>>>>>> >NRDC criticizes the Bush administration for a proposed $500 >>>>>> >million cut in federal grants for sewage treatment plant upgrades >>>>>> >and for policies to change the regulation of sewage treatment >>>>>> >discharges.
>>>>>> Why should the FEDS be paying for sewerage >>>>>> treatment ???
>>>>>Public health.
>>>> And the public that MAKES the mess ought to >>>> clean up the mess.
>>>So you support higher state and local taxes?
>> Yes - they're preferable to higher federal taxes.
>> Why ? Because local monies are managed by local >> politicians and agencies. Such entities are far >> more attuned to the local situation, far easier >> to talk with - and far easier to FIRE if they >> really screw it up. The Feds ... well ... they're >> "a-way up there in DC somewhere". I'd say we >> leave the Fed to deal more with national-scale >> and international issues. Leave the poop disposal >> to the locals. The Fed literally ought not dirty >> its hands with such trivial issues.
>1) This means that poorer localities will, de facto, have more polluted >water since they will have less revenue to use to clean up
(a) Such is life. If you live in a 'poor' state then you live a 'poorer' life. Everyplace ought not be exactly the same. Why burden the states that are doing well just to subsidize those which can't get their act together ?
(b) 'Poorer' states/localities are often 'poor' because there's not much population. Less pop, less poop, less money required to deal with it.
(c) Money ain't everything ... which is why I put 'poorer' in quotes ...
>1b) The pollution from these poorer areas can seep and steep into other >areas that have already cleaned themselves up - forcing them to spend >even more money cleaning up someone else's mess. Is that fair?
Poop generally stays put - unless they literally dump it raw into a river somewhere. If they do that, treating their downstream neighbors to a parade of floaters, then they're doing harm to those neighbors and ought to be fined, arrested or otherwise have to compensate the injured parties. You MAKE it, you PAY for it.
I don't know of ANY city that literally can't afford to process its poop ... the price per person would be very low. It's that the local pols don't have the cojones to raise the poop taxes by a few pennies so the community can be responsible for it's own 'output'.
>2) The "Feds" don't dabble in sewer treatment directly anyway. Ever hear >of "block grants"?
Nations are often called "commonwealths" for a reason. The IDEA is that the collective wealth can be focused on trouble-spots or on projects too big for the locals to finance themselves.
However, this idea has become badly abused over the years - and extended by our local friends of Marx to the notion that wealth should be equalized across the board - steal from the 'rich(er)' and give it to the 'poor(er)' whether the 'poor(er)' earned or deserve it or not.
I think the common wealth should more often be handled like a LOAN rather than a give-away. 'Improvements' ought to pay off - enhance productivity/profitibility enough so that the 'loan' can be repaid over some span of time either by direct payments or through the ability to generate increased tax revenue. The only time I can see literally giving away the cash is in case of huge disasters.
> > > 'We Pray the Insurgents Will Achieve Victory' > > > Fallujah's leading cleric discusses the spate of civilian kidnappings > > > and the difference between 'honest' and 'dishonest' insurgency
> > > Photo of ordinary Iraqi citizens, fighting for their country:
> > > Abdul-kadr Saadi / AP > > > Al-Janabi says insurgents like these, who engage directly with U.S. > > > troops, are 'honest' whereas kidnappers are not
> > > +
> > > "The power of accurate observation is called cynicism > > > by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
> > > Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town > > > The First Church of Common Sense
GRETNA, La. - A man sentenced to death as a teenager was freed Monday by DNA evidence, and said he had been certain from the beginning that he would be vindicated.
For more than seven years, Ryan Matthews has said he had nothing to do with the 1997 robbery and murder of a grocer. He said he knew that someday he would be freed.
"I always knew it would happen. So it wasn't a surprise to me," he said after a brief hearing dropping charges against him. "Never give up hope, no matter how bad it gets."
State District Judge Henry Sullivan dismissed the indictment at the request of prosecutors, who noted they have a year to "revisit" the case.
William Sothern, an attorney for The Capital Appeals Project, said he doubts that will happen. "He's exonerated. Without a doubt," Sothern said.
Jurors were told that no physical evidence linked Matthews to the holdup and murder of Tommy Vanhoose. But two witnesses identified him as the gunman, and a co-defendant, Travis Hayes, told police that he drove the getaway car after Matthews, then 17, shot Vanhoose.
Ultimately, DNA found in a ski mask that was tossed from the getaway car was found to match that of Rondell Love, who is serving time for an unrelated killing. In addition, Matthews' lawyers said, other inmates have told investigators that Love bragged about killing Vanhoose.
Emily Bolton, an attorney with the Innocence Project of New Orleans, said she was confident that Hayes' conviction will also be reversed. "The only evidence against Travis Hayes is his statement that Ryan Matthews did it, which DNA proves is false," she said.
The only people in the world who actually believe that Iraq is "sovereign" are Bushies.
I heard a "news" report about "Iraq and its US allies" are fighting the Iraqi resistance fighters.
How dumb can you get, to actually believe that?
Allawi is a Big Oil/CIA puppet. Polls show his favorable rating is at the bottom of the list among Iraqis, even Saddam rates higher. al Sadr comes in 2nd or 3rd in popularity.
+
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town The First Church of Common Sense
IAEA thinks Iran uranium traces came from Pakistani equipment: report
Mon Aug 9, 5:35 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - UN nuclear inspectors have reached a "tentative conclusion" that traces of enriched uranium detected in Iran came from equipment provided by a smuggling network run by Pakistan's disgraced former nuclear chief scientist.
The traces have been at the heart of an ongoing international dispute over whether Tehran has reneged on its obligations to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of all enrichment activities.
"IAEA inspectors have reached a tentative conclusion that the contamination came from equipment provided by the nuclear smuggling network headed by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan," Jane's Defence Weekly said, quoting "sources close to the agency".
It said inspectors believe they can confirm that a sample of uranium enriched to 54 percent, found at one Iranian site, had come from Pakistani equipment.
"The confirmation was only possible after Islamabad gave the IAEA data to verify the uranium source and the US provided a simulation of the Pakistani nuclear programme that matched the account," Jane's said.
A separate contamination sample, of uranium enriched to 36 percent, derived from Russian equipment that Moscow had supplied to China, which in turn passed it on to Pakistan as part of a previous nuclear assistance program, it said.
From Pakistan, it was sold by Khan to Iran, it added
+
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town The First Church of Common Sense
Bush runs afoul of Irish-Americans over Iraq contract
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush has landed in hot water with Irish-Americans, whose leading lobbying group warned he could lose Irish Catholic votes in the November election, unless his administration revokes an Iraq security contract granted to a British firm.
The Reverend Sean McManus, president of the Irish National Caucus, said the 293-million-dollar contract granted to Aegis Defence Service, a London-based security company headed by retired British commando Tim Spicer, a lieutenant colonel with extensive involvement in operations in Northern Ireland, "has Irish blood on it" and was an "insult" to Irish-Americans.
"This could undo any credit you gained from Irish-Americans for your support of the Irish peace-process," McManus said in a letter to the president dispatched last month and made available to AFP on Monday.
"US dollars should not subsidize such a person as Lt. Col. Spicer," McManus continued, demanding an immediate revocation of the deal. "And long-suffering Iraq needs him no more than Northern Ireland needed him."
+
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town The First Church of Common Sense
> IAEA thinks Iran uranium traces came from Pakistani equipment: report
> Mon Aug 9, 5:35 PM ET
> LONDON (AFP) - UN nuclear inspectors have reached a "tentative > conclusion" that traces of enriched uranium detected in Iran came from > equipment provided by a smuggling network run by Pakistan's disgraced > former nuclear chief scientist.
Makes sense.
North Korea's nuclear material also came from Pakistan.
And wasn't there evidence the smuggling network was run out of Pakistan's intelligence service?
> The traces have been at the heart of an ongoing international dispute > over whether Tehran has reneged on its obligations to inform the > International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of all enrichment > activities.
> "IAEA inspectors have reached a tentative conclusion that the > contamination came from equipment provided by the nuclear smuggling > network headed by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan," Jane's Defence > Weekly said, quoting "sources close to the agency".
> It said inspectors believe they can confirm that a sample of uranium > enriched to 54 percent, found at one Iranian site, had come from > Pakistani equipment.
> "The confirmation was only possible after Islamabad gave the IAEA data > to verify the uranium source and the US provided a simulation of the > Pakistani nuclear programme that matched the account," Jane's said.
> A separate contamination sample, of uranium enriched to 36 percent, > derived from Russian equipment that Moscow had supplied to China, > which in turn passed it on to Pakistan as part of a previous nuclear > assistance program, it said.
> From Pakistan, it was sold by Khan to Iran, it added
> +
> "The power of accurate observation is called cynicism > by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
> Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town > The First Church of Common Sense
>Subject: Bush runs afoul of Irish-Americans over Iraq contract
In America, a lot of us Paddies are Prods, though, or anyway not quite as _professionally_ Irish as the Rev. McManus is. Mr. Rove and his Boy need not lose any beauty sleep over Aegis Defence Service.
VIENNA, Austria - New findings by the U.N. atomic agency appear to strengthen Iran's claim it has not enriched uranium domestically and weaken U.S. arguments that the country is hiding a nuclear weapons program, diplomats said Tuesday.
The diplomats, who are familiar with Iran's nuclear dossier, told The Associated Press that the International Atomic Energy Agency has established that at least some enriched particles found in Iran originated in Pakistan.
The origin of hundreds of other samples has not been established. Still, the findings bolsters Tehran's assertion that all such traces were inadvertently imported on "contaminated" equipment it bought on the black market.
The findings also could hurt the case being built by the United States and its allies, which accuse Iran of past covert enrichment in efforts toward making nuclear weapons.
+
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town The First Church of Common Sense
> VIENNA, Austria - New findings by the U.N. atomic agency appear to > strengthen Iran's claim it has not enriched uranium domestically and > weaken U.S. arguments that the country is hiding a nuclear weapons > program, diplomats said Tuesday.
You don't think that will stop Bush do you???
Bush has his heart set on sending America into Iran next. And he is willing to sacrifice every last one of you poor bastards, just so long as his kids get to stay home where it's nice and safe! After all, his kids are vital to his version of America. You are far less important to America than Iranian oil. Just ask Bush, he will tell you the same thing!
> The diplomats, who are familiar with Iran's nuclear dossier, told The > Associated Press that the International Atomic Energy Agency has > established that at least some enriched particles found in Iran > originated in Pakistan.
> The origin of hundreds of other samples has not been established. > Still, the findings bolsters Tehran's assertion that all such traces > were inadvertently imported on "contaminated" equipment it bought on > the black market.
> The findings also could hurt the case being built by the United States > and its allies, which accuse Iran of past covert enrichment in efforts > toward making nuclear weapons.
> +
> "The power of accurate observation is called cynicism > by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
> Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town > The First Church of Common Sense
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDayNews) -- It has been three decades since American soldiers endured the shock of sustained ground combat in Vietnam and the emotional scars that kind of war inflicts.
But mental health professionals coast to coast are bracing for a new wave of soldiers overwhelmed by the unique stresses of war, as troops start to return from Iraq (news - web sites).
"Returning soldiers often feel they have been destroyed by their exposure to combat," said Dr. Alison Sheridan, a former Army psychiatrist now in private practice in Concord, Mass.
"They've seen mutilated bodies, their close friends have been killed or maimed. They've had experiences they can't share with their family members or close friends, some of which may be shameful to the soldier because they felt afraid or experienced traumas that continue to terrorize them," she added.
Sheridan expects that many U.S. service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites) will experience a range of problems that their predecessors who fought in the Vietnam know all too well.
Indeed, there are already signs of such struggles.
A just-released military survey of paratroopers who were part of the Iraq invasion found that 17.4 percent of the soldiers have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.
The survey of 1,300 soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade was taken three months after they returned to Fort Bragg, N.C., after a year in Iraq, according to a Fayetteville Observer report.
"The numbers are looking more and more like Vietnam," Capt. Jill Breitbach, chief of psychology services for the 82nd, told the newspaper. A national survey of Vietnam veterans in 1988 determined that about 15 percent had PTSD at the time, according to wire reports.
And they are also in line with research in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (news - web sites) that found soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan are burdened with a range of mental health problems.
Some 15.6 percent to 17.1 percent of those who had been in Iraq met the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety or PTSD, compared to 11.2 percent who returned from Afghanistan and 9.3 percent who had not yet been deployed to Iraq, the researchers found.
The research, which included interviews with approximately 6,200 soldiers, is significant for several reasons, including how early some of the information-gathering is taking place.
"They are actually getting information while people are still in the theater of operations," said Dr. Matthew Friedman, executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs (news - web sites)' National Center for PTSD, a professor at Dartmouth Medical School, and author of an editorial that accompanied the study.
In addition, Friedman said, the researchers have obtained "predeployment" data, giving them something to compare post-combat figures to.
"What's important about getting this data is that we can actually gauge how much of the reported psychiatric symptoms can be pinpointed as resulting from deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan," Friedman said. After the Persian Gulf War (news - web sites) of 1990-91, it was impossible to tell how many of the unexplained medical problems cropped up during combat because there was no baseline, he added.
But equally worrisome, the researchers found, was that only 38 percent to 45 percent of service personnel who met the criteria for a mental disorder expressed interest in receiving help, and only 23 percent to 40 percent of those people sought professional help.
"The most disturbing thing, in my opinion, is the stigma, and people who are most severely affected are the ones least likely to seek treatment," Friedman said.
"We can help them," he added. "We can help them right away."
Soldiers returning to stateside military posts or to their civilian lives often experience many or all of the symptoms of PTSD, including intense, unspecific anxiety; sleep disturbances; jumpiness; flashbacks; and, under some conditions, states of profound disorientation or confusion. Major depression is a common complication, too.
Karl D. LaRowe is a clinical social worker and trainer with PESI HealthCare in Eau Claire, Wisc. "Men and women in combat face intense pressures because they can't get away from the need to stay constantly alert," he explained. "They have to be constantly prepared to react to dangerous, deadly events."
"This state of perpetual watchfulness releases adrenaline that preps the body to make a 'fight-or-flight' response. Constant exposure to adrenaline wires the body, which stimulates the brain, which in turn ups the adrenalin load, creating a hormonal short circuit. The result is a state of highly alert exhaustion."
LaRowe says it's common for soldiers coming home to remain hyper vigilant because their nervous systems have been physically altered by war.
"Returning soldiers are wired and tired," he said. "And it's not only the soldiers, but the members of their families -- spouses, children, parents -- and close friends who are likely to be affected."
Sheridan said people particularly close to soldiers before they left for Iraq may tend to bear the brunt of the transition.
"In casual encounters with acquaintances or strangers, men and women who have recently served in a war zone usually don't show evidence of the stresses they may be experiencing," she said. "It's in the intimate relationships where the symptoms and problems come out, often exacerbated by feeling they can no longer talk about feelings and emotional issues with the persons closest to them."
Sheridan and LaRowe agreed that many returning soldiers experiencing PTSD tend to "self-medicate" using alcohol or other drugs. This can extend and complicate the recovery from war-related emotional trauma.
And that recovery can take a long time -- and may never completely arrive, according to Sheridan.
"Peer group support can be very useful for men and women who have been traumatized by their military experiences," she explained. "Such support is often much more available and accessible to individuals who return to military bases in military communities, where there may well be hundreds of people to whom they can talk about their emotional and social circumstances."
"It's more difficult for the activated reservist who returns to his home, family and community and loses contact with others who have been exposed to the realities of daily combat and have experienced the death, destruction and chaos of war," Sheridan added.
Saddam gave up all Iraqi WMD after 1991 Gulf War, says former nuclear chief
LONDON (AFP) - Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) gave up all of Iraq (news - web sites)'s weapons of mass destruction in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites), the scientist who headed his nuclear programme, Jaffar Dhia Jaffar, said in a BBC interview.
"There was no capability. There was no chemical or biological or any what are called weapons of mass destruction," said Jaffar in what BBC television called his first-ever broadcast interview.
Speaking in Paris, where he now lives, Jaffar -- who ran Saddam's nuclear programme for 25 years -- said there was "no development" of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons "at any time after 1991".
He said he knew that for a fact "because I am in touch with the people concerned".
"If you are a Serb, you go to church, and a person who doesn't go to church is by definition not a Serb. They are a Moslem, or one of those American sensitive new-age faggot types, or some other form of low life."
All residents of MacDill Air Force Base on Tampa Bay have been ordered to evacuate, and only essential personnel will remain, spokeswoman Lt. Erin Dorrance said. MacDill is home to U.S. Central Command, the nerve center of the war in Iraq, and the Special Operations Command.
This is Florida's biggest evacuation request since 1999
--------------------- Iraqi Shiites Angry at Fighting in Najaf
By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Shiites expressed anger Thursday at a major U.S.-led assault on a rebel militia in the holy city of Najaf, warning the violence could spread to other parts of the country and damage the political process.
Fighters loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been holed up in and around the Imam Ali shrine, which holds the remains of Ali, the most exalted Shia saint and the son-in-law and cousin of Islam's prophet Muhammad. Damage to the shrine could anger Shiites and Muslims worldwide.
"This will lead to revenge for the holy sites and for those killed," said Salama al-Khafaji, a former member of the disbanded Governing Council.
Poll Gives Kerry 6-Point Lead Over Bush in Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry leads President Bush 47 percent to 41 percent among registered voters in Florida, according to a poll released on Thursday that showed independent Ralph Nader with 4 percent.
In a two-way race, Kerry leads Bush 49 percent to 42 percent, according to the poll of 1,092 registered Florida voters conducted last week by the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. The poll's error margin was three percentage points.
Among independent voters in the key battleground state, 51 percent supported Kerry while 34 percent said they would vote for Bush and 12 percent were undecided.
A similar poll taken in late June before the Democratic convention showed Bush and Kerry tied at 43 percent among registered voters, with Kerry then holding a 12-point lead over Bush among independent voters.
+
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town The First Church of Common Sense
Bush Tax Cuts Heavily Favor Rich, CBO Says -Reports
Fri Aug 13, 3:02 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites)'s tax cuts have transferred the federal tax burden from the richest Americans to middle-class families, with one-third of them benefiting people with the top 1 percent of income, according to a government report cited in newspapers on Friday.
The Congressional Budget Office report, to be released Friday, is likely to fuel the debate over the cuts between Bush and his Democratic challenger in November, John Kerry.
The report said the top 1 percent, with incomes averaging $1.2 million per year, will receive an average $78,460 tax cut this year, and have seen their share of the total tax burden fall roughly 2 percentage points to 20.1 percent, according to The New York Times.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Protests against the U.S.-led military campaign in the sacred Shi'ite Muslim city of Najaf broke out in five Iraqi cities on Friday, with some demonstrators calling for interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to step down.
In one of the biggest protests, enraged Iraqis in the southern town of Diwaniya swarmed over the local office of his political party, ripping down signs and throwing rocks.
Najaf officials quit in protest
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Najaf officials quit in protest
Friday 13 August 2004, 0:45 Makka Time, 21:45 GMT
Several Iraqi officials working within the interim government have resigned in protest of the US-led assault on Najaf and Kut.
Sixteen of Najaf's 30-member provincial council resigned in protest at the US-led assault on the Najaf as fighting between the al-Mahdi Army loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr and US occupation forces entered its eighth day.
"We have decided to resign due to what has befallen Najaf and all of Iraq from the hasty US invasion and bombardment of Najaf," the council said in a statement to the press.
The council's resignations came several hours after the deputy governor of Najaf resigned in protest against the US offensive on the city.
"I resign from my post denouncing all the US terrorist operations that they are doing against this holy city," Jawdat Kadam Najim al-Kuraishi, deputy governor of Najaf, said on Thursday morning.
On Thursday evening, the director of tribal affairs at the Iraqi Interior ministry announced his resignation through Aljazeera and said he could no longer work with the interim government in good faith given the "carnage and barbaric aggression of the US-led forces in Najaf".
"I am a part of this nation, I am a part of these people. My fellow tribesmen are now fighting in Najaf and Sadr city," said Major-General Marid Abd al-Hasan.
Basra threat
Meanwhile, Basra's deputy governor for administrative affairs, Hajj Salam Awdeh al-Maliky, warned that he may openly join al-Sadr's fight if his offer to send 1000 Iraqi police, special security and national guardsmen to Najaf is refused by the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Some national guardsmen in Basra had even said they would not hesitate to join al-Sadr's militia if al-Maliky's offer was rejected.
Al-Maliky had warned that Basra would turn into a battlefield if
US occupation forces stormed the inner sanctum of Najaf.
"Basra will become another Najaf," he said.
+
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town The First Church of Common Sense
Thousands descend on Najaf, British journalist abducted
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Thousands of Iraqis descended on Najaf after Moqtada Sadr urged his Shiite militia to fight on, while US and Iraqi forces closed in on his stronghold and a British journalist was abducted in the south.
Around 2,000 demonstrators marched under the blazing sun from Najaf's twin city of Kufa after Friday prayers, straight through the US and Iraqi lines to the revered Imam Ali mausoleum.
Showered with sweets and water, they embraced members of Sadr's Mehdi Army who have battled US-led forces for nine days in this beseiged pilgrimage city and shouted their support for the cleric and his fighters.
"All of us are soldiers of Moqtada Sadr. With our blood and our soul, we serve you Ali" chanted demonstrators, none of them carrying weapons.
Militiamen refused 5,000 dinar notes being handed out by one man, waving him off. "We are mujahedeen," or holy fighters, they said, as he desperately tried to shove the money in their pockets.
In Baghdad, a Sadr spokesman urged thousands more to march the 160 kilometres (100 miles) to Najaf, as another 1,000 began a similar walk from the holy city of Karbala.
"As we gather here, outside the headquarters of the agent of the occupation who have brought nothing but death and destruction to this country, we order you to march to Najaf on foot," Sayed Hazem al-Araji told worshippers gathered outside the Green Zone, which houses the US embassy and some government offices.
In Karbala, Sadr representative Sheikh Abdulrazaq al-Nadawi told the faithful: "We're going to Najaf to break the seige on our brothers".
Mass protests were also held in Tallafar in the north and Kut al-Hayy in the south to denounce the caretaker government, while in Basra another Sadr aide pressed Iraqi police and national guardsmen to join the Mehdi Army.
In the Sunni Muslim bastion of Fallujah, thousands of people called for holy war.
+
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town The First Church of Common Sense
Yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney lashed out at Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for suggesting that America needs to fight "a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror."[1] Cheney said, "America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive."[2] Cheney neglected to mention that President Bush and other top administration officials - including Cheney himself - have publicly called for "sensitive" use of American military power. Here is a selection:
On 3/4/01, at the christening of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, President Bush said, "because America is powerful, we must be sensitive about expressing our power and influence."[3]
On 1/7/03, Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the president's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the administration asks "our troops to go out there and be, on the one hand, very sensitive to cultural issues, on the other hand, be ready to respond in self-defense to a very ticklish situation."[4]
On 4/13/03, Cheney said, "We recognize that the presence of U.S. forces can in some cases present a burden on the local community. We're not insensitive to that. We work almost on a continual basis with the local officials to remove points of friction and reduce the extent to which problems arise in terms of those relationships."[5]
> Yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney lashed out at Sen. John Kerry > (D-MA) for suggesting that America needs to fight "a more effective, > more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on > terror."[1] Cheney said, "America has been in too many wars for any of > our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive."[2] > Cheney neglected to mention that President Bush and other top > administration officials - including Cheney himself - have publicly > called for "sensitive" use of American military power. Here is a > selection:
> On 3/4/01, at the christening of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, President > Bush said, "because America is powerful, we must be sensitive about > expressing our power and influence."[3]
> On 1/7/03, Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the president's Joint > Chiefs of Staff, said that the administration asks "our troops to go > out there and be, on the one hand, very sensitive to cultural issues, > on the other hand, be ready to respond in self-defense to a very > ticklish situation."[4]
> On 4/13/03, Cheney said, "We recognize that the presence of U.S. > forces can in some cases present a burden on the local community. > We're not insensitive to that. We work almost on a continual basis > with the local officials to remove points of friction and reduce the > extent to which problems arise in terms of those relationships."[5]
Sadr Calls on Iraqi Govt to Quit, Vows to Fight On
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Friday urged Iraq's "dictatorial" interim government to resign and said he and his militia would remain in the holy city of Najaf until death or victory, his spokesman said.
The spokesman quoted Sadr as telling supporters at Imam Ali Mosque: "I advise the dictatorial, agent government to resign ... the whole Iraqi people demands the resignation of the government ... they replaced Saddam with a government worse than him."
"I will not leave this holy city," the spokesman quoted Sadr as telling supporters who chanted "No, no to America." "We will remain here defending the holy shrines till victory or martyrdom."
Thousands descend on Najaf to Support Sadr
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Thousands of Iraqis descended on Najaf after Moqtada Sadr urged his Shiite militia to fight on, while US and Iraqi forces closed in on his stronghold and a British journalist was abducted in the south.
Around 2,000 demonstrators marched under the blazing sun from Najaf's twin city of Kufa after Friday prayers, straight through the US and Iraqi lines to the revered Imam Ali mausoleum.
Showered with sweets and water, they embraced members of Sadr's Mehdi Army who have battled US-led forces for nine days in this beseiged pilgrimage city and shouted their support for the cleric and his fighters.
"All of us are soldiers of Moqtada Sadr. With our blood and our soul, we serve you Ali" chanted demonstrators, none of them carrying weapons.
Militiamen refused 5,000 dinar notes being handed out by one man, waving him off. "We are mujahedeen," or holy fighters, they said, as he desperately tried to shove the money in their pockets.
In Baghdad, a Sadr spokesman urged thousands more to march the 160 kilometres (100 miles) to Najaf, as another 1,000 began a similar walk from the holy city of Karbala.
"As we gather here, outside the headquarters of the agent of the occupation who have brought nothing but death and destruction to this country, we order you to march to Najaf on foot," Sayed Hazem al-Araji told worshippers gathered outside the Green Zone, which houses the US embassy and some government offices.
In Karbala, Sadr representative Sheikh Abdulrazaq al-Nadawi told the faithful: "We're going to Najaf to break the seige on our brothers".
Mass protests were also held in Tallafar in the north and Kut al-Hayy in the south to denounce the caretaker government, while in Basra another Sadr aide pressed Iraqi police and national guardsmen to join the Mehdi Army.
In the Sunni Muslim bastion of Fallujah, thousands of people called for holy war. +
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw
Johnny Asia, Pope-About-Town The First Church of Common Sense
I always appreciate such clear and detailed references when one catches the Bush team being hypocritical. What is their alternative to being "sensitive" anyway? I guess we know, and perhaps can call it "blundering" or "blustering" or "bullying" or something along those lines.
> Yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney lashed out at Sen. John Kerry > (D-MA) for suggesting that America needs to fight "a more effective, > more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on > terror."[1] Cheney said, "America has been in too many wars for any of > our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive."[2] > Cheney neglected to mention that President Bush and other top > administration officials - including Cheney himself - have publicly > called for "sensitive" use of American military power. Here is a > selection:
> On 3/4/01, at the christening of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, President > Bush said, "because America is powerful, we must be sensitive about > expressing our power and influence."[3]
> On 1/7/03, Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the president's Joint > Chiefs of Staff, said that the administration asks "our troops to go > out there and be, on the one hand, very sensitive to cultural issues, > on the other hand, be ready to respond in self-defense to a very > ticklish situation."[4]
> On 4/13/03, Cheney said, "We recognize that the presence of U.S. > forces can in some cases present a burden on the local community. > We're not insensitive to that. We work almost on a continual basis > with the local officials to remove points of friction and reduce the > extent to which problems arise in terms of those relationships."[5]
