By: Michael A. Lewis  

We 5,000 walked today to send a clear and unambiguous message to the world that we do not support this murder of innocent people to line the pockets of politicians and corporate CEO's. We are not party to this despicable scheme to subvert the will of the people of the United States for corporate and political greed. If George W. Bush and his gang of thugs succeed in their unilateral push for war, they do so without our blessing or approval.

If George W. Bush continues this attack, we will have no recourse but to seek the impeachment and removal of the President, the Vice President, and their close council of advisors for subverting and destroying the Constitution of the United States of America.

"What we have in this country is socialism for the rich, and free enterprise for the poor."

- Gore Vidal

By: Bryan Zepp Jamieson  

I had noticed that, more and more, the Putsch junta seemed to be falling into a pattern where on one day, they would panic the population ("We're at Orange alert! Protect yourself with duct tape and plastic sheeting!") and the next day, assure one and all that there was no cause for alarm, and to go about your normal business.

This struck me as being a pretty solid example of brainwashing technique. The mere thought struck me as being paranoid, and while I know that the mere ability to question if a thought is paranoid is usually a pretty good indication that it is not, I wanted to get a knowledgeable and professional opinion on the matter.

When he responded, his expression was grim. He explained that the afflict/comfort cycle is one that is standard for brainwashing techniques, whether on a solitary prisoner or an entire population. The goal, of course, is to keep the subject anxious, confused, and dependent.

Us. This government is doing that to us.

By: David Ignatius  

There's a scene in Moby-Dick where Captain Ahab, in his pursuit of the white whale, angrily destroys the quadrant he uses for navigation. It's the moment when the hunt becomes irrational, leaving the ship with nothing to steer by other than the dictates of the chase itself.

The Bush administration hasn't reached the Ahab moment yet, but it's getting close. Over the past few weeks, the hunt for Saddam Hussein has become so intense that it has seemed almost self-destructive. The administration appears willing to sacrifice almost anything - America's alliances, its prosperity, even the security of its citizens - in its determination to oust the Iraqi leader from power.

You can't wage war without having something of Captain Ahab's relentless passion. But a nation heading into war also needs prudence and good judgment. America's best generals, people such as Grant and Marshall and Eisenhower, were at once cautious and decisive. Their greatness lay in the fact that they never lost sight of the long-term interests of the United States.

"Just between you and me, I don't like scruffy, sandal-wearing, bearded people who go around burning the United States flag, and if it were up to me, I would ban it."

- Justice Antonin Scalia, Feb. 13, 2003

A Viacom division is refusing to run antiwar ads on its outdoor sites.

By: Michael Hastings  

Getting out the antiwar message has never been easy, but now a peace group has accused one of America's largest media companies of censorship for its refusal to run a national billboard campaign with the slogan: Inspections Work. War Won't.

Peace message: The ad that MoveOn.org wanted to run in major markets around the nation.

Viacom, the owner of a number of media outlets like CBS and MTV, says it is just following company policy. But Wes Boyd, president of MoveOn.org says the media giant is playing fast and loose with the right to free speech. "Viacom won't place our ads", says Boyd.

MoveOn.org, the group that put up the money for the campaign, first gained public attention after running the controversial "daisy" television spot riffing on an ad from Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign that juxtaposed a little girl pulling petals from a flower against the backdrop of a nuclear explosion...

By: Plaid Adder  

So, in other words, it's precisely because Bush, Rumsfeld, Ari, et al are a totalitarian regime that they don't have to bother making sense. In fact, they can and do go out of their way not to make sense, as this merely confirms the fact that whether or not they make sense, they all have us by the balls. This would account, I suppose, for the sense I have that Rummy, Ari, et al are just positively reveling in the spectacle of their own moral, intellectual, and spiritual bankruptcy. They are so secure in their own power that they can do without public opinion. That's what seems insane to us; but it makes perfect sense to them. From their point of view, it doesn't matter whether the stream of self-subverting falsehoods spinning out from Ari Fleischer's lips is convincing or not. Coherence is for the weak. If you're strong enough, you should be able to control your subjects whether or not they love, respect, believe, or even understand you.

We're used to the idea that our elected officials care about whether we are going to vote for them next time or not. Well, as we all point out daily, Dubya is not an elected official; neither are any of his appointed lackeys. It is time that we start not only saying that, but getting that. Dubya did not win a fair and free election in 2000. And he is certainly not acting like someone who expects to compete in a fair and free election in 2004. This rush to war, at all costs and despite overwhelming public disapproval, is merely the most extreme and terrifying manifestation of what is really the most frightening thing about Dubya: the fact that he acts, talks, raves, and governs exactly like a dictator.

"...they have a much better media machine than we do. They worked on it for 30 years and they've got it. They've got everything from the Heritage Foundation to sympathetic newspapers to sympathetic cable programs that are heavily-weighted in their favor... there are five people in America with more than two hours on radio. Who are they? Howard Stern, [who is] not political. Don Imus, who's more Republican than Democrat, and the other three are Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity who are very outspoken, on the right wing of the Republican party. We don't have that. So it means we have to be more disciplined, more clear, more focused."

- Bill Clinton, on the Today Show, Feb. 12, 2003

New Generation of U.S.-Haters Being Created

By: Walter Rodgers  

After two generations of guilt, young Germans demonstrating against the United States and against war now feel good about themselves because it is the United States, not Germany, that is seen by many as the aggressive warmonger. "I think it is good we said 'no' and we don't follow the U.S.", one German protester says.

This anti-Americanism is believed to be much worse than what has gone before. Analysts warn that a whole generation of America-haters is being created, a European generation which they say believes Americans deliberately bomb civilians and kill Arab babies.

A Channel 4 television poll in the U.K. said the country that Britons regard as the biggest threat to peace today is not Iraq or North Korea - it is the United States.

"Today's anti-Americanism in Europe is a combination of what America is doing - preparing to go to war in Iraq - and what America is: the country of the death penalty, the country - in European eyes - of arrogance."

- Dominque Moisi, of the French Institute of International Relations

"We are on the brink of a fundamental rift between the United States and Europe which goes much deeper than the rifts that came up in the course of anti-American sentiments in the 60's or early 80's."

- Manfred Guttamacher, of Potsdam University

London Turnout Strong as Demonstrators Rally Around the Globe

By: Glenn Frankel  

The largest rallies were in London, Rome, Berlin, and Paris - the heart of Western Europe - where mass demonstrations underscored the wide and growing gap between the United States' Washington and some of its closest traditional allies. But there were also protests in dozens of other cities on five different continents, ranging from Canberra to Oslo and from Cape Town to Damascus, in an extraordinary display of a globally coordinated protest.

Here in London a sea of protesters estimated by police to number more than 750,000 flooded into Hyde Park and clogged streets for several miles on a crisp, clear day, in what observers and organizers said was probably the largest political demonstration in British history. It was aimed not just at President Bush but also at British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been Bush's staunchest ally in the campaign against Iraq but who is besieged by opposition at home from virtually every part of the political spectrum.

Nearly one million people came out in Rome, where the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has also supported the U.S. position. Between 300,000 and to 500,000 people demonstrated in Berlin; and another 100,000 poured through the streets of Paris. Germany and France have emerged as the most vocal opponents of military action against Iraq.

"[Bush is] a stooge for oil interests... [The Bush administration is] the most corrupt and racist American administration in over 80 years... This is a man who has sent his own soldiers to die [but] who got his daddy to get him out of national service. Where I come from we call that cowardice."

- London Mayor Ken Livingstone

From New York to Melbourne, Protest Against War on Iraq

By: Robert D. McFadden  

On a freezing winter day in New York, a huge crowd, prohibited by a court order from marching, rallied within sight of the United Nations amid heavy security. They raised banners of patriotism and dissent, sounded the hymns of a broad new antiwar movement, and heard speakers denounce what they called President Bush's rush to war, while offering no sympathy for Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein.

There were similar though smaller demonstrations in Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, Sacramento, Miami, and scores of other American cities, organized under the umbrella of United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of 120 organizations.

In London, 500,000 to 750,000 people rallied in Hyde Park, while 200,000 gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and hundreds of thousands more protested in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, Rome, Melbourne, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Auckland, Seoul, Tokyo, and Manila. Many contended that America's interest in Iraq had more to do with oil than disarming a dangerous tyrant.

By: Matthew Rothschild  

"A lot of us thought... oceans would protect us forever."

What is bizarre about this image (other than its numbing repetition) is how antiquated it is. Ever since Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic on May 20, 1927, it was obvious that the oceans were no longer a buffer. Pearl Harbor made that abundantly clear. And the intercontinental ballistic missiles of the Soviet Union for forty years kept the United States in a bull's eye, notwithstanding our vaunted oceans.

So why does Bush (or his speechwriter) insist on this bogus rhetoric?

"This notion of unprecedented vulnerability is absolutely crucial to the Bush team's anti-constitutional program", says Mark Crispin Miller, author of the Bush Dyslexicon. "When you're examining Bush's language you can never stop at correcting the factual errors because the true meaning of anything he says is connotative. What that statement really means is: 'We were safe, now we're in danger, and the danger is so severe that you must give me all possible power. What the oceans once did now only I can do.'"

By: Jean-David Levitte  

America rescued my country twice in the last century - something we will never forget. Today we stand side by side in many parts of the world, including Afghanistan. France is the largest contributor of troops to NATO operations. Our friendship is a treasure, and it must be maintained, protected, enhanced.

People in France and more broadly in Europe fear that a military intervention could fuel extremism and encourage Qaeda recruitment. A war could weaken the indispensable international coalition against terrorism and worsen the threat of Islamic terrorism.

The inspections should be pursued and strengthened, and Saddam Hussein must be made to cooperate actively. War must remain the very last option.

Are We On a Righteous Path to Violent Co-Annihilation?

By: Rich Aronson  

Sadly, according to the Federation of American Scientists' website, we have become the dominant player in the international arms market, supplying just under half of all arms exports and roughly 2½ times more than the second and third largest suppliers. In 1999, we supplied arms or military technology to more than 92% of the conflicts taking place around the globe.

And now we're ready to launch an unprecedented pre-emptive attack against Iraq that, according to some estimates, could kill up to 100,000 civilians. This for fear that Saddam Hussein might use the chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons technology that we gave him in the mid-80's to use in his war against Iran.

There can be no getting around it. As a nation, we've rejected the way of Christ and embraced the way of the sword. And this allegiance to violence is threatening the survival of God's creation and all its inhabitants.

By: Michael Kinsley  

Judgeship nominations bring out the hypocrite in politicians of both parties, but the Republican hypocrisy here is especially impressive. When Bill Clinton was appointing judges, the senior Judiciary Committee Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch, called for "more diligent and extensive... questioning of nominees' jurisprudential views". Now Hatch says Democrats have no right to demand any such thing. President Bush fired the American Bar Association as official auditor of judicial nominations because the ABA gave some Republican nominees a lousy grade. Now Hatch cites the ABA's judgment as "the gold standard" because it unofficially gave Estrada a high grade.

The seat Republicans want to give Estrada is open only because Republicans successfully blocked a Clinton nominee. Two Clinton nominations to the DC Circuit were blocked because Republicans said the circuit had too many judges already. Now Bush has sent nominations for both those seats. Hatch and others accuse Democrats of being anti-Hispanic for opposing Estrada. With 42 circuit court vacancies to fill, Estrada is the only Hispanic Bush has nominated. Clinton nominated 11, three of whom the Republicans blocked.

By: Michael Buchanan  

One mantra from the Bush administration since it launched its military campaign in Afghanistan 16 months ago has been that the U.S. will not walk away from the Afghan people.

But in its budget proposals for 2003, the White House did not explicitly ask for any money to aid humanitarian and reconstruction costs in the impoverished country.

The chairman of the committee that distributes foreign aid, Jim Kolbe, says that when he asked administration officials why they had not requested any funds, he was given no satisfactory explanation, but did get a pledge that it would not happen again.

By: David Corn  

If a doctor handed you a strong medication - saying you had no choice but to swallow it - but didn't talk to you about the host of new ailments and problems that might be caused by the medication, that would be damn irresponsible. Well, meet George W. Bush, M.D. He has been claiming the United States must take the most extreme measure - war - to keep itself safe and healthy. Yet he has refused to address the knotty matters (post-op complications?) that will follow in the wake of war.

This dereliction of duty - or presidential malpractice - was readily evident on Tuesday when top administration officials appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to discuss the future of Iraq. (Looks like its present has been settled: invasion and occupation, unless Saddam Hussein scoots.) At this session, under-Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith noted that while the Pentagon has spent months positioning troops and readying to de-Saddamize Iraq, it only opened an office for postwar planning three weeks ago...

By: Ann McFeatters  

Is President Bush using inappropriately religious language as he talks daily about the possibility of war with Iraq?

The White House defends the President's language as expressions of his personal beliefs and says he has every right to speak with fervor about his faith.

But the Rev. William Gaddy, a Baptist minister who heads the Interfaith Alliance Foundation in Washington, disagrees. "The President of this nation has as his job to promote the common good. It's not his job to promote sectarian beliefs", he said.

How can you tell when Dubya's lying?
His lips move.

By: Richard Lent  

It is indeed sad to see how far Bush's mind has become muddled and unstable when he wants people to believe that Saddam Hussein is more of a threat to this country than is North Korea. Even a youngster who reads newspapers and keeps up with current events knows this argument is totally unrealistic and insane.

This certainly is not the rational thinking of a man who has in his hands the authority to bring this country into a needless and dangerous conflict. The leader of the most powerful country on earth should possess superior mental health simply because of the awesome military might he yields.

The leader of the free world certainly should not harbor the mentally unstable thought that he must get Saddam Hussein in his clutches because according to George W., Saddam tried to kill his father a decade ago and he wants his pound of flesh now for that uncorroborated claim.

"I'm tired of liberals running for cover..."

- George McGovern

From:  

The United States urged reluctant members of the U.N. Security Council to consider "serious consequences" against Iraq following a mixed verdict Friday from top U.N. weapons inspectors.

After 11 weeks of searching, the chief inspectors told the council they had not found any weapons of mass destruction to date, but they urged Iraq to be more cooperative.

Hans Blix, executive chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said they were still investigating and had not ruled out the possibility that Iraq does possess chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.

By: Brian Ross, Len Tepper, and Jill Rackmill  

A key piece of the information leading to recent terror alerts was fabricated, according to two senior law enforcement officials in Washington and New York.

The officials said that a claim made by a captured al Qaeda member that Washington, New York, or Florida would be hit by a "dirty bomb" sometime this week had proven to be a product of his imagination.

The informant described a detailed plan that an al Qaeda cell operating in either Virginia or Detroit had developed a way to slip past airport scanners with dirty bombs encased in shoes, suitcases, or laptops, sources told ABC News. The informant reportedly cited specific targets of government buildings and Christian or clerical centers.

"The most incompetent and dangerous President in living memory."

- Australian MP Mark Latham, commenting on G.W. Bush

By: Bev Conover  

Who will be the target this time? New York City again? Atlanta? Chicago? San Francisco? Some small town that can be totally obliterated in one of the "Red" states?

The more the world balks at waging war on Iraq, the more desperate and determined the Bushistas become. George W. will have his war, but he needs to get most of the American people on board. The best way to do that is by perpetrating another attack on American soil.

Within hours of Secretary of State Colin Powell's U.N. presentation being unmasked as another rehash of the same old pack of lies, and his and Bush's hailing of a plagiarized document, supplied by 10 Downing Street, as further proof of why Saddam Hussein has to go, Homeland Offense Secretary Tom Ridge raised his color-coded "terror alert" level from yellow to orange.

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