Scahill: "That gun is probably too hot for either party to touch."

[understandinglife]

Why the intransigence?

Why the reticence?

Why wasn't every Democratic member of Congress, and those ethical, truly law-abiding Republican members of Congress, at the White House gates on June 16, 2005, with Congressman Conyers and Congresswomen Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee and Barbara Lee?

Members of Congress, from left to right, Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) head down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, June 16, to deliver petitions demanding President Bush tell the truth on Downing Street Memo evidence that he lied to sell the Iraq war to the American people. http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/7266/1/275/

Why are members of Congress, House and Senate, writing letters to each other about 'investigating' when the truly bloody evidence is in plain sight?

Why are they not cooperating with all the various groups who have assembled considerable, detailed evidence of what the US and UK have been doing in Iraq since mid-Summer 2002?

Why are they not already filing charges in the appropriate Federal and International Courts?

It is not a matter of impeaching Bush and Cheney, it is a matter of establishing a tribunal, similar to Nuremburg, to try all those complicit in the illegal war of aggression on Iraq and all the crimes being committed during the illegal occupation.

These people have committed the worst types of crimes against a sovereign Nation and it's people, and have supported an global infrastructure of torture and murder.

Perhaps the answer is both simple and profoundly disturbing.

Perhaps Jeremy Scahill has provided the correct answer:

The Smoking Bullet in the Smoking Gun

by JEREMY SCAHILL

http://www.democracynow.org/static/Smoking%20Bullet.shtml

It was a huge air assault: Approximately 100 US and British planes flew from Kuwait into Iraqi airspace. At least seven types of aircraft were part of this massive operation, including US F-15 Strike Eagles and Royal Air Force Tornado ground-attack planes. They dropped precision-guided munitions on Saddam Hussein's major western air-defense facility, clearing the path for Special Forces helicopters that lay in wait in Jordan. Earlier attacks had been carried out against Iraqi command and control centers, radar detection systems, Revolutionary Guard units, communication centers and mobile air-defense systems. The Pentagon's goal was clear: Destroy Iraq's ability to resist. This was war.

But there was a catch: The war hadn't started yet, at least not officially. This was September 2002--a month before Congress had voted to give President Bush the authority he used to invade Iraq, two months before the United Nations brought the matter to a vote and more than six months before "shock and awe" officially began.

<clip>

But another question looms, particularly for Democrats who voted for the war and now say they were misled: Why weren't these unprovoked and unauthorized attacks investigated when they were happening, when it might have had a real impact on the Administration's drive to war? Perhaps that's why the growing grassroots campaign to use the Downing Street memo to impeach Bush can't get a hearing on Capitol Hill. A real probing of this "smoking gun" would not be uncomfortable only for Republicans. The truth is that Bush, like President Bill Clinton before him, oversaw the longest sustained bombing campaign since Vietnam against a sovereign country with no international or US mandate. That gun is probably too hot for either party to touch.

If We The People ... accept the answer then maybe we will stop wasting time waiting for those we've elected to get on with holding Bush and the neoconsters accountable for all the laws they have breached, all the horror, destruction of property, torture and murder they perpetrated.

We have all the evidence we need to know that Bush intends to use Bolton to do to international law what he had Ashcroft and now Gonzales do to our Bill of Rights.

We need those with wealth and conscience to gather the finest legal team in the world and begin a massive effort in US Federal and International Courts to bring Bush and the neoconsters to trial.

What we must do is stop the killing and the torture and those who are trying to place America beyond the law. What we must do is not absolve ourselves from action by pretending that the minority party in the Congress is going to get the job done without a massive demonstration of our support for applying the law to Bush and the neoconsters, NOW, not sometime in the future.

It matters little to me if Bush is impeached because his crimes and those of his associates are so heinous that nothing but prosecution in a court of law, with application of the broadest consequences, short of death, if found guilty, will be adequate to prove to the world that We The People are not above the law and neither are those whom we elect to represent us.

It is our responsibility to take them to court. Ours.

"... we sent our young people into harm's way without leveling with the American people." - Congresswoman Pelosi before Congress, 16 June 2005

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - One question, my fellow Americans, "Why is Bush not already in jail?"

[brettdale]

1. kick

kick

[understandinglife]

62. General admits to secret air war

General admits to secret air war

Michael Smith

THE American general who commanded allied air forces during the Iraq war appears to have admitted in a briefing to American and British officers that coalition aircraft waged a secret air war against Iraq from the middle of 2002, nine months before the invasion began.

Addressing a briefing on lessons learnt from the Iraq war Lieutenant-General Michael Moseley said that in 2002 and early 2003 allied aircraft flew 21,736 sorties, dropping more than 600 bombs on 391 “carefully selected targets” before the war officially started.

<clip>

But Moseley’s remarks, and figures for the amount of bombs dropped in southern Iraq during 2002, indicate that the RAF was taking as large a part in the bombing as American aircraft.

Details of the Moseley briefing come amid rising concern in the US at the war. A new poll shows 60% of Americans now believe it was a mistake.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1669640,00.html

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Any candidate worthy of our vote in the 2006 Congressional elections should have filed charges against Bu$h and the neoconsters before March 19 2006.

[givemebackmycountry]

2. Indeed a kick....and nominated as well.

[ewagner]

3. needs a kick

and another nomination....

[peacetalksforall]

4. Yes kick. And... in spite of my harsh criticism of our Dem Leaders, there

are true heroes in both houses, but particularly in the House. I applaud your patriotism. Thank you all for leading the rescue of our country. I send love and a prayer for strength.

Jeremy Scahill - thank you.

[Cha]

5. I hadn't seen that pic

before..it's so Beautiful!

[Oversea Visitor]

6. Yes

Chimp has done this to US
The Senate and Congress is stuck on this
For Chimp to be quilty
The Senate and Congress will also be guilty
US will be guilty

Dont know how its going to be work out
Think they likely to ignore it thats all
But it would be a very bad precedent
Real disaster
alk about a poopie finger

[bvar22]

7. Silence or Lack of Action....

..IS approval.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”---Edmund Burke

[understandinglife]

8. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

Edmund Burke, indeed, said it as well as it will ever need to be stated.

Thank you!


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[hiley]

25. excellent quote..

bvar22
I could not agree with you more.

quote attributed to Jeb Bush :
"The truth is useless. You have to understand this right now. You can't deposit the truth in a bank. You can't buy groceries with the truth. You can't pay rent with the truth. The truth is a useless commodity that will hang around your neck like an albatross all the way to the homeless shelter. And if you think that the million or so people in this country that are really interested in the truth about their government can support people who would tell them the truth, you got another thing coming. Because the million or so people in this country that are truly interested in the truth don't have any money."
http://www.oilempire.us/index.html

War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then,
one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised
that everyone has lost. : Karl Kraus (1874–1936)

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have
acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the
silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it
possible for evil to triumph: Haile Selassie


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. : James Madison (1751–1836)

[understandinglife]

46. "The president he's got his war; folks don't know just what it's for,"

Memo to editors: Cover memos

By C.B. Hanif

Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer

Sunday, June 26, 2005

No topic has funneled more recent outrage to this desk than what have become known as the Downing Street memos. Critics charge that the leaked British intelligence documents are further evidence that the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq was a done deal at least eight months earlier, rather than a last resort, and that the administration scammed a timid Congress while assuring a fearful American public that an invasion decision had not been made.

<clip>

James Ryan e-mailed, "Why are you ignoring what is one of the most important news stories in the history of the United States? A president and his administration willfully and purposely deceived the country they represent into a war. Americans are dead, and continue to die. What can be more newsworthy? Your lack of coverage on the Downing Street memos will boomerang on you when (not if) the viewing/listening public wonders where your journalistic integrity was on this issue."

Even if the memos are saying only what everyone already knows, the administration needs to answer for them more than it has. In failing to seek those answers, news organizations also have a lot for which to answer.

"The president he's got his war; folks don't know just what it's for," sang Les McCann at the 1969 Montreux Jazz Festival. That classic tune, Compared to What, seems a metaphor for the administration's shifting justifications — WMDs, fighting terrorism, ousting Saddam Hussein, installing democracy — for another war, and for the timid media's culpability in placing men, women and children in harm's way.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2005/06/26/a2e_lpcol_0626.html

Folk, even in the media, appear to be getting it.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Let's all be asking everyone, Why is Bu$h NOT ALREADY IN JAIL?"

[unblock]

9. what a load of crap

this is shrub's war. was able to call vietnam lbj's war because at first, of course, it was. but nixon stayed there so long that it became nixon's war. and THAT was a shared war.

shrub and the gang, on the other hand, have been hawking war, accusing democrats of not supporting the war, and so on from day one.

this is shrub's war and he can't pawn it off on democrats.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. You're going to have to back up the beginning of US involvement....

...in Vietnam when the first US combat advisors were sent to Vietnam by Ike in 1954.

JFK added more troops after he became President, but by 1963 he was convinced that Vietnam was not our war. On October 12, 1963 he signed NSAM 263 ordering the first 1,000 troops back home.

LBJ escalated US involvement in the war just four days after JFK' assassination with NSAM 273. By the time LBJ was convinced that Vietnam was a national nightmare, we had more than 500,000 troops in Vietnam.

Nixon spoke publicly about "peace with honor", but he launched the secret war in Cambodia, and unleashed massive air raids on Hanoi.

Ford was the first unelected GOP president, and he presided over the last US troop to leave Vietnam in 1974.

But I agree 100% that Herr Busch started the war in Iraq, and that we all must do whatever we can to stop it.

[unblock]

15. heck, we can blame vietnam on the french if we want :)

they were there before we were....

[Ragnar]

13. Every Democrat in congress who abdicated their duty

by giving the president the war power resolution is responsible. Every one of them who did not vociferously oppose the joint resolution is also responsible.

Certainly they are not as guilty as the president and his crew, but that act of cowardice stained the legislature and all who voted for it.

[panzerfaust]

49. And it started long before ...

General admits to secret air war

THE American general who commanded allied air forces during the Iraq war appears to have admitted in a briefing to American and British officers that coalition aircraft waged a secret air war against Iraq from the middle of 2002, nine months before the invasion began...

If those raids exceeded the need to maintain security in the no-fly zones of southern and northern Iraq, they would leave President George W Bush and Tony Blair vulnerable to allegations that they had acted illegally.

[understandinglife]

10. “The World Cannot Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime!"

History of US and UK Intervention in Iraq

June 25, 2004

by Larry Everest

During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, U.S. government officials and establishment pundits turned into self-proclaimed Middle East historians, energetically exposing the record of Saddam Hussein’s crimes - many real, some imagined. But mysteriously, these same experts studiously avoided examining the well-documented history of U.S. and British actions - and crimes - against Iraq and its people.

As a result, most Americans (and no doubt many around the world) would be astounded to learn that Iraq was created in the interests of British imperialism, not the peoples living in the region; that when the Iraqi people rose to overthrow their hated pro-Western monarch, the self-proclaimed defenders of freedom and democracy in London and Washington responded not with joy, but with threats of war - even nuclear war.

Many would be shocked to learn that the U.S. government helped bring the Hussein regime to power and was directly complicit in the very crimes for which it was indicted - the use of chemical weapons, aggression against neighboring countries, and atrocities against the Kurds. And they would be even horrified to learn that the UN sanctions - unjustly spearheaded and maintained on Iraq by the US and the UK - resulted in more Iraqi deaths than anything attributed to Saddam Hussein - yes, even after the Hussein regime had complied with UN demands by - as the world now knows - destroying its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Yet these are all well-documented historical facts, as I and others have detailed in our work.

<clip>

In sum, the U.S. is striving to leverage an historic window of military (and to a lesser degree economic and political) supremacy into all-around political, economic and military dominance for the foreseeable future, and dealing with the many contradictions it faces at home and abroad. Half-way measures, negotiated solutions, and diplomatic settlements are anathema to this brutal campaign of radical transformation.

There are deep connections between Bush’s international and domestic agendas, and I must call attention to the grave and real danger of a Christian fascist theocracy in the U.S. - a development which would have horrendous consequences for the world’s people.

All of this demands the most urgent global resistance, resistance that aims squarely at stopping the Bush regime in its tracks, and forcing it from power. As a new call from the Not in Our Name statement of conscience declares, “The World Cannot Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime! ... It is our responsibility to stop the Bush regime from carrying out this disastrous course. We believe history will judge us sharply should we fail to act decisively.”

http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?#

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - A simple question, my fellow Americans, "Why are you not filing charges against the war criminal, Bush?"

[hiley]

23. Larry Everest article correct US needs to wake up to what the

world understands and has for a long WHILE.

But mysteriously, these same experts studiously avoided examining the **well-documented history of U.S. and British actions - and crimes - against Iraq and its people.**

This did not just start with Dictator bush or even bush 1....
did not stop during the Clinton years either..
hiley

The questions you posed UL should be asked again..

"Why are members of Congress, House and Senate, writing letters to each other about 'investigating' when the truly bloody evidence is in plain sight?"


"Why are they not cooperating with all the various groups who have assembled considerable, detailed evidence of what the US and UK have been doing in Iraq since mid-Summer 2002?"

"Why are they not already filing charges in the appropriate Federal and International Courts?"

"It is not a matter of impeaching Bush and Cheney, it is a matter of establishing a tribunal, similar to Nuremburg, to try all those complicit in the illegal war of aggression on Iraq and all the crimes being committed during the illegal occupation."

"These people have committed the worst types of crimes against a sovereign Nation and it's people, and have supported an global infrastructure of torture and murder."

(((Perhaps the answer is both simple and profoundly disturbing.)))

(((Perhaps Jeremy Scahill has provided the correct answer)))

[troubleinwinter]

11. KICK and NOMINATED

[hiley]

14. understandinglife this piece should be everywhere !

This is correct and exactly how I feel about it.

While many may say to radical, "picking on the dems" or whatever. This here is the fucking truth what you UL have written.
Everyone needs to wake up and face all of it and damn soon too !

I used to be blind to what my leaders were capable of especially Democratic Party Members the head of which was President Bill Clinton in my opinion. Having lived in Arkansas forever almost and being a JFK, RFK, MLK,etc. loving Democrat I was blinded to what my party has done in all of this mess. Overlooking subjects or pretending it wasn't going on.

Look at the sanctions that were on Iraq.
Come on now this was replusive and the sanctions were just as deadly as this war.
Why have "moderate republicans" not spoken out and called for justice and treated bush the way he deserves, he is a war criminal and how many are in our government ?
Why do we have to persuade and beg the Democrats to do anything about the Illegal War ?
corrupt....

Understandinglife everything you wrote has to be repeated but this below is VITAL !!!!!!!

"If We The People ... accept the answer then maybe we will stop wasting time waiting for those we've elected to get on with holding Bush and the neoconsters accountable for all the laws they have breached, all the horror, destruction of property, torture and murder they perpetrated.

We have all the evidence we need to know that Bush intends to use Bolton to do to international law what he had Ashcroft and now Gonzales do to our Bill of Rights.

We need those with wealth and conscience to gather the finest legal team in the world and begin a massive effort in US Federal and International Courts to bring Bush and the neoconsters to trial.

What we must do is stop the killing and the torture and those who are trying to place America beyond the law. What we must do is not absolve ourselves from action by pretending that the minority party in the Congress is going to get the job done without a massive demonstration of our support for applying the law to Bush and the neoconsters, NOW, not sometime in the future.

It matters little to me if Bush is impeached because his crimes and those of his associates are so heinous that nothing but prosecution in a court of law, with application of the broadest consequences, short of death, if found guilty, will be adequate to prove to the world that We The People are not above the law and neither are those whom we elect to represent us.

It is our responsibility to take them to court. Ours."

[bklyncowgirl]

16. I think alot of Democrats are uncomfortable with this.

Let's face it, most the Democrats who suported the war did so because they did not want to be seen as opposing a popular president.

Did they suspect Shrub was lying? Of course they did--as did the savvier Republicans. The calculation was that it would be over quickly and then back to the usual Washington game. Unfortunatley for them they never realized that, in the immortal words of John Kerry, they'd fuck it up so bad.

Many Democrats and most of the mainstream media went along with Bush's splendid little war. Of course we now know that it's not so splendid and certainly not so little.

[AuntiBush]

18. Obviously, they did not have the "proof," at that time.

Look at dear honorable Congressman Conyers, Lee and the others. They obviously did not know.

[AuntiBush]

17. Surely They're Not All Guilty of Knowledge.

If the DSM proves * and Co. lied to Congress "fixing the facts around the policy," etc., how then could Congressional members be held accountable - they were lied to.

Maybe I'm confused, but that is how I see it. If Dems were involved, well... they're just as guilty of the most horrific crimes in the history of humanity as *.

Does the Tribunal Court, going on right now have any power whatsoever here? And who out here has that kind of money to begin such massive court procedures?

We're doomed. Between this and the Fristian-Fruitcakes it's no wonder people are leaving this country.

I want to ask "how did all of this happen" to the country I grew-up in, and loved, but sadly I already know how it happened. STOLEN ELECTIONS.

Wondering how many ReThuglican Congressional members stole their way in.

Everyone of them makes me sick. Sick!

[The Doctor.]

19. This assesment is absolutely correct.

Deep in my heart, and because of our spirit (as well as the vast distribution of firearms in this country), I believe that we can weather national defference to peace in the world.

We stand on the brink of a global catastrophe, after which our country will either be reviled or respected. This will be determined by the will of the people.

We have to fight the machines from dawn to dusk on the day of the 2006 elections. We have to sound the clarion to let people know what is really going on. Should we fail this, then our legacy will be centuries of violence dispensed by us and revisited by our many enemies.

I hate to say this, but holy shit... Lucas had a point.

[understandinglife]

20. We The People have a splendid opportunity to advance the ideals ...

... of America; of our Declaration of Independence; of our Constitution and Bill of Rights

We have a choice -- make excuses, or act; blame selectively, or hold all those who should be held accountable, accountable.

I don't much care how many people are in the docket with Bush; what I do care about is that all who belong in that docket are present.

No more frigging excuses; no more partisan bantering.

Any person involved in Bush's illegal war on Iraq; in Bush's global gulag; in Bush's massive infrastructure of denial of due process ... should be prosecuted. I don't care what political, religious, cub scout or other affiliation they have.

No more excuses or we will soon all learn what it means to live within a system of nuclear tyranny and zero personal freedom.

Is that clear?

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[hiley]

22. Clear to me ...

hello...my wonderful DU read this and think about it.

* 13 years of criminal sanctions and 2 wars *


US caused more deaths in Iraq than Saddam, says anti-war tribunal

ISTANBUL : The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), a grouping of NGOs, intellectuals and writers opposed to the war in Iraq, on Friday accused the United States of causing more deaths in Iraq than ousted president Saddam Hussein.

**"With two wars and 13 years of criminal sanctions, the United States have been responsible for more deaths in Iraq than Saddam Hussein," Larry Everest, a journalist, told hundreds of anti-war activists gathered in Istanbul.**

snip---

He singled out the United States and British governments for allegedly blocking projects that would, he said, have allowed more people to survive.

snip---

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/154590/1/.html

[puebloknot]

37. What can We the People do? (Long)

Hello, UL.

That is very clear! For a long time I've had the surreal feeling that I'm watching a horror movie in slow motion, and the theme is the death of civilization, starting right here at home.

When Kerry claimed he didn't know, he was lied to, and that's why he voted for the war, my gut said: "I know. I can feel it. Why can't you?" And I believe that a multitude of Americans have been "feeling it" (the lie) right from the start, too. When I watched the planes hit the towers on 9/11, I *knew* in my gut that this was not a terrorist attack from without -- that it was an inside job.

We igore our inner knowing at our own peril.

And so, the question, WHAT CAN WE DO? I understand that one brave woman who lost a loved one on 9/11 has filed a lawsuit against GW, et al? How do we start a movement to file the charges you are referring to?

I think that John Conyers and his associates have enshrined their names in the history books forever (if anyone with integrity gets to write them), but I fear they are up against a Goliath who will squelch their every move. I hope fervently that I am wrong.

We came out in numbers to sign the Conyers letter, we had an impact on the funding for CPB. Why can we not from a grassroots level begin a class action lawsuit? Am I just naive? Maybe what I'm talking about, without realizing it, is hitting the streets. Vincent Bugliosi said five years ago that history will show we should have been in the streets.

Surely, with all the people participating in this forum, there are those who know how to start a Nurnberg-type proceeding. I just about throw up when I think that it will take something like a *Reality Show* to wake up the people of this country. I have to think there are enough people with a few neurons still firing who will respond to what they can recognize as an *authentic* attempt, finally, to stop the outrage being perpetrated in our collective names.

I do not have the expertise to know how such an action can start. And the doubt that clouds my hope often asks this: If the Republicans and the Democrats in this country all work for the same boss, who is the boss? And how do we know that international entities don't work for the same boss, too? Where is the will and the legal authority in today's world to begin the process you are calling for, UL? Do you know?

The Nurnburg Tribunals were conducted under the auspices of America the Moral, et al, victors in World War II who saved the world. Where is the moral authority for such a proceeding now? The UN? The World Court? Are we psychotic to imagine GW and Cronies actually standing in a docket in The Hague?

I hope it will be understood that I am honestly questioning here, out of my anguish about what I can do, what we all can do.

Your continuing passionate urging us all to action is greatly appreciated, UL. I agree that the time for action is NOW. Otherwise, we may face the unimaginable -- or rather, the all too imaginable.

With sincerity!

[hiley]

50. puebloknot

"We ignore our inner knowing at our own peril."

This statement is very accurate about people.
I find myself yelling at the CSPAN how did you NOT know ?
Now, I can no longer watch regular television only HBO and Showtime package CSPAN Linktv, Freespeechtv, etc.
The propaganda and corporatism in the commercials even infuriate me.
So I no longer watch anything with commericials ......

How can Americans think about bullshit with this illegal war happening, the assault of our constitution and du weapons, cluster bombs and more ?

Chosen blindness and ignorance make me insane..
Even our Democratic Leaders on the floor drive me bonkers!
Like the other day John Kerry was talking about Rove's divisive statement about "liberals" then Senator Kerry said
"when the plane hit the Pentagon."

The ignorance in this statement astonished me !
It was like another slap right in the face !
What plane ? did you see remnants of the wings ?
Did you not see the size of the hole ?
WTF ?

If I know it was a fucking missile then John Kerry with his education and experience damn well knows it.
There is no way that we should just close our eyes and our minds to the truth.
Americans have to face it head on !

[puebloknot]

55. Willful refusal to know

Hiley, I spend a lot of my time despairing over the lack of willingness on the part of people I know, and the masses I don't know, who will "think about that tomorrow," to quote our beloved Scarlett.

I have a friend who was born and grew up in Tel Aviv. Her father lost eight brothers and sisters in concentration camps in Poland, her mother a slightly smaller number.

I'm practically positive that she voted for Bush because she was "worried about the economy." When I told her about David Griffin's book "The New Pearl Harbor," and shared with her the information I gleaned from a meeting with Mike Ruppert (this was right after 9/11) which cast grave doubt on the official story about 9/11, she dismissed me as some kind of conspiracy looney.

If someone with her level of knowledge about what can happen under fascism chooses to stick her head in the sand, I hold little hope for the general US population. On the other hand, I feel sometimes that there's something brewing just under the surface, everybody is waiting for the other guy to "viva first," and that we may reach a tipping point where we'll see the sleeping masses awaken and take action. We can't wait too long for that, however.

I wonder how We the People can connect with the proceedings in Turkey on the question of the war in Iraq, and lend our support to that effort. Arundhati Roy has intelligence, passion, and says that group intends to hold accountable all these criminals. It's my view that she puts her life on the line every day.

Thanks for your comments.

[Eloriel]

21. This article is a little OT but still has some dynamite insights about

what's going on in our Party at the moment -- among the Party Elites, that is. And don't let the title put anyone off. I think it's one of the most important assessments of the Democratic Party that I've read in ages, and it sure as hell explains a lot (as well as validates some things most of us have thought/wondered/feared):

Gaggin Dr. Dean
Discussed here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3938896&mesg_id=3938896
Link: http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1281/article13433.asp

[hiley]

24. violating human rights standards, sanitizing torture, and condoning murder

Bush administration officials join ranks of tyranny

By Robert Zaller

06/24/05 "The Triangle"

snip----
This is how fascism comes. It comes through creating legal nonpersons of citizens and noncitizens alike. It comes through violating human rights standards, sanitizing torture, and condoning murder.

It comes through whitewash "investigations" of war crimes that leave the real perpetrators untouched, and a Congress resolutely determined to see and hear no evil. It comes through a press cowed by censorship and a judiciary impotent in the face of constitutional invasion.


We know that the United States is in daily, deliberate, and systematic violation of the Geneva Conventions, and of Articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to both of which it is a signatory. We know that our officials are also violating the federal War Crimes Act, a 1996 statute that carries the death penalty.

These facts were all before us in November 2004. Germans under the Nazis, Italians under Mussolini, and Russians under Stalin did not have the opportunity to repudiate the actions of their leaders at the polls. We nonetheless hold these people responsible for what they themselves often suffered, and even speak of their collective guilt for the crimes of their rulers.

Our opportunity to vindicate the rule of law was unique. Yet Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay were never mentioned during last year's political campaign. There was no call for a moral, political, or legal reckoning of policies that had dragged our honor in the dirt and made us feared and loathed around the globe. Instead, our unelected President was given a new term of office.
snip---

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9272.htm

[Nothing Without Hope]

26. The DNC also STILL refuses to admit that the 2004 election was stolen or

that it can happen again unless there are profound changes that prevent electronic voting fraud:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380494
I believe this refusal to admit the core of the facts isn't just an innocent oversight.

There is corruption at the top in BOTH parties, I believe. We ignore it in the Dem party at the peril of any hope for the future of this country. There is more corruption in the Repub party, but there are complicit Dems too.

Sobering and important, as so many of your posts are, UL.

Recommended. Of course.

[puebloknot]

40. Plenty of corruption to go around.

I agree with your insights here. I personally feel it's delusional to think we can get our country back through the electoral process.

I've been considering, over the last 24 hours, that even if we have enough honest elected officials to take action, the specter of impeaching another president, hard on the heels of the first one (which was a bogus carnival), is not something the "Old Cronies Club" in Washington wants to consider.

[hiley]

52. it's delusional to think we can get our country back through ...

the electoral process.

While fixing the elections system would help you are right in saying it is delusional to think we can get our country back. All crooked politicans have to be brought down.
The problem is they were lying to us and trying to feed us garbage for many years.
bush just brought into play "more" corruption and ills. yes, worse than "dems" but both parties are in the "good ole boy network" that is obvious.

There are exceptions like Congressman John Conyers and some others thank goodness however look at how many democrats voted for the damn war, voted for the Bankruptcy bill, blindly voted to confirm Condoleezza Rice, and Mr. Torturer himself Alberto Gonzales, etc.

hiley

[understandinglife]

27. June 26, 2005: "The bloggers may have found their own smoking gun."

How the leaked documents questioning war emerged from 'Britain's Deep Throat'

June 26, 2005

The Sunday Times, Britain

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1669292,00.html


<clip>

The focus turned to what may ultimately be the most important part of the memo: the point where Hoon said that the US had already begun “spikes of activity to put pressure on the regime”.

Ministry of Defence figures for the number of bombs dropped on southern Iraq in 2002 show that virtually none were used in March and April; but between May and August an average of 10 tons were dropped each month, with the RAF taking just as big a role in the “spikes of activity” as their US colleagues. Then in September the figure shot up again, with allied aircraft dropping 54.6 tons.

If this was a covert air war, both Bush and Blair may face searching questions. In America only Congress can declare war, and it did not give the US president permission to take military action against Iraq until October 11, 2002. Blair’s legal justification is said to come from UN Resolution 1441, which was not passed until November 8, 2002.

Last week one US blogger, Larisa Alexandrovna of RawStory.com, unearthed more unsettling evidence. It was an overlooked interview with Lieutenant-General T Michael Moseley, the allied air commander in Iraq, in which he appears to admit that the “spikes of activity” were part of a covert air war. From June 2002 until March 20, when the ground war began, the allies flew 21,736 sorties over southern Iraq, attacking 349 carefully selected targets. The attacks, Moseley said, “laid the foundations” for the invasion, allowing allied commanders to begin the ground war.

The bloggers may have found their own smoking gun.

No excuses remain.

We The People of the United States of America must file charges and prosecute Bush and every elected and appointed official in OUR government responsible for illegal war, illegal occupation, torture, destruction of property, physical and emotional trauma and death of both Iraqi citizens and our own brave, dear soldiers.


Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

28. And, everyone, please extend much deserved congratulations to Larisa!

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[Ragnar]

29. I have a crazy idea.

Maybe it's just really late, and I'm hungry because the pizza I ordered has taken over an hour to get here, but I have a whacky idea.

Let's all write to the Canadian UN ambassador. We can explain that the US administration has wholly betrayed the people, and no approach through American channels will do. We can show that the people of the US and UK - Canadas two most important allies - are aghast at the actions of their leaders. We can ask Canada to be the country to bring the concerns of the American and British people to the floor of the UN.

At the very least, some form of censure is in order against the two men. At the most, they should be forcibly removed from office and tried in stocks. Because no American or British diplomat will be allowed by their leaders to make such suggestions in the UN, it is up to our ally, Canada.

Here is the E-mail address: [e-mail]
The Ambassador's name is Allan Rock.

[understandinglife]

30. Not crazy at all. In fact, I think we should write to all formal allies ..

.... of the US, and British citizens should do the same to UK allies, requesting a concerted action at the UN just as you describe.

Hope the pizza is a good one!

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[Ragnar]

32. I don't think writing Israel on this topic will be of much use.

I will be writing several of these letters, however. I think it important to mention the foreknowledge that the US and UK hold veto power in the UN, and a move against both simultaneously must be nearly unified. I hope the world is up to it.

I hope they learned what happened when Hitler and Mussolini were appeased.

[puebloknot]

38. No, not crazy

Hello.

I have been entertaining "fantasies" of this sort for some time. I lived in Mainz as an army brat, ten years after WWII, and I was seized one night with the thought of writing a letter to the editor of their newspapers, telling them my father fought for them, now it's time to return the favor, and I'll be looking for an invasion force on some eastern shore of the U.S. I thought it would be laughable. Maybe not. Maybe the world is ready to offer aid if they see that we Americans are not simply unworthy of such consideration.

I've felt for some time that we need to start a massive appeal for help outside the country, as our leaders have abrogated their responsibilities.

[hiley]

54. Ragnar not a crazy idea but what is called for..

We must call on the rest of the world to help put an end to this.
hiley

[confludemocrat]

43. 2002 US, GB blew past this red light: what if Iran goes hardline again

In their sick and insane rush to war, any decent analysis would have considered the additional hazard of Iran when or after we invaded. I think they actually did consider what a potential mess one could have if Iran, even in 2002 suspected of nuclear weapons development and prone to a return to revolutionary hardline islamism and chose to ignore that great danger. Now that continued threat we have imposed on Iran by being next door and handling of the Palestinians and threats to Syria and probable meddling in Lebanon has awakened a monster.

All part of the same pattern of criminal, willful stupidity, arrogance and incompetence by Bush and company which Rove is now trying to defend with brazenness unseen since the Nazis.

[understandinglife]

63. Raw Story, June 27, 2005: The unofficial war!

The unofficial war: U.S., Britain led massive secret bombing campaign before Iraq war was declared

Larisa Alexandrova and John Byrne

A U.S. general who commanded the U.S. allied air forces in Iraq has confirmed that the U.S. and Britain conducted a massive secret bombing campaign before the U.S. actually declared war on Iraq.

The quote, passed from RAW STORY to the London Sunday Times last week, raises troubling questions of whether President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair engaged in an illegal war before seeking a UN resolution or congressional approval.

More at link:
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/The_unofficial_war_U.S._and_Britain_led_massive_air_campaign_before_Iraq_war_be_0627.html

Keeping the DSM on the front burner: Downing Street Minutes to Hit House Floor
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/540

Let us all honor this amazing historical act by spreading the image and the message.

Members of Congress, from left to right, Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) head down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, June 16, to deliver petitions demanding President Bush tell the truth on Downing Street Memo evidence that he lied to sell the Iraq war to the American people.

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/7266/1/275

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Any candidate worthy of our vote in the 2006 Congressional elections should have filed charges against Bu$h and the neoconsters before March 19 2006.

[burrowowl]

31. Why is Bu$h not already in jail?

Because many many are in cahoots.

"We need those with wealth and conscience to gather the finest legal team in the world and begin a massive effort in US Federal and International Courts to bring Bush and the neoconsters to trial."

Wealth and conscience don't necessarily go together, many of the wealthy are behind Bu$hCo, war makes them money.

What we need is for the People to take to the streets and scare the HELL out of the wealthy. If the People don't, then some blood is on their hands as well, and they not the wealthy will suffer.

[oxbow]

33. "We need those with wealth and conscience to gather the finest legal team"

Too bad theres no one that has both of those, eh?

Somehow I doubt Bill Gates wants to jump on this. I know he gives to charity and all, but this is politics :P. Anyone else wanna pay? How about you Mr. Trump? ;)

[puebloknot]

39. Wealth *and* conscience

George Soros, maybe? He at least seems to be awake and smelling the fascism.

[understandinglife]

44. Yes, Mr Soros was one of the individuals I had in mind when I wrote ...

.... the sentence. We are going to need substantial financial support to bring these criminals to justice, as you realize.

Thank you for your excellent comments in this thread.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[oxbow]

65. If you have Soros' email, I'll write him.

Seriously, I'd totally do it!

[ninkasi]

34. Excellent post...

I deeply appreciate your post. Am nominating, and sending to several friends to read. Thanks, also, for the picture of the courageous members of Congress. Sheila Jackson Lee used to be my representative, until we moved. I truly miss having her.

We are standing on the brink of disaster, and it will take all of us, working tirelessly, to stay safe. Nothing is more important than bringing the Bush criminals to justice. Their blood soaked greed can not be allowed to continue; they need to stand trial for their many crimes.

[snot]

35. Great post; kick; nominating next. nt

[brettdale]

36. kick

kick

[fooj]

41. It's all about doing the right thing. It's about COURAGE.

It is about LEADERSHIP. Honor. Integrity. Truth. Justice.

We must deliver a unified message in a unified voice. It is time to honor and REPRESENT the authentic principles, values and ideals that define America.

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."--Albert Einstein


TRUTH IS OUR MOST POWERFUL WEAPON!

peace.:patriot:

[BamaBecky]

42. You are AMAZING! This post is amazing! God Help us! n/t

[frictionlessO]

45. Incredible, one of your best ever UL. Thanks for all your hard work and

dedication... It is always inspiring.

[oasis]

47. Let the truth be told. (eom)

[understandinglife]

48. Support "Depth of Content": something we all can do, now.

Please watch:

http://www.iwtnews.com/watch

And then, please consider supporting the effort.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[Nothing Without Hope]

51. kick for an important thread

The best ones are whole story of their own as well as a resource for reference.

[Cocoa]

53. I reject the premise

your premise is that Conyers, et al, do not have the support of the party or the leaders.

When Dana Milbank suggested that same thing, Conyers wrote him an angry letter exploding that myth with facts about what the dem leaders have done to support his cause.

[puebloknot]

56. Support for Conyers

The Milbank article ridiculed the Conyers hearings, and Conyers shot back a marvelous reply the day after the hearings.

Since then, there have been various writings suggesting that there is scant support for the Conyers effort. A movement needs to sustain its momentum and its passion or it will fade away. In the fairy tale America in which I grew up, there would (should) be a dozen fiery speeches a day in the Congress, people would be at the barricades.

People are watching mainstream television, and eating too much genetically-modified food, and hoping *it* will all just go away.

However....we don't have the right to give in to despair. Our children are depending on us to leave this "house" we live in in at least as good repair as when we moved in.

[puebloknot]

57. The Tribunal Movement - How Can We Help?

Here is a short clip from a very good Truthout article about the proceedings being held in Turkey as we speak. How heartening, this acknowledgement that "it is clear...that the American people need the help of international civil society..." rather than a condemnation of all Americans as jaded criminals. I'm grateful.

Among participants, there is much talk of finding new ways to rein in President Bush and Vice President Cheney, whether it be through the ICC, the UN, or more Tribunals held in a growing number of cities worldwide. For it is clear to the various delegations from South Korea, Stockholm, and India that the American people need the help of international civil society to evict an out-of-control tenant in the White House. And just as US civil society aided the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine or the fight against apartheid in South Africa, the Tribunal Movement is now pressuring for the re-establishment of the rule of law in America. This is the civil society version of the global pro-democracy movement. And we certainly could use the help.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062605Y.shtml

[understandinglife]

60. D Halliday: WTI has the obligation to demand international prosecution

Denis Halliday, who served between 1994-98 as Assistant Secretary-General of United Nations, and was appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the post of UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, said on Saturday,.....

"U.S. President George W. Bush/British Prime Minister Tony Blair invasion of Iraq is in complete breech of international law. The war crimes committed in that blatant military aggression, the most serious of international crimes, must be charged to Bush as the Commander-in-Chief, and to Blair as the Prime Minister who abused war powers."

<clip>

"This World Tribunal in Istanbul has the opportunity and obligation to demand full international prosecution of the U.S./British war leaders and war criminals involved in the destruction of Iraq, the lives of its people and their human rights and well being, through unlawful and unjustifiable armed invasion and military occupation," .....

From: Culminating Session Of World Tribunal On Iraq
Published: 6/26/2005

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=49321

Clearly, many throughout the world are serious about bringing Bush, Blair and their fellow criminals to justice.

I am heartened by the item you quoted, especially "And just as US civil society aided the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine or the fight against apartheid in South Africa, the Tribunal Movement is now pressuring for the re-establishment of the rule of law in America. This is the civil society version of the global pro-democracy movement."

We have support, world-wide. We just need to leverage it, quickly and efficiently. I expect that when Congressman Conyers travels to the UK and Europe he will find many willing to put their shoulder to the wheel.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[dxstone]

58. Kicked and NOMINATED!

Harsh realities, man...
When I listen to Randi Rhodes, who I like, I can't help but believe she's being terribly naive in her thinking about the Dem party...
We need a whole new team in there...
d

[hiley]

59. d I like Randi however she is naive about the leaders

and a couple other things as well.
She is quick to accuse people of "conspiracy theories" when it is reality anyhow.
It always strikes me funny how she can admit the truth of 9 11
then not acknowledge how serious the take over of the country is!
She does not see how fast bush could lock it down and cause complete chaos...
hiley

[dxstone]

61. Yeah, I couldn't agree more!

It's so freakin' scary... :scared:
Maybe that's why I just keep posting my silly little pics and outrageous comedy bits; I can't do NOTHING, but finding something to do that will make a REAL diff...?
But I LIKE the idea of appealing to the whole world; I did a parody column way back when we were first attacked which put forth the theory that EVERYONE in the world was behind the terror attacks, cuz we'd begun treating the ENTIRE world as if they just didn't matter (Kyoto, anyone?)
It's at
http://presidentevilonline.com/consptheory.html

(excerpt)
Desperate, confused, horrified millions... not such bad people, just humans who all want a chance to live, too... frightened, horrified human beings who saw whatever meager hope they'd had in their universe being crushed to death by the whims of a powerful few.
This is just a theory, y'know? I have such an imagination!
So they all got together and decided to launch an attack on America, hoping to give our new leaders pause in their apparent Apocalyptic march on all mankind... yes, they paid El-Quaida to do it, but they all pitched in, all of them... even the little kids in Ghana gave pennies...
That's my theory. That's who the terrorists are, the invisible enemy... it's just about everyone in the entire world, give or take a few stubborn types...
(snip)

I am a humorist, but much of my humor is grounded in observation of real facts, and a sense of knowing which way the wind blows...
Anyway, here's a pic with this kick, just for grins... who wants to live in fear ALL the time?

[oasis]

64. kick

[Nothing Without Hope]

66. kick for this important thread n/t