Category: Iraq

Right here -> (*). But that just means they’re going to get away with it.

UPDATE – May Thirty-One Oh Eight

The above link is to McClatchy 5/23/08. It looks like everything is going off on schedule. It’s amazing how nimble the Global Corpse can be when they set their collective minds and will to it.

This was predicted by the Ka-Ching. 😉 ;-(

Shanti.

This from our friends at United for Peace and Justice.  It needs no further comment from me: 

Apparently the Senate doesn't think there are enough fallen soldiers to honor this Memorial Day, so they have passed a funding bill to extend the Iraq war and occupation past Memorial Day 2009. And were they even thinking of the potentially thousands of Iraqis who will die? To add to the moral repugnance of the Senate's actions, they have tied important programs including GI and unemployment benefits to the Iraq funding bill. Vets can get college tuition, but they'll need to spend another year in Iraq first. See below for details on the Senate bill and to find out how your senators voted.

Are you as outraged as we are?

But we can't give up the fight just yet. The Senate bill will go back to the House of Representatives for a vote in the beginning of June. Before they vote though, members of Congress will be coming home for their week-long Memorial Day recess. That means they will be at parades, picnics, campaign events and in their offices. They must hear from you — loud or silent, rude or polite, funny or solemn, in print, on the phone or in person. There are many ways to convey one message: Stop funding the war, bring all our troops home now! Use as many of them as you can!

Please check the UFPJ calendar to see if there are any Memorial Day Peace events near you (and make sure your event is listed if you are organizing one).

Click here to find out who your representative is and the locations and phone numbers of their local offices.

Let us know how you contacted your representative — phone, email, fax, in-person, etc. — who you reached, what you said, and what the response was.

The US military is back in the cross-hairs of human rights organizations.  The issue in question is our detention of children, their treatment in custody, judicial review, and access by international monitors. Today, the issue will come up for review by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

On May 22, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child will meet in Geneva to review US compliance with the international treaty banning the use of child soldiers, which requires states to help with the recovery and reintegration of such children under their control.

Source: Human Rights Watch

Although Iraq is supposedly a sovereign country, US forces still seem to be playing a major role in arresting and detaining Iraqi citizens, including children.  

The PBS News Hour carried a report on the IVAW ‘Winter Soldier’ testimony in Congress tonight, 5-21-08

Witnesses to War Speak Out on Rules of Engagement

In an attempt to reenergize the U.S. antiwar movement, activists from the American Friends Service Committee, U.S. Labor Against the War, and veterans against the war have formed a steering committee, the National Assembly. The Assembly’s first act is to call for a national meeting of antiwar activists, to be held on June 27-28, 2008, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. All antiwar coalitions, organizations, and activists are welcome to attend.

Endorsers of the National Assembly include the Iraq Moratorium, Veterans for Peace, A.N.S.W.E.R., UFPJ, the National Lawyers Guild, Progressive Democrats of America, AfterDowningStreet, Cindy Sheehan, Howard Zinn, Ramsey Clark, Scott Ritter, and many others.

The position of the assembly is that there must be an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Since there is no mechanism such as a national referendum to force a withdrawal, the American people are left with mass action in the streets. It is believed by the organizers that the best way to prepare such mass mobilizations is through “democratic and open conferences that function transparently, with all who attend having the right to vote.”

You can endorse the National Assembly, and details of the conference and their positions can be found at their website.

Please cross-post this wherever you like.

I read an interesting article at the Christian Science Monitor called “Iraqi Women Eye Islamic Law”. (its written by jill carroll, btw)

Because the United Iraqi Alliance is currently being controlled by Shiites, the oppressive sharia law is now taking away some of the rights and freedoms afforded Iraqi women under Sadaam Hussein.  Where Iraq had once been progressive, in relative terms, for a Muslim nation, the laws imposed on women are becoming more conservative.

What do we do in Milwaukee when the temperature finally hits 70 degrees? Go to the lakefront? Grill brats in the back yard? Skinny dip? Take off our longjohns?

If it’s the Third Friday — Iraq Moratorium day –we meet in the heart of downtown for an hour, fill all four corners of the intersection with people, flags, banners and enthusiasm, and call for an end to the war and occupation. We had a diverse group of kids, college students, parents, and grandparents, about 70 in all, counting one small dog with a “Puppy for Peace” jacket.

We’re getting used to support from rush hour drivers, who honked their horns almost non-stop tonight, including a lot of county bus drivers and one trucker driving a huge tractor-trailer with a big air horn. One driver got out of his car (while the light was red) to chat and say something supportive to one of the vigilers. We leaflet pedestrians, and one young Iranian couple, downtown shopping, stopped to express their support. But our favorite anecdote of the day was the two Army recruiters who drove past in an Army vehicle — while one of them gave the protesters a thumbs-up.

This report by Joy First of Madison WI is among posts on the Iraq Moratorium website from participants in Moratorium activities this month:

We Mourn the Dead from Iraq – 9th Iraq Moratorium

As part of the Iraq Moratorium, eight activists in Madison, WI participated in a solemn vigil at Hilldale Mall on May 16, 2008, calling for an end to the war and occupation in Iraq.  This was, in the words of Gandhi, “an experiment in truth” as we pushed to see how far we could go in speaking out against the utter devastation and the crippling suffering of the people of Iraq.  Two of us had been in court the day before and were found guilty of trespassing after we were arrested for speaking out against the war at Hilldale Mall in February.

Three of us wore paper mache masks of Iraqi women and long dark gowns and we carried paper mache babies, one who was severely hurt.  The masks sat on the top of our heads with scarves over the back of the masks that hung down and came around covering our faces.  We could only see faintly as we looked through the light-weight fabric over our face.  The expressions on the faces of the masks, the Iraqi women, were haunting.  

The other five people in our group handed out leaflets about the suffering of Iraqi women, and carried signs saying “We mourn the dead from Iraq’ as we walked in a slow and solemn procession through the mall.  We planned to stay there and march for one hour from 5:30-6:30 pm unless we were arrested before then.  There were not a lot of people inside the mall, but those who were seemed very interested in our procession and gratefully accepted a leaflet.  A good number thanked us for being there or made other positive comments.  It was a very powerful experience, very sad, wearing the masks and carrying the babies who were hurt.  I have been spending a lot of time with my grandchildren, including my newest granddaughter, Linnea, just one week old on the day of our action, and I was feeling very emotional thinking about the suffering of the children of Iraq.

Mall security asked us to leave and said we could march outside (which was surprising because I believe that is still private property).  We went outside because there were a lot of people eating at outside seating at several restaurants adjoining the mall and we were able to walk by them and hand out leaflets.

When we walked back inside the mall, we met the police and they told us we must leave.  We decided to go outside again and the police told us we could stay there as long as wanted, but if we came back inside, there would be a physical arrest.  I asked the police if this wasn’t private property outside the mall, and the police said it was not, but I believe they are wrong about that. They explained a physical arrest would mean they would handcuff us, transport us downtown, book us, and we would have to pay bail to be released.  We were surprised to hear this.  We follow the principles and guidelines of Gandhi, Martin Luther King and others doing nonviolent civil resistance to speak out against the war crimes of our government.  The police in Madison have always arrested us, wrote a citation on the spot, and released us.  When we asked why they would respond with a physical arrest, they said that when the bad behavior continues, they have to take us in.  Bad behavior??!!??  Us??!!??  I wonder when someone in law enforcement will have the guts to arrest Bush and his cronies for their bad behavior – war crimes against humanity.  We walked for a few more minutes and at 6:30 we left the mall.  However, we plan to return and continue our commitment to work for peace, calling attention to the devastating human suffering resulting from the crimes of our government.

I’m in kind of a cranky mood. I don’t have much to say about this article, and I’m sure many of you have already read it: Iraqi court rulings stop at U.S. detention sites.

BushCo are masters at trying to legitimize illegality. It is their terrifying, unjust, enraging M.O. We see it at home, and abroad, in the conduct of this so-called GWOT. It is S.O.P.

They create legal limbo for all kinds of our fellow human beings, most innocent of any crime. GITMO is a terrible, shocking example of being in and out of the law.

Daniel Zwerdling, of NPR, continues his reporting on the Treatment of our returning Military Troops, you know who they are, maybe, those who those ‘Support The Troops’ magnetic ribbons, now rarely seen, are meant for. Or the significance of those ‘Lapel Flag Pins’ the politicians and some others harp about, the politicians who Praised a Coming Invasion of anothers little Country but didn’t have the the time, nor will, to do their jobs in Oversite, Funding, and simple Investigation!

There’s a formidable group of warriors out there – and they’re fighting America’s military. Spouses of troops who have come back from the war with serious mental health problems have made it their mission to force the military to give the troops the help they need.

In the process, they’ve transformed themselves from “the silent ranks,” as the military traditionally calls wives, into vocal and effective activists.

Not hardly.

But, in honor of Iraq Moratorium #9, being observed today, it seems worth asking the question. (And with the trifecta in the headline, I thought maybe someone over at the orange blog, where my cross-posts go to die, will click on it.)

McCain’s hallucination  vision of what would happen in his presidency:

“By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom,” McCain said in a speech in Columbus, Ohio.

“The Iraq war has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced,” McCain said.

Wouldn’t that be loverly?

I’ve been writing in this space about the Iraq Moratorium for months now, and it’s coming around again tomorrow, Friday, May 16.

And quit calling me Alfie.

* * *

The Iraq Moratorium project grew out of the frustration the organizers share with so many Americans. Why does the war grind on when the people of this country have so clearly rejected it? Clearly voting didn’t do the job. In response to questions like these, the idea of the Iraq Moratorium took shape.

* I really hate this war and what it’s doing to my country, but I’ve never protested. I am not sure that I would be comfortable at a vigil or peace march.

If you do attend a vigil or other protest, you will probably be surprised at how many people very much like you are present. You’ll also find that being part of a group action can be inspiring and motivating.  But if that’s not your thing, or there’s nothing going on in your community, there are many other ways to take a stand as an individual. Wear a black armband or ribbon on Moratorium Day. Call or write your elected officials that day or send a letter to the editor of the local paper. Donate to a peace group.  Put a sign in your yard or window.

Whatever you do, you’ll be doing with lots of other people. And whatever you do, we hope you will fill out the easy report form on the Moratorium website, to let others know what you did.

* I’ve already done all this. What good will this do?

We know. So have we. That’s where the Moratorium idea came from. Imagine that even half the people who have stood up to end the war over the last five years were joined by even a tenth of all those who oppose the war privately – on the same day! It would be the biggest single outcry of protest in US history. And it will continue month after month until Washington listens and ends the war.