Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Dick issues a threat

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
 
 
THE PRESIDENT OF VICE, OLD DIRTY BASTARD HIMSELF, DICK CHENEY SURFACED FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION (REPORTEDLY BUSH'S ASS) TO INSIST THAT IF BARACK OBAMA REVERSED BUSH'S POLICIES THE COUNTRY WOULD BE ATTACKED.
 
FIRST OFF, WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND STILL THINKS THERE'S ANY BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BUSH AND BARACK.  SECOND, IS THE F.B.I. GOING TO INVESTIGATE DICK CHENEY FOR THESE VEILDED THREATS? 
 
IF THE F.B.I. IS CONSIDERING INVESTIGATING AND PROSECUTING THE DICKSTERS FOR HIS THREATENING REMARKS, THESE REPORTERS URGE THEM TO MOVE QUICKLY WHILE GITMO IS STILL ACCEPTING 'GUESTS'.
 
 
 
Starting with an action that begins this week in the US.  Military Families Speak Out explains:
 
Come to Washington February 6-9 to demand "The Change WE Need"  
President Elect Obama opposed the war in Iraq before it started, calling it a "dumb war."  But he and his advisors have also said that they plan to spread the return of combat troops from that "dumb war" out over sixteen months and to keep tens of thousands of other troops on the ground in Iraq indefinitely.     
So from February 6-9, MFSO will be traveling to Washington to bring the new President and new Congress the message that it is long past time to bring all our troops home from Iraq.  The four days of events will include:
* A teach-in featuring the voices of military families, veterans, and Iraqis, explaining the need for an immediate and complete end to the war in Iraq -- and the human impacts of continuing the occupation.  Friday, February 6 from Noon - 3:00 p.m. at Mott House, 122 Maryland Avenue.   
* A solemn procession from Arlington National Cemetary to the White House beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 7.  Meet at the front gate of the cemetery right outside the exit of the Arlington Metro stop.  Please arrive early.
* A "Meet and Greet" and Legislative Briefing from 3:00 - 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 8 at the Mariott Metro Center.   
* Lobbying members of Congress to end the war in Iraq.  Meet in the cafeteria of the Rayburn House Office Building at 9:00 a.m. Monday, February 9.
 
 
 
The November 27th snapshot noted Iraq War veteran Andre Shepherd who self-checked out of the US military while in Germany and held a press conference to explain: "When I read and heard about people being ripped to shreds from machine guns or being blown to bits by the Hellfire missiles I began to feel ashamed about what I was doing.  I could not in good conscience continue to serve. . . . Here in Germany it was established that everyone, even a soldier, must take responsibility for his or her actions, no matter how many superiors are giving orders."   The December 2nd snapshot quoted the following from James Ewinger's Cleveland Plain Dealer article:

Shepherd said he grew up on East 94th Street in Cleveland, attended Lakewood High School and studied computer science at Kent State University until he ran out of money.
He enlisted in 2004 with the hope of flying the Apaches, but was urged to become a mechanic first.
Scharf said he doubts that Shepherd's expected order to return to Iraq would, by itself, constitute an unlawful order.
"His best argument would be that Apaches are used to kill civilians," Scharf said, but he still viewed it as a weak case.
 
Andre is seeking aslyum in Germany and has been working with the Military Counseling Network and attorneys on that effort.  Today AP's Patrick McGroarty reports that Andre is one of 71 US soldiers who has self-checked out from "European bases in 2008" (actually, he shouldn't be, he self-checked out in 2007) and his case was scheduled to take place before the Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees today where Andre would be stressing "a 2004 European Union directive that established basic guidelines for refugee status within the 27-nation bloc. Soldiers who face punishment for refusing to commit a war crime or serve in an unlawful conflict are to be granted that status, the directive says."
 
Andre Shepherd: When I speak to the other asylum seekers in the asylum camp and I explain to them my story, they completely understand it however this doesn't make me any better or any worse than anyone else that's there.  We're all there because we can't go home.
 
Samantha Haque: As an asylum seeker he is currently in a camp in Germany with people from places like Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq. All in a similar position to him.  The difference is that Andre Shepherd is a US citizen.  And an Iraq War deserter.  For security reasons, we were not allowed to film in the camp.  Shepherd has a friend, a peace activist, who lives within the restricted boundary he's allowed to move in.  He took us there.
 
Andre Shepherd: I was working on the Apache helicopter.  Those Apaches won't fly unless we take care of them.  The Apache helicopter is a deadly weapon a lot of people call it a flying tank.  What started my doubts was when I saw the Iraqi people, when they would come and help us, the looks that they gave us weren't the looks of heroes or people that you know were bringing freedom. We looked like conquerors and oppressors.  That really bothered me a lot.  So I started to look into the reasons why we were actually there in Iraq. I thought that what we were doing was a great thing and a positive thing.  That we were actually bringing freedom to people and making them happy but what I found out instead was that we completely destroyed an entire country on a pack of lies.  It started to weigh very heavily to the point where my actions when I was a soldier were starting to deteriorate so as this was going on I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to back to Iraq.
 
Samantha Haque: None of the criteria that the US military offered for discharge were availble to Mr. Shepherd.  To be a conscientious objector in the US means to be against all wars, something he was not.  While in Germany, he was faced with a second mission to Iraq.  On April 11, 2007 he went absent without leave.  Unable to apply for German residency without official military discharge papers, he decided that applying for asylum was the only way forward.
 
MCN's Tim Huber: Andre contacted us about a year and a half ago and he asked about asylum  He wasn't the first to ask about asylum but our answer was always the same, we don't know what would happen if you tried aslyum.  We went over the pros and cons of trying it. We noted that we were quite pessimistic that it would actually work, but we said it's an option.
 
Samantha Haque: His lawyer on the other hand is confident that he will have his application accepted.
 
Reinhard Marx: It's a specific European law, the so-called directive on qualification of refugees and in this directive it is ruled that deserters of an army who refer to international reasons, refer that the war is conducted in a way which infringes the national law then he has a right to be accepted as a refugee. 
 
Samantha Haque: His lawyer cites the case of Florian Pfaff, a German officer demoted after refusing to work on a computer program for the US Army in Iraq in 2005.  A federal court overturned his demotion because the Iraq War contravened international law.  But although Germany opposed the war in Iraq and said no to the US resolution backing it, it still allowed its territory to be used as a base for military operations in Iraq.  Here in Heidelberg is the US Army's headquarters in Europe.  There are currently around 51,000 US military service men in Germany If Mr. Shepherd's application for aslyum is accepted, there could be implications for US-German military relations. 
 
Gas Bag: It would mean that any US soldier in Germany who disagrees with military operations being conducted can basically step out of the base and seek asylum in Germany and that would probably be a situation that would be unacceptable to the US military. 
 
Samantha Haque: The US is already looking at shrinking its military presence in Germany and possibly moving bases to Europe.
 
Gas Bag: There is a 60-year tradition, there's many Germans who cherish having the Americans here.  There's also an economic factor, the US bases, particularly in the German southwest provide a lot of jobs.
 
Samantha Haque: Shepherd is something of a darling for the anti-war movement.  Here at the Miltary Counseling Network, an American center where conscientios objectors go for help, letters of support come in from all over the world.
 
Tim Huber: He joined for the American dream.  He joined for life, liberty and the pursuit of justice. Suddenly he finds that his pursuit of life, liberty and, most importantly, justice causes him to take a 180 degree turn and walk away from the military.
 
Samantha Haque: Do you think that there's a danger that Andre's case trivializes the term asylum seeker? 
 
Tim Huber: Not at all.  I think, if anything, it's causing people to look at the term asylum and put it in a 21st century defenition
 
Samantha Haque: The US army said that it was aware of the case but that the matter was completely in German hands.  As for Mr. Shepherd it will be some months before he finds out the results of next week's hearing and whether he faces jail in America or exile abroad. 
 
Andre Shepherd: Not being able to go back?  At this point, that's just something I have to live with if I can make my consc clear then fine that's just a sacrifice I have to make.
 
Russia Today notes the Pentagon claims 5,000 US Army soldiers "are missing from duty" presently and quotes Andre explaining, "When the CIA report came and they said that there were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq, that really made me angry.  I wondered if there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the CIA obvioulsy the Bush administration knew about this, then why did we just destroy Fallujah, completely wiped out the entire city?"
 
 

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