The amount of resources needed to first save and then rebuild lives is going to run into the billions (some estimates are $14 billion), and require years of support. Germany and France have called for a moratorium on the debt owed by the impacted nations; however, Tony Blair refuses to convene the G8 to discuss it. Such a move would be a boon to nations who were already struggling with international debt payments, and now face massive resource expenditures to rebuild.

There is an immediate need for cash and support, and thus far around $500 million has been contributed. Much more is certainly needed. There must be an immediate and early mobilization, or thousands of those not killed by the tsunami will die due to lack of fresh water, food, and injuries. More will (and by now probably are) being impacted by the secondary fallout of lack of clean water and starvation. This makes the response of Bush and the US government all the more alarming.

The $35 million promise of aid stands starkly in contrast to what are apparently more important expenses - such as the inauguration of George W. Bush. The estimated costs of that now stand at about $40 million. These are fund raising and "influence purchasing" opportunities however, and tickets to the three biggest parties are running $2500 to $10,000 a piece, and I am sure that folks will be hit up to give more - to Bush and the RNC. The table at the end of this article gives some of the details of tsunami relief donations and costs of other activities.

I personally find it offensive that Bush has decided to set up his own "core group" of nations to assess and coordinate relief and rebuilding efforts. This has been labeled as the "coalition of compassion" by Lachlan Heywood from News.com.au (who beat me to the punch). Given that there is already such a "coalition" in place and with the experience to do the job - the UN - one has to wonder at why Bush once more wants to go his own way. Well, where there is disaster there is opportunity. In this case massive amounts of rebuilding contracts. As in Iraq with the US "coalition of the willing," being in charge means deciding who does (and does not) get contracts.

Bush and Co. could have looked at this disaster as an opportunity mend the global image of the US instead of as an opportunity to feather his corporate buddies nests. Actually, as a "good" Christian, he could have responded on a human level to the disaster. But the past four years have amply demonstrated that such an approach is not natural for Bush - or for his handlers. Apparently, following money and power is. Bush should be embarrassed that one corporation - Pfizer - donated as much as the US government. [Update12/31/04 10:19am pst: I think we can thank both public and international pressure for the announcement that the US is increasing its contribution to $350 million]

The official US response does not reflect the concern or generosity of the US public. Please remember that soon this disaster will fade from the headlines, but the need will not. Below is a short list of aid agencies needing your contributions. CNN is keeping an updated list.

Relief Organizations
American Council for Voluntary International Action
Action Against Hunger
ADRA International
American Jewish Joint Distribution Comm
Assoc. for India's Development
Care
Catholic Relief Services
Christian Childrens Fund
Church World Service
Direct Relief International
Doctors Without Borders
Food For the Hungry
International Aid
Faithful In America
Red Cross/Red Crescent
International Medical Corps
International Rescue Comm
International Relief Teams
MAP International
Mercy Corps
Network for Good
Oxfam
Project Concern Intl.
Save the Children
UNICEF
UN World Food Program
World Concern

Relief Donations as of December 30, 2004

We have known since the initial reports that seismologists and NOAH knew that there was likely a tsunami brewing from the 9.0 quake. We know that they warned US governmental agencies, and the Pacific tsunami groups. The US government and military were warned, as was the "Navy base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean".

It is reasonable to ask whether the governments of India, Thailand, Indonesia, and elsewhere got at least a phone call. It they did, then why didn't they act on it, and if they didn't why not? Yesterday, India issued a tsunami warning and started an evacuation. Obviously there is a process in place (at least in India) to notify areas under threat. My guess is that this is generally true, though some of the impacted areas are remote and likely do not have communication systems adequate to the task.

There is a report (and I can't confirm the validity of it) that meteorologists in Thailand knew about the tsunami, but didn't issue a warning for concerns about its impact on tourism.

Would a warning have decreased the number of dead and injured? In some places, the answer is obviously "yes." In others that were very close to the epicenter, the answer is probably "no."

I realize that in the wake of such a calamity many will be asking why, and wanting to place responsibility somewhere. From what we do know, there is blame to be placed. It was known that there was a tsunami. Some were warned, but we do not know whom. What we do know is that no warning went out to the people who were in the path of disaster.

This is what it looked like before the tsunami

And this after

from the Sydney Morning Herald

The Email

We were staying on a mile long stretch of white sand beach that has about 10 to 15 resorts, all with their own restaurants and bars. There are also about 4 different Thai Massage structures along the beach. Around 9 in the morning, the day after X-mas, a set of about 10 white water rollers headed to our beach. Not big at all, but stranger than any wave I had ever seen. Even the locals were in awe. After they retreated, the tide rose about 70-80 feet up the beach within a couple minutes. It rushed around people sun bathing, tables and chairs, platforms, the beached long tail boat (SS Yob Yalp) that we helped raise out of the ocean only a couple weeks before. The water rose so much that everything made of wood began floating to the sea.

We started pulling everything we could to higher ground. The locals tied the boat to a tree and still the water rose. Just when it reached the deck of the Sandy Beach Restaurant, about a hundred and twenty feet away from the normal tide line, it suddenly raced back towards the sea, further back than I have seen it in the 3 or 4 weeks I have been there. Within another few minutes the water rose back to the Sandy Beach. People were tripping out, some played in the water by the edge, others went swimming, I just watched. Suddenly it became very quiet. When I looked out to sea I saw the first wave coming in. I think everyone was in shock because we all just sat there watching as it began to grow as it closed in. Suddenly we were all running. I heard the crash behind me and looked back to see this wave rip through everything in its way. Stuff and things were just launched into the air and then swallowed up. I just made it out of range, but found myself standing in sea water about 10 bungalows back. When the water receded everybody walked back to the ocean, including myself. I looked in the restaurant and saw that all the tables and chairs were smashed against the back wall. Two of the massage places were completely gone. Some people were cut up pretty bad from all the crap in the water. The people that had been swimming were gone.

The ocean level rose, fell and rose again. The second wave came about 10 minutes later and was even bigger. Again people began to run. The second wave broke into the Sandy Beach, completely destroying it. The deck was twisted up into itself, the Long Tail Yob Yalp was thrown into a Bungalow where a German family had been staying. Luckily they were not inside. About six bungalows in our resort were thrown off their foundations, some completely collapsed. Everyone left for higher ground and spent the night where they could. The Thai people stayed extremely calm and light hearted, even those who had just lost everything. They all pulled together and brought food, water and blankets to the makeshift camps and for the most part charged no money. They are a truly kind people. When I returned to the beach the next day, a few of us walked along the entire beach. The damage was unreal. Every single restaurant was demolished and many bungalows were as well. Not one massage place remained. I saw a catamaran crumpled into what was left of the Ozone Bar and The Somewhere Else Restaurant, our favorite was completely gutted.

Some people died and others are missing. Hopefully many will be found. The locals remained in good spirits and began to immediately clean up. Many of us helped, and within two days, much has been
accomplished. It is starting to look nice again.

In retrospect, it was incredibly surreal that both of us were sitting there at the net café, enjoying the soothing sounds of the rolling waves. Western tourists could be seen browsing for traditional souvenirs. Others were flocking to the famous Calangute-Baga beach yards away for another round of sunshine. A tsunami had already claimed tens of thousands that morning, a large number of them in Chennai, situated right across on the Southeastern coast of India. No one we spoke to in Goa was aware of the incident yet. One of the net operators was confident that the patron saint of Goa, St Francis Xavier, whose mummified body I had peered at on Christmas day, would save Goa yet again.

There was one problem. There was no patron saint for Chennai, where I had pitched camp since early December and was returning to my host's apartment within 36 hours. Ashwin was worried and called up his relatives there. They were ok. We went back to our usual topics of how well we haggled with the traders, his biotech project and my occupation - best termed as "dreamer."

There was no further thought about the matter till we reached Ashwin's home in Bangalore. That night, only when we watched the Tamil language Sun TV did we realize the magnitude of the mayhem. The images were horrific. We were shown image after image of little bodies, housewives and men wailing hysterically, mass burials with bulldozers, and a resort in Thailand or Malaysia that was being enveloped by a giant wave in a manner that was morbidly aesthetic, if only it was Hollywood. Villages were flattened, little bodies dangled unclaimed. Debris and body were in a deathly embrace.

Aswin's mother was livid. "They shouldn't show such images on TV. They are just kolandegele (children)! Earlier that day, we were treated to a different sight - exotic saris of every silken hue at a store located in Bangalore's trendiest shopping enclave. I purchased four of them.

If there is another dimension to this tragedy, that was it. Silk saris, and people who never had, or will ever again have a chance to don one. Those tourists in Goa must have still been sunbathing, even after the news broke out.

The full reality -- if there is indeed such a thing -- sunk in at night. Emails were pouring in, particularly from fellow writer Rowan Wolf enquiring whether I was safe. My Chennai host, an American expat back in Texas for Christmas, forwarded the following alert issued by the American Consulate.

WARDEN MESSAGE ON TSUNAMI

FROM THE AMERICAN CONSULATE IN CHENNAI:

The east coast of southern India was hit by a tidal wave the morning of 26 December 2004 as a result of the major earthquake off the coast of Indonesia. Government of India is reporting several hundred deaths and injuries. At this time there are no reports of any U.S. citizens among the dead or injured.

The Consulate advises U.S. citizens in southern India to avoid coastal areas for the next few days. Authorities advise there may be aftershocks which could generate additional waves. Additionally, the full moon will cause higher than normal high tides which could contribute to additional flooding. U.S. citizens visiting or living in beach or other coastal regions should seek higher ground for the next few days.

The American Consulate General in Chennai expects to be open for business as normal on Monday, December 27. All U.S. citizens living in or visiting India are encouraged to register at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi or at one of the U.S. consulates in India. They may now also use the Department of States new Internet Based Registration System...

The quoting of "hundreds of deaths" clearly showed that the warning was issued immediately, no one knowing that close to 2,000 shoreline residents in southern Indian had died within minutes of the tidal surge.

I expected the Chennai apartment to be, at the very least, splintered with glass. It was only 400 meters from the sea.

When I reached there, after a sleepless night, I was surprised to find it in perfect order. The lawn below had a few scattered leaves, mildly redolent of an English autumn. Relieved, I collapsed into bed.

Later in the evening, I accosted two policemen at the beach. They were armed with the characteristic rattan sticks. I accosted one and asked a few questions in a strange blend of Tamil, English and Malayalam. He could make out my queries. He had nothing much to report.

By some miracle, Valmiki Nagar was spared. The debris on the beach was the usual type associated with a mild storm. They were pretty much amorphous, except for one Nike sandal I noticed. The elevated road right in front of the beach was packed with the usual joggers and elderly folk out for their evening brisk walk. Some would be undoubtedly discussing the Malthusian benefits of such tragedies. I have heard this too many times before among elderly Indians. For them, the huge population was a national problem.

There was only one death here; an unfortunate student who had to make a sudden jump over an embankment that turned out to be the weakest rampart along the shore. It was breached and his body was discovered 12 hours later. His motorbike, still there, indicated his final whereabouts after futile searches were conducted elsewhere. Further along that same stretch thousands had perished. My mind went back to the amorphous debris -- they were definitely strands of textile washed ashore. It will now be a rather eerie sight when I jog there again.

Valmiki Nagar is considered a posh locality, with a good share of expatriates. It's more known among Chennai residents for its 24-hour water supply -- sometimes from two sources -- than its beach. In the evening, the beach is animated by children playing football or cricket. Lovers huddle there by the biggest wall. With its ramparts and elevation, it was a natural choice of residence for the moneyed class; the architects had ensured adequate safety for contingencies like this. But what struck me most were the fishermen's huts nearby. They were unbelievably intact. I figured that the tidal energy repulsed here had to find an outlet elsewhere, intent only on wanton destruction. Much like how a stream of molten lava finds the least path of resistance.

Bodies are still being found along the coast and inland areas of Chennai. The government is doing its best to prevent outbreaks of typhoid, diarrhea, cholera and a multitude of others that form the second deadly wave in this seismic tragedy.

The Indian government to its credit is doing its best. There seems to be no hint of denial, something I had always associated with the style of the Mahathir era back home. The Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee was down. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deliberately stayed away to avoid diverting badly-needed manpower from devastated areas. Atypically for a politician, he had forfeited the political mileage. Or was that idea a shrewd necessity?

Indian waters are not known for tsunamis. Many fishermen never even heard of it in their native language. Here is an excerpt from the Chicago Tribune: "We have been here for generations," said Kandasamy, 32, in Koonimedu Kuppam. "We had no idea this could happen, not from our fathers, not from our grandfathers."

The same paper describes this scene:

Children playing cricket were swept away. Fishermen were lost. Women were crushed under houses. All day, new bodies washed onto beaches. Others were found under debris. Many of the dead were children.

Children were the most obvious victims. They were too small to outrun the surging tides and out of this pan-regional tragedy, they will constitute between one-third and half of the victims. Nearly 60,000 deaths have been registered, and the numbers keep rising each time one logs on to a news site, making this the greatest natural disaster in the last 100 years.

Here is another depiction from the Tribune:

Fishing nets were tangled in palm trees and colorful silk saris. Catamarans and fiberglass boats were thrown like children's toys into the middle of villages. A boat named after a Hindu god crashed into one fisherman's living room. The water ripped palm trees out of the ground and threw at least one horse to its death, hundreds of feet away. (Chicago Tribune, Dec 28).

And yes, so were people. Their bodies are still being found beneath muddied soil, wrecked homes, tattered huts and those mundane structures, perhaps a drain, perhaps a well. Among the vigil, there are vultures.

In an article headlined "How can religious people explain this?" Guardian's Martin Kettle wrote that Sunday's earthquake "inevitably poses that challenge afresh in dramatic terms....Voltaire" -- when referring to the Lisbon quake of 1755 -- "asked what kind of God could permit such a thing to occur." Certainly the giant waves generated by the quake made no attempt to differentiate between the religions of those whom it made its victims. Hindus were swept away in India, Muslims were carried off in Indonesia, Buddhists in Thailand."

The answer can be found in the embankments and cell phones of this upper middles class Chennai neighborhood. It lies with fallible human systems. Not one man, woman or child here conspired to let others die in their stead. They all worked hard and like everyone else wanted and got better homes and better social security. They didn't conspire to have embankments that probably saved their lives. They didn't conspire to elevate their ground a little higher. But others may have paid the price. You cannot blame those who had some cash for vacationing in Goa while poor fishermen were swept away by the thousands, at the other end.

I had long given up on human systems. They reek of victims, often corpses, intentional or not. No Voltaire, Rousseau or Robespierre, inspirational or quotable they may be, will stick their necks out for another, though they did play a role, sometimes indirectly, to sever the necks of many.

When I look out of my balcony, Chennai seems normal. People are driving to work and shoppers go about as usual. Their expressions, right down to the security guards, are back to normal. Here in Valmiki Nagar, children have begun to play again but not too close to the beach. Not now. Here you won't find the mass wailing and hysteria that has accompanied the destruction of entire families.

It is possible to live in one city and two worlds at the same time. Or "Multiple Universes" (Foucault)

The fate of those in the Andaman Islands is still unknown. "New Delhi has carried out little development in the islands, known for their pristine beaches, to leave indigenous tribespeople in peace. The lack of infrastructure left communities incommunicado after the waves struck." (AFP, Dec 28).

Without communications, and developed facilities, thousands more may have surely died. The next time Indian "intellectuals" fly over to the US -- first class --to lecture Americans on how rotten Uncle Sam, their own nation or their own mothers are, take a closer look at their motives, their homes, and whether they themselves live in a place and condition vulnerable to such things. Watch out for moral thunderings against a corrupt Indian government that had neglected its "poor citizens by not building 'tsunameters' earlier." Or blah, blah, blah! Surely tsunameters would benefit the Americans as well, with their strategically located Diego Garcia nearby.

Sometimes they want things built, after a tragedy strikes; sometimes they work overtime to stop it, after building has started. All the time, they crave for the attention. That's the intellectual anarchist's story.

A few would admit that its easy to do so when you write from a Chennai apartment that boasts, among other items inside, an antique 200-year-old French dining table.

Chennai, Dec 28 2004 4.20pm

Copyright@Mathew Maavak 2004
Founder, Panoptic World: Tracking Trends in Our Evolving Society

One of the best and most detailed graphic collections of the quake and the tsunami that I have found is linked off of the NY Times article A Third of the Dead Are Said to Be Children. The Graphic link is called "Asia's Deadly Waves" and the particular graphic in that set is the "Wave Reach."

There is finally some listings of how people can contribute to the relief effort: How to Help Disaster Victims also CNN

While there is an urge on the part of many to collect food, blankets, clothes, etc., most aid efforts need money. Collecting and transporting the quantity of materials needed would be slow and very expensive. Most of the appeals I have read and heard are asking that people contribute money. They then purchase supplies as close to the disaster areas as possible. This has the dual benefit of them getting what they need and of pumping money back into the damaged areas and economies.

My guess is that they will also be appealing for people with special skills in the near future if they have not done so already.

The scope and scale of this disaster is mind numbing and heart rending. The death toll goes up geometrically, and it is difficult to determine exactly how many are impacted. What is sure is that it will continue to climb, both as more people directly killed by the tsunami are found, and as secondary effects start to play out in the form of disease. It is estimated that one-third of the dead are children. That is likely to increase as they are also likely to get hit hard by the diseases on the way - dysentery, cholera, typhoid, etc.

There is another aspect of this disaster that should be considered, and that is as a harbinger of things to come. Global warming is already spawning disasters. Violent storms, drought, rising sea levels, are already impacting populations across the planet. These will increase, and are increasing. I was startled last night when a representative from the International Red Cross also brought up this issue. The scale and scope of the current disaster, and the struggle to deal with it, is a harbinger of what is to come. We are definitely not prepared either to be warned or meet the challenge, nor to respond to it.

But for right now we need to respond, and respond generously, to the current situation. We live in a very small world. All of us are connected in one way or another to this disaster. Please give what assistance you can in the relief and recovery effort, and encourage your governments to do the same.

CACI is one of the primary military contractors for the US, and the relationship is very close. As noted by Bill Fairl (COO for CACI): "We stay very close to this client. We stay so close we are on board ship with them."

Apparently CACI's involvement in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib had no effect whatsoever on their desirability rating. In fact, CACI was awarded a $15.7 million contract in November from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center. Business with the US military makes up 50% of CACI's business.

Looks like a case of "handsomely compensated for services received" to me.

12/27/04 Welsh, Wa. Post, Navy Re-Ups CACI's Support and Training Contract

5/03/04 Fitts, Scoop, Mapping The Real Deal. CACI WHO?

5/16/04 Wolf, UTJ, Operation "Copper Green" Denied by Pentagon

5/01/04 Wolf, UTJ, What happened at Abu Ghraib?

This applies to the U.S. military also. Take for example the case of Jennifer Dyer: A 1st LT in the N.J. National Guard who was raped at Camp Shelby, MS while undergoing pre-Iraq deployment training. One would think that this would singularly be one of the most, if not the most, horrific thing a woman could be subjected to; In Jennifer's case, the rape was only the start of her horror, and victimization.

After reporting the rape, her ordeal really began. I won't go into all the details in this writing but here is the link to where all the reports concerning her ordeal are located, this is "interesting" reading to say the least. http://oldamericancentury.org/jennifer.htm

For close to 5 months Jennifer has had to hire an attorney at a cost of $25,000 to try and get the Army - not the N.J. Nat'l Guard as she had been transferred into the 278th Regimental Combat Team at Camp Shelby - to do the right thing, which simply stated would have been to, investigate the rape and accused rapist, get medical help and treatment for the victim, in this case Jennifer, and transfer her off that base to another base, that is the understanding, right and compassionate thing to do.

But did any of that take place? No, it did not. What did take place was the Army coming at Jennifer as though she were the criminal, and not the victim. She was forced to hire an attorney, Fred Klepp, in an attempt to get the Army to understand exactly who the victim of this crime is. After over a month of getting no where with the military people at Camp Shelby, the Pentagon and the Department of Defense, it was decided the only chance Jennifer had at justice was to go public - drive her story into the internet media, and national "mainstream" media - embarrass the Army publicly to force them into doing what they should have done in the first place.

Within a week that the first article I wrote appeared on the internet, it was in over 90 national newspapers, with a major broadcast news program working up a segment on Jennifer's plight to be aired sometime in January. That got the Army's attention real fast.

The investigation of the rape and the rapist that was closed just days after Jennifer reported it was re-opened - this was only done after Jennifer's story gained national attention (not to mention the hundreds of people that started to bombard the DoD, Pentagon and those at Camp Shelby with phone calls on Jennifer's behalf).

Now, as a result of a $25,000 legal bill, and having her story and what happened to her splattered all over the nation, the Army finally has it right. The guy that raped her has already faced an Article 32 hearing on Dec 10th (like a grand jury hearing) and it is expected he will be bound over for a General Courts Martial on charges of rape, conduct unbecoming an officer and adultery (seems the rapist is a married man with children on top of it - do I feel sorry for his family, not him but them, as this must be devastating on them). The Army is now processing discharge papers for Jennifer under Honorable conditions.

If the resignation paperwork she had submitted many months before being sent to Camp Shelby had been processed, none of this would have ever taken place. The Army screws up and now many lives have been forever affected in a very pronounced and negative way. But then who would this guy that raped Jennifer have gone after?

It is an absolute fact that rape is running rampant in and by U.S. military personnel. There are hundreds of cases of rape unresolved as of this writing. Check out the links provided at the end of this article for additional information on this.

Rapes, murders and other assorted crimes committed by U.S. military people were in great part responsible for the U.S. being told to get out of the Philippines; South Korea is up in arms, and has been for a long time now, about the tremendous occurrences of rapes and murders by U.S. troops; Okinawa has been trying to get U.S. bases closed there as a direct result of the growing problem of rape and murders committed by U.S. troops. And the list goes on, and on, and on.

If this had happened anywhere but in the military, the victim, in this case Jennifer could have brought a lawsuit in court for the harm done. However, there is a thing called the Feres Doctrine, which has relegated people in uniform to 2nd class citizens, and taken away their Constitutional rights of redress - it disallows people in uniform, and veterans, from suing the government (military) for harm done. Read more about the Feres Doctrine here and then write VERPA (Veterans Equal Rights Protection Advocacy) and ask them what you can do to help change this; http://www.verpa.org

That Jennifer finally received fair treatment and justice from the Army is good and I am very happy for her. At the same time I am absolutely livid at what she had to go through and had to endure to receive "justice." And what about the rapidly growing numbers of women in the military going through exactly the same thing as did Jennifer? Where do they turn for help? Or do they just keep being ignored and swept under the military carpet? When will we as a nation, as a people stand up and join in the fight to help these women receive fair and just treatment - to be an active participant in helping to compel the military to address the systemic problem of rape in and by this nation's people in uniform.

This I know, never again will I stand silent about this, not after 5 months on the learning curve. I, like many others have known for a long time about rape in the military. But like so many others, did or said nothing, to my shame. Since my involvement with this story and getting to know Jennifer and her husband Edward (who is a N.J. police officer) I was forced to look at the reality of military rapes, as I hope you will, and what I have learned as a result mandates personal involvement to try and help to end this - never again will I be silent. As William Rivers Pitt said in the title of one of his books, "The Greatest Sedition is Silence."

Links to additional information but this is by no means all that is available:

Rape Nation

Rapes in Iraq on and by U.S. Personnel

The Status of Force Agreements and Okinawa

David Hackworth on rape in the military

Rapes at U.S. Military Bases against Women and Children

Rapes Reported by U.S. Servicewomen

Rapes Reported

Jack Dalton is a disabled Vietnam veteran and activist who lives in Portland, Oregon. He is co-editor of the Project for the Old American Century web site and may be contacted thru the POAC or by writing him direct at [email protected]

The prime example of corporate hegemony is Wal-Mart. It has changed the face of the US in many ways, and it is dramatically impacting China as well. Wal-Mart is utilizing the labor force and resources of China, while establishing their marketing "foot print." According to Wal-Mart-China's web page, Wal-Mart moved into China in 1996, and by 2004 they were first on China Business Competitiveness Index. Their China procurements have increased from $10 billion in 2001 to $15 billion in 2003. Their global sales as of January 1, 2004 were $256.3 billion. The following picture from Wal-Mart Around the World tells an interesting story ("Wal-Mart has expanded its business to 10 countries: U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Puerto Rico, U.K., South Korea, Canada and China").

So China is BIG business. It is also BIG competition. It is a major competitor with the US for coal and iron, and for oil. Between 1980 and 2003, China's oil consumption leaped from 88 million tons to 275.2 million tons. In the same period, US consumption increased from 794.1 to 914.3 million tons (GEO Hive).

This leap, places China into direct competition with the US for acquisition of oil supplies. As Gal Luft notes in his IAGS article U.S., China Are on Collision Course Over Oil:

Dependence on oil means dependence on the Middle East, home to 70% of the world's proven reserves. With 60% of its oil imports coming from the Middle East, China can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines of the tumultuous region. Its way of forming a footprint in the Middle East has been through providing technology and components for weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems to unsavory regimes in places such as Iran, Iraq and Syria. A report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a group created by Congress to monitor U.S.-China relations, warned in 2002 that "this arms trafficking to these regimes presents an increasing threat to U.S. security interests in the Middle East." The report concludes: "A key driver in China's relations with terrorist-sponsoring governments is its dependence on foreign oil to fuel its economic development. This dependency is expected to increase over the coming decade."

...

Superpowers find it difficult to coexist while competing over scarce resources. The main bone of contention probably will revolve around China's relations with Saudi Arabia, home to a quarter of the world's oil. The Chinese have already supplied the Saudis with intermediate-range ballistic missiles, and they played a major role 20 years ago in a Saudi-financed Pakistani nuclear effort that may one day leave a nuclear weapon in the hands of a Taliban-type regime in Riyadh or Islamabad.

...

The risk of Beijing's emerging as a competitor for influence in the Middle East and a Saudi shift of allegiance are things Washington should consider as it defines its objectives and priorities in the 21st century. Without a comprehensive strategy designed to prevent China from becoming an oil consumer on a par with the U.S., a superpower collision is in the cards. The good news is that we are still in a position to halt China's slide into total dependency.

The competition for oil between the US and China is global - not just regional. The recent news shows China's backing and negotiations for oil in the Sudan, Venezuela, Canada, and Russia to name a few places. China has also possibly uncovered more reserves within China, which gives them a leg up on the US whose oil reserves have been in decline since the 1970s.

So there you have the basis of a major conflict of interest. On one hand, there is massive money to be made from China's consumer market, and from its cheap labor market. This "development" of China has placed in economically in a one up position to the US as it holds massive amounts of US debt. On the other hand, you have China as a major resource competitor in an environment of evaporating resources. US policy has made clear that it will brook no competitors in the resource wars. So perhaps we should look twice when China and Russia get together for their first war games, or they start testing their own AWACS, or they increase spending on their military. The message is loud and clear that China will not back down in this particular competition.

Sources & Resources
12/20/04 Schafer, Newsweek, A Welcome to Wal-Mart

5/21/04 Goodman, Wa. Post, Booming China Devouring Raw Materials

Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), Fueling the dragon: China's race into the oil market

GEO Hive- Energy: oil consumption

2/02/04, Gal Luft, IAGS U.S., China Are on Collision Course Over Oil

12/23/04 Peter Goodman, Wa. Post, China Invests Heavily In Sudan's Oil Industry

12/24/04 Al Jazeera, China, Venezuela sign energy deal

12/24/04 Simon Romero, NYT, China Emerging as U.S. Rival for Canada's Oil

10/14/04 BBC, Oil dominates Russia-China talks

12/23/04 UPI, China finds new oil reserves.

12/13/04 Joe McDonald, AP, China, Russia Will Hold First War Games

11/13/04 Edward Cody, Wa. Post, China Now Test-Flying Homemade AWACS

3/6/04 BBC, China hikes spending on military

Resources
1/29/04 David Francis, CSM, Has global oil production peaked?

A very good resource for looking at some of the dynamics of petroleum (focused around transportation) is Transport Geography on the Web. Of particular interest is the chapter by Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue International Oil Transportation

The format is the Uncommon Thought article link, and then the recent news.
Death and Mayhem in Mosul
12/23/04 Oppel & Schmitt, NYT, Suicide Bombing Is Now Suspected in Mosul Attack
12/23/04 Howard, Guardian/UK, Pentagon says suicide bomber hit army base
12/23/04 Al Jazeera, US forces seal off Mosul

Russian Oil: The Plot Thickens
12/23/04 Finn, Wa. Post, Russian Oil Firm Buys Mysterious Bid Winner
12/23/04 BBC, Putin backs state grab for Yukos
12/23/04 Arvedlund & Romero, NYT, State Company Buys Winner in Yukos Deal

The (Not So) Hidden Corporate Welfare
12/23/04 AP, Governors Appeal to Bush on Medicaid (Plan to shift Medicaid costs to the states.

If you read the Washington Post article above, then neither the attack nor its "precision" should be a surprise. It is noted that half on the 101st had been redeployed elsewhere so security could have probably been stronger. The article leads one to believe that the attack required inside intelligence and a high level of sophistication. I heard this given air on Ed Schultz' program yesterday as well. While these claims may be true, neither "inside intelligence" nor "sophistication" would be necessary.

You have a mess tent the size of a football field. That doesn't seem like it would be hard to spot. Also the troops go to the mess tent on a regular schedule. That probably wouldn't be too hard to figure out either. According to the soldier on Schultz' show, someone would have to "pace off" the distance to fire an accurate round. That is certainly one way to do it, but there is both low tech and high tech ways to accomplish it. The low tech approach is something similar to the golf range finder above. The high tech is the US Army's "Micro-Laser Range Finder." There are thousands of products in between these two.

Why would the story of inside intelligence and sophistication be popular theories to air? Given the level of civilian casualties in Iraq, reinforcing the idea that you can't tell the "good" Iraqi's from the "bad" Iraqi's helps provide justification for attacks on civilians. Building the image of increasing sophistication and coordination of the "insurgency" saves the US face, while both explaining failures of the military (strategy and protection) and legitimating harsher "control" measures and attacks.

I want to make it clear that there is likely an element of truth in both claims by the military and the administration. Iraq is urban warfare with seemingly more Iraqi's stepping forward to expel the "intruders." It also makes sense that coordination of these groups would improve over time. My concern is how those logical realities get spun and used, and I have no doubt that they will be (are being) spun and used. I also have no doubt that a crackdown on Mosul and insurgents is in the offing.

What is clearly known is that more US troops are dead in this failed Bush administration plan. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the dead and injured. My heart goes out to the troops in Iraq who have had one more illusion of a safe place removed.

[UPDATE 12/23/04 NEW NEWS
12/23/04 Oppel & Schmitt, NYT, Suicide Bombing Is Now Suspected in Mosul Attack
12/23/04 Howard, Guardian/UK, Pentagon says suicide bomber hit army base
12/23/04 Al Jazeera, US forces seal off Mosul]

Sources
12/21/04 Richmond Times-Dispatch, Mosul Attack Kills 24, Wounds 64

12/22/04 AP, Toll of Blast in Iraq Include Seven Workers at Defense Contractor Halliburton

12/22/04 Ricks, Wa. Post, Precision of Base Attack Worries Military Experts

February 1999,John Nettleton, Dallas Barr, Brad Schilling, & Jonathan Lei US ARMY CECOM RDEC NVESD Fort Belvoir, VA; Samuel M. Goldwasser, Bala-Cynwyd, PA Micro-Laser Range Finder Development: Using the Monolithic Approach

Know the Distance Range Finder from D. W. Quail Golf

The question is no longer rhetorical. We are not yet living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted Congress to create whole new departments and agencies that purport to make us safer- always at the expense of our liberty. But security and liberty go hand-in-hand. Members of Congress, like too many Americans, don’t understand that a society with no constraints on its government cannot be secure. History proves that societies crumble when their governments become more powerful than the people and private institutions.

Unfortunately, the new intelligence bill passed by Congress two weeks ago moves us closer to an encroaching police state by imposing the precursor to a full-fledged national ID card. Within two years, every American will need a “conforming” ID to deal with any federal agency-- including TSA at the airport.

Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress don’t believe America is becoming a police state, which is reasonable enough. They associate the phrase with highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we ought to be concerned that we have laid the foundation for tyranny by making the public more docile, more accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting of arbitrary authority- all in the name of security. Our love for liberty above all has been so diminished that we tolerate intrusions into our privacy that would have been abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a manner that reflects poorly on our great national character of rugged individualism. American history, at least in part, is a history of people who don’t like being told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering the federal government and its agents to run our lives.

Terror, fear, and crises like 9-11 are used to achieve complacency and obedience, especially when citizens are deluded into believing they are still a free people. The loss of liberty, we are assured, will be minimal, short-lived, and necessary. Many citizens believe that once the war on terror is over, restrictions on their liberties will be reversed. But this war is undeclared and open-ended, with no precise enemy and no expressly stated final goal. Terrorism will never be eradicated completely; does this mean future presidents will assert extraordinary war powers indefinitely?

Washington DC provides a vivid illustration of what our future might look like. Visitors to Capitol Hill encounter police barricades, metal detectors, paramilitary officers carrying fully automatic rifles, police dogs, ID checks, and vehicle stops. The people are totally disarmed; only the police and criminals have guns. Surveillance cameras are everywhere, monitoring street activity, subway travel, parks, and federal buildings. There's not much evidence of an open society in Washington, DC, yet most folks do not complain-- anything goes if it's for government-provided safety and security.

After all, proponents argue, the government is doing all this to catch the bad guys. If you don’t have anything to hide, they ask, what are you so afraid of? The answer is that I’m afraid of losing the last vestiges of privacy that a free society should hold dear. I’m afraid of creating a society where the burden is on citizens to prove their innocence, rather than on government to prove wrongdoing. Most of all, I’m afraid of living in a society where a subservient populace surrenders its liberties to an all-powerful government.

It may be true that average Americans do not feel intimidated by the encroachment of the police state. Americans remain tolerant of what they see as mere nuisances because they have been deluded into believing total government supervision is necessary and helpful, and because they still enjoy a high level of material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however, as our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt, endless deficit spending at home and abroad, a declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest rates, and failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes toward omnipotent government may change, but the trend toward authoritarianism will be difficult to reverse.

Those who believe a police state can't happen here are poor students of history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. We must understand this if we hope to remain a free people.

As we look at reports, investigations, and new evidence, it is clear that every the military, CIA, FBI, and hired mercenaries of all three, engaged in torture of prisoners. That same evidence indicates clearly that authorization came from the highest levels of the administration - including Bush. Further, that Bush, through Gonzales, advised the CIA on the acceptability of torture techniques.

It is also important to counteract the myth that such abuse and torture stopped in the wake of the exposure of Abu Ghraib - it did not.

The question remains as to whether any of this will the smallest effect on the Bush administration or their policies. I just heard Bush on the news, essentially giving the old line of "these are bad guys and we have to deal with them." In other words, he is continuing to support and project "Anything Goes" in his war. Unbelievable.

Below is a list of recent articles and sources on this topic.

Records Released in Response to Torture FOIA Request

12/21/04 American Progress, Abusive Power

12/21/04 Lewis & Johnston, NYT, New F.B.I. Files Describe Abuse of Iraq Inmates

12/21/04 DemocracyNow, Attorney General Nominee Gonzalez Advised CIA on "Acceptable" Torture Techniques

12/21/04 Serrano, LA Times, FBI Agents Complained of Prisoner Abuse, Records Say

12/21/04 BBC, New jail abuse allegations hit US

12/20/04 ACLU, FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane Interrogation Techniques

12/17/04 Priest & Higham, Wa. Post, At Guantanamo, a Prison Within a Prison

12/15/04 Serrano, LA Times, Details of Marines Mistreating Prisoners in Iraq Are Revealed

12/14/04 Ricks, Wa. Post, Detainee Abuse by Marines Is Detailed

12/15/04 Dunham, CHB, More Prisoner Abuse Uncovered in Iraq

12/14/04 Jehl, NYT, C.I.A. Order on Detainees Shows Its Role Was Curbed

12/14/04 Reuters, Rights Group Puts Rumsfeld on Spot Over Afghan Deaths

12/14/04 BBC, US admits more Afghan jail deaths

The short story of the theft of Russia's wealth was, in part, the "privatization" of Russia's natural resources and the creation of oligarchs and elites who benefited heavily from the wealth transfer. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was one of those oligarchs.

Khodorkovsky is (was) considered the richest man in Russia, and at one point the 16th richest man in the world. Unfortunately for him, he got in a power struggle with Putin. He decided to fund the opposition party against Putin, and Putin had him arrested and thrown in jail for fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion charges. Putin then went after Yukos for back taxes. Ultimately this placed Yuganskneftegaz (a major petroleum holding of Yukos) up for auction by the state. In an effort to save at least part of its assets, Yukos filed for bankruptcy protection in the federal bankruptcy court in Houston (yes Texas). On December 16th, 2004, that court ruled in favor of Yukos.

A ruling late Thursday in a federal bankruptcy court in Houston, however, raised some questions about the participation in the auction of banks that were expected to finance the deal. A federal bankruptcy judge in Houston, Letitia Z. Clark, issued a temporary restraining order intended to block the participation of lenders and Gazprom. The banks, analysts said, have extensive operations in the United States and might be concerned about ignoring the restraining order, which could put them in contempt of court. (Kremlin Reasserts Hold on Russia's Oil and Gas

On Sunday 12/19/04, a newly formed and unknown company - Baikal Finance Group - won the auction for Yukos. The expected winner had been another newly formed group called "Gazprom," but that failed when Baikal came from the shadows. Surprise, surprise, no one knows anything about who Baikal is. (See the following articles for more information: Yukos auction raises political stakes, Gazprom to acquire Yuganskneftegaz buyer, Unknown Russian Company Buys Yukos Unit.)

This is all a fascinating set of events, and I have been struggling to put it in some sort of context. First, we have Putin who has busily been consolidating his power, and restricting democracy through such actions as appointing governors rather than electing them. He has also been flexing his muscle internationally with intervention in the Ukraine elections, and his budding relationship with China (China, Russia Will Hold First War Games). The examples above indicate a challenge (or warning) to US/Bush dreams of hegemony despite the purportedly friendly relationship between Putin and Bush.

However, there is a different kind of power play than simply political that seems to be woven into going after Khodorkovsky and seizing Yuganskneftegaz. Was the first stripping of Russian wealth so successful that it is being played out again with a twist?

In this scenario, Putin rises to power and wants to rearrange the power structure under him. Dissident oligarchs from the previous coup are unseated. Khodorkovsky, would certainly be an excellent object lesson for others. The "government" (actually Putin) gets access to Khodorkovsky's wealth. This would be a tidy sum to negotiate with. But to reorder oligarchs and move wealth again, Putin (and whoever else) needs more than Khodorkovsky. He/they decide to start the scheme all over again.

Yuganskneftegaz, which had been held by the state prior to the capitalization of Russia, is brought back into state control (purportedly seized for unpaid taxes of about $27 billion). The estimated value of Yuganskneftegaz is $18 billion. It is purchased by a Johnny-come-lately unknown company - Baikal Finances Group for $9.3 billion. A bargain, and one that comes far from either the back taxes or the value of the company. However, $9.3 billion is not chicken feed.

So the state gets $9.3 billion to play with, and whoever is behind Baikal gets a petroleum reserve that is guaranteed to go up in value as oil becomes scarcer and scarcer. If this scheme works, then seizing other resources that were privatized during the great heist could be repeated. This could become the new model for concentrating both power and wealth. Of course, the losers will be largely the same - the Russian people, the US taxpayer, and the small stockholders in these corporations.

[Aside: It will be interesting to see how the stay on the sale by the Houston bankruptcy court plays out since Russia went ahead and sold Yuganskneftegaz anyway.]

[UPDATE 12/23/04 - NEW NEWS
12/23/04 Finn, Wa. Post, Russian Oil Firm Buys Mysterious Bid Winner
12/23/04 BBC, Putin backs state grab for Yukos
12/23/04 Arvedlund & Romero, NYT, State Company Buys Winner in Yukos Deal]

Sources
Michael Ruppert, 2004, "Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil

12/20/04 Belton, Guardian/UK, Yukos auction raises political stakes

12/20/04 Gateway to Russia, Gazprom to acquire Yuganskneftegaz buyer

12/20/04 AP, Unknown Russian Company Buys Yukos Unit

12/20/04 MosNews.com, Ex-Yukos Boss Khodorkovsky Says Authorities Destroyed Russia's Most Effective Company

12/17/04 Arvedlund & Romero, NYT, Kremlin Reasserts Hold on Russia's Oil and Gas

12/15/04 AP, Yukos Files for Bankruptcy in U.S. Court

12/13/04 AP via FTW, China, Russia Will Hold First War Games

11/25/04 Tran, Guardian/UK, Yukos bosses flee Russia

WikiPedia, Mikhail Khodorkovsky

6/16/04 BBC, Profile: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

[Note: See this quote from 12/17/04 Arvedlund & Romero, NYT, Kremlin Reasserts Hold on Russia's Oil and Gas]:

Yukos was created under questionable circumstances from the remains of state oil assets in the early and mid-1990's. On its face, the Russian government is trying to sell Yukos's largest production subsidiary, Yuganskneftegaz, to pay back a tax claim of more than $27 billion. But the startlingly low opening bid of $8.65 billion, which the government set, was expected to tip the scales toward a state-friendly bidder like Gazprom.

Lt. Gen. ("God Put Bush In Office") Boykin in charge of planning for the DoD's expanded intelligence role

The details of the plan remain secret and are evolving, but indications of its scope and significance have begun to emerge in recent weeks. One part of the overall proposal is being drafted by a team led by Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, a deputy under secretary of defense.

Among the ideas cited by Defense Department officials is the idea of "fighting for intelligence," or commencing combat operations chiefly to obtain intelligence.

Webb 'Double Gunshot Wounds' Explanation Defies Belief

How on earth can somebody have two different gunshot wounds and their cause of death still be passed off as suicide?

Cuba Erects Iraq Abuse Billboards Near US Mission

Two billboards with photos of hooded and bloodied inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, a swastika and the word "fascists" in bold red letters were erected across the street from the U.S. diplomatic mission, where the display of Christmas lights includes the number 75, in reference to 75 pro-democracy activists imprisoned for lengthy terms last year.

Saddam calls for Iraqi unity

Saddam Hussein has urged the Iraqi people from his prison cell to be united and cautioned them to be wary of elections scheduled for 30 January.

I have gotten accustomed to the estimate of the pre-attack population of Fallujah being given as 300,000. This (until recently) has been the most reported population figure. Prior to the most recent invasion, it was broadly reported that approximately 300,000 lived in Fallujah, and the all but about 50,000 to 60,000 had left the city (for example: Escape from Fallujah: refugees flood nearby towns, The US Media and Fallujah). Given this commonly accepted figure of 300,000, I have been concerned about a growing shift in the reporting on the population which to 250,000 (Fallujans to Begin Returning Home).

What happened to those who stayed in Fallujah? Is it just coincidental that Fallujah had an estimated population of 300,000 and all but 50-60,000 left prior to the invasion, and that the new estimates so closely match the original estimates minus those who remained behind? Is the Fallujan death toll 50,000 people?

While this is a frightening transformation of numbers (reality being re-written before our eyes), it totally ignores that some estimates of the population were as high as 500,000 (Fallujah: A multilayered picture emerges). So we have 500,000 to 300,000 to 250,000.

This coincides with another shift - the reporting shift from Fallujah to Anbar Province.

Of course, also in the news blackout is the use of prohibited weapons during the most recent fighting - namely, napalm and poison gas.

The sense of unreality increases as the plans for letting folks back into Fallujah emerges. These plans are detailed in articles from the Washington Post, such as Fallujans to Begin Returning Home, and Asia Times' The failed US face of Fallujah.

Given the security measures for readmitting Fallujans to their homes, one has to wonder if a Fallujah is a testing ground for control and tracking of large populations with biometric identification techniques (Marine Corps deploys Fallujah biometric ID scheme). Is this similar to the plan within the new Intelligence Reform bill just signed by Bush which requires security baselines for driver's licenses? These baselines will create a national commonality of identification (including biometric data) for the licenses issued by all states (Drivers licenses changes).

What seems abundantly clear, even through the whitewash and silence of the US corporate press is that Fallujah is a massive disaster on the human front (Fallujah - Off the Front Pages but Hell Rages On.

Much has been written about the Orwellian nature of our times. I see that clearly with the "reporting" on Fallujah as history gets "massaged" to fit the current "story." I have to wonder how many people are even aware that this is happening. Has the media bombardment so numbed the brains of the population that inconsistencies and shifting reports go totally unnoticed? I fear that is indeed the case. Fallujah is not the only example of this revisionism, but it is a remarkable one.

Orwell in Fallujah: << The world's most lethal killing machine >> december 19, 2004

(Orwell a Falloudja : << La plus grande machine de mort du monde >>)

American soldier:Everything is destroyed chief. Dead everywhere. We can send the natives for the cleaning and the rebuilding

Iraqi worker: If that is their democracy, I prefer dictatorship.
On the sleeve: magnetic ID card

Yes folks, in a show of more "compassionate conservatism," the health program for the poor is on the Republican cut list. Bush promised to reduce the deficit while continuing tax cuts. His efforts are aimed at "entitlement" programs. We all know about his plans for Social Security. He is stuck for a while with Medicare (not to mention that the pharmaceuticals are set up like swine at an ever-full trough by the legislation). Now it is Medicaid:

"Republicans are real sincere about cutting the budget, and that makes Medicaid vulnerable," said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif., a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, where Medicaid legislation starts.

...

"The big entitlements, including Medicaid, are on the table," he said.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., also a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, agreed.

"Medicaid could be on the table next year, including cuts in program services," she said. "The president has already proposed turning the program into a block grant and eliminating the intergovernmental transfer program that is so vital for hospitals serving low-income individuals and families in California. I will oppose this."

If "entitlement programs" are on the chopping block then these programs are also at risk: Medicare, Veterans Administration Funding, Federal employee and military retirement,
Unemployment Compensation, Food Stamps, "Welfare", State Children's Health Insurance Program, School Lunch and Breakfast Programs Special Supplemental Nutrition Program (for Women, Infants, and Children - WIC), Agricultural supports, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Centers and Outside-of-School Programs, Family and Group Day Care Homes Workforce Investment Act, Head Start, Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Subsidized Housing (House Ways and Means Committee Green Book).

Since we have mandatory K-12 education in the US, that most likely counts as an entitlement program as well.

I'm sure that the arguments will be that the "war on terrorism" is very expensive. In fact, the total costs for Afghanistan and Iraq alone could go over $200 billion next year. The "economic stimulus" of tax cuts, and the "jobless recovery" add to the $7 trillion deficit problem. The difference has to come from somewhere doesn't it? And we certainly can't cut it from "critical" defense programs like the $10 billion a year failed missile defense shield.

[UPDATE: NEW NEWS
12/23/04 AP, Governors Appeal to Bush on Medicaid (Plan to shift Medicaid costs to the states.]

Nathan Gale was with the Second Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. While members of this division are, and have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, I have no idea whether Gale was one of those. Given the deployments, however, it seems there would be a high possibility that he had been in at least one of the two theaters. Was Nathan Gale a victim of combat related PTSD?

But why kill Darrell Abbott? While that is a question that will probably never be answered, there are some tantalizing questions to be asked.

According to a CBS (12/10/04) report Inside The Mind Of A Killer, Gale was a long time Pantera and heavy metal fan. According to an Associated Press report, when Gale was a semi-professional football played he psyched himself up for games by playing Pantera songs. He was also apparently convinced that Pantera had stolen songs that he had written. Abbott had been a member of Pantera before forming Damageplan.

But there is another troublesome issue that links back to military issues. For those of you who watched Fahrenheit 9/11, there was the scene of troops plugged into sound systems blasting heavy metal music as they went into combat. [There was a heated discussion on UTJ around this use of music - Reflections on Fahrenheit 9-11].

So here you have Nathan Gale who was apparently obsessed with Pantera from high school on. He uses blasting heavy metal music to amp himself up for football games. He joins the Marines who are also using the same music for the same purpose to amp folks up for combat. He possibly goes into combat, but we know he is discharged after serving two years in the Marines with a unit that is frequently deployed. He kicks around for a year and then leaps onto stage and kills Abbott. He is then killed himself.

Now I don't want to get into an argument here about music and violence, though it is clear that for Gale that seems to be true, and the military apparently thinks it has some sort of "beneficial" edge for troops. But the connections are alarming. They are more alarming in light of troops coming home from heavy combat who may have certain "triggers" or associations that trigger PTSD episodes. Are we ready for this? We had better be, because I doubt that Nathan Gale is the last veteran who will be suffering on hometown streets.

In The News
CBS Inside The Mind Of A Killer

Marine Corps Times Nightclub slayer had served in Marine Corps

AP Suspect in nightclub shooting liked talking music, played football

2nd Marine Division Homepage

MTV Dimebag Killer's Mom: 'I Bought Him That Gun'

In fact, the Army had pretty much closed its investigation of the entire matter until what had happened to Jennifer started to gain a lot of national attention. It was only after over 90 national newspapers, especially Mike Francis of the Oregonian who front-paged her plight did the Army reopen the investigation. I find it not only disheartening but outrageous as well that the Army must be publicly embarrassed before it will do what is right.

In the mean time Jennifer is still in a big legal battle with the Army about her resignation and the charges of AWOL that still hang over her head like the Sword of Damocles. The Department of Defense asked, thru Fred Klepp Jennifer’s attorney, that a new set of resignation papers be submitted along with the original request and everything that has transpired in between. This has been done but the Army, the Pentagon and the DoD is still dragging it’s feet.

It is good that the Army has finally started to do something in terms of Michael Hall now it needs to just simply allow Jennifer’s resignation papers to be approved. It’s not rocket science, just sign on the dotted line. They do not have to continue trying to discredit Jennifer, who after all is the victim

This brings up another interesting point: Jennifer did nothing wrong; she is the victim of a rape which the Officers at Camp Shelby tried to sweep under the carpet and who is now faced with over $15,000--$20,000 in legal fees. Legal fees she would not be facing if, she had not been raped, nor if the Army had done the right thing by Jennifer from the very start of this.

There is still on going legal action due to the Army and Jennifer could use our help in defraying at least some of these legal expenses. I fully understand that with Christmas right around the corner and with the economy not in good shape to say the least, that money is real tight for everyone. That said, I hope you may find your way clear to donate something, anything, to help her cover the ever increasing legal fees.

There are two ways you may donate to the legal fees fund for Jennifer; one is thru a special pay-pal account that has been set on the Project for the Old American Century http://oldamericancentury.org/jennifer.htm the other is to send a check direct to her attorney Fred Klepp. The link I provided has both methods of donating to the fund on it.

Below is a chronological synopsis of Jennifer’s entire story up to the Article 32 hearing. Beth Hill, who is also working to try and get justice for Jennifer, put it together and her help is so very much appreciated.

LT JENNIFER OLIVIA DYER, NJNG
STATS
DOB: 23 September 1978 (26)
SSN: XXX-XX-XXXX
DOE: 17 July 1996 MOS: 31F enlisted 25A (signal)
OCS: March 2000 Commissioned: 27 July 2001
(8 years combined service)

CONTACT: Husband, Edward Ottepka, police officer, NJ PH: 609. 335.3862
[email protected]

Attorney F. Klepp, Cherry Hill NJ 856. 663. 3344 FAX 663.9263 [email protected]

COMMAND DATA
1st US ARMY Commander LGEN Russel L. Honore SJA 1st Army HQ SJA, Fort Gillem, GA
COL John Kastenbauer
Deputy LT COL Scott F. Young PH: 404. 469. 3345 FAX: 404. 469.3344
SJA Camp Shelby
SJA COL Zimmerman/CPT Price PH: 601. 467. 1990
278th Regimental Command
Regimental Commander: Colonel Adams PH: 601. 558. 4196
XO LTCOL: Honeycutt PH: 601. 588. 2782
Company Commander: CPT Ray PH: 601. 558. 4501
Camp Shelby Medical Facility
Psychiatrist Colonel Sara Powell PH: 601. 467. 1107 601. 558. 2547
Medical Deployment Officer Major Sullivan PH 601. 297. 4229

EDUCATION & CIVILIAN EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT: Sheriff’s Deputy, Salem County Sheriff’s Office NJ
EDUCATION: Rowan University, NJ – BS Degree in Criminal Justice
Dean’s List x 3
President & PR Chair ADE Sorority
Glouchester County Police Academy – Ranked 3rd in Class

MILTIARY HISTORY
Prior enlisted; Boot Camp Fort Jackson, then onto Signal School at Fort Gordon for 5 months. Company A, 250th Signal Battalion.

Selected for OCS March 2000, Sea Girt, NJ; Commissioned July 2001; 6 months additional Signal School at Fort Gordon, 250th Signal Battalion, Platoon Leader. Active for schools and voluntary activation for Y2K, flood duty and 9/11; Also volunteered for duties with support office, such as support for NJNG widow. Successful career both enlisted and commissioned, without discipline or incident. 3 Army Achievement Medals; Army Service Ribbon; NJ Good Conduct Ribbon; NJ Merit Award with 5 devices; NJ State Service Award.

Due to demands of civilian police work, resigned her commission verbally August 2003; formally October 2003. Turned in gear but didn’t receive DD 214 paperwork; Notified March 2004 that she was required to return to duty for deployment; Requested Congressional inquiry through Congressman Frank LoBiondo; Promised by unit and Battalion Commander that resignation had been accepted, but was still placed on mobilization orders and mobilized with 250th Signal Co. on 18 June to CAMP SHELBY, MISSISSIPPI; Has never received a valid response from the NJNG, but accepted and performed her duties, with full intention of being deployed overseas. JAG reviews indicate that she had properly resigned her commission, but she didn’t expect resolution.

04 August her job title was changed and she was moved to 278th Regiment out of Tennessee, which included moving to a new office, barracks, etc…, where she did not know anyone.

HISTORY OF THE RAPE & ‘INVESTIGATION’
On 08 August 2004, four days after being transferred, she was introduced in passing to rapist 1st LT Michael Hall, who stated that he already knew which barracks room was hers. The Barracks are similar to a “cheap motel” setting, with all doors exiting to the outdoors; flimsy doorknob turn-style locks; outdoor bathrooms; poor lighting; and no security. It was not until after her rape that Dyer learned that Hall was assigned the barracks room directly next-door to hers.

On the night of 08 August, Dyer was walking the quarter mile to a club to meet with new coworkers, hoping to make friends and fit into her new unit. While walking she was approached and accepted a ride to the club from LT Hall, who dropped her off at the club, and the two went their separate ways. At the club Hall sat beside her, but Dyer paid no attention to him, as she was with her new coworkers, and he appeared to be with his own friends. She maintains they barely spoke during the evening.

Dyer states that she consumed approximately 3 beers and had barely sipped a mixed drink during 5 hours at the club. When she apparently became separated from her new coworkers, she decided to walk home. Upon exiting the club, she noticed the cover of a male coworker, CPT Frelix, and took the cover, intending to return it to him later. When she arrived back at barracks, she noticed all the lights were out in his barracks room, and was concerned that he had indeed still been at the club when she took his cover, so attempted to call him on her cell phone, while still outside, walking toward her room which was only 100 feet away. At this time, LT Hall arrived via car in the parking lot, and approached her, questioning her about her cell call. She found his questions rather odd, and the ensuing conversation very awkward. Though Hall did not seem intoxicated, he put his hands around her waist, telling her he found her attractive, etc… She told him not to touch her; that she is engaged and not interested in his advances; and pushed him away. She noticed his wedding ring and scolded him, reminding him of his wife, but he insisted his wife did not care. He asked her to come to his room, and was denied; he asked to go to her room, and was denied. She walked away, considering the groping and encounter over, and returned to her room. The barracks doors have automatic closure devices, and as she entered her room, did not hear the door automatically close; turning to look, she found Hall in her room, between her and the door. Hall pretended to dial his cell phone, telling her his wife would explain that she did not object to extramarital relations, but quickly put the phone away.

At this time Hall grabbed Dyer and pinned her arms at her sides, kissing her while she tried to push him away. Her cell was on her dresser and she was very afraid; she states her “mind went blank” and she “froze”, unable to yell. She was wearing a shirt and khakis, and he kept pulling her shirt up; she kept trying to push him away, and repeatedly told him “no” over and over again, believing she could handle the situation and he would leave. However, instead he pushed her onto the bed, and though she struggled, saying “no” and asking him to stop, he raped her. He did not use a condom, and she was crying throughout. At some point he stated, “I am tired of hearing ‘no’, so close your eyes and pretend I’m you’re fiancé”. Dyer is approximately 5’6” and 125 lbs; Hall is approx 6 feet tall and over 200 lbs. She states he stopped at one point, stating, “I feel like a rapist”, and she thought he was leaving, so just tried to remain still, while continuing to cry, hoping he would leave. However, he returned and raped her again. At some point her cell rang, distracting him, so she was able to struggle out from underneath him, telling him her fiancé was calling. She grabbed clothes from her floor and her cell, and tried to run from the room, but Hall blocked the door, trying to grab Dyer. She saw from the caller ID that it was CPT Frelix returning her call, but she was terrified Hall was about to become very violent, so told Frelix she would return his call. After a struggle, she was able to exit the room and ran to the bathrooms behind barracks. Trying to gather herself, she realized her cell was still in her room, and decided to try and get help. As she left the bathrooms, she heard someone yell, but didn’t see anyone, so attempted to get to CPT Felix’s room. However, she saw LT Hall coming toward her, and ducked into her own room, locking the door and barring it with her body. She heard Hall go enter his room, and made her way to CPT Frelix’s room.

CPT Frelix offered to call Camp Shelby police, but Dyer was still distraught and terrified, and initially stated she wasn’t sure what she wanted to, and that she was very afraid of being left alone. The CPT summoned a female SGT, SFC Chandra Collins, whom Dyer knew in passing, and went to LT Hall’s room, where he repeatedly banged on the door and yelled for him to come out. LT Hall refused to come out of his room, and in the interim LT Dyer agreed to let Frelix call the Shelby MPs. While they waited, the female SFC Collins told CPT Frelix and LT Dyer that LT Hall had harassed her since arriving at Camp Shelby, and she was concerned he would or was doing so to others as well.

It took approx 45 minutes to an hour for a Camp Shelby constable to arrive. He was later joined by a second police officer, and after taking a very brief statement, they arranged for EMTs to take Dyer by ambulance to the civilian hospital approximately 20 minutes away. Her rape kit was performed at Forrest General (civilian) Hospital around approximately 0300-0400. It took only approx 20 minutes for the nurse to perform the rape test kit, and throughout the procedure she repeatedly told Dyer she “didn’t have a clue” what to do with the rape test kit. However, Dyer believes the nurse performed a couple of swabs; combed for hair; did an internal with speculum; took blood samples, and scraped under her nails (Dyer believes she was able to scratch Hall) and swabbed her neck, where she remembered Hall kissing her. No antibiotics were offered; she does not believe they tested for STDs; and she declined a morning after pill because the staff could not tell her what side effects might be encountered. Dyer was using the birth control pill.

Following the brief rape test kit, she waited at the emergency room until approx 0600-0700, when she noticed a chaplain; a different female SGT; and others from the command had arrived at the hospital. Only the chaplain and SGT spoke with her, except a brief introduction to a female Camp Shelby psychiatrist, who gave her card to the civilian counselor at the hospital. The chaplain did little more than let Dyer know he was available to her, and left the female SGT with her. She waited another 1 ½ hours to be discharged, at which time the Chaplain and SGT took her out into public for coffee, unshowered and exhausted, wearing donated hospital clothes, because they did not want to return to base until a room was ready for Dyer.

Upon return to Camp Shelby, the Chaplain and SGT took Dyer to the room of a female Major who was TDY, and told her she was to remain there with a female SGT and a female CWO for the day. Her meals were brought to the room. When she asked to use a telephone, they refused and informed Dyer that she was “not allowed” to use a telephone. Dyer knew that her fiancé would become very worried if he did not hear from her, and urged the SGT to contact him. The SGT lied to her fiancé, telling him that Dyer was “away at training” and that she was “fine”.

Typical of most rape victims, Dyer was physically and emotionally exhausted, and slept most of the day while the female SGT and CWO remained with her. Late that evening, CID SA Eric Barreras arrived from Fort Rucker with another CID Special Agent. Both CID agents were male, and Barreras did all the talking. They refused to allow either of the females to remain with Dyer, who was forced to be alone with these two strange men for what became a 5 hour interview. The interview included a full verbal statement, followed by a full written statement. Barreras then asked her questions, many of which were deeply intimate, including questions about previous sexual relationships and her relationship with her fiancé. When the five hour interview concluded, she asked if she could call her fiancé, and was denied. She was ordered not to speak with anyone until the CID investigation concluded, and she was granted permission to speak.

LT Dyer asked SA Barreras if she could retrieve ID, money and personal items from her room, and was surprised to learn that Berraras had no idea where her room was located, and that it had not been sealed for investigation. When they entered the room together, she immediately saw that it had been tidied and ‘sanitized’. The clothes Hall had removed as he raped her were hung neatly in her closet; the belt that was in her pants when he raped her was removed from her pants and neatly coiled on top of her dresser. The ID and money that had been in her pants pocket when she was raped was also neatly placed upon her dresser. Her shoes had been moved and neatly placed. Most clearly her bed had been perfectly made, which she states is not a simple task, as she uses a very satiny poncho liner for a cover on her bed, which even a light breeze wrinkles – and yet her bed was perfectly made and the liner smooth and tight. LT Dyer brought each detail to Berrara’s attention, and even asked permission to touch her ID and money, expecting him to want to fingerprint items that had clearly been touched and moved. However, CID SA Berrara showed absolutely no interest in her observations; made no move to seal the room for investigation; and later initiated repeated accusations against Dyer, stating that there was “no sign of struggle” in the room she had told him had clearly been sanitized after the rape. She has never seen any indication that the room or anything in it was dusted for prints.

LT Dyer was then moved to the CWO’s room, and forced to remain for three days. The female SGT remained with her throughout these days, during which she slept almost continually. Meals were brought in, but she had been ordered not to call anyone and not to talk about the rape, and so Dyer remained entirely isolated from the outside world, and no one, not even her fiancé, knew about her rape.

On the third night, Wednesday 11 August, having finally secured her cell phone, but still under orders not to contact anyone, LT Dyer’s fiancé, NJ police officer Ed Ottepka, called her and stated that CID had contacted him, relaying the most intimate and graphic details of her CID statement, and questioning him at length. Dyer was deeply upset, as she had been isolated and afraid, very much needing to speak with her fiancé, and CID had not even given her the courtesy of telling him about her rape herself. Ottepka was very upset and worried about Dyer. The two were engaged just before her deployment in June, after 18 months of dating. Wanting some privacy as she spoke with him, and having been caged in someone else’s room for days, she walked outside the room while talking on the cell with her fiancé, and was immediately accosted by MPs who returned her to her room and ordered her not to leave her room again. At no time at Camp Shelby was counseling or medical follow-up mentioned, offered or provided.

On Thursday morning, having received an outside call and realizing the news of her rape had been delivered to others by CID, Dyer felt it was finally OK for her to review her telephone messages and return calls. She noticed CPT Frelix’s number on her caller ID, and felt she owed him a call to thank him for his assistance. However, when she called him he was very abrupt and sounded quite worried, telling her that CID had been questioning him about “their relationship”, and that he couldn’t speak to her. There was no “relationship” between Frelix and Dyer.

Later on Thursday the CID agent called her and ordered her to come to his office. She was driven to his office, and endured a grueling three hour persecution which began with Berraras reading her Miranda rights and forcing her to acknowledge those rights in writing. He then proceeded to tell her he was charging her with “filing a false report” and “false official statements”. She became both distraught and very angry. As a police officer, she was terrified that the Army was about to destroy her career, and she was also deeply hurt and angered by his attacks. She states that Berraras backed down a little bit, and told her that if she answered all his questions, he would consider not charging her – and so the vicious interrogation proceeded, lasting three hours. Berraras demanded to know why there was “no sign of struggle” (despite having ignored her observations about her room being sanitized); no bruises; no bleeding; no marks on her rapist. Dyer still does not know if a rape test kit was even performed on her rapist. This angered Dyer, who in turn demanded to know why repeatedly saying “no” wasn’t enough, and why she had to be bloody and brutally beaten for CID to consider it rape. Berraras then questioned her relationship with CPT Frelix, and made wild accusations and insinuations that she “wanted a relationship with Frelix”, and so she “needed him to feel sorry for her”. She was required to write an additional, lengthy written statement. He then insisted that she was afraid her fiancé would discover she’d been unfaithful to him in her sexual relationship with Hall, so she had to report rape. Berraras demanded that she take a polygraph, and she agreed, even asking questions about what would be involved in the process. It was then that SA Barreras informed her that LT Hall had refused to take a polygraph, and then asked her if she had been tested for STDs. When she stated she didn’t know what had transpired at the hospital, he informed her that LT Hall has herpes, and suggested she get tested immediately. She immediately wanted to go to the clinic, so he dismissed her. However, when she asked for a copy of her CID statement, he refused to provide her a copy, accusing her of wanting to “distribute it to others”. He ordered her to remain available to him and not go anywhere, and told her he would “be in touch”.

LT Dyer then walked to the clinic, alone and frantic, and saw the post psychiatrist she had been introduced to at the emergency room, and asked if she could immediately receive STD and pregnancy testing. Dyer was informed that the clinic would not test her for at least two weeks, and was scheduled for an appointment to see LTCOL Powell again on the earliest possible date, 23 August. LT Dyer could not understand the delay, knowing the Army does on-the-spot pregnancy testing during vaccinations and other procedures. The psychiatrist asked her how her counseling was going, and she replied that she had not yet received any counseling, so the psychiatrist did something right: she provided Dyer with the telephone number for the Hattiesburg civilian counseling center.

Edward Ottepka, LT Dyer’s fiancé, arrived on base that night, and took her to counseling the very next day, as well as to a civilian medical doctor, who arranged for pregnancy and STD testing. On Friday 13 August, the command granted LT Dyer a “minimum” of two weeks convalescent leave. The post psychiatrist recommended “at least two weeks” leave. The Chaplain further enforced that this was a “minimum leave” period, telling her that she should do “whatever it takes” to recover. The leave officially began Monday, 16 August, so her fiancé remained with her until they could fly home to New Jersey.

On Tuesday, 17 August, less than 12 hours after her arrival home, Major Sullivan from the medical command contacted Dyer, stating she had been assigned Dyer’s case, and demanding a report from civilian counselors. When Dyer stated that she had just got home, and had not yet seen the counselor, as they were not scheduling appointments until the following Monday, she was berated and reprimanded for the delay, and ordered to call Camp Shelby and report in every day during leave: Dyer complied, but no one at Camp Shelby enquired about her wellbeing.

On Monday 23 August, LT Dyer attended her first civilian counseling and medical appointments in NJ. STD tests by then were returned positive: she was informed she needed to immediately begin antibiotic treatments and follow-up cultures. The civilian Dr. arranged the appointments for further cultures and referred her for additional blood tests for a full range of STD and pregnancy testing. He counseled her that positive tests can sometimes be inconclusive; described symptoms; and encouraged follow-through appointments and testing, beginning 01 September.

LT Dyer was beginning to realize she did not feel at all safe in returning to Camp Shelby, and also realized that her follow-on medical and counseling appointments would extend past her leave expiration date of 30 August. Therefore, she immediately contacted Camp Shelby, requesting extension of her leave, explaining the medical and counseling appointments, and also stating that she did not feel emotionally ready to return. Everyone she spoke with at Camp Shelby denied her requests for extension of leave. Major Sullivan stated, “Two weeks is plenty of time to recover” and threatened her with arrest if she did not return. Psychiatrist Colonel Powell told her, “Two weeks of leave is generous”. CPT Ray stated he could not override medical personnel superiors, and therefore also denied the leave extension.

As the command had immediately demanded, she provided Camp Shelby with reports from her counselor, a psychologist, and her medical doctor who was treating her for the herpes contracted from her rapist. The counselor and psychologist insisted that she not return to Shelby and remain in New Jersey for counseling, and the MD confirmed her appointments and the importance of allowing her to follow through with him. Suddenly Camp Shelby would not even consider, let alone give any weight to the very reports they had demanded the moment she was placed on leave. Her pleadings with the command and cooperation in providing their demanded reports, etc… continued throughout that week, until 30 August, when she realized that Camp Shelby would not honor their promises of “whatever it takes” and a “minimum of two weeks’ leave”.

Without appropriate command support or assistance, or apparent recourse, she contacted her Senator and Congressman, and retained attorney Fred Klepp for assistance. On the evening of 30 August, she was reduced to begging CPT Ray for the extension, but he not only denied her request again, but threatened to have MPs “come to her house and arrest her and ruin her career”. Defeated, distraught and desperate, she checked flights on the internet, and again called CPT Ray, begging him not to take AWOL action against her if she got on the earliest flight to Camp Shelby. He simply reiterated his threats. Major Sullivan not only threatened arrest, but also threatened to have LT Dyer committed to a psychiatric ward at Fort Gordon, Georgia.

At this point LT Dyer became terrified of her own chain of command, and when Major Sullivan informed her fiancé and attorney that they “didn’t believe she had been raped”, her fear of returning to Camp Shelby was cemented. Her attorney, Mr. Fred Kleep, spent the autumn trying to get 1st Army to extend her leave, but was told that she had been placed on AWOL status and they had no intentions of extending her leave. He attempted to resolve her AWOL status by agreeing to have her drop her resignation and complete her deployment until December 2005. Klepp asked that she be allowed to perform duties in New Jersey, where she has support, medical assistance and a positive counseling relationship, and was denied repeatedly. Both Major Sullivan and COL Powell told Dyer on various occasions that LT Hall had no contact orders (never received by Dyer) and was not a threat to her because he had been transferred. LT Dyer knew that to be untrue because online unit personnel status reports demonstrate that LT Hall has never left, and has consistently remained on duty at Camp Shelby, since the rape.

CURRENT SITUATION
As LT Dyer has an attorney, I felt that the best course of action was to refer him to SAIG and did so on 26 October. 1st Army insisted that the rape investigation was “inconclusive” and that they would not extend Dyer’s leave; would not resolve her AWOL status; and would not transfer her from her unit, especially not to continue duty in NJ until the end of her deployment. Her resignation has been ignored and in limbo for over a year. The news that the bogus CID “investigation” had concluded that her rape was “inconclusive”, further cemented Dyer’s belief that the Army is attempting to cover up and ignore her rape. Fearing further retaliation and reprisal, she withdrew her request for transfer of duty, and requested that the NJNG accept the resignation of her commission which had been forwarded almost a year prior to the rape.

As late as 12 November, 1st Army still maintained that the rape investigation was complete but “inconclusive”; that they would not prefer charges against LT Hall; and would not honor LT Dyer’s requests. However, Attorney Fred Klepp was informed by civilian police that CID has never requested their report or the rape test kit results. Various information and/or statements are frequently released to the media by the Army without notification or release to Dyer or Klepp.

Very late on 12 November, 1st Army notified Klepp that an Article 32 for LT Hall has been scheduled at Camp Shelby at 0900 on Tuesday 16 November, for UCMJ violations of adultery, conduct unbecoming and rape. The Army notified the media of the pending Article 32 prior to notifying Klepp or Dyer, and while annotating Klepp’s notice “not for disclosure”. On Saturday 13 November, 1st Army notified Mr. Klepp that they will not resolve Dyer’s AWOL status; they refuse resignation of her commission; and are threatening to place her in deserter status and immediately have her arrested. Berraras again requested that Dyer take a polygraph just a few days ago, and she again agreed; Barreras later stated the request had been denied.

BOTTOM LINE
LT Dyer requests full and complete copies of all CID investigative materials and documents, as well as her medical and personnel files, including medical ‘C’ file as well as full access to LT Hall’s medical and ‘C’ files, as he has exposed her to at least one sexually transmitted disease.

LT Dyer requests immediate resignation of her commission from the NJNG, and that the Army revoke her AWOL status and abandon all threats of arrest for AWOL or desertion, or to have her involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward or hospital. Dyer no longer has any faith or trust in the Army, and therefore wishes to remain in the complete care of her civilian counselor, psychologist and medical professionals. Her request to have charges preferred against LT Hall has suddenly been honored, but she requests to participate in all judicial proceedings as a civilian, after her resignation had been tendered and status resolved. She requests immediate formation of a Sexual Assault Response Team assigned to this case with the following:

· A thorough and proper investigation conducted by a new CID investigative team, including investigation of the harassment of SFC Collins by LT Hall (fraternization)

· A seasoned, highly trained and experienced prosecution team

· A highly experienced advocate to accompany her to and throughout all legal proceedings (in addition to any assigned Victim Legal Liaison)

· Participation and involvement of her civilian counselor in support, preparation and training for all legal proceedings

· The attendance and participation of her civilian attorney in all legal proceedings

· Additional charges of fraternization, as well as UCMJ charges that are applicable to Hall knowingly exposing Dyer to disease during the commission of rape

· Removal of legal proceedings from Camp Shelby, where she was raped

· Reassignment of case to independent Convening Authority, SJA and prosecution

· Provision of copies of written no-contact orders for LT Hall

Jack Dalton is a disabled Vietnam veteran, independent writer and veteran activist that lives in Portland, Or. His articles and op/eds have been published by many web publications, Project for the Old American Century, the Smirking Chimp, Information Clearing House, Online Journal, Uncommon Thought Journal, Counter Bias, Op/Ed News, Al-jazeera.info, Crisis Papers, Axis-of-Logic to name just a few. His email address is [email protected]

What went wrong? Well what didn't?

- Votes disappeared

- Votes inexplicably swapped

- In some areas there were more votes than voters

- Exit polls were made to conform with votes "registered"

- Voting machines were not delivered to heavily Democratic precincts

- Voting machines and computers were tampered with before the vote

- Voting lines in some heavily Democratic Precincts were 4 -10 hours long, in Republican precincts folks voted in about 15 minutes

- Long term registered voters were not allowed to vote

- Vote tallies were left unsecured

- Voting records were thrown in the trash

The Texas Strike Force was calling Ohio voters who had recently been in prison and telling them they would be arrested if they showed up to vote.

The list is endless, but the excuses are rolling in.

- Delay in deciding to buy or rent voting machines

- Decision to reduce the number of polling places to reduce costs

- Under-trained election personnel giving inaccurate information and not allowing people to vote

- Under estimating turnout in some precincts

- Mechanical and technical problems

- Over enthusiastic Republicans?

I am sure that all those who believed that the US had no warning of the attacks of 9/11 because of massive failures and "lack of vision," will believe the excuses coming out of Ohio. One would think that living in a democratic society, and in a state that has gone through thousands of votes in its history, wouldn't have the problems that say the Ukraine had. But, incompetence seems to be an acceptable excuse these days. My but the bar has dropped.

GlobalSecurity.org has an excellent map series

Iraq Map links

Iraq Cities Map links

But there is even worse ahead for Fallujah and its residents who are supposed to be allowed to return on Christmas Eve.

Fallujah: The homecoming and the homeless (Independent, 12/11/04)

Yesterday, the first independent reports began to emerge from a flattened city which is facing an unprecedented, permanent security crackdown, and an uncertain future.

The assault by 10,000 US troops began on 8 November, just after the US presidential elections: its aim, to clear a city regarded by the Americans as a hotbed of insurgency.

More than 70 marines died, and 1,600 rebels. But no one knows the civilian casualty toll ­ this in a city which once numbered 300,000. Indeed, there are no estimates of how many people are still there, or how many escaped to neighbouring towns and to Baghdad before the assault got under way.

Ahmed Rawi, a Red Cross spokesman, said yesterday: "No one knows how many families are inside the city." The Red Cross team ­ which entered without escort and left before curfew ­ met no residents, apart from engineers and technicians. The Red Cross reported that hundreds of dead bodies remain stacked inside a potato chip warehouse on the outskirts. Some of the bodies were too badly decomposed to be identified. Raw sewage runs through the streets.

The homecoming will be no homecoming at all as the returnees

funnelled through five checkpoints. Each will have their fingerprints taken, along with DNA samples and retina scans. Residents will be issued with badges with their home addresses on them, and it will be an offence not to wear it at all times. No civilian vehicles will be allowed in the city in an effort to thwart suicide bombers. One idea floated by the US is for all males in Fallujah be compelled to join work battalions in which they will be paid to clear rubble and rebuild houses.

There are other reports of plans to ferry people into Fallujah on buses and to ban cars to eliminate car bombs. ( Fallujah as a 'Model City', Anti-War.com, 12/07/04)

This presents a frightening scenario in a purported push for a "democratic" Iraq. Supposedly, there were "foreign fighters" and "insurgents" in Fallujah and they were purportedly eliminated in the crushing of the city. However, descriptions from reporters, and the few humanitarian aid personnel who have gotten in, clearly describe a "kill zone" if it moves kill it). Nobody knows how many died (and continue to die) in Fallujah. When residents return, they will return to a fully functional police state.

While the depiction of a "few bad apple" led to the total destruction of Fallujah, now the entire population is to be treated as criminals. Work gangs? This doesn't sound like a voluntary effort, nor a paid one. Mandatory identification and DNA collection? On an entire population? What is being created in Fallujah? Will this be the model to be replicated across Iraq? Can anyone believe that this is going to create peace?

The reality is that the model being built in Fallujah sounds like the Israeli program for Palestinians on steroids. It is a model that has not brought either security or peace in Israel, and it is likely to not do it in Fallujah either (or Mosul, or Baghdad, or?).

If this is yet another attempt to win hearts and minds, then some strategist is nuts. It is a model of abusive power, not security or democracy. It is, in a way, typically American. If you exert control and it does not force conformity, then get tougher and tougher. Ultimately "they" will submit. Look at the US response to crime - even juvenile crime. "Get tough on crime." "Tough love." Mandatory sentences. Three strikes you're out. The death penalty. Blow that up to the "war on terrorism," and you get "enemy combatants, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and three more detainee deaths in an Afghanistan prison under US control. Blow it up a bit more and you get Fallujah and the mass, brutal control of an entire city. How many troops do you think it will take to control a city of 300,000 with these types of tactics?

Fallujah is off the front pages, thanks to a cooperative US corporate media that is willing to play the pretend game of the administration. However, that does not mean that all is well in that city of smoking rubble and unburied bodies. The nightmare is not over; a new one may just be beginning.

Maybe coming from the lower class has tainted me forever on the "values of the market" and investment in it. My totally non-technical definition of stock is that companies sell pieces if paper for a certain amount which then is worth what a variety of folks you don't know say that it is worth. The company can then use the money from the stock directly, as well as get more cash assets by getting loans. A bunch of middlemen can then extract more cash from investors and from companies issuing stocks. The stock market becomes a form of legalized gambling driven by the pitch of pundits and the emotional response of investors.

I believe that drawing in the money of middle income investors and otherwise stable retirement funds was (and is) yet another scheme to extract wealth from the masses. Getting the "little person" into the market serves an interesting purpose in the class mythology of the United States. One of the supporting mythologies of social class has been to get lower classes to operate against their own self interests by making people believe that they have a vested interest in helping those at the top. When that fails you have a fall back mythology that protecting the interests of those at the top is ultimately in our self-interest because one day we might be one of those at the top.

Let me pass along two interesting quotes from the 2000 Joint Economic Committee Study of the US Congress on The Roots of Broadened Stock Ownership.

Recent data released by the Federal Reserve shows that nearly half of all U.S. households are stockholders. In the last decade alone, the number of stockholders has jumped by over fifty percent. According to one observer, this explosion in stock ownership has been "one of the great social movements of the 1990s."1 The shift of many individuals from wage earners to worker capitalists has stimulated discussion on the implications of this economic shift.

A market analyst quoted in the report states: You can have no inflation and earnings up 25 percent, but if you don't have money [from investors] forget it...The liquidity has come from you and me and our neighbors, who have been putting money into mutual funds to the tune of $20 billion to $25 billion a month.2

So here you have a strategy for strengthening the perception of a vested self-interest by turning folks into "worker capitalists," for the purpose of pumping extra money into company coffers.

Almost everyone lauds the market as a wealth generator, and for some that may be true. However, there is no guarantee of gain from stock ownership for the masses, and many people's ability to intelligently participate is limited by several factors. First, they are not directly invested. If they are "in the market" through group retirement accounts, they may have little or no control over the investments of the account holder/manager. They may not even know that they are indirectly holding stock. Second, for most wage earners, their investment is so low that they 1) can't take actions to protect themselves such as diversifying their investments; 2) don't own enough stock to see significant increases in wealth; 3) do not have enough stock to benefit from instruments to protect what earnings they may make; 4) do not have enough stock to get preferential treatment or information to leverage greater earnings out of their stock.

Small investors were attracted (or "motivated") into the market by structured economic changes which had left them with few incentives to save, and a promise of return on investment beyond their wildest dreams. Workers were faced by stagnant (or declining) wages; steady inflation; decreasing or vanishing job opportunities (off-shoring, out-sourcing, downsizing), and a plummeting of interest rates on savings. In short there was less to save, and one might as well hide savings in the mattress as place it in a savings account.

A 2001 article (US stock market slide: a turning point in American and world politics) from the World Socialist Web Site argues:

It is hard to overstate the implications of this colossal financial liquidation for the American working class and middle class. Of the $4.6 trillion already vaporized--and trillions more which are at risk--much of it constitutes the life savings of tens of million of working people. Millions are discovering that their 401(k) plans, which have become a widespread substitute for guaranteed pensions, will no longer sustain them in a decent retirement. Three-quarters of the funds held by 401(k) plans, about $1.7 trillion, are invested in the stock market. Other people have lost savings set aside to buy a new home, finance their children's college education, or protect against the threat of a major illness.

An article from the 2/25/02 Business Week was aptly titled The Betrayed Investor. They note that the new "investor class" lost $5 trillion in the stock market from 2000 to 2002. And what did businesses do with the money pumped in by the "worker capitalist?" " The market's steep rise in the late '90s had a dramatic effect on business, too. Companies merged and acquired furiously." And we know how much we all benefited from that process. [Note: This article does a nice job of talking about the inner circle incentives for fraud in the investment-banking arena.]

The effect of this move to invest has further increased wealth transference. As noted in the WSWS article, household debt increased by 25% over the 1990s with 70% of the debt owed by the bottom 90%of households. Meanwhile, the top 10 percent of households controlled over 70% of the wealth. Why? because both the interest from debt and the gains from cash influx from "small" investors went into largely the same pockets - the top ten percent. More specifically, it went into the pockets of the top one percent.

According to David Cay Johnson in Perfectly Legal, the top .5 percent saw their incomes increase from $317,582 in 1970 to $777,450 in 2000 (p34). The 99.0 - 99.5 percentile saw their incomes increase from $202,792 to $$384,192. Over the same period, the bottom 90% saw their incomes fall from 2/3 of the whole to slightly more than 50%. He notes that for the top .01 percent (13,400 taxpayers) their average income of $3, 641,285 in 1970 increased to an average of $23, 969,767 in 2000 (p36). "For every $1 that each taxpayer in the bottom 90 percent of Americans saw in income growth between 1970 and 2000, each of those in the top one-hundredth of 1 percent ... earned $7,500. (p37)" It is important to note that income is only a fraction of wealth at the very top.

So now Bush wants to privatize Social Security. This would force even more worker's money into the pockets of large investors, the investment-banking crime ring, and corporate coffers. At the same time, the transfer would be funded by those same worker's tax dollars, and result in a long range elimination of Social Security. The loss of the Social Security fund would hurt more than those desiring to retire. I believe it would also have a dramatic negative effect on all those trillions of outstanding debt. While the fund exists, it is a largely untouchable asset. It is a solid pool of reserve - not to be spent per se, but as an asset to borrow against. With the national debt now standing at roughly $7 trillion (and climbing) that asset takes on critical significance.

With the privatization of Social Security, a major extraction of both personal and public wealth could be accomplished. As one employer held retirement fund after another is decimated, and people try to save for retirement through IRAs and 401k plans, the movement of money into the stock market increases. As we teeter on the edge of a global economic collapse, there are perhaps hopes that one more last draining of the economic pool is possible - force all retirement money into the stock market through the privatization of Social Security.

Do I think that the push to privatize Social Security is a Ponzi scheme? You bet I do, but then I also believe that monopolistic capitalism is a Ponzi scheme. The current plan is yet another in the long scheme to transfer what little wealth remains in the hands of the many to the hands of the few. Think about the history up to this point as the ads bombard us with what a "good idea" and "necessity" it is to give workers a "choice" about their retirement.

Sources
Recent Changes in U.S. Family Finances: Evidence from the 1998 and 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances, Federal Reserve.

Business Week, 2/25/02 The Betrayed Investor

WSWS 3/20/01 US stock market slide: a turning point in American and world politics

Joint Economic Committee Study - April 2000 The Roots of Broadened Stock Ownership

David Cay Johnston, 2003. Perfectly Legal.

Violent action may be necessary in defense of one's family or home, and that definition of home can easily be extended to community and beyond, but violence, no matter how warranted, always takes a heavy toll.

Violence taken to the extreme -- war -- exacts the most extreme costs. There may be a just war, but there is no such thing as a good war. And the burdens of an unjust war are insufferable.

I know something about the costs of an unjust war, for my son, Nick, an Army infantryman, is fighting one in Iraq. I don't speak for him. I couldn't even if I wanted to, for all I hear through the mom filter is "I'm fine, Mom, don't worry. I'm fine. Everything is fine, fine, fine. We're fine, just fine. '' But I can tell you what some of the costs are as I live and breathe them.

First, the minor stuff: my constant feelings of dread and despair, the sweeping rage that alternates with petrifying fear, the torrents of tears that accompany a maddening sense of helplessness and vulnerability.

My son is involved in a deadly situation that should never have been. I feel like a mother lion in a cage, my grown cub in danger, and all I can do is throw myself furiously against the bars, impotent to protect him. My tolerance for b.s. is zero, and I've snapped off more heads in the last several months than in all the rest of my 48 years combined.

For the first time in my life and with great amazement and sorrow, I feel what can only be described as hatred. It took me a long time to admit it, but there it is. I loathe the hubris, the callousness, and the lies of those in the Bush administration who led us into this war.

Truth be told, I even loathe the fallible and very human purveyors of those lies. I feel no satisfaction in this admission, only sadness and recognition. I hope that, given time, I can do better. I never wanted to hate anyone.

Xanax helps a bit. At least it holds the debilitating panic attacks somewhat at bay, so I can fake it through one more day. A friend in the same situation relies on a six-pack of beer every night. Another has drifted into a la-la land of denial. Nice.

Then there is the wedge that has been driven between part of my extended family and me. They don't see this war as one based on lies. They've become evangelical believers in a false faith, swallowing Bush's fearmongering, his chicken-hawk posturing and strutting. They cheer his "bring 'em on" attitude as a sign of strength and resoluteness.

Perhaps life is just easier that way. These are the same people who have known my son since he was a baby; who have held him, loved him and played with him; who have bought him birthday presents and taken him fishing. I don't know them anymore.

But enough of my whining. My son is alive and in one piece, unlike the 1, 215 dead and more than 8,000 severely wounded American soldiers, which equal 9, 215 blood-soaked uniforms. That doesn't even count the estimated 20,000 troops, not publicly reported by the Department of Defense, taken out of Iraq for "noncombat-related injuries."

Every death, every injury burns like a knife in my gut, for these are all America's sons and daughters. And I know I'm not immune to that knock on my door either.

Yes, my son is alive and, as far as I know, well. I wish I could say the same for some of his friends.

One young man who was involved in heavy fighting during the invasion is now so debilitated by post-traumatic stress disorder that he routinely has flashbacks in which he smells burning flesh. He can't close his eyes without seeing people's heads squashed like frogs in the middle of the road, or dead and dying women and children, burned, bleeding and dismembered.

Sometimes he hears the sounds of battle raging around him, and he has been hospitalized twice for suicidal tendencies. When he was home on leave, this 27- year-old man would crawl into his mother's room at night and sob in her lap for hours.

Instead of getting treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, he has just received a "less than honorable" discharge from the Army. The rest of his unit redeploys to Iraq in February.

Another friend of Nick's was horrifically wounded when his humvee stopped on a bomb. He didn't even have time to instinctively raise his arm and protect his face. Shrapnel ripped through his right eye, obliterating it to gooey shreds, and penetrated his brain. He has been in a coma since March.

His mother spends every day with him in the hospital. His wife is devastated, and their 1 1/2-year-old daughter doesn't know her daddy. But my son's friend is a fighter and so is making steady, incremental progress toward consciousness.

He has a long hard struggle ahead of him, one that he shouldn't have to face, and his family has had to fight every step of the way to get him the treatment he needs. So much for supporting the troops.

I visit him every week. It breaks my heart to see the burned faces, the missing limbs, the limps and the vacant stares one encounters in an acute-care military hospital.

In front of the hospital there is a cannon, and every afternoon they blast that sucker off. You should see all those poor guys hit the pavement.

Although many requests have been made to discontinue the practice for the sake of the returning wounded, the general in charge refuses. Boom.

When Nick left for Iraq, I granted myself permission to be stark raving mad for the length of his deployment. I've done a good job of it, without apology or excuse.

And I dare say there are at least 139,999 other moms who have done the same, although considering troop rotations needed to maintain that magical number of 140,000 in the sand could put the number of crazed military moms as high as 300,000, maybe more. You might want to be careful about cutting in line in front of a middle-aged woman.

I know there are military moms who view the war in Iraq through different ideological lenses than mine. Sometimes I envy them. How much easier it must be to believe one's son or daughter is fighting for a just and noble cause.

But no matter how hard I scrutinize the invasion and occupation of Iraq, all I see are lies, corruption, and greed fueled by a powerful addiction to oil. Real soldiers get blown to tatters in their Hummers so that well-heeled American suburbanites can play in theirs.

For my family and me, the costs of this war are real and not abstract. By day, I fight my demons of dreaded possibility, beat them back into the shadows, into the dark recesses of my mind. Every night they hiss and whisper a vile prognosis of gloom and desolation. I order the voices into silence, but too often they laugh at and mock my commands.

I wonder if George Bush ever hears these voices.

I wonder, too, just how much we are willing to pay for a gallon of gas.

Teri Wills Allison, a massage therapist and a member of Military Families Speak Out, lives near Austin, Texas, with her husband. She is the mother of two adult children, the older of whom is a soldier deployed to Iraq. A version of this piece ran on tomdispatch.com.

According to FastFacts Laws Linking SSS Registration to State Driver's License Applications

Background

Federal law (50 U.S.C. App. 451 et seq.) requires virtually all male U.S. citizens, as well as immigrant men residing in the U.S., to register with the Selective Service System (SSS) when reaching age 18. In an effort to ensure compliance among young men, many states have enacted legislation which links SSS registration with the process of applying for a driver's license or state identification card. As a result of such legislation, in May 2002, the state of Delaware, which enacted driver's license legislation in 2000, became the first state to reach nearly 100 percent registration compliance since the Agency began compiling this data. In that same year, seven other states increased their compliance rates by 3 percent or more after enacting similar driver's license legislation.

Maintaining a high compliance rate is of concern to officials because it means that any future draft instituted by Congress and the President in a national emergency would be fair and equitable. Also, men who fail to register with Selective Service are not eligible for certain programs and benefits that the Congress and 30 state legislatures have linked to registration. They include student loans and grants for college, most government jobs, and job training. Additionally, immigrant men residing in the U.S. who fail to register when they are at least 18 years old, but not yet 26 years old, may be denied U.S. citizenship by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Description of Typical State Driver's License Legislation

These laws are simple and inexpensive to implement. They instruct the state's Department of Public Safety or Motor Vehicles to include a consent statement on all applications or renewals for driver's permits, licenses, and identification cards. The statement tells the applicant that by submitting the application he is consenting to his registration with the SSS, if so required by Federal law. Females are not required to register with SSS under current law. Men 26 years of age or beyond are too old to register.

Transmission of applicant data to the SSS is accomplished electronically through an existing arrangement each state has with the data sharing system of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVAnet) at no extra cost to the state.

Status of State Driver's License Legislation

As of October 19, 2004, 33 states, 3 territories, and the District of Columbia have enacted driver's license laws supporting SSS registration. They are: (1) Enacted and Implemented - Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia; (2) Enacted But Not Yet Implemented - Guam, Maryland, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

This is insidious, in my opinion. Talk about "creeping" legislation, this one takes the cake. I am sure it is bureaucratically efficient, but this is ridiculous.

Resist
War Resisters League

Draft Resisters

The veracity of this position is explored in a blow-by-blow delineation of US policy and Iraqi response in Naomi Klein's article, "Baghdad Year Zero: Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a Neocon Utopia." If there was ever an opportunity for the United States to prove that a capitalistic Utopia could provide cultural, economic and humanitarian prosperity, Iraq was it. Operating on the principles of a laissez-faire market - "the role of good government, then, is to create the optimal conditions for corporations to pursue their bottomless greed" - with some vague assurance that this greed will be moderated by an "invisible hand" that cares for humanity and meets "the needs of society" (43, 44), US policy-makers entered Iraq envisioning a free-market haven. Compounded by the rapid-fire "shock-treatment" tactics that were designed to stun a population "so preoccupied with the daily pressures of survival" (44) that they would find no motivation to resist an eradication of state-sponsored employment or humanitarian assistance, no will to oppose the appropriation of their resources and markets, the United States cleaned house in preparation for their toga party. Klein notes the firing of 500,000 state workers, Iraq's borders "flung open," a series of corporate-massaging orders including a huge reduction in Iraq's corporate tax rate, the opportunity for foreign corporations to own Iraqi assets outright, no requirement to reinvest profits back into Iraq, and no taxes on these same profits. Certainly a happy meal for investing corporations, but undoubtedly moldy bread for the citizens of Iraq. Klein argues that this "extraordinarily violent ideology" (44) held nothing for the welfare of the Iraqi people. Even assuming that the market would thrive, there is no mystery who would be reaping the lion's share of the benefit (the US), and whose autonomy was being sacrificed (Iraq's).

A variety of assumptions appear to have been made to justify the rabid thrill by which Washington slammed Iraq with war, then rampant privatization and incompetent administration by a feeble interim government. But two assumptions in particular emerge as critical defects in the basic philosophy that powered the American thrust into Iraq. The first is that the people of Iraq would unilaterally welcome invasion and occupation. Setting common-sense incredulity temporarily aside, it is evident by ongoing violence, and the specificity of certain targets, that the Iraqis did not unilaterally welcome the US invasion and subsequent occupation. It could not have escaped Iraqis that this war was, as Edward Said states, "the most unpopular in modern history," heavily protested by the western world and unsanctioned by nearly each of our traditional allies and the United Nations (Said). And, as Slavoj Zizek astutely points out in his article "Today, Iraq. Tomorrow … Democracy?" "direct American occupation of a large and key Arab country" can only foster resentment and incite intense Arab resistance (Zizek). How arrogant is it to assume that the Iraqi's "really want the same as we do" (Zizek), that they inexplicably welcome what Pierre Bourdieu defines as "the imposition … of the neo-liberal tyranny of the market … within which the United States occupies a dominant position" (Bourdieu 9)? In order to effectively implement radical economic changes, it seems logical to assume that a major component of success would be the willingness of a constituency - in this case the citizens of Iraq - to solicit, participate in, and benefit by radical socio-economic changes.

The second assumption which seems to have been made is that the "'transition to a sustainable market-driven economic system'" (44) is merely a matter of providing the field of dreams and "they" will come, thereby furnishing a slam-dunk favorable transition and shared prosperity for the Iraqis. But this concept is problematic on several levels. Klein notes that "The Economist described Iraq ... as 'a capitalistic dream'" (45), and that Donald Rumsfeld lauded the "'sweeping reforms' as 'some of the most enlightened and inviting tax and investment laws in the free world'" (46), so there can be no argument that the policies initiated by the interim government did not provide a sufficiently corporate-friendly environment. Yet as the Iraqis waited for the corporate saviors to bring on the fabulous freedom of democracy, the material destruction of war lay virtually untouched, "half the population lack[ed] access to clean drinking water" (45), sewage flowed down the streets of Baghdad (53), unemployment was "as high as 67%," a national newspaper that exposed the components of "shock therapy" was shut down, garbage pick-up, blood drives and electrical power was attended to by the Mahdi Army (rather than the invisible hand of the market), and no Iraqi factories were employed to help with reconstruction (49). Setting the wheels in motion for the vehicle of capitalism while ignoring the immediate needs and psychology of the Iraqi people was a dire mistake. As the corporate-friendly government worked out ways of maneuvering around the illegality of many of their free-market orders, the Iraqi rebellion began to organize (47). Klein states that "if the reconstruction had provided jobs, security, and services to Iraqis, al Sadr ["insurgent" leader] would have been deprived of both his mission and many of his newfound followers" (51).

Further undermining the situation in Iraq, handing over government to capitalistic management fostered the very administrative ineptness that business historically accuses the State of exhibiting. The top two heads of the Coalition Provisional Authority had incestuous ties to the Bush administration and no "high-level diplomatic experience," boasting that their talents lay in "corporate turnaround" (46). Spanking new college graduates were given tasks like "launching Baghdad’s new stock exchange" and managing "'budgeting for the domestic security forces,'" key elements of rebuilding which were allocated to entirely unqualified and inexperienced Young Republicans (46). The lack of ultimate success of any of these appointees suggests that they did not serve the Iraqi constituency. And the level of participation of the Iraqis in their own democracy and rebuilding? Those chosen to participate in the interim government were generally poorly-qualified yes-men (47). A huge concrete protective blast wall was imported from abroad at ten times the cost it would have been to manufacture it in Iraq (49). The dubious legality of many of the corporate-friendly orders caused trade lawyers "to advise their corporate clients not to go into Iraq just yet" and insurance companies declined underwriting policies (47). Money earmarked by Congress to assist with Iraqi reconstruction has been allocated "to Western companies with most of the materials for the reconstruction imported at great expense from abroad" (49). So to date free-market capitalism has done little for the Iraqis but facilitate the looting of their state-owned factories, museums, and businesses, and provide them with a new billboard advertisement for honey (43). Where in the shock therapy, corporate-Utopia blueprint was the provision for medical services, employment of the Iraqi citizens, and plan for public education? Did the neocons really expect these necessary services to rise like a phoenix out of the ashes of the bottom-line portfolio of business? How well would our own democracy operate without the services (however meager) provided by the state?

This core assumption of good for the market, good for the people, is subject to Bourdieu's suggestion that "a whole set of presuppositions is being imposed as self-evident" (Bourdieu 30). Does clearing the way for a corporate Utopia suit a post-war country conditioned to vast state-sponsored industry? Bourdieu notes that recent moves to abandon state-sponsored social policies in favor of privatization has led to "an enormous amount of suffering of all kinds" (31), in France, Great Britain and the United States. In the United States we recognize a dismal current crisis of health care, where even the middle class can often not afford basic health coverage (32). Historically instituting privatization results in the eradication of trade unions, child labor, unpaid overtime, loss of medical benefits and a host of conditions that serves to increase the bottom line, "always [] part of the employers' dreams" (34). Adam Smith's "invisible mediating hand of the market," remains invisible because it historically never appears. Under the best of circumstances the concept of the free market as some sort of social savior is dubious, in the profound suffering of Iraq; it was nothing less than ludicrous.

The neocons never factored in the human component when constructing their Utopic vision in Iraq. Instead they assumed the "short-term pain" (44) the Iraqis would experience could be numbed by what? The loss of their jobs, the appropriation of their state-owned businesses, the opportunity for foreign fat-cat businessmen to make a killing at their expense? Karl Marx would argue that these conditions would create nothing but an armed uprising. Bourdieu points out that the neocon Achilles' heel assumes a willingness of the worker to participate in his/her own repression: "it is taken for granted that maximum growth, and therefore productivity and competitiveness, are the ultimate and sole goal of human actions, or that economic forces cannot be resisted" (Bourdieu 30,31). Again and again, we see that this assumption is simply untrue. That the economic resides separately from the social, that somehow the fuel of the human engine can be processed outside of the vehicle, has not been borne out in the past, and is not being borne out now in Iraq (Bourdieu 31). As Bourdieu indicates the "radical separation [] made between the economic and the social" just does not work (Bourdieu 31).

The top Associated Press news story today states that the United States is increasing troop levels to exceed that of the initial invading force (Burns Comcast website). Right below that story is one reporting the killing of an American soldier by "insurgents" (Lekic). Our shock therapy, corporate Utopia did not work. I'll close with a final thought eloquently stated by Naomi Klein, "It's quite an accomplishment: in trying to design the best place in the world to do business, the neocons have managed to create the worst, the most eloquent indictment yet of the guiding logic behind deregulated free markets" (52).

Works Cited

Bourdeiu, Pierre. Acts of Resistance: Against the Tyranny of the Market.

Burns, Robert. Associated Press on Comcast Homepage. “U.S. to Boost Iraq Forces to Highest Level.” Accessed 2 December 2004.

Klein, Naomi. Baghdad Year Zero: Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia.

Said, Edward. Who is in Charge?, Al-Ahram Weekly.

Zizek, Slavoj. Today, Iraq. Tomorrow ... Democracy? In These Times.

Finding out who is on the "no-fly" list and why, and the regulations that can be used to keep you from flying, are both secrets. It is difficult to imagine that there are laws that are secret. What possible purpose could that serve? Well, not "security" unless, the purpose is arbitrary control of the public. One has to ask, "What is the US coming to when the very law becomes too sensitive to be revealed?" Got me, but it is not democracy in any sense I can imagine.

Part (and we don't know how much) of the new intelligence reform legislation is also "secret." From the complaints of Senators Rockefeller (West Virginia), Durbin (of Illinois), Levin (Michigan) and Wyden (Oregon), we know there is some "secret spy program" that has them alarmed. What is it? We don't know except that it is in the legislation but not identified or described in said legislation, that the Senators, believe that it actually undermines national security. From pundits outside of Congress the bets are on some sort of armed satellite system.

This is probably a good guess, as it is pretty well known that the DoD is working on space-based weapons platforms, and other spendy programs (see for a collection of articles.) However all you have to do is examine the Fact File: A Compendium of DARPA Programs 2003 to get nightmares. This report is a synopsis of DARPA programs that have been released as OK for public consumption. You can wonder at the programs that are "secret."

First, remember that there are no non-defense projects on the list of roughly 200 programs that we do know about. They range from "advanced medical diagnostics and counter-measures", to "exoskeletons for human performance augmentation," to "organic air vehicle in the trees," to "robolife," to "undersea littoral warfare." So the new "secret program" buried in the intelligence bill could be anything, but why would it undermine national security? Because whatever it is, it is likely perceived as something that could start a new (and probably deadly) arms race.

It is important to realize that we live in a time of information and disinformation; a time when it is considered appropriate for the government to release disinformation to both national and international media sources. The most recent known example of this was utilizing CNN to announce that the invasion of Fallujah was going to start (but it didn't). CNN apologized when they discovered how they had been used.

One clue to what might be under development would be to see what we are being told the "terrorists" have (including so-called terrorist states). The list is getting quite exhaustive - nuclear missiles, suitcase bombs, dirty nukes; biological weapons distributed various ways (including dusting of crops in the field); and chemical weapons. Now we have terrorists with laser weapons. But then the US government already has "people zappers" - microwave as a weapon that literally burns people alive.

Concern about starting a new arms race is why Canada hesitates to participate in the missile defense shield. There are huge global concerns about the militarization of space - apparently everywhere but the US.

So we live in secret times, and I predict they will get more secret through the tenure of this administration. We will know less, and less; be the primary recipients of disinformation; have more "secret laws" against which there is no recourse. We have all heard that "ignorance of the law is no excuse." That is starting to take on a whole new meaning isn't it?

The campaign of secrecy points to what we already know - KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Thus the battle is joined between those who would hoard power and the "public's right to know." As Fox starts broadcasting over Clear Channel, that thought might give us pause. The interesting thing about secrets is that they require lies and deceptions to keep the secret a secret. Uncovering secrets often means following the trails of deceit. Thankfully, there are a lot of people and organizations that are attempting to do just that.

I haven't been jumping up and down over the need for a new agency or for centralization. Personally, I have not been convinced that it was a failure of "intelligence" (meaning CIA, FBI, etc.) that led to the events September 11, 2001. I do think there was a failure of "intelligence" in other regards, or actually the practice of "intelligence" to promote a plan, but that discussion is for another day.

With the creation of a National Intelligence Agency, Bush will have gotten to create two governmental monsters (so far) - The Homeland Security Administration and this one. It is very interesting that a party that purportedly supports "small" government, and decentralized authority (state's rights) is bent on making the biggest, most centralized bureaucracies we have seen (outside the Pentagon perhaps).

I view the upcoming agency, and the legislation driving it (of which we don't know the specifics) with a fair amount of trepidation. So far "security" efforts have resulted in massive erosions of Constitutional protections, increasing government power and secrecy, and two active wars. Who knows what the new agency will bring?

Of course, one has to wonder who the new intelligence "czar" will be. Rumors had it as Porter Goss, but he is doing such a fine job creating chaos at the CIA that they may just keep him there. Whoever is put forward, we can be sure that this will be anything but an apolitical appointment.

The $40 Billion budget is just an estimate. The reality is that no one - not even Congress which has oversight responsibility - can know what the budget actually is. Therein lies the heart of secret operations problems.

We have seen this for decades with the CIA and its clandestine activities around the world. It is well known that a significant portion of the funding basis for the CIA lies with their friends in "low places" - drugs and organized crime. Another portion lies in cover businesses that serve to launder money and provide more difficult to trace service provision. Yes this does sound like the Mafia doesn't it? Untraceable, underground economies laundered through "legitimate" businesses, and then the banking and finance industries.

So now we will have a newer, bigger, more secret organization. I can hardly wait to see where this one leads. I wonder, if like the CIA, the NIA will find other agencies such as HUD convenient places to stash their hidden budget? But never fear. I am sure this will take care of our "intelligence" problems. There won't be any intelligence to be had - at least not for the public.

The BBC, has an Interactive Special Report on the North Sea Crisis, with links to an array of articles on the topic. The interactive report shows that spawning cod have dropped from a high of about 275,000 tons in 1972 to about 50 tons in 2003 and 150,000 tons is considered the minimum sustainable spawning level (records orly go back to 1963). Whiting, has been below the sustainable level of roughly 300,000 tons since 1983. The closure of fishing grounds will effect about one-third of the Fisheries in the North and Irish Seas.

This is not an issue that faces Europe alone. The threat is real and disaster is imminent in virtually every ocean on the Earth. While pollution creates ever-expanding "dead zones" off the coasts, spill and massive dumping (including oil) at sea have dramatic effects. However, in the open seas, as in the North Sea, it is over-fishing that is truly eliminating both fisheries and the marine eco-system. To be more specific, it is industrial fishing that bears responsibility - though not accountability. Pictures are worth more than a thousand word so I have included the following charts.

	Charts are from   Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities by Ransom A. Myers & Boris Worm in Nature vol 143, 5/15/03

I looked at these charts and there was certainly an unmistakable trend across every major fishery on the planet.

However, industrial fishing is not just eliminating fish stocks, they are destroying ocean beds and capturing tons of non-target species. Where they pass, destruction is left in their wake.

But wait! There is a proposed "solution." Fish farming (also industry controlled). Yes, as in so many other areas of our lives, the goal seems to make the human population totally dependent on corporations for our very survival. I imagine we are supposed to be grateful for their ingenuity and forward thinking, but somehow I can't go there. Nor can I applaud their capitalistic and monopolistic forward thinking.

The move that the EU is taking seems very courageous to me. Somehow I just can't see the United States (as it currently stands) saying that it is going to limit or even control wide reaches of the coasts and oceans from fishing. My, think of the economic impacts - as if that were the only important thing to think about.

Here we have Musharraf - number one friend - making statements such as the Invasion of Iraq was a mistake that made the world less safe, or that he has no idea where Osama bin Laden is. This following on the heels of Bush's renewed support for the Pakistani President.

Musharraf initially took over position of president in a military coup. He was later "elected" though there have been questions about the validity of that election. Not surprisingly, a law was just passed in Pakistan that allows Musharraf to remain the top General of the Pakistani Army as well as President of Pakistan.

There are questions (outside the White House apparently) about Musharraf's commitment to hunting down al Qaeda given Pakistans long term support of both al Qaeda and the Taliban. But then Pakistan is not unique in that regard as the US also supported (supports?) both as well.

Can you imagine how Bush would respond to say the President of France making the kinds of comments that Musharraf has been making? Or even if Tony Blair was making such statements? Yet Musharraf can go around criticizing Bush's "war on terrorism" and the invasion of Iraq, with relative impunity. It would seem to me that Musharraf must have a tasty piece (or pieces) of information that grants him a fair amount of "liberty." Perhaps it ties back to the real relationship between the ISI and al Qaeda and the Taliban (in which the ISI was the middleman for the US). Or perhaps it ties to the links between the former head of the ISI; his meetings with highly placed officials in the White House, Congress, and Pentagon on the eve of September 11, 2001, and a suspicious $100,000 payment to Mohammed Atta. But then that is just speculation on my part. Maybe Bush just really likes Musharraf.

I have been reading Michael Ruppert's Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil. This is an exceptional book that deserves your time to read. I felt chills up my back as I read Chapter 6 - Laying the Foundation: Destroy Russia, Prepare the Battlefield which discusses the transition of Russia from communism to democracy and capitalism. It is a short chapter, but enlightening.

The process of looting the former Soviet Union at US taxpayer expense has some haunting correlations to what is happening in the US today. Let me share some of the information from Ruppert's book and then place that within the context of what appears to be happening today.

Two very important things happened immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991. The United States undertook a massive effort to help the FSU (Former Soviet Union), and in particular Russia, make a "successful transition" to capitalism, and the major oil companies stepped up their ongoing, oft-frustrated post-perestroika efforts to explore and establish joint ventures in the newly independent and oil-rich Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Oil companies frequently have a number of CIA covert operatives on their payrolls posing as geologists and oil experts.

Ruppert, drawing in part on the unpublished manuscript of Anne Williamson (Contagion: The Betrayal of Liberty, Russia, and the United States in the 1990s), details the mechanics of the looting of Russia and the Russian people. Funding from the US, "investors," and the IMF gave Yeltsin the resources to but a constituency including bank executives who were given the power to plunder the country. This elevated a new elite that ultimately became the new oligarchs of Russia.

Russia, which had little private property, was ripe for the massive transfer of selling off of land, resources, and industry into private hands (read corporate hands), and the transfer was supported by the US government, and the funds flowing out of Russia ran directly to Wall Street (and out of Russia). This effectively blocked the Russian people from any participation in the wealth and resources of their nation.

The West's experts found this communal holding established by the Soviet Constitution inconvenient. In the privatization program Harvard University and World Bank operatives devised and US taxpayers unknowingly financed, those constitutionally guaranteed communal ownership rights were transferred to the state, and only then parceled out to elected individuals in rigged elections. Second, the good guys from the West turned loose monopoly markets, which caused prices to skyrocket. What little money individual Russians possessed was quickly transferred into the hands of the corrupt oligarchs - the "mafia" with whom Boris Yeltsin had made his pact.

Once all the assets had been transferred to the oligarchs, who were becoming fabulously wealthy, it was a simple matter for them to liquidate those assets by selling them to the US and other Western countries, and then laundering their money through US financial institutions such as the Bank of New York. ... Billions of dollars accrued to Bank of New York executives and stockholders in 1999. ...

Compounding the pillage, a number of investment schemes sponsored by the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an d number of congressionally mandated "enterprise funds" were designed for individuals, Russian corporations, and banks. In essence, these initiatives wound up being huge money laundries. The domestic bond market's highly unjustified returns, paid with IMF loans, attracted eager investors, and soon developed into a classic pyramid scheme. As quickly as the IMF, the World Bank, and other financial entities lent the money to Russia to realize mind-boggling returns for favored players, the money was taken right back out of Russia. Those huge sums, initially provided by taxpayers, returned to Wall Street, US banks, and Harvard

The outcome of this maneuvering was the total collapse of the Russian economy. The impact on the Russian people was catastrophic: unemployment skyrocketed; prices skyrocketed; pensions, savings, and private bank accounts collapsed with the closure of the banks. With the collapse of the economy and the banking system, ordinary Russians ultimately saw a return on their savings of 25 cents on the dollar. People froze, starved and died. It is estimated that $500 BILLION in real money was looted from Russia.

So what do the events in Russia have to do with current and developing situation in the US?

Privatization anyone?
Since the Reagan administration the constant drumbeat in the US has been privatization. Private corporations taking over public functions. "Shrink" government. The overriding message has been "government bad, corporation good." This process has dramatically accelerated under the GW Bush reign with massive transfers of wealth from the public to the elite (tax law changes. Increasingly, it is happening with transfers of US resources (oil, water, gas, coal, etc.) into the hands of corporations. This transfer continues a process of stripping the wealth of the country through every President since Reagan (at least). Even the ability of the US to feed itself has been stripped - as it was in Russia. In the case of the US, family farmers have been effectively robbed in a move to corporate agriculture. Food production has shifted to export, and to sugar (lots of sugar), and silage for meat producers (poultry, swine, and beef).

We have seen the rise of "no-bid" contracts to high power corporate players. We have seen dramatic increases in corporate welfare - sometimes as outright gifts, and sometimes as underwriting corporate risk. And the drumbeat of privatization continues in all sectors - "corrections," school vouchers and funding of parochial schools, medical care, media, public lands. The list seems endless.

Now, under Bush, we have the record levels fall of the dollar; to speak of US debt as a record is an understatement of massive proportion. The economy appears to be on the verge of collapse. Both the resource and economic wealth of the nation ... looted.

The warnings are becoming increasingly clear (as is the similarity to the example of Russia):

* Foreign Interest Appears to Flag as Dollar Falls (Andrews, 11/27/04, NY Times)

* A Field Guide to the Falling Dollar (Altman, 12/05/04, NY Times)

* The Amazing Shrinking Dollar, (Kuttner, 12/02/04, TAP)

* Debtor Nation, (Reich, 11/24/04, TAP)

* Economic "Armageddon" Predicted (Arends, 11/23/04, On State Street)

But two pieces of information should have all of us particularly worried. First was the warning by the IMF on the falling dollar. In mid-November 2004, the IMF warned the US to take action to reverse the trend of falling currency value and increasing debt. Rodrigo Rato of the IMF said that the situation was not "traumatic" yet, but action needed to be taken to avoid disaster. The US (Bush/Republican) response was to increase the debt limit to $8.2 trillion without any controls on spending or increases in revenue generation. The consequences of that has been the daily news of the ongoing decline of the dollar. The dollar has now lost almost 60 cents against the Euro in the last year - and every day the drop continues.

The other piece of alarming news was the Dollar's Fall Tests Nerve of Asia's Central Bankers (Brooke and Bradsher, 12/04/04, NY Times). Japan and China are footing the major portion of the US debt. As the dollar drops, the products from Japan and (particularly) China increase. The falling dollar also decreases the real value of the US worker's paycheck while increasing the cost of living. Therefore, the ability to purchase those products also declines. China, Japan, and everyone else buying up US bonds to fund the debt, are reaching a point of decision. If the cost of their goods and the economic return through commerce costs more through the support of the US debt, they will stop funding that debt. Further, they could start liquidating their bonds which would more than bankrupt the already bankrupt US treasury. In the event of this rather horrifying (but increasingly possible) scenario, we could definitely see dramatic increases in unemployment, and failure of banks.

It is very important to realize that none of this is accidental or circumstantial. It is "profit taking" at a grand scale, and unwitting US taxpayers who funded the looting in Russia are the same unwitting taxpayers who are funding the looting of the US.

I think you can only have anti-Americanism if you first have Americanism, which is certainly not the same thing as simple love of country. Americanism is a cult centered on a belief in national exceptionalism. In modern times, there has been no better representative of the cult than George Bush, its current Imperial Wizard. Everywhere he goes, he projects the self-satisfied image of an America happy to dump its untreated effluent into the world's supply of drinking water so long as Americans themselves feel they are doing the right thing.

If you want to understand why George Bush is responsible for any increase in the world's stock of anti-Americanism, here is a brief summary of his recent visit to Canada. If you can believe it, the visit was intended to heal the rift over Canada's not signing on for the needless killing of 100,000 Iraqi civilians. (For the latest revelation of American behavior in Iraq you might want to see: http://ancapistan.typepad.com/photos/navy_seals_torturing_iraq/navyseal8.html )

Bush went to Canada's capital, Ottawa, where his advisors were so fearful he might face catcalls by a few Members that he did not address Parliament, having been formally invited to do so. Maybe it was just that the electronic communications gizmo he wore on his back during the Presidential debates was out of order, but I think it more likely he was displaying the behavior of all bullies who have no tolerance for anyone who questions their posturing.

Security was so tight during the visit that some Members of Parliament were refused entry into the building for lack of a special one-time security pass, an act which actually is against the laws of Canada. Americans never hear of the grotesque measures taken when Bush travels abroad. After Bush's stay at Buckingham Palace in London, the Queen was horrified by the damage done to the Palace grounds. They were left looking like the parking lot at a Walmart two-for-one sale.

In Ottawa, thousands of demonstrators outside were kept away from Bush's sight, a practice followed wherever the Imperial Wizard travels.

Instead of addressing Parliament, Bush's staff suddenly decided to bundle him off to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Did we hear that right, Halifax, Nova Scotia? Why in God's name would a President go there? Could it be because it's a quiet, quaint little city whose officials would be swept off their feet by such an unexpected event? Could it be that going there with almost no notice assures you a lack of organized opposition? And it just might be the kind of place you go when you have very little to say.

It took a while for Air Force One to take off for Halifax, Canada's weather not being totally amenable to the Imperial will, but I'm sure Bush spent his idling time productively, perhaps watching old episodes of Cops on the plane's splendid entertainment system. We can just be grateful that Imperial Vice Wizard Cheney didn't tag along for the trip or they never would have made it to Halifax. Cheney never goes anywhere in the U.S. without a fleet of ambulances and chase cars, lights flashing and sirens blaring, just in case his heart implant ever fails during vitriolic speeches. Precious stuff, being Imperial Vice Wizard.

Bush's stated purpose in going to Halifax was to thank Canadians who were so helpful to large numbers of American air travelers stranded by 9/11. Canadians were indeed helpful at that awful time, but Bush's visit and pat few words of thanks came 3 1/4 years after the help. Not to mention the fact that Bush went to the wrong place, Halifax being roughly 600 miles by air from St. John's, Newfoundland, where the bulk of Americans were actually stranded, receiving remarkably generous and kind assistance Bush never acknowledged until the day he wanted to avoid Parliament.

In the course of all this heady activity, Bush offered nothing for the legitimate grievances Canada has over high-handed American trade practices. On the issue of soft-wood lumber, American claims now have been rejected by every international tribunal governing trade. The WTO only recently declared America's actions in violation of the organization's rules. It's been years of pointless grief for Canada's industry and years of American home buyers paying a premium price for home-grown lumber. But, no, you wouldn't expect a gracious concession, America is going as far as it's possible to go in seeking an extraordinary tribunal for its imagined grievances, and who knows after that? I may be wrong, but I just don't think you build friendships that way.

Bush deliberately brought up a subject that members of Canada's government had every reason to believe would not be brought up on his visit. So much for courtesy and thanks. Bush brought up his addled anti-missile defense scheme and embarrassed the government by speaking publicly about it. Again, that is hardly the way to build friendships. But Canadians are used to this kind of behavior. Paul Cellucci, Bush's Ambassador in Ottawa, has set a world record for diplomatic rudeness and sticking his nose into Canada's internal affairs. If a diplomat from any country at a Consulate in Texas acted the way Cellucci does, he would simply be lynched. Canadians are too decent and polite for that, but I think they can be forgiven for being dismayed and disappointed.

Canada's head of state, as opposed to its head of government, is the Governor General. The current holder of the office is Adrienne Clarkson, a distinguished Asian Canadian. It was said that at the official banquet, Ms. Clarkson kept a noticeable distance from Bush. After all, the last time Bush's father had a meal with an Asian, the Prime Minister of Japan, he puked all over the front of his suit. (Thanks to columnist Jan Wong for this last observation)

The reports of yet more abuse by US forces comes on the heels of one of the Pentagon investigations of interrogation techniques. According to a report by Eric Schmitt in the 12/04/04 NY Times (emphasis mine):

A Pentagon investigation of interrogation techniques at military detention centers in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq concludes that senior defense officials exercised little or no oversight of interrogation policies outside of Guantánamo Bay, leaving field commanders to develop some practices that were unauthorized, according to a draft summary of the classified report.

The inquiry by Vice Adm. Albert T. Church, the naval inspector general, found that by January 2003, military interrogators in Afghanistan were using techniques similar to those that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had approved for use only at Guantánamo Bay. They included stress positions, and sleep and light deprivation.

But when the command in Afghanistan submitted in January its list of techniques to the military's Joint Staff and Central Command, as requested, and never heard any complaints, it "interpreted this silence to mean that the techniques were unobjectionable to higher headquarters and therefore could be considered approved policy," the summary said.

There are a number of investigations both completed and ongoing into the abuse of prisoners by US forces. Thus far the common themes are: poor supervision, poor training, poor communication. It is very frustrating reading these various issues in light of what we do know.

1. Bush asked the Department of Justice and his own White House attorney (Gonzales) to give him a decision on his ability to breach US and international law by using torture to extract information. He got what he asked for - a determination by his advisors that he had free rein.

2. Rumsfeld authorized "interrogation techniques" that exceeded both military and Geneva Convention parameters.

3. Rumsfeld sent the head of interrogation in Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib to "gitmoize" interrogations there.

4. Generals in Iraq knew about abuse of detainees, and said and did nothing to stop it.

5. The Church Report states that silence was taken as permission.

It is clear, from top to bottom that a tacit policy of mistreatment and abuse were (and are) considered more than acceptable. This attitude was obviously clearly communicated - both by instructions received by troops as well as the supervisory personnel put in charge.

I believe that the communication was crustal clear. I do not think that poor training had anything to do with the wide reports of abuse - troops did what they were told to do. I do not think that the issue is poor supervision beyond wanting to be able to create a cover of plausible deniability.

As reports and investigations continue to trickle in, and the reports of abuses in current engagements continue to today, I remain convinced that abuse and war crimes are the policy. The Bush administration's disregard for any international conventions are clearly reflected in the almost certain use of napalm in the bombing of Fallujah (Firebombing Falluja and Fallujah: Napalm By Any Other Name. There are also reports of the use of chemical weapons by US forces, but these remain unconfirmed at this point.

What seems very clear is that the Bush administration feels they can do whatever they want, use whatever weapons and techniques they want. That Bush has absolutely no problems with violating either US or international laws in regard to war is clear by his most recent cabinet decision - Rumsfeld will continue as the Secretary of Defense. If this does not tell us that he approves of the way the "war on terrorism" is being conducted then I don't know what would.

THe chart below is from UAV Evolution at the US Dept. of Defense website.

The linked article The DTIC Review - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ((AD-A351447) states:

Unmanned aerial vehicles commonly referred to as UAV's are defined as powered aerial vehicles sustained in flight by aerodynamic lift over most of their flight path and guided without an onboard crew. They may be expendable or recoverable and can fly autonomously or piloted remotely. UAVs are a key element within the concept of information dominance. Historically the greatest use of UAVs have been in the areas of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance. While UAVs play an increasing role in these mission areas, we are just beginning to understand the operational impact of multiple UAV operations and their importance to 21st century air power needs and future warfighters. As the US military adapts to a new set of realities and new ways of doing business, greater possibilities evolve for the employment of UAVs.

How dare they?!?!?!

The filibuster has been the tool of the minority voice to slow down and draw attention to legislation. The most moving example of this for me was Robert Bird's impassioned filibuster to stop the vote on giving Bush a blank war check. I cried as I watched that valiant effort. Given its use as a tool of the minority voice, it is no surprise that Bill Frist calls it the "tyranny by the minority" must end and he will do whatever it takes. But then today's Republicans are all about silencing dissent and squashing opposition. Who else could we have looked to give us free speech cages, but this crew?

This pompous parade by the Republicans is nothing more than following the dictum of the Administration. Just as the torture of prisoners by US forces was policy from the top, and secrecy is policy from the top, and only working with others who share one's goals is policy from the top.

Bush plays this out on national and international levels. While the interim government of Iraq fractures and calls for the vote to be delayed, Bush dismisses any delay. Whoops, I thought that Iraq was a democracy. I thought that Iraq was in charge. I thought that the US military only attacked when given permission by the Iraqi government. Actually, I never "thought" that at all, but that is what we keep being told. And despite a melting Arctic and increasingly severe storms, Bush refuses to even consider a global warming treaty.

"Despicable" is a word that comes to mind.

I encourage you to send a strongly worded letter to every Republican Senator you can get through to and tell them exactly what you think about silencing representatives, and removing the filibuster because Frist doesn't want to listen to opposing voices.

Yes, indeed, I would call this railroading of the worst kind.

"On the night of 2 December 1984, the worst industrial accident in history happened here. Highly poisonous methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the plant, together with even more toxic reaction compounds. Thousands of people were gassed to death as they slept in their beds near the factory. Others died on the road as they tried to flee, water pouring from their burning eyes, unbearable pain in their lungs, defecating and urinating in their clothes, unable to help themselves. They found dead mothers with their dead babies in their arms. In the months and years that followed, thousands more died from the effects of the gas they inhaled." (Bhopal: A Living Legacy of Corporate Greed)

It is estimated that close to 570,000 people are victims of the Union Carbide Disaster - 15,000 people died and 550,000 were seriously injured. Just last month, some of them started receiving compensation. Depending of the number of family members affected, they are eligible for between $2,200 and $6,600 dollars. [Dow Chemical purchased Union Carbide in 2001 and inherited the Bhopal disaster.]

The Union Carbide disaster was no accident. UC had built the pesticide plant hoping for a big Indian market which never materialized. They stopped production and largely left the plant, with over 60 tons of deadly chemicals, to deteriorate. Eventually, the deterioration got to the point that 27 tons of a deadly gas - methyl isocyanate - was released. Twenty years later, the plant is still not cleaned up. The toxic waste lies open and seeps into the water supply spreading farther and farther. Twenty years later, the Indian government is finally doing an analysis of the toxic waste at the Bhopal plant.

Today, the chemical industry is no more accountable. They still write the legislation that purportedly controls them and protects us. Thousands of new chemicals are created every year to mix into a potentially deadly environmental stew. In this age of terrorism, chemical plants in the US (and I assume elsewhere) remain virtually unsecured. Many schools and playgrounds in the US are built on or near toxic waste sites, and it is estimated that 600,000 children are at risk from these sources.

The incident in Bhopal should have clearly shown the world what the risks are. Instead, it has shown an ugly reality that few want to look at. Corporations and money matter more than people and the environment. So remember Bhopal, and Love Canal, and Tynes Beach, and a thousand other disasters. They tell a story, a very real and ugly story.

Resources
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal: This site covers both the incident, what has happened since, and current activities to hold Union Carbide/Dow Chemical accountable.

Bhopal: Union Carbides website which includes their statement, response, and other information.

According to my understanding, UN signatories already have the authority to engage in pre-emptive attack in an emergency. If that is the case, then legitimating pre-emptive war is a significant broadening of that authority.

The whole thing stings to me. Why broaden the rights, and why now? It was clear to virtually everyone that the UN sanctioned the US' preemptive invasion of Iraq violated international law - including the UN agreement. If the proposed change were in place, then (at least from the UN agreement) the US would not have been engaging in an international criminal act. Now we have Bush in office for another term and this is on the table. On the table at the same time that Israel is making preemptive threats against Iran.

There seems to be something happening in high places - both at the UN and with the Independent/UK stooping to propaganda. I don't see either one of these as good signs, but they certainly seem to be signs.

It seems to me that there is significant pressure being brought to bear - perhaps to re-write history; perhaps to legitimate future actions. Whatever is going on, please be vigilant. If you see anything interesting please pass it along.

Cockburn states that it was "suggested" that Saddam raid the UN weapons storage. He then goes on to say that the truck bomb at the UN headquarters in Baghdad was suspiciously powerful. The clear implication is that Hussein raided the cache before the UN invasion. This flies in the face of what both US soldiers who were at the facility, and the Pentagon itself has admitted (see 380 Tons of Missing High Grade Explosives?, UTJ 10/26/04).

I was floored when I read Cockburn's article. While The Independent is considered the more conservative of the British papers, I have found them (and Cockburn) to be pretty informative. Why this sudden departure?

Well I sent off the following letter to the Foreign Editor at The Independent. I'll let you know if I get an explanation.

Dear Editor,

I have generally found the Independent to be a trustworthy news sources, and I have respect for the journalism of Patrick Cockburn. That is why I am truly dismayed at what seems to be the publication of a pure propaganda piece in the Dec. 01 edition - Saddam 'raided UN arms sites for suicide attacks'. The suggestion that the UN weapons storage facility was already empty before the US invasion flies in the face of what has already been admitted by the Pentagon itself.

See the NYT article Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq which states in part: "White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year."

And we have the CNN report Tons of Iraq explosives missing which states: "

McClellan said the Iraqi government reported the missing weaponry to the IAEA in a letter dated October 10, and the IAEA informed the U.S. mission in Vienna on October 15. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice was told a few days later, then informed the president.

The Iraqi letter said the material disappeared "due to lack of security" of government installations during the looting that followed the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003."

Or the BBC Report which stated:"NBC's own news website, quoted Pentagon officials who said a search of the site after the US-led invasion had revealed the explosives to be intact."

I am truly concerned and disillusioned by what seems to be a piece of pure propaganda, by Cockburn and The Independent. What I do not understand is why the paper would lower its ethics and credibility in such a way. I would greatly appreciate an explanation.

Sincerely,
S. Rowan Wolf, PhD