Flyby News
"News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era"
Stop King George's War & Lies * ACLU Alert!
10 March 2003
"The first casualty when war comes, is truth.
– Senator Hiram Johnson1) Going Off to War Supplied With Lies
-- UN Inspector: Fake Nuclear Evidence on Iraq
-- Red Alert for Bill of Rights! by Nat Hentoff
-- Afghan Prisoners Beaten To Death At US Base Investigation
-- Resisting the Doctrine of Pre-emptive Strike by Fidel Castro
-- Cheney wins oil-field contract
2) Just War -- or a Just War? by Jimmy Carter
3) Actions to Stop King George's War
4) ACLU Action Alerts:
-- Protect the Right for a Woman's Choice
-- Stop government-funded religion
Editor's Notes:Thanks for many signing an Emergency Petition featured in last issue. According to MoveOn.org, more than 500,000 people signed this petition to be delivered to UN Delegates today. Yet King George has stated that he plans to send US troops to attack Iraq regardless of the UN vote. This unconstitutional "UNDECLARED WAR" is WRONG!
We got to get the UN to take a pro-active role to defend innocent life, and support those ethically courageous peace "human shields" in Iraq.
This is a good week to make telephone calls to the UN, and not only support the rejection of a US resolution to authorize war, but to encourage the General Assembly's Resolution 377 -- "Uniting for Peace" which has been used ten times by the UN, most often as an initiative of the United States to "..maintain or restore international peace and security.." When has this initiative ever been more critical? We ask for France to propose such an initiative to advance their plans with Germany and others for increased Inspections and Peacekeepers in Iraq.
You will find information on actions you can take to stop the war in item 3, and at Flyby's updated page:
"Uniting for Peace to Resolve the Iraq Crisis"
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1045091648,41257, Items 1 and 2 provide resources showing that this war in not just unjust, but inhumane, and a great threat to freedom. Item 4 is current ACLU alerts. Civil freedoms and principles of the US Constitution are in great jeopardy. Every issue is making the reality more visible, a renegade military regime is implementing a plan to maintain control, chaos, and loss of freedom and life, while gluttony is pursued for limited corporate gain.
Please ask the General Assembly UN member states to implement UN Resolution 377, "Uniting for Peace." Help them tell the US that they CAN NOT INVADE IRAQ DURING THEIR PEACE MISSION AND PLAN FOR IRAQI DISARMAMENT OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.
The United Nations should take such pro-active peace approach NOW with the vision ahead to swiftly begin engaging the US in its plans for the disarmament and dismantling of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Flyby News' next issue will include some good news from Malik Abdullah Akili, Leonard Peltier, and we will give details on the beginnings of a new documentary film project on Dennis J. Kucinich. A change is coming, but we must deal with the current Bush crisis and regime that has squandered the largest surplus in US history, purposely, with a devious plan proceeding rapidly that threatens US freedom and democracy, and the very lives of woman, children, men, in Iraq, and US soldiers. If there is ever a time for the UN to be relevant, it is now. Thanks for any efforts to encourage the UN member states to do more than say no to the new US resolution, but join for "Uniting for Peace" to send in peacekeepers and inspectors, and demand a resolution for a peaceful disarmament of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction - and stop a US-led invasion!
U N I T I N G for P E A C E
1) Going Off to War Supplied With Lies
-- UN Inspector: Fake Nuclear Evidence on Iraq
-- Red Alert for Bill of Rights! by Nat Hentoff
-- Afghan Prisoners Beaten To Death At US Base Investigation
-- Resisting the Doctrine of Pre-emptive Strike by Fidel Castro
-- Cheney wins oil-field contract
Going Off to War Supplied With Lies March 6, 2003
Doubt everything. Trust nothing. Believe nothing.
Governments and the media messengers are lying now.
Going Off to War Supplied With Lies
by Nicholas von Hoffman
[Excerpt]
"War whore" is the name. They're the ladies and gentlemen of the media who whoop, holler and thigh-slap the United States into war. Day in and day out, hour after hour, on the TV news channels in particular, they tingle with happy excitement as they strain to infect their viewers (and somewhat less often, their readers) with their enthusiasm for the looming death and disfigurement of others. . .
. . . As we trot along toward our latest war, the government has come up with a new wrinkle for reporters gullible enough to buy into it. The reporters are being taken to "boot camps" where they are whipped into combat shape, after which they are "embedded" into different combat units to bond with the soldiers and become, more or less, soldiers themselves. These co-opted gulls are the detached observers who will be broadcasting and writing the dispatches that will pass for news back here at home.
Thus the one thing you may be sure of when the conflict breaks out is that you will have no way of knowing what's going on. Information will be withheld or twisted or invented, all interwoven with pieces of accurate news so that it's impossible to sort out the true stuff from the lies and misrepresentations, be they artful or crude. The people at home will not be told what's happening when it's happening. Nor for years after the event, when they may read the real story in history books.
Doubt everything. Trust nothing. Believe nothing. Governments and the media messengers are lying now and were lying then, as witness this small sampling of the lies by omission and commission told by the American government through the press over the last 65 years. . .
. . . In December 1989, an American army invaded Panama in order to lay hands on the country's dictator, General Manuel Noriega, who was also some kind of C.I.A. operative as well as a reputed drug smuggler. What George Bush I's motives were for kidnaping this man are not known-and as for Mr. Noriega, he's been kept incommunicado in a Florida prison for 14 years now. The government claimed the invasion was one of those surgical strikes during which nobody is injured; however, since reporters were not allowed to move around freely in Panama City, there are no American third-party accounts of what actually happened. Latin-American sources say that up to 2,000 civilians were killed and up to 70,000 were wounded. Less easy to cover up were the smoking ruins of the section of the city torched, accidentally or on purpose, by the Americans. The authors of those articles suggest that if people wonder why America is becoming a universal object of hatred, they might inquire among the Panamanians.
. . . Gulf War II: This conflict has posed an unusual set of propaganda problems. The usual Hitler stuff has been trotted out and made to fit Saddam as best it can, but the war crimes are old-very old. The most frequently made accusation of a Hitlerian type is: "He even used poison gas on his own people." But that crime was committed almost 20 years ago and done with the tacit approval of the United States, since the victims were Kurds, who were allied with the Iranians. Since then, the Kurds have become good guys, but it's hard to get some people to go to war in 2003 to right a wrong committed in 1981.
The government has been stymied in coming up with something bad that Saddam is doing now. They tried "linking" him to Al Qaeda, but-and this represents a rare example of propaganda backfiring-somehow or other, millions have found out that it's a fairy tale.
Hence, Bush II is in a predicament. He has to persuade people that we must attack Iraq for crimes it has not yet committed but which Bush II knows it will. The chosen method has been to fill the air with dozens of accusations, clouds of midge-like lies too numerous and too short-lived to be refuted. By producing volcanic eruptions of fiction, supposition, half-truths and no truths, the world will come to imagine Saddam, mustache and all, is climbing in the bedroom window, oriental dagger in hand. Far-fetched? The war whores are on the streets, strutting. If anybody can make believers out of the market segments and the focus groups, it is they.
Mr. Knightley begins his book with a 1917 quote from Senator Hiram Johnson, the long-forgotten, Progressive-era California Republican giant: "The first casualty when war comes, is truth."
You may reach Nicholas von Hoffman via email at
nvonhoffman@observer.com.
This column ran on page 4 in the 3/10/2003 edition of The New York Observer.
The complete article is posted:
http://www.observer.com/pages/observer.asp= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
UN Inspector: Fake Nuclear Evidence on IraqFor a related article:
"U.N. Nuclear Inspector Says Documents on Purchases Were Forged"
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 8, 2003; Page A01
A key piece of evidence linking Iraq to a nuclear weapons program appears to have been fabricated, the United Nations' chief nuclear inspector said yesterday in a report that called into question U.S. and British claims about Iraq's secret nuclear ambitions.
SOME EVIDENCE ON IRAQ CALLED FAKE
For the complete article, see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59403-2003Mar7.html= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"Red Alert for Bill of Rights!" by Nat Hentoff
[Excerpt] Justice Department vs. Democracy
March 7th, 2003
We may never know the name of the patriot who leaked John Ashcroft's draft of a sequel to the USA Patriot Act to Charles Lewis, head of the Center for Public Integrity. Lewis put the 86 pages on his web site
http://www.publicintegrity.org on February 7, and that night Bill Moyers interviewed Lewis on his PBS television program, Now. This broke the story of the most radical government plan in our history to remove from Americans their liberties under the Bill of Rights.
As The Washington Post warned in a February 12 editorial, this proposed law-prepared in secret for months while the Justice Department told Congress it had no such legislation in mind-gives the Bush administration "more power unilaterally to exempt people from the protections of the justice system and place them in a kind of alternative legal world." For more on the liberties that may be lost-through secret arrests, stripping Americans of citizenship, dragnet collection of DNA-see last week's column, "Ashcroft Out of Control."
On Bill Moyers's program, Charles Lewis said it took "the most incredible kind of courage" for a member of the Justice Department to have leaked this draft.
"There's gonna be a witch-hunt," Lewis predicted. "[If found, the leaker] could very likely not only lose their job, but . . . be ruined professionally. [And I] have an incredible respect for anyone who does that."
Called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, the legislation was most likely intended to be sprung on Congress and the rest of us once the war on Iraq began. As Charles Levendosky, editorial page editor of the Casper, Wyoming, Star-Tribune-a ceaselessly vigilant watcher of the Justice Department-said in his syndicated column:
"The DSEA isn't a working paper. It's a complete proposal for legislation. One cannot escape the ramifications. The thoroughness of DSEA is meant to discourage congressional changes, deletions or amendments. . . . It attacks the fundamental framework of our democracy by removing the checks and balances that hold it together and make it work."
In addition to the judiciary and Congress, the other check the Framers relied on to stop uncontrolled government power was what used to be called the Fourth Estate. That's why the First Amendment guarantees "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the . . . freedom . . . of the press."
But most of the media treated this unprecedented revision of the Constitution as a one- or two-day story, and there was scant mention of it on television. Interestingly, the largest response soon after Bill Moyers's program was from 3581 radio stations. And Moyers's Web site got more than 200,000 hits after the February 7 interview with Charles Lewis.
But as happened with The Washington Post's front-page story on the torture of prisoners in CIA interrogation at our military bases overseas-and the Los Angeles Times' detailed report on the CIA's targeted killings-there has been hardly any follow-up in newspapers or on broadcast and cable television..
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The complete article is posted:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0311/hentoff.php= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Related article: Afghan Prisoners Beaten To Death At US Base Investigation
'Blunt Force Injuries' Cited In Murder Ruling
By Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles The Guardian - UK 3-6-03
Two prisoners who died while being held for interrogation at the US military base in Afghanistan had apparently been beaten, according to a military pathologist's report. A criminal investigation is now under way into the deaths which have both been classified as homicides.
For this article, see:
http://www.rense.com/general35/beat.htm= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
For another article, called:
"The War on the Dark Corners of the World:
Resisting the Doctrine of Pre-emptive Strike"
by Fidel Castro (March 7, 2003), see:
http://www.counterpunch.org/castro03072003.html= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Cheney wins oil-field contract
Hussein may destroy facilities in event of war
Saturday, March 8, 2003
Edward Epstein
San Francisco Chronicle
Washington -- A company tied to Vice President Dick Cheney has won a Pentagon contract for advice on rebuilding Iraq's oil fields after a possible war.
The contract was disclosed in the last paragraph of a Defense Department statement on preparations for Saddam Hussein's possible destruction of Iraq's oil fields in the event of a U.S.-led invasion. The statement calls for proposals on how to handle oil well fires and for assessing other damage to oil facilities. The contract went to Kellogg Brown & Root Services, which is owned by Halliburton Co., of which Cheney was chairman until his election in 2000.
For the complete article, see:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/03/08/MN242495.DTL
2) Just War -- or a Just War? By Jimmy Carter
New York Times
OP-ED Piece
ATLANTA - Profound changes have been taking place in American foreign policy, reversing consistent bipartisan commitments that for more than two centuries have earned our nation greatness. These commitments have been predicated on basic religious principles, respect for international law, and alliances that resulted in wise decisions and mutual restraint. Our apparent determination to launch a war against Iraq, without international support, is a violation of these premises.
As a Christian and as a president who was severely provoked by international crises, I became thoroughly familiar with the principles of a just war, and it is clear that a substantially unilateral attack on Iraq does not meet these standards. This is an almost universal conviction of religious leaders, with the most notable exception of a few spokesmen of the Southern Baptist Convention who are greatly influenced by their commitment to Israel based on eschatological, or final days, theology.
For a war to be just, it must meet several clearly defined criteria.
The war can be waged only as a last resort, with all nonviolent options exhausted. In the case of Iraq, it is obvious that clear alternatives to war exist. These options — previously proposed by our own leaders and approved by the United Nations — were outlined again by the Security Council on Friday. But now, with our own national security not directly threatened and despite the overwhelming opposition of most people and governments in the world, the United States seems determined to carry out military and diplomatic action that is almost unprecedented in the history of civilized nations. The first stage of our widely publicized war plan is to launch 3,000 bombs and missiles on a relatively defenseless Iraqi population within the first few hours of an invasion, with the purpose of so damaging and demoralizing the people that they will change their obnoxious leader, who will most likely be hidden and safe during the bombardment.
The war's weapons must discriminate between combatants and noncombatants. Extensive aerial bombardment, even with precise accuracy, inevitably results in "collateral damage." Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander of American forces in the Persian Gulf, has expressed concern about many of the military targets being near hospitals, schools, mosques and private homes.
Its violence must be proportional to the injury we have suffered. Despite Saddam Hussein's other serious crimes, American efforts to tie Iraq to the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been unconvincing.
The attackers must have legitimate authority sanctioned by the society they profess to represent. The unanimous vote of approval in the Security Council to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction can still be honored, but our announced goals are now to achieve regime change and to establish a Pax Americana in the region, perhaps occupying the ethnically divided country for as long as a decade. For these objectives, we do not have international authority. Other members of the Security Council have so far resisted the enormous economic and political influence that is being exerted from Washington, and we are faced with the possibility of either a failure to get the necessary votes or else a veto from Russia, France and China. Although Turkey may still be enticed into helping us by enormous financial rewards and partial future control of the Kurds and oil in northern Iraq, its democratic Parliament has at least added its voice to the worldwide expressions of concern.
The peace it establishes must be a clear improvement over what exists. Although there are visions of peace and democracy in Iraq, it is quite possible that the aftermath of a military invasion will destabilize the region and prompt terrorists to further jeopardize our security at home. Also, by defying overwhelming world opposition, the United States will undermine the United Nations as a viable institution for world peace.
What about America's world standing if we don't go to war after such a great deployment of military forces in the region? The heartfelt sympathy and friendship offered to America after the 9/11 attacks, even from formerly antagonistic regimes, has been largely dissipated; increasingly unilateral and domineering policies have brought international trust in our country to its lowest level in memory. American stature will surely decline further if we launch a war in clear defiance of the United Nations. But to use the presence and threat of our military power to force Iraq's compliance with all United Nations resolutions — with war as a final option — will enhance our status as a champion of peace and justice.
Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, is chairman of the Carter Center in Atlanta and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. NY Times URL posting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/09/opinion/09CART.html
3) Actions to Stop King George's WarSome of the following was compiled and written by Voice4Change
http://www.voice4change.orgMarch 10, 2003
Use Your Veto!
The United States is pushing for a vote next week that will authorize the use of force in Iraq. You can link to the following URL to reach a form to send e-mail to France, China, and Russia, supporting their Veto Vote to block UN Authorization for war.
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/mailVeto.aspThe following URL link is to send an E-mail to all 15 Security Council Members to vote no on a Resolution to Authorize a US-led attack on Iraq.
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/mailUN.asp-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
101 Ways to Stop the War on Iraq
Some of the following was compiled by Guy Dauncey, Victoria, BC, Canada
http://www.earthfuture.com Ten Ways to Stop the War with Your Email
http://www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar/email.aspTen Ways to Stop the War with Your Pen
http://www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar/pen.aspTen Ways to Stop the War with Your Signs
http://www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar/signs.aspTen Ways to Stop the War with Your Body
http://www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar/body.asphttp://www.humanshieldaction.org/=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Emergency Convergence March 15 Stop the Countdown;
Tens of Thousands to March on the White House Against the War Deadline
The Politics of Deceit, Diplomacy, Oil and War
We urge you to join and support the tens of thousands of people who are holding an Emergency March on the White House Saturday, March 15 and conducting solidarity Stop the War actions all around the world. On March 15, workers in Italy are staging an anti-war General Strike.
In Spain, Greece, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and in Los Angeles, San Francisco and cities around the world people are coming together in Emergency Mass Action on March 15 to stop the U.S./UK war against the people of Iraq.
Bush and Blair have announced a March 17 deadline for war and demanded the international community's ratification. They are paving the path to war by racing to convince the world that war is inevitable and that they answer to no one except George W. Bush and his warmongering associates. They want to demoralize and immobilize the opposition at the most critical moment.
But the war-makers can still be stopped, and they know it. If it hadn't been for the worldwide uprising against the war the carnage would have started months ago. We can and must intensify the mobilization for March 15.
While there are multiple plans for activities in the event of war or after war has begun, all people of conscience recognize that there are no planned actions more important than those called to prevent a war before it starts, and for people in the United States at this time that is particularly true. We must do everything in our power now to prevent the government of the U.S. from its planned killing in the Middle East. That is what makes the March 15 Emergency Convergence so crucial. It's time to Take it to the White House.
For the rest of the story:
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=030307~vnw.asp=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
What Can the World Do if the US Attacks Iraq?
by Jeremy Brecher -
published by portside
March 7, 2003
If the US attacks Iraq without support of the UN Security Council, will the world be powerless to stop it? The answer is no. Under a procedure called "Uniting for Peace," the UN General Assembly can demand an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal. The global peace movement should consider demanding such an action.
When Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and began advancing on the Suez Canal. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower demanded that the invasion stop. Resolutions in the UN Security Council called for a cease-fire - but Britain and France vetoed them. Then the United States appealed to the General Assembly and proposed a resolution calling for a cease-fire and a withdrawal of forces. The General Assembly held an emergency session and passed the resolution. Britain and France withdrew from Egypt within a week.
The appeal to the General Assembly was made under a procedure called "Uniting for Peace." This procedure was adopted by the Security Council so that the UN can act even if the Security Council is stalemated by vetoes. Resolution 377 provides that, if there is a "threat to peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and the permanent members of the Security Council do not agree on action, the General Assembly can meet immediately and recommend collective measures to U.N. members to "maintain or restore international peace and security." The "Uniting for Peace" mechanism has been used ten times, most frequently on the initiative of the United States.
The Bush Administration is currently promoting a Security Council resolution that it claims will authorize it to attack Iraq. However, huge opposition from global public opinion and most of the world's governments make such a resolution's passage unlikely.
What will happen if the US withdraws its resolution or the resolution is defeated? The US is currently indicating that it will attack Iraq even without Security Council approval. The US would undoubtedly use its veto should the Security Council attempt to condemn and halt its aggression. But the US has no veto in the General Assembly.
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Flyby Note: TAKE ACTION ON THIS ABOVE PROPOSAL BEFORE WAR
You will find more information on this, including telephone numbers, etc.. to contact member states of the UN Security Council at.
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1045091648,41257,= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Marchers protest arrest of man for wearing peace T-shirt at Crossgates
Shopper charged after refusing to take off shirt that mall store made for him, bearing slogans "Peace on Earth" and "Give Peace a Chance"
By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer, with wire reports
First published: Wednesday, March 5, 2003
TimesUnion.com
GUILDERLAND [NY]-- About 100 people marched through Crossgates Mall at noon today to protest the arrest Monday of a man who wore a peace T-shirt while he shopped.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=112222&category=REGION&BCCode=HOME
4) ACLU Action Alerts:
Protect the Right for a Woman's Choice
Stop government-funded religionFrom: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU
To: ACLU Action Network Members
Date: March 10, 2003
– Protect the Right to Choose!
The U.S. Senate is expected this week to once again consider legislation that would ban so-called "partial-birth abortions." Just like previous versions of this legislation, the bill before the Senate continues to lack an exception to protect women's health -- a requirement that the Supreme Court said is constitutionally compelled.
The legislation before the Senate would seriously compromise women's health and drastically limit physicians' discretion to choose the most medically appropriate abortion method for their patients.
Take Action! Urge your Members of Congress to oppose this regressive and unconstitutional legislation! Click here to get more information and send a free fax:
http://www.aclu.org/ReproductiveRights/ReproductiveRights.cfm?ID=10780&c=143= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
– Support Civil Rights: Oppose the Faith-Based Initiative!
After voting on the anti-choice legislation, the Senate is expected to turn to a bill that would write into federal law President Bush's initiative for government-funded religion. If you have not yet sent a FREE FAX to your Senators about this dangerous legislation, please send your letter today!
The legislation before the Senate must be amended. Unless Congress explicitly prohibits discrimination, the Bush Administration has made it clear that it will allow religious organizations that take federal funds to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of religion, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, HIV status or any other characteristic that a religious organization finds objectionable.
Take Action! All federally funded employers must protect, not gut, the civil rights of all Americans.
Click here to get more information and send a free fax:
http://www.aclu.org/ReligiousLiberty/ReligiousLiberty.cfm?ID=11059&c=37For more information on other ACLU issues, visit:
http://www.aclu.org
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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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