PRESIDENT LINKS OIL TO DRUGS, TERROR

Last year, President Bush wanted to create a private army, without any
accountability to Congress, to fight the war on drugs.

Recently, he hyped the war on drugs to bring it under the war on terrorism.

Last month, Bush deployed U.S. troops to fight the war on terrorism and
placed them under the authority of the Philippine chief of staff.

Now Bush says the United States may pay ransom to anyone who kidnaps
Americans and cited kidnapped oil workers as a successful example.

Wherever one finds oil, Bush can find drugs or terrorism.

With the linkage and precedents cited above, the United States is a safe
haven for multinational oil corporations seeking military protection and
the Caribbean Islands provide convenient tax shelters.

U.S. taxpayers could pay any ransom for oil company employees. U.S. troops
could be deployed and placed under the command of a foreign government and
augmented by CIA resources.

The National Security Council, experienced in circumventing the
Constitution, could function as a secret command center free from
congressional oversight.

Oil and water might not mix, but Bush has found a recipe mixing terrorism,
drugs and oil that could be worth trillions of dollars to multinational oil
companies and related businesses.

The final ingredient is a dictator, a position for which Bush has
frequently volunteered.

Joe Boyett,

Montgomery