Dems Use LaRouche War Manual To Stop Bush Fascism
by Michele Steinberg
Dec. 21 (EIRNS)The Democratic Party in the Senate and the House has thrown down the gauntlet against the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney White House, and the "one-party" dictatorship the Republicans put in place with their use of phony terrorist alerts, scare tactics, and lies to control the population, and lock the country in a nightmare of "perpetual war."
And, significantly, the battles are not waiting for January, but are already underway against the massive GOP voter suppression in the 2004 election, and Bush's ripoff of Social Securityexactly the issues defined by Lyndon LaRouche, the former Democratic primary candidate. In an international webcast Nov. 9, LaRouche called on Democrats to have the quality of command of a "general" on the battlefield, and announced that "GOP vote suppression is a coup against the U.S. Constitution." Then, on Dec. 11, a LaRouche PAC mass leaflet exposed that Bush's "Pinochet Plan" to steal Social Security is a ripoff. "Crush it now," the leaflet says. - No Mandate for Bush -
The issue is simple: There is no mandate for Bush as President. It is unlikely Bush won the election in Ohio, and several other states, where voter suppression was heavy, in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Evidence is mounting to prove the violations.
On Dec. 8 in Washington, D.C., and Dec. 13 in Columbus, Ohio, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, led by ranking minority member Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich), held open hearings that accumulated evidence which could lead to the jailing of those violators of the Voting Rights Act.
That is just the beginning.
On Dec. 13, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, headed by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), announced the DPC "will launch a series of major oversight and investigative hearings, beginning in January in the 109th Congress, because Republicans who control the White House and the Congress have made clear they have no intention of meeting their responsibility to provide Congressional oversight."
With reportedly as many as five ongoing grand jury investigations into Administration activities around the Iraq warfrom questions about fraud involved in the $10 billion in no-bid Pentagon contracts in Iraq, obtained by Dick Cheney's former employer, Halliburton, to the illegal leaking of the identity of a covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame, by "senior officials" of the Administrationthe Senate investigations have been dreaded, and forbidden by the White House.
Now, says the DPC, "Among the issues that 'cry out' for Congressional oversight but which have generated none are the following:
* "The cover-up of true cost estimates of the Administration's prescription drug benefit.
* "Contracting abuses in Iraq.
* "The Administration's use of pre-war intelligence.
* "The large number of 'no bid' contracts awarded in Iraq."
Making clear this was not just an effort "on paper," Dorgan was joined at a press conference Dec. 13 by incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev), who spoke of an "expanded role" for the DPC, and who announced that at least seven Senators will be involved in a new "investigative" function of the DPC, to do the job the Republican leadership prevented in the 108th Congress.
In 2003, at White House insistence, the GOP-controlled Senate and House leadership prevented hearings from taking place on crucial issues such as the manipulation and falsification of intelligence on Iraq to fit the White House need for the propaganda to justify the war. In December 2003, when the Senate Intelligence Committee was about to override the chairman with a Committee vote to investigate, Cheney personally intervened to shut down the Committee. In May 2004, when the news of torture of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. military broke in The New Yorker magazine, the White House again called on the GOP Congress to block hearings. The White House thought the truth would sink Bush and Cheney in the election.
The DPC is fulfilling the Constitutional role of Congress, said Dorgan. If the Republicans start conducting their real oversight hearings, he said, "There will be no need for our hearings." In addition, Reid will create a "war room" in the Minority Leader's office, to conduct rapid-response against the Republicans.
Now, new challenges to Bush's tyranny are surfacing almost daily.
On Dec. 16, Democratic leaders of House and SenateRep. Nancy Pelosi of California and Harry Reiddenounced the Social Security privatization scam in a statement which warned Bush not to "raid" the program and "cut guaranteed benefits." Congressman Robert Matsui (D-Calif), ranking member of the Social Security Subcommittee, said Bush is taking "10 years off the life" of Social Security.
Senator John Corzine (D-NJ), formerly CEO of the Wall Street investment house Goldman Sachs, announced he would become a "leading voice" against privatization. Corzine blasted Bush's "economic summit" as a "dog-and-pony show, an infomercial for privatization" and said Bush's plan will destroy the system. "Without Social Security, about 50% of seniors would be living in poverty," he said.
In a Dec. 16 letter to Bush, Sen. Daniel Akada (D-Hi), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md) and Reid, warned Bush to reverse the vicious cuts in benefits and services to veterans his Administration has forced. This is intolerable, "especially in time of war," they noted, and threatened to bring out this issue in the Veterans Administration confirmation hearings. A day earlier, 47 Senate Democrats sent a letter to Bush, initiated by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), warning they would stand in the way of any effort to turn Medicaid into a block grant proposal.
Then, Dec. 21, the shoe dropped on the probe by the Senate Intelligence Committee into how intelligence on Iraq was misused by Administration officials in statements and reports. "Now, we will make this a top priority," says Wendy Morigi, speaking for Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa).
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