Action Item: Mich0127's Outraged Phone Call to Ted Kennedy-I encourage you to do the same!

I just got off the phone with Ted Kennedy's office, and I thought I would share my conversation with my fellow Freepers! As many of you know, I am in the middle of law school finals, so I am on edge, and little things set me off. Well, as those of you who know me well know, Ted Kennedy has that charm-he can press my buttons. And his appalling remarks on the Senate floor concerning the Iraqi Prisoners/Nick Berg situation did exactly that. So I decided to call his office and give him a piece of my mind. My message to him: He is un-American, and a traitor. How dare he make remarks against our country and politicize this situation? He has disrespected the likes of Nick Berg to favor those Iraqi prisoners who are imprisoned because they hoped to terrorize and viciously kill our men! I said that being a murderer himself (Remember Chappaquiddick?) he has no right to point fingers. He has made the United States the laughing stock of the Middle East, because of these horrid remarks. I said that he should be censured, and he should really consider the impact of what he says in the future before he opens his mouth. I left off saying-JFK would be rolling in his grave if he saw what his brother did! The representative listening to me actually seemed to take what I said into account, told me he totally understood, and that he was definitely going to pass my message on to Kennedy!

I ask my fellow Freepers to call and let Kennedy know that he is a disgrace to America!

I also ask that if you have a Republican senator, that you call him or her and request that they speak out against him (Just like Sen. Inhofe, my new favorite person :-)) and demand for his censure, or even better, demand his resignation from Senate! I know that some people may think: What effect will I, as an individual have? But, the more pressure we put on our Republican Senators, the more likely something will be done about this modern day Benedict Arnold!

You can visit the Senate website at http://www.senate.gov to find out the contact information for your Senators! I urge every Freeper to do this-we must be heard! Together, we can make a difference!

"Open under new managment," my @$$.

Here's what Saddam did to his prisoners, and these are the one that lived.

Iraqi amputees arrive in Houston for treatment

11:46 AM CDT on Friday, April 9, 2004

Associated Press

HOUSTON -- Iraqis who have become amputees under former dictator Saddam Hussein's regime are coming to Texas for surgery and prosthetics that can improve their lives.

Qasim Kadim, one victim of the bloody regime, is now at a Houston hospital with six other amputees and will soon receive a $50,000 bionic arm courtesy of doctors, health institutions and journalists.

The seven Iraqis' right hands were surgically removed and a crosslike tattoo carved between their eyes because Saddam blamed businessmen dealing with foreign interests for the country's failing economy. The regime's punishment was intended to intimidate other business owners looking to trade in international currencies.

The Iraqis' journey to the Texas Medical Center began when a former television correspondent Don North saw video tape of the amputations last spring and befriended the men. North contacted Marvin Zindler of Houston television station KTRK. He helped persuade a German company, Otto Bock Health Care, to donate the specialized prosthetic limbs.

Zindler then enlisted Dr. Joseph Agris, a friend and his cosmetic surgeon, to prepare the men's arms for surgery and remove the crosses from their foreheads.

Kadim's right hand was amputated in 1995 for dealing in U.S. dollars.

But Kadim, a 46-year-old Baghdad appliance importer, will be able to curl fingers, make a fist and perform many other tasks after the surgery and training on how to flex certain arm muscles.

"It is a very beautiful feeling to be here," Kadim told the Houston Chronicle through a translator. "There is nobody who doesn't want to come and see the States. It is a dream come true."

The Iraqis on Wednesday faced a decision they hadn't contemplated upon their arrival in Texas. Agris, to properly fit the bionic arms, must shave another inch from their mutilated limbs. Without the trimming, surgeons could only offer a functionless cosmetic hand cupped to the existing stump.

Kadim and the other six Iraqi men have begun procedures to receive their prosthetic hands at The Methodist Hospital.

Had to post what I sent Kennedy:

Senator Kennedy, You make me sick. You stand up there on that podium and throw around your opinions about how disgusted you were when you learned about the photos taken at Abu Ghraib, but you nor any in your gang can stand up for the good of our country and scream just as loud when a man, an AMERICAN, is beheaded. Did you watch the video? Did you hear the audio? Well I did. I made myself watch what our enemy finds acceptable behavior at a time of war. It made me ill, but I felt that I owed at least that much to the memory of Nick Berg. Then I went back and viewed some of the photos of two planes crashing into American skyscrapers. On that day, American men and women were put in a situation where they had to decide whether they wanted to die by burning to death or die by jumping out of a window 600 ft off of the ground. Flying planes into our buildings was the behavior that our enemy found acceptable during a time of PEACE!! And you are upset because some soldiers were caught taking some X-rated pictures in a prison while trying to extract information from prisoners who were in custody because they were trying to kill Americans by planting IED's and launching RPG's? We are at WAR!! We did not start it! This situation is bigger than you and I and every American alive today. We have to work together to win. What side are you on anyway? You are acting like a spoiled child since you were not lucky enough to get into the Oval Office yourself. Maybe you are trying to fulfill the emptiness in your life by living precariously through Senator Kerry. You are a disgrace. Is destroying our country that important to the leaders in your party that you cannot even hold two events to the same standards? You want to come out and say in your own words: Every day brings new photos, new horrors from the same prison and the same torture rooms that Saddam used to commit crimes against humanity. Today, it's the photo of a naked Iraqi man, his hands clasped behind his head in terror, facing snarling German shepherd dogs held on leashes by American soldiers. According to the New Yorker magazine, subsequent photos show the Iraqi man lying on the ground, writhing in pain, blood flowing from wounds on both his legs. You can do that, but you should at least hold our enemy to the same standard and deplore their actions on the Senate floor. Not seeing it. Not happening. Not only does the Iraqi abuse story still hold the front page of every major newspaper, but you cannot even find mention of Nick Berg in most of these same newspapers. I ask you Senator, which is worse, blood coming from the wound on the leg of a possible threat to American lives or blood flowing out of the neck of an innocent American citizen where a head used to be? I will even go one step further. You are one of the leaders of this country. You should have known earlier about the photos being taken. You should have visited the prisons in Iraq to check out their status of operations. I hold you accountable, sir. I think that the blame falls in your lap. The blood of Nick Berg is on your hands. YOU SHOULD RESIGN. Sincerely, Dave Dranschak

Here is a link to what Kennedy said on the Senate Floor:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r108:14:./temp/~r1089sCid3::

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