The SPOTLIGHT June 7, 1999

BILDERBERG DESIRES FINANCIAL CONTROL

As the pound falls, internationalists have set their sights on the dollar.

By James P. Tucker Jr.

Bilderberg will be working to establish the "world's financial architecture," said Kenneth Clarke, a member of the British Parliament (MP), former chancellor of the exchequer and a Bilderberg regular.

In the presence of five reporters in Washington, Clarke was surprisingly forthright in speaking of the secret Bilderberg group, which is scheduled to meet behind closed doors and armed guards June 3-6 in Sintra, Portugal.

Bilderberg will draw "political and business leaders" for "informal, off-the- record talks," Clarke said. "There is much talk about improving the world's financial architecture."

One ic expected to be discussed is "dollarization," whereby Argentina and other South American countries would abandon their own currencies in favor of the American dollar. Does this mean the beginning of a common currency for the Western Hemisphere and then the world?

"It's an idea whose time has come," Clarke responded. "I think it will come in the near future. I feel in my bones something like this is going to happen."

Americans should not be "fearful" of the dollar becoming the common currency of the hemisphere, Clarke said, because Panama has already embraced the dollar and"There are more dollars outside the United States than inside."

BILDERBERG GOAL

Eliminating national currencies has long been a goal of both Bilderberg and its brother group, the Trilateral Commission, because it destroys a major symbol of sovereignty and paves the road toward their dream of a world government.

"Our grandchildren will look back and find it comical that the world had so many national currencies," Clarke said. "Obviously, something will be on the agenda" at the Bilderberg meeting addressing the elimination of national currencies.

Clarke, a "conservative" MP, said Britain will abandon the pound in favor of the European common currency, the "euro."

The "euro is a done deal," Clarke said. The MP added he hopes the pound gets "weaker" to make the transition more politically palatable.

Years ago, Bilderberg pressured Clarke's Conservative Party to oust their own prime minister, Lady Thatcher, for resisting the euro and surrendering sovereignty to the European Union.

She later told The SPOTLIGHT that being denounced by Bilderberg was a "tribute" and she would never surrender national sovereignty.

Clarke described himself as "leading the pro-European Union faction in the Commons."

The SPOTLIGHT June 7, 1999

WHAT IS WASHINGTON TRYING TO HIDE NOW?

A just-released account of U.S. military secrets "stolen" by "Red China fails to include a country guilt of providing some of the data.

By Warren Hough

At a Washington press conference that will "live in infamy," Reps. Christopher Cox (R-Calif) and Norman Dicks (D-Wash) laid out their account of how the Chinese stole U.S. defense secrets without being asked a single question about the key role played by Israel in this surging scandal.

"This is the worst news cover-up in my memory," said Harro Roessler, a long- time U.S. correspondent (now retired) for Springer News, a German publishing consortium.

Cox and Dicks, who headed a year long probe into China's brazen piracy of American military technology, net with Washington reporters on May 25 to discuss the 700-page report produced by their investigation.

Its title, House Select Committee Report on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, implied that the findings will deal with Israel's multi-billion-dollar transfers of U.S.- derived warfare technology to Communist China.

From 1980 to the present, as soon as Israel begged, borrowed or stole a significant high-tech weapons system from Washington, it secretly -- and illegally -- sold a duplicate to Communist China, The SPOTLIGHT has reported in a series of articles.

The boom and blast blueprints black-marketed by Israel to China included the specifications for a medium-range missile known in China as the CSS-2; the so- called "Barak Lightning" missile; the "Gabriel" naval missile as well two state- of-the art U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles and their nuclear-capable warheads.

"It is a distressing token of congressional deference to the Zionist lobby that the Cox report avoids noting these crucial facts," Roessler noted.

But that the huge and hard-charging Washington press corps has produced not a single reporter with the courage to raise a question about Israel's clandestine peddling of U.S. defense secrets to Communist china is "an even more dismal token of the Establishment media's abject servility to Israel," commented the veteran newsman.

The SPOTLIGHT June 7, 1999

BIG BROTHER WANTS TO CHECK YOUR MAIL

Americans will be unable to maintain private mailing addresses after June 26; your privacy is at risk.

By Mike Blair

Many people, for whatever their personal reasons, have been maintaining private mailing addresses through private companies, even under assumed names, commonly referred to as "mail drops." That will change next month.

Having made electronic communications, particularly your telephone, impossible to use without the possibility of a government snoop tapping into the line, Big brother has now reached out to end your ability to have secure written communications passing through the U.S. Mail.

Starting June 26, you will be forced to comply with new U.S. Postal Service regulations in order to receive mail at these businesses, known as Commercial Mail receiving Agencies (CMRAs). Failure of a CMRA to comply with the new regulations will result in mail not being delivered by the Postal Service at the location.

The new policies are in accordance with U.S. Postal Service Domestic Mail manual Sections D042 and F020.

Under the new regulations, which defeat the purpose for a mail drop or private address, a patron must fill out a new, revised Form 1583, Application for Delivery of Mail through Agent, starting June 26. This includes people who already maintain the private box numbers. If the new form is not filed by June 26 the CMRA will no longer be able to give you mail sent to the new address.

Everyone who receives mail in your box. Except minor children, must fill out the form at the company counter in person. Those who cannot appear in person must have their signature and identification acknowledged by a notary public.

The person filling out the form must present two forms of identification, one of which must have a photograph of the patron. If the form is notarized it must have the two forms of identification attached to it.

If a person's identification does not match his home address, the person must provide some information showing that he resides at that address, such as a utility bill, voter registration card etc.

When a person moves, or if the information on the form becomes obsolete, it is the patron's responsibility to notify the CMRA and file a new Form 1583.

Before the address of the CMRA, using the example as cited above, the patron's address on all mail sent to the private box must new read:

John Doe
PMB 456
2146 First Avenue
Buffalo, NY 12345-4613

The designation "PMB" must be written before the box number. This indicates Private Mail Box.

This of course, defeats the entire purpose of the private mail box and signals a postal clerk, or anyone else monitoring mail going to the CMRA, that a private mail box is being used by the person to whom the mail is addressed.

After Nov. 1, the Postal Service will no longer deliver any mail that does not have the PMB designation. The mail will be marked undeliverable and returned to the sender.

Naturally, if the mail has no return address then it will go to the Postal Service's so-called "Dead Letter Office," where it can be opened to determine the sender.

In addition, the new regulations require that the CMRA is prohibited from refusing or returning mail to the sender for six months after a customer cancels his mail box. That, of course, allows postal inspectors a six-month period to monitor such mail.

The SPOTLIGHT June 14, 1999

NATO TARGETS SERB CULTURE

As of May 30, preliminary accounts estimate that NATO has attacked thousands of sites in Yugoslavia, launching close to 3,000 cruise missiles and dropping more than 10,000 tons of explosives -- all on a country without means to fight back.

By Christopher J. Petherick

Critics of the war in Yugoslavia dispute NATO officials' claim to a moral imperative driving the war in Kosovo as more and more of NATO's targets appear to be civilian and cultural.

"Anyone scrutinizing the unpublished list of targets hit by NATO is left in little doubt that a deliberate terror campaign is being waged against the civilian population of Yugoslavia," wrote John Pilger in The Guardian, a London- based tabloid.

In one of the latest events, NATO, staging a predawn attack in downtown Belgrade, "mistakenly" sent a laser-guided missile 500 yards past its target, a Military barracks, slamming into a hospital and killing three civilian patients and one hospital staff member.

The hospital's intensive care unit was leveled and the neurological building was severely damaged. The maternity ward and gynecological departments were also damaged, requiring that pregnant mothers and newborns be relocated to other hospitals in the city.

The bombing also damaged neighboring homes, including the residences of the Swedish, Norwegian and Spanish ambassadors.

Norway and Spain, which are NATO members, had removed embassy officials before the bombings commenced. But the Swedish ambassador, whose home is only 200 beet from the hospital, was still in his house when nine windows and the front door ware blown out.

In a rare glimpse of what Yugoslavian citizens face daily, the Swedish ambassador recounted how he and his house guests dove under a table, hiding for cover as the missile exploded a short distance away.

NATO missiles hit a bridge crowded with pedestrian traffic, killing at least 11 people and injuring 40 on May 30. The bridge was crowded that morning, because Sunday is traditionally a time when people travel to the markets to do their shopping.

LOOK AT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY HAS DONE

According to reports, people watched in horror as old women and children were incinerated.

"We knew they were going to hit this bridge, we just didn't think it would be in the day when people were traveling across it," one woman lamented.

Investigative reporter Mike Blair reported in the May 3 edition of The SPOTLIGHT that as the war dragged on, the U.S. military would be forced to use missiles with "older, less sophisticated guidance systems," resulting in what he predicted to be more "collateral damage."

Still others say that NATO policy-makers are deliberately waging "a terror campaign" against the people of Yugoslavia to get them to force their government to acquiesce to NATO terms.

Everyday NATO spokesman Jamie Shea and Gen. Wesley Clark assemble the world's journalists and broadcast the day's "upbeat" NATO news: "Serb soldiers breaking ranks and returning home" or "Serbian military machine eroding." Almost gleefully, the media reports on the number of missions NATO planes have flown over the country.

The SPOTLIGHT has consistently publicized the "real" story behind NATO's illegal acts, led by U.S. policy makers, in violation of international law.

A reliable source in Congress told The SPOTLIGHT that the total damage inflicted by NATO jets upon Yugoslavia so far totals approximately $150 billion*

The SPOTLIGHT June 14, 1999

CULTURAL LANDMARKS TARGETED BY NATO

The following is a list of civilian casualties and some of the destroyed sites gleaned from Serbian Ministry of Information statistics as of May 30 and a report from a Serbian official:

* CIVILIAN CASUALTIES: About 1,700 civilians have been killed and more than 10,000 sustained serious injuries including: Kragujevac, where more than 120 workers were wounded during an attack on the car factory "Zastava"; Grdelicka gorge, where 55 were killed and 16 wounded; and attack on two refugee columns, with four cruise missiles, on the Djakovica-Prizen road, where 55 were killed and 16 wounded; an attack on two refugee columns, with four cruise missiles, on the Kjakovica-Prizen road, where 75 were killed and 100 wounded, 26 critically; the village of Srbica, where 10 were killed, among them seven children; and in the Belgrade suburb of Batajnica, where a three-year-old girl was killed and five civilians wounded.

* ECONOMIC AND CIVILIAN TARGETS, PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS: The air strikes destroyed or damaged several thousand economic facilities and dwellings throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In the Leskovac region alone, more than 3,500 industrial facilities and dwellings were either destroyed or damaged. The devastation of NATO forces was particularly terrible in the towns of Pristina, Novi Sad, Aleksinac, Djakovica, Prokuplje, Gracanica and Cuprija. Housing blocks on the outskirts of Belgrade-Kijevo Knecevac, Batajnica, Jakovo, Borca. The area around Pancevo was also under attack.

* Hospitals and health care centers: NATO aviators targeted many hospitals and health-care institutions, which have been partially damaged or totally destroyed, including: the hospital and medical center in the territory in Leskovac; the hospital and poly-clinic in Nis; gerontological center in Leskovac; the general hospital in Djakovica; city hospital in Novi Sad; gynecological hospital and maternity ward of the Clinical Center In Belgrade; neuropsychiatric ward and central pharmacy of the Emergency Center in Belgrade; Army Medical center and ambulance center in Aleksinac; "Sveti Sava" hospital in Belgrade; a medical center in Kraljevo; the dispensary on Mount Zlatibor; and the health care center in Rakovica. On May 20, NATO jets hit Dragisa Misovic, in downtown Belgrade, where three patients were killed, while several dozen were injured including two pregnant women and 11 children.

* SCHOOLS: More than 190 schools, faculities and facilities for students and children were damaged or destroyed (more than 20 faculties, six colleges, 40 secondary and 80 elementary schools and six student dormitories), including: Elementary schools 16 Oktobar and Vladimir Rolovic in Belgrade; a day-care center in Petlovo Brdo in Belgrade; two secondary schools in the territory of Nis; the elementary schools Toza Markovic, Kjordje Natsosevic, Veljko Vlahovic, Sangaj and Djuro Danicic and the cay-care center Duga in Novi Sad and in the neigborhood of sangaj; Traffic School Center, faculty of Philosophy; four elementary schools and a medical high school in the territory of Leskovac; an elementary school in Lucane, as well as a larger number of education facilities in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija; Faculities of Law and economics and the elementary school Radoje Domanovic in Nis; elementary schools in Kraljevo and the villages of Cvetka, Aketa and Ladjevci; in Sombor: elementary schools Ivo Lola Ribar, a. Mrazovic, N. Vukicevic and Nikola Tesla in Kljajicevo; school center in Kula; and the elementary school and engineering secondary school center in Rakovica.

* PUBLIC AND HOUSING FACILITIES: (Tens of thousands) have been struck by missiles including severe damage to the facilities of the Republican and Federal Ministry of the Interior in Belgrade; damage to the building of the Institute for Security of the Ministry of the Interior in Banjica; severe damage to the television studio in Pristina; heavy damage to a hydro-meteorological station (Bukuja, near Arandjelovac); the post office in Pristina was destroyed; a refugee center in Prestina was destroyed; Tornik ski resort on Mount Zlatibor; Divcibare mountain resort, Baciste Hotel on Mount Kopaonik; city power plant in the twon of Krusevac; the meteorological station on Mount Kipaonik was damaged; four libraries in Rakovica sustained heavy damage: Radoje Dakic, Isidora Sekulic, Milos Crnjanski and Dusan Matic, the refugee camp 7 Juli in Paracin has sustained heavy damage; the office building of the Provincial Executive Council of Vojvodina, Novi Sad; several thousand housing facilities have also been famaged or destroyed across Yugoslavia. The most striking examples are housing blocks in downtown Aleksinac and those near the post office in Pristina.

* SIXTEEN CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS, RELIGIOUS SHRINES AND MEDIEVAL MONASTERIES: including the 14th century Monastery Gracanica; the 17th century Monastery Rakovica; the Church in Jelasnica near Surdulica; the Monastery of the Church of St. Jura (built in 1714) in Petrovaradin; the 12th century Monastery of St Nicholas in the territory of the municipality of Kursumlija; the Monastery of St. Archangel Gabriel in Zemun; the Roman Catholic Church St. Antonio in Djakovica; an orthodox cemetery in Gnjilane; the Vojlovica monastery near Pancevo; an orthodox Christian cemetery in Pristina; the monastery church St. Archangel Michael in Rakovica.

* EIGHT CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS including: severe damage to the roof structure of the Fortress of Petrovaradin; heavy damage to the four-century-old Tabacki bridge, in Djakovica; and several other historic sites throughout both Kosovo and Serbia.

* TRAFFIC: Most of the roads and rail bridges are destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

* BRIDGES (50 destroyed and 13 damaged): All primary bridges over rivers in Kosovo and Serbia have been hit, including a bridge in central Serbia struck on May 30, killing 11 people and injuring 40 traveling on their way to the market to buy groceries.

* 12 RAILWAY STATIONS.

*SEVEN AIRPORTS, INCLUDING "Slatina" in Pristina: "Batajnica" and "Surein" in Belgrade; Nis airport; "Ponikve" in Uzice; "Golubovac" in Podgorica, "Ladjevci" airport near Kraljevo; agricultural and sports airfield in Sombor.

* INDUSTRY AND TRADE: NATO targeted the factories and industrial facilities, which directly cater to the needs of the population, among which are: a drug factory in Belgrade; a pharmaceutical plant in Leskovac; a tobacco plant in Nis; a cigarette factory in Vranje; a plastics factory in Pristina; and more than 250 commercial and crafts shops in Djakovica were destroyed.

* REFINERIES AND WAREHOUSES: Refineries and warehouses storing liquid raw materials and chemicals, intended for the oil and chemical industry, were hit in Pancevo, Novi Sad, Sombor and elsewhere, causing large contamination of soil and the air.

* THE AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT has also been targeted. Forest fires caused by NATO cruise missiles and bombs have burned over several hundred square miles of forests; several thousand miles of fertile land, many rivers, lakes and underground waters have been polluted due to the spillage of petrochemical substances, oil spills and slicks.

* INFRASTRUCTURE: the electrical power supply in Batajnica was destroyed; the water supply system in Zemun is damaged; damage is reported to a power station in Bogutavac; telephone lines are cut off in Bogutovac; a power station in Pristina has been damaged; and damage has been reported at the Bistrica hydroelectric power station in Polinje.

* SEVEN TELECOMMUNICATIONS TV TRANSMITTERS. *

The SPOTLIGHT June 14, 1999

CONGRESSMAN FIGHTS PRESIDENTIAL LAWMAKING

An important piece of legislation designed to stop presidential power grabbing that violates the Constitution is pending before the House Judiciary Committee.

By James P. Tucker Jr.

Rep. Jack Metcalf (R-Wash.) Introduced H.R. 30 to block President Clinton from legislation, a power only held by Congress.

It provides that any presidential executive order (EO) that "infringes on congressional powers and duties" or requires spending federal tax dollars "not specifically appropriated" by Congress would be advisory only and have no effect.

Metcalf's strategy is to educate the public and garner opposition to Clinton's use of the orders. Next, the congressman is expected to author specific legally-binding bills that will stop Clinton in his tracks.

It should be unnecessary to legislate what the Constitution clearly says, that "all" legislative powers belong to Congress and "all bills for raising revenues shall originate in the House.

In Clinton's case, critics claim legislation is necessary because many of his executive orders violate the constitution. As approvingly observed by his lackey, Paul Begala: "Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool."

With EO 13061, Clinton seized 10 rivers -- later four more were added -- with adjacent lands of undetermined size controlled by his "river navigators," each paid $100,000 a year and not appropriated by Congress.

His rivers EO takes governing authority away from states and localities and threatens private property rights guaranteed by the Fourth and Fifth amendments.

In 1996 Clinton, knowing he had no chance of carrying Utah, seized illegally 1.7 million acres of the state's land for a national park, without consulting the governor or the congressional delegation. Congress had appropriated no money to build a park.

The land held a trillion dollars worth of clean-burning, low-sulfur hard coal.

This greatly enhanced the value of the second largest source of environmentally safe coal, which is owned by the Indonesian-Chinese Riady family, who contributed millions of dollars to Clinton's campaigns in 1992 and 1996.

Clinton used executive authority to use funds from the Treasury Department that had been set up in the 1930s specifically to stabilize the dollar to bail out Mexico and Brazil.

Clinton had no authority to use these taxpayer dollars so foreign countries could make their loan payments to Goldman Sachs, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin's old firm which is always represented at the super-secret Bilderberg meetings.

Clinton's EO 13107 would implement UN treaties that the Senate has refused to ratify, which is clearly unconstitutional and illegal.

The "human rights" treaties, which refuse to recognize property rights, would, among other things, establish a global committee of "experts" to monitor child rearing.

In 1994, the public soundly rejected Clinton's cradle-to-grave health care. Since then, the president penned 280 Eos, and counting, to force his agenda of socialized health care on you.

The SPOTLIGHT June 14, 1999

SILVER CERTIFICATES ARE OFFERED AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE

The American Liberty Currency could be the monetary solution to an economic disaster the country may be facing next year.

By Fred Garland

Y2K crisis or not, America's money system needs to be reformed. But if there is a Y2K crisis of the proportions that many predict, one patriot is absolutely convinced that he's put his finger on at least one way Americans can weather that crisis -- or any other economic crunch that comes about.

Bernard von NotHaus, the originator of the newly-introduced American Liberty Currency (ALC), believes that the silver-backed ALC is "America's survival.

In his new book, Y2K Money: Your Survival Currency, von NotHaus lays out his arguments. In this, his first book, von NotHaus, one of the of NORFED (the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue Code), explains the history and concept of the "new" money".

"S using their money," says von NotHaus, referring to the privately-owned "dollars" that are controlled by the economic powerhouse monopoly known as the Federal Reserve System. "Take back America. One dollar at a time." According to von NotHaus, the ALC currency is the way to do that. First introduced in the fall of last year, interest in the ALC currency has spread like wildfire. Even well-established local privacy currency groups such as the "Ithaca Hours" unit in Ithaca, N.Y. have affiliated with the ALC.

The SPOTLIGHT, in its Nov. 16, 1998 issue, was one of the first national publications to report on the ALC. The story of the success of the Ithaca Hours was reported in The Spotlight on Nov, 1996. Additionally, such mainstream media voices as Parade magazine (on July 5, 1998) and The Wall Street Journal (June 27, 1996) have reported on the development of such independent -- and thoroughly legal -- currencies outside the control of the Federal Reserve System.

The Oct. 19, 1998 edition of Coin World described the ALC currency sponsored by NORFED as a "private alternative to Federal Reserve notes, and William Gibbs, the news editor of Coin World, has affirmed that the ALC is perfectly legal.

"Only the government has the right to issue a legal currency," says Gibbs, but, at the same time, "that does not prevent individuals from doing what NORFED is doing, as long as one does not run afoul of federal regulations. ALC is strictly a private currency that is entirely backed by the issuers of this currency." Claudia Dickens, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing acknowledges that ALC is legitimate, having been reviewed by the Treasury's legal team. "There's nothing illegal about this," says the Treasury spokeswoman. "As long as it doesn't say legal tender there's nothing wrong with it."

According to von NotHaus, more than $100,000 in Federal Reserve notes have been exchanged for ALC thus far. Plus, he notes there are some 120 redemption centers across the country that will exchange Federal Reserve notes for ALC. Then, when people wish to redeem their ALC for silver, the redemption centers will exchange the ALC notes for silver.

There are three denominations of ALC notes: $1, $5, and $10, each featuring anti-counterfeit features that are superior to even the latest Federal Reserve notes. Additionally, all ALC certificates bear a similar "warehouse receipt" guaranteeing the bearer the right to the value of the particular amount of silver represented by the certificate.

"America's survival currency is Y2K compliant because it is not base on computers or banks. It is based on silver. It is now up to every American to safeguard their money the best way possible," von NotHaus says.

"In addition to the outright purchase of silver, the American Liberty Currency offers the best alternative because it is 100 percent backed by silver and provides a convenient way to use silver and provides a convenient way to use silver in an emergency," he added. "The silver, stored in insured and audited vaults, is redeemable by the 'bearer on demand' through a nationwide network of Redemption Centers."

Von NotHaus lays out the history of ALC and reasoning behind it in his book. There are many who will agree with much of what von NotHaus has to say. Likewise there will be many who will vehemently dispute what he has to say. But the bottom line is that von NotHaus is laying it all on the line for those who want to know more about the ALC program -- take it or leave it.

Y2K Money: Your Survival Currency is one man's vision for America's future and a program for its continuing prosperity, come what may. You may agree. You may disagree. But you'll enjoy lively and effective writing style that will capture your attention, whichever way you go.

For more information, check out the NORFED web site at www.norfed.org or to order a copy of Y2K Money: Your Survival Currency, at $6.95 write: NORFED, 4900 Tippecanoe Drive -- Suite 6, Evansville, Ind. 47115 or call 812-473-5250. The book also includes a mail-in coupon to receive a $1 certificate of American Liberty Currency.

The SPOTLIGHT June 21, 1999

GLOBALISTS HAVE PLAN FOR ECONOMIC CONTROL

The global elite has announced plans for a new economic world order. Of course, the blueprints have been on the dawning board for years.

By James P. Tucker Jr.

SINTRA, Portugal -- Winning the war in Yugoslavia at any price was high on the Bilderberg agenda, as was establishing an "international financial architecture."

While the Bilderberg luminaries were behind the locked and guarded entrances to the Caesar Park Penha Longa, the Yugoslav embassy issued a statement saying Bilderberg was behind the unprovoked attack on its country. The statement relied on these facts as reported exclusively in The SPOTLIGHT last May 10.
* NATO defied its own self-defined role as a defensive organization by attacking a nation that posed no threat.
* At its most recent summit in Washington, NATO announced that it could now act anywhere in the world, specifically mentioning the Middle East. * At the summit, French President Jacques Chirac said NATO would only attack nations on instructions of the UN Security Council.

Taken together, this clearly states that NATO is now the UN's world army.

But for credibility, NATO must win its war in Yugoslavia, Bilderberg luminaries were telling each other. At the same time, one of their own, President Clinton, was conferring with U.S. military leaders on plans for a ground war. Clinton and Bilderberg were only a phone call away.

On the same day Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accepted NATO's surrender demand to prevent more spilled blood, including hundreds of civilians bombed in shopping malls and hospitals, NATO continued its air campaign.

Calls were placed from the Bilderberg resort to Moscow and Belgrade. Bilderberg had won the war it had started through its proxies, the UN and its world army, NATO.

The Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said the war in the Balkans was drawn up by Bilderberg in 1996 and updated and finalized last year when it met in Scotland. It cited the Yugoslav edition of the newspaper Vojska.

Vojska said an "independent" American journalist had exposed the group and identified its leaders.

Under Bilderberg's original war plan, it said, the first move was to arrest "war criminals from among the Serbs," provoking a strong reaction that would be used to justify going to war. Unable to provoke a hostile reaction, NATO attacked anyway.

Kenneth Clarke, a member of the British parliament (MP) and former chancellor of the exchequer, called for a new "international financial architecture."

The world should have three major regional currencies, Clarke told his Bilderberg colleagues. The first is already on the world scene: The European euro. And Britain will join in the European common currency, he said.

Clarke said he would like to see the pound grow weaker to facilitate Britain's entry into the common currency.

Clarke is a Conservative MP who joins Tony Blair, prime minister and fellow Bilderberg member, in calling for the further surrender of British sovereignty to the European Union.

The next step is toward a second great regional currency in the Western Hemisphere, Clarke said. The "amerijo" will come about by the "dollarization" of Latin America. Panama has already abandoned its currency for the dollar. Argentina and Brazil are considering a unilateral adoption of the dollar currency, although there are talks with the Federal Reserve Board.

Clarke said he believed the common currency of the Western Hemisphere will become a reality "soon." He added that the world once had so many currencies, with each nation being identified by its own.

This falls into line with a long-standing goal of Bilderberg and its brother group the trilateral Commission: Divide the world into three great regions for the administrative convenience of the emerging world government at the United Nations.

Part of Clark's "new architecture" involved establishing "supranational agencies" to handle the ebb-and-flow of the three major currencies of the world. He called for a sort of "world finance minister" at the UN.

Bilderberg colleagues agreed that the emerging regional currencies, which will be identified with no specific country, will do much to eliminate "nationalism and the antiquated notions of sovereignty."

Much of this talk came during agenda discussions of "the New Economy" and "Emerging Markets." Other formal agenda items included the "Atlantic Relationship During a Time of Change," "European Politics" and "U.S. Politics."

For the first time, Russia had two representatives: Lilia Sheviso and Dmitri Trenin, both of the Carnegie Moscow Center. The Carnegie foundation and offshoots have long been an arm of ?Bilderberg. Jessica Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, returned to this Bilderberg meeting.

The Russians were assured that more (mostly American) dollars would flow into their wrecked economy through such conduits as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Stanley Fischer, first deputy managing director of the IMF and James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, were there to confirm the promise.

David Rockefeller and numerous financiers were in Sintra to hear that interest payments on their bad loans to poor credit risk nations would be paid by taxpayers.

During the discussion of "U.S. Politics," Bilderberg leaders expressed confidence in retaining control of the White House. They noted that the likely Republican nominee, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, is the son of former president and Trilateralist George Bush.

"His father has talked to him," one said.

But what about Vice President Al Gore, the likely Democrat nominee?

"His father, President Clinton, has talked to him," the Bilderberg man repeated with a confident chuckle.

In fact, Bilderberg has had a direct influence on the White House since President Dwight Eisenhower's years. Most presidents have been members of at least on of the two groups, and all have representatives attend Bilderberg meetings to receive their orders.

The SPOTLIGHT June 21, 1999

SENATORS AT CONFAB

Watching the list of Bilderberg attendees can shed some light on who's hot and who's not in world politics.

By James P. Tucker Jr.

SINTRA, Portugal -- There is normally little turnover in Bilderberg -- some die and others are elevated. This year, turnover remained numerically small but nevertheless striking.

For several years, members of Congress have not dared attend Bilderberg because of voter reaction, as Tom Foley, then speaker of the House, told The SPOTLIGHT years ago. In earlier years, leaders of the House and Senate attended.

This year, three senators attended Bilderberg: Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.).

This means that Bilderberg expects to make use of them. Vice President Dan Quayle attended his only Bilderberg meeting because of the possibility of succeeding President Bush in the White House.

The discards show that Bilderberg no linger finds use for them.

Last year, New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R) attended her first meeting when Bilderbergs convened in Scotland.

In late winter, she reluctantly confirmed to The SPOTLIGHT that Bilderberg would meet "in Bilderberg would meet "in Portugal." She said she didn't know if she would attend. Bilderberg had advised her of the location and time while the decision to invite her back was pending.

She was not invited back. Bilderberg believed she had no chance of being on the Republican ticket despite the increasing involvement of women in U.S. politics.

Nor do they expect Elizabeth Dole to adorn the Republican ticket.

For the first time since the secret club formally called itself "Bilderberg" in 1954 and adopted formal meetings, no Rothschilds were present his year.

The SPOTLIGHT June 21, 1999

AIR TENSE AS BILDERBERG GATHERS

It was a tough job, but someone had to bar hop (that is, prime the information Pump) in order to crack the New World Order's nut.

By James P. Tucker Jr.

SINTRA, Portugal -- Tension filled the air inside the posh Park Penha Longa resort on Monday, May 31. There were few remaining guests because the sealing-off process had already begun for the Bilderberg meeting that would not begin until Thursday, June 3.

In years past, this sealing-off process began on Wednesday when Bilderberg luminaries started gathering on Thursday. All guests would know they had to check out on Wednesday morning because of a "private" meeting.

But this changed last year at Turnberry, Scotland, when reporters found the resort sealed off Tuesday morning. Mindful of this, The SPOTLIGHT had planned to arrive on Sunday, but flight delays caused the first effort to wait until Monday morning.

This SPOTLIGHT correspondent was driven to the Caesar Park Penha Longa Golf Resort by reporter "John" and cameraman "Mike" of British television. They are working on a six-hour TV special called "The New World Order," an 18-month project. They spent a day with Tucker in Washington and arranged to share the same hotel near the Caesar Park and Collaborate on exposing Bilderberg.

The first stop inside the Caesar Park was a hotel bar. When told that "something big must be happening" because reservations were impossible, the young bartender grew tense and disappeared.

It was all, reporters hoped, subtle. Mike's TV camera used on the inside job looked like a small gadget a tourist might use.

The question also disturbed the young lady at the swimming pool bar.

At a third bar off the ornate dining room, a middle-aged bartender presided. Noting the empty vastness of the dining room, he was asked if reservations were necessary "for lunch on Thursday."

His face filled with tension and he said he would get the manager. The manager said reservations were impossible for Thursday lunch because the hotel was taken over for a "private event" for the rest of the week.

The three reporters were walked out separately. A lanky man in his 50s approached The SPOTLIGHT correspondent and asked if he could be "of help."

"No, I don't need help," I said.

"But you have been walking all over the place and I thought perhaps I could help."

"I don't need help walking all over the place," I replied. I also declined to tell the gumshoe what hotel I was calling home.

A dark-haired man about 40 had also been a lonely "customer" while the reporters were at the dining room bar, where every thing is in view.

On leaving, they observed that a winsome girl had replaced the frightened boy at the first bar. She, too, tensed up at speculation on the big "private event."

Meanwhile, the dark-haired man became a customer at the end of the bar, talking briefly with John and privately with the girl.

As the reporters left, John reported that the dark-haired man, too, wanted to "be of help."

Outside, a large gang of police had already started sealing the place off. Everybody could leave, but none could enter. Had the reporters been a little later arriving that morning, they would not have been inside, they thought.

A car was following as the reporters drove away. It is quite a distance from the hotel to the public highway. Just to tease, to be certain, Mike spun the car off a side road. Drove again toward the hotel, spun around and again headed out. The car following did the same spin and turns and remained behind the reporters until they were on the public highway.

From all the bar-sitting, valuable information was obtained: The Caesar Park staff's favorite off-hours establishment is the Saipirinha bar in Sintra.

The SPOTLIGHT June 21, 1999

ATTENDEES AT THE BILDERBERG MEETINGS

Honorary Secretary General
Halberstadt, Victor
Professor of Economics, Leiden University

Honorary Chairman
Davignon, Etienne
Chairman, Societ Gonorale de Belgique

Attendees (alphabetical by last name)

I -- Agnelli, Umberto -- President, IFIL Finanziaria di Partecipazioni S.p.A. E -- Aguirre y Gil de Biedma, President of Spanish Senate
USA -- Allaire, Paul A. -- President, Xerox Corporation
P -- Amaral, Joaquim Ferreira do -- Member of Parliament
S -- Aslund, Anders -- Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
P -- Balsemao, Francisco Pinto -- Professor of Communications Science, New University, Lisboa; Chairman, IMPRESA, SGPS
S -- Barnevik, Percy -- Chairman, Investor AB
USA -- Bayh, Evan -- Senator (D-Ind.)
I -- Bernabe, Franco -- Managing Director and CEO, Telegraph Group Limited CDN -- Black, Conrad -- Chairman Telegraph Group Ltd.
F -- Boucher, Eric Le -- Chief Editor, Le Monde
USA -- Boyd, Charles G. Executive Director of the National Security Study Group CDN -- Chastelain, John A.D. de -- Chairman Independent International Commission on Decommissioning
GB -- Clarke, Kenneth -- Member of Parliament
N -- Clement, Kristin -- Deputy Director General, Confederation of Business and Industry
F -- Collomb, Bertrand -- Chairman and CEO, Lafarge
USA -- Corzine, Jon S. -- Ret. Senior Partner, Goldman Sachs & Co. P -- Cravinho, Joao -- Minister for Infrastructure,
Planning and Territorial Administration
GR -- David, George A -- Chairman of the Board, Hellenic Bottling Company, SA USA -- Dodd, Christopher J. -- Senator (D-Conn.)
USA -- Donilon, Thomas E. -- Attorney, O'Melveney and Meyers TR -- Ercel, Gazi -- Governor, Central Bank of Turkey
TR -- Ergin, Sedat -- Ankara Bureau Chief, Hurriyet
USA -- Feldstein, Martin S. -President and CEO, National Bureau of Economic Research
INT -- Fischer, Stanley -- Director, IMF
I -- Fresco, Paolo -- Chairman, Fiat S.p.A.
I -- Giavazzi, Francesco -- Professor of Economics, Bocconi University, Milan CDN -- Godsoe, Peter C. -- Chairman and CEO, Bank of Nova Scotia USA -- Graham, Donald E. -- Publisher, The Washington Post
NL -- Grave, Frank H.G. -- Minster of Defense
P -- Eduardo Marcal Grilo -- Minister of Education
USA -- Hagel, Chuck -- Senator (R-Neb.)
S -- Hedelius, Tom C. -- Chairman, Svenska Handelsbanken
N -- Hegge, Per Egil -- Editor, Aftenposten
CDN -- Herrndorf, Peter A. -- Former Chairman and CEO, TV Ontario; Senior Fellow, University of Toronto
USA -- Hoagland, Jim -- Associate Editor, The Washington Post N -- Hoegh, Westye -- Chairman of the Board, Leif Hoegh & Co. ASA; Former President, Norwegian Shipowners' Association
USA -- Holbrooke, Richard C. -- Ambassador to the UN designate B -- Huyghebaert, Jan -- Chairman, Almanij N.V.
D -- Ischinger, Wolfgang -- State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs INT -- Issing, Otmar -- Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank USA -- Jordan, Jr. Vernon E. -- Senior Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP (Attorneys-at-law)
BG -- Kamov, Nikolai -- Member of Parliament
TR -- Kirac, Suna -- Vice-Chairman of the Board, Koc Holding AS USA -- Kissinger, Henry A. -- Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc. D -- Kopper, Hilmard -- Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank GR -- Kranidiotis, Yannos -- Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs USA -- Kravis, Marie-Josee -- Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute INT -- Leekanen, Erkki -- Member of FC
CDN -- MacLaren, Roy -- High Commissioner for Canada in Britain CDN -- MacMillan, Margaret O. -- Editor, International Journal GB -- Mandelson, Peter -- Member of Parliament
USA -- Mathews, Jessica T. -- President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
USA -- McDonough, William J. -- President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York USA -- McGinn, Richard A. -- Chairman and CEO, Lucent Technologies P -- Mello, Vasco de -- Vice Chairman and CEO, Grupo Jose de Mello F -- Mestrallet, Gerard A. -- Chairman and CEO, Suez Lyonnaise des Euax UKR -- Mityukov, Ihor -- Minister of Finance
F -- Moisi, Dominique -- Director, IFRI
INT -- Monti, Mario -- Commissioner of the EC
P -- Nabo, Francisco Murteira -- President and CEO, Portugal Telecom D -- Nass, Matthias -- Deputy Editor, Die Zeit
NL -- Netherlands, Her Queen Majesty the Queen of
ICE -- Oddsson, David -- Prime Minister
PL -- Olechowski, Andrzej -- Chairman, Central Europe Trust
FIN -- Ollila, Jorman -- President of the Board and CEO, Nokia Corporation INT -- Padoa-Shioppa, Tommaso -- Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank
D -- Perger, Werner A. -- Political Corespondent, Die Zeit
GB -- Porritt, Jonathon -- Program Director, Forum for the Future I -- Profumo, Alessandro -- CEO, Credito Italiano
CH -- Pury, David de -- Chairman, Pury Pictet Turrettini & Co, Ltd. A -- Randa, Gerhard -- CEO and Chairman, Bank Austria AG
USA -- Rattner, Steven -- Deputy Chief Executive, Lazard Freres & Co. LLC USA -- Richardson, Bill -- Secretary of Energy
USA -- Rockefeller, David -- Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank International E -- Rodriguez Inciarte, Matias -- Executive Vice Chairman, BSCH S -- Rojas, Mauricio -- Associate Professor of Economic History, Lund University, Director of Timbro's Center for Welfare Reform
GB -- Roll, Eric -- Senior Advisor, Warburg Dillon Read
S -- Rosengren, Bjorn -- Minister for Industry, Employment and Communication P -- Salgado, Ricardo E.S. -- President and CEO, Grupo Esprito Santo P -- Sampaio, Jorge -- President of Portugal
P -- Santos, Nicolau -- Editor-in-Chief, Expresso
D -- Scharping, Rudolf -- Minister of Defense
NL -- Scheepbouwer, Ad J. -- Chairman and CEO, TNT Poust Group A -- Schenz, Richard -- CEO and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, Osterreichische Kontrollbank AG
D -- Schempp, Jurgen E. -- Chairman of the Board of Management, DaymlerChrysler AG
DK -- Seidenfaden, Toger- Editor-in-Chief, Politiken
USA -- Shapiro, Robert B. -- Chairman and CEO, Monsanto Company RUS -- Shevtsova, Lillia -- Carnegie Moscow Center
P -- Silva, Artur Santos -- President and CEO, BPI
E -- Solbes Mira, Pedro -- Member of Parliament, Socialist Party H -- Suranyi, Gyorgy -- President, National Bank of Hungary
GB -- Taylor, J. Martin -- Formerly Chief Executive, Barclays PLC USA -- Thoman, G. Richard -- President and CEO, Xerox Corporation USA -- Thornton, John L. -- President and co-CEO, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc Rus -- Trenin, Dmitri V. -- Deputy Director, Carnegie Moscow Center F -- Trichet, Jean-Claude -- Governor, Banque de France
USA -- Tyson, Laura d'Andrea -- Dean, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
F -- Vanhala, Matti -- Chairman of the Board, Bank of Finland F -- Vartia, Pentti -- Managing Director, Research Institute of the Finnish Economy
CH -- Vasela, Daniel L. -- Chairman and CEO, Novartis AG
GR -- Veremis, Thanos M. -- Professor of Political History, University of Athens, A -- Vranitzky, Franz -- Former Federal Chancellor
NL -- Waal, Lodewijk J. -- Chairman, Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions GB -- Wolf, Martin -- Associate Editor and Economics Commentator, The Financial Times
INT/US -- Wolfensohn, James D. -- President, The World Bank
INT/US -- Wolf von Amerongen, Otto -- Chairman and CEO, Otto Wolf GmbH TR -- Y caoglu, Erkut -- Chairman, Tusiad
CZ -- Zantovsky, Michael -- Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security, Czech State
A -- Zimmermann, Norbert -- Chairman, Berndorf AG

Reporters

GB -- Micklethwait, R. Johnson -- Business Editor, The Economist GB -- Wooldrige, Adrian D. -- Foreign Correspondent, The Economist
_____________

A -- Austria; B -- Belgium; BG -- Bulgaria; CDN -- Canada; CH -- Switzerland; CZ -- Czech Republic; D -- Germany; DK- Denmark; E- Spain; F -- France; FIN -- Finland; GB -- England; GR -- Greece; H -- Hungary; I -- Italy; ICE -- Iceland; INT -- International; N -- Norway; NL -- Holland; P -- Portugal; PL -- Poland; RUS -- Russia; S -- Sweden; TR -- Turkey; UKR -- Ukraine; U.S.A. -- United States.

The SPOTLIGHT June 28, 1999

AMERICA HAS A CHOICE IN 2000

Here'S a pro-gun, pro-life and pro-Constitution alternative in the race for president.

By James P. Tucker Jr.

Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) is running for president on issues championed by Liberty Lobby and, he says, unless Republicans return to conservative principles, he might leave the GOP.

Smith told The SPOTLIGHT that he might make an independent run. He prefers to call it "realignment" and said he will decide before the Republican presidential primaries end.

"I am seriously considering running for a conservative party if Republicans keep moving in the liberal direction," Smith told The SPOTLIGHT.

"I do not rule it out," Smith said of an independent run during a questioning session after a speech on June 9.

In his speech, Smith outlined positions on each of the many issues he addressed:

* Abolish the Department of Education and restore local control. (Smith is a former teacher and school board member.)
* Have a litmus test for the Supreme court: pro-life, pro-constitution.
* Rid our government of unconstitutional programs.
* Get the federal government off the backs of innocent, law-abiding gun owners.
* Obtain the fullest possible accounting of our POWs and MIAs -- it is a big scandal that it has not happened.
* Not sign any global agreement that sacrifices United States sovereignty.
* Not conduct any military action unless it is in the national security interests of the United States. Kosovo means we can interfere in the affairs of a sovereign nation whenever we call it a "humanitarian venture."
* Get rid of the UN. "No troops would serve under UN command, and, in fact, I would get us out of the United Nations," the senator added.

Smith denounced Republican colleagues for straying to the left with a rhetorical question:

"Is a Republican someone who sends our soldiers into the sovereign nation of Yugoslavia? Is it Republican to cave in on Second Amendment rights and punish law-abiding gun owners? Who grants trade favors to communist china though they've been ignoring human rights and stealing our nuclear secrets?"

Smith assailed Republicans and Democrats who determine their positions on the basis of the latest polls, saying he has spent nothing on polls or "focus groups."

"You have to stand for something or you stand for nothing," Smith said.

The SPOTLIGHT June 28, 1999

MYSTERIOUS FINANCIER BROKERED KOSOVO DEAL

A bright diplomatic star has risen from the Balkan peace process.

By Warren Hough

The real back-room negotiator who brought the air war over Yugoslavia to a halt his month is a shadowy international financier identified as Peter Castenfelt.

Castenfelt has served as an agent for Israel, Russia, the World Jewish Congress and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Wall Street insiders and seasoned UN diplomats.

These sources agree that none of the headline figures hailed as the "peace makers" of Kosovo -- Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, former Russian premier victor Chernomyrdin or U.S. Deputy Secretary State Strobe Talbott -- deserve the real credit for settling this conflict.

"Castenfelt is the interlocutor who brokered the cease-fire deal between Clinton and Yugoslav President Sobodan Milsevic," says dr. Emile Roque, a legal adviser to the Balkans Task Force of the UN High Commission on Refugees.

Castenfelt claims to have been born in Scandinavia and to have lived "all over the world," since then.

Acquaintances say Castenfelt has done graduate work in economics at Harvard University and subsequently worked as a global money-market scout for chase Manhattan Bank and Credit Suisse First Boston.

He has reportedly spent a good deal of time in Israel as a contact man with Russian business and as a contact man with Russian business and as an arbitrator of disputes between major Zionist organizations such as the world Jewish Congress and the Russian government.

Castenfelt apparently emerged as the key behind-the-scenes fixer of the Balkans upheaval after four Moscow "oligarches" -- a group of Zionist billionaires headed by Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich -- flew to Washington in mid-May for a secret crisis meeting with senior White House officials, The SPOTLIGHT has learned.

BAD DEAL

The terms of the Balkans settlement laid out at this conclave and subsequently negotiated by Castenfelt are still largely unknown, but diplomatic sources say they include the following agreements:

* Russia will receive a total of some $8.7 billion from the IMF and the World Bank in stabilization and development funds before the end of the year. Half of this amount will stay in Washington to clear past IMF credits, but the Zionist financiers and sticky-fingered Moscow bureaucrats who control the Russian economy will be allowed to keep -- and divide -- the other half.
* In the eventuality that the position of Milosevic, now an indicted wor criminal, becomes untenable in Yugoslavia at some future date, he will be allowed to move to Russia. Neither he nor the substantial funds the Serbian strongman has accumulated and stashed in Greece will be "pursued or seized" by NATO.

As Yougoslavia's former energy czar, Milosevic will be allowed to join the merger between Yukos and Sibneft, Russia's two leading oil companies, as an executive.
* Sergei Stepashin, Russia's new prime minister, will work closely with Russian billionaire Vladimir Gushinsky, head of Russian Jewish Congress. They are expected to work in close cooperation with U.S. liquor baron Edgar Bronfman and his World Jewish Congress to curb Russian anti-Semitism by whatever means necessary.

The SPOTLIGHT June 28, 1999

FORMER FEDS TAKE AIM AT PATRIOTS, IDENTITY

A new group of federal cops is trying to demonize patriots in order to make a buck.

By Mike Blair

A little-known international police organization, based in Loudon, Tenn., is planning two five-day conferences this summer aimed at training law enforcement and military personnel to deal with patriot groups in America.

The group's literature concerning the conferences indicate that they are targeting so-called "right-wing extremist groups" in their instruction, completely ignoring "left-wing terrorist groups," such as environmental terrorists, animal rights terrorists and Anti-Defamation League-connected groups, such as the Jewish Defense League.

A source close to the conference planning told The SPOTLIGHT that material produced by the ADL and Morris Dee's Southern Poverty Law Center will be utilized during the instruction.

The SPOTLIGHT CHECKED WITH THE RESERVATIONS DESK AT THE Golden Nugget Hotel in Las Vegas and was told that there would be availability for rooms up to July 15, the day before the conference. The group's brochures indicate that room reservations with the hotel be made "no later than June 13, 1999.

The group advertises the 4th Annual Covert Operations Training Seminar in Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department."

Billed as intelligence conferences on "Homegrown Extremists," the confabs are being presented by The International Association of Undercover Officers and will be held July 12-16 at the Conference Center at the Golden Nugget Hotel in Las Vegas and August 16-20 at the Ramada Suites Opryland South in Nashville.

"Learn who they are, how they evolved, what they believe, their tactics, their psychological makeup, who they target, how they gather and share intelligence, how they attack, how your agency can combat these problems and what we can expect from them in the future," the group's web site says as it advertises the seminar.

The seminar is for "law enforcement and military personnel who have an interest in or supervise the monitoring and investigation of extremists groups and others who are members of threat assessment and crisis management committees."

So far, the speakers list of four is -heavy with former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) agents, including Gene Rightmyer, who claims to have extensive experience (presumably undercover) in probing organized crime and right-wing terrorist organizations in the United States.

According to a biographical sketch of the retired agent, he currently provides instruction on these subjects at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Regional counterdrug Training Academy and various other law enforcement training programs worldwide.

Also billed as an instructor is former BATF Supervisor Ken King, who claims vast experience in Undercover and high-risk entry tactics.

His biography claims he was the team leader of the BATF's New Orleans Special Response Team (SRT). The team has been accused of using "excessive intimidation and violence" in its operations in New Orleans.

King completed his long BATF career as the program manager of its SRT Training Program at Fort McClelland, Ala. Most interesting, however, is that he claims to have been a SRT team leader during the Branch Davidian siege in Waco, Texas.

Retired BATF Agent Charlie Fuller is the third instructor to be at the conference from the bureau. Prior to joining BATF, Fuller claims to have spent three years with Army intelligence. He claims to have been a program manager at the BATF National Academy -- responsible for undercover and field operations training -- for six years.

The fourth instructor will be Dr. Karl A. Segar, Ph.D. He is billed as an antiterrorism consultant who has been involved with all branches of the U.S. military, U.S. departments of Justice, Treasury and Energy and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

When asked if the attendance was going to be large, a reservations spokeswoman at the hotel replied, after some hesitation: "Not really."

For further information, call Gene Rightmyer at 888-449-6907 or Charlie Fuller at 888-249-3730.

The SPOTLIGHT June 28, 1999

IRAQI CHILDREN, GULF WAR VETS SUFFER FROM MYSTERIOUS ILLNESSES

Hey Miss Madeleine, how much is a life worth?

By Andrew Arnold

Since the Gulf War more than 1.2 million Iraqi children under the age of five have perished, according to the United Nations.

Many of the deaths have been linked to the U.S.-directed "UN" economic sanctions against Iraq. Others claim the culprit may be a radioactive substance -- depleted uranium (DU) -- a component of heavy ammunition that survives for eons after a round has run its course.

DU was used for the first time during the Gulf War. A depleted uranium rod would have other material wrapped around it. The rods are hard enough to penetrate armor or concrete walls. Once the rod hits a target, the other material explodes as the rod penetrates.

The British publication Freedom estimates hundreds of spent DU rods litter the former battlefield in the Middle East. As DU dust mingled with desert sand, some particles were blown into populated areas.

As far back as 1992, Iraqi officials brought foreign journalists to the sick wards of children's hospitals to show the effects of the war and powt-war sanctions. Things have only gotten worse. Last year, the UN estimated more than 5,000 kids per month die "unnecessarily."

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright ways that "the price is worth it," but most disagree.

Denis Halliday, the former UN head of the Oil for Food Program, cited the program's inadequacies when he resigned. "We are in the process of destroying an entire society," he said. "It is as simple and terrifying as that."

Noting Allied forces knocked out Iraq's power supply, water and sanitation, thereby creating biological warfare against the civilian population _ then refused to allow the country to buy spare parts to fix its infrastructure -- 53 U.S. Catholic bishops declared: "This bombing campaign, together with the total embargo in place since August 1990 was, and is, an attack against the civilian population of Iraq.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to begin a study soon to determine exactly why the children are dying. Preliminary evidence suggests the culprit will be spent depleted uranium rounds fired by British and U.S. forces toward the end of the Persian Gulf War.

The cancer rate among Iraqi children has sky-rocketed in the south, where Allied troops contaminated large areas with armor-piercing anti-tank rounds in 1991.

Dr. Mona el-Hassan has compiled cancer statistics in Iraq since 1976. "There has been a changing pattern of cancers since the war, including a double incidence of cancer of the intestinal tract,' she told the British newspaper The Independent. "Nowhere else in the world has there been a high incidence below the age of 30."

The doctor's latest statistics show an increase in leukemia, eye cancer, thyroid cancer and Hodgkin's disease in Iraq's southern province.

Since the Gulf war there has been a 10-fold increase in child cancers in Iraq. This has been linked with the use of depleted uranium by Allied Forces in the closing days of the war.

Iraqis say many cases go unreported.

"If a WHO team concludes that the shells and missiles that use armor-piercing depleted uranium penetrations -- and cause radioactive and chemically toxic dust to be scattered around the target -- are to blame for the Iraqi cancer epidemic, there will be substantial pressure on the Gulf War victors to pay compensation to Iraq and to ban future use of the controversial weapons," The Independent concluded.

Iraqi officials say depleted uranium seeped into the water supply, the air and ground. Now children are paying with their lives. In addition, Baghdad reports increased evidence of genetic mutation. Babies are born without heads or with their organs outside of the body.

Although the UN classified DU a weapon of mass destruction in 1997, the Pentagon says there is no evidence of a link between cancer and DU.

The Department of Defense says U.S. planes and tanks fired 860,000 rounds of ammunition containing 290 tons of DU during the war.

Iraqi children aren't the only ones suspected to be suffering from contact with uranium.

Some Gulf war vets believe radiation is one of the causes of the mysterious Gulf War Syndrome. Many health experts suspect DU is a leading suspect for a portion of these ailments.

More than 90,000 of the 697,000 U.S. troops who served in Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have reported medical problems. Their symptoms include respiratory, liver and kidney dysfunction, memory loss, headaches, fever and low blood pressure. There have also been birth defects reported among the children of veterans.

To date, Ray Bristow is the only British veteran to be diagnosed by government health authorities with uranium poisoning. In February, 16 British Gulf vets said they had proof they also wee suffering from radiation poisoning. Mike Thorn, a uranium expert from Britain's AEA Technology claims "the tiniest" amount of uranium causes cell damage and increases the risk of cancer. Chemically, DU poses a threat to the kidneys. High concentrations can lead to organ failure.

The potential problem is worse than the current situation. The British Atomic Energy Authority calculated that if 23 tons of DU were inhaled -- 8 percent of the amount fired in the Gulf -- this cold cause "500,000 potential deaths."

The New Scientist reported that the British defense minister said the number of potential deaths were "far from realistic."

"Since the rounds were fired in the desert, many miles from the nearest village, it is highly unlikely that the local population would have been exposed to any significant amount of respirable oxide," he said.

DU rounds have also been fired in the Kosovo campaign. This war is not being fought in a desert, rounds were fired in places where people have homes. Consequently, many believe Kosovars could be the next group of people to suffer at the hands of the U.S. industrial complex.

The SPOTLIGHT June 28, 1999

KOSOVARS SHOULD EXPECT RADIATION SICKNESS

Look at what your government has done to the Albanians it claimed to be protecting.

By Andrew Arnold

As if it wasn't bad enough when U.S. forces joined with international drug-runners in a civil war against Yugoslavia, a plethora of evidence now suggests America has committed a "war crime" while poisoning Kosovo.

In May, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff admitted A-10 Warthogs fired depleted uranium-tipped rounds (DU) at targets in Kosovo. Harrier jets and Abrams tanks are also armed with DU rounds, but it is unknown if they used the weapons.

The use of these radioactive rounds is a blatant war crime, according to critics of U.S. policy.

For example, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark founded the International Action center (IAC) in 1992 to establish a permanent response network for global crises. Clark drafted an international appeal to ban DU weapons.

"Depleted-uranium weapons are an unacceptable threat to life, a violation of international law and an assault on human dignity," Clark says. "DU weapons are highly toxic, radioactive weapons. All international law on warfare has attempted to limit violence to combatants and to prevent the use of cruel and unfocused weapons.

"DU weapons violate international law because of their inherent cruelty and unconfirmed death-dealing effect," he added. "They threaten civilian populations now and for generations to come."

Gulf war veteran Doug Rokke is a leading voice to combat the use of DU weapons. As a major with the Army Reserve's Medical Corp, Rokke was in the Middle East in 1991. His mission was to clean up uranium left by the Gulf war.

Today, his lungs are scarred and he has kidney and skin problems. One of Rokke's urine samples had a uranium level more than 4,000 times higher than the U.S. safety limit of .1 micrograms per liter.

Rokke blames his problems on his exposure to uranium during the war. He doesn't want to see this happen to anyone else.

"It is a war crime to use uranium munitions when men, women and children are exposed to them without any medical screening or care,' he says. "It is totally, totally wrong."

Rokke told New Scientist magazine it was ironic that NATO was poisoning the land in order to return the Kosovars to their homes. "Unless the uranium is cleaned up, those that survive the Serb atrocities and the NATO aerial attacks will have to return to a contaminated environment where they may become ill."

Peace activists agree with the major's conclusion.

"The use of Warthogs with DU shells threatens to make a nuclear wasteland of Kosovo," said Sara Flounders, co-director of IAC. "The Pentagon is laying waste to the very people -- along with their children -- they claim to be saving."

Once DU weapons hit targets, they ignite creating clouds of uranium oxide, according to the New Scientist magazine. This dust is spread through the environment. "Even the tiniest amounts could cause cell damage that marginally increases the risk of cancer," the magazine says.

"The poisonous and radioactive uranium is most dangerous when inhaled into the body," says John Catalinotto, a spokesman for the IAC. "It will release radiation during the life of the person who inhaled it."

NATO disputes the claims. DU "has not been used extensively," a NATO spokesman said. "It has never been proved that the use of DU endangers the health of people. It is no more dangerous than mercury."

NATO will not say how much DU was fired in Kosovo, but it is known there were 40 A-10s and six Harriers in action. New Scientist estimated that an A-10, which is armed with a 30-millimeter Gatling gun, can fire 3,900 shells a minute. One in five shells contain 200 grams of DU. Consequently, each A-10 could release 234 kilograms of DU a minute.

"This threatens to have health consequences in Kosovo for decades to come," states a Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting report.

DU is a waste product of the uranium enrichment process used for making atomic bombs and nuclear fuel. DU consists of 99.7 percent uranium-238. Uranium-238 has a half live of more than 4 billion years.

According to Mark Almond, a British scholar, DU-rounds were included in the NATO attack that destroyed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

The SPOTLIGHT

Here's To Your Health May/June

WHAT YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TOLD ABOUT VACCINATIONS

By Tom Valentine

Forcing Americans to have their children or themselves vaccinated is one of the most flagrant examples of "agenda driven science" and the establishment's health-care monopoly.

Apparently most people have not grasped the essence of this issue. The general public has been sold a bill of goods by institutionalized thinking and entrenched pharmaceutical-medical-government alliance propaganda.

Last November a grieving father, whose infant daughter died shortly after receiving a Hepatitis B vaccine booster shot, wrote of the terrible experience. His daughter died at the age of five, weeks following a "booster shot" for the Hepatitis B vaccine.

At first the parents blamed themselves. Then the father, Michael Belkin, a New York businessman, began to investigate. He now questions the "scientific legitimacy of the vaccine industry, which provides $800 million of annual revenue to Merck -- the company which makes the Hepatitis B vaccine distributed in the U.S."

Health and natural food advocates have long preached against what they call the "insanity" of compulsory vaccination programs. Belkin is one of the thousands who have the point driven home in tragic and dramatic fashion.

Following his investigation, Belkin wrote:

"In the United States the Hepatitis B disease mainly infects intravenous drug users, homosexuals, prostitutes and promiscuous heterosexuals. The disease is transmitted by blood, through sex or dirty needles. How could a newborn baby possibly get Hepatitis B if the mother was screened and tested negative, as my wife was? It is almost impossible?

"Unless a newborn child is having unprotected sex or sharing needles with an infected junkie, it is extremely unlikely to get the Hepatitis B disease. So then, why are most U.S. babies inoculated at birth by their hospital or pediatrician with the Hepatitis B vaccine? This is a question that every parent should ask before getting this vaccination. I've discovered the answer is -- an unrestrained health bureaucracy decided it couldn't get junkies, gays, prostitutes and promiscuous heterosexuals to take the Hepatitis B vaccine, so the mandated that all babies must be vaccinated at birth.

"Drug companies such as Merck (reaching for new markets) were instrumental in pushing government scientists to adopt an at-birth Hepatitis B vaccination policy, although the vaccine was never tested in newborns and no vaccines had ever been mandated at birth before. It is widely recognized that new borns have underdeveloped immune systems, which can be overwhelmed or shocked.

"When Belkin determined that the vaccine had been the cause of his daughter's death he reported it to the Now York City Medical Examiner so that it would be part of the Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System (VAERS) established by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control. However, Belkin reported:

"When, the New York city Coroner called VAERS to report my daughter's Hepatitis B Vaccine-related infant death, no one ever returned the call. What kind of reporting system doesn't return the calls of the New York city Medical Examiner -- and how many other reports were ignored? This is supposed to be like an emergency 911 number for disasters such as bad lots of vaccine that could poison thousands of other babies...VAERS doesn't return coroner's calls, leading to the suspicion that deaths and adverse effects from vaccination are woefully under reported. To conclude that the Hepatitis B vaccine is safe because VAERS only reports 19 deaths is scientific fraud. In fact, I obtained the raw data from the VAERS system and found 54 reported SIDS cases after Hepatitis B vaccination in just the 18 months from January 1996 to May 1997. That's almost 15 times as many deaths per year as their own flawed study reported.

"There are 17,000 reports of adverse reactions to Hepatitis B vaccine in the 1996-97 raw data. Clearly something is fishy about VAERS.

Belkin summed up his personal investigation as follows:

"Parents should be aware that the Hepatitis B vaccine is not administered for the well-being of their child. Rather it is delivered by the long arm of some incompetent and mindless bureaucracy in the name of stamping out a disease most babies can't possibly get. The drug company-CDC-FDA alliance has really polled the wool over the medical profession's eyes with this vaccine. The American Pediatric Society bought the alliance's sales pitch and now recommends that all infants get this vaccine at birth. So now the first thing most babies get in life is a shock to their immature immune system from a vaccine against a disease they have a nonexistent risk of contracting. Clearly, the interests of the newborn babies were not represented on the original panel that created this vaccination policy in 1991. This vaccine wears off and they will need booster shots later in life when they actually could get exposed to the disease.

"This is simply a case of ravenous corporate greed and mindless bureaucracy teaming up to overwhelm common sense. Merck in particular has gone way over the edge with this vaccination program. Ignoring and suppressing reports of adverse reactions to their profitable Hepatitis B vaccine verges on criminal conduct. A major media organization will soon present an investigative report on the issues discussed here. Nothing will ever bring my lovely daughter Lyla back, but other needles deaths and injuries can be prevented if this senseless Hepatitis B newborn vaccination program is halted. Please contact Belkin Limited in New York City if you are aware of other infant deaths that may be related to this vaccine.

Hepatitis B vaccine is merely the latest in a long list of bad immunization policies. Attorney Kirk McCarville of Phoenix, Ariz., handles one of the nation's largest caseloads of families with children who have reacted adversely to immunizations.

One of his tragic cases involved "Baby Christopher," a two-month-old infant who received his first DPT (diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus) and oral polio vaccinations in June 1990. Within two hours the baby began screaming high pitched, pain-and-rear-filled screams. Twenty on hours after the immunizations, Baby Christopher was free from all potential disease -- he died.

Thanks to the failure to answer all phone calls as Belkin has pointed out, and other agenda-driven failings, most people believe that such tragedies as Baby Christopher or Baby Lyla are very rare. When we consider something the vaccine and drug promoters call the "risk benefit ratio," it is generally presumed that everyone must surely be convinced of the overall benefit of compulsory vaccination programs.

There may be a few thousand Baby Christopher or Baby Lyla incidents. But there are "millions" of immunized" children living allegedly healthy lives. The risk is, therefore, considered minor when it is weighed against the presumed benefits. It has always been thus in pharmaceutical circles, even when the benefits cannot be proved, but only presumed.

The "risk-benefit-ratio" is why doctors are allowed to prescribe drugs that are capable of killing the patient. If the drug solves the disease crisis without killing the patient 950 times out of a thousand, it is deemed worth the risk. Of course, the risk is not to the physicians, but to the patients, who are often unaware of the "risk-benefit-ratio" mentality.

There have been thousands of lawsuits over the years, indicating that the risks are very real indeed. In fact the risk factor caused a law to be passed: The "National Vaccine Injury compensation Act."

Think about this: In the land of the free and home of the free market system, the marketplace obviously cannot afford the liabilities of vaccinations, so the taxpayers have been coerced into paying the claims by well-lobbied legislators. There is indeed such a thing as the "National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act." The cigarette industry and the gun manufacturers could use such protection.

First, government guarantees immense sales revenues by establishing compulsory vaccine programs. Then, the same government bails out the pharmaceutical companies against costly liability claims. With taxpayer dollars guaranteeing everything, promoters are naturally going to hype vaccines out of proportion and refuse to answer phone calls from the coroner's office.

The cost of our compulsion for vaccinations has been staggering. Is it any wonder our so-called "health care system" is bankrupt and staggering after gobbling up about 14 percent of the gross national product each year?

The Feb. 5, 1996, Chicago Tribune published a feature about this "agency that pays damages and shields drug firms" with the folowing banner headline:

"When vaccine injures child, U.S. handling suits."

The story, written by Jan Crawford Greenburg of the Tribune's Washington bureau, opened by telling briefly about six-week-old Laura Meyer's tragic encounter with the compulsory immunization program. Laura is only one of thousands to be killed or injured by vaccinations. The article then states:

"She was also among the first to have her medical care paid for through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a little known system set up as an alternative to costly, time-consuming lawsuits against the drug companies that make the vaccines.

"So many people in the medical community feel like vaccines have saved so many children, and its such a wonderful thing, and we're going to lose a few kids along the way, but that's the way life goes," said Laura's mother, Carol Meyer, who lives in Wichita, Kansas. "I will say that's probably true, but if you're going to force me to have my children vaccinated, I think the compensation program is important."

Look back at the last paragraph. There are some curiously twisted concepts coming ut of that grieving mother's mouth. She puts a lot of stock in what the "medical community feels." Is that the way it is? We are embroiled in this health and sickness controversy because the medical community feels good about it?

Evidently, that is the most accurate way to say what she is saying. The evidence isn't clear enough for any so-called medical expert to say "we know" what we are doing, so a poor woman with a paralyzed daughter must stoop to such vague platitudes, probably in defense of her own sanity.

Her line on the risk-benefit ratio is a classic: "So, we're going to lose a few kids along the way -- well, that's life! Isn't it?"

She's smart enough to know something is amiss. So she adds that "it's probably true' before she gets down to the real life issue. If government is going to force her to have her child take dangerous vaccinations, then the government will have to pay when things go wrong. It's not fair to make the family pay all those exorbitant medical bills.

The story continues:

"Of the more than 20 million children vaccinated every year, an estimated 500 suffer serious reactions and 75 die, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have determined.

Let pause for a reality check.

Not only do we refer you to Belkin's tale of the non-returned phone call, but we take you back to a conversation between Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) And Dr. Martin H. Smith, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. This is from the record of the congressional hearings on the very vaccine injury compensation law written about by the Chicago Tribune earlier:

Mr. Waxman: "In your opinion, is there an accurate reporting of reactions to vaccines?
Dr. Smith: "Not at the present time." (1985)

Here's more from the hearing record. Waxman is addressing Dr. Edward N. Brandt, assistant secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services:

Mr. Waxman: "I have been hearing that physicians don't even know a reaction when one occurs. That they assume that maybe it is from some other cause and are unaware of the fact that there can be a reaction, let us say to a pertussis vaccine. Is that a fair statement?
Dr. Brandt: "Well, certainly there have been a number of people who have pointed that out.

As we can see, a great gap remains in the medical community's ability to accurately diagnose and report reactions to vaccines. So, how did Congress, the spenders of public money, allow us taxpayers to be conned into covering all this liability so that drug companies can keep their revenue? If there's no accurate reporting of reactions to vaccines, and if doctors generally can't tell a reacion when one occurs, haw can Congress assume the risk of reaction is small?

Dr. Dean Black published a brochure "Immunizations; Compulsion or Choice" (Tapestry Press, Springville, Utah 84663, 1989; $1.50), where this issue was covered in some detail. Dr. Black wrote:

"Even when physicians report an immediate reaction, they may not report its long-term consequences. For example, the father of a vaccine-injured girl named Julie testified to the committee that the extent of Julie's vaccine injury was never reported. She got her third DPT shot when she was four months old. Within hours, she went into a grand mal seizure, which the doctor acknowledged and reported. In the following two years, however, she suffered approximately 50 grand mal seizures and many more petit mal or mini-seizures that were not reported. One month past her third birthday, she died.

"In his testimony, Julie's father commented: "Our doctor said she had a seizure and that was the end of it. They don't know Julie is dead, that she had continuing seizure disorders. Her long-term problems and death stemming from vaccine are not in the records. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of other children not in the statistics."

"Yet, those statistics are used to assure us that our children are safe from harm.

The Chicago Tribune article about how we taxpayers are covering the liability for the manufacturers of vaccines continues:

"Since it began in 1988, the program has awarded $605 million to 1,858 parents or their lawyers. The money comes from an excise tax on the vaccines...(which is a joke since tax dollars from government programs pay for the vast majority of vaccines).
"Through December 1995, 5,004 cases have been filed. Of those 884 families received funding and 2,337 were dismissed by a special attorney the court appoints to review the claims. The rest are still pending.

Why not let the vaccine makers handle their own liability? They are the ones who "feel like vaccines have saved so many children we simply can't allow the business to be hindered by liability problems."

The National vaccine Injury compensation Program was created because several pharmaceutical houses claimed they would stop making vaccines because liability lawsuits were too huge a problem.

Of course, it was also a big problem for the families of the victims. They had to find and hire lawyers, and then hope they could "prove" the vaccine was responsible. This turned out to be hard to do, especially since the experts don't really know what goes on when a child's body is inoculated.

The SPOTLIGHT

Here's To Your Health May/June

COMPULSORY SHOTS IN 'LAND OF THE FREE'

Crusading doctor warns of the dangers of vaccinations -- and your diminished medical rights.

Does the medical establishment really know enough about vaccinations to guarantee they will not kill?

By The SPOTLIGHT Staff

The late Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, "the people's doctor," spent decades arguing against the practice of immunizations.

Related how he lectured in Little Rock, Ark., on Sept. 15, 1982. The same day, the local newspapers ran a story about six-year-old Justin Douglas Cook of Pine Bluff. He was excluded from the first grade because his mother, Mrs. Cook objected because of problems that had occurred following a set of DPT shots (diphtheria-pertussis or whooping cough and tetanus) given to Justin as a baby.

Because of Mrs. Cook's experience, the Health Department had granted a waiver on the rest of the DPT series, but the department insisted Justin be vaccinated against measles, rubella (German measles) and polio.

Mrs. Cook insisted that Health Department officials put in writing that her son would never "go into a coma or die after the shots." Of course the powers that be will not put it into writing because they can't be sure of the results -- which answers the key question posed by this article: Does our present state of scientific knowledge know enough about vaccinations and side effects to justify the compulsory immunization policies now in force?

In Little Rock, Justin's mother was very brave and decided to challenge the authorities. She took her son to school and sat in the classroom with him, defying them to remove her and her son by force in front of television cameras. Mendelsohn advised The Phil Donahue Show of the issue. It could have become a nationwide rally against compulsory immunization, but the powers that be quietly pulled in their horns -- clearly indicating that politics plays a role as well as "science."

Nevertheless, the immunization policy remains intact. Vaccinations remain compulsory. Although we call ourselves "the land of the free," the idea of individual choice does not play in this game.

Intelligent and informed parents who make the choice that one or more vaccines are not in the best interest of their children are unable to act freely on that decision. In every state, children are prevented from attending public schools and some private schools and day care centers without having "proof of vaccination" certificates. With the exception of a medical exemption from an approved doctor, a religious exemption on file with the state or a philosophical exemption on file in one of the 20 states that allow a person to object "philosophically," vaccinations are mandated by law.

Strange, isn't it? At least half the American population today is "prochoice." Women have the right to choose to abort an unwanted fetus, but they have no right to chose to avoid immunizations for their child. Go figure!

The SPOTLIGHT

Here's To Your Health May/June

AMERICA MAY HAVE BLOOD-SUPPLY DILEMMA

The federal government has let blood banks contaminate Americans.

By Sue Blevins

It seems hard to imagine, but it's true. A new congressional report states that more than one million Americans received blood from donors who subsequently tested positive for hepatitis C. Yet most of the recipients don't know that, and no one is notifying them.

On Oct. 8, 1998, the House Committee on government Reform and Oversight released a report, Hepatitis C: Silent Epidemic, Mute Public Health Response.

The report criticizes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for failing to respond to the hepatitis C epidemic. It explains that the disease has now spread to an estimated 4 million Americans. The report also notes that the cost to society is more than $600 million per year.

What's most disturbing about the report is that it acknowledges that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates the blood banking industry, has known about the tainted blood situations since at least 1989, but hasn't informed patients.

According to the report, FDA officials met on seven different occasions between 1989 and 1994 to decide whether to notify the blood recipients. The report notes that the hepatitis C virus was first unmasked in 1989.

The FDA refrained from recommending notification because "no clear consensus on the public health benefit of such action had emerged." Yet treatment options were available to infected persons had they been told, according to the report.

Additionally, at a Sept. 9, 1998, congressional hearing, the GDS's Dr. Jay Epstein reported that the blood banks informed the FDA that notification letter had been sent to recipients. However, Epstein acknowledged that the FDA had no independent verification that this had occurred and was simply relying on the blood banks' unwritten assurances, according to the congressional report.

Another FDA witness, Dr. Michael Friedman, admitted that no recipient of hepatitis C-infected blood products had yet received a letter about possible infection, the report says.

NOTIFICATION NOT REQUIRED

Congress began holding hearings about the blood-related hepatitis C epidemic in 1995, years after individuals received the tainted blood. At the time, the House committee on Government Reform and Oversight recommended that HHS establish a comprehensive program to notify the recipients.

Instead, the FDA issued guidelines merely recommending that the blood banks notify the patients. No one is being held responsible for this, however.

According to the centers for Disease Control (CDC), hepatitis can linger without symptoms for more than 20 years, then produce profound health consequences, including liver failure and cancer.

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?

What do you think would have happened if alternative providers or vitamin manufactures unknowingly sold a product that infected Americans with a deadly disease?

The FDA would have put those providers out of business at the very least. Those providers would probably be locked up for years, fined thousands of dollars and be forced to notify all users of their dangerous product.

However, the medical industry is not being held accountable for directly notifying all recipients of tainted blood, nor is the government helping in a truly effective way.

Moreover, it appears that public health officials are allowing individuals to unknowingly spread hepatitis C.

What's going to happen next? Will the CDC soon recommend, and then states mandate, that all children must be vaccinated against hepatitis C, like they're currently doing for hepatitis B?

The CDC estimates that approximately 300,000 people have contracted hepatitis C from infected blood since 1990. According to the congressional report, the first test for the hepatitis virus became available in 1990. A second, more accurate test was introduced in 1992. CDC provides an estimate for the number of transmissions after 1990, and not before.

CDC claims that "it is not possible to estimate the total number of living persons with transfusion-associated HVC [hepatitis C virus] infection from the look back estimates, since these estimates do not extend before 1990.

PROTECTION

If you or a loved one is to receive blood or blood products, you should inquire about the chances of its being tainted. Don't be surprised to hear a response such as, "Oh, don't worry. We test blood for everything today." Even so, get your assurances in writing when you sign your informed consent form (giving permission for surgery and the blood transfusion).

You might also want to ask your blood bank and hospital for assurance that you will be notified of any "look back" discoveries that you received a tainted blood transfusion.

If you've received blood over the past few decades, contact your doctor, hospital or local blood bank to find out whether you could have contracted Hepatitis C. Be prepared for the friction you might encounter for doing your own investigation.

It is obvious we can't count on HHS FDA or CDC to guarantee notification. So take the responsibility for yourself. It's your life you are protecting.