Eric Margolis

The long-awaited second act of President George Bush's worldwide `war against terrorism opened last week with the official announcement that 650 US troops would conduct `military exercises in the southern Philippines against the Muslim rebel movement, Abu Sayyaf.

Did the United States go to war with Afghanistan for Central Asian oil and gas? That's what many readers keep asking me. They clearly distrust the White House's jingoistic bombast about defending freedom and western values from evil Islamists. The answer is no, and yes.