SwiftVets.com

[hanna]

If this don't beat all!!!
International team to monitor presidential election
Observers will be part of OSCE's human rights office
From David de Sola
CNN



WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A team of international observers will monitor the presidential election in November, according to the U.S. State Department.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was invited to monitor the election by the State Department. The observers will come from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

It will be the first time such a team has been present for a U.S. presidential election.

"The U.S. is obliged to invite us, as all OSCE countries should," spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir said. "It's not legally binding, but it's a political commitment. They signed a document 10 years ago to ask OSCE to observe elections."

Thirteen Democratic members of the House of Representatives, raising the specter of possible civil rights violations that they said took place in Florida and elsewhere in the 2000 election, wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July, asking him to send observers.

After Annan rejected their request, saying the administration must make the application, the Democrats asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to do so.

The issue was hotly debated in the House, and Republicans got an amendment to a foreign aid bill that barred federal funds from being used for the United Nations to monitor U.S. elections, The Associated Press reported.

In a letter dated July 30 and released last week, Assistant Secretary of State Paul Kelly told the Democrats about the invitation to OSCE, without mentioning the U.N. issue.

"I am pleased that Secretary Powell is as committed as I am to a fair and democratic process," said Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, who spearheaded the effort to get U.N. observers.

"The presence of monitors will assure Americans that America cares about their votes and it cares about its standing in the world," she said in a news release.

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California agreed.

"This represents a step in the right direction toward ensuring that this year's elections are fair and transparent," she said.

"I am pleased that the State Department responded by acting on this need for international monitors. We sincerely hope that the presence of the monitors will make certain that every person's voice is heard, every person's vote is counted."

OSCE, the world's largest regional security organization, will send a preliminary mission to Washington in September to assess the size, scope, logistics and cost of the mission, Gunnarsdottir said.

The organization, which counts among its missions conflict prevention and postconflict rehabilitation, will then determine how many observers are required and where in the United States they will be sent.

"OSCE-participating [nations] agreed in 1990 to observe elections in one another's countries. The OSCE routinely monitors elections within its 55-state membership, including Europe, Eurasia, Canada and the United States," a State Department spokesman said.

The spokesman said the United States does not have any details on the size and composition of the observers or what countries will provide them.

OSCE, based in Vienna, Austria, has sent more than 10,000 personnel to monitor more than 150 elections and referenda in more than 30 countries during the past decade, Gunnarsdottir said.

In November 2002, OSCE sent 10 observers on a weeklong mission to monitor the U.S. midterm elections. OSCE also sent observers to monitor the California gubernatorial recall election last year.

More recently, OSCE monitored the elections in Northern Ireland in November and in Spain in March.



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Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

I don't know why the media persists in treating this case of international observers as they would the international monitoring of the elections as called for by the dishonorable Corrine Brown.

It's part of a routine observation in which we participate with 54 (53?) other countries and they are here to see how OUR process works so they can evaluate their own processes, compare them with ours and see if they want to adopt any of ours to make theirs go better. We've also sent representatives to a boatload of other countries to watch their procedures in action.

It's nothing like the UN monitoring of our elections that some of the members of Congress asked for last month - why is the press treating it as if it is?
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[carpro]

They are observing , not monitoring. Big difference.

I suspect the 13 dems that requested monitoring already knew of the agreement since it is 10 years old.

Another political ploy. Wonder how many news organizations will fall for it or try to make it into some kind of big deal?
_________________
"If he believes his 1971 indictment of his country and his fellow veterans was true, then he couldn't possibly be proud of his Vietnam service."

[hanna]

Thank you for that info. I assumed it was international folks coming to monitor our elections to make sure we were being honest about it, because of the Florida mess last time and because demons have been insisting on it. A perfect example of how we can be mislead;/

[hanna]

The headline does say monitor.

[kate]

http://www.johnkerry.com/communities/lawyers/
From Kerry's web site
On Election Day in your cities, my campaign will provide teams of election observers and lawyers to monitor elections and enforce the law.”

Lawyers for Kerry-Edwards is working with the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute (VRI) to organize thousands of attorneys across the country to be in every polling place on Election Day and to educate voters locally about their ballot, their voting machine and the voting process.

aint that special
_________________
.
one of..... We The People

[carpro]

[LewWaters]

Please note also, this was due to an agreement signed back in 1990, not due to any Democrats letters to the UN. By obscuring the words, monitor and observe, the article tries to make it appear as if Bush flip flopped, when it reality, Kofi Annan flatly rejected the letter by the Democrats some weeks ago.

This was originally run on Worldnet News Daily with the other reputable news sources and the mainstream media not running it yesterday. OSCE is not the UN.

As for Kerry's campaign "supplying observers," haven't both parties had observers at voting places for decades? I also wonder where the "observers" were in 2000 when Gore was blocking thousands of military absentee ballots while calling for "every vote to be counted."
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Clark County Conservative

[Scott]

Also please note, OSCE supplied observers for the 2002 midterm elections. This is simply the first time there's been an option for them to observe a Presidential election.
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Bye bye, Boston Straggler!

[recongrunt]

If in fact Eddie Benice Johnson and Barbra Lee have asked the UN to observe, monitor or watch our elections we need to pounce on this immediately. This is as troublesome as Kerry reporting for duty. We cannot and must not allow the UN to be involved in our electoral process. This nation was founded with checks and balances and if some wacko Senator or Represenative thinks the UN has a place in our elections we better write them and ask them if they live where we live. Kerry has stated he is an internationalist ( at least I heard he said that) and if he is we had better keep a very close eye on him if he manages to get elected.

Please keep this thread going and post any other news on this disturbing situation. We need to do an e-mail campaign against Johnson and Lee and let them know that America does not need the UN to monitor, watch, observe or validate our elections.

I cannot believe the thought process of some of our leaders. Maybe they would consent to the UN monitoring their activities on a 24/7 basis. God knows us peons can't keep up with their demented brain waves.

Semper Fi
Wayne Standiford
3rd Recon VN 67-69

[LewWaters]

recon, they did in fact write and submit the letter to the UN;

[Quzar]

These people observing our election is a good thing, i know for a fact that the liberals that HATE George bush so badly will try to do something to screw the election up and get kerry elected.

[recongrunt]

Thank you for the article and information. Does anyone out there want to help in a letter campaign to these Democrats who think the UN has more integrity than the American Constituion. They cannot even run a oil for food program and to think our very own Democratic so call leaders would put our sovereignty aside really disturbs me. The American people including myself had better get involved in this nation or one day we'll wake up to find the Union dissolved and UN troops passing out meal tickets to those who kiss some dictators or terrorist butt.

Semper Fi

CW Standiford