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Representative John Conyers, Democrat - Michigan, Confronts Bush and Demands Investigation of Vulture Funds - RI10
Representative
John Conyers,
Democrat - Michigan,
Confronts Bush
and Demands
Investigation of
Vulture Funds
- RI10
Citing Democracy Now! Broadcast,
Conyers Confronts Bush and
Demands Investigation of
Vulture Funds
Friday, February 16th, 2007
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/16/1548232
House Judiciary Chair Rep. John Conyers (D - Michigan) joins us from Capitol Hill as the House is poised to pass a non-binding resolution opposing President Bush's escalation of the Iraq war. Conyers calls for a cutoff of appropriations for the war in Iraq, saying, "that may be the only way that we're going to end the war." [includes rush transcript - partial]
The House of Representatives is expected to pass a non-binding resolution today opposing President Bush's decision to send more than twenty thousand additional combat troops to Iraq.
The House has been debating the resolution since Tuesday. As many as two-dozen Republicans are expected to vote with the Democrats in opposing the troop increase. If the resolution passes, it will mark the first time Congress has voted against President Bush's Iraq war policy.
Speaker House Nancy Pelosi has also indicated she would back Congressman John Murtha's attempt to rewrite the president's spending request to limit Bush's options in prosecuting the war.
This is Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota. He is the first Muslim to be elected to Congress.
* Rep. Keith Ellison (D - MN)
Meanwhile many Republicans criticized the Democrats for introducing the resolution. This is Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas.
* Jeb Hensarling (R - TX)
Joining us now from Capitol Hill is House Judiciary Chair John Conyers of Michigan. On Wednesday he and more than two-dozen other members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Bush. It was the president's first meeting with the caucus in over two years.
* Rep. John Conyers (D - MI), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus. He met with President Bush yesterday about debt relief for Africa.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
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JUAN GONZALEZ: The House of Representatives is expected to pass a non-binding resolution today opposing President Bush's decision to send more than 20,000 additional combat troops to Iraq. The House has been debating the resolution since Tuesday. As many as two-dozen Republicans are expected to vote with the Democrats in opposing the troop increase. If the resolution passes, it will mark the first time Congress has voted against President Bush’s Iraq war policy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also indicated she would back Congressman John Murtha's attempt to rewrite the President's spending request to limit Bush's options in prosecuting the war.
This is Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota. He’s the first Muslim to be elected to Congress.
REP. KEITH ELLISON: For six years now, while the deception has deepened, we were told to shut up, bite your tongues, you're not as patriotic as me, you don't love America as much as I do. None of that is true. We have to stop this polarizing language and really focus on the best way out of this. Even people who support the escalation can't claim that we're going to be in America forever. What is your plan for eventually getting out of this thing? We say let's start the withdrawal now. Let's start the diplomatic solution now. Let's start the political solution now. I want to say, on behalf of those who really thirst for peace, who believe that peace really is the answer, that we need to look at the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke out against the Vietnam War. He said, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” And so it is.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Keith Ellison on the floor of the House. Meanwhile, many Republicans criticize the Democrats for introducing the resolution. This is Congressmember Jeb Hensarling of Texas.
REP. JEB HENSARLING: Clearly, many, if not most, of the Democrats call for withdrawal from Iraq, as do several of my very respected Republican colleagues. And I respect their views, when they are heartfelt. But, Mr. Speaker, since Democrats now control both houses of Congress, why are we not voting on a withdrawal resolution? And that's one of the reasons this is such a sad day. I mean, think about it, Mr. Speaker. How do you look a soldier in the eye and say, “You know, I don't believe you can succeed in Iraq. I don't believe in your mission. I don't believe you can win this war. And I have the power to bring you home, but I refuse to do it. I refuse to do it”? Where's the courage in that resolution? Where's the conviction in that resolution? If you truly believe in your heart of hearts that our soldiers are needlessly risking their lives, don't you have a moral obligation to bring them home?
AMY GOODMAN: Joining us now from Capitol Hill is the new chair of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers of Michigan. On Wednesday, he and more than two-dozen other members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Bush. It was the President's first meeting with the caucus in over two years. Joining us still in studio is Joslyn Barnes and Danny Glover. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Congressmember Conyers.
REP. JOHN CONYERS: Always a pleasure, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about how your meeting went with the President yesterday?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: Well, we talked essentially about Iraq, Katrina and the domestic breakdown that's going on right now.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And what was the President's response to your questions?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: His response was, “I didn't know anything about this.” And he assigned a staffer to get on it right away.
Tabacco: Well, if you believe that, I guess the Pope is a Jew!
And so, it's our position that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Comity Doctrine brought from our Constitution allows the President to require the courts defer in individual suits against foreign nations. And so, we're conducting a couple of things. First of all, we want to know where these practices are going on at the present time, and, two, how we can get this information to President Bush so that he can, as he indicated to us, stop it immediately.
Tabacco: Neocons do have a weakness – PUBLIC SCRUTINY is their Garlic. If they were not afraid of exposure, they would not hide their dastardly deeds so carefully in plain sight. That’s why Tabacco wants to televise all WARS and all EXECUTIONS. I do not believe these Atrocities can stand the Light of Day.
Bush & his Neocon Vulture friends are profiteering from this loophole. Why would Bush shoot a “Golden Goose”? It wouldn’t be the first time this president has given lip service and then never mentioned it again. But let me not “rain on your parade”. Stranger things have happened. If Bush does STOP IT, it’s only because the LIGHT OF DAY HAS EXPOSED HIS SHENANIGANS TO PUBLIC SCRUTINY. Neocons and Vampires do NOT like exposure to sunlight. I shall begin holding my breath, beginning NOW! YOU DO THE SAME!
JUAN GONZALEZ: And, Congressman, there was also the announcement of some debt relief for Liberia, as well. Why Liberia, particularly, and what's happening with the rest of debt relief, in general, in terms of Africa, that the Bush administration has been promising?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: Well, I think it's moving very slowly. There was an announcement made by the President about debt relief to Liberia. Liberia, of course, with its first woman president, who's made quite a splash here in Washington, has and enjoys, I think, a relatively favored status. But we want an investigation into this bond speculation, as it applies to anyone in our universe that's helping exploit these very poor nations, in terms of the inability to repay international aid loans.
AMY GOODMAN: Danny Glover.
DANNY GLOVER: John, how are you doing this morning?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: Danny, I’m so glad to hear you.
DANNY GLOVER: It’s good to hear you.
REP. JOHN CONYERS: You've been planning these -- you've been planning these movies for twenty years.
DANNY GLOVER: Oh, yeah, many of them for twenty years. And thank you for your steadfast support in the works that, you know, all of us who have tried to do work as artists. We really thank you for that. One of the things, certainly, we were concerned about, and you know because you have some history with the idea of trade around the AGOA Act, African Growth and Opportunity Act, which Clinton signed into law in 1998. You were one of the ones -- one of the members of the Black Caucus in Congress who really tried to question the motives of the act, also its benefits, etc., etc. One of the questions we were concerned about is, has the Congress taken up trade, the idea -- the question around trade, fair trade and free trade? They call it “free trade”. We mean FAIR trade.
REP. JOHN CONYERS: Exactly.
DANNY GLOVER: Has the Congress taken up that? I know they did that to some extent over the AGOA Act, but you look at how Latin America has defeated the Free Trade of the Americas, and as resounding as a defeat as that, called into question that. How has Congress looked at free trade? How have they looked at the debt itself? We have an opportunity now with a Democratic congress to really call committees forward to look at this idea around the debt and free trade.
REP. JOHN CONYERS: There's no question that we've got to turn free trade into fair trade. And I come from Detroit, and, as you know, our manufacturing base of automobiles is suffering greatly. It's far easier to bring in a foreign car to this country than it is for us to bring an American product to anywhere else in the world. So that's what we have to get to. The 110th Congress is two months old. We are working to repair so many things that have gone wrong; it's not even funny. Our agendas in most of the committees -- I know with Charlie Rangel -- are overloaded and overtaxed, but we've got to, first of all, relieve these poor nations of debt. You, Harry Belafonte, Nelson Mandela, the Congressional Black Caucus, progressives throughout the country have been talking about getting rid of this debt and then promoting trade.
DANNY GLOVER: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Where?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: We've got to investigate all of it.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Congressmember Conyers, where is that military base being built, and what kind of oversight do you have of this as a congressman and as head, a chair of a committee?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: Well, I’m not sure which country it was, but it was announced that the agreement had been reached. But I want to go there. This should be a number of our progressive members’ first CODEL, is to investigate why we're increasing and maintaining a base anywhere on the African continent. And remember, we're still trying to make sure that we're not building permanent military bases in Iraq. That is a question that has come up repeatedly and has not been, to me, honestly revolved. Barbara Lee of California brought it up at our meeting with President Bush yesterday.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Congressman, speaking about that meeting, it's the first one the caucus has had with President Bush in two years. The relationship has not always been a good one. What was your sense of the willingness of the President to address other major issues of concern to the Congressional Black Caucus?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: Well, look, I have been a critic of President Bush's, and for me to tell you that when thirty members get together and have a friendly meeting with President Bush in the White House, that I have some confidence that he is going to change in any of his policies, I would be either disingenuous or naive. I’m neither of those. So, this was a meeting that I felt I could not afford not to go to. And that's why I attended, and I was happy to bring up this question of this incredible vulture funds bond speculation that's ripping off the poorest of the poor nations in Africa and Latin America.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Conyers, after the Democrats gained control of both houses in the November elections, you wrote the following in a letter to supporters, quote, "As many of you also know, I have agreed with Speaker-to-be Pelosi that impeachment is off the table. Instead, we agree that oversight, accountability and checks and balances, which have been sorely lacking for the past six years, must occur. I have nothing but respect for those who might disagree, but that’s where I come out.” That’s what you wrote, but on January 27, you addressed that mass demonstration against war on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and had this to say regarding President Bush.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Congressmember Conyers in Washington, D.C. Are you calling for President Bush's impeachment, Congressmember Conyers?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: The reason I am not, notwithstanding my fiery rhetoric at the rally, which I thought was quite appropriate, by the way, and I don't retract, we're firing -- on November 7, we fired all the Republicans we could find that are supporting President Bush. Next year in November, we're going to get hired to do the job of leading this country with a Democratic president and with a stronger House and Senate majority. You know, a one-senate majority lead is not much of a majority. Fifteen-vote change in the House would erase the advantage that we have.
Tabacco: Hallelujah! Somebody else finally said it! That’s why I know the Clinton Impeachment was REPUBLICAN FARCE – there’s no advantage there since Gore would have been promoted.
We don't have the luxury to impeach this president and this vice president. We have the responsibility to stop the war in Iraq, and I think it's proceeding along sound lines, and then we will be able to deal with Katrina, the domestic under-funding of everything from healthcare to housing to job creation, to re-entry of former felons. All the things that need to be done have to be taken care of. A $2 trillion debt is what
we are paying to stay in Iraq. We've got to
stop that financial hemorrhaging as a first
responsibility in the Congress.
Tabacco: Conyers is a good man! I would only add one thing: the preponderance of that $2 trillion is going to end up in the pockets of the War Profiteers & the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-etal. families. Political Power is the Greatest Money-Making, Public-Swindling Tool that Capitalists have ever discovered. God help us!
JUAN GONZALEZ: And, Congressman, speaking about that hemorrhaging and the war, obviously, there is expected to be a vote today in the House on a non-binding resolution, but everyone knows that that's not going to have a major impact on the current policy. What do you say about the issue of those who urge cutting off funding for the war are not supporting the troops, and why are the Democrats settling at this point for a non-binding resolution?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: Well, I’m sure that
the President laughs at non-binding
resolutions, as do most people, including
myself. I want to stop the war. I don't
want to just stop the surge or the
escalation. We've got to end the war.
And this is the way that we start.
I think it's very sound.
Now, we've got the Nadler plan, we've got the Kucinich plan, we've got the Barbara Lee-Maxine Waters plan, we've got the Murtha plan. Ted Kennedy has a theory of stopping it. We have plenty of opportunity to deal with the subject of ending the war in Iraq, but, of course, we've got to win, and I predict that we will, with Republican support, too. We've got to make this first statement against the President 's war strategy as it exists at this present time.
AMY GOODMAN: One more question on the issue of impeachment: wasn't it you, Congressmember Conyers, who in the early ’80s co-sponsored a resolution to impeach President Reagan over the invasion of Grenada?
REP. JOHN CONYERS: I introduced the first resolution to impeach Richard Milhous Nixon. I don't think I was in on that resolution, unless you've got an impeachment resolution on Reagan before you right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I thought you had, but I’ll double-check that.
REP. JOHN CONYERS: No. But impeachments come to the Judiciary Committee. And, believe me, to tie up this government just as we're trying to stop the war and the clock is running on both the President and Vice President, I think would be a mistaken strategy. We've got to win the next election, which is next year.
AMY GOODMAN: We are going to go to break, but we'll come back to you, Congressmember Conyers, as well as our guests in our firehouse studio, Joslyn Barnes and Danny Glover. We're going to go to break with another segment excerpt of Bamako.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/16/1548228
JUAN GONZALEZ: The House of Representatives is expected to pass a non-binding resolution today opposing President Bush's decision to send more than 20,000 additional combat troops to Iraq. The House has been debating the resolution since Tuesday. As many as two-dozen Republicans are expected to vote with the Democrats in opposing the troop increase. If the resolution passes, it will mark the first time Congress has voted against President Bush’s Iraq war policy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also indicated she would back Congressman John Murtha's attempt to rewrite the President's spending request to limit Bush's options in prosecuting the war.
This is Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota. He’s the first Muslim to be elected to Congress.
Tabacco: I consider myself both a funnel and a filter. I funnel information, not readily available on the Mass Media, which is ignored and/or suppressed. I filter out the irrelevancies and trivialities to save both the time and effort of my Readers and bring consternation to the enemies of Truth & Fairness! When you read Tabacco, if you don’t learn something NEW, I’ve wasted your time.
In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)
EXCERPT: