State Department: International Election Observers allowed!!

[grasswire]

Yes, the source is worldnet, but the info is solid and I don't see the story anywhere else.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39861

WASHINGTON – When 13 Democratic members of the U.S. Congress asked United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send election monitors to the U.S. this fall, the move outraged many Republicans and other proponents of national sovereignty. When those same 13 Democratic members of Congress were turned down by Annan, they took their request to Secretary of State Colin Powell – again to the shock of many Republicans and those who warn about foreign entanglements.

Yesterday, those 13 Democratic House members got their surprising answer from the State Department – the administration will indeed invite foreign election monitors to observe the U.S. elections in November.

Assistant Secretary of State Paul V. Kelly, who handles legislative affairs for the department, affirmed the invitation this week in a letter to the 13 House members. They had requested U.N. monitors for this year's elections in an effort to avoid the charges of voting irregularities that plagued the 2000 election, the closest in history.

Now, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the largest regional organization in the world with 55 participating nations, will monitor the U.S. election on Nov. 2. Members include Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States.

.............

It appears to have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus who made this request!!

[grasswire]

1. is this a Colin Powell doublecross?

Will Bush-Rove have to overrule this decision?

[Skip Intro]

2. It worries me that powell authorized this

We've seen powell on his knees to bush, lying right along with the rest of this regime. Why did he approve this?

[grasswire]

3. I wonder...

...if this is related to the fact that he refuses to be part of the Republican National Convention and his statement about it has sounded quite "uppity" and dismissive.

[FreakinDJ]

4. I don't think Bush authorised this

but then again look if they attempt to "Hand Pick" the observers

[PeaceForever]

12. He must have been acting on his own.

There is no way in hell that Bush would support election monitoring by other countries. Powell is an intelligent man, and I think he realizes the mistakes he made by supporting the Iraq war and the neocon empire-building.

[gmoney]

5. Powell's already announced...

that he's out on inauguration day, whether Bush wins or loses, so maybe he feels at this point, he's got nothing to lose, and maybe he can regain a shred of his self-respect.

[doctorbombeigh]

6. This is nothing... Powell's book is what will screw these clowns

But it's nice to see he's getting a few shots in before he leaves the administration.

The best piece of advice this POTUS ever got was from Powell - "You broke it, you bought it." True on so many, many levels.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. GREAT!

I hope Jimmy Carter get's in the mix!

[The Commie]

8. YES!!!

THANK YOU, POWELL, THANK YOU!!! :toast:

Powell to *: Go f*ck yourself.

[DrBB]

9. Good--But they better put 'em somewhere where they'll do some good

This better not be just another attempt to "embed" and co-opt potential critics. Better get 'em into Florida fast. Can they rule the whole touchscreen voting system out of compliance with good standards? Because ANYTHING can come out of machines whose code is kept secret.

[TheWatcher]

10. Interesting.

First Powell decides not to show his face at the Convention, now we have International Election Monitors?

Is the lapdog rebelling?

[olddem43]

11. How many? - It's going to take thousands just to cover Florida

The only way I would feel safe is if there were one for each polling place, several in each County board of elections, and a lot more in each state Board. I don't trust Busco and their facilitators one damn bit.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. Scrutinize the Scrutineers

Make sure that there is good coverage where they observe on election day, good exit polling, etc.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. The OSCE already had observers in Florida in 2002

"On election day, the Mission deployed teams in Miami-Dade, Broward (Fort Lauderdale), Palm Beach, Hillsborough (Tampa) and Duval (Jacksonville) Counties in Florida."
http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2003/01/1465_en.pdf

They've also observed in France, and produced reports on Spain and the UK - see http://www.osce.org/odihr/?page=elections&div=reports .