Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Bogus Claims/Outright Lies FEATURED ARTICLES - Conversation With A Conservative, Mother Jones - Checking The Facts In Advance, By Paul Krugman, NY Times - The Secret File of Abu Ghraib, By Osha Gray Davidson, Rolling Stone - The Abu Ghraib Supplementary Documents, The Center for Public Integrity QUOTE OF THE DAY "I feel very strongly right now that our country is on the wrong track domestically. I think it’s on the very wrong track internationally. As a patriot, as a conservative, as a Republican, it’s important to try to change it." - - Clyde Prestowitz (Author & Reagan administration veteran, in an interview with Mother Jones) Conversation With A Conservative http://www.mojones.com/commentary/columns/2004/09/prestowitz_intro.html KNOW YOUR HISTORY - October 13th 1983 --  Grenada: A power struggle begins, to overthrow Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. US/CIA destabilization tactics began soon after Bishop formed a leftist government. A mercenary coup results in Bishop's murder on the 19th; US military forces quickly invade on the 25th to install a pro-American regime. Bishop ran afoul of the US fairly quickly when he failed to join in the quarantine of Cuba. His mildly socialist program (private enterprise left unmolested, but free health care, school lunches, etc.) was the final straw. Before long, a CIA propaganda campaign was portraying Grenada as a terrorist state allied to the Soviet Union, its 100,000 inhabitants armed to the teeth & poised to attack the pitifully vulnerable US.  The US invasion was planned at least 2 years before it happened & CIA acts of sabotage proliferated. Money was given to opposition politicians & neighboring armies. Finally, in late 1983, Bishop was overthrown by extremists in his own party & executed & the US invasion began. CIA agents among the "hostages" helped coordinate the three-day war over shortwave radio. RHINO HERE: Tonight's presidential debate will focus on key working family issues like good jobs, overtime pay, health care & education. The shrub will likely repeat his bogus claims of accomplishments that the Average American workers are just not feeling in their pocketbooks & that don't square with the realities that working families face every day.  New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has written a guide for separating fact from fantasy tonight. You can read his article linked below or check out the summary of it prepared by the Working Families E-Activist Network also below. Then after you watch the debate, let the media & pollsters know which candidate you think is on the side of working families. Weigh in on the online polls at: http://www.cnn.com http://www.msnbc.com http://www.abcnews.com http://www.cbsnews.com A look at some of the claims and facts about the issues working families care most about: CLAIM: President Bush has created 1.7 million new jobs. FACT: America has lost a net 1.6 million private-sector jobs since January 2001, according to the government's own statistics. Yes, we're beginning to gain jobs, but we've lost even more. We haven't even seen enough new jobs created to keep up with population growth. In reality, Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net loss of jobs. CLAIM: Unemployment is down. FACT: It's down from its highest point because so many unemployed workers have given up looking for jobs. If they were still looking, Krugman says, the unemployment rate would be a whopping 7.4 percent. CLAIM: The recession and terrorist attacks caused today's budget deficit. FACT: The president's massive tax cuts for the rich are responsible for about two-thirds of the federal deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office. President Bush inherited a $230 billion budget surplus and in less than four years turned it into a $422 billion deficit that our children still will be paying off years down the road. CLAIM: Tax cuts have created jobs and helped working people. FACT: The president's tax cuts have been a bonanza for the rich, not the middle class. Most of the tax benefits went to the wealthiest, with one-third lining the pockets of people whose incomes exceed $1 million a year. Read The New York Times column for yourself and share it with others who will watch the debate. Click on the link below (you may need to register quickly before viewing): Checking the Facts, in Advance By PAUL KRUGMAN, NY Times, October 12, 2004 It's not hard to predict what President Bush, who sounds increasingly desperate, will say tomorrow. Here are eight lies or distortions you'll hear, and the truth about each: Jobs - Mr. Bush will talk about the 1.7 million jobs created since the summer of 2003, and will say that the economy is "strong and getting stronger." That's like boasting about getting a D on your final exam, when you flunked the midterm and needed at least a C to pass the course. MORE AT: Facts Today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is a July Rolling Stone article by Osha Gray Davidson concerning the Abu Ghraib prison abuses. In tandem are links to 106 annexes, containing thousands of pages of documents, to the Army's "Taguba Report which Osha Gray Davidson used in the research for the Rolling Stone piece. These are important documents especially considering the attempted Rumsfeld et al spin that it was just a few bad apples. Very important docs. Here's a note sent out this week by Osha Gray Davidson. Last June I was researching an article for "Rolling Stone" magazine about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. At that time, a senior military official provided me with copies of all 106 annexes, containing thousands of pages of documents, to the Army's "Taguba Report." Those documents, which had not been released by the military, were the backbone of my reporting.  I had always intended to make the documents public. With the cooperation of the Center for Public Integrity, that's now happening. Today, CPI began the process of posting nearly all the annexes. Approximately half are now available on their Web-site, with the rest to come later this month. Accompanying the documents is an excellent analysis by CPI researcher, Alexander Cohen.  The government has painted the horrors of Abu Ghraib as the work of "a few bad apples," while at the same time refusing to release information critical to assessing that claim. These annexes will, I think, help people understand what happened at Abu Ghraib, why it happened and how such abuses can be avoided in the future.    Sincerely,      Osha Gray Davidson . 8:23:43 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - The Secret File of Abu Ghraib "SEND THIS ARTICLE TO A REPUBLICAN!" The Secret File of Abu Ghraib By OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON, Rolling Stone, July 28, 2004 It has been months since the now-infamous photographs from Abu Ghraib revealed that American soldiers tortured Iraqi prisoners -- yet the Bush administration has failed to get to the bottom of the abuses."There are some serious unanswered questions," says Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican on the Armed Services Committee. The Pentagon is stalling on several investigations, and congressional inquiries have ground to a halt. The foot-dragging is astonishing, given that Congress has access to classified documents detailing the abuses outlined by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba in his report on Abu Ghraib. Rolling Stone obtained those files in June and offers this report on their contents. -The Editors AT: Abu Ghraib Secret File The Abu Ghraib Supplementary Documents The Center for Public Integrity posts classified documents that form the basis of the Taguba report By Alexander Cohen, Center for Public Integrity, October 8, 2004 The military's mission at Abu Ghraib was inadequately planned almost from conception. It was subordinated to political and intelligence goals and bogged down at every level by inadequate resources and hostile conditions, according to classified documents reviewed and now posted by the Center for Public Integrity. The documents, the first installment of background materials from Army Major General Anthony Taguba's investigation into abuses of military detainees in Iraq, were provided to the Center by Rolling Stone contributor Osha Gray Davidson. The Center plans to post the second installment of the documents later this month. Including high-level policy memos, special investigations and witness testimony, the documents describe attacks, prisoner riots, interrogation methods and the torture and deaths of detainees. They reveal that the torture and abuse of inmates at the prison by military police, exposed in April 2004 news accounts of the classified report, took place under the guidance of military intelligence with little direct supervision from overburdened senior officers. AT: Abu Ghraib Supplementary Documents Rhino's Blog is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. Feedback & requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. (rhino@kifaru.com) Search the Rhino's Blog Archives, The Daily Rhino Photo, and lots of 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 6:45:17 AM    comment

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