What Is Truth? Written by John R. Cash.
Single release: © 1970, CBS Records.

The old man turned off the radio, said:
"Where did all of the old songs go?
"Kids sure play funny music these days.
"They play it in the strangest ways".
Said: "It looks to me like they've all gone wild.
"It was peaceful back when I was a child."
Well, man could it be that the girls and boys,
Are trying to be heard above your noise?
And the lonely voice of youth cries:
"What is truth?"

A little boy of three sittin' on the floor,
Looks up and says: "Daddy, what is war?"
"Son, that's when people fight and die."
A little boy of three says: "Daddy, why?"
A young man of seventeen in Sunday school,
Being taught the golden rule.
And by the time another year has gone around,
It may be his turn to lay his life down.
Can you blame the voice of youth for asking:
"What is truth?"

A young man sittin' on the witness stand,
The man with the book says: "Raise your hand.
"Repeat after me: I solemnly swear."
The man looked down at his long hair.
And although the young man solemnly swore,
Nobody seemed to hear anymore.
And it didn't really matter if the truth was there:
It was the cut of his clothes and the length of his hair.
And the lonely voice of youth cries:
"What is truth?"

The young girl dancing to the latest beat,
Has found new ways to move her feet.
The young man speaking in the city square,
Is trying to tell somebody that he cares.
Yeah, the ones that you're calling wild,
Are going to be the leaders in a little while.
This whole world's wakin' to a new born day,
And I solemnly swear that it'll be their way.
You better help that voice of youth find:
"What is truth."

And the lonely voice of youth cries:
"What is Truth?"

"As far as I knew, we weren't speaking. I wasn't even planning to wear makeup.

Truth stood on one side and Ease on the other; it has often been so.

In his letter [of reply], Robbins said he'd been looking forward to "a weekend away from politics and war." He said he remained "skeptical" of the war plans and told Petroskey he did not realize baseball was "a Republican sport."

"I am sorry that you have chosen to use baseball and your position at the Hall of Fame to make a political statement," Robbins wrote. "I know there are many baseball fans that disagree with you, and even more that will react with disgust to realize baseball is being politicized.

"To suggest that my criticism of the president put the troops in danger is absurd. ... I wish you had, in your letter, saved me the rhetoric and talked honestly about your ties to the Bush and Reagan administrations.

"You invoke patriotism and use words like 'freedom' in an attempt to intimidate and bully. In doing so, you dishonor the words 'patriotism' and 'freedom' and dishonor the men and women who have fought wars to keep this nation a place where one can freely express their opinions without fear of reprisal or punishment."

Robbins signed his letter with a reference to an old World Series champion. "Long live democracy, free speech and the '69 Mets - all improbable, glorious miracles that I have always believed in," he wrote.

The greatest truth must be recognition that in every man, in every child is the potential for greatness.

The former agent, James J. Smith, was charged in documents unsealed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with "gross negligence in handling documents related to the national defense."

Smith had a long relationship with Katrina Leung, a Republican political activist in California who also worked for the Chinese government, according to federal documents. She is charged with unauthorized copying of U.S. secrets with intent of providing them to Chinese intelligence services.

According to an FBI affidavit, Smith recruited Katrina Leung in the early 1980s to become an FBI "asset" providing information about the People's Republic of China. Smith and Leung had a sexual relationship from that time until Smith's retirement from the FBI in 2000.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Lawmakers called Tuesday for international tribunals to prosecute Iraqi war crimes, including suicide car bombings that have killed U.S. soldiers.

The efforts by Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., came a day after the government's war crimes ambassador said the United States plans to investigate and prosecute human-rights abuses with Iraqi oversight.

``We expect the regime and the leaders in Baghdad to understand that, down to the very soldier and officer level, that we will hold them accountable,'' Weldon said.

Specter last week filed a Senate resolution to create an international court on Iraqi war crimes after seven U.S. soldiers and three civilians were killed in separate suicide car bombings near military checkpoints. The lawmakers pressed Tuesday for a joint House-Senate bill that would more quickly push the issue to President Bush's desk.

It calls for prosecution of Iraqi government officials, armed forces, and anyone else, regardless of nationality, who ``order, direct, solicit, procure, coordinate, participate in, or supports acts of violation on the international law of armed conflict'' as defined by the 1907 Hague and 1949 Geneva conventions that set international standards for military operations and treatment of prisoners of war.
...
some human-rights advocates questioned how well a U.S.-backed, Iraqi-run process would work. They say an international tribunal, or a tribunal made up of international and local jurists, should be pursued instead.

Specter said the court should be represented at least by the coalition forces now fighting in Iraq, and Biden and Weldon opened the door for other U.N. nations to participate.

Warm Welcomes for Armies Often Fleeting
52 minutes ago | By MARK FRITZ, Associated Press Writer

A downtrodden populace paraded with joy when U.S. troops marched into their mutilated metropolis. Months later, Somalis just as jubilantly dragged the butchered remains of American soldiers down the same dusty streets of Mogadishu.

As the British learned in Northern Ireland and the Israelis in Lebanon, occupying armies often find happy faces replaced by frowns and firebombs that can linger for decades. Invading armies almost invariably wear out their welcomes.

Just as it did in Afghanistan, the Bush administration on Wednesday crowed about media images of U.S.-led troops being greeted with enthusiasm as they rolled into the heart of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. But in Basra, which British forces took on Monday, residents were already angry that their "liberators" had failed to halt widespread looting and lawlessness.

Iraqi society has been brutally suppressed for more than two decades, a span that also featured three devastating wars that some analysts believe wore down Iraq's military more than hardened it.

People tend to be submissive when victorious troops first arrive, said Sandra Mitchell, an International Rescue Committee lawyer who has worked missions in Kosovo and Bosnia. Their priorities are finding loved ones and food, clothing and shelter, and usually the neediest people come forward with open arms, she said.

When the Israeli army entered Lebanon in 1982 to root out guerrillas, Shiite Muslims threw rice and roared out a welcome. When British troops intervened in Northern Ireland's sectarian strife in 1969, Roman Catholics greeted them with tea and crumpets.

"But when they began to put up checkpoints, barbed-wire perimeters and limited population movements, attitudes began to change," Mitchell said.

By Mike Glover | CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) -- Presidential candidate John Kerry said Monday that democracy affords rival Democrats the right to criticize President Bush even with the nation at war.

The Massachusetts senator has come under a withering attack from Republicans for suggesting that the United States, like Iraq, needs a regime change. Traveling through Iowa, Kerry rejected what he called "phony arguments" from the GOP that political candidates should mute their criticism of the commander in chief.

"This is a democracy," Kerry said. "We could be at war a year from now. Would we put the election on hold?"

Kerry voted last fall for a congressional resolution granting Bush the authority to use military force to oust Saddam Hussein and disarm Iraq, but he has been sharply critical of the Bush administration's diplomatic efforts to assemble a coalition of allies. Last week, Kerry's regime change comment drew fire from top congressional Republicans who said the remarks were highly inappropriate with U.S. troops fighting overseas.

Since then, Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, has defended himself, arguing that unlike his Republican critics, he fought for his right to speak freely. At an elementary school in Iowa, he reminded his listeners of that past conflict and the political dynamic.

"We had an election in the middle of the Vietnam War," Kerry said. "It was the center of that election."

The lawmaker argued that the disparate views of Democrats should be central to the 2004 election, including where the candidates' stand on how the war is being conducted.

"Let's not have a lot of phony arguments here about what we can and can't talk about," Kerry said. "We need to talk in America about the things that make us strong as a country."

Despite his attempt to focus on education, Kerry repeatedly was asked about the U.S.-led war against Iraq and his recent comments. Besides the school visit, Kerry has been meeting with small groups of activists during his three-day trip to the site of the leadoff presidential caucuses.

Kerry impressed some listeners, including Susan Lagos, an elementary school principal who has a son in the Army. Lagos wasn't ready to endorse a candidate, but she pointed out, "we teach nonviolence here."

She added, however, "I understand there are times when you have to confront the bully."