IMAGINE THAT

Senate Report: Bush, Cheney Knowingly Lied About Prewar Iraq Intel

By Jason Leopold
The Public Record
Thursday, June 05, 2008

“There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence. But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate," Rockefeller said in a statement.

The Senate confirms British intelligence assertions that surfaced in a document widely referred to as the Downing Street Memo that the facts against the threat posed by Iraq were being fixed around the Bush administration's policy leading up to the invasion of Iraq.
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John Dean, the former counsel to President Richard Nixon, made a case for impeaching Bush if he intentionally misled Congress and the public into backing a war with Iraq, which is what the Senate Intelligence Committee report appears to suggest.

"To put it bluntly, if Bush has taken Congress and the nation into war based on bogus information, he is cooked," Dean wrote in a June 6, 2003 column for findlaw.com.

"Manipulation or deliberate misuse of national security intelligence data, if proven, could be "a high crime" under the Constitution's impeachment clause. It would also be a violation of federal criminal law, including the broad federal anti-conspiracy statute, which renders it a felony "to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose.

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We knew... so many of us knew, and were called Anti-American.
We were railed at for not supporting the troops..patently untrue, of course but
it was bought into by warmongers and media alike.

Over4,000 of our troops dead, over 25,000 grievously injured.. and these are just the ones we know about.


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THE MARINE CORP TIMES

VA e-mail: Save money, do not diagnose PTSD

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Monday May 19, 2008 7:42:05 EDT

Two veterans advocacy groups have asked for copies of all documents relating to the Veterans Affairs Department’s post-traumatic stress disorder policies after an e-mail surfaced asking VA doctors to keep costs down by giving diagnoses of adjustment disorder instead.

The e-mail, which Friedman said came from a VA hospital’s PTSD program coordinator, was apparently sent to several VA employees at that hospital. A psychologist from the hospital in turn sent it to VoteVets.org, Friedman said.

“Given that we are having more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I’d like to suggest you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out,” the e-mail states. “Consider a diagnosis of adjustment disorder, r/o [rule out] PTSD. Additionally, we really don’t ... have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD.”

The Pentagon blacked out the faces and identifying information in some photos showing honor guards for coffins lining the interiors of C-17 transports. Thomas Blanton of the National Security Archive called the edited images "an outrage and an insult."




Remember when we were forbidden to see photos like the one above? To preserve privacy of the families...

From the Washington Post

The Pentagon, however, said the release of the photographs, which it termed "historical documentation," does not signify any lifting of the ban on media coverage of returning casualties. That ban, first imposed in January 1991 during the Gulf War and continued by President Bush with the start of the Afghanistan war in October 2001, is intended to "ensure privacy and respect is given to the families who have lost their loved ones," said Col. Gary Keck, a Defense Department spokesman. Both Republican and Democratic administrations, however, have made several exceptions to the ban in the past decade. "The historical documentation done by military photographers is designed for a completely different reason than a photograph taken by the media very soon after the announcement of the death of an individual," said a Pentagon official, adding that such "historical" photographs are still being taken and will be released "when appropriate." Many of the photographs released were censored, with black rectangles blocking out faces, uniform insignia, name tags and other images that could reveal the identities of military personnel involved in the honor ceremonies.

"Individual judgments were made to black out some faces and identifying information to protect privacy information," said James Turner, a Pentagon spokesman.

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As if hiding casualties would make us forget that there were casualties?

I know that I am not the only one who has not forgotten this fight... with all of the campaign brouhaha and and all of the distractions.... I am a mother. I am a patriot of the America that used to be. I have not forgotten.

MELISSA ETHERIDGE LYRICS

"Imagine That"

A mother was grieving her loss
Her soldier the ultimate cost
She went to the man
Who's been told that he's a king
Waited outside of his compound
To ask him a few things
She said
"For what noble cause did my son have to die
Where are their weapons
Why did you have to lie"
Imagine that

A lieutenant in the army
In his heart and his soul he believes
In the land of the free and the home of the brave
Now he's standing on trial
For he will not behave as they wish
He said
"I believe the constitution
To defend it and uphold
I will not fight your war for profit
No sir I will not go"
Imagine that

A scientist and his machine
The smallest of life he has seen
Inside matter inside atoms
As far as you can go
He saw the strings of life that vibrate
With the universal flow
He said
"I have seen the spirit
And all its creation
It's in each and every thought
And all our intentions"
Imagine that