corections updates and suggestions on other postings

Dear colleagues,

I think my longer analysis about the cold-war background never made it
across the Atlantic. But Michel Chossoudovsky's article practically repeated
the perspective, without the necessary details about this Lt. General Hamid
GUL, once the strong figure in the Pakistani intelligence. 

http://www.google.com/

alone reveals more than 1900 sites relating to this person; search for
yourselves please, for example at:

http://www.dialogselect.com/


http://www.dialogselect.com/news/index.html


(for 75 $ bucks a month, you get an archive of the world press back to the
1970s)



BBC world service in it's excellent newscast 'from our own correspondent'
yesterday at somewhere 21.40 European Daylight Time (should be 19.40 GMT)
revealed what I consider to be the truth about these ugly scenes in Nablus
(Palestinians dancing when they heared about the NY terror atacks) that keep
you so preoccupied: yes indeed, much to the chagrin of the Palistinian
leadership, there were such scenes in Nablus, and the Palestinian authority
confiscated the film material. 

This week's Al Achram writes:

http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2001/551/fr1.htm

Late on Tuesday night a dozen or so Palestinian men gathered beneath a
television in an East Jerusalem supermarket, a mere 100 metres from what had
been the PLO's Orient House headquarters but is now an Israeli police zone
ringed by nine concrete slabs. They were mesmerised by the replay after slow
motion replay of an American airliner cascading in flames against the
left-hand tower of the World Trade Center. It looked like a reel from a
Hollywood movie. But it wasn't a movie. It was the World Trade Center. It
was New York. And it was an airliner. 
The vast majority of Palestinians absorbed this image -- together with the
news that another plane had ploughed into the Pentagon -- with a sense of
unreality. A minority -- those who danced in the streets of refugee camps in
Nablus and Lebanon and the few dozen who handed out sweets near the
supermarket -- appeared to lose hold on reality altogether. 
Were they really pleased that perhaps thousands of people -- including,
almost certainly, Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians -- had perished for being
in the wrong aircraft on the wrong side of town on the wrong day? "We are
happy America was hit. America is against us in supporting Israel", answered
one kid. For him, too, mass human destruction had become just another
flicker on the TV screen. 
Other Palestinians grasped the gravity of the moment -- if not yet the scale
of the carnage, then at least the political import. "I send the condolences
of the Palestinian people to President Bush, his government and to the
American people for this terrible act," said Yasser Arafat, with absolute
sincerity. "We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable, unbelievable,
unbelievable." 
Stung by bogus claims of responsibility on Arab TV networks, leaders from
the Popular Front and Democratic Fronts for the Liberation of Palestine
rushed out fervent denials that their factions had anything to do with the
WTC and Pentagon operations. Even Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad
Yassin, voiced disapproval of the attacks, adding, though, "America's racist
policies must not be forgotten." 


So, to be correct, there were both opinions among the Palestinian population
- solidarity with the NY victims and dancing on the streets at the same
time. 

John Simpson, on the other hand (I think one of the best journalists in the
world) in his superb dispatch after his trip to Kabul gave many background
informations which are much along the line of what syed Khurram Hussain has
said in his absolutely interesting article - one of the few articles
worthwhile to read over this WSN weekend! What I told you all along as well
- that OBL is a monster of the cold war era!

I would say that we should encourage Khurram to post more of his stuff, very
good reading amidst all this confusion!

On what should be done, in my opinion, let me be very brief: the security
council of the UN would at this stage mandate unanimously action against the
people responsible; and rightly so. Unilateralism is no way out. The very
crisis shows that we have to strengthen the UN.

Kindest regards.

Arno Tausch

PS: Tune in, folks, to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml

Also consider the following sites - these sites are my own country
documentation favorites:


Amnesty International

http://www.amnesty.org/

especially

http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/home/home?OpenDocument

furthermore

United Nations country documents

http://www.undp.org/hdro/table.htm

Governments on the Web

http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/world.html


US sources (very comprehensive, reflecting the official US position)

country human rights reports US state department (really very good!)

http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/99hrp_index.html

country background notes US State Department

http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/index.html

international religious freedom report US state department 

http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/irf/irf_rpt/index.html

international narcotics control strategy report US state department

http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/narc_reports_mainhp.html

US government global terrorism reports

http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/annual_reports.html

other State Department Informations, updates:

http://state.gov/