Nice quote for the occassion

I agree, the diplomacy route has always been a farce, bush fully intends to go to war with them for whatever reasons he has - certainly not what he told us.

Notice the spin yesterday, as Jack Straw went on about human rights abuses. So what, we've known for years about human rights abuses in Iraq, there are plenty of other countries we're all pally with that probably that commit human rights abuses, but we seem ok with that..

I found it perfectly understanable that people like Amnesty International were furious that there hard work in these countries was being used as propoganda by the government.

Thankfully they have come under fire.

Your're right. Bush wants a war and he's determined to get it regardless of what the weapons inspectors do. If they find something, it makes the propaganda job easier. But Bush is already starting to prepare the way in case the weapons inspectors say they haven't found anything. I've heard Rumsfeld (the Defense Secretary here) say something like, "Well, it doesn't matter whether the inspectors find anything. We know they have the weapons."

What amazes me more than anything is that we allow this to go on. I don't know anyone personally who wants this war. And polls seem to suggest that, when you really question people carefully, most Americans would prefer some solution other than having the US go in and attack Iraq without the support of the United Nations.

There have been some very large anti-war protests here. But in general, we're such sheep. And our politicians are worse. We had the spectacle of having a number of Democrats stand up in Congress when Bush's "war resolution" (the piece of legislation that gave him Congressional approval to go to war) was being voted on in Congress and say, in effect, "I don't believe we should do this. But I'm voting for it anyway." And this is our opposition party.

A lot of people here have serious questions about where Bush is taking us, but everyone's afraid to speak up against him, because they think they'll be branded as unpatriotic in the present atmosphere. It's just ridiculous.

We had one senator who had the conviction and the guts to stand up and say rushing into war with Iraq would be wrong. In fact, I think he was the only senator who voted against the war resolution. That was Senator Paul Wellstone, a Democrat from Minnesota. He was killed about a month ago when the small private plane he was riding in crashed.

Maybe someone should buy Mr Bush a Dictionary for Christmas and tell him to look up the word "Democracy"

Hey, it's republican standard procedure...
if you have trouble in your own land, start a war...

Well all I want to say is

Wouldn't it be nice if just for Christmas there could be peace on earth and good will to all men

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by Sandia
I think he was the only senator who voted against the war resolution. That was Senator Paul Wellstone, a Democrat from Minnesota. He was killed about a month ago when the small private plane he was riding in crashed.

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Hmmmmmmmmm conspiracy theory ???

The way things are panning out at the moment are predictable but terrible nonetheless. I caught a bit of a Michael Moore interview on some Ruby Wax chat show this morning, he said some damning things about the U.S. government and it's press, I really wish I had a transcript because he said it all so clearly and so well.

A couple of the things he pointed out were that the U.S. not only sold Sadam weapons as we know, but they sold him all sorts of chemical and biological agents, and they provided spy sattelite pictures to him which were used by Sadam to gas the Kurds. Michael said that the U.S. knew this is what those pictures would be used for, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit. He also said that Reagan resumed diplomatic relations with Sadam even though the U.S. knew fully well the atrocities that had been comitted.

I could go on for hours, but suffice to say I'm about as angry as an angry person who is really angry can get. There's been a national protest called for the 14th of this month at RAF Fairford in Gloustershire, non-violent direct action. A group of civilian anti-war weapons inspectors will ask to gain entry to inspect U.S. 'weapons of mass destruction' namely, the stealth bombers situated there that will be used in any attack against Iraq. I fully intend to let the U.S. military based on our soil know exactly what I think of their leaders' imperialist warmongering, I anticipate a sore throat from much shouting.

What's worse about all of this is the fact that Bush gained power so dubiously, it's not even a conspiracy theory to point out that his brother had all convicted criminals struck off the electoral list in Florida and also had people with similar names struck off as well. Thousands of people (mainly black I might add) lost their legitimate vote in Florida on polling day - they turned up at the booths and were turned away because their name was similar to the name of a criminal (who have no voting rights). Considering that Gore had the support of many black people in Florida, and the contest was so tight, it's (I feel the need to swear but I won't) ludicrous that Bush the usurper ever got into power.

THIS IS NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY - THIS IS A FACT.

What on earth has the Western world come to? This isn't democracy, these are fascist tactics, we need to stop this NOW. Seriously people, do whatever you can, be it write a letter or take some direct action (and no, that doesn't mean terrorism before you accuse me). The deomcracy we were brought up to believe in is being seriously and devastatingly erroded by these people and it has to end or we will find ourselves without our basic human rights. The trend is emerging whereby it is becoming increasingly acceptable to deny someone their basic rights, camp x-ray is a prime example, the voting is Florida is another. Don't be fooled by these people in power, they stole power, true power lies in the people and it is up to us to defend what we believe in.

We have to.

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by MonSTeR
(quotes)

Hmmmmmmmmm conspiracy theory ???

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Ha! I thought the same thing the minute I heard about the crash, but didn't say anything because I thought maybe it was just me. Then a friend of mine called from California. I brought up the crash, and she immediately said, "Oh, Ron (her husband) thinks they had him killed." I said, how about you, and she answered, "Hell, yes!"

Now, we all might be totally out of our minds. But, it's really sad to say, I wouldn't be completely surprised.

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by killer
There's been a national protest called for the 14th of this month at RAF Fairford in Gloustershire

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Shucks this clashes with Sanctuary in Leeds and if the world's going to end, I want to know what happens in Buffy first

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by MonSTeR
(quotes)

Shucks this clashes with Sanctuary in Leeds and if the world's going to end, I want to know what happens in Buffy first

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I know what happens in Buffy ah the joy of University connections (and cd burners)