Sunday, October 08, 2006

And the war drags on . . .

Long before their grandson, Marine Lance Cpl. Chase Comley, was killed in Iraq, my parents wondered why so many among the clergy have remained silent about the invasion and occupation of Iraq. I had given my mother a copy of The Reverend William Sloane Coffin's book Credo. Coffin, who died in April, was a Christian clergyman and antiwar activist who worked tirelessly for social justice, believing that it is crucial to Christianity.
Coffin had this to say about the war that has now claimed almost 3,000 coalition soldiers and, possibly, a half million Iraqis:
The war against Iraq is as disastrous as it is unnecessary; perhaps in terms of its wisdom, justice, purpose, and motives, the worst war in American history. Of course, we feel for the Iraqis so long and cruelly oppressed, and we support our military men and women; but we don't support their military mission. They were not called to defend America but rather to attack Iraq. They were not called to die for, but rather to kill for, their country, and in an illegal and unjust war opposed by the UN Security Council and virtually the entire world. What more unpatriotic thing could we have asked of our sons and daughters serving in the military?
We have just left September and, already, October is a deadly month for our troops. We have lost 26 coalition soldiers in a week. Who knows the accurate number of Iraqis killed?
George Bush is still saying, "Stay the course."
He should read Credo and learn from Coffin's timeless wisdom: "If you're at the edge of an abyss the only progressive step is backward!"

The above, noted by Mia, is from Missy Comley Beattie's "At the Edge of the Abyss" (CounterPunch). We'll open with Beattie (of Military Families Speak Out) and note Mia's e-mail. "Glad that the focus is on Iraq, I still miss the days when a whole entry could feature highlights of women's voices." I miss it too. And as Mia notes, with a long list (of which I'm in complete agreement with), that's impossible to do most days because so few women write about the war. "Soccer Momma," as Mia notes, will "bend over backwards to write about anything but the war and I've about had enough of her middle-class moralizing being passed off as a left critique." Agreed. I, too, am tired of basically a year of dispatches from "The Everyday Housewife" who gave up the real world to turn scold and moralizer (and support the erosion of abortion rights). Apparently choice means a far less in her mini-van set than it once did to her but, hey, maybe she'll offer another vouching of "Some of my neighbors are lesibans" -- a phrase that should be mocked the same way rationalizations of "Some of my best friends are Blacks" was decades ago. There are women noting the war (and Ms. and Off Our Backs have done issues that focused on war & peace -- which is worth noting and worth noting that it's more than many of our other leading left magazines have done). But there are a lot of women "in retreat" (Mia's phrase).

Like Mia, I'll cut slack to any woman covering reproductive rights because that's a "beat" that gets far too little attention in times of peace let alone in times of war. But, yes, I've had it with certain women (many listed by Mia -- in my reply, I suggested that we either post her entire e-mail here as its own entry or she carries it over to the gina & krista round-robin or Polly's Brew because she's obviously given the matter a great deal of thought).

There are women speaking out and there are women being active (as Ray McGovern recently noted some of the strong peace advocates now are women -- he noted Cindy Sheehan, Medea Benjamin, Diane Wilson and Ann Wright -- the list may have been longer, we covered it in a snapshot and I'm too tired to hunt it down -- you can search "Ray McGovern" with the site search option or "The Common Ills" and "Ray McGovern" on google and should be able to turn it up). But it's amazing that the number's not greater. Especially when you consider that the second wave of the feminist movement in the 20th century sprung from the civil rights movement, the student movement and the peace movement. But possibly, as Soccer Momma once infamously said, the war doesn't really touch their own (gated?) communities.

But peace has always been a part of the feminist movement (and, as NOW, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, notes peace is a feminist issue). Know the "Mommys war" that concernes me? The ones where "Mommys" can't speak up for other women who've lost their children to war. On that note, In Dallas highlights an interview with Cindy Sheehan, Buzzflash's "Cindy Sheehan and Her Theology of Peace"

Cindy Sheehan's new book, Peace Mom, A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism, is the story of how a regular mom became the Peace Mom. Cindy recently spoke with BuzzFlash about her book, her recent hospital visit, her goals for the Camp Casey Peace Institute and her efforts to create a more peaceful planet.
Our first interview with Cindy was in October, 2004. BuzzFlash regularly posts her commentaries and supports her mission of peace.
[. . .]
BuzzFlash: I want to ask you about Bush. On September 26, George Bush was on CNN and he dismissed all the deaths in Iraq as "just a comma."
Cindy Sheehan: Right.
BuzzFlash: We posted your response on BuzzFlash. But, in all of your efforts to meet with Bush, and the work you've done to bring peace and to try and end his illegal wars, have you had any insight into how a single man could show such painfully deep ignorance of, and such callousness toward other human lives?
Cindy Sheehan: Well, I think it's partly because of how he's been raised. I mean, look at his mother. Look at the horribly callous things she's said.
BuzzFlash: Yeah, with Katrina.
Cindy Sheehan: Yes, Katrina. And then when she said why should she bother her beautiful mind with the images of the flag-draped coffins. That's a horribly callous thing. Obviously, George Bush is out of contact with reality. And he was raised in a household where you didn't really care about anybody but yourself. And it seems like everything that the Bushes do is to try to enrich their family. And I just think he was raised to - he doesn't know the meaning of compassion. My friend, Justin Frank, wrote that book, Bush on the Couch. And, you know, he's convinced that George Bush is a sociopath, and me too, because he can -- he just totally doesn't know how to act.
BuzzFlash: Let's talk about your book: Peace Mom, A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism. Before Casey's death in April of 2004, you were a typical, average mother of four from Califoria.
Cindy Sheehan: Uh-huh.
BuzzFlash: And you've had some fairly catastrophic changes in your life in the last two and a half years.
Cindy Sheehan: Right.
BuzzFlash: Can you talk about Cindy the mom? Not the activist, but just that part of you that was there in 2004 that -- and just this sort of transformation to who you are now.
Cindy Sheehan: Well, before our Casey was killed, I was the kind of mom that did everything for her kids. I did their laundry. I packed their lunches. I would try to straighten their rooms up a little bit. I mean, go to every game, concert, play. I mean, anything that the kids were involved in, I was involved with them. I was a Girl Scout leader, a Boy Scout leader, a youth group leader. You know, I was president of the band booster club. I'm raising money every week for the band because my two younger children were in band: Janey played the violin and Andy played the tuba. My job for eight years was a youth minister, and my kids were all involved in the youth ministry. And I think my whole life was defined by being a mother, and being a good mother. And, you know, being a good mother because I loved my children, but also trying to be the mother that society wanted me to be too, you know? And now since Casey died, I am not the mother that's there all the time, that does their laundry, that cooks their meals and tucks them in, and kisses their boo-boos, you know? I've found a path and a life's purpose that is still for my kids, and supported by my kids, but also separate. It's a path separate from them that separates us physically but, just like Casey -- nothing could ever separate me emotionally from Casey. And nothing can ever separate our hearts. And even though I'm not always in the same place as my kids geographically, our hearts are always connected. I feel like I'm trying to make the world better for them; make the world better for their children, but also the world's children too, not just my children.
BuzzFlash: That catalyst that was the meeting with Bush - can you describe that for me? And how that changed your perceptions?
Cindy Sheehan: Well, it didn't really change my perceptions of the war. We never agreed with the war. We never agreed; never voted for George Bush. You know, we never supported him. I mean, even though I wasn't a political activist or any kind of activist, I was -- I've always been a liberal Democrat. You know, that's not a dirty word or anything that I'm ashamed of.
BuzzFlash: Agreed.
Cindy Sheehan: So we never supported him, and it never -- the meeting with him didn't change how I felt. The actual meeting with him didn't change any way that I believed. But at the end of the meeting, I asked George Bush why did Casey die, why did Casey have to die? And he said, he believes that everybody deserves to be free, and freedom and democracy, and blah-blah-blah. And I also asked him, "We're not Republicans. We didn't vote for you in 2000, and we're not going to vote for you in 2004. So why were we invited here?" And he said, "Well, Mom, it's not about politics." And for some strange reason, I believed him.
And so at the Republican National Convention a few months later, after we met him, he actually stood up and said, "You know, I meet with the families of the fallen. I feel their pain. And they tell me, 'You know, Mr. President, we're praying for you. You know, Mr. President, don't let our loved ones die in vain.'"
And then I just thought: "Wow, you know, this was about politics. So you never go to a funeral. You never say the numbers of killed out loud. You don't acknowledge them in your press conferences. But you can get up and say that you meet with the families." And he just met with us based on politics.
So I just thought: well, you know, if it's about politics for you, then it's about politics for me. And that's when I got involved in the 2004 Presidential elections -- not working for John Kerry, but working against George Bush.

The "Mommy" card isn't just played by Dr. Laura these days, it's played by a lot of women who, to the surprise of many, turn out not to be left but moderate. Or maybe just too damn chicken to speak out against the war. It's disgusting and it's really disappointing to anyone old enough to remember the impact the feminist movement had during the Vietnam era.

But maybe when you're preaching restrictions on abortion access, you've lost the right to self-identify, even in the most generic manner, as a "feminist"? In their silence, people die. From their silence. But women who want to ignore the realities of pre-Roe v. Wade have already done enough damage so we shouldn't be surprised that they're also comfortable turning a blind eye to the deaths in Iraq.

They're just there to try and make the people free,
But the way that they're doing it, it don't seem like that to me.
Just more blood-letting and misery and tears
That this poor country's known for the last twenty years,
And the war drags on.
-- words and lyrics by Mick Softly (available on Donovan's Fairytale)


Last Sunday, the American military fatality count in Iraq stood at 2715. Right now? 2744. 2744.
Nearly thirty since last Sunday (29). The war drags on and it drags on not just because the Bully Boy wants it to but because of the silences, the refusal to address the issue. Or the ignorance in thinking that because you write about Democratic Party 'strategy,' you have to give cover to a party that can't find the bravery to say "End the war now!" Approximately thirty more died in the last week. And we got Foley coverage (from women and men). Non-stop. Let's focus on the women here. Do they really think their slightly to the left of Cokie Roberts columns weighing in "as a mother" accomplished much? Their weak ass writing made any impact?

Maybe they think it did. Maybe they could have instead argued that Bully Boy stop wasting tax payer funds on "faith-based" education and we get serious about sex education in this country which includes teaching children that if you feel harrassed, you go to someone right away. That if you feel harrassed, you speak out. And you do that both because you're harrassed and because you're probably not alone. The person harrassing you has probably harrassed others and will continue to harrass others until exposed.

You also demand that sex be discussed in terms of straight and gay so that if your son or daughter is curious or discovering, they can do so in a safe situation and not turn to a middle-aged pig who's online asking them to take off their underwear. You grasp that if children are not provided with the knowledge they need, they will seek it out from people you might not want them to. You also grasp that if your child was unprepared to deal with the text equivalent of an obscene phone call, you and the school system have failed your child.

So let's not pretend that any of the moderate "Mommys" contributed anything remotely feminist to the conversation last week. They did chase after the hot topic and they did ignore Iraq. 29 mothers couldn't last week. Some of them wil see the deaths of their children as a noble sacrifice and that's their judgement call. Others will be angry and upset that an illegal, useless war took their child's life. Maybe those wanting to play the "Mommy card" could consider that.

Mia vocalized it, but looking at the suggested highlights, it's obvious that either the same issue was on the mind of others or we just lucked into it. There was a highlight by Ralph Nader that we'll try to catch later in the week. (I was also planning, for the in between highlights, to comment on John Mayer's hit single. I'll save that for another time as well.) I did want Darrell Anderson noted and, unless there's news this week, he might not be. A lot of members who have access (computer access) only at work miss the weekends if they're only at work during the week (and obviously, we're referring to those who work outside the home). They'll usually grab this post ["And the war drags on" and the read the current posts come Monday]. Ty's fixing dinner for all of us and we still have to do the "A Note to the Readers" at The Third Estate Sunday Review, so Jess suggested a highlight (in person) that will allow us to cover Anderson and fit with Mia's request.

But women are effected by the war, as fatalities, as casulities, in battle zones, in training, as loved ones, as people serving and as ones caught in the crossfire. Moderate "Mommys" may have missed that fact but others don't. Suzanne Swift and her mother Sara Rich certainly didn't miss that fact after the abuse Swift suffered. Abeer's life wasn't prolonged because a "Mommy" commentator ignored the war. One of the feminist slogans has always been "Silence equals death." It was true before it was coined and it's still true today.

Erika noted "Entertaining what troops?" (The Third Estate Sunday Review) and wrote, "If you had told me that tits and ass parades would make a comeback, I would've thought you were crazy. I thought we had fought and won that battle. But they're back and there's no effort to challenge them which is why NYT can write a lurid, leering piece [see NYT: "It takes a War Pornographer"] and front page with a low angle shot to show off the women's 'assets.'"

When I was reading Erika's e-mail, I thought again about how the reports filed from Iraq have repeatedly rendered women invisible. If the New York Times has included women, it's been near the end of the article or it's been an article on Abeer that couldn't even name her. The only article to focus on women in Iraq, filed from Iraq, this year in the New York Times has been on a T&A parade named the Purrfect Angels. What an accomplishment, how proud the paper must be. Erika's highlight was written by someone who's not afraid to name Abeer or to address the realities for women. From Marie Tessier's "Iraq Series: Military Justice System Fails One More Victim of Sexual Violence" (Women's Media Center via Truth Out):

The life stories of Jessica Brakey and Abeer Al-Janabi unfold a half a world apart. Yet the former Air Force Academy cadet and the dead Iraqi girl are both powerful symbols of women's experience of sexual assault. The legal tales of both are curiously juxtaposed this fall in the military's sprawling criminal justice system.
Until late last week, Brakey was the only woman to see her sexual assault allegations proceed to a court-martial from widely reported Air Force Academy revelations in 2003, though more than 100 women came forward to report assaults in the previous decade. The charges against Air Force Capt. Joseph J. Harding were dismissed Friday afternoon, however, following a long dispute over rape shield law. Harding attorney David Sheldon says delays in the case "did a disservice not only to Capt. Harding but also the administration of fair justice," according to the Associated Press. Sheldon also represents one of the soldiers charged in the Iraqi case.
Not one person has been convicted of rape from the Air Force Academy reports, though a change of venue to a civilian court in Colorado remains possible in the Harding case. One cadet, still at the academy but his future uncertain, pleaded guilty to "indecent acts" and other military conduct offenses. His sentence: a reprimand and a $2,000 fine.
Three years after the public and Congress demanded reform, sexual assaults remain a persistent fact of life in the military, figures from the Pentagon's Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response show. "The system facilitates the crime because it's never punished," says Wendy Murphy, a victim rights attorney who represents Jessica Brakey and her civilian therapist. "They have wanted her case to disappear since the beginning."
Pentagon officials say 546 sexual assaults were reported in the Afghanistan and Iraq war theaters from 2002 through August 2006. The vast majority of reports involved service members as both assailant and victim. Dozens of cases involved a military victim and civilian assailant, and a small fraction involved soldiers assaulting civilians. Worldwide, the number of sexual assaults reported in 2005 involving a U.S. service member as an assailant reached 2,374, including 600 civilian victims. Historically, about one in four sexual assaults is reported in the military, though the reporting rate is climbing since victims gained some anonymity last year, officials and advocates say.
It's amid this persistent violence and failed prosecution that charges arose in Mahmoudiyah, Iraq, against four soldiers and one former soldier in the alleged gang rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Al-Janabi. The soldiers - who await a decision from their Fort Campbell, Kentucky, commander on an investigator's recommendation of court-martial - are also charged with premeditated murder of Abeer's mother, her father, and her younger sister. The discharged man has pleaded not guilty in federal court in Kentucky.

As noted above, we need to highlight Darrell Anderson. He's a war resister, he made a brave decision to resist the war and he took a big chance in returning to the United States. Jess suggested going with "War Resister Darrell Anderson Returns From Canada to Face Possible Charges" which is the Tuesday interview conducted by Amy Goodman:

AMY GOODMAN: Today, we bring you a new voice. Private Darrell Anderson came back from Iraq nearly two years ago with a Purple Heart and an order for a second deployment. Instead, he fled to Canada, where he's been until this week. Private Anderson returned to the United States, where he could face charges. He’ll be turning himself in to the military later today. He joins us from Lexington, Kentucky. We welcome you to Democracy Now!
DARRELL ANDERSON: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us why you’re turning yourself in today?
DARRELL ANDERSON: Basically it was -- I just couldn't live up in Canada no more without work permits and healthcare and the support of my family, while dealing with post-traumatic stress from Iraq and everything. And also I feel that I want to put on my uniform and stand on a military base and resist the war, because it was something that I wasn't strong enough to do before.
AMY GOODMAN: Why don't you tell us when you went to Iraq, when you returned, and why you decided not to go back?
DARRELL ANDERSON: Well, it was just -- as soon as I got to Iraq, it was obvious that everything we were doing there was wrong, and there was no justification of it. And I believe that if I returned to Iraq and followed military procedures and orders, that there is no way around it: I would eventually kill innocent people. And I believed it was my human right to choose not to do so, and it was my military duty to resist this war.
AMY GOODMAN: Where were you in Iraq, and at what point when you went to Iraq did you decide that you felt you couldn’t fight there anymore?
DARRELL ANDERSON: I arrived in Baghdad in January of '04, and it was in April of ’04, when I was ordered to open fire on a car of innocent civilians, and I refused. And my superiors told me that it was military procedures, if a car comes though a traffic stop, you are ordered to open fire. And I just didn't agree with our procedures we were doing there, 'cause if I followed them I would be killing innocent people.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, what happened?
DARRELL ANDERSON: I refused. They told me if I refused again, I'd be punished. But I was still a fresh troop on the ground, so no action was taken. And just events like that just kept occurring, until one day I saw a couple of my fellow soldiers get hit, and I pulled my trigger while pointing it at an innocent child. But my weapon was on safe, and then I realized what I was doing, and I just realized that no matter how good or [inaudible] you believe you are, when you’re there, that you're eventually -- you know, the evil in this is going to take over, and you're going to kill people.

To bring anyone who missed Friday's snapshot (I don't remember what time that went up) or didn't visit this weekend, Anderson's been released by the military. He's currently at a clinic (I believe it's being called "a ranch" by the press) to get treatment for PTS. It appears that the military is honoring the oral agreement they made earlier, he will not be charged, he'll get a dishonorable discharge. Anderson is part of a growing movement of war resistance within the military. His story mattered yesterday, it matters today and it will matter tomorrow. It matters in times of war and it matters in times of peace. Ruth's Report went up Saturday. I think it was Wednesday last week when Tracey, Ruth and I were on the phone. One of the things she noted (which she ended up writing about) was the process where today's war resisters learn of previous war resistance. If you've followed interviews with war resisters in the military (and Amy Goodman's interviewed many of them), you've probably noticed that many will often mention Howard Zinn. Zinn covers the history that doesn't always make it into the text books. If you're trying to grasp onto a lesson from this horrible period, one can be the importance of passing on the tales of war resistance to future generations. As happened during the post-Vietnam period, you can be sure these stories will be eliminated and revisionists will invet tales of the press turning the people against the war. Pass on the stories of today's war resisters -- it's information that matters long after the illegal war finally ends.

Sherry notes a highlight and since Sherry is one of Rebecca's first readers, I'm sure she came across it Friday when Rebecca noted it at her site (Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude). Molly Ivin's "Return of the War Criminal" (Truthout) addresses Henry Kissinger who's someome that time and revisionary history has airbrushed:

The Old War Criminal is back. I try not to hold grudges, but I must admit I have never lost one ounce of rancor toward Henry Kissinger, that cynical, slithery, self-absorbed pathological liar. He has all the loyalty and principle of Charles Talleyrand, whom Napoleon described as "a piece of dung in a silk stocking."
Come to think of it, Talleyrand looks pretty good compared to Kissinger, who always aspired to be Metternich (a 19th century Austrian diplomat). Just count the number of Americans and Vietnamese who died between 1969 and 1973, and see if you can find any indication he ever gave a damn.
As for Kissinger's getting the Nobel Peace Prize, it is a thing so wrong it has come to define wrongness--as in, "As weird as the time Henry Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize."
Tom Lehrer, who was a lovely political satirist, gave up satire after that blow.
The War Criminal's return is the only piece of news I have yet found in Bob Woodward's new book, and what amazes me is the reaction to the work. Gosh, gasp, imagine, Woodward says the war's a disaster!
People who know a lot more than Bob Woodward have been saying the war's a disaster for years--because war is self-evidently a disaster. Why this is greeted as an annunciation from on high just because Woodward, the world's most establishment reporter, now says so is a mystery to me.

War Hawk Henry Kissinger returns as the mentor of today's War Hawks. He can't travel freely across the globe (for fear of being arrested and charged with war crimes), but he can be a motivational leader to today's War Hawks (when he should be sitting in a prison).

So what do we do? We keep doing what we have been doing. We keep getting the word out, we keep Iraq in our daily conversations, we register our objections with our elected officials and we protest and demonstrate. The American people have turned against the war. What's needed now is to increase those numbers more and to make sure the sentiment registers. On that note, we return to Cindy Sheehan via Kevin's highlight "We want our Country Back and our Troops Home from Iraq" (Gold Star Families for Peace):

A message from Cindy Sheehan:
Good comes from the bottom up---crap rolls down hill. I am tired of getting crapped on by our government---when will it be enough for you? We are covered with crap and our leaders aren’t going to clean it up---we have to.
Gold Star Families for Peace is planning on convening on the White House on election day and the day after (Nov. 7 & 8).
We hope that there are enough Americans who are willing to stand up and be counted with us to demonstrate to BushCo and Congress, Inc. that we are tired of having our rights taken away from us faster than our bombs destroyed Babylon. We are tired of having our young people die and kill innocent people to enhance corporate America’s bottom line. We are tired of the constant drip, drip, drip of the wearing away of everything that we hold dear.
I withdrew my consent to be governed by maniacs long ago. I withdraw my consent to be hauled off to Guantanamo and be stashed away for matriotically dissenting from this crime-ridden regime.
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired of the corruption and heartache?
Show your discontent with us.
Vote absentee so your vote will have a better chance of being counted and join
Gold Star Families for Peace and other prominent peace groups and organizations in our continuing quest to end the illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq and hold our government accountable.
If the Republicans steal another election, it is time for we the people to stand up (or sit down) to demonstrate that we are finally not taking corrupt and illegitimate elections anymore. We need to surround the White House by the tens of thousands those days.
But equally important, if a miracle occurs and the Democrats take back one or both Houses of Congress, we also need to be out in great numbers to remind them that we will hold them to the same standards of peace with justice that we are about to hold the Republicans to.
This will be a non-permitted event. It is time that we also take back our First Amendment rights to peaceably gather, exercise our freedoms of speech and to petition our government for redress of wrong.
War is over if we want it and WE are the ones we have been waiting for.
Come and make history with us by being the checks and balances on our government that are so sorely needed! Or organize sit-ins in your community if you can’t make it to DC.
Go to Gold Star Families for Peace for more information. Or email: CampCaseyMom@yahoo.com

As always, Pru gets the last word. Her highlight wasn't written by a woman but, if you read through, you'll see that a woman was at the heart of the case (as a witness). As you read through, if you're a community member from the United States, you'll recall who gets dubbed a terrorist and who doesn't. Take part in the blowing of a plane of Cubans and you're not a terrorist by this US administration. Target abortion clinics and workers with acts of violence and, as we saw with Bully Boy's first administration, you get hand-holding sessions with the Attorney General (John Ashcroft). Be a racist organization stockpiling weapons in Noonday, Texas and you won't get the terrorist headlines. Only some people get dubbed terrorists. It's true in the United States and, as Pru's highlight notes, it's true in England as well. This is
Charlie Kimber's "A terror raid that doesn't make the headlines - despite chemical explosives and a rocket launcher online only" (Great Britain's Socialist Worker)"

Here's a police seizure of weapons that wasn’t splashed all over the front pages.
This week a British National Party election candidate has been accused of possessing the largest amount of chemical explosives of its type ever found in the country. That’s right, the largest ever - imagine if he’d been an Asian man. Home secretary John Reid would have held a special press conference and it would have led every news bulletin.
The home of another man charged with similar offences contained a rocket launcher and a nuclear biological suit as well as BNP literature and chemicals!
Robert Cottage of Talbot Street, Colne, and David Bolus Jackson of Trent Road, Nelson, made separate appearances in court charged with being in possession of an explosive substance for an unlawful purpose.
Cottage was arrested at his home on Thursday of last week, while retired dentist Jackson was arrested in the Lancaster area on Friday.
The 22 chemical components recovered by police are believed to be the largest haul ever found at a house in this country. Cottage stood as a BNP candidate in the Pendle council elections in May.
Christiana Buchanan, who appeared for the prosecution in Jackson's case, alleged the pair had "some kind of masterplan".
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