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" Chris: This soldier Op-Ed is another document to consider making sure Nancy Boyda and staff have perused."
The War As We Saw It
By Buddhika Jayamaha, Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck, Omar Mora, Edward Sandmeier, Yance T. Gray and Jeremy A. Murphy. The New York Times, Sunday 19 August 2007.
For the complete article please visit:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081907A.shtml
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"Christopher:
Congratulations on getting Nancy Boyda as a guest on Community Bridge! That's quite a coup.
On Bush's credibility: make sure her staff (and if possible she herself) has seen the MoveOn video about Bush's history of claiming "progress."
Raise the question of General Petraeus's own credibility (as distinct from his competence as a military commander under the circumstances). Here are some key sources.
Again, it would not be ill to let her staff know she can expect questions on this issue grounded in these sources. That's not putting her on the spot. It's giving her the courtesy of a heads-up about the audience's specific points of concern.
- Paul Krugman, "Time to Take a Stand: Five Things for Democrats to Remember"here at truthout.org. Krugman points out the bearing of Petraeus' past predictions in the light of the GAO report on benchmarks and the "Jones Report" (from the commission of senior retired military and police officers commissioned by Sen. Warner). (NYT, 7 Sept 07); text available w/out charge
- For more on the GAO Report
- US Auditor Queries Military Iraq Casualty Figures"Includes remarks from interview with committee head, who questions the military's method of measuring casualties from "sectarian violence" (in its estimate that such violence has declined since the surge). (AgenceFrance-Presse, 7 Sept 07).
- Anne Flaherty, "GAO: Iraq hasn't met 11 of 18 benchmarks" (AP News, 4 Sept 07). Reports on White House intervention in the report, and on reasons for skepticism about statistics used in military's claim of "progress" in reducing sectarian violence."
- "GAO Report Card on Iraq Benchmarks" (Boston Globe, 5 Sept 07).
- Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks, "Report Finds Little Progress on Iraq Goals: GAO Draft at Odds With White House" (Washington Post, 30 Aug 07).
- For more on the "Jones Report" see
- "Iraqi forces made 'uneven progress', study finds" (AP, 5 Sept 07).
- Patrick O'Connor, "Democrats skeptical of Petraeus report" (Politico, 9 Sept 07).
- Tom Englehardt, "Launching Brand Petraeus: 'Progress by the Numbers'" (Tomgram, 9 Sept 07).
- This is the third in Tomdispatch's "by the numbers" series, leading up to this week's White House "Progress Report" from the U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker. The first, in June, was "Iraq by the Numbers"; the second, in August, was "Escalation by the Numbers." You can check them for topics missing this time around.
- New York Times Editorial, "Hiding Behind the General" (NYT, 9 Sept 07).
- Ray McGovern, "Are Petraeus and Westmoreland Birds of a Feather?" (Truthout Perspective, 7 Sept 07).
- McGovern served as an Army infantry/intelligence officer in the sixties. He was then a CIA analyst for 27 years (and became, until his retirement, the officer responsible for compiling the daily intelligence estimate for the presiden. After his retirement he cofounded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
- Gary Langer, "Iraqis Say Surge Is Not Working" (ABC News, 10 Sept 07).
- Damien Cave and Stephen Farrell, "At Street Level, Unmet Goals of Troop Buildup" (NYT, 9 Sept 07); text available free here at truthout.org.
- Frank Rich, "As the Iraqis Stand Down, We'll Stand Up" (NYT, 9 Sept 07); text available w/out charge here at truthout.org.
- Karen DeYoung, "The Iraq Report's Other Voice: Ambassador's Appraisal May Carry a More Lasting Weight" (WP, 10 Sept 07).
- Martin Kady II, "Anti-war Democrats fight for timeline" (Politico, 7 Sept 07).
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Hey Chris,
Please ask Nancy Boyda about HR 1717. It is a bill that wouls allow EXOTIC PATHOGENS WITH HIGH FATALITY RATES FOR WHICH THERE IS NO KNOW VACCINE OR THERAPY to be imported onto our mainland, a prerequisite for researching then in the Naitonal Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) proposed for Manhattan. HR 1717 is sponsored by representatives from Texas and Mississippi, states also in the running with Manhattan as sites for the biggest germlab in THE WORLD.
To view the text of HB 1717 go to:
http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:2:./temp/~c110KFERud::
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"Christopher,
Here's a resource to exploit in preparing to talk with Boyda.
------- Original Message --------
| Subject: | The People's Report: Answering the Petraeus Report |
|---|---|
| Date: | Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:48:45 -0400 (EDT) |
| From: | Institute for Policy Studies |
Gen. Petraeus today was full of no surprises -- the "surge" is working, we need more time, we need more cooperation from the Iraqi government, we need more U.S. troops to spend more time in Iraq, we need more dead Iraqis... oops, sorry, he didn't really say that last one, but he might as well have, since that's the consequence of his plan.
The only thing new, since the last general's briefing, was the focus on Iran. The U.S. occupation of Iraq is not any longer about the "global war on terrorism" -- now it's all Iran, all the time. This is extremely dangerous, and there must be no let-up in pressure to prevent further escalation of this war for empire to new vistas in Iran.
My IPS colleagues Erik Leaver and Saif Rahman and I have written a short new piece called "Iraq: The People's Report" to answer the claims of the Petraeus Report. It's being distributed by the United for Peace and Justice anti-war coalition -- and includes an assessment of what's wrong with the report, as well as a look at the costs of war to Iraq and to the U.S., and a one-page description of how to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq without abandoning our obligations to the Iraqi people. Please take a look -- it's a four-page flier, and you can download it and print it on either 8 1/2 x 11 or 11 x 17 inch paper.
It's available at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/downloads/people_s_report_11by17.pdf or at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/downloads/peoplesreport.pdf
There continues to be a lot of excuses from Democrats and their supporters, claiming that the reason they can't end the war is they don't have the votes, or don't have a veto-proof majority. They don't, but a number of peace organizations have realized that if the Democrats really WANTED to end the war, there is a different way of cutting the funding, without having to worry about getting 67 votes in the Senate or a veto-proof majority in the House.
The Bush administration is requesting $141 billion more funding for the occupation of Iraq, and is about to ask for another $50 billion on top of that. In a new campaign, some groups are calling on the House Appropriation Committee chairman, Congressman David Obey, to simply refuse to bring those latest funding requests to a vote. If you stop the vote, they reason, you stop the funding. And Bush can't veto something that hasn't been voted on. If the speaker of the house, California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, tries to do an end-run around such a decision by the Appropriations Committee chairman to force a vote on the House floor, she would have to admit that she's working awfully hard to support the war -- and peace groups point out that Nancy Pelosi represents a strongly anti-war district that wouldn't like that very much.
It's an interesting idea. After all, the Democrats have been in control of the Congress for almost a full year -- and nothing has changed. The war continues; there are MORE U.S. troops occupying Iraq than there were a year ago; almost TWICE as many Iraqis are being killed and injured as a year ago. U.S. troops continue to die and continue to kill.
It's way past time to end the occupation. Hope you find the new Report useful.
all the best
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Representative Boyda,
First of all, I would like to thank you for voting in favor of the Hate Crimes bill earlier this year, which included hate crimes committed towards LGBT individuals. I understand that now Congress is working on passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would include sexual orientation and gender identity in the federal non-discrimination policy. Right now a person can be fired for being gay in 31 states and for your gender identity in 42 states including Kansas. Would you please tell us your thoughts about ENDA and whether you support such legislation?
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Representative Boyda,
I understand that you did not support the funding of a domestic partnership registry in Washington, DC, which would have enabled unmarried couples there who share a relationship of mutual support, caring and commitment to formally record their relationships. Would you please explain why you voted against using federal funds to establish such a registry?
Note from Christopher: Washingtion DC has never used federal funds for its domestic partner registry, so the vote in Congress was largely symbolic, but it is still rather unsettling that she voted for the resolution.
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