Sold Out In America

All you folks who have a big list of peace patriots need to swing into ACTION!!!

This weasel, Lieberman, will gather up the turn-coat Blue Dog Dems, add in the Repubs and spineless Dems and pass this HORRIFYING amendment authorizing an attack on Iran!!!

WE must STOP HIM and do it NOW!!! Please send this out. Everyone must help.

Call Toll Free 800 828-0498, 800 614 2803 or 866 340 9281


Please call.
And if you forward this (which I hope you will), please remove all email addresses
Thanks,
Ellen and use "bcc" to protect the people in your address book from receiving additional spam.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: URGENT Phone Action: Lieberman Trying to SNEAK Iran War Declaration Through The Senate
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:44:20 -0800
From: The Pen <democracy@peaceteam.net>
To:


CALL YOUR SENATORS RIGHT NOW AND
DEMAND THEY VOTE DOWN THE

LIEBERMAN-KYL AMENDMENT

In case you thought it was just an aberrant moment of lunacy last week when Lieberman pressed General Petraeus for an attack on Iran, just before the weekend he introduced an amendment to the defense bill to authorize exactly that. No, we are not kidding. He has drafted language that any impartial observer would interpret as a DECLARATION OF WAR against Iran, and he is pressing for a vote as fast as possible.

Call Toll Free 800 828-0498, 800 614 2803 or 866 340 9281

ACTION PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/no_iran_war_declaration.php Here is the language from the amendment:

(3) that it should be the policy of the United States to combat,
contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing
influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;

(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies.

The policy of the U.S should be to "combat" Iran with "all" "military instruments"?!? You can be absolutely certain that those are the ONLY words Dick Cheney and George Bush will see or care about.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/no_iran_war_declaration.php

We need every warm body we can muster to call and email their senators RIGHT NOW, before they pull another fast one and sneak this one through in the dead of the night. Call them toll free at 800 828-0498, 800 614 2803 or 866 340 9281, and the submit the action form below to make sure your message gets through.

Just yesterday, Newsweek reported that Cheney had recently made overtures to Israel to get them to launch an attack against Iran, to try to provoke an all out conflagration. It seems every day there is a new story leaked about their aggressive preparations for The Debacle, Part 2. And, just as in the lead up to the Iraq invasion, they will keep lying, lying and lie some more about their intentions until they've shot off every cruise missile in the military inventory.

We need your voice, and the voices of everyone else you know, and we need them now. We need to absolutely flood the Capitol with phone calls and email. Please believe your voice counts. Please believe that when enough of us raise our voices together at one time they do have an impact.

Cheney and his minions are absolutely not going to stop pushing for an even bigger disaster unless we stop them by speaking out with a louder voice. So we cannot let up ourselves, even for an instant.

AND IF YOU LIKE KUCINICH or RICHARDSON ON THE ISSUES LET THEM KNOW

We would be remiss not to ask who other than Dennis Kucinich AND Bill Richardson have shown more courage to speak out against the Iraq disaster before it even started? If you are asking yourself what you can do to encourage Bill and Dennis to continue to stand strong on the ISSUES, why not make a
contribution, if you are so motivated.

Bill RICHARDSON CONTRIBUTIONS:
https://secure.actblue.com/con.....richardson

DENNIS KUCINICH CONTRIBUTIONS:
http://www.usalone.com/donations_kucinich.php

Please take action NOW. We can win this one!
Just do it, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at
http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

Men Are Only Good
When They Die
From War

Men have hands
But cannot touch
Arms
But cannot hold
Hearts
But cannot feel
For this
They are bad
Men are only good
When they die
From War
For this reason
No boy will ever strive to be a passionate man
Rather
Boys
Play war

By: Roger Harkness
The Okcitykid

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15847.htm

A Young Marine Speaks Out
By Philip Martin

12/08/06 "Lew Rockwell" --- I'm sick and tired of this patriotic, nationalistic and fascist crap. I stood through a memorial service today for a young Marine that was killed in Iraq back in April. During this memorial a number of people spoke about the guy and about his sacrifice for the country. How do you justify 'sacrificing' your life for a war which is not only illegal, but is being prosecuted to the extent where the only thing keeping us there is one man's power, and his ego. A recent Marine Corps intelligence report that was leaked said that the war in the al-Anbar province is unwinnable. It said that there was nothing we could do to win the hearts and minds, or the military operations in that area. So I wonder, why are we still there? Democracy is not forced upon people at gunpoint. It's the result of forward thinking individuals who take the initiative and risks to give their fellow countrymen a better way of life.

When I joined I took an oath. In that oath I swore to protect the Constitution of the United States. I didn't swear to build democracies in countries on the other side of the world under the guise of "national security." I didn't join the military to be part of an Orwellian ("1984") war machine that is in an obligatory war against whoever the state deems the enemy to be so that the populace can be controlled and riled up in a pro-nationalistic frenzy to support any new and oppressive law that will be the key to destroying the enemy. Example given – the Patriot Act. So aptly named, and totally against all that the constitution stands for. President Bush used the reactionary nature of our society to bring our country together and to infuse into the national psyche a need to give up their little-used rights in the hope to make our nation a little safer. The same scare tactics he used to win elections. He drones on and on about how America and the world would be a less safe place if we weren't killing Iraqis, and that we'd have to fight the terrorists at home if we weren't abroad. In our modern day emotive society this strategy (or strategery?) works, or had worked, up until last month's elections.

My point in this; to show that America was never nationalistic. If anything they were Statalistic (giving their allegiance to the state of their residence). This is shown in the fact that the founders created states with fully capable and independent governments and not provinces that were just a division of the federal government. These men believed that America was a place where imperialistic values would be non-existent. Where the people trying to make their lives better by working hard, thinking, inventing and using the free market would tie up so much of normal life that imperialistic colonization and the fighting of wars thousands of miles away for interests that are not our own would be avoided. They believed this expansion of power could be left to the European nations, the England, France and Spain of their time. However this recent, and current influx of nationalistic feeling has created an environment where giving up your rights, going to a foreign country to fight a people who did not ask for us to be there, nor did their leader do anything to warrant us being there, and dying would be considered honorable and heroic. I don't believe it anymore. I don't believe it's right for any American to go along with it anymore. Yes I know that we in the military are bound by the UCMJ and somehow don't fall under the Constitution (the very thing we're suppose to be defending) but sooner or later there is a decision that every American soldier, marine, airmen and seamen makes to allow themselves to be sent to a war that is against every fiber this country was founded on. I know that when April rolls around I will be thinking long and hard on that decision. Even though we in the military are just doing as we're told we still have the moral and ethical obligation to choose to do as we're told, or to say, "No, that isn't right." I believe that if more troopers like me and the professional military, the officers and commanders, start standing up and saying that they won't let themselves or their troops go to this illegal war people will start standing up and realizing what the heck is going on over there.

The sad fact of the matter is that we are not fighting terrorists in Iraq. We are fighting the Iraqi people who feel like a conquered and occupied people. Personally I have a hard time believing that if I was an Iraqi that I wouldn't be doing everything in my power to kill and maim as many Americans as possible. I know that the vast majority of Americans would not be happy with the Canadian government, or any other foreign government, liberating us from the clutches of George W. Bush, even though a large number of us would like that, and forcing us to accept their system of government. Would not millions of Americans rise up and fight back? Would you not rise up to protect and defend your house and your neighborhood if someone invaded your country? But we send thousands of troops to a foreign country to do just that. How is it moral to fight a people who are just trying to defend their homes and families? I think next time I go to Iraq perhaps I should wear a bright red coat and carry a Brown Bess instead of my digitalized utilities and M16.

Notice I never once used the word homeland in any of this. I have a secondary point I want to bring up now. Never once was the term homeland ever used to describe the country of America until Mr. Bush began the department of homeland security after the 9/11 attacks. Taking a 20th century history class will teach us that the most notable countries in the last century that referred to their country in this way were Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Hitler used the term fatherland to drum up support, nationalistic support, for his growing war machine. He used the nationalism he created in the minds of the Germans to justify the sacrifice of their livelihood to build the war machine to get back their power from the oppressive restrictions the English and French had put on them at Versailles. This is the same feeling that has been virulently infecting the American psyche in the last hundred years. This is the same feeling that consoles a mother after her son is killed in an attempt to prosecute an aggressor's war 10,000 miles away. It's also known as Patriotism these days, but I say, "No more." No more nationalistic inanity, no more passing it off as patriotism. Patriotism is learning, and educating oneself to understand what their country really stands for.

I heard a lot during the memorial service about how the dead Marine did so much good for others and how his helping others was like a little microcosm of America helping because we have the power to do so. Well if we have the power to help people why aren't we helping in Darfur where hundreds of thousands of people have died in the last 10 years. Saddam was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 143 Shiites who conspired to assassinate him. (I know all you "patriotic" Americans would be calling for the heads of anyone who conspired to assassinate supreme leader Bush). And yet we spend upwards of 1 trillion dollars and nearing 3,000 lives to help these Iraqis when they don't even want us there. Not to mention we don't have the legal justification to be there. I guess we should wait around for the omnipotent W Bush to decide who we should use our superpowerdom to help next. It's about time to throw him and the rest of the fascists out. Moreover it's about time to start educating Americans about their past and history, and letting them know that imperialistic leaders are not what the founders of this great country wanted.

Philip Martin <grimmythedog@netscape.net> has been a Marine for 2 years. He is in the infantry (a "grunt"), and spent 7 months in the al-Anbar province of Iraq. He went on more than 180 combat patrols in and outside of the city of Fallujah, where he was hit with 2 IEDs (luckily never injured) and was involved in a number of firefights. He is currently stationed in Twentynine Palms, CA, and due to return to Iraq for a second deployment in April 2007. He is 21-years-old.

In war, torture happens, it always has - the historian only dare whisper it. But this is far worse, this is torture sanctioned by our own government? How outrageous is that?

But then, this is a war WE STARTED, isn't that outrageous?

I served my country for 14 years, but I wouldn't ask a soul to sacrifice 10 seconds for this (no longer America).

I wish that our fore fathers would return to haunt this White House as the blood of hundreds of thousands runs down her face.

Written to Veterans for Peace
______________________________

I was thrilled yesterday to wake to an email from Micah. The last correspondence I had from him was the email on Dec. 26. Then 2 guys in his battalion were killed and one wounded on the 27th (the wounded soldier has since passed away from his injuries). All communications were shut down until notification of their deaths by the Army to their families....but still no word from Micah. I knew that he would contact us as soon as he could...but that didn't make the waiting any easier.

He emailed yesterday to reassure me that he was "fine"....which of course I was glad to hear. Then he called me later in the day..... It was wonderful to hear his voice....be able to talk to him. I asked him about the incident that ended those 3 guys lives.....ages 26, 23, and 20. He said he hadn't planned on telling me about it, but then knew that I already knew about it...aware that I had received the email from the military explaining why we may not be hearing from our soldiers. I asked him if he knew what happened....he hesitantly told me....."Yes".....he was there when it happened! That....I wasn't prepared for. He wanted to spare me the details....but Micah and I can and do talk very frankly about everything.....I knew he needed to talk to someone about it....so I told him not to hold anything back. I told him I already know he is in harms way, I know there are horrible things going on there....things I can't even imagine.....but I wanted to know....and I wanted him to be able to talk about it with me.

He said it was their first mission since arriving in Baghdad. A group of them had to walk through a field to a "destination". He said just in front of him....about 100 yards was an explosion. Someone had stepped on a buried mine that exploded.....they were walking in a mine field! He said nothing was left....except an arm....a leg.....fingers..... They continued walking....then a second explosion.....the next two victims. They radioed for a helicopter that was not to come. So they were instructed to turn back and walk BACK thru the field......9 hours they walked......4 1/2 one way....4 1/2 back....nothing accomplished.....3 lives lost.

The tension and fear that your next step, placement of your foot would be you.....your friend at any moment..... This is our war.......... Why not take a high school class out on the edge of the expressway and have them run back and forth....who gets hit does...who's lucky enough not to....well is just lucky. It was horrifying knowing he witnessed it, knowing he was filled with fear and images that will stay with him forever.

I asked him about the Iraqis.....the Iraqi soldiers he was with. "Their crazy" was his reply. He said that morning a dog was running down the street and an Iraqi man beat it to death with a shovel then threw it on the side of the road. He said, "That's normal here."

I immediately knew when I started talking to him that he had a cold.....he said, "Yeah, I do, but I'm ok." I asked if he was eating good....what did they have for them to eat?....American food....Iraqi food? He said they get ONE meal a day. A "meal" that is either a 6 inch cold pizza, or well, he had 5 cold chicken wings one day, oh and a hotdog one day....well a lone hotdog....no bun. One meal a day!!! Prisoners in this country are required to receive 3 full meals a day in prison or it's infringing on their rights??!!!

He said they have 2 microwave ovens that are broken and a toaster oven that doesn't work well....the government is apparently spoiling them! Our sons and daughters are in the U.S. military.....fighting for our country.....have committed no crimes and this is what they feed them??? It's like the Twilight Zone or some parallel universe.....a bad dream that upon waking makes no real sense....He took his first shower yesterday.....his first since Dec. 20. That was good he said.

The Army is wondering why no one wants to join??? Why no one wants to go back???

Are the American people really that dense to think that we are doing the right thing.....doing good? The government wants to spin this into that they're protecting us from terrorists.....payback for 9/11. Osama Bin Ladin is no where near Iraq! So is anyone on his trail?

I know they're in harms way.....thousands of miles away from home and family but can they for God's sake treat them better than a prisoner....than an animal? You mistreat an animal in this country and all kinds of organizations are on your back.....you go to jail. Our government is mistreating our soldiers and we stand back and watch......well not really because we don't see THIS on the news. We only see what they want us to see.

Most of the guys that joined were promised to be able to go to college....on the government...and could start even while in the military. Micah was included in this group. He was met with....you don't have time for college you can go when you get out. But....our prisoners are receiving college degrees while serving their sentences!

Is it me or is it just backwards?? Micah is already skinny as a rail.....how do they expect a 20 yr old boy to live on what they are feeding them? Guess it doesn't matter much....why waste food on people you make walk thru mine fields? Doesn't this sound a little like the Holocaust? So.....Micah says....he's "ok". I'm sorry to vent but THIS HAS TO STOP!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!

Email, write, call your congressmen, state representatives....etc. Go to some of the websites I have listed below....read the stories of the people....one after another..... I will email the links again to find your state officials. EDUCATE YOURSELF!! I don't want to wait over the next year for a knock at my door....and I don't want one more mother, wife, family member to either. These Iraqi people apparently have no regard for life.....theirs, their women and children, ours, even animals. WHY ARE WE THERE??

And I voted for Bush.....TWICE! You don't see the Bush twins in Iraq.....no manicures or shopping sprees. Don't want to ruin your day.....just want to get you thinking.....and MAD!!!

Send what you can to our troops....they definitely need it...apparently especially FOOD!!! Please feel free to forward this email to anyone and everyone you can! I feel helpless.....I want to jump on a plane like that 16 yr old from Florida and grab my son and bring him home.....

PLEASE VISIT THESE WEBSITES:
http://www.bringthemhomenow.org
http://www.stopthelie.com
http://www.unitedforpeace.org

Gold Star Families for Peace:
http://www.gsfp.org

Military Families Speak Out:
http://www.mfso.org
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/casualties/facesofthefallen.htm

WHERE TO SEND PACKAGES TO OTHER SOLDIERS:
http://www.anysoldier.com
http://www.give2thetroops.org
http://www.treatanysoldier.comShe believed a lie and discovered it was a lie and her son was the sacrifice of that lie, anyway, any parent would understand, me, I don't know, I'd be tearing the wall paper off my wall. In America we are responsible for our government - kind of, until they gave it to corporate America - but we have to try and do what we can.