Apr. 12, 2003 - 23:27 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Green Trail

"Boondocks" is a cartoon I usually see in the Saturday/Sunday editions of our local paper. A favorite of mine, wish it would run everyday. One young, intelligent boy is the star of the strip who has as a side kick a younger girl who is sharp also. Fridays strip is just one panel with the boy saying, "By my estimation, since the war started, the 24-hour cable news networks, in conjunction with their military analysts, have dropped more than 30 megatons of precision-guided manure on the American people."

After watching a bit of TV now and then through these days I wonder if he is underestimating the tonnage a skosh.

Bob Herbert of the New York Times has an article in April 11th Rocky Mountain News that points up some things that have been bothering me all along. He says in part. "Former Secretary of State George Schultz is on the board of directors of the Bechtel Group, the largest contractor in the U.S. and one of the finalists in the competition to land a fat contract to help in the rebuilding of Iraq."

"He is also the chairman of the advisory board of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, a fiercely pro-war group with close ties to the White House. The committee formed last year, made it clear from the beginning that it sought more than the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime. It was committed, among other things, 'To work beyond the liberation of Iraq to the reconstruction of its economy.'" War is a tragedy for some and a boon for others."

Mr Herbert mentions that Jack Sheehan, a retired Marine Corps general, is a senior vice president at Bechtel. Further Mr. Herbert says that Jack Sheehan is also a member of the Defense Policy Board, a government-appointed group that advises the Pentagon on major defense issues. Its members are selected by the undersecretary of defense for policy, currently Douglas Feith, and approved by the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

He further states , "Most Americans have never heard of the Defense Policy Group. Its meetings are classified. The members disclose their business interests to the Pentagon, but that information is not available to the public."

It gets even more interesting - the column goes on to say, "The Center for Public Integrity, a private watchdog group in Washington, recently disclosed that of the 30 members of the board, at least nine are linked to companies that have won more than $76 billion in defense contracts in 2001 and 2002".

Then he says, "One member is the former CIA director James Woolsey. He's also a principal in the Paladin Capital Group, a venture capital firm that, as the Center for Public Integrity noted, is soliciting investments for companies that specialize in domestic security. Woolsey is also a member of the Committee to Liberate Iraq and is reported to be in line to play a role in the postwar occupation."

Some important words to my mind, Mr. Herbert said, "The war against Iraq has become one of the clearest examples ever of the influence of the military-industrial complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned agains so eloquently in his farewell address in 1961. This iron web of relationships among powerful individuals inside and outside the government operates with very little public scrutiny and is saturated with conflicts of interest. Their goals might or might not coincide with the best interests of the American people."

One more point that Mr. Herbert makes, "Those who dreamed of a flowering of democracy in Iraq are advised to consider the skepticism of Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser to the first President Bush. He asked: "What's going to happen the first time we hold an election in Iraq an it turns out the radicals win ? What do you do ? We're surely not going to let them take over."

My personal opinion is pretty close to his, also remembering that Mr. Rumsfeld is entangled in ? Halliburton ? is it ? anyway a big contractor also. It seems to me that Mr. Bush has surrounded himself with BIG BUSINESSMEN to the max.

Like I already said, we are in the war, lets do it and bring our military home peacefully and with the honors due them. But it does look to me like there is a possiblity of some of these big contractors having most of their employees of foreign nationality. And I expect that as a reward for rebuilding the country of Iraq we are destroying, these big corporations won't have to pay any taxes, while Joe Q. Public keeps trying to survive in a country in depression and unemployment.

The old murder mystery stories saying "cherchez la femme," can be turned about and used as a starting point to solve who we are and how things are and lead us to "Follow the Green Trail . . . . . . . . .

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