Re: Israeli destruction catalogued

> -----Original Message-----
> From: wsn-owner@csf.colorado.edu [mailto:wsn-owner@csf.colorado.edu]On
> Behalf Of Trich Ganesh
> Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 1:05 AM
> To: Syed Khurram Husain
> Cc: wsn@csf.colorado.edu
> Subject: Re: Israeli destruction catalogued

[snip]

> So many layers, so many systematic erasures, and so little unity
> among the Arab states!  The oil factor stays most important: the
> Saudi state is the largest seller of oil to the US.  Venezuela is the
> third largest seller of oil to the US - can a coup against the elected
> government of Chavez be far behind?  How long can Venezuela
> last?  Or will a new coalition of OAS states emerge - learning from
> Argentina - that will start to redefine the politics of that continent?
> And will that complicate further the question of Palestine?
>
[snip]
>
> TKGanesh.

On Venezuala, I posted this on my web site back in early February.  On
hindsight, it seems Powell's warning to Chavez was "written on  the wall"  :

February 6, 2001:

According to the first short article below, the US government, as
represented by Colin Powell, says that governments which help the poor are
"undemocratic" and are a threat to US interests.  In this case, the policies
of Venezuela are said to be "revolutionary policies to help the poor,
including redistribution of land."  The Bush Administration sees policies to
help the poor as a threat to big US agribusinesses (which just happen to be
companies that delve out big bucks to certain US politicians).  And the US
seems concerned that Venezuela's leader doesn't support their policies
against rebels in Columbia who are fighting on behalf of poor peasants.  But
as the second article below notes, US corporate politicians are really
concerned about the threat that Colombia's rebels pose to an OIL PIPELINE
run by a Los Angeles company in Columbia.

February 6, 2002
Powell Faults Venezuela's Leftist Leader
By REUTERS
ASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (Reuters) — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, testifying
before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today criticized the leftist
president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, expressing concern about his views on
democracy and the war on terrorism.

Secretary Powell made the remarks in response to a question about
allegations that Venezuela is supporting leftist guerrillas in neighboring
Colombia.

"We have been concerned with some of the actions of Venezuelan President
Chávez and his understanding of what a democratic system is all about,"
Secretary Powell said.

He added that the United States had asked regional allies to suggest to Mr.
Chávez that there are perhaps better ways to "deal with the challenges his
country is facing."

Since winning election in 1998, Mr. Chávez has introduced what he calls
revolutionary policies to help the poor, including redistribution of land.

Opponents accuse him of trying to impose a Cuban-style leftist government on
Venezuela, whose main oil market is the United States.

In Caracas, Foreign Minister Luis Alfonso Dávila defended Mr. Chávez's
foreign policy, saying it was "sovereign, independent and autonomous" and
did not require the approval of other governments.


February 6, 2002
Administration Shifts Focus on Colombia Aid
By JUAN FORERO
OGOTÁ, Colombia, Feb. 5 — The Bush administration is proposing to expand
military aid to this war- racked nation by training the Colombian Army to
protect a 500-mile-long oil pipeline from leftist rebels, senior American
officials visiting Colombia said today. Such a program would be a sharp
departure from a policy that until now has focused on eradicating drugs.

The administration is seeking Congressional approval of a $98 million
request that would pay for helicopters, communications equipment and
training for Colombian troops to guard the Cańo Limón pipeline, which
transports crude oil pumped by Occidental Petroleum of Los Angeles from the
country's eastern oil fields to a Caribbean port.

"We are not saying this is counterdrug — this is different," said a member
of an American delegation here in a meeting with reporters in a Bogotá
hotel. "The proposition we are making to the government of Colombia and to
our Congress is that we ought to take an additional step."

The administration is also asking Congress to provide financing for American
training of a counternarcotics brigade that would operate in northern
Colombia, a region under the influence of right-wing paramilitary groups,
the officials said. The money for that would come from the $731 million the
administration is requesting in anti-narcotics programs for the Andean
region for 2003.

Pipeline protection is crucial, American officials said, because oil is
Colombia's largest money-making export and provides much-needed income for a
country hobbled by a brutal 38-year-old rebel conflict.

The pipeline has been the target of rebels who see Occidental as an
exploiter of Colombian resources. It was bombed 170 times last year, costing
Colombia and the company more than $500 million, Colombia's state-owned oil
company, Ecopetrol, said today. Since 1986, when the first attack was
recorded, more than 2.6 million barrels of oil have been spilled.

Until now, American policy has focused on aerial spraying of coca and opium
poppy fields, as well as programs aimed at encouraging farmers to shift to
other crops. The money for those programs came through a $1.3 billion aid
package allocated in 2000 for the Andean region, most for training and
equipping a Colombian Army brigade of 3,000 men that now takes part in
counterdrug operations in the south.

"Everything else up until now has been justified in terms of fighting
drugs," said Michael Shifter, a senior fellow who follows Colombia for the
Inter-American Dialogue, a policy analysis organization in Washington. "This
is a different purpose. I think that is a departure."

The administration's request is sure to be vigorously opposed by some
members of Congress who are concerned that the United States could be drawn
deeper into a murky conflict involving two rebel groups and a paramilitary
group responsible for widespread mass killings.

"For the first time, the administration is proposing to cross the line from
counternarcotics to counterinsurgency," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, a
Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee.
"This is no longer about stopping drugs, it's about fighting the guerrillas.

Human rights groups in the United States also harshly criticized the plan,
releasing an extensive report today highlighting ties between army units and
the paramilitaries. American law requires that Colombia show it has severed
ties between security officials and paramilitary gunmen before receiving
aid, a condition that groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch said had not been met by Colombia's government.

The proposal, however, was warmly received by President Andrés Pastrana and
senior Colombian officials, who have been pleading for more American aid.
Today, they met with the American delegation, here to review American policy
toward Colombia and to meet with Colombian officials. The delegation is
headed by Marc Grossman, under secretary of state for political affairs.