11.04.04, Bush, the Lord of the Beasts (3)



11.04.04 This page is being kept as is as a remembrance of that time in which Red Americans shifted this nation into what could best be described as a Plutocratic Theocracy under the leadership of its messianic leader George W. Bush.

I created this site as a protest against what I saw as a trend that justifies criminal actions by its leaders. We saw in the November 2, 2004 election that the country remained seriously divided over the direction George W. Bush has been taking this nation. The Blue States – democratic states, that is – were profoundly against George W. Bush, and they almost won the Presidency. I am still reporting the news, opinionated as I am, and have my eyes on the places Bush's moneyed interests are chasing (to own and dominate) which are ripe areas for bloody conflicts – initiated by the George W. Bush consortium "to rid the world of poverty and to set the world free," a part of his November 4, 2004 speech ~11:00am. I subscribe to ridding the world of poverty but George W. Bush and his Big Business cronies, like the Carlyle Group (founded by George H. W. Bush et al. through his contacts in the Presidency) and Halliburton, rid the world of poverty by devastating and / or exploiting the poor to enrich the rich; and the same consortium and their servants set the world free using gunships. Complaints from the Central Asian nations note how the American government goes to extremes to control their economic and political futures. At the moment Russia and the US share common interests in the area, but, that cooperation will end when the big fish can't find anything else to divide and begin to feed on themselves. To read more news from that part of the world – as well as ours –to discover where your children will be giving their lives next, follow this link:

I know that the media are fascinated with the idea of chasing down votes using beasts. And here are a few thoughts about beasts and that sort of thing. While contemplating the whole matter, how democracies can turn beastly, I wondered what George W. Bush would look like with a mustache.

The writing on the poster says, "Vote! Vote by raising your hand."
The wolf commercial and other more recent offerings from President Bush that tend to scare people into voting for him highlighted my concern that if he is scaring us no doubt he is scaring the rest of the world as well. Before the Wolf Commercial (I've only seen news reports of it, and that's enough) was published I composed a "Get out the vote" poster using a photo of Adolph Hitler. My thoughts when I composed it were that there seemed to be a resemblance, superficially, between his tactics in getting elected and maintaining power and those of George Bush. I have posted the poster here for reference, since it helps us focus on the issue, for whom we are voting. I think the use of the war to gain votes – by those who launched the war – creates a problem in American ethics and American views of themselves. I also wonder whether the war launched by President Bush in Iraq may have been a conflict of interest, because of his father's investment in the Carlyle Group whose conception was to capitalize on war contracting. Also, in the background – known to only those who can read books – is the concern that George H. W. Bush as President in 1993 appears to have falsified the Balance Sheet of the US Budget for that year. If you recall, President Bush then was running up record deficits, and responding to pressure claimed that he was reducing deficits. The Balance Sheet was reported as having $100 Billion less in deficits – tying to the Savings & Loan Scandal – than actually scheduled in the section reporting the total Savings & Loan expenditures. I found the missing $100 Billion buried and scattered midst a variety of schedules relating to the RTC; and these did not appear to be carried forward from the schedules to the bottom line. I posted this on the internet, 07.04.96, after complaining about it in my correspondence with various prominent individuals: http://www.maravot.com/Maravot_Homepage_4.html. The 1993 Budget submitted by Bush should be subjected to a re-audit.

It is unfair that Presidents have the privilege of falsifying Balance Sheets (if my memory of his $100 Billion omission is correct) when it is illegal for corporate heads to do so. In any event Bush, like his son today, claimed that the increased deficits were caused by the war in Iraq, and this appears to reflect some sort of compulsive blood-le tting culture that runs in his family. The Bush family seem to have been capable of doing all sorts of things in their own interests, at the expense of our nation's.

The connection the Bush family have with the bin Laden family is also disturbing, since I think it needs to be sorted out what the Bush family knew before 911 with regard to the operations of the 24 bin Laden family members with whom they were enjoying soirees in Washington – and no doubt benefiting through greasy business dealings. The dogs of the Bush family seem to be showing, and they look like something sinister.

For my part I think that the war in Iraq this time around involved a conflict of interest on many levels. Is it ethical for the Bush family to be profiteering from the wars their son launches? Isn't there some place where the American people can draw the line? After all, I think it was Cicero who said "a people tend to resemble their leaders," and we Americans as a whole may in fact be like those who voted for Adolph Hitler years ago (the crimes are crimes of scale but nevertheless reflective).

I hope we don't look like the image in this picture!

If you place this poster on your site please credit us with a link.

News Headlines

11.02.04 North Korean vessels fired upon as they cross disputed border

 [Reuters] 10:51 GMT South Korean patrol boats have fired warning shots to force North Korean navy vessels back over a disputed maritime border raising tension between the arch-foes.

A statement by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday three North Korean patrol boats crossed the so-called Northern Limit Line in two separate incidents in the space of just over an hour.

Shots were fired three times in an incident involving two North Korean vessels, the statement said. The North Korean boats did not return fire [Full story at Aljazeera].

11.02.04 Nigerian workers plan strike beginning 16 November to disrupt oil exports

 [AFP] Nigerian labor unions have been in court against Shell Oil ahead of its nationwide strike. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and a coalition of civil society organizations called for an indeffinite stoppage beginning 16 November in protest against rising fuel prices and President Olusegun Obasanjo's economic reforms. Leaders have warned the strike will disrupt oil exports. [Full story at Aljazeera]

11.02.04 Bankers swarm to Central Asian Conference.

The president of the Asian Development Bank, Mr.Tadao Chino, arrived in Kazakhstan to take part in the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Central Asian regional economic cooperation. The event drew more than a hundred leading financiers from China, Japan, Kyrgyzstgan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Khazakhstan, Switzerland, the US and the European Union. Launched in 1997 the general mission of the association is to combat poverty. The ADB's main program in Central Asia is focused on the fields of energy, transport and cross-border trade. It includes 14 loans worth $295 million plus other assistance. The prominent financier is Mr. Tadao Chino's Asian Development Bank. The bank has just released updated lending and assistance plans for the following countries

Uzbekistan,
 Kazakhstan
 Tajikistan
 Azerbaijan
 Kyrgyz Republic

Mel Copeland

11.02.04 Osama bin Laden brags about disrupting US economy over his "nation" being laid waste.

Today's message from bin Laden warns America against harming Moslems once again and brags about his disruption of the US economy. He complains about America laying waste to his nation: "..we fight you because we are free men who don't sleep under oppression. We want to restore freedom to our Nation and just as you lay waste to our Nation, so shall we lay waste to yours."

Osama bin Laden should send an ambassador – someone who can communicate peacefully – to America so that the nation that is being laid waste can be identified. Once again bin Laden justifies mass murder of innocent civilians on behalf of Allah. Central Asian moderates have expressed the need for Moslems to stand up against bin Laden's warped version of justice and lack of understanding of the Koran, which if adopted would give just cause to exchange thermonuclear bombs, to wipe out the human race, to destroy the world, for the sake of Allah. I know there is a chapter in the Koran that endorses forgiveness and stands for peace. At least those chapters referring to the Bible certainly contradict bin Laden's mutilated view of justice.

Mel Copeland
[Full text translation of bin Laden message]

11.01.04 Central Asian Common Market and the critical role of Afghanistan

Aloke Shekhar interviewed Mr. Saddik Safaev, Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, on this eve of Safaev's visit to India. Points discussed in the interview reflect issues that are critical to American interests in fighting the war in Afghanistan. An examination of the map of the Central Asian Group of nations gives one a better appreciation why America and the world have their eyes on Afghanistan.

The Central Asian Group, & the passage to India & China. Click on map for a larger image. (Rand McNally map)
Most Americans by now know where Afghanistan is, that it is adjacent to Pakistan; and east of Pakistan are the 21st century giants, India and China. Marco Polo (1271-1295) brought this part of our world to our attention through his travels on the Silk Road to China. On the way to China he and other traders passed through Samarkand, Uzbekistan: the mysterious capital of the mythical Prestor John. In the 6th century it was the western capital of the Turks. Under Tamerlane in 1365 it became the most important economic and cultural centre in Central Asia. It was the romantic hospice where thousand-camel caravans passed through her thousand tiled gates. But this is nothing compared to what is going through its gates now. The nations surrounding the Si lk Road are once again entertaining important traders from the east and the west. Where thousand-camel caravans used to trek the steppes of Asia there come trucks, and a hoped-for pipeline from the Caspian Sea to supply the rapidly growing industrial centers of India and China. Uzbekistan is suddenly again in the center of a world in renaissance, at the crossroads of history. The Uzbeks captured Samarkand in 1500 and their name is thought to refer to Öz Beg (Uzbek), the Mongol khan under whom the Golden Horde attained its greatest power.
Bec ause Uzbekistan is a double-landlocked nation (all of its neighbors have no access to the sea) it needs strong relationships with its neighbors; and they depend upon nations who have ports. India has the nearest ports. Thus, Mr. Safaev is on a mission to India.

Uzbekistan is a major cotton producer and looks to more trade opportunities with India. As most Americans know from the labels on their clothing, India is now a major supplier of quality fabrics. It follows that Uzbek cotton and Indian technology could open new vistas for the two nations.

Other issues, including an oil pipeline through Central Asia serving India and China, give more importance to the road through Samarkand, and since the road leads through Afghanistan, securing the peace in Afghanistan is all important. But securing the peace – so all concerned will benefit – has its problems: from radical Muslims and terrorists to the drug trade. Afghanistan grows a lot of poppies and the revenue from drug trafficking, is one of the major sources of income for terrorists operating in the region. Hence, hordes of entrepreneurs and generals are studying the area of this map these days. The Bush Administration's interests in this remote area of the world are thus more delicate and bring to mind the story Polybius told of Hannibal who marched an army with elephants over the Alps to vacation in Italy for 16 years. Or Alexander the Great crossing the Hindu Kush to raft in the Ganges, whose army quickly hastened back to Babylon to bargain over a pine box. History likes to repeat itself.

May freedom ring in Afghanistan, I say.
Mel Copeland 11.01.04
[Story by Aloke Shekhar is at: english.pravda.ru]

11.01.04 American, Nepali, 2 Arabs Kidnapped in Baghdad

Monday, November 01, 2004 10:57 a.m. ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped an American, a Nepali and two Arabs from their office in western Baghdad on Monday, police said.

"They stormed the villa with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades," said a police source. "They had no chance."he source said one man had been killed in the attack. He was thought to one of the kidnappers shot by a security guard at the Saudi Arabian company where the foreigners worked.

The nationality of the Arabs snatched from the villa in Baghdad's affluent Mansour district was unclear...
(via http://www.topix.net/) [Wiredservice.wired.com]

11.01.04 Violent clash between the Hui Muslims and the Han ethnic majority in China

Xinhua, China's state news agency, reported that in a central China village 7 people were killed and 42 injured in a clash following an auto accident. Martial law has been imposed.
(via http://www.topix.net/) [ Herald-Sun ]

11.01.04 US soldiers pull out of the demilitarized zone (DMZ)

 SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- US soldiers have stopped patrolling the sealed inter-Korean border as part of arrangements to give South Korea a greater role in defending itself, the US military in South Korea said Monday.

The action, which went into effect at midnight last Sunday, means there are no US soldiers patrolling the 248-kilometer-long and 4-kilometer-wide demilitarized zone (DMZ), the buffer area between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), except for a handful of administrative US personnel at the border village of Panmunjom...Handing over the patrolling duties at Panmunjom and nearby DMZ is a key part of a South Korea-US agreement aimed at giving the host nation more responsibilities for defending its border with the DPRK.

Panmunjom, also known as the Joint Security Area, is a small oval-shaped enclave sitting on the western sector of the inter-Korean border. The Armistice Treaty which ended the Korean War (1950-1953) was signed at Panmunjom.

The latest action slashed the number of US troops manning Panmunjom from 220 to fewer than 40, Kim said. A total of 550 troops, including 330 from South Korea, had been posted at the village.

As part of last Sunday's measures, the US military relinquished its only guard post along the land border, called Outpost Ouellette, turning it over to the South Korean side, Kim said. Ouellette is only 25 meters from the Military Demarcation Line and a few hundred meters away from Panmunjom.

The decision came as the US military is realigning its military presence in South Korea and other parts of the world. Washington has already decided to withdraw one third of its 37,500 troops out of South Korea by September 2008. Earlier this year 3,600 US troops were transferred to Iraq for a one-year mission there.. [Full story at Xinhuanet.com]

11.01.04 Washington has opened a Pandora's box, intensifying ethnic and religious conflicts

 An article in the China Daily by Qian Qichen, former Chinese vice-premier and foreign minister, [updated 09:03], says that the US strategy is seriously flawed. Under the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive strategies the United States has "tightened its control of the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia...It all testifies that Washington's anti-terror campaign has already gone beyond the scope of self-defence. And these latest moves, when seen with the background of the Gulf War and the Kosovo War, have made it obvious that the United States has not changed its Cold War mentality and that the country is still accustomed to applying military means to deal with various threats, visible or invisible. The philosophy of the "Bush Doctrine" is in essence force. It advocates the United States should rule over the whole world with overwhelming force, military force in particular. Hardly strange, then, that Bush and his administration still insist on arguing that their decision to go to war in Iraq and US policy on the issue were right.

But the world's situation in response to the war is in effect a negative answer.

In Iraq, the United States did win a war in the military dimension, but it is far from winning peace for itself and the Arab country. On the contrary, Washington has opened a Pandora's box, intensifying various intermingled conflicts, such as ethnic and religious ones." Qian Qichen

[Full story at Chinadaily.com]

11.01.04 Former Chinese Premier Qian Qichen meets with Kofi Annan

 Former Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen met with visiting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday and the two exchanged views on issues of UN reform and the work of the high-level panel on UN reform. Qian is a member of the high-level panel.

[via peopledaily) [Source Xinhua]

11.01.04 China's reliance on imported oil grows

 BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- China imported 76 million tons of crude oil in the first eight months of this year, making up 40 percent of the total domestic demand, a six percent rise over 2003.

China's year end oil import volume is expected to hit 100 million tons in 2004, and the country's demand for petroleum may exceed 400 million tons in 2020. But only approximately 160 million to 170 million tons of that amount can be produced in a year in China.

Low efficiency in using energy has increased the country's reliance on imported oil.

According to the Standardization Administration of China (SAC),30 percent of oil imported to China is used by automobiles. Chinese cars, buses and trucks use 25 percent more petrol per 100 kilometers than those in Europe; this is 20 percent more than in Japan and 10 percent more than in the United States."

[Full story at: xinhuanet.com] See Iran-China deal below

10.31.04 Washington Post ignores its own polls on bin Laden's influence on the election

In its October 31 lead editorial, titled "The Osama Surprise," The Washington Post predicted that the recently released taped message from Osama bin Laden would "shift voters" toward President George W. Bush: "Maybe it [bin Laden videotape] was meant to shift voters away from the president on Tuesday; more likely it will do the opposite."

But the Post's own polling data suggests that, if there has been any shift in voter preferences since the release of the bin Laden tape on October 29, it has been in the direction of Senator John Kerry, not Bush. The last Post poll conducted entirely before the bin Laden tape aired (released October 29) gave Bush a three-point advantage, 50 percent to Kerry's 47 percent. The Post's most recent poll, conducted from October 27-30, showed Kerry and Bush tied at 48 percent. That's a three-point shift in Kerry's favor.

Two more polls conducted since the release of the bin Laden tape show a stable race or a trend towards Kerry...

[Read more at http://mediamatters.org/items/200411010002]

10.31.04 About 250, 000 tons of ammunition still unaccounted for

Vienna, Austria (AP) – About 4:30pm an article by William J. Kole, AP, says that the U.S. military has secured 400,000 tonsof munitions in Iraq but 250,000 tons stil remain unaccounted for. Names of other sites are popping up, such as al-Mahaweel, Baqouba, Ukhaider, Qaim and experts say that al-Qaqaa is only a tiny fraction of the munitions lurking beneath the sands of Iraq.
[Full story at: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news]

10.31.04 (AFP ) Hotels in Qatar on red alert

Hotels in the Qatari capital Doha, home of the central command of the US forces in the region, were placed on red alert, according to an AFP announcement 4:17 pm. [Full story at: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news]

10.31.04 Americans fear their vote won't be counted correctly

Perhaps no American election has shown so much pessimism in having an honest counting of votes in the Presidential Election as the 11.02.04 election. The following is whom to contact if you have trouble placing your vote for Bush or Kerry, etc. If you have trouble placing your vote call: Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE, a non-partisan hot line

[From http://www.michaelmoore.com/]

10.31.04 Iran signs $70 Billion energy contract with China

China's oil giant Sinopec Group signed the biggest energy agreement ever with Opec producer, Iran.
The memorandum of understanding was signed Thursday, and it will include development of the huge Yadavaran field, reported Chinese news agency, Xinhuanet. The overall contract term is 30 years.

10.31.04 Sharon says Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem

Tel Aviv – According to a radio report, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced Sunday that he would block any request by Palestining officials to bury yasser Arafat in Jerusalem. "As long as I am in power, and I have no intention of leaving, he (Arafat) will not be buried in Jerusalem," the premier reportedly told Israel's weekly cabinet meeting.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that he was ready to open negotiations with a new Palestinian leadership after Yasser Arafat's departure.

10.31.04 Militants set three-day deadline for killing hostages in Afghansitan

Kabul – Militants holding three UN workers hostage set a three-day deadline Sunday for foreign troops and the United Nations to leave Afghanistan, announced Mullah Mohammad Ishaq, spokesman for the Jaishul Muslimeen group.
[http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/index.html]

10.30.04 Transp aarency International (TI) calls on companies from OECD countries to stop paying bribes

Berlin, 29 October 2004 –Transparency International (TI) urges companies, politicians and public officials from member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to put a stop to bribe-paying by multinational companies abroad. A wave of corruption scandals shaking Costa Rica is a wake-up to respect national and international legal norms, implement business principles in the private sector and consistently investigate and prosecute cases of corruption. The recently launched Corruption Perceptions Index 2004 shows that corruption is rampant in 60 countries and is a major problem in large-scale public works.
[Full article at http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2004/2004.10.29.alcatel.html]

10.30.04 Cost cuts and rising sales bear fruit at Alcatel
 Reuters, Bloomberg News, Paris

Alcatel, the French maker of telecommunications equipment, posted its third straight quarterly profit Thursday, as it cut costs and raised sales to phone companies in emerging markets...Alcatel had three straight years of losses after the technology bubble burst, and in those years the company's chief executive, Serge Tchuruk, cut more than 40,000 jobs to reduce costs. Such savings and reviving demand for mobile networks have brought Alcatel and competitors like Ericsson back to profit.
.
"In the bad times they really cut tremendously deep, and you're seeing that now, it's starting to bear fruit," said Victor Polak, a fund manager with Citigroup in London. Alcatel shares climbed 36 cents to close in Paris at €11.56. The company will shed a total of 6 percent to 7 percent of its work force this year, and most of the cuts are completed, according to Alcatel's chief operating officer, Philippe Germond.
[Full article at: http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/10/28/business/alcatel.html]

10.30.04 Richard Armitage arrives in Kazakhstan

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage arrived in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. He was received by the republic's President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and also met with Nurtai Abykayev, the chairman of their senate, and the Kazakhstani Defense Minister and peacekeepers who were in Iraq. He thanked them for assistance in the struggle against international terrorism, for assistance in Iraq in particular, and reassured them that though he voted for Bush, no matter who wins in the election, relations with Kazakhstan will not be affected.
[Full story at: http://www.khabar.kz/index.php3?chapter=1099113786&parent_id=1007557580]

10.30.04 Central Asia and Caucasus conference held October 12-13, 2004 – US "me-only" approach; New Great Game

Dr. Maqsudul Hasan Nuri attended the conference attended by 23 countries, including Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, India, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, UK and the USA. According to Nuri, problems bedevil the Caspian and Caucasian region, ranging from radicalised Islam, lack of sustained development, issues of pipeline routing, Western attempts to divide the regional powers, political corruption, ethnic divisions, US monopolistic and self-centred role as the superpower, drug trafficking, militarism in the region, jurisdicitional disputs and environmental problems. Iran – the third largest supplier of gas – was questioned on her direction in nuclear energy.

Azerbaijan, is a key player in the region since its capital, Baku, is the distribution point from which the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline begins. A portion of the pipeline was recently made operational. Other pipeline routes are on the table, one of which would lead from the Caspian Sea through Kazakhstan and eastward via Afghanistan to China. This pipeline route, together with two other routes contemplated, has its drawbacks because of the insecurity of that area. But its big plus is supplying China and India. The states sharing the Caspian littoral would like to keep the outsiders in check, but there is a growing militarism from the West and Russia that is now a major issue. "But then it was reasoned that a superpower has to be dependent on its partners and allies such as Turkey, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Pakistan in the realisation of its global objectives," says Nuri..."Many scholars in the moot held the opinion that the US wants to design a "regional order" on the pretext of democracy and development but instead to ensure its lead and hegemony in the region. As a superpower, it needs compliant allies: Georgia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and others. After the 9/11 events, anti-proliferation, anti-terrorism and search for alternative sources of oil other than the Persian Gulf have come out in the open. It wants to induce competition amongst regional actors and thwart attempts at regional collaboration. Under the mask of democracy and development, Central Asia and Caucasus, it is employing ruthless exploitation of their resources in what is described as the "New Great Game..."
[Read more at: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2004-daily/22-10-2004/oped/o3.htm]
(Original source: http://www.jang.com.pk/)

10.30.04 US Patriot Act & outsourcing may be infringing on Canadian rights

A Canadian report released Friday by British Columbia's privacy commissioner complains that the US Patriot Act is violating Canadian privacy despite attempts by Canada to stop the snooping.

 The Patriot Act allows U.S. authorities to access the personal information of Canadians if it ends up in the United States, or if it is held by U.S. companies in Canada, says the David Loukidelis report. Civil liberties groups and labour unions in British Columbia fear the Canadian government's outsourcing of personal medical records to private U.S. companies – under the watchful eyes of the FBI and other agencies – could compromise them.
[Read more from GLOBEANDMAIL.COM]

10.30.04 Bush disappears from his post while on duty, yet the Airforce paymaster found him

 Our President and Commander in Chief's military record is still an issue (as it should be). The Associated Press sued to get all the Bush service records released and found still a lot more records that had been withheld from public inquiry. Their current report comes down to this: It is obvious that George W. Bush had decided to help the [unsuccessful] U.S. Senate campaign of Winton M. Blount, a friend of his father, George H. W. Bush. The period in question involves 1972 and 1973 (half a presidential term in Presidential parlance). The only records that show Bush's service in 1973 are his dental records: he showed up for a dental examination in January 1973. Even a greater mystery is the fact that Bush suddenly stopped flying fighter interceptors and switched to trainers. If anything has come out of this, George W. Bush set new standards for qualifying as Commander in Chief of our armed forces, and it may be that our nation will more employ distant, surrogate commanders and armies as we did in Afghanistan chasing Osama bin Laden.

10.30.04 Office of International murderer Osama bin Laden sends another dispatch that can't be understood

The full text of the message was posted on Aljazeera 10.30.04. See note (7) for a copy of the full text.

This comment was made based upon ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. news comments on the speech as being "favorable to George Bush"; those sources don't match up to the actual text. Thus the text is posted for you to read and judge for yourself.

Clarification of this misunderstood mess may be unachievable. Many statements from the Bush administration released these past four years confess that our government does not know where Osama bin Laden is; yet, "we will hunt him and the terrorists down wherever they are....etc. ect. etc.," Bush says. It is apparent that those at drop-off locations – and Al-Jazeera – for bin Laden dispatches know something about the source of the "bin Laden press releases." I've often wondered whether they see the same courier(s) delivering the tapes. I suspect they know somebody who knows somebody who heard of somebody who knows where bin Laden's newest recording studio is. What is curious about the 10.29.04 tape is the fact that bin Laden is sitting behind a desk addressing our leaders as if he thinks he is a leader of another nation. The fact is bin Laden has no nation.

The Moslem religion – or Islam – may be a spiritual nation to those who believe in the faith, just as Christians can view themselves as a nation separated unto God – a spiritual nation. Kings, thrones and places to put the thrones, except for Jerusalem, were originally far from the thinking of the early Apostles. Wishing no doubt to avoid having America being a place where spiritual beliefs are imposed by law, the Constitution and its founders thought to separate the powers of the state from religious instruments.

Keeping in mind that there is some form of common heritage among Christians, Jews and Moslems with regard to their faith, I wonder what the message in the 10.29.04 bin Laden tape and earlier dispatches hopes to achieve. We know that bin Laden wants the US government to change its policy with regard to the way it deals with Moslems but what does that mean? America's Constitution requires that its government treats all people equally. No religious group can enjoy preferences over others in America. So I don't understand what Osama bin Laden means when he complains about America not dealing correctly with Moslems. If I don't understand what he means – I am fairly familiar with most religions – how can anyone hope to understand him? Yet, he threatens to kill people who fail to understand him.

Thus, we know that bin Laden has no idea of what he wants from Americans from a religious point of view. What is also not clear is bin Laden's political hopes: what he wishes to put in place in order to insure that the Moslems are treated the way he thinks they should be treated. It is certain that in France, Germany, Britain, America, etc. (let's call them Western Moslems for the sake of brevity) their growing population must have some views as to whether bin Laden can be understood. They should have some ideas on how it is that bin Laden hates America and those with whom America associates, why he would indiscriminately destroy human beings because they deal with America.

Maybe Osama bin Laden has a Profile we ought to meet that he has yet to publish. For instance, Hitler and his thugs decided to rid first their nation and finally the world of Jews, Poles, Gypsies, and other people that did not fit their Master Race profile. Maybe Osama bin Laden has some kind of Master bin Laden profile he wants all the world to look like, destroying everyone else.

Bin Laden is killing Moslems as well. How does he determine who is a good Moslem and who is not a good Moslem? I think we who would like to see an end to this chaos should be entitled to a statement from him as to what makes a good Moslem – someone he doesn't intend to purge from the human race. Maybe his family members, like the 24 bin Ladens Bush rescued, are among his chosen people, along with a few henchmen that survive his suicide missions. I think Osama bin Laden needs to give us a few more details on how we can achieve salvation. After all, he did say that some of us can avoid being destroyed if we do what he wants us to do.

We know that bin Laden has an issue (he hates the Jews in general?) with regard to the placement of Israel in the land formerly known as Palestine. We know that bin Laden has an issue with regard to how the Israeli governments over the years have been treating the Palestinians (who include Christians, Moslems and others, even Jews). We know that bin Laden believes that by martyring yourself in the process of murdering innocent people you will be instantly received in Paradise and served with 7 virgins. But this latter belief doesn't seem to promote nation building. How can you build a nation by murdering your own people? This Neronian view is deeply lacking in logic.

The only thing I think we know for sure from Osama bin Laden and his terrorists is that they don't have a state, they don't have a consulate, and they don't seem to have any ideas of how to create a state that can serve along side of others, living in peace and helping others when they so need it. Part of the role of nations or states is that of the peacekeeper and helper. Good states offer neighbors who suffer a natural calamity – an earthquake, typhoon, etc. – help whenever they can, however they can. Even quasi enemies can help each other, as in the case of America helping Iran during its last earthquake. And if a nation is attacked in some way, states now have an international protocol and agreement by means of which they can facilitate the airing of grievances and resolve conflict without recourse to killing other people. They call it the United Nations. Still, it is a hopeless situation with bin Laden since he has no ambassadors to engage the United Nations.

What is amazing is that in four years of hunting down Osama bin Laden George Bush hasn't found his headquarters. I mean the bin Laden seat of government. We know that George Bush was entertaining a good many of bin Laden's relatives. Immediately after 9/11 George Bush aided about 24 of them – who were enjoying the pleasures of Washington and New York – who he snuck out of the country, with no questions asked. One of them had been running a money-laundering charity dedicated to supplying Osama bin Laden money for his barbaric plans.

That the terrorists can recruit insane derelicts who are willing to blow themselves up along with innocent men, women and children, to get a place in Paradise – served by 7 virgins – is a phenomena too hard for most civilized people to grasp. Correlated with this is the amazing fact that George Bush – with all the strength of the greatest power this world has ever seen – has not been able to infiltrate Osama bin Laden's barbarians sufficient to find out where Osama bin Laden is. And all the President's cameras in space and the air could not find that unusually tall villain.

We know that Bush's underachievement these past few years is not owing to the lack of American Moslem friends willing to penetrate the bin Laden barbarians to reveal where he is. Unless, of course, a lot of the Moslems here in America are here as secret agents of bin Laden, or at least greater friends of bin Laden than they are of America. For my part I think most of the Moslems living in this country are Americans. They believe in America and are proud to be American – to defend it. I am not sure how many Moslems are serving in our armed forces but there must be more than a few. I could get the numbers if I had to...

I don't take readily to conspiracy theories, so I can't say whether George Bush has prosecuted the case against Osama bin Laden and his barbarous derelicts in a diligent manner. Bush has a record of being an underachiever, and this fact is becoming more and more evident each day, as the death count mounts.

It is evident that there are some Moslems who believe that the Koran entitles them –nay, demands of them – to destroy all those who do not believe in the Koran (see verses in Koran below). It is also evident that certain Moslems feel compelled to wage war against the United States because of its ties to Israel. And it is evident that certain Moslems are willing to lose their property, families and lives for such Moslem beliefs. Christians and Jews went through the same experience over different causes over the eons. Nero's Rome found lots of victims willing to go to their death in this regard.
Following the thought of Neronian barbarism, Osama bin Laden has apparently concluded that by creating warriors willing to become bombs he is lighting the way for something, that by persecuting innocent people no matter who or where they are, there will be some kind of good that will come out of it.

There is no doubt that we need to track Osama bin Laden and his disciples down and bring them to justice. But this is only a short term fix. After all, we are dealing with a madman who can't express himself to the civilized world in a civilized manner. He seems to be a throwback to the Assassins reported by Jean de Joinville in his memoirs on a Crusade of 1248. The Assassins were from a group of Bedouins who lived in the mountains near the site of Joinville's campaign in the Levant and Egypt. They disappeared, for the most part, after the Crusades. The Assassins were led by The Old Man of the Mountain, who:

"..was not a follower of Mahomet [Mohammed – who wrote the Koran] but subscribed to the laws of Ali, who was Mahomet's uncle.

Ali had raised Mahomet to the place of honour which he held; but once the latter had established himself as lord over the people he had begun to despise his uncle, and become alienated from him. On realizing this, Ali had gathered as many people around him as he could, and had taught them a different faith from that which Mahomet was teaching. Thus it still happens that all those who observe the laws laid down by Ali affirm that those who follow Mahomet are misbelievers, while those who accept the teaching of Mahomet maintain on their side that the followers of Ali are unsound in their faith.

One of the points laid down by Ali is that if a man is killed while obeying his lord's orders his soul goes into a more pleasing body than before. That is why the Assassins are not in any way averse to being killed as and when their lord orders, because they believe they will be happier after death than when they were alive.

Another belief of theirs is that no man can die before the day appointed for his death. This is a belief no man should hold, seeing that God has power to prolong our lives or to shorten them as he pleases. The Bedouins follow Ali on this point, and for that reason refuse to put on armour before going into battle, since by doing so they think they would be acting contrary to what their law commands. So when they curse their children they say to them: 'Be accursed like a Frank who puts on armour for fear of death.'

"...Whenever the Old Man of the Mountain went out riding, a crier would go before him bearing a Danish axe with a long haft encased in silver, to which many knives were affixed. As he went the man would continually cry out: ' Turn out of the way of him who bears in his hands the death of kings!' (6)


It may be that Osama bin Laden thinks he is the Old Man of the Mountain, but I don't think he is that well read.

That Osama bin Laden would think to wage war against the United States because it stood by Israel when it invaded Lebanon, as he stated in his tape, doesn't seem to show the same integrity that the Old Man of the Mountain imposed on his followers. At least the Old Man of the Mountain had ambassadors with whom the Franks could communicate at Acre (modern Acco), among other places.

It is apparent that Osama bin Laden wants to communicate with the American people. But communication involves a two-way conversation, and the world has not seen where Osama can communicate in this way. Given the circumstances of bin Laden's underachievement, not having the facility to communicate like a civilized human being, like other barbarians in the past, he will leave no estate. His legacy will be only that of a madman. Since memories tend to fade over time it is doubtful this Halloween season that Osama bin Laden will leave any more of a remembrance beyond that of a deranged version of Count Dracula.

Bin Laden can never achieve any glory. He lost it when he sent out his first murderer to destroy himself. Each day he reigns from his Hellish domain may add to the world's distress, but I am confident that Moslems around the world will condemn him and rid us of him soon.
Mel Copeland

10.30.04 US Opposed Bin Laden Tape Airing
 By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON - The State Department on Friday asked the government of Qatar to discourage Al-Jazeera from broadcasting a videotaped speech by Osama bin Laden.., a senior State Department official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the State Department spoke to officials in Qatar before Al-Jazeera showed a portion of the tape. In it, the al-Qaida leader said the United States can avoid another attack if it stops threatening the security of Muslims.

The request to the Persian Gulf government, which is considered an ally in the U.S. campaign to counter terror, was passed through the U.S. embassy in Doha, Qatar's capital..."
[full story at Associated Press report http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041030/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/state_bin_laden]
(posted by Skippy the Kangeroo)

10.29.04 "Sieg Heil Bush" – Florida state Senator Ken Pruitt and 2,000 Bush zealots start loyalty salute
 From Joshua Marshall–

"Chris Suellentrop has a half bizarre/half chilling report from the campaign trail in Florida last night. It's about what seems to be a new feature of the Bush rallies: the pledge of allegiance to President Bush.

Here's Chris ...

'I want you to stand, raise your right hands,' and recite 'the Bush Pledge,' said Florida state Sen. Ken Pruitt. The assembled mass of about 2,000 in this Treasure Coast town about an hour north of West Palm Beach dutifully rose, arms aloft, and repeated after Pruitt: "I care about freedom and liberty. I care about my family. I care about my country. Because I care, I promise to work hard to re-elect, re-elect George W. Bush as president of the United States.'

"I know the Bush-Cheney campaign occasionally requires the people who attend its events to sign loyalty oaths, but this was the first time I have ever seen an audience actually stand and utter one. Maybe they've replaced the written oath with a verbal one." [http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/]

10.29.04 Iraqi national guard officers complain of low pay, lack of equipment

 By Ahmed Naaeem

National Guard officers say their low pay and poor equipment are the main reasons behind their poor performace. "We feel we are not being treated fairly in terms of pay and equipment," said Captain Naama Jaber. Jaber said most National Guard units lacked the rudimentary equipment a modern army requires. "We lack the basic requirements needed to defuse a bomb. Some units even lack screwdrivers," said Captain Fatik Ayed.

Both army officers agreed that the equipment at the disposal of their units is not suitable to confront the kind of insurgency and rebellion that has engulfed most parts of the country. ³We defuse bombs with our bare hands at a time American troops employ robots and wear gas masks when doing the same job,² said Ayed. The weakness of Iraqi troops was exposed last week when about 50 unarmed recruits were killed after leaving a military training camp on their way to visit families.

Jaber said pay was not commensurate with the risks to which the troops were being exposed. He said police officers, whose duties he described as ³less dangerous,² earned almost twice as much as their army counterparts. Captain Naaeem Suweid said the unit he leads lacked basic medicines necessary to treat basic injuries. ³We do not have an ambulance and even there are first-aid kits,² he said. Iraq currently has three different military units: the National Guard, the police and the border guard. Together these units have about 170,000 men under arms.

The figure is less than the number of security forces the former regime had deployed to keep law and order in Iraqi cities.
This is besides the regular army with more than half a million troops and elite forces of more than 100,000 members.
The United States disbanded all these forces shortly after its occupation, leading to a dangerous security vacuum.
[from http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2004-10-28\10137.htm]

10.28.04 8:00pm Muslim petition on "fatwas" provoking terrorist attacks.

Muslims are routing a Letter of Petition to be sent to the Security Council et. al.: "It was prepared by a group of recognized Arab thinkers among whom is the Iraqi former minister of planning Dr. Jawad Hashim whoıs been living in exile since the late 1970's.

The letter is calling for the establishment of an international court to prosecute individuals or groups who support and justify terrorism, namely clerics who release ³fatwas² that provoke hatred and encourage terrorist attacks (like Qaradawi for example), and the letter will eventually be sent to the Security Council and the UN Secretary General after getting sufficient support.

The letter was shown in Arabic and an e-mail address is provided, where readers who are interested in this subject can contact Dr. Jawad and support the request by signing the letter, so I e-mailed him offering my support and my signature and I asked him to send me the letter in English if possible as I thought that it would be a good idea to spread the word about this letter, and perhaps this will get more people to give their signatures.

Today, I got a reply from Dr.Jawad with a translated version of the letter and it was amazing to know that within a couple of days, they managed to collect over 10 000 signatures from Arab liberals, writers and intellectuals.

Support coming from anywhere would be helpful of course but I understood from his reply that he would prefer support from inside the Arab or Muslim world and I assume that he thinks that this way there will be no chance for those who believe in conspiracies to question the integrity of this project, as those idiots will not hesitate to call it a ³crusade² if the support came from westerners.
(Blog posted by Ali) [http://www.iraqthemodel.blogspot.com./]

10.29.04 "Invading Iraq would make me a great Commander in Chief," said underachiever Bush

From Russ Baker–
Two years before 9/11, candidate Bush was already talking privately about attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer.

Houston: Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.

"He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. "It was on his mind. He said to me: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.' And he said, 'My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.' He said, 'If I have a chance to invade...if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. Iım going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and Iım going to have a successful presidency."

Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father. In aggressive military action, he saw the opportunity to emerge from his fatherıs shadow. The moment, Herskowitz said, came in the wake of the September 11 attacks. "Suddenly, heıs at 91 percent in the polls, and heıd barely crawled out of the bunker...."
[ full story at http://www.russbaker.com/Guerrilla%20News%20Network%20-%20Bush.htm]
 (Blog posted via Poynteronline )

Bush Website been blocking foreigners

"...Just days before the presidential election, the Bush campaign's official Web site, GeorgeWBush.com, is turning away Web traffic from abroad. The virtual blockade began Monday, according to Internet traffic analysis company Netcraft.

The site appears to be rejecting visitors from most points outside the United States, while allowing access from most U.S. locations and Canada, according to Netcraft, which is based in Bath, England. The company monitors Web site response times from numerous locations around the globe, including New York; London; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Sydney, Australia.

An attempt by a CNET News.com reader in the Netherlands to access the site brought up an "Error 403 Forbidden" page with the message: "Access Denied: You don't have permission to access 'http://www.georgewbush.com/' on this server...." [full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5429543.html?tag=adnews] (Blog posted via Take Back the Media)

Blogs cause Sinclair to turn tail ...and Sincair blinked, says Andrew Cantor (USA Today)

Sinclair is the latest to feel the power of blogs

Last Friday, television stations that were members of the Sinclair Media Group were scheduled to air an anti-John Kerry special called Stolen Honor. They were ordered to by executives of the company — the same execs who forbid the 62 TV stations the company controls from airing Ted Koppel's reading of the names of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq this spring.

The fact that Sinclair was doing this two weeks before the election was viewed, obviously, as a move based on politics, not news. It didn't help that the producer of Stolen Honor was Carlton Sherwood, who has ties to the Bush administration. Nor that Sinclair's Washington bureau chief, Jon Leiberman, was fired for criticizing the company's plans; he told the Baltimore Sun it was "biased political propaganda, with clear intentions to sway this election."

Those stations were scheduled to air "Stolen Honor." That is, till the Internet kicked in. Thanks to the advance warning, bloggers spread the word (and e-mail spread it further). A well-orchestrated boycott and writing campaign began, aimed not at the stations, but at the advertisers. Spurred on by sites that appeared literally overnight such as Boycott Sinclair Broadcast Group and Badvertisers, people in Sinclair's 39 markets, armed with phone numbers and e-mail addresses, started contacting the local businesses that are the lifeblood of the company.

Sinclair's stock took a nosedive. Stockholders threatened a lawsuit, saying that the company's execs were making bad business decisions for political reasons. Allegations of insider trading surfaced.

And Sinclair blinked..." [full story at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2004-10-29-kantor_x.htm]

10.28.04 Poetry & Politics in Iraq

Mohammed attended a poetry lecture on10.25.04: "... The lecture was about the Iraqi folkloric poetry and the guest of honor was an Iraqi poet who had to remain silent and hide what he writes in Saddamıs days. His papers were locked up in a secret place that even his fa
Mohammed's photo of the poetry lecture
mily didnıt know about, and yesterday was the time for those papers to see the light, to share with everybody the stories that was hidden inside his heart before the 9th. Of April.

Poems and conve rsations went on like a stream, mixing art with politics...The majority were actually with the elections but some of them just didnıt like that someone is still claiming responsibility for them and threatening them if they disobey, regardless of the nature of the threat. The conversations left poetry and switched to politics and this is natural for any meeting here in Iraq; we start talking about something and suddenly we find ourselves talking about politics and the voices get loud and anxious.

I started shooting .pictures and I was full of joy; having such a conversation with no fear was impossible in the past and I just canıt help feel the joy every time I see it till now! Everyday I see a similar situation in a house or a university. Everyone feels responsible for Iraqıs future and everyone is looking forward for active contribution..."

(Posted by Mohammed) [http://www.iraqthemodel.blogspot.com./]

Terrifying News Headlines

In the beginning....

Bush taking too long to read "My Pet Goat" reader on 911 (4)

California Governor to represent Californians in state of Ohio

Governor Schwarzenegger will be helping President Bush win Ohio this Friday (10.29.04). On the evening news 10.26.04 he said, "Californians haven't been able to participate in the election, and this is a way for them to do it." That Schwarzenegger can stand before another state and claim that California is in support of President Bush would be a false representation, since it is commonly known that California will be casting its vote for Kerry. Also, it would be nice if he were to give the "Don't run the government using a credit card" speech which helped him win the election in California.

Running a government using a credit card

This year's deficit caused by Bush will be a record deficit since Richard Nixon showed a surplus (in 1969). Bush calls Democrats "tax and spend liberals" when he and his father spent other people's money to run their governments! Who is it that has to pay for the deficit run up each year by a fiscally irresponsible President ? You do. You pay in several ways, since borrowed money is a worse tax on you and the economy than a legitimate tax. The National Debt is $7.4 Trillion as of 10.27.04. That debt is financed by the bond market. While the interest rates on bonds go up and down, generally the rates are affected through the Federal Reserve and supply and demand. Most of the debt during George Bush's administration (1989-1993) was carried by the G-7 Central Banks and a few others who could take large positions in the Bond Market like George Soros. Since supply and demand affect prices of bonds, the greater the supply of bonds, as in a period of excessive government borrowing, would ordinarily depress the price of bonds. To attract buyers, the Federal Reserve must raise interest rates. So when your mortgage loan goes up, owing to an increase in interest rates, its because of the Bush Borrowing: running a government on a credit card.

Since the government runs on borrowed money, the amount of the original loan (new in 2001) grows exponentially, in a curve called a "J" curve. During George Bush's years the deficit was essentially equal to the interest accumulated each year on the debt. That interest debt is added to the original loan amount causing the debt to grow [unpaid] until an effort is made to reduce the debt, paying down both principal and interest. Fearing a crash Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich announced in May 1995 that there would no longer be any borrowing on the debt. We would "pay as we go," a concept George W. Bush recently derided with reference to Kerry's attempt to restore the years of responsible government under President Clinton. Although Clinton was initially following the Bush Borrowing program – of running the government using a credit card – he converted to the Republican plan and paying down the debt became the great cause of his administration. The response from the economy was plain: it grew, became healthy, wealthy and wise. When you have savings you feel secure. When you have no savings and have trouble finding people to loan you money you feel insecure. Clinton stopped the insecurity of the Bush administration.

In 1993 I prepared a mortgage amortization table for the then $5 Trillion debt inherited from George Bush. At 7% interest a 40 year loan of that amount would result in the payment after 20 years of $6.4 Trillion in interest and $90 million in principal. After 40 years the debt would be paid off and total interest paid would be $10 Trillion.

Who makes money from Bush Borrowing are the wealthy. Most of the US Bond Market is owned by foreign governments and major institutional investors like Warren Buffet and Mutual Funds. While it is not likely that the US government will default on its now $7 Trillion debt, it is a debt that is now in an exponential phase where the amount accumulating in interest each year is the major component of outlays each year in the National Budget. Keep in mind the case of Brazil and other nations that defaulted on their debts and required an International Monetary Fund bail-out. If the US government were unable to sell enough bonds to pay off the 2005 interest, for instance, the amount the US would require to bail it out would exceed the financial reserve of the International Monetary Fund. As in the George Bush years, our economy has been staggering under the weight of the National Debt and its rapidly accumulating annual interest. Growth simply slows down under such uncertainties.

The stock market becomes softer when it anticipates a shift from stocks to bonds (when the government is selling a large lot of bonds). In simple terms, when the government has to sell bonds to pay off its creditors, the stock market can expect its investors to shift their positions from stocks to bonds. This causes the stock market to have a small panic attack. From time to time, if the movement from stocks is large enough, the stock market has a stroke.

Foreign markets react to American economic troubles; thus, the growing US National Debt creates insecurity among the international financial markets. This insecurity can be observed in the value of the dollar against other currencies. Not long ago the Euro was worth a little bit more than a dollar. Yesterday, 10.26.04, the Euro was worth $1.38.

When the US is in a recessionary trend the effects are soon seen in Europe. Jobs are lost (Germany now has a 10% unemployment rate; I remember when Germany took pride in having almost no unemployment – before the Reagan-Bush years); and there is a slow-down in the purchase of goods from the United States. The US is now experiencing record deficits in the export market, and part of the cause of the record deficits in exports is owing to the recessionary trend among our European trading partners. If our government were to be set on a firm financial plan – away from the Bush Borrowing credit card madness –the foreign markets would feel more secure in their investments in America and purchase more from us. You would think that if the Euro has increased in purchasing power over the dollar by 25% one would see an equivalent growth in American exports. But exports are down. Something is seriously wrong, n'est pas?

Gingrich should be arguing for fiscal responsibility – along with Kerry –as he did in 1997. The Newt Gingrich concept of paying off the debt reported in US News & World Report in 1997:

"When he sat down to talk policy with House Speaker Newt Gingrich in April, Rep. Mark Neumann didn't mention his plan to pay off the entire $5.38 trillion national debt. But as Gingrich thumbed through Neumann's numbers-laden analysis of the federal budget, he stopped at the last section, titled "Retiring the Debt." Gingrich started asking questions and got visibly more excited with each answer.

Now Gingrich and other Republican leaders have embraced Neumann's proposal – that rather than stopping with a balanced budget, America should go on to pay off its debt – as a defining idea of modern conservatism. If revenue and spending trends point to a balanced budget, the argument goes, the government should stay on that course and use the eventual surpluses to retire the national debt.Gingrich is meeting with conservative activists to rally support for the idea.

See also a detailed article on the Neuman-Gingrich plan by By James K. Glassman, Tuesday, July 15 1997, The Washington Post. The plan evolved out of a continuing crisis over the budget, when the government was threatened with being shut down over the debt (see full report, CNN US News November 13, 1995).

Mr. Gingrich, why aren't you strongly behind Kerry's position of reinstituting the Clinton era of Fiscal Responsibility? Your loyalty to Bush should have some limits. Isn't your position now – against Kerry's debt reduction –somewhat two-faced?

The lost Iraqi ammunition reported 10.25.04

10.27.04 Now officials in the Bush administration are saying that the lost ammunition is no problem. I think the psychology here is that if we would have disarmed the Iraqis and secured ammunition dumps we would not have been able to get control of the Iraqi Oil Ministry offices. This is called "leading a battle without protecting your rear."

10.26.04 – George Bush apparently has not heard of any reports of the lost munitions. He's hard at work and sometimes getting information to him isn't that easy, we understand. The latest report on the dump seems to confirm my theory that the ammo was stolen by a trader from a used camel lot.

10.25.04 – 380 tons (now 377 tons) of explosives from an Iraqi ammunition dump were reported missing. How many trucks does it take to move 350 tons of ammunition? Where did the thieves get the trucks? Whose side is Bush on anyway? He has more interests in defending the Saudis and the bin Ladens than Americans, I think. Now this was no small effort.! One ton = 2,240 pounds, and using information from http://www.hubgroup.com/services/containerC_default.jsp
on truck and container load capacities, using a 20' container to sneak off 380 tons of explosives would require an estimated 76 trucks (with one 20' container holding ~11,500 pounds) or an estimated 85, 120 camels. I wonder if our satellite imagery viewed any large convoys or caravans in the area.

Notable reports on the 377 tons of lost ammunition

American inspecting Al-Qaqaa. Channel 5 Eyewitness news, Minneapolis photo 10.28.04

10.28.04 Channel 5 Eyewitness News account at Al Qaqaa:"...During that trip, members of the 101st Airborne Division showed the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS news crew bunker after bunker of material labelled 'explosives.'

Usually it took just the snap of a bolt cutter to get into the bunkers and see the material identified by the 101st as detonation cords..."

10.26.04 (from MSNBC via http://news.yahoo.com/news)

"Reporter Lai Ling Jew, who was embedded with the Army's 101st Airborne, Second Brigade, said her news team stayed at the Al-Qaqaa base for about 24 hours.

"There wasn't a search," she told MSNBC, an NBC cable news channel. "The mission that the brigade had was to get to Baghdad. That was more of a pit stop there for us. And, you know, the searching, I mean certainly some of the soldiers head off on their own, looked through the bunkers just to look at the vast amount of ordnance lying around.

"But as far as we could tell, there was no move to secure the weapons, nothing to keep looters away... The NBC report came after the U.N. nuclear agency told the Security Council on Monday about the disappearance of the 377 tons of high explosives, mostly HMX and RDX, which can be used in the kind of car bomb attacks that have targeted U.S. forces... The NBC team accompanied the 101st Airborne at Al-Qaqaa the following day — on April 10, 2003.

Lai Ling told MSNBC that there was no talk among the 101st of securing the area after they left.

She said the roads were cut off "so it would have been very difficult, I believe, for the looters to get there."

Opening Pandora's box:

Bomb effects of the Hiroshima bomb. For those wondering what effects the old nuclear technology had: As a young man in the 60's I used to review lots of reports and charts which projected kill ratios from various weapons launched againtst Soviet cities. I am confident t
One of many charts on the Hiroshima bomb from: http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/data.html
he Soviet Union had similar studies against US cities. The French would have had similar studies / projections for their missiles as well. While I am sure our weapons today are far more terrible, terrorists would likely be attempting to achieve the Hiroshima levels of destruction if they had the capability. We who were raised in the Early Cold War era remember the many bomb drills in our schools, when we were instructed to drop under our desks and cover, whilst our leaders had dug out caves in the rocky mountains for headquarters to save themselves from nuclear attack.

This graph shows the reality of blast effects, as recorded from the Hiroshima bomb. According to the source of the image (click below the image):

"The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima generated a huge amount of energy when it exploded. The amount of energy generated by the bomb was equivalent to the amount of energy generated by a 15-kiloton TNT explosion.

Heat – On the ground, beneath the explosion center(hypocenter), the temperature rose to approximately 7,000 degree F. On the stairway of the entrance to a bank, which was 1/8 mile from the explosion center, a man was sitting waiting for its opening. The surface of the stone stairway was changed by the immense heat. The part where the man was sitting remained unchanged because his body absorbed the heat.

Roof (ceramic) tiles on houses within 1/3 mile radius from the explosion center melted, and gray stones which contained silicon particles became white. The clothes which people wore were burnt by the heat within 1 1/4 mile radius from the explosion center.

Bomb Blast – An ultra high pressure was generated by the explosion. The wind velocity on the ground beneath the explosion center was 980 miles/hr, which is five times stronger than the wind generated by strong hurricanes. The pressure was 3.5 kg per square centi-meter which is equivalent to 8,600 pound per square feet.

At a point that was 1/3 mile from the explosion center, the wind velocity was 620 miles/hr; the pressure was 4,600 pound per square feet. Most of concrete buildings inside this range were completely destroyed.

Even a mile from the explosion center, where the wind velocity was 190 miles/hr and the pressure was 1,180 pound per square feet, all brick buildings were completely destroyed.

Half of the energy was consumed when the explosion generated an ultra high air pressure which resulted in very strong bomb blast (wind). One third of the energy was consumed when the explosion generated heat, while the rest of the energy was consumed when the explosion generated radiation.

Radiation – The explosion generated Alpha, Beta, Gamma and neutron rays. Alpha and Beta rays were absorbed by the air and did not reach to the ground. Gamma and neutron rays were strong enough to reach the ground; thus it was these rays that affected people.

Within 1/16 mile radius from the explosion center, most people died within a few hours (even in the case where they were not directly exposed to the heat or wind). Within a half mile radius, most people died within 30 days after the explosion.

The people who entered the area within a half mile radius from the explosion center in the first 100 hours after the explosion were also affected by the remaining radiation on the ground.

Fortunately it has not been observed that the long term effects of radiation affected A-bomb survivors nor that a radiation exposure caused genetic damages.

B y the end of 1945 the estimated number of people who died as a direct result of the bomb was 140,000."

President Bush has been playing with fire , and it is apparent from the moment he launched his personal crusade, to send our troops into harms way in Iraq, that he had no concept of what he was doing. He unnecessarily put the world in jeopardy by raising the wrath of the Moslem world against the Western world. It is also doubtful that neither he nor any of those who devised the strategy of the offense had ever read the Koran.

President Bush launches illegal war

9.16.04 Secretary General Kofi Annan declares to the BBC that Bush conducted an illegal war in Iraq: Iraq war illegal, says Annan. The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told the BBC the US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter.

The UN Charter provision that George W. Bush violated is – at least – Chapter VIII.53:

UN Charter VIII. 53. 1. The Security Council shall, where appropriate, utilize such regional arrangements or agencies for enforcement action under its authority. But no enforcement action shall be taken under regional arrangements or by regional agencies without the authorization of the Security Council, with the exception of measures against any enemy state, as defined in paragraph 2 of this Article, provided for pursuant to Article 107 or in regional arrangements directed against renewal of aggressive policy on the part of any such state, until such time as the Organization may, on request of the Governments concerned, be charged with the responsibility for preventing further aggression by such a state.

53.2. The term enemy state as used in paragraph 1 of this Article applies to any state which during the Second World War has been an enemy of any signatory of the present Charter.

If, according to the BBC (9.16.04), George W. Bush is in violation of international law, does that not also extend to the American people? Now a nation cannot hide behind its leaders, in committing illegal acts of war; neither can a leader hide behind its people in committing illegal acts of war. The American people need to clarify this issue by having an acknowledged officer of the country refer it to the United Nations for disposition. Since President George W. Bush refuses to acknowledge United Nations' laws, or to submit to them, to separate ourselves from the actions of a criminal we need to refer the matter to the extent that we have at least done our part in honoring international law. Maybe Congress should have another look at their act with reference to prosecuting the war in Iraq.

Halliburton hogging the sacrifices

Keep in mind that one of many reasons George W. Bush did not get support from the UN Security Council was his policy in letting contracts to a few US contractors, eliminating those who had not helped in the invasion from the ability to benefit from the reconstruction. This is one of many reports from December 2003:

Opening up Iraq to competitive contracting
"As reported elsewhere on the CIOB International web-site, the U.S. Government has promised to contribute in excess of $18 billion to finance reconstruction work in Iraq. But the Pentagon precipitated a diplomatic confrontation with France, Germany, Russia and possibly China by ruling that these and a number of other countries would be excluded from bidding in the U.S. funded sector of the reconstruction program.

As if this was not provocation enough, the Pentagon explained that one reason for limiting the bidding to countries that had given the United States political and military aid in Iraq was the requirement for "the protection of the essential security interests of the United States." The President was reported to be distinctly unhappy - in other words furious - at the release of this statement at the very time he was trying to convince the French, German and Russian Presidents that they should assist Iraq's economic recovery by cancelling the enormous debts built up in the days of the Saddam regime.

Clarifications are now coming forth. A State Department spokesman said that while the bidding restriction imposed by the Pentagon applies to prime contracts, there will be few restrictions on