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Star Wars Episodes II & III
Rise of Empire
Emotional Control - "The hate
is swelling in you now."
Allies and Enemies
The Emperor's Power Grows
Bring on the Clones
The Shroud of the Dark Side
Falls
Rise of Empire
'Wars' Raises Questions on U.S. Policy
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie WriterMon May 16, 2005, 10:46 AM ET
Lucas' themes of democracy on the skids and a ruler preaching war to preserve
the peace predate "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" by almost 30
years. Yet viewers Sunday — and Lucas himself — noted similarities between the
final chapter of his sci-fi saga and our own troubled times.
Cannes audiences made blunt comparisons between
"Revenge of the Sith" — the story of Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side
and the rise of an emperor through warmongering — to President Bush's war on
terrorism and the invasion of Iraq.
Lucas said he patterned his story after
historical transformations from freedom to fascism, never figuring when he
started his prequel trilogy in the late 1990s that current events might parallel
his space fantasy.
"As you go through history, I didn't think it was
going to get quite this close. So it's just one of those recurring things,"
Lucas said at a Cannes news conference. "I hope this doesn't come true in our
country.
"Maybe the film will waken people to the
situation," Lucas joked.
“In this they proceeded on the sound principle
that the magnitude of a lie always contains a certain factor of credibility,
since the great masses of the people in the very bottom of their hearts tend to
be corrupted rather than consciously and purposely evil, and that, therefore, in
view of the primitive simplicity of their minds they more easily fall a victim
to a big lie than to a little one, since they themselves lie in little things,
but would be ashamed of lies that were too big. Such a falsehood will never
enter their heads and they will not be able to believe in the possibility of
such monstrous effrontery and infamous misrepresentation in others; yes, even
when enlightened on the subject, they will long doubt and waver, and continue to
accept at least one of these causes as true.”
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Volume One - A Reckoning, Chapter X: Causes of
the Collapse
http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch10.html
"We're not deceived by their pretenses to
piety. We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous
ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical
visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the
path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. …They want to overthrow existing
governments in many Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia…”
-
Words read by Bush to a joint session of Congress, September 20, 2001, CNN
Transcript
Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President
15 September 2002
The blueprint, uncovered by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax
Americana' was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice- president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence
secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W Bush's younger brother
Jeb and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding
America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, was
written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New
American Century (PNAC).
The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf
region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power. It says: 'The United States
has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security.
While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification,
the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the
issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.'
Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century
- September 2000.
“Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change,
is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like
a new Pearl Harbor." pg. 50-51
International Law Seen at Risk in U.S. Fight with Security Council
Jul 5, 2002
"The real reason behind Washington's blackmail [in the Security Council] is the
most troubling," according to Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human
Rights Watch (HRW), writing in the Financial Times this week. "An increasingly
influential faction in the Bush administration believes that U.S. military and
economic power is so dominant that the U.S. is no longer served by international
law."
Project for the New American Century
The Project for the New American Century is a non-profit educational
organization dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American
leadership is good both for America and for the world; that such leadership
requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle;
and that too few political leaders today are making the case for global
leadership.
America's Image Further Erodes, Europeans Want Weaker Ties
Pew Research Center for the People and The Press
Released: March 18, 2003
Anti-war sentiment and disapproval of President Bush's international policies
continue to erode America's image among the publics of its allies. U.S.
favorability ratings have plummeted in the past six months in countries actively
opposing war France, Germany and Russia as well as in countries that are
part of the "coalition of the willing." In Great Britain, favorable views of the
U.S. have declined from 75% to 48% since mid-2002.
Bush's Alderaan
By Robert Parry
April 8, 2003
As he marched the nation to war, Bush presented himself as a Christian man of
peace who saw war only as a last resort. But in a remarkable though little noted
disclosure, Time magazine reported that in March 2002 – a full year before the
invasion – Bush outlined his real thinking to three U.S. senators, “Fuck
Saddam,” Bush said. “We’re taking him out.”
…
Much of the world – from Canada to Cameroon – caught on to the administration’s
game as it sought to manipulate international support for an invasion. Bush's
lack of credibility on the world stage left him with only four out of 15 votes
on the U.N. Security Council for a war resolution.
The Bush administration’s deceit was so obvious that even Washington Post
columnist David Broder spotted it. Broder, who has built a career ignoring
unpleasant realities about Washington’s powerful, observed how Bush had
choreographed the march to war.
“Looking back, the major landmarks of the past year appear to have been
carefully designed to leave no alternative but war with Iraq – or an unlikely
capitulation and abdication by Hussein,” Broder wrote on the eve of the war.
Noting Bush’s post-Sept. 11th doctrine of waging preemptive war against any
nation that he deemed a potential threat, Broder said, “It quickly became clear
that Iraq had been chosen as the test case of the new doctrine.” [Washington
Post, March 18, 2003]
Once Bush had chosen the site, there was virtually nothing the Iraqi government
could do to avoid war, short of total capitulation. As a demonstration of both
America’s military might and his own itchy trigger finger, Bush had decided to
make Iraq his Alderaan, the hapless planet in the original Star Wars movie that
was picked to show off the power of the Death Star.
“Fear will keep the local systems in line, fear of this battle station,”
explained Death Star commander Tarkin in the movie. “No star system will dare
oppose the emperor now.”
U.S. Diplomat's Letter of Resignation
February 27, 2003
…The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with
American values but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit of war
with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been
America’s most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of
Woodrow Wilson. We have begun to dismantle the largest and most effective web of
international relationships the world has ever known. Our current course will
bring instability and danger, not security.
…Why does our President condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our
friends and allies this Administration is fostering, including among its most
senior officials. Has “oderint dum metuant” really become our motto?
oderint dum metuant: Let them hate so long as they fear. (A favorite saying
of Caligula.)
http://www.dawn.com/2001/11/10/top1.htm
OBL: …“America and its allies are massacring us in Palestine, Chechenya, Kashmir
and Iraq. The Muslims have the right to attack America in reprisal. The Islamic
Shariat says Muslims should not live in the land of the infidel for long. The
Sept 11 attacks were not targeted at women and children. The real targets were
America's icons of military and economic power.”
 
Emotional Control - "The hate is swelling in you now."
Love in a Distant Galaxy, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, March, 2002
Portman, for one, sees in the the Star Wars saga "the same tendency we
all have now of trying to understand how people come to be evil, how they come
to put ideology ahead of respect for life." But Lucas is reluctant to
draw explicit parallels. "You know, in the end, one can only say that it's sad
that we keep repeating ourselves," he says. "Everybody in the beginning [of the
Star Wars phenomenon] was saying, 'Oh, it's about Vietnam, its about World War
II,' and, you know, it's closer to the Roman Empire than it is to anything else.
When people look at something like Star Wars, I hope that they say, 'Well, what
is this all based on?,' and begin to look back through history and realize that
it's based on certain ideas that have been repeated over and over again.
None of this that's going on today is very new."
Matthew 4
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain,
and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou
wilt fall down and worship me.
Return of the Jedi, Luke’s Defiance
Vader: It is pointless to resist, my son.
Emperor: <Returning to his chair.> Everything that has transpired has done
so according to my design. Your friends, up there on the Sanctuary Moon [Endor],
are walking into a trap, as is your rebel fleet. It was I who allowed the
alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from
your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them. Oh,
I’m afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends
arrive.
Emperor: Come, boy, see for yourself. <Luke comes to the window.> From here
you will witness the final destruction of the alliance, and the end of your
insignificant rebellion. <Luke glances at his lightsaber, which lies beside
the Emperor.> You want this, don’t you? <Touching the lightsaber.> The hate is
swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me
down with it. Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make
yourself more my servant. <Vader glances at Luke>
The Triune Brain
This hypothesis has become a very influential paradigm, which has forced a
rethink of how the brain functions. It had previously been assumed that the
highest level of the brain, the neocortex, dominates the other, lower levels.
MacLean has shown that this is not the case, and that the physically lower
limbic system, which rules emotions, can hijack the higher mental functions when
it needs to.
#TL12:
HOW TO ACHIEVE EMOTIONAL CONTROL
By Mark Lindsay (The Triune Brain)
"In The Dragons of Eden, after
describing the characteristic behaviors of the reptile brain which I’ve just
listed above, Carl Sagan says, "This seems to me to characterize a great deal of
modern human bureaucratic and political behavior." Bureaucratic behavior is
"controlled at its core" by the reptilian brain, hence we observe coercion and
physical violence, territorial and jurisdictional claims, political rituals such
as the presidential motorcade, and the social hierarchies for which bureaucratic
organizations are notorious."
"The danger is not that a particular class is
unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern...Power tends to corrupt, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely."
-
Lord Acton (1834-1902)
Revelation 13
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his
deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast:
and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto
the beast? who is able to make war with him?
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to
continue forty and two months.
"The American people know this about me and my national security team and my
administration: Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to kill on
that fateful morning, I would have done everything in my power to protect the
American people,"
-
George W. Bush,
43rd US President,
Bush on Defensive
Ashcroft Flying High
CBS News, WASHINGTON, July 26, 2001
Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to
Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News
Correspondent Jim Stewart.
In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling
exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice
Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said
Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his
term.
Asked if he knew anything about the threat or who might have made it, the
attorney general replied, "Frankly, I don't. That's the answer."
'I saw papers that show US knew al-Qa'ida would attack cities with aeroplanes'
Whistleblower the White House wants to silence speaks to The Independent
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
02 April 2004
A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has
provided information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which
proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to attack the US with aircraft
months before the strikes happened.
She said the claim by the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, that
there was no such information was "an outrageous lie".
Sibel Edmonds said she spent more than three hours in a closed session with the
commission's investigators providing information that was circulating within the
FBI in the spring and summer of 2001 suggesting that an attack using aircraft
was just months away and the terrorists were in place. The Bush administration,
meanwhile, has sought to silence her and has obtained a gagging order from a
court by citing the rarely used "state secrets privilege".
Probe: U.S. Knew of Jet Terror Plots
Wed Sep 18, 2002
By KEN GUGGENHEIM, Associated Press Writer
Congressional investigators also said that an intelligence briefing two
months before the Sept. 11 attack warned that Osama bin Laden would launch a
spectacular terrorist attack against U.S. or Israeli interests.
The July 2001 briefing for senior government officials said that based
on a review of intelligence information over five months "we believe that (bin
Laden) will launch a significant terrorist attack against U.S. and/or Israeli
interests in the coming weeks."
Hill's report notes CIA Director George J. Tenet
has declined to declassify information on two key issues being looked at by the
inquiry: References to intelligence agencies supplying information to the White
House, and details of an al-Qaida leader involved in the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Victory? Victory, you say? Not victory. A defeat it was, Master Obi-Wan.
The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun,
the Clone War has.”
-
Master Yoda
“And liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the
people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their
great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a
desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable,
unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of
knowledge, I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers. Rulers are no
more than attorneys, agents, and trustees for the people; and if the cause, the
interest and trust, is insidiously betrayed, or wantonly trifled away, the
people have a right to revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed…”
-
John Adams, 2nd US President, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765
The
Secrets of September 11 or
here
Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Wednesday 30 April 2003
The report was completed last December; only a bare-bones list of “findings”
with virtually no details was made public. But nearly six months later, a
“working group” of Bush administration intelligence officials assigned to
review the document has taken a hard line against further public disclosure.
By refusing to declassify many of its most significant conclusions, the
administration has essentially thwarted congressional plans to release the
report by the end of this month, congressional and administration sources tell
NEWSWEEK. In some cases, these sources say, the administration has even sought
to “reclassify” some material that was already discussed in public testimony-a
move one Senate staffer described as “ludicrous.” The administration’s stand has
infuriated the two members of Congress who oversaw the report-Democratic Sen.
Bob Graham and Republican Rep. Porter Goss.
Some sources who have read the still-secret congressional report say some
sections would not play quite so neatly into White House plans. One portion
deals extensively with the stream of U.S. intelligence-agency reports in the
summer of 2001 suggesting that Al Qaeda was planning an upcoming attack against
the United States-and implicitly raises questions about how Bush and his top
aides responded. One such CIA briefing, in July 2001,
was particularly chilling and prophetic. It predicted that Osama bin Laden
was about to launch a terrorist strike “in the coming weeks,” the congressional
investigators found. The intelligence briefing went on to say: “The attack will
be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against U.S. facilities
or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little
or no warning.”
The substance of that intelligence report was first disclosed at a public
hearing last September by staff director Hill. But at the last minute, Hill was
blocked from saying precisely who within the Bush White House got the briefing
when CIA director Tenet classified the names of the recipients. (One source says
the recipients of the briefing included Bush himself.) As a result, Hill was
only able to say the briefing was given to “senior government officials.”
That issue is now being refought in the context over the full report. The report
names names, gives dates and provides a body of new information about the
handling of many other crucial intelligence briefings-including one in early
August 2001 given to national-security adviser Rice that discussed Al Qaeda
operations within the United States and the possibility that the group’s members
might seek to hijack airplanes. The administration “working group” is
still refusing to declassify information about the briefings, sources said, and
has even expressed regret that some of the material was ever provided to
congressional investigators in the first place.
Weldon: Atta Papers Destroyed on Orders
By DONNA DE LA CRUZ, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005
A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed
Atta as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said
Thursday.
The employee is prepared to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary
Committee and was expected to name the person who ordered him to destroy the
large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa.
...
Weldon has said that Atta, the mastermind of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and
three other hijackers were identified in 1999 by a classified military
intelligence unit known as "Able Danger," which determined they could be members
of an al-Qaida cell.
...
Pentagon officials said this month they had found three more people who recall
an intelligence chart identifying Atta as a terrorist prior to the Sept. 11
attacks.
Two military officers, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott
Phillpott, have come forward to support Weldon's claims.
Allies and Enemies
"Americans are asking, "How will we fight and win
this war?" We will direct every resource at our command -- every means of
diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement,
every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war -- to the
destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network."
-
Words read by Bush to a joint session of Congress, September 20, 2001, CNN
Transcript
“We've had allies throughout our history that aren't necessarily of the
same philosophy and persuasion that we are, regarding principles and values.
Sometimes your realpolitik interests demand that.”
-
James Baker, former U.S. Secretary of State, PBS Frontline interview, October
2001
realpolitik (Yahoo! Reference: The Britannica Concise)
Politics based on practical objectives rather than on ideals. The word does
not mean "real" in the English sense but rather connotes "things"--hence a
politics of adaptation to things as they are. Realpolitik thus suggests a
pragmatic, no-nonsense view and a disregard for ethical considerations.
In diplomacy it is often associated with relentless, though realistic, pursuit
of the national interest.
Classified Section of Sept. 11 Report Faults Saudi Rulers
New York Times, July 26, 2003
The 28-page section of the report was deleted from the nearly 900-page
declassified version released on Thursday by a joint committee of the House and
Senate intelligence committees. The chapter focuses on the role foreign
governments played in the hijackings, but centers almost entirely on Saudi
Arabia, the people who saw the section said.
FBI AND US SPY AGENTS SAY BUSH SPIKED BIN LADEN PROBES BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER
The Guardian (London)
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Officials told to 'back off' on Saudis before September 11
by Greg Palast and David Pallister
“FBI and military intelligence officials in Washington say they were prevented
for political reasons from carrying out full investigations into members of the
Bin Laden family in the US before the terrorist attacks of September 11.”
“US intelligence agencies have come under criticism for their wholesale failure
to predict the catastrophe at the World Trade Centre. But some are complaining
that their hands were tied.”
…
“But the FBI files were closed in 1996 apparently before any conclusions could
be reached on either the Bin Laden brothers or the organisation itself.
High-placed intelligence sources in Washington told the Guardian this week: "There
were always constraints on investigating the Saudis".”
“They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over
this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from
investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi
royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by
Pakistan.”
Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude
by Robert Baer
“In his blustering second book, former CIA officer Baer (See No Evil: The True
Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism) targets Saudi Arabia's
corrupt leadership and cozy relationship with Washington. He argues that because
the Saudis pay vast sums to powerful Americans, often in the form of lucrative
defense contracts, those U.S. agencies that could help stop terrorism are
thwarted by their own side.”
How bin Laden gave US the slip
(Filed: 17/11/2002)
'There's one word for why we didn't catch Osama and that's Pakistan," complained
one frustrated intelligence officer.
"Put it this way, the Pakistanis are selling nuclear technology to the north
Koreans after September 11 yet we're calling them our best buddies. . ."
Rescuing the Enemy
Yes, Pakistan evacuated men from Kunduz. Why'd the U.S. let them?
BY TUNKU VARADARAJAN, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page
Wednesday, November 28, 2001 12:01 a.m. EST
Last Thursday the Indian press carried reports that two helicopters of the
Pakistani air force had landed in the heart of Kunduz--an Afghan town then under
siege by the Northern Alliance, but still under Taliban control--and "flew out
soon after carrying two chopper loads of personnel." These included two
brigadiers of the Pakistani army. Two days later, the Indian press again carried
reports, based on information supplied by Indian intelligence, that Pakistan's
air force had "flown several missions since Sunday to evacuate top Pakistani
military commanders."
Report: Pakistan rescued Taliban
By Kirk Spitzer, USA TODAY
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan -- Pakistani air force planes evacuated hundreds of foreign
fighters from the besieged city of Kunduz hours before Northern Alliance
soldiers captured the city, the commander of anti-Taliban forces said Monday.
The charges came amid reports of atrocities against Taliban troops by Northern
Alliance forces entering Kunduz, the last Taliban stronghold in northern
Afghanistan.
''We are very angry about the taking away of the foreign Taliban,'' said Gen.
Daoud Khan, leader of the Northern Alliance forces that captured this key
crossroads city Monday after a 15-day siege. ''They must answer for their
crimes.'' Daoud said his soldiers saw Pakistani planes arriving and departing
from the airport early Monday as they closed in on Kunduz. Alliance officials
have long accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban and interfering in Afghan
affairs.
“Absolute power has no necessity to lie, it may be silent – while responsible
governments obliged to speak, not only disguise the truth, but lie with
effrontery.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte
The ‘airlift of evil’
"THE PENTAGON, whose satellites and drones are able to detect sleeping
guerrillas in subterranean caverns, claims it knows nothing of these flights.
When asked about the mysterious airlift at a recent Pentagon briefing, Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, denied knowledge of such flights. Myers backpedaled a bit, saying
that, given the severe geography of the country, it might be possible to duck in
and out of mountain valleys and conduct such an airlift undetected. But Rumsfeld
intervened. With his talent for being blunt and ambiguous at the same time, he
said: “I have received absolutely no information that would verify or validate
statements about airplanes moving in or out. I doubt them.”
 
The Emperor's Power Grows
At the Movies: 'Star Wars: Episode II _ Attack of the Clones'
(Associated Press)
“Meanwhile, Anakin's mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), searches for her
attacker and discovers the development of an army of clones; this is where the
story loses focus. Eventually, he reteams with Anakin and Amidala to fight Count
Dooku (Christopher Lee), a former Jedi knight who's turned evil and wants to
take over the galaxy because ... who knows? He just does. That's how
indiscernible the plot and motivations are.”
While somewhat accurate in some of her other observations I think the critic
blew it with that superficial and incorrect nonsense about Count Dooku taking
over the galaxy. I’ve not seen a critic yet acknowledge the subversive political
machinations in the film that draw the republic into war and ‘temporarily’ grant
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers. Yoda’s statement, "The dark side clouds
everything” is not only accurate in the context of the film but appears to apply
to film critics and even our current war on terrorism that has granted the US
executive administration sweeping new powers in the USA Patriot Act. It’s much
like the decree granting Hitler more power prior to WWII. Please see the
following
research on Anthrax where I describe the motives, means and opportunity that
indicate someone in the CIA was most likely behind the attacks. I contend the Anthrax attacks are more
historically similar to the Nazis burning the Reichstag then the events of
September 11, 2001.
"Do not separate text from historical background. If
you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only
end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government."
-
James Madison
co-author of the Federalist Papers
The USA PATRIOT Act:
I. THE USA PATRIOT ACT CONFERS VAST AND UNCHECKED POWERS TO THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
“To an unprecedented degree, the Act sacrifices our political freedoms in the
name of national security and upsets the democratic values that define our
nation by consolidating vast new powers in the executive branch of government.”
The Rise of Hitler - Feb. 27, 1933 The Reichstag Burns
“The exact sequence of events will never be known, but Nazi storm troopers
under the direction of Göring were also involved in torching the place. They had
befriended the arsonist and may have known or even encouraged him to burn the
Reichstag that night. …At a cabinet meeting held later in the morning, February
28, Chancellor Hitler demanded an emergency decree to overcome the crisis. He
met little resistance from his largely non-Nazi cabinet. That evening, Hitler
and Papen went to Hindenburg and the befuddled old man signed the decree "for
the Protection of the people and the State."
"We're not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We
have seen their kind before. They're the
heirs of all the
murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve
their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they
follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow
that path all the way to where it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded
lies.”
-
President Bush's address to a joint session of Congress on Thursday night,
September 20, 2001
Clamor Magazine - Heir to the Holocaust
By Toby Rogers,
Clamor Magazine
Prescott Bush, 1.5 Million Dollars, and Auschwitz: How the Bush Family Wealth is
linked to the Jewish Holocaust, by Toby Rogers
“But while President Bush publicly embraced the community of holocaust survivors
in Washington last spring, he and his family have been keeping a secret from
them for over 50 years about Prescott Bush, the president's grandfather.
According to classified documents from Dutch intelligence and US government
archives, President George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush made
considerable profits off Auschwitz slave labor. In fact, President Bush himself
is an heir to these profits from the holocaust which were placed in a blind
trust in 1980 by his father, former president George Herbert Walker Bush.”
When you watch Star Wars Episode 2 pay attention to the
political/economic
groups that were forming coalitions with Count Dooku. I believe they
are the Banking Clan, the Corporate Alliance, the Trade Federation, the Techno
Guild, and the Commerce Guild. There are parallel organizations such
as the Carlyle Group that can be found associated with but independent from the
Republic of the United States of America. Please read the following
paragraph and consider how many people are misinformed about the true nature of
corporations. They are each like little fascist empires when you consider
how the organizations are structured. I'm sure you've noticed that the
chief executives' titles often include 'officer' and there is a top down chain
of command just as a military organization is structured (or an insect colony).
“On corporations as "collectivist legal entities."
“The term is not mine. It is taken from a standard work on legal history: Morton
Horwitz, "Transformation of American Law" (2 volumes). Horwitz is a Harvard law
professor, a (if not the) leading legal historian on these matters. He explains
the reasons for the term, and also gives a detailed and interesting history of
the relevant corporate law. That the intellectual backgrounds are neo-Hegelian
(rather like those that underlie fascism and Bolshevism) is in my opinion quite
true, one of the reasons why "progressives" tended to support the extraordinary
legal decisions early in this century to grant corporations the rights of
"immortal persons," and one of the reasons why genuine conservatives (classical
liberals) -- a breed that has almost vanished -- were strongly opposed to this
attack on natural rights principles and on markets (corporations are also a
radical attack on markets). This is not a legacy of "individualism": it's a
sharp attack against individualism, in particular, against the natural rights
doctrine that rights inhere in persons -- by which classical liberals meant
PERSONS, not collectivist legal entities. “
Fascism: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
…The most common feature of fascism cited in contrast to socialism is the fact
that neither Hitler nor Mussolini nationalized their nations' industries. Some
contend that this difference is also more cosmetic than actual, since both
leaders used extreme regulation to control industry, while leaving them in the
hands of their owners. Hitler commented on this difference in a letter to Herman
Rauschning, where he wrote:
"Of what importance is all that, if I range men firmly within a discipline they
cannot escape? Let them own land or factories as much as they please. The
decisive factor is that the State, through the Party, is supreme over them
regardless of whether they are owners or workers. All that is unessential; our
socialism goes far deeper. It establishes a relationship of the individual to
the State, the national community. Why need we trouble to socialize banks and
factories?
We socialize human beings."
It is also possible, since Fascism incorporates
corporatism, that a Fascist
regime may de-facto nationalize certain key industries, simply by maintaining
close personal and/or business relationships with the corporations' owners.
“The liberals and conservatives and Libertarians who lament
totalitarianism are phonies and hypocrites. There is more freedom in any
moderately deStalinized dictatorship than there is in the ordinary American
workplace. You find the same sort of hierarchy and discipline in an office or
factory as you do in a prison or a monastery. . .A worker is a part-time slave.
The boss says when to show up, when to leave, and what to do in the meantime. He
tells you how much work to do and how fast. He is free to carry his control to
humiliating extremes, regulating, if he feels like it, the clothes you wear or
how often you go to the bathroom. With a few exceptions he can fire you for any
reason, or no reason. He has you spied on by snitches and supervisors, he
amasses a dossier on every employee. Talking back is called 'insubordination,'
just as if a worker is a naughty child, and it not only gets you fired, it
disqualifies you for unemployment compensation. . .The demeaning system of
domination I've described rules over half the waking hours of a majority of
women and the vast majority of men for decades, for most of their lifespans. For
certain purposes it's not too misleading to call our system democracy or
capitalism or -- better still -- industrialism, but its real names are factory
fascism and office oligarchy. Anybody who says these people are 'free' is lying
or stupid.”
-
Bob Black, The Abolition of Work
These mini empires thought they were serving their own
best interest by breaking away from the republic and joining another group where
they thought they would wield more power but in the end they were merely pawns
who expended resources that were destroyed by the clone army. This
otherwise powerful group was thus rendered ineffective making it easier for the
eventual emperor to subjugate them. Since the events of September 11, 2001
corporations in the US have suffered greatly. In order to prop up their
stock prices they have had to borrow money from the Federal Reserve bank and buy
their own stock. The stock even at those prices is priced well beyond what they are worth. In addition they have to pay interest to the
Fed for the borrowed money. For
more on this please see my
WTC page.
The following are just a few relevant citations that help illustrate the parallels between the messy political
economic relationships in Earth's current situation and those in the Star Wars
film. I've recently created a separate section of my site limited to
politics.
'Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal' hijacked US foreign policy: former Powell aide
Thu Oct 20, 2005 11:05 PM ET
Former secretary of state Colin Powell's top aide has accused Vice President
Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of creating a "cabal" that has
hijacked US foreign policy.
...
He said the "Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal" is influenced by the business world and that
Cheney was a member of the "military industrial complex."
"How much influence on their decisions? I think a lot -- in how much the
decisions reflect their connections with the cartels and the corporations and so
forth, I think a lot. I think the president, too," Wilkerson said.
Star Wars: Databank | Trade Federation
The Republic had enjoyed centuries of growth and prosperity; it was inevitable
that its wealth would foster those with greed to match. The varied instruments
of trade and commerce banded together into galaxy-spanning organizations meant
to aggrandize their profits. Coalitions such as the
Trade Federation,
Commerce Guild,
Techno Union, and the
Intergalactic Banking Clan consolidated their individual markets under
governing bodies of such size that they exhibited pull on the actions of the
Galactic Senate.
“It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic;
but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me
to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations
have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the
money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon
the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and
the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of
my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my
suspicions may prove groundless."
- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln,
Nov.
21, 1864, (letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)
“What is called 'capitalism' is basically a system
of corporate mercantilism, with huge and largely unaccountable private tyrannies
exercising vast control over the economy, political systems, and social and
cultural life, operating in close cooperation with powerful states that
intervene massively in the domestic economy and international society.”
-
Noam Chomsky
Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline
(From
BBC site without pictures.)
Thursday, December 4, 1997 Published at 19:27 GMT
Explosive New Book Published in France Alleges that U.S. Was in Negotiations to
Do a Deal with Taliban
Aired January 8, 2002 - 07:34 ET
“BUTLER: The most explosive charge, Paula, is that the Bush administration --
the present one, just shortly after assuming office slowed down FBI
investigations of al Qaeda and terrorism in Afghanistan in order to do a deal
with the Taliban on oil --
an oil pipeline across Afghanistan.”
Afghanistian: Oil Execs Revive Pipeline From Hell
Oil companies have dreamed of a trans-Afghan pipeline. Are they crazy enough
to pull it off now?
By Daniel Fisher, Forbes.com, February 4, 2002
"It is absolutely essential that the U.S. make
the pipeline the centerpiece of rebuilding Afghanistan," says S. Rob
Sobhani, a professor of foreign relations at Georgetown University and the head
of Caspian Energy Consulting. The State Department thinks it's a great idea,
too. Routing the gas through Iran would be avoided, and Central Asian
republics wouldn't have to ship through Russian pipelines.
USA: Unocal Advisor Named Representative to Afghanistan
January 3, 2002, Corpwatch
“President Bush has appointed a former aide to the American oil company
Unocal, Afghan-born Zalmay Khalilzad, as special envoy to Afghanistan. The
nomination was announced December 31, nine days after the US-backed interim
government of Hamid Karzai took office in Kabul.”
Republican-controlled Carlyle Group poses serious Ethical Questions for Bush
Presidents, but Baltimore Sun ignores it
“If the U.S. boosts defense spending in its quest to stop Osama bin Laden’s
alleged terrorist activities, there may be one unexpected beneficiary: Mr. bin
Laden’s family.” And, though the WSJ curiously did not mention this, another
beneficiary may be George H.W. Bush’s family.”
“Though described by the Industry Standard as “the world’s largest private
equity firm,” with over $12 billion under management, chances are readers
haven’t ever heard of The Carlyle Group. Isn’t that a little odd, considering it
is run by a veritable who's who of former Republican political leaders. Former
Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci is Carlyle’s chairman and managing director
(who, by the way, was college roommate of the current Defense Secretary, Donald
Rumsfeld). And that partners in this mammoth venture include former U.S.
Secretary of State James A. Baker III, George Soros, Fred Malek (George H.W.
Bush’s campaign manager, forced to resign when it was revealed he was Nixon’s
“Jew counter”), and—presumably—George H.W. Bush?”
“All told, Carlyle has about 420 partners all over the globe, from Saudi princes
to the former president of the Philippines. Its investments run heavily in the
defense sector; they make money from military conflicts and weapons spending…”
WALL STREET JOURNAL: BUSH SR. IN BUSINESS WITH BIN LADEN FAMILY CONGLOMERATE
THROUGH CARLYLE GROUP
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates
and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, reacted with disbelief to The
Wall Street Journal report of yesterday that George H.W. Bush, the father of
President Bush, works for the bin Laden family business in Saudi Arabia through
the Carlyle Group, an international consulting firm. The senior Bush had met
with the bin Laden family at least twice. (Other top Republicans are also
associated with the Carlyle group, such as former Secretary of State James A.
Baker.)
Briefing Depicted Saudis as Enemies
Ultimatum Urged To Pentagon Board
By Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 6, 2002; Page A01
A briefing given last month to a top Pentagon advisory board
described Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States, and recommended that
U.S. officials give it an ultimatum to stop backing terrorism or face seizure of
its oil fields and its financial assets invested in the United States.
"The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to
financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader," stated
the explosive briefing. It was presented on July 10 to the Defense Policy Board,
a group of prominent intellectuals and former senior officials that advises the
Pentagon on defense policy.
"Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies," said the briefing
prepared by Laurent Murawiec, a Rand Corp. analyst. A talking point attached to
the last of 24 briefing slides went even further, describing Saudi Arabia as
"the kernel of evil, the prime mover, the most dangerous opponent" in the Middle
East.
PBS - frontline: saudi time bomb?: interviews: james baker
Frontline: And yet, they're our allies.
Baker: That's right. We have allies, particularly in this fight against
terrorism, that don't embrace democracy, and that don't embrace free markets.
We've had allies throughout our history that aren't necessarily of the same
philosophy and persuasion that we are, regarding principles and values.
Sometimes your
realpolitik interests demand that.
re·al·po·li·tik (Miriam Webster on-line)
: politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical
or ethical objectives
Star Wars: Databank | InterGalactic Banking Clan
Helping control the incredible amounts of credits, dataries, and other forms of
currency flowing through the galaxy is the InterGalactic Banking Clan. This
business entity allied itself with the growing Separatist movement in the
galaxy, and the IBC Chairman San Hill personally committed his forces to the
Confederacy of Independent Systems -- in a non-exclusive pact, of course. The
IBC profited from both ends of the war, serving the Republic and the
Separatists.
Republican-controlled Carlyle Group poses serious Ethical Questions for Bush
Presidents, but Baltimore Sun ignores it
by Alice Cherbonnier, The Baltimore Chronicle
AN IMPORTANT TENET of journalism is that you should always ask, “Who
benefits?”
In the case of a war, the answers to this question become of paramount
importance. Suppose, for example, that profits from military contracting were to
go in the pockets of a former U.S. President whose son (and a presumed future
heir) is now President? Suppose further that such profits escalate in times of
conflict. Wouldn’t this be of concern to the public? Wouldn’t you expect the
media to be all over such an important ethical (not to mention moral, and maybe
legal) angle?
George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography --- by Webster G. Tarpley & Anton
Chaitkin
Chapter - II - The Hitler Project
How important was the Nazi enterprise for which President Bush's father was the
New York banker?
The 1942 U.S. government investigative report said that Bush's Nazi-front bank
was an interlocking concern with the Vereinigte Stahlwerke (United Steel Works
Corporation or German Steel Trust) led by Fritz Thyssen and his two brothers.
After the war, Congressional investigators probed the Thyssen interests, Union
Banking Corp. and related Nazi units. The investigation showed that the
Vereinigte Stahlwerke had produced the following approximate proportions of
total German national output:
50.8% of Nazi Germany's pig iron
41.4% of Nazi Germany's universal plate
36.0% of Nazi Germany's heavy plate
38.5% of Nazi Germany's galvanized sheet
45.5% of Nazi Germany's pipes and tubes
22.1% of Nazi Germany's wire
35.0% of Nazi Germany's explosives.
Carlyle's way
Making a mint inside "the iron triangle" of defense, government, and
industry.
By Dan Briody,
Red Herring, January 8, 2002
“In running what its own marketing literature spookily calls "a vast,
interlocking, global network of businesses and
investment professionals" that operates within the so-called iron triangle of
industry, government, and the military, the Carlyle Group leaves itself open to
any number of conflicts of interest and stunning ironies.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL: BUSH SR. IN BUSINESS WITH BIN LADEN FAMILY CONGLOMERATE
THROUGH CARLYLE GROUP
FAMILY HAD RENOUNCED TIES TO TERRORIST SON BUT FAMILY STILL UNDER FBI
INVESTIGATION
FATHER OF PRESIDENT SHOULD PULL OUT OF INTERNATIONAL CONSULTING FIRM
Sep 28, 2001, Judicial Watch
FBI AND US SPY AGENTS SAY BUSH SPIKED BIN LADEN PROBES BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER
The Guardian (London)
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Officials told to 'back off' on Saudis before September 11
by Greg Palast and David Pallister
“FBI and military intelligence officials in Washington say they were prevented
for political reasons from carrying out full investigations into members of the
Bin Laden family in the US before the terrorist attacks of September 11.”
“They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over
this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from
investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi
royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by
Pakistan.”
Modern History Sourcebook:
Benito Mussolini:
What is Fascism, 1932
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) over the course of his lifetime went from
Socialism - he was editor of Avanti, a socialist newspaper - to the leadership
of a new political movement called "fascism" [after "fasces", the symbol of
bound sticks used a totem of power in ancient Rome].
In 1932 Mussolini wrote (with the help of Giovanni Gentile) and entry for the
Italian Encyclopedia on the definition of fascism.
Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of
humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes
neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus
repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism -- born of a renunciation of the struggle
and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its
highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples
who have courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never
really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision --
the alternative of life or death....
Taking Aim at 2004 - Time Magazine
Can Bush win a second term running on a platform of tanks and tax cuts? An
inside look at the campaign playbook
Sunday, Apr. 27, 2003
ENDLESS WAR
The symbolism was unmistakable. as Bush talked about tax cuts last week in
Lima, Ohio, he was flanked by the guns of two M-1 Abrams tanks. The week before,
while pushing those same tax cuts in St. Louis, Mo., he stood in front of a $48
million F-18 fighter jet. As the first statue of Saddam fell in Baghdad three
weeks ago, the White House was putting into motion a plan that would allow the
President to pivot from his focus abroad to mending fences at home. Bush's
"hardware in the heartland" tour follows the battle plan for his re-election
effort: from now until November 2004, he will blend martial images with rhetoric
about tax cuts and never let the nation forget that we're at war both abroad and
at home. "Sure, he talked about his domestic agenda," says a White House
official of the St. Louis event, "but there were F-18s in the background." Yes,
Bush will focus on kitchen-table concerns, but there will always be the shadow
of guns just behind him.
Bring on the Clones
"What luck for the rulers that men do not think."
-
Adolph Hitler
“Each man must for himself alone decide what is
right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot
shirk this and be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an
unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let me
label you as they may.”
-
Mark Twain
"The
President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants.
He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by
his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering
loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is
absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about
his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does
wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American
citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of
the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not
only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even
more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about
any one else.”
-
Theodore Roosevelt,
26th US President,
"Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", May 7, 1918
"I thank those of you who have re-enlisted in an
hour when your country needs you. And to those watching tonight who are
considering a military career, there is no higher calling than service in our
Armed Forces. We live in freedom because every generation has produced patriots
willing to serve a cause greater than themselves. Those who serve today are
taking their rightful place among the greatest generations that have worn our
nation's uniform."
-
George W. Bush, President Addresses Nation, Discusses Iraq, War on Terror, Fort
Bragg, North Carolina, June 28, 2005
"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file
has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake,
since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization
should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, and
all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I
hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to
shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under
the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
-
Albert Einstein (1875-1955),
German-born American theoretical physicist, theories of relativity, philosopher
About: Paul D. MacLean, M.D. 
“His Triune Brain Theory, based on an evolutionary model of the brain,
proposes the idea that the human brain is really three brains in one. The
R-Complex is similar to the brain of reptiles, in that it controls basic,
instinctive survival thinking and behavior. The limbic system, which is similar
to that of lower mammals, seems to be the source of emotions, some aspects of
personal identity, and some critically important memory functions. The third and
outer formation of the brain, called the neocortex, like the brain of higher
mammals, is devoted to higher order thinking skills, reason, linguistic
expression, and verbal memory.”
"Aggression and Violence"
By Dave Grossman
To understand the nature of aggression and violence on the battlefield, it must
first be recognized that most participants in close combat are literally
"frightened out of their wits." Once the bullets start flying, most
combatants stop thinking with the forebrain (that portion of the brain that
makes us human) and start thinking with the midbrain (the primitive portion
of our brain, which is indistinguishable from that of an animal).
In conflict situations, this primitive, midbrain processing can be observed
in the existence of a powerful resistance to killing one's own kind. Animals
with antlers and horns slam together in a relatively harmless head-to-head
fashion, and piranha fish fight their own kind with flicks of the tail, but
against any other species these creatures unleash their horns and teeth without
restraint. This is an essential survival mechanism that prevents a species from
destroying itself during territorial and mating rituals.
One major modern revelation in the field of military psychology is the
observation that such resistance to killing one's own species is also a key
factor in human combat. *Brig. Gen. S. L. A. Marshall first observed this during
his work as an official U.S. Army historian in the Pacific and European theaters
of operations in World War II. Based on his post-combat interviews, Marshall
concluded in his book Men Against Fire (1946, 1978) that only 15 to 20 percent
of the individual riflemen in World War II fired their own weapons at an exposed
enemy soldier. Key weapons, such as *flame-throwers, were usually fired.
Crew-served weapons, such as *machine guns, almost always were fired.
And action would increase greatly if a nearby leader demanded that the soldier
fire. But when left on their own, the great majority of individual combatants
appear to have been unable or unwilling to kill.
…
By 1946, the US Army had accepted Marshall's conclusions, and the Human
Resources Research Office of the US Army subsequently pioneered a revolution in
combat training, which eventually replaced firing at targets with deeply
ingrained conditioning, using realistic, man-shaped pop-up targets that fall
when hit. Psychologists assert that this kind of powerful operant
conditioning is the only technique that will reliably influence the primitive,
midbrain processing of a frightened human being. Fire drills condition
schoolchildren to respond properly even when terrified during a fire.
Conditioning in flight simulators enables pilots to respond reflexively to
emergency situations even when frightened. And similar application and
perfection of basic conditioning techniques increased the rate of fire to
approximately 55 percent in Korea and around 95 percent in Vietnam.
Neuroanatomy and the Gnosis
The reptile brain: this consists of the olfactostriatum, corpus striatum,
globus pallidus and satellite connections.
The reptile brain controls basic survival instincts: fight-or-flight, hunger,
territoriality, ritual and challenge displays, and our capacity for deception.
The reptile brain, by itself, may or may not permit herd behavior, but
interaction in the herd would be reduced to functioning within a pecking
order. Newcomers to a territory, held by members of their own species, have
only two options: fight or move on.
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
Volume One - A Reckoning
Chapter VI: War Propaganda
Thus we see that propaganda must follow a simple line and correspondingly
the basic tactics must be psychologically sound.
For instance, it was absolutely wrong to make the enemy ridiculous, as the
Austrian and German comic papers did. It was absolutely wrong because actual
contact with an enemy soldier was bound to arouse an entirely different
conviction, and the results were devastating; for now the German soldier, under
the direct impression of the enemy's resistance, felt himself swindled by his
propaganda service. His desire to fight, or even to stand film, was not
strengthened, but the opposite occurred. His courage flagged.
By contrast, the war propaganda of the English and Americans was psychologically
sound. By representing the Germans to their own people as barbarians and Huns,
they prepared the individual soldier for the terrors of war, and thus helped to
preserve him from disappointments. After this, the most terrible weapon that was
used against him seemed only to confirm what his propagandists had told him; it
likewise reinforced his faith in the truth of his government's assertions, while
on the other hand it increased his rage and hatred against the vile enemy For
the cruel effects of the weapon, whose use by the enemy he now came to know,
gradually came to confirm for him the 'Hunnish' brutality of the barbarous
enemy, which he had heard all about; and it never dawned on him for a moment
that his own weapons possibly, if not probably, might be even more terrible in
their effects.
Soldiers Recall Whizzing Bullets Fired by 'Wimps'
March 12, 2002, New York Times
"All you hear is bullets going over your head and you're yelling,
`Where's it from? Where's it from?' " said Pvt. Jason Alford, 21, of the Bronx.
"And then if you figure it out, you call in the B-52's," he continued, adding
that "it takes plenty of bombs, because those guys got their pride like
we got pride, fighting for what they believe in, that Taliban stuff, whatever it
is."
Sgt. Joseph Noven, 21, of Valparaiso, Ind., also entered those buildings. "There
were not only the skinned goats and sheep hung up there but journals about
microcommunications and chemistry. They wanted to make bombs. You know, I
don't understand this whole jihad, holy war thing. What does it mean?"
Beside him, cleaning his weapon, was his friend, Sgt. Robert Balderaz, 21, of
San Antonio. "They don't care if they die, that's what jihad is," he said.
"They'll kill 10 of themselves just to kill one of us. It's really messed up."
"I think this is a country of followers," said Sgt. Justin Adamson, 22, of
Oregon, Ohio. "Osama bin Laden comes along with money, so they follow him. So
who are they going to follow next? If they followed the Taliban, they'll follow
anyone."
 
The Shroud of the Dark Side Falls
“Victory? Victory, you say? Not victory. A defeat it was, Master Obi-Wan.
The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun,
the Clone War has.”
-
Master Yoda
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — In a seven-year-old secret program at the National
Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands
of historical documents that were available for years, including some already
published by the State Department and others photocopied years ago by private
historians.
- New York Times,
SCOTT SHANE,
"U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review",
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