"Who was behind" the recent terrorist bomb attacks (Riyadh, Baghdad Red Cross, Istanbul)?
The �alleged terrorist groups� are invariably reported by the media, in chorus, as having �links to Osama bin Laden�s Al Qaeda�, without of course acknowledging the fact (amply documented by intelligence reports and official documents) that Al Qaeda is a creation of CIA
In analysing these attacks, it is important to understand that Al Qaeda is not an Islamic movement of resistance against the US. It is a network, controlled and manipulated by US intelligence. (For further details, see (Michel Chossudovsky, Osamagate, CRG, October 2001, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO110A.html )
In other words, these attacks, which allegedly are perpetrated by an "Outside Enemy" of America, are in fact carried out by a CIA "intelligence asset." Ironically, the CIA has never denied its role in creating Al Qaeda. The statements emanating from the intelligence community and the media will acknowledge that: Yes we did create Osama bin Laden, "but he went against us." (Ibid)
Intelligence Asset
Al Qaeda is an instrument of covert intelligence operations. This does not mean that Al Qaeda operatives in the field are aware of the role they are playing on the geopolitical chessboard. Nor does it mean that the various grassroots Islamic resistance movements, which have links to Al Qaeda are aware of the complex relationship between units of Al Qaeda and US intelligence.
According to the CIA, a so-called "intelligence asset" as distinct from a bona fide "intelligence agent" need not be committed to the pursuit of U.S. interests. Rather, they are meant to act and/or behave in a way which serves U.S. foreign policy interests. Intelligence assets are invariably unaware of the precise functions and roles they are performing on behalf of the CIA.
Most post-September 11 news reports consider that these Al Qaeda-CIA links belong to the "bygone era" of the Soviet-Afghan war. They are invariably viewed as "irrelevant" to an understanding of the various terrorist attacks, which have occurred since 9/11. Lost in the barrage of recent history, the role of the CIA, in supporting and developing international terrorist organizations during the Cold War and its aftermath, is casually ignored or downplayed by the Western media.
What is the hidden agenda of the terrorist attacks from the point of view of their US intelligence sponsors?
1) The terrorist attacks serve to develop a "useful wave of indignation" following the death of civilians. In other words, Al Qaeda is used by its intelligence sponsors to discredit the various grass roots (Islamic and secular) resistance movements. The attacks serve to uphold in the eyes of World public opinion, the shaky legitimacy of the US led occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The civilian casualties are meant to provide legitimacy to the "war on terrorism" and uphold the Bush Administration's national security doctrine.
2) The attacks serve to foster ethnic hatred and uphold the police state in Western countries, including the wave of arbitrary arrests directed against Muslims and Arabs. More generally, the terrorist attacks "fabricate an enemy".
3) The Istanbul synagogue attacks (November 2003) serve to uphold "the fight against international terrorism" as a legitimate campaign against anti-semitism. Needless to say, they also sustain the legitimacy of the Israeli State, while portraying both the Palestinian authority headed by Arafat and the Palestinian based Islamic organizations as "terrorists".
4) Al Qaeda is also used to infiltrate the Islamic resistance movement. The figurehead of Osama bin Laden serves to mobilise support, while distorting and weakening both the Islamic and secular resistance movements. More generally, Al Qaeda is used to destabilize secular institutions and undermine the development of a broad secular resistance movement against the US-led war. Al Qaeda and its various proxies, are thereby used to foster divisions within Middle Eastern societies, within Islam as well as between Muslims, Christians and Jews.
6) Al Qaeda is used to destroy solidarity between social, ethnic and religious groups against State terrorism and US military aggression. In turn, Saudi Arabian charities with links to the CIA are used to channel financial support to various Islamic organizations.
7) The terrorist bombings provide a pretext to wage further military operations, to send in US special forces. They feed the US propaganda campaign. In the case of the Istanbul synagogue attacks (November 2003), they contribute to stalling the Geneva Accord (signed on November 4, 2003), reached between representatives of the Palestinian authority and the Israeli Left
8) In Saudi Arabia, the terrorist attacks are being used by Washington to demand regime change. They are also applied to discredit the Saudi royal family on the grounds that members of the Saudi establishment have links to al Qaeda.
Western Intel behind the Scenes
The behind the scenes role of Western intelligence in the these attacks is not something which can be established in a clear-cut fashion.
A careful reading of the media reports, nonetheless, reveals in some cases a complex relationship between the alleged terror group and its US intelligence sponsors.
In the case of the Bali attack (October 2002), the alleged group responsible for the attack, had links to both Indonesian and Pakistan intelligence, both of which have links to the CIA.
Indonesian Intelligence also has close links to Australian Intelligence, which played a key role in the the investigation of the Bali attack. .(For further details, see Michel Chossudovsky, Fabricating an Enemy, CRG, January 2003, at http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO301B.html )
The Bali bomb attack which resulted in some 200 deaths, was allegedly perpetrated by Jemaah Islamiah, a group, which operates in several countries in South East Asia. Press reports and official statements at the time pointed to close ties between Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and Al Qaeda. The JI�s "operational leader" is Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali, a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan war, was trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to a report by UPI:
"The [Soviet-Afghan] war provided opportunities for key figures of these groups, who went to Afghanistan, to experience firsthand the glory of jihad. Many of the radicals detained in Singapore and Malaysia derived their ideological inspiration from the activities of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and Pakistan" (UPI, 6 January 2002)
What the report failed to mention was that the training of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and Pakistan was a CIA sponsored initiative launched under President Jimmy Carter in 1979, using Pakistan�s ISI as a go-between.
In the wake of the October 2002 Bali bombing, a contradictory report emanating from Indonesia�s top brass, pointed to the involvement of both the head of Indonesian intelligence General A. M. Hendropriyono as well as the CIA:
"The agency and its director, Gen. A. M. Hendropriyono, are well regarded by the United States and other governments. But there are still senior intelligence officers here who believe that the C.I.A. was behind the bombing." (Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez, More Attacks on Westerners Are Expected in Indonesia, New York Times, 25 November 2002)
Kindly help to circulate this article to as many interested people as possible.
The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca grants permission to post the above mentioned article in its entirety, or any portions thereof, so long as the URL and source are indicated, a copyright note is displayed, and, where excerpts are posted, the excerpt(s) is (are) indicated as such, and a link is provided to the full body of the text from which the excerpt(s) was taken. For publication of this article in print or other forms contact: [email protected]
Michel Chossudovsky is the author of War and Globalization, the Truth behind September 11 , Global Outlook, Shanty Bay, Ont., 2003
For details click: http://globalresearch.ca/globaloutlook/truth911.html or call 1-888-7138500
� Copyright M Chossudovsky 2003