Saturday, April 10, 2010

Nakba, the Forgotten Child of the Holocaust


By Steve Amsel • Apr 10th, 2010
Photo by Michael Levin

Photo by Michael Levin

Sunday evening at sundown, sirens will sound throughout Israel to commemorate the start of Holocaust Remembrance Day. On Monday, ceremonies will be held in various cities, the main one being at Yad Vashem, the memorial park in Jerusalem.

Friday was the anniversary of the massacre at Deir Yassin, the start of the ‘other holocaust’, known as the Nakba. There were no sirens to signify this as the Nakba is the ‘forgotten child of the holocaust’. In Israel today it is forbidden to even speak of this, to make sure it remains forgotten. You can read about The Children of Deir Yassin in this essay.

Let’s take a brief look at what the Nakba was…

“We thought it would be a matter of weeks, only until the fighting died down. Of course, we were never allowed to go home.” Nina Saah, Washington, DC

“My family’s farm of oranges, grapefruits and lemons, centuries old, was gone.” Darwish Addassi, Walnut Creek, California

“Those of us who left unwillingly in 1948 are plagued with painful nostalgia. My house in West Jerusalem is an Israeli nursery school now.” Inea Bushnaq, New York, New York

“The people of New Orleans woke up one morning to complete devastation and had to flee. The Nakba was our Hurricane Katrina.” Abe Fawal, Birmingham, Alabama

Sixty years ago, more than 700,000 Palestinians lost their homes and belongings, their farms and businesses, their towns and cities. Jewish militias seeking to create a state with a Jewish majority in Palestine, and later, the Israeli army, drove them out. Israel rapidly moved Jews into the newly-emptied Palestinian homes. Nakba means “catastrophe” in Arabic, and Palestinians refer to the destruction of their society and the takeover of their homeland as an-Nakba, “The Catastrophe.”

Ten Facts about the Nakba

1. The Nakba is a root cause of the Israeli/Palestinian problem.

It is marked on May 15, the day after Israel declared its independence in 1948.

2. This traumatic event created the Palestinian refugee crisis.

By the end of 1948, two-thirds of the Palestinian population was exiled. It is estimated that more than 50% were driven out under direct military assault. Others fled as news spread of massacres committed by Jewish militias in Palestinian villages like Deir Yassin and Tantura.

3. Jewish leaders saw “transfer” as an important step in the establishment of Israel.

Jewish leaders spoke openly of the need to use military clashes to expel as many Palestinians as possible before other Arab countries could come to their defense. The Haganah militia’s Plan Dalet was the blueprint for this ethnic cleansing. Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, said “We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.” (Seewhat other leading Israelis have said about transfer.)

4. Hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns were destroyed.

Jewish forces depopulated more than 450 Palestinian towns and villages, most of which were demolished.

5. Palestinian property and belongings were simply taken.

The newly-established Israeli government confiscated refugee land and properties without respect to Palestinian rights or desires to return to their homes.

Israeli historian Tom Segev reported that: “Entire cities and hundreds of villages left empty were repopulated with new [Jewish] immigrants… Free people – Arabs – had gone into exile and become destitute refugees; destitute refugees – Jews – took the exiles’ places in the first step in their lives as free people. One group [Palestinians] lost all they had while the other [Jews] found everything they needed – tables, chairs, closets, pots, pans, plates, sometimes clothes, family albums, books radios, pets….

6. Some Palestinians stayed in what became Israel.

While most Palestinians were driven out, some remained in what became Israel. Although citizens of the new state, they were subject to Israeli military rule until 1966. Today, Palestinian citizens of Israel comprise nearly 20 percent of Israel’s population. They have the right to vote and run for office, but more than 20 Israeli laws explicitly privilege Jews over non-Jews. Nearly one-quarter of Israel’s Palestinians are “internally displaced” persons, unable to return to the homes and lands that were taken from them.

7. There are still millions of Palestinian refugees dispersed around the world.

Today, there are 4.4 million Palestinian refugees registered as such with the United Nations, and at least another estimated 1 million who are not so registered. Thus a majority of the Palestinian people, around 10 million persons, are refugees.

8. Refugees have internationally-recognized rights.

All refugees enjoy internationally-recognized rights to return to areas from which they have fled or were forced out, to receive compensation for damages, and to either regain their properties or receive compensation and support for voluntary resettlement. This right has been explicitly acknowledged in recent peace agreements in Cambodia, Rwanda, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Burundi, and Darfur. This right was affirmed for the Palestinians by the United Nations Resolution 194 of 1948. Israel, however, does not allow Palestinian refugees to return, although a Jew from anywhere in the world can settle in Israel.

9. Justly resolving refugee rights is essential to Middle East peace.

An overwhelming majority of Palestinians believes that refugee rights must be fulfilled for peace between Palestinians and Israelis to endure. And according to an August 2007 poll by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, nearly 70 percent believe that refugees should be allowed to return to “their original land”.

10. The Nakba has implications for Americans.

Israel’s ongoing denial of Palestinian rights – and unconditional U.S. financial and diplomatic support for Israel – fuels anti-American sentiment abroad. A 2002 Zogby poll, conducted in eight Arab countries showed that “the negative perception of the United States is based on American policies, not a dislike of the West.” The same poll showed that “the Palestinian issue was listed by many Arabs among the political issues that affect them most personally.” Resolution of the Palestinian refugee issue would undoubtedly improve America’s international image, by proving that the U.S. government supports the consistent application of international law.

From

A video showing the horrors of the Nakba……

Two years ago Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was quoted as saying that there can be no Palestinian state unless and until the victims learn to forget the word Nakba.
“The Palestinians will celebrate their statehood when they erase the word Nakba from their lexicon,” said Livni, whose father, Eitan, who died in 1991, played an active part in effecting the genocidal campaign of murder and terror that culminated in the establishment of Israel.

Last year, Livni had the temerity to say that the creation of a Palestinian state on parts of the West Bank would have to address Israel’s Arab citizens.

NEWS FLASH…..

The Nakba will NOT be forgotten and there WILL be a Palestinian State!

source: http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/the-forgotten-child-of-the-holocaust/

Friday, April 09, 2010

Indoctrinating Israeli Youths to Be Warriors - by Stephen Lendman


The modern roots go back to Zionism's founding at the First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland in 1897, its program being:

"Establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Eretz Yisrael."

Five decades later, it was accomplished by dispossessing indigenous Palestinians, denying them the right to their land, creating a new Jewish identity, legitimizing Jews as rightful owners, and using superior military force to assure it against defenseless civilians, no match against their powerful adversary.

Leading up to and after its War of Independence, Israel stayed politically and militarily hard line, negotiating from strength, choosing confrontation over diplomacy, naked aggression as a form of self-defense, and occupation to seize as much of historic Palestine as possible to secure an ethnically pure Jewish state - policies called "Israelification (and) De-Arabization" to preserve a "Jewish character."

In his book, "The Making of Israeli Militarism, Uri Ben- Eliezer says writing about Israeli militarism involves "ventur(ing) into an intellectual minefield," given Jewish history under the Nazis and the perception of Israel as a safe haven. Yet decades of Arab-Israeli conflict produced seven full-scale wars, two Intifadas, and many hundreds of violent incidents.

Ben-Eliezer believes that, beginning in the 1930s, militarism "was gradually legitimized within the Yishuv, the Jewish community in Palestine, then within the new state (was) crystallized into a value, a formula, and an ideology." Over time, it acquired a dynamic of its own, then during the 1948 war, it "acquired full legitimacy" and became decisive in setting policy.

Politics and militarism were wedded to create a militaristic view of reality. Thereafter, it was institutionalized to where "the idea of implementing a military solution to (political problems) was not only enshrined as a value in its own right but was also considered legitimate, desirable, and indeed the best option."

Today, militarism is a "cardinal aspect of Israeli society," its quintessential element under the 1986 National Defence Service Law, requiring all Jewish Israeli citizens and permanent residents to serve - men and women, with exemptions only for Orthodox Jews, educational inadequacy, health, family considerations, married or pregnant women or those with children, criminals, and other considerations at the Defense Ministry's discretion. In addition, most Israeli leaders are former high-ranking IDF officers, politics and the military being inextricably connected.

Little wonder that Israel is a modern day Sparta, a nation of about 5.6 million Jews, another 500,000 settlers, able to mobilize over 600,000 combatants in 72 hours, equipped with state-of-the art weapons and backing of the world's only superpower for whatever it wants.

Yet on March 2, 2008, McClatchy Newspapers writer Dion Nissenbaum headlined, "Israelis show declining zest for military service," saying:

"....under the surface, something has been slowly shifting in Israel as the nation prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary May 14. More and more Israelis are avoiding mandatory military service - something" earlier considered unthinkable.

According to author and former chief Israeli military psychologist, Dr. Rueven Gal:

"In the past, it is true that not serving in the military was considered the exception. In more recent times, it became more tolerable and more acceptable to people."

According to 1997 IDF statistics, less than one in ten Israeli men avoided service. Now it's nearly triple that number, or according to some, even higher, given the resonance of conscientious objectors, Refusniks, students unwilling to serve in the Territories, and "Breaking the Silence" reserves speaking out about IDF atrocities over the past decade, especially during the Gaza war.

Women are also opting out - around 44% compared to 37% a decade earlier. As a result, National Infrastructures Minister, Uzi Landau, called the IDF no longer a "people's army (but rather) half the people's army."

Given Israel's hardline militarism requiring mandatory service, officials are seeking new ways to deter avoidance.

Indoctrinating Youths to Accept Militarism in Israeli Society and Culture

New Profile is a "Movement for the Civil-ization of Israeli Society" away from militarism and a culture of violence, its "feminist women and men....convinced that we need not live in a soldiers' state" and should no longer tolerate one.

In July 2004, its report titled, "Child Recruitment in Israel" examined how Israeli armed forces and Jewish militias indoctrinate young children to be warriors, a practice they believe essential to stop.

Child recruitment involves more than having weapons and using them, their being no front lines in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In Israel and the Territories, IDF soldiers are everywhere. "Many military bases are located inside population centres and few Israelis ever spend a day without meeting soldiers on duty."

As a result, a functional definition of child recruitment is as follows:

-- a child is anyone under 18, recruited by one or more of these methods:

(1) by wearing an official uniform, having an official document, or in other ways identified as an IDF or related group member, even if not formal;

(2) by promoting or supporting IDF actions, actively or through other services; and/or

(3) by undergoing practical or theoretical training to perform or assist IDF activities, formerly or otherwise.

Armed forces and security groups include Israel's military, its police (including conscripted Border Police), General Security Services (GSS), and Jewish militias, mostly based in settlements.

Relevant International Laws

Artictle 38(2)(3) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states:

(2) "State Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities; (and)

(3) State Parties shall refrain from recruiting any person who has not attained the age of fifteen into the armed forces. In recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of fifteen years but who have not attained the age of eighteen years, State Parties shall endeavour to give priority to those who are oldest."

Article 77(2) of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions (1977) contains similar language, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) criminalizes the recruiting of children under 15.

The 1990 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child recognized 18 as the minimum recruitment age. Then in 2000, the International Labour Organization's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182 condemned "all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery....including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict."

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2000) prohibited forced recruiting and raised the minimum age to 16.

Contrary to international law, Israeli legislation takes precedence over accepted norms and standards. Conscription at 18 is mandatory, at times includes those six months younger, and children under 18 may enlist voluntarily, but aren't used as combatants until coming of age.

Child recruitment is also done informally, the idea being to prepare underage youths for future mandatory service. Ben-Eliezer wrote how early Zionist settlers established militant organizations, notably the Bar Giora (named for Simon bar Giora in ancient Roman times), Hashomer (The Guard), and the Haganah (Defense), small in scale but profound in influencing younger minds. He explained saying:

"The formative years of the younger generation produced an ethos created by local experience: guarding fields and crops, fighting with Arab children, being given a weapon at the age of bar mitzvah (a boy's thirteenth birthday). This was the childhood experience of prominent members of the young generation (tempering their outlook) with suspicion, which frequently became hostility, and they reached maturity feeling that a confrontation between (Arabs and Jews) was inevitable."

Before 1948, very young children engaged in military activities, doing so eagerly as a sort of game. As a result, a militaristic worldview developed, especially among youths later becoming leaders. Militant groups formed at this time, including Fosh (a Hebrew acronym for Field Units), the Palmach (Striking Force), Stern Gang (Israeli Freedom Fighters -Lehi in Hebrew) and Irgun (National Military Organization - Etzel in Hebrew).

Before Israel's War of Independence, recruitment was a "Duty to Volunteer." Then it was mandatory after the IDF's establishment on May 26, 1948, replacing the paramilitary Haganah.

It's still called a privilege, a "noble and worthy action," today moulding young minds to be eager when called, but they participated earlier as well. In the 1948 battle for Jerusalem, Youth Battalion trainees, aged 16 and 17, were combatants. So were women.

Defining Israeli Militarism

New Profile calls it "a way of thinking, which promotes forceful solutions, usually military ones, as preferable and even desirable ways of solving problems." As a result, security forces are society's most valued and revered, "whose needs and opinions come second to none." Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, called "The whole nation....an army and the whole land (a) front."

Today's IDF is the world's fourth most powerful military, nuclear armed with state-of-the-art weapons and technology, an active space and satellite program, biological and chemical capabilities, and a large per capita military budget, financed generously by Washington.

The military also controls 48% of public lands, and recycles its commanders into high government positions, including municipality and regional council heads, mayors, ministers, and heads of state. Others get top public administration positions or serve as business executives or directors.

"The unquestioned prestige enjoyed by top military officers emanates downwards, and some of it can still be enjoyed by" common soldiers. Children see and feel it everywhere, including from adult family members, from religious leaders, and in school. In addition, imagery and weapons are ubiquitous, including old tanks, guns and fighter jets visible in public places.

Israeli Children as Future Soldiers - Militarized Education Starting in Kindergarten, at Home, and on Streets

"The military is physically present in schools and school activities," uniformed soldiers there, many teaching classes to program young minds. Further, teachers, especially principals, are retired career officers, and school walls are adorned with names and photos of fallen heros among their graduates. Field trips for all ages are to military memorials on former battlegrounds.

Curricula and textbooks reflect militarism, from kindergarten through high schools that have mandatory programs in all state-run ones called "preparation for the IDF" that includes training. Glorifying military heros and conquests while vilifying Palestinians are featured.

Symbolic recruitment precedes conscription. It consists of indoctrinating youths to feel part of the military, mobilized for war, ready for combat, and eager to participate. More still by kindergarten and elementary school children sending gift packages to soldiers, especially on holidays, expressing gratitude in personal letters.

A 1974 teachers' guide titled, "When a Nation Reports for Duty" promotes enlistment saying:

"The Entire people carry the burden of the war effort, and it is divided between those who wear the IDF uniform and the civilians who are not directly recruited by the IDF.

Therefore it should be understood that (every) civilian carries the burden of the war effort."

Children learn early, and it sticks, preparing them for later conscription and a lifetime of military support. Besides school, they're exposed in ceremonies, commemorations, speeches, field trips to military bases, and holiday celebrations of battles between "us" (Jews) and "the bad guys" (earlier Nazis, Egyptians, Persians, Arabs) and now Palestinians. As a result, children are imbued "to accept military force and war as a natural state and a natural response to conflict situations."

Soldiers in Israeli Schools

They're both former IDF teachers and administrators as well as "uniformed soldiers on duty, stationed in schools as part of the school staff....The presence of former soldiers, especially retired high-ranking officers, in the education system is considered by many in Israeli society, including government, to be a positive influence on children," especially since preparing youths for military service is a core educational goal.

In collaboration with the Ministries of Education and Defense, the IDF operates two large-scale youth programs:

-- the Teacher-Soldier one to train soldiers to become teachers, to complement civilian staff despite their poor qualifications; and

-- the Youth-Guide one works with underprivileged children, in some cases for Youth Battalions; others as Preparation for Military Service coordinators.

They're nearly always in uniform, report to civilian and military superiors, promote militarism and wars for defense, and children acclimate to viewing them as an integral part of their education and a future obligation.

Indoctrinating youths early blurs the line between Israeli military and civil society, promotes militarism, and makes conscription seem inevitable, necessary, and desirable.

Preparation for Military Service

For most male and female Israeli youths, military service is a rite of passage, a natural step in preparation for adulthood, something policy makers have been cognizant of for decades.

After the 1973 Yom-Kipper War, the above-mentioned "When a Nation Reports for Duty" guide explained the role of all Israelis during emergencies and helped children understand it clearly.

In 1984, actively preparing youths for military service began when the IDF and Ministry of Defense published a guide called "Towards Service in the IDF," explaining:

-- the privilege of serving;

-- adapting to military and basic training;

-- developing fitness in preparation;

-- the IDF as a positive force in society; and

-- and preparing parents to accept their children's role as future warriors.

Since the run-up to the 1948 war, training for military service was common, especially through Youth Battalions, but in 1984 programs included school indoctrination "as part of the ordinary curriculum."

Today's program is called "Willingness to Serve and Readiness for the IDF," mandated for three years in high school, the program's goal being:

"Preparing the entire youth population to service in the IDF, while strengthening their readiness and willingness to perform a substantial and contributing service, each to his abilities, and emphasizing the importance of serving in combat units."

Content includes combat legacy stories on field trips, the ethics of war, familiarization with different IDF units, physical education, and Arabic studies to enlist Israelis for intelligence. The format is regimented, emphasizing discipline, and a "Soldier for a Day" program takes children to a military base for descriptive presentations, especially about elite combat units.

Several civilian programs also prepare them for future service, including "Preparation for Combat Fitness" courses, "Youth Battalions Special Forces Induction," and "Follow Me." It's common "to see large groups of young men run about on public beaches, in preparation for military service."

The "Naale Program (a Hebrew acronym for Youth Immigrating Before Parents) promotes immigration for foreign Jewish children, encouraging them to come to Israel, attend high school, and become citizens. It presents military service as a major socializing force, stressing benefits such as acceptance in Israeli society.

Israeli Law Provisions

Article 44 of Israel's 1986 National Defence Service Law authorizes the IDF to obtain information about everyone Intended for Security Service. Educators, employers, and others asked to help must cooperate.

Under Article 43, persons Intended for Security Service can't travel abroad without Defense Ministry permission, although exemptions are freely granted with restrictions such as time limits.

Prior to conscription, most children receive a warrant at home, requiring they report to their Regional Conscription Bureau, a practice called "first call-up" for initial screening, data verification, medical and intelligence tests, and a personal interview. If after three warrants, children don't comply, police intervention may follow.

Military High Schools

Besides ordinary ones, some military high schools include:

-- Mevo'ot Yam with 500 students who wear uniforms, participate in parades, and learn weapons use in preparation for future Navy service;

-- Air Force technical schools for cadets preparing for future IAF service; and

-- the Amal 1 network - one of the largest high school ones in Israel, a joint military-civilian project for future Air Force service.

Courses combine civilian and military studies, children being groomed to become soldiers.

Yet Article 77(2) of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions (1977) prohibits recruiting them under 15. In Israeli military schools, they're "regularly recruited" as young as 13 or 14. It persists because of militarism's pervasive influence in Israeli society and culture.

Military Training for Children

In all Israeli high schools, mandatory Youth Battalion Training Week simulates army life for 11th and 12th graders on military bases. In uniforms, it includes:

-- reception, processing, orientation, and marches;

-- night and day weapons and field training; and

-- lessons about battle heritage, military ranks, discipline, adapting, service commitment, and purity of arms, etc.

During the entire time, youths are surrounded by soldiers and treated like them gain familiarity with military life. In groups of about 20, treatment and conditions are rigorous, obedience a must, and for those who disobey, punishments include extra calisthenics, running, and chores like latrine duty.

In times of emergency Youth Battalions may be recruited for active service as they were during the 1948 war.

For boys 16 or older, elite combat unit tryouts are held, initially for two days, and for qualifiers up to five, involving demanding and exhausting mental and physical fitness tests. The IDF's reference to "substantial service" strongly emphasizes Elite Combat Unit enlistment - the "cream of the crop" for the "most exciting fighting activities."

For the few selected, pressure to be accepted is intense because participation is considered a great honor.

Military Use of Child Labor

Arranged through schools, children are enlisted to support the IDF, especially during times of emergency or special needs. Besides training, they do laundry, sort uniforms, wash dishes, set dining room tables, clean vehicles, and do other chores, freeing up soldiers for military duties.

To support a war effort, children as young as 15 and a half are enlisted for "Labour Service (to protect) the State or public security or for providing vital services to the population." In all cases, schools cooperate, and during extreme times, children have no choice.

Civil Guard Use of Children

The Israeli Civil Guard is a police-run community-based organization, founded in 1974 to mobilize civilians for protection against Arab militia attacks. Today, the Guard patrols community areas, challenges Palestinians, harasses them, at times shoots them, and performs other civil services like securing public transportation, educational institutions, open markets and parking lots as well as helping out at checkpoints.

About 15% of Guard volunteers are children, eligible at age 15 to join in a restricted status that's removed a year later. Parents consent is also required. Youths are armed, and some schools give extra credit for participating.

Members of Emergency Squads are mostly adults to be first called on as needed, but since 2002 high school students have increasingly been enlisted.

Although part of Israel's police force, the 1971 Police Order's Section 8 is titled "The Israeli Police Force in Military Functions, and Article 92(a) states:

"At times of war or emergency, the Minister is entitled, if the government agrees, to declare the Israeli Police Force, or a part of it, a military force which might be employed in military functions for the protection of the State."

In the West Bank, children as young as 15 guard settlements and other security work, performing functions that include working in police headquarters and patrolling with arms they're trained to use.

Some of them "grow up believing they must banish the Palestinians, and act" violently with impunity, including harassing them freely, beating them, breaking into their homes, destroying their property, and at times killing them.

There's little difference between "training and assigning a child to do work as an armed (settlement) guard (or) assigning (them as) soldier(s) at the front in wartime....The formalities of whether one officially belongs to the army or not are hardly relevant," given the pervasive militarization of Israeli society.

Although civilian service is voluntary, children are raised "in a hostile and violent environment in the middle of a confrontation area." In the Territories, many believe it's their land. They must protect it, and Palestinians are enemies. Under intense social pressure, they perform at a very immature age when they're too young to know the consequences, yet are conditioned to be militant and obedient.

Using Palestinian Children as Collaborators

Israel's GSS recruits Palestinian informants, including children, for field agents to provide intelligence - collaborators most Palestinians call traitors "worthy of death."

Tactics involve detaining Palestinian children, then pressuring and torturing them to comply, much like recruiting the South Lebanon Army (SLA) after the 1982 invasion and occupation. Under IDF and GSS supervision, SLA Lebanese citizens, including children as young as 12, were used as collaborators for intelligence purposes.

During the second Intifada, Palestinians (including children) were used as human shields, forced at gunpoint to comply.

Some Final Comments

Israeli militarized education starts early in overt and symbolic ways to condition young minds to accept service as natural, vital, and an honor for Jewish citizens. The "educational system is so committed to (promoting) military service that it (fails) to consider" the harm to new youth generations who grow up thinking wars and violence are natural, peace unattainable, Arabs inferior, and Palestinians enemies.

Militarizing society is corrupting and self-destructive, recruiting child soldiers criminal and unconscionable. "All forms....must stop." The alternative is unacceptable, illegal, and intolerable.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://prognewshour.progressiveradionetwork.org/

http://lendmennews.progressiveradionetwork.org/

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

AmeriKKKa Committed Atrocities in Afghanistan, Duh!


US-Committed Atrocities in Afghanistan - by Stephen Lendman


After General Stanley McChrystal took charge of US/NATO Afghan forces last June, systematic atrocities escalated sharply after promises of kinder, gentler killing (an oxymoron), winning hearts and minds, and fewer civilian casualties as a "paramount" objective - now much higher the result of more than a fourfold increase in night raids, targeting civilians, including children, while they sleep.

McChrystal's resume exposed his history - death squad terror, mostly against civilians, the same counterinsurgency he waged throughout Iraq as Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), especially in Al-Anbar Province that increased violence to curb it.

It's no surprise for a man this writer earlier called "a hired gun, an assassin, a man known for committing war crime atrocities as (JSOC) head" - since 1980 comprised of Army Delta Force and Navy Seal units, killers to reign terror on vulnerable targets, mainly civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, and earlier in Vietnam as part of Operation Phoenix. More on that below.

Rare On-the-Ground Reports

The London Times Kabul-based Jerome Starkey reports what major US media accounts suppress. For example, his March 15 commentary headlined, "Survivors of family killed in Afghanistan raid threaten suicide attacks."

The incident involved the February 12 killing of two pregnant women, a teenage girl, a policeman and his brother. "No one has claimed responsibility (and) A US official in Kabul refused to" say for reasons of national security, the usual cover-up for high crimes and misdemeanors prohibited for any reason.

This time, survivors were paid off for their loss, but family head Haji Sharabuddin wants justice, not money, and to get it "will....do suicide attacks and (the whole province) will support us."

Starkey debunked the official story about the raid being a mistake. These were targeted assassinations, the same kinds rampant daily on the ground and by drone-launched missiles, mostly against civilians called Taliban or Al Qaeda militants.

Sayed Mohammed Mal, Gardez University's vice-chancellor, told Starkey that he once thought these type raids safeguarded Afghans, what he now knows isn't so after members of his own family were killed. "I realize I was wrong," he said. "Now I accept the things (other) people told me. I hate (foreign forces). I hate the Government" that tolerates them.

According to the dead policeman's son, Abdul Ghafar, "My father was friends with the Americans and they killed him....I want to kill them. I want the killers brought to justice." Another victim's father, Mohammed Tahir, said "They teach us human rights, then they kill a load of civilians. They didn't come here to end terrorism. They are terrorists."

A March 8 Starkey article titled, "Karzai offers families 'blood money' for sons killed in raid" told a similar story about other victims - "nine children killed (aged 12 - 18) in a brutal night raid" called a mistake - a cold-blooded one murdering children while they slept, shot in their beds, or dragged to another room and killed. Also, Abdul Khaliq, a neighboring farmer, was gunned down when he ran out of his house during the raid.

During the February Marja campaign, Operation Moshtarak killed 19 civilians. US Special Forces bombed three minibuses in Oruzgan province, killing at least 27 more, at times apologizing when victims are revealed as noncombatants.

As for the reported successful US offensive, New York Times writer Richard Oppel's April 3 article headlined otherwise, saying: "Violence Helps Taliban Undo Afghan Gains," explaining "how little (control) Marines (have) outside their own outposts," the Taliban as dominant as ever. So much so that "Even the Marines admit to being somewhat flummoxed," Brig. General Larry Nicholson saying "Most people here identify themselves as Taliban," stopping short of acknowledging widespread hostility to occupation.

Starkey's April 19, 2009 article headlined "Botched Afghan raid kills mother and (her brother-in-law and three) children (one a new-born)" in Khost province - another "mistake" the Pentagon conceded, the same kind made daily, always against civilians, admitted only as damage control, the official lie, when cover-up doesn't work.

A late December Kunar province massacre killed 8 children, dragged from their beds and shot in cold blood, some of them handcuffed. The Pentagon called them terrorists, making improvised explosive devices (IEDs). They were kids, students, in grades six through 10 (aged 11 - 17), eight from the same family. After speaking to their school headmaster, a government investigator said:

"It's impossible they were Al Qaeda. They were children. They were civilians. They were innocent. I condemn this attack."

In late February, nine more children were killed, aged 12 - 18. Most were "shot at close range while they slept," another dragged from his bed and murdered, NATO initially alleging their involvement in IED making, then saying they entered a village and took fire so returned it, and finally admitting they were civilians saying:

"Knowing what we know now, it would probably not have been a justifiable attack. We don't now believe that we busted a major ring," something known all along but only acknowledged as damage control.

On March 22, Starkey headlined "US-led forces in Afghanistan are committing atrocities, lying, and getting away with it," saying McChrystal-led forces "are rarely called to account because most reporters are too dependent on access, security and the 'embed culture' to venture out" and learn the truth. Worse still, they're paid to lie, cover up, or be fired.

For example, New York Times writers CJ Chivers and Rod Nordland's February 14 article headlined "Errant US Rocket Strike Kills Civilians in Afghanistan." It quoted Hamid Karzai expressing "regret (for) this tragic loss of life." Neither he or the writers acknowledged the cold-blooded murder of 10 Helmand province civilians, including five children, verboten admissions in major US media reports.

Nor by a puppet leader. Yet fearing national opposition to his regime, he's begun openly criticizing Washington saying, "They wanted to have a puppet government," virtually admitting that US/NATO forces are invaders.

Paid Lying - What Major US and Western Media Do

Like in America, the entire Western media, including BBC and so-called National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting scrupulously suppress the truth. They rarely mention "embarrassing" incidents, and when they do it's dismissively. They won't say raids terrorize, bomb homes and wedding parties, massacre civilians, their wives and children, noncombatants called Taliban or Al Qaeda, to save villages by destroying them, to pacify Afghans by killing them, to bring tyranny papered over as democracy. If reporters did, they'd be fired.

What they suppress, Starkey reports, his latest April 5 article headlined, "US special forces 'tried to cover-up' botched Khataba raid in Afghanistan," saying:

"US special forces dug bullets out of their victims' bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol before lying to their superiors about what happened...."

The victims - two pregnant women, a teenage girl, a police officer and his brother, those killed in the above mentioned February 12 raid. After initial lies and cover-up, NATO finally "admitted responsibility for all the deaths for the first time last night," yet continuing to deny a cover-up and saying no evidence showed inappropriate conduct. In other words, murdering civilians in cold blood is acceptable and appropriate. Apparently so as it's ongoing daily.

Extrajudicial Killings - Predator Drones Target Civilians

On March 16, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit:

"demanding that the government disclose the legal basis for its use of unmanned drones to conduct targeted killings overseas. In particular, the lawsuit asks for information on when, where and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, the number and rate of civilian casualties and the other basis information essential for assessing the wisdom and legality of using armed drones to conduct targeted killings."

At issue is using them against civilians, Admiral Dennis Blair, Obama's Director of National Intelligence (DNI), saying US citizens will be targeted.

The ACLU sued the Defense, State, and Justice Departments after each provided no requested information "nor have they given any reason for withholding documents. The CIA answered the ACLU's request by refusing to confirm or deny the existence of any relevant documents." CIA wasn't sued because the ACLU will first appeal its non-response to the Agency Release Panel.

Killer drones were used in Bosnia in 1995 and against Serbia in 1999. America's new weapon of choice is now commonplace in Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, perhaps elsewhere, and virtually anywhere targeted attacks are planned globally.

Officially know as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or remote piloted vehicles (RPVs), they're used, among other purposes, for surveillance and combat equipped with Hellfire or other missiles for targeted killings.

At issue is their legality, given their use outside traditional battlefields for extrajudicial assassinations, a practice US and international laws prohibit. Yet reports confirm the Obama administration ramping up their use - why the ACLU and other human rights groups express concern.

A December 2009 Social Science Research Network-published Notre Dame Legal Studies Paper titled, "Unlawful Killing with Combat Drones: A Case Study of Pakistan, 2004 - 2009" said the following:

"First drones launch missiles or drop bombs, the kind of weapons that may only be used lawfully in an armed conflict. Until the spring of 2009, there was no armed conflict (in Pakistan). International law does not recognize the right to kill without warning outside an actual armed conflict. Killing without warning is only tolerated during the hostilities of an armed conflict, and, then, only lawful combatants may lawfully carry" them out.

CIA members "are not lawful combatants and their participation in killing persons - even in an armed conflict - is a crime." US military forces may be "lawful combatants in Pakistan" only if its government requested them. It did not.

Further, beyond targeted individuals, collateral killing is commonplace. "Drones have rarely, if ever, killed just the intended target. By October 2009, the ratio has been up to" 50 civilians for each militant. As a result, drone use violates "the war-fighting principles of distinction, necessity, proportionality and humanity."

Yet they happen daily in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and have escalated dramatically under General McChrystal for extrajudicial killings. Along with bombers and helicopter gunships, their use in Afghanistan (and North Waziristan, Pakistan) is so pervasive that anyone in the open or near targeted sites risks being killed - civilians, including women and children, most vulnerable.

Spiegel online (spiegel.de March 13, 2010) calls killer drones the "Lynchpin of Obama's War on Terror....the weapon of choice....But the political, military and moral consequences are incalculable."

One report said in the past two years the Air Force Research Laboratory embarked on a program to "build the ultimate assassination robot (described as) a tiny, armed drone for the US special forces to employ in terminating 'high-value targets' " that most often are noncombatants.

On April 4, New York Times writers Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah headlined, "Drones Batter Qaeda and Allies Within (North Waziristan) Pakistan," referring to a "stepped-up campaign....over the past three months (casting) a pall of fear over an area (by) fly(ing) overhead sometimes four at a time, emitting a beelike hum virtually 24 hours a day, observing and tracking targets, then unleashing missiles on their quarry...." The ferocity of strikes got one "militant" to say, "It seems they really want to kill everyone....," civilians, of course, most vulnerable.

Vietnam's Operation Phoenix - Prototype for McChrystal's War

From 1968 - 1973, the CIA ran the Phoenix Program with US Special Forces' Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Special Operations Group (MACV-SOG), involving covert missions to crush the National Liberation Front (NFL resistance Viet Cong or VC).

It was a depersonalized murder program to remove opposition elements and terrorize people into submission - now used against Iraq, Afghanistan, North Waziristan, Pakistan, elsewhere, and perhaps one day coming to a neighborhood near you.

In 1975, Counterspy magazine called Phoenix "the most indiscriminate and massive program of political murder since the Nazi death camps of world war two." Included were security-risk US military personnel and members of the South Vietnamese government. Before it ended, around 80,000 people were killed, yet it failed.

In the mid-1960s, it began as a CIA Counter Terror (CT) program that recruited, organized, supplied and directly paid CT teams whose function was to use Vietcong techniques, kidnappings and intimidation against the Vietcong leadership.

By 1968, it was expanded and called Intelligence Coordination and Exploitation (ICEX), then Phoenix, to neutralize the VC as top priority, much like McChrystal's counterterrorism in Afghanistan and North Waziristan, and earlier in Iraq.

In Vietnam, a Civil Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS) organization was established overseeing Phoenix. It was a gimmick doomed to fail, much like current Iraq and Afghanistan occupations aren't sustainable in countries known historically as foreign occupier graveyards.

Phoenix was called Vietnam's "grand illusion of the American cause," the same miscalculation today no matter how long current wars continue, whatever amounts are spent, or how much more terror, mass killings and destruction lie ahead for people determined to resist and prevail. Given their past successes, odds are they'll do it again, no matter the price.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://prognewshour.progressiveradionetwork.org/

http://lendmennews.progressiveradionetwork.org/

Monday, April 05, 2010

Israel Lobby behind attacks on Erdogan government in Turkey

Dateline Istanbul -- WMR has learned from informed sources that the pro-Israel think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), formerly headed up by President Obama's current Middle East adviser on the National Security Council, Dennis Ross, has been identified as a key player in a Turkish and international psychological warfare effort to paint the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as "radical Islamist." Erdogan has come in for attack by the Israel Lobby because of his outspoken criticism of Israel over its attack on Gaza and his walking out of a 2009 Davos conference seminar where Israeli President Shimon Peres was also in attendance.

WINEP, through one of its Turkey experts, Soner Cagaptay, has attacked Erdogan as a dangerous Islamist. Cagaptay also crticizes Turkey over its prosecution of key members of the Ergenekon "deep state" network, which stands accused of trying to overthrow Erdogan in a military coup. WINEP acts in concert with the wishes of the Likud government of Israel and WMR has learned of close links between the Kemal Atatukist officials involved with Ergenekon and top Likud and Mossad officials. These links also extend to the Israeli Lobby operations in Washington, including WINEP, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

WMR has obtained a document on a planned Ergenekon operation code-named Operation Cage, which, among other things, outlines the plans of Ergenekon to plant stories in the media and on the Internet that were critical of Erdogan's government and attempted to stoke ethnic tensions against the ruling AKP government.

Operation Cage should serve as an example of how the U.S. "deep state" conducts similar operations in the United States and abroad. The Operation Cage document follows:

APPENDIX.II

OPERATION CAGE (KAFES) ACTION PLAN

No of Copy : 1/5

Headquarters Preparing : Special Operations Force Command

Place of Preparation : ISTANBUL

Date and Time Group : 300950 C MARCH 2009

Code Number : KF – 03

TIME SLICE: C

DIVISION OF TASKS: As indicated by Annex A

1. SITUATION:

a. General:Public opinion developed in the wake of the operations involving Priest Santaro, Malatya Zirve Publishing House and Hrant DINK that the non-Muslims living in Turkey were the target of the (Islamist) reactionary groups but intensive propaganda activities were staged by AKP (Justice and Development Party) with the support of the opposite media that the said incidents had been organized by Ergenekon.

  1. Enemy Elements:

(1) It has commissioned various news reports in the supporting media[1]

(2) It received intensive support in the wake of the reaction at Davos

(3) There has been deterioration in the confidence enjoyed by them following the allegations of corruption raised by the ruling[2] parties, particularly CHP

(4) There is partial opinion following the increase in the rate of unemployment as a result of the economic crisis that they have failed to score adequate success in administration

(5) It has failed to achieve success in the local elections of March 29, 2009 as it had expected

  1. Friendly Elements

(1) The campaign for support extended by the political parties, various organizations, establishments and associations in favor of the members of our staff arrested under Ergenekon Case is maintained successfully.

(2) The propaganda activities by the commonsensical press and publication organs against the reactionary groups continue at an increased tempo.

(3) The success scored in the local elections has boosted our morale.

(4) Although a part of the weapons, materials and equipment has been captured by the security forces, they are still sufficient for the next operations.

(5) Difficulty is experienced in recruitment of new members for the organization and the training level of the present staff is high.


2. DUTY:

To increase pressure by both local and foreign communities on AKP Government, to keep the public opinion pre-occupied and change the agenda, particularly Ergenekon Case.

3. EXECUTION:

  1. Operation Draft:

(1) General Information

(a) For the purpose of ensuring that the Special Operations Force Command extend support to those under arrest as part of Ergenekon Case, make the counter psychological warfare by AKP and its supporters ineffective, boost the morale of the organization and win public support, terrorizing propaganda will be staged targeting at the non-Moslems and such activities will be shown via black propaganda as if they were executed by AKP and other evil hubs supporting AKP.

(b) The psychological operation activities to be executed are indicated by Annex B Psychological Operation Campaign Control Form.

(2) The operation will be executed in four stages:

(a) Preparatory Stage:

(1) The names and addresses of the non-Muslim population will be determined

(2) The subscription lists of the newspapers, magazines, etc., owned by the non-Muslims will be obtained

(3) The students, parents and employees of the educational facilities owned by the non-Muslims will be identified.

(4) The community lists of the foundations and places of worship owned by the non-Muslims will be obtained.

(5) The religious festivals / major days of the non-Muslims as well as the locations where religious service and ceremonies are held by them.

(6) The cemeteries of the non-Muslims, which would fit action, will be identified.

(b) Terrorizing Stage:

(1) The lists of subscribers to AGOS Newspaper, which have been obtained, will be published on Internet, particularly the share sites and reactionary web sites.

(2) Calls of threat will be made and letters of threat sent to the subscribers to AGOS Newspaper.

(3) Slogans with threatening contents will be written on the intensive routes in Adalar region.

(4) The lists of subscribers will be duplicated and left at such locations where they are easily visible to the citizens living on Adalar.

(c) Stage of building public opinion:

(1) It will be ensured that the lists of subscribers are published by the press, thus receiving coverage.

(2) Columns will be commissioned about the issue.

(3) The issue will have coverage by the debate programs, with the nonsensical attitude of AKP government being raised.

(4) The media will again give coverage of the Incidents of September 6 – 7 and news articles on the Wealth Tax.

(5) Anti-AKP web sites will be increased so that they stage intensive activities.

(6) Web sites operating against the minorities will be supported in terms of their contents.

(7) By developing new websites under titles www.tehditaltindayiz.com (“we are under threat”) , www.agosasahipcikalim.com” (“let us protect Agos”), etc., in addition the present ones, broadcasting will be made in line with pre-determined themes and such sites will be effectively promoted.

(8) By establishing Web sites for which impression is created that they are funded by AKP and pro-government media, promotion of such sites shall be made as required and publications with religious contents will be mixed with messages showing the media of the minorities, particularly AGOS Newspaper, as targets.

(9) By showing AKP and reactionary groups as the culprit of the actions executed, “black propaganda” will be carried out in terms of origin.

(d) Stage of Action:

(1) Bombs will be exploded at various quarters in Adalar region.

(2) Assassination will be plotted against persons having a high profile as a fierce defender of minority rights.

(3) Sound bombs will be placed at the pre-determined spots such as the vicinity of AGOS Newspaper.

(4) By placing suspicious packages at many spots and informing the police of them, the security forces will be kept pre-occupied.

(5) Action involving bombs will be staged at the piers where boat journeys to Adalar are organized.

(6) Sensational actions will be executed at the cemeteries of the non-Moslems.

(7) One or several of the popular non-Muslim businessmen and artists will be kidnapped.

(8) Vehicles, houses and workplaces will be frequently will be set on fire in those regions having dense non-Muslim population.

(9) Similar actions will also be made in the provinces such as Istanbul and İzmir where the non-Muslims live densely.

(10) Actions of sabotage, kidnapping and assassination executed will be claimed on behalf of the reactionary organizations determined following coordination to be made with the special plan cell leaders.

  1. Tasks for the subordinate units:

Special Operations Force Command:

(1) Will implement psychological operation activities as per Annex B.

(2) By obtaining relevant members / units from other regions temporarily where necessary, the same will be allocated for use by the regional commands where they are needed.

  1. Coordination:

(1) The activities at the stage of terrorizing will be coordinated by the regional commands and planning details will be communicated to the special plan cell leader urgently.

(2) Identification and organization of opinion leaders, artists, academicians, journalists and writers as well as other key communication figures, who will be used under the public opinion building stage, are subject to the orders of the Consultative Assembly President.

(3) Detailed plans necessary for the stage of action will be prepared by the regional commanders and communicated to the special plan cell leader through a secure channel. The plans will be prepared in such a manner responding to the requirements identified below:

(a) Objective of the action

(b) Commencement time and total duration of the action

(c) Timing diagram for the action

(d) Staffs who will execute the action and their names

(e) Task matrices containing the questions who will do what when and where

(f) Map and aerial photograph, if any, of the action zone

(g) Planning sketch clearly explaining the method of performing the action

(h) Plan of withdrawal from the zone after action

(i) List of materials and equipment to be used in the action

(j) Diagram of communication procedures

(k) Reserve plans

(l) Sketches and definitions of the meeting points before and after the action

(m) The method of following developments in the wake of the action

(n) Procedures to meet medical support which may be needed during the action

(4) Support may be obtained from Lawyer Serdar ÖZTÜRK in any legal cases that may occur by first getting the approval of the Special Operations Force Command.

4. ADMINISTRATION AND LOGISTICS:

a. Transport, accommodation, catering and technical and tactical requirements of the staff shall be met by the regional commands.

b. The list of overall weapons, munitions and materials, which will be needed under Operation Cage as per assessment, is provided by Annex C.

c. The regional commands will first endeavor to meet the additional requirements locally and any requirements which cannot be met will be requested to be met by the Special Operations Force Command urgently.

5. COMMAND AND COMMUNICATION:

a. Command:

(1) Operation Cage shall be led and managed by the Special Operations Force Commander.

(2) The Special Operations Force Commander will be stationed at the main headquarters.

b. Communication:

(1) The Special Operations Force Communication Management Permanent Instructions are in force. Communication will be carried out subject to these principles.

(2) Any open channels will never be used except for the confidential communication and meeting procedures throughout the operation.

(3) Any reports and messages will strictly be encrypted and CPK method will be used to send them.

(5) Ultimate care will be paid to compartmenting and no face to face liaison will be provided between the cells without approval of the regional commanders.

Ercan KİREÇTEPE

Naval Officer

Acting Special Operations Force Command

ANNEXES :

Annex A (Action Units Task Status)

Annex B (Psychological Operation Campaign Control Form)

Annex C (List of Weapons, Munitions and Materials)

ANNEX - A

DISTRIBUTION OF TASKS

CONSULTATIVE ASSEMBLY :

Vice Admiral A. Feyyaz ÖĞÜTÇÜ : President

Vice Admiral Kadir SAĞDIÇ : Deputy President

Junior Rear Admiral M. Fatih ILGAR : Member

SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND :

Naval Staff Senior Colonel Mücahit ERAKYOL : Special Operations Force Command

(R) Naval Major Levent BEKTAŞ : Special Plan Cell Leader

MARMARA REGION COMMAND :

Naval Captain Ercan KİREÇTEPE : Marmara Region Command

Naval Major Erme ONAT : Cell 1 Leader

Y/S Sergeant Major Halil CURA : Cell 1 member

Radio Sergeant Major Sadettin DOĞAN : Cell 1 member

Eln. Sergeant Major Deniz ERKİ : Cell 1 member

Naval Worker Tanju Veli AYDIN : Cell 1 member

Naval Staff Senior Major Emre SEZENLER : Cell 2 Leader

Naval Senior Major Eren GÜNAY : Cell 2 member

Medical Sen. Sergeant Major Hüseyin DOĞANCI : Cell 2 member

Eln. Senior Sergeant Major Ferudun ARSLAN : Cell 2 member

Eln. Sergeant Major İsmail BAK : Cell 2 member

AEGEAN REGION COMMAND :

Naval Staff Senior Colonel Metin SAMANCI : Aegean Region Commander

Naval Senior Colonel Levent GÜLMEN : Cell 1 Leader

Naval Staff Senior Major Erbay ÇOLAKOĞLU : Cell 1 member

Naval Major A. Ayhan SARAÇOĞLU : Cell 1 member

Naval Captain Bülent Aydın : Cell 1 member

Naval First Lieutenant Bora COŞKUN : Cell 1 member

Eng.Sen. Sergeant Major Süleyman ERHARAT : Cell 1 member

Motor Senior Sergeant Major Murat ASLAN : Cell 1 member

Radio Sergeant Major Emre TEPELİ : Cell 1 member

Radar First Sergeant İbrahim ÖZTÜRK : Cell 1 member

Naval Staff Lieutenant Colonel Halil ÖZSARAÇ : Cell 2 Leader

Naval Major Gürol YURDUNAL : Cell 2 member

Naval Senior Captain Ümit ÖZBEK : Cell 2 member

Naval Officer Bülent KARAOĞLU : Cell 2 member

Radio Senior Sergeant Major Dalyan MUSLU : Cell 2 member

Radar Senior Sergeant Major Hüseyin EROL : Cell 2 member

Kaz. Senior Sergeant Major Mehmet İNCE : Cell 2 member

Artillery Sergeant Major Mehmet İNCE : Cell 2 member

BLACK SEA REGION COMMAND :

Naval Lieutenant Colonel Zühtü TÜMER : Black Sea REGION COMMANDER

Naval Captain İ. Levent OLCANER : Cell 1 Leader

Naval Staff Major Özgür ERKEN : Cell 1 member

Naval Major Metin FİDAN : Cell 1 member

Eng.Senior Sergeant Major Türker DOĞANCA : Cell 1 member

Adm. Sergeant Major Mesut ADANUR : Cell 1 member

Por. Senior Sergeant Major Metin KESKİN : Cell 1 member

Levent BEKTAŞ

(R) Naval Major

Special Plan Cell Leader


ANNEX – B

PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATION CAMPAIGN CONTROL FORM

1. TARGET:

It is to increase both local and foreign pressure on AKP Government, keep the public pre-occupied and change the agenda, particularly Ergenekon case by questioning the life and property safety of the non-Muslims living in Turkey.

2. TASK:

By using effective propaganda techniques and mass communication media, it is to build public awareness that the non-Muslims living in Turkey, particularly AGOS Newspaper, are in danger, that AKP Government does not protect their rights and that the government pursues religious discrimination.

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL TARGET:

By developing negative impact on the non-Muslims through terrorizing propaganda, it is to persuade the public opinion into believing that AKP and other evil hubs supporting AKP are against the non-Muslims and eliminating any hesitancy on people’s minds by means of black propaganda in terms of source by developing adverse impact through terrorizing propaganda on the non-Muslims.

4. CONDITIONS:

  1. In the wake of the murder of Hrant DINK, a large mass stood up for Hrant DINK and the non-Muslims living in Turkey by shouting slogans: “We are all Armenian” and “We are all Hrant”.
  2. AKP commissioned various news articles in the press and publication organs, which stated that the government safeguards the non-Muslims.
  3. The atmosphere of enmity for foreigners has been partially developed in the wake of Davos Crisis.

5. ATTITUDE, SENSITIVITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE TARGET:

The segments, which are influenced by the propaganda, think:

  1. That the non-Muslims living in Turkey are oppressed and that they cannot practice their beliefs freely
  2. That AKP Government represents only the members of the Islamic Religion and does not endeavor for the rights of the minorities
  3. That the non-Muslims are targeted by radical Islamist formations and under threat and
  4. That it is attempted to suppress the press and publication organs, particularly AGOS Newspaper, endeavoring to voice the interests of the minorities.

6. THEMES:

  1. Themes to be used:

1. AKP’s target is to establish a theocratic Islamic dictatorship by making the provisions of Islam prevalent in all the systems of the state.

2. AKP attempts to keep any citizens from the religions other than Islam under pressure.

3. When AKP reaches a condition by which it could not be forced by any powers to step back, it pursues the objective of eliminating Atatürk’s principles and revolutions, topple the secular, democratic, social and legal state and establishing a regime based on religious principles.

4. Our non-Muslim citizens living on Islands are under oppression and threat.

5. AKP Governments ignores the oppression of and threats to the non-Muslims.

6. A significant portion of the media in Turkey acts under the control of AKP and fundamentalist terror organizations.

7. It is attempted to silence the limited number of media, particularly AGOS Newspaper, which defend the rights of the minorities.

8. It intends to force our non-Muslim citizens living on Adalar into migration with propaganda terrorizing them and slogans such as “Die or Leave!”, “Whose Are the Islands?” and “You will be thrown into sea again!”.

  1. Themes to be avoided:

(1) AKP Government is respectful towards all the religions and beliefs.

(2) All the non-Muslims living in Turkey can freely practice their beliefs and worship.

(3) The minorities in Turkey live having equal rights without suffering any discrimination.

7. TARGET MASSES REQUIRED TO BE REACHED BY ORDER OF PRIORITY:

  1. Subscribers of AGOS Newspaper living on Adalar:

They must be placed under psychological pressure by emphasizing that they are under very serious threat and it must be ensured that they voice this situation.

  1. Non-Muslims living in Turkey:

By making it known that we have information on the activities against the subscribers of AGOS Newspaper, it must be ensured that they would be on the hit list sooner or later.

  1. Non-Muslims living abroad:

By adopting the thought that the minorities and non-Muslims in Turkey are subjected to oppression, a comprehensive public opinion must be developed in this respect abroad.

  1. Citizens having a secular and democratic understanding:

They must be informed that the anti-secular formations get powerful steadily, that if measures are not taken, secularism would be replaced by Sharia (Islamic Law) and that nobody including the minorities would be able to live freely.

  1. Conservative Citizens:

They must be provoked by themes that AGOS Newspaper and similar publications are against Islam and that they pursue separatism.

  1. Members of the Opposition Party

They must be informed that AKP tolerates threats and incidents against the non-Muslims and that it even supports them.

8. KEY COMMUNICATION FIGURES:

  1. Religious Functionaries of the Minority Religions:

Both local and foreign public opinion is attracted to this issue thanks to their statements that they are under oppression and threats regarding their beliefs.

  1. Members of the Opposition Party:

They must be directed to carry out campaigns that AKP tolerates threats and incidents against the non-Muslims and that it even supports them.

  1. Writers, Editors, Program Producers and Presenters Working in the Press and Publication Organs:

By contacting the media organizations having anti-AKP publications, the agenda must be kept hot thanks to the publications to be made by them focusing on the pre-determined themes.

  1. Non-Governmental Organizations and Trade Unions:

It must be ensured that they organize events (marches, demonstrations, panels, etc.) in line with the pre-determined themes.

  1. Artists having social popularity:

They must draw public attention by making statements in line with the pre-determined themes during their programs.

9. COMMUNICATION TOOLS OF THE CAMPAIGN AND THEIR INTENSITY AND TIMING:

  1. Under the terrorizing propaganda:

(1) The lists of subscribers to AGOS Newspaper, which have been obtained, will be published on Internet, particularly the share sites and reactionary web sites.

(2) Calls of threat will be made and letters of threat sent to the subscribers to AGOS Newspaper.

(3) Slogans with threatening contents will be written on the intensive routes in Adalar region.

(4) The lists of subscribers will be duplicated and left at such locations where they are easily visible to the citizens living on Adalar.

(5) Bombs will be exploded at various quarters in Adalar region.

(6) Assassination will be plotted against persons having a high profile as a fierce defender of minority rights.

(7) Sound bombs will be placed at the pre-determined spots such as the vicinity of AGOS Newspaper.

(8) By placing suspicious packages at many spots and informing the police of them, the security forces will be kept pre-occupied.

(9) Similar actions will also be made in the provinces such as Istanbul and İzmir where the non-Muslims live densely.

  1. As part of building public opinion:

(1) It will be ensured that the lists of subscribers are published by the press, thus receiving coverage.

(2) Columns will be commissioned about the issue.

(3) The issue will have coverage by the debate programs, with the nonsensical attitude of AKP government being raised.

(4) The media will again give coverage of the Incidents of September 6 – 7 and news articles on the Wealth Tax.

(5) Anti-AKP web sites will be increased so that they stage intensive activities.

(6) Web sites operating against the minorities will be supported in terms of their contents.

(7) By developing new websites under titles www.tehditaltindayiz.com (“we are under threat”) , www.agosasahipcikalim.com” (“let us protect Agos”), etc., in addition the present ones, broadcasting will be made in line with pre-determined themes and such sites will be effectively promoted.

(8) By establishing Web sites for which impression is created that they are funded by AKP and pro-government media, promotion of such sites shall be made as required and publications with religious contents will be mixed with messages showing the media of the minorities, particularly AGOS Newspaper, as targets.

(9) By showing AKP and reactionary groups as the culprit of the actions executed, “black propaganda” will be carried out in terms of origin.

Levent BEKTAŞ

(R) Naval Major

Special Plan Cell Leader

ANNEX – C

LIST OF WEAPONS, MUNITIONS AND MATERIALS

POS. NO

TYPE OF WEAPON

QUANTITY

REMARKS

1

Sniper Rifles (Remington, 7.62 / Dragunov 7.62)

3 ea.

2

Sniper Rifles (Accracy 12.7)

2 ea.

3

Guns with silencer (Glock / Smith & Wesson / Colt)

5 ea.

4

Machine guns (Uzi)

4 ea.

5

LAW

30 ea.

POS. NO

TYPE OF MUNITIONS

QUANTITY

REMARKS

1

9 x 19 mm subsonic cartridges

900 ea.

2

C4 plastic explosive

20 lbs

3

C3 plastic explosive

20 lbs

4

C8 plastic explosive

20 lbs

5

Explosive fuse

100 feet

6

Electric detonator

20 ea.

7

Referee bombs

50 ea.

8

Land type fog boxes

50 ea.

9

MKE fog boxes

100 ea.

10

Ammonium nitrate

2 tons

11

7.62 mm competition cartridges

200 ea.

12

12.7mm anti-personnel cartridges

150 ea.

13

12.7 mm anti-material cartridges

150 ea.

14

Original munitions for the weapons to be allocated / supplied

5000 ea for each weapon

POS. NO

TYPE OF MATERIAL

QUANTITY

REMARKS

1

High Zoom Binoculars

3 ea.

2

Computers without Internet

9 ea.

3

Desktop computers (which must be capable of running PHOTOSHOP program efficiently)

4 ea.

4

Unused mobile phones and lines

75 ea.

5

Printers

3 ea.

6

A4 paper

100 packs

7

Unused portable memories (40 GB)

25 ea.

8

Unused portable memories (4 - 8 GB)

50 ea.

9

Unused SD cards (4 – 8 GB)

20 ea.

10

Digital cameras (Canon / Nikon)

6 ea.

11

Digital video cameras (Sony)

6 ea.

Eren GÜNAY

Naval Senior Major

Marmara Region Cell 2 Leader



[1] The media supporting the government, which is locally called “yandaş medya”; it will be referred to as the pro-government media hereafter for contextual harmony – Translator’s Note.

[2] which must be opposition – Translator’s Note.