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US Terrorism * Kucinich&Polls * M. Moore * Wonderland
April 9, 2003
"We are going to ignore the United Nations
in order to make clear to Saddam Hussein
that the United Nations cannot be ignored."
-- Peter Freundlich
"All Things Considered"
NPR - March 13, 20031) Convene The General Assembly - - Censure US Terrorism
2) Despite Polls, Kucinich Seeks End to War – Needs Our Help!
3) Michael Moore - My Oscar "Backlash"
4) "All Things Considered" -- Looking through the looking glass"Kucinich describes the war as an unprovoked display of U.S. aggression
that will turn the world against the United States and
put Americans in greater danger of terrorist attacks. "Editor's Notes:If any of you seen dismembered children and civilians, parts of flesh blown to bits, you will know that the US media coverage of the war is controlled by one-sided propaganda forces. Not one lost of life or limb in this war is worthwhile except for exploitation, colonialism, and for the fires of emotions to push for more terrorism and repression of freedoms everywhere. Yet all is not totally dark and gloomy. Inspirational Americans like Dennis Kucinich and Michael Moore and countless others, are joining forces to make a difference, if not immediately, then by 2004! Please join them in your efforts. Don't let this campaign for terror go any further in damaging true American and international ideals for peace and justice. Let's keep encouraging UN member states to denounce acts of aggression that is adding, not lessening the amount terrorism in our world.
"It also gives us a very special, secret pleasure
to see how unaware the people around us are
of what is really happening to them."
-- Adolf Hitler
1) Convene The General Assembly - - Censure US TerrorismMore than 30 million people have been out in the streets to say "No" to this war. More than half the Security Council, given a chance, would say "No" to this war, as would the overwhelming of the UN General Assembly. But the Security Council has failed us. It's time for the General Assembly of the United Nations, which more thoroughly represents the voice of this world's people, to rise up and demand that Iraq be disarmed peacefully, and that the slaughter of innocent Iraqis cease immediately.
In 1950, the United Nations agreed a way to address impasses at the Security Council. The "Uniting for Peace" resolution (resolution 377A) was designed to bring the entire General Assembly together to address a "threat to peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" when the Security Council failed to reach agreement
To E-mail All the UN member countries:
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/mailUFP2.aspPlease note: Voice4change.org has reported some blocking of their Emails to UN member states. If you prefer, see this following link for all the email addresses and other information, and keep trying to get through. The United Nations needs to go on record on this aggression by the US against many innocent people in Iraq for their crude oil and dominating interests.
"Uniting for Peace to Resolve the Iraq Crisis"
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1045091648,41257,or link from "Campaigns * Actions, & Events" at:
http://www.FlybyNews.com~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BRITAIN ADMITS THERE MAY BE NO WMD'S IN IRAQ
Ruben Bannerjee Aljazeera.net
Sunday 06, April, 2003 /
Last Updated: 6:06PM Doha time, 11:06PM GMT
Well into the war that was supposed to rid Iraq of its alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, a senior British official admitted on Saturday that no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction may after all be found.
Making the startling confession in a radio interview, British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, added in the same breath that he would in any case rejoice the "fall" of Saddam Hussein and his regime — regardless of whether any weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq or not.
The confession reconfirms the worst fears of opponents of the war that "weapons of mass destruction" is only a ruse for the US and the British to go to war against Iraq....
For the full story, click on:
http://tinyurl.com/8w6y= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
For related story, "Smoking gun chemicals nothing but pesticide" (AFP)
Agence France Presse
7 April 2003
A facility near Baghdad that a US officer had claimed might finally be "smoking gun" evidence of Iraqi chemical weapons production turned out on Monday to contain pesticide, not sarin gas as originally thought.
For complete story, see:
http://iafrica.com/news/us_terror/iraq/226656.htm~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Activism Alert at Working Assets:
UN Should Lead Relief & Reconstruction in Iraq; see:
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=14747Iraqis can't turn off the TV to make the war go away
"The whole world is watching us die"
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=030407~vnw.asp- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Re: If this won't bring tears and rage, what will?
Dear Frank,
I appreciate you sending me this website. At long last, I dared to view the horrific images, the terror of this war that our government won't allow us to see from its dominating embedded reporters (nor can we view much through primarily radio broadcast Democracy Now). The tears flow easily as I weep in response to the terror that my country has wrought upon these innocent people. I share in your shame, your frustration, and I grieve with every breaking heart. I do all I can to stop the war, and sometimes it seems to no avail. I will pass this important website on, as I think it is important that we all put human faces to the destruction our tax dollars invest in.
May all beings be free from suffering.
Mary
Take a look to see the price of violence and war mentality that leads religious extremists everywhere..
http://regulareverydaypeople.comIt is sickening. I am ashamed of my country; yet, it is my own taxes that finance this. I am ashamed of myself and frustrated that at least for now it seems like there is nothing that I can do to make this better. Frank
- - - - - - -
IMAGES OF WAR:
Collection of Pictures Depicting the Horror And Reality Of "Operation Iraqi Freedom"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2604.htm= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
US rampage through Baghdad kills thousands
By James Conachy
7 April 2003
The American military has officially claimed the 64th Armored Regiment of the US Third Infantry Division killed between 2,000 and 3,000 Iraqis during a three-hour rampage through southwestern Baghdad on April 5.
In the aftermath of the assault, the Red Cross reported the city's hospitals filling with hundreds of wounded, both military and civilian, and morgues receiving dozens of bodies.
For the complete article, see:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/bagd-a07.shtml= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Red Cross horrified by number of dead civilians -- Canadian Press
OTTAWA - Red Cross doctors who visited southern Iraq this week saw "incredible" levels of civilian casualties including a truckload of dismembered women and children, a spokesman said Thursday from Baghdad.
For the complete article, see:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1049413227648_10/?hub=SpecialEvent3
2) Despite Polls, Kucinich Seeks End to War – Needs Our Help!Politics - AP
Despite Polls, Kucinich Seeks End to War
Fri Apr 4,10:11 AM ET
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - When Rep. Dennis Kucinich goes into his oft-repeated tirade against war in Iraq, he has been known to point his finger, pound his fist and even burst into patriotic song. Sometimes he causes listeners to squirm in their seats.
The Ohio Democrat, a 2004 presidential hopeful, knows he sometimes makes people uncomfortable, though he does not think it is because they disagree with his antiwar position. "I think people know what I'm saying is the truth and it's unsettling for them to hear it," he said.
Kucinich describes the war as an unprovoked display of U.S. aggression that will turn the world against the United States and put Americans in greater danger of terrorist attacks.
He says spending on the war wastes money that should be used on domestic problems, including medical care, unemployment, public works, education, the environment and the economy. He believes the war is illegal, unjust and immoral.
Polls show more than two-thirds of the U.S. public supports the war, but Kucinich sticks to his belief that his stand will carry him to the White House.
"I'm going to be president," he said. "People are going to wake up and theyare going to say we need a fundamental change. And I'm the only candidate presenting that plan for change."
Kucinich is the lone voice among the nine Democrats running for president who wants President Bush to pull the troops out of Iraq and end the war immediately. Others have criticized Bush's diplomacy or even opposed a start to the war, but none has spoken out so relentlessly now that bombs are falling.
For the complete article, see:
http://tinyurl.com/8vaf~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Kucinich Official Web Site is
http://www.kucinich.usFlyby News Resource page on Dennis Kucinich - URL -
{Including Kucinich Film Documentary in the Works!}
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1045685440,9146,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RHINOS BLOG, Mon 4/7/03 on Kucinich
RHINO HERE:
Saturday morning I caught part of a WorldLinkTV
http://www.worldlinktv.com program called "Bridge To Baghdad" which used a live satellite link to bring 2 groups of teenagers together, 1 from New York City and the other from Baghdad. It had occurred shortly before the invasion and they spoke to each other on everything from from dating to Metal Rock 'n' Roll. They also discussed the impending war.
The Iraqi kids were so amazingly normal. It broke my heart to imagine the kids in New York still going about their business and the Iraqi kids in God knows what kind of hell right now. As I made my way to the 1st of 2 events featuring presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, I endured through waves of emotions; anger at U.S. leaders, sadness for all the civilians caught under the bombing, thoughts of revenge on those perpetrating the killing in my name, feelings of frustration about how little can be done to stop them and lastly wondering if I've been wasting my time writing these blogs and maybe I should just move out to the woods somewhere and disconnect from this crazy world.
Then I arrived at the church where the organization Americans Against The War In Iraq
http://www.democrats.com/elandslide/index.cfm?campaign=iraq was holding a town meeting with Kucinich. It was packed to the rafters & Dennis, who I'd describe as a little angel with a tiger's heart, spoke eloquently and passionately & it seemed, right to me about the feelings I'd had that day. Since it's too early for his speech to be posted on his website, I'll paraphrase:
This is a time when the peace movement could become angry and discouraged. But this is not the time to give up. People who love America and understand what democracy truly means have a responsibility to speak out. This is a time for courage. War is not inevitable. Peace is inevitable.
Kucinich ran down a list of the transgressions against American democracy that the current administration has perpetrated, and with each one, he explained what he would do as President to right the wrong. He spent an hour fielding questions. On each exchange, he was diplomatic & inspired.
At this point I wholeheartedly support Dennis Kucinich for President. I also am in support of Howard Dean's candidacy. I believe the way to have a democratic win in 2004, both for President and in Congress, is to have a candidate principled enough to inspire the mass of registered voters who don't usually vote. So far, Kucinich & Dean are the only ones I believe that can inspire that sort of outcome. But they will need money. So I urge each one of my readers to send what you can to either or both of these courageous men. Learn more about Dennis Kucinich at:
http://www.kucinich.us-=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=-
A Note From Peter Coyote
Friends,
If three people were to give $25 dollars each and each notify 3 people and get them to do the same, in a month around a billion dollars would be accumulated.
I'm writing to urge each of you to send $25.00 to the campaign of Dennis Kucinich and to commit to organize three others to do the same thing. Dennis is the most progressive candidate currently running for President. Whether or not you finally vote for him is immaterial. A small donation now will advance his campaign immeasurably, force the media to pay attention to him, and spread his positions: National Health for all, anti-Nafta and Gatt, ending the war, de-militarizing space. There is virtually no difference between his positions and the Green Party platform, but as a Democratic Congressman, he is not a symbolic candidate. He is a tried and tested politician who has stayed true to his principles.
He must have $20,000,000 in the bank by June (this is true for all candidates) to be taken seriously. We could do this for less than the cost of good bottle of wine. Send $25.00 and get three people to commit to the same. Support Democratic diversity, support a peace initiative and support a progressive agenda. Try it. It doesn't preclude you from supporting other candidates, but if you simply support who you think will "win", you can't complain when they don't represent your interests.
Go to:
https://www.kucinich.us/ and hit "contribute." The internet is changing national politics. Please participate.
Thanks,
Peter Coyote
3) Michael Moore - My Oscar "Backlash""Stupid White Men" Back At #1, "Bowling" Breaks New Records
From Michael Moore
April 7, 2003
Dear friends,
It appears that the Bush administration will have succeeded in colonizing Iraq sometime in the next few days. This is a blunder of such magnitude -- and we will pay for it for years to come. It was not worth the life of one single American kid in uniform, let alone the thousands of Iraqis who have died, and my condolences and prayers go out to all of them.
So, where are all those weapons of mass destruction that were the pretense for this war? Ha! There is so much to say about all this, but I will save it for later.
What I am most concerned about right now is that all of you -- the majority of Americans who did not support this war in the first place -- not go silent or be intimidated by what will be touted as some great military victory. Now, more than ever, the voices of peace and truth must be heard. I have received a lot of mail from people who are feeling a profound sense of despair and believe that their voices have been drowned out by the drums and bombs of false patriotism. Some are afraid of retaliation at work or at school or in their neighborhoods because they have been vocal proponents of peace. They have been told over and over that it is not "appropriate" to protest once the country is at war, and that your only duty now is to "support the troops."
Can I share with you what it's been like for me since I used my time on the Oscar stage two weeks ago to speak out against Bush and this war? I hope that, in reading what I'm about to tell you, you'll feel a bit more emboldened to make your voice heard in whatever way or forum that is open to you.
When "Bowling for Columbine" was announced as the Oscar winner for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards, the audience rose to its feet. It was a great moment, one that I will always cherish. They were standing and cheering for a film that says we Americans are a uniquely violent people, using our massive stash of guns to kill each other and to use them against many countries around the world. They were applauding a film that shows George W. Bush using fictitious fears to frighten the public into giving him whatever he wants. And they were honoring a film that states the following: The first Gulf War was an attempt to reinstall the dictator of Kuwait; Saddam Hussein was armed with weapons from the United States; and the American government is responsible for the deaths of a half-million children in Iraq over the past decade through its sanctions and bombing. That was the movie they were cheering, that was the movie they voted for, and so I decided that is what I should acknowledge in my speech.
And, thus, I said the following from the Oscar stage:
"On behalf of our producers Kathleen Glynn and Michael Donovan (from Canada), I would like to thank the Academy for this award. I have invited the other Documentary nominees on stage with me. They are here in solidarity because we like non-fiction. We like non-fiction because we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where fictitious election results give us a fictitious president. We are now fighting a war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fictitious 'Orange Alerts,' we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you. And, whenever you've got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, you're time is up."
Halfway through my remarks, some in the audience started to cheer. That immediately set off a group of people in the balcony who started to boo. Then those supporting my remarks started to shout down the booers. The L. A. Times reported that the director of the show started screaming at the orchestra "Music! Music!" in order to cut me off, so the band dutifully struck up a tune and my time was up. (For more on why I said what I said, you can read the op-ed I wrote for the L.A. Times, plus other reaction from around the country at my website www.michaelmoore.com)
The next day -- and in the two weeks since -- the right-wing pundits and radio shock jocks have been calling for my head. So, has all this ruckus hurt me? Have they succeeded in "silencing" me?
Well, take a look at my Oscar "backlash":
-- On the day after I criticized Bush and the war at the Academy Awards, attendance at "Bowling for Columbine" in theaters around the country went up 110% (source: Daily Variety/BoxOfficeMojo.com). The following weekend, the box office gross was up a whopping 73% (Variety). It is now the longest-running consecutive commercial release in America, 26 weeks in a row and still thriving. The number of theaters showing the film since the Oscars has INCREASED, and it has now bested the previous box office record for a documentary by nearly 300%.
-- Yesterday (April 6), "Stupid White Men" shot back to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. This is my book's 50th week on the list, 8 of them at number one, and this marks its fourth return to the top position, something that virtually never happens.
-- In the week after the Oscars, my website was getting 10-20 million hits A DAY (one day we even got more hits than the White House!). The mail has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive (and the hate mail has been hilarious!).
-- In the two days following the Oscars, more people pre-ordered the video for "Bowling for Columbine" on Amazon.com than the video for the Oscar winner for Best Picture, "Chicago".
-- In the past week, I have obtained funding for my next documentary, and I have been offered a slot back on television to do an updated version of "TV Nation"/ "The Awful Truth."
I tell you all of this because I want to counteract a message that is told to us all the time -- that, if you take a chance to speak out politically, you will live to regret it. It will hurt you in some way, usually financially. You could lose your job. Others may not hire you. You will lose friends. And on and on and on.
Take the Dixie Chicks. I'm sure you've all heard by now that, because their lead singer mentioned how she was ashamed that Bush was from her home state of Texas, their record sales have "plummeted" and country stations are boycotting their music. The truth is that their sales are NOT down. This week, after all the attacks, their album is still at #1 on the Billboard country charts and, according to Entertainment Weekly, on the pop charts during all the brouhaha, they ROSE from #6 to #4. In the New York Times, Frank Rich reports that he tried to find a ticket to ANY of the Dixie Chicks' upcoming concerts but he couldn't because they were all sold out. (To read Rich's column from yesterday's Times, "Bowling for Kennebunkport," go here:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/articles/index.php?article=20030406-nytimes. He does a pretty good job of laying it all out and talks about my next film and the impact it could potentially have.) Their song, "Travelin' Soldier" (a beautiful anti-war ballad) was the most requested song on the internet last week. They have not been hurt at all -- but that is not what the media would have you believe. Why is that? Because there is nothing more important now than to keep the voices of dissent -- and those who would dare to ask a question -- SILENT. And what better way than to try and take a few well-known entertainers down with a pack of lies so that the average Joe or Jane gets the message loud and clear: "Wow, if they would do that to the Dixie Chicks or Michael Moore, what would they do to little ol' me?" In other words, shut the f--- up.
And that, my friends, is the real point of this film that I just got an Oscar for -- how those in charge use FEAR to manipulate the public into doing whatever they are told.
Well, the good news -- if there can be any good news this week -- is that not only have neither I nor others been silenced, we have been joined by millions of Americans who think the same way we do. Don't let the false patriots intimidate you by setting the agenda or the terms of the debate. Don't be defeated by polls that show 70% of the public in favor of the war. Remember that these Americans being polled are the same Americans whose kids (or neighbor's kids) have been sent over to Iraq. They are scared for the troops and they are being cowed into supporting a war they did not want -- and they want even less to see their friends, family, and neighbors come home dead. Everyone supports the troops returning home alive and all of us need to reach out and let their families know that.
Unfortunately, Bush and Co. are not through yet. This invasion and conquest will encourage them to do it again elsewhere. The real purpose of this war was to say to the rest of the world, "Don't Mess with Texas - If You Got What We Want, We're Coming to Get It!" This is not the time for the majority of us who believe in a peaceful America to be quiet. Make your voices heard. Despite what they have pulled off, it is still our country.
Yours,
Michael Moore
http://www.michaelmoore.com
4) "All Things Considered" -- Looking through the looking glass"We are going to ignore the United Nations in order to make clear to Saddam Hussein that the United Nations cannot be ignored."
Read by the author/commentator [Peter Freundlich] on the March 13, 2003 edition of All Things Considered on U.S. National Public Radio
All right. Let me see if I understand the logic of this correctly: We are going to ignore the United Nations in order to make clear to Saddam Hussein that the United Nations cannot be ignored.
We're going to wage war to preserve the UN's ability to avert war.
The paramount principle is that the UN's word must be taken seriously--and if we have to subvert its word to guarantee that it is, then by God, we will. Peace is too important not to take up arms to defend.
Am I getting this right?
Further: if the only way to bring democracy to Iraq is to vitiate the democracy of the Security Council, then we are honor-bound to do that, too, because democracy, as WE define it, is too important to be stopped by a little thing like democracy as THEY define it.
Also, in dealing with a man who brooks no dissension at home, we cannot afford dissension among ourselves. We must speak with one voice against Saddam Hussein's failure to allow opposing voices to be heard.
We are sending our gathered might to the Persian Gulf to make the point that "might does not make right," as Saddam Hussein seems to think it does. And we are twisting the arms of the opposition until it agrees to let us oust a regime that twists the arms of the opposition.
We cannot leave in power a dictator who ignores his own people. And if our people--and people elsewhere in the world--fail to understand that, then we have no choice but to ignore them.
Listen. Don't misunderstand. I think it is a good thing that the members of the Bush administration seem to have been reading Lewis Carroll. I only wish someone had pointed out that "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass" are meditations on paradox and puzzle and illogic and on the strangeness of things--not templates for foreign policy.
It is amusing for The Mad Hatter to say something like "We must make war on him because he is a threat to peace," but not amusing for someone who actually commands an army to say that. As a collector of laughable arguments, I'd be enjoying all this were it not for the fact that I know--we all know--that lives are going to be lost in what amounts to a freak, circular-reasoning accident.
-----------------------------------------------------
Peter Freundlich is free-lance journalist in New York.
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For another article,
"I Should Not Be Allowed To Say The Following Things About America" by Ellen Dunst, see:
http://www.theonion.com/onion3912/i_should_not_be.html
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