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U.S. advised Iraqi Ministry on oil deals
They lied to the world, they really were representing the oil companies when they said we should be afraid of a mushroom cloud, Many, many people said it, mainstream media refused to report it. Are they guilty also? When we do investigate this administration, we should also look into how mainstream media cooperated in the deception and who their owners are. Did the war benefit them financially also?
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq, American officials say.
A blog looking at daily life inside Iraq, produced by The Times’s Baghdad bureau.
The disclosure, coming on the eve of the contracts’ announcement, is the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq’s oil to commercial development and is likely to stoke criticism.
In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts, advisers and a senior State Department official said.
They lied to the world, they really were representing the oil companies when they said we should be afraid of a mushroom cloud, Many,... more -
TAKE ACTION: Tell Congresss to Stand Up and Check the Balance
In exactly two weeks, we are going to find out whether members of Congress have any respect for the institution they represent. We will see whether they have the courage to stand up to the Bush administration and defend the Constitution they took an oath to protect. Specifically, we will discover whether they are willing to take the measures necessary to ensure that Bush administration officials testify before Congress.
On July 10, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to investigate the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006 and the questionable prosecution and imprisonment of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. Karl Rove, a potentially key figure in both incidents, has been issued a subpoena to testify before the committee. Rove's lawyer has said that Rove will not appear.
Congress has a few options here. First, if Rove fails to appear, they could pass criminal contempt charges against him, as they did against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. This is good, but will not result in immediate testimony.
The second option is to have Karl Rove arrested, under the theory of inherent contempt, and brought to Congress to testify. This is better, but may still be eventually unsatisfying if Rove ends up testifying yet asserts executive privilege repeatedly in order to avoid disclosing important information.
Another option - and the one supported by the American Freedom Campaign Action Fund - is to tell the president immediately that he will be impeached if members of his administration do not provide full testimony before Congress by a date certain in July. This has historical precedent as one of the three articles of impeachment ultimately brought against President Richard Nixon was based on his refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas.
The final option is to do nothing and set a precedent for the future by which any administration can claim that Congress does not have the ability to force executive branch officials to testify before Congress. This would be an affront to our Constitution and Congress is dancing perilously close to this line already.
We cannot allow Congress to become subservient to the executive branch. It must exert its oversight authority and force administration officials to testify. Please tell your U.S. representative to take whatever steps are necessary to compel testimony.
Thank you for sharing your feelings with your U.S. representative.
Steve
Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund
I got the email a week ago. Sign petitions, send emails, and mail letters. heres links to legislators and bills.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
http://www.house.gov/
http://catalog.loc.gov/ In exactly two weeks, we are going to find out whether members of Congress have any respect for the institution they represent. We wi... more -
Arizona legislator Karen Johnson asks McCain to meet on 9/11
Arizona state senator Karen Johnson (R-18) today delivered a letter to the office of U.S. Senator John McCain asking him to meet with a group of professionals to discuss the events of 9/11 when terrorists hijacked four airplanes and attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
Johnson recently announced her support for a new, independent investigation of 9/11. "Even the chairman of the commission has announced his dissatisfaction with the report," said Johnson. "Anyone who reads the report can see that much was left out and that there are many discrepancies," she said.
Johnson's letter requests that McCain allow a meeting with Scottsdale professor, Blair Gadsby, who has been on a hunger strike outside McCain's office on 16th Street for nine days. Gadsby has arranged for architect Richard Gage and physicist Steven Jones to meet with McCain at his convenience to present evidence of controlled demolition gathered from the ruins of Ground Zero. Gage is the founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth – a group consisting of hundreds of building professionals who want Congress to open up a new investigation of 9/11. Dr. Jones is a physicist who has done laboratory analysis of residue from the rubble of the World Trade Center and found evidence of explosives. Both Gage and Jones believe that the Twin Towers and Building 7 collapsed as a result of explosives that were planted in the buildings before September 11.
"Their evidence is very significant," said Johnson, "because it wasn't presented to the 9/11 Commission when they did their original investigation, and it completely changes the conclusions of the Commission. There's nothing wrong with going back and having another look. If the Commission didn't have all the facts, then so be it. But we need to know what happened on 9/11. Nearly 3,000 Americans died that day, and we deserve to know the truth about what happened. It's time to get to the bottom of this." Arizona state senator Karen Johnson (R-18) today delivered a letter to the office of U.S. Senator John McCain asking him to meet with ... more -
Congressman warns of Karl Rove arrest! Impeachment movement demands accountability...
When Bush's former press secretary Scott McClellan released his book a few weeks ago that strongly criticized the White House, he may have just been jumping off a sinking ship. But his words opened up a Pandora's box, and now all the evils of the Bush administration are escaping into the public -- and people are demanding action.
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), one of the four co-sponsors of the impeachment articles introduced on June 9, has made the case that McClellan's Congressional testimony lays the basis for legal action against Bush's top dogs. On one hand, McClellan's testimony that Bush was not the source of the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's name -- a retaliatory move against her husband who had criticized the administration -- directly points to Cheney as the source. Wexler forcefully argued that this in itself was enough to initiate impeachment hearings against Cheney.
But it doesn't stop there. Karl Rove has also been implicated in the leak, and has been subpoenaed to testify before the Judiciary Committee. But Rove has brazenly refused to reply to the subpoenas. Will Congress let Bush's team simply act with impunity, even when they've left office? Wexler thundered, "We have the power of inherent contempt, and need be, we should use it." In other words, Congress has the power to arrest Rove if he fails to respond to the Judiciary Committee.
This would be an important signal to the Bush administration that accountability and justice are the order of the day. It would give pause to his team that they can no longer act with reckless abandon -- that the people of this country mean business. When Bush's former press secretary Scott McClellan released his book a few weeks ago that strongly criticized the White House, he may ... more -
Time for a grand inquest into Bush's high crimes
One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's first acts upon taking the gavel was to rule impeachment off the table. She wanted Democrats to focus on challenging the president on the war and on kitchen table concerns -- from energy to education to health care. With Democrats now enjoying an increasing margin in generic polls and looking towards gaining seats in both the House and the Senate, the strategy certainly hasn't hurt politically.
But the constitutional implications are far more disturbing. This was dramatized as the Congress debated the FISA reform legislation that will provide retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies for warrantless interception of the conversations of Americans -- and by implication, retroactive acceptance of the president's authority to order such wiretaps.
We have witnessed a staggering abuse of power by this president. Even former Bush Justice Department officials now charge President Bush with trampling the Constitution. Bush has claimed the prerogative to declare an endless war without congressional approval, to designate someone an enemy without cause, to proceed to wiretap them without warrant, arrest or kidnap them at will, jail them without a hearing, hold them indefinitely, interrogate them intensively (read torture), bring them to trial outside the US court system. He claims that executive privilege exempts his aides -- even the aides of his aides and his vice president's aides -- from congressional investigation. He claims the right to amend or negate congressional laws with a statement upon signing them. And much more.
Even this Supreme Court, stacked with activist right-wing judges enamored of executive national security powers, has rebuked the president on some of these claims, particularly around the treatment of allegedly enemy combatants. But many of Bush's claims will escape judicial determination. One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's first acts upon taking the gavel was to rule impeachment off the table. She wanted Democrats to fo... more -
major general smedley d butler speaks from the grave on iraq!
i was given this book while attending a bluegrass music gathering in northern california by the veterans for peace. it was amazing! it restored much of my faith in our great country at a time in my life when i felt despondent and betrayed by my government. his convictions and honor helped me to reconsile the turmoil i felt within. i.e. my patriotism and love of nation vs. my sense of betrayal by a government ran wild. between this gentleman and good ol' thomas jefferson you can see patriotism and love of nation can be responsible and humane.
please anyone reading this take the time to read this short online book. it wont take long.
and it just may be interesting reading for you! i was given this book while attending a bluegrass music gathering in northern california by the veterans for peace. it was amazing! it... more -
McClellan testifies on C.I.A. leak
McClellan told Congress on Friday that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney wanted him to say that Scooter Libby wasn't involved in the leak of a CIA operative's identity, an assertion that turned out to be false. McClellan told Congress on Friday that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney wanted him to say that Scooter Libby wasn't invol... more
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telecom immunity not "off the table"
two emails i received of great importance to our nation.
Here we go again.
Rep. Steny Hoyer is leading a "compromise" on the FISA reauthorization bill that would ultimately let the Bush administration and their friends at AT&T and Verizon off the hook for illegally spying on innocent Americans.
Last night, this so-called compromise was voted out of committee and as early as this morning the bill may be brought to the House floor for a full vote.
Speaker Pelosi can still stop this bill.
As Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi can pull the bill from the floor and refuse to call a vote.
Call Speaker Pelosi right now and demand she stand up to President Bush and stop telecom immunity.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
(202) 225-0100
Suggested Script:
"I'm calling to tell Speaker Pelosi I am depending on her to pull any bill from the floor that will ultimately grant immunity to telecommunications companies who illegally spied on Americans. Can I count on Speaker Pelosi to stand up to President Bush?"
PLEASE REPORT YOUR CALL BY CLICKING HERE
Speaker Pelosi has stood up to the President's fear mongering on illegal spying before, she can do it again. But she needs to hear from you to know where you stand.
Here is what Senator Russ Fiengold said about this bill last night:
"The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation. The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President's illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home."
Senator Leahy also made his position clear:
"I will oppose this new FISA bill when the Senate votes on it next week. We must do everything we can to protect Americans from the Bush-Cheney Administration's erosion of our civil liberties and callous disregard for the rule of law -- and this new FISA bill fails that test."
You and I remember that the Senate has passed retroactive immunity before. But working together, we can make sure that the Senate never has a chance to pass this bill by stopping it in the House today. Call Speaker Pelosi right now.
Thank you for taking action.
-Charles
Charles Chamberlain, Political Director
Democracy for America
FRIDAY: House Vote on Warrantless Wiretapping
two emails i received of great importance to our nation. Here we go again. ... more -
Revised Eavesdropping Bill Expected to Pass, With Telecom Immunity
Congress is to vote Friday on an overhaul to the rules on government wiretapping and effectively provide legal immunity to telecoms that participated in the government’s domestic spying program, reports The New York Times. Congress is to vote Friday on an overhaul to the rules on government wiretapping and effectively provide legal immunity to telecoms th... more
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Bush praises overhaul of wiretap laws
Hey everybody, while we were sleeping they passed new wiretap laws that the president finds really exciting. (They also gave immunity for torture!) [Way to go, Congress. Forget the impeachment, let the criminals continue to make the laws in our country!] Hey everybody, while we were sleeping they passed new wiretap laws that the president finds really exciting. (They also gave immunity ... more
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Gravel Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of Bush & Chen...
Dandelion Salad Democracy Now! June 17, 2008 Former Senator Mike Gravel Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of President Bush and Vice President Cheney The former Democratic senator from Alaska discusses his presidential campaign, his role in the releasing of the Pentagon Papers and his support for NYC 9/11 Ballot Initiative Campaign, a grassroots group seeking to place an initiative on the ballot of the November 6th general election allowing registered New York City voters to create a new commission to investigate 9/11. Dandelion Salad Democracy Now! June 17, 2008 Former Senator Mike Gravel Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of Pr... more
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Our Nation’s Self-Respect Demands Impeachment
The American people have a choice ahead of them. They can continue to be shamed as a nation of torturers, or they can put a stop to this administration’s ongoing crimes against humanity. The American people have a choice ahead of them. They can continue to be shamed as a nation of torturers, or they can put a stop to th... more
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Impeach Bush for Peace
"I just want you to know that,
when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
-Bush, June 18, 2002
"War is Peace"
-Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984 "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." -Bush, June 18, 2002 "War is Peace" ... more -
It Still Matters
"To take away the excuse that we didn't know," Conyers said at the time. "So that two or four or 10 years from now, if somebody should ask, 'Where were you, Conyers, and where was the United States Congress?' when the Bush administration declared the Constitution inoperative and revoked the license of parliamentary government, none of the company now present can plead ignorance or temporary insanity, can say that 'somehow it escaped our notice' that the President was setting himself up as a supreme leader exempt from the rule of law." "To take away the excuse that we didn't know," Conyers said at the time. "So that two or four or 10 years from now, if somebody shoul... more
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Impeachment Imperative
Presidential impeachment is the only remedy the American people have against the establishment of rule by a dictator, and is not an action to be taken lightly (as it was in the recent past). However, neither should it be considered “optional” for political reasons when a sitting President has committed criminal acts. Presidential impeachment is the only remedy the American people have against the establishment of rule by a dictator, and is not an ac... more
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Gore Vidal’s Article of Impeachment
On June 9, 2008, a counterrevolution began on the floor of the House of Representatives against the gas and oil crooks who had seized control of the federal government. This counterrevolution began in the exact place which had slumbered during the all-out assault on our liberties and the Constitution itself. On June 9, 2008, a counterrevolution began on the floor of the House of Representatives against the gas and oil crooks who had seized ... more
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Impeachment: It Still Matters
Last week, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, again introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush.
They were referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where no action is likely to be taken.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., strongly supported the impeachment of President Bush three years ago.
In an interview with Harpers magazine in 2005, Conyers was asked why impeachment was important.
“To take away the excuse that we didn’t know,” Conyers said at the time. “So that two or four or 10 years from now, if somebody should ask, ‘Where were you, Conyers, and where was the United States Congress?’ when the Bush administration declared the Constitution inoperative and revoked the license of parliamentary government, none of the company now present can plead ignorance or temporary insanity, can say that ’somehow it escaped our notice’ that the President was setting himself up as a supreme leader exempt from the rule of law.” Last week, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, again introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush. ... more -
Elizabeth Kucinich, a Leader in Her Own Right
If you haven't seen her yet, here she is. Elizabeth Kucinich is a brilliant and compassionate thinker who knows the issues inside out. She also has more charisma than Hollywood can afford to pay for. If you haven't seen her yet, here she is. Elizabeth Kucinich is a brilliant and compassionate thinker who knows the issues inside out... more
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The Prognosis Hopeful Only If We Make It So
Somewhere off in the future, if that future has classrooms and history books, there will be an important date for students to memorize - June 9, 2008. If there are books made with paper and printed with ink, and schools where children can learn the truth, this date may even be called something, like "The Turning Point Day" or "The Day of Enlightenment in America." Perhaps it will even be celebrated as the day that made the future possible. Somewhere off in the future, if that future has classrooms and history books, there will be an important date for students to memorize... more
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Bush Articles Of Impeachment
The Real News - USA - Veterans For Peace (VFP) had planned a sit-in at Rep. Conyers office before he agreed to a meeting. VFP presented 22,000 signatures to Rep. Conyers, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. Coincidentally, Congress referred the 35 articles of impeachment that Rep. Kucinich introduced on Monday to the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Conyers has not stated any plans to move forward with impeachment.
The Real News - USA - Veterans For Peace (VFP) had planned a sit-in at Rep. Conyers office before he agreed to a meeting. VFP presente... more
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Impeach Bush
