Seachange Bulletin #129March 24, 2004Seachange Bulletin ArchivesEmail the editorSeachange Bulletin #129: Regime Change ... USA American foreign and defense policy is adrift. Conservatives have criticized the incoherent policies of the Clinton Administration. They have also resisted isolationist impulses from within their own ranks. But conservatives have not confidently advanced a strategic vision of America's role in the world. They have not set forth guiding principles for American foreign policy. They have allowed differences over tactics to obscure potential agreement on strategic objectives. And they have not fought for a defense budget that would maintain American security and advance American interests in the new century. We aim to change this. We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership. As the 20th century draws to a close, the United States stands as the world's preeminent power. ... Letter to President Clinton Project for the New American Century, January 26, 1998 <http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm> We are writing you because we are convinced that current American policy toward Iraq is not succeeding, and that we may soon face a threat in the Middle East more serious than any we have known since the end of the Cold War. In your upcoming State of the Union Address, you have an opportunity to chart a clear and determined course for meeting this threat. We urge you to seize that opportunity, and to enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the US and our friends and allies around the world. That strategy should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime from power. ... Santa Cruz Council Calls for Impeachment Inquiry Mayor Emily Reilly, Santa Cruz, CA, September 10, 2003 <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=3991> Congressmember F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. Chair, Committee on the Judiciary 2138 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Honorable Chairman Sensenbrenner: The Santa Cruz City Council has asked me to write to convey the widespread concern in our City about President Bush's deeds leading up to and in support of the United States war on Iraq. We have received public testimony, petitions, phone calls, emails, and letters demanding our support for an impeachment inquiry. As local elected officials and patriots, having sworn an oath to uphold the constitution, it is our job to relay these concerns to you. By a vote of six to one, local elected officials of the City Council share these concerns. Please determine if one or more of the following represent impeachable offenses by the President: * Did President Bush violate congressionally ratified international treaties and thus, Article VI, the "supremacy clause," of our own constitution through the invasion and occupation of Iraq? * Did false or misleading information exaggerate the threat posed by Iraq, and was this part of a conscious effort to mislead the United States Congress and the American public? * Did President Bush exploit the fear generated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks to erode or compromise our constitutionally guaranteed rights and liberties? * Does the Bush Administration's plan to develop and deploy yet more nuclear weapons violate the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to which the United States is a signatory? * Does the Bush Administration's plan to develop and deploy yet more nuclear weapons violate the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to which the United States is a signatory? * Did the United States' use of depleted uranium in both Iraq and Afghanistan violate the United Nations Charter? * Has the treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere violated the Geneva Convention, the Nuremberg Principles, and/or other treaties and conventions to which the United States is signatory? We do believe that as patriots it is our job to raise these concerns to your level. Please begin an official inquiry. If your inquiry identifies illegal acts on the part of the leaders of our current administration, we expect that impeachment proceedings would follow immediately. Emily Reilly, Mayor cc: City Clerk Members of the Committee on the Judiciary Members of the Subcommittee on the Constitution Stop Hiding the Toll of War Nancy Lessin & Gordon Clark, AlterNet, March 4, 2004 <http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18030> President Bush's rationale for taking us to war in Iraq has crumbled. The truth about supposed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction is being told. At the same time, another truth remains hidden by the Bush administration: the 550 troops who have returned from Iraq in caskets and the thousands returning with severe physical and psychological damage. The military planes carrying human remains fly into Dover Air Force Base in Delaware under cover of darkness. Unlike Vietnam, when Americans could see the consequences of war, the media are now banned from Dover Air Force Base by military order, reinforced for the Iraq war by an edict from Mr. Bush. ... Troops Rally For Regime Change Battle Don Hazen & Tai Moses, AlterNet, March 5, 2004 <http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18054> Super Tuesday was John Kerry's Rubicon. The furious, but not so fast general presidential contest began, in all its excessive glory and gore. While George W. Bush made his disingenuous congratulatory phone call to Kerry on Tuesday, the president's campaign was working to churn out the beginning of millions of dollars of television and radio ads that will try to negatively define John Kerry for swing voters in a number of key states. Kerry, for his part, didn't hesitate to set the tenor of his campaign - his victory speech ripped Bush on health care, jobs and national security, and charged the administration with having "the most inept, reckless, and ideological foreign policy in modern history." ... Kerry Condemns Bush for Failing to Back Aristide David E. Sanger & David M. Halbfinger, The New York Times, March 7, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/politics/campaign/07KERR.html?th> Houston - Had he been sitting in the Oval Office last weekend as rebel forces were threatening to enter Port-au-Prince, Senator John Kerry says, he would have sent an international force to protect Haiti's widely disliked elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "I would have been prepared to send troops immediately, period," Mr. Kerry said on Friday, expressing astonishment that President Bush, who talks of supporting democratically elected leaders, withheld any aid and then helped spirit Mr. Aristide into exile after saying the United States could not protect him. ... Support for the war in Iraq declines in Texas, poll finds Dave Montgomery, Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 14, 2004 <http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/8184910.htm?template=contentModules/pri ntstory.jsp> Support for the war in Iraq has eroded significantly in President Bush's home state since the conflict started almost a year ago, with nearly 60 percent of Texans registering disapproval with the way things are going, according to a statewide survey released today. The latest Scripps Howard Texas Poll, conducted for the Star-Telegram and other Texas news organizations, shows that while a majority of Texans still stand behind the president in his overall handling of the war, they are increasingly uncertain about instability in Iraq and the length of the US occupation. ... Ex-UN Inspector Has Harsh Words for Bush Warren Hoge, The New York Times, March 16, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/16/international/middleeast/16BLIX.html?th> United Nations - Hans Blix, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector, said Monday that the Bush administration convinced itself of the existence of banned weapons based on dubious findings before invading Iraq and was not interested in hearing evidence to the contrary. "I think they had a set mind," Mr. Blix said on the NBC News program "Today" as he began a ten-day American book tour in the week marking the first anniversary of the United States-led invasion of Iraq. ... AWOL soldier pledges to wage no more war Suzanne Sataline, Boston Globe, March 16, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/03/16/awol_soldier_pledges_to_ wage_no_more_war> Sherborn - Standing on the grounds of the Peace Abbey yesterday near a statue of Gandhi, Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia said that when he went home on leave last year after fighting in Iraq, he realized he could not return to battle. Mejia turned himself in later to military authorities at Hanscom Air Force Base, saying he would seek conscientious objector status. There was no time to contemplate such a decision while in Iraq, he said. In battle, "you're just trying to stay alive." ... The Bushes' new world disorder James Carroll, Boston Globe, March 16, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/16/t he_bushes_new_world_disorder> "It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things." This warning is from Niccolo Machiavelli, yet it has never had sharper resonance. More than a decade ago, after Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, President George H. W. Bush explicitly sought to initiate, as he put it to Congress, a "new world order." He made that momentous declaration on Sept. 11, 1990. Eleven years later, the suddenly mystical date of 9/11 motivated his son to finish what the father began. ... Interview with Noam Chomsky The Guardian, March 16, 2004 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/voices/story/0,12820,1168160,00.html> There's a lot of focus on the American death toll but personally I think that's partly propaganda exaggeration. Polls have demonstrated time and time again that Americans are willing to accept a high death toll - although they don't like it, they're willing to accept it - if they think it's a just cause. There's never been anything like the so-called Vietnam Syndrome: it's mostly a fabrication. And in this case too if they thought it was a just cause, the 500 or so deaths would be mourned, but not considered a dominant reason for not continuing. No, the problem is the justice of the cause. ... House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between The World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties Democracy Now!, March 18, 2004 <http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/18/157206> In the days after the September 11th attacks, former Vice President Al Gore was grounded, former President Bill Clinton was grounded, planes were forced down in mid-flight, including one carrying a heart to be transplanted to a deathly-ill cardiac patient. American skies were empty, yet at the same time 140 influential Saudis were effectively chaperoned out of the country - allegedly by the US government. Among them were several dozen members of the bin Laden family. They were never questioned by the FBI. ... Iraq War Resolution Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Executive Council, March 18, 2004 Whereas, We are currently involved in a major struggle in Iraq which we feel negatively impacts working families here in our nation, and we must support our armed forces no matter what. National AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, "The AFL-CIO stands firmly behind our troops. These brave men and women are America’s best. Now that the decision has been made, we are unequivocal in our support of our country and America’s men and women on the front lines, as well as their families here at home." Furthermore, the PA AFL-CIO Executive Council also affirms our support and full commitment to our troops and the families left behind now and upon their return. The PA AFL-CIO Executive Council condemns the misleading principles under which the Bush Administration made the decision to wage a war with Iraq and that the United States entered into a war with Iraq on March 19, 2003, deploying thousands of American troops to Iraq; and The PA AFL-CIO Executive Council is concerned that while we are engaged in a major armed conflict, the current Republican led Congress will try to pass a federal budget that will severely hurt our citizenry here at home, and; The PA AFL-CIO Executive Council expresses disapproval of the Bush administration for proposing cutbacks in veteran’s benefits, education, health and employment and training; and The PA AFL-CIO Executive Council condemns the Bush/Republican push for continuing massive tax cuts which in fact, only benefits one percent of the tax-paying public; and The PA AFL-CIO Executive Council denounces the Bush/Republican failure to really address the current health care crisis, job crisis and the potential threat to our social security system; and therefore be it resolved, that the PA AFL-CIO Executive Council commits itself in support of our troops, our Union Brothers and Sisters, and our country but wants them to come home to a better America for all working families. Approved by the Delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention, Philadelphia, March 18, 2004. Taken for a Ride Paul Krugman, The New York Times, March 19, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/19/opinion/19KRUG.html?th> "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." So George Bush declared on Sept. 20, 2001. But what was he saying? Surely he didn't mean that everyone was obliged to support all of his policies, that if you opposed him on anything you were aiding terrorists. Now we know that he meant just that. A year ago, President Bush, who had a global mandate to pursue the terrorists responsible for 9/11, went after someone else instead. Most Americans, I suspect, still don't realize how badly this apparent exploitation of the world's good will - and the subsequent failure to find weapons of mass destruction - damaged our credibility. ... San Francisco Action Shuts Down Bechtel Headquarters on Anniversary of Iraq Invasion Direct Action to Stop the War, March 19, 2004 <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portside/message/5668> San Francisco - Over 500 Bay Area residents marked the anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq by taking direct action at the headquarters of the Bechtel corporation to protest their exploitation of the Iraqi people and misuse of US tax dollars. Two marches converged on Bechtel's offices, one led by teachers holding a banner reading "Education Not Occupation," and one led by healthcare workers marching with banners reading "Healthcare not Warfare" and "Democracy Not Empire". ... Scalia won't sit out case against Cheney Says trip together didn't pose conflict of interest Lyle Denniston, Boston Globe, March 19, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/19/scalia_wont_sit_out_cas e_against_cheney> Washington - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia decided yesterday to join his eight colleagues when they rule on a major case involving his friend Vice President Dick Cheney, rejecting a formal request that he disqualify himself. Noting that he was asked to step aside because he went duck hunting with Cheney and accepted a ride on Cheney's government airplane to make the trip, Scalia wryly remarked in an official memorandum: "If it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined." ... Justice in a Bind The New York Times, March 20, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/20/opinion/20SAT3.html?th> In an angry 21-page memorandum fired off on Thursday, Justice Antonin Scalia went to unbecoming lengths to justify his refusal to withdraw from a case challenging the secrecy surrounding the energy task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, his duck-hunting companion. Using the dismissive tone he usually reserves for dissents, the justice comes across as more concerned with defending his right to accept "social courtesies," like rides on the vice president's jet, than with protecting the Supreme Court's integrity. ... New book says US targeted Iraq early Ted Bridis, Associated Press, March 20, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/20/new_book_says_us_target ed_iraq_early> Washington - The Bush administration considered bombing Iraq in retaliation almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks against New York and Washington, according to a new first-person account by a former senior counterterrorism adviser inside the White House. Richard Clarke, the president's counterterrorism coordinator at the time of the attacks, said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld complained on Sept. 12 - after the administration was convinced with certainty that Al Qaeda was to blame - that "there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq." ... Bush-Cheney '04 gear reads 'Made in Burma' Caren Bohan, Reuters, March 20, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/politics/money/articles/2004/03/20/bush_cheney_04_ gear_reads_made_in_burma> Washington - A "Bush-Cheney '04" campaign jacket sold on the Internet has stirred controversy because it was made in Myanmar, whose imports have been banned by the United States. Although the company that shipped the fleece pullover, Spalding Group of Louisville, Ky., has said it did so in error, human rights groups faulted President Bush's reelection campaign staff for not taking a more careful look at the origin of the products being sold in its name. The Bush administration has had sanctions in place since September against Myanmar - also known by its colonial name, Burma - in an attempt to punish the government over human rights violations. ... US-Europe rift is seen at crisis point Barry Schweid, Associated Press, March 20, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/03/20/us_europe_rift_is_seen_a t_crisis_point> Washington - A task force of 26 prominent Americans and Europeans has concluded that trans-Atlantic relations are at a dangerous low ebb and is faulting the Bush administration as well as the allies. The war in Iraq brought the strains to a crisis point, with France and Germany organizing resistance to US war policy and the Bush administration trying to split the alliance, the task force said in a report released yesterday by the Council on Foreign Relations. ... Back home, wounded grappling with the price Brian MacQuarrie, Boston Globe, March 20, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/080/nation/Back_home_wounded_grappling_with _the_price+.shtml> Camp Pendleton, Calif. - Marine Sergeant Jason Wittling remembers lying flat on his back, strapped to a stretcher in a C-130 cargo plane ferrying him from a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, to the United States. A Humvee rollover in Iraq had left him paralyzed from the neck down, and now mucous fluids were collecting in his mouth and throat, which had been punctured to hold a tube. Wittling, 30, stared at the stark ceiling of the droning plane, concentrating with a desperate intensity on the simple act of breathing. ... Group says visits to hospital blocked Wayne Washington, Boston Globe, March 20, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/080/nation/Group_says_visits_to_hospital_bl ocked+.shtml> Washington - A prominent veterans group whose members have occasionally been critical of the Bush administration says it is being blocked from meeting with patients at the nation's leading Army hospital, which President Bush visited yesterday to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. Officials from Disabled American Veterans, a nonprofit service group that counsels wounded veterans and tells them what government benefits they are entitled to, say that since Iraq war veterans began returning to the United States last year, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington has limited their access to patients, citing privacy and post-Sept. 11 security concerns. ... Clinton Aides Plan to Tell Panel of Warning Bush Team on Qaeda Philip Shenon, The New York Times, March 20, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/20/politics/20PANE.html?th> Washington - Senior Clinton administration officials called to testify next week before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks say they are prepared to detail how they repeatedly warned their Bush administration counterparts in late 2000 that Al Qaeda posed the worst security threat facing the nation - and how the new administration was slow to act. They said the warnings were delivered in urgent post-election intelligence briefings in December 2000 and January 2001 for Condoleezza Rice, who became Mr. Bush's national security adviser; Stephen Hadley, now Ms. Rice's deputy; and Philip D. Zelikow, a member of the Bush transition team, among others. ... Medicare chicanery makes independent probe necessary Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 20, 2004 <http://starbulletin.com/2004/03/20/editorial/indexeditorials.html> Legislation that was to be the jewel of President Bush's re-election bid has lost some of its luster. A number of disputes are tarnishing the Medicare measure that was to be the premier domestic policy achievement to propel Bush into the campaign year. Congress, which was the target of a less-than-forthcoming administration in the most egregious case, ought to take a closer look at all of them. Chief among the issues is whether the administration deliberately withheld from Congress data on the cost of the prescription drug benefit. ... Thousands rally against the war in New York Associated Press, March 20, 2004 <http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=1455> New York - Thousands of protesters marked the first anniversary of the US-led war on Iraq by taking to the streets on Saturday, calling for the removal of American troops from the Middle East country. "It's time now, once and for all, to end the war by ending the occupation," said Leslie Kagan, national coordinator for United for Peace and Justice, a New York-based group organizing Saturday's demonstrations. ... Global Protests Mark Iraq War Anniversary Andrew Cawthorne, Reuters, March 20, 2004 <http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4611924> Madrid - Hundreds of thousands took to streets across the world on Saturday to demand the withdrawal of US-led occupying forces from Iraq on the first anniversary of the start of the war. Journalists estimated at least a million people streamed through Rome in probably the biggest single protest, and in London two anti-war protesters evaded tight security around parliament to climb the landmark Big Ben clock tower. From Tokyo to San Francisco, demonstrators accused President Bush of having made the world an unsafer place by going to war in Iraq and triggering a violent backlash from al Qaeda and other Muslim militant groups. ... Oppose AFL-CIO Acceptance of National Endowment for Democracy Funds California Federation of Teachers, March 20, 2004 <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=3996> Whereas the AFL-CIO and unions generally in the US are deeply committed to the concept of solidarity with labor movements in other countries, and Whereas the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has served as a front for US government foreign policy objectives, including acting in the past as a front for US government intelligence operations and subversive interference in the internal affairs of the labor movements of other countries ... therefore be it resolved that the California Federation of Teachers affirm its support for the principles of autonomy, independence and self-determination embodied in the International Conventions of the International Labor Organization, and Be it further resolved that the CFT oppose the AFL-CIO and its Solidarity Center seeking or accepting funding from the US government, its agencies and any other institutions which it funds such as the NED for its work in Iraq or elsewhere ... March 20: The World Still Says No to War Protests in More Than 575 Cities Worldwide on Global Day of Action Upwards of 2 Million People Take to the Streets for Peace United for Peace & Justice, March 20, 2004 <http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=sub&sub=45> March 20, 2004 - the one-year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq - witnessed a massive Global Day of Action against War and Occupation. In more than 575 cities around the world, people took to the streets to say YES to peace and NO to pre-emptive war and occupation. Together, we called for an end to the occupation of Iraq and Bush's militaristic foreign policies, in one of the largest-ever outpourings of grassroots action for peace. ... Quid Pro Quack Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, March 21, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/21/opinion/21DOWD.html?th> Washington - That incandescent intellect, the Stephen Hawking of jurisprudence, has been kind enough to take time from his busy schedule to explain to us how the Republic really works. Antonin Scalia has devoted 21 pages to illuminating the impertinence of those who suggest that it is wrong for a Supreme Court justice to take favors from a friend with a case before the court. Res ipsa loquitur, baby. Why should the justice who put Dick Cheney in the White House stop helping him now? ... From Midtown to Madrid, Tens of Thousands Peacefully Protest War Alan Feuer, The New York Times, March 21, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/21/national/21protest.html?th> Marking the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, crowds of sign-waving, slogan-chanting demonstrators marched through Midtown Manhattan and scores of cities from Alaska to Australia yesterday in a largely peaceful global rebuke to the war. Coming 13 months after millions took to the streets in the weeks before the war last year, yesterday's demonstrations were markedly tamer and smaller as they sought to send a message that the troops fighting in Iraq should be recalled. ... The protesters were middle-aged mothers, tongue-pierced students, veterans and bearded professional dissenters, who all came together in what organizers described as a broad-based protest of the Bush administration's foreign policy not just in Iraq, but in Haiti and Israel. ... Protests, far-flung and muted, denounce war Verena Dobnik, Associated Press, March 21, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/21/protests_far_flung_and_ muted_denounce_war> New York - Hundreds of thousands of people rallied yesterday against the US presence in Iraq on the first anniversary of the war, in protests that retained the anger, if not the size, of demonstrations held before the invasion began. Protesters filled more than a dozen blocks in Manhattan, calling on President Bush to bring home troops serving in Iraq. ... Several Boston-area groups also traveled to New York to take part in the protests. Judith Baker, one of about a dozen or so members of Dorchester People for Peace, said her group marched down Madison Avenue in Manhattan with their group's banner. She said she and other members of the organization were adamant about taking a stance against the war in Iraq and the subsequent US occupation. ... Millions Across the World Protest On Anniversary of Iraq War Democracy Now!, March 22, 2004 <http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/22/1536212> Millions of protesters poured into the streets of cities around the globe this weekend to mark the first anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. From Sydney to San Francisco, Tokyo to Santiago, Madrid, London, New York and Rome, demonstrators took to the streets. At least a million people streamed through Rome, in probably the single largest protest in the world. In London, two protesters evaded security to climb the landmark Big Ben clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, unfurling a banner reading "Time for Truth." In Vermont, hundreds of silent protesters placed a pair of shoes on the Statehouse steps for each of the more than 560 US soldiers killed in the war. In Fort Bragg, hundreds of family members and veterans groups gathered outside one of the biggest military bases in the country. ... The Peace Candidate: Kucinich Vows to Stay in Race Democracy Now!, March 22, 2004 <http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/22/1536217> Only one presidential candidate attended one of the mass protests marking the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the US invasion of Iraq. It wasn't George W Bush and it wasn't John Kerry. It was Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich. He addressed more than 100,000 people at the large protest in New York City on Saturday. This weekend Kucinich issued a statement saying that he will not drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination. Kucinich said he is committed to ensuring that a peace platform is adopted by the Democrats ahead of November's elections. ... Antiwar Voices: Father of Soldier Killed in Iraq and Aunt of War Resister Speak Out Against Iraq Invasion Democracy Now!, March 22, 2004 <http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/22/1536221> One year into the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, more than 570 American soldiers have been killed with many thousands more wounded. Marine Lance Cpl Jesus Suarez was one of the first US servicemen killed in the war on March 27, 2003. His father, Fernando Suarez del Solar has become a leading antiwar voice and was one of the speakers in the antiwar demonstrations in New York City this weekend. ... Ex-adviser says Bush staff ignored warnings on terror Ted Bridis, Associated Press, March 22, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/22/ex_adviser_says_bush_st aff_ignored_warnings_on_terror> Washington - National security adviser Condoleezza Rice "looked skeptical" when she was warned early in 2001 about the threat from Al Qaeda and appeared never to have heard of the terrorist organization, according to President Bush's former counterterrorism coordinator. "Her facial expression gave me the impression that she had never heard the term before," wrote Richard A. Clarke in a new book - "Against All Enemies" - that is scathingly critical of Bush's response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Clarke said Rice, who previously worked for Bush's father, appeared not to recognize post-Cold War security issues and effectively demoted him within the National Security Council. He said Rice has a close relationship with Bush, which "should have given her some maneuver room, some margin for shaping the agenda." ... Bring soldiers home Mike Cotter, RN, Quincy, The Patriot Ledger, March 23, 2004 With over 550 dead and 3,500 injured Americans, as well as thousands of Iraqis dead and wounded, and as the horrible losses climb daily, it is past time for President Bush to admit that our involvement was based on false intelligence regarding WMDs and imminent threats. The continued sacrifices of American lives and resources are unconscionable. Support our troops - bring them, or keep them, home. Let us join with the UN/world community to come to a real resolution in Iraq. Regime change here and now! <http://www.moveon.org/censure/caughtonvideo> WELCOME TO BOSTON, GEORGE! Join the Massachusetts AFL-CIO in welcoming George Bush to Boston. Date: March 25th Time: 5:15 to 7:00 PM Who: Everyone who has an issue with the Bush anti-worker policies Rally and Visibility Where: Public Garden – Corner of Boylston & Arlington Streets (across from Arlington Street T stop) For more information, call Kathy Casavant at 781 324-8230 or Lori Sutherland at 617 592-2240. UJP NETWORK: Will be meeting at the bandstand, Boston Common, at 5:00 PM on Thursday, March 25th. (Park Street T-Stop) We will assemble and hear a few words from Phyllis Bennis (fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies) and from the AFL-CIO. The UJP and AFL-CIO contingents and others will then join together. For questions or more information, please call the UJP office at 617-338-1197 or e-mail ujpcoalition@yahoo.com. Updated information will be on the website <http://www.justicewithpeace.org>. Please come. Please bring SIGNS. Also, on March 25th, The Direct Action Committee: The Direct Action Committee of a coalition to stop the biolab, will be welcoming Bush with a message in opposition to the Bioterrorism Lab. NO TO BUSH! NO TO PERMANENT WAR! NO TO BIOWEAPONS LAB! Please gather between 3:15 and 3:30 across from the Arlington T-Station (green line) at the corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets - for street theatre and more. 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