Democracy for New Mexico

Powell's Former Chief of Staff on Iraq Intel: 'I Participated In a Hoax'

If you missed Friday's installment of the PBS show 'Now,' you missed alot. Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff laid out, in detail, how Bush and his crew of liars created a hoax to lure us into the Iraq War.

In the piece, Colonel (ret.) Lawrence Wilkerson claims the Iraq War speech Powell gave at the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003 included falsehoods of which Powell was unaware. He said, "My participation in that presentation at the UN constitutes the lowest point in my professional life. I participated in a hoax on the American people, the international community and the United Nations Security Council." Wilkerson also claims that neither then CIA Director Tennant nor other CIA analysts who provided intelligence for the speech admitted there were disputes about its reliability. Wilkerson also discussed Cheney's involvement with the plot.

Must listen or read: Audio (mp3) or Transcript

Monday Senate Hearing on Two Important Bills

02/04 UPDATE: Hearing date change -- Senate Memorial 11 on withdrawing the NM Guard from Iraq, introduced by Sen. Ortiz y Pino, will NOT be heard along with SB 295 in the Senate Rules committee on MONDAY. It is now set for WEDNESDAY morning, Feb.8, Room 321, at 9:30 AM.

Sen. Ortiz y Pino's Senate Memorial 11, which requests that the Governor bring home New Mexico's National Guard troops from Iraq, will be discussed in the Senate Rules Committee on Monday Wednesday. The Committee will meet on February 6 8, at 8:00 9:30 AM in Room 321 at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.

Sen. Linda Lopez's Senate Bill 295, mandating paper ballot voting machines, is included on this same agenda will still be heard in the Senate Rules Committee on Monday, February 6, at 8:30 AM. This is very exciting. Both items are of tremendous importance.

Click to contact members of the Senate Rules Committee.

Sound Off: Rep. Murtha and Military Service Today

This Sound Off was submitted by Terry Riley. Sound Off is a regular feature of the blog that allows individuals to voice their views on timely issues and controversies. Click on the 'Email Me' link on the upper right-hand side of the page if you'd like to submit your own Sound Off.

I just sent the following e-mail to the Ed Schultz show. I am responding to his attacking Congressman Murtha for recommending that this is not a good time to join the military. (See Reuters article.)

I listened for a while the other day while Ed attacked Congressman Murtha and I appreciated the many callers who supported the Congressman. I can appreciate Ed's comments but I would hope that he has gotten enough information by today to rethink and restate his position. Ed should be supporting the Congressman. I am so pleased to hear a person of such position taking a stand in defense of the potential soldier, the yet unspoiled citizen.

My son's enlistment was extended by this administration's manipulation of the laws to support their illegal military action. No citizen owes any allegiance to a president (lower case intentional) who causes the deaths of people, both American and Iraqi, for business gain at great risk and national consequence. I feel that it is the responsibility of the citizens of this country to stand up and refuse to serve as a statement of conscience and a statement to direct our leaders that they no longer represent our wants or our needs.

I offer the following e-mail from a Counter-Recruiting Yahoo Group that points out many other reasons why so many people recommend to people considering joining the military that today is not a good day.

I support the military and I support our country.  I do not support this administration and their ambitions in the oil acquisitions. We need an energy policy that does not include military might. 

Terry Riley
Son of a Veteran (WWII)
Veteran (Vietnam era)
Brother of a Veteran (Vietnam era)
Father of a Veteran (Gulf War era)
Father of a Veteran (Enduring Freedom)
Member:
Military Families Speak Out
Veterans for Peace
Veterans for Common Sense
Stop The War Machine

I do not know the person who wrote this email but it was posted on a list-serve so that implies permission to reproduce:

After some soul searching, I agree with EVERYTHING that Rep. Murtha said. Upon reflection, I don't believe that I would enlist in the Army today, given what I know concerning OPTEMPO, personnel shortages, stop-loss and the like. When I enlisted in 1995, it was a different world and a six month tour to Bosnia, where no one died, was about as "rough and tumble" a deployment as you could get. Christ, in August of 2001, while in the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain, the most "shit-hot" mission the Army had was KOSOVO!! Now, that assignment is considered a third-tier NG assignment.

Let's see, a young person enlisting today for a four year hitch can realistically expect to spend three combat tours downrange with the third involving some type of "stop-loss" extending the original commitment. Why on earth would I volunteer or encourage a loved one to volunteer for such a venture, when we have a civilian leadership that refuses to permanently increase the size of the Army or USMC by even one person?

More to the point, we are actively contemplating cutting the ARNG by 30,000 people as there appears no slow down in the need for deployable personnel.

The burden borne by the Active component will only increase, as virtually every reserve BDE sized element has reached or will reach their 24 month COTTAD cap by mid FY 2007. After that, the USAR and ARNG will be "human spackle" to fill force structure holes and will not be able to deploy organic units unless Congress changes the law - It won't, nor should it.

John Murtha has a tremendous amount of credibility on Capitol Hill and much of the Reagan era buildup is directly owed to his efforts in the House. Lest we forget that Reagan BUILT UP the military with a DEMOCRATIC House and Senate. More than one observer has said that on defense issues, Reagan had no better friend in Congress than Jack Murtha.

He has served our nation in combat and was twice wounded. The citizens of his blue-collar Pennsylvania district have already borne a disproportionate share of the sacrifice in this war. Why should he encourage MORE sacrifice from the families of Altoona and Johnstown that he represents, when no sacrifice is being asked of the rest of the nation? Other than a single oblique reference, the POTUS has never asked for volunteerism from the American public to enlist or share in the common defense.

I take great issue when loaded words like "treason" are thrown about by commissioned officers who fail to see that that the Army is collapsing around them. The 5,000 CPT and 3,700 LT vacancies in the USAR are growing, ROTC enrollment has fallen by 26% in a year and CPT attrition, even with stop-loss is keeping pace with the record percentage of seperations seen during 2000-01.

The fact is that we need a larger Army and instead, we have an obstinate leadership (civilian and uniformed) that refuses to acknowledge this obvious reality. The fact is that all through '99 and '00, some of today's biggest "stay the course" champions were featured every week in the Army Times lamenting the fact that 6 month Bosnia and Sinai rotations were "breaking" the force. Now, my old battalion, the 2-14 Infantry, is prepping for its THIRD deployment to OIF. This is simply too much sacrifice to ask from a handful of citizens.

The fact is that John Murtha, no matter what you say about him, speaks for a large number of serving and retired senior officers. Anyone that objectively looks at our personnel situation - particularly in the commissioned ranks - will come to the same conclusion.

If we will not grow the Army and send the same folks back three times in a single enlistment, no, I would not encourage anyone to join the Army today.

Does it hurt me to say this? Hell, Yes. Do I mean it? Damn straight!

The Army Men Project

Have you heard about The Army Men Project? The website Mouths Wide Open, whose motto is "The job of a citizen is to keep your mouth wide open," has come up with what I think is one of the most clever antiwar messaging tactics I've seen. No posters, no signs, no confrontations -- just little army men carrying a Bring Me Home label, scattered all over the planet awaiting discovery:

We’re spreading plastic Army Men around the country and around the globe as small, everyday reminders of the ongoing horrors of the war in Iraq and to serve as tools to foster dialogue, action and resistance to the war. Here in the United States we’re encouraged to forget about the war, to go on with our lives, to “go shopping.” But what if everywhere people went there were little plastic Army Men nudging them to remember that we’re waging war? At Home Depot, on the gas pump, in the 7-11, at the post office, on the hood of the car, in the public restroom, at the movie theatre, in the produce section of the grocery store … in your neighborhood …?

You can either buy or order your own army men and download your own stickers or order them directly from Mouths Wide Open. The "Bring Me Home" labels include the website URL to spread the word to others who might like to place little army men all over their neighborhoods. You can also make up packs to distribute to others who are interested in placing them in conspicuous locations:

Thanks to Ann Manning for giving me my first bag of army men, who will soon be spreading their messages around the Northeast Heights of Albuquerque. Bring the troops home.

Casino Nation

A couple things to watch as we ponder the implications of George W. Bush ordering the surveillance of emails and phone calls of U.S. citizens, as well as the activities of peace groups in the United States. A couple videos to absorb as we witness the push back against seeing and acting upon the truths of the Iraq War and the powers and reasons behind it, even by many in our own Dem Party. A nod to my friend up North for the links:

One (Quicktime)

One (Windows Media)

Two (Quicktime)

Two (Windows Media)

1000 Days: Iraq War by the Numbers

From the London daily, The Independent, via :

$204.4 billion: The cost to the U.S of the war so far.

2,339: Allied troops killed

15,955: US troops wounded in action

98: U.K troops killed

30,000 : Estimated Iraqi civilian deaths

0: Number of WMDs found

66: Journalists killed in Iraq.

63: Journalists killed during Vietnam war

8: per cent of Iraqi children suffering acute malnutrition

53,470: Iraqi insurgents killed

67: per cent Iraqis who feel less secure because of occupation

$343: Average monthly salary for an Iraqi soldier. Average monthly salary for an American soldier in Iraq: $4,160.75

5: foreign civilians kidnapped per month

47: per cent Iraqis who never have enough electricity

20: casualties per month from unexploded mines

25-40: per cent Estimated unemployment rate, Nov 2005

251: Foreigners kidnapped

70: per cent of Iraqi's whose sewage system rarely works

183,000: British and American troops are still in action in Iraq.

13,000: from other nations

90: Daily attacks by insurgents in Nov '05. In Jun '03: 8

60-80: per cent Iraqis who are "strongly opposed" to presence of coalition troops

Another article in The Independent provides the narrative. The Christian Science Monitor provides additional statistics.

Let Joe Know

From Jim Dean at Democracy for America:

Click Here

Earlier this week while discussing the war in Iraq, Senator Joseph Lieberman said, "It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he'll be commander-in-chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril."

Unfortunately, President Bush has no credibility. His administration misled our nation into the war in Iraq on trumped-up charges of weapons of mass destruction. His "stay the course" strategy has led to over 2,100 American deaths. And no one sees an end in sight.

It is disturbing enough that Senator Lieberman remains one of the president's biggest cheerleaders. But his call for opponents of the president's failed policy to keep quiet is outrageous.

The only way we will end this war is by having an honest debate about how and when we can bring our troops home.

Join me in sending Senator Lieberman an open letter asking him to join the majority of Americans in questioning the Bush administration's Iraq policy:

https://www.democracyforamerica.com/telljoe

If Americans don't challenge a president who is bankrupting our treasury, damaging our moral leadership in the world, and jeopardizing our national security then we are failing our democracy.

Please co-sign the letter today. Next week, I'll join Democracy for America members in Connecticut and deliver our letter with your comments to Senator Lieberman's office.

Vigil Wednesday for Kidnapped Peacemakers

Editor's Note: Kathleen O'Malley is a long-time peace activist who has traveled to Iraq three times as part of the Christian Peacemaker Teams and Voices in the Wilderness. As many of you may recall, she gave a moving talk about her experiences in Iraq at our DFA-DFNM Albuquerque Meetup this past September. She sent out the following email urging participation in a vigil in support of the peacemakers who were recently kidnapped in Iraq.

Dear All,
As many of you know by now, 4 Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) people were kidnapped last week in Iraq by an insurgency group. Last Friday, the group released a videotaping threatening that if the U.S. did not release all detainees by December 8, the hostages would be killed.

I have travelled and worked in Iraq with two of the people taken, Jim Loney and Tom Fox. Two others, Norman Kember and Harmeet Sooden, were delegates on their first visit to Iraq. They came to learn about the situation there and then return home to tell others about their experiences.

This is a horrendous situation, one of many in Iraq that reveal the desperation of those who would threaten the lives of innocent people - in this case, people who are there in opposition to the occupation and in support of the Iraqi people.

Please join in a vigil this Wednesday, December 7, from 5:15 to 6:00 PM at the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center, 212 Harvard St. SE (corner of Silver and Harvard). Feel free to forward this message to others interested in joining the vigil. Also, bring a candle if you have one. For those living out of town or otherwise unable to attend, please join the vigil by lighting a candle and sending your prayers or other thoughts for a peaceful resolution of this dire situation and the war that spawned it.

In Hopes for Peace,
Kathleen O'Malley

The President Makes a Speech For Peace

Good evening, my fellow Americans:

Tonight I want to talk to you on a subject of deep concern to all Americans and to many people in all parts of the world -- the war in Iraq.  I believe that one of the reasons for the deep division about Iraq is that many Americans have lost confidence in what their Government has told them about our policy.

The American people cannot and should not be asked to support a policy which involves the overriding issues of war and peace unless they know the truth about that policy ... The war was causing deep division at home and criticism from many of our friends as well as our enemies abroad.

In view of these circumstances there were some who urged that I end the war at once by ordering the immediate withdrawal of all American forces. From a political standpoint this would have been a popular and easy course to follow ... For the future of peace, precipitate withdrawal would thus be a disaster of immense magnitude.

A nation cannot remain great if it betrays its allies and lets down its friends. Our defeat and humiliation in Iraq without question would promote recklessness in the councils of those great powers who have not yet abandoned their goals of world conquest. This would spark violence wherever our commitments help maintain the peace in the Middle East, in Berlin, eventually even in the Western Hemisphere.

Ultimately, this would cost more lives. It would not bring peace; it would bring more war.

For these reasons, I rejected the recommendation that I should end the war by immediately withdrawing all of our forces. I chose instead to change American policy on both the negotiating front and battlefront ... We are Iraqizing the search for peace ... Under the plan, I ordered first a substantial increase in the training and equipment of Iraqese forces ... The Iraqese have continued to gain in strength. As a result they have been able to take over combat responsibilities from our American troops ...

We have adopted a plan which we have worked out in cooperation with the Iraqese for the complete withdrawal of all U.S. combat ground forces, and their replacement by Iraqese forces on an orderly scheduled timetable. This withdrawal will be made from strength and not from weakness. As Iraqese forces become stronger, the rate of American withdrawal can become greater ...

My fellow Americans, I am sure you can recognize from what I have said that we really only have two choices open to us if we want to end this war. I can order an immediate, precipitate withdrawal of all Americans from Iraq without regard to the effects of that action. Or we can persist in our search for a just peace ... through continued implementation of our plan for Iraqization -- if necessary a plan in which we will withdraw all our forces from Iraq on a schedule in accordance with our program, as the Iraqese become strong enough to defend their own freedom.

I have chosen this second course. It is not the easy way. It is the right way. It is a plan which will end the war and serve the cause of peace not just in Iraq but in the Pacific and in the world. In speaking of the consequences of a precipitate withdrawal, I mentioned that our allies would lose confidence in America.

Far more dangerous, we would lose confidence in ourselves. Oh, the immediate reaction would be a sense of relief that our men were coming home. But as we saw the consequences of what we had done, inevitable remorse and divisive recrimination would scar our spirit as a people ... In San Francisco a few weeks ago, I saw demonstrators carrying signs reading: "Lose in Iraq, bring the boys home."

Well, one of the strengths of our free society is that any American has a right to reach that conclusion and to advocate that point of view. But as President of the United States, I would be untrue to my oath of office if I allowed the policy of this Nation to be dictated by the minority who hold that point of view and who try to impose it on the Nation by mounting demonstrations in the street ... And so tonight to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans, I ask for your support.

SOURCE:  Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, 1969, pp. 901-909, excerpted, here.  Editor's Note: the word "Iraq" has been substituted for the words "Vietnam" and "South Vietnam" in the speech above; Approximately 27,000 U.S. soldiers, and millions of Vietnamese and Cambodian citizens died during the phase of the war Nixon termed "Vietnamization" before the president was forced to resign in disgrace and his successor, Gerald Ford, was forced to admit the futility of the war and accept America's defeat.

From Altercation

Iraq Vets to Speak Against Occupation Saturday

Veterans for Peace member Tina Garnanez, a 24-year-old  Dine (Navajo) Iraq occupation vet, will speak at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice this Saturday, December 3rd, from 2 to 4 PM. Tony Garcia, an Iraq war veteran and medic, will also speak. A press conference will precede their presentation.

These two Iraq war/occupation veterans will answer questions you might have about the occupation and why they are speaking out against this war. Please honor their courage in "going public." They will also be speaking to various high school classes in the Albuquerque area. The two vets will be guests on IndyMedia TV Community Cable Channel 27 this Friday night at 7:00 PM. For further information please call 304-3144.