Another secret memo revealed...

Another secret Osh Kosh memo has just surfaced! Thanks to the Cap Times for revealing more about what Howard Dean might describe as the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party..." of Wisconsin. It appears that party leaders are trying to keep the public from learning about the opinions of the grassroots majority. One can only wonder what other interesting resolutions were passed at the recent state party convention.

Capital Times Editorial: Time for an exit strategy
June 17, 2005
When Wisconsin Democrats gathered for their state convention last weekend, they officially joined a growing national movement for ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

The resolution passed by the convention was short and to the point:

WHEREAS, the "War of Terror" began with an attack on the bases of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan; and

WHEREAS, the "War on Terror" transmuted into an illegal, immoral, unnecessary invasion and occupation of Iraq, overthrow of the Iraqi government and attempts to create a new constitutional regime;

THEREFORE, RESOLVED, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin calls for termination of the occupation at the earliest possible time with the withdrawal of American troops, coupled with the creation of an international body that can assist the Iraqi people in freely and peacefully determining their own future, and that we participate in multilateral reconstruction.

Of course, critics of the grass-roots Democrats who passed the resolution would have you believe that this is just partisan carping at a Republican president.

But that's just a political smoke screen developed in an attempt to mute criticism of President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld.

Sixty percent of Americans, according to recent polling, favor a responsible withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. And Democrats aren't the only ones following the will of the people.

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican who was one of the top proponents of the war when he believed President Bush's claims about weapons of mass destruction, joined a group of colleagues Thursday in introducing a House resolution calling for the president to announce by year's end a plan for withdrawal of U.S. troops, and to begin executing that plan by Oct. 1, 2006. Fellow Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is a co-sponsor, along with Democratic Reps. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. A number of other House Republicans have indicated that they will support some sort of resolution calling for an exit strategy.

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has introduced a Senate bill calling on the administration to identify its goals in Iraq and to offer a plan and timetable for achieving those goals and withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

"We owe our brave servicemen and women a concrete timetable for achieving clear goals, not vague, open-ended commitments," says Feingold. "Having a timetable for the transfer of sovereignty and having a timetable for Iraqi elections have resulted in real political and strategic advantages. Having a timetable for the withdrawal of troops should be no different."

Twisting in the Wind

Yesterday Rep. John Conyers and a group of Democratic congressmen were provided with a tiny room in the basement of the Capitol where they held a "public forum" on the Downing Street Memo. Republicans refused to participate or hold an official hearing and the San Francisco Chronicle reports,"(they) scheduled 11 major votes to coincide with the afternoon event."

"The White House refuses to respond to a May 5 letter from 122 congressional Democrats about whether there was a coordinated effort to “fix” the intelligence and facts around the policy, as the Downing Street memo says.

"White House spokesman Scott McClellan says Conyers “is simply trying to rehash old debates.”

"Conyers and a half-dozen other members of Congress were stopped at the White House gate later Thursday when they hand-delivered petitions signed by 560,000 Americans who want Bush to provide a detailed response to the Downing Street memo. When Conyers couldn’t get in, an anti-war demonstrator shouted, “Send Bush out!” Eventually, White House aides retrieved the petitions at the gate and took them into the West Wing.

“Quite frankly, evidence that appears to be building up points to whether or not the president has deliberately misled Congress to make the most important decision a president has to make, going to war,” Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said earlier at the event on Capitol Hill.

"Misleading Congress is an impeachable offense, a point that Rangel underscored by saying he’s already been through two impeachments, of President Nixon in Watergate and President Clinton for an affair with a White House intern.

Whistleblower Karen Kwiatkowski says, "At this time, impeachment for Bush and Cheney is politically impossible. A successful impeachment, or any accountability for the executive branch requires a certain balance of political power. Optimistically envisioned by the Founders, this balance was tenuous even in the early years of the Republic. George W. Bush said it best after the 2004 elections with '[my] accountability moment has passed.'"

Nonetheless, evidence that George W. Bush deliberately misled Congress keeps stacking up. Read LMSM, the 'Lying Mainstream Media' by Robert Parry for a detailed analysis of the continuing stream of leaked memos that now number seven...

• Memo from Overseas & Defense Secretariat March 8 2002
  This memo admits that threat of WMD from Iraq had NOT increased.
  
  
• David Manning Memo to Tony Blair on March 14 2002, describing his trip to the US. In this memo, Manning confirms that Condi Rice was committed to regime change in Iraq in 2002. The use of military force for regime change per se is illegal under international law and treaties to which the US is a signator.
  
  “This issue of weapons inspectors must be handled in a way that would persuade Europe and wider opinion that the U.S. was conscious of the international framework, and the insistence of many countries on the need for a legal basis,” Manning wrote. “Renewed refusal by Saddam to accept unfettered inspections would be a powerful argument.”
  
  “I said that you [Blair] would not budge in your support for regime change [in Iraq] but you had to manage a press, a Parliament and a public opinion that was different from anything in the States,” Manning wrote.
  
  
• Memo from Chris Meyer To David Manning March 18 2002
  "I then went through the need to wrongfoot Saddam on the inspectors and the UN SORs and the critical importance of the MEPP as an integral part of the anti-Saddam strategy."
  
  
• Memo from Peter Rickets March 22 2002
  This memo admits that Saddam had not accelerated his WMD program.
  
  
• Memo from Jack Straw to Tony Blair March 25, 2002
  Straw admits case for war in Iraq is weak, and that there is no link between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
  
  
• The London Sunday Times disclosed the contents of a July 21, 2002, 8-page briefing paper that said it was “necessary to create the conditions” which would make an invasion legal. To achieve those conditions, the briefing paper suggested a UN Security Council resolution that would be insulting enough to goad the proud Hussein into rejecting inspections.
  
  “It is just possible that an ultimatum could be cast in terms which Saddam would reject,” the briefing paper said.
  
  
• The "Downing Street Memo" to David Manning from Matthew Rycroft on July 23, 2002
  

To mark the June 17, 1997, 25th anniversary of the Watergate break-in that led to the downfall of President Richard M. Nixon the Houston Chronicle developed a very detailed on-line historical reference that provides numerous ways to quickly research the most famous scandal in U.S. political history. Don't miss the Twisting in the Wind Quiz and their 25th Anniversary essay...

ONLY ONE `GATE' No scandal more dangerous to nation than Watergate "Twenty-five years ago this week, a group of burglars was caught breaking into the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. The rest, as they say, is history, but it is history that many Americans are insufficiently familiar with.

"Watergate, the mother of all political scandals, was not just a "third-rate burglary," as Richard M. Nixon called it. The burglary led reporters and investigators to a host of heinous crimes committed by President Nixon and his men: break-ins, illegal wiretaps, conspiracy to obstruct justice, attempts to use the Internal Revenue Service to punish political opponents and liberal critics in the press, political dirty tricks and corruption of the FBI and CIA.

Studying the Watergate timeline should serve to remind us that, due to what Greg Palast calls NADD -- "news attention deficit disorder," we are now witnessing only the tip of an iceberg, with about 10 percent of its mass above the surface of the water. Palast provides one of the better Petrolgate timelines on-line. Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane provide another: Path of War Timeline in Raw Story

Arranging deck chairs aboard the Titanic...
Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow.org makes mention of the Wisconsin Resolution in a June 15, 2005 interview with Rep. Conyers... The Downing Street Memo Comes To Washington; Conyers Blasts "Deafening Sound of Silence"

AMY GOODMAN: In our news headlines today, Wisconsin, the state's Democratic Party, has passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush, as well as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. The resolution called on Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against the three officials accusing them of misleading the country in the lead up to war. Last year, the Democratic Party in Nevada passed the same resolution. The National Green Party, as well as former presidential candidate, Nader, have -- Ralph Nader, have called on Bush's impeachment. Are you calling for President Bush's impeachment?

REP. JOHN CONYERS: At this point, I'm still collecting evidence. There are a lot of other bits of evidence that we have to put together to make it perfectly clear that this isn’t a matter of how you interpret a memo that speaks in the plainest of language, and I, as the senior member on the committee that would be in charge of anything that comes under the rubric of the I-word, I am staying away from that subject until I have completed my investigation. There are others, who -- constitutional scholars, lawyers, professors that are all looking at this question, but I can tell you this: Deceiving the Congress, deceiving the American people, planning a war that is not pre-emptive, cooking the books to create weapons of mass destruction, and then trying to beef up the intelligence to comport to a -- to provoke Iraq to join us in a war, then going to the United Nations, hoping that the United Nations demand to go in and examine for these hidden weapons, all of these pretexts which failed, and now we have the question of whose -- does Article I, Section 8, giving the Congress the power to declare war, is that still in existence or have we slipped into this era where in a never-ending war against terrorism, we may be confronted with presidents who may operate as carelessly and as recklessly as this President that we have at this point?

Best kept secret in Wisconsin

The news of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin's resolution calling for the impeachment of Bush Cheney and Rumsfeld is exploding... into thin air. Yesterday's headline coverage splashed across the pages of the PEJ News in Victoria,BC,Canada where Danny Schechter - News Dissector broke WISCONSIN DEMS CALL FOR IMPEACHMENT a riveting recount of the action in Osh Kosh...

"Wisconsin Democrats are calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"Loyalists at this weekend's state party convention in Oshkosh passed a resolution calling for Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against the three officials for their role in the war in Iraq.

"The resolution contends that the administration 'lied or misled' the United Nations, Congress, and the American public about the justification for the war. It cites the so-called 'Downing Street Memo' from British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, as well as reports from U.N. weapons inspectors as evidence of widespread deception."

That's way more than you will find on the Democratic Party of Wisconsin's press release. I was hoping to find some mention of the resolution... but, no luck. I did find links to the Cap Times original and the Journal Times reprint of the same buried in the WisDems News section.

With Progressives rallying in Washington DC today in support of the efforts of Rep. John Conyers to hold an inquiry into the Downing Street Memo - currently supported by 104 other congressmen and over 1/2 million US citizens who have signed Conyers' letter to the President - one would hope that Wisconsin's Party leaders could find the courage to voice Wisconsin's support as evidenced in the membership passing a resolution for impeachment.

Hey really, it's safe to come out now and have a liberal opinion... More Republicans are beginning to regret their vote in support of this war and ongoing occupation. Congressman John Duncan Jr. (R-TN) recently said:

"I have come here tonight, first of all, to commend the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) for these remarks and for his leadership role that he has taken in this regard. I also want to commend our colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones), because he feels so badly that he voted for this war and now he has seen what has happened. And certainly the most unfortunate thing has been the more than 1,700 young Americans who have been killed there now, and the some 12,000 who have been wounded, many of them severely wounded, maimed for life, in what was a totally unnecessary war."

Listen to the Conyers hearings on C-SPAN3 live today beginning at 1:30 CST.

Dennis Coyier dcoy@execpc.com announces...
HONOR OUR DEAD DEMAND THE TRUTH RALLY AND MARCH
Madison, Wisconsin Thursday, June 16

5 PM Gather at State St. corner of Capitol Square
5-5:30 Open megaphone
5:30 March to UW Library Mall
6:00 Open megaphone at Mall

Today many Wisconsinites will converge on the State Capital for a rally and march to ask for a full investigation into the Downing Street memo. It is hoped that hundreds will join us to help support John Conyers' call for an investigation into the Downing Street Memo.

At 5:30 we will march down State St. to the UW Library Mall in a show of support and solidarity with those marching in Washington DC and throughout the country. It is our earnest hope that our voices will combine into a noise big enough to be heard by our leaders and our media.

Wisconsin Democratic Party's call to impeach Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld gets no publicity!

"Somewhere in America, on the highest perches of a tall mountain, a small rock has begun its descent, bringing others down with it," says David Michael Green. "This rock was loosed by the release of a secret memo far across the Atlantic, but its path has been prepared by years of political deceit, arrogance, and aggression at home and abroad."

Let's watch one of those rocks that kicked loose and began its tumble on Saturday June 11, 2005. During their annual State Convention at the Park Plaza in downtown Oshkosh the Democratic Party of Wisconsin adopted the following resolution:

CALLING ON THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO INITIATE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS AGAINST PRESIDENT BUSH, VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY AND DEFENSE SECRETARY RUMSFELD FOR HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS

WHEREAS, the Downing Street Memo shows that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld began planning and executing the war on Iraq before seeking Congressional and UN approval;

WHEREAS, UN weapons inspectors showed prior to the invasion that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; and

WHEREAS, there is further mounting evidence that the Administration lied or misled about "mushroom clouds," "connections to 9/11," and "war as a last resort" as they sought UN, Congressional, and public approvals;

THEREFORE, RESOLVED, the DPW asks Congress to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

It is believed that Wisconsin is the first state Democratic Party to have passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. We hope that others will do the same.

The first and only mention of the Wisconsin Democratic Party's call to impeach Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, aside from right here, that I can find is in Collective Bellaciao, France with a link to an earlier mention in the Portland Independent Media Center. Bella Ciao also points to ColdFusion04's post in DailyKos.com on Sunday June 12, 2005 at 09:07:37 PDT. Search Google... 2 days later and it's still a secret!

On Monday, June 13, 2005 at 1:34 PM CST David Callender of the Capitol Times posts the first mainstream news story: State Dems: Impeach Bush Cheney, Rumsfeld too.

FLASH... the Callender story gets copied on uruknet.info an Italian Web site dedicated to providing, " information from occupied iraq."

Callender's story provides the following quotes:

"Democrats, not only in Wisconsin but throughout the U.S., have been outraged by what we believe has been a clear cover-up of why the U.S. went into Iraq," said newly elected state party Chairman Joe Wineke."

"Wineke said the resolution expresses the "the sense of frustration that Democrats in Wisconsin have over fighting a war for the wrong reasons."

Later on Monday the same story - with no byline is pasted in the Racine Journal Times Online and BuzzFlash posts a link to the original Cap Times version.

On Tuesday, June 14, 2005 A letter to the editor by Dennis Coyier: State Dems leaders on impeachment appears in the Cap Times.

While the original Callender article derides the effort of Wisconsin Dems with a disparaging quote from UW Madison poly-sci professor, Charles Franklin:

"It's the sort of thing you might imagine spreads among opposition parties, but it is so far from the political reality of anything that could happen in Washington that it makes your party look a little ridiculous," he said.

...CommonDreams.org publishes an essay by another professor of political science that takes encouragement from the Wisconsin Resolution. On Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Hofstra University's David Michael Green provides, "In the American Bunker," which mentions the Wisconsin Resolution:

"Consider. On Memorial Day, a major metropolitan newspaper called the US president a liar who has abused his most sacred trust as commander in chief. No, it wasn't Le Monde or The Guardian. It was the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, crying out from the American Heartland. Then, yesterday, from next door in Wisconsin, came passage of a resolution at the state Democratic Party convention, calling on Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against America's president, vice-president and secretary of defense. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of major newspapers across the country are editorializing angrily on the Downing Street Memo, even while their front pages so far remain bizarrely and unaccountably (in both senses of the word) silent."

Take heart! Watergate opened with a trickle.