Karl Rove Committed Treason
Now that we know Karl Rove was Matt Cooper's source for a TIME Magazine article that blew Valerie Plame's cover we shall see if the Republicans, who control the scope of the special prosecutor, can stomach the task of being a genuine check and balance to their party operative.
If not, it is up to you and me, folks, to demand Karl Rove be charged for compromising national security for partisan political gain.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, is the special prosecutor appointed to the investigation. Contact his office to demand a thorough investigation:
U. S. Attorney
Telephone: (312) 353-5300
The other burning question...Bob Novak's culpability. He broke the story so why is he not being charged as it is a crime to knowingly reveal the identity of an undercover CIA official.
A Female Combat Veteran
First Woman Gets Silver Star Since WWII
WASHINGTON - A 23-year-old sergeant with the Kentucky National Guard on Thursday became the first female soldier to receive the Silver Star — the nation's third-highest medal for valor — since World War II.
Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, who is from Nashville, Tenn., but serves in a Kentucky unit, received the award for gallantry during a March 20 insurgent ambush on a convoy in Iraq.
She killed at least three insurgents with her M4 rifle, according to her award citation. In the entire battle, 26 or 27 insurgents were killed and several more were captured, according to various accounts. Several Americans were also wounded in the firefight.
Bush Battleship May Be Sunk By Downing St. Memo
It is time to put a halt to the Bush Administration's "Post Invasion Revisionist" assertion that the OIF is all about bringing democracy to Iraq.
560,000 Americans have signed petitions requesting Pres. Bush provide a detailed response to the Downing Street memo. Were "The intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy," ???
Lying about oral sex may not be an impeachable offense but falsifying 'intelligence' re: Iraq's WMD's, Saddam posing an imminent threat and having terrorist connections certainly are.
I, myself, have always asserted since =W= was running for President in 2000 that if he were to win, returning to Iraq was a foregone conclusion. Now it seems that many of the President and VP actions prove that to be exactly the case.
'After looking at the goal of the war Blair political director Peter Ricketts says "It sounds like a grudge between Bush and Saddam."'
FFI: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/
Opposition to the Bush Administration is a Full-time Job
Mother of dead soldier vilifies Bush over war
PRESIDENT RIDICULED AT INTERFAITH RALLY
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
The president of Gold Star Families for Peace, a mother who lost a son in Iraq, criticized the United States' "illegal and unjust war" yesterday during an interfaith rally in Lexington.
Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., accused President Bush of lying to the nation about a war which has consumed tens of billions of dollars and claimed more than 1,700 American lives -- including the life of Army Specialist Casey Austin Sheehan.
Sheehan was one of more than a dozen activists who were scheduled to speak at yesterday's anti-war rally at the Red Mile, which was organized by the Clergy and Laity Network and co-sponsored by dozens of liberal religious organizations.
Sheehan ridiculed Bush for saying that it's "hard work" comforting the widow of a soldier who's been killed in Iraq.
"Hard work is seeing your son's murder on CNN one Sunday evening while you're enjoying the last supper you'll ever truly enjoy again. Hard work is having three military officers come to your house a few hours later to confirm the aforementioned murder of your son, your first-born, your kind and gentle sweet baby. Hard work is burying your child 46 days before his 25th birthday. Hard work is holding your other three children as they lower the body of their big (brother) into the ground. Hard work is not jumping in the grave with him and having the earth cover you both," she said.
Since her son's death, Sheehan has made opposition to the Bush administration a full-time job.
"We're watching you very carefully and we're going to do everything in our power to have you impeached for misleading the American people," she said, quoting a letter she sent to the White House. "Beating a political stake in your black heart will be the fulfillment of my life ... ," she said, as the audience of 200 people cheered.
The "Freedom and Faith Bus Tour" -- which brought Sheehan to Lexington, has already visited New York, Chicago and Indianapolis. The next stops include Columbus, Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
Other speakers included state Rep. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, Clergy and Laity Network executive director Rev. Albert Pennybacker of Lexington, Kentucky Council of Churches executive director Nancy Jo Kemper and Baptist Seminary of Kentucky Professor Glenn Hinson.
Quoting scripture and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hinson suggested the nation is greedy and morally bankrupt and warned that America's fear of terrorism is excessive and unhealthy. Denouncing "fear that immobilizes, fear that causes you to lash out mindlessly, fear that prompts a nation to launch a preemptive strike against an imagined enemy, fear in excess," Hinson said, "Only God's love can bring that kind of fear under control."
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always."
- Gandhi
No Surprise
Soldiers' Divorce Rates Up
USA TODAY
The number of active-duty soldiers getting divorced has been rising sharply with deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.
The trend is severest among officers. Last year, 3,325 Army officers' marriages ended in divorce -- up 78% from 2003, the year of the Iraq invasion, and more than 31/2 times the number in 2000, before the Afghan operation, Army figures show. For enlisted personnel, the 7,152 divorces last year were 28% more than in 2003 and up 53% from 2000. During that time, the number of soldiers has changed little.
The Army has no comparable data for past wars.
The stress of combat, long separations and difficulty readjusting to family life are key reasons for the surge, Army officials say.
"Rising through the ranks, every subsequent job gets more difficult, more intense and more demanding," says Col. Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman. "So the stressors are extreme in the officer corps, especially when we're at war, and officers have an overwhelming responsibility to take care of their soldiers as well as the soldiers' families. There's a lot of responsibility on the leaders' shoulders, which, I can assure you, takes away from the home life."
"There is a deep concern and some significant resources aimed at helping families survive," says Lt. Col. Peter Frederich, a chaplain who has just been assigned to oversee policy and resources in the Army's family support programs.
Col. Glenn Bloomstrum, another chaplain, says that five years ago, the Army instituted one-day workshops to help soldiers and spouses talk about war experiences and ease the transition from combat to home. More recently, weekend marriage-education retreats have been introduced.
"There's a bonding that takes place between soldiers, and during that (family) reunion phase, you've got to make the transition from your buddies, who you relied on for life and death situations. Now, it's really time to spend time at home," Bloomstrum says.
Dennis Orthner, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has studied military families for 28 years, says he isn't surprised by the rise in divorces. "If the numbers are right, then we have more to worry about than just fighting a war," he says. "We're trying to fight a war with families that are struggling, and that's a real challenge."
"The Army recognizes that for its all-volunteer fighting force to remain viable, it is essential to keep marriages healthy, Frederich says. "It all hinges on soldiers being able to stay soldiers for a long time."
We Deserve Realism and the Truth
Now's the time for a clear-eyed look at where we are in Iraq
By Joseph L. Galloway, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Private contractors offer veteran Special Forces sergeants and warrant officers
This would be a good time to conduct a thoughtful review of where we are in this war, where we're going, what our exit strategy should be and what can be done to prevent a Vietnam-style disaster in the
The answer isn't staying the course, if the course we're on points us in the wrong direction.
The answer isn't the false optimism of those who argue that more insurgent attacks are proof that the insurgency is dying, or that Iraqi boys will soon be doing what until now American men and women have had to do for them.
Their military and civilian superiors owe our soldiers - and all of us - more than political spin. They, and we, deserve realism and the truth.
Wanted: Deepthroat
New 'Deep Throat' needed for Iraq, says George McGovern
"I wish there were somebody of the Deep Throat time in this administration who are aware of what's going on," McGovern told Fox News Radio.
"This war in Iraq, in my opinion is worse than anything Nixon did. I think Nixon deserved to be expelled from office in view of the cover-up that he carried on and the laws that he violated.
"But we have an administration in power now that led us to a war that is internationally illegal; it's a war that we are fighting with a country that has no threat to us that has nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks.
McGovern said Nixon was undoubtedly "tricky," but said of Bush: "This man claims to be Christian, following the will of God, and then he misleads the whole nation on a totally fraudulent enterprise in Iraq that we should have never been attached to."
Officer Turned Arms Dealer
Air Force Officer Found Guilty of Sending Weapons, Other War Souvenirs Home From Iraq
In this photo released by the U.S. Air Force, war souvenirs allegedly shipped from Iraq to the United States by Maj. Gregory McMillion are shown in 2003. A U.S. military judge sentenced McMillion to one year in prison and dismissed him from service Friday, May 20, 2005, for illegally shipping a small arsenal of automatic weapons and hundreds of other war souvenirs home from Iraq. The items pictured include bayonets, stocks and other parts for AK-47 assault rifles. (AP Photo/U.S.Air Force, File)
By BILL KACZOR Associated Press Writer
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. May 20, 2005 — A military judge Thursday found an Air Force officer guilty of illegally shipping a small arsenal of automatic weapons and hundreds of other war souvenirs home from Iraq.
Maj. Gregory McMillion stood at rigid attention with his two military lawyers as Col. Ronald Gregory read his verdict in the judge-only court-martial. Prosecutors said McMillion is a gun and military paraphernalia enthusiast who tried to use his deployment to stock his personal collection.
McMillion's booty included about 30 automatic rifles, six rocket-propelled grenade launchers and dozens of magazines, scopes and sights. There also were several dummy land mines and grenades, 1,183 Iraqi army berets, more than 600 pairs of socks and eight full uniforms. Other items included a statue looted from an Iraqi museum.
