411 ON 911
Since I wrote 911 so much has happened to include heightened fear, prejudice and a very deliberate and contrived diminishment of our Constitution’s Bill of Rights. First and foremost in my mind is the continual obfuscating nomenclature of that day as nine eleven and its terribly tragic events. The day should be referred to as Nine-One-One as in dialing for emergency help. To anyone, even from the “dumb down generation” and those who haven’t figured out television stations co-ordinate their commercials to be simultaneously shown in order to retain their audience, it should be abundantly clear that September 11th was specifically chosen as the day to inflict this harm on our homeland, as an incisive derisive mocking statement. Yet the media and government use “nine eleven” rather than the correct and meaningful nine-one-one intended reference. Why? Since this new day of “national infamy”, we’ve had much discussion on who, what, when and why. We’ve had a woman named Ann Coulter write a condemning book attacking “the Jersey Girls”, widows of the twin tower hits, chastising their efforts to have a more objective and inquisitive ( read integral) investigation of all the events before, during and after 9-1-1. Thomas Jefferson said, “Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error”. Yet this Colter woman chastises these widows as only being selfish, indulgent, publicity seekers stirring up sad memories. As a point woman for the dedicated wrong, one might think she could have been a bit more considerate, compassionate and commiserative toward these ladies and respect for their effort. Anyone who has read their book or having seen their interviews, see beyond a shadow of a doubt they indeed are, the genuine article, trying to use our system of checks and balances (what’s left of it, that is) in seeking the deserved justice, still not achieved. Whatever Colter’s purpose is, it proves there must be much left unexposed, for her to libel, slander and mudsling to the degree she has viciously anointed the “JERSEY GIRLS” with in an effort to refocus and debunk.
As with any national event, there are always nuts and kooks coming out of the wood work to give disinformation or gain fortune and fame with their latest crazy version of what really did transpire. They are lumped together as “conspiratorialists”. There are though, credible and responsible books, articles and web sites which give reason to our worst fears of government collusion, if not cover over. Just put it in the context that if a President of the United States can be gunned down on an open public street with a Disney World fairy tale, called the WARREN REPORT as the official explanation and is still accepted (taught in school) and let stand for forty-four years with no valid disclosure, it is unfortunately, not such a stretch.
I have had problems with the credibility of President Bush long before 911. In 2,000, after a strong showing by Senator John McCain in the New Hampshire Primary, George Bush had to handily win the South Carolina primary to position himself for the Super Tuesday of primaries just weeks away. Instead of going straight to South Carolina, Bush’s handlers regrouped with him in Crawford, Texas and re-invented, so
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to speak, their candidate, with just having him practice reading and delivery from almost invariably the same short speech, with the suggested nuances and emphasis and told him they would have a constant group of your supporters sitting down front to his right. After each declarative quasi-patriotic sentence, a prompt would be issued and wild delirious cheering would be exhibited, as if spontaneous. Watch the videos and see after each pre-arranged point, he’d look down at his “fan club” and give that smirk/smile as in the little boy who has just pleased his mother and teacher. Positive reinforcement with brief select worded spiels gave him a new political life and shielded him from the “gotcha questions”. Not to mention the dirty tricks his handlers pulled on the Honorable Senator John McCain. Then the Republicans, in his governor brother Jeb’s state, stole the 2,000 election fair and square, with a little Supreme Court improper and illegal opinion. Speaking of JEB!, had he won the Florida Governorship in 1994, preventing “Walkin” Lawton Chiles (he walked across the state to earn his political shoes, no pun intended) from being elected to a second term, JEB! would have been 2,000’s front runner. As slow as #43 (kegboy) is on the uptake, brother Jeb is fast and formidable. He is also bi-lingual in Spanish and has proven himself many times over, especially during the hurricanes. While during gubernatorial media info’s, Jeb has insisted the networks give him extra time to relay the same directives in Spanish! He is also adamant about being a non-candidate in 2008! Who’s kidding who?
Fast forward to a Sarasota elementary classroom and Press Secretary Andrew Card coming in, while President #43 is attentively listening to children reading MY PET GOAT and telling him that yet a second plane had hit the other Twin Tower and watch Bush #43’s face for seven (7) long minutes. It shows he has no clue what to do sitting frozen (watch him in Fahrenheit 911) until a staffer comes in to yank him. What other real U.S. President in our brief history have witnessed such obvious bellicose acts and have shown demonstrated such non-response to obvious ongoing terrorist action of the highest degree??? My first question after the failure to even allude to nine-one-one, is that if these terrorists were so intent on maximum damage effect, then why not wait until the hours of 11A.M. to 2 P.M. when the Towers would be full to their complement of workers and an additional three to five thousand tourists? Thank God they didn’t, but why did they not?
Among the questions and/or inconsistencies associated with responsible criticism of the Official Versions of the 911 Commission Report are the tracking of Flight 93 when it turned in the radar shadow of another jet liner, is the contention it followed it in its radar swath and landed in Cleveland on a parallel runway. The pit in Shanksville, Pa. where Flight 93 allegedly crashed after heroic efforts to deter its terrorist mission, was so obliterated, no items of particular (suitcases, briefcases parts of the wreckage etc..) were said to be found and the coroner quit searching for body parts when he could not after an hour, even find traces of blood! One engine was found some two miles from the pit, suggesting maybe the courageous passengers were successful and since there could not be any contradictive witnesses, Flight 93 was indeed, shot down. The absence of any identifying parts, luggage and/or human effects etc… save the “black
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boxes”, in such a crash debris field is, incredible. At the Pentagon (five sides), a five ring stone and steel re-enforced building, for some odd reason, there exist very few odd reason there exist very few eye witnesses claiming to have seen a 767 jet airliner come out of the blue at a height of 20 to 30 feet and crash into its side. The explosion left a much smaller gap than theoretically should have been wrought. I would be irresponsible if I agreed with the conclusions of some of the skeptics who claim a missile hit it, but I do know a jet airliner of such capacity cannot fly that low to the ground for long before inertia and gravity stalls it out and the only available video clip of the strike shows a projectile hitting the Pentagon wall almost perpendicular to the ground and in an area that was under redecoration. The tape recorders, giving constant view of the area, were pulled by the FBI almost immediately after the event and have been suppressed. With the Twin Towers, a number of hierarchy of Fire Officials and ex-military security people all witnessed sharp brief glows of light (read explosions) at corners of the buildings just prior to both collapses. In a rather persuasive argument, made by a number of knowledgeable people, all claim towers of such solid structure should collapsed and neither of them would have had the tendency to implode symmetrically and fall down so efficiently upon their self. We had explosive riggers here in St. Petersburg who discussed in depth the techniques they would use to destroy (implode) an old eight (8) story hotel upon it self without damaging anything near by. But yet we witnessed perfect implosions on two heavily constructed buildings because the heat from aviation jet fuel melted random steel frames. Experts in this field agree the plane fuel could not reach the heat degree necessary for the collapse. These assertions/questions here are viably responsible, yet none were properly addressed in 911 Commission Hearings. Try reading THE SECOND PEARL HARBOR.
Then there is the alarming reality that FBI Special Agent Harry Samit arrested Zacarias Massaoui 26 days before the attacks yet the investigation of all his background activity from flight school training (flying, not takeoff and landing and absent a real pilot’s license) on a Boeing 747 simulator and other spurious activity, was summarily dismissed at some level of hierarchy and the agent was stymied in his effort to search Massaoui,s belongings and lap top computer. A request to put an Arab speaking ringer in a cell next to his to try and glean information on his unrealistic activity was denied. He was to be the 20th hijacker on 911. The absence of these questions are reminiscent of the Warren Commission’s failure to identify who was responsible for changing JFK’s motorcade route the morning of the 22ND so it would run through Dealy Plaza with its slow turns, making for a perfect ambush forum. The Dallas newspaper had published the motorcade route that very morning, with the path avoiding any such non protocol turns going straight to the under pass to the Stemmons Freeway to his Trade Mart speech! Read people, there is so much more inconclusiveness and unanswered questions, more so, those unasked! Oh yeah, and what about the people told not to report that day in the Pentagon, Armed Forces, New York Port Authority and Security. I don’t have the space to enumerate all. You look it up. I will say, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, the well known “Gonzo” political author (“Hells Angels, A Strange and Terrible Saga”, “Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas” and Fear and Loathing On The
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Campaign trail, 1972” are among his many books) and was reputedly, the only man to ever ride with both Hells Angels and Richard Nixon, expressed his opinion that our BUSH #43 government caused or allowed 911 to happen. He used the lawyer axiom of “qui bono” to justify his doubt. From a man with such an astute and experienced knowledge of our government, in and out, I have no doubt in respecting his view and seeking commensurate fact.
To understand how the mid east and Moslem fanatics play such a large role, I believe one must understand Iran as a key. First, Iranians are not Arabs nor are they Arabian in any sense. They are a Shiite Moslem based religious country. PERSIA is the original name and the Persians/Iranians have maintained a sovereign, integral border with the same indigenous people, for over twenty-five hundred years. Alexander the Great, during his eastward conquest campaign, chose not to destroy Baghdad and Persia and particularly its ever growing Library and Archives of antiquity. The Persian poet, Omar Khayam, may ring a bell with his famed Rhubyat, of some 80 verses. One of my more favored is, “The moving finger writes and having writ, moves on. Nor all your piety or wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it”. In 1941, with WW ll ongoing, at the age of twenty one, Mohaamad Reza Shah Pahlavi took over the Peacock Throne from his deceased father. Strong ties with the United States Military Industrial Intelligence Community aided him in preserving power, particularly over Prime ministers of its Parliament and Moslem fundamentalist religious clerics. The U.S. helped the “Shah” (king) organize a dreaded secret police called the Savak. In fear for his life, the main cleric player, Ayatollah Khomeini, a Shiite fundamentalist with a large following, left Iran in 1951, for exile in France. In 1967, Shah Pahlavi declared himself Emperor.
I served in the United States Naval Air in the late ‘60’s to early ‘70’s attached to a jetfighter squadron called VF-84 (the Jolly Rogers) which flew F-4J Phantoms. At sea, we were attached to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. FDR and I made two Mediterranean cruises, which proved to be a vast learning experience. The year after I got out, the Air Force and Navy Air switched its main fighter jet to the new F-14 Tomcat. In 1974, the U.S. sold the Shah, 80 of these state of the art fighters (Air Force version), along with its sophisticated armament and advisers to train their air force in all its features. This made Iran (our proxy in that region) the pre-imminent power in the mid east along with its much despised neighbor, the democracy of Israel which becoming a state, displaced the Palestinians, creating refugees. If the powers that be had preserved land for them, I believe peace could have prevailed. Iran also happens to be one of the top three oil rich producing countries on the earth. I believe Gerald Ford (the only man never elected to serve as either Vice president or President of our United States) was in Office agreeing to the sale. Oh yeah, he was one of the seven members of the infamous Warren Commission! AND by the way, the price of oil in 1973 was $2.59 a barrel. In 1974, it jumped to $10.95 and the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC or cartel!) now was realizing over $100 billion a year in American dollars! Supposedly, the jump was from an oil (OPEC) embargo in the fall of1973. By 1980, a barrel of crude sold for
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only $30 and Iran was the only mid-east country with a blossoming industrial base to build on. The other countries could only invest in real estate etc…(read U.S. interests) or bank deposit profits. In 2005 -2006, a barrel of crude fluctuated between $70 and $75. As of this writing (1/14/08) a barrel of crude has passed $100 a barrel!
As a returned vet, I worked as a mailman and went to college at night, until I could afford to finish out my degree at the University of Maryland, in my hometown of College Park, Maryland. My first semester there was January of 1975. In March of 1975, Geraldo Rivera, hosting a late night show called Good Night America, showed for the first time, the one known film of John Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, November 22, 1963.The film was made by a dressmaker named Abraham Zapruder, from the so-called “grassy knoll”and the original had been held in the National Archives by officialdom on the premise of preserving the dignity of the Kennedy family. Obviously, it showed just the opposite of what the Warren Commission had maintained of there being a lone gun man shooting the president from the rear. From the beginning, as a 15 year old kid, I had many questions about the report which bothered me as unanswered or nasked. It was then that I came upon a book called WHITEWASH by one Harold Weisberg, at the off campus book store. He had to publish it with his own funds and sold on consignment, because, in his own words, “no publisher would dare print the truth”! The book was critical of the Report and every sentence had a documented footnote, mostly from the twenty six volumes of evidence, documents and testimony upon which the Report was based. Even more credible was the responsibility it used in not theorizing, but comparing and contrasting the finding with the body of evidence. He had published two more books on the Warren Report and one on the investigation of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination by this time. The showing of the film caused such an uproar (read cause of the moment) that I called Mr. Weisberg, who fortunately lived just seventy miles north in Frederick, Md., and I asked him to come speak at the Campus, not having any plan A or idea how I would accomplish such a feat. But Harold said yes and asked me to visit him to go over details. A week later and much preparation (read perspiration and anxiety), I drove to his home to discuss the details. On April 14, 1975 Harold spoke to an overflow crowd of 2,000 and as a result of the interest, a group of us started a petition drive to have Congress hold open hearings on just the Investigation. There were several Resolutions of such, in the House of Representatives, at the time. One was by The Honorable Thomas Downing of Virginia and the other House member was Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, who by the way, had ridden in the motorcade that fateful day in Dallas. Our Congresswoman, the late Gladys Spellman from our Fifth District agreed, after some urging, to join as a co-signer of the Resolutions and enter mention of our 7,000 plus, petition signatures in the Congressional Record. She did ask me if I could provide some type of substantiation to justify her entry. I gave her a document Harold had just recently received under a Freedom of Information Act request. It was notes of the Warren Commission and counsel, in executive session (verbatim) on January 22, 1964 (this was before them reviewing any documents, evidence or the hearing of any testimony) discussing explicitly, that there was to be no real investigation and they
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were to rubber stamp the FBI’s version of Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone and unassisted, in accomplishing the murder. Read it for yourself in The Congressional Record of May 14, 1975 on page E2442 in the Extension of Remarks.
This all ties together that May, when my long time friend Dan and I went to Georgetown University in NW Washington D.C. to visit our contact, Jenifer, representing a group of interested students there. We parked on “N” street and walked a block to the Administration Building entrance. The campus had an old wrought iron fence and gate surrounding the area, probably for ambience. As we approached, we could hear vehement chants of a marching demonstration on the out sidewalk, of maybe a thousand people. They had brown bags over their heads and slits cut to see through. Some were painted various colors. They were protesting the Shah of Iran and his Savak’s atrocious acts on his own citizens. They obviously were afraid to reveal themselves, to prevent harm to them and their relatives back home. This made me realize that there were indeed thousands of students in the U.S. on visas attending some of the most prestigious Universities in America, paid for by their oil rich families. This was apparently true of all the oil wealthy mid east countries. Engaging in conversation, I began to learn they believed the U.S. Government had controlling interests in these nations and did not wish to see democracy take root. These people loved our society and culture and freedom but were abhorrent, on the whole, we as citizens were so politically naïve. They thought so much of us as a people, that if we knew first hand about the atrocities they spoke of, we would vote out the politicians who were allowing such anguish and abuse. They were also very moderate in their Moslem beliefs with even the Shiites not so interested in seeing fundamentalism take hold in their respective nations (read religious right and Jerry Fallwell etc…here). Right now, in the year 2006, with all that has taken place, I have strong doubts the majority of these peoples’ feelings have only grown stronger in this forum. I believe they just resent what our unchecked, greedy, dedicated wrong group have fomented in the region. I declare this from the many conversations I had with some of the foreign students and their American friends. Ironically, I had a professor in Ancient to Medieval History who spent a week discussing Allah, Mohammed, the Koran and the spread of the Moslem Empire, which of course led to the Crusades and the fight for JERUSALEM. He predicted that the 1974 Oil Embargo which was just the beginning of Moslems uniting in a Jihad (holy war) against the arrogant imperialism of the west which had been virtually stealing their oil for mere pennies. Funny life!?
Back to the future, in 1978 President Jimmy Carter visited the mid east and Iran during the New Year Holidays. He stoutly declared that Iran was, “an island of stability” in the volatile mid east region. After much civil unrest, even at the peril of the infamous Savak, the Shah, alleged to have cancer, was forced to leave Iran in January 1979. The next month, the fundamentalist Shiite Cleric, Ayatollah Khomeini, returned from exile in France, victorious and formed his own government. Sounds to me like Jimmy Carter, a very decent man with extreme integrity, was given some very poor intelligence or, just plain disinformation. My opinion was he was deliberately
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deceived and sabotaged to look bad. On November 4th, 1979, groups of “students(?)” to include the current President, stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the Capitol and held all in the compound, prisoners (the hell with Diplomatic Immunity!). After a failed military rescue in April of 1980, President Carter turned to diplomacy but the channels would not open. It is now common knowledge that Ronald Reagan, candidate for the Republican nomination for President of these United States, through secret emissaries, held back channel meetings with Iranian officials (in Paris) to keep the hostages held until he won the election and took office. It remains to be seen exactly what the quid pro quo (Iran/Contra scandal ala Ollie North etc…) was, but at 12:30 P.M. on January 20th, 1981, with Ronald Wilson Reagan sworn in as our 40th President, on the 444th day of captivity, the announcement came that wheels were up on a plane carrying the Embassy Hostages to safety. Again, you tell me!
In neighboring Iraq on July 22, 1979, a bully of a scoundrel named Saddam Hussein, took complete control over the military and the country (with U.S. help), after forcing the puppet President Baks, to step down. In the next few days he murdered anyone in power he perceived to be a threat. Iraq is divided geographically into three very separate groups. In the north there are the Kurds. In the mid region, around Baghdad, there are the Sunni Moslems and to the oil rich south, are the warlike Shiites. The Kurds are more the nomadic type having their population contiguous to Turkey, Iran, Syria and Armenia as well as Iraq. With the breakup of the old Ottoman Empire, the Treaty of Sevres created several of these nations and held clause for a state of “Kurdistan” which never came about. With the loss of Iran, the U.S. powers that be, decided to support Saddam Hussein to keep a foothold in the region. Which of course, meant weapons, armament, advisers, etc… and a turned head to human rights violations. In 1980, the former Union of Soviet Socialists Republics, (USSR) invaded Afghanistan, which became for them, a quagmire just like our war in Vietnam. Some countries just will not submit to conquest, no matter how overwhelming the strength or duration of occupation. Coincidentally, Saddam’s Iraq invaded Iran the same year(?). One can only speculate why, eh??? Iran’s air force was immediately destroyed (remember the F-14 Tomcat acquisition ….well it needs maintenance and upgrading, which the U.S. obviously denied). Iraq’s forces were nearing Tehran and victory, when the Ayatollah influenced thousands of weaponless Iranians to blindly charge the Iraq army. With wave after wave of weaponless men of all ages confronting the Iraqi’s, Iran’s military behind them, pushed over the bloody corpses and turned the invasion back to the border where it remained as a standoff for eight long years; about the same length as the Soviet incursion of Afghanistan.. One incredible incident was Saddam Hussein using lethal gas to murder perhaps a million Kurds in the north. One other interesting bit from the 1981 time frame, was Israel’s air force striking and destroying a uranium refinery where Iraq was trying to manufacture fissionable material for an Atomic bomb. If this is starting to bore you as a history lesson, hang in there because when I’m finished, I’ll be at your doorstep.

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The United States has an indispensable interest in this region and as the old saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, the U.S. supported Afghanistan with a bushel of assistance. The Moslem fundamentalists declared the USSR invasion to be a “Jihad” and many Moslems, particularly rich Saudi Arabians (Osama Bin Laden), journeyed to join the romantic fight. Our Intelligence Community was equipping the Afghans with armament, missiles, technology and strategy, all of which Bin Laden was absorbing at the same time he was carving himself out safe houses, mountain enclaves and influence of the Moslem fundamentalists there and afar. Spreading his family fortune around did not lose any friends either. With the war over and the Soviet Union breaking apart, Bin Laden and friends had helped form a political group to rule Afghanistan, called the “Taliban”. Inside this circle was a terrorist group, called Al Quaeda. But I’m ahead of myself again.
You see, Ronald Reagan (a grade “B” movie star) was President from 1981 (he beat the twenty year elected in a year ending in zero curse of dying in office, dating back to 1840…call it the luck of the Irish, but ballots not bullets should bequeath our leadership, amen) to 1989, but George Bush as Vice President (“#41” as opposed to his son whom the intimates refer to as “#43”) was really the “Man” (as in the THE WIZARD OF OZ). This scenario repeats itself with Dick Cheney (“Vice as kegboy calls him) running the show. Since when has Vice ever presided over the Senate as prescribed? So #41, beats Dukakis in ’88 for a virtual third term and now with hostilities ceased in the region, something’s gotta give. We need boots on the ground (read a large military base of operations) in one or more of these, getting smarter everyday, oil rich nations (hey, they gotta do something with all those petro dollars). As it appears, Bush “41”gave Saddam an incidental wink to invade the small oil producing neighbor of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. There’s evidence to support this impropriety (read treasonous act) like let’s have a little live drill with our weapons and tactics, to see how well they function and we’ll just drive you out of Kuwait. Or, the wink is to shake up Saudi Arabia (oil rich and virtually defenseless) so we can have a strong hold there for staging the re-liberation of Kuwait and we’ll stay there as status quo. Or a simple answer is, Saddam just got too big for his britches and did not believe a consensus coalition with the United Nations could be put together, to repulse his forces. The price of a barrel of crude oil doubled over night in July of 1990 and we had in place “Desert Shield” at Saudi Arabia’s border with Kuwait and Iraq, pronto. Now pop quiz: who did this infidel’s occupation piss off more than anyone??? Osama Bin Laden, naturally. His ego (read power strive) was so off the chain, he was deported from Saudi Arabia. Awww gee maw! Desert Shield, with the proper patience and intelligence, allowed the Commanding General, Colin Powell in now Desert Storm, to kick butt in early 1991 and basically, the air contingency destroyed Saddam’s whole front line. The boots just served to clean up. Bush ”41” gave, at best, confusing signals to the Kurds up north that he would guarantee protection for them if they chose to rise up and fight for independence. He did declare their region a “no fly zone”, as he did in the southern Shiite region, but he didn’t keep his word and they suffered staggering, inhumane losses trying to break free from Saddam. In effect, we said we’d be there
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when their coinciding rebellion ignited. Instead, #41 let them rot and die. At that juncture, there was nothing of substance standing between us and Baghdad to oust Saddam and divide the separate entities and create a tentatively stabile sovereign region for each party. There was no Taliban or Al Quaeda then, formidable enough to create any insurgency or civil strife, like we see today. No matter what Bush “41” says his reason was not to pursue the dragon, (he actually wrote an apologist book on the lack of follow through) because he did not have,”an exit strategy”. I say BS. There were nefarious reasons he let Saddam stay in power. Osama Bin Laden grew legendary in stature, especially after his video declaration of Jihad against America in 1998, because there were infidels on holy soil (Saudi Arabia, home of the Rock/Dome) which came to initial fruition with the twin Embassy bombings on the same day/time in Africa and the suicide boat bombing of the USS Cole, at anchor off the coast of Sudan.
In 1994, the Republicans with Newt “NUT” Gingrich and his little pamphlet called Contract With America (should be Contract ”On”…it reminds me Of Mao tse Tung’s “Little Red Book”, which pamphlets were distributed to the two billion or so Chinese, to read each day and memorize, on why Communism in China was so correct etc….) led his Republican Party to majorities in both Chambers of Congress, the first time in memory. They had a Lobbyist/fundraiser by the name of Jack Abramoff with an office on “K” St. NW (“K” St. became a sort of lobbyists’ row, finding unique means to raise and channel millions of solicited funds for strategic Congressional races in return for lock step voting and a multitude of various political favors…mostly unethical and illegal) who began to grow money trees and with the help of Congressman Tom Delay of Texas (who by the way, is now looking at a criminal indictment from his own home district with heavy prison time looming; Abramoff is already convicted and in prison) who succeeded Gingrich as Chairman of the House. By the way, Tom Delay currently suffers the same indignities as Abramahoff did. The ciphering off of millions dollars to candidates of choice, in every important state race, fattened their war chests with more than enough grease to win each one. In those early heady days, these Congresses spent over thirty-five million dollars to investigate President Bill Clinton as he proceeded to balance the budget in his first term, changing billions in deficit spending to a surplus of $236 billion with efforts to try and get Congress (read Republicans) to put it in the Social Security coffers for the baby boomer generation to have back what they legitimately earned, for their golden years!. Not concerned with healthcare, education, jobs or affordable housing, the Republican held House, spent over 140 hours in Committee, investigating alleged misuse of then President Clinton’s Christmas card greeting list (among other issues, like his sex life!). When representative John Conyers, Dem. Michigan, and some fifty other members asked for hearings on a document from the British government called “ the Downing Street Memo”, which that stated Bush”43”had “fixed” the intelligence about the reasons to take out Iraq, they were flat out denied! There have been less actual hearings in this Congress since Harry Truman’s “do nothing Congress” of 1948. According to the Constitution,” the Congress shall from time to time, advise and consent to the
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Executive Branch”. Basically it is supposed to hold hearings (with full subpoena power and penalties for perjury or the subornation of such) and legislate laws and send such bill(s) to the President to sign into law or make recommendations on matters of state. Since 2,000, when Bush “43” stole the Presidential Election fair and square, the Congress has held very few hearings. When Clinton lied, nobody died, makes a great talking point and bumper sticker. In #43’s absurd abuse of power(s), Rep. Conyers has a Bill of Particulars calling for the Impeachment and Removal from office of George Bush. In his role as the President of our country for our constitutional democracy, I would take a bullet for #43. As a citizen, I whole heartedly support Representative Conyers’ Bill. The previous was scribed prior to the 2006 Congressional elections. There is so much to put into an effort such as this, to awaken the regular Jane or John DOE American. In 1984 (George Orwell was just a few years ahead of his timing), I wrote of the re-election of Ronald Wilson Reagan “the Hawk won’t fly and the Turkey will certainly flop and the mule will be left to wallow in the slop!”. Benjamin Franklin, co-author of our beautiful Democracy, lobbied for the Turkey to be our National Bird. In a way, I am glad the EAGLE won out, but in the same vein, I’d rather have AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL as our National Anthem. The Wednesday after Tuesday’s 2006 elections, Bush #43 fired Donald Rumsfeld, his Secretary Of Defense and co-author of the war in Iraq and main point man on the bogus Weapons of Mass Destruction reasoning for making the war with Iraq and turning out Saddaam. Until the Democratic pummeling, Bush #43 was adamant about keeping his key war cabinet members intact throughout the remainder of his final term! Now it is incumbent upon the Democrats to offer viable solutions to ending the strife and turmoil (read torture and mass murder) and stabilize Iraq. As you can imagine, this will take the wisdom of Solomon. You can’t always get what you want, but if you try real hard, you get what you need! When I was working the JFK Petition and related efforts at U.of M., I was interviewed by the Campus Newspaper, THE DIAMONDBACK. I was asked about our democracy and my JFK effort and I said, “It is a shame America depends on one person so often, for so much”. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, JFK, Martin L. King etc…”O sweet illusions of the brain.. O sudden thrills of fire and frost. The world is bright while ye remain and dark and dead when ye are lost (!)”.(The Hanging of the Crane, LONGFELLOW)
There is so much to include in this attempt to have real regular people read and understand how bad things are going for our dear country. Let me try by inserting the first paragraph of a book I started thirty years ago, to be named, THE DAY AMERICA WOKE UPAND DECIDED TO CALL IN SICK (or drunk, which ever you prefer!) “After all”, said Scarlett, ‘tomorrow is another day’”. Ah yes, TOMORROW….what else has been said about tomorrow? Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps on its petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time. And we are but poor players who strut and fret their hour upon the stage (actually Andy Warhol only allows us 15 minutes of fame in the future!) and then are heard from no more. Tis’ a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. Shakespeare penned that goody. Really though, what about tomorrow? Actually, these days, this is more of
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an if, when, how and where question. That is if you possess enough fore thought to consider the opportunity. And although the drive for survival wins top priority in all species known, as the basic need, it seems ludicrously absent in today’s modern society, especially in America where Peep Hole magazine tantalizes us at the check out counter with what TomKat, BritFed and Mad Donna are up to and what have they done lately like their derigueur African baby adoption duty a la’ Angelina Jolley (sp?, no casting aspersions here AJ because I believe her to be the real thing). The concept of our succeeding ourselves is as if it were some fore gone conclusion, undemanding of any consideration. It is as if Mother Nature (read GOD) has taken that one last voluntary leap for mankind (womankind also) and decreed on CNN, we are now safe and secure from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and planetary destruction. ( don’t believe the Mayan Calendar and the 12/21/12 prediction) No Miss Fortune for good ole God Blessed America and we can now take survival for granted. Thusly, we have copped out for various reasons to not worry. What a rude awakening lays in store for US, I will not venture to predict. I shall only concede the awakening to the event. Of course, it is obvious I have updated the euphemisms to be contemporarily significant. But they mean so much more now, than ever.
Actually, Bush #43’s stay the course policy on Iraq reminds me of the three legged chicken my son and I witnessed while crossing the state on the way to a NALC Seminar which I was a paid delegate (mailman) as to many of the functions and conventions. We got off the interstate for gas and I made a wrong turn and wound up down an ole Florida lane on farm land. As we were turning around, a three legged chicken ran in front of my truck and Buck (my youngun’) said, “Look Pops”. About then a farmer appeared with a shotgun and being like most country folk, not enthusiastic about intruders, was directing us to skedattle. Buck yells out to him, “Didn’t we just see a three legged chicken?”. “Yup”, he replied, “now get on”. My son, being persistent (family trait?) inquired further. The farmer says,“ I’ll tell you, then y’all git”. Seems he and Ma were partial to drumsticks and Jr. came along, thus the need to hack two chickens a night for supper and so he would complain about it. So Jr. says “Pop, why not breed them with three legs, one for each of us?”. The farmer said that was a great idea and proceeded to do so. Buck yells out as we’re leaving, “How do they taste?” The farmer frowns and says,“ I don’t know, I haven’t been able to catch one yet!”. So goes the Iraq dilemma.
Be it far from me to trivialize the blood and last full measure of our troops, in any hostile arena. My thoughts and prayers go out to them and theirs, as I breathe. Yet I don’t sense the same code of ethics in our Executive Branch. For instance, Iraq had a museum and archive of material from antiquity even Saddam Hussein would not plunder. Many historians and scholars tried to covey to Bush #43 the message that when our troops reached Baghdad, we should secure this location ASAP, to protect it against looting. Three days in to the attack, our forces reached the city, but they had no orders to heed this pleading. The first building to be secured was the MINISTRY OF OIL! Unbridled rioting saw ancient treasures taken, even as our troops looked on! I
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believe this to be as good an indicator of Executive #43’s priorities, as any yet. Saddam was as brutal a murdering dictator as they come, minus Weapons of Mass Destruction and had no truck with Osama Bin Laden, as he would never tolerate anyone in His country, to share power or glory with him…get real folks. At the time, it was extremely obvious he had no part of Al Qaeda’s terrorism with the US and no desire for Uncle Sam to kick his ass again! Bin Laden had ingratiated himself to the various tribes of Afghanistan which allowed the Taliban, an ultimate fundamentalist group to gain control, in post Soviet Union occupancy. The Taliban allowed Al Qaeda to build its blossoming world wide terrorist group by recruitment, development and training of eager zealot wannabees, for the growing JIHAD. A very important distinction between the two has been publicly ignored by the Executive Branch from either, less than truthful intelligence or ignoring truth to power. Osama’s money and his successful terrorists’ missions began to draw Moslems to him like a lightning rod. With 911, his stature became legendary but in his home of Saudi Arabia and Iraq and Iran, he became persona non grata, out of fear he might foment the same type of unrest and following he was to enjoy in Afghanistan. As of this writing, there is no monolithic Arab/Moslem plot to destroy America and her Allies. There is though, a common feeling among these mid-east and other OPEC countries which would relish all problems and tragedy that could befall our dear country.
From my point of view, I would question just how much Bin Laden and his ancient fundamentalist cronies really were involved as procreators of the 911 disasters, simple as they are made to be seen. His name and bio popped up on that tragic day, in all the news feeds, just as Lee Harvey Oswald’s did on 11/22/63, with an array of alleged connections, none justifying culpability of the act. It was more like disinformation being spread to support a predilected conclusion. The paternal Bin Laden was prolific in mating, with wives (17 plus) and children (50-60?) and had made his vast fortune on construction of virtually a massive amount of the Saudi infrastructure (highways ,buildings etc…) with Osama being in the back ground of the fold. Some of the Bin Laden family and financial group, were in America during 911 and even though all flights were grounded for about four days, special Executive Privilege was granted these potential witnesses and they were allowed to fly out of the country back to Saudi Arabia. After all, BUSH #41 had a sweetheart relationship with The House of Saud, the Rulers of Saudi Arabia, going back to the 1960’s or longer! The U.S., in its initial effort to gain footholds in Afghanistan, was to bribe tribal chieftains with $ millions for help (many opposed the Taliban and their main strategic tribal chief was gunned down on 9/10) and intelligence. It was with their selective help (remember, they had to be careful and hesitant on hedging their bets on the outcome) which enabled the U.S. to invade Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban and put Al-Qaeda on the run into the Tora Bora Mountains which border Pakistan (remember the Khyber Pass?). Again, the main announced priority was to fetch Osama Bin Laden and bring him to American justice by invading Afghanistan in mid to late October 2001. As late as November 12, 2001, Bin Laden was giving his last public speech at the Center for Islamic Studies in Jalalabad, some thirty miles from these mountains, with some of the same tribal
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chieftains in attendance! Two days later, U.S. forces had taken Kabul, the capitol and a major city, some 40 miles to its west, which coincidentally, is his last public appearance and was known to have left from the Center, in a caravan of 7 to10 vehicles, heading toward the southeast and the mountains of Tora Bora, where he was known to have built fortified cave dwellings (recall, his family was the construction company in Saudi Arabia) To this writer, I have trouble believing the best and the brightest of INTELLIGENCE, in the world, failed to identify his location at this point and take him (out?). There are certain principles of warfare with the most important being (1) know your enemies, (2) identify your friends (and enemies of your enemy) and (3) think it through before you plug and play. The appearance, in retrospect and I emphasize appearance, is the U.S. had insufficient intelligence, poorly chosen allies and used very dubious military tactics, particularly an insufficient amount of Special Forces to apprehend the villain(s). It must be understood, Central Command asked for more boots on the ground early on and retired patriotic Generals have spoke and written to confirm this necessity. I must add, General Patton’s 3 principles of warfare are “audacity, audacity and audacity”! I have used the Christian Science Monitor articles for some of this background, specifically the March 4, 2002 issue. It is a well respected periodical that generally gets its facts straight. Rumor had Osama holding up in one of the many caves his construction country carved out (a favored modified redoubt, so to speak) in the Tora Bora mountains and is at large, to this day, irregardless of Bush #43’s voicing of the old western saying, “WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE”! One would think a $50 million bounty would stir the greed for a corpus delecti, but noooo. Periodically, a new video or just audio, of Osama Bin Laden, shows up through the Arab Al-Jazeera network, invoking his urge for a collective worldwide Jihad against the “infidels”, code for western civilization as a whole and America specifically. One must understand our Intelligence Community is second to none in this world, therefore it should be being used as effectively as possible, as long as Bin Laden is at large. But with the main bad guy still an active influence, the War on Terror is alive and viable. This is one hell of an indictment of those Constitutionally pledged and responsible to “preserve and protect” our dear democratic country.
Five months into U.S. incursion in Afghanistan and no Bin Laden in March of 2002, an Operation named ANACONDA, was in full battle in the Tora Bora Mountains with Al Qaeda leaders and thousands of so called terrorists. Most escaped across the border to our supposed ally, Pakistan. We have captured several top Al Qaeda figures along with hundreds of “political” prisoners, bringing many to our Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, for interrogation. We have held thousands of others, in secret locations around the globe, in order to extract information. It is widely known we have used all sorts of torture on these Prisoners of War (detainees?). This is a WAR on terrorism, correct? Is it OK for the US to torture these detainees, but not alright for other countries (say Hanoi, North Vietnam) to torture our G.I.s upon capture? Double standard or paradox (?), hey, you tell me. I agree there has to be a different technique obtaining vital information pertaining to a verified threat of clear and present mass
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destruction, but not an en masse carte blanche abuse as desired. The Geneva Conventions of War do not apply to this Administration, or so says BUSH #43, his Vice President Cheney (nicknamed “vice”) and his (now ex) Defense Secretary Rumsfeld (Rummy). Each of these illegalities and questionable acts/events all deserve enough delving for a book, in and of itself. Suffice it to say, the November Elections swayed enough mainstream Americans in both red and blue states (despicable connotations), to give a Majority to Democrats in both Chambers of Congress. This happens just when I had about given up on our citizenry to the old parable of the door to door survey taker, asking just two questions. Do you think Americans of today, are politically uninformed and apathetic? The answer from 9 out of 10 being, “I don’t know! And I don’t care!” It is now the responsibility of the mule. What a symbol, huh?
So what does all of this malfeasance, greed, hypocrisy, ineptitude and treason yield to the American people? Well, we have a President whose distinguishing high point was at Yale U. being social chairman of his fraternity (keg boy!) and his pappy (BUSH #41) had to fly into town and talk him into joining the ultra secret SKULL AND BONE’S SOCIETY instead of another similarly secret society, for what it’s worth. We have a national tragedy that that stinks with so much left in question, it rivals (or surpasses) the JFK Warren Commission myth. We have a closet Vice President Cheney who never does his Constitutional job of presiding over the U. S. Senate, save when BUSH #43 addresses Congress for a State of the Union speech etc… But he does call all the shots for BUSH $43. We have a Republican Congress which was in session for only 103 days, Tuesday through Thursday, doing nothing but getting so many under indictment or convicted, I won’t waste space delineating specifics. We have a war we seemingly cannot win nor afford to lose and have managed to alienate most of the other countries on our dearly beloved planet into hating us as mongers. We have a porous southern border that allows ILLEGAL immigrants, drugs and terrorists to cross daily, infiltrating our society at the taxpayer’s expense and harm, initially procreated by greedy crop farmers for cheaper labor (Caesar Chavez, where are you now?) and all this Congress wants to do is build a wall? This joke’s on us. The mid-east is now more volatile than ever with a sham of a standup President of IRAN (Cleric controlled) speaking of destroying Israel and there never having been a holocaust. We have one out every three returning veterans exhibiting Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) and their suicide rate is twice the national average, women as well. Oh yeah, and this Republican Leadership has created such a false economy that it has middle class America up to their ears in financial obligation with over priced re-financed housing and unmanageable credit and superficially created, alluring INTERESTS RATES, with the majority of the of some 7-10 trillion dollar debt, held by China, RED China, that is. (Napoleon made a prophetic quote in 1803 about China being, “…a sleeping giant and when she awakes, the world will take notice!”) Oil, money and power have fueled this disaster and our citizenry care more about obtaining Play Station #3 or whom America’s next IDOL will be or whose side are you on, The Donald or Rosie “O’Donnell in their squalid public squabble, than what really matters; survival and
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success, guaranteeing a better and safer world to our children, than the one we inherited. Let us not forget KATRINA and “Brownie’s good job”….DEBACLE in our beloved “Big Easy, New Orleans.
In 1916 a man named Woodrow Wilson ran for President of the United States on a platform of no foreign entanglements. The Great War (WW1) was underway in Europe over some simple crap, as usual. It was between England, France and Russia against Germany and other antagonists. The U.S. had just become the world’s largest industrial and military power but an overwhelming majority of Americans wanted no truck with anyone else’s war. Wilson won handily and then by late 1917 had Congress agree on a vote of war with the slogan, “Remember the Lusitania!” Thousands of our “forever young” died fighting and for what? In 1919-1920, a pandemic flu was brought back by the survivors, ravaging our east coast, leaving between 500,000 to a million people dead (records not exactly being modern), for lack of a cure. Official Declaration of the war’s end was with the Treaty of Versailles, among the express items was one which read, Germany was not to be allowed to militarily re-arm. Of course there was a vacuum of power in Europe with Russia becoming a communist state and the rest of the community trying to reconstruct and repair from the devastation. But who was to enforce this stipulation. Wilson was a man before his time, as he tried to form a LEAGUE OF NATIONS which could have steered world peace to reality. He died prematurely, falling short of seeing such a great idea. A must reading is “WHEN THE CHEERING STOPPED”. In the same context, American capitalists were in a paranoid frenzy that the collective bargaining Union movement in America would ultimately result in radical governmental change, which in the next 20 years saw thousands of organizers and workers protesting the unjust and inequities, maimed and killed. They put their lives on the line for laws against child labor, equal pay for equal work for both sexes, a forty hour work week, adequate pay scales and benefits such as paid Holidays and Medical benefits! Real communistic, huh? Well, the powers that be thought so, (thank God For FDR and integral elections) and you might want to read a book called “The Secret Funding of Adolph Hitler” (it’s hard to find) because a secretive conglomerate conspired to fund German groups including the Nazi Party, in an effort to refortify Germany as a proxy to take Communism out of Russia, thus the world arena. In the ‘30’s, even Charles Lindbergh led a multitude of citizenry toward strong feelings for a rejuvenated Germany, as did JFK’s dad, “ole Joe”. FDR dispatched him to the Court of St. James to stifle his run for President. Hey! You can’t make up this kind of s…! The rest is, shall we say history or herstory or, or….
What most Americans can’t imagine is having their homes invaded by insurgents, guerillas or military, having their wives and daughters and sisters and young boys, raped in front of their eyes, then subjected to all sorts of torture and then killed slowly or beheaded, one by one, that is, after any needed information can be extracted. Or just because “ethnic cleansing” is in order; see the blood flow, the screams of pain heard, the indignities of slow but sure death by goons who relish this activity with no hope of help. Durfar, in Africa, is happening as I write and you shop for your dearly beloved
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Christmas presents etc…There was Bosnia and Laos and, and, and….but not here, not yet. How many millions have seen this as their last vision on planet Earth. As Jackson Brown sings, “don’t think it won’t happen, just because it hasn’t happened yet!” You people just don’t get it, with your Play Station war games with no real blood or in your face anguish. Oh, the rich can adopt a child, planet hopping, finger in the Dyke so to speak (read what you will) but no ass of theirs is on the line, nor yours, right now. Since our invasion in March 2003, we have lost near three thousand brave men and women in Iraq and twenty some thousand terribly wounded, all scarred for life. Yet most of the troops seem to differ on their opinion of this conflict vis-à-vis with Vietnam. They appear to believe, absent the insurgency (what a term for undermining freedom, with horrible bloodletting and by who?), that it is a realistic and possible attempt to attain the first real Democracy in the Moslem mid-east and that Iraq‘s diverse population would revere such. Mind you, on the whole, they are less educated/sophisticated than Iran, to the eastern border, whom the ruling fanatical clerics have much to fear from a Moslem democratic government. And then Syria, to the western border, has the same fears and they are allegedly part proxy to Iran in their support of the Hezbollah faction in Lebanon, which had the rocket conflict with Israel this past July as an effort to harm the Jewish state and demonstrate lack of government rule in Beruit. And most important the player, is Saudi Arabia which believes it dictates major U.S. policy in the region and does not at all, want to see a full blown bloodletting civil war in Iraq if we pull out, unilaterally.
In February of 2006, BUSH #43 created a panel of eight prestigious Americans, called the International Study Group (ISG), not to give him alternative possible positive strategy for his failed Iraqi mission, but to be perceived as becoming open to suggestions and taking some heat away from his cloistered little war group. Ex-Congressman, Lee Hamilton of Ohio and former Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor are several of the members. None of the eight speak Arabic, none had visited Iraq (save maybe a quick trip to Baghdad and its supposedly safe, “Green Zone” and none had any relatively close or knowledgeable affiliations with the region. In late November, they published a report suggesting success could be secured with our troops being disbursed in different areas, with more of a supporting role. And, they expressed a requisite need to hold multi-national dialogue with neighboring Syria and Iran in seeking their assistance to eliminate any connection or assistance with those responsible for the violence and insurgency. One ISG side note is of our Iraqi Embassy staff of about 1,000, of which only 33 speak Arabic with just six (6), fluent! A strategic element I find absurdidly absent, is the need to teach our boots on the ground there and those elements scheduled for rotation to Iraq, a rudimentary grasp of Arabic, Iraq’s main language. Communicating in the native tongue serves many purposes, most important, the commitment of respect! However, BUSH #43 has shelved the ISG report under advisement, by saying he will make a policy statement to the Nation, after the Holidays.

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If the U.S. forces were to just leave Iraq, besides immense slaughter on all sides, Iran stands to become, with its nuclear potential, the mini super power in the region and super powers have a behavior of acquisition and control! The poor rich Saudis would literally be between Iraq and a hard place (Kuwait is still very fresh in their minds) and as of now, the BUSH #41 relationship is souring, what with the ISG recommendations and a Democratic Congress…things may get real bizarre. I don’t believe we’ve had martial law and suspension of Habeas Corpus since our own Civil War. But, put all I’ve illustrated in perspective and its easy to see, without looking too far, not much is really sacred and there is a lot at stake with peace not so important, to those important. American history is fraught with myth and lie. For ultimate necessity, one might rely on Manifest Destiny and the big Hollywood facade covering our genocide of the Native American, Wounded Knee and Custer complete! I side step prophecy other than the paragraph on the karma deal, but things do go bump in the night. Pearl Harbor was necessary for us to will our way into WW11. Any problems with it, find out why our four aircraft carriers sailed eastward out of Pearl unscheduled and post haste, the Thursday before Sunday, December 7, 1941. Read “EAST WINDS, RAIN”. We needed those carriers to win Midway that next summer, to stem the Japanese Pacific aggression! “Remember the Maine” and our “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution” deserve revisiting. View the number of cover-up attempts the Army has tried to make stick with the friendly fire demise in Afghanistan of former All American and Pro Bowl Arizona Cardinals’ Free Safety, Ranger PAT TILLMAN! If any one deserved truth to power about his death, it was this patriotic volunteer on his second tour of duty in the region! Oh yeah, by the way, the opium crop from Afghanistan in the year 2,000 was 72 thousand metric tons. In 2005, it was over 400 thousand. Do the math folks! Connect the dots and reveal the acceptable losses and collateral damage.
I sure as heck don’t have the wisdom of Solomon and in many ways I’m relieved such a burden is absent from my character. But logic and common sense follow me doggedly. We changed the complexion of politics in the middle east, not just by the Iraqi invasion, but by giving Israel sovereignty in 1948. Israel displaced the Palestinians who had a homeland and had peacefully co-existed with the Hebrews for centuries. An immensely meaningful feature to be mentioned is that of three opposing religions, tolerating each other in one city; JERUSALEM. Moslem, Jews and Christians all hold sacred certain sites and icons in this city and this mutually understood respect has allowed no terrorist to destroy or defile any of them. I believe we could, with the right diplomat(s) and diplomacy, find a dignified resolution to the Iraqi conflict. I also believe Israel is the key. It could be as simple as influencing Israel and the Palestinians into re-creating an actual Palestinian State, with each guaranteeing the other’s security, thus Peace. This takes Syria and Iran out of the immediate “destroy Israel” picture. Commensurate with the aforementioned unimaginable, open talks with both Syria and Iran, using the carrot and the stick as incentive. This effort must have other countries to include Saudi Arabia, as participants. All the while, a measure of good faith toward peace, a cease fire of all aggressions, is a must.

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ONE NATION UNDER GOD, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. What a beautiful edict. What a terrible crest fall when one learns the truth about the BIG LIE. We have had numerous national tragedies and the official versions are so often white washed with disinformation and brutality to maintain the story. In times of such, there should be no conspiracies left to spout. No questions left unanswered truthfully and responsibly, and more important, none unasked! Because if there exist loose ends, then the full and complete accurate account is lacking. How can a government conducting business in such an irresponsible manner, ask its citizenry to have faith and trust in it? This is simple logic and the American people deserve the TRUTH and nothing less. Until we have a government of UNTOUCHABLES who will make the system work, we are less for it and things will change but not for the better. Don’t tell me Americans can’t take the truth and don’t confuse it with the Issue of real National Security. The truth shall set you free…and keep us free. We used to be thought of as the hope of the (free) world. These days, we are feared as the bully. The influence of compassion and kindness will always win out over rogue arrogance and bellicose belligerence. There is no option for planet earth other than PEACE. Trust me on this one.
PROPI VIGORE QUIDAM