Saturday, September 22, 2007

THIS JUST IN! RICE: 'DEMOCRACY IS NOT DEMOCRATIC!'

 
 
WHEN REACHED FOR COMMENT, SECRETARY OF STATE AND ANGER CONDI RICE EXPLAINED, "WE ARE GIVING THEM DEMOCRACY.  IT IS A GIFT FROM US.  AND OUR GIFTS COME WITH STRINGS.  THIS IS ACTUALLY A VALUABLE LESSON FOR THEM.  THEY WILL GRASP THAT FREEDOM IS FREE, THAT DEMOCRACY IS NOT DEMOCRATIC AND THAT PUPPET GOVERNMENTS BETTER FOLLOW ORDERS OR RISK BEING REPLACED.  I'VE GOT TO RUN, I HEARD A RUMOR THAT ANOTHER OIL TANKER WAS GOING TO BE NAMED AFTER ME!  BE SURE TO INCLUDE THAT IN CASE CHEVRON'S ON THE FENCE.  LIGHT A FIRE UNDER THEM.  PEOPLE ALWAYS POINT TO 9-11 AND MY SUPPOSED FAILURES THERE BUT NO ONE EVER NOTICES WHAT I DO DO."
 
THESE REPORTERS WOULD AGREE WITH SECRETARY RICE, HER "DO DO" NEEDS FURTHER ATTENTION AS IT IS STINKING UP THE UNITED STATES.
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  Alaam News reports that a US family of five (three children) is seeking asylum in Finland "with local media speculating that it is opposition to the Iraq war" that has led the family to leave the United States and start over in Helenski this week.  If true, it would  be only the second time this decade that an "American citizen . . . [has] filed an asylum application in Finland during the current decade."  Meanwhile IVAW's Michael Prysner (PSL) reports, "The number of deserters is also steadily climbing, with official numbers now reaching over 10,000 since the war began.  Many believe these numbers may actually be much higher.  The G.I. Rights Hotline reports an average of 3,000 calls a month by new recruits and active duty soldiers who have decided they want to abandon the military. . . . Soldiers against the war have begun organizing within the military.  Active duty soldiers started the Appeal for Redress, a petition calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.  It was formulated less than a year ago, and has collected over 2,000 signatures of soldiers currently serving in the military.  Membership in Iraq Veterans Against the War is nearing 600. . . . Soldiers like Lt. Ehren Watada and Camilo Mejia have set the example, publicly refusing deployment and condemning the war for its illegal and immoral nature."
 
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.
 
Peter Hart spoke with Anthony Arnove (IRAQ: The Logic of Withdrawal) on this week's CounterSpin (airing on most radio stations today) about the issue of contractors.
 
Anthony Arnove: There is effectively a doubling of the US occupation in Iraq right now through the employment of private contractors of whom as many as 50,000 are armed -- effectively private mercenaries working in the employee of the US occupation.  Blackwater is operating under the employment of the State Department.  What's interesting is that very early on in the US occupation, Paul Bremer -- who was acting as the colonial viceroy -- in his capacity of head of the Coalition Provision Authority deliberately exempted these mercenaries and other US contractors from Iraqi law.  And they've created basically a legal black hole in which these mercenaries  can operate without any accountability.  And the few times there have been incidents in which Iraqis tried to pursue contractors for violations they've been skirted out of the country so as not to have to face any prosecution.  They do technically fall under rules of engagement set down for US contractors -- whether that's Pentagon rules or State Department rules.  But like we've seen with active duty troops who've engaged in abuses of human rights in Iraq, there's really been no accountability certainly not up the chain of command.
 
No accountability.  And Bremer and the CPA were nothing but a shell game.  Bremer stripped Iraqis of oversight and, in fact, the US may not have any legal right to oversight as well.  As Naomi Klein explains in her new book  The Shock Doctrine: The Rise Of Disaster Capitalism:
 
Bremer's CPA would not try to stop the various scams, side deals and shell games because the CPA was itself a shell game.  Though it was billed as the U.S. occupation authority, it's unclear that it held that distinction in anything other than name.  This point was forcefully made by a judge in the infamous Custer Battles corruption case.
Two former employees of the security firm launched a whistle-blower lawsuit against the company, accusing it of cheating on reconstruction-related contracts with the CPA and defrauding the U.S. governments produced by the company that clearly showed it was keeping two sets of numbers -- one for itself, one for invoicing the CPA Retired Brigadier-General Hugh Tant testified that the fraud was "probably the worst I've ever seen in my 30 years in the army."  (Among Custer Battles' many alleged violations, it is said to have appropriated Iraqi-owned forklifts from the airport, repainted them and billed the CPA for the cost of leasing the machines.)
In March 2006, a federal jury in Virginia ruled against the company, finding it guilty of fraud, and forced it to pay $10 million in damages.  The company then asked the judge to overturn the verdict, with a revealing defense.  It claimed that the CPA was not part of the U.S. government, and therefore not subject to its laws, including the False Claims Act.  The implications of this defense were enormous: the Bush administration had indemnified U.S. corporations working in Iraq from any liability under Iraqi laws; if the CPA wasn't subject to U.S. law either, it meant that the contractors weren't subjected to any law at all -- U.S. or Iraqi.  This time, the judge ruled in the company's favor: he said there was plenty of evidence that Custer Battles had submitted to the CPA "false and fraudulently inflated invoices," but he ruled that the plaintiffs had "failed to prove that the claims were presented to the United States."  In other words, the U.S. government presence in Iraq during the first year of its economic experiment had been a mirage -- there had been no government, just a funnel to get U.S. taxpayer and Iraqi oil dollars to foreign corporations, completely outside the law.  In this way, Iraq represented the most extreme expression of the anti-state counter-revolution -- a hollow state, where, as the courts finally established, there was no there, there.
 
Contractors in Iraq -- with the permission of the US government and sometimes on the orders of the US government -- have been allowed to act with impunity. Daniel Howden and Leonard Doyle (Independent of London) provide a look at the rise of outsourcing governmental tasks and note, "A high-ranking US military commander in Iraq said: 'These guys run loose in this country and do stupid stuff. There's no authority over them, so you can't come down on them hard when they escalate force. They shoot people.' In Abu Ghraib, all of the translators and up to half of the interrogators were reportedly private contractors."
Rosa Brooks (Los Angeles Times) also addresses the reality of governmental tasks being sold off to the private section, "What's been happening in Iraq -- and in Afghanistan, Columbia, Somalia and the Pentagon and the State Department -- goes far beyond the 'outsourcing of key military and security jobs.'  For years, the administration has been quietly auctioning off U.S. foreign policy to the highest corporate bidder -- and it may be too late for us to buy it back.  Think I'm exaggerating?  Look at Blackwater.  Its $750-million contract with the U.S. State Department employees in Iraq is just one of many lucrative U.S. (and foreign) government contracts it has enjoyed (and it's a safe bet that Sunday's episode will be only a minor PR setback for Blackwater).  As for Blackwater's most recent slaughter, Kim Sengupta (Independent of London) reconstructs the events on Sunday via eye witness testimony: " We have found no Iraqi present at the scene who saw or heard sniper fire. Witnesses say the first victims of the shootings were a couple with their child, the mother and infant meeting horrific deaths, their bodies fused together by heat after their car caught fire. The contractors, according to this account, also shot Iraqi soldiers and police and Blackwater then called in an attack helicopter from its private air force which inflicted further casualties."  Apparently unable to speak to Iraqis, Sabrina Tavernise and James Glanz (New York Times) rely on a leaked report from the Ministry of the Interior which "has concluded that employees of a private American security firm fired an unprovoked barrage in the shooting last Sunday," "that the dozens of foreign security companies here should be replaced by Iraqi companies, and that a law that has given the companies immunity for years be scrapped" -- and the reporters offer: "The Iraqi version of events may be self-serving in some points."  And the US version may be what?  Tavernise and Glanz ignore that prospect.  Blackwater's apparently ignoring some things as well.  Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) notes, "In Iraq, the private security firm Blackwater USA is reportedly back on the streets of Baghdad despite an announced ban on its activities. The Iraqi government said it had revoked Blackwater's license this week after its guards killed up to twenty-eight Iraqis in an unprovoked mass shooting. But a Pentagon spokesperson said today Blackwater is guarding diplomatic convoys following talks with the Iraqi government."  So, as Ian Thompson (PSL) judged it, "Even the Iraqi puppet government leadership spoke up -- but its words were hot air.  Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wants to gain credibility and appear to be independent of his U.S. colonial masters."  The events appear to answer  Thursday's question ("For the US government, it's a quandry: Do they use this moment to provide al-Maliki with a chance to alter his image or do they continue to let greed rule?"): Greed again won out.
 
 

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Thursday, September 20, 2007

THIS JUST IN! BOXER A WEASEL LIKE THE OTHERS DEMS!

 
SENATOR BARBARA BOXER LIKES TO PLAY IT AS THE 'SMART LIB' IN THE SENATE BUT THE REALITY IS THAT TIRED & OLD DOESN'T KNOW HER CONSTITUTION OR THE BUSINESS OF THE SENATE.
 
REPUBLICANS MANUFACTURED OUTRAGE OVER A WALKON.ORG COMMERCIAL (THAT BORROWED THESE REPORTERS SLOGAN FROM A MONTH PRIOR -- BUT WE BEAR NO GRUDGES).  BARBARA BOXER DECIDED THE THING TO DO WAS TO WASTE EVERYONE'S TIME WITH A COUNTER-MEASURE THAT DID NOT SUPPORT WALKON.ORG BUT DID REINFORCE JUST WHAT THE REPUBLICANS WANTED.  TIRED & OLD?  MAYBE IT SHOULD BE TIRED & OLD & STUPID?
 
SWIFT-FLOATIES AND OTHERS.  IT'S CALLED "FREE SPEECH" BABS AND THE CONSTITUTION GUARANTEES IT.  AND THIS IS THE ALLEGEDLY 'LEFT' SENATOR.
 
MEANWHILE SENATOR BARACK OBAMA COULDN'T DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT HE WAS AGAINST WALKON.ORG BEFORE THE VOTE STARTED SO HE SKIPPED OUT ON IT.  WHAT ASTOUNDING LEADERSHIP!  IT'S PRACTICALLY PRESIDENTIAL . . . IF YOU'RE A BELTWAY JUNKIE WHO APPLAUDS NON-ACTION.
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  Last week, Carol Mulligan (The Sudbury Star) reported on the Sudbury chapter of War Resisters Support Campaign to find lodging for an expected arrival -- a family of four.  The Canadian community pulled together and went to work.  Today Carol Mulligan (The Sudbury Star) reports that, "The soldier planning to come to Canada with his family to avoid deployment to combat in Iraq has been transferred to a non-combat role" after being granted CO status and will not moving to Canada and that Lee Zaslofsky (national co-ordinator of  War Resisters Support Campaign) congratulated the community on their strong work and to "assure you that, with the current volume of inquiries from potential war resisters in the U.S., there will likely be war resisters in Sudbury very soon" with 2 war resisters having "arrived unexpectedly in Ottawa" as well as the London chapter having a family arrive "last weekend and another settled in the Niagara region." 
 
Last week, Anthony Lane (Colorado Springs Indy) reported on Brad McCall, 20 years old, army private, who made the decision to self-checkout of the US military.  Lane explained, "Soldiers tell him details of fighting in Iraq meant to make his pacifist blood boil.  Soldiers who've been and returned say he'll see the bodies of dead little girls, if and when his unit is deployed.  They goad him with stories of a soldier they say peeled charred flesh from an Iraqi civilian's corpse and ate it."  McCall considered applying for CO status but didn't think the chances were likely of his being granted that status.  So, while Lane was working on the report, McCall self-checked out and, "He'll join hundreds of other U.S. soldiers in Canada.  He'll go to college, in the States, if he can get discharged.  If not, maybe in Canada. . . .  Army officials notified McCall's family on Tuesday that he had disappeared.  Charlotte McCall, his mother, says she's saddened and worried."  While she expects that he will change his mind, Lane reports "McCall contends that staying in the Army could only lead to bad things, particularly if he is deployed.  The fighting in Iraq has put soldiers in nerve-wracking situations where some have fired their weapons only to realize they killed civilians, he says.  'How would I live [with] myself,' he asks, 'knowing I killed an innocent person fighting in a war I didn't believe in?'"
 
Already in Canada, war resister Patrick Hart is attempting to be granted refugee status. His band will be playing in Winnipeg Sunday.  David Schmeichel (Winnipeg Sun) notes, "Yes, the Refuse & Resist tour lineup is jam-packed with punks who oppose the war in Iraq.  But before you dismiss 'em as snotty agitators, know that Skull Device guitarist Pat Hart is something of an expert on the topic.  Hart served 9 years with the U.S. military before going AWOL and fleeing to Canada, and now faces up to 30 years in prison if our government denies his bid for refugee status.  He's got the support of tourmates Nikki's Trick and My Shaky Jane, (plus local recruits C-Punisher and Saxton)."  Patrick Hart went to Canada at the end of August 2005 and was followed a few weeks later by Jill Hart and their son Rian.
 
 
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.
 
McCall tells Lane that he doubts the US military will even look for him.  If that has to do with his own record in the military, he may be right.  But the reality is that the US military does attempt to track down members who check out.  In news on some recent AWOLs . . .   Brad Zinn (Virginia's The News Leader) reports Denise A. Jones checked out, turned herself in and was arrested (she's 42-years-old and now at the Fort Knox Deserter Control Point).  Russ Rizzo (The Salt Lake Tribune) reports Austin Lee Sommers developed pink, bronchitis, pneumonia and cellulitis while in basic training (marines) and checked out and stay with an aunt when the Orem police -- tipped off by the military and, his aunt believes, Austin's brother -- showed up to arrest him.  Meanwhile in Maryland another AWOL soldier has been shot.  Rocco Vertuccio (R News) reports Aberdeen was the location where 22-year-old Evan Parker of Rochester, NY was shot after he was picked up at a motel in the Aberdeen area and then returned to base (Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland) on Sunday only to go AWOL again and return to the same motel: "As an officer approached Parker, they say Parker displayed a gun.  Police told Parker to drop the gun.  They say instead, he waved it at the officer.  The officer then fired several shots, hitting Parker in the abdomen, the leg, and upper chest. . . .  Parker is now in stable condition at the University of Maryland Shock and Trauma Center.  Aberdeen Police say, while Parker was being taken to the hospital, he told them and the medical personnel, he wanted police to shoot him."
 
This week on The Progressive Radio Show, Matthew Rothschild interviews Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan about the illegal war, the Democrats and the Republicans and why she is running for Congress from the eighth district in California.
 
Matthew Rothschild: Cindy, what does it mean when two-thirds of the public is against the war and yet the war and surge goes on?
 
Cindy Sheehan: I think it means that what our country was founded on, which was being a representative republic, has transformed into a country or government by -- instead of by and for the people -- by and for the corporations, the special interests.  I think that both parties -- the people in both parties are very similar in their ideologies, they're very similar in the people who pull their strings, the people who fund their campaigns and so I think that our government and, you know, with most of the people's consent by their silence, we're sliding into a form of fascism and I think that that is, it's corporate, you know Benito Mussolini famously said, it's when corporations and government -- it's the merger of those two interests and I think that's what we have right now.
 
Matthew Rothschild: How do we stop that slide?  How do we reverse that slide?
 
Cindy Sheehan: I think we have to take back our government. I think we have to take back our representative republic. On July 23rd, I went with Ray McGovern and Rev. Lennox Yearwood  to meet with John Conyers about impeachment.  We took a petition with over a million signatures.  We had three hundred people lining the halls by his office on Capitol Hill and, while we were there, there was a call every thirty seconds demanding impeachment and John Conyers said, "I can't do it."  And I said, "So what you're telling me is that we the people have no voice in our government, we have no recourse."  He said, "Yes, you do in the ballot boxes."   But the candidates we vote for are the ones that the elite, the corporate elite pick for us and the media picks for us and they don't do what the people want them to do what kind of representative republic . . . do we have.  So I think that we have to challenge this two-party system which really is just one party basically.  People have to challenge their congress people like I'm challenging Nancy Pelosi. And I think that challenging her as an independent, unaffiliated with any party, that you can truly look at the human and not the politics --  you know, what would be right for me politically or what would make me more money -- but look at a human being and say, "What would be best for humanity?  What would be best for our country?"  And not what's best for myself and my own interests or the people who owns me interest. So I think that by challenging her I'm not just challenging Pelosi, I'm challenging the system and I'm challenging the military industrial complex that I think controls our system.
 
Matthew Rothschild: Cindy Sheehan, why do you think John Conyers told you that he couldn't do it?  Because the time before in Congress, when the Democrats weren't in control, he did introduce a bill to explore grounds of impeachment.
 
Cindy Sheehan:  This is just so puzzling to so many people -- especially people who have been impeachment-anti-war activists.  A lot of people in the movement don't link impeachment  with peace but there's many of us who do because first of all there's the thing of accountability.  Second of all, George Bush has said the troops aren't coming home while he's president.  And you know if Nixon had been held accountable for the, you know, for the prosecuting of Vietnam and for the illegal bombings of Laos and Cambodia I think it would reign in future presidents. But John Conyers wrote a book called The Constitution in Crisis and he laid out, he and his staff laid out, the crimes and the charges against George Bush.  And in my many meetings with him since they've become in the majority, I've said, "You know, Congressman,  what happened, all the sudden are they like innocent of these crimes?  You know you have to put them to trial, you have to give them a hearing." And there's been a lot of speculation  that Nancy Pelosi,  and we know she did because before they were even elected she said election was off the table.  And we think that Nancy Pelosi is reigning-reigning his hand in.  And you know he keeps saying 'I don't have the votes, I don't have the votes".  Well you're not going to have the votes if you don't put the resolution for impeachment out there and we think it's a Constitutional duty, we thank it's mandatory  and he thinks he has discretion.  And one thing he told me that broke my heart  because I really have admired him -- even before I knew him, you know, even before my son was killed -- I admired him.  And  he told us that it's more important for him to have a Democratic president than to end the war.  So what the democratic leadership are doing are playing politics with our flesh and blood and the people of Iraq and our soldiers are being put in the middle of this political struggle.  And I think it's inherently immoral.
 
Matthew Rothschild: I mean that -- when I'm most cynical I think the Democrats want the war to go on because it will help them.
 
 
Staying on the topic of peace and truth telling, Amanda Grosgebauer, Karin Scott and Kathleen Kreuger at Texas A&M refused to let a War Hawk columnist go unchallenged as he spewed hate and attacks and called him out as the pig he was.  Good for them.  Maybe he'll think twice before he tries to distor the work of Iraq Veterans Against the War?  And a time when so many women paid to pen their opinions elect to be silent on the topic of the illegal war, the three college students show far more strength and passion that most 'professionals'.  The "women of tomorrow" are already here and Kathleen Kreuger, Karin Scott and Amanda Grosgebauer make that very clear.  Another strong woman is IVAW's Kelly Dougherty.  Paul Pryse and Chris Chable (The Badger Herald) explain how Dougherty's story intersects with corporate profits: "When Kelly Dougherty was deployed to Iraq in 2003, her unit was assigned to escort truck convoys, usually from Kellogg Brown and Root Inc., then a subsidary of the Halliburton Company.  Dougherty remembers one incident when her unit was guarding a broken-down truck containing produce and a crowd of destitute Iraqis assembled and begged for food.  After Hallibruton told them to destroy the truck, Dougherty and other soldiers asked if they could distribute the food first, but were refused because it would be 'too hectic.'  'We sat there and burned produce in front of people struggling to get by, living not only under an occupation, but without jobs, without healthcare,' Dougherty said.  To most people, this is wanton cruelty.  However, under Halliburton's 'cost-plus' contract, they made a profit by charging the costs of that truck, the produce, plus an extra percentage to taxpayers."  Which is why students at University of Wisconsin-Madison were protesting today as Halliburton showed up on campus for a job fair.  Ryan J. Foley (AP) reports Chris Dols leading the hundreds of students in singing "From high to low, Halliburton got to go" and Foley observes, "The event is drawing parallels to a 1967 protest against recruiters for Dow Chemical Co., which made napalm used in Vietnam.  A peaceful sit-in that ended in a bloody confrontation between students and club-wielding police officers galvanized the anti-war movement."  Anita Weier (The Capital Times) notes the ingenuity of the students in the following: "They were allowed to enter the career fair but were told not to chant, so they sang.  They were told to use conversational tones, but they did so with a bullhorn."
 
 

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THIS JUST IN! BOXER A WEASEL LIKE THE OTHERS DEMS!

 
SENATOR BARBARA BOXER LIKES TO PLAY IT AS THE 'SMART LIB' IN THE SENATE BUT THE REALITY IS THAT TIRED & OLD DOESN'T KNOW HER CONSTITUTION OR THE BUSINESS OF THE SENATE.
 
REPUBLICANS MANUFACTURED OUTRAGE OVER A WALKON.ORG COMMERCIAL (THAT BORROWED THESE REPORTERS SLOGAN FROM A MONTH PRIOR -- BUT WE BEAR NO GRUDGES).  BARBARA BOXER DECIDED THE THING TO DO WAS TO WASTE EVERYONE'S TIME WITH A COUNTER-MEASURE THAT DID NOT SUPPORT WALKON.ORG BUT DID REINFORCE JUST WHAT THE REPUBLICANS WANTED.  TIRED & OLD?  MAYBE IT SHOULD BE TIRED & OLD & STUPID?
 
SWIFT-FLOATIES AND OTHERS.  IT'S CALLED "FREE SPEECH" BABS AND THE CONSTITUTION GUARANTEES IT.  AND THIS IS THE ALLEGEDLY 'LEFT' SENATOR.
 
MEANWHILE SENATOR BARACK OBAMA COULDN'T DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT HE WAS AGAINST WALKON.ORG BEFORE THE VOTE STARTED SO HE SKIPPED OUT ON IT.  WHAT ASTOUNDING LEADERSHIP!  IT'S PRACTICALLY PRESIDENTIAL . . . IF YOU'RE A BELTWAY JUNKIE WHO APPLAUDS NON-ACTION.
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  Last week, Carol Mulligan (The Sudbury Star) reported on the Sudbury chapter of War Resisters Support Campaign to find lodging for an expected arrival -- a family of four.  The Canadian community pulled together and went to work.  Today Carol Mulligan (The Sudbury Star) reports that, "The soldier planning to come to Canada with his family to avoid deployment to combat in Iraq has been transferred to a non-combat role" after being granted CO status and will not moving to Canada and that Lee Zaslofsky (national co-ordinator of  War Resisters Support Campaign) congratulated the community on their strong work and to "assure you that, with the current volume of inquiries from potential war resisters in the U.S., there will likely be war resisters in Sudbury very soon" with 2 war resisters having "arrived unexpectedly in Ottawa" as well as the London chapter having a family arrive "last weekend and another settled in the Niagara region." 
 
Last week, Anthony Lane (Colorado Springs Indy) reported on Brad McCall, 20 years old, army private, who made the decision to self-checkout of the US military.  Lane explained, "Soldiers tell him details of fighting in Iraq meant to make his pacifist blood boil.  Soldiers who've been and returned say he'll see the bodies of dead little girls, if and when his unit is deployed.  They goad him with stories of a soldier they say peeled charred flesh from an Iraqi civilian's corpse and ate it."  McCall considered applying for CO status but didn't think the chances were likely of his being granted that status.  So, while Lane was working on the report, McCall self-checked out and, "He'll join hundreds of other U.S. soldiers in Canada.  He'll go to college, in the States, if he can get discharged.  If not, maybe in Canada. . . .  Army officials notified McCall's family on Tuesday that he had disappeared.  Charlotte McCall, his mother, says she's saddened and worried."  While she expects that he will change his mind, Lane reports "McCall contends that staying in the Army could only lead to bad things, particularly if he is deployed.  The fighting in Iraq has put soldiers in nerve-wracking situations where some have fired their weapons only to realize they killed civilians, he says.  'How would I live [with] myself,' he asks, 'knowing I killed an innocent person fighting in a war I didn't believe in?'"
 
Already in Canada, war resister Patrick Hart is attempting to be granted refugee status. His band will be playing in Winnipeg Sunday.  David Schmeichel (Winnipeg Sun) notes, "Yes, the Refuse & Resist tour lineup is jam-packed with punks who oppose the war in Iraq.  But before you dismiss 'em as snotty agitators, know that Skull Device guitarist Pat Hart is something of an expert on the topic.  Hart served 9 years with the U.S. military before going AWOL and fleeing to Canada, and now faces up to 30 years in prison if our government denies his bid for refugee status.  He's got the support of tourmates Nikki's Trick and My Shaky Jane, (plus local recruits C-Punisher and Saxton)."  Patrick Hart went to Canada at the end of August 2005 and was followed a few weeks later by Jill Hart and their son Rian.
 
 
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.
 
McCall tells Lane that he doubts the US military will even look for him.  If that has to do with his own record in the military, he may be right.  But the reality is that the US military does attempt to track down members who check out.  In news on some recent AWOLs . . .   Brad Zinn (Virginia's The News Leader) reports Denise A. Jones checked out, turned herself in and was arrested (she's 42-years-old and now at the Fort Knox Deserter Control Point).  Russ Rizzo (The Salt Lake Tribune) reports Austin Lee Sommers developed pink, bronchitis, pneumonia and cellulitis while in basic training (marines) and checked out and stay with an aunt when the Orem police -- tipped off by the military and, his aunt believes, Austin's brother -- showed up to arrest him.  Meanwhile in Maryland another AWOL soldier has been shot.  Rocco Vertuccio (R News) reports Aberdeen was the location where 22-year-old Evan Parker of Rochester, NY was shot after he was picked up at a motel in the Aberdeen area and then returned to base (Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland) on Sunday only to go AWOL again and return to the same motel: "As an officer approached Parker, they say Parker displayed a gun.  Police told Parker to drop the gun.  They say instead, he waved it at the officer.  The officer then fired several shots, hitting Parker in the abdomen, the leg, and upper chest. . . .  Parker is now in stable condition at the University of Maryland Shock and Trauma Center.  Aberdeen Police say, while Parker was being taken to the hospital, he told them and the medical personnel, he wanted police to shoot him."
 
This week on The Progressive Radio Show, Matthew Rothschild interviews Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan about the illegal war, the Democrats and the Republicans and why she is running for Congress from the eighth district in California.
 
Matthew Rothschild: Cindy, what does it mean when two-thirds of the public is against the war and yet the war and surge goes on?
 
Cindy Sheehan: I think it means that what our country was founded on, which was being a representative republic, has transformed into a country or government by -- instead of by and for the people -- by and for the corporations, the special interests.  I think that both parties -- the people in both parties are very similar in their ideologies, they're very similar in the people who pull their strings, the people who fund their campaigns and so I think that our government and, you know, with most of the people's consent by their silence, we're sliding into a form of fascism and I think that that is, it's corporate, you know Benito Mussolini famously said, it's when corporations and government -- it's the merger of those two interests and I think that's what we have right now.
 
Matthew Rothschild: How do we stop that slide?  How do we reverse that slide?
 
Cindy Sheehan: I think we have to take back our government. I think we have to take back our representative republic. On July 23rd, I went with Ray McGovern and Rev. Lennox Yearwood  to meet with John Conyers about impeachment.  We took a petition with over a million signatures.  We had three hundred people lining the halls by his office on Capitol Hill and, while we were there, there was a call every thirty seconds demanding impeachment and John Conyers said, "I can't do it."  And I said, "So what you're telling me is that we the people have no voice in our government, we have no recourse."  He said, "Yes, you do in the ballot boxes."   But the candidates we vote for are the ones that the elite, the corporate elite pick for us and the media picks for us and they don't do what the people want them to do what kind of representative republic . . . do we have.  So I think that we have to challenge this two-party system which really is just one party basically.  People have to challenge their congress people like I'm challenging Nancy Pelosi. And I think that challenging her as an independent, unaffiliated with any party, that you can truly look at the human and not the politics --  you know, what would be right for me politically or what would make me more money -- but look at a human being and say, "What would be best for humanity?  What would be best for our country?"  And not what's best for myself and my own interests or the people who owns me interest. So I think that by challenging her I'm not just challenging Pelosi, I'm challenging the system and I'm challenging the military industrial complex that I think controls our system.
 
Matthew Rothschild: Cindy Sheehan, why do you think John Conyers told you that he couldn't do it?  Because the time before in Congress, when the Democrats weren't in control, he did introduce a bill to explore grounds of impeachment.
 
Cindy Sheehan:  This is just so puzzling to so many people -- especially people who have been impeachment-anti-war activists.  A lot of people in the movement don't link impeachment  with peace but there's many of us who do because first of all there's the thing of accountability.  Second of all, George Bush has said the troops aren't coming home while he's president.  And you know if Nixon had been held accountable for the, you know, for the prosecuting of Vietnam and for the illegal bombings of Laos and Cambodia I think it would reign in future presidents. But John Conyers wrote a book called The Constitution in Crisis and he laid out, he and his staff laid out, the crimes and the charges against George Bush.  And in my many meetings with him since they've become in the majority, I've said, "You know, Congressman,  what happened, all the sudden are they like innocent of these crimes?  You know you have to put them to trial, you have to give them a hearing." And there's been a lot of speculation  that Nancy Pelosi,  and we know she did because before they were even elected she said election was off the table.  And we think that Nancy Pelosi is reigning-reigning his hand in.  And you know he keeps saying 'I don't have the votes, I don't have the votes".  Well you're not going to have the votes if you don't put the resolution for impeachment out there and we think it's a Constitutional duty, we thank it's mandatory  and he thinks he has discretion.  And one thing he told me that broke my heart  because I really have admired him -- even before I knew him, you know, even before my son was killed -- I admired him.  And  he told us that it's more important for him to have a Democratic president than to end the war.  So what the democratic leadership are doing are playing politics with our flesh and blood and the people of Iraq and our soldiers are being put in the middle of this political struggle.  And I think it's inherently immoral.
 
Matthew Rothschild: I mean that -- when I'm most cynical I think the Democrats want the war to go on because it will help them.
 
 
Staying on the topic of peace and truth telling, Amanda Grosgebauer, Karin Scott and Kathleen Kreuger at Texas A&M refused to let a War Hawk columnist go unchallenged as he spewed hate and attacks and called him out as the pig he was.  Good for them.  Maybe he'll think twice before he tries to distor the work of Iraq Veterans Against the War?  And a time when so many women paid to pen their opinions elect to be silent on the topic of the illegal war, the three college students show far more strength and passion that most 'professionals'.  The "women of tomorrow" are already here and Kathleen Kreuger, Karin Scott and Amanda Grosgebauer make that very clear.  Another strong woman is IVAW's Kelly Dougherty.  Paul Pryse and Chris Chable (The Badger Herald) explain how Dougherty's story intersects with corporate profits: "When Kelly Dougherty was deployed to Iraq in 2003, her unit was assigned to escort truck convoys, usually from Kellogg Brown and Root Inc., then a subsidary of the Halliburton Company.  Dougherty remembers one incident when her unit was guarding a broken-down truck containing produce and a crowd of destitute Iraqis assembled and begged for food.  After Hallibruton told them to destroy the truck, Dougherty and other soldiers asked if they could distribute the food first, but were refused because it would be 'too hectic.'  'We sat there and burned produce in front of people struggling to get by, living not only under an occupation, but without jobs, without healthcare,' Dougherty said.  To most people, this is wanton cruelty.  However, under Halliburton's 'cost-plus' contract, they made a profit by charging the costs of that truck, the produce, plus an extra percentage to taxpayers."  Which is why students at University of Wisconsin-Madison were protesting today as Halliburton showed up on campus for a job fair.  Ryan J. Foley (AP) reports Chris Dols leading the hundreds of students in singing "From high to low, Halliburton got to go" and Foley observes, "The event is drawing parallels to a 1967 protest against recruiters for Dow Chemical Co., which made napalm used in Vietnam.  A peaceful sit-in that ended in a bloody confrontation between students and club-wielding police officers galvanized the anti-war movement."  Anita Weier (The Capital Times) notes the ingenuity of the students in the following: "They were allowed to enter the career fair but were told not to chant, so they sang.  They were told to use conversational tones, but they did so with a bullhorn."
 
 

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

THIS JUST IN! JESSE JACKSON IS WRONG!

 
ALL OF THE BELTWAY IS IN A TIZZY OVER A CRITIQUE FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, COMMUNITY LEADER AND CIVIL RIGHTS VETERAN JESSE JACKSON OFFERED OF NEWBIE SENATOR AND WAR HAWK BARACK OBAMA.
 
YESTERDAY, WHILE ENCOURAGING DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES FOR THEIR PARTY'S PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION TO START SHOWING SOME BRAVERY, JESS JACKSON DECLARED THAT OBAMA WAS "ACTING LIKE HE'S WHITE".
 
THIS TYPE OF CRITICISM HAS REPEATEDLY DOGGED OBAMA THROUGH OUT HIS NOT-SO-SPARKLING RUN FOR PRESIDENT.
 
 
THOUGH JESSE JACKSON HAS CREATED A VERY STRONG LEGACY, WHEN HE'S WRONG, HE IS WRONG. 
 
BARACK OBAMA IS NOT ACTING WHITE.  BARACK OBAMA IS WHITE.  AND HE IS AFRICAN-AMERICAN.  HE IS BI-RACIAL.
 
THOUGH THE PRESS CONTINUES TO PIMP HIM AS THE "BLACK CANDIDATE," BARAK OBAMA IS NOT BLACK. 
 
AT THE TURN OF THIS CENTURY, MANY OUTLETS SUCH AS THE NEW YORK TIMES AND HOPRAH WERE ATTEMPTING TO EDUCATE AMERICA ON THE REALITIES OF BI-RACIAL AND MULTI-RACIAL CITING FAMOUS EXAMPLES SUCH AS DEREK JETER AND MARIAH CAREY. 
 
YET SUDDENLY, IN ORDER TO PROP UP A LITTLE NOTHING CANDIDATE, THE PRESS CONTINUES TO INSIST THAT BARACK OBAMA -- WHOSE MOTHER WAS WHITE AND FATHER WAS BLACK -- IS BLACK.
 
OFFERING HER DEEP WISDOMS FROM THE SOUTH, SOCIAL CRITIC BETTY EXPLAINED IT BACK IN FEBRUARY:
 
And since he's biracial, let's be clear that if he ever becomes President, he won't be the first Black, he may be the first biracial, he may be the first part-Black, but he is not Black. The insistence that the White press has upon portraying him as Black honestly reminds me of the same racism that existed in this country where they divided up Black into octoroon and other categories. He is biracial, he is not Black. That may be how the White press likes "Blacks," not really Black, but quit insulting my race by telling me the ideal is to be at least half-White. My children don't need to hear that message, they are Black. He is bi-racial and there's nothing wrong with that but don't present him as "Black" because he's not. The fact that a Joe Biden approves of him over a Chisholm or Moseley Braun, or Jackson or Dick Gregory or Al Sharpton goes to the fact that he's biracial and not Black and the failure of the White press to take seriously the offensive remarks goes to the fact that they are in agreement with Biden, Obama is "their kind of people" too.
 
 
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance, today on KPFK's Morning Review with Gabriel Gutierrez, Gutierrez spoke with two members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, war resister Agustin Aguayo and Maricela Guzman (also with the Service Women Action Network) about their experiences speaking with students about the Iraq War. 
 
Maricela Guzman: For me, when I go to schools, I definitely talk about my perspective in the service. I think it's really important to go to that route. And I do tell them about my experience specifically as a woman veteran.  I do tell them that I was assaulted in the service, sexually assaulted when I was in boot camp. And I think it's really important for them to know this and it's been very difficult for me to tell my story over and over but it's really important for them to know this because I want them to understand that there are risks when you join such an organization like this.  So it's very critical.  And for me, what I've found, I've gotten really good feedback from the kids and I've had, you know I've talked about suicide, my suicide attempt. And I've had kids -- I've talked about seeing a psychologist and it's a big taboo when you go to these communities and this is something we don't talk about -- I'm Chicana and it's something definitely my family would never talk about. For me, talking to these kids afterwards, them coming up and telling me, "This is what happened to me.  I was assaulted" or "I've tried suicide." I think, for me, that's very critical.  And we're including these organic  conversations when we're going to these schools -- even besides military. 
 
Gutierrez asked Aguayo what helped him "make the determination" not to return to Iraq?
 
Agustin Aguayo: To me, honestly, it wasn't a hard decision once I decided that I could never go back.  Basically because I experienced a moral awakening and I was forced to realize who I was.  And I had to accept that I could deny myself and cause all this violence against myself or I could stand up and say, "No, I believe this is wrong and I'm willing to accept any consequences."  And in the end I think it gave me a . . . feeling of great freedom.  So that is . . . a personal moral determination to do what I felt was right is what helped me the most.
 
Gabriel Gutierrez: And your wife Helga and your two daughters have been involved in the campaign to bring awareness to your case but also in its aftermath once you've now returned.  What type of work has that led to with regard to awareness and with regard to work with young people specifically?
 
Agustin Aguayo: Yes, I've had the privilege of speaking supporting groups that have helped other war resisters, the growing number of them.  And now I'm in the position to share with them what I've been through and they, of course, these resisters that are in this path, this crossroads: "What am I going to do?" I've had the privilege of sharing my experience with them and inspiring them.  And one of the happiest things I'm pleased with is the Arlington West Film and speakers program and I think in the peace work nothing is really more important than educating our young because our future really depends on how we take care of our young today and educating them.  So going into inner city schools is just so important.  And veterans sometimes, we're hesitant.  And sometimes we really want to forget everything we've been through, everything we've experienced, our military experience, but I think we owe it to our young people.   They need to know what's going on, what we experienced.
 
Gutierrez asked what the reaction was from students, teachers and recruiters when they speak in schools?
 
 
Maricela Guzman: Well for me, it's definitely been very difficult.  I know I've been on panels -- it was this year sometime, we went to Fairfax -- and Agustin was in jail at that time and we had a panel, we had recruiters veterans that were for the war and we had Helga and we really got a good reception.  It was very interesting because we weren't sure what was going to happen.  And really what it came down to was that it was the kids who were asking the hard questions.  So it was empowering these kids to ask the questions that needed to be asked.  And the most important thing was that they heard from family members.  You know, we have a lot of family members . . . who talk to these kids.  We don't tell them don't be against the war.  We talk about our experiences.  We're storytellers we tell them of what we've gone through and I think that's why it's been such a successful program.  We've become a family, we've definitely become a family, the people that do this work, the Aguayos are a family to me.
 
Agustin Aguayo: I think the community, administrators, are very receptive because of our tact and like Maricela said the way we share our stories  Basically that's what we do.  And I think our stories are so powerful in themselves even people that are for the war  which I mean at this point, even people who don't want us to go out they really can't say much because all we are doing is sharing stories and nothing is more powerful than the truth.
 
As pointed out Arlington West Film is "doing the work that the mainstream media is not doing".  Friday, September 28th, there will be a benefit performance of the musical Hair at 8:00 pm at the MET Theater, 1089 No. Oxford Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90029 with Aguayo and Cindy Sheehan among the speakers.
 
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Derek Hess, 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.
 
In other peace news, United for Peace & Justice states they are using the Just Foreign Policy count for Iraqis who have died in the illegal war. The report on the state of Iraq has been updated to note the Iraqi dead during the illegal war is over a million.   United for Peace & Justice (along with others) will begin Iraq Moratorium on September 21st and follow it every third Friday of the month as people across the country are encouraged to wear and distribute black ribbons and armbands, purchase no gas on those Fridays, conduct vigils, pickets, teach-ins and rallies, etc.  That's this Friday.  On Sunday,  Christine Anne Piesyk (Tennessee's Clarksville Online) provided a list of some actions that will take place:.
 
Each of these individuals and groups -- a list too long to print here -- have something in common: each have signed up to support the Iraq Moratorium, which will make its debut as a national movement on Friday, September 21. 
Wear and distribute black ribbons and armbands 
Buy no gas on moratorium days 
Pressure politicians and media  
Hold vigils, pickets, rallies and teach-ins  
Hold special religious services  
Coordinate events in art, music and culture 
Host film screenings, talks and educational events 
Organize student actions: teach-ins, school closings  
Iraq Moratorium is designed to take the issue to the people, and no event or action is to small to be of merit in opposing the Iraq war.  
 
Turning to the topic of Blackwater USA, the mercenaries that got into Iraq due to crony connections and whom Paul Bremer made above the law during his reign of King of Iraq before fleeing the country.  Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) notes today, "The private military contractor Blackwater is now believed to have killed twenty Iraqi civilians in a mass-shooting Sunday in Baghdad. The Iraqi government revoked Blackwater's license amidst reports nine civilians were killed when Blackwater guards opened fire. Blackwater says it responded after coming under attack from a roadside bomb. But in its initial report on the shooting, Iraq's Interior Ministry says the guards shot at a small vehicle that failed to make way for Blackwater's convoy to pass. An Iraqi couple and their infant were killed in the attack. The New York Times reports video footage of the shooting shows the child burned to the mother's body after their car caught fire. Blackwater guards and helicopters are then believed to have fired indiscriminately."  In the New York Times, Sabrina Tavernise and James Glanz reported this morning that the Ministry of Interior's preliminary report on the incidnet found "that Blackwater security guards were not ambushed, as the company reported, but instead fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman's call to stop, killing a couple and their infant."  Joshua Partlow (Washington Post) addresses the issue of stopping and the police officer via . . . interviews (take note NYT): "Traffic police officer Sarhan Dhia, 34, said he was standing under the Iraqi flags next to his white guard shack along the traffic circle when he saw the convoy of at least four armored vehicles approch, traveling against the flow of traffic.  He said he jumped out into an intersecting street to prevent cars from entering the circle while the convoy passed.  The next thing he knew, he said, gunfire erupted." Sarhan Dhia says there was no bombing.  Blackwater originally claimed that their mercenaries were 'returning fire' after they had been shot at.  They then declared that their indiscriminate spraying of a civilian area with bullets was their way of responding to car bombing.  Their stories -- like the civilian area they shot up -- is riddled with holes.  Leila Fadel and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) also operate under the belief that reporting requires speaking to eye witnesses and they speak with Hassan Jaber Salma and Sami Hawas Karim (an attorney and a taxi driver respectively) who both -- as does every other eye witnesses quoted in press accounts -- maintain that Blackwater "opened fire without provocation" and the reporters note the ever changing story by Blackwater.  Interior Ministry spokesperson Ali al Dabbagh tells McClatchy Newspapers that, "No country in the world would allow the way they [Blackwater] are operating in Iraq."  Multiple outlets (including McClatchy and the New York Times) report that Blackwater helicopters also fired on civilians in the Sunday slaughter.  CBS and AP cite eye witness Suhad Mizra who stepped outside of her hair salon ("about 250 meters" from the incident) and remebers, "The sounds attracted my attention so I went outside the shop to see a convoy of SUVs with security guards shooting randomly at the people at low level.  We were surprised by this and we rushed inside our shops to avoid random bullets.  Apparently, the guards wanted to make their way through the traffic jam made by Iraqi army checkpoint.  There was no provocation and the guards were using their ammunition to move quicker in the street.  Minutes later, the ambulances arrived to up the wounded and dead."  Reality is that this has long been the procedure: to ram through Iraq so that the "high levels" didn't have to wait.  An important question the press should be asking is: Who was Blackwater transporting?  Among the many times this has happened before, Anne Garrels (All Things Considered, NPR) reports on one: "NPR witnessed a similar scenario two years ago. A State Department convoy, protected by Blackwater, raced out of a compound. Guards immediately shot at the car killing an old man, his son and his daughter-in-law. Blackwater said the car was driving erratically. A U.S. military investigation concluded Blackwater had used excessive force. No one was prosecuted.
 
 

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

THIS JUST IN! IT'S THE U.S.' PUPPET GOVERNMENT

 
HAVING SLAUGHTERED 11 IRAQI CIVILIANS (INCLUDING 1 CHILD) IN BAGHDAD, BLACKWATER U.S.A. IS LOOKING TO THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT TO AGAIN THE LOOK THE OTHER WAY ON THE MERCENARIES LATEST CRIME SPREE.
 
 
WHEN THESE REPORTERS ASKED HIM IF FOREIGN MERCENARIES SLAUGHTERING U.S. CITIZENS WOULD RESULT IN QUESTIONS OF JURISDICTIONS, MCCORMACK REPLIED, "HELL NO!  BUT THE U.S. IS NOBODY'S PUPPET!"
 
U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE AND ANGER CONDI RICE QUICKLY ASSURED THESE REPORTERS THAT IRAQIS WERE IN CONTROL OF THEIR OWN COUNTRY.  WHEN PRESSED FOR AN EXAMPLE SHE FINALLY DELCARED, "WHEN IT RAINS, THEY CAN DECIDE WHETHER TO SEEK SHELTER OR REMAIN OUTSIDE.  SEE!  IF THEY WERE PUPPETS, THEY'D HAVE TO WAIT FOR US TO TELL THEM WHAT TO DO!"
 
ON A RELATED NOTE, TODAY ON DEMOCRACY NOW! DOUG BROOKS -- MERCENARY SPOKESPERSON -- DECLARED "ABSOLUTELY" THE MERCENARIES WERE "BETTER THAN U.S. SOLDIERS."  WHEN THE RIGHT INSULTS THE U.S. MILITARY, EVERYONE LOOKS THE OTHER WAYS ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S DONE BY WHITE HOUSE CRONIES.
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  On Saturday in DC, demonstrations against the illegal war started a new phase of activism.  As Feminist Wire Daily noted, "Several women's groups, including CODEPINK and the National Congress of Black Women, sponsored a women's convergence earlier in the day before joining the larger rally at the White House before the march." But this was the event at which Iraq Veterans Against the War truly made their presence felt.  That is not taking anything away from A.N.S.W.E.R., CODEPINK or anyone else; however, part of the strength of the action may be due to those organizations who refused to participate?  Regardless, IVAW's membership continues to grow and their voices are among the surest and loudest out there.  Mike Ferner (Dissident Voice) reports on IVAW and we'll pick it up with war resister Eli Israel who is the first US service member to publicly refuse to serve while stationed in Iraq: "Eli Isreal, a native Kentuckian who had already completed a hitch in the Marines and then enlisted in the Army after September 11, 2001, repeated the Enlistment Oath taken by every person joining the military, that swears them to protect and defend the US Constitution against 'all enemies, foreign and domestic.'  He asked the crowds on the sidewalks to consider what they would do 'when your leaders tell you to fight an unjust war based on lies.  The Occupation of Iraq is a form of terrorism and we refuse to support it!'  With his comrades falling quiet and raising their fists high in the air in salute, the former Military Secret Security sergeant who guarded General Petraeus 'and all those other bastards,' said 'We walk in silence for our brothers and sisters who died for a lie.  We didn't join the military to become slaves to the military-industrial complex.  We joined to serve our country."
 
 

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Derek Hess, 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.
 
Ferner also recounts how Adam Kokesh provided "one of the most memorable moments of the day" when, leading a march past pro-war hawks, he declared, "Column, HALT! Left FACE!" so that the verterans were facing the pro-war hawks with Kokesh saluting leaving "the gathered eagles momentarily taken aback and the crowd cheering."  Rebecca offers her thoughts on Saturday's actions, "i was really impressed with the huge turnout.  as you probably noticed, some organizations elected to sit out and not promote the action.  even so, even without them, the turnout was huge" and, of the police attacks on the demonstrators, "i imagine we'll see more attacks like that on the people.  it's really the only hope there is to continue the illegal war."  Escambray notes, "Capitol Hill security guards doused the demonstrators with chemicals after dozens laid on the street to symbolically represent the thousands of US soldiers killed in the Iraq war".
 
Adam Kokesh was among the speakers and has posted his speech (at Sgt. Kokesh Goes to Washington): "As we all know now, we were lied into this war and is lies that are keeping us there.  They lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction, they lied about Jessica Lynch, they lied about Pat Tillman, and they lied about Al Qaeda and Saddam.  And those are just the lies we know about!  But I'm not so mad that I was lied to, as I am that I cannot trust my government any more.  It astounds me that yet so many Americans want more than anything to trust out government.  When will we wake up, and realize that the power of the truth is greater than any force brought to bear by any Army ever fielded?"
 
Among the other speakers were Ralph Nader.  Nader, as many have noted, was not invited to speak at the last big DC rally.  Though some cries of "Apologize for the war!" could be heard as Nader began to speak, they died down quickly.  (For the record, Nader doesn't owe an apology for an illegal war that he did not start.  Nor do those running Al Gore's 2000 campaign need to apologize for an illegal war that Gore did not start.)  Nader noted that, "The impeachable offenses of Bush outnumber the impeachable offenses of any US president."  He took Congressional 'leadership' to task for their refusal to impeach the Bully Boy.  His critique was greeted with huge cheers.  And, by the end of his speech, sounded like someone running for the presidency.  (Community note, Nader's speech runs in full in today's Hilda's Mix.)  Nader has not announced an intent to run but a campaign to draft him into running, "Run, Ralph Run!", has been started.
 
Staying with US politics, one effort a draft campaign appears to have not been successful.  Kimberly Wilder (On the Wilder Side) reports on former US House Rep's Cynthia McKinney's decision not to seek the presidential nomination of the Green Party for 2008.  The Green Party's convention is scheduled to take place from July 10th through July 13th in Chicago, IL. Last week, the Green Party issued a statement noting that they "will use their presence in various antiwar demonstrations and other events throughout September and October to press the Green Party's demand for immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq" and quotes the co-chair of the party's Peace Action Committee Deanna Taylor stating, "The greatest danger to the peace movement is that organizations and voters who oppose the war are being fooled into seeing the election of Democrats as a step towards peace, stability, and the observance of human rights in the Middle East."  In Democratic Party news, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) notes that "Congressman Dennis Kucinich has accused Democratic Party leaders in Iowa of excluding him from two presidential events this week.  On Sunday six of the Democratic candidates were invited to speak to over 12,000 Democratic voters at Senator Tom Harkin's Steak Fry.  But Kucinich and former Senator Mike Gravel were not invited.  They also weren't invited to a recent Democratic presidential forum in Davenport Iowa.  Kucinich said: 'When Party leaders and their allies pre-select which candidates they will allow the voters to hear, it's a disservice to the voters.  Iowans deserve better than a rigged game."  Saturday, Trina (Trina's Kitchen) recapped some of the developments in Kucinich's campaign including a new staffer, retired Army Capt. Mike Klein, Kucinich's criticism of the illegal war -- "a smokescreen to cover the immorality and criminality of the real reason he took us to war and the reason he refuses to end it: oil" -- his hosting of a student debate in Florida and his campaigning in Hawaii -- the state Democratic presidential candidates tend to write off (at their own risk). TransWorldNews notes of Gravel that the "former Alaska Senator, is not shy about placing the blame for the length of the War in Iraq on the current crop of Democrats eyeing the nomination for President.  Especially front runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, according to Gravel, as they were in a position to do something about the country's involvement [but] when the opportunity presented itself chose to fault others instead of taking the appropriate action."
 
 
 

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