William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$39.79 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2005, and employs more than 61,000 people in 102 countries and regions.
Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International.
Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.
In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates' foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.
Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of approximately $6.2 billion on research and development in the 2005 fiscal year.
In 1999, Gates wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries.
Gates has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development.
In addition to his love of computers and software, Gates founded Corbis, which is developing one of the world's largest resources of visual information - a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the globe. He is also a member of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which invests in companies engaged in diverse business activities.
Philanthropy is also important to Gates. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation with more than $28.8 billion (as of January 2005) to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $3.6 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $2 billion to improve learning opportunities, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $477 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $488 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.
Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. They have three children. Gates is an avid reader, and enjoys playing golf and bridge.
Sabtu, 12 April 2008
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion (/seɪlɪn dɪɒn/ (help·info)), OC, OQ (born March 30, 1968) is a Canadian singer, and occasional songwriter and actress.[1][2][3] Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record.[4] In 1990 she released the anglophone album Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world.[5]
Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s after she won the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.[6][7] Following a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to Sony Records in 1986. With the help of her husband, she achieved worldwide success with several English and French albums, ending the decade as one of the most successful artists in pop music.[8][9] However, in 1999, at the height of her success, Dion announced a temporary retraction from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer.[10][9] She returned to the music scene in 2002 and signed a four-year contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.[11][12]
Dion's music has been influenced by genres ranging from pop, soul, and rock to gospel and classical, and while her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her technically skilled and powerful vocals.[13][14][15] In 2004, after amassing in excess of 175 million in album sales, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award from the World Music Awards show for becoming the "Best-selling Female Artist in the World".[16][17] In April 2007 Sony BMG announced that Celine Dion had sold more than 200 million albums worldwide.
Childhood and early beginnings
Dion's performance at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival won her the gold medal as well as the award for being the top performer.
The youngest of fourteen children born to Adhémar Dion and Thérèse Tanguay, Céline Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken but, by her own account, happy home in Charlemagne.[19][9] Music had always been a part of the family (Dion was named after the song "Céline", recorded by French singer Hugues Aufray two years before her birth[20]), as she grew up singing with her siblings in her parents' small piano bar called 'Le Vieux Baril.' From an early age Dion had dreamed of being a performer.[13] In a 1994 interview with People magazine, she recalled, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer."[21]
At age twelve, Dion collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to compose her first song, "Ce n'était qu'un rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream").[19] Her brother Michel sent the recording to music manager René Angélil, whose name he discovered on the back of a Ginette Reno album.[4] Angélil was moved to tears by Dion's voice, and decided to make her a star.[19] He mortgaged his home to fund her first record, La voix du bon Dieu (a play on words "The Voice of God/The Road to God", 1981), which became a local number-one record and made Dion an instant star in Quebec. Her popularity spread to other parts of the world when she competed in the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, and won the musician's award for "Top Performer" as well as the gold medal for "Best Song", with "Tellement j'ai d'amour pour toi" ("I Have So Much Love for You").[4] By 1983, in addition to becoming the first Canadian artist to receive a gold record in France for the single "D'amour ou d'amitié" ("Of Love or of Friendship"), Dion had also won several Félix Awards, including "Best Female performer" and "Discovery of the Year".[11][4] Further success in Europe, Asia, and Australia came when Dion represented Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi" ("Don't Go Without Me") and won the contest by a close margin in Dublin, Ireland.[22] However, American success was yet to come, partly because she was exclusively a Francophone artist.[23]
At eighteen, after seeing a Michael Jackson performance, Dion told Angélil that she wanted to be a star like Jackson.[24] Though confident in her talent, Angélil realized that her image needed to be changed in order for her to be marketed worldwide.[19] Dion receded from the spotlight for a number of months, during which she underwent a physical makeover, and was sent to the École Berlitz School in 1989 to polish her English.[5] This marked the start of her English-language music career.
1990–1992: Career breakthrough
A year after she had learned English, Dion made her debut into the Anglophone market with Unison (1990).[4] She incorporated the help of many established musicians, including Vito Luprano and Canadian producer David Foster.[13] The album was largely influenced by 1980s soft rock music that quickly found a niche within the adult contemporary radio format. Unison hit the right notes with critics: Jim Faber of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Dion's vocals were "tastefully unadorned", and that she never attempted to "bring off styles that are beyond her".[25] Stephen Erlewine of All Music Guide declared it as, "a fine, sophisticated American debut."[26] Singles from the album included "(If There Was) Any Other Way", "The Last to Know", "Unison", and "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", a mid-tempo soft-rock ballad which made prominent use of the electric guitar. The latter became her first single to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number four. The album established Dion as a rising singer in the United States, and across Continental Europe and Asia. In 1991, Dion was also a soloist in "Voices That Care", a tribute to American troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm.
Dion's real international breakthrough came when she duetted with Peabo Bryson on the title track to Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991).[6] The song captured a musical style that Dion would utilize in the future: sweeping, classically influenced ballads with soft instrumentation. Both a critical and commercial hit, the song became her second U.S. top ten single, and won the Academy Award for Best Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.[13] "Beauty and the Beast" was featured on Dion's 1992 self-titled album, which, like her debut, had a strong rock influence combined with elements of soul and classical music. Owing to the success of the lead-off single and her collaboration with Foster and Diane Warren, the album was as well received as Unison. Other singles that achieved moderate success included "If You Asked Me To" (a cover of Patti LaBelle's song from the 1989 movie Licence to Kill) which peaked at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the gospel-tinged "Love Can Move Mountains", and "Nothing Broken But My Heart". As with Dion's earlier releases, the album had an overtone of love.
By 1992 Unison, Céline Dion, and media appearances had propelled Dion to superstardom in North America. She had achieved one of her main objectives: wedging her way into the Anglophone market and achieving fame.[23] However, while she was experiencing rising success in the U.S., her French fans in Canada criticized her for neglecting them.[27][13] She would later regain her fan base at the Félix Award show, where, after winning "English Artist of the Year", she openly refused to accept the award. She asserted that she was—and would always be—a French, not an English, artist.[28][5] Apart from her commercial success, there were also changes in Dion's personal life, as Angélil, who was twenty-six years her senior, transitioned from manager to lover. However, the relationship was kept a secret as they both feared that the public would find their relations inappropriate.[29]
[edit] 1993–1995: Popularity established
In 1993 Dion announced her feelings for her manager by declaring him "the colour of [her] love" in the dedication section of her third Anglophone album The Colour of My Love. However, instead of criticizing their relationship as Dion had feared, fans embraced the couple.[13] Eventually, Angélil and Dion married in an extravagant wedding ceremony in December 1994, which was broadcast live on Canadian television.
As it was dedicated to her manager, the album's motif focused on love and romance.[30] It became her most successful record up to that point, selling more than six million copies in the U.S., two million in Canada, and peaking at number-one in many countries. The album also spawned Dion's first U.S., Canadian, and Australian number-one single "The Power of Love" (a remake of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit), which would become her signature hit until she reached new career heights in the late 1990s.[23] Subsequent singles, such as "When I Fall in Love", a duet with Clive Griffin, and "Misled" failed to reach the upper tier of the pop charts in the U.S., but were moderately successful in Canada. The Colour of My Love also became Dion's first bona fide hit in Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom. Both the album and the single "Think Twice" simultaneously occupied the top of the British charts for five consecutive weeks. "Think Twice", which remained at number one for seven weeks, eventually became the fourth single by a female artist to sell in excess of one million copies in the U.K.,[31] while the album was eventually certified five-times platinum for two-million copies sold.
Dion kept to her French roots and continued to release many Francophone recordings between each English record.[32] These included Dion chante Plamondon (1991); À l'Olympia (1994), a live album that was recorded during one of Dion's concerts at the Olympia Theatre in Paris; and D'eux (1995—also known as The French Album in the United States), which would go on to become the best-selling French album of all time.[32] As these albums were in French, the worldwide commercial success was limited. However, Dion's Francophone fans embraced each release,[33] and generally, they achieved more credibility than her Anglophone works.[27]
The mid-1990s was a transitional period for Dion's musical style, as she slowly diverged from strong rock influences and transitioned into a more pop and soul style (though the electric guitar remained a central part of her music). Her songs began with more delicate melodies that used softer instrumentations, and built up to strong climaxes, over which her vocals could be displayed.[34] This new sound received mixed reviews from critics, with Arion Berger of Entertainment Weekly accusing her of preferring vocal acrobatics over dynamics and embarking on a trend of uninspiring, "crowd-pleasing ballads".[35] Resultantly, she earned frequent comparisons to artists such as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.[36] There were also signs that her work was becoming more clichéd: critically, The Colour of My Love was not consistent with earlier works.[37][30] However, while critical praise declined, Dion's releases performed increasingly well on the international charts, and in 1996 she won the World Music Award for "World’s Best-selling Canadian Female Recording Artist of the Year" for the third time. By the mid-1990s, she had established herself as one of the best-selling artists in the world, among female performers such as Carey and Houston.
Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s after she won the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.[6][7] Following a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to Sony Records in 1986. With the help of her husband, she achieved worldwide success with several English and French albums, ending the decade as one of the most successful artists in pop music.[8][9] However, in 1999, at the height of her success, Dion announced a temporary retraction from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer.[10][9] She returned to the music scene in 2002 and signed a four-year contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.[11][12]
Dion's music has been influenced by genres ranging from pop, soul, and rock to gospel and classical, and while her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her technically skilled and powerful vocals.[13][14][15] In 2004, after amassing in excess of 175 million in album sales, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award from the World Music Awards show for becoming the "Best-selling Female Artist in the World".[16][17] In April 2007 Sony BMG announced that Celine Dion had sold more than 200 million albums worldwide.
Childhood and early beginnings
Dion's performance at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival won her the gold medal as well as the award for being the top performer.
The youngest of fourteen children born to Adhémar Dion and Thérèse Tanguay, Céline Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken but, by her own account, happy home in Charlemagne.[19][9] Music had always been a part of the family (Dion was named after the song "Céline", recorded by French singer Hugues Aufray two years before her birth[20]), as she grew up singing with her siblings in her parents' small piano bar called 'Le Vieux Baril.' From an early age Dion had dreamed of being a performer.[13] In a 1994 interview with People magazine, she recalled, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer."[21]
At age twelve, Dion collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to compose her first song, "Ce n'était qu'un rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream").[19] Her brother Michel sent the recording to music manager René Angélil, whose name he discovered on the back of a Ginette Reno album.[4] Angélil was moved to tears by Dion's voice, and decided to make her a star.[19] He mortgaged his home to fund her first record, La voix du bon Dieu (a play on words "The Voice of God/The Road to God", 1981), which became a local number-one record and made Dion an instant star in Quebec. Her popularity spread to other parts of the world when she competed in the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, and won the musician's award for "Top Performer" as well as the gold medal for "Best Song", with "Tellement j'ai d'amour pour toi" ("I Have So Much Love for You").[4] By 1983, in addition to becoming the first Canadian artist to receive a gold record in France for the single "D'amour ou d'amitié" ("Of Love or of Friendship"), Dion had also won several Félix Awards, including "Best Female performer" and "Discovery of the Year".[11][4] Further success in Europe, Asia, and Australia came when Dion represented Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi" ("Don't Go Without Me") and won the contest by a close margin in Dublin, Ireland.[22] However, American success was yet to come, partly because she was exclusively a Francophone artist.[23]
At eighteen, after seeing a Michael Jackson performance, Dion told Angélil that she wanted to be a star like Jackson.[24] Though confident in her talent, Angélil realized that her image needed to be changed in order for her to be marketed worldwide.[19] Dion receded from the spotlight for a number of months, during which she underwent a physical makeover, and was sent to the École Berlitz School in 1989 to polish her English.[5] This marked the start of her English-language music career.
1990–1992: Career breakthrough
A year after she had learned English, Dion made her debut into the Anglophone market with Unison (1990).[4] She incorporated the help of many established musicians, including Vito Luprano and Canadian producer David Foster.[13] The album was largely influenced by 1980s soft rock music that quickly found a niche within the adult contemporary radio format. Unison hit the right notes with critics: Jim Faber of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Dion's vocals were "tastefully unadorned", and that she never attempted to "bring off styles that are beyond her".[25] Stephen Erlewine of All Music Guide declared it as, "a fine, sophisticated American debut."[26] Singles from the album included "(If There Was) Any Other Way", "The Last to Know", "Unison", and "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", a mid-tempo soft-rock ballad which made prominent use of the electric guitar. The latter became her first single to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number four. The album established Dion as a rising singer in the United States, and across Continental Europe and Asia. In 1991, Dion was also a soloist in "Voices That Care", a tribute to American troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm.
Dion's real international breakthrough came when she duetted with Peabo Bryson on the title track to Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991).[6] The song captured a musical style that Dion would utilize in the future: sweeping, classically influenced ballads with soft instrumentation. Both a critical and commercial hit, the song became her second U.S. top ten single, and won the Academy Award for Best Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.[13] "Beauty and the Beast" was featured on Dion's 1992 self-titled album, which, like her debut, had a strong rock influence combined with elements of soul and classical music. Owing to the success of the lead-off single and her collaboration with Foster and Diane Warren, the album was as well received as Unison. Other singles that achieved moderate success included "If You Asked Me To" (a cover of Patti LaBelle's song from the 1989 movie Licence to Kill) which peaked at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the gospel-tinged "Love Can Move Mountains", and "Nothing Broken But My Heart". As with Dion's earlier releases, the album had an overtone of love.
By 1992 Unison, Céline Dion, and media appearances had propelled Dion to superstardom in North America. She had achieved one of her main objectives: wedging her way into the Anglophone market and achieving fame.[23] However, while she was experiencing rising success in the U.S., her French fans in Canada criticized her for neglecting them.[27][13] She would later regain her fan base at the Félix Award show, where, after winning "English Artist of the Year", she openly refused to accept the award. She asserted that she was—and would always be—a French, not an English, artist.[28][5] Apart from her commercial success, there were also changes in Dion's personal life, as Angélil, who was twenty-six years her senior, transitioned from manager to lover. However, the relationship was kept a secret as they both feared that the public would find their relations inappropriate.[29]
[edit] 1993–1995: Popularity established
In 1993 Dion announced her feelings for her manager by declaring him "the colour of [her] love" in the dedication section of her third Anglophone album The Colour of My Love. However, instead of criticizing their relationship as Dion had feared, fans embraced the couple.[13] Eventually, Angélil and Dion married in an extravagant wedding ceremony in December 1994, which was broadcast live on Canadian television.
As it was dedicated to her manager, the album's motif focused on love and romance.[30] It became her most successful record up to that point, selling more than six million copies in the U.S., two million in Canada, and peaking at number-one in many countries. The album also spawned Dion's first U.S., Canadian, and Australian number-one single "The Power of Love" (a remake of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit), which would become her signature hit until she reached new career heights in the late 1990s.[23] Subsequent singles, such as "When I Fall in Love", a duet with Clive Griffin, and "Misled" failed to reach the upper tier of the pop charts in the U.S., but were moderately successful in Canada. The Colour of My Love also became Dion's first bona fide hit in Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom. Both the album and the single "Think Twice" simultaneously occupied the top of the British charts for five consecutive weeks. "Think Twice", which remained at number one for seven weeks, eventually became the fourth single by a female artist to sell in excess of one million copies in the U.K.,[31] while the album was eventually certified five-times platinum for two-million copies sold.
Dion kept to her French roots and continued to release many Francophone recordings between each English record.[32] These included Dion chante Plamondon (1991); À l'Olympia (1994), a live album that was recorded during one of Dion's concerts at the Olympia Theatre in Paris; and D'eux (1995—also known as The French Album in the United States), which would go on to become the best-selling French album of all time.[32] As these albums were in French, the worldwide commercial success was limited. However, Dion's Francophone fans embraced each release,[33] and generally, they achieved more credibility than her Anglophone works.[27]
The mid-1990s was a transitional period for Dion's musical style, as she slowly diverged from strong rock influences and transitioned into a more pop and soul style (though the electric guitar remained a central part of her music). Her songs began with more delicate melodies that used softer instrumentations, and built up to strong climaxes, over which her vocals could be displayed.[34] This new sound received mixed reviews from critics, with Arion Berger of Entertainment Weekly accusing her of preferring vocal acrobatics over dynamics and embarking on a trend of uninspiring, "crowd-pleasing ballads".[35] Resultantly, she earned frequent comparisons to artists such as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.[36] There were also signs that her work was becoming more clichéd: critically, The Colour of My Love was not consistent with earlier works.[37][30] However, while critical praise declined, Dion's releases performed increasingly well on the international charts, and in 1996 she won the World Music Award for "World’s Best-selling Canadian Female Recording Artist of the Year" for the third time. By the mid-1990s, she had established herself as one of the best-selling artists in the world, among female performers such as Carey and Houston.
Centre for Research on Globalisation
According to this 1998 interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the CIA's intervention in Afghanistan preceded the 1979 Soviet invasion. This decision of the Carter Administration in 1979 to intervene and destabilise Afghanistan is the root cause of Afghanistan's destruction as a nation.
Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?
B: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?
B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
B: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.
B: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.
Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?
B: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?
B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
B: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.
B: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Lee Carpenter (born July 23, 1970) is an American actress of Mexican and Cherokee descent. She is best known for playing the character Cordelia Chase in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.
Personal life
Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she attended Bishop Gorman High School. At 15, the family moved to Rosarito B.C., Mexico, and then to Bonita (a suburb of San Diego) where she attended Bonita High. After graduation, she was a San Diego Chargers cheerleader before beginning her Hollywood career. She had also dabbled in sky-diving.[1] She married Damien Hardy on October 5, 2002 and she gave birth to son Donavan Charles Hardy on March 24, 2003.
[edit]
Career
Carpenter was discovered by a commercial agent when she was a waitress. This led to several roles on TV advertisements. She made guest appearances in Baywatch and Miss Match, and she has had a role in Malibu Shores. Her best known role was that of Cordelia on TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. She is one of the only cast members from "Buffy" and "Angel" who refuses to charge for her autograph at fan conventions.
She was slowly written out of the series of Angel and returned for the 100th episode thanks to the interest and support of the fans.
She has also had a recurring role as a psychic demon called The Seer in the popular witch drama Charmed, appearing in three episodes.
In 2004, Carpenter modeled nude for the June 2004 issue of Playboy magazine.
In 2005-2006, Carpenter had a recurring role as Kendall Casablancas in the TV series Veronica Mars. She has for years played supporting roles using the style of acting she adopted during her years acting on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Charisma recently starred in Voodoo Moon by Writer/Director Kevin VanHook, as well as an assortment of made-for-television movies. One such recent movie was called Relative Chaos on ABC Family, costarring with Nicholas Brendon, one of her costars from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
[edit]
Trivia
She has a large scar on her belly from a childhood accident. While five years old, and playing around a swimming pool that was still under construction, she fell onto a piece of rebar. The scar was incorporated into Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the episode Lovers Walk, when her character fell onto an exposed piece of rebar.[1]
Charisma has four tattoos; a tribal sun on her lower back that represents life, a rosary on her left wrist as a reminder to stay centered, D2 on the inside of her right wrist to represent the names of her husband and son, and the infinity symbol on her left ring finger beneath her wedding band.
Personal life
Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she attended Bishop Gorman High School. At 15, the family moved to Rosarito B.C., Mexico, and then to Bonita (a suburb of San Diego) where she attended Bonita High. After graduation, she was a San Diego Chargers cheerleader before beginning her Hollywood career. She had also dabbled in sky-diving.[1] She married Damien Hardy on October 5, 2002 and she gave birth to son Donavan Charles Hardy on March 24, 2003.
[edit]
Career
Carpenter was discovered by a commercial agent when she was a waitress. This led to several roles on TV advertisements. She made guest appearances in Baywatch and Miss Match, and she has had a role in Malibu Shores. Her best known role was that of Cordelia on TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. She is one of the only cast members from "Buffy" and "Angel" who refuses to charge for her autograph at fan conventions.
She was slowly written out of the series of Angel and returned for the 100th episode thanks to the interest and support of the fans.
She has also had a recurring role as a psychic demon called The Seer in the popular witch drama Charmed, appearing in three episodes.
In 2004, Carpenter modeled nude for the June 2004 issue of Playboy magazine.
In 2005-2006, Carpenter had a recurring role as Kendall Casablancas in the TV series Veronica Mars. She has for years played supporting roles using the style of acting she adopted during her years acting on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Charisma recently starred in Voodoo Moon by Writer/Director Kevin VanHook, as well as an assortment of made-for-television movies. One such recent movie was called Relative Chaos on ABC Family, costarring with Nicholas Brendon, one of her costars from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
[edit]
Trivia
She has a large scar on her belly from a childhood accident. While five years old, and playing around a swimming pool that was still under construction, she fell onto a piece of rebar. The scar was incorporated into Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the episode Lovers Walk, when her character fell onto an exposed piece of rebar.[1]
Charisma has four tattoos; a tribal sun on her lower back that represents life, a rosary on her left wrist as a reminder to stay centered, D2 on the inside of her right wrist to represent the names of her husband and son, and the infinity symbol on her left ring finger beneath her wedding band.
CEO Succession: The Case at Ford
When Ford Motor Company looked to replace Bill Ford as CEO, it turned not to another auto industry insider but instead to Boeing's Alan Mulally. We talk with Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Bower to better understand Ford's move and the larger issues of CEO succession. Key concepts include:
New CEOs are often plucked from outside the company—about a third of the time for S&P 500 companies.
Industry knowledge isn't a specific determinant of a new CEO's success, but knowledge of the business is crucial—see Lou Gerstner at IBM.
Companies need to plan CEO succession ten years in advance—not react to an immediate situation. About Faculty in this Article:
Joseph Bower is the Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
More Working Knowledge from Joseph Bower
Joseph Bower - Faculty Research Page
Podcast
HBS Working Knowledge now brings you podcasts with Harvard Business School faculty on the latest research and ideas in business management.
The Macromedia Flash plug-in is required to play this video. If you install the Flash plug-in and view this page again, you will be able to play this video.
To listen to this podcast, click on the triangular play button above.
In early September, Ford Motor Company announced that Bill Ford would be replaced as CEO by Boeing's Alan Mulally, credited with the turnaround of the Commercial Airplanes division of The Boeing Company. (Ford will remain the company's executive chairman.)
Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Bower, the Donald Kirk David Professor of Business Administration, is an expert on corporate strategy, organization, and leadership. He discusses the Ford move, along with the larger issue of CEO succession, with Jim Aisner, Director of Media Relations at Harvard Business School.
Jim Aisner: With me today is Harvard Business School professor Joseph Bower, an expert on corporate strategy and leadership. His most recent research focuses on CEO succession. Joe, thanks for coming in.
Joseph Bower: My pleasure, Jim.
Q: Now, Bill Ford has just put the brakes on his ride as CEO of Ford Motor Company and handed the wheel over to Alan Mulally, who's a veteran of Boeing. How common is it these days, Joe, for companies to turn to outsiders for the CEO chair?
A: Actually, it's pretty common—about a third of the time for the companies [in the] S&P 500, and about 40 percent when the company's had some problems. So you have to say frequently.
Q: What are the advantages of doing that?
A: The main advantage is that you can probably get a fresh point of view. You also get board support. If you think about it, turning outside means the board has lost confidence in the insiders. And at least as long as there is some success, the terrific advantage is that the leader has the support of the board. In some instances, you also get someone who knows a lot about the business.
Q: I guess in some instances you get someone who doesn't know a lot about the business. Is that another problem?
A: Well, there are two different approaches. What's interesting is sometimes people go for great CEOs who come from what are called CEO factories, like GE or Procter & Gamble. Interestingly, a group of companies that has a very good record … which are the LBOs, almost never go for that sort of CEO. They look for an industry figure who really knows a lot about the business and that company—often a retired CEO.
Q: Is it easy to predict who's going to be the next Lou Gerstner, who did such a great job at IBM, versus Carly Fiorina, who had problems at Hewlett Packard?
Mulally has a terrific record in managing a manufacturing or assembly manufacturing business.
A: Well, I've already touched on a key element, and that is how much do they know about the business? Gerstner was always talked about as a McKinsey man who'd been at a tobacco company. But in fact, at American Express, where he had a significant run, he was running the largest customer for computers perhaps in the world, the American Express travel business. And it was based on that understanding, from a customer's perspective of what the customer needed, that he was able to really make a quite critical decision at IBM, which was to stay as a vertically-integrated company.
Q: Now, as they say in Detroit, Mulally is not a car guy. So what does he bring to the table?
A: Well, he has a terrific record in managing a manufacturing or assembly manufacturing business. The 777 is a tremendous, terrific airplane. And he's got a record of performing and delivering and cutting costs under very difficult circumstances. So he seems to be quite an unusual guy, and at least, judging from the press, has a very extensive reputation.
Q: Going back to the way this all transpired with Bill Ford. Bill Ford seems to have played a rather major role in picking Mulally as successor. Is that OK, or is it better for the CEO to sort of stay in the kitchen when this is taking place?
A: Well, it's hard for the owner to stay out of the kitchen, and Bill Ford's not just the CEO, he's the owner. In that sense it's very important that the ownership of the company pick the new manager. Apparently he lost faith in the insiders, and interestingly, he conducted his own search. We don't read about any of the major search firms being involved in this transaction. So it's very much an owner saying, "I'm not doing this job well, I'm going to find someone who can do it right."
Q: You've been doing a lot of work recently I know, Joe, on succession planning and the CEO succession in general. According to your research, what do you think is the best way to go about this?
A: I don't want to be frivolous in what I'm about to say, but you begin twenty years earlier and you develop a cadre of outstanding people who can do a really good job. You can't develop great CEOs overnight. It takes a lot of time. Maybe it's not twenty, but it's ten anyway. And you also have to have a company that's making good products.
Q: Does it strike you as sort of strange that at some point, apparently during the summer, Bill Ford says, "There's too much for me to do here, guys, I need to find someone else." It looks like there's been about a month in the planning here, whatever, rather than even a few years.
A: My impression is that they've been looking for leadership a long time, and they've had a lot of problems finding people to work at the top of Ford. So it's not really a month. This particular move may have developed over a month as he decided he needed help, decided he had to find that help outside the company.
Q: And then looked to some strong board members to help him.
A: Right, to get help. That's exactly what the board's there for, to help the CEO in time of crisis, and particularly around succession. That's where you earn your board fees.
Q: Let me ask you one more question, and that is, putting on your expert strategist hat, Ford Motor Company's in trouble. It's losing a lot of money, in particular in North America. What's the most important thing it has to do to get back in the race, as it were, with a successful company like Toyota?
A: It has to make good cars. Basically, Ford has been holding its position on the basis of SUVs and the pick-up.
Q: Trucks.
A: Trucks, you could say. And really, Toyota, the Camry, just pushed the Mercury and the Taurus right out of the business, and Lexus took Lincoln down. And that takes you back into a decade anyway they've been in bad shape in the car business. They've got to rebuild their position in cars, and to do that they have to make great products. And they haven't done that in a while, and the consumer's on it.
Q: And I assume it's going to take a long—a certain amount of time, for them to start making great products again?
A: I would guess so. I'm not a car person, but yes. I think that's probably what appealed to them about Mulally because everybody was singing the praises of Airbus and then, five years later, Boeing has recaptured its leadership. So I'm sure that's the dream that they have at Ford.
Q: Well, we'll be watching and perhaps talking to you again about all this. Thanks for coming in.
A: It's a pleasure.
New CEOs are often plucked from outside the company—about a third of the time for S&P 500 companies.
Industry knowledge isn't a specific determinant of a new CEO's success, but knowledge of the business is crucial—see Lou Gerstner at IBM.
Companies need to plan CEO succession ten years in advance—not react to an immediate situation. About Faculty in this Article:
Joseph Bower is the Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
More Working Knowledge from Joseph Bower
Joseph Bower - Faculty Research Page
Podcast
HBS Working Knowledge now brings you podcasts with Harvard Business School faculty on the latest research and ideas in business management.
The Macromedia Flash plug-in is required to play this video. If you install the Flash plug-in and view this page again, you will be able to play this video.
To listen to this podcast, click on the triangular play button above.
In early September, Ford Motor Company announced that Bill Ford would be replaced as CEO by Boeing's Alan Mulally, credited with the turnaround of the Commercial Airplanes division of The Boeing Company. (Ford will remain the company's executive chairman.)
Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Bower, the Donald Kirk David Professor of Business Administration, is an expert on corporate strategy, organization, and leadership. He discusses the Ford move, along with the larger issue of CEO succession, with Jim Aisner, Director of Media Relations at Harvard Business School.
Jim Aisner: With me today is Harvard Business School professor Joseph Bower, an expert on corporate strategy and leadership. His most recent research focuses on CEO succession. Joe, thanks for coming in.
Joseph Bower: My pleasure, Jim.
Q: Now, Bill Ford has just put the brakes on his ride as CEO of Ford Motor Company and handed the wheel over to Alan Mulally, who's a veteran of Boeing. How common is it these days, Joe, for companies to turn to outsiders for the CEO chair?
A: Actually, it's pretty common—about a third of the time for the companies [in the] S&P 500, and about 40 percent when the company's had some problems. So you have to say frequently.
Q: What are the advantages of doing that?
A: The main advantage is that you can probably get a fresh point of view. You also get board support. If you think about it, turning outside means the board has lost confidence in the insiders. And at least as long as there is some success, the terrific advantage is that the leader has the support of the board. In some instances, you also get someone who knows a lot about the business.
Q: I guess in some instances you get someone who doesn't know a lot about the business. Is that another problem?
A: Well, there are two different approaches. What's interesting is sometimes people go for great CEOs who come from what are called CEO factories, like GE or Procter & Gamble. Interestingly, a group of companies that has a very good record … which are the LBOs, almost never go for that sort of CEO. They look for an industry figure who really knows a lot about the business and that company—often a retired CEO.
Q: Is it easy to predict who's going to be the next Lou Gerstner, who did such a great job at IBM, versus Carly Fiorina, who had problems at Hewlett Packard?
Mulally has a terrific record in managing a manufacturing or assembly manufacturing business.
A: Well, I've already touched on a key element, and that is how much do they know about the business? Gerstner was always talked about as a McKinsey man who'd been at a tobacco company. But in fact, at American Express, where he had a significant run, he was running the largest customer for computers perhaps in the world, the American Express travel business. And it was based on that understanding, from a customer's perspective of what the customer needed, that he was able to really make a quite critical decision at IBM, which was to stay as a vertically-integrated company.
Q: Now, as they say in Detroit, Mulally is not a car guy. So what does he bring to the table?
A: Well, he has a terrific record in managing a manufacturing or assembly manufacturing business. The 777 is a tremendous, terrific airplane. And he's got a record of performing and delivering and cutting costs under very difficult circumstances. So he seems to be quite an unusual guy, and at least, judging from the press, has a very extensive reputation.
Q: Going back to the way this all transpired with Bill Ford. Bill Ford seems to have played a rather major role in picking Mulally as successor. Is that OK, or is it better for the CEO to sort of stay in the kitchen when this is taking place?
A: Well, it's hard for the owner to stay out of the kitchen, and Bill Ford's not just the CEO, he's the owner. In that sense it's very important that the ownership of the company pick the new manager. Apparently he lost faith in the insiders, and interestingly, he conducted his own search. We don't read about any of the major search firms being involved in this transaction. So it's very much an owner saying, "I'm not doing this job well, I'm going to find someone who can do it right."
Q: You've been doing a lot of work recently I know, Joe, on succession planning and the CEO succession in general. According to your research, what do you think is the best way to go about this?
A: I don't want to be frivolous in what I'm about to say, but you begin twenty years earlier and you develop a cadre of outstanding people who can do a really good job. You can't develop great CEOs overnight. It takes a lot of time. Maybe it's not twenty, but it's ten anyway. And you also have to have a company that's making good products.
Q: Does it strike you as sort of strange that at some point, apparently during the summer, Bill Ford says, "There's too much for me to do here, guys, I need to find someone else." It looks like there's been about a month in the planning here, whatever, rather than even a few years.
A: My impression is that they've been looking for leadership a long time, and they've had a lot of problems finding people to work at the top of Ford. So it's not really a month. This particular move may have developed over a month as he decided he needed help, decided he had to find that help outside the company.
Q: And then looked to some strong board members to help him.
A: Right, to get help. That's exactly what the board's there for, to help the CEO in time of crisis, and particularly around succession. That's where you earn your board fees.
Q: Let me ask you one more question, and that is, putting on your expert strategist hat, Ford Motor Company's in trouble. It's losing a lot of money, in particular in North America. What's the most important thing it has to do to get back in the race, as it were, with a successful company like Toyota?
A: It has to make good cars. Basically, Ford has been holding its position on the basis of SUVs and the pick-up.
Q: Trucks.
A: Trucks, you could say. And really, Toyota, the Camry, just pushed the Mercury and the Taurus right out of the business, and Lexus took Lincoln down. And that takes you back into a decade anyway they've been in bad shape in the car business. They've got to rebuild their position in cars, and to do that they have to make great products. And they haven't done that in a while, and the consumer's on it.
Q: And I assume it's going to take a long—a certain amount of time, for them to start making great products again?
A: I would guess so. I'm not a car person, but yes. I think that's probably what appealed to them about Mulally because everybody was singing the praises of Airbus and then, five years later, Boeing has recaptured its leadership. So I'm sure that's the dream that they have at Ford.
Q: Well, we'll be watching and perhaps talking to you again about all this. Thanks for coming in.
A: It's a pleasure.
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO) or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer, administrator, corporate administrator, executive, or executive officer in charge of total management of a corporation, company, organization, or agency, reporting to the Board of Directors and/or the Organization's Owner(s). In internal communication and press releases, many companies capitalize the term and those of other high positions, even when they are not proper nouns.
In some European Union countries, there are two separate boards, one executive board for the day-to-day business and one supervisory board for control purposes (elected by the shareholders). In these countries, the CEO presides over the executive board and the chairman presides over the supervisory board, and these two roles will always be held by different people. This ensures a distinction between management by the executive board and governance by the supervisory board. This allows for clear lines of authority. The aim is to prevent a conflict of interest and too much power being concentrated in the hands of one person. There is a strong parallel here with the structure of government, which tends to separate the political cabinet from the management civil service.
In the UK, many charities and government agencies are headed by a chief executive who is answerable to a board of trustees or board of directors. In the UK, the chair (of the board) in public companies is more senior than the chief executive. Most public companies now split the roles of chair and chief executive. In France, a CEO/MD is known as the "PDG" (président directeur général); in Sweden, the CEO/MD is known as "VD" (verkställande direktör); in Spain, the usual name is "director general"; while in Italy, the position is called "AD" (which stands for amministratore delegato). In Denmark and Norway the CEO is known as the "administrerende direktør", abbr. adm.dir.
[edit] Structure
Typically, a CEO has a cadre of subordinate executives, each of which has specific functional responsibilities. These direct reporting relationships most often include a chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer (COO), chief marketing officer (CMO), chief information officer (CIO), and a director of human resources.
However, depending on the industry in which the company operates and/or the organizational structure the company has employed, various other functional areas may be highlighted through the CEO's direct span of control. Some of these less common monikers include the following: chief business development officer, chief development officer, chief knowledge officer, chief learning officer, chief strategy officer, chief risk officer, chief innovation process officer, chief credit officer, and chief creative officer.
In some European Union countries, there are two separate boards, one executive board for the day-to-day business and one supervisory board for control purposes (elected by the shareholders). In these countries, the CEO presides over the executive board and the chairman presides over the supervisory board, and these two roles will always be held by different people. This ensures a distinction between management by the executive board and governance by the supervisory board. This allows for clear lines of authority. The aim is to prevent a conflict of interest and too much power being concentrated in the hands of one person. There is a strong parallel here with the structure of government, which tends to separate the political cabinet from the management civil service.
In the UK, many charities and government agencies are headed by a chief executive who is answerable to a board of trustees or board of directors. In the UK, the chair (of the board) in public companies is more senior than the chief executive. Most public companies now split the roles of chair and chief executive. In France, a CEO/MD is known as the "PDG" (président directeur général); in Sweden, the CEO/MD is known as "VD" (verkställande direktör); in Spain, the usual name is "director general"; while in Italy, the position is called "AD" (which stands for amministratore delegato). In Denmark and Norway the CEO is known as the "administrerende direktør", abbr. adm.dir.
[edit] Structure
Typically, a CEO has a cadre of subordinate executives, each of which has specific functional responsibilities. These direct reporting relationships most often include a chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer (COO), chief marketing officer (CMO), chief information officer (CIO), and a director of human resources.
However, depending on the industry in which the company operates and/or the organizational structure the company has employed, various other functional areas may be highlighted through the CEO's direct span of control. Some of these less common monikers include the following: chief business development officer, chief development officer, chief knowledge officer, chief learning officer, chief strategy officer, chief risk officer, chief innovation process officer, chief credit officer, and chief creative officer.
Our Accounting Trainer and Consultant
CURRICULUM VITAE
I. PERSONAL DATA
Name : KASMUDIM SYAH NASUTION, S.E.
Place & Date of Birth : Jakarta, 25th May 1974
Nationality : Indonesian
S e x : Male
Religion : Moslem
Marital Status : Married
Health : Excellent
Height : 175 cm
Weight : 65 kg
Grade Point Average : 3.08
II. EDUCATION
II.1 FORMAL EDUCATION
Name of School
Place
Period
Major
University Persada of Indonesia
(UPI – YAI), Faculty of Economics
Jakarta
1995 - 1999
Accounting
Harapan Ibu Senior High School
Jakarta
1991 - 1993
Social
Junior High School
Jakarta
1989 - 1991
-
Primary School
Jakarta
1984 - 1989
-
II.2 INFORMAL EDUCATION
C o u r s e s
Place
Period
Work Shop Tax Training
DHN Training
2001
Joint Accounting Competition
University of Tarumanegara
1998
Course Taxes Brevet A and Brevet B
Artha Bakti at Pusdiklat Pajak
1997
EXPERIENCES
E x p e r i e n c e s
Period
Finance & Accounting Head at Indomobil Group Main dealer Nissan
Job Description :
Financial Annual and Monthly Report
Annual and Monthly Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), company Income tax (Pph 25)
Financial Report to Bapepam
Financial Report to Shareholders
Financial Report to Management
Analyst Financial Report
Controlling Sales Administration, Treasury, Accounting and tax, Cashier and Human Resources and General affair
2004 - 2007
Tax & Accounting Supervisor at PT Tunas Nusatama Mandiri
(Domestic & International Freight Forwarding)
Job Description :
Annual Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Monthly Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Financial Annual and Monthly Report
Controlling General ledger, journal entries, income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement
Account receivable report
Petty Cash Control
2002 - 2004
Senior Accounting at PT Tommy Adji Prasetyo (Oil Field & Industry Supply Company)
Job Description :
Annual Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Monthly Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Financial Annual and Monthly Report
Controlling General ledger, journal entries, income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement
2000 – 2002
Staff Tax Accounting at Consultant Management and Tax Puspahadi Binjamin & Partners – Jakarta
Job Description :
Annual Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Monthly Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Report General ledger, journal entries, income statement, balance sheet
1999 - 2000
IV. SKILLS
Able to command English both oral and written
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power point, Outlook, Access)
Windows 95, with Internet Explorer, PhotoShop etc
Accounting Software MYOB Acct, General Ledger, Easy Acct etc
V. OTHERS
Hobbies : Operating Computer, Reading
Sports : Basket Ball
I. PERSONAL DATA
Name : KASMUDIM SYAH NASUTION, S.E.
Place & Date of Birth : Jakarta, 25th May 1974
Nationality : Indonesian
S e x : Male
Religion : Moslem
Marital Status : Married
Health : Excellent
Height : 175 cm
Weight : 65 kg
Grade Point Average : 3.08
II. EDUCATION
II.1 FORMAL EDUCATION
Name of School
Place
Period
Major
University Persada of Indonesia
(UPI – YAI), Faculty of Economics
Jakarta
1995 - 1999
Accounting
Harapan Ibu Senior High School
Jakarta
1991 - 1993
Social
Junior High School
Jakarta
1989 - 1991
-
Primary School
Jakarta
1984 - 1989
-
II.2 INFORMAL EDUCATION
C o u r s e s
Place
Period
Work Shop Tax Training
DHN Training
2001
Joint Accounting Competition
University of Tarumanegara
1998
Course Taxes Brevet A and Brevet B
Artha Bakti at Pusdiklat Pajak
1997
EXPERIENCES
E x p e r i e n c e s
Period
Finance & Accounting Head at Indomobil Group Main dealer Nissan
Job Description :
Financial Annual and Monthly Report
Annual and Monthly Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), company Income tax (Pph 25)
Financial Report to Bapepam
Financial Report to Shareholders
Financial Report to Management
Analyst Financial Report
Controlling Sales Administration, Treasury, Accounting and tax, Cashier and Human Resources and General affair
2004 - 2007
Tax & Accounting Supervisor at PT Tunas Nusatama Mandiri
(Domestic & International Freight Forwarding)
Job Description :
Annual Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Monthly Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Financial Annual and Monthly Report
Controlling General ledger, journal entries, income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement
Account receivable report
Petty Cash Control
2002 - 2004
Senior Accounting at PT Tommy Adji Prasetyo (Oil Field & Industry Supply Company)
Job Description :
Annual Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Monthly Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Financial Annual and Monthly Report
Controlling General ledger, journal entries, income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement
2000 – 2002
Staff Tax Accounting at Consultant Management and Tax Puspahadi Binjamin & Partners – Jakarta
Job Description :
Annual Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Monthly Report value added tax (Ppn), personal income tax (Pph 21), comp. Income tax (Pph 25)
Report General ledger, journal entries, income statement, balance sheet
1999 - 2000
IV. SKILLS
Able to command English both oral and written
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power point, Outlook, Access)
Windows 95, with Internet Explorer, PhotoShop etc
Accounting Software MYOB Acct, General Ledger, Easy Acct etc
V. OTHERS
Hobbies : Operating Computer, Reading
Sports : Basket Ball
China Harapan Baru Benua Afrika Dalam Pembangunan
Untuk menciptakan kemakmuran dan aliansi yang strategis. Negara-negara Afrika mendapat harapan baru dan itu ditawarkan oleh China. Kini, China membutuhkan Afrika karena butuh sumber energi dalam jumlah yang cukup besar. Sementara Afrika membutuhkan China untuk menciptakan kemakmuran. Afrika berharap China bisa menjadi mitra yang strategis untuk mewujudkan kemakmuran bagi benua itu. Karena banyak negara-negara di Afrika yang frustasi tidak dapat menciptakan kemakmuran walaupun telah dibantu oleh lembaga donor internasional, seperti World Bank. Tetapi kemakmuran tidak kunjung tiba bahkan negara-negara Afrika menjadi semakin miskin yang dibarengi dengan timbulnya krisis politik yaitu timbulnya perang saudara. Pertemuan Tingkat-Tinggi China Afrika beberapa waktu lalu di Beijing dihadiri oleh 53 negara termasuk yang mempunyai hubungan dengan Taiwan. Pemerintah China tidak mempermasalahkan hal itu karena ini bukan hanya kerjasama dibidang ekonomi tetapi juga dibidang politik hal ini disebabkan China ingin menanamkan pengaruhnya di Benua Afrika, yang telah lama dilupakan oleh negara-negara Barat.
Pertemuan China-Afrika bertjuan meningkatkan hubungan kerjasama dibidang ekonomi dan diperluas dengan investasi dari perusahaan-perusahaan China di Afrika sebagai implementasinya. Fokus investasi China adalah energi, bijih besi, timah dan kapas. Pembangunan China yang berjalan dengan cepat dalam sepuluh tahun terakhir membutuhkan sumber energi yang besar. China sangat membutuhkan semua itu. Benua Afrika menyediakan semua itu.
Kemitraan yang strategis dibidang perdagangan antara Afrika-China telah meningkat 10 kali lipat sejak tahun 1995. pada tahun 2005 telah menjadi transaksi yang bernilai melebihi US$ 50 milyar. Tentu ini potensi yang luar biasa. Benua Afrika walaupun dikenal sebagai benua hitam yang kering dan tandus tetapi mempunyai cadangan energi yang luar biasa banyaknya, seperti minyak bumi dan barang tambang. Pabrik-pabrik China yang sedang berkembang membutuhkan pasokan energi dalam jumlah yang besar, China melihat Afrika belum sepenuhnya dijamah, karena perusahaan-perusahaan Multinasional dari Barat menganggap bahwa Afrika bukanlah pasar yang potensial bagi produk-produk mereka hal ini dilatar belakangi oleh tiga hal:
1.Pertikaian Politik yang berkepanjangan.
2.Kemiskinan
3.SDM yang rendah
Tapi pemerintah China tidak melihat ketiga faktor diatas sebagai halangan untuk berinvestasi, yang terpenting bagi pemerintah China adalah kerjasama yang menguntungkan. China mendapat jumlah energi yang cukup besar dan Afrika mendapat dana untuk pembangunan. China juga berkepentingan Afrika bisa dijadikan lahan investasi bagi perusahaan-perusahaan China. Sehingga Afrika bisa dijadikan basis produksi manufaktur produk-produk China. Apalagi jika kita melihat letak geografis Afrika yang sangat dekat dengan Benua Eropa. China juga berharap dimasa mendatang produk-produk mereka yang diproduksi dibenua Afrika bisa diekspor ke negara-negara Eropa. Sehingga bisa mengurangi biaya ekspor dan produk-produk China dapat dijual di Benua Eropa dengan harga yang lebih murah lagi dari harga saat ini. Karena China pada saat ini sedang mempersiapkan pertempuran dasyhat tingkat global dibidang ekonomi dan menginginkan dunia dimasa yang akan datang bergantung kepada China di segala bidang. Sehingga China menjadi negara superpower yang siap untuk menggantikan peran Amerika, dari bidang pertahanan dan keamanan sampai bidang politik, khususnya politik internasional.
Afrika Perlu Bantuan
Afrika sejak abad 15 telah mengalami masa perbudakan dan sampai saat ini masih dilanda kemiskinan massal tentu memerlukan bantuan keuangan untuk bangkit. Tapi persoalan yang dihadapi oleh benua Afrika tidak semudah itu untuk mencari solusinya, persoalan di Afrika itu sangat kompleks karena kemiskinan di Afrika telah mengarah kepada disintegrasi nasional.
Kita bisa lihat contohnya, seperti Perang saudara di Sudan dan berkuasanya kelompok pemberontak Muhammad Farrah Aidit di Somalia, bahaya kelaparan di Ethopia yang sudah terjadi tiga pluh tahun tanpa ada solusi. Benua Afrika pada saat ini menghadapi masalah yang serius bagaimana mempertahankan kedaulatan negara dan kemerdekaan politik yang telah diperjuangkan dengan susah payah dan integrasi sosial yang sangat sulit dicipatakan. Perang saudara yang terjadi dibanyak negara Afrika juga menimbulkan masalah yang serius, yaitu banyaknya ranjau darat yang tertanam di dalam tanah dan menjadi korban adalah rakyat jelata. Biaya rehabilitasi bagi korban ranjau darat sangat besar dan kebanyakan rakyat tidak mampu membiayai rehabilitasi tersebut karena hidup dalam keadaan miskin, sementara negara tidak mempunyai dana. Akhirnya meminta batuan kepada lembaga donor internasional yang memberi syarat memberatkan kepada negara yang meminta bantuan, seperti masuknya Multi Nasiotional Cooperation ke negara-negara Afrika dan di beri keleluasaan untuk mengeksplotasi kekayaan alam tanpa memperhatikan kesejahteraan penduduk setempat. Contohnya Mesir, sebagai salah satu negara Afrika yang disegani juga menghadapi masalah yang berat. Elit politik banyak yang terlibat korupsi, berapa banyak bantuan USAID yang percuma tanpa menghasilkan manfaat banyak kepada rakyat Mesir. Selama hampir sepuluh tahun pemerintah Amerika memberi bantuan yang besar kepada mesir jumlahnya lebih dari US$ 30 milyar sebagai kompensasi perjanjian Camp David untuk berdamai dengan Israel, akibat ketidakpuasan itu beberapa kelompok ektrimis atas nama agama muncul di Mesir dan sangat sulit untuk dikendalikan dan itu menambah wajah buram benua Afrika di mata masyarakat dunia. Hanya Afrika Selatan yang berhasil melalui proses transisi politik dan ekonomi yang panjang. Ketika rejim pemerintah sistem Arpahteid jatuh yang membawa Nelson Mandela ke puncak kekuasaan. Nelson Mandela langsung membuat Rekonsiliasi Nasional antara penduduk Kulit Hitam dan Kulit Putih sehingga pembangunan di Afrika Selatan dapat terus berjalan tanpa adanya konflik politik di elit kekuasaan dan konflik sosial di dalam kehidupan masyarakat.
Ketika dunia internasional melupakan Afrika, China mengambil sikap kontras dengan memperhatikan Afrika. China melihat peluang besar di depan mata. Tetapi Afrika tetap perlu bantuan dan China bermurah hati memberikannya. Bantuan Ekonomi China yang hanya berfokus pada tujuan ekonomi semata tanpa adanya kepentingan politik di dalamnya banyak diterima di kalangan elit politik di negara-negara Afrika. Bahkan Menteri Luar Negeri, Ethopia, Seyoum Mesfin mengatakan ”Bank Dunia memperingatkan kemurahan hati China soal pemberian bantuan kepada Afrika, yang bisa menyebabkan Afrika kembali terjerat hutang dan korupsi, China dan Afrika memiliki pengalaman bersama, yakni menghadapi tantangan dan menemukan jati diri dan integritas. Bisa saja peran PemerintahChina membangun Afrika berhasil ketimbang Bank Dunia yang telah gagal membangun Afrika dan mengangkatnya dari garis kemiskinan. Kerjasama ekonomi China-Afrika bisa saja mewujudkan semua itu dibandingkan dengan bantuan yang diberikan oleh Bank Dunia secara cuma-cuma kepada Benua Afrika.
Cita-cita Presiden Sukarno
Ketika Presiden Pertama RI, Ir. Sukarno membacakan Dasasila Bandung pada tahun 1955 di Gedung Asia-Afrika, di kota Bandung. Presiden Sukarno telah merancang imperium kekuatan bangsa Asia-Afrika untuk dapat hidup mandiri secara politik, ekonomi dan sosial. Hal yang pertama dilakukan adalah memberikan dukungan politik kepada negara-negara di Asia-Afrika untuk hidup merdeka dari kolonialisme dan imperialisme negara-negara Eropa. Terbukti sepuluh tahun setelah penyelenggaraan Konferensi Asia-Afrika banyak negara yang merdeka.
Tetapi sayang memasuki tahun 1960-an terjadi Perang Dingin antra AS-Uni Sovyet untuk memperebutkan pengrauh ideologi dikawasan Asia-Afrika. Akhirnya negara-negara Asia-Afrika terbelah pandangan politiknya akibat disebabkan perbedaan ideologi. Kerjasama Ekonomi dan Sosial yang telah dirancang sejak Konferensi Asia-Afrika tidak bisa dijalankan. Negara-negara Asia-Afrika lebih banyak mendapat bantuan militer dari Uni Sovyet dan AS sesuai dengan ideologi yang dianutnya. Terjadi Perang Korea, Perang Vietnam, Perang saudara di Afrika. Persatuan Asia-Afrika yang dibangun oleh Presiden Sukarno hancur berantakan. Bahkan pada era Perang Dingin, di Indonesia juga terjadi pergolakan antara TNI-AD dan PKI yang menyebabkan kehancuran ekonomi dimana angka inflasi mencapai 500%.
Pertemuan China-Afrika bertjuan meningkatkan hubungan kerjasama dibidang ekonomi dan diperluas dengan investasi dari perusahaan-perusahaan China di Afrika sebagai implementasinya. Fokus investasi China adalah energi, bijih besi, timah dan kapas. Pembangunan China yang berjalan dengan cepat dalam sepuluh tahun terakhir membutuhkan sumber energi yang besar. China sangat membutuhkan semua itu. Benua Afrika menyediakan semua itu.
Kemitraan yang strategis dibidang perdagangan antara Afrika-China telah meningkat 10 kali lipat sejak tahun 1995. pada tahun 2005 telah menjadi transaksi yang bernilai melebihi US$ 50 milyar. Tentu ini potensi yang luar biasa. Benua Afrika walaupun dikenal sebagai benua hitam yang kering dan tandus tetapi mempunyai cadangan energi yang luar biasa banyaknya, seperti minyak bumi dan barang tambang. Pabrik-pabrik China yang sedang berkembang membutuhkan pasokan energi dalam jumlah yang besar, China melihat Afrika belum sepenuhnya dijamah, karena perusahaan-perusahaan Multinasional dari Barat menganggap bahwa Afrika bukanlah pasar yang potensial bagi produk-produk mereka hal ini dilatar belakangi oleh tiga hal:
1.Pertikaian Politik yang berkepanjangan.
2.Kemiskinan
3.SDM yang rendah
Tapi pemerintah China tidak melihat ketiga faktor diatas sebagai halangan untuk berinvestasi, yang terpenting bagi pemerintah China adalah kerjasama yang menguntungkan. China mendapat jumlah energi yang cukup besar dan Afrika mendapat dana untuk pembangunan. China juga berkepentingan Afrika bisa dijadikan lahan investasi bagi perusahaan-perusahaan China. Sehingga Afrika bisa dijadikan basis produksi manufaktur produk-produk China. Apalagi jika kita melihat letak geografis Afrika yang sangat dekat dengan Benua Eropa. China juga berharap dimasa mendatang produk-produk mereka yang diproduksi dibenua Afrika bisa diekspor ke negara-negara Eropa. Sehingga bisa mengurangi biaya ekspor dan produk-produk China dapat dijual di Benua Eropa dengan harga yang lebih murah lagi dari harga saat ini. Karena China pada saat ini sedang mempersiapkan pertempuran dasyhat tingkat global dibidang ekonomi dan menginginkan dunia dimasa yang akan datang bergantung kepada China di segala bidang. Sehingga China menjadi negara superpower yang siap untuk menggantikan peran Amerika, dari bidang pertahanan dan keamanan sampai bidang politik, khususnya politik internasional.
Afrika Perlu Bantuan
Afrika sejak abad 15 telah mengalami masa perbudakan dan sampai saat ini masih dilanda kemiskinan massal tentu memerlukan bantuan keuangan untuk bangkit. Tapi persoalan yang dihadapi oleh benua Afrika tidak semudah itu untuk mencari solusinya, persoalan di Afrika itu sangat kompleks karena kemiskinan di Afrika telah mengarah kepada disintegrasi nasional.
Kita bisa lihat contohnya, seperti Perang saudara di Sudan dan berkuasanya kelompok pemberontak Muhammad Farrah Aidit di Somalia, bahaya kelaparan di Ethopia yang sudah terjadi tiga pluh tahun tanpa ada solusi. Benua Afrika pada saat ini menghadapi masalah yang serius bagaimana mempertahankan kedaulatan negara dan kemerdekaan politik yang telah diperjuangkan dengan susah payah dan integrasi sosial yang sangat sulit dicipatakan. Perang saudara yang terjadi dibanyak negara Afrika juga menimbulkan masalah yang serius, yaitu banyaknya ranjau darat yang tertanam di dalam tanah dan menjadi korban adalah rakyat jelata. Biaya rehabilitasi bagi korban ranjau darat sangat besar dan kebanyakan rakyat tidak mampu membiayai rehabilitasi tersebut karena hidup dalam keadaan miskin, sementara negara tidak mempunyai dana. Akhirnya meminta batuan kepada lembaga donor internasional yang memberi syarat memberatkan kepada negara yang meminta bantuan, seperti masuknya Multi Nasiotional Cooperation ke negara-negara Afrika dan di beri keleluasaan untuk mengeksplotasi kekayaan alam tanpa memperhatikan kesejahteraan penduduk setempat. Contohnya Mesir, sebagai salah satu negara Afrika yang disegani juga menghadapi masalah yang berat. Elit politik banyak yang terlibat korupsi, berapa banyak bantuan USAID yang percuma tanpa menghasilkan manfaat banyak kepada rakyat Mesir. Selama hampir sepuluh tahun pemerintah Amerika memberi bantuan yang besar kepada mesir jumlahnya lebih dari US$ 30 milyar sebagai kompensasi perjanjian Camp David untuk berdamai dengan Israel, akibat ketidakpuasan itu beberapa kelompok ektrimis atas nama agama muncul di Mesir dan sangat sulit untuk dikendalikan dan itu menambah wajah buram benua Afrika di mata masyarakat dunia. Hanya Afrika Selatan yang berhasil melalui proses transisi politik dan ekonomi yang panjang. Ketika rejim pemerintah sistem Arpahteid jatuh yang membawa Nelson Mandela ke puncak kekuasaan. Nelson Mandela langsung membuat Rekonsiliasi Nasional antara penduduk Kulit Hitam dan Kulit Putih sehingga pembangunan di Afrika Selatan dapat terus berjalan tanpa adanya konflik politik di elit kekuasaan dan konflik sosial di dalam kehidupan masyarakat.
Ketika dunia internasional melupakan Afrika, China mengambil sikap kontras dengan memperhatikan Afrika. China melihat peluang besar di depan mata. Tetapi Afrika tetap perlu bantuan dan China bermurah hati memberikannya. Bantuan Ekonomi China yang hanya berfokus pada tujuan ekonomi semata tanpa adanya kepentingan politik di dalamnya banyak diterima di kalangan elit politik di negara-negara Afrika. Bahkan Menteri Luar Negeri, Ethopia, Seyoum Mesfin mengatakan ”Bank Dunia memperingatkan kemurahan hati China soal pemberian bantuan kepada Afrika, yang bisa menyebabkan Afrika kembali terjerat hutang dan korupsi, China dan Afrika memiliki pengalaman bersama, yakni menghadapi tantangan dan menemukan jati diri dan integritas. Bisa saja peran PemerintahChina membangun Afrika berhasil ketimbang Bank Dunia yang telah gagal membangun Afrika dan mengangkatnya dari garis kemiskinan. Kerjasama ekonomi China-Afrika bisa saja mewujudkan semua itu dibandingkan dengan bantuan yang diberikan oleh Bank Dunia secara cuma-cuma kepada Benua Afrika.
Cita-cita Presiden Sukarno
Ketika Presiden Pertama RI, Ir. Sukarno membacakan Dasasila Bandung pada tahun 1955 di Gedung Asia-Afrika, di kota Bandung. Presiden Sukarno telah merancang imperium kekuatan bangsa Asia-Afrika untuk dapat hidup mandiri secara politik, ekonomi dan sosial. Hal yang pertama dilakukan adalah memberikan dukungan politik kepada negara-negara di Asia-Afrika untuk hidup merdeka dari kolonialisme dan imperialisme negara-negara Eropa. Terbukti sepuluh tahun setelah penyelenggaraan Konferensi Asia-Afrika banyak negara yang merdeka.
Tetapi sayang memasuki tahun 1960-an terjadi Perang Dingin antra AS-Uni Sovyet untuk memperebutkan pengrauh ideologi dikawasan Asia-Afrika. Akhirnya negara-negara Asia-Afrika terbelah pandangan politiknya akibat disebabkan perbedaan ideologi. Kerjasama Ekonomi dan Sosial yang telah dirancang sejak Konferensi Asia-Afrika tidak bisa dijalankan. Negara-negara Asia-Afrika lebih banyak mendapat bantuan militer dari Uni Sovyet dan AS sesuai dengan ideologi yang dianutnya. Terjadi Perang Korea, Perang Vietnam, Perang saudara di Afrika. Persatuan Asia-Afrika yang dibangun oleh Presiden Sukarno hancur berantakan. Bahkan pada era Perang Dingin, di Indonesia juga terjadi pergolakan antara TNI-AD dan PKI yang menyebabkan kehancuran ekonomi dimana angka inflasi mencapai 500%.
Chinatown (1974)
Chinatown (1974) is a superb, private eye mystery and modern-day film noir thriller. Its original, award-winning screenplay by Robert Towne is a throwback that pays homage to the best Hollywood film noirs from the pens of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler in the 30s and 40s. The film declined to provide a tagline, instead choosing imagery over words on its poster, which featured in 40's art deco, the detective - his back facing the viewer, smoking a cigarette, with the smoke emanating from it forming the visage of the heroine, signifying the setting, the mood, and symbolism of the film without uttering a single phrase.
The film is a skillful blend of mystery, romance, suspense, and hard boiled detective/film noir genre elements - especially embodied in The Maltese Falcon (1941) (by director John Huston who acts in this film) and The Big Sleep (1946).
This revisionist noir film was the first production of legendary Paramount Studios head (and ex-actor) Robert Evans, a flamboyant Hollywood figure who later in 1994 published a juicy autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture that was made into a documentary film in 2002.
The film marked director Roman Polanski's return to Hollywood five years after the gruesome 1969 Manson murders that took the life of his actress wife Sharon Tate. Polanski opted to use a bleak ending rather than the more hopeful finale in the original screenplay, presumably because of his life's tragedies. Only a few years later, in 1978, he would be indicted and convicted with the 1977 statuatory rape (and drugging) of a 13 year-old girl (later identified as Samantha Geimer) while at the home of star/actor Jack Nicholson (absent at the time), and had to flee to Europe as a fugitive.
Writer Robert Towne's screenplay was partially based on a true Los Angeles scandal in the early part of the 20th century (the story of the nefarious 1908 Owens Valley 'Rape' and scandalous San Fernando Valley land-grab by speculators). The film's character, Hollis Mulwray, was loosely derived from LA's water engineer William Mulholland, who orchestrated the purchase of water rights and the piping of water from the High Sierras into Los Angeles by an aqueduct that flowed through the now-valuable San Fernando Valley north of LA.
The investigation of a routine story by a detective uncovers secrets under many layers, facades, red herrings, and networks of corruption, conspiracy and deception. The film contains numerous plot reversals and twists (many of which regard the private eye's client and her family), fistfights and some violence, and many changes of scene. As the hero unravels the complicated, elusive facts, he flippantly and self-confidently offers pat explanations for the deeply-flowing corruption he unearths, and then finds he must continually revise his inaccurate pronouncements after uncovering further evidence. His efforts to separate good from evil - to save the good and punish the evil - ultimately fail in the metaphoric (and then real) world of Chinatown by the film's climax. [The film's title, according to Towne, referred to a 'state of mind' rather than an actual geographic place.]
Similar to a case that he never fully perceived or understood years earlier when he was a cop in LA's Chinatown [symbolic of the city of Los Angeles], he is doomed to repeat history ("You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't") - as a powerless, hard-boiled detective, he again brings tragedy to a woman he wants to help. [The story continued in a complex, poorly-received sequel many years later - The Two Jakes (1990) - that required considerable knowledge of the earlier film in order to be comprehensible. It also starred Nicholson as the private detective in 1948 Los Angeles (and he also served as the film's director - in his debut film). The sequel, when viewed with the original film, provides the viewer with a 267-minute film noir epic. A third film to complete a trilogy was shelved when The Two Jakes failed at the box-office.]
The film's claustrophobic, cyclical, bleak mood surrounding the heroic quest of the detective struck a responsive chord after the scandalous Watergate era of the early 1970s. The film's two puzzling mysteries and tragedies - family-related and water-related - are beautifully interwoven together. The water-rights scandal at the heart of the film expresses how ecological rape of the land has occurred in outrageous land-development schemes that redirect the water's flow. It reminds viewers that the days of abundant natural resources (and life-giving water that turns a forbidden wilderness into a plentiful garden) are past - the land has become barren due to the selfish manipulations of rich and powerful businessmen.
There were many accolades for this stunning film, including eleven Academy Award nominations, although only one took the Oscar home, Best Original Screenplay for Robert Towne's superb work (the losses were partly attributed to the intense competition from Coppola's The Godfather, Part II (1974)). [Chinatown won four of its seven nominations at the 32nd Annual Golden Globes ceremony: it defeated Coppola's film for the Best Picture-Drama award; Polanski won the Best Director award; Jack Nicholson won the Best Actor in a Leading Role-Drama award; and Robert Towne won the Best Screenplay honor.]
The other ten Academy Awards nominations were: Best Picture, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Faye Dunaway), Best Director (Roman Polanski with his first Best Director nomination), Best Cinematography (John A. Alonzo), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Original Dramatic Score (Jerry Goldsmith), Best Film Editing, and Best Costume Design. Originally, Polanski had considered Anjelica Huston for the role ultimately assumed by Faye Dunaway - that would have made her real-life father, John Huston, her on-screen father (incestuous) also!
The film's credits play under a sepia-colored art deco background in the old 1:33 screen format, suggesting the bygone era from the past - one of yellowed photographs, the early days of Hollywood's sound pictures, amber-preserved fossils, or images drained of their color. A haunting, melancholy trumpet solo provides the musical backdrop for the title sequence. Set in 1937, the first scene opens in the upscale office of a Los Angeles private detective-hero, an overdressed character named J. J. (Jake) Gittes (Jack Nicholson). He's a former cop who now specializes in investigations involving messy, 'dirty' divorce cases and extra-marital affairs.
One of his distraught clients named Curly (Burt Young) is in his office, groaning while looking at the incriminating evidence - black and white photographs of his wife (probably also groaning) and awkwardly having adulterous sex with another half-clothed man in the woods. [This is the first instance in the film of seeing 'evidence,' 'proof' or facts in a case that can easily be misunderstood or misread. He voyeuristically flips through the pictures - creating a peep-show effect.] Curly is so upset that he throws the pictures into the air and grabs the venetian blinds. The self-assured, unperturbed Jake understands his agonized pain and commiserates with him, but cooly and detachedly cautions him to stop gnawing on the newly-installed fixtures:
All right, Curly, enough's enough. You can't eat the venetian blinds. I just had 'em installed on Wednesday.
Jake, wearing a white-colored suit, offers him a stiff drink instead: "Down the hatch." Jake supports Curly's belief that his wife is unfaithful and no good: "What can I tell you, kid? You're right. When you're right, you're right, and you're right." Curly is ushered into the cream-colored outer room where Jake assures the lower-class fisherman that he won't take his "last dime." The client mumbles about begging off paying the fees until the next week - after his next fishing boat haul to catch more profitable albacore tuna. [This isn't the first mention of albacore.] Jake's door is labeled with bold letters: "J. J. Gittes & Associates, Discreet Investigations."
In another room are Jake's well-dressed partners, "operatives" Walsh (Joe Mantell) and Duffy (Bruce Glover), associates who assist Gittes in gathering evidence, taking photographs, and snooping on the extra-marital indiscretions of rich, wayward spouses. They introduce Jake to a second client, a woman named "Mrs. Mulwray" (Diane Ladd), who also complains about a suspected infidelity. [She isn't who she appears to be, but actually is an imposter named Ida Sessions who has been hired to discredit Mr. Mulwray.]. Not permitted to speak to Gittes privately, she asks him - with his operatives present - to investigate her husband's alleged affair with another woman.
Although Jake attempts to dissuade the lady-like "Mrs. Mulwray" from pursuing the case with an ironic expression: "Let sleeping dogs lie, you're, you're better off not knowing," she insists on his investigation of the extra-marital affair: "A wife can tell... I have to know!" She identifies her husband as Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling), the well-known chief engineer of L.A. city's "Water and Power" Company. "Mrs. Mulwray" insists that his expensive services are no problem: "Money doesn't matter to me, Mr. Gittes."
Jake begins his investigation of the Mulwray case by listening to public hearings discussing the latest waterways project - a proposed Alto Vallejo Dam and Reservoir. Proponents and opponents of the dam present their cases at the city council meeting. Bored listening to the Mayor Bagby's (Roy Roberts) speech about how "Los Angeles is a desert community" needing irrigation projects that must be paid for by a public bond, Gittes reads the Racing Record with headlines: "Seabiscuit Idol of Racing Fans." When a bow-tied Mulwray is called to speak, the lanky, bespectacled man lambasts the politician's project that would give the desert area north of LA (the San Fernando Valley) irrigation water. He argues with an engineer's grasp of facts against its construction - using previous experience from the Van der Lip dam disaster that killed five hundred people. [Paralleling history, a Mulholland-designed structure, the St. Francis Dam, burst in 1928 and caused a massive loss of life and property]:
And now you propose yet another dirt-banked terminus dam, with slopes of two and one-half to one, 112 feet high and a 12,000 acre water surface. Well, it won't hold. I won't build it, it's that simple. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.
Mulwray's opinion that effectively denies water to the area is unpopular - it is greeted with boos and protests. As Gittes grins at the sight, an irate farmer (Rance Howard) from the dry valley herds his sheep down the aisle of the public hearing. He demands to know why Mulwray is denying water to his livestock and crops, and then accuses the engineer of being paid off to divert water from the farms in the valley:
You steal water from the valley. Ruin their grazing. Starve the livestock. Who's paying you to do that, Mr. Mulwray? That's what I want to know.
Mulwray looks down and doesn't answer - he is still investigating the truth for himself.
Gittes trails Hollis Mulwray, who spends most of his time checking out the city's water supplies. Gittes spies on him with binoculars as a noisy fly buzzes around his head - but he doesn't understand Mulwray's paradoxical actions. He first walks in a dried-up riverbed and speaks to a Mexican boy on horseback, and then opens a large ledger book on the hood of his car. Next, Gittes tails him in his car, watching him from his rear-view mirror for more clues. He watches Mulwray as he gazes for many hours at the ocean from a coastal beach. At nightfall, water mysteriously runs out of a run-off pipe near the ocean and channels itself into the Pacific.
When Gittes returns to his car at 8:20 pm, he finds a notice on his windshield from the Citizens' Committee to Save Los Angeles, urging a 'YES' vote on the dam bond.
The film is a skillful blend of mystery, romance, suspense, and hard boiled detective/film noir genre elements - especially embodied in The Maltese Falcon (1941) (by director John Huston who acts in this film) and The Big Sleep (1946).
This revisionist noir film was the first production of legendary Paramount Studios head (and ex-actor) Robert Evans, a flamboyant Hollywood figure who later in 1994 published a juicy autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture that was made into a documentary film in 2002.
The film marked director Roman Polanski's return to Hollywood five years after the gruesome 1969 Manson murders that took the life of his actress wife Sharon Tate. Polanski opted to use a bleak ending rather than the more hopeful finale in the original screenplay, presumably because of his life's tragedies. Only a few years later, in 1978, he would be indicted and convicted with the 1977 statuatory rape (and drugging) of a 13 year-old girl (later identified as Samantha Geimer) while at the home of star/actor Jack Nicholson (absent at the time), and had to flee to Europe as a fugitive.
Writer Robert Towne's screenplay was partially based on a true Los Angeles scandal in the early part of the 20th century (the story of the nefarious 1908 Owens Valley 'Rape' and scandalous San Fernando Valley land-grab by speculators). The film's character, Hollis Mulwray, was loosely derived from LA's water engineer William Mulholland, who orchestrated the purchase of water rights and the piping of water from the High Sierras into Los Angeles by an aqueduct that flowed through the now-valuable San Fernando Valley north of LA.
The investigation of a routine story by a detective uncovers secrets under many layers, facades, red herrings, and networks of corruption, conspiracy and deception. The film contains numerous plot reversals and twists (many of which regard the private eye's client and her family), fistfights and some violence, and many changes of scene. As the hero unravels the complicated, elusive facts, he flippantly and self-confidently offers pat explanations for the deeply-flowing corruption he unearths, and then finds he must continually revise his inaccurate pronouncements after uncovering further evidence. His efforts to separate good from evil - to save the good and punish the evil - ultimately fail in the metaphoric (and then real) world of Chinatown by the film's climax. [The film's title, according to Towne, referred to a 'state of mind' rather than an actual geographic place.]
Similar to a case that he never fully perceived or understood years earlier when he was a cop in LA's Chinatown [symbolic of the city of Los Angeles], he is doomed to repeat history ("You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't") - as a powerless, hard-boiled detective, he again brings tragedy to a woman he wants to help. [The story continued in a complex, poorly-received sequel many years later - The Two Jakes (1990) - that required considerable knowledge of the earlier film in order to be comprehensible. It also starred Nicholson as the private detective in 1948 Los Angeles (and he also served as the film's director - in his debut film). The sequel, when viewed with the original film, provides the viewer with a 267-minute film noir epic. A third film to complete a trilogy was shelved when The Two Jakes failed at the box-office.]
The film's claustrophobic, cyclical, bleak mood surrounding the heroic quest of the detective struck a responsive chord after the scandalous Watergate era of the early 1970s. The film's two puzzling mysteries and tragedies - family-related and water-related - are beautifully interwoven together. The water-rights scandal at the heart of the film expresses how ecological rape of the land has occurred in outrageous land-development schemes that redirect the water's flow. It reminds viewers that the days of abundant natural resources (and life-giving water that turns a forbidden wilderness into a plentiful garden) are past - the land has become barren due to the selfish manipulations of rich and powerful businessmen.
There were many accolades for this stunning film, including eleven Academy Award nominations, although only one took the Oscar home, Best Original Screenplay for Robert Towne's superb work (the losses were partly attributed to the intense competition from Coppola's The Godfather, Part II (1974)). [Chinatown won four of its seven nominations at the 32nd Annual Golden Globes ceremony: it defeated Coppola's film for the Best Picture-Drama award; Polanski won the Best Director award; Jack Nicholson won the Best Actor in a Leading Role-Drama award; and Robert Towne won the Best Screenplay honor.]
The other ten Academy Awards nominations were: Best Picture, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Faye Dunaway), Best Director (Roman Polanski with his first Best Director nomination), Best Cinematography (John A. Alonzo), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Original Dramatic Score (Jerry Goldsmith), Best Film Editing, and Best Costume Design. Originally, Polanski had considered Anjelica Huston for the role ultimately assumed by Faye Dunaway - that would have made her real-life father, John Huston, her on-screen father (incestuous) also!
The film's credits play under a sepia-colored art deco background in the old 1:33 screen format, suggesting the bygone era from the past - one of yellowed photographs, the early days of Hollywood's sound pictures, amber-preserved fossils, or images drained of their color. A haunting, melancholy trumpet solo provides the musical backdrop for the title sequence. Set in 1937, the first scene opens in the upscale office of a Los Angeles private detective-hero, an overdressed character named J. J. (Jake) Gittes (Jack Nicholson). He's a former cop who now specializes in investigations involving messy, 'dirty' divorce cases and extra-marital affairs.
One of his distraught clients named Curly (Burt Young) is in his office, groaning while looking at the incriminating evidence - black and white photographs of his wife (probably also groaning) and awkwardly having adulterous sex with another half-clothed man in the woods. [This is the first instance in the film of seeing 'evidence,' 'proof' or facts in a case that can easily be misunderstood or misread. He voyeuristically flips through the pictures - creating a peep-show effect.] Curly is so upset that he throws the pictures into the air and grabs the venetian blinds. The self-assured, unperturbed Jake understands his agonized pain and commiserates with him, but cooly and detachedly cautions him to stop gnawing on the newly-installed fixtures:
All right, Curly, enough's enough. You can't eat the venetian blinds. I just had 'em installed on Wednesday.
Jake, wearing a white-colored suit, offers him a stiff drink instead: "Down the hatch." Jake supports Curly's belief that his wife is unfaithful and no good: "What can I tell you, kid? You're right. When you're right, you're right, and you're right." Curly is ushered into the cream-colored outer room where Jake assures the lower-class fisherman that he won't take his "last dime." The client mumbles about begging off paying the fees until the next week - after his next fishing boat haul to catch more profitable albacore tuna. [This isn't the first mention of albacore.] Jake's door is labeled with bold letters: "J. J. Gittes & Associates, Discreet Investigations."
In another room are Jake's well-dressed partners, "operatives" Walsh (Joe Mantell) and Duffy (Bruce Glover), associates who assist Gittes in gathering evidence, taking photographs, and snooping on the extra-marital indiscretions of rich, wayward spouses. They introduce Jake to a second client, a woman named "Mrs. Mulwray" (Diane Ladd), who also complains about a suspected infidelity. [She isn't who she appears to be, but actually is an imposter named Ida Sessions who has been hired to discredit Mr. Mulwray.]. Not permitted to speak to Gittes privately, she asks him - with his operatives present - to investigate her husband's alleged affair with another woman.
Although Jake attempts to dissuade the lady-like "Mrs. Mulwray" from pursuing the case with an ironic expression: "Let sleeping dogs lie, you're, you're better off not knowing," she insists on his investigation of the extra-marital affair: "A wife can tell... I have to know!" She identifies her husband as Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling), the well-known chief engineer of L.A. city's "Water and Power" Company. "Mrs. Mulwray" insists that his expensive services are no problem: "Money doesn't matter to me, Mr. Gittes."
Jake begins his investigation of the Mulwray case by listening to public hearings discussing the latest waterways project - a proposed Alto Vallejo Dam and Reservoir. Proponents and opponents of the dam present their cases at the city council meeting. Bored listening to the Mayor Bagby's (Roy Roberts) speech about how "Los Angeles is a desert community" needing irrigation projects that must be paid for by a public bond, Gittes reads the Racing Record with headlines: "Seabiscuit Idol of Racing Fans." When a bow-tied Mulwray is called to speak, the lanky, bespectacled man lambasts the politician's project that would give the desert area north of LA (the San Fernando Valley) irrigation water. He argues with an engineer's grasp of facts against its construction - using previous experience from the Van der Lip dam disaster that killed five hundred people. [Paralleling history, a Mulholland-designed structure, the St. Francis Dam, burst in 1928 and caused a massive loss of life and property]:
And now you propose yet another dirt-banked terminus dam, with slopes of two and one-half to one, 112 feet high and a 12,000 acre water surface. Well, it won't hold. I won't build it, it's that simple. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.
Mulwray's opinion that effectively denies water to the area is unpopular - it is greeted with boos and protests. As Gittes grins at the sight, an irate farmer (Rance Howard) from the dry valley herds his sheep down the aisle of the public hearing. He demands to know why Mulwray is denying water to his livestock and crops, and then accuses the engineer of being paid off to divert water from the farms in the valley:
You steal water from the valley. Ruin their grazing. Starve the livestock. Who's paying you to do that, Mr. Mulwray? That's what I want to know.
Mulwray looks down and doesn't answer - he is still investigating the truth for himself.
Gittes trails Hollis Mulwray, who spends most of his time checking out the city's water supplies. Gittes spies on him with binoculars as a noisy fly buzzes around his head - but he doesn't understand Mulwray's paradoxical actions. He first walks in a dried-up riverbed and speaks to a Mexican boy on horseback, and then opens a large ledger book on the hood of his car. Next, Gittes tails him in his car, watching him from his rear-view mirror for more clues. He watches Mulwray as he gazes for many hours at the ocean from a coastal beach. At nightfall, water mysteriously runs out of a run-off pipe near the ocean and channels itself into the Pacific.
When Gittes returns to his car at 8:20 pm, he finds a notice on his windshield from the Citizens' Committee to Save Los Angeles, urging a 'YES' vote on the dam bond.
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He famously engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England. As he was an advocate of the Divine Right of Kings, many in England feared that he was attempting to gain absolute power. There was widespread opposition to many of his actions, especially the levying of taxes without Parliament's consent.
Religious conflicts permeated Charles' reign. He married a Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria, over the objections of Parliament and public opinion. Charles further allied himself with controversial religious figures, including the ecclesiastic Richard Montagu, and William Laud, whom Charles appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Laud produced changes in the liturgy of the Church of England which many of Charles' subjects felt brought the Church of England too close to Roman Catholicism. Charles' later attempts to force religious reforms upon Scotland led to war that weakened England and helped precipitate his downfall.
The last years of Charles' reign were marked by the English Civil War, in which he was opposed by the forces of Parliament—who challenged his attempts to augment his own power—and by Puritans, who were hostile to his religious policies and apparent Catholic sympathy. The first Civil War (1642 - 1645) ended in defeat for Charles, after which the parliamentarians expected him to accept their demands for a constitutional monarchy. Instead, he remained defiant, provoking a second Civil War (1648 - 1649). This was considered unacceptable, and Charles was subsequently tried, convicted and executed for high treason. The monarchy was then abolished, and a republic was established, called the Commonwealth of England. Charles' son, Charles II, became King after restoring the monarchy in 1660.
Charles is also the only person to be canonized by the Church of England since the English Reformation.
Early life
The second son of James VI, King of Scots and Anne of Denmark, Charles was born at Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on 19 November 1600. He was an underdeveloped child (he is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the nation's shortest king) who was still unable to walk or talk at the age of three. When Elizabeth I died in March 1603 and James VI became King of England as James I, Charles was originally left in Scotland in the care of nurses and servants because it was feared that the journey would damage his fragile health. He did make the journey in July 1604 and was subsequently placed under the charge of Alletta (Hogenhove) Carey, the Dutch-born wife of courtier Sir Robert Carey, who taught him how to walk and talk and insisted that he wear boots made of Spanish leather and brass to help strengthen his weak ankles. As an adult Charles was 5 feet 4 inches (162 cm) tall.
Charles was not as well-regarded as his elder brother, Henry, Prince of Wales; Charles himself adored Henry and tried to emulate him. In 1605, as was then customary in the case of the Sovereign's second son, he was created Duke of York in England. Two years before, in 1603, he was created Duke of Albany in Scotland. When his elder brother died of typhoid in 1612, Charles became heir apparent and was subsequently created the Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in November 1616. His sister Elizabeth married in 1613.
The new Prince of Wales was greatly influenced by his father's favourite courtier, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, who took him on an expedition to Spain in 1623 to look for a suitable bride, and settled on the daughter of the Spanish King Philip III, Infanta Maria of Spain. No marriage occurred, however, as the Spanish demanded the Prince of Wales' conversion to Roman Catholicism. Upon their return in October, both the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Buckingham demanded that James I declare war on Spain.
With the encouragement of his Protestant advisors, James summoned Parliament so that he could request subsidies for his war effort. James also requested that Parliament sanction the marriage between the Prince of Wales and Princess Henrietta Maria of France, whom Charles met in Paris whilst en route to Spain. It was a good match since she was a sister of Louis XIII (their father, Henry IV, had died during her childhood). Parliament agreed to the marriage, but was extremely critical of the prior attempt to arrange a marital alliance with Spain. James was growing senile and as a result was finding it extremely difficult to control Parliament—the same problem would later haunt Charles during his reign. During the last year of his reign, actual power was held not by him but by his eldest son and the Duke of Buckingham.
Religious conflicts permeated Charles' reign. He married a Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria, over the objections of Parliament and public opinion. Charles further allied himself with controversial religious figures, including the ecclesiastic Richard Montagu, and William Laud, whom Charles appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Laud produced changes in the liturgy of the Church of England which many of Charles' subjects felt brought the Church of England too close to Roman Catholicism. Charles' later attempts to force religious reforms upon Scotland led to war that weakened England and helped precipitate his downfall.
The last years of Charles' reign were marked by the English Civil War, in which he was opposed by the forces of Parliament—who challenged his attempts to augment his own power—and by Puritans, who were hostile to his religious policies and apparent Catholic sympathy. The first Civil War (1642 - 1645) ended in defeat for Charles, after which the parliamentarians expected him to accept their demands for a constitutional monarchy. Instead, he remained defiant, provoking a second Civil War (1648 - 1649). This was considered unacceptable, and Charles was subsequently tried, convicted and executed for high treason. The monarchy was then abolished, and a republic was established, called the Commonwealth of England. Charles' son, Charles II, became King after restoring the monarchy in 1660.
Charles is also the only person to be canonized by the Church of England since the English Reformation.
Early life
The second son of James VI, King of Scots and Anne of Denmark, Charles was born at Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on 19 November 1600. He was an underdeveloped child (he is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the nation's shortest king) who was still unable to walk or talk at the age of three. When Elizabeth I died in March 1603 and James VI became King of England as James I, Charles was originally left in Scotland in the care of nurses and servants because it was feared that the journey would damage his fragile health. He did make the journey in July 1604 and was subsequently placed under the charge of Alletta (Hogenhove) Carey, the Dutch-born wife of courtier Sir Robert Carey, who taught him how to walk and talk and insisted that he wear boots made of Spanish leather and brass to help strengthen his weak ankles. As an adult Charles was 5 feet 4 inches (162 cm) tall.
Charles was not as well-regarded as his elder brother, Henry, Prince of Wales; Charles himself adored Henry and tried to emulate him. In 1605, as was then customary in the case of the Sovereign's second son, he was created Duke of York in England. Two years before, in 1603, he was created Duke of Albany in Scotland. When his elder brother died of typhoid in 1612, Charles became heir apparent and was subsequently created the Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in November 1616. His sister Elizabeth married in 1613.
The new Prince of Wales was greatly influenced by his father's favourite courtier, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, who took him on an expedition to Spain in 1623 to look for a suitable bride, and settled on the daughter of the Spanish King Philip III, Infanta Maria of Spain. No marriage occurred, however, as the Spanish demanded the Prince of Wales' conversion to Roman Catholicism. Upon their return in October, both the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Buckingham demanded that James I declare war on Spain.
With the encouragement of his Protestant advisors, James summoned Parliament so that he could request subsidies for his war effort. James also requested that Parliament sanction the marriage between the Prince of Wales and Princess Henrietta Maria of France, whom Charles met in Paris whilst en route to Spain. It was a good match since she was a sister of Louis XIII (their father, Henry IV, had died during her childhood). Parliament agreed to the marriage, but was extremely critical of the prior attempt to arrange a marital alliance with Spain. James was growing senile and as a result was finding it extremely difficult to control Parliament—the same problem would later haunt Charles during his reign. During the last year of his reign, actual power was held not by him but by his eldest son and the Duke of Buckingham.
Charles, Prince of Wales
The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George;[2] born 14 November 1948), is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He has held the title of Prince of Wales since 1958, and is styled His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, except in Scotland, where he is styled His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay. The title Duke of Cornwall is often used for the Prince in relation to Cornwall.
Charles is Heir Apparent, equally and separately, to the thrones of sixteen sovereign states known as the Commonwealth Realms; he will most likely reside in and be directly involved with the United Kingdom. He will not, however, necessarily inherit the title Head of the Commonwealth.[3] If Charles ascends to the throne, he will be the first British monarch to be descended from Queen Victoria through two lines: First, from his mother's side, through Edward VII, George V and George VI. And, second, through his paternal grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg who is the eldest daughter of Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven (formerly Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine), who as a daughter of Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine is a female line grandchild of Queen Victoria. Though the Prince is first in line to the Thrones, in the United Kingdom order of precedence he is third, after his parents, and is not included in the other Realms' precedence orders at all, though typically he would be fourth or fifth, following his mother, the relevant vice-regal representative(s), and his father.
The Prince of Wales is well known for his extensive charity work, particularly for the Prince's Trust, the Prince's Regeneration Trust, and the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment. He also carries out a full schedule of royal duties and, increasingly, is taking on more duties from his elderly parents as official representative of the Queen and deputy for his father. The Prince is also well known for his marriages to the late Diana, Princess of Wales and, subsequently, to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
Contents
[hide]
1 Birth
2 Early life
2.1 School
2.2 University
3 Created Prince of Wales
4 Romances
4.1 Amanda Knatchbull
5 First marriage
5.1 Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
6 Relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles
6.1 Second marriage
7 Personal interests
7.1 Alternative medicine
7.2 Architecture
7.3 Arts
7.4 Cars
7.5 Canadian First Nations
7.6 Environment
7.7 Organic products
7.8 The Orthodox Church
7.9 Philosophy
7.10 Youth
8 Personality and image
9 Military career
10 Official residence
11 Titles, styles, honours and arms
11.1 Titles
11.2 Styles
11.3 Honours
11.4 Arms
12 Controversy
13 Ancestry
14 Legacy
14.1 Popular culture
15 See also
16 References
17 External links
[edit] Birth
Prince Charles was born on 14 November 1948 at Buckingham Palace, London, UK. At the time of his birth his mother, now Queen Elizabeth II, was The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, wife of Charles's father, The Duke of Edinburgh.
Prince Charles was baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 15 December 1948, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher. The Prince's godparents were: King George VI, Queen Mary, Princess Margaret, the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, David Bowes-Lyon, Lady Brabourne, King Haakon VII of Norway (for whom the Earl of Athlone stood proxy), and Prince George of Greece (for whom Prince Philip stood proxy).
Under letters patent issued by the Prince's great grandfather, King George V, the title of a British prince/princess and the style Royal Highness was only available to the children and grandchildren in the male-line of the sovereign and children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. As Charles was a female-line grandchild of the sovereign, he would have taken his title from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, and would have been styled by courtesy as Earl of Merioneth. However, the title of Prince and Princess, with the style Royal Highness was granted to all the children of Princess Elizabeth and Philip by letters patent of George VI on 22 October 1948. In this way the children of the heiress presumptive had a royal and princely status not thought necessary for the children of King George VI's other daughter, Princess Margaret. Thus, from birth Charles was known as His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Edinburgh.
[edit] Early life
In 1952, his mother assumed the throne, becoming Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Charles immediately became Duke of Cornwall under a charter of King Edward III, which gave that title to the Sovereign's eldest son, and was then referred to as His Royal Highness The Duke of Cornwall. He also became, in the Scottish Peerage, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.
The Duke of Cornwall was now the heir apparent to the throne. He attended his mother’s coronation at Westminster Abbey, sitting with his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and his aunt, The Princess Margaret.
[edit] School
As with royal children before him, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed to look after the Prince. The governess was responsible for educating the Prince between the ages of 5 and 8. In a break with tradition, Buckingham Palace announced in 1955, that the Prince would attend school, rather than have a private tutor, the first heir apparent to do so. He first attended Hill House School in West London, and later the Cheam Preparatory School in Berkshire which the Duke of Edinburgh had also attended.
The Prince finished his education at Gordonstoun, a private boarding school in the north east of Scotland. It is often reported that the Prince despised his time at the school, where he was a frequent target for bullies. ("Colditz in kilts" he reportedly said.) The Prince would later send his own children to Eton College rather than Gordonstoun.
In 1966 Charles spent two terms at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia during which time he visited Papua New Guinea on a history trip with his tutor Michael Collins Persse. On his return to Gordonstoun he followed in his father's footsteps by becoming Head Boy. In 1967 he left Gordonstoun with two A levels, in History and French.
[edit] University
Traditionally, the heir to the throne would go straight into the military after finishing school. However, in a break with tradition, Charles attended university at Trinity College, Cambridge, despite only gaining a B and a C in his A-levels where he studied anthropology and archaeology, and later history, earning a 2:2 (lower second class) Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree on 23 June 1970,[4] making Charles the third member of the Royal Family to earn a university degree. For a term he also attended the Old College, part of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he studied Welsh and Welsh History. The intention was specifically to learn the Welsh language, and as such he was the first English-born Prince (of Wales) ever to make a serious attempt to do so. He subsequently learnt enough to be able to deliver his investiture speech in Welsh.
On 2 August 1975,[4] per Cambridge tradition, the Prince was awarded a Master's degree, entitling him to use the postnominal MA (Cantab.).
Charles is Heir Apparent, equally and separately, to the thrones of sixteen sovereign states known as the Commonwealth Realms; he will most likely reside in and be directly involved with the United Kingdom. He will not, however, necessarily inherit the title Head of the Commonwealth.[3] If Charles ascends to the throne, he will be the first British monarch to be descended from Queen Victoria through two lines: First, from his mother's side, through Edward VII, George V and George VI. And, second, through his paternal grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg who is the eldest daughter of Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven (formerly Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine), who as a daughter of Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine is a female line grandchild of Queen Victoria. Though the Prince is first in line to the Thrones, in the United Kingdom order of precedence he is third, after his parents, and is not included in the other Realms' precedence orders at all, though typically he would be fourth or fifth, following his mother, the relevant vice-regal representative(s), and his father.
The Prince of Wales is well known for his extensive charity work, particularly for the Prince's Trust, the Prince's Regeneration Trust, and the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment. He also carries out a full schedule of royal duties and, increasingly, is taking on more duties from his elderly parents as official representative of the Queen and deputy for his father. The Prince is also well known for his marriages to the late Diana, Princess of Wales and, subsequently, to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
Contents
[hide]
1 Birth
2 Early life
2.1 School
2.2 University
3 Created Prince of Wales
4 Romances
4.1 Amanda Knatchbull
5 First marriage
5.1 Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
6 Relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles
6.1 Second marriage
7 Personal interests
7.1 Alternative medicine
7.2 Architecture
7.3 Arts
7.4 Cars
7.5 Canadian First Nations
7.6 Environment
7.7 Organic products
7.8 The Orthodox Church
7.9 Philosophy
7.10 Youth
8 Personality and image
9 Military career
10 Official residence
11 Titles, styles, honours and arms
11.1 Titles
11.2 Styles
11.3 Honours
11.4 Arms
12 Controversy
13 Ancestry
14 Legacy
14.1 Popular culture
15 See also
16 References
17 External links
[edit] Birth
Prince Charles was born on 14 November 1948 at Buckingham Palace, London, UK. At the time of his birth his mother, now Queen Elizabeth II, was The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, wife of Charles's father, The Duke of Edinburgh.
Prince Charles was baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 15 December 1948, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher. The Prince's godparents were: King George VI, Queen Mary, Princess Margaret, the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, David Bowes-Lyon, Lady Brabourne, King Haakon VII of Norway (for whom the Earl of Athlone stood proxy), and Prince George of Greece (for whom Prince Philip stood proxy).
Under letters patent issued by the Prince's great grandfather, King George V, the title of a British prince/princess and the style Royal Highness was only available to the children and grandchildren in the male-line of the sovereign and children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. As Charles was a female-line grandchild of the sovereign, he would have taken his title from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, and would have been styled by courtesy as Earl of Merioneth. However, the title of Prince and Princess, with the style Royal Highness was granted to all the children of Princess Elizabeth and Philip by letters patent of George VI on 22 October 1948. In this way the children of the heiress presumptive had a royal and princely status not thought necessary for the children of King George VI's other daughter, Princess Margaret. Thus, from birth Charles was known as His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Edinburgh.
[edit] Early life
In 1952, his mother assumed the throne, becoming Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Charles immediately became Duke of Cornwall under a charter of King Edward III, which gave that title to the Sovereign's eldest son, and was then referred to as His Royal Highness The Duke of Cornwall. He also became, in the Scottish Peerage, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.
The Duke of Cornwall was now the heir apparent to the throne. He attended his mother’s coronation at Westminster Abbey, sitting with his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and his aunt, The Princess Margaret.
[edit] School
As with royal children before him, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed to look after the Prince. The governess was responsible for educating the Prince between the ages of 5 and 8. In a break with tradition, Buckingham Palace announced in 1955, that the Prince would attend school, rather than have a private tutor, the first heir apparent to do so. He first attended Hill House School in West London, and later the Cheam Preparatory School in Berkshire which the Duke of Edinburgh had also attended.
The Prince finished his education at Gordonstoun, a private boarding school in the north east of Scotland. It is often reported that the Prince despised his time at the school, where he was a frequent target for bullies. ("Colditz in kilts" he reportedly said.) The Prince would later send his own children to Eton College rather than Gordonstoun.
In 1966 Charles spent two terms at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia during which time he visited Papua New Guinea on a history trip with his tutor Michael Collins Persse. On his return to Gordonstoun he followed in his father's footsteps by becoming Head Boy. In 1967 he left Gordonstoun with two A levels, in History and French.
[edit] University
Traditionally, the heir to the throne would go straight into the military after finishing school. However, in a break with tradition, Charles attended university at Trinity College, Cambridge, despite only gaining a B and a C in his A-levels where he studied anthropology and archaeology, and later history, earning a 2:2 (lower second class) Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree on 23 June 1970,[4] making Charles the third member of the Royal Family to earn a university degree. For a term he also attended the Old College, part of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he studied Welsh and Welsh History. The intention was specifically to learn the Welsh language, and as such he was the first English-born Prince (of Wales) ever to make a serious attempt to do so. He subsequently learnt enough to be able to deliver his investiture speech in Welsh.
On 2 August 1975,[4] per Cambridge tradition, the Prince was awarded a Master's degree, entitling him to use the postnominal MA (Cantab.).
Civilians help with minor police duties
Facing tighter budgets, law enforcement agencies around the country are increasingly turning to civilians to respond to some calls that sworn officers and deputies are usually responsible for.
That means people calling 911 to report a traffic accident, a burglarized home or a stolen car may be greeted by a civilian in a polo shirt instead of a gun-toting officer.
"It hasn't been universally adopted throughout the country. But most areas have at least thought about the alternative and are more open to it now because of the economy," said Richard Brady, president of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Matrix Consulting Group that has worked with more than 250 law enforcement agencies.
The idea of using civilians, who require less training and are less expensive than sworn officers, to respond to minor police calls has been around since the late 1980s.
Brady said the practice died off for years as the economy improved and departments were augmented after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
As the economy slows again and state and local governments face major cuts, many have turned back to the old practice. Among them:
•The Orange County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office plans to hire 18 civilian "field service officers" in the coming months.
•The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department hopes to add a dozen civilian report takers.
•The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department will resume hiring for its civilian officer program this summer, hoping to add five.
Civilians have long been used to handle tasks such as dispatching and other administrative duties in the office. But sending them into the field for even routine calls that have little chance of becoming dangerous has been a contentious issue.
Lynne Jantz, director of selection for the Las Vegas police department, said civilians working for the police don't respond to accidents where alcohol or injuries are involved.
Since the unit was created in 2003, Jantz said, no civilian officers have been injured.
"Maybe a paper cut," she said.
Capt. Mark Strobridge, who oversees Orange County's implementation of the civilian program, said civilians will be deployed only during daylight hours and will not work in high-crime areas.
The benefit, according to Jantz and Strobridge, is that civilians can free up sworn officers from filling out mundane reports to concentrate on higher-priority crimes. The civilians concentrate on property damage, lost and stolen property and other things that require a police report for insurance purposes but don't require a sworn officer.
The civilians also come much cheaper. In Las Vegas, a sworn officer who has cleared his initial probation period makes at least $54,000. Starting salary for civilian responders is $32,000.
Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said civilians have worked well in some administrative office duties but there's a "bright line" between what civilians can do and what sworn officers carrying guns can do.
Pasco said even the most simple-looking traffic accident can escalate into road rage or worse, putting the civilian officer in danger.
"If it's a routine fender bender, there is no way of knowing whether the person involved is (fleeing) from a bank robbery or a drug deal or just taking the kids home," he said.
When any basic investigation is required, Pasco said, civilians are far more likely to make mistakes that can help accused criminals escape a conviction. In Orange County, sworn officers receive 10 months of training compared with three months for civilians.
"There's a tremendous potential for a gap, and that gap will be filled by a defense attorney," Pasco said. "You get what you pay for."
That means people calling 911 to report a traffic accident, a burglarized home or a stolen car may be greeted by a civilian in a polo shirt instead of a gun-toting officer.
"It hasn't been universally adopted throughout the country. But most areas have at least thought about the alternative and are more open to it now because of the economy," said Richard Brady, president of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Matrix Consulting Group that has worked with more than 250 law enforcement agencies.
The idea of using civilians, who require less training and are less expensive than sworn officers, to respond to minor police calls has been around since the late 1980s.
Brady said the practice died off for years as the economy improved and departments were augmented after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
As the economy slows again and state and local governments face major cuts, many have turned back to the old practice. Among them:
•The Orange County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office plans to hire 18 civilian "field service officers" in the coming months.
•The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department hopes to add a dozen civilian report takers.
•The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department will resume hiring for its civilian officer program this summer, hoping to add five.
Civilians have long been used to handle tasks such as dispatching and other administrative duties in the office. But sending them into the field for even routine calls that have little chance of becoming dangerous has been a contentious issue.
Lynne Jantz, director of selection for the Las Vegas police department, said civilians working for the police don't respond to accidents where alcohol or injuries are involved.
Since the unit was created in 2003, Jantz said, no civilian officers have been injured.
"Maybe a paper cut," she said.
Capt. Mark Strobridge, who oversees Orange County's implementation of the civilian program, said civilians will be deployed only during daylight hours and will not work in high-crime areas.
The benefit, according to Jantz and Strobridge, is that civilians can free up sworn officers from filling out mundane reports to concentrate on higher-priority crimes. The civilians concentrate on property damage, lost and stolen property and other things that require a police report for insurance purposes but don't require a sworn officer.
The civilians also come much cheaper. In Las Vegas, a sworn officer who has cleared his initial probation period makes at least $54,000. Starting salary for civilian responders is $32,000.
Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said civilians have worked well in some administrative office duties but there's a "bright line" between what civilians can do and what sworn officers carrying guns can do.
Pasco said even the most simple-looking traffic accident can escalate into road rage or worse, putting the civilian officer in danger.
"If it's a routine fender bender, there is no way of knowing whether the person involved is (fleeing) from a bank robbery or a drug deal or just taking the kids home," he said.
When any basic investigation is required, Pasco said, civilians are far more likely to make mistakes that can help accused criminals escape a conviction. In Orange County, sworn officers receive 10 months of training compared with three months for civilians.
"There's a tremendous potential for a gap, and that gap will be filled by a defense attorney," Pasco said. "You get what you pay for."
Bin Laden, Sang Jutawan Dengan Dendam Kusumat
Osama Bin Laden, para pejebat intelejen AS mengatakan orang yang paling dicurigai dibalik serangan pembajakan 11 September, adalah seorang pemimpin sebuah organisasi yang tidak terlacak/tidak banyak diketahui yang dipercayai telah menargetkan serangan ke Amerika dan para sekutunya sejak awal tahun 1990-an.
Bin Ladewn, seorang penganut paham Islam fundamentalis dan anak laki-laki dari seorang jutawan Saudi, telah menjadi orang yang paling dicari dari daftar Ten Most Wanted sejak tahun 1999, dan Departmen Luar Negeri AS telah menawarkan uang sebesar $5 juta untuk penangkapannya.
Para penuntut hukum Amerika mengatakan Bin Laden adalah pemimpin Al Qaeda (tanah Arab untuk markasnya), sebuah jaringan kejahatan yang mempunyai jaringan luas telah sukses dan melakukan serangan teror terhadap target-target milik Amerika, ini termasuk merencanakan peledakan di awal tahun Millenium, tahun kemarin menyerang kapal USS Cole di Yaman dan dalam waktu yang bersamaan melakukan peledakan kedutaan Amerika di Tanzania dan Kenya tahun 1998.
Most Wanted Terrorists
Kemarahan Bin Laden kepada Amerika Serikat berawal dari tahun 1990 ketika Saudi Arabia memutuskan untuk memperbolehkan Amerika untuk menyerang pasukan Irak di Kuwait dan di Irak. Setelah Amerika memenangkan perang, kehadiran pasukan Amerika menjadi permanen.
Dalam sebuah wawancara CNN dengan Bin Laden tahun 1997, dia menyatakan kehadiran pasukan Amerika dalam waktu yang lama di Saudi Arabia adalah sebuah Occupation of the land of the holy places.
Dia meninggalkan Saudi Arabia tahun 1991 setelah terjadi perseteruan dengan Monarki Saudi, dia mengambil aset-aset yang berjumlah $ 250 juta dollar, kata para pejabat Amerika.
Tahun 1996, Bin Laden menyerukan sebuah Fatwah seorang Muslim yang relijius harus segera membubuh para tentara Amerika di Saudi Arabia dan Somalia. Sebuah fatwah kedua menyebutkan untuk menyerang para warga sipil Amerika.
Network Dates Back to Afghan War
Bin Laden memulai pertama kali membentuk jaringannya tahun 1979, ketika dia pergi ke Afghanistan untuk berperang melawan tentara-tentara Soviet bersama para pejuang Afghanistan yang tangguh dikenal sebagai Mujahedeen.
Dia menggunakan koneksi-koneksi keluarganya dan kekayaan untuk memberikan uang dalam jumlah besar untuk para pejuang Afghanistan dan menyediakan untuk Mujahedeen dengan logistik dan bantuan kemanusiaan, dan terlibat dalam beberapa pertempuran dalam perang orang-orang Afghan.
Sebagaimana sebuah perang pasukan-pasukan Soviet masuk ke wilayah Afghanistan. Bin Laden membentuk Al Qaeda, sebuah organisasi dari para mantan Mujahedeen dan para pendukung lainnya yang mengirim para pejuang dan dana kepada para pejuang Afghan.
Segera ketika pasukan-pasukan Soviet meninggalkan Afghanistan, Bin Laden kembali ke Saudi Arabia untuk bekerja di perusahaan konstruksi keluarga, namanya the Bin Laden Group. Dia menjadi yang termasuk salah satu kelompok yang menentang pemerintahan Monarki Saudi, keluarga Fahd.
Tahun 1994, pemerintahan Saudi mencabut hak kewarganegaraannya dan membekukan aset-aset yang dia miliki di miliki di negara itu.
Al Qaeda Linked to other Radical Groups
Bin Laden dipercayai menjadi pusat dari sebuah koalisi internasional dari kelompok-kelompok radikal Islam. Al Qaeda telah melatih para sekutunya dengan perjuangan yang sama dengan kelompok-kelompok fundamentalis seperti Al Jihad di Mesir, Hezbollah di Iran, National Islamic di Sudan, dan kelompok-kelompok Jihad di Yaman, Saudi Arabia, dan Somalia, menurut Pemerintah Amerika.
Organisasi Bin Laden juga telah mengikatkan diri ke sebuah kelompok Islam, dimasa lalu dimasa lalu di pimpin oleh Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, pemuka agama Mesir yang ditahan sejak tahun 1995 karena berusaha untuk meledakan berbagai macam gedung-gedung di New York. Dua anak laki-laki Sheik Rahman bergabung dengan kelompok Bin Laden akhir tahun 1990.
Amerika Serikat menduga bahwa dari tahun 1992 dan seterusnya, Bin Laden dan anggota-anggota Al Qaeda yang lainnya menargetkan pangkalan militer di Saudi Arabia dan Yaman untuk diserang dan mengirim pasukan Al Qaeda ke Afrika, termasuk Somalia.
Bulan Oktober 1993, 18 parjurit AS termasuk anggota Palang Merah Amerika yang bertugas di Somalia dibunuh selama sebuah operasi di Mogadishu. Salah satu mayat parjurit AS di seret melewati jalan-jalan.
Bin Laden dinyatakan tahun 1996 membiayai pelatihan pasukan termasuk untuk menyiapkan penyerangan dan dalam sebuah wawancara tahun 1997 dengan CNN, Bin Laden menyatakan kepada para pengikutnya, bersama penduduk Muslim lokal, telah membunuh prajurit-prajurit itu (AS).
Para penegak hukum AS menduga juga keras bahwa Bin Laden telah menyerang dua hotel di Yaman dimana para prajurit AS menginap untuk melakukan tugas ke Somalia.
Pada tanggal 7 Agustus 1998, 8 tahun setelah pasukan AS ditempatkan di Saudi Arabia, sepasang truk berisi bom-bom meledak di luar keduataan Amerika di Nairobi, Kenya dan Dares Salaam, Tanzania.
Bin Laden telah menyangkal keterlibatannya, tapi para jaksa menyatakan bukti-bukti kejahatannya telah dikirim melalui faz oleh jaringannya di London setidaknya ke tiga media internasional. Mereka juga bermaksud membuktikan pernyataan-pernyataanya bahwa dia berbuat tindakan kriminal dengan menduga para kelompok yang membom kedutaan diketahui adalah anggota-anggota Al Qaeda.
Menjelang dua minggu kemudian, tanggal 20 Agustus 1998. Presiden Clinton memerintahkan meluncurkan misil untuk menyerang kamp-kamp pelatihan teroris yang dicurigai di Afghanistan dan sebuah pabrik farmasi di Khartoum, Sudan.
Bin Laden selamat dari serangan-serangan tersebut dan dinyatakan oleh Amerika sebagai dalang serangan di Bulan November 1998. Empat pembatunya di hukum karena pemboman tanggal 29 Mei 2001 dan dihukum hidup-hidup di penjara. Beberapa lainnya yang dicurigai sebagai buronan menunggu pemeriksaan pengadilan.
Salah seorang yang mengadakan pembelaan dari tuntutan hukum berencana meledakan Los Angeles International Airport selama perayaan-perayaan Millenium menyambut New Year’s day 2000 diklaim dia dilatih di kamp pelatihan di Afghanistan oleh Bin Laden.
Ahmed Ressam mengatakan dia mempelajari bagaimana menggunakan senjata-senajta tangan, senjata-senjata mesin dan peluncur roket dan bagaimana memasang bom-bom dibuat dari bahan peledak TNT dan C4.
Bin Laden dicurigai menetap di Afghanistan sebagai seorang tamu pemerintah Taliban.
Para pejabat Taliban mengutuk serangan 11 September di AS dan mengatakan tidak terlibat. Rejim tersebut juga mengatakan tidak tahu keberadaan Bin Laden, sebuah klaim untuk menyangkal tuduhan Amerika Serikat.
Bin Ladewn, seorang penganut paham Islam fundamentalis dan anak laki-laki dari seorang jutawan Saudi, telah menjadi orang yang paling dicari dari daftar Ten Most Wanted sejak tahun 1999, dan Departmen Luar Negeri AS telah menawarkan uang sebesar $5 juta untuk penangkapannya.
Para penuntut hukum Amerika mengatakan Bin Laden adalah pemimpin Al Qaeda (tanah Arab untuk markasnya), sebuah jaringan kejahatan yang mempunyai jaringan luas telah sukses dan melakukan serangan teror terhadap target-target milik Amerika, ini termasuk merencanakan peledakan di awal tahun Millenium, tahun kemarin menyerang kapal USS Cole di Yaman dan dalam waktu yang bersamaan melakukan peledakan kedutaan Amerika di Tanzania dan Kenya tahun 1998.
Most Wanted Terrorists
Kemarahan Bin Laden kepada Amerika Serikat berawal dari tahun 1990 ketika Saudi Arabia memutuskan untuk memperbolehkan Amerika untuk menyerang pasukan Irak di Kuwait dan di Irak. Setelah Amerika memenangkan perang, kehadiran pasukan Amerika menjadi permanen.
Dalam sebuah wawancara CNN dengan Bin Laden tahun 1997, dia menyatakan kehadiran pasukan Amerika dalam waktu yang lama di Saudi Arabia adalah sebuah Occupation of the land of the holy places.
Dia meninggalkan Saudi Arabia tahun 1991 setelah terjadi perseteruan dengan Monarki Saudi, dia mengambil aset-aset yang berjumlah $ 250 juta dollar, kata para pejabat Amerika.
Tahun 1996, Bin Laden menyerukan sebuah Fatwah seorang Muslim yang relijius harus segera membubuh para tentara Amerika di Saudi Arabia dan Somalia. Sebuah fatwah kedua menyebutkan untuk menyerang para warga sipil Amerika.
Network Dates Back to Afghan War
Bin Laden memulai pertama kali membentuk jaringannya tahun 1979, ketika dia pergi ke Afghanistan untuk berperang melawan tentara-tentara Soviet bersama para pejuang Afghanistan yang tangguh dikenal sebagai Mujahedeen.
Dia menggunakan koneksi-koneksi keluarganya dan kekayaan untuk memberikan uang dalam jumlah besar untuk para pejuang Afghanistan dan menyediakan untuk Mujahedeen dengan logistik dan bantuan kemanusiaan, dan terlibat dalam beberapa pertempuran dalam perang orang-orang Afghan.
Sebagaimana sebuah perang pasukan-pasukan Soviet masuk ke wilayah Afghanistan. Bin Laden membentuk Al Qaeda, sebuah organisasi dari para mantan Mujahedeen dan para pendukung lainnya yang mengirim para pejuang dan dana kepada para pejuang Afghan.
Segera ketika pasukan-pasukan Soviet meninggalkan Afghanistan, Bin Laden kembali ke Saudi Arabia untuk bekerja di perusahaan konstruksi keluarga, namanya the Bin Laden Group. Dia menjadi yang termasuk salah satu kelompok yang menentang pemerintahan Monarki Saudi, keluarga Fahd.
Tahun 1994, pemerintahan Saudi mencabut hak kewarganegaraannya dan membekukan aset-aset yang dia miliki di miliki di negara itu.
Al Qaeda Linked to other Radical Groups
Bin Laden dipercayai menjadi pusat dari sebuah koalisi internasional dari kelompok-kelompok radikal Islam. Al Qaeda telah melatih para sekutunya dengan perjuangan yang sama dengan kelompok-kelompok fundamentalis seperti Al Jihad di Mesir, Hezbollah di Iran, National Islamic di Sudan, dan kelompok-kelompok Jihad di Yaman, Saudi Arabia, dan Somalia, menurut Pemerintah Amerika.
Organisasi Bin Laden juga telah mengikatkan diri ke sebuah kelompok Islam, dimasa lalu dimasa lalu di pimpin oleh Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, pemuka agama Mesir yang ditahan sejak tahun 1995 karena berusaha untuk meledakan berbagai macam gedung-gedung di New York. Dua anak laki-laki Sheik Rahman bergabung dengan kelompok Bin Laden akhir tahun 1990.
Amerika Serikat menduga bahwa dari tahun 1992 dan seterusnya, Bin Laden dan anggota-anggota Al Qaeda yang lainnya menargetkan pangkalan militer di Saudi Arabia dan Yaman untuk diserang dan mengirim pasukan Al Qaeda ke Afrika, termasuk Somalia.
Bulan Oktober 1993, 18 parjurit AS termasuk anggota Palang Merah Amerika yang bertugas di Somalia dibunuh selama sebuah operasi di Mogadishu. Salah satu mayat parjurit AS di seret melewati jalan-jalan.
Bin Laden dinyatakan tahun 1996 membiayai pelatihan pasukan termasuk untuk menyiapkan penyerangan dan dalam sebuah wawancara tahun 1997 dengan CNN, Bin Laden menyatakan kepada para pengikutnya, bersama penduduk Muslim lokal, telah membunuh prajurit-prajurit itu (AS).
Para penegak hukum AS menduga juga keras bahwa Bin Laden telah menyerang dua hotel di Yaman dimana para prajurit AS menginap untuk melakukan tugas ke Somalia.
Pada tanggal 7 Agustus 1998, 8 tahun setelah pasukan AS ditempatkan di Saudi Arabia, sepasang truk berisi bom-bom meledak di luar keduataan Amerika di Nairobi, Kenya dan Dares Salaam, Tanzania.
Bin Laden telah menyangkal keterlibatannya, tapi para jaksa menyatakan bukti-bukti kejahatannya telah dikirim melalui faz oleh jaringannya di London setidaknya ke tiga media internasional. Mereka juga bermaksud membuktikan pernyataan-pernyataanya bahwa dia berbuat tindakan kriminal dengan menduga para kelompok yang membom kedutaan diketahui adalah anggota-anggota Al Qaeda.
Menjelang dua minggu kemudian, tanggal 20 Agustus 1998. Presiden Clinton memerintahkan meluncurkan misil untuk menyerang kamp-kamp pelatihan teroris yang dicurigai di Afghanistan dan sebuah pabrik farmasi di Khartoum, Sudan.
Bin Laden selamat dari serangan-serangan tersebut dan dinyatakan oleh Amerika sebagai dalang serangan di Bulan November 1998. Empat pembatunya di hukum karena pemboman tanggal 29 Mei 2001 dan dihukum hidup-hidup di penjara. Beberapa lainnya yang dicurigai sebagai buronan menunggu pemeriksaan pengadilan.
Salah seorang yang mengadakan pembelaan dari tuntutan hukum berencana meledakan Los Angeles International Airport selama perayaan-perayaan Millenium menyambut New Year’s day 2000 diklaim dia dilatih di kamp pelatihan di Afghanistan oleh Bin Laden.
Ahmed Ressam mengatakan dia mempelajari bagaimana menggunakan senjata-senajta tangan, senjata-senjata mesin dan peluncur roket dan bagaimana memasang bom-bom dibuat dari bahan peledak TNT dan C4.
Bin Laden dicurigai menetap di Afghanistan sebagai seorang tamu pemerintah Taliban.
Para pejabat Taliban mengutuk serangan 11 September di AS dan mengatakan tidak terlibat. Rejim tersebut juga mengatakan tidak tahu keberadaan Bin Laden, sebuah klaim untuk menyangkal tuduhan Amerika Serikat.
Bin Laden Menggunakan Teknologi Sederhana Untuk Menghapus Sebuah Jejak
Hong Kong, China (CNN). Osama Bin Laden, orang yang paling dicurigai dalam serangan-serangan teror di Amerika berhasil menghapus jejaknya dari agen-agen rahasia dengan menggunakan metode-metode teknologi komunikasi yang sederhana.
Simon Reeve, penulis “The new Jackals : Ramzi Yousef, Osama Bin Laden an the future of Terrorism, mengatakan Bin Laden tidak menggunakan telepon-telepon satelit, mobile handsets dan akses internet dalam membantu persembunyiannya mengirim pesan untuk menghindari pemburuan dari pihak yang berwenang.
“Bin Laden saat ini tidak menggunakan teknologi canggih dalam bentuk apa pun, Reeve mengatakan di London”.
The American National Security Agency (NSA) telah menyelidiki sumber-sumber yang tidak terbatas untuk mencari Bin Laden melalui telepon satelit dan portabless phones-miliknya, tapi dia menggunakannya untuk menghindari pecarian dan penangkapan. Malahan dia telah kembali menjalani hidup ke Jaman Batu dan benar-benar menerima utusan-utusan dan masalah-masalah dari orang-orang kepercayaannya,” Reeve menambahkan.
Absence of Communication
Selama lima tahun terakhir, para penegak hukum AS tidak berhasil menemukan Bin Laden, yang merupakan 10 orang yang paling dicari dalam daftar FBI.
Sebelum serangan pesawat hari Selasa, Bin Laden telah menyiapkan uang sebesar $ 5 juta sebagai kepemimpinannya untuk menyiapkan serangan-serangan teroris ke kedutaan-kedutaan Amerika di Kenya dan Tanzania tahun 1998 yang menewaskan lebih dari 200 orang.
Pihak Saudi tidak sepakat dan jaringannya (Al Qaeda) dipercaya beroperasi setidaknya di 34 negara. Menurut sebuah laporan yang baru diterima oleh peneliti mengenai masalah terorisme Kenneth Katzman dari the Library of Congress Congressional Reserach Service.
Ini sebuah grup yang sangat mengetahui bahwa ada banyak agen-agen intelejen mencoba mengawasi aktivitas-aktivitas mereka, “komentar Harry Gofrey, Regional Managing Director For Kroll Associates di Hong Kong.
Ada komunikasi yang sulit dilacak-mereka tidak menggunakan e-mail, telepon atau telepon selular. Pada masa sekarang ini dan abad teknologi semua sistem tersebut mudah untuk dilacak.
Katzman mengatakan Bin Laden menyiapkan dana sebesar $ 300 juta miliknya sendiri untuk membiayai jaringan Al Qaeda yang melakukan 3.000 kegiatan operasi.
Sel-sel jaringan telah diketahui atau dicurigai dibeberapa negara Timur-Tengah dan Afrika juga bergerak di Malaysia, Filipina, Ekuador, Bosnia, Albania, Inggris, Kanada dan bahkan di Amerika.
Locked Messages
Memikirkan Bin Laden sekarang ini melakukan kontak dengan teknologi yang sederhana dan tindakan-tindakan yang dijalankannya, para pengikutnya mengerti untuk mengirim pesan dengan satu sama yang lain melalui pemecah kode pesan-pesan di Internet.
Para pengikutnya, bagaimanapun, dalam hal yang lain, komentar Simon Reeve. “Mereka percaya untuk menggunakan keahlian software pemecah kode untuk menutupi jejak mereka saat mengirim banyak surat elektronik dan mengatur gerakan-gerakan yang akan mereka lakukan.
Para pejabat AS mempunyai solusi/pengetahuan mengenai Web Encryption sebagai model komunikasi yang mutakhir digunakan oleh Al Qaeda dan jaringan teroris yang lain untuk menghindari pelacakan.
Kode-kode tertentu dalam pesan di internet juga dipakai oleh jaringan-jaringan teroris yang lain-Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda dan lainnya—untuk berkomunikasi mengenai tujuan-tujuan kriminal tanpa takut dilacak oleh pihak luar, mantan Direktur FBI Louis Freeh mengatakan tahun lalu sebelum sidang panel Senate.
Mereka merintangi keterlibatan-keterlibatan penegak hukum untuk melacak, mencegah dan menyelidiki aktivitas-aktivitas terlarang.
Bahkan jika sebuah pesan yang berisi kode-kode bisa dipecahkan, mustahil untuk membaca kode tanpa menggunakan sebuah superkomputer milik pemerintah, dan yang paling jarang digunakan setiap waktu (ket. Kode-kode).
“Software Encryption bisa dipecahkan, tapi memerlukan waktu yang lama dimana para investigator-investigator Amerika dapat melakukannya, “komentar Reeve.”
Simon Reeve, penulis “The new Jackals : Ramzi Yousef, Osama Bin Laden an the future of Terrorism, mengatakan Bin Laden tidak menggunakan telepon-telepon satelit, mobile handsets dan akses internet dalam membantu persembunyiannya mengirim pesan untuk menghindari pemburuan dari pihak yang berwenang.
“Bin Laden saat ini tidak menggunakan teknologi canggih dalam bentuk apa pun, Reeve mengatakan di London”.
The American National Security Agency (NSA) telah menyelidiki sumber-sumber yang tidak terbatas untuk mencari Bin Laden melalui telepon satelit dan portabless phones-miliknya, tapi dia menggunakannya untuk menghindari pecarian dan penangkapan. Malahan dia telah kembali menjalani hidup ke Jaman Batu dan benar-benar menerima utusan-utusan dan masalah-masalah dari orang-orang kepercayaannya,” Reeve menambahkan.
Absence of Communication
Selama lima tahun terakhir, para penegak hukum AS tidak berhasil menemukan Bin Laden, yang merupakan 10 orang yang paling dicari dalam daftar FBI.
Sebelum serangan pesawat hari Selasa, Bin Laden telah menyiapkan uang sebesar $ 5 juta sebagai kepemimpinannya untuk menyiapkan serangan-serangan teroris ke kedutaan-kedutaan Amerika di Kenya dan Tanzania tahun 1998 yang menewaskan lebih dari 200 orang.
Pihak Saudi tidak sepakat dan jaringannya (Al Qaeda) dipercaya beroperasi setidaknya di 34 negara. Menurut sebuah laporan yang baru diterima oleh peneliti mengenai masalah terorisme Kenneth Katzman dari the Library of Congress Congressional Reserach Service.
Ini sebuah grup yang sangat mengetahui bahwa ada banyak agen-agen intelejen mencoba mengawasi aktivitas-aktivitas mereka, “komentar Harry Gofrey, Regional Managing Director For Kroll Associates di Hong Kong.
Ada komunikasi yang sulit dilacak-mereka tidak menggunakan e-mail, telepon atau telepon selular. Pada masa sekarang ini dan abad teknologi semua sistem tersebut mudah untuk dilacak.
Katzman mengatakan Bin Laden menyiapkan dana sebesar $ 300 juta miliknya sendiri untuk membiayai jaringan Al Qaeda yang melakukan 3.000 kegiatan operasi.
Sel-sel jaringan telah diketahui atau dicurigai dibeberapa negara Timur-Tengah dan Afrika juga bergerak di Malaysia, Filipina, Ekuador, Bosnia, Albania, Inggris, Kanada dan bahkan di Amerika.
Locked Messages
Memikirkan Bin Laden sekarang ini melakukan kontak dengan teknologi yang sederhana dan tindakan-tindakan yang dijalankannya, para pengikutnya mengerti untuk mengirim pesan dengan satu sama yang lain melalui pemecah kode pesan-pesan di Internet.
Para pengikutnya, bagaimanapun, dalam hal yang lain, komentar Simon Reeve. “Mereka percaya untuk menggunakan keahlian software pemecah kode untuk menutupi jejak mereka saat mengirim banyak surat elektronik dan mengatur gerakan-gerakan yang akan mereka lakukan.
Para pejabat AS mempunyai solusi/pengetahuan mengenai Web Encryption sebagai model komunikasi yang mutakhir digunakan oleh Al Qaeda dan jaringan teroris yang lain untuk menghindari pelacakan.
Kode-kode tertentu dalam pesan di internet juga dipakai oleh jaringan-jaringan teroris yang lain-Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda dan lainnya—untuk berkomunikasi mengenai tujuan-tujuan kriminal tanpa takut dilacak oleh pihak luar, mantan Direktur FBI Louis Freeh mengatakan tahun lalu sebelum sidang panel Senate.
Mereka merintangi keterlibatan-keterlibatan penegak hukum untuk melacak, mencegah dan menyelidiki aktivitas-aktivitas terlarang.
Bahkan jika sebuah pesan yang berisi kode-kode bisa dipecahkan, mustahil untuk membaca kode tanpa menggunakan sebuah superkomputer milik pemerintah, dan yang paling jarang digunakan setiap waktu (ket. Kode-kode).
“Software Encryption bisa dipecahkan, tapi memerlukan waktu yang lama dimana para investigator-investigator Amerika dapat melakukannya, “komentar Reeve.”
ITV-TV
Para pejabat mengklaim pembajak serangan 11 September yang bernama Marwan Al-Shehhi telah mengatakan kepada seorang pustakawan bahwa akan ada serangan yang mengerikan terhadap World Trade Center sebagai peringatan untuk serangan 11 September.
Seorang anggota Al-Qaeda yang dicurigai ditangkap di Jerman menghadapi 3116 tuntutan dari konspirasi untuk mendukung yang berhubungan dengan serangan terror 11 September.
Para jaksa penuntut Jerman telah menguraikan tuntutan-tuntutan yang memberatkan Mounir El Motassadeq seorang penduduk Hamburg.
Dan mereka membuka (rahasia) bagaimana seorang anggota Al Qaeda memberikan sebuah peringatan yang mengerikan dari serangan untuk menyerang WTC yang telah direncanakan jauh sebelum benar-benar terjadi.
Jaksa penuntut federal Kay Nehm mengatakan bahwa para anggota Al-Qaeda di Hamburg telah mengadakan debat yang pertama mengenai sebuah serangan yang ditujukkan ke Amerika sebelum bulan Oktober 1999.
Enam bulan kemudian jaringan (Al Qaeda), termasuk 3 pembajak yang disiapkan untuk serangan 11 September, telah memutuskan mengenai target mereka.
Mr. Nehm, mengatakan seorang pembajak, Marwan al-Shehhi mengatakan kepada seorang pustakawan bahwa akan ada sebuah serangan ke WTC.
Menurut Mr. Nehm, al-Shehhi mengatakan: Disana akan banyak ribuan nyawa yang melayang. Kamu akan mempercayai saya sepenuhnya.
El Motassadeq, seorang warga Negara Maroko berusia 28 tahun ditahan di Hamburg dua bulan setelah serangan, telah juga dituntut dengan keanggotaannya dalam sebuah organisasi teroris.
Mr. Nehm mengatakan dia (Motassadeq) bertanggungjawab untuk mendukung aksi bunuh diri para pilot dan mengatur untuk membiayai aktivitas-aktivitas mereka, termasuk membiyai untuk belajar penerbangan di Flight Schools di Florida.
Bagian dari kelompok al-Shehhi, jaringan di Hamburg termasuk paara pembajak seperti Mohamed Atta dan Ziad Jarrah.
Pihak berwenang mempercayai Atta dan al-Shehhi mengemudikan pesawat-pesawat yang ditabrakan ke menara kembar saat Jarrah mengemudikan pesawat yang ditabrakan ke sebuah tanah lapangan di Pennsylvania.
Pihak berwenang AS telah menuntut 6 orang lainnya yang dicurigai sebagai teroris Al Qaeda dan mengatakan mereka mempunyai target untuk serangan-serangan di Turki dan Jordania sebaik target-target lainnya di Amerika.
Seseorang bernama James Ujaama, umur 36, yang dipercayai pihak berwenang AS mempunyai ikatan kepada Abu Hamza al-Masri, pemimpin Mesjid di London yang dikenal mempunyai pandangan Anti-Amerika.
Seorang anggota Al-Qaeda yang dicurigai ditangkap di Jerman menghadapi 3116 tuntutan dari konspirasi untuk mendukung yang berhubungan dengan serangan terror 11 September.
Para jaksa penuntut Jerman telah menguraikan tuntutan-tuntutan yang memberatkan Mounir El Motassadeq seorang penduduk Hamburg.
Dan mereka membuka (rahasia) bagaimana seorang anggota Al Qaeda memberikan sebuah peringatan yang mengerikan dari serangan untuk menyerang WTC yang telah direncanakan jauh sebelum benar-benar terjadi.
Jaksa penuntut federal Kay Nehm mengatakan bahwa para anggota Al-Qaeda di Hamburg telah mengadakan debat yang pertama mengenai sebuah serangan yang ditujukkan ke Amerika sebelum bulan Oktober 1999.
Enam bulan kemudian jaringan (Al Qaeda), termasuk 3 pembajak yang disiapkan untuk serangan 11 September, telah memutuskan mengenai target mereka.
Mr. Nehm, mengatakan seorang pembajak, Marwan al-Shehhi mengatakan kepada seorang pustakawan bahwa akan ada sebuah serangan ke WTC.
Menurut Mr. Nehm, al-Shehhi mengatakan: Disana akan banyak ribuan nyawa yang melayang. Kamu akan mempercayai saya sepenuhnya.
El Motassadeq, seorang warga Negara Maroko berusia 28 tahun ditahan di Hamburg dua bulan setelah serangan, telah juga dituntut dengan keanggotaannya dalam sebuah organisasi teroris.
Mr. Nehm mengatakan dia (Motassadeq) bertanggungjawab untuk mendukung aksi bunuh diri para pilot dan mengatur untuk membiayai aktivitas-aktivitas mereka, termasuk membiyai untuk belajar penerbangan di Flight Schools di Florida.
Bagian dari kelompok al-Shehhi, jaringan di Hamburg termasuk paara pembajak seperti Mohamed Atta dan Ziad Jarrah.
Pihak berwenang mempercayai Atta dan al-Shehhi mengemudikan pesawat-pesawat yang ditabrakan ke menara kembar saat Jarrah mengemudikan pesawat yang ditabrakan ke sebuah tanah lapangan di Pennsylvania.
Pihak berwenang AS telah menuntut 6 orang lainnya yang dicurigai sebagai teroris Al Qaeda dan mengatakan mereka mempunyai target untuk serangan-serangan di Turki dan Jordania sebaik target-target lainnya di Amerika.
Seseorang bernama James Ujaama, umur 36, yang dipercayai pihak berwenang AS mempunyai ikatan kepada Abu Hamza al-Masri, pemimpin Mesjid di London yang dikenal mempunyai pandangan Anti-Amerika.
Siapa Osama Bin Laden? (Sebuah Catatan)
Beberapa jam setelah serangan-serangan yang dilakukan oleh para teroris kepada WTC dan Pentagon, pemerintah Bush menyimpulkan tanpa bukti-bukti kuat yang mendukung, bahwa Osama Bin Laden dan kelompok Al Qaeda-nya menjadi organisasi yang paling dicurigai. Direktur CIA (sekarang mantan) George Tenet menyatakan bahwa Bin Laden mempunyai kemampuan untuk merencanakan berbagai macam serangan dengan sedikit peringatan atau sama sekali tanpa peringatan. Menteri Luar Negeri Colin Powell menyebutkan serangan-serangan itu sebagai aksi untuk berperang dan presiden Bush mengkonfirmasikan dalam siaran telivisi di malam hari yang ditujukkan untuk seluruh bangsa Amerika bahwa dia akan tidak membuat perbedaan antara kelompok teroris yang mendukung aksi-aksi ini dan kelompok-kelompok yang melindungi aksi-aksi mereka itu. Mantan Direkutur CIA, James Woolsey menunjuk dengan jarinya mengenai dukungan negara, menyatakan secara tidak langsung adanya keterlibatan salah satu atau beberapa pemerintahan Negara lain. Dalam kata-kata mantan penasehat Keamanan Nasional, Lawrence Eagleburger, saya pikir kita akan tunjukkan ketika kita mendapatkan serangan seperti ini, kita dalam masalah serius dalam kekuatan yang kita miliki dan kita siap membalasnya.
Sementara itu, pernyataan-pernyataan resmi yang membingungkan, Media Barat mempunyai mantra (sebuah kekuatan yang mempengaruhi) yang telah menyetujui diserbaluaskannya aksi-aksi balas dendam langsung untuk menghancurkan target-target sipil di Timur Tengah (fasilitas yng dicurigai sebagai markas teroris). Dalam kata-kata William Saffire yang ditulis di harian New York Times :” Ketika kita layak menentukan basis-basis dan kamp-kamp milik musuh kita, kita harus menghancurkan mereka, memperkecil (gerak mereka) tapi menerima risiko-risiko dari kerusakan-kerusakan yang terjadi secara bersamaan dan lahirnya aksi atau melakukan aksi tanpa diketahui untuk menghancurkan para teroris yang ingin menghancurkan negara.
Tulisan berikutnya adalah sejarah garis besar (mengenai) Osama Bin Laden dan link-link dari Jihad Islam untuk merumuskan kebijakan Politik Luar Negeri AS selama Perang Dingin dan sesudahnya.
Kecurigaan utama serangan-serangan teroris di Kota New York dan kota Washington D.C., dicap oleh FBI sebagai sebuah (gerakan) teroris internasional yang berperan dalam peledakan Kedutaan Besar Amerika di Afrika, Osama Bin Laden, orang Saudi yang direkrut selama perang Uni Soviet-Afghanistan dilatih dibawah bantuan CIA, untuk berperang melawan tentara Pendudukan Uni Soviet.
1.Tahun 1979 operasi terbesar yang dilakukan secara rahasia dalam sejarah CIA dilakukan sebagai respon terhadap invasi Uni Soviet di Afghanistan dalam upaya mendukung Pemerintahan Babrak Kamal yang pro Komunis.
2.Dengan dukungan yang besar dari CIA dan Intelejen Pakistan ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), yang menginginkan kesempatan kepada orang Afghanistan yang ingin berjihad ke dalam sebuah perang global yang diikuti oleh negera-negara Islam atau yang berpenduduk Muslim dalam mayoritas untuk melawan Uni Soviet, sejumlah 35,000 Muslim radikal dari 40 negara Islam bergabung dengan para pejuang Afghanistan antara tahun 1982 dan 1992. Puluhan dari ribuan datang untuk belajar di Madrasah-madrasah (di) Pakistan. Akhirnya lebih dari 100,000 Muslim radikal (datang) dari luar negeri secara langsung terpengaruh oleh perlawanan jihad orang-orang Afghanistan.
3.Perjuangan jihad orang-orang Islam didukung oleh Amerika Serikat dan Arab Saudi dengan sebuah bagian penting yang dibiayai dari The Golden Crescent Drug Trade: Bulan maret 1985, Presiden Reagen menandatangani National Security Decision Directive 166,… (Which) authorize(d) stepped-up covert military aid to the Mujahideen, and it made clear that the secret afghan war had a new goal: to defeat Soviet Troops in Afghanistan through covert action and encourage a Soviet withdrawal. The new covert U.S. assistance began with a dramatic increase in arms supplies a steady rise to 65,000 tons annually by 1987,… as well as a “ceaseless stream” of CIA and Pentagon specialists who traveled to the secret headquarters of Pakistan’s ISI on the mainroad near Rawalpindi, Pakistan. There the CIA specialists met with Pakistani intelligence officers to help plan operations for the Afghan rebels.
4. CIA menggunakan ISI memainkan sebuah peran kunci dalam melatih kelompok Mujahideen. Dalam kesempatannya, CIA mensponsori pelatihan secara besar-besaran yang diintegrasikan dengan ajaran Islam: Hal-hal yang utama bahwa Islam adalah sebuah ideologi social-politik yang lengkap, bahwa kesucian Islam dijadikan hal yang dilanngar oleh tentara-tentara Soviet yang ateis. Dan bahwa Umat Islam Afghanistan seharusnya mempertahankan kemerdekaannya dengan menggulingkan rezim Komunis Afghanistan yang didukung Moskow.
5.Aparat intelejen Pakistan dijadikan sebagai perantara. Bantuan CIA secara rahasia diberikan kepada operasi Jihad yang secara tidak langsung diberikan kepada intelejen Pakistan ISI (sebagai perantara), CIA tidak mempunyai saluran (link) untuk mendukung langsung kepada kelompok Mujahideen. Dalam perkataan yang lain, untuk operasi-operasi rahasia ini menjadi keberhasilan penuh, Washington secara hati-hati tidak menyatakan sasaran terbesar dari perjuangan jihad salah satunya adalah untuk menghancurkan Negara Uni Soviet. Dalam kata-kata yang diucapkan Milton Beardman dari CIA “Kami tidak melatih orang-orang Arab.” Belum lagi menurut Abdel Monam Saidali, dari Al-aram Center for Strategic Studies di Kairo, Bin Laden dan orangorang Arab Afghanistan telah diberikan dengan berbagai macam pelatihan-pelatihan keahlian yang diberikan kepada mereka oleh CIA.
6.Beardman mengkonfirmasikan, dalam hal ini, bahwa Osama Bin Laden tidak mengetahui mengenai peran yang sedang dia mainkan mengenai kepentingan Washington. Dalam kata-kata Bin Laden (dikutip oleh Beardman): “Baik saya, maupun saudara-saudara saya tidak melihat bdari kepentingan Amerika.
7.Di motivasi oleh paham nsionalisme dan semangat relijius para pejuang Islam tidak menyadari bahwa mereka sedang bertempur melawan pasukan Uni Soviet demi kepentingan negeri Paman Sam. Ketika disana ada kontak-kontak ditingkat yang lebih tinggi dari hirarki intelejen, para pemimpin pemberontak Islam di medan perang tidak mempunyai kontak dengan Washington atau CIA. Dengan dukungan CIA dan jumlah bantuan yang diberikan militer AS dalam jumlah yang besar.
8.Pihak ISI telah mengembangkan kearah sebuah “parallel structure wielding enourmous power over all aspects of government”.
9.Sementara, operasi-operasi CIA juga telah menguatkan kepemimpinan rejim militer Pakistan di bawah kepemimpinan Jenderal Zia Ul Haq: “Relation between CIA and the ISI (Pakistan’s Military Intelligence) had grown increasingly warm following (General) Zia’s ouster of Bhutto and the advent of the military regime,…during most of the afghan war, Pakistan was more aggressively anti-soviet than even the United States soon after the Soviet military invaded Afghanistan in 1980, Zia (Ul Haq) sent his ISI chief to destabilize the Soviet Central Asian States. The CIA only agreed to this plan in October 1984…the CIA was more cautious than the Pakistanis. “Both Pakistan and United States took the line of deception on Afghanistan with a public posture of negotiating a settlement while privately agreeing the military escalation eas the besat course.
10. The Golden Crescent Drug Triangle. Sejarah perdagangan obat (opium) di Asia Tengah dapat dihubungkan kepada operasi-operasi intelejen CIA yang tersembunyi, sebelum perang Soviet-Afghanistan terjadi, produksi opium di Afghanistan dan Pakistan hanya diketahui atau dihubungkan dengan pasar-pasar di wilayah sekitar dengan penjualan yang terbatas/kecil (tidak ada produksi heroin lokal).
11.Dalam hal ini, penelitian McCoy mengkonfirmasikan bahwa dalam dua tahun serangan yang dilakukan secara gencar dari operasi CIA di Afghanistan, “perbatasan Pakistan-Afghanisatan menjadi produsen heroin terbesar di dunia, menyuplai 60 persen dari permintaan di Amerika. Di Pakistan, pengguna heroin tumbuh dari (mendekati) nol di tahun 1979 menjadi 1,2 juta tahun 1985-Angka yang sangat cepat tumbuh dari negara manapun di dunia (dibanding negara lain).
12.Aset-aset CIA mengontrol perdagangan heroin tersebut. Seperti kelompok Mujahideen dalam jumlah yang besar memiliki wilayah kekuasaan di Afghanistan, mereka memerintahkan para petani untuk menanam opium sebagai pajak. Menyeberangi perbatasan di Pakistan, para pemimpin Afghanistan dan sindikat-sindikat lokal dibawah perlindungan ISI mengoperasikan laboratorium-laboratorium yang memproduksi Heroin. Selama dekade ini transaksi penjualan obat yang terbuka luas, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency di Islamabad gagal menangkap para gembong obat... pernyataan Amerika yang telah menolak untuk menuntut penjualan heroin oleh sekutu-sekutu Negara Afghanistan karena kebijakan Amerika mengenai masalah narkotik di Afghanistan telah menjadi hal yang penting untuk perang melawan pengaruh Soviet di Afghanistan. Tahun 1995, mantan Direktur CIA untuk operasi di Afghanistan, Charles Cogan, mengakui telah bersungguh-sungguh perang terhadap obat untuk memenangkan perang dingin. Misi utama kami adalah melakukan perlawanan sebanyak mungkin untuk melawan Soviet. Kami benar-benar tidak mempunyai sumber-sumbernya atau mencurahkan waktu terhadap sebuah investigasi perdagangan obat. Saya rasa kami tidak perlu meminta maaf mengenai hal ini. Setiap situasi telah tidak memungkinkan...Disana ada kegagalan mencegah penjualan obat, ya. Tetapi obyektivitas utama telah diselesaikan (yaitu) Soviet pergi dari Afghanistan.
13.In the wake of the cold war. Timbulnya Perang Dingin, di wilayah Asia Tengah tidak hanya strategis, untuk memperluas candangan-cadangan minyak, juga memproduksi (dari) tiga pusat penghasil opium terbesar di dunia yang menggambarkan penghasilan Multi billion dollar kepada para sindikat bisnis, institusi-insitusi keuangan, agen-agen rahasia dan kejahatan yang terorganisasi. Penghasilan tahunan dari Golden Crescent Drug Trade (antara 100 dan 200 milyar dollar) mewakili kira-kira 1/3 dari penjualan tahunan narkotika di seluruh dunia, diperkirakan oleh PBB naik menjadi $ 500 milyar.
14.Dengan bubarnya Uni Soviet, sebuah gelombang baru dalam produksi opium telah dibuka (menurut perkiraan PBB produksi Opium di Afghanistan tahun 1998-1999 bertepatan dengan penambahan kekuatan dari pemberontakan-pemberontakan militer dalam negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet)-telah mencapai sebuah rekor tinggi 4600 metrik ton.
15.Kekuatan bisnis para sindikat di negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet dengan kejahatan yang diatur untuk berkompetisi untuk mengontrol rute-rute yang strategis penjualan heroin. ISI sebagai kepanjangan tangan jaringan mata-mata militer tidak terlibat dalam munculnya perang dingin. CIA terus mendukung kelompok Jihad Islam di luar Pakistan. Prakarsa-prakarsa membentuk (operasi) rahasia atau penyamaran yang baru di bentuk gerakan-gerakan di Asia Tengah, wilayah Kaukasus dan negara-negara Balkan. Militer Pakistan dan aparat intelejennya pada dasarnya perantara sebagai sebuah katalis untuk memecah belah Uni Soviet dan mendirikan 6 (enam) Negara Islam baru di Asia Tengah.
16.Sementara itu, Misionaris-misionaris Islam dari sekte Wahhabi berasal dari Arab Saudi telah menyiapkan diri mereka di Republik-republik Muslim (yang baru) sebaik mungkin di negara-negara Federasi Rusia dalam menghadapi institusi-institusi negara yang sekular. Meskipun dengan ideology Anti Amerika-nya paham fundamentalis Islam telah menjadi perantara yang sangat dibutuhkan bagi kepentingan-kepentingan strategis Washington di Negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet. Diikuti dengan penarikan tentara Soviet dalam jumlah besar di tahun 1989, perang saudara di Afghanistan berlanjut. Kelompok Taliban didukung oleh the Pakistan Deo bandis dan partai politik mereka the Jamiat-Ul-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). Di tahun 1993, JUI memasuki koalisi pemerintahan pimpinan Perdana Menteri Benazzir Bhutto. Persekutuan JUI, Angkatan Bersenjata dan ISI telah lama berjalan. Pada tahun 1995, dengan runtuhnya pemerintahan Hezb-I-Islami Hektmatyar di Kabul, Kelompok Taliban tidak hanya menjadi sebuah Pemerintahan Islam garis keras, mereka juga mengontrol kamp-kamp pelatihan di Afghanistan disamping faksi-faksi JUI.
17.Dan JUI dengan dukungan dari gerakan-gerakan Wahhabi di Saudi yang memainkan peran kunci dalam merekrut para sukarelawan untuk berperang di wilayah Balkan dan di negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet. Jane Defense Weekly mengkonfirmasikan dalam hal ini bahwa setengah kekuatan pasukan Taliban dan peralatan militernya disiapkan di Pakistan dibawah perlindungan ISI.
18.Faktanya, akan terlihat bahwa dengan diikuti penarikan pasukan Soviet sekaligus perang saudara di Afghanistan bantuan rahasia terus dilanjutkan melalui ISI.
19.Dengan kata lain, didukung oleh intelejen militer Pakistan (ISI) yang menjalankan tugas dibawah control CIA, negara Islam Taliban menjadi pelayan yang penting untuk kepentingan-kepentingan geopolitik Amerika. The Golden Crescent Drug Trade juga digunakan untuk membiayai dan perlangkapan senjata angkatan bersenjata Bosnia (Dimulai awal tahun 1990) dan militer pembebasan Kosovo (KLA). Beberapa bulan terakhir ada bukti bahwa prajutit-prajurit Mujahideen bertempur bersama KLA-NLA dalam penyerangan mereka memasuki wilayah Macedonia. Tidak diragukan, penjelasan-penjelasan ini kenapa Washington telah menutup mata terhadap pemerintahan teror yang dilakukan oleh Taliban termasuk secara jelas tidak menghormati hak-hak wanita, menutup sekolah untuk para anak gadis, pemecatan para pegawai wanita dari kantor-kantor pemerintahan dan pelaksanaan hukum-hukum Syariah yang menyiksa/berat (the Sharia laws of punishment).
20.Perang di wilayah Chechnya. Dengan hormat kepada pemimpin Chechnya, pemimpin-pemimpin utamanya Shamil Basayev dan Al Khattad dilatih dan diindoktrinasi oleh CIA di kamp-kamp Afghanistan dan Pakistan. Menurut Yossef Bondansky, Direktur dari U.S. Congress’s Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, perang di Chechnya telah direncanakan selama dalam sebuah pertemuan tinggi rahasia Hizb Allah International yang dilangsungkan di Mogadishu, Somalia.
21.Pertemuan tingkat tinggi, dihadiri oleh Osama Bin Laden dan para pejabat intelejen Iran dan Pakistan. Dalam hal ini, keterlibatan ISI di Chechnya melakukan gerak cepat menyuplai orang-orang Chechnya (Chen-chen) dengan persenjataan dan keahlian: pihak ISI dan utusan-utusan Islam garis keras benar-benar menyebutnya pertempuran dalam perang.
22.Jalur utama transik pipa minyak milik Rusia melewati Chechnya dan Dagestan. Meskipun Washington tidak begitu menghiraukan hukuman ancaman-ancaman Islam garis keras, secara tidak langsung keuntungan-keuntungan dari perang Chechnya adalah para konglomerat Amerika dapat bersaing untuk mengkontrol sumber-sumber minyak dan pipa-pipa minyak diluar lembah laut Kaspia. Dua angkatan bersenjata Chechnya (yang dipimpin oleh Komandan Shamil Basayev dan Emir Khattab) diperkirakan mempunyai 35.000 kekuatan pasukan yang didukung oleh ISI, yang juga memainkan sebuah peran kunci dan mengorganisasi dan melatih pasukan Chechnya. (tahun 1994) ISI mengatur Basayev dan letnan kepercayaannya untuk menjalani indoktrinasi Islam dan dilatih perang di provinsi Khost di Afghanistan di kamp Amir Muawia. Di mulai awal tahun 1980 oleh CIA dan ISI dan dijalankan oleh panglima perang terkenal Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Bulan Juli, 1994, hingga kelulusan dari kamp Amir Muawia, Basayev dikirim ke Kamp Markaz-i-Dawar di Pakistan untuk menjalani pelatihan mempelajari menggunakan taktik dalam pertempuran. Di Pakistan, Basayev bertemu dengan pejabat militer dan intelejen Pakistan yang disegani: Menteri Pertahanan Jenderal Naserullah Babar dan kepala ISI yang selalu mendukung perjuangan umat Islam. Jenderal Javed Ashraf (semua telah pensiun). Koneksi-koneksi tingkat tinggi itu sangat berguna untuk Basayev.
23.Diikuti dengan pelatihan dan tugas indoktrinasi yang dijalankannya, Basayev ditunjuk untuk memimpin penyerangan terhadap tentara-tentara Federal Rusia dalam perang pertama Chechnya tahun 1995. Organisasinya juga telah mengembangkan jaringan-jaringan dengan sindikat-sindikat kejahatan di Moskow sebaik hubungannya dengan organisasi kejahatan Albania dan Angkatan Bersenjata Pembebasan Kosovo (KLA). Di tahun 1997-1998, menurut Dinas Intelejen Rusia (FSB) “Panglima Perang Chechnya mulai membeli (memborong) perumahan Real Estate di Kosovo...Juga beberapa perusahaan Real Estate yang terdaftar di Yugoslavia.”
24.Organisasi yang dijalankan Basayev juga meliputi sejumlah misi pengrusakan, antara lain (termasuk) perdagangan narkotik, illegal tapping dan sabotase saluran pipa minyak Rusia, penculikan, prostitusi dan perdagangan pemalsuan mata uang Dollar dan penyelundupan bahan-bahan nuklir.
25.Disamping terus melakukan pencucian uang dari hasil penjualan narkotika, pendapatan-pendapatan yang diperoleh dari aktivitas-aktivitas haram tersebut telah membantu ke arah rekrutmen sukarelawan perang dan pembelian persenjataan dalam jumlah besar. Selama masa pelatihannya di Afghanistan, Shamil Basayev mempunyai hubungan dengan veteran Mujahideen kelahiran Arab Saudi Komandan Al Khattab yang telah berperang sebagai seorang sukarelawan di Afghanistan. Tidak lama beberapa bulan setelah Basayev kembali ke Grozny, Khattab diundang (awal tahun 1995) untuk mendirikan sebuah markas/pangkalan militer di Chechnya untuk melatih para pejuang Mujahideen. Menurut BBC, Khattab ditempatkan ke Chechnya setelah diatur oleh International Islamic Relief Organisation yang bermarkas di Arab Saudi, sebuah organisasi relijius yang militant, didanai oleh mesjid-mesjid dan para orang kaya yang mengirimkan dananya ke Checnya.
26.Kesimpulan. Sejak era perang dingin, washington secara sadar telah membantu Osama Bin Laden, disaat yang sama menempatkan dirinya pada daftar orang yang paling dicari oleh FBI sebagai teroris paling berbahaya di dunia. Saat kelompok Mujahideen sibuk berperang untuk kepentingan Amerika di wilayah Balkan dan negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet, FBI dioperasikan sebagai sebuah US based police forced-dipersiapkan untuk berperang didalam begeri melawan teroris, beroperasi secara independen CIA mempunyai tugas antara lain sejak perang Soviet-Afghanistan-didukung oleh teroris internasional dalam melakukan operasi-operasi rahasia. Sebuah ironi yang tidak masuk akal, saat Kelompok Jihad Islam-menurut pemerintahan Bush sebagai sebuah ancaman bagi bangsa Amerika-dicurigai/dituduh sebagai teroris yang menyerang WTC dan Pentagon, disaat yang sama organisasi-organisasi Islam diberi wewenang sebuah instrumen kunci (peran) Amerika dalam operasi-operasi intelejen militer di wilayah Balkan dan di negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet. Kebangkitan serangan-serangan teroris di New York dan Washington, kebenaran harus menang untuk mencegah pemerintahan BUSH bersama patner NATO-nya dari memulai sebuah petualangan perang yang akan mengancam masa depan nilai-nilai kemanusiaan.
Endnotes
Hugh Davies, International: Informers point the finger at Bin Laden; Washington on alert for suicide bombers, The Daily Telegraph, London, 24 August 1998. See Fred Halliday, “The Un-great game : the Country that lost the Cold War, Afghanistan, New Republic, 25 March 1996:
Ahmed Rashid, The Taliban: Exporting Extremism, Foreign Affairs, November-December 1999.
Steve Coll, Washington Post, July 19, 1992.
Dilip Hiro, Fallout from the Afghan Jihad, Inter Press Services, 21 November 1995.
Weekend Sunday (NPR); Eric weiner, Ted Clarck; 16 August 1998.
Ibid.
See Diego Cordovez and selig Harrison, Out of Afghanistan: The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995. See also the review of Cordovez and Harrison in Internatinal Press Service, 22 august 1995. Alfred McCoy, Drug fallout: the CIA’s Forty Year Complicity in the Narcotics Trade.
The Progressive; 1 August 1997.
Ibid
Ibid.
Douglas Keh, Drug Money in a changing World, Technical document no 4, 1998, Vienna UNDCP, p. 4. See also report of International Narcotics Control Board for 1999, E/INCB/1999/1 United Nations Publication, Vienna 1999, p 49-51, And Richard Lapper, UN Fears Growth of Heroin Trade, Financial Times, 24 February 2000. Report of the International Narcotics Control Board, op cit, p 49-51, see also Richard Lapper, op. cit.
Sementara itu, pernyataan-pernyataan resmi yang membingungkan, Media Barat mempunyai mantra (sebuah kekuatan yang mempengaruhi) yang telah menyetujui diserbaluaskannya aksi-aksi balas dendam langsung untuk menghancurkan target-target sipil di Timur Tengah (fasilitas yng dicurigai sebagai markas teroris). Dalam kata-kata William Saffire yang ditulis di harian New York Times :” Ketika kita layak menentukan basis-basis dan kamp-kamp milik musuh kita, kita harus menghancurkan mereka, memperkecil (gerak mereka) tapi menerima risiko-risiko dari kerusakan-kerusakan yang terjadi secara bersamaan dan lahirnya aksi atau melakukan aksi tanpa diketahui untuk menghancurkan para teroris yang ingin menghancurkan negara.
Tulisan berikutnya adalah sejarah garis besar (mengenai) Osama Bin Laden dan link-link dari Jihad Islam untuk merumuskan kebijakan Politik Luar Negeri AS selama Perang Dingin dan sesudahnya.
Kecurigaan utama serangan-serangan teroris di Kota New York dan kota Washington D.C., dicap oleh FBI sebagai sebuah (gerakan) teroris internasional yang berperan dalam peledakan Kedutaan Besar Amerika di Afrika, Osama Bin Laden, orang Saudi yang direkrut selama perang Uni Soviet-Afghanistan dilatih dibawah bantuan CIA, untuk berperang melawan tentara Pendudukan Uni Soviet.
1.Tahun 1979 operasi terbesar yang dilakukan secara rahasia dalam sejarah CIA dilakukan sebagai respon terhadap invasi Uni Soviet di Afghanistan dalam upaya mendukung Pemerintahan Babrak Kamal yang pro Komunis.
2.Dengan dukungan yang besar dari CIA dan Intelejen Pakistan ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), yang menginginkan kesempatan kepada orang Afghanistan yang ingin berjihad ke dalam sebuah perang global yang diikuti oleh negera-negara Islam atau yang berpenduduk Muslim dalam mayoritas untuk melawan Uni Soviet, sejumlah 35,000 Muslim radikal dari 40 negara Islam bergabung dengan para pejuang Afghanistan antara tahun 1982 dan 1992. Puluhan dari ribuan datang untuk belajar di Madrasah-madrasah (di) Pakistan. Akhirnya lebih dari 100,000 Muslim radikal (datang) dari luar negeri secara langsung terpengaruh oleh perlawanan jihad orang-orang Afghanistan.
3.Perjuangan jihad orang-orang Islam didukung oleh Amerika Serikat dan Arab Saudi dengan sebuah bagian penting yang dibiayai dari The Golden Crescent Drug Trade: Bulan maret 1985, Presiden Reagen menandatangani National Security Decision Directive 166,… (Which) authorize(d) stepped-up covert military aid to the Mujahideen, and it made clear that the secret afghan war had a new goal: to defeat Soviet Troops in Afghanistan through covert action and encourage a Soviet withdrawal. The new covert U.S. assistance began with a dramatic increase in arms supplies a steady rise to 65,000 tons annually by 1987,… as well as a “ceaseless stream” of CIA and Pentagon specialists who traveled to the secret headquarters of Pakistan’s ISI on the mainroad near Rawalpindi, Pakistan. There the CIA specialists met with Pakistani intelligence officers to help plan operations for the Afghan rebels.
4. CIA menggunakan ISI memainkan sebuah peran kunci dalam melatih kelompok Mujahideen. Dalam kesempatannya, CIA mensponsori pelatihan secara besar-besaran yang diintegrasikan dengan ajaran Islam: Hal-hal yang utama bahwa Islam adalah sebuah ideologi social-politik yang lengkap, bahwa kesucian Islam dijadikan hal yang dilanngar oleh tentara-tentara Soviet yang ateis. Dan bahwa Umat Islam Afghanistan seharusnya mempertahankan kemerdekaannya dengan menggulingkan rezim Komunis Afghanistan yang didukung Moskow.
5.Aparat intelejen Pakistan dijadikan sebagai perantara. Bantuan CIA secara rahasia diberikan kepada operasi Jihad yang secara tidak langsung diberikan kepada intelejen Pakistan ISI (sebagai perantara), CIA tidak mempunyai saluran (link) untuk mendukung langsung kepada kelompok Mujahideen. Dalam perkataan yang lain, untuk operasi-operasi rahasia ini menjadi keberhasilan penuh, Washington secara hati-hati tidak menyatakan sasaran terbesar dari perjuangan jihad salah satunya adalah untuk menghancurkan Negara Uni Soviet. Dalam kata-kata yang diucapkan Milton Beardman dari CIA “Kami tidak melatih orang-orang Arab.” Belum lagi menurut Abdel Monam Saidali, dari Al-aram Center for Strategic Studies di Kairo, Bin Laden dan orangorang Arab Afghanistan telah diberikan dengan berbagai macam pelatihan-pelatihan keahlian yang diberikan kepada mereka oleh CIA.
6.Beardman mengkonfirmasikan, dalam hal ini, bahwa Osama Bin Laden tidak mengetahui mengenai peran yang sedang dia mainkan mengenai kepentingan Washington. Dalam kata-kata Bin Laden (dikutip oleh Beardman): “Baik saya, maupun saudara-saudara saya tidak melihat bdari kepentingan Amerika.
7.Di motivasi oleh paham nsionalisme dan semangat relijius para pejuang Islam tidak menyadari bahwa mereka sedang bertempur melawan pasukan Uni Soviet demi kepentingan negeri Paman Sam. Ketika disana ada kontak-kontak ditingkat yang lebih tinggi dari hirarki intelejen, para pemimpin pemberontak Islam di medan perang tidak mempunyai kontak dengan Washington atau CIA. Dengan dukungan CIA dan jumlah bantuan yang diberikan militer AS dalam jumlah yang besar.
8.Pihak ISI telah mengembangkan kearah sebuah “parallel structure wielding enourmous power over all aspects of government”.
9.Sementara, operasi-operasi CIA juga telah menguatkan kepemimpinan rejim militer Pakistan di bawah kepemimpinan Jenderal Zia Ul Haq: “Relation between CIA and the ISI (Pakistan’s Military Intelligence) had grown increasingly warm following (General) Zia’s ouster of Bhutto and the advent of the military regime,…during most of the afghan war, Pakistan was more aggressively anti-soviet than even the United States soon after the Soviet military invaded Afghanistan in 1980, Zia (Ul Haq) sent his ISI chief to destabilize the Soviet Central Asian States. The CIA only agreed to this plan in October 1984…the CIA was more cautious than the Pakistanis. “Both Pakistan and United States took the line of deception on Afghanistan with a public posture of negotiating a settlement while privately agreeing the military escalation eas the besat course.
10. The Golden Crescent Drug Triangle. Sejarah perdagangan obat (opium) di Asia Tengah dapat dihubungkan kepada operasi-operasi intelejen CIA yang tersembunyi, sebelum perang Soviet-Afghanistan terjadi, produksi opium di Afghanistan dan Pakistan hanya diketahui atau dihubungkan dengan pasar-pasar di wilayah sekitar dengan penjualan yang terbatas/kecil (tidak ada produksi heroin lokal).
11.Dalam hal ini, penelitian McCoy mengkonfirmasikan bahwa dalam dua tahun serangan yang dilakukan secara gencar dari operasi CIA di Afghanistan, “perbatasan Pakistan-Afghanisatan menjadi produsen heroin terbesar di dunia, menyuplai 60 persen dari permintaan di Amerika. Di Pakistan, pengguna heroin tumbuh dari (mendekati) nol di tahun 1979 menjadi 1,2 juta tahun 1985-Angka yang sangat cepat tumbuh dari negara manapun di dunia (dibanding negara lain).
12.Aset-aset CIA mengontrol perdagangan heroin tersebut. Seperti kelompok Mujahideen dalam jumlah yang besar memiliki wilayah kekuasaan di Afghanistan, mereka memerintahkan para petani untuk menanam opium sebagai pajak. Menyeberangi perbatasan di Pakistan, para pemimpin Afghanistan dan sindikat-sindikat lokal dibawah perlindungan ISI mengoperasikan laboratorium-laboratorium yang memproduksi Heroin. Selama dekade ini transaksi penjualan obat yang terbuka luas, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency di Islamabad gagal menangkap para gembong obat... pernyataan Amerika yang telah menolak untuk menuntut penjualan heroin oleh sekutu-sekutu Negara Afghanistan karena kebijakan Amerika mengenai masalah narkotik di Afghanistan telah menjadi hal yang penting untuk perang melawan pengaruh Soviet di Afghanistan. Tahun 1995, mantan Direktur CIA untuk operasi di Afghanistan, Charles Cogan, mengakui telah bersungguh-sungguh perang terhadap obat untuk memenangkan perang dingin. Misi utama kami adalah melakukan perlawanan sebanyak mungkin untuk melawan Soviet. Kami benar-benar tidak mempunyai sumber-sumbernya atau mencurahkan waktu terhadap sebuah investigasi perdagangan obat. Saya rasa kami tidak perlu meminta maaf mengenai hal ini. Setiap situasi telah tidak memungkinkan...Disana ada kegagalan mencegah penjualan obat, ya. Tetapi obyektivitas utama telah diselesaikan (yaitu) Soviet pergi dari Afghanistan.
13.In the wake of the cold war. Timbulnya Perang Dingin, di wilayah Asia Tengah tidak hanya strategis, untuk memperluas candangan-cadangan minyak, juga memproduksi (dari) tiga pusat penghasil opium terbesar di dunia yang menggambarkan penghasilan Multi billion dollar kepada para sindikat bisnis, institusi-insitusi keuangan, agen-agen rahasia dan kejahatan yang terorganisasi. Penghasilan tahunan dari Golden Crescent Drug Trade (antara 100 dan 200 milyar dollar) mewakili kira-kira 1/3 dari penjualan tahunan narkotika di seluruh dunia, diperkirakan oleh PBB naik menjadi $ 500 milyar.
14.Dengan bubarnya Uni Soviet, sebuah gelombang baru dalam produksi opium telah dibuka (menurut perkiraan PBB produksi Opium di Afghanistan tahun 1998-1999 bertepatan dengan penambahan kekuatan dari pemberontakan-pemberontakan militer dalam negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet)-telah mencapai sebuah rekor tinggi 4600 metrik ton.
15.Kekuatan bisnis para sindikat di negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet dengan kejahatan yang diatur untuk berkompetisi untuk mengontrol rute-rute yang strategis penjualan heroin. ISI sebagai kepanjangan tangan jaringan mata-mata militer tidak terlibat dalam munculnya perang dingin. CIA terus mendukung kelompok Jihad Islam di luar Pakistan. Prakarsa-prakarsa membentuk (operasi) rahasia atau penyamaran yang baru di bentuk gerakan-gerakan di Asia Tengah, wilayah Kaukasus dan negara-negara Balkan. Militer Pakistan dan aparat intelejennya pada dasarnya perantara sebagai sebuah katalis untuk memecah belah Uni Soviet dan mendirikan 6 (enam) Negara Islam baru di Asia Tengah.
16.Sementara itu, Misionaris-misionaris Islam dari sekte Wahhabi berasal dari Arab Saudi telah menyiapkan diri mereka di Republik-republik Muslim (yang baru) sebaik mungkin di negara-negara Federasi Rusia dalam menghadapi institusi-institusi negara yang sekular. Meskipun dengan ideology Anti Amerika-nya paham fundamentalis Islam telah menjadi perantara yang sangat dibutuhkan bagi kepentingan-kepentingan strategis Washington di Negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet. Diikuti dengan penarikan tentara Soviet dalam jumlah besar di tahun 1989, perang saudara di Afghanistan berlanjut. Kelompok Taliban didukung oleh the Pakistan Deo bandis dan partai politik mereka the Jamiat-Ul-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). Di tahun 1993, JUI memasuki koalisi pemerintahan pimpinan Perdana Menteri Benazzir Bhutto. Persekutuan JUI, Angkatan Bersenjata dan ISI telah lama berjalan. Pada tahun 1995, dengan runtuhnya pemerintahan Hezb-I-Islami Hektmatyar di Kabul, Kelompok Taliban tidak hanya menjadi sebuah Pemerintahan Islam garis keras, mereka juga mengontrol kamp-kamp pelatihan di Afghanistan disamping faksi-faksi JUI.
17.Dan JUI dengan dukungan dari gerakan-gerakan Wahhabi di Saudi yang memainkan peran kunci dalam merekrut para sukarelawan untuk berperang di wilayah Balkan dan di negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet. Jane Defense Weekly mengkonfirmasikan dalam hal ini bahwa setengah kekuatan pasukan Taliban dan peralatan militernya disiapkan di Pakistan dibawah perlindungan ISI.
18.Faktanya, akan terlihat bahwa dengan diikuti penarikan pasukan Soviet sekaligus perang saudara di Afghanistan bantuan rahasia terus dilanjutkan melalui ISI.
19.Dengan kata lain, didukung oleh intelejen militer Pakistan (ISI) yang menjalankan tugas dibawah control CIA, negara Islam Taliban menjadi pelayan yang penting untuk kepentingan-kepentingan geopolitik Amerika. The Golden Crescent Drug Trade juga digunakan untuk membiayai dan perlangkapan senjata angkatan bersenjata Bosnia (Dimulai awal tahun 1990) dan militer pembebasan Kosovo (KLA). Beberapa bulan terakhir ada bukti bahwa prajutit-prajurit Mujahideen bertempur bersama KLA-NLA dalam penyerangan mereka memasuki wilayah Macedonia. Tidak diragukan, penjelasan-penjelasan ini kenapa Washington telah menutup mata terhadap pemerintahan teror yang dilakukan oleh Taliban termasuk secara jelas tidak menghormati hak-hak wanita, menutup sekolah untuk para anak gadis, pemecatan para pegawai wanita dari kantor-kantor pemerintahan dan pelaksanaan hukum-hukum Syariah yang menyiksa/berat (the Sharia laws of punishment).
20.Perang di wilayah Chechnya. Dengan hormat kepada pemimpin Chechnya, pemimpin-pemimpin utamanya Shamil Basayev dan Al Khattad dilatih dan diindoktrinasi oleh CIA di kamp-kamp Afghanistan dan Pakistan. Menurut Yossef Bondansky, Direktur dari U.S. Congress’s Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, perang di Chechnya telah direncanakan selama dalam sebuah pertemuan tinggi rahasia Hizb Allah International yang dilangsungkan di Mogadishu, Somalia.
21.Pertemuan tingkat tinggi, dihadiri oleh Osama Bin Laden dan para pejabat intelejen Iran dan Pakistan. Dalam hal ini, keterlibatan ISI di Chechnya melakukan gerak cepat menyuplai orang-orang Chechnya (Chen-chen) dengan persenjataan dan keahlian: pihak ISI dan utusan-utusan Islam garis keras benar-benar menyebutnya pertempuran dalam perang.
22.Jalur utama transik pipa minyak milik Rusia melewati Chechnya dan Dagestan. Meskipun Washington tidak begitu menghiraukan hukuman ancaman-ancaman Islam garis keras, secara tidak langsung keuntungan-keuntungan dari perang Chechnya adalah para konglomerat Amerika dapat bersaing untuk mengkontrol sumber-sumber minyak dan pipa-pipa minyak diluar lembah laut Kaspia. Dua angkatan bersenjata Chechnya (yang dipimpin oleh Komandan Shamil Basayev dan Emir Khattab) diperkirakan mempunyai 35.000 kekuatan pasukan yang didukung oleh ISI, yang juga memainkan sebuah peran kunci dan mengorganisasi dan melatih pasukan Chechnya. (tahun 1994) ISI mengatur Basayev dan letnan kepercayaannya untuk menjalani indoktrinasi Islam dan dilatih perang di provinsi Khost di Afghanistan di kamp Amir Muawia. Di mulai awal tahun 1980 oleh CIA dan ISI dan dijalankan oleh panglima perang terkenal Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Bulan Juli, 1994, hingga kelulusan dari kamp Amir Muawia, Basayev dikirim ke Kamp Markaz-i-Dawar di Pakistan untuk menjalani pelatihan mempelajari menggunakan taktik dalam pertempuran. Di Pakistan, Basayev bertemu dengan pejabat militer dan intelejen Pakistan yang disegani: Menteri Pertahanan Jenderal Naserullah Babar dan kepala ISI yang selalu mendukung perjuangan umat Islam. Jenderal Javed Ashraf (semua telah pensiun). Koneksi-koneksi tingkat tinggi itu sangat berguna untuk Basayev.
23.Diikuti dengan pelatihan dan tugas indoktrinasi yang dijalankannya, Basayev ditunjuk untuk memimpin penyerangan terhadap tentara-tentara Federal Rusia dalam perang pertama Chechnya tahun 1995. Organisasinya juga telah mengembangkan jaringan-jaringan dengan sindikat-sindikat kejahatan di Moskow sebaik hubungannya dengan organisasi kejahatan Albania dan Angkatan Bersenjata Pembebasan Kosovo (KLA). Di tahun 1997-1998, menurut Dinas Intelejen Rusia (FSB) “Panglima Perang Chechnya mulai membeli (memborong) perumahan Real Estate di Kosovo...Juga beberapa perusahaan Real Estate yang terdaftar di Yugoslavia.”
24.Organisasi yang dijalankan Basayev juga meliputi sejumlah misi pengrusakan, antara lain (termasuk) perdagangan narkotik, illegal tapping dan sabotase saluran pipa minyak Rusia, penculikan, prostitusi dan perdagangan pemalsuan mata uang Dollar dan penyelundupan bahan-bahan nuklir.
25.Disamping terus melakukan pencucian uang dari hasil penjualan narkotika, pendapatan-pendapatan yang diperoleh dari aktivitas-aktivitas haram tersebut telah membantu ke arah rekrutmen sukarelawan perang dan pembelian persenjataan dalam jumlah besar. Selama masa pelatihannya di Afghanistan, Shamil Basayev mempunyai hubungan dengan veteran Mujahideen kelahiran Arab Saudi Komandan Al Khattab yang telah berperang sebagai seorang sukarelawan di Afghanistan. Tidak lama beberapa bulan setelah Basayev kembali ke Grozny, Khattab diundang (awal tahun 1995) untuk mendirikan sebuah markas/pangkalan militer di Chechnya untuk melatih para pejuang Mujahideen. Menurut BBC, Khattab ditempatkan ke Chechnya setelah diatur oleh International Islamic Relief Organisation yang bermarkas di Arab Saudi, sebuah organisasi relijius yang militant, didanai oleh mesjid-mesjid dan para orang kaya yang mengirimkan dananya ke Checnya.
26.Kesimpulan. Sejak era perang dingin, washington secara sadar telah membantu Osama Bin Laden, disaat yang sama menempatkan dirinya pada daftar orang yang paling dicari oleh FBI sebagai teroris paling berbahaya di dunia. Saat kelompok Mujahideen sibuk berperang untuk kepentingan Amerika di wilayah Balkan dan negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet, FBI dioperasikan sebagai sebuah US based police forced-dipersiapkan untuk berperang didalam begeri melawan teroris, beroperasi secara independen CIA mempunyai tugas antara lain sejak perang Soviet-Afghanistan-didukung oleh teroris internasional dalam melakukan operasi-operasi rahasia. Sebuah ironi yang tidak masuk akal, saat Kelompok Jihad Islam-menurut pemerintahan Bush sebagai sebuah ancaman bagi bangsa Amerika-dicurigai/dituduh sebagai teroris yang menyerang WTC dan Pentagon, disaat yang sama organisasi-organisasi Islam diberi wewenang sebuah instrumen kunci (peran) Amerika dalam operasi-operasi intelejen militer di wilayah Balkan dan di negara-negara pecahan Uni Soviet. Kebangkitan serangan-serangan teroris di New York dan Washington, kebenaran harus menang untuk mencegah pemerintahan BUSH bersama patner NATO-nya dari memulai sebuah petualangan perang yang akan mengancam masa depan nilai-nilai kemanusiaan.
Endnotes
Hugh Davies, International: Informers point the finger at Bin Laden; Washington on alert for suicide bombers, The Daily Telegraph, London, 24 August 1998. See Fred Halliday, “The Un-great game : the Country that lost the Cold War, Afghanistan, New Republic, 25 March 1996:
Ahmed Rashid, The Taliban: Exporting Extremism, Foreign Affairs, November-December 1999.
Steve Coll, Washington Post, July 19, 1992.
Dilip Hiro, Fallout from the Afghan Jihad, Inter Press Services, 21 November 1995.
Weekend Sunday (NPR); Eric weiner, Ted Clarck; 16 August 1998.
Ibid.
See Diego Cordovez and selig Harrison, Out of Afghanistan: The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995. See also the review of Cordovez and Harrison in Internatinal Press Service, 22 august 1995. Alfred McCoy, Drug fallout: the CIA’s Forty Year Complicity in the Narcotics Trade.
The Progressive; 1 August 1997.
Ibid
Ibid.
Douglas Keh, Drug Money in a changing World, Technical document no 4, 1998, Vienna UNDCP, p. 4. See also report of International Narcotics Control Board for 1999, E/INCB/1999/1 United Nations Publication, Vienna 1999, p 49-51, And Richard Lapper, UN Fears Growth of Heroin Trade, Financial Times, 24 February 2000. Report of the International Narcotics Control Board, op cit, p 49-51, see also Richard Lapper, op. cit.
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