• al Qaeda motives

  • ... according to President Bush
    In President Bush's Sept., 2001 Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People , he claimed al Qaeda was motivated by a hatred for a democratically elected government, by a hatred for U.S. freedoms (of speech, to vote and to assemble and disagree), by a desire to overthrow the governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, by desire to drive Israel out of the Middle East, and by a desire to drive Christians and Jews out of Asia and Africa.

  • ... according to al Qaeda
    Two very well referenced articles, Fighting Effective War Against Terrorism by Jonathan Dean (FCNL) and the similarly named FIGHTING AN EFFECTIVE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM by the UNANCA Peace and Security Task Force, list motives that al Qaeda themselves give (these differ radically from what President Bush suggests) including Islamic fundamentalism, resentment against the U.S. for secular materialism, political manipulation and support of corrupt governments, civilian casualties from U.S.-UK military actions, Western economic sanctions in Iraq, U.S. support for Israel and resentment for Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
  
  
  
• Sanctions are responsible for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths per year
  UNICEF produced a report entitled A  Situation Analysis of Children and Women in Iraq that compares various mortality rates before and after the first Gulf War. These mortality rates are attributed to the planned destruction of much of Iraq's infrastructure during the first Gulf War, especially health, water, and sanitation services, and the inability to rebuild because of sanctions. A second Gulf war will surely prolong and compound this. Even with Saddam Hussein clearly complicit in this, it is difficult to argue that the U.S. "cares" about the Iraqi people when it is largely responsible for so many deaths in Iraq. See Iraq Sanctions: Humanitarian Implications and Options for the Future for a well-referenced in depth discussion of this topic as well as U.S. responsibility and viable alternatives.
  
  
• PEW Survey: War on Iraq will increase likelihood of terror The latest Global Attitudes survey conducted by the Pew Research Center provided many key revelations including, that most countries believe a War on Iraq will increase terrorism, that the United States is more unpopular than ever and that most people get their information from TV (see section on media consolidation below).
  
  
• US Foreign Aid compared to regions of Extreme Poverty
  View stastistical data that compares US foreign aid by country and region to areas that have the largest populations of people in extreme poverty. 80% of US Foreign aid goes to regions of the world that have only about 10-15% of extreme poverty (at best). About a full third of US aid goes explicitly to Israel and Egypt and 2/3 of that is military. Roughly 54% of all aid goes to the Middle East. The U.S. is the lowest of the 21 richest nations in foreign aid as percent of GDP (though it is top in actual dollars).
  
  
• Massive Consolidation of Mainstream Media
  Perhaps one reason why there is such a polarization between the "left" and the "right" over response to terror and war in Iraq (and every other issue) is that very few people are informed to any substantial degree and thus are basing their positions on "bigoted" beliefs. For example, few people I know are at all familiar with the "key facts" presented in this section - what accounts for the absence of this key information in mainstream media? As the PEW survey above indicates, most people (around 2/3) get their information from TV and if not that then radio or newspaper. These media categories (and others) are massively consolidated into a handful of goliath media corporations where there is no democratic representation and where the main charter is to make a profit, not to inform. The following links illustrate this consolidation: The Nation: Big Ten, MediaChannel: Media Ownership Chart, and PBS: Media Giants Chart.
  
  
• The National Security Strategy
  The National Security Strategy of the United States of America is a "must read" for anyone who wants to understand the underlying motivations of the Bush Administration. A key quote is "We must build and maintain our defenses beyond challenge." in Section IX. Note the attention paid to police or military response to security issues versus root causes.
  
  
• The Project for a New American Century
  Another "must read" for anyone wanting to understand the motivations of the Bush Administration is The Project for a New American Century web site, particularly the PNAC: Statement of Principles. Sponsors of this organization include William J. Bennett, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Dan Quayle, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz (curiously, GW is not listed). A key quote in a memo on the site regarding the "Bush Doctrine" is "the president did not appeal to the United Nations, profess faith in arms control, or raise hopes for any “peace process.” Nor is it the balance-of-power realism favored by his father. It is, rather, a reassertion that lasting peace and security is to be won and preserved by asserting both U.S. military strength and American political principles." Again, note the level of attention paid to police or military response to security and foreign policy issues versus root causes.
  
  
• Source of U.S. Oil
  Did you know that Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the U.S. for the last two years (2000 & 2001) or that Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and Columbia supply over half of U.S. oil needs? See the following: DOE: Petroleum Imports by Country of Origin, 1960-2001 and Sources of U.S. Oil Imports Chart

I encourage anyone to submit additional "key facts" to me and/or indicate an importance factor from 1-5. Contact Rich Vann at r_vann@pacbell.net. "Key facts" must be well referenced from solid, "root" sources.