Daily Kos

FREEP Radio Shows on Al Qaqaa

by Carneades

Thu Oct 28, 2004 at 07:19:31 AM PDT

I'm watching CSPAN and they're airing a radio program live: Charlie Walker on WTMJ in Wisconsin.

  sykes@620wtmj.com

Update: Phone# 1-800-877-1620.

He's interviewing Condelesa Rice live and has been spewing the Republican party line. I just sent this:


You should unhitch your wagon right now, or you're about to look very foolish.

There's video footage from an embedded reporting team AFTER the invasion showing stockpiles of explosives at Al QaQaa.

Minneapolis ABC affiliate, KSTP (http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S3723.html?cat=1), broadcast footage shot in an are belived to be AlQaQaa on April 18th.  Their report describes:  "box after box... clearly marked "explosive." In one bunker, there were boxes marked with the name "AlQaqaa", the munitions plant where tons of explosives allegedly went missing."

I suggest a mass campaign of information. Call or e-mail talk radio shows today and get them to stop repeating the "explosives were probably moved before the invasion" line.

(Add phone number and e-mail address suggestions in comments.)

698 Security Specialists Urge Change [and more]

by Carneades

Wed Oct 13, 2004 at 05:52:31 AM PDT

Continuing in the barrage of heavy hitting open letters...
(Front Page Worthy?)

An Open Letter to the American People:
Signed by 698 Security Specialists

We, a nonpartisan group of foreign affairs specialists, have joined together to call urgently for a change of course in American foreign and national security policy. We judge that the current American policy centered around the war in Iraq is the most misguided one since the Vietnam period, one which harms the cause of the struggle against extreme Islamist terrorists. One result has been a great distortion in the terms of public debate on foreign and national security policy--an emphasis on speculation instead of facts, on mythology instead of calculation, and on misplaced moralizing over considerations of national interest. We write to challenge some of these distortions.

Although we applaud the Bush Administration for its initial focus on destroying al-Qaida bases in Afghanistan, its failure to engage sufficient U.S. troops to capture or kill the mass of al-Qaida fighters in the later stages of that war was a great blunder. It is a fact that the early shift of U.S. focus to Iraq diverted U.S. resources, including special operations forces and intelligence capabilities, away from direct pursuit of the fight against the terrorists.

Many of the justifications offered by the Bush Administration for the war in Iraq have been proven untrue by credible studies...

Policy errors during the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq have created a situation in Iraq worse than it needed to be....

The results of this policy have been overwhelmingly negative for U.S. interests...

Recognizing these negative consequences of the Iraq war, in addition to the cost in lives and money, we believe that a fundamental reassessment is in order...

Read the full letter, it's worth the time. Don't forget to take a look at the Signatories and Individual Statements. These are people with very impressive resumes in the security world.

There's also a Yahoo News story you should vote for.

This diary began as an attempt by katieforeman to elevate a comment from understandinglife. The middle-of-the-night attempt couldn't break past all the recommended diaries on voter fraud. I've also extended the diary with related material.

Below the fold, I give more information and have collected many other recently reported stories, including the open letter from 27 Diplomats & Military Commanders for Change and another from 163 Business School professors, and Many More...

dKos Report: Coalition & The Cost Of War

by Carneades

Mon Oct 11, 2004 at 05:59:13 AM PDT

Is your state a member of the "Grand Coalition" in Iraq? How about your hometown? I was struck when John Kerry shed some light on the nature and strength of the coalition president Bush has assembled.

During the debate, we saw the following exchange:

GIBSON: Well, I want to get into the issue of the back-door draft...

BUSH: You tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Silvio Berlusconi we're going alone. Tell Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland we're going alone.

There are 30 countries there. It denigrates an alliance to say we're going alone, to discount their sacrifices. You cannot lead an alliance if you say, you know, you're going alone. And people listen. They're sacrificing with us.

GIBSON: Senator?

KERRY: Mr. President, countries are leaving the coalition, not joining. Eight countries have left it.

If Missouri, just given the number of people from Missouri who are in the military over there today, were a country, it would be the third largest country in the coalition, behind Great Britain and the United States.

That's not a grand coalition.

Ninety percent of the casualties are American. Ninety percent of the costs are coming out of your pockets.

I decided to analyze the cost of war, and see how well the president's suggestion of a strong coalition stands up to scrutiny. Troop deployment and financial commitments are certainly two ways to measure, but personally, I measure the cost of war in terms of lives.

In keeping with Senator Kerry's theme, I've compiled a harsh look at how coalition nations stack up against individual states.

US State Fatalities Versus Coalition Partner Fatalities*

United States (1069) -  California (123) -  Texas (96) -  United Kingdom (68) -  Pennsylvania (57) -  Illinois (47) -  Florida (44) -  New York (42) -  Ohio (38) -  Michigan (30) -  Tennessee (28) -  Virginia (28) -  Arizona (26) -  North Carolina (25) -  New Jersey (24) -  Washington (24) -  Georgia (23) -  Indiana (23) -  Oregon (23) -  Massachusetts (22) -  Alabama (20) -  Wisconsin (20) -  Oklahoma (19) -  South Carolina (19) -  Italy (19) -  Missouri (17) -  Louisiana (16) -  Arkansas (15) -  Mississippi (15) -  Kentucky (14) -  Nebraska (14) -  Colorado (13) -  Iowa (13) -  Kansas (13) -  Maryland (13) -  Poland (13) -  Minnesota (11) -  Puerto Rico (11) -  Spain (11) -  Connecticut (9) -  Vermont (9) -  Ukraine (9) -  Idaho (7) -  North Dakota (7) -  Delaware (6) -  Maine (6) -  Rhode Island (6) -  South Dakota (6) -  Utah (6) -  West Virginia (6) -  Bulgaria (6) -  New Mexico (5) -  Montana (4) -  Wyoming (4) -  District of Columbia (3) -  New Hampshire (3) -  Slovakia (3) -  American Samoa (2) -  Nevada (2) -  Virgin Islands (2) -  Netherlands (2) -  Thailand (2) -  Alaska (1) -  Hawaii (1) -  Marianas (1) -  Micronesia (1) -  Guam (1) -  Guatemala (1) -  El Salvador (1) -  Latvia (1) -  Estonia (1) -  Denmark (1) -  Hungary (1)

[analysis, more disturbing data, and a poll below the fold...]

Poll

This picture of the coalition is:

1%2 votes
98%125 votes

| 127 votes | Vote | Results

Bush Jokes While New York Burns - Very Serious

by Carneades

Mon Oct 04, 2004 at 08:37:18 AM PDT

I watched the now infamous Pet Goat video. Well, I'd seen a short clip in the news back in 2001, and watched Fahrenheit 9/11 in the theater, but with the video clip at my fingertips, I found it was much worse than I thought.

  • 0:58  Andrew Card, having waited for a break in the reading, tells the president that a second plane has hit the second tower and it is confirmed that we are under attack (you can't hear it in audio, but it's pretty well accepted that this is what he said.)
  • 1:00 - 1:10  The president sits still while students get their books.
  • 1:10 - 1:45  The president sits still while students begin to drill.
  • 1:45 - 4:25  The president picks up his book and the students continue to read.
  • 4:25 - 4:30  The president, knowing we're under attack, tells jokes... "Really good.  <teacher laughs> Wheawh! <pause> They must be sixth graders. <more laughter>"
  • 5:14 - 6:00  The president takes questions, praises student's reading, talks about the importance of reading more than watching tv.

I turned my volume all the way up and listened several times. Our President was, in fact, telling jokes just minutes after being told our country was under attack.

[much, much more below, a disturbing trend unfolds...]

[If you intend to recommend, please do so early, as it's scrolling quickly]

What's So Funny - Should Really Hurt Bush

by Carneades

Fri Oct 01, 2004 at 04:45:08 AM PDT

What's So Funny!

My jaw dropped when Bush said the following:


You know, I think about Missy Johnson. She's a fantastic lady I met in Charlotte, North Carolina. She and her son Brian, they came to see me. Her husband PJ got killed. He'd been in Afghanistan, went to Iraq.

You know, it's hard work to try to love her as best as I can, knowing full well that the decision I made caused her loved one to be in harm's way.

I told her after we prayed and teared up and laughed some that I thought her husband's sacrifice was noble and worthy.

Laughed some?   Laughed some?   Laughed some?

And so, again, I say... What's So Funny!

I actually had to go to the transcript to remind myself how bad it was.

I've never seen a definition of Compassionate Conservative, and I've always wondered what distinguished them from Uncompassionate Conservatives. This doesn't seem very compassionate to me.

I'm reminded of Bush's tasteless jokes about not being able to find WMD.

[more...]

To whom it concerns... non-traditional politics

by Carneades

Thu Sep 30, 2004 at 03:40:33 AM PDT

To whom it concerns, we came under attack,
and a natural response is to fight and strike back...

To whom it concerns, we have to be strong,
and show the attackers they can't hide for long...

To whom it concerns, if I seem less than clear,
we must find a target to channel our fear...

To whom it concerns, it's a war we can win,
if we blame someone weak with the same color skin...

To whom it concerns, we're losing our friends,
who increasingly challenge our means and our ends...

To whom it concerns, I'm becoming irate,
because death and destruction are breeding more hate...

To whom it concerns, our defenders are dying,
their fathers and mothers and siblings are crying...

To whom it concerns, we came under attack,
But the country that hit us--it wasn't Iraq.

I'm writing this down, because it really burns...
I just thought I'd mention it, to whom it concerns.

    - Carneades

Earlier this month, Spider Jerusalem posted a diary, Grim Fairy Tales, that really made me think (highly recommended). Thank you so much for the strong reminder that we need to find a variety of ways to express ourselves.

I hope that people reading this will take a moment to share their own thoughts about advancing political discourse through non-traditional means. Have a favorite political humorist to share?  Know of an atypical demonstration the rest of us might have missed? Flash animation?

[I'll start the ball rolling...]

Debate: "I Hope Tonight..."

by Carneades

Mon Sep 27, 2004 at 02:15:52 AM PDT

The rules for the debate don't allow candidates to interact with one another or ask questions.  Kerry can achieve the same goals, probably more effectively, by reminding viewers of the issues the incumbent should be addressing.

Bush is the incumbent, and must be held accountable for his record.

To do this, Kerry could slip into each and every one of his speaking opportunities a phrase that starts, "I hope tonight the president will explain..."

  • I hope tonight the president will explain why he didn't send troops to Afghanistan's borders before Bin Laden slipped out.
  • I hope tonight the president will explain why he didn't let the weapons inspectors stay to prove there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
  • I hope tonight the president will explain why he says September 11th changed everything to rationalize an Iraq invasion that had been drawn up before September 11th.
  • I hope tonight the president will explain why he couldn't distinguish between Sadam Hussein and Al Qaeda when Sadam is secular, Al Quada is based on radical fundamentalism, and the 9-11 commision insists there was no connection.

[the list goes on...]

Poll

What title is best for this?

52%62 votes
34%40 votes
5%7 votes
6%8 votes

| 117 votes | Vote | Results


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