an interview with Mark Neusche, father of Josh Neusche, one of the GW II troops to lose his life from the ?mystery illness? while serving in Iraq. The father stated that his 20-year-old healthy son, a former track star and non-smoker, had written home on June 26th explaining that he would be going on a 30-hour ?hauling? mission, but that he could not disclose what they would be hauling. The son had stated that he had been to the Palace of Sadaam Hussein, and it was later learned that he was ?hauling? at the Baghdad Airport.
[..]
while his son was in a coma at Landstuhl Hospital, the father. . . witnessed approximately 55 other troops being received by the hospital after they were transported by a military ambulance (bus). . . . the transported troops were exhibiting varying degrees of the illness. Some walked, some were in wheelchairs and others were on respirators. In the commotion, a doctor reported to the father that his son was suffering from a ?toxin.? No mention of pneumonia was ever made to him, nor was it ever reported in the medical record.
[..]
a healthy young soldier on June 26, 2003, when he reported that he was going to serve on the secret hauling mission, by July 1, 2003, he was in a coma, and that day was suddenly classified by the military, as medically retired from the Army without Josh or his family?s consent. Josh did not die until July 12, 2003. . . . DOD would not provide even so much as plane or taxi fare for the Neusche family, [so] all 650 members of the 203 Engineer Battalion each contributed $10.00 to make the family?s final visit possible.

Mark Neusche: a doctor there in Landstuhl told me that he had gotten into some type of toxin that had started degenerating his muscle structure, starting with his kidneys and liver . . . And when we went into the room, they had to put us in total gown, rubber gloves, hairnet, footwear, the whole bit.
[..]
July 17 tape of President Bush: ?I believe that we will find the truth. And the truth is he was developing a program for weapons of mass destruction. Now, he said why didn?t it happen all of a sudden, there is a lot of chaos in the country, one. Two, Saddam Hussein has spent over a decade hiding weapons and hiding materials. Three, we are just beginning to get some cooperation from some of the high level officials in that administration or that regime. We will bring the weapons and of course we will bring information forward on the weapons when they find them and that will end all the speculation.?
[..]
AGWVA spokesperson Joyce Riley vonKleist, RN,BSN: I have always believed that they would eventually find the weapons of mass destruction. Now, if this were part of a mission and this is my opinion only . . .but I believe that we may have subverted something or they may have had to stop something that was going to take place, given the fact that our men have now become ill as a result of whatever took place there. If that were their intent, to distribute weapons of mass destruction. And I would not put it past them at all.

AGENCY: Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security.

[...]

The existing Highway Watch Program will be expanded to include passenger carriers and first responders and to create a larger call center capable of communicating with program participants to link transportation-based Information Sharing and Analysis Centers.

[...]

The Highway Watch Program plans to train the Nation's commercial drivers to observe and report any suspicious activities or items that may threaten the critical elements of the Nation's highway transportation system.

[...]

Total anticipated funding for Highway Watch Program is $19,700,000.

On the surface, beehives and ant nests seem to be model societies, with each individual striving for the common good. But maintaining this social order sometimes calls for brutal tactics.

Murder, torture and imprisonment - these are the standard tools of repressive regimes. But if you imagine that human societies have a monopoly on such tactics, think again. Social insects perfected the police state long before people got in on the act.

The workers in bee, ant and wasp colonies forgo their own reproduction to raise the brood of their queen. Such is a worker honeybee's devotion to the collective, she will eviscerate herself by stinging any animal rash enough to attack the hive - a selflessness that has long fascinated naturalists...

1. Fox News Channel reported the U.S. State Department pulled out of the hotel just hours before the bombing:

   Johan Labetiubun, reporting to Fox News via phone from Jakarta, said that several hours before the explosion, the US Embassy had canceled three-day reservations for about 20 rooms in the Marriott.

   
   
   
2. Jakarta Post reported an eyewitness saw four blasts, not one:

   JAKARTA (JP): An eyewitness described four separate blasts at the JW Marriot Hotel in the Mega Kuningan business complex in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Tuesday.
   
   "I was going to take some pictures after the first blast when suddenly the second blast hit after about 10 minutes. The second was the largest of four," a journalist told The Jakarta Post.
   
   He said the second blast was the one that caused the crater in the hotel's Sailendra Restaurant.
   
   "I saw a hole in the floor of the restaurant going through to the basement.
   
   "I also saw two smaller explosions on the upper floors of the hotel," he said

   
   
   
3. Sky News reported, and this one has yet to be memory-holed:

   Hotel bosses said staff and guests had been evacuated before the blast, which happened during the busy lunch hour.

   -- not in keeping with a surprise "suicide car bomb" attack.
   

Buy it; learn it; then kick its ass. Click pic for ordering info.

A fine debate at the (supposed) LibertyPost.org site