by Dave Hunter
http://educte-yourself.org/cn/patriotsandtraitors27feb03.shtml
Posted Feb. 27, 2003
I just finished watching Tuesday's Donahue show featuring Media Benjamin
of Global Exchange http://www.globalexchange.org and Jesse Jackson scrapping
it out with 3 self avowed patriots who leveled charges that all the peace
protesters were traitors & hated America. It's fascinating to me that
the difference between "Patriot" and Traitor" is just two letters, and ironically,
they're "PR". How can these blustery dunces appear on national TV with a straight
face claiming that they & THEIR president & his cronies are patriots?
Get this:
We know Saddam has Anthrax, as well as botulism & bubonic plague, because
the Reagan Administration GAVE him the starter cultures. The emissary on that
mission? Donald Rumsfeld. Don't believe it? Type "Rumsfeld" + "Anthrax" +
"Iraq" into your search engine.
That Dick Cheney's sure a patriot! He'd never aid our enemies, right? Think
again. As CEO of Halliburton, he went around the UN embargo by using foreign
subsidiaries Dresser-Rand & Ingersoll-Dresser Pump to rebuild Iraq's oil
infrastructure just 3 years ago. Not only did he seek to do business with
the enemy, he broke the law doing it. Estimates of the deal vary from between
23 and 78 million. Cheney's take amounted to approximately thirty pieces
of pirate silver (adjusted for inflation from 33 A.D.) Need proof? Type "Halliburton"
+ "Iraq" into your search engine.
Admiral John Poindexter, recently put in charge of going over your e-mails
& credit card receipts, is a convicted felon who sold Stinger missiles
to the Iranians, used the profits to fund an international terrorist organization,
then lied to congress about it. Along with the Stinger missiles, Poindexter
delivered to the Ayatollah a Bible and a key-shaped cake. Go ahead and and
call us protestors as unpatriotic as you like, at least we didn't bake any
stinking cakes for the Ayatollah. Too young to remember this? Keywords are
"Poindexter" + "Iran".
Worried that you or a loved one may have to serve in the Persian Gulf? Take
a tip from shrub.
Keywords "George Bush" + "AWOL"
http://whitehouse.org
PEACE IS PATRIOTIC
by Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, Ret.
President, Institute for Space and Security Studies,
National Advisor, Veterans For Peace,
Presiding Archbishop, United Catholic Church.
I'm here representing Veterans For Peace, an organization of thousands of
combat veterans. All of us have put our life on the line for this country.
And all of us are opposed to a war with Iraq.
Saddam Hussein is a bad guy. I don't know anyone who disagrees with that.
He's a bad guy now. He was a bad guy in 1990 when April Glaspie of the State
Department gave him the green light to invade Kuwait. He was a bad guy in
the 1980s when Donald Rumsfeld sat down with him for a chat while he was gassing
the Kurds. He was a bad guy in 1977 when Zbigniew Brzezinski met with him
and proposed the invasion of Iran. And he was a bad guy in the 1960s when
the CIA hired him to assassinate Iraqi leader Abdel Karim Qassim and then
helped him take over Iraq.
He's always been a bad guy. But he was always our bad guy. Right up to 1990,
official DOD documents praised Saddam for vastly improving the education,
medical care, and standard of living of his people. His regime was called
one of the most enlightened, progressive governments in the region and it
was.
But there was a problem. The Berlin wall had come down and the Soviet Union
had collapsed. The first Bush White House had to find another bad guy -- fast.
And they did -- Saddam Hussein. They suckered him into attacking Kuwait, and
the first Gulf War was on. This was the war the first Bush administration
wanted, the war they planned for, the war they instigated, the war they salivated
over, the war that Saddam's unconditional withdrawal wasn't going to deny
them, the war that would show off our smart bombs better than a hundred trade
shows, the war that would prove George wasn't a wimp, the war that would make
billions for the future president George W. Bush, who had exclusive rights
to offshore oil in the Gulf, the war that would kill the "loser" image from
Vietnam once and for all.
Now the second President Bush wants his Gulf War too. Planning for it started
long before 9/11, even before he became president. In September 1990, his
advisers set "regime change" in Iraq as a primary objective of US foreign
policy should Bush become president. They made it clear that the purpose of
moving against Saddam is to set the stage for occupying the entire Middle
East (and therefore controlling its oil, no matter who's in power, especially
in Saudi Arabia).
The problems with starting a preemptive war against Iraq are several: (1)
It would be immoral and would probably be judged illegal by the World Court.
(2) It would be costly, in terms of American lives and in dollars. (3) It
would require us to keep troops in Iraq indefinitely. (4) It would fracture
NATO, split the United Nations, and come between us and our allies. (5) It
would incense the Arab world, probably causing the downfall of friendly governments
who cooperate with us (like Saudi Arabia and Turkey). (6) It would provide
Osama bin Laden with thousands of new recruits ready to die in a Holy War
against Americans. (7) It would therefore cause an enormous increase in the
terrorist threat to Americans at home and abroad. It might even cause World
War III. It would destroy our national security and further endanger the American
people.
As a combat veteran, I will not stand idly by and watch our security destroyed
by a president who went AWOL rather than fight in Vietnam. I say, "NO" to
war against Iraq. As one who has devoted his life to the security of this
country, I will not stand by and watch an appointed president send our sons
and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so the oil companies can sell
the oil under their sand, making us the target of terrorists.
I say, "NO" to war against Iraq. I joined the Air Force to protect our borders
and our people, not the financial interests of Folgers, Chiquita Banana, and
Exxon. I say, "NO" to war against Iraq. As a pilot who flew 101 combat missions
in Vietnam, I can tell you that the best thing our government can do for
its combat veterans is to quit making more of them. I say "NO" to war against
Iraq.
Peace is patriotic; a preemptive war is immoral, illegal, unconstitutional,
and a war crime. I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States against
all enemies -- foreign and domestic. That includes a renegade president.
If this war happens, I will call for the impeachment of George W. Bush,
Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the whole oil Mafia. I say "NO" to war
against Iraq. We are the people. We are sovereign. The whole world is with
us. And we say, "NO!" "NO" to war! "NO" to preemptive war. "NO" to wars of
aggression. "NO" to war against Iraq. "NO!" "NO!" "NO!" This war would be
treason! PEACE is patriotic. God bless America! And God save us from George
W. Bush!
http://www.veteransforpeace.org
"The time for peace is now. At the dawn of a new millennium, there is no better
time to review age old challenges with new thinking that peace is not only
the absence of violence, but the presence of a higher evolution of human
awareness with respect, trust and integrity toward humankind. Our founding
fathers recognized that peace was one of the highest duties of the newly
organized free and independent states. But too often, we have overlooked the
long-term solution of peace for instant gratification of war. This continued
downward spiral of violence must stop to ensure that future generations will
live in peace and harmony." -- Dennis Kucinich
"It has never happened in history that a nation that has won a war has been
held accountable for atrocities committed in preparing for and waging that
war. We intend to make this one different. What took place was the use of
technological material to destroy a defenseless country. From 125,000 to 300,000
people were killed... We recognize our role in history is to bring the transgressors
to justice." --Ramsey Clark
"If you assume that there's no hope, you guarantee that there will be no
hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are
opportunities to change things, there's a chance you may contribute to making
a better world. That's your choice" -- Noam Chomsky
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the opinion of the author and is provided for educational purposes only.
It is not to be construed as medical advice. Only a licensed medical doctor
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