Seven months after the American nun who organized the settlement was shot to death, the conflicts over land ownership that led to her killing not only remain unresolved but are intensifying. Roman Catholic church leaders and peasant residents her maintain.
Dorothy Mae Stang, 74, born in Dayton Ohio, who belonged to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, is buried at the spot on the rutted road where on a Saturday morning in February gunmen opened fire, shooting her several times in the chest.
But the Brazilian government's pledges to make land distribution fairer while it establishes its own authority in this violence-ridden corner of the Amazon have proved hollow.
The above is from Larry Rohter's "Brazil's Lofty Promises After Nun's Killing Prove Hollow" in this morning's New York Times. Eli, Charlie and Kara e-mailed to spotlight this article.
For background on Stang from this site, you can start with "This morning's Times: Nuclear site, Dorothy Stang, threats against judges, the Coast Guard, etc." and "Democracy Now: the death of Dorothy Stang . . .; ACLU; Goodman; BuzzFlash."
Note Democracy Now!'s "Murder in the Amazon: A U.S.-Born Nun and Environmentalist is Gunned Down in Brazil For Opposing Rainforest Logging" for a comprehsive look at Stang.
Rod e-mails to note the scheduled topics for today's Democracy Now!:
We talk with journalist Naomi Klein about how New Orleans could house a large number of the city's poor evacuees without having to build a single new structure. We also talk with Democracy Now correspondent Jeremy Scahill about private security firms patrolling the streets of New Orleans.
We're running late. Elaine, Rebecca and I have been going through the e-mails and the paper. We've got another entry almost completed but Kat just arrived. (We're all staying at ____'s house to be in D.C. for the protests. Thanks to ____ for that.) In the usual, "How was your trip?", et al., we're a little less focused and the next entry will go momentarily. Elaine will be responding to Laurie Goodstein's latest article (that's already in the post) and will be noting some things outside of the Times as well. (Jim's driving with Ava, Dona, Jess and Ty and if they arrive before we get the next post up, it could be even later than 15 minutes from now.)
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Other Items
But on the second day of Private England's court-martial, witnesses disagreed about whether Private Graner directed her to pose with naked detainees in pictures that, when they became public last year, led to the scandal over American mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
[. . .]
Asked if he was the father of Private England's baby, as she has said, Private Graner said he did not know. At this, she scoffed, one of her few visible reactions in two days of testimony.
The above is from David S. Cloud's "At Abuse Trial, 2 Accounts of Why G.I. Was in Photos" in this morning's New York Times. Interesting the "two accounts" aren't really two accounts. They're one account that differs over how and why. The second account, the one that would go to higher ups doesn't get a mention in the paper. Was it mentioned at the trial? It's not in the article.
Laurie Goodstein files her third report that we've noted on the shift by the Church (by the Pope) to purging the priesthood of gay men. It's entitled "Gay Men Ponder Impact of Vatican Policy."
A number of members e-mailed about it and I'll turn this section over to Elaine since she is a psychologist.
Elaine: The same problem noted here yesterday is present again. The correlation, one that doesn't exist, between pedophilia and homosexuality is presented as a given. Ms. Goodstein originally made that point. With subsequent stories, the point's been dropped. This is a newspaper. This isn't a radio call in show. To allow the non-existant correlation to be presented and not include what studies have demonstrated is irresponsible journalism. The paper needs to be taken to the woodshed for doing this twice in a row. How do we scapegoat? By presenting "facts" as facts. Goodstein deserves a lot of blame for this article. She has now twice taken part in an article that has allowed pedophilia and homosexuality to be tied together despite scientific studies that demonstrate there is no correlation. The fact that she once noted that clearly in an article but no longer does only makes her reporting more embarrassing. People need facts and the paper's not supplying them with those facts. I'd also be curious as to how an article that states up front it will be exploring the reactions of gay priests to the purge suddenly shifts to a right wing, presumably straight (but who can tell?) priest and then goes on to offer "a retired teacher," "an immigrant from Columbia" and various others who aren't priests, who aren't gay and who aren't part of the focus of the article according to the first paragraph.
The "retired teacher," one Helen Dunn, is the one who's allowed to make comments such as "because that's where the problem starts." The problem with this article starts when its decided that feelings checks trump actual facts. Having allowed a non-existant correlation to yet again be drawn, Goodstein owes it to readers to inform them that there is no correlation. She fails at that today, she fails as a reporter. If basic psychology is beyond her and she has no one in her rolodex that can inform her, she needs to omit passages that she can't verify.
This is shameful reporting. She's done it twice now. The Times should have stopped it a long time ago.
Brandon e-mails to note Douglas Jehl's "After a Year Leading C.I.A., Goss Is Struggling, Some Say" and to note that the issue is "as pointed out here, is Goss up to the job. He had no experience managing an agency and he was put in charge. It's hardly surprising that he's still 'struggling.'" From Jehl's article:
A year after taking charge of the Central Intelligence Agency, Porter J. Goss is still struggling to rebuild morale and assert leadership within an institution shaken by recent failures and buffetted by change, current and former intelligence officials and members of Congress say.
And will continue to struggle. Brandon's referring to a critique here (Janurary? December?)
that Goss was not qualifed and that should have been the issue. Goss was given the job when we heard talk of "massive intelligence failures" which would indicate that you needed someone with experience in running a "massive agency." Instead, we got speculation of whether or not he'd politicize the agency. (Which happened under Reagan, to name one instance, and isn't uncommon.) With Republicans controlling the process, charges of "partisanship" were unlikely to kill the nomination. Arguing that someone with no experience was the wrong person at the wrong time might have. Whether Goss is partisan or not, good or evil, whatever, really doesn't change the fact that he's in over his head. His lack of experience makes this "struggling" hardly surprising.
From "National Briefing," Don e-mails to note:
GEORGIA: CORETTA KING RETURNS HOME More than five weeks after suffering a stroke and a heart attack, Coretta Scott King, 78, widow of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., went home from the hospital. Mrs. King will continue to work with a physical therapist for three hours a day, six days a week, as she tries to regain her speech and the use of her right arm, her doctor said. After her stroke on Aug. 16, Mrs. King lost most of the motor functions on her right side.
From The Third Estate Sunday Review, we'll note:
"Editorial: Stand Up and Be Counted"
Sat., 9/24
• Massive March& Rally
• Peace and JusticeFestival
• Operation CeasefireConcert
Sun., 9/25
• Interfaith Service
• Training for Grassroots LobbyDay
• Trainingfor Mass Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
• NationalMeeting for Counter Recruitment
• Other Activities Mon., 9/26
• Grassroots Lobby Day
• Mass Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
What are the dates above? Are you kidding us? Are you visiting this site for the very first time?They are the dates (from the United for Peace & Justice website) for activism this coming weekend. Okay, you donated a few bucks to independent media, maybe it made you feel good after donating all the money you did to the Kerry/Edwards campaign only to later learn that the campaign didn't use it all to . . . campaign (hopefully the money was being stored for a recount that pressure from party structure ended up nixing); you took part in an e-mail campaign to stop something or save something; you've been thinking about donating a few bucks to one of the many worthy organizations; but guess what -- that's not how it should end.
Downing St. Memo. Did the press want to cover it? No. They dismissed it.
Voices saying "bring the troops home." Did the press want to cover it? No. Polling repeatedly demonstrated Americans were in favor of this for months. Only now is it an option in newsprint (one that's still dismissed).
What makes the press do their job?
You do.
With your actions.
You make them stand and take notice.
Doesn't mean they won't deride. (Derision is their key quality. See the coverage of the many protests on the inauguration in the Times -- both paragraphs!)
But it sends a message. It sends a message to the Bully Boy and the administration, it sends a message to the press.
It's a chance for you to make your voice heard. To come together with other individuals who are determined to stop the killing on all sides.
Last week the GOP, yet again, shut down any hopes that the Downing Street Memos could be addressed in Congress. But you know about those memos. You know what happened.
How good are you feeling about that illegal war?
This coming weekend is your chance to take action and have your voice heard.
In addition to the above activities that will be taking place in D.C., other areas (such as NYC and San Francisco) are also planning events. Is there an event in your area?
You tell us.
What are you doing to be heard and to seek out information?
People can call their local chapters of NOW to find about activities planned in their area. You could do that.You could throw a STOP THE WAR now party this weekend, if nothing else. Get everyone to take time during the party to call your governor's hotline (provided you're not in one of the disaster areas effected by Hurricane Katrina) so that when the staff arrives the following Monday, they find nonstop messages saying "Bring the troops home now." Can your governor STOP THE WAR? Probably not. But that's an elected official and they should be feeling the heat. They should know where people stand. That goes for your state reps, your county reps and your municipal reps. They should all know that "the voters" are tired of this ongoning invasion/occupation. You can do that this weekend.
Might lead to a city council considering whether to debate a measure on the war. Might lead to a state rep standing in a state house (or outside it) and making a statement against the war. Or a governor. You never know until you try.
But if you can't take part in the scheduled activities, you need to create some of your own.Get contact info for your reps on every level and throw a party. Provide means for the guests to contact those reps (at the party, don't take "Oh sure, I'll do something Monday"). Pass around a collection plate for your local peace group or local chapter of a deserving organization or for the national chapter of the same. Entertainment?
Have Laura Flanders playing in the background or Democracy Now! or Pacifica or any programming that's independent and airing the issues that a timid mainstream press won't. Play music by artists who are making a difference and/or who have made a difference, people who stand up and be counted.
Want a film-fest? You've got Danny Schechter's WMD, many strong films by Robert Greenwood, Michael Moore, The Control Room . . . The list is endless.
Maybe there's truly nothing going on in your area (or maybe you're not "the rally type"), that's no excuse for not starting something yourself on some level that says no to the occupation.
You can make a difference this coming weekend. If you participate.So stand up and be counted. Cindy Sheehan's the spark but only you can keep the flame of truth blazing.
[This editorial was written by The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ava, Jess, Ty and myself, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), Mike of Mikey Likes It! and C.I. of both The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review.]
From Danny Schechter's latest News Dissector:
THE MARCH TO DRIVE THE TROOPS HOME
As hundreds of thousands rally in Washington tomorrow for US troops to leave Iraq, Michael Schwartz explains why there is no exit strategy on TomDispatch.com
"It is now a common place in Washington to point out that the Bush administration had no exit strategy from Iraq, but to this day few bother to say the obvious: It had no exit strategy because its top officials never planned on or expected to leave that country. That this was so is easy enough to chart via one of the least well-covered subjects of the period, the Pentagon's determination to build huge, and hugely impressive, permanent military bases" ….
And oh yes, the 'we can't, fail kick butt" arrogance is receding, the talk of the "cakewalk" all gone. CNN now reports FEWER than half of all Americans now believe we can "win" in Iraq. "Fewer than half."
Alternet reports: "Tomorrow, thousands of people will mobilize in DC and scores of other cities nationwide to voice opposition to the war in Iraq. Here's where to go if you're not in Washington:" www.alternet.org
Rebecca got a post up early this morning while we (Elaine & I) were already going through e-mails to this site. Kat's just read it and says we need to note it (we agree). It's entitled "use your powerthis weekend:"
i have a lot of readers in high school. i realize that not everyone will be able to visit d.c. this weekend. (i'm glad that 3 will. hope we are able to meet up saturday afternoon.) but there are things going on in many communities so you may be able to participate locally even if you are unable to come to d.c. you can check with your local chapter of now (national organization of women) or with your local peace organization.
but here's what i want from my high school readers most of all. today is friday (i'm posting late) and i want you to speak out at school. i want you to sit down at the lunch table and talk about the protests in d.c. and why they're happening. i want you to pass notes in study hall. i want you to talk about it during the breaks. if you're able to, i want you to talk about it in class. (i had some real pr**ks and assholes for teachers so i know you'll have to find the teacher who, regardless of whether they agree with you or not, will support free speech in order to have a real discussion on this topic. but you can bring it up even in classes taught by assholes and pr**ks.)
i do not want to read 1 e-mail that says 'wish i could have been there, rebecca, but i couldn't so i didn't do anything.'
we're here to participate in a mass protest. but the message isn't 'okay when you have something to say, you go to d.c. and the rest of the time you shut up.'
what you can do in your own community is as important, maybe more important, than the protests in d.c.
while i was on vacation a number of you wrote in about the wedding crashers. it was funny, you thought. it was hysterical. you hoped i'd see it.
i'll try to see it on dvd. vince vaughn needs to lose some weight and i'm not real sure about his politics so i'll be slow on the drool there.
but why was that movie a hit?
critics hated it.
who made it a hit?
you did. telling people you knew about it. sending e-mails to people about it. you got the word out on that movie.
so here's the thing. are we going to let the new york times be the critic of the peace movement?are we going to let those outside the anti-war movement give us 2 thumbs down?
not all of my readers are high school age. but i do have a huge number who are. to you guys and gals i say, week after week you defy conventional wisdom and make a movie, a cd, a tv show, a game a hit. mainstream media and advertising try to get ahead of you week after week and tell you what is a hit. you decide what is a hit and you get the word out on it.
you can do that with anything. you have that power.
so this weekend, i want you to get the word out.
most of you are already talking about the war and that's great but i want to hear that you talked even more this weekend. i want to hear that the friend you thought wouldn't be interested is someone you tried to reach. i'd love to hear that saturday you organized your own party or get together and you all sat around talking about the war. (or danced around talking about it. music is important to a good gathering.)
so if you've got a group of friends or only 1 good friend, i want you to be connecting. if you're someone who goes into chat rooms, i want to hear that you brought up the issue in your favorite chat rooms.
i want you to be able, come monday, to say 'well d.c. or not, i made myself heard.'
if past coverage is any indication, we're not going to be able to count on the mainstream press to talk about the mobilizations as anything serious or important to our country. we're going to need to count on each other.
From Media Chanel, we'll note the third part of Richard Behar's "Project 'K' Meets Project 'A' -- Part III:"
Despite the success of the Desert Rats, some major publications that didn't join the Arizona Project proceeded to do "knock stories" about the project's work, says Greene, in part by detailing the libel suits that were filed against the reporters and IRE. [Goldwater himself had promised "the biggest libel suit of all time," but didn’t follow through.] "We didn't lose any [suits]," says Greene. "We did a damn good job." As researcher James Aucoin wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review in 1996, the Arizona Project proved that "the people who said that lone wolves could never work together were wrong."
Keeping egos in check was not the problem, but exhaustion and stress were major obstacles. Most of the Project A staffers were working a minimum of 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Greene required the reporters to submit memos of their progress each night, which he would read until midnight. And each morning, the participants would gather for an 8:00 meeting to plan the new day. "Most of the reporters coming in and out were working in a new environment and were constantly looking over their shoulders to avoid being compromised – or worse," Greene says. "They were away from their families for long stretches. My wife came out for a week at Christmas and I put her to work filing. That's the only time I saw her or my kids in that entire nine months. Renner faced the same problem, and developed a series of physical ailments that eventually killed him many years later."
Project A had one key advantage over Project K: Despite a justice system in Arizona that moved at a snail's pace, a judicial infrastructure existed that would ultimately get the job done on tracking down Bolles' killers. Thus, Greene's team could focus primarily on the subjects that Bolles was trying to unravel. There were many twists and turns in the murder case: Numerous trials, convictions set aside, death sentences overturned, with some witnesses and targets eventually dying of natural causes. While some questions remain about the Bolles case, the man who planted the bomb and one of his accomplices have served prison time. Much of the credit for the government's pursuit of the case lies with an Arizona lawman named George Weisz, who wouldn't let the case die. And before joining the AG's office, Weisz was a student volunteer on the Arizona Project.
Project K has yet to find it's own George Weisz. And in Russia, while the team of eight prosecutors assigned full-time to the Klebnikov case are reportedly excellent investigators, there is far less confidence that the government agencies have enough independence and experience to see that justice gets done. Two suspects who were quickly arrested and linked to the murder of Klebnikov were subsequently released -- a situation that remains murky. In June, the Prosecutor General announced that the case was solved and closed, and that Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev -- a Chechen rebel leader and onetime Moscow gang boss -- was the mastermind. Two new suspects are under arrest, while two more remain fugitives -- including Nukhayev, who some believe died even before Klebnikov was murdered. The Bolles case stretched from 1976 to 1994. The Klebnikov case could last even longer. "In Russia, contract murders have as many as ten layers between the people who order the hit and the men who ultimately pull the trigger," says retired FBI agent William Kinane, who served as Legal Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow from 1994-99. "It can be impossible to untangle. The hit men almost never know who hired them or why."
This is the third part of the story. The other two installments can be found here:
To read Part I please click here.
To read Part II please click here.
Rod e-mails to note today's scheduled topics for Democracy Now!:
We talk with journalist Naomi Klein about how New Orleans could house a large number of the city's poor evacuees without having to build a single new structure. We also talk with Democracy Now correspondent Jeremy Scahill about private security firms patrolling the streets of New Orleans.
Lastly, we'll note the upcoming appearences for the Un-Embed the Media Tour:
* Amy Goodman in Washington, DC:
Fri, Sept 23
*TIME: 5:30 PM
First Annual Unvarnished Truth Awards
Amy Goodman will be a recipient.
Busboys & Poets Restaurant
14th and V St. NW Washington, DC
5:30 Jazz Reception
6:30 Dinner and Awards Ceremony
Attire: Semi-formal
Reservations for the dinner and awards ceremony are $150 per person
(fundraiser for Pacifica Radio's Washington Bureau)
Reservations (no ticket sales) for this event will be taken at (202)588-0999 x 348 beginning Sept. 1
* Amy Goodman in Washington, DC:
Sun, Sept 25
*TIME: 1 PM
Green Festival
Mainstage
Washington D.C. Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place NW
Day of Ticket Prices:
Adults--$15 each day
Students/Seniors--$5
Kids 12 & Under--Free
Ride Your Bike--$5
For more information, visit http://greenfestivals.com
* Amy Goodman in Norfolk, VA:
Fri, Sept 30
*TIME: 8 PM
Independent Media: A Primer
Keynote Speech
Naro Expanded Cinema
1507 Colley Avenue
Norfolk, VA 23510
Minimum donation $10
Tickets available at Naro Cinema
For more information, visit www.narocinema.com
If you missed the Indymedia roundup entries from yesterday (early this morning, actually), they are "Binghamton Indymedia covering the St. Patrick Four," "Indymedia roundup" and "Indymedia round focus on Iraq."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Priests
Gay
New York Times
Iraq
Cindy Sheehan
Bring the Troops Home Now
[. . .]
Asked if he was the father of Private England's baby, as she has said, Private Graner said he did not know. At this, she scoffed, one of her few visible reactions in two days of testimony.
The above is from David S. Cloud's "At Abuse Trial, 2 Accounts of Why G.I. Was in Photos" in this morning's New York Times. Interesting the "two accounts" aren't really two accounts. They're one account that differs over how and why. The second account, the one that would go to higher ups doesn't get a mention in the paper. Was it mentioned at the trial? It's not in the article.
Laurie Goodstein files her third report that we've noted on the shift by the Church (by the Pope) to purging the priesthood of gay men. It's entitled "Gay Men Ponder Impact of Vatican Policy."
A number of members e-mailed about it and I'll turn this section over to Elaine since she is a psychologist.
Elaine: The same problem noted here yesterday is present again. The correlation, one that doesn't exist, between pedophilia and homosexuality is presented as a given. Ms. Goodstein originally made that point. With subsequent stories, the point's been dropped. This is a newspaper. This isn't a radio call in show. To allow the non-existant correlation to be presented and not include what studies have demonstrated is irresponsible journalism. The paper needs to be taken to the woodshed for doing this twice in a row. How do we scapegoat? By presenting "facts" as facts. Goodstein deserves a lot of blame for this article. She has now twice taken part in an article that has allowed pedophilia and homosexuality to be tied together despite scientific studies that demonstrate there is no correlation. The fact that she once noted that clearly in an article but no longer does only makes her reporting more embarrassing. People need facts and the paper's not supplying them with those facts. I'd also be curious as to how an article that states up front it will be exploring the reactions of gay priests to the purge suddenly shifts to a right wing, presumably straight (but who can tell?) priest and then goes on to offer "a retired teacher," "an immigrant from Columbia" and various others who aren't priests, who aren't gay and who aren't part of the focus of the article according to the first paragraph.
The "retired teacher," one Helen Dunn, is the one who's allowed to make comments such as "because that's where the problem starts." The problem with this article starts when its decided that feelings checks trump actual facts. Having allowed a non-existant correlation to yet again be drawn, Goodstein owes it to readers to inform them that there is no correlation. She fails at that today, she fails as a reporter. If basic psychology is beyond her and she has no one in her rolodex that can inform her, she needs to omit passages that she can't verify.
This is shameful reporting. She's done it twice now. The Times should have stopped it a long time ago.
Brandon e-mails to note Douglas Jehl's "After a Year Leading C.I.A., Goss Is Struggling, Some Say" and to note that the issue is "as pointed out here, is Goss up to the job. He had no experience managing an agency and he was put in charge. It's hardly surprising that he's still 'struggling.'" From Jehl's article:
A year after taking charge of the Central Intelligence Agency, Porter J. Goss is still struggling to rebuild morale and assert leadership within an institution shaken by recent failures and buffetted by change, current and former intelligence officials and members of Congress say.
And will continue to struggle. Brandon's referring to a critique here (Janurary? December?)
that Goss was not qualifed and that should have been the issue. Goss was given the job when we heard talk of "massive intelligence failures" which would indicate that you needed someone with experience in running a "massive agency." Instead, we got speculation of whether or not he'd politicize the agency. (Which happened under Reagan, to name one instance, and isn't uncommon.) With Republicans controlling the process, charges of "partisanship" were unlikely to kill the nomination. Arguing that someone with no experience was the wrong person at the wrong time might have. Whether Goss is partisan or not, good or evil, whatever, really doesn't change the fact that he's in over his head. His lack of experience makes this "struggling" hardly surprising.
From "National Briefing," Don e-mails to note:
GEORGIA: CORETTA KING RETURNS HOME More than five weeks after suffering a stroke and a heart attack, Coretta Scott King, 78, widow of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., went home from the hospital. Mrs. King will continue to work with a physical therapist for three hours a day, six days a week, as she tries to regain her speech and the use of her right arm, her doctor said. After her stroke on Aug. 16, Mrs. King lost most of the motor functions on her right side.
From The Third Estate Sunday Review, we'll note:
"Editorial: Stand Up and Be Counted"
Sat., 9/24
• Massive March& Rally
• Peace and JusticeFestival
• Operation CeasefireConcert
Sun., 9/25
• Interfaith Service
• Training for Grassroots LobbyDay
• Trainingfor Mass Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
• NationalMeeting for Counter Recruitment
• Other Activities Mon., 9/26
• Grassroots Lobby Day
• Mass Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
What are the dates above? Are you kidding us? Are you visiting this site for the very first time?They are the dates (from the United for Peace & Justice website) for activism this coming weekend. Okay, you donated a few bucks to independent media, maybe it made you feel good after donating all the money you did to the Kerry/Edwards campaign only to later learn that the campaign didn't use it all to . . . campaign (hopefully the money was being stored for a recount that pressure from party structure ended up nixing); you took part in an e-mail campaign to stop something or save something; you've been thinking about donating a few bucks to one of the many worthy organizations; but guess what -- that's not how it should end.
Downing St. Memo. Did the press want to cover it? No. They dismissed it.
Voices saying "bring the troops home." Did the press want to cover it? No. Polling repeatedly demonstrated Americans were in favor of this for months. Only now is it an option in newsprint (one that's still dismissed).
What makes the press do their job?
You do.
With your actions.
You make them stand and take notice.
Doesn't mean they won't deride. (Derision is their key quality. See the coverage of the many protests on the inauguration in the Times -- both paragraphs!)
But it sends a message. It sends a message to the Bully Boy and the administration, it sends a message to the press.
It's a chance for you to make your voice heard. To come together with other individuals who are determined to stop the killing on all sides.
Last week the GOP, yet again, shut down any hopes that the Downing Street Memos could be addressed in Congress. But you know about those memos. You know what happened.
How good are you feeling about that illegal war?
This coming weekend is your chance to take action and have your voice heard.
In addition to the above activities that will be taking place in D.C., other areas (such as NYC and San Francisco) are also planning events. Is there an event in your area?
You tell us.
What are you doing to be heard and to seek out information?
People can call their local chapters of NOW to find about activities planned in their area. You could do that.You could throw a STOP THE WAR now party this weekend, if nothing else. Get everyone to take time during the party to call your governor's hotline (provided you're not in one of the disaster areas effected by Hurricane Katrina) so that when the staff arrives the following Monday, they find nonstop messages saying "Bring the troops home now." Can your governor STOP THE WAR? Probably not. But that's an elected official and they should be feeling the heat. They should know where people stand. That goes for your state reps, your county reps and your municipal reps. They should all know that "the voters" are tired of this ongoning invasion/occupation. You can do that this weekend.
Might lead to a city council considering whether to debate a measure on the war. Might lead to a state rep standing in a state house (or outside it) and making a statement against the war. Or a governor. You never know until you try.
But if you can't take part in the scheduled activities, you need to create some of your own.Get contact info for your reps on every level and throw a party. Provide means for the guests to contact those reps (at the party, don't take "Oh sure, I'll do something Monday"). Pass around a collection plate for your local peace group or local chapter of a deserving organization or for the national chapter of the same. Entertainment?
Have Laura Flanders playing in the background or Democracy Now! or Pacifica or any programming that's independent and airing the issues that a timid mainstream press won't. Play music by artists who are making a difference and/or who have made a difference, people who stand up and be counted.
Want a film-fest? You've got Danny Schechter's WMD, many strong films by Robert Greenwood, Michael Moore, The Control Room . . . The list is endless.
Maybe there's truly nothing going on in your area (or maybe you're not "the rally type"), that's no excuse for not starting something yourself on some level that says no to the occupation.
You can make a difference this coming weekend. If you participate.So stand up and be counted. Cindy Sheehan's the spark but only you can keep the flame of truth blazing.
[This editorial was written by The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ava, Jess, Ty and myself, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), Mike of Mikey Likes It! and C.I. of both The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review.]
From Danny Schechter's latest News Dissector:
THE MARCH TO DRIVE THE TROOPS HOME
As hundreds of thousands rally in Washington tomorrow for US troops to leave Iraq, Michael Schwartz explains why there is no exit strategy on TomDispatch.com
"It is now a common place in Washington to point out that the Bush administration had no exit strategy from Iraq, but to this day few bother to say the obvious: It had no exit strategy because its top officials never planned on or expected to leave that country. That this was so is easy enough to chart via one of the least well-covered subjects of the period, the Pentagon's determination to build huge, and hugely impressive, permanent military bases" ….
And oh yes, the 'we can't, fail kick butt" arrogance is receding, the talk of the "cakewalk" all gone. CNN now reports FEWER than half of all Americans now believe we can "win" in Iraq. "Fewer than half."
Alternet reports: "Tomorrow, thousands of people will mobilize in DC and scores of other cities nationwide to voice opposition to the war in Iraq. Here's where to go if you're not in Washington:" www.alternet.org
Rebecca got a post up early this morning while we (Elaine & I) were already going through e-mails to this site. Kat's just read it and says we need to note it (we agree). It's entitled "use your powerthis weekend:"
i have a lot of readers in high school. i realize that not everyone will be able to visit d.c. this weekend. (i'm glad that 3 will. hope we are able to meet up saturday afternoon.) but there are things going on in many communities so you may be able to participate locally even if you are unable to come to d.c. you can check with your local chapter of now (national organization of women) or with your local peace organization.
but here's what i want from my high school readers most of all. today is friday (i'm posting late) and i want you to speak out at school. i want you to sit down at the lunch table and talk about the protests in d.c. and why they're happening. i want you to pass notes in study hall. i want you to talk about it during the breaks. if you're able to, i want you to talk about it in class. (i had some real pr**ks and assholes for teachers so i know you'll have to find the teacher who, regardless of whether they agree with you or not, will support free speech in order to have a real discussion on this topic. but you can bring it up even in classes taught by assholes and pr**ks.)
i do not want to read 1 e-mail that says 'wish i could have been there, rebecca, but i couldn't so i didn't do anything.'
we're here to participate in a mass protest. but the message isn't 'okay when you have something to say, you go to d.c. and the rest of the time you shut up.'
what you can do in your own community is as important, maybe more important, than the protests in d.c.
while i was on vacation a number of you wrote in about the wedding crashers. it was funny, you thought. it was hysterical. you hoped i'd see it.
i'll try to see it on dvd. vince vaughn needs to lose some weight and i'm not real sure about his politics so i'll be slow on the drool there.
but why was that movie a hit?
critics hated it.
who made it a hit?
you did. telling people you knew about it. sending e-mails to people about it. you got the word out on that movie.
so here's the thing. are we going to let the new york times be the critic of the peace movement?are we going to let those outside the anti-war movement give us 2 thumbs down?
not all of my readers are high school age. but i do have a huge number who are. to you guys and gals i say, week after week you defy conventional wisdom and make a movie, a cd, a tv show, a game a hit. mainstream media and advertising try to get ahead of you week after week and tell you what is a hit. you decide what is a hit and you get the word out on it.
you can do that with anything. you have that power.
so this weekend, i want you to get the word out.
most of you are already talking about the war and that's great but i want to hear that you talked even more this weekend. i want to hear that the friend you thought wouldn't be interested is someone you tried to reach. i'd love to hear that saturday you organized your own party or get together and you all sat around talking about the war. (or danced around talking about it. music is important to a good gathering.)
so if you've got a group of friends or only 1 good friend, i want you to be connecting. if you're someone who goes into chat rooms, i want to hear that you brought up the issue in your favorite chat rooms.
i want you to be able, come monday, to say 'well d.c. or not, i made myself heard.'
if past coverage is any indication, we're not going to be able to count on the mainstream press to talk about the mobilizations as anything serious or important to our country. we're going to need to count on each other.
From Media Chanel, we'll note the third part of Richard Behar's "Project 'K' Meets Project 'A' -- Part III:"
Despite the success of the Desert Rats, some major publications that didn't join the Arizona Project proceeded to do "knock stories" about the project's work, says Greene, in part by detailing the libel suits that were filed against the reporters and IRE. [Goldwater himself had promised "the biggest libel suit of all time," but didn’t follow through.] "We didn't lose any [suits]," says Greene. "We did a damn good job." As researcher James Aucoin wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review in 1996, the Arizona Project proved that "the people who said that lone wolves could never work together were wrong."
Keeping egos in check was not the problem, but exhaustion and stress were major obstacles. Most of the Project A staffers were working a minimum of 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Greene required the reporters to submit memos of their progress each night, which he would read until midnight. And each morning, the participants would gather for an 8:00 meeting to plan the new day. "Most of the reporters coming in and out were working in a new environment and were constantly looking over their shoulders to avoid being compromised – or worse," Greene says. "They were away from their families for long stretches. My wife came out for a week at Christmas and I put her to work filing. That's the only time I saw her or my kids in that entire nine months. Renner faced the same problem, and developed a series of physical ailments that eventually killed him many years later."
Project A had one key advantage over Project K: Despite a justice system in Arizona that moved at a snail's pace, a judicial infrastructure existed that would ultimately get the job done on tracking down Bolles' killers. Thus, Greene's team could focus primarily on the subjects that Bolles was trying to unravel. There were many twists and turns in the murder case: Numerous trials, convictions set aside, death sentences overturned, with some witnesses and targets eventually dying of natural causes. While some questions remain about the Bolles case, the man who planted the bomb and one of his accomplices have served prison time. Much of the credit for the government's pursuit of the case lies with an Arizona lawman named George Weisz, who wouldn't let the case die. And before joining the AG's office, Weisz was a student volunteer on the Arizona Project.
Project K has yet to find it's own George Weisz. And in Russia, while the team of eight prosecutors assigned full-time to the Klebnikov case are reportedly excellent investigators, there is far less confidence that the government agencies have enough independence and experience to see that justice gets done. Two suspects who were quickly arrested and linked to the murder of Klebnikov were subsequently released -- a situation that remains murky. In June, the Prosecutor General announced that the case was solved and closed, and that Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev -- a Chechen rebel leader and onetime Moscow gang boss -- was the mastermind. Two new suspects are under arrest, while two more remain fugitives -- including Nukhayev, who some believe died even before Klebnikov was murdered. The Bolles case stretched from 1976 to 1994. The Klebnikov case could last even longer. "In Russia, contract murders have as many as ten layers between the people who order the hit and the men who ultimately pull the trigger," says retired FBI agent William Kinane, who served as Legal Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow from 1994-99. "It can be impossible to untangle. The hit men almost never know who hired them or why."
This is the third part of the story. The other two installments can be found here:
To read Part I please click here.
To read Part II please click here.
Rod e-mails to note today's scheduled topics for Democracy Now!:
We talk with journalist Naomi Klein about how New Orleans could house a large number of the city's poor evacuees without having to build a single new structure. We also talk with Democracy Now correspondent Jeremy Scahill about private security firms patrolling the streets of New Orleans.
Lastly, we'll note the upcoming appearences for the Un-Embed the Media Tour:
* Amy Goodman in Washington, DC:
Fri, Sept 23
*TIME: 5:30 PM
First Annual Unvarnished Truth Awards
Amy Goodman will be a recipient.
Busboys & Poets Restaurant
14th and V St. NW Washington, DC
5:30 Jazz Reception
6:30 Dinner and Awards Ceremony
Attire: Semi-formal
Reservations for the dinner and awards ceremony are $150 per person
(fundraiser for Pacifica Radio's Washington Bureau)
Reservations (no ticket sales) for this event will be taken at (202)588-0999 x 348 beginning Sept. 1
* Amy Goodman in Washington, DC:
Sun, Sept 25
*TIME: 1 PM
Green Festival
Mainstage
Washington D.C. Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place NW
Day of Ticket Prices:
Adults--$15 each day
Students/Seniors--$5
Kids 12 & Under--Free
Ride Your Bike--$5
For more information, visit http://greenfestivals.com
* Amy Goodman in Norfolk, VA:
Fri, Sept 30
*TIME: 8 PM
Independent Media: A Primer
Keynote Speech
Naro Expanded Cinema
1507 Colley Avenue
Norfolk, VA 23510
Minimum donation $10
Tickets available at Naro Cinema
For more information, visit www.narocinema.com
If you missed the Indymedia roundup entries from yesterday (early this morning, actually), they are "Binghamton Indymedia covering the St. Patrick Four," "Indymedia roundup" and "Indymedia round focus on Iraq."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Priests
Gay
New York Times
Iraq
Cindy Sheehan
Bring the Troops Home Now
Indymedia round focus on Iraq
Standing in Raleigh's Moore Square Park, the mother who may be remembered as the person who set in motion the campaign that ended the Iraq war, told her story.
Angry that her son, Casey, was killed in the war, Cindy Sheehan had a "brainstorm." While in Dallas for a Veterans for Peace convention, Sheehan thought it might be worthwhile to drive to President George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch to ask the vacationing commander-in-chief why her son had to die in a war based on lies.
When she left Dallas, Sheehan had a 40-vehicle motorcade following her to Crawford, where she started "Camp Casey" in memory of her son, who died April 4, 2004. The rest is history.
The "Bring Them Home Now" caravan is still on the road, and last Thursday, Friday and Saturday it made stops in Raleigh, Carrboro and Durham, attracting about 1,800 people to rallies, a forum, fund-raisers and a march, according to organizers. The tour left Crawford on Aug. 31, sending three sets of buses and RVs across the country, all converging on the United for Peace and Justice Mobilization this weekend in Washington.
In Raleigh, Sheehan and other Gold Star Families for Peace told their tragic stories of loved ones lost to war.
"We never thought that we would spark what we did," Sheehan told the crowd of more than 200 people. "I'm a mother. My heart and my soul were ripped out of me on April 4."
Sheehan recounted the day when soldiers told her of Casey's death.
"I fell on the floor and I screamed so loud and for so long, I know that I shortened my life," she said. "I must have hurt my heart or I must have hurt my brain because nobody can take that violent abuse without having some kind of long-term physical effect."
Sheehan is optimistic her crusade to end the war will triumph.
"Well, as we all know George didn't come out and talk to me, and you know what, I am 100 percent thrilled that he didn't come out and talk to me, or I wouldn't be here today," Sheehan said. "When he didn't meet with me and we set up our Camp Casey, I said, 'Today is the beginning of the end of the occupation of Iraq,' and I believe that."
The above is from Patrick O'Neill's "The Human Side of the War: Cindy Sheehan's anti-war march heads to Washington, drumming up support they hope will make a difference" (Durham's The Independent Weekly). Durham Gal e-mailed to note it and two other features. Next is Bob Geary's "Had Enough?" (The Independent Weekly):
WASHINGTON, D.C. --Room 122 of the Cannon House Office Building. It's small--it's not a hearing room--and it's about as far away from the Capitol itself as it's possible to be and still be in a House office. No surprise, then, that this is the room Congresswoman Lynne Woolsey, Democrat of California, was permitted to use by the House Republican leadership for her "informal hearing" Thursday, Sept. 15, on exit strategies to get our troops out of Iraq.
Into this bandbox, Woolsey's staff have shoehorned an L-shaped head table with space for five witnesses and five MOC's (Members of Congress), with Woolsey herself at the crux. Another half-dozen MOC's can be seated along the front wall, behind the first five. Two dozen folding chairs are set up for audience and press. A handful of TV camera crews--one is C-Span--are tucked into the back corner. Standing room in the doorway, and out into the hall, brings the total capacity of the room to perhaps 65.
It's enough. "Official" Washington--meaning the Republicans and the Democratic leadership, both--is pointedly paying no attention. For the mainstream media, too, Hurricane Katrina is the only story, despite the fact that a dozen bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday, resulting in more than 160 dead and 600 casualties, made it the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital since we invaded in March 2003.
So two questions are paramount. First, how many MOC's will show up and lend their names to the cause of ending--in some form or fashion--our occupation of Iraq? And second, between the witnesses and the MOCs who do show, will a consensus form about what the exit strategy should be?
The answer to the first question, by my count, is just 30, most of whom come and go throughout the four-hour session, greeting each other's arrivals with a nod or the special handshake of a small tribe in a hostile land. They are, in the main, the progressive names you know if you follow politics--Barbara Lee, Barney Franks, Marty Meehan, Dennis Kucinich.
And John Conyers, the Detroit MOC, who wonders out loud whether it does any good for the like-minded to meet each other this way, and whether it might not be a better strategy--for getting the public's attention, and Washington's too--"to begin impeachment proceedings against the 43rd president of the United States."
No North Carolina Democrats attend. (See XXXX, however.)
The biggest "name" MOC to drop in, however, is from North Carolina, Republican Congressman Walter Jones. He's the only Republican to come. When he hits the door, a place is made for him immediately at the head table, with Woolsey announces that the proceedings are now "bipartisan."
Jones, a cheerleader for the war in 2003 who now says he was wrong, earned national headlines when he co-sponsored the introduction of House Resolution 55, which calls on the Bush Administration to announce a plan for withdrawal by the end of 2005 and to start pulling troops out no later than October 1, 2006. The resolution, Jones says briefly, doesn't spell out a specific exit strategy. It simply asks that there be one--"that there be a fourth quarter," after which we can declare victory and come home. For Congress not to debate the subject officially, he adds, is "cheating the people."
Shortly, former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, who's at the witness table, salutes Jones as "a profile in courage" for speaking out and taking the heat from his fellow Republicans. "He has become a dear friend and a brother," Cleland says.
This from the real star of the day. Cleland testifies from his wheelchair. An Army captain, he lost both legs and half of his right arm in Vietnam, and he reads his testimony from a tall stack of paper--20 words or so to a page--by carefully removing each page with his left hand. Notwithstanding his military service and sacrifice, Cleland was unseated in the 2002 election by a Republican campaign that questioned his commitment to protecting America.
Cleland's message, in his testimony and in booming commentary throughout, is quite simple. Iraq is Vietnam all over again, "a no-win, no-end war" that was based on a "false pretext" and is doomed to fail. "Stay the course?" he asks at one point. "The course is to get more young Americans killed."
Also by Bob Geary, "Miller's Time Almost There" (The Independent Weekly):
At first, Congressman Brad Miller thought that the only way ordinary Iraqis would join their own military and their own police forces was if they were convinced the American troops would stay to protect them from the insurgents. They didn't want to be left holding the bag--he thought. Now, Miller's almost convinced that the only way ordinary Iraqis will actually come together and defend their own country is if they're convinced that the Americans are going to leave--soon--and it's that or chaos.
He's almost convinced.
Not quite.
Miller did not attend the Woolsey "hearing" on exit strategies Thursday in Washington, disappointing antiwar activists who'd urged him to go and lend his support. Nor has he joined the "Out of Iraq Caucus" or sponsored the leading antiwar resolution, H.Res 55, which calls on President Bush to announce a plan by Dec. 31 for getting out of Iraq and to start withdrawing our troops by Oct. 1, 2006. (Its only North Carolina co-sponsor is Republican Rep. Walter Jones, who's among its principal backers.)
But Miller did announce on Thursday, to applause from groups like Code Pink that are lobbying Congress against the war, that he's adding his name to three other House resolutions that challenge, if less directly, the Bush war policies. H.Con.Res (concurrent resolution) 197 and H.Res 375, both sponsored by California Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a leading war critic, declare that the U.S. won't try to establish permanent military bases in Iraq and call for an investigation of the so-called Downing Street memos about misused American intelligence. H.Res 3142, sponsored by Maine Congressman Tom Allen, balances expressions of support for American troops and a free, stable Iraq with a promise not to base troops permanently there.
It's the latest step in a frustrating process for Miller, a Raleigh Democrat in his third year in Washington. He opposed the invasion from the start, predicting trouble--and a possible civil war--in a letter to some of his (new) constituents on the eve of the war in March 2003. Seven months later he wrote them again, saying the U.S. urgently needed to bring in the international community and calling for an investigation into the faulty intelligence Bush used to justify the war.
On the other hand, Miller says he's "not a bomb-thrower," and rather than align himself with the most vocal war protesters, he joined colleagues (like Rep. David Price of Chapel Hill) who tried to offer quiet, "constructive" alternatives to Bush's post-war policies.
That didn't work.
More recently, he says, "There are a lot of members of Congress who have done everything short of setting their hair on fire to make it clear that they think we are on the wrong track (in Iraq). Including me."
But that doesn't seem to be working, either.
You can check out The Independent Weekly and I'll note that I agree with Durham Gal, this is a strong edition. Praise to The Independent Weekly for hard hitting coverage that dailies won't provide.
Bill e-mails to note J. M . Branum 's "GI Resister Blake LeMoine released from imprisonment at Ft. Sill" (Oklahoma Indymedia):
a first-hand account of meeting Blake upon his release
See earlier OKIMC story: Vigil held on Sunday at Ft. Sill for Blake LeMoine, Dale Bartell & Neil Quentin Lucas Yesterday was an incredible day in which I had the honor and priviledge (along with Elsa Rausbach) of meeting Blake LeMoine, who was released from the Ft. Sill RCF (Regional Confinement Center) after doing a term for an act of GI resistance.
Yesterday was an incredible day in which I had the honor and priviledge (along with Elsa Rausbach) of meeting Blake LeMoine, who was released from the Ft. Sill RCF (Regional Confinement Center) after doing a term for an act of GI resistance.
As far as my visit with him, I was struck by his courage and his willingness to stick his neck out for conscience sake. He did say that his prison experience was pretty enlightening and that he didn't regret it, and that it was a "lot like summer camp except you can't come home."He did share that the conditions at the facility were reasonably good. The food, while monotonous, was good quality and that the facility had an excellent library. (he read a lot of philosophy while in the RCF and even found time to write 200+ pages on a novel he is working on)Healthwise he was in good shape. He was coerced into eating by the prison officials shortly after arriving (he had been on a 20+ day hunger strike at that time) but still had lost over 30 pounds during his time in, mostly from working out. However, on the negative, he said that he was beaten a few weeks ago by a prison gang and that he had to pay protection money (well actually it was cigarettes) to avoid future beatings.
As far as mail goes, he wasn't aware of any censorship of incoming mail.As far as the other known CO's at the RCF (Dale Bartell & Neil Quentin Lucas), he had met them both. He did share though that at least half of the folks imprisoned at the RCF were there for being AWOL (but not necessarily for political/conscience reasons). The others had mostly committed drug offenses, as well there being a few who had been convicted of adultery (including one drill seargent).Well anyway that's the gist of the news from him as far as his treatment (I'm hoping he'll write more himself about his experience down the road). As far as things went with picking him up, here's my account of how the day went (some of this detail I'm including for future reference for people who may be trying to pick up other GI resisters/conscientious objectors who are being released from confinement).
There are photos and Rebecca says Blake LeMoine looks like her second boyfriend in high school. (This entry and the other indymedia roundup entry are being compiled by Rebecca, Elaine and myself -- C.I.) So if you don't have enough reason to check out the story, you can also check it out to see the type of a guy Rebecca dated in high school. (Rebecca says "one of the types." She also notes that she was into the rock and rollers as well.)
Wendy references something I wrote that I honestly don't remember writing. (I'm not saying she's wrong. I thought maybe Elaine wrote it but she says she didn't. Rebecca says she didn't.
I think Wendy's thinking of the editorial by The Third Estate Sunday Review. In which case, "Editorial: Stand Up and Be Counted" was a group effort: "This editorial was written by The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ava, Jess, Ty and myself, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), Mike of Mikey Likes It! and C.I. of both The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review.)
Regardless, Wendy e-mails good news from Philly IMC, Aaron Couch's "City Council Passes Resolution to Withdraw Troops from Iraq:"
City Council passed a resolution on September 15, 2005 requesting the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The resolution, sponsored by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, welcomes the "Bring them Home Now Tour" to Philadelphia and will be read at the rally at Independence Hall from 5pm - 7pm on Friday, September 16. Click here to read a copy of the resolution.
The resolution cites the losses of Cindy Sheehan and Celeste Zappala, Gold Star Mothers, who were introduced to city council members at a Thursday morning caucus. The resolution calls on the government for a "rapid with-drawalof United States military personnel from Iraq as expeditiously as possible," and cites the monetary cost of the war to Philadelphia tax payers:
"the funds spent by Philadelphia taxpayers on the war and occupation in Iraq could have provided Head Start for one year for 93,181 Philadelphia children; or medical insurance for one year for 421,271 Philadelphia children; or 12,192 public school teachers for one year in Philadelphia; or 6,334 additional housing units in Philadelphia, according to National Priorities Project."The resolution follows a similar anti-war resolution passed in Chicago this week. See Chicago IMC for details.
Wendy also notes Aaron Couch and Ophelie Tardieu's "Cindy Sheehan Speaks In Philadelphia" (Philly IMC):
Sherwood Baker, Philly native and member of the Pennsylvania National Guard, died on April 24, 2004 while on security detail for the Iraq Survey group in Baghdad. At 30 years old, he lost his life in Bush's fruitless attempt to justify a preemptive war. Sherwood Baker was killed searching for weapons of mass destruction.
"He had been betrayed," Dante Zappala, Sherwood's younger brother told hundreds of supporters gathered at Independence Mall on Friday, September 16th. While the litany of lies and malfeasance of Bush's Iraq escapade are well known, especially among the anti-war crowd in attendance, it was the personal stories that punctuated the vigil held by the Bring them Home Now Tour.And then came Cindy Sheehan.
The woman whose story has ignited the anti-war movement spoke about her struggle to turn her personal grief into a call for action. Her words, peppered into the late evening Philly air by loud-speaker, brought a powerful intimacy to the suffering wrought by the Iraq war."This is about flesh and blood, about right and wrong," she said, threatening that elected officials, "do the right thing or you are fired."
Sheehan, along with members of Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Veterans For Peace, has joined the 'Bring them Home Now Tour', which takes "Camp Casey's all over America," (at a dizzying pace of 28 states in 25 days) and will descend on Washington DC on September 24th."We have to make sure that this war ends immediately and that we never use our children like this again."
Bruce e-mails to note Jim George's "Sheehan at Hopkins: Voice of Peace? Sounds more like Justice" (Baltimore Indymedia):
Local high school history teacher Kevin James struck the first note calling for justice in two spoken word pieces. The first, which sets up "how we got into this thing," addressed the subject of 9/11. If included the line "Third World debt back to colonization." James' second piece addressed challenged military recruiters and advocated the right to resist. In the voice of a young recruit, the poem spoke of coming "back from Iraq" to "smack" the manipulative recruiter. It also made reference to the transnational oil corporation UNOCAL's attempts to exploit natural resources in Afghanistan. His pieces were smattered with references to injustices and the desire to have justice served. Peace seemed to be a necessary but insufficient goal.
James' reference to smacking a recruiter would have caught the ear of another mother who lost her son in Iraq and was featured in a short film about Camp Casey. The military recruiter told her son, "You need to cut the apron strings from your mom." It is generally accepted that the Iraq war was engineered by those who most benefit from oil-generated wealth, or in the case of the political elite, by those with the misguided dream of making it into history books by advancing the US empire. The theme of justice as it relates to soldiers dieing to support wealth-based privilege in the US resonated strongly at this event. One young Iraq war veteran featured in the film by Sally Marr and Peter Duda said, "We knew it was about oil. We talked about it in our unit. We're not dumb… maybe we're stupid [to which he chuckled]." He clearly implied that US soldiers were duped into fighting, the reason for which in the words of Iraq veteran and tour member Cody Camacho, is to "make rich people richer." Accordingly, several speakers explained that it is justifiable to refuse to fight in Iraq, even for those who have volunteered to be in the US military. Taking the logic further, for those who support the concept of war, adopting this stance relative to Iraq is not about peace it is about justice.
Camacho made several other points that touched on elements of justice. In response to those who unfairly criticize his stance against the war, he said, "How can we defend the country when we're 7,000 miles away?" He said that he took "the same oath that the President took to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic," seeming to imply that his current role is to defend the Constitution from domestic threats in the political elite who perpetuate war. "This is not about right or left. This is about right and wrong." Camacho recalled his thoughts as they sat in Kuwait before the war began. "I thought Congress wouldn't let the war happen, but they turned their backs on the troops." He concluded, a bit exasperated, "I don't know what else to say. It's time to fire these damn people." Again, his tone was more that of a person seeking justice than peace.
The accountability of the U.S. Congress and the irrelevance of both major political parties were targeted by other speakers. Cindy Sheehan put it this way. "We need to hold Congress accountable for what they did… We the people are the opposition party." Then, like other speakers, Cindy appealed for action from the audience, "Tell your congressmen and senators, if they don't represent us, then we will fire them." She was quick to counter the typical cynical response by saying, "One vote can make a difference. Look at me, I made a difference." And, in reference to the Nation's wavering confidence in our electoral process, she said, "We need to make sure all votes are counted." She urged we not let it be a close vote saying, "We need to landslide them out of Congress."
Bruce also noted William Hughe's "'Iraq is a No-Win, No-End War!' - Max Cleland" (Baltimore Indymedia):
Getting back to Cleland. He underscored in his remarks, how, "we need an exit strategy we choose or it will certainly be chosen for us. The question about Iraq is not whether we will withdraw our forces, but when? More than 100 members out of the Iraqi Parliament have urged the U.S. to fully withdraw its military forces from Iraq. It is now time to seek what international support we can get for our withdrawal. We need to map out a strategy that works for us and turn Iraq over to the Iraqis."
After discussing the Katrina Hurricane disaster and its horrific effects on the lives of the tens of thousands of people in the Gulf Coast area, Cleland said, "We are spending more money in Iraq then rebuilding New Orleans, Biloxi, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It is time to bring our troops home-especially the National Guard that was created to guard America and to deal with disasters in our own country rather than being sent to die in the deserts in Iraq. It is time to put America first!"
I leave the final words on this excellently conceived and implemented Congressional "Forum," to Cleland, one of the South's finest sons, and a genuine hero of our Republic. He warned, "Iraq does not have to be another Vietnam. The war in Iraq does not have to drag on forever. It is not too late to learn from our own history. Why do I urge this course of action to our nation, now? Because I’ve seen this movie before. I know how it ends!"
Trey e-mails to note Naomi.rae.Lerman's "An Iraqi Shares His Personal Account" (Milwaukee Indymedia):
In the war's beginning, American Archaeologists gave the army maps of all the Archaeological sites in Iraq, begging them to avoid these areas of holiness. Zaid is unaware of any attempt by the United States to be careful around land in its process of excavations. He told me there are two wars being prompted by the United States: the desire of Iraq's resources and a war on Iraq's culture. By stealing valuable artifacts from the museum's approximately eighty years of work, our country has attacked the mystery to Iraq's personal culture. If responsible army personnel had heavily guarded and protected the museum as they had the Ministry of Oil, Iraq’s physical history would not be lost to greed today. The U.S. army sent huge tanks to sit in front of the Ministry of Oil as they "borrowed" the data maps to Iraq's vast oil fields. Another example of the U.S. army attacking Iraq's culture is the invading of mosques. For some reason, soldiers suspected that a mosque was hiding terrorists. They entered the holy ground possessing large weapons. This is an Ultimate disrespectable action to take in the sacred area of prayer. People involved in the resistance would never hide weapons in a mosque. Because the Iraqis were interrupted during concentrated prayer, they started yelling at the army to leave. The army fired bullets randomly at these defenseless, praying souls who were crying out for respect. "Are they animals and you are human?" -- Zaid asked. I asked if there has been any true effort in the "reconstruction" of Iraq. None. Rarely, the army will clean up a building that has fallen to its blows. Aside from this, the American army leaves their damage strewn in the living quarters of civilians who pass the destruction daily. Is the army not responsible to clean and rebuild this errored fallen building? Zaid understood that American companies pay loads of money to reconstruct the fallen buildings, but the army fears for any danger involved in building out in the open.
Another pitiful reconstruction attempt is painting Iraqi schools with the cheap paint. Schools were painted to look improved on the outside, but the torn inside is left unexplored. The newly painted coat looks dreadful within weeks afterwards by pealing and turning odd shades. Cheap paint is no match for Iraq's blazing sun. This temporary make-up carelessly slathered on is a pointless action which makes schools look worse along time.
The most important reconstruction effort needed in Iraq is to restore its electric power stations. Many stations were destroyed by America's last war there, and others are clearly out of date. When Hussein was in power, he said his Government could not conduct their own reconstruction because they lacked equipment. During the early 1990's, the U.S. imposed restrictions, such that Iraq was unable to import or export anything. Currently, machines distribute electricity throughout the land equally, which only leaves four hours of electric power a day. While Iraqis suffer without air conditioning and artificial light, the U.S. Army camps have the privilege of 24 hours of electricity and a back-up generator. They are sucking up the electricity meant to be distributed equally, and not minding to fix the problem. Presently there is little clean running water in all of Iraq. The army uses bottled water and is not concerned that most water is contaminated.
Warning on the next item. The site linked to in the excerpt has the f-word in the title. We're using "*"s in place of the f-word. But if you go to it, it's the f-word. If that's enough to get you in trouble at work, do not go to this site on a work computer. Blake e-mails to note Chris Thompson's "War Pornography" (East Bay Express):
If you want to see the true face of war, go to the amateur porn Web site NowThatsF**kedUp.com. For almost a year, American soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been taking photographs of dead bodies, many of them horribly mutilated or blown to pieces, and sending them to Web site administrator Chris Wilson. In return for letting him post these images, Wilson gives the soldiers free access to his site. American soldiers have been using the pictures of disfigured Iraqi corpses as currency to buy pornography.
At Wilson's Web site, you can see an Arab man's face sliced off and placed in a bowl filled with blood. Another man's head, his face crusted with dried blood and powder burns, lies on a bed of gravel. A man in a leather coat, who apparently tried to run a military checkpoint, lies slumped in the driver's seat of a car, his head obliterated by gunfire, the flaps of skin from his neck blooming open like rose petals. Six men in beige fatigues, identified as U.S. Marines, laugh and smile for the camera while pointing at a burned, charcoal-black corpse lying at their feet.
The captions that accompany these images, which were apparently written by the soldiers who posted them, laugh and gloat over the bodies. The soldier who posted a picture of a corpse lying in a pool of his own brains and entrails wrote, "What every Iraqi should look like." The photograph of a corpse whose jaw has apparently rotted away, leaving a gaping set of upper teeth, bears the caption: "bad day for this dude." One soldier posted three photographs of corpses lying in the street and titled his collection, "die haji die." The soldiers take pride, even joy, in displaying the dead.
This is a moral catastrophe. The Bush administration claims such sympathy for American war dead that officials have banned the media from photographing flap-draped coffins being carried off of cargo planes. Government officials and American media officials have repeatedly denounced the Al-Jazeera network for airing grisly footage of Iraqi war casualties and American prisoners of war. The legal fight over whether to release the remaining photographs of atrocities at Abu Ghraib has dragged on for months, with no less a figure than Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers arguing that the release of such images will inflame the Muslim world and drive untold numbers to join Al Qaeda. But none of these can compare to the prospect of American troops casually bartering pictures of suffering and death for porn.
"Two years ago, if somebody had said our soldiers would do these things to detainees and take pictures of it, I would have said that's a lie," sighed the recently retired General Michael Marchand – who as Assistant Judge Advocate General for the Army was responsible for reforming military training policy to make sure nothing like Abu Ghraib ever happens again. "What soldiers do, I'm not sure I can guess anymore."
Once more from Patrick O'Neill's "The Human Side of the War: Cindy Sheehan's anti-war march heads to Washington, drumming up support they hope will make a difference" (Durham's The Independent Weekly):
One night while watching CNN, Jean Prewitt saw Sheehan sitting "in the ditch" near Bush's ranch. "I saw her on TV Sunday, and I was there Wednesday afternoon," said Prewitt, who also spoke in Raleigh.
When Prewitt saw her ex-husband and stepdaughter and two uniformed soldiers in the hallway of her office, she knew it was bad news. Her "baby" son, Kelley, was at war in Iraq. An Army infantryman, Kelley had been among the first U.S. soldiers on the ground.
"As soon as I saw them walking down the hall, they didn't have to say anything," Prewitt said. "I just kept saying, 'Please tell me he's just wounded. Please tell me he's just wounded,' and they kept saying, 'No, ma'am. No, ma'am.'"
Seconds later, the hall filled up with curious workers from throughout Prewitt's Birmingham, Ala., office. Kelley was killed in action April 6, 2003, "on the road to Baghdad." Traumatized, her life forever altered, Prewitt left her job as a human resources specialist with the U.S. Postal Service and never returned.
"I walked out, and I never went back," she said. "I didn't even turn my computer off."
During an interview, Prewitt often took deep breaths in between making her points. She said, "It's been hell" since her son's death.
"It's lonesome, sad, empty. He was just so full of life and so handsome and so sweet and so lovable. It's just a hole in our hearts that we can just never fill. I just can't stand it. I mean it just sickens me, just sickens me."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Iraq
Cindy Sheehan
Bring the Troops Home Now
Angry that her son, Casey, was killed in the war, Cindy Sheehan had a "brainstorm." While in Dallas for a Veterans for Peace convention, Sheehan thought it might be worthwhile to drive to President George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch to ask the vacationing commander-in-chief why her son had to die in a war based on lies.
When she left Dallas, Sheehan had a 40-vehicle motorcade following her to Crawford, where she started "Camp Casey" in memory of her son, who died April 4, 2004. The rest is history.
The "Bring Them Home Now" caravan is still on the road, and last Thursday, Friday and Saturday it made stops in Raleigh, Carrboro and Durham, attracting about 1,800 people to rallies, a forum, fund-raisers and a march, according to organizers. The tour left Crawford on Aug. 31, sending three sets of buses and RVs across the country, all converging on the United for Peace and Justice Mobilization this weekend in Washington.
In Raleigh, Sheehan and other Gold Star Families for Peace told their tragic stories of loved ones lost to war.
"We never thought that we would spark what we did," Sheehan told the crowd of more than 200 people. "I'm a mother. My heart and my soul were ripped out of me on April 4."
Sheehan recounted the day when soldiers told her of Casey's death.
"I fell on the floor and I screamed so loud and for so long, I know that I shortened my life," she said. "I must have hurt my heart or I must have hurt my brain because nobody can take that violent abuse without having some kind of long-term physical effect."
Sheehan is optimistic her crusade to end the war will triumph.
"Well, as we all know George didn't come out and talk to me, and you know what, I am 100 percent thrilled that he didn't come out and talk to me, or I wouldn't be here today," Sheehan said. "When he didn't meet with me and we set up our Camp Casey, I said, 'Today is the beginning of the end of the occupation of Iraq,' and I believe that."
The above is from Patrick O'Neill's "The Human Side of the War: Cindy Sheehan's anti-war march heads to Washington, drumming up support they hope will make a difference" (Durham's The Independent Weekly). Durham Gal e-mailed to note it and two other features. Next is Bob Geary's "Had Enough?" (The Independent Weekly):
WASHINGTON, D.C. --Room 122 of the Cannon House Office Building. It's small--it's not a hearing room--and it's about as far away from the Capitol itself as it's possible to be and still be in a House office. No surprise, then, that this is the room Congresswoman Lynne Woolsey, Democrat of California, was permitted to use by the House Republican leadership for her "informal hearing" Thursday, Sept. 15, on exit strategies to get our troops out of Iraq.
Into this bandbox, Woolsey's staff have shoehorned an L-shaped head table with space for five witnesses and five MOC's (Members of Congress), with Woolsey herself at the crux. Another half-dozen MOC's can be seated along the front wall, behind the first five. Two dozen folding chairs are set up for audience and press. A handful of TV camera crews--one is C-Span--are tucked into the back corner. Standing room in the doorway, and out into the hall, brings the total capacity of the room to perhaps 65.
It's enough. "Official" Washington--meaning the Republicans and the Democratic leadership, both--is pointedly paying no attention. For the mainstream media, too, Hurricane Katrina is the only story, despite the fact that a dozen bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday, resulting in more than 160 dead and 600 casualties, made it the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital since we invaded in March 2003.
So two questions are paramount. First, how many MOC's will show up and lend their names to the cause of ending--in some form or fashion--our occupation of Iraq? And second, between the witnesses and the MOCs who do show, will a consensus form about what the exit strategy should be?
The answer to the first question, by my count, is just 30, most of whom come and go throughout the four-hour session, greeting each other's arrivals with a nod or the special handshake of a small tribe in a hostile land. They are, in the main, the progressive names you know if you follow politics--Barbara Lee, Barney Franks, Marty Meehan, Dennis Kucinich.
And John Conyers, the Detroit MOC, who wonders out loud whether it does any good for the like-minded to meet each other this way, and whether it might not be a better strategy--for getting the public's attention, and Washington's too--"to begin impeachment proceedings against the 43rd president of the United States."
No North Carolina Democrats attend. (See XXXX, however.)
The biggest "name" MOC to drop in, however, is from North Carolina, Republican Congressman Walter Jones. He's the only Republican to come. When he hits the door, a place is made for him immediately at the head table, with Woolsey announces that the proceedings are now "bipartisan."
Jones, a cheerleader for the war in 2003 who now says he was wrong, earned national headlines when he co-sponsored the introduction of House Resolution 55, which calls on the Bush Administration to announce a plan for withdrawal by the end of 2005 and to start pulling troops out no later than October 1, 2006. The resolution, Jones says briefly, doesn't spell out a specific exit strategy. It simply asks that there be one--"that there be a fourth quarter," after which we can declare victory and come home. For Congress not to debate the subject officially, he adds, is "cheating the people."
Shortly, former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, who's at the witness table, salutes Jones as "a profile in courage" for speaking out and taking the heat from his fellow Republicans. "He has become a dear friend and a brother," Cleland says.
This from the real star of the day. Cleland testifies from his wheelchair. An Army captain, he lost both legs and half of his right arm in Vietnam, and he reads his testimony from a tall stack of paper--20 words or so to a page--by carefully removing each page with his left hand. Notwithstanding his military service and sacrifice, Cleland was unseated in the 2002 election by a Republican campaign that questioned his commitment to protecting America.
Cleland's message, in his testimony and in booming commentary throughout, is quite simple. Iraq is Vietnam all over again, "a no-win, no-end war" that was based on a "false pretext" and is doomed to fail. "Stay the course?" he asks at one point. "The course is to get more young Americans killed."
Also by Bob Geary, "Miller's Time Almost There" (The Independent Weekly):
At first, Congressman Brad Miller thought that the only way ordinary Iraqis would join their own military and their own police forces was if they were convinced the American troops would stay to protect them from the insurgents. They didn't want to be left holding the bag--he thought. Now, Miller's almost convinced that the only way ordinary Iraqis will actually come together and defend their own country is if they're convinced that the Americans are going to leave--soon--and it's that or chaos.
He's almost convinced.
Not quite.
Miller did not attend the Woolsey "hearing" on exit strategies Thursday in Washington, disappointing antiwar activists who'd urged him to go and lend his support. Nor has he joined the "Out of Iraq Caucus" or sponsored the leading antiwar resolution, H.Res 55, which calls on President Bush to announce a plan by Dec. 31 for getting out of Iraq and to start withdrawing our troops by Oct. 1, 2006. (Its only North Carolina co-sponsor is Republican Rep. Walter Jones, who's among its principal backers.)
But Miller did announce on Thursday, to applause from groups like Code Pink that are lobbying Congress against the war, that he's adding his name to three other House resolutions that challenge, if less directly, the Bush war policies. H.Con.Res (concurrent resolution) 197 and H.Res 375, both sponsored by California Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a leading war critic, declare that the U.S. won't try to establish permanent military bases in Iraq and call for an investigation of the so-called Downing Street memos about misused American intelligence. H.Res 3142, sponsored by Maine Congressman Tom Allen, balances expressions of support for American troops and a free, stable Iraq with a promise not to base troops permanently there.
It's the latest step in a frustrating process for Miller, a Raleigh Democrat in his third year in Washington. He opposed the invasion from the start, predicting trouble--and a possible civil war--in a letter to some of his (new) constituents on the eve of the war in March 2003. Seven months later he wrote them again, saying the U.S. urgently needed to bring in the international community and calling for an investigation into the faulty intelligence Bush used to justify the war.
On the other hand, Miller says he's "not a bomb-thrower," and rather than align himself with the most vocal war protesters, he joined colleagues (like Rep. David Price of Chapel Hill) who tried to offer quiet, "constructive" alternatives to Bush's post-war policies.
That didn't work.
More recently, he says, "There are a lot of members of Congress who have done everything short of setting their hair on fire to make it clear that they think we are on the wrong track (in Iraq). Including me."
But that doesn't seem to be working, either.
You can check out The Independent Weekly and I'll note that I agree with Durham Gal, this is a strong edition. Praise to The Independent Weekly for hard hitting coverage that dailies won't provide.
Bill e-mails to note J. M . Branum 's "GI Resister Blake LeMoine released from imprisonment at Ft. Sill" (Oklahoma Indymedia):
a first-hand account of meeting Blake upon his release
See earlier OKIMC story: Vigil held on Sunday at Ft. Sill for Blake LeMoine, Dale Bartell & Neil Quentin Lucas Yesterday was an incredible day in which I had the honor and priviledge (along with Elsa Rausbach) of meeting Blake LeMoine, who was released from the Ft. Sill RCF (Regional Confinement Center) after doing a term for an act of GI resistance.
Yesterday was an incredible day in which I had the honor and priviledge (along with Elsa Rausbach) of meeting Blake LeMoine, who was released from the Ft. Sill RCF (Regional Confinement Center) after doing a term for an act of GI resistance.
As far as my visit with him, I was struck by his courage and his willingness to stick his neck out for conscience sake. He did say that his prison experience was pretty enlightening and that he didn't regret it, and that it was a "lot like summer camp except you can't come home."He did share that the conditions at the facility were reasonably good. The food, while monotonous, was good quality and that the facility had an excellent library. (he read a lot of philosophy while in the RCF and even found time to write 200+ pages on a novel he is working on)Healthwise he was in good shape. He was coerced into eating by the prison officials shortly after arriving (he had been on a 20+ day hunger strike at that time) but still had lost over 30 pounds during his time in, mostly from working out. However, on the negative, he said that he was beaten a few weeks ago by a prison gang and that he had to pay protection money (well actually it was cigarettes) to avoid future beatings.
As far as mail goes, he wasn't aware of any censorship of incoming mail.As far as the other known CO's at the RCF (Dale Bartell & Neil Quentin Lucas), he had met them both. He did share though that at least half of the folks imprisoned at the RCF were there for being AWOL (but not necessarily for political/conscience reasons). The others had mostly committed drug offenses, as well there being a few who had been convicted of adultery (including one drill seargent).Well anyway that's the gist of the news from him as far as his treatment (I'm hoping he'll write more himself about his experience down the road). As far as things went with picking him up, here's my account of how the day went (some of this detail I'm including for future reference for people who may be trying to pick up other GI resisters/conscientious objectors who are being released from confinement).
There are photos and Rebecca says Blake LeMoine looks like her second boyfriend in high school. (This entry and the other indymedia roundup entry are being compiled by Rebecca, Elaine and myself -- C.I.) So if you don't have enough reason to check out the story, you can also check it out to see the type of a guy Rebecca dated in high school. (Rebecca says "one of the types." She also notes that she was into the rock and rollers as well.)
Wendy references something I wrote that I honestly don't remember writing. (I'm not saying she's wrong. I thought maybe Elaine wrote it but she says she didn't. Rebecca says she didn't.
I think Wendy's thinking of the editorial by The Third Estate Sunday Review. In which case, "Editorial: Stand Up and Be Counted" was a group effort: "This editorial was written by The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ava, Jess, Ty and myself, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), Mike of Mikey Likes It! and C.I. of both The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review.)
Regardless, Wendy e-mails good news from Philly IMC, Aaron Couch's "City Council Passes Resolution to Withdraw Troops from Iraq:"
City Council passed a resolution on September 15, 2005 requesting the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The resolution, sponsored by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, welcomes the "Bring them Home Now Tour" to Philadelphia and will be read at the rally at Independence Hall from 5pm - 7pm on Friday, September 16. Click here to read a copy of the resolution.
The resolution cites the losses of Cindy Sheehan and Celeste Zappala, Gold Star Mothers, who were introduced to city council members at a Thursday morning caucus. The resolution calls on the government for a "rapid with-drawalof United States military personnel from Iraq as expeditiously as possible," and cites the monetary cost of the war to Philadelphia tax payers:
"the funds spent by Philadelphia taxpayers on the war and occupation in Iraq could have provided Head Start for one year for 93,181 Philadelphia children; or medical insurance for one year for 421,271 Philadelphia children; or 12,192 public school teachers for one year in Philadelphia; or 6,334 additional housing units in Philadelphia, according to National Priorities Project."The resolution follows a similar anti-war resolution passed in Chicago this week. See Chicago IMC for details.
Wendy also notes Aaron Couch and Ophelie Tardieu's "Cindy Sheehan Speaks In Philadelphia" (Philly IMC):
Sherwood Baker, Philly native and member of the Pennsylvania National Guard, died on April 24, 2004 while on security detail for the Iraq Survey group in Baghdad. At 30 years old, he lost his life in Bush's fruitless attempt to justify a preemptive war. Sherwood Baker was killed searching for weapons of mass destruction.
"He had been betrayed," Dante Zappala, Sherwood's younger brother told hundreds of supporters gathered at Independence Mall on Friday, September 16th. While the litany of lies and malfeasance of Bush's Iraq escapade are well known, especially among the anti-war crowd in attendance, it was the personal stories that punctuated the vigil held by the Bring them Home Now Tour.And then came Cindy Sheehan.
The woman whose story has ignited the anti-war movement spoke about her struggle to turn her personal grief into a call for action. Her words, peppered into the late evening Philly air by loud-speaker, brought a powerful intimacy to the suffering wrought by the Iraq war."This is about flesh and blood, about right and wrong," she said, threatening that elected officials, "do the right thing or you are fired."
Sheehan, along with members of Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Veterans For Peace, has joined the 'Bring them Home Now Tour', which takes "Camp Casey's all over America," (at a dizzying pace of 28 states in 25 days) and will descend on Washington DC on September 24th."We have to make sure that this war ends immediately and that we never use our children like this again."
Bruce e-mails to note Jim George's "Sheehan at Hopkins: Voice of Peace? Sounds more like Justice" (Baltimore Indymedia):
Local high school history teacher Kevin James struck the first note calling for justice in two spoken word pieces. The first, which sets up "how we got into this thing," addressed the subject of 9/11. If included the line "Third World debt back to colonization." James' second piece addressed challenged military recruiters and advocated the right to resist. In the voice of a young recruit, the poem spoke of coming "back from Iraq" to "smack" the manipulative recruiter. It also made reference to the transnational oil corporation UNOCAL's attempts to exploit natural resources in Afghanistan. His pieces were smattered with references to injustices and the desire to have justice served. Peace seemed to be a necessary but insufficient goal.
James' reference to smacking a recruiter would have caught the ear of another mother who lost her son in Iraq and was featured in a short film about Camp Casey. The military recruiter told her son, "You need to cut the apron strings from your mom." It is generally accepted that the Iraq war was engineered by those who most benefit from oil-generated wealth, or in the case of the political elite, by those with the misguided dream of making it into history books by advancing the US empire. The theme of justice as it relates to soldiers dieing to support wealth-based privilege in the US resonated strongly at this event. One young Iraq war veteran featured in the film by Sally Marr and Peter Duda said, "We knew it was about oil. We talked about it in our unit. We're not dumb… maybe we're stupid [to which he chuckled]." He clearly implied that US soldiers were duped into fighting, the reason for which in the words of Iraq veteran and tour member Cody Camacho, is to "make rich people richer." Accordingly, several speakers explained that it is justifiable to refuse to fight in Iraq, even for those who have volunteered to be in the US military. Taking the logic further, for those who support the concept of war, adopting this stance relative to Iraq is not about peace it is about justice.
Camacho made several other points that touched on elements of justice. In response to those who unfairly criticize his stance against the war, he said, "How can we defend the country when we're 7,000 miles away?" He said that he took "the same oath that the President took to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic," seeming to imply that his current role is to defend the Constitution from domestic threats in the political elite who perpetuate war. "This is not about right or left. This is about right and wrong." Camacho recalled his thoughts as they sat in Kuwait before the war began. "I thought Congress wouldn't let the war happen, but they turned their backs on the troops." He concluded, a bit exasperated, "I don't know what else to say. It's time to fire these damn people." Again, his tone was more that of a person seeking justice than peace.
The accountability of the U.S. Congress and the irrelevance of both major political parties were targeted by other speakers. Cindy Sheehan put it this way. "We need to hold Congress accountable for what they did… We the people are the opposition party." Then, like other speakers, Cindy appealed for action from the audience, "Tell your congressmen and senators, if they don't represent us, then we will fire them." She was quick to counter the typical cynical response by saying, "One vote can make a difference. Look at me, I made a difference." And, in reference to the Nation's wavering confidence in our electoral process, she said, "We need to make sure all votes are counted." She urged we not let it be a close vote saying, "We need to landslide them out of Congress."
Bruce also noted William Hughe's "'Iraq is a No-Win, No-End War!' - Max Cleland" (Baltimore Indymedia):
Getting back to Cleland. He underscored in his remarks, how, "we need an exit strategy we choose or it will certainly be chosen for us. The question about Iraq is not whether we will withdraw our forces, but when? More than 100 members out of the Iraqi Parliament have urged the U.S. to fully withdraw its military forces from Iraq. It is now time to seek what international support we can get for our withdrawal. We need to map out a strategy that works for us and turn Iraq over to the Iraqis."
After discussing the Katrina Hurricane disaster and its horrific effects on the lives of the tens of thousands of people in the Gulf Coast area, Cleland said, "We are spending more money in Iraq then rebuilding New Orleans, Biloxi, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It is time to bring our troops home-especially the National Guard that was created to guard America and to deal with disasters in our own country rather than being sent to die in the deserts in Iraq. It is time to put America first!"
I leave the final words on this excellently conceived and implemented Congressional "Forum," to Cleland, one of the South's finest sons, and a genuine hero of our Republic. He warned, "Iraq does not have to be another Vietnam. The war in Iraq does not have to drag on forever. It is not too late to learn from our own history. Why do I urge this course of action to our nation, now? Because I’ve seen this movie before. I know how it ends!"
Trey e-mails to note Naomi.rae.Lerman's "An Iraqi Shares His Personal Account" (Milwaukee Indymedia):
In the war's beginning, American Archaeologists gave the army maps of all the Archaeological sites in Iraq, begging them to avoid these areas of holiness. Zaid is unaware of any attempt by the United States to be careful around land in its process of excavations. He told me there are two wars being prompted by the United States: the desire of Iraq's resources and a war on Iraq's culture. By stealing valuable artifacts from the museum's approximately eighty years of work, our country has attacked the mystery to Iraq's personal culture. If responsible army personnel had heavily guarded and protected the museum as they had the Ministry of Oil, Iraq’s physical history would not be lost to greed today. The U.S. army sent huge tanks to sit in front of the Ministry of Oil as they "borrowed" the data maps to Iraq's vast oil fields. Another example of the U.S. army attacking Iraq's culture is the invading of mosques. For some reason, soldiers suspected that a mosque was hiding terrorists. They entered the holy ground possessing large weapons. This is an Ultimate disrespectable action to take in the sacred area of prayer. People involved in the resistance would never hide weapons in a mosque. Because the Iraqis were interrupted during concentrated prayer, they started yelling at the army to leave. The army fired bullets randomly at these defenseless, praying souls who were crying out for respect. "Are they animals and you are human?" -- Zaid asked. I asked if there has been any true effort in the "reconstruction" of Iraq. None. Rarely, the army will clean up a building that has fallen to its blows. Aside from this, the American army leaves their damage strewn in the living quarters of civilians who pass the destruction daily. Is the army not responsible to clean and rebuild this errored fallen building? Zaid understood that American companies pay loads of money to reconstruct the fallen buildings, but the army fears for any danger involved in building out in the open.
Another pitiful reconstruction attempt is painting Iraqi schools with the cheap paint. Schools were painted to look improved on the outside, but the torn inside is left unexplored. The newly painted coat looks dreadful within weeks afterwards by pealing and turning odd shades. Cheap paint is no match for Iraq's blazing sun. This temporary make-up carelessly slathered on is a pointless action which makes schools look worse along time.
The most important reconstruction effort needed in Iraq is to restore its electric power stations. Many stations were destroyed by America's last war there, and others are clearly out of date. When Hussein was in power, he said his Government could not conduct their own reconstruction because they lacked equipment. During the early 1990's, the U.S. imposed restrictions, such that Iraq was unable to import or export anything. Currently, machines distribute electricity throughout the land equally, which only leaves four hours of electric power a day. While Iraqis suffer without air conditioning and artificial light, the U.S. Army camps have the privilege of 24 hours of electricity and a back-up generator. They are sucking up the electricity meant to be distributed equally, and not minding to fix the problem. Presently there is little clean running water in all of Iraq. The army uses bottled water and is not concerned that most water is contaminated.
Warning on the next item. The site linked to in the excerpt has the f-word in the title. We're using "*"s in place of the f-word. But if you go to it, it's the f-word. If that's enough to get you in trouble at work, do not go to this site on a work computer. Blake e-mails to note Chris Thompson's "War Pornography" (East Bay Express):
If you want to see the true face of war, go to the amateur porn Web site NowThatsF**kedUp.com. For almost a year, American soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been taking photographs of dead bodies, many of them horribly mutilated or blown to pieces, and sending them to Web site administrator Chris Wilson. In return for letting him post these images, Wilson gives the soldiers free access to his site. American soldiers have been using the pictures of disfigured Iraqi corpses as currency to buy pornography.
At Wilson's Web site, you can see an Arab man's face sliced off and placed in a bowl filled with blood. Another man's head, his face crusted with dried blood and powder burns, lies on a bed of gravel. A man in a leather coat, who apparently tried to run a military checkpoint, lies slumped in the driver's seat of a car, his head obliterated by gunfire, the flaps of skin from his neck blooming open like rose petals. Six men in beige fatigues, identified as U.S. Marines, laugh and smile for the camera while pointing at a burned, charcoal-black corpse lying at their feet.
The captions that accompany these images, which were apparently written by the soldiers who posted them, laugh and gloat over the bodies. The soldier who posted a picture of a corpse lying in a pool of his own brains and entrails wrote, "What every Iraqi should look like." The photograph of a corpse whose jaw has apparently rotted away, leaving a gaping set of upper teeth, bears the caption: "bad day for this dude." One soldier posted three photographs of corpses lying in the street and titled his collection, "die haji die." The soldiers take pride, even joy, in displaying the dead.
This is a moral catastrophe. The Bush administration claims such sympathy for American war dead that officials have banned the media from photographing flap-draped coffins being carried off of cargo planes. Government officials and American media officials have repeatedly denounced the Al-Jazeera network for airing grisly footage of Iraqi war casualties and American prisoners of war. The legal fight over whether to release the remaining photographs of atrocities at Abu Ghraib has dragged on for months, with no less a figure than Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers arguing that the release of such images will inflame the Muslim world and drive untold numbers to join Al Qaeda. But none of these can compare to the prospect of American troops casually bartering pictures of suffering and death for porn.
"Two years ago, if somebody had said our soldiers would do these things to detainees and take pictures of it, I would have said that's a lie," sighed the recently retired General Michael Marchand – who as Assistant Judge Advocate General for the Army was responsible for reforming military training policy to make sure nothing like Abu Ghraib ever happens again. "What soldiers do, I'm not sure I can guess anymore."
Once more from Patrick O'Neill's "The Human Side of the War: Cindy Sheehan's anti-war march heads to Washington, drumming up support they hope will make a difference" (Durham's The Independent Weekly):
One night while watching CNN, Jean Prewitt saw Sheehan sitting "in the ditch" near Bush's ranch. "I saw her on TV Sunday, and I was there Wednesday afternoon," said Prewitt, who also spoke in Raleigh.
When Prewitt saw her ex-husband and stepdaughter and two uniformed soldiers in the hallway of her office, she knew it was bad news. Her "baby" son, Kelley, was at war in Iraq. An Army infantryman, Kelley had been among the first U.S. soldiers on the ground.
"As soon as I saw them walking down the hall, they didn't have to say anything," Prewitt said. "I just kept saying, 'Please tell me he's just wounded. Please tell me he's just wounded,' and they kept saying, 'No, ma'am. No, ma'am.'"
Seconds later, the hall filled up with curious workers from throughout Prewitt's Birmingham, Ala., office. Kelley was killed in action April 6, 2003, "on the road to Baghdad." Traumatized, her life forever altered, Prewitt left her job as a human resources specialist with the U.S. Postal Service and never returned.
"I walked out, and I never went back," she said. "I didn't even turn my computer off."
During an interview, Prewitt often took deep breaths in between making her points. She said, "It's been hell" since her son's death.
"It's lonesome, sad, empty. He was just so full of life and so handsome and so sweet and so lovable. It's just a hole in our hearts that we can just never fill. I just can't stand it. I mean it just sickens me, just sickens me."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Iraq
Cindy Sheehan
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