From Watergate to Downing Street -- Lying for War

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
Reclaiming Our Democracy, Our Country, and Our Soul. Keeping the Downing Street Drums Beating.
Anthony Wade, www.OpEdNews.com



June 18, 2005 - “You can’t just say the President is lying.” That was the opinion of New York Times reporter, Elizabeth Bumiller recently when discussing honesty in today’s press. It also highlights a serious flaw in the current logic with today’s press that has led to the erosion of any possible faith people have in media anymore. I would proffer that you most certainly can say the President has lied, if you meet one condition, that being he lied. It is a disservice to this country to have a media that either is protecting the President, or too scared to tell the truth.

While we are at it, you can also call the President a criminal, if that is what he is. It brings me no joy to say that it is fairly obvious at this point, that George W. Bush is exactly that. In the late 1990’s the republicans harangued this nation about the importance of the rule of law. We were lectured to about the sanctity of the rule of law and how because of the lies that Bill Clinton offered up, in defense of a personal sexual indiscretion, he had to be impeached. It was the vilification of Bill Clinton and the abuse of the rules of impeachment that dragged this country through the most partisan attack we will ever see, all for political retribution.

Fast forward five years and apparently the republicans no longer are concerned about the rule of law when it applies to their boy. That hypocrisy has become crystallized with the unveiling of the Downing Street Memo. Due to the corporate media blackout, many have not even heard of this memo, which are actually meeting minutes from Britain. These minutes, taken from a meeting held six months before the Iraq invasion, clearly spell out that George W. Bush is indeed a war criminal who lied this country into a war we did not need to be involved in. The resulting 1,700 + deaths of American soldiers can be laid at the feet of Bush. The 100,000 + deaths of Iraqi citizens can also be laid at his feet. In the run up to the war George Bush promised us that war was his last option. That was a lie. He promised us that Iraq was an imminent threat. That was a lie. He promised us that Saddam Hussein possessed the most lethal weapons known to man. That was a lie.

Bush has done a masterful job of employing the Sergeant Schultz defense from Hogan’s Heroes. His cries of “I know nothing” however are starting to unravel around him as more and more proof emerges that implicates him directly. You must understand that lying is not necessarily illegal. Lying to Congress however is. Lying to Congress to start a war is even more so. There is a word for that. It is called treason.

Black's Law Dictionary defines treason as, “A breach of allegiance to one's government, usually committed through levying war against such government or by giving aid or comfort to the enemy.” George Bush breached his allegiance to this country when he chose to lie to Congress. This action has essentially levied war against this country by forcing a war upon us, on false pretenses.

The only issue then, is if it is provable that George W. Bush knew he was lying when he convinced Congress to abdicate their responsibilities to wage war. That is where the Downing Street Memo seals the fate of President Bush. Richard Dearlove, the head of Britain’s intelligence agency reported in the meeting minutes that after he met with the Bush administration:

“Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”

It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.

The first quote proves that Bush had decided on the policy, war, and chose to fit the intelligence and facts around it. This was primarily done by cooking the intelligence through the Office of Special Plans, headed by fellow Neocon, Douglas Feith. Despite what Elizabeth Bumiller may think, there is a word for this. It is called lying. It matters not that the President is the one doing the lying. The second quote proves some other lies being spun by Bush at the time. Remember, this is six months before the invasion when Bush was swearing to us all that he was going to try diplomacy first and war as only the last option. This quote states that at that exact time he was saying diplomacy in public, he had “made up his mind” to go to war. It further admits that Bush knew the WMD angle was “thin”, and that it was less than the three other countries which represented potential threats at the time.

So, despite corporate media whores such as Dana Milbank, who will sell you the cover up and try to dismiss this story, it not only has legs, it has handcuffs. Despite Scott McClellan’s attempts to pretend that the President has answered the Downing Street questions, he has done nothing but obfuscate, distort and use his corporate media machine to ignore the realities of the crimes he has committed.

These crimes have stolen much from us. They have stolen the lives of over 1,700 American soldiers who only ask that you not send them into harm’s way unless it is absolutely necessary. They have stolen our democracy by assuming a Machiavellian attitude that allows a President to decide the rationale for a war, after the fact. That Saddam was a bad guy has absolutely no relevance to this war because that is NOT the reason we went to war. We went to war based on the lies sold to us by George W. Bush about WMD. Our democracy requires checks and balances. It requires that the powers to wage war reside in the Congress, not the President. Three years ago, George Bush stole our democracy and the principles upon which it was founded and it is time to take it and our country back again.

Our collective soul has been stolen as well by the lies that have led us into this war. Our fears were used against us to propagate bloodshed in our name. It was illegitimate, as the Downing Street Memo now proves. Our soul continues to be raped by a party that no longer cares about you or me. In response to this memo proving the crimes that led our country to war, the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee for the Democrats wanted to hold hearings to investigate the charges discussed in this article. The response from the Republicans was to not allow those hearings to take place in an official room. Undeterred, John Conyers held his hearings in a room the size of a closet. This is what has happened to our democracy. Last week the Republican leader of the Judiciary Committee actually walked out of a hearing on Patriot Act abuses. He shut down the committee, shut off the microphones of the minority party, bullied witnesses, and walked out with his gavel because he did not like what he was hearing.

Your country has been stolen from you by an administration that lies with impunity and has a complicit press that tells you it is far more important what is happening to the runaway bride than in the Iraq War. Your democracy has been stolen by a party that thinks nothing of changing 200 year old filibuster rules and are so rife with corruption that the people, who manage ethics, will not investigate the least ethical man in DC, because they have all contributed to his Political Action Committee. This corruption knows no ends. For example, Robert F. Kennedy has just released an expose detailing how this administration tried to cover up for the pharmaceutical lobby after it was revealed that an ingredient in vaccines had contributed to high rates of autism in children. Here is the frightening part. Senator Bill Frist attached a rider to the bill that created the Department of Homeland Security, called the Eli-Lilly Protection Act. Essentially, this eliminated the rights of parents to sue vaccine makers for the autism they created. Bill Frist received over $800,000 from the pharmaceutical lobby. Conflict of interest anyone? This is how it works now in your democracy. It is sold every day to the highest bidder. It was yours. It has been stolen.

America, our soul has also been stolen. We used to be the light for the world. We used to be respected in the world, now we are hated. We used to lead the world, now we invade it. We were told five years ago that the rule of law was crucial to uphold our democracy. We were told that the lies of William Jefferson Clinton would destroy the fabric of this country and the only remedy was impeachment. Those lies were personal in nature, involving a sexual indiscretion. Today we are faced with the prospect of a President whose lies have led this country to war, killed over 1,700 American soldiers, and countless innocent civilians. Suddenly the rule of law seems to not matter anymore. Instead of impeachment hearings, the same republicans will not even allow judiciary hearings to address the facts discussed here today. They look you in the face, preach family values and then kill your kids. They sermonize about the rule of law, but only when it does not implicate their own. They moralize about a culture of life, when all they embrace are the politics of death. When faced with the realities however, they abandon all pretense. They bully the minority party. They take their gavel and go home. They profit off the blood they spill and steal our democracy. They profit off damaging the health of our children, and steal our country. They profit off of the death of our kids and steal our collective soul.

If the President lies, we should say the President lies. If those lies were designed to deceive Congress into a war, we should say that is impeachable. We should say it is treasonous. We should honor our dead and tell the truth. As God says, the truth shall set you free.
 

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
PM could face Iraq prosecution
Herald Sun


june16, 2005 - PRIME Minister John Howard could face criminal prosecution overseas for Australia's role in the Iraq war, an international lawyer says.

Philippe Sands, QC, director of the Centre for International Courts and Tribunals at University College London, says Mr Howard along with British Prime Minister Tony Blair could face charges amid claims the Iraq war was illegal.
United States President George W Bush and US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld could also find themselves in similar predicaments, Professor Sands says.

"Under international law an illegal war amounts to the crime of aggression and in some countries around the world a crime of aggression is one in which they exercise jurisdiction," Prof Sands told ABC TV.

"So the possibility really can't be excluded that if messrs Blair and Howard at some point in the future travel after they've left office to a country which, for example, has an extradition agreement with another country where you have an independent prosecutor.









"A request for extradition or for investigation or questioning ... could happen. There's precedent for it."

Prof Sands said it would be easier for foreign countries angered by the Iraq war to chase after Mr Howard given Australia has less political clout in the world than the US or Britain.

"It may turn out to be much easier to go to after John Howard than Tony Blair or, for obvious reasons, George W Bush," he said.

"He may produce a more easy target in the sense that Australia doesn't have politically the clout of a country like the United States.

"I'm not saying that it ought to happen nor am I saying definitely that it will happen, but the simple point is that the rules of international law have changed very considerably in the last 50 years largely as a result of efforts by the United States, by Australia and by the United Kingdom.

"A whole new range of international criminal laws has emerged and when you break the rules of international law you pay a price for that and one of the prices that you pay if you are a leader is that you travel with greater care and caution


looks like Howard is in the hot seat too. :?
 

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
Theocracy Alert
Their God is not on our side
Frank Scott, Online Journal Contributing Writer


June 17, 2005—In the political battle between America's brainless and its gutless, agreement seems clear on one issue. They demand we remain in Iraq until the horrid mess we've created becomes somehow uncreated.

Perhaps when an iraqi teenager takes a gun to school and blows away a dozen classmates we will leave, since they will have finally achieved our level of democracy.

As the death toll and misery increase, the regime and its echo chamber opposition join in stressing the need for Americans to stay until we've corrected all our mistakes, no matter what it costs the Iraqis. A call for immediate troop withdrawal is, so far, drowned out in the din of agreement between the dreadful regime and its dismal opposition.

Will suicide car bombings have to strike America before a majority of the opposition calls for an end to this madness? Must we absorb more tragedy ourselves before we understand how much it hurts others? How many more lies will we tolerate before we demand the truth ?

The cover story for destroying Afghanistan was finding Osama bin Laden—remember him? That fable seems forgotten; the warlords never left, the Taliban is back, the drug business flourishes, misery prevails, and our stylishly upscale puppet leader and his regime are helpless outside of downtown Kabul.

The bigger lies about Iraq's hidden weapons are now as believable as its secret plan to invade Cleveland. Should we assume that those who produced these fables are not in jail due to our cherished freedom of expression? Or is it our incredible ignorance? Our freedom does not extend to people of Middle Eastern complexion who fit the terrorist profile formulated by those who profit from this murderous idiocy, inspired by godly revelation, performed with ungodly deceit.

Two years ago, the White House occupant boldly announced "mission accomplished" to his troops. The only accomplishment was a staged photo-op with heroic leader wearing military drag, addressing a phalanx of fawning media stenographers, with backdrop of young warriors such as his wealth enabled him to avoid becoming when he was their age. It was great viewing, for fans of TV wrestling. But thousands have died since then, civil society has broken down, and a government of mostly former exiles has shown its only value is lapdog obedience to American and Israeli direction.

We have reduced a highly developed secular nation with an educated middle class, to a near anarchy of poverty, suffering and sectarian violence. Our military occupation is hated by most Iraqis, regardless of their politics or religion. The sectarian breakdown of their country benefits three forces: Christian fanatics who believe they are doing the work of God; Jewish fanatics who believe they are doing the work of God, and market fanatics who know they are doing the work of God. While the religionists plan their immaterial intimacy with the invisible king of the universe, the corporados get materially rich from rebuilding what their war has destroyed, and cash in on a massive theft of national wealth. But they are not alone in enjoying material benefit from Iraqi suffering.

Israel is especially pleased to see a once powerful Arab nation that refused to give it recognition and aided the Palestinians, reduced to chaos, division and weakness. It was Israel's zealots among American policy makers who played a major role in getting the U.S. to invade Iraq. But whether one of these groups had more to gain should not be a subject for debate. That all are in league is what matters and must be confronted.

While the innocent are programmed to fear Islamic fundamentalism, it is the fanatic forces of Judeo-Christianity's most dangerous sects which are the real threat. The lunatic liaison of evangelical Christians, awaiting "his" rapturous destruction of everything in the universe but them, with believers in a Hebrew messiah and "his" real estate promise of their very own domain, represents a threat to humanity far more serious than alleged Islamic fundamentalism. The temporary unity enjoyed by these disturbed Judeo-Christians will eventually end and find them at each others' throats in their scriptural war of immaterial prophecy. This could be good for humanity, if it only threatened their perverted pipe dreams. But given that these fanatics control the U.S. and Israeli governments and their nuclear arsenals, they could destroy everyone.

The staggering financial cost of this holy war has contributed to a growing loss of faith in the American government. Partisan battles over legislative procedure take precedence over real problems for those who find the cost of gasoline, health care and housing far more important than spending billions to destroy Iraq . Or raising millions for political combat over selecting judges most people won't know or ever deal with. Dividing the nation into fictional blue state and red state opponents only makes sense to the minorities who actually participate in the political party with two wings; the center and the right. The majority of Americans work to support this insanity with their tax dollars. They grow more sickened by the power structure, and therein lies the hope.

If we continue interfering in other people's lives, Iraq, and the Middle East, will be in our cities, our malls and on our highways. We need to avert the disaster of religious lunacy and a maniacal political economy, and take control away from forces bent on destruction. We are ruled by people who should be in an institution, not running it. Religious believers in a God of love and secular believers in a humanity of love need to take matters out of the hands of irrational murders.

The reign of terror instituted by competitive fanatics who worship a God of demonic fear, represents a threat to the future of the human race. It must be so acknowledged, and dealt with. We should begin that process by getting all our troops out of Iraq. Immediately!



hmmm. the battle between the "brainless" and the "gutless"......
......seems apt.
 

Toro

Senate Member
May 24, 2005
5,468
109
63
Florida, Hurricane Central
mrmom2 said:
Gomery :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Lots of people are dying over that scandal better send in the troops :p :roll:

1. Bush is not a pathalogical liar.

2. Ocean was applying a moral test to an electorate. Americans, despite their misgivings about the war in Iraq, looked at the alternatives and decided to stick with their man, just like Canadians continuing to support the corrupt Liberal Party because they don't like the alternatives.
 

Said1

Hubba Hubba
Apr 18, 2005
5,338
70
48
52
Das Kapital
Maybe oil for food was the reason for the war in Iraq. Personally, I think it was designed for profit, and profit only. Perhaps things got out of control, who knows really.
 

Said1

Hubba Hubba
Apr 18, 2005
5,338
70
48
52
Das Kapital
Re: RE: From Watergate to Downing Street -- Lying for War

jimmoyer said:
You forget that one of the motives in peace was for profit only, since the French Russians and Germans wanted the embargo lifted so their contracts could be paid.

Profit was a motive most definitely before the war.

That's what I meant although I think the French, Russians and Germans were getting paid nicely despite embargos. Just a hunch mind you.
 

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
High Crimes and Misdemeanors
Ken Sanders, www.dissidentvoice.org



June 18, 2005

Under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." Any reasonable interpretation of the Constitution's impeachment clause, and the historical application thereof, leads to the inescapable conclusion that articles of impeachment should be brought against President Bush for his commission of high crimes against the United States.

It is the consensus among legal and constitutional scholars that the phrase "other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" refers to "political crimes." While not necessarily indictable crimes, "political crimes" are great offenses against the federal government. They are abuses of power or the kinds of misconduct which can only be committed by a public official by virtue of the unique power and trust which he holds. Thus, high crimes and misdemeanors refer to major offenses against our very system of representative democracy. Likewise, high crimes and misdemeanors can be serious abuses of the governmental power with which the President has been trusted.

In the case of Iraq, it is becoming harder and harder to deny that Bush engaged in official misconduct that caused serious and likely irreparable injury to the United States.

Take, for instance, the increasingly notorious Downing Street Memo ( http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Zeese0615.htm ). According to the Memo, nearly one year before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to disarm Saddam of his mythical weapons of mass destruction, at the White House "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

Bush and his apologists dismiss the Memo as meaningless and accuse those deluded enough to find meaning within it of rehashing old arguments. However, aside from dismissing or simply ignoring the Memo, the Bush administration has made no attempt at an innocent explanation for the claim that it "fixed" the intelligence to fit its Iraq policy.

In fact, the Bush administration has never explicitly denied that the intelligence on Iraq was "fixed." The only senior government official to make such an unequivocal denial is Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister. However, while Blair did deny that the intelligence was "fixed," he did not endeavor to explain why such a claim made its way into an official British government document.

An explanation for the Bush administration's reluctance to address the Memo head-on and deny outright its claims of fixed intelligence can be gleaned from circumstantial evidence. It is commonly (and mistakenly) accepted that the false claims about Iraq's WMD were solely the result of a massive intelligence failure. Indeed, two purportedly independent commissions, the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Commission on Intelligence Capabilities of the U.S. regarding Iraq's WMD, both determined that the White House and Pentagon were innocent victims of bad intelligence.

Whether or not the findings of those commissions are accurate or supportable is an argument for another time. What is telling about both commissions, however, is what they specifically did not investigate: whether the Bush administration manipulated or otherwise misused the "bad" intelligence. In the case of the Commission on Intelligence, a body created by the White House, it was not authorized by the White House to investigate the use of the Iraq intelligence. That issue was expressly out of bounds. In the case of the Senate Intelligence Committee, its Republican members circled wagons and insisted that any inquiry into the White House's use of the intelligence be deferred for a later date. That deferral continues.

The White House clearly has something to hide.

Regardless of what Bush is scrupulously trying to conceal, during the lead up to the invasion of Iraq, Bush openly lied about Iraq's nuclear capabilities on no fewer than four separate occasions. Bush knowingly and deliberately manipulated, inflated, and "fixed" the intelligence he was given in order to inflame the nation's passions and fraudulently bolster support for his war. (See, Ken Sanders, "What the Pre-War Intelligence Reports Won't Tell You," April 30, 2005: http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Apr05/Sanders0430.htm )

There is precedent for impeaching President Bush for the high crimes and misdemeanors of involving the country in armed conflict through fraudulent means. Take the case of William Blount, the first federal impeachment in U.S. history. Blount, an original U.S. senator from Tennessee, attempted to incite the Cherokee and the Creek to displace the Spanish from what is now Florida and Louisiana. Blount intended to then sell the land to the British. When the plot was exposed, the House of Representatives leveled articles of impeachment against Blount, asserting that Blount committed high crimes and misdemeanors by undertaking a course of conduct that threatened American neutrality and peace, and potentially violated international treaties.

Clearly, the acts of President Bush regarding Iraq are far more egregious than those of Blount. Not only did Blount's scheme never come to fruition, Blount's machinations did not result in the military invasion of a sovereign nation, in violation of U.S. treaty obligations and international law.

Take also the case of President Richard Nixon. The articles of impeachment brought against him in 1974 alleged serious abuses of presidential powers. The articles alleged that Nixon used government agencies, including the F.B.I., C.I.A., I.R.S., and the Office of the President itself, to engage in a series of unlawful acts for political gain. Thus, Nixon was accused of, among other things, abusing his position as President in order to undermine the democratic process.

In the case of the Iraq war, Bush similarly abused his position as President by lying to the public and to Congress, as well as the United Nations, about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. Bush "fixed" and falsified intelligence in order to obtain the Congressional authority he needed to invade Iraq, thereby undermining the democratic process and injuring the constitutional system of government. Bush engaged in these acts of wrongdoing to enhance his political influence and to enrich corporate entities with which he and his cronies had financial ties.

The impeachment of President Clinton, by contrast, did not involve an abuse of presidential power. Rather, the impeachment of Clinton arose from his extramarital affair and his subsequent perjury and obstruction of justice in his grand jury and civil deposition testimony. As acknowledged by the Senate in its decision to acquit Clinton of both the articles of impeachment brought by the House of Representatives, there was no evidence that Clinton's personal misconduct constituted a misuse of presidential power or injured the constitutional system of government. A national embarrassment to be sure, but not an abuse of presidential power.

Whether or not one considers the Clinton impeachment a legitimate constitutional exercise or a vindictive partisan sham, it serves as a precedent for impeachment of the President. If lying in legal proceedings regarding fellatio by a portly intern warranted articles of impeachment, then repeatedly lying to the American public and Congress, as well as fabricating intelligence -- acts of fraud which have resulted in thousands of dead and wounded Americans, and tens of billions of dollars in deficit spending -- ought to warrant the same.

Fortunately for Bush, both the House and Senate are controlled by his Republican supporters and apologists, thereby guaranteeing that he will never be held accountable under the Constitution for the irreparable damage he has done to this country.

Talk about getting away with murder.


going on the above premise......not much left to discuss. Bush will keep doing what HE wants, his apologists will continue to spin and justify his actions. ....and a "New" America is born. One that only thrives on POWER , MEGABUCKS and more CONTROL. Sadly there is no reasoning with such fanatics. :twisted: The consequence of all this might be that the "New" America will have to live with being the target of anger/resentment for some time to come.(so they better not whine about it----nor should they whine about any "anti -American" attitudes. "America" is the author of it's own misfortune. And for a supposedly "advanced" nation.....this is really going some. It "USofA" simply should have known better by now. Been wiser and more mature by now. But sadly it is still locked in the John Wayne mindset of yore )

only time will tell , how all this will sort itself out.