Louis J. Posner
Protest Bush at United Nations, Sept. 23, Tues
Sun Sep 21 17:49:17 2003
64.140.159.82

Sept. 23, Tues., 9 am to 12 pm, NYC
Protest Bush at United Nations,
Asiah Wall, 1st Ave. & 43rd St.

President Bush and Secretary of State Powell will be
at the United Nations on September 23 and 24th, to
address the General Assembly on the opening day of the
General Debate, to press for a new UN resolution to
allow for a multinational force to augment the Iraq
postwar occupation. See Bush to Issue 'Call to
Action' to U.N. on Iraq, Yahoo News, Sept. 20, 2003
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030920/ts_nm/un_bush_dc

Protest Bush and Powell in their latest attempt to
pressure the international community to support and
finance the illegal U.S. occupation of Iraq, their
attempts to legitimize the immoral and illegal
invasion and occupation of Iraq, their use of Weapons
of Mass Destruction as a false pretense for a land
invasion of Iraq, their sacrifice of the lives of U.S.
servicemen and Iraqi civilians to further the
interests of large corporate and oil interests, and
their exploitation of the 9/11 Terrorists Attacks to
sell war to the American public and to curtail civil
liberties.

Bring your placards and signs, and let your voices be
heard!

Sponsored by http://VoterMarch.org ,
http://NoBloodForOil.org , http://DemocracyMarch.org ,
http://Democrats.com  and other progressive
organizations.

For additional and updated information, please click
on http://www.nobloodforoil.org/Protest.htm

Louis J. Posner - lawline1@yahoo.com
Director
Voter March, Ltd.
No Blood For Oil.org
---------------------------
Northern Command Said Fully Operational

By CATHERINE TSAI
.c The Associated Press

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) - The only military command focused solely on defending U.S. soil was declared fully operational Thursday, two years after the terrorist attack that led to its formation.

Enlarged news photographs from Sept. 11, 2001, hang on the walls at U.S. Northern Command headquarters - reminders to people like Army Lt. Col. Shelly Stellwagen.

``Having lost eight friends at the Pentagon, this is a grudge match, and we're going to win,'' she said.

Over the past year, officials at this Air Force base near Colorado Springs have been tweaking Northcom's structure and operations in tackling its twin missions of defending the country and supporting civil authorities.

Even before it was declared fully operational, Northern Command commander Gen. Ralph ``Ed'' Eberhart and his team helped with natural disasters, the Columbia shuttle disaster and the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings.

On Thursday, command troops monitored soldiers sent to fight fires in Montana, prepared for the potential landfall of Hurricane Isabel and watched for potential threats on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

``This is the first time in a long time a command was stood up from nothing,'' said Marine Corps Col. Gene Pino, the command's director of training and exercises. ``Northern Command is the true evolution of a new entity.''

The 2001 attacks heightened the push for a single command responsible for defense within U.S. borders, something that hasn't existed since the days of George Washington.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in April 2002 announced plans to create the command, and Eberhart, also commander in chief of North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, became its commander.

NORAD's mission has changed since the 2001 attacks to focus not only on potential air attacks overseas but within the country. NORAD has scrambled fighters or diverted patrols more than 1,500 times since Sept. 11, 2001.

Eberhart's dual roles have left him with a demanding schedule in a scramble to build a command from scratch.

Maj. Gen. Lee McFann, director of Northern Command operations, remembers responding to Hurricane Lili last year, the same night the command began initial operations last Oct. 1.

When the command was formed, leaders were given only days to get to Colorado, rather than the typical six months, and were told to worry about moving their families later, McFann said. Work often involved 12- or 16-hour days and weekends.

``There was frustration, long hours,'' Pino said. ``But I say to them, `You are doing something no one else in the military has had an opportunity to do.'''

Lt. Col. Ross Brown, chief of current operations, remembers using sticky notes and televisions to monitor world events, and sharing space with NORAD deep in Cheyenne Mountain in the startup days.

This week, he was at work in the command's new building at Peterson Air Force Base amid rows of computers and a bank of video screens monitoring wildfires, the weather, news channels and more.

With three training exercises behind it, Northern Command is still improving areas - such as speed for completing tasks - exposed during a $2 million disaster drill in Nevada last month, McFann said.

The command has an $81 million budget for 2003 and 750 government personnel watching over the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and water 500 miles off the coast.

Eventually, there will be about 925 personnel, both military and civilian, plus about 350 contract workers.

``This was always a nice idea that was kicked around in the Pentagon. Sept. 11 made this real,'' McFann said. ``This is a mission we cannot fail.''

On the Net:

http://www.northcom.mil

• America Puts Iraq Up For Sale — Philip Thornton, Mon Sep 22 02:40
• ASSOCIATED PRESS ERRS ON NORAD — Stephen M. St, John, Mon Sep 22 00:42
• Information and What You Can Do: — Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Sun Sep 21 18:12
• Land of the Free, Home of the Slave — Steven Greenhut, Sun Sep 21 19:18
• From a correspondent in the Norfolk/Va. Bch. area — Steve Moser, Sun Sep 21 19:44