saddam must be nuts....!, page-8

gz saddam must be nuts....! Those interested in Middle Eastern affairs may wish to visit the Web pages of the New York Times. They contain an Associated Press report on recent discoveries in the affair of an "Israeli" cargo jet that crashed into an apartment block just outside Amsterdam six years ago, killing 43 people.

The discovery of the presence of Sarin nerve gas on board of the plane is only the last in a series of other scandals, great and small. The Dutch government, not wishing to jeopardize its friendly relations with "Israel", has been unwilling to carry out any detailed investigations, constantly referring to official statements from El Al and the government of "Israel". In most cases the "Israeli" government refused to supply details, basing itself on considerations of national security. The acquiescence of the Dutch government has prompted the Lower House of Parliament to start its own enquiry, which is due to begin soon.

The AP report is correct in stating that "controversies still surround the plane's cargo". In fact, the whole accident is still very much a mystery. For instance, nobody knows why the plane chose to crash into a densely populated residential area after it had managed to fly over the nearby IJsselmeer lake several times with only one engine left. A curious detail is that the destroyed apartment building was mainly inhabited by illegal immigrants, mosty from Ghana.

In the ensuing chaos more than a thousand illegal immigrants stepped forward, claiming to have been living in the building.

The police investigations, starting immediately after the rescuing operation, were marred with incidents. The flight data recorder had been retrieved and handed over to the authorities, but it was subsequently lost. Police sources claimed it had inadvertently been dumped into a skip. Rescue workers and volunteers also claimed they had seen men in highly sophisticated protective clothing, "looking very much like astronauts". All efforts to establish their identity had been thwarted by Amsterdam police, who refused to let people go nearer. There is nothing about these "astronauts" in the official police reports, and none of the rescue workers have been officially questioned by the police.

When asked by the Dutch authorities about the nature of its cargo, El Al stated that the crashed plane was carrying "flowers, perfume and various machinery". El Al was prevented by the government of "Israel" from handing over the detailed version of the Air Waybill or bill of cargo for reasons of national security. The responsible Dutch Minister of Transport found this excuse acceptable. At present, about thirty tons of cargo are still unaccounted for.

Public concern was aroused when a number of rescue workers and firemen suddenly died in the following years, mostly of leukaemia. Rumours came from the local Health Care Unit, which is mainly engaged in vaccination and baby health care, that there were problems with the physical and mental development of infants and small children in the area. The reports and statistics of this Health Care Unit were subsequently classified as State secrets.

Unlike the Dutch government, newspapers carried on their own investigations, revealing among other things that the "various machinery" described in the El Al statement were in fact parts of Sidewinder missiles and ammunition.

On Wednesday, September 30th, the national daily NRC Handelsblad revealed that the El Al aircraft was carrying 240 kilogrammes of Dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), destined for the "Israel's" Institute for Biological Research" in Ness Zion, "Israel", and supplied by Solkatronics Chemicals, Inc., of Morrisville, PA.. DMMP is a so-called "precursor", used in the manufacture of Sarin, a nerve gas. Sarin is lethal in a dosis of a few milligrammes. Another curious detail is that Sarin was developed in 1936 by the German Nazi regime. It was never used on a large scale in the Second World War, preference being given to the well-known pesticide Zyklon-B. The presence of DMMP had been known to the Dutch government for at least two years, but it had refrained from informing the public that it is used in the production of Sarin.

It had been previously known that the aircraft carried a few hundred kilogrammes of low-grade uranium, which was attributed to its use as a stabilizing weight in the aircraft's rear. This morning (Thursday, October 1st) however, Trouw, another national daily newspaper, announced that Dutch and Swedish chemical research laboratories have taken samples from the soil in the devastated area and the El Al hangar at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, and faeces samples from rescue workers and people living in the area, discovering unusually large quantities of tributylphosphate (TBP), a substance used in the manufacture of plutonium, and zirconium, which is also commonly used for nuclear purposes. The fact that "Israel" uses TBP in its production of nuclear weapons was revealed years ago by "Israel" nuclear scientist Vanunu.

This morning, Dutch Foreign Minister Jozias van Aartsen had no comment in order not to damage Dutch-"Israeli" relations.