Guest Blogged by David Swanson, co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org and CensureBush.org
In the eight months since the so-called “Downing Street Documents” have been made public, certain media elites have claimed that it is all “old and uninteresting news” that…
1. Bush had already decided to go to war long before approaching Congress or the public or the UN about it, and had already started the attack with increased bombings;
2. Bush had already decided to lie about weapons of mass destruction and ties to 9-11;
3. The Brits were concerned by the illegality of an aggressive war, but the Bush Administration was not;
4. Going to the UN was an attempt to justify the war, and the hope was to craft an ultimatum that Saddam Hussein would reject;
5. The focus of the Bush and Blair administrations was on selling the war to the public, and not at all on trying to avoid it;
6. The Bush and Blair administrations were aware that Iraq was no threat, and were willing to attack Iraq precisely because it posed no serious threat of fighting back.
Of course, those who care about the world we live in do not find any of this “uninteresting.” As well, given the shameful dearth of proper coverage by the Mainstream Media of these issues, many Americans still have yet to hear about these things. So it is hardly “old news” in any meaningful sense.
But still, some have maintained that the “Downing Street Documents”, as well as all the other evidence that makes them old news in the eyes of some, are not credible. In fact, a right-wing group called Move America Forward is running television ads claiming that every Bush war lie was true, even the ones that Bush himself has admitted were “mistakes.” (Yes, they even go so far as to claim in their ads that there were Weapons of Mass Destruction found in Iraq!)
Some people may be beyond the realm of rational persuasion, but wouldn’t it be nice to be able to present those in doubt or poorly informed with a few pages of paper confirming the accuracy of the Downing Street Minutes and related documents, and listing other evidence that corroborates the Minutes point by point?
Now you can…
Simply print out pages 34 to 37 of Congressman John Conyers’ new report, THE CONSTITUTION IN CRISIS: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War.
— Here’s are a couple of the points you’ll find there confirming the authenticity of the Downing Street Minutes themselves…
When the Downing Street Minutes were first published by the Sunday London Times, shortly before the 2005 British election, the Blair Administration chose not to deny their authenticity. Shortly after the Minutes were released, sources within both the Bush and Blair Administrations confirmed their accuracy to the press. A former senior US official told Knight Ridder that the Downing Street Minutes were “an absolutely accurate description of what transpired.” (Warren P. Strobel & John Walcott, Downing Street Memo Indicates Bush Made Intelligence Fit Iraq Policy, KNIGHT RIDDER, May 5, 2005.)
Two senior British officials, who asked not to be further identified because of the sensitivity of the material, told Newsweek in separate interviews that they had no reason to question the authenticity of the Downing Street Minutes. (Michael Isikoff & Mark Hosenball, From Downing Street to Capitol Hill, NEWSWEEK.COM, June 17, 2005, available here)
— Here are some of the points you’ll find there corroborating elements in the Downing Street Minutes…
By mid-July 2002, eight months before the war began, President Bush had decided to “remove Saddam, through military action.”
This has been proven true — on March 20, 2003, the U.S. military invaded Iraq and follow-up aspects of the Downing Street Minutes bear out that this decision was made well in advance of the war. In addition to the wealth of verification in Sections III(A)(1), (2), and (4) of Conyers’ Report, and in particular as noted in the previous section, we know that in early August 2002, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair spoke by telephone. According to a White House official who has studied the transcript of the phone call, “The way it read was that, come what may, Saddam was going to go; they said they were going forward, they were going to take out the regime, and they were doing the right thing. Blair did not need any convincing. There was no ‘come on Tony, we’ve got to get you on board.’ I remember reading it then and thinking, O.K., now I know what we’re going to be doing for the next year.” (Bryan Burrough, Eugenia Peretz, David Rose, & David Wise, The Path to War, VANITY FAIR, May 1, 2004, at 228.)
In March 2003, Tony Blair reportedly said, “[l]eft to himself, Bush would have gone to war in January. No, not January, but back in September.” (ROBIN COOK, THE POINT OF DEPARTURE, Simon & Schuster, 2003).
Bush had decided to “justify” the war “by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD.”
This statement is borne out by the entire “marketing campaign,” which fixated on these twin justifications (see Section III(A)(4) of Conyers’ Report). For example, the Bush Administration formed the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) in August 2002 to persuade the public of Saddam’s supposed threat and to market the war. The Administration waited to introduce the WHIG’s product to the public until September 2002, because, as White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told The New York Times in an unusually candid interview, “[y]ou don’t introduce new products in August.” (Elisabeth Bumiller, Bush Aides Set Strategy to Sell Policy on Iraq, N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 7, 2002, at A1.)
Already “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”
The statement that “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy” is confirmed by the multi-layered effort by the Administration to pressure officials within the Administration to find links between Saddam and September 11 and to manipulate intelligence officials and agencies into overstating WMD threats (see Section III(B) of Conyers’ Report).
Many at the top of the administration “had no patience” with “the UN route.”
This statement is consistent with the realities of the Bush Administration’s intentions at the time. For example, Vice President Cheney’s stated opinion was that there was no need to seek any approval from the UN to invade. He has stated: “A return of inspectors would provide no assurance whatsoever of his compliance with UN resolutions. On the contrary, there is great danger that it would provide false comfort that Saddam was somehow ‘back in the box.'” (Mark Danner, The Secret Way to War, N.Y. REV. OF BOOKS, June 9, 2005, available here.)
“There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath of military action.”
Unfortunately, this statement has been verified by events following the war (see Sections II and
The US had already begun “spikes of activity” to put pressure on the regime.
The statement that the US had already begun “spikes of activity” to pressure Iraq has been subsequently confirmed by numerous accounts (see Section III(A) of Conyers’ Report). As reported in the Sunday London Times, in May 2002, with a conditional agreement in place with Britain for war, the US and UK began to conduct a bombing campaign in Iraq described by British and US officials as “spikes of activity” designed to put pressure on the Iraqi regime. In his autobiography “American Soldier,” retired U.S. General Tommy Franks, who led the 2003 invasion of Iraq, invoked the “spikes” phrase as far back as 2001: “I’m thinking in terms of spikes, Mr. Secretary,” he wrote, referencing a conversation with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in December 2001, “spurts of activity followed by periods of inactivity. We want the Iraqis to become accustomed to military expansion, and then apparent contraction.” (GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, AMERICAN SOLDIER 366, Regan Books, 2004.)
The bombing campaign was initiated a full ten months before the Bush Administration determined that all diplomatic means had been exhausted and six months before Congressional authorization for the use of force. A total of 21,736 sorties were flown over southern Iraq between June 2002 and the beginning of the war. According to a document found by Larisa Alexandrovna of RawStory.com, Lieutenant-General T Michael Moseley said that the “spikes of activity” were part of a covert air war. According to Moseley, the attacks, “laid the foundation” for the war. (John Byrne, U.S. changed Iraq policy to begin air strikes months before war, Rawstory.com, available here.)
The British believed “[w]e should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.”
The initiative of the British to go back to the UN to force an “ultimatum” has also been proven true (see Section III(A)(5) of Conyers’ Report). The U.S. and Britain asked for UN authorization to demand the reintroduction of weapons inspectors, which they received on November 8, 2002.
DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.
Impeachment Article I: ILLEGAL SPYING
Impeachment Article II: DOWNING ST. MINUTES
Impeachment Article III: TORTURE OF INNOCENTS
Impeachment Article IV: TWO ELECTION FRAUDS
Impeachment Article V: MISAPPROPRIATION OF TAXPAYER MONIES—$9 BILLION MISSING IN IRAQ AND BRIBING OF JOURNALISTS
It’s rounding into shape, folks.
How is getting this Republican congress to impeach this puppet (which I don’t believe they’ll ever do, anyway) going to any good when we’ve got one of the "string operators" waiting in the wings to take over, namely, Dick Cheney? He’s far worse than GWB, and things would stay the same or get worse under his rule.
I’ve always considered "Bush" to be more of the code word for the whole of this Corporatist administration, and less so the name of this corn-pone-jack-ass whose "wings take dream". Keep your eye on who’s pulling the strings, or has their hand stuffed up his fanny making his mouth work.
I’d much rather impeach Halliburton, Carlyle Group, and Rupert Murdoch, for starters. The support group is far more dangerous than the one they’re supporting. This bozo will be gone in a couple of years, but they will still be there.
To all who will listen
Unless the 2006 elections result in the congress of the United states being controled by the Democrats, nothing of consequence will happen!
Please focus on the voting rights and the use of the voting machines to vote and tabulate the count.
Nothing is more newsworthy than this issue.
Peter
Impeachment is going to be a very tricky proposition indeed. I wouldn’t put it past the neocons to push for immediate impeachment proceedings, knowing that the GOP-controlled Senate would never convict.
On the other hand, if an impeachment IS successful, then its going to have to be pretty large scale. If the shrub goes down then Dick Cheney is waiting in the wings. Just think how awful that would be. I mean, as inept as he is, people still buy the shit the poors out of Bush’s mouth. Cheney is FAR more articulate and I can see him gaining an even bigger following [to say nothing of four/eight more years!]
But let’s say that both Bush & Cheney are impeached and convicted. Who then are we stuck with? Condi [I never heard a bush lie i couldn’t back] Rice, thats who!
We’re going to have to have a MASSIVE impeachment proceeding with a long list of names in order to put our government back together again. A high rate of success in convicting each and every one of these perps is a MUST.
Apologies in advance for all the nightmares I’ve just provoked….
FIND OUT some very important info. on Move America Foward. They will attempt to derail the 06 elections you can bet on it..
Here is something I put together yesterday.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/28/102039/60
I have some very important information to share with you. First I would like to spotlight what MAF is up to these days. Then I will run you through their history. They are out to destroy the 06 elections! Are you ready for more decieftful insanity and lies form the right-wing nuts?
David Swanson,
I listened to your interview with JC jr. Was this for a radio program, or was it an informal conversation of some sort? I found it refreshingly honest and right on the mark.
At one point Conyers is even surprised to hear about a month old poll concerning impeachment, which illustrates to me that he is not doing this for publicity or public gain. It’s also interesting how little congressmen know about things that are not directly brought to their attention, I think citizens give them a lot more credit than they deserve.
In addition to his Iraq political work in the U.S., Mr. Russo has an open-ended political-advertising contract with the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq for whom he produces advertisements that run in the U.S. seeking investment in Kurdistan. Some critics accuse him of having a vested financial interest in prolonging the U.S. presence there…. And they say there is no conflict between the organization’s advocacy work and Mr. Russo’s financial ties to the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/are-kurds-trying-to-influence-us.html
I am focusing on MAF because we need to EXPOSE them
Swanson writes:
By mid-July 2002, eight months before the war began, President Bush had decided to "remove Saddam, through military action." … This has been proven true…we know that in early August 2002, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair spoke by telephone. According to a White House official who has studied the transcript of the phone call, "The way it read was that, come what may, Saddam was going to go;
The decision to invade can be placed as early as February 2002. The following is excerpted from pages 125 and 126 of the hardcover version of Senator Bob Graham’s book, Intelligence Matters:
…General Franks asked for an additional word with me in his office. When I walked in, he closed the door. Looking troubled, he said, "Senator, we are not engaged in a war in Afghanistan."
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"Military and intelligence personnel are being redeployed to prepare for an action in Iraq," he continued. "The Predators are being relocated. What we are doing is a manhunt. … That’s not our mission and that’s not what we are trained to do."
It took me a second to digest what he had told me. General Franks’s mission in Afghanistan–which, as a good soldier, he was loyally carrying out–was being downgraded from a war to a manhunt. What’s more, the most important tools for the manhunt, the Predators, had been redeployed to Iraq at the moment they were most needed in Afghanistan.
I was stunned. This was the first time I had been informed that the decision to go to war with Iraq had not only been made but was being implemented, to the substantial disadvantage of the war in Afghanistan.
This conversation took place on February 19, 2002.
Also, the best confirmation of the "facts being fixed around the policy" can be found in the case of the informant known as Curveball. According to Senator Pat Roberts, "Curveball really provided 98 percent of the assessment as to whether or not the Iraqis had a biological weapon." According to Newsweek, "nobody inside the U.S. government had ever actually spoken to the informant (Curveball)—except [for a single] Pentagon analyst, who concluded the man was an alcoholic and utterly useless as a source.” After discovering Curveball was going to be used as the primary source for Colin Powell’s speech before the United Nations, the analyst quickly sent an e-mail to his superiors expressing major concerns. He received the following response from the Deputy of the CIA’s Counter Proliferation Unit:
"Let’s keep in mind the fact that this war’s going to happen regardless of what Curve Ball said or didn’t say. The Powers That Be probably aren’t terribly interested in whether Curve Ball knows what he’s talking about.”
That is the definition of facts being fixed around the policy, no?
For Cynics Only– a hypothetical 2006 scenario
Lying in bed tossing and turning last night as I have done since…oh, I’d say November of 2000… Something odd hit my brain with a crash landing that left a dull thud and dent right at the tender part of the cerebral cortex.
It could be that I’m reading Al Franken’s book and Mark Crispin Miller’s Fooled Again simultaneously. It could be that my state of natural suspicion of all things bush-related have recently soared like a bad cholestoral count. Or maybe….maybe I’m receiving psychic messages from aliens forewarning me what the future may portend. ( )
But I started to ponder just how well Bin Laden has functioned overall for the bush administration….like some Arabic version of Santa Claus, bearing all the gifts one has on their PNAC wish list and then some; disappearing in the middle of the night not to be seen or heard from again, yet still providing cheer and gifts in the way of great propaganda tools and general fear mongering strategy. Then I recognized the new Poster Bad Boy of the Year being Zarqawi, and how the machinery has pumped up his Evil Quotient quite consistently of late to have him now rivalling UBL if not surpassing him on the top 10 list of Evil Doers. He now stands ready to take on the job single handedly that would be vacated by a UBL "capture".
And then….it’s about 3 AM by now…I started thinking about the 2006 elections and the 50 ways the RNC has of stealing them….Well, can you see where I’m going here? Or do we need Porter Goss to help "connect the dots"?
I suppose they could rest assured that Diebold, ESS and the gang are still pretty firmly ensconced across the country and even though suspicions run high– what can ordinary citizens actually do to oversee, observe or prevent an electronic tabulation fraud? Not much. So the Republicans should feel somewhat cozy with their election outlook given the reform movement has been stifled and stymied at every step along the road and many are still spouting the Conspiracy Theory meme– it isn’t likely that any of these loony left fringe activists will seriously threaten the hold they have on the secret proprietary vote count, is it?
Witnessing the 2004 techniques employed– the utter desperation to maintain power…as has been frequently suggested– in order to keep the lid on a stew of corrupt scandals that, if released, would make Pandora’s Box seem a quaint fairy tale. So it’s not just about voter intimidation, corrupt partisan Secretaries of State working hand in hand with graft and collusion alongside corrupt partisan election systems corporations employing corrupt tabulation and vote recording equipment.
No — that in itself still leaves a few public perception gaps and we saw last time how tricky they can be to circumvent…. Er…it was "Moral Values"– yeah, that’s it…The Gay marriage thing scared everybody…
What do you suppose a Bin Laden "finding"– "Dead or Alive"— might do for the oh-so-important 2006 elections?
Before, they couldn’t "afford" to get Bin Laden– or his usefulness as a political tool would have been destroyed and utterly irreplacable. But now– now we’ve got Zarqawi to fill the void should Bin turn up Dead or Alive somewhere…say– in Pakistan?
It could be seamless.
The GWOT or the GSAVE (whichever you prefer) could March forward bringing yet more freedom, and encompass just as much evil-hunting as it had previously…..the geography wouldn’t change any more than necessary to complete the Oil Wars– Zarqawi has shown himself no less elusive than UBL and can surely be found conspiring in several key regions that we need to bomb and plunder–er…I mean that we need to democratize and liberate.
AEI and Heritage could come up with all sorts of evidence and breaking stories about Zarqawi to document and verify his Syrian or Iranian network of uranium and aluminum tube deals— throw in Niger and Venezuela for good measure. Oh heck, why not stick him in the Arctic Oil Zones a few times as well, negotiating with other Islamists— far from peering eyes. And it would be really serendipitous to have some of that NSA domestic spying turn up some worthy "chatter" that pinpoints his location so we can drop a few daisy cutters– but, OOPS! He got away right before the drop…Dang.
And you could have a President with dismal approval numbers– in the 40s– all time lows, a Congress equally unfavored, backed up by a host of concurring exit polls calling for a Dem sweep— and then, all of a sudden—One good UBL capture and –POOF! Another mandate!
Well, I warned you this was For Cynics Only. Insomnia is only one of the gifts this administration has granted to me. Paranoia and Super Cynicism are some of the other byproducts for which I am eternally grateful…..
Like always when I venture into these shadowy regions of speculation– I hope to be proven wrong about it all. I would hope for Bin Ladens capture of course– Dead or Alive. But not as another political maneuver to steal yet another election. We have seen a saturation of using 9/11 as a political utility, what is it then that we can put past this group…what is it that is even beyond their standards of behavior?
–msinla, Author Who’s Counting
I heard recently that if bush/cheney were both impeached & convicted, Nancy Pelosi would be next in line for the presidency.
Correct? Incorrect? Anybody?
I was disappointed to hear Tony Trupiano say the other day that he is not for impeachment & that "the people" are not for it either.
Why, Tony???
The country survived the disgraceful fiasco that was the Clinton impeachment. It would certainly survive impeaching a president who has condoned & orchestrated torture, who did not arm his own troops properly & then lied about it, who abetted the outing of a covert agent, lied to Congress, manipulated intelligence, and spied on his own citizens illegally, and you KNOW that’s the SHORT list.
Impeachment was written into our legal system for a reason, for just such an occasion, it seems to me: to rein in out-of-control officials. High-profile progressives should be shouting impeachment from the freaking rooftops. What in the world is it going to take?!
It is IRRELEVANT if they’re convicted or not. One step at a time. Impeachment is ABSOLUTELY appropriate to address the unbelievably long list of misdeeds they have gotten away with! If they are not convicted simply because there is a republican majority, that will be a disgrace that is PERFECTLY APPARENT!
And it isn’t just bush, the hood ornament, who is impeachable, right? It would be crazy to impeach bush without impeaching cheney & others.
Can I get some help or a quick link to an answer? I have a running conversation with a neocon on another blog I have made more political lately. His comment needs a response and I don’t have the facts at hand……SO, this is what he said: " there wasn’t a person in our Congress or in the UN that didn’t believe Saddam was a threat with WMD and ties to al Qaeda (not 911, but al Qaeda). Why do you think they all believed this? The intel pointed to it. Why do you think the intel pointed to it? Because of some lie dredged up by some guy the left claims has an IQ of 40? No, because Saddam made us believe it. Can any of you good people recall ever hearing Saddam say he didn’t have WMD? Throughout the buildup to the war the US and the UN demanded (through UNR 1441) Saddam destroy his remaining WMD or verify the destruction of those WMD. What did Saddam do? He thumbed his nose at us, but he never said he didn’t have them. UNR 1441 finally states “…the Security Council has repeatedly warned that Iraq will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations”. Serious consequences… Something the UN was NEVER willing to follow through on, but given 911 and all the intel on Iraq, Bush was not going to take the chance. Not for legacy, not for corporate greed and certainly not to prove something to daddy Bush, but for country and duty. Was the intel faulty? Well, Bush finally comes out and says “Yes”. So the remaining question is, was it faulty because Bush purposefully manipulated the intel to justify the war? If you believe this then you would have to believe Bush had such massive control over global intel agencies to first get them to go along with it then second get them all to go along with his deception. Very doubtful. Or perhaps the intel was faulty because there was a breakdown in intel gathering, analysis and distribution. This is believable until you consider it was the US, France, Germany, Russia, Britain, etc, etc… that all came to the same conclusion. Are you telling me the entire globe gathered this faulty intel on Iraq WMD? " HELP PLEASE? Thanks, Davek
#10 – Joan — No, next in line, after Cheney, would be Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House. Then Sen. Ted Stevens, president pro tempore of the Senate, then Condoleeza Rice.
I think the following will help you understand. From my last post…
The best confirmation of the "facts being fixed around the policy" can be found in the case of the informant known as Curveball. According to Senator Pat Roberts, "Curveball really provided 98 percent of the assessment as to whether or not the Iraqis had a biological weapon." According to Newsweek, "nobody inside the U.S. government had ever actually spoken to the informant (Curveball)—except [for a single] Pentagon analyst, who concluded the man was an alcoholic and utterly useless as a source.” After discovering Curveball was going to be used as the primary source for Colin Powell’s speech before the United Nations, the analyst quickly sent an e-mail to his superiors expressing major concerns. He received the following response from the Deputy of the CIA’s Counter Proliferation Unit:
"Let’s keep in mind the fact that this war’s going to happen regardless of what Curve Ball said or didn’t say. The Powers That Be probably aren’t terribly interested in whether Curve Ball knows what he’s talking about.”
This is confirmation that 98% of the assessment as to whether Iraq had a biological weapon was fixed around a predetermined policy to invade. Continue digging and you will find similar evidence in regards to nuclear weapons, chemicals weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles, connections to al-Qaeda, and so on.
First lets stop focusing on so many things at once and get the point here people: We are fighting a radical, extreme zionist fascist movement.
If you want to fight that, you have to attack it from all sides. But only from one designated weak point at a time.
It is entirely possible we won’t have ANYTHING change in the voting situation for years–but it is also entirely possible we will change it OVERNIGHT.
It all depends, virtually and consistently on how much we attack and "de-stroy" one point of weakness. What I mean by destroy is entirely dis-assemble, nothing more nothing less.
You want to fight then realize you are fighting for freedom….and realize that every step of the way they will try to tear it out of YOUR hands.
The voting issue is problem number 1. Lets make sure the voting companies are convicted in court. We have a discovery process already under way lets focus on that and take it directly to the crime scene and beyond…
That includes ensuring accurate tests for the machines in January, right now that’s what is ahead of us. Get rid of this device completely and alltogether.
Tom Delay is problem number 2. Focus on derailing Congress completely, by any means neccesary until Delay is permanently out. Lets watch him get convicted and set in front of the Judge to explain his actions, ONLY THEN ARE WE ACTUALLY SAFE FROM HIS BULLSHIT.
By Tuesday this will explode big time because Jack Abramoff has sang on Tom Delay and multiple other congress members and it should clean out a good fail-swoop……in ONE pass of corrupt congressman.
Getting momentum regarding domestic spying & downing street minutes is problem #3.
AFTER assailing the voting situation, and getting things as contained as possible then its time to vote on resolutions for impeachment. In fact, if enough dirty congressman are "removed" via Abramoff & his piss-ant crooks we could even have an impeachment TRIAL HEARING begin.
As for what that means do not read into it…they’ve still packed the courts. And do not read into Dick Cheney….I guarantee he will be arrested &/or indicted for something in the CIA scandal.
What you need to worry about is who is left. Who is left after Tom Delay, and when you are fighting to get rid of the machines you also need to expose this group:
Move America Forward, code named Move America Backward to the darkages. They’re brainwashed puppets full of so much shit you can see it on the walls.
Jack Kemp is a member of the Oil for Food "Scandal" in fact….
Jack Kemp is a professional hitman, expose him
Maybe someone out there, including myself can spread the word FAR & WIDE about Kemp & the torture…….Connect Kemp to every damn scam you can possibly dream up, because THAT is how dirty Move America Backward is.
Finally don’t lose focus of the goals…..Get rid of congress, machines, & the end result bush, cheney
Don’t even IMAGINE a Karl Rove…he will be indicted next period. Just move full-bore on dismantling the voting machine apparatus & Tom Delay/Move America Forward.
Doug Eldritch
email from BBV:
(Permission to forward and reprint granted, with link to http://www.blackboxvoting.org)
You might be the one to help us crack this case.
At issue: A YES-NO question: Do Diebold touch-screens have a problem similar to that identified in the Black Box Voting project in Leon County, Florida — the devastating hack of the Diebold optical scan system. Just a YES-NO question.
Black Box Voting has now obtained certain NEW specific information indicating that the answer with the touch-screens will be “YES.” One of our researchers has identified an interpreter, which appears to be specifically prohibited by 2002 FEC
standards, inside a Diebold touchscreen system.
What is needed now is to confirm this finding with a "pedigreed" Diebold touch-screen system – ie., one to which we are given legitimate access with one of our publicly known experts. We will have to show that what our protected source has found
is also present in a system delivered by Diebold for use in actual elections. This cannot be a stolen system, a specially souped-up system (i.e. one that Diebold chooses), or a system used without authorization of its custodians.
Please immediately make contact with those you know to see if you can facilitate a quick YES-NO examination of an official Diebold touch-screen voting system anywhere in the United States or Canada. We know what we’re looking for. We know where it is. We simply need to confirm that it is ALSO in one of the systems delivered to public officials.
Note that in July, Diebold sent “threat” letters to its customers, warning them not to allow examination of their systems. However, in December Black Box Voting was shown to be correct when we alleged that there was executable code and an interpreter in the optical scan machines/memory cards. Diebold lied, under oath and in writing, to secretaries of state and purchasing officials about this. Now, the entire Diebold product line has been called into question, and we believe our findings will soon spill over into other vendors’ products
as well.
Following our demonstration in Leon County, Florida, California refused to certify Diebold. Pennsylvania has now refused to certify Diebold. Diebold has now been dropped from counties in Florida and Missouri. Diebold has refused to give its source code to North Carolina, most likely due to the NC requirement that allows POLITICAL PARTIES to examine the source code, which would risk revealing the problems exposed by the Black Box Voting projects conducted with Harri Hursti and others.
If you may be able to help with this project, please call Bev at (206) 335-7747 or Kathleen at 206-354-5723 or the main office at (425) 793-1030 or send to bev@blackboxvoting.org.
Telephone or send an overnight letter (sent by Fed X but not U.S. Post Office, to 330 SW 43rd
St Suite K PMB 547 Renton WA 98055) The contents of our e-mail was penetrated by an
outsider in late November in connection with confidential plans for upcoming testing, so we do not recommend that you contact us by e-mail for this particular endeavor.
The sooner the better. It is important to roll back use of ANY MACHINES WITH PROHIBITED CODE well in advance of the 2006 elections, in order to allow local jurisdictions to make other plans.
Jen- Get that to Senator Debra Bowen immediately!!
That information is crucial, it is very likely California can set up a test-touch screen demonstration as well. Not only that it is possible this could be repeated with ES&S, here is contact information for the Sec. of State office:
bmcdanno@ss.ca.gov
Here is Bowen:
Debra.Bowen@sen.ca.gov
http://www.sen.ca.gov/~newsen/senators/senators.htm
Doug E.
Get to Coyers’ web site and congratulate him for getting the PERSON of the YEAR award from TvNewsLIES.
Here’s where John Conyer’s was recognized for his outstanding work…
CLICK HERE
Thanks, Arry. I thought it sounded too good to be true.
You’re right Doug E that I shouldn’t assume Debra has seen the email from Bev. Will go email her now. Thanks for the suggestion and addy!
I swear to god, if I hear or read one more person say "What good does it do to impeach Bush when you’ve got Cheney waiting in the wings?", I’m gonna punch somebody. If you’ve been following the story over the past five years, you should know that whatever it is that Bush is up to his neck in, Cheney is up to his eyeballs in. In all likelihood, Cheney will go first. In the next two months, the prosecution is going to start working its way up the ladder in the vice president’s office the same way that the Abramoff and Enron investigations are doing it. Ultimately, everybody flips and gives up the one above him. If anyone turns on Bush before he has a chance to resign, it will probably be Gonzales or Tenet. But, at that point Cheney should already be gone.
You have to remember, it’s an election year. The number of Republicans willing to go to bat for Bush has already started to dwindle and it’s going to look like rats abandoning the burning ship before too long. House and Senate GOP leaders are wounded, out of commission, or soon to be. It’s going to be everyone for himself. The worse it gets for them, the worse it’s going to get.
Enjoy the ride, fer chrissake.
The whole corrupt GOP house of cards is about to fall to start the beginning of an auspicious year of the (bull)dog.
Bob Bilse #2
"I’d much rather impeach Halliburton, Carlyle Group, and Rupert Murdoch, for starters. The support group is far more dangerous than the one they’re supporting."
This is an important point that too often gets lots by people caught up in political side-taking.
This issue is MUCH bigger than Bush & Co. Like you said, it’s the people behind the scenes who are pulling the strings. In many cases the puppet-masters are probably not based in the USA. One has to step well back to see the big picture of who really benefits. For that one must look at the large-scale movements of money, control of natural resources at a global level, and ownership of property and other assets.
Ironically, I don’t necessarily see this as a conspiracy, more as an inevitable outgrowth the the particular economic and corporate systems we’ve established, and the utter lack of transparency relating to finances, politics, media, military and related issues.
The local-level things have to be dealt with (and maybe we should all focus our house-cleaning efforts on our immediate local area since that’s usually the most effective way to create change).
As powerful as they are, the main political parties are not the ultimate puppet-masters. We can’t afford to lose sight of the bigger picture lest we avoid addressing the real issues.
For # 11
Saddam did say he had no weapons. He produced thousands of pages of documents and volume upon volume of info on CD’s. Our fascist leader said "see he is denying he has WMD" Saddam agreed to let the inspectors in, and in they went. The our fascist leader ordered them out so he could officialy begin his undeclared illegal war of aggression. Reulting in hundreds of thousands of dead innocent Iraqi’s , sevreal thousand dead US service men and women (So far) , and NO WMD not a single one. NO evidence of "WMD programs" etc….
Oh and I almost frogot, we spend about a billion dollars a week in Iraq, but at home we let people starve,freeze, and die from lack of basic medical care. IMpeachment of the entire administration is the only course of action if we are not yet a fascist regime.
NSA FU
Catherine
I know what you speak of, the international bankers who own Jack Abramoff and connected to Israel etc etc and so forth…..
But trust me, do NOT go tackling that level of corruption until you’ve got america squarely saved from the tyranny….
International forces are already well aware of their scam and are pulling it apart at the seams. Too often, we focus too far outside the big picture which may detract us from whats right in front of us; what’s most important: IE: Deleting the voting machines & deleting congress until we have power of the people back in our hands.
Doug E.
Jim (#20), Catherine A and Doug E have already just touched upon the point I was really making: If you remove Bush AND Cheney, the problem remains.
The "front men" may change, but the powers that propped them up there remain in place, and will rise again, if not recognized for what they are. These are the people bent on controlling the world’s resources and ecomomy, and manipulate politics as a "front" to do it.
The faces will change in 2008, but the "body" we’re really fighting will still be there, as virile a danger as they’ve been the last six years (well, a lot longer than that, actually):
This quote, from the 18th century, by the power-mongering banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild (the first of the powerful Rothschild World bankers) rings truer today than ever: “Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes her laws".
This is the true nature of the beast we’re fighting, not Bush And Cheney. Search in the shadows!
Doug E #24 said, "But trust me, do NOT go tackling that level of corruption until you’ve got america squarely saved from the tyranny…."
That’s exactly why I recommended focusing on the LOCAL areana. Until enough people have woken up to become involved in tackling whatever are their local corruption issues, they won’t be able move skilfully up the food chain to national and international levels of corruption.
Involvement by the people is the deciding factor, and it makes sense to begin at the local level (given the media complicity). It’s far easier to develop an informed public by starting small and local.
It’s good to have some people or organizations shining a spotlight on the national and higher levels, but change won’t happen without the local level being roused from their slumber. So local level organizing and awareness-building campaigns should never be neglected.
Being AWARE of higher levels of corruption does not mean one could or should start off attempting to address the situation at that level.
Bob:
Just as Catherine says, stay local but build national. The international bankers won’t get away with it, the Zionists behind the curtain are much more well known now than ever…..
Everyone realizes these controllers like the Rothschilds are going to be undone. That is not our job to do….our job is to wake up the body public to the pervasive corruption, and completely irreversibly alter the voting process.
You can’t go taking on the big-boys without already having a firm grass-roots base at the local level…….and you don’t want to either…Nine-Eleven holds a key to everything….the international forces will expose 9-11 at some point, and when is impossible to determine.
Doug E.
Davek,
The chief American weapons inspector for 14 out of 30 inspections, Scott Ritter, spent many years looking for weapons of mass destruction and found none. He said :
"There simply is no evidence of a factual nature that sustains the allegation by the Bush administration or British government that Iraq today possesses weapons of mass destruction," Ritter told The Chronicle in late March 2003. He stuck to his guns later, when U.S. officials or troops incorrectly reported finding possible WMD sites early in the conflict.
Jonathan B. Tucker of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies’ Washington office said "I guess (Ritter) can claim vindication: He was right when everyone thought he was simply an apologist for the Iraqi government." Tucker recalls Ritter as being "probably the toughest or the most gung-ho of the (weapons) inspectors involved in trying to penetrate the Iraqi deception system during the early 1990s.”
Scott is now going around the country giving presentations on how American intelligence manufactured the case for war against Iraq.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Ritter
Wikipedia explains how Scott is part of a multi-generation military family, an experienced intelligence officer and an experienced weapons inspector, an experienced millitary veteran of foriegn wars, so if anyone knew, he did.
And it turns out that Scott was absolutely 100% right, there were no WMD. Absolutely not one single weapon that we have found. Isn’t it great to make a statement like the one Scott did, stand by that statement despite being crucified by the neocon attack machine and come out 100% vindicated that you were 100% correct.
So the statement you are making that "All intelligence and government officials thought one way" is demonstrably false. Because the chief American, highly decorated Officer who was in charge of inspecting more sites than anyone else and who has been described as the "toughest and most gung-ho of the inspectors" by numerous people that know him says that the bush assessment was demonstratibly wrong, and before the invasion happened.
Scott was so good that Iraq kicked him specifically out of the country as a spy. They thought that man was psychic he was ripping through the inspections so well. Scott refused to create a stink about him being blocked in order to allow the inspections to continue, despite pressure from above him to create an issue over the event.
But the follow on chief inspector created a crisis then the US bombed Iraq while the inspectors pulled back and at that point Iraq refused to allow the inspectors back in. This crisis was probably manufactured and could have been worked through with diplomatic means and not bombs. The entire thing was calculated to annoy Saddam so he wouldn’t allow the inspections.
And Davek, you aren’t fooling anyone, thank you for trolling.
I agree with you both; my main point is know what to shoot at BEFORE you aim your guns.
That’s why I say solely targeting GWB is missing the bulls-eye. He’s interchangeable with other puppets just like him. He’s the tip of the iceberg.
It doesn’t mean that he should be just left alone. It just means that if you do get rid of him, you still have to deal with the powers that paid, lied, stole, killed, and cheated to get him there.
#20 Jim,
I hope you’re right. I must confess it’s all getting beyond me. I can’t keep up with all the scandals, investigations & endless spin. My brain exploded a long time ago.
I only hope the hideous genocide that was Katrina is included on the list of impeachable/indictable crimes.
On a lighter note, the new Jim Carrey movie, Fun With Dick & Jane, has a little surprise in the credits at the end: a nice tongue-in-cheek ‘thank you’ to Enron, Tyco, Worldcom, Ken Lay et al, lest we forget their selfless contributions to the old U S of A.
Nice use of art to shine a little spotlight on MORE evil bastards who need to go to prison.
Thanks, Jim & Co!
Use all the barrels of the impeachment shotgun if it is to be used at all.
Impeach bush, cheney, Hastert, and Ted Stevens.
The crime rate would go down substantially, and the neoConvicts already doing time would have company.
I believe that getting the USA under fascist control is the final act of those who are wresting for World control. I also tend to believe there are two opposing forces fighting each other. Who is who… the picture is bigger than we can even begin to comprehend, ‘we the people’ are merely pawns, of no consequence to those doing the battle. Both ‘forces’ are dark. We can simplify this by looking at our own affairs here and see who is who
(at least try to) but to look at the larger picture, is much more complex.
The way to even begin to unravel this scheme which is hundreds of years in the making, is to inform and enlighten by thought and action, ie: posting, etc. Many starting to awaken must be fed small amounts of information because to try to assimilate the big picture would literally blow them apart. The wedge issues are a good example of the level of consciousness we are dealing with, ie: moral values, etc. Corrupt voting machines notch up one more level and the majority of Americans are not yet ready for that information, sad but true. To tell them that their congressperson is corrupt is going to be over the top and if they were told their dear leader is corrupt, our assylums will be full. These people are not even near ready to comprehend the great Truth. Perhaps they are not supposed to, I do not know.
Unfortunately I must agree with some of the posters here, who see the big picture, but caution against trying to inform the sleeping ones. They are like babies and must be fed small amounts of soft food until they can digest the bigger amounts.
I have heard tell that only 1% of our population is at the point of comprehending what is happening on the large scale. We need 5% to effect change. (Critical Mass). I pray that the 1% is greater and the tide will turn in our favor quickly and absolutely.
We live on the edge of a spiral universe, one must think in symbols. We ascend the ladder of consciousness on a spiral, those further along (having more information) prepare the way for those coming behind. Every thought we think, all information we gather, enters into the collective consciousness. One need not verbally express anything, just assimilate the information and hold it in your mind. Sharing information with others speeds up the process but they will also access the Truth by rote and/or during their personal search. Everyone is on a time table. When critical mass is reached the change will come swiftly.
I will remind all readers that the statements written are mine and I take full responsibility for them, they are what I believe to be true today but am aware that I do not know all there is to Know. M4
For Merifour: The problem with a grand conspiracy theory (anything 100 years in the making fits that description automatically) is that whatever truths are contained within it are superseded by a broad skepticism that so broad a thing is possible.
A perfect example is Oliver Stone’s movie, "JFK." Stone posited a grand conspiracy involving almost everyone in the C.I.A., F.B.I., Texas, the Mafia, Cuba, the Soviet Union, and Louisiana politics. But he never tied them into a single coherent theory, thus the asinine belief that Oswald killed J.F.K. alone (and the equally asinine single-bullet theory) remain the official explanation for Kennedy’s death. And Stone was dismissed as a conspiracy nut, when in fact he’s far closer to the answer than the Warren Commission or Jim Garrison ever were.
Proving that Bush stole the 2000 and 2004 elections will become harder if we divide the world into two camps and suggest that one of them has been working against the other for 100 years. A rational person will reply, "George W. Bush wasn’t even born 100 years ago." I think we have to work backward from the present, not forward from the distant past.
A good starting point might be Henry Kissinger’s recent remark, which bolsters the notion that Bush was put into office by powerful people who saw him as a maneuverable puppet. Kissinger said without knowing he’d be quoted, "When you meet him (Bush), you wonder how anyone could ever have imagined him as a governor, let alone a president."
Bob Bilse #25
Yes, we need to get everyone, "front men" and backers alike. Nobody is suggesting that we impeach Bush and Cheney and then stop the investigations there. And, a lot of these players would have been out of commission long ago if Clinton or the Democratic leadership had gone after them. Yes, I agree we need to get the ones who are backing these front men, but with anything you attempt to do, there has to be the political will to do it. The average voter isn’t going to make much of investigations into the backers, so that won’t translate into changing election results. But, the high profile prosecutions, like Libby or DeLay or Rove, will drain support from Bush and Cheney. Congress won’t do anything about the underlying issues before these prosecutions move forward. But, that’s okay. The prosecutors aren’t swayed by right-wing blogs and Fox News the way politicians are. They’re oblivious to it. And they’re not so likely to stop investigating something just because it threatens to expose someone near the top.
The best hope is for the current investigations and prosecutions to weaken the administration and the Republican leadership. We should be seeing several more GOP reps and sens leaving office this year. The ones who want to stay and get re-elected will be walking on egg shells. The shrill right will get marginalized and will be seen by the public as the nut cases that they are. That should be enough to change at least one house of Congress over to Democratic control. From there on, it will snowball. And, by the way, if we change the House leadership to Democratic, the third in line of succession for the White House is a Dem. It sure gives you something to work for, doesn’t it.
RLM, absolutely agree, but even that may be too far back for a lot of people. Many of my friends, unforturnately for me, do not remember yesterday. I am certainly not boasting but seem to be the only person I know that pursues the truth like I do. I am so passionate I drive people nuts. I often go of on tangets and leave friends and families in the dust, not knowing what the heck I am talking about. That is a major reason I am so grateful that I found this blog and the others I have been visiting. I stated before, am an avid reader, nonfiction. I have no particular focus, just putting together my puzzle which just keeps getting bigger every day. I find everything is connected and my mind is sometimes overloaded so I have to sit back and let it all assimilate….then off I go again. This enlightment stuff isn’t for sissies! To get to the Truth requires a lot of time and energy….sometimes I wonder if I will have have fun anymore……..
Also, my post meant to convey that baby steps are the only way to present the info to the majority of the people, ie: stolen elections, and then only after they get past the ‘moral value’ issues, bush ran on.
I can only hope we can waken the voters to the scams but is it possible if they truly believe, bless
their little hearts, that there was a War On Christmas..ohmigod. M4
An outstanding thread. Yes, I think it’s true that the mind goes into overload when one begins to see the myriad of conspiracies that somehow seem to cohere into one overarching conspiracy, but maybe a conspiracy that is less the product of specific individuals than of the dark side of the collective human psyche, working on a parallel course over the days, years, decades, centuries, with the light side of the collective human psyche and coming to the fore at times of fear, times of change.
More specifically, I fear that this administration will attack Iran in an attempt to boost its ratings (!) and that if such an attack doesn’t do the trick, a(nother?) faked terrorist attack may be the resort.
re: comment #9
I’ve thought that for some time now — it’s either that or they’ll have UBL will attack us again and they can blame the dems with being soft on security and not fit to fight "terrorism"
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it." -G. B. Shaw
Merifour: There is and has been a war on christmas. That’s part of the farther-reaching high end conspiracy "as you call it" where aethiests, influenced by Masonic Zionists are literally trying to ban christmas from the public sphere.
It seems bizarre that nobody on the internet is talking about it, yes…..But the TV networks have been all over it…
Its hard to find out where someone’s real loyalties lie in the large scheme of things today….Though I can tell you this, the TV networks are no fans of the New World "Order" or their bankers. They hate them in fact all except for the rabidly insane brainwashed ones…..
But they are also enslaved by it, as Bev Harris said they have to spout the ‘line’ or lose their jobs, homes, families and worse. That is the kind of situation the "media" is in. And the New York Times is full of spies…..and hell on top of that, the New York Times is "finally" reporting on the massive treason yet its not saving them any face….
Finally, do not worry about Iran or a World War 3….Nuclear devices have been disarmed for the most part. There are millions working on this not just you, not just us…..across the world who realize these agents of Masonic evil will not stop until the end.
Keep on the goal and never lose track, get rid of the voting, get rid of congress, & clean it out with warrior discipline to the end.
Doug E.
As far as bush cheney are concerned Poor and
Disadvantaged people are considered cannon fodder.
(#39) You’ve got a point. Those that cannot be conned into supporting them, they will work on disenfranchising them. This, obviously, runs far deeper than George W. Bush.
Henry Kissinger summed up GWB nicely with his quote, "When you meet the president, you ask yourself, ‘How did it ever occur to anybody that he should be governor, much less president?’."
Indeed, Henry.
#38, Food for thought….war on xmas. I will think on that further. Christmas=corporate profits. Have not watched the Merry Sunshine Media for several months, other than to catch snips here and there. My local paper goes unread, which used to be part of my daily routine. I have chosen not to open my mind to the endless propaganda and subliminal messages.
I must believe that their are indeed some very good people working at the major TV stations or newspapers that must go home at night and have nightmares about what they are being forced to do. I applaud those that have quit and lost because of their love for Country and Truth.
I guess what baffles me most is Congress. I don’t understand how those who are allowing this takeover care not for future generations, their own families..to put it in a small picture. Why do they want their children and grandchildren to live in a Fascist state. I know they have played the game for so long that to buck the system they are so much a part of, would be instant ruin. But the end result would be so satisfying and cleansing. We are a complicated species. I just don’t understand how those that are doing this, can do it. When will they come face to face with their innermost being and examine what they have become. Again, each of us is the microcosm within the macrocosm, the war being played within and without.
I can only surmise that those in history that have yoked and imprisoned their fellow human beings have been short sighted and lost view of the bigger picture. Empires have risen and fallen. I have often heard it said that the USA is a Nation that only thinks in terms of immediate gratification and does not see long term results. I see this evidenced in our government actions. We as a people have been programmed to believe this. Those who seek control of this Nation understand this and use it to their advantage. We are ripe for the taking. They may take us, but they will loose us, for they will never win when all is said and done.
When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, than shall we know Peace. M4
To comment #2: A Democrat majority will not happen because of electronic voting machines. I posted an article (I can’t find now) which analyzed all the Senate elections, and the exit polls said in the last election that the Democrats won the majority, but the "final count" on electronic machines came in Republican. All the exit poll swings were from Dem to GOP. Again, millions-to-one odds that ALL errors favored one party, the GOP.
Now, it’s not blatant, they steal key elections, like the presidency, because the president gets to pick (we don’t elect) a cabinet, so that’s the most important one to steal. They can’t steal them all and have a 100-0 majority, or that would be obvious. They will continue stealing elections to retain a permanent Republican majority in the House and Senate, and always steal the presidency.
They stole the Schmidt vs. Hackett election, because that would’ve been too big of a blow to have an anti-war Dem defeat a Republican in a highly Republican district.
I’m predicting that even though the polls say Casey has a double-digit lead in Pa., it will be Santorum 51%-Casey 49% via electronic machines.
Electronic machines = Corporate America = the Republicans.
And yet, it seems blatant to me. (re: #42)
JamesR#28: Great response to my question from #11, thanks so much. And I am sitting here chuckling becuause, no I am not a neocon troll, but I can see how you might think I was by trying to slip that stuff in. I am a left-leaning, open-minded guy here, had a chance to meet Brad, Clint, etc. in Portland here last fall. My task is to bring these issues to other forums, not just political ones like Bradblog, particularly the issue of election fraud. I am using your info on a music site I frequent which gets political sometimes, I started a thread about fraud there: (Y)OUR DEMOCRACY IS DEAD, and feel I am introducing this to a whole new group of folks because as you know, it is so off the radar screen of most Amercians its just pathetic. Thanks again, knew I could count on someone.
Davek, of course Saddam Hussein denied Bush’s claims of WMD and al-Qaeda support. He even challenged Bush to a live televised debate! Bush refused. A good rule of thumb: always assume that the guy who chickens out of the live debate is the one who has something to hide. That rule applies here: Bush was lying, Hussein was telling the truth.
Davek, of course Saddam Hussein denied Bush’s claims of WMD and al-Qaeda support. He even challenged Bush to a live televised debate! Bush refused. A good rule of thumb: always assume that the guy who chickens out of the live debate is the one who has something to hide. That rule applies here: Bush was lying, Hussein was telling the truth.
Davek, of course Saddam Hussein denied Bush’s claims of WMD and al-Qaeda support. He even challenged Bush to a live televised debate! Bush refused. A good rule of thumb: always assume that the guy who chickens out of the live debate is the one who has something to hide. That rule applies here: Bush was lying, Hussein was telling the truth.
Davek, of course Saddam Hussein denied Bush’s claims of WMD and al-Qaeda support. He even challenged Bush to a live televised debate! Bush refused. A good rule of thumb: always assume that the guy who chickens out of the live debate is the one who has something to hide. That rule applies here: Bush was lying, Hussein was telling the truth.
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