Whole Truth

Reproduced from the eDirect for Democrats Newsletter # 323:

9. Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War

The hour-long documentary film - entitled “Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War” which is beginning to circulate in the United States features two dozen interviewees who reveal how the pre-war intelligence record on Iraq showed virtually the opposite of the picture the administration painted to Congress, to US voters and to the world. They also reconstruct the way senior White House officials - notably Vice-President Dick Cheney - leaned on the CIA to find evidence that would fit a preordained set of conclusions. 11-9

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=461953

The film on DVD (or VHS) can be ordered from
https://secure.ctsg.com/truth_uncovered/contribute/DVD_Store.asp?ms=alternet ,
or from
http://www.buzzflashcom.bigstep.com/item.html?PRID=1417321

Bring It On -- No! Run Away!

Terrorists? 'Bring it on'.
Vets for Peace? Run away!

What is wrong with this picture?

Anti-Iraq war veterans removed from parade

Members of Veterans For Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against the War were yanked off a downtown Tallahassee street, directly in front of the Old Capitol, while marching in the holiday parade they had legitimately registered in.

And what's this 'exclusion zone' business over Bush's London trip?

• 'Exclusion zone' for Bush visit
• Security tension over Bush visit
• Yard 'not pressured' over Bush visit

Christian Debt Management?

I just got spam for 'professional counseling with a christian perspective' from Christian Debt Management.

I'm sorry, what? What is 'debt management from a christian perspective'?

If I pray hard enough, my loaves and fishes will *spoing* just multiply?

Is there a John the Baptist Mutual Fund I should putting my money into, or something?

Given our

• 'I'm anointed by God' President Bush; and,
• matching 'in the toilet' economy

...maybe christian debt management is not the way to go.

Bushwhacked


NYT Review of Books: Strictly Business

The point about the mining-waste ruling is that it isn't at all exceptional. Instead, it is typical of the Bush administration—in its callousness toward the general welfare, in the brazenness with which special interests were able to buy a decision to their liking, and in the contempt officials showed toward the public and the press. (Indeed, the ruling received only brief mention in the national press.) We're living in a replay of the Gilded Age, in which robber barons openly bought and sold government officials and their policies.

Best read the whole thing.

Secretary of Defense = LIAR

The Bush Administration two-step: lie, and lie again.

Rumsfeld retreats, disclaims earlier rhetoric

...on Feb. 20, a month before the invasion, Rumsfeld fielded a question about whether Americans would be greeted as liberators if they invaded Iraq.

"Do you expect the invasion, if it comes, to be welcomed by the majority of the civilian population of Iraq?" Jim Lehrer asked the defense secretary on PBS' "The News Hour."

"There is no question but that they would be welcomed," Rumsfeld replied, referring to American forces.

But on Sept. 25..."Never said that," he said. "Never did. You may remember it well, but you're thinking of somebody else..."

Remember kids: whenever one of these gits opens their mouth, expect falsehood. It's easier that way.

Bush Administration in a Nutshell

Nov 6 2003 Press Briefing with Scott McClellan

Q Scott, there are 17 former POWs from the first Gulf War who were tortured and filed suit against the regime of Saddam Hussein. And a judge has ordered that they are entitled to substantial financial damages. What is the administration's position on that? Is it the view of this White House that that money would be better spent rebuilding Iraq rather than going to these former POWs?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know that I view it in those terms, David. I think that the United States -- first of all, the United States condemns in the strongest terms the brutal torture to which these Americans were subjected. They bravely and heroically served our nation and made sacrifices during the Gulf War in 1991, and there is simply no amount of money that can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. That's what our view is.

Q But, so -- but isn't it true that this White House --

Q They think they're is an --

Q Excuse me, Helen -- that this White House is standing in the way of them getting those awards, those financial awards, because it views it that money better spent on rebuilding Iraq?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, there's simply no amount of money that can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering --

Q Why won't you spell out what your position is?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm coming to your question. Believe me, I am. Let me finish. Let me start over again, though. No amount of money can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of a very brutal regime, at the hands of Saddam Hussein. It was determined earlier this year by Congress and the administration that those assets were no longer assets of Iraq, but they were resources required for the urgent national security needs of rebuilding Iraq. But again, there is simply no amount of compensation that could ever truly compensate these brave men and women.

Q Just one more. Why would you stand in the way of at least letting them get some of that money?

MR. McCLELLAN: I disagree with the way you characterize it.

Q But if the law that Congress passed entitles them to access frozen assets of the former regime, then why isn't that money, per a judge's order, available to these victims?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's why I pointed out that that was an issue that was addressed earlier this year. But make no mistake about it, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the torture that these brave individuals went through --

Q -- you don't think they should get money?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- at the hands of Saddam Hussein. There is simply no amount of money that can truly compensate those men and women who heroically served --

Q That's not the issue --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- who heroically served our nation.

Q Are you opposed to them getting some of the money?

MR. McCLELLAN: And, again, I just said that that had been addressed earlier this year.

Q No, but it hasn't been addressed. They're entitled to the money under the law. The question is, is this administration blocking their effort to access some of that money, and why?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't view it that way at all. I view it the way that I stated it, that this issue was --

Q But you are opposed to them getting the money.

MR. McCLELLAN: This issue was addressed earlier this year, and we believe that there's simply no amount of money that could truly compensate these brave men and women for what they went through and for the suffering that they went through at the hands of Saddam Hussein --

Q So no money.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and that's my answer.

Dean Issues Forum

http://deanissuesforum.com/ (registration required)

The Dean Issues Forum is an all-volunteer board of 20+ "issue forums" including Dean's policies and issues pertaining to healthcare, education, labor, ethnic communities, seniors, young people, globalization, the economy, foreign relations, the environment, and gender in America.

Note: Not officially affiliated with the campaign.
Note: I am a moderator.

Gore's Civil Liberties Speech

The speech was sponsored by MoveOn.org and the American Constitution Society was webcast, available on some satellite channels, and broadcast on CSPAN.

It was a very good, I think, very important speech: Gore listed so many of the transgressions against citizen's liberties that have been committed in the name of 'safety', flatly condemned the Bush Administration for them, urged that 'enemy combatants' be accorded due process *immediately*, and that the Patriot Act be repealed.

Those are just the high points. Worth reading the transcript or getting a video copy from someone.

Webcast
Text of the speech as prepared
MoveOn.org
American Constitution Society