Friday, January 26, 2007

THIS JUST IN! HE KNEW! HE JUST FORGOT HE KNEW!

 
JULY 22, 2003, WHITE HOUSE FLACK SCOTTY MCCLELLAN ASSURED THE PRESS THAT, REGARDING THE OUTING OF C.I.A. AGENT VALERIE PLAME, NO 1 IN THE WHITE HOUSE WOULD HAVE DONE THAT, "I'M SAYING THAT THIS IS NOT THE WAY THAT THIS PRESIDENT OR THIS WHITE HOUSE OPERATES . . .  I'M TELLING YOU, FLATLY, THAT THIS IS NOT THE WAY THIS WHITE HOUSE OPERATES."
 
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003, BULLY BOY RESPONDS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OUTING OF C.I.A. AGENT VALERIE PLAME WITH, "THERE'S JUST TOO MANY LEAKS.  AND IF THERE IS A LEAK OUT OF MY ADMINISTRATION, I WANT TO KNOW WHO IT IS.  AND IF THE PERSON HAS VIOLATED LAW, THE PERSON WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF. . . . I WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH."
 
NOW COMES THE NEWS THAT THEN WHITE HOUSE FLACK ARI FLEISHER CONFESSED THAT HE WAS INVOLVED IN BLABBING NATIONAL SECURITY SECRETS AS WELL AS HE TOOK PART IN THE OUTING OF VALERIE PLAME BY CALLING THE PRESS AND PASSING ON THE NEWS. 
 
FLEISHER, SCOOTER LIBBY AND KARL ROVE. 
 
DID THE WHITE HOUSE REALLY NOT KNOW?
 
THESE REPORTERS SPOKE WITH A FORMER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL.  HE ASKED THAT HIS NAME NOT BEEN GIVEN FOR FEAR OF RETALIATION.  SO WE WILL CALL HIM "NOT SCOTTY MCCLELLAN" (HONEST!). 
 
NOT SCOTTY MCCLELLAN TOLD US THAT THE ANSWER "DEPENDS UPON WHAT YOU MEAN BY 'THE WHITE HOUSE'.  DID BULLY BOY KNOW?  OF COURSE HE DID BUT HE FORGOT.  THIS IS THE MAN WHO ASKED DICK CHENEY TO FIND HIM SOMEONE TO BE A VICE PRESIDENT AND ASKED HARRIET MIERS TO FIND HIM SOMEONE TO SIT ON THE SUPREME COURT.  BOTH CAME BACK SAYING, 'PICK ME!'  HE HAD TO ASK THEM 'FOR WHAT?'  HE NEVER REMEMBERS ANYTHING.  IN FACT, ONE OF DONALD RUMSFELD'S MAIN DUTIES WHEN HE WAS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WAS TO FOLLOW BULLY BOY AROUND AND FLUSH TOILETS FOR HIM.  ROBERT GATES IS EVEN BETTER AT THE JOB BECAUSE HE ALSO PUTS THE TOILET SEAT DOWN."
 
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT.
 
 
 
Starting with Ehren Watada, he, his father (Bob Watada) and his mother (Carolyn Ho) will be out in full force tomorrow.  Susan Paynter (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) reports  will be taking part in Seattle's events to end the war: "1 p.m. at the Center for Social Justice, 2111 E. Union St., moving to the Military Recruitment Center at 2301 S. Jackson St., then to the Langston Hughes Center at 104 17th Ave. S. at 3, where speakers will include Lt. Ehren Watada." Watada, who will be part of a panel discussion, is the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq and he is facing a Februarty 5th court-martial in which he will not be able to present any real defense because 'Judge' Head has a really sick sense of what "justice" is.
Michael E. Ruane (Washington Post) reports that Bob Watada will be speaking at the DC rally tomorrow and Bob Watada tells Ruane: "There is no doubt in my mind that the invasion and occupation of Iraq is wholly unwarranted. The Iraqi people have done absolutely nothing to the United States. They've done nothing to deserve the massacre and the pummeling they're getting . . . the plunder, the torture, the rape, the murder of innocent people. It's got to stop."  Meredith May (San Francisco Chronicle) reports that, in San Francisco, things kick off with  "a noon rally at Powell and Market streets. Carolyn Ho, the mother of Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada of Hawaii, who is refusing orders to deploy to Iraq, will speak to the crowd."
 
Three different cities tomorrow where they will be attempting to get the message that the illegal war needs to end and that what will take place in the February 5th court-martial won't be justice because the 'judge' has refused to allow Ehren Watada to present his reasons for refusing to deploy, the studies he did as part of his command that led him to the conclusion that the war was illegal and immoral.  Marilyn Bechtel (People's Weekly World) spoke with Marti Hiken (National Lawyers Guild) who noted that "people do not surrender all their constional rights when they enter the military" and that "Regardless of whether the military wins this court martial, they lose for silencing an individual who has so much integrity that is evident to people across the country."
 
 
Saying "no" to an illegal war is hard.  It takes courage.  (Note the Cowards Silence plauging the left if you doubt that, but I'm actually talking about those in the military who have said "no.")  Watada is a part of a movement of resistance with the military that includes others such as Agustin Aguayo (whose court-martial is currently set to begin on March
6th),  Kyle Snyder, Darrell Anderson, Ivan Brobeck, Ricky Clousing, Aidan Delgado, Mark Wilkerson, Joshua Key, Camilo Meija, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Jeremy Hinzman, Corey Glass, Patrick Hart, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
 
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
 
In the United States, tomorrow sees protests, rallies and marches around the country.  As  CODEPINK notes: "Join us on January 27 to say No More Funding for War! Bring Our Troops Home Now! We will use our feet and our lungs and our signs and our outrage to let Bush and our new Congress know that we are serious about ending this war.
If you can't make it to DC, see if there is a solidarity event being planned in your area. If not, create your own, even if that means standing alone on a street corner with a sign! In lieu of lobbying, you can call your Congressperson to demand they cut the funding for George Bush's War. Our voices are powerful, wherever we may be geographically. We know peace is the only real path to hope and opportunity for this country. Together we will make it happen."
 
If you can't make it to DC, you can still be heard.  If there's not an event in your area, start one. Avaaz.org (formely Ceasefire Campaign Team) is attempting to get the word out on a way you can be heard in DC if you're not able to attend:
 
Join Saturday's global peace march... without Leaving Your House!
This Saturday, hundreds of thousands of Americans will march on Washington DC to demand peace and justice in Iraq and the Middle East. We can be there too, raising a global voice of solidarity -- through our own worldwide virtual march. Time is short, so add your voice and join the march today!  
http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_peace_march/   
This could signal the rebirth of the US peace movement. We need to show them the world is on their side. Let's bring our call for peace to the streets of power in Washington. Join the global peace march and tell your friends today! 
 
Events will be covered by some media.  Known coverage will include: KPFA which will broadcast live from the DC demonstrations from 10:00 am to noon PST.  (At which point it will begin covering demonstrations in the Bay Area.) and Laura Flanders who will cover the days demonstration Saturday night (7:00 to 10:00 pm EST) on her program  RadioNation with Laura Flanders (heard on Air America Radio and other outlets).  (Both KPFA and Air America Radio offer online streaming.)  (KPFA also offers their achived broadcasts for free, so if you miss the live coverage and would like to hear it later, check out the KPFA Archives).  Rachel notes that WBAI will broadcast live coverage of the demonstrations from
11:00 am to 1:00 pm EST.  In addition, she notes that tonight (Friday) on WBAI, David Occhiuto will host a special which will feature anti-war films, interviews and will include coverage of Ehren Watada including sections of  the speech he gave in Seattle that the the Article 32 hearing in August included and the court-martial next month plans to include in their prosecution of him.  Tune in to hear the message that so frightened the military brass that 'Judge' Head has gagged Watada's defense from presenting. That's tonight, WBAI,
7:00 pm to 11:00 pm EST (over the airwaves in NYC and surrounding areas as well as online).
 
[. . .]
 
Reminder:  Those in DC Saturday should check out Anthony Arnove, author most recently of IRAQ: The Logic of Withdrawal, who will be speaking at Busboys and Poets at 5:00 pm and those in the NYC area on Sunday should check out Joan Mellen speech at 7:30 p.m.  at the 92nd Street Y (92nd Street and Lesington Avenue). Mellan, a professor at Temple University and the author of seventeen books, will be presenting a lecture on the JFK assasination . . . and beyond. Tickets are $25. Mellen's latest book is A Farewell to Justice which probes the assasination of JFK. She was a guest on Law and Disorder November 7, 2005. And the March 15, 2006 broadcast of KPFA's Guns and Butter featured her speech "How the Failure to Identify, Prosecute and Convict President Kennedy's Assassins Has Led to Today's Crisis of Democracy." You can also read a transcript of that speech here.
 
 
 
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"

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