First of all you're all the time OT so if you want spread your ideas please
put an OT in the title so the people interested in Nsd have not to read your
opinion about everything but Nostradamus.
Secondly because I already have read this post I would like to point out
that the GDP of US is more than 10.383 billion $ and just because you are so
worried about economic figures I let you know that all the Arab countries
together have a GDP of 712 billion $.

You can read by yourself in any of the human development report published by
ONU.
Regards
MArio

CRYSTAL CITY, Va. ? President Bush's willingness "to take a lot more
body bags" from the Iraqi war will plunge the United States economy
into a tailspin as European nations further distance themselves from
the war with boycotts of American markets, a Pulitzer Prize winning
journalist predicted on Friday.

"I just see very hard times ahead," Seymour Hersh, who broke the Abu
Ghraib prison detainee scandal story last spring in The New Yorker
magazine, said in a keynote address to about 100 people attending the
Military Reporters and Editors conference.

Hersh, a legend in journalism circles since he exposed the My Lai
massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, earned the Pulitzer
in 1969 for international reporting. Last spring, he again grabbed
worldwide attention by reporting the abuse of Iraqi war detainees who
were threatened with unmuzzled dogs, stripped naked and subjected to
other forms of what some believe was torture.

He said Bush's dismissal of opposition views on the war and his
insistence the United States push ahead against an insurgency Hersh
called "the war we started" will have profound impact on the economy.

"This president believes in what he's doing. He is prepared to take a
lot more body bags," he said. "He is going to fight this all the way.
The bombing has gone up exponentially ... How are we going to end this
if the president's convinced that he has to see this through?"

He predicted Europe will find new ways to "gang up on us." Key NATO
nations have resisted involvement in the war after the United Nations
refused to sanction the military assault that began in March 2003.
Some countries that did cooperate have since pulled out.

"You're going to see American profits disappear. American corporations
are going to be in big trouble. It's going to be a mantra not to buy
American," he said. "All our major manufacturers are reporting major
slowdowns in Europe. You're going to see the dollar disappear.
Economically, this country is going to be in trouble and he's going to
continue to fight this war."

Hersh suggested the administration open talks with the insurgency,
which he described as the only form of government existing in Iraq
today, to end the war. He acknowledged that's not likely, given Bush's
stance.

Hence, he said, journalists' jobs are tougher because government
officials won't speak openly about options, fearing retribution due to
Bush's perspective that opposition is equivalent to treason.

"There are people here in this town (Washington, D.C.) at high levels
and lower levels in the different agencies that know how bad it is,"
he said. "Getting them to talk is going to be the problem. I don't
think we can."

Hersh also predicted that White House Chief Counsel Alberto Gonzales,
nominated to replace John Ashcroft after he announced his resignation
as attorney general on Tuesday, will face a tough confirmation
hearing.

He said military lawyers, who he said "went crazy" in opposition to
Gonzales' legal opinions involving interrogation policies, will
testify against him. Those policies, some believe, led to the Abu
Ghraib scandal.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or

Not likely.

Tony