In October 2001 President Bush created a new government department of 'Homeland Security' whose head would be a member of his cabinet.

Tom Ridge headed it as an adviser until the Congress formally approved its creation. This was done January 2003 when the Congress formally adopted the bill creating the department of Homeland Security. It is the biggest reshuffle of the US Administration in 55 years. Tom Ridge was confirmed in his job on January 22, 2003, when he became Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

This department will coordinate the work of the CIA, FBI, Coast Guards, Immigration Service, etc. Mrs Karen Hughes, a close adviser to the President, resigned on April 23 2002. Mrs Hughes, a pragmatic person, tried to keep the president on a central line. When she realised that he was moving even further to the right and, as she could not do anything about it, she resigned rather that being part of it. Her resignation allowed the more right wing advisers like Karl Rove to increase their influence on the president. In the middle of June 2002, it became clear that there was a split in the US Administration between the right-wingers, led by George Bush, vice president Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld and the more open-minded led by Colin Powell, the Secretary of State. This was particularly true in relation to the Middle East policy where Powell wanted to help the Palestinians, while Bush was openly pro-Israel, and ready to let the Israeli crush the Palestinians. Mr Powell is also preaching prudence when Bush threatens to attack Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Libya, and Syria. In other words, on one side we have a statesman, Colin Powell, and on the other a psychopath. The real question now is: will Colin Powell resigns, and when?

While visiting India and Pakistan in June 2002 to try to diffuse a possible war between these two nuclear countries over Kashmir, Donald Rumsfeld declared that many al-Qaida fighters had joined the Pakistanis terrorists who are infiltrating Indian Kashmir and are at the base of the present problems in the region. The next day, on the advice of his own staffers, he rectified his statement: there was no evidence that any al-Qaida fighters were operating in Kashmir. Just lies, as usual. At the beginning of September 2002, Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of the British MI5, criticised the US's response to the September 11 attack and added that she was not surprised by the al-Qaida action.

She is also of the opinion that the war on terrorism, as it is fought, will never be won. Most Muslims (61%) still doubt that Arabs were responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington DC. This was especially the case in Kuwait and Pakistan. A majority of Muslims (53%) have a negative opinion of the US and 58% dislike President Bush. They also believe (77%) that the US military action in Afghanistan was morally wrong.

On the other hand 70% of the Americans believe that Iraq supports terrorism, and 64% believe Iran does it too; moreover they believe (44%) that Saudi Arabia is a patron of terror, and 38% that North Korea is doing it too. Bush will spend the 2002 Thanksgiving weekend relaxing in his ranch in Texas. At the same time a court has told vice president Cheney to make public all the documents showing whom he met in 2001 while writing the government energy policy. It is believed that the energy industry influenced plans for more oil and gas drilling, and a revived nuclear power program. This could have led to the invasion of Iraq.

On January 14, 2003, the organisation "Human Right Watch" said that international support for the US war on terrorism is weakening because of human rights abuses by America. In particular, the detention at Guantanamo Bay of the so-called "Enemy combatants" without formal charge and access to lawyers, the closed-door deportation hearings of suspect terrorists, and the refusal to apply the Geneva Conventions to the prisoners, are judged very badly abroad. The White House disagreed, of course, and said that the US is "the world's leader" in promoting human rights. The problem is that all these lies convince only the American people, and few others outside the US.

A book became very popular in the USA at the end of March 2002. This best-selling book of the month is called 'Stupid White Men' and its author is Michael Moore. It accuses President Bush of being the 'thief-in-chief', '?the Idiot-in-Chief', a trespasser on federal land, a squatter at the oval office, and call for the Marines to be sent to evict him as well as the whole 'Bush Family Junta'. It claims that the USA is a country that 'goes out of its way to remain ignorant and stupid'. He also wrote: 'The bad guys are just a bunch of silly, stupid white men, and there is a lot more of us that there are of them'; 'People have had it with keeping silent for the past six months. They resent being somehow considered unpatriotic, if they chose to question what the government is up to or, God forbid, dissent with it on any subject.'

This editorial success contrasts with the still very high approval ratings of President Bush. The path of the Bush's administration did not change after September 11, 2001, quite the opposite: - On November 22, 2002, the anniversary of the death of President Kennedy, the Bush administration announced that the pollution rules would be relaxed. In other words, the industry does not have to install more efficient modern equipment to reduce pollution; they can, if they want, update their old equipment. The environmentalists, the democrats, and even some republicans were very critical of the decision even if it was expected, as Bush is dependent on the good wishes of these industries for money to be re-elected.

What shows really what he is like, is the fact that these new rules were announced while he was outside the country. Even the head of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), Christie Whitman, did not feel like announcing it herself, and left it to a junior assistant administrator in a briefing where cameras were forbidden. - President Bush signed a bill on November 26, 2002, that would reimburse the insurers up to $100-billion in a future terrorist attack. - On December 2, 2002, we were told that the White House authorised the CIA to kill any terrorists, including American citizens, working for al-Qaida in any foreign country.

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