People's Democracy

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Vol. XXV

No. 46

November 18,2001

Text Of The RFI Broadcast

After the information revealed by Radio France International (RFI), and Le Figaro concerning a meeting last July, between bin Laden and a CIA agent at Dubai, the American agency denounced it as "a total absurdity". The RFI maintains its position and is herewith providing its proof.

THE name of the local representative of the CIA who visited Osama bin Laden on July 12, at the American hospital in Dubai is Larry Mitchell. If his visting card states him to be a consular agent, everyone in Dubai, particularly in the small circle of expatriates, knows that he was working undercover. Clearly, Larry Mitchell belonged to the "great house", otherwise known as the CIA. For his part, he himself hid nothing.

Well acquainted with the Arab world, and especially the peninsula, Larry Mitchell maintained a high profile and often participated in the soirees of expatriates in Dubai. One of those close to him has said that his natural exuberance often breached "confidential defences". And this perhaps was one of the reasons why he was recalled to the US on July 5.

Some twenty days after the attack of September 11, the CIA in a communique dated October 5, characterised as without any foundation, the rumours which said that the agency had had contacts in the past with bin Laden and his entourage, notably at the time of the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. It turns out that this communique of the CIA is in complete contradiction with official declarations of many representatives of the American administration.

COVER BLOWN

A review of the past is necessary on two counts; first of all historically, but also because it will permit us to make a serious assessment of certain official communiques. The former director of CIA, Robert Gates, affirms in his memories that American services had started to aid the Afghan mujahidden – among whom are the friends of Osama bin Laden. Six months before the Soviet intervention.

This affirmation which contradicts the CIA communique of October 5, has been confirmed by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Security Advisor to President Carter, and I quote:

"According to the official version of history, aid by the CIA to the Afghans began in 1980, that it to say, after the Soviet intervention of December 24, 1979. But the reality, a well-guarded secret, right up to the present, is otherwise……"

And Brezezenski adds:

"It was on July 3, 1979, that President Carter signed the first directive on clandestine assistance to those opposing the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And on that day I wrote a note to the president explaining to him that in my view, this aid would lead to military intervention by the Soviets.

Richard Labiewfere,

November 1, 2001