“Taxation without representation” is a good working definition of tyranny.  It is one Jefferson and the other signers of the Declaration of Independence took seriously in 1776.  And it is one we in 2006 must also measure our current political situation against. 

In recent years it has become more and more clear that our “democracy” does not work the way it purportedly does.  The values of most citizens are not reflected in the policies enacted by their representatives – but corporate values are.  The outcomes of our elections are arbitrarily adjudicated, predetermined by gerrymandering, and entrusted to virtually defenseless electronic systems with the flimsiest of oversight.  The values of “liberty and justice for all” embodied in our Constitution, and our foundational respect for the rule of law are flouted by our President – and Congress then “legalizes” his crimes of torture and surveillance retroactively.  Free and responsible disclosure of government actions is hindered in every way – while the government covertly plants propaganda in the news media.  When citizens petition for full investigation of the acts of terror that impelled us into wars of aggression, the government stonewalls any independent inquiry and feeds us an endless pablum of conflicting and impossible “explanations.” 
 

Because of these and other blatant and insidious abuses of power, coupled with a manifest failure to respect or enact the will of the people, there is apparently no longer any viable political means for restraining or reversing these tyrannous encroachments on our fundamental rights and liberties.  Therefore, we must begin to exercise one of the powers reserved to us under the Ninth Amendment and refuse to support the current oligarchic federal regime with our tax dollars.  To this end, payment of all non-entitlement tax money should be withheld until all the following changes take place:      

             No corporate personhood – limited State charters only (typically 99 years)

             No gerrymandering – non-political district boundaries (eg. watersheds)

             No electronic voting – paper ballots with instant runoff voting, counted by hand

             No privatization or delegation of public powers and functions -- powers of war and of coining               
                 money are inalienable

             No purely speculative markets – all holdings are investments for a year or more

             No membership in secret societies – the oath of office requires forswearing all

                 conflicting allegiances

             No clandestine operations – all foreign policy to be managed through

                 diplomatic channels subject to full disclosure and review

In adopting this non-violent course of resistance to the present regime we must recognize the danger of open reprisals and general economic fallout:  we must therefore undertake to support with all the moral and financial means at our disposal – beginning with tax money held in escrow – all those whose liberties or livelihoods are damaged by acts of governmental retaliation or economic turbulence. 

In addition to being willing and able to support by local interventions those whose entitlements are diminished or eliminated by government reprisals, a viable tax withholding movement must also analyze and anticipate the general economic effects of gradual governmental collapse.  For instance, should the government default on all or part of its enormous foreign debt, the fiat currency of the day will become next to worthless, and will therefore need to be supplanted by locally issued notes of credit that can be used to keep local commerce and industry functioning. 

All in all, tax withholding will not be an effective response to our political dilemma unless it exhibits two key features: 

In order to be a self-confident movement, the political reasons for tax withholding must be firmly rooted in widespread ethical and religious values.  For instance, both the ethics of solidarity and of accountability condemn governmental malfeasance and should be used to motivate people to act.  Also, the tyrannous power of greed is condemned not only through the voice of the Jewish prophets,  “Ah, [woe to] you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you…[for]… I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the insolence of tyrants.” [Is 5:8] [Is 13:11], but also by Christianity  “You can not serve God and wealth …[therefore] …do not be conformed to this world …[or] …the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people that produces fruits of the kingdom.” [Mt 6:24] [Ro 12:2] [Mt 21:43]. 

Building a critical mass of people willing to withhold (or delay payment of) taxes should probably be initiated by public discussion of the reasons for action and the options for withholding that are ready to hand, coupled with an on-line survey question taking the form “I am willing to withhold (or delay payment of) x% of my federal taxes if and when y% of taxpayers are ready to do the same.” Standard techniques for confirmation of email addresses could be used to verify the legitimacy of the data collected on-line and prevent duplications.  As results of this survey accumulate and the tallies are posted, it would soon become obvious to all what the critical mass is, and when each threshold figure is actually reached. 

Coordination is possible without a command structure, given an open flow of information and general agreement on a strategy of graduated response to governmental resistance and reprisals.  Thus, if the first retaliation for a slackening of tax revenues is curtailment of entitlement funding, a graduated response would entail increasing the percentage of tax withheld (or delayed) to match the enlarged proportion in the budget of illegitimate expenditures – that is, those known to be contrary to the express will of the People, such as paying for wars of imperial domination. 

Given the known proclivity of corporate regimes for assassinating charismatic popular leaders – JFK and MLK for example – organizing for tax withholding and mutual support should always be done at the local level only.  Many tax escrow funds will be less vulnerable than one; many local organizations will be more difficult to derail than one national group.  Since most, if not all local groups will be infiltrated with covert operatives, serious members must resolve to keep their focus on the real goals of the movement, and to act in such a way that over time the hearts and minds of even the ‘agents provocateurs’ are in danger of being won over. 

The immediate goals of tax withholding have already been enumerated: the ultimate goal is restoration of a constitutionally based rule of law in the United States of America.  Only when this is done will the principles of justice, freedom and peace flourish here at home and empower us to participate in an emerging global community based on cooperation and sustainability. 

17 November 2006 

The Three Stooges of the 9/11 wars— Don “Larry” Rumsfeld, Dick “Curley” Cheney, and Paul “Moe” Wolfowitz—share a number of obsessions including: the brilliance of Roosevelt’s orchestration of Pearl Harbor, the model for their own botched orchestration of the 9/11 New Pearl Harbor; the need for an American king a.k.a. a “unitary executive” president who is above the law; and the importance of Continuity of Government (COG) procedures that would hand absolute power to the president in the aftermath of a crippling nuclear or biological attack. 
 

Remember Cheney bouncing around from one undisclosed location to another after 9/11? That was part of the massive COG exercise that coincided with the attacks. Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz had been rehearsing that moment for decades. 
 

Now that Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz have been given the old heave-ho, the Stooges’ only hope for “continuity” is a permanent Bush-Cheney dictatorship—presumably instigated by a new-9/11-triggered nuclear war with Iran that could easily escalate to include Russia and China. Former Reagan advisor and Wall Street Journal Editor Paul Craig Roberts says that Cheney’s plan is beyond Hitlerian: “If Cheney again prevails, America will supplant the Third Reich as the most reviled country in recorded history.” (Roberts, If You Think Bush Is Evil Now, Wait Until He Nukes Iran) 
 

In normal circumstances, the Continuity of Government idea would be a no-brainer. If the nation suffered a massive hit, we would naturally want to maintain our traditions, our ideals, and our way of life. We would want to remain a Republic in which the freedom and self-determination of individuals and small communities would remain the top priority. We are, after all, supposed to be a federation of largely autonomous states, with a severely limited central government. We would want continuity in the sense of continued freedom of speech, press, and religion. We would want a continuation of the centuries-old traditions of habeus corpus, trial by jury, the presumption of innocence, posse comitatus, honest elections, and so on. In short, we would want to continue as a free people. 
 

Unfortunately, that is not what Continuity of Government means to Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. They are using self-inflicted disaster as an excuse to destroy America’s limited-government tradition. For them, “continuity” means the feds seizing everything and putting the whole country under martial law. (Scroll down for the gory details.) 
 

I think it is time to question the whole premise of Continuity of Government (COG) as put forth by the Three Stooges. If our nation suffers a massive disaster, do we really want to keep in power the very same bozos who led us into the disaster? Do we want to hand those bozos even more power than they already had?! Do we want to hand them ABSOLUTE power?!?! Are we out of our cotton-pickin’ minds? 

I think it is high time we sing the praises of Discontinuity of Government (DOG). If, as seems increasingly likely, Bush’s neo-crazies lead us into a massive disaster—an economic meltdown, an ecological catastrophe, the loss of our oil supplies, a nuclear or biological attack, a doomed and murderous attack on Iran, even an all-out nuclear war with Russia and China—we need to hang those DOGs from the nearest lamppost.  
 

To that end, we need to institute clear, explicit Discontinuity of Government procedures spelling out exactly who, in the event of dire catastrophe, has the responsibility of hanging, shooting, gassing, and/or electrocuting Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, Gonzales, Perle, Feith, Libby, Wurmser, Shulsky, Abrams, the signatories to Rebuilding America’s Defenses, the entire Department of Homeland Security, every elected representative who voted for the Patriot Act and/or the Iraq war, every owner and editor of every major media outlet, every executive at every company that accepts military contracts...and the rest of the traitors, lunatics, liars, thieves, and degenerates who have perpetrated or covered up 9/11 and the 9/11 wars...and who must be held accountable for any and all catastrophes that they themselves create. 

http://www.mujca.com/wagthedog.htm

My satirical essay “Wag the DOG,” which makes a tongue-in-cheek argument for lethal “Discontinuity of Government” procedures, has predictably disturbed some readers. Below is one such reaction to the essay, followed by my response.
 

--Kevin Barrett 

http://www.mujca.com

Dear Kevin, 
 

I have recommended MUJCA enthusiastically to thousands of people, and share nearly all of your analysis about the crimes of the Cheney junta. I salute your courage and your good-humoured readiness to try to shock people awake. Your critique of the COG (Continuity of Government) obsession (cover for FEMA tyranny) is very well said, as is your floating of a COG and substitution of a DOG Model (discontinuity of government), which is an important way of framing our need for some kind of serious r/evolutionary rupture. http://www.mujca.com/wagthedog.htm 
 

But in my opinion it is pointless and reckless to invoke the 'hang em from the lamp-posts' model of violent revolution, when for a hundred reasons it makes more sense to project models of the radical revival of due process, either as per the theory/official picture of Nuremberg (the reality was much more brutal, crude and hobbled by acute double-standards) or even as per South Africa when those who confess their infamy and show contrition and spill beans are permitted to escape the death penalty and ideally seek forgiveness from those they have most harmed. 
 

Revolutions based on (counter)-hatred are easily diverted into excesses which isolate the revolutionaries, easily impose excessively dualistic scapegoating mental frameworks on a messy picture of many complicities and cupabilities extending very widely, easily neglect to see and then alienate potential allies, easily become heirarchical and require secrecy, easily become male-dominated, easily fragment into sectarianism, easily bring out the worst in those who are keeping the system going and thus are liable to magnetise even more projective and 'pre-emptive' violence than we will have to suffer/defend ourselves against anyway; etc, etc etc.
 

The only r/evolution which will (insh'Allah) work will be a spiritual r/evolution, a great awakening by tens of millions out of a long sleep of denial and passivity, a r/evolutionary awakening to compassionate solidarity with all the 911 junta's victims [which ultimately includes all of us, including even the 'bad guys' who are trapped in the endless treadmill of having to keep re-proving the Big Lie of their Real Manhood: 'wimps go to Baghdad, real men go to Tehran', or nuke it]. 
 

If such a revolution or evolution involves a degree of disabling self/other-defensive force/sabotage, such unilateral action is neither blabbed about in advance, nor glorified subsequently, but is carried out in a disciplined way (only trust the sad revolutionaries - Guevara/Cuba; or a resolute resistance as Bonhoeffer moved to join, that hopefully wasn't/won't be just a timely elite manoeuvre to limit the damage to the imperialist project).   
 

However much we need to be aware of the harmfulness and sheer insanity of the worldview and actions of the ruling fraternities and the huge hinterland of fanatical groups (Christian, Zionist, police, army, militia, Blackwater, election fixers, intel-media complex, military-industrial insiders, hate-radio stations, etc) they rely on, I still don't see that inciting violence is going to help, in fact it will surely be seized on to discredit all faith-based resistance to the elections-stealing concentration camps building torture-using 911 junta.  
 

There'll likely be enough scuffles and stand-offs and shootings too going on if the system ever cracks, but it won't ever really crack (and not just morph into some new fallback tyranny - disguised as its opposite by its officially intruded 'revolutionary leaders', certain '911-truthers' not excluded, I dare say) unless enough people are co-operating who are acting soberly and clear-sightedly, with full responsibility, and speaking the truth with soft passion, with tears of frustration and love and nothing-held-back-fury in which lurks no self-righteousness, no demagogic drunkeness, and no re-cycling of old fantasies of revenge which just give the karmic wheel of 'the demonic in history' another push .... 
 

I hope you will edit your article to make it more skillfully evocative of the finest traditions of due process we need to re-establish. I want you to edit your article to say we need to think who can be supported to isolate and eventually arrest Cheney and co for 911 (etc)  and to what court(s) they should be handed over .... 
 

If you don't want to change your article on this specific point, then I hope you will carry this critique next to it, and allow a spiritually-based discussion to ensue. 

Best wishes,
 

Keith Mothersson

(Buddhist, and co-ordinator 911TruthScotland) 
 

* * * 
 

Dear Keith Mothersson, 
 

Thank you for your articulate response to my satirical article “Wag the DOG.” I agree with you 100% -- well, maybe 99% 
 

My essay uses absurdist “it only hurts when I laugh” black humor to underline the absurdity of “Continuity of Government”—the idea that the very government officials who create horrific disaster should be rewarded with absolute power. 
 

I assure you that my article is not  “blabbing about unilateral action in advance.” I have no intention of instituting any violent Discontinuity of Government procedures—though if indeed the Cheney junta leads us into a National Emergency, I imagine that I, like millions of other Americans, might be forced to use violence in self-defense against gangs and looters, including those in Blackwater uniforms or, God forbid, even US military uniforms. (Any self-described US military forces used in domestic law enforcement are criminals, not legitimate soldiers; and if those FEMA concentration camps ever come into use, it will be incumbent upon all decent people to mount an armed resistance.) 

I intend that the kind of aggressive black humor exemplified by my article should replace, rather than incite, actual violence. As Freud said, civilization began the day a caveman hurled an insult instead of a rock. 
 

By ridiculing (and even humorously threatening) the people who are murdering millions of people, and planning the murder of tens if not hundreds of millions more, we can contribute to creating an atmosphere in which such violence will be unsustainable. 
 

I do hope that such articles (see also http://mujca.com/secretservice.htm) along with the millions of other verbal death wishes being directed at the neo-nazis running the USA, will waste the Secret Service’s valuable time and convince them, and the other American authorities, that attempting to protect such traitors and war criminals is not worth it. To that end, I urge everyone who realizes the extent of treason that has overtaken the USA to inundate the Secret Service with humorous, satirical statements pointing out the all-too-obvious fact that we would all be better off if Bush, Cheney, etc. were to meet with some unfortunate accident.  
 

We need to create the kind of atmosphere in which patriots in the armed forces and the intelligence services feel empowered to take action against the traitors who seized power in the 9/11 coup d’etat. That is the serious side of my darkly humorous provocations. 
 

Kevin Barrett

......more

Their Photos and Phone Numbers Here
 

The Bush-Maliki Plan, now called The Surge, to deploy an additional 20,000 US troops to Iraq is a last-ditch effort to prevent a decisive US political defeat in Iraq. The principle purpose of this “surge” is to destroy the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al Sadr , who broke his alliance with the Maliki government after Maliki met with George Bush to confirm Iraqi government submission to US forces two months ago. Sadr enjoys immense local support from almost 3 million Iraqis, and is a very popular figure through most of the Southern half of Iraq. Not only will the attempt to use this “surge” to destroy the Mehdi Army inflict massive civilian casualties in the tightly-packed warrens of Sadr City, it will ignite a popular rebellion among Shia, from Baghdad to Um Qasr, that will effectively destroy what is left of the legitimacy of the Maliki “government.”

Opposing this “surge” is not only politically smart for Democrats; it is a moral imperative because of the civilian casualties that are certain to accrue. But it is also a maneuver to dodge the larger issue of the war itself, and of the 2006 election’s implicit demand that the US withdraw from Iraq. Now is the time to put as much local pressure as possible on both parties’ Senators and Representatives in order to accelerate the inevitable US withdrawal from Iraq at the least costing lives. It is in that spirit that this Open Letter to Members of the United States Congress is offered.

Please distribute this Open Letter to Members of the United States Congress as widely as possible, with the suggestions for using it.

Suggestion 1: Sign a copy and send it by email and paper mail to your own Congressperson.

Suggestion 2: Have a group from the same Congressional district sign it and send it to your Representatives and Senators.

Suggestion 3: Circulate the letter to as many people and organizations as possible in your city, county, or state, and send copies to both Senators and all Representatives.

Suggestion 4: Set up local web sites and lists to garner signatures, and publish the letter and signatories in the local liberal entertainment weekly. Then send copies of the paper to both Senators and all Congresspersons.

Suggestion 5: Come up with more creative suggestions… and implement them, now.

***

Open Letter to Members of the United States Congress

We the undersigned are opposed to the Bush administration’s continuing war in Iraq, but we are also disappointed with much of Congress – Republican and Democrat – as well as with much of the media, for failing to explain the real situation in Iraq and refusing to take decisive steps to halt the US-led occupation.

Media and therefore Congressional representations of the situation in Iraq are not just over-simplified; they are deceptive.

(1) There is never any mention of oil in these accounts. Both the media and most members of Congress are pretending that the US government’s preoccupation with Iraq has nothing to do with fossil energy reserves; but most people in the US know that were it not for oil, the US government would have little interest in the region or its people. We do not believe that continuing the US addiction to oil (five percent of the world’s population consuming 25% of its oil) is a valid reason to bomb and invade other nations and engage in wars of aggression.

(2) Media and Congressional accounts of the war almost always suggest that the war in Iraq – however “flawed” – is part of something called the Global War on Terrorism. But there can be no such thing as a war on a tactic, so we have to ask ourselves if this is not just another one-size-fits-all pretext for future military adventures. Iraq is not now nor has it ever been a threat to the security of people in the United States.

(3) There is no such thing as an Iraqi government except inside the Green Zone. Congressional and the media accounts constantly refer to the Iraqi government as the entity that requires US military assistance to become the guarantor of Iraqi security. But the relationship of all Iraqi forces demonstrates that this is a dangerous fantasy. The Maliki government – or any other government that relies on US military protection to survive for a week – commands the loyalty of only a fraction of the armed actors in Iraq. The armed forces being trained for that “government” are themselves loyal to factions with agendas, and these forces are filled with opportunists and infiltrators. With 80% of Iraqis now asking for an end to the Anglo-American occupation, and the Iraqis themselves identified not merely as Sunni or Shia (as simplified accounts have it), but of three major armed Shia factions, two major Sunni armed factions, and a Kurdish militia of 100,000 that resides in the north itself is divided into two camps, there is no possibility of one faction gaining the acquiescence of the whole Iraqi population and the various armed expressions of populations. The Ma.liki-Bush “surge” plan is designed to eliminate Maliki’s Shia and Sunni opposition inside Baghdad.

(4) The various sectors of the Iraqi population share one goal: they want stability to rebuild. This goal cannot be accomplished without negotiations between the various groups. With most Iraqis now supporting armed resistance to the Anglo-American occupation, no sector that is identified with the occupation can gain legitimacy in the eyes of most Iraqis. American support for any Iraqi “government” is not preventing so-called “sectarian” violence, it is incubating it. There may be some fighting in Iraq after a US withdrawal, but the balance of forces and their geographical dispersion are more likely to produce negotiations than protracted civil war. At any rate, it is not the role of the US government to shape the future of Iraq. What our government has already done to the future of Iraqis is quite enough, thank you. Iraqis are far more qualified to figure this out than the US Departments of State and Defense.

(5) An exit is not a strategy; it is a command. Elaborate plans about how to withdraw are the responsibility of the military commanders, not Congress. Most members of Congress wouldn’t know how to run a rifle platoon for an hour, much less the en masse redeployment of 150,000 troops. Leaving is a technical and tactical exercise. What is required, and what requires the political will of Congress – by de-funding the war – is the order to withdraw. Your job is the what, not the how.

(6) Half-measures happen while people continue to die. Opposing a “surge” in troop levels, but failing to oppose the war, is a half-measure.

(7) It has been said that “cutting and running” would send the “wrong message” to the world about the US… as if being ground down in a humiliating series of daily defeats hasn’t already accomplished this. That’s what they are. Defeats. Speak plainly. Military success is not predicated on tactical outcomes; but on political outcomes. By this measure, the US has already lost the war in Iraq. We never should have gone there in the first place. If this is about preserving the “national masculinity,” then we are saying every life lost in this effort is pure sin. This machismo is the ideology of gangsters.

(8) De-funding the war will not put troops in danger. Specific conditional allocations of funds can be made available for the sole purpose of conducting a re-deployment. Much of the money being used in Iraq is paying exorbitant prices to private contractors. The war is what is putting troops in danger, not cutting funds to continue an illegal and immoral war.

In November 2006, the majority of voting Americans expressed its opposition to the war by putting Democrats back in control of Congress. You must understand that this was a “vote against,” not a “vote for.” Many of us have been disappointed and even angered by Democratic complicity in this criminal war.

Quit reading the wind, and start reading the weather. Since this horror began, support for US aggression in Iraq has gone from 90% to 30%. Ask yourself what the pattern is here. Republicans are already breaking ranks with the war. Democratic equivocation is establishing the basis for a historical reversal on the political question of the war. Those who are reading the weather will succeed in 2008. Those who are merely reading today’s winds will be caught in the storm.

We want out of Iraq. By 2008, the majority of voters will want out of Iraq, and want out immediately, as we do now. They will remember who had the courage to say this before it crossed the 50% tipping point. They will also remember those who had their eyes fixed on today’s anemometer. You have one weapon to use against this administration – the power of the purse – and you must use it.

Not one more day; not one more dime; not one more life; not one more lie.

Cut the funds for the war, and bring the troops home now.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0701/S00126.htm

On June 16th during operation “Shock and Awe on the Oregon Coast”, members of SQUADRON13-DEPLOYED recorded this arrest warrant for Bush and Cheney at City Hall in Newport Oregon:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-iIkmt-eco 
 

 [Text of arrest warrant]
 

As former members of the armed services of the United States of America, we swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Upon discharge from service we did not renounce that oath, which remains our sacred duty. 

It has long been apparent to us that our Constitution is under attack and has been deliberately and relentlessly undermined by domestic enemies – indeed, by our highest government officials who took and have violated that same oath. 
 

Many Constitutional crimes have been committed by the Bush administration, including warrantless electronic surveillance of American citizens in violation of the4th Amendment, failure to provide due process rights in violation of the 5th and 6th Amendments, infliction of cruel and unusual punishments in violation of the8th Amendment, usurpation of powers granted exclusively to Congress in violation of Article I, Section 1, and violation of Article VI, Paragraph 2,which states that all international treaties to which the United States is a signatory are “the Supreme law of the Land.”
 

The wars prosecuted by the Bush administration in our name with our national resources are violations of all treaties defining the international laws of war since1928, including the United Nations and Nuremberg charters, which uniformly prohibit wars of aggression. As violations of these international covenants and pledges, they also constitute high crimes against the United States Constitution.

Furthermore, the illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and other war crimes including torture and use of internationally prohibited weapons such as depleted uranium, violate the Geneva Conventions of 1949, thereby further violating the Supreme Law of our Land. 
 

Our oath therefore compels us t  o issue a citizens’ warrant for the immediate arrest of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, President and Vice-President of the United States.
 

We call upon President Bush and Vice-President Cheney to surrender themselves to federal law enforcement authorities or to any private group of Americans that is prepared to make these citizens arrests. The right of citizens arrest is deeply grounded in English common law and is constitutionally protected under the 9th Amendment, derived from the natural right of self-defense and defense of others. A citizens’ arrest is valid when arresting citizens have a reasonable belief that the suspect has committed a felony. 
 

We believe that felonies of great magnitude have been committed, and the evidentiary bases of these are conclusively established in the public record. We charge these officials with conspiracy to commit genocide against the citizens of another sovereign state, with conspiracy to commit mass murder of American citizens by waging a fraudulently justified war, and other high crimes described on our website, www.VeteransAgainstTorture.com. 
 

Our charges include war crimes and crimes against humanity for which we will seek extradition for trial in the international criminal court at the Hague, Netherlands, following trial in the United States for treason and other high crimes against our constitutional government. 
 

Source: www.VeteransAgainstTorture.com and http://www.Squadron 13.com

Duty, Honor, Country 2007 
 

An Open Letter to the New Generation of Military Officers Serving and Protecting Our Nation 

By Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret., National Commander, The Patriots 

“The Nuremberg Principles says that we in the military have not only the right, but also the DUTY to refuse an illegal order. It was on this basis that we executed Nazi officers who were ‘only carrying out their orders’... The Constitution which we are sworn to uphold says that treaties entered into by the United States are the ‘highest law of the land,’ equivalent to the Constitution itself. Accordingly, we in the military are sworn to uphold treaty law, including the United Nations charter and the Geneva Convention... Based on the above, I contend that should some civilian order you to initiate a nuclear attack on Iran (for example), you are duty-bound to refuse that order. I might also suggest that you should consider whether the circumstances demand that you arrest whoever gave the order as a war criminal.” 
 

Dear Comrades in Arms, 
 

You are facing challenges in 2007 that we of previous generations never dreamed of. I'm just an old fighter pilot (101 combat missions in Vietnam , F-4 Phantom, Phu Cat, 1969-1970) who's now a disabled veteran with terminal cancer from Agent Orange. Our mailing list (over 22,000) includes veterans from all branches of the service, all political parties, and all parts of the political spectrum. We are Republicans and Democrats, Greens and Libertarians, Constitutionists and Reformers, and a good many Independents. What unites us is our desire for a government that (1) follows the Constitution, (2) honors the truth, and (3) serves the people. 

We see our government going down the wrong path, all too often ignoring military advice, and heading us toward great danger. And we look to you who still serve as the best hope for protecting our nation from disaster. 
 

We see the current Iraq War as having been unnecessary, entered into under false pretenses, and horribly mismanaged by the civilian authorities. Thousands of our brave troops have been needlessly sacrificed in a futile attempt at occupation of a hostile land. Many more thousands have suffered wounds which will change their lives forever. Tens of thousands have severe psychological problems because of what they have seen and what they have done. Potentially hundreds of thousands could be poisoned by depleted uranium, with symptoms appearing years later, just as happened to us exposed to Agent Orange. The military services are depleted and demoralized. The VA system is under-funded and overwhelmed. The National Guard and Reserves have been subjected to tour after tour, disrupting lives for even the lucky ones who return intact. Jobs have been lost, marriages have been destroyed, homes have been foreclosed, and children have been estranged. And for what? We have lost allies, made new enemies, and created thousands of new terrorists, further endangering the American people. 
 

But you know all this. I'm sure you also see the enormous danger in a possible attack on Iran , possibly with nuclear weapons. Such an event, seriously contemplated by the Cheney faction of the Bush administration, would make enemies of Russia and China and turn us into the number one rogue nation on earth. The effect on our long-term national security would be devastating. 
 

Some of us had hoped that the new Democratic Congress would end the occupation of Iraq and take firm steps to prevent an attack on Iran , perhaps by impeaching Bush and Cheney. These hopes have been dashed. The lily-livered Democrats have caved in, turning their backs on those few (like Congressman Jack Murtha) who understand the situation. Many of us have personally walked the halls of Congress, to no avail. 

This is where you come in. 
 

We know that many of you share our concern and our determination to protect our republic from an arrogant, out-of-control, imperial presidency and a compliant, namby-pamby Congress (both of which are unduly influenced by the oil companies and other big-money interests). We know that you (like us) wouldn't have pursued a military career unless you were idealistic and devoted to our nation and its people. (None of us do it for the pay and working conditions!) But we also recognize that you may not see how you can influence these events. We in the military have always had a historic subservience to civilian authority. 

Perhaps I can help with whatever wisdom I've gathered from age (I retired in 1978, so I am ancient indeed). 

Our oath of office is to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Might I suggest that this includes a rogue president and vice-president? Certainly we are bound to carry out the legal orders of our superiors. But the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) which binds all of us enshrines the Nuremberg Principles which this country established after World War II (which you are too young to remember). One of those Nuremberg Principles says that we in the military have not only the right, but also the DUTY to refuse an illegal order. It was on this basis that we executed Nazi officers who were “only carrying out their orders.” 
 

The Constitution which we are sworn to uphold says that treaties entered into by the United States are the “highest law of the land,” equivalent to the Constitution itself. Accordingly, we in the military are sworn to uphold treaty law, including the United Nations charter and the Geneva Convention. 

Based on the above, I contend that should some civilian order you to initiate a nuclear attack on Iran (for example), you are duty-bound to refuse that order. I might also suggest that you should consider whether the circumstances demand that you arrest whoever gave the order as a war criminal. 
 

I know for a fact that in recent history (once under Nixon and once under Reagan), the military nuclear chain of command in the White House discussed these things and were prepared to refuse an order to “nuke Russia .” In effect they took the (non-existent) “button” out of the hands of the President.. We were thus never quite as close to World War III as many feared, no matter how irrational any president might have become. They determined that the proper response to any such order was, “Why, sir?” Unless there was (in their words) a “damn good answer,” nothing was going to happen. 
 

I suggest that if you in this generation have not had such a discussion, perhaps it is time you do. In hindsight, it's too bad such a discussion did not take place prior to the preemptive “shock and awe” attack on Baghdad . Many of us at the time spoke out vehemently that such an attack would be an impeachable offense, a war crime against the people of Iraq , and treason against the United States of America . But our voices were drowned out and never reached the ears of the generals in 2003. I now regret that I never sent a letter such as this at that time, but depended on the corporate media to carry my message. I must not make that mistake again. 
 

Also in hindsight, President Bush could be court-martialed for abuse of power as Commander-in-Chief. Vice President Cheney could probably be court-martialed for his performance as Acting Commander-in-Chief in the White House bunker the morning of September 11, 2001. 
 

We in the U.S. military would never consider a military coup, removing an elected president and installing one of our own. But following our oath of office, obeying the Nuremberg Principles, and preventing a rogue president from committing a war crime is not a military coup. If it requires the detention of executive branch officials, we will not impose a military dictatorship. We will let the Constitutional succession take place. This is what we are sworn to. This is protecting the Constitution, our highest obligation. In 2007, this is what is meant by “Duty, Honor, Country.”
 

Thank you all for your service to this nation. May God bless America , and sustain us in this difficult time. And thanks for listening to the musings of an old junior officer. 
 

Respectfully, 

Robert M. Bowman, PhD, Lt. Col., USAF, ret. 
 

It's time for THE COMMON MAN to establish a new presence...one of integrity, honor, care for MOTHER EARTH, neighborly love and above all, a WARLESS SOCIETY.......

This is your chance to take a stand for your country.......

A Ballot for a People’s Referendum

The United States government is broken almost beyond repair, completely and totally under the control of business and non-responsive to the will of Americans. Our rights guaranteed under the Constitution have been ignored and dissolved. We are engaged in a war that the majority of the People do not support. Our children and Iraqi children are being poisoned with depleted uranium and slaughtered. Our Veterans are being ignored and abused. Innocent People of the World are being tortured under our name. Our environment is being destroyed. Monumental catastrophes in our country have been ignored. The system of elections has been corrupted. Our children are being denied health care. The illegal Federal Reserve System has stolen trillions of dollars from our economy and its laborers. The integrity, honor and spirit of the American People have been forever scarred.

It is long past time to take back this United States from the corporations who have become the government.

It is time to re-establish and refresh the original content and spirit of the Constitution of the United States of America.

This is a call to all True Americans to awaken from the nightmare that pervades our land….to create a new dream…..a dream based on truth, honor, integrity and real equality.

This ballot is the beginning.

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS GOVERNMENT…..EXECUTIVE, LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL SHOULD BE RECALLED AND DISSOLVED AND A NEW DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT ELECTED DIRECTLY BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE PUT IN IT’S PLACE?

PLEASE CHECK “YES” OR “NO’


YES____ NO____


Signature_________________________________

Email Address (optional, but strongly requested)________________________

Postal Address (optional)_____________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Please copy, paste and send to ignotzle@windstream.net

Kevin Barrett Accepts John Ashcroft “Waterboard Me!” Invitation

Madison, WI  11/29/07 
 

Dr. Kevin Barrett, coordinator of mujca.com and radio talk-show host, has issued a formal statement of acceptance of John Ashcroft’s offer to be waterboarded. 
 

“Under normal circumstances, the thought of intentionally inflicting great suffering on a fellow human being is repugnant to me. But for you, John Ashcroft, I am willing to make an exception,” Barrett stated. 
 

Barrett explained that Ashcroft, as a supporter of torture, has every right to experience the pain he advocates inflicting on others. “It’s a free country—or at least it was until this guy became Attorney General. If he really, truly wants to be waterboarded, I think we should help him get his wish.” 
 

Barrett announced that while waterboarding Ashcroft, he would ask the following questions: 

“So John...who warned you to stop taking commercial airliners on or about July 26^th, 2001?” 
 

SPLASH! 
 

“Don’t want to answer that one, eh? Okay, then...when high-ranking Republican attorney David Schippers approached you in August, 2001 with evidence from FBI agents who knew that the World Trade Center would be attacked on September 11^th—and who had been told to shut up and threatened by their superiors—why did you refuse to speak to him?” (details here) 
 

SPLASH! 

“Cat got your tongue, John? Okay, here’s one more question: Why did you write that HORRIBLE song ‘make the eagle sore, like it’s never been sore before’ ? Do you fantasize about sodomizing the American national symbol the way you’ve sodomized our Constitution?” 
 

SPLASH! 
 

In response to a protest from Amnesty International, Barrett stated that in the post-9/11 world, it is sometimes necessary to apply harsh treatment to terrorist suspects, and that Ashcroft himself has indicated his willingness to submit to any interrogation technique short of murder : “The things that I can survive, if it were necessary to do them to me, I would do,” Ashcroft stated. 
 

Barrett’s reply: “Hey John, guess what—it IS necessary. As a leading suspect in the crimes of September 11^th, 2001, you clearly deserve to get your wish and be waterboarded to your heart’s content.” 
 

As of press time, Barrett had not yet received Ashcroft’s response to the offer, and was not holding his breath.
 

http://www.mujca.com/ashcroft.htm