Don't expect GOP or media to tell 'rest of the story'
Bill Kasch

Sunday, October 19, 2003 10:45 AM PDT

Like Allan Schwindt, I also enjoyed 13-year-old Juanita Flessas' letter asking about terrorism. Schwindt answered her with a nice commentary, "Young writer should consider all the facts" (Sept. 18), but he didn't tell her about oil and religion, the "rest of the story." So, I'll try.

Every machine needs some type of energy to make it run, like gas or oil. Schwindt mentions our "short war" in Somalia, but didn't talk about Somalia's oil deposits. He didn't talk about Iraq's oil or how we secretly plan to remake the Middle East and don't want the United Nations to control Iraq's oil and reconstruction. It's easy to trick people into war, but harder to get out.

Our president and vice president are wealthy from oil. We aren't told their adviser, Condolezza Rice, worked for Chevron Oil and President Karzai of Afghanistan worked for Unical Oil, or about new oil pipelines planned form the Caspian oil fields down through Afghanistan.

There are many questions that we're all afraid to ask. Questions such as: On 9-11, why did almost an hour pass after the Twin Towers and we still didn't have even one plane protecting our Capital? If Saudi Arabia pays for terrorism, why then did we attack Iraq? Is Sen. Kennedy right when he said the Iraq war is a "fraud" and "made up" in Texas? Was 9-11 needed so we'd go to war?

What causes terrorism? It's said 80 percent of an iceberg is below the water and 20 percent is above the water. While half the world struggles on a dollar a day, we are the 20 percent help up by exploiting the world's cheap labor and resources, including oil. The saddest part is that we don't nee so much oil. To make more profits, oil companies block the use of sun and wind power, and prevent cars from using less gas.

Many Muslims feel we are strangling their culture and religion and unfairly support Israel. Some fight back by terrorism. On 9-11, if a plane had wiped out our Congress while in session, we'd probably now be under what's called martial law and a dictatorship. Our democracy would be gone.

I would tell Juanita to always love America, but don't be blinded by greed. Stand up for fairness for all. Ask questions, study history, use the Internet and read books by Molly Ivins and Michael Moore, and Gore Vidal's "Dreaming War for Oil."

Republicans blame Bill Clinton and "the left wing media" for everything, but they don't tell us it's really their corporations who own and control our news, not Democrats. Unlike Canada and Europe, our media won't always tell you "the rest of the story."

Don't expect GOP or media to tell 'rest of the story'Bill Kasch

Don't expect GOP or media to tell 'rest of the story'
Bill Kasch