Robert C. Byrd Spoke With Clarity Through Fog of Post-9/11 Days

"Truth has a way of asserting itself
despite all attempts to obscure it."
~ Senator Robert C. Byrd

Senator Robert C. Byrd was one of my heroes in the dark days of post 9/11 Bush-led America. I chronicled his words as I blogged from day to day at Iddybud. I'm sad to hear he has passed away and wanted to share some of the lines of his that I heard clearly when so many of my leaders seemed to be speaking in vague, cowed whispers. Senator Byrd gave us far more than whispers. Thank you, Senator Byrd. May you rest in peace.



From "We Stand Passively Mute" - by US Senator Robert Byrd - Senate Floor Remarks on February 12, 2003:

"..To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war. Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent -- ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war..."

"...war must always be a last resort, not a first choice. I truly must question the judgment of any President who can say that a massive unprovoked military attack on a nation which is over 50% children is "in the highest moral traditions of our country"..."



From The Truth Will Emerge - by US Senator Robert Byrd, Senate Floor Remarks - May 21, 2003:

"'Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again, - -
The eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies among his worshippers.'

"...Was the American public deliberately misled? Was the world?"

"...Democracy and Freedom cannot be force fed at the point of an occupier's gun. To think otherwise is folly. One has to stop and ponder. How could we have been so impossibly naive?"

"..I contend that, through it all, the people know. The American people unfortunately are used to political shading, spin, and the usual chicanery they hear from public officials. They patiently tolerate it up to a point. But there is a line. It may seem to be drawn in invisible ink for a time, but eventually it will appear in dark colors, tinged with anger. When it comes to shedding American blood - - when it comes to wreaking havoc on civilians, on innocent men, women, and children, callous dissembling is not acceptable. Nothing is worth that kind of lie - - not oil, not revenge, not reelection, not somebody's grand pipedream of a democratic domino theory.

And mark my words, the calculated intimidation which we see so often of late by the "powers that be" will only keep the loyal opposition quiet for just so long. Because eventually, like it always does, the truth will emerge. And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall."


From "The Road to Coverup is the Road to Ruin" by Sen. Robert C. Byrd - US Senate Floor Remarks - June 24, 2003

My Note - Senator Byrd had a way with words. I loved the use of the word "massaged" in this part of Senator Byrd's speech. It was quite colorful. [Iddybud blog]

"..Whether or not intelligence reports were bent, stretched, or massaged to make Iraq look like an imminent threat to the United States, it is clear that the Administration's rhetoric played upon the well-founded fear of the American public about future acts of terrorism. But, upon close examination, many of these statements have nothing to do with intelligence, because they are at root just sound bites based on conjecture. They are designed to prey on public fear."


From A Nation with Questions - by Robert C. Byrd, September 29, 2003

"..The Bush Administration's single-minded focus on Iraq has ignored, in large respect, the terrorist threat that produced the attack of September 11, 2001."



From The Emperor Has No Clothes by US Senator Robert Byrd - Senate Floor Remarks on October 17, 2003:

"...the time has come for the sheep-like political correctness which has cowed members of this Senate to come to an end."



From - Senator Robert C. Byrd's remarks, delivered in the Senate on April 17, 2007:


"...I was quite surprised recently to hear some Senators take the position that this body is wasting its time in drafting and passing legislation which the president threatens to veto. Let me remind all who listen that the Congress legislates for the people, and has a Constitutional obligation to act independently from the White House. As Senators already know, there are three separate but equal branches of government.

The Constitution's Framers never considered a president to be the final arbiter of the public good. Whether the question relates to military, foreign, or domestic affairs a presidential veto threat is not the last word in what should become the law of our land. Those decisions are left to the representatives of the people, along with the power over the purse and other Constitutionally enumerated congressional powers.."

"Let the President issue his veto threats, but also let the Congress dutifully represent the will of the people."

"Members of Congress are elected to make laws based on sound public policy, not to capitulate to presidential threats. The Senate must never become a rubberstamp for any president."

"...members of Congress and officials of the Executive Branch have a duty to try to find common ground, especially when the issue is a violent and controversial war, with our troops in harms way every day. I shall hope for a more reasonable and more realistic tone from our President in the coming days. More light and less heat on this matter would truly be in the best interests of our troops and of our sorely divided country."



From Unprepared for Peace in Iraq - By Robert C. Byrd
Thursday, January 15, 2009 [Washington Post]: Also posted at: [Iddybud blog]

"...A hallmark of true leadership is the ability to admit when one is wrong and to learn from errors. Candidate George W. Bush spoke about the need for humility from a great and powerful nation. He said, "Let us reject the blinders of isolationism, just as we refuse the crown of empire. Let us not dominate others with our power -- or betray them with our indifference. And let us have an American foreign policy that reflects American character. The modesty of true strength. The humility of real greatness." It is time for the Bush administration to swallow its false pride and return to that philosophy of humility before it is too late."

Remember Iddybud Journal

VISIT ME

I'm Moving - Please Come and Visit

I'm Moving - Come and Visit

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I'm in the process of moving my content over to my new Beta Blogger site.

Please come on over to
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Your comments about my new site would be welcome and appreciated.

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Thanks!

- Jude

Sen. Kerry Should Apologize

Sen. Kerry Should Apologize

In 2004, I can't tell you how frustrated I became - more and more by the day - by Senator Kerry's slowness to tap into the pulse of the people. My blog was filled with advice to Senator Kerry to speak out on the Iraq war with force and convincing reason - and to defend himself against the Swift Boat political operatives.

This time, I'm afraid it doesn't matter what his intent was in making that lame joke. He can try to defend it 'til the cows come home and the stupid (but unstoppable) media machinery gears will keep on rolling right over him until he offers a heartfelt apology.

Listening to his rationalizing about his unfortunate choice of words, refusing to apologize, I could imagine many people out there seeing him as

- still angry having lost the election with the knowledge that he lost, in good part, because he would not speak out strongly and early enough on the Bush-made miserable mess that was (and still is) the Iraq war. Politically, I think that it's too late for him to grouse about it now.

- just as stubborn as Bush when he's wrong.

- for many who could not afford college for themselves or their kids, his arrogance probably made them see him as an elite bumbler who wouldn't know a poor, struggling person if he stepped on one.

- for military families, sadness to see the 2004 Democratic candidate make a joke against Bush at their families' expense. I'm sure they never expected someone like Kerry [for whom many say they voted in 2004 Dem primaries because of his "gravitas"] to do something like that.

He needs to apologize and clarify. My hope is that, if he can create a speech that includes an apology - and then if he can proceed to focus on the real issue at hand, which is underhanded and institutionalized methods of military recruitment of our youth at a time when a Bush-administration-generated abuse of the military may cause the military to be weakened a la "shake and bake" [aka conscription, which is fatal to military performance and unsettling to politics], then perhaps we can really get somewhere. Kerry is an expert, unfortunately, at being in a seemingly endless war where the enemy is invisible and the goals are not clearly delineated and the military is demoralized. He could turn this media hype around to America's advantage - and I hope he can and will do so.





By the way, there could not have been a sicker or a more disrespectful joke made at the expense of our troops and their families than Bush making a JOKE of the absence of WMD in Iraq. I'm sure you remember his disgusting attempt at humor - a video of him groping around the oval office and under his desk looking for WMD. He never paid politically for that, and I wonder why Kerry would have to politically pay for something far less insulting?

Bill O'Reilly (from the woefully unbalanced Fox News network) has actually made a comment with which I agree:

"I don't believe John Kerry meant to demean any American military member. I just don't. I think that fair-minded people know that that would be political suicide for the senator. He wouldn't do it" ("O'Reilly Factor," 10/31). [source: National Journal]

You've got to love James Carville's snappy wit:

"It is much easier to say, I botched a joke, than to say, I botched a war."

Ask a Democratic politician seeking office on November 7th who's been to the Iraq war. Tammy Duckworth, a major in the Illinois Army National Guard who lost her legs in the Iraq war and is now the Democratic candidate for the open 6th District seat in Illinois, said had this to say:

“Nobody needs to tell me the quality of the men and women I served with in Iraq. I know....What our troops need isn’t more political rhetoric and either party playing games with this. What our troops need is a plan for how to get them out of Iraq safely, responsibly, while providing the Iraqis with the security forces that they need. If you really want to support the troops then let’s come up with a measurable plan for how to get out troops out of Iraq.”

Note to MSM: Enough with the Caviezel Jesus Thing!

Note to MSM: Enough with the Caviezel Jesus Thing!

If I hear one more reference made to Jesus Christ every time the MSM shows the actor Jim Caviezel in one of those anti-embryonic stem-cell research ads, I think I'll scream. On ABC Nightly News Sunday night, it happened again. They showed the ad and for the umpteenth time, I heard a news anchor say "That is the actor Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus....." Oy!

Get over it, MSM.
Jim Caviezel is not Jesus Christ the Savior, already!
He's an actor no one would recognize unless the MSM pulls out the Almighty-connection every time he shows up on the news.

Whats next? Will Caviezel show up on the next anti-Michael J. Fox ad with a robe and flowing hair and beard? Will he be walking on water?

Does playing Jesus qualify you as a holy spokesman? No more than playing Marty McFly makes you able to time-travel. Duh!!

Introducing The Sole of Africa Campaign

Introducing The Sole of Africa Campaign





A Message From Mike Kendrick; Founder of Mineseeker

Landmines kill, maim, terrify and starve the population. There are over 100 million landmines buried beneath the surface of this planet. Every twenty minutes a land mine kills or maims someone… usually women and children. They render over 800 thousand square kilometers of land useless and terrify millions of people who live in constant fear.The cost to human life is horrific and the economic effect is devastating. This is not an act of God, or a natural disaster - It is a man made disaster that is bigger, in terms of lives lost, than civil disruption and economic deprivation, including the Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina or the Pakistan earthquake.

Using current technology and strategies, it has been estimated that it could take up to 600 years to rid the planet of these devices. It takes a mine clearance operative one day to clear 40 sq meters. However, the Patrons of Mineseeker discovered a new technology that was available that could condense the removal of landmines to the next fifty years. This ground-penetrating radar, when carried on a stable aerial platform, can scan the ground at 100 meters per second. This technology, developed by the British MOD, has been licensed to Mineseeker for humanitarian de-mining. We deployed the system in ravaged Kosovo and tested it in live conditions. The results were spectacular. This system can fix the problem within our life time. While Mineseeker will liberate the designated landmine areas, it will not stop there. We have introduced the 'Sole of Africa' campaign to make sure that the land is used to grow crops, feed the local population and, most importantly, to empower the people. We intend to take the land and form a cooperative, dividing the land into small farm units.

This cooperative will teach the local population to, sow, grow, harvest and sell the produce. We have formed an association with leading not-for-profit organizations including 'Feed the Children' and The International Youth Foundation to provide a 'Foster Management' to create a workforce and training to farm the land and sustain the development of the land.

We have identified Mozambique and Angola as two areas of outstanding need and will concentrate on those areas until the project is completed. The 'Sole of Africa' logo is a poignant reminder of the job at hand, as it shows just one foot print: Most mine victims that survive only have one foot, so this shows a footprint in the earth… the earth we intend to release back to the people.


- Sole of Africa Homepage

- What is Mineseeker?

- The Sole of Africa blog

Press Releases

09.15.06: Stellar Cast is Joining The Sole of Africa Campaign

08.06.06: Mineseeker to supply new cost effective AIDs tests to Africa

07.07.06: Mineseeker delivers new limbs to Maputo amputees




AMA (Pty)
ANACIN
Artificial Limbs For All
Baron Stationary
Bell Pottinger
British Telecommunications
Charity Technology Trust
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Cisco Communications
Faubion Art
Feed The Children
Food 4 Africa
Fun Money Good Network
Giving Globally
Greenbox Productions SA
Habib Investments
Haines Watts Accountants
Heidi Baker's Iris Ministries
International Youth Foundation
Lele & Associates
Lightship Group
LLoyds TSB
Mark Victor Hansen’s Mega Giving
Maputo Municipal Council
Mozambique National Demining Institute
Nelson Mandela Foundation
Nourish the Children
Pacific Institute
Paul Mitchell Hair Systems
Pulse 40
P.I.M.S.A (Pty)
Polana Serena Hotel Maputo
PR Traffic
Promenade Pictures
The ROK Corporation: The Rotarians
Salvation Army
Smart-Europe Ltd
1000 Angels
2GC Maputo
The United States Department of State for Defense
The United Nations
Trinity College Dublin
Virgin
Wace Morgan
World Trust Foundation

Novak Pretends to Know What Dems Are Thinking

Novak Pretends to Know What Dems Are Thinking
Opines on Race Rather than Individual Conscience to Make Baseless Predictions

Hopping on the bandwagon of the moment, conservative columnist Robert Novak buys into the latest hype over Barack Obama, thinking he has a finger on the pulse of how Democrats will vote in the 2008 primaries long before any potential candidate has even declared their intentions:

Neutral Democratic political operatives believe the emergence of Sen. Barack Obama as a 2008 presidential candidate after his performance on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' may do less damage to front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton than to John Edwards.

Former Sen. Edwards' campaign strategy is focused on the South Carolina primary, but Obama figures to do well with African-American voters comprising about 40 percent of that state's Democratic primary vote. Obama also could threaten Edwards in the tip-off Iowa caucuses, where polls have shown Edwards leading Clinton.

Note his cautious use of the modifiers "May" and "Could." He uses race - sheer race - to predict how individual South Carolinians will decide. He hasn't got a clue. He's certainly not a Democratic insider - not many Democrats will confide in him - especially after what he did to Valerie Plame and her husband Joseph Wilson IV.

I've seen no indication that the appreciation that Iowans clearly have for Senator Edwards has been negatively affected by the presence and emergence of other Democratic leaders. Novak has provided no new polls or other solid estimation of public opinion to back up his hot air.

Where's the beef, Mr. Novak?

Bill Kristol's Full of Baloney on Election 2006

Bill Kristol's Full of Baloney on Election 2006

If any Republican wins on November 7, it surely will not be because of the Bush Republicans' great leadership on the Iraq war. It will be because of local politics.

On today's Fox News Saunday panel, the neoconservative cult's favorite journalistic representative William Kristol extended his fantasy that the upcoming election is to be a referendum on whether America is committed to winning the war in Iraq or whether they're not committed to winning the war. I think you'd have to be insane, at this juncture, to believe that this ridiculously false choice is what the referendum on Iraq will boil down to.

Americans want their nation to have a good and strong international reputation, credibility, and successful outcomes in all the efforts the U.S. government responsibly carries out. The troubling thing to voters is the fact that we've lost our standing as the influential superpower we once were and that the preemptive attack on Iraq was entered into impulsivley and irresponsibly. The proof of it lies in the fact that, out of the ever-changing [20+] rationales handed to the American people about going into Iraq, not a one of them has ever emerged as clear, justified, or accurate. We've been abused by stovepiped, cherry-picked intelligence and intentional misleading. We've been partisan rubber-stamped and voo-dooed to death on the Iraq war.

So, maybe Mr. Kristol isn't too far off. Maybe this election will be about whether or not we want to "win" as a united nation of people who want America to succeed. It's going to take a change - not a change in semantics about Republican war propaganda, but a substantial change toward a regaining of the good faith in a nation that was once a superpower in every sense of the word - not just a brute force fighting blindly against an enemy we can't see with no clear plan for victory.

The film character Rambo comes to mind - begging the U.S. government to give him a war he could win. I'll bet he'd have a lot to say about the war that William Kristol was dreaming of [see PNAC] until his fairy tale came real with the worst President in U.S. history at the helm. Why does Mr. Kristol think so many 2006 GOP candidates are running away from any connection with Bush this season?



Rambo would oust the Bush Republicans on election day 2006.

My Online Encounter with Michael Schiavo

My Online Encounter with Michael Schiavo

You never know who you're going to get the opportunity to chat with when you belong to an online community.

Last July, Michael Schiavo bashed U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave at a campaign event for "inserting herself in the wrenching national debate" over the prolonged death of his wife, Terri Schiavo.

This week, Rep. Musgrave had authorities physically remove Mr. Schiavo from a public campaign rally, a long-practiced and extremely undemocratic George W. Bush tactic.

Musgrave could make a three ring circus out of Mr. Schiavo and his family, but she couldn't take public accountability for doing so. Instead, like a coward, she asked others to remove the man from her queen-like sight.

Who knew I'd get an opportunity to tell Mr. Schaivo directly that I'm sorry for what he had to go through - then and now -and that he would send an acknowledgment back?

That's precisely what happened yesterday at Daily Kos.

Seymour Hersh Keynotes at S.U. Nuclear Iran Symposium

Seymour Hersh Keynotes at S.U. Nuclear Iran Symposium


There was a symposium hosted by the Law School at Syracuse University on Friday where an esteemed and knowledgeable panel gathered to discuss why Iran wants to be a nuclear power; whether Iran has a legal right to become a nuclear power; the regional ramifications of such newly acquired technology; the U.S. policy of preemption; the capability of the U.S. military to take action against Iran; the extent to which the U.N. Charter would allow a U.S. preemptive strike, or military action by any country, in the absence of Security Council authorization; and the various actions that countries other than the U.S. might take in confronting a nuclear Iran.




Seymour Hersh was the keynote speaker at the afternoon session where, immediately after he spoke, there was a subsequent panel discussion about U.S. options titled: From Preemptive Military Action to Diplomacy and the Use of Sanctions. A hypothetical situation was proposed in which the U.S. and the global community learn that Iran has developed weapons-grade nuclear material, and panelists were asked to debate the range of legal and policy options that the U.S. has in confronting Iran.







The Next 815 Days

Mr. Hersh, whose article appear in the pages of the magazine The New Yorker, came to the podium with an admittedly anti-feel-good message. He began by stating the fact that there are 815 days left with President George W. Bush as president, and each day that passes is an opportrunity lost. In his words, "We have a real problem." Any plan to deal capably with a nation like Iran would have to:

- assume rationality in leadership
- assume the intelligence used has not been stovepiped or subject to manipulation
- assume good faith in leadership

The spectre of strategic disaster in Iraq overshadowed those assumptions. You could get a sense of near-complete acquiescence in that "connect" throughout Grant auditorium as Mr. Hersh stated his professional belief that, between 9/11 and the Iraq war, American leadership was taken over by what he called a "cult" of about 8 or 9 major players - all neoconservatives. He asked what happened to Congress; to our military; and to the U.S. press in those days between 9/11 and Iraq when those 8 or 9 people took over America's direction on foreign policy? When speaking about the obvious bad news coming from Iraq on a daily basis and the President's ongoing "we're winning" vibe, Hersh referred to the old Richard Pryor joke about adultery that culminated in the punch line: "Who you gonna believe? Me or your lying eyes?"


On Iraq

Mr. Hersh spoke briefly about the U.S. military Generals - some of whom he says have spoken to him off the record. Mr. Hersh said, "I hate to see bright and good Generals forced to tap dance" on Iraq. His conclusion about President Bush (to whom he refers as the worst President in recent history) is that there is nothing more dangerous for our country than a revolutionary who is incapable of changing course. Mr. Hersh firmly averred that he believes Bush is incapable. Bush has stated that he believes, in 10-20 years, history will have proven him 'right.' He likely believed in the existence of WMD in Iraq. He sees himself as a President who's 'doing the right thing.' To protect his own historic integrity, Bush thinks that he must stay the course. All that - and maybe God's talking in his ear, Mr. Hersh wryly added. Mr. Hersh strongly recommended that whatever we do, we should "take Bush literally."


There are only so many comparisons one can make between Vietnam and Iraq - two completely separate wars. Mr. Hersh applied one direct comparison, and that is that we don't "see our enemy" in Iraq, just as we didn't see them in Vietnam.

There is no current plan for an exit from Iraq. He has heard secretly from top military sources that, should things get really bad there, that the military would likely "boogie" North over the mountains into Turkey. It would be too dangerous to exit from the South.


Creating a New Caliphate

When it comes to Iran, we don't really know what Iran has in the way of nuclear weaponry. The intelligence that is available is not reliable enough to make declaratory statements with any certainty. What is certain, however, is that a cast of extremist figures in the Middle East such as Beirut's Hassan Nasrallah and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, have become political "rock stars" [My note: Compare Bill Clinton's political 'rock star' status in the U.S.]

We are, whether we admit it or not, creating another Caliphate with our foreign policy. Bush won't talk to people he doesn't like, and that bodes fatally for diplomacy. Prefacing his opinion with the hope that it does not turn out to be so, Mr. Hersh said that his instinct tells him that the U.S. will eventually use a military option to attack Iran.

Mr. Hersh believes America had much more to do with the Israel attack on Lebanon than we were led to believe and now there's a real threat to the pro-Western Lebanese political factions with Hezbollah, hurting anti-Syrian groups like March 14th who had been on the rise. He reiterated something I heard again and again at last month's Clinton Global Initiative - that the ongoing Israel/Palestine conflict is the key to the extremism in the Middle East. The only recent "progress" is that the Gaza strip has been sent back to the Stone Age. Even though many who are economically able in the Middle East are still willingly choosing to send their youth to America for a solid education, hope is diminishing in that part of the world.


The Closing Story - A Chilling Tale

Mr. Hersh finished with a chillingly compelling story about his days as a writer telling the story of the My Lai massacre - and he added that "only in America" would he get a journalistic award for a piece like that. There was a young soldier who'd participated in some of the slayings of the Vietnamese villagers and had witnessed a two-year old [a sole survivor who'd been protected by his now dead-mother] being "plugged" in the back of the head while trying to run away. That soldier came home without one of his legs - convinced that God would take retribution upon and curse all who participated in the massacre. What Mr. Hersh was leading up to was a later visit to that soldier's home - a ramshackle home in Virginia in which he lived with his mother. He had clearly not had the opportunities in life that most of the people sitting in Grant auditorium on Friday had had. The mother greeted Mr. Hersh and made a statement to the effect that when she'd sent her son away, she'd sent a soldier to Vietnam and they'd sent her home "a murderer." Imagine the remainder of that young man's life - his personal outlook and mental health.

Mr. Hersh contrasted and compared that experience with writing, some 40 years on in his illustrious career as an investigative journalist, with the story of Abu Ghraib. He spoke of photos of horrific torture obtained from the least expected of sources - a mother of a mentally depressed and struggling U.S. soldier. The gravely concerned mother had called NPR and, by chance, had been allowed to slip in her phone number over the airwaves of the radio show. The soldier involved was a daughter - a female volunteer who had come home from Iraq changed for all she'd seen and all she had done. There were photos on her personal laptop that most of us have never seen - perhaps never will see. We may remember the one now-infamous photo of the Belgian shepherd dogs being "sicced" on the naked Iraqi detainee. These photos offered to Mr. Hersh once he contacted this soldier's mother were of the same man - only in this particular series of photos, one could see that the dogs went much further. There were pictures of them tearing at the man's flesh; of his blood all over his body; of hands suturing the fresh gashes made by the attack dogs. The young soldier was finding life to be a haunting battle. She'd tattooed her body in increments, a tattoo here one day - a tattoo there the next day - from her legs all the way up to her neck - almost as if, according to her mother, she'd wished she could completely "change her skin." Mr. Hersh's point was that we are just beginning to see the effects of mental illness on the troops coming back from Iraq.