20050912
Honoring Terror's Victims and Supporting the Troops
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/12/nyregion/12walk.html
War protesters were in short supply. When two did appear along Mr. Rumsfeld's path, one carrying a sign saying, "Bush is a Liar," an aide accompanying Mr. Rumsfeld, Allison Barber, encouraged walkers to begin chanting "U.S.A." The chant was short-lived. Earlier in the day, several protesters appeared to run into trouble with the large police presence at the Pentagon and along the route. One man who registered for the walk was detained by a Pentagon police officer after he slipped a black hood over his head and produced a sign that read, "Freedom?" The man was removed from the Pentagon registration area, handcuffed and taken away in a police car. It was not clear whether he was charged or simply detained and the police did not respond to messages requesting more information. Ann Grossman, 56, from Silver Spring, Md., also carried a homemade sign, which read "Honor Our Troops, Respect Their Lives," that was confiscated by police at the Pentagon. Ms. Grossman registered to participate in the walk, saying she did so to voice her opposition to the Iraq war, and she was allowed to participate without the sign.
This is what we're walking for when we walk for freedom, according to participants in the Pentagon-sponsored Freedom Walk yesterday:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/11/AR2005091101345.html
To remember the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. To support the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. To support the war in Iraq. To support the war on terrorism. To support American troops in all 177 countries where they serve. To support particular American troops, such as Sgt. Edward Scherz at Camp Fallujah in Iraq. To remember those killed in action in Iraq, such as Spec. Kyle Andrew Griffin. To support veterans. To raise money for the Pentagon Memorial to 9/11 victims. To raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Thousands walk to remember 9-11, support freedom’s defenders
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=7887
There were demonstrators along parts of the parade route. Most walkers ignored them or read their signs without comment. Some did their own impromptu, verbal counter-protests back at the protesters.
Media, Protesters Kept Away from "Freedom Walk"
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=2347
Critics of the event -- which was billed as a memorial for the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks as well as a march to support American troops -- charged that it was designed to tie the September 11 attacks to the war on Iraq.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced this week that it didn't want the news media taking photographs of the dead in New Orleans. A FEMA spokeswoman talked unconvincingly about the dignity of the dead. But the bizarre demand, a creepy echo of the ban on news media coverage of the coffins returning from Iraq, is simply the latest spasm of a gutted federal agency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/opinion/09fri1.html?hp
It's not really all that surprising that the officials who run FEMA are stressing that all-important emergency response function: the public relations campaign. As it turns out, that's all they really have experience at doing.
Bush Supporters Question Iraq War Tactics
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,169041,00.html
Staunch supporters of the Bush administration's policy in Iraq have become more vocal and public with their concern over the way things are going there, prompting observers to suggest that even Republicans are getting nervous.
Bush Denies Race, Iraq War Played Role in Katrina Response
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091200668.html
Asked by reporters whether the war in Iraq meant U.S. troops were stretched too thin to respond quickly, Bush answered testily that it was "preposterous to claim that the engagement in Iraq meant there weren't enough troops here, pure and simple." "We've got plenty of troops to do both," he insisted. The tour marked Bush's third visit to the region in nine days and came as he is struggling to assert his leadership after a calamity that has spawned bitter exchanges between local and federal officials. Bush's approval ratings have also tumbled to new lows.
The George Bush White House has presided over three national debacles: 9/11, the war in Iraq, and now Katrina's destruction
http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2005/09/11/1211538.html
We now know from administration insiders that the Bush White House and National Security Council received a stream of warnings of imminent al-Qaida attack but were asleep on guard duty. A "black" surveillance operation run by U.S. Army intelligence inside the U.S. reportedly identified 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta in early 2000 and warned he was plotting to use civilian aircraft in a massive terrorist attack. But the Sept. 11 Congressional Commission -- a shameless political whitewash -- claimed there was no evidence of Atta or his plans. Not a single Bush administration official was held to account.
9/11 and the Manipulation of America
http://www.antiwar.com/solomon/?articleid=7222
While military spending zooms upward, a downward slide continues for education, health care, housing, environmental protection, emergency preparedness and a wide array of other essentials. Across the United States, communities are suffering grim consequences. "Now it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war," Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1967. The same statement is profoundly true in 2005.
Pentagon revises pre-emptive nuclear strikes
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=9629
A White House spokesman said the United States would "respond with overwhelming force" to the use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States, its forces or allies, and said "all options" would be available to the president.
US develops strategy for first use of nuclear weapons against WMD
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article311903.ece
The Pentagon has drawn up a new strategy, built on the 2002 "Bush doctrine" of pre-emptive military strikes, that would allow the United States to make first use of nuclear weapons to thwart an attack using weapons of mass destruction against the country. ¶ 12.9.05
