QUOTE OF THE MONTH
From “The Age of Turbulence:”
“I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”
Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve Chairman
“The Age of Turbulence, Adventures in a New World”
SENSE AND NONSENSE – THE HAWKS CIRCLE LIKE VULTURES
From the editor: On Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, the United States Senate quietly passed a non-binding resolution designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization The resolution also urges the Administration to impose economic sanctions on Iran. The resolution, billed as “bi-partisan” by the national media was sponsored by Republican Senator John Kyl of Arizona and so-called “Independent” Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. The only logical reason for the Senate to take this action is to increase the political pressure to invade Iran. Joe Lieberman is the political point man for applying the principle of “preemptive war” to Iran – regardless of any actual threat to the security of the United States.
The Democrats (with a few notable exceptions) in the Senate were in lock step with “The Bush Agenda.” (Editor’s Note: The Compass recommends this book written by Antonia Juhasz. It is entitled “The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time.”) The measure easily passed in the Senate by a vote of 76 to 22. A total of 30 Democrats voted for the measure including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. Senator Obama did not vote. A total of 19 Democrats voted against the resolution along with 2 Republicans and Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont. In casting a vote against the resolution, Democrat Jim Webb of Virginia asked, “What do we do with terrorist organizations if they are involved against us? We attack them.”
While campaigning in New Hampton, Iowa, on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007, Senator Clinton was challenged by a voter to explain her vote for the resolution. Clinton reacted sharply and accused the voter (Randall Rolph) of simply asking a question that had been supplied to him. Rolph had not been supplied with anything. He had done his own research and formulated his own question. He said he had come to the meeting “with an open mind.”
Rolph suggested that the resolution amounted to giving “Bush a free hand.” Clinton responded, “I’m sorry, sir it does not.” She explained that there was an earlier version that she opposed…I would never have voted for the first version.” Her campaign said later that the deleted language in the first version stated, “it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
She did not explain why she found it necessary to vote for any version of such a resolution on Iran, particularly at a time when the White House seems determined to bolster Bush’s legacy as a “War President.”
Another Iowa voter (Jim Sheridan) attending the same meeting in New Hampton posted the following comments on the exchange in the Oct. 7, 2007, issue of the Washington Post.
“I was there in New Hampton. She (Clinton) went after the guy (Rolph) – who had a really important question—in a really mean-spirited way. She treated him as though he had no right to challenge her and tried to cut him off. He said he was offended, and then she apologized, but went right on with explaining that the designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization constituted ‘robust diplomacy.’”
“The questioner’s point was that the 2002 vote for similar ‘robust diplomacy’ led to war in Iraq. Why any Democrat would vote for any amendment whose chief sponsors are Joe Lieberman and John Kyl is another question. But what he asked is why we should trust her now, if she voted for this amendment after the first such vote led to war.”
“It’s a really good question, and one that the candidates should answer. Obama was asked about Iran in Charles City on Friday. Maybe people are asking about it because they’re worried, not because someone fed them questions to read. The rest of her presentation was heavy on generalities and platitudes, and light on dealing with anything tough. Maybe this close to the coronation she doesn’t think she needs to answer tough questions.”
In February, 2007, The Compass (vol. iv, no. 3) cited multiple examples of “saber rattling” toward Iran including a well-documented article by Seymour Hersh that appeared in the April, 17, 2006, issue of The New Yorker magazine. It is no accident or coincidence that the same “nuclear threat” is being used by the Bush Administration for military action against Iran as they used to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Remember there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It is the same appeal to the emotion of fear without sufficient evidence to justify military action. The latest examples of “saber rattling” by the Bush Administration and by Democrats in the U.S. Senate is dangerous, short-sighted, and represents a greater threat to our national security than any designated terrorist organization.
By Maynard Chapman
Editor, The Compass Newsletter
SAMPLE CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION IN MONTANA
From A. Blevins in Billings: The following language was recently circulated in Billings as a proposed city council resolution. It is offered here as “boilerplate” language for anyone wishing to promote political action in their own communities.
A RESOLUTION URGING THE CESSATION OF WAR AND COMBAT OPERATIONS IN IRAQ, THE RETURN OF AMERICAN TROOPS AND FULL FUNDING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF AMERICA’S VETERANS, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE HEREIN.
WHEREAS, the Billings City Council supports the more than one million brave men and women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, honors the memory of those who have lost their lives in the war, those who have survived with devastating injuries, and supports the families who have lost their loved ones; and
WHEREAS, the war in Iraq, now in its fifth year has caused the deaths of more than 3,611 U.S. Service People and an estimated 600,000 Iraqis; the psychological wounding and disabling of more than 26,695 American service people and of hundreds of thousands Iraqis and the destruction of the homes, communities, and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis; and
WHEREAS, the funds spent by Montana taxpayers on the war and occupation in Iraq alone equals more than $677,235,000 and which could have provided enough money for 405,529 children to have a year’s worth of health insurance; provided enough money for 89,700 children to utilize Head Start for one year; hire 11,736 additional school teachers; build 6,097 housing units; or provided more than 32,830 four-year college scholarships at public universities, according to the National Priorities Project, and our country is still seriously exposed to terrorists; and
WHEREAS, nearly three hundred similar resolutions have been enacted and registered by local governments throughout the country, and
WHEREAS, it is the duty of the Billings City Council to act on behalf and in the best interests of the citizens and,
WHEREAS, the Billings City Council is empowered to make such resolutions as may be necessary for the preservation of health, welfare, peace and order,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY BILLINGS CITY COUNCIL, STATE OF MONTANA, THAT THE BILLINGS CITY COUNCIL URGES THE UNITED
STATES GOVERNMENT TO:
SECTION 1: Implement a plan for the orderly, rapid, and comprehensive withdrawal of United States military personnel from Iraq; establishing a plan for the ongoing transition of responsibility for internal security activities to the military forces of the Iraqi Government; and
SECTION 2: Support our troops by ensuring that returning veterans receive compensation and care, including full mental and physical health, education, disability, and rehabilitation benefits; and
SECTION 3: Provide the people of Iraq with appropriate non-military aid as shall be necessary for the security of Iraq’s citizens and for the rebuilding of Iraq; pursuing security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy; and
SECTION 4: BE IT RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be forwarded immediately subsequent to passage to George W. Bush, President of the United States, Senator Max Baucus, Senator Jon Tester, Congressman Denny Rehberg, and Yellowstone County’s elected representatives to the Montana State House and Senate.
SECTION 5: BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED to place this Resolution on the next ballot election for the people to make their choice to exit Iraq with due hast and alacrity.
THE WALRUSES ARE SPEAKING TO US
From the Associated Press: Following are excerpts from an article posted by The Associated Press on Oct. 5, 2007:
“ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Thousands of walruses since late summer have congregated in haulouts on Alaska’s northwest shore, a phenomenon likely connected to record low Arctic sea ice.”
“The Alaska haulouts are following a trend of animals on the other side of the Chukchi Sear. Russian research observers have seen dramatic increases of animals on shore, sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands and now including females with young.”
“Walruses breed in the Bering Sea in the winter times. Calves are born in late April or early May. In spring, when ice retreats, males generally remain in the Bering Sea. But females migrate north with their pups through the Bering Strait and traditionally stay with the ice edge in the Chulchi Sea.”
“Walruses feed on clams, snails and other bottom creatures. As the ice edge moves over the relatively shallow continental shelf, females can nurse their calves on ice and reach productive feeding areas as the ice edge moves north.”
“However, extreme ice retreats in recent years have put the ice edge far north of the continental shelf, over water that’s too deep for the females to feed.”
“A maximum dive for a walrus to scour the sea bottom is about 630 feet and the Arctic Basin can be several thousand feet deep or more.”
“The national Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder reported Arctic sea ice during the 2007 melt season plummeted to the lowest levels since satellite measurements began in 1979.”
The Compass Society Newsletter
Maynard Chapman, Editor
Published by The Compass Society
Copyright © 2007, The Compass Society
