Still Fighting

Activism

Meet With Cindy. Cindy Sheehan's son died in Iraq, eleven days after Dubya's famous "nope, no weapons of mass destruction here" knee-slapper for the Radio and TV Correspondents' Association dinner. She has since become an outspoken critic of Bush's war, making numerous appearances on news shows and talk radio, and sitting on the panel in Rep. John Conyers' informal Downing Street Minutes hearing back in June. Dissatisfied with Bush's demeanor during their first meeting, after the death of her son, Cindy is camping out near Bush's "ranch" in Texas and demanding another meeting to get answers from the War President about the "noble cause" her son died for. The MeetWithCindy site has experienced greatly increased traffic since Cindy set up camp down in Crawford, so if you're having trouble getting to it check out her regular updates at Daily Kos. This story's gaining traction in the press, and it's important that we keep it in the public eye.

News

War Plans Drafted to Counter Terror Attacks in the US. It's been almost four years since the destruction of the World Trade Center changed everything, so it's nice to hear the Pentagon has finished drafting plans for what to do in case something like it happens again. The plans (which are, of course, classified) are designed to handle anything from low-scale crowd control to full-on massive disaster, including multiple simultanous attacks. The Pentagon, which is legally constrained from law enforcement activities, has stressed that it intends the use of troops in a supporting role only, though several senior officers have acknowledged there may be situations which would require the military to take charge. Our hope is that, if it ever came to that, whoever's in control would recognize the great care with which such a mighty force should be wielded on its home soil and, potentially, against its own citizens.

Blair's New Rules. Britain has, historically, been a nation which treads gently around the rights of its citizens. Even when faced with the violent attacks of the IRA, the British government went out of its way to ensure that anti-terror measures protected as much as possible the civil rights of its citizens. Prime Minister Tony Blair has unveiled drastic new measures to crack down on terrorism, including closing mosques and, if necessary, rewriting the Human Rights act to allow the deportation of "foreign-born preachers of hate." According to Blair, even those non-citizens have a duty to "to sustain and support the values that sustain the British way of life." Again, all well and good. Makes sense when you hear it. Can't really argue with it. The real question is: What choices do you make when the time comes to enforce it?

The Meeting. There's been a lot of speculation and discussion over Judith Miller's role in the Rove/Plame leak case, but the only one who really knows why she's still in jail is Miller herself. A central focus of the ongoing investigation is the July 8, 2003 meeting between Miller and Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff, during which they discussed CIA operative Valerie Plame. This meeting just happened to be six days before Robert Novak's column was published, and occurred during the time that Libby and Karl Rove were working hard to discredit Joseph Wilson. Circumstantial evidence all points directly at a conspiracy involving (at the very least) Rove and Libby and the passing along of Plame's identity, though only time will tell what will come of the investigaion. At the heart of Miller's role in all of this is her refusal to reveal her source, even though Libby signed a general waiver allowing journalists to discuss his conversations with them. Miller is holding out for a specific, personal waiver releasing her from confidentiality, and so far it doesn't look like either Libby or his bosses in the White House are planning to bring that to the table.

Editorials

Voting Rights for All. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was instrumental in breaking down the walls of segregation and white supremacy, in the voting booth at least. In its decision in this case, the Supreme Court stated the equal right to vote is fundamental because it is "preservative of all rights." GOP leaders give great lip service to the idea of equal voting rights, and the Act which grants them, but so far remain a bit hazy on stepping up to enforce and strengthen the protections for minority voters. It's a shame that all these people who are so proud of America and the Constitution and democracy don't really want to share with anyone who doesn't think like they do. House Judiciary Committee chair James Sensenbrenner spoke at the NAACP convention, saying "We cannot let discriminatory practices of the past resurface to threaten future gains." But then just a week later he was quoted as saying that the sections of the act that require renewal are "an open question." Sounds like this Republican was for voting rights before he was against them.

Still Not Ready in the ER. We're consistently told that we fight Them over there so we don't have to fight Them over here. It's a good thing, too, because despite Bush's "resolve" in protecting us here at home, our health services just aren't up to dealing with the massive casualties that can sometimes result from terrorist bombings. All across the US, the federal government has turned a blind eye to underfunded emergency rooms and trauma centers. Even as ambulance personnel are not well-trained on how to assess a blast scene or deal with multiple casualties, the House is targeting for elimination the very small amount of federal money set aside to plan and develop trauma centers. But wait, there's more: Even in the wake of last year's flu vaccine debacle, the US is unprepared to meet this year's vaccine needs. Let's not even get into what might happen if SARS makes a comeback, or if we get hit with a particularly virulent flu, such as the avian strain emerging in Southeast Asia. Maybe while Bush is clearing brush in Crawford this month, he could spend some time thinking about why we're not prepared to handle the health crises of either a natural biological threat or another terrorist attack here at home.

Blogger Commentary

The White House Terror Prevention Plan: Trust Us. Last year, the 9/11 commission released its report on the circumstances surrounding the terrorist attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center. That report contained many recommendations on how to make America safer from terrorist attacks - something that Bush claims to be very concerned about. Unfortunately, it seems that nobody can get answers on whether and how those recommendations are being implemented. The 9/11 commission itself closed shop after releasing its report, but the former commissioners have reconstituted into the 9/11 Public Discourse Project in order to get answers to some of these questions. Unfortunately, nobody will talk to them: According to Thomas H. Kean, 9/11 Committee co-chair and former Governor of New Jersey, the administration has completely ignored their requests for updates and interviews with top administration staff. Kean says he and the other former commissioners are simply trying to make America safer. Isn't that what Bush says he spends all his time thinking about?

What Went Wrong... The Bush administration would really like you to believe that, in every single reported case of prisoner or detainee abuse, it's just a few bad apples; a few regular guys who got up to no good, and gosh, we're real sorry about that. In one recent case, Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush was beaten to death after being stuffed in a sleeping bag and wrapped in electrical cord. We might not even know about that if it wasn't for a Utah National Guardsman who became frustrated with the lack of response to his reports of abuse and went directly to Utah Guard officials, outside his military chain of command. Sgt. 1st Class Michael Pratt had lodged complaints on other instances of abuse, only to be ignored or intimidated by those he had reported to. This speaks to a larger pattern of systemic abuse, not the rogue actions of a few "bad seed" soldiers, and Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney, and all the other chickenhawk armchair generals need to realize that these kinds of abuses are spreading the opposite of freedom and democracy.