[Peace-discuss] Fwd: We have a HERO in the 9-11 Inquiry. Rep. Cynthia McKinney.

[jbuell at prairienet.org]

This dropped into my inbox today. Ranting aside, it's got a superb 
statement from Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, one of the best people in 
Congress. Well worth a read.

jb

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>From: "Green Truth" <ftgreens3 at hotmail.com>
>To: ftgreens3 at hotmail.com
>Bcc:
>Subject: We have a HERO in the 9-11 Inquiry. Rep. Cynthia 
>McKinney.  PLEASE HELP!!
>Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 19:32:33 +0000
>X-OriginalArrivalTime: 28 Mar 2002 19:32:34.0347 (UTC) 
>FILETIME=[4F6067B0:01C1D68F]
>
>We have a hero in the demand for inquiry into 9-11 !!  A Congresswoman 
>from Georgia has begun DEMANDING that the Bush/Bin Laden connection and 
>the bizarre fabrications making up the official story around the 9-11, WTC 
>attacks, be FULLY INVESTIGATED.
>
>She has suffered much hate mail from this, and SHE NEEDS OUR SUPPORT !!
>
>As you all know the vast resources of the Activist Kit have been provided 
>freely.  I have personally donated months of hard labor on making this 
>information available to you all, and have expected no return for my 
>efforts, just as you are all volunteering your efforts.
>
>However, now I urge you (no matter what country you are from) to follow my 
>lead in donating to (US)Rep. McKinney TODAY!  I ask that everyone who has 
>helped distribute the Activist Kits NO MATTER WHAT COUNTRY, to send a 
>donation to Rep. McKinney.  If each of you donated $20 (US) she would have 
>over a $600,000.00 (US) donation (I AM DONATING $150 DOLLARS).  However, I 
>am urging all of you to also network this request out to all of your 
>networks, and to post this appeal on all the progressive and activist list 
>serves, discussion groups, indymedia.org, etc. etc. as well.  IMAGINE the 
>media attention we can bring to the 9-11 inquiry issue if Rep. McKinney 
>suddenly got a few MILLION in donations because of our gratitude for her 
>courage on DEMANDING INQUIRY into 9-11.  Imagine the courage it would give 
>other congresspersons to follow her lead.  (if you all donated $20 and 
>sent this appeal out to 20 people, and half of them sent $20, she would 
>recieve a donation of $12 million US dollars.)
>
>God bless all of you for your work.  The New York Times reported this week 
>the Senate committee voted unanimously to dramatically widen the 9-11 
>inquiries.  This doesn’t mean it’s a done deal, it could still be glossed 
>over.  HOWEVER, with committed people of conscience like Rep. McKinney 
>pushing and pushing behind the committees, WE COULD HAVE A REAL INQUIRY 
>THAT COULD CHANGE THE ENTIRE WORLD FOR THE BETTER.
>
>This is a miracle.  Thank you all in advance for opening your hearts to 
>this miracle and working tirelessly to spread this appeal to as many as 
>you can “after” you mail off your own donation.
>
>Here’s a courageous person in government who deserves our support for
>standing up and speaking out:  PLEASE SEND DONATIONS AND CARDS OF THANKS TO:
>
>U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney
>PO Box 371125
>DeCatur, GA 30037
>USA
>
>[You can contact her Washington D.C. office if you want to verify the 
>above address, or send a thank you note, HOWEVER, DO NOT SEND DONATIONS to 
>her D.C. office.  Send donations to the above address of her campaign office.
>
>124 Cannon Building
>Washington, DC 20515
>USA
>    ph 202 225 1605
>    fax 202 226 0691]
>
>
>
>-- Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney reads her essay/commentary on
>the "war against terrorism" in an interview with Dennis Bernstein broadcast
>on Flashpoints on 3/25/02 -- http://www.flashpoints.net
>[audio at:] http://www.flashpoints.net/realaudio/fp20020325.ram [go to
>minute 30:00 ]
>
>     Complete text of her (excellent) commentary can be found at
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portside/message/2198
>     This is an excerpt, followed by Dennis Bernstein's questions and her
>response:
>
>

>And so, with no concern at all for the effects on others of US supported
>terrorism the US, with its bombs and military, embarked on a world-wide
>crusade against terrorism that Bush said likely will last as many as 20
>years.  The list of target countries is long, with Afghanistan, Somalia,
>Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, the Philippines, and Iraq offering the starters.
>But what of the fact that Henry Kissinger and the current new US Ambassador
>to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, both once lobbied Washington, DC on
>behalf of a US oil company, Unocal, and a softer policy toward the Taliban?
>
>Whose war is this really?
>
>In November 2000 Republicans stole from America our most precious right of
>all, the right to free and fair elections. In an organized manner, Florida
>Governor Jeb Bush and his Secretary of State Katharine Harris created a
>list of convicted felons, 57,700 to be exact, to "scrub" from the state's
>voter roles.  The names were created from Florida records and from lists
>provided by 11 other states, the largest list coming from Texas.  We now
>know that most of the people on that list were innocent of crimes.  The
>list was a phony.  And worse, the majority of those rightful voters were
>people of color, and likely Democratic voters. Of the thousands who had
>their votes scrubbed, 80% are African Americans.  Had they voted, the
>course of history would have changed.  Harris declared Bush the victor by
>only 537 votes. President Carter has said that the Carter Center would not
>certify the 2001 election had they been asked to do so
>
>Consequently an administration of questionable legitimacy has been given
>unprecedented power to fight a war against terrorism.
>...
>
>Moreover, persons close to this administration are poised to make huge
>profits off America's new war. Former President Bush sits on the board of
>the Carlyle Group.  The Los Angeles Times reports that on a single day last
>month, Carlyle earned 237 million dollars selling shares in United Defense
>Industries, the Army's fifth-largest contractor.  The stock offering was
>well timed. Carlyle officials say they decided to take the company public
>only after the September 11 attacks.  The stock sale cashed in on increased
>Congressional support, a hefty defense spending including one of United
>Defense's cornerstone weapons program.
>
>Now is the time for our elected officials to be held accountable.  Now is
>the time for the media to be held accountable.  Why aren't the hard
>questions being asked?
>
>We know there were numerous warnings of the events to come on September 11.
>Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, delivered one such warning.  Those
>engaged in unusual stock trades immediately before September 11 knew enough
>to make millions of dollars from United and American airlines, certain
>insurance and brokerage firms' stocks. What did this administration know
>and when did it know it, about the events of September 11?  Who else knew
>and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were
>needlessly murdered.
>
>September 11 erased the lines between "over there" and "over here." The
>American people can no longer afford to be detached from the world, as our
>actions abroad will have a direct impact on our lives at home.  In
>Washington DC, decisions affecting home and abroad are made, and too many
>of us leave the responsibility of protecting our freedom to other people
>whose interests are not our own.
>
> From Durban to Kabul to Atlanta to Washington, what our government does in
>our name is important.  It is also now clear that our future, our security,
>and our rights depend on our vigilance.
>     [end of essay]
>
>DB: Well, Congresswoman Cynthia Mckinney, it is great to have you with us
>on Flashpoints.  I wanted to follow up on that very powerful commentary
>with just a few questions that come off speeches you have made from the
>House floor on related information.  First of all, why do you oppose the
>Rumsfeld 48.1 billion dollar increase in the military budget?  What is most
>troubling about this for you?
>
>CM:  It was incredible sitting in the room on the day that secretary
>Rumsfeld gave his presentation to members of the Armed Services Committee.
>Of course I serve on the House Armed Services Committee, and every year the
>Secretary of Defense comes before that Committee with a statement on the
>budget.
>
>Now, the 48.1 billion $ increase that Secretary Rumsfeld requested was
>interesting because basically what he said was we can afford it.
>Notwithstanding the fact that the Pentagon has lost 2.3 trillion dollars
>that we very well cannot afford to have lost
>
>DB: Lost it?  Where did they lose it?
>
>CM:  That’s a darn good question.  You would think that Arthur Anderson is
>their accountant over there.  They have lost 2.3 trillion dollars, and they
>don't know where to find that money.  And of course the Secretary
>acknowledged the fact 2.3 trillion dollars remain unaccounted for, but in
>his testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, the Secretary said
>that the US can afford it.  Now, he also said that we have a responsibility
>in this brave new post September 11 world, to make sure that we can
>adequately defend ourselves.  And what he used as a justification for this
>unprecedented hike, the biggest hike in a generation, was the fact of the
>events around September 11.  But as you know, and I know, it wasn't the
>military that failed.  It was a failure of people who had information to act.
>
>We know that there were several warnings that were given prior to the
>events of September 11.  From people in Germany to people in the Cayman
>Islands to people even, now we learn about the owners of the pilot school.
>People were calling in to the FBI and the CIA and they were giving
>information that was critical.
>
>Even prior to these warnings we had the trial itself from the 1993 World
>Trade Center bombing.  And we had the trial from the American embassy
>bombing...  And now the US government is being sued by survivors of the
>embassy bombings, because it is clear that America had warnings and did
>nothing.  Did nothing to protect the lives of the people who serve in our
>foreign service and who serve us in other ways in our embassies around the
>world.  Now the US government is being sued, and we're gonna have to pay
>for that, as those families are now paying every day with the loss of their
>loved ones
>
>There was adequate warning.  There were people who failed to act on the
>warning.  And that's what ought to be investigated.  But instead of
>requesting that Congress investigate what went wrong and why, we had
>president Bush (painful for me to say that, but) we had president Bush
>placing a call to Majority Leader Senator Tom Daschle asking him NOT to
>investigate the events of September 11,  And then, hot on the heels of the
>president's phone call was another phone call from the vice president
>asking that Tom Daschle also not investigate the events that lead to
>September 11.
>
>My question is, What do they have to hide? And why is it that the American
>people are being asked to make tremendous sacrifices now in our civil
>liberties.  And the fact that we got this request for an unprecedented hike
>in -- the hike alone of 48.1 billion dollars is more than any one of our
>allies spend total on their defense.
>
>And then the other issue that saddens me is the fact that the former
>President, president Bush's daddy, sits on the board of the Carlyle Group.
>And so we get this presidency, of questionable legitimacy, requesting a
>nearly unprecedented amount of money to go into a defense budget for
>defense spending that will directly benefit his father.
>
>Where are the brakes on transparency and corruption that I see happening as
>a result of the fact that the president's father stands to make money off
>of the very requests that the president has made, on what I would call a
>specious argument saying that we need to increase defense spending because
>of Sept 11, when we now know that there was enough warning that we didn't
>have to even experience September 11 at all; at least that’s the way it is
>now beginning to appear.
>
>DB:  How would the father make money on this budget?
>
>CM:  the father sits on the board of an organization called the Carlyle
>Group.  Now when we had Frank Carlucci come to testify at the House
>International Relations Committee shortly after George W was sworn in,
>
>DB:  former Defense Secretary
>
>CM:  former Defense Secretary -- and we have a requirement that
>organizations that come before our committee, the House International
>Relations Committee, have to disclose Federal contracts.  And so I
>requested of our chairman, Chairman Hyde, whether or not the Carlyle Group
>would be subjected to that requirement, since everyone else has to do it.
>And of course the Carlyle Group was NOT required to make any disclosure as
>to the Federal contracts that it had.  That in itself means that they are
>skirting the rules of the House.
>
>Notwithstanding that, the fact that the father sits on the board of the
>Carlyle Group, which is one of the highest level defense contractors in the
>country. I think they're number 11 or 12 in defense contracts. And they
>have at least one program, the Crusader, which doesn't work, it's a weapons
>system that doesn’t work,  has experienced tremendous cost overruns, and
>yet it continues to be funded, and we can only think that it's the heavy
>hand of very well-placed lobbyists that make sure that weapons systems that
>are,  that have a connection with the Carlyle Group get funded.  And even
>building contracts:  bases abroad, all of the bases that we are now looking
>at, new bases going into Uzbekistan.  The positioning of troops in former
>Soviet Georgia -- those troops are going to have to be  housed, fed, and
>the weapons systems are going to have to be contained, and all of that is
>money.  And sadly the Carlyle Group will benefit from this increase in
>funding that has been requested by the president.
>
>Interestingly also, and probably the scariest of all, was the new mission,
>as identified by the Secretary, for our Armed Services.  And that is that a
>major role now for the US military will be to occupy an opponent's capitol
>and displace its regime.
>
>Now, if that's the mission -- and we’ve been told that there are as many as
>60 countries around the world that host terror cells that we need to go in
>and flush out -- then basically what we're talking about is expanding US
>military presence all over the planet.  And that is a frightening
>experience and a frightening thought for me because I know that if we
>provide weapons they get used.  And if our troops are there, they are going
>to use those weapons and those weapons that we provide might even be used
>against our own troops; we have to be very careful about that.
>
>But interestingly the Secretary said that they intend to "drain the swamp",
>and it’s interesting to me that it appears to me that this new mission of
>our military to go into a capitol and take it over was started in
>Washington DC.
>
>DB: Final question, Congresswoman McKinney.  These are mighty powerful
>thoughts you’re expressing here.  I'm wondering how much support you have
>in Congress, and perhaps you have heard from people who are quite unhappy
>with your voicing these kinds of very strong, controversial thoughts
>
>CM: It's always good to hear from people who think like you.  I definitely
>hear from people who don't think like you.  And that’s healthy.  It’s a
>part of the American process.  But just as it’s healthy for me to hear from
>people who don't think like me, it's also very healthy for people like me
>to have a voice and to be willing to speak.  And it’s totally
>inappropriate, I believe, for my patriotism to be questioned, my feelings
>of attachment and loyalty for America to be questioned
>
>DB:  Has it been questioned?
>
>CM:  You would be surprised at the hate mail that I get in the
>Congressional office.
>
>DB:  What do people say to you?
>
>CM:  I wish I had a piece right here and I'd read it to you.  We got one
>piece that told me that I needed to go back to Africa and take Jesse with
>me.  it seems that the people who write in find it impossible to omit the
>fact that I'm black.  And so the racial aspect of the hatred also comes
>out.  I can accept people who disagree.  But I don't know that we need
>thought police in our universities, because our universities are supposed
>to teach freedom of thought.  And I don't know that we need thought police
>and speech police inside the US Congress, because the Congress is supposed
>to represent Americans of all stripes and all ideologies.  And I know that
>there is a very powerful peace movement in this country . I hear from them,
>I know they're out there.  I'd love to hear a little bit more from them.
>
>DB:  Well, we have very much appreciated hearing from you today.
>Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, reading her essay "Thoughts on our war
>against terrorism", and then speaking with us on Flashpoints here on
>Pacifica radio.  We thank you so much for your time and your good
>information and commentary.
>
>CM:  Thank you very much and I look forward to talking with you again.
>*******************
>
>http://www.house.gov/mckinney/
>
>I suggest sending colorful, happy cards (postcards?) that can be displayed
>at her office:
>124 Cannon Building
>Washington, DC 20515
>    ph 202 225 1605
>    fax 202 226 0691