WHO CHAIRS NDC?

Dr Kwabena Adjei

Published on May 7th, 2013

By Ekow Mensah

An intense battle for the leadership of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) has already began with most contestants shying away from making public declarations.

Form all indications incumbent Dr Kwabena Adjei is interested  in retaining his position and would file his papers as soon as campaigning begins.

One favorite candidate is Samuel Ofosu Ampofo who was Minister of Local Government in the Mills administration.

 He has publicly said that he has no interest in becoming the National Chairman of the NDC but some cadres say that he will be the man to beat at the NDC congress.

Mr Ofosu Ampoful has been the National Organizer of the NDC and was one of the leading spokespersons of the party between 2001 and 2008 when the party wallowed in opposition.

He contested parliamentary elections in the 2012 general election and lost by a slim margin.

It is obvious that he expected to be appointed a Minister in the Mahama  administration because when that didn’t happen he told Radio Gold that “I am disappointed but not angry”

Many in the party see him as  an effective organizer and one of the remnants of the cadre core groomed in the middle of the 1980s for future leadership.

Another name which is making the rounds is Kofi Portuphy, a founding member of the June 4 Movement  and who is currently National Vice Chairman of the Party.

Portophy joined others like Sakuna Agambilla, Yaya Yen, Zaya Yeebo, Kwasi Adu and Gariba to found the June 4 Movement in the latter part of 1979.

Samuel Ofosu Ampofo

Since then Portuphy has remained in the ranks of what was described as the 31st December Revolution.

He has never been appointed as a Minister and has kept himself in the shadows of mainstream government dealings as the boss of the National Mobilization Programme.

He is generally reputed to be left leaning.

Sources in the NDC say that General Secretary, Asiedu Nketia will most likely be retained.

He is said to be unbeatable with his popularity soaring both within and outside the party.

Initial rumours that the current Minister of Youth and Sports, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah would contest for the position of General Secretary appear to be without foundation .

Afriyie Ankrah is quoted as saying that he would only be interested in contesting for the position of General Secretary if Asiedu Nketia steps down.

There are unconfirmed reports that current Deputy General Secretary, Kofi Adams may throw his hat in.

Kofi Adams is the special  Assistant to the founder of the party and former President Jerry John Rawlings.

He has so far maintained a dignified silence over the speculation about his candidature.

Although he is seen in some circles as a formidable candidate because of the apparent rapprochement  between President Mahama and the founder of the party, the popularity of the incumbent may be difficult to overcome.

Editorial

COMMENDATION

Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah- Arthur deserves commendation for his personal and timely intervention following the fire outbreak at the Kantamanto market in Accra.

The Vice President has ordered the national relief agency to provide immediate  assistance to the affected traders.

In addition he has asked the Ministry of Finance and financial institutions to move in quickly and provide much needed assistance to the affected traders.

The Insight notes that the Vice President was on the scene of the disaster within two hours of its occurrence and spent considerable time with the victims.

Whiles commending the Vice President,  we wish to make the point that measures need to be taken immediately to avoid  such occurrences in the future.

 Indeed one of the reasons why the fire could not be contained was that there were no access roads to the market.

The time has come for the relevant authorities to pay serious attention to the building of modern markets with access roads and other facilities for disaster management.

 The building of a modern market at Kantamanto and other places in the country is an imperative.

We salute Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur for his intervention.

THE PRICE OF WRONG DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT

A Map of Ghana

 By Peter Kofi Amponsah

This paper was written in June 2008 in reaction to the claim by the NPP government that it has laid a solid foundation for economic transformation of this country. Then, on Ghanaweb of 8^th December 2010, the former President, Mr J.A Kuffuor was reported to have said that his government was the best since independence.

However, the debate that this article was originally intended to generate has now been attenuated by the recently launched ICT programme by Rlg Communication, known as “Hope City”. This programme appeared to have answered most of the concerns raised in the paper and has therefore gladdened my heart for now. The following is the original paper which was written in June 2008.

It is senseless, indeed absurd, to try to solve scientific problems by a majority vote. Scientific problems can only be solved by scientific methods, this fact is incontestable. The humiliating tragedy of our present position as peddlers of primary raw materials on the world market in exchange for manufactured goods after fifty-one years of independence is totally unacceptable, and therefore constitutes a spectacular proof of the futility of attempts to solve scientific problems by a majority vote. However, mistakes can be instructive if they are discovered in time and if their causes are analyzed carefully.

For some time now, governments of Ghana have been operating with a wrong concept of development. This development policy began around 1978 after General Kutu Acheampong was ousted from power, and continued to this day. It involved the  opening up of the country for foreign investment in the extractive industries without the corresponding development of the country’s scientific and technological infrastructure that would enable us to  transform such resources into finished products for worldwide distribution.

KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY

It remains impossible to become a player in the knowledge based global economy of the twenty-first century with this kind of thoughtless misuse of the country’s natural resources. I am very sorry that I have to use this kind of expression which clearly demonstrates my frustration about the situation in this country of our birth. It is an unfortunate necessity. That seems to be the only way by which the gravity and the inevitable catastrophic consequences which this situation entails can be brought home to our policy makers.

Another area of grave concern is the so-called  Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programme. Our present approach to this programme has made us just a market and dumping ground for foreign computer manufacturers.

We should have taken major steps by now in accelerating the development of electronic and microelectronic industries which will provide the real technological base for any ICT programme. At the moment, no government agency is interested in the knowledge of building the computers that are used in the Information and Communication Technology training programme. The development of electronic and micro-electronic industries which are the key to any modern industrial development are not parts of our areas of interest.

A BIG JOKE

What is happening in our country now is a big joke and a complete waste of time. Even, General Kutu Acheampong, whose administration has been accused of economic crimes of various description, recognized the need for a state- of- the- art telecommunication infrastructure, and took the necessary steps to build the Earth Satellite Station some thirty years ago.

DEVELOPMENT OF MICROELECTRONIC INDUSTRY

Not only that, but also a plan was well advanced to transform the  Electronic Division of GIHOC, at Tema, known as Akasanoma, into a full scale Electronic Industry, and to begin a very serious development of Integrated Circuits. The term integrated circuit (IC) implies a union of components which form a structurally integral device, designed to perform  more complex functions than those assigned to  isolated components.

The inseparably associated and electrically interconnected components that make up an IC are called integrated ( circuit) elements. They show certain features which distinguish them from conventional transistors or resistors fabricated as structurally individual elements and interconnected by soldering to form a circuit. 

I said “even General Kutu Acheampong”, because there was a time in the history of this country when it was almost treasonable to say anything good about him.  In addition, there was also a stigma attached to people who were said to have either worked with him or have been closely associated with him. People now, with some great reluctance, accept and praise his agricultural programme during the early years of his administration, known as the Operation Feed Yourself programme, but for reasons still to be discovered, the development of high technology which is the most important programme that would have ensured the country’s  economic might and viability, which he was  pursuing under “lock and key” have never been mentioned by anybody anywhere to this day, not even by our  Intelligence Services Chiefs.  Does this  mean that they too did not notice what was going on? Whatever the reason, we must also realize that economic power does not come by itself. It is now contingent upon technological power, and that he who controls technology, also controls economic power.

What I want to put across is that the Operation Feed Yourself programme was just one aspect of a huge and comprehensive programme that was meant to prepare the entire country for automation. Because facts available to us clearly indicated that  automatization of industry was and  is still the call of the day. Experts single out two main trends in machine building – creation of automatic lines, including rotor-based ones, and flexible automated processes ( FAPs). The latter are a response to the growing worldwide tendency to rapidly change the type of production. Serviceable equipment should be readily re-adjustable, in other words the automated process must acquire flexibility. But this aspect of the programme did not register and has still not registered on the radar screen of most of our so-called economic experts.

Acheampong had an unprecedented opportunity to make this country great and prosperous once again. At the same time, the problems he faced were unprecedented in their complexity. The top of these problems was the question of legitimacy, which made it possible for his political opponents led by the elitist organizations such as the Professional Bodies Association and others to try to organize parts of the country’s population against his government. However, when it comes to putting Ghana on the high road of advanced technology after Kwame Nkrumah, it was clearly General Kutu Acheampong. No other leader of this country could come any closer. He was the only leader since 1966 who was prepared to bring Kwame Nkrumah’s industrialization programme to the highest level attained by modern science and technology. 

It was also the period during which Japan caught Europe and America asleep and drove past them in key areas of high technology. The contemptuous attitude of a large section of the intellectual elite in the country towards General Acheampong in particular greatly helped to keep public attention away from what we were doing. Apart from Mr. Kwasi Amoako-Atta, who was clearly visible, those operating on the high technology aspect of the programme were completely hidden from the public. 

Acheampong’s programme, if it were not abandoned after his overthrow in 1978, could have taken Ghana into space on the 50^th anniversary of its independence.

Acheampong’s main aim was to use automation and other branches of high technology to pull the country from poverty onto a high level of economic prosperity before the world would wake up to know what was happening in Ghana.

INDIA

India in 1982, drew up a 10-year plan for the development of its micro-electronic industry, with emphasis on the training of competent personnel and the study and development of large scale integrated circuits. By 1992, that was exactly ten years after the programme started, it become a space power. Today, India is a telecommunication superpower. It has also become a knowledge superpower, which has managed to skip the intermediate step of industrial development that has preceded other nations’ march into the Information Age.

 Large scale integrated circuits are used for developing new generations of computers and are based on crystals artificially grown in definite conditions; physical instruments capable of withstanding the influence of aggressive environments, penetrating radiation, high temperatures and pressures, which include heat-proof single crystals; The rapid development of  laser technology, non-linear optics and other modern lines in science and technology was made possible by the growth of large crystals with remarkable optical properties.

Since microelectronics continues to advance with huge strides, many specialists now recognize that keeping up to date is becoming more and more difficult. To make the best of the integrated circuits, development engineers must possess the latest knowledge and master new techniques of designing with ICs.

Microelectronics as a logical extension of electronics is distinguished for organic unity of its physical, technological, and circuitry aspects. For this reason, it is hardly possible to expect creative development of integrated circuits relying, for example, only on the effort of “classical” engineers concerned with designing individual semiconductor devices but not having the background in micro-circuitry.

Also, the effort of “classical” circuit design engineers alone is not enough for further advancement. An engineer engaged in microelectronics must equally well know the basics of microelectronic physics, technology, and micro-circuitry. Only with this background can he specialize in any branch of microelectronics.

If some three decades ago, we had already built an Earth Satellite Station, and were taking the necessary steps to establish a full scale microelectronic industry, and had continued with this programme, Ghana would certainly have been a different country by now. Here, I am  not even referring to Nkrumah’s period, but Acheampong’s period, because all what I mentioned happened  during Acheampong’s period.

THE LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT

At that time  we were far ahead in the level of scientific and technological development of some of the countries which are now referred to as the four tiger club of Asia. By 1965, Ghana was more developed scientifically and technologically than some of the countries in the far East which have now attained the status of economic tigers.

According to Professor Peter F. Druker of Claremont Graduate School in the USA, in 1958 when the Korean conflict ended, the Republic of Korea was even more devastated than Japan had been in 1945. The country had no industry at all and almost no trained and educated people. Hong Kong until the 160s was a trading port without industries. Singapore was little more than a British naval base. And Taiwan had little except a few plantation that supplied the country’s colonial masters, the Japanese with high sugars. See Economic impact: Global challenges of the 1990s 1990/ 1 page 74.

Acheampong  regarded the development of high technology as the most important step to ensure the country’s economic might and viability, but managed to make his opponents look elsewhere. The fact that they seriously underrated his intellectual ability made it possible for him to keep his real development aim from the light of day. Because nobody really credited him with such intentions and capabilities. 

The role of electronics in the development of modern science and technology can scarcely be overestimated. Electronics is by right considered a catalyst of scientific and technical progress. A country that imports most of its electronic equipment is in danger of ceasing to be part of modern civilization.

Progress in electronics has also been a big help to cybernetics – the science and technology concerned with the study of control and information flows in artificial and natural systems, and  has  also served  as a basis of high-speed electronic computers.

INTEREST IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

Acheampong was deeply interested in the development of high technology, but certainly not to the level of Nkrumah. He also wanted to keep the development of that programme from the light of day. At a meeting  in his office at the Ministry of Defence with Dr E. M. Boye and two other electronic engineers, we clearly saw even at that time,  that information technology had already become an indispensable infrastructure to modern industrial countries, and that any nation showing indifference to the study and development of new technology was only relinquishing its right to become a modern industrial power.

Dr Boye was a top class Electronic Engineer and the General Manager of the Electronic Division of GIHOC. He was very much committed to helping to put the country on the electronic map of the world, and for this he paid a heavy price. The conspiracy to keep Ghana away from the high road of advanced technology was still very strong, and with the exit of General Acheampong from power, he no longer had the necessary protection and support for that kind of  undertaking. In fact, his capabilities were brought to our attention after he began to have problems with the Board of Akasanoma, a company of which he was the General Manager.

General Acheampong did not order Dr Boye’s reinstatement as the General Manager of Akasanma, because he thought such a move would have exposed him and attracted public attention to the purpose for which he was going to use him as the main pillar for the development of electronic industry in Ghana, when the programme itself was supposed to be kept from the light of day.

While the industrial dispute at Akasanoma continued, two main problems requiring urgent and practical solutions engaged the attention of General Acheampong at that time. The first was the persistent inability of Firestone Company, engaged in vehicles tyres production to satisfy the local market, and the second was how to be self-sufficient in sugar production in Ghana, having already convinced ourselves of our ability to produce enough rice to feed the whole population of the country.

CAPTAIN AKUFFO

This is where I will always remember the late Captain Akuffo, one of the most outstanding nationalists and patriots I ever came across in the Ghana Armed Forces. Captain Akuffo was one of very few people who knew of the real development programme which for certain reasons was not put on paper. The plan involving the development of high technology was not put on paper. He was the Comptroller of Government Houses at the State Protocol Office during the early years of the NRC rule. He was later seconded to the Firestone factory at Bonsaso in the Western Region. 

ACHEAMPONG’S FRUSTRATION

When he heard about General Acheampong’s frustration  on the vehicles tyres supply situation and what he was planning to do about it, he sent for me to visit him at the factory. I spent two days at their guest house during which I had sufficient briefing on the production level, production capacity of the factory itself, and what could be done to meet the whole country’s requirement.

But that was not the end of the story. I was also taken to the factory of the Ghana Rubber Estate to meet the General Manager, who was in-charge  of the place. He was a Hungarian American engineer who could best be described as a walking encyclopeadia on the industrial uses of natural rubber.

 The first thing I learnt from him was that natural rubber is a strategic raw material. It is also a stock for war, and that is why Japan had to capture Malaysia first at the very beginning of the Second World War, and the Russians who do not have the geographical possibility of producing it, were the first to produce artificial crude rubber in 1926, because it is grown only in the tropical rain forest.

The major commercial source of natural rubber latex is the  Para rubber tree. Hevea brasiliensis (Euphorbiaceae). Other plants containing latex include figs ( Ficus elastica ) castilla, euphorbia. Germany attempted to use such sources during the Second World War when it was cut off from rubber supplies. These attempts were later supplanted by the development of synthetic rubber.

After listening to him for two solid hours, I and Captain Akuffo agreed that he would be of immense use to the country in our programme and therefore should be invited to meet the Head of State in Accra. But he told us that his employers would put him on board the next available plane if they ever got to know about this plan.

So, It was decided that he and his family should come down to Accra to spend a weekend at the Firestone Guest House near the Special Branch Headquarters, so that on Monday morning  before their departure for the Western Region, he would be picked up to the Ministry of Defence  Office of the Head of State, and that was exactly what we deed. So here he was sort of, smuggled to meet the Head of State, and after one full hour meeting, General Acheampong was so impressed that he requested that the man be brought back another day for further discussion.

 THE SUGAR PRODUCTION

Now on the sugar production, his plan to bring down Cuban technical and agricultural experts to help in modernizing the two sugar factories at Asutuare and Komenda, and to guarantee their raw material supply, as a part of the Operation Feed Your Industries programme, leaked out before it could be implemented. This led to a rumor  to the effect that he was bringing down Cuban soldiers to take over the Police Armored Unit in order to help him perpetuate his rule. I was shocked  when I head this, because to the best of my knowledge of him, he was never the type of person who would use foreign troops for his protection, and that could be one of the reasons why he remained at the Arakan Baracks throughout the period he was in power. It is  not clear whether this was one of the real reasons for his overthrow, and why the Police Armored Unit became a target of the SMC 2, after his overthrow.

TRAINING OF TALENTS

Some few years later, that was in the beginning of the 1980s, it was discovered  that as knowledge was increasingly becoming a key factor in a country’s productivity, competitiveness and economic results, various countries had already begun to vastly boost their investment in their population’s intellectual development, putting the training of new talent high on the agenda as a measure to meet what was then known as a “serious challenge”.

It was at that time that South Korea saw the need to close her computer and the entire electronic industry to foreign investment and began to develop her own home grown  Research and Development.

This shows that there is always a considerable degree of secrecy around the development of any new technology by every country in the world. For example, scientists had been working on the Atomic Bomb for three years by 1945. Almost nobody else, except the president of the United States of America, knew about this work. The secret effort to build a nuclear weapon was called the  Manhattan Project. Ghana now needs a Manhattan Project, not for development of nuclear weapon. But for a major scientific and technological breakthrough.

THE GENESIS

With several vehicles assembly plants in the country, and also in consideration of the fact that the Operation Feed Yoursef programme was going to move into its second stage to be known as Operation Feed Your Industries, it became clear that proper industrial development could not take place without metals.

Upon the instruction of General Acheampong, I invited the following distinguished personalities some of whom are still alive, to a meeting to discuss the possibility of providing the country with iron and steel industry. They were: Dr Kofi Sam, General Manager of Tema Steel Works, Mr H.N. O. Kwao, Mechanical Engineer and Head of Research at the Bank of Ghana. Dr Ivan Addae-Mensah of the University of Ghana, and Dr Owusu Bempah of the  Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.

THE NEED FOR A CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

We were also to examine the possibility of establishing a chemical industry in the country, to provide the material base for the development of chemical science in Ghana.  Chemistry plays an exceedingly important role in modern life, especially in man’s industrial activities. It is difficult to find a branch of industry not connected with the use of chemistry. To be able to chemically process natural materials, we must know the general laws of transformation of substances, and it is exactly chemistry that gives us this knowledge.

The development of the chemical industry is one of the most important conditions for technical progress. The use of chemical materials makes it possible to increase the quantity of products manufactured and improve their quality.

Our meeting place was the OAU Lounge at the Airport.

The result of this meeting was the invitation and the appointment of Dr R.P.Baffour to develop the Integrated Iron and Steel Industry at Oppon Manse in the Western Region.

 A NATIONAL THINK TANK

The more permanent think tank meeting place was being prepared at the Peduase Lodge, completely outside public view. Dr Boye, the then General Manager of the Electronic Division of GIHOC, was given the responsibility to compile the list of members. According to the directive, the list should also include a few military officers with technical background. I saw Brigadier Mensah-Brown’s name on the list and was later told that he and Dr Boye were both Lecturers at the Engineering Faculty at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. I also saw the name of Professor Phillips of the University of Ghana Medical School, and a few others.

The team was to meet for the whole day on every Saturday, starting from the first Saturday of August 1978. They were to be fed at the place and also to be provided with coupons for fuel, but no money was to be paid to them. This was because almost all the people on the list were already working in the various areas of the Public Service who saw their invitation by the Head of State to be part of a nucleus of a  National Strategic Industrial  Planning Body or a Think Tank as an honour.

POWER SUPPLY TO THE IRON AND STEEL PROJECT.

When it became known that the VRA would not be able to supply the 130MW of power required by the Integrated Iron and Steel Project, General Acheampong immediately called for a systemstic implementation of the entire electrification  programme of Dr Kwame Nkrumah. That programme talked of electrification of the whole country. He said: “ without abundant electric power, large scale industrialization such as we envisaged was impossible”. 

Electric power supply is a decisive factor in the development of any modern economy. It is one of the principal indices of economic development of a country and reflects the total state of its productive forces. Without power supply it will be impossible to transform the enormous natural resources of the country by modern technology for world wide distribution.

For this reason, it was planned to build five hydroelectric power stations at Akosombo, Bui, Kpong and one each on the Ankobra and the Tano rivers. There was also a future plan to build at least one nuclear power and one thermal power stations.

Under this electrification programme, it was clearly understood that modern economic development programme based on the latest scientific and technological achievements requires very high electric power station reliability, because interruption in power supply not only affects the industries it serves, but also impaires  the efficiency of the station itself.

To solve this problem, these separate stations were to be integrated into power systems to ensure continued supply and reduce the generating capacity reserve per unit. Integration of separate systems represents a higher stage in scientific and technological development in power engineering. Because such integration would ensure rational distribution of loads and the switching of surplus capacity into free channels which makes it possible at any moment to resist the elemental force of electric flooding.

THE JAPANESE’ METHOD OF PRODUCTION

Acheampong was keenly interested in the Japanese method of development, and how that country was running her industries. Information available to us at that time so far indicated that, in 1970 Japan had 6000 electronic computers, Britain had 5000, West Germany had 6500, and the USA had 70,000. But the effectiveness of the way they were employed was not determined solely by their number or quality. Job organization was also very important. Its job organization was based on a clear knowledge of how to unite computers in a system of automation and to concentrate their intellectual  power on the most important front of the economy.

The speed and memory capacity of modern electronic computers have brought qualitative changes in the intellectual work and extended the creative power of man. Computers completely transformed Japanese industry and transport. They now have a universal impact on both production and management.

So that here, Japan made it not through primitive manual labour, but through automation. It employed the latest and the most advanced methods of production. In Japanese manufacturing industry at that time, for example, plant was renovated at a rate of 20% per annum, so that its average age was not high, somewhere around five or six years. Such a forced rejuvenation of the stock of machines according to the  report was naturally not cheap, but production repaid the generosity a hundred fold.

Armed with this information, general Acheampong demanded and  obtained from the Ministry of Industry, the list of the state owned manufacturing industries as well as their upgrading or modernization programme from their respective managements. He had already begun to take the necessary major steps to prepare the country for automation.

DEVELOPMENT OF ALLUMINUM INDUSTRY

We also realized the urgent need to develop the alluminium industry. Apart from the fact that alluminium is the forth best metallic conductor of electricity in the world after silver, copper and gold, it is also a metal of the twenty-first century. Because it has corrosion resistant capability, and it is also lighter. This explains why General Acheampong invited the Russians to carry out the feasibility study for the development of Integrated Alluminium Industry at Nyinahin in the Ashanti Region, and the Kibi Bauxite Project in the Eastern Region.

THE ECONOMISTS IN THIS COUNTRY

The economists and some other social scientists in this country are too quick to condemn development programmes of past governments without subjecting such programmes to proper scientific analysis. They most of the time think that they have the  monopoly of knowledge and thereby exaggerate their understanding of what should constitute proper development programme of this country.

What they need to understand is that science and technology comprise the foundation of modern civilization, and will continue to determine its future, and therefore any economic development programme that does not lay emphasis on the development of science and technology is a complete waste of time. For this reason, I would suggest that parties to an argument should not exceed their level of competence. 

As we can see, the emphasis of science and technology aspects have been absent from our development programmes since 1978, and the result of this situation has been the systematic undermining and the destruction of the state’s ability to provide for its citizens, with the consequential proliferation of NGOs in our society, all pretending to be doing what the state has supposedly failed to do for her citizens.

A country that has a comprehensive development programme does not need such number of NGOs. We must here distinguish between civil society organizations, and human rights advocates, which are the real embodiment of National Sovereignty, and NGOs some of which could simply be described as intelligence gathering organizations for foreign governments. 

Any government of Ghana which tries to engage in the development of science and technology has always been a target of subversion by the Western industrialized countries. The examples are Nkrumah and Acheampong. The so-called donor community shape policies in African countries in favour of businesses of their respective home countries. 

The reason for this is to prevent them from becoming industrialized and thereby developing the capability to compete with them on the world market with manufactured goods. That is why they make every effort to prevent their technological advancement, by discrediting and finally removing from power, African leaders with the propensity for technological advancement.

Incidentally, all the African governments that are praised by the Western countries, are not the governments that are involved in a serious development of high technology. An African government can shout all the revolutionary or communist slogans in the world, but it will still not be considered a threat or be taken seriously, until it begins to take a credible step for the development of high technology.

DR GEORGE AKOSA

During the NDC period, one Dr George Akosa, who was the Minister of Industries, Science and Technology, drew up a comprehensive scientific and technological development programme with the CSIR and the other scientific institutions under his ministry. That was the closest Ghana had been to a restoration to the path of real development since 1978. However, before the implementation of this programme could start, Dr Akosa was removed as the Industry Minister, and that wonderful programme was never mentioned again. Dr Akosa is certainly a huge asset of this country and it is unfortunate that he did not come to our notice during Acheampong’s time. People like him do not lobby for post, and you have to look seriously for them. But this was how another opportunity to make this country great once again was thrown away in a manner that is still very difficult to comprehend.

A GREAT TRAGEDY

What is happening now is a real tragedy to the superlative degree. It is difficult to comprehend how a country like Ghana, with such a  level of scientific manpower could be reduced to this level of underdevelopment. One of the most visible manifestations of this situation is the number of people with scientific and technical background who had gone back to school to read Law, instead of deepening their understanding of the physical world and participating in the efforts to change it for the benefit of society. It is clearly an indication of something very serious about our country. It also means that the state has abandoned its responsibility to provide the very necessary leadership in this direction.

This is not to say that legal education is not important. In fact, lawyers are needed in every area of society, including the development and implementation of scientific and technological programmes. Here, the law can be used to protect society from incompetent application of new technology. But this must not be done at the expense of the development of technology itself.

INCORPORATION OF SCIENCE IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS.

Science has not been incorporated in the national plan system to the degree it should have been, as an inseparable component, without which it is impossible to elaborate and implement the socioeconomic policy in the broadest sense of the word. As a consequence, the social status of science and the prestige of scientific work have rapidly declined for the second time in the history of this country.

The first time this happened was after the overthrow of the CPP government in 1966, when a considerable number of scientific and industrial projects were closed down, the training of scientific personnel suspended, and a number of scholarships of students sent to the Eastern European countries were withdrawn.

This means that as the kind of scientific and technical infrastructure that could have created the high demands for their technical expertise  were abandoned, the situation created also led to the devaluation of their importance. This means, we have hastened the country’s decline because we have continued to ignore the need to invest in our future since 1978.

I said in my pamphlet entitled: “Document for Change”, published just before the 2000 elections, and here I quote: “The reason why we cannot pay a living wage is because of the primitive scientific and technical base of our country’s economy. Our scientific and technical development have not kept pace with our tastes because we destroyed the principal pillars of our technological advancement in 1966. We now have twenty-first century tastes, lifestyle and expectation without the corresponding technical capability. It is important to understand this simple mathematical fact.” 

I still stand by this statement, and in my opinion, any politician who thinks otherwise is not serious, and should not be allowed the chance to prolong the agony of our people.

SCIENCE

Science is the most forward outpost of human society, the scout of the future and the most reliable defender of the present. In science, we cannot start from where the developed countries began. We can only join them at the point they have reached. This is what I want my beloved countrymen and women to understand. With the proper application of science, it is possible to tackle problems of any degree of complexity.

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, 1711-1765, one of the greatest scientists the world has ever produced, put it this way, and here I quote: “Sciences bring all the affairs of men to the pinnacle of perfection, and once the people have been instructed in sciences their well-being is assured’.

June 2008

Peter Amponsah

Tel: 0302- 232034/ 0244310701.

E-mail: cwsi2008@gmail.com

CJA’S FORUM TODAY

Members of the CJA

The Committee For Joint Action (CJA) is starting the first of its series of special fora at the Freedom Centre in Accra this afternoon.

The Forum starts at 4:00pm and would be moderated by Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Editor of The Insight.

It will discuss the current national situation and organizers have invited members and supporters of all political parties to be present.

The special feature of this forum is that it has no principal speakers and is seen as a platform for the public to air its views without any inhibition.

 It is expected that all the heavy weights of the CJA including its convener, Mr Kwasi Adu, Dr Omane Boamah, Minister of Communications, Mr Okujeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Education and Mr Felix Ofosu Kwakye, Deputy Minister of Information will show up at the forum.

Others who are expected at the forum include, Mr Ato Ahwoi, a founding member of the CJA, Madam Ama Benyiwa Doe, Member of the Council of State and Mr Bernard Monarch, General Secretary  of the Peoples National Convention.

The CJA is perhaps the only group which has been consistent in its opposition to fuel price hikes and increases in utility tariffs.

The CJA has also been exposing corruption in state institutions since 2005.

It is currently discussing the attempt by the police to ban demonstrations for a period and insiders say that a full blown statement will be issued soon.

EU to buy oil from Al Qaeda 

Western media hails EU oil deal as potential game changer, despite admitting Al Qaeda holds oil fields. 

It was recently reported that the European Union would be lifting its oil embargo on Syria, in an effort to help fund what it calls "rebels" operating there. In the Associated Press article, "EU lifts Syria oil embargo to bolster rebels," it states: 

“The European Union on Monday lifted its oil embargo on Syria to provide more economic support to the forces fighting to oust President Bashar Assad's regime. 

The decision will allow for crude exports from rebel-held territory, the import of oil and gas production technology, and investments in the Syrian oil industry, the EU said in a statement.”

A recent TIME article titled, "Syria’s Opposition Hopes to Win the War by Selling Oil," reports: 

“On paper, the E.U.’s idea seemed straightforward. Without an embargo, European companies can now legally begin importing barrels of oil directly from rebel groups, which have seized several oil fields in recent months, mostly around the eastern area of Deir Ezzor. That would provide the opposition with its first reliable source of income since the revolt erupted in Feb. 2011, and in theory hasten the downfall of Bashar Assad’s regime, by giving rebels the means to run skeletal local governments and consolidate their control. As part of the decision, the E.U. ministers also agreed to export technical equipment, insure the rebels’ shipments of oil and invest in the rebel oil businesses. Before the war, Syria earned about $3.6 billion a year exporting oil and gas to Europe, with its biggest customers in Germany and Italy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.”

The BBC in their article, "EU eases Syria oil embargo to help opposition," would mention which fields specifically the EU was planning on exploiting, stating: 

“Syria's main oilfields are in the eastern provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hassakeh, which both border Iraq.” 

Just as in Libya, the West is wasting no time in despoiling Syria's resources, with the pillaging beginning long before the war even reaches a definitive conclusion. But in addition to the overt looting of Syria's resources, there is an added complication. TIME also reports:

“Still, analysts warn that the plan is deeply flawed-and in fact, that the E.U.’s decision could intensify the violence in Syria, by setting up a deadly competition for control of a resource that has languished amid two years of grinding civil war.” 

And indeed, this "deadly competition" has already been taking place, as Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front in Syria has been overrunning civilian populations, government positions, and local militias alike across Syria's oil-rich region. In fact, TIME itself admits that: 

“Complicating the issue is the fact that several of the rebel-held oil fields are believed to be under the control of Jabhat al-Nusra, which has declared its allegiance to al-Qaeda.”

TIME concedes that "several" oil fields are held by Al Qaeda, however, other reports across the Western media indicate most, if not all "rebel-held oil fields" are under Al Qaeda's control. 

In the New York Times article, "Islamist Rebels Create Dilemma on Syria Policy," not only is it admitted that, "nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of," but it specifically mentions the oil fields the EU seeks to plunder: 

“Elsewhere, they [al-Nusra] have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce.”

Additionally: 

“In the oil-rich provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hasaka, Nusra fighters have seized government oil fields, putting some under the control of tribal militias and running others themselves.” 

In Reuters' "Rebels battle with tribesmen over oil in Syria's east," it is admitted that:

“Islamist rebels are clashing with tribesmen in eastern Syria as struggles over the region's oil facilities break out in the power vacuum left by civil war, activists said on Saturday. 

One dispute over a stolen oil truck in the town of Masrib in the province of Deir al-Zor, which borders Iraq, set off a battle between tribesmen and fighters from the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda linked rebel group, which left 37 killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 

The fighting, which started in late March and lasted 10 days, was part of a new pattern of conflict between tribal groups and the Nusra Front, said a report from the Observatory, a British-based group which opposes Syria's government and draws information from a network of activists in the country.” 

The Reuters article had forewarned:

“The incentive for disputes over lucrative resources may be increased by plans by the European Union to lift an embargo on Syrian oil, which would make it easier to sell.

The EU said this week it wants to allow Syria's opposition to sell crude in an effort to tilt the balance of power towards the rebels, who are outgunned by Assad's fighter planes and long range missiles.” 

In other words, the EU's announcement while lining the pockets of big-oil, is sowing increased chaos, violence, and death across oil-rich regions of Syria, compounding an already catastrophic humanitarian disaster of the West's own creation. It is also clear that Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front is the opposition the EU plans to buy the oil from, as there are no other "opposition" groups across the country to speak of according even to the New York Times, and more specifically, none besides al-Nusra holding significant ground in Syria's oil fields.

The EU is openly preparing to do business directly with Al Qaeda, in a direct bid to bolster their control over territory they now occupy, and to overthrow the secular government of Syria in an unprecedented sectarian bloodbath. While many may claim the EU's policy is merely yet another manifestation of the corruption and incompetence that are hallmarks of the failed supranational bloc, it was revealed as early as 2007 that the West sought to intentionally arm and fund sectarian extremists, including Al Qaeda, to overthrow the Syrian government in just such a sectarian bloodbath. 

In 2007 - a full 4 years before the 2011 "Arab Spring" would begin - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his New Yorker article titled, "The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?" would state specifically (emphasis added): 

“To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.” 

Clearly then, it is no accident that Al Qaeda has the weapons and cash to dominate the so-called "opposition," nor a mystery as to how they've managed to seize much of Syria's oil fields. It is also no accident that these very terrorists now stand to gain immensely by selling stolen oil to the European Union, in a bid to further increase their strength, capabilities, and reach, in an otherwise so-far unsuccessful bid to overthrow the Syrian government. 

The EU and their US and British allies, now have yet another deep scar that will permanently disfigure their reputation, legitimacy, and international standing ad infinitum. For the people of the West, it is imperative that they identify the corporate-financier interests truly driving this conspiracy against the Syrian people and both boycott and permanently replace these interests. If not, they will inevitably, and in many cases already are, turning their attention, exploitation, and rackets inward onto their own. 

Ex-Lawyer Convicted in Terror Case Seeks Release

 

Lynne Stewart

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press
NEW YORK May 1, 2013 (AP)

Buoyed by supporters and a petition with nearly 13,000 signatures, a once-prominent New York civil rights lawyer said she has received a federal prison's backing for compassionate release from her terrorism case sentence while she fights advanced-stage cancer.

Lynne Stewart said in a statement released by her husband this week that Texas

prison medical authorities recommended she be released from her 10-year sentence, an application that would need approval by the courts and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Stewart, 73, said the medical authorities recommended to the warden at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas that her treatment would benefit from compassionate release, a rarely granted provision of regulations letting inmates leave prison early for "extraordinary and compelling reasons." The warden then forwarded the application to Washington, Stewart and her supporters said.

Stewart has been imprisoned since late 2009 when a federal appeals court in Manhattan called a judge's two-year, four-month prison sentence too lenient. She was resentenced to 10 years for a 2005 conviction on conspiracy charges for providing support to terrorist organizations by letting an Egyptian terrorism defendant serving a life sentence communicate with followers.

At her first sentencing, U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl cited her more than three decades of dedication to poor, disadvantaged and unpopular clients, calling the work that left her destitute a public service "not only to her clients but to the nation."

She said prison employees had doubted her chances at early release.

"Then I had this white blood cell setback, making me super-vulnerable and was quarantined for a week," Stewart said, citing a medical result that concluded she was vulnerable to the germs of others. She said she learned upon release from quarantine Friday that prison authorities concluded compassionate release was warranted.

"I must say that I was in a state of bliss," Stewart said.

Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said Wednesday that privacy concerns prevent the bureau from providing information about Stewart's case.

She said the bureau's compassionate release policy makes some inmates eligible for release if they have been diagnosed with an incurable disease and life expectancy is 18 months or less.

In a study last year, Human Rights Watch and Families Against Mandatory Minimums said only about two dozen cases from among more than 215,000 federal inmates are recommended for compassionate release annually. A report called on Congress to enact legislation to let prisoners seek early release directly from courts.

Mya Shone, a Stewart supporter in Vallejo, Calif., said nearly 13,000 signatures had been collected to support Stewart's early release. Those signing include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, actor Ed Asner, singer Pete Seeger and Bianca Jagger. Comedian and activist Dick Gregory went on a hunger strike to show support.

She said Stewart had battled breast cancer before her incarceration, along with diabetes and high blood pressure, but it seemed in remission until it was found last June to have spread to the lungs.

Stewart's husband, Ralph Poynter, said Stewart had lost about 60 pounds in recent months but not her humor.

"She says, 'Now the good news, I'm losing weight,'" Poynter said. "We're crossing our fingers, praying to all the gods that we have and the ones that we don't have."

Boston - Who did what to whom?

Tamerlan Tsarnaev (L) and Dzorkhar Tsarnaev

 By Jim W. Dean

The smoke has cleared and the dust on the Boston bombing is finally beginning to settle a bit.

The frenzy on the Internet of everyone pouring over the huge number of images and appointing themselves instant photo analysts has cooled down somewhat, too. But today we will drive the wooden stake through the heart of some of the god awful silly accusations that were made which has hurt the hunt for the truth.

We understand the public is hypersensitive about false flag attacks now. The 911 commission was considered a bad joke by a huge majority around the world, but that went nowhere. The Bush administration and virtually all of America’s institutions acted like they did not care… the proof being that there was no major push for an under oath investigation. That was a huge mistake as it invited more attacks… and they came.

It’s good for people to be skeptical, but going too far plays into the hands of the bad guys as well meaning Internet sleuths can provide good cover for the professional deception crowd. This always takes the attention away from the most vulnerable areas any false flag perpetrators prefer to be ignored.

An experienced Intel analyst right off the bat is going to be hypersensitive about what is not being talked about and/or covered by media and investigators on the first day or two. That is where you start sniffing like a bird dog.

At Veterans Today we stuck our flag in the ground early on the bombing drill, once again, being conducted on the day of a major event. Yes it was in the morning, and in the vicinity of the start of the race while the bombing was at the end.

But this has happened so many times I think now that all live events that are going to have a Homeland Security drill should be canceled, or all those attending be made to sign a release waiver that they understand they might be blown up. After the first day media reports of the drill disappeared. Poof… and they were gone.

With that also went anomaly number two, the Craft security contractors who were so prominently visible at the finish line area with their silly hats and uniforms. The backpack fragment of the first bomb matched exactly one that was clearly photographed on an Israeli looking Craft contractor. But… corporate media never mentioned a word about them, something that was an obvious and normal area of inquiry to even a rookie detective.

That is a sign that the media was ‘waived off’ of the bombing drill and Craft presence on day one… a bad sign, but also a good one in that someone very high up wanted that shut down… and it was. But there was more to it than was discussed on the Internet.

Security at these premiere events always goes to the top companies who have been around a long time with tons of experience. The Olympics is a perfect example. It is the twelve days of Christmas for all the top security companies once every four years where all the best people are brought in.

But Craft Security broke that mold. They were young, with a dead founder shot here in Georgia just north of Atlanta a few months ago, and a working core of SEAL noncoms with no high-tech background. It would be impossible for such a company to get a gig like the Boston Marathon unless someone had ‘walked them in’ as it is called.

They were a front for somebody, most probably the usual, which was an Israeli partner, something set up during the Michael Chertoff days to hard wire Israeli espionage into learning where the holes in our defenses were.

Craft had state-of-the-art crowd surveillance equipment there, very very expensive. We saw it, but it had been withdrawn from the finish line target area, along with all their personnel, conveniently before the bombs went off. We have time lapse video footage of them coming back but stopping at the finish line and calling in for instructions or permission to enter the bombing area… like maybe they were asking “Have they all gone off yet?”

The dome on the top of their unmarked van had a hyperspectral camera in it… space technology stuff. What it can do is classified. But there is one thing that it can’t pick up… and that has to do with how a tracking dog can follow a trail. It can’t pick up explosives in a pressure cooker if it has been prepared correctly.

Who told these totally untrained brothers to use the only delivery system that could defeat (and provide cover for the failure) a technology being use for the first time at an event like this? Do any of you think they were smart enough to figure that out on their own, or were just lucky?

The third anomaly for the day was the total absence of anyone asking why there were no bag searching procedures being carried out anywhere that we could see. That begs the question “Why have any security at all if you aren’t going to check the bomb bags?”

The fourth anomaly, which took several days to percolate up to the top was the sudden entry onto the scene publicly about pressure cooker bombs, like they were a standard. But there was a problem with that. They weren’t.

In Iraq and Afghanistan unexploded mortar and artillery shells were most commonly used where bigger is better. You can’t put one in a pressure cooker. We asked around and people who should know, most of them had never heard of their being used much. But… it was presented to us in the early reports as a common terror tool, which it wasn’t.

We move on now to the most silly overreaction by the Internet sleuths, two stories in one actually. The photo of the man with his legs blown off being rolled away was up the morning after the bombing, on Info Wars… fast… almost too fast. The story presented was that this poor man was a double amputee veteran, and ‘actor’ pretending to have had his legs blown off also came out fast. It had cover and deception all over it.

Numerous blogs and website pounded on it for days. It was a bogus story of course. While Paul Bauman was being photographed recovering with his family at this bedside his local history being covered in the local Boston news. Despite this, the Internet sleuths were running wild with their ‘actors’ story as proof of a false flag, but one that was obviously going to be shot down in flames. This was a perfect example of cover and deception, a text book case.

Next we have the NeoCon/Zionist Lobby diversion. They wanted to connect al-Qaeda to the bombing via Tamerlane’s trip home to Daghastan for terror training, and for those who would not buy that, tag the Russians for ‘not telling us more’ about Tamerlane. We have also shot this down in flames as these two were rank amateurs, and we have proof they were totally untrained.

One, they seem to have used fireworks powder, something that is hard to get in the New England states and of low explosive power. Any trained bomber would have bought a bag of fertilizer, a container of diesel fuel to make a slurry, with one other ingredient that I will not name, and for ten dollars could have take off the fronts of the buildings.

And second, we have a dead giveaway photo of the crazy tactical situation where Tamerlane decided to engage the pursuing cops. Rather than pull the van sideways across the street to provide more cover, and block the smaller car from having its tires shot out so they could escape, they just parked them on the right and left sides of the street. They then took up a firing position in the front of the hijacked Mercedes SUV.

But they did something very stupid which is immortalized in the twitter photo taken from a resident shooting right down on them. The Brothers Tsarnaev left the headlights of the Mercedes on, then went and stood right in front of the car to have a night time shoot out. When I saw this photo my first thought was, “Nobody could be this stupid… it’s impossible.”

And lastly, there was a large segment of the Internet crowd that preferred the patsy theory where they had nothing to do with the bombing. The Mercedes carjacking victim, the luckiest person in all of Boston in this whole event, got Tamerlane’s confession. This Chinese guy was smart enough to figure out that the only reason Tamerlane told him was because he was planning to kill him. After all, he said he had just killed a cop.

The Internet sillies can claim all they want that the Chinese guy could be lying, but what would be his motive? He is thrilled to just be alive and wants no publicity, as would I.

And lastly, Tamerlane’s roommates are on record now for trying to hide the bomb-making materials they threw out and the FBI had to dig out of the landfill. You can add to that Dzhokhar’s claiming his brother was the mastermind and one of the roommate’s admission that Dzhokhar told him a month ago that he knew how to make a bomb. So the case of the brothers taking an innocent stroll over to the Marathon finish line that Sunday has some major problems with it.

What do we think at VT… and our counter Intel sources? We suspect that the kids were being monitored by ‘another group’, and were allowed to walk the bombs in… by somebody knowing that there was no bag checking and Craft Security would do nothing.

This was done/allowed by someone who already had a good bit of experience doing such things. I will let you guess who that is, and you will probably be right.

Syria: Attack was a 'declaration of war' by Israel

The Syrian People stand behind Assad

By Frederik Pleitgen and Sara Sidner, CNN

A high ranking Syrian official called an attack Sunday on the nation's military research facility a "declaration of war" by Israel.

In an interview with CNN, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad said the attack represented an alliance between Islamic terrorists and Israel.

He added that Syria would retaliate against Israel in its own time and way.

Early Sunday morning, a series of massive explosions illuminated the predawn sky in Damascus, prompting more claims that Israel has launched attacks into the war-torn country.

Syria accused Israel of firing rockets into the Damascus suburb of Jamraya, striking the research center, Syrian state-run TV reported. The report claimed that the rocket attack on the research center aided rebels, who have been battling government forces in the region.

The Israeli military would not confirm nor deny the Syrian TV claim that Israel had launched rockets.

"We do not comment on these reports at all," an Israeli military spokesperson said.

An Israeli Army official told CNN that two rocket interception batteries have been deployed to northern Israel.

Missile defense system a game changer, Israelis say

The report comes shortly after U.S. officials first told CNN that the United States believes Israel conducted an airstrike against Syria. Two U.S. officials told CNN on Friday that Israel apparently launched an airstrike into Syria on Thursday or Friday. Based on initial information, the United States does not believe Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace to conduct the strike.

The Israeli military did not comment on the U.S. claim of an airstrike. But Israel has long said it would target any transfer of weapons to Hezbollah or other terrorist groups, as well as at any effort to smuggle Syrian weapons into Lebanon that could threaten Israel.

"We are watching everything when it comes to the movement of these types of weapons. We have the means to do that," a senior Israeli defense official told CNN's Sara Sidner on Sunday. The official is not authorized to speak to the media.

Shaul Mofaz, a lawmaker with Israel's Knesset, told Israeli Army Radio that Israel isn't meddling with Syria's civil war. But Israel must protect itself from Lebanese militants, he said.

"For Israel, it is very important that the front group for Iran, which is in Lebanon, needs to be stopped," Mofaz said.

"Everything that goes into the hands of Hezbollah is not directly related to the rebels. Israel never interfered in the past or today in their actions. Nevertheless, I need to say that Hezbollah is deeply involved up to its neck in what is happening in Syria. Hezbollah helps the Iranians navigate against the rebels."

Neither Hezbollah nor the Lebanese government commented immediately after Sunday's claims.

Sunday's report is the second claim by Syria this year of a strike against the government defense research facility,

In January, reports surfaced that Israeli warplanes targeted the Jamraya research facility. The Syrian government has said that airstrike killed two workers and injured five others.

A U.S. official told CNN at the time the Syrian claims were false. The official said Israeli fighter jets targeted a Syrian government convoy carrying surface-to-air missiles bound for Hezbollah. But Syria denied there were such shipments.

Claims of Israeli foreign presence was not limited to Syria; the Lebanese army said Israel flew warplanes over Lebanon on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Lebanese President Gen. Michel Sleiman condemned the violations as "an attempt to shaken Lebanese stability," the state-run National News Agency reported Saturday.

The Israeli military had no comment on the Lebanese claim. But an Israeli defense source said, "We will do whatever is necessary to stop the transfer of weapons from Syria to terrorist organizations. We have done it in the past, and we will do it if necessary the future."

The latest report of rocket attacks comes as sectarian violence erupted in northwestern Syria. 

State media have said their forces were seeking only to clear the area of "terrorists," the term they have routinely used when referring to rebel forces.

But the U.S. State Department said it was "appalled by horrific reports that more than 100 people were killed May 2" in Beyda, a suburb of Baniyas.

Several opposition groups said largely Alawite regime forces used tanks, battleships and missile launchers to target largely Sunni neighborhoods in and around the coastal city of Baniyas.

Government forces killed at least 200 people on Friday and Saturday in Baniyas and its suburbs, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said Saturday.

But reliable information has been difficult to obtain because government forces controlled access to the village, the LCC said.

State-run Syrian TV reported that government troops and the National Defense militia -- an armed Alawite group loyal to the government, "have cleaned the area from armed terrorists" after "they burned civilians' homes and terrorized the population." The report was supported by interviews with members of the Syrian army.

U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters on Friday that he did not foresee a scenario of "American boots on the ground in Syria" that would be good for that country or the region. Obama said other leaders in the region want to see al-Assad out of power.

Israel pushing US into another war

General Amos Yadin

 Head of Israel´s Military Intelligence, General Amos Yadlin, has called for taking steps to break the axis of resistance - which consists of Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria - by weakening the Syrian president and ending his rule as soon as possible.

By Yusuf Fernandez

Tel Aviv is trying to pave the way for a US-led foreign intervention in Syria by accusing Damascus of using chemical weapons. This is the same excuse, the weapons of mass destruction, that pro-Israeli neocon circles used in 2003 to launch the Iraq war.

Later, this claim proved to be a lie as many experts from all over the world had warned in advance. For its part, Syria has denied that it has used chemical weapons. Syrian Information Minister was quoted as saying on 24 April that his country would not use this kind of weapons even in the event of war with its worst enemy, Israel.

On 15 April, head of Israel's Military Intelligence and former Head of the Institute for National Security, General Amos Yadlin, called for taking steps to break the axis of resistance - which consists of Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria - by weakening Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and ending his rule as soon as possible. The Channel 2 of the Israeli TV further quoted Yadlin as saying that “whoever that is not aware that the fall of Assad is a positive development for Israel, would be incapable of reading the situation correctly.”

Yadlin added, in a statement at the conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INNS) in Tel Aviv, that he did not rule out a confrontation between Israel and Syria. However, he warned that it would be a tough war, because a war with the Syrian Army meant that Scud missiles, and maybe more advanced missiles, would hit Tel Aviv.”

For his part, Brigadier General Itai Brun, head of the research and analysis division of Israeli military intelligence, said on April 24 that Syrian troops had probably used Sarin, a lethal nerve agent, against foreign-backed militants on several occasions in the past few months. Brun gave no indication that he had a solid evidence, such as soil samples, typically used to verify chemical weapons use.

Significantly, he made the remarks as US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was ending a three-day visit to Israel focused on the Syrian crisis and Iran´s nuclear energy program. During his travel, Hagel rewarded Israel with a new whopping arms deal.

The US has described any use of chemical weapons in Syria as a “red line”, which would probably lead to a military action. However, the US and its Western allies remained silent when the sole real example of use of chemical weapons, which took place in the Khan al Assal village, in the Aleppo province, happened.

This is hardly surprising because since the beginning of its efforts to promote a civil war in Syria, Washington has relied heavily on the extremist forces that used the chemical weapons, particularly the Al Nusra front, which has just declared its official allegiance to al-Qaeda. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar have sent weapons to these groups, while Washington has been engaged in a covert operation to help radical militants from Libya and other nations go to Syria in order to fight against the Syrian government.

Even worse, the UN, under US pressure, refused to investigate the Khan al-Assal incident and put it at the same level as unfounded allegations by armed groups that Syrian troops had used chemical weapons. Of course, no real evidence was supplied to back such claims either.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced that the US and its European allies had blocked an investigation into claims of chemical weapons use. “Instead of sending a group of experts to a concrete location near Aleppo, as it was promised,” Lavrov said, “they started demanding the Syrian authority give access to all facilities on Syrian territory. They started to require allowing them to interrogate all citizens on the territory of Syria. It is an attempt to politicize the issue and attempt to give the same requirements to Syria as were given to Iraq long ago, where nuclear weapons were looked for.”

Israel pressure on the Obama administration

Shortly after Brun made his remarks, the US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel cast doubt on an Israeli general's conclusion that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons some months ago. “Any US response to Syria will be based on American intelligence findings. Suspicions are one thing,” Hagel told reporters. “Evidence is another.”

For his part, in Brussels, Secretary of State John Kerry, pathetically declared that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “not in a position to confirm” Brun´s assessment, as if a confirmation by one of the worst enemies of Syria against that country was a kind of infallible word determining the truth.

US media reports claim that the allegations by the Obama government of the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria had led hawkish congressmen to put further pressure on the administration to act on his previous threat that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a “game changer.” Some Zionist Republicans, who are arms industry lobbyists as well, have been pressing the Obama administration to send arms to militant groups fighting in Syria or even launch a military invasion of the Arab country in an outright attempt to topple the government of President al-Assad.

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican Senator and former presidential candidate, demanded that Obama take action to enforce his “red line” by setting up a “safe area” on Syrian territory and a “no-fly zone.” Such steps would require American airstrikes and the involvement of US troops on the ground. Another Senator, Dianne Feinstein, Democrat for California and chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that a military “action must be taken to prevent larger scale use” of chemical weapons.

The Washington Post quoted a phrase in a White House letter sent to Congress - “no option is off the table” - and showed concerns that another US military action in Syria “would open up a new front in the Islamic world.” The newspaper, however, also claimed that the an American military invasion against Syria “could also serve notice to Iran that Obama means what he says when he draws red lines.”

Unsurprisingly, the “national coalition,” set up by the American government and made up by some unrepresentative figures of the Muslim Brotherhood and other exiles, rapidly called for the US and other Western countries to act “urgently and decisively” to prove that the US president´s red line was not only “empty words.” This opposition group, considered as the “legitimate representative of the Syrian people” by Washington and its allies, does not hesitate to press for a war even though it means a devastation for their country.

It is noteworthy to point out that US actions against Syria started some weeks ago. At that time, some media reported that Washington had already sent 200 American soldiers to Jordan’s border with Syria to train anti-Syrian militants and, in Hagel’s words, “improve readiness and prepare for a number of scenarios.” Senior US officials told Los Angeles Times that these scenarios included the deployment of 20,000 US troops to invade Syria with the excuse of controlling its chemical weapons stockpile.

During the last meeting of the so-called “Friends of Syria” group, now reduced to 11 members, Kerry also announced the US would double its “non-lethal” aid to the Syrian terrorists to 250 million dollars. According to Reuters, a US official said that this aid “could include for the first time battlefield support equipment such as body armor and night-vision goggles.” “US officials have said in the past that the equipment could include armored vehicles and advanced communications equipment, but Kerry gave no specifics,” added Reuters.

Another ruinous pro-Israel war?

Today, just as it happened a decade ago in Iraq, untrue claims of the employment of Syrian chemical weapons against foreign-backed militants are used as an excuse to launch an aggressive war to benefit Israeli and US geostrategic interests in the Middle East.

Some wonder why the US and Israel are trying to use the pretext of chemical weapons just now. The real reason is probably the changes in the battlefield in Syria. Actually, the Western-backed militants, including those having links with al-Qaeda-, have suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Syrian army, including the loss of the strategic towns of Al Qussair, near the Lebanon border, and Otaiba, east of Damascus, both of which had served as important corridors for the passage of militants and weapons supplied by Western countries and Persian Gulf monarchies. These Western and Persian Gulf governments now fear that, without a direct Western military aggression, terrorists will be crushed and completely defeated in Syria.

Zionist circles in the US link a possible attack on Syria with another war against Iran with the excuse of curbing its nuclear program. The real goal of this anti-Syrian and anti-Iranian campaign is to help Israel achieve hegemony in the Middle East and impose US control over the strategic and oil-rich regions of the Middle East and Central Asia. These criminal policies threaten a wider conflagration involving the entire region, and are ultimately aimed at weakening or destroying China or Russia, US main rivals in the world, which are promoting a multipolar world.

It is not only the people of Syria who would suffer the consequences of such an awful war. The American people would also pay a high price not only in terms of the lives of its soldiers sent to fight for Israel and US imperialism but also of the inevitable escalation of restrictive economic and social policies and attacks on living standards that would be implemented in order to finance this new and also ruinous pro-Israel war.