Thursday, May 17, 2007

THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY TRAINS 'EM WELL!

 
CAN ANY ONE FROM THE BULLY BOY ADMINISTRATION KEEP OR ACTUALLY DO A JOB THEY ARE HIRED FOR?
 
ALBERTO GONZALES' JOB HANGS IN THE BALANCE AS ATTORNEY GENERAL AND PAUL WOLFOWITZ TEETERS AT THE WORLD BANK.
 
REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, ALBERTO EXPLAINED HE WAS CONSIDERING ENTERING ANOTHER BILLIE JEAN KING LOOKALIKE CONTEST BUT, OUTSIDE OF BILLIE JEAN KING, "EVERYTHING I KNOW I WAS TAUGHT BY THE BULLY BOY.  I AM WHAT HE HAS MADE ME."
 
WE ATTEMPTED TO FOLLOW UP BY ASKING WHETHER THAT STATEMENT WAS MEANT AS PRAISE OR TO SPREAD THE BLAME BUT THE WHIMPERING SOUNDS FROM GONZALES' END OF THE CALL WERE TOO LOUD.
 
 
 
 
This morning, ICCC was reporting that the total number of US service members who have died in Iraq since the start of the illegal war reached 3400.  Today the US military announced: "Three Soldiers were killed and one was wounded when their patrol was struck by a roadside bomb south of Baghdady May 17."   So the 3400 marker has been surpassed --  3403 is the current total. Michael Munk (Democracy Rising) calculates that the US military has seen "at least 55,471 casualties" during the same period.  Meanwhile, for the sixth day, 3 US soldiers remain missing following a Saturday attack.  Tina Susman and Julian E. Barnes (Los Angeles Times) report: "Evidence indicated that the attackers used grenades and other hand-held explosives, and converged from several directions . . .  Drag marks leading to tire tracks showed that the missing men were pulled from the area to vehicles about 45 away.  The military is trying to determine whether the two Humvees were sufficient to guarantee the troops' protection and whether the patrol had taken necessary precautions.  Those precautions would include not being positioned at a spot previously used by U.S. troops".   As CNN noted yesterday, "Caldwell said the division headquarters is 'looking very carefully at the whole tactical situation to see if there's something they need to do better."  And possibly, a year from now we may know one way or another if the 7 US soldiers and 1 Iraqi were sitting ducks (4 of the 7 US soldiers and the Iraqi translator are dead) and who's responsible for that?
 
Almost a year ago a similar abductiion happened in the same region (and the ones claiming credit for the kidnapping also cited the gang-rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer).  In that case, the 3 US soldiers were killed.  CBS and AP report: "Three U.S. soldiers slaughtered in a grisly kidnapping-murder plot south of Baghdad last June were not properly protected during a mission that was not well planned or executed, a military investigation has concluded.  Two military officers have been relieved of their commands as a result of the litany of mistakes, but neither faced criminal charges, a military official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday."  Yet despite that reality, the New York Times is not only not interested in front-paging the story (the story has never made the front page), they also aren't interested in pursuing how it happened. Just like they aren't interested in Abeer, war resisters . . .
 
Democracy Now! has regularly explored is war resisters and today Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez spoke with Agustin Aguayo who explained where his status currently stands: "Technically, I'm still in the military, because I have the right to an automatic appeal to the court-martial.  And that is a long process.  It could be up to two years.  I have a rehearing in the courts in my civil suit against the Army in D.C., and I would like to be reddemed and I would like to be recognized . . .  I'm challenging that I was wrongfully denied conscientious objector status.  And so, I'm still essentially in the military.  However, I don't have to report to any duty station. So I'm essentially free to live my life.  And from here, I would like to share with others my experience.  I think it's vital, it's crucial that people understand from a different perspective what is actually taking place, what I saw, what my conclusions were and why I couldn't return."
 
 
Aguayo joined Pablo Paredes, Camilo Mejia and Robert Zabala in the speaking out tour to raise awareness on the realities of the illegal war and the need to stand up against it which has two more scheduled date remaining:



Thursday May 17 - Oakland
4pm youth event and 7pm program at the Humanist Hall, 411 28th St, Oakland. Featuring Camilo Mejia, Pablo Paredes and the Alternatives to War through Education (A.W.E.) Youth Action Team. Sponsored by Veteran's for Peace Chp. 69, Courage to Resist, Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's (CCCO) and AWE Youth Action Team.

Friday May 18 - Berkeley
7pm at St. Joseph the Worker featuring Camilo Mejia.

US war resisters are part of a growing movement of war resistance within the military: Camilo Mejia, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Joshua Key, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty 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.
Iraq Veterans Against the War bring truth with them whenever they speak (and they are available for speaking engagements if you have a group or organization that would like to hear from them).
 
 
Always speaking truth to power, Iraq Veterans Against the War.  In March, a group spoke at
Different Drummer Cafe. Eric Ruder (ISR) provides a transcript and we'll note Adrienne Kinne
today:
 
 
Since leaving the military and now that I've finished my degree in psychology, I've been working in VA (Veterans Adminstration) hospitals.  I've worked at VA hospitals in Georgia and Virginia and now in Vermont and I've seen so many different soldiers.  For the first time our VA hospitals are seeing active-duty soldiers because our Department of Defense hospitals cannot keep up with demand.  I've seen a lot of people come back from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious injuries and a lot of serious things going on with their health.  And it really makes me mad -- and I'm not here speaking as a VA employee, but I'm certainly allowed to speak about my experiences there.  Not in any official capacity, but it makes me mad when I hear veteran after veteran telling me the difficulties they have getting their services.  It makes me embarrassed to work for the VA and I don't want to feel that way because I actually want to work in the VA to help our veterans.  It's just so frustrating.
There are so many things that are tied together.  I saw one soldier who was stationed overseas and he was an MP and he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because he saw our government do things to people that no person should ever have to see our government do.  He said that he couldn't go into details because it's all classified, but he still felt that he was bound to military doctrine where you can't tell anything to anyone.  But he has nightmares every night because he saw us tortuing people.  He was at one of our secret, non-existent prisons and he saw people tortured and he cannot cope with what he has seen. 
 

Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers, not web links.
Posted by at