
##4000971 A few hours after the terrorist events in New York City , Washington , D.C. , and Pennsylvania , the Bush administration concluded without waiting for supporting evidence that " Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida organization were prime suspects . " George Tenet , director of the Central Intelligence Agency , stated that bin Laden has the capacity to plan " multiple attacks with little or no warning . " Secretary of State Colin Powell called the attacks " an act of war , " and President Bush confirmed in an evening televised address to the nation that he would " make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them . " Former CIA Director James Woolsey pointed his finger at " state sponsorship , " implying the complicity of one or more foreign governments . And in the words of former National Security Adviser Lawrence Eagleburger , " I think we will show when we get attacked like this , we are terrible in our strength and in our retribution . " <p> Meanwhile , parroting official statements , Western @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ directed against civilian targets in the Middle East . In the words of William Saffire writing in the New York Times : " When we reasonably deter mine our attackers ' bases and camps , we must pulverize them -- minimizing but accepting the risk of collateral damage -- and act overtly or covertly to destabilize terror 's national hosts . " <p> The following examines the history of Osama bin Laden and the links of the Islamic jihad ( holy war ) to the formulation of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War and its aftermath . <p> Prime suspect in the September 11 , 2001 , hijackings , branded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as an " international terrorist " for his role in the African U.S. embassy bombings , Saudi-born Osama bin Laden was recruited during the Soviet-Afghan war " ironically under the auspices of the CIA , to fight Soviet invaders " -- so reports the August 24 , 1998 , London Daily Telegraph . According to Fred Halliday in the March 25 , 1996 , New Republic , " The largest covert operation in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in support of the pro-communist government of Babrak Kamal . And Ahmed Rashid writes in the November/December 1999 Foreign Affairs : <p> With the active encouragement of the CIA and Pakistan 's ISI Inter Services Intelligence , who wanted to turn the Afghan jihad into a global war waged by all Muslim states against the Soviet Union , some 35,000 Muslim radicals from 40 Islamic countries joined Afghanistan 's fight between 1982 and 1992 . Tens of thousands more came to study in Pakistani madrasahs . Eventually more than 100,000 foreign Muslim radicals were directly influenced by the Afghan jihad . <p> The Islamic jihad was supported by the United States and Saudi Arabia , with a significant part of the funding generated from the Golden Crescent drug trade . Steve Coil writes in the July 19 , 1992 , Washington Post : <p> In March 1985 , President Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 166 ... which authorized stepped-up covert military aid to the mujahideen , and it made clear that the secret Afghan war had a new goal : to defeat Soviet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ withdrawal . The new covert U.S. assistance began with a dramatic increase in arms supplies -- a steady rise to 65,000 tons annually by 1987 ... as well as a " ceaseless stream " of CIA and Pentagon specialists who traveled to the secret headquarters of Pakistan 's ISI on the main road near Rawalpindi , Pakistan . There the CIA specialists met with Pakistani intelligence officers to help plan operations for the Afghan rebels . <p> The CIA 's covert support was provided indirectly , using Pakistan 's military ISI as a " go-between . " Washington had concluded that , for these covert operations to be " successful , " it must not reveal the ultimate objective of the jihad , which was to destroy the Soviet Union . The CIA played a key role in training the mujahideen by channeling CIA support through the ISI , which integrated the guerrilla training with the teachings of Islam . As Dilip Hiro of the International Press Service explains : <p> Predominant themes were that Islam was a complete socio-political ideology , that holy Islam was being violated by the atheistic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should reassert their independence by overthrowing the leftist Afghan regime propped up by Moscow . <p> The CIA 's Milton Beardman stated , " We did n't train Arabs . " Yet according to Abdel Monam Saidali , of the Al-aram Center for Strategic Studies in Cairo , bin Laden and the " Afghan Arabs " had been imparted " with very sophisticated types of training that was allowed to them by the CIA . " Beardman confirmed that Osama bin Laden was n't aware of the role he was playing on behalf of Washington and reported bin Laden as saying , " Neither I , nor my brothers , saw evidence of American help . " <p> Motivated by nationalism and religious fervor , the Islamic warriors were therefore unaware that they were fighting the Soviet army on behalf of Uncle Sam . And while there were contacts at the upper levels of the intelligence hierarchy , Islamic rebel leaders in theater had no contacts with Washington or the CIA . With CIA backing and the funneling of massive amounts of U.S. military aid , the ISI had developed into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , India Abroad , as a " parallel structure wielding enormous power over all aspects of government . " The ISI had a staff composed of military and intelligence officers , bureaucrats , undercover agents , and informers , collectively estimated at 150,000 . <p> Meanwhile , CIA operations had also reinforced the Pakistani military regime led by General Zia Ul Haq . According to Diego Cordovez and Selig Harrison , as quoted in an International Press Service review of their book , Out of Afghanistan : The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal : <p> " Relations between the CIA and the ISI had grown increasingly warm following Zia 's ouster of Bhutto and the advent of a military regime . " ... During most of the Afghan war , Pakistan was more aggressively anti-Soviet than even the United States . Soon after the Soviet military invaded Afghanistan in 1980 , Zia sent his ISI chief to destabilize the Soviet Central Asian states . The CIA only agreed to this plan in October 1984 .... " The CIA was more cautious than the Pakistanis . " Both Pakistan and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a public posture of negotiating a settlement while privately agreeing that military escalation was the best course . <p> The history of the drug , trade in Central Asia is intimately related to the CIAs covert operations . Prior to the Soviet-Afghan war , opium production in Afghanistan and Pakistan was directed to small regional markets . There was no local production of heroin . However , with CIA intervention , that changed . Alfred McCoy 's study , " Drug Fallout : The CIA 's Forty Year Complicity in the Narcotics Trade , " in the August 1997 Progressive , confirms that , within two years of the onslaught of the CIA operations in Afghanistan , <p> the Pakistan-Afghanistan borderlands became the world 's top heroin producer , supplying 60 percent of U.S. demand . In Pakistan , the heroin-addict population went from near zero in 1979 ... to 1.2 million by 1985 -- a much steeper rise than in any other nation .... <p> CIA assets again controlled this heroin trade . As the Mujahideen guerrillas seized territory inside Afghanistan , they ordered peasants to plant opium as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders and local syndicates under the protection of Pakistan Intelligence operated hundreds of heroin laboratories . During this decade of wide-open drug-dealing , the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in Islamabad failed to instigate major seizures or arrests .... U.S. officials had refused to investigate charges of heroin dealing by its Afghan allies " because U.S. narcotics policy in Afghanistan has been subordinated to the war against Soviet influence there . " In 1995 , the former CIA director of the Afghan operation , Charles Cogan , admitted the CIA had indeed sacrificed the drug war to fight the Cold War . " Our main mission was to do as much damage as possible to the Soviets . We did n't really have the resources or the time to devote to an investigation of the drug trade .... I do n't think that we need to apologize for this . Every situation has its fallout .... There was fallout in terms of drugs , yes . But the main objective was accomplished . The Soviets left Afghanistan . " <p> In the wake of the Cold War , the Central Asian region @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it continued to produce three-quarters of the world 's opium , representing multibillion-dollar revenues to business syndicates , financial institutions , intelligence agencies , and organized crime . The annual proceeds of the Golden Crescent drug trade -- between $100 billion and $200 billion -- represents approximately one-third of the worldwide annual turnover of narcotics , estimated by the United Nations to be of the order of $500 billion . <p> With the disintegration of the Soviet Union , a new surge in opium production unfolded . According to UN estimates , the production of opium in Afghanistan in 1998 to 1999-coinciding with the buildup of armed insurgencies in the former Soviet republics -- reached a record high of 4,600 metric tons . Powerful business syndicates in the former Soviet Union allied with organized crime to compete for strategic control over the heroin routes . <p> The ISI 's extensive intelligence military network was n't dismantled after the Cold War , and the CIA continued to covertly support the Islamic jihad through Pakistan . New undercover initiatives were set in motion in Central Asia , the Caucasus , and the Balkans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a catalyst for the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence of six new Muslim republics in Central Asia , " reports the International Press Service . <p> Meanwhile , Islamic missionaries of the Wahhabi sect from Saudi Arabia had established themselves in the Muslim republics , as well as within the Russian federation encroaching upon the institutions of the secular state . Despite its anti-American ideology , Islamic fundamentalism was largely serving Washington 's strategic interests in the former Soviet Union . <p> Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989 , the civil war in Afghanistan continued unabated . The Taliban was being supported by the Pakistani Deobandis and its political party , the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Islam ( JUI ) . In 1993 , the JUI entered the government coalition of Prime Minister Benazzir Bhutto . Ties between the JUI , the army , and the ISI were established . In 1995 , with the downfall of the Hezb-I-Islami Hektmatyar government in Kabul , the Taliban not only instated a hardline Islamic government but , according to Ahmed Rashid , also handed control of training camps in Afghanistan over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support of the Saudi Wahhabi movements , played a key role in recruiting volunteers to fight in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union . Jane Defense Weekly confirms in this regard that " half of Taliban manpower and equipment originates in Pakistan under the ISI . " <p> In fact , it would appear that , following the Soviet withdrawal , both sides in the Afghan civil war continued to receive covert CIA support through Pakistan 's ISI . In other words , backed by Pakistan 's military intelligence , which in turn was controlled by the CIA , the Taliban Islamic State was largely serving U.S. geopolitical interests . The Golden Crescent drug trade was also being used to finance and equip the Bosnian Muslim Army ( starting in the early 1990s ) and the Kosovo Liberation Army ( KLA ) . In recent months there is evidence that mujahideen mercenaries are fighting in the ranks of KLA-NLA terrorists in their assaults into Macedonia . <p> No doubt , this explains why , until recent events , Washington had mostly closed its eyes to the reign of terror imposed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's rights , the closing down of schools for girls , the dismissal of women employees from government offices , and the enforcement of the Sharia laws of punishment . <p> With regard to Chechnya , the main rebels -- Shamil Basayev and Al Khattab -- were trained and indoctrinated in CIA-sponsored camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan . According to Yossef Bodansky , director of the U.S. Congress 's Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare , the conflict in Chechnya had been planned during a secret summit of HizbAllah International held in 1996 in Mogadishu , Somalia . The summit was attended by Osama bin Laden and high-ranking Iranian and Pakistani intelligence officers . According to Levon Sevunts in the October 26 , 1999 , Montreal Gazette , the involvement of Pakistan 's ISI in Chechnya " goes far beyond supplying the Chechens with weapons and expertise : the ISI and its radical Islamic proxies are actually calling the shots in this war . " <p> Russia 's main pipeline route transits through Chechnya and Dagestan . Despite Washington 's perfunctory condemnation of Islamic terrorism , the indirect beneficiaries of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are vying for control over oil resources and pipeline corridors out of the Caspian Sea basin . <p> The two main Chechen rebel armies -- estimated at 35,000 strong and led respectively by Commander Shamil Basayev and Emir Khattab -- were supported by Pakistan 's ISI , which also played a key role in organizing and training the Chechen rebel army . Sevunts writes that , in 1994 , <p> the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence arranged for Basayev and his trusted lieutenants to undergo intensive Islamic indoctrination and training in guerrilla warfare in the Khost province of Afghanistan at Amir Muawia camp , set up in the early 1980s by the CIA and ISI and run by famous Afghani warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar . In July 1994 , upon graduating from Amir Muawia , Basayev was transferred to Markaz-i-Dawar camp in Pakistan to undergo training in advanced guerrilla tactics . In Pakistan , Basayev met the highest ranking Pakistani military and intelligence officers : Minister of Defense General Aftab Shahban Mirani , Minister of Interior General Naserullah Babar , and the head of the ISI branch in charge of supporting Islamic causes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ High-level connections soon proved very useful to Basayev . <p> Following his training and indoctrination stint , Basayev was assigned to lead the assault against Russian federal troops in the first Chechen war in 1995 . His organization also developed extensive links to criminal syndicates in Moscow , as well as ties to Albanian organized crime and the Kosovo Liberation Army . In 1997 and 1998 , according to Russia 's Federal Security Service ( FSB ) , " Chechen warlords started buying up real estate in Kosovo ... through several real estate firms registered as a cover in Yugoslavia . " <p> Basayev 's organization has also been involved in a number of rackets including narcotics , illegal tapping and sabotage of Russia 's oil pipelines , kidnapping , prostitution , trade in counterfeit currency , and the smuggling of nuclear materials ( see " Mafia Linked to Albania 's Collapsed Pyramids " in the February 13 , 1997 , European , as well as the January 4-5 , 2000 , Itar-Tass ) . Alongside the extensive laundering of drug money , the proceeds of various illicit activities have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weapons . <p> During his training in Afghanistan , Basayev linked up with Saudi-born veteran mujahideen commander Al Khattab , who had fought as a volunteer in Afghanistan . Barely a few months after Basayev 's return to Grozny , Khattab was invited in early 1995 to set up an army base in Chechnya for the training of mujahideen fighters . According to the BBC in September 1999 , Khattab 's posting to Chechnya had been " arranged through the Saudi-Arabian based International Islamic Relief Organisation , a militant religious organisation , funded by mosques and rich individuals which channeled funds into Chechnya . " <p> Since the Cold War era , Washington has consciously supported Osama bin Laden , while at the same time placing him on the FBI s ' most wanted list as the world s foremost terrorist . While the mujahideen are busy fighting the United States ' war in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union , the FBI -- operating as a U.S.-based police force -- is waging a domestic war against terrorism , operating in some respects independently of the CIA which has , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ covert operations . <p> In a cruel irony , while the Islamic jihad -- featured by the Bush administration as " a threat to America " -- is blamed for the terrorist assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon , as well as the hijacking of the fourth plane downed in Pennsylvania , these same Islamic organizations constitute a key instrument of U.S. military-intelligence operations in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union . <p> In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11 , the truth must prevail to prevent the Bush administration , together with its " coalition " partners , from expanding on a military adventure that threatens the future of humanity . <p> By Michael Chossudovsky <p> <p> Michel Chossudovsky is a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa , Canada , and director of the Centre for Research and Globalisation . This article is adapted with permission from his Web posting at **34;550;TOOLONG html . <p> 
##4000972 To terrorists and their sympathizers worldwide , the World Trade Center symbolized W the global nature of corporate money and power -- a seemingly neverending expansion of capitalism , siphoning funds and resources from people everywhere and fostering gaps in wealth the likes of which the world has never before seen . The Pentagon symbolizes the U.S. military 's protection and enforcement of this global system . Because much of the resulting poverty and suffering exist in the Muslim world , Osama bin Laden has had less difficulty recruiting his minions . The resultant widespread discontent fuels terrorism -- a reality brought home to the developed world on September 11 , 2001 . <p> Fortunately , there is another movement growing alongside those of global capitalism and terrorism . This movement -- the anti-global-capitalism movement that awakened in Seattle in November 1999 -- unlike violent terrorism , should n't be viewed as a threat to the majority of the global village . Rather , this rapid mobilization should be welcomed and encouraged . For the ultimate threat to humanity is economic globalism . <p> Today 's globalism and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think and act in terms of human consequences . This globalism has bullied and seeped its way into every nook of humanity , and the results are scary : loss of democracy , human rights violations , rapid environmental degradation , expanding inequality . The anti-global-capitalism movement is n't afraid of globalization ( it is itself a global phenomenon ) ; rather , it fears globalization as designated according to the imperialistic goals of a few rich people . The aim of the growing unrest -- from Seattle to Washington , D.C. , to Quebec City to Genoa and beyond -- is to shift the focus of globalization to benefit all of humanity . New World Order = Old World Order <p> The brand of globalization being pursued by the financial and trade institutions ( Inter national Monetary Fund , World Bank , World Trade Organization ) that has become the target of mass protest continues a centuries-old trend of colonialism in the developing world that supposedly ended in the twentieth century . When oppressed natives forced European countries , depleted by the devastation of two world wars , out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of outdated human rights abuses such as slavery , theft of resources , and genocide . The Old World Order gave way to the New World Order . <p> Unfortunately , the greed that was the impetus of brutal imperialism never left us . Thanks to decisions made by the financial elite behind closed doors , the New World Order mirrors the cycle of the Old World Order . Forced labor has given way to sweatshop labor . Military uniforms have been replaced ( usually ) by fancy Italian suits and cell phones . Resource extraction has expanded , as the conquistadors ' search for gold today includes oil , timber , rubber , and even fresh water . Instead of the churches of yesterday 's brand of imperialism , now McDonald 's and Starbucks assimilate the savages . Genocide persists as indigenous peoples across the globe fight to survive . In an even more troubling trend , inequality is reaching heights never achieved during the Old World Order . Do n't Believe the Elite <p> In order to understand the movement , it 's necessary to decode " elite speak @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ representing the ultra-elite five corporations that own the national media in the United States , have yet to generate critical analysis of the movement surrounding these huge protests . The New York Times ' Thomas Friedman , in typical fashion , dismissed an issue , which sparked fire in the bellies of millions , when he wrote , " To be against globalization is to be against so many things -- from cell phones to trade to Big Macs -- that it connotes nothing . " What he was really saying is : " Do n't mess with a good thing . Myself , my friends , my coworkers , and especially my bosses profit tremendously from the current system . " <p> We must also ignore the " wisdom " of our so-called elected leaders . During every meeting of world leaders , behind huge police barricades , George W. Bush ( or Bill Clinton ) addressed the media with these words , " To be against free trade is to be against poor people . " The elite British publication the Economist continually echoes these sentiments . In an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the worst scenario for the world 's poor would be if the protesters had their way and the process of corporate-controlled globalization was stopped . Due to the United States ' lack of access to independent voices in this prolonged era of media consolidation , it is no wonder most Americans do n't understand the movement . And yet it continues to grow . The Washington Consensus <p> The United States is the sole superpower in the world and thus enjoys undue influence on the global village 's economic and political aspirations . This influence has a name : the Washington Consensus . Washington , D.C. , has the necessary tools at its disposal to ensure that policies will be in place worldwide to benefit the interests of its constituents . Anyone familiar with the role of money in U.S. politics understands that the constituents of our political system are n't average , ordinary citizens . The United States government primarily works for corporate interests . Primary shareholders and CEOs have the ear of almost all national politicians and the economists of the international financial institutions . WTO : Democracy 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of three men , appointed by the richest countries in the world . It 's the arm of the Washington Consensus that controls trade in the world . While its stated aim is to allow trade to exist sans artificial barriers , the WTO ensures that " free trade " will benefit corporate interests . A casual examination of its record will horrify anyone who believes in the advantages of democracy . <p> A country that joins the WTO must abide by the rulings of the tribunal or face severe economic punishment . This allows the Washington Consensus to breach the sanctity of another nation 's domestic policy . For example , a vast majority of Europeans are against genetically modified ( GM ) foods . They are primarily worried about the health and safety implications , as genetically altered products are introduced to the market without proper testing . The effects of a large number of GM foods are unknown . Also , European small farmers are anti-GM because U.S. corporations ( Monsanto being the largest and most ominous ) are establishing a monopoly on the product and driving many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States have already suffered the effects of these monopoly conditions , as the small American farm is almost nonexistent . <p> The European Union , unable to ignore the clamor of the people , created laws making it exceedingly difficult for GM foods to find a successful niche in the marketplace . In Europe , GM foods must be labeled as such -- a measure that has been fought tooth and nail in the United States . The United States took its case to the WTO on behalf of its constituents ( like Monsanto ) , and the WTO ruled that Europe had created a barrier to free trade : Europe either had to capitulate or pay exorbitant fines . European countries , being less financially strapped than most , agreed to pay the fines rather than outrage the masses . Less fortunate countries do n't enjoy that luxury . <p> Within South Africa lives the largest population of AIDS victims in the world . In a country as poor as South Africa , AIDS medicine is far too expensive . While U.S. AIDS patients ( those lucky enough @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and living longer lives thanks to a combination of expensive drugs now available , South Africans continue to be ravaged by the epidemic . These drugs , trademarked by U.S. pharmaceutical companies but developed thanks to public subsidies , cost more than the average South African is able to earn in a week . For years , the pharmaceutical companies did n't lower prices due to concerns that the drugs would be illegally imported via the black market back to the United States , rupturing their hold on the U.S. market . In the meantime , millions died of the disease throughout Africa . <p> In 1995 , then-president of South Africa Nelson Mandela legalized the generic reproduction of these drugs . Al Gore , the U.S. vice-president at the time and a recipient of huge campaign contributions from pharmaceutical interests , took the matter to the WTO , which predictably ruled in favor of the United States and the pharmaceutical corporations . It was n't until 1999 , thanks to worldwide public outcry , that the WTO overturned its decision . Who knows how many lives could have been saved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the victim of WTO rulings , as well . The state of Massachusetts , following the lead of many towns and counties nationwide , voted to stop doing business with the brutal military dictatorship of Myanmar ( Burma ) . Any corporation using Burmese labor or resources was n't allowed to sell its goods in the state of Massachusetts . This is an example of voter activism that has gained momentum in the last few years . <p> Japan , however , on behalf of Mitsubishi , Toyota , and other corporations , threatened to take the issue to the WTO . The European Union , conveniently forgetting its sovereignty issues with GM foods , followed the Japanese lead . U.S. state and local governments are unable to defend themselves against WTO policy , so Massachusetts was forced to rely on the Clinton administration . Since Clinton was the quintessential big business president , the Massachusetts law was doomed . The National Foreign Trade Council ( fronting a group of major corporations ) has taken Massachusetts to federal court , making it an issue of state versus federal powers . If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it will be hollow . Clinton or Bush ( or Gore , for that matter ) is not an issue here -- all of them side with the WTO and its corporate interests . <p> The quality of the environment is also at risk . The United States ' Clean Air Act -- intended to ban the use of gasoline that releases too many pollutants into the air -- is no longer valid . Venezuela , a major oil and gas producing country , took the United States to the WTO . It seems the Clean Air Act was a trade barrier , unfairly discriminating against Venezuelan gas that did n't meet U.S. standards . The WTO ruled in favor of Venezuela and against clean air . Gas that is less safe and more toxic is now allowed to be pumped into our millions of cars . <p> Species of the world must also be aware of economic globalism and its tools . The Endangered Species Act prohibits the sale in the United States of fish which have been caught in nets that do n't allow for the release of endangered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Malaysia , and the Philippines -- homes to many fishing companies that have yet to invest in the more expensive , safe nets -- took the case to the WTO , which ruled in favor of fishing interests . Keeping sea turtles alive is a barrier to free trade . At the WTO Seattle protests , many of the environmental activists dressed in sea turtle costumes -- they were the only sea turtles with a voice . IMF and World Bank : Financing Destruction <p> If the WTO is economic globalism 's tool to ensure that trade goes according to plan , then the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are the strong arms of finance that benefit the global elite . These two institutions have two major functions : create a risk-free environment for predatory , speculative financing and open world markets to investors . The IMF and World Bank are part of the Bretton Woods system established in 1944 to devise rules of investment in the postwar era . One priority was to limit and control the movement of capital , understanding that unregulated flow of money across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Bretton Woods was dismantled by the Nixon administration in the early 1970s . Before this , most capital flowed in order to benefit economic growth and development . Now it is estimated that 95 percent of capital is speculative , which results in quick returns for the investors and dangerous instability for markets worldwide . This instability led to the Asian crisis of the late 1990s , the near collapse of the Mexican economy , and market volatility in the wake of the terrorist attacks . <p> The huge amounts of money that are lost by lending institutions when an economy crashes are then subsidized . The private banks that lent billions in unwise speculative loans to Asian countries prior to the collapse were operating risk free . The IMF and World Bank loaned the crisis-stricken countries huge amounts of money ( generated from the taxes of the rich countries ) at very high interest rates , insisting private bank repayment be their first priority . The poor people of the poor countries must then bear the brunt of repaying these loans . Taxes are raised and austerity measures are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extracted from poor country to rich country . Your Domestic is Our Policy <p> Austerity measures are how the Washington Consensus ensures that the domestic policy of other countries measures up to the needs of foreign investors . Social programs , such as health care and public education , are dismantled so taxes can be funneled into repaying the debt . The indebted countries are then forced to privatize their public resources . Energy is deregulated at a cost that makes the California crisis laughable . Communal property , including farmland , is sold to corporations . Exporting agriculture then becomes the number one priority . <p> In Brazil , for example , almost the entire country 's fertile soil was sold to corporate agribusiness . Now much of the land is used to raise cattle that are exported to the North American fast food culture . The Brazilian people , deprived of their land , either wind up in huge , overcrowded slums in cities like Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro or they penetrate further and further into the rainforest , destroying the delicate natural ecosystem . It is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ include forcing indebted countries to rid themselves of pesky labor laws . This is how horrible conditions in modern-day sweatshops are allowed to exist . In the neverending race to the bottom , companies such as Nike and the Gap search for factory locations where they can pay the least possible wages and where unions are n't allowed to exist . In the process , the manufacturing base in the United States is destroyed . As reported in the Washington Post , most of the record one million people added to the ranks of the unemployed in the United States during August 2001 were from the manufacturing industry . This race to the bottom is increasing rates of inequality like never before . Even the Economist , which ironically touted the course of globalization , recently admitted that inequality has skyrocketed in the past decade . Of course , it also attempted to argue that inequality does n't matter . <p> For those of us who believe issues of economic equality do matter , the lending policies of the World Bank and IMF are immoral , not to mention illegal . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cancelled -- a major argument of many in the anti-global-capitalism movement . One could argue that , beyond debt cancellation , those who profit due to this immoral system should pay reparations . The theft of land and labor should be a punishable offense . Awareness and Responsibility <p> While the anti-global-capitalism movement continues to grow , most U.S. citizens remain tragically unaware . The story is different in many of the poorer countries . Despite a general lack of power , citizens groups throughout the developing world are standing up to the dangerous effects of economic globalism . In India , indigenous communities have successfully denied IMF dam projects that threatened to displace thousands . In Bolivia , there have been huge citywide strikes ; earlier this year , the capital , La Paz , was shut down by a general strike protesting the high cost of living and the displacement of indigenous communities due to IMF projects . <p> Water has also become a huge issue . On April 8 , 2000 , citywide protests shut down Bolivia 's third largest city , Cochabamba . People were protesting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the increase of the cost of water beyond what the typical Bolivian could afford . <p> U.S. groups , such as San Francisco 's Global Exchange , are getting people from developing world countries together with concerned Americans , creating what they call " people-to-people ties . " The awareness created is beneficial . Those involved in the movement in the developing world , when asked how people in the United States can help their cause , repeatedly reply , " Change your country . " Change in the United States -- something its citizens can control -- would be the greatest benefit to those feeling the consequences of economic globalism ; after all , it is the United States that is leading the charge of the all-consuming corporate globalization . This is something Americans could previously ignore . In light of September 11 , this does n't seem to be the case anymore . <p> The more people become aware of the issues , the more progress is made toward the eventual goal of eliminating the dehumanizing and wasteful reign of global capitalism . In this regard , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ever-increasing global awareness . <p> People who search for a single solution to the challenges of economic globalism will be disappointed with the overall anti-global-capitalism movement . The most zing aspect of it is the diversity of ideas it stimulates . But there are some common goals . Real , participatory democracy is an aim of everyone involved . It is assumed within the movement that people know best how to shape their own economic and political institutions -- not the capitalists whose priorities are to increase profit at any cost . Localism is a huge facet of the movement ( explaining the reemerging success of farmers ' markets ) . The microbrewery mission statement sums up this intent : " Think globally , drink locally . " <p> While decentralization of the global financial institutions is one goal of the anti-global-capitalism movement , globalization of ideas can be extremely beneficial . The movement 's most significant victory was undermining the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment ( MAI ) , a multinational agreement that would have given investors even more power over government . This success is owed to a huge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Internet . <p> Most in the anti-global-capitalism movement believe that to measure economies solely according to resource and monetary accumulation is anti-human . Quality-of-life indicators are becoming a part of the global discussion -- another success credited to the movement . Rather than measure the success of an economy according to gross domestic product ( which includes , among other anti-human measurements , the cost of weapons building and pollution cleanup expenses ) , quality-of-life indicators measure an economy by how well the people are doing . These take into account infant mortality rates , hunger rates , literacy rates , and the like . Redefining the world according to people , not profit , is the ultimate objective . <p> As the United States scrambles to punish the perpetrators of terrorism within its borders , the anti-global-capitalism movement will need to up the ante . It ca n't let violence define a worldwide mobilization to end the brutality of the current economic system . It also ca n't let governments mistake protesters for terrorists in the almost certain crackdown on civil liberties . There is a huge difference between terrorism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ main perpetrator , the United States . However , the anti-global-capitalism movement seeks to create a world that does n't feel so powerless that it resorts to terror -- neither the terror witnessed in New York City and Washington this past September nor the state-sponsored terror the United States uses to promote global capitalism . <p> By Andrew Hartman <p> <p> Andrew Hartman is a gradute student of history at George Washington University in Washington , D.C. A freelance writer , his articles have appeared in the Humanist and Clamor magazine . <p> 
##4000973 Section : the ghosts of war <p> An autumn chill settled grey and dreary over he harbor as water churned between the U.S.S. Leonard Wood and its ratty old pier . New York City 's spires jutted from misty shrouds as wind sliced into the matching cap and coat Mom had bundled me in that morning . Then , while our ocean liner 's bow cut through the bay , gulls circling its stern screeched warily at a blast from the ship 's horn . Looking back , it was a lonely , ominous sound . <p> Our first night out , the ship plunged through foaming Atlantic swells that sent Mom to bed with what she called " terminal mal de mer , " but dawn broke on a tranquil ocean and balmy skies . After entering the Panama Canal , my father , a U.S. Army doctor with orders to the Philippines , took us on a shopping spree in Cristobal . I got a toy gun , and Mom picked a Chinese rug from a rack that soared to the shop 's ceiling like in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rug around a wooden peg then had it stowed in our cabin ; but when the sun struck our porthole just right , I would peel back its fringes and the deep blue nap glistened as if it had been kissed by a morning dew . At last it was unrolled in our new house on a sunny street bordering the parade ground , two blocks from Wheeler Field , but I digress . <p> While the Leonard Wood 's wake melted into a slate green Pacific , its wireless operator translated the dashes and dots of a communique to my father from the War Department . Did we know it was a reprieve , a call from the governor 's office to our executioner ? Not then , but our destination had been changed from Manila to Honolulu , Hawaii . If that spinning ball had n't dropped into just the right slot , my children would never have been born . <p> What followed our arrival in Hawaii were breezes perfumed by fragrant tropical flowers , tasty avocados falling from a tree in our front yard , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ read to me from A. A. Milne 's Pooh Bear series , and I would tag along some golf course with my father and Maxy . <p> We still had horse soldiers in those days . Major Maxy Noble , a West Pointer , cavalry officer , and my father 's best friend , would drop by our house for " one " beer , then he and Dad would spend lazy afternoons in the backyard , swapping lies and cussing Franklin Delano Roosevelt . But every time he knocked on our lanai 's screen door , Maxy gleamed and glittered . A saber dangled from his left hip and silver spurs spun on cavalry boots that held a spit-shine like I 've never seen since . A Sam Browne belt 's diagonal strap ran across his chest to disappear under a khaki epaulet . But mostly it was the hat . Its leather noose rose jauntily from just below his dimple , hugging square jaws up to a wide brim with a dome circled by gold braid and tassels on its front . Shazzam ! He was Captain Marvel , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ <p> A pat on the head from this swashbuckler would be enough for most pre-TV preschoolers , but it got better , much better . I told you there was a parade ground across our street . The U.S. Cavalry drilled there ; twice a month Maxy would lead three columns of mounted , steely-eyed soldiers to " troop the line . " Awestruck , I squatted on a curb with the neighborhood kids , waiting for him to spur his steed toward us , then with practiced dexterity he 'd reach down and I 'd vault into space . Straddling his charger I 'd clasp that Sam Browne belt while we cantered to a reviewing stand amid pennants popping in tropical breezes . A metallic whisper of steel and sunlight glinting on his saber was a prelude to his crisp command , " Eyyyes , RIGHT ! " His blade would flash , tip freezing at a perfect forty-five-degree angle to the ground quivering with hoofbeats , and every head in the trailing columns snapped right . After the last trooper cleared the reviewing stand , Maxy would wheel his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me to the peanut gallery . His horse would slow when we approached my pals , and Maxy would lower me into a sprint , usually resulting in an end-over-end tumble . But I 'd rise like a victorious phoenix ; these kids were now my troopers ! <p> Then the long shadow fell across my world : Maxy and his band were ordered to Manila . I wept when he left because the elegance of our island dissolved like wisps of rising smoke . Even though other people inhabited my life , Maxy Noble was gone . <p> Under the avocado tree , if I faced our front door , the Momms lived on our left . Captain Momm , a signal officer , was built like a tank : short , wide , and with a nose like a cannon . His wife Anna , lithe and stately , saw darker visions that I yet understood . My mother said her parents were white Russians and that during the revolution there a Red Army firing squad had forced her to watch their execution . No wonder her smile seemed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to our right . I do n't remember his name or rank , but she and her daughter have tugged at my memory for six decades . Jewell and Billie Jewell . On weekends , if I got up early enough , Jewell Walker served fluffy pancakes or magic waffles , dripping in Log Cabin syrup , with crispy bacon as an extra . Sometimes Billie Jewell -- a worldly , older woman of twelve , with glowing cheeks and honey-colored hair -- would attend . I adored her . <p> A couple of months after Maxy sailed , Miz Walker took me to a circus and , when we got home , Adams was there ; that meant my parents were going out . Adams was an orderly at my father 's dispensary and had this marvelous scar on the back of his right hand where a tattoo had been removed . As my parents drove away in our grey 1938 Olds , a swooping fighter plane rattled the rafters -- no rare occurrence , since our house had been built in Wheeler Field 's flight path . Adams fed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and was telling me about his scar for the zillionth time as I fell asleep , not knowing or caring that the next day 's dawn would change history . <p> BOOM ! When I leapt from bed , sunshine sparkled n rattling panes . BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! " Pat ! " Mom screamed . " Did a plane hit the house ? " <p> My father looked out the bathroom window . " Plane hell , " he yelled . " It 's the god-damned Japs ! " <p> By this time , I was in Mom 's bed . " Everybody downstairs , " Dad ordered . " Hurry ! " Our stairwell featured a tall window facing Wheeler Field , where the Army Air Corps had fighter squadrons . " They 'll make short work of these bastards , " Dad snarled . But as we clattered down our stairs , the window , sill to sill and side to side , showed only billowing black smoke lined with flashes of orange . Dad pushed us into an alcove under the stairs , tried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ radio . An announcer 's excited voice confirmed that Hickam and Wheeler Fields were under attack , as was Pearl Harbor . When Dad returned to the stairwell , he wore a braided cap . " There 'll be a lot of wounded boys , Helen . " <p> " You ca n't leave ! " Mom wailed . But he did . On foot . Dodging and weaving between buildings all the way to the hospital -- if he 'd taken our Olds , Japanese bullets would have riddled him . Minutes later , Jewell and Billie Jewell bounded across the backyard and pounded on our kitchen door . Mom let them in , then calmly set her coffee pot on a burner to heat . <p> The bombs were closer now . And louder . They really whistle on the way down , you know , and their explosions rattled our house like earthquakes . The radio reported that ships were blazing in the harbor and columns of smoke were drifting over the airfields . Then suddenly our lanai door banged and Anna Momm , eyes flashing like a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When she yanked our couch away from the wall and scrambled behind it on all fours , Mom shrugged , then Jewell followed her into the kitchen . Billie Jewell was crying in the alcove under the stairs when I jumped onto the couch and peeked over its back ; Anna was curled up , sobbing and shaking so hard I was afraid she 'd shatter . <p> As I ran for the kitchen to tell Mom , the roar of a plane shook our walls ; she was carrying her coffee pot .... The howling engine became chattering machine gunfire ! A window over our sink exploded into spraying glass and wood , knocking the pot from her hand and slamming it against a wall as Jewell 's screams ricocheted through the plane 's exhaust fumes . <p> The rest of the morning we huddled in our living room , listening to a radio tell us to boil the water we cooked with or drank , and reporting death and casualty counts . Bombs still whistled , sometimes closer , sometimes more distant . A house up the street was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ desperate moans from behind the couch . With childish bravado , I found my toy gun which fired small corks , then watched patiently from a window for planes emblazoned with red circles , but my corks would n't reach . If only Maxy .... <p> That afternoon my father returned with two gas masks -- I spied them when he walked in . They were grotesque : bluish-grey rubber with black hoses and round glass eyes staring vacantly . He was trying to fit one on me when Mom asked how he 'd gotten them . He said they had belonged to soldiers who had been killed that morning . Blood pounding , I fled , but he told Mom to do it because there could be an invasion that night . When he returned to the dispensary I wondered if I 'd ever see this aloof , pensive man again . <p> Fouled by smoke and flame , twilight glimmered across my tropical paradise while large army trucks , covered from cab to tailgate by arched brown canvas , lumbered down our street . They stopped for grim-jawed military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ block , and when our time came an MP lifted me into the truck ; shadowy specters loomed under its canvas so I snuggled next to the cab , shivering against its cool metal . Finally , at the main thoroughfare , our truck joined a convoy and the MP told us we were being taken to an abandoned schoolhouse in the mountains . It was dark now , and after awhile I noticed a strange orange flicker on the canvas , then a wisp of wind caught its flap , blowing it back from the cab . In that instant I saw what our priest once described at mass as a flaming hell . <p> Pearl Harbor was on fire ! Dark superstructures swayed gently on a flame-laced tapestry while other vessels , listing severely , had cables running to less damaged ships . That was the United States ' smoldering Pacific fleet ! And the water was burning ! The truck flap dropped quickly but its revealed vision had seared my brain . It is what " Remember Pearl Harbor ! " still means to me . <p> We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American clipper for San Francisco . During the flight , I watched two officers with stars gleaming on their shoulders , particularly the one crying . Years later I learned who General Short and Admiral Kimmel were : the army and navy 's ranking Hawaiian officers . Kimmel 's tears must have been about what history now considers the unfair , fingerpointing allegations the men would face at the end of their journey . <p> I 've often wondered about the Momms . Did that aristocratic woman ever recover from two of the twentieth century 's versions of politics run amuck ? And I hope Adams survived to have children who pestered him , as I had , about his scar . I thought about the Walkers -- particularly Billie Jewell . Incredibly , I spotted her in a San Francisco department store and bolted from Mom 's side . She was mad until she saw Jewell . They hugged , then cried , then we took the same taxi and Billie Jewell sang along with the songs on the radio -- she was very sophisticated . They dropped us at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arkansas . I wish I could see them all once again . <p> Mom waited until after the war to disclose Maxy 's fate , and at the risk of political incorrectness , I 'll share it with you . The Imperial Japanese Army captured him when the Philippines fell . He obviously irritated some savage among that infamous horde , because he was lashed to a tree , facing the sun , then his eyelids were sliced off . After he went blind , they cut him down and decapitated him . The bastards . <p> Many of that war 's heros now sleep in eternal repose , but it 's said they once bore witness to the passing of our nation 's innocence . Some gallantly paid the full measure so that my children and your children might see and smell and touch this place and time . Now in night 's nestling silence , I still dream of a tropical sunset with palm trees filtering that last glow of a long forgotten sky . Silver taps , echoed mournfully by a ghostly bugler , drift across a flag-draped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crowd to salute Maxy and his comrades all . Then if you listen very , very closely , " Eyyyes , RIGHT ! " whispers from the universe . <p> By Ralph Patterson <p> <p> Ralph Patterson , an attorney from North Little Rock , Arkansas , and a freelance writer , has smelled the gunpowder of courtrooms for over three decades and served three terms in the Arkansas state senate . <p> 
##4000974 Hermina Morita has a grand vision for Hawaii 's energy future . A state representative , Morita chairs a legislative committee to reduce Hawaii 's dependence on oil , which accounts for 88 percent of its energy and is mainly imported on tankers from Asia and Alaska . In April 2001 , the committee approved a $200,000 " jumpstart " grant to support a public/private partnership in hydrogen research and development , tapping the island state 's plentiful geothermal , solar , and wind resources to split water and produce hydrogen for use in fuel cells to power buses and cars , homes and businesses , and military and fishing fleets . <p> The grant grew out of a consultant study suggesting that hydrogen could become widely cost-effective in Hawaii this decade . The University of Hawaii , meanwhile , has received $2 million from the U.S. Department of Defense for a fuel cell project . Possibilities include Hawaii becoming a mid-Pacific refueling point , shipping its own hydrogen to Oceania , other states , and Japan . Instead of importing energy , Morita told a San Francisco @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be capable of producing more hydrogen than we need , so we can send the excess to California . " <p> Leaders of the tiny South Pacific island of Vanuatu have similar aspirations . In September 2000 , President John Bani appealed to international donors and energy experts to help prepare a feasibility study for developing a hydrogen-based renewable energy economy . The economically depressed and climactically vulnerable island , which spends nearly as much money on petroleum-based products as it receives from all of its exports , hopes to become 100 percent renewable-energy-based by 2020 . Like Hawaii , it has abundant geothermal and solar energy , which can be used to make hydrogen . And like Hawaii , it hopes to become an exporter , providing energy to neighboring islands . " As part of the hydrogen power and renewable energy initiative we will strive to provide electricity to every village in Vanuatu , " the government announced in its October 5 , 2000 , issue of Environment News Service . <p> Hawaii and Vanuatu are following the lead of yet another island , Iceland , which amazed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world 's first hydrogen society . Iceland , which spent $185 million -- a quarter of its trade deficit-on oil imports in 2000 , has joined forces with Shell Hydrogen , DaimlerChrysler , and Norsk Hydro in a multimillion-dollar initiative to convert the island 's buses , cars , and boats to hydrogen and fuel cells over the next thirty to forty years . The brainchild of a chemist named Bragi Arnason and nicknamed " Professor Hydrogen , " the project will begin in the capital of Reykjavik , with the city 's bus fleet drawing on hydrogen from a nearby fertilizer plant and later refilling from a station that produces hydrogen on site from abundant supplies of geothermal and hydroelectric energy -- which furnish 99 percent of Iceland 's power . If the project is successful , the island hopes to become a " Kuwait of the North , " exporting hydrogen to Europe and other countries . " Iceland is already a world leader in using renewable energy , " announced Thorsteinn Sigfusson , chair of the venture , in March 2001 , adding that the bus project @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's first hydrogen economy . " <p> Jules Verne would be pleased -- though not surprised -- to see his vision of a planet powered by hydrogen unfolding in this way . After all , it was in an 1874 book entitled The Mysterious Island that Verne first sketched a world in which water -- and the hydrogen that , along with oxygen , composed it -- would be " the coal of the future . " A century and a quarter later , the idea of using hydrogen -- the simplest , lightest , and most abundant element in the universe -- as a primary form of energy is beginning to move from the pages of science fiction and into speeches of industry executives . " Greenery , innovation , and market forces are shaping the future of our industry and propelling us inexorably toward hydrogen energy , " Texaco executive Frank Ingriselli explained in April 2001 to members of the Science Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives . " Those who do n't pursue it , will rue it . " <p> Indeed , several converging forces explain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advent of greater competition in the energy industry are part of the equation . But equally important motivations for exploring hydrogen are the energy-related problems of energy security , air pollution , and climate change -- problems that are collectively calling into question the fundamental sustainability of the current energy system . These factors reveal why islands , stationed on the front lines of vulnerability to high oil prices and climate change , are in the vanguard of the hydrogen transition . <p> Yet Iceland and other nations represent just the bare beginning in terms of the changes that lie ahead in the energy world . The commercial implications of a transition to hydrogen as the world 's major energy currency will be staggering , putting the $2 trillion energy industry through its greatest tumult since the early days of Standard Oil and Rockefeller . Over 100 companies are aiming to commercialize fuel cells for a broad range of applications -- from cell phones , laptop computers , and soda machines to homes , offices , and factories to vehicles of all kinds . Hydrogen is also being researched for direct @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are spending between $500 million and $1 billion annually on hydrogen . Leading energy suppliers are creating hydrogen divisions , while major carmakers are pouring billions of dollars into a race to put the first fuel cell vehicles on the market between 2003 and 2005 . In California , twenty-three auto , fuel , and fuel cell companies and seven government agencies are partnering to fuel and test drive seventy cars and buses over the next few years . Hydrogen and fuel cell companies have captured the attention of venture capitalist firms and investment banks anxious to get into the hot new space known as ET , or energy technology . <p> The geopolitical implications of hydrogen are enormous as well . Coal fueled the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century rise of Great Britain and modern Germany ; in the twentieth century , oil laid the foundation for the United States ' unprecedented economic and military power . Today 's U.S. superpower status , in turn , may eventually be eclipsed by countries that harness hydrogen as aggressively as the United States tapped oil a century ago . Countries that focus their efforts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left behind in the rush for tomorrow 's prize . As Don Huberts , chief executive officer of Shell Hydrogen , has noted : " The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones , and the oil age will not end because we run out of oil . " Access to geographically concentrated petroleum has also influenced world wars , the 1991 Persian Gulf War , and relations between and among Western economies , the Middle East , and the developing world . Shifting to the plentiful , more dispersed hydrogen could alter the power balances among energy-producing and energy-consuming nations , possibly turning today 's importers into tomorrow 's exporters . <p> The most important consequence of a hydrogen economy may be the replacement of the twentieth-century " hydrocarbon society " with something far better . Twentieth-century humans used ten times as much energy as their ancestors had in the thousand years preceding 1900 . This increase was enabled primarily by fossil fuels , which account for 90 percent of energy worldwide . Global energy consumption is projected to rise by close to 60 percent over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are projected to increase by approximately 30 and 40 percent , respectively . <p> Most of the future growth in energy is expected to take place in transportation , where motorization continues to rise and where petroleum is the dominant fuel , accounting for 95 percent of the total . Failure to develop alternatives to oil would heighten growing reliance on oil imports , raising the risk of political and military conflict and economic disruption . In industrial nations , the share of imports in overall oil demand would rise from roughly 56 percent today to 72 percent by 2010 . Coal , meanwhile , is projected to maintain its grip on more than half the world 's power supply . Continued rises in coal and oil use would exacerbate urban air problems in industrialized cities that still exceed air pollution health standards and in megacities such as Delhi , Beijing , and Mexico City , which experience thousands of pollution-related deaths each year . And prolonging petroleum and coal reliance in transportation and electricity would increase annual global carbon emissions from 6.1 to 9.8 billion tons by 2020 , accelerating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , coastal flooding , and loss of small islands ; extreme weather events ; reduced agricultural productivity and water availability ; and the loss of biodiversity . <p> Hydrogen can not , on its own , entirely solve each of these complex problems , which are affected not only by fuel supply but also by such factors as population , over- and underconsumption , sprawl , congestion , and vehicle dependence . But hydrogen could provide a major hedge against these risks . By enabling the spread of appliances , more decentralized " micropower " plants , and vehicles based on efficient fuel cells , whose only byproduct is water , hydrogen would dramatically cut emissions of particulates , carbon monoxide , sulfur and nitrogen oxides , and other local air pollutants . By providing a secure and abundant domestic supply of fuel , hydrogen would significantly reduce oil import requirements , providing the energy independence and security that many nations crave . <p> Hydrogen would , in addition , facilitate the transition from limited nonrenewable stocks of fossil fuels to unlimited flows of renewable sources , playing an essential role @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needed to avoid the most severe effects of climate change . According to the World Energy Assessment , released in 2000 by several United Nations agencies and the World Energy Council , which emphasizes " the strategic importance of hydrogen as an energy carrier , " the accelerated replacement of oil and other fossil fuels with hydrogen could help achieve " deep reductions " in carbon emissions and avoid a doubling of preindustrial carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere -- a level at which scientists expect major , and potentially irreversible , ecological and economic disruptions . Hydrogen fuel cells could also help address global energy inequities -- providing fuel and power and spurring employment and exports in the rural regions of the developing world , where nearly two billion people lack access to modern energy services . <p> Despite these potential benefits , and despite early movement toward a hydrogen economy , its full realization faces an array of technical and economic obstacles . Hydrogen has yet o be piped into the mainstream of the energy policies and strategies of governments and businesses , which tend to aim at preserving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy , and its emphasis on expanding fossil fuel production , serving as the most recent example of this mindset . In the energy sector 's equivalent of U.S. political campaign finance , market structures have long been tilted toward fossil fuel production . Subsidies to these energy sources -- in the form of direct supports and the " external " costs of pollution -- are estimated at roughly $300 billion annually . <p> The perverse signals in today 's energy market , which lead to artificially low fossil fuel prices and encourage the production and use of those fuels , make it difficult for hydrogen and fuel cells -- whose production , delivery , and storage costs are improving but look high under such circumstances -- to compete with the entrenched gasoline-run internal combustion engines and coal-fired power plants . This skewed market could push the broad availability of fuel cell vehicles and power plants a decade or more into the future . Unless the antiquated rules of the energy economy -- aimed at keeping hydrocarbon production cheap by shifting the cost to consumers and the environment -- are reformed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ <p> One of the most significant obstacles to realizing the full promise of hydrogen is the prevailing perception that a full-fledged hydrogen infrastructure -- the system for producing , storing , and delivering the gas -- would immediately cost hundreds of billions of dollars to build , far more than a system based on liquid fuels such as gasoline or methanol . As a result , auto and energy companies are investing millions of dollars in the development of reformer and vehicle technologies that would derive and use hydrogen from these liquids , keeping the current petroleum-based infrastructure intact . <p> This incremental path -- continuing to rely on the dirtier , less secure fossil fuels as a bridge to the new energy system-represents a costly wrong turn , both financially and environmentally . Should manufacturers " lock in " to mass-producing inferior fuel cell vehicles just as a hydrogen infrastructure approaches viability , trillions of dollars worth of assets could be wasted . Furthermore , by perpetuating petroleum consumption and import dependence and the excess emission of air pollutants and greenhouse gases , this route would deprive society of numerous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comes from fossil fuels . Over the long run , this proportion needs to be shifted toward renewable sources , not maintained , for hydrogen production to be sustainable . <p> In the past several years , a number of scientists have openly challenged the conventional wisdom of the incremental path . Their research suggests that the direct use of hydrogen is , in fact , the quickest and least costly route -- for the consumer and the environment -- toward a hydrogen infrastructure . Their studies point to an alternative pathway that would initially use the existing infrastructure for natural gas -- the cleanest fossil fuel and the fastest growing in terms of use -- and employ fuel cells in niche applications to bring down their costs to competitive levels , spurring added hydrogen infrastructure investment . As the costs of producing hydrogen from renewable energy fell , meanwhile , hydrogen would evolve into the major source of storage for the limitless but intermittent flows of the sun , wind , tides , and Earth 's heat . The end result would be a clean , natural hydrogen cycle , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hydrogen , with the latter used in fuel cells to produce electricity and water -- which then would be available to repeat the process . <p> There are no major technical obstacles to the alternative path to hydrogen . As one researcher has put it , " If we really decided that we wanted a clean hydrogen economy , we could have it by 2010 . " But the political and institutional barriers are formidable . Both government and industry have devoted far more resources to the gasoline- and methanol-based route than to the direct hydrogen path . Hydrogen receives a fraction of the research funding that is allocated to coal , oil , nuclear , and other mature , commercial energy sources . Within energy companies , the hydrocarbon side of the business argues that oil will be dominant for decades to come , even as other divisions prepare for its successors . And very little has been done to educate people about the properties and safety of hydrogen , even though public acceptance -- or lack thereof -- will in the end make or break the hydrogen future . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more secure path to hydrogen point to an essential -- and little recognized -- role for government . Indeed , without aggressive energy and environmental policies , the hydrogen economy is likely to emerge along the more incremental path , and at a pace that is inadequate for dealing with the range of challenges posed by the incumbent energy system . Neither market forces nor government flat will , in isolation , move us down the more direct , more difficult route . The challenge is for government to guide the transition , setting the rules of the game and working with industry and society toward the preferable hydrogen future . <p> This catalytic leadership role would be analogous to that played by government in launching another infrastructure in the early years of the Cold War . Recognizing the strategic importance of having its networks of information more decentralized and less vulnerable to attack , the U.S. government engaged in critical research , incentives , and public/private collaboration toward development of what we now call the Internet . An equally , and arguably even more , compelling case can be made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that best limits vulnerability to air pollution , energy insecurity , and climate change . Investments made today will heavily influence in what manner and how fast the hydrogen economy emerges in coming decades . As with creating the Internet , putting humans on the moon , and other great endeavors , it is the cost of inaction that should most occupy the minds of our leaders now , at the dawn of the hydrogen age . <p> By Seth Dunn <p> <p> Seth Dunn is a research associate at the Worldwatch Institute , where he is a member of the climate/energy team and for which he has written extensively . He holds a B.A. in history and studies in the environment from Yale University . This article is excerpted from Hydrogen Futures : Toward a Sustainable Energy System , published as paper 157 by the Worldwatch Institute ( www.worldwatch.org ) . <p> 
##4000975 Physician-assisted suicide is among the most hotly debated bioethical issues of our time . Every reasonable person prefers that no patient ever contemplate suicide-with or without assistance-and recent improvements in pain management have begun to reduce the number of patients seeking such assistance . However , there are some patients who experience terrible suffering that ca n't be relieved by any of the therapeutic or palliative techniques medicine and nursing have to offer , and some of those patients desperately seek deliverance . <p> Physician-assisted suicide is n't about physicians becoming killers . It 's about patients whose suffering we ca n't relieve and about not turning away from them when they ask for help . Will there be physicians who feel they ca n't do this ? Of course , and they should n't be obliged to . But if other physicians consider it merciful to help such patients by merely writing a prescription , it is unreasonable to place them in jeopardy of criminal prosecution , loss of license , or other penalty for doing so . <p> Many arguments are put forward for maintaining the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outweighed by two fundamental principles that support ending the prohibition : patient autonomy-the right to control one 's own body -- and the physician 's duty to relieve suffering . <p> Society recognizes the competent patient 's right to autonomy -- to decide what will or wo n't be done to his or her body . There is almost universal agreement that a competent adult has the right to self-determination , including the right to have life-sustaining treatment withheld or withdrawn . Suicide , once illegal throughout the United States , is no longer illegal in any part of the country . Yet assisting a person to take her or his own life is prohibited in every state but Oregon . If patients seek such help , it is cruel to leave them to fend for themselves , weighing options that are both traumatic and uncertain , when humane assistance could be made available . <p> The physician 's obligations are many but , when cure is impossible and palliation has failed to achieve its objectives , there is always a residual obligation to relieve suffering . Ultimately , if the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the patient -- and only the patient -- who can judge whether death is harmful or a good to be sought . Marcia Angell , former executive editor of the New England Journal of Medicine , has put it this way : <p> The highest ethical imperative of doctors should be to provide care in whatever way best serves patients ' interests , in accord with each patient 's wishes , not with a theoretical commitment to preserve life no matter what the cost in suffering .... The greatest harm we can do is to consign a desperate patient to unbearable suffering -- or force the patient to seek out a stranger like Dr. Kevorkian . <p> Let 's examine the key arguments made against physician-assisted suicide . First , much weight is placed on the Hippocratic injunction to do no harm . It has been asserted that sanctioning physician-assisted suicide " would give doctors a license to kill , " and physicians who accede to such requests have been branded by some as murderers . This is both illogical and inflammatory . Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment -- for example , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accepted by society , yet this requires a more definitive act by a physician than prescribing a medication that a patient has requested and is free to take or not , as he or she sees fit . Why should the latter be perceived as doing harm when the former is not ? Rather than characterizing this as " killing , " we should see it as bringing the dying process to a merciful end . The physician who complies with a plea for final release from a patient facing death under unbearable conditions is doing good , not harm , and her or his actions are entirely consonant with the Hippocratic tradition . <p> Second , it is argued that requests for assisted suicide come largely from patients who have n't received adequate pain control or who are clinically depressed and have n't been properly diagnosed or treated . There is no question that proper management of such conditions would significantly reduce the number of patients who consider suicide ; any sanctioning of assistance should be contingent upon prior management of pain and depression . <p> However , treatable pain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ common reason , why patients seek to end their lives . Severe body wasting , intractable vomiting , urinary and bowel incontinence , immobility , and total dependence are recognized as more important than pain in the desire for hastened death . There is a growing awareness that loss of dignity and of those attributes that we associate particularly with being human are the factors that most commonly reduce patients to a state of unrelieved misery and desperation . <p> Third , it is argued that permitting physician-assisted suicide would undermine the sense of trust that patients have in their doctors . This is curious reasoning ; patients are not lying in bed wondering if their physicians are going to kill them -- and permitting assisted suicide should n't create such fears , since the act of administering a fatal dose would be solely within the control of the patient . Rather than undermining a patient 's trust , I would expect the legalization of physician-assisted suicide to enhance that trust . I have spoken with a great many people who feel that they would like to be able to trust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unrelieved suffering -- and making that possible would give such patients a greater sense of security . Furthermore , some patients have taken their own lives at a relatively early stage of terminal illness precisely because they feared that progressively increasing disability , without anyone to assist them , would rob them of this option at a later time when they were truly desperate . A patient contemplating suicide would be much less likely to take such a step if he or she were confident of receiving assistance in the future if so desired . <p> Fourth , it is argued that patients do n't need assistance to commit suicide ; they can manage it all by themselves . This seems both callous and unrealistic . Are patients to shoot themselves , jump from a window , starve themselves to death , or rig a pipe to the car exhaust ? All of these methods have been used by patients in the final stages of desperation , but it is a hideous experience for both patient and survivors . Even patients who ca n't contemplate such traumatic acts and instead manage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weak to complete the process without help and therefore face a high risk of failure , with dreadful consequences for themselves and their families . <p> Fifth , it is argued that requests for assisted suicide are not frequent enough to warrant changing the law . Interestingly , some physicians say they have rarely , if ever , received such requests , while others say they have often received requests . This is a curious discrepancy , but I think it can be explained : the patient who seeks help with suicide will cautiously test a physician 's receptivity to the idea and simply wo n't approach a physician who is unreceptive . Thus , there are two subsets of physicians in this situation : those who are open to the idea of assisted suicide and those who are n't . Patients are likely to seek help from the former but not from the latter . <p> A study carried out a few years ago by the University of Washington School of Medicine queried 828 physicians ( a 25 percent sample of primary care physicians and all physicians in selected medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . Of these respondents , 12 percent reported receiving one or more explicit requests for assisted suicide , and one-fourth of the patients requesting such assistance received prescriptions . <p> A survey of physicians in San Francisco treating AIDS patients brought responses from half , and 53 percent of those respondents reported helping patients take their own lives by prescribing lethal doses of narcotics . Clearly , requests for assisted suicide ca n't be dismissed as rare occurrences . <p> Sixth , it is argued that sanctioning assisted suicide would fail to address the needs of patients who are incompetent . This is obviously true , since proposals for legalization specify that assistance be given only to a patient who is competent and who requests it . However , in essence , this argument says that , because we can t establish a procedure that will deal " with every patient , we wo n't make assisted suicide available to any patient . What logic ! Imagine the outcry if that logic were applied to a procedure such as organ transplantation , which has benefited so many people in this country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ open the door to physician-assisted suicide we will find ourselves on a slippery slope leading to coercion and involuntary euthanasia of vulnerable patients . Why so ? We have learned to grapple with many slippery slopes in medicine -- such as Do Not Resuscitate ( DNR ) orders and the withdrawal of life support . We do n't deal with those slippery slopes by prohibition but , rather , by adopting reasonable ground rules and setting appropriate limits . <p> The slippery slope argument discounts the real harm of failing to respond to the pleas of real people and considers only the potential harm that might be done to others at some future time and place . As in the case of other slippery slopes , theoretical future harm can be mitigated by establishing appropriate criteria that would have to be met before a patient could receive assistance . Such criteria have been outlined frequently . Stated briefly , they include : The patient must have an incurable condition causing severe , unrelenting suffering . The patient must understand his or her condition and prognosis , which must be verified by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been presented to and considered by the patient . The patient must clearly and repeatedly request assistance in dying . A psychiatric consultation must be held to establish if the patient is suffering from a treatable depression . The prescribing physician , absent a close preexisting relationship ( which would be ideal ) , must get to know the patient well enough to understand the reasons for her or his request . No physician should be expected to violate his or her own basic values . A physician who is unwilling to assist the patient should facilitate transfer to another physician who would be prepared to do so . All of the foregoing must be clearly documented . <p> Application of the above criteria would substantially reduce the risk of abuse but could n't guarantee that abuse would never occur . We must recognize , however , that abuses occur today -- in part because we tolerate covert action that is subject to no safeguards at all . A more open process would , in the words of philosopher and ethicist Margaret Battin , " prod us to develop much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already make in what are often quite casual , cavalier ways . " <p> It seems improbable that assisted suicide would pose a special danger to the elderly , infirm , and disabled . To paraphrase John Maynard Keynes , in the long run we are all elderly , infirm , or disabled and , since society well knows this , serious attention would surely be given to adequate protections against abuse . It is n't my intention to dispose glibly of the fear that society would view vulnerable patients as a liability and would manipulate them to end their lives prematurely . Of course , this concern must be respected , but the risk can be minimized by applying the criteria listed above . Furthermore , this argument assumes that termination of life is invariably an evil against which we must protect vulnerable patients who are poor or otherwise lacking in societal support . But , by definition , we are speaking of patients who desperately wish final release from unrelieved suffering , and poor and vulnerable patients are least able to secure aid in dying if they want it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some good luck , find a physician who is willing to provide covert help ; the poor and disenfranchised rarely have access to such assistance in today 's world . <p> Eighth , it is argued that the Netherlands experience proves that societal tolerance of physician-assisted suicide leads to serious abuse . Aside from the fact that the data are subject to varying interpretation depending upon which analysis one believes , the situation in the Netherlands holds few lessons for us , because for many years that country followed the ambiguous practice of technically prohibiting but tacitly permitting assisted suicide and euthanasia . <p> The climate in the United States is different ; our regulatory mechanisms would be different -- much stricter , of course -- and we should expect different outcomes . The experience of Oregon -- the only one of our fifty states to permit physician-assisted suicide-is instructive . During the first three years that Oregon 's law has been in effect , seventy terminally ill patients took advantage of the opportunity to self-administer medication to end protracted dying . Despite dire warnings , there was no precipitous rush @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the uninsured were n't victimized ; almost all of these seventy patients had health insurance , most were on hospice care , and most were people with at least some college education . There were no untoward complications . The Oregon experience is far more relevant for the United States than the Dutch experience , and it vindicates those who , despite extremely vocal opposition , advocated for the legislation . <p> Ninth , it has been argued that a society that does n't assure all its citizens the right to basic health care and protect them against catastrophic health costs has no business considering physician-assisted suicide . I find this an astonishing argument . It says to every patient who seeks ultimate relief from severe suffering that his or her case wo n't be considered until all of us are assured basic health care and financial protection . These are certainly proper goals for any decent society , but they wo n't be attained in the United States until it becomes a more generous and responsible nation -- and that day seems to be far off . Patients seeking deliverance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ future developments that are not even visible on the distant horizon . <p> Finally , it is argued that the status quo is acceptable -- that a patient who is determined to end his or her life can find a sympathetic physician who will provide the necessary prescription and that physicians are virtually never prosecuted for such acts . There are at least four reasons to reject the status quo . First , it forces patients and physicians to undertake a clandestine conspiracy to violate the law , thus compromising the integrity of patient , physician , and family . Second , such secret compacts , by their very nature , are subject to faulty implementation with a high risk of failure and consequent tragedy for both patient and family . Third , the assumption that a determined patient can find a sympathetic physician applies , at best , to middle- and upper-income persons who have ongoing relationships with their physicians ; the poor , as I 've already noted , rarely have such an opportunity . Fourth , covert action places a physician in danger of criminal prosecution or loss @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be unlikely , that risk certainly inhibits some physicians from doing what they believe is proper to help their patients . <p> I believe that removing the prohibition against physician assistance , rather than opening the flood gates to ill-advised suicides , is likely to reduce the incentive for suicide : patients who fear great suffering in the final stages of illness would have the assurance that help would be available if needed and they would be more inclined to test their own abilities to withstand the trials that lie ahead . <p> Life is the most precious gift of all , and no sane person wants to part with it , but there are some circumstances where life has lost its value . A competent person who has thoughtfully considered his or her own situation and finds that unrelieved suffering outweighs the value of continued life should n't have to starve to death or find other drastic and violent solutions when more merciful means exist . Those physicians who wish to fulfill what they perceive to be their humane responsibilities to their patients should n't be forced by legislative prohibition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to these very sensitive problems . However , I believe that reasonable protections can be put in place that will minimize the risk of abuse and that the humanitarian benefits of legalizing physician-assisted suicide outweigh that risk . All physicians are bound by the injunction to do no harm , but we must recognize that harm may result not only from the commission of a wrongful act but also from the omission of an act of mercy . While not every physician will feel comfortable offering help in these tragic situations , many believe it is right to do so and our society should not criminalize such humanitarian acts . <p> By Peter Rogatz <p> <p> Peter Rogatz , M.D. , M. PH. , is a founding board member of Compassion in Dying of New York , a member of the Ethics Committee of Hospice Care Network ( Long Island and Queens ) , and a member of the Committee on Bioethical Issues of the Medical Society of the State of New York . He previously served as professor of community and preventive medicine at the State University of New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 