For Immediate Release
Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Judicial Decisions on Guantanamo Bay, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Congressman Buyer and his ties to Saudi Arabia
Wednesday, June 30, 2004--Dr. David Sanders, candidate for the office of U.S. Representative for the 4th Congressional District of the State of Indiana appeared at a press conference at 10:30 AM Wednesday, June 30, 2004 at the Tippecanoe County Democratic Headquarters, 320 Main Street in Lafayette.
     Dr. Sanders began by dealing with Congressman Buyer's stonewalling on the issues of his credibility. "Congressman Buyer's Congressional spokesperson characterized the statements presented in my previous press conferences as "false and baseless." Given that all I had done was to quote Congressman Buyer, perhaps she's right."
     Dr. Sanders responded to the recent Supreme Court Decisions repudiating the Bush administration denial of the rights of American citizens and other prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. "Congressman Buyer has been a strong and vocal advocate of the administration's approach to the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Congressman Buyer's position was seen as being fundamentally opposed to American democratic values and the U. S. Constitutition by even the most conservative of the Supreme Court Justices. The road to the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib passed through Guantanamo Bay. Congressman Buyer helped to pave part of that road."
     Dr. Sanders addressed the issues raised by the Michael Moore movie, Fahrenheit 9/11.
     "Viewing Fahrenheit 9/11 was a powerful experience. Seeing the reactions of the people to the attacks of September 11, 2001 brought back all the horror that I felt on that day."
     Dr. Sanders focused on particular aspects of the movie. "The movie effectively exposed the manipulation of public opinion by the administration and certain right-wing elements of the media. It revealed the extent of the Bush adminstration's exploitation of the war and military for political purposes. Congressman Buyer was and continues to be one of the major active exploiters of the military for his own political self-promotion."
     "The ties between the Bush administrations and the Saudi royal family and government are firm and of long duration. Congressman Buyer also boasts of his ties to the Saudi royal family and parrots the Saudi line on issues. When Congressman Buyer was bragging about kicking an Iraqi officer who was crying on the ground in a prisoner-of-war camp he felt the need to mention that his interpreter was the grandson of King Fahd. I guess that kicking an Iraqi officer and having a Saudi royal family member as an interpreter made Steve Buyer feel like an important person."
     "As gas prices were rising Congressman Buyer decided to tell some high school students in Frankfort a story. It couldn't have happened as he described it. In 1998, when the meeting with the unnamed chairman of OPEC was supposed to have taken place, there was an oil glut. No one was gouging us on oil prices. We were complaining that the low prices were driving the American oil industry out of business!Also, to which OPEC country were we bringing democracy in 1998? Interestingly, these statements of Congressman Buyer two months ago turned out to be exact echoes of those of a Saudi minister just a few days before."
     "Congressman Buyer should consider registering as a lobbyist for the Saudi government. He does not seem to realize that their interests and ours do not coincide. I have condemned anti-Arab bigotry as exemplified by Congressman Buyer's recent remarks. Still, I can recognize that a Saudi Government that supports schools around the world that teach anti-American and anti-Western propaganda and that severely restricts women's rights and beheads people in public is not the best of allies. Perhaps Congressman Buyer's judgment was affected by the five months as a lawyer in Saudi Arabia during which, he claims, he went without a shower. 15 out of 19 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia and yet Congressman Buyer made his ludicrous suggestion that we should use nuclear weapons in Afghanistan."
     "The people of the 4th District of Indiana need a Congressman who will make sure that the authentic interests of Americans are protected."