The US, UN & Iraq III

Blatham -- I missed that one, dammit. Could you relink? Thanks!

my pleasure

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030630&s=ackermanjudis063003

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/26/international/worldspecial/26WEAP.html

Blatham -- That's a good TNR article. I've read it elsewhere -- no, not that article itself but clones of it, seemingly. That's good. It means a new consensus is forming about this administration. Very good.

It's also nice to see the much-maligned foggy bottoms getting back at the neoconartists. Hope you also saw the article on Westermann's unexpected testimony in yesterday's Times (have yet to read your link, above, which probably mentions it -- I stick to reading my Times on paper, albeit in the evening after picking up my mail!)

Ah... okay. Then if it helps, I understand what your point was.

I just thought you were responding to something I wrote a ways back. I understand now that you were not. My bad.

Bush spent his first year in office rescinding Clintons work .... now it's time to put things right again .

Published on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
When Will House Republicans Call for Bush's Impeachment?
by Steve Pittelli


It has now become clear that President Bush lied to the American people in order to promote a war. That war continues and has already led to the death of thousands of Iraqi civilians, hundreds of U.S. soldiers and countless Iraqi soldiers. In truth, Bush's lies are more than just lies. They are high crimes and the President should now be subject to impeachment.

There are those who say that the President's current popularity or the Republican majority in the House and Senate preclude the possibility of his impeachment. Perhaps they are underestimating the moral integrity of our Republican congressmen. In fact, some of them have already publicly stated their opinions on this subject. They did so in February of 1999 when they served as Impeachment Trial Managers for the Senate Impeachment Trial of former President Clinton. Let's look at what they had to say then:

Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois):
"There is a visibility factor in the president's public acts, and those which betray a trust or reveal contempt for the law are hard to sweep under the rug...They reverberate, they ricochet all over the land and provide the worst possible example for our young people."

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin):
"The truth is still the truth, and a lie is still a lie, and the rule of law should apply to everyone, no matter what excuses are made by the president's defenders…We have done so because of our devotion to the rule of law and our fear that if the president does not suffer the legal and constitutional consequences of his actions, the impact of allowing the president to stand above the law will be felt for generations to come…laws not enforced are open invitations for more serious and more criminal behavior."

Steve Chabot (R-Ohio):
"It would be wrong for you to tell America's children that some lies are all right. It would be wrong to show the rest of the world that some of our laws don't really matter."

Steve Buyer (R- Indiana):
"I have also heard some senators from both sides of the aisle state publicly: I think these offenses rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. Now, to state publicly that you believe that high crimes and misdemeanors have occurred but for some reason you have this desire not to remove the president -- that desire, though, does not square with the law, the Constitution, and the Senate's precedents for removing federal judges for similar offenses."

Rep. Lindsey Graham (R - South Carolina, Now Senator):
"The president of the United States sets atop of the legal pyramid. If there's reasonable doubt about his ability to faithfully execute the laws of the land, our future would be better off if that individual is removed. And let me tell you where it all comes down to me. If you can go back and explain to your children and your constituents how you can be truthful and misleading at the same time, good luck."

These, of course, are just a few examples. It is likely that most of those who voted to impeach Clinton are on record as to the high ethical standards they were following. Certainly, they must follow these same standards when considering Bush's egregious lies and the consequences of those lies. It is time to draft the Articles of Impeachment and let those who oppose them state why this case deserves more leniency than was given to former President Clinton.

Steve Pitelli is a physician and peace activist living on the Central Coast of California. He can be reached at [email protected]

One is lies to the people, the other is lies to the penis. The penis is always guilty

Well, I'd take a penis over the chromosome-deficient Crawford cowperson.

Bill
You must have heard of a "penilety.

Was that an Aussie thing au?

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. terrorism committee has found no evidence linking Iraq (news - web sites) to al-Qaida and did not investigate Bush administration claims of such ties, officials said Thursday.
The terrorism committee has just completed a draft report charting efforts by countries to track and shut down Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s operations. The report notes success in the war on terrorism stemming from the arrests of some top al-Qaida figures.
But it also notes the group has been able to reconstitute support and benefit from loopholes in order to continue acts of terror worldwide.
Nowhere in the 42-page draft is there any mention of Iraq or claims that it served as a safe haven for al-Qaida.
"Nothing has come to our notice that would indicate links between Iraq and al-Qaida," said Michael Chandler, the committee's chief investigator.
The committee first heard of alleged ties during Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites)'s February presentation to the Security Council ahead of the Iraq war.
"It had never come to our knowledge before Powell's speech and we never received any information from the United States for us to even follow-up on," said Abaza Hassan, a committee investigator.

The NPR news reader just stated that two American soldiers appear to have been abducted, and that one American soldier and one Iraqi civilian were killed today. Like Ireland in the bad old days, when, as long as the US or Brit media was not your source, you heard the daily toll--the body count. Like Israel today, the daily body count . . .

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children

But it's alright, ain't it, they're just peasants, not anybody important, not anybody the administration cares about . . .

Life in Baghdad....

Can someone tell me just what the hell we are supposed to do there? What result can be worth the killing of American sons and daughters?



:: Thursday, June 26, 2003 ::

The most insane city, I just can't imagine a city where so much explosive metal is lying around. The latest in the line of stories which at the moment could only happen in Baghdad is an explosion the Karadah street, just off the main road. A photographer walks down that road and sees someone lying on the street with loads of blood around him and missing one leg. No one wants to get near him. The guy had a hand grenade in his pocket, the idiot. And somehow the detonator goes off, boom, bye-bye leg. The funny thing was that there were some people around the guy who looked around very nervously. No one would tell you what was going on. Until you meet the friendly small shop owner who knows everybody. He says the actual explosion happened in a tea-shop down the road where lots of no-good types meet. And the guy's hand grenade blew up in that tea-shop but his "friends" were so anxious that no one comes in that tea-shop, snoops around and finds god knows what, they clean the place up real fast, drag him to the other end of the street and leave him there.
Why would he have a hand grenade in his pocket? Well, many reasons. I don't think he is the fedayeen type, like that taxi driver I met a couple of days ago. It just happens to be the weapon of choice for house robberies, you can't say no to a man with a hand grenade, can you?
:: salam 6:56 AM [+] ::
...

I have started a photolog, I lost my camera after i took the pictures which are on it now. so i will post some of G's pictures until i buy another point and shoot digital thingy
:: salam 1:46 AM [+] ::
...

Actually we have been having pretty bad days. If you would have talked to me a week ago and I would have told you that I am very optimistic; maybe not optimistic but at least had hope. Now I can only think of two things. One of them was something my mother said while watching the news. She was watching something about the latest attacks on the "coalition forces" and their retaliation. She said that she has always wondered how people in Beirut and Jerusalem could have led any sort of lives, when their cities were practically military zones, she said she now knows how it feels to live in a city were the sight of a tank and military checkpoints asking you to get out your car and look thru your bag becomes "normal". When you turn on the TV and just hope that you don't see more pictures of people shooting at each other.
The other thing was something a foreign acquaintance has said after spending some time in the city on a really hot day. He went in threw his hat on the floor and said loudly: "I want to inform my Iraqi friends that their country is doomed". I have no idea what that was about but the sentence just stuck to my mind.
The last couple of days have been so eventful and I wish I have posted things daily because now I don't know where to start. Lets go a couple of days back. Just before the Bremer administration decided that it could not delay the issue of the laid off military one more day.
The protest in front of CPA:
U.S. Troops Kill 2 Iraqis During Protest
It was a bad day to start with and things have gotten out of hand very fast. At around 9 the crowd outside the Saddam's ooops Bremer's Palace (isn't it funny how power drifts to the same places), if you would have driven towards the palace entrance that morning in a car that looked like could be media people in it you would have people mobbing your car and hitting your windshields with shoes. The reaction that day towards media that day was generally very bad.

AP photographer Victor Caivano said the demonstrators threw stones at the soldiers and at reporters, who were forced to retreat.

an Iraqi camera man working for Reuter's if I am not mistaken, was hit badly on the head and had to rescued by the American soldiers. And it kept getting more and more heated wheni got there the bullets were already shot and the blood was on a couple of demonstrators shirts, the big mass had broken up. Most of them left after a couple warning shots were fired in the air as a small convoy was approaching, and here is where it all went wrong. Stones were being thrown at the journalists and US army and someone in that convoy made the decision to point the gun towards the crowd not above it. Four shots were fired. Two of them wounding two Iraqis fatally (they were taken in by the American Army at the gate and both of them died inside) and two more were injured, one Iraqi was arrested.
I really do believe that the decision to shoot was wrong. They have fired warning shots so why the decision to shoot and kill? They had a very angry crowd which became even angrier after the shooting. Doesn't say much about the ability to deal and control crowds. Bremer, having realized that the situation of the jobless military people is getting to a critical point. You don't want military trained people deciding that you are the enemy. The decision came to start paying them salaries and to start a small military, something like 40k soldiers. which is fine with me, who wants military. Let's just have a couple of them in cute uniforms parading on Liberation Day.

From that incident and until today things have been moving in a downward spiral. The "coalition forces" don't feel safe and we don't feel safe either. You can see the distrust in their eyes and the way they hold these big guns towards you when you move close to a check point. And if you ever drive beside a convoy don't look out your window they would be having their guns pointed at you, aimed right between your eyes.
Some areas are better than others, you still see soldiers in certain districts very relaxed walking around and talking to people. Kids on their tanks or buying roasted chicken from a restaurant. They are on their edgier side when moving or on checkpoints. I don't blame them; I hate to be in the situation they are in. I was hoping that the day when they would be moving in Baghdad in civilian clothes and browsing thru our markets, mixing with people was closer than it looks now.

I had the chance to go to a couple of bases and talk to people there. The most fun I had was at one in the south of Baghdad where to my surprise I guy came towards with a coke in his hand and said "shlonak?" [how are you? In Iraqi dialect]. It turns out he was born in Iraq and left to the US around 85. This is his first time in Baghdad since then. It was great talking to him. He came with the army as a translator. Told me about the really bad days in Samawah, and how he isn't really sure he is glad he came back. he didn't exactly have a very warm welcome, specially the last couple of weeks during the weapons searches. Do you remember the guy G. was telling you about, the translator? It was the same guy I didn't know that until I told G. where I met him. He's really a great guy, so talkative and fun. It is a shame that some Iraqis made him feel unwelcome because he was helping the "infidel invader".
:: salam 1:42 AM [+] ::

Gels, That question is too late; the deed is done, and more of our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers are going to die - for nothing - or was that for the Iraqi People? c.i.

What does the future hold? Scary!

a
CI, Too late.... too late .. Jesus H Christ CI, our loved ones are election fodder and it's too late to do anything!! Bring back conscription ...... put the fat cat's loved ones on the front line.
Bush wants 250 million for his re-appointment which is stupid ... how much could it cost to buy a supreme court? That 250mil ........ how much of it will come from the 2.5 million people that are expecting their unemployment checks to run out ........ Bush...food ..... food ..... Bush ......well, ma , send George the rent money, we got to get that boy re-appointed.

How much of that 250 mil will come from income tax refunds to people that give George half of the $100000 refund to propagate next years check, then use the rest on the yacht payment.

Now it is too late ..... Clinton got a bj in the oval office ........ Bush is Fuc**** the world ..... bring back Bill ........ IMPEACH BUSH

a
The Road to Coverup Is the Road to Ruin

By Sen. Robert Byrd
June 25, 2003

The following is the text of floor remarks made to the US Senate on June 24, 2003 by Sen. Robert Byrd.




Mr. President, Congress must face this issue squarely. Congress should begin immediately an investigation into the intelligence that was presented to the American people about the pre-war estimates of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and the way in which that intelligence might have been misused. This is no time for a timid Congress. We have a responsibility to act in the national interest and protect the American people. We must get to the bottom of this matter.

Although some timorous steps have been taken in the past few days to begin a review of this intelligence - I must watch my terms carefully, for I may be tempted to use the words "investigation" or "inquiry" to describe this review, and those are terms which I am told are not supposed to be used - the proposed measures appear to fall short of what the situation requires. We are already shading our terms about how to describe the proposed review of intelligence: cherry-picking words to give the American people the impression that the government is fully in control of the situation, and that there is no reason to ask tough questions. This is the same problem that got us into this controversy about slanted intelligence reports. Word games. Lots and lots of word games.


Click me

j
More from Baghdad:


Friday, June 27 2003 @ 05:44 AM EDT
Contributed by: Zainab
Views: 311
I know that one day there will be agreat revolution against the Americans and now we have the first seeds of that revolution . many Iraqi soldiers have demonstrated on june 18th in front of ORHA(the republican palace) claiming their rights of either having salaries or retired

Though this incident had been proceeded by many others , nevertheless, it is the first time like having a really organized activity , they where absolutely agitated or furious against the Americans . A convoy was trying to get inside ,one of the Americans got panic and started shooting at the masses ,two Iraqis got killed others wounded , terrible scarey scene . You have two sides each is inflicting the other great losses and its only the beginning . Did you know that at the beginning of the invasion everybody said it's a bless getting rid of Saddam Hussien but it turns to be an ever lasting curse,haw could they just go leaving the biggest oil reservoir in the region, they have planned to stay, accept it or not ,the staunting thing is what the people want naw (the return of Saddam the tyrant)!!! . When you think thoroughly about it you find it logical & reasonable ,during the past regime there were safety &work chances(money) BUT, THERE IS NO FREEDOM, naw there is freedom without safety or public services with very very mini work opportunities , so normally they prefer the past time of saddam. They just want to live their life that's all, they even start wishing if they were born in very poor country which doesn't draw anybody's attention. Naw we keep hearing news about incidents of Americans being missing or killed in different parts of Baghdad or other provinces ,also the Iraqi popular resistance movement have called other liberation movements abroad to come and work together for Iraq's liberation , sparks ,sparks, of big fire , why all that should happen ? All you have to do is forming a decent real government! Is that hard to be done ? or is it been postponed for some hidden reasons which we cant realized naw but maybe later on we can, only God knows.




Blog spot

Interview with Robert Kaplan about his recipe for American empire:




In "Supremacy by Stealth," his cover story for the July/August Atlantic, Robert D. Kaplan states simply that we have gotten ourselves into the business of empire. (He leaves it to others to debate the necessity or morality of such a move.) Concentrating on empire's practical side, he asks, How do we manage this world?

http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/int2003-06-18.htm