"The Road to Coverup Is the Road to Ruin"

[Joyce in the mts.]

Senator Byrd takes Mr. Bush to task:

..."This is the kind of pumped up intelligence and outrageous rhetoric that were given to the American people to justify war with Iraq. This is the same kind of hyped evidence that was given to Congress to sway its vote for war on October 11, 2002.

We hear some voices say, but why should we care? After all, the United States won the war, didn't it? Saddam Hussein is no more; he is either dead or on the run. What does it matter if reality does not reveal the same grim picture that was so carefully painted before the war? So what if the menacing characterizations that conjured up visions of mushroom clouds and American cities threatened with deadly germs and chemicals were overdone? So what?

Mr. President, our sons and daughters who serve in uniform answered a call to duty. They were sent to the hot sands of the Middle East to fight in a war that has already cost the lives of 194 Americans, thousands of innocent civilians, and unknown numbers of Iraqi soldiers. Our troops are still at risk. Hardly a day goes by that there is not another attack on the troops who are trying to restore order to a country teetering on the brink of anarchy. When are they coming home?"

More here:

http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_speeches...ne_list_1.html

Enjoy!...Joyce in the mts.

[Marg of Arabia]

The whole speech is wonderful!! Here is a kick-ass paragraph from it:

"The face of Osama bin Laden morphed into that of Saddam Hussein. President Bush carefully blurred these images in his State of the Union Address. Listen to this quote from his State of the Union Address: "Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans – this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known." [State of the Union, 1/28/03, pg 7] Judging by this speech, not only is the President confusing al Qaeda and Iraq, but he also appears to give a vote of no-confidence to our homeland security efforts. Isn't the White House, the brains behind the Department of Homeland Security? Isn't the Administration supposed to be stopping those vials, canisters, and crates from entering our country, rather than trying to scare our fellow citizens half to death about them?"



Thanks, Joyce in the Mts!

[frogertgrl]

I would like Byrd to adopt me and family, please.

He continues to challenge without fear, it seems, and I am so very grateful.

I never want him to be gone from the planet. Especially not in these corrupt days!

Thank you again, Joyce.

[steph]

why doesn't byrd run for prez?

[Devi]

2 short footnotes

Q~Why is the myth perpetuated that Democrats don't stand up/ aren't speaking out against this administration?

A~The mass media ignores those that do, and there are plenty.

Q~Why doesn't Byrd run for prez?

A~I dunno, but I think....b/c he was a member of the KKK when he was quite young. As you can see he has 'redeemed' himself, but I don't think he could shake that mistake, KWIM? I asked that question too, when I saw his many wonderful speeches, and thats the only reason I can think of??? :

Carry on, back to 'serenity' and my mothering break .... ahhhhhh !

Thanks Joyce for the great links again!!!

[sohj]

Re: 2 short footnotes

Originally posted by Devi
....b/c he was a member of the KKK when he was quite young. As you can see he has 'redeemed' himself, but I don't think he could shake that mistake, KWIM? ...

You know, that thing in particular is one of the things I like about him. He admited he had been stupid and HAD CHANGED HIS OUTLOOK and has lived a very different life than he would have if he hadn't seen the error of his ways.

[dfoy]

Read this earlier today and thought the whole speech was excellent. I wish there were more like him to speak out.

I particularly liked this:

Although some timorous steps have been taken in the past few days to begin a review of this intelligence - I must watch my terms carefully, for I may be tempted to use the words "investigation" or "inquiry" to describe this review, and those are terms which I am told are not supposed to be used - the proposed measures appear to fall short of what the situation requires. We are already shading our terms about how to describe the proposed review of intelligence: cherry-picking words to give the American people the impression that the government is fully in control of the situation, and that there is no reason to ask tough questions. This is the same problem that got us into this controversy about slanted intelligence reports. Word games. Lots and lots of word games.

Well, Mr. President, this is no game. For the first time in our history, the United States has gone to war because of intelligence reports claiming that a country posed a threat to our nation. Congress should not be content to use standard operating procedures to look into this extraordinary matter. We should accept no substitute for a full, bipartisan investigation by Congress into the issue of our pre-war intelligence on the threat from Iraq and its use.

[Els' 3 Ones]

and don't forget Congressman Kuncinich who has put forth House Resolution 260 which asks:

Requesting the President to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution documents or other materials in the President's possession relating to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

He has 41 co-sponsors thus far............

HS 260


El