Negligent government and law enforcement bodies failed to protect the assassinated Dutch anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn, despite clear warnings, an independent inquiry concluded yesterday.But no amount of police protection would necessarily have prevented Fortuyn, who hated security, being shot by an animal rights activist, its report adds.
The report, drafted by an Amsterdam judge, says the inquiry did not seek to apportion blame for Fortuyn's death. Nevertheless, it says that the police, civil servants, government ministers and the secret service were all guilty of shortcomings.
Fortuyn fell victim, it suggests, to the Netherlands' famously open society, in which only the prime minister receive special protection.
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The Assasination of Pim Fortuyn
The European Union is drawing up plans for a "Euro-Pentagon" in Brussels commanded by a defence chief able to launch military operations anywhere in the world.
The reports emanating from the Middle East that some 1200 Israeli citizens working at the World Trade Center failed to show up for work on September 11 have been widely scoffed at. However, an early report that U.S. officials would investigate the allegation has been followed by stone silence. Any investigation should begin by checking the roster of occupants of the WTC for Israeli residents. And, remember, American Jews can become Israeli citizens and maintain their U.S. citizenship.
"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon believes that a successful American attack against Iraq could create 'new momentum' for the diplomatic process in the region. In his view, the Arabs will be disposed to negotiate and compromise when they are convinced that they lack a military option."
The daily diet of stories about Cherie Blair and her dealings with the conman, Peter Foster, has, according to the Independent on Sunday, led to her husband backing a new anti-sleaze law.
VHeadline.com : Thursday, December 12, 2002 -- Uruguayan EP-FA congressman Jose Bayardi says he has information that far-reaching plans have been put into operation by the CIA and other North American intelligence agencies to overthrow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias within the next 72 hours.
The threat posed by US terrorism to the security of nations and individuals was outlined in prophetic detail in a document written more than two years ago and disclosed only recently. What was needed for America to dominate much of humanity and the world's resources, it said, was "some catastrophic and catalysing event - like a new Pearl Harbor". The attacks of 11 September 2001 provided the "new Pearl Harbor", described as "the opportunity of ages". The extremists who have since exploited 11 September come from the era of Ronald Reagan, when far-right groups and "think-tanks" were established to avenge the American "defeat" in Vietnam. In the 1990s, there was an added agenda: to justify the denial of a "peace dividend" following the cold war. The Project for the New American Century was formed, along with the American Enterprise Institute, the Hudson Institute and others that have since merged the ambitions of the Reagan administration with those of the current Bush regime.
Did the late Irv Rubin have inside knowledge about the fact that Israeli intelligence operatives were trailing the alleged 9-11 hijackers while they were "on the ground" in California?
If there is one nation on this planet that deserves to be described and dealt with as a rogue state, armed with weapons of mass destruction and intent on using them, it is Israel, under the terror reign of war criminal Ariel Sharon.
Your first pre-Christmas quiz starts here. Questions: what puts Cherie Blair and Saddam Hussein together in a single bubbling stewpot? Why are Peter Foster and Osama bin Laden peas from the same squishy pod? Answer: sources, sources, sources.
He was one of the most feared men inside the Provisional IRA. To rank-and-file 'volunteers', a knock on the door from John Joe Magee was the equivalent of a visit from the Angel of Death.
James Bond's latest "enemy" is fighting back.
The US government has a new objective in its war on terrorism, an objective it calls "total information awareness". This is a very creepy expression, but it suits the creepy nature of the government's intention, which is to find out absolutely everything about absolutely everybody and store all the information on a "virtual centralised grand database" in the Pentagon. The idea is that, if you know everything about everyone and are able to analyse this knowledge correctly, you should then be able to identify potential terrorists and prevent them doing whatever it is they are about to do.