The SeeingBlack.com 411
November 2003

An Occasional Round-up of News and Views
Compiled by the Red-Eye Crew

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—Inequity for Black Veteran
The majority of African Americans have been consistently opposed to the war in Iraq and that opposition has been further galvanized by the story of Army Spec. Shoshana Johnson. The 30-year-old mother was shot in both legs and held captive for more than three weeks after her army unit stumbled into an ambush in southern Iraq last March. Eleven solders were killed in the attack, and six, including Johnson and the much reported-on Jessica Lynch, were taken prisoners.

While Johnson has not begrudged Lynch her celebrity status or lucrative book and movie deals, her family has mounted a campaign to protest the unequal disability compensation granted the two women. Lynch, who was not shot but sustained broken bones, is receiving an 80 percent disability and Johnson, who was shot in both legs and continues to limp, is receiving a 30 percent disability payment. The difference amounts to between $600 and $700 a month.

"Here's a case of two women, same [unit], same war; everything about their service commitment and their risk is equal... Yet there's an enormous contrast between how the military has handled these two cases," the Rev. Jesse Jackson told The Washington Post. Jackson is helping Johnson’s family make their case to the news media, the Pentagon and members of Congress.

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—Conyers Calls For Rove's Resignation
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Representative John Conyers, Jr., the Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee sent the following letter to Senior White House Advisor, Karl Rove.

Tuesday 07 October 2003
Dear Mr. Rove:
I write to ask you to resign from the White House staff. Recent press reports have indicated that, while you may or may not have been the source of the Robert Novak column which revealed the status and name of a covert operative, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson, you were involved in a subsequent effort to push this classified information to other reporters and give it even wider currency. This itself may be a federal crime, but regardless of that fact, your actions are morally indefensible. In my view, it is shameful and unethical that an Administration that promised to govern with "honor and integrity" and "change the tone" in Washington has now engaged in an orchestrated campaign to smear and intimidate truth-telling critics, placing them in possible physical harm and impairing the efforts and operations of the CIA.

Recent reports indicate that you told the journalist, Chris Matthews, and perhaps others, that Mr. Wilson's wife and her undercover status were "fair game." Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff, Newsweek, Oct. 13, 2003. Since these initial allegations have arisen, neither the White House nor your office have denied your involvement in furthering the leak. Repeated press inquiries into this matter have been rebuffed with technical jargon and narrow legalisms, instead of broader ethical issues. Indeed, in the same article it appears a White House source acknowledged that you contacted Matthews and other journalists, indicating that "it was reasonable to discuss who sent Wilson to Niger."

It should be noted that these actions may well have violated 18 U.S.C. ¤ 793, which prohibits the willful or grossly negligent distribution of national defense information that could possibly be used against the United States. The law states that even if you lawfully knew of Mr. Wilson's wife's status, you were obliged to come forward and report the press leak to the proper authorities - not inflame the situation by encouraging further dissemination. 18 U.S.C. ¤ 793(f). Larger than whether any one statute can be read to find criminal responsibility is the issue of whether officials of your stature will be allowed to use their influence to intimidate whistle-blowers.

Over three decades ago, our nation was scarred by an Administration that would stop at nothing to smear and intimidate its critics. I do not believe the Nation will countenance a repeat of such activities. For your role in this campaign, I would ask that you resign immediately.

Sincerely,
John Conyers, Jr.
Ranking Minority Member
cc: The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary

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— "Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election"
on the SUNDANCE CHANNEL
This one-hour investigative documentary never before broadcast in the USA features Greg Palast's discovery of Katherine Harris' purge of thousands of Black citizens from Florida's voter rolls that directly impacted the outcome of the 2000 presidential race. The documentary is sceduled to be shown regularly on the channel until the November 2004 elections. Check your listings.

—"Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War"
A new documentary, Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War, shows how the Bush administration distorted evidence and lied to the American public to make the case for military action. It's built around interviews with over 20 intelligence and military experts, many of whom are speaking out for the first time.

Uncovered combines expert interviews with extensive research to go behind the walls of government. Interviewees include Joe Wilson, the former Ambassador to Iraq who exposed that the famous "16 words" in Bush's State of the Union address about uranium in Niger were false. In retaliation, senior White House officials appear to have blown the cover of Wilson's wife, an undercover CIA agent. If you're interested in learning more about the movie, check out the web site: http://www.truthuncovered.com

—CostofWar.Org
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." This April 16, 1953 quote from President Dwight D. Eisenhower is posted on the homepage of Costofwar.org, which keeps a running tally of the cost to American taxpayers of the war in Iraq. www.costofwar.org

—Black Heroes of 9/11
BlackNews.com is heightening the awareness of the twelve African-American firefighters who lost their lives while trying to save others in the World Trade Center disaster on September 11, 2001.

The heroes consist of eleven firefighters and one captain: Gerard L. Baptiste, Vernon Cherry, Tarel Coleman, Andre R. Fletcher, Keith Glascoe, Ronnie Henderson, William L. Henry, Karl Joseph, Keithroy Maynard, Shawn Powel, Leon Smith, and Captain Vernon Richard.

These individuals should especially be recognized because they stepped up to the plate, not just to save lives on September 11th, but to be firefighters period. In New York City, there are about 11,000 firefighters, but only about 300 of them are Black. For more info on the firefighters, visit www.VulcanSocietyFDNY.org.

—Mumia: Why Being Anti-War Means Being Anti-Imperialist
What everybody knows, after the mass protests that were held in cities around the earth over ½ a year ago, is that the forces of the U.S. government could care less about the popular protests that shook the planet.

They could care less because they do not serve the interests of the people, but the privileged; they do not serve the many; they serve the few. They serve Wall Street; Petroleum Row; Haarken Oil and Halliburton. In their heart of hearts, 'democracy' is a dirty word.

They don't really care about the latest round of protests that are being waged against the war; they have their hands on the levers of power, and they don't want to let go. Those who dared to lie to the American people to start a needless war, could care less that there are millions of people who oppose it. That's why they chose the vehicle of fear, the spectre of 'terrorism', to justify the Iraq attack, when every schoolchild now knows that the Baghdad government had nothing to do with the events of 9-11.

But the Bush Regime has used that fear; that anxiety; that sense of being under attack, to stoke the fires of war, and now the U.S. is involved in building and protecting a colony in the heart of the Middle East. That's why it isn't enough to simply say, "Bring the Troops Home", as some have said. For to do so only
means, 'bring them home today, to unleash them on some other unsuspecting people tomorrow.'

That is a recipe for postponing war, not ending it.

War is indeed, big business, but it is more than that; it is a social tool by which governments have always mobilized larger social forces for their political ends. The ends of government? What it has always been - power.

Why do you think the Bushites have unleashed the somber Ashcroft upon the American people? A man who lost a senate election to a dead man is now the ultimate arbiter of who may exercise civil rights in this 'new era'? Students are being thrown out of school because politicians don't like their t-shirts. Thousands are locked in dark gulags in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They are denied lawyers, are being held incommunicado, and face torture. When some have dared to file suits against these fundamental violations of human rights, they are told that because this site is in Cuba, the U.S. suddenly lacks 'jurisdication.' What legalized drivel!

If the U.S. doesn't have jurisdiction, who does? Cuba? The UN? Clearly, the solution to the egregious human rights violations in Guantanamo Bay will not be found in U.S. courts, just as the solution to these wars for empire will not be found in anti-war marches.

This is but a beginning; not an end.

To be truly anti-imperialist means to oppose the 'soft'-imperialism of the Democrats, *and* the 'hard' imperialism of the Republicans. Both imperialisms are fundamentally wrong, for they begin with the false premise that Americans know best, how other peoples should live their lives, and organize their societies.

One cannot believe in self-determination and imperialism; those two views are incompatible.

To be truly anti-imperialist means organizing, not demonstrations, but mass movements that pose an alternative to the deadly status quo.

It means believing, and fighting for, the idea that another world
is possible.

It means thinking of the peoples of this world as the same as us; not 'them.'

It means the renunciation of white supremacy. It means a foreign policy truly based upon simple humility; instead of domination.

It means a real transformation of the way things are done here; and that means change; revolution. It means this, or it means nothing.

For, if these steps aren't taken, generations will be plunged into bloody and needless wars; wars fought for wealthy elites based on lies, and fear, and greed.

It means the surrender of your children and grandchildren to wars of ignorance. It means, in fact, endless war!

No to Imperial War!
(Col./Speech Writ. 10/11/03 Copyright 2003, Mumia Abu-Jamal)

—Tricky Voting Machines
With the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and questionable election results in Mississippi and elsewhere, lots of eyebrows are being raised these days at electronic voting machines. But Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.Com has been on the case for years. She recently told BuzzFlash:

"What has always been a transparent process, subjected to many eyes and belonging to all of us, has very recently become secretive and proprietary. This happened when voting systems, which should be considered part of the "public commons" were turned over to private companies. These companies now assert that the process underlying the vote must be held secret from the voters.

"When a system that belongs to the public becomes secret, it becomes doubly important to make sure we can completely trust those who run it. Voting machine companies are not required to tell us who owns them. Two of the top six firms have been foreign-owned: Election.com, owned by the Saudis until an acquisition by Accenture recently, and Sequoia, now owned by DeLaRue (Great Britain). Three of the top six firms have owners and/or directors who represent vested interests:

• Election Systems & Software, the largest company. Main owner is a company owned by Senator Chuck Hagel's campaign finance director, Michael McCarthy. Hagel has owned shares in both the voting company itself and in the parent company run by his campaign finance director, and Hagel was the CEO and Chairman of the voting machine company while it built the machines that counted his votes.

• Diebold, the second largest voting machine company. CEO is Wally O'Dell, who recently visited George W. Bush at his Crawford ranch along with an elite group of Bush supporters called the "Rangers" and "Pioneers." Days later, he penned a letter to Ohio Republicans promising to help "deliver the votes" for Bush. O'Dell sponsored a $600,000 fund raiser for Dick Cheney in July. Diebold director W.H. Timken is also a Bush Pioneer.

• VoteHere, the company striving to get its cryptography software into all the other companies' machines (already has a contract with Sequoia), has as its Chairman a close Cheney supporter and member of the Defense Policy Board, Admiral Bill Owens. Former CIA director Robert Gates, who heads the George Bush School of Business, is also a director."
  —For more information, link to www.blackboxvoting.com

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-- November 21, 2003

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