rebuild the Egypt you envision.

The hope of the World rests on the actions that will be taken by the Egyptian people in the coming weeks. Don’t let the Imperial powers divide or stop you in your quest for freedom and unity of all Egypt and all Egyptian people.

In vision, empathy and respect, I pray for you.

Stewart Brennan

World United News

Important Links:

General Sisi pushing Egypt into civil war

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/29/316176/gen-sisi-pushes-egypt-into-civil-war/
Egypt interim PM to allow civilian arrest  by Military
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/28/316089/egypt-interim-pm-to-allow-civilian-arrest/
Egypt’s interim leader gives green light for civilian arrests
http://rt.com/news/egypt-military-civilian-arrests-712/
Egypt army launches counter-extremist operation in Sinai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wwvss3G17M
At least 150 people killed in Egypt clashes
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/27/315769/people-killed-in-egypt-clashes/
Huge protests as Egypt's Morsi accused of Hamas links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QniI5EtGYDk
Morsi Abbas Hold Gaza Talks
http://youtu.be/n7Ud-lS3rfE
US Threatened – pulls Israel out of Gaza
http://youtu.be/DiuY6eMYUq4
Egypt’s Revolution – (News Video Playlist)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCMPkpKACKgLGbqPjmVfnn48KOHbr2QvI
Israel Using Turkish Military Base to Attack Syria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdBaAlPSGBU
EU blacklisting Hezbollah, hypocritical: Eugene Dabbous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aGYAGlnG_A
Israel gives green light to more settler homes
http://youtu.be/Di4JO1WUzk8
Israel to ethnically cleanse 30,000 Palestinian from Negev desert
http://youtu.be/RgN6CXcw6JI
Palestine – The Latest Zionist Crimes (News Video Playlist)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCMPkpKACKgI7Gd5GQIEEDl-IXF5TrhSO
Palestine – Zionist Crime (News Video Archive 2008 – 2013)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3D53B3A6129AA4F9
US Backed Al-Queda in Iraq free 1000 Jailed terrorists
http://youtu.be/V5TaaL-thkc
Libya: 1000 Prisoners escape as protests rage over activist killing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdckuMhIGeQ
Benghazi Jailbreak: 1200 inmates escape from Libyan prison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvlMK_6H2Bo

 

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Impressions of Gaza

 

Noam Chomsky

Chomsky.info, November 4, 2012

Source: Noam Chomsky

http://chomsky.info/articles/20121104.htm

Even a single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the total control of some external force. And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to begin to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world’s largest open-air prison, where a million and a half people, in the most densely populated area of the world, are constantly subject to random and often savage terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade, and with the further goal of ensuring that Palestinian hopes for a decent future will be crushed and that the overwhelming global support for a diplomatic settlement that will grant these rights will be nullified.

The intensity of this commitment on the part of the Israeli political leadership has been dramatically illustrated just in the past few days, as they warn that they will “go crazy” if Palestinian rights are given limited recognition at the UN. That is not a new departure. The threat to “go crazy” (“nishtagea”) is deeply rooted, back to the Labor governments of the 1950s, along with the related “Samson Complex”: we will bring down the Temple walls if crossed. It was an idle threat then; not today.

The purposeful humiliation is also not new, though it constantly takes new forms. Thirty years ago political leaders, including some of the most noted hawks, submitted to Prime Minister Begin a shocking and detailed account of how settlers regularly abuse Palestinians in the most depraved manner and with total impunity. The prominent military-political analyst Yoram Peri wrote with disgust that the army’s task is not to defend the state, but “to demolish the rights of innocent people just because they are Araboushim (“niggers,” “kikes”) living in territories that God promised to us.”

Gazans have been selected for particularly cruel punishment. It is almost miraculous that people can sustain such an existence. How they do so was described thirty years ago in an eloquent memoir by Raja Shehadeh (The Third Way), based on his work as a lawyer engaged in the hopeless task of trying to protect elementary rights within a legal system designed to ensure failure, and his personal experience as a Samid, “a steadfast one,” who watches his home turned into a prison by brutal occupiers and can do nothing but somehow “endure.”

Since Shehadeh wrote, the situation has become much worse. The Oslo agreements, celebrated with much pomp in 1993, determined that Gaza and the West Bank are a single territorial entity. By then the US and Israel had already initiated their program of separating them fully from one another, so as to block a diplomatic settlement and punish the Araboushim in both territories.

Punishment of Gazans became still more severe in January 2006, when they committed a major crime: they voted the “wrong way” in the first free election in the Arab world, electing Hamas. Demonstrating their passionate “yearning for democracy,” the US and Israel, backed by the timid European Union, at once imposed a brutal siege, along with intensive military attacks. The US also turned at once to standard operating procedure when some disobedient population elects the wrong government: prepare a military coup to restore order.

Gazans committed a still greater crime a year later by blocking the coup attempt, leading to a sharp escalation of the siege and military attacks. These culminated in winter 2008-9, with Operation Cast Lead, one of the most cowardly and vicious exercises of military force in recent memory, as a defenseless civilian population, trapped with no way to escape, was subjected to relentless attack by one of the world’s most advanced military systems relying on US arms and protected by US diplomacy. An unforgettable eyewitness account of the slaughter — “infanticide” in their words — is given by the two courageous Norwegian doctors who worked at Gaza’s main hospital during the merciless assault, Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse, in their remarkable book Eyes in Gaza.

President-elect Obama was unable to say a word, apart from reiterating his heartfelt sympathy for children under attack — in the Israeli town Sderot. The carefully planned assault was brought to an end right before his inauguration, so that he could then say that now is the time to look forward, not backward, the standard refuge of criminals.

Of course, there were pretexts — there always are. The usual one, trotted out when needed, is “security”: in this case, home-made rockets from Gaza. As is commonly the case, the pretext lacked any credibility. In 2008 a truce was established between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli government formally recognizes that Hamas observed it fully. Not a single Hamas rocket was fired until Israel broke the truce under cover of the US election on November 4 2008, invading Gaza on ludicrous grounds and killing half a dozen Hamas members. The Israeli government was advised by its highest intelligence officials that the truce could be renewed by easing the criminal blockade and ending military attacks. But the government of Ehud Olmert, reputedly a dove, chose to reject these options, preferring to resort to its huge comparative advantage in violence: Operation Cast Lead. The basic facts are reviewed once again by foreign policy analyst Jerome Slater in the current issue of the Harvard-MIT journal International Security.

The pattern of bombing under Cast Lead was carefully analyzed by the highly informed and internationally respected Gazan human rights advocate Raji Sourani. He points out that the bombing was concentrated in the north, targeting defenseless civilians in the most densely populated areas, with no possible military pretext. The goal, he suggests, may have been to drive the intimidated population to the south, near the Egyptian border. But the Samidin stayed put, despite the avalanche of US-Israeli terror.

A further goal might have been to drive them beyond. Back to the earliest days of the Zionist colonization it was argued across much of the spectrum that Arabs have no real reason to be in Palestine; they can be just as happy somewhere else, and should leave — politely “transferred,” the doves suggested. This is surely no small concern in Egypt, and perhaps a reason why Egypt does not open the border freely to civilians or even to desperately needed materials

Sourani and other knowledgeable sources observe that the discipline of the Samidin conceals a powder keg, which might explode any time, unexpectedly, as the first Intifada did in Gaza in 1989 after years of miserable repression that elicited no notice or concern,

Merely to mention one of innumerable cases, shortly before the outbreak of the Intifada a Palestinian girl, Intissar al-Atar, was shot and killed in a schoolyard by a resident of a nearby Jewish settlement. He was one of the several thousand Israelis settlers brought to Gaza in violation of international law and protected by a huge army presence, taking over much of the land and scarce water of the Strip and living “lavishly in twenty-two settlements in the midst of 1.4 million destitute Palestinians,” as the crime is described by Israeli scholar Avi Raz. The murderer of the schoolgirl, Shimon Yifrah, was arrested, but quickly released on bail when the Court determined that “the offense is not severe enough” to warrant detention. The judge commented that Yifrah only intended to shock the girl by firing his gun at her in a schoolyard, not to kill her, so “this is not a case of a criminal person who has to be punished, deterred, and taught a lesson by imprisoning him.” Yifrah was given a 7-month suspended sentence, while settlers in the courtroom broke out in song and dance. And the usual silence reigned. After all, it is routine.

And so it is. As Yifrah was freed, the Israeli press reported that an army patrol fired into the yard of a school for boys aged 6 to 12 in a West Bank refugee camp, wounding five children, allegedly intending only “to shock them.” There were no charges, and the event again attracted no attention. It was just another episode in the program of “illiteracy as punishment,” the Israeli press reported, including the closing of schools, use of gas bombs, beating of students with rifle butts, barring of medical aid for victims; and beyond the schools a reign of more severe brutality, becoming even more savage during the Intifada, under the orders of Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, another admired dove.

My initial impression, after a visit of several days, was amazement, not only at the ability to go on with life, but also at the vibrancy and vitality among young people, particularly at the university, where I spent much of my time at an international conference. But there too one can detect signs that the pressure may become too hard to bear. Reports indicate that among young men there is simmering frustration, recognition that under the US-Israeli occupation the future holds nothing for them. There is only so much that caged animals can endure, and there may be an eruption, perhaps taking ugly forms — offering an opportunity for Israeli and western apologists to self-righteously condemn the people who are culturally backward, as Mitt Romney insightfully explained.

Gaza has the look of a typical third world society, with pockets of wealth surrounded by hideous poverty. It is not, however, “undeveloped.” Rather it is “de-developed,” and very systematically so, to borrow the terms of Sara Roy, the leading academic specialist on Gaza. The Gaza Strip could have become a prosperous Mediterranean region, with rich agriculture and a flourishing fishing industry, marvelous beaches and, as discovered a decade ago, good prospects for extensive natural gas supplies within its territorial waters.

By coincidence or not, that is when Israel intensified its naval blockade, driving fishing boats toward shore, by now to 3 miles or less.

The favorable prospects were aborted in 1948, when the Strip had to absorb a flood of Palestinian refugees who fled in terror or were forcefully expelled from what became Israel, in some cases expelled months after the formal cease-fire.

In fact, they were being expelled even four years later, as reported in Ha’aretz (25.12.2008), in a thoughtful study by Beni Tziper on the history of Israeli Ashkelon back to the Canaanites. In 1953, he reports, there was a “cool calculation that it was necessary to cleanse the region of Arabs.” The original name, Majdal, had already been “Judaized” to today’s Ashkelon, regular practice.

That was in 1953, when there was no hint of military necessity. Tziper himself was born in 1953, and while walking in the remnants of the old Arab sector, he reflects that “it is really difficult for me, really difficult, to realize that while my parents were celebrating my birth, other people were being loaded on trucks and expelled from their homes.”

Israel’s 1967 conquests and their aftermath administered further blows. Then came the terrible crimes already mentioned, continuing to the present day.

The signs are easy to see, even on a brief visit. Sitting in a hotel near the shore, one can hear the machine gun fire of Israeli gunboats driving fishermen out of Gaza’s territorial waters and towards shore, so they are compelled to fish in waters that are heavily polluted because of US-Israeli refusal to allow reconstruction of the sewage and power systems that they destroyed.

The Oslo Accords laid plans for two desalination plants, a necessity in this arid region. One, an advanced facility, was built: in Israel. The second one is in Khan Yunis, in the south of Gaza. The engineer in charge of trying to obtain potable water for the population explained that this plant was designed so that it cannot use sea water, but must rely on underground water, a cheaper process, which further degrades the meager aquifer, guaranteeing severe problems in the future. Even with that, water is severely limited. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which cares for refugees (but not other Gazans), recently released a report warning that damage to the aquifer may soon become “irreversible,” and that without remedial action quickly, by 2020 Gaza may not be a “liveable place.”

Israel permits concrete to enter for UNRWA projects, but not for Gazans engaged in the huge reconstruction needs. The limited heavy equipment mostly lies idle, since Israel does not permit materials for repair. All of this is part of the general program described by Israeli official Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, after Palestinians failed to follow orders in the 2006 elections: “The idea,” he said, “is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.” That would not look good.

And the plan is being scrupulously followed. Sara Roy has provided extensive evidence in her scholarly studies. Recently, after several years of effort, the Israeli human rights organization Gisha succeeded to obtain a court order for the government to release its records detailing plans for the diet, and how they are executed. Israel-based journalist Jonathan Cook summarizes them: “Health officials provided calculations of the minimum number of calories needed by Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants to avoid malnutrition. Those figures were then translated into truckloads of food Israel was supposed to allow in each day ... an average of only 67 trucks — much less than half of the minimum requirement — entered Gaza daily. This compared to more than 400 trucks before the blockade began.” And even this estimate is overly generous, UN relief officials report.

The result of imposing the diet, Mideast scholar Juan Cole observes, is that “[a]bout ten percent of Palestinian children in Gaza under 5 have had their growth stunted by malnutrition ... in addition, anemia is widespread, affecting over two-thirds of infants, 58.6 percent of schoolchildren, and over a third of pregnant mothers.” The US and Israel want to ensure that nothing more than bare survival is possible.

“What has to be kept in mind,” observes Raji Sourani, “is that the occupation and the absolute closure is an ongoing attack on the human dignity of the people in Gaza in particular and all Palestinians generally. It is systematic degradation, humiliation, isolation and fragmentation of the Palestinian people.” The conclusion is confirmed by many other sources. In one of the world’s leading medical journals, The Lancet, a visiting Stanford physician, appalled by what he witnessed, describes Gaza as “something of a laboratory for observing an absence of dignity,” a condition that has “devastating” effects on physical, mental, and social wellbeing. “The constant surveillance from the sky, collective punishment through blockade and isolation, the intrusion into homes and communications, and restrictions on those trying to travel, or marry, or work make it difficult to live a dignified life in Gaza.” The Araboushim must be taught not to raise their heads.

There were hopes that the new Morsi government in Egypt, less in thrall to Israel than the western-backed Mubarak dictatorship, might open the Rafah crossing, the sole access to the outside for trapped Gazans that is not subject to direct Israeli control. There has been slight opening, but not much. Journalist Laila el-Haddad writes that the re-opening under Morsi, “is simply a return to status quo of years past: only Palestinians carrying an Israeli-approved Gaza ID card can use Rafah Crossing,” excluding a great many Palestinians, including el-Haddad’s family, where only one spouse has a card.

Furthermore, she continues, “the crossing does not lead to the West Bank, nor does it allow for the passage of goods, which are restricted to the Israeli-controlled crossings and subject to prohibitions on construction materials and export.” The restricted Rafah crossing does not change the fact that “Gaza remains under tight maritime and aerial siege, and continues to be closed off to the Palestinians’ cultural, economic, and academic capitals in the rest of the [occupied territories], in violation of US-Israeli obligations under the Oslo Accords.”

The effects are painfully evident. In the Khan Yunis hospital, the director, who is also chief of surgery, describes with anger and passion how even medicines are lacking for relief of suffering patients, as well as simple surgical equipment, leaving doctors helpless and patients in agony. Personal stories add vivid texture to the general disgust one feels at the obscenity of the harsh occupation. One example is the testimony of a young woman who despaired that her father, who would have been proud that she was the first woman in the refugee camp to gain an advanced degree, had “passed away after 6 months of fighting cancer aged 60 years. Israeli occupation denied him a permit to go to Israeli hospitals for treatment. I had to suspend my study, work and life and go to set next to his bed. We all sat including my brother the physician and my sister the pharmacist, all powerless and hopeless watching his suffering. He died during the inhumane blockade of Gaza in summer 2006 with very little access to health service. I think feeling powerless and hopeless is the most killing feeling that human can ever have. It kills the spirit and breaks the heart. You can fight occupation but you cannot fight your feeling of being powerless. You can't even dissolve that feeling.”

Disgust at the obscenity, compounded with guilt: it is within our power to bring the suffering to an end and allow the Samidinto enjoy the lives of peace and dignity that they deserve.

Noam Chomsky visited the Gaza Strip on October 25-30, 2012.

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Mujahadin-e Khalq America’s protected terrorists gearing up against Iran (Op-Ed)

 

Members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) (Image from vkb.isvg.org)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/iran-mek-us-military-237/

Unsatisfied in "crippling" Iran with sanctions, the US looks to be set for active operations there - and already has an in: a group called the Mujahadin-e Khalq, which in the near future could become the Persian equivalent of the Free Syrian Army.

­On September 21, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton passed Public Notice 8050, de-listing the Mujahadin-e Khalq (MEK) from the State Department’s Specially Designated Global Terrorist list, effective September 28.

What is MEK? Mujahadin-e Khalq is an Iranian Islamic militant organization in exile that advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Since its inception in 1965 in Iran, the group conducted assassinations of US military personnel and civilians working in Iran in the 1970s, jubilantly supported the takeover of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 and opposed the release of American personnel, calling for their execution instead, fought against the Islamic Republic together with Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988) and set up headquarters in Iraq at Camp Ashraf.

In recent years, according to various sources including NBC, MEK teamed up with the Israeli secret service to kill Iranian nuclear scientists. NBC reported that US officials confirmed that “the Obama administration is aware of the assassination campaign but has no direct involvement”.

In 1994, the State Department sent a damning 41-page report to Congresson why the MEK is a terrorist organization; that designation was enacted in 1997. The report concluded: “It is no coincidence that the only government in the world that supports the Mujahadin politically and financially is the totalitarian regime of Saddam Hussein.” Well, the MEK’s mission to overthrow Iran’s leadership has not changed since, but the US agenda has: In a vertiginous about-face, Washington became the powerful protector of the Mujahadin-e Khalq.

Over the past few years, a formidable fundraising operation and campaign to de-list MEK from the Specially Designated Global Terrorist register gathered some high-caliber US supporters including General James Jones, President Obama's National Security Advisor from 2009 to 2010; Bill Richardson, Energy Secretary and UN ambassador in the Clinton administration and Obama's Special Envoy to North Korea; Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security; General Wesley Clark, former supreme commander of NATO; Louis Freeh, former director of the FBI; three former directors of the CIA – Michael Hayden, James Woolsey and Porter Goss; Rudolph Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City; former UN Ambassador John Bolton; General Hugh Shelton, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002; and many others.

Top Washington lawyers and lobbyists made the case for the terrorist group as well: Akin Gump, Strauss Hauer & Feld, Patton Boggs and others. Robert Strauss, of the firm of the same name, was US Ambassador to the Soviet Union during the critical months of August 2, 1991, through December 26, 1991. A senior member of the firm Tobi Gati was also head of the intelligence branch of the US State Department.

When speaking about terrorist groups, one might think of MEK as a ragtag bunch of cutthroats in shreds and tatters, confined to an unsanitary tent city. The truth is nothing of the sort. Watch this report by CNN’s Michael Ware dating back to 2007: You will see a marching army in crisp brand-new white-and-blue and khaki uniforms, entering a spacious parade ground framed by sculptures of lions. Camp Ashraf itself is one of the best-kept military facilities in Iraq and a sprawling city of 4,000 people, with shopping centers and hospitals, gardens, monuments, fountains and illuminations quite unexpected in the war-torn deserts of Iraq. The MEK is also armed with more than 2,000 well-maintained tanks, artillery, anti-aircraft guns and armored personnel carriers. Its supplies are guarded by US military police, and the camp itself is guarded by the American military.

Indeed, “The coalition remains deeply committed to the security and rights of protected people of Ashraf,” US Major General Gardner said, according to a Headquarters Multinational Force Iraq document dated March 11, 2006. Michael Ware calls the MEK “the US’ officially protected terrorists.” Another film of Australian origin shows Camp Ashraf’s own parliament and hundreds of tanks on the camp’s parade ground.

Well-versed in American political mores, the MEK’s leadership says the group is ‘pro-democracy.’ However, even the New York Times disagrees: In the middle of the 2011 de-listing campaign, it described MEK as “a repressive cult despised by most Iranians and Iraqis.”

‘Totalitarian cult’ is indeed the most frequent label applied to the MEK by people who come in contact with the group. And American support for MEK is not limited to military protection. Seymour Hersh, in his New Yorker piece“Our Men in Iran?” revealed that beginning in 2005, MEK fighters were trained in Nevada by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

Why is Washington backing the MEK? As General Shelton said at a conference in February 2011, “When you look at what the MEK stands for, when they are antinuclear, separation of church and state, individual rights, MEK is obviously the way Iran needs to go. … By placing the MEK on the FTO [Foreign Terrorist Organizations] list we have weakened the support of the best organized internal resistance group to the most terrorist-oriented anti-Western world, anti-democratic regime in the region.”

In an interview with Germany’s WDR TV back in 2005, ex-CIA operative Ray McGovern explained the logic: “Why the U.S. cooperates with organizations like the Mujahadin, I think, is because that they are local, and because they are ready to work for us. Previously, we considered them a terrorist organization. And they exactly are. But they are now our terrorists and we now don't hesitate to send them into Iran …. for the usual secret service activities: attacking sensors, in order to supervise the Iranian nuclear program, mark targets for air attacks, and perhaps establishing secret camps to control the military locations in Iran. And also a little sabotage.”

Karen Kwiatkowski, formerly with the Department of Defense, makes a long story short for WDR TV: “MEK is ready to do things over which we would be ashamed, and over which we try to keep silent. But for such tasks we'll use them.”

Now is the time for Russia and the world community to take active political measures preventing the United States from launching another proxy war in the Middle East. The MEK is much better trained and prepared for war than the Syrian rebels were at the beginning of the conflict, or even today. The MEK has all the necessary capabilities to become the military arm of an American attack against Iran. This time – unlike in Syria – the world should not ignore the march to war, and must take steps to prevent it from happening again.

­Veronika Krasheninnikova, Director General of the Institute for Foreign Policy Research and Initiatives in Moscow, for RT

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

 

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