Thursday, March 01, 2007

THIS JUST IN! CAVIN' & CRAVEN HARRY REID!

 
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID ANNOUNCED TODAY, "IT'S NOTHING THAT ANY OF US ARE CONSIDERING" THEREBY EXPLAINING THAT THE BRAIN DEATH OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
 
HOWEVER, REID WAS SPEAKING OF THE SMACKDOWN TO SENATOR KENT CONRAD'S PLAN TO TRIM $20 BILLION FROM THE MILITARY WISH LIST BULLY BOY JUST SUBMITTED.
 
REID SAID THAT AMERICA WAS WITNESSING THE DEMOCRAT'S STRATEGY FOR "RULING" WHILE IN POWER AND THAT THE STRATEGY APPLIED TO ALL ISSUES.
 
HOW WILL AMERICA'S SCHOOL SYSTEM BE FIXED? 
 
REID: "IT'S NOTHING THAT ANY OF US ARE CONSIDERING."
 
WILL CHECKS AND BALANCES BE RESTORED?
 
REID: "IT'S NOTHING THAT ANY OF US ARE CONSIDERING."
 
WILL THE ILLEGAL WAR EVER END?
 
REID: "IT'S NOTHING THAT ANY OF US ARE CONSIDERING."
 
WILL THE DEMOCRATS KEEP THEIR CONGRESSIONAL MAJORITIES IN BOTH HOUSES IN THE 2008 ELECTIONS?
 
REID: "IT'S NOTHING THAT ANY OF US ARE CONSIDERING."
 
 
Turning to the topic of war resisters, Jessica Hegdahl (UCD Advocate) references MLK ("War is a poor chisel for carving out a peaceful future.") and sees the continuation of peace in Ehren Watada: "There's a radical solution to the problem of Iraq.  It lies in the simple observation that 'to stop an illegal and unjust war, the soldiers can choose to stop fighting it.'  These words were spoken by Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to resist deployment to Iraq, facing up to four years in jail.  Every soldier, commissioned or enlisted, who opposes the war in Iraq must eventually decide between his conscience and his orders.  When your country is ordering you to complete an illegal and immoral act, are you not obliged to refuse?  It would be far better for the members of our military to refuse to deploy, face imprisonment or other punishment, than to obey their contracts with the United States military, which allow for the killing of innocent Iraqis."
 
Ehren Watada, in June of last year, became the first officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq.  A three-day court-martial took place at the start of this month but Judge Toilet called a mistrial over the objections of the defense and, last Friday, the military refiled charges against him.  Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports that the pretrial motions are currently set for May 20th with the court-martial scheduled "for July 16-20."  Justin Ward (Austin Chronicle) weighs in on war resister Mark Wilkerson who was court-martialed and sentenced last Thursday (to seven months in prison) and notes that Ann Wright ("a former Army colonel and State Department official who resigned in protest of the Iraq war") spoke to a gathering of Wilkerson supporters the Wednesday before his court-martial: "They are the ones that are willing to put their bodies on the line -- not on the line for murdering or criminal activity but on the line for conscience and morality and to hold accountable an administration that is putting our nation at risk."
 
 
Watada and Wilkerson are part of a movement of resistance with the military that includes others such as Kyle Snyder, Agustin Aguayo (who will be court-martialed in Germany, Tuesday, March 6th), Camilo Mejia, Patrick Hart, Ivan Brobeck, Darrell Anderson, Ricky Clousing, Aidan Delgado, Joshua Key, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Corey Glass, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, 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.
 
Today, GlobalResearch.ca reports that "U.S. war resister Kyle Snyder was arrested in British Columbia for unspecified immigration violations.  Police in Nelson, BC barged into Snyder's home, handcuffed him, and hauled him off to jail.  The police had no warrant.  Snyder, who was wearing only a robe and boxer shorts at the time, was not allowed to put on clothes or shoes.  He was not read his rights or allowed to call his lawyer.  Nelson police told him he would be deported to the U.S., where he is wanted for unahtorized absence from the U.S. Army."  Snyder is sharing a house with US war resister Ryan Johnson and his wife Jenna who immediately began making calls.  The article notes: "Joci Peri, an Immigration official in Vancouver, later told Snyder he had been arrested at the request of the U.S. Army.  Being AWOL from another country's military is not an extraditable offense in Canada, nor does it have any bearing on immigration to Canada, according to Vancouver lawyer Daniel McLeod, who is representing Snyder.  'And the U.S. Army is not the boss of the Canadian police,' says Gerry Condon of Project Safe Haven."
 
Now let's be really clear, the US military has thought from day one they could screw with Snyder.  They thought that when returned to the US in October of last year and turned himself in only to find the military throw out the agreement the second his previous lawyer left the base.  When Snyder was still in the US and traveling around speaking out against the war, the military began alerting the police to his appearances in the hopes that they would arrest him.  (Which really isn't the way it works in the US.  When a service member self-checks out, he or she is more likely to be arrested while being stopped on a traffic violation than via some 'manhunt.')  Kyle finished his speaking tour and he returned to Candada.  Now the US military is targeting him still.  As shameful as it is that the police of British Columbia were willing to break the law and follow orders from another nation's military, it's just as shameful that the US military appeared to think they could illegally extract someone from a country. 
 

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