Foundations

This week the topics have centered around estate planning. Today, we will look at foundations and how they can fit into the plan. Foundations are legal entities that are classified as a non-profit organization. Foundations usually have charitable purposes that it is set up for, but the qualified definitions can be pretty loose as to the one or many purposes. A foundation may either donate funds and support to other organizations, or provide the sole source of funding for their own charitable activities.

The foundation can have a wide diversity of the way it is set up, organized, and run. But there are some common elements that include:

• Legal requirements followed for establishment
• Purpose of the foundation
• Economic activity
• Supervision and management provisions
• Accountability and Auditing provisions
• Provisions for the amendment of the statutes or articles of incorporation
• Provisions for the dissolution of the entity
• Tax status of corporate and private donors
• Tax status of the foundation

Most of these elements are defined in the document of establishment. In the US, these organizations are classified as 501(c)(3) for the purpose of the tax code. Internationally, they are usually defined as Private Interest Foundations. Each jurisdiction may have separate rules with respect to how legal matters of organization, reporting, and taxes are concerned.

Generally, foundations are not taxed because of their non-profit nature and charitable tendencies. They can be set up for the purposes of future heirs as well. This is where they can play a role in estate planning. For example, you can have a private foundation in the name your family with the resources and rules for every one of your descendants to be able to go to school at Harvard University. The foundation can make investments and hold the profits until one of your descendants is of age to go to Harvard. Then, it would pay the tuition, room and board, etc. so your offspring can have the best education available. (I beg your pardon if your alma mater is Yale or another educational icon.)

Obviously, this is only one example. The possibilities and purposes are almost limitless. There are a few rules this organizations must follow as to the structure, reporting, etc., but they are not very restrictive as to how the resources such as money is spent or used. Naturally, these organizations can not be involved in any illegal activity, or the resources will be seized or frozen.

Private foundations typically have a single major source of funding (usually gifts from one family or corporation rather than funding from many sources) and most have as their primary activity the making of grants to other charitable organizations and to individuals, rather than the direct operation of charitable programs. When a person or a corporation founds a private foundation frequently family members of that person or agents of the corporation are members of the governing board. This limits public scrutiny over the private foundation, which entails unfavorable treatment compared to community foundations.

The unfavorable treatment of private foundations compared to public charities including community foundations are as follows: (a) foundation must pay out 5% of its assets each year while a public charity does not; (b) donors to a public charity receive greater tax benefits than donors to a foundation; (c) a public charity must collect at least 10% of its annual expenses from the public in order to remain tax-exempt while a foundation does not.

For tax purposes, there are a few variants of private foundation. The material difference is between "operating" foundations and "grant-making" foundations. Operating foundations use their endowment to achieve their goals directly. Grant-making foundations, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, use their endowment to make grants to other organizations, which indirectly carry out the goals of the foundation. Operating foundations have preferential tax treatment in a few areas including allowing individual donors to contribute more of their income and allowing grant-making foundation contributions to count towards the 5% minimum distribution requirement.

The Tax Reform Act of 1969 defined the fundamental social contract offered to private foundations. In exchange for exemption from paying most taxes and for limited tax benefits being offered to donors, a private foundation must (a) pay out at least 5% of the value of its endowment each year, none of which may be to the private benefit of any individual; (b) not own or operate significant for-profit businesses; (c) file detailed public annual reports and conduct annual audits in the same manner as a for-profit corporation; (d) meet a suite of additional accounting requirements unique to nonprofits. Administrative and operating expenses count towards the 5% requirement.

As you can see, foundations can be just another tool used for estate planning. The key thing is to really think about not only your present situation, but also what you want for the future after you are no longer here. Your legacy can continue for generations, but it must be planned and set up properly. Choosing the right people to carry out your instructions properly is also very important. Choose wisely.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. Psalms 89:14 (NIV)

"I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." Luke 6:47-49 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Estate Planning

This week the focus has been centered around estate planning. We've looked at wills, trusts, and guardianships individually, and today we are going to see how they all fit together.

Estate planning encompasses all tangible, real and personal, assets of a natural person. It is the process of accumulating and disposing of an estate to maximize the goals of the estate owner. These goals usually include making sure the greatest amount of the estate passes to the estate owner's intended beneficiaries, often including paying the least amount of taxes and avoiding or minimizing probate court involvement. Additional goals typically include providing for and designating guardians for minor children and planning for incapacity. This can also include planning for home care, long term care in a nursing home, and use of insurance, social security, or disability benefits. Another major benefit from creating an estate plan is to eliminate or minimize the hassle of contingent litigation or family conflict brought on by disgruntled relatives fighting over the proceeds of a sizable estate.

The property of the estate must either be bequeathed through a will or transferred through the laws of intestacy (the condition of the estate of a person who dies owning property greater than the sum of his or her enforceable debts and funeral expenses without having made a valid will) if there is no will. A will is the most commonly used legal instrument for the distribution of the property of a deceased person. Before property can be disposed of pursuant to the terms of a will, the will must be submitted to a probate court having jurisdiction of the estate of the deceased. Probate is often considered a relatively lengthy and expensive process. Probate can usually take several months to process, and the United States federal estate tax very quickly approaches 50% of one's taxable estate. Avoidance of probate taxes, sometimes called inheritance tax or death tax, therefore is very prudent.

The idea of avoiding probate revolves around the concept that you cannot be taxed on what you don't own. Through the use of trusts, foundations, charitable remainder trusts, and other tools, you can transfer ownership of your possessions to another legal entity while still maintaining control over its use. These structures can eliminate the probate process and can pass bank accounts, houses, cars, possessions, etc. to the intended beneficiaries or documented trustees for continued use or liquidation. Similarly, jointly held property (in common law systems), life insurance, annuities, 401(k) Retirement Plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA), will also avoid probate as these devices allow property to transfer to beneficiaries outside the probate process. Special needs trusts can also be created to ensure that beneficiaries who are developmentally disabled or mentally ill can receive inheritances without losing access to essential government benefits.

There is currently an exemption incorporated into the estate tax law. The applicable exempt amount is currently two million dollars in 2006. The exempt amount is scheduled to increase to three and a half million in 2009, after which the estate tax is temporarily repealed for one year in 2010. The year after, the estate tax is scheduled to be reinstated, with the previous exemption of one million dollars.

It should be noted the difference between a living will and a durable medical power of attorney. A living will usually covers specific directives as to the course of treatment that is to be taken by caregivers; or, in particular, in some cases forbidding treatment and sometimes also food and water, should the principal be unable to give informed consent (individual health care instruction) due to incapacity. A durable medical power of attorney for health care appoints an individual to direct health care decisions should the principal be unable to do so. The former controls solely those decisions that must be made at the end of the patient's life, while the latter is used to give decision-making authority to someone else (usually a family member or close friend). This person, the attorney-in-fact, then makes all medical decisions leading up to the person's death, but has no such power to make end of life decisions for the patient. Those decisions are made by the patient in the living will; in the absence of a living will, and where the patient is incapable of making end-of-life decisions for him or herself, such choices are left to family members.

Tomorrow, we will look at foundations and how they fit into estate planning. Stay tuned ...

Estates and estate planning have been around since the beginning of time. Take a look at the conversation between Jacob and his wives.
Then Rachel and Leah replied, "Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's estate? Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you." Genesis 31:14-16 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Legal Guardians

Continuing in the topics of estate planning, today's subject will be on legal guardians. A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority and the corresponding duty to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability. Most countries and states have laws that provide that the parents of a minor child are the legal guardians of that child, and that the parents can designate who shall become the child's legal guardian in the event of their death. This can be all specified in a will or living trust detailing the guidelines for care, schooling, etc., and conditions of termination of the role of guardian.

A guardian is a fiduciary and is held to a very high standard of care in exercising his powers. If the ward owns substantial property the guardian may be required to give a surety bond to protect the ward in the event that dishonesty or incompetence on his part causes financial loss to the ward.

Courts generally have the power to appoint a guardian for an individual in need of special protection. A guardian with responsibility for both the personal well-being and the financial interests of the ward is a general guardian. A person may also be appointed as a special guardian, having limited powers over the interests of the ward. A special guardian may, for example, be given the legal right to determine the disposition of the ward's property without being given any authority over the ward's person. A guardian appointed to represent the interests of a person with respect to a single action in litigation is a guardian ad litem.

Guardians ad litem are often appointed in divorce cases to represent the interests of the minor children, or in the case of mentally ill or disabled persons. The kinds of people appointed as a guardian ad litem vary by state, ranging from volunteers to social workers to regular attorneys. The two divorcing parents are usually responsible for paying the fees of the guardian ad litem, even though the guardian ad litem is not responsible to them at all. In some states, the county government pays the fee of that attorney. The guardian ad litem's only job is to represent the minor children's best interests.

Guardians ad litem are also sometimes appointed in probate matters to represent the interests of unknown or unlocated heirs to an estate.

Each state has specific laws, which govern guardianship proceedings and the guardian’s activities. States also separate guardianship for minors and for adults with disabilities in the law. Your local court will be able to direct you to the divisions, which oversee adult guardianship and/or minor guardianships.

For a resource to get more information, go to www.guardianship.org sponsored by the National Guardianship Association, Inc.

What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. Galatians 4:1-2 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Trusts

This week the topics are centered around estate planning. As mentioned yesterday, a living trust as part of a will can be used not only to transfer assets and avoid unnecessary taxes, but also can be used to make decisions regarding health care while still living.

To take a closer look at trusts, let's cover the basics first. A trust is an agreement under which money or other assets are held and managed by one person for the benefit of another. Different types of trusts may be created to accomplish specific goals. Each kind may vary in the degree of flexibility and control it offers.

The common benefits that trust arrangements offer include:

• Providing personal and financial safeguards for family and other beneficiaries;
• Postponing or avoiding unnecessary taxes;
• Establishing a means of controlling or administering property; and
• Meeting other social or commercial goals.

A trust is created by a settlor (may also be referred to as the "grantor," "donor", or "trustor") who entrusts some or all of his or her property to people of his choice, namely the trustees. The trustees are the legal owners of the trust property (assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, business, etc.), but they are obliged to hold the property for the benefit of one or more individuals or organizations which are called the beneficiaries, usually specified by the settlor. The trustees owe a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries, who are the "beneficial" owners of the trust property.

Because of the different kinds of trusts, let's look at some of the basic purposes. Once the purpose is clearly defined, the proper type and particulars can be included.

Common purposes for trusts include:

1. Privacy. Trusts may be created purely for privacy. The terms of a will are public and the terms of a trust are not. In some families this alone makes use of trusts ideal.
2. Spendthrift Protection. Trusts may be used to protect one's self against one's own inability to handle money. It is not unusual for an individual to create an inter vivos trust with a corporate trustee who may then disburse funds only for causes articulated in the trust document. These are especially attractive for spendthrifts. In many cases a family member or friend has prevailed upon the spendthrift/settlor to enter into such a relationship.
3. Wills and Estate Planning. Trusts frequently appear in wills. A fairly conventional will, even for a comparatively poor person, often leaves assets to the deceased's spouse (if any), and then to the children equally. If the children are under 18, or under some other age mentioned in the will (21 and 25 are common), a trust must come into existence until the contingency age is reached. The executor of the will is usually the trustee, and the children are the beneficiaries. The trustee will have powers to assist the beneficiaries during their minority.
4. Charities. In some common law jurisdictions all charities must take the form of trusts. In others, corporations may be charities also, but even there a trust is the most usual form for a charity to take. In most jurisdictions, charities are tightly regulated for the public benefit.
   
5. Unit Trusts. The trust has proved to be such a flexible concept that it has proved capable of working as an investment vehicle.
6. Pension Plans. Pension plans are typically set up as a trust, with the employer as settlor, and the employees and their dependents as beneficiaries.
7. Corporate Structures. Complex business arrangements, most often in the finance and insurance sectors, sometimes use trusts among various other entities (e.g. corporations) in their structure.
8. Asset Protection. The principle of asset protection is for a person to divorce himself or herself personally from the assets he or she would otherwise own, with the intention that future creditors will not be able to attack that money, even though they may be able to bankrupt him or her personally. One method of asset protection is the creation of a discretionary trust, of which the settlor may be the protector and a beneficiary, but not the trustee and not the sole beneficiary. In such an arrangement the settlor may be in a position to benefit from the trust assets, without owning them, and therefore without them being available to his creditors. Such a trust will usually preserve anonymity with a completely unconnected name (e.g. "The Teddy Bear Trust"). The above is a considerable simplification of the scope of asset protection. Some asset protection is legal and moral, while some asset protection is illegal and/or immoral.
9. Tax Planning. The tax consequences of doing anything using a trust are usually different from the tax consequences of achieving the same effect by another route (if, indeed, it would be possible to do so). In many cases the tax consequences of using the trust are better than the alternative, and trusts are therefore frequently used for tax avoidance, or avoid paying unnecessary taxes.
10. Tax Evasion. In contrast to tax avoidance, tax evasion is the illegal concealment of income from the tax authorities. Trusts have proved a useful vehicle to the tax evader, as they tend to preserve anonymity, and they divorce the settlor and individual beneficiaries from ownership of the assets. This use is particularly common across borders — a trustee in one country is not necessarily bound to report income to the tax authorities of another.
    
11. Money Laundering. The same attributes of trusts which attract legitimate asset protectors also attract money launderers. Many of the techniques of asset protection, particularly layering, are techniques of money-laundering also, and innocent trustees such as bank trust companies can become involved in money-laundering in the belief that they are furthering a legitimate asset protection exercise, often without raising suspicion.
12. Co-ownership. Ownership of property by more than one person is facilitated by a trust. In particular, ownership of a matrimonial home is commonly effected by a trust with both partners as beneficiaries and one, or both, owning the legal title as trustee.

As mentioned earlier, a living trust is part of a will and are created during the lifetime of the settlor. Property held in a living trust is not normally subject to probate (the court-supervised process to validate a will and transfer property on the death of the settlor). Such trusts are widely used because they allow the settlor to designate a trustee to provide professional management. This is done through designating a durable power of attorney who will legally act on your behalf in the event of death or incapacity. With respect to health care, this person decides on issues concerning the settlor’s health when it comes to the point when the settlor cannot make health care decisions on his own.

Living trusts can be "revocable" or "irrevocable." The settlor may change the terms or cancel a revocable living trust, but not an irrevocable one. Upon revocation, the settlor resumes ownership of the trust property.

In creating a trust, you should consider several factors and obligations, including:

• Your personal situation, including age, health and financial status;
• Your family relationships and your family's financial circumstances;
• Personal financial data: personal property, real estate holdings, securities, and other property — as well as your tax situation and any debts or obligations;
• The purpose of the trust: your goals, or what you hope to accomplish by the arrangement;
• The type of trust, and how versatile or flexible your plans are.
• The amount and type of property it will contain;
• The duration, or how long the trust will last;
• The beneficiaries and their specific needs;
• Any conditions that must be met by a beneficiary to receive benefits (such as attaining a certain age);
• Alternatives for disposing of assets in case the trust conditions are not met or circumstances change; and
• The trustee, and the conditions or guidelines under which he or she will function.

Dependency exemptions, capital gains and losses, income, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes also should be considered when planning certain types of trusts. Likewise, you may want to think about naming alternative or contingent beneficiaries and trustees. In selecting a trustee you should consider the potential trustee's competence and experience in managing business or financial matters and the potential trustee's availability and willingness to serve.

Once a trust has been established, a periodic review of the status of the trust is advisable; you may want to obtain professional assistance appropriate to the requirements of the trust. The cost of creating and administering a trust can vary considerably, depending on its type and duration. A lawyer's fees to create a trust, for example, will usually be based on the time involved in consulting with you, and in planning and preparing documents. Therefore, before you hire a lawyer, you should discuss fees (for example, whether hourly or flat fees are charged). Ask for an estimate or arrange a written fee agreement.

Other fees can also be applicable. A trustee's fee may vary with the skill and expertise the trustee offers. There also may be accounting, real estate management or other service fees. Other common charges include annual, minimum, withdrawal and termination fees.

There will be more information tomorrow regarding these and other estate planning techniques. Stay tuned ...

Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Psalms 86:2 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Wills

This week, the theme will center around estate planning. Today, we will start with the will. A will is a legal declaration of a person's wishes regarding the disposal of his or her property or estate after death. What most do not realize with respect to wills is that you can draft your own will without the aid of a lawyer.

Let's examine the requirements of a legal will. First, as with any legal document, the person must be of the age of majority. This can vary from state to state, but in most states it means that the person must be at least 21 years old, some are 18. The person making out the will is called the testator. Here are the requirements:

• The testator must clearly identify himself as the maker of the will, and that a will is being made; this is commonly called "publication" of the will, and is typically satisfied by the words "last will and testament" on the face of the document.

• The testator must declare that he revokes all previously-made wills and codicils. (A codicil is an amendment or addendum to the will.) Otherwise, a subsequently-made will revokes earlier wills and codicils only to the extent that they are inconsistent. However, if a subsequent will is completely inconsistent with an earlier one, that earlier will be considered completely revoked by implication.

• The testator must demonstrate that he has the capacity to dispose of his property, and does so freely and willingly.

• The testator must sign and date the will, usually in the presence of at least two disinterested witnesses (persons who are not beneficiaries). In some jurisdictions, for example Kentucky, the spouse of a beneficiary is also considered an interested witness. In the USA, Pennsylvania is the only state which does not require the signing of the will be witnessed.

• The testator's signature must be placed at the end of the will. If this is not observed, any text following the signature will be ignored, or the entire will may be invalidated if what comes after the signature is so material that ignoring it would defeat the testator's intentions.

Although there is no legal requirement that a will be drawn up by a lawyer, there are pitfalls the home-made wills are susceptible to. The biggest problem is that the language must be perfectly clear as to the intent of the person, because the deceased is not there to clarify the intent afterwards. A common error, for example, in the execution of home-made wills in England is to use a beneficiary (typically a spouse or other close family members) as a witness -- although this has the effect in law of disinheriting the witness regardless of the provisions of the will.

A will may not include a requirement that an heir commit an illegal, immoral, or other act against public policy as a condition of receipt. In community property (joint ownership of all property of married persons except for gifts and inheritances) jurisdictions, a will cannot be used to disinherit a surviving spouse, who is entitled to at least a portion of the testator's estate. In England, a will may disinherit a spouse, but close relations excluded from a will (including but not limited to spouses) may apply to the court for provision to be made for them at the court's discretion.

It is a good idea that the testator give his executor the power to pay debts, taxes, and administration expenses, including probate costs. Probate is the legal process of settling the estate of a deceased person, specifically resolving all claims and distributing the decedent's property.

Probate generally lasts several months, occasionally over a year before all the property can be distributed, and incur substantial court and attorney costs as well as estate taxes. One of the many ways to avoid probate is to execute a living trust. This is a separate entity to which a person transfers ownership of his real property (house, possessions, etc.,) from himself to a trust which he controls and can revise at any time (except in the case of an irrevocable trust.)

Tomorrow, there will be more detail describing trusts and their uses.

In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. Hebrews 9:16-18 (NIV)

If there are comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Changing Policy

This week, I've been discussing the war in Iraq. Despite the huge amounts of money and materials used to address the issues there, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of progress or accomplishments gained. This seems to be true whether considering political progress of the Iraqi people setting up a democratic government, improving living conditions of the people, instilling peace instead of bloodshed, or coming up with a time for withdrawal of our troops - our precious sons and daughters who themselves may have families of their own.

So the timeless questions stand - why? Why is all of this necessary? When will it end? Who is really benefiting from the effort? When we start asking these questions, ultimately the answers we get will not be satisfying, if we get answers at all. So then we must consider different actions. Change is never easy, especially when we are going against people in power. Recent opinion polls clearly indicate that the public does not want the war to continue - yet we remain. Do we sit back and wait for a new president to change things after the coming election in November?

If we do wait, how many more people and soldiers will die? Sometimes it is easy to defer decisions when they are not staring us in the face every day. Certainly with the war halfway around the globe, we do not always get daily reminders. What will it take before we demand action?

With the information presented this week from a financial perspective to human costs to the perspectives of soldiers that are or were in Iraq, there are plenty of reasons to demand action now. What will you do?

Even the markets are confirmation. Gold and silver both set new highs this week. Gold closed at $945.40 per ounce, a new all time record. Silver closed at $18.05 on Friday. Oil topped a $100 per barrel this week before closing at $99.06 on Friday. The US dollar index fell again against the other world currencies and closed at 75.54, closing in on a record low. All of these indicators are pointing to the fact that investors are losing confidence in the US economy. All of the costs of the war, additional spending, a monumental national debt, etc. are driving investors away toward safer investments. When are the creditors going to demand payment and topple the house of cards?

What will happen to you when this does happen?

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him. Ecclesiastes 5:13-14 (NASB)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

The War in Iraq: A History

This week, I've been covering the conditions around the war in Iraq. Today, I found a resource that gives a recent history of a land that has been fought over for thousands of years. Iraq is a land of diverse cultural people, but that doesn't mean it hasn't had its share of manipulators at the highest levels.

The following is an article by Rev. Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col. USAF, retired. The articles is titled "Our War Against Iraq: Causes & Cure". It begins with this political propaganda that was widely publicized.

"In August, 1990, the new Hitler, Saddam Hussein, invaded innocent, democratic Kuwait. The United States, protector of peace, democracy, freedom, and human rights responded, along with the United Nations, to drive the Iraqis out and rescue the people of Kuwait. Ever since, we have been patiently using sanctions and a minimum of force in an attempt to see that the evil Saddam never again threatens his neighbors or the world with weapons of mass destruction."

Dr. Bowman responds to this.

This much everybody knows - and it’s total B.S.! What is it? That’s right, you can say it. I’m a clergyman. I love God and I serve God; and my God (and yours too, whether you’re Jewish or Christian or Moslem) is not offended to hear somebody say B.S. You know what offends my God? the war against Iraq! That’s what offends our God. Dying children that’s what offends our God!

I’ve been asked to give a little history of how we came to be where we are in this war against Iraq. Let’s look at a little real history, going back a hundred years.

In 1897 and 1898, Britain used assassination, intrigue, and threats to carve out a piece of Iraq and rule it through the Sheikh of Kuwait. In 1920, after World War I, Britain, France, and the U.S. seized the rights to 95% of the oil in Iraq. By 1932, Britain had expanded Kuwait from a small village on the Gulf into a colony occupying the entire coastline of the Persian Gulf from Arabia to Iran, completely shutting off Iraq from access to the Gulf. For the next half a century, British intelligence murdered almost every Iraqi leader and king, because they called for the return of Kuwait. By 1958 the U.S. was an equal partner with Britain in the coups and assassinations. Together they backed a coup against King Faisal II (who had himself been installed by the British). He was killed and replaced with Abdel Karim Qassim. But he too called for the return of Kuwait, so CIA chief Allen Dulles ordered his assassination. After the job was botched a couple of times, the CIA gave the assignment to one of its promising young assassins Saddam Hussein. With the help of a CIA airlift, he succeeded. By 1968, Saddam Hussein was in complete control and, under CIA direction, killing trade unionists, radicals, and Communists.

In 1977, US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski met with Saddam Hussein, the Emir of Kuwait, and a Saudi representative, and proposed that Iraq invade Iran, seizing the Khuzestan oil fields. In 1982, US FBI chief William Webster met with the Emir of Kuwait and plotted the seizure of Iraqi oil fields and the slant-drilling with which Kuwait and western oil companies stole $14 billion worth of Iraqi oil.

Right up to the time of Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, US Department of Defense training manuals sang the praises of Saddam Hussein, noting how he had vastly improved education, medical care, and the standard of living of his people. His regime was called one of the most enlightened, progressive governments in the region. This was in an official DoD document used in the education of high-ranking officers of all the military services.

But there was a problem. The Berlin wall had come down. The Soviet Union had collapsed. And the American people were clamoring for a peace dividend. They had to find another bad guy fast. In May 1990, a National Security Council white paper stated that Iraq and Saddam Hussein were (and I quote) "the optimum contenders to replace the Warsaw pact as the rationale for major military expenditures."

Two months later, on July 20, 1990, General Schwarzkopf conducted training exercises simulating exactly the contingency of an Iraqi attack on Kuwait. Five days later, April Glaspie gave Saddam the green light to invade Kuwait. A week later, he did. Almost immediately, the U.S. deployed as many troops and twice as much materiel as was moved for the Normandy invasion. Do you think this was done without advance planning?

This was the war they wanted, the war they planned for, the war they instigated, the war they salivated over. This was the war that would demonstrate the capabilities of the smart bombs made by our weapons manufacturers. It was better than a hundred trade shows. This was the war that would prove that George Bush was not a wimp. This was the war that would make billions for the oil company owned by the president’s son, George Bush, Jr., who had exclusive rights to offshore oil in the Gulf.

Saddam was suckered into our trap. And he fell for it. He crossed the undefended border of Kuwait, and in response our government dropped 300 to 400 million pounds of high explosives on Iraq. This onslaught destroyed tens of thousands of buildings and essentially every bridge, power plant, and industrial facility in the country. It killed a quarter of a million Iraqis, including at least 100,000 civilians, of which half were children. Now here we are eight years later, and the shocking death toll from the Gulf War has been dwarfed by that from our continuing war against Iraq. Not only have we failed to rebuild what we destroyed; we have imposed economic sanctions which have prevented the Iraqis and everyone else from doing so.

In the eight years since the end of Desert Storm, one and a half million Iraqis have died as a direct result of US/UN sanctions. It is now estimated that among those who have lost their lives are three quarters of a million children under the age of five! And the dying goes on. A million Iraqi children are seriously malnourished, and 150 to 200 are dying every day.

Among the ordnance we used on Iraq were some 500 tons of depleted uranium bombs and artillery shells. The radioactive dust covering the southern part of Iraq has caused birth defects and cancer rates to soar. As if that weren’t enough, we periodically continue to drop bombs and cruise missiles on that devastated nation.

Who are the bad guys here? Ex-CIA agent Saddam Hussein is no saint. But he is only one pawn in a century-long history of western intrigue, torture, murder, and callous disregard for the people who live in what was once a proud nation.

Is it any wonder we are considered the great Satan? Is it any wonder we are hated? Is it any wonder we are the target of terrorists?

We are gathered here to oppose our government’s war against the Iraqi people. But we must not see it as an isolated incident, for it is not. It is but one piece of a bloody history in which foreign policy has been conducted and wars have been fought on behalf of the financial interests of multinational corporations. It is time for a change.

We must build an America at peace with the world … and with its own people. We must build an America that leads the world – not by dominating and manipulating other nations, but by earning their respect and admiration.

We must build an America that strives not to be king of the hill, but to be a responsible member of the family of nations. We must build an America that leads the world – not with military might, but with its vision, its compassion, its democracy, its productivity, its standard of living, its treatment of its own people, and its goodness. That’s the kind of America we want.

I would like to conclude by proposing seven concrete changes we need to make in our government and its policies.

1. We can no longer accept a government which allows us to be number one among industrialized nations: number one in child poverty, number one in the gap between rich and poor, number one in unimmunized children, number one in teen pregnancy, number one in deaths by gunfire, number one in poverty among the elderly, number one in citizens without medical coverage .…. and yet has a trillion dollars worth of new weapons on the books at a time when we just ran out of enemies. It’s time for our priorities to change. Are you with me? Is it time?
   
2. We can no longer accept a government which promotes and subsidizes arms sales around the world, especially to dictators who use our weapons to control their own impoverished people. Our government didn’t listen to Oscar Romero who pleaded for us to stop sending weapons to El Salvador. Bill Clinton campaigned against the arms trade ... and then doubled it. It’s time to stop pandering to the merchants of death. Are you with me? Is it time?
   
3. We can no longer accept a government which uses our money to train death squads in the techniques of torture, intimidation, and assassination. The School of the Americas must be closed. Are you with me? Is it time?
   
4. We can no longer accept a government which gives Most Favored Nation status to the butchers of Tianenmen Square and places an illegal secondary embargo on the impoverished people of Cuba. We must repeal the Helms-Burton law, end the embargo, and establish normalized relations with Cuba. Are you with me? Is it time?
   
5. We can no longer accept a government in which our relations with the rest of the world are held hostage by the likes of Jesse Helms. We can’t free East Timor unless we first free North Carolina! Are you with me? Is it time?
   
6. We can no longer accept a government which promotes instability, insurrection, tyranny, torture, terrorism, and murder around the world in our name and with our money through the Central Intelligence Agency. Once and for all, the CIA must be abolished. Are you with me? Is it time?
   
7. We can no longer accept we will no longer accept a government which sends our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so our oil companies can sell the oil under their sand. Do we want our children and grandchildren used as cannon fodder for multinational corporations? Do we? Do want them to be used as hired killers for Folgers, Chiquita Banana, and Exxon? Do we? Better to send them around the world to feed children and rebuild shattered cities. It’s time for us to be the good guys once again. No more Iraqs. No more El Salvadors. No more gunboat diplomacy ... anywhere! Are you with me? Is it time?

We want peace, and we want it now! Are you with me? Is it time?

Then let’s do it. Make them hear us in these buildings, and all the way to Washington. What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now! Are you with me? Is it time?

Amen, thank you, and God bless you!

Since Dr. Bowman is a retired Lt. Col. in the USAF, I would expect that he has some legitimate sources for the information he presented. It is very interested that Saddam Hussein is just another pawn used in the grand scheme of world government and war demanded by the powerful elite.

These world events will continue until the collective public decides to demand change. What will you do?

History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. Ecclesiastes 1:9-11(NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

The War in Iraq: The Soldier's Perspective

This week I've been reviewing the conditions regarding the war in Iraq and the real reasons behind the war. Since I've never been there, I can't speak from experience. However, the following are excerpts from Jay Shaft who interviewed two officers on Christmas leave from Iraq in January, 2004. Obviously, the officers spoke on condition of anonymity for protection of their careers and against retribution. The officers are identified as O1 and O2, JS stands for Jay Shaft.

JS- When did you deploy to Iraq?

O1- I went with a unit from Afghanistan to Iraq. We got there a good little bit before the official war started. Believe me when I tell you that there were some units already across the border doing scouting and intelligence gathering and other missions like bomb targeting and artillery plotting.

O2- About a month before the war started. I don t want to get to specific on that date. They are going to be looking for any small way to track me down.

JS- Okay, before we go any farther, I want to get into the details behind breaching the Iraq border before the war officially started. If the US did break the border that is a violation of the Geneva Convention and a whole list of international treaty declarations and charters. It violates the UN charter and goes contrary to NATO treaties and declarations also.

There had been a group of international peacekeepers and many humanitarian organizations that maintained that the US illegally invaded Iraq weeks or even months before the actual war was started. The US has denied any of these accusations, but I have heard from several US soldiers who say that the border was breached for weeks before the invasion. Was it? And if it was, how extensively?

O1- I really didn t want to get into this one. I know that there were at least 100 or more special ops and CIA types in Iraq in the months leading up to the war. This is pretty open knowledge among many officers and higher level NCOs. In the weeks right before the ground invasion there were various Spec Ops and Intel guys in Iraq doing target location and plotting, working with the Kurds in Northern Iraq, trying to find Iraqis to fight on our side, and gathering intelligence on where the WMDs might be located.

O2- I don t know anyone who went in early, but I know guys who talked to some spooks who said they had been right in downtown Baghdad about a month before the ground assault. I can t verify that with any hard facts, but it was pretty openly known. We completely ignored some of the same international conventions that we said Iraq violated in 1990 when they invaded Kuwait. I find it very disturbing that we went to war over that in 1991, but then broke a whole bunch of the UN charters when we invaded Iraq.

O2- I want to talk about this and tell people how bad it really is in Iraq. It is a complete fu..ing slaughter and it is only going to get worse. The attacks in the last month or so have been meticulously well planned and executed. We are seeing a level of sophistication that the chain of command did not ever expect. Many of the officers knew that they were going to be dealing with well trained Iraqi army and militia units. There might or might not be outside support and insurgents, but I know the Iraqis are more than capable of messing up your day. These guys have been trained to fight guerilla style and they don t give up. We are in deep sh.t now that they have started to get more organized.

O1- I don t think that some of the higher level planners expected this kind of resistance and guerilla activity. We tried to tell them months ago that it wasn t just Ba ath party members and Saddam supporters. Some of the most highly trained guerillas are Shiite and Kurdish. We are going to be in some real trouble if the Kurds ever decide to join together with the Shiites and fight against us. Throw the Sunni radicals into the mix and it s total chaos with our guys stuck smack in the middle. It s one giant cluster f..k and the US soldiers are going to be the one that gets hurt and killed. That country is on the brink of civil war right now. Years of subdued hatreds are now boiling over. That is why you see all the different targets that are being hit by the car bombs.

O2- Yeah, we are in a real meat grinder right now. The real danger is that the whole country will erupt in civil unrest and the US troops will be caught between many different rival factions. I don t look forward to going back there, but I don t have a choice.

O1- You know, right after the invasion, the average Iraqi was happy to see us get rid of the Saddam regime. You ask the same Iraqi how they feel about us now, and they will openly admit that they hate us as bad as Saddam, or even worse than Saddam.

JS- Why is that in your opinion? What made them change their feelings toward US forces?

O1- You want to know the biggest reason? We still haven t accomplished the mission we started out to do. Iraqis will tell you they don t fell any freer, there is hunger all over the place, over half the country is out of work, there is a huge lack of clean drinking water, and their children are dying everyday from contaminated water, and from our cluster bombs. The people do not see us living up to our promises of liberation and democracy. Until we do what we promised them and get out of there, they will keep killing us and hating us. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. Every American needs to ask themselves what they would do in the same situation. I guarantee you that they would not sit back and do nothing. They would want to fight back in whatever way possible.

O2- Good point! I get really mad when they kill or injure one of my men, but I have to examine why the attacks are happening. I am there to lead and protect my men, and that means I have to be aware of what is causing the attacks and what would stop them. I have asked many Iraqis what it will take to get the attacks to stop. They all tell me that the US needs to do what they said they would do, and leave them to run their own country. The majority of Iraqis believed that the US would come in, get rid of Saddam, and then go right back home. You and I both know that is not going to happen anytime soon. We are going to be there for at least another year or more in a very large force. There is no way that Bush and his cronies are going to give up all that oil and contracting dollars.

O1- Every day that we stay in Iraq, the resistance builds, and the attacks are bigger and more prevalent. We are going to see many more US soldiers die because of the failure of the US to live up to their basic promises. In the end it is the basic line grunt that is the victim of the Bush regimes drive for oil and profits. You won t see one of the senator s kids over there. You will not see one of the board members of Halliburton, Bechtel, KBR, or the other big contractors losing a son or daughter. All they are going to do is make money and send more troops to guard their convoys and assets.

We can t even go out in convoy with anyone from Halliburton or Bechtel without drawing a crowd of angry Iraqis. They hate the Halliburton and Bechtel guys worse than they hate the soldiers. It s like painting a target on your back just to travel with those contractors and try to protect them.

O2- Let me jump in here. I want to say that I am extremely mad that Halliburton and Bechtel have better equipment than our own troops do. The contractors have fully armored Hummers and the best body armor. The have us escort them in our lightly armored Humvees and they ride in heavily armored vehicles. That is bullsh.t and every American needs to know about it. It s been in the paper recently about how bad the casualties have been from the older Hummers. Our vehicles don t provide adequate protection, and that is a fu..ing outrage that needs to be fixed.

O1- I was getting to that, and it is a big problem. I think about 80 percent of my unit casualties were coming from the Humvee crews. Do you know that bullets go through an older hummer like it s made of paper? Most of the hummers have canvas tops and plastic windows. If an IED (improvised explosive device) hits you from the side, you are going to get hurt or killed if you are in an older, lightly armored hummer. The recent increase in the amount of roadside bombs has been decimating my men. Almost all my recent KIAs (killed in action) and WIAs (wounded in action) were riding in a hummer. I was there when the CNN guys riding in the hummer were injured. The attacker just chucked the grenade right through the top of the vehicle. Most of the hummers are not designed for heavy combat ops.

O2- I would say that at least half of my WIAs and KIAs were in a hummer when it got hit. I think that in the last few weeks before I left, the average was more like 70-80 percent. It was something I have begged my higher ups to take care of. I have not seen a significant response to the problem yet. Man, they sent us to war in what is basically an aluminum can with a canvas topper. How messed up is that? But of course Halliburton and the other private contractors have the best and newest vehicles and body armor.

O1- I saw some Saudi police or militia, I don t know which, that were brought in by Kellog Brown and Root to provide security for the oil fields. Those fu..ers had the body armor our own forces were supposed to get. Bechtel got a whole bunch of body armor given to them for the police force they are training. Our own Reservists and National Guard are using Gulf War era equipment and some supplies are even older than that. They are getting wiped out and needlessly wounded because they don t have the proper body armor and vehicles.

The contractors seem to be able to keep their security forces supplied with the newest and best gear. Some of the oil field security had brand new Humvees and other equipment the reserve units would kill for. There were a lot of the reservists lost because they didn t get sent over with the right flak jacket. Let America think about that one for a while.

Every American should demand a congressional injury about why our troops were not equipped with the proper equipment to save their lives. I know of at least 50 men that were killed because they did not have the newer body armor, and some didn t have any body armor at all. How the hell can the Pentagon justify sending a man into battle without body armor? That is like driving down the freeway at 100 without a windshield or doors.

O1- So I guess you got the answer you were looking for right? At least make sure everyone finds out about this. I would hate to say all this stuff and then you don t do anything with it. I read the articles you wrote back in October. I thought they were bullsh.t at first, but I met a guy you talked to. I didn t think I would ever give an interview like this. A lot can change in a few months time.

Now I am just about done with the Army s bullsh.t and the Pentagon is about worthless as sh.t. It is going against everything the Army has ever told me. I am just sick of seeing good men and women die. In the end is it going to really mean anything that all these Americans shed their blood in the sand? I don t think most of America really knows how bad it is. We getting our asses kicked and no one is winning this thing.

O2- If you look at it really hard, the only ones that come out ahead are Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of those corrupt old bastards. I mean come on, if all the soldiers who are actually fighting this war can see that, what the hell is wrong with the American citizens? We knew it was about oil from the beginning. Oil and building huge bases that the US will have to staff for years to come. There is no end in sight for the people serving in this war. How about us, don t we have a say in this?

JS- Let me ask you how you feel about serving in Iraq and being involved in the war.

O2- I m proud that I served my country, I am proud to be an American soldier. That is why it is so hard for me to say stuff like this about our leaders and the government. I hate doing this, but what the Pentagon and Bush are doing to our soldiers makes me sick. I also get sick when I think about how many Iraqi civilians I saw killed and terribly maimed. I have seen hundreds of kids missing body parts or dying from dysentery and diarrhea from contaminated water. I saw orphans who had lost every family member and were starving in the street.

There are whole packs of orphans roaming around Baghdad and some of the other cities. They scavenge for scraps and beg for food. It got really bad after the Red Cross and the UN pulled out. Seeing hundreds and hundreds of maimed and starving children is one sight you will never forget. I can t sleep sometimes, and I hear the kids crying in my nightmares. I saw little kids with injuries like I never dreamed possible.

I was near a hospital for a few weeks after the ground war ended. I saw hundreds of dead kids, and kids dying from gangrene and infection. If you ever smell someone who has severe gangrene and flesh rotting you would know what I was talking about. That is one smell you will never forget. To see a little child with their arm or leg rotting off is one of the most gruesome sights I could have imagined.

I never was prepared for anything like I experienced in Iraq. There is no way in hell that the Army can train you to be able to handle something like that. No amount of practice can even come close to the reality I found in Iraq. There just wasn t anything to prepare any of us who had never been in that kind of combat environment. I thought I had seen some really nasty sh.t in Bosnia and then in Kosovo. Boy was I ever wrong about that being as bad as it could get. I feel sorry for the newer guys who hadn t ever seen any combat, or ever shot at a real person.

Coming under fire was another thing that fu..ed up some of my guys who had never seen any action before. Some of them just froze and got shot because they just didn't have the proper training to react the right way.

I must have seen at least five hundred dead bodies, and those were just the ones you could see in plain sight. We could smell the ones that hadn t been found in the rubble, and there were bodies in some of the canals rotting for days or weeks. Some of those canals were downright ugly looking, and the smell was incredibly foul.

O1- I will never be ashamed of being in the Army or going to Iraq. I do hate some of the things that we had to do to stay alive, and sometimes it wasn t in any training manual or class you could take. I thought I knew what it would be like, and had some ideas about what I would do in certain circumstances. I had so many situations that we just are not trained to handle.

I was not prepared to have to be a police officer or a peacekeeper. I heard that over and over again from my men. They simply didn t know how to be in a police force capacity or know much about doing the urban peacekeeping patrols and standing checkpoint duty. I thought it was a joke when they kept referring to us as a peacekeeping force.

There is no way we were able to act effectively to keep the peace. It was all we could do to keep the patrol areas contained long enough to bring in enough reinforcements to get us out of trouble. We got shot at from rooftops, windows, and fields as we went by. Basically they attacked us from anyplace they could get off a shot or two.

I know that seeing the kids dead and injured was one of the worst things for me too. There just wasn t a damn thing you could really do. We didn t have a lot of food to spread around, and it was extremely hard for us to get clean water.

The madness and chaos that hit the whole country was completely overwhelming. I know a lot of my guys will come home with PTSD or worse. We had a lot of guys flown out for going off the deep end. You could just see it in their eyes. They were right at the breaking point or already over the edge. I heard about million mile stares, and now I really know what they are talking about.

I am about done with this if you got what you need. You won t get me to say much else. I just wanted to get some of this stuff on record. I think that enough people will believe it that it might make some kind of difference. I just hope the people stop letting us die so senselessly. Let us get the job done and get the hell out.

I don t want to have to write another letter to parents or a wife ever again. I know that I will have to do way too much over the next couple months, or however long we are really over there. I just don t want to have to tell another mother that her son or daughter is dead or crippled for life.

Well so far we got rid of Saddam and the rest of his henchmen, and the attacks on our troops still keep happening. I don t see the insurgents or resistance backing down anytime soon. They are only going to fight harder the longer we stay.

What I want to say as my final statement to America is "Stop letting your proud men and women die so senselessly. If we are going to die for our country let it be for something we can really be proud of. I just don t see us making the US any safer from terrorists because of what we are doing in Iraq. Bring us back home so we can defend the US from real threats to our shores."

O2- Yeah, I pretty much agree with that. I am proud to serve my country and even die for it. I know the risks of putting on the uniform and accepting command. But damn it, if we are going to die, make it for something that really is helping to defend the US. I agree that we are dying senselessly for an idea of democracy in Iraq that the US government will never really let happen. I just want to be able to look back on my service with total pride and that is not really what I feel right now. I hate the ones in power that have made me question my sense of duty and honor. I get so confused about it and there is no one you can really talk to about that.

Don t let me have to ship anyone else s body back home. I don t want to get shipped back in a box either. I have a family and I don plan on being in the Army forever. I want to have my mind intact, and not wake up with nightmares about dead kids.

O1- I want to say one more thing to all the American people. I guess I just can t figure out when to shut my mouth.

WAKE UP! This war has become bogus if it ever had any legitimacy at all, and it is only when you speak out that you will hold our leaders accountable. Don t forget what this country was founded on. God Bless America! I hope that everyone listens to what I had to say. Don t just push my words off and go on about your daily routine. Ask yourself what could have been so bad that I would speak out like this. Ask yourself how bad it must be when I am willing to put my career on the line to speak out.

O2- Yeah, that about says it for me too. Just think about what could have possibly made me go out on a limb and do this interview. I am not ready to go back to Iraq and die, but I don t have much choice. I just want everyone who supports this war to think about this, and realize that it must be one hell of a mess to get us to say all this. I never would have thought I would be doing this type of interview. I would have laughed in your face a year ago if you told me it would happen.

JS- Thanks for your time and for having the courage to speak out. This will make a difference to the soldiers in Iraq and to all the families who are supporting them. You really are true heroes. I wish you and all the rest of our troops continued safety and that you come home as soon as possible.

These are direct quotes from officers. Just imagine what the enlisted men had to say. Why do we put up with these unacceptable losses of men, material, and our values just to line the pockets of the greedy and unscrupulous few?

By the way, the current cost of the war in Iraq is in excess of $496 billion.

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. II Timothy 2:3-4 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

The War in Iraq: War by Deception

This week we been reviewing some conditions regarding the war in Iraq. Why is it that Iraq seems to be just a new version of Vietnam? That's because it is. Instead of fighting the spread of communism in the sixties via theories such as "the Domino theory", (The theory stated that if one land in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect.) today we are fighting a faceless enemy of terror that we don't know and we can never find.

How can we ever win a war on terror, when we don't know who it is? The answer from Washington is Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. However, after cornering bin Laden in the mountains near Tora Bora, he somehow manages to escape and supposedly has not been seen since. Of course this makes sense when you don't want to find him. If you don't have an enemy, how can you have a war?

Earlier this week, I commented on the allegations for invading Iraq on the pretense of connections to Al-Qaeda proved false. The other pretense of WMDs also proved false. After years of war and occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq, what accomplishments have we had? We did capture one guy who looked like Saddam, even though his long beard that would take many years to grow draws into question that it is really him. Saddam had never had a beard previously. By the way, what ever happened to that detainee?

Furthermore, it has been cataloged that Bush and seven of his top administration's officials made a total of 935 false statements in the two years following Sept. 11, 2001 about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. On at least 532 different occasions there were unequivocal statements regarding WMD or Al-Qaeda links or both. Despite numerous bipartisan government investigations, no proof was found. There was even a multinational Iraq Survey Group, whose "Duelfer Report" established that Saddam Hussein had terminated Iraq's nuclear program in 1991 and made little effort to restart it.

So if our leaders consistently lie to us to accomplish their means, when do the American public stop believing them and the media that drowns us daily in their deceptions? The answer is when Americans awake from their TV induced stupor and assert their documented freedoms in the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence.

Instead of this, more of our freedoms are taken away each year in the guise of our protection. New government agencies have been created with nice names such as Homeland Security Agency and Transportation Security Agency. Are our borders really more secure now than 8 years ago? Is travel more safe? They have created legislation like the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act. The latter suspends the right of habeas corpus—the ability of an imprisoned person to challenge their confinement in court. What this means is that they can detain indefinitely anyone even suspected of terrorism or money laundering (or anything else they don't like) without any recourse. Whatever happened to the land of the free? This all in the name of security.

In the meantime, the government continues to rack up incredible debt fighting a faceless war that gets passed on to the American public and our future generations. These debts of course benefit the private international bankers that I have mentioned over the last 3 weeks. Why couldn't we have listened to the words of Thomas Jefferson when he said, "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

When will we stop paying for a war with no results? Are the Iraqi people really better off with our troops there? Let's stop the mindless waste of life, liberty, and our sons and daughters!

Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others. Nehemiah 5:5 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

The War in Iraq: the Money Connection

Yesterday, I reviewed some facts of government spending. President Bush has outspent all previous presidents combined. With the war on terror, the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and other "problems", the cash register has stayed open indefinitely. Let's focus today on the reasons for the war in Iraq. President Bush and the media has given two primary reasons we are over there - that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that the terrorist group Al-Qaeda had links to Iraq. To date, no WMDs have been found and no links to Al-Qaeda from Iraq have been found.

So let's look at the real reasons we are there. Forget for a moment that the Persian Gulf area has roughly 60% of the world's oil supply. Forget for a moment that their are many ties between VP Dick Cheney and the companies getting billion dollar contracts to perform work in Iraq. Back on November 23, 2000, more than 9 months before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Time magazine page 34 provided the backdrop for the financial reasons for the war.

Iraqi president Saddam Hussein said that Iraq will no longer accept dollars for oil because it does not want to deal in the "currency of the enemy". At that time, the euro was worth 82 cents. William Dowell, Time correspondent, reported that "diplomatic sources say switching to the euro will favor European suppliers over US ones in competing for Iraqi contracts, and the public relations boost that Baghdad would probably get in Europe would be another plus."

Today, the euro is worth over $1.47. This makes Saddam Hussein look like a financial genius. Also, since Iraq went to the euro for oil sales, other countries did soon after. Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and others. Remember the lesson last week about the Latin motto "ordo ab chao" meaning order from chaos. Now you have a new version of thesis - antithesis - synthesis. This version is the dollar (thesis) vs. the euro (antithesis). The solution in the future - Amero (synthesis)?

The subsequent crash of the dollar was a prescribed event. This was written in 2003, "If OPEC were to switch to the euro as the standard for oil transactions, it would have serious ramifications for the US economy. Oil-consuming economies would have to flush the dollars out of their central bank holdings and convert them to euros. Some economists estimate that with the market flooded, the US dollar could drop up to 40% in value. As the currency falls, there would be a monetary evacuation by foreign investors abandoning the US stock markets and dollar-denominated assets. Imported products would cost Americans a lot more, and the trade deficit would be magnified."

Since then, the dollar has dropped more than 40% and the trade deficit is at record levels. Does anyone see the natural result forming that the dollar is to be replaced at some point to offer a solution to a currency worth very little? Also, is there a coincidence to the countries that switched to the euro and where our troops are stationed - Iraq and Afghanistan? Hasn't there been talk about eventually sending troops to Iran? Hasn't there been CIA attempts to overthrow Venezuelan president Chavez in recent times?

If anyone has ever converted foreign currency at the airport, you know the converters are making extraordinary profits on the currency spread vs. the actual exchange rate. Could this be a motive for the international bankers to reap more profits on financial transactions between countries on billion dollar oil transactions?

Over the last three weeks, I pointed out that the Rothschilds and their international bankers have used war to rack up debt and their subsequent profits for centuries. Here is confirmation from a former USMC Major General Smedley Butler. Butler gave these excerpts in a speech way back in 1933, before World War II, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the War on Terror.

"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. ...

America is that when the dollar only earns 6% over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100%. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag. ...

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. ...

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism. It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscleman for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. ...

I suspected I was part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service. I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909 - 1912 (where have I heard that name before?). ...

I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interest in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts.

I operated on three continents."

Are there still doubts that our troops and politicians are pawns for the international bankers? By the way, here is another little coincidence. George W. Bush, his father George H. W. Bush, and Saddam Hussein are all 33 degree Freemasons, among other top government officials.

Isn't that interesting?

My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.

His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous fall.

But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days.
But as for me, I trust in you. Psalms 55:20-23 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

The Situation Today

Over the past three weeks, I've been reviewing the history of money and fractional reserve banking. Once the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, our economy was turned over to a private corporation for control and ultimately our slavery. Despite the expressed rights in the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to change the system by Congress, no one has done so.

So, what does our government do instead. They continue to spend at record levels. Who gets the bill for this spending? That's right, we do, "John Q. Taxpayer". It is interesting to note that President Bush and his administration has spent more money than all other presidents combined. And that was just in his first term! Melanie Hunter, a CNSNews.com Senior Editor, on November 4, 2005, reported that according to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of US history, 42 US presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion in his first term as president alone. Do you think spending has gone down in his second term?

Rep. John Tanner (D-TN), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee said about the first Bush term, "No American political leadership has ever willfully and deliberated mortgaged our country to foreign interests in the manner we have witnessed over the past four years."

Where has all of this money gone? Some of the obvious answers are the War on Terror and Hurricane Katrina and other national disasters. Do we feel any safer today than we did in 2001? What other progress was made in the war on terror? Wasn't there a lot of flap about how F.E.M.A. (Federal Emergency Management Agency) handled the Katrina relief effort?

Speaking of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, has anyone seen the movie "Iraq for Sale: War Profiteers"? This documentary interviews soldiers, officials, and employees of Halliburton, KBR, and other companies that are making huge profits on behalf of our soldiers protecting our freedom, while providing horrendous service and highly questionable management decisions concerning operations in Iraq. They were awarded billion dollar contracts without competitive bidding, and are bilking the taxpayers for "cost plus" services. This means that all services are paid for plus huge profits are added before the government and the taxpayer gets the bill. You would be surprised by the lavish conditions executives of the companies were awarded vs. the squalor our soldiers lived in a few feet away. Who would be interested in cost savings with that kind of arrangement? The more they spend, the more they make.

One example, KBR would charge the government $100 for every bag of laundry done for the soldiers. The conditions of the laundry after cleaning was so bad that many soldiers did not want to wear their clothes and some attempted to do their own laundry in the sink. That practice of cleaning their own clothes was quickly stopped by their commanders.

Just to give a little background of these companies, KBR is a former subsidiary of Halliburton, Inc. Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States, was CEO of Halliburton until 2000. His severance that year was $34 million, and that does not include the stock and options he still owns and gets rewarded every year. Is there a possibility that the good ol' boy policy was used in awarding those contracts?

They will be more about the conditions that exist today. Stay tuned ...

But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. Jeremiah 22:17 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Learning From Our Mistakes

History does repeat itself. Is that because if we make a bad decision once, we have the opportunity to correct it at a later date? It would certainly be nice to think that we can correct things, so that horrendous implications can be averted.

I think that the majority of times, we do not recognize the significance of historical events as a predictor of things to come. Even though fractional reserve banking has been around for more than 300 years, most students, or adults for that matter, couldn't give you an accurate definition of what it means. Hence many times, most don't know the true facts, or it is hidden or obscured from plain knowledge. More importantly, I think that most are too absorbed in the daily grind of their own lives to pay attention to the signs all around them. The question that always comes up in their defense, "What difference can I make?"

There is also the constant fear that we are reminded of on a daily basis. The question is - fear of what? Terrorists striking our families? Government agencies restricting our freedom when we ask pertinent questions? Or possibly the labels that others will give us if we dare speak out against the injustices of wasteful and ineffective government?

Where do we draw the line? What will it take before we commit to action? Today our dollar has the same buying power of 4 cents when compared to the same dollar in 1913. That year we had no national debt, today it is above $9 trillion and rapidly growing. Do we still continue to go to work for 60+ hours per week when our dollar can't continue to sustain normal living standards? Nowadays, even two working parents can barely make ends meet, leaving the child rearing to strangers and day care. Imagine the conditions in a one parent home.

Have we come to a such a drugged stupor that we think inflation is normal? Can we not recognize when the prices of gold and oil are hitting record levels, housing market prices are in a steep decline, and a stagnant or falling stock market that there are some serious problems at hand? We are just a resource that is being milked for all our worth. What happens when all our value is used up? China has already surpassed the US as being the dominant economy of the world despite our massive consumption.

Is it going to take another stock market crash similar to 1929 where it lost more than 33% of its value in a month before we awake to the implications? The price of gold has gone up more than 50% in the last 18 months to $902.50 as of Friday from $560 per ounce in October of 2006. Silver has also gone up more than 50% in the same time period from $11.01 per ounce to $17.11 on Friday. Oil has hit again $95 a barrel, closing at $95.69 on Friday. The US dollar index closed at 76.03, less than one and one half points off an all time low against the other major world currencies. Can we not see the signs?

Incidentally, we should be aware of an escape clause that we have. This is the very one that presidential candidate Ron Paul is just hoping he can invoke if elected. The last provision of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, Sec. 30, states, "The right to amend, alter or repeal this Act is expressly reserved." This language means that Congress can at any time move to abolish the Federal Reserve System, or buy back the stock and make it part of the Treasury Department, or to alter the system as it sees fit. It has never done so.

How long do we wait before we demand this action?

God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. Romans 2:6-8 (NIV)

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

History of Money Part XV

Over the last three weeks, I've been covering the history of money and of fractional reserve banking. Today, I will wrap up this series, but it will not be the last of this information you will see in this blog. I do want to point out that although the money changers have immense wealth and power, they have been defeated on many of their attempts to implement past, present, and future plans. We should not fall into the trap that nothing can be done. While doing research for these topics, I was amazed at how much information is out there, so there is a lot of opposition to these money changers getting complete control of our lives.

John F. Kennedy is only one of many men that have stood up against these individuals. Once people get past the lies that are fed to us via the media and other government resources, the truth does come out and can provide us a way to enjoy our God-given right to freedom from tyranny. Thomas Jefferson said, "When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." Which situation best fits us today?

As promised, I said I would divulge who controls the Federal Reserve. First, let me point out that it all started with fractional reserve banking. The Rothschild family took it to a whole new level and never relented their control. They have hid behind corporate veils for well over 100 years, so you will not see their name on much anymore. Through marriage, partnerships, mergers, etc., their network of financiers are in many high posts of government, global conglomerate corporations, and of course banks. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 did provide that the names of the owner banks be kept secret, which is why you may still think it is a government institution.

Through a variety of documented research, here is a list of the banks that own the Federal Reserve and their shareholders.

Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin
Lazard Brothers Bank of Paris
Israel Moses Sieff Banks of Italy
Warburg Bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam
Lehman Brothers Bank of New York
Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York
Chase Manhattan Bank of New York
Goldman Sachs Bank of New York

the Rothschild family,
Lazard Freres (Eugene Mayer),
Israel Sieff,
Kuhn Loeb Company,
Warburg Company,
Lehman Brothers,
Goldman Sachs,
the Rockefeller family, and the
J.P. Morgan interests."

Here is a list of the banks that own stock in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as of July 26, 1983. The list of member banks includes 27 New York City banks, below are the ten largest shareholders amounting to 66% of the total outstanding number of shares, namely 7,005,700.

Shares	Percent
Bankers Trust Company	438,831	( 6%)
Bank of New York	141,482	( 2%)
Chase Manhattan Bank	1,011,862	(14%)
Chemical Bank	544,962	( 8%)
Citibank	1,090,813	(15%)
European American Bank & Trust	127,800	( 2%)
J. Henry Schroder Bank & Trust	37,493	( .5%)
Manufacturers Hanover	509,852	( 7%)
Morgan Guaranty Trust	655,443	( 9%)
National Bank of North America	105,600	( 2%)

Also, here is a list of the families that have direct control in these banks.
The dynastic families of the ruling World Order, internationalists who are loyal to no race, religion, or nation. They are families such as the Rothschilds, the Warburgs, the Schiffs, the Rockefellers, the Harrimans, the Morgans and others known as the elite, or "the big rich".

As you can see, even if there are those that crave power and secrecy, there are still those that want the principles that this country was founded on - those being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Economic and financial slavery are not listed.

Which camp do you want to belong to?

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com