You have to be incensed to see the parade of captured people whose pictures are sent over the internet to all corners of the world to show the power of … whom? We know not which particular group of terrorists are boasting via Al Jazeera of their power and intent to behead or hold hostage for payment by other governments or eventually, they are persuaded, their tactics will work against the United States.

What you probably feel in the same way that I do is that the masks worn by the captors show something of the insecurity of their profession.  If their faces are seen, then THEY, too, can be captured by hunters of terrorists. Those masks are masks not of triumph, but of fear for the retribution promised by the two putative leaders of the most powerful country of the world, Bush and Kerry, now only Bush, to “get even”.  Getting even is not quite the term representing what is actually needed to handle the hoards that have gone amuck in the slithery hold the U.S. and its “allies” has on countries in the Mid-East.  There is much more to say about the poppy trade, the war-lords and the lack of a democratic spirit among the peoples in that part of the world who have no history of participation in truly debating and peacefully electing their own leaders. In this post Halloween period, the subject of MASKS might prove to be interesting. Please hold any promises on Afghanistan

A great many watched the “debates” between Bush and Kerry.  You must have seen what I have seen.  Mr. Bush did not wear a mask in the first debate and we all could see the shallow, unprepared real face of the man who now has a second term.  Mr. Kerry did not wear a mask.  That is the way he looks.  He IS the Senatorial and Presidential persona that he appeared to be in all the debates and his personal appearances throughout the crossings of the country in the hectic last weeks of the campaign.  Mr. Bush has a natural mask of being a regular guy and he did not dissimulate but simply was himself.  He, the incumbent, a leader who, common sense told us should not be dumped while we tried changing horses in the middle of the stream, projected quite a different picture of himself to his constituents.  He carefully did not present himself before audiences who could boo and hiss and generally tell him that his mask of geniality was not bought by them.

The murderers who had their faces hidden while they sawed off the heads of helpless innocents could pass you in the street and you would not know what they had just done – unless the mask was taken off. Mr. Bush only needed to worry about his mask when he was in a position where he could not be equal to the task of answering questions and admit to making mistakes.  His mask is that of a contender in a race he worked hard to win. He smiles and is confident you do not recognize his real face – the one briefly shown in that first debate.  Sour grapes? Nah!