Sunday, February 19, 2006

And everything starts coming together

In the Douglas Adams Dirk Gently series of books, Dirk has a belief in the "funamental interconnectedness of all things." While this concept was developed purely for the sake of humor, it is interesting to note how often things in real life mirror the absurdities of humorous fictional novels.

For instance, let's go back to 1999. The future president's (embarrassing) brother, Neil Bush, started an educational software company, Ignite! Incorporated, whose purpose was to help kids in school attain higher scores on standardized tests. (The effectiveness of the program and the material within are not within the scope of this post, but let me just say that I'm not particularly crazy about it.)

After 19 men flew planes into buildings in September of 2001, Neil took his plan for Ignite! overseas to Dubai, a major port of the United Arab Emirates. (Are you seeing yet where I'm going with this?) In my last post, you'll see that the United Arab Emirates had a lot to do with the 19 men flying planes into buildings. Apparently this didn't bother Neil at all, and secured lots of investment from people in Dubai and in Saudi Arabia.

Let's backtrack, now. Wayne Madsen's July 22, 2002 article contained the following (meaning this part isn't new news, either):

Reconstructed liberal and progressive journalists throw around the "C word" (conspiracy) to detract from those who write about the massive evidence that points to the Bushes having traded the nation's economic well-being and national security for personal profit. Grandfather Bush, Prescott, certainly did this during World War II when his investments included companies that supported Nazi Germany's war effort.

Now we have Neil Bush, from Silverado Savings and Loan infamy, cutting deals all over the Middle East using Daddy's and Dubya's business and political connections in that part of the world. And why shouldn't he? Dubya did this with a lucrative pipeline deal in Argentina for Enron in 1989 when he was pimping for Enron and Daddy was in the White House gearing up for a war with Iraq, another act that would eventually line the pockets of the Bushes.

Brisard and Dasquie provide concrete evidence how this same self-serving approach to business permitted the Taliban to negotiate with senior members of the Bush administration on a lucrative pipeline deal just weeks prior to the al Qaeda terrorists slamming commercial jetliners into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. It's the same mind set that in 1990 convinced U.S. ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie to tell Sadaam Hussein that the Bush I administration had no interest in his inter-Arab border dispute involving Kuwait. We now all know why the Bush family had no great interest in that "minor" dispute. They made a fortune from it, along with then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, whose Halliburton company helped rebuild the oil infrastructures of both Kuwait and Iraq.

So now, with the family's die cast, we have Neil in the UAE dealing with the people who helped 19 men fly planes into buildings, and these are the people who now want to help...educate...our kids? Now, wait a minute. What? That is entirely unbelievable, that fundamentalist Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would want to help American kids learn better in our public education system. (My guess is that it had to do with access to the American government through the president's brother, but proof is short.)

At any rate, in 2002, President George W. Bush's pet project No Child Left Behind, which made heavy use of – you guessed it – standardized tests, was implemented at the federal level. At this point, I'm still just barely willing to believe that it's just a coincidence. Bush the president pushing a well-intentioned but widely-panned educational plan that would just happen to allow Bush the brother to make a bit more cash? Well, it's a convenient allegation. Let's not forget, though, that after GWB got his wish with the educational plan, he threw lots of money at it without much result.

Now, though, we have the issue of our government handing the security of our ports over to the United Arab Emirates, the very people who helped to fund the 19 people who flew planes into buildings, and the very people who helped the president's brother keep his software company afloat.

Now, I realize that this is the sort of series of connections that James Burke (of Connections fame) would be proud of, but what are the chances that the UAE has finagled a way for the Bushes to feel as if they have no choice but to sell our security out from under us? Hmm...

No comments: