“Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
This indecision’s bugging me”
- The Clash
Everyone is wondering who will end the Iraq war, but few people are confused about whether it should be ended. Or are they? Our presidential candidates don’t seem sure at all. In between comments about how “special” Israel is, and how we have to fight the “right war” against al Qaeda (all according to Mr. Obama) it’s a mystery to me how people are so sure he — or anyone — will get us out of Iraq. In fact, Obama has voted to fund the Iraq war more than once. His explanation:
Rhetoric: Sen. Obama Promised To Oppose Iraq War Funding, Then Voted For Every Iraq War Funding Bill
Reality: Obama Has Remained Consistent in Opposing a Blank Check for Iraq”
So, he feels that it’s OK to fund a war you are against as long as the check isn’t blank. That’s not very logical or helpful, to say the least. Clinton was right to point out the inconsistency of his anti-war declarations combined with his votes for funding. Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist, wrote about the confusion and uncertainty the candidates all seem to have about how or whether to end the Iraq occupation. “US Presidents-to-be in Denial“
“Obama, who, on his past record, is believed to have the best policy on military withdrawal from Iraq, does not seem to intend to end the occupation. Susan Rice, a senior foreign affairs adviser to the Obama campaign, reiterated what we have heard from Bush administration officials over the past five years: that the number of US troops Obama would keep in Iraq “depends on the circumstances on the ground”.
That doesn’t sound good. However, maybe the new president, whoever it is, won’t have to be the one to end the war after all. By some luck, maybe it will end before January 2009 because the Senate might suddenly come to its senses and finally stop funding it. The Senate is going to vote on this very soon, in fact this week. This is from TrueMajority.
“After last week’s stunning victory in the House, the battle over ending the War in Iraq is moving to the Senate. On Wednesday the Senate is expected to vote on whether to give the President more funding to continue this war.
Your Senator is on a short list of targets whose decision will be critical in determining the results of these votes. That’s why we need you to call your Senator right now. Urge your Senator to bring the war to an end, and let them know you’re watching.”
Public Pressure might be the only thing that will end the Iraq occupation, because our presidential candidates do not seem devoted to the idea. Maybe the Senate as a whole will get the message and turn off the money machine. Call your Senator today and tomorrow: 202 225-312 or visit this site.
The talk show host Mike Malloy mentioned the Nazification of American policies last week. I don’t know what sums that up better than our government throwing children in jail, children of the same people we “liberated”. Yes, that’s right — we have liberated a country by killing and wounding their people, forcing our type of government on them, and throwing their children in detention centers. What is it about Americans that make them so uniquely and placidly accepting of every horror the people in Washington can dream up?
“US Admits Holding Juvenile Combatants
NEW YORK –05/19/08– The U.S. military is holding about 500 juveniles suspected of being “unlawful enemy combatants” in detention centers in Iraq and has about 10 detained at the U.S. base at Bagram, Afghanistan, the United States has told the United Nations.
A total of 2,500 youths under the age of 18 have been detained, almost all in Iraq, for periods up to a year or more in President George W. Bush’s anti-terrorism campaign since 2002, the United States reported last week to the U.N.’s Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Civil liberties groups such as the International Justice Network and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) denounced the detentions as abhorrent, and a violation of U.S. treaty obligations.
In the periodic report to the United Nations on U.S. compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United States confirmed that “As of April 2008, the United States held about 500 juveniles in Iraq.”
“The juveniles that the United States has detained have been captured engaging in anti-coalition activity, such as planting Improvised Explosive Devices, operating as lookouts for insurgents, or actively engaged in fighting against U.S. and Coalition forces,” the U.S. report said.
The majority are believed to be 16 or 17 years old. In the United States a 17-year-old can enlist in the U.S. army, with parental consent.
The report said that of the total of 2,500 juveniles jailed since 2002, all but 100 had been picked up in Iraq. The vast majority of the remainder were swept up in Afghanistan.. . . . “
The sad truth is that now that we do know what is going on, Americans continue to blithely shop and go to work as if nothing is wrong. I have an idea. Stop shopping. Stop driving. Stop buying gasoline. Economic problems are about the only thing that captures the attention of these inhumane jackals running our government. Visit one of my favorite websites: World Can’t Wait. Because we can’t.
Scott Ritter (pictured in center, in Iraq) was UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. Before the war in Iraq, he was very critical of the thinking behind the invasion and he publicly argued that Iraq possessed no WMD and were not a threat to the United States. Turns out, he was right. He has since become a popular anti-war figure and talk show commentator. He is still speaking out now that the Bush administration seems hell-bent on war with Iran, which most sane people feel would be a disaster for the U.S., Israel and the nearby Middle East Region. It could also spread to involve Russia, China, and the broader Middle East. A war with Iran would be the continuation of Dick Cheney’s energy plan: Confrontation and conquering of nations that he feels have “our oil”.
Scott Ritter is currently doing all he can to stop a war with Iran. In his interview last week for Anti-war Radio (audio below) he said that a couple of months ago he would have said the chances to start a war with bombing raids near Tehran in Iran were about 80%, but now he puts the chances of George Bush starting a war with Iran at “over 90%”. He also said it would take a miracle to divert Bush’s attention from attacking Iran. He feels it’s a done deal. He also said that there is nothing legal that Congress can do because at this point it’s too late. (impeachment, apparently, is still “off the table”) Ritter said Congress has abrogated its duty to stop a new war by giving Bush unlimited powers to fight the so-called “war on terror” and by declaring the al-Quds force a “terrorist organization.”
The upcoming air strikes are, according to Ritter, planned for the Al-Quds camps near Tehran. All this will most likely be happening before Bush leaves office, despite the fact that Iran poses no threat to the U.S. or to Israel — unless we attack them. Then, according to Ritter, they may very well retaliate, as any country might after being attacked, by striking out at Israel, — since obviously, we are too far away to reach. War with Iran would be immensely stupid and wrong, but completely legal, based on the enormous powers Congress gave our particular and peculiar Unitary Executive, aka Dictator-in-Chief.
Ritter also discusses the occupation of Iraq and how that’s going. Listen to the interview here.
Interested in helping to stop a war with Iran, given the catastrophe that it would be? Ritter gives a hint on how we might do that, but I think it is not enough. 20 million people should be protesting this in the streets, as soon as the next protest in a central location is planned.
Also see this Robert Gates article in the Washington Post about how we should be engaging Iran. Even he feels that we should have talked to Tehran, and that now it might be too late. George Bush is nothing if not the master of missed opportunities. Top military people do seem to be against a war in Iran — I suggest they do everything they can to stop it then.
Congressional Democrats have finally found their spines, or were finally convinced that we were going to fire them if they didn’t do what the public has been demanding for 5 years: stop funding the occupation of Iraq. This is from AfterDowningStreet.org:
“On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted No and blocked Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s latest proposal to throw another $165 billion into the occupation of Iraq. This happened in large part because ordinary citizens pressured their representatives to vote No. In the final count 149 Democrats voted No, 132 Republicans voted Present (neither Yes nor No), 12 members did not vote, and only 141 voted Yes. Here’s the roll call: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll328.xml
While the Republicans had less of an impact than the Democrats, the corporate media is quickly giving the Republicans credit for blocking the vote. This is nonsense. This vote was blocked by 149 Democrats finally - FINALLY - doing the right thing. We should thank them immediately. We should thank each other for having moved them. We should contact the media and praise them. We should have flowers delivered to their offices on Friday.”
Victories like this are so rare I don’t even know how to react. I keep thinking there has to be a catch. From here, it goes to the Senate. Call your Senators! Thank your House member for doing the right thing? They were just doing their jobs, finally, but reinforcing good behavior might be wise. Maybe they’ll do it again.
Vote should count, or they should close the polls and stop pretending they do.
Are Democrats interested in Democracy at all? I got this from the Hillary Clinton campaign today:
“Millions of voters in Florida and Michigan are depending on you to help make sure they have a voice in this race. Will you stand up for them today?
Thanks to your efforts, thanks to the hundreds of thousands of people who have already spoken out, the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is meeting May 31 to make a decision about whether or not the votes in Michigan and Florida will count.
Now I need you to urge the DNC to make the right decision on May 31. I need you to remind them that in the Democratic Party, we count every vote.
On May 31, the DNC has a chance to make it clear that the people of Florida and Michigan have a voice in our party. The decision is especially critical given the important role these states will play in November.
And your voice could make the difference for the millions of people who went to the polls in those two states to make their choice for president. Stand with me today and tell the DNC to count the votes in Florida and Michigan.
I have consistently said that every vote must count. It is such an important principle in our party.”
Actually, it’s an important principle in the United States as a whole. I don’t care about DNC rules or any political party rules and as an American who is not a member of a political party, I don’t recognize their self-given authority to disenfranchise voters. Americans are not required to be a member of any political party and that should have no bearing on their ability or rights to vote, in primaries or any other elections. Americans should be able to vote when and where they want to in primary and all elections without political parties breathing down their necks.
Party leaders cannot supercede our constitutional rights as voters to have our votes count. It’s the foundation of the country, and even though Republicans keep stealing votes from voters and disenfranchising voters, I don’t expect that of Democrats. Maybe I should!
The two main political parties in this country are almost fascist in nature. They force 48 states every year to sit by and watch while two small non-representative states choose the candidates they will be voting for. It’s the same states, year after year. It’s undemocratic and outrageously unfair. The majority of Americans are disenfranchised from even choosing who the rest of the country can vote for. The parties allow candidates to finance campaigns with corporate money, they disenfranchise voters, they make up artibitrary rules that change every year that disallow people to vote, they work with others like the media in order to pick candidates that are “palatable”. They even allow immoral corporations that routinely lie to the public, like coal companies, to advertise during presidential debates.
Howard Dean and the Democratic Party have handled this as badly as I can possibly imagine. People have fought for the right to vote too intensely and with such sacrifice, it makes this a slap in the face.
Our entire political party process needs to be overhauled and we need far more parties in this country calling the shots than two.
(Description): “Hand colored wood engraving by Thomas Nast from the November 11, 1871 issue of Harper’s Weekly. Picture depicts innocent voters dropping their ballots into a garbage basket while Tweed and his gang stands around innocently. Caption below the title reads, Boss. “You have the Liberty of Voting for any one you please; but we have the Liberty of Counting in any one we please.” Below that is a quote from the New York Times, “Do your Duty as Citizens, and leave the rest to take its course.”
President Bush spoke in front of Israel’s Knesset yesterday. In his speech, he said things that were classic scare tactics that we have all heard before, and exhibited again that his warmongering thought processes are alive and well. They are in no danger of mellowing just because he’s a lame duck. Bush specializes in violent language, to purposely poison debate, as do most Republican politicians. In his Knesset speech he made sure to include every necessary code word and phrase for supporting Israel in war against Iran. Part of his speech:
” Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.
Some people suggest if the United States would just break ties with Israel, all our problems in the Middle East would go away. This is a tired argument that buys into the propaganda of the enemies of peace, and America utterly rejects it. Israel’s population may be just over 7 million. But when you confront terror and evil, you are 307 million strong, because the United States of America stands with you. “
This constant beating of war drums from Bush is more than scare tactics. We know he will act and unleash his war machinery without a second thought. We know he will invent dangerous enemies or take existing tendencies of terrorism and purposely increase them so he can later attack people who are no threat to us. The government of Israel might embrace these transparent calls for death and unnecessary war, but they are not so well received in the United States anymore. It looks like the Israeli government, like ours, will never get its fill of war and killing. Well, the American people, and probably the Israeli people too, are sick of it. Those in Congress here were spitting mad at Bush’s words, and that is at least some small thing we can be grateful for. Now if only they would act to end the terrible occupation of Iraq, and stop agreeing to spend billions on weapons when we need the money here for Americans.
Why is it that people in the 1770s who founded America seem so smart and wise to us today, compared with the idiocy of George W. Bush and his despised administration? Because they were.
“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
“It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”
“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
“The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.”
“War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.”
“Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.”
If we won’t impeach George Bush for his crimes, future presidents will never be expected or required to uphold the Constitution. What would that do to our country, when our leaders now know they are not even expected to uphold our most basic laws and will not be held accountable for crimes, even war crimes? George W. Bush wants to spread his illegal preemptive war doctrine around the world. Bush’s real enemy is the law.
[tags]Bush, speech, Israel, law breaker, knesset, 60th Anniversary, naqba, Palestinians, Palestine, war, warmonger, preemptive war[/tags[
“Robin Oakley, head of Greenpeace’s climate change campaign, said: “We’re now witnessing a key moment in the climate change story, and it’s not good news. . . . To even consider building new runways and coal-fired power stations at this juncture in history is an unpardonable folly. . . . “‘
It’s past time for world governments — especially the U.S. — to act and stop the accusing, the finger-pointing and the delaying. We can’t wait any longer. We are approaching a point of no return with our climate and the recent cyclone that hit Burma (Myanmar) is just one indicator of stronger, climate change-fueled storms to come. We have also had more tornado deaths in the U.S. already this year than in all of 2007. Strong tornados and violent weather is popping up all over the U.S. in the last 2 months. This is unprecedented. But what is really unprecedented is the amount of C02 in the atmosphere and the fact that the earth is losing its ability to absorb C02. The earth’s atmosphere now has more C02 in it than in the last 650,000 years. The last time the earth’s atmosphere had this much C02 in hit, Humans had not yet arrived on earth as a species. This is serious.
All that can be recommended at this point is to do your part to cut down on C02 emissions right away, and call your congressmen. The only people who can really make a fast different at this point are people in governments, decision makers, and they need to move quickly. No more stalling. We need to stop the pumping of C02 into the atmosphere and we need to do it ASAP. Coal plants will have to be shut down immediately and as much else that pollutes stopped as soon as possible. If we have to give up some energy sources, then we have to.
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to the latest figures, renewing fears that climate change could begin to slide out of control.
Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40% since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years.
The figures, published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on its website, also confirm that carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected. The annual mean growth rate for 2007 was 2.14ppm - the fourth year in the last six to see an annual rise greater than 2ppm. From 1970 to 2000, the concentration rose by about 1.5ppm each year, but since 2000 the annual rise has leapt to an average 2.1ppm.
Scientists say the shift could indicate that the Earth is losing its natural ability to soak up billions of tons of CO2 each year. Climate models assume that about half our future emissions will be reabsorbed by forests and oceans, but the new figures confirm this may be too optimistic. If more of our carbon pollution stays in the atmosphere, it means emissions will have to be cut by more than is currently projected to prevent dangerous levels of global warming.
Martin Parry, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s working group on impacts, said: “Despite all the talk, the situation is getting worse. Levels of greenhouse gases continue to rise in the atmosphere and the rate of that rise is accelerating. We are already seeing the impacts of climate change and the scale of those impacts will also accelerate, until we decide to do something about it.”
James Hansen, former NASA scientist, wrote a paper in April stating that we need to get the C02 ppm down to 350 or this will be dangerously irreversable. Current C02 levels are well past that and still rising. If this continues and we get past the tipping point, to put it bluntly, we’re in serious trouble. The problem with this “tipping point” is that no one knows exactly where it is. The U.S. Congress is obsessed with things like carbon capture, (something that does not exist and won’t exist for decades), “clean” coals (also does not exist), cap and trade systems, fuel efficiency standards, etc., to be reached by 2020 or 2050. What they are doing is far too little, too late.
We need to call Congress, tell them about this article in The Guardian and tell them they need to end the occupation and military actions in Iraq immediately, which is greatly adding to the C02 problem. Funding the occupation should stop immediately and we should start funding solutions to climate change instead. The U.S. has to stop pursuing oil as a fuel, we have to stop coal mining, and we have to act on emissions faster than previously thought. It would also help to write letters to the editor of newspapers about this because this isn’t usually covered very much in U.S. media and when it is, it’s often buried. That’s another reason U.S. media needs to change it’s focus.
This is just a very weird story from ThinkProgress.org. I can’t imagine why we’d be cremating dead soldiers at a facility meant to handle pets. Is there a lack of cremation services in the United States? Like the bad facilities for troops at Fort Bragg are now being repaired, this practice supposedly ended shortly after the media broke the story. That should prove that the media is still very important and needs to do more investigative journalism than ever. This administration does so many secretive, underhanded things like this that there are probably thousands more stories like this out there.
Fallen U.S. troops cremated at ‘Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service.’
Since 2001, the U.S. military has cremated the remains of approximately 200 service members at Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service, a Delaware facility that primarily cremates pets. The practice was stopped yesterday, as the Washington Post reports:
The revelation came to light when an Army officer who works at the Pentagon traveled to Delaware on Thursday to attend the cremation of a military comrade. Offended to discover that the facility was labeled as a pet crematory, the officer sent an e-mail late Thursday night to superiors at the Pentagon that included a photograph of the signage.
The Friends Forever manager said that service members usually dropped off remains and returned the next day to pick them up. The practice is “contrary to the normal procedure,” in which the military is supposed to provide “an escort for all service members killed overseas during transport to the United States, and again after ‘medical processing’ at the Dover mortuary as the deceased returns home for interment.”
How bizarre things have gotten under this “president”. Anyone has to be better than this jerk, who claims that no one suffers more than he does when soldiers die, and who has called war “romantic”. I have to warn you though, if you visit the Friends Forever site, you might get lost there reading tributes to dead pets, like I did. Still, this is a shocking story for those of us who assumed our government treated dead soldiers with respect and in facilities actually meant for humans.
Everyone has a mother, so you probably celebrate Mother’s Day but maybe not knowing about its origins.
The original Mother’s Day was designed as a day to call for peace. Women, mothers, sisters, and others were tired of sending men they cared about off to war and having them die or be wounded or maimed. Here is the original proclamation from 1870, courtesy of Peaceaction.org.
Mother’s Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe, 1870
The First Mother’s Day proclaimed in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe
was a passionate demand for disarmament and peace.
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!
Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, Disarm!”
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail & commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesars but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.
Biography of Julia Ward Howe
US feminist, reformer, and writer Julia Ward Howe was born May 27, 1819 in New York City. She married Samuel Gridley Howe of Boston, a physician and social reformer. After the Civil War, she campaigned for women rights, anti-slavery, equality, and for world peace. She published several volumes of poetry, travel books, and a play. She became the first woman to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1908. She was an ardent antislavery activist who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic in 1862, sung to the tune of John Brown’s Body. She wrote a biography in 1883 of Margaret Fuller, who was a prominent literary figure and a member of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Transcendentalists. She died in 1910.
The movie Iron Man (official site) is a surprisingly decent action/sci-fi comic book movie with a deeper story than most movies of its kind. I saw it this weekend and honestly, I had very little idea what it was about until I watched it. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it’s about a self-made superhero who goes from being obviously “bad” to a man trying to undo all the damage he has done. This man, and Iron Man, is played by Robert Downey Jr. (looking better than you would expect and one of my favorite actors). His sidekick is his assistant “Pepper Pott” (Gwyneth Paltrow, also looking good) and the un-adorable Jeff Bridges is the evil corporate war-profiteer.
Downey plays Tony Stark and he makes weapons that kill people — bombs, missiles, and amazingly destructive systems. He does evil work but it’s work he inherited, and he doesn’t even think about it because it’s what his father did. He’s very much immersed in the purest kind of war service industry. True to U.S. policy, his weapons company is also selling weapons to the “enemy” but when he finds about about that, he gets angry, makes a metal suit which enables him to fly all around the world at supersonic speeds and zap bad guys. It’s hard to explain but if you see the movie, it all makes perfect sense (it helps to pretend you’re 10 years old). And the suit that makes him a superhero is very impressive. The special effects throughout are fantastic.
It is, ironically, a violent movie about how weapons are bad because they lead to such mindless violence, both in the wrong hands and in the “right” hands. In fact, I liked this movie because it’s about the Military Industrial Complex and questions the morality of the concept of making weapons, and the phrase “war profiteers” is even uttered by a socially-conscious reporter.
This movie is violent, but it also manages to be funny, mixed together with a very serious message: war is done with weapons, and someone makes those weapons, and there is a lot of money in those weapons, and in the end it all boils down to profiting from death. It also questions who the bad guys are. Even while redeeming himself and bringing about “justice”, Stark is a killer, so things are not neatly wrapped up. Let’s hope this movie does complete its subtle mission of making people ask questions about everything involving war and the seemingly innocuous professions people find themselves in that are really very destructive.
My Rating: B+
- too violent, but at least questions it
- great special effects
- chemistry between the two quirky main characters
- nice avoidance of gratuitous gore, and I don’t mean Al Gore
- the + is for humor
There is a widely-held consensus that the Bush administration has committed numerous serious crimes. The main crime that Bush has admitted to is torture, when he told interviewers recently that he did in fact authorize waterboarding and other similiar questioning techniques that amount to illegal torture. These are international war crimes, and just because Bush thinks he has made them legal in the U.S. does not mean they are legal anywhere else in the world, (or even in the U.S.) Apparently, Bush doesn’t realize he can’t break the law by making illegal things legal. All of his support and promotion of torture makes Bush a war criminal, and after he’s no longer president, he probably won’t be able to freely travel anywhere in the world without being arrested. You can read more about it in one article called ‘Arrest Bush’ here.
Besides other countries possibly arresting Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld, our own Congress could do it. There is a right given to Congress to arrest lawbreakers immediately and thrown them in the Congress’s own brig. This is called the law of “Inherent Contempt”. Congress, though they no longer have any sense of their own powers at all anymore, could use this. The good news is that it is widely accepted now that Bush and Cheney have broken the law quite egregiously, and that there is something Congress and others can do about it. Will they? It’s very doubtful, because they haven’t used it yet. But if Bush tries to go to war with another country, (Iran) they could theoretically arrest him for something else to prevent it.
Even if they don’t act, it’s a good idea to spread this story around so maybe the right lawyers (or the Justice League) will tart some legal actions. Last week on Democracy Now, Amy Goodman interviewed Philippe Sands. The following is from Democracy Now.org.
The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to hold a series of hearings examining the Bush administration’s role in authorizing the illegal torture of prisoners in US custody at Guantanamo and elsewhere. We speak to British attorney and author, Philippe Sands, author of the new book Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values.On Tuesday, Sands testified before the House Judiciary Sub-Committee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
Guest: Philippe Sands, British attorney and professor at University College London. He is the author of the new book Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values. His last book was Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules.
AMY GOODMAN: The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to hold a series of hearings examining the Bush administration’s role in authorizing the illegal torture of prisoners in US custody at Guantanamo and elsewhere. On Tuesday, Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers subpoenaed Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington, to testify at a hearing scheduled for June 26th.Three other former Bush administration officials have already agreed to testify: former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Justice Department attorney John Yoo and former Pentagon official Douglas Feith. Over the past month, more evidence has emerged tying high-ranking Bush administration officials to the use of torture.
In April, ABC News reported Vice President Cheney, former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft all discussed and approved how top al-Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the CIA.
President Bush has also confirmed he was aware of these meetings. In an interview with ABC News, Bush said, “We started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people. And yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.
Israel is turning 60, and Bush will be there to eat birthday cake with his “best ally“. As they celebrate, a large group of British Jews refuse to join in. They wrote a letter explaining why and briefly relating the history of how the Palestinians have been forced to suffer and sacrifice for Israel’s existence and expansion. The letter appeared in The Guardian at the end of April. For another perspective on this birthday, read “Behind Israel’s Independence, a Great Injustice”. But here is the letter:
“We’re not celebrating Israel’s anniversary
In May, Jewish organisations will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. This is understandable in the context of centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust. Nevertheless, we are Jews who will not be celebrating. Surely it is now time to acknowledge the narrative of the other, the price paid by another people for European anti-semitism and Hitler’s genocidal policies. As Edward Said emphasised, what the Holocaust is to the Jews, the Naqba is to the Palestinians.
In April 1948, the same month as the infamous massacre at Deir Yassin and the mortar attack on Palestinian civilians in Haifa’s market square, Plan Dalet was put into operation. This authorised the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expulsion of the indigenous population outside the borders of the state. We will not be celebrating.
In July 1948, 70,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in Lydda and Ramleh in the heat of the summer with no food or water. Hundreds died. It was known as the Death March. We will not be celebrating.
In all, 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. Some 400 villages were wiped off the map. That did not end the ethnic cleansing. Thousands of Palestinians (Israeli citizens) were expelled from the Galilee in 1956. Many thousands more when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Under international law and sanctioned by UN resolution 194, refugees from war have a right to return or compensation. Israel has never accepted that right. We will not be celebrating.
YANGON, Myanmar - Hungry people swarmed the few open shops and fistfights broke out over food and water in Myanmar’s swamped Irrawaddy delta Wednesday as a top U.S. diplomat warned that the death toll from a devastating cyclone could top 100,000.
The minutes of a U.N. aid meeting obtained by The Associated Press, meanwhile, revealed the military junta’s visa restrictions were hampering international relief efforts.”
Like a lot of things happening lately, I can’t conceive of this. I can’t understand how that many people were lost, or why it happened (Al Gore said yesterday that climate change contributed) or of a government restricting help and aid to the people who survived. I went to AmericCare’s and Mercy Corp’s websites today and they are both claiming to have ways to get in with help. Americare’s is here MercyCorp’s is here
“The most important political office is that of the private citizen.” – Judge Louis D. Brandeis
The video and some of this post is from AfterDowningStreet.org
The Senate Appropriations Committee will “mark-up” the supplemental this Thursday, May 8, setting the stage for a full vote by the Senate. At a time when money is urgently needed in our communities, the latest new war funding bill would bring the total for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to an unimaginable $874 billion. By including FY09 funding, the Democratic Party House leadership is effectively taking the war off the Congressional agenda for the rest of this year. This might be our last opportunity to fight a war funding bill before the next President takes office and the new Congress is seated. We spend $5,000 per second in Iraq. That’s $300,000 a minute.
Sit for a minute and think that in that minute, we have spent $300,000 in Iraq.
We spend $18 million per hour. What are we getting for our money? We are not winning any ‘war on terror’ in Iraq. Even John McCain said the other day that we shouldn’t fight wars for oil anymore.
“The bill will be divided into three sections — for war money, policy riders and domestic spending. That will permit House Democrats to vote for or against each section while still getting the measure through that chamber.”
As of today, 4,073 U.S. Soldiers have been killed in combat, and many thousands more have died in places other than in combat, including about 120 vets a day who attempt suicide. This is unacceptable. The confluence of conflicts in Iraq cannot be solved with the U.S. military. That’s why your call today is crucial. This video should help you in what to say. TODAY AND TOMORROW: CALL
To express opposition to additional war funding, you can call the Capitol Switchboard to be connected to your Representative’s and your Senators’ offices: 1-202-224-3121 or toll free at: 1-800-828-0498
Tell them to vote “No!” on this funding bill.
Tell them its long past time to bring all the troops home and end the war.
Tell them to stop giving president Bush everything he wants, while lives are being lost, both American and Iraqi. Read more
Politicians must believe that U.S. soldiers are either immortal, inhuman or those little toy plastic soldiers. They also must believe that we can “win” this war against anyone who shoots at us, despite that larger countries than us lost their war against “insurgents” in Afghanistan. Here is Senator Obama from Sunday’s “Meet the Press”:
“MR. RUSSERT: Afghanistan. The situation, according to some, is deteriorating as the Taliban continues to reconstitute itself. Would you, as president, be willing to have a military surge in Afghanistan in order to, once and for all, eliminate the Taliban?
SEN. OBAMA: Yes. I think that’s what we need. I think we need more troops there, I think we need to do a better job of reconstruction there. I think we have to be focused on Afghanistan. . . “
Sgt. 1st Class David L. McDowell, 30, of Ramona, California died Tuesday in Afghanistan of “wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked using small arms fires.” The San Diego Tribune reports, “He had been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq seven times and was a recipient of two Bronze stars and a Purple Heart.”
How can anyone ask someone to serve SEVEN tours of duty by the age of 30 and expect them to have any chance of surviving at all? Seven tours of duty is like a death sentence. That this is happening is inhumane and cruel, and yet somehow, Obama wants a surge in Afghanistan. Using what? Robots? Unicorns?
I am looking for donations to attend the National Conference for Media ReformJune 6-8 2008, Minneapolis Read more about it here
Needed: $350
Donations so far: $350 -- Thanks to everyone who donated!
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