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USAggression * DissidentonDean * Gore * BigK
13 November 2003
"First they ignored me. Then they laughed at me. Then they got angry. Then I won."1) "US unleashes renewed bombing raids on Iraqi towns"- - GNN interviews Naomi Klein
2) Dissident Voice on Howard Dean- - Dean recommends ten more years of occupation
- - U.S. out of Iraq, Kucinich says - The Olympian
3) Gore issues warning over "Big Brother" regime in US
4) Kucinich remains undeterred as campaign lags- - Kucinich with Lou Dobbs (CNN)
- - Dennis Kucinich "Talk of the Nation" NPR
- - "A Prayer for America" book review
- - Kucinich MeetUp - Vote Now for December 4
- - ‘This Is The Moment' - Tapes are ready
Editor's Notes:The terror threatening all happening now in Iraq is featured in the first item. Item 2 includes an email commenting on Howard Dean's stance in prolonging a US-controlled Iraqi Occupation; whereas, Dennis Kucinich has proposed a plan for a direct break from US to UN-control - with no privatization and a prompt return of the government to the Iraqi people. Kucinich's proposal empowers the best interests of an international community, and with a plan that alienates and isolates terrorism, rather than provokes it.
Item 3 is a good piece on Al Gore's recent speech warning about the "Big Brother" US regime. One can assume that he knows this from the inside. Item four is on the Kucinich campaign promoting a platform to transform the US government to reclaim a fast departing democracy. On the campaign front, Dennis is way behind in the polls. Most people in the streets of NH have rarely heard of Dennis Kucinich. Yet according to today's posting at www.kucinich.us, his national appearances are scheduled only until November 23rd, and nothing to date in NH. Something will be happening there, soon, we assume, but advance notice is imperative for a campaign to be most effective in booking and filling the best venues for the word on Dennis for President to get around. What's the delay? Perhaps the commitment of a member of Congress and Presidential candidate is too much for a grass roots campaign to handle? Yet as other stories and reports in Item 4 indicate, the process of exposure and the educational work continues, undaunted. Please note the individual initiative of Daniel Welch, making "This Is the Moment" Kucinich-campaign video available.
For your information, the quote at the top of this page was from an email source, ‘Dennis quoting Gandhi.'
Reminder:
Monday, November 17, 2003
US Constitution In Crisis "What I've Learned About US Foreign Policy:
The War Against the Third World"
Excerpts from this film compilation, by Frank Dorrel,
document CIA covert operations and
US interventions since World War II.
"A Prayer for America"
This is the speech presented by Dennis Kucinich to the
Southern California Americans for Democratic Action,
on February 17, 2002, in response to loss of civil liberties following September 11, 2001.
Keene State College (NH) Student Center, Madison Lounge
Monday 17 November 2003 -- 7:30 to 9:30 pm
Co-sponsored with the Keene State Democrats
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See FlybyNews.com under Campaigns
for more on this and other events.
http://www.flybynews.comFor the official Kucinich schedule, see:
http://www.kucinich.us/schedule.htmand for Kucinich-related events in New England:
http://www.massforkucinich.us/calendar.htm
1) "US unleashes renewed bombing raids on Iraqi towns"- - GNN interviews Naomi Klein
"US unleashes renewed bombing raids on Iraqi towns"
World Socialist Web Site WSWS
News & Analysis Middle East Iraq:
[Excerpt]
By Richard Phillips
11 November 2003
The US military launched bombing strikes against Iraqi civilians last weekend for the first time since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. The air campaign, involving F-16 bombers, targeted two towns, Tikrit and Fallujah, which have become centers of popular resistance to the US occupation. It was aimed at terrorizing the Iraqi people in response to the escalating number and sophistication of attacks on American troops in the last weeks.
While American officials, from President Bush down to senior military commanders, continue to claim that "progress" is being made, the reality on the ground is that the US is sinking into an ever-deepening quagmire. Washington's answer to growing popular hostility and increasingly well-organised resistance is to revive the methods used by US forces during the Vietnam war mass roundups, death squads and the wholesale destruction of villages and towns.
Lt. Col. George Krivo, a spokesman for the US command, told the media that military action was being intensified against all "noncompliant forces". The campaign, code-named "Operation Ivy Cyclone", began last Friday night with air bombing raids, coordinated ground-troop assaults and mass arrests. According to media reports, the US Army has so far admitted to killing five Iraqis and arresting 140 people.
A US officer speaking on condition of anonymity said the army was on "offensive operations" and that the attacks would continue for several days. "You can expect to see an increase in the level of intensity and the amount of activity," he said. In a chilling reminder of US terror in Vietnam, the officer continued"Part of warfare is coercion and affecting the hearts and minds of the enemy".
In the first week of November alone, 34 US troops were killed, the highest losses since the American-led occupation began on March 21, and more than the total fatalities in all of October. Over 150 American soldiers have been killed in combat since May 1.
Sixteen US soldiers lost their lives on November 2 when guerilla fighters downed a Chinook helicopter in Fallujah. This was followed by the death of six American troops on Friday November 7 when a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Tikrit.
Two of those killed on Friday were from the Department of the Army headquarters at the Pentagon and an American major general travelling in another helicopter narrowly escaped death. This was the third US helicopter hit in the last two weeks.
Washington responded to the Black Hawk crash with an extended assault on Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town, beginning at midnight and lasting until just before dawn on Saturday. US troops bombarded the area near the helicopter crash site with mortar fire and then attacked a warehouse and two houses with rockets, missiles and heavy-machine guns, claiming that anti-coalition forces were using the properties as hideouts. F-16 jets then dropped three 227-kilogram laser guided bombs to completely destroy the buildings.
Lt. Col. Steven Russell of the 4th Infantry Division who led the raid told Associated Press"We want to remind this town that we have teeth and claws and we will use them." According to the press agency, "soldiers yelled, ‘knock, knock' and ‘good morning' in celebration as the structure crumbled amid plumes of dust and smoke."
US military officials have attempted to blame the mounting resistance on "Saddam Hussein loyalists, criminals and foreign fighters". But claims about "foreign fighters" are beginning to wear thin. Russell admitted to the press last weekend that US forces are "yet to kill or capture a foreign fighter in Tikrit."
In fact, the US military, conscious of the widespread and popular character of the resistance, is increasingly directing its repression against the Iraqi population as a whole.
In Al Auja, a Tikrit suburb and the birthplace of Saddam Hussein, the US has established virtual concentration camp conditions. Surrounded by almost eight kilometres of razor wire the 3,000-strong community is permanently guarded and patrolled by heavily armed US troops. No one is allowed in or out of the area without US Army permission, and US troops have interrogated nearly every male in the suburb. Last Friday US soldiers poured into Al Auja before dawn and ordered all residents 18 years and older to register for identity cards..
..Sixty-year old farmer, Fakhri Fayadh, insisted that the US reprisals "will only increase our spite and hatred of them. If they think they will scare us, they are wrong. Day after day, Americans will be harmed and attacks against them will increase."
For the complete article, see:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/tikr-n11.shtmlCopyright 1998-2003 - World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved
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- - GNN interviews Naomi KleinGuerilla News Network interviews
famed globalization author Naomi Klein
Naomi: In Iraq, all that we hear is: it's a mess, it's a mess, it's a mess. It's a morass. It's a quagmire. It's a disaster. And that's true, on a military level. It's a disaster because people are dying and it's a disaster because it's deeply disorganized. But that whole discussion, that strategic military discussion, is covering over the broader question of: What were the goals of this war? And if we ask the question of what were the goals of this war, then we can ask the more serious question of: have those goals been achieved?
I believe that the goal of this war was to bomb, into being, a new free trade zone. Precisely because of the enormous backlash against these economic policies by countries that have already adopted them. Capitalism functions like a drug addict. The drug is growth. It needs growth to survive. It needs growth to expand..
For the complete interview, see:
http://www.guerrillanews.com/bunker/west/doc3366.html
2) Dissident Voice on Howard Dean- - Dean recommends ten more years of occupation
- - U.S. out of Iraq, Kucinich says - The Olympian
"It's Business As Usual, Starring HOWARD DEAN"Editors' Note About this Compilation: The curtain is raised, and standing in the spotlight alone is Presidential hopeful Howard Dean. A virtual nobody turned star attraction, Dean's ride to the top has been nothing short of remarkable. He has long held ambitions of one-day gazing out over the plush White House lawns in his royal bathrobe. And he may soon have his wish. The American Left has all but crowned this Democrat king of their Party -- buying his anti-war posture with superfluous ease. But how progressive is Dr. Dean? Is he worthy of such support?
The following collection of articles helps to expose the doctor for what he is -- a typical politician whose record is crammed full of sleaze and controversy. These articles -- ranging from his Israel position, to his qualms with the Bill of Rights -- prove that we should not have the illusion that Dean is a liberal savior, strong enough to pry the Right hand now strangling this country.
For the complete compilation by Dissident Voice:
"It's Business As Usual, Starring HOWARD DEAN", see:
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles9/DVNS_Howard-Dean.htm= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Dean recommends ten more years of occupationFrom: Jane
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2003 09:59:20 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Dean recommends ten more years of occupation
..someone just e-mailed me that they went to see Howard Dean speak this weekend. What she said that he said -- I find it hard to believe he actually said this -- was that the US needs to occupy Iraq for TEN MORE YEARS. Why? Because, according to this report, Dean said that while there were no Al Qaeda ops in Iraq before the invasion, there are now. That was his reason. I think Bush would like that one too!
FYI, on KPFA this morning, an Iraqi woman said, "Iraq is now basically an open-air jail." The whole country has been turned into San Quentin? And that's going to make Iraqis stop resisting US occupation? The idiots who run this country are forgetting the basic rule of human psychology: THE MORE ONE PUNISHES, THE MORE ONE CREATES RESISTANCE. All the Bushies are doing is insuring that the entire Middle East will fight our troops to the death. And what's this about what that general said? "We will use EVERY weapon in Iraq." Now they plan to nuke the place?
I'm stressing out here. "We" need Dennis! The US government is NOT supposed to make me stress out. That is my teenage daughter's job!..
Regards, Jane
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- - U.S. out of Iraq, Kucinich says - The OlympianDemocratic presidential hopeful U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio speaks Friday at the University of Washington.
Read full story at link below. (nice photo too)
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031108/frontpage/144104.shtml
3) Gore issues warning over "Big Brother" regime in USGore issues warning over "Big Brother" regime in US
By Bill Vann
12 November 2003
In his second major speech in three months, former vice president Al Gore criticized the Bush administration's "war on terrorism," accusing the White House of exploiting the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to assume quasi-dictatorial powers.
The one-hour speech, delivered November 9 in Washington DC, was cosponsored by MoveOn.org, a liberal Democratic activist group, and the American Constitution Society. Gore spoke before an audience of 3,000. The speech was also broadcast live on C-Span and over the Internet.
No less significant than the speech itself was the failure of the mass media to give it any serious attention. Major broadcast outlets ignored it, while, for the most part, it was buried in leading US dailies. No major national newspaper bothered to publish editorial comment on the issues raised by Gore.
The virtual silence of the media is extraordinary given both the content of Gore's remarks and the identity of the speaker. The former vice president won the popular vote in the 2000 election and was denied the presidency only by a politically rigged decision of a five-member majority of the US Supreme Court. He remains the nominal head of the Democratic Party.
No less deafening was the silence that greeted Gore's speech from the top echelons of his own party. No member of the Democratic congressional leadership commented on his charges.
"Where civil liberties are concerned, they [the Bush administration] have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive ‘Big Brother' style government—toward the dangers prophesized by George Orwell in his book 1984—than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America," said Gore.
The administration, he added, "has opted to rule by secrecy and unquestioned authority," while carrying out "assaults on our core democratic principles."
The former vice president recounted the sweeping attacks on basic rights that have been carried out by the administration. "For the first time in our history, American citizens have been seized by the executive branch of government and put in prison without being charged with a crime, without having the right to a trial, without being able to see a lawyer and without even being able to contact their families," said Gore.
He continued: "President Bush is claiming the unilateral right to do that to any American citizen he believes is an ‘enemy combatant.' Those are the magic words. If the President alone decides that those two words accurately describe someone, then that person can be immediately locked up and held incommunicado for as long as the President wants, with no court having the right to determine whether the facts actually justify his imprisonment."
Gore went on to cite the unprecedented powers of search and seizure assumed by the administration and codified in the USA Patriot Act. The government, he noted, now has "the right to monitor every web site you go to on the Internet, keep a list of everyone you send email to or receive email from and everyone who you call on the telephone or who calls you—and they don't even have to show probable cause that you've done anything wrong."
Moreover, he pointed out, "federal agents ... can secretly enter your home with no warning — whether you are there or not — and they can wait for months before telling you they were there. And it doesn't have to have any relationship to terrorism whatsoever."
He further pointed to new federal powers to monitor attorney-client conversations and demand library records of any citizen to see what he or she is reading. He condemned the mass round-up two years ago of over 1,200 immigrants from Arab and Islamic countries for no more than minor visa violations. While, with few exceptions, no terrorism charges were brought, many of those who were jailed suffered vicious persecution and abuse while in custody.
In conclusion, Gore argued that "this administration has attempted to compromise the most precious rights that America has stood for all over the world for more than 200 years: due process, equal treatment under the law, the dignity of the individual, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, freedom from promiscuous government surveillance."
Remarks on September 11 blacked out
The subtext of the former vice president's speech was the Bush administration's exploitation of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to further its political aims and carry out its assault on democratic rights, as well as its policy of keeping the facts surrounding the 9/11 attacks shrouded in secrecy. This aspect of Gore's presentation was subjected to a near total blackout by the media.
The Bush administration, Gore noted, has stonewalled the national commission formed to investigate September 11, prompting the panel's Republican leadership to issue subpoenas seeking to pry information from the Pentagon and the Federal Aviation Administration, while threatening to do the same to the Bush White House. Similarly, he said, "the White House is also refusing to respond to repeated bipartisan congressional requests for information about 9/11."
He pointed to a Republican-orchestrated provocation over a leaked Democratic memo that was used to shut down the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. Gore commented: "Apparently the President is anxious to keep the Congress from seeing what are said to have been clear, strong and explicit warnings directly to him a few weeks before 9/11 that terrorists were planning to hijack commercial airliners and use them to attack us."
Gore went on to note that there existed "a great deal of specific information ... prior to 9/11 that probably could have been used to prevent the tragedy." He cited a recent analysis based on data collected by a software company that was funded by a CIA-connected firm..
For the complete article, see:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/gore-n12.shtml
4) Kucinich remains undeterred as campaign lags- - Kucinich with Lou Dobbs (CNN)
- - Dennis Kucinich "Talk of the Nation" NPR
- - "A Prayer for America" book review
- - Kucinich MeetUp - Vote Now for December 4
- - ‘This Is The Moment' - Tapes are ready
Kucinich remains undeterred as campaign lags
He dismisses use of TV ads, focuses on grass-roots organizing
By LYNN OKAMOTO
Register Staff Writer
11/12/2003 Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich acknowledged Tuesday that he's a long shot in the 2004 race for president, but said he isn't planning any major changes in his campaign strategy or staff.
"Obviously, my campaign is seen as being way back in the pack right now," Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, said in a meeting with reporters and editors of The Des Moines Register.
"But you know what?" he said. "Some people are starting to say they like the fact that I'm a long shot, and that's why they're backing me. "They want to create a surprise, and I think my campaign is in a position to be the surprise of the 2004 primary in Iowa."
Campaigns for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman have had recent shake-ups as polls have shown them trailing such candidates as former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt.
A Register poll taken last week showed Kucinich has made no headway since July. He is supported by 3 percent of likely Iowa caucus participants.
But Kucinich was undeterred Tuesday, saying he just isn't getting enough media coverage. He repeated his calls for universal health care, canceling the North American Free Trade Agreement and withdrawing from the World Trade Organization.
"We keep expanding in Iowa," he said. "I'm in Iowa to stay. Unlike the other candidates, we've put all of our money into building a grass-roots organization, so that's what I've got. We have operations now in at least a half-dozen cities in this state. Our campaign's on the move."
Kucinich is one of four candidates who have yet to run any television ads, and he doesn't plan to. He said grass-roots organizing is the most productive use of campaign dollars.
Campaign finance records show Kucinich has raised $3.4 million this year, ranking third from last among nine candidates.
The Ohio congressman is seeking a fifth term in 2004, at the same time he's running for president.
Critics say he's alienated some of his Cleveland supporters with positions he's taken on the presidential campaign trail, such as switching his position on abortion. But Kucinich said he's confident of his hometown's support.
"My political career in Cleveland goes back 36 years," he said. "I take care of people in my district. My presence in Cleveland is felt in a way that perhaps no public official in the area is felt, at the neighborhood level."
Kucinich made several appearances Tuesday around Des Moines. He will return Thursday to campaign in Davenport and will be in Iowa City on Friday; Waterloo, Grinnell and Des Moines on Saturday; and Ames, Newton and Cedar Rapids on Sunday.
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- - Kucinich with Lou Dobbs (CNN)Aired November 12, 2003 - 18:00 ET
[Excerpt]
Here now, Lou Dobbs.
<...>
DOBBS: You're also calling for a withdrawal from NAFTA, from the World Trade Organization.
KUCINICH: Right.
DOBBS: Why?
KUCINICH: Well, both NAFTA and the WTO have meant a destructive undermining of our economy and of our manufacturing industries and of our hopes for the future. You know, NAFTA has meant a race to the bottom in wages. NAFTA has not allowed workers rights, human rights and environmental quality principles to be protected, and the WTO locks that system in. So I ve said, my first act in office as president will be to cancel NAFTA and the WTO and return to bilateral trade conditioned on workers' rights, human rights and environmental quality principles.
DOBBS: The president faces a decision whether or not to withdraw the tariffs that he imposed on steel imports, or face a trade war with Europe, at least to the tune of some $2.2 billion. What would Dennis Kucinich advise the president to do?
KUCINICH: Well, we have to protect our steel industry, but we have to actually -- I mean, what I intend to do as the next president is get out of both NAFTA and the WTO, and then we won't be in a position where we're being asked to choose between saving our steel industry or damaging our agricultural economy.
We have a right and an obligation to protect both. Now, Lester Thoreaux (ph) says there has to be some correspondence between what a company buys from you and what they sell to you. We don't have that here. We're driving a trade deficit close to $500 billion. As you point out, the trade deficit with China is approaching $130 billion. We're giving away our jobs for the future. And I intend to change that as the next president.
You can order a video 800-CNN-NEWS
or secure online order form at
http://www.fdch.com= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Dennis Kucinich "Talk of the Nation" NPRDennis Kucinich was recorded live November 12, 2003 on
"Talk of the Nation" -- National Public Radio.
You can listen to this program online at
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- - "A Prayer for America" book reviewThe following is a book review for
"A Prayer for America"
on the Barnes & Noble web site
by Stephanie Caruana
November 3, 2003
An Uncommon Man expresses America's Common Dreams with Uncommon Clarity
Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich is criss-crossing America delivering speeches as he runs for President on the Democratic ticket. The present slim but weighty paperback contains edited versions of 15 of his speeches, plus a spectacular preface by Studs Terkel, Doyen of the American worker. If you haven't seen or heard Kucinich in person, on TV, or on the Internet via videos, and are wondering what the fuss is about, this book will provide some answers. Even if you have, this book will deepen your appreciation for Kucinich's vision for America, a vision that is sorely needed today, and his tough and practical understanding of the problems we face as individuals and as a nation. In language as simple and as profound as Abraham Lincoln's, this native son of the American heartland discusses the war in Iraq, corporate corruption, problems of poverty, what happened to California's economy, what's wrong with the Patriot Act, loss of millions of manufacturing jobs which have vanished overseas, how a single payer health insurance program could provide all Americans with health insurance by taking the outlandish profit out of drugs, and many other issues that are uppermost in our thoughts today because they are shaping our lives, and in many cases, ruining our lives. I highly recommend this book.
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From Robert Silverstein < wewantkucinich@yahoo.com >
Last weekend Kucitizens made history. Dennis Kucinich's book, A Prayer For America reached #7 on the Amazon.com Bestseller List! The book flew off of bookstore bookshelves everywhere, and major bookstore chains and Independent Bookstores across the nation put in large orders, forcing the publisher to run a second printing of the book!
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- - Kucinich MeetUp - Vote Now for December 4Kucinich Supporters can vote at following URL address on where to Meetup for next national Kucinich Meetup -- first Thursday of each month. The voting has begun for places to meet on December 4, 2003:
http://kucinich2004.meetup.com/- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - ‘This Is The Moment' - Tapes are readyFrom: Daniel P. Welch
To: kucinich2004@yahoogroups.com, pfs331@msn.com, tucson-kucinich@yahoogroups.com, iowansforkucinich@yahoogroups.com, Maine4Kucinich@yahoogroups.com, pghkucinich2004@yahoogroups.com, dcfordennis@yahoogroups.com, KucinichOK@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [kucinich2004] Tapes are ready
Yesterday I posted about making more use of the This is the Moment video and got a great response. I have cranked out 40 or 50 copies and sent them ALL! Once I have it set up it's fairly quick and easy to crank them out. My car is not too reliable these days, so it doesn't look like we're going away for the long weekend--I can easily keep churning them out if there is demand. Let me know--it's also impressively cheap to send them by media rate.
Some people have helped by covering postage and blanks, or by giving tapes (local people can pick them up, of course). It's a great tool, and from the response I can tell that others think so too. Through my set up I can make 6 or 8 an hour, and I keep the heads clean so the quality is ok--so don't be shy and spread the word! Keep fighting the good fight. Peace, Danny
__________
Sincerely,
Daniel P. Welch
Email: Wpdanny@aol.com
Web:
http://www.danielpwelch.com From a following email from Danny:
The response to the tape copying initiative has been phenomenal! I have sent out over 300 tapes to over a dozen states, and I'm out of tapes for the fourth time (getting more today--don't worry!) People seem very thirsty for copies of This is the Moment. Right now I have a great setup where I can crank out 5 at a time, so please let me know if you want any. Media rate is quite cheap for postage, and the blanks only cost me just under or over a buck apiece. I think (and many people seem to agree) that this video is a fantastic and underused tool for bringing people on board--not just for house parties. Get in touch--send me your address and how many you might put to use!
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