Behind Islamic Terror - The New American Magazine - 9-3-07.pdf
1. Wind Power: Blown Away • Funding Infrastructure • History: Religion by the Sword
September 3, 2007
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BEHIND
ISLAMIC TERROR
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5. 10
Vol. 23, No. 18 September 3, 2007
COVER STORY
TERRORISM
10 Behind Islamic Terror
by William F. Jasper — Syria and Iran are scorned in much of
the Western world for supporting terrorism, but neither one is the
puppeteer directing the worldwide terror network — Russia is.
AP Images
16 The Real Terror Paymasters
by William F. Jasper — The KGB has long sponsored the Muslim
fundamentalist groups that are now carrying out the Marxist-Leninist
revolution in Muhammad’s name.
16
FEATURES
ENERGY
22 Blown Away
by Ed Hiserodt — Wind power is floating high on the political
AP Images
winds as the country’s answer to its power needs, but, in reality, it’s
an idea whose time has come … and gone.
CULTURE WAR
22
25 “For God, Spain, & El Cid”
by William F. Jasper — During the centuries-long struggle of the
Spanish Reconquista against the Muslim occupiers of Iberia, one
name stands out above all others as the exemplary Christian knight.
HISTORY — PAST AND PERSPECTIVE
31 Religion by the Sword
by Dennis Behreandt — In the century following the death of
AP Images
Muhammad, the religion of Islam formed the basis for the rapid
conquest of the Christian lands of Europe, North Africa, and the
Near East.
THE LAST WORD 25 31
44 Funding Infrastructure
by Kurt Williamsen
DEPARTMENTS
5 Letters to the Editor 28 The Goodness of America
6 Inside Track 39 Exercising the Right
Newscom
9 QuickQuotes 41 Correction, Please!
COVER AP Images
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8. Inside Track
Losing Control at Home, Iraqi Leader Visits Friendly Iran
The dominant Muslim sect in Iran is Shiite. Suspicions that Shi- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran. Iran’s government spokesmen
ite-dominated Iran has been supplying weapons to its co-religion- confirmed their country’s plans to continue supplying Iraq, but
ists in Iraq have been confirmed in recent weeks. U.S. military didn’t specify the type of support.
leaders have found sophisticated Iranian-produced weaponry Bush discounted the obviously cordial relations between the
being used against our forces. countries’ leaders as he repeated his
President Bush has warned Tehran confidence in the America-backed
AP Images
to cease its efforts contributing to the Iraqi leader. If it turns out that Iran is
destabilization of Iraq. Labeling Iran “a contributing to the Shiite-Sunni vio-
very troubling nation,” he announced lence in which Americans are being
that there would “be a price to pay” if killed, said Bush, “I will have a heart-
Iran’s meddling continues. to-heart with my friend [Maliki].” He
It had to be upsetting for Bush to see defended Maliki’s smile in the photo
photos of a smiling Iraqi Prime Minis- with Iran’s leaders saying, “You don’t
ter Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, Iranian President want the picture to be kind of, you
standing alongside Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad know, duking it out.”
(right) with Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki
Disney/ABC Receive Top Rating From Homosexual Activists
For regular viewers of network television dramas, soaps, and sit- of the population is missing from the storytelling and unscripted
coms, it might appear that Hollywood has been on a “gay” binge programming that comes into our homes every day?”
in recent years. After all, the number of lesbian, homosexual, GLAAD gave ABC, owned by Walt Disney Co., the highest
bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) TV characters in major and rating of the five networks: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and CW.
minor roles has exploded in the past decade. The Gay & Les- The GLAAD report noted: “Of the five broadcast networks, ABC
bian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD) website even leads the way in LGBT inclusiveness. In the 2006-2007 broadcast
features a “TV GAYED: GLAAD’s Weekly Guide to What’s season, ABC offered more LGBT series regulars than any other
LGBT on TV.” network, with Brothers & Sisters and Ugly Betty as particular
However, the GLAAD activists are not glad about the progress standouts.” According to the GLAAD study, ABC committed 15
of LGBT themes and characters on network television. In the in- percent of its prime time to LGBT “inclusive” programming.
troduction to its Network Responsibility Index issued on August The youth-oriented CW network was second with 12-per-
6, GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano complained: “Millions of cent LGBT programming. CBS and NBC followed, with “gay”
television viewers are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.... programming of 9 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Fox had
What kind of message does it send when such a large segment “only” 6-percent GLAAD-approved LGBT programming.
Russia Stakes Claim on North Pole
On August 2, two deep-diving Russian mini-submarines descend- but to keep com-
ed more than 2 1⁄ 2 miles under North Pole ice to plant a Russian modities out of the
flag on the ocean floor. hands of others.
Russia portrayed the event as a technical achievement, with its For some time
goal being the peaceful advancement of “scientific research.” But now, Russia has
the only “science” Russia appears to have in mind is exploiting already been
the oil and natural-gas deposits under the polar seabed. using access to
The absurdity of Russia’s “achievement” was that it occurred energy sources
in an area that has already been apportioned by international as an instrument
treaty among Arctic nations like Norway, Denmark, Canada, and of coercion. It of-
the United States. Russia is trying to change the treaty’s terms by fers preferential
claiming that the Lomonosov ridge under the water is part of a natural-gas rates to those countries that support it, and cuts off
Russian range, and therefore rightfully Russia’s to claim. those that don’t.
Russia’s past actions show that its real aim is to gain control Russia’s voyage to the North Pole ought to be seen as a warn-
over ever more natural resources so as to exert greater leverage on ing of how far it will go to intimidate the nations that are its
global buyers. Russia seeks not to discover, develop, and share, neighbors. And, in the case of the North Pole, that includes us.
6 THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007
9. Stealth Passage of “Protect America Act”
A newly crafted piece of legislation will expand the Foreign Intelli- tions believed to be
gence Surveillance Act (FISA). The legislation, entitled the Protect between a U.S.
America Act of 2007 (S. 1927), was authored mostly by the White citizen and a mem-
House and submitted to Congress by Mike McConnell, the Direc- ber of al-Qaeda or
tor of National Intelligence. With little room for public debate, the another terrorist or-
bill to expand the wiretapping surveillance program has not only ganization. The re-
been passed by Congress, but also signed by President Bush. As vised version of the
the final hours of the 2007 summer congressional session came to a warrantless surveil-
close, Congress passed the Protect America Act by a vote of 60-28 lance program will
in the Senate on August 3, and 227-183 in the House on August 4. now be directed at any person “reasonably believed to be located
The president signed the legislation into law on August 5. outside of the United States” — despite the Fourth Amendment’s
With the signing of S. 1927, the federal government has been prohibition against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
given the authority to monitor American citizens’ e-mails and The Protect America Act is set to expire in six months due to
phone conversations, providing they are corresponding with or a sunset clause. With growing public opposition to the Protect
speaking to persons outside of the United States. The law was America Act, as well as opposition from some key members of
created in response to the 2005 revelation that President Bush se- Congress, it is likely that this law could be allowed to expire in
cretly allowed warrantless electronic surveillance on communica- February of 2008.
Leaks Lead to Investigations in German Rendition Inquiry
A German parliamentary panel is investigating whether and to information contained in those classified reports. But it wasn’t
what degree German government agencies assisted the American the journalists who were responsible for the leak. “With re-
CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” efforts to move captured illegal spect to the sensitivity of the information published, whoever
enemy combatants from the “War on Terror” to secret interro- leaked the classified documents should be investigated, not the
gation sites. According to The Independent, a British paper, the journalists. It is their duty to publish matters of public interest.
“parliamentary panel is also looking into the alleged involvement They should not be criminally charged for doing their job,” said
of the German foreign intelligence service BND with the CIA at Joel Smith, head of the New York-based Committee to Protect
the start of the Iraq war. The remit also includes investigating the Journalists.
kidnapping and rendition of Khalid el-Masri, a German citizen Who knows, though, what an investigation into who actually
of Lebanese origin, and the detention at Guantanamo Bay of a leaked the material might uncover. Why were there leaks? Who
German-born Turkish citizen Murat Kurnaz.” authorized them? How high does culpability reach? And how
A number of details from classified reports have been leaked about the culpability of the policymakers behind the extraordi-
to the German press during the inquiry, and now several re- nary rendition program, particularly in cases where prisoners are
porters face prosecution for quoting from and publicizing the renditioned to regimes to be tortured?
Iowa Straw Poll Has Interesting Results
The Iowa Straw Poll In the end, Romney beat Mike Huckabee by less than a two-to-
was expected to attract one margin (32 percent to 18 percent).
as many as 40,000 Compared to the millions spent by Romney, Huckabee es-
people this year, with timated that he spent only $150,000 for the votes he received.
about 30,000 of them Huckabee has been struggling to get the attention of social con-
AP Images
voting. But on the day servatives, who have come to dominate the Republican Party.
of the event, the heat His second-place finish could attract their support and give his
index soared to 102 campaign a badly needed financial boost. If that happens, then it
degrees, discouraging a big turnout, and the final vote tally totaled may very well turn out that Mike Huckabee was the real winner
only 14,302. of the Iowa Straw Poll.
With top GOP contenders Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Ron Paul was another surprise story. A week before the straw
Fred Thompson giving the Iowa Straw Poll a pass, it was pre- poll, other polls of Iowa voters had put him near the back of the
dicted by some analysts that well-heeled Mitt Romney might beat pack with less than 3 percent. After a mere six days of campaign-
the second-place finisher by as much as an eight-to-one margin. ing, Dr. Paul finished fifth with 9 percent.
THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007 7
10. Inside Track
Building the New Chinese Police State
China, many might be surprised to learn, is still a communist usual activity,” the New York Times reported on August 12.
nation. As such, it has a long and rich history of oppressing the Another measure involves forcing the Chinese people to carry
Chinese people. Most of the techniques of oppression practiced electronic ID cards that can be used to help track their where-
by the regime in Beijing were learned from Soviet advisers and abouts and activities. “If they do not get the permanent card,
were modeled on the Soviet example. they cannot live here, they cannot get
Now, often with the help of Western Chinese worker government benefits, and that is a way
technology firms, China is installing checks a surveillance for the government to control the popu-
the latest hi-tech gadgetry available in camera in Beijing’s lation in the future,” stated Michael Lin,
diplomatic district.
an attempt to stifle dissent and con- vice president for investor relations at
trol information. China, says a Wired China Public Security Technology, the
News summary of the situation, is “well company, according to the Times, that is
down the road to enacting some of the providing the technology.
Orwellian technology that is just now That company, like many others helping
being debated in the U.S.” build the hi-tech police state in China, has
China, for instance, is rapidly fol- deep roots right here in America. China
lowing the British trend, still somewhat Public Security is incorporated in Florida,
lagging here in America, of installing the Times noted, and “has raised much of
massive numbers of surveillance camer- the money to develop its technology from
as. “At least 20,000 police surveillance two investment funds in Plano, Texas —
cameras are being installed along streets Pinnacle Fund and Pinnacle China Fund.
… in southern China and will soon be Three investment banks — Roth Capital
guided by sophisticated computer soft- Partners in Newport Beach, Calif.; Op-
ware from an American-financed com- penheimer & Company in New York; and
AP Images
pany to recognize automatically the First Asia Finance Group of Hong Kong
faces of police suspects and detect un- — helped raise the money.”
Chinese Officials Threaten to Pull the Plug on the U.S. Dollar
China possesses as much as $900 billion worth of U.S. bonds. ominous shift in his government’s policy.
As pressure mounts here at home for placing tariffs on the Chi- He Fan, a Chinese Academy of Social Science official who is
nese goods continuing to flood America, officials in Beijing have highly regarded as a forecaster of policy, told the China Daily
threatened to sell their U.S. holdings. If they carry out the threat, on August 7 that “China has accumulated a vast sum of U.S.
the value of the dollar will shrink and our nation could be plunged dollars. Such a big sum, of which a considerable portion is in
into a depression. U.S. treasury bonds, contributes a great deal to maintaining the
Xia Bin, who holds a cabinet-level post in the Chinese gov- position of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency.” He noted that
ernment, recently referred to Beijing’s U.S. bond holdings as a “Russia, Switzerland and several other countries have reduced
“bargaining chip” that can be used in talks with the United States. their dollar holdings.” Should China follow suit, he suggested, a
His mere mention of this possibility is viewed worldwide as an collapse of the dollar would occur. He added that China doesn’t
want to create any undesirable
phenomenon in the global finan-
cial order. But his veiled threat
should not be ignored, especially
because Japan and other large
holders of U.S. debt might follow
China’s lead.
While there is no military force
that could bring America to its
knees, those who increasingly
hold our economic and political
well-being in their hands have
a weapon that could prove to be
more powerful than any accumula-
tion of bombs and soldiers. ■
8 THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007
11. QUICKQUOTES
Canada Reinforces Its Claim on the Arctic
“Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the
Arctic. We either use it or lose it. And make no mistake, this government
intends to use it.”
Prime
After Russia staked a symbolic claim over the North Pole by sending subma-
AP Images
Minister
Harper rines into the region, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper completed
a three-day trip to the area and reasserted his country’s claims.
British Leave and Basra Becomes a War Zone
“It’s hard now to paint Basra as a success story. The British have basically been defeated in the South.”
The British sent 40,000 troops into the war against Iraq, and they occupied the area around the southern
city of Basra. As recently as February of this year, Vice President Cheney pointed to Basra as one place
“where things are going pretty well.” But only 5,500 British troops remain in the region where Shiite
versus Shiite militias are fighting each other. The statement above was made by an unnamed senior
U.S. official in Baghdad.
Joint Chiefs Nominee Not Optimistic About Success in Iraq
“No amount of troops in no amount of time will make much of a
difference.”
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on July 31,
Admiral Michael G. Mullen gave his bleak outlook because of the
poor performance of the Iraqi government that has neither quelled
AP Images
Admiral
the sectarian violence nor unified the country’s warring factions. Mullen
Columnist Asks Why Ron Paul Isn’t Noticed by Major Media
“So why, I am often asked, doesn’t Ron Paul get more coverage? You might think the mainstream media
would pay more respect to a guy who ended up the recent fundraising quarter with more cash on hand
than John McCain.”
Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page also notes that, if the nomination were decided online, Ron
Paul would probably win it.
General Retired General Says the Core of Terrorism
Jones Can Be Found in Afghanistan, Not Iraq
“Symbolically, it’s more the epicenter of terrorism than Iraq. If
we don’t succeed in Afghanistan, you’re sending a very clear
message to the terrorist organizations that the U.S., the UN, and
the 37 countries with troops on the ground can be defeated.”
Former NATO supreme commander General James L. Jones
claims the action in Iraq has caused the United States to “take
AP Images
its eye off the ball” and downplay the serious threat coming from
within Afghanistan.
A European Sends a Warning About Granting Amnesty to Illegal Immigrants
“The European experience teaches us that governments always underestimate the number of people who
can apply for an amnesty, and that amnesties do not close the floodgates, they open them.”
Paul Belien is the editor of the outspokenly anti-European Union Brussels Journal.
Sale of Wall Street Journal to Murdoch Not Welcomed
“It’s sad. We stood around a pile of Journals and drank whiskey.”
A veteran reporter for the Journal spoke his mind but asked not to be named for fear of losing his job.
Muslim Terror Increasing in the Philippines
“They have bombed buses carrying workers, food markets where people were shopping, airports where
relatives were waiting for loved ones, and ferryboats carrying families.”
Human Rights Watch spokesman John Sifton issued his statement about Muslim terrorism while releas-
ing a report entitled “Lives Destroyed: Attacks on Civilians in the Philippines.” ■
— COMPILED BY JOHN F. MCMANUS
THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007 9
12. TERRORISM
AP Images
BEHIND
ISLAMIC TERROR
Syria and Iran are scorned in much of the Western world for supporting terrorism,
but neither one is the puppeteer directing the worldwide terror network — Russia is.
by William F. Jasper Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), the finding that al-Qaeda is “considerably op-
A
‘‘
five-page report entitled Al-Qaeda Better erationally stronger than a year ago,” and
l-Qaeda Stronger than Ever.” Prepared to Strike the West paints a picture that it has “regrouped to an extent not seen
“U.S. Concern at Al-Qaeda of a revived, more dangerous terror net- since 2001.” The terror group is “showing
Strength.” These and simi- work led by Osama bin Laden and Ayman greater and greater ability to plan attacks
lar titles accompanied news stories that al-Zawahiri. in Europe and the United States,” the same
began breaking during the second week The Associated Press reported on July official reportedly said.
of July, announcing leaks of a disturbing 11 that an unnamed counterterrorism of- John Kringen, who heads the CIA’s
new classified intelligence report. Pre- ficial familiar with the still-unreleased analysis directorate, echoed this same
pared for President Bush by the National report paraphrased the briefing paper as grim assessment of al-Qaeda’s resurgence
10 THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007
13. during his July 11 testimony to the House
Armed Services Committee. “They seem
to be fairly well settled into the safe haven
and the ungoverned spaces of Pakistan,”
Kringen said concerning al-Qaeda. “We
see more training. We see more money.
We see more communications. We see that
activity rising.”
The same week, Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff set off a po-
litical furor when he expressed a “gut
feeling” that the United States faced a
heightened risk of terror attacks from al-
Qaeda this summer. Accentuating reports
of a revitalized al-Qaeda is a noticeable
upswing in the group’s propaganda cam-
AP Images
paign over the Internet, radio, and televi-
sion. As the Christian Science Monitor
reported on July 16, there is “no question Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden in an image from a videotape allegedly taken on
that Al-Qaeda propaganda outlets have September 11, 2001 and released by Al-Jazeera television on October 5, 2001.
been working at a high rate over the past
year, with frequent and timely broadcasts Group, Taliban, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, dination, and critical intelligence. Virtually
from the group’s No. 2, the Egyptian doc- Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jamaat ul-Fuqra, Abu all counterterrorist authorities recognized
tor Ayman al-Zawahiri.” Sayyef — to name but a few. that, with few exceptions, terrorist orga-
The Monitor story noted that al-Qae- And those are only the “Islamist” ac- nizations were merely cats’ paws for the
da’s media production unit, known as As- tors. There are other important terrorist Soviet Union, which was both the primary
Sahab, has released at least 63 audio and groups as well, despite the fact that the benefactor and beneficiary of their violent
video messages so far this year, compared “radical Muslim” or “Islamic fundamen- campaigns.
with 58 in all of 2006. And in many of talist” organizations appear to be the only However, a little over 15 years ago,
those messages, it points out, “Mr. Zawa- ones that obtain the terrorist label or news conventional wisdom has it, a geopolitical
hiri has been able to respond to the news mention these days. Communist-oriented paradigm shift occurred that changed all
events within days,” indicating not only terrorist organizations seem to be com- that. That 1991 sea-change event, usually
a high level of technological sophistica- pletely off the mental radar screen, even referred to as the “collapse” of the Soviet
tion by the media-savvy Zawahiri, but a when they are murderously active (like Union, not only dramatically altered the
high level of confidence in his ability to the Basque ETA in Spain) or when they East vs. West dimension that had domi-
get his message out without giving away control a vast narcotics empire and a geo- nated global political dynamics through-
his location. graphical area the size of Switzerland out the 20th century, but, supposedly, also
Thus, six years after the 9/11 terror at- (like the FARC in Colombia). brought an abrupt end to Russian sponsor-
tacks on America, and after enormous ex- Modern international terrorism, espe- ship of terrorism worldwide.
penditures of U.S. military and economic cially as it came to the fore in the 1960s Henceforth, the primary terror threats
resources in the “war on terror,” we appear and ’70s, was exemplified by Marxist- would emanate not from Moscow, Ber-
to be back to square one. At an October Leninist “liberation” groups that more or lin, Havana, and Prague, but from Tehran,
25, 2006 White House press conference, less openly aligned themselves with Mos- Damascus, Beirut, and Khartoum. They
President Bush was asked: “Are we win- cow and/or Beijing. They operated out of would march not under the red banner
ning?” He responded: “Absolutely, we’re the Soviet-bloc countries or
winning. Al-Qaeda is on the run.” But as Moscow’s surrogate Third
Georgetown University terrorism expert World regimes in Africa, A five-page report prepared for President
Bruce Hoffman noted recently, “Al-Qaeda the Middle East, or Latin
is not on the run, it is on the march.” The America. The Soviet KGB
Bush by the National Counter Terrorism
new National Counter Terrorism Center and its proxy intelligence Center paints a picture of a revived, more
report appears to agree with Professor services in East Germany,
Hoffman’s assessment. Romania, Czechoslovakia,
dangerous terror network led by Osama
Al-Qaeda, of course, is not the only Bulgaria, and Cuba were in- bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Thus,
kid on the terrorist block. Dozens of other dispensable to the terrorists’
after six years of waging a “war on terror,”
groups are also very active and noteworthy existence, providing arms,
players on the global terror stage: Hezbol- money, training, explosives, we appear to be back to square one.
lah, Hamas, PLO/al-Fatah, Islamic Jihad passports, safe houses, coor-
THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007 11
14. TERRORISM
on a clash of civilizations has accept globalization and become part of
become the working blueprint the “Core.” That means, for starters, most-
The Litvinenko assassination for the policy elites of both the ly Muslim countries. However, Barnett
— apparently an act of state terror — Republican and Democratic advocates using the troops of “Leviathan”
parties. According to this es- (his term for a U.S.-led global army) to
should shine a very important spotlight
tablishment-favored hypoth- subjugate Christian countries as well. The
on our budding relationship with Putin’s esis, our longtime strategic Muslim problem, he says “only accounts
Russia and call into question just how adversary, (Soviet) Russia, has for about 40 (max, 50) percent of the
become our new strategic ally Gap’s total population. The rest is largely
“mutual” the concerns of our two in the war on terrorism. After Christian (Catholics and Protestants, with
nations are when it comes to terrorism. all, beneath Russia’s decades- evangelicals and Mormons gaining fast),
long encrustation of communist whose version of those religions is like-
repression bestirs an Orthodox wise far more fundamentalist than their
and hammer and sickle of communism, Christian heritage. And, like us, our new counterparts in the Core.”
but rather, under the green banner and Russian “partners” also are beset by Mus- Following the September 11, 2001 at-
sword and crescent of Islam. Muhammad, lim extremists and terrorists, including al- tacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin
not Marx, the Q’uran, not the Communist Qaeda. was one of the first foreign leaders to call
Manifesto, would provide the motive force One of the most forceful exponents of President Bush to offer condolences and
to move the new revolutionaries. the clash of civilizations is Thomas P.M. support. For those of the Huntington/Bar-
The new dynamic in world conflict, Barnett, controversial author of The Pen- nett school of thought at the Council on
many now insist, is no longer the clash of tagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the Foreign Relations and similar centers of
ideologies, as typified by the Cold War, but Twenty-First Century (2004) and Blueprint influence, this was a transformational mo-
the clash of civilizations, as exemplified by for Action (2005). Barnett, a professor at ment signaling an epochal opportunity to
the 9/11 attacks, the continuing wars in Iraq the U.S. Naval War College who has had turn the former chief sponsor of global
and Afghanistan, and the increasing mili- a great influence on the Bush administra- terror into our main ally against the new
tancy of “fundamentalist” Muslims world- tion, divides the world into regions labeled terror threats.
wide. “The Clash of Civilizations” is, of the “Functioning Core” — the United This amazing transformation of the old
course, the title of a seminal 1993 article by States, European Union, Russia, China, world order began almost immediately.
Professor Samuel P. Huntington for Foreign and the Pacific Rim countries, and others Several months after the 9/11 attacks,
Affairs, the journal of the Council on For- that are adapting to “globalization” — and leaders at the June 2002 G8 Summit in
eign Relations. “It is my hypothesis,” wrote the “Non-Integrating Gap,” comprised of Kananaskis, Canada, launched the Global
Huntington, “that the fundamental source countries that must be forced militarily to Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons
of conflict in this new world will
not be primarily ideological or
primarily economic. The great
divisions among humankind
and the dominating source of
conflict will be cultural.” “The
clash of civilizations will domi-
nate global politics,” he averred,
and “the fault lines between civ-
ilizations will be the battle lines
of the future.”
The chief battle line in this
global vision is the one be-
tween Western civilization and
a militant Islam aligned with
China. Huntington developed
this theme more fully in his
1996 book, The Clash of Civi-
lizations and the Remaking of
World Order, hyped by some
as the most influential politi- President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB/
cal treatise of the post-Cold FSB chief, greets Russian police officials
War era. at a July 27, 2005 Kremlin meeting on
AP Images
worldwide terror threats.
Huntington’s hypothesis of
a realigned world order based
12 THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007
15. G8 Summit on terrorism in 2002 included “former” terrorist
leaders Thabo Mbeki of South Africa (front row, far left),
Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria (front row, second from right),
and KGB/FSB chief Vladimir Putin (top row, between Tony
and Materials of Mass De- Blair and George Bush).
struction. The main feature
of this partnership was a $20
billion investment by the G8
members toward the objec-
tive of “preventing terrorists,
or those who harbour them,
from acquiring or developing
nuclear, chemical, radiologi-
cal, and biological weapons.”
The bulk of this treasure
chest was targeted first and
foremost for Russia, which
was deemed the most at risk
to lose WMDs and related
technology to terrorists.
Vladimir Putin and Rus-
sia are, arguably, the biggest
beneficiaries of the 9/11 at-
tacks, both monetarily and
politically. More valuable to
AP Images
the Kremlin than the multi-
billion-dollar booty men-
tioned above are the diplo-
matic, trade, defense, and
intelligence doors that have been opened our budding relationship with Putin and having that conclusion confirmed by Lit-
to Russia as our purported valued partner called into question just how “mutual” the vinenko undoubtedly unnerved the Rus-
in the war on terror. In fact, President Bush concerns of our two nations are when it sian commissars.
and other U.S. leaders are so solicitous of comes to terrorism. Lt. Col. Litvinenko’s However, Litvinenko upped the ante in
Putin’s “aid” in this regard that they are murder was obviously intended to silence 2005 when he revealed, from his ex-FSB
more than willing to either ignore his ag- him as well as to set an example that would contacts, that “Islamic fundamentalist”
gressive installation of Soviet-style gover- dissuade others from defecting. Regarding Ayman al-Zawahiri had been trained by
nance, or to let it pass with perfunctory the former, Litvinenko was bringing out the Russian FSB. This is incredibly signif-
verbal criticism. many disturbing charges and facts show- icant since Dr. al-Zawahiri is the reputed
Consider, for example, the mounting ing that Putin’s KGB/FSB is continuing to operational mastermind behind al-Qaeda
evidence that former KGB/FSB chief sponsor the global terror network launched and is second only to Osama bin Laden
Putin was behind the very public execu- by the Soviet KGB in the 1960s and nur- on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list.
tion-by-poison in England of FSB defector tured by them through the 1980s. That in- “Ayman al-Zawahiri trained at a Federal
Lt. Col. Alexander Litvinenko. Despite the cludes current sponsorship and direction of Security Service (FSB) base in Dages-
evidence, the Bush administration has said al-Qaeda and its two top leaders, Osama tan in 1998,” Litvinenko told the Polish
and done little to nothing in response, ap- bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. newspaper Rzeczpospolita, in a July 17,
parently unwilling to risk upsetting Putin 2005 interview. “He was then transferred
and the supposedly vital U.S.-Russian FBI’s “Most Wanted” Terrorists to Afghanistan, where he became Osama
“relationship” in the mutual effort against Very likely, one of the specific reasons for bin Laden’s deputy,” the defector said. “I
Islamic terrorism. Alexander Litvinenko’s liquidation was was working in that section at the time
For, as a November 24, 2006 Reuters the publication of his exposé, Blowing and I can confirm the fact Zawahiri was
report on the Litvinenko assassination Up Russia: The Secret Plot to Bring Back not the only link between the FSB and Al
pointed out, “Putin has been an ally of the KGB Terror. Litvinenko’s explosive book Qaeda.”
West against Islamic extremism since the provided an FSB insider’s confirmation Bin Laden and Zawahiri had been
September 11, 2001 attacks on the United that the sensational terrorist bombings in closely associated in jihadi activities for
States,” even though “relations have been Russia attributed to Chechen Islamic na- more than a decade by that time. By 1998,
strained in recent years over what Western tionalists were actually the work of Putin’s Zawahiri formally merged his Egyptian
governments call Moscow’s slide towards FSB Special Operations Groups, part of Islamic Jihad with bin Laden’s al-Qaeda,
authoritarianism.” the restructured and renamed Soviet KGB. creating a single unified command.
However, the Litvinenko assassination Extensive evidence already published by Is there anything besides Litvinenko’s
— apparently an act of state terror — should independent investigators and journalists sensational charge indicating that Zawahiri
have shined a very important spotlight on had pointed to the same conclusion, but might actually be an FSB operative? As a
THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007 13
16. TERRORISM
of toppling secular rule
in Egypt, became instead
the biggest component of
al-Qaeda and major agent
of a global war against
America.
“Eight months after the
Russian fiasco,” Higgins
and Cullison continue, “Dr.
Zawahiri and Mr. bin Laden
announced an alliance dedi-
cated to killing Americans,
a task they called the ‘duty
of every Muslim.’”
Another news account
quotes an FSB spokesman
named Sergei Ignatchenko
who says that Zawahiri
Afghani Mujahedeen and Afghan-trained
“had four passports, in four
Arabs who originally saw the Soviet
communists as their main enemy have been different names and nation-
alities. We checked him out
AP Images
turned by al-Zawahiri and bin Laden to view
America as the main enemy of Islam. in every country, but they
could not confirm him. We
could not keep him forever,
matter of fact, yes. We will digress to 1996 The authors of the 2002 Wall Street so we took him to the Azerbaijani border
and an account of three travelers in Azer- Journal article, Andrew Higgins and Allen and let him go.” Which is even more fan-
baijan. Parts of this story have been told Cullison, are inexplicably willing to accept tastic than the Journal’s account.
in various public sources ranging from the at face value Dr. Zawahiri’s wildly implau- Keep in mind that this episode takes
Wall Street Journal to the websites of intel- sible explanation for his travels in Russia place during a period when the FSB and
ligence analysts from the Jamestown Foun- and his even more unbelievable account of the Russian military were waging a vicious
dation and Axis Information and Analysis his release. Higgins and Cullison write: genocidal war against Chechnya because,
(AIA). We have drawn from these and other they said, the Chechens, aided by outside
sources to put together this brief rendering The [Russian] judge rejected pros- Islamic fundamentalists, were carrying out
of a very telling episode. ecution demands for a three-year a terrorist campaign against Mother Rus-
In December 1996, a minivan carrying sentence and gave the men only six sia. Now think in terms of how the Russian
three men was headed toward Chechnya, months. They’d already been in jail FSB might respond to three foreign Arabic
making its way across the narrow strip of five months, so the Russians soon men who are traveling under false identity,
Russian territory between the Caucasus freed them. have multiple aliases and passports, claim
Mountains and the Caspian Sea. Near the “God blinded them to our identi- to work for a non-existent company, pos-
city of Derbent, the men ran into a Rus- ties,” Dr. Zawahiri wrote later, in his sess sophisticated communications equip-
sian roadblock. Lacking visas, they were account of his trip. “God’s mercy ac- ment and a laptop with coded messages,
arrested and turned over to the FSB for companied us during these months.” and are detained trying to sneak through a
interrogation. One member of the trio, a The Russians returned the cash, the little-used back door to the embattled area,
“businessman” traveling on a Sudanese communications gear, and the com- under the pretext of checking out the mar-
passport, carried $6,500 worth of cash in puter, its mostly Arabic-language doc- ket potential for health foods and leather
several currencies, a satellite phone, a lap- uments nearly all unread. Abulkhalik goods. After their arrest, guards report that
top, and other electronics equipment. The Abdusalamov, their court-appointed the men are visited by Islamic radicals who
laptop contained many coded messages in lawyer, says he never got close to his petition for their release and leave coded
Arabic. The Sudanese “Mr. Amin” was, in clients and couldn’t figure out what messages that investigators cannot deci-
reality, the head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad they were up to or why they were car- pher. Would the FSB not have uncovered
— Ayman al-Zawahiri. According to the rying so much electronic equipment. their identities, and have let them go?
Wall Street Journal, “Dr. Zawahiri spent Freed from Russian jail in May “Perhaps most difficult to believe from
the next six months in a crumbling jail, 1997, Dr. Zawahiri found refuge in Zawahiri’s version is that his captors would
fretting that the Russians would discover Afghanistan, yoking his fortunes to not have read the Arabic information con-
his true identity.” But, in the end, “his Mr. bin Laden. Egyptian Jihad, previ- tained within his laptop computer,” com-
cover held, and he was freed.” ously devoted to the narrow purpose mented Dr. Evgenii Novikov, a Russian
14 THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007
17. defector and scholar in Islamic affairs who slots around both bin Laden
is now a senior fellow at the Jamestown and Azzam. Zawahiri tried
Foundation in Virginia. “Russian intel- to get Azzam to change his Litvinenko revealed in 2005 that “Islamic
ligence has probably the best Arabists in focus from fighting the Soviet fundamentalist” Ayman al-Zawahiri
the world.... These individuals would have invaders and their communist
been able not only to read Zawahiri’s Ara- Afghan appointees to instead had been trained by the Russian FSB.
bic text, but also to decode his encrypted directing the Mujahedeen to This is incredibly significant since Dr.
messages without any problem.” attack America and overthrow
But we are supposed to believe that a secular Arabic regimes. When al-Zawahiri is the reputed operational
generous Russian judge and some kindly Azzam adamantly refused, mastermind behind al-Qaeda.
KGB/FSB guys simply said: “Gee, fel- Zawahiri began spreading ru-
las, you’ve really stumped us with your mors that Azzam was a CIA
codes here, and nothing in your stories spy. On November 24, 1989, Azzam and virulently anti-American terrorist group.
checks out, and everything else about you two of his sons were killed when their car Space permitting, much more could be
is incredibly suspicious, but we’re in an was blown up while on the way to the Pe- said to support Mr. Litvinenko’s thesis that
especially good mood. So here’s all your shawar mosque. Ayman al-Zawahiri is a Russian agent,
money, fake IDs, computer, and spy stuff. Many who were close to the situation rather than an Islamic fundamentalist. And
Be sure to be more careful next time. So have expressed their beliefs that Zawahiri he is not unique in this regard. In fact, as
long now and drive safely.” was the one who ordered the hit. Finnish we show in “The Real Terror Paymasters”
More likely, says Dr. Novikov, the KGB/ terrorism expert Aansi Kullberg is among (next page), many other important leaders
FSB would have realized very quickly who those who state it as a fact. Regardless, of “Muslim” terrorist organizations pos-
Zawahiri was and would have applied to we do know for sure that the murder of sess similar pedigrees, demonstrating that
him the torture and blackmail techniques Azzam resulted in bin Laden and Zawa- Islamic terrorism is joined at the hip with
for which they are infamous. Zawahiri, hiri inheriting Azzam’s Mujahedeen army. the international terror network sponsored
after all, was a well-recognized and much- They began its radical reorientation into a by the Soviet Union/Russia. ■
photographed leader of one of the world’s
major terrorist groups, Egyptian Islamic
Jihad. Novikov believes Zawahiri “broke”
under torture and became an asset of the
FSB. Which makes much more sense than
the Journal’s story.
However, there is another explanation
that makes even more sense, and that is
that Zawahiri was already working for the
FSB when he was “arrested” in 1996. That
is, he was thrown in jail as a cover (a com-
mon ploy of police and intelligence agen-
cies) while he and his superiors worked
out future terror plots. This fits with earlier
suspicions among the Afghan Mujahedeen
concerning Zawahiri’s ascendance there
following the assassination of Sheikh
Abdullah Azzam.
Sheikh Azzam, a Palestinian profes-
sor who had mentored young Osama bin
Laden, urged Arabic Muslims to declare
jihad against the Soviets for their inva-
sion of Afghanistan in December 1979.
Setting up camp in Peshawar, Pakistan,
Sheikh Azzam, backed by the wealth of
bin Laden, soon was the recognized leader
of the Arabic Mujahedeen.
Newscom
Zawahiri sought Azzam’s influence over
the wealthy bin Laden, and with that ob-
jective in mind Zawahiri soon became the Marina Litvinenko, widow of poisoned defector Alexander Litvinenko at a 2007 London press
young billionaire’s personal physician. He conference beneath before-and-after photos of her husband. Alexander exposed Russian
also began placing his Egyptians in critical President Putin’s role in terrorism, including training and supporting al-Qaeda.
THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007 15
18. TERROR
TERRORISM
THE REAL
PAYMASTERS
Yuri Andropov, former KGB
chairman and former general
secretary of the Soviet
Communist Party (and Vladimir
Putin’s boss at the time),
launched the USSR’s “Islamic”
terrorist offensive.
AP Images
The KGB has long sponsored the Muslim fundamentalist groups that have now become a
global terror network carrying out the Marxist-Leninist revolution in Muhammad’s name.
by William F. Jasper against Israel and its main supporter, the In the mid 1970s, the KGB ordered
United States. No one within the Ameri- my service, the [Romanian] DIE
In 1972, the Kremlin decided to turn can/Zionist sphere of influence should any — along with other East European
the whole Islamic world against Is- longer feel safe.” sister services — to scour the coun-
rael and the U.S. As KGB chairman Gen. Pacepa, who defected to the Unit- try for trusted party activists belong-
Yuri Andropov told me, a billion ad- ed States in 1978, recounted this story in ing to various Islamic ethnic groups,
versaries could inflict far greater an August 24, 2006 article for National train them in disinformation and ter-
damage on America than could a few Review entitled “Russian Footprints.” “Ac- rorist operations, and infiltrate them
millions. cording to Andropov,” said Pacepa, “the into the countries of our “sphere of
Islamic world was a waiting petri dish in influence.” Their task was to export
I
n the quote above, Gen. Ion Mihai which we could nurture a virulent strain a rabid, demented hatred for Ameri-
Pacepa, head of the DIE, the KGB’s of America-hatred, grown from the bacte- can Zionism by manipulating the
little sister in communist Romania, re- rium of Marxist-Leninist thought. Islamic ancestral abhorrence for Jews felt by
veals a conversation he had with chairman anti-Semitism ran deep. The Muslims had the people in that part of the world.
Andropov, the Soviet leader. “We needed a taste for nationalism, jingoism, and vic- Before I left Romania for good, in
to instill a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews timology. Their illiterate, oppressed mobs 1978, my DIE had dispatched around
throughout the Islamic world,” Andropov could be whipped up to a fever pitch.” 500 such undercover agents to Islam-
told Pacepa, “and to turn this weapon of Gen. Pacepa explained how this was put ic countries. According to a rough
the emotions into a terrorist bloodbath into operation: estimate received from Moscow, by
16 THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007
19. Hamas militants hold a press conference in the
Gaza Strip in October 2004. Hamas operates
its Internet sites out of Russia and enjoys good
relations with the Kremlin, while Putin’s Russia
continues Soviet persecution of Muslims.
AP Images
1978 the whole Soviet-bloc intel- Egypt’s leading Islamic thinkers.” Titles ago drew the ire of religious Muslims be-
ligence community had sent some like Socialist Integration, On Communism, cause their Marxist disavowal of God was
4,000 such agents of influence into and Planning in the U.S.S.R. by leading seen as the biggest threat to Islam,” Shadid
the Islamic world. Marxists, notes Mr. Shadid, “speak more reported. “Today, they are often the public
of class struggle than the hand of God.” face of Islam — writing in leading Ara-
Likewise, Anatoliy Golitsyn, one of the Like a surprising number of others bic newspapers, speaking at conferences
most important KGB defectors to come across the Arab and Muslim world, Adel and on television talk shows, enjoying the
to the West, noted in his 1995 book, The Hussein “is a one-time Marxist and non- support of many younger, more political
Perestroika Deception, “Under concealed believer who has turned to Islam, part of a Muslims interested in their attempts to
Russian guidance, the Muslims of the for- new intellectual generation reshaping the rethink Islam’s relationship to democracy,
mer Soviet Union … will seek to coop- religion.” “I benefited from Marx in both minorities and the West.”
erate and ally themselves with Muslims theory and practice,’’ Hussein told Shadid, Evidence for the existence of an ongo-
in Iran and the Arab states while Russia “but now, Islam is my starting point and ing Soviet/Russian strategic plan to fo-
maintains its open policy of cooperation my framework.” That doesn’t mean he’s ment and use Islamic extremism is very
and partnership with the West. In this way abandoned Marx, however. “Hussein, for extensive and goes far to explain the inor-
China openly and Russia secretly will instance, says his goals have not changed,” dinate hatred of Muslim fundamentalists
jointly attempt to swing the balance of Shadid reported. “But he now sees Islam, for America and the West. Not only is al-
power in their favor in the highly strate- through its ability to persuade
gic, oil-producing Arab/Iranian areas of and to mobilize, as the best
the Middle East.” tool.” In other words, Islam Putin continues to build Iran’s nuclear
A July 1997 article by Associated Press for Hussein is a means to an
writer Anthony Shadid provides one mea- end, and the end is a Marxist program and upgrade its long-range
sure of the impact of this Soviet KGB (and world. missile program, not to mention provide
ongoing Russian FSB) strategy. The AP Adel Hussein, says AP’s
story, “Marxism Makes Way for Islam,” Shadid, is representative of a Ahmadinejad’s regime with all of the
profiles a number of influential Marxist- significant number of today’s conventional weapons that Tehran and
Muslim intellectuals. It begins with the influential imams and mullahs.
observation that “on the bookshelf of Adel “In a jarring twist, they are the its surrogate terrorists can use.
Hussein sits an odd collection for one of same thinkers who a generation
THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007 17
20. TERRORISM
the immense assistance they forgave 73 percent of the $13.4 billion
receive from Iran and Syria, debt owed by Syria to Moscow. Then, a
Is the ongoing Soviet/Russian propaganda regimes that were primary couple months later, he sold Strelet sur-
and terror strategy really at the heart of client-state terror sponsors face-to-air missiles to Asad and has been
for the Soviets and continue showering him with weapons.
the militant jihadist hatred directed at in that role for Russia under
the United States? The overwhelming Putin. Moscow Masterminds
Putin continues to build In the 2005 action film Lord of War,
evidence would seem to answer Iran’s nuclear program and Nicolas Cage plays Russian arms dealer
resoundingly in the affirmative. upgrade its long-range mis- Yuri Orlov, whose merchandise — guns,
sile program, not to men- tanks, grenades, missiles, planes, bombs
tion provide Ahmadinejad’s — spreads slaughter and genocide across
Qaeda aligned with the Kremlin (see the regime with all of the conventional weap- Africa. The fictional Orlov is a portrayal
article on page 10), so are the other major ons that Tehran and its surrogate terrorists of the real-life Viktor Bout, a “former”
“Islamist” terror groups including PLO/ can use. Likewise for the longtime terror- KGB officer who has built a global em-
al-Fatah, Hamas, and Hezbollah (see the ist-sponsoring regime of Bashar al-Asad pire with his fleet of Soviet transport
sidebar below). Of course, none of those in Damascus. In January 2005, Putin wel- planes and helicopters and his unmatched
groups would amount to much if not for comed President al-Asad to Moscow and access to a bottomless supply of Soviet
WHO’S WHO IN TERRORISM
P
by William F. Jasper and head of PLO intelligence, Hani Hassan, was actually an agent of
the DIE, the Romanian subsidiary of the KGB.
LO/al-Fatah. For nearly four decades, the PLO has been Former DIE chief General Ion Pacepa reported in a 2003 Wall
the largest, wealthiest, and most politically connected ter- Street Journal article:
rorist organization in the world. For most of that time, it was
held in the firm grip of Yasser Arafat’s iron fist. But Arafat was not I was given the KGB’s “personal file” on Arafat. He was an
the fierce, independent actor he posed as; he was completely depen- Egyptian bourgeois turned into a devoted Marxist by KGB for-
dent on the Soviet KGB and its surrogate Warsaw Pact intelligence eign intelligence. The KGB had trained him at its Balashikha
services for arms, training, logistical support, funds, and direction. special-ops school east of Moscow and in the mid-1960s de-
His KGB handlers included Vasali Samoylenko, Vladimir Buljakov, cided to groom him as the future PLO leader. First, the KGB
and Soviet “Ambassador” Alexander Soldatov. Arafat’s closest friend destroyed the official records of Arafat’s birth in Cairo, replac-
ing them with fictitious documents
saying that he had been born in
Jerusalem and was therefore a Pal-
estinian by birth.
During the 1960s and ’70s, Arafat and
the PLO did not hide their Marxist
ideology and openly proclaimed their
solidarity with the Soviet Union, Com-
munist China, Communist Cuba, and
every other Marxist dictatorship. But
in recent years, as communist-backed
“Islamic fundamentalist” groups like
Hamas have gathered more popular
support, the PLO leadership has at-
tempted to portray itself as authenti-
Hezbollah militia carry the coffin of
Ghaleb Awali through the streets of
Beirut on July 19, 2004. Hezbollah
has close ties to Moscow and Russia’s
clients, terror sponsors Iran and Syria.
AP Images
21. cally Muslim. It has adopted more religious
rhetoric and used Muslim names and sym-
bols, even naming Islam as the official and
exclusive religion of Palestine in the 2003
Palestinian constitution. Since Arafat’s death
in 2004, veteran PLO hand Mahmoud Abbas
has tried, unsuccessfully, to fill his shoes.
Hamas swept to power in the 2006 par-
liamentary elections (winning 76 seats
to Fatah’s 43), and in June 2007 Hamas’
military took control of the Gaza Strip in a
series of gun battles through the streets of
Gaza’s cities that left 120 people dead and
hundreds more wounded. Three of the four
so-called Quartet of Middle East peace bro-
kers — the United States, United Nations, Yevgeniy Primakov (right), the Soviet Union’s former terror
and European Union — announced their master in the Middle East, now fronts as chairman of
AP Images
backing for Abbas and the PLO and their Russia’s Chamber of Commerce. He is seen here with Putin.
rejection of Hamas. The remaining mem-
ber of the quartet, Russia, has been playing
both sides. During the last week of July, Mahmoud Abbas visited Hezbollah. In Arabic, Hezbollah means “Party of God.” But there
Putin in Moscow, seeking his endorsement. Putin gave it, but didn’t is little that is godly about the group, which has exploded in size,
rule out continuing negotiations and relations with Hamas. “I want power, and influence since first coming to Western attention by
to assure you that we will support you as the lawful leader of the bombing the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing over
Palestinian people,” Putin told Abbas at their July 31 meeting. 300 Marines. It is supported chiefly and directly by Iran and has
adopted the revolutionary theology and ideology of Iran’s Ayatollah
Hamas. The Arabic acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islami- Khomeini. It also receives military aid directly and indirectly from
yya, or Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Syria and Russia, as manifested by the weapons cases abandoned
terrorist organization founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. One by Hezbollah after their rocket attacks on Israel last summer. The
of Hamas’ claims to infamy is its popularization of suicide bombing containers were clearly marked: “Customer: Ministry of Defense of
as a terror weapon, pioneering in recruiting females and children as Syria. Supplier: KBP, Tula, Russia.”
suicide killers. Although posing as the ultimate in Islamic funda- Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah, who has been General Secretary of Hez-
mentalism, like al-Qaeda it has a curious relationship with Putin’s bollah since 1992, keeps in touch with Moscow through regular com-
KGB/FSB. According to a March 2006 report by Axis Information munications with Russia’s Beirut embassy. This was confirmed in a
and Analysis, “At present, five of the seven biggest Hamas websites 2006 interview with Russia’s Ambassador to Israel, Mikhail Bogda-
are functioning from the territory of the CIS member-states. Three nov. That is not the only channel by which Moscow and Beirut stay
of these sites use services of the Russian providers.... There are two in touch. In a detailed 2005 report by Axis Information and Analysis,
more smaller but rather well-known websites that are functioning entitled Dangerous Liaisons: Covert “Love Affair” Between Hezbol-
from Russia’s territory.” This is especially noteworthy since the Putin lah and Russia, author Michel Ebaz reports:
regime has clamped down on all media and Internet access by its
political opposition and all unapproved parties. Hamas’ Internet sites, Hezbollah’s special operations unit (“Muntamat al-Jihad al-Is-
which have been so essential in building Hamas’ stature, recruiting, lami” — MJI or “Islamic Jihad Organization”) emissaries have
and propaganda prowess globally, are clearly operating with Putin’s been active in Russia since the middle of the nineties. Resid-
approval. ing in Moscow, Imad Hadj Hassan Salame heads this special
Russia does not include Hamas on its list of terrorist organizations. operations unit. His men were an integral part of Hezbollah’s
Not surprisingly, Hamas’ political director, Khaled Mashal, has re- international network for smuggling weapons to Lebanon.
peatedly affirmed the organization’s close friendship with Moscow.
Mashal presides over the Hamas “Politburo,” which, in name, struc- Yevgeniy Primakov’s appointment in 1996 as Russia’s Foreign Min-
ture, and function, is much more in line with Marxist-Leninist than ister was a critical step in propelling the Hezbollah-KGB relationship
Islamist thought. Mashal has led Hamas delegations to Moscow for forward. As the KGB’s most experienced hand in Middle East terror-
talks with Putin and has met with Putin and Yevgeniy Primakov, the ism matters, he was the perfect choice for insuring a smooth transi-
KGB’s top Middle East scholar, at other forums in Khartoum, Teh- tion when the KGB transformed into the FSB. His official meetings
ran, and Ankara. Although Hamas never provided any significant aid in the 1990s with Lebanon’s political leaders also provided him (and
to its fellow Muslims who were being slaughtered by the Russians in his assistant, Viktor Pasovaluk) with opportunities to meet secretly
Chechnya, it did, up until 2004, offer them rhetorical support. Since with representatives of Hezbollah. In the 2005 elections, Hezbollah
2004, though, it has urged the Chechens to “heal the wound” and and its allies in the Resistance and Development Bloc won 35 seats
surrender in the interest of “a strong and integrated Russia.” (27 percent) of the Lebanese parliament. ■
THE NEW AMERICAN • SEPTEMBER 3, 2007 19
