Ministry of Propaganda

Happy Friday.

On April 22, 2004, Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. Tillman was a football star at Arizona State University, chosen Pac-10 defensive player of the year in 1997, and selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL draft. He rejected the Cardinals’ offer of a three year, $3.6 million contract extension to join the Army in June 2002, hoping to fight Al Queda.

After his death, the current administration regaled him as a hero capitalizing on the loss to propagandize its campaigns in Afghanistan -- and Iraq.

It was a lie.

In "Family Demands the Truth, New inquiry may expose events that led to Pat Tillman’s death," investigative journalist Robert Collier of the San Francisco Chronicle exposes a military campaign on American soil to preserve Tillman's status as an American hero -- while denying Tillman's opposition to the current administration and his family's desperate efforts to learn the truth.

Originally stationed in Iraq, Tillman let his true feelings be known: "'I can see it like a movie screen,' [Spc. Russell] Baer said. 'We were outside of (a city in southern Iraq) watching as bombs were dropping on the town. We were at an old air base, me, Kevin [Tillman's brother] and Pat, we weren’t in the fight right then. We were talking. And Pat said, 'You know, this war is so f— illegal.' And we all said, 'Yeah.' That’s who he was. He totally was against Bush.'"

Frustrated and despondent, Tillman's family continues to seek answers:

"'There have been so many discrepancies so far that it’s hard to know what to believe,' Mary Tillman said. 'There are too many murky details.' ... On her copies [of military reports], Mary Tillman has added competing marks and scrawls — countless color-coded tabs and angry notes such as 'Contradiction!' 'Wrong!' and '????'"

"'The administration clearly was using this case for its own political reasons,' said the father, Patrick Tillman. 'This cover-up started within minutes of Pat’s death, and it started at high levels. This is not something that (lower-ranking) people in the field do,' he said."

Journalist Collier exposes the lies:

• Conflicting testimony. In his Nov. 14, 2004, interrogation, the first investigator expressed frustration with “watching some of these guys getting off, what I thought … was a lesser of a punishment than what they should’ve received. And I will tell you, over a period of time … the stories have changed. They have changed to, I think, help some individuals.”


• Commanders’ accountability. According to the documents and interviews, Capt. William Saunders, to whom platoon leader Uthlaut had protested splitting his troops, was allowed to change his testimony over a crucial detail — whether he had reported Uthlaut’s dissent to a higher ranking commander. In initial questioning, Saunders said he had done so, but when that apparently was contradicted by that commander’s testimony, Saunders was threatened with perjury charges. He was given immunity and allowed to change his prior testimony.


• Inaccurate information. While the military code gives clear guidance for informing family members upon a soldier’s death when cases are suspected of being a result of friendly fire, that procedure was not followed in the Tillman case. After Tillman’s death, the Army gave conflicting and incorrect descriptions of the events.


• Legal liability. In testimony on Nov. 14, the officer who conducted the first investigation said that he thought some Rangers could have been charged with “criminal intent,” and that some Rangers committed “gross negligence.” The legal difference between the two terms is roughly similar to the distinction between murder and involuntary manslaughter.

As a result of his family's persistence, the military has now launched a fourth probe into Tillman's death, nearly 18 months later. They may never learn the truth. To the current administration's relief, the American public won't either, and sadly doesn't care.

Me, First

Happy Friday.

The current administration -- belatedly awaking to the reality that the government has obligations to Americans, too -- is seeking $200 billion in budget cuts to contribute to the Katrina relief effort. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) already has rejected the repeal of 6,000 pet projects (e.g. pork) worth $24 billion. Included among them is a $500 million Hastert-sponsored transportation project to widen roads in his suburban Chicago district and to fund a bicycle path and a sidewalk.

Such misplaced priorities are not surprising. For the current administration, the real tragedy of Katrina was not the staggering loss of life or the creation of tens of thousands of American "refugees" -- it was the interference with the Congressional agenda. The week Katrina hit, the Senate was to consider legislation to make repeal of the estate tax permanent. The measure (H.R. 8) already passed the House on April 13, 2005.

Remarkably, however, "[c]omplete repeal of the estate tax would reduce federal revenues by $290 billion over the first five years, according to one of Congress's most conservative estimates."

"The estate tax, the most progressive American tax, is paid only by the very wealthy. The top 5% of taxpayers pay almost 99% of estate taxes, and the top tenth of 1% of taxpayers pay more than 33%. The vast majority of Americans are already exempt from the estate tax. As a result, they will receive no benefit at all from making the repeal permanent."

So why do republicans continue to insist on the repeal of a tax that affects just 5% of the most wealthy members of society and generates 33% more revenue than is being sought for the Katrina relief effort?

Greed.

According to the Fact Sheet issued by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Ca), the President, Vice President, and the Cabinet are estimated to receive a total tax benefit of between $91 million and $344 million if the estate tax repeal is made permanent.

W, whose estimated worth is between $3 million and $12.9 million, will save between $787,193 and $6.2 million. Cheney, whose estimated worth is between $23.9 million and $111.3 million (ticker symbol: HAL), will save between $12.6 million and $60.7 million.

To be fair, the current administration is showing some concern for those whose lives were destroyed by Katrina. The conservative Heritage Foundation, which has been helping Karl Rove develop the administration's recovery plan, wants to exempt from the estate tax anyone killed by Katrina with a net worth of $1.5 million or more. Not surprisingly, so far they haven't been able to find anyone who fits that description...

A Presidency Defined

Happy Friday.

From Rueters: U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005.

World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's vision of freedom from want, persecution and war.

W has other priorities in mind.

Death by Arrogance

Happy Friday.

George W. Bush, a president who campaigned (based on his own vice-president’s representation) on the premise that electing John Kerry would threaten our nation’s security. George W. Bush, a president who campaigned on the promise that he could better protect America. George W. Bush, a president who insisted during the debates that he had not made a single mistake his first term in office. (Perhaps, just for the sake of humility and respect for those lost, he could have at least said, “I wish I had done more to prevent 9/11.”)

The current administration is so arrogant that it actually blamed people for not leaving New Orleans before the hurricane -- without any appreciation for the fact that many had nowhere to go and no way to get there.

Death by Arrogance: 9/11. Afghanistan. Iraq. Madrid. London. New Orleans.

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC, disgusted by events, shared this:

But, nationally, these are leaders who won re-election last year largely by portraying their opponents as incapable of keeping the country safe. These are leaders who regularly pressure the news media in this country to report the reopening of a school or a power station in Iraq, and defy its citizens not to stand up and cheer. Yet they couldn’t even keep one school or power station from being devastated by infrastructure collapse in New Orleans ­ even though the government had heard all the “chatter” from the scientists and city planners and hurricane centers and some group whose purposes the government couldn't quite discern... a group called The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. … And most chillingly of all, this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection; or at least amelioration ­ against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological. … It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water.

My friend Mike Rogers drafted an email as an outlet for his rage, from which I excerpt:

Various images -- many of which mean nothing out of context -- are haunting me. Crying children missing only pot bellies and flies around their heads; seas of poor black people stranded and abandoned in a city of the old south; police with fear on the faces; Bush looking and sounding scared, drunk or on the verge of mental collapse as he stood next to his dad and Clinton -- each of whom looked very “presidential” -- in the Oval Office yesterday; a dead woman in a wheelchair with a blanket tossed over her; gas lines straight out of 1974; the head of FEMA lying like a criminal on CNN last night. I can’t take it.

And it gets worse. The timeline of events surrounding the destruction defines an administration replete with arrogance leading to incompetence. Some lowlights:

Sunday, August 28 -- Katrina is upgraded to a category 5 hurricane.

AFTERNOON — BUSH, BROWN, CHERTOFF WARNED OF LEVEE FAILURE BY NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER DIRECTOR: Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center: “‘We were briefing them way before landfall. … It’s not like this was a surprise. We had in the advisories that the levee could be topped.’” [Times-Picayune; St. Petersburg Times]

Monday, August 29 -- New Orleans Mayor Nagin reports water is flowing over the levee.

MORNING — BUSH CALLS SECRETARY CHERTOFF TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION: “I spoke to Mike Chertoff today — he’s the head of the Department of Homeland Security. I knew people would want me to discuss this issue [immigration], so we got us an airplane on — a telephone on Air Force One, so I called him. I said, are you working with the governor? He said, you bet we are.” [White House]

MORNING – BUSH SHARES BIRTHDAY CAKE PHOTO-OP WITH SEN. JOHN MCCAIN [White House]

10AM — BUSH VISITS ARIZONA RESORT TO PROMOTE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “This new bill I signed says, if you’re a senior and you like the way things are today, you’re in good shape, don’t change. But, by the way, there’s a lot of different options for you. And we’re here to talk about what that means to our seniors.” [White House]

2PM — BUSH TRAVELS TO CALIFORNIA SENIOR CENTER TO DISCUSS MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “We’ve got some folks up here who are concerned about their Social Security or Medicare. Joan Geist is with us. … I could tell — she was looking at me when I first walked in the room to meet her, she was wondering whether or not old George W. is going to take away her Social Security check.” [White House]

9PM — RUMSFELD ATTENDS SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL GAME: Rumsfeld “joined Padres President John Moores in the owner’s box…at Petco Park.” [Editor & Publisher]

Tuesday, August 30 -- New Orleans and its environs are destroyed. Tens of thousands are suffering.

9AM – BUSH SPEAKS ON IRAQ AT NAVAL BASE CORONADO [White House]

3PM – PRESIDENT BUSH PLAYS GUITAR WITH COUNTRY SINGER MARK WILLIS [AP]

EVENING - BUSH RETURNS TO CRAWFORD FOR FINAL NIGHT OF VACATION [AP]

Wednesday, August 31 -- Tens of thousands are trapped in the Superdome; 80,000 are reported stranded.

PRESIDENT BUSH FINALLY ORGANIZES TASK FORCE TO COORDINATE FEDERAL RESPONSE: Bush says on Tuesday he will “fly to Washington to begin work…with a task force that will coordinate the work of 14 federal agencies involved in the relief effort.” [New York Times, 8/31/05]

8:00PM – CONDOLEEZZA RICE TAKES IN A BROADWAY SHOW: “On Wednesday night, Secretary Rice was booed by some audience members at ‘Spamalot!, the Monty Python musical at the Shubert, when the lights went up after the performance.” [New York Post, 9/2/05]

9PM — FEMA DIRECTOR BROWN CLAIMS SURPRISE OVER SIZE OF STORM: “I must say, this storm is much much bigger than anyone expected.” [CNN]
* * * *The outrage over our nation’s current leadership has been slow to reveal itself; often easily dismissed by the right as partisan criticism. Unfortunately, I am not convinced that even recent events are sufficient to convince the nation of the horrors that still lie ahead, if left unchecked.

Report From Crawford

Happy Friday.

This is as real as it gets. My ex-cousin-in-law, Elizabeth, (she's very cool and I'm honored to know her and thrilled to share this) is a freelance writer who recently returned from the protest in Crawford; which she attended with her three children. The following email has been circulated among the family. It is touching, poignant, and honest.

For most of us, the war is nothing more than a distant thought. For those protesting in Crawford, and elsewhere around the world, it is an unexplained, inexcusable travesty that inflicts daily suffering.

Her email tells a story few of us know, and all of us need to hear. Thanks, Elizabeth.
-----------------------
Hello Everyone,

I know this is long--feel free to skip it if it doesn't interest you!

Peace, Elizabeth

I returned early this morning from Crawford, Texas, where I brought my kids to protest Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive strike and this war of aggression he is waging in Iraq. We camped at the Crawford Peace House(http://crawfordpeace.nfshost.com/), a house bought by two men in 2003 with enough foresight to see that Crawford--Bush's hometown-- needed a home devoted to peace. By the time we arrived, on Saturday, August 27 and the 20th or so day of Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside the Bush ranch, the peace house was filled with volunteers, staff, and visitors from around the world.

And what did I learn from my summer vacation? That our peace movement is HUGE, folks. We are huge. Bush has less and less support for his illegal war. There were THOUSANDS of us in Crawford, and a few dozen Bush supporters. Remember this as you make your plans to protest in DC in September!

Like us, people had arrived to protest the Bush regime. By that time, I had realized that Bush was not going to meet with Cindy and explain why her son had to die. Bush had told her in the past that her son died for a noble cause, and people were wearing t-shirts that read, "What noble cause did my son die for?" By the time we arrived, I knew Bush wouldn't meet with her or bother trying to explain the noble cause for which Cindy's son--and over 1600 other American troops--have died for. Most of us know by now that it was all a pack of lies--fixed intelligence reports and faulty "evidence" skewed to meet Bush's agenda of ousting Saddam and taking over an oil-rich country in the Middle East.

So, I didn't go in the hopes that a larger presence of supporters would "encourage" Bush to meet with Cindy. I went because it was the last weekend in Crawford, and there was a big protest planned. I went because I am sick and tired of Bush's rhetoric and pissed off as hell that he's on vacation while thousands of people in Iraq are dying. I went because Karl Rove continues to do God knows what in the Oval Office while the Saint Patrick's Four are facing prison time. And I went because I wanted to support Cindy when her detractors showed up, which they did--small in number though they were.

Some of her detractors were lined up outside a general store in Crawford called the Yellow Rose--a store with two large stone monuments out front with the ten commandments carved in them. Others were lined up alongside Camp Casey I, the place where Cindy first plunked down her lawn chair and said she wanted to meet with Bush. Camp Casey I sat alongside the road down from Bush's ranch. By the time we got there, on one side were Cindy's supporters with tables, information, tents and a small food prep area. The other side of the road were Bush supporters. It was pretty surreal driving through it. On one side rainbow and earth flags mixed in with American flags, a memorial of white crosses, and an eclectic mix of activists mobilizing against the war. On the other side, neat rows of American flags, mixed in with "W" signs and "Bush Country" signs. Okay, so maybe they were a bit tidier, but they couldn't bother spelling Cindy's name right. One big sign said "Cindi Doesn't Speak for Me." Cops had come and negotiated a "truce" of sorts with the two groups--in exchange for "peace" they weren't allowed to interact with each other. At least that's what I heard. That's really too bad, as open communication can always enhance understanding. But I imagine that emotions were also flaring and the cops wanted to avoid a scene or possible violence.

Many of Cindy's detractors called themselves the "Cindy Doesn't Speak for Me" caravan. They were also parents who have lost sons or daughters in Iraq, but they support the war. I chose not to interact with these people. They also brought their kids and sat outside in the Texas heat to exercise their first amendment rights, and I just didn't have the energy or desire to speak with them. They want so badly to feel that their children's lives were not wasted, and it's so emotionally charged that I didn't think I could get into a conversation with any of them without inadvertently causing more pain. The truth is, their children's lives were NOT wasted. We were all there to honor them. But what they died for is not a noble cause; they died for a lie. So I just waved and held up the peace sign. I did have to laugh at one of their banners--We Will Prevail, We Will Not Fail, We Will Fight Evil. It's at best a bit optimistic. I mean, yeah, we'll win this war against evil right after President Bush invites me over for birthday cake. So, I avoided them in order to avoid asking, "how many of "them" do we have to kill before "evil" is gone from this earth and all that's left are God-fearing Americans sucking up oil for their Hummers?"

So we moved on to Camp Casey II, where we spent the majority of our time. CCII was a huge tent set up about a mile or so away from Bush's ranch. The tent was industrial sized and large enough for a stage, chairs in front of the stage, a circle of chairs behind that, and a couple dozen round tables for eating and relaxing. Banners hung from all the sides, and there were more tables on the sides with info from the various groups there. Groups represented included Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families For Peace (co-founded by Cindy), Code Pink, Iraq Veterans For Peace, Vietnam Veterans For Peace, and many others. An industrial sized kitchen was set up and volunteers cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for thousands of people every day.

While I was there, visitors to CCII included Al Sharpton and Martin Sheen. They were both great speakers with a lot to say for the cause of peace. The Burns Sisters from Ithaca sang some songs, and many others played music, or spoke about why they were there. I attended a press conference with Cindy and asked her about mothers getting involved in the peace and justice movement. She expressed regret at not having told Casey that his government could misuse and abuse him, and that it was crucial that all mothers tell their children these things.

On Sunday, Working Assets had organized a rose drive, and 4500 roses were trucked in for a memorial ceremony. After the interfaith mass on Sunday morning, family member of the fallen, as well as activists present, placed roses on all the white crosses outside of the tent. It was a rather solemn event with many people shedding tears for the immense loss of human life--loss compounded by the realization that these people were sent to kill and die for a bunch of lies.

I met a man, Juan, whose son was killed in Afghanistan. His son was a CPA and on the reserves when he was called to Afghanistan. They gave him an office job but the office was raided and all 8 military personnel on duty were shot in the head. The Pentagon is refusing to investigate what happened. That is all Juan knows about the situation.

Another woman I spoke to, Beatrice, lost her nephew in Iraq. She held her sister's arm as they viewed her nephew's body. She said they were lucky; the coroners had managed to clean him up enough so that they could see him. Other families weren't allowed because their soldiers were too mangled. Beatrice said despite the efforts they had made to clean up her nephew you could see the pain he had suffered from the car bomb that killed him. He was 23--also a reservist.

Despite Juan and Beatrice's pain and grief, they were remarkably strong and determined, and extremely friendly and kind to my children. They gave us a ride to CCII on Sunday and kept the kids entertained by telling them jokes. Beatrice held Lily, 4, on her lap and kept telling her how beautiful she is. Juan asked Lily if she knew what cows in Texas say, and Lily answered "Moo!" "No," Juan said, "Here in Texas, they say, 'Buuuussh.'" The kids thought that was hilarious and it became the joke of the weekend.

The kids got a little loopy at the end due to extreme lack of sleep. However, I've got to hand it to them, given the intense heat, the fire ants, the tent on a bed of rocks, the hourly or so train whistles at night, trains running about 100 feet from where we were camped, the unfamiliarity of the situation, and thousands of people they've never seen before, they had a blast. Lily was going up to everyone and saying "Hi, I'm Lily. I'm 4. What's your name?" She asked everyone with a dog if she could pet their dog, and made friends with every dog owner on site. She asked a 60 year old Vietnam Vet what school he goes to. He later told me how precious she is. When she woke up from a nap on Sunday, she said to me, "Mom, we have to just think and think, even in our sleep when we dream, we have to just think and think of all those boys who died."

My son, Adrian, 7, spent a lot of time drawing and listening in to people's conversations. He placed roses on crosses and made friends with Mia--an eccentric lady from Northern California who did yoga with the kids and gave them organic chocolate drops. She sang songs with them and danced. She was right on their level. Zany and fun and free-spirited. They followed her everywhere, and Adrian adored her.

My daughter Briana, 14, mainly just absorbed the atmosphere. She helped me with the younger kids and talked to lots of people. She met some vets and was impressed with the things they had to say. She bought a Code Pink shirt and asked me to please take her to the peace march in DC in September. She had also made earrings for me as my b-day was Monday. The kids wanted to have cake, but I told them I was so happy to be in Crawford with them, doing something for the peace movement, that even without cake it was the best birthday ever. Early in the morning, as I stood in the kitchen at the Peace House, a Mexican woman named Sylvia sang a song to me in Spanish for my birthday as she made frittatas. Yummy.

We met Cindy on Monday morning. Cindy spoke mainly to Adrian. She asked him why were there and he said, "We came here to support you." He had been the most interested in meeting her; she was like a celebrity to him. She hugged him and when he told her we came all the way from Ithaca, she said, "There are so many Ithacans here, you'll have to invite me up sometime."

I met so many people and heard so many stories--too many to relate here. An Iraq vet who is now paralyzed is going on the bus tour, and also wants to ask Bush what noble cause made him paralyzed from the waist down. Other vets bravely talked about what they did in Iraq and how they came to the realization that this war is wrong. Very moving people. I wanted to hug each and every one of them.

The trip ended in a hard way for me--I woke up before dawn on Tuesday with nausea, vertigo and an intense splitting headache. After vomiting several times, I got to pack up my tent and all our things in the intense heat, drive 2 hours to Austin, fly 3 hours to Chicago, lose my cell phone in the O'Hare airport (but find it after running about two miles back to where I'd lost it), fly 2 hours to Rochester, and then drive two hours home in the pouring rain at 10:00 at night, all with a chatty 4 year old who kept asking me what cows say in Texas. I was pretty damn tired. But we did it, we made it, and I don't think any of my kids will ever forget it.

Peace to you all,
Elizabeth

P.S. I was able to go thanks to Back to Democracy in Ithaca, and support from my ex-husband, Adam, and his dad, Burt. Thanks guys!