Vote with the Facts!
Voter Guide
We feel that there is no more urgent matter than to share these researched facts nationwide in order
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© 2004, Vote with the Facts & US Face to Face
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Jobs
1) How many jobs have disappeared during this administration?
Since the recession began 41 months ago, 1 million jobs have disappeared,
the greatest sustained job loss since the Great Depression. There have been
greater losses in the private sector - a loss of 1.7 million jobs since March
2001. If job growth had been at the pace of other post-war business cycles (a
5.5% growth by the 41st month), then over 7 million new jobs would have been
created by now. 
[Employment data is above comparing past recessions.]
Source: Greatest sustained job loss since the Great Depression, http://www.jobwatch.org
2) How many fewer jobs are there than what the Bush administration projected with its tax cuts?
2,668,000 fewer jobs than the Bush administration projected would be created by its tax cuts.
The Bush Administration predicted that its tax cuts would produce 5.5 million new jobs by the end of 2004. To reach the 5.5 million target, job growth would have to average 473,000 per month over four times the level of job growth in June 2004.
Source:One year later, Bush Administration’s tax cuts not fulfilling job creation promises, http://www.jobwatch.org; Bush Administration's tax cuts falling short in job creation, http://www.jobwatch.org, Missing the moving target: Meager job growth and the poor track record of the administration's job forecasts, by Jared Bernstein, Lee Price, and Isaac Shapiro, http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issuebriefs_ib197, February 12, 2004 | EPI Issue Brief #197, http://www.jobwatch.org/creating/index.html, http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_econindicators_jobspict
3) From 1947-2001 which party holding the White House has produced the highest unemployment rate?
The Republicans. Five GOP presidents produced an average unemployment rate of 6.3% whereas five Democratic presidents produced an average unemployment rate of 4.8%. Unemployment under Bush now averages 6.1% (an increase of 1.4% since 2001), approaching the average unemployment rate of Republican presidents.
Source: "GOP Always Falls Down on the Jobs," Larry M. Bartels, Director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University, Los Angeles Times commentary, Sept. 26, 2003, www.latimes.com [type "Bartels" in Archive search]
4) How many manufacturing jobs have been lost in the United States during this administration as of December 2003?
2.6 million. When President Bush took office, about 17.1 million Americans worked in factories; today, only 14.5 million do. In November 2003, another seventeen thousand manufacturing jobs disappeared. Manufacturing employment has now fallen for forty straight months. In October, 73.5% of plants and equipment were in active use. Three years ago, more than 80% were. AFL-CIO-affiliated unions have been hit hard by the loss of 2.3 million jobs since January 2001, particularly in the manufacturing sector, which has cut payrolls.
Source: "The Talk of the Town," John Cassidy, The New Yorker, Dec. 8, 2003, http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?031215ta_talk_cassidy
Source: "200 AFL-CIO workers taking unpaid leave," Leigh Strope, AP labor writer, Sat., Nov. 29, 2003, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/apbiz_story.asp?category=1310&slug=Labor%20Money
5) How do wages and profits compare at this time?
In short, corporate profits have soared while wages and benefits have lagged. Labor compensation’s share of total income growth averaged 61% in previous recoveries. In this current "recovery", labor compensation accounts for only 29% of the total income growth.
Source: "Fast growth for profits, slow growth for wages and benefits," Snapshot for Dec. 3, 2003, Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute, http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm?id=1558
6) How do increases in corporate profits compare with labor compensation [workers’ wages and benefits]?
Corporate profits are up 57.5% while labor compensation has increased a meager 1.5% since the first quarter of 2001.
Source:Economic Snapshots, Snapshot for April 12, 2004, http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_04122004
7) How many American workers were unemployed as of May 2004?
8.2 million. Many of these individuals are the victims of trade and dislocation who will never get their old jobs back. In fact, more than 1.9 million workers were unemployed for more than six months in 2003, the highest rate of long-term unemployment since 1983.
Sources: Jobs Picture, June 4, 2004, http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_econindicators_jobspict_200440604
On the President’s Fiscal Year 2005 Budget for the U.S. Department of Labor, Ross Eisenbrey, Submitted to the U.S. House Committee On Ways and Means on March 4, 2004, http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_viewpoints_FY2005_FedBudget_and_jobs
8) What kind of jobs are being created since Bush took office?
Of the 3.1 million jobs created since last August, nearly two-thirds are in
low-wage industries, according to several reports issued recently by banks and
economic research groups. For the labor market as a whole, according to Stephen
Roach, chief economist for
Source: Report: Low pay derailing recovery, Stephen J. Glain, Boston Globe, August 7, 2004, http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/07/report_low_pay_derailing_recovery/
In the last quarter, mainly low-paying service jobs were created. 40% of the new jobs were in temp and retail.
Source: "Agreement will just send more U.S. jobs overseas," John J. Sweeney, Miami Herald, Nov. 16, 2003, http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/special_packages/focus/7264446.htm
The new jobs typically pay barely half of what the old jobs did. Most don’t offer pensions or health insurance for retirees.
Source: "Iowa plant closings mirror nationwide manufacturing job loss," Stephanie Simon, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 07, 2003, http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03341/247858.stm
The Economy
1) What percentage of the combined Bush tax cuts will go to the wealthiest Americans in 4 and 6 years?
43.7% in 4 years, 51.8% in 6 years will go to the wealthiest 1% (income of at least $337,000; average income $938,000)
52.9% in 4 years, 58.6% in 6 years will go to the wealthiest 5% (income of at least $145,000; average income $210,000)
7.1% in 4 years, 7.4% in 6 years will go to the bottom 40% of taxpayers (income of 0 to $28,000)
1.2% in 4 years, 1.2% in 6 years will go to the poorest 20% of taxpayers (income of $0 to $16,000)
Source: Citizens for Tax Justice, " The Bush Tax Cuts: The Most Recent CTJ Data l -
2) What is the average yearly increase in the debt by Republican and Democratic Presidents since WWII (1946)?
Democratic Presidents have increased the debt by an average of 3.7% per year resulting in 1.9 trillion.
Republican presidents have increased it an average of 9.1% per year resulting in 5.2 trillion.
Over the past 57 years Republicans have borrowed [$2.73] for
every dollar Democrats have borrowed. .gif)
Source: Encyclopedia Encarta; “An Analysis of the Presidents Who Are
Responsible For Excessive Spending”, Steve McGourty,
3) In addition to $210 billion in new corporate tax relief passed in October 2004 (to be signed), corporate taxes fell to their lowest sustained level in six decades during the Bush presidency. In a study of 275 of 500 Fortune 500 Companies, how many avoided paying any taxes?
82 of America’s largest and most profitable companies paid zero or less than zero in tax in one or more Bush years.
28 companies received $44.9 Billion due to negative income tax rates from 2001-2003.
In 2003 alone, 46 companies paid zero or less in federal income tax.
In 2002 and 2003, the 275 companies sheltered more than half their 1.1 trillion in pretax profits from federal tax.
Source: Citizens for Tax Justice, "Bush Policies Drive Surge in Corporate Tax Freeloading: 82 Big U.S. Corporations Paid No Tax in One or More Bush Years” - September 22, 2004, page 1-2, http://www.ctj.org/corpfed04pr.pdf
4) What does each American owe on our national debt as of March 2004?
Roughly $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the country for the debt of $7.11 trillion as of March 2004, as reported by David Walker, the Comptroller General of the United States in his op-ed piece in the New York Times.
Source: Fiscal future somewhat frightening, Walter Cronkite, Seattle Post
Intelligencer,
Health Care
1) How many people in the United States had no health coverage for 2003?
45 million Americans, or 15.6 percent of the population.
Source: The National Coalition on Health Care, "Facts on Health Insurance Coverage," http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml
Jobs shift away from industries that provide
health insurance to their workers, Economic Snapshot for May 12, 2004,
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures-_snapshots_05122004
2) How many adults are estimated to die each year in the US because they don’t have health insurance?
18,000.
Source: "U.S. Advisers Call for Universal Health Care," Maggie Fox, Reuters, Wired News, Jan. 14, 2004, http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=813915&tw=wn_wire_story
3) How has Medicare been affected by the Bush administration's policies?
In September, the Bush administration raised Medicare premiums17.5% bringing the total monthly payment to $78.50. This is the largest premium increase in 15 years and will affect 42 million senior and disabled Americans. In sheer dollars, the premium increase, up from $66 this year, is the largest ever.
"Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, said, "More older Americans will face harsh choices in meeting basic human needs -- health, food and housing.""
Source: "Medicare Premiums To Rise By 17.5%" By Ceci Connolly, Washington Post, September 4, 2004, www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/articles/A59772-2004Sep3.html
5) How much have health care premiums risen in the past
year?
11% - this is the fourth year in a row that they have risen at a double
digit pace. It is five times the rate of inflation, and five times
the rate of increase in workers' wages.
"The Kaiser study found that, for the first time, insurers charged
an average of more than $10,000 to provide a family of four with the most
common medical plan, known as a PPO, or preferred provider plan... That's up
$900 from 2003."
Source: "Premiums for health care rise over
11%" by Mark Schwanhausser, Mercury News, Sep 10, 2004
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/9627148.htm?1c
6) What was the average cost for each American to have health care during 2002?
About $5,440. For 2001, this country spent 47% more per person than Switzerland, the second biggest spender per capita. Health care spending in the US surged to $1.6 trillion in 2002 and outpaced growth in the rest of the economy.
Source: "U.S. Health Care Spending Surges Again," Mark Sherman, Associated Press, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 8, 2004, http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared/health/ap/ap_story.html/Health/AP.V0341.AP-Health-Care-Spe.html
7) What is the corrected cost of the Medicare bill which Bush signed in December 2003?
President Bush last year signed a Medicare prescription drug benefit with an estimated price tag of $395 billion. A month later, the White House said the actual cost was more like $534 billion.
Source: Bush Team's Fuzzy Math, Jarrett Murphy, CBS News, Feb. 24, 2004, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/24/politics/main601960.shtml
Education
1) How does the Bush administration’s budgeting request for K-12 education funding for fiscal year 2004 compare to the actual amount approved by Congress for the preceding year?
It is $1.2 billion less.
Source: http://www.house.gov/owens/rap020503.htm
2) How does the Bush administration’s funding proposal for implementing "No Child Left Behind" compare with the amount of funding estimated to be required by education experts?
It is $9.4 billion less than would be necessary.
Source: www.nea.org/presscenter/testingcosts.html
3) What is the Bush administration’s "No Child Left Behind" program based on?
"No Child Left Behind" is based on the so-called
"Houston Miracle," which was recently discredited when it was
discovered that schools were falsely reporting high educational achievement and
low dropout rates in order to meet program goals. Rod Paige was the head of the
Source: Now with Bill Moyers,
4) "Headstart" is widely considered to be a very successful early childhood educational program. How much has the Bush Administration cut its funding?
President Bush has proposed to turn Head Start’s services entirely over to the states. This could kill Head Start within 5 years, according to the National Head Start Association. The costs involved in shifting Head Start over to the states include the following:
1) The scarcity of states equipped to provide Head Start services. Of 30
states studied by independent researchers, only 3 —
2) States’ financial inability to provide Head Start services. Across the nation, 49 of the 50 states are facing a combined budget deficit of approximately $100 billion. Ten states have reported large cuts in pre-kindergarten programs.
3) The rise in administrative costs. The GAO has estimated that the rising cost of administering Head Start by the states will result in a $418 million shortfall, the equivalent of 59,000 Head Start slots.
Source: www.nhsa.org/press/index_news_041603.htm
Poverty
1) What is the increase in the bankruptcy rate since 2000?
32%. From 2000-2003 the US had the highest rate of bankruptcies in its history.
Source: Administrative Office of the US Courts, "Judicial Business of the United States Courts: Annual Report of the Director, 2002," http://www.uscourts.gov/judbus2002/contents.html, 2003: http://www.uscourts.gov/Press_Releases/fy03bk.pdf
[use "Judicial Business" link to download PDF file]
2) In 2003 how many people in the US were living below the official poverty line (defined as $18,244 for a family of 4 with 2 children)?
36 million. This is an increase for three consecutive years of 4.6 million from the year 2000 number of people in poverty of 31.1 million ( which was 11.3% of the population). The year 2001 saw the first increase in the poverty rate since 1993.
Sources for questions 5-10: 2003: http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/poverty03/pov03hi.html, http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/poverty02/pov02hi.html, http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/poverty00/pov00hi.html http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/income00/prs01asc.html, http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p60-214.pdf [see page 8]
3) What was the total number of children in the US living in poverty in 2003?
12.9 million children (17.6%) (about 1 in 5.68 children), up from 11.6 million (16.1%) in 2000 — an increase of a 1.3 million children added to poverty since Bush took office.
4) What was the average rate of increase in requests for emergency shelter in 2003 and 2003?
Requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 17% over the past year, and requests for emergency shelter assistance increased by an average of 13% in the 25 cities surveyed. In 2002, the increase was 19%, which is the largest annual increase since 1990.
Source: US Conference of Mayors, "Hunger, Homelessness On the Rise in Major U.S. Cities," Dec. 18, 2002, http://usmayors.org/uscm/news/press_releases/documents/hunger_121802.asp, http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/news/press_releases/documents/hunger_121803.asp
5) From 1947-2001 which party holding the White House has produced the highest unemployment rate?
The Republicans. 5 GOP presidents produced an average unemployment rate of 6.3% whereas 5 Democratic presidents produced an average unemployment rate of 4.8%. Unemployment under Bush now averages 6.1% (an increase of 1.4% since 2001), approaching the average unemployment rate of Republican presidents.
Source: "GOP Always Falls Down on the Jobs," Larry M. Bartels, Director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University, Los Angeles Times commentary, Sept. 26, 2003, www.latimes.com [type "Bartels" in Archive search]
6) What must a worker now earn to afford the average rent and utilities for a 2-bedroom apartment?
$15.21 an hour. The federal minimum wage now stands at $5.15 an hour.
Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition, http://www.nlihc.org/oor2003/introduction.htm
The Environment
1) Does the Bush Administration’s "Clear Skies Initiative" improve air quality?
No. These changes to the 1970 Clean Air Act actually increase allowable pollution levels by 42 million tons of additional pollutants released by 2020. This would allow three times more toxic mercury to 163 tons, 50 percent more sulfur emissions, and hundreds of thousands more tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides annually. It is estimated that 100,000 premature deaths will result, and that Clear Skies-related health problems will cost taxpayers $115 billion per year. Below are graphs showing the increase in tons of pollutants allowed under Clear Skies Initiative (CSI).
Sources: "2 Studies Contradict EPA on New Rules," John Heilprin (AP),
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2549-2003Oct22.html
Natural Resources Defense Council, http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution/qbushplan.asp#clearskies
Testimony of David G. Hawkins, Director, NRDC Climate Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, Hearings on S. 385, “Clear Skies Act of 2003”, U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety, April 8, 2003, http://epw.senate.gov/108th/Hawkins_040803.htm
2) In 2003, the Bush administration’s EPA dropped active investigations into power plants for their violations of the Clean Air Act. Investigations of how many power plant were dropped?
Fifty. Bush administration changes in the underlying rules will allow the utility industry to avoid making pollution-control upgrades that directly affect our air quality. Representatives of the utility industry were among President Bush’s largest campaign donors.
Sources: "Lawyers at E.P.A. Say It Will Drop Pollution Cases,"
Christopher Drew and Richard A. Oppel, Jr., New
York Times,
http://www.theblogproject.com/index.php?p=320&more=1
3) How large is the untapped oil reserve in the environmentally pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which the Bush administration has repeatedly attempted to open to commercial drilling?
Estimated to be less than what the
Sources:
"Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, http://arctic.fws.gov/issues1.html#section2
"Oil and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," Natural Resources Defense Council, http://www.nrdc.org/land/wilderness/arctic.asp
4) How does the Bush administration’s "Healthy Forests Initiative" (HFI) affect our national forests and old growth forests?
The HFI and other Bush administration forestry policies accelerate
aggressive "thinning" of valuable trees across millions of acres of
backcountry forests. Changes to the Sierra Framework increase logging rates in
the
Sources: "New forestry bill has environmentalists worried," Glen
Martin, San Francisco Chronicle,
"Debunking the ‘Healthy Forests Initiative’," The Sierra Club, http://www.sierraclub.org/forests/fires/healthyforests_initiative.asp
"Learn About Wild Forests," U.S. PIRG, http://wildforests.com/wildforests.asp?id2=4070&id3=wildforests&
5) Who is in charge of the stewardship of our national forests?
The US Department of Agriculture’s Mark Rey, who for nearly 20 years was a top lobbyist for the timber industry, is now the chief administrator responsible for the stewardship of 155 national forests.
Sources: "New forestry bill has environmentalists worried," Glen
Martin, San Francisco Chronicle,
"Debunking the ‘Healthy Forests Initiative’," The Sierra Club, http://www.sierraclub.org/forests/fires/healthyforests_initiative.asp
"Learn About Wild Forests," U.S. PIRG, http://wildforests.com/wildforests.asp?id2=4070&id3=wildforests&
"Meet Mark Rey," Native Forests Network, http://www.nativeforest.org/campaigns/public_lands/rey_5_30_02.htm
6) When the Bush administration took office, the EPA’s revised new safety standards set the allowable arsenic levels in drinking water at 10 ppb (parts per billion). Within how many months did the Bush administration roll the standard back to 50 ppb?
Two months. Pending further study the Bush administration said,
the 50 ppb standard — which is five times the international standard — was in
effect in the
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, arsenic in drinking water causes cancer of the skin, lungs, bladder and prostate in humans and is also linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, anemia, and disorders of the immune, nervous and reproductive systems.
EPA Office of Water, "Technical Fact
Sheet: Proposed Rule for Arsenic in Drinking Water and Clarifications to
Compliance
and New Source Contaminants Monitoring [EPA 815-F-00-011] ," May 2000.
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ars/prop_techfs.html.
"Bush Mandates Arsenic in Your Tap Water," Rachel Massey, Organic Consumers Association, http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/arsenic.cfm
Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ars/implement.html
7) How many years of research, consideration, and review went into the EPA’s establishing the new safety standards for reducing arsenic levels in drinking water from 50 ppb to 10 ppb?
Over ten years.
In 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO) set 10 ppb as the recommended limit for arsenic in drinking water. The 15-nation European Union adopted 10 ppb as a mandatory standard for arsenic in drinking water in 1998. The WHO reports that even at 10 ppb there is an increased risk of cancer and other diseases.
Sources: World Health Organization, "Water, Sanitation and Health: Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality," information extracted from World Health Organization, GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING-WATER QUALITY , 2nd edition, Vol. 1 Geneva: World Health Organization, 1993, pgs. 41-42. http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/GDWQ/Chemicals/arsenicsum.htm
"Bush Mandates Arsenic in Your Tap Water," Rachel Massey, Organic Consumers Association, http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/arsenic.cfm.
8) How many acres of wetlands would no longer be protected from development and pollution under the Bush Administration’s proposal to end federal oversight of "isolated waters"?
20 million acres [the size of South Carolina], which is up to 20% of the US wetlands not including Alaska which would be opened to development and pollution, despite President Bush’s election campaign promises that there would be no net loss of wetlands under his administration.
Sources: "
"Statement of Senator Bob Graham (D-FL), Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water Hearing, June 10, 2003," http://epw.senate.gov/108th/Graham_061003.htm
Resource At Risk: Isolated waters imperiled, Robert Montgomery, BASS Times, April 2003, http://espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/s/b_fea_bt_0304_news3_isolated.html
9) What share of "Superfund" toxic waste site cleanup costs are to be paid by corporate polluters under the Bush Administration, and how does this compare to the past?
In 1995, only 18% of the cost of the Superfund program came from taxpayer
dollars. Now polluting industries pay no tax to fund the cleanup of
abandoned waste sites, and taxpayers are paying for 100% of the program. Under
the Bush administration, the number of completed Superfund site cleanups has fallen
by 50% compared with the pace of cleanups between 1997 and 2000.
Sources: Superfund Report:
How the Bush Administration is Failing to Protect People's Health at Superfund
Sites, July 27,
2004,
http://www.sierraclub.org/toxics/superfund/
U.S. General Accounting Office, Superfund Program: Current Status and Future Funding Challenges, GAO-03-850, July, 2003, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03850.pdf
U.S. EPA, Factsheet, "Superfund Trust Fund and Taxes: Setting the Record Straight," October 7, 2003
"Cleanup Slowdown: Superfund Sites Wait In Line For Cleanup," U.S. PIRG, http://www.pirg.org/enviro/superfund/superfund.asp?id2=9449&id3=superfund&.
Civil Liberties
1) How many communities have passed resolutions opposing the Patriot Act, and why?
As of December 2003, an overwhelming 200 cities and counties, along with 3
states (
Public officials have voted for the resolutions against the Patriot Act for many reasons, including:
• Concerns about detaining and questioning immigrants who are not suspected of a crime;
• Doubts about the effectiveness of the Patriot Act against terrorism;
• Desire to protect constitutionally protected free speech and dissent;
• Worries about the intrusion of the FBI into local policing;
• Memories of the McCarthy era and other
repressive periods of
Sources: Bill of Rights Defense Committee, http://www.bordc.org/Successes.htm
"Patriot Revolution? Cities From
ABC News,
"Forward Thinking: Cantabrigians
Stand up for Civil Rights," Kristen Lombardi, Boston Phoenix,
2) Open: The Department of Justice, under Attorney General John
Ashcroft, introduced the Patriot Act into Congress on
Sources: For the complete text of the Patriot Act, see http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=12250
For a legal analysis, see http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/10091.pdf, especially page 5.
See also: http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=11812 http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/
3) Without due legal process which is illegal according to US and international law, how many people have been imprisoned and interrogated by the US military in Guantanamo Bay, a US naval base in Cuba?
663, 660 men and three minors (boys between the ages of 13 and 16) from 43 countries,
suspected by the government to have connections with Al-Qaeda,
have been detained at Guantanamo Bay under the
control of the Department of Defense. [For nearly three years most have had no
legal representation or contact with family members. Only recently the US
Supreme Court declared that the White House was in
violation of the law because none of the detainees had been charged with a
violation of law, nor had access to legal representation. Only recently some
were released.] The
Sources: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=625&issue_id=70
http://www.fcnl.org/civil_liberties/guantanamo.htm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011113-27.html
David Cole, Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism, 2003, p. 42.
"Suicide Attempts at
War and International Affairs
Iraq
1) What are the consequences of the torture, sexual abuse and
murder at Abu Ghraib prison in
1) These abuses violate the Geneva Conventions.
2) These abuses further undermine the
3) These abuses have further alienated the Iraqi public.
4) These abuses put US soldiers at greater risk all over the world.
5) These abuses caused further loss of any moral ground the
By the fall of 2003, the majority of several thousand detainees in Abu Ghraib Prison were civilians who were picked up by the
Sources:
The New Yorker magazine, issue date
www.amnesty.org/library;
Top Brass at Fault, Robert Burns, Associated
Press, The Examiner,
Amnesty International Report: The Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula: EU-US Summit: End the EU's embarrassing silence on US torture (News AMR 51/102/2004--June 24, 2004); Open Letter from Amnesty International to the President of the European Council Bertie Ahern on the occasion of the EU-US Summit, June 25-26, 2004;www.news.amnesty.org
2) Did Bush order the Pentagon to explore an invasion of
"President Bush ordered the Pentagon to explore the possibility of a ground invasion of Iraq well before the United States was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001" an official told ABC News, confirming the account former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill gives in a book written by former Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind. The official, who asked not to be identified, was present in the same National Security Council meetings as O’Neill immediately after Bush’s inauguration in January and February of 2001. O’Neill says that from the very start of his administration, Bush was focused on ousting Saddam.
Source: "Corroborating O’Neill’s Account: Official Confirms Claims That
Saddam Was Bush’s Focus Before 9/11," John Cochran, ABC News,
3) What specific evidence came from former Treasury Secretary O’Neill and
others concerning Bush’s plans to take over
A Pentagon document dated
An earlier document marked Secret from January 2001, "Plan for
post-Saddam
Source: "Bush Sought ‘Way’ To Invade
4) The Bush administration claimed that
No such weapons were found according to the UN weapons inspectors, the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group (ISG), and the Pentagon’s own Defense Intelligence Agency.
Sources: "Search in Iraq Finds No Banned Weapons," Dana Priest and Walter Pincus, Washington Post staff writers, Fri., Oct. 3, 2003, p. A01, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35638-2003Oct2?language=printer
"2002 Report Found No Iraqi
Arsenal," Bryan Bender, Boston Globe article, reprinted in the San
Francisco Chronicle,
5) What other reports concluded that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction?
Former
A report from UN weapons inspectors to be released this week says they now
believe there were no weapons of mass destruction of any significance in
Source: Kay calls on Bush to 'come clean' about WMD, Christian Science
Monitor,
Kay: Bush Should Admit Error on Iraq WMD: Ex-WMD
Inspector David Kay Advises Bush to Admit He Was Wrong About
Weapons in
Bush, Aides Ignored CIA Caveats on
6) Did the CIA claim that
No. In his first public defense of prewar intelligence, CIA Director George
Tenet said that
Source: CIA Boss:
7) During the 1980s who sold weapons to
US, British, and German companies sold deadly weapons to the Iraqi regime.
Even with well-known reports of Hussein’s malicious use of weapons against his
own people, the Reagan and Bush Administrations both authorized the sale of
lethal weaponry to
Source: "
8) The administration claimed there was a connection between Al-Qaeda and
To date, the administration has not come forward with any evidence of a
close relationship between
Discrediting the significance of a leaked Pentagon memo purporting a
connection, one former senior intelligence official likened the memo to a
series of "data points . . . among the millions of holdings of the
intelligence agencies, many of which are simply not thought likely to be
true." The Pentagon followed suit, issuing its final word on the memo soon
after the leak had been released to the press. "News reports that the
Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts
between al Qaeda and
Source: "CIA Seeks Probe of Iraq-Al Qaeda Memo
Leak," Walter Pincus, Washington Post
staff writer,
War Costs, Deaths, and Injuries
1) How much is it costing
$5.4 billion ($4.4 billion in
Source: "Disparity in
2) How many US military deaths and injuries in the war and occupation of Iraq?
1102 US service members have died as of October 19, 2004 or 89% of military forces there. 896 deaths since Bush announcement to “Bring them on” on July 2, 2003.
Source: Source Iraq Coalition Casualty Count - http://icasualties.org/oif/
More than 900 US Soldiers have been killed since May 1, 2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush declared major combat over. Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began in March, 2003, almost 16,000 wounded, injured or sick soldiers from the conflict have been evacuated to Landstuhl, Germany which handles between 30 and 55 a day from Iraq and Afghanistan alone. About 160 U.S. soldiers from Iraq have had limbs amputated, and 200 have lost all or part of their sight from bomb blasts. About 1,400 U.S. soldiers have been treated exclusively for mental health problems caused by the trauma of war.
Source: U.S. casualties grim cost of Iraq war: Human tragedies take toll on medics, Sandro Contento, Toronto Star, Sep. 26, 2004
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1096150208191&call_pageid=968332188854&col=9683500607&tacodalogin=no
"Death, injury, illness toll at 10,000 for U.S. in Iraq," Roger Roy, Orlando Sentinel, Nov. 29, 2003, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001803475_senthome290.html
3) How much has the war in
The total spending allocated to
Source: "The Cost of War for States and
4) How many tons of depleted uranium have we left in
"The Pentagon and United Nations estimate that US
and British forces used 1,100 to 2,200 tons of armor-piercing shells made of
depleted uranium during attacks in
Source: "Use of depleted uranium weapons lingers as health concern,"
Larry Johnson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Foreign Desk Editor,
"Radiation in
5) What are the health consequences of using depleted uranium in the first Gulf War?
Depleted uranium "can produce cancer in the lungs,
bones, blood, or kidneys....Children are 10 to 20 times more sensitive to the
effects of radiation than adults....pediatricians in the Iraqi town of Basra,
for example, are reporting an increase of 6 to 12 times in the incidence of
childhood leukemia and cancer." "The incidence of congenital malformations
has doubled in the exposed populations in
Sources: "Medical Consequences of Attacking
6) Do you know what depleted uranium is and what the main health and environmental effects of depleted uranium are?
Described as a "serious health threat" by the US Defense Nuclear
Agency, DU is a particularly lethal toxin because it poses the double risk of
chemical and radioactive poisoning. Former US army colonel Doug Rokke, who served in the Gulf War to advise on radioactive
clean up, says almost every person in his 30-member team is now seriously ill
because of DU, and three have died of lung cancer. Yet DU poisoning doesn’t
stop there. In one military unit, 67% of children born to US Gulf veterans had
severe illnesses or birth defects. And one Canadian study of a DU-affected site
in
DU, the byproduct of enriching uranium for nuclear weapons or reactors, is used in armor-piercing shells and becomes deadly immediately after hitting a solid object. Once detonated, DU bursts into a burning spray of radioactive dust, spreading as far as 26 miles from its point of impact. With such a wide range of radiation, DU has disastrous consequences for the nearby land, water supply, civilian population, and affected soldiers.
Sources: "Q&A: Depleted uranium weapons," Alex Kirby, BBC
Environment Correspondent, BBC News, World Edition,
"Forum: Ask Alex Kirby," BBC News,
US Foreign & Defense Policies
1) Is preemptive war legal?
Preemptive war violates Article 51 of the United Nations Charter (a treaty
ratified by almost every nation in the world, including the
The prohibition against aggressive war, like that against slavery and torture, is a fundamental international law. In clear violation of this fundamental law, the Bush Administration’s radically new "preemptive strike" doctrine proclaims that the United States may use military force against any state it perceives to be hostile; any state which seeks to acquire biological, chemical or nuclear weapons; or any one that "aids" terrorism.
Source: "Bush’s Illegal War," Elizabeth Haddix, http://www.nlg.org/news/articles/haddix_oped.htm
Preemptive force "is extremely dangerous and flat-out illegal,"
says Jordan Paust, professor of international law at
the
Source: "As Attack on
2) How many international security-related treaties has the Bush administration violated, refused to participate in, or withdrawn from?
At least nine. They include, but are not limited to, the following.
Violations:
• United Nations Charter — preemptive war;
unauthorized invasion of
According to an August 2002 report by a UN subcommission, laws which are contravened by the use of depleted uranium shells include: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Charter of the United Nations; the Genocide Convention; the Convention Against Torture; the four Geneva Conventions of 1949; the Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980; and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which expressly forbid employing "poison or poisoned weapons" and "arms, projectiles or materials calculated to cause unnecessary suffering." All these laws are designed to spare civilians from unwarranted suffering in armed conflicts.
• The
• Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty — refusal to engage in verified and irreversible reduction and elimination of nuclear forces; planning for maintenance and modernization of a large nuclear arsenal for the indefinite future (in violation of the obligation to negotiate nuclear disarmament in good faith).
Refused participation:
• Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty — does not support ratification.
• Verification Protocol on Biological Weapons — refused to support completion of negotiations on an agreement to verify compliance with the existing ban on biological weapons contained in the Biological Weapons Convention.
• Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court — in unprecedented action, notified the UN that the
• Treaty Banning Antipersonnel Mines — has
taken no action to move towards US participation in the ban on landmines as
projected by the
Withdrawn:
• Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty — withdrawal effective June 2002.
Sources: "
"US Forces’ Use of Depleted Uranium
Weapons is ‘Illegal’," Neil Mackay, Sunday Herald,
Nicole Deller and John Burroughs, "Jus ad Bellum: Law Regulating Resort to Force," Human Rights, winter 2002, http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/winter03/lawregulatingresorttoforce.html
Rule of Power or Rule of Law? An Assessment of U.S. Policies and Actions Regarding Security-Related Treaties, Nicole Deller, Arjun Makhijani, John Burroughs, eds. (Apex Press, 2003).
"Arms Control Abandoned: The Case of Biological Weapons," Nicole Deller and John Burroughs, World Policy Journal, summer 2003, http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/articles/wpj03-2/deller.html
"A Call to Arms Control," Jim
Wurst, Washington Times,
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy Briefing Paper, "Multilateral Treaties Are Fundamental Tools for Protecting Global Security; United States Faces Choice of Bolstering These Regimes or Allowing Their Erosion," http://www.lcnp.org/pubs/RuleofLawbriefing.htm
3) How much is the
$401.3 billion.
Source: "Bush Signs Defense Authorization Bill," Fred Barbash, Washington Post staff writer,
"For 45 years of the Cold War we were in an arms race with the
Source: "Last of the Big Time Spenders: U.S. Military Budget Still the
World’s Largest, and Growing," Center for Defense Information,
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