The Unlikely Dialogue with our Lawmakers

An Unlikely Conversation With The Cowards in Congress

Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of Congress...But I repeat myself. ~ Mark Twain

THE DIALOGUE

What shameful toads you are! Yes you, our elected lawmakers. Yes you, the folks we sent to Washington in our names. Yes you, the most spineless, cowardly and craven Congress people in history.

Yes you, the most bullied, gutless and shameful herd of legislators ever elected. And you know exactly who you are.

Where in hell is your integrity?

Where in hell is your self-respect?

You’ve been led by your submissive noses to do the bidding of liars and warmongers. You’ve been suckered into applauding some of the most egregious crimes ever committed by a US government. You’ve become such a pitiful collection of sniveling sycophants. And you know damn well who you are.

What’s that? You want to know what you’ve done? Of what odious crimes are you guilty to evoke such striking condemnation? Is that what you’re asking? Is that what you really want to know? You’re joking, right? Do you want the American people to believe have no idea what this is all about? What nonsense that is. But, for the sake of discourse, let’s accept your ignorance for the moment.

For starters, let’s take a look at two provisions in that forgotten document, the Constitution of the United States. Perhaps their significance will ring a bell somewhere in your pathetic and paralyzed minds. We can begin with Article 1, Section 8.

Here, the Constitution clearly states that you, and only you, have the right to declare war. Did you get that? Only Congress can take on the awesome responsibility of causing death and mayhem when there is a need to go to war. Only the Congress of the United States has the Constitutional power do that. Keep that in mind as we go on.

Next, let’s do a replay of an Article you knew only too well a few years ago: Article II, Section 4. It says that the President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Remember that one?

Do you remember how you fell over one another to speak at the podia of your respective Houses to condemn Bill Clinton’s private affair with Monica Lewinsky? You came out from under every piece of woodwork in the Capitol with such pompous indignation.

You came from both political parties to wail to your constituents about the sexual indiscretions of a sitting President. And then you impeached him. Yes, you were divided, but you crossed party lines to demand a trial for perjury and obstruction of justice. Keep that in mind, too. You still don’t understand, do you?

Of course, you don’t.

You still want to know what it is you’ve allegedly done. You have no clue at all. You cannot see that your guilt has nothing at all to do with anything you have done. Rather, your collective culpability lies in your INACTION, your SILENCE, your ACQUIESCENCE and your docile SURRENDER to the administration of PNAC as fronted by George W. Bush.

Your cowardice is reflected in your complicity in his crimes against this nation and the world, and your refusal to stand up and denounce the secrecy, the duplicity, and the blatant lies that have brought the United States to this terrible moment in its history.

You forfeited whatever integrity you might have had as you timidly allowed a curtain of fear and intimidation to fall over Washington and the nation. You knew that, but you probably don’t want to deal with it.

Denial is salvation for some, and you probably needed to feel self-righteous about your role in Congress and your loyalty to your voters. Some joke. In fact, you are little more than cheap imitations of true public servants. And you know without any doubt at all who you are. You still don’t have a clue as to what this is all about, do you?

That, too, is nonsense.

You do know, you really do, but feigning ignorance is clever and effective. So let’s lay it out for you in simple terms that even you can understand Maybe, when you take a close look, at the facts, you will look in the mirror with a little more skepticism. Maybe, just maybe, you will see yourselves as the lemmings you are. And maybe, just maybe, a few among you will reach back to see if your backbones have any chance of regeneration.

A SHORT LIST OF OFFENSES

• George W. Bush came to the Presidency and immediately appointed a cadre of convicted felons and their associates from the Iran Contra era to many extremely important government positions. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Members of the Project for a New American Century, proponents of preemptive wars against Iraq and Afghanistan were immediately given more than a dozen strategic positions in the new Bush government. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• After 9/11, George Bush refused – for eighteen months - to investigate the causes of the worst attacks in history on American soil. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Condoleezza Rice lied to the nation about never having imagined the use of hijacked airliners as weapons. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Rice, Bush and Cheney had to be coerced to testify before the Kean Commission. Rice refused to testify under oath, and Bush and Cheney testified for a very limited time and only as a team. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Rice admitted to the Kean Commission that the August memo had warned about possible attacks on AMERICAN soil by Al Qaeda, and yet the President remained on vacation at his ranch for the remainder of the summer. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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  George Bush manipulated intelligence information in order to gain support for his plans to attack Iraq. That is an impeachable offense. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Colin Powell lied to the United Nations in a fabricated presentation designed to gain support for a preventive attack against Iraq. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Condoleezza Rice lied over and over and over to the nation about Saddam Hussein’s WMD’s, his connection to Al Qaeda, and his plans to attack the US. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• George Bush wrested away your power to declare war by lying to the Congress about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. He promised to use military force as a last resort, after all other options had been exhausted. He lied to Congress. That is an impeachable offence. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• George Bush handed Haliburton, Dick Cheney’s former company, multi billion dollar, no-bid contracts in Iraq. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• George Bush sent Ahmed Chalabi, a convicted felon, and his source for false WMD information to Iraq with and team of 800 armed thugs. They staged the infamous statue toppling, and bilked American taxpayers out of billions of dollars in regular payments to set up a pro Bush interim government. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• In May of 2003, George Bush declared major conflict ended in Iraq. His mission was accomplished. Since then horrific chaos, death and destruction have followed. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• The Pentagon refused to allow photographs of returning flag-draped coffins, and refused to count civilian deaths in Iraq. Yet, they managed to stage the rescue of Jessica Lynch, which was exposed as a fabrication. AND YOU NEVER SAID WORD
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• Our young men and women in Iraq were dying and being maimed because they had no armor on their Humvees to protect them from roadside bombs. They were sent to die without adequate body armor, radios, night goggles and flashlights. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians were killed by our so-called smart bombs and illegal weapons, including napalm and depleted uranium shells were used as standard weapons. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Photographs and eye-witness testimony from the ICRC and other agencies proved that the US was breaking international law by torturing prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. The problem was systemic and condoned at the highest levels of government. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Private airliners were being used by the Pentagon to transport prisoners for interrogation in other countries that condone and practice horrific methods of torture. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• George Bush and his cohorts changed the rationale for going to war over and over, manipulating their mantras as each lie was exposed and new reasons were needed to justify their illegal war. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• There was no plan to keep the peace, no plan to stop the looting, no plan to deal with an insurgency despite the warnings of so many in the military. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• The chaos, increased, the deaths and the destruction grew, and the insurgency proved to be unending. But your President told you we were making progress. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• The Downing Street Minutes were leaked to the public months ago. The content of these nine documents made it clear that George Bush had planned an invasion of Iraq at all costs, and that he planned to ‘fix’ intelligence information to gain support for his war of choice. That is an unquestionable high crime that merits impeachment. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• The Downing Street Minutes remain ignored by the White House, and neither the Congress nor the media have demanded answers from the President. Rep. John Conyers was refused a meeting room for an airing of these important documents and had to hold his hearing in a tiny basement room. Such disrespect was unprecedented and inexcusable. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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This, dear Congress people, is the short list. But even in its brevity, it is a powerful indictment of your villainous roles in tacit support of the affairs d’etat of the Bush administration. But, to really get to you, to really make you sit up and look at yourselves with some pangs of conscience, the list needs a powerful finale, - one that makes all the other items almost pale by comparison.

So here it is:

• In March of 2003, someone in the White House committed a serious felony. He or she or they leaked the identity of a CIA operative to the press. This was done to punish Joseph Wilson, a man who had dared to expose George Bush’s lie about yellow cake uranium sales to Saddam Hussein. Despite the seriousness of this crime, George Bush did nothing to try and discover who was responsible. In fact, he refused to conduct any investigation of his own staff to uncover a felony under his roof. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• After three months of ignoring a crime by someone in the WH, the CIA demanded an inquiry of what they termed a crime. Only then was the case given to WH buddy and supporter, then AG John Ashcroft. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Finally, after five months had passed, the case was handed to a Special Counsel working on behalf of the Justice Department. Two years and millions of dollars after the Novak article outing Valerie Plame appeared, George Bush has yet to call Karl Rove aside and demand an explanation. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• Two years and millions of dollars after the article appeared, George Bush has yet to come forward and tell us what he knew and when he knew it. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.
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• YOU STILL REFUSE TO UTTER A SINGLE WORD!ENDING THE CONVERSATION So there it is, folks.

There is your non-response, your silence, your inertia in the face of the actions that have brought this country to its most divisive state since the Vietnam conflict. There is a short list of your kow-towing to an administration that has made our country hated all over the globe, and turned our leaders into international targets of ridicule and disgust.

There it is, folks, and if the shoe fits, you know what to do. Your silence has been both appalling and immoral. You are as responsible for the death and destruction in Iraq as the Bush/PNAC warmongers, and your legacy will mark you as the lackeys and bootlickers you are. But everything changed with 9/11, you claim.

We wouldn’t dare question the President, you say. We would surely have been called traitors, or appeasers, or even worse….liberals.

We had to go along with him, you insist. And in a way, you’re right.

9/11 did change things. It separated the cowards from those with principle and conviction. The latter, sadly, were far outnumbered in Congress by the former. But that is how history is always made. The few who dare, take the risks. And those few earn a lasting and much admired place in history.

Not so, you. Yes, for certain, you know who you are. But more important, so do the American people. They have watched you cower and crawl and promote the crimes of your President and his handlers.

Despite the silence of the media and their complicity along with yours, the truth is gradually seeping into the consciousness of the public. If there is any justice in the world, you will answer to them for your cowardice. Public opinion polls must be making you nervous right now.

You men and women, who represent us in the hallowed halls of Congress, have lost the confidence of more than 63 percent of the voters!

In truth, you have not lost it; you have systematically and cravenly destroyed it. You made choices, and hopefully, you will have to answer for them.

You saw what was happening, you learned the truth, you were witness to the crimes and the treason, and you sat back and did nothing.

You saw the evil grow and spread. AND YOU NEVER SAID A WORD.

Next November, the voting public will have its turn (that is if we solve the election fraud situation that has dominated elections since the 2000 coup d’etat.)

They will either thank you for your honorable work, or will remove you from office for your betrayal of their trust. Start worrying now, because your time is short.

On Election Day, 2006, the full House and one third of the Senate are up for election. On that day Americans will have a chance to have the very last word. If there is any justice, that word to you will be goodbye.

How many members of the Bush administration does it take to change a light bulb?

1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed.

2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed.

3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb.

4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the light bulb or for darkness.

5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb.

6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner: LIGHT BULB CHANGE ACCOMPLISHED.

7. One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally in the dark.

8. One to viciously smear #7.

9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along.

10. And finally, one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.That is a total of 10 people, and no evidence that the light bulb has actually been changed (assuming the photo op was staged and no actual work was accomplished). Did Halliburton fail to perform their duties with regard to the light bulb?

Many Thanks to Mr. Tennant for laying this all out to my many readers.

- Chris Tennant

My "Republican" relatives ...

I was raised in a small town called LeRoy, Kansas during the sixties and couldn’t wait to get away from it into the big bad world of demonstration politics, draft dodging and cultural revolution.

I stole Karl Marx and a multi – volume account of Trotsky’s life from the high school library because it hadn’t been checked out, according to the slip card, since 1963 – nobody was reading these books in LeRoy, Ks.

My parents were Republican, both voting for Nixon each time he ran for the presidency. I hated what they were doing at the time supporting anything Nixon said or did. I refused one Thanksgiving Day to say the meal prayer and was slapped out of my chair for it. Every evening the grainy black and white television screen would broadcast Walter Cronkite with a board tallying war deaths like football scores, it made me sick, angry and convinced nobody understood me in LeRoy, Ks.

Since that horrible time I have “mellowed” and grown to appreciate in a deep way some of the things my father taught me about the Republican outlook of the “I like Ike” era. He many years later after over a decade of not communicating with him apologized for the holiday slapping – and said he too had grown to resent the perpetual wars of this “empire.”

You wrote in your most recent and excellent post at Counterpunch:

“Conservatives and Republicans used to be people who thought it was America's business to avoid wars and to govern well at home. It was Democrats who involved us in wars--World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam all started under Democratic presidents.

Governing well at home meant being suspicious of government power, not giving government carte blanche with Orwellian legislation called ‘the Patriot Act.’ I can remember when conservatives and Republicans would have gone berserk if Democrats had identified patriotism with the police state legislation called ‘the Patriot Act.’” - WHY IS CHENEY LOBBYING FOR A BOOST IN CHINA’S NUCLEAR CAPABILITY?

Mr. Roberts, I have read almost every essay you have posted on Counterpunch over the last several months and have come to understand that my own extended family members have become delusional, disjointed and drunk with this “new” form of fascistic “Republican.”

Now I understand and have softened much of my emotional distrust of Nixon. He did get us out of Vietnam and he started the E.P.A. and ensured a minimum wage for hundreds of millions of low – wage people. I still think he was a bit of a rat about dirty political tricks, but nothing compared to this regime.

I was taught that sectarian religion had no place in the government; instead government was to protect all religions from each other. I was taught that privacy in the home and the bedroom were matters of those that live in the home and sleep in those bedrooms. I was taught that the First Amendment insured this freedom. I was taught that so long as the dissent was peaceable – it was not only permissible but necessary to guarantee a check on unbridled totalitarianism. I have learned those lessons in blood and sweat since growing older, and I have come to the conclusion that my beloved relatives in my extended family are no longer capable of practicing or understanding their own “lessons.”

I love them more now than before, but cannot understand how they have allowed this rabid evangelical Christian, imperialist monster of the Republican Party to betray them.

They no longer believe in the privacy of the free individual in a republican government.

I married over twenty years ago a woman physician, who decided in the early nineties to start performing abortions, one of less than a half dozen in this state to do so, and both of us were quickly thrown into the sordid and dirty politics of the “new Republicans” in this state. I was forced, contrary to my own pacifistic leanings, to legally arm myself and to develop an intelligence network (at great personal expense) to determine threat assessments against my family. The people surrounding the clinics I soon found myself protecting, for the most part were mainly religiously hysterical people who were more mentally ill than homicidal, yet no one in this position could negate the nefarious and lethal activities of many of their cohorts around the country.

And not one of my relatives even fathomed, understood or counseled me in this debacle. Support was furtive at best. My step – father was the only one who repeatedly said he supported my wife’s decision to perform abortions – the rest were silent.

The only counsel I received was from an uncle who confidently assured me that Bush Two was not going to outlaw abortion during the Gore – Bush election and that the best thing I could do was vote for the moron. I registered as an Independent and will never take on registration in any political party for the rest of my life on the surface of this planet.

My only conclusion to this is that they equate criticism of a Republican politician to treasonous activity and have thrown their most important lessons as Ike taught them of the “military industrial complex” to the BBQ pit in their backyards.

They have let this moronic monster of a political machine to fester and grow and my only hope is that they listen and read of more authors like you, criticize the hell out of their local party leaders and get the profiteers and zealots out now! At least, you remind them of what they used to stand for.

Sincerely,

Michael Caddell

Ps. To all my beloved relatives receiving this transmit. I apologize if I have offended you but it had to be said by someone in our family. My immediate family has been battered, dislocated and practically destroyed by your political hypocrisies. You didn’t like communist regimes in the fifties and sixties now you support and profit from Wal – Mart destroying our village small businesses, importing their Chinese junk upon us, selling nukes to them and hold our whole country hostage to Big Energy, Big Oil and Big Agriculture. Get mad, get mad as hell, but don’t blame me anymore for this mess.

Just like Iraq it’s your mess, now clean it up – and get the morons running your party OUT!

Mr. Roberts articles are at: http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts08112005.html they are archived also elsewhere at this web site, look for them on your own, I am not going to spoon feed them to you. You wouldn’t respect my hand holding anyhow.

Nationwide movement to Gold Star mother in Crawford ditch

HUGE BLOGGERS’ CONFERENCE CALL

MOBILIZING FOR GOLD STAR MOTHER

DITCHED AT BUSH RANCH

With Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleeza Rice on their way to Crawford, Texas, to meet with President Bush on Thursday, Cindy Sheehan will hold a blog conference call hosted by Joe Trippi of JoeTrippi.com, Bob Fertik of Democrats.com, and Jodie Evans of CodePink4Peace.org. Given the urgency of Cindy's situation, we hope that you will attend the call.

Date: Wednesday, August 10th
Time: 2:00pm EST
Call-In Number: 888-391-6578
International Number: +1-773-756-0169
Passcode: 23009

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Casey Sheehan, an American soldier who died in Iraq on April 4th, 2004. She is camping out on Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, until he agrees to meet with her. Cindy simply wants to ask Bush "Why did my son die?" and "What was the noble cause that he died for?"

We hope you will join us on this call and help raise awareness for Cindy's cause. We also hope that you will sign the petition demanding that Bush meet with Cindy.

Sign the petition -

http://elandslide.org/elandslide/petition.cfm?campaign=cindy

Learn more about Cindy -

www.meetwithcindy.org

 T r u t h o u t reports they are sending William Rivers Pitt to Crawford to cover this expanding story. Stay tuned to http://www.Truthout.org for updates.

  Cindy Sheehan Gives BuzzFlash the Latest from Crawford
Direct from the drainage ditch, the intrepid protester says "Our spirits are great," but Bush "doesn't have enough courage to face someone who actually disagrees with him ..."

http://snipurl.com/gu24    
http://www.vaiw.org/vet/  

Cindy Sheehan and others are at Bush's Crawford, Texas, vacation location, bringing a message to Bush that it's time to bring the troops home. She is a cofounder of Gold Star Families for Peace and the mother of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, killed in Baghdad April 4, 2004.

Intrepid, courageous, and effective. Cindy Sheehan has brought the war against war to George Bush during his frustratingly insensitive 5-week-long vacation in Crawford, Texas. BuzzFlash emailed her today, and is happy to share her responses with our readers and the world. (Open the link for the full interview and the two pieces that follow it: http://jack-dalton.blogspot.com/2005/08/interview-and-update-on-cindy-sheehan.html )

  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 9, 2005

Contact: Ryan Fletcher 202-641-0277 Dante Zappala 215-520-7040

MILITARY FAMILIES TO JOIN CINDY SHEEHAN IN CRAWFORD Gold Star and Military Families from Across Country on their way to Texas CRAWFORD, TX – More members of Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP) and Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) are traveling to Texas to join the protest outside of President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he is vacationing for the month of August.    Starting today, Gold Star families from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Arkansas and other states whose loved ones have died as a result of the war in Iraq will be joining one of their members, Cindy Sheehan, at the protest. Ms. Sheehan, whose son Army Specialist Casey Sheehan was killed in Sadr City, Iraq on April 4, 2004, has been in Crawford since August 5th, demanding a meeting with the President. These families will be joined by military families with loved ones currently serving in Iraq or about to deploy or redeploy to Iraq. All of these families are coming to Crawford, Texas to share their stories about the personal costs of the war in Iraq and add their voices to the call for a meeting with President Bush.   On August 3, 2005 President Bush, speaking about the dreadful loss of life in Iraq in early August, said "We have to honor the sacrifices of the fallen by completing the mission… The families of the fallen can be assured that they died for a noble cause." Gold Star and military families coming to Crawford know that the cause was not noble; that their loved ones died, or are currently in harm’s way, serving in a war based on lies.  In the first 8 days of August, 36 service members died in Iraq; countless Iraq children, women and men are dying each day. All of the families traveling to Crawford will carry the message to the vacationing President: Honor our fallen and honor our loved ones’ service by ending the occupation, bringing the troops home now and taking care of them when they get here.  President Bush has consistently tried to hide, and to hide from, the cost of the war in Iraq. This August, these costs are being brought right to his doorstep.  Members of Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out who are traveling to Crawford will be available for interview beginning on Tuesday afternoon August 9th. For More Information: Military Families Speak Out: www.mfso.org Gold Star Families for Peace: www.gsfp.org Download the full Press Release

 Read: “My Life Living With Depleted Uranium” by Dawn Campbell. It is heart-breaking, but at the same time, her story is not a singular story. Those being sent to Iraq are going to be repeating Dawn's story as they are being contaminated in wholesale numbers. Then there is what DU has done to those in Iraq since 1991. This country is being run by war criminals--those whom I lump together under the heading of Bush/Cheney & Co., Inc. See: Depleted Uranium Education Project for more information on this issue.—Jack Dalton
-----------------------------------
Depleted Uranium is WMD
By: Leuren Moret
Published on Tuesday, August 9, 2005
by the Battle Creek Enquirer (Michigan)

My grandfather, U.S. Army Col. Edwin Joseph McAllister, was born in Battle Creek in 1895. He does not know that his first grandchild is an international expert on depleted uranium. I have worked in two U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories, and in 1991 I became a whistleblower at the Livermore lab. Depleted uranium is very, very, very nasty stuff: (open the link for this most important essay: http://jack-dalton.blogspot.com/2005/08/depleted-uranium-is-wmd.html )

"Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another"

(Vietnam Veterans of America)

”If they ask you why we died, tell them 'cause our fathers' lied" 

(Rudyard Kipling)

 

GOLD STAR MOTHER TO STAY, BUSH DITCHES HER, SUPPORTERS BEGIN HUNGER STRIKE

FOUR MEMBERS OF GROUP AT CAMPSITE HAVE STARTED A HUNGER STRIKE IN SOLIDARITY WITH MOTHER.

President Bush Ditches Mother Of Slain Soldier

By Nathan Diebenow
Associate Editor, The Lone Star Iconoclast – on – line

CRAWFORD — The mother of a U.S. soldier slain in Iraq was denied a face-to-face meeting with President Bush here Saturday after she walked through a ditch-like path in the August heat to the President’s Prairie Chapel Ranch.
“I didn’t come all this way from California to stand here in a ditch,” said Cindy Sheehan, 48, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, attempting to continue her trek to the ranch.
Even though two of the President’s aides later agreed to deliver her message to him, Sheehan said that she would remain in Crawford for the whole month, if need be, until she is granted a private audience with the commander-in-chief to ask him for what “noble cause” did her son die overseas.
“If he doesn’t come out to talk to me in Crawford, I’ll follow him to D.C., and I’ll camp out on his lawn,” she said, to a round of applause from her supporters. “I’ll go to prison. I don’t want to live in a country where people are treated this way.” …….

VIEW THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AND CONTINUOUS UPDATES OF HER VIGIL IN CRAWFORD, TX

AT: http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/2005/31-40/32news01.htm

Gold Star Mother is staying in Crawford, TX to see President Bush

SWELTERING TEXAS HEAT SMALL GROUP

WALK TO BUSH RANCH, STOPPED

CRAWFORD, TX - After attending a small program commemorating the 60th anniversary of the WWII atomic bombing in Japan at the Crawford Peace House a group of Iraq War veterans and relatives of soldiers killed began a journey to President Bush's ranch in the sweltering summer heat. The procession was ordered to stop several miles from the ranch after several members walked upon the highway apparently violating an agreement reached with law enforcement officers.

Members of the group claim that support convoys from San Diego and Louisiana were traveling to join them in waiting for a prominent member of the group, Cindy Sheehan, to meet with Bush "face - to - face." A short meeting did take place later in the day with representatives of the Bush White House.


MOTHER VOWS TO CONTINUE WAITING TO HEAR FROM BUSH WHILE HE IS VACATIONING AT HIS HOME.

Cindy Sheehan, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace and mother of U.S. soldier who was slain in Iraq, called for President Bush on Saturday, Aug. 6, to return all troops in Iraq to the United States immediately. Although she failed to meet with Bush face-to-face at his Crawford-area ranch, Sheehan did speak with two of the president's aides. She still vowed to remain in Crawford to meet with the President.

MORE PHOTOS AND COMPLETE STORY AVAILABLE ON LINE AT: http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/2005/31-40/31news02.htm