I truly sympathise with Cindy Sheehan's loss, I cannot think of any pain that would come close to the death of a son or daughter. What makes the loss all the more painful though, is her belief that her son died for nothing - surely this undervalues the sense of patriotic duty that he and many others must have felt when they enlisted to serve their country. He did not die for nothing, he died so that freedom from oppression could be realised by many many thousands of people who were unable to fight for themselves.

Yes, there are those who trot out the "there were no WMD" stories. However, this is little more than a total irrelevance..........Someone can threaten to shoot me with a gun, and in the light of those threats am I really going to call his bluff despite the hidden hand and the suspicious bulge under his overcoat? No! I'm going to take his threat seriously...and if I manage to kill him first, am I really to blame for taking his threats seriously even if they are proved to be lies?

What is very sad though, is the way that the media and the misguided peace campaigers have jumped on this poor woman's bandwagon, using her sufferring, her means of dealing with this tragedy to serve their own ends.

I'm sorry, but anyone who believes that (a) there was no threat from Iraq and (b) that terrorism (supposedly) in the name of Islam was not already a problem before 9/11, is seriously misguided. I am no warmonger, I believe in peace, but there are times when the strong must come to the aid of the weak, and I have nothing but admiration and immense gratitude for those who put themselves in the front line for our security and the security of others.

Cindy Sheehan disingenuous in denying writing that son died for Israel in Iraq:

 http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2005/08/cindy-sheehan-mother-of-spc-casey.html

" Cindy Sheehan disingenuous in denying writing that son died for Israel in Iraq:"

And for that, Ms Sheehan managed to garner the support of the American Nazi Party, and David Duke...
Cindy Sheehan; Poster girl for Fascists

so, we'll be seeing 'neo' signing up for a tour of duty in iraq when the recruitment offices open in the morning then?
thought not.
so peace campaigners who support another peace campaigner (one with a very personal reason to be one) have a misguided bandwagon being steered for nefarious purposes? anything near as misguided, nay criminal as those jumping on the gross military tankwagon and offering solidarity to the illegal invaders and pillagers or iraq?
thought not.
so the distraction of fascists and psy operatives playing with ideas about whether or not israel benefits from the war undermines the growing democratic movement in the US for peace and an end to self-deception about the war?
thought not.
so we'll be seeing a clear explanation from our governments and their greasy sycophantic and/or paid defenders of the downing street memo, the real reason for the invasion and why young casey really died and the president daren't meet his grieving mother?
thought not.
how thorough the attacks on poor cindy are needing to be
and how sordid, too
shame on you all, and big love to the people who can see through your bullshit and stand together for peace and love.

Dear Neo,

I am writing to try and clarify the bizzare rationale behind your basis on going to war with Iraq.

You state "Someone can threaten to shoot me with a gun, and in the light of those threats am I really going to call his bluff despite the hidden hand and the suspicious bulge under his overcoat? No! I'm going to take his threat seriously...and if I manage to kill him first, am I really to blame for taking his threats seriously even if they are proved to be lies?"

If you spend billions of pounds per annum on intelligence and they report back categoricallly stating this someone doesn't have a gun, is it still ok to shoot them?

In reference to

A) There was no threat from Iraq - The Hutton report, ignoring the whitewash conclusion, actually documents that Iraq was NOT a threat to US or UK. In fact it had no weapons other than battlefield ones which could be used against Iran etc. I'm surprised the US didn't try to sell him more of the same. It could've saved America dropping them on Iran in the future. Actually didn't they try that one before?!

B) That terrorism (supposedly) in the name of Islam was not already a problem before 9/11 - I am not going to state that it wasn't a problem before 9/11 but I feel the US/Coalition's response, especially with regards to Iraq, is not helping the problem but making it worse. I don't know the exact number of suicide bombings in Iraq to date this year but I do know it was over 300 SINCE MAY!! How many was there before the war??

If this is the way to solve the problem then they are going about it in the right way.

"I am no warmonger, I believe in peace, but there are times when the strong must come to the aid of the weak" - I respect that you believe in peace and are no warmonger. I also believe there are times when the strong must come to the aid of the weak. It does not always mean war though. Again, if the basis of war is humanitarian grounds, then it hasn't really been too successful then has it? If more people are dying just now in Iraq how can it be?

I'm sorry but anyone who believes that the US/coalition went to war in Iraq because of (A) WMD, (B) Sadaam's "links" to terrorism & al-qaeda or (C) the liberation of Iraq, is seriously misguided.

How much have Halliburton been awarded in contracts in Iraq - billions according to this BBC article  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3545259.stm

Oops maybe THIS was the reason for war?  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3231345.stm

I cannot explain why Tony Bliar supported it though - maybe he's just seriously misguided!!

Yours in mourning,

Truthful Al

Karl Rove's War Against Cindy Sheehan

To slander opponents so their political positions are discredited -- Karl Rove's doctrine has been immensely effective in defeating Bush's challengers; will it now be effective in defeating grieving mother Cindy Sheehan?
By Stewart Nusbaumer

Dirty fighting is in their political blood. It’s their modus operandi. It’s their crème de menthe. By slandering and lying and thrashing they decimate enemies and capture political office -- they win, which means everything to them. Now they are eyeing Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier tragically killed in Iraq, a grieving mother protesting the war from a ditch near George Bush’s ranch. They want to slaughter the mother lamb to destroy her resonating antiwar message. They want to win again.

Henry Kissinger once joked seriously that “90 percent of politicians give the other 10 percent a bad reputation.” Hunter Thompson once said that Richard Nixon, although this could have been about the 90 percent of politicians, “could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time.”

But George Bush and Karl Rove are not just back-stabbers -- they make Richard Nixon look like an angel. Rove and Bush are unique. Their vulgarity is wrenching, their lies are outrageous, their maliciousness is extreme, and their morality is nonexistent. All of which is evident in their sordid thrashing of three honorable military veterans.

Campaigns of Sleaze & Malice toward Three

1) John McCain

In the 2000 presidential primary, shadowy forces spread rumors that John McCain, who had spent six years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, was mentally unfit to be president. The Bush-Rove attack machine spread stories of McCain’s out-of-control temper and his so-called outrageous behavior; they worked up outrageous stories that McCain had been a stoolie when imprisoned in Vietnam. Innuendoes circulated and vicious attacks cut, leaving McCain dazed and fuming. The Bush-Rove team perpetrated a sleazy e-mail campaign alleging that he had fathered an illegitimate black daughter, alienating conservatives in the crucial state of South Carolina.

A former Enron marketing executive, Karl Rove, discreetly spewed propaganda that crawled and seeped into the media, his attacks were sneaky and relentless, vicious, and his lies mean, all intended to plant in the public’s mind that John McCain’s mind wobbled unstably and his morals had foundered. The cumulative effect of the vicious Rove “marketing campaign,” although impossible to quantify, was a major contribution in the undermining of John McCain’s personal and political credibility.

George Bush won the Republican nomination, John McCain returned to the Senate bitter, and then the Supreme Court appointed Bush to be president. Rove obviously learned some great marketing tricks during his top management tenure at Enron, now the icon for corporate corruption, if not slime.

What Karl Rove started back in Texas, developed in South Carolina, refined in Georgia, and perfected nationally was how to conduct a well coordinated clandestine campaign to discredit an opponent’s integrity in order to destroy his candidacy. Attack the person, then their ideas won’t matter; trash their reputation, then their policies are dead. That is the way to win elections the Enron way.

So politics is character assassination, and everything else is commentary -- or secondary. And Karl Rove directs these malicious, odious personal attacks on honorable people to destroy their politics from behind an iron façade of cowardly secrecy. The Texas style of politics is sneaky and dastardly.

2) Max Cleland

The next noteworthy battle was the 2002 Senatorial race in Georgia. The target was the triple-amputee Vietnam veteran Max Cleland -- a man who certainly sacrificed for his country. But the vile Bush-Rove directed propaganda claimed Cleland never sacrificed for America, giving credibility to the incredulous that his own grenade ripped his three limbs off -- not true, but it didn’t matter. The Cleland campaign was off keel and vulnerable. Again, Rove used the tactics he learned at Enron, our corporate symbol of deceit and fraud.

The Rove “marketing team” painted Cleland soft on terrorism. Cleland was repeatedly attacked by his Republican opponent, Rep. Saxby Chambliss, “for breaking his oath to protect and defend the Constitution.” To drive the point home a slanderous television ad under the influence of Rove identified the Senator with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Cleland’s congressional record was relentlessly distorted and this distorted record was then ruthlessly attacked. For instance, Cleland was called a traitor for voting for an amendment to the Chemical Weapons Treaty, yet the majority of the Senators, including Sen. Bill Frist (the current Senate majority leader, then the chairman of the Republican Senate Campaign Committee) who handpicked Chambliss, also voted for the amendment.

Not surprising, these Republicans were never called traitors.

These are banana-republic-style tactics, where the media is intimidated, if not shackled, and accountability is nonexistent so anything can and is said. It produces an endless chase to refute lies, because character assassination has become the essence of your democracy. It produces not the free exchange of ideas, but a continuous bombardment of the deceptive and the distorted. It is Enron politics, and Karl Rove doesn’t lose in Enron politics.

Cleland lost his Senate seat. Again the smearing of a Vietnam veteran and the discrediting of his service in Vietnam was effective. Karl Rove and George Bush won again.

The conventional political wisdom advised candidates to attack their opponent’s weakest point; Rove disagreed with this central tactic. He said go after your opponent’s strongest attribute. When Vietnam veterans were the opponents, discredit their military record -- McCain was a stoolie for the communists, Cleland blew himself up -- then you will discredit their candidacy. At the same time, Rove was defending his candidate’s greatest vulnerability, a candidate who insisted he was tough and a straight talker-- Bush’s military record.

George Bush joined the Air National Guard to avoid fighting in Vietnam, a war he strongly supported but refused to fight in. In the Guard, he had a shabby record that pointed toward drug abuse and even going AWOL. By immediately lambasting an opponent’s honorable war record, Karl Rove transferred attention away from Bush’s miserable military record, and by continuing to lambaste the honorable veteran, he discredited the candidate. It defeated John McCain and Max Cleland. Sure, there were other reasons for their defeat, but the underlying character assassination of both candidates was crucial.

A veterans’ honorable military service had always been above partisan politics and would have never ended up as campaign fodder; a repugnant public would have given the offending candidate a crushing election defeat. That is the way it has always been in America, but not anymore. Karl Rove and George Bush are different, and they have been central in making repugnancy mainstream in America. They have been crucial in moving the ethics of Enron into the political mainstream.

3) John Kerry

The showcase for Karl Rove’s underhanded prowess to win through slander and lies was the 2004 presidential election. On the floor of the Republican Convention, official delegates held a parade mocking John Kerry’s Purple Heart decorations -- given for combat wounds in Vietnam. The “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” trashed not only Kerry’s medals but everything related to his military experience: his motive for going to Vietnam, his actions in Vietnam, his behavior after the war. He was accused of being a liar and a fake, an untrustworthy candidate, even an unpatriotic American. Not merely accused, but bashed for months up to the election.

Immediately after the Democratic Convention, Kerry was shoved on the defensive and he never recovered as the Swift Boat Veterans did the dirty work that benefited George Bush-- they smeared a veteran with false accusations and outright lies. The combat vet Kerry was destroyed, the candidate Kerry was limping.

Karl Rove’s goal is not necessarily to persuade the public to vote for George Bush, at least not initially, but to instill doubt in voters about the opponent’s integrity and past actions -- in these cases, integrity as soldiers and actions in war. When voters began to view John McCain, Max Cleland, and John Kerry as possibly less than honorable, possibly immoral, George Bush was safe. His dismal military history and serious integrity questions were on the media’s back burner. That George Bush had little to offer America except an abundance of unintended comical lines and an exaggerated swagger, the voting public quickly forgot. With the myopic-tunnel-vision media in its dumb groove and the public riveted on baseless accusations, George Bush was safe.

The fact is, doubt wins elections more often than convictions, uncertainty is often more important than certainty. This is especially true for the babbling, pathetic candidates.

With John Kerry’s credibility as a sailor in Vietnam in tatters, with his political credibility discredited, George Bush won again. Again Vietnam had been used successfully against his opponent. Again the war, in vile manipulation and distortion, returned to defeat a veteran of that war. This was a different America than had ever existed before. The politics of Enron had sunk the country to a new low.

4) The Media

From John McCain to Max Cleland to John Kerry, there is a clear pattern that Karl Rove’s strategy is to smear a candidate’s military service and his sacrifices for country to create doubt in voters and to hide the truth that George Bush is the unworthy candidate. The linchpin for dissimilating Rove’s smear campaign is the 4th Estate.

Rich Lowry, admirer and friend of Karl Rove, and editor of the conservative National Review, smugly said that John McCain, Max Cleland and John Kerry “make the smallest caucus in American politics -- Thin-Skinned Vietnam War Veterans Adored by the Media (TSVWVAM).” In fact, the media does not “adore” these veterans; in fact, the media made possible the repulsive, historical thrashing of McCain’s, Cleland’s, and Kerry’s military careers.

Black has now become white, slander is fact, and disservice is adornment -- that is the political world of Enron carried out by unpatriotic Republicans.

But without the compliance of the mainstream media, there would not be the endless repetition of unsubstantiatedl charges that grind the truth down, that eventually make the truth irrelevant in our political campaigns. With the refusal of the media to investigate and report the truth, with history and context shunned for flashy outrageous statements, the bogus took center stage and unsubstantiated accusations replaced facts. The media is Rove’s megaphone to slander character and discredit candidates. Without the media Karl Rove would be ineffective; with the media he is highly effective.

None -- absolute none -- of the Swift Boat Veterans charges have ever been substantiated. Not one. Yet, these charges were crucial in the election defeat of a man running for the presidency. The role of the media as watchdog of government and guardian of the truth is an utter sham today. The media is silly putty in the hands of Rove-type sleaze balls committed to saying the lie to destroy the credible.

Few American institutions have fallen as far and fast as the 4th Estate. It makes all the Enron politics possible.

Campaign of Sleaze and Malice toward Cindy

An angry, yet gentle, broken-hearted mother of a dead soldier killed in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan protests the war just down the road from George Bush’s Texas ranch. She has now returned to California to tend to her ailing mother, but Cindy remains committed to her cause. She stands tall as a courageous American, while Americans watch in fascination. But Karl Rove is not fascinated; he is looking for his weapons to smear her all the way to ill repute.

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing,” Bob Dylan sang. And we don’t need a mind reader to know what Karl Rove is thinking.

Already there has been a so-called uncoordinated “citizen outrage” counter-demonstration, just like Rove organized in Florida during the disastrous vote recount. Legal action is being discussed to restrict if not prohibit the mother’s protest -- a rifle shot was fired -- a truck ran over the sacred crosses of our war dead. The humid Texas air is thick with tension and anger. Karl Rove and George Bush are smiling.

There are charges that Cindy is disgracing her dead son’s legacy “by serving as a pawn for well-organized, anti-American activist groups … is a willing poster child for radical left-wing America haters … is using her son’s death ... is cruelly robbing our fallen soldiers of the high honor that they deserve …” -- this in Cindy’s hometown newspaper. The Republican letters brigades are preparing to roast Cindy in public.

The Republican troops are coming together and the guns to smear are being prepared. Some activists are under General Rove’s command, while others are jumping on the bandwagon propelled by the Bush-Rove attack machine. The dirty war has started. Last night the Fox News “fair and balanced” commentators lit into Cindy Sheehan claiming she is running a circus that is dangerous for the U.S. soldiers in Iraq. This is a central Rove tactic. Hide behind the well-being of our troops, even when our troops are dying; honor the troops while denigrating the veterans. That is the voice of a moral vacuum without limits.

There are charges that Cindy receives finances from left organizations, which supposedly taints her message. But those in left-wing organizations are also Americans, and plenty of Americans contribute to right-wing causes and candidates. Yet, the media carries the message, allowing the implication to stand, and the planting in the public’s mind that somehow Cindy is hiding something awful.

There are rumors that Cindy’s husband is divorcing her because she was unfaithful, repeatedly unfaithful the more enthusiastic propagandists claim. Her sexual orientation is questioned; it’s whispered she’s a radical lesbian -- she is mentally unbalanced and getting more unbalanced. Members of her extended family “spontaneously” line up as Republican sheep, denouncing this whacked out woman disgracing America and her own dead son. The dirty war has begun; Enron “reality” is real.

And soon it will happen, the wheels are already turning. I assure you, a “Soldiers Mothers for Truth” type organization will claim that Cindy is a miserable fake and an outlandish liar. It will be the Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan. The Rove Doctrine is as predictably as it is gutter sleazy.

A Campaign for America?

The question is not what Karl Rove and George Bush want to do about the mother with the potent antiwar message; they want to discredit her reputation and make her anti-Iraq War message impotent. But will they succeed? If Cindy’s personal message -- the Iraq War is wrong so bring the troops home -- is crushed, then the antiwar movement will probably slip back into the doldrums, liberals and concerned citizens will return to their sports and shopping or whatever. And there will be more war, more dead, more grieving mothers -- but grieving in private.

To a large extent, what actually happens depends not on Karl Rove and George Bush, but on us. On students who have been in a deep coma of indifference. On liberal activists who have succumbed to inaction because the antiwar movement is inactive. On sensible citizens who have avoided the effort to think and act upon their thoughtful decisions. The outcome of this historical battle depends much more on whether we change than on what we know the Bush-Rove attack machine does.

Upon exiting the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of anxious citizens who asked what kind of government the delegates had created for the new country. Franklin replied: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

We can’t keep our democratic republic if Karl Rove and George Bush define our politics -- bring down soldiers who sacrificed for America and disrespect mothers whose sons died in the name of America. We can’t keep America if we are ruled by the Enron philosophy that says immoral attacks are patriotic. More than ever, we need courageous citizens. We need Cindy Sheehan. It’s time to fight.


Stewart Nusbaumer is editor of Intervention Magazine. You can email Stewart at  Stewart@interventionmag.com.

I wish the people of the US were as savy and current as you blokes, this horrible situation in Iraq might have been thwarted by now.

Unfortunately, Americans have their remote controls and are able to get away from the news stories (as few as they are that tell the truth) and watch their baseball and basketball, and whatever..............and leave the US Foriegn Policy up the to paid off scum bags that have taken over the White House.

I wish to appologize for our complaicant nation in the US to all of those who are enduring the affects of it's blatant corporate greed. Eisenhower warned us of the "Industrial War Complex"..........well, quite frankly and sadly, they occupy the White House. The people of the US are starting to realize that they have been asleep at the wheel.........will the rest of the world ever forgive us for our stupidity?

They will forgive you if you take these criminals on before they have a chance to carry out what they're planning for the near future.

Reclaim the 'Orange Revolution'
Jordan Thornton
no rightsThis work is in the public domain

As Cindy Sheehan camps outside of George II's country manor, let's get out into the streets, and send a message of unity to the world. Let's bring an end to this right here and now, before things get any worse.
Since the demonstrations which reversed the electoral decision in the Ukraine, I've heard and seen many Ukrainians talking about large groups of foreigners who were pivotal to their planning. Many of these groups were the ones responsible for paying for the food, shelter, and orange banners used by the protestors. I didn't think much of this, or the accusations of funding from agencies such as the CIA, until I saw the same thing occuring in Lebanon.

Then, a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (www.cbc.ca), Carol Off, did a piece explaining that the "spontaneous, grassroots" protests in the Ukraine were the result of CIA funding and planning over a period of ten years.

Sadly, the report lauded these tactics of Regime Change, but nonetheless, proved my point.

One thing I've noticed is the tightly-controlled Western media's willingness to ignore the unsubstantiated allegations made in Syria and Lebanon that the Central Intelligence Agency, or Israel's Mossad, or both, were responsible for actions like the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, and behind the recent Opposition Movements, while at the same time, parroting over and over the same unsubstantiated claims about Syria, emanating from the White House den of LIARS and thieves. Even media outlets which I consider better than the rest, like the CBC, are guilty of such irresponsibility. When pro-Syrian demonstrators turned out in the hundreds of thousands, proving the anti-Syrians to be the minority voice, the media downplayed these numbers.

Just feels a bit too staged for my taste ... What I find the most irresonsible about all of this is the fact that whoever is behind this, they are attempting (and succeeding) to divide the Lebanese People, and cause conflict both within the country, and towards Syria. This, of course, aids the Israelis and PNAC Americans, who both have an interest, and want to invade and occupy Syria (and perhaps Lebanon as well), as called for repeatedly by the agenda which has seen Bush/PNAC illegally invade two Arab nations already.

The CBC chose Janice Stein, a Zionist "Middle East Expert" to comment on the situation, and she said when she saw the demonstrations she "saw the colour orange". This was after the first anti-Syrian demo, when the colour scheme wasn't so pronounced. Since then, orange flags, placards, etc. have started "spontaneously" appearing in great numbers.

When I was in university, my Design professor brought in some Colour Researchers from the University of Edmonton, who lectured on the psychological, but also the PHYSICAL effects, colours have on the human body and mind. This red-orange colour is one of the "comfort colours", and you will no doubt remember seeing it in countless commercials (ING Direct, and the creepy, stereotypical European banker, anyone ... ?).

Since the CIA, or Mossad, or whoever is ultimately behind these carefully stage-managed displays, you know they understand what they're doing. I believe that we should be taking a cue from them, and striking while the iron is hot.

This orange colour scheme has been carefully crafted in order to transmit "armchair understanding" of these two manufactured crises.

Even though it was our Enemy putting it out there, for their own purposes, we should seize the opportunity to claim it for ourselves. After all, we have been granted an unprecedented look inside the CIA's "Handbook for Non-Violent Revolution", and you know damn well that they have studied all of the relevant psychological factors.

If you are to protest, from now on, DRESS IN ORANGE, and CARRY SIGNS OF ORANGE, rally at the feet of power, and the media, DEMANDING that the democratic Will of the People not be ignored. I guarantee this will send an instant message, not only to the Bush/PNAC/Bliar Regime, but to all Americans and to the world that sees it.

Keep your signs easy to read and understand, things such as "FIRE THE LIARS", "INVESTIGATE, IMPEACH, PROSECUTE" and at media centres, "LIARS", or "TRAITORS", or "COWARDS".

Groups should design some Talking Points, and designate members to speak with the reporters on-scene. In larger centres, you should inform the media of what's going to happen, and call the stations' News Director or Assignment Editor, and request to be interviewed. You could even take it further, and offer your services as an Activist Analyst for the day, just like they use ex-military personnel, and members of Right-Wing "Think-Tanks".

Let's test these LIARS and War Criminals, and their media puppets, and see just how much they truly respect "Freedom & Democracy", the words upon which they attempt to justify the attrocities upon which they've built their fortunes.

Regardless of what happens, the message will be sent. We have nothing to lose. If something comes of this, then great. Follow up and celebrate. If the rallies are ignored, or treated by the police as those in the past, then you've just PROVEN these men to be the Hypocrites we all know them to be.

I'd like to see as many people as can not simply Rally for a few hours, but for DAYS. Those who cannot make it there, plan and hold your own local rallies, and not only gather where your Government officials meet, but also where the media does its business.

Let's take this thing that was designed to dupe people into supporting what the Fascists in DC want, and turn it on its head.

Let's use it as a tool for bringing that Fascism to its knees, and demonstrate the good intentions that were to be assumed about the "Orange Revolutionaries".

Remember, that we are the Majority, and Truth is our greatest Ally.

The only way we can fail, is if we fail to ACT.

P E A C E . . . ?

"No matter how far you have traveled down the wrong road, turn back"
- Ancient Egyptian Proverb