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A Letter to Iraqi civilians on the eve of war

As I write this it seems all but inevitable that war will be coming to your country in a matter of weeks. The Turkish government has agreed to host U.S. troops (despite 90% of the population objecting), in Eastern Turkey which will means the U.S. generals have gotten their coveted two-front war.

Between the obvious repression of free speech in your country and the U.S. media's unwillingness to dig for popular Iraqi sentiment, we in America know little about how you feel concerning a U.S. invasion-we can only guess that you are terrified now and busy planning for the survival of your family.

We know that you have been oppressed and brutalized by Saddam Hussein and his tyrants, and that your hatred for him has never been in question, but whether you want Americans to invade your country, topple the government, occupy the nation and manufacture a new regime for you based largely on what U.S. officials consider appropriate, remains to be seen.

Although the Bush administration says its coming war will be directed against Saddam Hussein and his military supporters only, you know as well as I, that

Bush has another plan

AUSTIN, Texas -- You ain't no John Snow when it comes to pensions. Snow, our new treasury secretary, was CEO of the railroad company CSX Corp. and got a platinum parachute when he bailed. He gets $2.47 million a year for life in retirement benefits. This package was based on the premise that he'd worked for the company for 44 years, even though he'd been there only 25. Now that's creative accounting.

Plus, CSX decided to let him factor in the stock benefits he had received as regular income, instead of just salary, as is normally done. At the same time CSX was giving Snow this lovely deal, it was cutting the health benefits in its retirement plan for lesser workers. Since Secretary Snow is now in charge of pension policy at the Treasury, can we look forward to similar deals for ourselves? Nope, we're in the class that gets the cuts.

Dennis Kucinich on CNN's Crossfire

"We have money to blow up bridges over the Tigress and Euphrates and we don't have money to build bridges in our major cities. We have money to destroy the health of the Iraqi people and we don't have enough money to repair the health of our own people in this country. There is something fundamentally wrong with the direction this administration is taking its foreign policy, and I intend to change that if I am elected president of the United States."

A regime that hates democracy can't wage war for democracy

George W. Bush says he wants to attack Iraq to install democracy. But as he explained on December 18, 2000: "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

Under Bush the Constitutional guarantees that have made America a beacon to the world for two centuries have been shredded in two short years.

In terms of basic legal rights and sanctuary from government spying, Americans may be less free under George W. Bush than as British subjects under George III in 1776.

Though the trappings of free speech remain on the surface of American society, the Homeland Security Act, Patriot I, Patriot II and other massively repressive legislation, plus Republican control of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, plus GOP dominance of the mass media, have laid the legal and political framework for a totalitarian infrastructure which, when combined with the capabilities of modern computer technology, may be unsurpassed.

Questions about who set the oil well fires in Kuwait

For the past six years, the American Gulf War Veterans Association have received numerous reports from veterans stating that US forces were responsible for the setting of the oil well fires at the end of the Gulf War. These testimonies are now being taken very seriously in light of recent revelations of the events that occurred during the first Gulf War.

Joyce Riley, spokesperson for The American Gulf War Veterans Association is quoted as saying: There was intentional misinformation given to the American people to generate support for Desert Storm often created by advertising agencies such as Hill and Knowlton.

* Revelations regarding the Incubator story, in which Republican Guard were reported to have thrown babies out of their incubators onto the cold floor turned out to be false and a fraud on the American People. (S.R. 103-900).

* The St. Petersburg Times disproved the report of satellite photos showing a thousand Iraqi tanks amassing on the Saudi border.

* April Glaspie, US Ambassador, gave tacit approval to Saddam Hussein to

Formal unilateral ultimatum must precede unilateral attack of the US government against Iraq

Up to this moment, the US Government has not formalized a unilateral ultimatum to Iraq.

Formal unilateral ultimatum must precede unilateral attack of the US Government against Iraq.

Formal unilateral ultimatum must establish, formally, exactly, and precisely, which measures the Government of Iraq must take, in order to avoid unilateral attack of the US Government against Iraq.

On the other hand, formal unilateral ultimatum must establish, formally, exactly, and precisely, the deadline for the measures that the Government of Iraq must take, in order to avoid unilateral attack of the US Government against Iraq.

If the US Government launches unilateral attacks against Iraq, without any formal unilateral ultimatum, 6 billion people will have very strong reasons to believe that the main objective of the US Government is to control the petroleum of Iraq.

We all must remember that, in the future, our children, our grandchildren, our descendants, will never forget what we all will do in the next days.

National Day of Solidarity with Musilim, Arab and South Asian immigrants

"First they came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, but by that time, no one was left to speak up." -Pastor Martin Niemoeller, Nazi Germany

Today, we call on people everywhere to participate in a National Day of Solidarity with Muslim, Arab and South Asian Immigrants. The words of Pastor Niemoeller spell out the challenge facing all of us as people who seek justice and a better world. This time, first they are coming for the Arab, Muslim and South Asian immigrants. Based on their racial profile, over 1500 have been rounded up and the government refuses to say who they are, where they are jailed and what the charges are!!! Already, a Pakistani man has died in custody. Who will be next? The recent "disappearances", indefinite detention, the round-ups, the secret military tribunals, the denial of legal representation, evidence kept a secret from

Banned by Bob Taft?

Yesterday, I emailed Taft's office commemorating the date when John Byrd and Wilfred Berry died. I requested instate a moratorium on the death penalty. Today my computer service alerted me that Taft's email will no longer accept my messeges.

Has anybody else been banished by Bob?? Just curious, I thought we had a right to petition our so called leaders.

[Editor's note: If your email address has also been banned by the Ohio State Government, please let us know at truth@freepress.org.]

Athens War Protest vs CNN report of same

Events here in Athens are not always accurately reported in the international press. With that in mind, I sent a report to stateside friends Sunday, following the worldwide peace marches. The report, slightly edited below, was based on watching 5.5 hours of live coverage on the second state channel, NET. I also taped the second 'disruption' noted below.

Although not as exciting as being in the actual march, watching the raw TV coverage gave an overview of the event, its proportions and the immediate journalists' reaction to events as they occurred. I did not attempt to be colourful in this report, merely to set down events as I saw them.

Athens
15 February, 03

By police and media estimates, about 150,000 people gathered about noon, on a very chilly day, for just over two hours of speeches and music. The program was followed by another 3 hours of march.

In perspective, that's one of the largest demonstrations here in the past 30 years, and there were parallel events in 20 or more towns around Greece. The crowd included a good number of senior citizens, people who

Words of Wisdom From An Armor Master

Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf, I decided to write a paper and keep things in proper perspective. I am a retired military weapons, munitions, and training expert.

Lesson number one: In the mid 1990s, there were a series of nerve gas attacks on crowded Japanese subway stations. Given perfect conditions for an attack, less than 10% of the people there were injured (the injured were better in a few hours), and only one percent of the injured died.

"60 Minutes" once had a fellow telling us that one drop of nerve gas could kill 1,000 people, well he didn't tell you that the 1,000 dead people per drop was theoretical. Drill Sergeants exaggerate how terrible this stuff was to keep the recruits awake in class (I know this because I was a Drill Sergeant too).

Forget everything you've ever seen on TV, in the movies, or read in a novel about this stuff, it was all a lie (read this sentence again out loud!). These weapons are about terror, if you remain calm, you will probably not die. This is far less scary than the media and their "experts" make it sound.

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