UFO EASTERN EUROPE**2007**

Strange Lights, Reports are coming from Eastern Europe, such as this one, posted today. We will continue to document these reports. Henry_Allen


Hole in the ice fuels speculation about UFOs

Riga - A hole in a frozen pond in northern Latvia achieved unexpected notoriety on Wednesday as rumours began circulating that it was created by an object falling from outer space.

"We've been collecting information on the story all day, and we'll definitely report it in the morning," Inguna Plume, editor of local newspaper Ziemellatvija, told reporters.

The "unusually large hole" appeared in the ice of a frozen pond near the northern Latvian village of Karki in early February, the Leta news agency wrote. Despite sub-zero temperatures, the hole
reportedly did not freeze over for two days.

Locals initially reported seeing "strange things" in the area.

One girl said that she had seen "a small bright object with a silver ring around it", while other witnesses reported seeing up to six symmetrical beams of light emerging from the pond.

When the existence of the mysterious hole became known, the theory that it could have been created by an object falling from outer space began to gain credence, Karki spokesperson Sandra Pilskalne told Leta.

Scientific experts admit that the hole could have been created by a falling piece of interstellar debris, the news wire added.

The mysterious hole has now frozen over, but water samples have been taken for testing, Pilskalne said. Representatives of Karki council were not available for comment when approached by reporters. - Sapa-dpa

Quickwire

Published on the Web by IOL on 2007-02-14 23:14:25
© Independent Online 2005. All rights reserved. IOL publishes this article in good faith but is not liable for any loss or damage caused by reliance on the information it contains.

Sangre Eterna

Teen bloodsucking orgy!

>> Chilean director Jorge Olguin brings his unique vampire feature Sangre Eterna to Fantasia



by MATTHEW HAYS

Just when you thought that vampire fixation of yours had been sucked dry, a cool Chilean director has arrived to paint the cinema red all over again. And the blood has never tasted better - or looked better, for that matter.

With his latest feature, Sangre Eterna, Jorge Olguin has taken the well-trodden turf of teens bitten by the vampire bug and given it a new, funny and alternately seriously disturbing twist. Fantasia freaks will recall that Olguin's feature debut, Angel Negro, screened at the festival's 2001 edition. His wacky universe is wound up again on the big screen, and here, he's managed to give the vampire genre a good, sharp bite in the neck.

Sangre Eterna opens with apparently sweet, innocent Carmilla showing off her new goth look to her high school buddies. Carmilla finds herself straying from her usual group of straight friends and falling in with the goth crowd, finding herself sexually drawn to the leader of the goth pack, M. She's soon drawn into their vampire role-playing game, in which four sexy teens dredge up various fantasies about battling vampire hunters. It all seems so real, the fights in which bullets slice into our dear vampire friends like so much gunfire in an over-the-top Peckinpah Western. And the vampire hunters are closing in! Who will get out and survive and who will be hunted down for the cruel bloodsuckers they really are? It sure helps that the vampire goths, male and female, are sexy and alluring (funny how that works).

Olguin manages some truly dark comic touches up until this point, but then the movie takes one of those beautiful about-faces, morphing into something quite different. Taking its cues from George A. Romero's occasionally-overlooked Martin, Sangre Eterna has characters utterly lost in the battle of perception between fantasy and reality, make-believe and truth, madness and sanity, dreams and eyes-wide-open consciousness. In doing so, Olguin drags his audience, kicking and screaming, into the same netherworld, effectively undermining our expectations and pulling that old reality rug out from under our feet. He's an exciting director, and this is the kind of film that will undoubtedly be shown in decades to come at retrospectives of his work. A fabulously fun and kinky little follow-up to his debut, Sangre Eterna made a Chilean vampire convert outta me. Olguin talked with the Mirror about his inspirations and the charm of vampires from his Chilean office.

Mirror: What drew you to vampires?

Jorge Olguin: A lot of things, but no doubt a big part of it is that vampires have such a charm to them, because they have such massive power over others, and that a vampire can take away someone else's essence, their vitality. And vampires can hide away in the shadows, without anyone noticing them. A vampire works well metaphorically: they can be someone who has an influence on other's politics or economics. That vampire can then be exposed for their situation or their political reality. There are a lot of vampires in South America.

Moved by Martin

M: Your movie has been compared to a number of very different things, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Peckinpah Westerns to the work of George A. Romero. What were some of your main inspirations while making the film?

JO: I see a lot of films, and ultimately they become part of my environment and my reality, because ultimately I use them for inspiration to make my own films. Sangre Eterna was influenced by Martin by George A. Romero. I was taken with its ambiguity; the vampirism is the fantasy of the main character, but his story says that he is a vampire. This is a film that distresses you with its bloody hero. Certainly, that's part of what inspired me to make my character a charming anti-hero as well.

M: I had never heard of a Chilean vampire movie before. Does the country have a tradition of them?

JO: It's rare!!! Not many, in Chile there aren't many movies with vampires, but we have a rather brief movie industry history. Fantastic films didn't exist. My two films are two of a kind in Chile, I like to think that they've opened the way for things like this in Chile.

M: I guess Pinochet is a bit of a vampire himself.

JO: Certainly, he created problems and real horror stories long before me.

M: The vampires in your movie are outsiders. I felt like you treated them very sympathetically, even when they're chomping on people.

JO: The reason is for many factors, especially the budget. You must remember that my movie was filmed with only $160,000 (U.S.), this is the reason that my action sequence were limited. But I intended to do and create unreal beings, with surreal movements (like a zombie, a vampire is dead but alive). Vampires are entertaining precisely because they are forces of the supernatural; this is the reason their movements must remain unnatural. I filmed the vampires upside down and at full speed, then if you project it in a normal speed in 24fps in a scene, you then feel an unreal emotion.

Paranoid about pandemics

M: I felt the disease metaphor pretty strongly while watching Sangre Eterna. Obviously, it's been on our minds a lot lately, what with SARS, especially here in Canada. How consciously were you trying to evoke contagion anxiety?

JO: I think your comment is interesting, here in Chile none of the journalists asked me that, and the truth is yes. My movie is a story about paranoia, paranoia is infected with evil and our antihero tries to save his friends from it all. That is to say, in the same case when cancer needs treatment, sometimes the treatment to solve the disease is more brutal and mortal than the disease. The Savior of my movie is a danger cleaner, someone who destroys his friends because he thinks that's the best way to actually save his friends. This is a hard metaphor about our human species to swallow, but some violent events in our history back up the idea. Remember that some leaders in our history, when they wanted to exterminate what they thought of as the evil, they caused a lot of damage and killed a lot of innocents.

M: Your film shifts gears very effectively indeed, going from comic overtones to a seriously dark atmosphere in the latter half of the film. What brought you to this genre fusion?

JO: The film is an exercise about the same genre. If you pay attention, the violence is enjoyable in the shot of fantastic zone and in the other cases there is also humour. The characters of this movie sometimes escape and amuse themselves. On the other hand, when my central character doesn't feel well, the movie shifts, and he becomes increasingly terrified, his paranoia increasing. The story becomes incredibly distressing and there is an atmosphere with dark horror and you feel claustrophobia. At this point there really isn't much entertainment going on. When you reach the climax you understand enough. I like to experiment, although my movie is relatively low budget. I think that the audience needs to explore this kind of unique cinema. I know that the vampires in South America are unusual and freakish. I like to think that people will take risks when they go and see movies.

MORE STRANGE LIGHTS

Our friend of many years "Mr. UFO" Tim Beckley called this one two our attention. Henry_Allen

Odd lights, low sounds cause stir

By Maggie Gill-Austern , Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

FARMINGTON - Strange lights with no obvious cause were spotted all over northern Franklin County Tuesday night, Sheriff's Department dispatchers said.

"The phone was ringing off the hook," dispatcher Bill Hoyt said.

Multiple callers from multiple towns - New Vineyard, Wilton, Phillips, Industry, and around Mt. Abram - called to report bizarre, low-to-the-ground lights, he said.

"They were seeing, basically, a string of seven or eight lights low in the sky, that were fixed," he said. "There (were) also reports of jet engine noise low to the ground." One person who called worked with jet airplanes, Hoyt said. "They were not like any lights he had ever seen." Some people said they looked like stars.

Hoyt called a Federal Aviation Administration office in Boston, which monitors air traffic in this part of New England, wondering if what people saw and heard could be related to military exercises.

"They said the only air traffic was a couple of routine air flights at 40,000 feet," he said.

Hoyt doubts it was aliens.

"I think, personally, most of the time there's an explanation for everything," he said. "But you know, I don't deny the fact that people see things they can't explain."

"It was kind of odd," he said. "All these reports were from different locations at the same time. Maybe it was a meteorite."

The jet-engine sounds and the fixed-ness of the light pattern make him question that theory, though, he said.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

COMMANDER IN GRIEF

Bush Boosts Troops In Afghanistan
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2007(CBS/AP) President Bush will extend the stay of 3,200

U.S. troops in Afghanistan by four months and will deploy a replacement force to

sustain that increase for the foreseeable future. The additional troops are

slated to help NATO troops confront a resurgent Taliban.

Describing a country on the brink, President Bush used his speech to exhort NATO

nations to send additional troops to Afghanistan and allow their soldiers

already there to fight in the violent south and under other dangerous

circumstances.

It is believed that Taliban and al Qaeda forces are planning a spring offensive

against the U.S.-backed government of president Hamid Karzai, CBS News White

House correspondent Mark Knoller reports.

A spokeswoman for the National Security Council at the White House tells Knoller

there are 27,407 U.S. troops in Afghanistan — that includes the extension of

3,200 that Mr. Bush spoke of today. Roughly 15,000 serve as part of the NATO-led

force and another 12,000 serve as special operations forces and trainers.

The president is asking Congress to provide $11.8 billion over the next two

years for operations, military and otherwise, in Afghanistan. And he is urging

other nations to follow the lead.

The imbalance in Afghanistan has become a sore point among allies.

"When our commanders on the ground say to our respective countries `We need

additional help,' our NATO countries must provide it," Mr. Bush said in a speech

at the American Enterprise Institute. "As well, allies must lift restrictions on

the forces they do provide so NATO commanders have the flexibility they need to

defeat the enemy wherever the enemy may make its stand."

The president said that listening to his request is not only an obligation

nations make as part of NATO, but is also crucial to their own security.

"The alliance was founded on this principle: an attack on one is an attack on

all. That principle holds true whether the attack is on the home soil of a NATO

nation or on allied forces deployed on a NATO mission abroad," he said. "By

standing together in Afghanistan, NATO forces protect their own people."

Mr. Bush said the importance of fighting in Afghanistan hinges on that the U.S.

needs to fight terror overseas so terrorists don't bring vengeance to U.S. soil

again, CBS News' Aleen Sirgany reports.

Troops from Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States have been

doing most of the fighting and leaders of those countries have been lobbying the

other 22 allied countries to do more. Countries such as Germany, for instance,

don't allow their forces to deploy to the heart of the Taliban insurgency in the

south and east.

Fighting in Afghanistan the past year was the bloodiest since the U.S.-led war

started in 2001 and toppled the Taliban regime. Commanders anticipate a renewed

offensive this spring by Taliban fighters trying to stage a comeback and topple

the elected government in Kabul.

Several countries have offered recently to provide additional support to the

35,500-strong NATO force, but it remains to be seen whether coalition commanders

will get the troops, equipment and rules of engagement they say they need.

Mr. Bush said the need for others nations to step up is great as spring comes,

bringing an expected new offensive by the Taliban.

"The snow is going to melt in the Hindu Kush mountains and when it does we can

expect fierce fighting to continue," the president said. "The Taliban and al

Qaida are preparing to launch new attacks. Our strategy is not to be on the

defense but to go on the offense. This spring there's going to be a new

offensive in Afghanistan and it's going to be a NATO offensive. And that's part

of our strategy — relentless in our pressure. We will not give in."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said on Capitol

Hill that allies in Europe and the Gulf must step up.

"It is simply unacceptable that NATO commanders are left to beg for troops from

countries like Germany, France, Italy, and Spain," he said. "It is an outrage

that only troops from the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark and

the United Kingdom are deployed to the most hazardous spots. ... No longer

should this administration stand passively by while our so-called allies take

advantage of American generosity and courage."

President Bush expressed concern about an increase in poppy production in

Afghanistan, saying Taliban forces use profits from selling the drug to buy

weapons to fight the government. "This is a direct threat to a free future for

Afghanistan," the president said.

Mr. Bush said he made his concerns clear to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "He's

got to do something about it, with our help." The president also said the United

States would help Karzai fight corruption in Afghanistan's judicial system.

"Afghans too often see their courts run by crooked judges," President Bush said.

Bush said the border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan was "wilder than the wild

west" of America's pioneering days, and that the United States would work with

both countries to defeat terrorists.

"A lot of attention here in the United States is on Iraq," Mr. Bush said. "One

reason I've come to address you is I want to make sure people's attention also

is on Afghanistan."


© MMVII, CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Young British Soldier

When the 'arf-made recruity goes out to the East
'E acts like a babe an' 'e drinks like a beast,
An' 'e wonders because 'e is frequent deceased
Ere 'e's fit for to serve as a soldier.
Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
So-oldier ~OF~ the Queen!

Now all you recruities what's drafted to-day,
You shut up your rag-box an' 'ark to my lay,
An' I'll sing you a soldier as far as I may:
A soldier what's fit for a soldier.
Fit, fit, fit for a soldier . . .

First mind you steer clear o' the grog-sellers' huts,
For they sell you Fixed Bay'nets that rots out your guts --
Ay, drink that 'ud eat the live steel from your butts --
An' it's bad for the young British soldier.
Bad, bad, bad for the soldier . . .

When the cholera comes -- as it will past a doubt --
Keep out of the wet and don't go on the shout,
For the sickness gets in as the liquor dies out,
An' it crumples the young British soldier.
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier . . .

But the worst o' your foes is the sun over'ead:
You ~must~ wear your 'elmet for all that is said:
If 'e finds you uncovered 'e'll knock you down dead,
An' you'll die like a fool of a soldier.
Fool, fool, fool of a soldier . . .

If you're cast for fatigue by a sergeant unkind,
Don't grouse like a woman nor crack on nor blind;
Be handy and civil, and then you will find
That it's beer for the young British soldier.
Beer, beer, beer for the soldier . . .

Now, if you must marry, take care she is old --
A troop-sergeant's widow's the nicest I'm told,
For beauty won't help if your rations is cold,
Nor love ain't enough for a soldier.
'Nough, 'nough, 'nough for a soldier . . .

If the wife should go wrong with a comrade, be loath
To shoot when you catch 'em -- you'll swing, on my oath! --
Make 'im take 'er and keep 'er: that's Hell for them both,
An' you're shut o' the curse of a soldier.
Curse, curse, curse of a soldier . . .

When first under fire an' you're wishful to duck,
Don't look nor take 'eed at the man that is struck,
Be thankful you're livin', and trust to your luck
And march to your front like a soldier.
Front, front, front like a soldier . . .

When 'arf of your bullets fly wide in the ditch,
Don't call your Martini a cross-eyed old bitch;
She's human as you are -- you treat her as sich,
An' she'll fight for the young British soldier.
Fight, fight, fight for the soldier . . .

When shakin' their bustles like ladies so fine,
The guns o' the enemy wheel into line,
Shoot low at the limbers an' don't mind the shine,
For noise never startles the soldier.
Start-, start-, startles the soldier . . .

If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white,
Remember it's ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
And wait for supports like a soldier.
Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . .

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier ~of~ the Queen!

Rudyard Kipling

AN OLD SONG

Clinton Warns Bush On Attacking Iran
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2007(AP) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton warned President Bush on Wednesday not to take any military action against Iran without getting congressional approval first.

"If the administration believes that any, any use of force against Iran is necessary, the president must come to Congress to seek that authority," Clinton said in a Senate speech.

Clinton, a member of the Armed Services Committee, voted in 2002 to give Mr. Bush the authority to use military force in Iraq — a vote that has prompted some Democrats to demand that she repudiate.

Since then, the New York senator has become an outspoken critic of Mr. Bush's handling of the war. She said the new Democratic Congress must not let him make similar mistakes in the increasingly tense relationship with Iran.

"It would be a mistake of historical proportion if the administration thought that the 2002 resolution authorizing force against Iraq was a blank check for the use of force against Iran without further congressional authorization," Clinton said.

She also insisted the resolution authorizing force against those responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks did not allow for U.S. action now against Iran.

Clinton, who has come under fire from anti-war Democrats, excoriated the previous Republican-controlled Congress for not questioning the administration over the past six years.

"We continue to experience the consequences of unchecked presidential action," she said, later adding: "This president was allowed for too long to commit blunder after blunder under cover of darkness provided by an allied Republican Congress."

Clinton spoke shortly after President Bush said he was certain the Iranian government is supplying deadly weapons used by fighters in Iraq against U.S. troops, even if he can't prove that the orders came from top Iranian leaders.

"I'm going to do something about it," Mr. Bush pledged, displaying apparent irritation at being repeatedly asked about mixed administration signals on who was behind the weaponry.

U.S. officials have said that Iran is behind attacks against troops in Iraq, an assertion denied by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

COFFEE BREAK BLUES W/DALI

Un chien andalou (1929)

In a dream-like sequence, a woman's eye is slit open--juxtaposed with a similarly shaped cloud obsucuring the moon moving in the same direction as the knife through the eye--to grab the audience's attention. The French phrase "ants in the palms," (which means that someone is "itching" to kill) is shown literally. A man pulls a piano along with the tablets of the Ten Commandments and a dead donkey towards the woman he's itching to kill. A shot of differently striped objects is repeatedly used to connect scenes.

Summary written by Ryan T. Casey {RTCasey@mn.uswest.net}

Un Chien Andalou consists of seventeen minutes of bizarre and surreal images that may or may not mean anything. A straight razor seems to be placed by a woman's eye, a small cloud formation obscures the moon, a cow's eye is slit open, a woman pokes at a severed hand in the street with his cane, a man drags two grand pianos containing dead and rotting donkeys and live priests, and a man's hand has a hole in the palm from which ants emerge.

Summary written by Michael Brooke {michael@everyman.demon.co.uk}

If I AM NOT FOR MYSELF....

Bush/Cheney Risk Israel's Survival

By Ray McGovern
February 12, 2007

Editor’s Note: The Bush administration presents itself as Israel's staunchest

friend, but some of its reckless policies are worsening Israel's security

situation. In this guest essay, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern asks whether

Israel might begin asking the age-old question, "with friends like these, who

needs enemies?"

President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are unwittingly playing

Dr. Jack Kevorkian in helping the state of Israel commit suicide.
Share this article


For this is the inevitable consequence of the planned air and missile attack on

Iran. The pockmarked, littered landscape in Iraq, Lebanon, and Afghanistan and

the endless applicant queues at al-Qaeda and other terrorist recruiting stations

testify eloquently to the unintended consequences of myopic policymakers in

Washington and Tel Aviv.

Mesmerized. Sadly, this is the best word to describe those of us awake to the

inexorable march of folly to war with Iran and the growing danger to Israel’s

security, especially over the medium and long term.

An American and/or Israeli attack on Iran will let slip the dogs of war. Those

dogs never went to obedience school. They will not be denied their chance to

bite, and Israel’s arsenal of nuclear weapons will be powerless to muzzle them.

In my view, not since 1948 has the very existence of Israel hung so much in the

balance. Can Bush/Cheney and the Israeli leaders not see it?

Pity that no one seems to have read our first President’s warning on the noxious

effects of entangling alliances. The supreme irony is that in their fervor to

help, as well as use, Israel, Bush and Cheney seem blissfully unaware that they

are leading it down a garden path and off a cliff.

Provoke and Pre-empt

Whether it is putting the kibosh on direct talks with Iran or between Israel and

Syria, the influence and motives of the Vice President are more transparent than

those of Bush.

Sure, Cheney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer recently that the administration’s Iraq

policy would be “an enormous success story,” but do not believe those who

dismiss Cheney as “delusional.” He and his “neo-conservative” friends are crazy

like a fox. They have been pushing for confrontation with Iran for many years,

and saw the invasion of Iraq in that context.

Alluding to recent U.S. military moves, author Robert Dreyfuss rightly describes

the neo-cons as “crossing their fingers in the hope that Iran will respond

provocatively, making what is now a low-grade cold war inexorably heat up.”

But what about the President? How to explain his fixation with fixing Iran’s

wagon? Cheney’s influence over Bush has been shown to be considerable ever since

the one-man search committee for the 2000 vice presidential candidate picked

Cheney.

The Vice President can play Bush like a violin. But what strings is he using

here? Where is the resonance?

Experience has shown the President to be an impressionable sort with a roulette

penchant for putting great premium on initial impressions and latching onto

people believed to be kindred souls—be it Russian President Vladimir Putin

(trust at first sight), hale-fellow-well-met CIA director George Tenet, or

oozing-testosterone-from-every-pore former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Of particular concern was his relationship with Sharon. Retired Gen. Brent

Scowcroft, a master of discretion with the media, saw fit to tell London’s

Financial Times two and a half years ago that Sharon had Bush “mesmerized” and

“wrapped around his little finger.”

As chair of the prestigious President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board

under George W. Bush and national security adviser to his father, Scowcroft was

uniquely positioned to know—and to draw comparisons. He was summarily fired

after making the comments about Sharon and is now persona non grata at the White

House.

Compassion Deficit Disorder

George W. Bush first met Sharon in 1998, when the Texas governor was taken on a

tour of the Middle East by Matthew Brooks, then executive director of the

Republican Jewish Coalition. Sharon was foreign minister and took Bush on a

helicopter tour over the Israeli occupied territories.

An Aug. 3, 2006 McClatchy wire story by Ron Hutcheson quotes Matthew Brooks: “If

there’s a starting point for George W. Bush’s attachment to Israel, it’s the day

in late 1998, when he stood on a hilltop where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the

Mount, and, with eyes brimming with tears, read aloud from his favorite hymn,

‘Amazing Grace.’ He was very emotional. It was a tear-filled experience. He

brought Israel back home with him in his heart. I think he came away profoundly

moved.”

Bush made gratuitous but revealing reference to that trip at the first meeting

of his National Security Council on Jan. 30, 2001. After announcing he would

abandon the decades-long role of honest broker between Israelis and Palestinians

and would tilt pronouncedly toward Israel, Bush said he would let Sharon resolve

the dispute however he saw fit.

At that point he brought up his trip to Israel with the Republican Jewish

Coalition and the flight over Palestinian camps, but there was no sense of

concern for the lot of the Palestinians. In A Pretext for War James Bamford

quotes Bush: “Looked real bad down there,” he said with a frown. Then he said it

was time to end America’s efforts in the region. “I don’t see much we can do

over there at this point,” he said.

So much for the Sermon on the Mount. The version I read puts a premium on

actively working for justice. There is no suggestion that tears suffice.

Then-Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill, who was at the NSC meeting,

reported that Colin Powell, the newly minted but nominal secretary of state, was

taken completely by surprise at this nonchalant jettisoning of longstanding

policy. Powell demurred, warning that this would unleash Sharon and “the

consequences could be dire, especially for the Palestinians.”

But according to O’Neill, Bush just shrugged, saying, “Sometimes a show of

strength by one side can really clarify things.” O’Neill says that Powell seemed

“startled.” It is a safe bet that the Vice President was in no way startled.

A similar account reflecting Bush’s compassion deficit disorder leaps from the

pages of Ron Suskind’s The One Percent Doctrine. Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi

Arabia’s de facto leader was in high dudgeon in April 2002 when he arrived in

Crawford to take issue with Bush’s decision to tilt toward Israel and jettison

the long-standing American role of honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian

conflict.

With Bush’s freshly bestowed “man-of-peace” epithet for Sharon still ringing in

Abdullah’s ear, he began by insisting that before a word was spoken the

President and his aides watch a 15-minute video the prince had brought of mayhem

on the West Bank, of American-made tanks, bloodied and dead children, screaming

mothers.

Then, still wordless, they all filed into another room where the Saudis

proceeded to make specific demands, but Bush appeared distracted and was non-

responsive. After a few minutes, the President turned to Abdullah and said,

“Let’s go for a drive. Just you and me. I’ll show you the ranch.”

Bush was so obviously unprepared to discuss substance with his Saudi guests that

some of the President’s aides checked into what had happened. The briefing

packet for the President had been diverted to Cheney’s office. Bush never got

it, so he was totally unaware of what the Saudis hoped to accomplish in making

the hajj to Crawford.

(There is little doubt that this has been a common experience over the past six

years and that there are, in effect, two “deciders” in the White House, one of

them controlling the paper flow.)

Not that Bush was starved for background briefings. Indeed, he showed a

preference to get them from Prime Minister Sharon who, with his senior military

aide, Gen. Yoav Galant, briefed the President both in Crawford (in 2005) and the

Oval Office (in 2003) on Iran’s “nuclear weapons program.”

Sorry if I find that odd. That used to be our job at CIA. I’ll bet Sharon and

Galant packed a bigger punch.

There is, no doubt, more at play here regarding Bush’s attitude and behavior

regarding Israel and Palestine. One need not be a psychologist to see ample

evidence of oedipal tendencies. It is no secret that the President has been

privately critical of what he perceives to be his father’s mistakes.

Suskind notes, for example, that Bush defended his tilt toward Israel by telling

an old foreign policy hand, “I’m not going to be supportive of my father and all

his Arab buddies!”

And it seems certain that Ariel Sharon gave the young Bush an earful about the

efforts of James Baker, his father’s secretary of state, to do the unthinkable;

i.e., crank Arab grievances into deals he tried to broker between Israel and the

Palestinians. It seems clear that this is one reason the Baker-Hamilton report

was dead on arrival.

Dangerous Friends

George W. Bush may have the best of intentions in his zeal to defend Israel, but

he and Cheney have the most myopic of policies.

Israeli leaders risk much if they take reassurance from the President’s

rhetoric, particularly vis-à-vis Iran. I am constantly amazed to find, as I

speak around the country, that the vast majority of educated Americans believe

we have a defense treaty with Israel. We don’t, but one can readily see how it

is they are misled. Listen to the President exactly two years ago:

“Clearly, if I was the leader of Israel and I’d listened to some of the

statements by the Iranian ayatollahs that regarded the security of my country,

I’d be concerned about Iran having a nuclear weapon as well. And, in that Israel

is our ally—and in that we’ve made a very strong commitment to support Israel—we

will support Israel if her security is threatened.”

We do no favors for Israeli leaders in giving them the impression they have

carte blanche in their neighborhood—and especially vis-à-vis Iran, and that we

will bail them out, no matter what.

Have they learned nothing from the recent past? Far from enhancing Israel’s

security, the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Washington’s encouragement of Israel’s

feckless attack on Lebanon last summer resulted in more breeding ground for

terrorist activity against Israel.

This will seem child’s play compared to what would be in store, should the U.S.

and/or Israel bomb Iran.

Bottom line: there is a growing threat to Israel from suicide bombers. The most

dangerous two work in the White House.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical

Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. He was a CIA analyst for 27 years and

is on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

(VIPS). His e-mail is rrmcgovern@aol.com. (The original version of this article

appeared on TomPaine.com.)