Pancho Villa's Skull Intro

I find I must compose a brief preface to the following essay. I wrote it some time ago. It was, in fact, the original inspiration for this web site. I believed at the time, and still do, that I had noticed some intriguing parallels between the historical events surrounding Woodrow Wilson and President George W. Bush. On the other hand, I realized at once that almost no ordinary journal would want to publish these ideas. Even if I could get it printed, a few thousand people might read the article, and then forget about it a month later. Therefore, I decided to publish on the Internet, where it may remain indefinitely. For better or worse. Since writing the article, my views have changed slightly. Originally, I suspected--along with many others--that Villa's raid on New Mexico was a set-up by the American Government, authored by President Wilson himself.  I no longer think this likely. One thing that has changed my mind was reading The Zimmerman Telegram, by Barbara W. Tuchman (1965). This book is a Must Read for anyone seeking to understand how the U.S. got into World War I. Ms Tuchman examines the character of Woodrow Wilson in considerable depth. It appears that Wilson really did want to keep America out of the war. He believed the belligerent Europeans should sit down at a table and settle their differences like civilized gentlemen, while the United States acted as referee. The Europeans, of course, wanted none of that. Wilson comes off not so much as evil, as simply incompetent. I'm not sure which is the harsher judgment. Germany, on the other hand, had a vested interest in getting the U.S. involved in the Mexican civil war. The Germans hoped that if America got bogged down south of the border, she would not have enough resources left to assist England. Wilson was simply clueless. He was unable to decide which side to support in Mexico, nor could he keep his hands off. If it is true that Villa's raid was a set-up--and there's good reason to think it was--then it may have been engineered by German sympathizers in the American Government. Exactly who that may have been would be a subject for a major research project, far beyond my own means. My reason for writing the following article is to suggest that the Pancho Villa adventure may have been a successful template for the events of 911 and what followed.