PRESS RELEASE
LaRouche Interviewed by Al-Jazeera
WASHINGTON, April 14, 2002 (EIRNS)—Arabic Speakers around the world could see and hear Lyndon LaRouche live on the Middle East crisis, on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television. The news-documentary program, "Issues of the Hour," had "American Democratic Presidential Candidate and political-economist Lyndon LaRouche" as its featured guest in a live interview from Al-Jazeera's studio in Washington, to comment on the current U.S. policies in the Middle East and Colin Powell's meetings with Arafat and Sharon. Malik Al-Teriki, the program host, introduced the theme of Sunday's installment of his program on the U.S.-Israel alliance, stressing that "this week will be a decisive one for the Israeli-American relationship. It will determine who is steering this relationship."
Al-Teriki added: "It seems that even the resident of the White House is unable to influence the policies of Ariel Sharon, in spite of the fact that the American Administration's favors to Sharon have reached an unprecedented level and the fact that Sharon is the main beneficiary in the Sept. 11 attacks. It was indicated in last Thursday's "Issues of the Hour" program [in which the main guest of the program was EIR editor Ed Spannaus] that the possibility of the Israelis having prior knowledge about those who conducted the September 11 attacks was very strong, and that they nonetheless decided not to inform their American allies."
A short documentary report then followed, showing the crimes that have been committed by the Israeli army in the West Bank recently, and how Sharon was stressing that his campaign against the Palestinians is part of America's war on terrorism. It also referred to the factional fight inside the Administration, but that Powell stood almost alone in this, and that the pro-Israeli faction has completely taken over the White House decisions. Al-Teriki then introduced LaRouche, saying: "the apparent tension in Powell's face revealed during his meetings with Sharon is the ultimate thing an American politician could do. But, what would you say about an American politician who is calling for the use of the threat of breaking American relations with Israel? This politician, who is in the Democratic Party, is Mr. Lyndon LaRouche who is joining us today from Washington."
LaRouche, who was speaking with the Capitol building in the background, answered and commented briefly and powerfully on several questions. The first question was: "Mr. LaRouche, you are intending to run for the 2004 presidential elections, which means that you would have to run in a race within the Democratic Party against some of the strongest supporters of Israel, such as Senator Lieberman and Al Gore. Do you think the political arena is big enough to include a politician of your kind who wants to correct the U.S. relationship with Israel?"
The second question was whether LaRouche was too optimistic about the possibility that American public opinion would shift. Following LaRouche's answers, another short documentary was shown on the 50-year history of American-Israeli relations with their ups and downs. The conclusion of the film was that with Bush's coming to power, the relationship between Israel and the U.S. has become one of "intermarriage between electioneering and religious faith."
LaRouche was asked to comment on that, and was asked further questions on Powell's meeting with Arafat and Sharon, and his view of imposing sanctions on Israel, and what is to be done now.
LaRouche's appearance gave Arabs at every level, who have not yet had an encounter with LaRouche, a brief, but unique feeling of an American statesman who represents the intellectual and political opposite and antidote to anything terrible they have experienced with other American statesmen in the recent decades.
Sunday's was the fourth installment of this new program on Al-Jazeera. The first one was on the similarities between the Israeli army's operations against the Palestinians and the Nazi Warsaw Ghetto methods. The second installment invited EIR's Jeff Steinberg to comment on Sharon's and the Anglo-Americans' plans for the Middle East. The third, last Thursday, featured EIR's Ed Spannaus, who talked about the Israeli spy story. The Al-Jazeera Channel is watched by millions of Arabs around the world.
Since September 11 and its "breakthrough" in getting the interviews with Bin Laden from Afghanistan, it has even been monitored by international intelligence and news agencies. The program is to be rebroadcast on April 15 and again April 16 at 9:30a.m. Central European Time (3:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and 12:30 am Pacific Coast time in United States).
