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September, 2004 | ABOUT INTERACT | JOIN | ACT | DONATE | CONTACT |
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An Investigation into the
Iraq War Resolution
Well, it's a — it's a miscalculation of the
— what the conditions would be like after a swift victory, because we
never dreamt it would be that swift.
George W. Bush on Iraq, Aug. 26, 2004 , Elisabeth Bumiller and David E. Sanger of the New York Times I think Senator Kerry should be proud of his record. George W. Bush on Senator Kerry's War Record, Aug. 26, 2004 , Elisabeth Bumiller and David E. Sanger of the New York Times I don't think you can win it [the war on terror]. Bush Cites Doubt America Can Win War on Terror, By ELISABETH BUMILLER
InterAct has been working with Senator Allard and Senator Campbell's offices to introduce a bill Suspending the Sale and Use of Depleted Uranium in Munitions. We're on the brink of making a difference, we just need more volunteers! Find out how you can help. Accounts of Depleted Uranium reported by various media outlets around the world
The General and the Colonel have told us that
we are the main effort, at the forefront of helping to rebuild Iraq. But
how do you rebuild when all around you destruction and violence continue?
Do the facts and figures showing levels of electricity restored, the
amount of drinking water available, the number of schools reconstructed or
the numbers of police officers hired and trained really convince the Iraqi
people that we are here to help? Are we winning their hearts and minds?
The Military: Losing Hearts and Minds? By Oscar R. Estrada What’s your reaction to InterAct, our stories or our letters? Contact us and we’ll print your comments. InterAct’s 5 Minutes to Make a Difference Join AIUSA staff and volunteers from the Program to Abolish the Death Penalty for a discussion about strategies and ideas for implementing the 2004 National Weekend of Faith in Action in your community. This annual initiative will take place in faith/spiritual communities, interfaith groups, and high school and college campuses throughout the United States during the weekend of October 22-24, 2004. Seventh Annual National Weekend of Faith in Action Go on a NO More CARB Diet in 2004 - let's work our buts off to get rid of Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, and Bush (CARB)! VOTE!
I travel a great deal, all the continents, and
I think everywhere I go there is growing anger—and if one can just be
totally blunt, real hatred of this administration—because of what it did
in Iraq, the war it waged, the civilians it killed, the mess it’s made,
and its inability to understand even the scale of what it’s done, and from
that point of view, if the American population were to vote Bush out of
office, I think the impact globally would be tremendous... People would
say this guy took his country to war, surrounded by these neocons who
developed bogus arguments and lies to go to war against Iraq, he lied to
his people, he misused intelligence information, and the American people
have voted him out. That in itself I think would have a tremendous impact
on world public opinion. - Tariq Ali
November 2, Worldwide by Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon Editorials: Notable and Newsworthy Resistance, Collaboration And Terrorism By Scott Burchill Extraordinarily Pissed-Off Voters By Vijay Prashad Terminating Al-Sadr Will Not Eliminate Shi'a Resistance By Erich Marquardt From Attica to Abu Ghraib -- and a Prison Near You By Norman Solomon Bush administration cites "national security" as reason to skirt enviro rules By Amanda Griscom It Takes Real Courage to Desert Your Post and Then Attack a Wounded Vet by Michael Moore Political Fundamentalism And The Bush Administration By David Domke National Geographic Kids Under the Corporate Thumb By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman Chavez Wins Big and the Opposition Refuses to Recognize the Obvious By Gregory Wilpert For corporate America, freedom means "free" markets, "free" trade and investment. Freedom actually provides unrestricted global access to US capital to do what it likes, where it likes and whenever it likes. Freedom means dwarfing democracy, trampling with the rights of the people, and ensuring that the rich stay rich. The survival of corporate America hinges on the success of "free" trade and investment. Hungry for Trade: The Statue of Liberty is Crying By Devinder Sharma "Stephen Gardner has been touted by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and by conservative hosts as a singularly authoritative critic with firsthand knowledge of Senator John Kerry's (D-MA) record in Vietnam because Gardner -- unlike all the other members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- actually served on a swift boat that Kerry commanded... However... he has admitted that he -- just like the rest of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth claiming that Kerry is lying about his medals -- was not present for the incidents leading to Kerry's receipt of any medals or any of Kerry's three Purple Hearts." This means NOT A SINGLE MEMBER OF SBV actually served with Kerry during the incidents that led to Kerry's Purple Hearts, Bronze Star and Silver Star. source John O'Neill, "I saw some war heroes ... John Kerry is not a war hero...He couldn't tie the shoes of some of the people in Coastal Division 11."...John O'Neill never served with John Kerry in Vietnam! He is in no position to make any judgment based on his personal experience with Kerry since he came to Vietnam's Coastal Division 2 (*) months after Kerry had already left Vietnam. Thus, any claims he has about knowing about Kerry's fitness or about facts relating to Kerry's war record are objectively speaking, fraudulent, or at best hearsay (being overly generous here!). source An Excellent Resource regarding Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans Our economy since last summer has been growing at the fastest rate in 20 years...if you pick the right three quarters -- the first quarter of this year and the second half of last year, to be exact -- it is technically true.The Bush administration does have some real 20-year record-breaking numbers but they are not the kind that it would like to advertise. Here's the gold medal: our Federal budget deficit of $639 billion for 2004 is 5.6 percent of GDP, the highest since 1983, and second highest since World War II. Of course this figure from the Congressional Budget Office counts the borrowing from the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds -- which any good accountant would tell you should be counted, because it will have to be paid back (source). Americans had an incredible opportunity August 12 to finally get some real questions asked when President Bush appeared on Larry King LIVE...but Larry King LIVE wasn't so live that night, the interview was prerecorded, sorry America. That's why you've got to be careful about this rhetoric, we're only going to tax the rich. You know who the--the rich in America happen to be the small business owners. That's what that means. Just remember, when you're talking about, oh, we're just going to run up the taxes on a certain number of people -- first of all, real rich people figure out how to dodge taxes. [Laughter.] And the small business owners end up paying a lot of the burden of this taxation. Why does Bush think it's funny that "real rich people"--who have benefited the most from his tax cuts--dodge taxes? And if he thinks these taxpayers (or nonpayers) are able to escape the burdens of the higher tax rates, why did he give them massive tax breaks? I Call You My Base by David Corn
Even though CO is using paperless voting machines in
some places, *you* don't have to.
Click to get a Vote By Mail ballot, and know your vote is recorded as
you intend.
As we debate the need to reorganize our intelligence system, we must have an open dialogue about what measures truly make us safer. Blacklisting innocent people from employment does not make us safer. Making lengthy and ambiguous watch lists that employers do not know about but are nevertheless liable to observe only serves to undercut public confidence in the government's efforts in the war on terrorism. The proliferation of these lists could threaten many basic rights while leaving little recourse for those affected.
You Too Could Be a Terrorist, By ACLU's Anthony D. Romero |
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No Wonder Less Than Half of Americans Vote by Jodie Hemerda
Any occupation of a people by an invader is
characterized by three significant aspects:
Terrorists Against Occupiers By Nikos Raptis
The
pharmaceutical industry's top nine CEO's average $19 million a year in pay
and between them they own $900 million in unexercised stock options...They
are the ones who succeed in keeping prescription drug prices high and
rising in double-digits every year; they who prevent less expensive
imports, they who spend who knows how much on their more than 600
lobbyists, they who are at least partially responsible for premature
deaths and desperate lives for millions of people.
Greed By Doug Dowd Indonesia AND East Timor
This week, ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero will
write his observations about the first preliminary hearings taking place
at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base. The hearings are part of the new system
of military commissions set up by President Bush.
Read Anthony Romero's daily dispatches from Guantánamo online.
THE FACTS IN 'FAHRENHEIT 9/11'
(line by line factual backup) War on Terror & Civil Liberties The mantra heard in Congress, "we can't show weakness in the face of terrorism," fails to take into account the fact that when the 9/11 hijackers struck, the U.S. military - the strongest in the world - failed to prevent the attacks. So, logically one would ask, how does a futuristic jet fighter defend against contemporary enemies, like jihadists who would smuggle explosives into a train station or crowded shopping mall? Bush Invests National Treasure In Death & Destruction By Saul Landau
In Najaf, U.S. Marines are preparing for a
heavy push into the center of the city, and have been making loudspeaker
announcements calling for civilians to evacuate the area, as explosions
rock the city. Moqtada al-Sadr is calling on his militia to fight to the
last man, and to continue the fight in the event he is killed.
A good source for very current news and analysis of what is happening in Iraq is available at http://www.juancole.com. A professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Dr. Cole is a middle-east analyst and keeps a running, daily blog of events in Iraq. Dr. Cole points out that whatever the situation in Najaf, the current fighting is bound to create additional anger at the U.S. throughout the Muslim world. An important holy site not only for Shi’a but for all Muslims, the markets in this city have been reduced to rubble and fighting is continuing in the cemeteries where relatives of millions of Muslims from all over the world are buried.
An injustice in one place cannot be dismissed or
rendered unworthy of rectification just because there is another injustice
of equal or even greater magnitude happening elsewhere. So, for example, one
could not argue that Holocaust survivors have nothing to complain about,
since after all, they could have been one of the many millions slaughtered
by Stalin.
Situational Ethics, Conservative-Style By Tim Wise
More Americans have died in Iraq than in all U.S. military operations since
Vietnam combined. Some states have reported their first National Guard
combat deaths since World War II. The Bush administration expects tens of
thousands of troops to be in Iraq well past next year.
War And Tax Cuts By Holly Sklar and Chuck Collins |
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