My political post for the month

Fred Thompson has lost my vote. First he's a Republican. I don't like political parties. Strike 1. His personal life is a little sketchy. Strike 2. He listed himself as a member of the Church of Christ Strike 3. Oh no wait thats not a strike. Then some people challenged his authenticity as to his being a member of the church. Well sure enough Fred Thompson told a bunch of people in the Great State of South Carolina he wasn't a member. I feel like his web page lied to me. Now I cite my sources:
Washington Post blog- http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/09/11/post_68.html
Christian Chronicle article-http://www.christianchronicle.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=662
Markelrod.net- Apparently Dr. Elrod took his blog down about Senator Fred Thompson. It was a good one. Sneaky. But the good news it that Dr. Elrod doesn't have to reach into his thinly lined, Harding U employed, pocket to pay anyone $100; unless they go to his mother's church.

Wow after searching a little about Sen. Thompson I didn't realize Dr. Elrod's blog caused such a stir. It was apparently huge. Dr. Elrod may have single-handedly thwarted Sen. Thompson's campaign. Wow.

On to other news.

I'm not a big fan of war in general. This week my class will be debating the Revolutionary War and it's justifications/detriments. I'm not a fan of war. Its never pretty. And our war isn't pretty. But is it justifiable? Some people are really starting to trash our efforts in Iraq. I agree everything isn't going well. I guess we were expecting a country to unite around the ideas of freedom and democracy, and the people didn't. We gave them an opportunity; they have seemingly rejected it. Iraqis will not stand together, thus they will fall apart. I don't know all the details, but here's what I think.

In 2000 Iraq was listed as both a state sponsor of terrorism and a major violator of human rights.

Terrorism: Iraq planned and sponsored international terrorism in 2000. Although Baghdad focused on antidissident activity overseas, the regime continued to support various terrorist groups. The regime has not attempted an anti-Western terrorist attack since its failed plot to assassinate former President Bush in 1993 in Kuwait.

In northern Iraq, Iraqi agents reportedly killed a locally well-known religious personality who declined to echo the regime line. The regional security director in As Sulaymaniyah stated that Iraqi operatives were responsible for the car-bomb explosion that injured a score of passersby.

Baghdad continued to denounce and delegitimize UN personnel working in Iraq, particularly UN de-mining teams, in the wake of the killing in 1999 of an expatriate UN de-mining worker in northern Iraq under circumstances suggesting regime involvement.

An Iraqi who opened fire at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) office in Baghdad, killing two persons and wounding six, was permitted to hold a heavily publicized press conference at which he contended that his action had been motivated by the harshness of UN sanctions, which the regime regularly excoriates.

The Iraqi regime rebuffed a request from Riyadh for the extradition of two Saudis who had hijacked a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to Baghdad, but did return promptly the passengers and the aircraft. Disregarding its obligations under international law, the regime granted political asylum to the hijackers and gave them ample opportunity to ventilate in the Iraqi Government-controlled and international media their criticisms of alleged abuses by the Saudi Arabian Government, echoing an Iraqi propaganda theme.

While the origins of the FAO attack and the hijacking were unclear, the Iraqi regime readily exploited these terrorist acts to further its policy objectives.

Several expatriate terrorist groups continued to maintain offices in Baghdad, including the Arab Liberation Front, the inactive 15 May Organization, the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), and the Abu Nidal organization (ANO). PLF leader Abu `Abbas appeared on state-controlled television in the fall to praise Iraq's leadership in rallying Arab opposition to Israeli violence against Palestinians. The ANO threatened to attack Austrian interests unless several million dollars in a frozen ANO account in a Vienna bank were turned over to the group.

Human Rights Violations:

The Government continued to execute summarily perceived political opponents and leaders in the Shi'a religious community. Reports suggest that persons were executed merely because of their association with an opposition group or as part of a continuing effort to reduce prison populations. The Government continued to be responsible for disappearances and to kill and torture persons suspected of--or related to persons suspected

The Government neglects the health and nutritional needs of children, and discriminates against religious minorities and ethnic groups. The Government restricts severely trade union rights. Child labor persists, and there were instances of forced labor.

The Government committed numerous political and other extrajudicial killings. The Government has a long record of executing perceived opponents.

The regime periodically executed large numbers of political detainees en masse. During the year, the Special Rapporteur continued to receive reports referring to a "prison cleansing" execution campaign taking place in Abu Ghurayb, Radwaniyah, and other prisons.

On three occasions in January and February, prison officials reportedly executed 91 prisoners at Abu Ghurayb; some of the prisoners were accused of theft, some were accused of trafficking in drugs, and some reportedly were affiliated with a political opposition group

Government agents targeted for killing family members of defectors. For example, government agents reportedly killed Safiyah Hassan who allegedly criticized publicly the Government for killing her husband and two sons, Hussein and Saddam Kamal. Her husband and sons had been senior government officials; however, the brothers defected to Jordan in 1996. The Government offered the men immunity if they returned to the country; however, upon their return government agents killed them and their father.

In October security forces reportedly beheaded a number of women suspected of prostitution and some men suspected of facilitating or covering up such activities (see Section 5).

Landmines in the north, mostly planted by the Government before 1991, continued to kill and maim civilians.

The Government has for decades conducted a brutal campaign of murder, summary execution, and protracted arbitrary arrest against the religious leaders and followers of the majority Shi'a Muslim population.

Evidence concerning the Anfal Campaign indicates that the Government killed many women and children, including infants, by firing squads and in chemical attacks.

U.S. State Dept. 2000

That's not the whole list I just got tired of the copy and paste function. I don't like war, but I don't like a government who kills children and women either.

In 2001 a tragedy occurred on U.S. soil. As a response President Bush stated,
" The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."

I think its clear that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism. Who allows airplane hijackers in their country to go on the speaking circuit anyways?

In 2002 it was decided by Congress to send troops into Iraq. H.J.Res. 114 was passed with a 296 - 133 vote in the house and 77 - 23 vote in the senate. We had had enough with Iraq and their crappy, women killing, children maiming, torturing, executing, and terrorist sponsoring activities. Lets remember those reports were 2000, not during the current administrations. They weren't cooked up by the Bushies. That day six years ago we vowed to no longer stand for governments that sponsored terrorism. Five years ago we agreed to invade a country with a not only a horrific human rights record but a known sponsor of terrorism. Democrats and Republican.

In the Senate:

YEAs ---77
Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT) Biden (D-DE) Bond (R-MO) Breaux (D-LA) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Campbell (R-CO) Cantwell (D-WA) Carnahan (D-MO) Carper (D-DE) Cleland (D-GA) Clinton (D-NY) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) Daschle (D-SD) DeWine (R-OH) Dodd (D-CT) Domenici (R-NM) Dorgan (D-ND)	Edwards (D-NC) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Feinstein (D-CA) Fitzgerald (R-IL) Frist (R-TN) Gramm (R-TX) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Harkin (D-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Helms (R-NC) Hollings (D-SC) Hutchinson (R-AR) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Johnson (D-SD) Kerry (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN)	McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Miller (D-GA) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Nickles (R-OK) Reid (D-NV) Roberts (R-KS) Rockefeller (D-WV) Santorum (R-PA) Schumer (D-NY) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-NH) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stevens (R-AK) Thomas (R-WY) Thompson (R-TN) Thurmond (R-SC) Torricelli (D-NJ) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA)

And in the house:
---- YEAS 296 ---

Ackerman Aderholt Akin Andrews Armey Bachus Baker Ballenger Barcia Barr Bartlett Barton Bass Bentsen Bereuter Berkley Berman Berry Biggert Bilirakis Bishop Blagojevich Blunt Boehlert Boehner Bonilla Bono Boozman Borski Boswell Boucher Boyd Brady (TX) Brown (SC) Bryant Burr Burton Buyer Callahan Calvert Camp Cannon Cantor Capito Carson (OK) Castle Chabot Chambliss Clement Coble Collins Combest Cooksey Cox Cramer Crane Crenshaw Crowley Cubin Culberson Cunningham Davis (FL) Davis, Jo Ann Davis, Tom Deal DeLay DeMint Deutsch Diaz-Balart Dicks Dooley Doolittle Dreier Dunn Edwards Ehlers Ehrlich Emerson Engel English Etheridge Everett Ferguson Flake Fletcher Foley Forbes Ford Fossella Frelinghuysen Frost Gallegly Ganske Gekas Gephardt Gibbons Gilchrest Gillmor Gilman

Goode Goodlatte Gordon Goss Graham Granger Graves Green (TX) Green (WI) Greenwood Grucci Gutknecht Hall (TX) Hansen Harman Hart Hastert Hastings (WA) Hayes Hayworth Hefley Herger Hill Hilleary Hobson Hoeffel Hoekstra Holden Horn Hoyer Hulshof Hunter Hyde Isakson Israel Issa Istook Jefferson Jenkins John Johnson (CT) Johnson (IL) Johnson, Sam Jones (NC) Kanjorski Keller Kelly Kennedy (MN) Kennedy (RI) Kerns Kind (WI) King (NY) Kingston Kirk Knollenberg Kolbe LaHood Lampson Lantos Latham LaTourette Lewis (CA) Lewis (KY) Linder LoBiondo Lowey Lucas (KY) Lucas (OK) Luther Lynch Maloney (NY) Manzullo Markey Mascara Matheson McCarthy (NY) McCrery McHugh McInnis McIntyre McKeon McNulty Meehan Mica Miller, Dan Miller, Gary Miller, Jeff Moore Moran (KS) Murtha Myrick Nethercutt Ney Northup Norwood Nussle Osborne Ose Otter

Oxley Pascrell Pence Peterson (MN) Peterson (PA) Petri Phelps Pickering Pitts Platts Pombo Pomeroy Portman Pryce (OH) Putnam Quinn Radanovich Ramstad Regula Rehberg Reynolds Riley Roemer Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Ros-Lehtinen Ross Rothman Royce Ryan (WI) Ryun (KS) Sandlin Saxton Schaffer Schiff Schrock Sensenbrenner Sessions Shadegg Shaw Shays Sherman Sherwood Shimkus Shows Shuster Simmons Simpson Skeen Skelton Smith (MI) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Smith (WA) Souder Spratt Stearns Stenholm Sullivan Sununu Sweeney Tancredo Tanner Tauscher Tauzin Taylor (MS) Taylor (NC) Terry Thomas Thornberry Thune Thurman Tiahrt Tiberi Toomey Turner Upton Vitter Walden Walsh Wamp Watkins (OK) Watts (OK) Waxman Weiner Weldon (FL) Weldon (PA) Weller Wexler Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (SC) Wolf Wynn Young (AK) Young (FL)

We vowed not to stand by idly and watch tragedy happen. I solute those who made the decision, you did what was just.

"Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander." -Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC

Paul Murphy


I also think its funny there's a Senator with the last name "Crapo."