Europe: Target of Terror

[Roberto Vignoli <rvignoli at gmail.com>]

Jürgen Elsässer

Europe: Target of Terror
The Dangerous Game of the Secret Services

Residenz Verlag (St. Poelten/Vienna), September 2008 , 344 p., 21.90  
Euro


On Sale since 10th September 2008, the book is already sold out and a
second edition is being  printed.


Credits

Berlin daily JUNGE WELT wrote: "A polit thriller par excellence"

Willy Wimmer, member of German parliament (CDU), said: „I wished this
book got in the hand of every member of our parliament."


Outline


Europe in the crosshairs of terrorists: Following the bomb attacks in
Madrid (March 2004) and London (July 2005), security agencies of
various countries have to raise alarms on an almost regular basis.

Legions of police and military forces had to protect the Olympic Games
in Greece, the FIFA World Cup in Germany and the European Football
Championship in Austria and Switzerland, and for many leading
politicians, an Islamist dirty bomb attack is only a matter of time.

A closer look, however, reveals that Western double agents played
important roles in all attempted or conducted attacks on the European
continent. Islamic fundamentalism has become reality; its terrorist
potential, however, is fostered mainly by US-American and British
secret services who try to drag Europe deeper and deeper into their
worldwide war. The threat of Al-Qaeda serves to justify the countries'
growing intrusion into people's privacy. The total surveillance state
(as devised in George Orwell's 1984) is no longer a horrible utopia,
but a governmental program – at least in Germany.


Contents

Apocalypse Now
"Lying with the truth" (Adorno): The shrill warnings of our
politicians against the ultimate attack bear both propaganda and
truth.

The Al-Qaeda Phantom
Osama bin Laden's notorious organisation is an invention of US foreign
policy. Leading figures, including the alleged second man Ayman
al-Zawahiri, are in fact double agents.

Operation Gladio
In the Cold War era, NATO installed secret units which were also
involved in attacks in Italy (Bologna, Brescia) and Germany
(Oktoberfest in Munich).

Operation Balkans
In the wars following the disintegration of Yugoslavia, US
intelligence and Jihadists joined their forces against the Serbs. The
"holy warriors" of this joint venture were involved in almost every
attack or attempted attack on European soil.

Hamburg: Double Atta
The September 11, 2001 attacks were allegedly planned in Hamburg. At
that point, however, the terrorist cell in the city's Harburg district
had already been under observation for years. Here, the group's
alleged leader, Muhammed Atta, had a look-alike before 9/11.

Madrid: Traces of Dynamite
Veterans of the Bosnian war played an essential role in the train
bombings on March 11, 2004. Spies of the Spanish secret service had
contributed the dynamite.

London: MI6 and Dr. No
The man pulling the strings behind the attack on London's public
transport network on July 7, 2005 was Haroon Rashid Aswat. In the
1990s he supported the Kosovo-Albanian guerrilla group UCK on behalf
of MI6.

Milan: An Agent Quits
At the beginning of 2003, the CIA kidnapped radical Imam Abu Omar in
broad daylight and deported him to the Ramstein military base in
Germany and from there to a torture prison in Afghanistan – an act of
revenge in an ugly war among allies. The preacher had been spying for
the US in Albania and wanted to quit. In arresting him the US secret
service also prevented the Italian police from accessing a bigger
Islamist underground network.

Cologne: The Ballack Bomber
In the summer of 2006 police found a bomb suitcase at Cologne main
station. The two alleged assassins were from Lebanon, which was about
to become the next place of action in the German Bundeswehr's fight
against international terrorism. The two assassin's mentor was a
member of US-funded Sunni group Fatah al-Islam; he was killed by the
Lebanese army before the suitcase bomber trial began.

Ulm: The German 9/11?
An alleged mega-attack could be thwarted in September 2007. The three
terrorists were led by a convert from the German city of Ulm who had
been trained in praying and bomb constructing by an agent of the
German State Security.

Istanbul: Whisky and Koran
Louai Sakra is said to have been involved in attacks on Western
institutions in Istanbul. He confessed to haive trained the 9/11
suicide bombers. After his arrest, he admitted to enjoying alcohol,
pork meat – and working for three secret services.

Vienna: All Beginnings Are Difficult
Construing something like an "Austrian branch of  Al-Qaeda" is a tough
task. Some public servants still try their best.

Digital Fascism
Increasingly radical suggestions for the protection of countries
(complete video surveillance, access to private computers for
authorities, secret data police, internment camps, preventive killing)
are a serious threat to democracy. They way to this hell is paved by
inside jobs of the secret services.


 The author

Jürgen Elsässer wrote more than a dozen books, mainly on geopolitcs.
Licensed editions available in French, Italian, Japanese, Serbian,
Turkish and Polish.

His book "How Jihad came to Europe. Jihadists and intelligence on the
Balkans" (published in 2005 by NP-Buch, St. Pölten) also came out in
France, Poland, Turkey and Serbia. A critic of Deutschlandfunk stated:
"Such revelations really get under your skin. Thanks to Jürgen
Elsässer, who researched into this topic for almost ten years, all
these facts are now collected in a comprehensible, clear book. It
should really make international headlines and cause a big stir. And
most of all it should encourage us to question our sacrosanct
political networks and taboos." France's minister of the interior
Jean-Pierre Chevenement called this book a " gold mine full of
disclosures".

The extensive insights and contacts the author gathered while working
for the parliamentary control commission for the intelligence service
BND also helped him in the writing of this book. Moreover, lawyers and
other parties involved in the German Islamist trials contributed
valuable information.