St. G. W. Bush vs. the Devil Bin Laden

President GW Bush and his catastrophic "A" team have told the American people that the US is winning the war on terror. But after over a year of absence from the media scene, Bin Laden released an audiotape that drove the stock market Dow average down 213 points. Symbolically, this low tech tape had the impact of an aircraft smashing into Wall Street. .

Last time Bin Laden dropped a tape was during the 2004 US presidential election. In this excursion, he essentially thumbed his nose at the president and said "Catch me if you can". It also gave presidential candidate Kerry a golden opportunity to rise above the Bush administration cliches on terror , identify himself as a master of the universe, set himself apart from the president. All he had to say was "Kill the son-of-bitch. Instead Kerry pontificated and missed an opportunty to project himself as the man of the hour. Political theatrics,sure, but Kerry never mastered them and he went down,down with his party.

Bin Laden has had his turban knocked off by Bush---The Arab's sanctuary in Afghanistan was crushed and dismantled, but not destroyed. He has lost important first and second echelon fighters in his Al Queda movement,.but his leadership cadres continue to function. He has failed to strike at the heart of America in another terrorist attack, but succeeded with increasingly devastating terror attacks against US allies. The US has forged administratively an international.anti-Al Queda terrorist apparatus, but will not protect its borders from terrorist penetration. It mistakenly believes that a source of cheap stoop labor is more important than security.

It makes me cringe everytime an adminstration blowhard tells the American people how it has so far protected the US homeland against another Al Queda attack.This is just another version of the hapless Bush "Bring 'em on". Public remarks like these made by high level officials, inflame the terrorists, make them more determined to attack. Its effort to make propaganda on this issue demonstrates, in this instance, that the Bush administration has no brains or class. It should quietly pocket this positive situation and cross its fingers that it continues. Most experts on terror believe it will not continue, which makes this senseless bravado even more incomprehensible.

Bin Laden's biggest success, apart from his attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, was to use the US invasion of Iraq to open a second terrorist front against the US..

GW Bush is a bible thumping, born again, Christian evangelical whose world is cast in good vs. evil,e.g., his axis of evil foregin policy formulation. In Iraq the devil did not chase him as he did in 9/11 The president almost innocently walked into the Iraqi trap, and the devil snapped the cage closed. Now Bush is unable to extricate himself from the morass that has brought the US death and unacceptable open expenditures

It is now history. The US turn from major operations in Afghanistan to Iraq has relieved pressure on Al Oueda and the Taliban. There is a resurgence of the Taliban all over Afghanistan . Abetted by careless US air strikes that kill innocent people, the border areas in Pakistan along Afghanistan have never been more pro-Al Queda. As far as Iraq, the capture of Saddam has removed any regional check and balance on Iranian Shiite power. It has actually increased Iranian power ,as the Iranian ayatollas now influence 60 per cent of Iraq .To make matters worse, el Sadr, head of the most powerful Iraqi Shiite militia, said he would defend Iran if it is attacked. The great irony is that the US, still using yesterday's playbook, is killing and imprisoning anti-Shiite Sunnis as fast as it can.

Most experts agree that the the US invasion of Iraq created a new Mecca for terrorists who now have a first hand opportunity to dip their hands in American blood. There are more suicide bombers than bombs. There is an anti-American frenzy that feeds bloodshed not only against Americans, but against any local moderate elements that support stability in Iraq.

The war in Iraq was promoted by Israel-first Neocons and the big oil lobbies So far Israel is less secure and oil is bumping seventy dollars a barrel, with Iraqi oil production below pre- invasion levels. When GW Bush writes his memoirs about the invasion of Iraq, he may as well say the the devil made him do it. It is as good a reason as any so far. His arguments for invasion like WMD, Iraqi links to Al Oueda and imposition of democracy are now smoking on the trash heap of history.

Pictured with this essay is a medieval, fortune telling Tarot card, number fifteen, of the Tarot trump cards--the Devil. There are symbolic representations on this card that GW Bush would appreciate, especially given his bedeviled state of mind.

The Devil appears to be a tall, gawky, ungainly fellow. He wears female breasts which implies an intuitive female side. Has bat wings and travels at night when all the good, god fearing people are sleeping. Of course, he sleeps in caves; he has two satanic imps, one called Al Zawahiri and the other Al Zarqawi , that blindly do his bloody bidding. He holds the sword carelessly by the blade and uses it to kill the innocent as well as the guilty He sows death and destruction without remorse.

Goethe wrote "You have the devil underrated
I cannot yet persuaded be
A fellow who is all behated
Must something be "

The devil, a fallen angel, is also known as Lucifer-the light giver. To the Islamic Jihadists, he is just that. He has a fanatic following and has spawned a world wide movement that will deify him whether he is killed in battle or dies quietly with a toothache in his heel. He remains a deadly force against the US that the House of Bush unintentionally help build.


As GW Bush proceeds down the twisting road in the Middle East, he may do well to ponder the meaning found on Chinese road signs today. " Go smoothly on the slippery road, for therein lurks the skid demon" Colonel Robert E Bartos Colonel US Army Ret.

Black Magic, The Anti Christ and GW Bush

US National security has to develop new and different policies Now it has to cope with spells, curses and the antichrist.

This strange phenomenon was brought to my attention recently at dinner in an upscale Latino restuarant with two Cubans . I was stunned to observe one intentionally spill some wine from his glass on the restaurant floor. When asked what he was doing, he replied he believed that the world is filled with spirits and this was one way to share and acknowledge them--Both were Christian, but fervent believers in Santeria, a religion that mixes black pagan rituals and Catholicism.

This religion involves the ritual sacrifice of animals to propitiate and to bond humans to the gods, usually chickens, goats or sheep . Apparently Fidel Castro has been initiated into the religion. Both said that Castro brought an elephant to Cuba and sacrificed it. And there are witnesses to the event. It is an island , and an elephant coming to the docks is a real event that cannot be surpressed.

A majority of Cubans believe Castro's charmed existance is attributed to his jumbo sacrifice. The revolutionary Che Gueverra, who died hard, with his boots on, most likely was not initiated into Santeria. He was an Argentinean and paid the price for ignoring the gods. Next time the US plans a military adventure in Cuba, it better plan to take out Chango, the avenger god of thunder., war and fire.

This supernatural stuff is not just limited to the Cuban Afro people of the Caribbean. Let us go to Israel, a land where today Aramaic curses are used to take out Israeli leadership. Rabin was assassinated about a month and half after the curse was pronounced Sharon antagonized the same radical elements in Israel opposed to the evacuation of Gaza. It took about four months before he was struck down with a massive stroke. For Sharon it took longer than for Rabin for the curse to take effect. It is said that Sharon's 325 pound weight delayed the damage. Rev. Pat Robertson did not help the situation..He threw gasoline on the fire by screaming that Sharon deserved divine punishment, because he gave away God's land .

Organizing this curse in Israel is not taken lightly. The ceremony called Pulsa Dinura is complicated and involves a number of people. Twenty bearded men over forty years old repeat Kabbalic incantations, led by one who reads the text. All have ritually bathed. This ceremony took place in the moonlight in a Jewish cemetery near Rosh Pena . Many participants in the ceremony against Sharon also pronounced the curse against Rabin in 1995..You could call this process VOOJEW.

This curse works against non -Jews as well. SecDef Rumsfeld, always on the lookout for new and exotic weapons, may want to harness this force and precisely beam it against the axis of evil or, maybe ,try it out on Castro ,Chavez and Bin Laden. It certanly would not entail the self defeating blowback caused by killing innocent people when destoying Islamic settlements in the search for terrorists,

As a born-again evangelical Christian President, GW Bush has his own creepy, oddball fixation that rivals the Cuban and Jewish black magic. It is called the Rapture. Its horrific ferocity and apocalyptic vengeance is described in detail in an article by Craige Unger in the December 2005 issue of VANITY FAIR .The Rapture visualizes that all born- again evangelists will join God when he returns to earth at the second coming. Those who are unsaved are considered antichrists and to be destroyed by God in a cosmic battle by exploding their bodies, filling the valleys with blood. This battle is to take place in Israel near a town called Meggado.

In recent years, especially under GW Bush, there has been a fusion of interests between the American evangelists and right wing elements in Israel--Rev .Pat Robertson is planning to build a Christian Heritage Center in Galilee, Israel on 32 acres of leased land Despite the fact Robertson foolishly popped off over Sharon's illness, the project will go forward and bring considerable revenue to Israel. At the same time Robertson will dementedly get to park his fervered aggragation near the site of his eagerly awaited Rapture Rev Robertson has recently apologized for his anti Sharon remarks, so it is onward Christian soldiers.

Given the militancy and self rightousness of he born-again Christians,some wags say the old Klu Klux Klan is now wearing crosses instead of burning them.

It is a crazy world out there. Most of the craziness is born when religion and politics mix. US Secretary of Homeland Defense, Chertoff, has sunken eyes, hollow cheeks and the look and pallor of a zombie. His name in Russian means "of the Devil". Sleep well American evangelists. Your anticpated bloody Rapture may be sooner than you expect.. Colonel Robert E Bartos US Army Ret

Time to Fold the Tents in Iraq

President GW Bush, with members of his administration, speciously have told the American people repeatedly that US forces will withraw from Iraq when US troop commanders in Iraq advise them to do so.

Everybody knows that troop commanders follow orders. They are not going to advocate troop withdrawals unless they are told to do it by civilian leadership appointed by the President. Mr. Bush hid behind this implausible fig leaf until congressional Representative John Murtha announced that the troops should be redeployed from Iraq without extended delay.

Murtha changed his pro- war stance in Iraq to enough is enough. Pull the forces out before more die pointlessly. He rejects the administration's arguments that more Americans should die in battle to keep faith the with others who have died for the same cause. . Further, having Americans die for others' democracy apparently does not make sense to him either.Other outspoken advocates of withdrawal were easily blown off by the administration as pacifists, branded as bleeding heart librerals who are weak on the war on terror.

Most visible is Cindy Sheehan, tragically a goldstar mother who received national attention by protesting the war and, recently, camping out next to the President's Crawford, Texas spread. By most standards, she is not an effective spokesperson against the war. She appears to trade on pity rather than intellect or reasoned argument. She comes accross as mawkish. For example, recent Vanity Fair has a photo of her prostrate on her son's grave.

Murtha is something all together different. He is a real stick in the administration's eye and cannot be dismissed as just another whining critic.Rep. Murtha, a decorated Marine Vietnam veteran with 17 terms in congress, has always been the guy to go to for the US uniformed military. .He was always there with stong support of military budgets and weapons programs. He enjoyed an unusual status. .

He was a moderate pro- defense Democrat who served in a party that usually had more pressing priorities than national defense. He is on a first name basis with active duty and retired generals. He is a de facto conduit for the uniformed military to congress.

So his voice resonates on national military issues, and GW Bush would be wise to listen. He is not another vacuous congressperson chasing the lime light. Though Murtha has been invaluable over the years to the Department of Defense civilian leadership, his heart has always been with the uniformed military. His working-class background does not mesh with the Chablis sipping Defense Department's academic neocon professors, high-powered CEOs or operational research wizards. Murtha is an ethnic, shot and a beer guy who projects his working class constituency in Pennsylvania.

Iniitially, the Bush. administration pushed back hard on Murtha's anti-war stance. It used the Swift Boat slime tactics that worked so well against Senators Kerry and McCain and even misguidedly tried to link Murtha to left wing critics such as Michael Moore, which backfired.
It now has pulled back on the ad hominem attacks by VEEP Cheney, other adminstration mouth pieces and designated members of congress. The tone has changed abruptly from vituperative attacks on Rep. Murtha to "honest "disagreements with him.

Except for Pelosi, most of Murtha's Democrat colleagues have not supported him. Leading democrats such as Senators Biden, Clinton and Kerry nervously responded to his call for a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq like ditzy coeds at a sorority tea who just saw a mouse in canapes.

There is no question that Rep. Murtha was fronting for the uniformed military that is bound by chain-of -command loyalties to remain silent and, officially, to support civilian leadership. The fact that Murtha was uncorked by the military came as a surprise. It demonstrated how bad the Marines and Army must be hurting.

The national guard units and reserve elements are way below on reenlistments. The regular Army and Marines are stressed by their unrelenting, almost permanent combat roles. The Army had to accept 25 per cent of their enlistments from category IV manpower pools.

These people are lucky to lace their boots, let alone operate and maintain high-tech military equipment. Further complicating the situation, miltary equipment is worn out and its replacement is slow. Katrina exposed the hair brained Pentagon deployment policies.

We witnessed the elite 82nd Airborne Division, trained for combat assault, cradling American babies and searching for bodies in New Orleans. This ocurred while the Louisiana national guard , who knew the neighborhoods, rushed back from the Iraqi desert with its high-water vehicles and tactical radios.

As it stands now the US has deposed Saddam, killed his sons and rolled up the Baath leadership designated in the deck of cards. To accomplish this, more than 2200 Americans have been killed and over 15,000 wounded, many seriously impaired The toll on the Iraqis is estimated to be over 100,000 killed.

Water, electric and oil production has yet to reach pre-war levels, mainly because institutions and enterprises were left unprotected. Widespread looting has occurred during the occupation. In terms of the ancient Iraqi patrimony, of the 15,000 high-grade objects looted from the Baghdad Museum, only about 3,000 have been recovered. Corruption is pervasive.

The US has spent over 200,000 billion dollars to achieve this castastrophe, with the US meter still running at six billion a month. Even the creative Nazi propagandist Dr. Goebbels would have a problem characterizing this state of affairs as progress or victory.

Pro- Iranian Shiites and some Kurds now control the Army and police. As far as these Iraqi forces are concerned, most are components of Shiite and Kurdish militias. These are not federal forces, and there is little hope they will be intergrated into a cohesive, non- secterian, national force. There is even squabbling over a Sunni or a Shiite to head the Iraqi Baghdad Brigade

To erode the administration's position further ,the Sunni and Shiite representatives at the recent Arab League conference called for the end of theUS occupation by setting a timetable.

The Bush administration's dilemma is that if it remains in Iraq, domestic support erodes as US forces continue to bleed..There is no question that the insurgency is growing in ferocity, as is obvious from the growing rate of US casualtes.

If the US withdraws, the insurgents will claim victory. These are unpleasant choices, but one has to be made.

Rep. Murtha, with the unofficial encouragement of the US military , has made that choice. Start the withdrawal as soon as it can be safely organized.

As the tribes in Iraq rip each other apart, we do not want to be caught in a civil war crossfire. Without the US as a common enemy, the insurgents will stop travelling with Al Queda Zarqawi and take their country back.

The foolish US invasion of Iraq created Zarqawi and withdrawal will likely destroy him. It is a better gamble than to remain and die. US hopes of controlling Iraqi oil will go a glimmering as long as GW Bush is President. The insertion of democracy in Iraq was just a pipe dream to justify the war. It appears more farcical as the aroused tribes slaughter each other in their mosques, markets, homes and streets.

The Iraq war was based on false assumptions and faith-based intelligence. Ironically,. the US military, saluting, masterfully executed a seriously flawed war plan. The results have been disaster in Iraq. Representative Murtha had the courage to tell the American people not to dig their hole deeper.

And at last the uniformed military figured out a way to get their message across. Let us hope that Mr. Bush heard it. Robert E Bartos Col US Army Ret--who served as US Intelligence Chief of Foreign Intelligence--commanded a battalion in Vietnam-was US military attache in Moscow and Belgrade and was a member of President Raegan's transition team in 1980