The Agonist - Impeachment

PR Push for Iraq War Preceded Intelligence Findings

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:44:43 -0700

John Prados | Washington D.C | August 22

National Security Archive - "White Paper" Drafted before NIE even Requested
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 254

The U.S. intelligence community buckled sooner in 2002 than previously reported to Bush administration pressure for data justifying an invasion of Iraq, according to a documents posting on the Web today by National Security Archive senior fellow John Prados. The documents suggest that the public relations push for war came before the intelligence analysis, which then conformed to public positions taken by Pentagon and White House officials. For example, a July 2002 draft of the "White Paper" ultimately issued by the CIA in October 2002 actually pre-dated the National Intelligence Estimate that the paper purportedly summarized, but which Congress did not insist on until September 2002.

A similar comparison between a declassified draft and the final version of the British government's "White Paper" on Iraq weapons of mass destruction adds to evidence that the two nations colluded in the effort to build public support for the invasion of Iraq. Dr. Prados concludes that the new evidence tends to support charges raised by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan and by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in its long-delayed June 2008 "Phase II" report on politicization of intelligence.

[key findings in left sidebar]

Michael Collins: The People, the Press, and the Case for Impeachment

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:09:58 -0700

The People, the Press, and the Case for Impeachment

Support for impeachment in the past and on the hearing date. MSNBC, Zogby

House Justice Committee Hears Kucinich Resolution - Part 2

"When our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence they were not worried about political will, how much time there was, or about any parties' political future, they were just worried they were going to be hanged by the neck. But they did what was right. Now it is your time."
Elliott Adams, President, Veterans for Peace, testimony July 25, 2008

Michael Collins
Washington, DC (See Part 1)

The July 25, 2008 House Committee on the Judiciary hearings focused on the Kucinich resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush. In his resolution, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) argues that Bush knew that the Iraqis had no weapons of mass destruction, yet claimed that they did in order to justify the March 2003 invasion. The "fraudulent misrepresentations," as they're referred to in the resolution, cost lives, compromised national security, and represented a clear abuse of constitutional power. The evidence supporting these claims is highly persuasive.

Congressional witnesses review their critique of the president. Representatives Kucinich (D-OH), Hinchey (D-NY), Miller (D-NC), and Jones (R-NC) Image: M. Collins cc

For the most part, the witness statements from House members and the panel of invited witnesses contain specific justifications for impeachment. The Kucinich resolution for impeachment, H. Res 1345, offers a concentrated body of evidence substantiating the charges and demonstrates the main charge in the resolution: the president knew that he was misrepresenting the facts about Iraq at the time he was doing it.

In the resolution, Rep. Kucinich lists corrections for each of the false assertions made by the president to justify the Iraq invasion. In addition, the resolution provides excerpted evidence and sources to support each correction of the president's fabricated rationale.

The statements in single quotes in the Kucinich resolution text below are from the president's justifications for war. From the resolution:

1. Iraq was not 'continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability.'
2. Iraq was not 'actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability.'
3. Iraq was not 'continuing to threaten the national security interests of the United States.'
4. Iraq did not have the 'willingness to attack, the United States.'
5. Iraq had no connection with the attacks of 9/11 or with al-Qaida's role in 9/11.
6. Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction to transfer to anyone.
7. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and therefore had no capability of launching a surprise attack against the United States or its Armed Forces or to provide them to international terrorists who would do so.
8. There was not a real risk of an 'extreme magnitude of harm that would result to the United States and its citizens from such an attack' because Iraq had no capability of attacking the United States.
9. The aforementioned evidence did not 'justify the use of force by the United States to defend itself' because Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, or have the intention or capability of using the nonexistent WMDs against the United States.
10. Since there was no threat posed by Iraq to the United States, the enactment clause of the Senate Joint Resolution 45 was predicated on misstatements to Congress. H. Res. 1345 (alternate link)

The facts from that time don't come close to justifying the use of force. As demonstrated in the resolution, the president's case for war was based on "fraudulent representations made to Congress," the military, and the citizens of the United States.

See the draft of H. Res. 1345 at AfterDowingStreet.Org for direct links to the primary sources used in the resolution. The Library of Congress (THOMAS) and this alternate site have the official versions of the resolution, modified somewhat from the draft.

This information and more has been known for years to many citizens, particularly those who actively work for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Hundreds of them waited hours to get a seat in the public hearing which accommodated less than twenty of those who had waited in line.

Citizens Share Their Wisdom - 5:00 am Early Responders on Capitol Hill

As it turned out, the earliest arrivals for the hearings were from the key states responsible for the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution, Virginia and Massachusetts, and the city in which they were developed, debated, and adopted, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Bill Perry and Sam Adams, two of the several representatives from Philadelphia's Delaware Valley Veterans for America, were on also present just before 5:00 am, as well. Perry and Adams, Viet Nam veterans had just worked on "A Sea of Tombstones: The Cost of War" mourning the Iraq war dead. When asked about claims that impeachment might hurt national security, Perry said clearly, "We are national security" and pointed out that the war makes us more rather than less vulnerable as a nation. Adams was clear on the necessity for impeachment: "We have to do it so the next guy down the road won't do the same thing."

Image: Jack Semper Fi Kline
Philadelphia's Delaware Valley Veterans for America "A Sea of Tombstones" memorial to U.S. soldiers lost in Iraq. Independence Hall is in the background. It was the nation's capitol for a time during the revolution and the building in which both the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were debated. The Liberty Bell is located nearby.

Rain Burroughs, Mary Genther-Carter, and Chris Dorsey of RVA4Peace got up very early and drove from Richmond, Virginia to Washington, DC for the impeachment hearings. They arrived before 5:00 am. When asked why impeach Bush this late in his term, Dorsey responded, "It's never too late for accountability." Burroughs had a special point to make by attending the hearings. Along with her seven year old daughter, she'd been removed from a 2007 Fourth of July celebration by Richmond police for displaying a sign containing the word "Impeach." Genther-Carter was just glad to be there even though she needed to be back in Richmond for work in mid afternoon.

David Swanson, another Virginian, also arrived very early. Swanson has been a constant advocate for White House accountability, impeachment, and an end to the occupation of Iraq. As the head of AfterDowningStreet.Org, he provides and hosts much of the key information on the hearings, including videos of the July 25 hearings.

When asked what he'd say to those who said this is too late and a waste of time, Swanson was quick to respond stating that there are "many reasons why that's absolute nonsense." He pointed to the overwhelming proof that the reasons for the Iraq invasion were fabricated, the undeniable admissions concerning FISA violations, and asked, "What's this second to?" Swanson also pointed out that there's no need for a prolonged impeachment process since the proof is already in place and widely available.

Robert Feuer from Stockbridge, Massachusetts, made a point of arriving early to the impeachment hearing line. He's campaigning hard against incumbent Rep. John Oliver (D-MA) in the Democratic primary for the Massachusetts 1st congressional district. A small town lawyer, Feuer is outraged that his representative has ignored the will of the people expressed at town hall meetings across the district. Oliver, he reports, admits that he's fully aware that many towns have voted in favor of impeachment by huge margins but refuses to support the effort. Feuer hopes to replace Oliver and solve at least that problem.

It would have been impossible to keep Stuart Hutchison out of the capitol on the day of the hearings. He founded New Jersey Impeach Groups, one of the most active impeachment organizations in the country. He outlined his motivation for impeachment in no uncertain terms:

"The biggest threat to the security of the United States is not Osama bin Laden. The most severe threat's not Iran or Musharraf or the Taliban in Afghanistan, and it's not al-Qaeda. None of these has the power to defeat the United States, not one can undo American democracy. The USA does suffer a grave threat to its security, a clear and present danger to the future of every person in our country, and it's led by Dick Cheney, George Bush, and the gang they put together who overthrew the government of the United States in November 2000."

Press Coverage - General Indifference and Tepid Denial by the Dwindling Elite

The mainstream media continued to lag far behind everyday citizens by ignoring the big issues while ridiculing those who take the lead in addressing vital concerns.

Class Clown Dana Milbank of the Washington Post

Dana Milbank successfully defended his title as class clown of the Washington press corps in a column that was so divorced from reality one wonders if he even attended or watched the hearings. He began with this:

"It seems that we are hosting an anger management class," Republican Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas told his colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee yesterday morning.

"He had a point." Washington Post, July 26, 2008

He continued by endorsing Republican committee member wise cracks and disparaging Chairman John Conyers (D-OH) handling of the event.

Milbank wrote a 2005 hit piece on Conyers in which he mocked the hearings held by the Michigan Democrat on the Downing Street Memo. Labeled "Secret and Personal - for UK Eyes," the July, 2002 secret report by a British foreign policy aid described meetings with Bush-Cheney representatives which included plans for war based on political not security reasons.

"Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.

"It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin.

Matthew Rycroft, July 23, 2002, reported in the London TimesOnline, May 1, 2005

Milbank failed to note the tens of thousands of deaths and injuries suffered by U.S. soldiers. He missed the 1.0 million plus dead Iraqi civilians resulting from the civil strife caused by the invasion. And one wonders if he even knew about the 5.0 million Iraqi children orphaned by the war.

These highly relevant facts were an inconvenience to Milbank who brushed them aside for his humorous approach to the national tragedy enabled by gross violations of the Constitution and a total lack of common decency. The facts are also more than inconvenient for the paper that supports his tasteless humor, the Washington Post, which has so faithfully supported the aggressive and violent foreign policy.

Maybe Milbank and his editor should read their own poll on the public assessment of their man: "Nearly 6 in 10 -- 58 percent -- said they have doubts about Bush's honesty, the first time in his presidency that more than half the country has questioned his personal integrity." Washington Post, Nov. 4, 2004

The Paper that thought Judith Miller fit to print - New York Times

The New York Times didn't think that the hearing was worth covering. A July 27 search of their news database, "newest first," resulted in nothing for "John Conyers, Jr." A similar search produced nothing since January 25, 2008 for "Kucinich." It's not hard to understand why The Times wants to avoid a hearing about "fraudulent representations" by the Bush, Cheney, etc. leading to death, destruction and national bankruptcy. They were full participants in the national disaster through their relentless barrage of propaganda offered up by their once star reporter, Judith Miller.

At least the Times had the decency to avoid the wildly inappropriate humor and flippant mockery that the Post endorsed from columnist Milbank.

Associated Press - Los Angeles Times

The AP article showed a degree of rationality until the reporter tipped his hand. After sparse coverage of the panel of distinguished witnesses, their choice for mockery by proxy emerged:

"One witness, law professor Jeremy Rabkin of George Mason University, said he was "astonished at the mood in this room."

"The tone of these deliberations is slightly demented," Rabkin said.

"You should all remind yourselves that the rest of the country is not necessarily in this same bubble in which people think it is reasonable to describe the president as if he were Caligula." Associated Press, July 26, 2008

Did the Associated Press know that law professor and climate change skeptic Rabkin wrote an article called "Gitmo detainees are not ordinary felons" in which he minimizes abuse there and fails to mention extreme punishments and torture? We have to wonder if Rabkin ever read this or this about Guantanamo or looked at the photographs from Abu Ghraib.

The AP reporter chose to end the article with academic Rabkin's implication that supporting impeachment is the equivalent of seeing Bush "as if he were Caligula." Most members of a high school debate team would easily note that this statement involves at least two logical fallacies - "poisoning the well" and a "false dilemma." In addition, it's simply wrong. So much for AP sourcing.

From this review of the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Associated Press, it's clear that motivated citizens are more informed and generate much better analysis than the press.

The People Know

A clear majority of citizens knew that the war in Iraq was a bad idea from the start. In mid December 2002, a majority of Republicans and Democrats opposed an invasion prior to the completion of thorough weapons inspections. Citizens are clear that Bush is one of the very worst presidents in our history. They never did and never will abide by the viscous torture administered at the order of the Bush-Cheney zealots. And they're not likely to "close this chapter and move on" without a full investigation the events leading to war and those responsible.

In fact, it's reasonable to predict that the majority of citizens will be adamant in their demands for answers to the following questions.

How were the White House and many in the top tier of the media able to spread "fraudulent misrepresentations" about Iraq?

Given the deliberate misrepresentations that justified the war, isn't the president directly responsible for the tens of thousands lost and injured U.S. soldiers and the over 1.0 million Iraqi citizens killed in civil strife? What responsibility do his subordinates and the enablers in the media bear for the deaths and injuries?

How can they justify a $3.0 trillion dollars for a war based on lies and who benefited?

How could the president and his supporters conduct a war against people who supposedly "hate our freedoms" by taking away those freedoms as quickly as possible? What motivation was there to remove fundamental constitutional guarantees?

How do citizens make sure that open hearings take place and that justice follows?

The July 25, 2008 congressional was just the beginning.

"The decision before us is whether to demand accountability for one of the gravest injustices imaginable.

"The decision before us is whether Congress will stand up to tell future Presidents that America has seen the last of these injustices, not the first.

"I believe the choice is clear.

"I ask this committee to think, and then to act, in order to enable this Congress to right a very great wrong and to hold accountable those who have misled this Nation."

The Honorable Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), July 25th, 2008

The citizens of the United States face the same challenge. Now it's our turn.

END

Note: Mr. Bugliosi used the figure of 100,000 dead U.S. soldiers and Iraqis. I use a much higher figure. Mr. Bugliosi is, no doubt, referring to official death count of the military plus the specific death reporting process operated by Iraq Body Count. This formalized process is the type of evidence better suited for a court of law. The 1.0 million plus dead Iraqi civilians comes from two surveys, one by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the other, a several times updated survey research project by the Opinion Research Business (ORB), a polling firm in Great Britain. These well executed survey research efforts are best used to understand the actual impact of the war. The two figures are not contradictory. They represent different levels of data gathering.

See AfterDowningStreet.Org for general impeachment resources and the House Committee on the Judiciary web site for this hearing. See the House database for the current copy of H. Res. 1345, the impeachment resolution and track it at GovTrack.us. See the hearings on video at AfterDowingStreet.Org.

Permission granted to reproduce in part of whole with attribution of authorship, a link to this article, and acknowledgment of images.

No Discourse for Americans

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:50:14 -0700

There is no “Left” and “Right” in the mainstream political scene today. There are nuances of liberal thought in the Obama campaign, but that is terribly overshadowed by the “thought police” in his campaign that don’t want to give the McCain people any “talking points” that they can use against him. This particular episode in US history is very unfortunate. The fact that the Democrats must play the role of the quasi-belligerent and bellicose imperialists, in order to thwart the rhetoric of John McCain is a crime in itself. This type of behavior and rhetoric dooms the American people to a campaign that disallows the type of discourse that we so desperately need in this nation.

The articles I’ve written in the past few weeks have garnered e-mails from people that I never expected to hear from. My series on “American Complicity” have been published on many progressive sites and the response has been overwhelming. The outpouring of sentiment that this writer has received makes it very clear to me that the Mainstream Media has failed to provide the type of dialogue that the American people need to have with each other. Correspondence that I’ve received has not just come from Americans; I have received heartfelt letters from people in Israel, Mexico and Canada that decry what has happened in America in the last few decades. I wish I could write to all the people that have written me and tell them that the American people are indeed waking up from their long slumber and see what this nation is doing in the name of “The American People”, but I can’t. The dialogue between not right and left, but right and wrong, just isn’t being discussed with the public at large.

There is in this country since 9/11 a disturbing and dangerous perception in this country that it’s “us against them”. The same incident has spawned fears for some that our own government has been in some way either complicit or actually involved in the attacks. This incident and the feelings that people have about the causes and involvement of whomever was responsible are rarely talked about in public. The War in Iraq is also a subject that many Americans don’t speak about in mixed company, not wanting to lay their cards out on the table for their neighbors and co-workers to see. We discuss “polls” and articles we have read to gauge what others think. The only time we hear strong anti-war sentiment is on the internet or from speeches made at rallies and protests. The truths we hear and read stay in our minds and are very rarely brought out in public. The silence is deafening.

We have a chance at discourse and debate about where this nation is heading. Like so many others I have hoped that this Presidential election would bring out the thoughts and aspirations of Americans that want to turn this nation around and bring it back to some type of sanity. We hear phrases about “The wrong War at the wrong time”, and in the second breath we hear that “All options are on the table” in regards to Iran. Sometimes I wonder if this nation hasn’t developed a nationwide form of schizophrenia. I watch us encircle Russia with a missile defense system. Their protests go unheeded not only by our government, but the American people. I see this nation’s currency devalued day by day as the price of everything rises. Gasoline, heating fuel, electricity, commodities rise while paychecks remain stagnant and many are out of work altogether. All of this occurs while no-bid contracts to war contractors and war appropriations take their daily toll from the lives of working American’s in our attempt to “Americanize” the Middle-East continues.
There are no real debates on the merits of our foreign policy that tries to enforce a Pax Americana on the rest of the world. There are no real debates on the Mainstream Media about the 35 counts of Impeachment that Rep. Dennis Kucinich valiantly brought to the floor of Congress, unless that is, you are on the e-mail list of progressive organizations that are fighting for true justice that is being ignored by the major media outlets. That this current President has broken the law many times and lied to the American people, is being pushed to the background because it may interfere with the political aspirations of the Democrats. This in itself is a travesty of justice.

Someday the American people will indeed wake up and see what this nation has done in their name. They will see what we have done in the name of this “Global War on Terror” that was invented to keep our Military-Industrial-Complex running. We have replaced the Soviet Union with Muslim fanatics. We have replaced our own national interests with political aspirations of those inside of Washington. We have replaced commonsense with our common fear. This cannot continue forever, I can only hope that we can come to terms with what we have wrought before it is too late to recover, if it isn’t too late already.

An Open Letter to The Obama Campaign

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:47:27 -0700

This is directed to Barack Obama and the people that make up his campaign. The rhetoric from the campaign is that Senator Obama wants to be the President of all the American people. The tone of the campaign is that he wants to be the President of all the American people that blindly accept the current status quo. When I say this I’m talking about the people that blindly accept that this nation’s economy is based on the Military Industrial Complex. Our largest industries are manufacturing airplanes, helicopters, tanks, munitions and weapons of war.

These aren’t the only things that the American people accept as the status quo. The mainstream media that is owned and operated by the corporate entities that fund the majority of politicians campaigns and only let the majority of Americans hear the news tat they want them to hear. The same mainstream media that hyped the Iraqi War and fails to tell us when the government enacts measures to curtail our civil liberties. The same mainstream media that helps to select our candidates for office and keeps them from talking about the issues that many Americans are actually concerned about.

We heard your speech at AIPIAC and we are supposed to believe that you seek to turn America back into a peace loving nation that respects International Law? We are supposed to blindly accept that Iran is major threat to Americans and support Israel like it’s our 51st State? What has Israel done for my family except to fund politicians that desire more intervention in the Middle-East? Don’t you realize that only 20% of Jewish-Americans donate to AIPAC and that the rest are predominantly Liberal Democrats? Why must you pander to the right? Is being President so important to you that you would sell your soul?

I write for the left in America. My articles have been headlined on most liberal-left websites. I am not a rich man, nor am I an influential politician. Still, more people probably read my articles that the columnists in the New York Times. I receive letters from people everyday that are sick at heart over what this nation has become. I hear about people that want a revolution to stop the excesses of America and its militaristic agenda for resources. Why are you not addressing these people? Don’t these disenfranchised people that feel that the government has usurped their authority and brought this great nation to economic ruin worth your attention? How long can we attempt to obtain Pax Americana? The majority of people in this nation do not wish empire. The majority of Americans want to rebuild our infrastructure and send our children to world-class schools so that they can compete in the 21st Century.

How can you remain silent while the current President rattles our sabers against Iran? How can you be silent while a courageous Congressman from your own party brings 35 Articles of Impeachment against the most outrageous criminal that ever sat in the Oval Office? This is a man that according to Lancet, is responsible for over one million two hundred thousand deaths of innocent Iraqi people! How can you remain silent when American Forces are operating inside Iran trying to overthrow their regime? How can you remain silent when this President authorizes the National Security Agency to wiretap every American citizen without a warrant? Where is your sense of right and wrong? You were a Constitutional scholar, where is your concern for the Constitution?
Our Constitution is in tatters. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 has been just about overturned in the Supreme Court. The Patriot Acts 1 & 2 are unjustified. The John Warner Defense Act (The re-vamped Insurrection Act) that usurps Posse Comitatus is unconscionable. The Presidential Directive 51 that is supposed to provide continuity of government in the event of a calamity is left for the President, not Congress, to decide. This, even though he won’t let Congress see it! Where is your outrage at the 1100 signing statements that lets this President ignore the laws that Congress passes?

We went to the polls in 2006 and tried to put a stop to these abuses of the Neo-Cons in our government. We installed a Democratic House and Senate and still the abuse of government continued. We understand how corporate entities provide you and your ilk with campaign funds. You may win this election by remaining in what you and your “advisors” believe is the “center”. You probably will. I would just like to make it perfectly clear to you that while you may have the hearts and minds of those that don’t think, or those that consider you “the lesser of two evils”, you are not winning the hearts and minds of those that see America going down a long dark road. Maybe you would want to consider that the next time you dream of the White House and the power of the Presidency. Think about this the next time you threaten another nation.

American Complicity III

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:36:40 -0700

These are the darkest days that I’ve ever seen in this country. There are so many Americans walking around completely clueless about what is really happening in this country. I’ve been wondering why the government has released so many formerly “Secret” files on how we overturned governments around the world and how we forced “regime changes” and how many people we were responsible for helping to massacre since the end of WWII. I think I’ve figured it out. It isn’t that out government “wants to come clean”, rather it wants to inure the American people to bloodshed for economic reasons.

This way Americans can say; “Well we’ve been doing it all along, what’s the difference now?” So what if we’ve dropped white phosphorus and napalm on the city of Falluja? So what if we have dumped 350 tons of depleted uranium on Iraq, so what if Lancet reports that we have killed over one million two hundred thousand innocent Iraqi’s? Isn’t this the cost they must pay to be part of the American Empire? The hydrocarbon laws that demand 80% of the oil fields in Iraq should be part of their payment for “freeing” them. They just don’t realize that we’re just trying to bring them “democracy”. We all know that Americans are the “good guys”. Didn’t we prove that in Vietnam when we incinerated the villages with napalm and poisoned their country with Agent Orange? Didn’t we take care of our soldiers when they came back from Indochina with horrendous rashes, breathing problems and cancer? Just because it took us 25 years to do so, at least we did it, right?

So all of the “liberal” Democrats and “Progressives” are all proclaiming Barack Obama the second coming of Christ, it doesn’t bother them that he managed to garner $350 million for his campaign. Didn’t he get that money from the people that had their houses foreclosed on and the college students that are paying off student loans and the working stiffs that are working two or three jobs to keep their heads above water? That’s what he says, but we all know it’s not true. Check out www.opensecrets.org and see where his money came from. He’s been bought by the corporate kingmakers. You can all refuse to believe, but the figures don’t lie. Get ready, the Republicans will be bringing this out soon enough. Damn, screwed again!

What is wrong with us? Why do we fall for the same things over and over again? Two days ago, Dennis Kucinich brought 35 counts of impeachment against George W. Bush and the mainstream media even hardly mentioned it! I heard those scathing indictments and it made my blood boil! People claim that it won’t do any good to impeach the criminal because he’s almost out of office. How do you know that? After all the crimes this man has pulled off, what makes you think he won’t implement Presidential Directive 51 after he attacks Iran? You don’t know, do you? That’s not the only reason to impeach, why let him give out blanket pardons before he leaves office?

People say that I bring up the same things over and over. There is a reason I do this. The reason is that all of you so called “Progressives” can’t get it through your head that not only is the Executive Branch a criminal organization, but Congress is an accomplice. If you say you know all of this, than guess what? That makes all of you complicit! You all complain but do nothing. If you had a pedophile in your neighborhood that was abusing little kids and you did nothing, you would be complicit. That is exactly what the American people are doing when the United States drops napalm and white phosphorus on Iraqi cities and you do nothing. It’s no wonder that the world hates us. I hate us. I’m just a simple guy from Long Island that sees us starting wars of aggression and killing innocent civilians in the most barbaric ways. I see us trying to establish a Pax Americana at the expense of other nations. I see our country ruled by corporate interests, the oil companies, the defense industry and the investment bankers and nobody seems to care.

We can’t even guarantee the integrity of our elections! The media is run by corporate interests and the average American has absolutely no idea what the truth really is! The President wiretaps all Americans without so much as a warrant and he still gets off the hook. Where’s the outrage? Where is the sense of right and wrong? Are American’s brain dead? Whatever they are, most of them are complicit in not stopping the excesses of this government. We are as complicit as the German people that enabled Hitler to do what he managed to do. Where is this going to end? Will it end when Russia and China finally realize that enough is enough? Will it take millions dead on the deserts of the Middle-East, or worse in the Midwest? Will it take mushroom clouds on our cities to make us understand that we can not go on like this? How long do you believe that the rest of the world will let us behave like conquerors?

What about what your children are learning? Will they be good little fascists and salute the flag every morning in school as they learn that we invaded another nation for their resources? Is this the legacy you want to leave them? Is this our “American Morality”? You have to decide where you stand. We can’t vote our way out of this. The candidates are both talking aggression. Only the people can make a difference. We must voice our concerns and raise holy hell! If you choose the easy way out, whatever happens, you are complicit. This situation is wrong and each one of you with any sense knows it. This is the time to make your stand. Organize, demonstrate and agitate. This is still our country, at least it was before the corporations and the military hijacked it.

We American Spartans

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:27:22 -0700

Progressive Americans, that’s a joke. Barack Obama promised change and one of the first things he did after clinching the Democratic nomination, was to continue the rhetoric of the Bush Administration. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like a knife has been driven through my heart, and I didn’t even support him! The truth is what’s happened to this country? I’m no fool, I know that we have been involved in toppling unfriendly governments and have started imperialistic wars for a long time now. The difference between then and now is that America no longer looks after just it’s “interests”, it wants control of everything.

This is evident in the way that we allocate our budget. There are other nations in this world that have re-made their skylines into cities that look like futuristic panoramas out of a science fiction novel. America still looks basically the same since the 70’s. The only difference you can discern are the cookie-cutter malls with the same branded stores. We have no real mass transit that is any better than it was. There are other nations that run their trains in maglev technology. Our infrastructure is falling apart. The Middle-Class is disappearing, and our industry is being outsourced to nations that can not only make things cheaper, but better.

Oh, but we have a military machine that is the envy of the world. We have space technology that can tell you the date on a dime lying on the sidewalk from a hundred miles in space. We have infra-red viewers that can tell how many people are in an apartment building. Our government can monitor any telephone conversation it wishes. We spend 51% of our budget on the military, and Obama wants to increase that. Why?

Who is our enemy? Is Iran the big bad force to be reckoned with? Are they going to invade New York and lock us into concentration camps? We are so concerned with Israel. What have they done for us? Do they protect American citizens and keep us safe? The reality of the situation is that they pay off our politicians and it’s almost impossible to run a national campaign without the support of AIPAC. Israel can take care of itself. The reason we are in the Middle-East is not Israel, but for the oil. The truth be known, we have all the oil we need in Alaska. The real truth is that we could have reduced our military spending and started research on energy alternatives.

This is an Imperialistic country that I’m afraid is no better that Germany was in the last century. Germany never fought a war of aggression according to its government. They were always “defensive wars”. We are doing the very same thing. We interfere in every country we deem “offensive”. Is it any wonder that the world hates us? I’m beginning to hate my own country. I served almost 21 years in Army green and I’m disgusted at what I see.

We have a few rational people in our government that stand for what is right. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Rep. Ron Paul, Sen. Russ. Feingold, Rep. Robert Wexler, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Bernie Sanders and others, their voices go unheard by the majority of ill-educated or politically inept Americans. Critical thinking has all but disappeared in this nation. There are very few Americans that question authority. When Obama promised “Change” without actually telling us what that change was, many Americans rallied to his cause. This writer sees no change in Obama’s message. All I see is the same rhetoric that every imperialist in America echo’s. It seems that we have been taken for another long ride.

I don’t want to attack Iran, and I don’t believe that most people in this country want to attack Iran. Hezbollah and Hama’s don’t threaten my family. The Quds force is no concern of mine. This is a ploy to dominate the Middle-East. This is all propaganda to involve Americans in a fight that is not ours. We want to control the Middle-East. That is fact, not fiction. The best way any American could stop our criminal government from attempting to do this is to call your Congressmen and Senators and tell them to support Impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney. We must also pressure Obama to recant his recent statements to AIPAC and pressure him to return to his pre-nomination support for a withdrawal from Iraq.

This is in all our interests. We have a mind-set in Washington of war and more war. Our entire economy is built upon the Military-Industrial-Complex that Eisenhower warned us about. We manufacture weapons of war that drives our economy. We manufacture airplanes, tanks, Humvees and other weapons of war. This is our economy. We are more like Sparta than Athens. If we abruptly stopped this war industry, we would sink like a rock. We must get out of the business of war and return to a peace-time economy. I know this article will fall on deaf ears, but all I can tell myself is at least I tried. Just remember what Senator Mike Gravel said to Obama in the second Democratic debate “Who do you want to nuke Barack”!”

Bush Needs to be Impeached NOW!

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:45:08 -0700

If there is one thing that Dennis Kucinich has, it’s the courage to tell the truth, even when the deck is stacked against him. In this case he has an entire Congress (or most of them) that seem to want go along to get along. It will be a cold day in hell when the Articles of Impeachment that he delivered in Congress last night, all 35 of them, ever get out of the Committee where they will sit on them until the new elections , mainly because the majority of Democrats in the House have no sense of justice and of course, no spine.

I was glued to C-Span last night. I was mesmerized by the litany of abuses that this sitting President has perpetrated on not only the people of America, but the World. Step by step, Kucinich meticulously brought every charge against George W. Bush and backed those charges up with times, dates and testimony from Administration insiders. This Congressman has done his homework; there was not a single thing I believe he missed. There were a few things that I didn’t even know this President was responsible for, and I follow him like a hawk.

Submitted to Buzzflash and to Digg

Rep. Dennis Kucinich read each charge in the same way. He always invoked the phrase that Bush failed to live up to his oath and protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He ten went to Article 2, section 3 that he must he must faithfully execute the laws of the land. Rep. Kucinich went on to make 35 charges against the President. He mentioned the flawed intelligence leading up to the Iraq War that The President had prior knowledge of and he used this flawed knowledge to deceive Congress. He talked of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) which issued White Papers with fraudulent information that Iraq was manufacturing nuclear weapons.

Kucinich also brought up as an article of impeachment, the fact that Bush had known about the National Intelligence Estimate that Iran had stopped their nuclear weapons program in 2003, yet he continued to claim that they were close to manufacturing a nuclear weapon, even though they knew that this information had been discounted by US intelligence.

The Articles’ of Impeachment numbered 35. Each was more damning than the one before. He made the case that of this Administration’s systematic deception that was aimed directly at the American people so that this Administration could pursue what it thought appropriate, regardless of the laws of the United States.

You will be able to see the entire broadcast of Rep. Kucinich’s appearance very soon. I watched it live for over three hours. Everything from the President’s cover-up of Global Warming, to the NSA spying on American citizens was mentioned. The case to me was rock solid. There were so many abuses of power of the Bush Administration that even if the judiciary committee threw out half of the articles of impeachment, there would be more than enough evidence to remove Bush from office.

This MUST be done so that Bush cannot pardon the people in his administration. He must be removed from office to show the American people that we will never suffer another law-breaking tyrant in the Executive Branch. His Impeachment proceedings against Vice-President Cheney are still in the Judicial Committee. Why? When is Congress going to take their Constitutional Oversight responsibilities seriously? To this writer, it seems that we don’t have on dysfunctional branch of government, we have two. Congress needs to wake up and go to work. Even in this election cycle they still have an obligation to do their jobs that we pay them for. The things that I heard last night, again and again, made me quite disgusted with my government. This has got to stop, and today is as good a day as any.

We know that the Republicans will try to stop this impeachment proceeding. The question I have for the Republicans is how can they stop these proceedings in good conscience when they understand the number of laws that this President has broken? Is it good government to let “one of your own” willfully flaunt the laws of this nation and thumb his nose at the Constitution? That would be a travesty. It would not bode well for these Republicans in their election efforts now that the truth has been told. We need to get past this criminal administration and bring the rule of law back to this country. We are viewed by the World as a “Rogue State”, a country that willfully ignores the Geneva Conventions and The World Court. This American has been ashamed of his nation’s performance over the last seven years. I’m sure that many Americans other than this one are feeling the same way. At this particular point, your party affiliation should not enter the picture. What is wrong is wrong and that should be the standard, regardless of the office one holds. This is a country of law. When those laws are broken and circumvented, we lose the basic principles of whom and what we are. President Bush should be held to the same standard that we hold all Americans. To do less would impugn our reputation and make America a nation that let’s itself be dominated by lawbreakers.

The Democrats Need to Be Spanked, and Spanked Hard

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:44:20 -0700

This has been coming for a long time. I’ve been watching the politicians in Washington very closely to see exactly how they intended to manage an administration that is so extremely neo-conservative that they are dangerous to this country and the world. I’ve seen heroic stances by some like Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, Patrick Leahy, Russ Feingold and even Ron Paul. However, this is not enough. We’ve seen Cynthia McKinney disenfranchised as well as others that have stood up to tyranny and war. Meanwhile, while all of this has taken place, the Democratic Party has been split down the middle and has offered no protection or support to any that oppose the horrendous regime in Washington.

Now the Democrats tell us that they will end this war in Iraq, yet no candidate will agree to pull out of the country, telling us that we will have a “presence” there for years. The Democrats have fallen short of every stated goal that they promised during the 2006 Congressional Elections. They have supported funding at every request from this administration for more useless carnage in Iraq. The Speaker of the House took impeachment “off the table” and it’s still off the table, even though this President declared that he authorized torture in violation of US and International Law. The Democrats have played politics with the revisions of our basic Constitutional rights as witnessed by the Patriot Act 1 and 2, The Military Commissions Act of 2006 that negated Posse Comitatus, the law that was written to prevent the President or anyone else from using the military for law enforcement inside the US, unless mandated by Congress.

Those examples of the breakdown of Constitutional Government are just a few of the draconian measures that have been put forth since this phony ‘Global War on Terror” started on 9/11/2001. To this day we have not positively identified who was responsible for the attacks. The government tells us who did it, but no formal investigation and charges have been made, while the Democrats have sat on their hands in fear. This behavior from Democrats has been going on for the last seven years. Now we are embroiled in a General Election and they have the audacity to ask us to support their corporate controlled candidates.

Corporate control, or should I say the Military Industrial Complex, are the puppet masters behind the scenes of both major political parties. So far the candidates have spent $586.1 Million and raised $791.8 Million dollars for their political coffers. This is before the General Election segment of the race for President. The cost of becoming President will run into the Billions for the first time in American history. Meanwhile, candidates that don’t tow the corporate MIC line are marginalized and thrown off debates. This has been happening for decades now, and neither party has addressed this issue of corporate money in politics save John McCain and Russ Feingold that introduced a campaign reform bill that was too little, too late.

I know what the Republicans that control their party want. They are very vocal about what it is that drives them. Although they have outspent every prior administration in history they claim that they want “fiscal responsibility”. They also believe in faith based initiatives, something that is actually prohibited by our Constitution that proposes a separation of church and state. The majority of Republicans actually support this war in the Middle East, although I believe not as many as the GOP thinks. Still, the Republicans are forthright in what they stand for. I may not agree with them, but I understand them.

Not so the Democrats that say they that they are against the war and want to restore the Constitution. I believe nothing of what they claim to stand for when I see the people that work for the two Democratic contenders. I see their campaign donations and I realize that they are backed by the same MIC that backs Republican candidates. “Republican Light” is not just a clever description of the Democratic Party. It is a cold hard fact in this 21st Century. The Democrats pander to the liberal/left, but they will not support anything that we propose. They mollify us in the hope that we will dutifully back the “lesser of two evils”. This type of reasoning has also gone on too long. I believe that Americans that believe in Liberal principles are totally fed up with the political machines that run Washington, and their collusion with lobbyists and their backing by the MIC.

The Democrats have dug their own grave by inaction and a lack of decisiveness on almost every issue that is presented to them. John Conyers is a perfect example of a stooge. He calls for impeachment and asks for co-sponsors on his bill, and when he gets the number that will co-sponsor the bill, he raises the ante and claims he needs more. Is this the “checks and balances” that the American people expect from the opposition party? Meanwhile, our President is guilty of a multitude of crimes that are considered by our laws to be treasonous. The Democrats have voted for every military appropriations bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Democrats have voted with the Republicans on almost every bill that shreds our Constitution.

Now, when election time draws near, they finally stand up to the Administration on the FISA Bill that would give immunity to the telecommunications companies that illegally wiretapped American citizen’s on the Federal Governments say so. They call this a brave stand, but they won’t indict the President for authorizing the illegal wiretaps of his citizen’s in the first place! Why do Americans continue to support a political party that claims to be the “opposition” party to the neo-con regime we have in power, and colludes with them on almost everything?

I was a Democrat for over 50 years. It pains me to write the things I’m writing, but I would rather speak the truth than to comfort myself with the idea that this nation will be better with Democrats controlling the government. I would ask every citizen to forget about the two parties and vote your conscience. Vote for the person with the most integrity and not because he has a jackass for a political symbol. Vote Green, vote Independent, vote for the best candidate that will end these wars and restore the Constitution. It is a fallacy that only a Republican or a Democrat can win the Presidency. The two parties recite that mantra along with the corporate owned mainstream media until the masses believe it. Ross Perot received 24% of the vote when he ran. The Libertarian Party has ballot access in 48 States and will have all 50 before the election.

I’m not telling anyone who to vote for, all I’m asking is that you revue the work of the Democrats for the last seven years and make your decision on whether you trust them to change anything. Political parties should be a thing of the past. Having a Democratic majority in Washington won’t change things or restore our Constitution. Truthfully, I’d be ecstatic to see Democrats turning their backs on the Democratic Party. They deserve to be spanked, and spanked hard, especially by Liberal/Progressives.

That’s the way I see it.

Americans Must Be Really Stupid, or Really Afraid

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:10:59 -0700

I have been at this a long time. Lately I have no desire to write about what I see happening in the world because I’ve already talked about it. I saw the Zeitgeist movie this evening and there was nothing in the movie that I have not already written about. Yes we have been taken for a ride by the people that control this country and that are the International Bankers. Yes the Federal Reserve is robbing us blind and we have known that since Woodrow Wilson told us so. Yes, our education system in this country is producing sub-par graduates without the capacity for critical thing; you know that by just talking to them. We know that the media is controlled by the corporations that are controlled by the bankers who control our government. I know all that.

Does anyone really care? That’s what I want to know. What the hell is Obama going to do when he’s in bed with corporate bankers? What the hell are the Democrats going to do for us when they are too? There are no “good guys” out there. They are just people running for their own agenda. Sure Obama is going to keep troops in Iraq. So is Clinton, so is McCain. This thing will go on as long as the defense contractors are making money. They will give some to Clinton or Obama or McCain, whoever gets elected.

Sooner or later we will invade Venezuela. While everyone is watching for Iran the government will keep sending soldiers into Columbia. Chavez is fair game for all the future Presidents if we get another President. He has been denounced by all three. That’s because he stood up to this empire we have made for ourselves. You know it, I know it, but everyone acts as if they don’t understand what’s going on. We all know what’s going on. Most people are just afraid to say it.

Let me give you a hand on this. It’s not hard, it goes like this: The government works for the richest in America and really doesn’t give a flying shit about us “regular” people. Didn’t you see that in the aftermath of Katrina? Didn’t you see that in the care they gave our Veteran’s when they came home? Didn’t you see that in the blackout of coverage of Winter Soldier? Don’t you see that in the bailout of investment brokerages while 60,000 people are living in tent cities outside of LA because of the foreclosures due to the sub-prime market? Sure, the bastards will bail out the bankers but don’t really care about the regular citizen that pays 25% tax based on an illegal unconstitutional income tax that was never ratified.

Why don’t people start screaming? What the hell is going on? Is anyone really excited about any of these presidential contenders? If you are excited, all I can say is that it doesn’t take you much to get excited over. They haven’t said anything noteworthy. This country is for all intents and purposes a fascist state and not a word is uttered about that. I can’t believe that Naomi Wolf who tells people about the ten steps to fascism is actually supporting a corporate-owned candidate. I can’t believe any of what’s going on anymore. Everyone is afraid to speak out about our media led, corporate controlled lives. I’m not afraid to speak. This country is in bad shape. We are closer to a police state than you believe. The government is corrupt, the media is corrupt and we are corrupt because we are not speaking out against the robber barons that have kept the middle class of this country down.

So enjoy your phone that plays your favorite songs. Watch your hi-def TV and text your friends because you’re bored. Do anything it takes to believe that everything is OK here in America. It’s not OK. Can you hear me? Everything is not OK in America. Just keep making believe it is and soon enough you will see what’s wrong with this country first hand, if you haven’t already. Just keep believing in Democrats and party bosses. Keep believing that things will “change”. Things are not going to change unless the people change them. Dig this; that’s you! Nobody can take your place in this, not me, not anyone, and certainly not a mainstream politician.

That’s the way I see it.

Think "The Surge" is Working? Think Again!

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:58:33 -0700

Baghdad: City of Walls
I watched “Baghdad, City of Walls” on the Real News Network today. I was impressed by the journalist that made the documentary and I wished that the MSM would carry the video. No sooner had I sat down and watched CNN for Barak Obama’s speech, than they broadcast what I had so recently seen on The Real News. http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1171&thisview=item
And http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1170&thisview=item

It’s time that Americans were told the truth about what’s happening in Iraq. Somehow, I had already known about the walls that separate the ethnic neighborhoods in Baghdad, I had read about them on the internet. Nothing surprised me about the video except that CNN had chosen to air it. The story told about the sectarian violence that makes Iraqi’s virtual prisoners inside their enclaves. Sunni and Shiite no longer live together there. To walk outside your “zone” is to invite a bullet to the head or to be taken prisoner and ransomed or killed. In Baghdad there is no “surge”.

The situation in the southwest in Al-Anbar Provence is only better because of the huge presence of American troops and the Sunni Militia that are 60% paid by US Forces there. Since most Shiite’s have left the area, the fighting is between Iraqi Al-Qaeda factions of Sunni’s and the Sunni’s that are being paid to fight Al-Qaeda by the US. Many times I have heard journalists such as Pepe Escobar say that when America stops the Sunni Militia funding and leaves the area, the focus of those militias will be on the government in Baghdad. Of course, this would mean a general civil War between the Iraqi Government, and Sadr’s Mehdi Militia, and the Sunni’s from the Basra region and Al-Anbar.

How the government could stand there and lie to the American people and proclaim that things are better in Iraq is beyond me. Then again, this is the same government that told us they were going to bring “freedom and democracy” to the place. Instead, we brought death and destruction, not only to people and property, but to the fragile relationship between Shiite, Sunni and Kurds. Iraq is split between two warring parties and a Kurdish section of Iraq that operates almost autonomously in the north of the country.

The real test of the surge’s success should be in restoring the people’s faith in the Iraqi government to give the people of that country real security. Since there is no such security in the country, the surge should be looked at as just a temporary lull in the violence which is to come. This country has done nothing good for Iraq and the people should understand that. Most Iraqi’s that I have seen interviewed say that they would rather have Saddam than the American Military presence and live amidst tribal warfare.

Bush lies; People die.
American soldiers died at a pre-surge level last week. Civilian terrorist bombings are at an all-time high. There are no really “safe” places in Iraq beyond the Green Zone. The government would like you to believe according to Cheney and McCain that visited there yesterday that everything is going splendidly. This is a lie, and a damned lie at that. The Republicans are experts at lying with a straight face to the American people and it’s about time the American people called them on it. The situation is no better or worse than the way this “surge” found it.

According to veterans at the Winter Soldier event in Washington, the Army indiscriminately fires on unarmed Iraqi civilians. They use torture and fear as a weapon. Our troops are not bringing stability to that country, they are making things worse. Bush needs to be held accountable, and the candidacy of John McCain should be seen as what it is, another term of Bush politics in the Middle East. This war has been going on for five years too long. It’s about time we canceled our subscriptions.

That’s the way I see it.

Did Fallon Leave to Pave the Way for War on Iran?

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:08:16 -0700

We all know by now that the military has lost one of its most respected members, Admiral James Fallon. The circumstances involving his resignation are as many as there are people trying to explain it. Did the Admiral resign because of pressure from the Bush Administration so as the pave the way for an attack on Iran? This seems to be the case from many reports I have read.

Let me be direct and succinct in what I have to say. Having spent almost 21 years in the military myself, I have no regard for an administration that forces good people out of the way to go on more military mis-adventures. An attack on Iran would be a ghastly thing to do at this time, the American people, in my humble opinion will have none of it. This would bring this administration to an end. This would be the death knell of the Bush Administration and end the Republican Party as a political force for many years after.

If George W. Bush and Dick Cheney want to spend the rest of their lives behind bars for treason, than they certainly have the tenacity to attack Iran. This would be the largest error this administration, one with a plethora of errors since its tenure, and would effectively cause general insurrection in the streets of America. We have no taste for more war. To believe otherwise is to act the fool.

McCain may believe that the forces of the right will back him if he goes along with this bewildered man we call our President, but he would be mistaken. Americans as a majority are more concerned about feeding their families and their own economic security than they are in attacking other nations. Admiral Fallon was often called the block to a war on Iran. He had his reasons. There is no way that this nation could fight on three fronts with the pitifully strained military we have now. Besides being morally repugnant, a war with Iran could turn into a debacle that Americans would be ashamed of. It would completely ruin any chances for peace in the Middle East and cause all Muslims to react rather unfavorably for many, many years.

So Mr. Bush, I urge you to use caution. You just might this time, reap what you sow.

That’s the way I see it.

America At Impasse: The 'R' Word

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:07:21 -0800

Things have already changed. The political art of finesse has never been so heightened. Everything has been finessed, all checks and balances seemingly compromised.

We're at a hell of an impasse. Captively so. We all are. They just finesse their ineffectual way through and past that reality (and so continuing it) as they gracelessly slog through a charade of campaigning...

Let us not, however, consider to throw them to the brier patch of their selfserving [and so profitable] provocations.

Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of rail cars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.

The rule of law has been turned on it's head every bit as much as they have famously done to any notion of truth itself, and 'we the people' have been seemingly completely disenfranchised. Raw power, as a philosophy, has never spoken so eloquently, or loudly, from the podium of events.

I am sorry Bruce Lee is no longer with us... He understood the art of fighting without fighting, and the difference between Emotional Content and Anger, and being in the moment...

Alternet recently published this:
When Change Is Not Enough: Seven Steps to Revolution
By Sara Robinson, Campaign for America's Future. Posted 02/22/2008
'If history is any indication, we may already be on the road to violent revolution. Conservatives finally created enough misery to make it possible.'
"Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution
inevitable." -- John F. Kennedy

To react in kind to the forces of domination -to Force itself -is no revolution at all. The 'R' word has indeed been raised, more and more often of late. The antithesis, however to be manifested, however is not counterforce but 'antiforce' of any and every form. I know this much, and say so in stock response to those gripped by outrage overload. In George Orwell's '1984', Winston Smith famously compromises his own moral underpinnings by so succumbing to the forces of Hate. There is much wisdom in dispassion, in dispensing with distempered haste no matter the immediate urgency of addressing this very great and ultimate of all challenges.