Former (?) Prostitute Attends Bush’s Pro-War Rally
Media Whore Jeff Gannon (left) was one of the paltry 400 people who showed up at a pro-war rally staged by the Bush Administration is Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, 2005.
Tag: Iraq
‘Republican for Impeachment’ Attends Antiwar Rally
“My odyssey simply is: I’ve been a registered Republican for in excess of thirty years and I think the Party’s been hijacked by the policies of George Bush! I think a president should be smarter than I am.
“This is my first demonstration. I felt strongly enough to come. What I hope will happen is that the Democrats and Republicans with a mindset similar to mine get people to change their minds about the direction this country is taking. Remember, Clinton was impeached for a lot less. I saw a sign that said, ‘Clinton lied, no one died,’ and that just about sums it up.
— Cathy Hickling, a financial consultant from Maryland, who carried a sign that read, “Republicans for impeachment,” at the antiwar rally in Washington, D.C., Sept. 24, 2005
Pro-War Rally Draws Small Crowd
Support for U.S. troops fighting abroad mixed with anger toward anti-war demonstrators at home as hundreds of people, far fewer than organizers had expected, rallied Sunday on the National Mall just a day after a massive protest against the war in Iraq…
About 400 people gathered near a stage on an eastern segment of the mall, a large patchwork American flag serving as a backdrop. Amid banners and signs proclaiming support for U.S. troops, several speakers hailed the effort to bring democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and denounced those who protest it.
Anti-War Rally Draws Over 300,000 Protestors
Wind at our backs. Energy on the left:
Organizers with the dueling anti-war groups United for Peace and Justice and International ANSWER estimated the crowd size for Saturday’s march on Washington, D.C., at 300,000—making it the largest demonstration since start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Capitol police gave a loose estimate of 150,000—still a heap larger than the 4,000 or so who turned out for the Pentagon’s pro-war “Freedom Walk” on 9-11.
It was another lap around the Capitol for the antiwar crowd, but the mood was very different this time. In contrast to the strident rhetoric and near giddy denunciations of President Bush that have marked previous demonstrations (particularly those organized by ANSWER), Saturday’s protest was sobered by the presence of hundreds of military family members and alienated Iraq war vets, whose voices have given the antiwar movement a new center of gravity.
Fighting Terrorism: Bush Is the Problem
George Bush got it partially right yesterday (Thursday, September 22) when he said that mistakes made by three of his predecessors, including the Reagan administration, had emboldened terrorists and helped set the stage for the Sept. 11 attacks. Unfortunately he ignored the role his own actions have played in making terrorism worse and pushing the Middle East to the brink of a new war. Instead, the President blindly insisted that he is taking America on the right path in Iraq to confront the threat of terrorism. On that point he is wrong; dead wrong.
Why is he wrong? The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is doing the exact opposite of what Bush says U.S. policy was supposed to achieve:
- Instead of reducing terrorism, Islamic terrorism is spreading dramatically.
- Instead of winning new supporters for democracy, the war in Iraq is spurring the recruitment and training radical jihadists.
- Instead of creating a “City on the Hill” that other nations in the Middle East will emulate, Iraq is fissuring and setting the stage for a regional ethnic and religious civil war.
Donahue Vs. O’Reilly – Must-Read Transcript
Donnybrook: From the fabulous folks at Newshounds (“We watch Fox News So You Don’t Have to”), here is an excepted version of the segment of “The O’Reilly Factor” in which Phil Donahue took Bill O’Reilly down in three rounds:
O’REILLY: In the past Miss [Cindy] Sheehan has criticized Israel, saying it is occupying Palestine, has called Iraqi insurgents “freedom fighters,” has accused Americans of killing people ever since we stepped on this continent, has threatened Hillary Clinton with the loss her job unless she calls for a pullout of US troops from Iraq and has called the US action against Afghanistan a failure. Quite a resume and with us now is Phil Donahue, who supports Miss Sheehan’s “dissent.”
So, I’m assuming you don’t – you don’t support all her positions that I just chronicled.
DONAHUE: Let’s understand what’s happening here. Once again we have a woman who got to be just a little too famous for the people who support this war, a minority of the American population, by the way, and so the effort to marginalize this woman is underway and you’re helping out.
Document Proves Military Holds Gays for Combat, Will Discharge Them When War Is Over
Scholars studying military personnel policy have discovered a document halting the discharge of gay soldiers in units that are about to be mobilized.
The document was made public Tuesday by Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM), a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It was found during research for a story for the ABC news program Nightline.
The regulation was contained in a 1999 “Reserve Component Unit Commander’s Handbook” and is still in effect, according to the Center.
It states that if a discharge for homosexual conduct is requested “prior to the unit’s receipt of alert notification, discharge isn’t authorized. Member will enter AD [active duty] with the unit.” […]
Newt On Iraq: ‘Things Aren’t Going Well’
‘‘Any effort to explain Iraq as ‘We are on track and making progress’ is nonsense. The daily and weekly casualties leave people feeling that things aren’t going well.’‘
— Newt Gingrich, former Republican Speaker of the House
Powell ‘Devastated’ By False Report He Gave U.N.
Admits guilt: Thousands of people have died as a result of President Bush’s war of whim in Iraq. Now former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who leant his credibility to the campaign to convince the American public that Iraq was a threat that required neutralization, has admitted that the facts he presented to the United Nations were false.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday his prewar speech to the United Nations accusing Iraq of harboring weapons of mass destruction was a “blot” on his record.
“I’m the one who presented it to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It is painful now,” Powell said in an interview with Barbara Walters on ABC News.
The presentation by the soldier-diplomat to the world body in February 2003 lent considerable credibility to President Bush’s case against Iraq and for going to war to remove President Saddam Hussein.
In the speech, Powell said he had relied on information he received at Central Intelligence Agency briefings. He said Thursday that then-director George Tenet “believed what he was giving to me was accurate.”
But, Powell said, “the intelligence system did not work well.”
“There were some people in the intelligence community who knew at the time that some of those sources were not good, and shouldn’t be relied upon, and they didn’t speak up,” Powell said.
“That devastated me,” he said.
Poll: Most Americans Disapprove of Bush’s War in Iraq
Stay or go: Two separate polls by Gallup from just before Hurricane Katrina hit show that Americans remain unhappy about the president’s handling of the war in Iraq – and most want the country to pull out as soon as possible:
Perhaps most revealing was a new poll which asked… “If you could talk with President Bush for 15 minutes about the situation in Iraq, what would you, personally, advise him to do?” The poll taken in late August found that 41 percent said they would tell him to pull troops out of Iraq and end our involvement there.
Far behind in second place (18 percent) was to finish what we started or be more aggressive. Another 7 percent advised coming up with an exit strategy.
A separate Gallup poll found that 53 percent of Americans favor a reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq. This includes 26 percent who prefer withdrawing all troops.
In the same survey, only 40 percent of Americans approve, while 59 percent disapprove of the way Bush is handling Iraq – and 53 percent of Americans think going to war in Iraq was a mistake, similar to the 54 percent who said this in early August.
