Thursday, December 18, 2003

Get Your Copy FEATURED ARTICLES - UNCOVERED; The Whole Truth About The Iraq War - Home Screenings of an Anti-War Doc Rally the Bush Opposition - Kucinich on Capture of Saddam Hussein - Dean's Foreign Policy: I Am No George Bush - Capture doesn't sway Clark - Ex-general stays antiwar course - Kerry's Plan to Strengthen Homeland Security QUOTE OF THE DAY A retreat by the United States from Vietnam would be a Communist victory, a victory of massive proportions & would lead to World War III. - - President Dick M Nixon, May 1966 KNOW YOUR HISTORY - DECEMBER 18th 1969 -- England: Great Britain abolishes capital punishment. One of the last countries in Western Europe to do so. 1972 -- Despite War Criminal & Nobel Peace Prize recipient Hank Kissinger's statement on 26 October that "peace" is at hand, the US launches heaviest air bombing barrage of the entire Indochina war against North Vietnam. Nixon later refers to this so-called "Christmas bombing" as "my terrible personal ordeal." Probably missed part of a football game that day. RHINO HERE: Last night in Los Angeles, representatives from 4 Democratic presidential campaigns (& The Rhino) met together with Robert Greenwald, the producer & director of the new documentary, "UNCOVERED; The Whole Truth About The Iraq War." After viewing what is an effective tool for educating Americans about their government, one speaker from each campaign (Dean, Clark, Kerry & Kucinich) spoke eloquently for a couple minutes. Short sweet and from the heart, the speakers & everyone attending agreed that whoever became the nominee, we'd all be working together come next Fall. The Rhino urges everyone to get a copy of this doc ($15), make a bunch of copies (the producers are condoning & encouraging bootleg duplications) give them out as holiday gifts (to promote peace on earth good will toward humankind) and like the folks at MoveOn.org, throw a viewing party for your friends & rels. In the spirit of the meeting, today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is one offering from each of the 4 candidates. But first, an article from the current Village Voice on how activists are using this documentary to change minds.   UNCOVERED; The Whole Truth About The Iraq War To watch a clip or BUY A DVD or VHS Tape, GO TO: http://www.truthuncovered.com In-House Revolution Home Screenings of an Anti-War Doc Rally the Bush Opposition by Sarah Ferguson, Village Voice, December 10 - 16, 2003 ...Part documentary, part agitprop infomercial, Uncovered  plays footage of Bush and his cabinet members repeatedly insisting they have verifiable proof of Iraq's WMD off of interviews with such seasoned experts as ex-CIA chief Stansfield Turner; weapons inspector David Albright; Milt Bearden, who helped oversea the CIA's covert support for the Afghan resistance to the Soviet Union; and Karen Kwiatkowski, a senior intelligence analyst at the Pentagon who resigned her post last April because she believed members of the administration were manipulating intelligence about Iraq. There's also John Dean, Nixon's White House counsel made famous for his testimony during the Watergate impeachment hearings, who reminds viewers that, "It's a federal felony [for elected officials] to deliberately mislead." Though Greenwald delivers no smoking guns, by assembling such a no-nonsense cast of level-headed critics, he does make a compelling case for the way the Bush Administration relied on distorted, unfounded, and even concocted (in the case of the Niger yellowcake allegations) evidence to convince Congress and the American people of the necessity for going to war. And by using grassroots distribution through the Net, the Uncovered release represents another extension of the kind of "viral marketing" groups like MoveOn and Dean bloggers have used to rally Bush opponents into action. The Dean campaign may have helped pioneer the phenomena of using the Net to fuel face-to-face Meetups and house parties with like-minded politicos. But by using its 2 million-plus online subscriber base, the MoveOn team is looking to mobilize a potentially broader base of disgruntled Americans to take action in their local communities. "We want to give people something more to do than just click," says Pariser... http://www.truthuncovered.com/reviews/index.cfm 9:22:56 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Four Candidates Kucinich on Capture of Saddam Hussein Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Kucinich.us, 12/14/03 "With the capture of Saddam Hussein the Administration's stated goal of removing him from power has been accomplished. Now the focus must be on ending the occupation. International law must be followed and Saddam Hussein must be held accountable for his actions. "The United States must seize this moment and end the occupation of Iraq. The United States must reach out to the world community with a new plan to stabilize Iraq, bring UN peacekeepers in, and bring US troops home." POSTED AT:   http://www.kucinich.us/ Dean's Foreign Policy: I Am No George Bush By John Tirman, AlterNet, December 16, 2003 Howard Dean's first major speech on foreign policy on Monday in Los Angeles was delivered amid the immediate aftermath of Saddam Hussein's capture, and a more symbolic twinning of events could scarcely be imagined. The Dean speech was quietly spun as his attempt to re-position himself toward the center, while his major Democratic opponents were scurrying even further to the right in their attempt to identify with the event's popular appeal, denouncing Dean along the way.  But Dean's speech, along with his signature opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, revealed him as the best Democratic alternative to Bush, while sustaining his bona fide s as a progressive... http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17401 Capture doesn't sway Clark Ex-general stays antiwar course By Joanna Weiss, Boston Globe, 12/17/2003 Shortly after testifying at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, retired Army General Wesley K. Clark called for a similar trial for Saddam Hussein, but still said he opposes the US intervention that led to Hussein's capture. "The success of the mission in Iraq, it wouldn't of itself justify that it was . . . a wise decision to undertake at the time," the Democratic presidential candidate said by telephone from the Hague. "There are any number of things we could do that [would have been] successful that weren't done," Clark added, pointing out that the United States chose not to intervene against dictators in Liberia and Sierra Leone. "It just so happened that this administration chose to go into Iraq when there was apparently still no evidence of weapons of mass destruction."... http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/clark/articles/2003/12/17/capture_doesnt_sway_clark/ Plan to Strengthen Homeland Security Highlights Efforts to Improve Port Security, Prevent Terrorists from Obtaining WMD's John Kerry, johnkerry.com, 12/17/03 Speaking in Portsmouth, New Hampshire today, John Kerry outlined aspects of his plan to make America more secure. The most basic responsibility of government is to provide for the common defense, and John Kerry believes the Bush Administration has provided too little support, too little leadership, and too little vision for the common defense of our homeland. Specifically, President Bush has done little to ensure that out ports are secure or to prevent terrorists from obtaining Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD's) that can be delivered to our shores. In fact, while visiting New Hampshire several months ago, Asa Hutchinson, Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Borders and Transportation Security, said: "I think I would be in error if I came here to New Hampshire and said we no longer are vulnerable." John Kerry would change this immediately upon taking office by implementing his detailed plan to improve our homeland security.  Today, as part of this broader initiative, Kerry highlighted his plans to improve port security and prevent terrorists from obtaining WMD's that can threaten our homeland... http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/100days/port_security.html "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 7:35:17 AM    comment

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