Ray McGovern in KC Oct 4 - pictures)

Ray McGovern is a former CIA analyst who has founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). VIPS began with 5 members, it now has 56. His area of expertise while in the CIA was Russian studies. He retired in 1990.

McGovern began his talk with a quote:
"In America, there's not really a criminal class, outside of Congress."


McGovern played video clips of Colin Powell in February of 2001 and Kindasleezy Rice in July of 2001 (6 weeks before 9/11), both claiming that Sadaam had no WMDs. He said after 9/11, WMDs descended like manna from heaven into Iraq.

The claim of WMDs in Iraq as a reason for the US invasion was "95% charade".

McGovern told of 3 memo randa VIPS wrote to bush in the months preceding the invasion of Iraq. They warned bush that war with Iraq would be catastrophic. The last of the 3 memo randa was titled

"Forgery, Hyperbole and Half Truths. Mr. President, You Have a Problem"

McGovern talked for awhile about the PNAC bunch - especially Wolfowitz, Scocraft and Pearl. He said they are referred to in DC as "the crazies". McGovern called Wolfowitz "the intellectual author of the attack on Iraq". McGovern said they worked in the White House under Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr, but were assigned less important roles. Keeping them on staff was important because of their ties to the far right. So it was then upsetting to see them given such important roles in this bush administration.

McGovern called Wolfowitz "the intellectual author of the attack on Iraq".

McGovern said it was unprecedented for the vice president to visit the CIA. Yet Cheney visited 12 times before the invasion of Iraq.



McGovern spoke about the lack of a free press. He said the majority of the American public is malnourished by Fox News. He talked about the Downing Street Minutes and mentioned this part in particular: "The intelligence and facts are being fixed around the policy." Fox News claimed that 'fixed' has a different meaning in Great Britain.

McGovern also spoke about the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the burning of the Reichstag, which was blamed on communists (the equivalent of today's terrorists). He said at Nuremberg after WWII, the court said "a war of aggression is the supreme crime". Well folks, we are in a war of aggression right now.

He mentioned Arlen Spector and his 180 turn on the torture issue. He asked if we thought Specter's phone was tapped, or if he was threatened.

McGovern gave 5 reasons torture is wrong:
1. it gives our country a bad name and lengthens the recruiting line for al qaeda
2. it endangers our troops by putting them at risk for torture
3. it brutalizes our troops by forcing them to witness torture
4. torture has never worked
5. it's just wrong

He said there are 3 categories of evil: rape, slavery and torture.

McGovern also talked about Israel and reminded us that the reason for the WTC attack in 2001 given by al qaeda was the US backing of Israel. (page 147 of the 9/11 Commission Report) He quoted one terrorist as saying he joined al qaeda because of the one-sided US policy on the Arab-Israeli issue. And ironically, Israel is in more danger now than before we invaded Iraq, so this war af aggression has backfired on the neocons.

McGovern then reminded us that we never dealt with Vietnam after it was over. We needed a truth and reconciliation commission.

He said the hottest fires in hell are for those who remain neutral in times of crisis.

And here's what McGovern said we need to do now:
1. Be willing to stick your neck out.

2. Find other people willing to stick their necks out.

Very Impressive Person. We need more like him.

I forgot to mention there was a freeper woman there who asked the first question. She was not very nice. She said soemthing about Sadaam's WMDs. McGovern said "And who gave them to him?"

No free speech at 'open' forum
Friday, October 6, 2006
To the editor:

"We chose the town hall meeting format because the town hall meeting, along with a free press, has been a cornerstone of our democracy from the start." This quote is from the Web site www.raymcgovernincape.org. It is too bad that this so-called town meeting only applied to those people with the same viewpoint as the Concerned Citizens of Southeast Missouri.

Upon entering the Osage Community Centre Saturday, I was greeted by a "security" guard and told my presence was not welcome. In the past, I have attended speeches by liberal and conservative speakers and have never been disruptive or asked to leave. I was told to go home and view the speech on public-access Channel 5. I left voluntarily without incident and went home to do a little research on the Concerned Citizens of Southeast Missouri.

A cursory search on the Internet finds the CCSM is affiliated with the Southeast Missouri Coalition for Peace and Justice. Information from its Web site reveals that it is a voting member of the national coalition United for Peace and Justice. UPJ has several affiliate groups, whose prominent member groups include Communist Party USA, Socialist Party USA, Code Pink and MoveOn.

It became blatantly obvious to me at that point as to why I was denied entrance. These far-left socialist organizations are not interested in hearing an opposing viewpoint. Free speech is only attainable when all sides of the issue can be openly addressed.

XXX X XXXXX
Cape Girardeau, MO

It is full of holes. Who is this person? What has he/she said or done in the past in that community to have a reputation as a person they would ask to leave a public forum?

I have participated in UPJ events and have never known them to exclude anyone like this. So I doubt UPJ made this decision.

It also should be pointed out that IF this person was indeed asked to leave, it wasn't Ray McGovern who asked him/her to leave.

Also, what paper did this appear in? Why no link? Isn't that a rule on DU, that a link must be provided?