Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(November 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Late breaking news:
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Dateline: 17 October 2003. Malaysia.
 Whilst
President Bush was in the Far East, the Prime Minister
of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, said in a speech to
the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Quote:
"Jews rule the world by Proxy. They get others
to fight and die for them". Unquote.
Comment: If
I'm interpreting the latter part of the quote correctly,
I find the words to be some what inaccurate, as
evidenced by the numbers of Israeli's who have
been killed defending Israel since the 1967 six-day
war.
 This Islamic conference gathered in Malaysia's Capital city of Putrajaya was
attended by many foreign dignitaries, such as the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah,
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri,
Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Gloria Macapagal of the Philippines,
and guess who? Well I never, the American installed leader of Afghanistan
Mr. Karzai.
The speech of course drew immediate criticism from Israel but it was reported
to have got a standing ovation from the assembly.
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Dateline: 18
October 2003. Indonesia.
 On his current Asia tour President Bush stopped by the city of Bali in
Indonesia (the most populous Muslim country in the Far East), for a few
hours to praise the Indonesian government for its support on the war against
terrorism - didn't anyone tell him that Indonesia has one of the worst
records of any far eastern country for their lack of control over the Muslim
terrorist organizations. For instance, members of the Jemaah Islamiyah,
(an alleged al-Queda linked terrorist group), have been accused of being
involved in last years Bali terrorist bombing that killed 202 people, and
also were reported to have been involved in the 5th of August 2003 bombing
that killed 12 people at the Jakarta Marriott hotel.
Comment: President Bush, I certainly agree with you that credit should
be given where credit is due, but I would suggest that before you do
so, your staff should provides you with all the relevant details supporting
your words of praise.
-
Dateline: 22 October 2003. Washington
 Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in a recent memorandum,
predicted "eventual victory" in Iraq and Afghanistan
but in his words, "Only after along hard slog",
and he urged Pentagon officials to re-think their current
strategy in the campaign against terrorism, and he asked
the question, "Are
we winning or losing the global war on terrorism".
I
cannot comment on that quote as I'm not privy to current
intelligence reports on the subject, but I can say that
I think that America is engaged in covert operations
against terrorism upon too many fronts to be able to
be able to judge a win or lose situation.
Mr Rumsfeld, I would suggest that we currently have reached a stalemate and
it's about time we started a political fence mending campaign to try to recover
American prestige and world leadership, by tacking in a different direction.
-
Dateline:
23 October 2003. United States.
Today is the twentieth anniversary of the
bombing of an American barracks in Beirut which cost
the lives of two hundred and thirty one American
servicemen who apparently where there on what has
been stated to be a peace keeping mission, or perhaps
the mission can be more accurately described as the
stationing of American troops in Lebanon as a buffer
between Lebanese/Syrian forces and Israel. What was
left of the American force after the bombing, were
quickly withdrawn and to my knowledge there has been
no retribution ever taken against the perpetrators
responsible for this dastardly and deadly attack.
Thought for today:
We like to think of ourselves as civilized people,
but we appear to becoming barbaric humanoids who will continue
to kill each other for all kinds of different reasons
and will eventually be responsible for our own self-destruction.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to
bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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