Thursday, September 27, 2007

THIS JUST IN! BUT WHAT A HEAD OF HAIR!

 
IN YESTERDAY'S DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL FORUM, CONTENDER JOHN EDWARDS HAIR SHIMMERED, SHOOK AND DREW FAR MORE COMPLIMENTS THAN ANYTHING HE SAID.
 
TRAILING BADLY IN THE POLLS BEHIND FRONT RUNNER HILLARY CLINTON AND NO ONE'S FIRST CHOICE BARACK OBAMA, EDWARDS SET HIS SIGHTS ON CLINTON, APPARENTLY ASSUMING THAT THOSE WHO SOUND LIKE AN ANNOUNCER IN A WHATABURGER COMMERCIAL SHOULD FOCUS ON TAKING OUT NUMBER ONE AND AVOID NUMBER TWO.
 
THE ATTACKS CONTINUED TODAY WITH EDWARDS FLACK ERIC SCHULTZ DECLARING, "SENATOR CLINTON KEEPS COMBAT TROOPS IN IRAQ.  THAT MEANS SHE CONTINUES THE WAR."
 
LAST NIGHT EDWARDS DECLARED HE COULD NOT PROMISE THAT, IF ELECTED, ALL U.S. TROOPS WOULD BE BROUGHT HOME, "I CANNOT MAKE THAT COMMITTMENT."  ERIC SCHULTZ, THAT MEANS HE CONTINUES THE WAR.
 
WHEN CONTACTED BY THESE REPORTERS, A CAMPAIGN STAFFER -- WHO REFUSED TO GIVE HIS NAME -- EXPLAINED NO ONE IN A QUOTE GIVING CAPACITY WAS AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT, "THEY'RE ALL BUSY GETTING HIGHLIGHTS!  GO TEAM EDWARDS!"
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  Big news!  Canada cannot be reached by either phone or e-mail!  The apparent blockade must explain why All Things Media Big and Small in the US are unable to contact James Burmeister who served in Iraq and was publicly speaking of "kill teams" of US forces who intentionally left items (not just items that were weapons or could be used for making weapons -- as the mainstream narrative likes to insist) out in public so that Iraqis could be shot for touching "US property."  Apparently the blockade also includes Canada's borders being heavily guarded and Ottawa being ringed with armed guards -- possibly from the US mercenary company Blackwater.  In times long since past, independent media would have been all over this story instead they're all apparently imposing some self-gag order when it comes to the words: "James Burmeister."
 
As noted before, as appalling (and illegal) as the program is when guns and materials that might be used for making bombs are, public outrage is mitigated by the fact that some in the US will tell themselves, "Well, if they're touching it, they probably are guilty!"  Telling the truth (something independent media has a real problem with these days -- as evidence by the elevation to sainthood of a five times busted thug) would have Americans asking serious questions about the program (which already appears to be fading from public knowledge) because a camera, for example, is not a weapon.  But what should have been the minute where independent media stepped up to the plate, grabbed the spotlight and demonstrated just how important they could be instead became a time for travelogue.  Remember that when they next beg for money.
 
LeiLani Dowell (Workers World) notes the DC Encampment to Stop the War at Home and Abroad that is ongoing through September 28th and includes members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, CODEPINK, TONC, United for Peace and Justice and the Green Party.  They are calling for a cut off to funding the illegal war.  As noted in yesterday's snapshot, the hands are out and begging Congress to provide $190,000,000,000 dollars more to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The Encampment is insisting that the war funding be cut off and troops be brought home.  Dowell quotes IVAW's Adam Kokesh explaining that the call is for all US forces, "we mean Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Blackwater, Hallibruton".
Dowell also reports that "a young war resister described how he enlisted in the military in 2005 because of limited career opportunities in his rural hometown. However, he says, 'I happened to join at the same time as Hurricane Katrina, and I saw on TV the bodies floating in the streets. It really hit home to me. I got out of training 25 weeks later and nothing had changed. Despite all the rhetoric about homeland security and national security, this government's priorities are not for the people'."

 
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Derek Hess, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko,Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

 

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
 
Meanwhile Iraq veteran Josh Gaines has returned his Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and National Defense Service Medal  that he received for serving in Iraq from 2004 to 2005.  Jillian Levy (Madison's The Daily Cardinal) reports on yesterday's event, "With shouts of protest and calls to end the war, more than 30 student activists marched to the state Capitol with Josh Gaines, Iraq War veteran and Madison resident, to watch him return his military medals in an act of protest Wednesday afternoon."  Alec Luhn (The Badger Herald) reports, "Gaines read the letter aloud to a crowd gathered on Library Mall Tuesday afternoon before leading dozens of protestors down State Street to the Capitol.  The march also protested the deployment of the Wisconsin National Guard to Iraq, calling for a "de-federalization" of the force to allow for its return. Once Gaines deposited the package in a postal box inside the Capitol, the group gathered outside the office of Gov. Jim Doyle to demand an audience about recalling Guard troops."
 
Josh Gaines declared, "I'm returning my National Defense Medal because I truly believe that I did not help defend my nation and I'm returning my Global War on Terrorism Medal because I do not believe that I helped defeat terrorism in Iraq."  Supporters present in Madison, Wisconsin included students with SDS, the Campus Anti-War Network, Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace who met up at the Library Mall on the Univeristy of Wisconsin and then marched up State Street for what is the first known instance of an Iraq veteran returning his medals.  Gaines apologized for not being able to display the medals as he had already sealed the package and began explaining what had led to his decision.  Portland's KPTV estimates that at least 100 supporters were present. Wisconsin Radio Network provides audio of Gaines speech where he explains why he's mailing the medals to former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Hoover Institute on Stanford University, how his unit had to improvise their own armor, how chemical weapons (such as white phosphorus and "incidneary projectiles") were used in Iraq, and how KBR and others were "all about contracts and the profits are made by civilians who did not volunteer for this war but promote the very idea of occupation."  Gaines: "I was forced to ask, 'Are we really defeating terrorism with the scars of war?'" 
 

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