See Hillary Run (from Her Husband's Past on Iraq)

"...Run, Hillary, run. But your race towards the White House will never outpace the hypocrisy and duplicity inherent in your decision to vote for war in Iraq."- Scott Ritter, 3/3/2007

More than one million Iraqis dead since 2003 invasion: study, 1/30/2008

"LONDON (AFP) - More than one million Iraqis have died because of the war in Iraq since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003, according to a study published Wednesday.

A fifth of Iraqi households lost at least one family member between March 2003 and August 2007 due to the conflict, said data compiled by London-based Opinion Research Business (ORB) and its research partner in Iraq, the Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies (IIACSS)."
 

Bush Opens Roadless Tongass National Forest to Logging, 1/26/2008

"JUNEAU, Alaska - Yesterday, the Bush administration put a “for sale” sign on trees in pristine roadless areas of the Tongass rainforest in Alaska - America’s largest national forest.

This move by Bush officials to reverse roadless area protections parallels two others made recently in national forests located in Idaho and Colorado.

Conservationists from across the country are indignant that roads will be punched through some of the nation’s last, best roadless areas to allow private corporations to log America’s public lands."


For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets, 1/6/2008

"A WHISTLEBLOWER has made a series of extraordinary claims about how corrupt government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to steal nuclear weapons secrets

Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for the FBI, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations while based at the agency’s Washington field office."

"...Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions.

Among the hours of covert tape recordings, she says she heard evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State Department was being paid by Turkish agents in Washington who were selling the information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan..."  Sunday Times, 1/6/2008


Why I Believe Bush Must Go
Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse,1/6/2008

"As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president."

"...Of course, there seems to be little bipartisan support for impeachment. The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians. So the chances of a bipartisan impeachment and conviction are not promising.

But what are the facts?

Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly "high crimes and misdemeanors," to use the constitutional standard..."

Retired officers: Iran attack would be a disaster: Former high-ranking U.S. military officials plead for a diplomatic solution, 2/3/2007

LONDON - Three former high-ranking U.S. military officers have called for Britain to help defuse the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, saying military action against Tehran would be a disaster for the region.

In a letter to the Sunday Times newspaper, the three former officers urged President Bush to open talks, "without preconditions," with the Iranian government in a bid to find a diplomatic solution.

The signatories were retired Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard, a senior military fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation in Washington, D.C.; retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, former head of U.S. Central Command; and Vice Adm. Jack Shanahan, former director of the Center for Defense Information.


'Stand Up Against the Surge' ...by Molly Ivins

"...We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!"


The Path to Peace is not through War: Crime of the Century: Are Bush & Cheney Planning Early Attack on Iran?- David Lindorff, 12/24/2006

"...It now appears that the idea of attacking Iran is again moving forward. The Eisenhower strike force, armed with some 800 Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as a fleet of strike aircraft, and already on station in the Arabian Sea for over a month and a half, has moved into the Persian Gulf. A second carrier group, led by the USS Stennis, is steaming toward the Gulf, too. Already in position are three expeditionary strike groups and an amphibious warship, all suitable for landing Marines on Iranian beaches. On December 20, the New York Times, citing Pentagon sources, reported that both Britain and the U.S. are moving additional naval forces into the region "in a display of military resolve toward Iran that will come as the United Nations continues to debate possible sanctions against the country..."

Comment: The US plans for a tactical nuclear or non-nuclear air strike against Iran would be an unmitigated disaster for the United States, the Middle East and the world. It will destroy the possibility of peace in the Middle East for a quarter of a century or more It will lead to a chain of events that will cause an untold loss of life in and outside of the region. It will significantly increase the likelihood of wars and attacks using WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) in the region and throughout the world. It will embolden the forces of fear and repression in the Middle East and the Western democracies.

Yet both Democrats and Republicans appear to offer no significant opposition. As Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote, "Many Democrats have been trying to burnish a hawkish image and place themselves to the right of the President on this issue. They may find themselves trapped by their own rhetoric, particularly those with Presidential ambitions.”  It would be utter folly to believe that silence from the opposition will strengthen the President's hand in negotiating a peaceful solution with Iran. It is clear that while opposing forces are at work in the Administration, the thrust of the administration's policy is to prepare for war and exaggerate the threat from Iran. The Senate must not repeat the acquiescence that led to the Iraq War. Look for the enemy from within.

What is at risk in Iran & what must be done

"...We face today a crisis similar to those of 1964 and 2002, a crisis hidden once again from the public and most of Congress. Articles by Seymour Hersh and others have revealed that, as in both those earlier cases, the president has secretly directed the completion, though not yet execution, of military operational plans -- not merely hypothetical "contingency plans" but constantly updated plans, with movement of forces and high states of readiness, for prompt implementation on command -- for attacking a country that, unless attacked itself, poses no threat to the United States: in this case, Iran.

According to these reports, many high-level officers and government officials are convinced that our president will attempt to bring about regime change in Iran by air attack; that he and his vice president have long been no less committed, secretly, to doing so than they were to attacking Iraq; and that his secretary of defense is as madly optimistic about the prospects for fast, cheap military success there as he was in Iraq.

Even more ominously, Philip Giraldi, a former CIA official, reported in The American Conservative a year ago that Vice President Cheney's office had directed contingency planning for "a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons" and that "several senior Air Force officers" involved in the planning were "appalled at the implications of what they are doing -- that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack -- but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objection."

Several of Hersh's sources have confirmed both the detailed operational planning for use of nuclear weapons against deep underground Iranian installations and military resistance to this prospect, which led several senior officials to consider resigning. Hersh notes that opposition by the Joint Chiefs in April led to White House withdrawal of the "nuclear option" -- for now, I would say. The operational plans remain in existence, to be drawn upon for a "decisive" blow if the president deems it necessary.

Many of these sources regard the planned massive air attack -- with or without nuclear weapons -- as almost sure to be catastrophic for the Middle East, the position of the United States in the world, our troops in Iraq, the world economy, and U.S. domestic security. Thus they are as deeply concerned about these prospects as many other insiders were in the year before the Iraq invasion. That is why, unlike in the lead-up to Vietnam or Iraq, some insiders are leaking to reporters. But since these disclosures -- so far without documents and without attribution -- have not evidently had enough credibility to raise public alarm, the question is whether such officials have yet reached the limit of their responsibilities to our country.

Assuming Hersh's so-far anonymous sources mean what they say -- that this is, as one puts it, "a juggernaut that has to be stopped" -- I believe it is time for one or more of them to go beyond fragmentary leaks unaccompanied by documents. That means doing what no other active official or consultant has ever done in a timely way: what neither Richard Clarke nor I nor anyone else thought of doing until we were no longer officials, no longer had access to current documents, after bombs had fallen and thousands had died, years into a war. It means going outside executive channels, as officials with contemporary access, to expose the president's lies and oppose his war policy publicly before the war, with unequivocal evidence from inside.

Simply resigning in silence does not meet moral or political responsibilities of officials rightly "appalled" by the thrust of secret policy. I hope that one or more such persons will make the sober decision -- accepting sacrifice of clearance and career, and risk of prison -- to disclose comprehensive files that convey, irrefutably, official, secret estimates of costs and prospects and dangers of the military plans being considered. What needs disclosure is the full internal controversy, the secret critiques as well as the arguments and claims of advocates of war and nuclear "options" -- the Pentagon Papers of the Middle East. But unlike in 1971, the ongoing secret debate should be made available before our war in the region expands to include Iran, before the sixty-one-year moratorium on nuclear war is ended violently, to give our democracy a chance to foreclose either of those catastrophes..".- BuzzFlash guest contribution by Daniel Ellsberg, 10/26/2006

WATCHING LEBANON: Washington’s interests in Israel’s war.by SEYMOUR M. HERSH, New Yorker 8/2006

"...The Bush Administration, however, was closely involved in the planning of Israel’s retaliatory attacks. President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced, current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials told me, that a successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah’s heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel’s security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American preemptive attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground..."

"...The Israeli plan, according to the former senior intelligence official, was “the mirror image of what the United States has been planning for Iran.” (The initial U.S. Air Force proposals for an air attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear capacity, which included the option of intense bombing of civilian infrastructure targets inside Iran, have been resisted by the top leadership of the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps, according to current and former officials. They argue that the Air Force plan will not work and will inevitably lead, as in the Israeli war with Hezbollah, to the insertion of troops on the ground.)"- Seymour Hersh, New Yorker, 8/21/2006.


Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) introduces House resolution requiring Congressional approval prior to use of military force in Iran, 1/12/2007

"Representative Walter B. Jones (R-NC) introduced H. J. Res. 14, a joint resolution concerning the use of force by the United States against Iran. The resolution requires that – absent a national emergency created by an attack, or a demonstrably imminent attack, by Iran upon the United States or its armed forces – the President must consult with Congress and receive specific authorization prior to initiating any use of military force against Iran."

"...One of the many lessons from our involvement in Iraq is that Congress needs to ask the right questions prior to exercising its Constitutional authority to approve the use of military force."

Comment: Our policy towards Iraq is one of belligerence and reflects a failure to understand the political, cultural, religious and social dynamics of the country and region. I applaud Representative Jones, Senator Joe Biden (D-Del) and others for challenging the status quo and not permitting the Iraq debate to distract Congress from a reckless Iran policy. The Senate has a constitutional duty to block any US or surrogate US attack on Iran. See also: U.S. plans envision broad attack on Iran: analyst, 1/19/2007
 

The battle to save Iraq's children: Doctors issue plea to Tony Blair to end the scandal of medical shortages in the war zone

The desperate plight of children who are dying in Iraqi hospitals for the lack of simple equipment that in some cases can cost as little as 95p is revealed today in a letter signed by nearly 100 eminent doctors.

They are backed by a group of international lawyers, who say the conditions in hospitals revealed in their letter amount to a breach of the Geneva conventions that require Britain and the US as occupying forces to protect human life. Belfast Telegraph, Colin Brown, 1/19/2007
 

President Confronts Dissent on Troop Levels: Bush Indicates Military Won't Dictate Numbers; Top General to Retire, Peter Baker, Washington Post, 12/21/2006

According to this article the President is rejecting the advice of the Joints Chiefs of Staff and other senior uniformed military leadership who have "opposed sending additional forces without a clear mission, seeing the idea as ill-formed and driven by a desire in the White House to do something different even without a defined purpose."

Comment: The President and the Congress are strongly advised that the senior military are correct- the sending of additional troops is nothing more than the continuance of a bankrupt policy whose goals are unrealistic and destabilizing to the region. The path to peace is not through war.
 

Impeachment

"We cannot expect either Republicans or Democrats in Congress to initiate any challenge to the existing order of things. In the history of the nation, serious injustices---slavery, racial segregation, the rights of working people, the condition of women, the war in Vietnam---have only been remedied by powerful social movements that have forced the government to change its policies. Now we have another such time.- Howard Zinn from "Impeach the President, the Case against Bush and Cheney, edited by Dennis Loo and Peter Phillips, 10/2006."

Comment: The case for impeachment and censure is strong. The American people are responsible for the illegal conduct of the Bush administration and the once Republican led House and Senate. It is Congress's responsibility to ensure the people fully understand the constitutional and humanitarian crimes committed by their government. As George Santayana wrote, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again." Maya Angelou

Transcript of Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's speech, 8/30/2006

The Earth & All Life Cry Out

The century of drought

"Drought threatening the lives of millions will spread across half the land surface of the Earth in the coming century because of global warming, according to new predictions from Britain's leading climate scientists." -Michael McCarthy, Environmental Editor, Independent/UK, 10/4/2006.

An Inconvenient Truth

"Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced."- From the film an AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, Former Vice-President, Al Gore, 5/24/2006

If every man, woman and child slapped themselves and then in stunned awareness thought about ways to reduce global warming gases, it would be long over due. Global warming requires all peoples to work together. Future generations scream and cry out for help. The United States, as we know it, cannot endure multiple hurricane Katrinas every year, permanent flooding of costal cities and the disease and pestilence arising from major climactic shifts. Harsh climatic conditions will destroy its ability to feed its own people.

A global Armageddon has already begun. Yet if we act now, we may avert greater disaster. If not, some climate scientists believe that runaway global warming is possible- resulting in the extinction of life on Earth.- Lowell Greenberg

Preamble to the Earth Charter

We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.

Earth, Our Home

Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life. The forces of nature make existence a demanding and uncertain adventure, but Earth has provided the conditions essential to life's evolution. The resilience of the community of life and the well-being of humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and clean air. The global environment with its finite resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of Earth's vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.

The Global Situation

The dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species. Communities are being undermined. The benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Injustice, poverty, ignorance, and violent conflict are widespread and the cause of great suffering. An unprecedented rise in human population has overburdened ecological and social systems.The foundations of global security are threatened. These trends are perilous—but not inevitable.

The Challenges Ahead

The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living. We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more. We have the knowledge and technology to provide for all and to reduce our impacts on the environment. The emergence of a global civil society is creating new opportunities to build a democratic and humane world. Our environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive solutions.

Universal Responsibility

To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in nature. We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community. Therefore, together in hope we affirm the following interdependent principles for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.

World temperatures keep rising:  Climate data show 2005 on track to be hottest on record

"New international climate data show that 2005 is on track to be the hottest year on record, continuing a 25-year trend of rising global temperatures.

The new analysis comes as government and independent scientists are reporting other dramatic signs of global warming, such as the record shrinkage of the Arctic sea ice cover and unprecedented high ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico."- Juliet Eiperin, Washington Post, 10/13/2005; See also: Wilma Strengthens to Category 5 Hurricane; Warming to Cause Harsher Weather, Study Says

Apocalypse Now: How Mankind is Sleepwalking to the End of the Earth
 
"Floods, storms and droughts. Melting Arctic ice, shrinking glaciers, oceans turning to acid. The world's top scientists warned last week that dangerous climate change is taking place today, not the day after tomorrow."- Geoffrey Lean, Environmental Editor, The Independent, 2/6/2005; See also: "The Final Proof: Global Warming is a Man-Made Disaster," Steve Connor, Independent/UK, 2/19/05 ; Climate Change: Countdown to Global Catastrophe: Report warns point of no return may be reached in 10 years, leading to droughts, agricultural failure and water shortages, 1/24/05 & Mount Kilimanjaro Photo Wake-Up Call for Action Against Global Warming, 3/15/2005

Battlefield Earth

"I read that the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has declared the election a mandate for President Bush on the environment. This for an administration that wants to rewrite the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act protecting rare plant and animal species and their habitats, as well as the National Environmental Policy Act that requires the government to judge beforehand if actions might damage natural resources.

That wants to relax pollution limits for ozone; eliminate vehicle tailpipe inspections; and ease pollution standards for cars, sports utility vehicles and diesel-powered big trucks and heavy equipment.

That wants a new international audit law to allow corporations to keep certain information about environmental problems secret from the public.

That wants to drop all its new-source review suits against polluting coal-fired power plans and weaken consent decrees reached earlier with coal companies.

That wants to open the artic wildlife refuge to drilling and increase drilling in Padre Island National Seashore, the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world and the last great coastal wild land in America.

I read the news just this week and learned how the Environmental Protection Agency had planned to spend nine million dollars - $2 million of it from the administration's friends at the American Chemistry Council - to pay poor families to continue to use pesticides in their homes. These pesticides have been linked to neurological damage in children, but instead of ordering an end to their use, the government and the industry were going to offer the families $970 each, as well as a camcorder and children's clothing, to serve as guinea pigs for the study.

I read all this in the news.

I read the news just last night and learned that the administration's friends at the international policy network, which is supported by Exxon Mobile and others of like mind, have issued a new report that climate change is "a myth, sea levels are not rising," scientists who believe catastrophe is possible are "an embarrassment."

I not only read the news but the fine print of the recent appropriations bill passed by Congress, with the obscure (and obscene) riders attached to it: a clause removing all endangered species protections from pesticides; language prohibiting judicial review for a forest in Oregon; a waiver of environmental review for grazing permits on public lands; a rider pressed by developers to weaken protection for crucial habitats in California.

I read all this and look up at the pictures on my desk, next to the computer – pictures of my grandchildren: Henry, age 12; of Thomas, age 10; of Nancy, 7; Jassie, 3; Sara Jane, nine months. I see the future looking back at me from those photographs and I say, "Father, forgive us, for we know now what we do." And then I am stopped short by the thought: "That's not right. We do know what we are doing. We are stealing their future. Betraying their trust. Despoiling their world."

And I ask myself: Why? Is it because we don't care? Because we are greedy? Because we have lost our capacity for outrage, our ability to sustain indignation at injustice?

What has happened to out moral imagination?

On the heath Lear asks Gloucester: 'How do you see the world?" And Gloucester, who is blind, answers: "I see it feelingly.'"

I see it feelingly.

The news is not good these days. I can tell you, though, that as a journalist I know the news is never the end of the story. The news can be the truth that sets us free – not only to feel but to fight for the future we want. And the will to fight is the antidote to despair, the cure for cynicism, and the answer to those faces looking back at me from those photographs on my desk. What we need to match the science of human health is what the ancient Israelites called "hocma" – the science of the heart... the capacity to see... to feel... and then to act... as if the future depended on you.

Believe me, it does. - Bill Moyers, Alternet, 12/4/2004; See also: Environment;  Global Economics, Politics & the Environment; Global Warming: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid, Climate Change: Countdown to Global Catastrophe: Report warns point of no return may be reached in 10 years, leading to droughts, agricultural failure and water shortages, 1/24/05; Global Warming: Scientists Reveal Timetable, Michael McCarthy , 2/3/2005 & Bush Whitehouse Harms the Environment

The Fight for Justice

Dr. Martin Luther King described six principles of non-violence and six steps for non-violent societal change. We should imbue our attitudes and actions with these principles as we strive towards collective justice & truth- a beloved community.

- Nonviolence is not passive, but requires courage.
- Nonviolence seeks reconciliation, not defeat of an adversary.
- Nonviolent action is directed at eliminating evil, not destroying an evil-doer.
- A willingness to accept suffering for the cause, if necessary, but never to inflict it.
- A rejection of hatred, animosity or violence of the spirit, as well as refusal to commit physical violence.
- Faith that justice will prevail.

New Jersey Court Stops Short of Marriage Equality
"Thursday, 10-26-06 -- Yesterday, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to the same state benefits, protections, and obligations as different-sex couples. The court split, however, on how to remedy current state law.

The majority ruled that the New Jersey State Legislature must comply with the constitution by amending state laws to allow equal marriage rights or create a legal status like civil unions. Three dissenting judges argued that the only correct solution, however, is to grant gay and lesbian couples the fundamental right to marry."

U.S. Casualties in Iraq Rise Sharply
Growing American Role in Staving Off Civil War Leads to Most Wounded Since 2004

"The number of U.S troops wounded in Iraq has surged to its highest monthly level in nearly two years as American GIs fight block-by-block in Baghdad to try to check a spiral of sectarian violence that U.S. commanders warn could lead to civil war.

Last month, 776 U.S. troops were wounded in action in Iraq, the highest number since the military assault to retake the insurgent-held city of Fallujah in November 2004, according to Defense Department data. It was the fourth-highest monthly total since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

The sharp increase in American wounded -- with nearly 300 more in the first week of October -- is a grim measure of the degree to which the U.S. military has been thrust into the lead of the effort to stave off full-scale civil war in Iraq, military officials and experts say."- Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post, 10/8/2006

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat

"WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 — A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks."- Mark Mazzeti, New York Tines, 9/24/2006.
 

U.N. Inspectors Dispute Iran Report By House Panel

U.N. inspectors investigating Iran's nuclear program angrily complained to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday about a recent House committee report on Iran's capabilities, calling parts of the document "outrageous and dishonest" and offering evidence to refute its central claims.

Officials of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency said in a letter that the report contained some "erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated statements." The letter, signed by a senior director at the agency, was addressed to Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House intelligence committee, which issued the report. A copy was hand-delivered to Gregory L. Schulte, the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA in Vienna.- Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, 9/14/2006.

The Israeli Occupation of Lebanon

"This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah's side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah "started it" when it kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin to tilt the scales of justice toward our side."- Ze'ev Maoz, Professor of Political Science, Tel Aviv University, Haaretz

Comment: International forces that have been operating for many years are coming to the fore in Lebanon. The US state department considers Hezbollah a terrorist nation. For a number of years Iran has been arming Hezbollah with rockets capable of hitting Israel. Hezbollah is committed to Israel's destruction. Both Syria and Iran appear to be playing roles in the escalation of violence. Israel in defending its national self interest, is killing large numbers of civilians and destroying bridges, power stations and other civilian facilities. Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamic group that has civilian support In Lebanon because they set up schools, hospitals and other social services and are perceived as a legitimate resistance movement. The outbreak of war is a failure of diplomacy, but in retrospect seemed only a matter of time. My hopes and prayers are that both sides can show compassion for each other- enough to end the violence and work together for peace and prosperity. In my dreams I see a time when the Israeli Prime Minister and the leader of Hezbollah can sit down together- begin working towards reconciliation, love and peace. Ultimately this is what in the best interest of both countries- but how much pain and death must occur for this to take place? For the United States- it must be careful that in seeing the geopolitical connections with Iran and Syria, it does not unwittingly involve itself in a conflict that would even be more disastrous and for which it is unprepared- a military confrontation with Iran and/or Syria.


United States to Israel: you have one more week to blast Hizbullah: Bush 'gave green light' for limited attack, say Israeli and UK sources, Ewen MacAskill, Simon Tisdall and Patrick Wintour, 7/19/2006

Comment: If these reports are correct, this makes the United States and Britain co-conspirators in this unnecessary carnage. See also: In Mideast Strife, Bush Sees a Step To Peace, 7/.21/2006, Michael Abramowitz & Wikipedia article on Hezbollah.

Legal Experts to Senate Committee: Bush "Signing Statements" Unconstitutional, Impeachable

"...Bruce Fein, attorney and renowned legal scholar, told the committee that Bush has essentially given himself a line item veto power by declaring portions of new laws unconstitutional and offering his own revisions.

"These statements, which have multiplied logarithmically under President George W. Bush, flout the Constitution's checks and balances and separation of powers. They usurp legislative prerogatives and evade accountability," Fein said. "The President does not enjoy a constitutional option of unilaterally pronouncing a provision he has signed into law as unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it on that count."

Citing Bush's behavior as "alarming," Fein suggested that the President could be impeached for "political crime(s) against the Constitution.""

Things I Learned Today

"According to Bart Gellman's review of Ron Suskind's new book the following things are true:

Al-Qaedist Abu Zubaydah was captured in March 2002.
Zubaydah's captors discovered he was mentally ill and charged with minor logistical matters, such as arranging travel for wives and children.
The President was informed of that judgment by the CIA.
Two weeks later, the President described Zubaydah as "one of the top operatives plotting and planning death and destruction on the United States."
Later, Bush told George Tenet, "I said he was important. You're not going to let me lose face on this, are you?" and asked Tenet if "some of these harsh methods really work?"
The methods -- torture -- were applied.
Then, according to Gellman, "Under that duress, he began to speak of plots of every variety -- against shopping malls, banks, supermarkets, water systems, nuclear plants, apartment buildings, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty."
At which point, according to Suskind, "thousands of uniformed men and women raced in a panic to each . . . target.""- "Things I Learned Today, by Matthew Yglesias, 6/20/2006

Bush Directed Cheney To Counter War Critic

President Bush told the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case that he directed Vice President Dick Cheney to personally lead an effort to counter allegations made by former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV that his administration had misrepresented intelligence information to make the case to go to war with Iraq, according to people familiar with the president's statement.

Comments:  If true, then more grounds for impeachment- Lowell Greenberg
 

-----------------------

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the King's horses and all the King's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again."

"...A retired four-star general, who ran a major command, said, “The system is starting to sense the end of the road, and they don’t want to be condemned by history. They want to be able to say, ‘We stood up.’ "- General's comments regarding Bush's plans for an invasion of Iran, 7/2006.

Though the fairy tale grim, it is the truth when speaking of the Bush Administration- the most corrupt since Warren Harding. Unmistakably the emperor has no cloths- by his own admission, unsuitable to the task. Impeached by world opinion and futile in his efforts to discredit the truly honorable. See also: The Worst President in History? One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush, 4/21/2006.

No nation or empire escapes the truth and the longer it tries, the harder it falls.

Global warming is the most devastating environmental calamity mankind has ever faced- yet ignored by the United States. Instead our automakers make a killing producing SUVs- some of the most fuel inefficient vehicles produced in the last 30 years.

We consume 25% of the world’s energy yet represent only 5% of the world’s population yet preach economic and social justice to the world.

We invade Iraq in contravention of international law; our military is disgraced by acts of reprehensible torture and war crimes; We expect Iraqi citizens to welcome us in open arms after we are responsible for the death of over half a million of its citizens; We proclaim to the world that we deserve the spoils of war and actually believe that any Iraqi government we support can have the least credibility- our nation building efforts misguided and ineffective- our policies doomed to failure.

Our President brazenly declares his right to violate domestic wire-tapping laws and has the temerity to begin a criminal investigation to uncover the whistleblowers; Our Vice-president viciously leaks the name of an intelligence field operative; The President authorizes the leak of confidential information to further political objectives;  A tenth of our Congress is about to be shaken by a lobbying scandal after plunging the nation into reckless debt; Political cronyism is directly responsible for death and destruction before, during and after Hurricane Katrina; Half of the American populace does not merely disagree with President Bush, but actively despises him…the list goes on and on.

We rattle sabers at Iran- a country we have made more powerful through our follies. Commission after commission certifies the Homeland security administration a disaster and that we have failed to secure nuclear weapons in other countries or adequately prepare for more terrorist acts. Our freedoms are under continual attack as we fight a war on terrorism that is not a war but was invented to rob us of our freedoms and keep us in perpetual fear- the list of errors of judgment seems to have no end.

We actively seek to preserve the institution of marriage by denying it to loving and committed sexual minorities- even as the heterosexual community makes marriage a shambles. We boldly proclaim the right to life, but do little to make sure the unborn have a life. Our politicians pander to our prejudices and divert attention from their own hypocrisy and personal corruption.

Wake up America. No nation or individual is perfect and one of the strongest tenets of Christianity and other world religions is the notion of forgiveness. With humility and compassion, we must learn from our mistakes and move forward. We must open our hearts to the truth and what is right- then the answers will come and perhaps then we can be forgiven. - Lowell Greenberg, 1/4/2005.
 

John Murta, Meet the Press, 3/19/2006

"...MR. RUSSERT: Some in the administration say the media is distorting the good news that’s coming out of Iraq.

REP. MURTHA: Well, they said the same thing about Vietnam. They said the same thing over and over and over about Vietnam. "...Well, everything’s not going fine in Iraq. They have to realize that. When the whole world is against you, when our, our international reputation has been diminished so substantially, when all the countries in the, in the region say, “We’d be better off without us being in Iraq,” when the people themselves in Iraq say it, and American people say it, I mean who is right?..."
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Quick Note on the Alito confirmation hearings: Judge Alito was asked a very direct question by Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York on Day 1 of the hearings- namely- whether he believes the US Constitution guarantees a woman's right to an abortion. Alito was not asked about his personal views on abortion, rather he was asked whether or not a women has a constitutional right to have an abortion. He refused to answer the question directly. Implicit in his evasion is that he does not believe the American people have a right to know the answer to this question as part of his confirmation process. I find this evasion extremely offensive and a calculated attempt to undermine the process itself. A judge may for example, hold there is a constitutional right and still rule in individual cases against pro-choice parties. Alito is already on record for supporting restrictions to abortion, for example, requiring that a woman notify her spouse prior to having one. However if the judge does not believe there is a constitutional right, it is fair to assume that when given the opportunity he will attempt to override precedent. This is what his most ardent supporters are hoping and quite frankly is likely the case. 1/10/2005; See also: Saveourcourts.org-Oppose Alito Nomination; Alito's America; "George Bush's rough justice," Sidney Blumenthal , The Guardian/UK, 1/12/2005 & "Judge Alito, in His Own Words," New York Timed Editorial, 1/12/2006
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"The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region..."- 11/2005 Statement by John Murtha, Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania, combat veteran and retired Marine Corps colonel. See also: ENDING THE U.S. WAR IN IRAQ : How to Bring the Troops Home and Internationalize the Peace, Phyllis Bennis and Erik Leaver. Institute for Policy Studies, January 12, 2005

Murtha spent 37 years in Marine Corps, earned the Bronze Star, two purple hearts, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. And for the last thirty years he's been one of the most respected voices in Congress on military issues -- universally respected by Democrats, Republicans and military brass alike. See also: Rapid Response: Deconstructing the “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq,”  Think Progress, 11/2005.
 

Impeachment

"Leadership passes into empire; empire begets insolence; insolence brings ruin." -William Carlos Williams, Paterson I, quoted from a review of Wendell Berry's book, "The Way of Ignorance and Other Essays," Shoemaker & Hoard, 2005

"There is a prima facie case that these actions by the President, Vice-President and other members of the Bush Administration violated a number of federal laws, including (1) Committing a Fraud against the United States; (2) Making False Statements to Congress; (3) The War Powers Resolution; (4) Misuse of Government Funds; (5) federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; (6) federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other individuals; and (7) federal laws and regulations concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence."- From, "The Constitution in Crisis,"  Representative John Conyer's  250 page staff report; See  CensureBush.org.

"..Willful disregard of a law is potentially an impeachable offense. It is at least as impeachable as having a sexual escapade under the Oval Office desk and lying about it later. The members of the House Judiciary Committee who staged the impeachment of President Clinton ought to be as outraged at this situation. They ought to investigate it, consider it carefully and report either a bill that would change the wiretap laws to suit the president or a bill of impeachment." -Barrons Magazine editorial. Barrons is published by the Wall Street Journal.

"The practice of domestic spying on citizens should halt immediately. Oversight hearings need to be conducted. Judicial action may be in order. We need to finally be given answers to our questions: where is the constitutional and statutory authority for spying on American citizens, what is the content of these classified legal opinions asserting there is a legality in this criminal usurpation of rights, who is responsible for this dangerous and unconstitutional policy, and how many American citizens' lives have been unknowingly affected?"- Senator Byrd: No President Is Above the Law, 12/19/2005

"But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve as monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is."- Thomas Paine, Common Sense

"The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public; an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading – as a last resort – all other justifications having failed to justify themselves – as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands and thousands of innocent people. We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it 'bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East'."- Harold Pinter, Noblel Lecture, "Art, Truth & Politics."

Comments: After reading John Dean's comments- made over two and half years ago (The Case for Impeachment, 6/11/2003) and those he made a week ago (Boxer Impeachment Letter) (see below), as well as John Conyer's recent Congressional staff report on Administration misconduct quoted above- it is apparent that the case for impeachment is mounting. It will be another test of U.S. democracy whether the legislative/judicial branches and the press can hold George W. Bush and Dick Cheney legally and morally accountable. The time for compassion for the Administration and Congress can only come when there is complete disclosure, true repentance and a genuine exploration of how similar misconduct can be prevented in the future.

According to an article in the New York Times, dated 12/15/2005, Bush ordered the NSA to wiretap and eavesdrop on thousands of Americans without a court order- committing actions forbidden buy the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As a consequence a federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest and Republican Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine joined Democratic Senators Carl Levin of Michigan, Dianne Feinstein of California and Ron Wyden of Oregon in calling for a joint investigation by the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees into whether the government eavesdropped "without appropriate legal authority."  According to John Dean, former Whitehouse Counsel, President, President Bush is the first President to admit an impeachable defense. Indeed, rather than admitting error- Bush has falsely claimed that this flagrant flouting of the FISA law was necessary because fighting terrorists needed to be done quickly." In fact, out of 19,000 requests for eavesdropping the Federal Intelligence Security Court has received from the Executive Branch since 1979 only five have been refused. See also: Doug Direland- A Time To Impeach. 12/19/2005 & Bush Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in U.S. After 9/11, Officials Say, 12/20/2005

The Case for Impeachment, 6/11/2003
"...To put it bluntly, if Bush has taken Congress and the nation into war based on bogus information, he is cooked. Manipulation or deliberate misuse of national security intelligence data, if proven, could be "a high crime" under the Constitution's impeachment clause. It would also be a violation of federal criminal law, including the broad federal anti-conspiracy statute, which renders it a felony "to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose."

"It's important to recall that when Richard Nixon resigned, he was about to be impeached by the House of Representatives for misusing the CIA and FBI. After Watergate, all presidents are on notice that manipulating or misusing any agency of the executive branch improperly is a serious abuse of presidential power."

"Nixon claimed that his misuses of the federal agencies for his political purposes were in the interest of national security. The same kind of thinking might lead a President to manipulate and misuse national security agencies or their intelligence to create a phony reason to lead the nation into a politically desirable war. Let us hope that is not the case..."- John Dean, former Special Counsel of the United States who was charged with obstruction of justice and spent four months in prison for his role in the Watergate cover-up. See also: An Open Letter To Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald From Former White House Counsel John W. Dean, 11/18/2005. & George W. Bush as the New Richard M. Nixon: Both Wiretapped Illegally, and Impeachably; Both Claimed That a President May Violate Congress' Laws to Protect National Security, 12/30/2005

Decoding Mr. Bush's Denials
"To avoid having to account for his administration's misleading statements before the war with Iraq, President Bush has tried denial, saying he did not skew the intelligence. He's tried to share the blame, claiming that Congress had the same intelligence he had, as well as President Bill Clinton. He's tried to pass the buck and blame the C.I.A. Lately, he's gone on the attack, accusing Democrats in Congress of aiding the terrorists."

"Yesterday in Alaska, Mr. Bush trotted out the same tedious deflection on Iraq that he usually attempts when his back is against the wall: he claims that questioning his actions three years ago is a betrayal of the troops in battle today."

"It all amounts to one energetic effort at avoidance. But like the W.M.D. reports that started the whole thing, the only problem is that none of it has been true." - New York Times Editorial, 11/15/2005;

Powell aide: Torture 'guidance' from VP

"Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told CNN that the practice of torture may be continuing in U.S.-run facilities.

"There's no question in my mind that we did. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it," Wilkerson said on CNN's "Late Edition."

"There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department.""- CNN News, 11/20/2005

Comments:  If Larry Wilkerson's comments are correct then both Cheney and Rumsfeld should be removed from office and charged with international war crimes. In addition to torture, both men and the President should also be held accountable for actions such as falsification or distortion of pre-war intelligence for the purpose of justifying war, the torture at Abu Ghraib prison, the use of cluster bombs, napalm, and depleted uranium, and crimes against civilians such as occurred in Fallujah. Further an international tribunal should be held to make sure that all war criminals are held legally and morally accountable for: (1) Crimes against Peace; (2) War Crimes and (3) Crimes Against Humanity. See also: Cheney accused on prisoner abuse: A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell has launched a stinging attack on US Vice-President Dick Cheney over abuse of prisoners by US troops, BBC News, 11/29/2005. In this interview Col. Lawrence Wilkerson leaves open the question of whether Cheney can be accused of war crimes.  Also, Did Bush Really Want to Bomb Al Jazeera,? 11/23, Jeremy Scahill, The Nation. If the British memo is correct, it is further indication of a mind set leading to war crimes. The article,  "Dick Cheney's shadow play, by Sidney Blumenthal, 11/25/2005,"  exposes how the Vice-President, going as as far back as 1976, has been a major player involved in distorting US intelligence and manipulating foreign policy.

Convoy of Death: Why have US television stations refused to broadcast this documentary?

"The film provides eyewitness testimony that U.S. troops were complicit in the massacre of thousands of Taliban prisoners during the Afghan War.

It tells the story of thousands of prisoners who surrendered to the US military’s Afghan allies after the siege of Kunduz. According to eyewitnesses, some three thousand of the prisoners were forced into sealed containers and loaded onto trucks for transport to Sheberghan prison. Eyewitnesses say when the prisoners began shouting for air, U.S.-allied Afghan soldiers fired directly into the truck, killing many of them. The rest suffered through an appalling road trip lasting up to four days, so thirsty they clawed at the skin of their fellow prisoners as they licked perspiration and even drank blood from open wounds."
 

Dennis Rahkonen: 'U.S. forces 'shake and bake' Iraqi civilians!'

"Recognizing its devastating significance, progressive websites have been quick to headline the shocking story that a recently run Italian television documentary quite compellingly and gruesomely shows U.S. forces used the chemical terror weapon white phosphorous during their withering assault on Fallujah, Iraq."- Dennis Rahkonen, 11/11/2005; See also: US Criticized for Use of Phosphorous in Fallujah Raids, 11/9/2005, Andrew Buncombe, Independent/UK; 'I treated people who had their skin melted,' Dahr Jamail, The Independent, 11/15/2005 & Defense of Phosphorus Use Turns Into Damage Control, 11/21/2005, Scott Shane, New York Times.

Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal
Voting Rights Finding On Map Pushed by DeLay Was Overruled

Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.

The memo, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections.- Dan Eggen, Washington Post, 12/2/2005; See also: Fixing the Game, New York Times Editorial, 12/5/2005. Quoting from the editorial:

"Mr. Bush and his team don't understand that they merely hold the current majority in a system designed to bring periodic changes in the governing party and to protect the rights and values of the minority party. The idea that the winners should trash the system to make sure the democratic process ended with them was discredited back around the time of the Bolsheviks."
 

Powell aide: Torture 'guidance' from VP

"Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told CNN that the practice of torture may be continuing in U.S.-run facilities.

"There's no question in my mind that we did. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it," Wilkerson said on CNN's "Late Edition."

"There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department.""- CNN News, 11/20/2005
 

Convoy of Death: Why have US television stations refused to broadcast this documentary?

"The film provides eyewitness testimony that U.S. troops were complicit in the massacre of thousands of Taliban prisoners during the Afghan War.

It tells the story of thousands of prisoners who surrendered to the US military’s Afghan allies after the siege of Kunduz. According to eyewitnesses, some three thousand of the prisoners were forced into sealed containers and loaded onto trucks for transport to Sheberghan prison. Eyewitnesses say when the prisoners began shouting for air, U.S.-allied Afghan soldiers fired directly into the truck, killing many of them. The rest suffered through an appalling road trip lasting up to four days, so thirsty they clawed at the skin of their fellow prisoners as they licked perspiration and even drank blood from open wounds."
 

Dennis Rahkonen: 'U.S. forces 'shake and bake' Iraqi civilians!'

"Recognizing its devastating significance, progressive websites have been quick to headline the shocking story that a recently run Italian television documentary quite compellingly and gruesomely shows U.S. forces used the chemical terror weapon white phosphorous during their withering assault on Fallujah, Iraq."- Dennis Rahkonen, 11/11/2005; See also: US Criticized for Use of Phosphorous in Fallujah Raids, 11/9/2005, Andrew Buncombe, Independent/UK; 'I treated people who had their skin melted,' Dahr Jamail, The Independent, 11/15/2005 & Defense of Phosphorus Use Turns Into Damage Control, 11/21/2005, Scott Shane, New York Times.

Senate Approves Limiting Rights of U.S. Detainees

"The Senate voted Thursday to strip captured "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, of the principal legal tool given to them last year by the Supreme Court when it allowed