PART FORTY THREE: THE REAL TERRORISTS
PART FORTY THREE: THE REAL TERRORISTS
Some new names in this update:
Former ISI Director General Shamsur Kallu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamsur_Rahman_Kallu
Former ISI Director Javed Qazi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javed_Ashraf_Qazi
Former ISI Director Ghulam Kahn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghulam_Jilani_Khan
The 1993 Pakistani General Elections
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_general_election,_1993
PART FORTY THREE: THE REAL TERRORISTS
CNN interview with James Baker, former Secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush
July 13, 1997
CNN: You criticized President Kerrey for his inability to maintain UN sanctions on the UIS and Russia after elections on September of 1993. But President Kerrey was able to keep almost every western nation from normalizing relations with Russia and the UIS. Considering these countries carried more weight, economically speaking, isn’t it safe to say he really did keep sanctions in place?
Baker: President Kerrey badly miscalculated how the elections would go. First of all, his refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the Zhirinovsky victory citing a lack of voting centers in places like Grozny looked to many in Russia to be pure hypocrisy. Most felt that the reason Russia lost control over Chechnya was because of American intervention. Second, the refusal to recognize the Zhirinovsky victory because he failed to get “50 percent” of the total votes also rubbed people the wrong way in Russia. Kerrey himself failed to get 50% of the electorate. But he wasn’t required to take part in a run-off election as he was insisting Zhirinovsky do. Basically, it looked like we were telling the world that we believed in democracy…assuming you voted for who we wanted you to vote for.
CNN: But what could President Kerrey have done in that situation? The UN sanctions were tethered to Resolution 821, which tied sanctions to a free and democratic election?
Baker: That was his first mistake. It should never have been about democracy. It sounds good on paper and it makes the liberals feel good, but the sanctions were put in place for an entirely different reason by President Bush.
CNN: What reason was that?
Baker: Occupation, pure and simple. President Bush wanted Russia out of Croatia and Romania.
UIS Presidential Candidate Vladimir Putin in an interview with the BBC on August 1, 2011.
Discussing the aftermath of the election of 1993.
BBC: Many people in the UIS say that your support of Mikhail Arutyunov was what eventually cost you your job as head of the KGB in 1995. They say by supporting Arutyunov, you made a powerful enemy in Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Putin: That is absurd. Although we were divided at first, the 16-man committee for state security and defense was ultimately very happy with the election of Vladimir Zhirinovsky as President. I was forced out of the KGB due to my desire to enter politics and run for President of Russia in 1996.
BBC: But sanctions by and large remained in place because of the Zhirinovsky election. How could the junta be happy with this?
Putin: For one thing we increasingly believed that the sanctions were going to remain in place regardless of who won the election, at least if the Americans had any say in the matter. After the election China and India restored relations with us, and that ultimately was all we needed to keep afloat. Besides, we had more pressing matters to deal with.
BBC: More pressing matters than the sanctions?
Putin: Yes. We were happy that Zhirinovsky won the election because we needed him as a scapegoat for one more operation. We had a problem that could no longer wait and required our immediate attention.
BBC: What problem was that?
Putin: Terrorism.
“My Russia- An Autobiography by former Russian Prime Minister Gennady Burbulis”
Published by Interbook, © 1998
CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR
Vladimir Zhirinovsky smiled as the cabinet all stood up to applaud his stunning election victory. Even those who openly called for his ouster were coming up and shaking his hand as he patted them on the back.
“Comrade Burbulis,” he said with a smile as he approached me, “I want to congratulate you as well on your election victory. I am happy to see you in the Duma, we need strong men like you to serve Mother Russia, but I must admit I will hate to see you leave as Secretary of State.”
I smiled as I took his hand. I knew that was a lie. He never trusted me after the 1992 Revolution and he was desperate to have me removed from my position. And the 16-man Committee for State Security and Defense was eager to be rid of me as well. But although the Russian people gave him the opportunity to finish his term, they also swept out nearly every Zhirinovsky supporter in the Parliament. When the new Duma would take over on January 1st of the New Year, Vladimir Zhirinovsky would be facing a much different and much more hostile Parliament. He figured that since I ran as an independent that perhaps I would be willing to work closely with him. But I had no plans of rolling over for him.
“Now Comrades,” Zhirinovsky said as he took a seat next to me, “we must decide how we are going to deal with this Chechen problem.”
“If not for the Georgians there would be no Chechen problem,” General Troshev, military commander of the occupied Republic of Azerbaijan said angrily, “the Americans are sending weapons into Georgia to go to the Chechens. If the Georgians closed their border there would be no rebellion.”
“There is little question that the Georgians are planning their own rebellion,” General Filatov replied, “they are just using the Chechens to see how firm our response will be, and to see how well American weapons will fare against the Russian military.”
“The Ukrainians and Armenians have indicated they will not send troops either,” General Troshev added, “they say this is our problem, not theirs. And President Lukyanov seems unwilling to challenge them on that.”
UIS President Lukyanov had long since lost his ability to control the other republics, and this blatant refusal by the Ukrainians and Armenians was living proof of that. The Ukrainians and Armenians were willing to go along with Croatia and Bosnia because it was only Russian troops involved in the intervention, but this was simply too much for them. They were tired of being tied to a military that was obviously stretching itself too far. I grew angry knowing that Zhirinovsky and these generals created this monster. By castrating the office of President of the UIS how could they expect him to control these other republics? How could they expect him to control the UIS military that he was mandated to control by our constitution? They made him a figurehead and now they were angry that he was acting like one!
“Well what are we going to do then?” I asked angrily. “The Russian President has no independent authority over the military. Do we send the Moscow police to liberate Chechnya?”
“We have already prepared for that problem,” Vice President Zavidiya replied, “tomorrow there will be a special session of the Duma to authorize new sweeping anti-terrorism laws for the President. Once we get these laws passed President Zhirinovsky will have the authority to take control of Russian troops to deal with this problem.”
“That is a lame duck parliament!” I screamed as I jumped out of my chair. “You are simply doing this to try and strip the Duma of power before the new legislature takes over! This is nothing short of a coup!”
“Mr. Burbulis,” General Lebed said coldly from his chair, “perhaps you didn’t notice, but the Chechens declared war on us and we have 103 dead civilians to prove it.”
“Pardon me Marshal Lebed,” I fired back angrily, “but if I recall correctly, it was the Pakistanis who were behind this! Do we have any plans to deal with the real terrorists?”
“Don’t worry about Pakistan,” KGB Director Putin said, “I have already taken steps to address that…problem.”
Terrorists strike the heart of Pakistan’s military as country heads to the polls
The Economist
October 6, 1993
A car bomb kills former ISI Director Ghulam Kahn as he drove to the polls to vote
(ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN)- As Pakistanis headed to the polls to vote for a new Prime Minister today, a series of car bombings and assassinations across the country have rocked the nation. Outgoing Prime Minister Moeenuddin Qureshi declared martial law and called on the military to help restore order. But in a shocking development, many inside of Pakistan wonder if the military, and more specifically the Inter-Services Intelligence agency of the military, will be able to survive this series of assassinations. It is believed that at least twenty-three top leaders of the ISI were killed. This includes ISI Director General Javed Ashraf Qazi, whose car exploded as he was heading to the polls to vote. Two retired former directors of the ISI were also killed by car bombs as they went to vote: Ghulam Jilani Khan and General Shamsur Rahman Kallu.
“The ISI has tremendous autonomy inside of Pakistan,” commented a British diplomat, “and this attack on their leadership has badly weakened the agency which, at times, operates as a virtual state within the state.”
A little known terrorist group with strong ties to Moscow called the “Balochistan Liberation Front” has taken responsibility for the assassinations; however there is evidence that Moscow may in fact be responsible.
“There is no way that a small terrorist group could launch such a coordinated attack as this one,” commented an ISI agent who was at the scene of the Kallu bombing, “Over one-hundred bombs explode within twenty seconds of each other?! One of them was loaded into a television at an agent’s house! This was a coordinated attack from the KGB!”
The United States has condemned the attack and called for renewed sanctions on Moscow. China, which had indicated that it was lifting sanctions on Russia, has now indicated that it was reconsidering the decision. However, Moscow has vehemently denied any part in the bombings.
“We have also been victims of terrorism,” said Marshal of the UIS Alexander Lebed in a press conference, “and just as Prime Minister Qureshi contacted UIS President Lukyanov to offer his heart felt condolences after the terrorist attacks in our country three weeks ago, we too offer our sympathies to our Pakistani counterpart. We have not forgotten all that Pakistan has done on September 15th, and we pray that this will be the last time we have to call Prime Minister Qureshi to offer our…
sympathies.”
Sorry for my stupid question. I already edit it, just ignore my question.
