Tag: Afghanistan

Well, well, Blackwater, after ripping off the United States people with their extremely high priced Mercenary Forces, and getting U.S. troops killed from the blowback of their actions are now dropping their security details, apparently because it’s bad for their business bottom line!!

Stars and Stripes

Sgt. Jacob Walker and Spc. Tyler Stafford talk about the attack

The country’s wartime status has riddled this Presidential election year with added questions.

That’s why several non-profit military groups have come together to try to hold a Presidential town hall meeting at Fort Hood.

Sen. Barack Obama is the missing ingredient for a town hall meeting at Fort Hood.

This is a nobrainer for the Obama Campaign, especially as to recent remarks by Senator McCain, and he isn’t as great as he and others think as to Town Halls or other formats. The Obama camp have many like Wesley Clark and other knowledgable Veterans of our Military who have more than just his back, as well as the many running on the same ticket for federal offices.

I’ve come alot closer to my full support of Obama, I just don’t ever make total decisions when elections are months away, I also don’t just look at the single person trying to give their resume, I look at how they present themselves, smear and slam are big no no’s, and I look at who they bring close to them in their campaigns and try and figure out, if they win, who will they surround themselves with while in office ( and I hit the nail on the head, which I do for a living, as to the bush crowd, not exactly reading the future but seeing alot of what was to come do so! ), especially as to Federal Representation and the Presidential Office, more towards my Representation on who I would Hire.

The first episode of the groundbreaking new live webcast “In Their Boots” aired on Wednesday, 2 July 2008, with host Jan Bender as he explored the lives of the Babin family as they care for their wounded veteran son Alan. That premeir show was Part 1 on Alan and the Babin family, Part 2 aired this past wednesday, 7-9-08.

I had promised to report on the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation held June 28-29 in Cleveland, but delayed it to await an official summary of the actions taken there.  Unless you were in the room almost all of the time for the debate and votes, it was impossible to know exactly what decisions the 400-plus participants made.  And I confess to spending a good chunk of time “networking” and kibitzing in the halls.

Now the organizers have produced their summary and evaluation, which you can read it its entirety here.

The Assembly urged united and massive mobilizations on both coasts in the spring to end the war, while also endorsing demonstrations at the Republican (Sept. 1-4)  and Democratic (Aug. 25-28) conventions, local actions on October 11 — the date Congress passed the resolution authorizing the Iraq war — and proposing Dec. 9-14 as dates for local actions across the country demanding the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The group also voted almost unanmously to endorse local Iraq Moratorium actions on the Third Friday of every month, although that is not specifically mentioned in the organizers’ report. That’s disappointing to me, as part of the group who worked to make that part of the action agenda passed by the participants. But in the grand scheme of things, as one of my compatriots said, “This is just one document, produced by some exhausted folks in the aftermath of a complex event.”  The proof, as usual, will be in the pudding.

Organizers believe the Dec. 9-14 actions provide the best potential for uniting the entire movement in the months ahead:

ANSWER and the Troops Out Now Coalition have endorsed them and the hope is that United for Peace and Justice will do the same. The need now is to take these proposed dates to local antiwar coalitions; labor groups, especially U.S. Labor Against the War; veterans and military families organizations: the faith community; Black, Hispanic, Asian, Arab, Muslim and other nationalities, racial and ethnic groups; students; women’s peace organizations; the Iraq Moratorium; and other social forces that can be drawn into antiwar activities. All actions are viewed as springboards for building massive, united, independent and bi-coastal Spring 2009 demonstrations against the war.

In other action, the Assembly:

— Expressed its strong opposition to attacks against Iran, as well as sanctions and other forms of intervention into that country’s internal affairs; registered determination to join other antiwar forces in massive united, protest actions in the event that the U.S. or its proxy, Israel, bombs Iran; and urged that if this occurs an emergency meeting of all the major antiwar forces be called to plan such actions.

— Added Afghanistan to the name of the Assembly because the U.S. is fighting two unjust, illegal and brutal wars simultaneously and both must be opposed. We are now the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations.

— Voted to integrate the issue of Palestine into the broader antiwar struggle and to challenge U.S. support for the Israeli occupation.

It’s hard to judge the Assembly’s real impact, but just getting activists from a wide variety of groups and causes to spend the weekend in the same room, operating in a civil fashion and emphasizing their unifying beliefs rather than their differences, is an accomplishment in itself.

As one of my Wisconsin friends put it, “The hollering was at a minimum, the crowd lively, (if a bit unfocused), the tone was upbeat.”

The Assembly adopted the Big Tent philosophy, and was happy to keep enlarging the tent to make room for everyone.  Oppose the war in Afghanistan, too?  Come on in.  Palestine’s your main focus?  No problem, there’s plenty of room.

While that may have built a broader coalition, it seems like that message may be a harder sell when it comes to trying to mobilize massive numbers of regular folks to act against the war — and that must be the ultimate objective. With a single focus on Iraq, which two-thirds of Americans think was a mistake, it has still been hard to get people to translate their feelings into action.  Adding more issues to the pot will not make it easier, but more difficult.  

The group’s five points of unity are: (1) “Out Now!” as the movement’s unifying demand, (2) mass action as the central strategy, (3) unity of the movement, (4) democratic decision making, and (5) independence from all political parties. Steps were taken to make the Assembly an ongoing organization, “a network with its mission intact and continuing:  to be a catalyst and unifier, striving always to unite the movement in the streets.”

There are certain to be some bumps in the road.  The one-person, one-vote rule worked in Cleveland, but that meant that Ohio participants had 140 votes while Texas had one.  Twenty-five states had no representatives at all.  While geography may not be important — this is an antiwar coalition, not the Electoral College — it also means that some of the bigger organizations were under-represented.  At some point that may become an issue.

But, big picture, was it worth doing?  Was it energizing?  Am I glad I went?

Yes, yes, and yes.

Last night, on the PBS Newshour, they had an appropriate July 4th interview, especially in these times of two occupations:

The first episode of the groundbreaking new live webcast “In Their Boots” aired on Wednesday, 2 July 2008, with host Jan Bender as he explored the lives of the Babin family as they care for their wounded veteran son Alan. That first show “Beating the Odds” was part 1, the second part to be aired next wednesday, 9 July 2008.

Yesterday I got an e-newsletter about the same time I caught this post. The e covered what prompted the post by ScottyUrb.

Today, the 4th of July, we here in the States celebrate our “Independence”, no need to go into an explanation, or give a link to read about, we’re all supposed to know and understand what that means, and so are others who think they’ve achieved that.

This year there’ll be alot less traveling to a further destination for relaxation or whatever, more home bodies, we all know the reasons, or we should.

A Nation that sends its Sons and Daughters into Occupations?

A C-17 Airforce Transport plane arrives in Kandahar, Afghanistan to receive the bodies of five U.S. service members killed. Though more than 1,000 US and coalition forces were on hand to participate in the “ramp ceremony,” a Los Angeles Times reporter and photographer were asked to leave the area by a military public affairs officer. A Pentagon policy banning coverage of this particular event was cited as the reason. [Photo: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times]

I just received, as I’m sure many others have, an E-Mail about a Live Online Broadcast premiering tonight 7-02-08

From ‘Brave New Films’

That I’m going to share with those who may not receive their News Letters.

Follow Me:

The beginning of this is an attempt to bring you up to speed on what has been going on this past year leading up to the purpose of this post, a New Investigation on Veterans Care, and the request for those listed in the subject title to get involved with, especially the Veterans having their troubles with the VA and their Care.