Chavez's troops get provocative book...

VENEZUELA

The Venezuelan army is distributing a book that focuses on asymmetrical warfare, such as the war between the U.S. forces and Iraqi insurgents, and argues that ''revolutionary Islam'' and U.S. religious extremism are moral equivalents.

By PHIL GUNSON

Special to The Herald


CARACAS - A book published and distributed by the Venezuelan army argues that ''revolutionary Islam'' and U.S. religious extremism are moral equivalents and quotes approvingly from the Venezuelan terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal.

The 250-page Peripheral Warfare and Revolutionary Islam was written by Spanish politician and academic Jorge Verstrynge and is being distributed on the personal orders of Army Chief Gen. Raúl Baduel, a long-time supporter of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Baduel's office said he's not available for an interview until January. Armed Forces Inspector General Gen. Melvin López Hidalgo said he was unaware of the book but argued that its publication by the army should not be taken as ''tacit support for the opinions it contains.'' It's simply an example of ''freedom of expression,'' he added.

The book focuses on asymmetrical warfare, a term for ''David and Goliath'' conflicts between adversaries of vastly different capacities, such as the war between U.S. forces and Iraqi insurgents.

Verstrynge was a keynote speaker at a recent military conference in Caracas on asymmetrical warfare, which has been adopted by the Venezuelan military as a key defensive concept, based on a possible attack by U.S. forces to seize Venezuela's oil wealth or topple Chávez.

''For us, it would have to be a war of resistance,'' said Baduel in a speech last month.

Chávez, an anti-American populist who has vowed to build a revolutionary ''21st Century socialism'' in Venezuela, has repeatedly alleged that Washington plans to assassinate him and invade his country -- allegations strongly denied by the Bush administration.

Verstrynge, born in Morocco to Belgian and Spanish parents, was a leading member of Spain's right-wing Popular Party before switching to the ruling Socialists. A political-science professor at Madrid's Complutense University, he has authored a number of other books.

'It is unfair to attack `revolutionary Islam' '' and not ''U.S. religious extremism,'' he wrote, adding that Washington has plans to ''re-colonize'' the world that he called ``a danger never equaled in history.''

NOT A TERRORIST

Retired Gen. Alberto Mueller, an advisor to the Defense Ministry, said the army is publishing several books on asymmetrical warfare because, with no conventional central command once the war starts, it's important for a soldier to know ''different currents of thought so that he can choose'' a course of action, depending on the circumstances.

Such a conflict would be, ''a war without rules,'' Mueller added, and 'you cannot call a man a `terrorist' for defending his own country.''

One foreign military officer in Venezuela, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of his job, said the Venezuelan army does appear to be endorsing the book's contents. ''It's even got the army's coat of arms on it,'' the official said. ``What more of an endorsement could you have?''

Verstrynge's book, which relies heavily on quotes from other people, also repeatedly cites the words of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, a terrorist active in Europe and the Middle East in the 1970s.

An admirer of Osama bin Laden, Ramírez is best-known for his daring kidnap of 11 OPEC oil ministers in Vienna in 1975. He was seized in Sudan in 1994 and transported to France, where he is serving a life sentence for the 1975 murder of two secret agents and an informer in Paris.

Chávez sparked a controversy in 1999 by writing an effusive response to a letter from the jailed terrorist in which he signed off, ''with profound faith in the cause and in the mission -- now and forever!'' The president later said the letter did not imply ``political solidarity.''

SUICIDE BOMBINGS

Verstrynge quotes approvingly from Ramírez's view that suicide bombings are morally superior to conventional bombings because they produce fewer unintended civilian deaths.

Terrorism is ''profoundly human,'' Verstrynge quotes the Venezuelan as saying, because it puts ''the flesh-and-blood man . . . back at the center of the battle'' instead of hardware, and ``saves lives.''

These views contrast with the Venezuelan government's official position of condemning all forms of terrorism. Chávez on Thursday condemned the terror bombings in Jordan, and his government has fiercely attacked Washington's failure to extradite to Venezuela Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, accused of several terror attacks.

Sent by: Sr.Cohiba