Picasso Dreams

The Real Karl Schwarz and an Apology

I feel that I erroneasly impugned Mr. Karl Scchwarz's business integrity in a prior post.

First Message form Karl Schwarz:

Sorry to burst your BUBBLE, but I am Karl W. B. Schwarz and you are not. Patmos Nanotechnologies, LLC is a holding company of over 30 different companies and has no need for a "domain" that you just wasted your money on. Each of those 30 companies is directly involved in nanotechnology that are dependent on highly pure carbon nanotubes, which is a niche heavily dominated by Patmos holdings patents (in other names so don't waste time or money on other domains).

We are installing a $4 billion (product production volume, not costs to build) carbon nanotube manufacturing plant right now and do not advertise even where that is at this time. One of our competitors is CNI of Houston which is in part owned by Kellogg Brown & Root, so figure it out as to not being on the radar.

They are having fits trying to figure me out, and if they cannot, neither can you.

E*Capbank had raised $1.6 billion to acquire Viatel, Ebone, WCG and GX and that deal died on a conference call between myself, UBS Warburg, and Arab investors from Dubai, Dubai Internet City, Amman, Bahrain and Riyadh. It died when the second plane hit the South Tower of WTC and all parties ended the conf call.

GlobalAxxess was the only Global VAR of UUNet, out of the 15 VARs that UUNet had. Not hardly a "shell company" as you suggest - but was OFFSHORE and GLOBAL, if you get that. When WCOM bought the company and the WCOM fraud surfaced, we renamed it to COMMAXXESS to distance ourselves from that fraud, since we have nothing to do with it.

Yes, I live in Little Rock, AR, yes I am the author of the demand letter that went to George W. Bush but is also went to Kerry and DNC and all of them reeled backwards.

See www.summeroftruth.org and find my name and the PPT link. Get informed as to what I presented to the audience in NYC on 9-11. Brought the house down and it will soon be available in DVD, including the PPT if you would take the time to look at it.

See onlinejournal.com and stay tuned to that site. Three more articles coming that will ruin many days in DC.

I also have 2 other holding companies but keep most of my business and personal affairs private.

Will not be living in Arkansas much longer due to business and personal affairs, again - private.

Have a good weekend Kelly and don't burst a brain circuit trying to figure me out.

I am presenting the truth and many have a problem with that. You seem to understand the gravity on what I am saying and it means everything to all of us. Our nation is at stake and our freedoms.

Second Message form Karl Schwarz:

All technologies have good and evil uses and I should not have to explain to you which way I choose.

My companies are affilaited with 2 government labs and we do only what is right. We have many universities lined up to do collaborative IP R&D with us, again, only what is right.

I am a recognized expert on photonics, that is what led to nanotech rather than MEMS. Was into 1.5 petabit per second core routers before the other telecoms even heard of them. My dealing with the Middle East was not fashionable with DC for I see a flaw in our economic and foreign policies. One cannot let our Financial Terrorists run amuck through this world for their benefit and leave nothing behind but hopelessness. Sooner or later that breeds hatred, and voila, we have what we see now.

We intended to level the playing field and include the Islamic world this time. DC did not like that. The "why" of it is rather problematic and structural with a certain family in DC that thinks the oil kingdom is theirs alone.

Check out Richard W. Behan, The GOP Inc, a friend of mine and have to admit - a Liberal friend of mine. He describes them a Movement Conservatives in his piece on ProgressiveTrail.org. I call them Financial Terrorist and in my book I name them, what they do, how they do it.

Bottom line - they have sold all of us out, both sides of the aisle.

You can well imagine how unfashionable it is to DC to have an RNC insider that spent 1994 election night with RNC Finance (the Team 100, big league insiders) and in 1996 told them to stick the "Contract with America" when he had enough inside information to know with certainty that it was a "Contract ON America".

All about the Corporatization of the U.S. government" and that is by sheer definition Fascism. That is why I pulled out and went The American Way.

The book will be available soon via www.rbnlive.com, or Republic Broadcast Network. I was surprised that Matthew had something to say to you on this arcane site, albeit a good site.

Do stay tuned to www.onlinejournal.com. The DC "acid stomach" is about to commence.

If you think what I have disclosed thus far is a wild fire, the next round is thermonuclear. Many will resign, many will hide in shame, some will probably commit suicide.

After my post yesterday, John Fund's attorneys were begging to settle within 6 hours after news hit. That is the power of the truth.

It is way past time that America flushed the toilet in DC.

My response:

In an age of cynicism, we enter autopilot mode when encountered with something that seems too good to be true. If it seems to good, it cannot possibly be legitimate. I want to believe that I am above all that, that I have no prejudices. I am fortunate to have traveled and experienced cultures in more countries than I can count on my fingers and toes, and a significant portion of the United States as well. I am fascinated by the differences, commonalities and misperceptions among communities. And while skin color, religious beliefs, sexuality, socio-economic status, tattoos and piercings do not interfere with my relationships among my fellow humans on this planet, one experience in my past has created a sense of mistrust of…there’s a word for it, but I do not recall it… certain business people.

A decade ago, I became acquainted with a man who could convince you the moon was made of stinky, green cheese and sell you a pound of it. He was a suave, sophisticated, brilliant 70 year-old entrepreneur, holding hundreds of patents and CEO of a few avionics companies. He made so many promises that never came to fruition financially, but there was always an excuse. I think everyone he ever came into contact with knew they were being conned, but he was crazy and charming, and on brief – very brief - occasions, successful financially. He asked to store some documents at our house, as he needed access to them during a move to another state. He asked for all sorts of things – please register this domain, file this application for a corporation, or fill out this application to create a holding company. “Tell me what your expenses are and I’ll send you a check.”

Needless to say, the check never came. Nor did he make arrangements to pick up the twenty or so boxes stored in the corner of the living room. He did call to say he was negotiating this deal or that, but by that time it was obvious that there was no positive outcome of the relationship. The boxes were not sealed, so we snooped. All the corporations, trusts, holding companies, patent applications existed. However, upon examination of some of the receipts, a pattern emerged. He (and his wife) would obtain financial backing and dump start-up capital into lavish trips to Vegas, shopping sprees at Neiman’s, five-star European holidays…. The business would go under, he would sucker someone else into a complicated stock swap scheme and begin a new venture. He was a colossal train wreck, turning people’s lives upside down. He had the Midas touch with the polarity reversed. Despite this, he had honorable intentions and desperately wanted a success in his final years. Fortunately, he only made a brief appearance in my life, but the stories of his interactions with others (learned after the fact) would make a too-weird-to-be-true work of fiction. He always used his middle initials in his name, which was of Germanic origin.

Agh! I don’t even like to think of the man. The checking account only suffered by a few hundred dollars in miscellaneous expenses, but it was worth the lesson for a couple of twentysomethings.

When I couldn’t find any information on Mr. Schwarz, the first thing that came to my mind was the brilliant, busted businessman I had met in the past. I was immediately disillusioned. It was too good to be true. Patmos Nanotechnolgies didn’t exist, and in this day and age, everyone and everything has a presence on the web. People have web pages devoted to their pets! A big portion of all government documents were public until Herr Ashcroft and Herr Bush decided that “We the People” are a bunch of terrorists and removed huge portions of previously public information from public viewing. There is no way a business can hide, and if they are hiding, then perhaps it is an intelligence operation. In hindsight, I should have just called him, but as I explained to Mr. Schwarz in a late-night e-mail, I was frightened by his charm. I felt that if I were to speak or write to him, I would be sucked into a melodrama written in the past. Also, maybe I wouldn't write down my concerns, which I feel were legitimate regardless of whether my fears proved correct.

Mr. Schwarz has graciously explained his business experience, which has shades of “it’s too good to be true” written all over it, but it really is true – and fascinating. I am not printing his personal e-mails to me, as I can now certainly understand his desire for privacy, but he is free to reproduce it as he sees fit. And anyone going up against KB&R has my utmost wishes to put that slimy company (that friends work for – sorry about that) out of business and the top executives in jail for treason and crimes against humanity. I hear there are cells available at Abu Ghraib.

Coupled with the inability to find any information on Patmos or Global Axxess, my experience with the business typhoon (leaving a path of destruction in his wake), my paranoia about counterintelligence operatives in the peace movement, a tension headache from the debate between Tweedle Smart and Tweedle Dumb, e-mails to friends outside of the US asking if political asylum is possible if Bush steals the election, fake polls and inane quotes praising Dubbya for his performance in the debate, three new homeless people hanging out by the highway overpass, the debt limit vote delayed until after the election, more dead men in Iraq, the bullet ridden corpse of a little Palestinian child one her way to school, reports of shredded voter registration forms and voting machine failures, the mysteries of the 1918 Spanish Flu “resolved” during what appears an almost planned vaccine shortage, reports of the US and Israel attacking Iran from a website that has mysteriously disappeared after a year plus on-line, and reading the lies of idiots who are trying to lure all the high school kids into joining an organization that is committing crimes against humanity on a daily basis – but don’t worry, kid, if you engage in acts of torture you will probably be promoted and as you grow black mushrooms on your thighs and your kids are born with gross deformities from your exposure to the radioactive waste of illegal weapons in a useless attempt to bring armed democracy to the people, just remember that you are defending the United States of America, and all the other depressing news of the day, I became overly suspicious. It’s hard to find good in the world some days, and if something is too good to be true, it probably is. It doesn’t excuse posting about him without more information, but it is an explanation. I jumped to the wrong conclusion about Mr. Schwarz, and I apologize for my biting sarcasm.

I do not believe in coincidences – I believe in synchronicity. The key is to figure out the benefit of our interactions with each other and our environment. In other words, this happened for a reason, even if I don't understand the benefit at the moment. While I feel I was not nice in accusing Mr. Schwarz of being someone other than he professed to be, I do not feel bad about investigating these inconsistencies, even if it wasn’t the most thorough job. I take perverse pleasure in playing the role of devil’s advocate, as I think it’s the only way to discover the truth, although truth is merely a perception. I’ll stop with that Jungian thought before this becomes seven pages of existentialism.

While I understand why Mr. Schwarz did not feel the need to register the domain names, in the age of the Internet, it is a wise thing to do. Plenty of nefarious types can register a domain and put up disinformation, or more often, porn and other sleazy sites. It’s cheap and no need to create a parked page if the company is just a holding company. I have received a lot of private e-mails from people saying they had the same question, “Why not register the domains?” I was not the only person to find it odd, especially for a technology company.

In my late-night ramblings to Mr. Schwarz, I mentioned the frustration I felt. He mentioned that many people were making plans to leave the US if Bush steals the election. What does that say about Bush? That people are willing to leave their friends, family and country to escape the man and his policies? And the people leaving are the smart ones. They see what is going on. They know something’s about to hit the proverbial fan. What happens with the mass exodus of the intelligentsia? Where will the creative ideas emerge that are necessary to repair the physical and economic infrastructure of the country? I know twelve people personally who will move with a Bush “win”. I have read blogs indicating a whole lot of people have the same idea.

Well, I shall put this to rest. Please buy Mr. Schwarz’s book, “One Way Ticket to Crawford” when it is published, or at least borrow it from a friend if you are one of the unemployed or underemployed affected by the fascist corruption of US society. Send a copy of his demand letter to everyone you know. The only way to stop the corruption is an informed society.

I apologize for coming to the wrong conclusion about Karl Schwarz’s background. We have much to learn from him.

Karl Schwarz and the Mysterious Patmos Nanotechnologies

UPDATE: I had legitimate questions about Karl Schwarz. After days of correspondence with him and a few of his associates, it appears that he is the real deal. Please see my apology to Mr. Schwarz. You can find it here: http://karmakat.typepad.com/picasso_dreams/2004/10/teh_real_karl_s.html.

Also, check out the John Kerry forum, as he has answered many questions I brought up. I believe he jumps in on Page 3 or 4. It's a long thread. I am consolidating it and will post it here this afternoon.

Check out http://www.meria.net/, Recent Shows. For the next 20 plus hours, you can hear an interview with Karl Schwarz on the Meria Heeler show. Go to "Recent Shows".

Finally, Mr. Schwarz has graciously allowed me to publish Chapter 7 of his book, "One Way Ticket to Crawford", available at RBNLive.com. He writes about a a dirty bomb and eth FBI's lack of interest in the subject. It is posted here.

Just who is Karl W. Schwarz? An eloquent author, yes. He writes passionate, well-researched essays outlining the crimes of government. He writes prolifically, and has been a featured speaker at forums that focus on the truth behind the events surrounding September 11th. He is exceptionally articulate. I do not disagree with what he has to say.

I came across his name as the author of a demand letter to President Bush. He was described as a CEO of Patmos Nanotechnologies LLC, although this company does not exist in any cache from a search engine, because until yesterday, this domain had never been registered. I bought it. Yes, it was perhaps a reckless waste of money, especially with Dubbya and most of the politicians in Washington, D.C. spending and squandering like there’s no tomorrow. What do they care, anyhow? They have their super secret bunkers where they can hunker down with their super friends while they play soldier with the “nookulure” football. But I digress, as I often do.

It is implausible to think that any business that would use the word “nanotechnologies” in the name wouldn’t have a website, let alone the domain registered.

Fueled by excessive caffine yesterday, I registered patmosnanotechnologies.com yesterday afternoon. You can read about my convoluted reasoning here.:

I found a few more irregularities as I my search continued. Mind you, this is limited to five search engines and no public records search. It’s not my intent to harm Mr. Schwarz, and his personal life is none of my business. My interest is in his business acumen.

A search on the word “Patmos” revealed that it is not only one of the Greek Islands, but also an acronym for Power And Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation. This sounds like nanotechnology to me. I’m thinking to myself, “Wow. This guy’s a CEO, Republican and Christian and smart!” And I still think he’s smart, but I have not found a real record of his experiences with nanotechnology. I did not find any association of PATMOS and Karl Schwarz. The domain name was unregistered until I signed myself up as the new owner yesterday afternoon. The only reference to Patmos Nanotechnologies is a two-line bio of Mr. Schwarz that appears after his essays, or associated with an introduction of 9/11 panelists.

The next biographical reference to appear was:

“Karl W. B. Schwarz lives in Little Rock, Ark., and is the author of "One-Way Ticket to Crawford, Texas, a Conservative Republican Speaks Out." He is the President and Chief Executive Office of Patmos Nanotechnologies, LLC and I-nets Security Systems, a designer of intelligence and UAV systems.”

Ah ha! I figured out the reason for the missing reference to Patmos Nanotechnologies. It must be a subsidiary of I-nets Security Systems.

My fingers danced over to Teoma and Google.

Inets.com is an ISP.

I-nets.com (note hyphen) is involved in digital compression and transmission technology, which sounds like the it would involve a word like “nannotechnology”, but the operation is based in Singapore (with a California office). We know that Mr. Schwarz has lived in Arkansas for much of his adult life, so that probably isn’t the right company. There is no mention of a Schwarz in the company structure.

I-nets.net is registered in Germany and is for sale.

Now I was a little more confused, and a tad suspicious. Designer of intelligence and security systems, and no real biography despite his growing prominence as a spokesperson for a truth movement. Is there some counterinetlligence aspect that is overlooked by truth activists?

I figured I’d look for a copy of his book. I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I am assuming it is still in the writing or self-publishing phase. I did see a link to his lawyer for those interested in purchasing a copy.

I kept searching and went to Meria Heller’s site where I found this reference:

From Meria Heller’s site I found this reference:

“10/6/04 - Meria With Karl Schwarz - Demands on Bush

Show opens with revised version of "Cakewalk to Baghdad" by the Country Joe Band www.Countryjoe.com; Karl Schwarz joins me again for an amazing interview on his list of demands sent to Bush, the RNC & the DNC. This coming from a Christian Republican who knows his way around. He is the author of the soon to be published "One-Way Ticket to Crawford, Texas, A Conservative Republican Speaks Out", and President & CEO of Patmos Nanotechnologies. You can write Karl for a copy of his list of demands and reserve your copy of his book at nospam@worldnet.att.net.”

The e-mail address, which I have removed part of in an effort to deter spam (you can easily find it online) surprised me, as it was to what would appear to be a personal at-home account. Many authors have their names domained nowadays. Well, at least it solved the publication riddle. I was starting to get the idea that Mr. Schwarz lacks any real web development skills.

Then I stumbled upon this little treasure:

“Karl Schwarz, chief executive of Global Axxess, talked about the Bi-Partisan nature of the elements responsible for the 9/11 tragedy. Mr. Schwarz said that if he had the time, he could have shown a 30 minute power point presentation that has already convinced 30,000 Conservative Republicans not to vote for Bush/Cheney. On a humorous note, Mr. Schwarz told the crowd that he had become a Republican because of Bill and Hillary and had now become an Independent because of the Bush Administration.”

Well, now in the same period, the entrepreneurial Karl Schwarz is also CEO of Global Axxess AND Patmos Nanotechnolgies.

My fingers typed Global Axxess into the search engines and – viola! – nothing but a shell company.

The first reference to Global Axxess I found was a press release from GlobeTrac:

London, England, September 3, 2002 – GlobeTrac Inc. (OTCBB:GBTR)has appointed a new president and CEO and acquired the exclusive European right to distribute an innovative suite of global wireless tracking, communication, and telematics devices.

New President and CEO
GlobeTrac has appointed James (Jim) Pratt as its president and CEO. The company is pleased to have this distinguished gentleman join their team. His vast experience and wisdom will be of great value to GlobeTrac's business. Mr. Pratt has also joined the board of directors.

Before joining GlobeTrac, Mr. Pratt served as the CEO of Peoples Phone in Hong Kong and the managing director of Telstra International's offshore wireless business interests. Mr. Pratt represents Singtel Optus Limited as the chairman of the GSM Association and is a director of Brek Energy Corporation, a Nasdaq-quoted company.

Change of Business

GlobeTrac has entered the wireless tracking and telematics industry by acquiring all of the shares of Global Axxess Corporation Limited. Global Axxess is a private company formed under the laws of the Republic of Ireland that distributes wireless tracking, communications, and telematics devices developed and manufactured by WebTech Wireless Inc. of Burnaby, British Columbia, under a master distributorship agreement dated for reference June 19, 2002, between Global Axxess and WebTech. The agreement grants Global Axxess the exclusive right to distribute WebTech's products in Europe.

Through Global Axxess, GlobeTrac offers an end-to-end platform of wireless and mobile services using a GSM/GPRS network that provides commercial fleets with affordable vehicle tracking, communications and telematics services delivered over the Internet in a user-friendly format. With these services, fleet managers can ensure that their vehicles are operated efficiently, economically and safely, thus maximizing their customers' satisfaction.

About GlobeTrac Inc.
GlobeTrac provides Internet based wireless GSM/GPRS solutions with tracking, telematics and geo-fencing capabilities direct to end users and through wireless network operators. The GlobeTrac suite of products provides an end-to-end platform that utilizes GSM/GPRS as the wireless backbone. For more information, visit www.globetrac.com or contact GlobeTrac Inc. at (866) 571-2034 or by e-mail at info@globetrac.com.

Now I am really confused. Irish corporation, British Columbia manufacturer. All thousands of miles from Arkansas. By the way, globalaxxess.com is currently unregistered. I guess GlobeTrac didn’t want the redirects.

A search of Karl Schwarz and UAV led to an article co-authored by Karl Schwarz and Stefan Schwarz in Flug Revue. Dated February 1997, the title of the article is “Market Survey: Unmanned Air Vehicles in Europe.” I do not know if this is the same Karl W. B. Schwarz.

I searched a little more and found Karl Schwarz’s name as CEO of COMMAXXESS/COMMAXX (domain now for sale, Mr. Schwarz’s attorney is the contact person on the domain registration.), a company designed to take over the bankrupt Global Crossing back in 2003. Mr. Schwarz encouraged shareholders and employees “to endorse Global Axxess in their bid to take ownership of Global Crossing. You can read some of the comments to the FCC here.

I’m a little confused, since according to GlobeTrac, Global Axxess was an Irish corporation.

I found nothing but a series of press releases sent to a series of small business media outlets stating:

COMMAXXESS asserts it represents the “highest and best” offer for Global Crossing
COMMAXXESS, Inc. (“COMMAX”) today announced that its offer to acquire Global Crossing produces the most recovery for each class of creditor and would provide long overdue remedy to what was done to former employees and shareholders of Global Crossing. [eMediaWire Jun 28, 2003]

and

COMMAXXESS, Inc. Reaffirms Offer to Acquire Global Crossing for $815 Million
COMMAXXESS, Inc. (“COMMAXX”) today announced that it reaffirms its offer to acquire all of the assets of Global Crossing LTD., and Global Crossing Holdings LTD, collectively (“Global Crossing”) for consideration of over $800 million cash plus conversion of creditor claims into Newco equity shares. [eMediaWire Jun 27, 2003]

Now it’s my turn to ask - Confused yet? It seems if Global Axxess, COMMEXXESS, and COMMAXXESSES are all the same company, but people forget which name to use on a daily basis.

I was up until the wee hours of the morning looking for more information on Mr. Schwarz. Thanks to the miracle of nanotechnology, I found Doug Basham’s site. Mr. Schwarz was a guest on September 25th. http://www.dougbasham.com/base.html

“He is an architect by training with extensive experience in investment banking, workouts, and advanced technology. He is a devout Christian and during the mid to late 1980s, authored a prison ministry. During that time, his keen insights and ability to write developed in delivering a theological message to hardened criminals. He enjoys great restaurants, travel, golf, hunting, fishing, camping, outdoor cooking and spending time with friends and family.”

No reference to Global Axxess or Patmos Nanotechnologies, but it did help me broaden me search parameters, where I discovered E-Cap Bank, which is, best as I can tell, a site that was to lure potential investors to pony up $2.5 billion for a mega telecom takeover. Perhaps it failed because the Global Axxess and COMMEXXESS could not find the time to showcase their business on the web. Or maybe it is the members.tripod web address and home made web page for E-Cap Bank, which appears to be the only institution with a web presence, yet still no registered domain name.

I do not list technology as a hobby, and yet I have several websites, and if I am bored one day, I can just plunk down my fingers onto the keyboard and use one of the twenty or so names of other sites I have registered and create an instant website. I’m not a programmer. It’s not especially hard, but time consuming if you are a novice and want things like actions scripts and css style sheets. But that doesn’t answer the question of why someone with a technology hobby did not register the domains?

Something isn’t right here. I don’t want to delve into Mr. Schwarz’s background or impugn his character. All I know about him comes from web sites. We share many of the same ideals. He has many important ideas to share with the world. However, these inconsistencies regarding Patmos Nanotechnolgies and Global Axxess bother me because those who want to damage the credibility of the 9-11 truth movement will use this information as ammunition. The skeptic in me wonders about cointellpro possibilities, but the feds have people who can build websites and plenty of PR firms ready to register domains for fictitious grass roots groups. I was not impressed that Globe Axxess was involved in personal tracking devices. Kind of Orwellian, especially for someone who complains about the Patriot Act. I keep thinking of Stephen Hatfill, smeared by Bush. Mr. Schwarz could have spent half his life in prison (he did not to the best of my knowledge) and I would have no less respect for the ideas he put forth in his demand letter to Bush. However, he needs to stick to the facts and not worry about exaggerating his role as a businessman. Technically, I am a CEO/President, too, because I on my own business. My friends would laugh at me if I used the term on my business card.

What’s the point to all this if it is not my intention to bring disrespect to Mr. Schwarz and the 9/11 movement? Any person can do a search on Karl W. B. Schwarz and come up with this information. What if he was at a rally and someone blindsided him with these inconsistencies? You can bet that reporters covering the event would focus on Mr. Schwarz’s character rather than his thoughts on 9-11. I suppose I would rather deal this now and move on. Karl Schwarz knows his 9-11 history and has much to offer. Just tell us the truth, please.

U.S. Soldiers Massacre Non-Combatant Iraqis

by Lt. Calley

Seymour Hersh spoke at Berkeley last Friday, October 8th. He told a story about recently receiving a call from an American lieutenant in Iraq who'd just witnessed other American soldiers killing non-combatant Iraqis. Seymour Hersh spoke at Berkeley last Friday, October 8th. He told a story about recently receiving a call from an American lieutenant in Iraq who'd just witnessed other American soldiers killing non-combatant Iraqis.

HERSH: I got a call last week from a soldier -- it's different now, a lot of communication, 800 numbers. He's an American officer and he was in a unit halfway between Baghdad and the Syrian border. It's a place where we claim we've done great work at cleaning out the insurgency. He was a platoon commander. First lieutenant, ROTC guy.

It was a call about this. He had been bivouacing outside of town with his platoon. It was near, it was an agricultural area, and there was a granary around. And the guys that owned the granary, the Iraqis that owned the granary... It was an area that the insurgency had some control, but it was very quiet, it was not Fallujah. It was a town that was off the mainstream. Not much violence there. And his guys, the guys that owned the granary, had hired, my guess is from his language, I wasn't explicit -- we're talking not more than three dozen, thirty or so guards. Any kind of work people were dying to do. So Iraqis were guarding the granary. His troops were bivouaced, they were stationed there, they got to know everybody...

They were a couple weeks together, they knew each other. So orders came down from the generals in Baghdad, we want to clear the village, like in Samarra. And as he told the story, another platoon from his company came and executed all the guards, as his people were screaming, stop. And he said they just shot them one by one. He went nuts, and his soldiers went nuts. And he's hysterical. He's totally hysterical. And he went to the captain. He was a lieutenant, he went to the company captain. And the company captain said, "No, you don't understand. That's a kill. We got thirty-six insurgents."

You read those stories where the Americans, we take a city, we had a combat, a hundred and fifteen insurgents are killed. You read those stories. It's shades of Vietnam again, folks, body counts...

You know what I told him? I said, fella, I said: you've complained to the captain. He knows you think they committed murder. Your troops know their fellow soldiers committed murder. Shut up. Just shut up. Get through your tour and just shut up. You're going to get a bullet in the back. You don't need that. And that's where we are with this war.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/299837.shtml

Quote of the Day

"Being lectured by the president on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country." -- Senator John Kerry, October 13, 2004, Tempe, Arizona

Time to defrost Osama!

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." - G.W. Bush, 9/13/01

"I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'" - G.W. Bush, 9/17/01, UPI

"...Secondly, he is not escaping us. This is a guy, who, three months ago, was in control of a county [sic]. Now he's maybe in control of a cave. He's on the run. Listen, a while ago I said to the American people, our objective is more than bin Laden. But one of the things for certain is we're going to get him running and keep him running, and bring him to justice. And that's what's happening. He's on the run, if he's running at all. So we don't know whether he's in cave with the door shut, or a cave with the door open -- we just don't know...." - Bush, in remarks in a Press Availablity with the Press Travel Pool, The Prairie Chapel Ranch, Crawford TX, 12/28/01, as reported on official White House site

KERRY: Yes. When the president had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, he took his focus off of them, outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, and Osama bin Laden escaped.

Six months after he said Osama bin Laden must be caught dead or alive, this president was asked, "Where is Osama bin Laden?"

He said, "I don't know. I don't really think about him very much. I'm not that concerned."

We need a president who stays deadly focused on the real war on terror.

SCHIEFFER: Mr. President?

BUSH: Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those "ex - a- gger- a-tions."

(Note his flailing arms and sneer)

Ahem, Mr. Bush. In fact you said to those left liberal Massachusetts Democrats in the Press Pool:

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

"...and, uh, you know again, I don't know where he is. I, uh, I, I, I repeat what I said, I am truly not that concerned about him." - G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts, 3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)

Well, the New American quote "forgot" to include the I-I-Is. Click here for the video!

Thanks to Dacaha Dude for the link!

Why didn't the left wing media display such an obnoxious demonstration of your ignorance on the front pages for all the world to see?

Dubbya continues:

Of course we're worried about Osama bin Laden. We're on the hunt after Osama bin Laden. We're using every asset at our disposal to get Osama bin Laden.

U.S. General Says Bin Laden 'Out of the Picture' Fri Nov 21, 9:23 AM ET

By Yousuf Azimy

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A senior U.S. general said on Friday that al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) had "taken himself out of the picture" and that his capture was not essential to winning the "war on terror."

General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at U.S. military headquarters just north of Kabul that the 11,500-strong U.S.-led force hunting al Qaeda and Taliban militants was not focusing on individuals.

"He (bin Laden) has taken himself out of the picture," Pace told reporters after visiting U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan (news - web sites).

"It is not an individual that is as important as is the ongoing campaign of the coalition against terrorists," he said.

My opponent said this war is a matter of intelligence and law enforcement. No, this war is a matter of using every asset at our disposal to keep the American people protected.

Every asset that involves his daddy and felenous cronies raping the country.

Demand Letter Sent to Bush From a Corporate CEO

I created a web site in which I posted the following notice. The site will be up in a few hours - I'm waiting for the hosting company to send me the nameservers. Please skip halfway down the post to save yourself the burden of several paragraphs of long-winded and sometimes pointless prose. I'm in one of my moods. "They" probably make meds for that, but I prefer to live the life of a crazy person. It's much more interesting that way.

The author of the following letter is reported to be Karl W. B. Schwarz, President and CEO of Patmos Nanotechnologies, LLC. Curious to know more about this brave Conservative Christian Republican, I put his name in a search engine and found no web site for Patmos Nanotechnologies. I know that many businesses have yet to establish a presence on the web, but the word "nanotechnologies" implies that this company would have a spectacular Flash-based web site, and oddly enough, no one actually owns the domain names patmosnanotechnologies.com, .org, or .net. How could a company that uses the word nanotechnology to describe its business possibly be so short-sited to have forgotten to have registered the domain name? Savvy entrepreneur that I am (kind of, sort of), I decided to buy said domains, which is why you, dear reader, have landed here. No, this is not an attempt to try to sell the domain name back to Mr. Schwarz for millions of dollars. Just the $32.00 to register the domains (which includes $16.50 for the erroneous purchase of domain "patmosnanotechnolgies", which I inadvertently typed due to the new Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte (justified - non-fat with whipped cream )and $35.88 to host this page. (While you may balk at the cost of the hosting - a mere $2.99 per month because the evil capitalist bastards at ehostpros.com require twelve months up front, think of it this way: if I sell you the hosting aspect of the business, you can instantly wipe out my insane rantings before they ever become part of the Google cache, but only if you act quickly. I am not actively promoting this site, but Google likes me. I consistently achieve high rankings for my blog under terms such as "corporate fascism" and "pictures fetus soup", though I do not have nor have I ever had pictures of the latter on my blog. It's a long story.) An a nice letter explaining why the company did not register the domain when it filed as an LLC isn't necessary, but it would be nice, hence the request for a nice letter. And, well, maybe consideration for some creative Flash work for your site. I refer you to my professional site as a reference, however, the flash portion of karmakatdesigns.com - which promises to be very, very cool, will not be up until the end of October 2004, as its high level of coolness necessitates many, many hours of work, something I am not adverse to, mind you, but it tends to aggravate a potential case of carpal tunnel syndrome, and being self-employed I cannot sue my employer for what is surely an OSHA violation, so sometimes I must break away from the glare of the monitor and the constant buzz of a hard drive that will crash at the worst possible time, before I have finished backing up 25 gigs of images. Finally, I will need assurances that Patmos Nanotechnologies is not involved involved a nefarious scheme like the one in the letter sent to "Mr. Kellykat Th2rson" from a distinguished Nigerian prince needing my assistance in this very private financial matter that involves depositing millions of dollars into my bank account, of which I will receive a ten percent commission. All I have to do is send him my bank account number and in 72 hours I will be a millionaire. Sorry, Mr. Schwarz, but I cannot release my bank account number to you, as I cannot ascertain that you are a welathy Nigerian prince, but I will permit you to mail me a check for six thousand seven hundred eighty-eight pennies (address that to "Kelly Thomas" and not Mr. Kellykat Th2rson) or you can just buy some of my art and we'll call it even.

See, that's where the entrepreneurship comes in. Now every person who is not affiliated with Mr. Schwarz has cause to wonder, what art might this person only known until now as Mr. Kellykat Th2rson produce that Mr. Kellykat Th2rson would rather sell than accept a certified check for sixty seven dollars and eighty-eight cents? Is it worth millions of dollars? Hardly, but then I think that many works of art are overvalued. But I am not ashamed at this shameless act of self promotion or use of grammar that would make my fifth grade English teacher, Mrs. Brown, cringe in horror, as I would prefer to not to be a struggling artist with negative cash flow and $67.88 further indebted to American Express. Brazen, perhaps, but at least I am not like the infamous Karen, who initiated the concept of the beg site by asking everyone to donate to the kitty to help pay off her shoe habit. I have a shoe habit, too, but you don't see me asking for people to pay for my Cole Haan sandals and not get something in return. No, I am offering you, dear reader who has amazingly made it this far and is thinking will she ever get to the part about the letter written by Karl Schwarz, author of the soon-to-be-released "One-Way Ticket to Crawford, Texas", the chance to own signed digital prints of my art. I'll have to check my tax records, but this may be the very last year I can show a net loss for my digital art habit fueled by too many lattes at that evil corporate-robber baron chain called Starbucks, just in case the illegal, unconstitutional and PRIVATE Office of the Internal Revenue Service has nothing better to do than than have its employees surfing the web. Starbucks is a legitimate tax write-off, at least in my case. Where was I? Oh, yes, the bottom line (don't you just love all these business terms I have tossed your way, such as cash flow, entrepreneur, tax records, IRS, Starbucks, bottom line, American Express, and Cole Haan.) Note the absence of talk of Birkenstocks, which I do not own, lest you think I am just some flaky artist who spends way too much time at Starbucks, which I toss in there in case you do not want to impart with your evil Republican dollars, because I am very much a Libertarian, which is what all Republicans and Democrats should strive to be. In any case, my shoes are, I repeat, not Birkenstocks. That's Cole Haan, synonym for obscene amount of money for a stylish AND comfortable pair of shoes that scream, "South Hampton summers!"

None of this is meant to demean Mr. Schwarz. I applaud him for speaking out and holding the government responsible for its fraudulent actions against humankind. I want to send his letter to everyone I know and don't know. I am merely peeved that he did not register the domain, which in turn made me think of Nicholas Berg and Prometheus Methods Tower Service, also never registered as a domain to this day. When people fail to register domain names, I become suspicious, especially since I own quite a few with links to nowhere. I just liked the names, and five dollars and fifty cents per domain name is a lot cheaper than a crack habit. I think. I'm not sure, since I have never seen the drug, let alone purchased it. This is rant is a genuine Starbucks buzz. Please feel free to sue these caffeine pushers if my prose has turned you into a paranoid schizophrenic. But I digress. It just seems inconceivable in this day and age that a technology focused company would fail to spend $16.50 to register a couple of domain names, regardless of when the business will go online, as crazy libertarian artists like me can buy the names and engage in acts of shameless self-promotion.

For those of you who have made it this far, here is the text of Mr. Schwarz's letter, which is far more eloquent and to the point than anything I could ever produce:

Demand Letter Sent To
Bush By Corp CEO
From Karl W. B. Schwarz
President, Chief Executive Officer
Patmos Nanotechnologies, LLC
10-13-4

By Email, By Facsimile to White House

Mr. President,

I am a Conservative Christian Republican that has no intentions of voting for you in this year's election and many other Conservative Republicans are following me.

America demands the TRUTH and not after the elections; this nation demands the truth from you RIGHT NOW! This letter and an identical email will be going out to hundreds of thousands by me, millions by others. The following content was sent to the White House by facsimile earlier today from Ground Zero in New York City.

1. I demand as an American citizen that you lift the "gag order" on Sibel D. Edmonds and let Americans know what foreign names and what AMERICAN NAMES she uncovered in her FBI translations that were involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and the financing of 9-11. Her facts and your "official story" lies do not add up. Americans demand the truth on that matter before the election.

2. I demand to know what energy companies were in that Cheney Energy Task Force meeting and what discussions there were as to the steps that would be taken to remove the Taliban and Bridas Corporation as the last remaining obstacle to the United States controlling the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline. I met that company in 1999 and have known since then about the Bridas v Unocal, $15 billion interference of contract lawsuit in US District Court, Southern District of Texas. I also know about the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on September 9, 2003 that upheld the Bridas $500 million arbitration settlement and the March 22, 2004 denial of Writ of Certiorari at the United States Supreme Court, Case 03-1018, Turkmenneft v Bridas.

3. I demand to know how many prisoners are being held at GITMO and other places that are either BRIDAS EMPLOYEES or are persons that know all about Bridas Corporation and what your administration did to get control of that Trans-Afghanistan pipeline.

4. I demand to know how many board meetings Condoleezza Rice and Thomas Kean sat in on at Chevron and Amerada Hess where it was discussed how they were going to deal with making the billions in "Big Oil" investments into a land locked Caspian Basin and how to get rid of the Taliban and Bridas so they could turn those investments into cash flow. How many times did Big Oil ask for military force to complete a commercial transaction they could not get under their control, and on what exact date did you agree to provide such military force - prior to 9-11? Isn't it true Mr. Bush that the Cheney Energy Task Force discussed that attack on Afghanistan and removal of the Taliban / Bridas obstacle once and for all - and did so well in advance of 9-11?

5. I demand to know why you appointed 10 persons to the 9-11 Commission, 8 of which are directly benefiting by the Taliban / Bridas "contract" obstacle being removed - breached with military force, and the big Caspian Oil deals that are now coming to market. No, America does not 'thank you' for that nor do we hold such despicable conduct up high.

6. I demand to know what US Oil Company stepped up as the sponsor of that OPIC and Asia Development Bank funded Trans-Afghanistan pipeline and what US company is constructing that pipeline right now, and what US firms are supplying the key components and their relationship to your administration.

7. I demand that you identify the company and persons who were going around Bridas to be "natural gas suppliers" to the US owned natural gas electrical generation plants in Pakistan (Dynegy - Illinova /Tenaska, El Paso (2 OPIC financed transactions) and others.

8. I demand to know why you have not been truthful with the American public that your GWOT and military policy are protecting the Caspian Basin Oil and Gas deals for many of your Bush Pioneers, some $9.6 trillion in oil and about $3 trillion in natural gas, now mostly in the hands of your elite wealthy contributors and some elite Liberals to keep this all quiet.

9. I demand to know what role the post-bankruptcy ENRON (Prisma Energy International, Cayman Islands) is playing in the Caspian Basin area, the same Enron that uses the law firm of Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw [Richard Ben Veniste, 9-11 Commission] that established the offshore SPE's for assets that were never under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

10. I demand to know why you appointed Richard Ben Veniste to the 9-11 Commission when it was his law firm that was stalling Bridas Corporation at the Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals in the matter of Bridas Corporation v. Turkmenneft and his law firm is directly involved in Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and your administration.

11. I demand to know the exact date of the order that had our military practicing in early 2001 the invasion of Afghanistan to take out the Taliban and Bridas Corporation and make that pipeline under control of US interests, many of your Bush Pioneers, and the exact date that our military started practicing and preparing for that invasion.

12. I demand to know who Remington Holdings Ltd is, and Western Acquisitions, Inc, both Baker & Botts clients and the lucky recipients of OPIC financing to acquire oil and gas deposits in Pakistan.

Who are the parties involved in those entities by name and benefited from such governmental magnanimity? Is this transaction a payoff? Since American taxpayers are footing the bill, we have the right to know - right now.

13. I demand to know why you could not find 10 people to sit on the 9-11 Commission that are not directly benefiting from the actions you have taken and the lives you have cost or otherwise ruined. Why would you select people not motivated to find the truth for that would impact "their bottom line"?

14. I demand a full disclosure from your administration as to the Citibank / IFTRIC / OPIC / Export-Import Bank financing of American / Israeli based deals in Islamic nations on behalf of your major campaign contributors.

"IFTRIC and Citibank have an agreement allowing Citibank to finance approved IFTRIC-backed transactions. Citibank Israel CEO Nandan Mar said: 'The Citibank branch, and the Structured Trade Finance Group, view IFTRIC's program as a basic product for the bank's domestic activities.'"

I see distinct differences between "terrorism" and "outrage" (Shurtan II) at your policies.

15. I demand to know why you wanted an entire new division of the CIA for Argentina. As an American citizen I take umbrage to your belligerence towards a nation that is not an enemy of the United States by any stretch of the imagination, except possibly yours. It is abundantly clear that your intentions were solely to intimidate Argentina and Argentina based Bridas Corporation into silence and that is NOT AMERICA. That has every appearance of the United States acting as the terrorist and a state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, you are wrapped in a flag but I clearly see that it is not the one you purport it to be.

16. I demand to know why your administration has never disclosed that DynPort Vaccine, LLC, owned by DynCorp and now owned by Computer Sciences Corporation, a Bush Pioneer, is a possible source for where the weaponized Ames Strain of anthrax came from that was used against this nation. How did your administration manage to miss one of your campaign contributors and a company doing large volumes of business with your administration and even being known euphemistically (DynCorp) as The Mercenary Company? Who put that Contract on America?

17. I demand to know how you can claim a pretense of being a Christian while sponsoring and condoning the torture of prisoners, including sodomizing children, at Abu Ghraib prison.

18. I demand to know how your administration can send firms overseas as "representatives of this nation" that were convicted of running a flesh trade in little girls in Bosnia, specifically one DynCorp. Convicted in Texas and the United Kingdom according to reports I have seen and apparently detested in Afghanistan. You do recall that DynCorp is the company providing security to protect your puppet Karzai in Afghanistan and your other puppet Zalmay Khalilzad is deterring anyone from running for President in that bogus "free" democracy?

19. I demand to know why your administration keeps running the name and photos of Adnan G. El Shukrijumah as the "dirty bomb boogeyman" and on March 25, 2003 the FBI knew exactly where to find him and did not go after him. That telephone call was made from my telephone by a Canadian friend that was in Little Rock on that date, Mr. Bush, so do not pretend "national security" with me.

I am "first person" on this matter and all of America deserves to know the extent that your administration has been and is lying to us all - and someone that is not Al Qaeda is probably "dropping a suspect name" as they set up a dirty bomb attack. Sure have pushed up the oil and gas prices with your strategy though, guess we can consider that another "Mission Accomplished".

20. I demand to know why your administration keeps referring to Adnan G. El Shukrijumah as a "Saudi" when the FBI knows full well he is not Saudi. His family is from Guyana in South America and they have lived in Florida since 1986 without incident. His grandparents were from Yemen, moved long ago to South America and his mother is from Trinidad & Tobago.

21. I demand to know why you alerted India, Pakistan and "Axis of Evil" member Iran of your intentions to attack the Taliban / Bridas well before 9-11, and not notify the citizens of this nation. That matter was reported on June 26, 2001 in India newspapers.

22. I demand to know the exact date that the first meeting, first page of the Patriot Act was started by your administration.

23. I demand to know why it is you, your backers, certain Democrats that apparently "hate our freedoms" more than these purported GWOT Islamic fundamentalists, hence the Patriot Act that treats all Americans with the same degree of contempt and disdain you treat all non-wealthy Americans.

24. I demand to know why Homeland Security is protecting this government and not protecting this nation.

25. I demand to know why any dissent or objections to your Orwellian, imperialistic, pro-corporate agenda is referred to the Homeland Security Counter-Terrorism Division.

26. I demand to know why you defile everything you touch and try to twist it into something that is pro-Bush Backers and anti-American citizens and then try to alter our rights as Americans via Patriot Act measures that are designed to force America into submission and does nothing to protect this nation, only this government.

27. I demand to know why your administration is planning a "pro-Bush Pioneers pharmaceutical program" derived from TMAP (Texas Medical Algorithm Project) and PENNMAP (Tom Ridge, Pennsylvania) to have Americans tested under guidelines prepared by your Bush Pioneers and force psychotropic drugs on Americans.

28. I demand to know why your administration keeps injecting our troops with an anthrax vaccine known to be deadly and harmful to the health of our soldiers and now apparently wish to inject that into all Americans under Project BioShield and martial law. Is that why you have no concern whatsoever for the 3 million jobs lost, for between your TMAP lunacy and Project BioShield lunacy, well over 3 million Americans could perish if the same statistical rates hit the general population as has hit our military? Can you explain away Holocaust with "brilliant strategy policy" driven by unmitigated greed?

29. I demand to know why Li Ka-shing was denied Global Crossing on national security grounds (very public) yet allow him in the back door in Savi Technology (not disclosed), the RFID technology company that is purportedly protecting our ports from insertion of a nuclear bomb into this nation via "ocean going containers". How many doors are left wide open by your administration in this GWOT Fable?

30. I demand to know why you search the world for mythical terrorists and cannot find robber barons and financial terrorist right under your nose. That many of them are Bush Pioneers and even backers of the Democratic Party, and have plundered the investors, workers and citizens of this nation, is very apparent to Americans and not very pro-family on your part.

Christians do not lie, Mr. Bush, for that is an affront to God. A Christian would not willfully mislead this nation, nor send our troops into Harm's Way for a lie while your wealthy contributors take over a $9.6 trillion oil, $3.0 trillion natural gas deal and already maneuvering for Africa. You are proving to the world that you are terrified of the truth and have impeded every investigation into the truth.

Your actions prove that you are not an upstanding Christian, nor are you a Conservative Republican worthy of that designation.

Your position as President does not make you unaccountable to the citizens of this nation, nor does it entitle you to act as a tyrant, an emperor, or serving only those Americans that dole out money for your political ambitions and agendas. I see no "stewardship" in your conduct whatsoever.

You have "Mission Accomplished" three times - the removal of Taliban / Bridas to control that pipeline, radically escalated the price of oil and gas for some of your major backers, and the death and maiming of many due to your lies. Your "Iraq Strategery" makes perfect sense to me, since all of you needed a diversion away from Afghanistan, the Caspian Basin and what you did to Bridas Corporation to get control of that $9.6 trillion in oil, $3 trillion in natural gas.

Go back home and wrap yourself in the flag of Texas and the shame you alone are responsible for creating. Your resume is your doing and yours alone.

If you were running against me this year, you would not have the guts to stay on the stage in a debate with me.

Shame on all of you, both sides of the aisle that have lied to America and gotten so many killed and maimed for a lie, and no, I am not an antiwar person. Just adamantly opposed to what you stand for, for that is lower than Clinton on his worst day.

Sincerely,

Karl W. B. Schwarz
President, Chief Executive Officer
Patmos Nanotechnologies, LLC

Art of War #30

Art of War #30

copyright Kelly Ann Thomas

For Marines, a Frustrating Fight

By Steve Fainaru
The Washington Post

Sunday 10 October 2004

Some in Iraq question how and why war is being waged.

ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq - Scrawled on the helmet of Lance Cpl. Carlos Perez are the letters FDNY. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York, the Pentagon and western Pennsylvania, Perez quit school, left his job as a firefighter in Long Island, N.Y., and joined the U.S. Marine Corps.

"To be honest, I just wanted to take revenge," said Perez, 20.

Now, two months into a seven-month combat tour in Iraq, Perez said he sees little connection between the events of Sept. 11 and the war he is fighting. Instead, he said, he is increasingly disillusioned by a conflict whose origins remain unclear and frustrated by the timidity of U.S. forces against a mostly faceless enemy.

"Sometimes I see no reason why we're here," Perez said. "First of all, you cannot engage as many times as we want to. Second of all, we're looking for an enemy that's not there. The only way to do it is go house to house until we get out of here."

Perez is hardly alone. In a dozen interviews, Marines from a platoon known as the "81s" expressed in blunt terms their frustrations with the way the war is being conducted and, in some cases, doubts about why it is being waged. The platoon, named for the size in millimeters of its mortar rounds, is part of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment based in Iskandariyah, 30 miles southwest of Baghdad.

The Marines offered their opinions openly to a reporter traveling with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines during operations last week in Babil province, then expanded upon them during interviews over three days in their barracks at Camp Iskandariyah, their forward operating base.

The Marines' opinions have been shaped by their participation in hundreds of hours of operations over the past two months. Their assessments differ sharply from those of the interim Iraqi government and the Bush administration, which have said that Iraq is on a certain -- if bumpy -- course toward peaceful democracy.

"I feel we're going to be here for years and years and years," said Lance Cpl. Edward Elston, 22, of Hackettstown, N.J. "I don't think anything is going to get better; I think it's going to get a lot worse. It's going to be like a Palestinian-type deal. We're going to stop being a policing presence and then start being an occupying presence. . . . We're always going to be here. We're never going to leave."

The views of the mortar platoon of some 50 young Marines, several of whom fought during the first phase of the war last year, are not necessarily reflective of all or even most U.S troops fighting in Iraq. Rather, they offer a snapshot of the frustrations engendered by a grinding conflict that has killed 1,064 Americans, wounded 7,730 and spread to many areas of the country.

Although not as highly publicized as attacks in such hot spots as Fallujah, Samarra and Baghdad's Sadr City, the violence in Babil province, south of the capital, is also intense. Since July 28, when the Marines took over operational responsibility for the region, 102 of the unit's 1,100 troops have been wounded, 85 in combat, according to battalion records. Four have been killed, two in combat.

Senior officers attribute the vast difference between the number of killed and wounded to the effectiveness of armor -- bullet-proof vests, helmets and reinforced armored vehicles, primarily Humvees -- in the face of persistent attacks. As of last week, the Marines had come upon 61 roadside bombs, nearly one a day. Forty-nine had detonated. Camp Iskandariyah was hit by mortar shells or rockets on 12 occasions; 21 other times insurgents tried to hit the base and missed.

Realities on the Ground

Several members of the platoon said they were struck by the difference between the way the war was being portrayed in the United States and the reality of their daily lives.

"Every day you read the articles in the States where it's like, 'Oh, it's getting better and better,' " said Lance Cpl. Jonathan Snyder, 22, of Gettysburg, Pa. "But when you're here, you know it's worse every day."

Pfc. Kyle Maio, 19, of Bucks County, Pa., said he thought government officials were reticent to speak candidly because of the upcoming U.S. elections. "Stuff's going on here but they won't flat-out say it," he said. "They can't get into it."

Maio said that when he arrived in Iraq, "I didn't think I was going to live this long, in all honesty." He added, "it ain't that bad. It's just part of the job, I guess."

As a reporter began to ask Maio another question, the interview was interrupted by the scream of an incoming rocket and then a deafening explosion outside the platoon's barracks. Pandemonium ensued.

"Get down! Get down!" yelled the platoon's radio operator, Cpl. Brandon Autin, 21, of New Iberia, La., his orders laced with profanity. "Get in the bunker! Get in the bunker now!"

Members of the platoon raced out of their rooms to a 5-by-15-foot bunker, located outside at the end of the one-story building. The dirt-floor room was protected by a low ceiling and walls built out of four-foot-thick sandbags. Once in the bunker, several Marines lit cigarettes, filling the already-congested room with smoke.

"The reality right now is that the most dangerous opinion in the world is the opinion of a U.S. serviceman," said Lance Cpl. Devin Kelly, 20, of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Lance Cpl. Alexander Jones, 20, of Ball Ground, Ga., agreed: "We're basically proving out that the government is wrong," he said. "We're catching them in a lie."

Senior officers said they shared many of the platoon's frustrations but added that it was difficult for low-level Marines to see the larger progress being made across Iraq. Maj. Douglas Bell, the battalion's executive officer, said "one of the most difficult things about the insurgency is identifying the enemy."

Bell said it was frustrating for "every Marine in the battalion" to search for insurgents on a daily basis, only to be attacked repeatedly with bombs and mortars detonated or launched by an invisible enemy. "You want to get your hand around his frigging collar and kick his ass," Bell said. "But they slip away."

Bell said Marines offering dire predictions for Iraq were not taking into account the training of the new Iraqi security forces. He said the installation of the new Iraqi army, Iraqi National Guard and police across the country would lay the foundation for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

"That's how we're going to get out of Iraq," Bell said. "That's how America is going to get out of Iraq."

The Marines acknowledged that the elusiveness of the insurgents was frustrating. "You don't really know who you're fighting. You're more or less fighting objects," said Elston, the lance corporal from New Jersey. "You see something on the side of the road. It blows up."

But the Marines said their frustrations run deeper. Several said the Iraqi security forces who are supposed to ultimately replace them were nowhere near ready and may never be.

"They can't take care of themselves," said Lance Cpl. Matthew Combs, 19, of Cincinnati, who added that he didn't think the National Guardsmen "can do anything. They just do what we tell them to do."

The Price of Precaution

The Marines also expressed frustration that they were unable to fight more aggressively because of restraints in the rules of engagement imposed by senior commanders.

The rules, which require Marines to positively identify their target as hostile before shooting, are cumbersome in the face of urban guerrilla warfare, several of them said.

"When we get called out, we'll sit there staging there for an hour," Maio said. "By the time we're ready to move, they're up and gone. A few weeks ago, the Iskandariyah police station was under attack. We staged for damn near an hour before we went out. It's stupid. You have to wait to get approval and all this other stuff."

Kelly, the lance corporal from Alaska, said he understood the need to protect civilians but that the restraints were jeopardizing American lives. "It seems as if they place more value on obeying the letter of the law and sacrificing our lives than following the spirit of the law and getting the job done," he said of his commanders.

Bell said the Marines' frustration was understandable but that it was extremely difficult to make a determination of hostile intent following a roadside bombing that might have been detonated by anything from a remote-controlled toy car to a cell phone. "That's a pretty difficult decision to make for a 19-year-old kid," he said.

Lance Cpl. Jeremy Kyrk, 21, of Chicago, said the insurgents took advantage of the limitations imposed on U.S. troops. "They don't give us any leeway, they don't give us any quarter," he said. "They catch people and cut their heads off. They know our limits, but they have no limits. We can't compete with that."

A Decision to Serve

Perez said the frustrations inherent in the war became apparent almost immediately after he arrived in Iraq in late July. A Colombian immigrant, he said he decided to join the Marine Corps after attending the funeral of a friend who had died in the Sept. 11 attacks. The friend, Thomas Hetzel, was a volunteer firefighter at the Franklin Square & Munson Fire Department on Long Island, where Perez also volunteered.

At the time, Perez was studying criminal justice at Nassau Community College. "While I was at the funeral I was looking at his little daughter cry," he said. "He had a pregnant wife and two kids. I just said, 'All right, this is what I want to do.' "

But Perez said he came to think that war in Iraq was unrelated to his anger. "How do I put this?" he said. "First of all, this is a whole different thing. We're supposed to be looking for al Qaeda. They're the ones who are supposedly responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. This has no connection at all to Sept. 11 because this war started just by telling us about all the nuclear warheads over here."

Snyder, who was listening, added: "Pretty much I think they just diverted the war on terrorism. I agree with the Afghanistan war and all the Sept. 11 stuff, but it feels like they left the bigger war over there to come here. And now, while we're on the ground over here, it seems like we're not even close to catching frigging bin Laden."

Perez said he thought that in some ways he was still fighting terrorists "and I can see how they might attack the United States in the future. It's a link, but it's not really based in the same thing."

Perez added that he now believes the primary reason for the U.S. presence is to help the Iraqis. "But they don't seem like they want to be helped," he said. "I've only been here two months, but every time you go out, people give you bad looks and it just seems like everybody wants to shoot you."

Questioning Orders

The frustration of the Marines was evident one afternoon last week as members of the platoon traveled from Forward Operating Base Kalsu back to Camp Iskandariyah. An attack had reportedly taken place in the area, and members of the platoon were asked to leave their Humvees and walk up a road to look for suspicious activity.

Traffic quickly began to pile up: cars packed with families, trucks loaded with animals and vegetables. The line of vehicles would have taken hours to search. An order was suddenly passed for the Marines to search all buses for insurgents or weapons.

"This is what we call a dog-and-pony show," said Kelly, the heavyset, sharp-tongued lance corporal from Fairbanks. He said the operation was essentially a performance for American reporters who were traveling with the Marines. "This is so you can write in your paper how great our response is," he said.

Combs and another Marine boarded a small bus packed mostly with women and children. He walked up the center aisle carrying his M-16 assault rifle, then got off, disgusted.

"We just scared the living [expletive] out of a bunch of people," he said. "That's all we did."

When the Marines returned to their truck, Autin and Kelly began to debate the merits of the American presence in Iraq.

"And, by the way, why are we here?" Autin said.

"I'll tell you why we're here," Kelly replied. "We're here to help these people."

Autin agreed and said he supported the mission.

He added later that it was difficult to wage the battle when American commanders were holding them back.

"We feel they care more about Iraqi civilians than they do American soldiers," he said.

Asked if he was concerned that the Marines would be punished for speaking out, Autin responded: "We don't give a crap. What are they going to do, send us to Iraq?"

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