Iraq Town Halls

Bob Fertik — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:07:15 -0400

Co-sponsors and speakers:
Progressive Democrats of America
Gold Star Families for Peace
Win Without War
AfterDowningStreet
FireDogLake
Hip Hop Caucus
Cities for Peace
Velvet Revolution
The Nation
The Backbone Campaign
Brad Blog
Clout on Air America
Willie Nelson Peace Research
Voters for Peace
Code Pink
Democracy Cell Project
Veterans for Peace
Global Exchange
Liberty Tree
Filibuster for Peace
The Young Turks on Air America
United for Peace and Justice
Brave New Films
Declaration of Peace

Speakers:
Iraq Veterans Against the War

http://iraqtownhalls.com

In April, Congress will vote to give George W. Bush and Dick Cheney another $102 billion for Iraq - unless we finally persuade our Representatives to Just Say No.

One of the best ways to persuade a Representative is to hold a town hall meeting and fill the hall with people who care and are willing to speak passionately. (Another way is to turn out a crowd for a town hall that your Representative is already scheduled to attend.)

So we're asking YOU and the 500,000 members of Democrats.com to organize Iraq Town Halls in all 435 Congressional districts on any day in April.

Check for an Iraq Town Hall already being planned in your district: To do this, you must be registered and logged in on this website. Once you are, go to http://democrats.com/local and look for an Iraq Town Hall announcement below the "Congressional District" heading. If you see one, open it and post a comment below it offering to help, or contact the organizers in whatever way they have suggested (they may have posted a phone number or Email address).

Start organizing an Iraq Town Hall using the tools on this website: If there's nothing yet being planned in your district and you want to start talking with others about planning a possible town hall, or if you're ready to post an announcement of an Iraq Town Hall, please Email us at: iraqtownhall@democrats.com We will walk you through the steps involved. To get started on your own (it's really not that hard) CLICK HERE.

For tips on how to make your Iraq Town Hall a success, READ MORE.

Getting Organized:

Ask at least one reliable friend to help you organize this event.

Ask local organizations to take part.

Reserve a convenient hall or auditorium.

You should hold your event with or without your Representative, so you can call and ask about their availability before or after you pick a date. Weekends are the most likely times for them to be available. We recommend calling the District Office (not DC office) of your Representative (you can find the # here) and ask for the scheduler. If your Representative won't give you a date promptly, pick one yourself - and leave an empty seat on the stage for your Representative.

Invite key speakers. A number of organizations are making speakers available for these Iraq Town Halls. Here is a list.

Reach out to community to participate: here are some outreach ideas.

Make a 1-page flyer (or use this one) and post it in busy locations (coffee shops, supermarkets, libraries, post offices, etc.)

Post your event on every community calendar you can think of (internet, radio, newspaper, etc).

Email and/or call local reporters (TV, radio, newspaper, blogs) to personally invite them to attend.

An Agenda for Your Event:

Your agenda will depend on whether your Representative attends, what key speakers attend, what groups are involved, etc. Here are some ideas:

Be aware of how your Representative has voted in the past on funding the occupation.

Be aware of how much total money the Iraq Occupation is costing: http://3trillion.org

Be aware of exactly what you can ask Representatives and Senators to do.

Come early to set up and bring all the items you need.

Test the sound system to make sure it works.

Bring video cameras to record the event for Youtube.

Set up tables in the back for literature from your allies.

Set up a table and chairs on the stage with a readable sign for each speaker, including your Representative - whether (s)he attends or not.

On the podium, tape a sign with your Representative's name and DC phone number in large letters so everyone can add them to their cellphone.

Set up a card table at the door with several clipboards for sign-in sheets. Ask for name, zip, email, and cellphone for texting.

Bring a cash box for contributions.

Greet reporters at the door, thank them for coming, and invite them to sit in the front and interview the speakers.

After the speeches, ask everyone to call their Representative and leave a message with their name and address and a simple demand: vote NO on $102 billion more for Iraq.

Form a committee to keep up the pressure on your Representative through grassroots events like honkathons, ironing-board letter-writing, anti-war film showings, tables at community events, etc.

Make a plan to pass local resolutions in support of ending current wars, not starting new ones, impeachment, and indictment.

Show videos of the Winter Soldier testimony available at http://ivaw.org

Display and discuss the financial cost to your district of the occupation of Iraq. Find figures at http://costofwar.com and multiply by 6 to approximate the full cost as calculated by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes in "The Three Trillion Dollar War."

_______

Please post this graphic link to http://iraqtownhalls.com on your site:

Return to: http://iraqtownhalls.com

Iraq Town Halls List - And Available Speakers

Bob Fertik — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:00:35 -0400

Planning for Iraq Town Halls is underway in these Congressional Districts - scroll down to find the actual post. Definite events are in bold.

AZ07, CA01, CA06, CA08, CA09, CA11, CA14, CA23, CA24, CA49, FL04, FL05, FL9-10-11, FL13, IA01, IL13, IL14, IN02, IN03, IN09, KS03, MA08, ME, MI02, MI12, NY14, NY20, OH13-14-17, OK01, OK02, OR03, OR04-05, PA01-02, PA10, TN02, TN05, TX06-12-26, TX18, TX25, VA04, VA08, WA03, WA07, WA09, WI02

If someone has started organizing in your CD, please add a comment below that post offering to help. If no one is organizing in your CD, please create a new post for your CD following these instructions:
http://www.democrats.com/iraq-town-halls-top

Here is a list of anti-war speakers who are available in each state (some may be willing to travel to other states; ask them!):

You can also contact all of these participating organizations for speakers.

These speakers are willing to travel outside of the states listed below, but require paid travel expenses:

Elizabeth De la Vega, former federal prosecutor and author of "United States v. Bush et al.," which presents an indictment of Bush, Cheney, and others. ElizabethdelaVega@Verizon.net 408-399-5641
Dan DeWalt, Chair of The NorthEast Impeachment Coalition, patrioticresponse@yahoo.com 802-348-7701
Brandon Lucy Campos, Patrick Barrett, Taylour Johnson, Ashok Kumar, Ben Manski, Juscha Robinson, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California	David Swanson is the creator of ImpeachCheney.org, the Washington Director of Democrats.com and co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, of the Backbone Campaign, and of Voters for Peace. He serves on a working group of United for Peace and Justice. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign. His website is www.davidswanson.org. In April and May 2007, Swanson consulted part-time for Kucinich for President 2008. david@davidswanson.org 202-329-7847 Elizabeth De la Vega, former federal prosecutor and author of "United States v. Bush et al.," which presents an indictment of Bush, Cheney, and others. ElizabethdelaVega@Verizon.net 408-399-5641 (Willing to travel with reimbursement, too). Marjorie Cohn, President of National Lawyers Guild, libertad48@san.rr.com Dennis Loo, Professor of Sociology and co-author of "Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney." ddloo@csupomona.edu 909 869 3892 Shahid Buttar is a poet, hip-hop MC, lawyer, scholar, media activist and grassroots community organizer committed to helping kickstart counter-cultural evolution. To read more articles or to listen to his music, visit his website. Email: shahid.buttar@gmail.com Cindy Sheehan, Co-Founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, campcaseymom@yahoo.com 562-912-5859 Tim Goodrich, Co-Founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War, tim@ivaw.org 760-994-6700 Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of CODE PINK, medea@globalexchange.org 415-235-6517 Richard Mathews, Southern California Director of Impeach Central, richard@alumni.caltech.edu 818-625-8506 Debra Sweet, National Co-ordinator of World Can't Wait, debra@worldcantwait.org 212-760-1723 Larry Everest, Author of "Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda" and organizer of International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity by the Bush Administration, larryeverest@hotmail.com 510-472-8484 David Cobb, Liberty Tree Fellows, http://www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606 Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Liberty Tree Fellows, http://www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Colorado	Kelly Dougherty, leader of Iraq Veterans Against the War, kellydough@hotmail.com 719-660-8106
Connecticut	Dave Lindorff, Co-Author of "The Case for Impeachment," dlindorff@mindspring.com 215-793-9390 Dan DeWalt, Chair of The NorthEast Impeachment Coalition, patrioticresponse@yahoo.com 802-348-7701
Delaware
DC	David Swanson is the creator of ImpeachCheney.org, the Washington Director of Democrats.com and co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, of the Backbone Campaign, and of Voters for Peace. He serves on a working group of United for Peace and Justice. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign. His website is www.davidswanson.org. In April and May 2007, Swanson consulted part-time for Kucinich for President 2008. david@davidswanson.org 202-329-7847 Ray McGovern, Co-Founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, McGovern spent 27 years in the CIA with duties including presentation of presidential daily brief. rrmcGovern@aol.com 703 994 1459 John Nichols, Author of "The Genius of Impeachment," journalist working for the Nation magazine. jnichols@madison.com 608.252.6482 Geoff Millard, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, geoffrey@truthout.org Steve Cobble, Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, cobblesmith@verizon.net 571-274-5144 Rev. Lennox Yearwood, President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, Rev@hiphopcaucus.org Kevin Zeese, Director of Voters for Peace, kzeese@earthlink.net 301-996-6582 Mike Ferner, member of Veterans for Peace, author of "Inside the Red Zone," and director of Democracy Rising mike.ferner@sbcglobal.net 419-729-7273
Florida	George Friday, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Georgia	George Friday, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Hawaii	Ann Wright, a Colonel in the U.S. Army and a career diplomat who resigned in protest the day before the war began. microann@yahoo.com 808-741-1141
Idaho
Illinois	Jonathan Schwarz, Consultant with AfterDowningStreet.org, Schwarz collected on a $1000 bet that Iraq possessed no banned weapons. He's a journalist working for Mother Jones magazine. jonathan_schwarz@sbcglobal.net 301-928-7579 Brandon Lucy Campos, Patrick Barrett, Taylour Johnson, Ashok Kumar, Ben Manski, Juscha Robinson, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Indiana	Brandon Lucy Campos, Patrick Barrett, Taylour Johnson, Ashok Kumar, Ben Manski, Juscha Robinson, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine	John Kaminski, Chair of Maine Lawyers for Democracy, jkmaine@yahoo.com 207-831-4943. US Senate candidate Laurie Dobson, lauriegdobson@yahoo.com US Senate candidate Herbert J. Hoffman info@HoffmanForSenate.us Dan DeWalt, Chair of The NorthEast Impeachment Coalition, patrioticresponse@yahoo.com 802-348-7701
Maryland	David Swanson is the creator of ImpeachCheney.org, the Washington Director of Democrats.com and co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, of the Backbone Campaign, and of Voters for Peace. He serves on a working group of United for Peace and Justice. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign. His website is www.davidswanson.org. In April and May 2007, Swanson consulted part-time for Kucinich for President 2008. david@davidswanson.org 202-329-7847 Ray McGovern, Co-Founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, McGovern spent 27 years in the CIA with duties including presentation of presidential daily brief. rrmcGovern@aol.com 703 994 1459 Rev. Lennox Yearwood, President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, Rev@hiphopcaucus.org Kevin Zeese, Director of Voters for Peace, kzeese@earthlink.net 202-232-7112
Massachusetts	Tim Carpenter, Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, President of Progressive Democrats of America, tim@pdamerica.org 413-320-2015 John Bonifaz, Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet, constitutional attorney, lead attorney in suit filed by Reps. Conyers, Kucinich, et alia against Bush in attempt to prevent Iraq invasion, former candidate for Massachusetts Secretary of State, jcbonifaz@aol.com 617-624-3900 Carlos and Melida Arredondo are Co-founders of www.peopleunited4peace.org and members of www.gsfp.org, www.gsfso.org and AfterDowningStreet.org. Carlos is a Gold Star father and Melida is Gold Star step-mother to Lcpl. Alexander Scott Arredondo, USMC, who died in Iraq in August 2004. Carlos has been presenting a mobile memorial to Alex throughout the US that includes a flag draped coffin and also sharing the story of the day that Alex was killed and led to him setting fire to a Marine van and himself. Melida has been focusing on understanding the connection between chronic bereavement, PTSD and physical health impacts with Gold Star families as well as the outcomes of military funding in relation to funding domestic programs. Both have been touring the country and speaking to audiences in both English and Spanish. melida_arredondo@yahoo.com 617-323-5623 Dan DeWalt, Chair of The NorthEast Impeachment Coalition, patrioticresponse@yahoo.com 802-348-7701
Michigan	Bill Goodman and Julie Hurwitz (Contact Eleanore Eveleth, National Lawyers Guild, 313-963-0843). Goodman has also worked for the Center for Constitutional Rights. Brandon Lucy Campos, Patrick Barrett, Taylour Johnson, Ashok Kumar, Ben Manski, Juscha Robinson, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Minnesota	Brandon Lucy Campos, Patrick Barrett, Taylour Johnson, Ashok Kumar, Ben Manski, Juscha Robinson, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire	Dan DeWalt, Chair of The NorthEast Impeachment Coalition, patrioticresponse@yahoo.com 802-348-7701
New Jersey	Dave Lindorff, Co-Author of "The Case for Impeachment," dlindorff@mindspring.com 215-793-9390 Stuart Hutchison, organizer of North Jersey Impeach Group, ImpeachThem.com, info@impeachthem.com
New Mexico
New York	Bob Fertik, Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet.org and President of Democrats.com. bob@democrats.com 718-424-7772 Elizabeth Holtzman, Former Congress Member who served on the panel that brought impeachment against Richard Nixon. eholtzman@herrick.com 212-592-1421 Debra Sweet, National Co-ordinator of World Can't Wait, debra@worldcantwait.org 212-760-1723 Dave Lindorff, Co-Author of "The Case for Impeachment," dlindorff@mindspring.com 215-793-9390 Dan DeWalt, Chair of The NorthEast Impeachment Coalition, patrioticresponse@yahoo.com 802-348-7701
North Carolina	Jacek Teller, Member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, and StopTortureNow, JT0409@ECU.EDU George Friday, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
North Dakota	Brandon Lucy Campos, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Ohio	Mike Ferner, member of Veterans for Peace, author of "Inside the Red Zone," and director of Democracy Rising mike.ferner@sbcglobal.net 419-729-7273
Oklahoma
Oregon	US Senate candidate John Frohnmayer http://www.ivotejohn.com David Cobb, Liberty Tree Fellows, http://www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606 Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Liberty Tree Fellows, http://www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Pennsylvania	Dave Lindorff, Co-Author of "The Case for Impeachment," dlindorff@mindspring.com 215-793-9390
Rhode Island	Dan DeWalt, Chair of The NorthEast Impeachment Coalition, patrioticresponse@yahoo.com 802-348-7701
South Carolina	George Friday, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
South Dakota	Brandon Lucy Campos, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Tennessee	George Friday, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Texas
Utah
Vermont	Dan DeWalt, Chair of The NorthEast Impeachment Coalition, patrioticresponse@yahoo.com 802-348-7701 Kurt Daims, introduced resolution to indict Bush and Cheney in Brattleboro, Vt., 802-257-4995 kurtdaims@hotmail.com
Virginia	David Swanson is the creator of ImpeachCheney.org, the Washington Director of Democrats.com and co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, of the Backbone Campaign, and of Voters for Peace. He serves on a working group of United for Peace and Justice. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign. His website is www.davidswanson.org. In April and May 2007, Swanson consulted part-time for Kucinich for President 2008. david@davidswanson.org 202-329-7847 Ray McGovern, Co-Founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, McGovern spent 27 years in the CIA with duties including presentation of presidential daily brief. rrmcGovern@aol.com 703 994 1459 Charlie Anderson, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, iraqvet4peace@gmail.com 406-461-3483 George Friday, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Washington State	Bill Moyer, Director of the Backbone Campaign. (No relation to Bill Moyers.) bill@backbonecampaign.org 206-408-8058 David Cobb, Liberty Tree Fellows, http://www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606 Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Liberty Tree Fellows, http://www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606 Kevin Zeese, Director of Voters for Peace, kzeese@earthlink.net 301-996-6582
West Virginia
Wisconsin	John Nichols, Author of "The Genius of Impeachment," journalist working for the Nation magazine. jnichols@madison.com 608.252.6482 Debra Sweet, National Co-ordinator of World Can't Wait, debra@worldcantwait.org 212-760-1723 Brandon Lucy Campos, Patrick Barrett, Taylour Johnson, Ashok Kumar, Ben Manski, Juscha Robinson, Liberty Tree Fellows, www.libertytreefdr.org/contact.php (608) 257-1606
Wyoming

Return to: http://iraqtownhalls.com

Videos from June 13 Iraq Forum, "Reframing the Iraq War Discussion," in Cherry Hill, NJ

dlindorff — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:16:21 -0400

Adam Kokesh of Iraq Veterans Against the War (Part 1)

Kokesh Reams Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) for Backing the War (Part 2)

Dave Lindorff on the Bush/Cheney Push for War with Iran (Part 1)

Dave Lindorff on the Bush/Cheney Push for War with Iran (Part 2)

Three Good Reasons Not to Fund Another Year in Iraq

davidswanson — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:31:17 -0400

By David Swanson

The House is stalling, but don't be fooled. Don't let your guard down. Don't relax. They still intend, possibly next week, to dump the hard earned pay of your as yet unborn descendants into funding another full year or more of occupying Iraq, paying for the occupation well into the next Congress and presidency, plus enough in interest payments to China that we could have, with the same amount of money, provided clean water and basic nutrition to everyone on the planet.

And they may try to provide a thin cover for this by attaching a relatively teeny bit of funding for veterans' education. Our response should be that we want a GI Bill, not a GI Amendment. This GI Amendment will be attached to a bill so huge that we could provide free college to everyone for many years, veterans and non-veterans alike. We could give some struggling students the option to choose not to become veterans (or corpses). We should demand No votes on the war money, no matter what they attach to it.

Why? We can't afford the financial cost. We can't afford the cost in boosting hatred and terrorism. We can't approve of the death and injuries and destruction that would result. We can, if we choose, withdraw our troops and bring them home alive and healthy.

But there's another set of reasons to stop funding this war. The war has been fully exposed as a fraud and a crime. Given that fact, funding it amounts to aiding and abetting, at the very least, as well as encouraging and licensing future wars of aggression. And the next one may come very soon. In fact, if President Bush intends to attack Iran, there is every reason to assume he will illegally take money from this Iraq funding to pay for attacking Iran. He misspent Afghanistan funding, by the billions, on beginning to attack Iraq, and Congress has never made a peep about it prior to this week.

On Monday evening, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, in the course of introducing 35 articles of impeachment against Bush, including one for that misspending of funds, provided the following three detailed reasons to stop funding the occupation of Iraq:

Article II
FALSELY, SYSTEMATICALLY, AND WITH CRIMINAL INTENT CONFLATING THE ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 WITH MISREPRESENTATION OF IRAQ AS AN IMMINENT SECURITY THREAT AS PART OF A FRAUDULENT JUSTIFICATION FOR A WAR OF AGGRESSION.

In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed", has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President, executed a calculated and wide-ranging strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States into believing that there was and is a connection between Iraq and Saddam Hussein on the one hand, and the attacks of September 11, 2001 and al Qaeda, on the other hand, so as to falsely justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner that is damaging to the national security interests of the United States, as well as to fraudulently obtain and maintain congressional authorization and funding for the use of such military force against Iraq, thereby interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful functions of overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.

The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be, first, allowing, authorizing and sanctioning the manipulation of intelligence analysis by those under his direction and control, including the Vice President and the Vice President's agents, and second, personally making, or causing, authorizing and allowing to be made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's Chief of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House spokespersons, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and Congress regarding an alleged connection between Saddam Hussein and Iraq, on the one hand, and the September 11th attacks and al Qaeda, on the other hand, that were half-true, literally true but misleading, and/or made without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, as well as omitting to state facts necessary to present an accurate picture of the truth as follows:

(A) On or about September 12, 2001, former terrorism advisor Richard Clarke personally informed the President that neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq was responsible for the September 11th attacks. On September 18, Clarke submitted to the President's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice a memo he had written in response to George W. Bush's specific request that stated: (1) the case for linking Hussein to the September 11th attacks was weak; (2) only anecdotal evidence linked Hussein to al Qaeda; (3) Osama Bin Laden resented the secularism of Saddam Hussein; and (4) there was no confirmed reporting of Saddam Hussein cooperating with Bin Laden on unconventional weapons.

(B) Ten days after the September 11th attacks the President received a President's Daily Briefing which indicated that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the September 11th attacks and that there was "scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda."

(C) In Defense Intelligence Terrorism Summary No. 044-02, issued in February 2002, the United States Defense Intelligence Agency cast significant doubt on the possibility of a Saddam Hussein- Al Qaeda conspiracy: "Saddam's regime is intensely secular and is wary of Islamic revolutionary movements. Moreover, Baghdad is unlikely to provide assistance to a group it cannot control."

(D) The October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate gave a "Low Confidence" rating to the notion of whether "in desperation Saddam would share chemical or biological weapons with Al Qaeda." The CIA never informed the President that there was an operational relationship between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein; on the contrary, its most "aggressive" analysis contained in Iraq and al-Qaeda-Interpreting a Murky Relationship" dated June 21, 2002 was that Iraq had had "sporadic, wary contacts with al Qaeda since the mid-1990s rather than a relationship with al Qaeda that has developed over time."

(E) Notwithstanding his knowledge that neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq was in any way connected to the September 11th attacks, the President allowed and authorized those acting under his direction and control, including Vice President Richard B. Cheney and Lewis Libby, who reported directly to both the President and the Vice President, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, among others, to pressure intelligence analysts to alter their assessments and to create special units outside of, and unknown to, the intelligence community in order to secretly obtain unreliable information, to manufacture intelligence or reinterpret raw data in ways that would further the Bush administration's goal of fraudulently establishing a relationship not only between Iraq and al Qaeda, but between Iraq and the attacks of September 11th.

(F) Further, despite his full awareness that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had no relationship to the September 11th attacks, the President, and those acting under his direction and control have, since at least 2002 and continuing to the present, repeatedly issued public statements deliberately worded to mislead, words calculated in their implication to bring unrelated actors and circumstances into an artificially contrived reality thereby facilitating the systematic deception of Congress and the American people. Thus the public and some members of Congress, came to believe, falsely, that there was a connection between Iraq and the attacks of 911. This was accomplished through well-publicized statements by the Bush Administration which contrived to continually tie Iraq and 911 in the same statements of grave concern without making an explicit charge:

(1) " [If] Iraq regimes [sic] continues to defy us, and the world, we will move deliberately, yet decisively, to hold Iraq to account…It's a new world we're in. We used to think two oceans could separate us from an enemy. On that tragic day, September the 11th, 2001, we found out that's not the case. We found out this great land of liberty and of freedom and of justice is vulnerable. And therefore we must do everything we can -- everything we can -- to secure the homeland, to make us safe." Speech of President Bush in Iowa on September 16, 2002.

(2) "With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and deploying the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September 11th would be a prelude to far greater horrors." March 6, 2003, Statement of President Bush in National Press Conference.

(3) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the 'beginning of the end of America.' By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have failed." May 1, 2003, Speech of President Bush on U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.

(4) "Now we're in a new and unprecedented war against violent Islamic extremists. This is an ideological conflict we face against murderers and killers who try to impose their will. These are the people that attacked us on September the 11th and killed nearly 3,000 people. The stakes are high, and once again, we have had to change our strategic thinking. The major battleground in this war is Iraq." June 28, 2007, Speech of President Bush at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

(G) Notwithstanding his knowledge that there was no credible evidence of a working relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda and that the intelligence community had specifically assessed that there was no such operational relationship, the President, both personally and through his subordinates and agents, has repeatedly falsely represented, both explicitly and implicitly, and through the misleading use of selectively-chosen facts, to the citizens of the United States and to the Congress that there was and is such an ongoing operational relationship, to wit:

(1) "We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. Some al Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq. These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who received medical treatment in Baghdad this year, and who has been associated with planning for chemical and biological attacks. We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases." September 28, 2002, Weekly Radio Address of President Bush to the Nation.

(2) "[W]e we need to think about Saddam Hussein using al Qaeda to do his dirty work, to not leave fingerprints behind." October 14, 2002, Remarks by President Bush in Michigan.

(3) "We know he's got ties with al Qaeda." November 1, 2002, Speech of President Bush in New Hampshire.

(4) "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own." January 28, 2003, President Bush's State of the Union Address.

(5) "[W]hat I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially much more sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and modern methods of murder. Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network…" February 5, 2003, Speech of Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations.

(6) "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 — and still goes on. . . . [T]he liberation of Iraq . . . removed an ally of al Qaeda." May 1, 2003, Speech of President Bush on U.S. S. Abraham Lincoln

(H) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq By U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated By Intelligence Information, which was released on June 5, 2008, concluded that:

(1) "Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence."

(2) "The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed."

Through his participation and instance in the breathtaking scope of this deception, the President has used the highest office of trust to wage of campaign of deception of such sophistication as to deliberately subvert the national security interests of the United States. His dishonesty set the stage for the loss of more than 4000 United States service members; injuries to tens of thousands of soldiers, the loss of more than 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the loss of approximately $527 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal debt and the ultimate expenditure of three to five trillion dollars for all costs covering the war; the loss of military readiness within the United States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack of training and lack of equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the invasion of Iraq.

In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.

Article III
MISLEADING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO BELIEVE IRAQ POSSESSED WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, SO AS TO MANUFACTURE A FALSE CASE FOR WAR

In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed", has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President, executed instead a calculated and wide-ranging strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States into believing that the nation of Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests, thereby interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful functions of overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.

The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be personally making, or causing, authorizing and allowing to be made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's Chief of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House spokespersons, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and Congress regarding Iraq's alleged possession of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons that were half-true, literally true but misleading, and/or made without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, as well as omitting to state facts necessary to present an accurate picture of the truth as follows:

(A) Long before the March 19, 2003 invasion of Iraq, a wealth of intelligence informed the President and those under his direction and control that Iraq's stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons had been destroyed well before 1998 and that there was little, if any, credible intelligence that showed otherwise. As reported in the Washington Post in March of 2003, in 1995, Saddam Hussein's son-in-law Hussein Kamel had informed U.S. and British intelligence officers that "all weapons—biological, chemical, missile, nuclear were destroyed." In September 2002, the Defense Intelligence Agency issued a report that concluded: "A substantial amount of Iraq's chemical warfare agents, precursors, munitions and production equipment were destroyed between 1991 and 1998 as a result of Operation Desert Storm and UNSCOM actions…[T]here is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons or whether Iraq has-or will-establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities." Notwithstanding the absence of evidence proving that such stockpiles existed and in direct contradiction to substantial evidence that showed they did not exist, the President and his subordinates and agents made numerous false representations claiming with certainty that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons that it was developing to use to attack the United States, to wit:

(1) "[T]he notion of a Saddam Hussein with his great oil wealth, with his inventory that he already has of biological and chemical weapons . . . is, I think, a frightening proposition for anybody who thinks about it." Statement of Vice President Cheney on CBS's Face the Nation, March 24, 2002.

(2) "In defiance of the United Nations, Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons." Speech of President Bush, October 5, 2002.

(3) "All the world has now seen the footage of an Iraqi Mirage aircraft with a fuel tank modified to spray biological agents over wide areas. Iraq has developed spray devices that could be used on unmanned aerial vehicles with ranges far beyond what is permitted by the Security Council. A UAV launched from a vessel off the American coast could reach hundreds of miles inland." Statement by President Bush from the White House, February 6, 2003.

(B) Despite overwhelming intelligence in the form of statements and reports filed by and on behalf of the CIA, the State Department and the IAEA, among others, which indicated that the claim was untrue, the President, and those under his direction and control, made numerous representations claiming and implying through misleading language that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger in order to falsely buttress its argument that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program, including:

(1) ""The regime has the scientists and facilities to build nuclear weapons, and is seeking the materials needed to do so." Statement of President Bush from White House, October 2, 2002.

(2) "The [Iraqi] report also failed to deal with issues which have arisen since 1998, including: . . attempts to acquire uranium and the means to enrich it." Letter from President Bush to Vice President Cheney and the Senate, January 20, 2003.

(3) "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa ." President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003.

(C) Despite overwhelming evidence in the form of reports by nuclear weapons experts from the Energy, the Defense and State Departments, as well from outside and international agencies which assessed that aluminum tubes the Iraqis were purchasing were not suitable for nuclear centrifuge use and were, on the contrary, identical to ones used in rockets already being manufactured by the Iraqis, the President, and those under his direction and control, persisted in making numerous false and fraudulent representations implying and stating explicitly that the Iraqis were purchasing the tubes for use in a nuclear weapons program, to wit:

(1) "We do know that there have been shipments going . . . into Iraq . . . of aluminum tubes that really are only suited to -- high-quality aluminum tools [sic] that are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs." Statement of then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, September 8, 2002.

(2) "Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production." President Bush's State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003.

(3) "[H]e has made repeated covert attempts to acquire high-specification aluminum tubes from 11 different countries, even after inspections resumed. …By now, just about everyone has heard of these tubes and we all know that there are differences of opinion. There is controversy about what these tubes are for. Most US experts think they are intended to serve as rotors in centrifuges used to enrich uranium." Speech of Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations, February 5, 2003.

(D) The President, both personally and acting through those under his direction and control, suppressed material information, selectively declassified information for the improper purposes of retaliating against a whistleblower and presenting a misleading picture of the alleged threat from Iraq, facilitated the exposure of the identity of a covert CIA operative and thereafter not only failed to investigate the improper leaks of classified information from within his administration, but also failed to cooperate with an investigation into possible federal violations resulting from this activity and, finally, entirely undermined the prosecution by commuting the sentence of Lewis Libby citing false and insubstantial grounds, all in an effort to prevent Congress and the citizens of the United States from discovering the fraudulent nature of the President's claimed justifications for the invasion of Iraq.

(E) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq By U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated By Intelligence Information, which was released on June 5, 2008, concluded that:

(1) "Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing."

(2) "The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information."

(3) Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller concluded: "In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed."

The President has subverted the national security interests of the United States by setting the stage for the loss of more than 4000 United States service members and the injury to tens of thousands of US soldiers; the loss of more than 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the loss of approximately $500 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal debt with a long term financial cost of between three and five trillion dollars; the loss of military readiness within the United States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack of training and lack of equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the invasion of Iraq.

Article IV
MISLEADING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO BELIEVE IRAQ POSED AN IMMINENT THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES

In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed", has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President, executed a calculated and wide-ranging strategy to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States into believing that the nation of Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests, thereby interfering with and obstructing Congress's lawful functions of overseeing foreign affairs and declaring war.

The means used to implement this deception were and continue to be, first, allowing, authorizing and sanctioning the manipulation of intelligence analysis by those under his direction and control, including the Vice President and the Vice President's agents, and second, personally making, or causing, authorizing and allowing to be made through highly-placed subordinates, including the President's Chief of Staff, the White House Press Secretary and other White House spokespersons, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National Security Advisor, and their deputies and spokespersons, false and fraudulent representations to the citizens of the United States and Congress regarding an alleged urgent threat posed by Iraq, statements that were half-true, literally true but misleading, and/or made without a reasonable basis and with reckless indifference to their truth, as well as omitting to state facts necessary to present an accurate picture of the truth as follows:

(A) Notwithstanding the complete absence of intelligence analysis to support a claim that Iraq posed an imminent or urgent threat to the United States and the intelligence community's assessment that Iraq was in fact not likely to attack the United States unless it was itself attacked, President Bush, both personally and through his agents and subordinates, made, allowed and caused to be made repeated false representations to the citizens and Congress of the United States implying and explicitly stating that such a dire threat existed, including the following:

(1) "States such as these [Iraq, Iran and North Korea] and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic." President Bush's State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

(2) "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction. He is amassing them to use against our friends our enemies and against us." Speech of Vice President Cheney at VFW 103rd National Convention, August 26, 2002.

(3) "The history, the logic, and the facts lead to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must not take." Address of President Bush to the United Nations General Assembly, September 12, 2002.

(4) "[N]o terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people than the regime of Saddam Hussein and Iraq." Statement of Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Congress, September 19, 2002.

(5) "On its present course, the Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency. . . . it has developed weapons of mass death." Statement of President Bush at White House, October 2, 2002.

(6) "But the President also believes that this problem has to be dealt with, and if the United Nations won't deal with it, then the United States, with other likeminded nations, may have to deal with it. We would prefer not to go that route, but the danger is so great, with respect to Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, and perhaps even terrorists getting hold of such weapons, that it is time for the international community to act, and if it doesn't act, the President is prepared to act with likeminded nations." Statement of Former Secretary of State Colin Powell in interview with Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News, October 30, 2002.

(7) "Today the world is also uniting to answer the unique and urgent threat posed by Iraq. A dictator who has used weapons of mass destruction on his own people must not be allowed to produce or possess those weapons. We will not permit Saddam Hussein to blackmail and/or terrorize nations which love freedom." Speech by President Bush to Prague Atlantic Student Summit, November 20, 2002.

(8) "But the risk of doing nothing, the risk of the security of this country being jeopardized at the hands of a madman with weapons of mass destruction far exceeds the risk of any action we may be forced to take." President Bush Meets with National Economic Council at White House, February 25, 2003.

(B) In furtherance of his fraudulent effort to deceive Congress and the citizens of the United States into believing that Iraq and Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States, the President allowed and authorized those acting under his direction and control, including Vice President Richard B. Cheney, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Lewis Libby, who reportedly directly to both the President and the Vice President, among others, to pressure intelligence analysts to tailor their assessments and to create special units outside of, and unknown to, the intelligence community in order to secretly obtain unreliable information, to manufacture intelligence, or to reinterpret raw data in ways that would support the Bush administration's plan to invade Iraq based on a false claim of urgency despite the lack of justification for such a preemptive action.

(C) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq By U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated By Intelligence Information, which was released on June 5, 2008, concluded that:

(1) "Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information."

Thus the President willfully and falsely misrepresented Iraq as an urgent threat requiring immediate action thereby subverting the national security interests of the United States by setting the stage for the loss of more than 4000 United States service members; the injuries to tens of thousands of US soldiers; the deaths of more than 1,000,000 Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the loss of approximately $527 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal debt and the ultimate costs of the war between three trillion and five trillion dollars; the loss of military readiness within the United States Armed Services due to overextension, the lack of training and lack of equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the invasion of Iraq.

What About the Iraqis?

dlindorff — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:59:52 -0400

By Dave Lindorff

I found myself listing to a talk radio show on NPR’s Philadelphia affiliate WHYY today, which focused in part on the agonies suffered by families of American troops killed or seriously maimed in Iraq.

Left unsaid—and this I think is the case in nearly all the reporting that gets done on the costs of the Iraq War that are being borne here in the US by relatives of troops—is the terrible reality that we’re talking about the relatives of just 4500 American servicemen and women killed, and perhaps 30,000 seriously wounded (not counting the hundreds of thousands suffering mental damage). Not to diminish that suffering, it needs to be pointed out that by some accounts, well over 1 million Iraqis have died in this illegal, uncalled-for and criminal war.

And most of the dead, contrary to what we are told by the corporate media, are victims of the US military, not Iraqi bombers. The immense firepower of American forces, and the over-use of rockets, pilotless, rocket-firing drones, and aerial bombardment (designed to keep US casualties as low as possible), ensure high levels of civilian casualties (called collateral damage, or on rare occasions “unfortunate mistakes”), and we are unable to obtain accurate numbers because the US “doesn’t do bodycounts.”

Most are also civilians, not combatants. According to one study conducted by the Christian Science Monitor, one of the nation’s most respected daily newspapers, the ratio of civilians killed by US troops vs. enemy fighters killed was an appalling 30:1. As I’ve often noted, with a ratio like that it would be fairer to call any enemy fighters who are killed “collateral damage” in what should be seen as deliberate targeting of civilians.

And a disproportionate number of those civilians are children and young people. This has also been documented by researchers and has been observed anecdotally in hospitals. Children, because they are less aware of what’s going on around them, are less able to defend themselves, and are in general more vulnerable, are the main victims in this kind of brutal urban war fighting.

Now recall that for every Iraqi killed, whether that person is a fighter or a civilian, there is a grieving family, whose loss is every bit as terrible as is the loss suffered by an American family. What you get is perhaps 4-5 million Iraqis, in a nation of 24 million, who are suffering this inconsolable losses.

It is as though 50 million Americans had lost someone in the war.

But that’s just the dead and the relatives of the dead.

For every Iraqi who has been killed, there are surely two or three or more who have been gravely wounded, crippled, or driven mad. Even if we assume that shamefully poor medical care in Iraq assures that half of Iraq’s gravely wounded die instead of surviving with their wounds as our returned casualties do, that would add another two million to the casualties, and another 8 million to the number of impacted family members—for a total of 12 million—almost half of all Iraq!

It is wrong to say much of this tragedy is the fault of Iraqis. Prior to the US invasion, Iraqis were not massacring Iraqis. Across most of Iraq, Shia and Sunni lived side by side. They intermarried easily, with no bad repercussions. Certainly they suffered under the repression of dictator Saddam Hussein, but nothing like what they suffer today.

The reality is that the Bush/Cheney regime tricked the nation into becoming a terrorist aggressor, invading a nation by claiming falsely that it had, or was about to acquire weapons of mass destruction. In the process our military became what it was allegedly trying to find: a weapon of mass destruction that has wreaked devastation upon Iraq as far-reaching and incomprehensibly destructive as any atomic bomb.

I have great sympathy for those Americans who have lost loved ones in, or whose loved ones have returned broken to them from Iraq.

But I do not want us to forget the incomparably greater suffering that has been brought on Iraqis in our names and thanks to our tax dollars and our political naivety and gullibility.

Yes, Senator Jim Webb is right that we owe better treatment to our veterans, who for the most part are victims of the same criminal machinations of our political leaders as are the Iraqis. But we also owe much better to the Iraqis, who are continuing to be killed, maimed and left bereft by our military and by our government’s mad insistence on “staying the course.”

It is way past time that we started thinking about them.
___________________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2008). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

Iraq War Town Hall in Washington State's Congressional District WA01- Shoreline

kfrevert — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:45:39 -0400

Iraq Town Hall in Shoreline WASHINGTON STATE Congressional District 01

Please join us at Shoreline Community College on May 30.

The Costs of the Iraq War is the topic.

Date: May 30th 2008

Time: 4:30- 7:30

Place: The Pagoda Union Building (PUB) on the campus of Shoreline Community College(http://www.shoreline.edu/collegemaps1.html)

Hosted by: the SCC student club-

The Worldly Philosophers and Dismal Scientists’ Society

Purpose: Discussion, Education and Participation. Take the opportunity to be heard (open mic) by staff of state and federal representatives and fellow community members. Join us in looking a the costs of the Iraq war from a local perspective! The representatives are attending because they want to know your thoughts.

Join Shoreline college students in taking the lead on participatory democracy!

For more information please email Warren Jones warrazapha@gmail.com

U.S. Out of Iraq Town Hall Event - with Darcy Burner and Major General Paul Eaton - Their Plan "To End the War in Iraq"

Renegaid — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:59:19 -0400

Town Hall Location: City of Bellevue Council Chambers

Event Date/Time: June 17, 2008 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM

Guest Speakers: Candidate 8th Congressional District - Darcy Burner & Major General Paul Eaton (Retired) former Security Transition Commanding General, Iraq

Other Special Guest(s)?

Invitation to Participate in Planning

Town Hall Event Planning - Get U.S. Out of Iraq

When: Wednesday May 17, 2008, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Where: Darcy Burner Campaign Headquarters

Bellevue, WA

12443 Bel Red Rd Suite 380

The organizing committee for the Town Hall Event: Get U.S. Out of Iraq, would like to invite organizations to both attend and/or participate in event organization.

Our goal is to get attention focused on additional funding of the Iraq war before the burden to human resources in our military, impacts to U.S. and Iraqi families, and pillaging of our financial coffers gets further out of control.

We have requested input from Darcy Burner and General Paul Eaton because they are both contributors to: “A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq.” This report is a realistic engagement of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group (the Baker-Hamilton Commission) findings to which they added a proposed implementation strategy.

Plans for the event have yet to be finalized, but for now we anticipate having our speakers discuss the Plan, and hear intentions for Plan implementation and invoking supporting legislation. Beyond the speakers we currently have committed, including date, time, and facility, we have yet to consider additional speakers or agenda so there is room for input.

We will be focusing on our message of: "Getting U.S. Out of Iraq;" Darcy Burner will be a featured speaker, but we are not directly focusing on the Burner campaign beyond what she will do with her Plan. However, we intend to appeal for as much media coverage as possible.

Iraq Town Halls

Jim McCabe — Wed, 07 May 2008 06:29:22 -0400

CALLING ALL PEACE ACTIVISTS, PROGRESSIVES AND CONCERNED NEW YORKERS

SAVE THE DATE--MONDAY, MAY 19TH

PDNYCD14 INVITES YOU TO A

TOWN HALL MEETING ON ENDING THE U.S. OCCUPATION OF IRAQ

WHY ARE WE STILL THERE?

HOW DO WE GET OUT?

WHY WILL IT TAKE MORE THAN SIMPLY ELECTING A NEW PRESIDENT?

WHY WE MUST TAKE ACTION NOW!

FEATURING SOME OF THE MOST ELOQUENT CRITICS OF U.S. OCCUPATION

THE PROGRAM WILL INCLUDE:

DAHLIA WASFI, MD

IRAQI-AMERICAN PHYSICIAN

MICHAEL SCHWARTZ

PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, SUNY STONY BROOK

Additional Speakers to be announced.

MONDAY, MAY 19th, 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Local 1199 SEIU Auditorium
310 WEST 43rd St. BETWEEN 8TH & 9TH AVES.
MANHATTAN

It’s time for NY Progressives to get organized with new thinking on how to stop this war!

Join us for brainstorming and strategizing!

PDA NYCD14 TOWN MEETING TEAM

Evan Giller
Alice Slater
Jim McCabe
Barbara Harris
Al Ronzoni
Robert Jereski
George Spitz

RSVP: aslater@rcn.com

Town Hall Meeting With Congressman Adam Smith on May 28th

sual4pax — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:44:09 -0400

Representative Adam Smith of the 9th Congressional District will be hosting a town hall meeting on Wednesday, May 28th in Federal Way. Let's flood the room with our End-the-War-NOW and Hold-Those-Responsible-Accountable sensibilities!

The meeting will be held from 7:00-8:30 PM at the Federal Way Community Center located at

876 South 333rd Street in Federal Way (98003).

Please RSVP if you are able to attend

(253) 896-3775 or (888) SMITH09

For more information, please visit federalwaymatters.org

PHILLY IRAQ TOWN HALL MEETING FRIDAY, APRIL 25TH AT 5:30PM @ TEMPLE U, TUTTLEMAN 101.

rhone.fraser — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:27:37 -0400

CALLING ALL PHILLY & PHILLY-AREA RESIDENTS: PLEASE JOIN US FOR AN IRAQ TOWN HALL MEETING THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 25TH, 2008 5:30 PM AT TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, TUTTLEMAN LEARNING CENTER, ROOM 101 (TL 101). INVITED SPEAKERS ARE MAYOR NUTTER AND U.S. REPRESENTATIVE ROBERT BRADY. JOIN US ON WAYS TO BRAINSTORM STRATEGIES TO END THIS CONTINUED FUNDING OF IRAQ OCCUPATION. -RF.