The International Peace Group

McVeigh Theory Revised

Fri, 2 May 2003 09:50:10 GMT

The Bush administration has decided to phrase their justification for the war in Iraq in a very dangerous way. The latest Bush propaganda philosophy goes like this: if you have a tyrannical government you're trying to get rid of, anywhere in the world, you bomb its government buildings, target its leaders, and label yourselves "freedom fighters", and you can morally do anything you want. If there is collateral damage in the death of innocents and babies, well, that's okay. That's just the price of war. War is hell. We'll "kinda, sorta, try" not to hurt innocents, but if we do... oh well... all for the liberation of the Iraqi people: all for "Iraqi Freedom".

Now, I'm not going to say that that's right or wrong. Saddam Hussein is a bastard. He is unquestionably one of the most vicious bastards in human history. I frankly hopes he gets what he deserves, and frankly, burning in hell forever would be too good for him.

And there may indeed be other motivations. Perhaps Iraq DOES have weapons of mass destruction. I think that is a very likely probability: after all, American corporations sold him those WMD's, so we ought to know better than anyone. Perhaps he IS supporting terrorists intent on going after America. Perhaps he IS going to attack either America, or other nations such as Israel with these. Perhaps we can prove that.

Or perhaps he just has oil that we want and can't get any other way.

George W. Bush and hs administration could have used the above justifications. They could have shown us the proof to back up the WMD and terrorist allegation. But instead they chose the current doctrine, and I'll repeat it: if you have a tyrannical government you're trying to get rid of, anywhere in the world, you bomb its government buildings, target its leaders, and label yourselves "freedom fighters", and you can morally do anything you want. If there is collateral damage in the death of innocents and babies, well, that's okay. It's the price of war. No big whoop.

How many of you agree with this doctrine?

Good. Those of you who do have a lot of good company. Let's start with Timothy McVeigh.

Object until you're blue in the face, but what George W. Bush is using as justification now is exactly what Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, and whatever coconspirators they almost certainly had, used as justification to destroy the Murrah Building and 168 of its occupants. Almost to the letter. The Oklahoma CIty Bombing was, according to McVeigh, a reprisal for a terrorist act committed by the American government: the butchering of some 80 Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel, Texas, including some 20 infants and children. Yes, McVeigh killed innocents. No matter, as long as he got a goodly number of the people responsible for the Branch Davidian massacre: after all, they killed babies, too. Not any different than the Bush doctrine.

Essentially, you can call the Bush doctrine, the "McVeigh Doctrine".

But I'm hardly finished.

Those of you who endorse the Bush/McVeigh Doctrine have more good company.

First of all, you have Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and Hamas. Yes, suicide PLO bombers do kill innocent Israelis. If you listen to their side of the story however, you will hear them say that they are an occupied people lacking their own state, and that the Israelis are their captors. Many of the so-called "innocent Israelis" are currently or soon to be members of the Israeli military which will be shooting their Uzis at them and rolling in tanks to demolish their homes, often with them in them. We call them "terrorists". But they call themselves "freedom fighters".

So you are in good company with the Palestinians.

And the Israelis.

The Israelis use the same justification, the murder of their citizens, to go in and utterly destroy Palestinians, their homes, and their possessions. And if anyone gets in their way, tough tookas. Ask the parents of Palestinian children killed by the Israelis. Ask the parents of Rachel Corrie. The Israelis didn't give a damn about her, and she wasn't even Palestinian.

Feel good with that company? Okay, if you're still cool with the Bush/McVeigh doctrine, let me give you someone else who practices it.

Al Qaeda. And current Public Enemy #1... well, okay, #2... Osama bin Laden. (I forgot: this week, we're at war with Eurasia, not Eastasia.)

Do you think that Osama sees himself as a vicious bloodsucking butcher who mercilessly wants to snuff out as many Americans as possible, and has bloodlust over it? You haven't read him or listened to him then. He considers himself a freedom fighter. A freedom fighter for devout Muslims all over the world. He consider the American society in general, and the American government in particular, as having exploited the Muslim world grievously. Does he want to conquer America and reduce it to rubble? That's not what he himself says. He himself says that he wants the American people to rise up and overthrow their "infidel government". When he says this, you would almost think it was a right wing militia patriot saying it, the way he phrases it.

So Osama is "down" with the Bush/McVeigh doctrine as well.

Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to say any of you are wrong for supporting the Bush/McVeigh doctrine. I just simply want you to own it, own up to it publicly, and shout to the world, that yes, it is right to dispatch a tyrannical government, anywhere in the world, by bombing its government buildings, and killing its leaders, as freedom fighters, even if a few innocents and babies get killed. Don't shy away, just admit that that's what you think. It's not necessarily a bad thing, really. After all, someone assassinating Adolf Hitler and his inner circle in 1936 might have prevented the Holocaust.

And now that you've owned it, you're really not going to like what I have to say next.

The American government has had a long history of terrorist acts of its own. Some of these acts rival some of the worst tyrannies of world history. The most egregious agencies have been the IRS, the FBI, the BATF, the CIA, the NSA, and the Treasury Department. But there are others, too. And let's not forget all those state governments, local governments, state and local police and sheriff's departments, tax assessors, homeowner's associations, motor vehicles divisions, judges, etc., etc., and so forth. After all, I can recount thousands of stories of tyranny by the American government in the past generation, going all the way back to the bloodthirsty murders of the Bonus Marchers by future "heroes" MacArthur, Patton, and Eisenhower.

So here's my question. Why shouldn't the American people employ the Bush/McVeigh doctrine against the government agencies that have victimized them? And let's not stop at government. What about all those corporations that have victimized not only the American people, but the world? Shouldn't the American people employ the Bush/McVeigh doctrine against them?

Why not? Our President has just enshrined bombing buildings and killing government officials as effective foreign policy. Not some right wing, or left wing, radical. Not some militiaman, gun aficionado, antiwar protester or animal rights activist. OUR PRESIDENT. The President of the United States. The leader of the Free World. He just TOLD us it's okay. He's doing it RIGHT NOW.

And having enshrined this tactic as good foreign policy, undoubtedly foreign movements hostile to the United States are considering implementing this into THEIR foreign policy.

Unknowingly (perhaps) Bush has given endorsement to every enemy of the American government to do the same thing to downtown Washington, and any other "government center" in America. Not incidentally, the Bush administration has also given the wink and nod, unintentionally (perhaps) to Al Qaeda itself, and to other violent revolutionary movements such as Hamas. He has supplied the Palestinians with a moral authority for THEIR acts of war, or as we call them now, "terrorism". He has supplied the moral authority for every Israeli tank to roll over every innocent young woman, just "because".

He has also supplied a moral authority for every American dissident group to do the same thing to their enemies the American military is doing to Iraq. I can almost predict that radical groups like ELF and ALF are going to use the McVeigh doctrine, now become the Bush doctrine, as justification for everything. And antigovernment groups on the right have been just waiting for the excuse to restore some manner of a limited constitutional government instead of this Soviet-style leviathan we now have.

This is something substantially different than Afghanistan, where we were going in to get specific targets of operatives, who we thought killed 3,000 of our citizens, and an already existing war of revolution against the Taliban was already underway, and we were using and assisting the revolutionary movement toward that purpose. And the fact that there's oil in Afghanistan didn't dissuade the Bush administration any either.

This is different. In Iraq, we have now said that WE, not they, WE, have the moral authority to begin THEIR revolution.

Well, hello... what if movements abroad decide the same thing about the American government? Why will it then be WRONG for them to do the same thing to Washington we are now doing to Baghdad? Because it's us and not them? Because might makes right?

What of a band of lone wolves wanting to remove a corrupt and out of control federal government, or a corrupt state or local government, initiating an action against government buildings and agents here? If it is right to begin SOMEONE ELSE'S revolution, how can it be wrong to begin our own?

I think I see WHY the United States government trusts foreign governments like Germany and Russia to protect U.S. bases during the War On (some) Terror moreso than they trust the American citizens to guard them. After all, what will the American citizen do, with a corrupt and out of control government, with all those guns and tanks and planes and ordinance? I mean, how many sorties would it take to destroy every IRS Service Center from the air?

This is all a very bad precedent for those who want to see peaceful reform and change through diplomacy anytime soon. And I think the Bush/McVeigh doctrine will be used as justification, and used often, in the inevitable American revolution and inevitable third world war which will follow all this. Yes, we have given Saddam Hussein 12 years to do the right thing, and he has utterly refused. Well, we have given the American government a LOT more due process than 12 years to right itself. America's enemies have given the United States, and its corporations, a LOT longer than 12 years to quit meddling in their affairs. War has now been set as the primary standard to dispense justice. Even Fox News Channel has employed the slogan "Give War A Chance".

And if that is not bad enough, many in the Pentagon are now actually seriously discussing the use of the American nuclear arsenal in Iraq, and talking about it gleefully. This brings to mind a biblical prophecy. It's the one where the angel pours out his wrath, which dries up the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the main tributaries of modern day Iraq: this act precedes another little battle. The one called Armagheddon.

Liz Michael has formed a committee to run for the U. S. Senate from Arizona in 2004.
http://www.lizmichael.org

Copyright, 2003, LizMichael.com, http://www.lizmichael.com .. Permission to reprint granted so long as the website and the copyright remains referenced. No exclusivity may be retained by any individual or press entity which reprints.

Peace News

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 07:37:26 GMT

peace news

Tuesday, April 15, 2003 by Inter Press Service
Hundreds of U.S. Soldiers Emerge as Conscientious Objectors
NEW YORK - Although only a handful of them have gone public, at least several hundred U.S. soldiers have applied for conscientious objector (CO) status since January, says a rights group. The Center on Conscience and War (CCW), which advises military personnel on CO discharges, reports that since the start of 2003--when many soldiers realized they might have to fight in the Iraq war--there has been a massive increase in the number of enlisted soldiers who have applied for CO status.

"The bare minimum is several hundred, and this number only includes the ones that have come to my group and to groups we're associated with," CCW official J.E. McNeil told IPS. "There will be others who will have gone through different channels, and some people do it on their own," she added. READ MORE >

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0415-11.htm

War crimes case planned against U.S
Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - National Post - Steven Edwards

UNITED NATIONS - A coalition of lawyers and human rights groups yesterday unveiled a bid to use the UN's new International Criminal Court as a tool to restrain American military power. mIn a move Washington said vindicated U.S. claims that the court would be used for political purposes, the rights activists are working to compile war crimes cases against the United States and its chief ally in Iraq, Britain.

"There is a way that the United States can be accused ... of aiding and abetting war crimes," said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. READ MORE >

http://www.nationalpost.com/world/story.html?id=ECE98D7D-B287-47A5-90FB-A76063AD1B4E

WAR POEM

Fri, 11 Apr 2003 09:15:00 GMT

WAR CRIES

As troopers marched their weapons ready
screeching pierced the morning steady.
Suppressing the poor to bended knees
childrens eyes bowed by their deeds.
Coated black hills dragging their health
from officers of stone walls and wealth.
Smashed and burned their home land
to give them peace and make a stand.
Where reported many thousand stood
we can't give back the life we should.
Who's religion is right who's is wrong
we have weapons and mighty strong.
Young men fighting for our country
battling a poor misunderstood society.
We are there to make more men riches
when they clean up bombs and ditchs.
Our leaders have stock in foreign lands
so they take the taxes out of our hands.
Who can stop them now who will dare
do we want to or don't we really care.
We the people of these United States
hereby demand our right to co-creates.
To live life in peace and prosperity
and give love with honor and dignity.
Stand up and be counted one and all
before you find yourself among the fall.

Revelations Is Now!

Tue, 25 Mar 2003 08:49:43 GMT

The Everlasting Gospel is prophesied to come in Revelation 14:1-6, bringing the key to the eternal Universe. Here it is Spirit Gods New World Bible, giving a new, transforming synthesis to Bible prophecy. Its high message heralds the total transformation of this world into a utopian Space Age Paradise.

The Galactic Elohim are contacting humanity now to create this new reality. Rejoice in this knowing!

The God Force Is Real! And now It sends a great message and vision to the people in the prophesied Everlasting Gospel, a message of world transformation and spiritual enlightenment.

In the Everlasting Gospel you will learn the full story of the Galactic Elohim and their causation spaceships, space beings of the eternal Universe who came here long ago to heal a catastrophe in this solar system. This has been the root cause of all negativity here, ending now through cosmic contact with ETI Extra-Territorial Intelligence.

The healing of the world means transmuting the unfolding energies of past world karma, which are going into WWIII. This is not an inevitable disaster that must happen. Thanks to Creation Universe and the ETI Galactic Elohim, a breakthrough into a spiritual, free Utopia, where Love lives eternal, lies on the other side of this karmic separation of the wheat from the chaff. And it is indeed the very end of the status quo.

This means the end of business-as-usual, and an end to the use of money. It means an end to nation-states and mortal governments, an end to man's laws and system of punishment, and an end to the military wars of satanic violence. It also means an end to the myth of the man-God and the man-Satan, an end to all mortal minded thinking, guessing and supposing. All this is replaced with superconscious, eternal truth-reality, expressed in a sharing, communal world that blesses everyone.

Have no fear of this. The Everlasting Gospel is Gods compass to guide us through this transition-tribulation into a new world.

The Everlasting Gospel brings a spiritual synthesis to the Bible, explaining that Heaven on Earth is a world of total equality and sharing; and most importantly, giving humanity a master plan that brings absolute freedom, security, abundance, and equality for everyone on the planet.

This ETI channeling is not about mortal religion. It does reveal the coded messages from the Universe placed in the King James Bible by galactic ETI Space Beings. Messages that reveal the key prophecy about events unfolding right now.

The big event that is happening in the Middle East now is spoken of in the prophecy of Daniel 11:1-45. This is a karmic confrontation between the King of the North (principally America, Israel and England, with the Federal Reserve System as their defining icon), and the King of the South (the Arab nations of the Middle East, along with China) who oppose what is going on in Israel.

The King of the North money moguls of capitalism actually believe that they are creating the New World Order and that they are bringing about God's Kingdom. They want the people to stay in their buying and selling system for another thousand years, using the people as economic slaves to their satanic system.

We shall see why they shall fail and why a much greater Idea happens: the actuality of Spirit God's Paradise Kingdom coming into being.

The Creation Universe is taking over this planet now in a perfect way, and It does it telepathically, just as It has animated the people to build the scientific-technological world up into the World Wide Web.

All real progress has come out of telepathic communion with the Universal Mind.

The new world coming into being is all this same kind of telepathic organization, run by the higher consciousness of the Godmind. This is a real system of autonomous self-government, and it is perfect in every way. It is the way of life all over normal Universe.

Read introductory Book One of the Everlasting Gospel.
http://www.galactic.org/EG.html

OUT OF THE ASHES

Sat, 22 Mar 2003 09:42:53 GMT

I know most everyone is quite dis-heartened by the war, but please don't give up on faith and love for our fellow man. There hasn't been anything so dramatic as to awaken us from our sleep than this has. It gives the world opportunity to see how little we have grown and to awaken within us a love for life. Take this time to reflect on your lives and see where improvement is needed for compassion for others. Conficts only inflict more hate and becomes a visious circle that never ends. Don't stop talking about this or it will bottle up inside you until something blows. What little is left after this is over, people will need to have ideas on what their future lives will be like. Perhaps a new beginning for mankind rising from the ashes of an old world that didn't work.

EMAIL TO SIMPLEMAN FROM 87411

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:23:17 GMT

ID: 84711:
Name: Geral Sosbee
Last Online: 2003-02-17 16:15
Subject: from : www.sosbeevfbi.com

Message: In furtherance of these goals, the alliance calls upon the intellectual elite to do your duty (your real duty) to all of mankind and thereby explore on this or any other forum your ideas for improving the human condition, particularly with respect to government sponsored terrorism in the United States and in any other country on earth. For example, I hope that the great legal minds of the United States will find a way to remove the criminal code from existence; by this I mean that all offenses must become in time decriminalized and converted into civil errors. I think this can be done now with all routine traffic violations throughout the United States. Further, I suggest that all law enforcement officers be disarmed and that they not be allowed to terrorize our people with their ever-expanding collection of new weapons and flashing red lights.

I also hope that the great philosophers of our age (and I know that you are out there) get involved in addressing the need to re-think the social architecture of our time, toward the goal of bringing to each man and woman on earth a personal sense of self-worth and inalienable dignity which is not dependent on financial or social status.

Finally, as I do not intend here to overreach, I call on the social scientists and thinkers all to devise a plan by which we can free our brothers and our sisters from their prison cells across the nation. All but a few can now be re-directed back into mainstream society and the prison system as we know it can be at long last shut down permanently. In order to accomplish this we need to offer counseling and job referrals to all who accept the responsibility of freedom. We need to admit to them that they are needed in our world because they have the insight to teach the rest of us the meaning of humility and inhumane degradation.

We must aim toward the dismantling of the fbi because this little group of elite terrorists have all but ruined our country; if the Congress will not protect the United States Constitution from the thugs in law enforcement, then such representatives should also be ousted. Regarding the lethargic court system and the mainstream media, they have all but forfeited their right to participate in the real renaissance of this century. Respectfully Submitted IMHO. Geral Sosbee

Sent: 2003-02-15 17:02
Status: read 2003-02-16 05:44

41 Nobel Laureates Sign

Thu, 30 Jan 2003 22:16:53 GMT

41 Nobel Laureates Sign Against a War Without
International Support

Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 16:26:58 -0600 (CST)

41 Nobel Laureates Sign Against a War Without
International Support
Published on Tuesday, January 28, 2003 by the New
York Times

by William J. Broad

Forty-one American Nobel laureates in science and
economics issued a
declaration yesterday opposing a preventive war
against Iraq without wide
international support. The statement, four sentences
long, argues that an
American attack would ultimately hurt the security and
standing of the
United States, even if it succeeds.
The signers, all men, include a number who at one time
or another have
advised the federal government or played important
roles in national
security. Among them are Hans A. Bethe, an architect
of the atom bomb;
Walter Kohn, a former adviser to the Defense Advanced
Research Projects
Agency at the Pentagon; Norman F. Ramsey, a Manhattan
Project scientist who
readied the Hiroshima bomb and later advised NATO; and
Charles H. Townes,
former research director of the Institute for Defense
Analyses at the
Pentagon and chairman of a federal panel that studied
how to base the MX
missile and its nuclear warheads.
In addition to winning Nobel prizes, 18 of the signers
have received the
National Medal of Science, the nation's highest
science honor.
The declaration reads:
"The undersigned oppose a preventive war against Iraq
without broad
international support. Military operations against
Iraq may indeed lead to a
relatively swift victory in the short term. But war is
characterized by
surprise, human loss and unintended consequences. Even
with a victory, we
believe that the medical, economic, environmental,
moral, spiritual,
political and legal consequences of an American
preventive attack on Iraq
would undermine, not protect, U.S. security and
standing in the world."
Dr. Kohn, a Nobel chemist at the University of
California at Santa Barbara,
organized the declaration.
"No voice was speaking against the war," he said. "So
I asked, Can I
somehow make myself useful?' and had the idea of
contacting my Nobel
laureate friends and trying to rally them around a
reasonable position."
Dr. Kohn said he eventually tried to contact all
American Nobel laureates in
science and economics, who are thought to number about
130. But some had
died or were unreachable, he said, while others never
replied. Dr. Kohn said
only six respondents declined to sign the declaration.
He said the signers included Democrats and Republicans
alike.
Patricia Halloran, an aide to Dr. Kohn, said that more
signatures were
expected in the next few days as laureates returned
from foreign travels or
caught up with their mail.
Occasionally, science Nobelists have banded together
to speak out, usually
on topics of war and peace, arms and technology. In
July 2000, 50 Nobel
laureates urged President Bill Clinton to reject a
proposed $60 billion
missile defense system, arguing that it would be
wasteful and dangerous. In
October 1999, 32 Nobel laureates in physics urged the
Senate to approve the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, calling it central to
halting the spread of
nuclear arms.
The Iraq declaration is to be circulated on Capitol
Hill by Senator Dianne
Feinstein and Representative Lois Capps, both
California Democrats.
The signers are these, with E designating economics;
P, physics; C,
chemistry; and M, medicine or physiology:
George A. Akerlof E
Philip W. Anderson P
Paul Berg C
Hans A. Bethe P
Nicolaas Bloembergen P
Paul D. Boyer C
Owen Chamberlain P
Leon N. Cooper P
James W. Cronin P
Robert F. Curl Jr. C
Val L. Fitch P
Robert F. Furchgott M
Sheldon L. Glashow P
Roger Guillemin M
Herbert A. Hauptman C
Alan J. Heeger C
Louis J. Ignarro M
Eric R. Kandel M
Har Gobind Khorana M
Lawrence R. Klein E
Walter Kohn C
Leon M. Lederman P
Yuan T. Lee C
William N. Lipscomb C
Daniel L. McFadden E
Franco Modigliani E
Ferid Murad M
George E. Palade M
Arno A. Penzias P
Martin L. Perl P
William D. Phillips P
Norman F. Ramsey P
Robert Schrieffer P
William F. Sharpe E
Jack Steinberger P
Joseph H. Taylor Jr. P
Charles H. Townes P
Daniel C. Tsui P
Harold E. Varmus M
Robert W. Wilson P
Ahmed H. Zewail C

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Congressional Meetings On The Anti-War Movement

Tue, 28 Jan 2003 10:07:52 GMT

Posted from MoveOn.org

And then there are the Congressional meetings.

We had high hopes for the meetings that occurred yesterday in
Congressional districts across the country. After all, 9,000 folks had
signed up to participate, and we had an incredible team of over 800 local
volunteers and 12 tireless volunteer regional coordinators who were working
to set everything up. But, after a week of continual surprises, our
expectations yesterday were once again exceeded.

One comment sums up the experience of many:

"It was fantastic! Probably the best meeting I've ever been at - ever. 18
regular people who came together as strangers, were in agreement with one
another, speaking eloquently, passionately, respectfully and from the
heart." The member went on to say, "As a former Congressional staff person,
I know this was truly impactful and meaningful."

The impact was pretty clear. Yesterday alone, over 30 members of Congress
signed onto a Dear Colleague letter to the President, asking him to let the
inspectors do their jobs and abide by the UN process. It's pretty
remarkable -- Congress is taking up our petition. And more signers keep
coming in. In one of our most exciting moments, a pro-war-resolution
Representative took a look at the letter, listened to our members, and then
signed on the spot. Now that's democracy in action!

The Dear Colleague letter is just the beginning. One Representative from
Maryland is taking our petition to the floor of the House of
Representatives. Another offered us space in his offices to do more
anti-war organizing. One enthusiastic Representative is even going to join
MoveOn.

From Maine to Florida to Arkansas to Washington State, from Grand Rapids,
MI to Huntington, AL, diverse, articulate groups of MoveOn members got
together to talk to the offices of their Senators and Representatives.
Local newspapers, TV and radio stations covered the events, from the Denver
Post to Pacifica Radio.

The meetings themselves were simply incredible. But you don't need to
take our word for it. Here are a few short samples from the hundreds of
reports that have been pouring in:

"The voices of several veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars, of a VA
doctor, a pediatrician, other doctors, nurses, retirees, teachers,
grandparents, a law student, one after another, built a strong case for
encouraging Kolbe to urge Bush to give stronger support for the Inspections
Process. It was a bit uncanny. Not practiced, nor planned, but one by one,
each person integrated his/her contributions into what had been said
before. This was a very intelligent, well-informed, professionally-diverse,
group of people, speaking in one voice for winning the peace, without war."

--Martha Warner, Congressman Kolbe meeting, AZ

"I was so proud to be associated with the group that showed up to
Congressman Tancredo's office! They were an eclectic group of housewives
with children, high-powered businessmen, grandmas, artists, executives,
PhD's -- and each spoke with such grace and eloquence. It was just
amazing."
--Carol Grant, Congressman Tancredo meeting, CO

"An interesting and exciting outcome of the event is that the Congressman
agreed to lead a rally on Feb. 17th of many different coalitions. His
feeling is that it's up to the public to voice their opposition--that's the
only thing that will make legislators oppose the President. I/we will be
working with him to make this next event a success."
--Sheryl Barajas, Congressman Davis meeting, IL

"I was glad I made the drive, it was quite an honor to join with these
good folks. A varied group--three women, four guys...a retired Quaker
(though Quakers never retire thank god), a Methodist minister & active lay
person, a retired fighter pilot who is a Republican, a social scientist, a
person who had lived in Kuwait and an anthraxed postal worker. We were
together for just an hour but it was a good gathering to share & express
our concerns."
--Mike DeGregory, Congressman Smith, NJ

"This was my first time ever taking any initiative in political action,
and although it was a little scary, I'm really glad I did it, as I received
nothing but positive feedback and support from everyone. People really
wanted to come out and do this."
--Rachel Smith, Congressman Neal meeting, MA

"Rep. Cummings pledged to sign the Dear Colleague letter and also said he
would speak about the MoveOn statement and visit on the house floor. He
also said he would read comments from the summary of our petition. "
--Kimberly Nolan, Congressman Cummings meeting, MD

"[Congressman Holt] quoted Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's address at
Riverside Church: We are building a political myth and shoring it up with
new violence. (Dr. King's reference to Vietnam still rings true today.)"
-- Mara Isaacs, Congressman Holt meeting, NJ

"[Congresswoman] Stephanie Tubbs Jones made a last- minute decision to
meet with us personally, and proceeded to sit and speak for an hour. . .
She was very pleased to receive a copy of the petition with names and
address . . . and VERY excited to hear that ours was one of many
coordinated events nationwide."
--John Sinclair, Congresswoman Jones meeting, OH

"[Rep. Bartlett's aide Mr.] Otis was clearly impressed by the number of
signatories from the Congressman's District, and promised that he would see
the petition and the "Dear Colleague letter." He also commented "You have
represented your cause very well." "
--Gladys Cojocari, Congressman Bartlett meeting, MD

We hope to have a full report on the media coverage for the last week and
these lobbying visits up on our website soon. We'll let you know when it's
there.

WHAT'S NEXT?

As you can see, we are a force to be reckoned with. So what are our next
steps?

Over the next few weeks, we'll be offering you all sorts of ways to
continue to engage on this issue. One way to plug in is coming up pretty
soon. Win Without War, the coalition of mainstream civic organizations
against the war that we helped to found, is calling for a day of local
action on January 29th. Members of the coalition include American Friends
Service Commitee, Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, Conference of
Major Superiors of Men, Global Exchange, Greenpeace, Leadership Conference
of Women Religious, NAACP, National Council of Churches, National
Organization for Women, NETWORK, New England Health Care Employees Union
(part of SEIU), Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club,
Sojourners, Tikkun Community, TrueMajority, United Methodist Church
General Board of Church & Society, Us Foundation, Veterans for Common
Sense, Women's Action for New Directions, and Working Assets. Look for
events organized by some of these groups in your community on the 29th. You
may find local events listed at http://www.unitedforpeace.org .

THANK YOU

The national meetings project and our work for the last week was made
possible by the exceedingly hard work of hundreds of volunteers and scores
of local and national organizations. We deeply appreciate the assistance
that we have received -- we couldn't have pulled this off without help.

Very special thanks goes to the tireless team of volunteer regional
coordinators, who worked around the clock to make the meetings happen. They
are: Caitlin Fitzgerald, Judy Froman, Diane Jones, June Muller, Jennifer
Oatfield, Jesse Rhodes, Henry Snow, and Hedy Trevino.

Thanks also to:
Sarah Allen, Ira Arlook, Parker Blackman, Sarah Buecher, David Cortright,
Lynn Erskine, Philip Fryers, David Fenton, Trevor Fitzgibbon, Patrick Kane,
Elinore Klein, Kalee Kreider, Dwight Langham, Pacy Markman, Brendan
McCarthy, Segundo Mercado-Llorens, Christy Meiring, Alistair Millar, Nathan
Naylor, Lindsay Reinhardt, Dora Rose, Noah T. Winer, and Bill Zimmerman.

It's usually our practice to credit by name the local leaders whose
incredibly hard work made this all possible. But in this case, the list of
leaders would double the length of this email. All the folks who helped put
together local meetings and press conferences have our gratitude and
appreciation -- they're heroes and true patriots.

We also appreciate support for the meetings project from the following
organizations: Friends Committee on National Legislation, the American
Friends Service Committee, the National Council of Churches, TrueMajority,
Peace Action, and Women's Action for New Directions.

The last thank you goes to every one of MoveOn's members. It is an honor
and an incredible privilege to work with such an amazing group of people --
a group that is changing the face of this country and turning the tide
against a war. The Washington Post poll released today showed support for
the war plummeting. That's because of our work.

The stakes are high, folks. This war is a menace to our country and our
world. But the last week has shown that an enormous group of Americans are
going to do everything in their power to ensure that a peaceful resolution
is reached. So we really mean this: Thank you.

Sincerely,
--Carrie, Eli, Joan, Peter, Randall, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn Team
January 22, 2002

The beginning of this letter is posted in my weblog.This shows that there is a rising awareness of peace not war that is circling the globe.
Keep the faith,Spiritseek

Ramsey Clark; Impeach Bush Campaign

Sun, 26 Jan 2003 08:31:25 GMT

The following is clipped from:
[link]
No Iraqi war, thousands say in Mall protest
By Denise Barnes and H.J. Brier
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

"Ramsey Clark, U.S. attorney general during the Johnson administration,
called for Mr. Bush's impeachment, evoking cheers from the throng.
Mr. Clark noted the U.S. Constitution's impeachment criteria -
"treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors" - then laid out
his case against Mr. Bush in a stream of rhetorical questions.
"Has he assumed the power to wage aggressive war by himself? Is that
an impeachable offense? Has he threatened to use nuclear weapons? Is that
an impeachable offense?" he said, as the crowd yelled "yes" after each
question. "Then let's impeach him."
Mr. Clark and other rally organizers said a Web site will be set up to
enlist support for Mr. Bush's impeachment."

Ramsey Clark founded the International Action Center and the website for
the Center is [link] .

=======================
more >

Flawed Report; Iraqi Warheads Found

Tue, 21 Jan 2003 09:47:36 GMT

1) "Flawed Report; Iraqi Warheads Found" William Rivers Pitt

William Rivers Pitt, Author "War on Iraq"
to: Staff / Aaron Brown CNN
Subject: Flawed Report; Iraqi Warheads Found

Thursday 16 January 2003

My name is William Rivers Pitt. I am the author of the book 'War on
Iraq,'
which has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, and has cracked
the top ten bestseller lists of the Washington Post, L.A. Times, San
Francisco Chronicle and others. I am also a writer for the publication
truthout.org.

I apologize for flouting my resume at you, but I wanted to make sure that
you do not dismiss this email as coming from someone not very well versed
in this Iraq situation. A correspondent ........ at CNN gave me your
address, so that I might pass a note through you to Mr. Aaron Brown. I am
hoping he is prepared to hear what I am saying.

First things first: The warheads.

Let's be clear. These were not 'chemical warheads.' In the Iraqi arsenal,
a
warhead is a warhead - an empty ordnance space strapped to a missile.
What
matters is the payload, be it explosive or chemical or nuclear. The item
placed in the warhead denotes the designation. These warheads were
stone-cold empty, so by definition they are not 'chemical warheads.' They
are, in fact, nothing, because they were loaded with no payload.
Furthermore, the word 'warhead' is in itself misleading, as these were
artillery munitions.

Second. Iraq is allowed by UN resolutions to have a variety of weapons,
including the Al Samoud missile. We did not want to pull Iraq's fangs
completely after the Gulf War, considering the neighborhood they live in.
We allowed them to keep missiles that fly only a certain distance (150km
most often). Many people will not know this, and will think the presence
of
these munitions will represent a breach of the UN resolution. This is not
the case.

Third. Scott Ritter informed me today that these munitions were part of
Iraq's declaration last December. I await further confirmation of this,
and
so should the journalism world.

Fourth. This is absolutely a vindication of the inspections regime. They
found the stuff, and it will be destroyed, and no American soldiers or
Iraqi civilians died in the process. Inspections work.

Fifth. Recall how the UNSCOM inspections were undermined by meddling from
the American intelligence community. Understand that this warhead story
did
not come from Blix, or through the normal channels, but through a
Japanese
(read: close ally) inspector who contacted the news media and let rip
before the facts were in hand. Why?

Finally, I want to address a comment you made earlier this week. You said
on your show that it was unconscionable that viewers were writing in
claiming that CNN wants war because war is good for the media business. I
understand that this idea offends the core of your professionalism, but I
wonder if you have been watching CNN today.

Your station has referred, over and over again, to these discovered
warheads as 'chemical warheads.' The debate has not been centered on what
the facts are behind these items - when they were made, whether they were
loaded with anything, how long they have been there, whether they were
declared - and instead has focused on whether the White House can use
this
as a pretext for war. Calling these things 'chemical warheads' is a gross
exaggeration, which I have heard on CNN no less than seven times during
the
period I have been writing this message. Mull that.

Please, take the data I have given you and air it, for the sake of a
reasoned and complete debate. I remind you that CNN's viewership
increased
by 500% after 9/11 and that your network made its bones on the first Gulf
War. I beg you to get this data out to the American people, who
desperately
need facts and not overheated innuendo.

With great appreciation,

William Rivers Pitt