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PETER'S NEW YORK, December 13, 2010--I was not surprised to read an AP article in my local newspaper linking the latest alleged terrorist incident in Sweden to the cartoon about Mohammed that ran some years ago in the Swedish press and created quite a stir in the Muslim world. The cartoon scenario and its aftermath always struck me as the sort of project that would have attracted the assistance of the American intelligence community. It created precisely the type of blowback and publicity that the U.S. government would like--the demonizing of Islam and more reasons to wage a war on the adherents of that religion under the guise of a "War on Terror." What the intelligence agencies did not realize is that this project tagged Sweden as a CIA asset. It became apparent that Sweden was in America's pocket.
Sweden is leading the charge against Wikileaks, ostensibly because Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, is supposed to have been involved in convoluted relationships with two women the Swedish government has conveniently decided to characterize as rape. Conveniently, I say, because the U.S. State Department would like nothing more than to see Assange behind bars for activities protected by the U.S. constitution, but that have embarrassed the United States and that may prove counterproductive to the achievement of America's foreign policy goals.
Now, all of a sudden, Sweden has suffered a terrorist incident. I read the headline in my local paper today: "Swedes shocked by terror attack." Here's a snippet that just has to be quoted in classes at the Columbia School of Journalism. "The blast that killed the alleged bomber..." Alleged? The entire premise of the article is that there was a suicide bombing, so what's with "alleged"? The "alleged" bomber, according to the article, killed himself and injured two people.
"While the police haven't confirmed Saturday's attack was motivated by Islamist views, an audio file sent to Swedish news agency TT shortly before the blast referred to jihad, Sweden's military presence in Afghanistan and a cartoon by a Swedish artist that depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog, enraging many Muslims." You mean they haven't found the bloody bandana with "God is Great" written on it?
Do we really have to wait twenty years for it to be revealed that the creation of a controversial cartoon published in the Swedish press was prompted by the U.S intelligence community? I think not. Not being privy to all the facts, my working assumption is that it was. And my working assumption is that this "alleged" terrorist bombing in Stockholm's downtown shopping district was a CIA set-up as well. As the saying goes, "If it looks like it, smells like it, tastes like it, don't step in it."
The Wikileaks cables provide some information about the clandestine relationship between the United States and Sweden. An "alleged" cable from May of 2007 reads as follows: "Swedish military and civilian intelligence organizations are strong and reliable partners on a range of key issues, particularly making a significant contribution to our understanding of events inside the Russian military and in Iran's nuclear ambitions. The good cooperation on counterterrorism, both domestically and internationally, has helped Swedish authorities carry out their mandate to protect Swedish citizens and national interests. Due to domestic political considerations, the extent of this cooperation in (sic) not widely known within the Swedish government and it would be useful to acknowledge this cooperation privately, as public mention of the cooperation would open up the government to domestic criticism."
Yawn. We had to be told this? Not really.
One can imagine how the alleged suicide bomber came to stand on the corner of a shopping district where he allegedly blew himself up. "Now here's ten thousand dollars, young man. Can you just wear this little vest for us and stand at that corner for about five minutes? After all, the hourly rate is better than you can get selling Swedish pancakes!" Then, an explosion, and cries of "Where is the bandana? What did you do with the bandana?!"
