Must we suffer through 3 more years of Bush imposed hell? One election was obviously stolen, one was systematically manipulated and we the American people in the lower 98 percentile are paying dearly for the Bush neocon coup d'etat. Even Sandra Day O'Connor probably regrets her Supreme Court decision in appointing Bush President in 2000. Retired military are coming forward to speak against the neocon war in Iraq. Military who are not retired are quietly expressing their concerns to Congressman Murtha. Fortunately the mainstream media is slowly waking up to the fact that something is terribly and horribly wrong in Washington. Lou Dobbs on CNN has been relentless in his exposes of corporate corruption and greed, empowered naturally by none other than the Bush Administration. Keith Olbermann has also had enough of Bush spin, fabrication and outright lies and says as much on his Countdown program on MSNBC. The New York Times has regained its ethical stamina after the departure of neocon hack "journalist" Judith Miller. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have also regained a modicum of professionalism and courage in reporting hard facts, though I read somewhere today that the WAPO has hired a conservative blogger to offset Dan Froomkin who is perceived as "liberal" because he writes the truth. Actually, I looked up that "somewhere" and it is HERE
On to the dog days of Bush. LS
PRIOR TO THE WAR IRAQI DIPLOMAT TOLD CIA THERE WERE NO WMD
Of course there weren't. I found this piece on the mainstream media's MSNBC site.
MSNBC PIECE ON SADDAM'S FOREIGN MINISTER AND INTELLIGENCE ON WMD
HELEN THOMAS GRILLS BUSH ON WAR
Bush must be really desperate if he is allowing reporters who are not fake shams like the Gannon & Co. types or those who are hired cheerleaders for neocon ideology, to actually ask him a question. After five years, a journalist has both the opportunity and the courage to demand answers from the liar in chief. You go girl, Miss Helen!
I found this on Editor and Publisher.com via Buzz Flash.com LS
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER PIECE ON THOMAS
"STILL OPTIMISTIC ABOUT IRAQ? YOU JUST MIGHT BE A FANATIC."
Ken sent this great piece by Arianna Huffington on The Huffington Post.com
Excerpt:
As I put it in a May 2003 column, just weeks after the president's upbeat -- and wildly inaccurate -- Mission Accomplished moment:
"The defining trait of the fanatic -- be it a Marxist, a fascist, or, gulp, a Wolfowitz -- is the utter refusal to allow anything as piddling as evidence to get in the way of an unshakable belief. Bush and his fellow fanatics are the political equivalent of those yogis who can hold their breath and go without air for hours. Such is their mental control, they can go without truth for, well, years. Because, in their minds, they're always right. Oopso facto."
This idea formed the basis for my last book, Fanatics and Fools (the Fools being the enablers in the Democratic Party). And Bush and Cheney's statements around the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq have only reinforced my diagnosis: this administration is teeming with zealots for whom evidence is little more than an obstacle on their chosen course.
This evidence-be-damned fanaticism has been front and center as the White House tries to put a positive spin on what the president called "the beginning of the liberation of Iraq." Which is kind of like saying that my wedding was the beginning of my divorce.
HUFFINTON POST PIECE ON IRAQ HERE
TIME APPROPRIATE BUMPER STICKERS
A friend and colleague at work received the following bumper sticker slogans from her sister-in-law who spent 3 months in Palestine as a peace observer. LS
BLIND FAITH IN BAD LEADERSHIP IS NOT PATRIOTISM
IF YOU'RE NOT OUTRAGED
YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION
IF YOU SUPPORTED BUSH
A YELLOW RIBBON WON'T MAKE UP FOR IT
AT LEAST IN VIETNAM
BUSH HAD AN EXIT STRATEGY
SEND THE TWINS
POVERTY, HEALTHCARE & HOMELESSNESS
ARE MORAL ISSUES
BUSH LIED
AND YOU KNOW IT
RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM
A THREAT ABROAD
A THREAT AT HOME
GOD BLESS EVERYONE
(No exceptions)
BUSH SPENT YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY
ON HIS WAR
IT IS THE DUTY OF THE PATRIOT TO PROTECT
HIS COUNTRY FROM ITS GOVERNMENT
(Thomas Payne)
Election 2004
"TIS THE TIME'S PLAGUE
WHEN MADMEN LEAD THE BLIND"
William Shakespeare (King Lear)
IF YOU SUPPORT BUSH'S WAR
WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?
I'D RATHER HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO SCREWED HIS
INTERN THAN ONE WHO SCREWED HIS COUNTRY
JESUS WAS A SOCIAL ACTIVIST LIBERAL
DISSENT IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF PATRIOTISM
Thomas Jefferson
NOBODY DIED WHEN CLINTON LIED
ANNOY A CONSERVATIVE
THINK FOR YOURSELF
VISUALIZE
IMPEACHMENT
GEORGE W. BUSH - MAKING TERRORISTS FASTER
THAN HE CAN KILL THEM
REBUILD IRAQ?
WHY NOT SPEND 87 BILLION ON AMERICA?
THE LAST TIME RELIGION CONTROLLED POLITICS
PEOPLE GOT BURNED AT THE STAKE
HOW ON EARTH CAN 59,411,287 PEOPLE BE SO DUMB?
DOESN'T OUR CHILDREN'S CREDIT CARD HAVE A LIMIT?
Cartoon: Vote
1 hour ago
1 comment:
The plan I am sending you has been approved by many prominent thinkers and
activists in the field. Which includes: Benjamin Ferencz, Chief Prosecutor
at the Nuremburg Trials, Tom Hayden, Matthew Rothschild, Anthony Arnove, Danny Schecter,
Tony Benn- Former Member of the British parliament ,Reggie Rivers,
Robert Jenkins, Andrew Bard Schmookler and others.
I formulated this plan in September 2004, based on a comprehensive
study of the issues. For my plan to be successful it must be implemented
with all seven points beginning to happen within a very short period of
time.
I have run up against a wall of doubt about my plan due to it's
rational nature ,and due to it's adherence to placing the blame on the
invaders, and then trying to formulate a process of extrication which would
put all entities in this conflict face to face, to begin to finally solve
the dilemmas that exist.
If you read my plan you will see that it is guided by a reasonable
and practical compromise that could end this war and alleviate the
internecine civil violence that is confronting Iraq at this juncture in it's
history.
I am making a plea for my plan to be put into action on a wide-scale.
I need you to circulate it and use all the persuasion you have to bring it
to the attention of those in power.
Just reading my plan and sending off an e-mail to me that you received
it will not be enough.
This war must end-we who oppose it can do this by using my plan.
We must fight the power and end the killing.
If you would like to view some comments and criticism about my plan
I direct you to my blog: sevenpointman
Thank you my dear friend,
Howard Roberts
A Seven-point plan for an Exit Strategy in Iraq
1) A timetable for the complete withdrawal of American and British forces
must be announced.
I envision the following procedure, but suitable fine-tuning can be
applied by all the people involved.
A) A ceasefire should be offered by the Occupying side to
representatives of both the Sunni insurgency and the Shiite community. These
representatives would be guaranteed safe passage, to any meetings. The
individual insurgency groups would designate who would attend.
At this meeting a written document declaring a one-month ceasefire,
witnessed by a United Nations authority, will be fashioned and eventually
signed. This document will be released in full, to all Iraqi newspapers, the
foreign press, and the Internet.
B) US and British command will make public its withdrawal, within
sixth-months of 80 % of their troops.
C) Every month, a team of United Nations observers will verify the
effectiveness of the ceasefire.
All incidences on both sides will be reported.
D) Combined representative armed forces of both the Occupying
nations and the insurgency organizations that agreed to the cease fire will
protect the Iraqi people from actions by terrorist cells.
E) Combined representative armed forces from both the Occupying
nations and the insurgency organizations will begin creating a new military
and police force. Those who served, without extenuating circumstances, in
the previous Iraqi military or police, will be given the first option to
serve.
F) After the second month of the ceasefire, and thereafter, in
increments of 10-20% ,a total of 80% will be withdrawn, to enclaves in Qatar
and Bahrain. The governments of these countries will work out a temporary
land-lease housing arrangement for these troops. During the time the troops
will be in these countries they will not stand down, and can be re-activated
in the theater, if the chain of the command still in Iraq, the newly
formed Iraqi military, the leaders of the insurgency, and two international
ombudsman (one from the Arab League, one from the United Nations), as a
majority, deem it necessary.
G) One-half of those troops in enclaves will leave three-months after they
arrive, for the United States or other locations, not including Iraq.
H) The other half of the troops in enclaves will leave after
six-months.
I) The remaining 20 % of the Occupying troops will, during this six
month interval, be used as peace-keepers, and will work with all the
designated organizations, to aid in reconstruction and nation-building.
J) After four months they will be moved to enclaves in the above
mentioned countries.
They will remain, still active, for two month, until their return to
the States, Britain and the other involved nations.
2) At the beginning of this period the United States will file a letter with
the Secretary General of the Security Council of the United Nations, making
null and void all written and proscribed orders by the CPA, under R. Paul
Bremer. This will be announced and duly noted.
3) At the beginning of this period all contracts signed by foreign countries
will be considered in abeyance until a system of fair bidding, by both
Iraqi and foreign countries, will be implemented ,by an interim Productivity
and Investment Board, chosen from pertinent sectors of the Iraqi economy.
Local representatives of the 18 provinces of Iraq will put this board
together, in local elections.
4) At the beginning of this period, the United Nations will declare that
Iraq is a sovereign state again, and will be forming a Union of 18
autonomous regions. Each region will, with the help of international
experts, and local bureaucrats, do a census as a first step toward the
creation of a municipal government for all 18 provinces. After the census, a
voting roll will be completed. Any group that gets a list of 15% of the
names on this census will be able to nominate a slate of representatives.
When all the parties have chosen their slates, a period of one-month will be
allowed for campaigning.
Then in a popular election the group with the most votes will represent that
province.
When the voters choose a slate, they will also be asked to choose five
individual members of any of the slates.
The individuals who have the five highest vote counts will represent a
National government.
This whole process, in every province, will be watched by international
observers as well as the local bureaucrats.
During this process of local elections, a central governing board, made up
of United Nations, election governing experts, insurgency organizations, US
and British peacekeepers, and Arab league representatives, will assume the
temporary duties of administering Baghdad, and the central duties of
governing.
When the ninety representatives are elected they will assume the legislative
duties of Iraq for two years.
Within three months the parties that have at least 15% of the
representatives will nominate candidates for President and Prime Minister.
A national wide election for these offices will be held within three months
from their nomination.
The President and the Vice President and the Prime Minister will choose
their cabinet, after the election.
5) All debts accrued by Iraq will be rescheduled to begin payment, on the
principal after one year, and on the interest after two years. If Iraq is
able to handle another loan during this period she should be given a grace
period of two years, from the taking of the loan, to comply with any
structural adjustments.
6) The United States and the United Kingdom shall pay Iraq reparations for
its invasion in the total of 120 billion dollars over a period of twenty
years for damages to its infrastructure. This money can be defrayed as
investment, if the return does not exceed 6.5 %.
7) During the beginning period Saddam Hussein and any other prisoners who
are deemed by a Council of Iraqi Judges, elected by the National
representative body, as having committed crimes will be put up for trial.
The trial of Saddam Hussein will be before seven judges, chosen from this
Council of Judges.
One judge, one jury, again chosen by this Council, will try all other
prisoners.
All defendants will have the right to present any evidence they want, and to
choose freely their own lawyers.
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