Author name: davidswanson

War Funding, Impeachment, and Health Care

By David Swanson
Remarks delivered in San Luis Obispo, California, on April 23, 2008

When I started giving speeches about Iraq and impeachment three years ago, I liked to list the major impeachable offenses for Bush and for Cheney, but as the list grew it became rather cumbersome. It got to the point where adding another crime to the list would bring to mind four others I needed to add, and then someone would discover a whole new field of criminality and report it in the news while I was on the read more

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Are Peace and Impeachment Possible?

“Are Peace and Impeachment Possible? Strategies for Saving our Constitution, Economy, and Environment”
By David Swanson
Remarks delivered in Ojai, California, on April 22, 2008

I’m going to talk for a while and then take some questions, and maybe even some corrections, since unlike the Pope and George W. Bush I do make mistakes. Our president, as far as I know, has never admitted a mistake. And of this I am sure, I have never publicly done anything as brave as what members of read more

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Can Grandmothers End Wars?

By David Swanson

Here is the perfect Mother’s Day gift for your mother, your mother in law, your grandmothers, and in fact for the men in their lives as well – who ought to be shamed into action. Joan Wile has published a book called “Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace.” As far as I know, this is her first book. It is very much an account of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. If more people did the same, we would read more

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The 2008 Election Will Be Stolen

By David Swanson

A new collection of essays edited by Mark Crispin Miller called “Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000 – 2008,” tells the story better than any single source I’ve seen yet.

The Supreme Court stopped a recount in Florida in 2000 that would have made Al Gore president. This is not speculation. The recount was later done.

Numerous elections were stolen in 2002, in Colorado, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and elsewhere, including read more

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"I Am So Opposed"

By David Swanson

Our representatives in Congress and our candidates for president are so opposed to the occupation of Iraq that, rather than funding a withdrawal, they are now proposing to fund the continuation of the occupation, as is, for the rest of Bush and Cheney’s terms plus a big chunk of the next administration / Congress. Suddenly $102 billion is $170 billion. Except that, unlike that loaves and fishes routine, somebody will have to pay for this – pay China for this money read more

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The Collateral Damage Is Central

By David Swanson

The collateral damage in Iraq is most of the damage, and intentionally producing it is most of the mission. This is one of the conclusions I take away from an important new book by Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian called “Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians.”

The authors published a related cover story in the Nation magazine’s July 30 / Aug. 6, 2007 issue called “The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness.” The book is quite short read more

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Wars Begin in High School Cafeterias

By David Swanson

Citizens in a number of school districts around the country have dramatically reduced military recruitment through simple procedures that anyone can do. No marching or civil disobedience is required. You might, however, have to chat with a principal at a football game or write a couple of letters. Why aren’t more of us doing more of this?

That’s the question I came away with after interviewing Pat Elder for an hour (here’s the audio: read more

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From Inside a Cage at Guantanamo

By David Swanson

The guards at Guantanamo are terrified. Even a man with no legs (amputated after being intentionally exposed to extreme cold by American guards in Afghanistan) is treated as a horrifying threat:

“The bandages wrapped around Abdul’s stumps were never changed. When he took them off himself, they were full of blood and pus. He showed the bandage to the guards and pointed to his open wounds. The guards ignored him. Later I saw how he tried to wash the bandages in his read more

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