War Is A Crime .org

according to the words of Rush Limbaugh. The left has deserted Cindy to instead use a natural disaster to politically attack this President.

Audio of each day's show posted by 3:30PM EST. Full site updated by 6:30PM EST. Transcript not available yet.

By Larry C. Johnson

Does George Bush hum Sam Cooke’s lyrics from “Wonderful World

From Bob Fertik, President of Democrats.com

http://www.democrats.com/node/5884

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll was published today, and despite record-low approval ratings for Bush (45%), there was no question on impeachment.

I sent the letter below to the authors of the survey - WP's Richard Morin and Dan Balz (morinr@washpost.com,balzd@washpost.com) and ABC's Gary Langer (newspolls@abc.com)

I will post their replies below.

I encourage everyone to write a polite letter of your own and to post any replies you receive.

Gentlemen,

I'm blogging on the reasons why no polling organizations have followed up on the June poll by Zogby which found "42% say they would favor impeachment proceedings if it is found the President misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq."

http://meetwiththemothers.org/

Wednesday, August 31st Camp Casey expands to include not just the front door to Bush’s vacation home in Crawford Texas, but to the front doors of members of Congress and the Senate. Three buses left Camp Casey to head North, East and South carrying Gold Star Moms, Military Families Speaking Out, Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War. On the road they will visit members of Congress in the districts they pass asking for a meeting and answers to Cindy’s questions. You can join this campaign as the buses pass through or join actions being organized in your community. Cindy sent a letter to all the members of Congress holding them responsible for taking us into war and therefore ending this war. We need you to create a Camp Casey outside the offices of those who are not agreeing to a meeting. Sign up here to join in, check in daily to see who is answered and who hasn’t, and support this effort to hold our leaders responsible and accountable. We have a short window, we want to have contacted all the members by the time Cindy and the buses arrive in Washington, DC for the mass mobilization on September 24th. We will be at the offices of those who aren’t responding on September 26th to lobby them and let them experience the pressure from citizens’ voices emboldened at Camp Casey.

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

Trampled, crushed against barricades or plunging into the Tigris River, more than 700 Shiite pilgrims died Wednesday when a procession across a Baghdad bridge was engulfed in panic over rumors that a suicide bomber was at large.

Most of the dead were women and children, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said. It was the single biggest confirmed loss of life in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. Sabah Ali, a senior official in the Health Ministry, said 719 were killed and 383 injured.

Tensions already had risen among the Shiite marchers because of a mortar attack two hours earlier on the shrine where they were heading. Then the crowd was slowed by barriers about a quarter of the way across the Two Imams Bridge, Interior Minister Bayn Jabr said on state-run TV.

t r u t h o u t | One Mother's Stand
By Scott Galindez
Wednesday 31 August 2005, 7:19 AM
http://truthout.org/cindy.shtml

This will be my last blog from Camp Casey. The last 3 weeks were full of many fascinating moments. Will Pitt and I arrived on day 5. We were greeted by a determined group of Americans working for peace. Their resolve has never wavered. The first night, we stayed out at Camp Casey I until 2 am because of the rumors of imminent arrests. They turned out to be false. The Sheriffs turned out to be our allies here. They handled themselves professionally and did a wonderful job to help facilitate our stay in Crawford.

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

PM Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Interviews Available

The Neglected Levees of New Orleans: A Victim of Iraq War Spending

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to
handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the
price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished,
and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security

By Dave Lindorff
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/

The destruction of New Orleans--a catastrophe far worse than anything Osama Bin Laden could hope to wreak, considering the number of deaths, the closing down of a major U.S. port city for months, the destruction of an urban environment that will take years to repair, and the devastating disruption of one-fourth of the nation's oil production, which is likely to initiate a national recession--gives final proof of the stupidity and criminality of the Bush Administration's invasion of Iraq and of the bankruptcy of the Democratic so-called oppositon.

I have added a new logo to my AfterDowningStreet.org sections. As always, I will donate a portion of sales to AfterDowningStreet.org and Crawford House. Thanks so much for linking to me.

Victoria Love
http://www.CafePress.com/liberalprogdem

http://www.ChurchoftheFrontPorch.blogspot.com

NEW* BUSH in Crawford, TX: President Bush held a morning conference call
at his ranch with federal officials who are coordinating the recovery
effort. [AP, 8/31/05]

NEW* BUSH in Washington D.C.: President Bush will meet with a task force
established to coordinate the efforts of 14 federal agencies that will
be involved in responding to the disaster. [AP, 8/31/05]

NEW* SANTORUM in Honesdale, PA: U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum will visit
Wayne Memorial Hospital today to discuss health care issues. Mr.
Santorum will have lunch in the hospital's boardroom and then tour the
construction site of the new emergency department from noon to 1:15 p.m.

Check out this new collection.

This one illustrates a new tradition in Germany.
It was also practiced at Camp Casey by some fun-loving campers who, when I was there, were eagerly waiting on a Great Dane to contribute to their project.

Check out this new collection.

The Day Casey Died: Cindy Sheehan, Journalist and Wounded Soldier Remember the Battle of Sadr City

http://www.democracynow.org

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the last day of Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside President Bush's estate in Crawford, we look back at the day her son, Casey, died. We speak with a U.S. army soldier who was wounded on the same day Casey was killed, an independent journalist who visited the area shortly afterwards and Cindy Sheehan. [includes rush transcript]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

San Francisco Chronicle
Anti-war demonstrators leaving Bush's Texas ranch to take their message to the people, leaving media short of story ideas
- Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Even though Cindy Sheehan is likely to leave Crawford, Texas, this morning without having accomplished her goal of meeting with President Bush, there's little doubt the Vacaville resident brought renewed energy and attention to the anti-war movement through her story of grief.

But Sheehan's story became a phenomenon in part because she was surrounded by a press corps starving for stories outside Bush's ranch in the slow news days of August.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) has just cosponsored the Resolution of Inquiry into Bush's lies. That makes 59 cosponsors. Do I hear 60?
WHAT ABOUT YOUR CONGRESS MEMBER?

TomPaine.com
Phyllis Bennis
August 31, 2005

Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies , is the author of the forthcoming Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the U.N. Defy U.S. Power (Interlink Publishing, Northampton MA, October 2005

The Bush administration has declared war on the world.

The 450 changes that Washington is demanding to the action agenda that will culminate at the September 2005 United Nations summit don’t represent U.N. reform. They are a clear onslaught against any move that could strengthen the United Nations or international law.

TomPaine.com
David Corn
August 31, 2005

David Corn writes The Loyal Opposition twice a month for TomPaine.com. Corn is also the Washington editor of The Nation and is the author of The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception (Crown Publishers).

A few days ago, I was one on of those TV pundit shows, and the host of this gabfest—Derek McGinty—asked all the panelists whether George W. Bush's recent rah-rah speeches about the war in Iraq had done anything to rally popular support for Bush's mess in Mesopotamia. I did not surprise anyone by saying no and arguing that Bush had dished out warmed-over rhetoric that had previously failed to boost public sentiment toward the war. USA Today's Susan Page said much the same. But then the two conservative chatters—columnist Linda Chavez and the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes—also gave Bush an F. They maintained that he had not made a strong case that the war in Iraq is central to the effort against terrorism. (They did not pause to consider this failure might be due to the fact that the connection between Bush's folly in Iraq and the effort against jihadist terrorism is tenuous.) When right, middle and left agree that the White House is flailing, Bush might have a problem. And now—a week later—Bush's pro-war speeches resonate not at all. Bush could have achieved the same results by staying home and clearing brush on his ranch.

By Cindy Sheehan
Day 25
The Peaceful Occupation of Crawford

"If Zarqawi and bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks," Bush said. "They'd seize oil fields to fund their ambitions. They could recruit more terrorists by claiming a historic victory over the United States and our coalition."(George Bush, August 30, 2005 in San Diego.)

So it is official, Casey had his blood shed in Iraq for OIL. He died so we could pay over 3.00/gallon for gas. Like I suspected all along, my dear, sweet son: almost 1900 others; and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis died so the oil fields wouldn't "fall into the hands of terrorists" and so George and his immoral band of greedy robber barons could become wealthier. Like I have said all along: how can these people sleep at night and how can they choke down their food knowing it is purchased off of the flesh and blood of others? We have found our "Noble Cause." And it is OIL. This man and his handlers need to be stopped.

Ex-Counterterrorism Chief Cites Rise in Attacks

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 31, 2005; Page A19

Richard A. Clarke, the former head of counterterrorism in the White House under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said yesterday that there were twice as many attacks outside Iraq in the three years after the 2001 attacks as in the three preceding years.

Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda group "are no longer the traditional leaders as they were in the 1990s," Clarke said, adding that the terrorist leader had been building ideological groups from Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001, and that they had grown in the past few years into 14 to 16 separate networks.

t r u t h o u t | One Mother's Stand
By Scott Galindez

Tuesday 30 August 2005
11:46 PM

David Rovics just left the stage closing things out under the big tent. He played a song he wrote about Cindy and Casey titled "Every Mother's Son" you can download the song at DavidRovics.com.

Cindy and Ann Wright honored all the volunteers that made this happen ... too many to name here.

Veterans for Peace showed a video of day one which was fitting as we close down camp. You can view the video here.

I will probably blog next from the road...

LINK TO ORIGINAL

NOTICE: VETERANS at CAMP CASEY I, near Crawford, have issued an appeal for donations of generators and other goods to be taken to victims of Hurricane Katrina. The group plans to leave Camp II at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday to deliver donations and supplies left over at Camps I and II to those in need in areas impacted by the hurricane. Any persons having first-hand information on conditions in New Orleans and the area north of Covington, La. (Washington Parish) are urged to contact this newspaper. Some individuals at Camp Casey have relatives in that area and are anxious for news.
LINK TO ORIGINAL

August 31, 2005
Rocky Anderson

It takes a bit of courage for the mayor of the largest city in the state that Bush won by the largest margin to call for an anti-Iraq protest, while the "Master of Disaster President" was in town. But Rocky Anderson rose to the occasion, in a way that puts fence-sitting Democrats in the Senate to shame.

Anderson e-mailed activists to encourage them to protest Bush's remarks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who were assembled in Salt Lake City, of which Anderson just happens to be mayor. More than 2,000 people showed up to let the world know that Bush is an incompetent, lying, bumbling commander-in-chief.

Hurricane joins war protesters, gas prices, others on headaches list
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 31, 2005
By DAVID JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News

CRAWFORD, Texas – This hasn't been the most restful August for President Bush, and the rest of the year doesn't figure to be a political picnic either.

The damage from Hurricane Katrina is the latest problem facing the president, whose working vacation featured war protesters camped outside his ranch.

Other challenges awaiting Mr. Bush include Social Security, taxes, stem cells, immigration and a grand jury investigation into the news leak of a CIA operative's name.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=18119

That long Labor Day weekend, traditionally a time of rest, lies ahead. It marks the end of this summer's not-so-silly season, a few days when Tomdispatch shuts down and everyone who can light a barbeque or visit that favorite end-of-summer vacation restaurant is likely to do so. Nick Turse plans to put in a pit stop at a Massachusett's backyard for a little chicken on the grill. In the meantime, as the resident writer of Tomdispatch's Rummy Watch and its main student of the military-industrial complex, he's beginning a new sometime-series -- a kind of military fun-in-the-sun – on the good life, Pentagon-style. Here, he explores how an army on the move (and I don't mean in Iraq) has been filling its stomach (on your tax dollars). Bon Appétit! I'm off to fry a fish or two. Back in September. Tom

Says US must prevent oil fields from falling into hands of terrorists
By Jennifer Loven, Associated Press | August 31, 2005

CORONADO, Calif. -- President Bush answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh reason for US troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the country's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists.

The president, standing against a backdrop of the USS Ronald Reagan, the newest aircraft carrier in the Navy's fleet, said terrorists would be denied their goal of making Iraq a base from which to recruit followers, train them, and finance attacks.

From btcnews.com 8/28/05:

More than 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard’s 256th Brigade serving in Iraq can only watch from Baghdad as Hurricane Katrina bears down on their families and homes in New Orleans and the other south Louisiana communities from which they hail. The deployed soldiers and their equipment, which includes high water vehicles, Humvees and generators, will be sorely missed as Louisiana attempts to prepare for and recover from the historic Category Five storm.

Published on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
By David Michael Green

George Bush says we must honor the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in Iraq. At last we agree on something.

Mr. Bush, of course, is famously unable nowadays to articulate just what honorable cause our soldiers have been killing and dying for, despite the hundreds at Camp Casey demanding of him precisely that.

Perhaps I can be of some service to the president. I'd like to offer him an answer he can give to Cindy Sheehan's simple question.

You see, in a sense, Mr. Bush was right to analogize Iraq to World War II. Just as in that horrific war, Americans soldiers have been sacrificing their lives in Iraq to save the world from the scourge of a ravenous imperialist with the power to destroy millions of lives.

By Sherry Bohlen, National Field Director, Progressive Democrats of America

It's only three short weeks until we converge on DC for the Anti-War Mobilization! This will be a history-in-the-making event that you won't want to miss!

On Saturday, September 24, hundreds of thousands of activists are expected to gather for a mass rally and March. PDA will announce within the next week or so the specific intersection and time at which PDA members will gather. Watch for details in upcoming alerts and on PDA's web site for the latest information!

On Sunday, September 25, PDA has a stellar "Grassroots Strategy Day" planned. Click here for details of the day. Sign up early for this not-to-be-missed strategic planning day! Click here to sign up now!

A cameraman for Reuters in Iraq has been ordered by a secret tribunal to be held without charge in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison until his case is reviewed within six months, a U.S. military spokesman said on Wednesday.

Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani was arrested by U.S. forces on August 8 after a search of his home in the city of Ramadi. The U.S. military has refused Reuters requests to disclose why he is being held. He has not been charged.

His brother, who was detained with him and then released, said they were arrested after Marines looked at the images on the journalist's cameras.

"The CRRB has determined that Mr. Mashhadani remains a threat to the people of Iraq and they recommended continued internment," Lieutenant Colonel Guy Rudisill said, referring to a hearing of the Iraqi-U.S. Combined Review and Release Board held at a secret location in Baghdad on Monday.

I spoke with Cindy briefly a minute ago and asked her if the southern bus route was being changed because of the storm. She said that they were going to go as far as they could because they had a lot of supplies to donate.

Published on Tuesday, August 30, 2005, distributed by Knight-Ridder Newspapers
By Michael Mandel

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal, the basic legal document for the trial of the major Nazi war criminals that commenced in November 1945.
One of the great innovations of that charter was the charge of "Crimes Against Peace," defined as the "planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances."

In a famous passage from their judgment of the following year, the four judges of the tribunal (American, British, French and Russian) declared the crime of aggressive war to be "the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."