Daniel Ellsberg, Mike Gravel and Robert West: How the Pentagon Papers Came to be Published (must-see; 2007)

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Image by Abode of Chaos via Flickr

democracynow on Jul 24, 2013

www.democracynow.org – Forty-one years ago, Beacon Press lost a Supreme Court case brought against it by the U.S. government for publishing the first full edition of the Pentagon Papers. It is now well known how The New York Times first published excerpts of the top-secret documents in June 1971, but less well known is how the Beacon Press, a small nonprofit publisher affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association, came to publish the complete 7,000 pages that exposed the true history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Their publication led the Beacon press into a spiral of two-and-a-half years of harassment, intimidation, near bankruptcy and the possibility of criminal prosecution. This is a story that has rarely been told in its entirety.

Snowden’s Common Law Defense by Joe Lauria

Republished with permission by the author.

by Joe Lauria
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
originally published on www.huffingtonpost.com, July 6, 2013
July 7, 2013

Image by Abode of Chaos via Flickr

The U.S. Senator who divulged the Pentagon Papers in Congress says Edward Snowden and other citizens with access to classified information should have the same immunity as members of Congress to make public secret documents exposing government wrongdoing.

Before Daniel Ellsberg, American’s most important whistleblower until Snowden, leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 to The New York Times and The Washington Post, he went to Congress to find a Senator willing to make the Papers public.

Tariq Ali: US, UK Never Faced Justice for Iraq War Crimes + Deadly Blasts Rock Iraq

Image by chrisjohnbeckett via Flickr

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RussiaToday·Mar 19, 2013

At least 56 people have been killed in a series of attacks across Baghdad. The deadly assaults come as Iraq marks ten years since the coalition, led by the US and Britain, invaded the country with their ‘freedom and democracy’ mission. Historian and political campaigner, Tariq Ali, says it’s surprising that no-one has been held responsible for creating havoc in Iraq.

A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism reviewed by Milina Jovanović

by Milina Jovanović
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
originally published at www.zcommunications.org
January 2, 2013

Mike Gravel and Joe Lauria. A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man’s Fight to Stop It. 2008. Seven Stories Press.

When I finished reading the last pages of this book, I had to sit still and think about several discoveries. It is difficult for me to truly believe that I can actually like a life story, way of thinking, and actions of a high-level American politician. I come from a country, generation, and professional environment that didn’t encourage any naiveté about politics of any country. And we certainly didn’t grow up embracing any myths about the most significant characteristics of the global empire.

4 presidential candidates join Afghan war protest

Dandelion Salad

http://therealnews.com

Following Obama Nobel speech, Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney speak out against the wars [and Mike Gravel, too]

Gravel’s Lament: Fighting Another Dumb War by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
Dec. 14, 2009

End the U.S. Wars Rally: Cynthia McKinney: President Obama, Stop Bankrupting our Nation!

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liamh2
December 12, 2009

On Sat., Dec. 12, 2009, ex-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) was one of the speakers at the emergency “End-the-U.S.-Wars” rally. See for background: http://www.enduswars.org/ The event was held in Lafayette Park, directly opposite the White House. Rep. McKinney ran for President of the United States in the 2008 election on the Green Party ticket. She is also a champion of Human Rights and has consistently, and courageously, stood up for the beleaguered peoples of Occupied Palestine.

Joe Lauria on Antiwar Radio (Sibel Edmonds; MIC)

Dandelion Salad

An excellent interview with Joe Lauria by Scott Horton.  Please click to listen.  ~ Lo

by Scott Horton
Antiwar Radio
August 8th, 2008

Gravel: Take Bush to The Hague

Dandelion Salad

Press TV
Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:48:20

Former Democratic candidate Mike Gravel says President George W. Bush should be taken to The Hague for war crimes rather than being impeached.

In a Monday video conference with Press TV, the former Alaska senator said President Bush does not ‘deserve’ to be impeached for invading Afghanistan and Iraq, which has resulted in the loss of ‘millions of lives’.

“An Impeachment just means you would only take away his (Bush’s) presidency. Well, he is almost done (with) his presidency. What really needs to happen is that these people have to be held accountable for the crimes they have committed,” the 78-year-old Libertarian said referring to the US president and Vice President Dick Cheney.

“If you impeach the president and vice president, Nancy Pelosi is going to become president; that is not going to happen,” Gravel added.

Gravel is an outspoken advocate of impeaching Bush and Cheney over the disinformation campaign they have led in support of their go-to-war policies.

“There is a lot of very good news that makes me tremendously hopeful that we as a nation are starting to wake up and insist our congressional representatives act to make impeachment happen now,” he had said in a statement in January after congressman Dennis Kucinich announced plans to introduce articles of impeachment against President Bush.

h/t: CLG

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Mike Gravel: Israel Threatens Nuclear War

Impeach

Mike Gravel: Israel Threatens Nuclear War

Dandelion Salad

briggsmedia

Sen. Mike Gravel responds to Israeli professor’s New York Times op-ed.

Gravel Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of Bush & Cheney

Dandelion Salad

Democracy Now!
June 17, 2008

Former Senator Mike Gravel Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of President Bush and Vice President Cheney

The former Democratic senator from Alaska discusses his presidential campaign, his role in the releasing of the Pentagon Papers and his support for NYC 9/11 Ballot Initiative Campaign, a grassroots group seeking to place an initiative on the ballot of the November 6th general election allowing registered New York City voters to create a new commission to investigate 9/11. [includes rush transcript]

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MP3 Download

transcript: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/17/former_senator_mike_gravel_calls_for

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9/11

Bugliosi Seeks “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder”

Sibel Edmonds & Luke Ryland on Antiwar Radio

Gore Vidal’s Article of Impeachment

Kucinich on the Alex Jones Show: Impeachment Time

Impeach

On Defiance of the System by Michael Kwiatkowski

Dandelion Salad

by Michael Kwiatkowski
The Smirking Chimp
May 16, 2008

If the electoral disaster of 2004 should have taught us anything, it’s that our votes are wasted when cast for those candidates who represent the status quo and refuse to fight it. How many of you regret throwing your ballots away on John Kerry? How many of you did so, knowing in your hearts that you would much rather have voted for someone else, because you felt it was more important to try to oust the shrub than to vote your beliefs?

I did the same thing. I had voted for Dennis Kucinich in the primary, and I knew Kerry didn’t have the stones to win in spite of the inevitable vote fraud the Bush-Cheney campaign was pulling off, but I cast my November ballot for John Kerry anyway. I admit, I screwed up that year. I had voted for Ralph Nader in 2000, a protest vote, because I believed then as I do now, that the only fundamental difference between the two major political parties today is one of competence. The GOP is inept at, well, everything except committing crimes and getting away with them. The Democrats are surprisingly effective at everything except committing crimes and getting away with them. That’s all.

I watched, growing up, as the party of the New Deal abandoned all pretense of remaining true to its principles to join the corporate-conservative DLC in embracing Republican policies. By 2000 I had had enough. I would no longer vote along party lines. Although a registered Democrat, if I thought a Green or a non-aligned progressive could do the job, I voted for that person. So, full of defiance, I cast my ballot for Ralph Nader in 2000.

…continued

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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The Audacity of Revolution VS The Hope of Chumps by Manila Ryce (video)

Mike Gravel: Helter Skelter X (music video)

Dandelion Salad

rx2008

This is a cover of Helter Skelter, aka Electro Skeletor, featuring Senator Mike Gravel, Libertarian candidate for president. http://www.gravel2008.us. and http:/www.youtube.com/gravel2008. More soonest. Added: April 01, 2008

Gravel on CNN: He’s Back! (video)

Dandelion Salad

gravel2008

Senator Mike Gravel discusses his switch to the Libertarian Party with CNN talking-head, Rick Sanchez.

Mike Gravel’s response to Gotcha question + Full Interview on RNN TV (videos)

Dandelion Salad

Updated: Mar 31, 2008 Here’s a longer version from this interview.

gravel2008

Senator Mike Gravel responds to RNN’s Karen DePodwin’s ‘gotcha’ question regarding his candidacy.

http://www.gravel2008.us

RNN:
http://www.rnntv.com

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Updated: Mar 31, 2008 Here’s a longer version from this interview.

Mike Gravel: Bush Admin. Should Be Tried For War Crimes

uterfan

Full Interview of Mike Gravel on RNN TV
http://www.ni4d.us
http://www.youtube.com/gravel2008
http://www.gravel2008.us

US has nothing to fear; fear sustains the military industrial complex

“If you look a little deeper at & the human psyche, there’s only two divisions. There’s love and fear. Love implements a whole beneficial area of our psyche. But fear is what we’ve been living under for the last 50 years in order to sustain the military complex–stop and think; we’re afraid of everything in the US . There’s nothing to fear. There’s nothing at all. And as president, I will call upon the courage in the people to step forward and express themselves with what counts, and that’s love.”

Threatening nukes is immoral foreign policy

“When you have mainline candidates that say that there’s nothing off the table with respect to Iran, that’s code for using nuclear devices. I got to tell you, when I’m president of the United States, there will be no preemptive wars with nukes–nuclear devices. To my mind, it’s immoral, and it’s been immoral for the last 50 years as part of American foreign policy.”

Fighting terrorism with a war doesn’t work

“We are mischaracterizing terrorism. Terrorism has been with civilization from the beginning. And it will be there to the end. We’re going to be as successful fighting terrorism as we are fighting drugs with a war. It doesn’t work. What you have to do is to begin to change the whole foreign policy. This invasion brought about more terrorists. Osama bin Laden must have been rolling in his blankets how happy he was over our invading Iraq.” 

see

Mike Gravel: Libertarian (video)

Mike Gravel For President 2008