Doe v Bush

http://www.themoderntribune.com/opionion_of_first_circuit_court_of_appeal_in_doe_v__bush.htm
Excerpt:

DOE v. President George W. Bush  ^{extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia}
 

Doe v. Bush, 323 F.3d 133 (1st Cir. 2003), was a court case challenging the constitutionality of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The case was dismissed, since the plaintiffs failed "to raise a sufficiently clear constitutional issue."¹. The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 was challenged by "a coalition of U.S. soldiers, parents of U.S. soldiers, and members of Congress" prior to the invasion to stop it from happening.¹ They claimed that an invasion of Iraq would be illegal. Judge Lynch wrote of their argument, "They base this argument on two theories. They argue that Congress and the President are in collision -- that the President is about to act in violation of the October Resolution. They also argue that Congress and the President are in collusion -- that Congress has handed over to the President its exclusive power to declare war."

The case was dismissed on February 24, 2003 by Judge Joseph Tauro of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The petitioners appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. On March 13, a three-judge panel affirmed the decision to dismiss the complaint. The opinion was written by Judge Sandra Lea Lynch:

An extreme case might arise, for example, if Congress gave absolute discretion to the President to start a war at his or her will... Plaintiffs' objection to the October Resolution does not, of course, involve any such claim. Nor does it involve a situation where the President acts without any apparent congressional authorization, or against congressional opposition... To the contrary, Congress has been deeply involved in significant debate, activity, and authorization connected to our relations with Iraq for over a decade, under three different presidents of both major political parties, and during periods when each party has controlled Congress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution
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Criticism

Main article: Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq

[edit] Weapons of mass destruction and Al-Qaeda

Further information: Iraq and weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda

Colin Powell holding a model vial of anthrax while giving a presentation to the United Nations Security Council.

Two of the arguments used to justify the invasion of Iraq — the capability to produce and/or the possession of weapons of mass destruction and active links to al Qaeda — have been found to be incorrect according to all subsequent official reports.^[25][26][27] The post-invasion Duelfer Report stated that Hussein had still not given up on trying to produce WMD in 2003. His strategy was to first bring UN sanctions to an end by demonstrating that he was cooperating with weapons inspectors and, once sanctions were lifted, to then revive Iraq's WMD program, including nuclear weapons.^[28] The report also stated that Hussein did not want to appear weak. To deter his enemies, he intentionally deceived the world into thinking he still had WMD. There was a "balancing act" between cooperating with the UN and keeping a "strategic deterrent".^[29]
A 2007 report by the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, declassified and released at the request of Senator Carl M. Levin (D-Mich), asserted that the claims of an operational working relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, as put forth by a key

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merced_Sun-Star
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Ownership
The Merced Sun-Star is owned by The McClatchy Company, which purchased it in 2004 along with five non-dailes in Atwater, Chowchilla, Livingston, Los Banos, and Oakhurst.
The Sun-Star's executive editor is Mike Tharp.
The paper is the county's only daily newspaper.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=McClatchy_Company
Excerpt:
The McClatchy Company is the third largest newspaper business in the U.S., as of June 2008, (behind USA TODAY publisher Gannett and Tribune Company). It has 30 daily papers with a combined circulation of over 2.7 million. The McClatchy family holds more than 90% of the firm's voting power. A division is McClatchy Newspapers. ^[1]
The company "dates to the California Gold Rush era of 1857, when James McClatchy was one of the founding editors of its first newspaper, The Sacramento Bee -- one of the oldest newspapers in the West. Coverage of California’s Central Valley expanded with the founding of The Fresno Bee in 1922 and the purchase of The Modesto Bee in 1927.
"For more than a century, California was the cornerstone of the company. In 1979, McClatchy expanded into the Northwest with the purchase of the Anchorage Daily News and the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash. In 1986, The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., was added to McClatchy’s growing family of newspapers.
"The company went public in February 1988 and its Class A common shares are listed on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MNI. The company’s Class B common stock, which controls a majority of shareholder voting power, is not publicly traded...
"In 2006, McClatchy purchased Knight Ridder Inc. to become the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States..." ^[2]

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Iraqi_National_Congress
Excerpt:

Iraqi National Congress

From SourceWatch

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The Iraqi National Congress (INC) was created at the behest of the U.S. government for the purpose of fomenting the overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The INC has been funded since 1992. An unnamed INC offical told the New York Times in 2004 that INC had received $27 million in the last four years. [1].
In May 1991, following the end of Operation Desert Storm, then-President George H.W. Bush signed a presidential finding directing the CIA to create the conditions for Hussein's removal. The hope was that members of the Iraqi military would turn on Hussein and stage a military coup. The CIA did not have the mechanisms in place to make that happen, so they hired the Rendon Group, a PR firm run by John Rendon, to run a covert anti-Saddam propaganda campaign.

"The Iraqi National Congress, and its most famous spokesperson Ahmad Chalabi, are entirely the creation of a media strategy company (Rendon Group) doing the bidding of the United States government." [2]

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rendon_Group
Excerpt:
The Rendon Group is a secretive public relations firm that has assisted a number of U.S. military interventions in nations including Argentina, Colombia, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo, Panama and Zimbabwe. Rendon's activities include organizing the Iraqi National Congress, a PR front group designed to foment the overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
In a 1998 speech to the National Security Conference (NSC), company founder John Rendon described himself as "an information warrior, and a perception manager. This is probably best described in the words of Hunter S. Thompson, when he wrote 'When things turn weird, the weird turn pro.'"
"Through its network of international offices and strategic alliances," the Rendon Group website boasted in 2002, "the company has provided communications services to clients in more than 78 countries, and maintains contact with government officials, decision-makers, and news media around the globe."