Ray speaks in Berlin on German involvement in Syria

Ray speaking today (November 10, 2016) at a demonstration in front of the Reichstag; he will be the last of four speakers urging members of the Bundestag to vote against the proposed deepening of Germany’ military involvement in the Syrian. Below is an English translation of his 3-minute speech – and of the German student song that seemed most appropriate. (The melody is posted on Google. Like most songs, DIE GEDANKEN is better with the music.)

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Statement by Ray McGovern, peace activist and former CIA analysts, November 10, 2016

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

In view of the surprising election victory of Donald Trump, today’s vote in the Bundestag has assumed even greater importance.

 

There are very passionate warmongers in the United States. Thank goodness, President Obama is not one of them. I believe that Donald Trump, like Obama, would like to find a way to end the armed chaos in Syria.

 

I believe it is quite possible that both – Obama and Trump – would prefer that the German government avoid taking steps that would encourage the “hawks” in Washington. The widening of the Syrian war into a NATO war would be such a step.

 

In my opinion, a peaceful solution to the disaster in Syria is not possible without cooperation with the Russians. This cooperation would be more likely with a President Trump than it would have been with a President Hillary Clinton.

 

Let’s take the time for a DENKPAUSE – time to think this through.

 

(I myself voted for Dr. Jill Stein. She was the presidential candidate of the US Green Party, a small electoral party committed to peace and protecting the environment.)

 

Yesterday, I was part of a group that, in our parlance, belongs to the “one percent” (the elite). In this group was a former US ambassador to NATO.

 

The former ambassador was asked whether it would not be better to talk with the Russians, and to negotiate. He answered the question in a very condescending way: “You are obviously a Trump supporter. But Hillary Clinton will surely win.” The ambassador added that in this case it would be nonsense and unrealistic to expect early negotiations with the Russians.

 

Now I admit, “Donald Trump is no Jack Kennedy.”

 

BUT, to make a long story short: I believe that next year with Trump could make possible a more sensible Ostpolitik – policy toward countries to the East of Germany. There could be a relaxation of tension, instead of the escalation that causes more and more of it.

 

I believe we should consider the Russians as partners and NOT as enemies.

 

And to quote Winston Churchill, “It’s better to be jaw-jaw than to war-war;” it’s better to talk to each other than to go to war.

 

Most important, we should take seriously the opportunity for genuine detente. We must now take a DENKPAUSE. The Bundestag should also do some serious rethinking. Let us think of something new – beyond images of the enemy and military solutions.

 

For, as we all know so well, DIE GEDANKEN SIND FREI.

 

(TEXT OF SONG FOLLOWS THE SPEECH’S ORIGINAL GERMAN VERSION, BELOW)

 

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Statement von Ray McGovern, dem Friedensaktivisten und ehemaligen CIA- Analysten am 10. November 2016

 

Meine Damen und Herren,

 

In Anbetracht des überraschenden Wahlsiegs von Donald Trump gewinnt die heutige Abstimmung im Bundestag eine außerordentliche Bedeutung.

 

Es gibt bei uns in den Vereinigten Staaten sehr leidenschaftliche Kriegstreiber. Gott sei Dank ist Präsident Obama keiner davon. Meiner Meinung nach möchte auch Donald Trump, wie Obama, das bewaffnete Chaos in Syrien beenden.

 

Ich glaube, es ist durchaus möglich, dass beide –- Obama und Trump — es lieber hätten, wenn die Bundesregierung Schritte zur Ermutigung der “Hawks” (Falken) in Washington vermeiden würde. Eine Ausweitung des Syrienkrieges zu einem NATO-Krieg wäre ein solcher Schritt.

 

Meiner Meinung nach ist eine friedliche Lösung der Katastrophe in Syrien ohne die Kooperation mit den Russen gar nicht möglich. Diese Kooperation wird mit einem Präsidenten Trump wahrscheinlicher als mit einer Präsidentin Hillary Clinton.

 

Nehmen wir uns die Zeit für eine DENKPAUSE.

 

Ich selbst habe für Dr. Jill Stein gestimmt. Sie war die Präsidentschaftskandidatin der US-Grünen Partei, einer kleinen Wahlpartei, die sich für Frieden und die Umwelt einsetzt

 

Gestern war ich mit einer Gruppe zusammen, die in unserem Sprachgebrauch zum “one percent” (dem “ein Prozent” – der Elite) gehört. In dieser Gruppe befand sich ein ehemaliger US-Botschafter bei der NATO.

 

Er wurde gefragt, ob es nicht besser wäre, mit den Russen zu sprechen bzw. zu verhandeln?

 

Der Botschafter antwortete auf diese Frage in einer sehr erniedrigenden Weise: “Sie sind offensichtlich ein Trump-Unterstützer. Aber Hillary Clinton wird sicherlich gewinnen.” Er meinte, in diesem Fall wäre es Unsinn und unrealistisch, baldige Verhandlungen mit den Russen zu erwarten.

 

Ich gebe zu: “Donald Trump is no John Kennedy.” – Trump ist kein Kennedy.

 

ABER langer Rede kurzer Sinn: Zumindest wird nach meiner Einschätzung nächstes Jahr mit Trump vielleicht eine vernünftigere Ostpolitik möglich. Es könnte zu Entspannung statt immer mehr und mehr Spannung.

 

Meines Erachtens, muss man die Russen als Partner und NICHT als Feinde betrachten.

 

Um Winston Churchill zu zitieren, “It is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war.” “Es ist besser miteinander zu sprechen, als Krieg zu treiben.

 

Und am Allerwichtigsten: Wir sollen die Möglichkeit einer echten Entspannung ERNST nehmen. Wir müssen jetzt eine Denkpause einlegen. Auch der Bundestag soll umdenken. Lasst uns Neues denken, weg von Feindbildern und militärischen Lösungen, denn wie wir alle wissen: Die Gedanken sind frei.

 

DIE GEDANKEN SIND FREI

 

  1. Die Gedanken sind frei, wer kann sie erraten,

sie fliegen vorbei wie nächtliche Schatten.

Kein Mensch kann sie wissen, kein Jäger erschießen

mit Pulver und Blei: Die Gedanken sind frei!

  1. Thoughts are free, who can guess them?

They fly by, like nocturnal shadows.

No one can know them, no hunter can shoot them

with powder and lead: Thoughts are free!

 

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  1. Ich denke was ich will und was mich beglücket,

doch alles in der Still’, und wie es sich schicket.

Mein Wunsch und Begehren kann niemand verwehren,

es bleibet dabei: Die Gedanken sind frei!

  1. I think what I want, and what delights me,

But always in the quiet, and how it is suitable.

My wish and desire, no one can deny me,

and so it will always be: Thoughts are free!

 

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  1. Und sperrt man mich ein im finsteren Kerker,

das alles sind rein vergebliche Werke.

Denn meine Gedanken zerreißen die Schranken

und Mauern entzwei: Die Gedanken sind frei!

  1. And if I am thrown into the darkest dungeon,

all such actions are futile,

because my thoughts tear all gates

and walls apart: Thoughts are free!

Ray endorses Jill Stein for president

THE FUTURE: Slow Death for Planet Earth, or Fast Death from Nukes? Neither Need Happen: Former CIA Briefer of Presidents Speaks Out

FROM STEIN/BARAKA HEADQUARTERS

PERSONAL LETTER OF ENDORSEMENT
FROM RAY McGOVERN
My name is Ray McGovern.

conyersmcgovern-a.jpg

I was an Army officer and then a CIA analyst for 27 years. My career began under John Kennedy and ended under George H.W. Bush. In the 70s I was chief of the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and chaired National Intelligence Estimates. Later I briefed The President’s Daily Brief one-on-one from 1981 to 1985.
Stated simply – I have seen what goes on behind the scenes at the White House. I know what it takes to be President of the United States.
I am in Europe now, but voted for Jill Stein, as a matter of conscience, before departing the U.S.

My support for Jill – and what she represents – is not an academic exercise. I have had personal experience of Clinton’s nonchalance on brutalizing.
I was beat up, arrested, and jailed for simply turning my back on Secretary Clinton in silent witness, during a speech she gave – get this – about the need to respect dissent, IN IRAN!
I suppose I should take some consolation in the fact that I escaped the fate of Muammar Gaddafi, who was sodomized with a bayonet and murdered – amidst the next-day glee expressed by the Democratic candidate HRC: “We came, we saw, he died.” (chuckle).
I was thinking of my nine grandchildren (and the questions they have) when I returned my Intelligence Commendation Medallion – a gesture aimed at dissociating myself from an agency openly engaged in torture.
I thought of them even more, in deciding to cast my vote for Jill Stein, knowing that she and the Greens are hard at work trying to assure that my grandchildren will have the clean air and pure water that most of us “grown-ups” still take for granted.
Ray McGovern

Ray was interviewed on October 25th on Turkish-American relations in the wake of the July coup attempt in Ankara, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s claims that the CIA was behind it, or at least knew of it beforehand.  

Turkey’s role in Syria and Iraq was also discussed, including realities virtually hidden in the Western corporate press – like the unwelcome presence of Turkish troops in Iraq near Mosul and Turkey’s invasion of Syria on August 24.

(See below* for what Ray wrote at the time.)

https://sputniknews.com/politics/201610271046780450-ankara-washington-relations/

(The linked “Loud and Clear” interview runs for 17 minutes.)

 

*August 26, 2016:  Anyone see anything out of the ordinary with Turkey, a NATO ally, invading another country (Syria)?  What obligations do Turkey’s allies incur if/when Syria aircraft fly off with Russian support from Russian constructed Syrian in-country airfields to attack Turkey?  Will Turkey try to activate Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, obligating Turkey’s allies to come to its aid?

No allusion to any of these key factors in the convoluted lead editorial by the New York Times Editorial Board today (August 26).

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/opinion/a-complicated-alliance-with-turkey.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20160826&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=1&nlid=69540701&ref=headline&te=1&_r=0

To refresh memories on mutual defense treaty obligations:

NATO Treaty: Article 5

“The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

Strange: How did Turkey wind up in the “North Atlantic area?”

The Real News Network asked Ray to comment on the Kremlin’s attitude and aims toward Syria, with only two months left before a cast of hawks is likely to descend on Washington determined to show how tough they are.

So far, President Putin’s reaction has been marked by an uncommon sang-froid.  At the same time, he is strengthening Russia’s position in Syria such that it has already become extremely dangerous for American hawks to find and fix their prey.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=17502

October 21, 2016, (17 minutes)

‘Who can guarantee Iraqi forces will not flee the Mosul battlefield – again?’

(Excerpts from the RT introduction and interview with Ray on October 23, 2016; see below for the video.)

 

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/363930-iraq-mosul-isis-us/

 

RT: Secretary John Kerry and Defense Minister Ashton Carter don’t seem to know what is going on, says Ray McGovern, former CIA officer. Apparently, the same rubric famously applied in Vietnam – that is, when “it became necessary to destroy a town to save it” – is being applied to Mosul, he adds.

As the Western-backed military operation in Mosul intensifies, officials in Europe are warning that it might backfire with an increased terror threat on the continent.

The UK’s International Development minister said that as ISIS gets squeezed in the Middle East, the group’s presence will be felt elsewhere including both in Europe and America.  And the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol echoed his sentiments claiming that military pressure on the terrorist group could provoke a deadly response.

The operation has been going on for more than a week now and according to the mainstream media, it’s been a success.  However, the UN hasn’t been so upbeat; it is calling the consequences of the operation a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

Former CIA official Ray McGovern thinks the situation is made worse by the fact some key US politicians are simply out of touch.

RT: At the last UN Human Rights Committee meeting it was announced that they expect “the largest man-made displacement crises in recent years” resulting from the offensive to retake Mosul. What actions should be taken by the anti-ISIL coalition and Iraqi forces to prevent a humanitarian crisis?

Ray McGovern: I am not sure that they are anticipating this kind of thing. Their planning for such catastrophes has not been very good; witness Iraq, Syria and Libya. All we have here are people who are not frankly very competent. I had a chance to observe Secretary John Kerry in person just two weeks ago, when he was asked about the breakdown and the ceasefire in Syria he said something which is archetypical of the way he and the Defense Minister Ash Carter operate: “Syria is as complicated as anything I have ever done in my public life in the sense that there are probably about six wars going on at the same time: Kurds against Kurds, Kurds against Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sunni, Shia, everybody against ISIS, people against Assad, Al-Nusra…this is a mixed up sectarian and civil war and strategic and proxies, so it is very difficult to be able to align forces.”

That just indicates to me that Secretary Kerry doesn’t know what is really going on and neither does Ashton Carter. Carter is trying to persuade the Iraqis to allow the Turks to help out and retake Mosul. Mosul is considered by the Turks their territory. If Carter thinks that he can persuade the people in Baghdad, the Shia there who are running things, to except a Turkish presence in Mosul, he is crazy. Similarly, the Turks invaded Syria. Did anybody say anything? I guess what I’d have to say here is that our statesmen, if that is the right term, are outmatched by the people in Asia who typically outmatch them.

There are a lot of “fools who are trying to hustle the East,” as Rudyard Kipling once put it.  And the problem is that many thousands of people will be killed and it seems to be the same rubric that we used in Vietnam: We have to destroy that city to save it.

RT: According to the same committee the refugee flow of over 1 million people is expected as result of the offensive on Mosul, 700,000 of which will need urgent assistance. Do you think that these concerns should be taken more seriously by the coalition?

RM: It is whistling in the wind to think that a million displaced people can be handled with a bunch of tents. The way to prevent displaced people from being displaced is to stop bombing their homes. The Chinese have a way of saying “This will come to a no good end.” And what do I mean by that? The crackerjack, the very expertly trained and equipped Iraqi forces that everybody is depending upon to retake Mosul — two years ago they ran away. Not only that, but they left a lot of very heavy, sophisticated equipment, tanks on the battlefield. ISIS has those now. What is the guarantee that the crackerjack Iraqi forces will not once again run away? And who will be left? The thousand or so US forces there; some of them are going to get killed.  And this will become an election issue: “Why didn’t we do more?” is what they will say…

RT: The US has been highly critical of the Russian anti-terrorist offensive on Aleppo in Syria. How is that any different to the US-led operation in Mosul?

RM: Well, Mosul is going to be worse. What we had in East Aleppo was a situation where a ceasefire had been worked out. What happened, of course, was the United States Air Force, in its own wisdom, bombed fixed Syrian Army positions – army positions that had been there for six months. They said it was a ‘mistake.’ Yet the whole ceasefire fell apart and what happened next, of course, was that nobody got out of Aleppo without great danger, and it was impossible to resupply Aleppo with the crucial things they need. There are crocodile tears being shed about what happened in East Aleppo. No one likes destruction and killing, but this could have been avoided had the US Air Force decided to obey the Commander-in-Chief and not attack Syrian Army forces.

CNN* gives Ray a chance to comment on the puzzlement/befuddlement of John Kerry and the apparent “invincible ignorance”** of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter for ignoring the reality that, in Kerry’s belated words, “It’s very, very difficult to be able to align forces” through U.S. intervention in the Middle East.

 *CNN???, you ask!  Pardon the sick joke.  No, CNN’s blacklisting of Ray remains in force.  It was not CNN, but rather RT International, that asked Ray last night to visit the studio for a brief comment on the “Iraqi-led, U.S. supported” military offensive likely to, well, destroy Mozul in order to save it.

October 23, 2016, (Ray’s minute and a half)

Full segment, (6 minutes)

**”Invincible ignorance,” in Catholic moral theology, removes one’s culpability for a materially sinful act, with the caveat that feigned (aka Ivy-League) ignorance won’t necessarily keep you out of Hell.  Indeed, “affected or studied ignorance can increase culpability for a sin,” writes Jimmy Akin who comments on such issues.

http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/ignorance-invincible-and-vincible

Fortunately for Kerry and Carter, they may well be genuinely “invincibly ignorant,” and thus, under this dubious theory, could conceivably escape Hell for the Hell they are visiting on the people of the Middle East.