Christopher Bollyn
American Free Press
645 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
An Open Letter to Carl Bildt, Former Prime Minister of Sweden,
Regarding the Estonia Catastrophe
February 6, 2005
Dear Mr. Bildt,
In your letter, written to Russian president Boris Yeltsin on August 31, 1994, marking the departure of the last Russian troops from Estonia and the Baltic states, you wrote: "we can now say that European development has definitely entered a new phase in which former battles and injustices have been left behind."
Four weeks later, on September 28, as your term as Sweden's prime minister was in its final days, the Estonia catastrophe occurred in the middle of the Baltic Sea as the passenger ferry sank under mysterious circumstances taking some 852 lives with it.
The unexplained sinking of the ferry and mysterious disappearance of some of its Estonian crewmembers, while in Swedish care, shows that the "new phase" you mentioned in your letter, where "former battles and injustices have been left behind," was far from reality.
Swedish television (SVT 1) has revealed that while you were prime minister, Owe Wiktorin, supreme commander of Sweden's military forces, had arranged with Ulf Larsson, general director of customs, to allow the civilian ferry Estonia to be used to transport covert shipments of Soviet (or Russian) military technology.
According to the report of Judge Johan Hirschfeldt from January 21, 2005, this arrangement was known at the highest levels of the Swedish government.
We now know that such secret shipments had occurred on Estonia on the voyages of Sept. 14 and 20, 1994. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that a much larger shipment of Soviet-era military technology was on Estonia the night she sank, September 27-28.
Wiktorin and Larsson clearly lied to Judge Hirschfeldt when they said that this contraband was for the Swedish defense forces. New information tells us that at least one of the earlier shipments was bound for Arlanda airport and, via Egypt, on to another country in the Near East, probably Israel. This suggests that this entire smuggling operation of military contraband, which used more than 1,000 innocent lives as shields, and which is the most likely cause for the sinking of Estonia, was a foreign operation, probably carried out by Israel's Mossad.
The covert smuggling of Soviet weaponry, approved by the highest levels of the Swedish government, turned the passenger ferry Estonia into a military target.
We now know that the shipping firm of Nordström & Thulin, co-owner of Estonia, had ordered an escort convoy for the morning of September 28, 1994 from Vägverket, part of Sweden's transportation ministry, to assist with the highway transportation of a sensitive cargo from the harbor to Arlanda airport.
502 Swedes died on Estonia along with the citizens of many other nations, and to this day the truth about why the ferry sank remains hidden. The Swedish government has been the greatest obstacle to investigators searching for the truth about what happened when Estonia sank.
Why has Sweden enabled, facilitated, and covered-up another nation's crime?
As more facts emerge, the lies of the Estonia cover-up are being exposed. For example, recently released helicopter logs of the rescue helicopters reveal that the final report is based on falsified information. Swedish Navy helicopter Y-64 was in the air much earlier and longer than the final report says. This suggests that the Aftonbladet report about Kenneth Svensson and helicopter Y-64 rescuing 8 or 9 people before 4 a.m. on Sept. 28, was true.
These 8 or 9 people were taken to Huddinge hospital, whence they disappeared. On Oct. 1, 1994, the Estonian Embassy complained in writing to the Swedish government that information about and access to Estonian survivors had been repeatedly denied.
About all of these unexplained circumstances about Estonia, Swedish veteran journalist Sven Anér says, "The chap in charge was Carl Bildt."
I certainly understand that in the stress of the moment, mistakes were made. These mistakes, however, caused the government to cover-up and lie, but clearly, this can't go on.
I would like to offer you the chance to come clean and tell what you know about what happened on that fateful night. Your personal regrets about this crime and the cover-up will haunt you for the rest of your life until you come forward with what you know and permit the truth to come out.
I'd like to help you to get out from under the burden you carry of concealing the truth of the Estonia catastrophe. You could set an example and help bring about that "new phase" you told Boris Yeltsin about by telling the truth and leaving behind your own "former battles and injustices."
I look forward to hearing from you soon and hope you will see the wisdom of coming forth with the truth of what happened to Estonia.
Sincerely,
Christopher Bollyn
American Free Press
