"What the caterpillar calls the end of life, wise men call a butterfly."

In 1989 Dutch journalist Karel van Wolferen wrote an amazing book about the Japanese system called The Enigma of Japanese Power. It depicts a Japan alternately awed and disgusted by the world beyond its shores, governed by a puppet emperor in the service of the zaikaijin, a gerontocracy of businessmen who control the national economy, just as they have done for generations.

I think we need a similar book, "The Enigma of American Power." Who really holds the keys to the kingdom in Washington? Is it the politicians, the bureacracy or the corporations?

One of the keyholders is definitley The Carlyle Group. Follow that link and learn how former world 'leaders' and Washington insiders are making billions off the War on Terrorism.

Do the names Bush, Carlucci, Baker, Darman, Ramos, and Major mean anything to you? They are all ranking members of The Carlyle Group. Its own marketing literature spookily calls itself "a vast, interlocking, global network of businesses and investment professionals" that operates within the so-called iron triangle of industry, government, and the military. Among the firm's multi-million-dollar investors were members of the family of Osama bin Laden.

Strange bedfellows indeed!