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World Watching * Kucinich President's Day * Bio/Chem

17 February 2003




"We will either bring an end to war or we will bring an end to a war-like administration."

–Dennis J. Kucinich
15 February 2003, NYC



1) Millions Worldwide Protest War in Iraq
2) Kucinich Speech - 15 February - NYC
3) Kucinich to run for president
4) US Plans to Use Illegal Weapons
5) Taking a Stand on Iraq: Speak Out
6) Response to Andy Rooney's ‘France's Unpaid Debt'

Editor's Notes:


15 February I went back to my roots, NYC, joining with hundreds of thousands, millions around the globe. It was an outstanding outpouring for peace. Beyond the cold temperatures in NY, many were heartened by the actions of France, Germany, and Russia, placing the Bush policy of attacking Iraq in the minority of the UN Security Council. It is obvious that a preemptive attack and occupation would severely destabilize the region and invoke more terrorist acts. It would do more harm than good, and the people will forever suffer from such a blunder or a sinister plot. The US plan to attack Iraq effects each one of us. This was why so many people were in the streets demonstrating. Beginning this Monday, please call, fax, and email member nations of the UN to take a pro-active position to maintain peace in Iraq, for an effective containment and inspection policy. In 1950 the United Nations by an almost unanimous vote adopted Resolution 377, named "Uniting for Peace." As its charter so eloquently states, the UN can "save succeeding generations form the scourge of war."

See Action link from FlybyNews.com for
"Uniting for Peace to Resolve the Iraq Crisis"
or go to:
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1045091648,41257,

Item 2 is the text of Dennis Kucinich's speech in NYC, 15 February, "..The whole world is watching ...We are on the march. It is our government which must follow, or be swept aside."

Item 3 is an AP article stating that Dennis Kucinich will announce a presidential campaign this Monday, Presidents Day. Yes! Based on his effective opposition to the Bush administration, and the overwhelming interest for peace and world unity, and based on evidences of apparent political assassinations of key individuals in the past, one must be concerned. When I spoke with Congressman Kucinich on this subject a few months ago on the telephone, he was much more concerned of the direction of our country than his personal security, but I asked him to consider taking actions to remove any incentive for an assassination that could result in killing or delaying the US and world's movement for peace and compassion. Yet Kucinich is a man of destiny, passionate about democracy and serving those he represents. There may well be something to celebrate this Presidents Day.

Item 4 is on the madness of US military considerations for using biological and chemical weapons. A related story link at the end of this item is to the text of a CBS 60 Minutes segment (16 February 2003) on the lack of confidence regarding our soldier's protective gear and training in order to survive a chemical or biological attack. Item 5 is a poem by San Francisco's first poet laureate, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "Taking a Stand on Iraq: Speak Out." Item 6 is my letter to Andy Rooney in response to his commentary on 60 Minutes.

In the ensuing discoveries to reach horizons lost,
I cast out a net to find love at all cost,
Trampled beneath the pavement I squirmed as a worm would,
Hardened technology blocked the sun, but still, hope had won.

I found a crack that opened wide,
My laughter spiraled upwards, grateful I was alive.
Blemished by toil, surround by a cloak of dust,
Emerging victorious, I found the love I trust.





1) Millions Worldwide Protest War in Iraq

Millions Worldwide Protest War in Iraq
By ROBERT BARR,
Associated Press Writer


LONDON - Millions of protesters - many of them marching in the capitals of America's traditional allies - demonstrated Saturday against possible U.S. plans to attack Iraq.

In a global outpouring of anti-war sentiment, Rome claimed the biggest turnout - 1 million according to police, while organizers claimed three times that figure.


In London, at least 750,000 people demonstrated in what police called the city's largest demonstration ever. In Spain, several million people turned out at anti-war rallies in about 55 cities and towns across the country, with more than 500,000 each attending rallies in Madrid and Barcelona.


Spanish police gauged the Madrid turnout at 660,000. Organizers claimed nearly 2 million people gathered across the nation in one of the biggest demonstrations since the 1975 death of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco (news - web sites).

More than 70,000 people marched in Amsterdam in the largest Netherlands demonstration since anti-nuclear rallies of the 1980s.

Berlin had up to half-a-million people on the streets, and Paris was estimated to have had about 100,000.

In New York, rally organizers estimated the crowd at up to 500,000 people. City police provided no estimate of the crowd, which stretched 20 blocks deep and two blocks wide.

"Peace! Peace! Peace!" Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said while leading an ecumenical service near U.N. headquarters. "Let America listen to the rest of the world - and the rest of the world is saying, 'Give the inspectors time.'"

London's marchers hoped - in the words of keynote speaker the Rev. Jesse Jackson (news - web sites) - to "turn up the heat" on Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), President Bush (news - web sites)'s staunchest European ally for his tough Iraq policy.

Rome protesters showed their disagreement with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's support for Bush, while demonstrators in Paris and Berlin backed the skeptical stances of their governments.

"What I would say to Mr. Blair is stop toadying up to the Americans and listen to your own people, us, for once," said Elsie Hinks, 77, who marched in London with her husband, Sidney, a retired Church of England priest.

Tommaso Palladini, 56, who traveled from Milan to Rome, said, "You don't fight terrorism with a preventive war. You fight terrorism by creating more justice in the world."

Several dozen marchers from Genoa held up pictures of Iraqi artists.

"We're carrying these photos to show the other face of the Iraqi people that the TV doesn't show," said Giovanna Marenzana, 38.

Some leaders in German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government participated in the Berlin protest, which turned the tree-lined boulevard between the Brandenburg Gate and the 19th-century Victory Column into a sea of banners, balloons emblazoned with "No war in Iraq" and demonstrators swaying to live music. Police estimated the crowd at between 300,000 and 500,000.

"We Germans in particular have a duty to do everything to ensure that war - above all a war of aggression - never again becomes a legitimate means of policy," shouted Friedrich Schorlemmer, a Lutheran pastor and former East German pro-democracy activist.

In the Paris crowd at the Place Denfert-Rochereau, a large American flag bore the black inscription, "Leave us alone."

Gerald Lenoir, 41, of Berkeley, Calif., came to Paris to support demonstrators.

"I am here to protest my government's aggression against Iraq," he said. "Iraq does not pose a security threat to the United States and there are no links with al-Qaida."

In southern France, about 10,000 people demonstrated in Toulouse against the United States, chanting: "They bomb, they exploit, they pollute, enough of this barbarity."

Police estimated that 60,000 turned out in Oslo, Norway; 50,000 in bitter cold in Brussels, Belgium; and about 35,000 in frigid Stockholm, Sweden.

About 80,000 marched in Dublin, Irish police said. Crowds were estimated at 60,000 in Seville, Spain; 40,000 in Bern, Switzerland; 30,000 in Glasgow, Scotland; 25,000 in Copenhagen, Denmark; 15,000 in Vienna, Austria; more than 20,000 in Montreal and 15,000 in Toronto; 5,000 in Cape Town and 4,000 in Johannesburg in South Africa; 5,000 in Tokyo; and 2,000 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

"War is not a solution, war is a problem," Czech philosopher Erazim Kohak told about 500 people in Prague, the Czech Republic.

In Mexico City, as many as 10,000 people - including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu - snarled traffic for blocks before rallying near the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy. Demonstrators beat drums, clutched white balloons and waved handmade signs saying, "War No, Peace Yes."

In Baghdad, tens of thousands of Iraqis, many carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, demonstrated to support leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and denounce the United States.

"Our swords are out of their sheaths, ready for battle," read one of hundreds of banners carried by marchers along Palestine Street, a broad Baghdad avenue. In Damascus, the capital of neighboring Syria, an estimated 200,000 protesters chanted anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans while marching to the People's Assembly.

Najjah Attar, a former Syrian cabinet minister, accused Washington of attempting to change the region's map.

"The U.S. wants to encroach upon our own norms, concepts and principles," she said in Damascus. "They are reminding us of the Nazi and fascist times."

An estimated 2,000 Israelis and Palestinians marched together against war in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.

In Ukraine, some 2,000 people rallied in snowy Kiev's central square. Anti-globalists led a peaceful "Rock Against War" protest joined by communists, socialists, Kurds and pacifists.

"We want to say that war is evil and that we who survived one know that better than anyone," said Majda Hadzic, 54.

In divided Cyprus, about 500 Greeks and Turks braved heavy rain to briefly block a British air base runway.

Several thousand protesters in Athens, Greece, unfurled a giant banner across the wall of the Acropolis - "NATO (news - web sites), U.S. and EU equals War" - before heading toward the U.S. Embassy.

U.S. Ambassador Thomas Miller said the Greek protesters' indignation was misplaced.

"They should be demonstrating outside the Iraqi embassy," he said before the march.

About 900 Puerto Ricans chanted anti-war slogans against the possible invasion of Iraq. One man waved a U.S. flag on which the stars were replaced with skulls.

In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva began efforts to unite South American nations against a possible U.S.-led attack on Iraq. Police estimated 1,500 marchers.

# # #

For posting with links for this AP article, see:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030216/ap_on_re_eu/world_war_protests_23




2) Kucinich: "The whole world is watching"

Text of speech by US Representative Dennis J. Kucinich
New York City; Saturday, February 15, 2003

"Inner Space"

One of the Columbia astronauts is said to have looked upon the earth from the silence of outer space and said to fellow voyagers: "Look! The whole world is reflected in the iris of my eye." As she watched the whole world, the whole world is watching us to see what is reflected in our eyes, the light of peace or the fires of war. We who gather carry a vision of peace. We see the world as one. We carry a vision of human unity. We see the world undivided. Today and tomorrow we act on that vision.

To those leaders in our country struggling in inner space, those who have war in their eyes and in their hearts and would project it upon the world: The whole world is watching. "Look, the whole world is reflected in the iris of my eye." America is reflected in the irises of billions of eyes. The whole world is watching to see if the power of our morality is greater than the power which would unleash our weapons. Peaceful coexistence or war. The whole world is watching. A fist or an open hand. The whole world is watching. First use of nuclear weapons or leadership in global disarmament. The whole world is watching. Bombs or bread to the Iraqi people, to the Iranian people, to the North Korean people. The whole world is watching.

Some in the name of peace, prepare us for war, in the name of liberty, prepare us for submission, in the name of courage, prepare us to be fearful. Let all Americans challenge war, submission and fear! Some power has ruled there is no permit to march today. Yet we are on the march. The direction of peace is forward! We are on the march. The direction of human unity is forward! We are on the march. The direction of political change is forward. We are on the march. We will either bring an end to war or we will bring an end to a war-like administration. We are on the march!

Two hundred and fourteen years ago the First Congress standing upon the holy ground of a new Constitution met in this city. Their permit came from the Declaration of Independence. The same High Power which entrusted them entrusts us with the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We call upon the Spirit of the Founders to guide us as we create a new world where all may live in peace.

The United States, brought forth by the power of human unity, seeks to be reborn. We invoke the Spirit of Freedom. We hear the cadence of courage echo across the ages: "Life, Liberty, pursuit of Happiness." Once again, the hour has come for us to stand for unity, even as our government tells us we must follow it into war. Once again the hour has come for us to be strong of heart. The direction of human unity is forward. We are on the march. It is our government which must follow, or be swept aside.

Thank you.

–Dennis J. Kucinich
http://www.thespiritoffreedom.com
dkucinich@aol.com




3) Kucinich to run for president

Kucinich to run for president
CNN.com
Saturday, February 15, 2003
Posted1021 PM EST (0321 GMT)


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich plans to file papers to launch a presidential campaign next week, a source familiar with the Ohio Democrat's plans said Saturday.

His entry into the 2004 presidential race bumps the Democratic field of candidates to eight.

Kucinich has said voters need to hear alternative points of view on Iraq, trade and the nation's economic policies, all issues expected to be at the center of his campaign.

Kucinich told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer in a story for Sunday's editions that he is "testing the waters" by filing to form a presidential exploratory committee and will commit to running for the nomination in June if his candidacy wins wide support in the next several months.

The fourth-term congressman will announce his plans on Monday, which is Presidents Day.

He is scheduled to be in Iowa Sunday, where he is to meet with Democratic Party activists in advance of an appearance Monday with other presidential hopefuls at an AFL-CIO forum.

The Iowa caucuses next January mark the first major contest of the 2004 presidential primary season.

Those already in the race are former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Kucinich, 56, is best known nationally as being Cleveland's "boy mayor" in the 1970s. However, since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the increased attention on the inspection of Iraqi weapons, Kucinich has become a national voice for civil liberties and peace.

"We need to start asking why is war considered to be an instrument of policy," Kucinich said at a recent news conference in Washington.

"Inspections are an adequate substitute for war, diplomacy is a substitute for war, human relations are a substitute for war, and so I think that there is no case made for war," he said.

A spokesman from Kucinich's office said the congressman receives "tens of thousands" of phone calls and e-mails each day urging him to run for president, an outpouring he said started after Kucinich gave a speech last February called "A prayer for America."

In that Los Angeles, California, address, Kucinich used patriotic language to denounce Bush administration policies that he says tread on personal liberties and take the country in a dangerous direction internationally.

The text of the speech circled the Internet and led an Oklahoma City computer consultant to launch a Web site asking people to urge Kucinich to run. The site http://www.draftkucinich.com gets about 5,000 visitors a day.

Ralph Nader, who also appeals to economic populists, has spoken publicly about his support for Kucinich, saying the race needs a progressive candidate. Nader was the Green Party's presidential candidate in 2000.

As chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which consists of 55 of the most liberal members, Kucinich has pushed in Congress for a worker-friendly economic stimulus package and been a longtime advocate for establishing a Department of Peace.

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
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Flyby News updated resource page on Dennis Kucinich:
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1021307488,43210,m




4) US Plans to Use Illegal Weapons

lndependent/UK
Sunday, February 16, 2003

US Plans to Use Illegal Weapons
by Severin Carrell

While American forces invading Iraq face the threat of chemical attack, they could themselves be using biochemical agents which are banned under international law.

The US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, revealed earlier this month that American forces are planning to use "non-lethal" biochemical weapons such as anti-riot gases and crowd control agents if they invade Iraq. Mr Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee they were preparing to ask President George Bush for permission to use these weapons, known in military circles as "calmatives", on Iraqi civilians, in cave systems or to take prisoners.

But two of Britain's leading authorities on chemical weapons, Professor Alistair Hay and Professor Julian Perry-Robinson, who are collaborating on an expert guide for the World Health Organisation, said such weapons are illegal under the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention and the 1928 Geneva Protocol, which ban the use of chemical agents against people in wartime.

"It would be absolutely outrageous if they did this," said Prof Hay, an epidemiologist at Leeds University. "Surely this war against Iraq is to stop the use of those weapons, not about also using them."

The dangers of such weapons were exposed, the experts said, when Russian special forces used an opiate-based crowd control gas, with devastating consequences, on Chechen rebels holding theatregoers hostage in Moscow in October. Both men said Mr Rumsfeld's comments also threatened to put the Pentagon on a collision course with Britain.

Ministry of Defence experts have repeatedly warned their US counterparts that their proposed use of these weapons in warfare is illegal.

© 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
http://www.independent.co.uk/

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

For a related report, see:
Bio/Chem Attack Protection Questioned
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/14/60minutes/main540691.shtml




5) Taking a Stand on Iraq: Speak Out

Taking a Stand on Iraq: Speak Out
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti


And a vast paranoia sweeps across the land

And America turns the attack on its Twin Towers

Into the beginning of the Third World War

The war with the Third World

And the terrorists in Washington

Are drafting all the young men

And no one speaks

And they are rousting out

All the ones with turbans

And they are flushing out

All the strange immigrants

And they are shipping all the young men

To the killing fields again

And no one speaks

And when they come to round up

All the great writers and poets and painters

The National Endowment of the Arts of Complacency

Will not speak

While all the young men

Will be killing all the young men

In the killing fields again

So now is the time for you to speak

All you lovers of liberty

All you lovers of the pursuit of happiness

All you lovers and sleepers

Deep in your private dreams

Now is the time for you to speak

O silent majority

Before they come for you


Lawrence Ferlinghetti is San Francisco's first poet laureate (1998) and the owner and founder of City Lights Bookstore. This poem first appeared on the City Lights Web site: http://www.citylights.com




6) Response to Andy Rooney's ‘France's Unpaid Debt'

To: ANDY ROONEY

Re: Commentary, CBS 60 Minutes, 16 February 2003
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/14/60minutes/rooney/main540729.shtml


Dear Mr. Rooney,

I appreciate most of your commentaries, but not tonight's, "France's Unpaid Debt." It seemed pompous to assume that France, from past debts, should go along with the Bush administration's war, which is not the US war. (According to the US Constitution, war can only be declared by an act of Congress.) You didn't mention that France claims that such a war would destabilize their surrounding area and the Middle East. They have a right to resist a war that could produce more terrorism and harm to innocent life, and the environment around them. The French and I believe that continuing inspections and containment is more effective in stopping the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction than an armed assault on a people that have suffered long enough, and with inconclusive evidence of any wrong doing outside their borders in the last decade. Now is the time when such resources going toward attacking Iraq should be available in dealing with a more urgent problem, the atomic bomb production process in North Korea.

I am proud of your and America's role during WWII, and I also appreciate France's assistance during the US Revolutionary War, but this has little to do with this current debate of a Bush change in foreign policy for preemptive attacks that promises to harm innocent people and play into the hands of terrorists seeking support in fighting US actions of apparent unilateral imperialism.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Mark,
Publisher
Flyby News - www.FlybyNews.com



A "Fair Use Policy" that describes Flyby News' use of copyrighted material is posted at flybynews.com.

The views expressed herein are the writers' own and not necessarily those of Flyby News.

Your feedback, networking Flyby News, and forwarding us articles of interest, are welcomed and appreciated. You can write to the publisher/editor Jonathan Mark info@flybynews.com



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