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CivilianDeaths * Miscalculations * BlessedMichael * DennisRocks



April 1, 2003

"President Bush announced tonight that he believes in democracy
and that democracy can exist in Iraq. They can have a strong economy,
they can have a good health care plan, and they can have a free and fair voting.

Iraq? We can't even get this in Florida."

-Jay Leno


1) Three British soldiers sent home after protesting at civilian deaths
- - U.S. troops shot and killed seven women and children in a van Monday
2) The Miscalculations of Yes-Men
3) How the Hell Are We Going to Pay for This?
4) Starting a Ruckus Was the Right Thing to Do by Michael Moore

- - Michael Moore Teams With Mel Gibson For Next Documentary
5) Presidential Candidate Kucinich Urges US to Step Back From War
- - Review by Goodsister: Dennis Rocks Northern California

Editor's Notes:

Quite remarkably, in spite of an astonishing price tag and cost for innocent human life, (soldiers and civilians), recent nationwide polls suggests that the US public remains 70% behind the U.S. action in Iraq!* Yet reality will inevitably set in, but until then, much more harm is being delivered. The bunker buster DU missiles will produce harm for generations. On 27 March 2003 Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced legislation requiring studies on the health and environmental impact of depleted uranium (DU) munitions, as well as cleanup and mitigation at DU sites within the United States.
For a copy of the Bill, H.R. 1483 see: http://traprockpeace.org/DUBill24March03.html

But meanwhile people suffer, and a renegade commander-in-chief is destroying innocent life. Item 1 begins with an article on three British soldiers in Iraq that have been ordered home after 'objecting to the conduct of the war. It is understood they have been sent home for protesting that the war is killing innocent civilians.' Item 2 is another brilliant article by William Rivers Pitts, "The Miscalculations of Yes-Men." Item 3 is a Newsday Editorial asking the obvious: "How the Hell Are We Going to Pay for This?" Item 4 is a fascinating piece by Michael Moore, giving more background on his famous or infamous Oscar night speech. The second part in this item is about Moore teaming up with Mel Gibson for the next documentary, "Fahrenheit 911," which could help explain why the U.S. has become a target for hatred and terrorism, and about the two generations of close ties between the Bush and bin Laden clans. Moore is timing this film's release in time for the 2004 Presidential Elections. Item 5 is on the best hope-candidate for reclaiming US democracy, an article and review from Goodsister, is about his presentation: "Kucinich Rocks Northern California."

*For article on 70% Support for US Action in Iraq, see:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/04/01/MN170852.DTL


TAKE ACTIONS FOR PEACE and JUSTICE
for information and links see
CAMPAIGNS * ACTIONS & EVENTS



"We have it. The smoking gun.
The evidence. The potential weapon of mass destruction
we have been looking for as our pretext of invading Iraq.
There's just one problem - it's in North Korea." -Jon Stewart



SEOUL (AFP) - 'North Korea declared it would make no concessions to end the ongoing nuclear crisis and pledged instead to build up its defense and fend off the kind of "miserable fate" that has befallen Iraq.'

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"Iraq began destroying those missiles they don't have over the weekend.
See, President Bush may be the smartest military president in history.
First, he gets Iraq to destroy all of their own weapons.
Then he declares war."
-- Jay Leno



1) Three British soldiers sent home after protesting at civilian deaths

Three British soldiers sent home after protesting at civilian deaths
Richard Norton-Taylor
Monday March 31, 2003

Three British soldiers in Iraq have been ordered home after objecting to the conduct of the war. It is understood they have been sent home for protesting that the war is killing innocent civilians.

The three soldiers - including a private and a technician - are from 16 Air Assault Brigade which is deployed in southern Iraq. Its task has been to protect oilfields.

The brigade includes the 1st and 3rd battalions of the Parachute Regiment, the 1st battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, a Royal Horse Artillery regiment, and a reconnaissance squadron of the Household Cavalry.

The three soldiers, based in Colchester, Essex, face court martial and are seeking legal advice, defence sources said yesterday.

The Ministry of Defence said it was not prepared to comment on individual cases. It said it had "no evidence" to suggest the soldiers had been sent home for refusing to fight.

Soldiers could be returned home for a number of reasons, including compassionate and medical, as well as disciplinary grounds, defence sources said.

But it is understood that the three soldiers have been sent home for complaining about the way the war is being fought and the growing danger to civilians.

The fact that they are seeking legal advice makes it clear they have been sent home for refusing to obey orders rather than because of any medical or related problems such as shell shock.

MoD lawyers were understood last night to be anxiously trying to discover the circumstances surrounding the order to send the soldiers home.

Any refusal of soldiers to obey orders is highly embarrassing to the government, with ministers becoming increasingly worried about the way the war is developing.

It is also causing concern to British military chiefs who are worried about growing evidence of civilians being killed in fighting involving American soldiers around urban areas in southern Iraq.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,925984,00.html

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- - U.S. troops shot and killed seven women and children in a van Monday

"U.S. troops in southern Iraq shot and killed seven women and children in a van Monday when the driver failed to stop at a checkpoint as ordered..." For the article, see:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/03/31/international1927EST0832.DTL
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And another related article posted:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,926650,00.html



2) The Miscalculations of Yes-Men

By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Monday 31 March 2003

It is becoming difficult to tally all of the decisions made by the Bush administration that have turned out to be dead wrong. Walking away from North Korea at the outset of the administration has blossomed into an embarrassing tactical and diplomatic imbroglio with nukes prominently on the table. The massive trillion-dollar tax cut, feted by the administration as an economic cure-all, has become a crushing millstone on the back of an already murderously overburdened federal budget. The decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Treaty, and to be generally disdainful of the international community as a matter of course, led to the utterly humiliating series of diplomatic defeats America has suffered on the matter of Iraq.

This is what the highest members of the administration, as well as opinion-makers favorable to the war, were saying about the ease with which we would take Iraq:


For the complete article by William Rivers Pitt, see:
http://truthout.org/docs_03/040103A.shtml




3) How the Hell Are We Going to Pay for This?

Newsday.com
Editorial

How the Hell Are We Going to Pay for This?

It's only money, right? With American fighting men and women on the ground in Iraq, the patriotic impulse is to take care of business first and worry about the bills later. With victories to be won and history to be made, people fretting about the sorry state of the federal purse risk coming off as small-minded ankle-biters. They're not.

As armored vehicles rumble through the sand toward Baghdad, the federal treasury is sinking deeper and deeper into the red. The war bills will be paid. There's no choice, really. Bush asked Congress last week for $75 billion -- the first installment. You fight a war, you pay the freight. But the federal government has other costly obligations too homeland security, for instance, nation-building in Iraq and benefits for baby-boomers nearing eligibility for Social Security and Medicare.

So the question isn't just how the hell do we pay for all this. It's also: Who the hell will pay?

The complete Newsday article is posted at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-war-currents0330,0,645094.story



4) Starting a Ruckus Was the Right Thing to Do by Michael Moore
- - Michael Moore Teams With Mel Gibson For Next Documentary

Starting a Ruckus Was the Right Thing to Do
By Michael Moore, MichaelMoore.com
March 28, 2003

A word of advice to future Oscar winners: Don't begin Oscar day by going to church.

That is where I found myself this past Sunday morning, at the Church of the Good Shepherd on Santa Monica Boulevard, at Mass with my sister and my dad.

My problem with the Catholic Mass is that sometimes I find my mind wandering after I hear something the priest says, and I start thinking all these crazy thoughts like how it is wrong to kill people and that you are not allowed to use violence upon another human being unless it is in true self-defense.

I had not planned on winning an Academy Award for "Bowling for Columbine" (no documentary that was a big box-office success had won since "Woodstock"), and so I had no speech prepared. I'm not much of a speech-preparer anyway. Besides, I had already received awards in the days leading up to the Oscars and used the same acceptance remarks. I spoke of the need for nonfiction films when we live in such fictitious times. We have a fictitious president who was elected with fictitious election results. He is now conducting a war for a fictitious reason (the claim that Saddam Hussein has stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction when in fact we are there to get the world's second-largest supply of oil).

For the complete article by Michael Moore, see:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/

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Michael Moore Teams With Mel Gibson For Next Documentary
By Michael Fleming
3-28-3
[Excerpt]
NEW YORK (Variety) - Michael Moore, who didn't endear himself to the Oscar audience last Sunday, will doubtless arouse further ire with his next documentary.

The project will depict the allegedly murky relationship between President Bush's father and the family of Osama bin Laden. And it will suggest that the bin Laden family was greatly enriched by that association.

Moore is making a deal with Mel Gibson's Icon Prods. to finance "Fahrenheit 911," a documentary that will trace why the U.S. has become a target for hatred and terrorism. It will also depict alleged dealings between two generations of the Bush and bin Laden clans that led to George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden becoming mortal enemies..

.."The primary thrust of the new film is what has happened to the country since Sept. 11, and how the Bush administration used this tragic event to push its agenda," Moore said. "It certainly does deal with the Bush and bin Laden ties. It asks a number of questions that I don't have the answers to yet, but which intend to find out."

Moore has put a year's worth of research into the film. He'll finish it in time to be submitted for Cannes, 2004, and released in time for the presidential election that fall.."

For the complete article, see:
http://www.rense.com/general36/mel.htm

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Related article: Robin Williams blasts Bush;

" Bush Says -- We have to get rid of Dictators,
But he is pretty much one himself !" -- RW

The article was posted: http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/dailydish/

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"President Bush has said that he does not need approval from the UN to wage war, and I'm thinking, well, hell, he didn't need the approval of the American voters to become president, either."
-David Letterman




5) Presidential Candidate Kucinich Urges US to Step Back From War

Published in San Francisco Chronicle, March 31, 2003
Presidential Candidate Kucinich Urges US to Step Back From War
Unabashed liberal a hit with Marin audience
by John Wildermuth

The United States still has a chance to pull away from a war that can have devastating consequences for the country, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic presidential hopeful, told a Marin County audience this weekend.

"We see what war has already wrought. We know where it's heading," the Ohio congressman said. "It's time for America to step away from the abyss. It's time to end this war now."

[Excerpts]

..But it's one thing to draw an enthusiastic response from a crowd of anti- war activists in Marin County and another to build the national support needed for a realistic run at the Democratic presidential nomination.

Kucinich is confident that there's an audience out there for his liberal, anti-war message. Mayor of Cleveland in 1977 at the age of 31, Kucinich beat a Republican incumbent in 1996 to win his current congressional seat.

"I've shown the ability to attract votes to progressive Democratic programs in Cleveland, which is Middle America," he said. "I fully expect that I'll stay in contention for the Democratic nomination."

©2003 San Francisco Chronicle
For the complete article, see:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0331-05.htm

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Review by Goodsister: Dennis Rocks Northern California

The following is an insider's review of the Marin County event by Goodsister,
moderator for kucinich4president list serve: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kucinich4president/


Dennis Rocks Northern California

Brothers and Sisters,

Dennis Kucinich's appearance last night before a capacity crowd in San Rafael generated the kind of excitement one might expect from a rock icon or a movie star. Never have I seen such a roaring, passionate, public response to a single individual. I think Dennis was surprised, too; "floored" might be more like it. Several times in his talk he spoke of how surpassingly progressive our area is, and I believe he was getting audience response - or rather, a unanimity of audience response - that he gets nowhere else. The auditorium was packed, and the crowd was very interactive; our enthusiasm was so great, applause punctuated his entire speech. I think there were five or more standing ovations. Of course, there's almost nothing Dennis could say that we wouldn't wildly applaud his positions are our positions, his vision our vision. Dennis is the progressive Bay Area's dream candidate. We love him, and it shows.

But we weren't easy. Several times there were unruly shouts from the audience, the wild and woolly Bay Area progressives.

"IMPEACH BUSH!" someone called out, and "How can we move on without IMPEACHMENT!" Dennis dealt with this issue later, during the question and answer period, but it was instructive to see how he dealt with the impetuous outbursts. He'd stop, look quizzical, make a wry and gentle comment ("I'll get to that" with a smile), and move on.

In that auditorium last night, we were of one mind. We're scared and we're angry. As the shouter from the back called out "We can't afford to wait for the election to get rid of Bush!" We were a single organism with an unhappy, restless desire to take back our country. And standing before us was the one man who could do it. We yearned towards him, leaning forward, hanging on every word. As the shouter hollered, "WE CAN'T AFFORD TO WAIT."

When the impeachment issue came up during the questions from the audience, Dennis spoke simply, "The votes are not there." And he spread his hands to signify "there's no point". Now, I know we're all disappointed about this. We want more than anything to see the Bush cartel booted out and charged with their crimes. But let's get real; the midterm elections took care of any possibility of such action. With a Republican majority in both Congress and the Senate, impeachment would never happen. We've learned, through what happened to Clinton, that all it takes for impeachment is the will of Congress - well, the will might be there among some, but not enough; not nearly enough. So sadly I must agree with Dennis' superior wisdom. If he were to ride that bandwagon, it would be a divisive and distracting waste of everyone's energy, and most probably come to nothing in the end. We all still want the S.O.B. impeached, but we can't spare Dennis to do it. Dennis is needed to be the next President of the United States.

Within his wonderful talk, Dennis paused and sang some bits of our national songs, as he did in his now-famous Prayer for America speech. You know, that's a very odd thing that he does that. The first time I saw the video of the Prayer speech, I went through a variety of reactions as he sang. At first, cynical person that I am, I thought it was a bit corny. "What? Huh?" I thought. But then, the hair at the back of my neck raised up, and a chill went down my spine as I realized what he was doing. Singing the phrases in a haunting, quiet tenor, Dennis is praying from his heart, from his very soul. My eyes filled with tears, as they do now when I recall the profound emotion of that message.

But THIS audience sang WITH him. I don't know if Dennis is used to that, but it was one more indication of the feeling in that auditorium last night. If we could've carried him on our backs to Washington, we would have, and never felt tired.

I must include a personal note, because it is illustrative of the man's character. There was a reception to follow the speech, costing more than we could afford just now, since my husband has been laid off in this Bush recession. Those at the reception would get to meet and talk with Dennis personally. I was looking for familiar faces among the volunteers I'd met at the campaign meeting I'd attended a few weeks ago, shamelessly wheedling for an introduction before the reception began and my opportunity disappeared. I was nearly wild by then - so near, and yet so far from the man I've worked so hard for, all these months. I felt desperate and defiant. I mean, Kucinich is a populist leader, right? Well, we are The People. And given what I know about Dennis, I felt certain that I needn't feel ashamed of being light in the pocketbook, or that I'd be less important to Dennis than wealthier supporters.

I was right.

When my opportunity came, and I stepped forward, offered my hand, and spoke my name, Dennis' face lit up, he nearly shouted my name, and swept me up in a hug, as if we were old friends, and he was so happy to see me again at last. And as he hugged me, I felt an electric rush of emotion, everything I've ever felt in one sparkling burst. I held onto him tightly for a moment. He knew who I was; I wasn't nobody, as I'd been trying to convince myself all night, comforting myself in advance, in case I did not get the chance to meet him. My closed eyes saw stars, and then everything swam back into focus, and I was back in the hot, noisy room, and Dennis was talking to me.

He said, "Of course I know you. I wrote you an email - myself!" Which, of course, he had, and I knew he'd typed it, too, not an aide or secretary. And he'd said in it "See you in San Rafael". So I had hoped - I had hoped he'd remember me, that out of all the millions of people out there who must email him, and pull on his sleeve, he might remember me.

Not only had he remembered me, but I then found out he had put me and my party on the list for the reception - as his personal friends.

It occurred to me later that it was like hugging Gandhi or Cesar Chavez or Nelson Mandela. Where you feel suddenly that you are not only in the presence of greatness, true human greatness, but that you've been pulled into a warm embrace by that person. I'll never forget it. I hope I have grandchildren, so I can tell them about it. And it occurs to me, too, that such a man - who remembers all, the great and the small - is a real leader. His warm and gracious connection made with me was all the payment I'll ever need to go on working for him forever. A man who can engender such love and loyalty as I feel, cannot lose. In our increasingly scary and technological world, the power of a word, a touch, a hug, can transform our lives and our hearts, and Dennis knows it.

Kucinich for President. Kucinich as the leader to restore our Democracy! Long may he live. Brothers and sisters, we have work to do. An auditorium full of Bay Area progressives are now Kucinich foot soldiers, and we're on the march.

Goodsister

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The Kucinich Official Web Site is http://www.kucinich.us

Flyby News Resource page on Dennis Kucinich - URL -
{Including Kucinich Film Documentary in the Works!}
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1045685440,9146,


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