Debate the Debate: Does Your Representative Represent You?

This week the House will hold the first real debate on the Iraq War since the Republican Congress approved Bush's Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. Democrats will let all 435 Members of Congress speak for 5 minutes.

What will your Representative say? Will your Representative actually represent you? We invite you to "Debate the Debate" at DebateTheDebate.com, a new feature of Democrats.com that gives you one-click access to news from your Congressional District. Just login to Democrats.com with your voting address and click the "local" link (http://democrats.com/local) to find it!

We need your help to make this work.

  1. Login to Democrats.com and click "local" to see if someone has already posted your Representative's speech.
  2. If not, look for your Representative's speech at TrueMajority. If you can't find it there, visit your Representative's web site here. Most Members will publish their speeches in the section on "speeches" or "press," and these can be copy/pasted without restriction. If you can't find the speech, call your Representative's Washington office and ask for the Press Secretary. 
  3. When you find the speech, create a New Forum Topic devoted to your Representative's speech. Use a title like "Iraq Speech by Rep. Smith." Choose our "Debate The Debate" topic so all 435 debates can be easily found.

When your Representative's speech has been posted, use the comment section to debate whether your Representative actually represents you.

If you don't like your Representative's speech, you can use Democrats.com to do something about it!

  • Use the debate to clarify your views, then write letters to your local newspapers and call local talk shows
  • Organize a protest in front of your Representative's local office
  • Join the Occupation Project to hold a sit-in inside your Representative's office
  • Organize a town hall meeting to get your Representative to address your concerns
  • Find a better candidate to challenge your Representative in 2008

You can also join your local Congressional District Impeachment Committee to persuade your Representative to support the Impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney.

Background: The 2002 debate on Iraq was based entirely on lies:

  1. that Iraq had WMD's and ties to Al Qaeda, and was therefore an imminent threat to the U.S.
  2. that U.S. troops would be greeted with flowers
  3. that Iraqi oil would pay for rebuilding Iraq

So now Congress is finally debating the reality: Iraq had no WMD's and no ties to Al Qaeda, U.S. troops were greeted with endless bombs, and U.S. taxpayers will spend $1 trillion or more to watch murderous militias destroy Iraq.

The debate will be framed around Bush's latest escalation - will another 48,000 U.S. troops end Iraq's civil war, or is it time to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis and bring our troops safely home?

Here is the exact wording:

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That—

(1) Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq; and

(2) Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.

Politics: Democrats are united in support of the resolution, while Republicans are deeply divided.

"Every time I go to another funeral, every time I go to Walter Reed, people are really gracious, but what do you say? What are we doing over there now?" asked Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest (R-Md.), whose Eastern Shore district has lost 23 service members in the war.

GOP leaders and conservatives may apply some pressure to stay off the Democratic resolution, but, Gilchrest added: "My internal soul goes a lot beyond my minuscule political career."...

Gilchrest voted with the Republican leadership in June, but last month he was one of eight House Republicans who signed a letter stating that the deployment of additional U.S. troops to the sectarian fighting in Iraq would only make matters worse...

Gilchrest collected 29 Republican signatures on his own letter pleading with Bush to open diplomatic dialogue with Syria and Iran to find a way out of Iraq, then personally handed the letter to Bush at a bill-signing ceremony in the Oval Office. He is now working with Democratic Reps. Gregory W. Meeks (N.Y.), James P. McGovern (Mass.) and Solomon P. Ortiz (Tex.) to further that diplomatic push.

 

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MY REPRESENATIVE DOES NOT REPLY TO MY MAIL

ANYONE ELSE HAVE THAT PROBLEM? TAXATION WITH NO REPRESENTATION

Not since the fax machine

i call get the fax number and work it like that. I love technology. It's like getting a screamer on Harry Potter!

Hell No My Represenative is in Bush's Choir

Unfortunately, I have been stuck with Rep John Porter (R-NV) for two terms, he is squarely in Bush's pocket and I am constantly calling his office, emailing him, and writing letters against the occupation of Iraq, against the expansion of the war to Iran, to repeal Homeland Security, to withdraw from NAFTA, CAFTA, to repeal Right to Work laws. and I always get the same reply that he will consider my concerns and he always votes his cold heart with Bush.

My House Rep does not reply but Here is my Senators reply

Thank you for writing me to share your
views about the Bush administration. I
appreciate hearing from you on this important
topic.

I share your concerns over the Bush
administration's prosecution of the war in
Iraq. Impeachment however is a very serious
matter and one that cannot be brought by an
individual member of the Senate. Impeachment
proceedings have to be initiated by the House
of Representatives.

You can be certain of my commitment to
investigating any wrong doing by the
Administration and to speak out when their
policies are undermining our country's
national security. Thank you again for
taking the time to share your views with me
on this important matter.

Maybe you would like to send

Maybe you would like to send your rep and Seantors or one of them a book that will do the investigative work for them? Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney by Dennis Loo, Peter Phillips, and Howard Zinn
and The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office by Dave Lindorff and Barbara Olshansky Both are well written and scholarly rather than opinion books.

I suggest this because so many of our reps just don't seem to know what is going on out here in the real world. I am amazed when I hear both dems and repugs telling us what the vote in '06 really meant and what message we were sending to congress. Some of them have a partial understanding and others have no clue. I fear that is the way that they view impeachment, mostly as rash talk coming from the ill informed, rather than serious discourse from individuals who understand the law and the Constitution. If congress needs their feet to be held to the fire to get them to do what they are mandated to do under that Constitution, then so be it. I think many of our reps have forgotten basic high school physics (?) [I meant of course civics] class or believe that was just charming chat with no relationship to modern reality.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." ~ Sinclair Lewis

In a time of deception telling the truth is a revolutionary act. ~ George Orwell

Thanx for the list of Reps, i'm on it

Thanks loads for the list @apps.leg.wa.gov/membermail/Default.aspx?Chamber=S. It couldn't have come at a more important time in our lives. Let's get busy people, the Republicans do need us to stand with them against this life threatening regime.

LaLa Land its a terrible mind to waste

They complain about us pot smokers and this dopey congress doesn't face the reality of real world. Maybe congress needs a drug test. They must be on acid. I may smoke pot for my diverticulitis and nerves, but i'm no dope. I know a con when I see one and the War on Iraq was a con on the American so called sober, (until happy hour) public. So is the war on drugs because the illegalization of it keeps the courts and prison industrialized system full of employment opportunities through slave labor that got them there in the first place. We could be out of this deficit ina heartbeat if they would tax marajuana like nasty cigarettes and alcohol. The additional can be used for treatment of the dangerous drugs that harm through crime, like crack, cocaine, LSD, Heroin, and that nastylittle bugger sweeping the mid west,methemphetimines. These always have created havok in families lives. After thirty years of investigating checking for the bad side of pot, and still no answers. Come on people if they can't control it (it grows) they don't want it legal.

Iraq debate by another King (but of the same party)

M22M-

That's about the same letter I receive from my Democratic Senate representatives. Yes..but as members of the Congress they could support House members. They fail to do that all the time.

They act like the House of Lords in Britain. Royals who vote when it comes to them from the House. They can no longer act helpless since they now do have a voice of the majority to speak.

Bush had the Iraq Study Group (hand picked by him and not elected but selected) talk about Iraq. He did not listen to the people who said, no more war in the Middle East...get out. Now like the 2006 election never happened, they are discussing a Iraq "resolution and funding" on CPSAN before us. What are they wanting for our approval or each others? The RW media coverage for support from them?

Bush is buying time and doing smoke screens to cover the CIA trials, etc.

They wouldn't want to do any thing too drastic and put the troops in danger? What danger? Like having them killed everyday because the Iraqis hate us after we Shocked & Awed them? For years they've gone without power, good water, jobs, live in constant fear? We are the invaders and they will fight us until we leave. End of the Iraq Discussion group!!

My uncle was head of the civilian rebuilding (he was German/American himself and was in the military) in Germany after WWII. He DID NOT walk off with millions of dollars in plunder. The citizens didn't rebel or kill us because we were doing something for them. We left them with a democracy not ruined lives and future. We didn't torture and jail them. We didn't steal from them. Iraq can not be compared to WWII or the Marshall Plan.

The "rebuilding" of Iraq is just criminal in all aspects. Many call it genocide. They had a structure before we bombed them. Iraq is almost back to tribal level since we've been there. We didn't help them after Suddam. They are worse off.

We went into Iraq to free them and have a democracy (at least we were told that after the WMD couldn't be found). There was an Iraqi election yet that is not enough. Now we are there until we win against all Islamics all over the world? Is that a plan for success?

We build premanent bases over there while closing ours here. Isn't that bad for us and our own safety? Whose going to die for their profit? Whose going to pay for it since we are broke? Whose going to elect these American Congressman, or you Congressman King if you/they fail to listen?

Congressman Pete King (R-3rd District, NY) even reached back to President Harry Truman's bad poll numbers to say (during the fight against Communism) stay the course. What? Communism was not an issue under Truman was it? It was a world war against Fascists (which he seems to support right here in America) not a war against a small innocent country who was attacked by us and the British.

Bush's poll numbers are lower than any President for a longer time then any in history. The media made Truman a hero. He is not mine for bombing Japan when the war was won. The people did not approve of that action. They don't approve of Bush's either.

President Truman didn't torture and jail innocents for profit and power. Set up secret prisons off shore. He didn't remove trial by jury or spy on innocent Americans either. If he did, he had a court order.

Bush is a horror unlike any President in our history. Truman's administration believed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. He didn't have a world order plan to remove our borders and nationhood to set up his own government without a democracy. That would have been treason.

Congressman King said, the Congress and President know better than the people and should stay the course until we win. How are they going to win and what are their goals...against what? It keeps changing...the plan and the enemy. The "enemy..."them"..."the Islamics"..."the Iranians"...the "insurgents" all have something in common. They have oil.

Congressman King how do we know President Bush doesn't have his "private mercinaries" in Iraq setting up attacks,etc. so it would look like it is the Iranians, Iraqis, etc. when it is his Death Squad like Iran Contra days in S. America under another lying President Reagan? Presidents Bush and Reagan have been caught in big lies and criminal activity.

Bush's Empire wants that oil and his Middle East Union. It is about Empire..that is the plan (PNAC). It's no secret.

The British have been caught doing "terrorism" in Iraq. Tony Blair lied about the WMD and had a partner to lie about "the policy" to go to Iraq in the Downing Documents. It was Bush who signed and met with Blair behind closed doors and in secret to set the policy of war in Iraq before 911.

Now Congressman King that is not a way to run either democracies is it? Congress decides about war and the purse. Did you forget?

Congressman King you can't keep your history straight. Is it because you are misleading and lying for King Bush and his Empire? I heard people call our country a Fascist/ Police State now part of the Americas Union. None are democracies. Did we pay and elect you to do as you please? In a democracy we have no kings or dictators...or sole deciders.

Stay the course until we have no wealth, military, or freedom left? My vote is no.

At Least the only difference

At Least the only difference is the ecomony got better during the reagan adminstration in the mid to late 80's then this current mess

Bush has truly made the absolute largest defiect in our nation's history and took more jobs and more money overseas than all of the other presidents combined.

Bush isn't even a ronald reagan, he's more of a richard nixon, arch-conserative in every shape or form.

Bush is not a conserative, he's not even a liberal.

Bush conserative pass has been revoked by paul craig roberts.

Bush is worse then Nixon much much worse

No one was killed during Watergate unlike Iraq!

And certainly no one was

And certainly no one was killed when clinton lied about a blowjob unlike Iraq.

This is a blow job, they are trying to blow up the middle east

The administration's blow job is worse because as you can see, nobody is enjoying it. It's a sham to be there. Our very history as a people of peace, that fights only when provoked. This cockeyed president, shows the world that this 911 devastation has damaged us so badly, we can't even swing straight at the attackers. That's just plain dumb. Is America, blind to it's own laws in the engagement of war? We need to save our history what's left of it, and get the target straight.

It appears my rep has done not much since the last election

How can they represent us? How can they stand up only for us, when they have to raise so much money?

If I needed 80 million dollars to run my campaign, I would have to spend all of my time with the PAC Lobbyist. Or spend my own money.

Well it is my personal experience that neither completely understand the life of the working class.

When was the last time one of our elected Leaders has to worry about how to pay the bills? Worry about their children in Public School? Worry about losing their jobs and ending up destitute? Worry about, god forbid, getting sick and losing everything to a hospital?

These are not concerns of thiers, they are concerns of ours. That is why there is no healthcare reform, they do not have a son, brother, neice, nephew in Iraq. so the war is distant, disconnected.

The 120 Million Hillary is going to raise for her lelction, could house 100,000 people permenantly. Buy them a hosue, no in the DC area, but they would at least be able to GET a mortgage with that money.

The money spent on the Primaries alone, would take care of Southeast Washington. It would build businesses, and buy homes, improve the schools, and maybe let at least SOME working mom's not be gone 14 hours a day, so the children have NO one home with them. Welfare to Work Sheesh what a bad idea, let's leave hundreds of thousands of kids to raise themselves.

Or I know let's make a whole generation of drug addicts and prisoners, that way the men of the african american neighborhoods can't get jobs, they are felons. Let's over populate our prisons, and when we are done, don't give their child FOOD and housing. So they are compelled to break the law again. By the way, legalization of selelcted drugs, would boost the base considerably, considering it is a multi billion dollar a year business.

Having been a woman in a shelter 25 years ago, with 2 small children, and now a ocmfortable member of the middle class (at least until I get too ill to work) I can tell you , we wentthe wrong way.

So how do you expect ANY of them to represent us, when they need to raise money all the time?

That was the Bush Cheney and republiklan plan too

Keep the middle class and poor so busy worrying themselves over making payment deadlines to allow this administration who is in cahoots with most of them, run rough shod over the people. I'll say one thing for the Republiklans, (and I have been watching them in every Presidency since Nixon)They sure know how to make a chaotic stinky financial bloody mess.

Don't forget who spawned G.W Bush

Ronald Reagan of course not literally. Bush was a big fan of Reagans economic policies. During the Reagan years was the start of alot of deregulation that has led to alot of the economic messes we are in today.

Still can't believe he won 2 terms. How could the country vote in a man who thought trees caused air pollution. One wonders about the so called Reagan democrats. Its a real head shaker.

My rep spits generic form letter replies at me

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch and share your views with me. I will get back to you shortly. You don’t need to do anything else.

That sounds nice. The problem is, I have yet to hear back. That said, at least my rep spits something back at me, which is more than I can say for my Senators. Just curious, if your Senator is a presidential candidate as is mine, when was the last time you heard from him/her?

A sad aside: during the immigration marches of 2006, I happened to write both Senators to urge them to promote a Single-Payer Health Care System. In each case, they spit back a generic form letter about immigration. Hmmm... seems they have put me on ignore since writing each a scathing follow-up.

My recent e-mails to my rep and Senators have been (1) impeach Bush, Cheney and Gonzales now; (2) begin the drawdown of US troops now; (2) begin Electoral College Reform now; (4) next on the agenda: Single-Payer Health Care System.

From Rep's web site

1. February 12, 2007
...(sent) a letter to Government Accountability Office Comptroller David Walker to investigate the background check process the FBI uses during the residency and naturalization processes.

2. February 8, 2007
...joined by a bi-partisan group of Members of Congress in sending a letter to Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott expressing concern over reports that t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia remain on the shelves of some of its retail outlet locations.

3. February 6, 2007
...a member of the Select Committee on House Intelligence, will today introduce legislation that would expose the extent to which the federal government is relying on private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan to carry out quasi-military functions.

4. February 5, 2007
...a Chief Deputy Democratic Whip, today released the following statement on the President’s FY2008 Budget:
"The President’s budget gives the Pentagon $623 billion, an increase of 62% since he took office. The budget sinks another $145 billion into the war in Iraq – another sign that the President has no plans to bring our troops home before the end of his term. Even with the massive increases in the Defense budget, the President still leaves behind our troops. Just last week, an Inspector General’s report concluded that our troops in Iraq still do not have the equipment they need to defend themselves after four years of war."

5. January 23, 2007
...a Chief Deputy Democratic Whip, today was joined by 26 Members of Congress in sending a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates regarding the use of private contractors in prisons and interrogations. This month, the Federal Bureau of Investigations disclosed new allegations of detainee abuse by private contractors performing interrogations at Guantanamo Bay.

6. January 18, 2007
...sent a letter to President Bush urging him to immediately terminate Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs Charles Stimson for his remarks condemning law firms that represent Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Working hard? Yes, probably. Responding directly to my letters. No.

Whoopie! My Senator sent me a letter today

While one Senator is out of touch, parading about the country as a presidential hopeful, my other Senator responded.

...The House of Representatives has the Constitutional authority to determine whether to impeach and to draft articles of impeachment. Should the House vote to impeach and specify the grounds upon which impeachment is based, the matter is then presented to the Senate for trial.

On December 18, 2005, Representative John Conyers introduced House Resolution 635. This measure would create a Select Committee in the House of Representatives to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war in Iraq before Congress authorized such action, determine if the President or any of his advisors manipulated pre-war intelligence, and study whether the Administration has encouraged torture in the treatment of Iraqi prisoners. This Select Committee would be required to present its findings to the full House and advise the House on whether the information discovered may constitute grounds for impeachment. This measure has been referred to the House Rules Committee.

I am troubled by many of the actions of this Administration; and so are the American people, as demonstrated by the mid-term elections. The new leadership in Congress will seek a new direction for our nation while reinstituting the Congressional oversight that has been sadly missing in recent years.

I will keep your views in mind as the fact-finding continues.

Now I'm waiting to hear from my rep.

Northside That is your typical response from Senators.

They shove the problem and send it to the House. They pass the buck.

Northside. You are lucky. Your senator responded to a letter.

I am troubled by many of the actions of this Administration. your Rep. I get the same response and want to tell them if your are troubled you must Impeach. That is your duty and job,

you go Northside!

Keep on faxing, e-mailing and pounding the pavement for justice. We deserve it.

I have to contact other reps because my rep is useless

Does anyone else do this? I get emails telling me that I will get a response. I never do. I hear more from reps in other states. How pathetic!

Every time I have written to

Every time I have written to Sen. Kennedy I have gotton a responce from him. 2 time I got an e-mail from one of his aids and 1 time I got a letter from him personally signed dealing with the VA. I am a dissabled vet and I use my elected officials to the max. My best one was Mitt Romney. I had been waiting for about 14 months on a re-evalutaion form my local VA in Boston. They kept giveing me the run around so I e-mailed him, guess what? I got a call from Healy herself on the issue! Needless to say my re-eval from the VA was completed 4 days later from the day I talked to Ass.Gov Healy and was told by her that Mitt personaly was going to make the call to the VA in Boston concerning my case.

iwas1ncthr, your major post was removed. It violated the TOS...

This would be a good time for you to review our site's rules:

http://www.democrats.com/rules

A mind once expanded can never return to its original dimensions.

Anne Hathaway: 1556-1623

The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe in something because one wishes it to be so.

both my Rep and my Senator

will send me to a free speech zone, preferably somewhere towards the center of the district, where they hear it's good turkey huntin' Sadly to say my rep and senator have the last names of Thornberry and Cornyn. Yeah... both big Bushites.

Don't feel bad, I used to have a racist Rep using macaca as

a cheer to get elected in Virginia. Rediculous right. We changed it though. The hard questions will be asked democrats so get the answers that we need to impeach.

And the petition just grows and grows!

Contact The Presidential 2008 candidates

I will vote for you in 2008, If you investigate 9/11 and Impeach both Bush and Cheney. Senators can press the House to take action.

Anyone write to Bush asking him to resign?

Does anyone even write to WhiteHouse any more?

Does anyone write Bush?

It's been six years and this President does not read or care about any of them. He has his agenda and doesn't give a bit about representing ours.

Citizens, all kinds of expert groups sent letters, post letters in newspapers, talk on CSPAN, and protest outside his ranch and all over the country.

Cities and state legislative bodies have protested his Patriot Acts,etc. Anti-war and Empire protestors have been in the streets for almost six years.

Numerous letters with petitions have been presented over the years by citizen action peace groups to Bush. The White House/secret service police deny admission to them.

Where have you been?

dove : I have gotten responses by email and letter mail

How do you know The White House/secret service police deny admission of letters.

Denied access to the White House and President?

M22M-

I've read it on their web sites. Cindy Sheehan said so...and others. The police and secret service deny them access to present the letters and petitons in person.

Even leaders of the opposition party were/have been denied access to the President.

It doesn't matter anyway, he has ADD and can't read anyway

Why waste ink, he doesn't listen

We should impeach everyone who keeps them in power. With no votes to keep you in, you can't rule. From now on people, pay attention to the Bush It, when these crooked polititions use old slogans and tough talk to whoo you. It's gonna be a tough haul to get his arse out. Are you up to the challenge. Its a matter of life and death of our soldiers caught in this web of deceipt.

Are the Democrats and Republicans using "impeachment''?

As a method of Stopping Bush

Can you contact "The Speaker of the House" directly...

...or only through her SF congressional web site?

Thanks in advance.

I've written to sixteen Republican Reps. Yeah!

Hey Bob, that was fun. I really gave them reason to think about this so called escalation. I am listening to the debate as I continue wioththe struggle for truth and justice. Keep up the good work. Peace

I have been on her website SpeakerNancy Pelosi.com look for it

I have left e-mail's to her staff in the contact us. Keep clicking its there.

No luck

No luck with those addy's. Thanks anyway.

Try 911truth.com

There is a lot of help there

It was posted on the side of the site a last week

Try Speaker.com. I think that was it.

americanvoices@mail.house.gov write Speaker Pelosi directly

The George Tenet A Moron who was head of the CIA

By

Al Rogers

When will congress drag it’s collected asses in and lay the evidence that George Tenet conspired to manipulate intelligence to convince congress to give Bush Authority to invade Iraq?

People do stupid things all the time, but most people aren't the Director of Central Intelligence and the things aren't stuff like forgetting to write an intelligence assessment on a country you don't think is much of a threat but that your employers seem intent on invading. So when George Tenet says that's what he did, I suspect he's painting himself as a moron to avoid being painted by others as something worse: a coward. I don't think it's working; I think he's just coming off as a cowardly moron, someone who failed to protect his country from the Doctor’s Strangelove in the White House and was stupid enough to try to rationalize the failure in print. Does anyone really believe Alberto Gonzalez’s testimony that can’t recall 50 different conversations he has had in regards to the firing’s of 8 attorney generals???

Brent Budowsky suggests that Tenet's book tour should be conducted under oath, a reference to the recent invitation extended Tenet by House oversight committee chairman Henry Waxman. It's a good idea. The first few paragraphs of a Washington Post story about the book offer enough self-contradicting or nonsensical excerpts to guarantee riveting, if not expository, theater.

The most obvious flaw in the narrative as described by the Post story arises from Tenet's unsurprising revelation about the administration's early focus on invading Iraq. Tenet says that he never questioned the threat posed by Saddam, only whether or not it was imminent, but he also says that whatever threat Iraq posed was so far off the radar that it wasn't even mentioned in the CIA threat briefings provided to the incoming administration in November and December of 2000. He says that although the administration, in particular Dick Cheney, signaled before they even took office that invading Iraq was a serious priority, he, Tenet, didn't think updating the National Intelligence Estimate on the country was necessary until Congressional Democrats demanded it before the October,2002, vote on authorizing the invasion, nearly two years after he recognized the administration's determination to pull the trigger.

Underestimating the stupidity of appointed officials is always a risky undertaking, but Tenet's professed failure to recognize the need for a comprehensive assessment of the state of affairs in Iraq mere months before the US was to launch a war against the country isn't even in the same universe as stupid; it would never occur to anyone with the intellectual capacity to button their own shirt not to do that. No: he was simply afraid to get in the way, something he demonstrates vividly in the description of his reaction to Cheney's assertions that Saddam was developing nuclear weapons.

A speech by Cheney in August 2002 "went well beyond what our analysis could support," Tenet writes. The speech charged, among other things, that Hussein had restarted his nuclear program and would "acquire nuclear weapons fairly soon . . . perhaps within a year." Caught off-guard by the remarks, which had not been cleared by the CIA, Tenet says he considered confronting the vice president on the subject but did not.

The early reactions to Tenet's book from former CIA employees are not pleasant. Larry Johnson, who was as prominent a critic of the pre-war intelligence process as could be found, wants Tenet drummed out of the species.

Sorry George. Too little and way too damn late. You had ample opportunity to blow the whistle on the Bush bullshit but you played ball. I do not give a damn whether you did or did not say the case for war was a "slam dunk". You signed off on Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations. You, more than any other U.S. Government senior official, were in the unique position to know that the Secretary of State was selling a pack of lies. And you sat behind him nodding affirmatively like a bobble head doll.

Michael Scheuer, the former head of the agency's bin Laden unit who hails from far to the political right of Johnson, is perhaps even less charitable in his Washington Post op-ed piece.

At day's end, his exercise in finger-pointing is designed to disguise the central, tragic fact of his book. Tenet in effect is saying that he knew all too well why the United States should not invade Iraq, that he told his political masters and that he was ignored. But above all, he's saying that he lacked the moral courage to resign and speak out publicly to try to stop our country from striding into what he knew would be an abyss.

Powell has also been blasted for being a good soldier during the march to war rather than quitting in protest. The Bush administration would have been hurt by Powell's resignation, but it might not have stopped the war. But Tenet's resignation would have destroyed the neocons' Iraq house of cards by discrediting the only glue holding it together: the intelligence that "proved" Saddam Hussein guilty of pursuing nuclear weapons and working with al-Qaeda. After all, the compelling briefing that Powell, with Tenet sitting just behind his shoulder, gave the U.N. Security Council in February 2003 could never have been delivered if Tenet had blown the whistle.

I suggested in 2004 that the country could do much worse than to replace the CIA with Knight Ridder's (now McClatchy's) Washington Bureau because it seemed then, as it had for the better part of two years, that the company's team of Jonathon Landay and Warren Strobel were considerably better informed about Iraq-related intelligence than anyone in the administration including, apparently, Tenet. But the book seems set to confirm that, as Johnson and Scheuer say, what distinguishes the two reporters from Tenet was not information but the courage to use it. Had Tenet done so, he might not have gotten his Medal of Freedom but he might have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and ended up with an even sweeter book deal than the one he got, and it would surely have been a better book.

Since 2001, however, several key Clinton counterterrorism insiders (including NSC staffers Richard A. Clarke, Benjamin and Simon) have reported that Tenet consistently denigrated the targeting data on Bin Laden, causing the president and his team to lose confidence in the hard-won intelligence. "We could never get over the critical hurdle of being able to corroborate Bin Ladin's whereabouts," Tenet now writes. That of course is untrue, but it spared him from ever having to explain the awkward fallout if an attempt to get Bin Laden failed. I believe Clinton's interest in protecting Americans was always a top priority, but it does reveal Tenet's easy willingness to play for patsies the CIA officers who risked their lives to garner intelligence and then to undercut their work to avoid censure if an attack went wrong.

Justice might not be wholly served if Tenet's book sales are torpedoed because he's testifying about its contents under oath in front of Waxman's committee, but she might at least be pleased by the nod in her direction. Here's hoping.

The decline of the CIA began in the late 1980s, when the impending end of the Cold War meant smaller budgets and fewer hires, and it continued through Sept. 11, 2001. When Tenet and his bungling operations chief, James Pavitt, described in congressional testimony after the terrorist attacks, they tried to blame the clandestine service's weaknesses on congressional cuts. But Tenet had helped preside over every step of the service's decline during three consecutive administrations -- Bush, Clinton, Bush -- in a series of key intelligence jobs for the Senate, the National Security Council and the CIA. Only 9/11, it seems, convinced Tenet of the importance of a large, aggressive clandestine service to U.S. security. If congress exercises any oversight and takes a closer look at George Tenet’s service to this country, I really believe he might be the “smoking gun” that leads to forcing at least War Profiteer broker (currently referred to as the V.P) Dick Cheney to resign his position as Vice President! In Closing MSNBC’s Chris Mathews needs to stop asking that dumb question what was Dick Cheney’s motive to wanting to Invade Iraq. He asked Washington Post’s Dana Priest that question the other day.

Dick Cheney’s mission is to serve the best interests of the military industrial complex.

There is more than 127,000 independent contractors making a living in Iraq. A war profiteer broker’s first responsibility is to maximize the profits of Halliburton, Kellogg Brown and Root, Dyna Corp and all the other American corporations that financially support the Republican Party. Since Bush took office 6 years ago independent government contractor’s business has increase by nearly 90%. Nearly 50 years ago former President Eisenhower warned the American Public. “Beware of the Military Complex”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702052.html

http://kucinich.house.gov/SpotlightIssues/documents.htm

Visit these links for more info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeKsXxu69mk http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/16562 http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/investigations http://www.pdamerica.org/petition/mcgovern-petition.php http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/88

Veteransforjustice1@yahoo.com

This is the sole-surviving post of three identical posts on several threads. Please consult the rules before multiple posting in the future. Moderation

http://www.democrats.com/rules

Rep Sam Farr D-Carmel just introduced a new bill today

I pasted it into the "debatethedebate.com" section of this website. It basically asks that a civilian corp be made to help the military rebuild Iraq. Is this what we are looking for to end this war? I know the president mentioned it in his State of the Union speech but I don't think I like the idea. What does anyone else think about this?

Civilian Corp to rebuild Iraq?

Bush wants civilians to go rebuild Iraq after he stole all the money to do the job? There is no power, water waste treatment after all this time.

The paid contractors are being killed and not protected. Why would Americans go for free? OR would that be any "civilian" corp?

Anyone in Iraq is in danger from our own "mercinaries and contractors" just like the world journalists. They want to have more people die in the ME. It is genocide.

Any Bush Civilian Corp would not be like the Peace Corp set up by Kennedy. Everything Bush mentions can't be done/financed or is something other than what he proposes. It makes him look good to those who trust him...the last 30% anyway.

He's still bilking the US?

Another phony committee to bleed us dryer. The democrats need to put a watchdog on the money if he gets it. They need to provide a back up plan for the whisleblowers that will tell on the crooks. I'm tired of, they need to's. Don't this bunch of politions have any smarts? They said a smarter war and don't speak of it on the floor during the Iraqi debate, I think their staff is getting to fat waiting for us to advise.

And the petition just keeps growing and growing.

Lord please bring the truth out to where even the Nash car generation can understand they have been duped by "W"
Amen

The man is nutz

If the excuse for Haliburton and its' subs is that it is too dangerous in Iraq for civilian contractors to get the rebuilding done, then how in heaven will newly recruited workers manage to do it? Bush seems to think that if he sees something as different it becomes new and different.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." ~ Sinclair Lewis

In a time of deception telling the truth is a revolutionary act. ~ George Orwell

King George is Mad

Very Mad and dangerous.

Very mad, and like to all mad members of society

They are a danger to themselves and others around them. It's time for the rubber room guys with the straight jackets and prison gear. Mr. Twittle, it's about to pop! All in there Republiklan faces.

The people unitied will never be defeated!

Loony ain't it?

Maybe that's why he says he listens to his god. If you chant it long enough, it'll make it so.

What God is he worshipping. Do we need a witch hunt?

Hey, what religion is he anyway, I don't recognise the Word.

As I understand

As I understand it George was not religious until Billy Graham did an intervention with him at the behest of his mother Barbara, at the family home in Kennebunkport, over George's drunken rudness to one of his mother's guests ;)

Now bush claims to be a Methodist, but last time I checked Methodists were not wacko-rightwing-politicos, so who knows what church, if any, he actually belongs to.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." ~ Sinclair Lewis

In a time of deception telling the truth is a revolutionary act. ~ George Orwell

Check him for a hooded sheet

Perhaps he's with the racist neocons God. Kill them all and let God sort them out. It sure sounds like he is with the wrong faith. He says he has faith but I think, his God is Cheney. George worships money and prestige and Cheney has the money and the prestige from the neo-cons.

I say, run em' out on a rail with rusty nails!

Final Roll Call Vote On Escalation Resolution

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll099.xml

H CON RES 63      YEA-AND-NAY      16-Feb-2007      3:22 PM
      QUESTION:  On Agreeing to the Resolution
      BILL TITLE: Disapproving of the decision of the President announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq

Yeas Nays PRES NV
Republican 17 180   4
Democratic 229 2   2
Independent        
TOTALS 246 182   6


---- YEAS    246 ---

Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Altmire
Andrews
Arcuri
Baca
Baldwin
Barrow
Bean
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Boren
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd (FL)
Boyda (KS)
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown, Corrine
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Carson
Castle
Castor
Chandler
Clarke
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Coble
Cohen
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Cramer
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis, Lincoln
Davis, Tom
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly
Doyle
Duncan
Edwards
Ellison
Ellsworth
Emanuel
Engel
English (PA)
Eshoo
Etheridge
Farr
Fattah
Filner
Frank (MA)
Giffords
Gilchrest
Gillibrand
Gonzalez
Gordon
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Herseth
Higgins
Hill
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hodes
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Inglis (SC)
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
Jones (NC)
Jones (OH)
Kagen
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Keller
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind
Kirk
Klein (FL)
Kucinich
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
LaTourette
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lynch
Mahoney (FL)
Maloney (NY)
Markey
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum (MN)
McDermott
McGovern
McIntyre
McNerney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Michaud
Millender-McDonald
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Mitchell
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Murtha
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Paul
Payne
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peterson (MN)
Petri
Pomeroy
Price (NC)
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Reyes
Rodriguez
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Salazar
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schwartz
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sestak
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Shuler
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Space
Spratt
Stark
Stupak
Sutton
Tanner
Tauscher
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Towns
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Van Hollen
Velázquez
Visclosky
Walsh (NY)
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Welch (VT)
Wexler
Wilson (OH)
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn
Yarmuth


---- NAYS    182 ---

Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Bachmann
Bachus
Baker
Barrett (SC)
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blunt
Boehner
Bonner
Bono
Boozman
Brady (TX)
Brown (SC)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Carter
Chabot
Cole (OK)
Conaway
Crenshaw
Cubin
Culberson
Davis (KY)
Davis, David
Deal (GA)
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Doolittle
Drake
Dreier
Ehlers
Emerson
Everett
Fallin
Feeney
Ferguson
Flake
Forbes
Fortenberry
Fossella
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Garrett (NJ)
Gerlach
Gillmor
Gingrey
Gohmert
Goode
Goodlatte
Granger
Graves
Hall (TX)
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Heller
Hensarling
Herger
Hobson
Hoekstra
Hulshof
Hunter
Issa
Jindal
Johnson, Sam
Jordan
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kline (MN)
Knollenberg
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Lamborn
Latham
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lucas
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Manzullo
Marchant
Marshall
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul (TX)
McCotter
McCrery
McHenry
McHugh
McKeon
McMorris Rodgers
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Moran (KS)
Murphy, Tim
Musgrave
Myrick
Neugebauer
Nunes
Pearce
Pence
Peterson (PA)
Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Poe
Porter
Price (GA)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Regula
Rehberg
Reichert
Renzi
Reynolds
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Sali
Saxton
Schmidt
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shays
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Souder
Stearns
Sullivan
Tancredo
Taylor
Terry
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Turner
Walberg
Walden (OR)
Wamp
Weldon (FL)
Weller
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)


---- NOT VOTING    6 ---

Baird
Boustany
Davis, Jo Ann
Hastert
LoBiondo
Nadler

Where is Senator McCain on this roll call list?

When i watched this roll call on tv Senator McCain was listed as a "no vote". Now I don't see his name at all on this list. Did I miss it or what? I also don't see his name on the original list.

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