posted 10-06-2002 08:43 PM               

LEESBURG, VA. (Reuters) - The Bush administration, responding to criticism it has not planned sufficiently for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, promised on Saturday its military forces would not enter the country as "conquerors" or treat the Iraqi people as a "defeated nation."

While reaffirming a decision on using force against Iraq had not been made, Zalmay Khalilzad, a senior aide to President Bush, said, "Should force be required, U.S. and coalition forces will liberate the Iraqi people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein." "We will not enter Iraq as conquerors. We will not treat the Iraqi people as a defeated nation," he said, reading from a written statement.

He also said it was unlikely Washington would support creation of a provisional post-Saddam government until after Iraq's "liberation."

His comments to an annual conference sponsored by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy were seen as presaging an important televised speech on Iraq that Bush has set for next week and were intended to build as much support as possible within Iraq for a potential U.S. military campaign.

The U.N. Security Council is debating new instructions for U.N. inspectors charged with disarming Iraq. Bush has expressed doubts Baghdad will comply and said war may be unavoidable.

U.S. officials and experts say the success of a war against Iraq would depend heavily on how U.S. forces are received by the Iraqi people and by Iraqi military officers who might be persuaded to rise up against their leader.

Khalilzad's comments also seemed designed to reassure U.S. friends and allies anxious about a possible war.

The administration initially turned down a request to have a senior official discuss Iraq at the conference, but reversed course after public criticism for not participating in a program held on Thursday on plans for a post-Saddam Iraq.

At that program, leading Republican conservative Richard Perle and members of the Iraqi opposition exile community accused the administration of failing to lay sufficient plans for bringing democracy to Iraq if Saddam is overthrown.

Opposition leaders also expressed doubt about the U.S. commitment to a democratic Iraq and complained that the Bush team had refused to endorse a transitional authority that would be ready to take political power right after Saddam departs.

U.S. WOULD SERVE IRAQIS

Khalilzad, who oversees Iraq policy at the National Security Council, said the U.S. "mission in Iraq will be to serve the interests and the hopes of the Iraqi people..., a gifted and great people with ancient culture."

Long-term objectives include "establishing a broad-based representative and democratic government ... that will renounce terror and weapons of mass destruction, respect international laws and norms, give all religious and ethnic groups a voice, adhere to the rule of law ... and become an example of peace and tolerance for the region as a whole," he said.

In the short-term, he promised Washington would "look to reunify Iraq ... and maintain its territorial integrity." The United States will "meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people," including immediately starting a major reconstruction program and possibly forgiving certain debts and other financial obligations, he said.

The ruling Baath Party will be disrupted, individuals accused of crimes against humanity will be prosecuted and Iraq's oil wealth will be used to meet its people's needs.

Iraqi opposition leaders have pushed the United States to endorse a provisional government that would be ready to govern immediately after Saddam is overthrown. Khalilzad called that scenario "a possibility but I think more likely that there would have to be liberation first and then a government put in place."

Another senior U.S. official told Reuters separately that Washington opposes naming a transitional government now in part because the Iraqi opposition has failed to stop its infighting long enough to agree on a democratic vision for the country.

"We don't know enough about what's going on inside Iraq. ... We don't think the Iraqi opposition yet has laid out its vision for Iraq," he said in an interview.

The Los Angeles Times reported recently the administration was planning a transition to a new government in Baghdad built around a leader emerging from inside Iraq.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1538473
_____________________________________________________________

20:00 06/10/2002
Last update - 00:06 07/10/2002

U.S. preparing possible trial of Saddam Hussein

By DPA

The United States is preparing for a possible war crimes trial of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

It said the State and Defence Departments, as well as the Secret Service, have been working closely on dossiers against Hussein and 12 close associates which could be used after a regime change in Baghdad
to prosecute them for genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass executions, rape and other crimes against humanity.

According to the newspaper, the U.S. government advocates the establishment of tribunals in a "free Iraq" with native and foreign judges.

"We need to do our part to document the abuses, to collect the evidence that points to who is responsible. We feel there has to be accountability for what has occurred. You can't brush aside the deaths of more than 100,000 people", the Los Angeles Times quotes Pierre-Richard Prosper as saying.

Prosper is the State Department's ambassador at large for war crimes and a former U.N. war crimes prosecutor for the Rwanda tribunal.

Six of the people on the U.S. list are members of Hussein's family: two sons, three half brothers and a cousin.

The list also includes Ali Hassan Majid, suspected of using chemical weapons to kill thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988,
the newspaper said.

posted 10-06-2002 10:43 PM            

1.5 MILLION ITALIANS PROTEST BUSH'S WAR IN IRAQ

ROME

1.5 Million March Against Attack on Iraq
Anti-War Rallies Change Italy on Iraq?
by Eric J. Lyman

ROME -- More than 1.5 million Italians took to the streets of dozens of cities Saturday afternoon and evening to protest possible U.S. military action against Iraq -- a surprise show of discord that could be fervent enough for the Italian government to re-think its support of Washington.

Iraq No War
Demonstrators show placards in front of Rome's U.S. Embassy during an anti-war protest, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2002. Several demonstrations took place in major Italian cities against possible U.S. military action in Iraq.
The larger-than-expected protests took place without violence, despite speculation from some fronts that the gatherings could become dangerous, especially to U.S. citizens. On Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Rome circulated a warning to citizens residing in or visiting Italy to stay away from the demonstrations because of fears that they could become targets for violence.

But even though the protests were peaceful, demonstrators made it clear that they opposed U.S. action against Baghdad. The stance is significant because up to this point, Rome and London have been President George W. Bush's strongest allies in Europe.

Most European leaders -- most vocally France's Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder of Germany -- have called on diplomatic means to diffuse tensions between the United States and Iraq.

"For several weeks, Italians have been saying that they are opposed to action against Iraq, but this is the first time they have put those words into action," Maria Rossi, co-director of the polling firm Opinioni, told United Press International. "The site of thousands of Italians on the streets protesting against the potential war in Iraq has to be a sobering sight for government officials who will need public support for other issues."

Government officials were not available for comment on their stance on U.S.-Iraq relations on Saturday, but local television drew the same conclusion as Rossi.

"If the government can ignore this ... it can ignore anything," said one on-the-scene journalist for the network La 7 in Milan. "On this day, the Italian people have spoken ... and they say they are against support for the American position."

Opinion polls support that view, with a week-old survey from Opinioni showing that more than two out of every three Italians opposed any armed conflict over Iraq, and nearly four out of five Italians opposed to Italian participation in such action unless it was as part of a United Nations-sponsored force.

Most of the anti-war demonstrations took place on Saturday morning, with the biggest of those in Milan, drawing a crowd that police estimated at between 60,000 to 100,000 people.

Signs in the crowd showed Bush's head on the body of a hawk -- a reference to the president's hawkish stance toward Iraq's Saddam Hussein -- and others that showed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and British leader Tony Blair as Bush's pets, referring to their support of U.S. policies. Other large morning rallies took place in Bologna, Florence, Naples and Palermo.

But the day's biggest march was held in the evening in Rome, where police said as many as 200,000 people gathered in protest.

"Our point is that we cannot support the United States's plan to kill innocent Iraqis in order to win the upcoming (Congressional) elections," Marco Filiberti, 38, a protester who came to Rome with six friends from the nearby city of Latina, told UPI.

Claudia Bacigalupo, 24, a teacher from Rome, said she hoped the day's unexpectedly large rallies would convince the government to backtrack on its support of Washington.

"We cannot control what the United States does, but we can tell them that if they want to march into Iraq they will have to do so without the support of the Italian military," Bacigalupo said.

Whether that will be the case or not is unclear. In the past, Berlusconi has paid only limited attention to public opinion -- which, combined his eagerness to support Washington on a variety of issues -- might make a change of plans unlikely. But pollsters say that because of the support the government will need to address an array of domestic issues, the public's view on Iraq could create a degree of doubt about the course the prime minister has chosen.

"Over the coming months, the government will try to pass a so-far unpopular budget, revisit controversial labor reform legislation and start to tackle painful pension reforms," Rossi, the pollster, said. "With the economy weakening, the government may have to pick its most important battles ... (and) what we don't know is whether Iraq is one of them."

The United States has taken an aggressive stance against Iraq -- including calls for Hussein's government to be toppled -- on fears that the Iraqi leader is building an arsenal of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Copyright © 2002 United Press International

posted 10-06-2002 11:27 PM            

Could consumer-advocate Ralph Nader do for Wall Street what he did for Detroit?

The thousands of vocal protesters who turned up on Friday in New York's financial district to cheer him on certainly hope so.

Mr Nader, who became famous for taking on the US auto industry and ushering in a wave of regulation that led to safer cars, is now calling for greater regulation and enforcement of the securities industry.

Under dreary Autumn skies, angry investors and others gathered near the steps of the New York Stock Exchange to cheer on the former Green Party presidential candidate and his crusade to "crack down on corporate crime."

New York Stock Exchange on 4 October
Inflatable icons of greed at the stock exchange
"We're gathered here because we're concerned that not enough is being done about the most gigantic grand larceny episode in American history," Mr Nader said.

The result of that theft, he said, is that millions of Americans have been robbed of billions of dollars in stock and pension savings.

Broken trust

The recent wave of accounting scandals and bankruptcies have cost American workers over $175bn (�112bn) in retirement savings, with pension losses from the Enron bankruptcy alone totaling $1.69bn as of February. Mr Nader, who resembles a modern-day Abraham Lincoln, peered down from the podium on the steps of historic Federal Hall and told his audience that Wall Street is corrupt and something must be done about it.

"They have turned the New York Stock Exchange into a speculative casino ridden by corruption, deception and crime."

Activists rally behind Ralph Nader
Nearly 3,000 backers showed up to protest
He said the trust held by millions of Americans in the country's institutions, including investment banks, and state and federal regulators, had been broken.

No American would be happy until busloads of crooked executives are hauled off to jail, he said.

In that vein, he praised the work of state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, whose high-profile investigations into the practices of investment banks and corporate executives have resulted in numerous lawsuits.

Mr Spitzer announced on Thursday that New York had filed complaints against five former and current executives at four troubled telecommunications firms.

'Recipes for reform'

Asked by BBC News about the arrest of Andrew Fastow, the former chief financial officer at disgraced energy giant Enron, Mr Nader said it should send a message about corporate crime.
A mock choir sang the praises of excess during Friday's Ralph Nader Wall Street rally.
A mock choir sang the praises of excess
"But remember we're talking about tens of thousands of corporate crooks who were involved in these schemes and these deals, who aided, who abated, who implemented [and] who covered up," he said.

"If a dozen of these guys go to jail, that simply is not enough."

Mr Nader called 12 "recipes for reform" that he called on his followers to push Congress to implement.

They include a crackdown on corporate protection, a call for more protection for workers and investors, and a rollback of the "tide" of deregulation.

"Corporations were never designed to our masters," Mr Nader said.

"They were designed to be our servants in the public interest."

Copyright 2002 BBC

posted 10-06-2002 11:32 PM            

by Ed Vulliamy in New York, Paul Webster in Paris, and Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow

Oil is emerging as the key factor in US attempts to secure the support of Russia and France for military action against Iraq, according to an Observer investigation.

The Bush administration, intimately entwined with the global oil industry, is keen to pounce on Iraq's massive untapped reserves, the second biggest in the world after Saudi Arabia's. But France and Russia, who hold a power of veto on the UN Security Council, have billion-dollar contracts with Baghdad, which they fear will disappear in 'an oil grab by Washington', if America installs a successor to Saddam.

A Russian official at the United Nations in New York told the Observer last week that the $7 billion in Soviet-era debt was not the main 'economic interest' in Iraq about which the Kremlin is voicing its concerns. The main fear was a post-Saddam government would not honor extraction contracts Moscow has signed with Iraq.

Russian business has long-standing interests in Iraq. Lukoil, the biggest oil company in Russia, signed a $20bn contract in 1997 to drill the West Qurna oilfield. Such a deal could evaporate along with the Saddam regime, together with a more recent contract with Russian giant Zarubezhneft, which was granted a potential $90bn concession to develop the bin Umar oilfield. The total value of Saddam's foreign contract awards could reach $1.1 trillion, according to the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2001.

The Russian official said his government believed the US had brokered a deal with the coalition of Iraqi opposition forces it backs whereby support against Saddam is conditional on their declaring - on taking power - all oil contracts conceded under his rule to be null and void.

'The concern of my government,' said the official, 'is that the concessions agreed between Baghdad and numerous enterprises will be reneged upon, and that US companies will enter to take the greatest share of those existing contracts... Yes, if you could say it that way - an oil grab by Washington'.

A government insider in Paris told The Observer that France also feared suffering economically from US oil ambitions at the end of a war. But the dilemma for Paris is more complex. Despite President Jacques Chirac and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany agreeing last week to oppose changing the rules governing weapons inspectors, France may back military action.

Government sources say they fear - existing concessions aside - France could be cut out of the spoils if it did not support the war and show a significant military presence. If it comes to war, France is determined to be allotted a more prestigious role in the fighting than in the 1991 Gulf war, when its main role was to occupy lightly defended ground. Negotiations have been going on between the state-owned TotalFinaElf company and the US about redistribution of oil regions between the world's major companies.

Washington's predatory interest in Iraqi oil is clear, whatever its political protestations about its motives for war. The US National Energy Policy Report of 2001 - known as the 'Cheney Report' after its author Vice President Dick Cheney, formerly one of America's richest and most powerful oil industry magnates - demanded a priority on easing US access to Persian Gulf supplies.

Doubts about Saudi Arabia - even before 11 September, and even more so in its wake - led US strategists to seek a backup supply in the region. America needs 20 million barrels of crude a day, and analysts have singled out the country that could meet up to half that requirement: Iraq.

The current high price of oil is dragging the US economy further into recession. US control of the Iraqi reserves, perhaps the biggest unmapped reservoir in the world, would break Saudi Arabia's hold on the oil-pricing cartel Opec, and dictate prices for the next century.

This could spell disaster for Russian oil giants, keen to expand their sales to the West. Russia has sought to prolong negotiations, official statements going between opposition to any new UN resolution and possible support for military action against an Iraqi regime proven to be developing weapons of mass destruction.

While France is thought likely to support US military action, and China will probably fall in line because of its admission to the World Trade Organization, Putin is left holding the wild cards.

Russia recognizes potential benefits of reaching a deal with the US: Saddam's regime is difficult to work with. Lukoil's billion-dollar concessions are frozen and profitless to Moscow and Baghdad under UN sanctions, leading to fears that Saddam might have declared the agreement null and void out of spite. Iraqi diplomats say Zarubezhneft won its $90bn contract only after Baghdad took it away from TotalFinaElf because of French support for sanctions.

Russia stands to profit if intervention in the Gulf triggers a hike in Middle East oil prices, as its firms are lobbying to sell millions of barrels a day to the US, at two-thirds of the current market price.

Moscow's trust of Washington may be slipping after what a Russian UN official calls 'broken promises' that followed negotiations over Moscow's support for the Afghan campaign.

Russia turned a blind eye to US troops in central Asia, on the tacit condition that US-Russian trade restrictions would be lifted. But they are still there, and other benefits expected after 11 September have also not materialized.

'They've been making this point very strongly,' a senior Bush administration official conceded to the Washington Post , 'that this can't be an all-give-and-no-get relationship... They do have a point that the growing relationship has got to be reciprocal.'

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

posted 10-06-2002 11:34 PM            

we are winning already....lol...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/10 /07/wirq107.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/10/07/ixnewstop.html

posted 10-06-2002 11:47 PM            

LOS ANGELES OCT 6 2002

RON KOVICK SPEAKS

Personnal comment on the "Not In Our Name" Rally @ the Westwood Fed. Building on Oct. 6th. 2002

Another demonstration, another effort to stop the poison of IGNORANCE from spreading! Today @ the Westwood Federal Building I witnessed a high spirited and energetic peace movement
expressing its wrath and clear opposition to this imperial strategy of military expansion. There were perhaps 6000 to 8000 people expressing their PASSIONATE and artistically creative opposition to a mindless and greed-driven colonial adventure by the Petrochemical Barons in Wash. "The revolution will not be televised" is the quote. The quote IS accurate: almost NOTHING of this heartfelt gathering of like-minded souls, call it PEOPLE POWER, was reported on corporate owned media (disinformation) networks. Just a few images of a bunch of happy -go-lucky party animals dancing to the jungle music of another age.The ANGER IS THERE! I saw it! Trust me! "Riots are the voices of the unheard." Martin Luther King.
To the Oil Elite in Power: Ignore our voices, and you will get what you deserve: chaos and grief! We will suffer along with you for your lack of insight. Time to awaken from the long reptilian brain induced dreams that have been fogging up your view of this beautiful Planet Earth. Join us in the festivities of Life. There is still time. Drop your weapons of mass distraction and drink the Wine of ecstasy. Smell the roses? Hear the nightingale sing?
Marco! OmarK.&Co.
Peace!

posted 10-07-2002 12:10 AM            

Don't go back to sleep

I thought that I'd take the time to let the emotions of yesterday mellow out a little and the trolls time to rant for a while with their bashing requests before I posted this. I also wanted time to let the impressions I got from all the speakers I listened to and the people I spoke with yesterday sink in and meld.
The dragon I speak of that is waking is the majority of the population that is now starting to remember what this nation is really about. The people that are remembering that we have a constitution and Bill of Rights, that were written and agreed upon by the elected representatives of the people; Representatives that honored the wishes and desires of those that chose them.
The Constitution and the addendum to it, the Bill of Rights, were drafted as assurance to the people that the abuses of power under either an unjust Monarchy, or any other form of non-representative government would not have the chance to creep into existence. It seems that those who were already not awake, (referring to the ones who didn't fall asleep, "left-wing liberals and conspiracy freaks"), are finally opening their eyes, refusing to be content to meekly think, "Well, we did elect them, they must know better than us, let's tell them we agree to let them do what is best for us". The not-elected pResident of the U.S., Bush, and his supporters have found how far they can go with their lies before the people finally wake up and say "NO MORE"
Even Senators, who formerly supported them like Senator Robert Byrd, no friend of the people's will, are considering refusing to let the Constitution be destroyed any more than it already has. I am referring to the constitutionally-separation of powers of what authority is delegated to the 3 branches of government; Executive, Congressional and Judiciary. Granted he, and others of like mind, are only mad because their power of approval is being given away by their fellow Senators, but we can take advantage of that by urging, if it appears that the vote to approve the War Powers Act is going to be approved, to urge support of his threatened filibuster to stop it's passage. I'll make it easy for everyone to say "NO"; only one Ph # is needed, the toll-free Capitol switchboard, and then request transfer to his office and also your respective Senator's offices, Wyden and Smith, urging support. This is something that even the armchair protestors can do, the ten friend's of every one of the 5-12,000 who marched yesterday.

800-648-3516, and keep trying, call late tonight before you go to bed when the full voice-mail boxes may again have room to record your message.

The City of Portland even moderated it's approach to crowd control by putting an intelligent commander in charge yesterday, Rosie Spicer, who refused to use any violence even to counter any of the mild illegal acts that took place. I refer to the young man who decided to climb up on the East Portico of City Hall to whom I gave my anti-pepper spray goggles and the subsequent non-permitted march by about 30-50 people for about an hour.

The Trolls have claimed that the crowd gathered yesterday were "un-washed, stinking hippies and anarcharists. WRONG; we were a cross-section of every segment of society, every religion, every age, every political party and every morality. The one thing we all had in common was our desire to communicate to Washington that taking away our Constitutionally-granted rights and making decisions that are not agree-upon by the majority, will not be tolerated.
This time, it is not going to take the Tet offensive of January '68, which took the lives of at least one person that everyone my age grew up with. This time the "wag-the-dog" ploy that Clinton used to divert attention is not working.
This time, they have gone too far already, and most of you were too asleep to wake up in time. It is going to be a hard road to walk in order to re-claim some of the rights that have already been taken away in the last year. It will cost some of us freedom in order to counter the TIPS program of made-up lies by frightened neighbors, co-workers and right-wing nazi's that will enjoy our jailing under the JTTF powers that we have granted them to use.
Yes, I say we, as we must take responsibility to not standing up and saying "NO" earlier.

I hope that the dream of the young man, Josh from Winterhaven School, who is responsible for the most memorable quote of any of the speakers yesterday, " Someday the schools will have all the money they need and the Air Force will have to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber", comes to pass.

I have a dream that John Lennon's Imagine is used as a new national anthem, rather than a song glorifying war, death and struggle against oppressors.

I urge you, if you do nothing else, if you choose not to take a chance marching in the streets, if you choose not to participate in non-violent civil disobedience, which many will, you can at least call your congressman. Call, write, e-mail, or fax them every day. BUT DO SOMETHING, or go back to sleep, only to wake someday in the hell you have helped create.

posted 10-07-2002 12:20 AM            

is that it...

or 27,001...

counting you...

Bush doctorine works...

u don't...and the other 27,000...of ya...

lol

posted 10-07-2002 12:24 AM            

Protests in Seattle:8000 Protest Bush's Unconstitutional War in IRAQ

An overflow crowd heard Scott Ritter speak Saturday about the horrors of war, the history of Iraqi arms inspections, and the unconstitutionality of unilateral military action against Iraq.

A thousand voices sang gentle songs of resistance at the University Temple United Methodist Church as people filled overflow meeting rooms prior to Scott Ritter’s lecture, “The Coming Iraq War: How Did We Get Here?” Ritter spoke at length about the horrors of war, and why the Bush administration’s proposed war against Iraq was unconstitutional and unnecessary. Ritter, a “card carrying republican” and an ex-Marine Intelligence Officer, criticized attempts by George Bush Sr. and George W. Bush, to portray complex issues of international security in black and white terms of “good” and “evil.”

Ritter was the chief weapons inspector in Iraq until resigning in protest in 1998 and has since been shunned by the corporate media and allegedly smeared by CNN.

In the audience was US Representative Jim McDermott, recently back from a controversial tour of Iraq. The congressperson was the subject of several, noisy, standing ovations.

KCTS was the only major media outlet to send a camera crew, and they left before Ritter finished speaking.

Outside, volunteers were busy making and giving away protest signs in preparation for Sunday’s Anti-War rally coordinated by the Not In Our Name coalition.

posted 10-07-2002 12:39 AM            

ritter was paid by the iraqi's to make a propaganda movie...80,k I think...

what do you have to cut and paste about that...

nice of u and the other non-informed subspecies to take up for the butcher of bagdad....

but still you don't get it do ya...

"This campaign will be one of life or death for this regime, and we must use everything we have," he allegedly told them. According to the same source, Saddam told local commanders that if communications were cut with Baghdad, they had authority to fire chemical weapons the moment a ground attack began, reports Correspondent-at-Large Rod Nordland in the October 14 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, October 7). "Everyone knows that when it starts, [Saddam] is finished," says a Kuwaiti. "No one expects restraint."

http://library.northernlight.com/FB20021006870000015.html?cb=0&dx=1006&sc=0#doc

oh my...

cut and paste done right here...

posted 10-07-2002 12:41 AM            

HAW HAW!!

We've heard that one before, eh?

Thanks for the coverage, Mech.

posted 10-07-2002 12:48 AM            

I have plenty of dis-agreement, with some of the Bush org namely the justice department,and how far they have a government hand up the ass of every American...but on the war of terror....I have no dis-agreement...

bet you bought into the "bang the drums of war" shakespere hoax too eh ? deborah ?

posted 10-07-2002 12:56 AM            

CHICAGO, Oct. 6 (IMC) -- Up to ten thousand marchers pack a plaza at the Chicago River in preparation for a march up Michigan Ave., after listening to speeches and performances organized by Not In Our Name.

"It's up to 270 million people to decide," says Ahmed, forty-something, of Evanston's Neighbors for Peace, as he holds a Killing Is Not The Answer sign.

"Governments have been even more dangerous since 1917. For 50 years America has been a policeman for US corporations, and has gone for a destabilization program. Now it's the sole superpower, and it looks like it's empire-building. Innocent people's lives are at stake -- see who's benefitting: It's the oil, drugs and arms manufacturers."

As the plaza fills with people numerous signs display the sentiments of the gathering. Behind a cluster of organizers hammering together a plywood stage stands a giant, 12-foot-by-8-foot cloth sign with a blue-and-green globe filling its space, layered over with the words Not In Our Name.

Two tall bongo drums attached to a shopping cart are painted with thin red flames rising from below. Nearby two signs read Cheney Is A Dick and No Blood For Oil.

A string of low, wide signs zig-zag across the northern part of the plaza, dividing it from a tree-spotted area. The signs display various Not In Our Name statements, like "Not in our name will you invade countries, bomb civilians, kill more children, letting history take its course over the graves of the nameless."

People filter in through a line of 24 uniformed police officers, spaced 10 feet apart. A metallic bust of Jack Brickhouse, famed Chicago baseball radio announcer, now sports a taped-on sign that reads Ashcroft Keep Your Dirty Hands Off Our Civil Liberties.

The audience is a demographic mix -- mostly under thirty and Caucasian, but with a sizeable portion of older and middle-aged participants, and some of color.

Two older, white women flow down the sidewalk behind the crowd in shiny, regal gowns and crowns, singing a tune of money for jobs and schools while passing out lavendar leaflets. An older man accompanies them in a Nortre Dame jacket, swinging a lavendar cloth sign toward the street that reads World Peace.

As the crowd stands waiting for organizers to begin, the sound system plays a young woman's voice singing Arabic lyrics over a smooth-jazz accompaniment.

Politically affiliated people engage standers with their newspapers and literature tables. A large placard near the now-assembled stage shows a large Cheney face and the text Dick Cheney, Vietnam Chicken, Iraq Hawk. It quotes him as saying, "I had other priorities in the Vietnam War than military service."

A union worker holds a display board with various computer-generated, fancy text blocks pasted on, reading Bush's Targets For Destruction: Iraq, Iran, N. Korea, Union Workers.

Toward the back a lone, large black flag rises above other signs, imprinted with a red letter A inside a red circle.

Grant Newberger, of Refuse & Resist, is the first person on the microphone, noting that there are concurrent anti-war gatherings in Portland, New York City, Coeur D'Alene, Kickapoo (WI), South Carolina, North Carolina, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"The main person who organized this was George Bush," he says. "This [number of people] would have been impossible without the outrageous things he's said. He wants to determine other nations' governments and sovereignty."

A Pledge of Resistance statement is displayed in several languages at the base of the stage, including in Japanese, Portugese, Arabic, Spanish, German, Bangla, Finnish and Creole. To the left of the stage is a large, 8-foot-by-6-foot painted canvas that depicts a young Arab boy holding a stone from a destroyed building as he looks over his shoulder to see a jet fighter that just shot missiles, destroying an area in the background beyond a ridge.

A large Stolen Lives Project banner displays 24 faces and a list of names of people killed in the US by law enforcement personnel.

Tara Betts, a black, twenty-something word artist, Gwendolyn Brooks Award-winning poet, tutor and writer, is introduced with Rene Maxwell of the Coalition to Protect Public Housing.

Maxwell, a forty-something black activist, solicits cheers from the crowd by repeatedly exhorting, "We came out here for a reason!" and "Bush don't get it / We ain't wit' it."

Bobby Fox is brought to the stage next. His short dreadlocks angle downward from underneath his knitted headcap of green, yellow, red and black. A pattern of small, dark-green lilly pads make up his partially see-through shirt which clings tightly to his medium-thin frame. A small long- and thin-tasseled vest and shiny, metallic-tan leather-like pants complete his ensemble. Looking out through wide, Lenny-Kravitz-style shades, Fox begins a new-Prince-like funk groove with political lyrics.

"So they say they want to fight a war to defend the Constitution…. It's trash, the system has crashed…. Killing dreams is the only thing they like to do…. Fight! Yeah, we fight!"

His next song has the title and refrain of "My American Pie," in which he sings, "Tired of being a rebel in America…. It's all the same if you have no name…. Free to be good, free to be bad, free to be a replica…."

He exits with, "I love you all, God bless America, thank you, thank you," to polite applause.

Newberger and Betts introduce Sterling Plump, an older, black Chicago activist, who delivers a message from Studs Terkel, who he describes as "this city's and country's first citizen." Terkel's health prevents him from addressing the gathering in person.

Terkel's words speak of the free citizens of the US as being under an assault.

"Never before has a chieftain declared, 'I am the state -- what I say, goes. The UN be damned, I am the law of the land, the rest of the community be damned.'" The crowd responds to this interpretation of Bush's sentiments with boos.

"Since 9-11 people have been afraid to speak up."

"Not anymore," yells someone.

"Silence has become the new patriotism," reads Plump. "We are suffering from a national Alzheimer's disease. We are the most feared and hated in the world, but individual Americans are respected. Einstein, the most civilized man of the 20th century, said that since the atom bomb, since Hiroshima, the whole world has changed, except for how people think. We are part of the world community, whether we like it or not. If there is a World War III, I do not know what weapons will be used, but I do know that the weapons of World War IV will be sticks and stones. We can live together as brothers and sisters or we can die as fools. This is the true patriotism." Cheers follow Terkel's words.

Newberger follows with a quick call-and-response:

"We want the world to know…."

"Not in our name!" replies the crowd.

"The bombing of children…."

"Not in our name!"

"No war on the world…."

"Not in our name!"

"No war on Iraq…."

"Not in our name!"

"No bombings and detentions…."

"Not in our name!"

"No USA-Patriot Act…."

"Not in our name!"

"No war without limits…."

"Not in our name!"

Bob Bosse of the 8th Day Center for Justice speaks next.

"The war is not in Iraq, it's in our hearts and souls. It is a war to keep us silent. Where do you commit your life, your fortune, your honor? That really says it all."

Bosse tells of the need for peacemakers to make the same sacrifices as the war-makers, to sacrifice safety and security in order to witness broken bodies and children with vacant eyes in Iraq, as he has done. He urges the breaking of sanctions against the Iraqi people.

"We're talking about people who love or are being loved. These people's lives are as important as my sisters and brothers. It's a tough struggle -- TV pundits every day are beaming messages of what we're supposed to believe. This manifestation today is saying no to Bush and his policies," says Bosse.

"I don't hate George Bush--"

"I hate him!" yells someone from the crowd.

Bosse continues, "I don't want to kill George Bush -- though in all candor, in my heart, sometimes I feel like I do. Martin Luther King said that, 'The worst thing I can do to my enemy is to make him my friend.'"

A group of Chicago artists ascends the stage next, intentionally composing a cross-racial, cross-gender, cross-class makeup. While some waft a repeating, drawn-out, gospel-style harmonizing of "Not in our name," each steps forward to deliver a personalized testimony of why they don't support war in their names. They finish with a collective "Not by our will, not in our name, we pledge resistance."

A Philippina student rouses a chant from those assembled: "Stop the US war machine / From Palestine to the Philippines." She asserts that the war on terrorism is being used in a backlash against Philippino immigrants and migrants, especially those involved in pro-people, pro-independence movements like Abu Sayyaf. She says that 7 million Philippino migrants in 182 countries around the world are in danger of being subjected to warrantless searches, mostly because their analysis has linked economic exploitation to the war on terrorism.

Stating that the war on terrorism is basically a counter-insurgency war on pro-people movements, she declares that the war must be opposed because it violates people's and countries' sovereignties, as with the 1.4 million people killed in the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), which is similar to US interventions in Colombia and Korea.

"It is a war of hegemony. Stop the US war machine! Not in our name! Long live international solidarity! Thank you."

Nuestro Dolor No Es Un Grito De Guerra, reads one sign, with Our Grief Is Not A Cry For War on the other side.

Newberger mentions a follow-up demonstration at Federal Plaza, at 5pm, for tomorrow, and a nationwide mobilization against a US war on Iraq in Washington, DC, on October 26th.

Betts notes that police brutality is terrorism and speaks on recognizing women who have been victims of violence. She introduces two Asian, spoken-word artists from Mango Tribe, who perform powerful, personal readings of their own perceptions of 9-11 and what it means to be able to live in peace.

Maxwell comes back to inform people that there are costs involved with organizing the rally, and that people should send checks to the American Friends Service Committee.

Mahmoud Ahmed, of the Free Palestine Alliance, Chicago, addresses the gathering, saying that early on in Bush's war drive he had the audacity to look into the eyes of the world and say, "You are either with us or you are against us."

"Now that the war drive is [into full swing], we are absolutely against it," says Ahmed, to cheers from the crowd. "It would cost $60 billion, but there is not enough money to provide proper education here at home. How can they blindly fund the destruction of Palestinian homes when there is not enough funding for housing here at home? In past wars they [engaged in] kidnappings at home. But for every single person imprisoned or deported, they replaced them with thousands like you. Stop the US war machine, from Palestine to the Philippines."

Jim Fennerty of the National Lawyers Guild states that he will throw out his prepared speech, in order to get the march moving.

"This [rally] has been brought together by unity. We must be like the fingers of one fist to fight Bush and the capitalist system. The government wants to expand, so it must attack people at home. They are trying to use fear [against us]."

Fennerty is followed by a black man of the cloth, introduced as a veteran of the anti-Vietnam War movement.

"We in the United States are most blessed. You, as Americans, have the power to go to the White House and put Bush out. You can organize a posse and arrest him. Then you can go to Iraq and tell them to bomb you. To not [take action] is to be irresponsible. We need a posse and we need to go to Iraq. If you let your government do [what it wants] then you are responsible for the actions of your government."

His words are met with cheers. A group of the speakers reads the Not In Our Name Pledge to Resist, followed by Maxwell who asks, "How many here had a good time?" A cheer goes up.

"We gotta take it to the streets, y'all! Bush don't get it / We ain't wit' it!" The crowd chants along, then echoes a "1-2-3-4 / We don't want no endless war / 5-6-7-8 / We don't want no po-lice state" chant.

As march marshalls assemble the crowd listens to a Brazilian Capoeira musical performance of rhythmic beats and single-stringed plucked notes amid soulful phrases.

The ralliers then turn into marchers as they gradually move out onto the northbound lanes of Michigan Avenue.

No More Bushit! reads one sign as a man in a Nixon mask walks by, carrying a I Am Not A Crook sign.

A line of eight officers on horseback front the march, with other officers blocking cross-traffic ahead.

"I think it's a very great [event]," says a stylishly dressed twenty-something pedestrian from Arlington Heights. "[The march] is about no war, and I'm against the killing of innocent people."

"They're silly," states Bob Kenworthy of Kokomo, Indiana. "The president has better information about how to deal with this. It's ridiculous that protestors are [associating] Bush with a swastika. They're being naive. They think it's about oil, but it's not."

"The march is unbelievably good," says Nahrain Israel, 22, as she stands outside an art gallery. "It's incredible that so many people are not listening to what the media is saying. I come from Iraq, and I was in Iraq during the Gulf War. It was devastating to see the close-mindedness [in the US] during that war. The problem is not the people of Iraq, it's the regime of the government. This [march] is a good thing, it's amazing. I cannot describe in words the atrocity in Iraq. It's horrific -- the embargo is not affecting Hussein's regime."

"They're misinformed," says Von of Austin, TX. "They've got their own personal agenda, and they're not seeing the broad scope of what's going on. There are other perspectives, like those of the people of other countries, of Iraqi citizens. Saddam's killing his own people, and the US is trying to bring him to justice."

"I really don't have an opinion," says a black, twenty-ish Navy man.

posted 10-07-2002 01:04 AM            

37,001 morons...

a running tally...

keep it comin' mech...u anti-American bastard....

btw, 250 million right minded folk...who luv our way of life...

looks like you'll be busy tonight...cuting and pasting...

death to America means nothing to you does it mech ?

maybe you should pop on over to priceline.com and get you a ticket so you can go fight against the evil Bush empire...

maggot

lol

posted 10-07-2002 01:08 AM            

Media reports vary from 1500 to 2500 Protestors in Downtown Austin
Saturday, Oct. 5. Marching up Congress Avenue towards the Capitol, thousands strong and chanting, with one voice. We were America. We were every possible age and background, all with one common goal: to oppose Bush's plans for war. The signs were varied. "I love my country; I fear my government" "Impeach Our Ignorant Leader" and "Time for a Regime Change in the U.S."

The marchers proceeded to the steps of the Federal Building for a rally with more than a dozen speakers, poets, and musicians. Among them were Green Party candidate for Texas Governor Rahul Mahajan, and 76 year old Jewel Johnson, a veteran of World War II, and peace activist for more than 35 years.

Tables lined the side of the gathering to register new voters, forward protestors' correspondence to elected representatives, and provide information.

posted 10-07-2002 01:14 AM            

NOT IN OUR NAME

Let it not be said that people in the United States did nothing when their government declared a war without limit and instituted stark new measures of repression.

The signers of this statement call on the people of the U.S. to resist the policies and overall political direction that have emerged since September 11, 2001, and which pose grave dangers to the people of the world.

We believe that peoples and nations have the right to determine their own destiny, free from military coercion by great powers. We believe that all persons detained or prosecuted by the United States government should have the same rights of due process. We believe that questioning, criticism, and dissent must be valued and protected. We understand that such rights and values are always contested and must be fought for.

We believe that people of conscience must take responsibility for what their own governments do -- we must first of all oppose the injustice that is done in our own name. Thus we call on all Americans to RESIST the war and repression that has been loosed on the world by the Bush administration. It is unjust, immoral, and illegitimate. We choose to make common cause with the people of the world.

We too watched with shock the horrific events of September 11, 2001. We too mourned the thousands of innocent dead and shook our heads at the terrible scenes of carnage -- even as we recalled similar scenes in Baghdad, Panama City, and, a generation ago, Vietnam. We too joined the anguished questioning of millions of Americans who asked why such a thing could happen.

But the mourning had barely begun, when the highest leaders of the land unleashed a spirit of revenge. They put out a simplistic script of “good vs. evil” that was taken up by a pliant and intimidated media. They told us that asking why these terrible events had happened verged on treason. There was to be no debate. There were by definition no valid political or moral questions. The only possible answer was to be war abroad and repression at home.

In our name, the Bush administration, with near unanimity from Congress, not only attacked Afghanistan but arrogated to itself and its allies the right to rain down military force anywhere and anytime. The brutal repercussions have been felt from the Philippines to Palestine, where Israeli tanks and bulldozers have left a terrible trail of death and destruction. The government now openly prepares to wage all-out war on Iraq -- a country which has no connection to the horror of September 11. What kind of world will this become if the U.S. government has a blank check to drop commandos, assassins, and bombs wherever it wants?

In our name, within the U.S., the government has created two classes of people: those to whom the basic rights of the U.S. legal system are at least promised, and those who now seem to have no rights at all. The government rounded up over 1,000 immigrants and detained them in secret and indefinitely. Hundreds have been deported and hundreds of others still languish today in prison. This smacks of the infamous concentration camps for Japanese-Americans in World War 2. For the first time in decades, immigration procedures single out certain nationalities for unequal treatment.

In our name, the government has brought down a pall of repression over society. The President’s spokesperson warns people to “watch what they say.” Dissident artists, intellectuals, and professors find their views distorted, attacked, and suppressed. The so-called Patriot Act -- along with a host of similar measures on the state level -- gives police sweeping new powers of search and seizure, supervised if at all by secret proceedings before secret courts.

In our name, the executive has steadily usurped the roles and functions of the other branches of government. Military tribunals with lax rules of evidence and no right to appeal to the regular courts are put in place by executive order. Groups are declared “terrorist” at the stroke of a presidential pen.

We must take the highest officers of the land seriously when they talk of a war that will last a generation and when they speak of a new domestic order. We are confronting a new openly imperial policy towards the world and a domestic policy that manufactures and manipulates fear to curtail rights.

There is a deadly trajectory to the events of the past months that must be seen for what it is and resisted. Too many times in history people have waited until it was too late to resist.

President Bush has declared: “you’re either with us or with the terrorists.” Here is our answer: We refuse to allow you to speak for all the American people. We will not give up our right to question. We will not hand over our consciences in return for a hollow promise of safety. We say NOT IN OUR NAME. We refuse to be party to these wars and we repudiate any inference that they are being waged in our name or for our welfare. We extend a hand to those around the world suffering from these policies; we will show our solidarity in word and deed.

We who sign this statement call on all Americans to join together to rise to this challenge. We applaud and support the questioning and protest now going on, even as we recognize the need for much, much more to actually stop this juggernaut. We draw inspiration from the Israeli reservists who, at great personal risk, declare “there IS a limit” and refuse to serve in the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

We also draw on the many examples of resistance and conscience from the past of the United States: from those who fought slavery with rebellions and the underground railroad, to those who defied the Vietnam war by refusing orders, resisting the draft, and standing in solidarity with resisters.

Let us not allow the watching world today to despair of our silence and our failure to act. Instead, let the world hear our pledge: we will resist the machinery of war and repression and rally others to do everything possible to stop it.

Signers include...

James Abourezk

As`ad AbuKhalil, Professor, Cal State Univ, Stanislaus

Michael Albert

Mike Alewitz, LaBOR aRT & MuRAL Project

Robert Altman

Aris Anagnos

Laurie Anderson

John Ashbery, poet

Edward Asner, actor

Russell Banks, writer

John Perry Barlow

Rosalyn Baxandall, historian

Joel Beinen

Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange

Jessica Blank, actor/playwright

William Blum, author

Theresa & Blase Bonpane, Office of the Americas

Fr. Bob Bossie, SCJ

Judith Bulter

Leslie Cagan

Kisha Imani Cameron, producer

Henry Chalfant, author/filmmaker

Bell Chevigny, writer

Paul Chevigny, professor of law, NYU

Noam Chomsky

Ramsey Clark

Ben Cohen, cofounder, Ben and Jerry's

David Cole, professor of law, Georgetown University

Robbie Conal

Stephanie Coontz, historian, Evergreen State College

Paula Cooper

Kia Corthron, playwright

Kimberly Crenshaw, professor of law, Columbia and UCLA

Culture Clash

Kevin Danaher, Global Exchange

Barbara Dane

Angela Davis

Ossie Davis

Zack de la Rocha

Mos Def

Ani Di Franco

Julie Dorf, International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Carol Downer, board of directors, Chico (CA) Feminist Women's Health Center

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, professor, California State University, Hayward

Bill Dyson, state representative, Connecticut

Michael Eric Dyson

Steve Earle, singer/songwriter

Barbara Ehrenreich

Deborah Eisenberg, writer

Hector Elizondo

Daniel Ellsberg

Brian Eno

Eve Ensler

Leo Estrada, UCLA professor, Urban Planning

Frances D. Fergusson, president, Vassar College

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Laura Flanders, radio host and journalist

Jane Fonda

Richard Foreman

Elizabeth Frank

Michael Franti, SpearHead

Terry Gilliam, film director

Charles Glass, journalist

Jeremy Matthew Glick, editor of Another World Is Possible

Danny Glover

Leon Golub, artist

Juan Gómez Quiñones, historian, UCLA

John Guare, playwright

Allan Gurganus

Jessica Hagedorn

Sondra Hale, professor, anthropology and women's studies, UCLA

Suheir Hammad, writer

Nathalie Handal, poet and playwright

Michael Hardt, author of Empire

Christine B. Harrington, Professor of Politics, NYU

David Harvey, distinguished professor of anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center

Stanley Hauerwas, theologian

Tom Hayden

Edward S. Herman, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Susannah Heschel, professor, Dartmouth College

Fred Hirsch, vice president, Plumbers and Fitters Local 393

bell hooks

Rakaa Iriscience, hip hop artist

Abdeen Jabara, attorney, past president, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Fredric Jameson, chair, literature program, Duke University

Harold B. Jamison, major (ret.), USAF

Jim Jarmusch

Erik Jensen, actor/playwright

Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback

Casey Kasem

Robin D.G. Kelly

Martin Luther King III, president, Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Barbara Kingsolver

Arthur Kinoy, board co-chair, Center for Constitutional Rights

Sally Kirkland

C. Clark Kissinger, Refuse & Resist!

Yuri Kochiyama, activist

Annisette & Thomas Koppel, singers/composers

David Korten, author

Barbara Kruger

Tony Kushner

James Lafferty, executive director, National Lawyers Guild/L.A.

Ray Laforest, Haiti Support Network

Beth K. Lamont, Corliss-Lamont.org

Jesse Lemisch, professor of history emeritus, John Jay College of Justice, CUNY

Harriet Lerner

Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, TIKKUN magazine

Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead

Lucy Lippard

James Longley, Filmmaker

Barbara Lubin, Middle East Childrens Alliance

Janet L. Abu-Lughod

Staughton Lynd

Dave Marsh

Aaron McGruder

W.S. Merwin

Susan Minot

Anuradha Mittal, co-director, Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First

Malaquias Montoya, visual artist

Tom Morello

Robin Morgan

Viggo Mortensen

Robert Nichols, writer

Linda Nochlin

Kate Noonan

Claes Oldenburg

Pauline Oliveros

Rev. E. Randall Osburn, exec. v.p., Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Ozomatli

Grace Paley

Michael Parenti

Jeremy Pikser, screenwriter

Frances Fox Piven, Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Katha Pollitt

Jerry Quickley, poet

John T. Racanelli, Presiding Justice (Ret), California Court of Appeal

Margaret Randall

Marcus Raskin

Michael Ratner, president, Center for Constitutional Rights

Amy Ray, Indigo Girls

Adrienne Rich

David Riker, filmmaker

Boots Riley, hip hop artist, The Coup

James Rosenquist

Judith Rossner

Matthew Rothschild

Edward Said

Susan Sarandon

Saskia Sassen, professor, University of Chicago

John Sayles

Jonathan Schell, author and fellow of the Nation Institute

Carolee Schneemann, artist

Ralph Schoenman & Mya Shone, Council on Human Needs

Pete and Toshi Seeger

Mark Selden, historian

Frank Serpico

Wallace Shawn, playwright & actor

Ron Shelton, filmmaker

Alex Shoumatoff

John J. Simon, writer, editor

Kiki Smith, artist

Michael Steven Smith, National Lawyers Guild/NY

Norman Solomon, syndicated columnist and author

Scott Spenser

Nancy Spero, artist

Starhawk

Bob Stein, publisher

Gloria Steinem

Oliver Stone

Mark Strand

Peter Syben, major, US Army, retired

Michael Taussig

Tony Taccone, director

Marisa Tomei

Marcia Tucker, founding director emerita, New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY

Coosje van Bruggen

Gore Vidal

Anton Vodvarka, Lt., FDNY (ret.)

Kurt Vonnegut

Alice Walker

Rebecca Walker

Naomi Wallace, playwright

Immanuel Wallerstein, sociologist, Yale University

Rev. George Webber, president emeritus, NY Theological Seminary

Leonard Weinglass, attorney

Cornel West

Haskell Wexler

John Edgar Wideman

Saul Williams, spoken word artist

S. Brian Willson , activist/writer

Jeffrey Wright, actor

Howard Zinn, historian

Organizations for identification only (partial list as of early August)

For more complete listing of signers, see: www.nion.us

posted 10-07-2002 01:22 AM            

noam chomsky

robert altman

tom hayden

susan sarandon

gloria steinem

oh yeah these are well informed good American's...who really care about average people...whoopse forgot gore vidal...gag...choking...

excuse me while I vomit...

posted 10-07-2002 01:46 AM            

get a grip...

or move u military hating cut and paste maggot...

posted 10-07-2002 02:03 AM            

Thousands rally in the United States against war with Iraq

Sun Oct 6,11:36 PM ET

By KAREN GAUDETTE, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Thousands of Americans rallied across the United States Sunday against war with Iraq.

Anti-war protesters jammed San Francisco's Union Square, beating drums, hoisting signs and proclaiming their opposition to war with Iraq.

It was one of dozens of anti-war rallies across the country organized by the Not in Our Name Project, a grassroots group opposing a range of Bush administration actions. Demonstrations also were held in New York, Chicago, Portland, Oregon, and some smaller communities.

Marchers called President George W. Bush ( news - web sites) a "warmonger," "racist" and "irresponsible."

In San Francisco, women in designer jeans and high-heeled shoes marched next to students in tie-dyed T-shirts and Birkenstock sandals. The driver of a cable car surrounded by the throng clanged his bell in time to pulsating reggae music, joined by the honking of dozens of trapped taxis.

"We don't want war. It's clearly for fabricated reasons," said Taliya Ansari of Hercules, California, who came with her family after hearing of the rally at her mosque. "We don't want people to die. (Iraq is) not doing anything to us."

In New York, thousands gathered in Central Park to protest what they called the United States' broader "war on the world." Among those attending were actors Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins.

Protest organizers said Bush, motivated by a thirst for power and control of oil reserves, was lying to the country about the need for an attack on Iraq and the war against terrorism.

"We don't believe in war for oil," Robbins said.

The group opposes "war on the world" by America, including alleged unnecessary detention of immigrants and curtailment of civil liberties since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I think the power structure in this country is dead set on war," said Joe Urgo, of Not In Our Name. "They are in a thirst for war."

Organizers said about 20,000 protesters showed up in New York.

posted 10-07-2002 02:48 AM            

Congress is about to pass a War Resolution that will very probably lead to a war with Iraq. The vote will likely take place by Thursday, October 10, possibly sooner. As in 1991, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and many American servive men and women could die as a result. In fact, the security of the Iraq people is worse today than it was in 1991, and NGOs are warning that a famine could result from the attack. The 1991 Gulf Conflict was not an invasion of Iraq, so the carpet bombing of Iraq's cities could be far worse this time around.

Call Congress. Call now. Call tomorrow. Call five people you know and ask them to call Congress. And ask them to call five people they know.

Congressional Switchboard: 800-839-5276

posted 10-07-2002 03:13 AM            

On January 25, 1999, an American AGM-130 missile struck the Al Jumhuriya neighborhood of Basra
killing seven people and injuring many more. Pentagon spokesman, Ken Bacon, acknowledged the
residential strike the next day (CNN) saying "the United States regretted any civilian casualties," but
added that "U.S. officials had no 'independent confirmation' that the missle killed any Iraqis."

Nor, a six year old Iraqi girl lies beneath the rubble after an American AGM-130 Missle stuck the Al Jumhuriya neighborhood of Basra on January 25,1999

Nor's sister, also killed the same day.

Iraqi father holding his slain child.
www.nonviolence.org

posted 10-07-2002 05:28 AM               

Now, for those who think that there is this great distinction between The Republicans and Democrats, following is a cut and paste that speaks for me. I have for a long time considered that the apparent differences between these two political parties are just for show - to make the masses at least feel like they have a choice. If you were to diagram them out it would look like an upside down cone - at the base (grass roots level) the difference is more apparent but the higher up you go the closer the two come and finally at the very top they're the same. TPTB that have pulled the strings for a long while still pull the strings in my opinion and the planet is just one big chess board to them with everything and everyone being expendable. The coliseum in ancient Rome was just a microcosm for planet Earth.

"Wolves in sheep's clothing"
Printed on Monday, October 07, 2002 @ 01:40:13 EDT http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=759

By Matthew Riemer
YellowTimes.org Columnist (United States)

(YellowTimes.org) - At no other time in the brief history of the United States has the Democratic Party posed such a threat to American political ideals. The danger lies not necessarily in the actions of the party but in the beliefs that people hold about them.

The idea that the Democrats represent the "opposition party" is both laughable and depressing. Someone recently told me that they joined the Democrats because of their commitment to human rights and social
justice. I almost spit my beer in their face.

Wake up all you lovers of partisan politics, all you believers in the American political process. The dream is over. The American experiment is winding to a catastrophic end at the dawn of the 21st century.

You know whom I'm talking about. All of you who, while holding back a sob or two, proudly utter the phrase, "President Gore."

All of you who mope about the "stolen election" while fantasizing about how much better things would be if Bush weren't in office.

All of you who rant on about the ills of the world, frequently invoking terms like "right-wing," "conservative," and "fundamentalist," only then to turn around and defend people like Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

You've all been had.

To believe in the Democrats while condemning the Republicans is the ultimate folly committable in these times. To defend them is to betray the very values one implicitly claims to uphold when criticizing the
Republicans.

The vital issues that plague the world aren't found within the nuances of American domestic policies, but in the universal and timeless themes of human rights and sovereignty - personal, cultural, and
national.

The Democrats went to war in Afghanistan. The Democrats are also going to war in Iraq, no matter how stirring the pockets of "dissent" may now seem; and they'll go to war in countless other countries as long
as their elitist butts are riding high.

The Democrats didn't come to the rescue of the Palestinians, the East Timorese, the Chechens, or the countless peoples massacred in Africa over the last fifty years.

I wonder why? Oh, that's because they're committed to human rights and social justice.

People's persistent belief that there is a genuine difference between the two parties is symptomatic of a greater and fundamental
misunderstanding of the word "debate"itself. Americans wouldn't know a "debate" if one kicked them in the crotch. Shall we go to war in October or November? Shall we begin the war with elite ground forces or an aerial bombardment? Give me a break.

The American political process has always been about debate and choice, but only within incredibly narrow limits. The scope of American politics is like an increment of one-sixteenth of an inch on a ruler: one has to squint to make sure it exists.

I'm beginning to wonder if the definition of Democrat is "a cynical euphemism for Republican."

Can't you see, America? There is no opposition party at all; the only one I know of is currently being pacified by rubber bullets and stormtroopers.

[Matthew Riemer has written for years about a myriad of topics, such as: philosophy, religion, psychology, culture, and politics. He studied Russian language and culture for five years and traveled in the former Soviet Union in 1990. In the midst of a larger
autobiographical/cultural work, Matthew lives in the United States.]

posted 10-07-2002 06:59 AM            

I have no faith in democrats or republicans, only those who are sane.

posted 10-07-2002 07:20 AM            

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.

A protest raged on a courthouse lawn, Round a makeshift stage they charged on, Fifteen hundred or more they say, Had come to burn a Flag that day.

A boy held up the folded Flag, Cursed it, and called it a dirty rag. An OLD MAN pushed through the angry crowd, With a rusty shotgun shouldered proud.

His uniform jacket was old and tight, He had polished each button, shiny and bright. He crossed that stage with a soldier's grace, Until he and the boy stood face to face.

"FREEDOM OF SPEECH," the OLD MAN said, "Is worth dying for, good men are dead, So you can stand on this courthouse lawn, And talk us down from dusk to dawn, But before any Flag gets burned today, This OLD MAN IS GOING TO HAVE HIS SAY!

My father died on a foreign shore, In a war they said would end all war. But Tommy and I wasn't even full grown, Before we fought in a war of our own. And Tommy died on Iwo Jima's beach, In the shadow of a hill he couldn't quite reach, Where five good men raised this Flag so high, That the WHOLE WORLD COULD SEE IT FLY.

I got this bum leg that I still drag, Fighting for this same old Flag. Now there's but one shot in this old gun, So now it's time to decide which one, Which one of you will follow our lead, To stand and die for what you believe? For as sure as there is a rising sun, You'll burn in Hell 'fore this Flag burns, son"

Now this riot never came to pass The crowd got quiet and that can of gas, Got set aside as they walked away To talk about what they had heard this day. And the boy who had called it a "dirty rag," Handed the OLD SOLDIER the folded Flag.

So the battle of the Flag this day was won By a tired OLD SOLDIER with a rusty gun, Who for one last time, had to show to some, THIS FLAG MAY FADE, BUT THESE COLORS DON'T RUN.