The 9:11 incident was the last door to the New World Order. It was the most perfect final solution to put the final touches in place. The question of how they were going to introduce the final world religion was answered just like that. There two side to the question: one was spiritual and the other was what citizens thought to be Constitutional Rights.

From a spiritual point of view, the element that was most thought provoking and shocking after the 9:11 incident was the spiritual response to the destruction. Presented by television reporting, we had the most spectacular visible demonstrations of the success New Age spirituality has had in influencing the hearts of Americans. The memorial held at the National Cathedral, September 14, was one of this nation's greatest demonstrations of the Unity in Diversity slogan of New Agers in action that could be hoped for by New Agers. The ceremony featured representatives of Islam, Judaism, Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, etc, The fact that confessed New Ager Opra Winfrey served as television host for a most widely seen memorials of the deaths at the hand of terrorists reflects the New Age Spirit that controls those in charge of memorials, media, and propaganda in the U.S. today.

As one of the many memorials that received nation wide coverage was in progress. National Public Radio had their reporter Margo Adler give an account of some of the alternate ceremonies that were taking place at the same time. Adler is the author of 'Drawing Down the Moon', one of the most famous guides to wiccan witchcraft published in the U.S. in the last fifty years. Adler wrote the book as a practicing witch.

Among Fundamentalists Christians that used the terrorist attack as an opportunity to advance their own causes, Jerry Falwell stood out as an example. He spoke over television on Pat Robertson's 'The 700 Club' and highlighted the sins of the ACLU, homosexuals and abortionists as possible causes for the lack of God's protection that allowed the attacks. Falwell failed to mention the Unity in Diversity issue. Was that because he has been known to openly and frequently associate and cooperate with cult leader Moon, of the "Moonies" who so blatantly claims to be Christ?

Billy Graham spoke at the memorial at the National Cathedral. Graham, you remember, has stated that Buddhists, Muslims and even those in the "non-believing world" are "saved" and will be "in heaven" with Christians. Graham stated his belief in universal salvation while speaking on Robert Schuller's 'Hour of Power', June 8, 1987.. Old time religion has been overthrown.

What has happened to our civil liberties: The Olympics are the third round of securing events since 9:11. One is to get the impression of complete sense of security, when the effect is quite the opposite. We are inundated with police/soliers which give the impression to civilians that they are a well disciplined, tightly organized, highly efficient, methodical, monolithic, but a totalitarian ruling organization. Citizens are often asked how they like all the security and they all say the same thing: "I love it." They believe it is all there for their protection when in fact President Bush said in his State of the Union Speech that he is implementing the New World Order which is the final totalitarian government according to the Bible.

One of the facets the President described is that he expects every citizen to serve 4,000 hours to the country in some capacity. It reminds us of the 'Partei' which consisted of citizens: neighbors, friends and family members, people citizens trusted only to find if they uttered politically incorrect words they suddenly disappeared from face of their hometown. Nobody knew why or where they went.

A professor who spoke with a heavy accent was part of Harvard University (the think tank) at one time, wrote a book about one's duty to serve one's community. On C-SPAN 2.2.02, he suggested green stamps for every hour volunteered. It would not surprise me if they don't attach benefits to this action and keep people from getting their benefit if they don't do community service. They started it during Clinton's administration with Welfare recipients.

The professor enlightened us a bit more by stating how close knit we will become with our neighbors. He even brought up the word snooping and apologized by saying sheepishly that he didn't really mean to go that far. But he planted to seed in listener's minds in any event.

A professor from the University in California, lawyer by trade, confessed in the next interview. When President Bush, by Executive Order of October 8, 2001, installed the Office of Homeland Defense (OHD) headed by Tom Ridge, the USA Patriot Act (anti-terrorist bill) was passed also shortly afterward. 270 laws were swept away, rendered unconstitutional. Being a lawyer, he said that he was quite concerned about that. The Constitutional protections are disappearing. Private property can now be confiscated without a warrant or court order people can be taken away without protection from the law.

We have been writing about the development of the New Word Order for a long time and we wondered how they were going to implement it. 9:11 was the key. The President got Carte Blanch from Congress to do whatever. Bush said in the State of the Union speech that spending will be unlimited and put three countries on notice, Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In fact he put the world on notice: if you are not for us, you are against us. The Bush administration made it very clear from the beginning that it brought Bush Sr.'s crew into office to finish what Bush Sr. started. There was an assassination attempt on Bush Sr.'s life when he was in office. Since the U.S. cannot declare war on any country unless attacked, George Jr. has declared a permanent state of war after the U.S. was attacked to insure the powers of war are available from this point forward.

Some believe that citizens have to be disarmed to get a totalitarian state which isn't necessarily so. Germans had arms until the war was over and US soldiers disarmed them. It is therefore a possibility that they will not go that far. There has been so much controversy in that area that they might not touch that one. In the meantime Waco was an example of what they will do to citizens who stockpile arms. We watched in dismay another silent incident on the news. A neighbor had turned a neighbor in for stockpiling arms which turned out to be a false report. In the meantime a whole squadron of police came to search his home with machine guns, he was afraid to open the door. They burned his home to the ground with him in it. They found a rifle and little else, no stock pile.

There are still unanswered questions about the 9:11 event that have not been answered. The International Jerusalem Post (9.28.01) published a blurp about the World Trade Center retail lease that was purchased by what they call an Ex-Israeli, Frank Lowy, who emigrated to Australia from Israel in 1952. What they forgot to mention is the fact that this lease was purchased on September 4th, seven days before the attack. Prior to the attack the twin towers were owned by the New York and New Jersey Port Authorities, both government entities. The Jerusalem Post went on: Frank purchased the 99 year lease for $400 million with $133 million down payment. Lowy is today "the second wealthiest man in Australia" because he had "insurance coverage that included "ACTS OF TERRORISM" and "its earnings will not be materially affected.. He was born in 1930 and is a Holocaust survivor." (The International Jerusalem Post) Information we found on the Internet attests to a price for the lease to be paid over a 99 year period of $3 billion and with a larger amount down payment.A link to this information is on our website.

The Cutting Edge Ministries: Please examine this logo very carefully. It was the official logo of the U.S. Marine Corps elite Warfighting Laboratory specializing in Urban Warfare. This logo is hideously arresting, for it shows a green monstrous dragon arising out of the sea in New York City and gobbling up -- devouring -- the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center!

The USMC invests a great deal of professional pride and a characteristic thoroughness in everything they do, so we must assume they put similar thought and effort into creating a logo for its new elite Urban Warfare fighting force, a logo that captured the essence of their mission and their ultimate goal. In the world of the occult, a symbol such as this one is exceedingly important. Let us allow an occult author to explain the importance of a Magic Symbol.

"The true magic symbol is an image which hides an inner meaning. This meaning is usually cunningly hidden behind a form which most people [only] think they can understand immediately." [Magic Symbols, Frederick Goodman, p. 6]

A corollary to this statement is that a true magic symbol communicates a specific message to the occultist, while also hiding this message from the "profane". In other words, when an occultist examines a true magic symbol, he readily understands the image and the message it is supposed to communicate; but, the uninitiated, the "vulgar" and "profane" amongst the population, will never even understand that they are looking at a magic symbol, and will certainly never, ever understand the message the symbol is delivering.

In this symbol, we see a monstrous green dragon arising out of the sea. It is fierce and ugly, and is most definitely posing a threat to the city. In fact, this monstrous green dragon is devouring the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center! In the world of the occult, a green dragon and a green serpent are considered interchangeable. They represent the same deity, and his name is Satan. Of course, this is the same definition the Bible gives the dragon and the serpent. Listen:

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." [Revelation 12:9]

"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years ..." [Revelation 20:2]

Both the occult and the Bible depict Satan -- or Lucifer -- as the dragon and the serpent.

With this concept in mind, let us look at a particularly powerful traditional Satanic image, the Basilisk Serpent. This coiled serpent is colored a bright green, the same green as this Marine Corps dragon. He is crowned and is pictured as devouring a human being! The explanation of this shocking magic symbol is given by Frederick Goodman in his book quoted above, Magic Symbols. Listen:

"In the occult tradition, the basilisk is said to have the power to destroy all upon whom it looks, because of the power of its eyes. This is perhaps one reason why the basilisk, or the crowned serpent, has been adopted as a magical symbol of the wisdom ... If we take our study of this particular basilisk even further, we see that it is portrayed as devouring a human being. Is this merely a picture of the killer instinct of the basilisk or is there some deeper magical meaning in the image? In fact, since the basilisk is a magical symbol of wisdom, it is sometimes portrayed as swallowing a human being in order to symbolize the process of initiation. When a man has so prepared himself as to achieve insight into the nature of the spiritual realm, then he is said to be an initiate. A true initiate is one who has been given, or who has earned, such wisdom as permits him to look on such a brilliant influx of spiritual light ... without damaging his vision." [Ibid., p. 7-9]

Notice this USMC green dragon certainly has the "basilisk eyes" that are so fierce they will destroy all upon whom it looks. Is this dragon devouring the World Trade Center, and the human beings within, as a symbol of initiation? At first glance, we would say, "no", that not one of the persons caught in the World Trade Center death trap could be thought of as going through a Satanic initiation. Yet, New World Order writings say that, when Antichrist arises, the entire world will be organized into a planetary Worldwide Initiation in order to place all mankind into subservience to Antichrist. It is likely that it is at this time that the False Prophet forces everyone to take the Mark of the Beast as a symbol of commitment to Antichrist. Thus, perhaps this green dragon is meant to symbolize that, one day soon, the entire world will be forced into a Worldwide Initiation, with the World Trade Center being the first step in this direction!

To fully understand the in-depth possibilities of this fierce basilisk dragon/serpent symbolism, we need to understand some of the other beliefs the Illuminati possesses.

1. Ancient occult Chinese would wear a ring with a dragon on it to let people know they were an assassin. To this assassin, a green dragon represented their debt of honor! Their word was their bond; they would carry out the deed they had verbally agreed upon!

2. The green color could also symbolize Mother Gala, or Mother Earth, cleansing the earth. Much space in New World Order books is devoted to this concept that Mother Gala is being slowly poisoned to death, especially by our current Industrial Civilization. Remember the Satanic belief that this planet called Earth is really a living, breathing, and thinking goddess, whom they called Mother Gala! Occultists believe Mother Gala is being overburdened and poisoned by both overpopulation and our Industrial Civilization.

Therefore, Illuminists believe that, if they do not take action to reduce the world's population by two-thirds, Mother Gala will begin a "cleansing action" that will be so severe that all mankind might just perish. To such an Illuminist, warfare to reduce the population then becomes "benevolent" and "compassionate". [New Age author, Bill Cooper, uses these words to refer to the de-population plan in his book, Behold A Pale Horse, p. 49]

When Mother Gala attacks in order to "cleanse" her earth and return to "balance", Illuminists believe she will attack two targets simultaneously: the human overpopulation and the Industrial Civilization! Thus, this logo is perfectly presented, as the Green Basilisk Dragon is attacking the World Trade Centers -- symbols of the Industrial Civilization -- located in one of the largest cities in the world!

3. Our Masonic forefathers used to meet in one of their favorite watering holes, a tavern called the "Green Dragon", located on 11th Street in Boston! The parallel in this historic fact to the tragedy at the World Trade Center is so heavy it almost staggers the imagination!

In considering the symbolism of this U.S. Marine Corps logo, one has to ask the obvious question: is this green dragon the evil the Marine Corps is fighting against? Or, is it a symbol of the U.S. Marine Corps Urban Warfighting Laboratory? This question -- this distinction -- is exceedingly important. If all we had to go on was this one logo, we would have to "cut some slack" for the Corps, and assume this green dragon was the evil the Corps was training to fight.

However, this first logo was pulled from the internet site after the 9/11/01 attacks on the World Trade center, and replaced with this one. In this image, you see U.S. Marines going ashore a short distance away from a large metropolitan city that is located on the ocean. You see the one representative Marine ashore, looking at something through binoculars. Behind him is a bomb-sniffing dog, and in the background are other Marines coming ashore. We see a barge about to disembark on the shore, and other barges, supposedly filled with supplies. In the air, we see a helicopter, a couple of fighter planes, and an aircraft that looks like an Osprey. All the aircraft are headed to the left of the image, in the same direction as the Marine is looking through his binoculars! [http://www.mcwl.quantico.usmc.mil/]

Behind the airplanes is the same Green Basilisk Dragon that we saw devouring the Twin Towers in the first logo. The Marines are not attacking toward this Basilisk Dragon, as you would expect them to do if the dragon were the enemy the Corps is fighting!! No, this Green Basilisk Dragon is pictured as the being that is "backing" the Corps, the being that gives the Marines their power! There can be no other explanation. This logo is pictured as the Green Basilisk Dragon giving the U.S. Marine Corps Urban Warfighting Laboratory their power over the enemy. The Marine Corps leadership is pictorially delivering the message that they are empowered with occult power.

Of course, Cutting Edge Ministries has been stating for 12 years that the American Government is Illuminist through and through, and is deliberately leading the world into the Kingdom of Antichrist! If you doubt that the official U.S. Government has been following the Illuminist plan to produce the Kingdom of Antichrist - New World Order - just turn your One Dollar Bill over on the back to see the very Satanic symbol of the All-Seeing Eye of Horus [Lucifer] hovering over an unfinished pyramid. Under the pyramid is a stylized ribbon on which we see written, "NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM", which translates, "New World Order".

On the bottom row of bricks on the pyramid, you will see Roman Numerals which translates into "1776". Thus, you know that our American Government has been officially committed to the Kingdom of Antichrist since 1776. If you carefully contemplate this fact, in all its dramatic ramifications, you will travel far down the path of correctly understanding the Bush Administration and its current actions, and the Clinton Administrations and all its actions.

At the very least, this symbol demonstrates the truth that the U.S. Marine Corps is officially Illuminist.

IF DRAGON IS THE CORPS, DOES THIS MEAN THE WTC WAS ATTACKED BY THE CORPS?

Within a few hours after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, Cutting Edge issued an email newsletter alert, stating that this event carried a big, bold - even bodacious - occult signature of '11'. A few hours after that, we posted NEWS1533, in which we listed the number of '11's we had uncovered. If you have not read this article, we encourage you to do so now, for that will greatly aid you in understanding the rest of this article.

Cutting Edge boldly stated that this attack was carried out by global Illuminists for the purpose of beginning the World War III scenario to produce Antichrist. If Osama bin Laden really carried out this attack, he is acting in concert with worldwide Illuminati.

We have maintained this position since then, and subsequent events have proven us correct. We believe these two logos, taken together, buttress our position even further. The second logo seems to prove the Green Basilisk Dragon is the occult power behind the U.S. Marine Corps. This revelation means that the Green Basilisk Dragon may be responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center. You can draw the inevitable conclusion.

All Americans need to stop right now, and think their way through the Mass Media propaganda under which we are currently being inundated. We need to see that President Bush is leading the world into the global system known as the New World Order. We need to see that he and his Christian Attorney General demanded Congress give them immense police state powers that would have made the Russian Communist KGB very pleased. We need to see that Homeland Security is probably the organization that will work hand-in-hand with F.E.M.A. during the coming planned crises to take away our liberties and suspend our Constitutional Government so they can "properly deal" with the very multiple crises they have created in the first place! [ http://www.cuttingedge.org ]

[Ed Note: This article has been on the web since shortly after the 9:11 incident and what David wrote has since been confirmed. President Bush told us at 'State of the Union Address' that he is enforcing the New World Order and expecting every citizen to volunteer for 4,000 hours of service to F.E.M.A. at Usafreedomcorps.com website.]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- January 29, 2002 - President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle Tuesday to limit the congressional investigation into the events of September 11, congressional and White House sources told CNN.

The request was made at a private meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday morning. Sources said Bush initiated the conversation.

He asked that only the House and Senate intelligence committees look into the potential breakdowns among federal agencies that could have allowed the terrorist attacks to occur, rather than a broader inquiry that some lawmakers have proposed, the sources said

Tuesday's discussion followed a rare call to Daschle from Vice President Dick Cheney last Friday to make the same request.

"The vice president expressed the concern that a review of what happened on September 11 would take resources and personnel away from the effort in the war on terrorism," Daschle told reporters.

But, Daschle said, he has not agreed to limit the investigation.

"I acknowledged that concern, and it is for that reason that the Intelligence Committee is going to begin this effort, trying to limit the scope and the overall review of what happened," said Daschle, D-South Dakota.

"But clearly, I think the American people are entitled to know what happened and why," he said. http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/29/inv.terror.probe/index.html

To: The U.S. Senate:

We, the undersigned, do hereby petition the Senate of the United States of America to thoroughly investigate the events surrounding the acts of terrorism that transpired in the United States on September 11, 2001. Such an investigation would include research into the following peculiarities relating to the terrorist attacks on the United States on 9/11:

1.) Thousands of put stock options that were purchased on United and American airlines immediately prior to 9/11/01

2.) Financial transactions totaling more than 100 million dollars that electronically passed through the World Trade Center immediately prior to its destruction on 9/11

3.) Black-box recordings from the four planes which crashed on 9/11

4.) Cell phone calls made by passengers on hijacked flights on 9/11 which never emerged on their cell-phone bills

5.) Interviews of any air-traffic controllers on duty on 9/11

6.) Eyewitness accounts detailing Flight 93's explosion prior to its crashing

7.) Aircraft debris strewn approximately seven miles from the crash site of Flight 93

8.) Unocal's role in its quest to build an oil pipeline across Afghanistan, plans implemented prior to 2001

9.) Carlyle Corporation's role in overseeing Unocal's quest to have an oil pipeline built across Afghanistan, plans implemented prior to 2001

10.) Role of remote-control software technology implemented in 9/11 hijackings and crashes

11.) George W. Bush's possible foreknowledge of the terrorist attacks on 9/11

12.) Role of the Northern Alliance in explosive growth of opium production in Afghanistan after U.S. military intervention

We respectfully petition the Senate to make public the results of this investigation.
Sincerely, http://www.petitiononline.com/11601TFS/petition.html
The website is collecting signatures for the petition if you want to join.

Throughout the world ... its agents, client states and satellites are on the defensive on the moral defensive, the intellectual defensive, and the political and economic defensive. Freedom movements arise and assert themselves. They're doing so on almost every continent populated by man in the hills of Afghanistan, in Angola, in Kampuchea, in Central America ... [They are] freedom fighters.

Is this a call to jihad (holy war) taken from one of Islamic fundamentalist Osama bin Laden's notorious fatwas? Or perhaps a communique issued by the repressive Taliban regime in Kabul?

In fact, this glowing praise of the murderous exploits of today's supporters of arch-terrorist bin Laden and his Taliban collaborators, and their holy war against the 'evil empire', was issued by US President Ronald Reagan on March 8, 1985. The 'evil empire' was the Soviet Union, as well as Third World movements fighting US-backed colonialism, apartheid and dictatorship.

How things change. In the aftermath of a series of terrorist atrocities, the most despicable being the mass murder of more than 6000 working people in New York and Washington on September 11, bin Laden the 'freedom fighter' is now lambasted by US leaders and the Western mass media as a 'terrorist mastermind' and an 'evil-doer'.

Yet the US government refuses to admit its central role in creating the vicious movement that spawned bin Laden, the Taliban and Islamic fundamentalist terrorists that plague Algeria and Egypt and perhaps the disaster that befell New York.

The mass media has also downplayed the origins of bin Laden and his toxic brand of Islamic fundamentalism.

Mujaheddin

In April 1978, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in Afghanistan in reaction to a crackdown against the party by that country's repressive government.

The PDPA was committed to a radical land reform that favoured the peasants, trade union rights, an expansion of education and social services, equality for women and the separation of church and state. The PDPA also supported strengthening Afghanistan's relationship with the Soviet Union.

Such policies enraged the wealthy semi-feudal landlords, the Muslim religious establishment (many mullahs were also big landlords) and the tribal chiefs. They immediately began organizing resistance to the government's progressive policies, under the guise of defending Islam.

Washington, fearing the spread of Soviet influence (and worse the new government's radical example) to its allies in Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf states, immediately offered support to the Afghan mujaheddin, as the 'contra' force was known.

Following an internal PDPA power struggle in December 1979 which toppled Afghanistan's leader, thousands of Soviet troops entered the country to prevent the new government's fall. This only galvanized the disparate fundamentalist factions. Their reactionary jihad now gained legitimacy as a 'national liberation' struggle in the eyes of many Afghans.

The Soviet Union was eventually to withdraw from Afghanistan in 1989 and the mujaheddin captured the capital, Kabul, in 1992.

Between 1978 and 1992, the US government poured at least US$6 billion (some estimates range as high as $20 billion) worth of arms, training and funds to prop up the mujaheddin factions. Other Western governments, as well as oil-rich Saudi Arabia, kicked in as much again. Wealthy Arab fanatics, like Osama bin Laden, provided millions more.

Washington's policy in Afghanistan was shaped by US President Jimmy Carter's national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and was continued by his successors. His plan went far beyond simply forcing Soviet troops to withdraw; rather it aimed to foster an international movement to spread Islamic fanaticism into the Muslim Central Asian Soviet republics to destabilize the Soviet Union.

Brzezinski's grand plan coincided with Pakistan military dictator General Zia ul-Haq's own ambitions to dominate the region. US-run Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe beamed Islamic fundamentalist tirades across Central Asia (while paradoxically denouncing the 'Islamic revolution' that toppled the pro-US Shah of Iran in 1979).

Washington's favoured mujaheddin faction was one of the most extreme, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The West's distaste for terrorism did not apply to this unsavory 'freedom fighter'. Hekmatyar was notorious in the 1970s for throwing acid in the faces of women who refused to wear the veil.

After the mujaheddin took Kabul in 1992, Hekmatyar's forces rained US-supplied missiles and rockets on that city 'killing at least 2000 civilians' until the new government agreed to give him the post of prime minister. Osama bin Laden was a close associate of Hekmatyar and his faction.

Hekmatyar was also infamous for his side trade in the cultivation and trafficking in opium. Backing of the mujaheddin from the CIA coincided with a boom in the drug business. Within two years, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was the world's single largest source of heroin, supplying 60% of US drug users.

In 1995, the former director of the CIA's operation in Afghanistan was unrepentant about the explosion in the flow of drugs: "Our main mission was to do as much damage as possible to the Soviets... There was a fallout in terms of drugs, yes. But the main objective was accomplished. The Soviets left Afghanistan."

Made in the USA

According to Ahmed Rashid, a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review, in 1986 CIA chief William Casey committed CIA support to a long-standing ISI proposal to recruit from around the world to join the Afghan jihad. At least 100,000 Islamic militants flocked to Pakistan between 1982 and 1992 (some 60,000 attended fundamentalist schools in Pakistan without necessarily taking part in the fighting).

John Cooley, a former journalist with the US ABC television network and author of Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism, has revealed that Muslims recruited in the US for the mujaheddin were sent to Camp Peary, the CIA's spy training camp in Virginia, where young Afghans, Arabs from Egypt and Jordan, and even some African-American 'black Muslims' were taught 'sabotage skills'.

The November 1, 1998, British Independent reported that one of those charged with the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Ali Mohammed, had trained 'bin Laden's operatives' in 1989.

These 'operatives' were recruited at the al Kifah Refugee Centre in Brooklyn, New York, given paramilitary training in the New York area and then sent to Afghanistan with US assistance to join Hekmatyar's forces. Mohammed was a member of the US army's elite Green Berets.

The program, reported the Independent, was part of a Washington-approved plan called 'Operation Cyclone'.

In Pakistan, recruits, money and equipment were distributed to the mujaheddin factions by an organisation known as Maktab al Khidamar (Office of Services, MAK).

MAK was a front for Pakistan's CIA, the Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate. The ISI was the first recipient of the vast bulk of CIA and Saudi Arabian covert assistance for the Afghan contras. Bin Laden was one of three people who ran MAK. In 1989, he took overall charge of MAK.

Among those trained by Mohammed were El Sayyid Nosair, who was jailed in 1995 for killing Israeli rightist Rabbi Meir Kahane and plotting with others to bomb New York landmarks, including the World Trade Center in 1993.

The Independent also suggested that Shiekh Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian religious leader also jailed for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, was also part of Operation Cyclone. He entered the US in 1990 with the CIA's approval. A confidential CIA report concluded that the agency was 'partly culpable' for the 1993 World Trade Center blast, the Independent reported.

Bin Laden

Osama bin Laden, one of 20 sons of a billionaire construction magnate, arrived in Afghanistan to join the jihad in 1980. An austere religious fanatic and business tycoon, bin Laden specialised in recruiting, financing and training the estimated 35,000 non-Afghan mercenaries who joined the mujaheddin.

The bin Laden family is a prominent pillar of the Saudi Arabian ruling class, with close personal, financial and political ties to that country's pro-US royal family.

Bin Laden senior was appointed Saudi Arabia's minister of public works as a favour by King Faisal. The new minister awarded his own construction companies lucrative contracts to rebuild Islam's holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina. In the process, the bin Laden family company in 1966 became the world's largest private construction company.

Osama bin Laden's father died in 1968. Until 1994, he had access to the dividends from this ill-gotten business empire.

(Bin Laden junior's oft-quoted personal fortune of US$200-300 million has been arrived at by the US State Department by dividing today's value of the bin Laden family net worth 'estimated to be US$5 billion' by the number of bin Laden senior's sons. A fact rarely mentioned is that in 1994 the bin Laden family disowned Osama and took control of his share.)

Osama's military and business adventures in Afghanistan had the blessing of the bin Laden dynasty and the reactionary Saudi Arabian regime. His close working relationship with MAK also meant that the CIA was fully aware of his activities.

Milt Bearden, the CIA's station chief in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989, admitted to the January 24, 2000, New Yorker that while he never personally met bin Laden, "Did I know that he was out there? Yes, I did ... [Guys like] bin Laden were bringing $20-$25 million a month from other Saudis and Gulf Arabs to underwrite the war. And that is a lot of money. It's an extra $200-$300 million a year. And this is what bin Laden did."

In 1986, bin Laden brought heavy construction equipment from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan. Using his extensive knowledge of construction techniques (he has a degree in civil engineering), he built 'training camps', some dug deep into the sides of mountains, and built roads to reach them.

These camps, now dubbed 'terrorist universities' by Washington, were built in collaboration with the ISI and the CIA. The Afghan contra fighters, including the tens of thousands of mercenaries recruited and paid for by bin Laden, were armed by the CIA. Pakistan, the US and Britain provided military trainers.

Tom Carew, a former British SAS soldier who secretly fought for the mujaheddin told the August 13, 2000, British Observer, "The Americans were keen to teach the Afghans the techniques of urban terrorism 'car bombing and so on' so that they could strike at the Russians in major towns ... Many of them are now using their knowledge and expertise to wage war on everything they hate."

Al Qaeda (the Base), bin Laden's organisation, was established in 1987-88 to run the camps and other business enterprises. It is a tightly-run capitalist holding company, albeit one that integrates the operations of a mercenary force and related logistical services with 'legitimate' business operations.

Bin Laden has simply continued to do the job he was asked to do in Afghanistan during the 1980s: fund, feed and train mercenaries. All that has changed is his primary customer. Then it was the ISI and, behind the scenes, the CIA. Today, his services are utilised primarily by the reactionary Taliban regime.

Bin Laden only became a 'terrorist' in US eyes when he fell out with the Saudi royal family over its decision to allow more than 540,000 US troops to be stationed on Saudi soil following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

When thousands of US troops remained in Saudi Arabia after the end of the Gulf War, bin Laden's anger turned to outright opposition. He declared that Saudi Arabia and other regimes, such as Egypt, in the Middle East were puppets of the US, just as the PDPA government of Afghanistan had been a puppet of the Soviet Union.

He called for the overthrow of these client regimes and declared it the duty of all Muslims to drive the US out of the Gulf states. In 1994, he was stripped of his Saudi citizenship and forced to leave the country. His assets there were frozen.

After a period in Sudan, he returned to Afghanistan in May 1996. He refurbished the camps he had helped build during the Afghan war and offered the facilities and services, and thousands of his mercenaries, to the Taliban, which took power that September.

Today, bin Laden's private army of non-Afghan religious fanatics is a key prop of the Taliban regime.

Prior to the devastating September 11 attack on the twin towers of World Trade Center, US ruling-class figures remained unrepentant about the consequences of their dirty deals with the likes of bin Laden, Hekmatyar and the Taliban. Since the awful attack, they have been downright hypocritical.

In an August 28, 1998, report posted on MSNBC, Michael Moran quotes Senator Orrin Hatch, who was a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee which approved US dealings with the mujaheddin, as saying he would make "the same call again", even knowing what bin Laden would become.

"It was worth it. Those were very important, pivotal matters that played an important role in the downfall of the Soviet Union."

Hatch today is one of the most gung-ho voices demanding military retaliation.

Another face that has appeared repeatedly on television screens since the attack has been Vincent Cannistrano, described as a former CIA chief of 'counter-terrorism operations'.

Cannistrano is certainly an expert on terrorists like bin Laden, because he directed their 'work'. He was in charge of the CIA-backed Nicaraguan contras during the early 1980s. In 1984, he became the supervisor of covert aid to the Afghan mujaheddin for the US National Security Council.

The last word goes to Zbigniew Brzezinski: What was more important in the world view of history? The Taliban or the fall of the Soviet Empire? A few stirred up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War? http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/465/465p15.htm

WASHINGTON -- India's Central Bureau of Investigation is turning up evidence that is proving inconvenient for the Bush administration as it tries to maintain its shaky alliance with Pakistan.

As administration officials, led by State Secretary Colin Powell, praise Pakistan for its help in the war on terrorism, FBI agents responding to Indian leads are quietly investigating Pakistan-based terrorist groups connected to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 hijackings.

While the American press has largely ignored the Pakistan angle, the Indian press has been putting together pieces to a puzzle that makes Islamabad look more like a willing sponsor of terrorism than a trusted ally in the fight against terrorism.

The Pakistani connection

First, rewind to 1999. On Dec. 24, five Pakistani nationals armed with knives hijacked Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 from Katmandu to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Led by Sunny Ahmed Qazi, alias "Burger," the hijackers slashed the throat of one of the 178 passengers, a honeymooner, and forced pilots to open the cockpit door.

On Sept. 11, of course, five al-Qaida terrorists armed with knives hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and steered it into the first World Trade Center tower. Led by Mohamed Atta, the hijackers slit the throats of at least two flight attendants and forced pilots to open the cockpit door. Their confederates, also operating in groups of five and wielding knives, hijacked two other jetliners. Another group of four, reportedly one man short, hijacked a fourth plane.

What's the connection, besides the mode of operation? Plenty.

Burger demanded the Indian government release three Pakistani terrorists from prison in exchange for the airline hostages. After an eight-day stand-off, New Delhi agreed to free Ahmed Omar Sayeed Sheikh among the three.

Sheikh turns out to be one of Osama bin Laden's chief money men. About a year before the Sept. 11 attacks, Sheikh wired $100,000 from Pakistan to Atta from an account in the United Arab Emirates capital of Dubai. Sheikh was spotted in Islamabad at the time the money was transferred.

The $100,000 covered the hijackers' flight-school tuition and airfare, as well as living expenses. Sheikh picked up an unspent residual of more than $25,000 from Atta and three other hijackers in Dubai right before the attacks, then fled back to Karachi, Pakistan.

The 28-year-old Sheikh is a leader in Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (J-e-M), an Islamic militant group. Its founder, Mohammad Masood Azhar, aka Maulana Masood, is closely linked to bin Laden.

In fact, bin Laden is understood to have helped fund the well-financed, well-organized J-e-M, making it al-Qaida's arm in Pakistan. J-e-M also runs terrorist training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

But don't stop there.

Azhar was freed along with Sheikh in the 1999 India Airlines hostages-for-prisoners deal.

Delhi's capitulation proved a fatal error, as Azhar is now accused of masterminding the J-e-M's Dec. 13 suicide attack on India's Parliament House in which 14 were killed, including five J-e-M terrorists.

And there's more: Delhi police believe that the leader of the suicide squad was none other than Burger, the lead hijacker of the India Airlines flight.

'Pampered' terrorist

The Indian government thinks Pakistan's military spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has sponsored and protected Azhar and his protégé, Sheikh. And it accuses ISI of sponsoring the Dec. 13 suicide attack on the Indian Parliament. What's more, it suspects ISI was tied to the 1999 hijacking.

"Azhar is considered to be a pampered terrorist of Pakistan's ISI," said The Press Trust of India.

India Abroad says ISI has been "instrumental" in recruiting terrorists for training camps in Kashmir.

But here's what's really disturbing.

According to accounts in both The Times of India and India Today, former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmad instructed Sheikh to send the $100,000 to Atta.

"A direct link between the ISI and the WTC attack could have enormous repercussions," the Times article said. "The U.S. cannot but suspect whether there were other senior Pakistani Army commanders who were in the know of things."

It added: "Evidence of a larger conspiracy could shake U.S. confidence in Pakistan's ability to participate in the anti-terrorism coalition."

The Times says Ahmad lost his job only after India shared with the FBI evidence showing a link between the general and Sheikh's wiring of funds to Atta.

Dennis M. Lormel, director of FBI's financial crimes unit, confirmed the transaction. Not long after, J-e-M's accounts were frozen.

The Bush administration has said the money trail is a crucial link in uncovering the support network for the 19 hijackers, and then destroying that network.

However, a major hub of that network is in Pakistan, and it's still active, as India learned, tragically, last month.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has banned J-e-M and arrested Azhar. But Azhar is not the only terrorist on India's list of wanted terrorists from Pakistan.

Sheikh reportedly now lives near the Binori mosque in Karachi, on the Pakistani coast. And the four remaining hijackers of Indian Airlines Flight 814 are still hiding in Pakistan.

The FBI has trusted Pakistani authorities to question Azhar.

But according to the Gulf News, the FBI earlier this month asked the Pakistani government for permission to question Azhar. U.S. officials are reportedly interested in his links to bin Laden, Sheikh and the Sept. 11 attacks. They also want to ask him about bin Laden's whereabouts.

Asked about the request, an FBI spokesman demurred.

"I can't answer that question at this point because of the diplomatic issues involved," FBI's Jay Spadafore told WorldNetDaily, referring to the administration's tender alliance with Pakistan.

Have any FBI agents traveled to Islamabad recently?

Spadafore put down the phone and checked with a superior before returning to the line.

"I can't comment on where we've deployed agents," he said.

It's become increasingly clear that Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism, and is most likely sheltering bin Laden.

Yet, at least publicly, the Bush administration continues to trust the Pakistani government to help capture bin Laden and other anti-American terrorists.

At a Jan. 16 press conference in Pakistan, for example, Powell stubbornly insisted that Pakistan is not running a base for terrorism, or sponsoring and harboring terrorists linked to al-Qaida. He suggested the terrorists there are nothing more than free radicals.

Asked by an Indian reporter about the seemingly well-organized network of terrorists still operating there, he said that no country is immune from terrorism. Even America has its own "home-grown" terrorists, Powell said dismissively.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26249

....The BCCI connection, therefore, linked George W. Bush with Saudi banker Khaled bin Mahfouz. Known in Arab circles as the 'king’s treasurer,' Mahfouz held a 20 percent take in BCCI between 1986 and 1990. Mahfouz is no stranger to the Bush family. He was a big investor in the Carlyle Group, a defense-industry investment group with deep connections to the Republican Party establishment. Former President Bush is a former member of the company’s board of directors. George W. Bush also held shares in Caterair, a Carlyle subsidiary. Sami Baarma, a powerful player in the Mahfouz-owned Prime Commercial Bank of Pakistan, is a member of the Carlyle Group’s international advisory board.

President Bush certainly is aware of that his former Saudi sugar daddy is still financing Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. USA Today newspaper reported in 1999 that a year after bin Laden’s attacks on US embassies in Africa, Khaled bin Mahfouz and other wealthy Saudis were funneling tens of millions of dollars each year into bin Laden’s bank accounts. Five top Saudi businessmen ordered the National Commercial Bank to transfer personal funds and $3 million pilfered from a Saudi pension fund to the Capitol Trust Bank in New York City. The money was deposited into the Islamic Relief and Blessed Relief - Islamic charities operating in the US and Great Britain as fronts for Osama bin Laden.

The Capitol Trust Bank is run by Mohammad Hussein al-Amoudi. His lawyer is Democratic Party bigwig Vernon Jordan, close friend of former President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

Abdullah Taha Bakhsh, the Arab who cosigned the $25 million cash infusion into George W. Bush’s Harken Energy Corporation, appointed Talat Othman to manage his 17.6 percent share in Harken Energy Corp. Othman, a native Palestinian, is president and CEO of Dearborn Financial Inc., an investment firm in Arlington Heights, IL.

Bakhsh also bought a 9.6 percent stake in Worthen Banking Corporation, the Arkansas bank controlled by Jack Stephens. Abdullah Bakhsh’s share was the identical percentage as the amount of shares sold by Mochtar Riady, the godfather of the wealthy Indonesian family with close ties to the Chinese communists, Bill Clinton and evangelist Pat Robertson. Bakhsh is represented by Rogers & Wells, a well-connected Republican law firm in New York whose partners include former Secretary of State William P. Rogers.

Independent investigator reporter David Twersky reported in the early 1990s that Othman had a seat on Harken’s board of directors and met three times in the White House with President George Herbert Walker Bush. Organized by Chief of Staff John Sununu, Othman’s first meeting with President Bush at the White House was in August 1990, just days after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

There exist to this day an Arab-Texas connection. Khalid bin Mahfouz, financier of both George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden, still maintains a palatial estate in Houston, TX. Former President George Bush also lives in Houston. James Bath, Texas political confidant of George W. Bush, managed to obtain a $1.4 million loan from Mahfouz in 1990. Bath and Mahfouz, along with former Secretary of Treasury John Connally, were also co-investors in Houston’s Main Bank. Bath was also president of Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd, a Texas air charter company registered in the Cayman Islands. According to published reports in the early 1990s, the real owner was bin Mahfouz. When Salem bin Laden, Osama’ brother, died in 1988, his interest in the Houston Gulf Airport was transferred to bin Mahfouz.

Since Osama bin Laden’s bloody attack on America on September 11, the federal government has moved quickly to freeze bank accounts connected to Osama bin Laden, Khalid bin Mahfouz, and a host of Islamic charities.

Perhaps federal agents should freeze the financial assets of the Bush family too. It would not be the first time Bush-family assets were seized by the US government for trading with the enemy. Copyright 2001 American Freedom News - (excerpt from http://www.americanfreedomnews.com/afn_articles/bushsecrets.htm )

Asia Times PIPELINE-ISTAN: Enduring Freedom, Everlasting PROFITS Tue Jan 29 04:25:28 2002

PIPELINE-ISTAN -- Global Power Games: ** Infinite Justice, Enduring Freedom and Everlasting PROFITS

http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/DA25Ag01.html

War against terrorism? Not really. Reminder: it's all about oil.

A quick look at the map is all it takes. It's no coincidence that the map of terror in the Middle East and Central Asia is practically interchangeable with the map of oil. There's Infinite Justice, Enduring Freedom - and Everlasting Profits to be made: not only by the American industrial-military complex, but especially by American and European oil giants.

Where is the realm these days of former US secretary of state James Baker, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, former White House chief of staff John Sununu and former defense secretary and current Invisible Man Dick Cheney? They are all happily dreaming of, and working for, the establishment of Pipelineistan.

Pipelineistan is the golden future: a paradise of opportunity in the form of US$5 trillion of oil and gas in the Caspian basin and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. In Washington's global petrostrategy, this is supposed to be the end of America's oil dependence on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This is of course the heart of the matter in the New Great Game - compared to which the original 19th-century Great Game between czarist Russia and the British Empire was a childish tin soldier's diversion.

Afghanistan itself has some natural gas in the north of the country, near Turkmenistan. But above all it is ultra-strategic: positioned between the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia, between Turkmenistan and the avid markets of the Indian subcontinent, China and Japan. Afghanistan is at the core of Pipelineistan.

The Caspian states hold at least 200 billion barrels of oil, and Central Asia has 6.6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas just begging to be exploited. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are two major producers: Turkmenistan is nothing less than a "gas republic". Apart from oil and gas there's copper, coal, tungsten, zinc, iron, uranium, gold.

The only export routes, for the moment, are through Russia. So most of the game consists of building alternative pipelines to Turkey and Western Europe, and to the east toward the Asian markets. India will be a key player. India, Iran, Russia and Israel are all planning to supply oil and gas to South and Southeast Asia through India.

It's enlightening to note that all countries or regions which happen to be an impediment to Pipelineistan routes towards the West have been subjected either to a direct interference or to all-out war: Chechnya, Georgia, Kurdistan, Yugoslavia and Macedonia. To the east, the key problems are the Uighurs of China's far-western Xinjiang and, until recently, Afghanistan.

More, much more than Afghanistan is involved. What's at stake is Eurasia. Zbigniew Brzezinski, stellar hawk and Jimmy Carter's former national security adviser, used to wax lyrical on Eurasia: "Seventy-five percent of the world population, most of its material riches, 60 percent of the world's GNP, 75 percent of sources of energy, and behind the US, the six most prosperous economies and the six largest military budgets." Brzezinski is on record stressing that the US would have to make sure "no other power would take possession of this geopolitical space".

The numbers are clear. According to the United States Energy Information Administration, in 2001 America imported an average of 9.1 million barrels per day - over 60 percent of its crude oil needs. In 2020, the country is projected to require almost 26 million barrels per day in imports. So Pipelineistan, in the Caucasus and in Central Asia - for the West and Japan but especially for America itself - cannot but be the strategic-military No 1 goal.

In this geostrategic grand design, the Taliban were the proverbial fly in the ointment. The Afghan War was decided long before September 11. September 11 merely precipitated events. Plans to destroy the Taliban had been the subject of international diplomatic and not-so-diplomatic discussions for months before September 11. There was a crucial meeting in Geneva in May 2001 between US State Department, Iranian, German and Italian officials, where the main topic was a strategy to topple the Taliban and replace the theocracy with a "broad-based government". The topic was raised again in full force at the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Genoa, Italy, in July 2001 when India - an observer at the summit - also contributed its own plans.

Nor coincidentally, Pipelineistan was the central topic in secret negotiations in a Berlin hotel a few days after the G-8 summit, between American, Russian, German and Pakistani officials. And Pakistani high officials, on condition of anonymity, have extensively described a plan set up by the end of July 2001 by American advisers, consisting of military strikes against the Taliban from bases in Tajikistan, to be launched before mid-October.

More recently, while most of the planet that has access to news was distracted by New Year's Eve celebrations, and only nine days after Hamid Karzai's interim government took power in Kabul, Bush II appointed his special envoy to Afghanistan. It comes as no surprise he is Afghan-American Zalmay Khalilzad - a former aide to the Californian energy giant UNOCAL. Khalilzad wasted no time in boarding the first flight to Central Asia. The Bush II team now does not even try to disguise that the whole game is about oil. The so-called brand-new American "Afghan policy" is being conducted by people intimately connected to oil industry interests in Central Asia.

In 1997, UNOCAL led an international consortium - Centgas - that reached a memorandum of understanding to build a $2 billion, 1,275-kilometer-long, 1.5-meter-wide natural-gas pipeline from Dauletabad in southern Turkmenistan to Karachi in Pakistan, via the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, crossing into Pakistan near Quetta. A $600 million extension to India was also being considered. The dealings with the Taliban were facilitated by the Clinton administration and the Pakistani Inter Services Agency (ISI). But the civil war in Afghanistan would simply not go away. UNOCAL had to pull out.

American energy conglomerates, through the American Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC), are now resuscitating this and other projects. Already last October, the UNOCAL-led project was discussed in Islamabad between Pakistani Petroleum Minister Usman Aminuddin and American Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain. The exuberant official statement reads: "The pipeline opens up new avenues of multi-dimensional regional cooperation, particularly in view of the recent geopolitical developments in the region."

But there are practical problems with these "new avenues". Specialists at the James Baker (who else?) Institute in Texas stress that the main beneficiaries would be Turkmenistan and Afghanistan - which in itself is not a bad idea: Afghanistan would make a little money and perhaps be a little more stable. As far as the gas is concerned - liquefied and exported from Karachi - it would be too expensive compared with gas from the Middle East.

UNOCAL also has a project to build the so-called Central Asian Oil Pipeline, almost 1,700km long, linking Chardzhou in Turkmenistan to Russian's existing Siberian oil pipelines and also to the Pakistani Arabian Sea coast. This pipeline will carry 1 million barrels of oil a day from different areas of former Soviet republics, and it will run parallel to the gas pipeline route through Afghanistan.

Khalilzad is a very interesting character indeed. He was always a huge Taliban supporter. Four years ago, he wrote in the Washington Post that "the Taliban does not practice the anti-US style of fundamentalism practiced by Iran". Khalilzad only abandoned the Taliban after Bill Clinton fired 58 cruise missiles into Afghanistan in August 1998, in retaliation for the alleged involvement of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Only one day after the attack, UNOCAL put Centgas on hold - and two months later abandoned plans for the trans-Afghan pipeline.

A little more than a year ago, Khalilzad was reincarnated in print in The Washington Quarterly, now stressing his four main reasons to get rid of the Taliban regime as soon as possible: Osama bin Laden, opium trafficking, oppression of the Afghan people and, last but not least, oil.

Afghan Diaspora sources in Paris acidly comment that Khalilzad will be regarded as nothing less than a traitor by fiercely proud and independent Afghans. Born in Mazar-i-Sharif in 1951, he is part of the Afghan ruling elite. His father was an aide to King Zahir Shah. Khalilzad was studying at the notoriously conservative University of Chicago when Afghanistan was invaded by the Red Army in December 1979.

Later he became an American citizen and a special adviser to the State Department during the Reagan years. He was a strident lobbyist for more US military aid to the mujahedeen during the anti-USSR jihad - campaigning for widespread distribution of Stinger missiles.

Khalilzad was undersecretary of defense for Bush I, during the war against Iraq. After a stint at the Rand Corp think tank, he headed the Bush-Cheney transition team for the Defense Department and advised Donald Rumsfeld. But he was not rewarded with any promotions. The required Senate confirmation would raise extremely uncomfortable questions about his role as UNOCAL adviser and staunch Taliban defender. He was assigned instead to the National Security Council - no Senate confirmation required - where he reports to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Rice herself is a former oil-company consultant. During Bush I, from 1989-92, she was on the board of directors of Chevron, and was its main expert on Kazakhstan. Chevron has invested more than $20 billion in Kazakhstan alone. As for The Invisible Man, Vice President Dick Cheney, he was for five years a director of Halliburton, one of the top companies rendering service to the oil industry: present in 130 countries, 100,000 employees, turnover of almost $20 billion, a member of the Fortune 400. Cheney did a lot of business with the murderous Myanmar dictatorship, and invested heavily in Nigeria.

Both Cheney and Bush II spent an important part of their careers in Arbusto, a small company directed by Cheney. Arbusto never made money, but was handsomely supported by very wealthy Saudis. Among the shareholders there was one James Bath, very cozy with Bush I and chief money launderer for shady Gulf superstars, including one Salem bin Laden, one of the 17 brothers of Osama bin Laden.

All American secretaries of state since World War II have been connected with the oil industry - except two: one of them is Colin Powell, but in his case the president, vice president and national security adviser are all part of the oil industry anyway.

So everybody in the ruling plutocracy knows the rules of the ruthless game: Central Asia is crucial to Washington's worldwide petro-strategy. So is a "friendly" government in Afghanistan - now led by the always impeccably dressed and fluent English speaker Hamid Karzai. It does not matter that independent minds from Central Asia in exile in Europe unanimously ridicule Karzai as nothing else than a Taliban himself, and his Northern Alliance ministers as a bunch of crooks.

As for US corporate-controlled media - from TV networks to daily newspapers - they just exercise self-censorship and remain mute about all of these connections.

Pipelineistan, Part 2

The Games Nations Play By Pepe Escobar

Asia Times 1-28-2 - Two months ago, the White House was deliriously happy with the official opening of the first new pipeline of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium - a joint venture including Russia, Kazakhstan, Oman, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and a bunch of other minor players.

This $2.65 billion pipeline links the enormous Tengiz oilfield in northwestern Kazakhstan to the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea: from there, the sky - ie the world market - is the limit. Bush II, according to the White House, is developing "a network of multiple Caspian pipelines that also include the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa, and Baku-Novorossiyisk oil pipelines, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline". So one of the key nodes in the American petrostrategy is composed by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

The pipeline consortium for Baku-Ceyhan, led by British Petroleum, is represented by the law firm Baker & Botts. The principal attorney is none other than Texan superstar James Baker - secretary of state under Bush I and chief spokesman for the Bush II 2000 campaign when all gloves were off to shut down the Florida vote recount.

Texas-based, scandal-prone Enron, together with Amoco, Chevron, Mobil, UNOCAL and British Petroleum, were all spending billions of dollars to pump the reserves of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Baker, Scowcroft, Sununu and Cheney have all closed major deals directly and indirectly on behalf of the oil companies. But now the Enron scandal has just exploded right in the face of the oil industry - and Bush II's administration. It will be very enlightening to see what the American tradition of investigative journalism will make of all this.

Enron once had a market value of $70 billion. It filed for bankruptcy in December 2001 after admitting it overstated its profits by almost $600 million. Paul Krugman wrote that "Enron helped Dick Cheney devise an energy plan that certainly looks as if it was written by and for the companies that advised his task force". The Enron big-time crooks - close pals of Cheney and Bush II - dwarf any Asian "crony capitalists" Americans were carping about before and after the Asian financial crisis.

There's no shortage of crooks in the oil industry. Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have intimate relations with Israeli military intelligence. A so-called "former" Israeli intelligence agent, Yousef Maiman, president of the Mehrav Group of Israel, is nothing less than "Special Ambassador", official negotiator and even policymaker responsible for developing the enormous energy resources of Turkmenistan.

Maiman is a citizen of the gas republic by presidential decree - signed by the Turkmenbashi himself, the fabulously megalomaniac Saparmurad Niazov, former member of the Soviet Politburo. Maiman, according to the Wall Street Journal, is actively involved in advancing the "geopolitical goals of both the US and Israel" in Central Asia. He certainly does not beat around the bush: "Controlling the transport route is controlling the product." Nobody knows where Mehrav's money comes from.

Mehrav's planned pipelines bypass both Iran and Russia. But after the conquest of Afghanistan, oil sources in Singapore say Mehrav may consider dealing with Iran. It's all to do with the importance of the Turkish market. Russia and Turkmenistan are fiercely competing to conquer the Turkish gas market. Considering the strategic relationship between Turkey and Israel, the Israeli game remains preventing Turkish strategic dependence on Iran. Turkey is a NATO member and a key US ally. The US and Britain routinely strike against Iraq from Turkish bases - from which they patrol the unillateraly-declared Iraqi "no-fly zones". These "no-fly zones" are obviously not sanctioned by the UN.

Mehrav is also involved in a murderous project to reduce the flow of water to Iraq by diverting water from the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers to southeastern Turkey. And Magal Security Systems, an Israeli company, is also involved with Turkey: it will provide security for the 2,000 km-long oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

Crook-infested Enron - the biggest donor to the Bush campaign of 2000 - was ubiquitious: it conducted the feasibility study for the $2.5 billion trans-Caspian pipeline being built under a joint venture signed almost three years ago between Turkmenistan and Bechtel.. [ http://www.whatreallyhappened.com ]

Enron, Deregulation of energy, Deregulation of banking industry, Derugulation of accountants..

Enron: not the only bad apple
The deregulation of the energy industry is rotten to the core, writes Greg Palast

Friday February 1, 2002 - I guess I'm not a nice guy. But when I heard that Enron's former vice-chairman Cliff Baxter had shunted his mortal coil, I shed no tears. One tabloid even called Baxter a "hero" who courageously raised the alarm about his company's fantasy financials.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but this is the Baxter who last year quietly crawled out of Enron like a cockroach from a rotting log - then dumped his stock on unsuspecting buyers, thereby pocketing a reported $35m (£25m). You can just imagine Baxter chuckling to himself in January last year as Enron's office staff gathered their pennies for his retirement gift while he's thinking, "So long, suckers!" - knowing they are about to lose their jobs and life savings.

There have been a lot of misplaced tears in the Affair Enron. The employees were shafted, no doubt about it. But the shareholders?

I didn't hear any of them moan when Enron stock shot up through the roof when the company, joined by a half dozen other power pirates, manipulated, monopolized and muscled the California electricity market a year ago.

All together, Enron and half a dozen others skinned purchasers for more than $12bn in excess charges. That's the calculation of California's utility watchdog as presented to federal regulators in a damning petition for refunds.

Here's an example of how Enron's po' widdle stockholders, hero Baxter and chairman Ken Lay made their loot.

Soon after California dumbly deregulated its power markets, Enron sold 500 megawatts of power to the state for delivery over a 15-megawatt line. Very cute, that: the company knew darn well the juice couldn't make it over the line, causing panic in the state - customers would then pay 10 times the normal cost to keep the lights on and traders could cash in.

The federal regulator caught that one. Within weeks of taking office, George Bush demoted the troublesome official. Lay boasted to one candidate expected to replace the sacked regulator that President Bush had given Enron veto over the government appointment.

Nor did Enron's stockholders object to their profitable business of trading politicians like bags of sugar. From Texas to Argentina to Britain, Enron used legal but sick-making use of political donations, consultancies and lobbying to twist contracts, rules and regulations to their liking.

You want to cry for a power industry exec who came to an early, violent, end? Then let me suggest to you Jake Horton, late senior vice-president of Gulf power, a subsidiary of Southern Company. (Southern is one of Enron's cohort in that fixed casino called the US electricity market.)

Horton apparently knew about some of his company's less-than-kosher accounting practices; and he had no doubt about its illegal campaign contributions to Florida politicians - he'd made the payments himself.

But unlike Baxter, who took the money and ran, in April 1989, Horton decided to blow the whistle, confront his bosses and go to state officials.

He demanded and received use of the company's jet to go and confront Southern's board of directors. Ten minutes after take-off, the jet exploded.

While the investigation into the plane crash was inconclusive, the company's CEO believed his death was suicide. He told the BBC: "I guess poor Jake saw no other way out."

Ultimately, Southern pleaded guilty to the charges related to the illegal payments.

Jake and Baxter are the beginning and end of the story of deregulation. I was part of a team investigating Southern's finances after Jake's plane went down, just after a grand jury voted to charge his company with criminal racketeering for manipulating its accounts.

Millions of dollars were charged to customers of Southern's subsidiary, Georgia Power, for spare parts that were not used.

The internal revenue service recommended indictment, but George Bush Sr's justice department put the kibosh on the prosecution (their legal prerogative) - in great part because the fancy financials had been blessed by the company's auditor: Arthur Andersen.

The company denied any wrongdoing.

But while Southern Company didn't face criminal charges, regulators ordered it to pay back millions to its customers.

And that's the big connection to Enron. Because it was in those years of investigation that Southern Company led the fight to "deregulate" the power industry. Rather than conform to the rules, they lobbied to get rid of the rules.

Southern and its buddies in the power industry were successful beyond imagination. Industry lobbyists and lawyers eviscerated America's Public Utilities Holding Company's Act, and made mincemeat of the rules which once barred power companies from making donations to political campaigns.

Crucially, in the newly deregulated power markets, the companies were relieved of the requirement to follow the strict government-designed Uniform System of Accounts.

Enron, founded in 1986, was the Rosemary's Baby of this satanic coupling of free-market ideological hoodoo and electricity industry greed.

Enron played it faster and looser than the others, but it is wrong and dangerous to say Enron was one bad apple.

It's the whole wormy tree of public services deregulation mania which is rotten, root and branch.

· Greg Palast is the author of 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy' - 'Democracy and Regulation', both of which will be published in April. greg@gregpalast.com
http://www.guardian.co.uk/enron/story/0,11337,643422,00.html/

31 January 2002 - The State of the Union speech given by George W. Bush Tuesday night .. in American history. The US president outlined a program of limitless and perpetual warfare, on every continent, and against any regime that stands in the way of the rapacious American ruling class.

Bush threatened to attack Iran, Iraq and North Korea - mentioning the three countries by name. Despite his apocalyptic warnings about 'thousands of dangerous killers, schooled in the methods of murder, often supported by outlaw regimes,' these countries had nothing to do with the September 11 terrorist attacks, a fact acknowledged even by the US government.

Instead Bush outlined a new rationale for military action, claiming that Iran, Iraq and North Korea were seeking to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. He declared, "By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger."

"States like these," he said, "and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."

Despite Bush’s attempt to resurrect the rhetoric of World War II in his reference to the "axis of evil," it is the US government and Bush himself who are following in the footsteps of the N..s. One would have to go back to the diatribes of A..f Hi..r to find comparable bellicosity in the public declarations of a major world power, and comparable cynicism in the lies and provocations employed as justifications for military aggression.

The government’s actions in the period since September 11 constitute the most serious and sustained attack on civil liberties in US history. No one should believe that this is merely a reaction to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Such measures have long been sought by the most right-wing sections of the ruling elite, who have seized on the tragic events of September 11 to realize their political agenda at home, just as they are using them to launch a US military intervention in oil-rich Central Asia.

These sweeping changes are the culmination of two decades of political reaction and attacks on democratic rights, which have seen a steady buildup of the repressive forces of the state: two million Americans in prison, thousands on Death Row, legal restrictions on the rights of defendants, expanded powers of police spying and electronic surveillance. This has been accompanied by the emergence of a fascist-minded right wing with little popular support, but enormous influence in the Republican Party, in Congress, and now in the White House.

Those who want to claim that the recent escalation of the onslaught on civil liberties is simply a response to September 11 ignore the critical fact that the Bush administration came to power on the basis of an unprecedented assault on the most basic of democratic rights: the right to vote. The drive by Bush and the Republican Party to hijack the election and take power, despite having lost the popular vote nationally, was consummated in a ruling by the right-wing majority on the US Supreme Court, which halted a legal recount in the pivotal state of Florida, handing the presidency to Bush. A government that takes power by methods of fraud and conspiracy must rule through the same methods.

This is an administration committed to a domestic and foreign policy tailored to the interests of the wealthiest and most privileged layer in American society. It is also an administration of enormous crisis. Prior to the terror attacks, the Bush administration was showing clear signs of internal disarray. Its already narrow social base of support was eroding under the pressure of a deepening economic slump, both in the US and globally.

The Republicans had lost control of the Senate, and on the international front, the Bush administration was increasingly isolated, with nominal allies as well as enemies opposing its aggressive and unilateralist posture. The events of September 11 were seized on by those who run the Bush administration as a welcome opportunity to shore up the government and rally public support by launching a military attack on the alleged perpetrators, while preparing for an upsurge of social struggle over rising unemployment, worsening slump and the government’s pro-corporate policies by expanding and restructuring the police powers of the state.

The Bush administration’s domestic 'anti-terror' campaign must serve as a sharp warning. After the Florida debacle of November and December 2000, there were complacent commentaries in the press declaring that, unlike many other countries, the bitter political struggle in the United States did not end with tanks in the streets. Now the tanks are in the streets, and soldiers surround the Capitol, in what might be called a slow-motion coup d’état.

All of the traditional norms of bourgeois democracy in the US are in question. The Bush administration expresses the contempt for democracy that pervades powerful sections of the American corporate and financial oligarchy, as well as their fascistic allies in the Christian right, the gun lobby and the militia movement. They are determined to go as far as they can in establishing an authoritarian regime. Such concepts as the separation of powers between the three branches of government and legislative oversight of the executive branch are being tossed aside in the effort to vastly expand the police powers of the federal executive.

It is worth noting that at the height of the anthrax scare, in mid-October, congressional Republicans favored shutting down Congress and adjourning indefinitely, the better to give Bush, the FBI, the CIA and the military a free hand, both abroad and at home. [Ed-note: Speaking of Anthrax: A caller said there is only place in the U.S. where Anthrax is manufactured and they had poor control over the substance. That is how it got into other hands. My thought was why not destroy that place and be done with it. Well to my surprise the caller said that they had tightened up security and plan to keep manufacturing.]

The Bush administration’s war on democratic rights has exposed the inability of the Democratic Party to offer any serious opposition to the extreme-right forces that dominate the Republican Party. Within hours of the September 11 attacks, the Democrats pledged unconditional support to the Bush White House, declaring that political dissent was no longer permissible. The Democratic leadership not only lined up to give Bush an open-ended mandate to wage war abroad, it insured the passage of his 'anti-terror' bill, suppressed any investigation of the unexplained intelligence failure that allowed the September 11 attacks to take place, and sanctioned the trashing of constitutional safeguards in the ongoing police dragnet.

The political collapse of the Democratic Party is the culmination of a protracted process of adaptation to the most right-wing sections of the ruling elite. In their craven response first to the Republican impeachment conspiracy, and then to the theft of the 2000 election, the Democrats already demonstrated their inability and unwillingness to defend democratic rights.

While for the moment, the vast majority of those caught up by the government’s dragnet are immigrants of Middle-Eastern and Central Asian descent, it is only a matter of time before these anti-democratic methods will be used more widely...
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/coup-n07.shtml

News You Can Count On!

My thanks to the editor of the North Florida Advocate, Mr. Glen E. Derickson, for permission to reprint the following article:

United States Congressional Record, March 1, 1993 VOL. 33, page H-1303 The Speaker - Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House.

Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11. . . Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth hopefully, a blueprint for our future. There are some who say it is a coroner's report that will lead to our demise.

It is an established fact that the United States Federal Government has been dissolved by the Emergency Banking Act, March 9, 1933, 48 Stat. 1, Public Law 89-719; Declared by President Roosevelt, being bankrupt and insolvent. H. J. R. 192, 73rd. Congress in session June 5, 1933 - Joint Resolution To Suspend The Gold Standard and Abrogate The Gold Clause dissolved the Sovereign Authority of the United States and the official capacities of all United States Government Offices, Officers and Departments and is further evidence that the United States Federal Government exists today in name only.

The receivers of the United States Bankruptcy are the International Bankers, via the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. All United States Offices, Officials, and Departments are now operating within a de facto status in name only under Emergency War Powers. With the Constitutional Republican form of Government now dissolved, the receivers of the Bankruptcy have adopted a new form of government for the United States. This new form of government is known as a Democracy, being an established Socialist/Communist order under a new governor for America. This act was instituted and established by transferring and/or placing the Office of the Secretary of Treasury to that of the Governor of the International Monetary Fund. Public Law 94-564, page 8, Section H. R. 13955 reads in part:"The U.S. Secretary of Treasury receives no compensation for representing the United States?"

Gold and silver were such a powerful money during the founding of the United States of America, that the founding fathers declared that only gold and silver coins can be "money" in America. Since gold and silver coinage were heavy and inconvenient for a lot of transactions, they were stored in banks and a claim check was issued as a money substitute. People traded their coupons as money, or "currency." Currency is not money, but a money substitute. Redeemable currency must promise to pay a dollar equivalent in gold or silver money. Federal Reserve Notes (FRN's) made no such promises, and are not "money." A Federal Reserve Note is a debt obligation of the federal United States government, not "money." The federal United States government and the U.S. Congress were not and have never been authorized by the Constitution for the United States of America to issue currency of any kind, but only lawful money, - gold and silver coin.

It is essential that we comprehend the distinction between real money, and paper money substitute. One cannot get rich by accumulating money substitutes, one can only get deeper in debt. We the People no longer have any "money." Most Americans have not been paid any "money" for a very long time, perhaps not in their entire life. Now do you comprehend why you feel broke? Now, do you understand why you are "bankrupt," along with the rest of the country?

Federal Reserve Notes (FRN's) are unsigned checks written on a closed account. FRN's are an inflatable paper system designed to create debt through inflation (devaluation of currency). Whenever there is an increase of the supply of a money substitute in the economy without a corresponding increase in the gold and silver backing, inflation occurs.

Inflation is an invisible form of taxation that irresponsible governments inflict on their citizens. The Federal Reserve Bank who controls the supply and movement of FRN's has everybody fooled. They have access to an unlimited supply of FRN's, paying only for the printing costs of what they need. FRN's are nothing more than promissory notes for U.S. Treasury securities (T-Bills) - a promise to pay the debt to the Federal Reserve Bank.

There is a fundamental difference between "paying" and "discharging" a debt. To pay a debt, you must pay with value or substance (i.e. gold, silver, barter or a commodity). With FRN's, you can only discharge a debt. You cannot pay a debt with a debt currency system. You cannot service a debt with a currency that has no backing in value or substance. No contract in common law is valid unless it involves an exchange of "good and valuable consideration." Unpayable debt transfers power and control to the sovereign power structure that has no interest in money, law, equity or justice because they have so much wealth already.

Their lust is for power and control. Since the inception of central banking, they have controlled the fates of nations.

The Federal Reserve System, is based on the Canon law and the principles of sovereignty protected in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In fact, the international bankers used a "Canon Law Trust" as their model, adding stock and naming it a "Joint Stock Trust." The U.S. Congress had passed a law making it illegal for any legal "person" to duplicate a "Joint Stock Trust" in 1873. The Federal Reserve Act was legislated post-facto (1870), although post-facto laws are strictly forbidden by the Constitution. (1:9:3)

The Federal Reserve System is a sovereign power structure separate and distinct from the federal United States government. The Federal Reserve is a maritime lender, and/or maritime insurance underwriter to the federal United States operating exclusively under Admiralty/Maritime law. The lender underwriter bears the risks, and the Maritime law compelling specific performance in paying the interest, or premiums are the same.

Assets of the debtor can also be hypothecated (to pledge something as a security without taking possession of it) as security by the lender or underwriter. The Federal Reserve Act stipulated that the interest on the debt was to be paid in gold. There was no stipulation in the Federal Reserve Act for ever paying the principal.

Prior to 1913, most Americans owned clear, allodial title to property, free and clear of any liens or mortgages until Federal Reserve Act (1913).

"Hypothecated" all property within the federal United States to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, - in which the Trustees (stockholders) held legal title, the U.S. citizen (tenant, franchisee) was registered as a "beneficiary" of the trust via his/her birth certificate. In 1933, the federal United States hypothecated all of the present and future properties, assets and labor of their "subjects," the 14th. Amendment U.S. citizens, to the Federal Reserve System.

In return, the Federal Reserve System agreed to extend the federal United States corporation all the credit "money substitute" it needed. Like any other debtor, the federal United States government had to assign collateral and security to their creditors as condition of the loan. Since the federal United States didn't have any assets, they assigned the private property of their "economic slaves," the U.S. citizens, as collateral against the unpayable federal debt. They also pledge the unincorporated federal territories, national parks forest, birth certificates, and nonprofit organizations, as collateral against the federal debt. All has already been transferred as payment to the international bankers.

Unwittingly, America has returned to its pre-American Revolution, Feudal roots whereby all land is held by a sovereign and the common people had no rights to hold allodial title to property. Once again, We the People are the tenants and sharecroppers renting our own property from a Sovereign in the guise of the Federal Reserve Bank. We the People have exchanged one master for another.

This has been going on for over eighty years without the "informed" knowledge: Of the American people, without a voice protesting loud enough. Now it's easy to grasp why America is fundamentally bankrupt.

Why don't more people own their properties outright?

Why are 90% of Americans mortgaged to the hilt and have little or no assets after all debts and liabilities have been paid? Why does it feel like you are working harder and harder and getting less and less?

We are reaping what has been sown, and the result of our harvest is a painful bankruptcy, and a foreclosure on American property, precious liberties, and a way of life. Few of our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. have dared to tell the truth. The federal United States is bankrupt. Our children will inherit this unpayable debt, and the tyranny to enforce paying it.

America has become completely bankrupt in world leadership, financial credit and its reputation for courage, vision and human rights. This is an undeclared economic war. Bankruptcy, and economic slavery of the most corrupt order! Wake up America! Take back your country. http://www.netcolony.com/news/hotwire2000/bankruptcyoftheus.html

Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) has come under investigation in the White House and last I saw him on the news, he was asked about the investigation, he stated, that he has been under attack for speaking out throughout his twenty years in Congress.

Congressman On Trial Opens with Objection.

The Tampa Tribune 2.6.02 - Cleveland - Rep. James Traficant Jr., the maverick congressman... went on trial on corruption charges Tuesday, defending himself without the benefit of a law degree. "I'm like a mouse looking up at an elephant asking the elephant to surrender, quite frankly," the nine-term Democrat told ABC's "Good Morning America" before entering the federal courthouse... Traficant, 60, is accused of accepting gifts and favors in exchange for lobbying in Washington... [His favorite expression on the House floor: "Beam me up"]

Greenspan, the head of the Federal Reserve, was asked by Nader, what he was going to do about 26 million errors at the Federal Reserve, Greenspan answered something to the effect that those errors were irrelevant and too miniscule to deal with.

At the Banking Committee meeting in January 2002, Greenspan shared an interesting bit of information when confronted about the raids of Social Security and the Medicare Trust Funds. Greenspan reassured the Senators that they didn't have anything to worry about. There is a clause in the way the trust funds are set up that they can be shut down in 30 days without recourse. At the next interview he reiterated that he didn't think the government would ever resort to that.

Is George W. Bush God's President?

by Joe Conason

The New York Observer, p.5 - 1/14/02 - What might normally be an impertinent and perhaps offensive question suddenly seems entirely reasonable after hearing George W. Bush's ungrammatical but passionate pledge to defend the tax cuts his administration provided to the richest, smallest segment of American citizens, at the cost of his own life if need be. The vow he uttered during his town-hall meeting in California over the weekend-"Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes!"-was the strongest he's made on any subject since his promise to deliver Osama bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

Even allowing for hyperbole, such edgy remarks indicate what matters most to Mr. Bush. For the moment, however, he appears more capable of fulfilling the former promise than the latter. And since it has lately become respectable to discuss his elevation to the nation's highest office as a matter of divine will, Mr. Bush's deep determination to empty the Treasury into the pockets of friends and supporters may likewise signify the unknowable agenda of the Almighty.

Unbelievers will scoff at such notions, but in the wake of Sept. 11, the idea that a higher power ordained the inauguration of Mr. Bush is no longer confined to the loonier fringes of the religious right. While the President and the First Lady modestly demur whenever this topic comes up, others around the Oval Office assert that they are convinced. "I think President Bush is God's man at this hour," a top White House aide told a religious publication not long ago. Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition who now chairs the G.O.P. in Georgia, says his fellow evangelicals believe God selected the President because "He knew George Bush had the ability to lead in this compelling way."

Nor is this revelation confined solely to Protestant conservatives. Two days before Christmas, Rudolph Giuliani, a devout but not excessively rigorous Catholic, announced his own opinion that "there was some divine guidance in the President being elected." In this sentiment, the Time magazine "Man of the Year" was swiftly seconded by a Catholic bishop. (Again, a skeptic might impiously wonder why the Lord didn't simply bless Mr. Bush with the actual majority of votes. But faith is nothing without mystery.)

The implications of all this are obviously profound. If the President is indeed guided by Providence in lavishing additional billions upon those who already enjoy so much material abundance-even while the numbers of unemployed, uninsured and homeless soar-then his ascension may represent a millennial reversal of heavenly policy.

Until now, few directives have been clearer than the guidance enunciated by prophets of both the Old and New Testaments regarding earthly greed. "Woe to you who are rich," Jesus told his disciples, "for you have already received your comfort." The impoverished carpenter also reportedly informed a well-heeled acquaintance that it is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." His best-known speech included the admonition that "you cannot serve both God and Mammon."

Universally familiar as those statements are, they are reliably among the most widely ignored. Entire schools of theology, across all ecumenical lines, have long been devoted to parsing a convenient loophole in such injunctions. They aren't the sort of Biblical quotations that politicians try to post in public schools, or that televangelists cite as evidence that Republicans are the party of God. What a relief it would be if the tax policy of the Bush administration means that we no longer have to worry about worshipping the golden calf.

Divine inspiration may not be a persuasive explanation for Mr. Bush's fiscal schemes, which are pushing the government into deficit and threatening to prolong the recession. It is indeed hard to imagine that any omniscient power would prefer a $254 million tax break for Enron to a cut in payroll taxes for the working poor. But it's just as difficult to credit any of the more earthly justifications emanating from the White House press office.

In any case, not all branches of the federal government have awakened yet to the new dispensation. On the same day that Mr. Bush made his "dead body" remark, a report issued by the Congressional Budget Office disparaged his tax cuts as useless for reviving the economy. According to the C.B.O. analysis, better results would ensue from more progressive cuts in payroll and sales taxes. While the nonpartisan report appropriately said nothing about theology, its recommendations were highly reminiscent of that old-fashioned scriptural preference for the poor and the toilers.

So perhaps Mr. Bush's supporters should reconsider their political epiphany. The followers of the last public figure who claimed to be executing God's will are now dodging daisy-cutters.

http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=5333

N.W.O. Plan by Dr. Adrian H. Krieg

 

January 28, 2002 - This is an outline of the general plan by the New world Order for all of us. Numerous portions of this plan have already or are presently being implemented. For a full understanding see: The Satori and the New Mandarins July 4th - 2016 - The Last Independence Day Our Political System

No Martyrs: people just disappear! All listed methods and procedures are dual: All appear to have a benign singular result, but when taken together demonstrate an entirely different purpose.

Money and Banking Elimination of paper currency RFID credit cards, later implants
No savings allowed [already working]
Tracking of all sales [done]
Altering the basis of currency backing [done - We only have fiat Money now]
Altering Fiat money issuance [done all new currency is Issued by the Federal Reserve Not a bank]
RFID implants [in process tests compete]
Centralized world currency First regionalized EC/ FTAA then world wide [partial]
In Europe the Euro and North and South America the dollar
Elections Manipulation of elections through financial methods [done, 45$ million cost to get into primary]
Manipulation of Elections by voter fraud [done]
Elimination of individual candidacy. Replacement by voting for a party [EC in process] Replacement of elected officials by administrators appointed [in process]
Destruction of pole accessibility [done by un-realizable access requirements]
FEC news access elimination [done third party candidates not to have access to media]
Population Control Contraception availability [done 100% through UN]
Tax funded abortion [done]
Suppression of medical cures for diseases [done]
Euthanasia legalization [in process]
Non-affordable health cares for elderly [done]
Euthanasia [In process]
Control over beneficial drug therapies [done FDA]
Reduced Doctor availability by reduction of numbers and access [done]
New man made diseases [done AIDS Ebola etc.]
Acceptance of homosexuality [done]
Homosexual partnership [in process (now legal in VT)]
Education Dumbing down [done through Goals 2000 & outcome base education]
Elimination of Ethics and Morals [done]
Cultural Marxisem to change attitudes [done through Political Correctness]
Elimination of Religion [done]
Required introduction of Secular Humanism [done]
Removal of parental interference [done through economic (income) requirements]
Controlling access to information through selected censorship [done]
Revising history to current goals [done]
Federalizing all education [in process]
Justice Changing laws through Judicial Activism [in process]
Issuing illegal edicts [in process through Exec. Orders]
Utilization of false precedence use to alter legal meaning [in process]
Issuing more laws than can be read [being implemented annually]
Selective enforcement (to use as a selective tool of terror) [done]
National ID [in process, SS #]
The use of precedence to make law [in process]
Military Elimination of all drafts [done almost world wide]
Merging military with police functions [in process]
Professional military only [done]
Merging national defense forces into a world military [in process]
Requiring militaries to swear obedience to international control [in process]
Law Total elimination of gun ownership [in process 2500+ laws on book USA, Completed UK & Australia.]
Selective enforcement of unintelligible statute [in process]
Federalization of police functions [in process]
Elimination of local jurisdictions [in process]
Unintelligible tax statutes, for selective enforcement [done and expanding]
Law confusion [done (IRS) (BATF) etc.]
World UN Court [In operation in Holland]
Elimination of patriotism [done through vilification]
Elimination of ethnic acceptance [done through vilification]
World military not subject to national interests [in process]
Citizen desensitization [in process thorough selective wars & entertainment]
Merging of military and police functions [in process through the UN]
International tax for UN [several failed attempts to date (air travel & currency transactions & Internet]
Selective starvation through food control [Somalia, Ethiopia & USSR remnants]
Religiously based Wars [1990-2000 over 2 million Christians]

General The destruction of national constitutions and bills of citizen's rights. The creation of false and misleading news through information overloading. The destruction of established laws by judicial branches by judicial activism (JA). The alteration of societal norms through Cultural Marxism (PC). The change to international laws by local legislative encroachment of local law. Alteration of attitude by false science environmentalism. Control of all media for propaganda purpose. Control of all finance to control governments and people. Control of all education to control the outcome of their thinking. Control of all religion and the change of those to pantheism.

Environment Global cooling (new ice age) [done and changed to:]
Global warming hoax [done] CO2 hoax [done]
Ozone Hole hoax [done]
Food shortage hoax [done]
Acid rain hoax [done]
World over-population hoax [done]
Raw materiel shortage hoax [done]
Oil price and Gas price gouging [in progress up 75% '99]
Oil shortage hoax [in process]
( Dr. Adrian Krieg is the author of : The Satori and the New Mandarins July 4th - 20016 - The Last Independence Day Our Political System )

[ email from http://watch.pair.com ]

Greg Alston of the ministry 'A Sure Foundation Ministries' published: "It is this writer's humble opinion that the economic power base of the world departed New York City on September 11, 2001 and is now in transit to its original seat of evil, which is Babylon (Zechariah 5:5-11, Revelation 18). Satan has weakened, or at least made our nation vulnerable (Isaiah 14:12) and is even now installing his "man of the hour."

But trade and merchandise is not the only front on which Satan, through his human agent, will advance world dominance. There are also the military and religious realms which must be conquered. Thus, the Pentagon was struck and soon, I believe, the religious persuasion of the masses will be some anesthetized, palatable form of Islam. Just as the United States military has been progressively downsized over the past decade, rendering us vulnerable to attack, so too the Church of Jesus Christ has been "dumbed-down," biblically, and lulled into a false sense of security.

Most Christians today are in a spiritual vacuum. Having been seduced by the wolves in sheep's clothing, they are now ready to be devoured. With the advent of the ecumenical-leaning Promise Keepers, the Counterfeit Revival which looks to feelings and outward signs and more recently, the prayer of Jabez folly, born again Christians are in real peril at the present hour. Because they have not been fed on the milk of the Word, much less partaken of the meat of the Word, most believers are frighteningly vulnerable to the global religion that will soon be introduced to all of mankind. Most will willingly accept it and the rest will be forced to capitulate (Revelation 13:14,15). No doubt, the "new" Islam will give credence to "Jesus"; after all, the Koran does teach that Mohammed was a prophet in the line of Jesus, although they deny His deity. Bill McCartney has repeatedly said that all one need do is "name the name of Jesus." He also invited black Muslim leader, Louis Farrakan, to join with them in their October 4, 1997 march on Washington DC.

Moreover, shouldn't we try to unite with all "people of faith?" In a recent speech honoring an Islamic spiritual leader named Alfred Mohammed, Dr. Robert Schuller, pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California said that if he were to come back in 100 years and find his descendants to be Muslims, it wouldn't bother him. [Someone like] Bin Laden or one of his cohorts, will persuade by smooth words that his cause, his religion, is based on love for mankind and justice for the underdog. This in stark contrast to the judgmental, intolerant mentality of western Christianity. He will promise world peace, an end to war (his initial strikes designed only to get the attention of those who understand) social equality and financial security for all.

"Through his cunning He shall cause deceit to prosper under his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart. He shall destroy many through peace. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; But he shall be broken without human hand." - Daniel 8:25

"The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords."

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. But you, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction; bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in you." - Psalm 55:21-23

He will be able to provide financial security from the vast wealth of the oil reserves in the Middle East, where he lives. This is a strong drawing card on financially strapped Americans who are staring down an economic depression, primarily because of the September 11 attacks.

Untold numbers of truly born again believers will "believe the lie" due to their ignorance of the Word, particularly the Prophetic Word, and sadly, will be swallowed into hell by the religious dragon of the New World Order:

"And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, if anyone receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, forever and ever." - Revelation 13:16; 14:10,11

The Believer’s Response

"But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." - Luke 21:34-36

There are differing opinions concerning the timing of the Rapture as it relates to the Tribulation Week. I am convinced, based on Scripture, that Jesus will remove His people at the outset of the seven years; however, we need to be watching and praying so that we will be counted worthy to escape (Luke 21:36, Hebrews 9:28). Those Christians who initially are left behind will have another opportunity to be taken during the early stages of the Tribulation. I have addressed this subject in great detail in other places. Please contact the ministry to obtain additional information.

In Luke 21:34-36 (quoted above), notice that Christians must abandon the "cares of this life." Cares mean worry, but also represent common concerns/quests, such as "fighting terrorism," "re-building the World Trade Center," or "turning our nation back to God." All of these, though noble initiatives, are what Colossians 3:2 refers to as "things of the earth." We are admonished in that passage to set our minds on things "above," not on "things of the earth." The three examples are not necessarily wrong, but they are substitutionary to our desire to leave this world altogether. Moreover, the Bible teaches that world conditions will worsen in the end time, not improve (2 Timothy 3:1-13, Matthew 24:12).

So the believer’s goal in this last hour is twofold: 1) tell everyone you can that only Jesus Christ can save them from the present distress, and 2) be ever watchful and desirous of His coming so that you may be among those who will be taken off the earth.

"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to His death. If, by any means I may attain to the resurrection/rapture (EXANASTASIS - "a physical rising up") from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call (Rapture - Revelation 4:1) of God in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 3:10-14

If You Are an Unbeliever

If you do not claim to know Jesus Christ, or you do not acknowledge Him as God and Savior, then I urge you to consider developing a relationship with Him today. Although you cannot see Him, He is right there next to you through word or thought.

"’The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." - Romans 10:9,10

I realize that you may already have a strong religious persuasion that either excludes Jesus Christ or reduces Him to something less than who He is, God (John 1:1,14). But before you adopted your religion, or philosophy, did you take the time to study the life, teaching and acts of Jesus Christ? I ask only that you consider and even pray whether or not you ought to investigate His claims and His authority. He is the only one who can save you in the day of trouble, which is even now coming upon the whole world (Acts 4:12, Zechariah 14:1-4,12-15, Revelation 3:10).

"Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof...because they have forsaken me, and have (worshipped) other gods...But (say) to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the Lord...'Because thine heart was tender, and thou has humbled thyself before the Lord, and thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse...I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore...thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.'" -2 Kings 22:15-20

"Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O shameless nation, before the decree is issued, or the day passes like chaff, before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you! Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger." -Zephaniah 2:1-3 [ http://www.surefoundation.org/WorldTradeCenter.html ]

In closing:

"Exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin ... Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts ..." [Hebrews 3:13, 15].

The days are rapidly running toward their conclusion. Antichrist is just ahead, but first, mankind will have to go through the planned World War III "birth pangs" of Matthew 24. Are
you spiritually ready? Is your family? Are you adequately protecting your loved ones? This is the reason for all these ministries, to enable you to first understand the peril facing you, and then help you develop strategies to warn and protect your loved ones. Once you have been thoroughly taught, you can also use your knowledge as a means to open the door
of discussion with an unsaved person. I have been able to use it many times, and have seen people come to Jesus Christ as a result. These perilous times are also a time when we can reach many souls for Jesus Christ, making an eternal difference.

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with Him, you need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will instantly forgive you, and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then, you need to begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study.

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but have come to realize His reality and the approaching End of the Age, and want to accept His FREE Gift of Eternal Life, you can also do so now, in the privacy of your home. Once you accept Him as Savior, you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured of Heaven as if you were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the Kingdom of Antichrist will not touch you spiritually.