Friday, February 16, 2007

THIS JUST IN! FOGGO THE REVERSE FRODO!

 
 
FOGGO AND WILKES, NOW BOTH 52-YEARS-OLD WERE CHILDHOOD FRIENDS SCAMPERING FROM PUBLIC SCHOOL OFF TO COLLEGE TOGETHER IN THEIR OWN TALE OF THE LORD OF THE BLING BLINGS!
 
 
 
WHILE FRODO RETURNED TO SHIRE TO CLEAN UP CRIME, FOGGO JOINED THE C.I.A. AND ALLEGEDLY ENGAGED IN CRIME AS WELL AS SOME REPORTEDLY WILD PARTIES.
 
 
Starting with news of war resisters.  In June 0f 2006, Ehren Watada became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq.  Last week, he faced a court-martial at Fort Lewis in Washington.  
 
Recap: On Monday, the court-martial of Ehren Watada began with jury selection for the military panel (seven officers were selected) who would, as Hal Bernton (Seattle Times) pointed out, "determine whether Watada spends up to four years in prison in one of the most high-profile cases to be tried at Fort Lewis."  Watada was facing up to four years in prison and Lt. Col. John Head (aka Judge Toilet) refused to allow him to argue the reasons why he refused to deploy.  This is why Norman Solomon (CounterPunch) called the proceedings "a kangaroo court-martial."  .  On Tuesday, the prosectution presented their case.  Aaron Glantz discussed the day's events with Sandra Lupien on The KPFA Evening News noting: "The prosecution had 3 witnesses.  It did not go as well as the prosecution would have liked.  Lt. Col Bruce Antonia, who was the prosecution's star witness, as Lt. Watada's commander, said that nothing tangibly bad happened from Lt. Watada's refusal to go to" Iraq and "[a]nother thing that did not go well for the prosecution today was that their own witnesses clearly showed that Lt. Watada tried other methods of expressing . . . [his opposition] to the Iraq war, internally within the military, before coming forward to speak to the public."  Also noting the prosecution's poor performance on Tuesday (when they rested their case), was civil rights attorney Bill Simpich who told Geoffrey Millard (Truthout): "The prosecution asked too many questions.  By the time it was over, the prosecution witness had become a defense witness because the field was open.  The defense was able to ask nuanced questions, it told the story clearly to the jury."  On Wednesday, Judge Toilet began talking mistrial and, due to the lousy performance by the prosecution, it was seen as an attempt at a "do over" even before he called the mistrial. 
 
That was last week and, since then, many legal experts have weighed in to offer that, as Watada's civilian attorney Eric Seitz has stated, Watada can't be retried without double-jeopardy entering into the picture.  John Catalinotto (Socialist Worker) observes: "Watada's military defense lawyer -- appointed by the Army -- Capt. Mark Kim, said that he agreed with Seitz's interpretation of military law."  Geov Parrish (Eat The State) offers that Watada may have won not just the round but the battle: "How did this happen?  It happened because one young officer stuck to his principles, even under enormous pressure, and the Army didn't know how to react.  Its handling of the case has allowed Ehren Watada -- young, photogenic, articulate, and deeply moral -- to become a folk hero within the antiwar movement, so much so that even his (supportive) parents have become minor celebrities in their own rights.  US House Rep and 2008 presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich issued a statement last week:  "The court improperly denied Lt. Watada's right to a dfense by blocking him from explaining why he believes the war in Iraq is illegal.  Procedural decisions by the court have effectively denied Lt. Watada the right to engage in a protected activity -- freedom of speech.  This [the declaration of a mistrial] is a significant ruling which empowers people to speak out against this unjust war."
 
Jim Cohen (Pepperdine University's The Graphic) ties recent news on the US administration's lies into the Watada story: "A recent report from the Pentagon has concluded that the former policy chief from the Pentagon, Douglas J. Feith, took 'inappropriate' actions by advancing unsubstantiated evidence to bolster the Bush administration's case for war in Iraq.  Watada's justification of abstention to fight in Iraq has, in fact, been substantiated.  This new information will hopefully give Watada the peace of mind by knowing he was right for following his former commander's advice to study everything, our government's arguments for going to war in Iraq as well as the purpose of the mission.  By failing to do this kind of hard work, the commander in chief has left the troops without a mission caught in the middle of a civil sectarian war."
 
 
Watada is a part of a movement of resistance with the military that includes others such as Agustin Aguayo (whose court-martial is currently set to begin on March 6th), Kyle Snyder, Darrell Anderson, Ivan Brobeck, Mark Wilkerson, Ricky Clousing, Aidan Delgado, Joshua Key, Camilo Meija, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Jeremy Hinzman, Corey Glass, Patrick Hart, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
 
Dave Ward (The Gazette) profiles Tim Richard, a war resister from Iowa who now attends the University of Western Ontario, who tells Ward: "I joined the army with the idea that I would be defending America.  But Iraq has nothing to do with defending America. . . . I did have to pay some personal prices.  My marriage broke up over it.  Not to mention [I lost] what I had identified myself as, which was a U.S. soldier, a very patriotic American.  At the same time, I did what I felt was the right thing to do -- which was not to participate in something I knew to be wrong.  So I don't regret doing that."
 
Meanwhile Lance Hering's parents have been interviewed by Jodi Brooks for Boulder's CBS affiliate (CBS4).  Hering, a marine who served in Iraq, was on leave and back in the United States when he disappeared on an August 29th hike.  Hering, whose rank is Lance Cpl., has no made press statements but the friend he was hiking with has maintained they staged/arranged Hering's disappearance so that he would not have to return to Iraq.  That is what his friend, Steve Powers, has told the press.  Hering has not spoken to the press.  He may or may not be a war resister.  His parents, Lloyd and Ellyne Hering, tell Brooks that Lance's disappearance has led them to begin "talking about the war.  Lloyd said he and Ellyne realized that supporting the troops meant stopping the war.  Lloyd and Ellyne have traveled to Washington, D.C. twice to urge Congress to stop funding the war.  Ellyne writes postcards as part of a nationwide campaign to stop special appropriations for Iraq."  Lloyd Hering tells Brooks: "We're here to help him whenever he decides to come back.  He'll get legal help, financial help, counseling help, and all the love that we can provide anytime he comes back."
 
 

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