Two headlines in the Sun Journal Dec. 19 give reason to pause – “Bin Laden says he bankrupted the Soviet Union” and “Officials scoff at report of terrorist plan.”

Could it be that bin Laden, with the help of Bush, will win with no further Sept. 11s?

Could it be that he has already won?

The American debt is in the trillions. China and Japan already hold enough IOUs to bankrupt America. The war in Iraq goes on piling up more debt. Bush requests a few trillion more, to prepay the privatization of Social Security.

Billions more go into a technically bankrupt, ballistic missile defense system. More still is to be spent on a useless “Man on Mars” program. American jobs are being shipped overseas, while foreign goods flood our markets.

China and India threaten to take over America’s high-tech industries. The value of the dollar against the euro has reached dangerous lows. It is projected to drop below the 50 percent mark this year. The go-it-alone arrogance of this administration has isolated us from former admirers and colleagues while it has increased the anger and recruitment of potential terrorists.

Here at home, giveaways to corporations and tax refunds to the wealthy elite assure that the country will follow Russia into bankruptcy.

Why should bin Laden risk lives and money when a few film clips from some hideout someplace in the world threatening our oil, food, transportation or power supply drive Bush’s specious spiral of spending?

Bill Ellis, Rangeley

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