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Today's
Stories
June 18,
2004
Gary Leupp
The "Long-Established" Link?:
Iraq, al-Qaeda, and al-Zarqawi
June
17, 2004
Noel
Ignatiev
Zionism, Anti-Semitism and the People
of Palestine
Kurt
Nimmo
The Bush-Kerry Conundrum
Ed
Cardoni
The Persecution of Steve Kurtz
Ron Jacobs
Power Relations: Rounding Up Everyone Who Knows More Than They Do
Dave
Lindorff
Philly Daily News: "Four Wasted Years"
Greg
Moses
Geneva Ignored
Norm
Dixon
How Reagan Armed Saddam with Chemical
Weapons
June
16, 2004
Lenni
Brenner
A Question for Kerry Supporters
Davey
D
Hip Hop Reflections on Reagan
Daniel
Wolff
Why Did Michael Moore Withhold Video Evidence of US Prisoner
Abuse?
Bruce
Jackson
Harry Levin and the Penultimate Manuscript of Finnegans Wake
Patrick
Cockburn
Boom! Boom! Out Go the Lights: Bombings Target Oil and Power
Facilities
Gary
Handschumacher
Mourn Ben Linder, Not His Killer: Reagan's Death Squads
JG
Turning Haiti into One Big Sweatshop
Mario
Benedetti
Obituary with Cheers
Vicente
Navarro
Meet the New Head of the IMF: Who
is Rodrigo Rato?
Website
of the Day
Iraqi Oil Revenue Watch
June
15, 2004
Harry
Browne
Ireland Adds a Brick to Fortress Europe
Neve
Gordon
The Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited
David
Palmer
Richard Armitage, Abu Ghraib and CACI
John
Blair
Lovelock's Misguided Call: Nukes Are No Solution to Global Warming
Dave
Lindorff
God Wins in TKO
Bill
Quigley
Blood-Pouring Peace Activists: State Charges Dropped; Feds Step
In
Patrick
Cockburn
Carbombs and Street Dances: 13 More Killed in Baghdad Blast
John
Chuckman
John Kerry, Political Placebo
June
14, 2004
John
Stanton / Wayne Madsen
Torture, Inc: Oliver North Joins
the Party
Kathy
Kelly
Requiems: What Happens When Compassion Dies?
Bruce
Jackson
Bush Gets Testy About Torture
Lee
Sustar
Strikers Defy Visteon's Company Thugs
Kurt
Nimmo
The Desperate Censors: the Republican Plot to Kill Farhenheit
9/11
Jim
Davis
Hard Right Nativism
Eliot
Katz
Death and War
Uri
Avnery
The Nightmare Comes True
Website
of the Day
Instruments of Statecraft
June 12 / 13, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Remembering the Common Hood: Soweto
and Runnymede
Team
CounterPunch
CP's Favorite Albums
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Troy, Now and Then
Gary
Leupp
Not Really a Puppet Government in Iraq?
Brian
Cloughley
US Military in Crisis
Antonio
Ponvert, III
Iraqi Prisoner Abuse: the Connecticut Connection
Ben
Tripp
The Polls Get Stupider
Joe
Bageant
Mash Note to the "Girl with the Leash"
Ron
Jacobs
The Return of the Hip Hop Insurgency
Forrest
Hylton
Object Lessons from the Case of Francisco Cortés
Christopher
Brauchli
Federal Bureau of Errors
Kurt
Nimmo
Going After Qaddafi, Again
Wayne
Madsen
Israel's Slap at Reagan
Anthony
Loewenstein
Al Jazeera Awakens the Arab World
Michael
Donnelly
A Lightship in the Forest: Greenpeace Docks in the Siskiyous
Greg
Moses
Who Will Tell Us More About the Workers of Nasiriyah?
Susan
Davis
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
Joseph
Ramsey
Weather Report: a Review of The Weather Underground
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The 18th Brumaire in the 21st
Century
Wayne
Saunders
The Gipper, D-Day and the Stanley Cup
Poets'
Basement
Richey, Ford, La Morticella, Albert
Website
of the Weekend
Insurgent Music
| June
18, 2004
The "Long
Established" Link...
Iraq, al-Qaeda
and al-Zarqawi
By GARY
LEUPP
Vice
President Dick Cheney gave a speech on June 14th to The James Madison
Institute, a conservative Florida-based “think tank.” (That
term that usually describes a handful of ideologues positing as “thinkers,”
and acquiring, through corporate donations, the kind of respectability
that allows the corporate media to cite it as somehow knowledgeable
about the topics about which it thinks. These tanks are also useful
in that they can invite prestigious speakers to speak in a supportive,
protective atmosphere, knowing that their remarks will be widely covered
in the press.) In it, Cheney repeated his claim that Saddam Hussein
has had longstanding ties to al-Qaeda. “He was a patron of terrorism,”
Cheney told the assembled thinkers. “He had long established ties
with al-Qaida.” This insistence on Iraq-al Qaeda ties seems to
be the centerpiece of the standard speech the vice president gives,
but journalists now dutifully note that intelligence officials have
rejected that connection, and so whenever he restates it, his own credibility
likely suffers.
Cheney’s favorability
ratings are way down.
A memo
indicating that his office was directly involved in the decision to
award Halliburton (of which he was formerly CEO) no-bid contracts worth
seven billion dollars in Iraq reconstruction work prior to the war last
year; reports that most likely a member of Cheney’s office vindictively
(and criminally) leaked to the press the identity of former ambassador
Joseph Wilson’s CIA agent wife; charges that Cheney personally,
repeatedly visited CIA headquarters to influence “intelligence”
reporting in order to bolster the administration’s case for war
with Iraq; and even his role as Bush “transition director”
in placing neocons eager for a war with Iraq in key positions in the
Defense Department and his own office…all these will likely embarrass
him further in the coming months. But maybe, with the arrogance for
the masses that typifies neocons, he will plod on disseminating disinformation,
in his cool, measured, grandfatherly style, knowing that if challenged
on the Iraq al-Qaeda link he will need only say, “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”
If al-Zarqawi did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. The
“Jordanian-born” militant (variously described as “Palestinian”
or “Bedouin”) is the link posited by the Bush administration
between Saddam Hussein, the secularist, and bin Laden, the Islamic fundamentalist.
(In his crucial speech to the United Nations before the war, Colin Powell
declared that there was a “sinister nexus between Iraq and the
Al Qaida terrorist network” and asserted that al-Zarqawi was the
key figure in that nexus.) Any other links—such as the 1997 training
of al-Qaeda operatives in airline hijacking, which supposedly took place
at the Salman Pak training facility outside Baghdad---have been discredited.
That leaves us with the al-Zarqawi link. The nice thing about the latter
is that al-Zarqawi straddles the pre-invasion and post-invasion periods,
and so can be used (by the neocons anyway) to justify not only the invasion
but the ongoing occupation. Why’d we invade? Because, Cheney (who
can no longer speak of weapons of mass destruction) explains, of those
“long established ties with al-Qaeda.” Why are we still
there? Because al-Zarqawi (either depicted as “linked to al-Qaeda”
or as an al-Qaeda “operative”) is there in Iraq, and if
his influence grows, Iraq will become Osama bin-Laden’s base for
more attacks on the USA Homeland. His supposed presence, that is, justifies
(so long as it may be posited) the presence of U.S. occupying forces.
He—another personification of evil, a human face on Terror to
add to that of the frustratingly elusive bin Laden---is indeed necessary.
As such,
it is best that he remain as vaguely defined as possible. If, for example,
you say he had his leg amputated in 2002 in the Baghdad hospital from
which (you say) he made a phone call that you intercepted (that call
being your key piece of evidence for the “long established”
Saddam al-Qaeda ties), and then you, for example, say that the person
beheading Nick Berg in Iraq two months ago, who seems to have both legs,
is none other than arch-villain al-Zarqawi---then you run into logical
problems. Some people (including German intelligence agents) think al-Zarqawi
is as much a rival as ally to bin-Laden. The Christian Science Monitor
suggests that the two men differ on how to exploit Shiite-Sunni differences
in Iraq. (So best not to give to many details about this evil person,
other than to make sure all know he is indeed evil, so sneakily so that
if logical contradictions appear in media coverage of his activities,
he, rather than they, are to blame.) But logical thinking aside, if
one can depict al-Zarqawi as the mastermind of ongoing resistance to
the occupation of Iraq, then you can divert attention from the general,
indigenous, Iraqi rejection of the occupation, while depicting that
occupation as an anti-al-Qaeda effort.
It helps
to have full cooperation from a puppet government in Iraq. Following
the spate of car-bombings in Baghdad recently, newly-appointed Iraqi
“President” Iyad al-Allawi attributed them to the Jordanian’s
nefarious network in Iraq, and declared that, “Al-Zarqawi and
his followers are earnestly working to prevent the success of”
the “transfer of power” to the bogus government later this
month. It’s significant that longtime CIA operative al-Allawi
states al-Zarqawi is behind the attacks. Al-Allawi and his Iraqi National
Accord are well known for authenticating in early 2003 the discredited
report that the Iraqi military could deploy chemical weapons, threatening
Britons, within 45 minutes of being ordered to do so.
Then last
December, al-Allawi confirmed the authenticity of a supposed hand-written
memo by Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi
Intelligence Service, found by U.S. troops in Iraq. It described a three-day
“work programme” undertaken by none other than Chief 9-11
Hijacker Mohammed Atta at a Baghdad in 1991, and it mentioned a shipment
of something from Niger via Libya to Iraq. Needing an imprimatur for
this wonderful text, that seemed to validate several debunked administration
allegations, the U.S. leaned on the reliable al-Allawi to stamp his
approval on the document.
But refuting
al-Allawi is the behavior of the Iraqi people. When attacks (that the
puppet president attributes to al-Zarqawi) produce, around the bombing
sites, joyous celebrations of Iraqi youth dancing and chanting, “America
is the enemy of God,” it gets hard to depict them as the product
of “foreign” interference. That very depiction is a form
of disinformation, following upon so many, many instances of official
deceit---that long established policy of the Bush-Cheney administration.
*
* *
June 17.
Sure enough, the day after Cheney made his statement, his boss, standing
alongside Afghan puppet Hamid Karzai, asked by a reporter whether he
supported Cheney’s view, replied in the affirmative, using the
Zarqawi argument.
“Zarqawi’s
the best evidence of a connection to al-Qaeda affiliates and al-Qaeda,”
declared the commander-in-chief. “He’s the person who’s
still killing. He’s the person---remember the email exchange between
al-Qaeda leadership and he himself about how to disrupt the progress
toward freedom? Saddam Hussein also had ties to terrorist organization
as well.”
Some comments
and questions.
1. The
best evidence? So there’s MORE?
2. “Al-Qaeda
affiliates” can mean whatever Bush wants it to mean. Many believe
al-Zarqawi’s organization, al-Tahwid, is quite separate from al-Qaeda.
But surely it is closer to it than many other groups Bush simplistically
conflates with bin Laden’s organization.
3. “He’s
the person still killing.” Interesting statement. There are a
lot of people still killing, including bin Laden. But do I detect an
effort to deflect attention away from the Saudi and towards the Jordanian?
Bush has actually said, that “Bin Laden’s not important.
He’s just one man. He doesn’t concern me.” He’s
said, “I’m truly not that concerned about him,” referring
to him in March 2002 as “a person who has now been marginalized.”
But al-Zarqawi, in the Bush view, is out there front and center.
4. Email
exchange? I’m aware of one
rather dubious memo
found (according to one version) by U.S. forces in a raid of an “al-Qaeda
safe house” in Baghdad six months ago, and immediately
publicized through the New York Times and the websites of the Project
for a New American Century and the National Review. I’m not aware
of any reply. The memo urges Sunni attacks on Shiites in order to thwart
the return of sovereignty to Iraq, which the author seems to feel will
truly doom the resistance and constitute an irrevocable U.S. victory.
But reportedly al-Qaeda, while rooted in fiercely anti-Shiite
“Wahhabist” ideology, has actually counseled cooperation
between all factions in the Iraqi resistance, including Sunnis, Shiites,
and even Baathists. And I must doubt that anyone deeply involved in
that resistance sees the new puppet regime under the widely despised
CIA operative Iyad al-Allawi as its death-knell.
5. Progress
towards freedom. The questionable memo didn’t actually mention
“freedom,” a concept which is of course differently understood
by different people. Bush proclaims both Afghanistan and Iraq “free”
at present. He sees progress towards Palestinian freedom infinitely
postponable. His point here is that al-Zarqawi is, like all the terrorists,
“against our freedoms” and thus appropriate objects of fear
and loathing by Americans, whom he assures the world “are a good
people” pretty much by definition. Except maybe for that handful
of “bad apples” at Abu Ghraib.
6. Saddam
Hussein also had ties to terrorist organization as well. (Perhaps the
redundant “as well” is intended to strengthen the assertion.)
Bush can safely say that Baghdad had ties to some organizations, viewed
by most Iraqis as Palestinian and Lebanese (Hizbollah) patriots, that
appear on the State Department’s list of international terrorist
organizations. Many find that list highly skewed, but it’s the
official reference-point for “counter-terror” statements
and actions. What Bush is saying here is, “It doesn’t matter
if Saddam had any al-Qaeda ties. He had other terrorist ties, so when
my critics get on my case for not proving an al-Qaeda link, well, hey,
there’s other links just as bad. I mean, why should anybody get
all bothered about the details?”
And here’s
a real quote: “I look forward to the debates where people are
saying, ‘Oh, gosh, the world would be better off if Saddam were
still in power.” Forget all this debate about why I told you folks
we needed to invade!
Unfortunately
for Bush and Cheney, as the president was spouting this nonsense the
Sept. 11 Commission was telling Congress that there is “no credible
evidence” for a Saddam link to the attacks, nor indeed any significant
operational connection between Baghdad and al-Qaeda, ever. And also,
yesterday, with perfect timing, 27 retired diplomats and military officers,
including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Ronald Reagan,
weighed in with a statement accusing Bush of “a cynical campaign
to persuade the public that Saddam Hussein was linked to al-Qaeda and
the attacks of Sept. 11.” Then came the results of a
poll commissioned by the occupation authorities themselves, showing
that 55% of Iraqis would feel safer if the occupation forces left immediately,
and that 54% believe all Americans behave like the guards at Abu Ghraib.
This makes it more difficult to argue that U.S. forces are liberators.
But of course, we’ll have to remain in Iraq, however the people
feel, if the protection of “our freedoms” requires tracking
down arch-villain al-Zarqawi.
These
are not good days for the Bushites, but their success to date in their
deceit (most strikingly indicated by a poll taken just two months ago
showing 57% of Americans still believe in the Iraq-Sept. 11 link) makes
celebration of their fall premature. As Jacon Heilbrunn reports in the
Los Angeles Times, “Despite charges that his homemade intelligence
network at the Pentagon relied on bogus intelligence from Chalabi, [Douglas]
Feith remains firmly in place at the Defense Department. David Wurmser,
the architect of the pro-Chalabi strategy, is Cheney's Middle East advisor
now. Mark Lagon, a neoconservative who worked for Jeane Kirkpatrick,
has been promoted at the State Department. A host of younger neocons
remains embedded in other agencies.
If Bush
loses the election, a bloodbath will ensue; neoconservatives will be
cannibalized by traditional conservatives and by their rivals at the
State Department and elsewhere. But if Bush wins and the GOP retains
its Senate majority, they will continue to rise. Neoconservative pit
bull John Bolton, an undersecretary of State, might well head the CIA.
Their main targets in a Bush second term: Syria and Iran.”
With some
influential neocons insisting that al-Zarqawi is sponsored by Iran (and
in their general campaign against the Muslim world finding no logical
contradiction in his ties to al-Qaeda, Baathist Iraq, and the mullocracy
in Tehran) we can be sure that the Jordanian, Osama II, remains in the
news, reinvented from time to time as required.
Gary
Leupp is Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct
Professor of Comparative Religion. He is the authorof Servants, Shophands
and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan; Male Colors: The Construction
of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan; and Interracial Intimacy in Japan:
Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900.
He can be reached at: gleupp@granite.tufts.edu
Weekend Edition June 12 / 13, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Remembering the Common Hood: Soweto
and Runnymede
Team
CounterPunch
CP's Favorite Albums
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Troy, Now and Then
Gary
Leupp
Not Really a Puppet Government in Iraq?
Brian
Cloughley
US Military in Crisis
Antonio
Ponvert, III
Iraqi Prisoner Abuse: the Connecticut Connection
Ben
Tripp
The Polls Get Stupider
Joe
Bageant
Mash Note to the "Girl with the Leash"
Ron
Jacobs
The Return of the Hip Hop Insurgency
Forrest
Hylton
Object Lessons from the Case of Francisco Cortés
Christopher
Brauchli
Federal Bureau of Errors
Kurt
Nimmo
Going After Qaddafi, Again
Wayne
Madsen
Israel's Slap at Reagan
Anthony
Loewenstein
Al Jazeera Awakens the Arab World
Michael
Donnelly
A Lightship in the Forest: Greenpeace Docks in the Siskiyous
Greg
Moses
Who Will Tell Us More About the Workers of Nasiriyah?
Susan
Davis
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
Joseph
Ramsey
Weather Report: a Review of The Weather Underground
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The 18th Brumaire in the 21st
Century
Wayne
Saunders
The Gipper, D-Day and the Stanley Cup
Poets'
Basement
Richey, Ford, La Morticella, Albert
Website
of the Weekend
Insurgent Music
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