Thierry Meyssan, founder of Voltaire Network, on 911, Syria, wider Middle East and more

[Alison Banville]

French intellectual, founder and chairman of Voltaire Network and the Axis for Peace Conference, Thierry Meyssan talks to Geopolitika about current events in Syria and the broader middle east and beyond.
His columns specializing in international relations feature in daily newspapers and weekly magazines in Arabic, Spanish and Russian. His last two books published in English : 9/11 the Big Lie and Pentagate.
Syrian terrorists were trained by the KLA in Kosovo
[Originally published Dec 2012]
Geopolitika: Mr. Meyssan, you gained fame worldwide when you published the book “The Big Lie”, which calls into question the official version of the U.S. authorities about the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Your book has encouraged other intellectuals to express their doubts about this tragic event. Could you briefly tell our readers what really happened on September 11, what hit or exploded in the Pentagon building: was it a plane that crashed or something else? What happened with the planes that crashed into the twin towers, especially with the third building next to the towers? What is the deeper context of the attack, which has had a global impact and has changed the world?
Thierry Meyssan: It is astonishing that the world press has echoed the official version, on the one hand because it is absurd and on the other hand because it fails to explain events.
The idea that a fanatic, based in a cave in Afghanistan, and twenty individuals, armed with box cutters, could have destroyed the World Trade Center and hit the Pentagon before the most powerful army in the world had time to react, is not even worthy of a comic-book plot . The more a story is grotesquely illogical, the less western journalists ask questions.
Moreover, the official version fails to account for stock market speculation on companies affected by the attacks, for the fire in the White House Annex, or the collapse of the third tower of the World Trade Center in the afternoon. None of these events are even mentioned in the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry.
Fundamentally, we never talk about the only important thing that day: after the attack on the World Trade Center, the continuity of government plan was illegally activated. There is a procedure in case of nuclear war. In the case of the annihilation of civilian authorities, an alternative military government takes over. Around 10:30 am, the plan was activated even though the civil authorities still had the ability to exercise their responsibilities. Power fell into the hands of the military who returned it to civilian authorities at around 4:30 pm. During this period, the commandos picked up almost all members of Congress and government members to get them to safety in nuclear shelters. So there was a military coup for a few hours, just long enough for the putschistes to impose their political line: a permanent state of emergency within and global imperialism without.
On September 13, the Patriot Act was tabled in the Senate. It wasn’t an act, but a thick anti-terrorist code written secretly in the preceding two to three years. On September 15, President Bush endorsed the plan of the “world matrix” establishing a comprehensive system of abductions, secret prisons, torture and murder. At the same meeting, it approved a plan for successive attacks from Afghanistan to Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Iran. You can see that half of the program has already been completed.
These attacks, the coup and the ensuing crimes were organized by what should be called “the deep state” (in the sense of the expression used to describe the secret military power in Turkey or Algeria ). These events were designed by a very closed group: the Straussians, that is to say, the disciples of the philosopher Leo Strauss.
These are the same people who led the U.S. Congress to rearm in 1995, and who organized the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. We must remember, for example, that Alija Itzetbegovic had as policy advisor Richard Perle, as military adviser Osama bin Laden, and as media advisor Bernard-Henri Lévy.
Geopolitika: Your book and the anti-American attitude you have freely expressed on your independent Voltaire network, have been the source of problems you have had personally with the administration of former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. Could you tell us a little more? Indeed, in the article you wrote about Mr. Sarkozy, entitled “Operation Sarkozy: how the CIA placed one of its agents at the presidency of the French Republic” you posted sensitive information that reminded us of politic-criminal thrilleurs.
Thierry Meyssan: I’m not anti-American. I am an anti-imperialist and I think the people of the United States are also victims of their leadership’s policies.
Regarding Nicolas Sarkozy, I revealed that he had been raised during his teenage years in New York, by Ambassador Frank Wisner Jr. This character is one of the most important cadres of the CIA, which was founded by his father Frank Wisner Sr. It follows that the career of Nicolas Sarkozy has been entirely shaped by the CIA. It is therefore no wonder that, having become President of the French Republic, he defended the interests of Washington and not those of the French.
Serbs are familiar with Frank Wisner Jr.: it was he who, as a special representative of the President of the United States, organized the unilateral independence of Kosovo.
I explained all this in detail during a speech at the Eurasian Media Forum (Kazakhstan) and I was asked to develop it in an article for Odnako (Russia). It turns out that, by a quirk of timing, it was published during the war in Georgia, when Sarkozy was in Moscow. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin put the magazine on the table before starting their discussion. This obviously did not improve my relationship with Sarkozy.
Geopolitika: Mr. Meyssan, what is the current situation in Syria, the situation on the front and the situation in the Syrian society? Are Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as Western countries who want to violently topple the political system of President Bashar Assad, close to fulfilling their goal?
Thierry Meyssan: Of the 23 million Syrians about two to two and a half million support armed groups trying to destabilize the country and weaken his army. They took control of several cities and vast rural areas. In no case will these armed groups be able to overthrow the regime.
The plan provided that the initial Western terrorist actions would create a cycle of provocation / repression justifying international intervention on the model of the KLA terrorism and repression by Slobodan Milosevic, followed by the NATO intervention. By the way it has been attested to that fighting groups in Syria were trained in terrorism by members of the KLA on Kosovo.
This plan failed because Vladimir Putin’s Russia is not that of Boris Yeltsin. Moscow and Beijing have interdicted NATO intervention and since then the situation has stagnated.
Geopolitika: What do the United States, France, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar hope to accomplish by toppling President al-Assad?
Thierry Meyssan: Each member state of the coalition has its own interest in this war and believes it can be satisfied, even though these interests are sometimes contradictory.
At the political level, there is the desire to break the “Axis of Resistance to Zionism” (Iran-Iraq-Syria-Hezbollah-Palestine). There is also the desire to continue the “remodeling of the broader Middle East.”
But the most important issues are economic: huge reserves of natural gas have been discovered in the south-eastern Mediterranean. The center of this deposit is near Homs in Syria (more precisely, at Qara).
Geopolitika:Could you tell us a bit more about the rebellion of Al Qaeda in Syria, whose relations with the United States are contradictory to say the least, if you look at their actions on the ground? You said in an interview that the relationship between Abdelhakim Belhadj and NATO were almost institutionalized. For whom is Al-Qaeda really waging war?
Thierry Meyssan: Al-Qaeda was originally nothing but the name of a database, a computer file, listing the names of the Arab mujahideen sent to fight in Afghanistan against the Soviets. By extension, Al-Qaeda refers to the jihadist milieu in which these mercenaries were recruited. Then Al-Qaeda designated fighters around bin Laden and by extension, all groups in the world who claim bin Laden’s ideology.
According to the times and the needs, this movement has been more or less populated. During the first war in Afghanistan, the war in Bosnia and Chechnya wars, these mercenaries were “freedom fighters” as they fought against the Slavs. Then, during the second war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq, they were “terrorists” because they were attacking the GI’s. After the official death of bin Laden, they have again become “freedom fighters” during the wars in Libya and Syria because they are fighting alongside NATO.
In reality, these mercenaries have always been controlled by the Sudeiris’ clan, the pro-US and arch-reactionary faction of the Saudi Royal Family, and more specifically by Prince Bandar bin Sultan. The latter, whom George Bush Sr. has always presented as his “adopted son” (that is to say, as an intelligent boy he would have liked to have fathered) has ceased to act on behalf of the CIA. Even when Al-Qaida GIs fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was still in the best interest of the United States because it could justify their military presence.
It turns out that in recent years, Libyans have become the majority in Al-Qaeda. NATO naturally used them to overthrow the regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi. Once this was done, they named the number two organization, Abdelhakim Belhaj, military governor of Tripoli, although he is wanted by Spanish justice for his alleged responsibility for the Madrid bombings. Subsequently, they transferred his men to fight in Syria. For their transport, the CIA used the resources of the High Commissioner for Refugees thanks to Ian Martin, Special Representative of Ban Ki-Moon in Libya. The so-called refugees were taken to Turkey to camps which served as a rear base from which to attack Syria. Access to these camps was forbidden to Turkish parliamentarians and the press.
Ian Martin is also known to your readers: he was Secretary General of Amnesty International, and representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Geopolitika: Syria is the location not only of a civil war, but also the site of a media war and of manipulations. We ask you as a direct witness, someone who has been on the ground, what really happened in Homs and Hula?
Thierry Meyssan: I am not a direct witness to what happened in Houla. However, I’ve served as a trusted third party in negotiations between the Syrian and French authorities during the siege of the Islamic Emirate of Baba Amr. Jihadists were entrenched in this area of ​​Homs from which they had expelled infidels (Christians) and heretics (Shiites). In fact, only forty Sunni families were left behind amongst about 3,000 fighters. The latter had introduced sharia, and a “revolutionary court” sentenced more than 150 to have their throats publicly slit.
This self-proclaimed Emirate was secretly managed by French officers. Syrian authorities wanted to avoid a direct assault and so they negotiated with the French authorities for the insurgents to surrender. Ultimately, the French were able to leave the city by night and fled to Lebanon, while loyalist forces entered the Emirate and the fighters surrendered. A bloodbath was avoided, there were less than 50 killed during the operation.
Geopolitika: Apart from the Alawites, Christians are also targeted in Syria. Could you tell us a bit more about the persecution of Christians in this country and why the so-called Western civilization, whose roots are Christian, shows no solidarity with fellow believers?
Thierry Meyssan: The jihadists pick on those who are closest to them: first the progressive Sunni and Shia (including Alawites) and only then followed by Christians. Generally, they torture and kill only a few Christians. On the other hand, they systematically expell them and steal their possessions. In the region near the border with northern Lebanon, the Free Syrian Army gave the Christians a week to flee. We witnessed a brutal exodus of 80,000 people. Those who did not flee in time were massacred.
Christianity was founded by Saint Paul in Damascus. Syrian communities predate those of the West. They have retained their ancient rites and their extremely strong faith. Most are Orthodox. Those who are attached to Rome have retained their ancestral rites. During the Crusades, the Christians of the East fought with other Arabs against the soldiers sent by the Pope. Today, they are fighting with their countrymen against jihadists sent by NATO.
Geopolitika: Can we expect an attack on Iran next year, and in the event of a military intervention, what would be the role of Israel? Is attacking nuclear installations the real goal of Tel Aviv, or is Israel pushed into this adventure by a globalist structure, interested in a wide destabilization of international relations?
Thierry Meyssan: It happens that Iran carries a Revolution. This is the only large country that offers an alternative model of social organization to the American Way of Life. The Iranians are a mystical people and they are persistent. They taught the art of resistance to the Arabs and they oppose Zionist projects, not only in the region but in the world.
That said, despite its bluster, Israel is unable to attack Iran. And the United States have given up on attack. Iran is a country of 75 million people where everyone aspires to die for their country. While the Israeli army is composed of young people whose experience is limited to persecuting Palestinians, and the U.S. military is composed of unemployed people who do not intend to die for a medal of misery.
Geopolitika: How do you see the role of Russia in the Syrian conflict and how do you see the role of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who is widely demonized by the Western media?
Thierry Meyssan: The demonization of President Putin by the Western press is the homage of vice to virtue. Having uplifteded his country, Vladimir Putin intends to return it to its place in international relations. He has based its strategy on controlling what should be the main source of energy in the twenty-first century: gas. Already Gazprom has become the foremost global gas company and Rosneft the foremost for oil. He obviously did not intend to allow the United States to get its hands on Syrian gas, nor let Iran use its own gas without control. Therefore, he had to intervene in Syria and forge an alliance with Iran.
In addition, Russia is becoming the main guarantor of international law, while Westerners presume, through self-righteous pseudo-morality, to violate the sovereignty of nations. So do not fear Russian power, because it serves Justice and Peace.
Last June, Sergey Lavrov brokered a peace plan in Geneva. It was postponed unilaterally by the United States, but should ultimately be implemented by Barack Obama during his second term. It provides for the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force, mainly composed of CSTO troops. In addition, it allows the continuation in power of Bashar al-Assad if the Syrian people decide through the ballot box.
Geopolitika: What do you think of the situation in Serbia and difficult path traveled by Serbia in the past two decades?
Thierry Meyssan: Serbia has been exhausted by the series of wars which it has had to face, particularly the conquest of Kosovo by NATO. It is indeed a war of conquest since it concludes by the amputation of the country and the recognition by NATO of the unilateral independence of Camp Bondsteel, that is to say of a NATO base.
A majority of Serbs thought they needed to be closer to the European Union. This ignores the fact that the European Union is the civil side of one piece of which NATO is the military flip side. Historically the EU was created under secret clauses of the Marshall Plan, it has preceded NATO, but it is nonetheless part of the same project of Anglo-Saxon domination.
It may be that the euro crisis will lead to a breakup of the European Union. In this case states like Greece and Serbia will spontaneously move to Russia with whom they share many cultural elements and the same demand for justice.
Geopolitika: It is suggested, in a more or less direct manner, that Serbia renounce Kosovo in order to enter the European Union. You have vast experience in international relations, and we sincerely ask you if you can give advice on what actions Serbs should take in terms of domestic and foreign policy?
Thierry Meyssan: I have no advice to give to anyone. For my part I regret that some states have recognized the conquest of Kosovo by NATO. Since then, Kosovo has mostly become the hub for the distribution of drugs in Europe cultivated in Afghanistan under the vigilant protection of U.S. troops. No people have won anything from this independence and certainly not the Kosovars who are now enslaved by a mafia.
Geopolitika: There existed between France and Serbia a strong alliance that lost its meaning when France took part in the bombing of Serbia in 1999 within the framework of NATO. However, in France and in Serbia, there are still people who have not forgotten “friendship through arms” of the First World War, and who think we should give new life to these broken cultural relations. Do you share this view?
Thierry Meyssan: You know that one of my friends, with whom I wrote Pentagate on the Pentagon attack on September 11 with a missile and not a ghost plane, is commander Pierre-Henri Bunel. He was arrested during the war by NATO for spying for Serbia. Subsequently, he was returned to France, which tried and sentenced him to two years in prison instead of life. This verdict shows that in fact he acted on the orders of his superiors.
France, a NATO member, was forced to participate in the attack on Serbia. But it did so dragging its feet secretly helping Serbia more often than bombing her.
Today, France is in an even worse situation. It is governed by an elite which, to protect its economic achievements, has placed itself at the service of Washington and Tel Aviv. I hope my compatriots, who have a long revolutionary history, will eventually remove these corrupt elites from power. And at the same time that Serbia regains effective independence. Thus our two peoples will find each other spontaneously.
Geopolitika: Thank you very much for your time.
Translation for Voltairenet.org:
Roger Lagassé
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