Bill Sykes' - In Retrospect
X.
(February 2008)
Bill
Sykes looks back in retrospect at material which has
been published in previous editions of "View from
America", in an attempt to determine whether the
subject matter written then is still applicable in
today’s world.
Introduction to Article #10.
In this Edition of "Looking back in retrospect",
I intend to cover the following subjects:
1) President Bush travels to the Middle East.
2) The Pakistani situation.
3) Charley Wilson’s War.
4) The Usama bin Laden dilemma.
5) The United States financial situation.
6) The Presidential Election.
1) President Bush travels to the Middle East - “To Dream the impossible
Dream”?
This traveling salesman of a President obviously was sent out of the country
at a time when the White House popularity was at its lowest level ever and the
economy of this country was on the skids to such a degree that it was not in
the best interests of the Washington Belt Way Bandits to have him constantly
on view in this country reciting his usual everything is under control and the
economy is strong and resilient - so off he went on Air Force One to strut his
stuff, like the little dictator that he thinks that he is, in the Middle East
Bush’s recent visit to the Middle East included Turkey, Lebanon, Israel,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Please note that Iraq, Iran, Syria and Pakistan, were not on his agenda - wonder
why?
Bush Visits Turkey.
His first big gaffe was upon his arrival in Turkey when he began to extol the
virtues of Turkey as a potential partner in the European Union and even went
so far as to promote the idea that the European Union should accept Turkey as
a full member. He really has no idea about these things, politically or otherwise,
and should keep his mouth shut unless he wants to appear more of idiot than most
of the people in Europe already know that he is.
Firstly, let us take a look at why Bush visited
Turkey. Well, seeing that President Perves Musharraf
of Pakistan declared, after the sponsors of Benazir
Bhutto had basically accused the Pakistan government
of being involved in the Benazir Bhutto assassination,
that Pakistan was now off-limits to American forces.
This of course means that America desperately needs
the Turkish airbases to remain open to American military
aircraft based there, as they would be in a position
to attack Iran at a moments notice if Bush in his infinite
lack of wisdom decided to assist/join Israel in an
attack upon Iran.
Bush visits Lebanon.
Initially this appeared to be more of a photo opportunity than anything
else and didn’t appear to have any benefits, politically or otherwise,
unless Bush wanted to reassure the current Lebanese government that Syria and
Iran will end their interference in Lebanon, and he called for all the nations
in the region to support Lebanon’s Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
This is a complex subject, so please forgive me if
I have an occasional wrong date.
But just in case you would like a history lesson Mr.
Bush I have researched the Lebanese situation and my
findings revealed that in April 1975 a full scale civil
war broke out in Lebanon between Maronite Christian
Groups of the Lebanese Front, and the Lebanese National
Front, (which was made up mostly of Muslims), and this
civil war lasted until1990.
In June of 1976 the Maronite dominated Government
asked Syria for military support - prior to this Syria
had mounted several diplomatic efforts to stop the
war.
At that time the Syrian Leader Hafez-al-Assad, (the
father of the current President), answered the request
by sending in Syrian troops to strengthen the Maronite
Government - which did not go down well with the Muslim
world - and by 1977 the number of Syrian forces exceeded
30,000 troops, and by the year 2004 approximately 25,000
Syrian troops and 25,000 members of the Syrian Intelligence
Service were deployed in Lebanon.
To cut a long and complex story short, Syria occupied
Lebanon from 1976 until 2005 and during this period
as many as 900,000 people fled the country.
After the Syrians partially withdrew from Lebanon in
June of 1982 the internal war between Christians and
Muslims recommenced and Israeli forces invaded Lebanon and
reached Beirut before a multinational force made up
of United States and Western European troops were deployed
to Beirut and an agreement was reached that requested
Israel to withdraw from Lebanon but it was not until
1985 that the Israeli troops withdrew most of its troops,
but they still retained a barrier strip of land between
Israel and Lebanon.
The Syrian regime tried to impose an agreement maintaining
its control over Lebanon but this was never implemented
as Israel had a similar idea and would have
liked to have taken over the whole of Lebanon themselves as they have done with
Palestine.
Footnote:
It was reported some time
ago, that in September 1982 a massacre occurred at
two Palestinian refugee camps, (Sabra and Chatilla),
in Lebanon where more than 800 people were killed or
went missing in a three day killing spree by Lebanese
Christian militiamen who were allowed into the camps
by Israeli soldiers.
Surely Mr. President before you visited Lebanon or
any other foreign country please assure me that someone
in your establishment gives you a briefing on the geography
and past history of whatever country that you
are proposing to visit - but of course, maybe that
would be below your intelligence level.
Bush visits Israel.
Next on the list was a visit to Israel, where he tried
to portray himself as the one person who could bring
peace between the warring Jews and Arabs and he actually
said that he could achieve this by the end of the
year. What on earth goes on in this man’s
head, what a farce, does he really believe that he
can walk on water?
This statement comes as the Jewish
people are still continuing to take over Arab lands
and extend the Israeli settlements on a daily basis.
Dateline:
Wednesday, 23rd January, 2008: The Jewish blockade
of the Gaza Strip, (which is in reprisal for members
of Hamas firing rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip),
(*),
is depriving the Palestinians, who live
in the Gaza Strip of much needed personal necessities
causing tens of thousands of Palestinians to flee from
Gaza through the town of Rafah, which is located on
the southern most point of the Gaza Strip, across
the border into Egypt in order to obtain, food, water,
medicine, fuel and all the other necessities required
to sustain life.
Question: Is this Israels "final
solution" to
what they consider to be the Arab problem by blockading
the Gaza Strip in order to complete what they have
always wanted to do, that is to take over all the land
that was once owned by the Palestine Arab people?
During my lifetime I have had several Jewish friend
and acquaintances, and still have, and the answer always
given to why on earth cannot the Israeli Jews and the
Palestinian Arabs live peacefully together, is that
this is a Jewish State and the Arabs have no rights
being here, or words to that affect.
(*) Note:
I condemn the Palestinians for their senseless and
continued firing of rockets into Israel from the Gaza
Strip and also I condemn the Israeli’s harsh
and extremely deadly reprisals with their far superior
weaponry.
The continuous killing of human beings on both sides
of this terrible conflict has got to be stopped, as
I consider these actions could precipitate a prelude
to an all out war in the Middle East.
Please refer to Article # 10A, “The Expansion the West bank wall.
I would also place before you the following scenario.
I would suggest that President Bush’s trip to
Israel, prior to visiting Saudi Arabia, was just a
smoke screen to try to pacify Saudi Arabia where the
United States is in the process of negotiating a $20B
procurement program to provide Saudi Arabia with some
of the worlds most sophisticated weaponry.
I would suggest that there will only be peace in Israel
when the Israeli’s cease to encroach upon
Arab lands and stop expanding their settlements, and
the Arab population who are now virtually confined
to living in the Gaza Strip, are given back some of
the lands stolen from them since the 1967 six day war.
Please refer to Article #10B. During the Arab Summit, (convened on
the 27th of March 2002), where Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia announced
his basic peace proposal for the Palestinian problem.
A brief history of Israel.
The Canaanites were the earliest know inhabitants of
Palestine and were followed by the Hebrew tribes
around 1230 BC who held power until 539 BC until
conquered by the Persians. Alexander the Great took
over the region in 333 BC and it became a Roman Province.
Muslim Arab Armies invaded Palestine in 638 AD and
ruled for 1300 years. In 1880 Arab Palestinians constituted
95% of the population. The Ottoman Turks appeared
upon the scene in 1517 and ruled Palestine until
1917 when the British, aided by the Arabs took over.
The Balfour declaration of 1917 promised the Jews
a National Homeland in Palestine and a mandate was
created that would allow Great Britain to police
and control the immigration into Palestine. The State
of Israel was established on the 14th of May 1948. I
am given to understand that Mr. Winston Churchill
was a prime supporter of the Jewish lobby.
I believe that Aldous Huxley, when talking about Jerusalem
said, "To understand why men still kill in the
name of God, come to Jerusalem, holy of holies, the
slaughterhouse of the religions".
The patriotic English Hymn speaks of building Jerusalem
in England’s green and pleasant land. See how
lucky you are to have been spared the centuries of
religious bias and war—or have you?
2) The Pakistan situation. (What kind of
solution do you have for this problem Mr. President)?
Seeing that it was apparent that United States Government
financed the return to Pakistan of the 54-years-old
Benazir Bhutto, (the former Prime Minister of Pakistan),
who had been in exile for eleven years, after being
banished for allegations of corruption in 1996 - the
United States political machine in its wisdom, or lack
of it, decided that the only person who could save
a possible threat to President Pervez Musharraf’s
political future, (which apparently the United States
appears to believe would be in the United States best
interests), or perhaps on the other hand the United
States were planning to assist in the overthrow of
President Musharraf and install one political pawn
with another.
In October of 2007, Benazir Bhutto supported by American
funding returned to Pakistan, with the United States
openly stating that she was not a threat to stability
in Pakistan, and also stating that she was being reintroduced
into the country in order to support the "flagging"
power of President Musharraf and his governing body,
which the United States claimed to be on the wane.
Upon her arrival in Pakistan, after many years of exile,
there were mass demonstrations in the streets and a
power struggle which caused a loss of life in excess
of 130 people - so much for America renewing stability
in Pakistan.
It would appear that the general idea of the United
Sates was for Benazir Bhutto, who had been a central
figure in a prior torturous struggle to bring democratic
rule into Pakistan, was for her to rekindle the United
States expectations that the 165 million people of
Pakistan would accept democracy. Unbelievable!
When will the United
States ever learn that there are many countries in
the world that will never accept democratic rule, especially
the American idea of democracy?
The inevitable result after being placed
under house arrest several times, and apparently receiving
several warnings from President Perves Musharraf as
to her vulnerability, was that on the 27th of December
2007 former President Benazir Bhutto took part in a
rally of her supporters and whilst standing in the
front seat of the vehicle with her head visible through
the upper front portion of the roof, she was shot to
death.
To the best of my knowledge there has been no published
autopsy report so I must assume that she died from
gunshot wounds.
The process of determining the responsibility for Benazir
Bhutto’s death had hardly begun when the United
States started pointing fingers at the Musharraf regime
and members of his government but it was also clear
that Benazir Bhutto had many enemies of her own in
Pakistan, besides employees of the government there
are numerous groups who have deep antagonism towards
her and the moderating influences which she embodies.
So, did our bull in a china shop President clear up
America’s position in the Middle East? Hell
no, he only muddied the water more than ever!
Please refer to
Article #10C. (Not completely applicable text but
certainly worth reading).
3) Charley Wilson's War.
I don’t wish to bore you, the reader, with trivialities,
but I do wish to give you my idea of the way Americans
think when it comes to situations involving the Soviets
Union - the good old red herring which has always been
fed to the American public in order to prove that anything
that smacks of communism should be destroyed.
So - I’ve just been to see a movie, "Charlie
Wilson’s War", (which apparently is a true
story), and I find that the story portrayed in the
movie is sort of applicable to the subject matter even
though it mainly involves Pakistan, next door neighbor
Afghanistan, and the Soviet/Afghan War which was fought
for nine years, (1979/1988), by Russian armed forces
against the largely fundamentalist Afghanistan Mujahideen/Taliban
insurgents.
Please to refer to article #10D.
4) The Usama bin Laden dilemma.
Several years have now passed and Usama bin
Laden has not been captured, even though the United
States continues to have Special Forces battling the
Taliban and apparently searching for him. The Taliban appear to be growing
daily in military strength and not diminishing in numbers as the popular press
would have the Americans believe.
"They seek him here, they seek him there, they seek him everywhere - is
he in Heaven, or is he in Hell, that dammed illusive Pimpernel".
The poppy fields of Afghanistan are flourishing and
producing more opium than ever for worldwide consumption,
from which one would imagine that the ever increasing
financial return from these sales provides the Taliban
and their supporters with the monetary backing to purchase
more and more weapons with which to carry on the war
against the American and Allied forces in order to,
so say, try to regain there country.
Note: For several years now, I have
been of the opinion that the United States really does
not have any great desire to capture Usama bin Laden,
(perhaps that is due to the fact that he was born a
Saudi National), and if he was ever captured it would
place the United States Government in a terrible dilemma
in not knowing what to do with him, seeing that we
are such great friends with the Saudi Arabian kingdom,
and the Saudis virtually control a large percentage
of our oil supplies - plus the fact that they are burdened
down with so much money, and right now we badly need an influx of that money
to shore up our sagging economy.
5) The United States Financial Situation.
President Bush still maintains on a daily basis that
the economy is strong and resilient and will recover.
I would suggest that this is akin to the ship’s
orchestra playing "God save the King", (or whatever),
as the Titanic sunk at 12:15 am on the 14th of April
1912 with the loss of over 1500 passengers.
Currently the worldwide financial organizations are
in dire straights because of greed and corruption -
companies worldwide who participated in sub-prime mortgages
lending are some of the worst hit, but the worldwide
currency markets are also feeling the shock wave when
the worldwide banking systems recently hit their all
time lows.
Sub-prime mortgages can be described as
short term loans mainly associated with house mortgages
in which people who were borrowing large sums of money,
way beyond their meager means to purchase very expensive
houses with little or no down payment. The idea being
that in a rapidly growing housing market the price
of the property that they had just bought would increase
at least three fold in as many months.
The days of
the housing price boom suddenly burst - little did
the younger generation who were in the house purchasing
for profit mood, take any notice of that old adage
"whatever goes up - always comes down" and
suddenly the housing bubble burst and house prices
dropped precipitously - the poor individuals were now
faced with a situation where the sale price of the
house they had bought was now less than the price that
they paid for it, and instead of making a lot of money,
they owed a lot of money, and didn’t
have the where-with-all to even pay their mortgages,
so the lenders foreclosed and the unfortunates had
no money, an immense debt, and no living accommodation.
I once mentioned somewhere in one of my articles that
the United Sates economy was going from bad to worse
and a recession was approaching and I added a fervent
wish that we were not going to have another 1929 meltdown.
That observation still stands.
Please refer to Article #10 E
6) The Presidential Election farce.
I have mixed feelings in presenting this information
which shows a voting system that to me appears to
be so infantile in content that I consider it is
a complete discredit to the intelligence of the American
people.
I really have mixed feelings about the Caucus portion
of the voting process which to me requires a complete
revision.
I know that the founding fathers had reasons for the
establishing the Caucus system but in my opinion
it has outlived its usefulness, with most of the American
television stations and other media playing it right
up to the hilt with a continuous bombardment of the
general public, giving everyone and his uncle’s
version of who is winning during any particular time
period, and believe it or not the Presidential election
is still nearly eleven months away.
This political bombardment has been going on for at least the last two
years, or so it seems, on literally an hourly basis, twenty four hours a day.
Please refer to Article #10F.
New news - well to me anyway.
A database of lies, and more lies, has
been compiled with respect to the Presidential promotion
of the reasons for going to war with Iraq,
I cannot vouchsafe for the accuracy of these figures,
but even if they are even 80% accurate this is a terrible
condemnation of the lies and false statements concerning
opinions about the national security threats against
America posed by Saddam Hussein. Even though
Iraq had nothing to do with the September 11th, 2001,
attack, and also had no connection with
Al Qaeda at that time.
This President and certain members of his Executive
Branch, made at least 935 false statements, in the
two years following the September 11th, 2001 terrorist
attacks upon American soil, to the people of this country
in an attempt to try to obtain the American people’s
support for going to a war with Iraq.
Apparently it has been quoted that on at least 532
separate occasions, (in speeches, briefings, interviews,
and certain testimony to Congress, and other leading
bodies such as the United Nations), President Bush
and three key White House officials, Secretary of State
Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz,
and White House Press Secretaries Ari Fleischer and
Scott McClellan stated unequivocally that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction - or was in the process
of producing weapons of mass destruction, and also
had links to Al Qaeda.
One must remember of course that Prime Minister Tony
Blair of Great Britain and also some members of MI6
Intelligence, on the surface, appeared to support that
theory.
Of course these statements were backed up by other
White House senior officials such as Vice President
Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and other
members of the White House administrative staff.
So, did President Bush and his cohorts lead this nation
into a war under decidedly false premises and erroneous
information?
There is not a shade of doubt that most of this information
quoted above is correct and the White House did lie
to the people of this country many times over in order
to promote a war against Iraq, so what should the punishment
be - I would suggest
that at least the people involved should be immediate
removed from office.
Out of the 935 false statements, the contenders for
the most lies, or false statements, are President Bush
with 259 and Colin Powell with 244.
So what kind of punishment do you the reader think
should be doled out to these people - knowing the way
the American Congress works it’s probably too
late for impeachment. How about a trial by a war crimes
tribunal? Don’t think the American people
would go along with that—so then all we have
left is a dishonorable discharge from the Presidency
with a loss of all Presidential privileges, and
in the case of all the others, a similar thing
- immediate resignation with total loss of al
the benefits
that go along with the job.
If you have any thoughts on the subject please send
them to me at the e-mail address quoted below.
Please forgive me if I have repeated myself in some
of my observations but I have had to do a lot of research in
preparing this newsletter, (as I do with all my newsletters),
and sometimes, although it’s not intentional,
there are occasions when certain subject matter
overlaps, or repeats itself.
Please note that this newsletter is an open forum
where any reader has the rights to express their own
opinions, good, bad, or indifferent, on any of the
subjects discussed and readers are encouraged to state
those opinions by contacting me at the address shown
below.
Disclaimer:
Some of the information gathered for this news letter
has been gleaned from American and international
media sources, (including the Internet), and as such
is quoted as accurately as possible. I try to obtain
confirmation on each subject from several outlets,
so the text is a mixture of composite news items
and personal comments and therefore the reader must
make his/her own judgment as to the reliability and
degree of accuracy of the subjects discussed.
Eric (Bill) Sykes. (Southern California).
February 2008.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these articles. Please send all correspondence
to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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