End the War on Freedom

Joe Bommarito at Strike the Root - Untitled - An anti-war poem. I'm speechless. [whatreallyhappened]

From brianf:

Because of a plan
to rename element 87,
Francium as Libertium
a counter proposal has been made
to rename element 95,
Americium as Dumbassium

From grabbe:

"A Wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He addressed him thus, "Sir, last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, "I was not yet born." Then said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, good sir," replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf, "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, "Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you repute every one of my imputations."

The moral? "The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny."

With his permission, I have put up a mirror of Brian Caplan's Anarchist Theory FAQ at billstclair.com/caplan/anarfaq.htm.

Washington Post - President Bush Announces Military Strikes - The full text of Bushnev's address to the nation last night at 10:15 EST. I was lying on the living room floor ten minutes before this talk began last night, but I crashed before he started and didn't awaken until he was done. Real Player video here .

In this conflict, America faces an enemy who has no regard for conventions of war or rules of morality. Saddam Hussein has placed Iraqi troops and equipment in civilian areas, attempting to use innocent men, women and children as shields for his own military; a final atrocity against his people.

I want Americans and all the world to know that coalition forces will make every effort to spare innocent civilians from harm. A campaign on the harsh terrain of a nation as large as California could be longer and more difficult than some predict. And helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable and free country will require our sustained commitment.

We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for their great civilization and for the religious faiths they practice. We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people.

Pravda - Vladimir Pozner: America Has Painted Itself into the Corner - an interview with a "popular Russian and American TV journalist". Talks about the censoring of US television, the uninformed opinions of Americans, and the corner into which the Bush administration has painted itself.

I assert that Russian television is much more liberal today than American TV. To my mind, it is the USA that has the least freedom of speech amid other democratic countries at the moment, speaking of television.

...

Let's make another comparison. Let's assume that a person criticizes the policy of Israel. A lot of Israelis, as well as the majority of Jews that live all over the world will consider such a person an anti-Semite. In other words, if you criticize something about Israel, it means that you are an anti-Semite. It's absolutely wrong. I think that Sharon brings harm to his country. Yet, their mindset automatically implies anti-Semitism to any criticism of something Jewish. We have the same thing here: if someone is against Bush's policy, this means that this someone is against America. It's totally wrong. I love America. I grew up there. It is my country as well. Yet, I understand that Bush's current actions will bring a lot of trouble to America.

Great Britain is America's closest ally. Britain backs up the idea of war, which made Tony Blair face a lot of opposition. Does it mean that English people are against the USA, or should Americans think that this policy has a flaw? People believe everything and question nothing only in totalitarian countries. It is implicit belief, the unwillingness to ask questions, to doubt the president and the government, although it is a painful process. Yet, it is the way society and democracy work.

Thomas L. Knapp at Rational Review - Reflections on the coming conflict - some ideas for supporting our troops by resisting the war party's intention to get them killed. [smith2004]

There will be protests. Join them. Take the streets from the War Party. If they won't relinquish control of the machine, shut the machine down.

The War Party lives on money. Deny it to them. When you go to work this morning, visit your payroll department, get a new W-4, and fill it out so that not one thin dime is deducted from your paycheck from here on. You may have to decide next April 15th whether to write the War Party a check or take your resistance further, but for now, let them pass the hat and beg.

The general strike may be effective in some areas. It will be more effective if you're part of it.

Direct action? Not for everyone. Good luck if you're willing and able. Don't become what you are fighting, though, and take care of yourself. Don't carry ID. If you're arrested, remember your right to remain silent, and exercise that right -- completely. Don't help the War Party's enforcers. Make them decide whether they'd rather keep 200 unidentified patriots, or 200 rapists, burglars and murderers in jail. Don't be surprised if they decide that the patriots are more dangerous. To the War Party, they are. You know it. They know it. If you become part of their roundup, help make sure that everyone else knows it by forcing the choice on them.

The War Party has made it clear that it wants war. Very well. Let's give it to them until they don't like it any more.

Robert Greenslade at Sierra Times - Does a President have the Constitutional Authority to initiate a Military Conflict as Commander in Chief? - Hell, no! [trt-ny]

Bob Wallace at LewRockwell.com - The Essential Books - the twelve books Mr. Wallace would choose if he could read nothing else for the rest of his life: Aesop's Fables, Economics in One Lesson, Bulfinch's Mythology, Envy, Our Enemy, the State, Leftism Revisited, The Count of Monte Cristo, the Bible, The Law, For a New Liberty, The Road to Serfdom, and Grimm's Fairy Tales. [grabbe]

Robert Fox and David Taylor at The Evening Standard - The war has started - this story is from yesterday, before the bombing began. [whatreallyhappened]

British and American troops were involved in fierce fighting near Iraq's main port today as the war to topple Saddam Hussein began.

The firefight broke out near Basra as men of the Special Boat Service targeted the strategically vital city and the oilfields in southern Iraq. At the same time allied troops were flooding into the demilitarised zone on the Iraqi border with Kuwait 40 miles away to take up positions for an all-out invasion.

BBC - Cook's resignation speech - The full text of Robin Cook's resignation speech in the House of Commons. [whatreallyhappened]

Ironically, it is only because Iraq's military forces are so weak that we can even contemplate its invasion. Some advocates of conflict claim that Saddam's forces are so weak, so demoralised and so badly equipped that the war will be over in a few days.

We cannot base our military strategy on the assumption that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is a threat.

...

Only a couple of weeks ago, Hans Blix told the Security Council that the key remaining disarmament tasks could be completed within months.

I have heard it said that Iraq has had not months but 12 years in which to complete disarmament, and that our patience is exhausted.

Yet it is more than 30 years since resolution 242 called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories.

We do not express the same impatience with the persistent refusal of Israel to comply.

...

The longer that I have served in this place, the greater the respect I have for the good sense and collective wisdom of the British people.

On Iraq, I believe that the prevailing mood of the British people is sound. They do not doubt that Saddam is a brutal dictator, but they are not persuaded that he is a clear and present danger to Britain.

They want inspections to be given a chance, and they suspect that they are being pushed too quickly into conflict by a US Administration with an agenda of its own.

Above all, they are uneasy at Britain going out on a limb on a military adventure without a broader international coalition and against the hostility of many of our traditional allies.

John Kaminski at Rense.com - Dear American People - cool anger. The most dangerous kind. Regime change begins at home. [whatreallyhappened]

The same people who have carried their signs into cities and onto bridges to demonstrate for peace must now take a different tack.

From this date forth, protests must be directed at police agencies and our local elected officials, to enlist their help in ridding the world of this scourge of sinister oil executives who have hijacked and vandalized the government of the American republic.

These new protests must not be violent, though of necessity, they will be angry. But this anger must be polite, articulate, and not deviate from the purpose of the task now at hand.

Large groups of people must immediately meet and talk with local police chiefs, county sheriffs, district attorneys, city councilpeople, town selectpeople, ward bosses and aldermen, to explain to them as patiently and convincingly as possible that our nation is in peril, that the democratic system we have grown to love and cherish has been distorted and perverted by corruption and now is a clear and imminent threat to the health and survival of our country and its people.

...

Articulate spokespeople from large citizen groups must convince local and regional authorities to issue arrest warrants for George W. Bush, members of his Cabinet, and prominent members of the Congress, for their criminal failure to protect the American people from the predations of the corporate looters who are actually running the government now, and telling the president and his gang of moral thugs what to do.

Robert C. Byrd at Antiwar.com - Today I Weep for My Country - the senior senator from West Virginia comments on the most recent episode in the Forever War. [rrnd]

I believe in this beautiful country. I have studied its roots and gloried in the wisdom of its magnificent Constitution. I have marveled at the wisdom of its founders and framers. Generation after generation of Americans has understood the lofty ideals that underlie our great Republic. I have been inspired by the story of their sacrifice and their strength.

But, today I weep for my country. I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. The image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.

Instead of reasoning with those with whom we disagree, we demand obedience or threaten recrimination. Instead of isolating Saddam Hussein, we seem to have isolated ourselves. We proclaim a new doctrine of preemption which is understood by few and feared by many. We say that the United States has the right to turn its firepower on any corner of the globe which might be suspect in the war on terrorism. We assert that right without the sanction of any international body. As a result, the world has become a much more dangerous place.

...

Why can this President not seem to see that America's true power lies not in its will to intimidate, but in its ability to inspire?

Gene Callahan at LewRockwell.com - Windbags of War - disembling the rhetoric of the hawks. [rrnd]

One well-known libertarian sent out an e-mail saying, "As our men go off to war, the time for criticism ends." Well, there you have it. It's one thing to criticize a mugger before he takes your wallet, but, once he's in the act, it would be impolite to continue. And if you had known about the terrorist plot of September 11th, it would have been fine to try and talk the terrorists out of it while they were in the planning stages. But once they had actually hijacked the planes, it would be quite gauche to keep badgering them.

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Also on TV was Bush saying that the US did nothing to provoke Iraq's aggression. Um, what aggression? Does he mean the way Iraq's land has kept blowing up US bombs over the last decade? Or maybe the way Iraqi children have continually tried to embarrass the US by up and starving to death?

Stan Goff at From the Wilderness - Rolling Start: The Idiot Prince Will Have His War - a military analysis of the war in Iraq and its aftermath from a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant. [rrnd]

Ed Lewis at Liberty for All - While we slept - a long article containing lots of tasty little morsels. [rrnd]

Bush and Ashcroft cannot tell we millions what to do or not to do. Their only power is the power of arms. This is the same at all levels of government. Remove this power and they are as helpless as babes (meaning relatively new born people) in the woods.

We also have the power of arms but unlike the federal, State, and local governments, we tend to shy away from the use of arms to protect our rights while they freely shoot and kill innocent after innocent to steal our rights. Why do we feel this adversity to the use of arms? Simple. We might get hurt or killed and fighting back disrupts our lives.

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