An American Consideration

By Monica Benderman

Dear Rose – thank you for writing. 

This war is madness there is no doubt.  The fact is it is only real for those with a direct connection to it - family serving, serving themselves or those having served in past wars who remember.  For so many Americans it's simply something they hear about on the evening news.  I don't think those Americans will ever fully comprehend the significance of what they have continued to allow to happen - not even when the service members have all come home. 

When I walk on post at Ft. Stewart it is always a somber sight to walk past the parade grounds.  Sidewalks have been built at intervals through the parade grounds.  Every sidewalk is lined on both sides with freshly planted trees, each tree circled by American flags, wrapped with yellow ribbons and marked with an engraved plaque.  Each tree represents one soldier from Ft. Stewart who has lost his life in this war – over 300 and counting.  Kevin and I have known some of them, and Kevin has been to their memorial services. 

Soldiers from Kevin's unit are friends.  They support Kevin's actions and know that he is not speaking out to disrespect their service- but because they deserve for someone who has walked in their shoes, who understands their position and their conscience to speak for them until they are ready to speak for themselves.  Not all soldiers are anti-war - Kevin is not a pacifist. He is "anti imperial war, anti war started for the preservation of oil, anti war whose sole purpose is to further the material wealth of a few selfish, power hungry elite who haven't a clue about the real humanity of the soldiers who serve."  Most soldiers would not think twice about standing on the frontlines to defend all of us if our lives were truly threatened; Kevin would be there, I would be there - I know your son and grandsons would be as well.  But this war is not that case.

It is not so difficult to keep talking - to keep working toward creating a real awareness within the American public who are not directly involved in this war.  It is not difficult to continue trying to help them understand the humanity of those who are willing to give so great a sacrifice to serve this country.  They deserve it. Kevin deserves it.  I do -our children do -- as do yours and your grandchildren. 

I think the greatest factor in allowing this war to even have started, let alone continue, is that it has been far too easy for too many Americans to lose sight of their own humanity- the real value of their lives, much less the lives of those they will never know.  People seem to have forgotten they only get one opportunity to live.  People seem to have forgotten life is something worth living, worth facing challenges for, worth taking a stand for -- but that stand should be taken by living life well, with a true respect for not only their life but also for the lives of those around them. I believe if people realized that true value - it would not be so easy to accept pulling triggers to end the life of another who might offend them or cause them to be afraid.   

Kevin often says we have sterilized war; service members no longer see the faces of those on the other side.  If we were to make it once again a human endeavor - not fought with machines, but fought with the hand-to-hand combat of human beings, he believes there would be far less war and far more conscientious thought.  He speaks from firsthand experience.  It is not so easy to kill someone when you look into their eyes and see someone just like you looking back.

Life is worth the challenge and there are so many good things in America that are worth taking a stand for by appreciating them and living for them rather than believing we should be dying for them.  What's the point in that????People give up on life too easily.  People give up on the commitment they make to preserve life and respect it; some never even make that first commitment.  People give up on facing challenges and working through them.  People are too willing to sacrifice their standards to take the easy way out of difficulties they are confronted with.

War will be over when people come to realize they have been given a mind, not simply a brain, and their mind is a far more powerful tool than any mechanized weapon they can create when it comes to solving the problems they now believe must be solved at the end of the barrel of a gun. 

War will be over when people come to realize that communication about their differences, real conversation which allows them to know each other and understand each other’s frustrations before it reaches the point of uncontrollable anger, is a tool of greater significance than the finely honed steel blade of a knife used to take the life of someone whose differences we fear.

War will be over when people come to realize that we perpetuate negative actions by emphasizing all that is negative.  We will be working toward achieving real peace when we begin to work on strengthening what is right and just rather than continuing to criticize what is wrong and unjust. 

War will be over when people come to realize the value of life, and value their own enough that they are no longer willing to allow others to make decisions on their behalf,  where the results are a violation of the sanctity of that life. 

War will be over when people come to realize that the lives of others are as significant as their own.

Life doesn’t need a bigger house, a faster car or a larger bank account to be successful.   Those are all accoutrements, nice to have and something we all have the right to work for.  But we have come to believe they are measures of success in life, while the true measures, a healthy family, a strong community, and a personal appreciation for all we have that does not require material wealth are overlooked.  It takes work to maintain the standards such measures demand, and no one seems to want to work that hard. 

I’ve seen the loss of war firsthand.  I’ve lived the sacrifice, and witnessed the heartache of others who have done and continue to do the same. 

I’ve watched tears run down the cheek of a very strong man as we stood at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – when the emotions of war and the commitment of his sacrifice, that of his father and of those he served with came together with the realization that so many in America still don’t understand what they have been given. 

I’ve watched a man hold his head high as he was led to prison for having the courage to stand for his principles and those he committed to defend – rather than succumb to the intimidation of men of higher rank who feared his deeper understanding of the value of life and the truth in the words he spoke. 

It’s not so difficult to keep hoping for peace when you know that life is worth the effort.   War will end when all people have come to understand the value of life – and find a noble defense in living it rather than in a willingness to die for it.    

Monica is the wife of Sgt. Kevin Benderman, a ten-year Army veteran who served a combat tour in Iraq and a year in prison for his public protest of war and the destruction it causes to civilians and to American military personnel. Please visit their website, www.BendermanDefense.org  to learn more.

Monica and Kevin may be reached at mdawnb@coastalnow.net



CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Ground Zero illnesses

 come back to haunt

Giuliani

By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Associate Editor

 "Online Journal" -- -- Alas, the man who is billed as 9/11’s hero, America’s sheriff, the man who would be President, is being faced today with thousands of people who worked selflessly at Ground Zero and have become ill, and are now suing the city for health damages. I wrote about their plight in a Dec, 20, 2006, Online Journal article: No money to treat 9/11 workers, $3 billion to fight Iraq?

I quoted the New York Times which said that previously “roughly $40 million that was set aside by the federal government to treat rescue workers, volunteers and firefighters who became ill after helping with the 9/11 cleanup and recovery will run out in months, physicians and federal officials said yesterday.”

The amount necessary to keep care ongoing beyond that was “$256.6 million, including $163.6 million in direct medical expenses for 19,200: $91.2 million for 9,600 patients with respiratory or digestive disorders, $58 million for 8,000 patients with 9/11 related mental illnesses and $14.4 million for 1,600 patients with musculoskeletal conditions. Medications account for more than half of the treatment cost.”

And now we find out that the major reason for the extent of harmed responders was no less than Hizzoner Rudy Giuliani himself. According to the Times’ Ground Zero Illnesses Clouding Giuliani’s Legacy, “The city ran a generally slipshod, haphazard, uncoordinated, unfocused response to environmental concerns.” This is their quote from David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, a labor group.

The Times adds “City officials and a range of medical experts are now convinced that the dust and toxic materials in the air around the site were a menace.” No kidding. Two 500,000-ton Towers were pulverized, vaporized into that mist.

“More than 2,000 New York City firefighters have been treated for serious respiratory problems. Seventy percent of nearly 10,000 recovery workers screened at Mount Sinai Medical Center have trouble breathing. City officials estimate that health care costs related to the air at ground zero have already run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and no one knows whether other illnesses, like cancers, will emerge.”

Additionally, as of May 24, 2004, the New York Times reports that For the First Time, New York Links a Death to 9/11 Dust. “In a letter made public yesterday [May 24, 2007], [New York City’s Chief Medical Examiner] Dr. [Charles S.] Hirsch said that he was certain ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ that dust from the twin towers contributed to the death of Felicia Dunn-Junes, 42, a civil rights lawyer who was engulfed on Sept 11 as she ran from her office a block away from the trade center. She later developed a serious cough and had trouble breathing, and she died five months after the terrorist attack. Her name will be added to the official list of World Trade Center victims, and the official number of people who died as a result of the attack on the twin towers will be increased to 2,750. . . .”

A mayor out of control

The first Times’ piece tells us that while “the city had a safety plan for workers, it never meaningfully enforced federal requirements that those at the site wear respirators.” It seems Hizzoner was obsessed with getting the job done post haste at any cost. One official from the Army Corps said, “Mr. Giuliani acted like a ‘benevolent dictator.”“ I would strike the benevolent from the dictator. He never let FEMA or the Army Corps take over the clean-up operation.

“The clean-up was expected to last 30 months,” according to the Times, but “the pit was cleared by June 2002, nine months after the attack.” This is not just speed. It’s the elimination of the biggest most important crime scene in American history, a crime itself, committed with a criminal intent by someone who knew better, a former US attorney, Rudy Giuliani. And what possible reason could he have had for that miscarriage of justice? Aside from getting Wall Street’s lights back on, could Giuliani have been aiding and abetting the cover-up of how and who and why the Towers went down?

Of course most of us who are reading more than the Times know it wasn’t two airliners piloted by wild-eyed Muslim terrorists that brought those buildings down. First of all none of the terrorists’ names were on the manifests. And FBI director Robert Mueller, who at first magically produced the terrorists’ names and pix, later said they could not be definitively proven to have been there, at least not like the passport of Mohamed Atta that was found in pristine condition in the massive smoldering ruin of Ground Zero. It is highly probable those planes were piloted by remote control systems that kicked in as the transponders went down.

Secondly, the ten thousand gallons of jet fuel in each plane burned up brightly and swiftly in the open air of the cool September morning. It could not and did not produce the temperatures necessary to melt the redundant steel foundations of the towers. In fact it was the rocking explosions from the very tops, down through, and from the basements of the Towers that brought the towers down. There was no pancaking of floors to slow the towers’ freefall at the speed of gravity. Thus, each massive tower went down some 1,300 feet in about 10 seconds.

Ironically, the South Tower that was hit second went down first, after burning less than half an hour. The North Tower, which was hit first, burned close to an hour and a half, and went down last. And so, could it be that the mayor’s rush to clean up was a cover-up? Did he have some foreknowledge of these strange and bizarre events?

Did Hizzoner want all evidence gone of aerosolized metals, and explosive materials like thermite, that created this carcinogenic mixture of “dust,” more like a gray sky-soup of atomized concrete, iron, plastics, wood, rubber, wire, flesh, blended into particulates, that would settle and calcify in the lungs and other body tissue? The concrete’s 200,000 gallons of water was literally vaporized. Thus, in order to understand the enormity of these explosions, read what Dr. Ed Ward, MD, reports at The Price of Liberty.org concerning The US Government’s Usage of Atomic Bombs- Domestic- WTC- . . .

“The spectrum and percentages of cancer are massive. There are at least 4 classifications of blood-cell cancers: leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s and myeloma. There are many more classifications of soft tissue cancers. There is brain cancer. There is breast cancer. For most of these there are subclassifications of many different types of specific cancer in each, so far not publicly disclosed. There are huge percentages of respiratory distress and loss of function. Multiple reports of ‘irregular cycles’ (miscarriages?). Most likely there will be several more types of cancer to follow. In particular, responders should be checked for thyroid cancer and function. There has been no noting of birth defects which also needs to be done. There is one thing and only one thing that can cause all these cancers and problems - RADIATION.”

Dr. Ward contends that “the factual evidence indicates that our government is using and has used 3rd or possibly 4th generation hydrogen bombs domestically and internationally. The evidence for international usage is not quite as strong as the domestic usage, but when domestic usage is considered, the international usage seems inescapable. The process of exclusion based on the known facts leaves only one viable option for the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) buildings—a relatively pure hydrogen bomb.” Take a look also at Dr. Ward’s Update on thermal imaging post the WTC event. It’s an eye-opener.

Did Hizzoner have foreknowledge of 9/11?

Perhaps his Hizzoner had no idea of the punch that was to be packed. Yet, somehow he knew to evacuate his headquarters on the 23rd floor of Tower Seven at 9:15 AM. He said that he was told the building was going down. Seven did not go down with the first two towers. But its owner. Lucky Larry Silverstein, had it “pulled” eight hours later by internal demolition, and it went down neatly into its footprint, and Mr. Silverstein made an instant $500 million profit on the original cost of the old Tower 7 versus the new one. As you may know, an internal demolition for a building that size takes weeks to create, not eight hours.

Also, both Giuliani and Silverstein had foreknowledge of the fact that the Twin Trade Towers were asbestos “bombs,” that is they were loaded with the lethal insulating material when they were built in the early 70s. The towers were not permitted to be leveled by internal demolition because they were part of a public trust, The Port of Authority of New York and New Jersey, established by the Rockefeller family. Nevertheless, the towers had to come down by law by about 2007. Unfortunately, they would have had to be disassembled piece by piece at a cost of some $10 billion dollars plus.

Mr. Giuliani knew all this. Mr. Silverstein knew this when he leased the buildings less than two months before 9/11. Perhaps that’s why Silverstein upped the insurance to $3.5 billion, with provision for coverage from “terror attacks.” He later tried to collect for each hit separately, which would have given him more than $7 billion. As of, March 24, 2003, the Times reports on the final settlement in Insurers Agree to Pay Billions at Ground Zero. A second contract, which provided for the double payment had not been fully completed when the acts occurred, and thus triggered the six years of litigation. Yet consider how prescient it was of Mr. Silverstein to ask for it in the first place.

This last Times article also tells us that New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer brokered the deal for the remaining seven (out of two dozen insurers) who had not already settled. Allianz Global Risks, Travelers Companies, Zurich, Swiss Re, Employers, Insurance, Industrial Risk Insurers and Royal Indemnity, agreed to pay a total of $2 billion dollars. The other insurers had already kicked in $2.55 billion, bringing the total to $4.55 billion, which will be awarded to Silverstein and the Port Authority after millions in litigation were spent.

Of this award, Silverstein will get $1.13 billion for three large office towers (Towers 2, 3, and 4), to be built on Church Street, between Vesey and Liberty Streets, on the east side of the WTC complex. The remaining $870 million will go the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which actually owns the land at ground zero and is the original builder of the WTC. The new money will go towards the building of both the $3 billion Freedom Tower, tallest and of the buildings planned to be built, and Tower 5. The insurance money will cover half of the $9 billion cost of erecting five towers, retail space and conceivably a hotel. Remember, the original down payment made by Silverstein and partners to secure the original 99 year lease of the WTC @ $120 million a year was $125 million. Of this, Silverstein’s silent partner, Lloyd Goldman put up $80 million and Lucky Larry a mere $14 million in the deal. Not a bad deal for Larry.

It is also interesting that Governor Spitzer jumped in to settle the financial morass of 9/11 insurance coverage, while he has completely ignored all the information presented to him several years ago by 9/11 scholars and scientists that prove 9/11 was an inside job. One wonders why he did not apply his formidable talents to cutting through the morass of government disinformation to get to the truth that 9/11 was an inside job, a false flag op, to go at the Muslim world. Could it be that Eliot Spitzer, the ex-lawyer/partner of the Skadden Arps corporate law firm, which was also Larry Silverstein’s firm pre-9/11 firm, as well as Hank Greenberg’s (Chairman of AIG) corporate law firm; could it be that crusader Spitzer might be unwilling to tackle some bad people?

Given these facts, plus the fact that Giuliani knew that FEMA was in town on the night of 9/10/2001, supposedly for a series of terror-hijack drills, as stated in Alex Jones and Paul Joseph Watson’s Prisonplanet.com article Wargames Were Cover For the Operational Execution of 9/11, Rudy might have had a more nefarious reason to work those deadly 24-hour shifts. That reason, as stated earlier, was clearing away evidence for any further investigation of the real perpetrators, high-ranking members of our own government, who have subsequently taken Rudy to their bosom.

Commenting on the Giuliani/Times story abouy the four large construction companies working round the clock, Charles Blaich, in charge of safety for the Fire Department at the time of 9/11 said, “They should have backed off on the night shift, when a very limited amount of work could be done.” But they (Hizzoner) didn’t. It was full steam ahead regardless of the human consequences.

“A conspiracy of purpose”

Also, in that same Times article, Suzanne Mattei, director of the New York office of the Sierra Club and a critic of how the clean up was handled, said, “I would describe it as a conspiracy of purpose. It wasn’t people running around saying, ‘Don’t do this safely.’ But there was a unified attempt to do everything as fast as possible, to get everything up and running as fast as possible. Anything in the way of that just tended to be ignored.”

I, too, would describe Giuliani’s cleanup handling as “a conspiracy of purpose,” perhaps of a much larger conspiracy with a much larger purpose: to be the Pearl Harbor of the New World Order’s hegemonic march to conquer the world, beginning with its attacks on Afghanistan and subsequently Iraq.

Times writer Anthony DePalma also mentions, “Records show that the city was aware of the danger in the ground zero dust from the start. In [a] federal court deposition, Kelly R. McKinney, associate commissioner at the city’s health department in 2001, said the agency issued an advisory on the night of Sept. 11 stating that asbestos in the air made the site hazardous and that everyone should wear masks . . .” Many workers refused, given the super-hyped need for speed. They also complained that the respirators were unwieldy and made it hard for them to speak.

DePalma adds “Violations of federal safety rules abounded, and no one strictly enforced them. OSHA did not play an active role during the rescue phase, which is usually the case in emergency operations.” In another place, he tells us that a Port of Authority of New York and New Jersey official, not authorized to speak for the agency, said “the focus was always on preventing accidents, not protecting workers from the toxic dust.” In other words, speed above safety.

Additional errors in Giuliani judgment

Wayne Barrett, a longtime critic of Giuliani along with fellow writer Dan Collins, condemned Giuliani’s oversight in their revealing 2006 book, Grand Illusion. In an interview, Barrett commented that Giuliani “said all the right things, but did all the wrong things.” Barrett also points to “a five-page memo from Jerry Hauer, who was the head of Emergency Management [under Giuliani]. He [Hauer] wanted it [the command center] to be located in Brooklyn in the Metrotech complex. That happens to be roughly where Mike Bloomberg has since put it . . .” The command center could not be put underground at the WTC. The Hudson River just a few blocks away would have flooded it. Thus, it was shoved 23 stories into the air in Building 7, right next to the Twin Towers, which already had been attacked in 1993. Not smart.

But ignoring facts is a key to Rudy’s modus operandi. It’s no wonder that the Times comments that “The city’s handling of safety issues has been criticized by doctors, unions and occupational safety experts.” Let’s add to the critics Kristen Breitweiser, 9/11 widow, Jersey Girl and former Republican, whose husband perished in the North Tower. She has this to say on her website . . .

“Forgive me, but Giuliani is the person responsible for deciding to locate NYC’s emergency center in the World Trade Center [23rd floor, Building 7]. . . . During the attacks, because the command center was rendered inoperable, NYC had no clear chain of command and no physical command structure in place to coordinate the emergency response. Frankly, the whole reason Giuliani was on television all day and available for interviews was because he was scrambling around the streets trying to set up a command post since the one he had designed and located [against the advice of old friend Police Chief Howard Safer and many others] was paralyzed during the attacks . . .”

Breitweiser adds, “Furthermore, Giuliani is also responsible for giving the FDNY inoperable Motorola radios. This, too, cost hundreds of lives when firemen did not hear the order to evacuate the towers prior to their collapse.” By the way, those radios were still not fixed for years after 9/11. In fact, they hadn’t been fixed since the 1993 first WTC attack, when Giuliani was running for and became mayor.

Obviously, the most damning issue to Rudy at this point is his criminal rushing of the cleanup. Yet, it is part of a consistent pattern of Giuliani behavior, the self-appointed “dictator” more than willing to play an illegal and/or slipshod role in accomplishing unholy business. And this is the man who stands before us today as a candidate for president. In fact, he is the current front-runner among Republican candidates. Woe to those who don’t learn more about him. Examine his personal life, especially philandering through three marriages. Examine his family’s mobster past. Examine his shady post-mayoral business dealings in this recent Washington Post article: In Private Sector, Giuliani Parlayed Fame Into Wealth. 

Hopefully, you’ll find out “What Makes Rudy Run.” A relentless if not ruthless will to rule, not patriotism or a concern for the common good. And too reminiscent of the present dictator’s “I am the decider” obsession.

Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer living in New York. Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.


CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

How to Sue

Drug Companies

for Free

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Everything Old is New Again

And Costs only 300% more!

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Big Bucks, Big Pharma

Big Bucks, Big Pharma pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated, and in some instances created, for capital gain. Focusing on the industry's marketing practices, media scholars and health professionals help viewers understand the ways in which direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising glamorizes and normalizes the use of prescription medication, and works in tandem with promotion to doctors.

Combined, these industry practices shape how both patients and doctors understand and relate to disease and treatment. Ultimately, Big Bucks, Big Pharma challenges us to ask important questions about the consequences of relying on a for-profit industry for our health and well-being.

Featuring interviews with Dr. Marcia Angell (Dept. of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Former Editor New England Journal of Medicine), Dr. Bob Goodman (Columbia University Medical Center; Founder, No Free Lunch), Gene Carbona (Former Pharmaceutical Industry Insider and Current Executive Director of Sales, The Medical Letter), Katharine Greider (Journalist; Author, The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers,), Dr. Elizabeth Preston (Dept. of Communication, Westfield State College), and Dr. Larry Sasich (Public Citizen Health Research Group).

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

BENDERMAN
TRUTH BE TOLD
TOUR
 

AMERICA'S NEW GENERATION OF LEADERSHIP

Sgt. Kevin Benderman is coming to a city near you!!!

Sgt. Kevin Benderman has begun his TRUTH BE TOLD TOUR  speaking to Americans nationwide.  Benderman is joined by his wife, Monica Benderman, a renowned writer who has been published worldwide.  If your organization would like to host the Bendermans in your city, please act immediately as dates are filling up quickly.   For in-depth information on Sgt. Kevin Benderman and his wife Monica, you can visit the following 3 web sites:

Benderman Timeline

The chronology of events leading to the court-martial of Sgt. Kevin Benderman, a ten year Army veteran who filed for Conscientious Objector status having served one tour of duty in Iraq .  This site provides a full array of resources for anyone with questions regarding the military judicial system.

Benderman Defense

The chronicle of a personal journey to Conscientious Objection as experienced by Sgt. Kevin and Monica Benderman. This site provides personal insight into how a soldier's personal experiences can lead him or her to change his beliefs about war

Benderman's Bridge

• Developing projects designed to restore peace at home by reaching out to connect small towns and communities of America with the veterans who fought to defend them. 
• Remembering the values our veterans believed in when they volunteered their service.
• Living by the principles we sent them to fight to defend. Honoring their sacrifice by working toward positive social change within our communities.  

The TRUTH BE TOLD TOUR  features Kevin's past experience with the U.S. Army as a conscience objector to the War On Iraq, and the Bendermans’ unique approach to attaining peace. Highlights of the speaking engagement are the Bendermans’ frank discussion of Kevin’s in-depth beliefs regarding ending war, the relationship between civilians and the military, and their presentation for a solid direction on helping America 's Veterans via their new organization Benderman's Bridge, a part of the Benderman Defense Trust. Kevin Benderman also addresses his position regarding America's current foreign and domestic policies, removing the fear and restoring America, and the future of the America 's Veterans.

More than just a speaking event, every engagement becomes an interactive event as audiences are invited to become involved in discussions. No current speaking event has the impact of the Bendermans’ TRUTH BE TOLD TOUR.  Audiences have left feeling rejuvenated by the wealth of knowledge shared, the inspiration they are given to become involved, and the simplicity of the positive direction provided for America .  Kevin Benderman has been billed as part of America 's New Generation of Leadership and rightfully so.

Kevin and Monica recently attended the premiere of  SOLDIERS OF CONSCIENCE in Atlanta.  SOLDIERS OF CONSCIENCE is a documentary of Conscientious Objection and a discussion of soldiers faced with questions of morality as they actively served in the Iraq war. Benderman’s case served as the inspiration for the project. 

Kevin and Monica Benderman's book Letters from a Ft. Lewis Brig is due out later this year. The book is being published by Lyon ’s Press, a division of Globe Pequot Press.  

The first phase of the Bendermans’ TRUTH BE TOLD TOUR will be covering the west coast in June, the Midwest in July and the East Coast in August.  If you would like to host the Tour in your city contact Benderman Defense Trust at 912-369-4585 or EvansMediaUSA, 865-637-5742.

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Poll Shows Opposition
to Iraq War at All Time High 

By Dalia Sussman

Americans now view the war in Iraq more negatively than at any time since the war began, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Six in 10 Americans say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq and more than three in four say things are going badly there - including nearly half who say things are going very badly, the poll found.

Still, the majority of Americans support continuing to fund the war as long as the Iraqi government meets specific goals.

President approval ratings remain near the lowest of his more than six years in office. Thirty percent approve of the job he’s doing overall, while 63 percent disapprove. Majorities of those polled disapprove of Mr. Bush’s handling of the situation in Iraq, foreign policy, immigration, the economy and the campaign against terrorism.

More Americans - 72 percent — now say that “generally things in the country are seriously off on the wrong track” than at any time since The Times/CBS News poll began asking the question in 1983. The figure had been in the high 60’s earlier this year.

The poll made clear that the war continues to be the issue Americans are most worried about. Sixty-one percent of the poll’s respondents now say the United States should never have taken military action against Iraq, up from 51 percent in a CBS News poll in April and 58 percent in the same poll in January. Seventy-six percent say things are going badly in the effort to bring stability and order to Iraq, including 47 percent who say they’re going very badly.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted Friday through Wednesday with 1,125 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A majority of the public, 76 percent, including a majority of Republicans, say the additional troops sent to Iraq this year by Mr. Bush have either had no impact or are making things worse in Iraq. Twenty percent think the increase is improving the situation in Iraq.

A majority of Americans continue to support a timetable for withdrawal. Sixty-three percent say the United States should set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq sometime in 2008.

While troops are still there, the overwhelming majority of Americans support continuing to fund the war, though most want to do so with conditions. Thirteen percent want Congress to block all funding for the war. The majority, 69 percent, including 62 percent of Republicans, say Congress should allow funding, but on the condition that the United States sets benchmarks for progress and the Iraqi government meets those goals. Fifteen percent of all respondents want Congress to allow all funding for the war no matter what.

The poll found Americans are more likely to trust the Democratic party than the Republican party to make the right decisions about the war in Iraq. For the first time, more than half of those polled, 51 percent, said the Democratic party is more likely than the Republican party to make the right decisions about the war in Iraq.

More broadly, Americans have a more favorable view of the Democratic party than of the Republican party. Fifty-three percent say they have a favorable opinion of the Democratic party, while 38 percent, have a favorable view of the Republican party. The Republican party has not had a majority positive rating in New York Times/CBS News polls since December 2003.

As for Mr. Bush,. 23 percent approve of his handling of the situation in Iraq, 72 percent disapprove; 25 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy, 66 percent disapprove; and 27 percent approve of his handling of immigration issues, while 60 percent disapprove. On the economy, 38 percent approve of his handling of the issue, and on the campaign against terrorism 40 percent approve, matching his career low on the issue.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Will Republicans Destroy Themselves
 Before They Destroy America?

By Paul Craig Roberts

As everyone except for a dwindling band of Bush supporters now knows, the US is in a terrible situation in Iraq from which it cannot extract itself. For Bush and Cheney, their own pride and delusion are more compelling than US casualties, the destruction of Iraq and its people, and the inflaming of sectarian strife and anti-American violence throughout the Middle East.

Congress is complicit in the great strategic blunder. Republican flag-wavers led Americans like lemmings into the abyss. The Democrats have already abandoned the electorate that gave them Control of Congress six months ago in the false hope that the Democrats would corral the White House Moron and lead America out of the abyss.

Like the Republicans, the Democrats serve the few special interest groups that benefit, or believe that they benefit, from the war. By now we all know who these groups are: the oil industry, the military-security complex, and the Israel Lobby, AIPAC. This contrived war, based on lies and deception, serves no other interest.

There is no longer any question whatsoever, not a single sliver of doubt, that Americans were deceived into this disastrous war. The President of the United States lied to the American people, as did the Vice President, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Undersecretary of Defense, as did every neoconservative in the Bush administration, think tanks, and media.

The fact that the American people were lied to and deceived does not absolve them from blame. The lie was transparent, the logic nonexistent, the true facts available and easy to discover.

America failed, because the American people failed. The American people failed, because their self-righteousness and their hubris made them easy saps for deception.

Even now after five years of a disastrous policy, Republicans cannot accept the facts about the US invasion and failed occupation of Iraq. At the recent “debate” between Republican presidential candidates in South Carolina, US Representative Ron Paul dared to tell the truth. Rep. Paul said that our difficulties in the Middle East are “blowback” from our government’s determined attempts to exercise hegemony over the Middle East.

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Guiliani, a person who sunk so low as to frame innocents while serving as US Attorney in order to boost his name recognition [http://www.vdare.com/roberts/070510_giuliani.htm], played the self-righteous card to extreme. How dare Ron Paul suggest that US policy toward Muslims has anything whatsoever to do with attacks on the US! With all the outrage he could muster, Guiliani asked Rep. Paul “to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn’t really mean that.”

The thunderous applause from the Republican audience to Guiliani’s put-down of the only honest person present underlines that the Republican Party is incapable of leadership to end a futile and lost war that under international standards is a war crime, an unprovoked naked aggression based entirely on lies, deception and a secret agenda.

At other times, the Republican audience applauded in support of torture and greeted John McCain’s protest against the practice with cold silence.

In the opening years of the 21st century the Republicans have made it clear that they are willing to sacrifice the US Constitution and Bill of Rights in order to wage “war against terrorism.” This willingness makes the Republican Party a more dangerous threat to Americans than Muslim terrorists. Muslim terrorists cannot destroy our country’s reputation, trash our civil liberties and wreck our system of accountable government, but the Republican Party has done a thorough job of it.

The Democratic Party is complicit in the Republican Party’s crimes, but unlike the Republican electorate, the Democratic electorate does not support the occupation, the domestic police state measures, and the Bush administration’s decision to send more combat troops to Iraq. Although none of the current frontrunners for the Democratic presidential nomination are independent of the special interests that benefit from the war, it might still be possible for a Democrat to emerge who will represent the Democratic electorate instead of the special interests.

Republican support for Bush’s contrived war against Iraq has diminished the Republican party. Intelligent and decent people have abandoned the party, which has morphed into a Brownshirt Party with which fewer people are willing to be associated. The diminished Republican ranks will make it difficult for the party to steal any more elections.

If we are fortunate, Republicans will complete their self-destruction before they extinguish the Constitution and destroy America.

Paul Craig Roberts wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is author or coauthor of eight books, including The Supply-Side Revolution (Harvard University Press). He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has contributed to numerous scholarly journals and testified before Congress on 30 occasions. He has been awarded the U.S. Treasury's Meritorious Service Award and the French Legion of Honor. He was a reviewer for the Journal of Political Economy under editor Robert Mundell





CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Bush Opposes

Military Pay Raise

Bush has come out in opposition to a proposal by Congress to raise military pay by 3.5 percent, according to a report by Army Times.

The administration had originally asked for only a 3 percent increase in pay, equal to private sector pay increases, effective January 1, 2008. The House Armed Services Committee raised the increase to 3.5 percent for 2008, and also recommended increases in 2009 through 2012 that would be 0.5 percent higher than private sector raises.

"The slightly bigger military raises are intended to reduce the gap between military and civilian pay that stands at about 3.9 percent today," according to the report. "Under the bill, HR 1585, the pay gap would be reduced to 1.4 percent after the Jan. 1, 2012, pay increase."

The report continues, "Bush budget officials said the administration 'strongly opposes' both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases 'unnecessary.'"

The White House's policy statement opposed several other Congressional provisions as well, including a death gratuity for civilians who die in support of military operations and benefits for disabled retireees and their survivors.

Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) sharply criticized the administration for its opposition.

"We ask our troops to risk their lives for our nation," said Emanuel. "We ask their spouses to raise families and make ends meet without them as they serve. The President is a lot of talk when it comes to supporting the troops and their families."

Emanuel continued, "It’s easy to say you support our troops, but actions matter and when it comes to the treatment of our troops and their families, our resources must match our rhetoric."

CHOICE AMERICA NETWORK

Patriotism

AMERICA'S NEW GENERATION OF LEADERSHIP

SGT. KEVIN BENDERMAN 

Why are you a patriot only if you believe we need to have war to determine our national identity?

We have allowed a group of people who want to use our military and economic resources on an ill-begotten war of choice to convince a lot of us that we are not patriotic if we do not believe everything they say about this war.  I want you to read the following mission statement and then take a good look at the names below this statement.

June 3, 1997

"American foreign and defense policy is adrift.  Conservatives have criticized the incoherent policies of the Clinton Administration.  They have also resisted isolationist impulses from within their own ranks.  But conservatives have not confidently advanced a strategic vision of America's role in the world.  They have not set forth guiding principles for American foreign policy.  They have allowed differences over tactics to obscure potential agreement on strategic objectives.  And they have not fought for a defense budget that would maintain American security and advance American interests in the new century. 

We aim to change this.  We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership.  As the 20th century draws to a close, the United States stands as the world's preeminent power.  Having led the West to victory in the Cold War, America faces an opportunity and a challenge: Does the United States have the vision to build upon the achievements of past decades?  Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests?  We are in danger of squandering the opportunity and failing the challenge.  We are living off the capital -- both the military investments and the foreign policy achievements -- built up by past administrations.  Cuts in foreign affairs and defense spending, inattention to the tools of statecraft, and inconstant leadership are making it increasingly difficult to sustain American influence around the world.  And the promise of short-term commercial benefits threatens to override strategic considerations.  As a consequence, we are jeopardizing the nation's ability to meet present threats and to deal with potentially greater challenges that lie ahead. 

We seem to have forgotten the essential elements of the Reagan Administration's success: a military that is strong and ready to meet both present and future challenges; a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad; and national leadership that accepts the United States' global responsibilities.  Of course, the United States must be prudent in how it exercises its power.  But we cannot safely avoid the responsibilities of global leadership or the costs that are associated with its exercise.  America has a vital role in maintaining peace and security in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  If we shirk our responsibilities, we invite challenges to our fundamental interests.  The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.  The history of this century should have taught us to embrace the cause of American leadership.  Our aim is to remind Americans of these lessons and to draw their consequences for today.  Here are four consequences:

- we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;
- we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;
- we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;
- we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity and our principles.

Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today.  But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next.

Persian Gulf

In the decade since the end of the Cold War, the Persian Gulf and the surrounding region has witnessed a geometric increase in the presence of U.S. armed forces, peaking above 500,000 troops during Operation Desert Storm, but rarely falling below 20,000 in the intervening years.  In Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other neighboring states, roughly 5,000 airmen and a large and varied Fleet of Air Force aircraft patrol the skies of Operation Southern Watch, often complemented by Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf and, during the strikes reacting to Saddam Hussein's periodic provocations, cruise missiles from Navy surface vessels and submarines.  Flights from Turkey under Northern Watch also involve substantial forces, and indeed more often result in Combat actions.  After eight years of no-fly-zone operations, there is little reason to anticipate that the U.S. air presence in the region should diminish significantly as long as Saddam Hussein remains in power.  Although Saudi domestic sensibilities demand that the forces based in the Kingdom nominally remain rotational forces, it has become apparent that this is now a semi-permanent mission.  From an American perspective, the value of such bases would endure even should Saddam pass from the scene.  Over the long term, Iran may well prove as large a threat to U.S. interests in the Gulf as Iraq has.  And even should U.S.-Iranian relations improve, retaining forward-based forces in the region would still be an essential element in U.S. security strategy given the longstanding American interests in the region."

Elliott Abrams;  Gary Bauer;  William J. Bennett;  Jeb Bush;  Dick Cheney;  Eliot A. Cohen; Midge Decter;  Paula Dobriansky;  Steve Forbes;  Aaron Friedberg;  Francis Fukuyama;  Frank Gaffney;  Fred C. Ikle;  Donald Kagan;  Zalmay Khalilzad;  I. Lewis Libby;  Norman Podhoretz; Dan Quayle;  Peter W. Rodman;  Stephen P. Rosen;  Henry S. Row;  Donald Rumsfeld;  Vin Weber;  George Weigel;  Paul Wolfowitz.
(Project for the New American Century - PNAC)

Both of these statements should give you a clearer picture of just what these people are up to.  These people, in their desire to rule the world, are getting good Americans killed who have served this country to defend it.

I have to ask; is this the way we want to handle ourselves as Americans?  Is this what we really want for our nation?

When I enlisted in the military it was to defend the ideals of the Constitution and country from attack by anyone who would attempt to violate our constitutional rights and our home.  This current administration has done more to undermine the foundation of our country than any made-up terrorists ever could. 

The American people need to realize they have the authority to run this country and the government workers, to include the president and congress, are the employees of the citizenry of the United States.  This authority is given to them by the United States Constitution;

Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution.  Ratified December 15, 1791.  The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People.  Ratified December 15, 1791.  Note: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The federal and state governments are, by the law of this land, subservient to the people of the United States.  The people we hire to manage our business have managed to make most of us believe they are the ones who know better than the rest of us and that we should let them guide us "lesser beings" because they know what is good for us.  I challenge Americans to stand up and take back their responsibility for running this country from the career politicians and demand they run the country within the laws of the Unites States Constitution.  If we stand by and let these people pervert our country then we have no right to complain about what they are doing.

It is a sad day in America when more people vote for the contestants of American Idol than in the last presidential election.  Everyone seems to want to have all the benefits of being American and none of the responsibility.  Well, I say you cannot have it both ways, either you accept the responsibility or you should not expect any of the rights.

There seems to be a large segment of our nation who is afraid to do the right thing and I do not understand this about the people of our nation, who have descended from the pioneers who had to face much harder living conditions than we now do.  there are people here who have descended from the slaves and we all know that the slaves had to endure much more harsh conditions than we now do and yet they fought with all of their being to be free of the madness they were faced with.

Are you asking me to believe that modern Americans with all of their conveniences cannot pull themselves up enough to stand up for what is right?  Are we so spoiled and out of touch with what is going on around us that we cannot see when we are being lied to outright?

Are we going to create another committee to talk about what is wrong or are we going to find it within ourselves to stand up and be counted for what we believe?

I, for one, have a much better vision of what we should be in this country and it is nothing like we have allowed ourselves to become in recent history.  I am going to continue to try and prevent our country from getting any worse than it is now.  I may not be able to affect a large scale change, but I am going to do what I can.  How about you, want to help?

Sgt. Kevin Benderman is a US Army veteran who served a combat tour in Iraq and who was recently released from prison after serving over one year for his outspoken opposition to this and all wars of choice.  Please visit www.BendermanDefense.org to learn more.

Kevin may be reached at info@BendermansBridge.org

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