Just as we've never really questioned why suicidal maniacs would carry out a well planned simultaneous attack on the Pentagon and The World Trade Center, so too the powers that be have seen to it that the rabble have little or no voice. People are permitted to protest, but if we don't interview their leaders or listen to their protests, the general public will never know what it's all about.

The Battle of Seattle and demonstrations at similar events around the world have been portrayed as youthful screwballs with some mysterious ax to grind. All we are ever shown are people standing against lines of men in blue or black who are hiding behind shields and lobbing tear gas, plus occasional scenes of vandals upset with Starbucks café latte.

Not once have we examined the possibility that a growing number of people are upset with the New World Odor, the extension of America's imperialistic tentacles into other countries, 250,000 troops in 41 different nations, and unquestioned "national interests" all over the world. If we did, we might have a different perspective on the dangers of another attack.

Suppose that September eleventh was a direct attack on the New World Order. An attack specifically targeted at international banking and our military headquarters, the key elements of the New World Order. What then would be the next logical targets? Certainly not the Super Bowl or the upcoming Winter Olympics that the government and media seem to be worrying us about.

Instead, how about the United Nations Building or the headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations, both in New York City? Wouldn't these be more logical targets? How about the Federal Reserve or the International Monetary Fund, both inside Washington's Beltway? All are parts of the New World Order. All are things we the people had nothing to say about bringing into the fold.

We've already had anthrax attacks on our seat of government, but the government isn't absolutely certain that those second attacks weren't from disgruntled Americans seizing the moment. They even checked the Army's supply of anthrax to see if any was missing.

With reason, our own elected representatives seem almost as afraid of their own citizens as they are of terrorists. After all, they've been doing as little as possible for the people while stealing retirement payments at a rate that makes the Enron debacle look like a kindergarten game. I think that a good part of the New World Order is based on the belief that if you can screw Americans without reprisal you can probably screw the world.

Within months we've defeated one of the poorest nations in the world. Cave dwellers with rifles, horses, computers and cell phones in a country without much electricity, relay towers, or satellites. Of course, we did it all with long distance hi-tech while a Northern Alliance of Afghanis did the dirty work. We lost one American combatant while the world press lost several reporters and dozens of our boys died from equipment failures and other accidents around bases in Pakistan and so forth.

We still haven't found Osama Bin Laden, but then we never did find the Atlanta bomber either, and he was supposed to be in our own North Carolina hills. But we've had daily speeches by our President and daily briefings from the Pentagon assuring us that the evil doers will be caught and justice will prevail if it takes forever.

I keep remembering my father saying that war is good for the economy. Unlike other nations, the United States seems somehow to thrive on wartime production. It's one of the few things we don't import.

Haven't kidnapping, terrorism, and guerrilla warfare always been our Achille's heel? Didn't we lose a war in Viet Nam to an enemy that hid in jungles, dug underground tunnels, and sent children with grenades under their armpits to welcome our boys?

Isn't the prime directive of guerrilla warfare to take the enemy by surprise, catching the enemy unaware? Striking at his flanks and running away? Using his own weapons against him, making him fall on his own sword? Play on his weaknesses? Blow up the arsenal? Poison the emperor's wine? David needs some surprising trick to beat Goliath?

Having once successfully surprised or ambushed the enemy in the pass, would a good guerrilla warrior wait there for a second opportunity? That would be sort of stupid, wouldn't it? If true, wouldn't that make commercial airliners one of the safest places to be nowadays?

And who has the most "weapons of mass destruction?" Didn't we just emerge from a forty-plus year Cold War with the Russians where we were in constant competition to have the best and the most devastating first strike and retaliatory weapons? Enough to blow up the world several times over? Didn't we build Interstate Highways just so we could keep Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles on the move and make it difficult for the Russians to target? Don't we have missile silos and nuclear submarines all over the world in just about everybody's backyard?

Haven't we been talking about resuming nuclear tests so we can be certain our stockpiles are still operable? Didn't we just back out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty? Didn't we refuse to sign onto the ban on land mines? Doesn't everyone who has nuclear capability test their bombs and wouldn't our satellites instantly detect such tests?

During eight years of inspections in Iraq, did we ever find anything? Do you think a media hungry for content would have missed any findings, wouldn't have been falling all over themselves to be first with the news?

We invented them, we build them, and we've used them. Do you know where our stockpiles of "weapons of mass destruction" are now stored? How many of you are actively engaged in building more or these weapons or some component thereof? How do you compare with your counterpart in some backward country like Iraq, Iran, or North Korea? What makes you better than them, except some parent that pats you on the head and tells you that you're a good boy?

Didn't we just have a pep rally that was anything but a report on the state of the nation? Where the only thing missing were the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

And how about biologicals? Just four blocks from my home we used to have a National Guard Armory with a sign on Main Street that said: "Chemical Warfare Unit." We all drove by without comment. Of course, our side only acts in defense, right? We are the good guys, the ones in white hats with God on our side. Trust your government.

As an aside, have you heard that the workers at ground-zero are complaining about lung ailments and possibly suing the city? Built by the New York Port Authority, there was no need for compliance with codes against the use of asbestos. Government doesn't need to play by the rules.

Don't you think it's about time we started asking ourselves what makes so many people hate us? It can't all be that they envy our toilets, supermarkets, cars, sports events and sense of humor.