The perpetual state of war on terror has devastated these 3 countries, but has not been without consequences for USA. On the positive side the Armament, Oil, and Security Industries have extraordinarily profited, as they would be expected to in a state of war. But their super healthy bottom lines (US corporate profits hit record high) along with those of some other corporations have done nothing to improve the lot of ordinary US citizens, who were made to contribute, and it would be hard to say they did it unenthusiastically, with both money and blood.

War profiteers along with their fellow soul mates Wall Street Investment Bankers have defrauded the US citizens in a day light robbery. US Census Bureau Report of income and poverty for 2010 is dismal news even after factoring in the jugglery with numbers and clever massaging that goes into defining poverty levels (annual income of US$ 22,134 for a family of four), or Consumer Price Index (core CPI excludes Food & Energy, the items most important to those below poverty level), or Jobless rate (count only people who are actively seeking work, so if you are so discouraged by the job market that you have given up hope, then you aren’t unemployed), or such parameters that impact peoples’ lives. Number of poor has swelled to 46.2 million or nearly 1 in 6. The median annual income in 1973, when OPEC delivered the first oil shock, was somewhat better than that reported in 2010: “the median annual income for a male full-time, year-round worker in 2010 — $47,715 — was virtually unchanged, in 2010 dollars, from its level in 1973, when it was $49,065, said Sheldon Danziger, professor of public policy at the University of Michigan… The recession has continued pushing 25-to-34-year-olds to move in with family and friends to save money. Of that group, nearly half were living below the poverty line, when their parents’ incomes were excluded”. The percentage of people without health insurance coverage of any kind rose to 16.30% in 2010. Obviously, the fortunes of Wall Street and of Main Street have moved in opposite direction. It would arguably get more & more difficult to sell the perpetual war doctrine to US citizens even under the illusion of *America is under the attack*. Well, actually it is under attack, but from enemy within rather than without.

Even if one were to set aside one’s critical faculty and uncritically buy wholesale into the story of audacious Al Qaeda attack on US in 2001, and thereby also accept that war on terror waged by Bush & Obama was not only necessary, but nay unavoidable; still a question begs: Would and Should US administration or Entities continue to have *any contacts* with Al Qaeda or affiliated individuals or groups, other than those absolutely necessary for latter’s perdition? Suggestion of any contacts or relationship with Al Qaeda, whom US has sworn to destroy, other than for meeting its objective would meet with disbelieving outrage from most in USA. In fact, Presidents and other high ranking administration officials never tire of pronouncing that any country or entities or individuals, who are found to *cooperate* with Al Qaeda would be dealt with in similar fashion. Yet a news of precisely such *Cooperation* that appeared in many newspapers hardly raised any eyebrows or comment on any of the websites, especially those that champion “Jihad Watch”, either in US or elsewhere.  The announcement or admission was implicit, but was there for anyone with eyes to see. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the votary of US & Global capital, reported on 7 September, just 4 days short of the tenth anniversary of WTC towers collapse that killed some 3000 people, US Slaps Sanctions On 3 Senior Al-Qaida members: “The Obama administration has put sanctions on *three Pakistan-based individuals it says are top al-Qaida members*. Wednesday’s action *freezes any assets in the United States* belonging to Abu Yahya al-Libi; Abd al-Rahman Ould Muhammad al-Husayn Ould Muhammad Salim; and Mustafa Hajji Muhammad Khan. *Americans are also barred from doing business with the men*. David S. Cohen, the undersecretary of treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, says the sanctions strike “at the heart of al-Qaida’s remaining leadership and its operations in Pakistan.” The Treasury Department identified al-Libi as an al-Qaida commander, Salim as a senior leader of the terrorist organization and Khan as a facilitator, courier and operative”. It may appear to unwary observer that some hitherto unknown individuals have been identified by US administration to be part of Al Qaeda network. Had it been so, then it would meet approval of most over its untiring vigilant ways, and of sanctioning such new found terror threats without brooking any delay. Though, even a cursory reading will tell that it cannot be so because members of any organization cannot reach the *top* in complete obscurity especially if they are crazy of publicity accorded to video taped messages from them as Osama Bin Laden or Dr. Ayman Al Jawahiri were. It is time to study available information of each of these individuals named by Obama Administration.

Abu Yahya Al Libi

1. 1.           Press Statement

Gordon Duguid
Acting Deputy Department Spokesman, Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of the Spokesman

Washington, DC
March 25, 2009

The U.S. Department of State has authorized a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the location and/or capture of Abu Yahya al-Libi, a prominent member of al-Qa’ida. Al-Libi, a Libyan citizen, is an Islamic scholar who was captured by authorities in 2002 and imprisoned at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan. Al-Libi escaped in July 2005, and has since appeared in a number of propaganda videos, using his religious training to influence people and legitimize the actions of al-Qa’ida. Al-Libi is a key motivator in the global jihadi movement and his messages convey a clear threat to U.S. persons or property worldwide. Al-Libi is believed to be in hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan. More information about al-Libi is located on the Rewards for Justice website (www.rewardsforjustice.net/abuyahya). We encourage anyone with information on the location of al-Libi to contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate, any U.S. military commander, or the Rewards for Justice staff via the website (www.rewardsforjustice.net), e-mail (RFJ@state.gov) or mail (Rewards for Justice, Washington, DC 20520-0303, USA). Government officials are not eligible for rewards based on information furnished in the course of their official duties.

This is an official statement from the Bureau of Public Affairs made more than two years ago announcing a *Wanted Person* and *Reward* available for his capture or death.

1. Washington Post: Al Qaeda’s New Leadership. (© 2006 The Washington Post Company)

Abu Yahya al-Libi, Religious Scholar. Nationality: Libyan

Believed to be in his late 30s, Libi has emerged as a public face of for al-Qaeda, appearing in more than a dozen lengthy Internet videos since last year. His claim to fame is his successful escape from a high-security U.S. military prison in Bagram, Afghanistan, in July 2005, along with three other al-Qaeda members. A year later, he appeared in a 54-minute videotape dedicated to his account of his capture by Pakistani forces in 2002, his subsequent time in U.S. custody and his prison breakout. Al-Qaeda has named Libi as a field commander in Afghanistan, though he styles himself as a theologian and has offered lengthy commentaries on a variety of political events, including the Prophet Muhammad cartoon controversy in Denmark and the criminal trials of Bulgarian nurses in Libya. “As time has gone on, we’ve seen him begin to address global issues of importance to al- Qaeda,” said Ben Venzke, chief executive of IntelCenter a terrorism research group. “He’s become their most visible face on video, surpassing Ayman al-Zawahiri in the past year and a half, as well as their most prolific writer.”

What strikes immediately is that Al Libi has been on the US radar at least since 2005 when he escaped from US military prison at Bagram-Afghanistan, and was considered the *most visible face* from 2006 onwards (WP report is of year 2006 and it quotes Al Libi had become *most visible face* in the past year and half).

Abd Al-Rahman Ould Muhammad Al-Husayn ould Muhammad Salim

This person is well known as Younis Al Mauratani according to the Long War Journal. “Mauritani, whose real name is ‘Abd al Rahman Ould Muhammad al Husayn Ould uhammad Salim, was born in Saudi Arabia but holds citizenship from Mauritania…. As a top leader of the external operations council, Mauritani developed a plan to “damage the economy of Europe.” Slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was aware of the plan and, “as of late 2010,” he “devoted most of al Qaeda’s funds to a plan developed by [Mauritani],” according to the Treasury press release.. The European plot, which was to consist of Mumbai-like attacks in Germany, France, and Britain, was broken up after an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan operative was captured in Afghanistan during the summer of 2010 and disclosed the details. Mauritani joined the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) in 2001 and served as a link with al Qaeda’s central command. He played a role in the GSPC’s official merger with al Qaeda; al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was formed in January 2007”.

The German newspaper Der Spiegel online reported on 6 September under the headline “On the Trail of the al-Qaida Phantom” that the arrest of Younis Al Mauretani was announced by Pakistan on Monday, 5 September. “On Monday, the Pakistani secret service ISI confirmed that they had apprehended Mauretani not far from Quetta, though there are indications that he may have been arrested more than a week ago. Such a delay is not uncommon for the ISI; they often prefer to interrogate prisoners before they admit to having them. The White House welcomed the arrest as have US diplomats in Pakistan who called it a significant blow against al-Qaida. The operation, which also netted two other al-Qaida operatives, was the result of close cooperation between ISI and the CIA, Pakistani officials said…  The Arab language website of Agence Nouakchott d’Information, the official government news agency in Mauritania, cited well-informed sources as saying that Mauretani’s true identity was Abd al-Rahman Ould Mohammed Hussein, who is thought to have been involved in a 2005 attack in the country”. The Spiegel article after many sentences on his arrest and identification warns at the end that it may still be a case of mistaken identity: “Indeed, there has so far been no independent confirmation that Mauretani has even been apprehended. Terror suspects have been misidentified before — particularly those about whom little is known”.

Mustafa Hajji Muhammad Khan

Long War Journal calls him Hassan Ghul and states: “Ghul, whose real name is Mustafa Hajji Muhammad Khan, “has acted as an al Qaeda facilitator, courier and operative since at least 2003,” Treasury stated. He “once served as a messenger between al Qaeda and former al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi.” He delivered a message from bin Laden to Zarqawi in 2003, but was captured in 2004 by Kurdish Peshmerga forces when he attempted to deliver Zarqawi’s response”. In January 2004 Fox News had reported, “Another possible Al Qaeda operative, Hasan Ghul, was detained Thursday in Iraq. Ghul, a Pakistani, is known to have been an Al Qaeda member since the early 1990s, when Al Qaeda was established”. Three days after his capture, Bush in his *characteristic style* had mentioned in his speech: “Just yesterday — not yesterday — just last week, we made further progress in making America more secure when a fellow named Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq. Hassan Ghul was a — reported directly to Khalid Shaik Muhammad, who was the mastermind of the September the 11th attacks. He was a killer. He was moving money and messages around South Asia and the Middle East to other al Qaeda leaders. He was a part of this network of haters that we’re dismantling”.  Ghul was transferred from US custody to Pakistani custody in 2006 after he disclosed a name that ultimately helped US *track down Osama*. After holding him for 1 year, he was released by Pakistan because of his ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba according to former CIA officers. Same LeT stands accused of 2008 Mumbai Terror Attacks (If CIA released Ghul to Pakistani custody knowing fully well his ties to LeT, then this is another proof of CIA complicity in Mumbai Attacks). “Ghul was transferred to US forces and interrogated and held at so-called CIA “black sites” for two years. During the interrogations, he disclosed the name of Abu Ahmed al Kuwaiti, a key courier used by bin Laden. The identification of al Kuwaiti ultimately led to bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Ghul was transferred to Pakistani custody sometime in 2006, and was released after nearly a year in custody. “Former CIA officers who targeted Ghul” said they believed he was released because “he had ties to the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group,” the al Qaeda-linked terror group that is supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate”. In another article Long War Journal gratuitously asks “It seems that numerous detainees discussed the courier, in one way or another, who led ultimately Osama bin Laden’s to demise. But only one of these detainees was freed: Hassan Ghul. And the Pakistanis freed him. Why?”. But before Pakistanis could free him, US handed over his custody to Pakistan? Why did US administration free from its custody such an important Al Qaeda operative in the first place? Why?

Available information in public domain on these three individuals that one has accessed till now only makes all the goings on in the covert world of intelligence, spy agencies, news leaks, etc., carried out in the name of War on Terror, murkier. It raises more questions than these *media reports* and *press releases* are supposed to answer. When lies serve as official truths, contradictions and inconsistencies become the norm. But one fact is incontrovertible that all the three individuals named by Obama administration to the *Sanctions List* have been known to US as prominent Al Qaeda operatives for past several years,  at least two of them had been in the US custody for some lengths of time in the past before one escaped and the other was wilfully released from custody, and the third is probably right now in Pakistan’s custody. It is this background that raises pivotal question about the announcement made by Obama administration on 7 September 2011. Where was the need to name these individuals now, when Al Qaeda has been on the US sanctions list for long? “One of the first measures implemented by President Bush in the war on terrorism was aimed at disrupting terrorist finances. On September 23, he issued an executive order freezing the assets of named terrorists, terrorist groups, and terrorist fundraising organizations in an effort to weaken the financial lifeline of the al Qaeda network.To coordinate the activities of the various US agencies on the financial front, the administration created the Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center in the Treasury Department”. An inescapable conclusion is, that the three individuals now named would have been and should have been on the sanctions’ watch list all these years. But as they have been named now individually, it begs following questions.

1. Which Banks, Financial Institutions, other entities, or Individuals are or were holding financial assets on their behalf?
2. Why these assets were not frozen earlier when it became known they are prominent Al Qaeda operatives?
3. Which US citizens, natural or legal (e.g. US Corporations), have been doing business with them till now with full knowledge that they are *Terrorists* from Al Qaeda?
4. Why administration failed to name these individuals to sanctions list all these years?

US citizens have a right to know answers to these questions.  Not only they, but the entire world has right to know these answers, especially the countries from Afghanistan to Libya. Search for answers will reveal several other truths too about the perpetual War On Terror.

O O O O O O O O O O O O

Anders Behring Breivik (ABB). It was an unknown name to the world at large just 5 days ago. This terrorist gained instant infamy when he, probably acting in concert with others, bombed central Oslo square killing 8 people, and later supposedly drove down and then took boat to reach Utoeya Island to mercilessly gun down another 68 young people at a youth camp of ruling Labour Party. How long he took to make the journey between bombing Oslo and starting his shooting spree on Utoeya Island is not known, and would be a subject of police investigation; but reportedly Norwegian police took some 90 minutes to complete it, in part because of breakdown of boat in which they were travelling.

Prior to ABB’s rise to infamy, Hans Rustad, Editor of Norwegian Right wing site “http://www.document.no/” says, ABB was a regular contributor in 2009 & 2010. Moreover, he had uploaded his magnum opus treatise ‘2083 -A  European Declaration of Independence’ running into over 1000 pages on the internet. Surprise is that he was still *unknown* to even the vaunted security agencies of US, UK, France, Israel, and the burgeoning security industry; who all pride on their Cyber sleuthing skills. Most noteworthy and foremost among them is “https://news.siteintelgroup.com/”. It is not only the *mother source* of all terror news, but has turned *Terrorism News* into a lucrative business proposition. It charges US$ 349.00 only for a year’s access to its storehouse of Jihadist photos, videos, and News. This is what it says about itself.

In the days immediately after ABB went on rampage there were and still are *much speculative* theories in media about his modus operandi of a *lone wolf*, who is *Hunting alone*. As if to buttress these theories with an *authenticated evidence*, the following evidence turned up on this site on 25^th July.

Then, this was followed next day with news about some password protected Jihadi forum, which chides European Muslims saying they should be ashamed that such terror attack was carried out by a non-Muslim and not them.

Site-Intel-Group missed ABB because its radar was not tracking him; in fact, it avoids such non-Muslim terrorists. Site-Intel-Group seems to specialise in making Non-Muslim terrorists look like Muslim-Terrorists. If that fails, then it tries to make them look like “Angel Avengers” of real and/ or cooked up acts of Jihadists. For it, Terrorism=Jihad, Jihad=Terrorism.

The coverage of Norway terror attacks is in stark contrast to acts of terrorism anywhere else that are attributed to Islamist or Jihadist. Even in this case, probably as some victims of terror were still agonising in the throes of death, the security experts on BBC and other networks were already pontificating on how Islamist were behind the gruesome attacks. In this case, most of the accounts have subtle suggestions of a man aggrieved by Islam and thereby driven to act in fit of insanity. His lawyer has already hinted that plea of insanity will be the defence strategy. Christian Monitor had the temerity to suggest that ABB was gagged by the court. Would such *disingenuous defence* have sprung up in case this horror act was indeed committed by a Muslim? This is a point to ponder for everyone. ABB was anything but insane. He planned his attacks very well: buying or hiring a farm to source *key ingredient* for bomb legitimately –nitrogenous fertilizer, bombing Oslo, and finally arriving at the Utoeya Island as a police officer to check security in the wake of Oslo bomb blast. These are not crazed acts. By all accounts, he also comes out as a lucid, well read & intelligent person from his postings on the internet. So much so that a right wing professor from US has words of praise for his strategic thinking. Now, if he has done all this singlehandedly, as the already popularized *theory* by the media would have everyone believe; then he would have to be the sanest terrorist around.  Was he acting alone?

A lot of commentary has already appeared from various quarters. Instead of adding to the bytes, I have collected some relevant material at one place for anybody to make an informed judgement. The presentation below has following 7 sections: (i) Introductory Observations (ii) Norway’s Middle East Initiative (iii) Humanistic Norwegian Official Response (iv) Media Spin on the Terrorist Attack (v) Key Investigation Areas (vi) Views of Terrorist Anders Behring Breivik (vii) Defenders of Anders Behring Breivik.

Introductory Observations.

¨Some of ABB’s views (“His main enemy is not Muslims, but multiculturalists and what he calls cultural Marxists) scarily shadow the Indian establishment’s point of view: *If you can’t get the Maoists, then get those who expose government’s unconstitutional and inhuman ways of fighting the insurgency as “Maoist Sympathizers*. He considered decimating the cultural Marxists as the first step towards *de-Islamising* Europe.

¨You tube has all kinds of videos *showing gruesome acts* of Taliban/ Jihadist and so on, but according to Reuters it promptly took off a <video called “Knights Templar 2083“> in which Terrorist-ABB says, <”Before we can start our crusade we must do our duty by decimating cultural Marxism“>.This is exactly how Hitler & Nazi operated. They first decimated all the opposition within the country on the slogans of Racial Purity, Anti-Semitism, and Patriotism, before they committed even single act of aggression outside their borders. It is also a little known fact that even the German Church was subverted and called Reich Church that replaced Bible with Mein Kampf, Cross with Swastika, and priests with Nazi preachers.

Norway’s Middle East Initiative.

<18^th July – 4 days prior to terror attacks: “The fundamental Norwegian view is that a people have the right to use UN institutions to clarify questions about the legitimacy of their status in the world. We are opposed to denying this to the Palestinians”, FM Støre told NRK. Yesterday’s developments included him supporting the Palestinians’ right to self-determination without formally endorsing any possible UN resolution. “I believe that there is only one answer with the strong Palestinian commitment in the Labour Party and the Coalition Parties,. Norway must support recognition and back the proposal”, said Eskil Pedersen of the Left-Wing Workers’ Youth Federation>. –The Foreigner.

< The United States and Israel have opposed Abbas’s plan, backed by the Arab League, to bring the Palestinians’ long quest for statehood to a vote in New York. Abbas said on Monday the plan was still on. Norwegian diplomats said UN membership would require approval by the Security Council, where the United States holds veto power, but that a resolution on statehood could go straight to the UN General Assembly. Stoere said Norway would decide how to vote after reading the exact proposal but left little doubt about his inclination>.

<Serious diplomatic conflict: Israel is accusing the Norwegian government of funding and encouraging blatant anti-Israel incitement. According to reports received by the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, the Trondheim Municipality is funding a trip to New York for students taking part in the “Gaza Monologues” play, which “deals with the suffering of children in Gaza as a result of the Israeli occupation.” The play, written by a Palestinian from Gaza, will be presented at the United Nations headquarters. It joins an exhibition by a Norwegian artists displayed in Damascus, Beirut, and Amman, with the help of Norway’s embassies in Syria,Lebanon, and Jordan. The exhibition shows killed Palestinian babies next to Israel Defense Forces helmets, which are reminiscent of Nazi soldiers’ helmets, and an Israeli flag drenched in blood. The Norwegians are also helping the distribution of a documentary film called “Tears of Gaza” to festivals across the world. According to the Foreign Ministry, the film deals with the suffering of Gaza’s children as well, without mentioning Hamas, the rockets fired at Israel, and Israel’s right to defend itself.> -Itamar Eichner.

Humanistic Norwegian Official Response. (ABB despised humanism)

<= Picture shows Foreign Minister greeted at the youth camp on Utoeya Island days before with a banner announcing “Boycott Israel”.

<I think that I will never be able to explain it fully to myself how this could happen, the horror that so many people experienced at that island on Friday. I think that this will change Norway. We’ll have a Norway before and a Norway after the bomb and the killings. Even after these terrible incidents, (Norway) will be an open society.> -Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister Norway.

<Today, people (Nearly 200,000 people participated in a memorial Monday in downtown Oslo to honor the victims) turned out to show that this town is ours and we don’t accept this.We’re going to punish him with democracy and love.> -Fabian Stang, Mayor of Oslo.

< “It’s very important that we have an open and critical discussion about how all sections of society handle a situation. … But there’s a time for everything, and we have been fully focused and continue to be focused on taking care of all those that have been affected.> -Knut Storberget, Justice Minister.

Media Spin on the Terrorist Act.

<The killer behind Friday’s bloodletting in Norway is a boyishly handsome, blond-haired anti-Islamic nationalist interested in politics, violent video games and the T.V. show “Dexter“. > -NY Daily News.

<the suspect being accused in both incidents, 32-year-old Anders Breivik, has been silenced by the court today, despite his request that the media be present at his hearing so that he could explain to the whole world why he did it> -Christian Post.

<The 32-year-old suspected of gunning down scores of young people at a summer camp and setting off a bomb in downtown Oslo that killed at least seven is a mystery to investigators: a right-winger with anti-Muslim views but no known links to hardcore extremists> -Fox News.

<Breivik maintains that he committed the acts but denies that he’s committed any crime. He reportedly told the court that he committed the attacks in order to “save Norway and Western Europe” and accused the nation’s leading Labour Party of bringing in a “mass import of Muslims.” > -Christian Post.

<he didn’t belong to any known factions in Norway’s small and splintered extreme right movement, and had no criminal record except for some minor offenses. Neo-Nazi groups carried out a series of murders and robberies in Scandinavia in the 1990s but have since kept a low profile. “They have a lack of leadership. We have pretty much control of those groups the police official told AP> -Fox News.

<but a rough portrait of Breivik as a politically-engaged man with strong views has emerged. The shooter belongs to “right-wing circles”. he is a “self-described nationalist who has also written a number of posts critical of Islam> -NY Daily News.

<”He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary“, lawyer Geir Lippestad> -Reuters.

<Though Anders Breivik is in custody for allegedly going on a mass bombing and shooting spree that claimed at least 76 lives in Norway Friday, he claims the threat of violence is not over and reaches far beyond Europe.> -ABC News.

<”Any self-appointed Justiciar Knight has been given the authority by [Knights Templar]… to act as a judge, jury and executioner until the free, indigenous peoples of Europe are no longer threatened by cultural genocide., said Anders Breivik”. But anyone appointing themselves Justiciar Knights may be joining a fictitious group.>- ABC News

<”This whole case has indicated that he’s insane.” –Defence Lawyer Geir Lippestad> -Calagary C-TV.

<A Twitter account attributed to the suspect has also emerged but it only has one post, which is a quote from the philosopher John Stuart Mill: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.”>.Telegraph.

Key Investigation Areas.

<“The accused has made statements today that require further investigation, including that ‘there are two more cells in our organization‘.”> -Kim Heger, Judge, Oslo.

<He is willing to offer information to police about two other active “cells” of his organization in Europe and several others abroad in exchange for better prison conditions. -police prosecutor > -ABC News

<Authorities were questioning witnesses about reports of a second gunman, but the police official said it wouldn’t be impossible for one man to carry out the attacks on his own> -Fox News.

<But according to Norwegian investigators and U.S.-based fringe group databases, such a group may only exist in Breivik’s head.> -ABC News

<NORWEGIAN police say they’ve found and detonated a cache of explosives at a farm rented by the gunman. “We thought it better not to move them and they were destroyed on the spot in a controlled explosion. But they’ve refused to disclose the quantity or nature of the explosives.> -Herald Sun.

<The company was set up to cultivate vegetables, melons, roots and tubers, Norway‘s TV2 says, and speculation in local media is rife that through such a link he may have had access to fertiliser, an ingredient used in bomb-making>.

Views of Terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.

<”Before we can start our crusade we must do our duty by decimating cultural Marxism,” said a caption under the video called “Knights Templar 2083” on the YouTube website, which took down the video on Saturday. > -Reuters.

<Let us hope that the US (Democratic and Republican party) allows us, their European cultural and economical crown vassals, to liberate ourselves and deport the Muslims without them militarily intervening. We shouldn’t forget that we have many allies in the US including a sizable faction of the Republican Party. There are signals that might indicate that the US will not intervene militarily after we begin liberating ourselves in the coming decades. We must continue to work close with our US allies to prevent this from happening.> -2083  A European Declaration of Independence. It seems he is voicing his fears of what NATO did under US leadership in Yugoslavia in 1990s.

<“You might know them as environmentalists, enviro-communists, eco-Marxists, neo-Communists or eco-fanatics. Then you might know them as groups that advocate for animal rights, human rights, feminism and anti-racism. They all claim they want to save the world from global warming but their true agenda is to contribute to create a world government lead by the UN or in other ways increase the transfer of resources (redistribute resources) from the developed Western world to the third world>. –Crickey.Com

<Among the strange claims he makes in the document, Breivik estimates Canada has a rather low ranking of 35 on his 100-point scale of “sexual ethics” and also claims Canada’s fertility rate amounts to a “baby deficit” because women seek out education and economic independence instead of having children> -Vancouver Sun.

<”He writes mostly about what Americans call the cultural war; focused on immigration, demography, identity, and politics in the broader sense,” Norwegian right-wing site called Document.no in 2009 and 2010, the editor of the site Hans Rustad. “His main enemy is not Muslims, but multiculturalists and what he calls cultural marxists.” > -Fox News.

<”The strategy was to target the next generation of political leaders to send a message to the wider group. The strategy is sometimes called “politicide.” Naomi Klein> -Vancouver Sun.

 Defenders of Anders Behring Breivik.

[To be sure, Professor MacDonald has some quibbles with Breivik for failing to call out the “Jewish media control” in Norway (and in Europe and America) , but in general the attack on multiculturalism is spot-on:] –DailyCos.Com “Kevin MacDonald, Professor of Psychology at Cal State Long Beach, writing on the conservative eZine Alternative Right, admires Anders Breivik for his analytic skills and clarity of thought:” (His views follow in 3 segments).

<In any case, he is certainly right in characterizing multiculturalism as an ideology of hate. Note particularly his anger at the action of the Labour Party in England in opening the gates of immigration in order “to humiliate the right-wing opponents of immigration.” As he notes in several places, multiculturalism is hatred of Europeans and their culture masked by humanism.>–

<In general, however, it must be said that he is a serious political thinker with a great many insights and some good practical ideas on strategy (e.g., developing culturally conservative media, developing youth organizations that will confront the Marxist street thugs, gaining control of NGOs).>. –

<Dagens Næringsliv, Norway’s leading business publication, writes that Breivik sought to start a Norwegian version of the Tea Party movement in Norway>. –Salem News.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O

The answer to that question lay in the fact that Fai is a Kashmiri Muslim, for long US citizen, and was at the centre of organizing conferences for nearly decades on Kashmir in US. FBI filed a 43 page affidavit in “connection with the indictment of two United States citizens on charges that they failed to register with the Justice Department as agents of Pakistan, as required by law. One of the men, Zaheer Ahmad, is in Pakistan, but the other, Syed Fai, lives in Virginia and was arrested on Tuesday. -NYT”. The affidavit further states, “the activities by the group, also called the Kashmiri Center, are largely financed by Pakistan’s spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, along with as much as $100,000 a year in related donations to political campaigns in the United States. Foreign governments are prohibited from making donations to American political candidates”. Lobbying legislatures & executive is a legitimate activity in the United States. The first amendment enshrines that right, “Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people peaceably … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. –The Free Dictionary”, in US constitution. Technically, foreign governments cannot directly lobby in USA, though, this is a minor irritant that is easily subverted with US agencies turning a blind eye. The most powerful lobby in USA is of Israeli government. But there are others: “Foreign funded lobbying efforts include the Israel lobby, Saudi Arabia lobby, Turkish lobby, Egypt lobby, Pakistan lobby, Libya lobby and China lobby -Wikipedia”. India’s name doesn’t figure here, but we too have lobbyist firms: “India has two lobbying firms keeping watch over its interests in Washington, according to government records, each earning $700,000 a year for their services. The BGR Group, a firm founded in 1991 by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, has represented the embassy of India since 2005. Late last year, the embassy hired the Podesta Group, the records show. –Charlotte Observer”. Our own Indian Express is not unaware of this: “With the US holding key to a vast number of issues affecting India and its corporates, the Indian government and companies together spent over USD 1.5 million last year on lobbying in the American power corridors -IE”. Was Fai the only lobbyist working on behalf of Pakistan? No! “The lobbying firm Locke Lord Strategies is officially registered to represent the embassy of Pakistan in Washington. Pakistan has been a Locke Lord client since May 2008, and the firm has paid close to $3 million, according to records filed with Congress and the Justice Department. Pakistan is Locke Lord’s biggest client. -Charlotte Observer”. Now, let us take stock of the situation.

• Is lobbying illegal in USA? No! In fact, it is legitimate & considered *vital* for informing US policy.
• Do foreign governments and companies hire firms to lobby on their behalf in US? Yes!

Then, Why Fai has been singled out? Fai has been arrested because he had not registered himself with Justice Department as the law requires. But, FBI has known of Fai’s activities for decades. Fai has been in breach of US laws also for decades. So why has FBI chosen to arrest Fai now on a technicality known to it before, when it was bound by law to have done it immediately? Why no one is asking this legitimate question?

Before we turn our attention to solve this mystery let us note a point in passing. Indian laws do not permit *Lobbying*. It is a bad word. Nira Radiia’s firm operated on behalf of Indian corporates not as a *lobbyist* but under a euphemistic title of “Public Relations Firm”. Foreign lobbyist were banned long back after they gained notoriety in the wake of Bofor Scandal, wherein Win Chaddha’ role as an agent came under scanner. Foreign weapons’ manufacturers have to enclose a sworn affidavit along with their offers declaring that they have no Indian or foreign agents working on their behalf. If this is so, what does one make of a report published in Silicon India in 2008: “Washington: With India being one of the world’s biggest markets for the global defence industry, a top US lobbying firm headed by former defence secretary William S. Cohen has announced an expansion of its India practice. The Cohen Group announced it was taking on its rolls Ingrid Belton Henick, an India expert, ahead of the Defence Expo in New Delhi Feb 16-19”. May be this is something for our IB and CBI to put under the scanner.

Often intelligence agencies and law enforcement machinery keep strategic information they learn in the course of their operations under wraps for future use so as to have maximum impact on current affairs at chosen time to suit the wishes of their masters. Ghulam Nabi Fai’s arrest is linked to another man’s fate, Dr. Shakil Afridi. Afridi is a CIA agent, who on behalf of the agency conducted a *vaccination campaign* in Abbottabad in an effort to pick up DNA samples of Osama Bin Laden.  This news was reported in Strategic Pages on 19^th July while informing about the talks between CIA’s Penetta and ISI’ Shuja Pasha. They *reached understanding* on most issues, most of them freshly triggered by OBL-Raid, except the release from ISI custody of Dr. Shakil Afridi, detained on charges of spying. The arrest of Fai was not known to me when I wrote the post on 20^th July concerning Hillary’s visit to India; but it is crystal clear now it is linked to impasse over Afridi’s continued detention- CIA has used a small expedient called pressure tactic. This explains the timing of arrest that was done to suit US interests. But it has another dimension.

Wikileaks had demonstrated the interest US Embassy takes routinely in what is happening in India. When Secretary of State is visiting India, the embassy must have feverishly put together a detailed note about current pot-boilers in India -2G scam/ CWG scam/ POSCO agitation/ Corruption and Jan Lokpal Bill/ Anti-Nuclear activists getting active after Fukushima and Jaitapur to Haripur planned agitations/  Bombay bomb blasts/ supreme court judgement in Salwa Judum case- and their impact on US interests in India. Hillary must have concluded a) she is meeting a government under siege & therefore ineffectual, b) it needs help. FBI’s arrest of Fai must have received the stamp of approval from the secretary of state, who has to see that foreign governments act in ways that help serve US interests first and foremost (Clinton was in the Indian capital when the Justice Department announced charges against Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai for allegedly trying to influence U.S. officials about Kashmir. -Charlotte Observer). Now how can a lame-duck Indian government serve US interests? Fai’s arrest, Hillary must have shrewdly concluded, would help break the logjam faced by her Indian friends. This may sound intriguing but luckily we have an obliging help from unexpected quarter – Shekhar Gupta.

Editor of Indian Express wrote on 23^rd July, “National Interest: The Arresting Moment”, giving his take on Fai’s arrest. The Indian Express has unleashed a barrage in its pages before and after this article.

• J&K interlocutor Padgaonkar one of Fai’s guest speakers.
• Are they just ‘useful idiots’? S Gurumurthy mentions these names in his list of useful idiots: “ Justice Rajinder Sachar, author of the famous Sachar Committee Report on the state of Indian Muslims; Harish Khare, the media adviser to the prime minister; Rita Manchanda, the India/Pakistan Local Partner for Women Waging Peace; Ved Bhasin, editor, Kashmir Times; Harinder Baweja, editor (investigations) Headlines Today; Gautam Navlakha and Kamal Chenoy, human rights activists, and; Praful Bidwai, well-known columnist”.
• After Fai in DC, it’s Tramboo in Brussels, Shawl in London
• Arrest of Fai long overdue: Home Secretary. “India today said the arrest of Kashmiri separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai in the US was long overdue as there has been suspicion for a long time that he was getting funds from Pakistani agencies”
• 2 Maoist sympathisers under lens. Through an unnamed official of Ministry of Home Affairs Indian Express links “Maoists” to Fai and thereby to ISI: “As far as his association with Maoist sympathisers is concerned, we had long suspected that Maoists had been receiving help from foreign countries”.

This was just a taste of what looks like a well-orchestrated campaign in IE, but surprisingly we find no mention of Kuldeep Nayar – a regular columnist in the paper- though he too has attended conference organized by Fai. If this has not made clear by now the intent of Hillary’s complicity in Fai’s arrest, then Gupta leaves no doubt in anybody’s mind what the game is. Before we turn to our main task, one thing Gupta said was unexceptionable: “This week’s argument, however, is not so much about the merits of accepting business-class tickets and hospitality from any such characters. It is, in fact, surprising that so many are running around claiming they had no idea who Fai was, and if they did, they would never have accepted his hospitality. A more honest — and morally totally convincing — answer would have been the straight one. That as an intellectual or, in case of some, as a civil society activist, you were fully within your rights to go and speak at any forum, even if it was funded or organised by the Pakistanis and that just the fact of accepting a free ticket and a tiny per diem would not have compromised your integrity. That nobody — except Gautam Navlakha, activist of the radical left — has had the honesty to say this underlines to us the fact of how shallow the intellectual establishment is in our country. And how quickly it loses nerve”. Here again, while seemingly paying a compliment to Gautam Navlakha, Gupta doesn’t fail to call him an Activist of The Radical Left- there by insinuating that the radical left is some kind of a party or an organization. Those who are following the events know that it is a crude attempt to link him to CPI(Maoist) in totally unconnected topic.

Like India’s home secretary, Gupta too confirms that Ghulam Nabi Fai’s activities and sources of his funds were known to him for long. This is important because what R P Singh and Shekhar Gupta knew surely FBI knew too. Fai “was a constant presence on the South Asian conference circuit in Washington, and specially sought out Indian speakers… would not fool you about who he exactly was, and what precisely he was after. He was a Pakistani lobbyist for “their” Kashmir cause, leading a very cleverly constructed overground support base for the malevolent movement that was picking strength in the early nineties. You would have to be utterly nuts, delusional or smoking some awful prohibited substance to not figure this out. Would you have known he was funded by the ISI? Again, you had to be from another planet to believe anything else, although, two decades back, the CIA was considered about as hostile to India as the ISI and I do remember one of the most able members of our almost all-woman diplomatic team in DC elbow me in my side at one of these conferences to whisper, dekha, yeh inki company ke logon ki sewa mein hai (see, he serves their “company” here). Company was the usual euphemism for CIA. In DC those days, CIA would look more like the usual suspect”. One cannot get a more clear indictment of what Indian Government knew exactly about Fai & his sources of funds. When Gupta says Fai worked for the Company (we thought that was a word reserved for Dawood Ibrahim’s network) –i.e. CIA, then what the Indian government knew most obviously US government knew too. Fai is serving ISI, and ISI is serving CIA, then isn’t he working for the larger cause of CIA? Then why is there so much brouhaha drummed about such a stale story? In case of USA, it is clear to us. CIA wants to browbeat its recalcitrant spouse, ISI, into meek submission. Let us not worry about this *marital discord*, because this couple is known to stage public spats to make gullible onlookers swallow the drama, only to make them fall flat on their faces by reuniting shortly. What interests us here is the purpose this disclosure serves at this time in the Indian context. Gupta says, “Till reports last came in, none of these worthies, the leading lights of the liberal establishment, had shown that much honesty and courage which, indeed, would have put a quick end to the controversy”.

Now let us gather what all Gupta has said in different places together. These persons “as an intellectual”, “as a civil society activist”, or as “the leading lights of the liberal establishment” are “utterly nuts, delusional or smoking some awful prohibited substance” or had to be “from another planet” or lack that “much honesty and courage”. One cannot abuse “civil society” better without giving appearance of doing so. So, by insinuating against the few, who attended Fai’s conferences, in one majestic brushstroke Gupta has attempted to discredit the entire movement, which he and government derogatively call “civil society”.

This is what Indian Express did with Hazare’s anti-corruption fast – see Cracking Anti-Corruption “Coalition” the Express way & MPK : The Disdainful Crusader against “Secular Fatwas”. This is what IE is falling over itself to do in case of Supreme Court’s Salwa Judum verdict. This is what IE did when Comptroller & Auditor General brought out inconvenient facts about Reliance’s gold plating of Krishna Godavari’s CAPEX or when Security Exchange Board of India ordered against the Sahara Group- see “Corruption Subverts Regulation, Oversight and Lokpal Bill” & “Murali Deora Resigns, feels left out undefended”. The institutions of CAG, SEBI have done much painstaking work to bring to light the malfeasance of this government. The people want to hold government accountable for this totally unacceptable conduct. They want Indian government to work in the interests of Indian people, not their foreign or local masters. This is what hurts Indian Government. This is what hurts Indian corporates.  This is what hurts US interests. The reprehensible bomb blasts in Mumbai served to distract attention from real issues facing Indian people. Instead of condemning those attacks in no uncertain terms and girding itself to catch the diabolic perpetrators of the act, the atmosphere has been vitiated by insinuating that Muslims have committed them. Verdict by media is out even before anyone has done any meaningful work to nab the culprits. This distraction was probably considered not enough. The so called “civil society” was not maligned & discredited. That is why FBI helped Indian Government through Fai’s arrest. That is how Indian Express & mainstream media carpet bombs the media landscape with tailored and hostile news to discredit the movement of people to bring government to account.  That is what the “Journalism of Courage” has come to mean. That is how logjams are solved.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O

Hillary Clinton for talks in New Delhi 19 July 2011.

S M Krishna (SMK): Hillary, Hillary of the US; tell me, tell me please, where is the World’s foulest heaven (for Terrorists).

Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC): Of course, Pakistan!!, my sweet Krishna. “We cannot tolerate safe havens for terrorists. Pakistan must act in its own interest first and foremost”.

SMK: Then my mighty Hillary, How will you stop Indians from going to unsafe hell? “Was US serious about getting Pakistan to bring perpetrators of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai?”

HRC:  I have brought Clapper with me just for this. So that India has another hand to clap with. “presence of US director of national intelligence James Clapper in her delegation was testimony to this. Clapper had discussions with a number of Indian officials. “A lot of the terrorist networks that threaten you also threaten us,” Clinton said, underscoring the shared interests in counterterrorism”. It is our policy too. “And it is US policy, we believe the perpetrators need to be brought to justice and have urged Pakistan to do so”. Don’t worry, she added, “her country has forcefully made it clear to Pakistan in the aftermath of the terror attacks that it was an international responsibility to bring the perpetrators to justice”.

SMK: Hillary, I may understand you, but ‘Chatterati & Hawks in India’, who are forged a bit like you, Obama, & Bush, won’t. These blighters are an impatient lot, and they want some “real action”.

HRC: Krishna, but you have to be patient. Tell them, Pakistanis too are common sufferers in this safe heaven. Remind them “that more people have been killed by terrorists “bombing mosques and marketplaces” in Pakistan than in the US (sic, “terrorists *bombing mosques and market places* killed ‘less’ people in US than in Pakistan?)”. In fact, I am quite relieved and “US was encouraged by the dialogue between India and Pakistan and believed that it was the “most promising approach” to build trust between both sides and help in implementing steps that will most effectively deal with the underlying problem of terrorism”.

SMK: Hillary, your words are so soothing to my heart, but, still, these guys & Media, I fear, won’t stop attacking me, Man Mohan, or Chidambaram for pussyfooting.

HRC: (in a sterner tone) Look Krishna, you have to get this right, “United States saw Pakistan as a key ally in its fight against terror”, and “Obviously, there is a limit to what both the US and India can do but we intend to continue to press as hard as possible”.

* * *

This was not a dialogue of some imaginary meeting, lest anybody believed the declaration at the start. It actually happened just yesterday (see here http://tiny.tw/8gu for ‘original’). Only difference is that it was not reported in so straightforward and honest fashion. It made in substance the same points but in couched language (Doublespeak of 1984) that is always released for public consumption. What happens when Obama and Clinton *really continue to press hard*? A look at some recent developments should answer that question.

On July 16, there was meeting between heads of two intelligence outfits, who work very closely indeed; and what these two do together has a massive impact on events not just in India but entire South Asia & later world. “According to a report in The Nation daily, General Pasha told CIA Acting Director Michael Morrel that Pakistan will not allow resending a number of US military trainers sent back in the wake of the May 2 Abbottabad raid. Pasha had a one-on-one meeting with Morrell during which a range of intelligence issues were discussed and both sides focused more on the way forward”. “Pakistan does not need US military trainers for its counter-terrorism operations, ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha conveyed to his CIA counterpart during his recent fence-mending visit to the US following escalation of tensions between the two sides”. But, why did the fence need mending? “The US recently suspended USD 800 million of its military assistance to Pakistan after the latter expelled American military trainers from the country in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s killing by US personnel in Abbottabad”. Now we know what fence mending means. Though USD 800 millions is a huge amount, it makes only one third of total military assistance; it is not the only military aid given. The balance two third is still intact.  The message from ISI was loud and clear to CIA, isn’t it? – Pakistan will not allow a number of (how many?) military trainers expelled earlier back. Curtains down. (Source: Don’t Need US Military Trainers: Pasha tells CIA).

What happened next? Mind you, that was on 16 July 2011, and just 2 days later, there is a “public and abject capitulation” from both sides. “Ending months of estrangement, Pakistan military has allowed CIA to resume its normal operations in the country with Islamabad approving 87 visas for the agency sleuths”. So what did Shuja Pasha do during these two days? Did he vacation on the beaches of California or did he return to Pakistan after delivering his *tough* talk? Neither. He remained in *talks* with Michael Morrel. “The logjam was broken during the crucial visit of Pakistan’s military run ISI’s chief lt. gen Shuja Ahmed Pasha here with Islamabad and Washington framing out new rules of engagement, a media report said”. (Source: http://tiny.tw/8gv). The US has agreed in return to restore aid: “Meanwhile, Pakistan (especially the ISI) has agreed to improve cooperation with the CIA in fighting Islamic terrorism. In return, the United States will restore $800 million in aid”. Then, this source adds a curious comment: “Details of the new agreements with Pakistan were not revealed, but the deal probably did not include of removing (much less prosecuting) all pro-terror ISI (the notoriously pro terrorist Pakistani CIA) members”. (Source: http://tiny.tw/8gx). Is the report suggesting that CIA operatives located in Pakistan are pro-terror?

Central Intelligence Agency, United States.

Therefore, the *Public Spat* and the *Public Capitulation* by both sides took place in the same visit in matter of 48 hours. This most definitely smells of stage-managed show for the gallery. Why was this drama required? Pakistani Army had *ordered* CIA operatives out of Pakistan to show that it has spine & *knew nothing* in advance of US SEALS’ Abbottabad raid even at the risk of looking bumbling idiots. It is a huge loss of face in a country, where nothing of substance moves without military’s consent. USA played its part of the script gamely by announcing that it is withholding USD 800 Million (only one third) of its military aid to Pakistan. Both allowed the scene to cool down for over 2 months. Then, When Pasha left for USA, all those careful observers knew that the “*Soured* Honeymoon” is about to resume. This is what happens when Obama and Clinton *really continue to press hard* and when Pakistani Army and ISI *really continue to resist pressure hardily*.

Indian public is told by its government that ISI & Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) is behind the 26/11 terror attacks. CIA & FBI operative, David Coleman Headley, from inside US custody is *telling* that ISI & LeT are behind the 26/11 terror attack. US administration says it is assisting India with intelligence and in all other possible ways. Indian government tells public that US is rendering all possible assistance including sharing of intelligence inputs. US says that Pakistan is cooperating in its War on Terror, but it needs to do more. CIA & ISI have intimate ties. CIA had at least 87 operatives, may be many more than that, inside Pakistan. These operatives work with & train ISI operatives. Osama Bin Laden would have been the most guarded asset of ISI if he was staying in Pakistan with its connivance. Yet, CIA ferreted him out of his ISI sponsored concealment. Hold your breath here, CIA was aided by a Pakistani Pashtun Doctor Shakil Afridi, who ran for CIA a *Vaccination Campaign* in Abbottabad to collect OBL’s DNA sample. This man is in ISI custody, and it has refused to release him, unless US reaches some quid pro quo. (Source: http://tiny.tw/8gx). This sounds like a “fixed match” among friends. It also shows how deeply enmeshed ISI & CIA are. If CIA could ferret out most guarded asset of ISI –OBL-, then is it too much to ask how CIA missed out on the 26/11 terror plot hatched jointly by ISI, its close ally, and LeT in which even its own operative, David Headley, actively participated?

George Bush, US President in 2000-2008, went to war with Iraq on two pretexts: Saddam had weapons of mass destructions and Saddam had terror links. Both were conjectures, both were devoid of evidence, and both were patently false. The fictional grounds on which Bush waged war on Iraq are very much present in Pakistan. Pakistan has exploded nuclear devices, it has openly declared it possesses weapons of mass destruction, and its links with terrorist outfits are well established. After all, Were not someone called Osama Bin Laden –accused of heading the most dreaded terrorists outfit Al Qaeda- killed by US SEALS at Abbottabad deep inside Pakistan? He was the most wanted man since 9/11. Shouldn’t US be destroying Pakistan the way it did Iraq and Afghanistan? And, instead of having *hostile* Iran as neighbour of both countries US attacked earlier, it has *eager & cooperating* cabal of Man Mohan Singh as a neighbour should it attack Pakistan. Fox news created a *cacophony of deafening news* to cheerlead Bush’s war efforts for both Afghanistan & Iraq. Why is it silent on Pakistan? Why doesn’t US administration under Barak Hussein Obama attack Pakistan? Why doesn’t Fox news, an avowed baiter of Obama, attack him for not waging a war on Pakistan? Would Indian friends of USA, or nations belonging to NATO or ‘Coalition of the Willing’, or anyone else, care to answer these questions?

No sane person would entertain doubt that US administrations wage  *War on Terror*. They do not. That is pretty much clear. Now the time has come to move beyond that. US administrations wage Wars of Global Domination with the help of its useful ally Terrorism.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

1. Salwa Judum owes its creation to spontaneous events. (In June 2005, villagers from Bijapur district had to abandon their land and flee from Maoist terror. Those who opposed the Maoists took shelter in nearby ashrams and schools and the village Kutru became the centre of the movement).
2. Salwa Judum is not a State sponsored armed vigilante group. (The idea that Salwa Judum is an armed vigilante group supported by the Chhattisgarh state has been publicised by the Maoists and other groups, to the extent that the Supreme Court assumes this to be the case).
3. Salwa Judum is separate from SPOs. (Though the Salwa Judum has lost its sheen in the last six years, its right to protest against Maoist atrocities should not be abrogated because a few SPOs or Koya commandos (a group of active SPOs) exceeded their limits. Salwa Judum must be viewed separately from the SPOs).
4. SPOs understand fully their risks’ exposure and the role they have to play within the boundaries of law. (The court has also raised doubts over the informed consent of these SPOs, suggesting they do not understand the implications of counter-insurgency activities. This assumption, again, rests on the sense that they are inadequately trained, and not fully aware of the disciplinary codes and criminal liabilities that may arise on account of their actions. However, the fact is that they not only understand the temporary nature of the job but are also aware of the risks).

Some have alleged of a conspiracy between a leading business house of the country and a Congress leader to “launch” a “popular movement” on 4^th of June 2005 to neutralize Maoists with tacit support of state government. Perhaps, Vij’s tale does have a tiny kernel of ‘truth’ around which many myths have been precariously held. The truth probably is that in June of 2005 there indeed was a spontaneous opposition to Maoists in Kutru village of Bijapur District. A story that appeared in National Security & Defence Magazine, Force, captures this event.

(source: http://www.forceindia.net/Naxalism5.aspx):

“In June 2005, a tractor carrying police ration was driving from Kutru to Bedre police station in west Bastar. Members of the Maoist Sangham (People’s Militia), who primarily were the local tribals, looted the tractor and disappeared in the jungle. When the police found out, it swooped upon the village where the actual looting took place, caught a few tribals, including senior, respectable members of the community and beat them up. A few were put behind bars. This angered the tribals no end. Curiously, this anger was not directed against the police who had beaten the senior members of the tribe, but against the Sangham who looted the police tractor, thereby forced the police to beat them up”.

“What seems more likely is that, when some tribals handed over a few Sangham members to the police, probably out of fear of the police, they had not bargained for the retribution from the Naxals. Once that happened, local political workers, including Karma’s brother who is one of the tribal leaders, must have seen the political advantage of fanning anti-Naxal feeling among the tribals”.

Mahendra Karma –a tribal, Congress leader, and leader of the opposition- was alive to the possibilities this incident offered, stepped in within days with offer of help to villagers, skilfully fanned the agitation, assumed its leadership, and named it Salwa Judum- “purification Hunt” in local language. Events moved very rapidly after this, almost on cue, as if the blue print of what was to happen was already ready. Just to give a feel for the atmosphere in the State, look at this story that appeared in the Indian Express of 6 June 2005: “DREZE ATTACKED AS HE LOOKED LIKE NAXAL: COPS- Sources said the attack was due to “mistaken identity” as “their style of holding meetings with locals was similar to that of Maoist rebels”. Chief Minister Raman Singh on Sunday ordered Balrampur SP S.R.P. Kalluri to “collect all details about the incident and take stern action against those responsible for assaulting the economist. They (police) ordered us to call off the meeting, but we continued it. Soon, they moved away only to return with more men, some carrying guns and AK-47 rifles. They wreaked havoc. They turned tables and chairs upside down, abused us and kicked us. They even rained lathis on some of us. I was hit on my back, legs, hands and shoulders,” Dreze told The Indian Express”. The fiction of “Naxal Looks” had already taken birth as early as 2005, even before Dr Binayak Sen and People’s Union for Civil Liberties were anywhere on the radar of Chhattisgarh Government. Another vital thing to note is that this incident happened in the jurisdiction of S R P Kalluri, who was associated with many such *incidences*, most not so benign, in later years including the attack on Swami Agnivesh this year again under his watch though Agnivesh had travelled to Dantewada with the *blessings* of Chief Minister.  On 25 June 2005, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported from Raipur: “Chhattisgarh to back villagers’ battle against Maoists- The Chhattisgarh government pledged Saturday to provide “ideological support” besides food and medicines to the villagers who broke out in armed revolt against Maoist guerrillas in the Bastar region last week…. We decided to send officers to go to battle field and see the real protest and fuel villagers’ outburst against the rebels…. Home Minister Ramvichar Netam added: We welcome the fight. These villagers are now holding the ultras responsible for blocking developing and pushing them to verge of starvation”. Raman Singh’s BJP government had come to power in end 2003 – just year & half old then, and therefore, it is interesting to know what *blocking of developing (sic)* Netam had in mind. Economic Times of 6 March 2006 succinctly summarized these developments: “Mine fields of Chhattisgarh- The experiment — launched by local Congress MP Mahendra Karma, blessed by the BJP-led state government and celebrated by sections of the national media — has only complicated matters. It has conferred political legitimacy on social violence”. Why was there such unusual convergence of interests among sworn foes like Congress & BJP? Could it be pure coincidence? More on this later.

BJP blessed this movement. Blessings express good wishes joined with prayers for wellbeing and prosperity. Did BJP’s blessings remain confined to ‘ideological support’; and may be at most to ‘food’ and ‘medicines’ that would keep body & soul together for ‘blessings’ to be meaningful as was reported by IANS? This is where the story of hands off approach of State in matters of Salwa Judum starts to queer. Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) in its report (http://tiny.tw/85n) stated: “Soon, the Chhattisgarh State government lent its support to the Salwa Judum led by the Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly. In his Independence Day address on 15 August 2005, Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh assured the Adivasis that the government would abide by its commitment to provide full backup to people fighting the Maoists. On 25 August 2005, the State government announced that it had set up a Committee headed by Chief Secretary A.K. Vijayvargiya to provide direct support such as logistics, arms and funding to the Salwa Judum”. (Incidentally, Vijayvargiya, on retirement bagged the plum post of chief Information Commissioner of Chhattisgarh) But, are not these “Human Rights Wallahs” died in the wool Maoists, or at least Maoist sympathizers?  That is what Vij’s boss at the time he wrote his article but alas no more, DGP Vishwaranjan, went hoarse telling anyone who was willing to listen.  That is what Chhattisgarh government in sworn affidavits stated before SC bench hearing the petitions referred to at the beginning. That is what Chhattisgarh government kept repeating in Sessions Court and High Court in its case against Dr. Biyanak Sen and Piyush Guha. It was difficult therefore to trust ACHR’s version of truth. One fortunately found an unimpeachable source at the end of a long & frustrating search to corroborate the ACHR story. The Naxal Terror Watch website discloses upfront that ‘Naxalism is pure & simple TERRORISM, which disguises itself with terms like *Class Struggle* and *Social Justice*’.  This would make Man Mohan Singh, P Chidambaram, Raman Singh, Vishwaranjan, et al, put together, mighty proud. In its post of 26 August 2005, just a day later when setting of the committee was announced, it reports: “The Chhattisgarh government has set up a committee headed by the state chief secretary to provide direct support to tribes that raised an armed revolt against Maoist rebels in June this year. It is for the first time that the government has set up a committee with the basic purpose of providing proper guidance to those opposing the Maoists at the local level. It will provide all support, including monetary and logistical help as well as arms”. Since the Chief Secretary of the state, head of the state bureaucracy including Police, was entrusted with the job, it shows the importance attached to it by Raman Singh. It also nails the lie squarely and finally that Salwa Judum is not ‘sponsored’ nor ‘armed’ by the government. Can Vij be held in contempt of SC for saying, “The idea that Salwa Judum is an armed vigilante group supported by the Chhattisgarh state has been publicised by the Maoists and other groups, to the extent that the Supreme Court assumes this to be the case”? Just short of saying that Supreme Court is a Maoist sympathizer, he has said it all.

Vij, like his illustrious seniors P Chidambaram & Vishwaranjan before him, is at pains to *disabuse* the popular imagination that conflates Salwa Judum & Special Police Officers (SPO), and which according to official position even SC has bought into. This lie was once again nailed on 8 July 2011 (http://tiny.tw/8g5): “Ejaz Kaiser of Hindustan Times talked about the fate of SPOs, “Post-SC order, Maoist threat looms over SPOs”. He mentions, “The SPOs are now awaiting the state government’s decision on their fate. The *Sethia group of SPOs and Koya commandos chief Devdhar Sethia* and the Dantewada-based *Salwa Judum Sukma-Konta block president Soyam Mukka* plan a meeting soon to discuss their future course of action”. Now this is a curious statement indeed. The *Sethia Group of SPOs* gives a clear impression that they are all linked by some *umbilical bond*. That common bond obviously is Devdhar Sethia. This is highly suspicious. If these SPOs were *individually* selected and recruited –that is what CS government implies when it says SPOs have no links with Salwa Judum-; then how did they develop a supra-organizational loyalty other than one to the police force of CS? The obvious explanation is that section of Salwa Judum owing allegiance to Sethia was recruited en masse as SPOs. Next statement tells us that Sethia group of SPOs is meeting Sukma-Konta block president Soyam Mukka to plan the future course of action. Now why would a group of SPOs that has no links to Salwa Judum as per DGP-CS & Union Home Minister seek to meet a leader of Salwa Judum?”

When Government protégés, Salwa Judum & SPO, have openly declared their allegiance to each other, what worth do government’s baleful protestations have?

Coming to the ‘informed consent’ of SPO, less said the better. SPO were recruited from among the Salwa Judum, which itself had a core of Adivasis who had voluntarily joined, but its bulk was formed of people vacated from their villages under coercion or sometimes inducements of free rations & other freebies, and then settled in camps opened along the roads where state security apparatus dominated. Since guerrilla warfare that Maoists specialise in mandates them to operate like fishes in the water- inseparable from communities, the government wanted to use the scorched earth policy of draining out the water to kill the fishes. The recruitment of SPO during this phase commenced to serve local intelligence and to act as buffer between security forces & the ambushes or minefields set up by Maoists into which they ran.  Soon there was a widespread resentment in Salwa Judum camps over deplorable camp conditions, constant harassment, and broken promises. Many Adivasis ran away from Salwa Judum camps. Maoists killed some of them on suspicion being police spies or informers, punished some others as a deterrent lesson.  The Salwa Judum camp inmates and SPO now stood between the devil and the deep sea. That is where the *informed consent* of barely adult SPO’s stood. Of course, they knew that jobs were purely temporary to serve the expediency of the State. Of course, they got a *royal honorarium* of Rs. 1,500/month, which was later raised to a princely sum of Rs. 3,000/month. Of course, they were aware that they had little choice but to kill or be killed. Perhaps, in the exuberance of youth, they also got drunk on the feel of power that rose in their hearts with a gun in their hands. *Consent* of SPO was certainly *informed*. They were after all part of the soil. Though there is obvious difference between this *consent* and what SC said. The element of “true choice” to join or not to join based on appreciation of pros & cons of both options was missing. SPO are bonded labourers, in fact, double bonded. Driving into the arms of the state is spurious security, sense of power & chance for enrichment; and driving away from the Maoists is fear of torture or death.

Unintended truths, untruths & half-truths adorn Vij’s narrative. A careful reading bares them all.

1. “Maoists who had never witnessed opposition from the *people whose support they enjoyed for almost three decades*”. This runs counter to the official narrative of State, which holds that Maoist always prey on hapless Adivasis and extract their support through coercion.
2. “These shelters were loosely called Salwa Judum camps, though in real terms they were little more than relief camps, gradually upgraded with health and educational facilities by the government. These have now taken the form of any normal village of the region”. When the lands of villagers are not near the camp, how can they take a form of any normal village? Conditions of many camps by all accounts are deplorable, and some have even closed down.
3. “….a few SPOs or Koya commandos (a group of active SPOs) exceeded their limits…. They have always accompanied the regular police force and worked under their direct supervision”. Now, what one considers *a few*, others may hold too much. But, what one should not miss is that SPO *exceeded their limits always under the direct supervision* of police. A high-ranking Police officer admits the culpability of his force in the excesses that were committed. Is it his grouse that SC should have blamed the police force instead of the SPO?
4. “Though many were killed in action, they never raised any alarm of indiscipline”. That only shows how helpless their lot was. They have no safety until Maoists were finished. They have no future when Maoists are finished.
5. “This can be corroborated from the fact that many joined the regular force against vacancies that arose”. Why wouldn’t they join when that gave both proper pay and tenure of service?
6. “Many, while continuing to live in their villages, secretly provided intelligence and remained on the police rolls as SPO….*Providing information about crime* to the nearest police station is a statutory duty of all citizens. Such duties cannot be held unconstitutional only because the criminal activities happen to relate to the Maoists”. Such people would be known to few *handlers* even among the police force in view of the dangerous roles they play. Therefore, they were really off the radar of both petitioners and SC bench. Why call them SPO when they were spies or informers? That role can continue, and if Chhattisgarh government wants to act virtuous and play by the rulebook, then it can always ask SC bench for clarification.

Vij’s narrative stands thoroughly discredited based on both available evidence in public domain and its inherent contradictions. Yet one has to answer what caused this unusual & extraordinary convergence of interests between BJP, Congress, Chhattisgarh State and Central governments. Rumours had circulated that Corporates’ interest, especially of Mining & Metals companies, was ultrahigh when the talks of carving out small states out of both Bihar & Madhya Pradesh began in the 90s. Small states were to be carved out of regions, which had significant forest cover and were most backward. Adivasis had lived there for millennia. Their voices went unheard in bigger states. So a question arose, why shouldn’t they have separate states of their own? New states, where they would be free to decide how to order their lives according to their wisdom & needs. Usually, reorganization of states is a very thorny and divisive issue as is evident from the emotive conflagrations over separate Telangana or Vidarbha states. Creation of both Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in contrast was a smooth affair.  There was a remarkable consensus along the entire political spectrum- not just Congress and BJP. That itself should have raised suspicions. Moreover, such poorly developed news states would be revenue deficient and therefore, their viability would be in doubt. However, no such doubts arose. Adivasis were oblivious to the untold riches lying below their feet, but the Corporates were not. It was their *strong interest* in forging small states that *managed* the broad consensus vital to successful passage of bills. Corporates reckoned that new legislatures and executives would bring new faces. New administrations would be more *industry friendly* for *rapid development* of their states and for *enlarging the revenue resource base*. Small states would be more *amenable* to Corporate lobbying and would be cheaper to manage. All this saw a *great gold rush* to both these news states. Governments signed hundreds of Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with corporates, who were eager to get at the deposits of best quality minerals found anywhere and were easy to extract too; to produce metals; and to generate power from coal. The world minerals prices too had sky rocketed in the first decade of new millennia. The circumstances for super normal profits could not have been better. Chhattisgarh was on steroids.

1. India Business Insight, 31 January 2004: “(ADB) has approved a $ 400 million loan for building 11,000 kilometres of all-weather roads in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as part of the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Vikas Yojana. The loan will be used to set up management systems to ensure the sustainability of the road networks. ADB will also offer a technical assistance grant of $ 1 million financed by the government of UK to chalk out the second phase of the project”.
2. Hindustan Times, 8 January 2005: “Jindal Steel & Power Limited has informed BSE that the Company has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Government of Chhattisgarh on January 07, 2005 for setting up clean-type Coke Oven, Sinter plant, Blast Furnace, Steel Melting Shop, Plate Mill, Rolling mill for manufacturing Rebar, TMT and Wire Road, Power Plant and other utilities and associated facilities at Raigarh in the State of Chhattisgarh. The total cost of these facilities will be Rs. 25,950 million”.
3. Business Line, 11 February 2005: “The Vedanta  plans include increasing aluminium production from 1 lakh to 3.45 lakh tpa at Korba in Chhattisgarh”.
4. Indo Asian News Service, 6 March 2005: “”Tata steel is keen to invest Rs.100 billion ($2 billion) in a phased manner at the Bastar plant, with an initial investment of not less then Rs.20 billion,” state Industry Minister Amar Agrawal said here. Agrawal said the project was likely to be firmed up by end of April. Managing director B. Muthuraman had last month shortlisted three sites in Bastar’s district headquarters Jagdalpur, 300 km from here”.
5. India Business Insight, 6 June 2005: “Tata Steel has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Chhattisgarh on 4 Jun 2005. The company intends to set up a steel plant with a capacity of five million tonnes at a cost of Rs10,000 crore”.

That would have meant lot of money –real heavy duty- sloshing around in the tiny state. The only thorn in the flesh of all these *lucrative investments* was the dreaded Maoists insurgency. Especially, in Bastar division, no land acquisition plans of state government to make over resources to corporate houses would have succeeded. One cannot acquire land in an area not under one’s control. Can one? All vested interests converged and became one to solve this vexed and seemingly intractable problem. Probably, in a moment of brilliant epiphany an idea took hold to make brother fight brother. An internecine war is best way to clear lands and forests. It has always worked since time immemorial. Salwa Judum was born. SPO came shortly thereafter.

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