Meanwhile ...

[BoomerPete]

I know that, quite understandably, the current situation at AC is at the top of everyone's minds and pretty much the sole topic here, but given the past debates re Iraq, I think some folks may take interest in an address made by Senator Robert Byrd (Dem) to the US senate a few days ago.

I think he both neatly sums up the case for those of us disturbed by recent events and demonstrates that those same concerns do exist even at the highest levels of US government. Personally, I applaud a politician who's willing to take such a contentious stand at a time when it would be so easy to give in to the intimidation of "patriotism" and go along without questioning the truths of the Commander in Chief.

Pete

Published on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 by CommonDreams.org

The Truth Will Emerge

by US Senator Robert Byrd

Senate Floor Remarks - May 21, 2003

"Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again, - -

The eternal years of God are hers;

But Error, wounded, writhes in pain,

And dies among his worshippers."

Truth has a way of asserting itself despite all attempts to obscure

it. Distortion only serves to derail it for a time. No matter to what

lengths we humans may go to obfuscate facts or delude our fellows, truth has

a way of squeezing out through the cracks, eventually.

But the danger is that at some point it may no longer matter. The

danger is that damage is done before the truth is widely realized. The

reality is that, sometimes, it is easier to ignore uncomfortable facts and

go along with whatever distortion is currently in vogue. We see a lot of

this today in politics. I see a lot of it -- more than I would ever have

believed -- right on this Senate Floor.

Regarding the situation in Iraq, it appears to this Senator that the

American people may have been lured into accepting the unprovoked invasion

of a sovereign nation, in violation of long-standing International law,

under false premises. There is ample evidence that the horrific events of

September 11 have been carefully manipulated to switch public focus from

Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda who masterminded the September 11th attacks, to

Saddam Hussein who did not. The run up to our invasion of Iraq featured the

President and members of his cabinet invoking every frightening image they

could conjure, from mushroom clouds, to buried caches of germ warfare, to

drones poised to deliver germ laden death in our major cities. We were

treated to a heavy dose of overstatement concerning Saddam Hussein's direct

threat to our freedoms. The tactic was guaranteed to provoke a sure

reaction from a nation still suffering from a combination of post traumatic

stress and justifiable anger after the attacks of 911. It was the

exploitation of fear. It was a placebo for the anger.

Since the war's end, every subsequent revelation which has seemed to

refute the previous dire claims of the Bush Administration has been brushed

aside. Instead of addressing the contradictory evidence, the White House

deftly changes the subject. No weapons of mass destruction have yet turned

up, but we are told that they will in time. Perhaps they yet will. But,

our costly and destructive bunker busting attack on Iraq seems to have

proven, in the main, precisely the opposite of what we were told was the

urgent reason to go in. It seems also to have, for the present, verified

the assertions of Hans Blix and the inspection team he led, which President

Bush and company so derided. As Blix always said, a lot of time will be

needed to find such weapons, if they do, indeed, exist. Meanwhile Bin Laden

is still on the loose and Saddam Hussein has come up missing.

The Administration assured the U.S. public and the world, over and

over again, that an attack was necessary to protect our people and the world

from terrorism. It assiduously worked to alarm the public and blur the

faces of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden until they virtually became one.

What has become painfully clear in the aftermath of war is that Iraq

was no immediate threat to the U.S. Ravaged by years of sanctions, Iraq did

not even lift an airplane against us. Iraq's threatening death-dealing

fleet of unmanned drones about which we heard so much morphed into one

prototype made of plywood and string. Their missiles proved to be outdated

and of limited range. Their army was quickly overwhelmed by our technology

and our well trained troops.

Presently our loyal military personnel continue their mission of

diligently searching for WMD. They have so far turned up only fertilizer,

vacuum cleaners, conventional weapons, and the occasional buried swimming

pool. They are misused on such a mission and they continue to be at grave

risk. But, the Bush team's extensive hype of WMD in Iraq as justification

for a preemptive invasion has become more than embarrassing. It has raised

serious questions about prevarication and the reckless use of power. Were

our troops needlessly put at risk? Were countless Iraqi civilians killed

and maimed when war was not really necessary? Was the American public

deliberately misled? Was the world?

What makes me cringe even more is the continued claim that we are

"liberators." The facts don't seem to support the label we have so

euphemistically attached to ourselves. True, we have unseated a brutal,

despicable despot, but "liberation" implies the follow up of freedom,

self-determination and a better life for the common people. In fact, if the

situation in Iraq is the result of "liberation," we may have set the cause

of freedom back 200 years.

Despite our high-blown claims of a better life for the Iraqi people,

water is scarce, and often foul, electricity is a sometime thing, food is in

short supply, hospitals are stacked with the wounded and maimed, historic

treasures of the region and of the Iraqi people have been looted, and

nuclear material may have been disseminated to heaven knows where, while

U.S. troops, on orders, looked on and guarded the oil supply.

Meanwhile, lucrative contracts to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure and

refurbish its oil industry are awarded to Administration cronies, without

benefit of competitive bidding, and the U.S. steadfastly resists offers of

U.N. assistance to participate. Is there any wonder that the real motives

of the U.S. government are the subject of worldwide speculation and

mistrust?

And in what may be the most damaging development, the U.S. appears to

be pushing off Iraq's clamor for self-government. Jay Garner has been

summarily replaced, and it is becoming all too clear that the smiling face

of the U.S. as liberator is quickly assuming the scowl of an occupier. The

image of the boot on the throat has replaced the beckoning hand of freedom.

Chaos and rioting only exacerbate that image, as U.S. soldiers try to

sustain order in a land ravaged by poverty and disease. "Regime change" in

Iraq has so far meant anarchy, curbed only by an occupying military force

and a U.S. administrative presence that is evasive about if and when it

intends to depart.

Democracy and Freedom cannot be force fed at the point of an

occupier's gun. To think otherwise is folly. One has to stop and ponder.

How could we have been so impossibly naive? How could we expect to easily

plant a clone of U.S. culture, values, and government in a country so riven

with religious, territorial, and tribal rivalries, so suspicious of U.S.

motives, and so at odds with the galloping materialism which drives the

western-style economies?

As so many warned this Administration before it launched its misguided

war on Iraq, there is evidence that our crack down in Iraq is likely to

convince 1,000 new Bin Ladens to plan other horrors of the type we have seen

in the past several days. Instead of damaging the terrorists, we have given

them new fuel for their fury. We did not complete our mission in

Afghanistan because we were so eager to attack Iraq. Now it appears that Al

Queda is back with a vengeance. We have returned to orange alert in the

U.S., and we may well have destabilized the Mideast region, a region we have

never fully understood. We have alienated friends around the globe with our

dissembling and our haughty insistence on punishing former friends who may

not see things quite our way.

The path of diplomacy and reason have gone out the window to be

replaced by force, unilateralism, and punishment for transgressions. I read

most recently with amazement our harsh castigation of Turkey, our longtime

friend and strategic ally. It is astonishing that our government is

berating the new Turkish government for conducting its affairs in accordance

with its own Constitution and its democratic institutions.

Indeed, we may have sparked a new international arms race as countries

move ahead to develop WMD as a last ditch attempt to ward off a possible

preemptive strike from a newly belligerent U.S. which claims the right to

hit where it wants. In fact, there is little to constrain this President.

Congress, in what will go down in history as its most unfortunate act,

handed away its power to declare war for the foreseeable future and

empowered this President to wage war at will.

As if that were not bad enough, members of Congress are reluctant to

ask questions which are begging to be asked. How long will we occupy Iraq?

We have already heard disputes on the numbers of troops which will be needed

to retain order. What is the truth? How costly will the occupation and

rebuilding be? No one has given a straight answer. How will we afford this

long-term massive commitment, fight terrorism at home, address a serious

crisis in domestic healthcare, afford behemoth military spending and give

away billions in tax cuts amidst a deficit which has climbed to over $340

billion for this year alone? If the President's tax cut passes it will be

$400 billion. We cower in the shadows while false statements proliferate.

We accept soft answers and shaky explanations because to demand the truth is

hard, or unpopular, or may be politically costly.

But, I contend that, through it all, the people know. The American

people unfortunately are used to political shading, spin, and the usual

chicanery they hear from public officials. They patiently tolerate it up to

a point. But there is a line. It may seem to be drawn in invisible ink for

a time, but eventually it will appear in dark colors, tinged with anger.

When it comes to shedding American blood - - when it comes to wreaking havoc

on civilians, on innocent men, women, and children, callous dissembling is

not acceptable. Nothing is worth that kind of lie - - not oil, not revenge,

not reelection, not somebody's grand pipedream of a democratic domino

theory.

And mark my words, the calculated intimidation which we see so often

of late by the "powers that be" will only keep the loyal opposition quiet

for just so long. Because eventually, like it always does, the truth will

emerge. And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall.

[John S.]

Wow, all that reading and not one mention of the word 'scope'!

More seriously, if you like the idea of discussing honesty and ethics in business (and isn't government the biggest business of them all) then you may be interested in joining (when you can) a small group for breakfast once a month in downtown YVR.

It's called "Ethics for Breakfast" and goes from 07:00 - 08:30.

Every month there is a guest speaker. In April we had an ethical investor and for May Steve Klassen spoke to us. (Head of Sales and Service for Cowboy Coffee, supplier to the Bean Around the World chain of coffee houses.) His topic: Ethical Trading of Coffee.

If you want more info email me.

Take care,

John S.

[B75/76]

Thanks for that post. It does neatly sum up what, I think, many people feel.

I hope he is correct in his assertion the people know the truth and will stand up to this administration's antics. Sadly, however, I don't have such faith.

I am afraid Bush and his merry band will continue to forcefully assert their foreign policies, such as they are.

[Maverick]

Wow, and from an American no less, powerful stuff!

[Mitch Cronin]

Thanks Pete, for posting that!

My faith in humanity is almost restored in seeing that kind of truth advocated. It's refreshing to see some intelligence does make it's way into some American political circles. My congratulations to Senator Robert Byrd for having the courage to publish what will undoubtedly make him somewhat unpopular to many.

[BoomerPete]

From todays G&M. See also Jeffrey Simpson's op-ed piece "How will Bush play the Iran card?".

Add one part WMD to two parts al-Qaeda, let simmer then bring to a rapid boil. Yeild: instant justification for further destabilizing the middle east in the hopes that one more mess will actually clean things up.

U.S. turns spotlight on Iran

Special foreign policy session to focus on nuclear ambitions, links to terrorism

By TIMOTHY APPLEBY

Tuesday, May 27, 2003 - Page A15

Iran's alleged al-Qaeda connections and its nuclear ambitions, issues of rising tension between Tehran and Washington, are expected to lead the agenda today when the U.S. administration's foreign-policy heavyweights meet in a special session.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030527/UIRANN/TPInternational/TopStories

[BoomerPete]

From todays G&M. See also Jeffrey Simpson's op-ed piece "How will Bush play the Iran card?".

Add one part WMD to two parts Al-Qaeda, let simmer then bring to a rapid boil. Yield: instant justification for further destabilizing the middle east in the hopes that one more mess will actually clean things up.

U.S. turns spotlight on Iran

Special foreign policy session to focus on nuclear ambitions, links to terrorism

By TIMOTHY APPLEBY

Tuesday, May 27, 2003 - Page A15

Iran's alleged al-Qaeda connections and its nuclear ambitions, issues of rising tension between Tehran and Washington, are expected to lead the agenda today when the U.S. administration's foreign-policy heavyweights meet in a special session.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030527/UIRANN/TPInternational/TopStories

[BoomerPete]

From todays G&M. See also Jeffrey Simpson's op-ed piece "How will Bush play the Iran card?".

Add one part WMD to two parts al-Qaeda, let simmer then bring to a rapid boil. Yield: instant justification for further destabilizing the middle east in the hopes that one more mess will actually clean things up.

U.S. turns spotlight on Iran

Special foreign policy session to focus on nuclear ambitions, links to terrorism

By TIMOTHY APPLEBY

Tuesday, May 27, 2003 - Page A15

Iran's alleged al-Qaeda connections and its nuclear ambitions, issues of rising tension between Tehran and Washington, are expected to lead the agenda today when the U.S. administration's foreign-policy heavyweights meet in a special session.

Speculation mounted yesterday that the outcome would be a suspension of all U.S.-Iranian contact, formal and informal. But also under scrutiny, one news report said, will be a Pentagon plan to destabilize the Islamic republic and foment a popular insurrection.

Underlining the animosity with which the White House views Iran -- one-third of U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" -- his top soldier yesterday reiterated the charge that Tehran is sheltering members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, an accusation Iran vigorously denies.

More ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030527/UIRANN/TPInternational/TopStories

[BoomerPete]

Hi John ...

Looks like Outlook Express has eaten your email address. If I'm in town the brekkie sounds quite interesting. Drop an email to me at a330pete@hotmail.com if you like.

Hope all is well for everyone at your end.

Cheers,

Pete