American Democratic leader Lyndon LaRouche testified at an official hearing of the Defence Committee of the Italian Senate on June 5^th in Rome. The senators listened carefully to LaRouche's presentation, centred on the relationship between economy, science and warfare. LaRouche showed how the wars initiated by the United States government in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the planned war against Iran, target the US and other nation-states for destruction, as the Peloponnesian Wars did for Greece.

LaRouche mentioned Vice President Cheney's role in Halliburton and in the privatisation of the US Army, as an example of the destruction of the US Army in order to the destroy the US as a nation-state.

 Questions to Mr. LaRouche, from senators from all political parties, included such issues as Reagan's SDI versus Bush's BMD; European armies' loss of national sovereignty in the context of Maastricht; Russia's strategic posture; and infrastructural development as a peaceful alternative to a war policy. Sen. Lidia Menapace, who had organised the hearing, specifically thanked Mr. LaRouche for the breadth of his intervention, which she said is rarely found in American politicians visiting Europe.

A press conference with Mr. LaRouche was scheduled for Wednesday June 6, at the Press Room of the Italian Senate.

See www.larouchepac.com for updates of this story.