All’s quiet on the front for now. Little sparks of terrorism keep chipping up here and there, with the exception of the horrific bomb-blasts that rocked Bali earlier this month, and the bombing of a French tanker filled with Malaysian oil. Yesterday, however, an American diplomat was shot dead upon leaving his residence in Jordan. While that’s a terrible thing, who could not have foreseen that American diplomats would be targeted in a Middle Eastern country? Of course, we like to say that Jordan is our ally, but only because the government of Jordan was kind and gentle enough to “recognize” Israel. In fact, a huge segment of the Jordanian population is made up of displaced Palestinians. Ergo, we can consider the government of that country to be friendly, but we should not expect the same of the people who live under that government. That’s why it is never a very good idea to put diplomats in Middle Eastern countries to begin with. We’re used to governments being comprised of their citizens. We’re charming and naïve that way. Jordan is strictly a monarchy. And we made it that way by buying their oil.

A short line of people was led out of Camp X-Ray, the first POWs (I’m sorry, they’re “enemy combatants”… we haven’t declared a war, so there can’t be any “prisoners” thereof) to be released from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They’ll miss those Caribbean nights, I bet. The reason our military released them is that they were swept up in a dragnet at the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, the result of bounty hunting on the part of the Pakistani military at our behest. It appears we were paying cash per head on anyone captured moving across that line, to keep the al-Qaeda troops inside Afghanistan, so we could kill them. So, once money became part of the equation, a few folks were picked up just for being there. I hope there are no hard feelings on anyone’s part over this; after all, we resolved the issue in only ten months.

One has to be impressed with the laser-like focus of Presiden’t Bush. His resolve and diligence shone so brightly in the dark days following September 11th, and they do so now… in the name of raising money for the Republican Party. Why, in just the last month, he has come to Arizona to stump for his party’s candidates for Governor and the U.S. Congress. Overall, he and Vice Presiden’t Dick Cheney have barnstormed in Air Force One to the tune of $165 million in contributions, selling themselves to select groups of people all across the country for $1,500 a plate. They’ve shattered every record (set by Bill Clinton) for fund raising in this last big money-wallow before Campaign Finance Reform kicks in. Too bad such tactics won’t work in pursuing Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar, or anyone else. When Bush soon starts talking tough about Iraq (he’ll grant us all a peaceful Christmas, but that’s it), you be sure to remember his true top priority.

The president mentioned an “axis of evil” in his State of the Union address, consisting of North Korea, Iraq and Iran. We’re gearing up for an invasion and occupation of Iraq as I type this. We need aspirin in trying to figure out what to do about North Korea, which has turned into a delicate dance since the discovery that they probably have several deliverable nuclear weapons. Up next, one might expect, is what we do about Iran. From this writer’s standpoint, we never did adequately pound them for the hostage crisis in the late ‘70s. I bet all Americans feel that way. But more damage was done at home than abroad in the aftermath of that event, as evidence leaked out that maybe Iran was ready to make a deal with Ronald Reagan for the hostages’ release (the first of many deals between them), but by Reagan’s calculation, it was best to stall awhile, until after he had used the issue to tool Jimmy Carter in the election.

Iran is far more problematic than either Iraq or North Korea, in that they have weapons of devastation already locked in on Israeli cities, and they are already nervous about the prospect of the U.S. military being so prevalent at their borders (in Afghanistan and in Iraq). The growing tumor pertaining to Iran is actually Russia, who seems to be in the process of trading nuclear capabilities for – what else – oil and cash. Since asking the Bear nicely didn’t deter it from continuing on this path, now the Bush Administration is ready to give the Russians ten billion dollars in a payoff. Of course, being what they are, the Russians will take our money and still hand Iran the nuclear suitcase under the table. We know this, of course, but the point of this Administration isn’t to actually accomplish something, but to make it publicly look like they are trying.

Russia has just experienced its own bout with terrorism, in the form of Muslim separatists from Chechnya, who took over a crowded Moscow theater. They would certainly have killed hundreds of Muscovites had the Russian army not taken decisive steps, pumping Valium gas into the building… killing over a hundred Muscovites. Further, the bodies of the Chechen terrorists (the ones that did not escape) told a mean story. Even though they too had succumbed to chemical weapons, that didn’t keep the troops from going through the theater and shooting each of them in the head as they lay prone.

Gassing their own people? Summary executions upon capture? Weapons of mass destruction? Ten billion American tax dollars going to Russia? Couple that with the billions we’ll be pouring into China to clamp down North Korea’s nuclear aspirations. Now go wake up any veteran who served their country at any time during the Cold War, and explain to him (or her) that President George W. Bush is somehow not a pinko.