State Dept. Survey: State (Dept.) of Confusion

Submitted by Alon Reininger (United States), Jul 19, 2004 at 11:14

You are homing on the real problem. Trying to balance between what is good for trade and economic benefits (oil prices, more pumping...etc...) and true facts about the endless terrorism emanating from th Middle East.
Sadly, the State Department, usually sided with the Arabists, those who later sold their services to represent some of the most rephrehensible regimes in history.

here is another interesting report that could be of help, presented by an astute Israeli scientist.

It is long!


Sincerely,

a.r

ar964@comcast.net


>A View from the Eye of the Storm
>
>
> Talk delivered by Haim Harari, an Israeli, at a meeting of the
>International Advisory
> Board of a large multi-national corporation, April, 2004.
>
>HAIM HARARI, a theoretical physicist, is the Chair, Davidson
> Institute of Science Education, and Former President, from 1988 to 2001,
> of the Weizmann Institute of Science. During his years as President of
>the
> Institute, the Institute entered numerous new scientific fields and
> projects, built 47new buildings, raised one Billion Dollars in
>philanthropic
> money, hired more than half of its current tenured Professors and became
> one of the highest royalty-earning academic organizations in the world.
>
> Throughout all his adult life, Harari has made major contributions to
> three different fields: Particle Physics Research on the international
>
> scene, Science Education in the Israeli school system and Science
> Administration and Policy Making.
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>----
> As you know, I usually provide the scientific and technological
>"entertainment" in our meetings, but, on this occasion, our Chairman
>suggested that I
> present my own personal view on events in the part of the world from
>which I come.
>
>
> I have never been and I will never be a Government official and I have no
>
> privileged information. My perspective is entirely based on what I see,
>on what I
> read and on the fact that my family has lived in this region for almost
>200
> years. You may regard my views as those of the proverbial taxi driver,
>which
> you are supposed to question, when you visit a country.
>
>
> I could have shared with you some fascinating facts and some personal
> thoughts about the Israeli-Arab conflict. However, I will touch upon it
>only in
> passing. I prefer to devote most of my remarks to the broader picture of
>the region
> and its place in world events. I refer to the entire area between
>Pakistan
> and Morocco, which is predominantly Arab, predominantly Moslem, but
>includes
> many non-Arab and also significant non-Moslem minorities.
>
>
> Why do I put aside Israel and its own immediate neighborhood? Because
>Israel
> and any problems related to it, in spite of what you might read or hear
>in the
> world media, is not the central issue, and has never been the central
>issue
> in the upheaval in the region.
>
>
> Yes, there is a 100 year-old Israeli-Arab conflict, but it is not where
>the
> main show is.
> • The millions who died in the Iran-Iraq war had nothing to do with
>Israel.
> • The mass murder happening right now in Sudan, where the Arab Moslem
>regime
> is massacring its black Christian citizens, has nothing to do with
>Israel.
> • The frequent reports from Algeria about the murders of hundreds of
>civilian
> in one village or another by other Algerians have nothing to do with
>Israel.
> • Saddam Hussein did not invade Kuwait, endangered Saudi Arabia and
>butchered
> his own people because of Israel.
> • Egypt did not use poison gas against Yemen in the 60's because of
>Israel.
> • Assad the Father did not kill tens of thousands of his own citizens in
>one
> week in El Hamma in Syria because of Israel.
> • The Taliban control of Afghanistan and the civil war there had nothing
>to
> do with Israel.
> • The Libyan blowing up of the Pan-Am flight had nothing to do with
>Israel,
> • and I could go on and on and on.
>
>
> The root of the trouble is that this entire Moslem region is totally
> dysfunctional, by any standard of the word, and would have been so even
>if Israel had
> joined the Arab league and an independent Palestine had existed for 100
>years.
> • The 22 member countries of the Arab league, from Mauritania to the Gulf
>
> States, have a total population of 300 millions, larger than the US and
>almost as
> large as the EU before its expansion.
>
>
> • They have a land area larger than either the US or all of Europe.
> • These 22 countries, with all their oil and natural resources, have a
> combined GDP smaller than that of Netherlands plus Belgium and equal to
>half of the
> GDP of California alone.
> • Within this meager GDP, the gaps between rich and poor are beyond
>belief
> and too many of the rich made their money not by succeeding in business,
>but by
> being corrupt rulers.
> • The social status of women is far below what it was in the Western
>World
> 150 years ago.
> • Human rights are below any reasonable standard, in spite of the
>grotesque
> fact that Libya was elected Chair of the UN Human Rights commission.
> • According to a report prepared by a committee of Arab intellectuals and
>
> published under the auspices of the U.N., the number of books translated
>by the
> entire Arab world is much smaller than what little Greece alone
>translates.
> • The total number of scientific publications of 300 million Arabs is
>less
> than that of 6 million Israelis.
> • Birth rates in the region are very high, increasing the poverty, the
>social
> gaps and the cultural decline. • And all of this is happening in a
>region, which only 30 years ago, was
> believed to be the next wealthy part of the world, and in a Moslem area,
>which
> developed, at some point in history, one of the most advanced cultures in
>the
> world.
>
>
> It is fair to say that this creates an unprecedented breeding ground for
> cruel dictators, terror networks, fanaticism, incitement, suicide murders
>and
> general decline. It is also a fact that almost everybody in the region
>blames this
> situation on the United States, on Israel, on Western Civilization, on
> Judaism and Christianity, on anyone and anything, except themselves. .
> A word about the millions of decent, honest, good people who are either
> devout Moslems or are not very religious but grew up in Moslem families:
>They are
> double victims of an outside world, which now develops Islamophobia and
>of
> their own environment, which breaks their heart by being totally
>dysfunctional.
>
>
> The problem is that the vast silent majority of these Moslems are not
>part of
> the terror and of the incitement, but they also do not stand up against
>it.
> They become accomplices, by omission, and this applies to political
>leaders,
> intellectuals, business people and many others. Many of them can
>certainly tell
> right from wrong, but are afraid to express their views.
> The events of the last few years have amplified four issues, which have
> always existed, but have never been as rampant as in the present upheaval
>in the region.
>
>
> These are the four main pillars of the current World Conflict, or perhaps
>we
> should already refer to it as "the undeclared World War III".
> A few more years may pass before everybody acknowledges that it is a
>World
> War, but we are already well into it.
> 1. The first element is the suicide murder.
> Suicide murders are not a new invention but they have been made popular,
>if I
> may use this expression, only lately. Even after September 11, it seems
>that
> most of the Western World does not yet understand this weapon. It is a
>very
> potent psychological weapon. Its real direct impact is relatively minor.
>The
> total number of casualties from hundreds of suicide murders within Israel
>in the
> last three years is much smaller than those due to car accidents.
>September 11
> was quantitatively much less lethal than many earthquakes. More people
>die
> from AIDS in one day in Africa than all the Russians who died in the
>hands of
> Chechnya-based Moslem suicide murderers since that conflict started.
>Saddam
> killed every month more people than all those who died from suicide
>murders since
> the Coalition occupation of Iraq.
> So what is all the fuss about suicide killings? It creates headlines. It
>is
> spectacular. It is frightening. It is a very cruel death with bodies
> dismembered and horrible severe lifelong injuries to many of the wounded.
>It is always
> shown on television in great detail. One such murder, with the help of
> hysterical media coverage, can destroy the tourism industry of a country
>for quite a
> while, as it did in Bali and in Turkey.
> But the real fear comes from the undisputed fact that no defense and no
> preventive measures can succeed against a determined suicide murderer.
>This has not
> yet penetrated the thinking of the Western World. The U.S. and Europe are
>
> constantly improving their defense against the last murder, not the next
>one. We
> may arrange for the best airport security in the world. But if you want
>to
> murder by suicide, you do not have to board a plane in order to explode
>yourself
> and kill many people. Who could stop a suicide murder in the midst of the
>
> crowded line waiting to be checked by the airport metal detector? How
>about the
> lines to the check-in counters in a busy travel period? Put a metal
>detector in
> front of every train station in Spain and the terrorists will get the
>buses.
> Protect the buses and they will explode in movie theaters, concert halls,
>
> supermarkets, shopping malls, schools and
> hospitals. Put guards in front of every concert hall and there will
>always be
> a line of people to be checked by the guards and this line will be the
> target, not to speak of killing the guards themselves. You can somewhat
>reduce your
> vulnerability by preventive and defensive measures and by strict border
> controls but not eliminate it and definitely not win the war in a
>defensive way. And
> it is a war!
>
>
> What is behind the suicide murders? Money, power and cold-blooded
>murderous
> incitement, nothing else. It has nothing to do with true fanatic
>religious
> beliefs. No Moslem preacher has ever blown himself up. No son of an Arab
> politician or religious leader has ever blown himself.
>
>
> No relative of anyone influential has done it. Wouldn't you expect some
>of
> the religious leaders to do it themselves, or to talk their sons into
>doing it,
> if this is truly a supreme act of religious fervor? Aren't they
>interested in
> the benefits of going to Heaven? Instead, they send outcast women, naïve
> children, retarded people and young incited hotheads. They promise them
>the
> delights, mostly sexual, of the next world, and pay their families
>handsomely after
> the supreme act is performed and enough innocent people are dead.
>
>
> Suicide murders also have nothing to do with poverty and despair. The
>poorest
> region in the world, by far, is Africa. It never happens there. There are
>
> numerous desperate people in the world, in different cultures, countries
>and
> continents. Desperation does not provide anyone with explosives,
>reconnaissance
> and transportation. There was certainly more despair in Saddam's Iraq
>then in
> Paul Bremmer's Iraq, and no one exploded himself. A suicide murder is
>simply a
> horrible, vicious weapon of cruel, inhuman, cynical, well-funded
>terrorists,
> with no regard to human life, including the life of their fellow
>countrymen, but
> with very high regard to their own affluent well-being and their hunger
>for
> power.
>
>
> The only way to fight this new "popular" weapon is identical to the only
>way
> in which you fight organized crime or pirates on the high seas: the
>offensive
> way. Like in the case of organized crime, it is crucial that the forces
>on the
> offensive be united and it is crucial to reach the top of the crime
>pyramid.
> You cannot eliminate organized crime by arresting the little drug dealer
>in
> the street corner. You must go after the head of the "Family".
> If part of the public supports it, others tolerate it, many are afraid of
>it
> and some try to explain it away by poverty or by a miserable childhood,
> organized crime will thrive and so will terrorism.
> The United States understands this now, after September 11. Russia is
> beginning to understand it. Turkey understands it well. I am very much
>afraid that
> most of Europe still does not understand it. Unfortunately, it seems that
>Europe
> will understand it only after suicide murders arrive in Europe in a big
>way.
> In my humble opinion, this will definitely happen. The Spanish trains and
>the
> Istanbul bombings are only the beginning. The unity of the Civilized
>World in
> fighting this horror is absolutely indispensable. Until Europe wakes up,
>this
> unity will not be achieved.
>
>
> 2. The second ingredient is words, more precisely lies.
> Words can be lethal. They kill people. It is often said that politicians,
>
> diplomats and perhaps also lawyers and business people must sometimes
>lie, as
> part of their professional life. But the norms of politics and diplomacy
>are
> childish, in comparison with the level of incitement and total absolute
>deliberate
> fabrications, which have reached new heights in the region we are talking
>
> about. An incredible number of people in the Arab world believe that
>September 11
> never happened, or was an American provocation or, even better, a Jewish
> plot.
> You all remember the Iraqi Minister of Information, Mr. Mouhamad Said
> al-Sahaf and his press conferences when the US forces were already inside
>Baghdad.
> Disinformation at time of war is an accepted tactic. But to stand, day
>after
> day, and to make such preposterous statements, known to everybody to be
>lies,
> without even being ridiculed in your own milieu, can only happen in this
>region.
> Mr. Sahaf eventually became a popular icon as a court jester, but this
>did not
> stop some allegedly respectable newspapers from giving him equal time. It
>
> also does not prevent the Western press from giving credence, every day,
>even
> now, to similar liars. After all, if you want to be an anti-Semite, there
>are
> subtle ways of doing it. You do not have to claim that the holocaust
>never
> happened, and that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem never existed. But
>millions of
> Moslems are told by their leaders that this is the case. When these same
>leaders
> make other statements, the Western media report them as if they could be
>true.
>
>
> It is a daily occurrence that the same people, who finance, arm and
>dispatch
> suicide murderers, condemn the act in English in front of western TV
>cameras,
> talking to a world audience, which even partly believes them. It is a
>daily
> routine to hear the same leader making opposite statements in Arabic to
>his
> people and in English to the rest of the world. Incitement by Arab TV,
>accompanied
> by horror pictures of mutilated bodies, has become a powerful weapon of
>those
> who lie, distort and want to destroy everything.
>
>
> Little children are raised on deep hatred and on admiration of so-called
> martyrs, and the Western World does not notice it because its own TV sets
>are
> mostly tuned to soap operas and game shows. I recommend to you, even
>though most
> of you do not understand Arabic, to watch Al Jazeera, from time to time.
>You
> will not believe your own eyes.
>
>
> But words also work in other ways, more subtle. A demonstration in
>Berlin,
> carrying banners supporting Saddam's regime and featuring three-year old
>babies
> dressed as suicide murderers, is defined by the press and by political
>leaders
> as a "peace demonstration". You may support or oppose the Iraq war, but
>to
> refer to fans of Saddam, Arafat or Bin Laden as peace activists is a bit
>too
> much. A woman walks into an Israeli restaurant in mid-day, eats, observes
>
> families with old people and children eating their lunch in the adjacent
>tables and
> pays the bill. She then blows herself up, killing 20 people, including
>many
> children, with heads and arms rolling around in the restaurant. She is
>called
> "martyr" by several Arab leaders and "activist" by the European press.
> Dignitaries condemn the act but visit her bereaved family and the money
>flows.
>
>
> There is a new game in town: The actual murderer is called "the military
> wing", the one who pays him, equips him and sends him is now called "the
>political
> wing" and the head of the operation is called the "spiritual leader".
>There
> are numerous other examples of such Orwellian nomenclature, used every
>day not
> only by terror chiefs but also by Western media. These words are much
>more
> dangerous than many people realize. They provide an emotional
>infrastructure for
> atrocities. It was Joseph Goebels who said that if you repeat a lie often
>
> enough, people will believe it. He is now being outperformed by his
>successors.
>
>
> 3. The third aspect is money.
> Huge amounts of money, which could have solved many social problems in
>this
> dysfunctional part of the world, are channeled into three concentric
>spheres
> supporting death and murder.
> • In the inner circle are the terrorists themselves. The money funds
>their
> travel, explosives, hideouts and permanent search for soft vulnerable
>targets.
> The inner circles are primarily financed by terrorist states like Iran
>and
> Syria, until recently also by Iraq and Libya and earlier also by some of
>the
> Communist regimes. These states, as well as the Palestinian Authority,
>are the safe
> havens of the wholesale murder vendors.
>
>
> • They are surrounded by a second wider circle of direct supporters,
> planners, commanders, preachers, all of whom make a living, usually a
>very comfortable
> living, by serving as terror infrastructure.
>
>
> • Finally, we find the third circle of so-called religious, educational
>and
> welfare organizations, which actually do some good, feed the hungry and
>provide
> some schooling, but brainwash a new generation with hatred, lies and
> ignorance. This circle operates mostly through mosques, madrasas and
>other religious
> establishments but also through inciting electronic and printed media. It
>is
> this circle that makes sure that women remain inferior, that democracy is
>
> unthinkable and that exposure to the outside world is minimal. It is also
>that
> circle that leads the way in blaming every-body outside the Moslem world,
>for the
> miseries of the region. The outer circle is largely financed by Saudi
>Arabia,
> but also by donations from certain Moslem communities in the United
>States and
> Europe and, to a smaller extent, by donations of European Governments to
> various NGO's and by certain United Nations
> organizations, whose goals may be noble, but they are infested and
>exploited
> by agents of the outer circle. The Saudi regime, of course, will be the
>next
> victim of major terror, when the inner circle will explode into the outer
>
> circle. The Saudis are beginning to understand it, but they fight the
>inner
> circles, while still financing the infrastructure at the outer circle.
>
>
> Figuratively speaking, this outer circle is the guardian, which makes
>sure
> that the people look and listen inwards to the inner circle of terror and
>
> incitement, rather than to the world outside. Some parts of this same
>outer circle
> actually operate as a result of fear from, or blackmail by, the inner
>circles.
> The horrifying added factor is the high birth rate. Half of the
>population of
> the Arab world is under the age of 20, the most receptive age to
>incitement,
> guaranteeing two more generations of blind hatred.
> Some of the leaders of these various circles live very comfortably on
>their
> loot. You meet their children in the best private schools in Europe, not
>in the
> training camps of suicide murderers. The Jihad "soldiers" join packaged
>death
> tours to Iraq and other hotspots, while some of their leaders ski in
> Switzerland. Mrs. Arafat, who lives in Paris with her daughter, receives
>tens of
> thousands of dollars per month from the allegedly bankrupt Palestinian
>Authority,
> while a typical local ringleader of the Al-Aksa brigade, reporting to
>Arafat,
> receives only a cash payment of a couple of hundred dollars, for
>performing
> murders at the retail level.
>
>
> 4. The fourth element of the current world conflict is the total breaking
>of
> all laws.
> The civilized world believes in democracy, the rule of law, including
> international law, human rights, free speech and free press, among other
>liberties.
> There are naïve old-fashioned habits such as respecting religious sites
>and
> symbols, not using ambulances and hospitals for acts of war, avoiding the
>
> mutilation of dead bodies and not using children as human shields or
>human bombs.
> Never in history, not even in the Nazi period, was there such total
>disregard of
> all of the above as we observe now. Every student of political science
>debates
> how you prevent an anti-democratic force from winning a democratic
>election
> and abolishing democracy. Other aspects of a civilized society must also
>have
> limitations. Can a policeman open fire on someone trying to kill him? Can
>a
> government listen to phone conversations of terrorists and drug dealers?
>Does
> free speech protects you when you shout "fire"
> in a crowded theater? Should there be death penalty, for deliberate
>multiple
> murders? These are the old-fashioned dilemmas. But now we have an entire
>new
> set.
>
>
> Do you raid a mosque, which serves as a terrorist ammunition storage? Do
>you
> return fire, if you are attacked from a hospital? Do you storm a church
>taken
> over by terrorists who took the priests hostages? Do you search every
> ambulance after a few suicide murderers use ambulances to reach their
>targets? Do you
> strip every woman because one pretended to be pregnant and carried a
>suicide
> bomb on her belly? Do you shoot back at someone trying to kill you,
>standing
> deliberately behind a group of children? Do you raid terrorist
>headquarters,
> hidden in a mental hospital? Do you shoot an arch-murderer who
>deliberately moves
> from one location to another, always surrounded by children? All of these
>
> happen daily in Iraq and in the Palestinian areas. What do you do? Well,
>you do
> not want to face the dilemma. But it cannot be avoided.
>
>
> Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that someone would openly stay in a
> well-known address in Teheran, hosted by the Iranian Government and
>financed by
> it, executing one atrocity after another in Spain or in France, killing
>hundreds
> of innocent people, accepting responsibility for the crimes, promising in
>
> public TV interviews to do more of the same, while the Government of Iran
>issues
> public condemnations of his acts but continues to host him, invite him to
>
> official functions and treat him as a great dignitary. I leave it to you
>as
> homework to figure out what Spain or France would have done, in such a
>situation.
> The problem is that the civilized world is still having illusions about
>the
> rule of law in a totally lawless environment. It is trying to play ice
>hockey
> by sending a ballerina ice-skater into the rink or to knock out a
>heavyweight
> boxer by a chess player. In the same way that no country has a law
>against
> cannibals eating its prime minister, because such an act is unthinkable,
> international law does not address killers shooting from hospitals,
>mosques and
> ambulances, while being protected by their Government or society.
>International law
> does not know how to handle someone who sends children to throw stones,
>stands
> behind them and shoots with immunity and cannot be arrested because he is
>
> sheltered by a Government. International law does not know how to deal
>with a
> leader of murderers who is royally and comfortably hosted by a country,
>which
> pretends to condemn his acts or just claims to
> be too weak to arrest him. The amazing thing is that all of these crooks
> demand protection under international law, and define all those who
>attack them as
> "war criminals," with some Western media repeating the allegations.
>
>
> The good news is that all of this is temporary, because the evolution of
> international law has always adapted itself to reality. The punishment
>for suicide
> murder should be death or arrest before the murder, not during and not
>after.
> After every world war, the rules of international law have changed, and
>the
> same will happen after the present one. But during the twilight zone, a
>lot of
> harm can be done.
>
>
> The picture I described here is not pretty. What can we do about it? In
>the
> short run, only fight and win. In the long run - only educate the next
> generation and open it to the world. The inner circles can and must be
>destroyed by
> force.
> The outer circle cannot be eliminated by force. Here we need financial
> starvation of the organizing elite, more power to women, more education,
>counter
> propaganda, boycott whenever feasible and access to Western media,
>internet and
> the international scene. Above all, we need a total absolute unity and
> determination of the civilized world against all three circles of evil.
>
>
> Allow me, for a moment, to depart from my alleged role as a taxi driver
>and
> return to science. When you have a malignant tumor, you may remove the
>tumor
> itself surgically. You may also starve it by preventing new blood from
>reaching
> it from other parts of the body, thereby preventing new "supplies" from
> expanding the tumor. If you want to be sure, it is best to do both.
>
>
> But before you fight and win, by force or otherwise, you have to realize
>that
> you are in a war, and this may take Europe a few more years. In order to
>win,
> it is necessary to first eliminate the terrorist regimes, so
> that no Government in the world will serve as a safe haven for these
>people.
>
>
> I do not want to comment here on whether the American-led attack on Iraq
>was
> justified from the point of view of weapons of mass destruction or any
>other
> pre-war argument, but I can look at the post-war map of Western Asia. Now
>that
> Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are out, two and a half terrorist states
>remain:
> Iran, Syria and Lebanon, the latter being a Syrian colony. Perhaps Sudan
>should
> be added to the list. As a result of the conquest of Afghanistan and
>Iraq,
> both Iran and Syria are now totally surrounded by territories unfriendly
>to
> them. Iran is encircled by Afghanistan, by the Gulf States, Iraq and the
>Moslem
> republics of the former Soviet Union. Syria is surrounded by Turkey,
>Iraq,
> Jordan and Israel. This is a significant strategic change and it applies
>strong
> pressure on the terrorist countries. It is not surprising that Iran is so
>active
> in trying to incite a Shiite uprising in Iraq. I do not know if the
>American
> plan was actually to encircle both Iran and Syria, but that is the
>resulting
> situation.
> In my humble opinion, the number one danger to the world today is Iran
>and
> its regime. It definitely has ambitions to rule vast areas and to expand
>in all
> directions. It has an ideology, which claims supremacy over Western
>culture.
> It is ruthless. It has proven that it can execute elaborate terrorist
>acts
> without leaving too many traces, using Iranian Embassies. It is clearly
>trying to
> develop nuclear weapons. Its so-called moderates and conservatives play
>their
> own virtuoso version of the "good-cop versus bad-cop" game. Iran sponsors
>
> Syrian terrorism, it is certainly behind much of the action in Iraq, it
>is fully
> funding the Hizbulla and, through it, the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic
>Jihad,
> it performed acts of terror at least in Europe and in South America and
> probably also in Uzbekhistan and Saudi Arabia and it truly leads a
>multi-national
> terror consortium, which includes, as minor players, Syria, Lebanon and
>certain
> Shiite elements in Iraq. Nevertheless, most European countries still
>trade
> with Iran, try to appease it and refuse to read the clear signals.
>
>
> In order to win the war it is also necessary to dry the financial
>resources
> of the terror conglomerate. It is pointless to try to understand the
>subtle
> differences between the Sunni terror of Al Qaida and Hamas and the Shiite
>terror
> of Hizbulla, Sadr and other Iranian inspired enterprises. When it serves
>their
> business needs, all of them collaborate beautifully.
> It is crucial to stop Saudi and other financial support of the outer
>circle,
> which is the fertile breeding ground of terror. It is important to
>monitor all
> donations from the Western World to Islamic organizations, to monitor the
>
> finances of international relief organizations and to react with forceful
>
> economic measures to any small sign of financial aid to any of the three
>circles of
> terrorism.
>
>
> It is also important to act decisively against the campaign of lies and
> fabrications and to monitor those Western media who collaborate with it
>out of
> naivety, financial interests or ignorance.
> Above all, never surrender to terror. No one will ever know whether the
> recent elections in Spain would have yielded a different result, if not
>for the
> train bombings a few days earlier. But it really does not matter. What
>matters is
> that the terrorists believe that they caused the result and that they won
>by
> driving Spain out of Iraq. The Spanish story will surely end up being
> extremely costly to other European countries, including France, who is
>now expelling
> inciting preachers and forbidding veils and including others who sent
>troops to
> Iraq. In the long run, Spain itself will pay even more.
>
>
> Is the solution a democratic Arab world?
> If by democracy we mean free elections but also free press, free speech,
>a
> functioning judicial system, civil liberties, equality to women, free
> international travel, exposure to international media and ideas, laws
>against racial
> incitement and against defamation, and avoidance of lawless behavior
>regarding
> hospitals, places of worship and children, then yes, democracy is the
>solution.
>
>
> If democracy is just free elections, it is likely that the most fanatic
> regime will be elected, the one whose incitement and fabrications are the
>most
> inflammatory. We have seen it already in Algeria and, to a certain
>extent, in
> Turkey. It will happen again, if the ground is not prepared very
>carefully. On the
> other hand, a certain transition democracy, as in Jordan, may be a better
>
> temporary solution, paving the way for the real thing, perhaps in the
>same way
> that an immediate sudden democracy did not work in Russia and would not
>have
> worked in China.
>
>
> I have no doubt that the civilized world will prevail. But the longer it
> takes us to understand the new landscape of this war, the more costly and
>painful
> the victory will be. Europe, more than any other region, is the key. Its
> understandable recoil from wars, following the horrors of World War II,
>may cost
> thousands of additional innocent lives, before the tide will turn.
>
>
>



From: Don Tykeson
To: "Tom Stewart" , "Harrison, Bob" <03BOBH@wilvaco.com>, "Steigleder, Vern" , "Tykeson, Willie" , "Ettelson, John" , "Holtz, Merriman" , "Anna Jaques" , "dave moore" , "sweet, Peter b"
Subject: Fw: Speech on Islamic Terrorism - Every American Should Read...
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 3:43 PM
This is sobering to say the least, well beyond what we are ready to accept yet I expect it is a very realistic assessment. It is at least a 20 minute speech, but well worth the time to read when you have the time.
>
> A View from the Eye of the Storm
>
>
> Talk delivered by Haim Harari, an Israeli, at a meeting of the
> International Advisory
> Board of a large multi-national corporation, April, 2004.
>
> HAIM HARARI, a theoretical physicist, is the Chair, Davidson
> Institute of Science Education, and Former President, from 1988 to 2001,
> of the Weizmann Institute of Science. During his years as President of
> the
> Institute, the Institute entered numerous new scientific fields and
> projects, built 47new buildings, raised one Billion Dollars in
> philanthropic
> money, hired more than half of its current tenured Professors and became
> one of the highest royalty-earning academic organizations in the world.
>
> Throughout all his adult life, Harari has made major contributions to
> three different fields: Particle Physics Research on the international
>
> scene, Science Education in the Israeli school system and Science
> Administration and Policy Making.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> As you know, I usually provide the scientific and technological
> "entertainment" in our meetings, but, on this occasion, our Chairman
> suggested that I
> present my own personal view on events in the part of the world from
> which I come.
>
>
> I have never been and I will never be a Government official and I have no
>
> privileged information. My perspective is entirely based on what I see,
> on what I
> read and on the fact that my family has lived in this region for almost
> 200
> years. You may regard my views as those of the proverbial taxi driver,
> which
> you are supposed to question, when you visit a country.
>
>
> I could have shared with you some fascinating facts and some personal
> thoughts about the Israeli-Arab conflict. However, I will touch upon it
> only in
> passing. I prefer to devote most of my remarks to the broader picture of
> the region
> and its place in world events. I refer to the entire area between
> Pakistan
> and Morocco, which is predominantly Arab, predominantly Moslem, but
> includes
> many non-Arab and also significant non-Moslem minorities.
>
>
> Why do I put aside Israel and its own immediate neighborhood? Because
> Israel
> and any problems related to it, in spite of what you might read or hear
> in the
> world media, is not the central issue, and has never been the central
> issue
> in the upheaval in the region.
>
>
> Yes, there is a 100 year-old Israeli-Arab conflict, but it is not where
> the
> main show is.
> • The millions who died in the Iran-Iraq war had nothing to do with
> Israel.
> • The mass murder happening right now in Sudan, where the Arab Moslem
> regime
> is massacring its black Christian citizens, has nothing to do with
> Israel.
> • The frequent reports from Algeria about the murders of hundreds of
> civilian
> in one village or another by other Algerians have nothing to do with
> Israel.
> • Saddam Hussein did not invade Kuwait, endangered Saudi Arabia and
> butchered
> his own people because of Israel.
> • Egypt did not use poison gas against Yemen in the 60's because of
> Israel.
> • Assad the Father did not kill tens of thousands of his own citizens in
> one
> week in El Hamma in Syria because of Israel.
> • The Taliban control of Afghanistan and the civil war there had nothing
> to
> do with Israel.
> • The Libyan blowing up of the Pan-Am flight had nothing to do with
> Israel,
> • and I could go on and on and on.
>
>
> The root of the trouble is that this entire Moslem region is totally
> dysfunctional, by any standard of the word, and would have been so even
> if Israel had
> joined the Arab league and an independent Palestine had existed for 100
> years.
> • The 22 member countries of the Arab league, from Mauritania to the Gulf
>
> States, have a total population of 300 millions, larger than the US and
> almost as
> large as the EU before its expansion.
>
>
> • They have a land area larger than either the US or all of Europe.
> • These 22 countries, with all their oil and natural resources, have a
> combined GDP smaller than that of Netherlands plus Belgium and equal to
> half of the
> GDP of California alone.
> • Within this meager GDP, the gaps between rich and poor are beyond
> belief
> and too many of the rich made their money not by succeeding in business,
> but by
> being corrupt rulers.
> • The social status of women is far below what it was in the Western
> World
> 150 years ago.
> • Human rights are below any reasonable standard, in spite of the
> grotesque
> fact that Libya was elected Chair of the UN Human Rights commission.
> • According to a report prepared by a committee of Arab intellectuals and
>
> published under the auspices of the U.N., the number of books translated
> by the
> entire Arab world is much smaller than what little Greece alone
> translates.
> • The total number of scientific publications of 300 million Arabs is
> less
> than that of 6 million Israelis.
> • Birth rates in the region are very high, increasing the poverty, the
> social
> gaps and the cultural decline. • And all of this is happening in a
> region, which only 30 years ago, was
> believed to be the next wealthy part of the world, and in a Moslem area,
> which
> developed, at some point in history, one of the most advanced cultures in
> the
> world.
>
>
> It is fair to say that this creates an unprecedented breeding ground for
> cruel dictators, terror networks, fanaticism, incitement, suicide murders
> and
> general decline. It is also a fact that almost everybody in the region
> blames this
> situation on the United States, on Israel, on Western Civilization, on
> Judaism and Christianity, on anyone and anything, except themselves. .
> A word about the millions of decent, honest, good people who are either
> devout Moslems or are not very religious but grew up in Moslem families:
> They are
> double victims of an outside world, which now develops Islamophobia and
> of
> their own environment, which breaks their heart by being totally
> dysfunctional.
>
>
> The problem is that the vast silent majority of these Moslems are not
> part of
> the terror and of the incitement, but they also do not stand up against
> it.
> They become accomplices, by omission, and this applies to political
> leaders,
> intellectuals, business people and many others. Many of them can
> certainly tell
> right from wrong, but are afraid to express their views.
> The events of the last few years have amplified four issues, which have
> always existed, but have never been as rampant as in the present upheaval
> in the region.
>
>
> These are the four main pillars of the current World Conflict, or perhaps
> we
> should already refer to it as "the undeclared World War III".
> A few more years may pass before everybody acknowledges that it is a
> World
> War, but we are already well into it.
> 1. The first element is the suicide murder.
> Suicide murders are not a new invention but they have been made popular,
> if I
> may use this expression, only lately. Even after September 11, it seems
> that
> most of the Western World does not yet understand this weapon. It is a
> very
> potent psychological weapon. Its real direct impact is relatively minor.
> The
> total number of casualties from hundreds of suicide murders within Israel
> in the
> last three years is much smaller than those due to car accidents.
> September 11
> was quantitatively much less lethal than many earthquakes. More people
> die
> from AIDS in one day in Africa than all the Russians who died in the
> hands of
> Chechnya-based Moslem suicide murderers since that conflict started.
> Saddam
> killed every month more people than all those who died from suicide
> murders since
> the Coalition occupation of Iraq.
> So what is all the fuss about suicide killings? It creates headlines. It
> is
> spectacular. It is frightening. It is a very cruel death with bodies
> dismembered and horrible severe lifelong injuries to many of the wounded.
> It is always
> shown on television in great detail. One such murder, with the help of
> hysterical media coverage, can destroy the tourism industry of a country
> for quite a
> while, as it did in Bali and in Turkey.
> But the real fear comes from the undisputed fact that no defense and no
> preventive measures can succeed against a determined suicide murderer.
> This has not
> yet penetrated the thinking of the Western World. The U.S. and Europe are
>
> constantly improving their defense against the last murder, not the next
> one. We
> may arrange for the best airport security in the world. But if you want
> to
> murder by suicide, you do not have to board a plane in order to explode
> yourself
> and kill many people. Who could stop a suicide murder in the midst of the
>
> crowded line waiting to be checked by the airport metal detector? How
> about the
> lines to the check-in counters in a busy travel period? Put a metal
> detector in
> front of every train station in Spain and the terrorists will get the
> buses.
> Protect the buses and they will explode in movie theaters, concert halls,
>
> supermarkets, shopping malls, schools and
> hospitals. Put guards in front of every concert hall and there will
> always be
> a line of people to be checked by the guards and this line will be the
> target, not to speak of killing the guards themselves. You can somewhat
> reduce your
> vulnerability by preventive and defensive measures and by strict border
> controls but not eliminate it and definitely not win the war in a
> defensive way. And
> it is a war!
>
>
> What is behind the suicide murders? Money, power and cold-blooded
> murderous
> incitement, nothing else. It has nothing to do with true fanatic
> religious
> beliefs. No Moslem preacher has ever blown himself up. No son of an Arab
> politician or religious leader has ever blown himself.
>
>
> No relative of anyone influential has done it. Wouldn't you expect some
> of
> the religious leaders to do it themselves, or to talk their sons into
> doing it,
> if this is truly a supreme act of religious fervor? Aren't they
> interested in
> the benefits of going to Heaven? Instead, they send outcast women, naïve
> children, retarded people and young incited hotheads. They promise them
> the
> delights, mostly sexual, of the next world, and pay their families
> handsomely after
> the supreme act is performed and enough innocent people are dead.
>
>
> Suicide murders also have nothing to do with poverty and despair. The
> poorest
> region in the world, by far, is Africa. It never happens there. There are
>
> numerous desperate people in the world, in different cultures, countries
> and
> continents. Desperation does not provide anyone with explosives,
> reconnaissance
> and transportation. There was certainly more despair in Saddam's Iraq
> then in
> Paul Bremmer's Iraq, and no one exploded himself. A suicide murder is
> simply a
> horrible, vicious weapon of cruel, inhuman, cynical, well-funded
> terrorists,
> with no regard to human life, including the life of their fellow
> countrymen, but
> with very high regard to their own affluent well-being and their hunger
> for
> power.
>
>
> The only way to fight this new "popular" weapon is identical to the only
> way
> in which you fight organized crime or pirates on the high seas: the
> offensive
> way. Like in the case of organized crime, it is crucial that the forces
> on the
> offensive be united and it is crucial to reach the top of the crime
> pyramid.
> You cannot eliminate organized crime by arresting the little drug dealer
> in
> the street corner. You must go after the head of the "Family".
> If part of the public supports it, others tolerate it, many are afraid of
> it
> and some try to explain it away by poverty or by a miserable childhood,
> organized crime will thrive and so will terrorism.
> The United States understands this now, after September 11. Russia is
> beginning to understand it. Turkey understands it well. I am very much
> afraid that
> most of Europe still does not understand it. Unfortunately, it seems that
> Europe
> will understand it only after suicide murders arrive in Europe in a big
> way.
> In my humble opinion, this will definitely happen. The Spanish trains and
> the
> Istanbul bombings are only the beginning. The unity of the Civilized
> World in
> fighting this horror is absolutely indispensable. Until Europe wakes up,
> this
> unity will not be achieved.
>
>
> 2. The second ingredient is words, more precisely lies.
> Words can be lethal. They kill people. It is often said that politicians,
>
> diplomats and perhaps also lawyers and business people must sometimes
> lie, as
> part of their professional life. But the norms of politics and diplomacy
> are
> childish, in comparison with the level of incitement and total absolute
> deliberate
> fabrications, which have reached new heights in the region we are talking
>
> about. An incredible number of people in the Arab world believe that
> September 11
> never happened, or was an American provocation or, even better, a Jewish
> plot.
> You all remember the Iraqi Minister of Information, Mr. Mouhamad Said
> al-Sahaf and his press conferences when the US forces were already inside
> Baghdad.
> Disinformation at time of war is an accepted tactic. But to stand, day
> after
> day, and to make such preposterous statements, known to everybody to be
> lies,
> without even being ridiculed in your own milieu, can only happen in this
> region.
> Mr. Sahaf eventually became a popular icon as a court jester, but this
> did not
> stop some allegedly respectable newspapers from giving him equal time. It
>
> also does not prevent the Western press from giving credence, every day,
> even
> now, to similar liars. After all, if you want to be an anti-Semite, there
> are
> subtle ways of doing it. You do not have to claim that the holocaust
> never
> happened, and that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem never existed. But
> millions of
> Moslems are told by their leaders that this is the case. When these same
> leaders
> make other statements, the Western media report them as if they could be
> true.
>
>
> It is a daily occurrence that the same people, who finance, arm and
> dispatch
> suicide murderers, condemn the act in English in front of western TV
> cameras,
> talking to a world audience, which even partly believes them. It is a
> daily
> routine to hear the same leader making opposite statements in Arabic to
> his
> people and in English to the rest of the world. Incitement by Arab TV,
> accompanied
> by horror pictures of mutilated bodies, has become a powerful weapon of
> those
> who lie, distort and want to destroy everything.
>
>
> Little children are raised on deep hatred and on admiration of so-called
> martyrs, and the Western World does not notice it because its own TV sets
> are
> mostly tuned to soap operas and game shows. I recommend to you, even
> though most
> of you do not understand Arabic, to watch Al Jazeera, from time to time.
> You
> will not believe your own eyes.
>
>
> But words also work in other ways, more subtle. A demonstration in
> Berlin,
> carrying banners supporting Saddam's regime and featuring three-year old
> babies
> dressed as suicide murderers, is defined by the press and by political
> leaders
> as a "peace demonstration". You may support or oppose the Iraq war, but
> to
> refer to fans of Saddam, Arafat or Bin Laden as peace activists is a bit
> too
> much. A woman walks into an Israeli restaurant in mid-day, eats, observes
>
> families with old people and children eating their lunch in the adjacent
> tables and
> pays the bill. She then blows herself up, killing 20 people, including
> many
> children, with heads and arms rolling around in the restaurant. She is
> called
> "martyr" by several Arab leaders and "activist" by the European press.
> Dignitaries condemn the act but visit her bereaved family and the money
> flows.
>
>
> There is a new game in town: The actual murderer is called "the military
> wing", the one who pays him, equips him and sends him is now called "the
> political
> wing" and the head of the operation is called the "spiritual leader".
> There
> are numerous other examples of such Orwellian nomenclature, used every
> day not
> only by terror chiefs but also by Western media. These words are much
> more
> dangerous than many people realize. They provide an emotional
> infrastructure for
> atrocities. It was Joseph Goebels who said that if you repeat a lie often
>
> enough, people will believe it. He is now being outperformed by his
> successors.
>
>
> 3. The third aspect is money.
> Huge amounts of money, which could have solved many social problems in
> this
> dysfunctional part of the world, are channeled into three concentric
> spheres
> supporting death and murder.
> • In the inner circle are the terrorists themselves. The money funds
> their
> travel, explosives, hideouts and permanent search for soft vulnerable
> targets.
> The inner circles are primarily financed by terrorist states like Iran
> and
> Syria, until recently also by Iraq and Libya and earlier also by some of
> the
> Communist regimes. These states, as well as the Palestinian Authority,
> are the safe
> havens of the wholesale murder vendors.
>
>
> • They are surrounded by a second wider circle of direct supporters,
> planners, commanders, preachers, all of whom make a living, usually a
> very comfortable
> living, by serving as terror infrastructure.
>
>
> • Finally, we find the third circle of so-called religious, educational
> and
> welfare organizations, which actually do some good, feed the hungry and
> provide
> some schooling, but brainwash a new generation with hatred, lies and
> ignorance. This circle operates mostly through mosques, madrasas and
> other religious
> establishments but also through inciting electronic and printed media. It
> is
> this circle that makes sure that women remain inferior, that democracy is
>
> unthinkable and that exposure to the outside world is minimal. It is also
> that
> circle that leads the way in blaming every-body outside the Moslem world,
> for the
> miseries of the region. The outer circle is largely financed by Saudi
> Arabia,
> but also by donations from certain Moslem communities in the United
> States and
> Europe and, to a smaller extent, by donations of European Governments to
> various NGO's and by certain United Nations
> organizations, whose goals may be noble, but they are infested and
> exploited
> by agents of the outer circle. The Saudi regime, of course, will be the
> next
> victim of major terror, when the inner circle will explode into the outer
>
> circle. The Saudis are beginning to understand it, but they fight the
> inner
> circles, while still financing the infrastructure at the outer circle.
>
>
> Figuratively speaking, this outer circle is the guardian, which makes
> sure
> that the people look and listen inwards to the inner circle of terror and
>
> incitement, rather than to the world outside. Some parts of this same
> outer circle
> actually operate as a result of fear from, or blackmail by, the inner
> circles.
> The horrifying added factor is the high birth rate. Half of the
> population of
> the Arab world is under the age of 20, the most receptive age to
> incitement,
> guaranteeing two more generations of blind hatred.
> Some of the leaders of these various circles live very comfortably on
> their
> loot. You meet their children in the best private schools in Europe, not
> in the
> training camps of suicide murderers. The Jihad "soldiers" join packaged
> death
> tours to Iraq and other hotspots, while some of their leaders ski in
> Switzerland. Mrs. Arafat, who lives in Paris with her daughter, receives
> tens of
> thousands of dollars per month from the allegedly bankrupt Palestinian
> Authority,
> while a typical local ringleader of the Al-Aksa brigade, reporting to
> Arafat,
> receives only a cash payment of a couple of hundred dollars, for
> performing
> murders at the retail level.
>
>
> 4. The fourth element of the current world conflict is the total breaking
> of
> all laws.
> The civilized world believes in democracy, the rule of law, including
> international law, human rights, free speech and free press, among other
> liberties.
> There are naïve old-fashioned habits such as respecting religious sites
> and
> symbols, not using ambulances and hospitals for acts of war, avoiding the
>
> mutilation of dead bodies and not using children as human shields or
> human bombs.
> Never in history, not even in the Nazi period, was there such total
> disregard of
> all of the above as we observe now. Every student of political science
> debates
> how you prevent an anti-democratic force from winning a democratic
> election
> and abolishing democracy. Other aspects of a civilized society must also
> have
> limitations. Can a policeman open fire on someone trying to kill him? Can
> a
> government listen to phone conversations of terrorists and drug dealers?
> Does
> free speech protects you when you shout "fire"
> in a crowded theater? Should there be death penalty, for deliberate
> multiple
> murders? These are the old-fashioned dilemmas. But now we have an entire
> new
> set.
>
>
> Do you raid a mosque, which serves as a terrorist ammunition storage? Do
> you
> return fire, if you are attacked from a hospital? Do you storm a church
> taken
> over by terrorists who took the priests hostages? Do you search every
> ambulance after a few suicide murderers use ambulances to reach their
> targets? Do you
> strip every woman because one pretended to be pregnant and carried a
> suicide
> bomb on her belly? Do you shoot back at someone trying to kill you,
> standing
> deliberately behind a group of children? Do you raid terrorist
> headquarters,
> hidden in a mental hospital? Do you shoot an arch-murderer who
> deliberately moves
> from one location to another, always surrounded by children? All of these
>
> happen daily in Iraq and in the Palestinian areas. What do you do? Well,
> you do
> not want to face the dilemma. But it cannot be avoided.
>
>
> Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that someone would openly stay in a
> well-known address in Teheran, hosted by the Iranian Government and
> financed by
> it, executing one atrocity after another in Spain or in France, killing
> hundreds
> of innocent people, accepting responsibility for the crimes, promising in
>
> public TV interviews to do more of the same, while the Government of Iran
> issues
> public condemnations of his acts but continues to host him, invite him to
>
> official functions and treat him as a great dignitary. I leave it to you
> as
> homework to figure out what Spain or France would have done, in such a
> situation.
> The problem is that the civilized world is still having illusions about
> the
> rule of law in a totally lawless environment. It is trying to play ice
> hockey
> by sending a ballerina ice-skater into the rink or to knock out a
> heavyweight
> boxer by a chess player. In the same way that no country has a law
> against
> cannibals eating its prime minister, because such an act is unthinkable,
> international law does not address killers shooting from hospitals,
> mosques and
> ambulances, while being protected by their Government or society.
> International law
> does not know how to handle someone who sends children to throw stones,
> stands
> behind them and shoots with immunity and cannot be arrested because he is
>
> sheltered by a Government. International law does not know how to deal
> with a
> leader of murderers who is royally and comfortably hosted by a country,
> which
> pretends to condemn his acts or just claims to
> be too weak to arrest him. The amazing thing is that all of these crooks
> demand protection under international law, and define all those who
> attack them as
> "war criminals," with some Western media repeating the allegations.
>
>
> The good news is that all of this is temporary, because the evolution of
> international law has always adapted itself to reality. The punishment
> for suicide
> murder should be death or arrest before the murder, not during and not
> after.
> After every world war, the rules of international law have changed, and
> the
> same will happen after the present one. But during the twilight zone, a
> lot of
> harm can be done.
>
>
> The picture I described here is not pretty. What can we do about it? In
> the
> short run, only fight and win. In the long run - only educate the next
> generation and open it to the world. The inner circles can and must be
> destroyed by
> force.
> The outer circle cannot be eliminated by force. Here we need financial
> starvation of the organizing elite, more power to women, more education,
> counter
> propaganda, boycott whenever feasible and access to Western media,
> internet and
> the international scene. Above all, we need a total absolute unity and
> determination of the civilized world against all three circles of evil.
>
>
> Allow me, for a moment, to depart from my alleged role as a taxi driver
> and
> return to science. When you have a malignant tumor, you may remove the
> tumor
> itself surgically. You may also starve it by preventing new blood from
> reaching
> it from other parts of the body, thereby preventing new "supplies" from
> expanding the tumor. If you want to be sure, it is best to do both.
>
>
> But before you fight and win, by force or otherwise, you have to realize
> that
> you are in a war, and this may take Europe a few more years. In order to
> win,
> it is necessary to first eliminate the terrorist regimes, so
> that no Government in the world will serve as a safe haven for these
> people.
>
>
> I do not want to comment here on whether the American-led attack on Iraq
> was
> justified from the point of view of weapons of mass destruction or any
> other
> pre-war argument, but I can look at the post-war map of Western Asia. Now
> that
> Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are out, two and a half terrorist states
> remain:
> Iran, Syria and Lebanon, the latter being a Syrian colony. Perhaps Sudan
> should
> be added to the list. As a result of the conquest of Afghanistan and
> Iraq,
> both Iran and Syria are now totally surrounded by territories unfriendly
> to
> them. Iran is encircled by Afghanistan, by the Gulf States, Iraq and the
> Moslem
> republics of the former Soviet Union. Syria is surrounded by Turkey,
> Iraq,
> Jordan and Israel. This is a significant strategic change and it applies
> strong
> pressure on the terrorist countries. It is not surprising that Iran is so
> active
> in trying to incite a Shiite uprising in Iraq. I do not know if the
> American
> plan was actually to encircle both Iran and Syria, but that is the
> resulting
> situation.
> In my humble opinion, the number one danger to the world today is Iran
> and
> its regime. It definitely has ambitions to rule vast areas and to expand
> in all
> directions. It has an ideology, which claims supremacy over Western
> culture.
> It is ruthless. It has proven that it can execute elaborate terrorist
> acts
> without leaving too many traces, using Iranian Embassies. It is clearly
> trying to
> develop nuclear weapons. Its so-called moderates and conservatives play
> their
> own virtuoso version of the "good-cop versus bad-cop" game. Iran sponsors
>
> Syrian terrorism, it is certainly behind much of the action in Iraq, it
> is fully
> funding the Hizbulla and, through it,

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