The SBS World News bulletin at 6:30 tonight ran an item on Syria by ABC America. In reporting the reluctance of US officials and politicians to put 'boots on the ground' there, despite the Syrian opposition "begging" for this, the reporter, Reena Ninan*, sought to explain the US administration's reluctance to get more heavily involved in Syria by referencing the US response to the al-Qaeda bombing of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998:
"Following the US embassy bombings in Africa, a cruise missile strike was launched on an alleged Sudanese chemical weapons factory in 1998 after soil samples came back positive for chemicals used in VX [nerve agent] but that intel. turned out to be controversial..."
Rubbish! There is no controversy regarding this episode whatever:
"On August 17, 1998, Clinton went on national television and admitted that he had had a sexual relationship with [Monica] Lewinsky. Three days later, Clinton ordered the cruise missile attack against al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and against the pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, where the CIA believed al-Qaeda might be running a chemical weapons factory based on a soil sample scooped up by an agent that tested positive for a chemical component of VX nerve gas. Much of the 'actionable' intelligence that Clinton had relied on in these strikes proved to be faulty. The CIA was not able to establish that a high-level al-Qaeda meeting had in fact taken place at Khost. And the Al-Shifa Pharmaceutical factory proved to have no connection to either al-Qaeda or VX. It had been, however, a vital facility for producing desperately needed drugs for Sudan's civilian population and its destruction resulted in further deprivation for the Sudanese." (A World of Trouble: America in the Middle East, Patrick Tyler, 2009, pp 479-480)
It seems to be that, for corporate talking heads such as Ninan, USraeli terrorism is always and forever controversial but never the Arab variety.
[*Middle East correspondent for Fox News, 2007-20012]
Showing posts with label Sudan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sudan. Show all posts
Monday, April 29, 2013
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Summer of Muslim Discontent 6: Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan
Continuing an Arab Spring update from James Petras' latest (21/9/12) essay...
"Massive and violent protests against the US embassy have taken place in Somalia and Sudan. Washington has been heavily involved, militarily, in Somalia for over 2 decades, moving from an initial failed military occupation to the financing of African military surrogates, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. It has also engaged in drone warfare. As a result of this intervention, Somalia is a divided, destroyed and destitute country, where piracy flourishes and three quarters of the population are refugees. The 'film protests' are merely the tip of an ongoing war of national liberation pitting radical Islamists against Western-backed surrogates and the 'moderate' Muslim puppet regime of Sharif Sheik Ahmad.
"Sudan was the site of a massive protest and violent attacks on the US and European embassies. The ruling elite, subjected to US and EU sanctions and a Washington/Tel Aviv-funded armed separatist movement in the oil-rich south, was forced to sign off on an accord which cut its oil revenues by 80%. As a result of its appeasement of the Western-backed separatist surrogate, living standards in Khartoum have plunged, inflation is rife, unemployment is on the rise and the regime has turned its guns from the separatists to its own people. The attacks on the US embassy, therefore, have more to do with the division of the country and its impoverishment than with 'the film' itself. At most the latter served as a trigger igniting a profound frustration with a regime which had once upheld the national integrity of the country but of late has sacrificed its natural wealth to curry favour with Washington.
"Pakistan was the site of mass popular protests in both its urban centres and in its north-western periphery. Embassy attacks and flag-burnings reflected an ongoing and deepening resentment against over a decade of US ground and aerial intrusions, violating Pakistani sovereignty. The drone bombing of dozens of 'tribal villages' has aroused the rage of millions. The US war against Islamic strongholds, its armed intrusion to capture bin Laden and its billion dollar funding of massive Pakistani military sweeps has led to thousands of deaths and millions of refugees. Pakistan is a country seething with anger and deep hostility to anything associated with the US. The film merely fed into this cauldron of growing militant, religious and nationalist discontent. For the convicted felon, pro-US President Asif Ali Zardari, the protests have no credibility whatever: he is simply marking time before he is ousted.
"Lesser protests against 'the film' took place in Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and elsewhere where the US has been less ubiquitous in its interference in the political and military order.
"The size, scope and violence of the 'film protests' correlate highly with the depth of destruction and destitution brought about by direct US military and political intervention."
Next post in the series: Conclusion...
"Massive and violent protests against the US embassy have taken place in Somalia and Sudan. Washington has been heavily involved, militarily, in Somalia for over 2 decades, moving from an initial failed military occupation to the financing of African military surrogates, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. It has also engaged in drone warfare. As a result of this intervention, Somalia is a divided, destroyed and destitute country, where piracy flourishes and three quarters of the population are refugees. The 'film protests' are merely the tip of an ongoing war of national liberation pitting radical Islamists against Western-backed surrogates and the 'moderate' Muslim puppet regime of Sharif Sheik Ahmad.
"Sudan was the site of a massive protest and violent attacks on the US and European embassies. The ruling elite, subjected to US and EU sanctions and a Washington/Tel Aviv-funded armed separatist movement in the oil-rich south, was forced to sign off on an accord which cut its oil revenues by 80%. As a result of its appeasement of the Western-backed separatist surrogate, living standards in Khartoum have plunged, inflation is rife, unemployment is on the rise and the regime has turned its guns from the separatists to its own people. The attacks on the US embassy, therefore, have more to do with the division of the country and its impoverishment than with 'the film' itself. At most the latter served as a trigger igniting a profound frustration with a regime which had once upheld the national integrity of the country but of late has sacrificed its natural wealth to curry favour with Washington.
"Pakistan was the site of mass popular protests in both its urban centres and in its north-western periphery. Embassy attacks and flag-burnings reflected an ongoing and deepening resentment against over a decade of US ground and aerial intrusions, violating Pakistani sovereignty. The drone bombing of dozens of 'tribal villages' has aroused the rage of millions. The US war against Islamic strongholds, its armed intrusion to capture bin Laden and its billion dollar funding of massive Pakistani military sweeps has led to thousands of deaths and millions of refugees. Pakistan is a country seething with anger and deep hostility to anything associated with the US. The film merely fed into this cauldron of growing militant, religious and nationalist discontent. For the convicted felon, pro-US President Asif Ali Zardari, the protests have no credibility whatever: he is simply marking time before he is ousted.
"Lesser protests against 'the film' took place in Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and elsewhere where the US has been less ubiquitous in its interference in the political and military order.
"The size, scope and violence of the 'film protests' correlate highly with the depth of destruction and destitution brought about by direct US military and political intervention."
Next post in the series: Conclusion...
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Round Round Get Around... 9
They get around.
"On the partition of Sudan a lot can be said. Yes, the Arab North (with Soviet and later, US support) has dealt with the South with a combination of neglect, racism and cruelty. However, Israeli hands have been present in the southern rebellion fom the start. In fact, there has been no secessionist movement in the Arab world in which Israel has not been heavily involved, either in support of the government (as in Oman) or in opposition to the government (as in Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, etc). The referendum is a sham. This one of the most illiterate areas in the world. The US creates an artificial mark for voter turnout level as a criterion, and then spends lavishly on a PR campaign in favor of secession. No matter how bad successive Sudanese governments have been (especially that of the US puppet and kook, Ja'far Numayri), the point I'm making is that this is all cooked up by the US. Also, there is something very fishy about the behaviour of the tyrant, Omar Bashir. He suddenly accepted the referendum and his ambassador even said that if the South wanted to establish relations with Israel, it was their business. Bashir has received political and/or financial payment from the US for his silence. For a corrupt ruler like Bashir, anything is possible. And what can be more annoying than when he dances with a cane? Oh, and would Obama and Carter have been in favor of a referendum of the US South prior to the Civil War? Just asking." (As'ad AbuKhalil, angryarab.blogspot.com, 10/1/11)
"The Sudan was a part of Israel's extended periphery strategy as early as the 1950s. In 1956, Israel developed contacts with the pro-Western Umma Moslem Party of Sudan. The Umma Party, one of the two traditional leading parties in the Sudan (and winner of the 1986 elections), has always been nationalist, leaning away from close relations with Egypt. Israeli interests in supporting it were quite clear.
"But Israel's most serious intervention in the Sudan took place in the 1960s, and was part and parcel of other Israeli involvements. It was the secret operation in support of separatist rebels in southern Sudan. 'The southern Sudanese, like the Kurds in the Middle East, are a minority ripe for manipulation by more powerful forces in the course of regional power politics'. The southerners, 6 million out of a population of 15 million, are black and mostly Christians, while the northerners are Arabs and Moslems. The south is much poorer. Since the 1960s, frictions between north and south have led more than once to open war. Israel was involved in the civil war in southern Sudan in the late 1960s. The southern rebel movement, Anyanya, was supported by an Israeli military mission, which supplied training and arms, the arms presumably captured during the 1967 war.
"Israeli involvement in southern Sudan was in evidence as early as 1963, through contacts with Israeli embassies in Uganda, Ethiopia, the Congo, and Chad. After 1969, the Israeli support took the form of arms, advisers, and training. There was an Israeli mission in Torit, and 30 Anyanya men were trained in Israel. The Israeli ambassador to Kampala, Uri Lubrani, was in charge of the Anyanya connections. The mercenary Rolf Steiner, who fought with the Anyanya, testified in August, 1971 before a military tribunal in Khartoum that Israel reached an agreement with Uganda in 1970 regarding the use of Ugandan territory to aid the Sudanese rebels. Steiner also stated that Israel was the only effective source of aid to the rebels. Others state that these covert operations were coordinated with the United States.
"The Addis Ababa Agreement on Southern Sudan of 1972 ended the southern rebellion and the Israeli intervention. Between 1972 and 1985, during the regime of Gaafer al-Nimeiry, Israeli contacts with the Sudan were rather friendly, though mostly secretive. The end of the rebellion in southern Sudan led to closer relations. The Mossad has had a station in Khartoum since then. There have been extensive contacts between the Mossad and its Sudanese equivalent in the 1980s. Mossad activities in the Sudan have been coordinated with the CIA, as many sources indicate. In public, Mr Nimeiry was one of the few Arab leaders to support the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979. The coup in Sudan on April 6, 1985, ended the cooperation between Nimeiry and the Israeli government. The new military regime headed by General Abdel Rahman Siwar al-Dahab has been cool toward the United States and has developed closer ties with Libya and Ethiopia." (The Israeli Connection: Whom Israel Arms & Why, Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, 1987, pp 47-49)
"On the partition of Sudan a lot can be said. Yes, the Arab North (with Soviet and later, US support) has dealt with the South with a combination of neglect, racism and cruelty. However, Israeli hands have been present in the southern rebellion fom the start. In fact, there has been no secessionist movement in the Arab world in which Israel has not been heavily involved, either in support of the government (as in Oman) or in opposition to the government (as in Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, etc). The referendum is a sham. This one of the most illiterate areas in the world. The US creates an artificial mark for voter turnout level as a criterion, and then spends lavishly on a PR campaign in favor of secession. No matter how bad successive Sudanese governments have been (especially that of the US puppet and kook, Ja'far Numayri), the point I'm making is that this is all cooked up by the US. Also, there is something very fishy about the behaviour of the tyrant, Omar Bashir. He suddenly accepted the referendum and his ambassador even said that if the South wanted to establish relations with Israel, it was their business. Bashir has received political and/or financial payment from the US for his silence. For a corrupt ruler like Bashir, anything is possible. And what can be more annoying than when he dances with a cane? Oh, and would Obama and Carter have been in favor of a referendum of the US South prior to the Civil War? Just asking." (As'ad AbuKhalil, angryarab.blogspot.com, 10/1/11)
"The Sudan was a part of Israel's extended periphery strategy as early as the 1950s. In 1956, Israel developed contacts with the pro-Western Umma Moslem Party of Sudan. The Umma Party, one of the two traditional leading parties in the Sudan (and winner of the 1986 elections), has always been nationalist, leaning away from close relations with Egypt. Israeli interests in supporting it were quite clear.
"But Israel's most serious intervention in the Sudan took place in the 1960s, and was part and parcel of other Israeli involvements. It was the secret operation in support of separatist rebels in southern Sudan. 'The southern Sudanese, like the Kurds in the Middle East, are a minority ripe for manipulation by more powerful forces in the course of regional power politics'. The southerners, 6 million out of a population of 15 million, are black and mostly Christians, while the northerners are Arabs and Moslems. The south is much poorer. Since the 1960s, frictions between north and south have led more than once to open war. Israel was involved in the civil war in southern Sudan in the late 1960s. The southern rebel movement, Anyanya, was supported by an Israeli military mission, which supplied training and arms, the arms presumably captured during the 1967 war.
"Israeli involvement in southern Sudan was in evidence as early as 1963, through contacts with Israeli embassies in Uganda, Ethiopia, the Congo, and Chad. After 1969, the Israeli support took the form of arms, advisers, and training. There was an Israeli mission in Torit, and 30 Anyanya men were trained in Israel. The Israeli ambassador to Kampala, Uri Lubrani, was in charge of the Anyanya connections. The mercenary Rolf Steiner, who fought with the Anyanya, testified in August, 1971 before a military tribunal in Khartoum that Israel reached an agreement with Uganda in 1970 regarding the use of Ugandan territory to aid the Sudanese rebels. Steiner also stated that Israel was the only effective source of aid to the rebels. Others state that these covert operations were coordinated with the United States.
"The Addis Ababa Agreement on Southern Sudan of 1972 ended the southern rebellion and the Israeli intervention. Between 1972 and 1985, during the regime of Gaafer al-Nimeiry, Israeli contacts with the Sudan were rather friendly, though mostly secretive. The end of the rebellion in southern Sudan led to closer relations. The Mossad has had a station in Khartoum since then. There have been extensive contacts between the Mossad and its Sudanese equivalent in the 1980s. Mossad activities in the Sudan have been coordinated with the CIA, as many sources indicate. In public, Mr Nimeiry was one of the few Arab leaders to support the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979. The coup in Sudan on April 6, 1985, ended the cooperation between Nimeiry and the Israeli government. The new military regime headed by General Abdel Rahman Siwar al-Dahab has been cool toward the United States and has developed closer ties with Libya and Ethiopia." (The Israeli Connection: Whom Israel Arms & Why, Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, 1987, pp 47-49)
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