posted 04-20-2004 08:19 PM            

Here’s what the first President Bush wrote about that in his memoirs:

“Trying to eliminate Saddam would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible.
We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. There was no viable exit strategy we could see, violating another
of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world.
Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international
response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an
occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.”

My brothers and sisters, it is just too darn bad his son can’t read!

I’ve been severely criticized for speaking out in opposition to this war. So have you, probably. We’re told that we’re aiding and abetting
the enemy. We’re told that we should support the president no matter what. We’re told that patriotism demands that we support the war.
They say that we’re abusing the freedoms that our troops are in the Middle East defending. They say we should be ashamed to be
protesting while the troops are in the desert protecting our right to do so.

Well I say, Hogwash!

I feel an affinity for the troops over there in Iraq. They are my comrades in arms. I admire their sense of honor and sacrifice. I understand
why some of them believe they should be there. They have neither the experience nor the wisdom to see past the lies they have been told.
The truth is, they are not over there protecting our freedoms. Our freedoms are not under attack from Saddam Hussein or the remnants
of his Baathist party. Our freedoms are under attack by John Ashcroft. They are threatened by John Poindexter. They are trampled by
Donald Rumsfeld. They are disdained by Dick Cheney. And they are not even understood by George W. Bush. The battle to preserve
our freedoms is not taking place in Baghdad and Tikrit. It is taking place in Central Park in New York City, in Lafayette Park in
Washington DC, in Ghirardelli Park in San Francisco, and in River Front Park in Melbourne, Florida. The front lines go right down
US 1 and up New Haven Avenue.

It is we, here at home, who are the foot soldiers battling to preserve our cherished freedoms by exercising them, in spite of opposition
and ridicule. It is we who protect our civil rights through speaking out. We are the Minutemen sounding the alarm against tyranny. We are
upholding the spirit of the American Revolution. We are preserving the freedoms that the troops in the desert have a right to come back to.
The troops getting shot at in Iraq are not protecting us. We are protecting them, and their honor and their freedoms. We have just completed
a forced march through hostile territory to defend their freedoms and ours, and the ideals America was founded on. We are protecting this
nation by speaking truth to power. Let us do it loudly and fearlessly and courageously and joyfully, for we are the true patriots!

Here is the truth that we proclaim. This war has nothing to do with national security or freedom or democracy or human rights or protecting
our allies or weapons of mass destruction or defeating terrorism or disarming Iraq. It has to do with money. It has to do with oil. And it has
to do with raw imperial power. It is based on a pack of lies. And it is wrong. Those who forced this war on an unwilling world are guilty of
flagrantly violating the U.S. Constitution, the UN Charter, and international law. What they have done is illegal, immoral, unconstitutional
and TREASON.

It’s been said that somewhere in Texas there is a village looking for their idiot. Now that may be funny, but it misses the point. George W. Bush
is not an imbecile. He is a TRAITOR.

Before this war started, we knew it would fracture NATO, split the United Nations, separate us from our allies, and destroy the great nation
we inherited from our fathers who died in World War II. And it has. We knew it would make our beloved country feared and hated, an
outcast from the world community, a pariah among the peoples, and the number one rogue nation on earth. And it has. It has done so based
on a pack of lies. My sisters and brothers, that is not stupidity. That is TREASON.

We knew this sadistic corporate war would incense the Arab world, provide thousands of new Osama bin Ladens, and enormously increase
the terrorist threat. And it has. We knew it would further endanger the American people and destroy our national security. And it has.
That is not stupidity, it is TREASON.

The cabal of neoconservatives at PNAC who planned this war (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby, Perle, Jeb Bush) even before W
became president, knew the American people would not stand for it unless there was a new Pearl Harbor. 9/11 supplied that. Our government
was warned. They were warned by the Clinton Administration. They were warned by 11 other countries. And they were specifically warned
by an FBI agent that one of them was planning on flying a hijacked airliner into the World Trade Center.

They not only ignored the warnings, they made sure no fighter jets were scrambled to stop it. If they had just done nothing, and allowed normal
procedures to be followed, the Twin Towers would still be standing and thousands of dead Americans would still be alive. This is not stupidity,
it is TREASON.

As a combat veteran, I will not stand idly by and watch our security destroyed by a president who went AWOL rather than fight in Vietnam.
Honor requires that I call this by its right name. It is TREASON.

As one who has devoted his life to the security of this country, I will not stand by and watch an appointed president send our sons and daughters
around the world to kill Arabs for the oil companies without calling it by its right name. It is TREASON.

I joined the Air Force to protect our borders and our people, not the financial interests of Folgers, Chiquita Banana, and Exxon. We’ve had
enough corporate wars. No more Iraqs. No more El Salvadors. No more Kosovos. No more Colombias. These are not isolated incidents
of stupidity. They are part of a long, bloody history of foreign policy being conducted for the financial benefit of the wealthy few. It is a new
colonialism. It violates our Constitution. It endangers our people. And it is TREASON.

As a pilot who flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam, I can tell you that the best thing our government can do for its combat veterans is to
quit making more of them. Peace is patriotic; a preemptive war is immoral, illegal, unconstitutional, a war crime, and TREASON. I swore to
uphold the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. That includes a renegade president. Wake up, America!
It is time for George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the whole oil mafia to be removed from office and indicted for TREASON.

We are the people. We are sovereign. We are the patriots. The whole world is with us. Never allow anyone to intimidate you into silence.
Wake up, America! It’s time to speak truth to power. God bless America, and God save us from the traitors in our government.
Dr. Robert Bowman was a Col. in the USAF and Chief of Technology Assessment under President Jimmy Carter and is a Catholic Bishop
of The Apostolic Society of Franciscan Communities. email: isss@rmbowman.com, web site: www.rmbowman.com. He has been President
of the Institute for Space and Security Studies since 1982. Before that he was Vice-President of Space Communications Company; Manager,
Advanced Space Programs for General Dynamics; and Director, Advanced Space Programs Development for DoD, directing the
“Star Wars” programs.

from bartcop.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

posted 04-20-2004 08:59 PM            

We are the people. We are sovereign. We are the patriots. The whole world is with us. Never allow anyone to intimidate you into silence.

posted 04-21-2004 11:35 AM            

I hear truth!

I hear justice!

I feel patriotic blood rushing through my veins!

NOW! WHAT THE HECK DO WE DO?

WE KNOW THE PROBLEM NOW WHAT'S THE SOLUTION???????

posted 04-21-2004 11:39 AM            

The situation in Iraq continues to get worse, and unfortunately leaders of both political parties do not seem to know any way out and they are guiding us towards a path of sending in more troops, which will inevitably prolong the war, and put us in a situation where we are going to have more casualties on both sides, and a greater cost to the American taxpayers and an alienation further from the nations of the world.

Your help has enabled me to bring a message that war is not inevitable and that peace is inevitable if we are willing to work for a new plan which will enable us to go to the United Nations and bring in U.N. Peacekeepers and bring our troops home. As you know, now we've been talking about this plan for six months. And as you know, with your help, I've been able to stay in this presidential campaign to continue to talk about the need for peaceful resolutions of the conditions in Iraq.

Now more than ever your help is needed to help us keep this message going. Now more than ever I need your financial assistance to make sure that we can carry this message not only through the platform committee process, but through to the convention so that our Democratic party can offer the American people a real alternative. It really isn't fair to the American people that they have to choose between a Democratic version of Iraq and a Republican version of the war in Iraq.

Yet our campaign gives the people some hope that there are alternatives. That we can go to the U.N. and ask the U.N. to handle the oil assets of Iraq on behalf of the Iraqi people until the Iraqi people are self-governing. The same with the contracts. That we tell the world community the United States is no longer interested in the privatization of Iraq. That we ask the U.N. for help in scheduling elections and drafting a constitution for Iraq. That we help to pay for what we destroyed, that we pay reparations to families of innocent victims and noncombatants who lost their lives in the conflict, and that we help fund a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

It's not inevitable that we stay in Iraq. And it's not necessary for our troops to have the bear the responsibility for stabilizing Iraq. You know and I know that the U.S. invasion created the instability in Iraq. That the U.S. invasion created a situation where the war is deepening, and that only when we get our troops home is there going to be any hope of bringing about a resolution provided of course that we can come to and agreement with the U.N. for a new peace plan. And that's exactly what I've offered.

This is the moment when we get a chance to consciously choose a new direction for our nation. Your support for this campaign has made it possible for us to get this far. But I can't take another step without your help. I need your help to keep funding our effort. I need you to go right now to our website at kucinich.us and send another contribution so that in the next weeks and months so that we can keep this message alive inside the Democratic Party.

We have to have the Democratic Party stand for peace. We can't tell the American people that they're going to be asked to choose between a Republican version of the war in Iraq and a Democratic version of the same. So your help is going to be so important in helping to send this campaign in a direction where we can enable the Democratic Party to stand for something. To stand for a new hope. To stand for a new way to stand for a course of action which will bring our troops home.

As we speak, 10,000 miles away, there are men and women who serve this country who wonder if their leaders are going to be able to come up with a solution so that they can come home and be with their families. As we speak, there is bloodshed in the streets of Iraq and people are wondering if there is any way out of this plight that seems to afflict this country without end.

And yet, we have it within our hands to take a new direction. We have it within our hearts to cause the American dream to be opened up to people in this country when we start focusing the resource of this country on rebuilding the American way of life, instead of using our military might to try to force people to accept conditions which are basically foreign to them.

This is the time that we get an opportunity to say what we stand for. Please stand with me as I continue to carry the challenge forward. The challenge that America must walk the way of peace. The challenge of a Democratic Party must offer true peaceful alternatives. A challenge that as we prepare for a November election that our people can be given a real choice. And that when the choosing is complete, that they will have chosen peace, that they will have chosen reconnecting with the world community.

With your help this is possible. I look forward to continuing to work for you and with you in the weeks and the months ahead, as we prepare America to take a new course of action which will bring peace not only with Iraq, but will enable us to reconnect with the world community in the hopes of creating peaceful tomorrows. Thank you very much.

Dennis Kucinich

======
Contribute by calling 866-413-3664 or online at https://www.kucinich.us/contribute.php or by sending your check to the address shown at the bottom of this page.

posted 04-21-2004 11:44 AM            

WE KNOW THE PROBLEM NOW WHAT'S THE SOLUTION???????"

posted 04-21-2004 02:22 PM            

We know the Dems support the drug business like the Repubs! We know Kerry supports troops in Iraq like Bush.

Dennis seems to have a plan on changing this troop situation.

Will it work? is the question.

posted 04-21-2004 03:57 PM            

You have a Republican majority in both houses! How do you plan on accomplishing this?

posted 04-21-2004 05:06 PM            

Anyway, back to the subject! Writing my Senators won't help! Sorry!

There is a website "impeach bush" and I think I'll visit and see what's up with them!

posted 04-21-2004 08:27 PM            

You're right, part of it is discussing here on boards!

The other part is active in the community, active in supporting candidates for change whatever party that opposes corporate owned and operated wars! Why should our young die for the profits of corporations?

TREASON!

W.'s Second Term: If you think the first is bad ...

By Robert B. Reich
Issue Date: 04.01.04

Musings about a second Bush term typically assume another four years of the same right-wing policies we've had to date. But it'd likely be far worse. So far, the Bush administration has had to govern with the expectation of facing American voters again in 2004. But suppose George W. Bush wins a second term. The constraint of a re-election contest will be gone. Knowing that voters can no longer turn them out, and that this will be their last shot at remaking America, the radical conservatives will be unleashed.

A friend who specializes in foreign policy and hobnobs with subcabinet officials in the Defense and State departments told me that the only thing that's stopped the Bushies from storming into Iran and North Korea is the upcoming election. If Bush is re-elected, "[Dick] Cheney and [Donald] Rumsfeld are out of the box," he said. "They'll take Bush's re-election as a mandate to wage the 'war on terror' everywhere and anywhere."

The second term's defense team will be even harder line than the current one. Colin Powell will go. Condoleezza Rice will take over at the State Department. Rumsfeld will consolidate power as the president's national-security adviser. Paul Wolfowitz will run the Defense Department.

Domestic policy will swing further right. A re-election would strengthen the White House's hand on issues that even many congressional Republicans have a hard time accepting, such as the assault on civil liberties. Bush will seek to push "Patriot II" through Congress, giving the Justice Department and the FBI powers to inspect mail, eavesdrop on phone conversations and e-mail, and examine personal medical records, insurance claims, and bank accounts.

Right-wing evangelicals will solidify their control over the departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services -- curtailing abortions, putting federal funds into the hands of private religious groups, pushing prayer in the public schools, and promoting creationism.

Economic policy, meanwhile, will be tilted even more brazenly toward the rich. Republican strategist Grover Norquist smugly predicts larger tax benefits for high earners in a second Bush administration. The goal will be to eliminate all taxes on capital gains, dividends, and other forms of unearned income and move toward a "flat tax." The plan will be for deficits to continue to balloon until Wall Street demands large spending cuts as a condition for holding down long-term interest rates. Homeowners, facing potential losses on their major nest eggs as mortgage rates move upward, might be persuaded to join the chorus.

In consequence, Bush will slash all domestic spending outside of defense. He will also argue that Social Security cannot be maintained in its present form, and will push for legislation to transform it into private accounts. Meanwhile, the few shards of regulation still protecting the environment and the safety of American workers will be eliminated.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will surely step down from the Supreme Court, possibly joined by at least one other jurist, opening the way for the White House to nominate a series of right-wing justices, a list that could easily include Charles Pickering Sr. and William Pryor Jr. After Chief Justice William Rehnquist resigns, Bush may well nominate Antonin Scalia for the top slot -- opening the way for Scalia and Clarence Thomas to dominate the Court. Such a court will curtail abortion rights, whittle down the Fourth and Fifth amendments, end all affirmative action, and eliminate much of what's left of the barrier between church and state.

Karl Rove and Tom DeLay, meanwhile, will have four more years to fulfill their goal of transforming American democracy into a one-party state. Congressional redistricting across the nation will make Texas' recent antics seem a model of democratic deliberation. Automated voting machines will be easily rigged, with no paper trails to document abuses. Changes in campaign-finance laws will permit larger "hard money" donations by corporate executives and federal contractors who have benefited by Republican policies.

Finally, the Federal Communications Commission will allow three or four giant media empires -- all tightly connected to the Republican Party -- to consolidate their ownership over all television and radio broadcasting.

Nothing is more dangerous to a republic than fanatics unconstrained by democratic politics. Yet in a second term of this administration, that's exactly what we'll have.

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=7507

posted 04-21-2004 08:39 PM            

Al Franken told a story the other night about how he met Barbara Bush on an airline flight. He tried to be humorous and mannerly with her, but she rejected him outright (having never met him before) and refused to converse with him! What a "B!" She knew he was a liberal and had written books satirizing her precious sonny boy and she was about as gracious as a mother hippo stranded on land!