BIKE: Lance in Yellow

[Lane S. Wimberley]

>From  http://www.lancearmstrongfanclub.com/uktimesonline.html

"I had assumed, because he and Bush were Texans and I'd seen pictures
of them laughing and joking in the Oval Office, that Armstrong was a
Republican. But he says his politics are 'middle to Left'. He is
'against mixing up State and Church, not keen on guns, pro women's
right to choose'. And very anti war in Iraq."

But regardless of his political stance, I believe in giving credit
where it's due.  The guy's an amazing cyclist, competitor and athlete.
While I'm not particularly fond of Lance's decision to sign a
advertising contract with Subaru, popular interest in cycling in the
U.S. has risen somewhat dramatically in the past several years, and we
as cyclists arguably stand to benefit; can we honestly say he had no
part in that?

And, on top of that, we shouldn't ignore his philanthropy.  I'm sure
there are folks out there who would tell you how the Lance Armstrong
Foundation has helped them in their battles with cancer.

It's good to have heros.  They inspire.  I think cyclists are lucky
that one of contemporary society's heros is a cyclist.

Maybe you just don't like Lance.  Fair enough.  But, credit where
credit is due.  And, while we're at it, maybe twisting or fabricating
facts to slander someone isn't the most effective way to make a point
about a totally unrelated issue.

-Lane

Patrick Goetz writes:
> Lane S. Wimberley wrote:
> > Don't know if anyone on this list is following the Tour de France (or
> > cares), but Lance took the yellow in today's stage, which appears to
> > have been quite exciting.  A good recap is here...
> > 
> 
> This is fantastic!  As the most prominent Republican in Austin as well 
> as a close personal friend of George Bush's, perhaps Lance can use his 
> international platform to explain to the rest of the world why we've 
> been caught torturing children in Abu Ghraib as well as elsewhere in 
> Iraq. I'm not sure the "gee, it was just a fraternity prank" defense is 
> going to work for this one, since most 12-16 year olds aren't old enough 
> to join a fraternity, but I'm sure Lance can come up with something 
> good; like "heck, we thought she was 18!" for the 12-year old who was 
> tortured and possibly raped by US interrogators while imprisoned at Abu 
> Ghraib.  No coverage in the US media, of course, so I've taken the 
> liberty of translating an article from Report Mainz myself and pasting 
> it below - sorry for the choppy text, this is how the original is, too. 
>   Meanwhile, Lance supports Bush, Bush facilitated (and at least 
> indirectly authorized) the torture of children, so y'all will have to 
> forgive me for rooting for Tyler Hamilton instead (and now that he's 
> out, my own homies, Kloeden, Ullrich, and Voigt).  When you sleep with 
> dogs...
> 
> 
> http://www.thismodernworld.com/weblog/mtarchives/week_2004_07_04.html#001637
> 
> http://www.swr.de/report/archiv/sendungen/040705/02/frames.html
> ============================================
> News from Iraq.  The daily explosion, Saddam before the court, kidnapped 
> soldiers, every new revelation overshadows the previous.  The scandal 
> over the torture prison Abu Ghraib, oh yes, that was something else.
> 
> REPORT stayed on this theme and has consequently uncovered completely 
> unbelievable allegations.  In Abu Ghraib and elsewhere children and 
> teenagers have been arrested and mishandled.  Thomas Reutter with a 
> difficult hunt for evidence.
> 
> Report:
> 
> With the assault vehicle through the door.  US soldiers storm a 
> residence looking for terrorists.  Sometimes during these raids the 
> soldiers also arrest children.  What happens to these children?  The 
> military has nothing to say about this.  We researched the situation, 
> meeting with informants.
> 
> One who knows something about this is Sergeant Samuel Provance from the 
> National Guard of the US Army.  He was stationed at Abu Ghraib for half 
> a year.  Today, five months later, we're meeting with Sergeant Provance 
> in Heidelberg.
> 
> His superiors have strongly forbidden him from discussing what he 
> experienced in Abu Ghraib with reporters; however, Provance wants to 
> talk about it anyway.  He is plagued by his conscience.  He tells of a 
> 16-year old teenager he himself had to take into custody.
> 
> O-Ton, Samuel Provance, US-Sergeant:
> "He was terribly afraid, very alone.  He had the thinnest arms I've ever 
> seen.  His whole body was shivering.  His wrists were so thin that we 
> couldn't even use handcuffs on him.  When I saw him for the first time 
> to take him to the interrogation, I immediately felt sorry for him.  The 
> interrogation specialists hosed him down with water and placed him in a 
> car.  Then they drove around with him all night, and at the time it was 
> very, very cold.  Afterwards they smeared him with mud and showed his 
> father, on whom they had tried other methods of interrogation.  They 
> couldn't get him to talk, however.  The interrogation specialists told 
> me that after the father saw his son under these circumstances, it broke 
> his heart.  He started crying and promised to tell them everything they 
> wanted to know."
> 
> Despite this, the son continued to be held in captivity.  As a 16-year 
> old, he was placed with the adults.  However, Provance also reports the 
> existence of a special area, designated for children.  A secret 
> childrens' section in the prison of horror, Abu Ghraib.
> 
> One who has seen this childrens' section with his own eyes is journalist 
> Suhaib Badr-Addin Al-Baz.  Our correspondent met with him last week in 
> Bagdad.  The Iraqi television reporter reports that he himself was 
> arbitrarily arrested by Americans while filming and was held in Abu 
> Ghraib for 74 days.
> 
> O-Ton, Suhaib Badr-Addin Al-Baz, TV reporter:
> "There I saw a camp for children.  Young, pre-puberty.  There were at 
> least 100 children there.  A number were released, but some are surely 
> still there."
> 
>  From his isolation cell in the adult section, Suhab heard what was 
> perhaps a 12-year old girl crying.  Later he learned that her brother 
> was imprisoned on the second floor of the prison.  Once or twice he 
> himself saw her, says Suhaib.
> 
> In the night they were in her cell.  The girl yelled to other captives 
> and called the name of her brother.
> 
> A sketch artist has painted this scene for the British television 
> station ITN.
> 
> O-Ton, Suhaib Badr-Addin Al-Baz, TV reporter:
> "She was beaten.  I heard her call out: they've taken all my clothes 
> off!  They poured water on me!"
> 
> Daily, says Suhaib, one could hear her screaming and wimpering.  Other 
> captives were also heard crying.  Suhaib also reports on a sick 15-year 
> old teenager.  They had chased him up and down the corridor using a 
> powerful water cannister until he collapsed from exhaustion, says 
> Suhaib.  Then they brought in his father with a hood over his head.  In 
> a state of shock, the youth collapsed again.
> 
> In the so-called "war against terror" Americans are storming Iraqi 
> residences.  Claims Suhaib, they sometimes take entire families into 
> custody when they appear to be suspicious.  Individual testimonials, 
> however, are hard to verify.
> 
> We will continue to research new reports on the capture of children. And 
> actually, UNICEF in Genf, the Children's help network of the United 
> Nations.  We found an explosive report only a few days old.  In this 
> report it says
> 
> Quote:
> "Children captured in Basra and Kerbala have routinely been relocated to 
> an internment camp in Um Qasr."
> 
> The internment camp at Um Qasr.  Recorded in 2003: Currently it is too 
> dangerous for reporters to drive to Um Qasr.  The camp, a prison for 
> terrorists and criminals.  It is calculated that the Americans are also 
> holding children here as prisoners of war.  UNICEF writes:
> 
> Quote:
> "The classification of these children as "interns" is cause for worry, 
> since they can be held indefinately, without contact with their 
> families, waiting to be processed and classified."
> 
> UNICEF still does not want to release the until now unpublished report: 
>   UNICEF workers in Iraq should not be endangered.  We're looking for 
> further information, and have contacted the International Red Cross. 
> Their helpers have inspected Um Qasr, Abu Ghraib, and other prisons. And 
> after intense discussions, further confirmation and even concrete 
> numbers were reported.
> 
> O-Ton, Florian Westphal, Internation Committee of the Red Cross:
> "Between January and May of this year we have registered a total of 107 
> children in 19 visits to 6 different prisons.  One must stress that 
> these are really prisons, controlled by coalition troops."
> 
> In the internment center at Um Qasr and also at Abu Ghraib, the Red 
> Cross has registered juvenile captives.  Two independent international 
> organizations have confirmed to us that the occupation troops are 
> holding Iraqi children as prisoners.  However, we do not have any 
> information directly from the prisons.  UNICEF was not allowed to visit 
> the Kinderknast [orphanage?  children's detention center?] in Baghdad.
> 
> Quote:
> "In July of 2003, UNICEF requested a visit to this detention center, but 
> access was denied."
> 
> Since December claims UNICEF, no independent observers have been allowed 
> in the Kinderknast.  This despite the fact that the scandal prison Abu 
> Ghraib has been opened to journalists.  Of course reporters were 
> presented with a pre-arranged guided tour.  Captured children were not 
> presented to the press.
> 
> O-Ton, Barbara Lochbihler, General Secretary, Amnesty International:
> "the US government must naturally respond to this report and provide 
> concrete information regarding the age of the children, why they are 
> being held, and under what circumstances they were arrested.  And also 
> if they were tortured or mishandled.  We don't even know what these 
> children's names are, or how many are being held in custody. 
> 'Independent inspections are not allowed.'  This is scandalous!"
> 
> Moderator Fritz Frey:
> 
> Of course we confronted the responsible parties with the results of our 
> research.  The British Defense Ministry has informed us that children 
> and teenagers are not being held prisoner by British troops.  We're 
> still waiting on a response from the American Pentagon.
> 
> Links:
> 
> Reports from the human rights organization Amnesty Internation regarding 
> Iraq
> (Berichte der Menschenrechtsorganisation Amnesty International zu Irak)
> www2.amnesty.de
> 
> Internation Committee of the Red Cross
> (Internationales Komitee vom Roten Kreuz)
> www.icrc.org
> 
> The Children's Help Network of the United Nations UNICEF
> (Das Kinderhilfswerk der Vereinten Nationen UNICEF)
> www.unicef.de
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Get on or off this list here:  http://BicycleAustin.info/list




-- 
_______________________________________________________________________
Lane Wimberley             8303 N. MoPac, Suite A-300  Austin, TX 78759
Wayport, Inc.                512.519.6195 (voice)    512.519.6200 (fax)