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Notable News Clips Here is a sample of recent stories too good not to repeat and explore: I. Gore Vidal: "The Oil And Gas Cheney/Bush Junta" And September 11, 2001 Upon hearing on 9/11/01 that hijacked planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, President Bush sat perfectly still before a group of elementary school students, albeit with a puzzled look on his face, and continued to pose for the cameras and listen to children's stories. "Normally," Gore Vidal writes, "a commander in such a crisis would go straight to headquarters and direct operations while receiving the latest intelligence," but not this President. A mere oddity in an otherwise intelligible tragedy? No, says Vidal: there are many aspects of the story that are incomprehensible. Consider a few of them: 1. There is a "standard order of procedure" in any hijacking. "Once a plane has deviated from its flight-plan," Vidal continues, "fighter planes are sent up to find out why. That is law and does not require presidential approval, which only needs to be given if there is a decision to shoot down a plane." The planes were hijacked between 7:45 and 8:10 am; 35 minutes later, American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower. But no one up to that point has notified the President. Indeed, President Bush doesn't learn of the Trade Center destruction until some 20 minutes later, when the South Tower is hit by Flight 175. When given the news at 9:05 am, President Bush remains seated for another 25 minutes before getting up and alerting the nation to what it already knew. 2. Why, upon receiving the news from his Chief of Staff (Andrew Card), didn't the President order him to scramble the Air Force? Where, by the way, was the FAA during the hijackings? Where were the security alert teams? 3. In July 2001, the following briefing had been prepared for President Bush: "'We believe that OBL [Osama bin Laden] will launch a significant terrorist attack against US and/or Israeli interests in the coming weeks. The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against US facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning." Why wasn't the nation alerted to the threat? And how in the world could President Bush's National Security Advisor (Condoleeza Rice) construe the words above to refer only to a kidnapping, as she later insisted? Why haven't these discrepancies been fully aired in the major print and broadcast media? Whatever happened to the investigative spirit, to the zeal for getting at the truth? Why must the direst news about the U.S. government be read in a foreign journal and not in any of a thousand of our own? Gore Vidal's "The Enemy Within," published in The London Observer for October 27, might better be read as an exasperated attempt to ferret out the truth than as a cut-and-dried conspiracy theory -- as the voice of a man with a spine willing to say unendearing things about his commander-in-chief and to call attention to certain unpleasant truths (such as the commercial interests of those running foreign policy). Unsurprisingly, the old guy's piece met with great obloquy at home; for a flavor of it, see Ron Rosenbaum's "Protocols Of Elder Named Gore Vidal" in The New York Observer. There is an interesting footnote to this story. A "bipartisan" commission is now being set up to investigate loose ends of the 9/11/01 horror. President Bush will get to determine who the commission's chairman is. No doubt we can expect an overly ambitious and aggressive team, hellbent on facilitating the criminal inquiry process.
II. Opposition To U.S. War Widespread On November 9 more than 500,000 people crowded the streets of Florence, Italy to denounce U.S. war plans against Iraq. Peace activists vowed to spread demonstrations and dissent all across Europe. The aversion to U.S.-led war is prevalent in France and Germany and a host of other European nations.
III. Another Orwellian Bad Dream The Homeland Security Act passed the House of Representatives a few days ago by a vote of 299-121 despite vociferous opposition by civil liberties groups. The Act is expected to clear any Senate hurdles. The Department will be staffed by 170,000 personnel, will allow airline pilots to carry guns in cockpits, and will create a centralized database of dossiers on all American citizens. Driver's license records, court records such as civil lawsuits and divorce filings, banking records, medical records, Internet activity -- almost any document touching upon any aspect of one's life will be accessible to Homeland Security operatives. Will filing "divorce papers in your local county clerk's office get you a display of 'starting over' books next time you visit Amazon.com?" Wendy Grossman muses in a terrific encapsulation (see "The Poindexter Industrial Complex"). See also John Markoff's "Anti-Terror Computer System Plans Wide, Warrantless Access."
IV. The U.S. Seeks New Nuclear Weapon The Defense Authorization Bill for 2003 sets aside $15 million for research into the "Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator," a weapon that would supposedly explode well beneath the earth's surface to destroy bunkers and hideouts. The research is an affront to scientists and world humitarians who oppose nuclear proliferation. There is also deep concern that radioactive debris would be anything but contained during a strike. Read more at NewScientist.com.
V. Miscellaneous Facts, Statistics -- Over $7,000,000,000 will be spent next year on R&D for "missile defense," despite the near-universal scientific consensus that missile defense is little more than a pipedream, and despite numerous budgetary constraints and military commitments abroad. -- Less than 40% of registered U.S. voters participated in the November 5 elections. The unimpressive turnout continues a trend going back at least to 1988. -- Vice Adm. John Poindexter, the man who will oversee the operation of a vast electronic dragnet and who has said that the government needs to "break down the stovepipes" that separate commercial and government databases, was indicted in 1988 on seven felony charges in connection to the Iran-Contra scandal. He was convicted in 1990. For a fine overview of the Iran-Contra scandal and the litigious aftermath, see Robert Parry, "Firewall: Inside The Iran-Contra Coverup."
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