#09 / 2003 Peace Tour: April 10, Kingston, NY

KINGSTON NY: PEACE ACTIVIST TOM PACHECO

#09

Well, we made it to Kingston, NY, eight miles from Woodstock, without any problems. Today is Thursday, Apr. 10, and we are seeing sunshine for the first time in a week. I’ve contacted the peace organization begun by the 9/11 family members and asked to participate in some of their peace projects. Hopefully, they will get back with me. 

There is another voice out there, Tom Pacheco, who has been a folk singer and balladeer for over 30 years. After many years in Ireland, he is now relocated back to Woodstock. He is largely unheralded here in the US, but has a cult following around the world. It was here in Woodstock that we went by to visit him, yesterday, uninvited and unannounced. 

Tom welcomed the Beatlicks, who were in accompaniment with his good friend and builder of his website Susan Avery. He treated us to an afternoon of protest songs and ballads. I mention Tom because he is a true man of the world, who has made himself knowledgeable about politics, religion, and societal woes in general. 

He is constantly getting feedback from his audiences, everywhere. And he agrees with us that the pap that is being fed out in the media is not representative of what the people on the street feel and say. He’s spent plenty of time in Europe and mentions the vast difference between TV news in Europe and the overly sensationalized propaganda called TV news here at home. 

Tom performs constantly and also backs up what we are saying that people in general are not overwhelmingly supportive of what is going on, as one would be led to think by poll propaganda on television. Check out his website:

www.tompacheco.com

if you are intrigued by an intelligent, meaningful songwriter and performer. I have gotten quite an education by reading "Utne." It is a magazine that gleans articles from the media and compiles them into their own issue. 

Back in February, it was in "Utne" I read about Ahmed Chalabi, president of the Iraq National Congress, an umbrella group for anti-Saddam factions. I have spelled his name the way I first saw it, although I have seen in spelled slightly differently on CNN. The name of the article was "Our Man in Baghdad." 

I mention him today because Vice President Dick Cheney brought up his name last night in his TV address to the nation. There seems to be a disconnect between Cheney, the State Dept. and the president on who will be suitable to run Iraq. I mentioned earlier that the UN is sparring with the US over who will have the rights to the oil sale profits from now on out. 

Currently they are controlled by the UN, but of course, the US has taken the oil fields, now. Ahmed Chalabi has been quoted in the Washington Post about his vision of post-war Iraq and he said, "American companies will have a big shot at Iraqi oil."

Now that is what exactly what Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wants to hear and he is one of Chalabi’s biggest supporters. Presently he is being very coy and saying he is not being considered for the presidency of Iraq.

Chalabi’s family was exiled from Iraq in 1958. He is a University of Chicago-trained mathematician, banker, and moneyman, considered a debonair Washington insider. He has also been called an embezzler and swindler. He established the Petra Bank for the country of Jordan in 1977. In 1989 he fled the country when the Jordanian government seized the bank and accused him of embezzlement and fraud.

While he has been in Washington he has steadily courted support from the CIA and has apparently gained credibility. He is practically unknown in Iraq, should the US install him in the presidency, supporting him will require US troops and occupied oil fields for years to come.

I have said quite often in my journal that I believe this great mass sleepwalk to war, and perhaps worse, has been caused because Americans are too busy to educate themselves about what is happening in the world. So, I want to offer you what I do have time to discover and learn about. And I will share them here in my journals.

I have a little haiku for you:

Educate yourself

How much oil’s under Iraq?

Enough to crown Bush.

With American controlled oil exports, the American flag high above the Iraqi flag, and we saw that yesterday when the US flag was draped over the Saddam statue, it will be enough to topple OPEC and the eastern dominion of oil. It’s all about oil.