Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 1998, Page 122

American Educational Trust Publishers' Page

We Don't Feel Like Joking...

...In this issue because the "world's only remaining superpower" apparently is hell-bent on becoming the world's only remaining superbully. Let's not forget that the issue is not U.N. inspections for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, but Iraqi resistance to all-American or all-American-and-British U.N. inspection teams. We think Saddam Hussain is about the worst thing that has happened to the Middle East since the Mongol invasions that laid waste to Mesopotamia, Iraq's name in its glory days. But can you blame him for being leery of letting into the presidential residences those gung-ho all-American teams—especially after hearing that George Stephanopoulos, once President Bill Clinton's closest staff adviser, led off a televised discussion of the problem with the announcement that...

"It's Time to 'Take Out' Saddam."

We think instead it's time to gain some perspective. It's true that the agreement imposed on Saddam didn't allow him to dictate the composition of the U.N. arms inspection teams. But, frankly, it didn't say anything about the U.S. dictating it either. What's wrong with making the international teams truly international?

And It's Iraqis, Not Americans...

Who are suffering so horribly until the inspectors can certify that there are no more weapons of mass destruction. So why are we in such a hurry? And as the Israeli army dramatically issues anthrax vaccine to its soldiers (who have nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of their own that the U.N. isn't inspecting for), just how are those "anthrax-filled warheads"—that U.N. Chief Inspector Richard Butler described to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, while standing in front of the Israeli flag—supposed to get from Iraq to Tel Aviv? Rick McDowell, whose article on p. 20 recounts his personal observations in Iraq in early January, tells us that of the hundreds of Scud missiles with which Iraq started the Gulf war in 1990, only two remain unaccounted for. The Iraqis dumped dozens into Israel in 1991, killing one person. This time we're going to war or, more accurately, we're going to kick the Iraqi people again while they're helpless and flat on their backs, just in case it isn't an arithmetical error and two of those Scud missiles, which didn't work against Israel in 1991, might still exist?

And Why Are We All Alone This Time?

The last time our planes bombed Iraq they were part of a 35-nation coalition. If things are still so bad, why aren't those guys with us anymore? They, not we, live in Saddam's neighborhood. We think it's because we've corrupted our own intelligence reports with politically motivated "intelligence" from Israel that is discounted world-wide, even by the Israelis themselves. (In our Jan./Feb. issue former Mossad case officer Victor Ostrovsky wrote about that in his article about his old Mossad instructor, Yehuda Gil.)

So We think It's Time for a Time Out!

And it's also time to listen to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation that the oil-for-food program be increased from $4 billion to $10 billion a year, with $7.2 billion to be spent on Iraqi relief and the rest on reparations to Kuwaitis and other victims of the Gulf war. Madeleine Albright says she supports it, so why is she cranking up another attack on the men, women and children it's supposed to save?

We'd Tell You Why But It's Not Necessary.

Just write down the names of U.S. media advocates of bombing now. Friends of Israel! And then note the nationalities of the very few foreign advocates of bombing now. We think you'll find they are Israelis. So maybe it's Israel that's the world's only remaining superpower, since it has the ability to turn us into the world's only remaining superbully!

And Then There's Hillary's Husband.

She says the campaign to get him is "a vast right-wing conspiracy." But whatever it is, Israel has been saved from a possible big row with President Bill Clinton, just as Watergate saved Israel from a certain big row with President Richard Nixon. Read our take on the subject in the article about President Yasser Arafat's visit to Washington, starting on p. 7, before you listen to more conspiracy talk. And maybe the...

Most Significant Item in This Issue...

Is the report on p. 56 that America's Muslims now have a political coordinating council. In fact, such coordination already exists on local and statewide levels. But until Muslims vote as a bloc on the national level, meaning in presidential elections, the Israel lobby is going to continue to dictate U.S. Middle East policy, as it always has. Read our report on "U.S. Muslims May Put Themselves on American Political Map in 1998" on p. 18 to see why this can...

Change U.S. Policy in the Mideast!

Also, there's a reprint from The Observer of London on what a defector from the Algerian military security apparatus has reported about Algeria's mysterious and bloody civil war. It's horrifying, provocative and, if true, it explains everything. You'll find it on page S-10 of the Other Voices supplement to this issue.

If Other Voices Isn't in Your Copy...

It means you didn't subscribe in time. Phone our toll-free number, 1 (800) 368-5788, press 2 for circulation and tell (or leave a message for) Delinda Hanley that you want to subscribe to Other Voices at $15 a year. She'll send you this month's issue with an invoice and henceforth Other Voices will come to you bound right into your issues of this magazine.

And Now for Some Heartfelt Thanks.

As readers can see by turning to pp. 119-121, our 1997 Angels' Choir is the largest in our history. And it lists only the readers who contributed $100 or more in 1997! Nearly everyone who calls these days says the magazine is bigger and more beautiful than ever before, adding, "I don't know how you do it."

Well, the Answer's in the Angels' Choir.

If the choir were four or more times as big, this magazine would be a weekly instead of a monthly! All it takes is funding to hire some more bright and hard-working people—and to let us old guys spend less time begging and more time interviewing, reading and writing.

But, Meanwhile, Thanks a Million...

For digging us out of our huge financial hole last year, and letting us pay off most of our debts at the end of the year. And about our challenge in the January "Publishers' Page" for a reader to come up with a single $150,000 donation for a special project to change the world, one reader says he can come up with $50,000. Do we hear two more?

Now, Let's Talk About Now!

Assuming all of our readers will be as generous this year as they were last, we'll definitely publish eight issues of the Washington Report in 1998, sticking to the 124-page format of this issue, unless increased advertising enables us to expand. Each issue...

Will Have an Other Voices Supplement.

And we may increase its size. We find there is no shortage of revealing, shocking, informative and heartening material in other publications from around the world—thanks to the many Washington Report readers who send us such articles for our information.

We'd Like to Share Them With You.

So please subscribe now to Other Voices. And since we plan to publish the first listing of our 1998 Choir of Angels in our upcoming April/May issue, why not make your 1998 contribution to the Washington Report, the American Educational Trust, or the tax-exempt AET Library Endowment (Federal ID #52-1460362) now, even before our May funding appeal is mailed. Please, do it now and...

Make a Difference, This Month!