Death of a Civilization, Welcome 21st Century American Slave
Keyser Soaze | 31.07.2004 02:54 | Analysis | Repression | Social Struggles | World
The death of civility and decency in the U.S. and the reconditioning of the minds of the American people.
The transformation began four long years ago with the now infamous U.S. “election” ushering in a new era. In what emerged, never before seen in the annals of American history, has positioned a once proud nation as a near pariah in the global community. Hailed by some as a new beginning for West, the change unleashed near hell on earth for not only many Americans, but also the international community at large. Spreading a institutionalized policy of reckless imperialism, it spawned the dawning of an age of paranoia and internal terror on the American populace. Wakeup and welcome to AmeriKKa 2004, civility has left the building.
On the edge of a precipice, the country lost it’ way beginning with the assumption of power by a cloaked regime, corporate CEOs running away with employee’ lifeblood, to children being missing, and dying under the supervision of foster care agencies; America has morphed into a nation of excuse mongers. Yes, the attack on America did begin four years ago, and not just from the fanatics outside, but the imperialistic cult from within her borders. A society obsessed with disposable everything, is it no wonder that concept has been welcomed by that regime. During this period we have witnessed the devaluation of people from both the regime and big business, a practice embraced by every government agency and shouted from the ivory white towers by CEOs as the new corporate mantra. People are as discard able as fast food. How did you not see this coming 21st century American slave? You wonder where your jobs have gone, you scream about civil rights, you weep at your husbands, sons, fathers and daughters shipped home in body bags, but where was your moral indignation four years ago when a nefarious cabal seized control.
Who’s investing in the American common man? Where is your 87 billion handout? How do you take from those with the least to give, everyone’s getting paid except the ones sacrificing the most, the average man, the backbone of the real America. What is the character of a man who suggests people work without fair compensation? What is the professional decorum of a man masquerading as a statesman before the world but the allows the words “he tried to kill my daddy” fall free from his lips. Where is Christianity in a man who seeks to silence his critics? There is no fear in the truth, for the truth is an open book, without ambiguity. The truth simply IS. So what kind of man finds the truth so disturbing that he cannot answer questions under oath without an interpreter. Tell us America where is God in a man who is never wrong?
From the numerous exaggerations, to the Enron Chronicles, the Haliburton affair, and Abu Ghraib what more do you need? Many Americans are afraid to speak out for fear of rogue “officials” from secret security details rounding them up like the Texas legislators who were searched for by state troopers in an attempt to return them to vote in an attempted redistricting plan in Texas, or the Detroit U.S. Attorney who, after complaining of interference in a terrorist prosecution case, came under “investigation”
Dems: GOP Had Feds Join Texas Posse
May 15, 2003
(CBS) The case of the fugitive Texas House Democrats has taken a bizarre twist with political accusations that U.S House Majority Leader Tom Delay, R-Texas, misused federal power in a failed attempt to track down the lawmakers.
CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr reports the charges are coming from Democrats on Capitol Hill, who say Homeland Security resources were used to search for an airplane belonging to the leader of the Texas Democrats, former speaker Pete Laney.
Homeland officials in a statement released Thursday, say they were asked Monday afternoon to look for the plane. The request came from a Texas Department of Public Safety officer who said, "We got a problem. We had a plane. It had state representatives in it and we cannot find this plane."
Under the impression they were looking for a missing or crashed airplane, a Customs control center in California mounted a search. Federal officials never did locate the plane.
Texas Dems Still On The Lam
ARDMORE, Okla., May 14, 2003
(CBS) Nearly 300 miles from the Texas Capitol, 51 House Democrats are whiling away their days at an Oklahoma Holiday Inn, chatting on cell phones by the pool, snacking at Denny's and caucusing in a conference room.
Their escape from Austin to Ardmore, Okla., has halted the legislative session, leaving their Republican colleagues with little to do but engage in paper-wad fights and design "wanted" posters and playing cards with the missing lawmakers' pictures.
Most House Democrats secretly left the state Sunday night to prevent Republicans from pushing through a bill that would redraw boundaries for U.S. congressional districts that were already adjusted once after the 2000 census.
"You get to a point where you draw a line in the sand and make a stand on principle," said Democratic state Rep. Pete Gallego. "We've reached our limit."
The standoff compelled the speaker to adjourn the House on Wednesday so Republicans could do committee work. Democrats say they won't be back until Friday, by which time the redistricting bill will die unless two-thirds of the House approves it.
The Democrats fled Texas to avoid the reach of state troopers, who had been told to round them until that order was rescinded Tuesday night. House rules allow for the arrest of members who intentionally thwart a quorum — which requires at least 100 of the body's 150 members to be present.
Tuesday: February 17, 2004
Prosecutor Sues Ashcroft Over Detroit Terror Case
Federal prosecutor James Convertino has filed a whistleblower suit against Attorney General John Ashcroft claiming mismanagement of the Detroit terror trial.
A federal prosecutor in a major terrorism case in Detroit has taken the rare step of suing Attorney General John Ashcroft, alleging the Justice Department interfered with the case, compromised a confidential informant and exaggerated results in the war on terrorism.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino of Detroit accused the Justice Department of "gross mismanagement" of the war on terrorism in a whistleblower lawsuit filed late Friday in federal court in Washington.
Monday, June 21, 2004
Terrorism attorneys may testify
Detroit defense team is interviewed by FBI, told they could be government witnesses
By David Shepardson / The Detroit News
DETROIT — FBI agents investigating the former lead prosecutor in the 2003 Detroit terrorism trial have interviewed all of the defense attorneys in the case, telling some they could be government witnesses at a possible trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard G. Convertino is the subject of a 2 1/2-month-old criminal investigation by the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section stemming from a court-ordered review of all documents in the terror trial.
There is a price to paid for disobedient Americans resisting the majority in power. This is how the change began in pre-Nazi Germany, the wave of obsessive nationalism, the fanatical support for the leader, the suppression of dissent and free speech, intimidation tactics by law agencies, and finally the attacks on other sovereign nations. See “When Democracy Failed”, by Thomas Hartmann
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0316-08.htm.
Boston Drops Bogus Bomb Charge Against Protester
On May 26, Joe Previtera decided to publicly protest the torture of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers. The twenty-one-year-old Boston College student and a few members of his anti-war affinity group went down to the military recruitment office on Tremont Street near the Boston Commons.
Outside the Armed Forces Career Center, on the sidewalk, he stood on a milk crate. He wore a black shawl and placed a black hood over his head. And he attached stereo wires to his fingers, imitating the now-notorious picture of the Abu Ghraib prisoner.
At first, the reaction was mild. "Some people were walking by thanking us," he recalls. "A group of men working next door said I should be there every day. Someone else came by and said, 'Disgusting.' "
One man from the recruiting center wasn't too happy, either. "He put his hand on my shoulder to get me off" the crate, but Previtera stayed on, he says.
After about forty-five minutes, the police showed up.
"One of the police officers called me a sissy because I was putting my arms down, and he said if I was like the guy in the real picture I should keep my arms out," Previtera says.
Then one of Previtera's fellow protesters warned him that the police were beginning to get aggressive.
"I stepped down from the milk crate and took my hood off," Previtera says. "There were four policemen right in front of me. I tried to walk away. They said, 'You can't go anywhere.' They said I had to wait because the bomb squad was coming."
To say the least, Previtera was not expecting this.
"I couldn't believe it," he says. "I just stood there in shock."
The police proceeded to arrest him.
"I asked them for what. And they said they would tell me down at the precinct," he says. "It was surreal."
Down at the precinct station, "eventually, they fingerprinted me and booked me," he says. "I was booked on disturbing the peace and making a false report of a location of explosives. And when I was in my cell I found out they added a third charge about a hoax device."
The police alleged that the stereo wires dangling from his fingers constituted a bomb threat.
"The Boston Police Department made a judgment that he was committing certain crimes and arrested him for disturbing the peace, making a false bomb threat, and possession of a hoax device," says David Procopio, press secretary for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.
Previtera was held overnight.
"The police woke me in the middle of the night and showed me pictures of U.S. soldiers with smiling Iraqi children," says Previtera. "The officers told me these were pictures that I'd never see in the media, and that the Boston Globe and The New York Times were communist papers."
June 26, 2004
Police Raid "Upside Down Flag House"
Last semester, a house in Tucson where several anarchist students from the University of Arizona lived became know as the upside down flag house.
And not without reason.
"They draped large flags, five or six feet wide, upside down from the roof of the house," says Jeff Davis, who says he is good friends with the people who used to live there. On May 28, the police descended on the house with as many as twenty squad cars and a helicopter, Davis says. They arrested seven people there.
May 11, 2004
An "FUGW" Sign Can Get You Arrested
When peace activist Frank Van Den Bosch heard that George Bush was coming through Platteville, Wisconsin, on May 7, he knew he wanted to be there to protest.
Van Den Bosch lives only thirty miles to the north, and he and his wife had helped set up a group called Students for Peace and Justice when she was at UW-Platteville a few years back, he says.
Van Den Bosch considered what to write on his poster. "I couldn't think of any one particular issue I wanted to address, and I was so completely saddened and angered by what was happening that the most concise statement I could come up with was FUGW."
When Van Den Bosch arrived at the protest, he joined a group of about twenty others. But soon his sign drew attention.
"An officer came over and said, 'You can't display your sign,' Van Den Bosch recalls. "She said she had checked with the Secret Service, and they didn't like the sign.
"And I said, 'Well, that's their problem.' "
But Van Den Bosch did agree to modify the sign. Under the F, he wrote in smaller letters "ree" to spell "Free," and under the U, he wrote "s" to spell "Us."
"But they weren't satisfied with that," he says. "A sergeant came over and tried to take the sign away from me, it, but I rolled it up and stood in the back a bit."
When Van Den Bosch saw the Bush-Cheney buses coming, he wanted to display his sign again.
" I unrolled my sign and stood there," says Van Den Bosch, "and then they came over and grabbed the sign and said, 'We told you couldn't show that sign.' They walked me over in front of a frat house where a bunch of guys had been harassing us, and they handcuffed me there to the cheering of the guys. Then they put me in an unmarked car and drove me into town, fingerprinted me and photographed me, and gave me a ticket for disorderly conduct."
Van Den Bosch has a court date of May 17.
Lieutenant Tom Schmid of the Platteville Police Department gives a slightly different account of what happened.
"We had a person complain about the sign, and we went down and asked the gentleman not to show the sign because there were kids in the area and it didn't seem appropriate," Lieutenant Schmid says. "Later on, he showed the sign again, and we went down and arrested him and charged him with disorderly conduct."
Why does holding such a sign constitute disorderly conduct? "It seemed to annoy and disturb others," says Lieutenant Schmid, "and when you have conduct that tends to annoy or disturb others, that's disorderly conduct."
Sergeant Michelle Hechel, who spoke with Van Den Bosch at the protest, denies that she mentioned the Secret Service or that the Secret Service had anything to do with the incident.
"He had a sign," she says. "It was offensive. And we asked him to not show it."
As to whether he has the right to display an offensive sign, Sergeant Hechel says, " Once it starts offending other people, which it did in that area, he was asked to not display that. It was not appropriate. We said he could use a different sign, but he chose not to."
Van Den Bosch is fighting the charge, which he says shows "the fangs and teeth of the state. The chilling part is they knew they were violating my civil rights. Any eighth grade civics class will teach you that you have the right to express yourself."
--Matthew Rothschild
Addendum: Nothing happened in this case on May 17. The plea hearing is now set for May 27, according to Frank Van Den Bosch's attorney, Andrea Baker.
Addendum #2, June 11, 2004
The case against Frank Van Den Bosch was dismissed on May 27.
On June 8, Van Den Bosch's attorney, Andrea Baker, filed a civil complaint against Platteville Police Chief Earl Hernandez, five other police officers, and one fire fighter.
“Mr. Van Den Bosch's rights were violated," says Baker.
March 15, 2004
Army Apologizes for Spying on Law School Conference
When Sahar Aziz, a third-year law student at the University of Texas Law School in Austin, organized a campus conference February 4 on "Islam and the Law: A Question of Sexism," she didn't expect any trouble.
"It was nothing out of the ordinary for a law school conference," she says. "It was an academic conference discussing the sociological, political, historical, and legal perspectives."
The press release announcing the event was hardly eye opening. "This conference addresses a variety of issues where Muslim women's rights in Islam facially appear to be compromised by Islamic Law," it said. "This interdisciplinary conference aims to discuss and analyze these issues in a balanced manner. . . . The objective is to reveal the complexity of Islamic Law through the different scholarly interpretations on the same subject matter. In contrast, the conference is not meant to support a certain interpretation or school of thought, nor to be a venue for religious propaganda."
But for some reason, the conference caught the eye of two Army lawyers based at Fort Hood, Texas, who attended the conference.
"We didn't know there was any Army personnel there," says Aziz. "No one was in uniform. There was no one who identified themselves as being with the Army. The optimist view is they were there to learn. The pessimistic view is they were there to spy. We don't know."
The Army takes the optimistic view. The Army lawyers attended the conference to "help prepare them for their assignments in Southwest Asia, where they will deal with legal issues between the American Forces and the largely Muslim populace," says a March 12 press release from the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command.
At the conference, the Army lawyers took a grilling from at least one person attending the conference. They "were persistently questioned about their identity, occupation, and status by a man who appeared to be attending the conference with two associates," the press release says. "The tone and repetition of the questions made the army lawyers suspicious. They subsequently reported the matter to local military intelligence officials."
That's when things got even messier.
"On February 9, two U.S. Army counterintelligence special agents went to the law school to request a roster of attendees in an attempt to identify the suspicious individual and his two associates," the press release states.
One of the agents was Jason Treesh, Special Agent, Army Intelligence.
"He was looking for me," says Aziz, who has Treesh's card, which he left in her box at the law school. "He knew I was the main organizer. He basically went from office to office asking where I was."
Friends contacted her, she says, telling her: "Someone is looking for you, and you should be careful."
"I was freaking out," Aziz recalls. "I was very stressed, thinking, 'Oh, my God, I can't believe this! You kind of wrack your brain and wonder how the conference might have ignited such scrutiny."
Other law students were also rattled, she says. "People were intimidated, to say the least," she recalls. "He was not in uniform, but he was flashing his badge around and looking for a roster and a video recording." He never received either, Aziz says.
Fearing he would come to her home with a warrant or a subpoena, Aziz called her attorney, Malcolm Greenstein, who ascertained that Aziz herself was not in trouble.
"Why is the military doing domestic surveillance?" he asks.
The atmosphere in the so called pillar of democracy can be nearly described as fascist like state, for dissenting opinion and resistance has been under siege since the takeover by the lunatic fringe and their followers began. Democracy is supposed to be about the free will to disagree, a society where a free and open flow and exchange of information exists. However this has been largely undermined by the venomous diatribes of a regime influenced news network portraying any dissenting American voice as traitorous. Free speech has become an idealistic concept under an oppressive nationalistic regime, relegating it to an underground movement. Yes, you 21st Century American Slave you have been duped, hoodwinked, and bamboozled. At some point the minds of many of you were systematically wiped of common sense and stripped of your will. You voluntarily surrendered ownership of your country to the lunatic fringe, and now what you have left is a pathologically sinister network practicing a brand of imperialism so patently offensive they could be in fact considered enemies of the state. They are joined by a legion of followers so violently rabid they could be considered armed and dangerous when espousing their personal philosophy of American patriotism. Their allowance to regain control will have profound catastrophic ramifications; the future of the world is at stake.
This paragon of virtue stood on the world stage and with earnest fervent conviction presented one after another a list of what we now know as inaccuracies, as fact, thereby fanning the flames of war. A fear laced marketing campaign day after day after day eventually terrorizing Americans into collective obedience. But when only one half of America fell in lock step while the other half emerged as the coalition of the unwilling, his dutiful followers launched character assassinations. Here is just a small portion of their policy of TRUTH they so wanted the rest of America to get onboard with.
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/22/2003
Quote/Claim:
"I made it clear that a [diplomatic] process had gone on way before I made the decision to use military force.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
According to Bush’s State Department Director of Policy and Planning Richard Haas, the decision to go to war had been made by July of 2002 – 8 months before the invasion. When asked whether there was a particular moment when he realized war in Iraq was definite, Haas said, “The moment was the first week of July (2002), when I had a meeting with Condi…She said, essentially, that that decision's been made, don't waste your breath.” - New Yorker, 3/31/03
Time reported in May (2002) that in late March of 2002 Vice President Dick Cheney told Senators “The question was no longer if the U.S. would attack Iraq...The only question was when." - Time, 5/6/02
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/26/2002
Quote/Claim:
“The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons…And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“Iraq did not have a large, ongoing, centrally controlled chemical weapons program after 1991… Iraq's large-scale capability to develop, produce, and fill new CW munitions was reduced - if not entirely destroyed - during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Fox, 13 years of UN sanctions and UN inspections.” - Bush Administration Weapons Inspector David Kay
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/7/2002
Quote/Claim:
“Evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program…Iraq could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“We have not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material.” - Bush Administration Weapons Inspector David Kay, 10/2/03
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/7/2002
Quote/Claim:
"If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today — and we do — does it make any sense for the world to wait?" [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Bush didn't care whether or not Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction. When Diane Sawyer tried to make a distinction between stating as a "hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons," Bush snapped back "so what's the difference?" - ABC, 12/16/03
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/7/2002
Quote/Claim:
"Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof - the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"French intelligence was telling us that there was effectively no real evidence of a WMD programme. That's why France wanted a longer extension on the weapons inspections. The French, the Germans and the Russians all knew there were no weapons there -- and so did Blair and Bush as that's what the French told them directly. Blair ignored what the French told us and instead listened to the Americans." - British Intelligence Agent, Sunday herald, 6/1/03
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 2/8/2004
Quote/Claim:
"I expected to find the weapons [because] I based my decision on the best intelligence possible...The evidence I had was the best possible evidence that he had a weapon." [Source: Meet the Press transcript]
Fact:
The White House was repeatedly warned by the intelligence community about the imprecision of intelligence on WMD's. The day before the President appeared on Meet The Press, The Washington Post reported, "President Bush and his top advisers ignored many of the caveats and qualifiers included in the classified report on Saddam Hussein's weapons." Specifically, the President made unequivocal statements that Iraq "has got chemical weapons" two months after the DIA concluded that there was "no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons." He said, "Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production" three months after the White House received an intelligence report that clearly indicated Department of Energy experts concluded the tubes were not intended to produce uranium enrichment centrifuges. He said, "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," three months after "the CIA sent two memos to the White House in October voicing strong doubts about" the claim. - Washington Post, 2/7/04; Bush statement, 11/3/02; DIA report, 2002; Bush statement, 1/28/03; NIE, October, 2002; WP, 7/23/03; Bush statement, 10/7/02; WP, 9/26/03
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/23/2003
Quote/Claim:
“Iraq [is] the central front in the war on terror.” - UN speech [White House Web site]
Fact:
Knight-Ridder reported that experts now say the "Iraq war is diverting resources from war on terror." Specifically, "a growing number of counter-terrorism experts are questioning whether the U.S. invasion of Iraq has hurt rather than helped the global battle against al Qaeda." Republican and Democratic experts "are increasingly suggesting that the Iraq war has diverted momentum, troops and intelligence resources from the worldwide campaign to destroy the remnants of al Qaeda." Similarly, the U.S. Army War College reported that the Iraq war "diverted attention and resources away from the security of the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al Qaeda." - Knight-Ridder, 11/26/03; BBC, 1/13/04
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/23/2003
Quote/Claim:
“All governments that support terror are complicit in a war against civilization.” - UN Speech [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
The Administration continues its close ties with the Saudis despite the findings of a bipartisan commission investigating 9/11. The commission found the Saudi government “not only provided significant money and aid to the suicide hijackers but also allowed potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to flow to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups through suspect charities and other fronts.” - LA Times, 8/2/03
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/10/2003
Quote/Claim:
“We have made clear the doctrine which says, if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you hide a terrorist you're just as guilty as the terrorist. We're holding regimes accountable for harboring and supporting terror.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that 'rogue regime' for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention." - LA Times, 5/22/01
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 1/24/2002
Quote/Claim:
"I have no ambition whatsoever to use [the war on terror or 9/11] as a political issue." [Source: BBC]
Fact:
"An internal White House document outlining President Bush's re-election agenda starts with "War on terrorism (Con't)" and homeland security." - AP, 12/29/02
"President Bush's top political adviser said today that Republicans will make the president's handling of the war on terrorism the centerpiece of their strategy to win back the Senate and keep control of the House in this year's midterm elections. 'We can go to the country on this issue because they trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and thereby protecting America,' Karl Rove said at the Republican National Committee meeting." - Washington Post, 1/19/02
"Using unusually pointed language, President Bush's chief political adviser Karl Rove suggested Republicans should run on the message that they are the party who can be trusted to successfully fight the war against terrorism." - ABC News, 1/18/02
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 2/23/2004
Quote/Claim:
"I view the hunt for al Qaeda as part of the war on terror. And it requires all assets, intelligence assets and military assets, to chase them down and bring them to justice." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Knight-Ridder reported that experts now say the "Iraq war is diverting resources from war on terror." Specifically, "a growing number of counter-terrorism experts are questioning whether the U.S. invasion of Iraq has hurt rather than helped the global battle against al Qaeda." Republican and Democratic experts "are increasingly suggesting that the Iraq war has diverted momentum, troops and intelligence resources from the worldwide campaign to destroy the remnants of al Qaeda." Similarly, the U.S. Army War College reported that the Iraq war "diverted attention and resources away from the security of the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al Qaeda." - Knight-Ridder, 11/26/03; BBC, 1/13/04
"The Bush administration has scuttled a plan to increase by 50% the number of criminal financial investigators working to disrupt the finances of Al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist organizations to save $12 million...The IRS had asked for 80 more criminal investigators beginning in October to join the 160 it has already assigned to penetrate the shadowy networks that terrorist groups use to finance plots like the Sept. 11 attacks and the recent train bombings in Madrid." - NY Times, 3/31/04
Topic: September 11th
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 5/17/2002
Quote/Claim:
"Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to kill on that fateful morning, I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“White House officials acknowledged that U.S. intelligence officials informed President Bush weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks that bin Laden's terrorist network might try to hijack American planes.” - ABC, 3/16/02
"A Congressional inquiry into intelligence activities before Sept. 11 found 12 reports over a seven-year period suggesting that terrorists might use airplanes as weapons." - NY Times, 4/4/04
Topic: September 11th
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 4/13/2004
Quote/Claim:
"And the answer is that had I had any inkling whatsoever that the people were going to fly airplanes into buildings, we would have moved heaven and earth to save the country, just like we're working hard to prevent a further attack." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"In April and May 2001, for example, the intelligence community headlined some of those reports 'Bin Laden planning multiple operations,' 'Bin Laden network's plans advancing' and 'Bin Laden threats are real.' The intelligence included reports of a hostage plot against Americans. It noted that operatives might choose to hijack an aircraft or storm a U.S. embassy." - Washington Post, 4/14/04
Before 9/11 "a regional sector of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) simulated a foreign hijacked airliner crashing into a building in the United States as part of training exercise scenario." - CNN, 4/19/04
"U.S. and Italian officials were warned in July of 2001 that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations." - LA Times, 9/27/01
Topic: September 11th
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 4/13/2004
Quote/Claim:
"There was nobody in our government, at least, and I don't think the prior government that could envision flying airplanes into buildings." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"U.S. and Italian officials were warned in July that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations, officials said Wednesday." - LA Times, 9/27/01
"Despite official assertions that the U.S. had little reason to suspect before Sept. 11 that airliners would be used as weapons, there is new evidence that the federal government had on several earlier occasions taken elaborate, secret measures to protect special events from just such an attack...on several occasions starting in the mid-1990s, U.S. intelligence agencies had passed on information concerning such a possibility, including early plans by al Qaeda officials to use passenger jets as kamikaze weapons, according to records and current and former government officials." - WSJ, 4/1/04
"Two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, an analysis prepared for U.S. intelligence warned that Osama bin Laden's terrorists could hijack an airliner and fly it into government buildings like the Pentagon." - CBS News, 5/17/02
Topic: September 11th
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 4/11/2004
Quote/Claim:
"I am satisfied that I never saw any intelligence that indicated there was going to be an attack on America — at a time and a place, an attack." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"The Aug. 6 report to Mr. Bush that was released Saturday evening was titled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.' It cited evidence of active Qaeda cells in the United States, as well as reports that members of the terrorist organization had conducted recent surveillance of a federal building in Manhattan and could be preparing to stage hijackings." - NY Times, 4/12/04
By the time a CIA briefer gave President Bush the Aug. 6, 2001, President's Daily Brief headlined "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US," the president had seen a stream of alarming reports on al Qaeda's intentions. So had Vice President Cheney and Bush's top national security team, according to newly declassified information released yesterday by the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In April and May 2001, for example, the intelligence community headlined some of those reports 'Bin Laden planning multiple operations,' 'Bin Laden network's plans advancing' and 'Bin Laden threats are real.'" - Washington Post, 4/14/04
Topic: Miscellaneous Distortions
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/17/2000
Quote/Claim:
"If I'm the president . . . people will be able to take their HMO insurance company to court. That's what I've done in Texas and that's the kind of leadership style I'll bring to Washington." [Source: Debate transcript, reprinted in Washington Post]
Fact:
"Today, legislation for a federal patients' bill of rights is moribund in Congress. And the Bush administration's Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to block lawsuits under the very Texas law Bush touted in 2000." - Washington Post, 4/5/04
Topic: Miscellaneous Distortions
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 1/27/2002
Quote/Claim:
"I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war." [Source: AP]
Fact:
President Bush has not been to war. Bush was a member of the Texas Air National Guards between May 1968 and October 1973 and never left the country in relation to his duties. He was discharged 8 months before his six year term expired. "During his fifth year as a guardsman, Bush's records show no sign he appeared for duty." Such a "war" - Boston Globe, 5/23/00
Topic: Iraq - September 11th Link
Speaker: Rice, Condoleezza - National Security Advisor
Date: 9/16/2003
Quote/Claim:
“We have never claimed that Saddam Hussein ... had either direction or control of 9/11.” [Source:
DOS Web site]
Fact:
President Bush sent a letter to Congress on 3/19/03 saying that the Iraq war was permitted
specifically under legislation that authorized force against “nations, organizations, or persons who
planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11,
2001.” - Globalsecurity.org
Vice President Cheney said on 9/14/03 “I think it's not surprising that people make that
connection” between Saddam and 9/11--he had no evidence to back up his claim. - Meet the
Press, 9/14/03
Topic: Iraq - Post-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 11/19/2003
Quote/Claim:
"The tradition of free speech exercised with enthusiasm is alive and well here in London. We have that at home too. They now have that right in Baghdad as well." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"As criticism of his authority appeared in Iraqi media...Bremer placed controls on [Iraqi Media Network] content and clamped down on the independent media in Iraq , closing down some Iraqi-run newspapers and radio and television stations." - American Prospect, 10/1/03
Topic: Iraq - Al Qaeda Links
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/23/2003
Quote/Claim:
"The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction.” [Source: White House Web site -- Speech to UN]
Fact:
"CIA interrogators have already elicited from the top Qaeda officials in custody that, before the American-led invasion, Osama bin Laden had rejected entreaties from some of his lieutenants to work jointly with Saddam." - NY Times, 1/15/04
"Nearly a year after U.S. and British troops invaded Iraq, no evidence has turned up to verify allegations of Saddam's links with al-Qaida, and several key parts of the administration's case have either proved false or seem increasingly doubtful. Senior U.S. officials now say there never was any evidence that Saddam's secular police state and Osama bin Laden's Islamic terrorism network were in league." - Knight-Ridder, 3/02/04
Topic: Iraq - Al Qaeda Links
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/17/2003
Quote/Claim:
"There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Declassified documents “undercut Bush administration claims before the war that Hussein had links to al Qaeda.” - LA Times, 7/19/03
Topic: Foreign Policy
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/22/2003
Quote/Claim:
“You've got to have some patience in foreign policy.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“Barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq.” - CBS, 9/4/02
Topic: Economy - Jobs
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/15/2003
Quote/Claim:
"[My] first goal is an economy that [will] employ every man and woman who seeks a job." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
More than 2 million jobs have been lost since President Bush took office, and he is expected to have a net record of job losses by the end of his term - the first President with such a dismal record since Herbert Hoover.
Topic: Economy - Jobs
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 2/12/2004
Quote/Claim:
"There are people looking for work because jobs have gone overseas. And we need to act in this country. We need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home, and people are more likely to retain a job." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
A new report signed by President Bush "said the movement of U.S. factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy." The LA Times notes "Bush supports the shift of jobs overseas." - Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 2/10/04; LA Times, 2/10/04
Topic: Credibility
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/28/2003
Quote/Claim:
“Credibility comes when you say something is going to happen and then it does happen…You are not credible if you issue resolutions and then nothing happens.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Bush said about his first tax cut, “Tax relief will create new jobs” and the economy proceeded to shed almost 3 million jobs. He said about his second tax cut, “tax relief means new jobs for Americans” and the economy continued to shed jobs. He said about the war in Iraq in May, “major combat operations have ended” and yet more troops have died since that statement than during the war. - George W. Bush, 4/16/01, 9/5/03, 5/1/03
Topic: Economy - Deficit
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/17/2003
Quote/Claim:
"If this were a spending contest, I would come in second. I readily admit I'm not going to grow the size of the federal government like [Gore] is." [Source: Debate transcript]
Fact:
"The numbers are astonishing. Congress is now spending money like a drunken sailor. And I've never known a sailor, drunk or sober, with the imagination that this Congress has." - John McCain (R-AZ), Fox News, 11/30/03
"Conservative Republican frustration over the failure of the Bush administration and the House Republican leadership to restrain federal spending has boiled over in recent days, producing a rare confrontation between GOP lawmakers and party leaders." - The Hill, 12/3/03
Topic: Economy - Deficit
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/16/2003
Quote/Claim:
"I came to this office to confront problems directly and forcefully, not to pass them on to future Presidents or future generations." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“When the Treasury Department tallies up final figures later this month, it is expected to show a federal budget deficit between $370 billion and $380 billion for 2003,” one of the biggest debts passed onto another generation in American history. - Wall Street Journal, 10/9/03
Topic: Uniting Not Dividing
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/11/2000
Quote/Claim:
"There's been too much finger pointing and too much name calling in Washington, D.C. I would like to unite this country to get an agenda done that will speak to the hopes and aspirations of the future." [Source: Debate transcript]
Fact:
"Bush's approach to leadership has invited Americans to take sides." - Time Magazine, 11/23/03
Topic: Economy - Taxes
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/9/2003
Quote/Claim:
“I twice led the Congress to pass historic tax relief for the American people. We wanted tax relief to be as broad and as fair as possible, so we reduced taxes on everyone who pays taxes.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"A new AP poll finds that almost half of all Americans 'said their overall tax burden — including federal, state and local taxes — had gone up over the past three years' - almost four times the 13% who said their overall taxes had gone down." - AP, 4/13/04
“One million children living in military and veteran families are being denied child tax credit help” in President Bush's tax cut. “More than 260,000 of these children have parents on active military duty.” - Children's Defense Fund, 6/6/03
Topic: Military/Troops
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/9/2003
Quote/Claim:
“Your lives can be changed in a moment with the sudden call to duty. I want to thank you for your willingness to heed that important call, and I want to thank your families. I want to thank your sons, daughters, husbands and wives who share in your sacrifice, who are willing to sacrifice for our country and who stand behind you.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Less than 2 weeks after the President made these comments, “the Bush administration announced its formal opposition to a proposal to give National Guard and Reserve members access to the Pentagon's health-insurance system, jeopardizing the plan's future and angering supporters. A recent General Accounting Office report estimated that one of every five Guard members has no health insurance.” - Gannett News Service, 10/23/03
Topic: Halliburton
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 9/14/2003
Quote/Claim:
"And since I left Halliburton to become George Bush’s vice president, I’ve severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven’t had now for over three years." [Source: Meet the Press transcript]
Fact:
A congressional report found that Cheney still owns “more than 433,000 Halliburton stock options,” including “100,000 shares at $54.50 per share, 33,333 shares at $28.125 and 300,000 shares at $39.50 per share.” - CNN, 9/25/03
Topic: Iraq - Al Qaeda Links
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 9/14/2003
Quote/Claim:
“There was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the ’90s.” [Meet the Press transcript]
Fact:
"The chairman of the monitoring group appointed by the United Nations Security Council to track al Qaeda told reporters that his team had found no evidence linking al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein.” - NY Times, 6/27/03
"U.S. allies have found no links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. 'We have found no evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda,' said Europe's top investigator. 'If there were such links, we would have found them. But we have found no serious connections whatsoever.'" - LA Times, 11/4/02
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 3/16/2003
Quote/Claim:
"We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly, . . . (in) weeks rather than months." [Source: Meet the Press, reprinted in Boston Globe]
Fact:
"A campaign on the harsh terrain of a nation as large as California could be longer and more difficult than some predict." - President Bush, Speech to Nation, 3/20/03
Topic: Halliburton
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 1/22/2004
Quote/Claim:
"Halliburton gets unfairly maligned simply because of their past association with me." [Source: Cnn Website]
Allegations of corruption stem from "desperate" political opponents who "can't find any legitimate policy differences to debate." [Source: CNN Website]
Fact:
Halliburton itself has acknowledged that it “accepted up to $6 million in kickbacks” in its no-bid contract work in Iraq. Additionally, it is the Bush Administration – not “political opponents” -- that has looked into allegations that the company overcharged the government by $61 million. And it has been the Bush Administration that "repeatedly warned the company that the food it was serving the 110,000 U.S. troops in Iraq was 'dirty'” with an audit finding "blood all over the floor" of its kitchens, "dirty pans," and "rotting meats ... and vegetables." - Boston Globe, 1/23/04; CBS, 12/12/03
Topic: Halliburton
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 1/22/2004
Quote/Claim:
“I severed my ties with Halliburton when I became a candidate for Vice President in August of 2000.” [Source: NPR]
Fact:
"Vice President Dick Cheney received $178,437 in deferred pay last year from Halliburton, the Texas oil-field services company he once headed that has received billion-dollar government contracts in Iraq." - Reuters, 4/13/04
Topic: Halliburton
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 8/7/2002
Quote/Claim:
“Halliburton is a fine company, and I'm pleased that I was associated with the company.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Halliburton has acknowledged that it “accepted up to $6 million in kickbacks” in its contract work in Iraq. It is also under scrutiny over allegations of overcharging the government by $61 million in Iraq – a practice for which the company was previously fined $2 million. The company also potentially faces criminal charges in a $180-million international bribery scandal during the time Cheney was CEO of the company. The Pentagon has also "repeatedly warned the company that the food it was serving the 110,000 U.S. troops in Iraq was 'dirty'” with an audit finding "blood all over the floor" of its kitchens, "dirty pans, dirty grills, dirty salad bars and rotting meats…and vegetables." - Boston Globe, 1/23/04; CBS, 12/12/03, 4/12/03; Washington Post, 1/21/04
Just who has been allowed to gain control are carcasses passing for human, soulless entities that have committed actions that defy explanation but for which they always have an answer. Spiritually dead, these purveyors of human suffering are sucking the marrow out of America. They wanted the right to invade your homes, your medical records, sacred conversations, and they got it by chipping away at the constitution. This orgy of power must end, or before long you will be denied the right to your personal thoughts and marked with a bar code, and you will dare not speak out. National security will be wielded as a battering ram to strip you of free will and pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness; what used to be the American way. They will use it as an excuse to invade your church, your temple, your synagogues, and your mosques under the cloak of security. What you have unleashed on the world slave is a political prostitute masquerading as a world leader pimped out by big business and high rolling lobbyists. A 21st century whore who long ago auctioned his ass off to the CEO signing the highest contribution check, a bottom feeder sucking the marrow out of the backs of the American people who sit idly by slurping cappuccinos at Starbucks or porch grazing with lemonade and talking about how the economy’ picking up steam while big business continues gobbling up jobs like some new millennium Pac Man running wild.
There’s a movement in America, a virulent mentality at work in the minds of the followers who support the status quo unfailingly, without question. Not unlike that of cult followers when they're under the influence of some megalomaniac leader, they can be wild-eyed, and foaming at the mouth in their fervent belief and support. There is a name for them, they’re called fanatics. You can't convey logic, nor intelligent thought because they are incapable rationality.
What kind of man does these things? An empty shell, a reprehensible black hole without one ounce of
common decency. You have a responsibility if not to yourselves, then to your children, to change the
course of their destiny because the real God lords over his people with compassion, with care for those
without, the downtrodden, and the forgotten; with real compassion not rhetoric or hollow words. And
right now, America is a place full of many forgotten people who simply don’t matter. You witnessed the
results of just four years, do you even want to imagine what another term will mean for both the U.S. and
the global community at large. The world must be collectively galvanized to bring an end to this orgy of power. Do you really want to risk the unleashing of
hell on earth from a group thirsting to turn out a scorched earth policy on the next sovereign nation? Just
think, your country may be next in their cross hairs. There is so much at stake, for not only America but
the rest of the international community. Haven’t you seen enough? Isn’t it time for this legacy of infamy,
and the house that lies built to end? Show the world on Nov 2 what real men and women of will can do
because God does have an agenda for America, but he is NOT on the Republican ticket.
On the edge of a precipice, the country lost it’ way beginning with the assumption of power by a cloaked regime, corporate CEOs running away with employee’ lifeblood, to children being missing, and dying under the supervision of foster care agencies; America has morphed into a nation of excuse mongers. Yes, the attack on America did begin four years ago, and not just from the fanatics outside, but the imperialistic cult from within her borders. A society obsessed with disposable everything, is it no wonder that concept has been welcomed by that regime. During this period we have witnessed the devaluation of people from both the regime and big business, a practice embraced by every government agency and shouted from the ivory white towers by CEOs as the new corporate mantra. People are as discard able as fast food. How did you not see this coming 21st century American slave? You wonder where your jobs have gone, you scream about civil rights, you weep at your husbands, sons, fathers and daughters shipped home in body bags, but where was your moral indignation four years ago when a nefarious cabal seized control.
Who’s investing in the American common man? Where is your 87 billion handout? How do you take from those with the least to give, everyone’s getting paid except the ones sacrificing the most, the average man, the backbone of the real America. What is the character of a man who suggests people work without fair compensation? What is the professional decorum of a man masquerading as a statesman before the world but the allows the words “he tried to kill my daddy” fall free from his lips. Where is Christianity in a man who seeks to silence his critics? There is no fear in the truth, for the truth is an open book, without ambiguity. The truth simply IS. So what kind of man finds the truth so disturbing that he cannot answer questions under oath without an interpreter. Tell us America where is God in a man who is never wrong?
From the numerous exaggerations, to the Enron Chronicles, the Haliburton affair, and Abu Ghraib what more do you need? Many Americans are afraid to speak out for fear of rogue “officials” from secret security details rounding them up like the Texas legislators who were searched for by state troopers in an attempt to return them to vote in an attempted redistricting plan in Texas, or the Detroit U.S. Attorney who, after complaining of interference in a terrorist prosecution case, came under “investigation”
Dems: GOP Had Feds Join Texas Posse
May 15, 2003
(CBS) The case of the fugitive Texas House Democrats has taken a bizarre twist with political accusations that U.S House Majority Leader Tom Delay, R-Texas, misused federal power in a failed attempt to track down the lawmakers.
CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr reports the charges are coming from Democrats on Capitol Hill, who say Homeland Security resources were used to search for an airplane belonging to the leader of the Texas Democrats, former speaker Pete Laney.
Homeland officials in a statement released Thursday, say they were asked Monday afternoon to look for the plane. The request came from a Texas Department of Public Safety officer who said, "We got a problem. We had a plane. It had state representatives in it and we cannot find this plane."
Under the impression they were looking for a missing or crashed airplane, a Customs control center in California mounted a search. Federal officials never did locate the plane.
Texas Dems Still On The Lam
ARDMORE, Okla., May 14, 2003
(CBS) Nearly 300 miles from the Texas Capitol, 51 House Democrats are whiling away their days at an Oklahoma Holiday Inn, chatting on cell phones by the pool, snacking at Denny's and caucusing in a conference room.
Their escape from Austin to Ardmore, Okla., has halted the legislative session, leaving their Republican colleagues with little to do but engage in paper-wad fights and design "wanted" posters and playing cards with the missing lawmakers' pictures.
Most House Democrats secretly left the state Sunday night to prevent Republicans from pushing through a bill that would redraw boundaries for U.S. congressional districts that were already adjusted once after the 2000 census.
"You get to a point where you draw a line in the sand and make a stand on principle," said Democratic state Rep. Pete Gallego. "We've reached our limit."
The standoff compelled the speaker to adjourn the House on Wednesday so Republicans could do committee work. Democrats say they won't be back until Friday, by which time the redistricting bill will die unless two-thirds of the House approves it.
The Democrats fled Texas to avoid the reach of state troopers, who had been told to round them until that order was rescinded Tuesday night. House rules allow for the arrest of members who intentionally thwart a quorum — which requires at least 100 of the body's 150 members to be present.
Tuesday: February 17, 2004
Prosecutor Sues Ashcroft Over Detroit Terror Case
Federal prosecutor James Convertino has filed a whistleblower suit against Attorney General John Ashcroft claiming mismanagement of the Detroit terror trial.
A federal prosecutor in a major terrorism case in Detroit has taken the rare step of suing Attorney General John Ashcroft, alleging the Justice Department interfered with the case, compromised a confidential informant and exaggerated results in the war on terrorism.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino of Detroit accused the Justice Department of "gross mismanagement" of the war on terrorism in a whistleblower lawsuit filed late Friday in federal court in Washington.
Monday, June 21, 2004
Terrorism attorneys may testify
Detroit defense team is interviewed by FBI, told they could be government witnesses
By David Shepardson / The Detroit News
DETROIT — FBI agents investigating the former lead prosecutor in the 2003 Detroit terrorism trial have interviewed all of the defense attorneys in the case, telling some they could be government witnesses at a possible trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard G. Convertino is the subject of a 2 1/2-month-old criminal investigation by the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section stemming from a court-ordered review of all documents in the terror trial.
There is a price to paid for disobedient Americans resisting the majority in power. This is how the change began in pre-Nazi Germany, the wave of obsessive nationalism, the fanatical support for the leader, the suppression of dissent and free speech, intimidation tactics by law agencies, and finally the attacks on other sovereign nations. See “When Democracy Failed”, by Thomas Hartmann
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0316-08.htm. Boston Drops Bogus Bomb Charge Against Protester
On May 26, Joe Previtera decided to publicly protest the torture of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers. The twenty-one-year-old Boston College student and a few members of his anti-war affinity group went down to the military recruitment office on Tremont Street near the Boston Commons.
Outside the Armed Forces Career Center, on the sidewalk, he stood on a milk crate. He wore a black shawl and placed a black hood over his head. And he attached stereo wires to his fingers, imitating the now-notorious picture of the Abu Ghraib prisoner.
At first, the reaction was mild. "Some people were walking by thanking us," he recalls. "A group of men working next door said I should be there every day. Someone else came by and said, 'Disgusting.' "
One man from the recruiting center wasn't too happy, either. "He put his hand on my shoulder to get me off" the crate, but Previtera stayed on, he says.
After about forty-five minutes, the police showed up.
"One of the police officers called me a sissy because I was putting my arms down, and he said if I was like the guy in the real picture I should keep my arms out," Previtera says.
Then one of Previtera's fellow protesters warned him that the police were beginning to get aggressive.
"I stepped down from the milk crate and took my hood off," Previtera says. "There were four policemen right in front of me. I tried to walk away. They said, 'You can't go anywhere.' They said I had to wait because the bomb squad was coming."
To say the least, Previtera was not expecting this.
"I couldn't believe it," he says. "I just stood there in shock."
The police proceeded to arrest him.
"I asked them for what. And they said they would tell me down at the precinct," he says. "It was surreal."
Down at the precinct station, "eventually, they fingerprinted me and booked me," he says. "I was booked on disturbing the peace and making a false report of a location of explosives. And when I was in my cell I found out they added a third charge about a hoax device."
The police alleged that the stereo wires dangling from his fingers constituted a bomb threat.
"The Boston Police Department made a judgment that he was committing certain crimes and arrested him for disturbing the peace, making a false bomb threat, and possession of a hoax device," says David Procopio, press secretary for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.
Previtera was held overnight.
"The police woke me in the middle of the night and showed me pictures of U.S. soldiers with smiling Iraqi children," says Previtera. "The officers told me these were pictures that I'd never see in the media, and that the Boston Globe and The New York Times were communist papers."
June 26, 2004
Police Raid "Upside Down Flag House"
Last semester, a house in Tucson where several anarchist students from the University of Arizona lived became know as the upside down flag house.
And not without reason.
"They draped large flags, five or six feet wide, upside down from the roof of the house," says Jeff Davis, who says he is good friends with the people who used to live there. On May 28, the police descended on the house with as many as twenty squad cars and a helicopter, Davis says. They arrested seven people there.
May 11, 2004
An "FUGW" Sign Can Get You Arrested
When peace activist Frank Van Den Bosch heard that George Bush was coming through Platteville, Wisconsin, on May 7, he knew he wanted to be there to protest.
Van Den Bosch lives only thirty miles to the north, and he and his wife had helped set up a group called Students for Peace and Justice when she was at UW-Platteville a few years back, he says.
Van Den Bosch considered what to write on his poster. "I couldn't think of any one particular issue I wanted to address, and I was so completely saddened and angered by what was happening that the most concise statement I could come up with was FUGW."
When Van Den Bosch arrived at the protest, he joined a group of about twenty others. But soon his sign drew attention.
"An officer came over and said, 'You can't display your sign,' Van Den Bosch recalls. "She said she had checked with the Secret Service, and they didn't like the sign.
"And I said, 'Well, that's their problem.' "
But Van Den Bosch did agree to modify the sign. Under the F, he wrote in smaller letters "ree" to spell "Free," and under the U, he wrote "s" to spell "Us."
"But they weren't satisfied with that," he says. "A sergeant came over and tried to take the sign away from me, it, but I rolled it up and stood in the back a bit."
When Van Den Bosch saw the Bush-Cheney buses coming, he wanted to display his sign again.
" I unrolled my sign and stood there," says Van Den Bosch, "and then they came over and grabbed the sign and said, 'We told you couldn't show that sign.' They walked me over in front of a frat house where a bunch of guys had been harassing us, and they handcuffed me there to the cheering of the guys. Then they put me in an unmarked car and drove me into town, fingerprinted me and photographed me, and gave me a ticket for disorderly conduct."
Van Den Bosch has a court date of May 17.
Lieutenant Tom Schmid of the Platteville Police Department gives a slightly different account of what happened.
"We had a person complain about the sign, and we went down and asked the gentleman not to show the sign because there were kids in the area and it didn't seem appropriate," Lieutenant Schmid says. "Later on, he showed the sign again, and we went down and arrested him and charged him with disorderly conduct."
Why does holding such a sign constitute disorderly conduct? "It seemed to annoy and disturb others," says Lieutenant Schmid, "and when you have conduct that tends to annoy or disturb others, that's disorderly conduct."
Sergeant Michelle Hechel, who spoke with Van Den Bosch at the protest, denies that she mentioned the Secret Service or that the Secret Service had anything to do with the incident.
"He had a sign," she says. "It was offensive. And we asked him to not show it."
As to whether he has the right to display an offensive sign, Sergeant Hechel says, " Once it starts offending other people, which it did in that area, he was asked to not display that. It was not appropriate. We said he could use a different sign, but he chose not to."
Van Den Bosch is fighting the charge, which he says shows "the fangs and teeth of the state. The chilling part is they knew they were violating my civil rights. Any eighth grade civics class will teach you that you have the right to express yourself."
--Matthew Rothschild
Addendum: Nothing happened in this case on May 17. The plea hearing is now set for May 27, according to Frank Van Den Bosch's attorney, Andrea Baker.
Addendum #2, June 11, 2004
The case against Frank Van Den Bosch was dismissed on May 27.
On June 8, Van Den Bosch's attorney, Andrea Baker, filed a civil complaint against Platteville Police Chief Earl Hernandez, five other police officers, and one fire fighter.
“Mr. Van Den Bosch's rights were violated," says Baker.
March 15, 2004
Army Apologizes for Spying on Law School Conference
When Sahar Aziz, a third-year law student at the University of Texas Law School in Austin, organized a campus conference February 4 on "Islam and the Law: A Question of Sexism," she didn't expect any trouble.
"It was nothing out of the ordinary for a law school conference," she says. "It was an academic conference discussing the sociological, political, historical, and legal perspectives."
The press release announcing the event was hardly eye opening. "This conference addresses a variety of issues where Muslim women's rights in Islam facially appear to be compromised by Islamic Law," it said. "This interdisciplinary conference aims to discuss and analyze these issues in a balanced manner. . . . The objective is to reveal the complexity of Islamic Law through the different scholarly interpretations on the same subject matter. In contrast, the conference is not meant to support a certain interpretation or school of thought, nor to be a venue for religious propaganda."
But for some reason, the conference caught the eye of two Army lawyers based at Fort Hood, Texas, who attended the conference.
"We didn't know there was any Army personnel there," says Aziz. "No one was in uniform. There was no one who identified themselves as being with the Army. The optimist view is they were there to learn. The pessimistic view is they were there to spy. We don't know."
The Army takes the optimistic view. The Army lawyers attended the conference to "help prepare them for their assignments in Southwest Asia, where they will deal with legal issues between the American Forces and the largely Muslim populace," says a March 12 press release from the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command.
At the conference, the Army lawyers took a grilling from at least one person attending the conference. They "were persistently questioned about their identity, occupation, and status by a man who appeared to be attending the conference with two associates," the press release says. "The tone and repetition of the questions made the army lawyers suspicious. They subsequently reported the matter to local military intelligence officials."
That's when things got even messier.
"On February 9, two U.S. Army counterintelligence special agents went to the law school to request a roster of attendees in an attempt to identify the suspicious individual and his two associates," the press release states.
One of the agents was Jason Treesh, Special Agent, Army Intelligence.
"He was looking for me," says Aziz, who has Treesh's card, which he left in her box at the law school. "He knew I was the main organizer. He basically went from office to office asking where I was."
Friends contacted her, she says, telling her: "Someone is looking for you, and you should be careful."
"I was freaking out," Aziz recalls. "I was very stressed, thinking, 'Oh, my God, I can't believe this! You kind of wrack your brain and wonder how the conference might have ignited such scrutiny."
Other law students were also rattled, she says. "People were intimidated, to say the least," she recalls. "He was not in uniform, but he was flashing his badge around and looking for a roster and a video recording." He never received either, Aziz says.
Fearing he would come to her home with a warrant or a subpoena, Aziz called her attorney, Malcolm Greenstein, who ascertained that Aziz herself was not in trouble.
"Why is the military doing domestic surveillance?" he asks.
The atmosphere in the so called pillar of democracy can be nearly described as fascist like state, for dissenting opinion and resistance has been under siege since the takeover by the lunatic fringe and their followers began. Democracy is supposed to be about the free will to disagree, a society where a free and open flow and exchange of information exists. However this has been largely undermined by the venomous diatribes of a regime influenced news network portraying any dissenting American voice as traitorous. Free speech has become an idealistic concept under an oppressive nationalistic regime, relegating it to an underground movement. Yes, you 21st Century American Slave you have been duped, hoodwinked, and bamboozled. At some point the minds of many of you were systematically wiped of common sense and stripped of your will. You voluntarily surrendered ownership of your country to the lunatic fringe, and now what you have left is a pathologically sinister network practicing a brand of imperialism so patently offensive they could be in fact considered enemies of the state. They are joined by a legion of followers so violently rabid they could be considered armed and dangerous when espousing their personal philosophy of American patriotism. Their allowance to regain control will have profound catastrophic ramifications; the future of the world is at stake.
This paragon of virtue stood on the world stage and with earnest fervent conviction presented one after another a list of what we now know as inaccuracies, as fact, thereby fanning the flames of war. A fear laced marketing campaign day after day after day eventually terrorizing Americans into collective obedience. But when only one half of America fell in lock step while the other half emerged as the coalition of the unwilling, his dutiful followers launched character assassinations. Here is just a small portion of their policy of TRUTH they so wanted the rest of America to get onboard with.
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/22/2003
Quote/Claim:
"I made it clear that a [diplomatic] process had gone on way before I made the decision to use military force.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
According to Bush’s State Department Director of Policy and Planning Richard Haas, the decision to go to war had been made by July of 2002 – 8 months before the invasion. When asked whether there was a particular moment when he realized war in Iraq was definite, Haas said, “The moment was the first week of July (2002), when I had a meeting with Condi…She said, essentially, that that decision's been made, don't waste your breath.” - New Yorker, 3/31/03
Time reported in May (2002) that in late March of 2002 Vice President Dick Cheney told Senators “The question was no longer if the U.S. would attack Iraq...The only question was when." - Time, 5/6/02
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/26/2002
Quote/Claim:
“The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons…And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“Iraq did not have a large, ongoing, centrally controlled chemical weapons program after 1991… Iraq's large-scale capability to develop, produce, and fill new CW munitions was reduced - if not entirely destroyed - during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Fox, 13 years of UN sanctions and UN inspections.” - Bush Administration Weapons Inspector David Kay
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/7/2002
Quote/Claim:
“Evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program…Iraq could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“We have not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material.” - Bush Administration Weapons Inspector David Kay, 10/2/03
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/7/2002
Quote/Claim:
"If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today — and we do — does it make any sense for the world to wait?" [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Bush didn't care whether or not Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction. When Diane Sawyer tried to make a distinction between stating as a "hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons," Bush snapped back "so what's the difference?" - ABC, 12/16/03
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/7/2002
Quote/Claim:
"Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof - the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"French intelligence was telling us that there was effectively no real evidence of a WMD programme. That's why France wanted a longer extension on the weapons inspections. The French, the Germans and the Russians all knew there were no weapons there -- and so did Blair and Bush as that's what the French told them directly. Blair ignored what the French told us and instead listened to the Americans." - British Intelligence Agent, Sunday herald, 6/1/03
Topic: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 2/8/2004
Quote/Claim:
"I expected to find the weapons [because] I based my decision on the best intelligence possible...The evidence I had was the best possible evidence that he had a weapon." [Source: Meet the Press transcript]
Fact:
The White House was repeatedly warned by the intelligence community about the imprecision of intelligence on WMD's. The day before the President appeared on Meet The Press, The Washington Post reported, "President Bush and his top advisers ignored many of the caveats and qualifiers included in the classified report on Saddam Hussein's weapons." Specifically, the President made unequivocal statements that Iraq "has got chemical weapons" two months after the DIA concluded that there was "no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons." He said, "Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production" three months after the White House received an intelligence report that clearly indicated Department of Energy experts concluded the tubes were not intended to produce uranium enrichment centrifuges. He said, "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," three months after "the CIA sent two memos to the White House in October voicing strong doubts about" the claim. - Washington Post, 2/7/04; Bush statement, 11/3/02; DIA report, 2002; Bush statement, 1/28/03; NIE, October, 2002; WP, 7/23/03; Bush statement, 10/7/02; WP, 9/26/03
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/23/2003
Quote/Claim:
“Iraq [is] the central front in the war on terror.” - UN speech [White House Web site]
Fact:
Knight-Ridder reported that experts now say the "Iraq war is diverting resources from war on terror." Specifically, "a growing number of counter-terrorism experts are questioning whether the U.S. invasion of Iraq has hurt rather than helped the global battle against al Qaeda." Republican and Democratic experts "are increasingly suggesting that the Iraq war has diverted momentum, troops and intelligence resources from the worldwide campaign to destroy the remnants of al Qaeda." Similarly, the U.S. Army War College reported that the Iraq war "diverted attention and resources away from the security of the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al Qaeda." - Knight-Ridder, 11/26/03; BBC, 1/13/04
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/23/2003
Quote/Claim:
“All governments that support terror are complicit in a war against civilization.” - UN Speech [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
The Administration continues its close ties with the Saudis despite the findings of a bipartisan commission investigating 9/11. The commission found the Saudi government “not only provided significant money and aid to the suicide hijackers but also allowed potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to flow to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups through suspect charities and other fronts.” - LA Times, 8/2/03
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/10/2003
Quote/Claim:
“We have made clear the doctrine which says, if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you hide a terrorist you're just as guilty as the terrorist. We're holding regimes accountable for harboring and supporting terror.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that 'rogue regime' for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention." - LA Times, 5/22/01
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 1/24/2002
Quote/Claim:
"I have no ambition whatsoever to use [the war on terror or 9/11] as a political issue." [Source: BBC]
Fact:
"An internal White House document outlining President Bush's re-election agenda starts with "War on terrorism (Con't)" and homeland security." - AP, 12/29/02
"President Bush's top political adviser said today that Republicans will make the president's handling of the war on terrorism the centerpiece of their strategy to win back the Senate and keep control of the House in this year's midterm elections. 'We can go to the country on this issue because they trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and thereby protecting America,' Karl Rove said at the Republican National Committee meeting." - Washington Post, 1/19/02
"Using unusually pointed language, President Bush's chief political adviser Karl Rove suggested Republicans should run on the message that they are the party who can be trusted to successfully fight the war against terrorism." - ABC News, 1/18/02
Topic: War On Terror
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 2/23/2004
Quote/Claim:
"I view the hunt for al Qaeda as part of the war on terror. And it requires all assets, intelligence assets and military assets, to chase them down and bring them to justice." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Knight-Ridder reported that experts now say the "Iraq war is diverting resources from war on terror." Specifically, "a growing number of counter-terrorism experts are questioning whether the U.S. invasion of Iraq has hurt rather than helped the global battle against al Qaeda." Republican and Democratic experts "are increasingly suggesting that the Iraq war has diverted momentum, troops and intelligence resources from the worldwide campaign to destroy the remnants of al Qaeda." Similarly, the U.S. Army War College reported that the Iraq war "diverted attention and resources away from the security of the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al Qaeda." - Knight-Ridder, 11/26/03; BBC, 1/13/04
"The Bush administration has scuttled a plan to increase by 50% the number of criminal financial investigators working to disrupt the finances of Al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist organizations to save $12 million...The IRS had asked for 80 more criminal investigators beginning in October to join the 160 it has already assigned to penetrate the shadowy networks that terrorist groups use to finance plots like the Sept. 11 attacks and the recent train bombings in Madrid." - NY Times, 3/31/04
Topic: September 11th
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 5/17/2002
Quote/Claim:
"Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to kill on that fateful morning, I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“White House officials acknowledged that U.S. intelligence officials informed President Bush weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks that bin Laden's terrorist network might try to hijack American planes.” - ABC, 3/16/02
"A Congressional inquiry into intelligence activities before Sept. 11 found 12 reports over a seven-year period suggesting that terrorists might use airplanes as weapons." - NY Times, 4/4/04
Topic: September 11th
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 4/13/2004
Quote/Claim:
"And the answer is that had I had any inkling whatsoever that the people were going to fly airplanes into buildings, we would have moved heaven and earth to save the country, just like we're working hard to prevent a further attack." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"In April and May 2001, for example, the intelligence community headlined some of those reports 'Bin Laden planning multiple operations,' 'Bin Laden network's plans advancing' and 'Bin Laden threats are real.' The intelligence included reports of a hostage plot against Americans. It noted that operatives might choose to hijack an aircraft or storm a U.S. embassy." - Washington Post, 4/14/04
Before 9/11 "a regional sector of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) simulated a foreign hijacked airliner crashing into a building in the United States as part of training exercise scenario." - CNN, 4/19/04
"U.S. and Italian officials were warned in July of 2001 that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations." - LA Times, 9/27/01
Topic: September 11th
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 4/13/2004
Quote/Claim:
"There was nobody in our government, at least, and I don't think the prior government that could envision flying airplanes into buildings." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"U.S. and Italian officials were warned in July that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations, officials said Wednesday." - LA Times, 9/27/01
"Despite official assertions that the U.S. had little reason to suspect before Sept. 11 that airliners would be used as weapons, there is new evidence that the federal government had on several earlier occasions taken elaborate, secret measures to protect special events from just such an attack...on several occasions starting in the mid-1990s, U.S. intelligence agencies had passed on information concerning such a possibility, including early plans by al Qaeda officials to use passenger jets as kamikaze weapons, according to records and current and former government officials." - WSJ, 4/1/04
"Two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, an analysis prepared for U.S. intelligence warned that Osama bin Laden's terrorists could hijack an airliner and fly it into government buildings like the Pentagon." - CBS News, 5/17/02
Topic: September 11th
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 4/11/2004
Quote/Claim:
"I am satisfied that I never saw any intelligence that indicated there was going to be an attack on America — at a time and a place, an attack." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"The Aug. 6 report to Mr. Bush that was released Saturday evening was titled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.' It cited evidence of active Qaeda cells in the United States, as well as reports that members of the terrorist organization had conducted recent surveillance of a federal building in Manhattan and could be preparing to stage hijackings." - NY Times, 4/12/04
By the time a CIA briefer gave President Bush the Aug. 6, 2001, President's Daily Brief headlined "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US," the president had seen a stream of alarming reports on al Qaeda's intentions. So had Vice President Cheney and Bush's top national security team, according to newly declassified information released yesterday by the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In April and May 2001, for example, the intelligence community headlined some of those reports 'Bin Laden planning multiple operations,' 'Bin Laden network's plans advancing' and 'Bin Laden threats are real.'" - Washington Post, 4/14/04
Topic: Miscellaneous Distortions
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/17/2000
Quote/Claim:
"If I'm the president . . . people will be able to take their HMO insurance company to court. That's what I've done in Texas and that's the kind of leadership style I'll bring to Washington." [Source: Debate transcript, reprinted in Washington Post]
Fact:
"Today, legislation for a federal patients' bill of rights is moribund in Congress. And the Bush administration's Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to block lawsuits under the very Texas law Bush touted in 2000." - Washington Post, 4/5/04
Topic: Miscellaneous Distortions
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 1/27/2002
Quote/Claim:
"I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war." [Source: AP]
Fact:
President Bush has not been to war. Bush was a member of the Texas Air National Guards between May 1968 and October 1973 and never left the country in relation to his duties. He was discharged 8 months before his six year term expired. "During his fifth year as a guardsman, Bush's records show no sign he appeared for duty." Such a "war" - Boston Globe, 5/23/00
Topic: Iraq - September 11th Link
Speaker: Rice, Condoleezza - National Security Advisor
Date: 9/16/2003
Quote/Claim:
“We have never claimed that Saddam Hussein ... had either direction or control of 9/11.” [Source:
DOS Web site]
Fact:
President Bush sent a letter to Congress on 3/19/03 saying that the Iraq war was permitted
specifically under legislation that authorized force against “nations, organizations, or persons who
planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11,
2001.” - Globalsecurity.org
Vice President Cheney said on 9/14/03 “I think it's not surprising that people make that
connection” between Saddam and 9/11--he had no evidence to back up his claim. - Meet the
Press, 9/14/03
Topic: Iraq - Post-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 11/19/2003
Quote/Claim:
"The tradition of free speech exercised with enthusiasm is alive and well here in London. We have that at home too. They now have that right in Baghdad as well." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"As criticism of his authority appeared in Iraqi media...Bremer placed controls on [Iraqi Media Network] content and clamped down on the independent media in Iraq , closing down some Iraqi-run newspapers and radio and television stations." - American Prospect, 10/1/03
Topic: Iraq - Al Qaeda Links
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/23/2003
Quote/Claim:
"The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction.” [Source: White House Web site -- Speech to UN]
Fact:
"CIA interrogators have already elicited from the top Qaeda officials in custody that, before the American-led invasion, Osama bin Laden had rejected entreaties from some of his lieutenants to work jointly with Saddam." - NY Times, 1/15/04
"Nearly a year after U.S. and British troops invaded Iraq, no evidence has turned up to verify allegations of Saddam's links with al-Qaida, and several key parts of the administration's case have either proved false or seem increasingly doubtful. Senior U.S. officials now say there never was any evidence that Saddam's secular police state and Osama bin Laden's Islamic terrorism network were in league." - Knight-Ridder, 3/02/04
Topic: Iraq - Al Qaeda Links
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/17/2003
Quote/Claim:
"There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Declassified documents “undercut Bush administration claims before the war that Hussein had links to al Qaeda.” - LA Times, 7/19/03
Topic: Foreign Policy
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/22/2003
Quote/Claim:
“You've got to have some patience in foreign policy.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“Barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq.” - CBS, 9/4/02
Topic: Economy - Jobs
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 9/15/2003
Quote/Claim:
"[My] first goal is an economy that [will] employ every man and woman who seeks a job." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
More than 2 million jobs have been lost since President Bush took office, and he is expected to have a net record of job losses by the end of his term - the first President with such a dismal record since Herbert Hoover.
Topic: Economy - Jobs
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 2/12/2004
Quote/Claim:
"There are people looking for work because jobs have gone overseas. And we need to act in this country. We need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home, and people are more likely to retain a job." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
A new report signed by President Bush "said the movement of U.S. factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy." The LA Times notes "Bush supports the shift of jobs overseas." - Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 2/10/04; LA Times, 2/10/04
Topic: Credibility
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/28/2003
Quote/Claim:
“Credibility comes when you say something is going to happen and then it does happen…You are not credible if you issue resolutions and then nothing happens.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Bush said about his first tax cut, “Tax relief will create new jobs” and the economy proceeded to shed almost 3 million jobs. He said about his second tax cut, “tax relief means new jobs for Americans” and the economy continued to shed jobs. He said about the war in Iraq in May, “major combat operations have ended” and yet more troops have died since that statement than during the war. - George W. Bush, 4/16/01, 9/5/03, 5/1/03
Topic: Economy - Deficit
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/17/2003
Quote/Claim:
"If this were a spending contest, I would come in second. I readily admit I'm not going to grow the size of the federal government like [Gore] is." [Source: Debate transcript]
Fact:
"The numbers are astonishing. Congress is now spending money like a drunken sailor. And I've never known a sailor, drunk or sober, with the imagination that this Congress has." - John McCain (R-AZ), Fox News, 11/30/03
"Conservative Republican frustration over the failure of the Bush administration and the House Republican leadership to restrain federal spending has boiled over in recent days, producing a rare confrontation between GOP lawmakers and party leaders." - The Hill, 12/3/03
Topic: Economy - Deficit
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/16/2003
Quote/Claim:
"I came to this office to confront problems directly and forcefully, not to pass them on to future Presidents or future generations." [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
“When the Treasury Department tallies up final figures later this month, it is expected to show a federal budget deficit between $370 billion and $380 billion for 2003,” one of the biggest debts passed onto another generation in American history. - Wall Street Journal, 10/9/03
Topic: Uniting Not Dividing
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/11/2000
Quote/Claim:
"There's been too much finger pointing and too much name calling in Washington, D.C. I would like to unite this country to get an agenda done that will speak to the hopes and aspirations of the future." [Source: Debate transcript]
Fact:
"Bush's approach to leadership has invited Americans to take sides." - Time Magazine, 11/23/03
Topic: Economy - Taxes
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/9/2003
Quote/Claim:
“I twice led the Congress to pass historic tax relief for the American people. We wanted tax relief to be as broad and as fair as possible, so we reduced taxes on everyone who pays taxes.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
"A new AP poll finds that almost half of all Americans 'said their overall tax burden — including federal, state and local taxes — had gone up over the past three years' - almost four times the 13% who said their overall taxes had gone down." - AP, 4/13/04
“One million children living in military and veteran families are being denied child tax credit help” in President Bush's tax cut. “More than 260,000 of these children have parents on active military duty.” - Children's Defense Fund, 6/6/03
Topic: Military/Troops
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/9/2003
Quote/Claim:
“Your lives can be changed in a moment with the sudden call to duty. I want to thank you for your willingness to heed that important call, and I want to thank your families. I want to thank your sons, daughters, husbands and wives who share in your sacrifice, who are willing to sacrifice for our country and who stand behind you.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Less than 2 weeks after the President made these comments, “the Bush administration announced its formal opposition to a proposal to give National Guard and Reserve members access to the Pentagon's health-insurance system, jeopardizing the plan's future and angering supporters. A recent General Accounting Office report estimated that one of every five Guard members has no health insurance.” - Gannett News Service, 10/23/03
Topic: Halliburton
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 9/14/2003
Quote/Claim:
"And since I left Halliburton to become George Bush’s vice president, I’ve severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven’t had now for over three years." [Source: Meet the Press transcript]
Fact:
A congressional report found that Cheney still owns “more than 433,000 Halliburton stock options,” including “100,000 shares at $54.50 per share, 33,333 shares at $28.125 and 300,000 shares at $39.50 per share.” - CNN, 9/25/03
Topic: Iraq - Al Qaeda Links
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 9/14/2003
Quote/Claim:
“There was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the ’90s.” [Meet the Press transcript]
Fact:
"The chairman of the monitoring group appointed by the United Nations Security Council to track al Qaeda told reporters that his team had found no evidence linking al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein.” - NY Times, 6/27/03
"U.S. allies have found no links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. 'We have found no evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda,' said Europe's top investigator. 'If there were such links, we would have found them. But we have found no serious connections whatsoever.'" - LA Times, 11/4/02
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 3/16/2003
Quote/Claim:
"We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly, . . . (in) weeks rather than months." [Source: Meet the Press, reprinted in Boston Globe]
Fact:
"A campaign on the harsh terrain of a nation as large as California could be longer and more difficult than some predict." - President Bush, Speech to Nation, 3/20/03
Topic: Halliburton
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 1/22/2004
Quote/Claim:
"Halliburton gets unfairly maligned simply because of their past association with me." [Source: Cnn Website]
Allegations of corruption stem from "desperate" political opponents who "can't find any legitimate policy differences to debate." [Source: CNN Website]
Fact:
Halliburton itself has acknowledged that it “accepted up to $6 million in kickbacks” in its no-bid contract work in Iraq. Additionally, it is the Bush Administration – not “political opponents” -- that has looked into allegations that the company overcharged the government by $61 million. And it has been the Bush Administration that "repeatedly warned the company that the food it was serving the 110,000 U.S. troops in Iraq was 'dirty'” with an audit finding "blood all over the floor" of its kitchens, "dirty pans," and "rotting meats ... and vegetables." - Boston Globe, 1/23/04; CBS, 12/12/03
Topic: Halliburton
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 1/22/2004
Quote/Claim:
“I severed my ties with Halliburton when I became a candidate for Vice President in August of 2000.” [Source: NPR]
Fact:
"Vice President Dick Cheney received $178,437 in deferred pay last year from Halliburton, the Texas oil-field services company he once headed that has received billion-dollar government contracts in Iraq." - Reuters, 4/13/04
Topic: Halliburton
Speaker: Cheney, Dick - Vice President
Date: 8/7/2002
Quote/Claim:
“Halliburton is a fine company, and I'm pleased that I was associated with the company.” [Source: White House Web site]
Fact:
Halliburton has acknowledged that it “accepted up to $6 million in kickbacks” in its contract work in Iraq. It is also under scrutiny over allegations of overcharging the government by $61 million in Iraq – a practice for which the company was previously fined $2 million. The company also potentially faces criminal charges in a $180-million international bribery scandal during the time Cheney was CEO of the company. The Pentagon has also "repeatedly warned the company that the food it was serving the 110,000 U.S. troops in Iraq was 'dirty'” with an audit finding "blood all over the floor" of its kitchens, "dirty pans, dirty grills, dirty salad bars and rotting meats…and vegetables." - Boston Globe, 1/23/04; CBS, 12/12/03, 4/12/03; Washington Post, 1/21/04
Just who has been allowed to gain control are carcasses passing for human, soulless entities that have committed actions that defy explanation but for which they always have an answer. Spiritually dead, these purveyors of human suffering are sucking the marrow out of America. They wanted the right to invade your homes, your medical records, sacred conversations, and they got it by chipping away at the constitution. This orgy of power must end, or before long you will be denied the right to your personal thoughts and marked with a bar code, and you will dare not speak out. National security will be wielded as a battering ram to strip you of free will and pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness; what used to be the American way. They will use it as an excuse to invade your church, your temple, your synagogues, and your mosques under the cloak of security. What you have unleashed on the world slave is a political prostitute masquerading as a world leader pimped out by big business and high rolling lobbyists. A 21st century whore who long ago auctioned his ass off to the CEO signing the highest contribution check, a bottom feeder sucking the marrow out of the backs of the American people who sit idly by slurping cappuccinos at Starbucks or porch grazing with lemonade and talking about how the economy’ picking up steam while big business continues gobbling up jobs like some new millennium Pac Man running wild.
There’s a movement in America, a virulent mentality at work in the minds of the followers who support the status quo unfailingly, without question. Not unlike that of cult followers when they're under the influence of some megalomaniac leader, they can be wild-eyed, and foaming at the mouth in their fervent belief and support. There is a name for them, they’re called fanatics. You can't convey logic, nor intelligent thought because they are incapable rationality.
What kind of man does these things? An empty shell, a reprehensible black hole without one ounce of
common decency. You have a responsibility if not to yourselves, then to your children, to change the
course of their destiny because the real God lords over his people with compassion, with care for those
without, the downtrodden, and the forgotten; with real compassion not rhetoric or hollow words. And
right now, America is a place full of many forgotten people who simply don’t matter. You witnessed the
results of just four years, do you even want to imagine what another term will mean for both the U.S. and
the global community at large. The world must be collectively galvanized to bring an end to this orgy of power. Do you really want to risk the unleashing of
hell on earth from a group thirsting to turn out a scorched earth policy on the next sovereign nation? Just
think, your country may be next in their cross hairs. There is so much at stake, for not only America but
the rest of the international community. Haven’t you seen enough? Isn’t it time for this legacy of infamy,
and the house that lies built to end? Show the world on Nov 2 what real men and women of will can do
because God does have an agenda for America, but he is NOT on the Republican ticket.
Keyser Soaze
e-mail:
rogue87@fastmail.fm