Slip slide to war
You'll see in the 10-minute video above two segments. There is a clip from Bangor Ch. 2, 11pm on Saturday March 15, 2003 including reports on protest in D.C., menacing war preparations (and Turkish refusal!), the pathetic Azores war council, and our last pre-war rally in Bangor. The next segment is the Sunday March 16, 2003 11pm report from Ch. 5 in Bangor. Bush calls it his "moment of truth", Blair is teetering politically, and the Azores war council includes Aznar of Spain. John King speaks disingenuously that "diplomacy" is being conducted. Pure horror.
For our part, we hold a Citizen Summit. Fifteen minutes of excerpts are below. If you bear with it for 7:45, The Owl will appear. I give myself three minutes to invoke solid evidence available at the time that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. The notion the war was justified required that it did. Bush and Cheney deserve war crimes trials. Here's the video:
Video contains fifteen minutes of excerpts from a two-hour program of citizen testimony and Congressional response. The full program played many times on public access teevee. The last 30 seconds are not to be missed! (Apologies for the not-the-greatest sound.)
In the video above, freshly sworn-in Congressman Mike Michaud congratulates us and calls for the U.N. inspections to work. Then if you can last to the end, just about the squirrelliest moment in the entire run-up to war when an aide to Senator Olympia Snowe displays thin skin.
Snowe's mostly vacuous statement included profundities like "the President and Congress must be involved in any decision to commit troops abroad" and that the Iraq War Resolution of October 2002 was a "solemn and difficult vote." The joke's on us, but at that time Snowe was in the Cakewalk Coalition. But the melee erupted when the aide couldn't deal with the groans from the audience upon reading Snowe's characterization as "clear, convincing, specific and well-corroborated" the "evidence" Colin Powell gave on February 5, 2003. (Snowe's entire 3-16-2003 statement below.)
STATEMENT OF SENATOR OLYMPIA SNOWE
"First, let me thank you all for sharing with me your petitions and your concerns regarding potential coalition military action in Iraq. I have nothing but the deepest respect for your passion, involvement, and deeply held beliefs ? and please know that I have carefully listened to and considered the input I have received from all Mainers on this critical issue. I appreciate this opportunity to share my thoughts and I have asked my Regional Representative, Gail Kelly, to listen to your comments and relay them to me."I would like to briefly share with you the process and the thinking that led me to support the resolution authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces in Iraq. First, there is no more difficult decision than to commit our troops to a dangerous mission. Therefore, I have always believed both the President and Congress must be involved in any decision to commit troops abroad, and the President rightfully sought Congressional authorization before taking any action in Iraq. Accordingly, the vote for that resolution ? H.J.Res. 114 ? was a solemn and difficult vote for every member of Congress.
"I also know and appreciate that men and women of honor and good conscience can look at the same circumstances and reach differing conclusions. I firmly believe that diplomacy must always constitute our first line of defense, and only after all such options have been exhausted should military action be considered. Therefore, I voted as I did to give the President the ability to speak with a united, unequivocal American voice leaving no ambivalence as to the resoluteness of our position and no doubt where America stands as to the level of our commitment that Saddam Hussein must disarm. This, I believe, strengthened the President?s ability to secure UN implementation of a new and enforceable resolution ?resolution 1441 ?with the hope and potential of placing us on a course toward a peaceful disarmament.
"This resolution, passed unanimously by the UN Security Council, recognized the threat Iraq?s proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles poses to international peace and security. It afforded Iraq a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations and accordingly set up an inspections regime with the aim of bringing to full and verified completion the disarmament process established by resolution 687 in 1991 and subsequent resolutions of the Council. Under this unanimous resolution, Iraq must allow immediate and unrestricted access to every site, document, and person identified by inspectors.
"On February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the UN Security Council with clear, convincing, specific and well-corroborated evidence that Iraq has failed to comply with UN resolutions, and has continued its efforts to develop and conceal its capability to produce and deploy biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. The Secretary also detailed specific links with terrorist organizations based in Iraq, including Abu Musab Zarquawi (zarCOW-ee), who is closely associated with the al Qaeda organization.
"Moreover, reports of Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix demonstrate that Iraq has consistently fallen short of the 'unconditional, immediate, and active' cooperation required under the U.N.?s own resolutions. Again, Resolution 1441 did not call for partial compliance, or a weapons inspectors 'scavenger hunt'. Rather, 1441 put the onus on Saddarn Hussein ? saying he illegally possesses weapons of mass destruction and he must comply.
"As you are aware, the President has sought support through the Security Council to enforce the requirements of Resolution 1441. My earnest hope continues to be that Hussein will choose this last opportunity for peace, but thus far, while the U.S. has followed the course of diplomacy, regrettably, Hussein continues to choose the course of deceit.
"Again, I understand we have differing views on this monumental matter ? and I do sincerely appreciate you sharing your deeply held thoughts and convictions me. I hope I have been able to provide you with a more comprehensive understanding of my views at this historic juncture."
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