Irag in bloodbath while US politians reach for Nov 7 (recent DU posts)

[rodeodance]

Mon Oct-16-06 09:12 AM
Original message
U.S. seen retreating from democracy push
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has quietly retreated from its high-profile push for democracy in the Muslim world, since the Hamas election stunned the Bush administration by bringing a violent militant group to power.

Despite President George W. Bush's continued public focus on democratization, analysts say U.S. policy-makers saw the Hamas victory in the Palestinian territories as part of a potentially dangerous trend following democratic gains for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In each instance, elections were seen to boost adversaries of U.S. ally Israel, and in the case of Hamas and Hezbollah, groups labeled as terrorist organizations by Washington.

The experience in Iraq, which U.S. officials once envisioned as the catalyst for democratic change in Arab countries, has emerged instead as a disturbing symbol of sectarian strife.

more…
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=reu...

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Mon Oct-16-06 09:07 AM
Original message
Five US Deaths in Iraq in Two days (with pics of Coffins) (Lat. Amer paper


http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={D072550B-A89B-... )&language=EN

Five US Deaths in Iraq in Two days

Baghdad, Oct 15 (Prensa Latina) The new three deaths reported by the US Central Military Command in Iraq on Sunday brought the number of American troops killed in the Arab country this weekend to five.

According to radio reports, the three US soldiers died when a US patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in south Baghdad on Sunday.

In the last few weeks, rebel groups have focused their attacks against checkpoints, Iraqi top ranking officials and police officers in Baghdad capital.

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Mon Oct-16-06 08:43 AM
Original message

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/72190.html

Militants claim to have established Islamic state in Iraq

A militant group that includes al Qaeda in Iraq announced yesterday it had established an Islamic state in Iraq.

The claim, released in a videotape, was immediately discounted by Iraq's parliament speaker.
The Mujahedeen Shura Council – an umbrella organisation of insurgent groups in Iraq – said in the video that the new state was made up of six provinces including Baghdad that have large Sunni populations and parts of two other provinces south of the capital that are predominantly Shi'ite.

Iraqi insurgents are not known to control any territory, although Iraqi forces are known to avoid night patrols in some areas such as the Anbar province because they are too dangerous. The US military, meanwhile, does not place restrictions on where it operates in the country.
...
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al Mashhadani, a Sunni, criticised the video. "Those who believe in this council are ignorant, and those who follow it are foolish. This council caused the sectarian conflict as well, displacing both Shi'ite and Sunni," Mr al Mashhadani told Al Jazeera television.

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Mon Oct-16-06 06:41 AM
Original message
AP: Death Toll Surges in Iraq Killings
Death Toll Surges in Iraq Killings

Monday October 16, 2006 12:16 PM

AP Photo BAG115

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The death toll in a surge of sectarian killings in Balad
swelled to at least 91 on Monday, police and army officials said, while bombings
in and near Baghdad killed as many as up to 10 people. Eleven more bodies were
found dumped in the capital.

Two Marines and a soldier were killed in fighting Sunday, bringing to ten the
number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq over the past three days.

The Marines, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, were killed in fighting in
volatile Anbar province, while the soldier was killed when his vehicle was hit
by a roadside bomb outside Baghdad.




A police officer in the nearby Sunni-dominated town of Duluiyah said members
of the Mahdi Army militia loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had moved
into the area and were killing Sunni men and boys.

-snip-Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6150607...

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Mon Oct-16-06 06:14 AM
Original message
Court official: Saddam verdict, sentence if guilty, to be announced Nov. 5
Court official: Saddam verdict, sentence if guilty, to be announced Nov. 5
The Associated Press

Published: October 16, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq A verdict against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants
charged with crimes against humanity in connection with an anti-Shiite
crackdown in the 1980s will be announced Nov. 5, a senior court official
said on Monday.

Sentences for those found guilty will be issued the same day, chief investigating
judge Raid Juhi told The Associated Press.
-snip-
That trial adjourned July 27 to allow its five-judge panel to consider a verdict.
The court was to have reconvened Monday to hear a verdict.

"The Dujail trial will resume Nov. 5 when the presiding judge will announce the
verdict and the sentencing," Juhi said.

-snip-Full article: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/16/africa/ME_GEN...

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Mon Oct-16-06 01:18 AM
Original message
Iraq cancels peace talks after scores more die (The Guardian )
· Indefinite delay is blow to credibility of government
· Militia kills 46 Sunnis after 17 Shia found beheaded

Michael Howard in Irbil and agencies in Baghdad
Monday October 16, 2006
The Guardian

The unremitting wave of sectarian violence that has greeted the Muslim holy month of Ramadan claimed scores more Iraqi lives at the weekend, as authorities in Baghdad announced the indefinite postponement of a conference of political leaders seen as crucial to quickly diminishing hopes for national reconciliation.

In a terse statement from the ministry for national dialogue, the government said the reconciliation conference, which had been scheduled for this Saturday in Baghdad, would be delayed until further notice for "emergency reasons".

The cancellation is a further blow to the credibility of the national unity government of Nuri al-Maliki. The embattled prime minister has come under intense pressure from the US and Britain, as well as ordinary Iraqis, to halt the communal violence and the activities of armed militias and death squads. In the weekend's most vicious act of score-settling between the Shia and Sunni Arabs, at least 63 people were killed in the town of Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad.

On Friday, police said the decapitated bodies of 17 Shia labourers had been found in an orchard near the town, which has a mixed Shia-Sunni population but lies in a majority Sunni area. In apparent retaliation, at least 46 Sunni Arab men were reportedly killed on Saturday and Sunday, as heavily armed, black-clad men described by one police source as being from the al-Mahdi militia of the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr set up fake checkpoints in the town, stopping vehicles and hauling out anyone suspected of being a Sunni.

(more at link) <http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1923136,00.html... >

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Sun Oct-15-06 06:18 AM
Original message
Confessions of a 'Defeatocrat' by John Murtha
Edited on Sun Oct-15-06 06:22 AM by ps1074
By John P. Murtha
Sunday, October 15, 2006; Page B01

The Republicans are running scared. In the White House, on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail,
they're worried about losing control of Congress. And so the administration and the GOP have
launched a desperate assault on Democrats and our position on the war in Iraq. Defeatists, they call us,
and appeasers and -- oh so cleverly -- "Defeatocrats."

Vice President Cheney has accused Democrats of "self-defeating pessimism." Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld has faulted us for believing that "vicious extremists can be appeased." The White House
calls Democrats the party of "cut and run."

It's all baseless name-calling, and it's all wrong. Unless, of course, being a Defeatocrat
means taking a good hard look at the administration's Iraq policy and determining
that it's a failure.

In that case, count me in. Because Democrats recognize that we're headed for a far greater disaster in Iraq
if we don't change course -- and soon. This is not defeatism. This is realism.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=240301&mesg_id=240301
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Sat Oct-14-06 01:02 PM
Original message
Bush's Shifting Rationale for Iraq War
October 14, 2006, 12:46 PM EDT

President Bush's shifting rationale for why the U.S. is in Iraq. The U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003:

"States like these (Iraq, Iran and North Korea), and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic." -- State of the Union address, Jan. 29, 2002.

"My nation will work with the U.N. Security Council to meet our common challenge. If Iraq's regime defies us again, the world must move deliberately and decisively to hold Iraq to account." -- speech Sept. 12, 2002, to the U.N. General Assembly.

"If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today -- and we do -- does it make any sense for the world to wait to confront him as he grows even stronger and develops even more dangerous weapons?" -- speech in Cincinnati, Oct. 7, 2002.

"We will consult, but let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm for the safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him. ... Secretly, without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists or help them develop their own." -- State of the Union address, Jan. 23, 2003.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-bush-o...

How can an irrational person possibly have a rational for anything?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x240246
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Fri Oct-13-06 04:24 AM
Original message
Why is the American press silent on the report of 655,000 Iraqi deaths?
Edited on Fri Oct-13-06 04:26 AM by oblivious
By Joe Kay and Barry Grey
13 October 2006

The US media is virtually silent on a new scientific study that estimates the Iraqi death toll from the US war at 655,000. The study, conducted by Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and funded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was posted Wednesday on the web site of the British medical journal, the Lancet.

...The corporate-owned-and-controlled media have buried this story because they do not want the American people to know the truth of what is happening in Iraq.

They want to conceal this truth—as they have done consistently since the war began—because they are complicit in a massive war crime in Iraq, and continue to support the bloodletting by the US military.

...The scale of mass killing revealed in the Johns Hopkins study published by the Lancet stands as an indictment of the entire American ruling elite, both of its political parties—Democratic no less than Republican—and all of its official institutions, among which the media has played a particularly sordid role.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/oct2006/iraq-o13.shtm...
edit: add URL
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=240085&mesg_id=240085

Mon Oct-16-06 12:00 AM
Original message
LAT: 'Stay the Course' in Iraq? No Way, U.S. Panel Says
http://www.latimes.com:/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pl...

A commission backed by President Bush that is exploring U.S. options in Iraq intends to propose significant
changes in the administration's strategy by early next year, members say.

Two options under consideration would represent reversals of U.S. policy: withdrawing American troops
in phases, and bringing neighboring Iran and Syria into a joint effort to stop the fighting.

While it weighs alternatives, the 10-member commission headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III
has agreed on one principle.

"It's not going to be 'stay the course,' " one participant said. "The bottom line is, isn't working....
There's got to be another way."

If the panel recommends overhauling Bush's approach to Iraq, it could give a boost not only to critics
of current policy but also to officials in the administration who have argued for broad changes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2563883
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Sun Oct-15-06 04:51 PM
Original message
NYT: U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Hits 52 So Far This Month
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/world/worldspecial/15...

The American military command said today that three American soldiers died on Saturday when a concealed bomb was detonated near their patrol in southern Baghdad, bringing the total of American troop deaths in Iraq this month to at least 52, an extraordinarily high midmonth tally.

At the current rate of American military deaths — about 3.5 a day — October is on track to be the third deadliest month of the entire conflict for American forces, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent Web site that tracks war-related casualties.

Violence erupted around Iraq today. In a deadly spate of attacks in the northern city of Kirkuk, six bombs, all apparently coordinated, exploded within a few hours of each other, killing at least 17 people and wounding 73 others, according to police officials. At least three of the blasts were suicide car bombs, the officials said.

The rising American military death toll, which comes in spite of improvements in armor and other defenses, follows a recent decision by the American military to raise the profile of American troops in Baghdad and increase their combat operations.

Sun Oct-15-06 05:02 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. attachs ---have risen about 23 percent across Baghdad,
Since the neighborhood sweeps began at the beginning of August, guerrilla attacks — against military and civilian targets alike — have risen about 23 percent across Baghdad, according to military statistics.

Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, a senior military spokesman here, attributed the spike in violence — and resulting American troop deaths — to the military’s retooled strategy to quell the city’s violence.

“We are out more aggressively engaged in the city at this point than we were just a month ago,” he said at a news conference on Thursday. “Coalition forces are being much more active in going out and looking for these folks, these death squads and elements that are associated with the sectarian violence that we’re seeing the increase of right now within the city.”

According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, which collates statistics distributed in Pentagon press releases, the number of American deaths in Baghdad has sharply increased since the American-led crackdown began.....

.....
Sun Oct-15-06 08:56 AM
Original message
"at least five the number of U.S. troops who died on Saturday."

the headline gives the impression it was only 3:

Sun Oct-15-06 05:07 AM
Original message
Three soldiers die in bloody month for U.S. in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers were killed south of Baghdad on Saturday when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb, the U.S. military said in a statement on Sunday.

More than 40 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq this month. At the current pace, October would be the deadliest for U.S. forces since January 2005. Two to three soldiers on average die every day in Iraq, most the victims of roadside bombs.

The U.S. statement gave no further details and said the names would be withheld pending notification of their families.

The deaths brought to at least five the number of U.S. troops who died on Saturday.
...........
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Sun Oct-15-06 10:39 PM
Original message
Iraq Will Wait To Disarm Militias
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in an interview with USA TODAY that his government will not force militias to disarm until later this year or early next year, despite escalating violence in Baghdad fueled by death squads and religious warfare.

The prime minister criticized the U.S.-led military coalition for an overreliance on force, which he called the "wrong approach."

"Terrorism and militias — especially militias — cannot be dealt with only by using tanks, guns and aircraft," he said.

Al-Maliki said he has rejected U.S. plans to launch large-scale operations into Sadr City, a Baghdad slum and a stronghold of the Mahdi Army, a powerful militia loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr's political organization controls several Cabinet positions and 30 seats in the parliament.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-15-al-m...

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Mon Oct-16-06 01:52 AM
Original message
"Dean Won't Bite On Bush" (Philadelphia visit; asked about impeachment)
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-10152006-727...

Dean won't bite on Bush
Bucks County Courier Times
- snip -

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, gave details last week when he came to Bucks County to raise funds for congressional candidates. He said the following could be done “right away.”

- snip -
“You can’t trust the Republicans with money,” he said. “You can’t trust them with your kids, and you can’t trust them to defend the United States of America. The Democrats are not perfect. We will defend America by being tough and smart — and not just talking tough at election time. We will defend America by bringing jobs back to places like Pennsylvania and by making sure the budget is balanced. And we will defend American kids by putting their interests ahead of the interests of any political party, including our own.”

Applause cracked and thundered for so long I feared a bottle of fine Irish whiskey might rattle off a nearby shelf.
- snip -
I asked Dean: Will Democrats support investigations that could lead to the president’s impeachment over the war in Iraq? “That is not our first priority,” Dean said. “Our first priority is jobs, our first priority is defense, our first priority is ethics. Who knows what’s going to happen, and what people are going to discover? But that is not our first priority.”

I asked: Would you support investigations that could lead to articles of impeachment? “What we’re interested in is an agenda of improving things for ordinary people,” Dean said. “Ordinary people in America have been taking it on the chin for six years, so we have to fix that problem first.”

MORE
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-10152006-727295.html

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Sun Oct-15-06 02:34 PM
Original message
2 GOP senators urge new Iraq strategy
Edited on Sun Oct-15-06 02:35 PM by Barrett808
2 GOP senators urge new Iraq strategy
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Two leading Republican senators called Sunday for a new strategy in Iraq, saying the situation in getting worse and leaving the United States with few options.

Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and John Warner of Virginia are part of the growing list of Republicans who are speaking out against President Bush's current plan for Iraq as U.S. casualties rise.

"The American people are not going to continue to support, sustain a policy that puts American troops in the middle of a civil war," Hagel said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Hagel said he agreed with Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who said after a recent visit to Iraq that Iraq was "drifting sideways." Warner has urged consideration of a change of course if the Iraq government fails to restore order over the next two months or three months.

Warner said Sunday he stands by that assessment, and even in the week since his trip to Iraq, there has been an "exponential increase in the killings and the savagery that's going on over there."

(more)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061015/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq

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Sun Oct-15-06 11:22 AM
Original message
Iraq Qaeda wants own Islamic state for Sunnis
An Iraqi militant group led by Al Qaeda has called for a separate Islamic state in Baghdad and other areas with a large Sunni Arab population, according to a video posted on the Internet on Sunday.

“Your brothers in the Mutayibeen Coalition herald the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq ... to protect our religion and our people, to prevent strife and so that the blood and sacrifices of your martyrs are not lost,” a speaker for the coalition said on the video.

The speaker, whose face was blotted out on the video, said the Islamic state should include Baghdad, the provinces of Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Salahedddin, Nineveh and parts of Babel and Wasit. Iraq has 18 provinces.

He said the move to announce the Islamic state came after ”the Kurds secured a northern state and a federal state was approved for the rejectionists (Shia Muslims) in the centre and the south”.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=da...

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Sun Oct-15-06 07:07 PM
Original message
Our Constitutional Crisis and the Importance of this November’s Elections
The central issue in this November’s elections is the abject failure of our Republican Congress to deal with a Constitutional crisis which could result in the destruction of our nation as we know it. John Conyers’ great report, “The Constitution in Crisis – The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, Cover-ups in the Iraq War, and Illegal Domestic Surveillance”, says it all. The Constitutional crisis that we now find ourselves in is fundamentally different – and worse – than anything our country has faced since the Civil War.

The cause of this crisis is manifold, but there are two salient causes that are pertinent to this November’s elections: First, we have a presidential administration that, in addition to numerous other faults, has no respect for our Constitution, international law, or the rule of law in general. Indeed, they believe that no law applies to them. But more important with regard to the coming elections, we have a rubber stamp Republican Congress that, in addition to its numerous other faults, has passively complied with whatever the Bush administration wants to do. In short, we have a Congress that has forfeited their responsibility, as outlined in our Constitution, to balance the power of the Executive Branch of government – and which therefore has been complicit in the piece by piece dismantling of our Constitution. And needless to say, without a Constitution we have no nation as we know it. That is the major point that we should drive home to Republicans and Independents and anyone who might not vote for Democratic Congresspersons in this election.

Democrats can and should talk about other issues as well, including our many cherished ideals that set us apart from Republicans, and including the numerous recent scandals that have provided valuable insight into the true character of today’s Republican Party.

The Tom Foley pedophilia sex scandal is symptomatic of the “win at all costs” attitude of the Republican leadership. The Jack Abramoff scandal is indicative of a culture of rampant corruption which, for many Republicans has come to represent their routine manner of conducting business. The Bush administration’s allowing North Korea to become a nuclear power and then trying to blame that on a President who hasn’t been in power for the six years during which that country has advanced its nuclear program is emblematic of a presidential administration which is incompetent and dishonest to its core, and it also says a great deal about the character of a Congress which gives that administration its full and fawning support.

But beyond all of that, this election is about something much more important. It is about the survival of our country as we know it. The many crimes of the Bush administration against the people and the Constitution of the United States, and our resulting Constitutional crisis, are meticulously detailed in the Conyers report, which contains 1,401 references to back up its assertions. For those Republicans or others who might believe that Congressman Conyers is too partisan to be taken seriously on this issue, I challenge them to find any substantive inaccuracies in his report.

And no one should think for a minute that we have begun to feel the full effects of what will happen to our country if the Bush administration is allowed to continue unimpeded for much longer. Most tyrannies hold back on their worst abuses until they consolidate their power. And then it’s too late. Just think about the U.S.S.R. under Stalin, Germany under Hitler, or the conversion of the Roman republic to the Roman Empire.

We should vigorously urge Republicans and undecided voters to read Conyers’ report, while reminding them of the critical role that our current Republican Congress has played in the Constitutional crisis that Conyers speaks of. But for those who don’t want to spend the time, here is a summary of the salient issues:

The Iraq War

Conyers’ report proves that the decision by George Bush and his administration to go to war against Iraq had nothing to do with connections between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, nor with involvement by Saddam Hussein in the September 11 attacks on our country, nor with the stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction or even the beginnings of a nuclear weapons program. None of those things existed at the time we went to war against Iraq. And not only that, but George Bush and his administration knew that none of those things existed. As the Downing Street memos show, the Bush administration used intelligence not to assess the need for war, but rather that intelligence was fixed around the need to justify an already predetermined decision to go to war. So all the while that George Bush was claiming that he was trying to give diplomacy a chance, the decision had already been made. And furthermore, plans to go to war against Iraq were already on the table in the first month after George Bush took office in 2000, and on the very day of the September 11th attacks those plans began to accelerate, even though there was no evidence whatsoever that Iraq was involved in the attacks.

In other words, the whole case for war in Iraq was a fraud. Assertions of a biological weapons program in Iraq were based largely on the claims of a witness (“Curveball”) who was widely considered by experts to be unreliable. Assertions that Iraq was trying to acquire uranium from Africa were based largely on a forgery which should have been readily apparent. Assertions that Iraq intended to use aluminum tubes to produce nuclear material were vigorously disputed by experts in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). To support its case for war, the Bush administration even used confessions obtained through torture, which intelligence experts in the administration claimed were entirely unreliable because the confessions obviously resulted simply from the desire of the victim to stop the torture. As explained in detail by Seymour Hersh, the Bush administration consistently pressured the CIA to “produce” intelligence that supported its case for war, often against great resistance.

Of course, after we failed to find any evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq the Bush administration changed its propaganda to claim that we were now fighting for Democracy for the Iraqi people. For those who believe that, consider the facts that hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have died in this war, that polls of the Iraqi people show that they want us out, and that the first thing the Bush administration ordered upon taking control of the country was protection of the oil supplies, to the exclusion of everything else while Iraq was dissolving into chaos.

And most important, our Republican rubber stamp Congress has not seen fit to investigate or even complain about these catastrophic abuses of power.

Abuse and torture of prisoners and loss of civil liberties

Though George Bush has claimed that his administration does not use torture, that is clearly a lie. An abundance of evidence by human rights organizations and others clearly demonstrates that the abuse and torture of prisoners has been routine with the Bush administration. George Bush himself has defended the right of his administration to utilize torture (using euphemisms of course). He has produced memos justifying the use of torture. High commanders in the U.S. military have routinely encouraged it. And after Congress passed a ban on torture earlier this year, Bush produced a signing statement saying that he would not honor that ban. And furthermore, reports from human rights organizations such as the International Red Cross, and even our own military, have shown that the good majority of suspects who undergo these abuses and who are held in our prisons indefinitely and without charges and kept incommunicado from their families, are innocent of any wrong doing.

And worst of all, our Republican rubber stamp Congress has acquiesced (with only one Republican voting against) to the Bush administration’s demands, with their shameful recent passage of the Military Commissions Act, which gives George Bush himself the right to define torture. Aside from the fact that the torture provisions in this bill are morally shameful, disgrace the United States in the eyes of the world, obliterate fundamental rights provided in the U.S. Constitution and the Geneva Conventions, and put U.S. prisoners at grave risk of being tortured when captured, they have been shown not to work. The Act also eats away at our Constitution in other ways, for example by denying the habeas corpus right to dispute imprisonment by our government, by defining “enemy combatant” so broadly that we could be tossed in jail for merely criticizing our government, and by allowing secret military commissions to rule on cases of suspected terrorists.

Retribution by the Bush administration against those who disagree with it

The Conyers report goes into great detail about how the Bush administration has routinely sought retribution against those who disagree with it. The best known of these instances is the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent as a reprisal against her husband, Joseph Wilson, for attempting to publicly rebut the phony Bush claim that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had attempted to obtain uranium from Africa. But there are many more similar instances which are less well known.

General Eric Shinseki, former U.S. Army General Chief of Staff, was ignored and shunted into the background for vigorously trying to convince Donald Rumsfeld that he was not committing enough troops to the Iraq war to successfully accomplish our objectives. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill was the victim of a Bush administration investigation because he made public the Bush administration’s plans to go to war against Iraq prior to the September 11th attacks. White House senior economic advisor Larry Lindsey was pushed out of office for accurately predicting the cost of the Iraq war. Richard Clarke, former Chief of counterterrorism in the Bush administration, was the victim of a Bush administration smear campaign after making public the many failures of the Bush administration’s non-attempt to prevent the September 11th attacks against us. Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq, was smeared by the Bush administration for protesting the Iraq war. Reporter Jeffrey Kofman was “outed” as a homosexual (see paragraph 4) by the Bush administration for publishing a report about the low morale of our soldiers in Iraq. Diplomat Jose Bustani was attacked and then fired (see paragraph 5) by the Bush administration for attempting to get weapons inspectors back into Iraq, which the Bush administration saw as an attempt to prevent war. And Bunnatine Greenhouse, former chief contracting officer for the Army Corps of Engineers, was demoted by the Bush administration for testifying to Congress about favoritism shown to Halliburton regarding Pentagon contracts.

And again, there was no reaction against or investigation into any of this by our Republican rubber stamp Congress.

Illegal domestic surveillance against Americans

Although George Bush has repeatedly assured American citizens and Congress that his warrantless domestic spying program is “legal” and directed at catching terrorists rather than spying on his domestic opponents, he has made no efforts to offer evidence for either of those assertions. Furthermore, knowledgeable sources have maintained that, though thousands of warantless wiretaps per year have been ordered and conducted by the Bush administration, fewer than ten per year are justified by the constitutional standard of “reasonable cause” for suspicion.

This program clearly violates both the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 and the Fourth Amendment provisions of the United States Constitution against unreasonable searches and seizures. George Bush says that he must conduct this spying program without obtaining warrants because action needs to be swift in order to catch terrorists. But the FISA law allows warrants to be retroactive, so how can time be a factor?

Bush says that Democrats in Congress are against this program because they don’t think that it is important for his administration to listen in on the conversations of terrorists. That is a bald faced lie, and he knows it. No Congressional Democrat ever said or implied that. The FISA law does not in any way prevent the Bush administration from listening to conversations that are suspected of involving terrorists. What Congressional Democrats want is for our Constitution, which protects American citizens against abuses of government power, to be respected. Complying with the law will not prevent George Bush’s administration from listening to the conversations of terrorists. It will at least partially prevent them from spying on their domestic political opponents.

The bottom line

Congressional Democrats have repeatedly requested information from the Bush administration about its lying us into war, its torture policies, and its many other abuses of power and our Constitution. All their requests have been met with silence. And most important, the Republicans who control Congress have refused to do anything about this. But you can be sure that a Democratic Congress will investigate these abuses.

That is the central issue in this November’s elections. The Bush administration has prepared the ground for dictatorship through its gradual but progressive destruction of our Constitution. If it gets another two years to continue the job, under cover of another Republican Congress, it is very likely to be permanent.

On what basis do I say that? In addition to all the other abuses of power, a recent history of widespread election fraud and voter suppression in our country and the fact that we are increasingly utilizing electronic voting machines, produced by Republican allied corporations, that can be programmed to switch votes without leaving a trace, does not bode well for our future. Our Republican Congress continues to work towards the passage of laws that will entrench this system into our elections for the foreseeable future. If they get another two years I fear that they will be successful in that effort.

We have all heard many times the complaint that Democrats don’t have their own ideas. That is nonsense and simply a consequence of the Republican attack machine. The Democrats have a multitude of ideas, but our corporate news media usually doesn’t see fit to talk about them. If the only ideas they had were raising the minimum wage, providing adequate health insurance for Americans and investigating the abuses of power of the Bush administration, that would be more than enough to justify their election. I have included a more comprehensive summary of Democratic ideas in this post.

In conclusion, if you believe that our country no longer needs it’s Constitution, including its Bill of Rights, which protects our liberties, then you will no doubt vote Republican this November. If you believe that George Bush’s “War on Terror” justifies or requires permanent suspension of our Constitution, of the rule of law in our country and of the sentiments expressed in our Declaration of Independence, then you will no doubt vote Republican. But you should keep in mind that our Founding Fathers did not write our Constitution to be a suicide pact. Our Constitution was designed to protect us against foreign threats, while simultaneously protecting us against abuses of power by our own government as well. We are well on our way to losing those protections. But if you think that that’s ok because you or your children or your grandchildren do not and will never need protection against our own government, then I refer you to Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote: "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

We have been gifted with a remarkable Constitution, which has served to guide us in the progress of democracy for over two centuries. But as Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The basis of success in a Democracy is really laid down by the people. It will progress only as their own personal development goes forward.” If the American people vote this November to continue down our path to destruction, that will signal that their ‘personal development’ is no longer consistent with the maintenance of a democratic nation.

P.S. – Conyers gives credit to the blogosphere for his report

Congressman Conyers says at the end of the introduction to his report:

I would like to give credit to the “blogosphere” for its myriad and invaluable contributions to me and my staff. Absent the assistance of “blogs” and other internet based media, it would have been impossible to assemble all the information, sources and other materials necessary to the preparation of this report. Whereas the so-called “mainstream media” has frequently been willing to look past the abuses of the Bush administration, the blogosphere has proven to be a new and important bulwark of our Nation’s first amendment freedoms.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2401464
.....
Sun Oct-15-06 10:06 PM
Original message
Help the Jersey Girls open a new 911 investigation!
All American Citizens,

Please join us by adding your name to the online petition at the link below. If you experience problems with the link, copy and paste into your browser.

Please pass this on!

Thank you,

Patty Casazza
Monica Gabrielle
Mindy Kleinberg
Lorie Van Auken
----------

To: U.S Congress; Press/Media
We, the undersigned, demand the immediate declassification and release of all transcripts and documents relating to the July 10, 2001 meeting that took place between former CIA Director George Tenet and then National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice. It has been alleged that this urgent and out-of-the-ordinary meeting was called to discuss the increasingly dire warnings of an imminent al Qaeda attack within the U.S.

Given that much of the July 10, 2001 meeting has already been made public in Bob Woodward’s newly released book, “State of Denial”, it is unacceptable to continue to keep these documents and transcripts hidden from the American public’s view.

In addition, we again call for the declassification and release of both the redacted 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry Into The Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 (JICI) and the CIA Inspector General’s report, “CIA Accountability With Respect To The 9/11 Attacks”.

The disastrous nature of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks warrant the release of all of this information so that the American public may learn what its government did or did not do to protect them. Had this nation been properly warned of the looming and imminent terrorist threat, life saving choices could have been made that day.


Sincerely,

The Undersigned

SIGN THE PETITION:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/july10/petition.html

keep this kicked!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2402506

...
Sun Oct-15-06 12:35 PM
Original message
ON BUSH's WATCH: *Caution: Graphic*
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2398896

.......
Original message
Gitmo WhistleBlowers Silenced By Military
2 ordered not to discuss Gitmo claims
By MIRANDA LEITSINGER, Associated Press Writer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A paralegal and a military lawyer who brought forward allegations about prisoner abuse at the Guantanamo Bay detention center have been ordered not to speak with the press, lawyers and a military spokeswoman said Saturday.

Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who represents a detainee at the U.S. naval base in eastern Cuba, filed a complaint with the Pentagon last week alleging that abuse was ongoing at the prison. He attached a sworn statement from his paralegal, Sgt. Heather Cerveny, in which she said several Guantanamo guards bragged in a bar about beating detainees, describing it as common practice.

Muneer Ahmad, a civilian defense lawyer for Omar Khadr, a Canadian detainee whose military counsel is Vokey, said that Vokey and Cerveny were ordered Friday by the U.S. Marines not to speak with the press.

A spokeswoman for the Marines confirmed the order, saying Vokey's supervisor — Col. Carol Joyce, the Marines' chief defense counsel — had directed him not to communicate with the media "pending her review of the facts."

more at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061015/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/g...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2397703
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Sun Oct-15-06 09:44 AM
Original message
Bush's Bloody Legacy-this week's military obits
Too few words, but nothing can really do justice for them except to bring their Brothers and Sisters in arms home...

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-wardead15o...

OBITUARIES
Military Deaths
October 15, 2006

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in
Afghanistan and Iraq or who died at a military hospital of their injuries:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2397983
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Fri Oct-13-06 01:28 PM
Original message
US News: Bush Is Said to Have No Plan if GOP Loses (Repugs complaining)
Edited on Fri Oct-13-06 02:09 PM by grytpype
Yeah, just wait until after November 7. I predict Bush will resign within a year.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061013/13bus...

Bush Is Said to Have No Plan if GOP Loses

By Kenneth T. Walsh

Some Republican strategists are increasingly upset with what they consider the overconfidence of President Bush and his senior advisers about the midterm elections November 7–a concern aggravated by the president's news conference this week.

"They aren't even planning for if they lose," says a GOP insider who informally counsels the West Wing. If Democrats win control of the House, as many analysts expect, Republicans predict that Bush's final two years in office will be marked by multiple congressional investigations and gridlock.

"The Bush White House has had no relationship with Congress," said a Bush ally. "Beyond the Democrats, wait till they see how the Republicans–the ones that survive–treat them if they lose next month." GOP insiders are upset by Bush's seeming inability to come up with new ideas or fresh approaches. There is even a heightened sensitivity to the way Bush talks about advisers who served his father

At the president's news conference on Wednesday, allies of his father complained that the president seemed dismissive of former Secretary of State James Baker, who remains close to his dad and is cochairman of a bipartisan panel studying the war in Iraq


Well, this is what happens when you choose a dimwit to be your party's leader. Suck it, Repugs.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2560727&mesg_id=2560727
Fri Oct-13-06 10:12 PM
Original message
CNN: U.N. refugee agency: Exodus in Iraq (1.6 M) forces priority shift
U.N. refugee agency: Exodus in Iraq forces priority shift
October 13, 2006

An Iraqi girl gets water at a refugee camp in the Shula district in Baghdad earlier this year.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The United Nations estimates that up to 1.6 million Iraqis have left their homes for other countries in "a steady, silent exodus" as a result of the war and sectarian violence, forcing the U.N. refugee agency to announce a shift in priorities.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it plans to focus on the deteriorating humanitarian situation facing people who are fleeing, as opposed to those returning home.

"The enormous scale of the needs, the ongoing violence and the difficulties in reaching the displaced make it a problem that is practically beyond the capacity of humanitarian agencies, including UNHCR," it said....

***

At least 40,000 Iraqis a month were arriving in Syria, according to U.N. staffers monitoring the border. Refugees have also fled to Iran, and "tens of thousands" are headed to Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, the Gulf states and Europe," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

The agency estimated there are half a million Iraqis already in Jordan and 450,000 in Syria, adding that while some have been outside Iraq for a decade or more, arrivals have steadily risen since the war began in 2003.

Within Iraq itself, the Iraqi government and UNHCR estimate "more than 1.5 million people displaced...including more than 365,000 newly displaced who have fled their homes and communities" since February....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/13/iraq.main/ind...
.......
Fri Oct-13-06 06:21 PM
Original message
Fearing assassination, clerics flee Iraqi "City of Mosques" (Falluja)
By Nasser Khalil

Falluja, Oct 12, (VOI) – It all started about a year ago with the murder of Sheikh Hamza Abbas al-Issawi. A wave of killings then silenced several other clergymen in the "City of Mosques" as Falluja is known in Iraq.

Death threats stressed the message, driving dozens of Sunni and Sufi clerics out of the city, 45 km west of Baghdad.

The center of the city, which has made headlines worldwide as a hotbed of resistance against U.S. forces, is home to 102 mosques normally crowded with worshippers who are spiritually attached to their preachers.

“Most clerics fled Falluja following a wave of assassinations targeting Muslim sheikhs that started with the killing of Sheikh Hamza Abbas al-Issawi, Sheikh Shawkat al-Sa’ab, Sheikh Kamal al-Tikriti, Sheikh Omar Sa’ed Horan and others," Sheikh Abdullah Mohammed al-Issawi, a Falluja cleric, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"Let alone the threats written on sheets of paper received by the rest,” he added.
(more)
http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2561354
.......................

Fri Oct-13-06 10:12 PM
Original message
CNN: U.N. refugee agency: Exodus in Iraq (1.6 M) forces priority shift Updated at 10:58 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2561663
U.N. refugee agency: Exodus in Iraq forces priority shift
October 13, 2006


An Iraqi girl gets water at a refugee camp in the Shula district in Baghdad earlier this year.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The United Nations estimates that up to 1.6 million Iraqis have left their homes
for other countries in "a steady, silent exodus" as a result of the war and sectarian violence, forcing the U.N.
refugee agency to announce a shift in priorities.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it plans to focus on the deteriorating humanitarian situation
facing people who are fleeing, as opposed to those returning home.

"The enormous scale of the needs, the ongoing violence and the difficulties in reaching the displaced make it
a problem that is practically beyond the capacity of humanitarian agencies, including UNHCR," it said....

***

At least 40,000 Iraqis a month were arriving in Syria, according to U.N. staffers monitoring the border.
Refugees have also fled to Iran, and "tens of thousands" are headed to Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, the Gulf
states and Europe," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

The agency estimated there are half a million Iraqis already in Jordan and 450,000 in Syria, adding that
while some have been outside Iraq for a decade or more, arrivals have steadily risen since the war began in 2003.

Within Iraq itself, the Iraqi government and UNHCR estimate "more than 1.5 million people displaced..
.including more than 365,000 newly displaced who have fled their homes and communities" since February....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/13/iraq.main/ind...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2561663
....
Thu Oct-12-06 04:21 PM
Original message
(ABC) Marine Sergeant Comes Forward to Report Abuse at Guantanamo Bay (new, recent)

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/10/exclusive_f...

Exclusive: Marine Sergeant Comes Forward to Report Abuse at Guantanamo Bay
<snip>

The allegations come from a Marine Corps sergeant, 23-year-old Heather Cerveny, who spent a week at
the base in late September as a legal aide to a military lawyer representing detainees.

In a sworn affidavit filed with the Pentagon Inspector General, Sgt. Cerveny says she met several Navy
prison guards at a club on the base where, over drinks, they described harsh physical abuse.

"One sailor specifically said, 'I took the detainee by the head and smashed his head into the cell door,'"
Sgt. Cerveny tells ABC News in an exclusive interview.

She says she was "shocked" to hear several guards from different parts of the camp speak openly of
mistreating prisoners.
...
Sgt. Cerveny says the guards also talked about taking away detainees' privileges "even when they're being
good" and denying their requests for water. In her affidavit, she states she was told "they do this to anger
the detainees so they can punish them when they object or complain."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2559026
...........
Sat Oct-14-06 02:33 PM
Original message
Dems Blast Bush Foreign Policy (Radio Address)
Congressional candidate Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania delivered the message. He says that since
President Bush took office, both North Korea and Iran have boosted their nuclear weapons programs.

Murphy is an Iraq war veteran.

He said "soldiers continue to die in Iraq without a clear mission, without benchmarks to determine
success and without a clear timeline for coming home."

Murphy says that under President Bush and the Republican Congress,
the U-S has become less safe
-- at home and abroad.

http://www.wbz.com/pages/108397.php?contentType=4&conte...


Patrick Murphy Delivers Democratic Radio Address
http://www.dnc.org/a/2006/10/patrick_murphy.php

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2562334
Fri Oct-13-06 12:40 PM
Original message
Spokesman (Tony Snow) calls Bush smart, engaged Updated at 8:08 PM
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=517937

Spokesman calls Bush smart, engaged
President's not out of touch, Snow says at state GOP fund-raiser

Speaking at a state Republican Party fund-raiser, presidential press secretary Tony Snow sought to
dispel the image of an out-of-touch president who listens only to those who agree with him, as portrayed
in journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "State of Denial."

"He's perfectly aware of the polls, but you know what he's more aware of? His job,
" which Bush sees as making America "safer and better," Snow said.

Snow said Bush questioned aides closely to learn all sides of an issue because he knows
"you can't be living in a dream world" as president.

And Snow assured the audience of faithful GOP backers, "If you ever have even
the tiniest bit of doubt whether the president is engaged, don't worry - he is."
...
No presidential press secretary has hit the campaign trail before.
Snow, a former Fox News personality, said he was delivering a positive message,
not "picking partisan fights." He said he would give up his new role if it detracted from his job.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2560621&mesg_id=2560621
.........
Mon Oct-16-06 01:32 AM
Original message
"It's a ship of fools. We're on the edge of a disaster."--WES CLARK
Couldn't have said it better myself!

Clark sweeps through state, assailing Bush

At stops in Ozark, Montgomery, Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, the Democrat sounded traditional liberal themes
on social issues and fired broadsides at the Bush administration for its handling of the war in Iraq and the
nuclear crisis in North Korea.

"It's a ship of fools," Clark said. "We're on the edge of a disaster."

Clark said the goal of his series of stops in several Southern states is to help the party develop a strategy
for competing in the South, where many of its candidates lag far behind the Republicans in polls.
To that end, he made appearances with candidates including John Tyson, who is running for attorney
general, and at party fund-raisers.

But most of his energy while in Birmingham was devoted to addressing what he said was a series of
foreign-policy blunders by the Bush administration.

In an interview before a meeting of the Downtown Democratic Club, Clark repeated an allegation made
in his book "Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism, and the American Empire." He wrote that a general
at the Pentagon told him 10 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that the Bush administration was
already committed to invading Iraq. He declined to identify the general Friday.
more
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/n...

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark questions foreign policy
TUSCALOOSA | Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, a former and possibly future presidential candidate,
took the Bush administration to task on practically all its foreign policy initiatives Friday.

“When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail," Clark told about 400 people at the second
annual Frank A. Nix lecture, sponsored by the Blackburn Institute at the University of Alabama
snip
Clark said the administration must talk directly with North Korea, which says it tested a nuclear weapon last
weekend.

“They want to come out of the cold on their terms," he said. “We may not agree with those terms,
but are we so weak that we are afraid to talk to North Korea, that all we can do is hide behind
China and threaten them?"

Direct talks with Iran, which has also shown signs of seeking nuclear weapons, would also be productive,
Clark said.

“Maybe we could find some common interests," he said. “They probably don’t want a big war
in Iraq, either.

“We’ve got to use our power to build relationships," he said. “To win the war on terror, you’ve got
to have more friends than enemies in the world."
snip
Clark said Bush is playing into the hands of bin Laden, who has about 50,000 hardcore
supporters behind him.

Bin Laden’s strategy, Clark said, is to encourage the U.S. to invade Iran and Syria.

“His strategy is to create zones of chaos and savagery," Clark said. “He wants more Iraqs …
where he can go in and emerge with leadership.

“Why do we want to play his game, when it is totally against our interests?"

The Blackburn Institute was formed by former UA administrator John Blackburn and is
composed of several dozen students.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was the speaker at the first Nix lecture, named after
the late educator Frank Albert Nix, last year.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2886415

[xchrom]

1. k&r -- the one little bit that really caught my eye.

''Clark said Bush is playing into the hands of bin Laden, who has about 50,000 hardcore
supporters behind him.''

that america has played into the hands of bin laden and wahabists at all is the greatest signature of our failure -- on two fronts -- the number extremists has grown -- but second -- and more important to me -- the abject failure of our news organizations to disseminate this informatio.
it's not like those numbers haven't growing all along with our blundering.

[rodeodance]

2. Wes Clarke is right-Bush is playing into OBL hands!!

[rodeodance]

3. and Bush sent Iraqi gov a memo today-We will stick by them.