4.05.2003
Okee Doke, I'm in a cyber cafe cuz I need to offer you this link from Seeing the Forest.
That Butler info, the Neiwert series on Fascism will compliment what you learn from todays wealth of links offered. See the structure and planning that has brought us to this sorry state of affairs. There is money behind our country's political steerage to the right. And all the influence that money brings. A few people with a lot of money have an undue influence on the course of American statecraft. One might say Democracy has been hijacked; I'll refer you to the FDR quotation a ways down the sidebar.
If you have the time, slip into Seeing the Forest's extensive links and info like a warm bath. There are links offered at each thing you link to, like a Russian egg opening to more and more and more, so delve deeply. Learn about the Mighty Wurlitzer. Learn about the extent of think tank influence on our political reality....
Just so you know I'm truly dedicated; I dreamed last night that I had to offer this link.
4/05/2003
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4.04.2003
Essential reading, had posted it under Dbya Dbya 3 yesterday, but am afraid it has gotten lost in the mix.
I offer this link yet again; David Neiwerts series about Fascism. You really need to read these articles. Forewarned is, well, forewarned.
Here is a fun way to learn about the many Dictators the US government has facilitated over the years. Here is some essential history folks. These leaders put US based corporate interests ahead of their people.
Please listen to this RealAudio piece on Smedley Butler. Eye Opening stuff. It really bears listening. It is from SOUNDPRINT
World War 1 hero Smedley Butler on war from the Federation of American Scientists website.
Smedley Butler was approached to led a Fascist coup on Washington. Corporate interests planned to finance him and use dissaffected veterans from World War 1 to be his "forces". The sort of thing that worked for Mussolini as well as Hitler and many Latin American countries. Financial depression, hypernationalism and corporate money, is the standard recipe. Now add in almost complete media control. This has me wondering as I see the country being financialy driven into the ground while fundamentalist religious sentiment and nationalism are joining the drumbeat of war to put domestic issues out of sight, out of mind. A disclaimer: the author of this footnoted article is Clayton Cramer. You may know him as a gun proponent that is rather controversial in his views and has been accused of bad history. Further disclaimer: I stand by the personal arms interpretation of the second ammendment. Perhaps a progressive intelligence and ethics test is in order though...
Read Jules Archer's book, The March On Washington.
Have you written your representatives about the Draconian Patriot act and Patriot II. Yup, repeated links. Here's why:General Yevgeni Primakov, former head of the KGB has been hired as a consultant by the US Department of Homeland Security.
The sidebar has a whole column of info sources, news to excellent blogs. I'll be away for a few days, make yourself to home. Tell me what you've found : ). As always, send me any source URL's you find useful.
4/04/2003
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4.03.2003
Pray for the President?
"No religious reading, instruction or exercise, shall be prescribed or practiced [in the elementary schools] inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination." -Thomas Jefferson: Elementary School Act, 1817.
The United States of America is not a Christian nation; don't believe the hate mongers that loudly proclaim it so, such as Pat Robertson. From the "get go" our nation has been a haven for those seeking religious freedom; our forefathers designed the Constitution with that in mind. It seems rather amazing to me that people forget this very simple history that we are taught as children. The Pilgrims left an England where Church and State were one, so as to be free to worship as their conscience dictate.
The Constitution is clear in the fact that our nation is has no Christian foundation. The first amendment seems to make that clear. I'd like to link to an article that is pretty comprehensive in its approach to the subject of religion and the founding of the United States. Thomas Jefferson interpreted the 1st Amendment in his famous letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in January 1, 1802:
"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
In reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom, one of Jefferson's crowning achievements, the religious tolerance of the day is highlighted:.
"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."
The Treaty of Tripoli was sent from the Secretary of State Timothy Pickering to President John Adams who set it for approval of the Senate where it was ratified and signed by President Adams. I'd like you to read Article 11:
"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
Here too one should note that the treaty was read aloud before being ratified and was published in three newspapers of the day. Also that it was one of only a few laws that up to that time had passed with a unanimous vote as this one had.
The founders of our great nation founded it on toleration:
I will never, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance, or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others. --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Dowse, April 19, 1803
"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?" --James Madison 1795
Now we have the likes of John Ashcroft covering the exposed breast of a statue of The Spirit of Justice in the Hall of Justice. We have a fellow in the White House that claimed Jesus Christ as his favorite philosopher and US troops are recieving pamphlets entitled "A Christians Duty" that go so far as to with suggest prayers:
...the pledge card includes prayers for Bush, his family, his staff and U.S. troops for each day of the week. Tuesday's suggested prayer is that the troops have courage and that "the president and his advisers will have the unified support of the American people as well as that of other countries around the world."
Enclosed with the pamphlet is a tear-out card "to be mailed to the White House pledging the soldier who sends it in has been praying for Bush"
The World Council of Churches, a fellowship of 342 Churches in 120 different countries has reasoned against the against the attacking of Iraq since well before the war's inception. The pope has spoken strongly against using war rather than diplomacy:
When God seems to be silent amid oppression, injustice and suffering, he still loves human beings and comes to their aid when invoked, says John Paul II.
"To discover, with the eyes of faith, this divine presence in space and time, but also in ourselves, is the source of hope and trust, even when our heart is troubled and shaken," the Pope said during today's general audience.
In the presence of several thousand pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope reflected on the canticle in Chapter 42 of the Book of Isaiah, which mentions the mysterious "silence of God," an experience of the believer in times of trial.
"The prophet makes us conscious of the fact that even when [God] seems to be silent before oppression, injustice or other forms of evil that touch man, he never ceases to love man and comes to his aid if man turns to him in trust," the Pope said in the summary he gave in Polish.
"It might seem to the believer, especially if he bears the weight of a painful experience, that God is silent," he added. "Even the great mystical saints experienced this state, which St. John of the Cross called the 'dark night of the soul.'"
"The prophet Isaiah teaches us that, whoever believes with confidence, despite everything, that God is near and acts, will survive the time of trial and will give thanks to God with joy for his constant love, which delivers from all evil," he said.
God's silence does not indicate "absence, almost as if leaving history in the hands of the perverse, while the Lord remains indifferent and impassible," the Holy Father said during the main address in Italian.
On Sunday the Pontiff said:
``Let us pray to (the Virgin) Mary for the victims of the current conflict. Let us pray to Mary, with both grief and trust, to intercede for peace in Iraq and in all the world's conflicts.''
What the Pope says contrasts deeply with the thoughts on the White House prayer request.
I was brought up Christian and have read the Bible numerous times, leaving me to agree with Tolstoy's judgement that a true Christian cannot fight in war. Read the Bible, what we are given as the words of the man held by the faithful to be God manifest in human form. Read the Beatitudes, my favorite part of the Bible. In the Older Testament, yup, lots of ass kicking. Some of Psalms is painful. But go to the words of the fellow the religion is named for and ostensibly based on and you get a view of Love, of Justice. Of community and sharing. "A rich man having a better chance of getting through the eye of a needle than into Heaven", the guy that said that. They call him the Prince of Peace, remember? So Christian chaplains blessing bombers is apostasy if one believes Jesus uttered the word of God. Sorry. Who would Jesus bomb?
Yeah, yeah, I know, the whole temple thing gets trotted out. Jesus was violent they say. Swinging a whip and turning tables over. If he was violent he could have set his people free. If you've read Christian scripture you'll remember that he pointed a a fig tree and made it whither. Zzzat, and it was done. Now the Romans... if Jesus was violent they'd have seen "Shock and Awe" alright. I'm no theologian but you just have to give the words attributed to him a chance.
Now enter the theologians. I'll include Paul because he was an interpreter of the "Word of God", Jesus Christ. I guess because he goes on about seeing Christ on the road to Damascus and all he is a channeler sort of guy. I am acquainted with a couple modern day channelers and they seem like nice enough folks. Very good...
The theologians intellectualize faith. Thanks to people interpreting the words of Jesus one got Christians that could live their civic life one way, their personal life another. This separation allowed them to say, work in a Nazi Death Camp and go to Church on Sunday.
Go figure.
Augustine was such a good thinker that he was called "Doctor of the Church" and sainted. I'm a brain damaged guy in New England and I interpret Christ's words simply: I read what they say. I see nothing in his actions or words that sanction war. I do see how a religious hierarchy would need to fight to remain in existence. Christianity as a state religion would require bloodshed. As a personal religion it is another story.
In reading "Nothing Sacred: Women respond to religious fundamentalism and terror" edited by Betsy Reed I found it striking that in a article by Leila Ahmed called "Gender and Literacy in Islam" she touches on something very similar. She notes that the Islam she learned from her Grandmother and Mother was a way of being "A way of holding oneself in the world- in relation to God, to existence, to other human beings." She noticed that she was taught a pacifist sort of Islam; much as I would imagine Christian adherents the first century after the crucifixion of Christ would have practiced a pacifistic version of what grew to be called Christianity. Her mother recited for her what was the essence of Islam "he who kills one being" nafs, self, from the root nafas, breath, "kills all humanity"
Ms Ahmed realized that the people who studied classical texts, usually males, got a sense of Islam that allowed violence while that people who gained their sense of Islam aurally, person to person, did not gain a dogmatic sense of their faith. Men would have dogma imparted to them on Fridays at the mosque, women would recite the suras themselves, self- interpreting what it means to be a Muslim.
Everyone should read the Koran, especially now. It is a book of great beauty. What sticks in my mind is " Allah, the Beneficent and Merciful sees all, do nothing that you'd be ashamed for him to see". Obviously, it has been years since my reading so the words give sense, an approximation of the thought I read. But I am conscious of the vision of a loving God that calls us fulfill our promise as humans with this gift of life he has afforded us.
Just as an aside, it seems really weird to me that as the Pope was asking people to fast and practice self denial for peace (starting the Lenten season) Mr Bush made a sacrifice; he quit eating candy. Mr Bush calls on our elected representatives to sacrifice America's future by giving tax cuts to the rich. He is calling on the men and woman of our armed forces to make the ultimate sacrifice. Meanwhile on the homefront he and his GOP buddies are cutting Veterans Benefits. Is that supporting our troops?
Prince Saud of Saudi Arabia has asked Saddam Hussein to take the high road and for his country, give up his leadership.
PRINCE SAUD: Well we have called on Mr. Hussein to - since he has
asked his people to sacrifice for the country - that he should be the first to sacrifice for his country. And his
if his staying in power the only thing that brings problems to his country, we expect that he would respond to a sacrifice for his country, as he requires any citizen there to
sacrifice for his country.
Saddam Hussein could save his people. Just like that. Bastard.
But what can one say about a leader that rushes to war, breaking international law...?
When you look at world leaders you just have to be thinking "What's this world coming to?"
Go figure...
Dbya Dbya 3
Saints preserve us.
Oh, an update on Coalition partners, up to 47. Along with Moroccan mine finding monkeys we have a medical ship, a sub and battleship. 2000 Australian Troops. 45,000 British troops. Be sure to take a look at the money involved...
4/03/2003
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4.02.2003
I've obviously messed up my template. Please bear with me...
Template squared away, I think; no time to post. Thank you for coming by though.
Peace
4/02/2003
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4.01.2003
What is Patriotism?
"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else." --Theodore Roosevelt
I had started this posting out with the quotation below, then saw the one above at Orcinus and smilingly lifted it. I have used my T. Roosevelt quote before; we need to be able to illustrate that it is the most American act possible to call our leaders to be honest and forthright in their exercise of government. Saddam Hussein's subjects must follow blindly. Americans are free to learn and act on their knowledge.
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country.
It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the
exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country." --President Theodore Roosevelt, 1908
What is patriotism, really? Some people believe that it is a sort of blind nationalism. You'll note that people are pretty polarized about the war and this issue-; typically when folks don't have intellectual footing the name calling starts. If the knee jerk patriots had their way a couple hundred years ago we would be saying " My country right or wrong, Great Britain"... Thinking is patriotic. Dissent is a foundation that America is built upon.
You are probably already aware of the Louisiana DJ, Richard Condon, who incited people to come out and heckle a small peace march. It is fortunate that no one was hurt:
Richard Condon, a morning show host for rock station KOOJ, said he wanted the hecklers to "put these goofballs in their place."
"This has been going on since World War I, and it's the reason they have the right to feel the way they do," Condon said, pointing at the peace protesters marching down Stanford toward LSU.
Despite that right, he concluded, "I think these son-of-a-buggers deserve a bullet in the head."
For information on how to let people at Condon's radio station and the FCC know how you feel about people who promote violence directed toward people that don't think like them here is a link to Counterspin Central that deals with this case (check for updates). You'll see that Condon has a history of giving voice to his hatred.
To write the FCC about this:
ATTN: Investigations and Hearings
445 12th St SW
Washington, DC 20554
I'm guessing that Mr Condon hasn't thought through the fact that what separates the US so far from places like Iraq is that we have the ability to speak our minds in public without fear of violence. We should work to make sure America stays that way; too many of our predecessors fought and died in World War 2 to insure what we think of as the "American Way" in the face of Fascism from abroad. We should honor their memories by keeping freedom alive in the face of creeping American fascism here at home.
I use the term "Fascism" advisedly.
Mussolini defined fascism thus:
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism since it is the merger of state and corporate power."
He also wrapped his mix in hyper-nationalism. His first followers were unemployed and disillusioned veterans, who he gave self respect and power through employment and uniforms, using money given by industry in Italy.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said:
"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling power. Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing."
(more anti-fascism quotes on my sidebar)
I want you to know that I use the term "Fascism" not as a catch phrase but because I see the symptom and factors that contribute to it's rise on the horizon. To see our nation engaging in pre-emptive aggression while taxes to the richest Americans are being cut, effectively draining the money for America's running and upkeep, has me concerned. No research into 9/11 has me concerned. Our losses of the basic freedoms that define us as Americans has me concerned.
David Neiwart has written a comprehensive study on the subject in 12 parts that will be on a pdf file soon; until then here is a link that will get you to all the articles. I recommend that you read and think about that that series says
I came across The New Patriotism Project which calls people to come together and foster dialogue to base action on that is in line with the principles of democracy and our Constitution. Here is a quotation from their Declaration of Public Responsibility:
We, the people, make this declaration: we need a stronger public life in America if we are to do the unfinished work of our nation and our communities.
Therefore, we seek a political climate in which vigorous and robust debates occur; in which our character is of genuine concern; and in which all people and all perspectives have a place at the public table.
To strengthen politics and public life, all of us must act political leaders, news media, and citizens. Each of us must assume a posture of ownership, demanding from ourselves and from others the conduct we believe is good and right.
Therefore, we, the undersigned, declare our intentions on this day, setting forth and embracing the following aspirations for how we will conduct ourselves in politics and public life in our community and throughout this land.
Stop on by, read the whole document it is not long, see if its focus resonates with your vision of a patriotic renewal. I'll admit that site looks a bit out of date, the last posting being a few months ago.
I need to let you know I know nothing about the people behind this site.
As The Harwood Institute continues to pursue the improvement of political conduct in America, we have dubbed the next phase of our efforts the New Patriotism Project. We do so for this reason: the word patriotism means to hold a love and devotion for one's country. We believe that such devotion is at the root of improved political conduct. To be truly devoted to something means that you hold such pride in it, that you work to improve it, even when you no longer like what it is, or what it has become. Patriotism flows from a sense of love of nation so deep that one is willing to search for what is good and right, especially when the path is hard.
The history of patriotism in America tells us that we have the ability to make things happen, but that patriotism cannot be exercised alone. For the derivative of the word patriot is compatriot, which means "fellow country people." The fact that such a derivative exists, and that it holds such meaning, should tell us something. It speaks to us. It suggests that we are in relationship with one another. The word citizen gives us the same insight. To have a compatriot -- to be a citizen -- means that you are engaged with someone else in a common enterprise.
We need to live up to the vision our forefathers had for the America they created all those years ago. Democracy is not a pursuit that can be realized in isolation, we need to work together to breathe life into this grand ideal.
The Bush Presidency has been marked by drastic changes in the American socio/political landscape. The corporate influence on/in our government is at is most powerful and blatant point in our history, especially the relationship of the Pentagon and corporations. Since 9/11 such drastic assaults on the Bill of Rights as the Patriot Act and Patriot II, as it is called are robbing us of the very freedoms for which we are bombing others to import to them. Religion is increasingly being brought to bear on statecraft to the point where declarations from Washington sound like very much like those of the fundamentalists our country opposes, just couched in culturally different theological terms.
What is your vision of America? What sort of nation will the generations following us inherit? One embroiled in endless war? Do you see that we need to educate ourselves and share what we know so people can have a factual foundation to base their reasoning about this war on; that the media is doing us a disservice in informing us impartially? If we work together we can reclaim America and help our nation to realize its promise.
Patriotism is inherent in the work required to honor the ideas of liberty, equality and justice that our forefathers framed the ongoing and evolving promise of Democracy in.
People say, what is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do. - Dorothy Day
4/01/2003
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Why would an individual hijacking a plane in Cuba want to go to the United States? Could it have anything to do with Mr Bush's support of other Cuban terrorists? Please read that last link which shows the documented support given to such figures as convicted anti- Cuban terrorist Orlando Bosch who blew up a passenger plane taking over 60 lives.
A March 20th report tells of a Cuban airliner being hijacked to the US by six knife wielding hijackers. You'll notice that Standard FAA Emergeny Operating procedure was followed in this case, a US fighter plane escorting/ intercepting the Cuban plane as soon as it got into US airspace; stark contrast to the lengh of time it took Air Force jets to scramble that horrific morning in September.
Finally, it seems, an official investigation into the September 11 tragedy is opening.
4/01/2003
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3.31.2003
Effective Democracy demands accurate information
Read what Heather Wokusch has to say about 'Psyops', known as Psychological Operations by us civilian citizens. Think about your news experiances lately, press briefings and all; filter them through this and 'the big lie' methods of indoctrination we have been talking about. Does the technique sound familiar?
Noam Chomsky speaks of Propaganda, American-style in this piece. As you think about how the news is presented to you and what you are told, the phrase "Manufacture of consent" may become the most apt descriptor for what the networks offer us between commercials- attempts to manufacture our consent- certainly more honest than the word "news". In a situation like our present one where the Government from the White House down is so firmly tied to corporate industry, as is the media, I'm not sure if these efforts at shaping our houghts should be termed propaganda or just PR. If showing images or descriptions of war that conflict with the nationalistic mythos we are fed is "unpatriotic" we are being sold something. If a report on war cannot reflect reality it is biased; those pitching it to us with an "unbiased" pose are lying.
Case in point: Peter Arnett was fired from National Geographic Explorer and MSNBC and NBC. Read this account from the SF Chronicle that is much more informative than that of the Washington Post.:
"It is clear that within the United States there is growing challenge to President Bush about the conduct of the war and also opposition to the war," Arnett said in the interview. "Our reports about civilian casualties here and about the resistance of the Iraqi forces are going back to the United States. It helps those who oppose the war and who challenge the policy to develop their arguments." And later: "The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance."
Sounds as biased peacewise as FOX seems pro-war...
Do you remember Arnett and the bombed Iraqi baby milk factory? It is still pertinent. Propaganda is really important to both sides in this war. I guess hat is always the case though...
This Seymour Hersh article seems to support what Arnett has said in the interview. Iraqi resistance has affected US war plans. And that Rumsfeld stuck to his position rather than listened to actual military folks while planning this attack.
I hope these soldiers are not courts-martialed for this report: "Some young marines have said in recent days that they do not expect any siege to begin for at least two weeks because of overstretched supply lines and Iraqi resistance."
From the same article: "The pressure in besieged Baghdad could become so great that it could be a bloodbath, not just our bloodbath," says Corgan. "Internal strife, even if it brought heavy casualties, could offer US officials a useful denial that they were responsible. It could also bring about the fall of the regime."
Read "The Good the Bad and the Propaganda", taken from from Haaretz.
Is this unjust war just an entre` into global hegemony through control of oil? Give "Practice to Deceive" 'Chaos in the Middle East is not the Bush hawks' nightmare scenario--it's their plan." By Joshua Micah Marshall a read.
In a Democracy should an Administration have so many secrets?
I'll be digging into the free anti-war mp3's offered by Protest Records, brought to you by Sonic Youth. To give you an idea of my age I had Sonic Youth's first few albums. Vinyl I mean. The things with the cool see-able size covers...
3/31/2003
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Are you aware of "Free Republic" a website quite popular among rabid right wing folks? I'll admit, I had to ask a bud what a "Freeper" is (a term I had seen on occasion but always undefined) to become aware of these sincerely misguided people; going to the website and exploring the forums offered there you'll get a sense of their general point of view.
I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny.
--John Stuart Mill, letter to the Conservative MP, Sir John Pakington (March, 1866)
Learn a bit about "FReeping", internet polls and media effects on public opinion.
So, if you find yourself with some time on your hands, head on over to the Free Republic poll jamming page and vote; think of it as sounding a bell for Democracy. To get an idea on how this one web presence and its concentrated influence may effect public opinion you'll note that TV Guide (one of the widest circulated magazines), MSNBC, The Seattle Times and British Sky News are targeted. A poll at The Veterans Against Iraq War website is even targeted.
Those hopelessly unrealistic poll results you've been hearing and shaking your head about; they might just be the result of this groups organizing.
3/31/2003
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3.30.2003
From our friend skippy the bush kangaroo I got a heads up on this poll asking if you would vote for Mr Bush. Actually it asks if you would "re-elect" him, which would be tough to do unless you were a Supreme Court Judge...
Please go there and vote...
3/30/2003
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"Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave."
--Frederick Douglass,
"The Iraqi people understand what this crisis is about. Like the people of France in the 1940s, they view us as their hoped-for liberator," said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz.
So it looks like Mr Rumsfeld, set on proving that he Perle, Wolfowitz and company are correct about the "cakewalk through Iraq" notion that they used to sell this war,did not see that our troops were supplied sufficiently: "The officers said that it lacked everything: beans, bullets and Band-Aids."
But as elected President Harry Truman said "The buck stops here" - George Bush, as Commander In Chief holds full responsibility for the sensible and responsible deployment and maintainence of our troops. Fred Barnes spoke a bit soon about Mr Bush's untrained flair for prosecuting illegal war:
WHEN PRESIDENT BUSH set aside the Pentagon's strategy for war with Iraq and ordered an attack on Saddam Hussein and his inner circle, it created shock and awe in the media and perhaps in a few offices of Bush's own administration. It shouldn't have. The president behaved, without much ado, as a commander in chief who intends to make the major war decisions himself and not reflexively defer to the expertise of military brass. Bush relied on his own judgment and instincts--and thus acted in the best tradition of wartime leadership.
Bush has wisely read and imbibed the advice of military strategist Eliot Cohen in "Supreme Command," a study of successful wartime leaders from Lincoln to Churchill. The common thread among those leaders was their insistence on taking charge, personally and aggressively, and not leaving decisions to the military. More often than not, the generals tended to be cautious in the extreme, more inclined to husband the forces under their command than commit them to battle. The most successful leaders--Lincoln, for example--overrode them.
Stop by "Impeach Bush Now" on the sidebar...
Please read this thought provoking article by Thom Hartmann, 'When democracy failed: The warnings of history'. I'll do no name calling, just a bit of pointing out the obvious, letting history speak for itself. Do Hitler's methods of governance sound familiar?
Speaking of World War 2, one might think Tony Blair of all people would realize how a nation will react after being exposed to the airborne terror of missile attacks. Can British folks already have forgotten the blitz?
A niece of Osama Bin Laden is going to put out a pop music album. What are next generation of Bush's up to? I suppose you could ask a policeman.
3/30/2003
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That missile that just missed the Mall in Kuwait... one of ours. (NY Times quote)
Witnesses who gathered shortly after the explosion at 1:45 a.m. local time could see a twisted piece of metal on the esplanade near the shoreline about the size of a wastebasket and bearing the number "5420" in red. The words "place" and "protractor" could also be made out on a shard. Emergency workers put fragments into bags that they took away for analysis.
..."It was an American cruise missile, we know from the markings and writing on it," said a Kuwaiti police colonel who did not give his name. "It doesn't go up, it comes in low from the sea, and that's why there was no alert."
Another uniformed Kuwaiti official said that he, too, believed the missile to have been American and said that it "came from the sea." He then added that "it was a mistake" that it had struck Kuwait.
Unidentified US officials said it was a Chinese Silkworm missile. Pretty crafty to write on the missile in english, don't you think?
Another million dollar missile crashed in Turkey. Lucky they haven't been exploding. Some have also landed in Saudi Arabia. Neither country will allow cruise missiles to fly through their airspace anymore.
I imagine it was a cheaper 'dumb missiles' that hit a bus full of Syrian civilians in one incident and Jordanian students another.
Speaking of stupid...
Gayle Norton pushing to drill in ANWR? OH, I forgot, in Republican administrations the Secretary of the Interior advocates for business, not the American people.
3/30/2003
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