[Peace-discuss] News notes 040222 (part 1 of 2)

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Notes on last week's GWOT ("Global War on Terror"),
	prepared for the AWARE meeting, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2004
	(Passages below are quotations from or paraphrases of
	accounts in the publications indicated by initials;
	comments in capitals are mine.)

GEORGE BUSH KILLED HIS DOG THIS WEEK, AND IT GOT MORE ATTENTION IN THE US
FOR-PROFIT MEDIA THAN HIS KILLING OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MEN, WOMEN, AND
CHILDREN IN THE LAST THREE YEARS.

Noam Chomsky on the presidential election (2/17):
	â"...it's an interesting snapshot of American political culture.
 The two candidates both come from backgrounds of great wealth, extensive
political connections.  Both went to Yale.  Both joined the same secret
society at Yale. Â That's the range of choices that we have! Â But there is
some difference between them -- I don't think a very great difference,
just as there is very little range within the corporate-run political
spectrum altogether. Â But there is some difference, and in a system of
tremendous power, small difference can translate into large effects.  So
those small differences do matter.  But the real problem is to dismantle
and undermine the entire system of completely illegitimate nomination.
	â"The people around Bush happen to be an unusually fanatical,
extreme, arrogant and incompetent group, and they're very dangerous. But
it's a small group, and they barely hold political power. Â And they're
frightening people, including the traditional conservatives, because
they're such extreme, radical, nationalist fanatics. Â And Kerry doesn't
come from that background, he leans more towards the normal center. Â But
they're very dangerous.  I think that with another four-year mandate, they
might do not only severe, but maybe irremediable damage to the world."

[1] PREOCCUPIED AMERICA

SPEAKING OF THE NOMINATING PROCESS... Ralph Nader said on the TV program
"Meet the Press" this morning, "Washington is corporate-occupied
territory, and the two parties are ferociously competing to see who is
going to go to the White House and take orders from their corporate
paymasters."  Enunciating this simple truth, he announced that he would
run for president. In response to a question about whether he might throw
his support to the Democratic candidate if he concluded that his candidacy
would ensure President Bush's re-election, Nader said that "in the rare
event that it occurs, you can invite me back on the program, and I'll give
you my answer." [NBC 2/22]

WHAT TO DO IN THE MEANTIME. Nader supports impeachment, which he said
"shouldn't be a big deal ... If there's any better definition of high
crimes and misdemeanors in our Constitution, than misleading or
fabricating the basis for going to war, as the press has documented ad
infinitum, I don't know any cause of impeachment that's worse." [NBC 2/22]

YOU BETTER NOT WEAR NO STINKIN' BADGES. Five peace activists were found
guilty Monday of illegally protesting in Crawford, Texas. The ordinance
makes it a misdemeanor to hold a "procession, parade or demonstration" on
any public space in Crawford without giving 15 days' notice, paying a $25
fee and obtaining the permission of the sheriff. After the demonstrators'
arrest in May, the rule was changed to allow seven days' notice. The law
also says that demonstrators must confine their activities to the local
high school football field. It does not define how many people constitute
a "procession, parade or demonstration." The Crawford police chief, Donnie
Tidmore, testified that a person could theoretically be arrested for
simply wearing a "Peace" button or for distributing leaflets. [RCFP 2/18]

DOES IT MATTER? A group of former staff and volunteers for Governor Howard
Dean's campaign are today launching <www.deaniacsforedwards.com>.

WE DON'T NEED NO BILL O' RIGHTS. Protesters at this summer's Democratic
National Convention in Boston may be confined to a cozy triangle of land
off Haymarket Square, blocked off from the FleetCenter and convention
delegates by a maze of Central Artery service roads, MBTA train tracks,
and a temporary parking lot holding scores of buses and media trucks. . .
Under a preliminary plan floated by convention organizers, the
"free-speech zone" would be a small plot bounded by Green Line tracks and
North Washington Street, in an area that until recently was given over to
the elevated artery. The zone would hold as few as 400 of the several
thousand protesters who are expected in Boston in late July. [BG]

EVEN THEY CAN BEAT BUSH. Democrat John Kerry holds his largest lead yet
over President Bush in a head-to-head match-up among likely voters, a new
USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll concludes, and rival John Edwards also holds a
double-digit lead over the president. The poll, taken Feb. 16-17,
indicates that if the election were held today, Kerry would be chosen by
55% of likely voters, compared to 43% for Bush. In the last polling, Feb.
6-8, Bush held a 49-48 advantage. Edwards, Kerry's sole remaining major
rival for the Democratic nomination, holds a 54%-44% advantage, the poll
indicates ...
	The poll indicates Kerry and Edwards hold lesser leads -- or no
lead at all -- when all registered voters are measured. Kerry has a 51-46
edge over the president among registered voters, and Edwards holds a 49-48
edge, a statistical tie. Bush's approval rating remained unchanged in the
latest poll and remains near the lowest spot of his presidency. It
currently stands at 51%, with 46% disapproving and 3% of those polled
offering no opinion. Bush's low of 49% -- the only time his approval
ratings have sunk below 50% in his presidency -- came in a Jan. 29-Feb. 1
survey ...
	Continuing a decline that has gone on for more than a year, 55% of
those surveyed said Bush was honest and trustworthy. That compares to 59%
the last time the question was asked in November, and 70% when the
question was asked in early January 2003. Sixty-one percent of those
surveyed said Kerry was honest and trustworthy...  And only 42 percent
agreed Bush did his duty for the country during the Vietnam era, compared
to 68 percent for Kerry. However, the Vietnam service issue does not to be
a key one to voters. Eighty percent of likely voters said Bush's actions
while in the National Guard would not have much effect on their votes, and
78 percent said Kerry's combat experience in Vietnam would not have much
effect.

PEOPLE ARE NOT FOOLS. A new poll found that most Americans believe that
President Bush lied or knowingly exaggerated evidence that Iraq possessed
weapons of mass destruction. The poll also showed Senator John Kerry
beating the president by nine percentage points. [WP]

RUNNING AGAINST THE NUMBERS. After what one Republican observer called
maybe "the worst six weeks of Bush's political career," Billmon's "not
even sure Osama would do it." He cites Gallup's finding that in the last
eight elections in which one of the candidates was an incumbent president,
not one had gone on to win reelection when trailing a named challenger in
the early months of the election year. [CURSOR 2/21]

WE DON'T WANT ISSUES GETTING IN THE WAY OF THE ELECTION. Several former
third-party presidential candidates filed a lawsuit yesterday to block the
Commission on Presidential Debates from sponsoring future debates,
asserting the organization is biased toward the Democratic and Republican
parties. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, says the debate commission
is a partisan organization that violates federal election law by letting
only Democratic and Republican candidates participate in the debates it
organizes. Those filing the lawsuit include consumer advocate Ralph Nader,
the Green Party's presidential nominee in 2000 and a possible independent
candidate this year; John Hagelin and Patrick Buchanan, former Reform
Party candidates; and Howard Phillips, a former Constitution Party
candidate. The lawsuit asks the court to force the Federal Election
Commission to stop the debate commission from sponsoring four debates
scheduled to start Sept. 30. The third-party candidates first sought
relief from the FEC last June, but complain that the agency has failed to
take action. Founded in 1987, the debate commission is a nonprofit
corporation that allows candidates with at least 15 percent support in
national polls to participate in its debates. Third-party candidates have
long complained that they are unfairly excluded, but the commission says
it wants to limit participation to those candidates with a realistic
chance of winning the election. The lawsuit also alleges that the
commission excluded the plaintiffs from sitting in the audience at 2000
debates and that it distributed a 'face book' of third-party candidates at
one debate so staff could recognize and deny them access to the debate
hall even if they had a ticket. [AP 2/12]

WILL NO ONE SAVE ME FROM THESE CRIMINOUS CLERKS? Republican operatives
were looking high and low for anyone who could remember serving in the
National Guard with President George W. Bush between May 1972 and May
1973; one group of Vietnam veterans was offering a $1,000 reward for proof
that the president met his military obligations. [NYT] A former Texas
National Guard officer charged that in 1997 he overheard a superior and a
Bush adviser discussing ways to "cleanse" Bush's file to remove
embarrassing information. The officer said he later saw papers with Bush's
name on them in a garbage can. [USAT, NYT]

HEALTH INSURANCE. An elderly Florida man robbed a bank to pay for his
wife's medical bills. [ANANOVA]

WELL, WE GOT AROUND TO IT. In response to a Times editorial that decried
"Katherine Harris' massive purge of eligible voters in Florida," Left I on
the News points out that "the Times, and other 'mainstream' American
outlets, failed to even mention the outrage at the time when it was most
relevant." [CURSOR 2/21]

WE GOT ISSUES. Left I also flags a Politics in the Zeros post about the
dearth of foreign policy statements on Sen. John Edwards' campaign Web
site, with "nearly nothing on Iraq," An AP article quotes (misquotes?)
Edwards as saying that while Kerry "supported NAFTA. I voted against NAFTA
and other trade agreements that he supported." But Kerry voted for NAFTA
in 1993, five years before Edwards was elected to the Senate.  Edwards
also accused Republicans of planning to exploit the 9/11 attacks at their
convention in New York City, as an anti-poverty group announced plans to
erect a "Bushville" tent city during the event.  In a December article,
New York magazine reported that GOP strategists are planning to use New
York City's ethnic neighborhoods as backdrops for spotlighting the party's
dedication to diversity. [CURSOR 2/21]

UH-OH. The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether the Constitution
forbids the Bush administration from holding U.S. citizens indefinitely
and without access to lawyers or courts when they are suspected of being
"enemy combatants." The justices will consider the case of Jose Padilla,
an American citizen, former Chicago gang member and convert to Islam who
was arrested in his home city after a trip to Pakistan. The government
alleges he was part of a plot to detonate a radiological "dirty bomb" in
the United States.
	The Padilla case is a companion to another terrorism case the
court was already set to hear this spring. Together, the Yaser Esam Hamdi
and Padilla cases will allow the high court to take its most comprehensive
look so far at the constitutional and legal rights of Americans caught up
in the global war on terror. Lawyers for both men claim their treatment is
unconstitutional. Hearing the cases together will simultaneously address
the rights of U.S. citizens captured abroad and at home.
	At issue is the president's claim of authority to protect the
nation and pursue terrorists unfettered by many traditional legal
obligations - and outside previous precedents for government conduct in
wartime. The Supreme Court is expected to hear both cases in late April,
with a ruling due by summer.
	Separately, the court will hear a challenge this spring from
foreign-born terror suspects held in open-ended custody at the military's
prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. That case asks whether those more
than 650 prisoners may challenge their detention and treatment in U.S.
courts. Critics in the United States and abroad have grumbled that the
prolonged detentions violate basic human rights and international
agreements. A ruling in the Guantanamo case is also expected by summer.
	...Padilla was arrested on U.S. soil, and the initial allegations
against him were aired in the civilian criminal court system. He was later
whisked to a military prison in South Carolina, where he was off-limits to
his lawyer or other outsiders for nearly two years. Earlier this month,
the Bush administration said Padilla could now see his lawyers, although
the government still contends it has no legal obligation to allow such a
meeting. The government listened in on a recent, similar meeting between
Hamdi and a defense lawyer. Hamdi is a suspected Taliban foot soldier
captured overseas shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. He was placed
alongside Padilla in the same South Carolina brig after U.S. authorities
verified his claim that he had been born in Louisiana of Saudi parents.
	...Padilla is closely associated with the al-Qaida terrorist
network and "represents a continuing, present and grave danger to the
national security of the United States," while Hamdi is a "classic
battlefield detainee," Solicitor General Theodore Olson has argued to the
high court in legal papers. A federal appeals court ruled in December that
President Bush does not have the authority to declare Padilla an enemy
combatant and hold him in open-ended military custody. The ruling by the
2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals "undermines the president's vital
authority as commander in chief to protect the United States against
attacks launched within the nation's borders," Olson argued in asking the
high court to take the case.
	Unlike the Padilla case, the government has won its argument in
lower courts that Hamdi may be held indefinitely without access to a
lawyer or the U.S. court system. The case is Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 03-1027.
[AP]

THE FEARLESS OPPOSITION. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., on Thursday praised the
Bush administration's war and nation-building work in Iraq and said he has
no serious concerns about the lack of weapons of mass destruction.

A BLOGGER READS THE TIMES. [A NYT article] basically states that a
substantial sum of the money supporting Bush's presidential campaign is
coming from affluent Arab-Americans who support the war on Iraq ... Of the
5 prominent "Arabs" the author gives as examples in the article
(supporters of Bush), two are Iranian and the third is a Pakistani!
[BAGHDAD BURNING]

POLICE STATE. Chicago Police officers infiltrated five protest groups in
2002 and launched four other spying operations in 2003 -- actions that
civil rights activists are calling outrageous. The investigations have
come in the wake of a court decision that expanded the department's
intelligence-gathering powers. In 2002, undercover officers were assigned
to attend meetings, rallies and fund-raisers of the Chicago Direct Action
Network, the American Friends Service Committee, The Autonomous Zone, Not
in Our Name, and Anarchist Black Cross. Police zeroed in on the groups
because protesters were threatening to disrupt the Trans-Atlantic Business
Dialogue -- a meeting of international business leaders held in Chicago in
2002 -- according to an internal police audit obtained by the Sun-Times.
The department made video and audio recordings of the protests, the audit
said. The department would not describe what organizations were targeted
in 2003 ... Chicago's new spying activity stems from the 7th Circuit U.S.
Court of Appeals decision in 2001 to modify the so-called Red Squad
consent decree. The federal decree, which dated to 1982, barred the city
from gathering information on suspected terrorist and hate groups because
it violated their First Amendment right to free speech. In 2001, though,
Chief Judge Richard A. Posner wrote that the decree "rendered the police
helpless to do anything to protect the public." The court approved a
modified decree that allows police to snoop on demonstrators and other
groups. [CST]

AND ANOTHER. Gov. Don Carcieri (RI) on Thursday withdrew a
homeland-security plan criticized by scholars and civil-libertarians as a
threat to freedom of speech and assembly. The bill introduced last week
would have included acts of terrorism under existing law that makes it
illegal to "speak, utter, or print" statements in support of anarchy or
government overthrow. It also would have included terrorism under current
law that makes it unlawful for any person "to teach or advocate" a
government overthrow, or display "any flag or emblem other than the flag
of the United States" as preferable to the U.S. Government. [AP]

[continued in part 2]