Category Archives: Main Page

PDA: Converge in New York for Peace!

Posted on August 25, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Converge in New York for Peace! Please join PDA in New York! New York, NY – Aug 29, 2004 Progressive Democrats from various states are planning to gather on the corner of 6th Avenue and 21st Street in NYC beginning … Continue reading →

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Anti-Terrorism Tip: Quit Spying on Nonviolent Activists

Posted on August 25, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Anti-Terrorism Tip: Quit Spying on Nonviolent Activists CommonDreams.org They're at it again. FBI agents in recent weeks have been visiting and interrogating dozens of young activists believed to be planning or considering protests at the Democratic and Republican conventions. The … Continue reading →

Posted in GOP, Main Page, Progressive Community | 1 Comment

Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility Convene September 11

Posted on August 24, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility Convene September 11 The public is welcome Please consider joining us on September 11 in the Des Moines Botanical Center as we reassess our situation at home and abroad regarding the so-called “war on terrorism.”  … Continue reading →

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Project Mythbreaker in Iowa: DELIVERED!

Posted on August 24, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Project Mythbreaker in Iowa: DELIVERED! This report came in today from Dr. Alta Price of Bettendorf, DFIA’s Project Mythbreaker coordinator: Democracy for Iowa has now coordinated delivery of “Myth Breakers for Election Officials” to all 99 Iowa Counties, as well … Continue reading →

Posted in Main Page, Project Myth Breaker, Verified Voting | 3 Comments

Cleland and Heinz in Iowa This Week

Posted on August 24, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Cleland and Heinz in Iowa This Week Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland, (D-GA), will be in Cedar Rapids on Friday, August 27.  Cleland, a Vietman vet, will be joining John Kerry's band of brothers, men who actually served with Kerry, … Continue reading →

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Iowan Advises Florida Election Officials

Posted on August 24, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Iowan Advises Florida Election Officials Quad-City Times Four years after Florida was at the epicenter of the 2000 presidential election upheaval, election personnel are working persistently on problems associated with the state’s controversial $25 million touch-screen, paperless voting system. Those … Continue reading →

Posted in Main Page, Verified Voting | 2 Comments

BUSH MISLEADS ON CONNECTION TO SMEAR CAMPAIGN

Posted on August 23, 2004 by bfialindathieman

BUSH MISLEADS ON CONNECTION TO SMEAR CAMPAIGN The Daily Mislead George W. Bush has adamantly denied any connection to discredited and unsubstantial attack ads, run by the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), a group that aims to smear … Continue reading →

Posted in GOP, Humor, Main Page | 1 Comment

And A Big Thumbs Up to Steve King, in an Iraqi Sort of Way, That Is

Posted on August 23, 2004 by bfialindathieman

And A Big Thumbs Up to Steve King, in an Iraqi Sort of Way, That Is IDP website That shameful, party-line-voting neo-con Steve King, a cultural misunderstanding, and more embarrassment During his stump speech at the Iowa State Fair [last] … Continue reading →

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Connie Wilson: The Fog of War, Part 2

Posted on August 23, 2004 by bfialindathieman

The Fog of War, Part 2

By Connie Corcoran Wilson

Picking up from the first installment, last week:

But the President from Texas (LBJ), after John Kennedy’s assassination, said, “You can have more war or more appeasement.  I always thought it was bad to make any statements about withdrawing,” remembering that, when McNamara and Kennedy had discussed such conciliatory actions, in previous cabinet meetings where he had been present, he did not agree, but remained silent. Now, with LBJ in the driver’s seat, the new President pushes through the Tonkien Gulf Resolution, which gives complete authority to one man, the President, to take the nation to war.  

McNamara relates how, on August 2, 1964, the destroyer Maddox was attacked in international waters by North Vietnamese patrol boats. “We didn’t respond,” he says. Two days later, on August 4, 1964, skittish sonar operators reported 9 torpedoes fired at the Maddox at 12:22 p.m. and, again, 97 minutes later, reported additional attacks, as charted by sonar. Years later, says McNamara, it emerged that, “Our judgment that we had been attacked that day (on Aug. 4, 1964) was wrong. We hadn’t been,” quickly adding that it was true on August 2, however. From this poor judgment regarding the August 4th attacks emerged stepped-up bombing raids on North Viet Nam. Says McNamara, “We were wrong, but we had in our mind a mindset that led to that action.  And it led to such heavy costs,” agreeing with the narrator that “we see what we want to believe.” All this ancient history sounds so current, and makes the saying, (roughly paraphrased) “If we do not study history and learn from it, we are condemned to repeat it,” seem very timely, indeed.

McNamara related a heated conversation with the man who had once been President of North Vietnam, which occurred many years after the conflict: “We (the North Vietnamese) were fighting for our independence. You were fighting to enslave us.” That was the viewpoint of the North Vietnamese: that the United States was attempting to follow in France’s footsteps as a colonial power. The North Vietnamese leader insisted to McNamara, “We weren’t the pawns of the Chinese or the Russians,” (a popular opinion of the day, expressed often as “the domino theory” of Communism in that part of the world) saying that his men were fighting to be independent as a nation, and that they “would have fought to the last man”, since they viewed the conflict entirely differently than we (the United States) did. (McNamara’s Point #1).
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Iowa Democrats Gaining Confidence for the Fall Election

Posted on August 22, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Iowa Democrats Gaining Confidence for the Fall Election Missouri Valley Times It's all about defense this fall for Republicans trying to hold their grip on the Iowa Senate. Twenty-five seats are on the ballot in the 50-member Senate. And of … Continue reading →

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