~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two new and very interesting articles from the FPIF (Foreign Policy In Focus) website:


Iraq: Integrity and Ethics in Formulating and Interpreting Intelligence
By Col. Daniel Smith (Ret.) | June 17, 2003
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2003/0306ethics.html

"...The back-up tack is the assertion that "the road to Jerusalem runs through Baghdad." This assertion sought to conflate two separate policy problems through repeated public pronouncements to the effect that removing Saddam would be the key that unlocked peace in the Middle East and the gulf. (Such contorted reasoning in the face of the known support by Syria and Iran of violent groups operating in Palestine, if done purposefully, raises the question of integrity in trying to resolve this dispute.)"

_____________________________________

Is U.S. Foreign Policy
a Threat to U.S. Security?
By Muqtedar Khan | June 17, 2003
http://www.presentdanger.org/commentary/2003/0306security.html

"...Perhaps the president would do well to change his foreign policy team--as he did with his economic policy team. At the least he must return the foreign policy portfolio to the State Department and insist that the Department of Defense execute, not formulate, foreign policy. The president might also do well to focus on allaying the fears of the global community and take steps to reassure its members that Washington is neither threatening them nor is it going to pursue its interests at the expense of everyone else...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear friends,

I'm blogging this to ask you to take part in MoveOn.org's
presidential primary. Too often, the real choices in presidential nomination processes are made long before the real primaries.
Pundits, pollsters and big donors shouldn't be the only voices that count at this early and important stage of the process.
MoveOn's primary will give at least 1.4 million people
the opportunity to make their voices heard. You can be
one of them by registering to vote in the MoveOn Primary
here:
http://www.moveon.org/pac/reg/

Thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hear them cheering yet? "Liberation - yay."


from www.ridiculopathy.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today I couldn't help but notice the gentleman standing in front of me in line at the Taco Bell. I'd seen his face many times before.
I'd "seen" him more in writing. I've read his many books. He is an American poet.
I recalled a wonderful poem I'd read by him a few months ago and wish to share it here..with you:

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


COMPLAINT AND PETITION
by Hayden Carruth

"Mr. President: On a clear cold
morning I address you from a remote
margin of your dominion in plain-
style Yankee quatrains because

I don't know your exalted language
of power. I'm thankful for that. This
is a complaint and petition, sent
to you in the long-held right I claim

as a citizen. To recapitulate your
wrong-doings is unnecessary; the topic
is large and prominent and already
occupies the attention of historians

and political scholars, whose findings
will in the near future expose your
incontinent and maniacal ambition
for all to see. Let it suffice to

say that you have warped the law and
flouted the will and wisdom of the
people as no other has before you.
You have behaved precisely as a tin-pot

tyrant in any benighted, inglorious
corner of the earth. And now you are
deviously and corruptly manipulating
events in order to create war.

Let us speak plainly. You wish to
murder millions, as you yourself
have said, to appease your fury. We
oppose such an agenda--we, the people,

artists, artisans, builders, makers,
honest American men and women,
especially the poets, for whom I dare
to speak. We say, desist, resign,

hide yourself in your own shame,
lest otherwise the evil you have
loosed will destroy everything
and love will quit the world."

1/28/03
_________________________

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'IN THESE TIMES' article:

MEET HOWARD DEAN
by David Moberg

Excerpt:
"...Polls..suggest that Dean’s stance against the war may help him. It’s unclear, Dean argues, whether six months from now Iraq will be peaceful or in tumult against U.S. occupation. In any case, the issue will be a wash politically, he thinks. “People don’t believe that being against the war in Iraq is as Joe [Lieberman] says, a tendency to be weak on defense. The Dean doctrine would be very clear. We have a right to defend ourselves against an immediate threat, an imminent threat. But we don’t have a right to engage in preventive war without an immediate threat being established.” In late April, a survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes showed that more than 75 percent of Americans favored the United States cooperating with other countries to solve problems. These majorities are closer to the position of Democrats like Dean than to Bush or his Democratic apologists...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Impeachment Kit against Wolfowitz-PNAC Cabal: Why 911
was important for Iraq War
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wolfowitz Cabal in August 2001 -Why Sep11th was
important for Iraq War
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/15/0553240

"... In the latest Vanity Fair article on the NeoCons
(not available online) you will find a photo, which
shows Paul Wolfowitz, who visited President Bush on
his vacation in August 2001 at the Farm in Crawford.
What was the reason for this visit?
And did it take place before or after the CIA's memo
on a pending attack on August 6th?..."

911 Skeptics Unite -the encyclopedia
http://globalfreepress.com/ewing2001

The Top 150 Subpoena list for the 911 Commission
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/26/0450229

The real people behind 911?
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/08/0354202&mode=thread

Gerard Holmgren's 911 Evidence Kit (Update 06/14/03)
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/14/1332239

Thompson + Wood -new Timeline of Sep11th
http://www.cooperativeresearch.net/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html

Who profited from Ground Zero in New York?
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/08/1119253

PNAC -related collection
http://news.globalfreepress.com/index.pl?section=pnac
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/04/15/0110205&mode=thread

Deck of War Profiteers
http://www.warprofiteers.com/cards/alphabet.html
http://www.ghostelectricity.com/warprofiteers/WarProfiteerCardDeck.pdf

Impeach Bush Campaigns
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=impeach+bush

Global Free Press- the 911 Archive
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/04/0146225

Shadow Government TV -every thursday on Cable 34 (NYC)
http://www.globalfreepress.com/sgtv

The BENS-CIA-911-Homeland Sec.-connection
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/04/15/0129239&mode=thread

Tom Flocco: 9-11 Commission Testimony Too Hot...
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/30/0037246

FBI Denies Mix-Up Of 9/11 Terrorists
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/11/1525250

Ex-FBI Whistleblower Wright under investigation
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/13/0439244

The unsolved mystery of Building 7 Collapse
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/07/2252254&mode=thread

Breitwieser + Co.- "Jersey Girls" get in Muellers face
(Isikoff)
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/12/0756203

Top Pentagon Paper of '99: If an oil "problem" arises,
"US forces might be used"
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/20/0359252&mode=thread

Halliburton secretly worked with DoD long time before
Iraq War
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/19/0543210&mode=thread

Latest on Iraq-Gate:
========================================================
New pressure on UK Government (incl.
Marconi-Greenberg-ties)
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/15/0624235

Sen. Warner (R) might have public hearings
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/13/2355246

Secret US Army found no WMD before War started
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/13/2158250

CIA Says It cabled Key Iraq Data to White House
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/13/0451207

Krugman strikes again: "Nation misled into war in
Iraq"
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/11/1715255

IraqGate: Voices are getting louder worldwide
http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/10/0118201&mode=thread

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the blog of the ever-astute Anonymoses:

Censored 2003: The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2001-2002

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How dumb do they think we are?
I mean..really!
Homeland Security investigates itself....
..and absolves itself?!
Like, WOW....
I could have has a V8!!!!





Report Finds No Wrongdoing in Search for Texas Lawmakers
By PHILIP SHENON
NY TIMES

"An internal investigation at the Department of Homeland Security has
found no evidence that the department did anything wrong when it
agreed to assist in the search for a group of Texas Democratic
lawmakers who had fled the state in a partisan dispute, according to a
report made public today...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The War Built On A Lie

"Why mince words? These are the facts:

1) President George W. Bush is a liar.
2) Secretary of State Colin Powell is a liar.
3) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is a liar.
4) National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is a liar.

To the above facts we might add these: There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, none were there when our war against Iraq began, and none will be found unless we plant them there........."

"One might also conclude that Waxman has found the smoking gun that could -- and should -- bring down the corrupt Bush Administration.
But, observing the events in Congress last Wednesday, one might conclude further that the Republicans in Congress, by blocking the call for a decent investigation, intend to do their best to see that the Bush Gang is never brought to account for its lying ways.
The sordid truth is that the Bush team lied through its teeth to justify its desire to go to war against Iraq....."

" am not a seer. I have no magical powers that allow me to see the future. But obvious is obvious, and it was obvious long before the war began that Bush would not be satisfied until he could send our young people off to avenge Saddam's attempt to assassinate his father...."


How long will you sit there and think all these lies are acceptable?
Read the article!
Bush should be impeached for these lies!


"They impeached me for lying about that woman.
What will they do to the guy who drags the entire nation into
a troop-endangering / terror-recruiting war based on an obvious series of lies?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An excellent column from June 16, 2003 by Neal Gabler
Alameda Times-Star
I think he's right on the money in his assessment of Karl Rove.

From Gabler's well-stated opinion:

" At some level, liberals know what the president and Rove are up to and fear that they will succeed in dismantling an effective two-party system. The left knows that Rove and company aren't keen on debating issues, negotiating, compromising and horse-trading, the usual means of getting things done politically. On the contrary: The administration is intent on foreclosing them.
As much as liberals abhor the conservative agenda, there is something far more frightening to them now -- not that Republicans have an ideological grand plan but that they don't have one. Instead, the GOP plan is policy solely in the service of politics, which should terrify all Democrats."

_________________________________





Rove's strategies may backfire upon him when the American people see the result of his political "finesse"...when the American people see that he, through his
political fanagling, has been nothing more than a prime contributor to killing American democracy.

The American people are already beginning to see the truth. The latest polls would certainly indicate so. George W. Bush's job performance rating has slipped to 58% from his most recent high of 61% in April, according to the newest Zogby America poll conducted June 6 - 10. Four in ten (41%) view his job performance negatively.
If the presidential election were held today, Bush would beat a generic Democratic candidate, 44% - 37%. (Just wait until a Democrat's
name and a face are secured in the voter's minds!)

For all his deliberate democracy-deconstruction, Karl Rove will only have lead Bush to the ashcan of one-term Presidents.
Karl's boss wasn't even elected. The President's arrogance in all his presumptive/aggressive/radical political maneuvering via Karl Rove will
assure his send-off back to Texas next year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poll suggests world hostile to US
People around the world take a dim view of the US, poll suggests
Nearly two-thirds of respondents to an international poll for the BBC say they have an unfavourable opinion of George W Bush.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LIKE IRAQ---IT LOOKS LIKE THE
STATE DEPARTMENT VS. THE NEOCONS--
WILL THESE NEOCONS PUSH US INTO
ANOTHER WAR SO SOON?
BEWARE!

From The Forward
June 6, 2003
Pentagon Team on Iran Comes Under Fire

"Several sources said the State Department was seeking to improve contacts with Tehran and was skeptical of the neoconservative assessment that the regime was on the verge of collapse..."

"State officials also question the clout and democratic credentials of exiled opposition figures like Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah who has emerged as an advocate of Iranian secular democracy and a darling of neoconservatives.
The source close to Iran policymakers added that the Pentagon was very much in favor of regime change in Iran and enjoyed the support of the vice president's office. He said advocates were hoping to convince the president over the objections of the State Department."
________________________________________

and Forward story from May 16, 2003:
New Front Sets Sights On Toppling Iran Regime

"Neoconservatives advocating regime change in Tehran through diplomatic pressure — and even covert action — appear to be winning the debate within the administration, several knowledgeable observers said.

"There is a pact emerging between hawks in the administration, Jewish groups and Iranian supporters of Reza Pahlavi [the exiled son of the former shah of Iran] to push for regime change," said Pooya Dayanim, president of the Iranian-Jewish Public Affairs Committee in Los Angeles and a hawk on Iran.

"The emerging coalition is reminiscent of the buildup to the invasion of Iraq, with Pahlavi possibly assuming the role of Iraqi exile opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi, a favorite of neoconservatives. Like Chalabi, Pahlavi has good relations with several Jewish groups. He has addressed the board of the hawkish Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and gave a public speech at the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and met with Jewish communal leaders.

Pahlavi also has had quiet contacts with top Israeli officials. During the last two years, according to a knowledgeable source, he has met privately with Prime Minister Sharon and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Israel's Iranian-born president, Moshe Katsav.

In another parallel to the pre-invasion debate over Iraq, an intense policy battle is heating up between the State and Defense departments over what to do in Iran.

"The president, the vice president and, even more so, the Pentagon support regime change," said a source who follows the internal debate closely. "But State does not want to meddle in Iran, so you have a big fight right now within the administration."

________________________________

Richard Perle said today, in an interview with a German newspaper:

"We { U.S.} only use military force when all peaceful means are exhausted. That was the case in Iraq," {Perle} said, in comments published in German.

Perle, one of the US administration's leading proponents of the war on Iraq, said that Washington was nevertheless interested in regime change in Iran...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How The Press Favors Bush


Excerpts:

"Particularly since 9/11, the U.S. media has mostly given Bush a....


"...his {Bush's} rote stump speech -- which varied only by inserting the local candidate's name at the appropriate spots -- repeated his claim that Hussein was linked somehow to al-Qaeda, even though it was known for months that there is no evidence to support it. Yet not one news report can be found that pointed out that the President was lying, or at best, repeating an unsubstantiated rumor......"

"The Y2000 election controversy ended the moment the jets smashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon...."

"The War on Terror bestowed on Bush a Teflon coating that Reagan would envy, as he sailed through both political and personal scandals this year.


Widespread corporate fraud generated plenty of stinging commentary in broadcast and print media -- but aside from Bush making a short speech about enforcing corporate accountability and prosecuting the guilty, few in the press mentioned that he wasn't doing much on either front..."

"The media's gentle treatment of Bush stands in razor-sharp contrast to the mauling of Clinton...."



"So what's going on here? Is the media's pro-Bush tilt just a pendulum swing from its bias against Clinton -- or is there something more conspiratorial at work?"

"The problem is not just muck from the RNC occasionally slipping into the mainstream -- it's that U.S. media is increasingly an active player in that disinformation campaign....."

"It's increasingly clear that Bush has the advantage because the U.S. press shows him favor. Rarely is the bad stuff mentioned or framed in an alarming way..."

" Would there be more upset about Enron if Ken Lay had been a close personal friend of Clinton's?


...Or reporting that Times poll with the dismal finding that most people don't want to reelect Bush, wouldn't an equivalent 1994 headline have read something like, "2 Out Of 3 Voters Say They Won't Vote Again For Clinton"?"