We need to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and becoming the dominant power in the Middle East. I believe that with every fiber of my being regardless of what the political polls may say. If we don’t confront the evil in the heart of the Iranian president, the world will regret it. You know that is true. I know that is true.

Isn’t that exactly what you said about Iraq, Congressman? The only thing that the rational part of the world regrets about that is that they believed you and President Bush. That we got bogged down in an endless war that has cost billions of dollars and tens of thousands of innocent lives, all while making the world safer for terrorists.

And now you want us to do it again? On your word? On the President’s word? Again?

Shame on you.

Posted: October 19th, 2007 under president bush, national security, iraq, knollenberg watch.
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In recent days, President Bush has once again started “talking tough” on Iran as he looks for another excuse for his failed policies in Iraq. And who is right there, ready to do his master’s bidding?

U.S. Congressman Joe Knollenberg.

Knollenberg is one of two sponsors of a new House resolution condemning Iran and Syria for their support of Hezbollah militias in Lebanon. That’s a wonderful sentiment, but the timing is a blatant attempt to help the Bush Administration pave the war for a war against Iran. Otherwise, why push this resolution now, nearly 18 months after the crisis that provoked it?

The resolution demands that Iran and Syria follow two U.N. Resolutions, one passed in 2004 and the other in 2006. It also makes a timely demand for Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, just 473 days after they were taken hostage. Did Joe Knollenberg just hear about this story?

Perhaps Rep. Knollenberg thinks that a meaningless gesture on behalf of the president will distract 9th District Voters from other things - like his recent vote to deny health-care benefits to children. His excuse? The bill might have provided health care for illegal immigrants.

That sums up Joe Knollenberg pretty well, don’t you think? “Children? I’ll worry about them later. Right now, I have to make sure none of those people are getting seen in our emergency rooms!”

Posted: September 28th, 2007 under president bush, iraq, knollenberg watch.
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From Representative Knollenberg’s own website:

“I believe Congress should heed the advice of General Petraeus. We all want this war to end as quickly as possible, but our policy decisions must be guided by what is best for America’s national security interests. Defeat in Iraq is not an option I am willing to concede today.

“The key question before Congress now is whether arbitrarily pulling back our troops will force the Iraqi people to assume greater responsibility for the security of their nation or whether doing so will erode the security gains that have been made in recent months and make it impossible for the Iraqi people to assume responsibility for the security of their nation.

“I trust our generals in Iraq more than I trust politicians who seem to be more interested in scoring political points than winning this war. I have faith in our military. I believe we have the best soldiers in the world. The surge is providing important security gains. And I don’t want this progress reversed because we attempt to micromanage the war from the halls of Congress. We should begin pulling down our troops based on the advice of our commanders on the ground in Iraq.

“I have spoken out against the mismanagement of the war effort, but it’s time to look forward instead of harping on past mistakes. I understand that many of my Democratic colleagues are downright hostile towards President Bush. But this is America’s war, not President Bush’s war. It’s time for Republicans and Democrats to stand together behind our soldiers as they fight for a successful resolution in Iraq. There is no disputing that America has a lot on the line in Iraq. There is no disputing that America will be less safe if the terrorists win in Iraq. The stakes for our nation and for our allies in the Middle East are high. That’s the reality we face, and it’s a reality we must address in a bipartisan manner.”

When has Joe Knollenberg ever spoken out about this mismanagement of the war? He has been President Bush’s biggest cheerleader during the whole process, ignoring all of the White House’s dishonesty.

Joe Knollenberg trusts our generals more than he trusts politicians? Where does that leave all the generals who have spoken out against our policies in Iraq? Why does he only trust the generals that have been approved by Republican politicians?

Joe Knollenberg doesn’t want to erode the security gains we’ve made in recent months? Apparently, he hasn’t been paying attention. According to the newest Pentagon numbers, the average number of daily casualties in Iraq has gone up approximately 12 percent since January 2007, the last full month before the surge began.

A national poll of Iraqis showed that only one-third of citizens feel safe traveling outside their own neighborhood. And, while the surge was supposed to give the Iraqi government time to make concrete progress toward national reconciliation, it hasn’t worked. In December 2006, 48% of Iraqis said they had “confidence in the ability of the Iraqi government to protect you and your family from threat”.

Now? After Joe Knollenberg’s “important security gains?”

The number is all the way up to 49%.

So, Congressman Knollenberg, when are we going to hear again about the mismanagement of the war?

Posted: September 18th, 2007 under president bush, national security, iraq, knollenberg watch.
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In the next two weeks, Joe Knollenberg and the rest of Congress will be receiving several reports on the war in Iraq. Is it too much for the people of the Ninth District to ask that our representative in Washington look past the Bush Administration’s propaganda and take some interest in the real facts?

There’s not much hope. Representative Knollenberg is so uninterested in Iraq that he doesn’t have a section devoted to it on his official website. Instead, he lumps it into a “National Security and Immigration” section that spends more time on U.S.-Canadian border security than it does on an ongoing war.

Still, we have to hope that Representative Knollenberg is willing to find the truth and take actions to stop the madness in Iraq.

He’ll hear claims from the U.S. military that sectarian violence is down since the surge began. But will he take that at face value, or will he realize that the numbers are bogus? The military says that, instead of 1,200 Iraqis dying every month in the civil war, there are now only a thousand deaths each month. But to get that result - which isn’t great to begin with - they have to bury their heads in the desert sands and claim that car bombs don’t count as sectarian violence.

Car bombs, you see, are the result of “terrorists”. Of course, the President keeps telling us that we’re in Iraq to fight terrorism, so you would think that it would be important that more people are being killed by terrorists. Hopefully, Representative Knollenberg will think the same way.

Or the congressman could choose to believe the Iraqi government, which says that war-related civilian deaths are up since the surge began, not down. According to the L.A. Times, government sources said there were 1,773 civilian deaths in August, as opposed to 1,646 in February, the month before President Bush escalated the war.

We also need to avoid the trap of letting those numbers become just numbers. According to those same sources, about 15,000 Iraqi civilians have died in the first eight months of 2007. That’s five times more than were killed on 9/11 - and we’re in the fifth year of the war. The Iraq Body Count project estimates that over 70,000 civilians have died since 2003, enough to fill a large football stadium.

And remember, those are civilians. Not soldiers, not terrorists, not “insurgents”. We are talking about tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children who have died for no greater crime than being an Iraqi.

Maybe Congressman Knollenberg could rationalize all of this, if he believed that genuine progress was being made. But he must know that it is not. When Congress allowed the Bush Administration’s surge in the spring, it was with the understanding that the Iraqi government would be held accountable, and that if they didn’t step up, we’d stand down.

They haven’t stood up. The GAO’s official report says that the Iraqi government has met three of the 18 benchmarks that President Bush said would be so important. They’ve missed some of the big ones, too:

• Instead of increasing the number of independent security forces, the number has actually gone down since March.
• Political intervention in security matters continues to be a problem.
• Security forces have continued to commit sectarian abuses.
• Sectarian militias still control local security forces.
• Only one of eight legislative benchmarks - the protection of minority legislators’ rights - has been met, and even that came with no accompanying protection of rights for minority citizens.

At the beginning of this year, many members of Congress, including Joe Knollenberg, said that would not support it after that unless significant progress was made by September.

It is now September. Violence is still high. The Iraqi government is still useless. There has been little or no improvement in Iraqi security forces.

And more than 500 American soldiers have died.

Joe Knollenberg has another chance to prove that his highest priority is the good of the United States, not the wishes of George W. Bush.

Does he have the courage to do it?

Posted: September 4th, 2007 under president bush, national security, iraq, knollenberg watch.
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On Aug. 23, Joe Knollenberg made a post to his official blog bragging about the improvement in the federal budget deficit:

Thanks to the pro-small business, pro-entrepreneurial, pro-family tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, federal tax revenue is coming in at brisker than expected pace. As a result, the federal budget deficit is expected to fall to $158 billion this year. That is $90 billion less than last year’s deficit and it’s $19 billion less than the amount projected earlier this year.

Isn’t that wonderful?

Well, no.

First, keep in mind that before Joe Knollenberg’s hero, George W. Bush, became president, we were running a budget surplus. Is it all that exciting to get the deficit down to only $158 billion?

Also, as usual, Joe Knollenberg is only telling us half of the story. He’s happy to quote the Congressional Budget Office’s projection of $158 billion this year, but he doesn’t mention its estimate of $244 billion for next year, or the fact they expect the deficit to approach $400 billion by 2011.

Over the long term, the budget remains on an unsustainable path - Congressional Budget Office, Aug. 23, 2007

Joe Knollenberg calls that good news?

Posted: August 25th, 2007 under president bush, economy, knollenberg watch.
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Last weekend, by supporting warrantless wiretaps of U.S. citizens, Joe Knollenberg showed again that his loyalties belong to George W. Bush, not the people of Oakland County.

For six years, the Bush Administration has used the tragedy of 9/11 to rob us of our freedoms, and Joe Knollenberg has been an eager accomplice. He proudly voted to take away the right of habeas corpus. He happily signed on to the Patriot Act. He’s cheered as Alberto Gonzales and Dick Cheney have used the executive branch as a tool for vendetta.

Our nation is under attack by the very men who are supposed to be our champions. We find ourselves led by a President who will do anything and say anything in order to help the rich and pursue the goals of a fanatic group of neoconservatives. Not only has Joe Knollenberg refused to try to stop their abuses, he has done everything in his power to help them.

The Bush presidency comes to an end after the 2008 elections. The people of Michigan’s Ninth District have to make sure Joe Knollenberg doesn’t get a chance to keep their legacy alive.

Posted: August 8th, 2007 under president bush, national security, knollenberg watch.
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For one day, Joe Knollenberg was right about the “War on Terror”.

“Make no mistake, these attacks were an act of war. All of us stand firmly behind the President in his efforts to identify and punish the perpetrators of these evil deeds. No one will rest until justice is done on those who committed these heinous crimes and on those who provided aid and comfort to those criminals.” - Rep. Joe Knollenberg, Sept. 12, 2001.

Sadly, like the President, Joe Knollenberg didn’t follow through on his tough talk.

A year after 9/11, when President Bush was lying to the American people about Saddam Hussein, Knollenberg was right on board.

“The Iraqi regime, controlled by Saddam Hussein, remains a threat to the Iraqi people, Iraq’s neighbors, the U.S., our allies, and American citizens. Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction at his disposal, biological and chemical; and he has used them, as we all know, on his own people and against other countries. He has continuously expressed hostility toward and a willingness to attack the United States. In fact, he was the only world leader to publicly applaud the horrific September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America. Members of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization are known to be in Iraq . These facts simply cannot be ignored, and we cannot afford to wait while further terrorist attacks against the United States are being planned.” - Rep. Joe Knollenberg, Oct. 13, 2002.

In 2005, as Americans realized that we had made a terrible mistake, Joe Knollenberg didn’t have the courage to see the truth.

“In the past few months, we have seen an extraordinary progress in Iraq and in the Middle East at large.” Rep. Joe Knollenberg, March 15, 2005.

“The effort in Iraq is moving along steadily, and our forces are working in conjunction with Iraqi forces toward success in many different areas.” Rep. Joe Knollenberg, Nov. 3, 2005.

In the summer of 2006, long after it became obvious that Iraq was a disaster, George W. Bush and Joe Knollenberg continued their attempts at scaring the American people into believing that it was our safety at stake, not oil profits.

“I want to convey a very simple message. We must stay the course. At this crucial point in our history, it is unacceptable to enact a policy of passivity, resignation or defeatism in the face of terror. Some say that we should surrender and pull out. They may think that this will win them votes and that it is good politics, but it is terrible policy, devastating policy. It is essential that we continue to fight in Iraq so that the fight does not come into our backyards. Make no mistake, we do not choose Iraq as a front line on the war on terror. Al Qaeda has done that. But we must have that fight over there so we don’t have it back here. ” - Rep. Joe Knollenberg, June 15, 2006.

In 2007, the President wanted a surge. Guess who was right on board?

“Mr. Speaker, I have offered my conditional support for the President’s plan for additional troops in Iraq. My support is conditional, not carte blanche. I want to see the benchmarks met and progress made within the next 90 to 120 days. It is time for the Iraqis to step up to the plate and assume responsibility for the security of their nation.” - Rep. Joe Knollenberg, February 15, 2007.

Now, to give Congressman Knollenberg credit, he did put an expiration date on his patience. If the benchmarks weren’t met by mid-June, he would no longer support the surge.

Right?

Maybe not.

On July 12, almost a month after his own deadline had expired and without a single benchmark met, Joe Knollenberg voted against H.R. 2956. He voted against bringing home our troops, and voted for George W. Bush’s failed war.

How much longer will Joe Knollenberg help George W. Bush trade the blood of American soldiers and innocent Iraqis for bigger oil profits?

Posted: August 7th, 2007 under president bush, iraq, knollenberg watch.
Comments: 1

Meet Joe Knollenberg - the best friend George W. Bush ever had.

The American people have seen through the President’s lies on Iraq. They understand that he is sending young Americans to die in an irrational war. They know that we should have never been in Iraq and that we need to get out.

Joe Knollenberg doesn’t care. He’s willing to trade the blood of American soldiers for bigger profits at Exxon and Halliburton.

Why? Because that’s what George W. Bush and the Republican Party have told him to do, and he doesn’t have the courage to defy them.

He’s not only wrong about the war.

There’s his unblinking support of the Republican fiscal policies that have hurt 90 percent of Americans in order to benefit the elite.

His unwillingness to face the problem of global warming, because it might upset his corporate benefactors.

His embrace of “immigration reform” as a way to avoid taking a serious look at national security issues.

His decision to vote for billions in tax cuts while our schools and bridges crumble.

Is that enough?

After 15 years in Congress without a single notable achievement, his lack of courage and principle isn’t surprising. But that doesn’t make it acceptable.

In 2008, George W. Bush will go home.

Let’s send Joe Knollenberg with him.

Posted: August 7th, 2007 under president bush, environment, national security, economy, iraq, knollenberg watch.
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