which
enjoy havens in Pakistans tribal areas as well as alleged protection
or support from elements of Pakistani intelligence. (Washington Post,
November 28, 2008).
Clash of Civilizations
In Europe and North America, the Mumbai attacks by Islamic
fundamentalists are perceived as part of the Clash of CivilizationsMilitant Islam is involved in a war against civilization.
The dramatic loss of lives resulting from the attacks has indelibly
contributed to reinforcing anti-Muslim sentiment throughout the Western
World.
The outlines of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, are
becoming clear. The terrorists targeted India, the U.S. and Britain,
and the Jewish people. (Market Watch, November 28, 2008)
According to the media, the enemy is Al Qaeda, the illusory
outside enemy which has its operational bases in the tribal areas
and North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Washingtons
self-proclaimed holy mandate under the Global War on Terrorism is to
take out bin Laden and extirpate Islamic fundamentalism.
Americas right to intervene militarily inside Pakistan in
violation of Pakistans sovereignty is therefore upheld. Bombing
villages in the tribal areas of North West Pakistan is part of a
humanitarian endeavor, in response to the loss of life resulting from
the Mumbai attacks:
Before these awful raids, news from South Asia had been
encouraging. The central problem remains pacifying Afghanistan, where
U.S. and other NATO forces struggle to stamp out Taliban and al-Qaeda
elements. (Washington Post, November 28, 2008)
Washington, however, wants the Pakistani armys cooperation in
fighting terrorism. In recent weeks, U.S. officers in Afghanistan
reported better results, crediting the Pakistanis with taking the
offensive against the Taliban on Pakistani territory.
Media Disinformation
US network TV has extensively covered the dramatic events in
Mumbai. The attacks have served to trigger an atmosphere of fear and
intimidation across America.
The Mumbai attacks are said to be intimately related to 9/11.
Official US statements and media reports have described the Mumbai
attacks as part of a broader process, including the possibility of an
Al Qaeda sponsored terrorist attack on US soil.
Vice President Elect Joe Biden during the election campaign had
warned America with foresight that the people who attacked us on
9/11, — theyve regrouped in the mountains between Afghanistan and
Pakistan and are plotting new attacks. (emphasis added)
These are the same people who were behind the terror attacks in Mumbai.
These are also the same people who are planning to attack America.
Immediately following the Mumbai attacks, New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg put New York Citys subway system on high alert based on
an unsubstantiated report of potential terrorism here in New York.
This report led the New York Police Department to take precautionary
steps to protect our transit system, and we will always do whatever is
necessary to keep our city safe, Bloomberg said in a statement
(McClatchy-Tribune Business News, November 28, 2008, emphasis added).
It just so happens that one day before the Mumbai attacks, the FBI
and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had warned that there is
a possible but uncorroborated Al -Qaeda threat against the New York
transportation system. (Ibid)
As the attacks in Mumbai were carried out, U.S. authorities issued
a warning that Al-Qaeda might have recently discussed making attacks on
the New York subway system. A vague warning, to be sure. We have no
specific details to confirm that this plot has developed beyond
aspirational planning, but we are issuing this warning out of concern
that such an attack could possibly be conducted during the forthcoming
holiday season, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security said.
(Chicago Tribune, November 29, 2008)
Pakistans Military Intelligence is Americas Trojan Horse
The media reports point, in chorus, to the involvement of
Pakistans Military Intelligence, the Inter Services Intelligence
(ISI), without mentioning that the ISI invariably operates in close
liaison with the CIA.
The US media indelibly serves the interests of the US intelligence
apparatus. The implications of these distorted reports are that:
1. The terrorists are linked to Al Qaeda. The Mumbai attacks are a State sponsored operation involving Pakistans ISI
2. The Mumbai gunmen have ties to terrorist groups in Pakistans tribal areas and North West Frontier Province.
3. The continued bombing of the tribal areas by the US Air Force in
violation of Pakistan sovereignty is consequently justified as part
of the Global War on Terrorism.
The ISI is Americas Trojan Horse, a de facto proxy of the CIA.
Pakistani Intelligence has, since the early 1980s, worked in close
liaison with its US and British intelligence counterparts.
Were the ISI to have been involved in a major covert operation
directed against India, the CIA would have prior knowledge regarding
the precise nature and timing of the operation. The ISI does not act
without the consent of its US intelligence counterpart.
Moreover, US intelligence is known to have supported Al Qaeda from
the outset of the Soviet Afghan war and throughout the post-Cold War
era. (For further details see Michel Chossudovsky, Al Qaeda and the War
on Terrorism, Global Research, January 20, 2008)
CIA sponsored guerilla training camps were established in Pakistan
to train the Mujahideen. Historically, US intelligence has supported Al
Qaeda, using Pakistans ISI as a go-between.
With CIA backing and the funneling of massive amounts of U.S.
military aid, the Pakistani ISI had developed into a parallel
structure wielding enormous power over all aspects of government.
(Dipankar Banerjee, Possible Connection of ISI With Drug Industry,
India Abroad, 2 December 1994).
In the wake of 9/11, Pakistans ISI played a key role in the
October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, in close liaison with the US and
NATO military high command. Ironically, in October 2001, both US and
Indian press reports quoting FBI and intelligence sources, suggested
that the ISI was providing support to the alleged 9/11 terrorists.(See
Michel Chossudovsky, Cover-up or Complicity of the Bush Administration,
The Role of Pakistans Military Intelligence (ISI) in the September 11
Attacks, Global Research, November 2, 2001)
Pakistans Chief Spy Appointed by the CIA
Historically, the CIA has played an unofficial role in the
appointment of the director of Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence
(ISI).
In September, Washington pressured Islamabad, using the war on
terrorism as a pretext to fire the ISI chief Lieutenant General Nadeem
Taj.
Washington is understood to be exerting intense pressure on
Pakistan to remove ISI boss Nadeem Taj and two of his deputies because
of the key agencys alleged with the militants.( Daily
Times, September 30, 2008
President Asif Ali Zardari had meetings in New York in late
September with CIA Director Michael Hayden. (The Australian, September
29, 2008), Barely a few days later, a new US approved ISI chief
Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha was appointed by the Chief of the
Army, General Kayani, on behalf of Washington.
Lt. General Ahmed Shuja Pasha
In this regard, the pressures exerted by the Bush administration
contributed to blocking a parliamentary initiative led by the PPP
government to put the countrys intelligence services (ISI) under
civilian authority, namely under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Interior.
Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha (right) next to Gen. Ashfaq Kayani on
the USS Abraham Lincoln talking with Michael Mullen, Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The U.S. Violates Pakistans Territorial Sovereignty
The US is currently violating Pakistan territorial sovereignty
through the routine bombing of villages in the tribal areas and the
North West Frontier Province. These operations are carried out using
the war on terrorism as a pretext. While the Pakistani government has
accused the US of waging aerial bombardments on its
territory, Pakistans military has endorsed the air
strikes.
In this regard, the timely appointment of Lt. General Ahmed Shuja
Pasha to the helm of the ISI was intended to ensure continuity in US
operations in Pakistan. Prior to his appointment as
ISI chief, Lt. General Ahmed Shuja Pasha was responsible, in close
consultation with the US and NATO, for carrying out targeted attacks
allegedly against the Taliban and Al Qaeda by the Pakistani military in
the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the North-West
Frontier Province (NWFP).
Upon his appointment, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha implemented a major
reshuffle within the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), replacing
several of the ISI regional commanders. ( Daily Times, September 30,
2008). In late October, he was in Washington, at CIA headquarters at
Langley and at the Pentagon, to meet his US military and intelligence
counterparts:
Pakistan is publicly complaining about U.S. air strikes. But the
countrys new chief of intelligence, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha,
visited Washington last week for talks with Americas top military and
spy chiefs, and everyone seemed to come away smiling. (David
Ignatieff, A Quiet Deal With Pakistan, Washington Post, November 4,
2008, emphasis added).
The Timing of the Mumbai Attacks
The US air strikes on the Tribal Areas resulting in countless
civilians deaths have created a wave of anti-US sentiment throughout
Pakistan. At the same token, they have also served, in the months
preceding the Mumbai attacks, to promote an renewed atmosphere of
cooperation between India and Pakistan.
While US-Pakistan relations are at an all time low, there were
significant efforts, in recent months, by the Islamabad and Delhi
governments to foster bilateral relations.
Barely a week prior to the attacks, Pakistan president Asif Ali
Zardari urged opening the Kashmir issue to public debate in India and
Pakistan and letting the people decide the future of IHK. He also
called for taking bilateral relations to a new level as well as
forging an economic union between the two countries.
Divide and Rule
What interests are served by these attacks?
Washington is intent on using the Mumbai attacks to:
1) Foster divisions between Pakistan and India and shunt the
process of bilateral cooperation and trade between the two countries;
2) Promote internal social, ethnic and sectarian divisions respectively in India and Pakistan;
3) Justify US military actions inside Pakistan including the
killing of civilians in violation of the countrys territorial
sovereignty;
4) Provide a justification for extending the US led war on terrorism into the Indian sub-continent and South East Asia.

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KUNMING, China (AP) Zeng Yawens outdoor laboratory in the terraced hills of southern China is a trove of genetic potential - rice that thrives in unusually cool temperatures, high altitudes or in dry soil; rice rich in calcium, vitamins or iron.
See these plants? They can tolerate the cold, Zeng says as he walks through a checkerboard of test fields sown with different rice varieties on the outskirts of Kunming, capital of southwestern Chinas Yunnan province.
We can extract the cold-tolerant gene from this plant and use it in a genetically manipulated variety to improve its cold tolerance, Zeng says.
In a mountainous place like Yunnan, and in many other parts of the developing world, such advantages can tip the balance between hunger and a decent living. And China is now ready to tip that scale in favor of genetically modified crops.
Surging costs, population growth, and drought and other setbacks linked to global climate change are pressuring world food supplies, while soaring prices on the street have triggered riots and raised the number of people going hungry to more than 923 million, according to U.N. estimates.
With food demand forecast to increase by half by 2030, the incentive to use genetic engineering to boost harvests and protect precious crops from insects and other damage has never been greater.
In Europe, Africa and Asia, governments that have resisted imports of genetically modified foods and banned growing such crops are loosening those restrictions. Meanwhile, they are pushing ahead faster with their own research, despite lingering questions over the safety of such technology.
Influential voices around the world are calling for a re-examination of the GM debate, says C.S. Prakash, a professor of plant molecular genetics at Alabamas Tuskegee University. Biotechnology provides such tools to help address food sustainability issues.
Genetic manipulation to insert desirable genes or accelerate changes traditionally achieved through crossbreeding can help make crops resistant to insects and disease or enable them to tolerate herbicides. Livestock similarly can be altered by inserting a gene from one animal into the DNA of another.
Many researchers believe such methods are essential for a second green revolution, now that the gains from the first, in the mid-20th century, are tapering off.
Bioengineered crops are widely grown in Canada, Argentina and the U.S., where nearly all soybeans, most cotton and a growing proportion of corn are designed for tolerance to herbicides or resistance to insects. A virus-resistant GM variety of papaya is commercially grown in Hawaii and China.
Biotechnology is bound to play an important role in the agriculture of the future, Robert Zeigler, director of the International Rice Research Institute, said in an interview with The Associated Press at IRRIs headquarters south of Manila in the Philippines.
Such crops bring tremendous power and advantages to producers and consumers, Zeigler said, noting the potential savings from reduced use of farm chemicals and of fuel for the tractors to spread them.
After delaying the long-expected commercialization of GM grains for years, Chinas leaders in July endorsed a 13-year, $2.9 billion program to promote use of genetically altered crops and livestock. Beijing is on the verge of releasing an insect-resistant rice variety, Zeigler said.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is a champion of the new agriculture.
I strongly advocate making great efforts to pursue transgenic engineering. The recent food shortages around the world have further strengthened that belief, Wen recently told Science magazine.
He praised the benefits - higher farm incomes and reduced use of pesticides - from widespread use of so-called Bt cotton engineered to prevent bollworm infestations.
The trend extends beyond China: Worldwide cultivation of bioengineered crops has expanded by over 10 percent a year for a decade, although by 2007 it still had reached only 282 million acres, an area about the size of Cuba, in 22 countries.
Vietnam is pushing ahead with an ambitious program to develop commercial GM crops to reduce reliance on imports. In May, South Korea, which already imports GM soybeans, began importing bioengineered corn to help bridge shortfalls of conventional corn after China began limiting its exports.
Last month, Brazils National Biosafety Commission approved two new varieties of genetically modified corn seeds, after giving the green light two years ago for GM varieties of soybeans. India has followed Chinas example, tripling acreage of GM cotton, the only bioengineered crop it allows.
In Africa, where governments have sometimes rejected food aid shipments containing GM grains, South African scientists have completed field tests of a potato developed to fend off tuber moths. They also recently approved trials of sorghum genetically enhanced to improve the digestibility and nutritional content of the coarse grain, which thrives in arid soils.
European countries face growing pressure, under World Trade Organization rules, to open their markets to GM products. Many among the EUs 27 member nations remain wary and, backed by consumers opposed to what some call are fighting to keep genetically altered crops out of their fields and supermarkets.
Why should we change what nature has given us, when it is everything we need? asked Filippo De Angelis, selling newspapers at a kiosk in Rome. I dont think we can solve the problem of world hunger through genetics.
Even in China, despite its hefty investments in the research, few are familiar with genetic modification. Some who have heard of it remain cautious.
s impossible to know if its harmful to the body, said Zheng Wencai, a retired architect in Kunming shopping for soybeans in a downtown market. There is still a global debate on this. So basically, I dont use it.
Besides papayas, China allows farmers to grow GM varieties of green peppers and tomatoes, along with several nonfood crops. But genetically modified rice and wheat are still in field tests.
Those test facilities are kept under high security, both to prevent contamination of non-GM crops and to protect the countrys own GM technology. Beijing seems determined not to cede its potentially huge local markets to big agribusinesses like the U.S. company Monsanto and Switzerlands Sygenta AG.
In general, the government has a very positive view toward GM technology and its products, says Lu Baorong, a member of the National Biosafety Committee, whose desk at Shanghais prestigious Fudan University was piled with GM rice seed samples to be tested on Hainan, a tropical southern island.
Since China is a big country and we have so many people to feed, to have our own technology and guarantee food security is very important, Lu said.
He wouldnt speculate on a timeline for commercial approvals of GM rice.
Ultimately, widespread cultivation of such crops will depend on work done at IRRI and by researchers like Zeng, who have spent years painstakingly searching for traits that might unlock the secrets to future abundance.
Zeng views genetic engineering as just one of many strategies, including irrigation and soil improvements and better farm management, needed to increase productivity to ensure future generations will have enough to eat.
Without all these, it will be very hard to boost output further. There will be breakthroughs, but it will be very hard, he said.

Associated Press writer Paul Alexander in Manila and AP researcher Ji Chen in Shanghai contributed to this report.

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