Solomon Technologies - "Electric Wheel" electric motor propulsion systems

[Alaskagator]

You might want to check out http://web.fischerpanda.de/w09_produ...4_product.html for electric drive information from another manufacturer.

[BOATMIK]

Originally Posted by Guest

I take it all this was a lot of hot then. There was a post around 7/2002 that said a product would be coming to market in a year. I haven't seen it. I guess we can file this with the 300mpg carburetors and other myths and legends. Maybe pipe dream is a better term. I haven't tried to research the patent given but suspect it is a hoax or doesn't generate enough energy to be useful.

I agree, the purpose of patents is to protect novel ideas. There is no requirement to prove that the idea works or is economically viable or anything practical.

You can patent any idea so long as it is not similar to something that is
1/ Currently well known
2/ something already patented.

Patents are a form of registration only. You pay some money to get the registration.

Then if you can show the idea works and is useful, then you have proof that you thought of it by a particular date - it is YOUR idea.

Note that if someone else can prove they thought of the idea first EVEN IF THEY DON'T HAVE A PATENT (eg through a dateable photo or other dateable evidence) then your patent will be proven invalid.

If you submit an idea that the patent office thinks is impractical they will warn you that they think it will not work, but if you insist they will be happy to take your money for your idea even if they think it won't work.

So to be really clear - HAVING A PATENT DOES NOT SHOW THAT THE IDEA WORKS.

Boatmik

[brian eiland]

In an effort to 'tie' some of these electric drive discussions together at times at various intersections,
I thought this subject matter might well be integrated in this subject thread as it appears as though there are some number of new 'Peripheral Driven Prop' arrangements coming on line and/or being researched. These concepts lend themselves well to the electric driven concept.

I posted this message on another forum today,

"Exciting New EPS Thruster (& Propulsion)"

The results of the Design at METS awards, announced at this morning's Breakfast Briefing, appear to prove that the wheel can be reinvented according to the Jury, who named the EPS Silent Thruster from Van der Velden Marine Systems of the Netherlands as the overall winner.

This product redefines the bow thruster, eliminating the usual arrangement of a central hub and gearbox. It instead uses exchangeable blades that are connected to an outer ring; this floats on ceramic bearings and is powered by an integral motor in the casing. The solution is elegant, well designed, and promises a number of advantages over conventional concepts
_________________________
....from their website...

In addition to fixed thrusters they are now working on retractable systems as well as
utilizing the concept of the EPS as a means of propulsion !!

I posted this as well, "Maybe the ceramic bearings aren't all of the technology that has allowed the emergence of this new propulser. It appears as though the preipheral drive power is an electric motor of some sort integrated into the outer ring. This would make sense with all of the new talk of diesel/electric systems."

....for more visit http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthr...5517#post65517

[brian eiland]

And here's a rather interesting summation by Richard Kastelien under another thread:
http://boatdesign.net/forums/showpos...6&postcount=10

[caribmon]

Electric Drives - Propulsion of the Future

by Richard Kastelein

In my opinion, electric powered boats have definite advantages. They are environmentally friendly, and very quiet; they run with only a whisper of sound. They are reef friendly, quiet in harbours, are cheaper to run and emit no pollutants.

So why are we still using fossil fuels and Marine diesel engines to provide propulsion for ocean going vessels?

Consider the typical internal-combustion engine. From the time a charge of fuel ignites in a cylinder, it has to push pistons, turn a crankshaft, turn a camshaft, open valves, pump water, pump oil, turn an alternator, and submit to reduction from a transmission to step the engine's thousands of revolutions down to something a propeller can use. By the time that's done, the engine's efficiency is somewhere below 25 percent. Also, diesel engines are rated at their maximum rpm - and on sailboats are rarely operated at that speed.



By contrast the the efficiency of Solomon Technologies' electric motor is a percentage in the low 90s. Here's how it works: When the system is switched on, DC current from the batteries enters an electronic controller, which produces expanding and contracting magnetic fields in the motor's stator windings. These magnetic fields attract and repel the fields from three permanent magnets, made from neo-dymium iron boron, that are attached to the rotor.

The controller electronically modulates the pulse width to increase or decrease speed. At 13 inches wide, the motor provides ample contact with the shaft to produce high torque at low rpm, enough for the motor to turn particularly large propellers. Fixed three-bladed 18/18 (diameter/pitch, in inches) propellers are typical in many of STI's installations. From the flowing electrons to the turning prop, the shaft passes through only two bearings and a stern gland - and no transmission, all of which accounts for its high efficiency. Furthermore, with the electric motor, the relationship between rpm and torque is linear: You can use it to turn the boat's prop at 1 rpm or 10 rpm or 50 rpm or 100 rpm. An internal-combustion engine needs to cross an rpm threshold before its propeller is put in gear; otherwise, it would stall.



Probably the most amazing aspect of the STI's electric drive is its ability to produce electricity with a low-speed, high-output alternator driven by the prop shaft when a boat is under sails. In other words, the device is converting the prop's rotation into stored energy.





Other new developments in this area of Electric drives are being addressed with companies such as ASMO Marine and Fischer-Panda for utilising electric propulsion in production craft as well as Fast Electric Systems and MW Line in Switzerland for using straight electric drives in larger vessels.

For those that prefer a little more muscle in terms of power - and would prefer to have a dual propulsion system - the hybrid diesel-electric may be the answer. Whilst it's more environmentally friendly - straight electric is not practical for some commercial operators, powercats and motorsailors for a variety of reasons including availability of shorepower, horsepower issues, or lack of a backup system.

For those who prefer a dual system there's a couple of options.

One is using DC generator input for electric drives. What's the difference in fueling up a DC generator with diesel to top up batteries in order to directly drive a propulsion system ... and just using a normal diesel engine? Lots.

There is a huge amount of savings in terms of fuel consumption as well as a much quieter generator as opposed to a chugging diesel. The emission differences are also significant. The downside is the size and weight of the battery banks needed and more money initially invested (which is eventually recouped through fuel savings). The DC Whispergen is powered by a Stirling engine that needs no oil, is almost completely silent... it operates unobtrusively with a noise level similar to a domestic air-conditioner.

Lightweight, compact and efficient, the WhisperGen converts over 90% of the fuel supplied into heat and electricity.

Then there's the Vetus option - where electric propulsion is integrated into the diesel engine much like the hybrid cars one sees on the road today. The general idea is to use the diesel engine when you want the power and switch to electric propulsion when you want some peace and quiet. When motoring under diesel power, the electric motor, driven by the diesel engine, functions as a dynamo, charging the batteries for the next round of electric propulsion. It's a nifty system.



This technology is more than viable... the US military is planning to shift over a significant proportion of their vehicles to hybrid technology in the future. The Humvee will be replaced by the more efficient Shadow RST-V - which is the US Marine Corps' first 4x4 hybrid-electric tactical vehicle.

Richard Kastelein
Avante Yachts LTDA

[brian eiland]

Glacier Bay has adopted a whole systems approach to this relatively new diesel-electric technology for small vessels. By systems I am referring to the production end of the system with in-house diesel/electric DC generators, then the output end with DC motors to power the craft, run air-con, refrigeration. and more to come.

This could mean not having to search around for different manufacturers of the various components and worrying about the electrical compatability of these various units from different sources. With time hopfully the field will open up with more suppliers and more compatability.

Meanwhile here are a couple of PDF files on Glacier Bay's stuff that aren't readily found on their site surprisingly. http://boatdesign.net/forums/showpost.php?p=61065&postcount=5

These explain some of the basics.

[caribmon]

Welcome to the future in powering the next generation of yachts
by Richard Kastelein

Red text is linked to websites as are logos.

There are a number of reasons why we could see the emergence of Fuel Cell Technology (FCT) affecting the marine industry - and interestingly enough - it will most likely be wedged in from from the consumer and government demographics, and not from industry. Amongst government pencil pushers there is an increasing concern for more legislation to reduce marine based harbour pollution. And since the marine industry has a history of being early adopters of new technologies (see GPS systems), it may be the low hanging fruit for the next generation of boatbuilders.

There is strong lobbying in the middle to high-end luxury cruising market to create electric only bodies of water - which is also a force.

Hydrogen: it’s the fuel of the future.

Not only does it reduces our dependency on fossil fuels - which are priced sky high and not looking to come down with huge increases in demand from China and India for oil - it also eliminates pollution and has within it the power to protect our planet’s air, oceans, and inland waters.

The revolutionary hydrogen-based power and propulsion systems being developed today will provide tomorrow’s yachtsmen with a clean-energy alternative that delivers benefits far beyond the reach of traditional internal combustion engines.

But, like any new technology that relies on a large distribution network, fuel cells have always been plagued with the “where do I fuel up?” factor and pricing.

This problem may very well be conquered in the near future as crude prices continue to rise and boaters are forced to alternatives - therefore marine 'gas stations' will start stocking hydrogen, methanol, alcohol and other choices.



HaveBlue (USA), are working not only on fuel cells but also employing an onboard hydrogen production system for power provision when the tanks are empty.

This hydrogen comes from either shore based power, or onboard wind / solar system. So far their prototype, XV1 sailboat demonstrator, has been launched and went through extensive trials during 2005. The current 2005 cost of the fuel cell and fuel production system is, according to HaveBlue, US$300,000 - $500,000, making it currently impractical for most purposes... but it is predicted to be substantially be reduced over the next six years. Commercial models are expected in 2006. HaveBlue’s current fuel cell is a Hydrogenics 10kW HyPM PEM unit from Ovonic Hydrogen .




Marine Fuel Cells (MFC) from Max Power are in interesting new addition to the market. They are popular in Germany and distributed by the all-powerful Plastimo marine network. They are ecologically friendly and certainly have the capacity to cut into the fossil fuel trade. And more importantly, the fuel cartridges are being distributed through Plastimo's networks and are expected to soon be available at most marine petrol stations in the near future - most likely in Europe.



It’s still a bit pricey at US$10 per day (a cartridge costs US$30.00 and lasts three days) to run the MFG - it is a competitive player and provides clean power. Having said that, the rising cost of fuel (petrol is over US$6 a gallon in the Netherlands) will certainly add to the attraction of the MFC.

There are no moving parts and its byproduct is simply a small quantity of carbon dioxide, a bit of pure water & some heat. And Unlike other types of fuel cells (like generic Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells) which require pure hydrogen as a fuel, methanol-based fuel cells enable this electrochemical process without the need to reform complex hydrocarbon fuel molecules (including methanol) into pure hydrogen.

What is a MFC you ask?



An MFC is a device that converts the chemical energy of a methanol and an oxidant (air or oxygen) into electricity. In principle, a fuel cell operates like a battery. However, unlike a battery however, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. It will produce electricity and heat as long as methanol and an oxidizer are supplied.

An MFC can supply power for all 12v on board equipment providing power while in an idyllic anchorage or on a long passage in total silence for the ever-increasing list of 12v equipment; electronics, refrigerators, microwaves, inverters and even water makers all of which are being fitted to sailing and power yachts.

The MFC can deliver 100 amps per day of clean 12v DC power. The unit is compact and easy to use… and installation is rapid with no need for insulation, wet exhausts or cooling water inlets.

“But 100 amps per day isn't 2 kilowatts!!”

You’re right it is not, it's 50 watts, but your 2 kilowatts genset is only running for 2 hours every 24 hours at the most. So that's already only 166 watts in 24 hour terms. Then add to that the 220v to 12v battery charger efficiency (about 50%) further reduces that to 83 watts in 12v fuel cell terms. Then you have the charge efficiency to include in your calculation.

Capable of running 24 hours a day, the fuel cell continually supplies power as needed. This "constant power" approach reduces the charge/discharge cycles imposed on house batteries, thereby significantly increasing their service life. Its power output therefore needs to be considered over a 24 hour period. This is a revolution in yacht power management as up until now yachts needed to store power generated in a short period for use over the day.

Power from the main engine, a generator, or shore power were the only dependable power source a yacht had. None of these could run 24 hours day and all had a high nuisance factor. A fuel cell is producing power constantly 24 hours a day and the yacht is consuming power 24 hours a day. This means that your battery bank is only there to supply, momentary surges in power consumption & stock excess fuel cell power for future momentary surges. In a word - you never really discharge your batteries, they are constantly held at between 70-85 per cent of their full charge. Most of the time equipment such as the fridge and electronics or autopilot are in effect being powered directly through the fuel cell.



MTU and Ballard were first to develop and build a yacht worldwide with a certified (German Lloyd) fuel cell propulsion system. "No 1", as the boat has been called, is completely emission and noise-free and the nautical propulsion system is completely environmentally friendly. This is particularly significant for Lake Constance, where the boat is based as its the largest drinking water reservoir in Europe and supplies water to millions of people.

For those that are serious about utilising fuel cell technology in a big way on larger yachts - Ballard of British Columbia are global leaders in proving larger scale solutions (cars, trucks and busses) starting at one KW. Ballard also supplies the fuel cell modules for the Mercedes Benz A-Class fuel cell vehicles. In terms of integrating hydrogen fuel cells as mean of power for a boat - Ballard already has the solution. See the Ballard presentation by clicking here.


Other links...



The Hydrogenics HyPM fuel cell power module establishes the benchmark in commercialized multi-kilowatt fuel cell power modules. The versatile HyPM has been recognized as a superior packaged fuel cell power solution by world leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators and is well-suited for today's early adopting markets over a wide range of applications.

HyPM's versatility is highlighted by its outstanding performance either as a standalone power generator or as a primary component in a hybrid configuration when combined with electrical storage devices such as batteries or ultracapacitors.



Millennium Cell specialised in hydrogen battery technology for portable devices - in both the military and industrial sectors. Portable electronic devices used in the military, medical, industrial and consumer markets all require a better battery. To meet this challenge, Millennium Cell is developing hydrogen battery technology in partnership with corporate and government entities. Based in Eatontown, New Jersey, Millennium Cell employs 40 people, primarily in technology development.




I think a marine adaptation of Plug Power's GenSys™ would be very interesting... it's combined heat and power fuel cell systems are designed to generate continuous, clean, efficient and reliable power on-site. Operating in parallel with the normal land-based grid, GenSys systems convert readily available fuels into electricity and heat for stationary applications.



Every link you will ever need for fuel cell technology is likely found by clicking here or on the Fuel Cell Today logo above.

So what is a fuel cell anyway?

A ‘Fuel Cell’ is a device that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (hydrogen, natural gas, methanol, gasoline, etc.) and an oxidant (air or oxygen) into electricity.

In principle, a fuel cell operates like a battery. Unlike a battery however, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. It will produce electricity and heat as long as fuel and an oxidizer are supplied.

Both batteries and fuel cells are electrochemical devices. As such both have a positively charged anode and a negatively charged cathode and an ion-conducting material called an electrolyte. Fuel cells are classified by their electrolyte material. Electrochemical devices generate electricity without combustion of the fuel and oxidizer, as opposed to what occurs with traditional methods of electricity generation.

Fuel cell construction generally consists of a fuel electrode (anode) and an oxidant electrode (cathode) separated by an ion-conducting membrane. Oxygen passes over one electrode, and hydrogen over the other, generating electricity, water and heat. Fuel cells chemically combine the molecules of a fuel and oxidizer without burning or having to dispense with the inefficiencies and pollution of traditional combustion.

Fuel Cell Functionality

Fuel cells generate electricity from a simple electrochemical reaction in which an oxidizer, typically oxygen from air, and a fuel, typically hydrogen, combine to form a product, which is water for the typical fuel cell. Oxygen (air) continuously passes over the cathode and hydrogen passes over the anode to generate electricity, by-product heat and water. The fuel cell itself has no moving parts – making it a quiet and reliable source of power.

Fuel Cells vs. Traditional Electricity Methods

In traditional methods of generating electricity, the fuel and air are burned, generating a high-temperature gas. In the case of a coal-burning power plant, heat is transferred from this hot gas to high pressure liquid water that is boiled. In the case of a gasoline, diesel or gas turbine engine, the hot gas itself is at high pressure. The high-pressure steam, or hot gas, is expanded in a mechanical device (e.g., cylinder, turbine) and ultimately turns an electrical generator.

In a fuel cell, the same basic chemical reactions occur, but generate electricity directly as an electrochemical device and therefore, never goes through the step of being a high-temperature gas through normal burning. This direct conversion of chemical energy to electrical energy is more efficient and generates much less pollutants than traditional methods that rely on combustion.

Which is Better?

As mentioned above, the direct conversion of fuel and air to electricity is much more efficient than internal combustion engines and other methods of generating electricity. Therefore, fuel cells can generate more electricity from the same amount of fuel.

Furthermore, by skipping the combustion process that occurs in traditional power-generating methods, the generation of pollutants during the combustion process is avoided. Some of the pollutants that are significantly lower for fuel cells are oxides of nitrogen and unburned hydrocarbons, (which together cause ground-level ozone), and carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas).

Richard Kastelein
Avante Yachts LTDA

[yipster]

H2O
the fuel of the future
and all that say its not available, hard to store and transport or to expensive, i'll answer:
look at the sun

[yipster]

Thanks for the emerging technology’s breakdown Richard, well sorted out interesting stuff now or soon available. Let me explain my thoughts a little: The ultimate source for hydrogen is water and only when H is burned with O we can speak of a truly clean reaction back to H2O. While trying to rebuild a 220v digital TV receiver to12v I was sputtering why analog senders are taken out of the sky in favour of digitally jammed signals we can only decode against payment I was thinking of hydrogen I was reading about again. I don’t think it matters much if we use power balls or cartridges, capsules, litres or gallons, oxide pellets or other commercial tricks. Point is we want energy, lots of it and as cheap as possible. I think it would make much more sense to have a boat sail on hydrogen than a city bus since more than half the price of hydrogen today is in transport and storage. I know that today’s lowest cost hydrogen is a by product of chemical factory’s but self made hydrogen is already almost as cheap as gas at the pump nowadays. (assuming 4 times more energy in hydrogen than regular) In my imagination a boat should be able to produce and use H and O autonomously in a closed circle where the engine works on both. Ok maybe a little extra hybrid energy. Often I wonder if such a system isn’t already available, to me it seems so easy, H is the simplest atom around, a bit of electron manipulation must be within our grasp. I was cleaning out my book shelf’s and came across Disney’s 1959 “our frend the atom” I opened and started reading…

Why is the atom so big? Rutherford discovered in 1911 the positive charged atom ( proton, atom weight 1 ) before that time negative electrons already were measured to be 2000 times lighter. In those days of uranium and radium, hydrogen did not get much attention. One positive proton and one negative electron together is Hydrogen, the basic and simplest atom. If these two H atom parts were as big as marbles and placed 50 meters apart the proton and electron of one hydrogen atom would be attracted to each other by a forge of 400 million tons. Niels Bohr and Einstein quarrelled over this model. Nature keeps the two separated by gravity. When scaled back from marbles to reality forges are smaller also but still incredible big. Bohr calculated the negative electron has to rotate the positive proton at least 7000 billion times a sec to stay in orbit and in this fast flight the electron forms a peel. In a way like the fast turning blades of a prop form a disk. Bohr’s model solved the big volume of the atom that actually consist of two tiny parts. It also explains how Rutherfords fast alpha particles could enter the atom trough its peel, like shooting bullets trough a proppellor. When 2 H atoms collide the protons never toutch. The electron(s) makes the atom behave like a hard small bal. H is the simplest and most common atom and when atoms join other atoms they form a molecule trading electrons. Bohr found most space empty, if all the empty space from a human body could be removed the actual particles would shrink to the size of a sand grain. Or 5000 battleships and aircraft carriers can shrink to the size of a tennis bal while weight would remain, its scary to imagine such an object.. and on and on goes the book to atomic airplanes and the last wish of the fisherman that found the genie in the bottle that granted him tree wishes, his last wish was peace and energy because only than the atom will truly be our frend the book ends.

I got other books but reading this simple old story now in the bin made me really wonder again what is so difficult…

[D'ARTOIS]

The world is modelled around physical laws. A few have been circumvented whilst staing in full effect - of course the search for another powersource will continue - even against the policies of the general oilindustry and politicians.

I was ever intrigued by the Wankel engine (Dr Felix Wankel was the only one who got rich of it) till I found out that although the NSU RO80 was the most comfortable car I ever had, had a short lived engine, using a lot of fuel and worn out after 30.000 kms.

New technologies won't come so quick anymore: the Politicians ( the enemy of mankind) will control everything that gives the human being free mobility (our last resort: sailing boats) even that, bit by bit is taken down: Mare Librum, created by the Dutchman Hugo de Groot in the 17th century, will not excist anymore within a decade to go.

So even if one finds out something to overcome the H2O problems, the politicians will find their way to block any advantage the citoyen might have.

Meanwhile, on our estate in France (my sister to be precise) the tractors and generators are already running on biodiesel. It is not legal but the farmers don't care anymore.

I sincerely hope that someone comes with a solution. I have sported the NSU Wankel and a bit later the Citroen Birotor Engine (only 5000 build) also from Dr Felix - the problem might be that we are looking within the boundaries of the piston engine - the answer might not be there......

[cyclops]

Turbines do not have a wide speed / torque range. Parts are outrageous in cost. Most practical types have a piston somewhere.

[JonathanCole]

Yipster,

We already have most of it solved.

The energy utilized by humans up to now has mostly been stored as the result of extremely long duration geological processes (petroleum, coal, uranium). All you have to do is extract it from the earth and you have a fuel in a conveniently portable form of storage. It is not hard to make hydrogen, but it is more problematic to store it. The best thing would be if you could store it as water and create hydrogen on demand as you need it. But doing that requires a lot of energy which you would have to store on board the vessel/vehicle. I guess the point I am trying to make is that STORAGE is the difficult part. But many people are working on it and some very promising technologies are prototyped and in development. Many are nanochemical engineering based systems for storing and releasing hydrogen sufficiently densely to compete with liquid fuels. And as Sean says, it must be cost-effective. For example:
A different class

Published: 18 November 2005 03:00 PM
Industry Channel: Chemical & Process
Source: The Engineer Online


Using building blocks that make up ordinary plastics, but putting them together in a whole new way, University of Michigan researchers have created a class of lightweight, rigid polymers they predict will be useful for storing hydrogen fuel. The work is described in the current issue of the journal Science.

The trick to making the new materials, called covalent organic frameworks (COFs), was coaxing them to assume predictable crystal structures, something that never had been done with rigid plastics.
"Normally, rigid plastics are synthesised by rapid reactions that randomly cross-link polymers," said postdoctoral fellow Adrien Côté, who is first author on the Science paper. "Just as in anything you might do, if you do it really fast, it can get disorganised." For that reason, the exact internal structures of such materials are poorly understood, making it difficult to predict their properties. But Côté and colleagues tweaked reaction conditions to slow down the process, allowing the materials to crystallise in an organised fashion instead of assembling helter skelter.
As a result, the researchers can use X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of each type of COF they create and, using that information, quickly assess its properties.
"Once we know the structure and properties, our methodology allows us to go back and modify the COF, making it perform better or tailoring it for different applications," said Côté.
Côté collaborated on the work with Omar Yaghi, who is the Robert W. Parry Collegiate Professor of Chemistry at U-M. Over the past 15 years, Yaghi has taken a similar approach to producing materials called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
On the molecular level, MOFs are scaffolds made up of metal hubs linked together with struts of organic compounds. By carefully choosing and modifying the chemical components used as hubs and struts, Yaghi and his team have been able to define the angles at which they connect and design materials with the properties they want.
Like MOFs, COFs can be made highly porous to increase their storage capacity. But unlike MOFs, COFs contain no metals. Instead, they're made up of light elements – hydrogen, boron, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen – that form strong links (covalent bonds) with one another.
"Using light elements allows you to generate lightweight materials," said Côté. "That's very important for hydrogen fuel storage, because the lighter the material, the more economical it is to transport around in a vehicle. The strong covalent bonds also make COFs very robust materials."
Although the main thrust of the current research is creating materials for gas storage in fuel cells, Côté, Yaghi and colleagues also are exploring variations of COFs that might be suitable for use in electronic devices or catalytic applications.
"This is the first step to what we think is going to be a very large and useful class of materials," Côté said.
http://83.219.63.174/assets/getAsset...iAssetID=20531
Crystalline sheets produced in covalent organic frameworks (COFs)


http://83.219.63.174/Articles/292805/A+different+class.htm

Or you can make something with solar energy, like zinc powder that you can put in water to make hydrogen. Like what the Europeans and Israelis are working on:
http://www.physorg.com/news5653.html


Or the Dane's latest approach of storing ammonia in salt tablets which will release hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0907102549.htm


The hydrogen economy will be here soon if the evil empire (and I don't mean the soviet union) doesn't suppress the work that is leading us to the solution.

[Deering]

We're currently using fossil fuels at a rate 100,000 times faster then they're being produced. That is how one defines the term "unsustainable".

The world is modelled around physical laws. A few have been circumvented whilst staing in full effect - of course the search for another powersource will continue - even against the policies of the general oilindustry and politicians.

I wouldn't be so sure!

Pipelineistan, Part 1: The Rules of the Game
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
1-28-2
War against terrorism? Not really. Reminder: it's all about oil.

A quick look at the map is all it takes. It's no coincidence that the map of terror in the Middle East and Central Asia is practically interchangeable with the map of oil. There's Infinite Justice, Enduring Freedom - and Everlasting Profits to be made: not only by the American industrial-military complex, but especially by American and European oil giants.

Where is the realm these days of former US secretary of state James Baker, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, former White House chief of staff John Sununu and former defense secretary and current Invisible Man Dick Cheney? They are all happily dreaming of, and working for, the establishment of Pipelineistan.

Pipelineistan is the golden future: a paradise of opportunity in the form of US$5 trillion of oil and gas in the Caspian basin and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. In Washington's global petrostrategy, this is supposed to be the end of America's oil dependence on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This is of course the heart of the matter in the New Great Game - compared to which the original 19th-century Great Game between czarist Russia and the British Empire was a childish tin soldier's diversion.

Afghanistan itself has some natural gas in the north of the country, near Turkmenistan. But above all it is ultra-strategic: positioned between the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia, between Turkmenistan and the avid markets of the Indian subcontinent, China and Japan. Afghanistan is at the core of Pipelineistan.

The Caspian states hold at least 200 billion barrels of oil, and Central Asia has 6.6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas just begging to be exploited. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are two major producers: Turkmenistan is nothing less than a "gas republic". Apart from oil and gas there's copper, coal, tungsten, zinc, iron, uranium, gold.

The only export routes, for the moment, are through Russia. So most of the game consists of building alternative pipelines to Turkey and Western Europe, and to the east toward the Asian markets. India will be a key player. India, Iran, Russia and Israel are all planning to supply oil and gas to South and Southeast Asia through India.

It's enlightening to note that all countries or regions which happen to be an impediment to Pipelineistan routes towards the West have been subjected either to a direct interference or to all-out war: Chechnya, Georgia, Kurdistan, Yugoslavia and Macedonia. To the east, the key problems are the Uighurs of China's far-western Xinjiang and, until recently, Afghanistan.

More, much more than Afghanistan is involved. What's at stake is Eurasia. Zbigniew Brzezinski, stellar hawk and Jimmy Carter's former national security adviser, used to wax lyrical on Eurasia: "Seventy-five percent of the world population, most of its material riches, 60 percent of the world's GNP, 75 percent of sources of energy, and behind the US, the six most prosperous economies and the six largest military budgets." Brzezinski is on record stressing that the US would have to make sure "no other power would take possession of this geopolitical space".

The numbers are clear. According to the United States Energy Information Administration, in 2001 America imported an average of 9.1 million barrels per day - over 60 percent of its crude oil needs. In 2020, the country is projected to require almost 26 million barrels per day in imports. So Pipelineistan, in the Caucasus and in Central Asia - for the West and Japan but especially for America itself - cannot but be the strategic-military No 1 goal.

In this geostrategic grand design, the Taliban were the proverbial fly in the ointment. The Afghan War was decided long before September 11. September 11 merely precipitated events. Plans to destroy the Taliban had been the subject of international diplomatic and not-so-diplomatic discussions for months before September 11. There was a crucial meeting in Geneva in May 2001 between US State Department, Iranian, German and Italian officials, where the main topic was a strategy to topple the Taliban and replace the theocracy with a "broad-based government". The topic was raised again in full force at the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Genoa, Italy, in July 2001 when India - an observer at the summit - also contributed its own plans.

Nor concidentally, Pipelineistan was the central topic in secret negotiations in a Berlin hotel a few days after the G-8 summit, between American, Russian, German and Pakistani officials. And Pakistani high officials, on condition of anonymity, have extensively described a plan set up by the end of July 2001 by American advisers, consisting of military strikes against the Taliban from bases in Tajikistan, to be launched before mid-October.

More recently, while most of the planet that has access to news was distracted by New Year's Eve celebrations, and only nine days after Hamid Karzai's interim government took power in Kabul, Bush II appointed his special envoy to Afghanistan. It comes as no surprise he is Afghan-American Zalmay Khalilzad - a former aide to the Californian energy giant UNOCAL. Khalilzad wasted no time in boarding the first flight to Central Asia. The Bush II team now does not even try to disguise that the whole game is about oil. The so-called brand-new American "Afghan policy" is being conducted by people intimately connected to oil industry interests in Central Asia.

In 1997, UNOCAL led an international consortium - Centgas - that reached a memorandum of understanding to build a $2 billion, 1,275-kilometer-long, 1.5-meter-wide natural-gas pipeline from Dauletabad in southern Turkmenistan to Karachi in Pakistan, via the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, crossing into Pakistan near Quetta. A $600 million extension to India was also being considered. The dealings with the Taliban were facilitated by the Clinton administration and the Pakistani Inter Services Agency (ISI). But the civil war in Afghanistan would simply not go away. UNOCAL had to pull out.

American energy conglomerates, through the American Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC), are now resuscitating this and other projects. Already last October, the UNOCAL-led project was discussed in Islamabad between Pakistani Petroleum Minister Usman Aminuddin and American Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain. The exuberant official statement reads: "The pipeline opens up new avenues of multi-dimensional regional cooperation, particularly in view of the recent geopolitical developments in the region."

But there are practical problems with these "new avenues". Specialists at the James Baker (who else?) Institute in Texas stress that the main beneficiaries would be Turkmenistan and Afghanistan - which in itself is not a bad idea: Afghanistan would make a little money and perhaps be a little more stable. As far as the gas is concerned - liquefied and exported from Karachi - it would be too expensive compared with gas from the Middle East.

UNOCAL also has a project to build the so-called Central Asian Oil Pipeline, almost 1,700km long, linking Chardzhou in Turkmenistan to Russian's existing Siberian oil pipelines and also to the Pakistani Arabian Sea coast. This pipeline will carry 1 million barrels of oil a day from different areas of former Soviet republics, and it will run parallel to the gas pipeline route through Afghanistan.

Khalilzad is a very interesting character indeed. He was always a huge Taliban supporter. Four years ago, he wrote in the Washington Post that "the Taliban does not practice the anti-US style of fundamentalism practiced by Iran". Khalilzad only abandoned the Taliban after Bill Clinton fired 58 cruise missiles into Afghanistan in August 1998, in retaliation for the alleged involvement of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Only one day after the attack, UNOCAL put Centgas on hold - and two months later abandoned plans for the trans-Afghan pipeline.

A little more than a year ago, Khalilzad was reincarnated in print in The Washington Quarterly, now stressing his four mains reason to ged rid of the Taliban regime as soon as possible: Osama bin Laden, opium trafficking, oppression of the Afghan people and, last but not least, oil.

Afghan diaspora sources in Paris acidly comment that Khalilzad will be regarded as nothing less than a traitor by fiercely proud and independent Afghans. Born in Mazar-i-Sharif in 1951, he is part of the Afghan ruling elite. His father was an aide to King Zahir Shah. Khalilzad was studying at the notoriously conservative University of Chicago when Afghanistan was invaded by the Red Army in December 1979.

Later he became an American citizen and a special adviser to the State Department during the Reagan years. He was a strident lobbyist for more US military aid to the mujahedeen during the anti-USSR jihad - campaigning for widespread distribution of Stinger missiles.

Khalilzad was undersecretary of defense for Bush I, during the war against Iraq. After a stint at the Rand Corp think tank, he headed the Bush-Cheney transition team for the Defense Department and advised Donald Rumsfeld. But he was not rewarded with any promotions. The required Senate confirmation would raise extremely uncomfortable questions about his role as UNOCAL adviser and staunch Taliban defender. He was assigned instead to the National Security Council - no Senate confirmation required - where he reports to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Rice herself is a former oil-company consultant. During Bush I, from 1989-92, she was on the board of directors of Chevron, and was its main expert on Kazakhstan. Chevron has invested more than $20 billion in Kazakhstan alone. As for The Invisible Man, Vice President Dick Cheney, he was for five years a director of Halliburton, one of the top companies rendering service to the oil industry: present in 130 countries, 100,000 employees, turnover of almost $20 billion, a member of the Fortune 400. Cheney did a lot of business with the murderous Myanmar dictatorship, and invested heavily in Nigeria.

Both Cheney and Bush II spent an important part of their careers in Arbusto, a small company directed by Cheney. Arbusto never made money, but was handsomely supported by very wealthy Saudis. Among the shareholders there was one James Bath, very cozy with Bush I and chief money launderer for shady Gulf superstars, including one Salem bin Laden, one of the 17 brothers of Osama bin Laden.

All American secretaries of state since World War II have been connected with the oil industry - except two: one of them is Colin Powell, but in his case the president, vice president and national security adviser are all part of the oil industry anyway.

So everybody in the ruling plutocracy knows the rules of the ruthless game: Central Asia is crucial to Washington's worldwide petro-strategy. So is a "friendly" government in Afghanistan - now led by the always impeccably dressed and fluent English speaker Hamid Karzai. It does not matter that independent minds from Central Asia in exile in Europe unanimously ridicule Karzai as nothing else than a Taliban himself, and his Northern Alliance ministers as a bunch of crooks.

As for US corporate-controlled media - from TV networks to daily newspapers - they just exercise self-censorship and remain mute about all of these connections.

http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/DA25Ag01.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pipelineistan, Part 2 - The Games Nations Play
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
1-28-2

Two months ago, the White House was deliriously happy with the official opening of the first new pipeline of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium - a joint venture including Russia, Kazakhstan, Oman, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and a bunch of other minor players.

This $2.65 billion pipeline links the enormous Tengiz oilfield in northwestern Kazakhstan to the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea: from there, the sky - ie the world market - is the limit. Bush II, according to the White House, is developing "a network of multiple Caspian pipelines that also include the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa, and Baku-Novorossiyisk oil pipelines, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline". So one of the key nodes in the American petrostrategy is composed by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

The pipeline consortium for Baku-Ceyhan, led by British Petroleum, is represented by the law firm Baker & Botts. The principal attorney is none other than Texan superstar James Baker - secretary of state under Bush I and chief spokesman for the Bush II 2000 campaign when all gloves were off to shut down the Florida vote recount.

Texas-based, scandal-prone Enron, together with Amoco, Chevron, Mobil, UNOCAL and British Petroleum, were all spending billions of dollars to pump the reserves of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Baker, Scowcroft, Sununu and Cheney have all closed major deals directly and indirectly on behalf of the oil companies. But now the Enron scandal has just exploded right in the face of the oil industry - and Bush II's administration. It will be very enlightening to see what the American tradition of investigative journalism will make of all this.

Enron once had a market value of $70 billion. It filed for bankruptcy in December 2001 after admitting it ovestated its profits by almost $600 million. Paul Krugman wrote that "Enron helped Dick Cheney devise an energy plan that certainly looks as if it was written by and for the companies that advised his task force". The Enron big-time crooks - close pals of Cheney and Bush II - dwarf any Asian "crony capitalists" Americans were carping about before and after the Asian financial crisis.

There's no shortage of crooks in the oil industry. Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have intimate relations with Israeli military intelligence. A so-called "former" Israeli intelligence agent, Yousef Maiman, president of the Mehrav Group of Israel, is nothing less than "Special Ambassador", official negotiatior and even policymaker responsible for developing the enormous energy resources of Turkmenistan.

Maiman is a citizen of the gas republic by presidential decree - signed by the Turkmenbashi himself, the fabulously megalomaniac Saparmurad Niazov, former member of the Soviet Politburo. Maiman, according to the Wall Street Journal, is actively involved in advancing the "geopolitical goals of both the US and Israel" in Central Asia. He certainly does not beat around the bush: "Controlling the transport route is controlling the product." Nobody knows where Mehrav's money comes from.

Mehrav's planned pipelines bypass both Iran and Russia. But after the conquest of Afghanistan, oil sources in Singapore say Mehrav may consider dealing with Iran. It's all to do with the importance of the Turkish market. Russia and Turkmenistan are fiercely competing to conquer the Turkish gas market. Considering the strategic relationship between Turkey and Israel, the Israeli game remains preventing Turkish strategic dependence on Iran. Turkey is a NATO member and a key US ally. The US and Britain routinely strike against Iraq from Turkish bases - from which they patrol the unillateraly-declared Iraqi "no-fly zones". These "no-fly zones" are obviously not sanctioned by the UN.

Mehrav is also involved in a murderous project to reduce the flow of water to Iraq by diverting water from the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers to southeastern Turkey. And Magal Security Systems, an Israeli company, is also involved with Turkey: it will provide security for the 2,000 km-long oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

Crook-infested Enron - the biggest donor to the Bush campaign of 2000 - was ubiquitious: it conducted the feasibility study for the $2.5 billion trans-Caspian pipeline being built under a joint venture signed almost three years ago between Turkmenistan and Bechtel and General Electric. The go-between in the deal was none other than the Mehrav Group. Chairman Maiman spent a fortune hiring the Washington lobbying firm Cassidy and Associates to seduce official Washington with the trans-Caspian pipeline project.

The intrincate relationship between Israel, Turkey and the US means that as much as the trans-Caspian pipeline, the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline is also absolutely crucial. It could be extended to bring oil directly to thirsty Israel. During the Clinton years, oil giants were under tremendous pressure to build East-West pipelines. But all of them preferred to build North-South pipelines - much cheaper, but with the inconvenience of crossing Iran, an absolute anathema for Washington.

Russia already has a contract with Turkmenistan to purchase 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year. This represents a big blow to the US field of dreams, the trans-Caspian gas pipeline. This also means that Russia will never let go of its sphere of influence without a tremendous fight. The Central Asian republics are on its borders, Russia has dominated them for centuries and they are home to millions of Russians. Russian is still the language they all use to do business with each other.

Thanks to master political chess player Vladimir Putin, Russia is now on the cosiest terms possible with Washington - and US-Iran antipathy is apparently receding. Russia may eventually become a partner in at least some of Washington's petrostrategy games in Central Asia - like the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. The regional map also reveals that Iran, besides holding important gas reserves, offers the best direct access from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, where oil and gas can be quickly exported to Asian markets.

Iran assumes, not entirely without reason, that it is the rightful guardian of Central Asia because of centuries of ethnic, historical, linguistic and religious ties. And Iran is very conscious that American military links and now physical presence in Central Asia are part of a strategy to encircle it. But even amid so many geopolitical and ideological pitfalls, the fact remains that as long as the US is militarily involved in Afghanistan, there will be some sort of US-Iranian diplomatic engagement.

Under the control of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), pipelines from Central Asia will also reach China's Xinjiang. Oil sources in Singapore stress that this will certainly spell a slump for the sea routes across the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Washington is more than aware through its think tanks of the consequences: an extremely likely strategic realignment between China, Japan and Korea.

The Chinese have their sights on only one terrifying prospect: the encirclement of China by the US. UNOCAL is dreaming about profits. Washington is thinking about the robust Chinese economy. Whatever "war against terror" distractions, China remains the key strategic competitor to the US in the 21st century. With Afghanistan in the bag, UNOCAL dreams of monster profits in the Asian market - much higher than in Europe - while Washington closely monitors the Chinese economy: growth of 8 percent in 2000, 7 percent in 2001, and needing all the oil and gas it can get. Chinese strategists are working around the clock to develop local forms of energy production.

What happens next will be closely linked to the deliberations of the Shanghai Five, now Shanghai Six, or more burocratically, the Shangahi Cooperation Organization (SCO): China and Russia, plus four Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Takijistan and Uzbekistan). Manouvering with extreme care, China is using the SCO to align Russia economically and politically towards China and northeast Asia. At the same time, Russia is using the SCO to maintain its traditional hegemony in Central Asia. The name of the game for solidifying the alliance is Russian export of its enormous reserves of oil and gas.

Since the NATO war against Yugoslavia and the de facto occupation of Kosovo - where America built its largest military base since the Vietnam War - China and Russia have their minds set on Chechnya and Muslim Xinjiang. For the moment, at least, America has absolutely no way of interfering in these domestic problems, since China and especially Russia are endorsing the war against terrorism.

The Taliban were never a target in the "war against terrorism". They were just a scapegoat - rather, a horde of medieval warrior scapegoats who simply did not fulfill their contract: to insert Aghanistan into Pipelineistan. All the regional players now know America is in Central Asia to stay, as Washington itself has been stridently repeating these last few weeks, and it will be influencing or disturbing the economy and geopolitics of the region. The wider world is absolutely oblivious to these real stakes in the New Great Game.

The US at the time of the Gulf War did not show any interest in replacing "Satan" Hussein. That would seriously compromise the American design to establish bases on the Arabian peninsula on the convenient pretext of helping poor Arab sheikhs against the Iraqi Evil Monster. More than a decade later, Satan Hussein is still there, Bush I is now Bush II, and assorted Pentagon hawks are still fuming, trying to fabricate any excuse to blow Saddam back to Mesopotamian ashes. But Saddam will not be attacked, because Saddam is the ultimate reason for American military bases in the Gulf - a splendid affair because on top of it all it is a free ride, the expenses being paid by the ultra-flush sheikdoms. Now, after the (also unfinished) New Afghan War, American forces are already establishing themselves in Central and South Asia to once again "protect the interests of the free world".

It is never enough to remember that after the end of the communist regime in Afghanistan, the American strategy was to deliberately let Islamic extremism go wild - a perfect way to scare the unstable regimes in the Central Asian neo-republics. Islamic fundamentalism has always been a key card in the American strategic design since the Cold War days when the CIA subcontracted to the Pakistani ISI the arm-them-to-their-teeth policy regarding the mujahideen. It is always easy to forget that the good-guys-turned-bad-guys were once were hailed by Ronnie Reagan himself at the Oval Office as "the moral equivalent of the founding fathers". America has been trying hard to "get" Afghanistan - the heart of Asia in Antiquity, the Pipelineistan crossroads of Asia nowadays - for more than 20 years. In the process, the mujahideen transformed Afghanistan, with CIA blessing, into the world's leading producer of heroin, opening the crucial and ultra-profitable drug pipeline Afghanistan-Turkey-Balkans-Western Europe. More than a martini, oil-arms-drugs is the classic CIA cocktail. This "Drugistan" road has just been spetacularly reopened after the fall of the Taliban.

Pipelineistan is not an end in itself. Oil and gas by themselves are not the US's ultimate aim. It's all about control. In Monopoly, Belgian writer Michel Collon wrote: "If you want to rule the world, you need to control oil. All the oil. Anywhere." If the US controls the sources of energy of its rivals - Europe, Japan, China and other nations aspiring to be more independent - they win. This explains why pipelines from the Caucasus to the West have to be America-friendly - ie Turkish or Macedonian - and not "unreliable", meaning Russian-controled. Washington, always, has to control everything: that's what Brzezinski and Henry Kissinger always said. The same goes for the military bases in Saudi Arabia, and now in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

There's no business like war business. Thanks to war against Iraq, the US has its military bases in the Persian Gulf. Thanks to war against Yugoslavia, the US has its military bases in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. Thanks to war against the Taliban, the US is now in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Not to mention the base in Incirlik, Turkey. The US is also in the Caucasus - in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Iran, China and Russia are practically encircled. There's no business like show business. Raise the curtains. Enter Pipelineistan. (Applause).

((c)2001 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact ads@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication policies.)

http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/DA26Ag01.html

Canadian Television Openly Questions 911 'Problems'
From Eyes On America
editor@eyesonamerica.org
1-27-2

On Monday, 28 January 28, 2002, "Insight MediaFile," available on Vision TV in Canada, will try to answer the following question: "What Happened on 9/11 and why aren't the mainstream media asking that question?"

On the last edition of "Insight MediaFile" (first broadcast on 21 January) the show's host -- media critic Barrie Zwicker -- dared to suggest in his weekly commentary that the CIA, Pentagon and White House may be complicit in the horrendous events of Sept. 11th, 2001.

That commentary was the first in a series on MediaFile that will deal with this important issue. MediaFile is perhaps the first current affairs TV program in Canada to raise this possibility.

Barrie Zwicker says that following that show, "the program's senior producer, executive producer and program director decided we'll devote the whole of next Monday's program [28 January] to 'What Happened on 9/11 and why aren't the mainstream media asking that question?' It will lead off with our most extended viewer feedback segment ever, followed by the media panel on that topic, followed by Part 2 of my series. All commercial-free."

A RealAudio clip of his 21 January 2002 commentary can be viewed at: http://clients.loudey e.com/imc/mayday/mediafile.ramhttp://clients.loudey e.com/imc/mayday/mediafile.ram

A transcript of that commentary follows:



*** begin transcript ***

What really happened on Sept. 11th? 9/11 - Part 1

For four months I've been waiting in vain for the North American media to pursue questions about the startling events of September 11th. Here's what I want to know:

The multiple hijackings are unprecedented. The first occurs at 7:45 in the morning. It's a full hour before the first plane hits the World Trade Center. But it's an hour and 20 minutes -- and after the second plane hits that the President allegedly becomes informed. Think about that.

Then, he gives no orders. Why? He continues to listen to a student talk about her pet goat. Why?

It's another 25 minutes until he makes a statement, even as flight 77 is making a bee-line for Washington, DC.

In the almost two hours of the total drama not a single U.S. Air Force interceptor turns a wheel until it's too late. Why? Was it total incompetence on the part of aircrews trained and equipped to scramble in minutes?

Well, unlike the U.S. Air Force, I'll cut to the chase. Simply to ask these few questions is to find the official narrative frankly implausible. The more questions you pursue, it becomes more plausible that there's a different explanation: namely, that elements within the top U.S. military, intelligence and political leadership which are closely intertwined are complicit in what happened on September the 11th.

Why U.S. complicity, you ask?

Well, to stampede public opinion into supporting the so-called war on terrorism, to justify a war on Afghanistan for a future oil pipeline, the grab for Middle East oil, big budget increases for the military, and the general drive for global domination by the American Empire.

I know it sounds incredible.

But here's some historical context from this book, Body of Secrets. Its author is James Bamford. Bamford until recently was Washington Investigative Producer for ABC's World News tonight with Peter Jennings. I learned of this book on ABC's website.

Bamford's information comes from interviews. With, for instance, the former dean of the U.S. intelligence community. And from government documents. It takes 80 pages to list Bamford's more than 600 information sources.

Here's the story. It's 1962. John F. Kennedy is U.S. president. Robert McNamara is Secretary of Defence. And Admiral Lyman Lemnitzer heads the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. The CIA has failed in its illegal Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

JFK decides, Bamford writes, to back away from military solutions to the Cuban problem.

But Lemnitzer, the CIA and others at the top remain obsessed with Cuba. Writes Bamford: "As the Kennedy brothers appeared to suddenly go soft on Cuba, Lemnitzer could see his opportunity to invade -- quickly slipping away. --attempts to provoke the Cuban public to revolt seemed dead--"

Continues Bamford: "Lemnitzer and the other chiefs knew there was only one option left that would ensure their war. They would have to trick the American public and world opinion--"

Lemnitzer comes up with Operation Northwoods.

"We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba--casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation."

"We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington."

An elaborate variation: create "an exact duplicate for a civil registered aircraft--" "At a designated time the duplicate would be--loaded with--selected passengers, all boarded under carefully prepared aliases. The actual registered aircraft would be converted to a drone [a remotely controlled unmanned aircraft]"-- "the destruction of (that) aircraft will be triggered by radio signal."

The Cubans would be blamed.

Finally, another variation is described by Bamford: "On February 20th, 1962 (John) Glenn was to lift off from Cape Canaveral--on his historic journey. Lemnitzer "proposed -- that should the rocket explode and kill Glenn, ëthe objective is to provide irrevocable proof that--the fault lies with (Cuba)--" "by manufacturing various pieces of evidence which would prove electronic interference on the part of the Cubans."

Thus, Bamford notes, "as NASA prepared to send the first American into space, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were preparing to use John Glennís possible death as a pretext to launch a war."

The Operation Northwoods plan shows the Pentagon was capable, according to Bamford, "of launching a secret and bloody war of terrorism against their own country in order to trick the American public into supporting a (war on Cuba)."

Can we be sure, therefore, that complicity by the Pentagon in the events of Sept. 11th is entirely out of the question?

Next week, a more precise look at the events of that fateful day.

And what about bin Laden? I'll have more on him too. And the arrests of people named as terrorists around the world.

*** end transcript ***

http://eyesonamerica.org/
A White Knight Talking Backwards
Spy Case In Canadian Courts Suggest US Naval Officer Had Foreknowledge of 9-11
by Michael C. Ruppert - From The Wilderness
[Copyright 2002, Michael C. Ruppert and From The Wilderness Publications, www.copvcia.com, all rights reserved. May be reposted, reprinted or distributed for non-profit purposes only when this statement appears with the text.]
http://www.copvcia.com/

TORONTO, [Filed January 25, 2002] – Delmart Edward “Mike” Vreeland, an American citizen whose claims to being a US Naval Lieutenant assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) are being increasingly corroborated in open court, has been in a Canadian jail since December 6, 2000. On August 11 or 12 of 2001, the date is uncertain, after trying to verbally alert his Canadian jailers to the coming World Trade Center attacks, he wrote down key information and sealed it in an envelope which he then had placed in jailers’ custody. Exactly what the letter said is unknown at this point. The letter has fallen into a black hole of national secrecy with the lid sealed by two governments. What is known is that when the envelope was opened on September 14th it set off alarms in the US and Canada. According to reports in The Toronto Star, a burgeoning court record, and his lawyers, the envelope mentioned Osama bin Laden, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and imminent attacks.
The US wants Vreeland back in the States on a Michigan warrant for credit card fraud – using his own credit card. Vreeland, convinced that a return to the US means certain death, wants to stay in Canada in a witness protection program. His lawyers Rocco Galati and Paul Slansky, two former Canadian prosecutors, agree with Vreeland’s assessment. They should. Both have been the victims of harassment and threats including dead cats hung on porches and car windows smashed out in car burglaries.
The position -- less defensible by the day -- of the United States government, as represented by Crown Solicitors in Toronto, is that all of this is nonsense. Vreeland, says the Navy, was discharged as a Seaman after a few months of service for unsatisfactory performance in 1986. He has never had anything to do with intelligence according to 1200 pages of Navy records filed in Toronto Superior Court.
On its face the official US position is absurd. And the courtroom prowess of Slansky and Galati in making a mockery of the straight-faced presentations of opposing counsel and the US government are eerily unnoticed by any major media and, apparently, also the judge.
“How is it,” says Galati, “that the Navy says that he was only in the service a few months and then send us a 1200 page personnel file? Some of the entries are obvious forgeries or alterations and the sanitizing of his records was done so hurriedly that some dates of medical exams in the 1990s were left intact.”
In a January 10, 2002 tactic worthy of Perry Mason, with the greatest possible risk to his client if it failed, attorney Slansky got the judge to agree to let him call the Pentagon from open court. Using a speaker phone, in front of at least six witnesses, Slansky first dialed directory information and got a number for the Pentagon switchboard. Then, calling that number he asked the Department of Defense operator to locate the office of Lt. Delmart Vreeland. Within moments the operator had confirmed Vreeland’s posting, his rank as a Lieutenant O-3, his room number and given Slansky his direct-dial number.
All of this is a part of the court record.
On January 17, as this writer sat in the courtroom, another mind numbing event occurred.
As Vreeland sat shackled in a corner, closely flanked by two guards, the Crown Solicitor sought to debunk Vreeland’s assertions that he had been assigned to travel to Moscow to review and retrieve highly technical and classified documents pertaining to Russian and Chinese efforts to counter the proposed US “Star Wars” missile defense system. [Ed Note: We believe this to be a cover story]. “Why,” said the Crown Solicitor, “would the US choose, in a case involving some of the most highly technical intelligence, a random seaman with training in the tool and die field.” The point that someone discharged in 1986 with no special training and rank would be sent to review technical documents sounded reasonable – assuming that Vreeland’s background was as the Solicitor argued.
The reasonableness vanished a few moments later as the Crown Solicitor argued that Vreeland, who has been in jail and without access to a computer for thirteen months, had somehow cracked the Pentagon’s personnel records and inserted his name, an office number, and telephone extension into the Pentagon database.
No one except for Vreeland and attorney Galati seemed to notice the contradiction.
The Crown Solicitor ventured further through the looking glass by then arguing that Vreeland, having certain papers in his possession at the time of his arrest, had memorized Russian and Albanian documents and then had translated them from memory. Vreeland doesn’t speak Russian or Albanian. The judge, waking up for this one, asked the Solicitor to restate the point. The argument then became that Vreeland had an unnamed colleague go to an unspecified web site, print Russian and Albanian documents for him, and then used foreign language dictionaries to translate them.
Vreeland’s extradition process could take years and his time in jail has not been easy. There have been threats, illnesses and his every move is watched. Galati and Slansky wonder how long his psyche will hold up. The history of jailhouse deaths of key witnesses leans heavily in favor of Vreeland’s belief that he could be killed at any moment. His apparent strategy is to not reveal any accurate Top Secret material to either his lawyers or the press, hoping that his silence will provide him with some support from US clandestine services. This a standard approach taken in dozens of similar cases researched by FTW in the past They include the cases – well known in research circles – of William Tyree and Michael Riconosciuto. Tyree has been jailed on a questionable murder conviction since 1979 and Riconosciuto on a variety or drug-related charges since the early 1990s. Both men have been directly connected to CIA and other intelligence operations by official documents.
“We don’t need to know and we don’t want to know the secret details, “says Galati. “They’re not necessary for us to do the job of keeping our client alive and in Canada. He faces a special danger in the US because he has also been an informant against an organized crime family in Michigan where the criminal charges originate. The most he is facing there is two years but we believe he might not live for two days in that system.”
Additional press reports indicate that Vreeland’s intelligence work was connected to drug smuggling – a much more likely reason for his trip to Moscow. And the history of the relations between Naval Intelligence and the mafia is documented as far back as the Second World War when ONI officers made deals with convicted mafia don Lucky Luciano and his Lieutenant Vito Genovese to protect New York docks and assist with the subsequent Allied invasion and occupation of Italy.
Mike Vreeland is one man who, in a rational world, could totally expose the complicity of the US government in the attacks of September 11th. No one has disputed what he wrote and stuffed into that mysterious envelope. In a rational world that would be the most pressing and public inquiry of all. The two questions remaining are whether Vreeland will live and whether or not he will ever tell what he knows. That may be a mutually exclusive proposition.

FTW has retained the services of freelance journalist Greta Knutsen in Toronto to report on developments in this critical case for our subscribers. Important updates will be posted and sent out via subscriber bulletin to our readers as they become available.

http://www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/01_25_02_vreeland.html

Did 'Rogue' US Agent Vreeland Warn CSIS Of September 11?
By Frank Editor
(October 16, 2001)
1-22-2
The admission that the death of a Canadian diplomat in Moscow was murder may lend credence to the fantastic story arising from an extradition case in Toronto, in which a man claiming to be a US Naval intelligence officer says he warned the RCMP and CSIS of the September 11 attacks months in advance.

Delmart Edward Vreeland claims he travelled to Moscow in the Fall of 2000 to obtain military documents regarding Russian counter-measures to US anti-missile defence. His purpose was to see they got into the hands of CSIS, and to fool Ottawa into believing it was a Canadian discovery, so Canada and other allies might be inclined to drop their objections to "Star Wars."

His contact was a "systems analyst," Marc Bastien, said to be a CSIS agent working out of the embassy. Vreeland says he sensed something fishy with a Russian go-between, and handed over a dummy bag before travelling to Toronto, where he was arrested on December 6 on an immigration warrant.

Only days after Vreeland's arrest by Toronto police, Bastien was found dead in Moscow. Though he was only 35, the death was attributed to "natural causes." The body was returned to Canada for autopsy. Sources with the Mounties have since confirmed that Bastien indeed was murdered.

Among the Russian documents Vreeland says he retrieved was one describing impending terrorist attacks in the United States, naming Osama bin Laden as an agent and the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as likely targets.

Vreeland, with his lawyer, Paul Slansky, took the information to both CSIS and the RCMP last summer, but he was blown off as a crank.

The US Navy claim that Vreeland was discharged in the mid-80s, having failed boot camp, but there is evidence to suggest the military is altering his service record. For example, in a phone conversation recorded from jail in August-before, Vreeland contends, his entire record could be wiped from the system - he is clearly told by a petty officer at a US naval base that computer files confirm his rank as Lieutenant. An impossibility if he'd dropped out of boot camp.

If his claim is true, then why is the US hounding this man, and why does he fear for his life if he is extradited? Perhaps because Russian foreknowledge of September 11th is a can of worms best left unopened.

http://www.frankmag.net/storydetails.asp?storyid=93
From Eyes On America editor@eyesonamerica.org
~~~~~~~~~~
Was Vreeland Right? Was Canadian Embassy Worker Poisoned?
1-22-2
OTTAWA (CP) - A Quebec coroner's report suggests poisoning was behind the mysterious death 13 months ago of Marc Bastien, an employee at Canada's embassy in Moscow.

The report says Bastien, 34, died Dec. 12, 2000, after drinking a mixture of alcohol and clopazine, an anti-depressant used to treat schizophrenia.

Initially, Canadian officials said the death was of natural causes.

Bastien had been drinking in Moscow bars and coroner Line Duchesne said a concentrated form of clopazine may have been slipped into his drink.

Bastien, who handled information systems at the embassy, was found dead the next morning in the bed of his Moscow apartment.

Duchesne said she agreed with RCMP and Moscow police in believing the computer specialist was the victim of a person - "maybe a woman" - who slipped a clopazine tablet in his drink.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Reynald Doiron said late last week police continue to study the circumstances of Bastien's death. "There's still some information to be obtained. We may eventually find out the details that we're missing."

Monique Richard, Bastien's mother, dismissed the coroner's report as guesswork.

She said she and her husband Gaston Bastien had waited six months for the report and were disappointed: "It's full of hypotheses, possibilities and undecided elements. There's nothing official in it."

American Delmart Edward Vreeland, who is fighting extradition from Canada on fraud charges, says he tried to warn Canada's spy service of the Sept. 11 attacks. He claimed Bastien was murdered in Moscow.


http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Conten


Canadian TV Breaks 9-11 / CIA Complicity Story
1-30-2
[5 minute introductory segment can be viewed here with realplayer:

http://clients.loudeye.com/imc/mayday/mediafile.ram ]

VISION TV, Canada

For four months I've been waiting in vain for the North American media to pursue questions about the startling events of September 11th. Here's what I want to know:

The multiple hijackings are unprecedented. The first occurs at 7:45 in the morning. It's a full hour before the first plane hits the World Trade Center. But it's an hour and 20 minutes -- and after the second plane hits that the President allegedly becomes informed. Think about that.

Then, he gives no orders. Why? He continues to listen to a student talk about her pet goat. Why?

It's another 25 minutes until he makes a statement, even as flight 77 is making a bee-line for Washington, DC.

In the almost two hours of the total drama not a single U.S. Air Force interceptor turns a wheel until it's too late. Why? Was it total incompetence on the part of aircrews trained and equipped to scramble in minutes?

Well, unlike the U.S. Air Force, I'll cut to the chase. Simply to ask these few questions is to find the official narrative frankly implausible. The more questions you pursue, it becomes more plausible that there's a different explanation: namely, that elements within the top U.S. military, intelligence and political leadership which are closely intertwined are complicit in what happened on September the 11th.

Why U.S. complicity, you ask?

Well, to stampede public opinion into supporting the so-called war on terrorism, to justify a war on Afghanistan for a future oil pipeline, the grab for Middle East oil, big budget increases for the military, and the general drive for global domination by the American Empire.

I know it sounds incredible.

But here's some historical context from this book, Body of Secrets. Its author is James Bamford. Bamford until recently was Washington Investigative Producer for ABC's World News tonight with Peter Jennings. I learned of this book on ABC's website.

Bamford's information comes from interviews. With, for instance, the former dean of the U.S. intelligence community. And from government documents. It takes 80 pages to list Bamford's more than 600 information sources.

Here's the story. It's 1962. John F. Kennedy is U.S. president. Robert McNamara is Secretary of Defence. And Admiral Lyman Lemnitzer heads the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. The CIA has failed in its illegal Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

JFK decides, Bamford writes, to back away from military solutions to the Cuban problem.

But Lemnitzer, the CIA and others at the top remain obsessed with Cuba. Writes Bamford: "As the Kennedy brothers appeared to suddenly 'go soft' on Cuba, Lemnitzer could see his opportunity to invade - quickly slipping away. -attempts to provoke the Cuban public to revolt seemed dead-"

Continues Bamford: "Lemnitzer and the other chiefs knew there was only one option left that would ensure their war. They would have to trick the American public and world opinion-"

Lemnitzer comes up with Operation Northwoods.

"We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba-casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation."

"We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington."

An elaborate variation: create "an exact duplicate for a civil registered aircraft-" "At a designated time the duplicate would be-loaded with-selected passengers, all boarded under carefully prepared aliases. The actual registered aircraft would be converted to a drone [a remotely controlled unmanned aircraft]"- "the destruction of (that) aircraft will be triggered by radio signal."

The Cubans would be blamed.

Finally, another variation is described by Bamford: "On February 20th, 1962 (John) Glenn was to lift off from Cape Canaveral-on his historic journey. Lemnitzer "proposed - that should the rocket explode and kill Glenn, ëthe objective is to provide irrevocable proof that-the fault lies with (Cuba)-" "by manufacturing various pieces of evidence which would prove electronic interference on the part of the Cubans."

Thus, Bamford notes, "as NASA prepared to send the first American into space, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were preparing to use John Glenn's possible death as a pretext to launch a war."

The Operation Northwoods plan shows the Pentagon was capable, according to Bamford, "of launching a secret and bloody war of terrorism against their own country in order to trick the American public into supporting a (war on Cuba)."

Can we be sure, therefore, that complicity by the Pentagon in the events of Sept. 11th is entirely out of the question?

Next week, a more precise look at the events of that fateful day.

And what about bin Laden? I'll have more on him too. And the arrests of people named as terrorists around the world.

PART 2

Next, more troubling questions. Part 2 in my series of commentaries about the events of September 11th.

As you've heard in the panel discussion, a common explanation as to why no U.S. military interceptors took to the skies on September 11th until it was too late, is that it was "simple incompetence."

Well, let me deal with the "incompetence theory." By first taking you back to October 26th, 1999. That is the day the chartered Learjet carrying golfer Payne Stewart crashes, killing all on board. This from the official National Transportation Safety Board crash report: 9:19 a.m.: the flight departs 9:24: The Learjet's pilot responds to an instruction from air traffic control 9:33: The controller radios another instruction. No response from the pilot. For 4 * minutes the controller tries to establish contact. 9:38: Having failed, the controller calls in the military. Note that he did not seek, nor did he require, the approval of the President of the United States, or indeed anyone. It's standard procedure, followed routinely, to call in the Air Force when radio contact with a commercial passenger jet is lost, or the plane departs from its flight path, or anything along those lines occurs. 9:54 - 16 minutes later -- the F-16 reaches the Learjet at 46,000 feet and conducts a visual inspection. Total elapsed time: 21 minutes.

So what does this prove? Well, it proves that standing routines exist for dealing with all such emergencies, for instance loss of radio contact. All personnel in the air and on the ground are trained to follow the routines, which have been fine-tuned over decades, as the Learjet incident illustrates.

For large scheduled aircraft, tracked throughout on radar, to depart extravagantly from their flight paths, would trigger numerous calls to the military, especially after two have hit the World Trade Centre and now one is speeding toward Washington, D.C.

It flies over the White House, turns sharply and heads toward the Pentagon. Everyone ñ and I mean everyone ñ now knows these planes are very bad news. It's been reported on all TV networks for more than half an hour that this is a terrorist attack.Ý

Now, Andrews Air Force Base is a huge installation. It's home to Air Force One, the President's plane. It's home base for two combat-ready squadrons of jet interceptors mandated to ensure the safety of the U.S. capital. Andrews is only 12 miles from the White House.

On September 11th the squadrons there were: The 121st Fighter Squadron of the 113th Fighter Wing, equipped with F-16s The 321st Marine Fighter Attack Squadron of the 49th Marine Air Group, Detachment A, equipped F/A-18s

This information was on the website of the base on September 11th. [POSSIBLE (cuts)] On September 12th, Andrews chose to update its website. I find it odd that after the update there's no mention of the F-16 and F-18 fighters. The base becomes, according to the website, home to a transport squadron only.

Yet at 6:30 the evening of September 11th NBC Nightly News, along with many outlets, reported: "It was after the attack on the Pentagon that the Air Force then decided to scramble F-16s out of the DC National Guard Andrews Air Force Base to fly - a protective cover over Washington, D.C."

Throughout the northeastern United States are many air bases. But that morning no interceptors respond in a timely fashion to the highest alert situation. This includes the Andrews squadrons which have the longest lead time and are 12 miles from the White house.

Whatever the explanation for the huge failure, there have been no reports, to my knowledge, of reprimands. This further weakens the "Incompetence Theory." Incompetence usually earns reprimands.

This causes me to ask - and other media need to ask - if there were "stand down" orders.

Next week, bin Laden was a longtime close ally of the CIA, according to the CIA itself. Why did he suddenly turn against them? Or did he?

http://www.visiontv.ca

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom
Daschle Tuesday to limit the congressional investigation into the events of September 11, congressional and White House sources told CNN.
The request was made at a private meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday morning. Sources said Bush initiated the conversation.
He asked that only the House and Senate intelligence committees look into the potential breakdowns among federal agencies that could have allowed the terrorist attacks to occur, rather than a broader inquiry that some lawmakers have proposed, the sources said
Tuesday's discussion followed a rare call to Daschle from Vice President Dick Cheney last Friday to make the same request.
"The vice president expressed the concern that a review of what happened on September 11 would take resources and personnel away from the effort in the war on terrorism," Daschle told reporters.
But, Daschle said, he has not agreed to limit the investigation.
"I acknowledged that concern, and it is for that reason that the Intelligence Committee is going to begin this effort, trying to limit the scope and the overall review of what happened," said Daschle, D-South Dakota.
"But clearly, I think the American people are entitled to know what happened and why," he said.
Cheney met last week in the Capitol with the chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees and, according to a spokesman for Senate Intelligence Chairman Bob Graham, D-Florida, "agreed to cooperate with their effort."
The heads of both intelligence committees have been meeting to map out a way to hold a bipartisan House-Senate investigation and hearings.
They were discussing how the inquiry would proceed, including what would be made public, what would remain classified, and how broad the probe would be.
Graham's spokesman said the committees will review intelligence matters only.
"How ill prepared were we and why? We are looking towards the possibility of addressing systemic problems through legislation," said spokesman Paul Anderson.
Some Democrats, such as Sens. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, have been calling for a broad inquiry looking at various federal government agencies beyond the intelligence community.
"We do not meet our responsibilities to the American people if we do not take an honest look at the federal government and all of its agencies and let the country know what went wrong," Torricelli said.
"The best assurance that there's not another terrorist attack on the United States is not simply to hire more federal agents or spend more money. It's to take an honest look at what went wrong. Who or what failed? There's an explanation owed to the American people," he said.
Although the president and vice president told Daschle they were worried a wide-reaching inquiry could distract from the government's war on terrorism, privately Democrats questioned why the White House feared a broader investigation to determine possible culpability.
"We will take a look at the allocation of resources. Ten thousand federal agents -- where were they? How many assets were used, and what signals were missed?" a Democratic senator told CNN.

-- CNN Capitol Hill Producer Dana Bash and CNN Correspondents Jon Karl and John King contributed to this report.

The Enron Web - Arthur Andersen Consultant Shot Dead In December
By Kieran Nicholson
Denver Post Staff Writer
1-26-2

Tuesday, December 04, 2001 - A body discovered in a van in Pike National Forest was identified Monday as a missing 59-year-old Jefferson County man.

James Watkins, missing since Nov. 13, apparently committed suicide, said Jacki Tallman, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

"It appears he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Tallman said.

Watkins' wife of 33 years, Pat, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Watkins' van was spotted about 6 p.m. Saturday by a snowmobile rider who recognized it from media reports about the missing engineering consultant.

The Douglas County coroner's office on Monday had not completed autopsy, toxicology and forensic work, but "no foul play is suspected at this time," said Wes Riber, deputy coroner.

A weapon and a note were found at the scene, Tallman said. Contents of the note were not disclosed.

Watkins, employed at Arthur Andersen consultants, was last seen by co-workers at his downtown Denver office. At the time of his disappearance, he was preparing for a business trip to China.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,...?search=filter

As to whether he was murdered.
Many people are buried under the Bushes:
Inslaw reporter murdered:
>One journalist, Danny Casolaro, died as he attempted to tell the story <
>a painfully clear snapshot of how the Justice Department operated during the Reagan-Bush years. This is the case that won't go away, the case that shows how justice and public service gave way to profit and political expediency, how those within the administration's circle of privilege were allowed to violate private property and civil rights for their own profit. Sound like a conspiracy theorist's dream? Absolutely. But the fact is, it's true.<
[The above would well describe ENRON.]
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/9357/inslaw.html
The reporter was onto the biggest story of his lifetime and scheduled to meet with an informant within the Reagan/Bush administration when he checked into his hotel. Next morning he was found dead. "Suicide" was the official finding.

Remember the S&L failures and bail outs that transferred billions of tax money to conservative businessmen's private accounts?
>There has been one known murder in Northern California that has strong possible links to the bankruptcy system. There have been several more in Texas. This series will focus on different incidents from various parts of the country.<
http://www.sonic.net/sentinel/gvcon7.html
And does anyone remember vince Foster's supposed suicide?:
>But the reports contained broad admissions that the CIA knew about the contra-cocaine smuggling, obstructed criminal investigations and systematically covered up evidence that might have been politically harmful to President Reagan's pro-contra policies.
The major media's handling of last year's disclosures, however, so readily accepted the superficial spin of the press releases that the historically devastating admissions were largely missed.
On Oct. 8, 1998, when the CIA released Volume Two of the internal contra-cocaine investigation -- with detailed admissions of wrongdoing -- most big newspapers downplayed the disclosures or wrote nothing at all.
[paragraps not quoted. follow link for full text]
As the government investigations unfolded, however, it became clear that nearly every major cocaine smuggling network used the contra operation in some way and that the contras were connected -- directly or indirectly -- with possibly the bulk of cocaine that flooded the United States in the 1980s.<
comment within page cited:
>Goes to show that the media is in collusion with an entity greater than the democratic party. The secret hearings are to protect that gentle, (god)fatherly type, George Bush -- America's first Drug Czar. Obviously a title that processed literally in his oblong head, considering that cocaine usage in America tripled during the Reagan/Bush years. And of course, Bill Clinton carries on the corrupt dynasty.<
How many have died from cocaine and crack abuse over the last 20 years?
The guy who published an expose of Bush's drug history:
http://www.softskull.com/jimhatfield.html
Jim Hatfield suffered a recall and book burning in 2000, yet his book got published and his publisher was funding a sequel. He was on top of the world when he was unexpectedly found dead. "Suicide" was the official finding.
Odd how anyone who threatens the Bushes commits "suicide"
Many americans have gone to jail on much less evidence than there is against the most likely murderers.
It must be nice to be so rich and powerful than you can order killing with impunity.

Why The Lies About Ron Brown?

Kathleen Janoski, the Navy chief petty officer who photographed Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown's body at Dover Air Force Base after he died in a mysterious plane crash in Croatia in April, 1996, told the AIM conference the shocking story of how she was relieved of her duties because photographs she had taken had revealed evidence that Brown may have been shot. Kathleen Janoski said she hadn't come to any conclusions about whether Brown was murdered or not, but she was certain that senior officers at the base didn't want the questions answered.
In photographing Brown's body, Janoski noticed and photographed a perfectly round hole in the top of his head. She called it to the attention of some of the officers. They thought it could have been made by a .45-caliber bullet. A head x-ray showed what appeared to be small metallic fragments inside the skull. The lieutenant colonels recommended that an autopsy be performed, but they were overruled by the colonel in charge. No autopsy was ever performed, and Janoski was informed by a civilian investigator that the head x-ray had been destroyed. But Janoski had photographed both the hole in Brown's head and the x-rays when they were up on a light box.
Lt. Col. Steve Cogswell, one of three pathologists who had recommended an autopsy, used this case as an example of a botched death investigation in lectures that he gave. The case came to the attention of investigative reporter Chris Ruddy, who obtained copies of Janoski's photos of Brown, and the story was out. Ruddy's paper, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, gave it a front-page banner headline. The Christian Broadcasting Net-work, CBN, aired a story about it. The big media ignored it, but the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, AFIP, was very unhappy. Lt. Col. Cogswell's military career was ruined and he was told to seek counseling. Janoski, once the head of photography at the institute, was given 32 hours to clear out of her office and her staff was taken away. She feared she would be put on trial, but the Navy allowed her to retire.
CBN's Dale Hurd asked, "Is Cogswell's and Janoski's punishment by the AFIP simply because they shined the light on shoddy work and embarrassed the Pentagon? Or is there something more?" Hurd found that the AFIP was continuing to lie. In a statement, it claimed that extensive forensic tests were conducted on the body. Janoski said that was completely false. She said her faith in the Navy was badly shaken, not only by her treatment, but by the refusal to do an autopsy and lying about it, and by the destruction of the head x-ray. But she has no regrets and is proud of having helped Chris Ruddy to bring the facts about this bungled death investigation to the public's attention.
Janoski said that she saw no wounds on Ron Brown's body except the hole in his head that appeared to be fatal. The AWACS radar showed that his plane was on course for a landing at Dubrovnik when it suddenly veered to the left and crashed into St. John's Peak. The pilot apparently made a quick correction when the signal from the beacon indicated he was off course. The Croatian responsible for the beacon died of a gunshot wound before he was questioned. It is clear that the government lied, destroyed evidence that proved it, and punished those who disclosed it.

More Corruption From Reno

Praising Accuracy in Media for its concern for whistleblowers' rights, Martin E. Andersen told the AIM conference how he was persecuted by Janet Reno's Justice Department for telling the truth about violations of the law, leaks of national security information, dubious contracts, and waste, fraud and mismanagement. Andersen, who worked as a senior adviser for policy and planning in the Criminal Division's international law enforcement training programs, forced a three-year criminal investigation of the Criminal Division. He said that the Justice Department's inspector general found management to be guilty of "serious, substantial and egregious misconduct."
One target of the probe was a Justice Department official close to Janet Reno who committed visa fraud on behalf of his girlfriend in Moscow. Ironically, this aide was chosen by Reno to clean up problems in the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Andersen said there are other whistleblowers who, before 9/11, had been warning about problems that made us vulnerable to terrorist attack. He said these included U.S. Customs Service employees who warned of uninspected containers that may have included terrorist devices or weapons; warnings of unsecured uranium and plutonium storage facilities; Defense Department official Peter Leitner's warnings about the sale of sophisticated equipment to China and rogue states; concerns about the vulnerability of nuclear power plants to attack; and suggestions that Justice Department officials may be open to blackmail because of their personal behavior or handling of classified information.
Andersen said an investigation of his allegations led to the discovery that one Justice Department official had left 156 classified documents unsecured in his office. He had an open safe that included nothing but a videotape and instructions for setting the combination. Some of the chief culprits named by Andersen were Mark Richard and Lee Radek. Radek was the head of the public integrity section. He said they collaborated with Reno in covering up Clinton administration wrongdoing.
For speaking out, Andersen had his security clearance yanked, and he was assigned to a room where classified documents were being stored for burning. He called it a farce meant to humiliate him. He fought for justice for four years, teetering on the brink of bankruptcy several times. But he had carefully documented his case, and those documents proved useful as the process went forward. He got some press support, especially from the Washington Times and Insight magazine. The Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistleblower complaints, vindicated him. Andersen won the OSC's Public Servant Award.
He warned, however, that most whistleblowers are not so lucky. That is why it is important that new legislation be passed by Congress to protect them. He said the 9/11 attacks make it even more imperative to make sure whistleblowers have the right to come forward without fear of retaliation to tell the truth. He urged President Bush to issue an executive order requiring the managers of federal agencies to protect them.

Need I go on?

The Valerie Plame affair?

Bob Woodward - didn't have a deep throat - bob Woodward did / does and always has - worked at the NYP for the See Eye Ehh!.

From getting rid of Kennedy in dealey plaza Texas, to Nixons downfall and the 2000 Stolen election - all orchestrated by the world oil oligarchy...

You only have to know where to look and how to read between the lines.

Anyone thinks Di Hydrogen Monoxide is the fuel of the future is deluding themselves.

I already know what the answer is.

M = Delta T is the answer you seek.

Time will be the energy source of the future.

First you have to ask the right questions to get the right answers.

If you do, the world oil oligarchy will ensure you end up like all those microbiologists the world over (who were recruited by V Plame) who are now pushin up daisys, since she was outted...by Woodward!

If you can't ask the right questions - you can never get the right answers.

Sadly - all this was foreseen - by your own "seeress" Jean Dixon, (Prophets are never believed within their own country)...who back in the 60's said something along the lines of:-

" see the formation of a Governement within the Government, who will bring this country to it's knees. They will control who sits in the Whitehouse and he will be "there man" regardless of which party he comes from - or what idea's / policys he may have - no one but their man will occupy the oval office".

I could dig out the original qulte I guess - sadly spome 40 years later, it has sadly proven true. Just like her predictions of JFK's and subsequently the other brothers, assassinations.

There are non so blind as those who don't want to see.

I fully expect the US willl sink into another civil war, over the situation it now finds itself in.

It wouldn't surprise me to see the USA represented in the future by 5 presidents each representing 10 states - in order to avoid a repeat of the hopeless situation it now finds itself in.

Then again - some think I'm certifiable!

Crazy I may be! - but stooopid - i ain't!

Cheers!

[brian eiland]

Originally Posted by JonathanCole

.... I guess the point I am trying to make is that STORAGE is the difficult part......

I remember seeing quite a bit of promotion about Hydrogen-on Demand at one time in the recent past:

"In contrast, reacting chemical hydrides with water is a great way to generate hydrogen. Millennium Cell has developed and publicly demonstrated systems (known as Hydrogen on Demand® or HOD™ systems) utilizing sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as a hydrogen storage medium at power levels ranging from as low as 2 W up to 65 kW."

It looked real interesting, but I don't see the same emphasis on this technology that there once was??