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Aristide Speaks * War Toll * 9/11 * Kucinich


08 March 2004

"It does not require a majority to prevail,
but rather an irate, tireless minority keen
to set brush fires in people's minds."


-- Samuel Adams

1) Democracy Now! - Jean-Bertrand Aristide in his own words
- - Kucinich to Call for Major Investigation Into US Role in Haiti
- - Kerry Condemns Bush For Failing to Back Aristide
- - Aristide's Final Hours
- - Aristide Maintains He Was Kidnapped From Haiti
2) Stop Hiding the Toll of War
- - Peace Action - send a message to Senator Kerry
3) 9/11 Visibility Project
4) Dennis J. Kucinich Day in Alice, Texas

Editor's Notes:


Top on the items is an exclusive powerhouse interview by Democracy Now! (Amy Goodman) with Haiti's elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. I am thankful that he is alive, and able to expose another coup d'etat by the US government. Item 2 is another main reason that the US voting public should make sure that Bush does not get another four years as the US commander-in-thief. The insensitivity and the cruelty of his positions, which are harming so many people, is difficult to bear. Yet, the progressives are attacking Senator John Kerry; even an eloquently-written John Pilger article claimed there was no difference between Bush or Kerry. But there are major differences, and especially between a Bush administration v a Kerry administration. There will be no Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and other neocons, for one thing. Yet many people get impatient and influenced by focusing on someone's faults. Many, even in the Kucinich4President email list, are getting into the act, stating that either its Kucinich and his platforms or not voting for the Democratic nominee. But Dennis is maintaining his commitment for a plan to unite the progressive movement with the mainstream US American public. Item 3 is on a campaign to make the unanswered questions of 9/11 visible. And item 4 is another part of a day in the life of Dennis Kucinich.

"You must be the change you want to see in the world."

-- Mahatma Gandhi



1) Democracy Now! - Jean-Bertrand Aristide in his own words

March 8, 2004

At approximately 7:20 am EST, Democracy Now! managed to reach exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by cell phone in the Central African Republic. His comments represent the most extensive English-language interview Aristide has given since he was removed from office and his country.

Moments before the Democracy Now! interview, Aristide appeared publicly for the first time since he was forced out of Haiti in what he has called a US-backed coup. The authorities in the Central African Republic allowed Aristide to hold a news conference after a delegation of visiting US activists charged that the Haitian president was being held under lock and key like a prisoner. The delegation included one of Aristide's lawyers, Brian Concannon, as well as activists from the Haiti Support Network and the International Action Center, representatives of former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Shortly after they arrived in Bangui on Sunday, the delegation attempted to meet with Aristide at the palace of the Renaissance. The CAR government rebuked them.

Shortly after, the country's foreign minister held a press conference in Bangui. Armed men threatened journalists in the room, warning them not to record the minister's remarks. Mildred Aristide, the Haitian First lady, was brought into the room, but was not permitted to speak. The CAR foreign minister told the journalists that President Aristide would hold a news conference within 72 hours. Hours later, Aristide was allowed to address journalists.

In his interview on Democracy Now!, Aristide asserted that he is the legitimate president of Haiti and that he wants to return to the country as soon as possible. He details his last moments in Haiti, describing what he called his "kidnapping" and the coup d'etat against him. He responds to Vice President Dick Cheney's comment that Aristide had "worn out his welcome" in Haiti.

For a link to the transcript and audio, see:

http://www.democracynow.org/
or for alternative link, see:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5821.htm

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- - Kucinich to Call for Major Investigation Into US Role in Haiti
For press release, see:
http://www.kucinich.us/pressreleases/pr_030704.php

- - Kerry Condemns Bush For Failing to Back Aristide
In Sweeping Critique, Kerry Condemns Bush For Failing to Back Aristide
By David E. Sanger and David M. Halbinger
The New York Times
Sunday 07 March 2004

- - Aristide's Final Hours
By David Pratt
The Sunday Herald
Sunday 07 March 2004

- - Aristide Maintains He Was Kidnapped From Haiti
Reuters
Sunday 07 March 2004

For the above 3 articles, see:
http://truthout.org/docs_04/030804B.shtml



2) Stop Hiding the Toll of War
By Nancy Lessin and Gordon Clark, AlterNet
March 4, 2004

President Bush's rationale for taking us to war in Iraq has crumbled. The truth about supposed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction is being told. At the same time, another truth remains hidden by the Bush administration: the 550 troops who have returned from Iraq in caskets and the thousands returning with severe physical and psychological damage.

The military planes carrying human remains fly into Dover Air Force Base in Delaware under cover of darkness. Unlike Vietnam, when Americans could see the consequences of war, the media are now banned from Dover Air Force Base by military order, reinforced for the Iraq war by an edict from Mr. Bush.

One does not need to be a historian to know that the image of dead Americans, returning day after day in body bags, helped turn America against the war in Vietnam. This administration has gone to great lengths to prevent a repeat by keeping images of lifeless and broken bodies away from the cameras and the consciousness of the American people. Mr. Bush has not yet attended a single funeral for anyone killed in Iraq – not a single one. Spain and Italy held state funerals for their countrymen who died in Iraq, but the Bush Administration's policy for our own war dead is to hide them.

The media blackout extends to the legions of wounded who have returned from Iraq as well. Media stories on wounded troops often use Pentagon figures for those officially wounded in combat, numbering around 3,000. These numbers ignore the well over 7,000 troops who have been injured or made ill as a result of the war. According to Disabled American Veterans, an additional 6,891 troops were medically evacuated between March 19, 2003 and Oct. 30, 2003, for everything from vehicle accidents to attempted suicides.

The Bush administration is trying to hide the reality described by an Army Nurse Corps captain stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in a recent message to the Bring Them Home NOW! campaign: "[It is] so sad to see young wives cry over their honey who was in Iraq less than one month before losing both legs and having several abdominal surgeries leaving his belly crisscrossed with staples, and now he is fighting for his life from the infection that the injuries caused."

As hard as it may be, these are images the American people need to see, to make informed decisions about this war and its costs.

In their effort to keep this reality from the public, the Bush administration has gone so far as to restrict access of professionally trained and accredited representatives of Disabled American Veterans from military hospitals – access that the DAV has had for more than six decades to
counsel and work with service members. The few visits that have been allowed are with pre-selected patients, and closely monitored.

An administration that was honest about the true cost of this war would have increased budget allocations to support the troops and their needs. Instead, in a continuing effort to deny the reality and consequences of the war in Iraq, Mr. Bush's priorities add insult to grave injury. Last year he proposed cutting $1.5 billion from military family housing, while the troops were at war, and also tried to roll back increases for combat pay for soldiers serving in combat zones. This year's budget shortchanges veterans' health care so egregiously that the Commander-In-Chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars called it a "disgrace and a sham."

The President is trying to hide damaging revelations about pre-war intelligence by postponing reports until after Election Day. He will try to hide the human costs of this war, if the American people let him.

On March 14 and 15, as we approach the first anniversary of this war, military families, including those who have lost loved ones in Iraq, veterans, clergy and peace activists will gather at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to begin a Memorial Procession for Mourning and Truth. We will pull back the veil, honor and mourn the dead and acknowledge the wounded – both U.S. military personnel and the tens of thousands of Iraqi casualties.

The memory of these individuals will then be brought to the White House, along with the plea: Start telling the truth, stop hiding the toll, and bring an end to this war.


Nancy Lessin is co-founder of Military Families Speak Out;
Gordon Clark is coordinator of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18030

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- - Peace Action - send a message to Senator Kerry

Our country needs a new foreign policy and with people like you taking action, we are going to make it happen. We believe that an engaged public can change the course of our country and that the time to do it is NOW. Between today and the next election, we have the power to demonstrate that millions of Americans demand a better relationship with the rest of the world.

Instead of leading the world in arms sales to dictatorships, let's lead a global effort to stop the arms trade. Instead of leading the world in producing nuclear weapons, let's lead a global campaign to dismantle them - including our own. Instead of ushering in a new era of international lawlessness, let's lead the world community in addressing real and serious transnational issues.

We need to tell Senator Kerry that we expect the next president of our country to institute a new foreign policy that will make us safer by reducing the nuclear threat, ending US weapons sales to dictators, and supporting international law and the world community.

Just go to:
http://www.peace-action.org/camp/cnfp/petition/petition.php

You can learn more about Peace Action and The Campaign for a New Foreign Policy at:
http://www.peace-action.org/camp/cnfp/cnfp.html

Peace Action
http://www.peace-action.org
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Contact info: John Kerry for President, Inc.
Campaign Phone: 202-548-6800 / Fax: 202-548-6801 / Email: info@johnkerry.com
D.C. Senate Office Phone: 202-224-2742 / Fax: 202-224-8525
Boston District Office: 617-565-8519
Springfield District Office: 413-785-4610
Worcester District Office: 508-831-7380
Fall River District Office: 508-677-0522



3) 9/11 Visibility Project

We request to know why President Bush is allowed to dictate to the 9-11 Commission whether he will testify, how long he will testify, to whom he will testify, and why he refuses to testify under oath.

To take action for 9/11 visibility, please see:
http://septembereleventh.org/

For the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission, see:
http://www.911independentcommission.org/

9-11 NATIONAL COMMISSION CHAIRMAN THOMAS H. KEAN
President of Drew University, Thomas H. Kean
Phone: 973/408-3100 / Email: cadm@drew.edu / Fax: 973-408-3068
Fax: 973-408-3242 / Fax: 973-408-3242
9-11 Commission: Tel: (202) 331-4060 Fax: (202) 296-5545
Email: info@9-11Commission.gov
New York Office Tel: (212) 264-1505 Fax: (212) 264-1595



4) Dennis J. Kucinich Day in Alice, Texas

Congressman tours South Texas towns
March 8, 2004

On March 6 in Alice, Texas, Mayor Grace Saenz Lopez handed Kucinich a key to the city and proclaimed that Saturday as Dennis J. Kucinich Day. Dennis spoke in Spanish with the people of Alice, discussing his platform on amnesty for undocumented immigrants, universal health care, veterans' services, environmental protection and bilingual education to connect and celebrate cultures within the nation. Dennis also made stops in the South Texas towns of Hidalgo, Edinburg, Elsa and Corpus Christi.

See http://www.kucinich.us to link to the Caller-Times article with photo gallery, and to see a remarkable photo of Dennis in San Antonio in front of the mural, ''Spirit Of Healing' by Jesse Treviño, which covers 9 stories of Santa Rosa Hospital.

Dennis is taking a few days off from campaigning to rest and recover from an intestinal ailment. He will participate by telephone in several events scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Florida. Dennis will resume a full campaign schedule later this week.

Kucinich for President 2004 - www.kucinich.us


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