Francis Report 10-17

Dave Francis

So, we are going to allow the Taliban a voice in the new government of Afghanistan. Colin Powell was quoted as saying, "We would have to listen to them or at least take them into account," when forming a new government in the war torn country.

Can someone tell me why? I don’t remember us ‘taking them into account’ after we defeated the Nazis. I seem to recall that we specifically insisted on de-nazification of the local populace, and the government in particular. That was in a time when we were brave enough to call something evil evil, and would not consent to doing business with it.

The Taliban government is a vile, miserable institution that has made the (I hope) fatal mistake of tweaking the nose of the biggest, baddest animal on the planet. They should not be taken into account. They should be destroyed. Utterly, thoroughly, meticulously rooted out and cast onto the ash-heap of history. There is a bad precedent about to happen here. We showed Saddam, and anyone watching, that you could behave in a belligerent, hostile manner, bring about war, and still not be removed from power. If we do the same thing, what are the chances of us being taken seriously by the bad guys in places like Syria, Libya, Iran, et al? On the other hand, if we totally demolish the Taliban, hunt down the terrorists wherever they may run, and hold other governments equally responsible for harboring and aiding them, that sends an entirely different message. That send the message, ‘Do what you want to internally, but if your people, ideology, or problems encroach on American soil, citizens, or our way of life, there will be a price to pay. That price will include the viability of the current government.’ Any time we have a conflict serious enough to send US troops into battle, the offending government should pay with its governance. There is no justifiable reason to let a government that makes war on American interests have a second chance. This is, once again, General Powell’s passion for coalition building winning the day, and the loser is going to be American credibility.

There are too many facets to any alliances we can forge by selling out American interests to make it worthwhile. Take for example our friends in Pakistan. General Musharraf has been very brave in allowing US forces to use his country in various manners, and he has a legitimate self-preservation interest at work when he wants us to negotiate with the Taliban. On the other hand, we have the Northern Alliance, a group of Afghanis who have been fighting the Taliban for as long as the Taliban has been in power. They are willing to lay down their lives in this war. They are huge supporters of the US action, because we are helping them win back their country. There is a conflict however between these two groups. Pakistan has huge problems with the Northern Alliance because they are heavily backed by Pakistan’s archenemy, India. Pakistan’s worst-case scenario is to see the Northern Alliance gain control of the country. While we owe some loyalty to Pakistan, it is also obvious that it is in the best interest of the US to have the Northern Alliance as a viable group to do some of the ‘in country’ dirty work. First of all, they don’t seem to be near as concerned as we are with civil rights, appeals processes, etc. Most Taliban fighters they find will get swift, irrevocable justice. This style of justice may be a good thing in war, but frankly, I will be happier of US soldiers aren’t asked to administer it.

So there we have the problem. We can’t please both sides here, no matter what we do, and both sides are being helpful to the US effort. My solution is to not worry about the coalition building, but to worry about US national interests. Do what is best for America, in the short and long run. Let the rest sort out their own problems. Unfortunately a lot of people in our government don’t see it that way. They, led by General Powell, prefer to try to persuade, to cajole, and to buy support. I think the best way to get the support of some of these regimes is to convince them that we are serious about protecting US interests. Once they realize that people who attack the US will be held liable for their actions, and will suffer attack by a military capable of destruction on a biblical proportion, most of them will come around. Those that don’t are too unstable to deal with anyway.

In other news:

In Moscow, the people I talked to say the focus right now is on finding information on purchases bin Ladin may have made of nuclear products from the Russian mafia.

Semion Mogilovich, a 50 some year old gangster, is the man of the hour. The search is on for the elusive billionaire, who is rumored to have been brokering a deal with bin Ladin for nuclear materials, specifically uranium 235, capable of being used to construct a ‘dirty bomb’; a bomb that contains highly radioactive material that could be exploded over troops, or even in a highly populated area. Such a device could cause unprecedented destruction, and is probably within the terrorist’s capability to produce. The key is the nuclear material.

Contacts I spoke to told me that for a price, any type or amount of materials could be bought. In Chechnya, Dagestan, Kazakhstan, and even in Russia proper, there were caches of materials that could be used to devastate population centers with a minimum of modification. Sergei, a member of the ‘White Mafia” told me that there was an unofficial 20 million dollar price tag on the head of Mogilevich. “He is the most powerful man in Russia. Putin can’t find him, can’t hit him, but he could hit Putin if he wanted to.” Said Sergei.

There are at least 35 mafia groups inside Russia, broken into smaller chapters that run everything imaginable, from banking to beggars. (The beggars have to pay the gangsters for their spots in the prime areas.) Mogilovich specializes in art, drugs, and money laundering, but he is the undisputed king when it comes to weapons. He has enormous supplies, even factories that produce weapons for sale to anyone with enough dollars. Mogilovich doesn’t want roubles.

Semion Yukovich Mogilovich, leader of the Solntsevo mafia group, is called ‘The Brainy Don’. He was born in Ukraine to Jewish parents, and in the 80s, he immigrated to Israel. In 1991 he gained Israeli citizenship, and now travels on an Israeli passport. He graduated with a degree in economics from Lvov University during the communist regime. Free enterprise has served Mogilovich well. He has accumulated a fortune estimated at over 15 billion dollars. His operations are centered in Budapest, but he is seldom seen these days.

His ties to the Middle East are extensive. Most of his ‘button men’, or hired killers, are veterans of the Soviet Unions war in Afghanistan. Some from the Russian side, some not. According to FBI reports, Mogilovich bought an airline from a central Asian company to haul drugs from Afghanistan. Not an airplane, an airline.

In another deal outlined in Israeli documents, Mossad describes a deal where Mogilovich stole surface to air missiles, armored troop transports, and other weapons from East German Warsaw Pact storage facilities and sold them to Iran for more than 20 million dollars. Here in St. Petersburg the hand of Mogilovich is felt at The Hermitage, where millions of dollars worth of art have come up missing, to be sold later through a company in Budapest owned by Mogilovich.

Mogilovich got his start in crime in Moscow, when perestroika was just getting started. Emigration was allowed for Jews in the former Soviet Union, and thousands left for Israel and the USA. In the mad scramble to leave, Mogilovich took the possessions of many of these people on consignment, with the promise to send hard currency for fair market value when the things were sold. Most never saw a dime.

Today, such small time swindles are beneath him. Now we find that Mogilovich owns several companies that can be used to advance his nefarious purposes. Army Co-op, a munitions manufacturer is owned almost entirely by Mogilovich, as is Digep Machine Works, another arms manufacturer, and Magnex 2000, a manufacturer of gigantic magnets. He also has companies in the US doing business, including FNJ Trade Management in Los Angeles and YBM Magnex international. The holding company for these, and many other concerns is Arigon Ltd. Arigon is the headquarters for the Mogilovich empire.

Mogilovich has serious contacts inside the BND, (German Security Service) Hungarian Security, Mossad, FSB(Russian), and it is rumored that he has contacts inside different security organs of the USA. As for the Iraqi’s, Pakistani’s, Iranian’s and Afghani’s, he has more than contacts. He has known, working relationships, with almost unlimited access. When he needs something done, he sometimes contacts a security company known as Orion operating in Budapest and Prague, owned by Igor and Sergei Korols, who took over as contract killers for Mogilovich when Igor Tkachenko was nabbed in Budapest. Tkachenko handled dozens of killings for Mogilovich worldwide.

In September of 1997, Czech security forces quashed a Mogilovich plot involving theft of fissionable material. A Czech nuclear physicist, (J. Vagner) Czech police officer, (Z. Sindlauer) and a businessman from Tadjikistan, (A Sczerbinian) were among the plotters jailed. The investigation stopped the theft of 2722 kg. of enriched uranium -235 from being stolen. The uranium, recovered by security forces was 87.7% pure. It is still the largest recovery of uranium in history. The deal had been hatched at a meeting organized by Mogilovich at the Czech health spa, Karlovy Vary.

On the Anthrax front, it is becoming increasingly clear that state sponsorship was vital to the creation of the deadly virus being distributed through the mail. The strain sent to Sen. Daschle’s office was ‘very high quality. The perfect size for airborne capability and the type that could cause massive deaths, if deployed properly.’ This is almost certainly the work of Iraq, the only government known to have a serious laboratory effort underway for anthrax production of this quality.

From here in Russia, I have uncovered information that there is an expansive terrorist network in the USA, with it’s headquarters in a western state. The groups are Islamic fundamentalists, and are closely affiliated with Al Qaida, and maybe part of Al Qaida. Contacts in St. Petersburg Russia told me that they have family in Baghdad who have been involved in money transfers with people in Nevada and California. This money has been used to finance terrorist cells living in the US. At this stage, it is unclear whether these cells are still in place, or whether they have gone somewhere else, but they are not back in Iraq.

Turkish police have arrested a group of terrorists planning to blow up the American Embassy in Istanbul. No word on the possible bin Ladin connection.

Security in St. Petersburg has been tightened up. The subway system has instituted a policy of visually scanning people and it is creating massive backups in traffic. “We have been fighting this war for a long time.” said Olya, a 30 something year old secretary, while being crushed like a lemming alongside me on the way to the city center. Police have started a policy of only having two entrance doors open at any one time, to make it easier for militia members, who are out in force, to eye people as they crowd through.

DJF in Russia
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