BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- NYC.
BAMBI WON AN ENDORSEMENT!
IT WASN'T ALL THAT THOUGH YOU WOULDN'T KNOW IT TO READ ARI "AIR" MELBER.
AIR GUSHED, "TODAY BARACK OBAMA EARNED THE ENDORSEMENT OF MOVEON, ONE OF THE LARGEST GRASSROOTS MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, AFTER CLOBERRING HILLARY CLINTON BY 40 PERCENT IN INTERNET BALLOTING. OBAMA LED THE FINAL TALLY 70.4% TO 29.6%, CLEARING THE SUPERMAJORITY REQUIRED FOR THE ENDORSEMENT."
WHEN THESE REPORTERS ATTEMPTED TO CONFRONT AIR MEBLER, WE HAD TO WAIT AT THE DOOR FOR HIM TO GET DRESSED, PUT AWAY THE VASOLINE AND DUST OFF HIS BAMBI OBAMA DOLL -- WHICH HE INSISTED WAS AN "ACTION FIGURE" -- BEFORE WE COULD QUESTION HIM.
NOTING THAT MOVEON CLAIMS A MEMBERSHIP OF 3.2 MILLION, THE POLLING RESULTS WOULD MEAN THAT ONLY 6.2% OF THE MEMBERSHIP BOTHERED TO VOTE AND THERE WAS NO WAY TO VOTE "NONE OF THE ABOVE" OR TO VOTE FOR MIKE GRAVEL, A DEMOCRAT WHO REMAINS IN THE RACE.
AIR DISMISSED THAT LOGIC EVEN WHEN THESE REPORTERS POINTED OUT THAT THE LEFT COULD HARDLY DECRY RIGGED ELECTIONS WHEN ENGAGING IN THEIR OWN.
"OH WHO CARES," HISSED AIR. "ALL I KNOW IS THAT WHEN I REACH INSIDE TO MY SPECIAL BUTTON AND LOOK AT MY SWEET BAMBI, I SEE SPARKS. THIS IS THE FINGER I USE. WANT TO SNIFF?"
THESE REPORTERS RETREATED AS AIR BEGAN PULLING THE PANTS OFF HIS BAMBI OBAMA "ACTION FIGURE."
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Starting with war resistance. Bethany Skyler James self-checked out of the US military and went to Canada. Julia Johnson (The Charlatan) reports on James decision to go to Canada and writes, "James says she has official refugee status but because of the Nov. 15 Supreme Court decision not to hear an appeal from resisters Brandon Hughey and Jeremy Hinzman, currently no other resisters are allowed to gain refugee status." The difference between Skyler and Hinzman and/or Hughey is that she is gay and was targeted with bullying and threats while serving and that may have factored into her case when she applied for refugee status. She tells Johnson, "I was being treated inhumanely for being a lesbian. [It was] the worst of the worst of the worst of gay bashing. I have been sent hate letters. People threatened to kill me." When she and a friend made it to Canada, she contacted the War Resisters Support Campaign and she nows lives in Ottawa.
You can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara 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, Blake LeMoine, 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, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty 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 addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'." As part of their fundraising efforts for the event, they are holding houseparties and a recent one in Boston featured both IVAW's Liam Madden and the incomprable Howard Zinn as speakers.
[. . .]
Closing with US politics, Dolores Huerta -- longtime and pioneering activist for justice -- appeared on Democracy Now! today:
DOLORES HUERTA: Well, I believe that she's a person who has the experience that we need. I believe she has the courage, because she has, you know, taken risks like coming out for national healthcare when nobody else was doing that. She was also--just the fact that shes running for the presidency of the United States. So you've got the combination that we need for a president that can take, you know, as she has said often, to lead on the first day she gets inaugurated, because she's got the intelligence and the experience and the courage and the capability of running the country.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And, Dolores, as I'm sure you're aware, Ted Kennedy, I guess the icon of the Democratic Party in the Senate, this week came out in support of Barack Obama, and he immediately went to try to campaign among Latinos in California, I guess evoking especially the memory of Bobby Kennedy, who marched with Cesar and you and many of the farm workers in the 1960s. Your response to this effort by Ted Kennedy to convince Latinos to back Obama?
DOLORES HUERTA: Well, on the other hand, we have the endorsement of Bobby Kennedy, actually, Robert Kennedy's son. Bobby Kennedy, as you know, has been very active on the environment, and he had a beautiful piece at the--he, Kerry Kennedy, the head of the Robert Kennedy Foundation, Kathleen Kennedy, former lieutenant governor of Maryland--all of these are Robert's children. And I want to refer you to an LA Times editorial that they wrote of why they were supporting Hillary. And in that article, Bobby says he has worked with Hillary on the environment for fifteen years, and Kathleen has worked with Hillary for twenty-five years. One of the things that, you know, they keep talking about, the progressive candidates, you know, Hillary Clinton voted against the nuclear waste dumping in Yucca Mountain in Nevada, while on the other hand Barack Obama actually took money from the company that was creating the nuclear waste and wanted to dump it in Nevada. So, you know, I think that that pretty much offsets Ted Kennedy's endorsement, because you've got Robert Kennedy's children--of course, the farm workers' union, we were much more closer to Robert, and these are the activists. These are the ones that are out there doing community work, and that they know what Hillary has done in terms of her long history in civil rights, in working for children, working for education. You know, so they know that she's the one that they feel is the best person to run for president.
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
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"I Hate The War"
"Katrina's pep talk"
"Linguine in White Clam & Shrimp Sauce in the Kitchen"
"cholera, rubin and more"
"bambi loses debate"
"This & that"
"Henry Waxman on Bill Moyers Journal tomorrow"
"Amy Goodman says, 'Vote homophobia Tuesday!'"
"Laura Flanders the self-hating, disrespecting lesbian"
"All about Marica and her blog"
"Green Party, Margaret Kimberley"
"Dave Lindorff: Last Journalist Standing"
"Esme Choonara, Judith Orr, Haifa Zangana"
"Glen Ford, Larry Johnson, Saleh Mamon"
"Dave Lindorff, voting, Marcia's site, etc."
"Bambi mumbles some words meant to be 'hope'ful"
"THIS JUST IN! OBAMA'S BIG SPEECH!"
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Bambi mumbles some words meant to be 'hope'ful
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- EL DORALDO, KA.
SENATOR BAMBI OBAMA CAN'T HELP LYING. THIS MONTH HE TOLD GOOD MORNING AMERICA THAT "NOBODY HAD ANY INDICATION THAT" MY HONEY REZKO "WAS ENGAGING IN WRONG DOING." INDICATION?
WHEN REACHED FOR COMMENT, BAMBI TOLD THESE REPORTERS, "AMERICA IS READY TO MOVE ON AND EMBRACE ME BECAUSE I HAVE EMBRACED ALL -- FROM THOSE WHO TRASHED MARILYN MONROE TO THE SLEAZIEST OF SLUMLORDS. THAT IS THE AMERICA I KNOW OF, THE ONE I RETURNED TO, WHERE EVERYTHING IS A LOVELY SHADE OF GRAY AND HYPE CONQUERS ALL. I MEAN HOPE! HOPE CONQUERS ALL!"
Starting with war resistance. "(Recruiters) use the lack of benefits of Latinos and immigrants to lure people in. The biggest problem is that they don't give all the information, they only give the pretty information, which is not the true picture," explains IVAW chair and war resister Camilo Mejia to Cindy Von Quednow (Daily Sundial). Von Quednow goes on to explain that "Latinos made up 13 percent of the enlister personnel in 2006, compared to 18 percent of the civilian population and there is an effort to increase those numbers to 22 percent" by targeting Latinos with advertising buys on Spanish-language television and radio which Rosa Furumoto (Chicano/A studies at CSUN) explains, "If you look at docments released by the Pentagon and the federal government, they have a deliberate attempt to recruit and socialize young Chicanos and Latinos for the military." That is one of two articles Cindy Von Quendnow authors for Daily Sundial. In her second one, she checks in on Camilo Mejia's life today in North Miami, "After completing what he thought was the end of his contract, Mejia found he had actually enlisted for eight years, not three. He decided to finish his duty with the Florida National Guard while going to school. . . . From the beginning, Mejia used his immigrant status to avoid going to Iraq (legal residents who haven't applied for citizenship can only serve a total of eight years in the military) and was finally allowed a two-week leave of absence to fix legal matters back at home. He never returned to Iraq." Mejia, whose Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia was published last May, is currently writing a second book "about his jail experience and wants to delve into the genre of fiction writing." In addition to that and traveling around the country to speak out against the illegal war, Mejia is also sharing the responsibilities of raising his seven-year-old daughter and "appealing his bad conduct dismissal and continues waiting on his conscientious objector status, hoping it will help others in similar situations." When Mejia made his decision that he could not continue to participate in the illegal war, he became the first Iraq War veteran to resist publicly.
Robin Long is another war resister. In March of 2005, he was informed he would be shipping out to the illegal war and he self-checked out and went to Canada. Thunder Bay's Source reports that he spoke in Thunder Bay yesterday as part of the ongoing efforts in Canada to raise awareness of legislative protection for war resisters: "Long says it wasn't an easy decision to abandon the army and move to Canada but his cosncience wouldn't allow him to join a war he didn't support. Long is currently fighting a deportation order, and splits his time between Nelson, B.C., and Marthaton, where he has an 18-month old son."
You can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara 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, Blake LeMoine, 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, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty 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 addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'." As part of their fundraising efforts for the event, they are holding houseparties and a recent one in Boston featured both IVAW's Liam Madden and the incomprable Howard Zinn as speakers.
Among the things IVAW advocates for (ending the illegal war, reperations for Iraq) is the need for real health care to be provided to veterans. Dana Priest (Washington Post) continues the work she and Anne Hull having been doing for the Post today by looking at the extremely high rate of suicide among returning veterans and notes "121 soldiers took their own lives" in 2007 which was "nearly 20 percent more than in 2006. At the same time, the number of attempted suicides or self-inflicted injuries in the Army has jumped sixfold since the Iraq war began. Last year, about 2,100 soldiers injured themselves or attempted suicide, compared with about 350 in 2002, according to the U.S. Army Medical Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan." This as the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence trumpets an internal study that asserts British "Forces mental health statistics for the second quarter of 2007, published today, 31 January 2008, have continued to show that the number of personnel assessed and diagnosed with a mental disorder remained low." If true -- remember it's a study they conducted, not an independent one -- that would be surprising considering the abysmal treatment conditions many British veterans have faced.
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
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Wednesday, January 30, 2008
THIS JUST IN! 1 LEAVES, 1 STANDS BY HIS MAN!
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- EL DORALDO, KA.
AMERICA DECLARED THEY DIDN'T WANT A "MAYOR" FOR THE NATION, ESPECIALLY ONE WHOSE INACTIONS AND WRONG ACTIONS MADE THE TRAGEDIES OF 9-11 EVEN WORSE.
WHEN THESE REPORTERS CAUGHT UP WITH RUDY G TODAY AND POINTED OUT, "NO ONE LIKES YOU," HE RESPONDED, "TELL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE I HEAR THEM LOUD AND CLEAR." WHICH PUTS HIM ONE UP ON THE RESCUE WORKERS ON 9-11 WHOSE RADIOS DIDN'T FUNCTION.
IN OTHER NEWS, POLITICAL COLUMNIST JOHN KASS IS MEETING WITH BACKERS FOR HIS STAGE-BOUND MUSICAL "OBAMA'S LOT." IT'S THE TALE OF BAMBI AND THE KINGPIN -- BARACK AND BIG TONY REZKO.
AFTER CLAIMING YET AGAIN THAT HE'D RETURNED ALL THE MONEY HIS SUGAR DADDY GAVE HIM, BAMBI JUST ANNOUNCED HE WAS DONATING ANOTHER $72,650 THAT REZKO HAD STEERED HIS WAY.
CONFRONTED BY THESE REPORTERS TODAY, BAMBI SCREAMED, "I AM NOT GIVING UP THE FUR HE GAVE ME! BIG TONY GAVE THAT OUT OF LOVE! LOVE, I TELL YOU! LOVE! LEAVE ME ALONE! I FEEL LIKE FANNY BRICE AFTER THEY HAULED NICKY AWAY! OH MY MAN I LOVE HIM SO . . . "
Starting with war resistance. Brad McCall self-checkout of the US military and went to Canada. His first attempt to get into Canada last fall found him stopped at the border, questioned about being in the military and then detained. On his second attempt, he made it into the country. He is now attempting to receive safe harbor. Earlier this month, at his website, he addressed those making threatening comments:
First off, to address these threats, I openly invite you to make an attempt at hogtying me and dumping me at the US border, for you will, my dear friend, not succeed in this attempt.
Nextly, in defense of myself: I am a deserter. I willingly admit this. I am fighting for my beliefs. I will not back down. You ask why I do not just serve my time in Ft. Leavenworth? Well, friends, I know, as well as you do that if I subjected myself to that punishment, I would be completely ineffective in fighting for the cause of the anti-war movement. So, I will fight going to prison as long as I can. I have a voice, and I will be heard.
You can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara 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, Blake LeMoine, 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, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty 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 addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'."
[. . .]
Turning to US politics and the coverage of them. As Mike predicted last night, Amy Goodman would get creative with Florida's Democratic Party. She did so today. "Uncontested," crowed Obama supporter Amy Goodman of the primary yesterday. Others rushed to add more spin. Florida voters spoke. For those who have forgotten it, post-2000 elections, well into 2004, Little Media couldn't shut up about the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election. Then, you understand, people mattered. Their voices mattered. But today? They don't matter. Today all Little Media's railing against the electoral college and pretending to give a damn about the direct vote, the voice of the people is revealed as ONE BIG FRAUD. Liars. That is the word. John Nichols lied yesterday -- as Rebecca pointed out at last night -- and his lie that appeared at The Nation yesterday is all over today including at TPM Cafe "wwjb" embarrasses him or her self by citing Nichols' false claim: "On Sunday, she flew to Florida, violating the pledge all the major Democratic contenders has made to avoid campainging in the state that scheduled its primary earlier than was allowed by the Democratic National Convention." In fairness to "wwjb," prior to this election, Nichols was someone you could take on face value. However, like so many in allegedly 'independent' media, he's disgraced himself and the stain on his name will endured long after the Democratic primary and long after the 2008 elections. You can't just lie and get away with it. If follows you forever and a journalist -- even a columnist -- is not allowed to do that. Reality noted by CNN yesterday, "Clinton attended permitted fund-raisers in Florida on Sunday and planned to appear with supporters there after polls closed." In addition, Obama ran commercials in Florida (he claims it being a "national buy" allows him an exception but the DNC has said no). Nichols leaves out that, he leaves out the Clinton was a fundraiser which is allowed and he left out the fact that Bambi's been in and out of Florida for fundraiser and, in fact, broke a rule in September while in Florida. Via TaylorMarsh.com, William March and Elaine Silverstrini (The Tampa Tribune) reported that following a Tampa fundraiser, Obama met with the press to take questions: "The pledge covers anything referred to in Democratic National Committee rules as 'campaigning,' and those include 'holding news conferences.' Obama seemed unaware the pledge he signed prohibits news conferences. Asked whether he was violating it, he said, 'I was just doing you guys a favor." The same article notes that Obama pledged at the fundraiser -- regarding the delegates the DNC is threatening to strip Florida of -- to "do what's right by Florida voters."
To recap, Clinton attended a permitted fundraiser as Bambi has done. Unlike Bambi, Clinton did not hold a press briefing.
Another lie being tossed around is that Hillary won Florida on her name. As if Bambi hasn't been dubbed a 'rock star' for how many years now? As if the people in Florida don't have TVs or newspapers. Florida's actually more of an indication than any other primary thus far. Most states do not get endless face time with the candidates. (Which is why Michigan and Florida moved up their primary dates. They were tired of it. They should be tired of it. There's no reason in the world that each presidential election cycle must revolve around what Iowa and New Hampshire want.) Senator and failed 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry was too busy to step into most states. In Texas, he dispatched Teresa Heinz Kerry to represent the campaign's attempt to reach the 'common' voter -- and at a hundred dollars a plate for the Dallas lunch, what could be more 'common'? (I'm speaking of the primary. In the general election, Heinz-Kerry was dispatched to other areas of Texas and was a stronger candidate than her husband.) We could go state by state but community members in Texas and Hawaii are the most vocal (and have been from the start) about the nonsense of a primary system that always relegates them as unimportant. Most primary voters will be deciding on factors that do not include hearing the candidate speak or endless face time.
Democratic voters in Florida made their decision and it was Hillary Clinton. It is a huge disservice to them to imply that they do not matter. Of course they matter. People turned out in huge numbers to vote. They voted their choice and the fact that 'independent' media doesn't like the choice shouldn't result in the dismissal of what happened: Hillary won Florida because the people there picked her. CNN notes, "Clinton led strongly among women, who made up nearly 60 percent of turnout. . . . Clinton also led among men in general, but by a much narrower margin -- 43 percent to 38 percent for Obama. She's also led strongly among Latino voters, who made up 12 percent of Tuesday's voters." We're seeing the same petulance we usually see from Bambi -- he's dismissed it as a "beauty contest" -- which would make him the "ugly girl"? It's certainly "ugly" for Obama to dismiss the people of Florida and their choice in that manner. It's flat out rude. Florida Democrats issued this statement: "Florida Democrats today surpassed the total combined vote in the first four 'early states', topped the total population of New Hampshire, shattered the previous state record for turnout in a Democratic Presidential Primary, and even broke the previous record for turnout in ANY Democratic primay in Florida. Incredibly, Democratic turnout has exceeded 1,708,489 voters with 97% of precints reporting -- only 195,074 less than Florida Republicans whose turnout was relatively dismal, considering five multi-million dollar GOP presidential campaigns were working the state for months. Republicans appear to have even failed to meet their own expected turnout, which was rumored to be between 2.2 and 2.5 million." Florida's Democratic Party Chair Karen L. Thurman is quoted stating, "Florida Demorats have spoken, and they are being heard loud and clear. More than one and a half million Democratic voters went to the polls and made a powerful collective statement. The nation's largest battleground state proved today that America wants change. Democrats clearly have the momentum in Florida and across this country. No matter the challenges we face, Florida Democrats will deliver for this country in November just like they did today. This is an incredible night for the people of Florida!"
Indeed it is. Little Media talks a bunch of crap -- they're demonstrated it's just crap -- about how people matter. They gas bagged about the electoral college after the 2000 elections. Reality appears to be they don't give a damn about the public. They don't care that Florida set a new record for turnout in a Democratic primary. They don't care that more people voted in the Democratic primary yesterday than took part in the Democratic primaries or caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina combined. All four put together did not even meet the turnout in Florida. Over 500,000 more Democrats in Florida voted yesterday than in all the four states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina) combined. Don't dismiss this, don't dismiss this many people.
It's not politically smart to do so. For one thing, Florida has too many electoral votes. But forget 'strategy,' it's just not fair. And Little Media needs to get their act together and accept the fact that the candidate they've stroked and fondeled and attempted to cram down everyone's throats isn't that well received and may -- The Nation shudders! -- not get the nomination. Too damn bad. Get over it. You're allegedly "journalists" and you're supposedly concerned with the "people." But not one of you did one damn thing to stand up for Michigan or Florida. Diane Rehm did. (In this communtiy, all sites supported those voters.) The DNC said no -- the national committee -- and tried to bully the states. You who preach of bottom-up power didn't rush to defend the people. You've disgraced yourselves -- all of you. Amy Goodman, John Nichols, Katrina vanden Heuvel, go down the list. People needed you (in this country -- maybe that's why you didn't give a damn?) and you ignored them. Don't pretend otherwise. You refused to buck the system. You embarrassed yourselves and you exposed yourselves.
Now your candidate of choice didn't win and it's time to act like Florida didn't matter. 1,708,489 people matter. They damn well matter. They're more important than a single candidate and they are damn well more important than independent media which stamps it's feet like the White House upset over Hamas' victory and the MSM that echoed that anger. If I go further, Jim will hit the roof because we're addressing the slams and slurs of the people -- of we the people -- by 'independent' media over and over during this campaign.
This is a big issue and it's always a been a HUGE issue to this community. Long before a book was written exploding myths (that the author repeated in a bad column about Montana), we addressed this topic in November 2004 (click here, here, here and here). This isn't a new issue to the community and no one mistakes it for being "about Hillary." It's about the people and independent media makes it clear that they don't care about the people -- especially when the people don't take their marching orders from independent media. They've had a non-stop hissy fit. Now they want to turn on the Democrats of Florida -- the ones they couldn't support when they needed support. We don't play that game here. But all independent media has offered is a bunch of games. Take Mitch Perry -- allegedly reporting for Free Speech Radio News yesterday -- providing a quote from the Bambi campaign but none from the Hillary campaign. Liar Patrick Cannon whines, "Since Barack did not campaign here in Florida he is at an extreme disadvantage." What a lie. He held a press conference -- in violation of the rules -- in Tampa in September and he read ads. That's a campaign. He's the only candidate who did that. Not only does 'reporter' Perry allow that lie to get repeated, Perry couldn't be bothered with the Clinton or Edwards camp. When your goal is not reporting or free speech or people power, you LIE and then you LIE some more. And 'independent' media has truly shown its ass. Ron Fournier (AP) tried explaining reality in October of last year noting, "The truth is that while Obama showed foreign policy savvy and an ability to keenly analyze both sides of an issue in his October 2202 warnings on Iraq, the political upside of his position rivaled any risk. And, once elected to the U.S. Senate two years later, Obama waited months to show national leadership on iraq. Even now, as he hopes to ride his anti-war credentials to the White House, Obama's views on how to end the conflict differ little from those of Democratic rivals who voted in the fall of 2002 to give President Bush authority to wage war." But reality is to be attacked by Little Media -- attacked, ignored and distorted -- because they don't appear to practice journalism.
Mike Gravel remains in the Democratic race though some pretend otherwise. John Edwards dropped out today (here for CBS and AP story which is text and video). Neither Hillary or Bambi could pledge to end the illegal war by 2013 if elected president (nor did Edwards agree to make that pledge). That's reality. If Hillary gets the nomination, having slimed her so, it would be a lot harder for 'independent' media to abandon the illegal war as they did in 2004 to pimp a Democratic presidential campaign. It's getting harder and harder for the Bambi groupies to promote Barack as a candidate who will end the illegal war (hence the need for all those attacks on Hillary by 'independent' media) and, as Chris Fusco and Tim Novak (Chicago Sun Times) point out, Bambi announced last night he was giving away $72,650 to make up for the equivalent of donations from federally indicted Tony Rezko. That brings the current total of monies connected to Rezko that Bambi's 'given away' to $157,385. "Given away"? Obama already ran on that money many times over.
July tenth through thirteenth is when the Green Party will be holding their National Nominating Convention in Chicago. Click here for the Green Party News Center, here for a database of Green candidates, here for video of the Green presidential candidates and of course, if it's Green news, Kimberly Wilder (On The Wilder Side) is probably posting about it. The Green Party has scheduled another presidential candidate forum for February 2nd at Busboys & Poets in DC (14th and V Streets) at ten in the morning -- Jesse Johnson and Kent Mesplay are confirmed to appear others may or may not. More info click here. Yesterday on KPFK's Uprising Radio, Sonali Kolhatkar spoke with Daniel Brezenoff of the Green Party about the Green Party's press statement regarding those selling out the illegal war and offering a strong critique of the Democratic candidates. "I think people, American voters, want to get out of Iraq. We've been trained to have very little faith and to kind of settle for these people in their suits and ties who are going to continue things as they are."
This as Kimberly Wilder (On the Wilder Side) reports, "Ralph Nader in. Ralph Nader announced his presidential exploratory committee." At the site, Peter Miguel Camejo, Matt Gonzalez, Theresa Amato, Jason Kafoury, Sally Soriano, Matthew Zawisky, Nate Coppernoll, Julie Coyle and Carl Mayer have posted a statement: "Maybe the Democrats and Republicans who will nominate Presidential candidates this year who will stand up against the war profiteers, the nuclear industry, the credit card industry, the corporate criminals, big oil, and the drug and health insurance industries. We doubt it. But hope springs eternal. In the meantime, take a few minutes and explore with us an idea. The idea is this -- 1,000 citizens in every Congressional district. Each and every one committed to challenging the corporate powers that have a hammerlock on our political and economic systems. Organized citizen power facing off against corporate power. In this election year -- 2008. Instead of spending this election year sitting back and watching the corporate candidates spin their vapid mantras -- hope, experience, change. Instead of spending the year complaining about inertia, exhaustion, and apathy. Let us instead weigh the possibility of pulling together half a million dedicated citizens collectively rising up off our couches and organizing a ground force in every Congressional district in the country. A ground force of citizens who are informed, committed, tenacious advocates for a just future." Rick Klein (ABC News) reports that Nader says "that he will launch another presidential bid if he's convinced he can raise enough money to appear on the vast majority of state ballots this fall. Nader, who ran as an independent candidate in each of the past three presidential elections, told ABCNews.com that he will run in 2008 if he is convinced over the next month that he would be able to raise $10 million over the course of the campaign -- and attract enough lawyers willing to work free of charge to get his name on state ballots. Nader said he filed papers with the Federal Election Commission and launched a Web sites after Dennis Kucinich, a liberal Ohio congressman, announced his decision to withdraw from the presidential race last week." CNN quotes him stating, "John Edwards, the banner of Democratic Party populism, is dropping out, and Dennis Kucinich dropped out earlier, so in terms of voters who are at least interested in having major areas of injustice, depravations, and solutions discussed in a presidential campaign, they might be interested in my exploratory effort."
Cynthia McKinney declared her intent to run for the Green Party presidential nomination last year. Rob Redding Jr. (The Washington Continent) observes, "She is sharp on the issues and brings Greens a candidate with a proven policy track record, based on the fact she has served in Congress. Because of her congressional record and unique issue selection -- one of her favorite subjects is COINTELPRO -- she just may be able to pull many blacks of the Democratic party plantation." Author, poet, activist and Death Row prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal has endorsed McKinney (audio link).
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Tuesday, January 29, 2008
They shall call him "Barry"
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- EL DORALDO, KA.
NEWBIE SENATOR BARACK OBAMA, WHO MADE A JOURNEY TO AFRICA TO FIND HIS ROOTS, JUST MADE IT TO HIS WHITE GRANDPARENTS' HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE. APPARENTLY, CHICAGO O'HARE FLIES ROUND TO THE CLOCK TO AFRICA BUT HAS NO DIRECT TO KANSAS.
BLAND AND BORING KANSAS GOVERNOR KATHLEEN SEBELIUS DIDN'T HELP MATTERS BY DECLARING THAT BAMBI HAS "VALUES THAT WE KNOW ABOUT, HE GOT THEM FROM HIS GRANDPARENTS" SHE MEANS THE WHITE ONES "AND HIS MOM" ALSO WHITE. "HE UNDERSTANDS HOW TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER ACROSS PARTY LINES." WHEN ASKED IF SHE MEANT BECAUSE OF THE WHITE HALF, SEBELIUS ASKED, "IS THERE ANY OTHER KIND?"
WHILE BAMBI BATTED HIS EYES AND PRETENDED NOT TO BE EVEN HALF-INSULTED, REPORTERS ASKED HIM WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST SUPRISE BETWEEN FINDING OUT HIS KENYAN ROOTS AND HIS ANGLO ONES?
"WELL," BAMBI DECLARED, "THE BIGGEST SURPRISE WAS FINDING OUT THAT MY WHITE GRANDFATHER -- WHO I USED TO CALL CASPER -- REALLY DID ONLY HAVE ONE WIFE."
KATHLEEN NODDED AND SAID, "BAMBI'S KENYAN GRANDFATHER HAD MANY WIVES, MANY, MANY WIVES. IT WAS OKAY TO MARRY MORE THAN 1 WOMAN. IT WAS NOT MY MIDWEST VALUES."
"AND MY FATHER TOO," BAMBI PIPED IN. "HE MARRIED A TEENAGE GIRL IN KENYA, LEFT HER WITH HIS FAMILY, WENT TO HAWAII AND MARRIED MY MOM AND THEN LEFT MY MOM AND ME IN HAWAII, WENT OFF TO HARVARD AND MARRIED ANOTHER WOMAN THERE. HE TOOK THE HARVARAD WOMEN BACK TO KENYA AND SHE AND MY FATHER'S OTHER WIFE HAD SO MUCH FUN BEING MARRIED TO THE SAME GUY."
"WHAT THE HELL?" ASKED KATHLEEN. "WHO IS THIS GUY?"
AS REPORTERS BEGAN HOLLERING QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS FATHER'S MULTIPLE WIVES AND POINTING OUT THAT IN THE UNITED STATES A MAN CAN'T MARRY A WOMAN IF HE'S ALREADY MARRIED TO ANOTHER ONE, BAMBI CLICKED HIS HEELS THREE TIME AND INSISTED, "THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME."
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Starting with war resistance. Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to resist the illegal war. Yesterday, an interview with him was rebroadcast on KPFK. The station did have broadcasting problems yesterday and over the weekend. However, you can go to the KPFK archives or to Uprising Radio to hear the archived broadcast of Sonali Kolhatkar's interview with Mejia.
Camilo Mejia: Military justice is an oxymoron to me. I don't think the two words combine very well. The conviction rate in the military court room is 98 to 99%. So it's just basically a means for the military to enforce discipline and to punish dissent and disobedeince -- regardless of whether that disobedience is justified or not. And disobedience in the military is actually a duty when it's in response to an unlawful order which is the case of the entire war in Iraq which is illegitamate by international law standards. In the particular case of my trial we were basically denied basic guarantees, you know, that the law is supposed to afford a defendent. The vast majority of our witnesses were not allowed to testify. My reasons for not wanting to go back to Iraq were not allowed to reach the jury. My claims of war crimes were not allowed to reach the jury. My conscientious objector form was not allowed to reach the jury during the deliberations or the actual trial. And there was a lot of prejudice against me. I remember that the first day of the trial they had barricaded the entire block that the courthouse was in and they had working dogs sniffing around the courthouse and they had both military and civilian police officers patrolling the area. So the atmosphere was of them trying this incredibly dangerous, evil person.
Sonali Kolhatkar: Even though you turned yourself in.
Camilo Mejia: Even though I turned myself in and the basis of my defense was conscitious objection and non-violence. But the response on their part was to treat me as if I was some kind of like maximum security evil monster. So there was a lot of prejudice and a lot of violations of the law. Eventually, I think the military tried me politically, not legally, and they just sort of made a statement with my case that they would not tolerate dissent in the ranks and that they would not allow conscientious objection as a way out of this illegal war.
Sonali Kolhatkar: What is your current immigration status as well as your current military status? And, also, how much time did you serve in prison?
Camilo Mejia: Well my immigration status hasn't changed. I'm still a resident and that has been effected at all by
Sonali Kolhatkar: You never applied for citizenship?
Camilo Mejia: No, I never applied for citizenship. And my status with the military is that I'm on appellate leave because we are appealing the conviction. So I'm not really, for all practical purposes, I'm really not in the military anymore. I'm not wearing a uniform or training or reporting to any officers. And I was given a sentence of twelve months but I only served about nine -- a little bit less than nine -- because of good conduct, because I didn't get into any major problems in jail so I got out three months earlier.
Sonali Kolhatkar: And were you basically discharged with -- dishonorably discharged?
Camilo Mejia: No. My sentence was twelve months of incarciration in army jail, demotion to private from staff sergeant and a bad conduct discharge plus forfieture of my pay. . . . But the bad conduct discharge is not final until appeals are over. So we're appealing that and that means that I'm still in the military, I still have an i.d. I mean I don't get paid or anything but I'm still in the system.
Sonali Kolhatkar: Now is it important for you to be honorably discharged?
Camilo Mejia: It's important to set a precedent for people to have the right to apply as conscientious objectors and to bring to military courts the reasons why they don't want to participate in a war that they perceive as illegal and immoral. And I think that if war crimes are being committed we need to prosecute those who are committing those crimes beginning at the very top. Because of that I do think that it's important to get that honorable discharge -- not because I think there is honor in the actual discharge but I think it's a fight worth fighting.
Mejia reads from his book Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia during the interview.
Some war resisters attempt to seek asylum in Canada. Kathy Rumleski (London Free Press) reported on 20-year-old Josh Randall on Sunday who served in Iraq and elected to self-checkout and go to Canada. Like Brandon Hughey and Kimberly Rivera (two other war resisters in Canada), Josh Randall hails from Texas and was a medic. In Iraq, Randall's experiences included raiding a house where a young girl was left wounded "from explosive splinters" (from the US bombing the front door) and he was told he couldn't treat her, that she'd be fine at the local hospital. Similar incidents repeated and then came a US soldier who asked Randall "Why?" as he was dying. That was the final in a series of incidents that led Randall to decide to leave the military and go to Canada. He spoke with war resister Linjamin Mull on Saturday as part of the actions to lobby the Canadian Parliament to grant safe haven to war resisters.
You can still make your voice heard and three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara 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, Blake LeMoine, 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, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty 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 addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'."
Starting with the United States. Last night Bully Boy gave his State of the Union speech. Prior to the speech, the Pentagon noted that they needed $70 billion more dollars. With Dick Cheney and Nancy Pelosi behind him, Bully Boy delivered a lot of nonsense. Sadly, many Congressional members (from both parties) applauded or chuckled. It's not funny, it's not cute. And Nancy and Dick's smiles and whispers to one another may have demonstrated more than anything else why there has been no impeachment of the Bully Boy. Maura Reynolds and James Gerstenzang (Los Angeles Times) observe this of the Iraq section, "He offered no new details about plans for troop withdrawals. The administration is awaiting a new assessment from Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, scheduled for March. Bush also did not mention what has been widely cited as the major failure of the surge: the failure of the Iraqi government to take major steps toward national reconciliation." After he finished his blah-blah-blah the Democratic Party proved that nothing is as a weak as Democrat trying to be a Republican. See Kat's "Cowardly Kathleen Sebelius throws in the towel" and Rebecca's "kathleen sebelius is a dumb ass" a and note that, unlike Katrina vanden Heuvel, they didn't repeat any media myths to make their point. As KvH repeatedly makes the same mistake over and over, you have to wonder whether the magazine's editor (and publisher) bothers to read the magazine's own editorials? Ava and I will tackle that nonsense this weekend at The Third Estate Sunday Review. Today press secretary for the Pentagon, Geoff Morrell, noted Bully Boy's speech -- lied that Bully Boy was asking "Congress to fully fund our troops" (the bulk of the money goes to military contractors to waste on weapons research) and declared, "We are still $102 billion short of the money requested and necessary". Well quit begging, cut out some of the pork in your budget. He also gave lip service to the wounded. People would be better served ignoring that nonsense and listening to the second hour of today's The Diane Rehm Show where guests Dr. Barbara Romberg, journalist Kristin Henderson, Dr. Stephen Xenakis, columnist and author Tanya Biank and Karie Darga of Military Spouse Legacy Association.
Diane Rehm: I just have to say how outrageous that we send these young men and women into harms way and then, when they come back emotionally or physically injured, somehow we can't find the money to heal them. It's outrageous, just outrageous.
While the Democratic Party wasted their chance at a response last night (on that KvH was right), John Edwards, who is still in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, issued the following statement after Bully Boy's nonsense:
"The president tonight renewed his call for an economic recovery plan. But the plan he and Congress have offered leaves out tens of millions of Americans who need help the most. This plan would take months to have any impact, and the people I meet everyday on the campaign trail do not have months to wait. These people are hurting now and need this help now. Over the past seven years, typical workers' paychecks have failed to keep up with inflation, millions of families are facing the loss of their homes to foreclosures, health insurance premiums have doubled, and families are spending $1,000 more a year on gasoline. The State of the Union may be interesting political theater, but until we find bold solutions to the challenges facing the country, we will be stuck with the same old small, Washington answers."And in the chamber of the House of Representatives where the president speaks, even though this Congress stopped listening to him a while ago, they will still applaud and cheer him. The truth is that Washington is out of touch with what's happening across the country. Between now and January of 2009, Democrats must stand up to this president, stand up for what's right, so he does not continue to forget about the middle class in this country."
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"THIS JUST IN! BAMBI STANDS BY HIS MAN!"
"THIS JUST IN! BAMBI STANDS BY HIS MAN!"
NEWBIE SENATOR BARACK OBAMA, WHO MADE A JOURNEY TO AFRICA TO FIND HIS ROOTS, JUST MADE IT TO HIS WHITE GRANDPARENTS' HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE. APPARENTLY, CHICAGO O'HARE FLIES ROUND TO THE CLOCK TO AFRICA BUT HAS NO DIRECT TO KANSAS.
BLAND AND BORING KANSAS GOVERNOR KATHLEEN SEBELIUS DIDN'T HELP MATTERS BY DECLARING THAT BAMBI HAS "VALUES THAT WE KNOW ABOUT, HE GOT THEM FROM HIS GRANDPARENTS" SHE MEANS THE WHITE ONES "AND HIS MOM" ALSO WHITE. "HE UNDERSTANDS HOW TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER ACROSS PARTY LINES." WHEN ASKED IF SHE MEANT BECAUSE OF THE WHITE HALF, SEBELIUS ASKED, "IS THERE ANY OTHER KIND?"
WHILE BAMBI BATTED HIS EYES AND PRETENDED NOT TO BE EVEN HALF-INSULTED, REPORTERS ASKED HIM WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST SUPRISE BETWEEN FINDING OUT HIS KENYAN ROOTS AND HIS ANGLO ONES?
"WELL," BAMBI DECLARED, "THE BIGGEST SURPRISE WAS FINDING OUT THAT MY WHITE GRANDFATHER -- WHO I USED TO CALL CASPER -- REALLY DID ONLY HAVE ONE WIFE."
KATHLEEN NODDED AND SAID, "BAMBI'S KENYAN GRANDFATHER HAD MANY WIVES, MANY, MANY WIVES. IT WAS OKAY TO MARRY MORE THAN 1 WOMAN. IT WAS NOT MY MIDWEST VALUES."
"AND MY FATHER TOO," BAMBI PIPED IN. "HE MARRIED A TEENAGE GIRL IN KENYA, LEFT HER WITH HIS FAMILY, WENT TO HAWAII AND MARRIED MY MOM AND THEN LEFT MY MOM AND ME IN HAWAII, WENT OFF TO HARVARD AND MARRIED ANOTHER WOMAN THERE. HE TOOK THE HARVARAD WOMEN BACK TO KENYA AND SHE AND MY FATHER'S OTHER WIFE HAD SO MUCH FUN BEING MARRIED TO THE SAME GUY."
"WHAT THE HELL?" ASKED KATHLEEN. "WHO IS THIS GUY?"
AS REPORTERS BEGAN HOLLERING QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS FATHER'S MULTIPLE WIVES AND POINTING OUT THAT IN THE UNITED STATES A MAN CAN'T MARRY A WOMAN IF HE'S ALREADY MARRIED TO ANOTHER ONE, BAMBI CLICKED HIS HEELS THREE TIME AND INSISTED, "THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME."
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Starting with war resistance. Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to resist the illegal war. Yesterday, an interview with him was rebroadcast on KPFK. The station did have broadcasting problems yesterday and over the weekend. However, you can go to the KPFK archives or to Uprising Radio to hear the archived broadcast of Sonali Kolhatkar's interview with Mejia.
Camilo Mejia: Military justice is an oxymoron to me. I don't think the two words combine very well. The conviction rate in the military court room is 98 to 99%. So it's just basically a means for the military to enforce discipline and to punish dissent and disobedeince -- regardless of whether that disobedience is justified or not. And disobedience in the military is actually a duty when it's in response to an unlawful order which is the case of the entire war in Iraq which is illegitamate by international law standards. In the particular case of my trial we were basically denied basic guarantees, you know, that the law is supposed to afford a defendent. The vast majority of our witnesses were not allowed to testify. My reasons for not wanting to go back to Iraq were not allowed to reach the jury. My claims of war crimes were not allowed to reach the jury. My conscientious objector form was not allowed to reach the jury during the deliberations or the actual trial. And there was a lot of prejudice against me. I remember that the first day of the trial they had barricaded the entire block that the courthouse was in and they had working dogs sniffing around the courthouse and they had both military and civilian police officers patrolling the area. So the atmosphere was of them trying this incredibly dangerous, evil person.
Sonali Kolhatkar: Even though you turned yourself in.
Camilo Mejia: Even though I turned myself in and the basis of my defense was conscitious objection and non-violence. But the response on their part was to treat me as if I was some kind of like maximum security evil monster. So there was a lot of prejudice and a lot of violations of the law. Eventually, I think the military tried me politically, not legally, and they just sort of made a statement with my case that they would not tolerate dissent in the ranks and that they would not allow conscientious objection as a way out of this illegal war.
Sonali Kolhatkar: What is your current immigration status as well as your current military status? And, also, how much time did you serve in prison?
Camilo Mejia: Well my immigration status hasn't changed. I'm still a resident and that has been effected at all by
Sonali Kolhatkar: You never applied for citizenship?
Camilo Mejia: No, I never applied for citizenship. And my status with the military is that I'm on appellate leave because we are appealing the conviction. So I'm not really, for all practical purposes, I'm really not in the military anymore. I'm not wearing a uniform or training or reporting to any officers. And I was given a sentence of twelve months but I only served about nine -- a little bit less than nine -- because of good conduct, because I didn't get into any major problems in jail so I got out three months earlier.
Sonali Kolhatkar: And were you basically discharged with -- dishonorably discharged?
Camilo Mejia: No. My sentence was twelve months of incarciration in army jail, demotion to private from staff sergeant and a bad conduct discharge plus forfieture of my pay. . . . But the bad conduct discharge is not final until appeals are over. So we're appealing that and that means that I'm still in the military, I still have an i.d. I mean I don't get paid or anything but I'm still in the system.
Sonali Kolhatkar: Now is it important for you to be honorably discharged?
Camilo Mejia: It's important to set a precedent for people to have the right to apply as conscientious objectors and to bring to military courts the reasons why they don't want to participate in a war that they perceive as illegal and immoral. And I think that if war crimes are being committed we need to prosecute those who are committing those crimes beginning at the very top. Because of that I do think that it's important to get that honorable discharge -- not because I think there is honor in the actual discharge but I think it's a fight worth fighting.
Mejia reads from his book Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia during the interview.
Some war resisters attempt to seek asylum in Canada. Kathy Rumleski (London Free Press) reported on 20-year-old Josh Randall on Sunday who served in Iraq and elected to self-checkout and go to Canada. Like Brandon Hughey and Kimberly Rivera (two other war resisters in Canada), Josh Randall hails from Texas and was a medic. In Iraq, Randall's experiences included raiding a house where a young girl was left wounded "from explosive splinters" (from the US bombing the front door) and he was told he couldn't treat her, that she'd be fine at the local hospital. Similar incidents repeated and then came a US soldier who asked Randall "Why?" as he was dying. That was the final in a series of incidents that led Randall to decide to leave the military and go to Canada. He spoke with war resister Linjamin Mull on Saturday as part of the actions to lobby the Canadian Parliament to grant safe haven to war resisters.
You can still make your voice heard and three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara 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, Blake LeMoine, 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, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty 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 addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'."
Starting with the United States. Last night Bully Boy gave his State of the Union speech. Prior to the speech, the Pentagon noted that they needed $70 billion more dollars. With Dick Cheney and Nancy Pelosi behind him, Bully Boy delivered a lot of nonsense. Sadly, many Congressional members (from both parties) applauded or chuckled. It's not funny, it's not cute. And Nancy and Dick's smiles and whispers to one another may have demonstrated more than anything else why there has been no impeachment of the Bully Boy. Maura Reynolds and James Gerstenzang (Los Angeles Times) observe this of the Iraq section, "He offered no new details about plans for troop withdrawals. The administration is awaiting a new assessment from Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, scheduled for March. Bush also did not mention what has been widely cited as the major failure of the surge: the failure of the Iraqi government to take major steps toward national reconciliation." After he finished his blah-blah-blah the Democratic Party proved that nothing is as a weak as Democrat trying to be a Republican. See Kat's "Cowardly Kathleen Sebelius throws in the towel" and Rebecca's "kathleen sebelius is a dumb ass" a and note that, unlike Katrina vanden Heuvel, they didn't repeat any media myths to make their point. As KvH repeatedly makes the same mistake over and over, you have to wonder whether the magazine's editor (and publisher) bothers to read the magazine's own editorials? Ava and I will tackle that nonsense this weekend at The Third Estate Sunday Review. Today press secretary for the Pentagon, Geoff Morrell, noted Bully Boy's speech -- lied that Bully Boy was asking "Congress to fully fund our troops" (the bulk of the money goes to military contractors to waste on weapons research) and declared, "We are still $102 billion short of the money requested and necessary". Well quit begging, cut out some of the pork in your budget. He also gave lip service to the wounded. People would be better served ignoring that nonsense and listening to the second hour of today's The Diane Rehm Show where guests Dr. Barbara Romberg, journalist Kristin Henderson, Dr. Stephen Xenakis, columnist and author Tanya Biank and Karie Darga of Military Spouse Legacy Association.
Diane Rehm: I just have to say how outrageous that we send these young men and women into harms way and then, when they come back emotionally or physically injured, somehow we can't find the money to heal them. It's outrageous, just outrageous.
While the Democratic Party wasted their chance at a response last night (on that KvH was right), John Edwards, who is still in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, issued the following statement after Bully Boy's nonsense:
"The president tonight renewed his call for an economic recovery plan. But the plan he and Congress have offered leaves out tens of millions of Americans who need help the most. This plan would take months to have any impact, and the people I meet everyday on the campaign trail do not have months to wait. These people are hurting now and need this help now. Over the past seven years, typical workers' paychecks have failed to keep up with inflation, millions of families are facing the loss of their homes to foreclosures, health insurance premiums have doubled, and families are spending $1,000 more a year on gasoline. The State of the Union may be interesting political theater, but until we find bold solutions to the challenges facing the country, we will be stuck with the same old small, Washington answers."And in the chamber of the House of Representatives where the president speaks, even though this Congress stopped listening to him a while ago, they will still applaud and cheer him. The truth is that Washington is out of touch with what's happening across the country. Between now and January of 2009, Democrats must stand up to this president, stand up for what's right, so he does not continue to forget about the middle class in this country."
Recommended: "Iraq snapshot"
"Other Items"
"5 US service members killed on Monday"
"kathleen sebelius is a dumb ass"
"Bill Moyers on election coverage"
"Cowardly Kathleen Sebelius throws in the towel"
"Caroline"
"War resisters, John Edwards & more"
"THIS JUST IN! BAMBI STANDS BY HIS MAN!"
"THIS JUST IN! BAMBI STANDS BY HIS MAN!"
Monday, January 28, 2008
THIS JUST IN! BAMBI STANDS BY HIS MAN!
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- D.C.
BAMBI AND THE KINGPIN, THE SAGA CONTINUES.
AS ABC'S BRIAN ROSS OBSERVES, "REZKO HAS BECOME AN 'ACHILLES HEEL' FOR ILLINOIS SEN. BARACK OBAMA AFTER DISCLOSURES HE AND PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH HIM HAD RAISED ALMOST $200,00 FOR OBAM AND THAT OBAMA SOUGHT REZKO'S 'HELP AND ADVICE' IN THE PURCHASE OF A NEW HOME."
WHEN NEWS REACHED BAMBI TODAY IN D.C., HE CLUTCHED HIS CHEST AND FOREHEAD AND THEN, THINKING BACK TO THOSE HOME MOVIES OF HIM AND REZKO AS ROLL-DOGS, BAMBI BEGAN SINGING, "ME AND MY BABY, MY BABY AND ME, WE'RE 'BOUT AS HAPPY, AS BABIES CAN BE, WHAT IF I FIND, THAT I'M CAUGHT IN A STORM? I DON'T CARE, MY BABY'S THERE, AND BABY'S BOUND TO KEEP ME WARM."
BAMBI THEN WIPED A TEAR, TURNED TO THE PRESS, THREW AN ARM IN THE AIR AND SHOUTED, "ALL THAT JAZZ!"
Starting with war resistance. "Every training that I went through as a US soldier and as a non-commissioned officer was that we had an obligation to refuse illegal order when the time came -- and I knew that the war in Iraq was wrong and I knew that the war in Iraq was illegal -- and I didn't have the courage to stand up for my convictions and say no at the time these young men and women do have that they have that courage of conviction and I think it's something that we should foster and we shouldn't turn our backs on," Iraq Veterans Against the War Geoff Millard explains to Aaron Glantz (The War Comes Home). Supporting war resisters? On Friday, actions took place in the US and on Saturday in Canada to show support for war resisters who had gone to Canada and ask the Canadian Parliament to provide a safe haven for them. Millard was among at least fifty people participating Friday on DC at the Canadian Embassy. The CBC quotes Millard stating, "These war resisters are leaving the U.S. not because they're afraid to fight in a war but because their conscience will not allow them to fight in a war that clearly violates Common Article 3 of the Geneva Accord." Jeff Paterson (here for Indybay Media, here for Courage to Resist) reported on the rally at the San Francisco Canadian Consulate (photos and text) noting Ying Lee, Stephen McNeil were among the many present and that "Pablo Paredes, a former sailor turned Iraq War resister and current GI Rights Hotline counselor, and Mike Wong, a Vietnam War era veteran who chose exile in Canada for five years, hand delivered the letters to Canadian Consul Nadia Scipio Del Campo, Political/Economic Relations and Public Affairs, on behalf of the larger delegation." Paterson's report is pooled with other at Courage To Resist including Gerry Condon who reports from Seattle and notes, "Thanks to all for your great work on this! Regardless of how much media coverage we may or may not get in the U.S., these actions weren't really aimed at people in the U.S. so much as they were aimed at the Canadian government and people, and our brother and sister war resisters. But we have achieved a valuable goal in the U.S. too. This is the first nationally coordinated actions in the U.S. in support of our war resisters in Canada." Condon's more kind regarding the lack of media attention in the US than I am. The reason for the pressure is that November 15th, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the appeals of war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. That most likely means that war resisters not as far in the appeals process (to receive asylum in Canada) would meet the same fate. Hinzman and Hughey were the first public resisters in Canada (during the Iraq War).
Friday Katharine Jarmul (Free Speech Radio News) reported on the day's events.
Katharine Jarmul: War resistance supporters protested today in front of Canadian Embassies in major US cities to push the Canadian government to allow war resisters and their families to stay in Canada. Although some veterans go public with their stories, many other soldiers quietly flee the conflict, going AWOL at bases around the county. According to Army figures, in 2006, the number of desertions broke 3,000. In 2007, 4698 soldiers deserted. The Canadian government was a strong supporter of Vietnam war resistance but the current conservative government offers a much colder response to the fleeing veterans. At least two more veterans are currently facing deportation proceedings in Canada despite their assertion of refugee status as soldiers fleeing what they call an illegal war. Steve Theberge works for the War Resisters League in New York City. He explains the current political climate in Canada.
Steve Theberge: The majority of Canadians, Canadian citizens support letting war resisters stay. Their reception has been very warm. They've been welcomed by the peace and justice community and by folks who live in Canada in general. It's interesting because the Canadian government in many ways is not representing the popular perspective of people across the country.
Katharine Jarmul: Iraq Veterans Against the War was founded in 2004 the organization, made primarily of US service members, calls for immediate withdrawal of troops, reparations for Iraqi citizens and full mental and physical coverage for veterans returning from the war. Jose Vasquez is a board member and president of the New York City chapter. He says veteran war resistance is nothing new to the United States but it does signify a strong critique of the current war
Jose Vasquez: The people that have to live the reality of the policies that are set at the highest level by of government have some real questions about the reasons that we are being given to continue there and also don't see their stories reflected in the mainstream media.
Katharine Jarmul: The Canadian War Resisters Support Campaign has protests and rallies scheduled for Saturday in many cities throughout Canada. The group hopes to support a recent motion by the Canadian Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to allow war resisters and their families to remain in the country. For Free Speech Radio News, this is Katharine Jarmul in Washington, DC.
To the north, Carol Mulligan (The Sudbury Star) focused on war resister Michael Espinal in the lead up to Saturday's actions in Canada and noted that he would be attending the Saturday rally "with his pregnant partner" Jennifer Harrison and that, "Espinal participated in the siege of Fallujah when he was serving with the U.S. military in Iraq. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the attack, and Espinal suffers post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his experience there." Rachel Punch (Sudsbury Star) notes today that the Sudbury rally had approximately 20 people and Reverand David Nicol's speech included this statement, "They had the boldness and the braveness to say 'no' and we need to respect them for that." On Saturday, Caroline Franks of 580 CFRA News Talk Radio noted the rallies taking place to call for safe haven to be granted to US war resisters in Canada.
That's one story and there are many. Sgt. Allen Robert "Robby" Keller explained his journey to Canada in "Sgt. Keller in his own words" (Daytona Beach News-Journal) on Saturday:
I was having an emotional breakdown at work, seeking aide from the combat stress people we had there. I told them of my lack of sleep and loss of appetite. They put me on a med called Seroquel. It was not working for me too well for I was having bad dreams and was unable to focus. During a fire fight, when I was shot at, I froze, which was something that never had happened to me in any of my past engagements. It was not fear, but it was me thinking of my family, it was all that was rushing tough my head. In a few days the preterm problems at home were getting bad. I rushed and traded out my leave dates with another solider and came home earlier. The night I came home in early December, my wife went right into early labor. We went to the hospital in NY. She was only 33 weeks, so they stopped the labor and gave her meds. We went home and enjoyed some time together. We started to have a bit of a falling out, when I told her it was out of my power to go back to Iraq and that I would have to go. She kept telling me she couldn't do it all alone and why should she have to. I told her that I did not want to leave her and the kids. I was very stressed out about our new born son, who had some health concerns; going back to Iraq; finance issues; and just so much was going on in my head. I still was not sleeping or eating right I just did not have the urge.
So I went to mental health, where they said that they wanted to treat me further, but could not, due to the nature of my deployment and the fact they could not hold me back unless I was either suicidal or homicidal. So they put me on new meds called "TRAZODONE". The new pills help me sleep more at night, so at this point in the story I'm stuck because I know I have a big issue and that I need to fix it and take back control, but the Army just will not allow it. So what I did was go to my representative for my Unit here in the States and he got a hold of my Commander. I talked to my Commander a few times on the phone and he kept telling me that he understands and that he was on my side with this issues. He believes in family and my well being. My Commander knows me as a person. We have talked several times before and I had even seen him before I left Iraq to tell him about my issues a bit, so this was not a fully new issue to him. At this time I'm doing the right thing. By going to my Chain of Command, and trying to get this all settled the right way. My Commander told me that there was nothing he could do for me except write a letter to the Battalion Commander on my behalf. Witch he did...
My wife wanted to be close to family and did not want to be in the States. I really wanted the baby born in the States, but at this time nothing was going my way, so I followed her up to Canada. On Christmas Eve she went in to labor again and on Christmas morning at 6:01 a.m., we had our new baby boy, Grai Jacob William Keller. Christmas night I got a voicemail from my Commander telling me, all that he could advise at this time was for me to get on the plane and head back to Iraq. I was to leave on the December 26th at 5:00 a.m. in the morning. My Commander told me that there was too much going on in Iraq at this time to settle my problem right now and that they would want me to come back and fix it there. I know what they have to offer there and there's nothing to fix me over there, so after spending 2 days in the hospital with my wife and son, I made up my mind that I was not going back. I was staying to be with my family. No matter what.
So now I'm AWOL and on the run but to me it is worth it 100%! I've done my time. I fought the battles (and continue to do so every time I fall asleep) and I came home and I'm staying home. The Army can take the hard road, but bring your worst, because I'm not going back to Iraq. As of Jan 26th, 2008, I should be officially marked AWOL. I make myself eat, because I know that I must. I can't stand crowds around me, so shopping for our children, before Christmas was almost impossible. I believe that I'm suffering from undiagnosed post traumatic stress and when you have that, you suffer and so does everyone around you. I've suppressed my issues and as long as I'm awake, I seem to be fine. After much struggle, when I can finally fall asleep, I have hideous dreams that are so real. My wife can't sleep in the same bed as me, because apparently I jerk, talk out loud and moan all night long, so she lays beside me, so that we can cuddle and be close, but when I finally fall asleep, she has to get up and go into the next room. When I wake up in the morning, I follow her into that bed, because I need to feel her beside me again. I need to know that "she" is not just a good dream. I wake up exhausted. I believe that my problems sleeping are caused by a fear of dreaming. My dreams bring me back to Iraq every night.
So I went to mental health, where they said that they wanted to treat me further, but could not, due to the nature of my deployment and the fact they could not hold me back unless I was either suicidal or homicidal. So they put me on new meds called "TRAZODONE". The new pills help me sleep more at night, so at this point in the story I'm stuck because I know I have a big issue and that I need to fix it and take back control, but the Army just will not allow it. So what I did was go to my representative for my Unit here in the States and he got a hold of my Commander. I talked to my Commander a few times on the phone and he kept telling me that he understands and that he was on my side with this issues. He believes in family and my well being. My Commander knows me as a person. We have talked several times before and I had even seen him before I left Iraq to tell him about my issues a bit, so this was not a fully new issue to him. At this time I'm doing the right thing. By going to my Chain of Command, and trying to get this all settled the right way. My Commander told me that there was nothing he could do for me except write a letter to the Battalion Commander on my behalf. Witch he did...
My wife wanted to be close to family and did not want to be in the States. I really wanted the baby born in the States, but at this time nothing was going my way, so I followed her up to Canada. On Christmas Eve she went in to labor again and on Christmas morning at 6:01 a.m., we had our new baby boy, Grai Jacob William Keller. Christmas night I got a voicemail from my Commander telling me, all that he could advise at this time was for me to get on the plane and head back to Iraq. I was to leave on the December 26th at 5:00 a.m. in the morning. My Commander told me that there was too much going on in Iraq at this time to settle my problem right now and that they would want me to come back and fix it there. I know what they have to offer there and there's nothing to fix me over there, so after spending 2 days in the hospital with my wife and son, I made up my mind that I was not going back. I was staying to be with my family. No matter what.
So now I'm AWOL and on the run but to me it is worth it 100%! I've done my time. I fought the battles (and continue to do so every time I fall asleep) and I came home and I'm staying home. The Army can take the hard road, but bring your worst, because I'm not going back to Iraq. As of Jan 26th, 2008, I should be officially marked AWOL. I make myself eat, because I know that I must. I can't stand crowds around me, so shopping for our children, before Christmas was almost impossible. I believe that I'm suffering from undiagnosed post traumatic stress and when you have that, you suffer and so does everyone around you. I've suppressed my issues and as long as I'm awake, I seem to be fine. After much struggle, when I can finally fall asleep, I have hideous dreams that are so real. My wife can't sleep in the same bed as me, because apparently I jerk, talk out loud and moan all night long, so she lays beside me, so that we can cuddle and be close, but when I finally fall asleep, she has to get up and go into the next room. When I wake up in the morning, I follow her into that bed, because I need to feel her beside me again. I need to know that "she" is not just a good dream. I wake up exhausted. I believe that my problems sleeping are caused by a fear of dreaming. My dreams bring me back to Iraq every night.
Along with Robby Keller telling his story, Audrey Parente (Daytona Beach News-Journal) also reported on it, "For the first time in his four-year military career, during his second deployment, Keller was losing control, having an emotional breakdown. He made it safely out of the streets and sought help. He was soon going to be headed home on leave to Holly Hill. He had "aid from the combat stress people" in the form of medication, and surely everything would be OK. While Keller was on leave, his wife went into early labor, and on Christmas Day she had her baby boy in Canada, her native land. Keller was supposed to be away from his post for only a few weeks, but on Dec. 26 things changed. That's when Keller went absent without leave. He hasn't returned to his unit, and as of today he remains in Canada and will be dropped from the rolls at Fort Drum, N.Y., as a deserter and a warrant will be issued for his arrest."
Jenny Yuen (Toronto Sun) focused on two war resisters who were now living in Canada: Jeremy Hinzman and Chuck Wiley. Hinzman spoke to approximately 300 people Saturday at the Bloor Street United Church in Toronto where he explained, "I was trained to be desensitized to humanity. The way you learn to kill is start by shooting weapons and, week by week, they become more human and you don't even realize it." If the Canadian Parliament does not take action, Hinzman fears he could be exiled from Canada within five months. Chuck Wiley served for 17 years in the US military before serving in the Iraq War forced him to self-checkout and go to Canada and declared at the Toronto gathering, "I actually thought we were good guys, helping the world. I learned early on that the truth is never afraid of honest inquiry." AM 640 Toronto notes, "Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae and federal NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow also spoke at the rally."
You can still make your voice heard and three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robby Keller, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara 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, Blake LeMoine, 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, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty 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 addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'."
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