Oh...come on...didn't some of you read Ludlum or any other "spy novels"

of the Cold War Era? Do we only have folks left on DU who don't know what some of us lived through in those years?

Why do I think that Johnson's "beheading" was staged and my "radar about fiction" is on "Code Red Alert?" (not Cold War..Code Red..but FIRE ALARM ALERT!)

Yahoo story just sends me into "overdrive/warp speed," about this Johnson beheading coming on the heels of 9/11 Hearings which show how bad off the Bush's have been in protection of America.

I have a huge "barf alert" about Johnson just like I did with Berg. And some DU'ers complain that we aren't crying "rivers of tears" over this?

What about Dan Pearl and what he was getting ready to break in the WSJ?

Another beheading..supposedly that came just "in the nick of time" for the Bush/Cheney PNAC Crowd.

Give me a BREAK! I've been around long enough to know how we have been lied to by our Government. Don't ask me to cry tears for CNN Reports.

Ask me to cry tears for the LIES of our Government in reporting the deaths of innocent people they've used to cover up "breaking stories" about their OWN INEPTITUDE! :puke:

Saudis Search for Slain Hostage's Body

48 minutes ago

Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!

By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi security agents searched homes in the capital and surrounding deserts Saturday for the body of slain American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr., while Saudi officials hailed as a victory their slaying of his executioner, the top al-Qaida figure in the kingdom.


But the U.S. ambassador said he doubted the death of Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, who officials said was gunned down in a firefight the night before, would stop the violence against Westerners in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi officials had reported that Johnson's body was found Friday dumped on the northern outskirts of the capital, hours after his captors killed and decapitated him and posted Web photos of his severed head.

But officials backtracked Saturday. "We haven't found the body yet," said Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah in Washington. "We think we know the area where it is."

Saudi security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they have been searching in desert areas around Riyadh. They said they were also searching houses and apartments that they suspect were used by militants.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20040619/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saudi_kidnapped_american

Honestly I have of late felt like we're living in a Tom Clancy novel. Actually, more to be more accurate, I feel like we're living in the novel "Fatherland" by Robert Harris.

When that torture scandle was really getting hot, Nick Berg was beheaded.

911 report and Bu$h getting racked over coals, Paul Johnson gets beheaded.

Its like Al Qaeda is part of Bu$h's fan club, helping him over the rough spots.

My "fiction radar" is returning echos also. Is this tinfoil?

and its barely mentioned in the national news. One happens in Saudi Arabia, and that's all the national TV news talks about all day long.

I guess this means that whoever is controlling the media doesn't want us to look at travesties within, but only without.

edit: typo

I've taken that stand since the beginning. I see
no reason to change it now.

Bush is a Saudi creature. The Saudis are Bush creatures.
I can see one of them doing something horrific to help
the other one out.

that mentioned a 'foreign power' but was blacked-out. Suspicions were that foreign power was Saudi Arabia.

"Baudi Ababia" because he wasn't allowed to say
the real words.

It was a great distraction from the 9/11 Commission's
final hearings, wasn't it?

knows so much that's interesting about Bush and 9/11 and intelligence failures, but he's restricted by his Senate code from revealing what the "Intelligence Committe" knows.

I know he's old and has been through a heart bypass and may not want to break the "gentlement code" of the Senate...But, BOB GRAHAM...your Country is in PERIL! Please speake Up ..PLEASE!

But, who knows what we would do if we walked in his shoes...maybe the price of "whistle blower" is so dreadful, that no one dares break the "silence" unless they can have a guarenteed "cover." :shrug:

Propaganda Networks) has more than a 50% chance of being propaganda. We are being fed propaganda all the living day.

The truth is we are up to our necks in it and no one ...NO ONE.... is talking peace.

Shoot them, they shoot us, bomb us, we bomb them.

The only good thing going on is that we've taken a giant leap forward in viewing and listening nearly instantaneously once released (whether news or propaganda... PLUS.... we are able to listen to wise people, including ourselves, dissecting it and protesting it.

We need a peacemaker that christian fundamentalists will listen to and they need a peacemaker that moslem fundamentalists. (Capital letters not deserved for fundamentalists.)

our time.

Two reviews, but in this one Ludlum predicted much of what we are seeing today. Ludlum asked that this book be reprinted because he though it was so important for future readers.

=========================================================================


Conspiracy Theorists Unite!
Jan 06 '01

Author's Product Rating


Pros
Great Intrigue, Conspirators everywhere

Cons
Complicated at times

Full Review
I still have a headache. In Robert Ludlum's "Trevayne", his best selling novel contains more plot twists, sub-plots, and conspiracy lines, plots, and action than any book I've ever read. If you are looking for high powered action, skip this book. If you want a story on intrigue in the Nation's Capitol, you'll enjoy it.

Andrew Trevayne is a self-made millionaire who through ego and doing, becomes involved in public service. From the State Department, to a National foundation, to a special committee on Defense spending, his life changes at every turn, throughout the book. The novel's premise is Trevayne becoming the Chairman of a committee, exploring the spending patterns of the Defense Department. High powered politicos request his presence on this task, all the way to the White House. His actions and investigations through this committee, reveal an amazing fact: The United States is controlled by a major corporation, Genessee Industries!

If you want to die of old age, hangin' with Trevayne is not the way to insure your collection of retirement benefits. The only negative I have on Ludlum's style is when there is a dead-end or a hanging piece of the plot, the character gets blasted. This includes a White House "mole", a Mafia Chief, a Senator, and even the sitting President of the United States. All dead. Is Genessee Industries involved? You'll have to read the novel!

Realistic in the sense of Trevayne's ego, his strive for power is shown, however Ludlum does try to soft-sell it. The range of ambition is from the subcommittee investigation, an independent government maverick, a US Senator, and the major surprise, the President of the United States. At any time, Trevayne could've walked away, counting his millions, but he always pursues the bigger goal, to feed his ego.

At every turn, throughout his investigation, throughout his campaign, Genessee Industries is involved at every turn, Pentagon spending? It's for the good of the American armed forces. Senators in their pockets? Genessee helps the economy of local areas through jobs. The White House? Goal is to be elected and not cause major controversy. Media? Of course, they like a good fight. The irony of the relationship between Trevayne and Genessee Industries is finally realized in the final chapters.

The other major character development, outside of Trevayne, is Major Bonner. Bonner is a true military renegade and maverick, a free military spirit, on his own agenda. Your feelings of hate, quickly change to admiration in the novel. His reward for upholding American ideals? A murder charge and removal from the service. However, a giant twist occurs, a huge surprise, with Bonner becoming attached to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Why? you'll have to read the novel. Other characters are basically, bit players, with no need for enhancement.

Geographic description is of Washing, DC., and New England. The real insight is in American business, the inner-workings of a giant conglomeration, and the lobbying and power of politics. Who really runs the American government? Quite possibly, Genessee Industries. "Trevayne" is a novel on American politics, power, corruption, and conspiracy. Full of suspense with the plot twists and intrigue. This book is as timely now as when it was first written in 1973, during the Nixon Watergate times.
http://www.epinions.com/book-review-522E-315C26EA-3A57866C-prod2


From the Publisher
ABOUT THIS ITEM

From the Publisher
Brilliant, fearless, incorruptible, Andrew Trevayne was a self-made millionaire at thirty-five, former undersecretary of state, current head of one of the nation's most prestigious foundations. Now, at the express wish of the president, Trevayne undertakes an investigation into the "secret government" -- and is swept up in a tidal wave of intrigue and danger beyond the corridors of official power...into a nightmare maze where Mafia leaders and billionaires mingle... where Congress and even the presidency itself can be bought and sold. Here, in this sizzling world of mystery, seduction, and betrayal... where his family's survival and his own hinge on a hair trigger... where sinister forces are poised to exact a chilling conspiracy... here, a man like Trevayne can become a dreaded enemy, a duped pawn -- or a king.

"A taut novel that spares no one!" -- The New York Times.

"Don't ever begin a Ludlum novel if you have to work the next day." -- Chicago Sun-Times.

"A fascinating, meaty spine-tingler." -- Library Journal.

"Brilliant... A story of power, intrigue, ambition, greed, corruption, and horror." -- King Features Syndicate.
http://search-barnesandnoble.com/sub_robert-ludlum/Trevayne/