MissionNOTAccomplished: End Bu$h, Blair nuclear-age imperialism

[understandinglife]

I finish each of my posts with the word "Peace" and I think about what it could mean every time I type the word.

I abhor violence of any form.

And, I find the actions in London today as repulsive as I find Bu$h and Blair's actions in Iraq, and elsewhere.

When heads of State intentionally deceive their citizens as to wage war of aggression they automatically establish the framework for those they are attacking to respond violently.

The cycle of perpetual war accelerates; the powerful expand their empire; the weapons makers become even wealthier; and the excuse to enter the next cycle is guaranteed.

Bush and Blair's imperialism is unprecedented in history in only one way; they are the first "nuclear age" imperialists.

End Bu$h, Blair nuclear imperialism; we've had enough killing, torture and hatred on this planet.
















http://www.newsparkproductions.org

"Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion . . . and you allow him to make war at pleasure .... "

From Letter from Abraham Lincoln to William H. Herndon, during the 1848 War with Mexico.

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 their 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."

[BeHereNow]

1. AMEN! People of the world MUST unite!

I don't know HOW we accomplish it, but
WE, the people of this planet must unite
against the global elite.
THEY are not touched by the hubris they create.
WE are, all of us "ordinary" citizens in EVERY corner
of the world are being pillaged and terrorized
by the corporate power mongers and militant/religious
extremists who contribute to the never ending
cycle of violence and fear.
PEACE indeed! It is our right to
live in peace and damn those who
rob us of it.
BHN

[understandinglife]

2. MP George Galloway speaks:

MP George Galloway says: "We argued, as did the security services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attack in Britain. Tragically Londoners have now paid the price of the Government ignoring such warnings."

Link:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/

WATCH IT; SPREAD IT http://www.bushflash.com/right.html

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 their 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."

[Chicago Democrat]

3. OK how do we do that? I say we start by leaving Iraq.

And prosecuting Bush et al for War Crimes.


Then we say we're very sorry.



Then we fix the mess he made.


Then we hope that the terrorists will stop.




Any other ideaS?

[BeHereNow]

4. Sounds good to me!

As in, "It's the foreign policy, stupid!"
ALL of the statements from the terrorists
cite the ILLEGAL invasion and occupation
of sovereign nations states to be the source
of their motives. Gee, what to do, what to do...
Change the corporate led foreign policy to
one of human interest foreign policy, based in
equality and equity for all people of the world?

BHN

[understandinglife]

5. World Tribunal on Iraq: "We the people of conscience decided to stand up."

That is the seminal and inspiring message of the World Tribunal on Iraq. It is the motivating message for what we all must now do. I think it offers a comprehensive framework from which citizens of the world can unite to pursue legal remedy to halt and hold accountable the Bush, Blair neoconster empire.

Please do distribute this "Preliminary Declaration" to as many as possible. A link to a .rtf file is provided by the WTI:
http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/docs/jurystatement.rtf

PRELIMINARY DECLARATION OF THE JURY OF CONSCIENCE WORLD TRIBUNAL ON IRAQ

June 27, 2005

http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=91

In February 2003, weeks before war was declared on Iraq, millions of people protested in the streets of the world. That call went unheeded. No international institution had the courage or conscience to stand up to the aggression of the US and UK governments. No one could stop them.

It is two years later now. Iraq has been invaded, occupied, and devastated. The attack on Iraq is an attack on justice, on liberty, on our safety, on our future, on us all. We the people of conscience decided to stand up. We formed the World Tribunal on Iraq, to demand justice and a peaceful future.

The legitimacy of the World Tribunal on Iraq is located in the collective conscience of humanity. This, the Istanbul session, was the culmination of a series of 20 hearings held in different cities of the world focusing on the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

We the Jury of Conscience, from 10 different countries, met in Istanbul. We heard 54 testimonies from a panel of advocates and witnesses who came from across the world, including from Iraq, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The World Tribunal on Iraq met in Istanbul from 24-26th of June 2005. The principal objective of the WTI is to tell the truth about the Iraq war as clearly as possible, and to draw conclusions that underscore the accountability of those responsible and underline the significance of justice for the Iraqi people. Saddam Hussein’s crimes against his people are not the focus of this Tribunal. We believe it is up to the Iraqi people to investigate these crimes in an independent and free trial.

I. Overview

1. The reasons given by the US and UK governments for the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq in March 2003 have proven to be false. The real motive was to control and dominate the Middle East. Establishing hegemony over the Middle East serves the goal of controlling the world’s largest reserves of oil and strengthening the position of the US’s strategic ally Israel.

2. Blatant falsehoods about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and a link between Al Qaeda terrorism and the Saddam Hussein régime were manufactured in order to create public support for a “preemptive” assault upon a sovereign independent nation.

3. Iraq has been under siege for years. The imposition of severe inhuman economic sanctions at the end of the first Gulf war in 1991; the establishment of no-fly zones in the Northern and Southern parts of Iraq; and the concomitant bombing of the country were all aimed at degrading and weakening Iraq’s human and material resources and capacities in order to facilitate its subsequent invasion and occupation. In this enterprise the US and British leaderships had the endorsement of a complicit UN Security Council.

4. In pursuit of their agenda of empire, the Bush and Blair blatantly ignored the massive opposition to the war expressed by millions of people around the world. They embarked upon one of the most unjust, immoral, and cowardly wars in history.

5. The Anglo-American occupation of Iraq of the last 27 months has led to the destruction and devastation of the Iraqi state and society. Law and order have broken down completely, resulting in a pervasive lack of human security; the physical infrastructure is in shambles; the health care delivery system is a mess; the education system has ceased to function; there is massive environmental and ecological devastation; and, the cultural and archeological heritage of the Iraqi people has been desecrated.

6. The occupation has intentionally exacerbated ethnic and confessionnal divisions in Iraqi society, with the aim of undermining Iraq’s identity and integrity as a nation. This is in keeping with the fam liar imperial policy of divide and rule.

7. The imposition of the UN sanctions in 1991 caused untold suffering and thousands of deaths. The situation has worsened after the occupation. At least 100,000 civilians have been killed; 60,000 are being held in US custody in inhuman conditions, without charges; thousands have disappeared; and torture has become virtually routine.

8. The privatization, deregulation, and liberalization of the Iraqi economy has transformed the country into a client economy that serves the Washington Consensus. The occupying forces have also accomplished their primary goal of acquired control over the nation’s oil.

9. Any law or institution created under the aegis of occupation is devoid of both legal and moral authority. The recently concluded election, the Constituent Assembly, the current government, and the drafting committee for the Constitution are therefore all illegitimate.

10. There is widespread opposition to the occupation. Political, social, and civil resistance through peaceful means is subjected to repression by the occupying forces. It is the brutality of the occupation that has provoked a strong armed resistance and certain acts of desperation. By the principles embodied in the UN Charter and in international law, the popular national resistance to the occupation is legitimate and justified. It deserves the support of people everywhere who care for justice and freedom.

II. Findings and Charges

On the basis of the preceding findings and recalling the Charter of the United Nations and other legal documents quoted in the appendix, the jury has established the following charges.
A. Against the Governments of the US and the UK

1. Planning, preparing, and waging the supreme crime of a war of aggression in contravention of the United Nations Charter and the Nuremberg Principles.

Evidence for this can be found in the leaked Downing Street Memo of 23rd July, 2002 in which it was revealed that: “military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were fixed around the policy.” Intelligence was manufactured to willfully deceive the people of the US, the UK, and their elected representatives.

2. Targeting the civilian population of Iraq and civilian infrastructure, by intentionally directing attacks upon civilians and hospitals, medical centers, residential neighborhoods, electricity stations, and water purification facilities in violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”), Articles 7(1)(a), 8(2)(a)(i), and 8(2)(b)(i). The complete destruction of the city of Falluja in itself constitutes a glaring example of such crimes.

3. Using disproportionate force and indiscriminate weapon systems, such as cluster munitions, incendiary bombs, depleted uranium (DU), and chemical weapons. Detailed evidence was presented to the Tribunal by expert witnesses that leukemia had risen sharply in children under the age of five residing in those areas which had been targeted by DU weapons.

4. Failing to safeguard the lives of civilians during military activities and during the occupation period thereafter, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Articles 13 and 27, and the ICC Statute, Articles 7 (1)(a) and 8(2)(a)(i). This is evidenced, for example, by “shock and awe” bombing techniques and the conduct of occupying forces at checkpoints.

5. Using deadly violence against peaceful protestors, beginning with, among others, the April 2003 killing of more than a dozen peaceful protestors in Falluja.

6. Imposing punishments without charge or trial, including collective punishment, on the people of Iraq, in violation of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Geneva Conventions, and customary international law requiring due process. Repeated testimonies pointed to “snatch and grab” operations, disappearances, and assassinations.

7. Subjecting Iraqi soldiers and civilians to torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in violation of the Geneva Conventions, the ICCPR, other treaties and covenants, and customary international law. Degrading treatment includes subjecting Iraqi soldiers and civilians to acts of racial, ethnic, religious, and gender discrimination, as well as denying Iraqi soldiers Prisoner of War status as required by the Geneva Convention. Abundant testimony was provided of unlawful arrests and detentions, without due process of law. Well known and egregious examples occurred in Abu Ghraib prison as well as in Mosul, Camp Bucca, and Basra. The employment of mercenaries and private contractors to carry out torture has served to undermine accountability.

8. Re-writing the laws of a country that has been illegally invaded and occupied, in violation of international covenants on the responsibilities of occupying powers, in order to amass illegal profits (through such measures as Order 39, signed by L. Paul Bremer III for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which allows foreign investors to buy and takeover Iraq’s state-owned enterprises and to repatriate 100 percent of their profits and assets at any point) and to control Iraq’s oil. Evidence listed a number of corporations that had profited from such transactions.

9. Willfully devastating the environment, contaminating it by depleted uranium (DU) weapons, combined with the plumes from burning oil wells, as well as huge oil spills, and destroying agricultural lands. Deliberately disrupting the water and waste removal systems, in a manner verging on biological-chemical warfare. Failing to prevent the looting and dispersal of radioactive material from nuclear sites. Extensive documentation is available on air, water pollution, land degradation, and radiological pollution.

10. Actively creating conditions under which the status of Iraqi women has seriously been degraded contrary, to the repeated claims of the leaders of the coalition forces. Women’s freedom of movement has been severely limited, restricting their access to education, livelihood, and social engagement. Testimony was provided that sexual violence and sex trafficking have increased since the occupation of Iraq began.

11. Failing to protect humanity’s rich archaeological and cultural heritage in Iraq, by allowing the looting of museums and established historical sites and positioning military bases in culturally and archeologically sensitive locations. This took place despite prior warnings from UNESCO and Iraqi museum officials.

12. Obstructing the right to information, including the censoring of Iraqi media, such as newspapers (e.g., al-Hawza, al-Mashriq, and al-Mustaqila) and radio stations (Baghdad Radio), targeting international journalists, imprisoning and killing academics, intellectuals and scientists.

13. Redefining torture in violation of international law, to allow use of torture and illegal detentions, including holding more than 500 people at Guantánamo Bay without charging them or allowing them any access to legal protection, and using “extraordinary renditions” to send people to torture in other countries known to commit human rights abuses and torture prisoners.

B. Against the Security Council of United Nations

1. Failing to protect Iraq against a crime of aggression.

2. Imposing harsh economic sanctions on Iraq, despite knowledge that sanctions were directly contributing to the massive loss of civilian lives and harming innocent civilians.

3. Allowing the United States and United Kingdom to carry out illegal bombings in the no-fly zones, using false pretense of enforcing UN resolutions, and at no point allowing discussion in the Security Council of this violation, and thereby being complicit and responsible for loss of civilian life and destruction of Iraqi infrastructure.

4. Allowing the United States to dominate the United Nations and hold itself above any accountability by other member nations.

5. Failure to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity by the United States and its coalition partners in Iraq.

6. Failure to hold the United States and its coalition partners accountable for violations of international law during the occupation, and giving official recognition to the occupation, thereby legitimizing an illegal invasion and becoming a collaborator in an illegal occupation.

C. Against the Governments of the Coalition of the Willing
Collaborating in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

D. Against the Governments of Other Countries
Allowing the use of military bases and air space, and providing other logistical support, for the invasion and occupation.

E. Against Private Corporations
Profiting from the war with complicity in the crimes described above, of invasion and occupation.


F. Against the Major Corporate Media

1. Disseminating the deliberate falsehoods spread by the governments of the US and the UK and failing to adequately investigate this misinformation. This even in the face of abundant evidence to the contrary. Among the corporate media houses that bear special responsibility for promoting the lies about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, we name the New York Times, in particular their reporter Judith Miller, whose main source was on the payroll of the CIA. We also name Fox News, CNN and the BBC.

2. Failing to report the atrocities being committed against Iraqi people by the occupying forces.

III. Recommendations

Recognising the right of the Iraqi people to resist the illegal occupation of their country and to develop independent institutions, and affirming that the right to resist the occupation is the right to wage a struggle for self-determination, freedom, and independence as derived from the Charter of the United Nations, we the Jury of Conscience declare our solidarity with the people of Iraq.

We recommend:

1. The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the coalition forces from Iraq;

2. That coalition governments make war reparations and pay compensation to Iraq for the humanitarian, economic, ecological, and cultural devastation they have caused by their illegal invasion and occupation;

3. That all laws, contracts, treaties, and institutions established under occupation which the Iraqi people deem inimical to their interests, should be considered null and void;

4. That the Guantanamo Bay prison and all other offshore US military prisons be closed immediately; that the names of the prisoners be disclosed, that they receive POW status, and receive due process;

5. That there be an exhaustive investigation of those responsible for crimes of aggression and crimes against humanity in Iraq, beginning with George W. Bush, President of the United States of America; Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and other government officials from the coalition of the willing;

6. That we initiate a process of accountability to hold those morally and personally responsible for their participation in this illegal war, such as journalists who deliberately lied, corporate media outlets that promoted racial, ethnic and religious hatred, and CEOs of multinational corporations that profited from this war;

7. That people throughout the world launch actions against US and UK corporations that directly profit from this war. Examples of such corporations include Halliburton, Bechtel, Carlyle, CACI Inc., Titan Corporation, Kellog, Brown and Root (subsidiary of Halliburton), DynCorp, Boeing, ExxonMobil, Texaco, British Petroleum. The following companies have sued Iraq and received “reparation awards”: Toys R Us, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Shell, Nestlé, Pepsi, Phillip Morris, Sheraton, Mobil. Such actions may take the form of direct actions such as shutting down their offices, consumer boycotts, and pressure on shareholders to divest.

8. That soldiers exercise conscience and refuse to enlist and participate in an illegal war. Also that countries provide conscientious objectors political asylum.

9. That the international campaign for dismantling all US military bases abroad be reinforced.

10. That people around the world resist and reject any effort by any of their governments to provide material, logistical, or moral support to the occupation of Iraq.

We, the Jury of Conscience, hope that the specificity of these recommendations will lay the groundwork required for a world where the international institutions will be shaped and reshaped by the will of people and not fear and self-interest, where journalists and intellectuals will not remain mute, where the will of the people of the world will be central, and human security will prevail over state security and corporate profits.


Appendix: List of Legal Documents

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

The Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1952)

The Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959)

The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1963)

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)

The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979)

The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984)

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998)

The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950)

The American Convention on Human Rights (1969)

The Code of Conduct for the Armed Forces of the United States of America (1963)

A link to another post in which some DUers have already commented on the proposed economic sanctions -- actions we all must take:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3957704

What more need be said


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - A simple question, my fellow Americans, just where in the 10 commandments do I find authorization for killing and torturing people?

[Chicago Democrat]

6. A truly Comprehensive Plan!

I VOTE YES!

[EFerrari]

16. Kick

[understandinglife]

37. "A blanket of almost total media silence covers Bush and Blair's crimes ..

... in Iraq.

THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE VANISHING WORLD TRIBUNAL ON IRAQ

Media Lens July 6, 2005

<clip>

A blanket of almost total media silence covers Bush and Blair's crimes in Iraq and their support for relentless corporate exploitation around the globe. These war criminals continue to be presented as world-straddling father figures who could "solve" poverty in Africa and so become the beloved figureheads of a "great generation".

Consider that virtually the entire British media ignored the deliberations of the World Tribunal on Iraq in Istanbul from June 24-27. Modelled on Bertrand Russell's tribunal on the US invasion of Vietnam, the tribunal consisted of hearings into numerous aspects of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. A jury of conscience from ten different countries listened to the testimony of 54 advocates. :

"The Bush and Blair administrations blatantly ignored the massive opposition to the war expressed by millions of people around the world. They embarked upon one of the most unjust, immoral, and cowardly wars in history. The Anglo-American occupation of Iraq of the last 27 months has led to the destruction and devastation of the Iraqi state and society. Law and order have broken down completely, resulting in a pervasive lack of human security; the physical infrastructure is in shambles; the health care delivery system is a mess; the education system has ceased to function; there is massive environmental and ecological devastation; and, the cultural and archeological heritage of the Iraqi people has been desecrated." (World Tribunal on Iraq, 'Press Release about Jury Statement,' June 27, 2005, http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=93)

More at the link:
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[ninkasi]

27. I second that, wholeheartedly...

The very first step is to withdraw from Iraq. Now. We can then work on how to prosecute the ones responsible, Bush and his thugs, and the corporate elite who promote this misery and bloodshed to enrich themselves, and enslave the rest of us.

I have more in common with any Iraqi grandmother, mourning the loss of beloved members of her family, wondering why her world has been shattered, than I do with the rich and powerful in my own country.

This is breaking my heart, and I don't know what to do.

[understandinglife]

7. 1750 dead American soldiers: Bu$h continues his illegal war

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1750
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

10. The names of 4 soldiers who have died because of Bu$h's lies

Dickison, Christopher W., Specialist, 26, U.S. Army, 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Infantry Div.

Bright, Scottie L., Staff Sergeant, 36, U.S. Army, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment

Cambridge, Lyle J., Corporal, 23, U.S. Army, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment

Mazzarella, Anthony M., Private, 22, U.S. Army, 1st Battalion, 13th Armor Regiment, 1st Armor Div.
http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

http://www.bartcop.com/1569.htm


Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Indictment and prosecution of all members of the Bush neoconster regime who participated in the illegal war and occupation of Iraq, should be a campaign promise of any candidate worthy of our vote in the 2006 Congressional elections.

[understandinglife]

36. Bu$h's lies have now killed 1752 American soldiers

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1752
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

38. Pfc Eric Woods has been killed in Iraq because of Bu$h's lies

Woods, Eric Paul, Private 1st Class, 26, U.S. Army

http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

40. Sgt Deyson Cariaga is now dead because of Bu$h's lies

Cariaga, Deyson K., Sergeant, 20, U.S. Army National Guard, 229th Military Intelligence Co., 29th Separate Infantry Brig.

http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

41. Stf Sgt Goodrich & Lance Cpl Kovacicek have died because of Bush's lies

Goodrich, Joseph P., Staff Sergeant, 32, U.S. Marine Reserve, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Div.

Kovacicek, Ryan J., Lance Corporal, 22, U.S. Marine Reserve, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Div.

http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

45. Bu$h's lies have now killed 1756 American Soldiers

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1756

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

46. Specialist Hoby Bradfield has died in Iraq because of Bush's lies

Bradfield Jr., Hoby F., Specialist, 22, U.S. Army, 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment

http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

47. 1758 brave American soldiers have now died in Bu$h's illegal war

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1758

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

49. Sergent Sutton and Casagrande: Dead Because Of Bu$h's LIES.

Sutton, Timothy J., Sergeant, 22, U.S. Army, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment

Casagrande, Davide, Sergeant, Italian Army

http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

As each day passes, we have more and more evidence of the treasonous lies told not only by Bu$h, but by Rice, by Powell, by Rumsfeld, by Feith, by ..............

Our White House is infested with traitors and they are killing our soldiers, endangering our safety, establishing America as a torture and atrocity enterprise, ...........

We The People Must STOP them.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

50. The names of two more brave patriots who have died because of Bush's lies

Hines, Timothy, 21, U.S. Army

Yahudah, Benyahmin B., Specialist, 24, U.S. Army, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division

http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

51. 1760 members of the US Armed Forces dead because of Bu$h's lies.

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1760

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

And he just keeps on lying and harboring traitors in the White House. The # 1 threat to American National Security is without any doubt George W. Bush.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

52. "Army of One" -- A must watch, must spread, message.

Army of One - Watch It; Spread It
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/onearmy.html

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

55. 1761 dead American soldiers; Bush still lying and protecting traitors.

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1761

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - July 23rd: Over 150 Events Planned on3rd Anniversary of Downing Street Memo!
http://www.missionnotaccomplished.us/ADMPRJuly14.pdf

[understandinglife]

56. The names of 8 who have perished because of Bu$h and Blair's lies.

Winchester, Christopher, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine, Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Div., II MEF

Mounce, Blake, Corporal, 22, U.S. Marine, Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Div., II MEF

Jameson, Tricia L., Staff Sergeant, 34, U.S. Army National Guard, 313th Medical Company

Hartley, Jared D., Specialist, 22, U.S. Army, 125th Forward Support Bat., 3rd Brig., 1st Armored Div.

Shearer, Richard, 2nd Lieutenant, 26 British Army, C Company, 1st Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment

Hewett, Phillip, Private, 21, British Army, C Company, 1st Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment

Spicer, Leon, Private, 26, British Army, C Company, 1st Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment

Cooper, Travis S., Sergeant, 24, U.S. Army National Guard, 2nd Battalion, 114th Field Artillery Regiment

http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

I speak each name as I type it. I try to give some moments of my life to remembering each of these individuals whom have died because their leaders, Bu$h and Blair, are war criminals and liers.

They served and died; Bu$h and Blair continue to lie.

We must stop the lies and killing.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

57. Bu$h's lies have now killed 1767 American soldiers

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1767

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

58. Mr Bu$h, your lies are responsible for the deaths of 1768 US soldiers

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1768

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

59. The names of 5 more US soldiers who have died because of Bush's lies.

Wood, Ronald T., Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army National Guard, 1st Battalion, 148th Field Artillery Regiment

Williams, Ronnie D., Specialist, 26, U.S. Army, Task Force Liberty

Sanchez Jr., Efrain, Lance Corporal, 26, U.S. Marine, Headquarters Bat., 2nd Marine Div., II Mar. Exped. Force

Tiai, Frank, Staff Sergeant, 45, U.S. Army Reserve, 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment

Pena-Romero, Jorge Luis, Staff Sergeant, 29, U.S. Army, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

8. A metric of "liberal" vs. "(neo)-conservative" approaches to terror

http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1002


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - A simple question, my fellow Americans, "Why is Bu$h not yet in prison?"

[Time for change]

14. I wish I knew the answer to your question

"When heads of State intentionally deceive their citizens as to wage war of aggression they automatically establish the framework for those they are attacking to respond violently."

How true.

[understandinglife]

9. Robin Cook: "Bush and Blair demand support over Iraq but have no strategy"

Bush and Blair demand support over Iraq but have no strategy

by Robin Cook

Just after George Bush was awarded the presidency for the first time by the US courts, I was invited to Downing Street for a chat on the sofa with the prime minister to work out an approach to the new administration. I was struck by how troubled Tony Blair was that the Conservatives would make their pitch that only a Tory prime minister could do business with a Republican president. He was therefore determined to stick even more closely to the new White House incumbent than he had to Bill Clinton.

Ironically, the success of the prime minister's strategy in making himself George Bush's best mate has turned out not to be a political asset but a colossal albatross around his neck. It proved such a liability at the last election that even the Conservative party ran election adverts exploiting negatives shots of Blair and Bush standing shoulder to shoulder.
At least Tony Blair used to be able to claim that his friend George Bush may not be much respected in Britain but was popular in the US and could deliver America. Not anymore. Tony Blair now finds himself chained to a US president who is more unpopular than any other second-term president since Nixon, and, worst of all, the major cause of the collapse in his ratings is their joint adventure in Iraq.

<clip>

The second delusion is the insistence that military occupation of Iraq is the solution to the violence and not a large part of its cause. No strategy to end the insurgency is going to succeed unless it includes an exit plan for foreign troops.

Both George Bush and Tony Blair appealed this week for strong nerves from everyone else. But they also have a responsibility. Peace in Iraq will only be possible if they show the humility to admit the mistakes of the past and to accept that the recent strategy is not working.

Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1518751,00.html

The world cannot wait for Bu$h and Blair to get a clue; we must get them out of office and before a just tribunal, for starters.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

11. Tom Hayden: London Bombings Destroy Bush-Blair Strategy

London Bombings Destroy Bush-Blair Strategy

by Tom Haden

July 7, 2005

So much for Tony Blair's hope to "put Iraq behind us." The dustbin now awaits George Bush's argument that "we must take the fight to the enemy over there so we don't have to fight them at home." Imperial fantasies, as shattered as the London transit system. The G-8 leaders feign innocence while the innocents die.

<clip>

But reality will quickly sink in. Already Denmark and Italy are warned that they are next. The "coalition of the willing" has dwindled from 34 to 20, and will continue to disintegrate, leaving the US with 20,000 stateless mercenaries subsidized by America's tazpayers as the largest ally in Iraq.

The lesson should be that Bush has put the West, including the American people, at life-and-death risk by going to war for fabrications. We will never be "safer" as long as we invade and occupy Iraq, prop up the Saudi dictators, and crawl towards only a token Palestinian state. We will be safe when we no longer forcibly occupy Muslim lands in the oil-driven search for dominance.

<clip>

When governments, through their march to folly, fail to protect their own citizens, it is time for those citizens to push their governments aside and become the peacemakers.

More at link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/tom-hayden/london-bombings-destroy-b_3794.html

Let's start pushing, my fellow peacemakers.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - STOP THE ATROCITIES; INDICT AND PROSECUTE BU$H AND ALL THE OTHER NEOCONSTER WAR CRIMINALS

[glitch]

13. Good Lord, did you see the spewage in response to this posting by Tom

Hayden? Something kind of, oh I don't know, clustered about them.

[understandinglife]

15. Didn't know they allowed Ms Miller to blog from jail ....

We know what the imperial propagandists will say.

We just need to respond to them and their neoconster bosses with a massive and persistent message of reason, of ethics and of accountability before the law.


Peace

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Please explain how the 10 Commandments justify deception, torture, and murder.

[BigBearJohn]

12. ... and just when I thought I had no tears left

[hiley]

17. Always Powerful UL

What Iraqis Think: polls, reports and blogs
Since 1998 EPIC has worked to shift US policy to genuinely support the people of Iraq through advocacy and education. By providing current information, in an un-biased manner, we give Americans the opportunity to broaden their perspective of Iraq and its people. By better understanding the people that are affected by our policies, we will create policies that respect their beliefs, and their lives. We call this Peace In Iraq Through Change At Home.

In doing this work, we must first and foremost take into consideration what the Iraqi people want. Largely the result of recent polling in Iraq, this information offers at least a partial glimpse into the beliefs and desires of the Iraqi people. Most importantly, the information provided here is not the US perspective on Iraq and its people; but the opinions of the Iraqi people themselves.
snip---
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=166




http://www.epic-usa.org/

[understandinglife]

18. AfterDowningStreet.org: London Bombings and the Downing Street Minutes

London Bombings and the Downing Street Minutes

Submitted by David Swanson

July 7, 2005

In talking about the Downing Street Minutes these days, you may be asked for an opinion about the attacks in London on July 6, 2005. Here are some suggested points to make:

The bombings are completely regrettable and inexcusable. The comments of Fox News commentator Brian Kilmeade that these bombings work to the advantage of the West by focusing us on terrorism as an important issue are disgraceful. It is to no one's advantage for this cycle of violence to spiral further out of control.

<clip>

There is a danger that Blair and Bush will try to misuse the recent tragedy as they have done that of four years ago. The audacity of this, and the media's willingness to allow it, is stunning. The War on Iraq, which was based on lies, has created a prime training ground for terrorists.

<clip>

The London attacks put the lie to Bush's claim that "we must take the fight to the enemy over there so we don't have to fight them at home." The War on Iraq, and the killing of innocents and torturing of prisoners, is inspiring a new generation of terrorists, and clearly they can attack Westerners at home.

<clip>

The more we learn about the deceptions that Bush used to drive us into war (and that is the value of the Downing Street Minutes), the more it becomes clear that this war has nothing to do with making Americans or Brits or the world safer.

Much more at the link:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/674

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - END Bu$h, Blair nuclear-age imperialism, NOW

[understandinglife]

19. Huffington Post: "Mission Not Accomplished"

Mission Not Accomplished

by Cenk Uygur

July 7, 2005

“Our strategy is to find the terrorists, bring them to justice before they harm us here.”

George W. Bush on the war in Iraq while talking to the Foreign Press on 6/30/05

We’ve been hearing for years now this absurd argument from the Bush administration that we have to fight the terrorists over there, so that we don’t have to fight them here. Well, it turns out shockingly enough the terrorists can multitask.

<clip>

President Bush should never be able to state this silly, irrational argument for the war in Iraq ever again without being forcefully challenged. Since the press seems to have forgotten how to ask tough questions of the President, let me help them with their job. This is what you ask him next time he has the audacity to say that we are fighting them over in Iraq, so that they cannot strike over here: ............

<clip>

This doesn’t help the Western World, but it also doesn’t help the people of the Middle East. Al-Qaeda is doing irreparable harm to the people it pretends to help. Muslims are being dragged into a bloody fight that does them no good. We can help them go down a better path.

Instead, we launch invasions against them and set back our cause and theirs for years to come. We have to change course because right now we are playing right into the hands of al-Qaeda. They want us to answer violence with more violence. There is a time for war, as in Afghanistan, and there is a time for a smarter and more comprehensive strategy. War and violence are the only answers al-Qaeda has. They shouldn’t be the only answers we have.

More at the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/cenk-uygur/mission-not-accomplished_3801.html

Mr. Uygur, war and violence are corporate priorities of the Bu$h, Blair neoconster axis. How else could they keep funneling billions to contractors like Halliburton while pursuing their imperialistic vision of controlling the world's petrol resources.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - STOP THE ATROCITIES; INDICT AND PROSECUTE BU$H AND ALL THE OTHER NEOCONSTER WAR CRIMINALS

[EFerrari]

20. kicking

[EFerrari]

21. dupe

[nonny]

22. Peace

A peaceful kick UL

[understandinglife]

23. Atzmon: ".. demand the resignation of Blair who is responsible ..."

The Message of Terror: London's Burning

By GILAD ATZMON

July 7, 2005

<clip>

Third, it tells us that we must never again give our votes to war criminals.

More than anything else it tells us that we have a moral duty. It is down to us to stop our governments. It is our duty to stand up and to demand the resignation of Blair who is responsible for the death of so many Iraqis and arguably now many Innocent Britons. We must remember that voting in a non-ethical politician makes us all into active shareholders in a criminal company.

More at the link:
http://www.counterpunch.org/atzmon07072005.html

We can hope that by July 8 2005, millions of British citizens will be calling on Blair to resign.

We can hope that soon thereafter 10s of millions of American citizens will be demanding Bu$h and his fellow neoconster war criminals be indicted and prosecuted.

Or, we can stop hoping and just make it happen.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - A simple question, my fellow peacemakers, "Why is Bu$h not already in prison?"

[merh]

24. ~

:kick:

[Nothing Without Hope]

25. Thank you for this post, UL. We must never lose sight of the great

goal.

Peace.

[hiley]

26. Faces of Iraq

Faces of Iraq A Traveling Exhibition
http://www.facesofiraq.org/


The road the U.S. traveled to Baghdad was paved by 'Scoop' Jackson

The hawks' hawk

By Roger Morris
04/06/03 "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" - -

America's attack on Iraq started 65 years ago in the wooded curving inlets and gentle fog of Snohomish County.At least that's one genealogy of the war, curling back through closed-door politics where so much of U.S. history happens. Nineteen thirty-eight was the year Henry Martin Jackson, an ambitious 26-year-old Democrat from Everett fresh out of the University of Washington Law School, was elected prosecuting attorney for Snohomish County. As usual, few outside Washington state noticed the obscure local vote. But it launched a fateful political career, and ultimately led to the U.S. missiles, tanks and troops flung into Iraq last month.
snip---
It was then, 40 years ago, that Jackson began to be linked directly, if furtively, to some of the uglier and little-known origins of the war on Iraq in 2003. Overseeing the CIA's "black budget" for covert operations and interventions from a subcommittee of Armed Services, he was one of a handful of senators who gave a nod to two U.S.-backed coups in Iraq, one in 1963 and again in 1968. Those plots brought Saddam Hussein to power amid bloodbaths in which the CIA, exacting the price for its support, handed Saddam and his Baath Party cohorts lists of supposed anti-U.S. Iraqis to be killed.

The result was the systematic murder of several hundred and as many as several thousand people, in which Saddam himself participated. Whatever the toll, accounts agree that CIA killing lists comprised much of Iraq's young educated elite -- doctors, teachers, technicians, lawyers and other professionals as well as military officers and political figures -- Iraqis who would not be there to oppose Saddam's growing tyranny over ensuing years or to help rebuild or govern Iraq, as the United States now hopes to do, after the current war.
snip---

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9258.htm

[hiley]

28. Education for Peace in Iraq Center

Honor the Legacy: Sign the Petition
Join veterans, faith leaders and human rights organizations in calling
on President Bush to rededicate the United States to the Geneva
Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that
came about following World War II.
Help us convince the Bush administration to take action commensurate
with the gravity of Abu Ghraib. Help us honor the historic legacy of
American values, leadership and sacrifice that became international law.
This important national effort begins with you. Join us in urging the
President to restore America’s reputation as a champion of human rights
and international law.
snip--
From a pdf http://www.epic-usa.org/Portals/1/Honor_The_Legacy_Petition.pdf
You can also sign on at www.epic-usa.org

“We, the undersigned citizens of the United States, affirm the international cooperation, universal humanitarian principles, and human rights law that arose from the ashes of World War II, thanks to the unprecedented national sacrifice and service of a generation of Americans.

We call upon President George W. Bush to honor that legacy by rededicating our nation to the Geneva Conventions, the Charter of the United Nations, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a framework of law that protects the lives and dignity of civilians, prisoners of war, and wounded combatants – including the Iraqi people and our men and women serving today in Iraq.”

Notable supporters of the petition include:
Captain Kris Kristofferson, USA, Grammy Award-winning Singer/Songwriter
Vice Admiral Ralph Weymouth, USN, Retired, World War II veteran
Lieutenant General Robert G. Gard, Jr., USA, Retired, Korea and Vietnam veteran
Raymond C. Offenheiser, President, Oxfam America
Rev. Robert Edgar, National Council of Churches, six-term Member of Congress
Robert K. Musil, Ph.D, M.P.H., Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Specialist Erik K. Gustafson, USA, Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC)
Specialist Charles Sheehan-Miles, USA, Veterans for Common Sense (VCS)
Susan Shaer, Executive Director, Women's Action for New Directions (WAND)
and 14,308 veterans and concerned citizens (as of 11/11/04)

http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=244

It seems to me that we still have to educate; some Americans while we are pushing to expose bush as a war criminal, amoung other things...

[understandinglife]

29. Freebird's Draft: Articles of Impeachment

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT: GEORGE BUSH & RICHARD CHENEY

BEFORE THE NEW CONTINENTAL CONGRESS DULY EMPOWERED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION OF 2005:

PROCEEDINGS HAVING BEEN HEARD UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE PEOPLE'S CONSTITUTION OF AMERICA TO ALTER OR ABOLISH THE TYRANNY AND CORRUPTION OF THE EXISTING US GOVERNMENT, THE PEOPLE'S CONGRESS HAS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT OF THE EXISTING PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, WHO HAVE IN CORRUPTING THEIR AUTHORITY, HAVE ENGAGED IN TREASON, HIGH CRIMES OR MISDEMEANORS AS FOLLOWS:

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED BY THE PEOPLE'S CONTINENTAL CONGRESS THAT THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT HAVE BEEN ADOPTED TO COMPEL THE TRIAL OF GEORGE BUSH & RICHARD CHENEY, AND ALL THOSE WHO HAVE CONSPIRED WITH THEM, AND TO GIVE THEM A LEGAL OPPORTUNITY TO APPEAR AND ANSWER TO THE CHARGES MADE AGAINST THEM BEFORE A JURY OF THE PEOPLE'S CONGRESS NEWLY EMPANELED.

SAID CHARGES TO BE INVESTIGATED AND PROSECUTED:

ARTICLE 1: MURDERS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

That on, before, and after September 11, 2001, George Bush and Richard Cheney, by act or ommission, aided and abetted in the conspiracy to attack the United States of America by:

1) Standing down the security of the United States of America with foreknowledge of an impending attack;

2) Complicity in a conspiracy to remove the Taliban Government of Afghanistan that opposed a joint US/Saudi led Gas Pipeline project through their country, with final negotiations breaking off in June 2001;

3) Conspiring with military, industrial, and energy leaders to create a national tragedy that was considered politically and strategically necessary in order to advance already conceived plans for invading Afghanistan and Iraq, for which in March 2001 the Pentagon had already prepared maps to seize and distribute Iraqi oil and gas assets to favored companies and nation states;

4) Conspiring to create a fraudulent WAR ON TERROR in order to create mass panic, fear, and deception that would lead to an attack upon other nations as well as the intentional dual purpose of beginning to clamp down on the rights, liberties, and dissent of the American people;

5) Obstructing justice by concealing the role of Saudi Arabia and others in the crime and by creating non-public off-shore prison camps in order to conceal the evidence collected and persons arrested that may reveal the full extent of the crime, including the role of the United States, that may have otherwise been made public through public trials, independent civilian legal defense teams, and ordinary defendant communications.

ARTICLE 2: ELECTION FRAUD OF 2000 AND 2004

1) That in the national Presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, George Bush and Richard Cheney, in conspiracy with others, sought to defraud the American people of their votes and their true choice for President and Vice-President, through voter intimidation, suppression, and disenfranchisement;

2) That through the manipulation of voting machines, ballots, and tabulations, votes were misplaced, altered, destroyed, or added through paper or electronic exploitation in order to favor their alleged victory for office;

3) That said actions were conducted in conspiracy with voting machine companies, public election officials, and others who had both a conflict of interest and political agenda to insure the elections of George Bush and Richard Cheney.

ARTICLE 3: WAR CRIMES/CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

1) That before, after, and during March 2003, George Bush and Richard Cheney conspired with military, intelligence, industry, and allied national leaders to illegally invade and occupy the nation of Iraq as part of an ongoing criminal conspiracy to exploit the human and natural resources of the world;

2) That said invasion caused the unjustified homicides of tens of thousands of human beings by exploiting fears of the attacks they conspired to permit on September 11, 2001, and using the United States military to advance their criminal aims;

3) That if proven as alleged, that the President and Vice-President aided and abetted in the conspiracy to attack the United States of America on September 11, 2001, by act or ommission, then their complicity in that crime would also transfer their intent and knowledge to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, as a victim of those crimes;

4) That said invasion and occupation used banned weapons, weapons of mass destruction, and depleted uranium weapons that maximizes death and injury for years to come;

5) That said occupation is also illegal, as is the use of collective punishment, forced incarceration of civilians, massive military assaults, and the use of a puppet regime and national Iraqi military or police to advance the goals of occupation, all in violation of international war crimes standards;

6) That Congresspersons and Senators who voted to authorize the President with such war powers voted in violation of the Constitution of the United States, in conspiracy with the powers seeking war, and as a result, must also be held accountable for these crimes;

7) That said crimes violated the United Nations Charter, the Nuremburg War Crimes Agreement, Geneva Convention, and other international rules, laws, and regulations regarding the use of force against, and occupation of, a nation;

8) That said war crimes and crimes against humanity are designed to enrich favored contributors, benefactors, family, and friends that are associated with America's Military Industrial Complex and global oil and gas industry;

9) That crimes against humanity are also being perpetrated against the people of Colombia where chemical weapons, under the fraudulent guise of the WAR ON DRUGS, are being used against people, their farms, and communities in order to aid the development and protection of America's oil and gas industry, which dominates the energy market in Colombia;

10) As chief advocate of war, Vice-President Richard Cheney conspired to promote a war that would enrich a company he once ran and still has a vested interest in, Halliburton USA. Regardless of his claims he had no influence in obtaining Iraq war and reconstruction contracts for the company, Richard Cheney, as former Secretary of Defense in 1992 and as Chairman of Halliburton, used his prior offices to position Halliburton to greatly benefit from just such a war. Knowing full well a war with Iraq would result in substantial income and profits for Halliburton by pre-arranged strategic political, military, and contractual positioning.

ARTICLE 4: FINANCIAL CRIMES AGAINST THE PEOPLE

1) That by advancing policies to increase the national debt, provide large tax cuts to the wealthy, and manipulate monetary policy, George Bush and Richard Cheney conspired with business, commerce, and others to create a national economic atmosphere designed to defraud American taxpayers trillions of dollars in funds and social services;

2) That the effort to privatize Social Security is an investment scam that will cost poor and ordinary Americans needed retirement and other security benefits in order to further enrich political contributors and other favored family and friends in the financial, investment, and business community;

3) That the effort to provide a Medicare Drug Benefit was a fraud designed to enrich drug companies and others at the expense of taxpayers, who were provided purposefully false information on the costs and benefits in order to achieve approval of a bill that provides for no negotiation with drug companies on prices, further adding trillions in future debt and further benefiting the drug companies and investors who buy their influence in Congress and at the White House;

4) That efforts to manipulate Social Security and Medicare are part of George Bush's and Richard Cheney's conspircay to defraud the American people of social services in order to compel their privatization in a system designed to enrich favored political contributors, financial benefactors, family and friends to the financial and social detriment of the American people;

5) That by conspiring to permit an attack upon America and plan for both national, Afghanistan and Iraq, and long-term wars, the WAR ON TERROR, George Bush and Richard Cheney conspired to rob the Treasury of the United States in order to benefit the financial position of military defense contractors, energy companies, Saudi Arabia, and other multi-national interests that have favored financial, political, personal, and family ties to George Bush, Richard Cheney, and other co-conspirators associated with them.

PLEASE NOTE:

Since the Articles of Impeachment only demand a trial for removal from office, all allegations may be proven by a preponderance of the evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, which by the great weight and totality of all the proof that is offered, can conclude with a verdict of GUILTY and not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt as in an ordinary criminal trial.

THE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT HAVING BEEN READ, LET THE TRIALS BEGIN!

So does anyone else have a dream...a plan...a scheme?

Last edited by Freebird on Fri Jan 14, 2005 4:02 pm; edited 1 time in total
_________________
"...and this bird you cannot chain..."

Link:
http://www.velvetrevolution.us/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=53&sid=fd66f75e2d7f4b61cad2e4e6517183a2

I'd say this is a more than adequate working draft, especially since we now have all the Downing Street documents available.

Perhaps you will all be so good as to fax it to your Congressional Representatives and consider expanding or editing.

Thank you.

Peace

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - STOP THE ATROCITIES; INDICT AND PROSECUTE BU$H AND ALL THE OTHER NEOCONSTER WAR CRIMINALS

[understandinglife]

30. Cole: "Bush has executed his war against terror with monumental stupidity"

"The time of revenge has come"

Blowback from Bush and Blair's incompetently pursued war on terror has hit London. When will the U.S. figure out how to fight smart?


By Juan Cole

July 8, 2005

<clip>

... Opinion polls show that most of the world's Muslims have great admiration for democracy and many other Western values. They object to the U.S. and the U.K. because of their policies, not their values. Before Bush, for instance, the vast majority of Indonesians felt favorably toward the United States. Even after a recent bounce from U.S. help with tsunami relief, only about a third now do.

The global anti-insurgency battle against al-Qaida must be fought smarter if the West is to win. To criminal investigations and surveillance must be added a wiser set of foreign policies. Long-term Western military occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq is simply not going to be acceptable to many in the Muslim world. U.S. actions at Abu Ghraib and Fallujah created powerful new symbols of Muslim humiliation that the jihadis who sympathize with al-Qaida can use to recruit a new generation of terrorists. The U.S. must act as an honest broker in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And Bush and Blair must urgently find a credible exit strategy from Iraq that can extricate the West from bin Laden's fly trap.

Chicago political scientist Robert Pape argues in his new book, "Dying to Win," that the vast majority of suicide bombers are protesting foreign military occupation undertaken by democratic societies where public opinion matters. He points out that there is no recorded instance of a suicide attack in Iraq in all of history until the Anglo-American conquest of that country in 2003. He might have added that neither had any bombings been undertaken elsewhere in the name of Iraq.

George Bush is sure to try to use the London bombings to rally the American people to support his policies. If Americans look closer, however, they will realize that Bush's incompetent crusade has made the world more dangerous, not less.

More at link:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/07/08/blowback/print.html

...Bu$h's incompetent..." AND ILLEGAL "...crusade..."

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Just where do I find aproval of murder and torture in the 10 Commandments, Mr Bu$h, Mr Scaife, Mr Ahmanson, Mr Dobson ....

[understandinglife]

31. Huffington: "Bush’s “Flypaper Theory” is Blown to Pieces"

Bush’s “Flypaper Theory” is Blown to Pieces

by Arianna Huffington

July 8, 2005

Odds are we probably won’t be hearing for a while the Bush mantra that the reason we're fighting them over in Iraq is so we don't have to fight them here at home. For the last few months, this ludicrous shibboleth has been the president’s go-to line -- his latest rationale for slogging on in Iraq.

<clip>

Not only was this “flypaper theory" empirically disproved by the London carnage, it directly contradicts the president’s other most often used justification for the war -- that we invaded to liberate the Iraqi people. So let me get this straight: we invaded them to liberate them... and to use them as bait to attract terrorists who we could fight on the streets of Baghdad rather than the streets of London and New York?

Of course, it didn't take the London bombings to reveal this premise as a sham. The presence of American forces in Iraq didn’t keep the enemies of western culture from attacking Madrid. And it didn’t keep them from planting explosives in London’s tubes. And it won’t, in and of itself, keep them from striking here. Indeed, it’s helping terrorists recruit new followers -- and hone their deadly skills.

<clip>

If Iraq is like flypaper, it unfortunately looks like we’re the ones who are stuck there. Any predictions of what Bush’s rewrite boys will come up with next?

More at the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/arianna-huffington/london-bushas-aflyp_3815.html

I told them not to let Halliburton supply the flypaper.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Halt terror on America; begin by demanding voter-verified paper ballots.

[understandinglife]

32. "we must step up efforts to defeat the mind numbing mediocrity that is ...

... our media."

London: The Media Fail Again

by Josh Silver

July 8, 2005

<clip>

It is during crises like London that we are reminded why the US public has a profoundly limited analysis and understanding of world politics and causalities of events such as these. Our fellow citizens’ view of the world is a reflection of the information we receive, and if you’re like the 58% of Americans who get their primary information from TV, you won’t know that US policy is spawning, rather than decreasing terrorism. Indeed, you won’t know about most issues that are not on the White House talking points or are not of interest to the top 50% of wage earners targeted by corporate media and their advertisers.

<clip>

US media companies are too reliant on government for policy favors worth billions, too concerned with pleasing – not criticizing – corporate advertisers and corporatism, too obsessed with cutting costs to boost profits (particularly expensive newsroom budgets like the one that allowed Woodward and Bernstein to investigate Watergate for months), too averse to political controversy, and too cozy with government and corporate elites rather - than adversarial and challenging – to provide the opposing views and facts so critically missing from the debate.

<clip>

While America steps up efforts to defeat terrorism, we must step up efforts (http://www.freepress.net/) to defeat the mind numbing mediocrity that is our media. It could not be more important.


More at the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/josh-silver/london-the-media-fail-ag_3827.html

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Halt terror on America; begin by demanding Voter-Verified Paper Ballots.

[understandinglife]

33. Toledoblade : "Americans deserve the unspun truth about Iraq"

Americans deserve the unspun truth about Iraq

Marilou Johanek

July 8, 2005

<clip>

George W. Bush, the man who set up the whole scenario with unsubstantiated claims of weapons of mass destruction, with sensational but phony arguments of the smoking gun being a "mushroom cloud," with tragically premature "mission accomplished" propaganda and inane "bring it on" bravado, wants Americans to trust him again.

<clip>

Most of us wish we could take the President and the Pentagon and Donald Rumsfeld at their word, but their stubborn aversion to straight talk and the plain truth makes that impossible. More than pep talks or scripted appearances and orchestrated rallies to support the troops - even as VA benefits are being cut - Americans want the truth.

No more excuses. No more using the unrelated terrorist attacks of 9/11 or terrorism in general as a crutch to explain Iraq. No more pap about taking the fight to the terrorists so we won't have to fight them at home. No more canned speeches about spreading liberty and justice for all when Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo beg to differ.

More at the link:
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050708/COLUMNIST13/507080312

I agree with Ms Johanek's assessment, however, she then falls into a trap that the neoconsters have skillfully assembled.

It's the 'if we leave, then chaos,' trap.

The neoconsters' cagey meme for what they really intend - perpetual war. They not only want to control the petrol, they want to keep their Halliburton's and Raytheon's humming and profiting.

So, to Ms Johanek's ....:

While there is a growing recognition in the country that going to war was a bad decision based on nonexistent WMDs, there is also a growing resignation that the U.S. can't up and leave the chaos it unleashed. We know we have to see this nightmare through and it makes us sick.

... I suggest that our presence in Iraq will gurantee that the 'nightmare' becomes reality and that horrible reality entails expansion of the market for treachery, deception, death and destruction from which the neoconsters draw their enormous profits.

The reality of nuclear-age imperialism, in plain sight.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Halt terror on America; begin by demanding Voter-Verified Paper Ballots.

[understandinglife]

34. D Chopra: "Every tear can be a drop of nourishment for the new world ...

... that wants to be born and is making itself known little by little, every day. Each one of us can help create this critical mass by becoming the embodiment of peace conciousness through peace practices:

Being Peace
Thinking Peace
Feeling Peace
Speaking Peace
Acting Peace
Creating Peace
Sharing Peace
Celebrating Peace.

From The Answer Is Still Peace by Deepak Chopra

July 8, 2005

Two additional paragraphs:

London, like the attacks in Madrid, Bali, and Indonesia before it, should make us want to live for peace above all. I understand how it's possible to respond to terrorism with deep anger; I cannot understand responding to it with anger that goes on and on forever. There are causes behind every terrorist act and therefore hope that these causes can be changed, even as we continue to pursue justice. We still ignore the source of global instability: religious fundamentalism which has its roots in extreme poverty, where 50% of the world lives on $2 per day, 20% of it on less than $1 per day, a world where 8 million people die each year because they are too poor to survive.

Terrorism also festers because of a lack of education, toxic nationalism, ignorance about the outside the world, and deep economic disparities. Twenty thousand children died yesterday of hunger-related causes around the world, twenty thousand will die today, and twenty thousand tomorrow. That is not part of the evening news. Why not?

More at the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/deepak-chopra/the-answer-is-still-peace_3862.html

The answer is peace, indeed. And, we do know how to achieve it.

The question no one wants to answer is - do we really want peace?


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 their 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."

[understandinglife]

35. Ambassador Wilson: "That the administration misled the American people ...

... was why I spent so much time in the last campaign working to defeat the administration. We settle political questions at the polls. Regrettably the administration's continued lying secured its victory. I believe that the congress should exercise its oversight responsibilities and hold hearings in to the lies and deceptions of the administration. For once the Republicans, who hold control of both Houses, should put their loyalty to the Constitution and their oversight responsibilities above partisanship. I doubt that they will which leads really to the need to defeat them in the next two elections.

<clip>

JW: It is clear from the Downing Street Memos that the administration decided to go to war with Iraq far earlier than generally assumed. The administration did not even request a national intelligence estimate before making its decision (the request came from Congress). The cherry-picking of the intelligence, the lack of analysis, the use of information that was so clearly disputable or unrealistic and known to be so, lead me to conclude that the administration consciously misled the Congress and the American people. Yes, it lied to justify the invasion of Iraq.

<clip>

CLG: Do you think that Rove will really ever face any consequences for the Plame outing (or for anything else for that matter)?

JW: Yes.


From Joseph Wilson on Bush Crowd: "A Real Threat to Our Republic"

More at the link:
http://www.legitgov.org/clg_interview_joseph_wilson_060705.html

Yes, Rove will be held accountable before the law, and so will Bu$h, Cheney, and many other neoconsters.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

39. Senator Boxer: "Iraq: Credibility, Responsibility, Accountability"

"Iraq: Credibility, Responsibility, Accountability"

by Senator Barbara Boxer

July 6, 2005 Address to the Commonwealth Club

<clip>

Last week, President Bush had a chance to regain credibility when it comes to Iraq. In my opinion, he did not.

He mentioned 9/11 five times in 30 minutes, despite the fact that there is absolutely no connection between Iraq and that tragic day.

Iraq was a war of choice, not necessity. The war of necessity was the war against Osama bin Laden that we launched after 9/11...the war that every single Senator voted for...the war that was a clear response to the vicious attack of that day.

<clip>

Now, there were some who tried to speak the truth. But they didn't last long in the Bush Administration. Richard Clarke and Paul O'Neill are both gone. Army Vice Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki estimated that it could take "several hundred thousand" soldiers to successfully stabilize Iraq, Wolfowitz called that number "wildly off the mark." Shinseki retired early. White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey said that a U.S. intervention in Iraq could cost between $100 and $200 billion. He was disputed, and ultimately left. We've now surpassed $200 billion. The rest of us were told we had no right to criticize the President in a time of war.

<clip>

Because, 20, 50, even 100 years from now, another group will gather in this spot to discuss issues of war and peace. And, when they do, I hope they look back and say that the summer of 2005 is when Americans, brought credibility, accountability, and responsibility to a very tough situation.

Full transcript at:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071005A.shtml

Listen to the speech at:
http://www.commonwealthclub.org/audio/05-07boxer-complete.ram

Senator Boxer, because of your leadership and that of Congressman Conyers and a few other colleagues of yours, we might just make the Summer of 2005 the time when our fellow citizens took charge of the fate of their America, their Constitution.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

42. Yes, in the Summer of 2005, we Americans need to make a decision.

Do we simply want to extend the wealth of the military corporatist and the neoconster mechanism that ensures that wealth, perpetual war: Perpetual killing and perpetual destruction with ever more sophisticated weapons.

Because if that is the only message we have for the vast segment of the earth's population that is not wealthy, then they will continue to respond in a manner that ensures the cycle of fear, the cycle of hatred and the cycle of killing never cease.

In the history of mankind we have never had a more facile and peaceful mechanism for communicating our goals, our challenges, our differences and our willingness to solve rather than slaughter. You are using that technology when you read this post.

We have the mechanism to rally vast numbers of citizens, throughout the world, to refuse to participate and refuse to fund the corporate enterprises of killing and destruction, of fear-mongering and torture, of private armies and phony security services.

We should urge that people throughout the world march in their capitols and other major cities on September 24 - 26, 2005 in synchrony of purpose of what will be happening in DC:

D.C. - United for Peace and Justice - 9/24-26/2005
http://impeachbush.meetup.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=1429154

We need to realize that the solution is much, much more than 'Impeach Bu$h'; we must unite as the citizens of the world in refusing to participate in wealth-creation by cluster-bombing children and innocent civilians in response to 'terror': terror that was the induced outcome of a previous cycle of aggressive war launched as the profit-generating, and 'patriot'-rallying response to a previous 'terrorist' event.

Break the cycle of terror by breaking the cycle of profiteering on smart bombs.

Break the cycle of terror with a response other than 'shock and awe.'

Break the cycle of terror by refusing to be a high-tech terrorist.

Begin a chapter of history that has never before been written; a chapter about global peacemaking.

A chapter about communicating with compassion, with food, with medicine, with clean water; a chapter the terrorist will understand all too well as the elegy of their ilk; the foreclousre notice to their enterprises-of-death.

http://www.peacecandy.com/gwbush/remindus
REMIND US

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 their 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."

[understandinglife]

43. I disagree with the statement: "And the way out is far from clear."

I firmly disagree with the statement "And the way out is far from clear."

For starters, the 'way out' begins by not writing and speaking rubbish.

The 'way out' begins by changing a few specific policies and practices:

1. No wars of aggression, preemption, prevention (Abe Lincoln made in clear over 150 years ago why leaders should not be allowed to make war as they please);

2. No illegal occupation of any territory;

3. Extensive decrease in appropriations for armaments of any kind;

4. Full participation and cooperation with the International Criminal Court by all Nations;

5. Food, clean water, immunization, birth-control and literacy for every person on the planet.

6. NO MORE EXCUSES.

7. ONLY ELECT LEADERS WHO COMMIT TO 1 through 6.

From the perspective of a neocon corporatist the market opportunity couldn't be better.

Purchase vasts amounts of oil to fuel the ultra-expensive war craft.

Oil merchants finance the training of low-tech, highly dispersed, highly motivated - to the point of being suicidal - killers.

Create situations that provoke the actions of the killers (the list is very long).

Acts of 'terror' occur.

Citizens are frightened.

Fear-mongering media keep them frightened and thereby enable the corporatist's servants in the government to appropriate ever larger sums for the creation of even more expensive war craft.

The neocon corporatist business plan is not sustainable. We all know that.

We know that each cycle of their perpetual war machine leads to more instability, more hatred, and more attacks. The business fails when: 1. A war cycle is so deadly as to destroy the neocon corporatist war industry and probably much of the population of the host nation; or, 2. A war cycle is sufficient to enrage the citizens to change their government and halt the neocon war industry.

I think we citizens of the world have already witnessed enough to be enraged sufficiently to make # 2 happen, before the increasingly inevitable # 1 happens.

And, we all know the above 6 point plan would be like shinning a light on a room full of roaches.

It is time to turn on the light and face the roaches for what they are.

Related post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4067177&mesg_id=4067177

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4070938&mesg_id=4070938

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

44. Engelhardt: "It is perhaps an insult to children to compare the Bush ...

Making the World Unsafe for Democracy: Boy President in a Failed World?

By Tom Engelhardt

July 12, 2005

<clip>

Let's face it. George Bush likes dress-up. What a video game is to a teenager, the Presidency seems to be to this man. It's a free pass to the movies with him playing that brave warrior part. All in all, I'm afraid to say, it must be fun. When he so cavalierly said, "Bring ‘em on," he was surely simply carried away by the spirit of the game. What it wasn't, of course, was the statement of a mature human being, an adult.

I don't usually say such things, but there's something unbelievably stunted about all this. He and his top officials seem almost completely divorced from any sense of the actual consequences of their various acts and decisions. They live in some kind of dream world offshore of reality, which would perhaps not be so disturbing if they didn't also control the levers of power in what, not so long ago, was regularly referred to as the "lone" or "last superpower" or the globe's only "hyperpower."


Remember when neocons authors were writing about a world of "failed states," that jungle out there just beyond our civilization? Where are they now that we need them? The bombings in London signal that, in such a failed-state world, failure -- and the carnage that goes with it -- only spreads like so many ripples in a pond into which someone is catapulting boulders. Nor will our leaders hesitate to destabilize our own country, turning it from the ultimate hyperpower into the ultimate failed state in a failed world.

<clip>

It is perhaps an insult to children to compare the Bush administration to them, but I'm at a loss for images. I'm a deeply civil person. If I had my choice, like so many people in this world of ours, I would simply wash my hands of their apocalypts and ours. Unfortunately, that's not possible. Theirs, at least, are someone else's responsibility, but George and his malign fictional worlds are, it seems, mine.

<clip>

This is an exceptional essay; much more at the link:
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=5249

And, mine. And, every other American citizen's.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

48. What price Bu$h, Blair imperialism? Data Shows 800 Iraqi's dying per month

Data Shows Faster-Rising Death Toll Among Iraqi Civilians

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

July 14, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi civilians and police officers died at a rate of more than 800 a month between August and May, according to figures released in June by the Interior Ministry.



Um Alaa Shamoun, center, whose son was killed in a bombing, and Alaa's wife and child, right. (Adam Nadel/Polaris, for The New York Times)

The ministry did not give detailed figures for the months before August 2004, nor did it provide a breakdown of the figures, which do not include either Iraqi soldiers or civilians killed during American military operations.

While the figures were not broken down month by month, it has been clear since the government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari took over after the Jan. 30 election that the insurgency is taking an increasing toll, killing Iraqi civilians and security workers at a faster rate.

<clip>

More at link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/14/international/middleeast/14casualties.html?ex=1278993600&en=5e3b458941e99af2&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss



Fact: NONE OF THIS EVER HAD TO HAPPEN. IT IS ALL HAPPENING BECAUSE OF BU$H AND BLAIR.

Got that? If you don't you are both in a minority among all of the people on this planet, and you need reality-inducing therapy.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[EFerrari]

53. kick

:kick:

[understandinglife]

54. Frank Rich: "It is about the president of the United States."

It is about a plot that was hatched at the top of the administration and in which everyone else, Mr. Rove included, are at most secondary players.

<clip>

This case is about Iraq, not Niger. The real victims are the American people, not the Wilsons. The real culprit - the big enchilada, to borrow a 1973 John Ehrlichman phrase from the Nixon tapes - is not Mr. Rove but the gang that sent American sons and daughters to war on trumped-up grounds and in so doing diverted finite resources, human and otherwise, from fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. That's why the stakes are so high: this scandal is about the unmasking of an ill-conceived war, not the unmasking of a C.I.A. operative who posed for Vanity Fair.

<clip>

Next to White House courtiers of their rank, Mr. Wilson is at most a Rosencrantz or Guildenstern. The brief against the administration's drumbeat for war would be just as damning if he'd never gone to Africa. But by overreacting in panic to his single Op-Ed piece of two years ago, the White House has opened a Pandora's box it can't slam shut. Seasoned audiences of presidential scandal know that there's only one certainty ahead: the timing of a Karl Rove resignation. As always in this genre, the knight takes the fall at exactly that moment when it's essential to protect the king.

From Follow the Uranium

By FRANK RICH

July 17, 2005

Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/opinion/17rich.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

In this case, I do not think Mr Rove's resignation will matter much to Mr Fitzgerald.

And, whether a reporter ever asks the very appropriate questions you list, I think it certain Mr Fitzgerald will be asking Mr Bu$h those questions, under oath.

The illegal war on Iraq and the illegal ongoing occupation of Iraq are Mr Bu$h's crimes, first and foremost.

If we ever want 'America' to mean anything other than just another imperialistic state, we must prosecute Mr Bu$h, first and foremost. That is our responsibility as citizens of a Nation that has now committed war crimes and other atrocities against humanity. If we do not, we are no different than Bu$h.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us