WINFIELD, W.Va. — Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week. This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for “Barack Obama” kept flipping to “John McCain”.
WINFIELD, W.Va. — Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week.
This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for “Barack Obama” kept flipping to “John McCain”.
In both counties, Republicans are responsible for overseeing elections. Both county clerks said the problem is isolated.
They also blamed voters for not being more careful.
“People make mistakes more than machines,” said Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright.
Shelba Ketchum, a 69-year-old nurse retired from Thomas Memorial Hospital, described what happened Friday at the Putnam County Courthouse in Winfield.
“I pushed buttons and they all came up Republican,” she said. “I hit Obama and it switched to McCain. I am really concerned about that. If McCain wins, there was something wrong with the machines.
“I asked them for a printout of my votes,” Ketchum said. “But they said it was in the machine and I could not get it. I did not feel right when I left the courthouse. My son felt the same way.
“I heard from some other people they also had trouble. But no one in there knew how to fix it,” said Ketchum, who is not related to Menis Ketchum, a Democratic Supreme Court candidate.
Ketchum’s son, Chris, said he had the same problem. And Bobbi Oates of Scott Depot said her vote for incumbent Democratic Sen. John D. Rockefeller was switched to GOP opponent Jay Wolfe.
“I touched the one I wanted, Rockefeller, and the machine put a checkmark on the Republican instead,” Oates said of her experience Thursday.
She said she caught the mistake, called over a worker in the county clerk’s office and was able to correct her vote. But she worries other voters may not catch such a mistake.
When asked if she is sure she touched the box for Rockefeller, she said, “I’m absolutely positive.”
Putnam County Clerk Brian Wood said on Saturday that he is upset there are “so many negative stories out there and not enough positive ones. We want people to vote. People need to know the facts.
“But we haven’t had any major issues. We try to explain to voters how the machines work then they come in,” Wood said.
In Putnam County, early voters have the option of asking for either touch-screen machines or optical scan ballots — paper ballots on which people mark in their election choices.
Wood said some voters might not realize that touch-screen voting machines may take a few seconds to record their choices.
WINFIELD, W.Va. — Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week.This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for “Barack Obama” kept flipping to “John McCain”.
In both counties, Republicans are responsible for overseeing elections. Both county clerks said the problem is isolated.
They also blamed voters for not being more careful.
“People make mistakes more than machines,” said Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright.
Shelba Ketchum, a 69-year-old nurse retired from Thomas Memorial Hospital, described what happened Friday at the Putnam County Courthouse in Winfield.
“I pushed buttons and they all came up Republican,” she said. “I hit Obama and it switched to McCain. I am really concerned about that. If McCain wins, there was something wrong with the machines.
“I asked them for a printout of my votes,” Ketchum said. “But they said it was in the machine and I could not get it. I did not feel right when I left the courthouse. My son felt the same way.
“I heard from some other people they also had trouble. But no one in there knew how to fix it,” said Ketchum, who is not related to Menis Ketchum, a Democratic Supreme Court candidate.
Ketchum’s son, Chris, said he had the same problem. And Bobbi Oates of Scott Depot said her vote for incumbent Democratic Sen. John D. Rockefeller was switched to GOP opponent Jay Wolfe.
“I touched the one I wanted, Rockefeller, and the machine put a checkmark on the Republican instead,” Oates said of her experience Thursday.
She said she caught the mistake, called over a worker in the county clerk’s office and was able to correct her vote. But she worries other voters may not catch such a mistake.
When asked if she is sure she touched the box for Rockefeller, she said, “I’m absolutely positive.”
Putnam County Clerk Brian Wood said on Saturday that he is upset there are “so many negative stories out there and not enough positive ones. We want people to vote. People need to know the facts.
“But we haven’t had any major issues. We try to explain to voters how the machines work then they come in,” Wood said.
In Putnam County, early voters have the option of asking for either touch-screen machines or optical scan ballots — paper ballots on which people mark in their election choices.
Wood said some voters might not realize that touch-screen voting machines may take a few seconds to record their choices.
“The reaction time [on the machines] may be different. And when you hit the screen a second time, it cancels your vote,” Wood said. “When you get in a hurry, if you go to fast and hit it again, you can cancel what you just did.
“The main thing people need to remember is that when you are done voting, make sure everybody you wanted to vote for has a check mark beside them,” Wood said.
Ketchum said, “I am educated person. I know what I wanted. I am anxious to see who wins.
“My son Chris said, ‘Mom, I didn’t vote for the people who came up on that machine. I wanted to go back and vote again. I called the lady at the polls and she said it was my fault because of the way I was punching the buttons.’
“I want a paper ballot. I think it was very bad when they did away with paper ballots. I wish you had something in your hand that is a record of how you voted.
“I never felt that way before. It was early voting, so we went over there to get it over with. We won’t do that again,” Ketchum said.
Last week, three Jackson County residents said they experienced similar problems when they cast early ballots at the county courthouse in Ripley.
Virginia Matheney, one of those voters, said Friday, “When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain.”
Retired factory worker Calvin Thomas of Ripley said he experienced the same problem.
“When I pushed Obama, it jumped to McCain. When I went down to governor’s office and punched [Gov. Joe] Manchin, it went to the other dude.
“After I finished, my daughter voted. When she pushed Obama, it went to McCain. It happened to her the same way it happened to me,” Thomas said.
Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright, a Republican, said 400 other people voted without reporting any problems.
Wood said he and Waybright are both very careful to guarantee people’s votes are recorded properly.
Wood said, “Voting machines are very reliable. I hate the fact that stories like this are printed. It makes everybody get scared.
“That is not good for anybody. Where the fault is, I don’t know and the voter doesn’t know. There needs to be good communication between the voters and the poll workers.”
Wood offered this advice to voters: “The best way to solve this whole problem is that before you leave the voting booth, make sure on the review screen that everybody you want to vote for is checked.”
More than 1,000 voters from 48 local precincts in Putnam County cast early ballots in the past three days, Wood said. Putnam County has 36,000 registered voters.
Monday, October 20, 2008 Asks US to eliminate terrorist network; Boucher meets president ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has said that terrorists in the tribal areas of Pakistan are being funded from Afghanistan and other countries.
Zardari said this in his meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Sunday. The ongoing war on terror, the situation on the Afghan border, the US-Pakistan relations and other matters of mutual interest came under discussion during the meeting.
Zardari told Richard Boucher that the money provided by Afghan drug traffickers was being used in terror related incidents in Pakistan. Drug smuggling through Pakistan had been eliminated, he said adding these smugglers were now funding terrorists for activities in the country.
“The responsibility now lies with the US to take notice of it and initiate action against these smugglers so that terrorist network in Pakistan can be dismantled,” he stressed. Pakistan has suffered more than any other country in the war on terror in terms of loss of lives and property, he noted. All the resources are being utilised to crush terrorists, he said. These steps include dialogue with those who were laying down arms, development work in tribal areas, job opportunities and joint operation in collaboration with peace loving tribesmen, he pointed out.
Citing the security forces’ operations, he said these forces were now moving fast towards establishment of peace after unprecedented sacrifices. He urged the US to take steps to end terrorists’ infiltration from the Afghan side to the Pakistan tribal areas. Richard Bouncer said Pakistan was a US ally in the war against terrorism and his country would continue to extend every possible help to it.
Opelika – Military compound either in or very near town.
Aliceville – WWII German POW camp – capacity 15,000
Ft. McClellan (Anniston) – Opposite side of town from Army Depot;
Maxwell AFB (Montgomery) – Civilian prison camp established under Operation Garden Plot, currently operating with support staff and small inmate population.
Talladega – Federal prison “satellite” camp.
ALASKA
Wilderness – East of Anchorage. No roads, Air & Railroad access only. Estimated capacity of 500,000.
Elmendorf AFB – Northeast area of Anchorage – far end of base. Garden Plot facility.
Eielson AFB – Southeast of Fairbanks. Operation Garden Plot facility.
Ft. Wainwright – East of Fairbanks.
ARIZONA
Ft. Huachuca – 20 miles from Mexican border, 30 miles from Nogales Rex ’84 facility.
Pinal County – on the Gila River – WWII Japanese detention camp. May be renovated.
Yuma County – Colorado River – Site of former Japanese detention camp (near proving grounds). This site was completely removed in 1990 according to some reports.
Phoenix – Federal Prison Satellite Camp. Main federal facility expanded.
Florence – WWII prison camp NOW RENOVATED, OPERATIONAL with staff & 400 prisoners, operational capacity of 3,500.
Wickenburg – Airport is ready for conversion; total capacity unknown. Davis-Monthan AFB (Tucson) – Fully staffed and presently holding prisoners!!
Sedona – site of possible UN base.
ARKANSAS
Ft. Chaffee (near Fort Smith, Arkansas) – Has new runway for aircraft, new camp facility with cap of 40,000 prisoners.
Pine Bluff Arsenal – This location also is the repository for B-Z nerve agent, which causes sleepiness, dizziness, stupor; admitted use is for civilian control.
Jerome – Chicot/Drew Counties – site of WWII Japanese camps
Rohwer – DeschaCounty – site of WWII Japanese camps.
Blythville AFB – Closed airbase now being used as camp. New wooden barracks have been constructed at this location. Classic decorations – guard towers, barbed wire, high fences.
Berryville – FEMA facility located east of Eureka Springs off Hwy. 62.
Omaha – Northeast of Berryville near Missouri state line, on Hwy 65 south of old wood processing plant. Possible crematory facility.
CALIFORNIA
Vandenburg AFB – Rex 84 facility, located near Lompoc & Santa Maria. Internment facility is located near the oceanside, close to Space Launch Complex #6, also called “Slick Six”. The launch site has had “a flawless failure record” and is rarely used. Norton AFB – (closed base) now staffed with UN according to some sources.
Tule Lake – area of “wildlife refuge”, accessible by unpaved road, just inside Modoc County.
Fort Ord – Closed in 1994, this facility is now an urban warfare training center for US and foreign troops, and may have some “P.O.W. – C.I.” enclosures.
Twentynine Palms Marine Base – Birthplace of the infamous “Would you shoot American citizens?” Quiz. New camps being built on “back 40″.
Oakdale – Rex 84 camp capable of holding at least 20,000 people. 90 mi. East of San Francisco. Terminal Island – (Long Beach) located next to naval shipyards operated by ChiCom shipping interests. Federal prison facility located here. Possible deportation point.
Ft. Irwin – FEMA facility near Barstow. Base is designated inactive but has staffed camp.
McClellan AFB – facility capable for 30,000 – 35,000
Sacramento – Army Depot – No specific information at this time.
Mather AFB – Road to facility is blocked off by cement barriers and a stop sign. Sign states area is restricted; as of 1997 there were barbed wire fences pointing inward, a row of stadium lights pointed toward an empty field, etc. Black boxes on poles may have been cameras
COLORADO
Trinidad – WWII German/Italian camp being renovated.
Granada – Prowers County – WWII Japanese internment camp
Ft. Carson – Along route 115 near Canon City
CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE – No data available.
FLORIDA
Avon Park – Air Force gunnery range, Avon Park has an on-base “correctional facility” which was a former WWII detention camp.
Camp Krome – DoJ detention/interrogation center, Rex 84 facility
Eglin AFB – This base is over 30 miles
long, from Pensacola to Hwy 331 in De Funiak Springs. High capacity facility, presently manned and populated with some prisoners.
Pensacola – Federal Prison Camp Everglades – It is believed that a facility may be carved out of the wilds here.
GEORGIA
Ft. Benning – Located east of Columbus near Alabama state line. Rex 84 site – Prisoners brought in via Lawson Army airfield.
Ft. Mc Pherson – US Force Command – Multiple reports that this will be the national headquarters and coordinating center for foreign/UN troop movement and detainee collection.
Ft. Gordon – West of Augusta – No information at this time.
Unadilla – Dooly County – Manned, staffed FEMA prison on route 230, no prisoners.
Oglethorpe – Macon County; facility is located five miles from Montezuma, three miles from Oglethorpe. This FEMA prison has no staff and no prisoners.
Morgan – Calhoun County, FEMA facility is fully manned & staffed – no prisoners. Camilla – Mitchell County, south of Albany. This FEMA facility is located on Mt. Zion Rd approximately 5.7 miles south of Camilla. Unmanned – no prisoners, no staff. Hawkinsville – Wilcox County; Five miles east of town, fully manned and staffed but
no prisoners. Located on fire road 100/Upper River Road
Abbeville – South of Hawkinsville on US route 129; south of town off route 280 near Ocmulgee River. FEMA facility is staffed but without prisoners.
McRae – Telfair County – 1.5 miles west of McRae on Hwy 134 (8th St). Facility is on Irwinton Avenue off 8th St., manned & staffed – no prisoners.
Fort Gillem – South side of Atlanta – FEMA designated detention facility.
Fort Stewart – Savannah area – FEMA designated detention facility.
HAWAII
Halawa Heights area – Crematory facility located in hills above city. Area is marked as a state department of health laboratory.
Barbers Point NAS – There are several military areas that could be equipped for detention / deportation.
Honolulu – Detention transfer facility at the Honolulu airport similar in constructionn to the one in Oklahoma (pentagon shaped building where airplanes can taxi up to).
IDAHO
Minidoka/Jerome Counties – WWII Japanese-American internment facility possibly under renovation.
Clearwater National Forest – Near Lolo Pass – Just miles from the Montana state line near Moose Creek, this unmanned facility is reported to have a nearby airfield. Wilderness areas – Possible location. No data.
ILLINOIS
Marseilles – Located on the Illinois River off Interstate 80 on Hwy 6. It is a relatively small facility with a cap of 1400 prisoners. Though it is small it is designed like prison facilities with barred windows, but the real smoking gun is the presence of military vehicles. Being located on the Illinois River it is possible that prisoners will be brought in by water as well as by road and air. This facility is approximately 75 miles west of Chicago. National Guard training area nearby.
Scott AFB – Barbed wire prisoner enclosure reported to exist just off-base. More info needed, as another facility on-base is beieved to exist.
Pekin – This Federal satellite prison camp is also on the Illinois River, just south of Peoria. It supplements the federal penitentiary in Marion, which is equipped to handle additional population outside on the grounds.
Chanute AFB – Rantoul, near Champaign/Urbana – This closed base had WWII – era barracks that were condemned and torn down, but the medical facility was upgraded and additional fencing put up in the area. More info needed.
Marion – Federal Penitentiary and satellite prison camp inside Crab Orchard Nat’l Wildlife Refuge. Manned, staffed, populated fully.
Greenfield – Two federal correctional “satellite prison camps” serving Marion – populated as above.
Shawnee National Forest – Pope County – This area has seen heavy traffic of foreign military equipment and troops via Illinois Central Railroad, which runs through the area. Suspected location is unknown, but may be close to Vienna and Shawnee correctional centers, located 6 mi. west of Dixon Springs.
Savanna Army Depot – NW area of state on Mississippi River.
Lincoln, Sheridan, Menard, Pontiac, Galesburg – State prison facilities equipped for major expansion and close or adjacent to highways & railroad tracks.
Kankakee – Abandoned industrial area on west side of town (Rt.17 & Main) designated as FEMA detention site. Equipped with water tower, incinerator, a small train yard behind it and the rear of the facility is surrounded by barbed wire facing inwards.
INDIANA
Indianapolis / Marion County – Amtrak railcar repair facility (closed); controversial site of a major alleged detention / processing center. Although some sources state that this site is a “red herring”, photographic and video evidence suggests otherwise. This large facility contains large 3-4 inch gas mains to large furnaces (crematoria?), helicopter landing pads, railheads for prisoners, Red/Blue/Green zones for classifying and processing incoming personnel, one-way turnstiles, barracks, towers, high fences with razor wire, etc. Personnel with government clearance who are friendly to the patriot movement took a guided tour of the facility to confirm this site. This site is located next to a closed refrigeration plant facility.
Ft. Benjamin Harrison – Located in the northeast part of Indianapolis, this base has been decomissioned from “active” use but portions are still ideally converted to hold detainees. Helicopter landing areas still exist for prisoners to be brought in by air, land & rail.
Crown Point – Across street from county jail, former hospital. One wing presently being used for county work-release program, 80% of facility still unused. Possible FEMA detention center or holding facility.
Camp Atterbury – Facility is converted to hold prisoners and boasts two active compounds presently configured for minumum security detainees. Located just west of Interstate 65 near Edinburgh, south of Indianapolis.
Terre Haute – Federal Correctional Institution, Satellite prison camp and death facility. Equipped with crematoria reported to have a capacity of 3,000 people a day. FEMA designated facility located here.
Fort Wayne – This city located in Northeast Indiana has a FEMA designated detention facility, accessible by air, road and nearby rail.
Kingsbury – This “closed” military base is adjacent to a state fish & wildlife preserve. Part of the base is converted to an industrial park, but the southern portion of this property is still used. It is bordered on the south by railroad, and is staffed with some
foreign-speaking UN troops. A local police officer who was hunting and camping close to the base in the game preserve was accosted, roughed up, and warned by the English-speaking unit commander to stay away from the area. It was suggested to the officer that the welfare of his family would depend on his “silence”. Located just southeast of LaPorte.
Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Area – Youth Corrections farm located here. Facility is “closed”, but is still staffed and being “renovated”. Total capacity unknown.
Grissom AFB – This closed airbase still handles a lot of traffic, and has a “stateowned” prison compound on the southern part of the facility. UNICOR.
Jefferson Proving Grounds – Southern Indiana – This facility was an active base with test firing occurring daily. Portions of the base have been opened to create an industrial park, but other areas are still highly restricted. A camp is believed to be located “downrange”. Facility is equipped with an airfield and has a nearby rail line. Member Update: The base has been opened in the aspect that the sector with the Barracks and storage facilities have been turned into low income housing and an industrial park. It is a rather large area, that there is also some farm land being developed on. The sectors that are still closed are the testing ranges and the surrounding areas. They will remain closed and under military control indeffinatly. This is due to the large amount of unexploded ordinance and DU. There are sections in the northern half that are accessible to the public inside the restricted areas. They include Old Timbers Lodge and Old Timbers Public fishing area. Now to the rail Line there is a rail line that runs into JPG it hasn’t been used and is covered almost completely with rail cars that have not been moved since the closure. The airfields are unusable both are deteriorated the large one is also covered in leftover FEMA trailors from Katrina. They are slowly being sold off one to private individuals. The reason I know so much about JPG is I live right up the road from it, many of my family members have worked there for years, and I ride my Motorcycle all over the it. You can google earth the Facility and see it is in a large part wooded you can also go to the link below and view images from inside the restricted area some of wich include unexploded ordance and Radiation Warning Signs. Just as a note a large portion of JPG is now owned by a private individual named Dean Ford which I am including an article about also. Link
Newport Army Depot – VX nerve gas storage facility. Secret meetings were held here in 1998 regarding the addition of the Kankakee River watershed to the Heritage Rivers Initiative.
Hammond – large enclosure identified in FEMA-designated city.
IOWA
No data available.
KANSAS
Leavenworth – US Marshal’s Fed Holding Facility, US Penitentiary, Federal Prison Camp, McConnell Air Force Base. Federal death penalty facility.
Concordia – WWII German POW camp used to exist at this location but there is no facility there at this time.
Ft. Riley – Just north of Interstate 70, airport, near city of Manhattan.
El Dorado – Federal prison converted into forced-labor camp, UNICOR industries.
Topeka – 80 acres has been converted into a temporary holding camp.
KENTUCKY
Ashland – Federal prison camp in Eastern Kentucky near the Ohio River. Louisville – FEMA detention facility, located near restricted area US naval ordnance plant. Military airfield located at facility, which is on south side of city.
Lexington – FEMA detention facility, National Guard base with adjacent airport facility. Manchester – Federal prison camp located inside Dan Boone National Forest.
Ft. Knox – Detention center, possibly located near Salt River, in restricted area of base. Local patriots advise that black Special Forces & UN gray helicopters are occasionally seen in area.
Land Between the Lakes – This area was declared a UN biosphere and is an ideal geographic location for detention facilities. Area is an isthmus extending out from Tennessee, between Lake Barkley on the east and Kentucky Lake on the west. Just scant miles from Fort Campbell in Tennessee.
LOUISIANA
Ft. Polk – This is a main base for UN troops & personnel, and a training center for the disarmament of America.
Livingston – WWII German/Italian internment camp being renovated?; halfway between Baton Rouge and Hammond, several miles north of Interstate 12.
Oakdale – Located on US route 165 about 50 miles south of Alexandria; two federal
detention centers just southeast of Fort Polk.
MAINE
Houlton – WWII German internment camp in Northern Maine, off US Route 1.
MARYLAND, and DC
Ft. Meade – Halfway between the District of Criminals and Baltimore. Data needed. Ft. Detrick – Biological warfare center for the NWO, located in Frederick.
MASSACHUSETTS
Camp Edwards / Otis AFB – Cape Cod – This “inactive” base is being converted to hold many New Englander patriots. Capacity unknown.
Ft. Devens – Active detention facility. More data needed.
MICHIGAN
Camp Grayling – Michigan Nat’l Guard base has several confirmed detention camps, classic setup with high fences, razor wire, etc. Guard towers are very well-built, sturdy. Multiple compounds within larger enclosures. Facility deep within forest area. Sawyer AFB – Upper Peninsula – south of Marquette – No data available.
Bay City – Classic enclosure with guard towers, high fence, and close to shipping port on Saginaw Bay, which connects to Lake Huron. Could be a deportation point to overseas via St. Lawrence Seaway.
Southwest – possibly Berrien County – FEMA detention center.
Lansing – FEMA detention facility.
MINNESOTA
Duluth – Federal prison camp facility.
Camp Ripley – new prison facility.
MISSISSIPPI
These sites are confirmed hoaxes.
Hancock County – NASA test site De Soto National Forest. “These two supposed camps in Mississippi do not exist. Members of the Mississippi Militia have checked these out on more than one occasion beginning back when they first appeared on the Internet and throughout the Patriot Movement.” – Commander D. Rayner, Mississippi Militia
MISSOURI
Richards-Gebaur AFB – located in Grandview, near K.C.MO. A very large internment facility has been built on this base, and all base personnel are restricted from coming near it. This site was documented in early 2008 by B.A. Brooks. You can watch the video and read about what is being called the Kansas City Connection to The NAU/SPP here: Richards Gebaur = NAU/SPP Proof
Ft. Leonard Wood – Situated in the middle of Mark Twain National Forest in Pulaski County. This site has been known for some UN training, also home to the US Army Urban Warfare Training school “Stem Village”.
Warsaw – Unconfirmed report of a large concentration camp facility.
MONTANA
Malmstrom AFB – UN aircraft groups stationed here, and possibly a detention facility.
NEBRASKA
Scottsbluff – WWII German POW camp (renovated?). Northwest, Northeast corners of state – FEMA detention facilities – more data needed. South Central part of state – Many old WWII sites – some may be renovated.
NEVADA
Elko – Ten miles south of town. Wells – Camp is located in the O’Niel basin area, 40 miles north of Wells, past Thousand Springs, west off Hwy 93 for 25 miles.
Pershing County – Camp is located at I-80 mile marker 112, south side of the highway, about a mile back on the county road and then just off the road about 3/4mi.
Winnemucca – Battle Mountain area – at the base of the mountains.
Nellis Air Force Range – Northwest from Las Vegas on Route 95. Nellis AFB is just north of Las Vegas on Hwy 604.
Stillwater Naval Air Station – east of Reno . No additional data.
NEW HAMPSHIRE / VERMONT
Northern New Hampshire – near Lake Francis. No additional data.
NEW JERSEY
Ft. Dix / McGuire AFB – Possible deportation point for detainees. Lots of pictures taken of detention compounds and posted on Internet, this camp is well-known. Facility is now complete and ready for occupancy.
NEW MEXICO
Ft. Bliss – This base actually straddles Texas state line. Just south of Alomogordo, Ft. Bliss has thousands of acres for people who refuse to go with the “New Order”. Holloman AFB (Alomogordo) – Home of the German Luftwaffe in Amerika; major UN base. New facility being built on this base, according to recent visitors. Many former USAF buildings have been torn down by the busy and rapidly growing German military force located here.
Fort Stanton – currently being used as a youth detention facility approximately 35 miles north of Ruidoso, New Mexico. Not a great deal of information concerning the Lordsburg location.
White Sands Missile Range – Currently being used as a storage facility for United Nations vehicles and equipment. Observers have seen this material brought in on the White Sands rail spur in Oro Grande New Mexico about thirty miles from the Texas, New Mexico Border.
NEW YORK
Ft. Drum – two compounds: Rex 84 detention camp and FEMA detention facility. Albany – FEMA detention facility.
Otisville – Federal correctional facility, near Middletown. Buffalo – FEMA detention facility.
NORTH CAROLINA
Camp Lejeune / New River Marine Airfield – facility has renovated, occupied WWII detention compounds and “mock city” that closely resembles Anytown, USA.
Fort Bragg – Special Warfare Training Center. Renovated WWII detention facility.
Andrews – Federal experiment in putting a small town under siege. Began with the search/ hunt for survivalist Eric Rudolph. No persons were allowed in or out of town without federal permission and travel through town was highly restricted. Most residents compelled to stay in their homes. Unregistered Baptist pastor from Indiana visiting Andrews affirmed these facts.
NORTH DAKOTA
Minot AFB – Home of UN air group. More data needed on facility.
OHIO
Camp Perry – Site renovated; once used as a POW camp to house German and Italian prisoners of WWII. Some tar paper covered huts built for housing these prisoners are still standing. Recently, the construction of multiple 200-man barracks have replaced most of the huts.
Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus – FEMA detention facilities. Data needed.
Lima – FEMA detention facility. Another facility located in/near old stone quarry near Interstate 75. Railroad access to property, fences etc.
OKLAHOMA
Tinker AFB (OKC) – All base personnel are prohibited from going near civilian detention area, which is under constant guard.
Will Rogers World Airport – FEMA’s main processing center for west of the Mississippi. All personnel are kept out of the security zone. Federal prisoner transfer center located here (A pentagon-shaped building where airplanes can taxi up to). Photos have been taken and this site will try to post soon! El Reno – Renovated federal internment facility with CURRENT population of 12,000 on Route 66.
McAlester – near Army Munitions Plant property – former WWII German / Italian POW camp designated for future use. Ft. Sill (Lawton) – Former WWII detention camps. More data still needed.
OREGON
Sheridan – Federal prison satellite camp northwest of Salem.
Josephine County – WWII Japanese internment camp ready for renovation.
Sheridan – FEMA detention center. Umatilla – New prison spotted.
PENNSYLVANIA
Allenwood – Federal prison camp located south of Williamsport on the Susquehanna River. It has a current inmate population of 300, and is identified by William Pabst as having a capacity in excess of 15,000 on 400 acres.
Indiantown Gap Military Reservation – located north of Harrisburg. Used for WWII POW camp and renovated by Jimmy Carter. Was used to hold Cubans during Mariel boat lift.
Camp Hill – State prison close to Army depot. Lots of room, located in Camp Hill, Pa. New Cumberland Army Depot - on the Susquehanna River, located off Interstate 83 and Interstate 76.
Schuylkill Haven – Federal prison camp, north of Reading.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville – Unoccupied youth prison camp; total capacity unknown.
Charleston – Naval Reserve & Air Force base, restricted area on naval base.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Yankton – Federal prison camp
Black Hills Nat’l Forest – north of Edgemont, southwest part of state. WWII internment camp being renovated.
TENNESSEE
Ft. Campbell – Next to Land Between the Lakes; adjacent to airfield and US Alt. 41.
Millington – Federal prison camp next door to Memphis Naval Air Station.
Crossville – Site of WWII German / Italian prison camp is renovated; completed barracks and behind the camp in the woods is a training facility with high tight ropes and a rappelling deck.
Nashville – There are two buildings built on State property that are definitely built to hold prisoners. They are identical buildings – side by side on Old Briley Parkway. High barbed wire fence that curves inward.
TEXAS
Austin – Robert Mueller Municipal airport has detenion areas inside hangars.
Bastrop – Prison and military vehicle motor pool.
Eden – 1500 bed privately run federal center. Currently holds illegal aliens.
Ft. Hood (Killeen) – Newly built concentration camp, with towers, barbed wire etc., just like the one featured in the movie Amerika. Mock city for NWO shock- force training. Some footage of this area was used in “Waco: A New Revelation”
Sheppard AFB – in Wichita Falls just south of Ft. Sill, OK. FEMA designated detention facility.
North Dallas – near Carrolton – water treatment plant, close to interstate and railroad.
Mexia – East of Waco 33mi.; WWII German facility may be renovated.
Amarillo – FEMA designated detention facility.
Ft. Bliss (El Paso) – Extensive renovation of buildings and from what patriots have been able to see, many of thesebuildings that are being renovated are being surrounded by razor wire.
Beaumont / Port Arthur area – hundreds of acres of federal camps already built on large-scale detention camp design, complete with the double rows of chain link fencing with razor type concertina wire on top of each row. Some (but not all) of these facilities are currently being used for low-risk state prisoners who require a minimum of supervision.
Ft. Worth – Federal prison under construction on the site of Carswell AFB.
UTAH
Millard County – Central Utah – WWII Japanese camp. (Renovated?)
Ft. Douglas – This “inactive” military reservation has a renovated WWII concentration camp.
Migratory Bird Refuge – West of Brigham City – contains a WWII internment camp that was built before the game preserve was established.
Cedar City – east of city – no data available.
Wendover – WWII internment camp may be renovated.
Skull Valley – southwestern Camp William property - east of the old bombing range. Camp was accidentally discovered by a man and his son who were rabbit hunting; they were discovered and apprehended. SW of Tooele.
VIRGINIA
Ft. A.P. Hill (Fredericksburg) – Rex 84 / FEMA facility. Estimated capacity 45,000.
Petersburg – Federal satellite prison camp, south of Richmond.
WEST VIRGINIA
Beckley – Alderson – Lewisburg – Former WWII detention camps that are now converted into active federal prison complexes capable of holding several times their current populations. Alderson is presently a women’s federal reformatory.
Morgantown – Federal prison camp located in northern WV; just north of Kingwood.
Mill Creek – FEMA detention facility.
Kingwood – Newly built detention camp at Camp Dawson Army Reservation. More data needed on Camp Dawson.
WASHINGTON
Seattle/Tacoma – SeaTac Airport: fully operational federal transfer center
Okanogan County – Borders Canada and is a site for a massive concentration camp capable of holding hundreds of thousands of people for slave labor. This is probably one of the locations that will be used to hold hard core patriots who will be held captive for the rest of their lives.
Sand Point Naval Station – Seattle – FEMA detention center used actively during the 1999 WTO protests to classify prisoners.
Ft. Lewis/McChord AFB – near Tacoma – This is one of several sites that may be used to ship prisoners overseas forslave labor.
WISCONSIN
Ft. McCoy – Rex 84 facility with several complete interment compounds.
Oxford – Federal prison & satellite camp and FEMA detention facility.
WYOMING
Heart Mountain – Park County N. of Cody – WWII Japanese interment camp ready for renovation.
Laramie – FEMA detention facility Southwest – near Lyman – FEMA detention facility East Yellowstone – Manned internment facility – Investigating patriots were apprehended by European soldiers speaking in an unknown language. Federal government assumed custody of the persons and arranged their release.
OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
There are many other locations not listed above that are worthy of consideration as a possible detention camp site, but due to space limitations and the time needed to verify, could not be included here. Virtually all military reservations, posts, bases, stations, & depots can be considered highly suspect (because it is “federal” land). Also fitting this category are “Regional Airports” and “International Airports” which also fall under federal jurisdiction and have limited-access areas. Mental hospitals, closed hospitals & nursing homes, closed military bases, wildlife refuges, state prisons, toxic
waste dumps, hotels and other areas all have varying degrees of potential for being a detention camp area. The likelihood of a site being suspect increases with transportation access to the site, including airports/airstrips, railheads, navigable waterways & ports, interstate and US highways. Some facilities are “disguised” as industrial or commercial properties, camouflaged or even wholly contained inside large buildings (Indianapolis) or factories. Many inner-city buildings left vacant during the de-industrialization of America have been quietly acquired and held, sometimes retrofitted for their new uses.
CANADA
Our Canadian friends tell us that virtually all Canadian military bases, especially those north of the 50th Parallel, are all set up with concentration camps. Not even half of these can be listed, but here are a few sites with the massive land space to handle any population:
Suffield CFB – just north of Medicine Hat, less than 60 miles from the USA.
Primrose Lake Air Range – 70 miles northeast of Edmonton.
Wainwright CFB – halfway between Medicine Hat and Primrose Lake.
Ft. Nelson – Northernmost point on the BC Railway line.
Ft. McPherson – Very cold territory ~ NW Territories.
Ft. Providence – Located on Great Slave Lake.
Halifax – Nova Scotia. Dept. of National Defense reserve…. And others.
OVERSEAS LOCATIONS
Guayanabo, Puerto Rico – Federal prison camp facility. Capacity unknown.
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – US Marine Corps Base – Presently home to 30,000 Mariel Cubans and 40,000 Albanians. Total capacity unknown.***
The Civilian Inmate Labor Program is a program of the United States Army provided by Army Regulation 210-35[1]. The regulation, first drafted in 1997, underwent a “rapid act revision” in January 2005; it provides policy for the creation of labor programs and prison camps on Army installations. The labor would be provided by persons under the supervision of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Labor programs set forth by the Civilian Inmate Labor Program regulation involve the use of minimum and low security inmates from facilities under the control of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, with a few apparent exceptions for State-held and locally-held inmates, on installations controlled by the Army.
The regulation states that labor programs benefit the Army and the corrections facilities by supplying “a source of labor at no direct cost to the Army,” giving “meaningful work to inmates” and alleviation to “overcrowding in nearby corrections facilities” and by making use of otherwise unused land and buildings.
The regulation indicates that the inmates could perform labor as allowed by 18 USC 4125(A)[2].
The regulation also sets forth policy for the creation of prison camps on Army installations. These would be used to keep inmates of the labor programs resident on the installations.
In January 2006, Kellogg, Brown and Root reported that they had received a contract from the Department of Homeland Security to expand ICE DRO facilities “in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs.”[3] A February news article comments that the “new programs” mentioned could include the Civilian Inmate Labour Program.[4] ICE has “joint federal facilities” with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.[5]
CIA Director Michael Hayden sparks controversy by holding covert meetings with top Lebanese officials in a secret visit to the country.
Michael Hayden arrived in Beirut on Thursday in a visit that gained little but controversial media attention.
Hayden arrived in the Lebanese capital for talks with top Lebanese officials on security cooperation against regional and international terror, reported As-Safir daily, a local media outlet.
“Over the past few years prominent security officials, including the heads of Interpol and FBI, have visited the country on propaganda trips meant to enhance cooperation in security matters,” claims Elnashra.com, a local website.
“Hayden’s trip, however, does not fall under the security and intelligence category,” it continues.
“According to informed sources Hayden’s trip to the region is aimed at gathering the most possible amount of intelligence in the least possible amount of time, as most foreign intelligence services have an established presence in the county,” the website adds.
“Lebanon’s geographic position between Syria and Israel is an important factor as the US seeks to defend the security of Israel at any cost.”
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
The US economy and the credit crisis have reached a phase that can not be easily turned back. Neither America nor the European monetary funds and banks have any effective way out strategy. The European Union Summit in Paris, far from giving any financial shoulder to US to save it from a depression, tried to stay away from the negative impacts of the crisis. In a flurry of efforts to evade the negative spill over of the current US credit crisis, the members of the European Union are openly lambasting the US Administration for its stubborn military approach towards world affairs, which consequently ushered the present financial quagmire. In another word, the current economic crisis is, in fact, a sign of the fall of the American empire.
A distinguished British political analyst in his recently published analysis in the well-known Daily Observer, says that what we are witnessing in the American stock exchange markets are not only shocking but unbelieving. This crisis has brought under question the very economic principles of the West which they believe in; its dimension is so deep and wide that recovery seems almost impossible. It will expectedly result into ending the dominance of America over the world.
Likewise, those countries who have economical ties with America and have been enjoying economical and financial coordination and those who had effusively purchased shares in the American stock markets and had turned their back on their own traditional economic system, are now in peril with burning among the same flames which are encircling the American stock exchange and credit system, consequently, they face bankruptcy.
We ask the American and the western thinkers and scholars, the founders and advocates of the open market Capitalism, who for a long time been advocating the expansion of this system to all corners of the world under the exploitative slogans of democracy and republic, thus exploiting and plundering natural resources of almost half of the world, would the oppressed nations not bring you to justice for what you have done to them through your historical and diabolical economic exploitative cobweb of machinations that you were sucking their blood and eating their bones?
Do you not thing that this crisis will not bring on you the same fate as of the former Soviet Union which also faced bankruptcy, omitting you resultantly from the surface of the map of the world?
The Afghan Muslims who like other countries citizens have been oppressed, tortured and have suffered as a result of American tyranny and illegal invasions are of the opinion that those days are not very far when this giant fiendish power will at first face economic crisis, then, its military power and cutting edge technology will fail in fiasco, along with its well equipped army and military barracks. This is an easy task for Allah (Swt) to do.
Experience in Indochina and Central America suggests that CIA, the principal paymaster for U.S.-backed Afghan warlords, may be more deeply involved in the drug trade than we yet know.
October 16, 2008
Afghanistan is in a `downward spiral,’ the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, admitted last week, giving the most negative view of that conflict heard in Washington.
Military men are programmed to always be optimistic, so Admiral Mullen’s grim words were particularly noteworthy. They also flatly contradicted the rosy claims of `progress’ in Afghanistan made by the Bush administration and its increasingly dispirited allies in Canada, France, Germany, Italy and other NATO nations that were dragooned into this deeply unpopular war.
Most Europeans see the Afghan conflict as a 19th-century style colonial war for regional domination and resources. By contrast, Americans are still being misled by their corporate media and posturing politicians of both parties into believing the seven-year U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is a noble `anti-terrorism’ mission that is defending women’s rights and rebuilding a ravage nation instead of another brutal grab for energy, this time from the Caspian Basin.
In a troubling example of Vietnam-style ‘mission creep,’ the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, is calling for 15,000 more American troops on top of the 8,000 now slated to arrive in January 2009. His predecessor told Congress that 400,000 U.S. troops would be needed to pacify Afghanistan.
But McKiernan also called for talks with Afghan nationalists resisting western occupation collectively known as Taliban. Days earlier, it was revealed that senior British officers and diplomats in Afghanistan had called the US-led war `un-winnable’ and advocated peace talks with Taliban.
Admiral Mullen also ordered U.S. and NATO forces to begin targeting Afghanistan’s opium and heroin dealers. Under American tutelage, Afghanistan has become the world’s leading narco-state, surpassing even Colombia, and now producing 90% of the world’s heroin. Well over half of the nation’s GDP consists of drug money. Considering this, Admiral Mullen’s ‘shoot on sight’ orders seem rather overdue.
The 64,000 rupee question that arises from Admiral Mullen’s new anti-drug policy is: Why was it not done seven years ago when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan? Why did Washington turn a blind eye to the Afghan drug trade and is only now taking some action?
The answer is simple and dismaying. America’s local allies in Afghanistan, the politicians and warlords who overthrew Taliban in 2001, are up to their turbans in the heroin trade. Drug money is the blood that courses through Afghanistan’s veins and keeps the economy limping along. The U.S.-installed Karzai regime in Kabul propped up by US and NATO bayonets has only two sources of income: cash handouts from Washington, and the proceeds of drug dealing.
When Taliban ruled 90% of Afghanistan from 1996-2001, it almost totally stamped out poppy cultivation as un-Islamic. The UN’s drug control agency has confirmed this fact. The only remaining source of drug dealing was in the remote northeast of Afghanistan controlled by the Russian and Iranian-backed Northern Alliance, made up of Tajik Panshiri tribesmen, brutal Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostam, and the remains of the old Afghan Communist Party.
In 2001, the U.S. overthrew Taliban and put the drug-dealing Northern Alliance and Communists in power. Since then, Afghanistan’s drug production has spread across the nation and exports have soared by 60-70%, making Afghanistan the source of nearly all the world’s supply of heroin.
Washington called off efforts by the Drug Enforcement Agency to combat the Afghan drug trade for fear of endangering the power base of its former CIA `asset,’ President Hamid Karzai. Starting with Karzai’s brother, Ahmed Wali, the U.S.-installed regime’s most important supporters are all involved in varying degrees with the heroin trade. As this writer has seen himself, almost every important warlord gets revenue from the drug trade. The Northern Alliance warlords are considered the biggest of the nation’s narco-dealers. Ahmed Karzai denies involvement.
Moving against the drug warlords would have meant undermining Karzai’s sole domestic support. So Washington held its nose and let the drug trade flourish in order to sustain the occupation. The faux `war on terror’ and lust for Caspian energy trumped the old war on drugs.
Experience in Indochina and Central America suggests that CIA, the principal paymaster for U.S.-backed Afghan warlords, may be more deeply involved in the drug trade than we yet know.
Author Alfred McCoy’s wrote a brilliant study in his ground-breaking `The Politics of Heroin’ in which he documents how first French, then American intelligence was drawn into the heroin trade in Laos and Vietnam as a way of supporting anti-Communist guerilla fighters. The same thing happened in Central America where CIA collaborated with cocaine-dealing members of the anti-Communist Contras.
In both cases, drugs served as a currency and became more important than paper money. French and American spies even ended up transporting heroin for their local allies. The same may be happening in Afghanistan.
Equally disturbing, there is no way that simple Afghan farmers or Taliban fighters are running the drug trade, as Washington claims. Poppy sap is collected and converted into opium tar. Then it is smuggled to secret labs in Pakistan to be transformed into first morphine base, and then purified into heroin. None of these drugs would move south into Pakistan or be processed with imported chemicals without the full cooperation and assistance of the Afghan government, its supporting warlords, and local Pakistani officials. The drugs are then smuggled out of the port of Karachi, again under at protection by port and local officials. Pakistan is a key U.S. ally.
The Karzai regime has been totally corrupted by the drug trade, and so has parts of Pakistan’s establishment. But the United States has also become corrupted in the sense that it has done nothing to combat this scourge and has collaborated with Afghanistan’s drug barons by at minimum turning blind eye.
When the history of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan is written, Washington’s sordid involvement in the heroin trade and its alliance with drug lords and war criminals of the Afghan Communist Party will be one of the most shameful chapters.
Weapons of Mass Destruction Capabilities and Programs1
Updated: April 2006
Nuclear [2]
Sophisticated nuclear weapons program with an estimated 100-200 weapons, which can be delivered by ballistic missiles or aircraft.
Nuclear arsenal may include thermonuclear weapons.
IRR-2 40-150MW heavy water reactor and plutonium processing facility at Dimona, which are not under IAEA safeguards.
IRR-1 5MW research reactor at Soreq, under IAEA safeguards.
Not a signatory of the NPT; signed the CTBT on 9/25/96.
Chemical [3]
Active weapons program, but not believed to have deployed chemical warheads on ballistic missiles.
Production capability for mustard and nerve agents.
Signed the CWC on 1/13/93; has not yet ratified.
Biological [4]
Production capability and extensive research reportedly conducted at the Biological Research Institute in Ness Ziona.
No publicly confirmed evidence of production.
Not a signatory of the BTWC.
Ballistic missiles [5]
Approximately 50 Jericho-2 missiles with 1,500km range and 1,000kg payload, nuclear warheads may be stored in close proximity.
Approximately 50-100 Jericho-1 missiles with 500-1,000km range and 500kg payload.
MGM-52 Lance missiles with 130km range and 450kg payload.
Shavit space launch vehicle (SLV) with 4,500km range and 150-250kg payload.
Unconfirmed reports of Jericho-3 program under development using Shavit technologies, with a range up to 4,800km and 1,000kg payload.
Developing LK-1 and LK-2 (Shavit upgrades) with 350kg and 800kg payloads, respectively.
Cruise missiles [6]
Gabriel-4 anti-ship cruise missile with 200km range and 500kg payload.
Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile with 120km range and 220kg payload.
Alleged Popeye Turbo air-launched cruise missile with 200-300km range and unknown payload.
Other delivery systems [7]
Fighter and ground-attack aircraft include: 25 F-15I, 6 F-15D, 18 F-15C, 2 F-15B, 36 F-15A, 52 F-16I, 54 F-16D, 76 F-16C, 8 F-16B, 67 F-16A, 50 F-4E-2000, 20 F-4E, 5 Kfir C7 (in service), and 79 A-4N (in service).
Ground systems include artillery and rocket launchers. Also, Popeye-3 land-attack air-launched missile with 350km range and 360kg payload, and Popeye-1 land-attack air-launched missile with 100km range and 395kg payload.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) [8]
Harpy lethal unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with 500km range and unknown payload.
Delilah/STAR-1 UAV with 400km range and 50kg payload.
Hunter UAV with 300km range and 114kg payload.
Heron UAV with up to 1,000km range and 250kg payload.
Hermes 450 UAV with 200km range and 150kg payload.
Pioneer UAV with 185km range and approximately 15-25kg payload.
Scout and Mastif UAVs with unknown ranges and payloads.
Searcher UAV with 250km range and 100kg payload.
Ranger UAV with 100-150km range and 45kg payload.
Development of Skylark Mini-UAV with range of 10km and unknown payload.
Sources:
This chart summarizes data available from public sources. Precise assessment of a state’s capabilities is difficult because most weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs remain secret and cannot be verified independently.
Most public estimates range between 100-200 weapons (e.g., Amy Dockser Marcus, “Growing Dangers: U.S. Drive to Curb Doomsday Weapons In Mideast Is Faltering,” Wall Street Journal, 9/6/96, p. A1), but one analyst concludes that “the Israeli nuclear arsenal contains as many as 400 deliverable nuclear and thermonuclear weapons.” Harold Hough, “Could Israel’s Nuclear Assets Survive A First Strike?” Jane’s Intelligence Review, 9/97, p. 410. Israel’s nuclear capability is by most accounts quite sophisticated, and may include “intercontinental-range, fractional-orbit-delivered thermonuclear weapons; thermonuclear or boosted nuclear-armed, two-stage, solid-fuel, intermediate-range ballistic missiles with a range of 3,000km; older, less accurate, nuclear-armed, theatre-range, solid-fuel ballistic missiles; air-deliverable, variable-yield, boosted nuclear bombs; artillery-delivered, enhanced-radiation, tactical weapons; and small nuclear demolition charges.” Kenneth S. Brower, “A Propensity For Conflict: Potential Scenarios And Outcomes Of War In The Middle East,” Jane’s Intelligence Review Special Report No. 14, p. 15. See also: Anthony H. Cordesman, “Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East: National Efforts, War Fighting Capabilities, Weapons Lethality, Terrorism, and Arms Control Implications” (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2/98), p. 19. “Nuclear Forces Guide,” Federation of American Scientists, 10/10/97, [Online] http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/facility/index.html. International Atomic Energy Agency, “Situation on 31 December 1996 with respect to the conclusion of safeguards agreements between the Agency and non-nuclear-weapon States in connection with the NPT,” [Online] http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/program/safeguards/96tables/safenpt.html. Nuclear Engineering International, 1998 World Nuclear Industry Handbook (Essex, UK: Wilmington Publishing Ltd, 1998), p. 114. Cordesman, “Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East: The Impact on the Regional Military Balance,” CSIS (Working Draft), 3/25/05, p. 49, [Online] http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/050325_proliferation%5B1%5D.pdf.
Dana Priest, “In U.S. Weapons Crusade, Allies Get Scant Mention,” Washington Post, 4/14/98, p. 1. Cordesman, 1998, p. 18-19. Steve Rodan, “Bitter Choices: Israel’s Chemical Dilemma,” Jerusalem Post, 8/18/97, [Online] http://www.jpost.co.il. David Makovsky, “Israel Must Ratify Chemical Treaty,” Ha’aretz, 1/8/98, [Online] http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng.
Cordesman, 1998, p. 19. “Chemical and Biological Weapons Facilities,” Federation of American Scientists, 10/10/97, [Online] http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/facility/cbw.htm. P.R. Kumaraswamy, “Marcus Klingberg and Israel’s ‘Biological Option,’” Middle East International, 8/16/96, pp. 21-22. Zafir Rinat, “Nerve Gas Antidote in Works,” Ha’aretz, 12/12/97, [Online] http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng. Edna Homa Hunt, “Israel’s Biological and Chemical Research and Development – Potential Menace at Home and Abroad,” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, 4/98, pp. 84, 93. Liat Collins, “Bio Institute to Come Under Close Inspection,” Jerusalem Post, 2/19/97, [Online] http://www.jpost.co.il. P.R. Kumaraswamy, “Has Israel Kept its BW Options Open?” Jane’s Intelligence Review, 3/98, p. 22.
“Missile and Space Launch Capabilities of Selected Countries,” The Nonproliferation Review, forthcoming 1998. Duncan Lennox, ed., “Country Inventory – In Service,” “In-Service Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles,” “In Service Short-Range Ballistic Missiles,” “Shavit,” and “Offensive Weapons – Unclassified Projects, Israel,” Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems Issue 24, 5/97. Cordesman, 1998, p.18. Cordesman, 2005, pp, 46-47. “Missile Master Table: Finland-Japan,” Centre for Defence and International Security Studies, [Online] http://www.cdiss.org/master2.htm. Directorate of Space Programs, US Air Force Acquisitions, “Shavit,” [Online] http://www.safaq.af.hq.mil/aqs/vehicle/shavit.htm. Pierre Langereux, “Dassault Lifts the Lid on the Jericho Missile Story,” Air & Cosmos/Aviation International, no. 1590, 12/6/96, p. 36. Shawn L. Twing, “Israel Seeks US Permission to Launch Rockets from NASA Facility in Virginia,” Washington Report On Middle East Affairs, 4-5/97, pp. 29, 85. Tim Furniss, “Satellite Launcher Directory,” Flight International, 12/10-16/97, pp. 28-34. Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Organization (SIBAT), Israel’s Defense Sales Directory, 1997/98 (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense, 1997), p. 84. “Worldwide Ballistic Missile Inventories,” Arms Control Association, 6/02, [Online] http://www.armscontrol.org/pdf/missiles.pdf. “Missile Capabilities,” Nuclear Threat Initiative, 4/04, [Online] http://www.nti.org/profiles/israel/missile/3564.html. “Shavit,” Israel Aircraft Industries, 2002, [Online] Http://www.iai.co.il/Default.aspx?docID=15689&FolderID=14471&lang=en.
Lennox. Cordesman, 1998, p. 18. CDISS. Lennox, “Offensive Weapons – Unclassified Projects, Israel.” SIBAT, pp. 53, 55, 57. Israel possesses all three versions of the US-made Harpoon cruise missile, which are designed for launch from ships (AGM 84A), submarines (RGM 84A), and aircraft (UGM 84A). “Popeye Turbo,” Federation of American Scientists, 6/20/00, [Online] http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/missile/popeye-t.htm. “Popeye Turbo,” GlobalSecurity.org, 4/28/05, [Online] http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/israel/popeye-t.htm. “Israel, Iran Reportedly Competing in Nuclear Arms Race,” Yedi’ot Aharonot, 12/4/05 in FBIS Document GMP20051204618002. Cameron S. Brown, “Israel and the WMD Threat: Lessons for Europe,” Middle East Review of International Affairs 8(3), 9/04, p. 6.
The Military Balance 1997/98 (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1997), pp. 129-130. Arieh O’Sullivan, “New F-15I Warplanes Extend Israel’s Reach,” The Jerusalem Post [Online] http://www.jpost.co.il/. Ze’ev Schiff, “F-15Is Are Not The Complete Answer To The Iran Threat,” Ha’aretz, 1/20/98, [Online] http://www3.haaretz.co.il/. “Israel,” Middle East Military Balance, 3/05, pp. 17-20, [Online] http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/balance/Israel.pdf. “Israel Air Force [IAF] / Air Corps (Hel Avir),” GlobalSecurity.org, 4/27/05, [Online] http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/iaf.htm. Alon Ben David, “IDF Adapts Doctrine and Structure in Response to Shifting Regional Priorities,” International Defense Review, 3/1/05. Reuven Predatzur and Steve Rodan, “Israel Country Briefing: Centre Stage,” Jane’s Defense Weekly, 3/1/02. The IAF has ordered 102 F-16Is from the U.S. company Lockheed Martin in two batches of 52 aircraft. The second delivery is to take place between 2006 and 2009.
For the people of Azizabad, a small village in western Afghanistan, the dark early morning hours of August 22, 2008 suddenly turned into a nightmare of devastation and death. As villagers slept, U.S. forces attacked—first with guns, then air strikes. By the next morning, according to UN investigators, over 90 people had been massacred, including 60 children and 15 women.
The U.S. military initially claimed they had hit a “legitimate” Taliban target, that only 5 to 7 civilians were killed—so-called “collateral damage”—and the other 30 to 35 dead were Taliban militants. These were lies.
Journalists who traveled to the village reported: “At the battle scene, shell craters dotted the courtyards and shrapnel had gouged holes in the walls. Rooms had collapsed and mud bricks and torn clothing lay in uneven mounds where people had been digging. In two places blood was splattered on a ceiling and a wall….The smell of bodies lingered in one compound, causing villagers to start digging with spades. They found the body of a baby, caked in dust, in the corner of a bombed-out room.” Survivors “described repeated strikes on houses where dozens of children were sleeping, grandparents and uncles and aunts huddled inside with them.” (New York Times, September 8, 2008)
“Does this look like it fits a Taliban fighter?” one resident told NPR (August 27, 2008), holding up a tiny shoe and a woman’s torn veil.
This was the third major massacre of Afghan civilians by U.S.-NATO forces this summer alone. Since 2005, between 2,700 and 3,200 civilians are estimated to have been killed by U.S and NATO forces, whose attacks and bombing raids are escalating. And all this is just the latest example of the enormous suffering the U.S.-NATO war on Afghanistan has inflicted since it was launched seven years ago on October 7, 2001.
The U.S. military has since been forced to back off of its initial claims about Azizabad, and is supposedly conducting an “investigation.” But one thing the U.S. rulers—and Bush, McCain and Obama—have not backed off of is the biggest lie of all: That the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan is a legitimate war of self-defense launched in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001 and that the central goal is preventing future attacks on the U.S. And now there are calls, including from Barack Obama, to send thousands of more troops to Afghanistan.
Not a “Good War” Gone Bad
One thing that’s not been up for debate in the Presidential campaign is Afghanistan: both candidates (not to mention George W. Bush) agree on the urgent need to escalate – and win – that war. This stance has overwhelmingly gone unchallenged – even by most who opposed the invasion of Iraq. But the war in Afghanistan is not the proverbial “good war,” now gone bad. It was an unjust, imperialist war of conquest and empire from the start. And it continues to be an unjust, imperialist war of empire today.
The war in Afghanistan was never simply a response to 9/11. It was conceived of by the Bush administration as the opening salvo in an unbounded war for greater empire under the rubric of a “war on terror.” This war’s goal was to defeat Islamic fundamentalism, overthrow states not fully under U.S. control, restructure the Middle East and Central Asian regions, and seize deeper control of key sources and shipment routes of strategic energy supplies. All this grew out of over a decade of imperialist planning, strategizing and intervention. And from the beginning all of it was part of an overall plan to expand and fortify U.S. power—to create an unchallenged and unchallengeable global imperialist empire.
All this is shown by what the U.S. rulers were doing—and planning—in these regions and globally during the decade of the 1990s, including in Afghanistan itself. It can be shown by the plans the U.S. had for destabilizing, perhaps overthrowing, the Taliban government of Afghanistan even before 9/11. It can be demonstrated by the actual discussions and decisions taken by the Bush regime in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and by the U.S.’s war objectives in Afghanistan and the Middle East as a whole, which it is still pursuing. And it can be shown by the U.S.’s conduct of the war and the impact it has had on the people of Afghanistan.
1990s: A Decade of Planning and Strategizing for Greater Empire
The “war on terror” and the invasion of Afghanistan emerged from a decade of planning, strategizing, and struggle among the U.S. rulers over how to expand and strengthen their grip on the planet.
The 1991 collapse of the social-imperialist Soviet Union was a geopolitical earthquake. Suddenly the U.S. rulers found themselves no longer facing a rival nuclear-armed, imperialist empire. They called it a unique “unipolar moment,” where the U.S. faced no major rivals to its global pre-eminence. But in the wake of the Soviet collapse, they faced new and daunting challenges—the possible rise of new rivals (Russia, China, the European Union or some combination thereof), massive economic shifts brought about by the Soviet bloc’s collapse and the acceleration of capitalist globalization, destabilizing problems in the oil-rich Middle East, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and a growing number of impoverished, war-torn, or fragmented states (so-called “failed states”) whose collapse could unravel the U.S.-dominated global order.
Right after the Soviet collapse, a core of imperial strategists—the neoconservatives or neocons—began arguing that the U.S. should lock in this unipolar world and prevent any rivals from emerging to challenge the U.S.
This was articulated in the Defense Department’s 1992 “Defense Planning Guidance”—written by Paul Wolfowitz, Lewis Libby and Zalmay Khalilzad under the direction of then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney—all later top officials in the Bush II administration. This document argued that the U.S. should insure “that no rival superpower is allowed to emerge in Western Europe, Asia or the territory of the former Soviet Union” and that the United States remain the world’s predominant power for the indefinite future. The Defense Guidance envisioned accomplishing these far-reaching objectives by preemptively attacking rivals or states seeking weapons of mass destruction, strengthening U.S. control of Persian Gulf oil, and refusing to allow international coalitions or law to inhibit U.S. freedom of action.
The Clinton administration had sought to strengthen and expand U.S. economic, military and political power around the world—including through military aggression in Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, and the Balkans.
But for the neocons, this wasn’t nearly enough. Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-born American and one time advisor to the Unocal oil company, was a key player in the neocon offensive. Later he would become a top official in the Bush regime—including as ambassador first to Afghanistan following the U.S. occupation, and then to Iraq. During the 1990s, Khalilzad condemned the lack of a “unifying concept” in the Clinton global vision, and argued for focusing on preventing others from having “hegemony over critical regions,” including the Persian Gulf.
Over the decade of the 1990s, this core in the ruling class continued to flesh out and fight for this vision—in numerous research papers, think-tank seminars, opinion pieces, and efforts like the “Project for a New American Century” and the “Clean Break” policy paper written for Israel’s leadership. Along with this global strategizing, they led a growing chorus demanding more aggressive action against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, including overthrowing it, as well as increasing efforts to take action against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. All this, again, was years before the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Afghanistan—Great Power Rivalry and Energy Pipelines
During the 1990s, Afghanistan was one focal point of U.S. efforts to strengthen its grip on global energy sources and military-political supremacy. Afghanistan sits at the very heart of the Eurasian land mass. In 1997, Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor in the Carter administration, argued, “A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive regions…. About 75 percent of the world’s people live in Eurasia, and most of the world’s physical wealth is there as well…Eurasia accounts for about 60 percent of the world’s GNP and about three-fourths of the world’s known energy resources.” (Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives, Basic Books, New York, 1997)
Following the Soviet collapse, relations in the region were shifting rapidly. Five Central Asian Republics—Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan—formerly part of the Soviet Union were unmoored and up for grabs.
As A World to Win magazine analyzed in 2001: “As the Soviets retreated in the early 1990s, the U.S. imperialists thus embarked upon a policy to replace Soviet influence over the Central Asian countries with their own, to connect them into the world market and to break up the Russian monopoly over the pipelines to that market. They also set out to build an alternative to the Persian Gulf region as a key energy supply in order to reinforce the U.S.’s dominant global position. One of the key aspects of this was, of course, preventing Russia from re-emerging as a major rival in the region. The pipeline the U.S. needed had to cross through Afghanistan to Pakistan to the open seas in order to freely access the Western market.” (“A History of the Imperialist ‘Great Game,’” A World to Win, 2002/28) The U.S. also sought to weaken and isolate the Islamic Republic of Iran by preventing pipelines from being built through Iran—a natural bridge to the Persian Gulf—and by surrounding it with hostile states. This was another reason the U.S. initially supported the Taliban in Afghanistan—it served as a “Sunni buffer” on Iran’s eastern border.
Gaining control of Afghanistan was seen by the Clinton administration as a crucial element of this strategy. So in 1996, when the Islamic fundamentalists of the Taliban seized power, after four years of bitter civil war following the overthrow of the pro-Soviet Najibullah regime, the imperialists supported them in hopes they could stabilize Afghanistan and partner with the U.S. The Bush administration initially continued to maintain ties with the Taliban—approving over $40 million in financial aid in May 2001.
Turning Against the Taliban
But even as they were approving this aid, and before September 11, 2001, the U.S. was also turning against the Taliban regime, including by planning to destabilize and possibly overthrow it. One such plan hit Bush’s desk on September 10.
The U.S. rulers’ concerns had nothing to do with the reactionary, theocratic nature of the Taliban, which mainly represented the feudal classes and tribes of Afghanistan’s largest nationality, the Pashtun. Instead, they were concerned that the Taliban was becoming a dangerous opponent, standing in the way of the U.S. regional agenda and global plans.
First, a civil war continued to smolder in Afghanistan, which the Taliban proved unable to stamp out. This made it impossible to go forward with plans for building an oil pipeline across Afghanistan to Pakistan. Second, the Taliban’s actions and this ongoing instability were fueling radical Islamic fundamentalism, which was increasingly viewed as a key problem by U.S. strategists. This was driven home to them by the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The U.S. blamed Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, which were based in Afghanistan. (The Clinton administration launched cruise missile strikes in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda camps after these attacks.)
These growing tensions led the U.S. to begin building covert anti-Taliban networks in Afghanistan as early as 1997. This included providing millions of dollars in aid to the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and dispatching secret teams to work with them. (The Taliban leadership was reportedly ready to turn bin Laden over to the imperialists or at the very least have him leave the country until the U.S.’s 1998 missile strikes convinced them they too were a target of the imperialists.)
Such planning was stepped up after George W. Bush came to power. Before September 11, 2001, there were sharp divisions within the Bush regime over whether to focus on non-state Islamist “terrorists” like al-Qaeda or states such as Iraq. But plans to step up attacks on al-Qaeda and destabilize the Taliban regime—perhaps even overthrow it—were being developed and debated. In his book Bush at War, Bob Woodward reports that in April 2001—5 months before the attacks of September 11—plans were in the works to begin arming the Northern Alliance. By July, proposals were put forward to not only roll back al-Qaeda, but to eliminate it and “go on the offensive and destabilize the Taliban.” Although the divisions within the Bush team had not been resolved, this plan was approved on September 4, with $125-200 million given the CIA to implement it. It was placed on Bush’s desk by National Security Advisor Rice on September 10 as a secret Presidential Directive, awaiting his signature.
100 Items to Disappear First
1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy…target of thieves; maintenance etc.)
2. Water Filters/Purifiers
3. Portable Toilets
4. Seasoned Firewood. Wood takes about 6 – 12 months to become dried, for home uses.
5. Lamp Oil, Wicks, Lamps (First Choice: Buy CLEAR oil. If scarce, stockpile ANY!)
6. Coleman Fuel. Impossible to stockpile too much.
7. Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats & Slingshots.
8. Hand-can openers, & hand egg beaters, whisks.
9. Honey/Syrups/white, brown sugar
10. Rice – Beans – Wheat
11. Vegetable Oil (for cooking) Without it food burns/must be boiled etc.,)
12. Charcoal, Lighter Fluid (Will become scarce suddenly)
13. Water Containers (Urgent Item to obtain.) Any size. Small: HARD CLEAR PLASTIC ONLY – note – food grade if for drinking.
14. Mini Heater head (Propane) (Without this item, propane won’t heat a room.)
15. Grain Grinder (Non-electric)
16. Propane Cylinders (Urgent: Definite shortages will occur.
17. Survival Guide Book.
18. Mantles: Aladdin, Coleman, etc. (Without this item, longer-term lighting is difficult.)
19. Baby Supplies: Diapers/formula. ointments/aspirin, etc.
20. Washboards, Mop Bucket w/wringer (for Laundry)
21. Cookstoves (Propane, Coleman & Kerosene)
22. Vitamins
23. Propane Cylinder Handle-Holder (Urgent: Small canister use is dangerous without this item)
24. Feminine Hygiene/Haircare/Skin products.
25. Thermal underwear (Tops & Bottoms)
26. Bow saws, axes and hatchets, Wedges (also, honing oil)
27. Aluminum Foil Reg. & Heavy Duty (Great Cooking and Barter Item)
28. Gasoline Containers (Plastic & Metal)
29. Garbage Bags (Impossible To Have Too Many).
30. Toilet Paper, Kleenex, Paper Towels
31. Milk – Powdered & Condensed (Shake Liquid every 3 to 4 months)
32. Garden Seeds (Non-Hybrid) (A MUST)
33. Clothes pins/line/hangers (A MUST)
34. Coleman’s Pump Repair Kit
35. Tuna Fish (in oil)
36. Fire Extinguishers (or..large box of Baking Soda in every room)
37. First aid kits
38. Batteries (all sizes…buy furthest-out for Expiration Dates)
39. Garlic, spices & vinegar, baking supplies
40. Big Dogs (and plenty of dog food)
41. Flour, yeast & salt
42. Matches. {“Strike Anywhere” preferred.) Boxed, wooden matches will go first
43. Writing paper/pads/pencils, solar calculators
44. Insulated ice chests (good for keeping items from freezing in Wintertime.)
45. Workboots, belts, Levis & durable shirts
46. Flashlights/LIGHTSTICKS & torches, “No. 76 Dietz” Lanterns
47. Journals, Diaries & Scrapbooks (jot down ideas, feelings, experience; Historic Times)
48. Garbage cans Plastic (great for storage, water, transporting – if with wheels)
49. Men’s Hygiene: Shampoo, Toothbrush/paste, Mouthwash/floss, nail clippers, etc
50. Cast iron cookware (sturdy, efficient)
51. Fishing supplies/tools
52. Mosquito coils/repellent, sprays/creams
53. Duct Tape
54. Tarps/stakes/twine/nails/rope/spikes
55. Candles
56. Laundry Detergent (liquid)
57. Backpacks, Duffel Bags
58. Garden tools & supplies
59. Scissors, fabrics & sewing supplies
60. Canned Fruits, Veggies, Soups, stews, etc.
61. Bleach (plain, NOT scented: 4 to 6% sodium hypochlorite)
62. Canning supplies, (Jars/lids/wax)
63. Knives & Sharpening tools: files, stones, steel
64. Bicycles…Tires/tubes/pumps/chains, etc
65. Sleeping Bags & blankets/pillows/mats
66. Carbon Monoxide Alarm (battery powered)
67. Board Games, Cards, Dice
68. d-con Rat poison, MOUSE PRUFE II, Roach Killer
69. Mousetraps, Ant traps & cockroach magnets
70. Paper plates/cups/utensils (stock up, folks)
71. Baby wipes, oils, waterless & Antibacterial soap (saves a lot of water)
72. Rain gear, rubberized boots, etc.
73. Shaving supplies (razors & creams, talc, after shave)
74. Hand pumps & siphons (for water and for fuels)
75. Soysauce, vinegar, bullions/gravy/soupbase
76. Reading glasses
77. Chocolate/Cocoa/Tang/Punch (water enhancers)
78. “Survival-in-a-Can”
79. Woolen clothing, scarves/ear-muffs/mittens
80. Boy Scout Handbook, / also Leaders Catalog
81. Roll-on Window Insulation Kit (MANCO)
82. Graham crackers, saltines, pretzels, Trail mix/Jerky
83. Popcorn, Peanut Butter, Nuts
84. Socks, Underwear, T-shirts, etc. (extras)
85. Lumber (all types)
86. Wagons & carts (for transport to and from)
87. Cots & Inflatable mattress’s
88. Gloves: Work/warming/gardening, etc.
89. Lantern Hangers
90. Screen Patches, glue, nails, screws,, nuts & bolts
91. Teas
92. Coffee
93. Cigarettes
94. Wine/Liquors (for bribes, medicinal, etc,)
95. Paraffin wax
96. Glue, nails, nuts, bolts, screws, etc.
97. Chewing gum/candies
98. Atomizers (for cooling/bathing)
99. Hats & cotton neckerchiefs
100. Goats/chickens
From a Sarajevo War Survivor:
Experiencing horrible things that can happen in a war – death of parents and
friends, hunger and malnutrition, endless freezing cold, fear, sniper attacks.
1. Stockpiling helps. but you never no how long trouble will last, so locate
near renewable food sources.
2. Living near a well with a manual pump is like being in Eden.
3. After awhile, even gold can lose its luster. But there is no luxury in war
quite like toilet paper. Its surplus value is greater than gold’s.
4. If you had to go without one utility, lose electricity – it’s the easiest to
do without (unless you’re in a very nice climate with no need for heat.)
5. Canned foods are awesome, especially if their contents are tasty without
heating. One of the best things to stockpile is canned gravy – it makes a lot of
the dry unappetizing things you find to eat in war somewhat edible. Only needs
enough heat to “warm”, not to cook. It’s cheap too, especially if you buy it in
bulk.
6. Bring some books – escapist ones like romance or mysteries become more
valuable as the war continues. Sure, it’s great to have a lot of survival
guides, but you’ll figure most of that out on your own anyway – trust me, you’ll
have a lot of time on your hands.
7. The feeling that you’re human can fade pretty fast. I can’t tell you how many
people I knew who would have traded a much needed meal for just a little bit of
toothpaste, rouge, soap or cologne. Not much point in fighting if you have to
lose your humanity. These things are morale-builders like nothing else.
8. Slow burning candles and matches, matches, matches
Bush says reforms must improve, not fetter, the free market; Europeans hint at more robust intervention.
By Howard LaFranchi
When President Bush hosts a world financial summit in the coming weeks, one of the least multilateral American presidents in decades will set in motion what could result in a full reordering of the global financial system.
The series of summits that Mr. Bush announced over the weekend at Camp David with European leaders at his side suggests a broad understanding among them: that the current crisis requires the kind of global regulatory reforms that have eluded major powers in the past.
Europeans especially are speaking of a “Bretton Woods II” that could do for financial markets what the 1944 summit at a resort in New Hampshire did for monetary policy.
But the call for a summit also underscores the degree to which a once go-it-alone presidency has shifted to embrace not only the necessity of international cooperation, but also a role of global leadership.
“Talk of a Bretton Woods II has been around to different degrees for 30 years. But the fact it is getting started with an outgoing administration and especially one that was at the center of a significant crisis between America and Europe, between America and the rest of the world, suggests the recognition that there is urgency in the air,” says Simon Serfaty, an expert in US-Europe relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. “It also adds legitimacy to the coming process.”
That process, which is expected to stretch into next year and a new American administration, will get under way with a summit that Bush will host sometime after Nov. 4, the date of US elections, according to a statement issued Saturday by Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and European Union Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
The initial summit is expected to be a kind of expanded Group of Eight meeting, assembling the leaders of the most industrialized nations and those of major developing economies like China, India, Brazil, and South Korea. It would aim to assess the current global crisis and to come up with a set of principles of reform.
Actual agreements on reforms could come at subsequent summits, but the initial meeting would allow Bush to place his stamp on the process before leaving office, while also facilitating a continuity of American leadership.
Saturday’s meeting offered a picture of transatlantic unity, but that hardly means the road ahead will be discord-free. Bush says future reforms and new international regulations must improve but not fetter the free market, while European leaders hint at much more robust state intervention with tighter regulations.
Bush recognized the need for “regulatory institutional changes” but added, “It is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism – commitment to free markets, free enterprise, and free trade.”
In response, President Sarkozy said, “The president of the United States is right in saying that protectionism and closing one’s borders is a catastrophe…. But we cannot continue along the same lines,” he added, “because the same problems will trigger the same disasters.”
Mr. Barroso was more succinct: “We need a new global financial order.”
Those words could send shivers through a White House that is suspicious of the current chorus of world leaders – European, Russian, and others less friendly to the US – who are hailing the current economic crisis as a moment to usher in a multipolar world. Bush indicated he seeks to maintain some degree of American stewardship over the financial reform effort when he politely declined the offer of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to host the expanded G-8 summit at the UN in New York.
Among the issues the White House has indicated it would endorse for a reform agenda are rules for the international flow of investment funds, improved oversight of increasingly global financial institutions, and means of boosting the transparency of international financial transactions and markets.
But European leaders have called for what sound like much deeper reforms. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, for example, has proposed a reorganization of the International Monetary Fund – a Bretton Woods institution.
Behind the European proposals is a sense that the financial crisis and America’s darkening economic prospects make this an opportunity for the European Union to play a bigger international role. Last week at the close of a two-day EU summit on the financial crisis, Sarkozy predicted that an international summit would take place before the end of the year because “Europe wants it, Europe demands it. Europe will get it.”
More than a show of unity with a declaration for a series of summits will be needed if the world is truly to come together to address the crisis, some observers note. “Unity of purpose is not found in a meeting or series of meetings. It’s found in purpose,” says Danielle Pletka, vice president for foreign-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. “Whether that’s something the major players in this crisis can come together on remains to be seen.”
But Mr. Serfaty points out that the Europeans chose to engage the Bush administration, when just a few years ago the deep divisions over the Iraq war were disrupting such cooperation.
“Rather than seeing any kind of disconnect,” he says, “I think we should emphasize the fact the Europeans are doing what [the Americans] want them to do, in that they are coming together and taking a proactive approach to this crisis.”
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has said that terrorists in the tribal areas of Pakistan are being funded from Afghanistan and other countries.
