LE QUOTIDIEN DU PCN PCN-NCP�S DAILY NEWS EL DIARIO DEL PCN N� 2 � 28/12/2001 ====================================================== Les nouvelles qui sont donn�es dans ce bulletin le sont � titre d'information. Elle n'impliquent pas n�cessairement l'adh�sion du PCN, en particulier quant aux informations provenant des media occidentaux. The news contained in this newsletter are given only for information. PCN-NCP don't approve necessarly these news, particularly when information come from western media. ======================================================= In this edition/Dans cette �dition : - SOUTIEN DU PCN ET DES COMITES �NEFAST� FOOD� AUX GREVISTES DE MC DO ! - L'EGYPTE ET LA CHINE CRITIQUENT LES PRATIQUES D'ISRA�L ENVERS LES PALESTINIENS - USA : THE TRUE ROGUE NATION - 34E ANNIVERSAIRE DU FPLP: MANIFESTATION � RAMALLAH - ARGENTINA JUDGE SEEKS CAPTURE OF GENERAL BANZER FOR "PLAN CONDOR" - REVUE DE PRESSE : � DU VENEZUELA � L'ARGENTINE � - TOTAL SOLIDARITY FROM PCN-NCP : SPONSOR A PALESTINIAN CHILD ! - COMMUNIQUE DE L'AGENCE DE PRESSE ZAPPATISTE - SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQI BASSIST GOVERNEMENT : PLAN RESURFACES TO TARGET SADDAM : IRAQI ATTACK BLUEPRINT EMERGES ========================================================
SOUTIEN DU PCN ET DES COMITES �NEFAST� FOOD� AUX GREVISTES DE MC DO ! 28 d�cembre 2001 : 66 jours de gr�ve au MacDo Strasbourg St-Denis (Paris) ! Encouragez les : Pour toute correspondance : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Pour ceux/celles qui n'ont pas tout suivi, une chronologie de la lutte en cours chez McDonald's r�guli�rement mise � jour est disponible en la demandant � ce m�me e-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] L'EGYPTE ET LA CHINE CRITIQUENT LES PRATIQUES D'ISRA�L ENVERS LES PALESTINIENS L�Egypte et la Chine ont affirm� jeudi la n�cessit� de mettre fin aux �pratiques agressives� d�Isra�l contre les Palestiniens, au terme d�une rencontre entre le pr�sident �gyptien Hosni Moubarak et le chef de la diplomatie chinoise Tang Jiaxuan. �Le pr�sident Moubarak, qui estime que la situation est dangereuse, a affirm� qu�il �tait n�cessaire qu�Isra�l arr�te ses pratiques agressives contre le peuple palestinien et ses tentatives d�affaiblir l�Autorit� palestinienne�, a d�clar� � la presse le ministre �gyptien des Affaires �trang�res Ahmed Maher, ajoutant que �la partie chinoise partageait ce point de vue�. �M. Moubarak a �galement affirm� la n�cessit� (d�assurer) un soutien arabe au peuple palestinien dans sa r�sistance afin de recouvrer son ind�pendance et cr�er son Etat�, a-t-il ajout�. �La Chine adopte une forte position soutenant le peuple palestinien�, a affirm� M. Maher, apr�s la rencontre qui a eu lieu � Charm el-Cheikh (Sina�, est). Selon le ministre, les entretiens ont port� �galement sur les principales questions, notamment politiques et commerciales, qui seront examin�es lors de sa visite en Chine en janvier par M. Moubarak et le pr�sident chinois Jiang Zemin. Mercredi au Caire, M. Tang avait exprim� le refus de son pays de tout amalgame entre terrorisme et r�sistance arabe � l�occupation, en allusion aux conflits qui opposent Isra�l aux mouvements palestiniens et libanais, et � la Syrie. M. Tang est arriv� mardi en Egypte, derni�re �tape d�une tourn�e au Proche-Orient, qui l�a men� �galement au Liban, en Syrie et en Jordanie. (d�apr�s AFP � 27/12/2001) USA : THE TRUE ROGUE NATION The US has established quite a notoriety, becoming the world�s leading rogue nation as far as breaking international law is concerned. The article below recounts at least 22 ways by which the US is living up to its reputation as the world�s leading terrorist state. 1. In December 2001, the United States officially withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, gutting the landmark agreement � the first time in the nuclear era that the US renounced a major arms control accord. 2. The 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention was ratified by 144 nations including the United States. In July 2001, the US walked out of a London conference to discuss a 1994 protocol designed to strengthen the Convention by providing for on-site inspections. In Geneva in November 2001, US Undersecretary of State John Bolton stated that �the protocol is dead,� at the same time accusing Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Sudan, and Syria of violating the Convention but offering no specific allegations or supporting evidence. 3. UN Agreement to Curb the International Flow of Illicit Small Arms, July 2001: the US was the only nation to oppose it. 4. In April 2001, the US was not re-elected to the UN Human Rights Commission, after years of withholding dues to the UN (including current dues of $244 million) � and after having forced the UN to lower its share of the UN budget from 25 to 22 percent. (In the Human Rights Commission, the US stood virtually alone in opposing resolutions supporting lower-cost access to HIV/AIDS drugs, acknowledging a basic human right to adequate food, and calling for a moratorium on the death penalty.) 5. International Criminal Court (ICC) Treaty, to be set up in The Hague to try political leaders and military personnel charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Signed in Rome in July 1998, the Treaty was approved by 120 countries, with 7 opposed (including the US). In October 2001, Great Britain became the 42nd nation to sign. In December 2001, the US Senate again added an amendment to a military appropriations bill that would keep US military personnel from obeying the jurisdiction of the proposed ICC. 6. Land Mine Treaty, banning land mines; signed in Ottawa in December 1997 by 122 nations. The United States refused to sign, along with Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Egypt, and Turkey. President Clinton rejected the Treaty, claiming that mines were needed to protect South Korea against North Korea�s �overwhelming military advantage.� He stated that the US would �eventually� comply, in 2006; President Bush disavowed this in August 2001. 7. In March 2001, President Bush declared the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, for controlling global warming �dead.� In November 2001, the Bush administration shunned negotiations in Marrakech (Morocco) to revise the accord, mainly by watering it down in a vain attempt to gain US approval. 8. In May 2001, the US refused to meet with European Union nations to discuss, even at lower levels of government, economic espionage and electronic surveillance of phone calls, e-mail, and faxes (the US �Echelon� program). 9. The US government refused to participate in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)-sponsored talks in Paris, May 2001, on ways to crack down on offshore and other tax and money-laundering havens. 10. The US refused to join 123 nations which pledged to ban the use and production of anti-personnel bombs and mines, February 2001. 11. In September 2001, the US government delegation withdrew from International Conference on Racism, which brought together 163 countries in Durban, South Africa. 12. International Plan for Cleaner Energy: Of the G-8 group of industrial nations (US, Canada, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, UK), the US was the only one to oppose it in July 2001. 13. The US is guilty of enforcing an illegal boycott of Cuba, now being made tighter. In the UN in October 2001, the General Assembly passed a resolution, for the tenth consecutive year, calling for an end to the US embargo, by a vote of 167 to 3 (the US, Israel, and the Marshall Islands in opposition). 14. Comprehensive [Nuclear] Test Ban Treaty. Signed by 164 nations and ratified by 89 including France, Great Britain, and Russia; signed by President Clinton in 1996 but rejected by the Senate in 1999. The US is one of 13 non-ratifiers among countries that have nuclear weapons or nuclear power programs. In November 2001, the US forced a vote in the UN Committee on Disarmament and Security to demonstrate its opposition to the Test Ban Treaty. 15. In 1986, the International Court of Justice (The Hague) ruled that the US was in violation of international law for �unlawful use of force� in Nicaragua, through its actions and those of its Contra proxy army. The US refused to recognize the Court�s jurisdiction. A UN resolution calling for compliance with the Court�s decision was approved 94-2 (US and Israel voting no). 16. In 1984, the US quit UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and ceased its payments for UNESCO�s budget, over the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) project designed to lessen world media dependence on the �big four� wire agencies (AP, UPI, Agence France-Presse, Reuters). The US charged UNESCO with �curtailment of press freedom,� as well as mismanagement and other faults, despite a 148-1 in vote in favor of NWICO in the UN. UNESCO terminated NWICO in 1989; the US nonetheless refused to rejoin. In 1995, the Clinton administration proposed rejoining; the move was blocked in Congress and Clinton did not press the issue. In February 2000 the US finally paid some of its arrears to the UN but excluded UNESCO, which the US has not rejoined. 17. Optional Protocol, 1989, to the UN�s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at abolition of the death penalty and containing a provision banning the execution of those under 18. The US has neither signed nor ratified and specifically exempts itself from the latter provision, making it one of five countries that still execute juveniles (with Saudi Arabia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria). China abolished the practice in 1997, Pakistan in 2000. 18. 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: The only countries that have signed but not ratified are the US, Afghanistan, Sao Tome and Principe. 19. The US has signed but not ratified the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protects the economic and social rights of children. The only other country not to ratify is Somalia, which has no functioning government. 20. UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966, covering a wide range of rights and monitored by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The US signed in 1977 but has not ratified. 21. UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948. The US finally ratified in 1988, adding several �reservations� to the effect that the US Constitution and the �advice and consent� of the Senate are required to judge whether any �acts in the course of armed conflict� constitute genocide. Britain, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Mexico, Estonia, and others rejected the reservations. 22. Is the status of �We�re number one!� Rogue overcome by generous foreign aid to given less fortunate countries? The three best aid providers, measured by the foreign aid percentage of their gross domestic products, are Denmark (1.01%), Norway (0.91%), and the Netherlands (0.79), The five worst: USA (0.10%), UK (0.23%), Australia, Portugal, and Austria (all 0.26). (By Richard Du Boff � KOMINFORM) 34E ANNIVERSAIRE DU FPLP: MANIFESTATION � RAMALLAH Pr�s de 800 Palestiniens ont manifest� samedi 22 d�cembre � Ramallah, en Cisjordanie, pour c�l�brer le 34e anniversaire de la cr�ation du Front populaire de lib�ration de la Palestine (FPLP). Des repr�sentants des Forces nationales et islamiques, coalition de 13 mouvements palestiniens, ont appel� l'Autorit� palestinienne � mettre un terme aux arrestations d'activistes. "Nous savons que l'Autorit� palestinienne est soumise � des pressions, mais cela ne doit pas affecter notre unit�. Les arrestations font empirer la situation et irritent les gens", a d�clar� l'un des chefs du mouvement islamiste radical Hamas, Youssef Hassan. M. Hassan, qui s'exprimait au nom de la coalition, a demand� "la lib�ration de tous les prisonniers politiques et la fin des arrestations". Pour sa part, le secr�taire du gouvernement palestinien, Ahmad Abdelrahmane, a affirm� devant la foule: "Nous voulons tous que l'Intifada continue", mais "les pressions internationales doivent �tre prises en consid�ration". Le chef du FPLP, Ahmad Saadat, recherch� par l'Autorit� palestinienne depuis que son mouvement a revendiqu� l'ex�cution d'un ministre isra�lien en octobre, �tait absent de la manifestation, mais il �tait repr�sent� par son second, Abdelrahim Mallouh. Le FPLP est une formation de gauche nationaliste et marxiste-l�niniste, qui, le 17 octobre, a ex�cut� le ministre isra�lien du Tourisme, Rehavam Zeevi, en repr�sailles � l'assassinat, fin ao�t, de son chef, Abou Ali Moustapha, par Isra�l. Le FPLP et le Front d�mocratique de lib�ration de la Palestine (FDLP) sont, avec le Fatah du pr�sident palestinien Yasser Arafat, les trois principales composantes de l'Organisation de lib�ration de la Palestine (OLP). Le PCN pr�sente � tous loes camarades du FPLP ses meilleurs voeux de suuc�s dans leur combat h�roique. ARGENTINA JUDGE SEEKS CAPTURE OF GENERAL BANZER FOR "PLAN CONDOR" An Argentine federal judge, on Wednesday 26, sought the capture with the goal of extraditing ex Bolivian president Hugo Banzer, in a case that investigates the existence of a joint plan by the military regimes of the Southern Cone in the 1970s to eliminate opposition leaders. "It's the right thing to do. We seek it because of Plan Condor� The charge is racketeering, the same charges that have been made against the ex repressor of Argentina, Jorge Rafael Videla and for the ex Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet," Federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral told Reuters. Plan Condor, an alleged conspiracy between the de facto regimes of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brasil and Paraguay, supposedly coordinated the actions by military, police and intelligence forces by their different countries inside the national territories of their own to kidnap and eventually disappear opposition leaders. General Banzer, a military official who governed as dictator between 1971 and 1978, and who returned to power by democratic means in 1997, resigned on August 6th from the Bolivian presidency due to advanced lung cancer. "I think that the conditions exist," said the Judge, asked about the real possibility that Banzer could be arrested and extradited to the country. The last military dictatorship that governed Argentina between 1976 and 1983 left between 15,000 and 30,000 people disappeared. But the military officials benefited from the amnesty laws of 1986 and 1987 and were later pardoned in 1990 by then-president Carlos Menem. The only crime that is not covered by the pardon law is that of the kidnapping of children of pregnant women who were kidnapped and tortured in clandestine detention centers, where they gave birth. According to judicial sources, the amnesty can not impede the advance of the case against Plan Condor, because the pardon only applies to the dictators in their role as military officials and the case by Judge Canicoba Corral investigates the political responsibility of the officials in their positions as presidents. The ex Argentina dictator Videla, who is facing charges for racketeering and as author of 72 disappearances is under hous arrest because of Plan Condor and the theft of babies during the military dictatorship. Canicoba solicited the detention with goals of extradition against Pinochet and retired Uruguay general Julio Vadora on August 20th. He also sent a judicial order to the United States to solicit the testimony of ex secretary of state Henry Kissinger under the suspicion that the United States government, between 1973 and 1977, knew of the existence of the Plan. (Translated by The Narco News Bulletin - December 27, 2001) REVUE DE PRESSE : � DU VENEZUELA � L'ARGENTINE � (27 d�cembre 2001 - http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/dossiers/argentine/) � Si, d�but d�cembre 2001, l'ensemble des m�dias internationaux multiplie les �ditoriaux au vitriol sur le Venezuela, ce n'est pas pour s'inqui�ter du retournement du march� p�trolier. Cons�quence indirecte des attentats du 11 septembre, l'effondrement des prix, d'une ampleur sup�rieure � ce qu'avait pr�vu Caracas, provoquera un ralentissement de la croissance en 2002 - le projet du budget a �t� b�ti sur une hypoth�se de prix de moyen de 18,50 dollars par baril, soit 4 dollars de plus que le niveau actuel. Peu importe �galement que le pr�sident v�n�zu�lien Hugo Ch�vez ait remport� d�mocratiquement toutes les consultations organis�es depuis son arriv�e au pouvoir, et que la Constitution de 1999 ait �t� approuv�e par 71,21 % des votants. Ce qui retient alors l'attention, ce sont les � cacerolazos �, chahut provoqu� par la bourgeoisie et une partie des classes moyennes frappant sur des casseroles pour exprimer leur m�contentement. L'approbation de 49 d�crets-lois a mis le feu au poudres. Parmi les plus importants de ces textes, une loi des terres et du d�veloppement rural pr�voit des m�canismes d'expropriation des latifundios et de distribution de terres aux paysans qui en sont d�pourvus. Alors qu'une poign�e de propri�taires accaparent 70 % de la surface cultivable, le pays doit importer massivement pour nourrir sa population ! Une loi sur les hydrocarbures accro�t la redevance de l'Etat et rend obligatoire sa participation majoritaire dans les associations avec les compagnies p�troli�res priv�es. Au nom du � droit sacr� � la propri�t� priv�e �, les seigneurs de la terre renforcent une opposition � la t�t de laquelle ils se sont port�s et qui comprend le patronat et les propri�taires des moyens de communication. Inhabituelle alliance, la Conf�d�ration des travailleurs du Venezuela (CTV), li�e aux parti politiques mis hors champ par la � r�volution bolivarienne �, se joint � la gr�ve patronale organis�e le 10 d�cembre 2001. Un succ�s, et pour cause : lorsque les entreprises ferment leurs portes, on imagine mal o� employ�s et ouvriers iraient travailler ! Bien que les activit�s du patronat rencontrent un faible �cho dans la population et que le pr�sident Ch�vez continue de joui d'une large popularit� dans les secteurs les plus pauvres du pays, gazettes et chancelleries �voquent ave gourmandise le chaos social, �conomique et politique dans lequel sombre le Venezuela. Ce n'est pourtant pas � Caracas que les � cacerolazos et la mobilisation populaire vont provoquer la chute d'un pr�sident, mais � Buenos Aires, en Argentine... � TOTAL SOLIDARITY FROM PCN-NCP : SPONSOR A PALESTINIAN CHILD ! (From : Baladna-Association for Arab Youth) As a result of the embargo around the Occupied Territories, oppression and occupation, the economic situation is becoming increasingly difficult in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The worsening economic situation has impacted harshly children. In the West Bank, 50.5% of Palestinian households live in poverty, reaching 81.5 in the Gaza Strip. Baladna � The Arab Youth Organization in Haifa and the IBDAA Center in Dhiesheh Camp, Bethlahem are organizing a Palestinian-child sponsorship campaign. The campaign aims to lighten the burdens faced by Palestinian children in this difficult time. The sponsorship process is undertaken by paying 100 to 200 NIS (new Israeli shekels) directly to the individual bank account of a Palestinian child in need. This means that every cent goes directly to a Palestinian child in need. We call upon all people who are able to sponsor a Palestinian child to participate in this campaign. Please help our brothers and sisters in the occupied territories through their struggle for liberation and freedom. For more information, please call the following numbers: 050 647 670, or (04) 852 3035. If you are calling internationally, please dial the following numbers: +972-4-852 3035, +972-50 647 670 Association for Arab Youth �Baladna : Phone: 972-4-8523035 - Fax: 972-4-8523427 - Mobile: 972-50-647670 Address: P.O.BOX 99604 Haifa 31996 Israel - Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.baladna.4t.com Baladna is an Arab youth organization founded to give Arab youth in Israel a non-partisan, comfortable forum for youth activities and informal education, centering on a discussion of identity. A registered non-profit organization, Baladna aims to strengthen Arab youth's understanding of democracy and gender equality, to foster pluralism and tolerance, and to enable a discussion and debate about Arab Palestinian history, grievances and culture. COMMUNIQUE DE L'AGENCE DE PRESSE ZAPPATISTE Denuncia de Cerro Hueco Cerezo No. 1 de cerro Hueco Tuxtla Guti�rrez Chiapas A 20 de diciembre de 2001 A la prensa nacional e internacional A ala sociedad civil del todo el mundo Los preso pol�ticos simpatizantes y bases de apoyo zapatistas agrupados a la vos de Cerro Hueco, denunciamos ante el mundo las constantes violaciones a los derechos humanos y hostigamientos que sufren los compa�eros Recluidos en Tabasco que al lado de nosotros son partes de los nueve presos pol�ticos simpatizantes y bases de apoyo zapatistas que aun continuamos como rehenes del gobierno federal y de Tabasco y Quer�taro que impiden el proceso de paz de M�xico. Nuestros compa�eros ind�genas Choles Francisco P�rez V�squez y �ngel Concepci�n P�rez Guti�rrez padre e hijo sin autorizaci�n de Tacotalp�n, a Macuspana Tabasco alejando con ellos la posibilidad de la visita de sus familiares que ya de por s� viajaban a otro estado para poder ver a los internos. Es importante mencionar que el primero en ser trasladado fue �ngel Concepci�n hostigando a su padre Francisco P�rez V�zquez de 63 a�os de edad, enfermo de problemas gastrointestinales con amenazas de ser trasladado a Huimanguillo separ�ndolo de su hijo y familia. Pero este hostigamiento no solo es con nuestros compa�eros presos sino que tambi�n son victimas los familiares de las visitas ya que la revisi�n exhaustiva llega al punto de la vejaci�n principalmente a la las mujeres pues son obligadas a quitarse la ropa interior y al manoseo directo por parte no de la celadora correspondiente si no que lo realiza un polic�a bajo el pretexto de eliminar el trafico e drogas siendo ellos mismos los que facilitan y promueven las mafias dentro de los penales situaci�n que los mismos presos denuncian. El traslado ilegal que han sufrido nuestros compa�eros ind�genas choles no es mas que la culminaci�n de constantes actos de hostigamiento por parte de Nicol�s Heredia Dami�n director de seguridad publicad del Municipio de Tlacotalpan Tabasco quien adem�s amenazan a nuestros compa�eros de enviarlos a la c�rcel de Islas Mar�as si denuncian estos sin embargo ellos al igual que nosotros seguimos en lucha y denunciando que con nuestro encierro es claro que el gobierno no quiere la paz si no continuar con su estado de guerra contra los pueblos ind�genas esto es mas que un ejemplo de lo que sufren los presos ind�genas de Chiapas recluidos en tabasco ya que esta poblaci�n cerca el 75% de chiapanecos ind�genas y no ind�genas presos en Tabasco y victimas de la reclusi�n a alejados de sus familias que acompa�ado de los tr�ficos de drogas, auspiciado por las propias autoridades impiden una verdadera readaptaci�n dentro de los penales ante estos hechos nosotros los presos pol�ticos simpatizantes y bases de apoyo zapatista seguimos insistiendo que el hostigamiento y nuestra propia reclusi�n no son mas que actos dirigidos desde las c�pulas del poder para mermar nuestra fuerza de lucha como el caso de nuestro compa�ero col Carrillo V�squez L�pez recluido en Villahermosa Tabasco quien fue sentenciado primero con 21 a�os de prisi�n apela en contra de la sentencia, la sala penal modifica a 12 a�os por ultimo. Se ampara contra la sentencia otorg�ndole una pena de 9 a�os y 6 meses d en prisi�n por un delito prefabricado por paramilitares de paz y justicia esta es la justicia de los poderosos que burla la lucha justa de la presos zapatista y desnudan la verdadera intenci�n de continuar la guerra despreciando la paz que todos los mexicanos queremos por eso seguimos luchando desde la c�rcel. Los presos zapatistas de Cerro Hueco de San Crist�bal, Tabasco y Quer�taro por una libertad con justicia y dignidad por una ley ind�gena emanada desde nuestros propios pueblos y no la burla del congreso de la Uni�n y la salida inmediata de Ej�rcito Mexicano de las comunidades ind�genas. SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQI BASSIST GOVERNEMENT : PLAN RESURFACES TO TARGET SADDAM : IRAQI ATTACK BLUEPRINT EMERGES Press review : The Guardian (Julian Borger in Washington - Friday December 28, 2001) � The US joint chiefs of staff are considering an ambitious plan for the military overthrow of Saddam Hussein, officials said yesterday. The plan has been drawn up by President Bush's counter-terrorism adviser, General Wayne Downing, and the rebel Iraqi National Congress (INC). Variations of the plan have been touted by the INC in Washington for the past eight years, but the involvement of Gen Downing and the speedy defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan has made the prospect of a change in regime in Baghdad far more feasible. The plan, originally dubbed the "End Game" by the INC leader, Ahmad Chalabi, is remarkably similar to the US strategy used in Afghanistan. US-trained Iraqi rebels, backed by a few thousand American special forces and considerable air support, would draw the cream of the Iraqi army into an open battle and bomb it out of existence, thus triggering a mutiny within the ranks of Saddam's forces. "Ahmad came up with the plan in 1993, but no one from the Clinton administration would take it on," said Francis Brook, an INC adviser. He added that the plan is now being honed in the Pentagon. "They appear to be refining our plan. We talk regularly to the Pentagon but it's one-way traffic. They ask us questions but they don't tell us much. They put 50 colonels on to something like this, working on 50 different contingencies." Iran's cooperation with the US in the Afghan war has also raised INC and Pentagon expectations of similar help against Baghdad. In April, the Iranian government allowed the INC to open US-funded offices in a plush northern suburb of Tehran. It marked the first time since the Iranian revolution in 1979 that Washington allowed government funds to be spent inside Iran. The state department, the CIA and some of the Pentagon's uniformed top brass are highly sceptical of the Downing-INC plan and have pointed to The failure of two previous unsuccessful insurrections against Saddam, in 1991 and 1995. Moreover, the critics argue, the London-based INC does not have anything like the military presence or structure of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, while the Iraqi regular army is a force of 500,000 men equipped with heavy armour - a much more powerful force than the Taliban. "People are getting pretty excited about the so-called 'Afghan model', but there is no comparison whatsoever," said a Pentagon consultant. The US armed forces Central Command, based in Florida, would oversee any operation in Iraq, and it is known to be reluctant to plunge in. Its former commander, General Anthony Zinni, derided the plan as the "Bay of Goats", a reference to the disastrous 1961 attempt to land an anti-Castro force in the Bay of Pigs. However, Gen Zinni's successor, General Tommy Franks, is thought to be less fiercely opposed. Under the Downing-INC plan, a force of about 5,000 INC fighters would cross into Iraq from Kuwait and seize a deserted airbase near Basra, tempting Saddam to send his crack Hammurabi tank division to the south, where it would be a sitting duck for US bombers.� (Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001) ==================================================== Cette lettre d'information quotidienne est gratuite. Pour vous abonnez ou si vous ne d�sirez plus la recevoir : adressez un message � [EMAIL PROTECTED] This daily Newsletter is free of charge. To receive it regularly or if you don't want to receive its future editions : send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Editeur responsable et Directeur de publication : Luc MICHEL (128/01 rue de Montigny � B/6000 Charleroi) Webmaster : Luc MICHEL - email : [EMAIL PROTECTED] ==================================================== PCN-NCP Contact Internet : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact International : Tel. + 32 2 218 73 09 - Fax + 32 2 218 73 59 Secr�tariat-g�n�ral europ�en : 39 rue des Vierges � B/1000 Bruxelles (Belgique) Service de presse : Tel. International +0 479 85 68 39 (after 3 pm) Tel. Belgique 0479/85 68 39 (apr�s 15h) Contact Belgique : T�l. 02/218.73.09 � Fax 02/218.73.59 Contact France : T�l. et Fax 01 43 83 75 32 =================================================== Pour plus d'information � For more information : Website officiel PCN-NCP : http://www.pcn-ncp.com Consulter aussi � See also : Website du Courant National-bolchevique du PCN : http://www.pcn-ncp.com/CNB/ Website du Courant National-R�volutionnaire du PCN : http://fel.nr.free.fr/ Website EUROPE-ECOLOGIE (Earth first !) : http://europe.ecologie.free.fr/ Website � Les communistes dans le Front anti-imp�rialiste/ Communists in the Anti-imperialist Front � : http://assoc.wanadoo.fr/commantimperialiste/ Website PCN Rete italiana : http://pcn.rete.italiana.free.fr/ ___________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? -- Une adresse @yahoo.fr gratuite et en fran�ais ! Yahoo! Courrier : http://courrier.yahoo.fr
