Save the USA

“Enough with the carrots. It’s time for the stick.”
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., sponsor of the measure.

With scant media attention yesterday, the House of Representatives has again passed the Iran Freedom Support Act even as over 100 Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Leaders united to urge Congress to assert its oversight function to prevent a preemptive attack on Iran citing five causes for concern…

1) If passed, the Iran Freedom Support Act would add sanctions that could scuttle efforts for diplomacy in Iran.

2) The administration is using Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian terrorist organization on the State Department’s List of terror groups, to destabilize the southern region of Iran.

3) The administration is repeating the same tactic to justify a military strike against Iran as it used against Iraq. The creation in March of the Iranian Directorate in the Defense Department is staffed with the same objective and the same stove-piping of intelligence as the Office of Special Plans. Douglas Feith ran the Office of Special Plans while Abraham Shulsky, a senior Iranian policy advisor to Vice President Cheney, directs the new Iranian Directorate.

4) Time magazine reported September 17th, the U.S. Navy has communicated “Prepare to Deploy” orders and are revising long- standing plans to blockade two Iranian oil ports on the Persian Gulf.

5) For the White House to go behind the back of the Security Council and its EU allies - in the midst of the talks with Iran - and take significant steps towards military action, makes the conduct of the Bush Administration on Iran even worse than it was on Iraq.

As some may remember, only 21 congresspeople previously voted nay on this effort “to hold the current regime in Iran accountable for its threatening behavior and to support a transition to democracy in Iran”

Baldwin, Blumenauer, Boyd, DeFazio, Duncan, Flake, Hostettler, Jones (NC)
Kucinich, Leach, McDermott, McGovern, McKinney, Oberstar, Obey, Olver
Paul, Rahall, Snyder, Stark, Taylor

The most disappointing aspect however is the fact that so many of our ‘progressive’ leaders in congress voted for this lie. John Conyers voted yay. Maxine Waters, Murtha, Bernie Sanders, Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee all voted for it.

and with 21 democratic cosponsors including Barbara Boxer! it looked sure to pass the Senate….

Daniel Akaka (HI)
Max Baucus (MT)
Evan Bayh (IN)
Barbara Boxer (CA)
Maria Cantwell (WA)
Kent Conrad (ND)
John Corzine (NJ)
Mark Dayton (MN)
Byron Dorgon (ND)
Richard Durbin (IL)
Dianne Feinstein (CA)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Herb Kohl (WI)
Mary Landriew (LA)
Carl Levin (MI)
Joe Lieberman (CT)
Lincoln Blanche (AR)
Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Ben Nelson (NE)
Bill Nelson (FL)
Debbie Stabenow (MI)

Well as it turns out it didn’t pass the Senate last time…

When Mr. Santorum introduced his bill on the Senate floor on June 15, Senator Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he had just spoken with Secretary of State Rice, who urged him not to support the proposal….

According to a press release from the National Jewish Democratic Council, two lawmakers accused Mr. Santorum of opposing specific legislation to punish Halliburton, the oil services giant formerly headed by Vice President Cheney, for allowing its subsidiaries to do business in Iran.

Halliburton was able to enter a partnership with Iranian energy concerns in part because of waivers built into the original executive order authorizing sanctions on Iran passed under President Clinton

So in the effort to pass the Senate this time, it looks as if a provision was written in the new bill to handle any problems with Cheney’s interests in the future…

The bill, passed by a voice vote, sanctions any entity that contributes to Iran’s ability to acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The president has the authority to waive those sanctions, but only when he can show that it is in the vital national interest.

Congressman Kucinich has recently written a letter to Christopher Shays, Chairman of House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations requesting that he hold hearings on the recent House Intelligence Committee report that the IAEA called “outrageous and dishonest.”

The latest report implicating DNI passivity or complicity in embellishing the danger of the Iranian nuclear program should be aggressively investigated by our Subcommittee immediately. We cannot and must not permit this Administration to build a case for war against Iran on falsehoods and pretext. We have seen similar patterns with the twisting of intelligence to create a war against Iraq and we must not let this happen again.

It is not as if Christopher Shays hasn’t been busy with the people’s business…

The House last week unanimously approved a bill sponsored by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, aimed at protecting pets during natural disasters and other emergencies. The bill, which already passed the Senate, is headed for the president’s signature….Shays called it one of the most enjoyable legislative battles of his career.

As important as this legislative action is, our troops are dying everyday in Iraq, Innocent Iraqi citizens are suffering and dying by the hundreds, and our rogue government is threatening to do more of the same in Iran. The least our congressmen can do at this point is attempt to stop this atrocity from happening again. It is time that we demand that Chairman Christopher Shays do his job as Dennis Kucinich says “These are precisely the sort of questions this Subcommittee is designed to pursue.” Shays is in the midst of a tough reelection so it is possible in the effort to save himself he might do the right thing.

Write, call, fax, email or visit and Demand Chairman Shays hold hearings into the faulty intellegence report on Iran…

By Mail:
1126 Longworth Building
Washington, DC 20515-0704

By Telephone:
Washington, DC 202/225-5541

By Fax:
Washington 202/225-9629

By now, most have probably seen V for Vendetta, a very interesting and timely film about a country living under a police state. To refresh everyone’s memory…here is a great audio collection of quotes to play for your friends and family.

V for Vendetta originated as a novel by Alan Moore…

Moore’s novel skewered the 1980s England of Margaret Thatcher. In the Wachowski update, England is a police state ruled by Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt), a fear-mongering, gay-bashing, Islam-hating dictator who strips citizens of their civil rights and religious freedoms in exchange for protection from bioweapons of mass destruction. Some see parallels here to BushWorld. Come on. The chancellor, as acted to the hilt by Hurt, can’t be W — he’s hyperarticulate.

One has to admit that while true, George W redefines the word inarticulate- this sounds strangely familiar…

“What we need right now is a clear message to the people of this country. This message must be read in every newspaper, heard on every radio and and seen on every television. This message must resound throughout the interlink I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion. I want every man, woman and child to understand how close we are to chaos. I want everyone to remember why they need us.”

more great quotes…

“The truth is there is something terribly wrong with this country.”

Cruelty and injustice, intollerance and oppression.Where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, now you have censors and systems of survelliance caressing your conformity and seducing your submission. How did this happen? Who is to blame?

“If you have seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the 5th of November go unmarked …But If you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, if you would seek as I seek then I ask you to stand beside me and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never ever be forgotten.”

and just in time for Halloween….

click the pic to print
and make your own mask…

The corporate news likes to give us the impression that the military fully supports this inept administration and their illegal immoral attack on an innocent nation, however this new video of Rumfeld facing the families of Alaska’s Stryker Brigade paints a very different picture.

Rumsfeld’s visit inspired Alaska to start their own chaper of Military Families Speak Out- This is from a member’s account…

Next he was asked if he could guarantee that another brigade was being prepared so that if their mission wasn’t complete in 120 days, the 172nd would be replaced and not extended again. Thunderous applause and foot stomping followed. Rumsfeld tried to diffuse the energy with humor, declaring his questioner hit one “out of the park”. Then he proceeded with caution, failing to guarantee these people desperate to hear the certainty that it wouldn’t happen again. The man in charge of the entire military role in the occupation could do no better than say he’d do everything possible to make sure they came home before Christmas. Why this effort had not yet been an order given with force to his subordinates didn’t escape the crowd that responded with little to no applause….

There was one more challenge to the rosy and hopeful picture that Rumsfeld tried to paint. Why, if the Strykers were there for their expertise, were they instead performing basic infantry functions clearing homes in the city?

Here Rumsfeld wandered around as if searching for an excuse for not knowing the answer, then placed the rhetoric of success in training Iraqi troops in contradiction to the necessity for the redeployment. “I could be wrong, but I would hope, that the actual task of house clearing, which is going on in Baghdad is being done at 95% by Iraqis, not by Americans.”

It was the issue I wanted to challenge him on. How critical could the redeployment be with that kind of help from the new Iraqi soldiers? How could he have credited the Strykers as contributing to significantly reducing the violence in Baghdad if the Iraqi presence was that high? Why indeed was the 172nd needed in Baghdad? It doesn’t add up.

Although these brave families did not recieve the responses they would have liked, they did succeed in exposing that Rumsfeld is either lying, incompetent or both. One woman didn’t stop there, she has since written a letter to Bush and her congressmen letting them know how she and her husband feel about the extended deployment…

As I’m sure you have heard a thousand times over, the news of this extension devastated my husband and me to the core. His number one priority was getting ALL his men home safe and sound. With only 7 days to go, and a flight scheduled, we finally were able to breathe a guarded sigh of relief. We also had vacation plans and were looking forward to visiting some of our favorite places in Alaska before winter hit us again. Then we received the news that they, indeed, would not be coming home as planned. I have to tell you that my husband is the model soldier. He is the STRONGEST soldier I know and for the past 16 1/2 years he’s been in the Army he has been unwavering in his commitment to our country. This news emotionally crushed and shattered us both! His exact words to me were, “I don’t know if I have anything left!” I, too, didn’t think I could give any more! I had been holding my breath for 12 months and I was looking forward to finally being able to breathe!

As more troops realize the ineptitude and callousness of this administration, hopefully we will see more scenes just like this until they all finally unite and decide enough is enough. These brave soldiers signed up to defend the United States of America, not conquer innocent nations for the glory of the greedy. I say enough is enough!

By now everyone has heard about the new docudrama being run on ABC “The Path to 9/11″ which illustrates how Clinton’s failures led to the tragic terrorists attacks in 2001.

This is the first Hollywood production I’ve seen that honestly depicts how the Clinton administration repeatedly bungled the capture of Osama Bin Laden. One astonishing sequence in “The Path to 9/11″ shows the CIA and the Northern Alliance surrounding Bin Laden’s house in Afghanistan. They’re on the verge of capturing Bin Laden, but they need final approval from the Clinton administration in order to go ahead. They phone Clinton, but he and his senior staff refuse to give authorization for the capture of Bin Laden, for fear of political fall-out if the mission should go wrong and civilians are harmed.

It turns out the finger pointing scene is completely fabricated. Who would someone do something like that and why?

Berger objected to the reported portrayal of him refusing to authorize a strike targeting bin Laden when CIA operatives had the al Qaeda leader in their sights.”No such episode ever occurred — nor did anything like it,”
Albright called a reported depiction of her in one scene as “false and defamatory.”

Is it possible that this story has been manufactured to cover up the Bush Administration’s responsibility in paving the path to 9/11? Reading about the movie, I am suddenly reminded of a BBC report by Greg Palast claiming that the FBI ‘was told to back off bin Laden family’…

London: United States special agents were told to back off the bin Laden family and the Saudi royals soon after George Bush became president, although that has all changed since September 11, a BBC television program has claimed

BBC2’s Newsnight also said on Tuesday night that it had secret documents from the FBI investigation into the terrorist attacks which showed that despite claims that Osama bin Laden is the black sheep of the family, at least two other US-based members are suspected of links with a possible terrorist organisation.

The program said it had obtained evidence that the FBI was on the trail of bin Laden family members living in the US before September 11. A document showed that special agents from the Washington field office were investigating Abdullah, a close relative of Osama, because of his relationship with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a suspected terrorist organisation, it said.

The former head of the American visa bureau in Jeddah from 1987 to 1989, Michael Springman, told the program: “In Saudi Arabia I was repeatedly ordered by high-level State Department officials to issue visas to unqualified applicants - people who had no ties either to Saudi Arabia or to their own country. I complained there. I complained here in Washington … and I was ignored.” He added: “What I was doing was giving visas to terrorists, recruited by the CIA and Osama bin Laden to come back to the United States for training to be used in the war in Afghanistan against the then Soviets.”

It seems that the Bushes friendship with the Bin Ladens have more to do with Osama being successful. Strangely both the Bushes and Bin Ladens have profited from the subsequent war on terror…

If the U.S. boosts defense spending in its quest to stop Osama bin Laden’s alleged terrorist activities, there may be one unexpected beneficiary: Mr. bin Laden’s family.

Among its far-flung business interests, the well-heeled Saudi Arabian clan — which says it is estranged from Osama — is an investor in a fund established by Carlyle Group, a well-connected Washington merchant bank specializing in buyouts of defense and aerospace companies.

Through this investment and its ties to Saudi royalty, the bin Laden family has become acquainted with some of the biggest names in the Republican Party. In recent years, former President Bush, ex-Secretary of State James Baker and ex-Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci have made the pilgrimage to the bin Laden family’s headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

…even more strange, with the most incredible military surveilance in the world, unlimited cash resources and five years…Osama has still not been stopped. If I were a ‘conspiracy theorist’, or had any capacity for logic or ability to put two and two together…I might think there is something fishy going on here.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich has recently returned from a fact finding mission to Lebanon and Israel and it is interesting to see the contrast of the damage done in the recent violence…

“Village after village was reduced to piles of rubble. We saw thousands of destroyed homes. We also saw bombed out hospitals, schools, factories, churches, mosques, fire stations, gas stations, cars, bridges, roads, water systems, electric systems, banana plantations, and lemon groves,” Kucinich said.

“In several villages we stopped and walked through piles of concrete and dust from what had once been homes. Public areas were littered with unexploded cluster bombs and land mines. The smell of death was everywhere. Homes still standing upon closer inspection had holes in the walls from artillery shells.”

After the Israelis suddenly canceled their flight from Beirut to Tel Aviv , Kucinich found a car to drive from Beirut, through Syria, Jordan and across the bridge into the West Bank.

The Kuciniches had hoped to visit the affected areas in northern Israel but were told by Israeli officials that there would not be much to see because repairs were almost completed.

After viewing the separation wall, Kucinch had a private meeting with 8 representatives from organizations doing work in Jerusalem….

After about 2 hours of dragging out maps of the division between east and west Jerusalem, the wall route, the settlements, the separation between Gaza and the rest of the West Bank, and other enlightening information, he finally stood up, spread his hands across the maps and said in a voice filled with disbelief, “This is diabolical!” Needless to say, we all agreed. For someone like Kucinich who has made some strong statements regarding the issue of Palestine and is currently working on getting a Department of Peace and Non-violence started at the Cabinet level (he already has over 60 other Congressional sign-ons) I was happy that he finally “got it”, but not surprised that he was as uninformed as he seemed to be.

After all of the death and destruction, the people of Lebanon were determined to deliver a message of peace…

“We do not hate America. We love the American people. We do not like what your government does. Please tell the American people that we are not terrorists. We do not hate Israel. We want to be safe in our village. We want to be left alone. We want peace.”

Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that Israel feels the same…

“The US State Dept just issued a warning for all Americans to leave Gaza and northern Israel. For those of us who have been around a while, we recognize that to mean that Israel is planning another “operation” and don’t want us in the way”