Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bela_ghoulashi who wrote (81111)	3/11/2003 3:40:40 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 281500

Chavez is running "under our radar" at the moment. But this guy is shaping up to be another Castro. [The Weekly Standard] Comandante Chavez's Friends Hugo Chavez supports Saddam Hussein and terrorism. Several congressional Democrats support Chavez. What's wrong with this picture? by Thor Halvorssen 03/11/2003 12:00:00 AM LATE LAST YEAR, 16 U.S. congressmen voiced their approval for Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Representatives Barney Frank, John Conyers, Chaka Fattah, Jan Schakowsky, Jose Serrano, and others complained in a letter to President Bush that the United States was not adequately protecting Chavez against a groundswell of internal opposition to his increasingly authoritarian rule--an upsurge that might lead to his ouster. Elected to power in 1998, Lt. Col. Chavez has hijacked democracy in Venezuela and is openly moving the country toward totalitarianism. Beyond Venezuela's borders, he celebrates, protects, and does business with terrorists. A day after the September 11 terrorist attacks, President Chavez declared that "The United States brought the attacks upon itself, for their arrogant imperialist foreign policy." Chavez also described the U.S. military response to bin Laden as "terrorism," claiming that he saw no difference between the invasion of Afghanistan and the September 11 terrorist attacks. While the United States considers Saddam Hussein a threat to world peace, Chavez has hailed Saddam as his "brother" and business "partner." In the past two years Chavez has continued to cultivate relationships with the governments listed in the State Department's roll of state sponsors of terrorism--he has been particularly vocal in his support for the Iranian regime. Last December a high-level Venezuelan military defector gave sworn testimony that terrorist links exist between al Qaeda and the Chavez government. The defector, President Chavez's personal pilot, alleges that one operation involved the transfer of close to $1 million in cash to Osama bin Laden. In January, Judicial Watch, a public-interest legal organization based in Washington, filed a $100 million suit against Hugo Chavez on behalf of a victim and survivor of the September 11th terrorist attacks. The lawsuit alleges that Chavez provided material, financial, and other support and assistance to the al Qaeda terror network. In February, a Venezuelan Muslim, Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan, was detained in London's Gatwick airport for stashing a grenade in his luggage. He was apprehended after disembarking from a British Airways flight that originated in Caracas. The British Mail reported that al Qaeda operates a training camp on the Venezuelan island of Margarita. The Venezuelan ambassador in London has obtained a "legal stop" preventing the newspaper from commenting on the article. Also, the congressional signatories turn a blind eye to mountains of hard evidence--most supplied by U.S. allies in the Colombian government--confirming Chavez's support for the FARC and ELN terrorist networks. The Colombian government declared that the head of the FARC terrorist group, Manual Marulanda, is hiding in Venezuela, and the Colombian embassy in Caracas was bombed a day after Chavez made a blistering speech attacking Colombia. The Financial Times reported last week that the perpetrators of the bombing may be FARC terrorists or even members of the Venezuelan secret police. Yesterday in Colombia, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton gave a press conference where he unequivocally stated that the Chavez government will not refer to the FARC Colombian terrorists as "terrorists," because the Chavez government wishes to remain "neutral." REST AT:http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/346jorji.asp

To: bela_ghoulashi who wrote (81111)	3/11/2003 4:11:07 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 281500

"You can go tell Comrade Fidel Castro," he said, "that I appreciate his concern." Then, raising his voice, he said, "If the soldiers of the United States invade Iraq we will smash them like this" -- and he stamped on the carpet with his polished military boots. washingtonpost.com Saddam's Tough to Persuade. Cuba Tried By Alcibíades Hidalgo Sunday, March 9, 2003; Page B01 In the fall of 1990, the author was part of a high-level Cuban diplomatic delegation sent by Fidel Castro to Baghdad on the eve of the Persian Gulf War to try to persuade Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait. His memories of a tense afternoon spent in Hussein's company offer some insight into the Iraqi leader's mind on the eve of a possible second Gulf War. Saddam Hussein raised his right hand to interrupt a long explanation by the chief of Cuban military intelligence. Both men were poised over a large map of the Arabian peninsula, on which was marked in great detail the growing deployment of American and allied military forces, a land armada that would inflict lethal punishment on Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait. "I have received various reports quite similar to yours," Saddam said. "I get them from my ambassador to the United Nations. They almost always end up there," he said, raising his voice and pointing to a grand marble wastebasket in a corner of the huge room. REST AT:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59731-2003Mar7.html