Let the history books show that the Democrats, and the tiny number of Republicans, who voted NO on giving authority to George W. Bush to wage war in Iraq (and virtually everywhere else) anytime he wished, in October of 2002, were right on every score.
Those who spoke out, and were publicly tarred and feathered, labeled as unpatriotic, left-wing fringe, out of step with the country, and generally loons for having done so — folks like Feingold, Kennedy, Durbin, Waters, Lee, Kaptur, Kucinich, Wellstone, Woolsey, Waters, Conyers, Hinchey, and perhaps, most prophetically, according to Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue’s the new documentary film, Body of War, Robert Byrd of West Virginia — are all owed a great debt of thanks by every American, particularly those who had maligned them for having the temerity to be right back then.
Last night I went to see Body of War, which opens this weekend in Los Angeles, and was struck by the simple message that an entire swath of courageous Congressional members, who had stood up, to little notice, to say the right thing, were almost entirely – to a man and a woman – branded as moonbats and traitors back in the dark days of 2002. To this day, they have never received the appropriate recognition for having resisted the systematically orchestrated lies and fear tactics of the pro-Bush crowd (which includes both Ds and Rs), nor have they received the appropriate thanks and apologies from those who were absolutely, undebatably, undeniably, 100% wrong in their horrific assessment of what will go down as perhaps the greatest policy mistake in American history.
To that same end, I would suggest that history will eventually regard the much-maligned Gold Star mother, Cindy Sheehan, as belonging side-by-side with courageous Americans before her like civil rights hero Rosa Parks. I predict that Sheehan will, one day, receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. I only hope she’ll be alive to receive that honor, from that body, in person, when that day comes. And it will.
Donahue was on hand last night for a Q&A following the film, which I attended along with PDA’s national chair, actress Mimi Kennedy. As I, personally, played a small part (and am seen briefly in the film) in originally helping to tell the story of disabled Iraqi vet Tomas Young, whose remarkable story is told in stark parallel to the fateful — and often shameful — words heard during the “so-called” Congressional debate on the resolution to allow the use of force in Iraq back in 2002, just three weeks prior to that year’s election, I was delighted to be able to thank Donahue personally, for placing the entire story, finally, in correct, often maddening, often gut-wrenching, historical context.
(See bottom of this article for my audio interview with Young in August of 2005, his first for a national audience, from on the ground at “Camp Casey” in Crawford, TX.)
Body of War should be seen by every American, left, right, center, and other. It should be mandatory viewing for every current and future Congressional representative. It should be shown over and over again, in an endless, Clockwork Orange-like loop, in the jail cells of those who will likely never be convicted for the unspeakable crimes they have knowingly and callously committed, at the expense of thousands of courageous dead American troops, and more than 100 thousand dead world citizens, who have all fallen victim to the cowardly and shameful actions of those entrusted to know better…
The film, and its main anti-war heroes — Young, shot and paralyzed from the chest down in Sadr City, just five days into his tour in Iraq, on the same day Cindy Sheehan’s son Casey was killed, and Democratic Senator Byrd, shown powerfully throughout the film, on the floor of the Senate in 2002, pleading directly to the American people to speak up and to let their representatives know they must stop what would become an atrocity before it began — are the central protagonists in a remarkably simple and direct story of good versus evil, right versus wrong, and sometimes-fearful, sometimes-knowing recklessness versus moral truth, clarity, and courage.
I was also struck, as the tallies from the October 2002 “debate” are documented — along with the contemporaneous and fateful words of Congressmen and women, both pro and con, along-side them — that while it took no small measure of courage for Democrats like those named at the beginning of this article who voted against the resolution to do so at that time, there were also a handful of Republicans who voted the right way on that resolution, to whom this nation may owe even more thanks for what was likely an even more difficult vote to cast. Namely, the lone Senate Republican to vote against the resolution, Rhode Island’s Lincoln Chafee. Over in the House, only Republicans Duncan (TN), Hostettler (IN), Houghton (NY), Leach (IA), Morella (MD), and Paul (TX) displayed the moral courage to stand up to an unprecedented propaganda campaign, illustrated all too clearly in the film, by one Republican after the next, seen echoing the same precise White House talking points, word-for-word, on the Congressional floor.
They stood against their own party, the White House, and as dangerously, the corporate mainstream media who unforgivably enabled both of them.
Lastly, as mentioned, I’m pleased to have played a small part in the early telling of Young’s story. In August of 2005, Young came down to “Camp Casey” in Crawford, Texas where Sheehan was making her initial, extraordinary stand. It was Young and his wife Brie’s honeymoon, incredibly enough. I was there, as the only on-the-ground voice broadcasting daily, live programming — sometimes as many as 9 hours a day — directly from the ground under the big white tent that had become the center of the world that summer, until Hurricane Katrina would hit just days later.
As Young came down to offer his voice and support to the protesters, and the mother who was not allowed to meet with the cowardly George W. Bush, in order to ask him to explain the “noble cause” for which he claimed her son had died, I interviewed both Tomas and his wife, in what was, I believe, his first nationally broadcast interview.
The interview resulted in a photograph, run by the AP, showing Young holding a hand-painted sign asking Bush, “Why won’t you meet with me?,” as he struggled and sweltered in the 100+ degree heat of central Texas in August, ice-packs crammed into his clothing, unable, due to his injury, to regulate his own body’s heat.
The audio of my interview with Thomas, from August 28, 2005, as seen briefly on camera during Body of War, can be heard in its entirety below. I’m happy to have played a small part during a moment in American history that I believe will be regarded as a defining moment, when the real evil-doers amongst us began to finally have their masks pried away for the first time, in the middle of what will be seen as one of the darkest periods this country has ever known.
Please go see Body of War as soon as you are given the opportunity in your home town (see the film’s official website for screening dates and locations.)
As Donahue alluded during the Q&A after the film, the corporate media are ultimately, perhaps, the greatest culprit in this entire shameful saga. He should know. His MSNBC show was the cable channel’s highest rated before it was yanked off the air at the order of his corporate bosses, even after he’d followed their instructions requiring the presence of two “conservative” guests on the air, for every voice he presented who was against going to war.
Since those media answer to only one master — your all-mighty dollar — please spend some of them, if you can, supporting this film, so perhaps that failed American 4th Estate may finally begin to get the message and be reminded of their Constitutionally-protected duty to this nation. And so that sacrifices, like the extraordinary one made for his country by U.S. Army Specialist Tomas Young, on one fateful day in Sadr City, as he was sent on a rescue mission in a canvas-covered truck — after having joined the military to heed George W. Bush’s opportunistic call to action from atop a pile of World Trade Center rubble on September 13th, 2001 — will not have been in vain.
Audio from The BRAD SHOW’s interview with Tomas Young on 8/25/05, including the harrowing story of his injury, the experience he had afterward, what brought him to Camp Casey on his honeymoon, and our attempt to paint a sign in hopes of helping the corporate media do the job that America needed them to…all with the live sounds of Camp Casey in the background, follows…
PART 1: Young’s story, with wife Brie (MP3, 22 mins) …
PART 2 – More w/ Young, hatching the plan to demand a meeting with George W. Bush (MP3, 14 mins) …
Lions for Lambs – Watch it when you get a chance. Or a break or whatever.
brad, i watched both the DN! and moyers interviews with donahue in their shows focusing on the film, and was thrilled to see you highlighted there. also had listened to the interview with tomas back in august of ’05, and this young man’s courage and wisdom was both heart-wrenching and inspirational. it was just great to know that your capture of all that was in the film, and that donahue saw what you did in young tomas.
and yes, how dramatically perfect for donahue to pit tomas’ everyday struggles against the pitiful ‘struggle’ in that excuse for a debate over sending boys like tomas to kill and die, for lies, for oil, for greed. look what we have become.
and look what we have done to tomas, and tens of thousands of young men like him, who fare better (?) than the thousands who have died, not to mention all the civilians and children of iraq.
my god, look at what we have become.
sorry for the long off-topic post, feel free to edit
Supreme Court upholds photo ID law for voters in Indiana
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can require voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional rights, validating Republican-inspired voter ID laws.
In a splintered 6-3 ruling, the court upheld Indiana’s strict photo ID requirement, which Democrats and civil rights groups said would deter poor, older and minority voters from casting ballots. Its backers said it was needed to deter fraud.
It was the most important voting rights case since the Bush v. Gore dispute that sealed the 2000 election for George W. Bush.
The law “is amply justified by the valid interest in protecting ‘the integrity and reliability of the electoral process,'” Justice John Paul Stevens said in an opinion that was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy.
Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also agreed with the outcome, but wrote separately.
Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented.
More than 20 states require some form of identification at the polls. Courts have upheld voter ID laws in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, but struck down Missouri’s. Monday’s decision comes a week before Indiana’s presidential primary.
The case concerned a state law, passed in 2005, that was backed by Republicans as a way to deter voter fraud. Democrats and civil rights groups opposed the law as unconstitutional and called it a thinly veiled effort to discourage elderly, poor and minority voters “” those most likely to lack proper ID and who tend to vote for Democrats.
There is little history in Indiana of either in-person voter fraud “” of the sort the law was designed to thwart “” or voters being inconvenienced by the law’s requirements.
“We cannot conclude that the statute imposes ‘excessively burdensome requirements’ on any class of voters,” Stevens said.
Stevens’ opinion suggests that the outcome could be different in a state where voters could provide evidence that their rights had been impaired.
But in dissent, Souter said Indiana’s voter ID law “threatens to impose nontrivial burdens on the voting rights of tens of thousands of the state’s citizens.”
Scalia, favoring a broader ruling in defense of voter ID laws, said, “The universally applicable requirements of Indiana’s voter-identification law are eminently reasonable. The burden of acquiring, possessing and showing a free photo identification is simply not severe, because it does not ‘even represent a significant increase over the usual burdens of voting.'”
sorry for the long post!
Amurka has existed from the time certain people living here advocated for King George and against the United States of America, its constitution, and its freedom from oppressive tyranny.
And Amurka still exists today, and about the same percentage, 20-30% still supporting the latter day king george.
They waive the American Flag, and instead wave the Amurkan flag.
The problem we face is that the small Amurkan minority owns the MSM and they are in bed with the king george loyalists.
And they want America to go down, Amurka to go up. McCain is their man.
Brad;
First, let me say that I appreciate your blog immensely. It has “integrity.”
However, the CMH is a Military award. It is commonly given to those who are best at slaughtering the enemies-of-the-state. Sometimes it’s given to military members who prevent the enemies-of-the-state from slaughtering large numbers of “us.” As often as not, it is received posthumously.
Somehow, it seems to me that Cindy Sheehan really would not want a CMH. And, seeing that its civilian counterpart has been distributed to some of the most horrendous war crooks the Bush Administration could hire, I really don’t see her accepting that either.
I also see that you have failed to include with your “Body of War” group of anti-war representatives Dr. Ron Paul. You know, he HAS NOT dropped out of the Republican ticket for the President.
Otherwise, keep up the good fight.
DanD
Wups! I re-read the article again and spotted R. Paul’s name.
Oh well, just another senior moment … .
DanD
Cindy Shaheen should get a congressional medal of honor for bringing to our collective minds that our troops are treated like toilet tissue.Well said Brad, she is very much like Rosa Parks in her love of country as well as it’s people…humility, and not in your face spirituality. Hope she beats Pelosi in Ca. Dr. Elsewhere..thank you for that comment. Aaaand Did you know McCain revceives disability checks for $58,358 according to the LATimes…has had cancer twice Our troops have to fight like hell for a pittance. 2 americas. Got that from ladybroadoak.blogspot out of Canada. Best website I know for US news with newspaper format.
DanD-
As you later noticed, I did recognize Ron Paul for his vote in the article.
As to the Congressional Medal of Honor, being a military honor only, it appears that’s not correct.
Here is he article from CNN when Rosa Parks received hers: http://www.cnn.com/US/9906/15/rosa.parks.medal/
New theme song for the war monger candidate:
Sung to the tune Cocaine by Clapton.
Sorry for the off-topic, and I’ll make this brief, but we have these astroturfers where we want them, if we just wake up and smell the evidence.
In the previous blog entry I gave a link to Mark Lindeman, OnTheOtherHand at Democratic Underground. Following the work of John Dean {SluggoJD}, I am in full agreement that Democratic Underground has been perverted by an insidious smearing of the election integrity movement. One can watch Lindeman speak about annoying citizens who jump on hobby horses.
Now what’s up with the Election Science Institute? Why has it been scrubbed from the internet? Is it because there was evidence there which would help confirm that a network of fakes have been covering up for election fraud?
Why was Hertzberg interviewed twice by the disinformation blogger Fintan Dunne? Why didn’t he reveal his name? How come when he was exposed at BreakForNews, he bailed out and immediately started scrubbing and deleting some of his extensive internet crumbs?
Fintan Dunne was the main force behind smearing BradBlog as concerning to his coverage of Clint Curtis. He called Brad disinfo, that the story was planted to put Brad on the map, even when Brad had already developed a niche the previous year at DU.
Then there is AnonymousArmy from DailyKos. Why do I mention him? Because he is the only other person I could find who was trudging out the same disinformation. AA was the one who helped establish scamdy.com. Why do I think Hertzberg is AA? It’s called connecting the dots.
Here are three links. The first two are audios where “Navari” was involved. One of the reasons I pressed forward with saying Navari was indeed Steven Hertzberg was because Navari is the same guy who spoke to the Cuhayoga Board in the third video.
Forum Members On Air
TOPIC: Full Liberty & the N.W.O. Navari, Ormond…
Full Spectrum Liberty
Cuyahoga Board of Elections Attacks ESI after is Primary Election Audit
What was Hertzberg doing on some nutjob website called BreakForNews?
Hi Brad,
I went to see Body of War here in Boston a few weeks at a screening attended by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro. I took a copy of Uncounted in case it seemed appropriate to give to Mr. Donahue, but I very much wanted to be respectful of their evening and their work. The place was packed and the audience, like you, tremendously moved by this film which I agree is a very important one. In the spirit of-What can we do?!!-which can up repeatedly in the Q and A, I decided it was completely appropriate to give Uncounted to Mr. Donahue, if possible. I politely interrputed his exit from the theater, thanked him for all his efforts, asked him if he was familiar with Uncounted, and when he said no, told him that in the interest of DOING something I wanted to give him a copy as it was very much connected to the concerns in his film.
Isn’t Phil Donahue the kind of person who, if he joined our little tribe, would be unafraid to raise a ruckus? And, more importantly, have platforms to raise it from? (He was just on Bill Maher, for instance.)
love,
David Lasagna
The fact that the Democrats voted mostly against the authorization for war in the House of Representatives and largely in the senate is totally ignored by the media. In fact, I’m sure most Americans think they ALL voted for it because that’s the impression the pundits have been leaving. I haven’t heard one defense of the Democrats votes in all these years.
Well now the word is finally out!
If there is any justice in America, Donahue’s film will be the Walter Cronkite moment of this invasion. Too bad the Republicans already have another war to replace it in Iran.
As Mike Malloy would say:
“It just never stops, does it?”
David Lasagna –
Thanks for letting me know that. I’ll see if I can try to encourage him to watch it, now that he’s got it!
Keep making noise, it makes more of a difference than you likely realize.
(Pardon the off-thread, as I cannot access Brad directly.)
Jeremiah Wright in the question-and-answer period of his address to the Press Club today gave a tribute to Father Pfleger (to applause). (Pfleger is the great priest in the rattube video interviewed by a Fox correspondent which you posted last week). Wright called him a model of reconciliation between the black and white churches.
Well, not to get my panties in a bunch, but there is a difference from a Congressional Gold Medal and the CMH. the following defines them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co...nal_Gold_Medal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor
You had stated in the article 5930: “I predict that Sheehan will, one day, receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.” One (the CGMH) is for civilians, and the other (CMH) is exclusively for military personal.
Yeah, I know it’s a small difference, but it’s one of those “little” differences that could unexpectedly marginalize you in the minds of certain kinds of people who may otherwise sympathize with you.
The families of military people (along with their sponsors) are a weird bunch, and I know this from either end, both from when I was born an amateur military dependent at Barksdale AFB’s hospital until I became a full-time professional enlistee at the tender age of 17.
While C. Sheehan has indeed “served” in the trenches of America’s latest “un-” wars, unlike her murdered son, she still is just “amatuer” military and not a sworn member.
Actually, as a military-family member, she undoubtedly understands this very well.
be safe ~
DanD
Phil #1, ‘Charlie Wilsons War’ was another good movie I had just seen.
Link
. . . that ain’t no rain, that’s the man pissin down ya back chief