PittsburghThoughts

Cause and effect, action, reaction,

Recently I was sent one of those sad, patriotic stories that circulate on the internet. This one was one about a Marine escorting a fallen comrade on the plane trip back home. The sender knows that I am not a lock-step, bumper sticker patriot and I have told her in the past how much I abhor that mind-set. I decided to take the time to send her some opinion and some facts. Since she asked if it was ok for her to send what she sent, I started my email back to her:

Thanks to Karen for reminding me to post, 

"Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money ." - Sir Josiah Stamp, Director of the Bank of England (in the 1920s); reputed to be the 2nd wealthiest man in England at that time

                                                                                        Taken from: The Money Masters

The Russians are coming, 

Are we living in the United States or a Russian Novel? Dostoevsky would be proud of all the lies, twists and turns of our plot to bring peace to the world. You and I, the long suffering proletariat, may warrant a line or two but the story would be about power and love. Which makes me wonder how this loveless bunch at the top stacks up in anything other than self-love?

Their antiseptic, quasi-Christianity should demand love for mankind including their enemies but passion seems antithetical to their anemic lives in every respect except one: murder. Here's a line from Dostoevsky that could just as well be uttered By George W. Bush at a press conference, sans eloquence:

 "But you're a poet, and I'm a simple mortal, and therefore I will say one must look at things from the simplest, most practical point of view. I, for one, have long since freed myself from all shackles, and even obligations. I only recognize obligations when I see I have something to gain by them. You. of course, can't look at things like that, your legs are in fetters and your taste is morbid. You yearn for the ideal, for virtue. But, my dear friend, I am ready to recognize anything you tell me to, but what shall I do if I know for a fact that at the root of all human virtues lies the most intense egoism?" (Prince Valkovsky in The Insulted and Humiliated, 1861)

Egotism. I think it can be argued that our leaders are enmeshed in it. Bush and his crew have done all but said, "My way or the highway." And, while the rest of us slink, stir and wrestle with the other issues that plague the characters in a Russian tome: freedom of choice, socialism, atheisms, good, evil, happiness and so forth, Bush transverses the path of certitude with all the grace and insight of a marauding rouge elephant.

Perhaps, in the end, in a strange permutation of Dostoevsky's Idiot; Prince Myshkin, aka The Idiot, aka George W. Bush will be sent back to Crawford rather than Switzerland to live out his life in peaceful bliss while the rest of the world either recovers in a reordered, lessor world, or continues in its deathward spiral.

"In the end, the prince is sent back to Switzerland. He is an idiot again, as he was before the events of the story started. The Yepanchins (except Aglaya), Radomsky and Prince S visit him. They all forgive him. Rogozhin is sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in Siberia. Aglaya marries a Polish. The good Christian, our Prince Myshkin, has been reduced back to an idiot."    Gene

A 1997 C.I.A. report notes ''embassy did not want information concerning human rights abuses . . . to be disseminated,'' as it would ''reflect negatively on Honduras and not be beneficial in carrying out U.S. policy.'' The report continues: ''No further reporting on the prisoner executions . . . there was concern on the part of Negroponte that over-emphasis would create an unwarranted human rights problem for Honduras.

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August 18, 2001: A NYTs editorial called for a senate investagation into John Negroponte's conduct as ambassador to Honduras during Nicaragua's civil war two decades ago.

The Senate must also establish whether Mr. Negroponte was aware of and made any effort to prevent the death squad activities of a Honduran Army battalion trained and financed by the United States. The U.N. job is symbolically important, especially in the areas of human rights and adherence to law. When the Senate confirmed Mr. Negroponte to serve in Mexico and the Philippines, his record in Honduras was not thoroughly explored. It should be now.

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September 11, 2001.

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September 14, 2001: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, anxious to fill the post of United States ambassador to the United Nations, approved the nomination of John D. Negroponte for the job today. Mr. Negroponte, pressed on various human rights cases in Honduras and on what he discussed with the contras, told the Senate committee he could not remember.

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September 29, 2001: UN Security Council unanimously adopts US-sponsored resolution obliging all 189 member countries to crack down on financing, training and movement of terrorists, and to cooperate in any campaign against them, including use of force; Amb John D Negroponte says US is very encouraged by rapid, unanimous action on agreement that reflects broad support for crackdown

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October 9, 2001: United States Ambassador to UN John Negroponte letter to Security Council says US cannot rule out taking actions against other groups and countries beyond Afghanistan in response to Sept 11 terrorist attacks; says inquiry is in early stages and may uncover need for further self-defense; together with similar letter from Great Britain, serves as formal notification of joint military action against suspected terrorist bases.

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October 10, 2001: The United States ambassador to the United Nations relayed a warning to Iraq this week not to ''take advantage'' of the attacks on New York and Washington by stirring up trouble, American officials said today.

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November 9, 2002: excerpts from speeches delivered yesterday to the United Nations Security Council after the vote on the resolution Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq concerning weapons inspections in Iraq. John D. Negroponte, United States Ambassador, "The resolution makes clear that any Iraqi failure to comply is unacceptable and that Iraq must be disarmed. And one way or another, Mr. President, Iraq will be disarmed."

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March 21, 2003: Iraq Chronology British and American land forces enter Iraq, taking control of areas bordering Kuwait and parts of the Faw Peninsula. British marines seize some oil export facilities and U.S. armored columns push further into Iraq towards the Rumaila oilfields. About 7 oilfields are set on fire by Iraqi forces. U.S. special forces begin conducting significant operations with Kurdish units in the north of Iraq. A primary objective of Coalition forces is to take control of oil wells before they can be sabotaged by Iraqi forces. Coalition air strikes continue on military targets throughout the country." (Reuters, DJ)

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May 15, 2003: It was unclear yesterday [during Security Council questioning about the legal ramifications of a new draft resolution lifting sanctions and recognizing the forces that attacked Iraq as the legal authority in Iraq] whether the United States push for speed, driven in part, Mr. Negroponte said, by the need to begin emptying full oil storage tanks, will help or hurt in its drive to achieve consensus.

A related issue raised in the closed session, according to three people present, was whether the Council has the authority to expand on the provisions of the Geneva Conventions governing the responsibilities and limitations of ''occupying powers.''

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April 14, 2004: President Bush is expected to select John D Negroponte, veteran diplomat and current United States representative to United Nations, as ambassador to Iraq once sovereignty is given over to government in Baghdad on June 30.

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June 28, 2004: Iraq Chronology The transfer of sovereignty in Iraq from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), led by U.S. diplomat Paul Bremer, to an interim Iraqi government, led by President Ghazi al Yawer and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi occurs, two days ahead of schedule. It is hoped that a government led by Iraqis will be more acceptable than the CPA to many Iraqis. Legal, though not physical, custody of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is awarded to the new Iraqi government on June 30. (Reuters)

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June 28, 2004: L. Paul Bremer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: At 10:26 AM local time, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority formally transferred limited sovereignty of Iraqi territory to the Iraqi interim government, two days ahead of schedule. Bremer departed from the country on the same day. John Negroponte replaced Bremer as the highest ranking American civilian in Iraq.

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August 31, 2004: The new American ambassador in Iraq, concerned about the problems of unemployed Iraqis and by attacks on the country's oil fields, has urged the Bush administration to shift money away from infrastructure improvements and use it to improve security and job opportunities, Bush administration officials said Monday.

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Feburary 17, 2005: John Negroponte - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia President George W. Bush named Negroponte as the first Director of National Intelligence, a position created due to recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission completed late in 2004. On April 21, 2005, Negroponte was confirmed by a vote of 98 to 2 in the Senate, and subsequently sworn in. (Oddly enough, the New York Time's report on the same day were more focused on Michael Hayden's appointment as deputy director, they did, however, report on it on the 18th in 3 different, mostly laudatory articles). One NYTs article that day did contain this quote, "I want to get out of Baghdad as soon as possible." He said, "They want me to come back for something, but I want to do the private sector.''

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February 18th: An article questions Negroponte's past and involvement in human right violations:

''In Central America,'' Ms. Coliver (Sandra Coliver, executive director of the Center for Justice and Accountability) said, ''Negroponte is indelibly remembered for his role in increasing the amount of U.S. aid to the Honduran military at the very time that the military's role in supporting brutal death squads was becoming abundantly clear. What kind of a message will this appointment send to the people of Central America? That the U.S. is willing to overlook massive human rights atrocities in the name of collecting intelligence in pursuit of U.S. national interests.'' 

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March 4, 2005: President Bush traveled to the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency on Thursday and sought to reassure its director and nervous employees that they would not be undermined once John D. Negroponte assumes the new position of national director of intelligence.

Further exploration of Negroponte's past and present by the NYTs in its March 29 2005 article revealed concerning human right violations:

This period has haunted Mr. Negroponte. Not only rights activists but also Jack R. Binns, Mr. Negroponte's predecessor as ambassador, have accused him of discouraging reporting to Washington of abductions, torture and killings by notorious Honduran military units.

''I think he was complicit in abuses, I think he tried to put a lid on reporting abuses and I think he was untruthful to Congress about those activities,'' said Mr. Binns, now retired in Arizona.

Negroponte is quoted saying, ''Could I have been more vocal?'' Mr. Negroponte said. ''Well, you know, in retrospect perhaps I could have been.''  Declassified records from 1983 show Mr. Negroponte asking Washington to authorize 3,000 weapons to be shipped secretly to Honduras to arm the contras.

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April 13, 2005: Hundreds of newly released cables that John D. Negroponte sent to Washington while serving as ambassador to Honduras in the 1980's show that he played a more central and assertive role than previously known in managing the United States' covert war against Nicaragua's leftist government, which he called ''our special project.''

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August 1, 2005: Editorial praises national intelligence director John Negroponte for common-sense precautions he has ordered to avoid more poorly sourced, poorly vetted intelligence reports like those on Iraq's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction; says Congress should insist on thorough investigation of those faulty reports.

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January 12, 2006: The director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, has created new ''mission managers'' for Iran and North Korea, adding those two countries to a short list of top-priority challenges for American intelligence agencies.

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April 20, 2006:The top Republican and the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee have disagreed publicly about many things, but on one issue they have recently come together. Both are disquieted by the first-year performance of John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence. ''I don't think we have a lot to show yet for the intelligence reform,'' said Mark M. Lowenthal, a former top C.I.A. official and Congressional intelligence staff member.

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May 10, 2006: Headline New York Times, Clash Foreseen Between C.I.A. And Pentagon

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September 8, 2006: President Bush announced his proposal for bringing terror suspects to trial on Wednesday as part of a round of speeches on national security aimed at drawing a sharp distinction between the two parties: Democrats as weak on terror, Republicans strong. 

The administration pushed back, convening a conference call in which John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, described the Senate alternative as unacceptable. Mr. Negroponte said the plan would impose intolerable limits on any interrogation methods American intelligence officers might use against future terror suspects held by the Central Intelligence Agency in secret overseas prisons.