Wednesday, May 21, 2003
I have found a hero. OK, he is a politician, but he has guts. He has shown me that even though one is heavily invested in the political process, one can still call it likes one sees it.
My hat is off to you, Senior Senate Democrat, Robert Byrd,
You have gone toe to toe with one of the most powerful Presidents of our time and told him flat out that he has some "splaining" to do.
Senator Byrd said "The American people may have been lured into accepting the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation, in violation of long-standing international law, under false premises," said Byrd, of West Virginia. "It has raised serious questions about prevarication and the reckless use of power."
Earlier this month, the Senator criticized Bush as a "desk-bound president who assumes the garb of a warrior," after Bush flew onto an aircraft carrier to declare an end of major fighting in Iraq. I also had a major problem with a chicken hawk president wearing a soldier's uniform.
Byrd stepped up the criticism Wednesday. He accused the president of constructing a "house of cards, built on deceit" to justify the war.
Byrd went on to say, "There is ample evidence that the horrific events of Sept. 11 have been carefully manipulated to switch public focus from Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, who masterminded the Sept. 11th attacks, to Saddam Hussein, who did not," Byrd said.
The senator said that instead of weakening terror groups, "we have given them new fuel for their fury."
He accused Bush of exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam, bungling the peace and giving contracts to rebuild the country to "administration cronies."
Halliburton, an oil services company that Vice President Cheney headed for five years, could get up to $490 million for work in Iraq under an Army contract awarded without competition.
The U.S. postwar administration of Iraq is failing, the senator said. "The smiling face of the U.S. as liberator is quickly assuming the scowl of an occupier," Byrd said. "The image of the boot on the throat has replaced the beckoning hand of freedom."
It has become "painfully clear" that Iraq posed no immediate threat, he said. Searches for weapons of mass destruction have "turned up only fertilizer, vacuum cleaners, conventional weapons and the occasional buried swimming pool."
Byrd also criticized colleagues in Congress who "cower in the shadows while false statements proliferate," rather than challenge Bush because to do so would be "unpopular or maybe politically costly." I agree, many politicians hide from the facts, knowing that they risk the full wrath of the powerful lobby of conservatives. They fear for their jobs. They fear what people may think.
In a world were the pursuit for personal power usually outweighs the search for the truth, Score one, for the good guys.
West Virginia, you have a brave man, support him, because he obviously cares about the truth.
p.s. Bush lost one more staff member. Christine Todd Whitman. She led the Environmental Protection Agency through two rough and tumble years as the Bush administration sought to redefine environmental safeguards in ways more helpful to energy production and economic growth. She announced today she will resign next month and return home to New Jersey.
Early in 2001, Whitman gradually asserted herself more and scored several clear victories for the environment. They included a new proposal to slash off-road diesel emissions by more than 95 percent; a recent series of court settlements with major utilities that will result in substantial reductions in pollutants; and a decision to order General Electric Co. to pay for the cleanup of PCBs in the Hudson River.
Bush has undercut many of her efforts to help the environment. Bush contradicted her public statements in 2001 by reneging on his campaign pledge to cut carbon dioxide emissions and by disavowing the global warming treaty that the United States negotiated and signed in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. "
Thomas Kuhn, President of the Edison Electric Institute, an industry association, praised Whitman for asking Congress to give power companies flexibility in how they reduced pollution, as long as they met the government standard. She's got a record to be proud of," Kuhn said. "They were tough on the enforcement side but were also very, very cognizant of the fact that you have to bring industry along" as a partner.
I guess Bush has problems with people that are fair. She saw the light and bolted. She says she may find other ways of helping the environment outside of the government service.
I have lost total count of people that have left Bush. Does anyone know how many more will go?
Sources cited:
Tim Dillon , USA TODAY
By Eric Pianin and Guy Gugliotta, Traci Watson
Washington Post Staff Writers
My hat is off to you, Senior Senate Democrat, Robert Byrd,
You have gone toe to toe with one of the most powerful Presidents of our time and told him flat out that he has some "splaining" to do.
Senator Byrd said "The American people may have been lured into accepting the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation, in violation of long-standing international law, under false premises," said Byrd, of West Virginia. "It has raised serious questions about prevarication and the reckless use of power."
Earlier this month, the Senator criticized Bush as a "desk-bound president who assumes the garb of a warrior," after Bush flew onto an aircraft carrier to declare an end of major fighting in Iraq. I also had a major problem with a chicken hawk president wearing a soldier's uniform.
Byrd stepped up the criticism Wednesday. He accused the president of constructing a "house of cards, built on deceit" to justify the war.
Byrd went on to say, "There is ample evidence that the horrific events of Sept. 11 have been carefully manipulated to switch public focus from Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, who masterminded the Sept. 11th attacks, to Saddam Hussein, who did not," Byrd said.
The senator said that instead of weakening terror groups, "we have given them new fuel for their fury."
He accused Bush of exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam, bungling the peace and giving contracts to rebuild the country to "administration cronies."
Halliburton, an oil services company that Vice President Cheney headed for five years, could get up to $490 million for work in Iraq under an Army contract awarded without competition.
The U.S. postwar administration of Iraq is failing, the senator said. "The smiling face of the U.S. as liberator is quickly assuming the scowl of an occupier," Byrd said. "The image of the boot on the throat has replaced the beckoning hand of freedom."
It has become "painfully clear" that Iraq posed no immediate threat, he said. Searches for weapons of mass destruction have "turned up only fertilizer, vacuum cleaners, conventional weapons and the occasional buried swimming pool."
Byrd also criticized colleagues in Congress who "cower in the shadows while false statements proliferate," rather than challenge Bush because to do so would be "unpopular or maybe politically costly." I agree, many politicians hide from the facts, knowing that they risk the full wrath of the powerful lobby of conservatives. They fear for their jobs. They fear what people may think.
In a world were the pursuit for personal power usually outweighs the search for the truth, Score one, for the good guys.
West Virginia, you have a brave man, support him, because he obviously cares about the truth.
p.s. Bush lost one more staff member. Christine Todd Whitman. She led the Environmental Protection Agency through two rough and tumble years as the Bush administration sought to redefine environmental safeguards in ways more helpful to energy production and economic growth. She announced today she will resign next month and return home to New Jersey.
Early in 2001, Whitman gradually asserted herself more and scored several clear victories for the environment. They included a new proposal to slash off-road diesel emissions by more than 95 percent; a recent series of court settlements with major utilities that will result in substantial reductions in pollutants; and a decision to order General Electric Co. to pay for the cleanup of PCBs in the Hudson River.
Bush has undercut many of her efforts to help the environment. Bush contradicted her public statements in 2001 by reneging on his campaign pledge to cut carbon dioxide emissions and by disavowing the global warming treaty that the United States negotiated and signed in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. "
Thomas Kuhn, President of the Edison Electric Institute, an industry association, praised Whitman for asking Congress to give power companies flexibility in how they reduced pollution, as long as they met the government standard. She's got a record to be proud of," Kuhn said. "They were tough on the enforcement side but were also very, very cognizant of the fact that you have to bring industry along" as a partner.
I guess Bush has problems with people that are fair. She saw the light and bolted. She says she may find other ways of helping the environment outside of the government service.
I have lost total count of people that have left Bush. Does anyone know how many more will go?
Sources cited:
Tim Dillon , USA TODAY
By Eric Pianin and Guy Gugliotta, Traci Watson
Washington Post Staff Writers
# posted by Thomas @ 10:35 PM 
