Halliburton's Best Deal

Halliburton Contracts in Iraq: The Struggle to Manage Costs

The Pentagon’s Iraqi Oil Infrastructure contract with Halliburton was intended to last for a few months, but it has now been in effect for nearly a year and grown to a more than $2 billion.

Nov. 11, 2002
The Bush Administrations asks Halliburton (then operating under an Army logistical contract) to develop a contingency plan for Iraq’s oil infrastructure.

March 6, 2003
A classified oil infrastructure contract is awarded to Halliburton’s Kellogg, Brown and Root unit without competitive bidding. (IN MY OPINION – this was done secretively with a company already under contract to the USA’s military because the TRUE motive to the invasion would be known and exposed to the UN Security Council.)

MARCH 20, 2003
At 2200 hours or 10:00 PM Bush begins his ‘Shock and Awe’ campaign.

March 24, 2003
The contract for extinguishing oil fires and assessing oil facility damage, is publicly announced.

April 8, 2003
The Bush Administration says the Halliburton contract is worth up to $7 billion, but that the bulk of the work will be open to contractor bids.

April 14, 2003
The Army Corp of Engineers states the contracts will be worth less than $850 million. They expect to open the bidding process by the end of April, and to award a new contract in June.

May 2, 2003
The Army also discloses that the contract also includes operation of oil facilites, AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF OIL. The contract award is delayed until August.

May 6, 2003
Halliburton’s Oil Contract now at $77 million.

June 11, 2003
The Army delays the contract award until October.

July 17, 2003
Halliburton’s Oil Contract now at $461 million.

August 21, 2003
Halliburton’s Oil Contract now at $704 million.

October 17, 2003
Halliburton’s Oil Contract now at $1,590,000.

October 29, 2003
The Army delays the contract award until December.

November 18, 2003
Halliburtons’ Oil Contract now at $1,715,000.

December 1, 2003
The Army delays the contract award until January 2004.

December 11, 2003
Halliburton’s Oil Contract now at $2,261,000.

Prediction:
ARMY DELAYS AWARD OF CONTRACT AS THE NEW IRAQI GOVERNMENT IS SOON TO TAKE OVER AND HALLIBURTON IS THEIR CHOICE.

I should update this.

The Religious Bigotry of NewsNight's Morning Papers Segment

(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers around the country and around the world. More potpourri than theme tonight, OK? We're sort of do for a potpourri, aren't we?

"The Christian Science Monitor"

"The Ottawa Sun"
"Santa Rosa News."
"The Miami Herald."
"The Chicago Sun-Times"

Notes Unedited

I have been increasingly troubled over an instance of a burgeoning philosophy that supports Bush's view of the world. It is most evident by some productions at CNN. I 'think' (and I realize this is kind of over the top, but, not exactly) there is a movement toward a philosophy base that can safely be called Bushism. Analogy - Marxism. In other words, Bush is creating a 'perfect world' allowed by his position as president enabled by a congress of debtors.

It is not exactly the Religious Right, it is not exactly Republican but it is the Republicans that are likely the basis of their power within the vision provided by Bush.

It is very troubling. I believe some of the reverberations I have seen in the N Y Times lately is due to the fact they have identified issues but don't see the bigger picture. I think this IS the bigger picture.

------------------

Criticism of The Unilateral religious views of CNN's NewsNight Morning Papers segment: NewsNight with Aaron Brown even after their new Senior Executive Producer took charge, Sharon van Zwieten, continues to practice Anti-Equity in regard to religious issues during the Segment “Morning Papers.”

For twelve nights now the segment has been openly promoting The Christian Science Monitor. To stop at the definition of Anti-Semitic would be an error, because to promote ONLY Christian Newsprint is to be anti-any other religion including Muslim leading to ONLY a pro-Bush Christian agenda as dictated by Karl Rove.

I can’t help but wonder if NewsNight’s investment in promoting Christian Newsprint as it is promoted by a political figure isn’t a violation of McCain-Feingold.

To prove how ludicrous this is, not long ago the Roman Catholic Church was put to ridicule without mercy for their sex scandal. And yet on Saturday CNN was anxious to further show a clash between US Government authority and the clout the Pope carries, or should I say he believes he carries regarding Senator Kerry’s communicant status. Their reporting on that subject was biased again in favor of the view that Kerry is a waffler even as viewed by his faith on issues like abortion. That of course is a communist view of the world in that personal choice is not an option. Senator Kerry has no choice in his office but to carry out the will of the electorate under the US Constitution and if anything clearly demonstrated that will clearly was The Million Woman March on Washington, DC favoring abortion rights.

----------------------------------

This is just one example of the affiliation between Christian Coalition newsprint and NewsNight’s parent company Time Warner:

April 19, 2004

Time Warner continues plagiarism with The Christian Science Monitor
Headline on AOL Website reads,

"Mideast Ally Snubs Bush" - Jordan's King Postpones Visit. After US Shift Toward Israel."
Christian Science Monitor

"Jordan's king snubs Bush, cancels meeting - Key Mideast ally "irked" over US support for Sharon's territorial claims."

PROOF POSITIVE THAT CNN/TIME WARNER/ AOL IS NOW A Christian Based Organization.

It no longer practices reliable journalism.

In an attempt to improve the quality of its reporting the Christian Science Monitor is quoting the New York Times.

'King Abdullah of Jordan abruptly postponed a visit with US President George Bush scheduled for Wednesday. Jordanian officials said the meeting had become impossible because of Mr. Bush's recent support for "Israel's territorial claims in the West Bank," reports The New York Times."

Why read the CS Monitor if all one needs to do is read The N Y Times.

Dah!

-------------------------------------

It is simply astounding to me NewsNight has taken on a discriminatory tone without extending the segment to other religious newsprint to balance the display of The Christian Science Monitor. In the past an invitation has been extended while ‘on the air’ to papers interested in submitting to this segment.

The Christian Science Monitor is biased in its views and a trouble maker with rather bizarre articles such as “What is Russia doing to prevent Osama bin Laden from hacking into the main frame of the Nukes? “ That is just bizarre, inflammatory and hostile toward a long standing friend the USA has enjoyed in Russia. The entire articles is just to make the reader want to run right out there to invade Russia for control over their missile system.

This was a Letter to the Editor is proof positive of International Harassment for an agenda that is ONLY christian.

US aid to Egypt has tangible results

The assertion that US development aid is given to the Egyptian government "to do with as it pleases," advanced in the April 12 story, "$50 billion later, taking stock of US aid to Egypt," is just plain wrong. The US and Egypt decide the uses of resources. There are regular and comprehensive audits.

Also false was the claim that US aid is enabling Egypt to avoid reform. In fact, reforms are manifest everywhere. Egypt has adopted legislation protecting intellectual property, a prerequisite for boosting foreign direct investment. Significant reforms in customs administration are under way. Both of these reforms were conditions for US assistance.

Last January, Egypt abandoned its longstanding, economically crippling link of the pound to the dollar. As a result, exports are up, imports are steady, and the surplus following the first half of fiscal year 2003-'04 rose about eightfold to $2.2 billion. In education, Egypt has devolved decision-making to local government and schools. The government recently founded a watchdog Human Rights Committee.

The principles guiding US foreign aid under President Bush are clear: assistance must encourage governments to "rule justly, invest in their people, and encourage economic freedom." USAID in Egypt is governed by these values. Kenneth Ellis USAID

Mission Director, Cairo
Yet still another example of Trouble Making is the article today, the same article was pointed out by the Trouble Makers at CNN’s NewsNight during Morning Papers.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0427/p01s03-woiq.html

Sadr the agitator: like father, like son

By Dan Murphy Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

KUFA, IRAQ – Sadr enters the mosque at Kufa where he's led Friday prayers for nearly a year denouncing the authorities and warning of an "imperialist" conspiracy against Iraq's majority Shiites.

The thousands fill the vast open courtyard, chanting the name of their hero when he strides through the gate, and they take up his call during the sermon. "No, no to America! No, no to Israel! No, no to imperialism!" In Baghdad, the authorities worry about how to handle this militant cleric, his rising profile and his willingness to flex the street muscle he's built up in Iraq's slums. But the Sadr in question is not Moqtada, the young cleric whose gunmen now occupy Kufa and the neighboring shrine city of Najaf. Instead, the year is 1998 and the man leading the prayers is Ayatollah Mohammed Sadek Al-Sadr, Moqtada's father.

While Moqtada's religious credentials are weak, his family's political standing is as deep as the modern history of Iraq. His grandfather was the prime minister in 1932. And this young, militant cleric didn't spontaneously emerge after the fall of Saddam Hussein. US forces now entering the city of Najaf, are up against a man who has donned the well-cultivated mantle of his father, the leading Shiite thorn in the side of the Hussein regime in the 1990s.

The unfortunate tone of the article is grossly inappropriate in that it advocates the killing of clerics. The oddity is when one considers Walker Bush wants Sadr prisoned for murder supposedly and eventually killed he is taking on the same directive as Saddam Hussein.
There is another thing very strange here. There was a contrasting radio presentation by NPR which was contributed to by the same author as the above article. I guess the radio has to be credited it more to the lead author Anne Garrels of NPR because the radio article wasn’t nearly as biased as or cruel in concept as Mr. Murphy’s lead article.

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1847235

Iraq Lock Down

April 22, 2004

Car bombings in Basra, attacks on contractors, the kidnapping of foreigners. Almost every day a new trouble spot emerges in Iraq. From Baghdad, to the Sunni Triangle to the south, a survey of the situation in Iraq, and what it means for the future.

Guests:Anne Garrels
*NPR correspondent

Dan Murphy
*Reporter with The Christian Science Monitor, working on a profile of Sadr

Bob Fiddes
*Country director for Relief International in Iraq, based in Ammarah

Maggy Zanger
*Country director, Iraq, Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Considering the issue of Depleted Uranium is it any wonder the people of Iraq don’t want the USA lead coalition around.
-----------------------------------------------------

To realize the extent to which NewsNight programming for has included the priorities of The Religious Right it has featured people like:

“Randall Terry who made a name for himself protesting abortion and honosexuality.” NewsNight characterized Terry “…as a new revolutionist as the co-founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue and the man who led the fight against same-sex marriage in Hawaii and Vermont.”

Randall Terry is also known for the abandonment of his family. He is on his second marriage and he ridicules his children. Randall Terry denies his own children identities accusing a gay son of using his name for profit when in fact it is Mr. Terry that exploits those young people for his ‘entrenched against the devil’ fatherhood mantra of which he derives his livelihood through CASH contributions. One can only feel sorry for Mr. Terry’s desperate profession as he cannot grasp the concept of becoming a grandfather to a child of his unwed daughter. I personally believe she is probably better off considering his ability to be ‘cruel’ to his own family.

I hope both children within this family find peace outside their relationship with their father. He is a cruel man. A social agency needs to get involved and try to resolve these issues, especially considering the arrival of an innocent infant. It’s ridiculous. Terry has compassion for everyone putting money in the collection plate, but, none for his own children.

More Evidence to the Fact:

Two Friday nights ago it was the movie Alamo as presented by Beth Nissan. It was strongly plagiarized from the ‘article’ on the same subject of the Christian Science Monitor right down to the analogy of John Wayne. NewsNight never reviews movies unless; there is a huge controversy, such as The Passion of the Christ.

-----------------------------------------------

CNN has become a sell-out to the Religious Right, as Paula Zahn NOW rarely addresses feminist issues. Not one appearance that I am aware, has a member of N.O.W. appeared in a positive light on any subject. As a matter of fact, the issues most of concern by N.O.W. is circumvented which is just as damaging as negative promotion of the issues. In other words, let’s all just avoid the recognition of the issues and they will go away. Bush has the same strategy. Paula Zahn has gone into the baby business so much so, that ONLY the nurturing of children and having babies and a woman’s place within that realm rises as a focus all too often. Again in the year 2004 women, according to the tilt of the Zahn NOW shoe, need to get used to being a baby machine.

This past weekend there were one million women who marched in Washington, DC. Did Paula Zahn NOW embrace the issue and bring in an enthusiastic viewership. NO. Here is the ‘proof of the allegations of the circumvention of the issues belonging to N.O.W.’

In addition and in not such great taste I have to review the ‘context’ as which CNN’s Jeff Greenfield uses women’s images in discussing a subject. In an attempt to bring criticism to a reference made to communism of mandated military service regardless the ‘war’ status of the country; Jeff Greenfield took the subject masculinized it and set a woman’s image in subserviencey and wonderment at the grand display of male fairness.

“But for pure political theater, no one had ever seen anything like the confrontation between a powerful senator and the United States Army that played out 50 years ago this spring in a Senate committee hearing. (Referring to the McCarthy Hearings.)

Brandeis, Professor Tom Doherty, author of "Cold War, Cool Medium," a book on McCarthy and the media stated: "People who had never tuned into TV with quite that avidness before found themselves being almost hypnotized by these hearings as they went on. There are stories of housewives neglecting their work so they could catch the afternoon show. For an entire generation, it was the first time they confronted the full force of TV as a special medium. “

In Contrast at the very same time was a woman journalist making her claim to fame. Her obituary, of all things, was listed in the N.Y. Times for the wonderfully insightful and intelligent person she was.

A Singular Voice From Washington

By FRANCIS X. CLINESPublished: April 23, 2004

It was always a treat to watch Mary McGrory buttonhole a lawmaker or cabinet secretary in a Washington corridor and present a punishing question or two in her disarmingly sweet way. Across five decades as a singular journalist, Mary tracked and hounded the political class — "Capitol strivers and pretenders," she called them — with a crackling mix of insight and affection. She died on Wednesday at the age of 85, a year after a stroke put a stop to her lyrical prose…

Over time, there seemed a Southern tinge to her Boston Irish lilt, and greater mercy in her proudly liberal outlook. The mischief, the grandeur, the evil in public life stand as the narrative core of her work. Even at her breakthrough assignment, a beguiling account of Senator Joseph McCarthy's downfall before a Congressional inquiry a half-century ago, Mary found time to sneak fresh helpings of words from her beloved Jane Austen. Right then, Mary discovered what she described as Austen's "deadly accuracy" and her "informing principle, that politeness serves a purpose, that civility and kindness are moral imperatives." And such was true of Mary.

The obvious indignant to the status of women is dramatic and I admit I apologize for using this article of appreciation by Francis X. Cline but the contrast and comparison was too dramatic and well illustrated. I am confident Mary McGrory would not mind her image relaying a demonstratively positive image of a woman in commander of her life as well as the attentions of the American public.

So. What did the hour of news of Paula Zahn NOW address? The issue of 33 years ago regarding Kerry’s ribbons/metals/ and the metals of other Vietnam Veterans that were unable to attend the protest.

To that programming I have to say only that as NOW and as then, John Kerry stood up to be counted by the people of an issue desperately in need of Excellent and Excelling leadership. John Kerry appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations committee not because he was a man of violence but because he was a man of peace seeking to end a war that was illegal and grossly unjust to the people of this country and that of Vietnam. John Kerry came forward to lead and carry an issue to completion 33 years ago with passion, insight and commitment. The Vietnam Veterans that oppose him today were on the wrong side of the argument then as they are now. Senator Kerry was right then and he is right today. I trust John Kerry.

CNN has become a regressive cable station that promotes segregation as well. I have yet to see a broad spectrum of cultural issues addressed on Larry King Live and like the Bush White House CNN as their political pundit has become segregated in their viewership. The last Black American appearing on Larry King Live was Mr. Jason Blair, the New York Times Reporter that plagiarized and lost his job. Jason’s life was riddled with substance issues, undiagnosed Manic-Depression that took him down a path of self defeat and destruction. It could have happened to anyone but to show case him as a ‘success story’ for a Black American that overcame hurdles is a bit unkind to the an image of race that at least bothers me. It bothered someone else that evening as well when a call came in. I recall thinking the same way the caller did and though King brushed it off all too quickly. That interview since been succeeded with other Black Americans with success in their futures for at least one evening. Let’s hope the trend continues beyond April 21, 2004. CAUCASIAN COUNTDOWN: 6 days since last African American appeared in a positive profile.

-----------------------------------------

In Celebration of Earth Day, The Science Christian Monitor features these earth friendly features: THEY LATER REMOVED THESE ARTICLES.

REVIVAL: Ore is loaded into 240, 0000-pound trucks from giant shovels, then hauled to a loading site. With the once-struggling mines reopening, and the local economy swiftly improving, businesses in downtown Eveleth, Minn. are expected to become more profitable.BOB HARBISON – STAFF

Surprise revival for iron mines of Minnesota

By Amanda Paulson Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

EVELETH, MINN. – Spring comes slowly to Minnesota's Iron Range. Its home to the world's largest hockey stick, a place where the lakes are still frozen in late April and vowels roll slowly off people's tongues. For the past couple of decades, the region's economy has seemed frozen as well, its bedrock mining industry slowly dying.

In the past year, however, a new life has been blowing into these ochre hills from an unlikely place. You see it in the noise and dust that spews, 24 hours a day, from the recently dormant iron mine just above town, and in the guarded optimism of residents, used to bad news and silent cranes that claw at some of the world's largest open-pit mines.

--------------------------------------

The results or the Christian Science Monitor poll regarding the release of documents of The Energy Committee.

Should Cheney release documents related to his 2001 national energy task force?

Yes. Every advisory committee's documents should be available to the public.
242 votes (93%)

No. The president must be able to obtain unvarnished advice from his officials.
18 votes (7%)

260 people have voted so far

Your vote was Yes. Every advisory committee's documents should be available to the public. on 4/27/2004 7:17 am

I guess it’s a little early in the day and folks are still at their prayer rituals or more like serving mass and haven’t checked in yet.

-------------------------------------------------

I ALWAYS THOUGHT CHRISTIANS WERE PEACE LOVING PEOPLE. WHERE IN ANY OF THIS DOES ANYONE CALL FOR PEACE? ON ANY GIVEN DAY THERE IS NO ADVOCATING FOR PEACE BY THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR or CNN.

What needs to happen here is for the ACLU to take a stand about equity of all kinds. Including those accessible to the public, where there is religious stations regardless the denomination, in order to promote understanding among others who practice differently. There needs to be exposure through that same media to their viewership of beliefs that are different to promote understanding and acceptance of difference. Any public broadcast is open to ‘equal time’ on issues and I believe it is reasonable to state that includes religious stations including extremist such as Jerry Falwell. There should be no EXCLUSIVITY to any public airway to deliver a message that is biased and segregationist.

More and more families are finding turning off paid television allows them to open small saving accounts to reap the benefits of a vacation rather than the sedentary lifestyle of ‘couch potatoes.’ More health, more time as a family and more parenting focus for the children. Sounds right.

BOYCOTT BEEF – OPPOSE THE DRAFT

THE DISCRIMINATION AND DISTAIN OF WOMEN AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF JEFF GREENFIELD IN CONTRAST TO THE NYTIMES!

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): Even in the first days, TV had proven its political punch. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eisenhower.BROWN: The tumultuous 1952 conventions attracted millions and Richard Nixon saved his political career that year. RICHARD NIXON: People have got to have confidence. GREENFIELD: With his famous Checkers speech. But for pure political theater, no one had ever seen anything like the confrontation between a powerful senator and the United States Army that played out 50 years ago this spring in a Senate committee hearing. Brandeis, Professor Tom Doherty, author of "Cold War, Cool Medium," a book on McCarthy and the media:THOMAS DOHERTY, AUTHOR, "COLD WAR, COOL MEDIUM": People who had never tuned into TV with quite that avidness before found themselves being almost hypnotized by these hearings as they went on. There are stories of housewives neglecting their work so they could catch the afternoon show. For an entire generation, it was the first time they confronted the full force of TV as a special medium.
APPRECIATIONS

A Singular Voice From Washington

By FRANCIS X. CLINESPublished: April 23, 2004

It was always a treat to watch Mary McGrory buttonhole a lawmaker or cabinet secretary in a Washington corridor and present a punishing question or two in her disarmingly sweet way. Across five decades as a singular journalist, Mary tracked and hounded the political class — "Capitol strivers and pretenders," she called them — with a crackling mix of insight and affection. She died on Wednesday at the age of 85, a year after a stroke put a stop to her lyrical prose…
Over time, there seemed a Southern tinge to her Boston Irish lilt, and greater mercy in her proudly liberal outlook. The mischief, the grandeur, the evil in public life stand as the narrative core of her work. Even at her breakthrough assignment, a beguiling account of Senator Joseph McCarthy's downfall before a Congressional inquiry a half-century ago, Mary found time to sneak fresh helpings of words from her beloved Jane Austen. Right then, Mary discovered what she described as Austen's "deadly accuracy" and her "informing principle, that politeness serves a purpose, that civility and kindness are moral imperatives." And such was true of Mary.

Early New York Times Postings

I have been increasingly troubled over an instance of a burgeoning philosophy that supports Bush's view of the world. It is most evident by some productions at CNN.

I 'think' (and I realize this is kind of over the top, but, not exactly) there is a movement toward a philosophy base that can safely be called Bushism.

Analogy - Marxism.

In other words, Bush is creating a 'perfect world' allowed by his position as president enabled by a congress of debtors. It is not exactly the Religious Right, it is not exactly Republican but it is the Republicans that are likely the basis of their power within the vision provided by Bush. It is very troubling. I believe some of the reverberations I have seen in the N Y Times lately is due to the fact they have identified issues but don't see the bigger picture. I think this IS the bigger picture.

------------------

Criticism of The Unilateral religious views of CNN's NewsNight Morning Papers segment: NewsNight with Aaron Brown even after their new Senior Executive Producer took charge, Sharon van Zwieten, continues to practice Anti-Equity in regard to religious issues during the Segment “Morning Papers.”

For twelve nights now the segment has been openly promoting The Christian Science Monitor. To stop at the definition of Anti-Semitic would be an error, because to promote ONLY Christian Newsprint is to be anti-any other religion including Muslim leading to ONLY a pro-Bush Christian agenda as dictated by Karl Rove.

I can’t help but wonder if NewsNight’s investment in promoting Christian Newsprint as it is promoted by a political figure isn’t a violation of McCain-Feingold.

To prove how ludicrous this is, not long ago the Roman Catholic Church was put to ridicule without mercy for their sex scandal. And yet on Saturday CNN was anxious to further show a clash between US Government authority and the clout the Pope carries, or should I say he believes he carries regarding Senator Kerry’s communicant status. Their reporting on that subject was biased again in favor of the view that Kerry is a waffler even as viewed by his faith on issues like abortion. That of course is a communist view of the world in that personal choice is not an option. Senator Kerry has no choice in his office but to carry out the will of the electorate under the US Constitution and if anything clearly demonstrated that will clearly was The Million Woman March on Washington, DC favoring abortion rights.

----------------------------------

This is just one example of the affiliation between Christian Coalition newsprint and NewsNight’s parent company Time Warner:

April 19, 2004

Time Warner continues plagiarism with The Christian Science Monitor
Headline on AOL Website reads,

"Mideast Ally Snubs Bush" - Jordan's King Postpones Visit. After US Shift Toward Israel."
Christian Science Monitor

"Jordan's king snubs Bush, cancels meeting - Key Mideast ally "irked" over US support for Sharon's territorial claims."

PROOF POSITIVE THAT CNN/TIME WARNER/ AOL IS NOW A Christian Based Organization. It no longer practices reliable journalism.

In an attempt to improve the quality of its reporting the Christian Science Monitor is quoting the New York Times.

'King Abdullah of Jordan abruptly postponed a visit with US President George Bush scheduled for Wednesday. Jordanian officials said the meeting had become impossible because of Mr. Bush's recent support for "Israel's territorial claims in the West Bank," reports The New York Times."

Why read the CS Monitor if all one needs to do is read The N Y Times.

Dah!
-------------------------------------

It is simply astounding to me NewsNight has taken on a discriminatory tone without extending the segment to other religious newsprint to balance the display of The Christian Science Monitor. In the past an invitation has been extended while ‘on the air’ to papers interested in submitting to this segment.

The Christian Science Monitor is biased in its views and a trouble maker with rather bizarre articles such as “What is Russia doing to prevent Osama bin Laden from hacking into the main frame of the Nukes? “ That is just bizarre, inflammatory and hostile toward a long standing friend the USA has enjoyed in Russia. The entire articles is just to make the reader want to run right out there to invade Russia for control over their missile system.

This was a Letter to the Editor is proof positive of International Harassment for an agenda that is ONLY christian.

US aid to Egypt has tangible results

The assertion that US development aid is given to the Egyptian government "to do with as it pleases," advanced in the April 12 story, "$50 billion later, taking stock of US aid to Egypt," is just plain wrong. The US and Egypt decide the uses of resources. There are regular and comprehensive audits.

Also false was the claim that US aid is enabling Egypt to avoid reform. In fact, reforms are manifest everywhere. Egypt has adopted legislation protecting intellectual property, a prerequisite for boosting foreign direct investment. Significant reforms in customs administration are under way. Both of these reforms were conditions for US assistance.
Last January, Egypt abandoned its longstanding, economically crippling link of the pound to the dollar. As a result, exports are up, imports are steady, and the surplus following the first half of fiscal year 2003-'04 rose about eightfold to $2.2 billion. In education, Egypt has devolved decision-making to local government and schools. The government recently founded a watchdog Human Rights Committee.

The principles guiding US foreign aid under President Bush are clear: assistance must encourage governments to "rule justly, invest in their people, and encourage economic freedom." USAID in Egypt is governed by these values. Kenneth Ellis USAID Mission Director, Cairo

Yet still another example of Trouble Making is the article today, the same article was pointed out by the Trouble Makers at CNN’s NewsNight during Morning Papers.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0427/p01s03-woiq.html

Sadr the agitator: like father, like son
By Dan Murphy Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
KUFA, IRAQ – Sadr enters the mosque at Kufa where he's led Friday prayers for nearly a year denouncing the authorities and warning of an "imperialist" conspiracy against Iraq's majority Shiites.

The thousands fill the vast open courtyard, chanting the name of their hero when he strides through the gate, and they take up his call during the sermon. "No, no to America! No, no to Israel! No, no to imperialism!" In Baghdad, the authorities worry about how to handle this militant cleric, his rising profile and his willingness to flex the street muscle he's built up in Iraq's slums. But the Sadr in question is not Moqtada, the young cleric whose gunmen now occupy Kufa and the neighboring shrine city of Najaf. Instead, the year is 1998 and the man leading the prayers is Ayatollah Mohammed Sadek Al-Sadr, Moqtada's father.

While Moqtada's religious credentials are weak, his family's political standing is as deep as the modern history of Iraq. His grandfather was the prime minister in 1932. And this young, militant cleric didn't spontaneously emerge after the fall of Saddam Hussein. US forces now entering the city of Najaf, are up against a man who has donned the well-cultivated mantle of his father, the leading Shiite thorn in the side of the Hussein regime in the 1990s.

The unfortunate tone of the article is grossly inappropriate in that it advocates the killing of clerics. The oddity is when one considers Walker Bush wants Sadr prisoned for murder supposedly and eventually killed he is taking on the same directive as Saddam Hussein.
There is another thing very strange here. There was a contrasting radio presentation by NPR which was contributed to by the same author as the above article. I guess the radio has to be credited it more to the lead author Anne Garrels of NPR because the radio article wasn’t nearly as biased as or cruel in concept as Mr. Murphy’s lead article.

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1847235

Iraq Lock Down

April 22, 2004Car bombings in Basra, attacks on contractors, the kidnapping of foreigners. Almost every day a new trouble spot emerges in Iraq. From Baghdad, to the Sunni Triangle to the south, a survey of the situation in Iraq, and what it means for the future. Guests:Anne Garrels*NPR correspondentDan Murphy*Reporter with The Christian Science Monitor, working on a profile of SadrBob Fiddes*Country director for Relief International in Iraq, based in AmmarahMaggy Zanger*Country director, Iraq, Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Considering the issue of Depleted Uranium is it any wonder the people of Iraq don’t want the USA lead coalition around.
-----------------------------------------------------
To realize the extent to which NewsNight programming for has included the priorities of The Religious Right it has featured people like:

“Randall Terry who made a name for himself protesting abortion and honosexuality.” NewsNight characterized Terry “…as a new revolutionist as the co-founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue and the man who led the fight against same-sex marriage in Hawaii and Vermont.”

Randall Terry is also known for the abandonment of his family. He is on his second marriage and he ridicules his children. Randall Terry denies his own children identities accusing a gay son of using his name for profit when in fact it is Mr. Terry that exploits those young people for his ‘entrenched against the devil’ fatherhood mantra of which he derives his livelihood through CASH contributions. One can only feel sorry for Mr. Terry’s desperate profession as he cannot grasp the concept of becoming a grandfather to a child of his unwed daughter. I personally believe she is probably better off considering his ability to be ‘cruel’ to his own family.

I hope both children within this family find peace outside their relationship with their father. He is a cruel man. A social agency needs to get involved and try to resolve these issues, especially considering the arrival of an innocent infant. It’s ridiculous. Terry has compassion for everyone putting money in the collection plate, but, none for his own children.

More Evidence to the Fact:

Two Friday nights ago it was the movie Alamo as presented by Beth Nissan. It was strongly plagiarized from the ‘article’ on the same subject of the Christian Science Monitor right down to the analogy of John Wayne. NewsNight never reviews movies unless; there is a huge controversy, such as The Passion of the Christ.

-----------------------------------------------

CNN has become a sell-out to the Religious Right, as Paula Zahn NOW rarely addresses feminist issues. Not one appearance that I am aware, has a member of N.O.W. appeared in a positive light on any subject. As a matter of fact, the issues most of concern by N.O.W. is circumvented which is just as damaging as negative promotion of the issues. In other words, let’s all just avoid the recognition of the issues and they will go away. Bush has the same strategy. Paula Zahn has gone into the baby business so much so, that ONLY the nurturing of children and having babies and a woman’s place within that realm rises as a focus all too often. Again in the year 2004 women, according to the tilt of the Zahn NOW shoe, need to get used to being a baby machine.

This past weekend there were one million women who marched in Washington, DC. Did Paula Zahn NOW embrace the issue and bring in an enthusiastic viewership. NO. Here is the ‘proof of the allegations of the circumvention of the issues belonging to N.O.W.’

In addition and in not such great taste I have to review the ‘context’ as which CNN’s Jeff Greenfield uses women’s images in discussing a subject. In an attempt to bring criticism to a reference made to communism of mandated military service regardless the ‘war’ status of the country; Jeff Greenfield took the subject masculinized it and set a woman’s image in subserviencey and wonderment at the grand display of male fairness.

“But for pure political theater, no one had ever seen anything like the confrontation between a powerful senator and the United States Army that played out 50 years ago this spring in a Senate committee hearing. (Referring to the McCarthy Hearings.)

Brandeis, Professor Tom Doherty, author of "Cold War, Cool Medium," a book on McCarthy and the media stated: "People who had never tuned into TV with quite that avidness before found themselves being almost hypnotized by these hearings as they went on. There are stories of housewives neglecting their work so they could catch the afternoon show. For an entire generation, it was the first time they confronted the full force of TV as a special medium. “

In Contrast at the very same time was a woman journalist making her claim to fame. Her obituary, of all things, was listed in the N.Y. Times for the wonderfully insightful and intelligent person she was.

A Singular Voice From Washington

By FRANCIS X. CLINESPublished: April 23, 2004

It was always a treat to watch Mary McGrory buttonhole a lawmaker or cabinet secretary in a Washington corridor and present a punishing question or two in her disarmingly sweet way. Across five decades as a singular journalist, Mary tracked and hounded the political class — "Capitol strivers and pretenders," she called them — with a crackling mix of insight and affection. She died on Wednesday at the age of 85, a year after a stroke put a stop to her lyrical prose…
Over time, there seemed a Southern tinge to her Boston Irish lilt, and greater mercy in her proudly liberal outlook. The mischief, the grandeur, the evil in public life stand as the narrative core of her work. Even at her breakthrough assignment, a beguiling account of Senator Joseph McCarthy's downfall before a Congressional inquiry a half-century ago, Mary found time to sneak fresh helpings of words from her beloved Jane Austen. Right then, Mary discovered what she described as Austen's "deadly accuracy" and her "informing principle, that politeness serves a purpose, that civility and kindness are moral imperatives." And such was true of Mary.
The obvious indignant to the status of women is dramatic and I admit I apologize for using this article of appreciation by Francis X. Cline but the contrast and comparison was too dramatic and well illustrated. I am confident Mary McGrory would not mind her image relaying a demonstratively positive image of a woman in commander of her life as well as the attentions of the American public.

So. What did the hour of news of Paula Zahn NOW address? The issue of 33 years ago regarding Kerry’s ribbons/metals/ and the metals of other Vietnam Veterans that were unable to attend the protest.

To that programming I have to say only that as NOW and as then, John Kerry stood up to be counted by the people of an issue desperately in need of Excellent and Excelling leadership. John Kerry appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations committee not because he was a man of violence but because he was a man of peace seeking to end a war that was illegal and grossly unjust to the people of this country and that of Vietnam. John Kerry came forward to lead and carry an issue to completion 33 years ago with passion, insight and commitment. The Vietnam Veterans that oppose him today were on the wrong side of the argument then as they are now. Senator Kerry was right then and he is right today. I trust John Kerry.

CNN has become a regressive cable station that promotes segregation as well. I have yet to see a broad spectrum of cultural issues addressed on Larry King Live and like the Bush White House CNN as their political pundit has become segregated in their viewership. The last Black American appearing on Larry King Live was Mr. Jason Blair, the New York Times Reporter that plagiarized and lost his job. Jason’s life was riddled with substance issues, undiagnosed Manic-Depression that took him down a path of self defeat and destruction. It could have happened to anyone but to show case him as a ‘success story’ for a Black American that overcame hurdles is a bit unkind to the an image of race that at least bothers me. It bothered someone else that evening as well when a call came in. I recall thinking the same way the caller did and though King brushed it off all too quickly. That interview since been succeeded with other Black Americans with success in their futures for at least one evening. Let’s hope the trend continues beyond April 21, 2004. CAUCASIAN COUNTDOWN: 6 days since last African American appeared in a positive profile.

-----------------------------------------

In Celebration of Earth Day, The Science Christian Monitor features these earth friendly features: THEY LATER REMOVED THESE ARTICLES.

REVIVAL: Ore is loaded into 240, 0000-pound trucks from giant shovels, then hauled to a loading site. With the once-struggling mines reopening, and the local economy swiftly improving, businesses in downtown Eveleth, Minn. are expected to become more profitable.BOB HARBISON – STAFF

Surprise revival for iron mines of Minnesota

By Amanda Paulson Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

EVELETH, MINN. – Spring comes slowly to Minnesota's Iron Range. Its home to the world's largest hockey stick, a place where the lakes are still frozen in late April and vowels roll slowly off people's tongues. For the past couple of decades, the region's economy has seemed frozen as well, its bedrock mining industry slowly dying.

In the past year, however, a new life has been blowing into these ochre hills from an unlikely place. You see it in the noise and dust that spews, 24 hours a day, from the recently dormant iron mine just above town, and in the guarded optimism of residents, used to bad news and silent cranes that claw at some of the world's largest open-pit mines.

--------------------------------------

The results or the Christian Science Monitor poll regarding the release of documents of The Energy Committee.

Should Cheney release documents related to his 2001 national energy task force?

Yes. Every advisory committee's documents should be available to the public.

242 votes (93%)

No. The president must be able to obtain unvarnished advice from his officials.
18 votes (7%)

260 people have voted so far

Your vote was Yes. Every advisory committee's documents should be available to the public. on 4/27/2004 7:17 am

I guess it’s a little early in the day and folks are still at their prayer rituals or more like serving mass and haven’t checked in yet.

-------------------------------------------------

I ALWAYS THOUGHT CHRISTIANS WERE PEACE LOVING PEOPLE. WHERE IN ANY OF THIS DOES ANYONE CALL FOR PEACE? ON ANY GIVEN DAY THERE IS NO ADVOCATING FOR PEACE BY THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR or CNN.
What needs to happen here is for the ACLU to take a stand about equity of all kinds. Including those accessible to the public, where there is religious stations regardless the denomination, in order to promote understanding among others who practice differently. There needs to be exposure through that same media to their viewership of beliefs that are different to promote understanding and acceptance of difference. Any public broadcast is open to ‘equal time’ on issues and I believe it is reasonable to state that includes religious stations including extremist such as Jerry Falwell. There should be no EXCLUSIVITY to any public airway to deliver a message that is biased and segregationist.

More and more families are finding turning off paid television allows them to open small saving accounts to reap the benefits of a vacation rather than the sedentary lifestyle of ‘couch potatoes.’ More health, more time as a family and more parenting focus for the children. Sounds right.

BOYCOTT BEEF – OPPOSE THE DRAFT

The Day I realized I was being electronically Stalked

Earlier today I received a phone call from my son. He had a car accident. It was very, very minor and no one was hurt. Just one of those things that happens once in a while.

I turned the television on as usual to hear this at 10:00 PM at night. It startled me to say the least.

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.

Here is an uncomfortable truth and a journalistic lesson. You can't resist looking at a car wreck on the freeway and we can't resist talking about a car wreck in a news program. That in a sentence is why much of the post election coverage these last two days has been about the Democrats and where they are and what they must do.

But the larger story is, of course, about the Republicans and what they want to do. It is their field now, healthy majorities in the Congress, a president with a decisive win. What will they do with that? We won't forego our love of the car wreck tonight but we won't ignore the car that sailed smoothly by either.

And so the whip begins at the White House where the president today was driving that car in his first post election news conference...

...................

It was calculated. It alarmed me to realize someone knew what was going on with my family and that someone hated me that much. I spoke with an attorney the next day about options concerned for my sons with skepticism that this could actually be about him. He stated every incident where the police are involved is a matter of public record. It would be competely reasonable to assume someone who was obsessed with hatred of me and was in the news media would have access to that record. The attorney wanted to know how anyone connected with this would know my son's name as it was different than mine. I simply explained I had shared pictures of my sons with Aaron after an exchange of e-mails including pictures. I was quite proud of them. So, they would have all that information.

Yup.

At one point the Angry Sharon 'Religious Bigot' von Zwieten tried to 'hurt' everything I was attempting.

Her only revenge was to put up oil commercials thinking it really had an effect on her campaign. Maybe it did. All I know is that she was turning a wonderful show into an instrument that would elect a president dead set on war and the destruction of biota. See the two don't mix. Humans cannot destroy Earth and live on it at the same time. It makes no sense. As a child one thinks Earth is so huge it can 'take anything' humans have to hand it but as reasonable adults there is nothing further from the truth. Sharon's tandrums were astounding to me. They were not be considered legitimate until I realized she honestly couldn't handle her own temper in the control room. She was actually having 'hissy fits' while the program was progressing because I was so verbal about the content of the program and the detimental damage it was waging on the public. Finally, I came up with a strategy to combat some of her 'fits' - I called it "Oil Company Zingers." It illustrated entanglements with the Bush/Cheney administration and their chronic abuse of power and cronyism. I kept searching for more of these all the time and I would post them in exchange for adverse ads that would hurt Earth. This is a sample:


Oil company zingers

Zalmay Khalilzad
Ambassador to Afghanistan: Nominated by President Bush in September 2003

Project for the New American Century: Founding member

Khalilzad is a Washington insider with tight connections to several Bush administration figures and high profile neocons. Before being nominated in late 2003 to be the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, Khalilzad served as President Bush's envoy to Iraq and Afghanistan and oversaw the Bush-Cheney Defense Department transition team. He worked closely with Paul Wolfowitz in the Bush Sr. and Reagan administrations, and has collaborated with the Project for the New American Century on its lobbying efforts.

Khalilzad's close connections to Islamic extremists in South Asia and to the oil giant Unocal have been the subject of sharp criticism. As Truthout opined in a 2001 piece, "Simply put, Khalilzad's appointment means oil. Oil for the United States. Oil for Unocal, a U.S. company long criticized for doing business in countries with repressive governments and rumored to have close ties to the Department of State and the intelligence community. Zalmay Khalilzad was an adviser for Unocal. In the mid-1990s, while working for the Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Khalilzad conducted risk analyses for Unocal at the time it had signed letters of approval from the Taliban. The analyses were for a proposed 890-mile, $2-billion, 1.9-billion-cubic-feet-per-day natural gas pipeline project which would have extended from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. In December 1997, Khalilzad joined Unocal officials at a reception for an invited Taliban delegation to Texas." (4)

Despite his connections to the Taliban, which were developed when he aided the Reagan administration's anti-Soviet activities in Afghanistan, Khalilzad -- an Afghan native -- quickly changed his tune when Osama bin Laden's connections to the group surfaced. Reported Truthout, "Khalilzad's critics point out that Zalmay, who gave a speech upon his arrival in Kabul condemning the Taliban, had at one time, as a paid adviser to oil multinational Unocal, courted and defended them. Indeed, Khalilzad has changed his tune so often that one analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, Anatol Lieven, said, 'If he was in private business rather than government, he would have been sacked long ago.'" (4)
Several Afghans told the Washington Post that they disagreed with the Bush administration's decision to nominate Khalilzad ambassador to Afghanistan. According to the newspaper, although many Afghans see Khalilzad as a potentially stabilizing force in the region, "other Afghans, including opponents in the [Karzai] government, view Khalilzad's past association with controversial U.S. policies. … with suspicion. Some noted that in the 1980s he was an official hand-holder of anti-Soviet Islamic militias that later destroyed Kabul in a viscous civil war, and that in the 1990s, he endorsed U.S. accommodation of leaders of the extremist Islamic Taliban." (5)

· Project for the New American Century (PNAC): Signed PNAC's 1997 founding statement of principles as well as several PNAC sign-on letters (3)
· Friends of Afghanistan (Mujahedin Support Group): Former Executive Director (4)
· RAND Corp.: Former Senior Political Scientist (1)
· Transition 2001 Panel (RAND): Member (7)
· Ambassador to Afghanistan: Nominated by President George W. Bush in September 2003 (1)
· Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan: Current
· Special Presidential Envoy to the Free Iraqis: Administration of George W. Bush (1)
· National Security Council: Senior Director for Gulf, Southwest Asia and Other Regional Issues, 2001-2003 (1)
· Department of Defense: Assistant Deputy Undersecretary for Policy Planning in the former Bush Sr. Administration (1)
· Department of State: Associate, Policy Planning Council in the former Reagan administration (1)
Unocal: Risk analyst for the oil giant when he was at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in the mid-1990s (2)
· University of Chicago: Ph.D. (1)
· The American University of Beirut, Lebanon: B.A. and M.A. (1)
…………………..

BP presents Bush administration with alternative to ConocoPhillips tax incentive
Kristen Nelson, PNA Editor-in-Chief
The Bush administration asked BP to come up with alternatives to the gas price tax credit in the Senate version of the energy bill. In response, BP suggested a package: three things aimed at reducing pipeline costs — resulting in a lower tariff — plus a production tax credit, BP Exploration (Alaska)....
[additional news subjects in this story]
U.S. Senate language from Phillips
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/727878402.shtml
...................................

Russian Oil Giant Hopes ConocoPhillips Deal Will Help Iraq ProjectBy Sergei BlagovCNSNews.com CorrespondentSeptember 30, 2004
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=%5CForeignBureaus%5Carchive%5C200409%5CFOR20040930c.html Moscow (CNSNews.com) - Russia's top oil company, Lukoil, hopes that a U.S. oil company's acquisition of a 7.6 percent stake could boost its chances to retain a Saddam-era production-sharing agreement to develop Iraq's giant West Qurna fields.
Under the deal, ConocoPhillips' share will be limited to a 20 percent stake. The agreement also places limits on ConocoPhillips' right to sell shares in Lukoil for four years.
ConocoPhillips White House Lecture Series
Speaker Biography
Donald L. Evans
Don Evans is the 34th Secretary to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce. He oversees a diverse Cabinet agency of 40,000 workers and a $5 billion budget focused on promoting and advocating for American business, both at home and abroad. His Department also gathers vast quantities of economic and demographic data, issues patents and trademarks, helps set industrial standards, forecasts the weather, researches the oceans and oversees telecommunications policy. He is a key member of President Bush’s economic team, advising the President on many issues, including trade, business concerns, energy policy and overall U.S. economic policy
Secretary Evans has an aggressive agenda to get the job done. At the top of the list is trade. He worked closely with Congress to secure Trade Promotion Authority for the President so America can be a leader in the global marketplace. Since taking office, he has visited 21 countries and led trade missions to Russia, China, Mexico, Africa and South America to promote American exports and to open markets. In October 2003, Secretary Evans traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan to explore opportunities for commercial partnerships that will generate economic growth and development and help secure peace and freedom for the people there. He found the universities and technical institutes open, and the country producing more electricity than before the war. On the streets of both Baghdad and Kabul, he saw the entrepreneurial spirit flourishing. He returned optimistic about a future prosperous and free Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 1975, Secretary Evans moved to Midland, Texas, from Houston and was a “roughneck” on an oil rig for Tom Brown, Inc, a large independent energy company. Ten years later, he took the helm of the company as CEO and continued leading it until he was tapped by the President to lead the Commerce Department.
Secretary Evans is a self-described optimist who believes the highest calling in life is serving others. As a result, he has been very active in community service over the years. In 1995, he was appointed by Governor Bush to the Board of Regents of the University of Texas; he was elected Chairman of the Board in February 1997 and served two consecutive terms. He was a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation for eight years and a driving force behind Native Vision, a program that provides services to about 10,000 Native American children. He has been involved with the United Way for many years, serving as President in 1989 and Campaign Chair in 1981. He has been named Jaycees Man of the Year.

Secretary Evans has made significant contributions in local and national politics over the past 25 years, having worked on behalf of Governor Bush’s successful gubernatorial campaigns in 1994 and 1998, and serving as Chairman of the Bush/Cheney 2000 campaign. Secretary Evans says his passions in life are family and his friends. He is married to Susan Marinis Evans. They have two daughters, a son and a granddaughter.


Gas Price Surge Under Bush Follows Unchecked Refinery Mergers

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aI43GNSYkDDQ&refer=news_index

May 17 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush allowed an increase in oil refinery mergers to go unchecked since he took office and may have contributed to the highest gasoline prices in 20 years as the November election approaches.

The Bush administration approved 33 takeovers

Mondo Washingtonby James RidgewayGeorge Bush, Failed Corporate CrookNitwit Scion Turns AvengerJuly 10 - 16, 2002

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0228/ridgeway.php

President George Bush says he's outraged at the scams that have sent big-name companies crashing, and he's not going to take it anymore. Feeding the polls, Bush tells the nation he wants new laws to bring criminal charges against dirty-dealing CEOs who fake company books and destroy not only the public's trust but its savings as well.

Kerry, Bush Campaign After Feisty DebateSource: Associated Press/AP Online Publication date: 2004-10-09

http://phillips66.yellowbrix.com/pages/phillips66/Story.nsp
story_id=58371543&ID=phillips66&scategory=AP+Top+Headlines&

ELYRIA, Ohio - President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, their animosity stirred by a contentious second debate, lit into each other over Iraq, jobs and debate performance on Saturday in critical battleground states.

Instant polls did not give either Bush or Kerry a clear edge in Friday's wide-ranging debate in St. Louis before an audience of uncommitted voters. But Republicans were heartened by what they saw as a steadier, more focused and aggressive performance by the president than in the first debate, where he displayed bouts of impatience and peevishness.

Kerry also criticized the administration for the shortage of flu vaccine.

Big Oil and James Baker Target the Western Sahara

By Wayne Madsen
allAfrica January 9, 2003

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/oil/2003/0114bush.htm
In the midst of America's international campaign against terrorism, the Bush administration is permitting Big Oil to legitimize the illegal occupation of an invaded country--Western Sahara.
Formerly known as Spanish Sahara and invaded by Morocco in 1975 (the same year Henry Kissinger acquiesced to Indonesia's invasion and annexation of East Timor and India's annexation of the Himalayan Kigdom of Sikkim)), Western Sahara's occupation by Morocco has neither been recognized by the United Nations nor the Organization of African Unity. The latter actually recognizes the independence of Western Sahara's exiled Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is headquartered in remote and squalid desert refugee camps on the Algerian side of the Western Sahara-Algeria border.

ExxonMobil/Esso

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THEM?

Exxon is responsible for the fact that Bush did not sign the Kyto-treaty, Exxon is also a big donor of the Republican Party. This company is also responsible for a part of the CO2-polution.
Name: ExxonMobile

Esso gave $1.376 million to the Republicans in the 2000 election cycle - more than any other oil company. 91% of its political donations went to the Republicans. As soon as George Bush became president, he pulled the United States out of the Kyoto Protocol, the only international agreement to address global warming ­ exactly the policy that Esso was promoting. As the USA is responsible for 25% of the pollution that causes global warming, this has a massive effect on the efficacy of the protocol.

Chairman and CEO: Lee R. Raymond

Postal address: 25 East John W Carpenter Freeway Irving TX75062-2298 USA

Phone number: not known

Fax number: not known

Website: http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/

Email address: postmaster@exxon.com

Important date(s): In 2001, the President of the United States Council for International Business(USCIB), from which ExxonMobile is a member, did write a letter to President Bush in which he asked US Government for the withdrawal of Kyoto.

Activities: exploration and production of oil and gas to the manufacturing and marketing of fuels, lubes and chemicals.

Bush donor: ExxonMobile is one of the sponsors of Bush. They are sending millions every year to Bush Jr. From 2000 till now, ExxonMobile have given 2.470.000$US to the Republican Party (figure calculated on 1st March 2004, source: www.opensecrets.org
Supporting brutal / repressive regimes: Involved in oil production in Malaysia, Chile, Indonesia, Colombia, and elsewhere.

Damaging the environment: In March 1989 the Exxon Valdez supertanker ran aground and broke open, releasing 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound, Alaska. The US National Transportation Safety Board, investigating the causes of the spill, partly blamed the "higher-ups"at the Exxon Shipping Company for poor management. It also criticised the Alaska pipeline consortium, of which Exxon is a partner, for it's 'massive failure' in reposonse to the spill, which greatly contributed to its severity.

Five reasons to hate ExxonMobile: 1. Esso/ExxonMobil tries to convince the public that global warming isn't happening even though Esso/ExxonMobil is one of its main causes. It spends millions of dollars on misleading propaganda every year. 2. Esso/ExxonMobil has played a leading role in sabotaging international attempts to stop global warming. It would rather sell more petrol than protect future generations. 3. Esso/ExxonMobil doesn't believe renewable energy has a future. "With no readily available economic alternatives on the horizon, fossil fuels will continue to supply most of the world's energy needs for the foreseeable future." --Lee Raymond, ExxonMobil CEO, 1997 4. Esso/ExxonMobil is the biggest oil company in the world - its profits totalled more than US$12 billion in 2000. If anyone can afford to help stop global warming it's Esso/ExxonMobil. 5. Esso/ExxonMobil was one of the main financial contributors to George Bush's election campaign. As soon as George Bush became president, he announced that the US would pull out of international agreements to stop global warming - exactly the position that Esso/ExxonMobil was promoting. http://www.stopesso.org/background?text_id=whyesso
ExxonMobil and the pro-war lobby groups:

ExxonMobil has a record of funding right-wing industry front groups who lobby on their behalf to 'protect US business' and keep the US addicted to oil. It is no coincidence that many of these groups have an analysis of foreign policy that leads them to lobby for an attack on Iraq.
the American Enterprise Institute - a 'think tank' to whom ExxonMobil donated $230,000 in 2001.

Another pro-war front group funded by ExxonMobil is the Heritage Foundation, who received $65,000 from ExxonMobil in 2001.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies received $135,000 in ExxonMobil funding in 2001.

In 2001 ExxonMobil also gave $20,000 to the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy.

http://www.stopesso.com/pdf/tigerinthetanks.pdf

Contact us: Do you have comments, info about this facts sheet? Please email

guido@motherearth.org

ChevronTexaco

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THEM?

Wherever they work, from Ecuador to Iraq, Nigeria and the US ChevronTexaco has demonstrated irresponsibility and lack of concern for public health, human rights, and the global environment. They have former director Condoleezza Rice on the inside and send millions every year to Bush Jr

Name: ChevronTexaco
Chairman and CEO: David J. O'Reilly
Postal address: ChevronTexaco Corporation, 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road, San Ramon, CA 94583, USA

Phone number: +1 925 842 0050
Website: http://www.chevrontexaco.com/

Email address: comment@chevrontexaco.com

Important date(s): In 2001, Texaco merged with Chevron, forming the second largest energy company in the world.

Activities: ChevronTexaco is world's fourth largest oil company based in California, USA. They are drilling for oil in 24 countries, and their international holdings include refineries, petrochemical plants, and an international trading and transportation network. ChevronTexaco also owns gasoline stations and convenience stores around the world -14,000 in the U.S. alone. Operations continue in Colombia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Indonesia and elsewhere.

Bush donor: ChevronTexaco is sending millions every year to Bush Jr. From 2000 till now, ChevronTexaco has given 2.200.000$US to the Republican Party (figure calculated on 1st March 2004, source: www.opensecrets.org

Iraq War Profiteering: According to ChevronTexaco's own spokesman, "We still have an interest in Iraqi crude." Former CEO, Ken Derr said it best when he said, "Iraq possesses huge reserves of oil and gas - reserves I'd love Chevron to have access to."

Lobbying against the Kyoto Protocol: Chevron and Texaco executives advised Vice President Dick Cheney on energy policy. Parent company Texaco Inc is a member of the Global Climate Coalition.

Toxic Pollution: Wherever they work, ChevronTexaco has continued to place executive salaries and corporate profits over the health and safety of the community and workers. They have destroyed environment and contaminated local people with their toxic wastes in Richmond (California, USA), in Ecuadorian Amazone, in Nigeria, in Indonesia, and in the U.K.
Supporting brutal / repressive regimes: Chevron has no moral thoughts to work with dictatorial regimes in Burma, Haiti, and Nigeria

Contact us: Do you have comments, info about this facts sheet? Please email guido@motherearth.org

I always thought of Aaron Brown as a 'Nice Guy' Not if he is willing to go along with someone who wants to see me dead.

I actually thought he was innocent in the assault by CNN on the public to some extent. What I thought and to some extent still believe is Sharon has appointed herself a news team for her own use and 'comfort.' Must be cozy. At any rate, sifting through the 'mess' after David left I found this recently.

Don't know quite what to think about it. Was I trying to justify Aaron. Was I an enabler to allow this fascade to continue? Was I so disbelieving in what the stark difference had become of this programming that it was too surreal? I don't know. I mean blatant and overt differences even down to the way the program progressed and the news was delivered. I had not a nice word for Sharon and believe to this day there is more than a 'working relationship' that exists.

The NewsNight Scandal Continues

I am getting tired of the insensitive idiots at CNN the Christian Continuous News Network.

Poor Aaron has to work with that bigot of a boss. In addition to that Sharon “The Idiot Hot Pants” von Zwieten is jealous of a long lasting friendship that seems to bring a quality to his broadcast that her staff can’t provide.

Speaking of a Greying God where is the Ark, Sharon? You all are going to need it for the level of sea rise that’s going to becoming your reality in Manhattan in the near future. You are going to be wishing “The Day After Tomorrow” would come true in that it froze rather than remained water with wildlife still living there.


Sinclair acts as though John Kerry is EXPECTED AND ORDERED to participate. The arrogants idiots of the Media Business. ‘Sinclair’ This is not a legitimate news story. This is an infomercial based on disgruntled veterans making a great deal of money. HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HEARD, when they never served one day in the precense of Senator John Kerry. This segment was an infomercial.

Some of my notes about the bigotry issue are obscure and not detailed well. They are untouched.

This was a series of articles and interviews surrounding Molly Bingham, she capture and time in Abu Gahraib, her release and return. She and Michael Gordon from the New York Times were the only journalists that gained the trust of the Iraqis in rebellion. She and Gordon verified Bush was propagandizing regarding al Qaeda in Iraq and indeed the 'insurgents' were Iraqis.

...................................................

You are still a religious bigot, Germany. You had to sneak in that little dinner time prayer. I don't want to hear how you are allowed. It is unbalanced and just like Bob Jones is allowed to exist you have a leaning. I don't want to hear how it is justified because of Soros appearance. Did he pray? I didn't think so. Besides that it is a 'tit for tat' issue with you. In other words if Soros is out there then so am I even though there are plenty of times when that balance doesn't exist.

YOU ARE A RELIGIOUS BIGOT.

Talk to Karl and Georgie and ask if there is a 12 step program for your malady.

There might be some hope but I doubt it.

Ms. Barrett

The American Dead Segment - 29, 27, 26, 20 Uhles, Drew

Local Papers
The Eugene Register Guard Pre deaths Steve PreFontain
Placers In The Oregonian
Tregedy hits home – Springfield Oregon


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5217043/

return to Iraq

Molly Bingham, jailed in Abu Ghraib by Saddam's regime in the run up to the war, returned afterward to photograph the insurgency

Freelance photographer Molly Bingham, sitting beside Newsday editor Jim Rupert, talks with reporters in Jordan after her release from Abu Ghraib on April 2, 2003.
Bingham and Rupert were among the group of journalists being released from an Iraqi prison.

Updated: 9:50 a.m. ET June 21, 2004

Award-winning photojournalist Molly Bingham was arrested by Iraqi police while covering the Iraq war last year. "They drove us to a place I didn't know where we were going," she says. That place turned out to be Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

"Every other moment of every day it was like, are they going to kill me?"

Bingham recalls the torturous sights and sounds from inside Abu Ghraib.

"You could hear they were in physical discomfort," she told MSNBC's Deborah Norville.

After her release, Bingham insisted on returning to Iraq, and in the wake of Saddam's fall, she did some of her best work, infiltrating the Iraqi insurgency and capturing some startling images of its bomb makers at work. She's been chronicling their exploits with her cameras, as well as in a recent article for “Vanity Fair.”

Bingham shared some of her thoughts with MSNBC's Deborah Norville on Tuesday. Below, is a transcript.

On having been in Abu Ghraib

DEBORAH NORVILLE, HOST: What went through your body and your mind as suddenly you realized, “I've just been taken hostage”?

MOLLY BINGHAM, PHOTOJOURNALIST: I didn't really have any sense of how it was going to play out. It was just the moment-to-moment anxiety of not knowing, “Are they going to kill me? Are they going to dump me in the river? Are they going to chain me to something important? Are they going to take me to a site where Saddam Hussein is and say you can't bomb it because we have Western journalists here with him?”

I didn't know. And really it was about five or six hours from the time I was first detained to the time I was taken away. And that period was very difficult, because I didn't know where I was going.

NORVILLE: You didn't know if you were actually being kidnapped in the beginning, right?

BINGHAM: Well, I didn't know whether I was being taken prisoner. I didn't know whether I was being taken to the Syrian border. I didn't know whether I was going to a prison or to a detention facility of some kind.

And when I arrived at Abu Ghraib, I didn't know where I was because I had never been there. I knew it was clearly a prison once I got inside, but I didn't know that was about it. So it was all a big mystery.

NORVILLE: When you see the videotape that we've seen quite a bit of since those notorious photos came out, do you see things that look familiar to you?

BINGHAM: Sure. This was the prison that I was in. I was in the Arab and foreigner section, which was isolation chambers, which were 6-by-9-foot cells with a metal grate door with no facilities in it. So you had to ask. There was a bathroom down the hall to go to the bathroom. And you were fed in the cell. So it was quiet, no conversation, and alone for eight days.

NORVILLE: And yet, you could hear other things that were going on in the prison that was pretty horrific.

BINGHAM: Yes. In particular, there was one night, there was another prisoner, I presume, who was being beaten pretty badly by the other guards in the hallway right outside of my cell.

NORVILLE: So that would have been a foreigner or an Iraqi? BINGHAM: I don't know. I literally turned my face to the wall and didn't watch and didn't want to be seen to be hearing anything or seeing anything.

I think all of us had the same reaction. And Matt McAllester wrote about it in his book as well. You just wanted to ignore it. You wanted to be seen ignoring it and not be interested.

NORVILLE: Ultimately, how were you all released? BINGHAM: We were all released one day, on April 1. They were going to drive to us Jordan. They were going to take to us Baghdad first and get our passports stamped. And on the way, driving out of the prison, the airstrikes started on the road to Baghdad.

And so they said, “Oh, okay, you're not going to leave right now.” And they put us in another cell all together for the first time, with all of our gear, all of our suitcases and everything. And we ended up staying overnight the last night. And so the next morning, they put us in GMCs and we were driven to the border, to the Jordanian border.

On going back to Iraq

NORVILLE: In less than three weeks, though, you got yourself back across as a freelance journalist, not assigned to any particular news organization. Why have you felt such a compulsion to be in Iraq, to report this story and to take the pictures that you have?

BINGHAM: I think it took a lot of resolve to go in the first place before the war. I knew I was taking a risk. I knew it was going to be dangerous. I knew that there were things like being in prison that I could face.

And being a photographer and being in prison for eight days during really the most important part of the days of the war there, and then missing the few days after—I felt like I needed to go and do what I originally went to do. I thought, “Okay, now it will be different and I can go and work there and I won't have that sort of oppression and fear that I had before and tell the stories that I want to tell.”

The first story I went back and told was about female political detainees under Saddam's regime and finding some of those women and talking to them about their experiences. And part of that was very helpful to me in getting through my understanding of what happened to me and my feelings about that, and just building relationships with Iraqis and having the kind of journalistic experience that I hadn't been able to have there before.

On insurgents

NORVILLE: Over the past year, you’ve tried to find out what causes ordinary Iraqi men and women to become insurgents. You talked to everyday people who have made that decision—teachers, shopkeepers, mothers. You’ve been chronicling their exploits with her cameras. One of the things, Molly, that I think I don't understand is, who are these people? We say insurgents, as though they wear a sign that says, “Hello, my name is insurgent,” and we can lump them all together.

BINGHAM: Right. I didn't know exactly what I was going to find when I went. And I thought it was important to understand who these people are who are opposing the occupation of the country. And what I found was largely that they are normal people. Some of them hold down day jobs. Some of them move weapons. They use whatever skills they have. Some of them are fighters. Some of them are sort of thinkers and policy strategists who are figuring out what to do.
They're very normal people. They don't have sort of insurgent stamped on their forehead or horns growing out of their heads. They're very normal people who really have one ambition. And that is self-determination for their country, which is defined by American and foreign military and political influence withdrawing from their country.

NORVILLE: You've had very intimate conversations with a lot of people over the last year. How do they square the notion that they wouldn't have the possibility to self-determine their political future if the Americans hadn't come in?

BINGHAM: I think the 15 or 20 people I spoke to, some people actually liked Saddam Hussein. Some of them never liked him. Some of them never liked him and now like him and think he is great and appreciate what he did for the country. Almost all of them said, “We didn't invite to you come here. We didn't want to you come here. The people that asked to you come here are exiles, people who didn't live here. They didn't suffer through what we suffered through.”

They also say, “We want to determine what our own choice is. And either Saddam Hussein would have died. We could have taken care of that ourselves. But now that you've done it, OK, it is history. Leave us alone. Let us do this ourselves.” They all share that.

NORVILLE: You say that the insurgents have a huge advantage over the American military. For what reason? BINGHAM: I think it's a psychological advantage. They're obviously militarily at a disadvantage, because they don't have the kind of firepower. But, as one of the characters said to me, “This is our field. We play as we choose. We pick the time. We pick the place. We pick the weapon.” And they've done that, I think, quite effectively. It started off early on with very simple attacks, AK-47s, sometimes RPGs. That developed into IEDs and bombs used on the roadsides. And they actually changed that tactic. Many of them told me they changed that tactic because of the number of civilian casualties that were getting hurt when they were attacking the Americans.

NORVILLE: So they realized they were hurting their own people in the process of fighting the Americans. BINGHAM: Exactly. And in that process, the Americans and the Iraqi police built higher walls, put up concrete blast walls, and sort of pushed back from the population. So they started using bigger bombs, car bombs, mortars. So, they were responding. They're very flexible and very intelligent in about how they're going about it.

NORVILLE: You also say the Americans can't say why they're there, but the Iraqi people can say why they’re fighting.

BINGHAM: Certainly. One of the characters in Iraq said to me, “We know what we're fighting for. The American soldier that's here, he doesn't know what he's fighting for. And when he dies, he'll to go hell. And if he survives, he will live in hell here in Iraq. For me, I fight. I die. I go to paradise. If I don't die, I fight and I go to paradise later because I'm fighting jihad.”

NORVILLE: There are two people who you give names to, because anybody who spoke to you for the record would have been killed for sharing their knowledge with you. One of them you call “the teacher.”

BINGHAM: Teacher is a very interesting character. He spent his entire life in education. He didn't like Saddam Hussein because he found that the level of education in his field went down significantly over the last, particularly over the last years of his reign during sanctions. And he had no love for him. He said, “He never did anything for me. I was a simple guy. I wasn't interested in politics. I wasn't interested in doing anything.”

And when the war came, he saw foreign fighters came, Fedayeen fighters came to his area of Adamiyah of Baghdad and were fighting for God. They were fighting for Allah and they were fighting against the Americans. And he saw this battle unfold in front of him. And he ended up helping some of the Arab fighters to find their way around, navigate the streets of the city, which they didn't know.

And in seeing them lay their lives down for defending Iraq, he was inspired by that, literally. And he said, “I didn't know my way to the mosque before. I wasn't a particularly religious guy.” He was really created by the American occupation—by the war and the American occupation. He wouldn't have done and been involved in any of this before.

So he said: “Within a week, I was lucky enough to find a group of people I agreed with, within a week after the end of the war, find a group of people I agreed with. And I started moving weapons for them. I do weapons procurement for them.”

NORVILLE: You have been back and forth into Iraq a number of times over the last year. What do you think the final resolution of this saga is going to be?

BINGHAM: It's a great question. I think, without full political and military independence, certainly the people I spoke are going to keep fighting. And they're keep fighting and dying and killing until they feel that they've reached a level of self-determination, independence.

NORVILLE: Molly Bingham, it is a terrific article in “Vanity Fair” magazine. And the photos are amazing.

BINGHAM: Thank you.

Insurgents Are Mostly Iraqis, U.S. Military SaysBush, Kerry and Allawi have cited foreign fighters as a major security problem.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/whitehouse/la-fg-insurgent28sep28,1,2164152.story?coll=la-news-politics-white_house

By Mark Mazzetti, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — The insistence by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and many U.S. officials that foreign fighters are streaming into Iraq to battle American troops runs counter to the U.S. military's own assessment that the Iraqi insurgency remains primarily a home-grown problem.

In a U.S. visit last week, Allawi spoke of foreign insurgents "flooding" his country, and both President Bush and his Democratic challenger, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, have cited these fighters as a major security problem.

But according to top U.S. military officers in Iraq, the threat posed by foreign fighters is far less significant than American and Iraqi politicians portray. Instead, commanders said, loyalists of Saddam Hussein's regime — who have swelled their ranks in recent months as ordinary Iraqis bristle at the U.S. military presence in Iraq — represent the far greater threat to the country's fragile 3-month-old government.

Foreign militants such as Jordanian-born Abu Musab Zarqawi are believed responsible for carrying out videotaped beheadings, suicide car bombings and other high-profile attacks. But U.S. military officials said Iraqi officials tended to exaggerate the number of foreign fighters in Iraq to obscure the fact that large numbers of their countrymen have taken up arms against U.S. troops and the American-backed interim Iraqi government.

"They say these guys are flowing across [the border] and fomenting all this violence. We don't think so," said a senior military official in Baghdad. "What's the main threat? It's internal."

In interviews during his U.S. visit last week, Allawi spoke ominously of foreign jihadists "coming in the hundreds to Iraq." In one interview, he estimated that foreign fighters constituted 30% of insurgent forces.

Allawi's comments echoed a theme in Bush's recent campaign speeches: that foreign fighters streaming into the country are proof that the war in Iraq is inextricably linked to the global war on terrorism.

Kerry has made a similar case, with a different emphasis. In remarks on the stump last week, he said that the "terrorists pouring across the border" were proof that the Bush administration had turned Iraq into a magnet for foreign fighters hoping to kill Americans.

Yet top military officers challenge all these statements. In a TV interview Sunday, Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, estimated that the number of foreign fighters in Iraq was below 1,000.

"While the foreign fighters in Iraq are definitely a problem that have to be dealt with, I still think that the primary problem that we're dealing with is former regime elements of the ex-Baath Party that are fighting against the government and trying to do anything possible to upend the election process," he said. Iraqi elections are scheduled for January.

U.S. officials acknowledge that Iraq's porous border — especially its boundary with Syria — allows arms and money to be smuggled in with relative ease. But they say the traffic from Syria is largely Iraqi Baathists who escaped after the U.S.-led invasion and couriers bringing in money from former members of Hussein's government.

At the behest of the interim government, U.S. forces last month cracked down on traffic along the 375-mile Syrian border. During Operation Phantom Linebacker, U.S. troops picked up small numbers of foreign fighters attempting to cross into Iraq, officials say.

Yet the bulk of the traffic they detected was the kind that has existed for hundreds of years: smugglers and Syrian tribesmen with close ties to sheiks on Iraq's side of the border.

Top military officers said there was little evidence that the dynamics in Iraq were similar to those in Afghanistan in the 1980s, when thousands of Arabs waged war alongside Afghans to drive out the Soviet Union.

Instead, U.S. military officials said the core of the insurgency in Iraq was — and always had been — Hussein's fiercest loyalists, who melted into Iraq's urban landscape when the war began in March 2003. During the succeeding months, they say, the insurgents' ranks have been bolstered by Iraqis who grew disillusioned with the U.S. failure to deliver basic services, jobs and reconstruction projects.

It is this expanding group, they say, that has given the insurgency its deadly power and which represents the biggest challenge to an Iraqi government trying to establish legitimacy countrywide.

"People try to turn this into the mujahedin, jihad war. It's not that," said one U.S. intelligence official. "How many foreign fighters have been captured and processed? Very few."

Terror Plot in Ohio Thwarted; State Department Cites Wrong Terrorism Figures
Aired June 14, 2004 - 22:00 ET

BROWN: Back now to Iraq. We've often said that penetrating the fog of war can be tricky business, so many factors contributing to the haze, not the least of which language.Take the word insurgent, for instance. With each new attack we hear about suspected insurgents, a label that makes for easy shorthand but which says little about the attackers or their motivations."Vanity Fair's" Molly Bingham has been in Iraq since before the beginning of the war, a harrowing experience that was too. In the magazine's July issue, she looks beneath the label at the people behind the insurgency and we're very pleased to have her with us tonight. It's nice to see you.

MOLLY BINGHAM, "VANITY FAIR" WRITER: Honored.

BROWN: Well, is there -- there are lots of insurgencies aren't there?

BINGHAM: Yes.

BROWN: It's really not one thing and the administration often I think over simplifies what it is.

BINGHAM: It's definitely not monolithic and when you try to make generalities about them you definitely get into trouble. There are Sunni. There are Shia. There are people who are nationalists. There are people who are Islamically motivated. There are bakers. There are wives. There are teachers. It's a very broad insurgency or resistance as you could call it and it's broadly supported.

BROWN: To what extent are they interconnected?

BINGHAM: The different groups you mean?

BROWN: Yes.

BINGHAM: Some are very highly coordinated and others are not. There are some that are as small as sort of a neighborhood watch, maybe 40, 50 guys who get together and do small operations when they can or when they want to and then there are very highly coordinated elements like Mohammed's Army or Mohammed's Army II, which have cells all over the country and coordinate their operations in different parts, different regions, so some of them are very highly coordinated and communicate between each other.

BROWN: Why would they talk to you?

BINGHAM: I think they talked to me because they wanted to. They were being called terrorists repeatedly on television and they -- the first thing almost all of them said to me is we're not terrorists. We're defending our homeland.

BROWN: What did you do go into Baghdad and dial 1-800-Insurgency and whoever answers you say, hi, I'm Molly Bingham?

BINGHAM: I went back to a gentleman I met last spring, who in a completely passing comment said, by the way, I'm a member of the resistance and that was in May and I went back in August and I happened to be able to find him and I started to talk to him.And then after that basically what I did is sit in tea shops in this one neighborhood of Baghdad called Adamia and people were curious about who I was and people were curious about what I was doing there and eventually people would come around and start talking to me and they would start talking about the situation and the occupation and what they didn't like about what was going on.And eventually, people sort of appeared and, as it became clear that someone was more active, rather than just saying I don't like it, I'd sort of pull them aside and say, well, you know, are you interested in telling me more about who you are as a person and why you're doing this, and a lot of them agreed.

BROWN: Do they believe that they can drive the Americans out?

BINGHAM: That is certainly their goal.

BROWN: Do they believe that though?

BINGHAM: They will fight until they do or they die. That is certainly their conviction. That's the one thing all these different groups and people share is American troops off the soil.

BROWN: So, take out of the equation the Islamic fundamentalists for a minute and even the Saddam dead-headers or whatever the administration...

BINGHAM: Dead-enders.

BROWN: Yes, dead-enders, whatever they are, and just talk about people in neighborhoods who are tired of the occupation, tired of the -- they will fight to the death. Will they give this new government a chance?

BINGHAM: I don't think so and that's a guess. That's conjecture. I asked them often would you accept a U.N., you know, U.N. support for a government? Would you accept a new government that was elected?And basically they all said if it has any fingerprints, any feeling of American influence, no we won't accept it. We want to determine our own future. We want to choose our own government, you know, style of government that works for us and the first step to that is removing American military or foreign military forces from our soil.

BROWN: Real quick, you done in Iraq now? You spent a lot of time there.

BINGHAM: Yes, I'm going to take a break from doing this kind of work for just a little bit.

BROWN: Nice to see you.

BINGHAM: Thank you.

BROWN: The piece in "Vanity Fair" this month. It's a perfect piece of work. It's nice to meet you.

BINGHAM: Thanks, Aaron.

BROWN: Hope you'll come back after your fellowship and tell me about that too. Thank you.