Monday, March 10, 2008

David Corn the "Corndingo"

 
AFTER DAVID CORN EMBARRASSED HIMSELF TODAY AT MOTHER JONES, THESE REPORTERS GREW CONCERNED BECAUSE WHILE HE HAS CLEARLY PRACTICED HILLARY HATRED AND SEXISM NON-STOP IN RECENT WEEKS, HIS NONSENSE TODAY OF JUSTIFYING THE FACT THAT SENATOR BAMBI OBAMA REALLY DOES NOT MEAN HIS "PLEDGE" TO WITHDRAW COMBAT TROOPS FROM IRAQ IN 16 MONTHS IF MADE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WAS ESPECIALLY SHOCKING. 
 
CORN INVITED US TO DROP BY HIS PLACE WHICH WE DID AND HEARD LADY REE JAMMING LOUD WITH HER COVER VERSION OF "WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES" AND SOMEHOW THE DOOBIE CLASSIC SEEMED THE APPROPRIATE THEME SONG FOR DAVID CORN SINCE HE STARTED DRINKING BAMBI'S KOOL-AID.
 
"IT WOULD SEEM . . . TO BE . . . NOTHING COMES FROM NOTHING . . . NOTHING AT ALL . . . GET IT NOW . . . GET IT NOW . . . OOOOOOHHHHAAAAAAWWWW!  . . . THE WISE MAN HAS THE POWER . . .  TO REASON AWAY . . . HE ALWAYS HAS THE POWER . . . TO REEEE-UUUUUH-SSSSUUUUN .... UHHHH-WAAAAY-WWWAAYY . . ."
 
THAT WAS DAVID CORN SINGING ALONG WITH LADY SOUL.  WHITE BOY TRYING REAL HARD TO GET DOWN, SO HARD, IN FACT, SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE TOLD HIM, "JUST GET UP AND DON'T SING."
 
EAGER TO STOP THE HOWLING FROM SEVERAL NEIGHBORHOOD DOGS, WE RANG CORN'S DOORBELL.
 
HE GREETED US ALMOST IMMEDIATELY . . . IN A LOIN CLOTH AND DOG COLLAR.
 
"MR. CORN --" WE BEGAN BUT HE CUT US OFF INSISTING WE CALL HIM "CORNDINGO" AND QUICKLY EXPLAINING THAT "CORNDINGO" WAS HIS "LOVE SLAVE NAME."
 
"MASTER BARACK IS WHO I LIVE TO SERVE NOW."
 
HOPING WE HAD MISHEARD HIM, WE ASKED DAVID CORN -- ER CORNDINGO -- TO REPEAT HIMSELF AS WE TOOK NOTES.
 
"I LOVE MASTER BARACK!" HE SAID IN STACATTO TONES, APPARENTLY GOING FOR AN EARTHA KITT QUALITY WHICH, FOR THE RECORD, HE COULDN'T PULL OFF.  "I LOVE HIM!  I LOVE THE SMELL OF HIM!  ONE DAY, AND SOON, I WILL BE PRESSING MY NOSE INTO HIS CROTCH AND IT WILL BE HEAVEN.  I NEED NOT TOUCH HIM, JUST GET A GOOD STRONG WIFF OF MY LOVE MASTER."
 
APPALLED (AND THINKING "CORNDINGO" AND HIS OBSESSION WITH BLACK STEREOTYPES WERE RACIST), WE ATTEMPTED TO EXCUSE OURSELVES BUT "CORNDINGO" ASKED TO ANSWER A QUESTION FIRST.
 
"NANCY WILSON'S BLACK, RIGHT?"  HE ASKED WAVING HIS STEREO REMOTE.
 
WE NODDED.
 
"GOOD, I WASN'T SURE," HE SAID USING THE REMOTE TO MOVE ON TO A NEW DISC.  SINGING ALONG TO HEART'S "THESE DREAMS" (SISTER NANCY HAD LEAD ON THAT AND NOT ANN WILSON), "CORNDINGO" FELL TO THE FLOOR BEFORE BAD MURAL OF BAMBI OBAMA.
 
WE DIDN'T HAVE THE HEART TO TELL HIM THAT THERE WAS NANCY WILSON, ROCK GUITARIST OF THE BAND HEART WHO WAS WHITE, AND NANCY WILSON, THE JAZZ SINGER. 
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  "The most common hostility that I faced was the ostracism of many of my peers: the young soldiers of the same rank as I," Aidan Delgado explained to Dewey Hammond last August in an interview timed for the release of his book d The Sutras Of Abu Ghraib: Notes From A Conscientious Objector In Iraq.  As the book title notes, Delgado is a CO and Hammond asks him, "At what pointfor you did it become clear that being a soldier could not coexist with being Buddhist?"
 
Aidan Delgado: After enlistment, during Basic and Advanced training, I began to study and became far more serious about Buddhism but I still felt that there was some way to allow the ideals of being a soldier and the ideals of being a Buddhist to coexist. When I deployed to Iraq and had all the abstractions peeled away, saw what it truly meant to be a soldier, was when I finally decided that Buddhism and militarism were incompatible. That is not to imply that it was a sudden "revelation" on my part; to the contrary, it was the final stage of a long process of questioning and maturation on my part. I didn't suddenly decide that war was wrong when I deployed to Iraq, I knew it already intellectually, but it took the direct experience of war to make it real for me and give me the courage to oppose it.
. 
 
All war resisters show courage by resisting and war resisters in Canada could use some people backing them up.  They  were dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, 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. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, 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 has a DC action this month:

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'." IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it." The hearings will be broadcast throughout at the Iraq Veterans Against the War home page an on KPFA March 14th and 16th with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home.
 
Over the weekend, Michael McGuire (The Evening Sun) reports, that IVAW's Daniel Black "spoke about his military experiences to a small group in the community room at the Guernsey Memorial Library in Norwich.  Thursday, he gave a talk to students at Hartwick College sponsored by the Iraq-Iran Group of the Coalition for Democracy of Central New York."  Mason Kerns (Des Moines Register) reports that IVAW was among those protesting Karl Rove at the Univeristy of Iowa (Rove gave a speech there over the weekend) while April West (The Lawrentian) reports that IVAW's John Knox spoke on the Lawrence University campus at the invitation of the Multicultural Affairs Committee and he "discussed the demographics of those in the Army as well as recruiters' tactics.  The bulk of new army recruits' parents make a combined $30,000 - 50,000 a year and are from Texas, he said.  Knox described an exponential correlation in which the more money a family makes the less likely they are to have children in the Army."  Justin Hughes (Golden Gate [X]Press) reports that IVAW's Michael Blake joined with Iraqi journalist Salam Talib to speak at San Francisco State University with Blake explaining, "We are using Iraq to project power throughout the Middle East. . . . These guys are getting filthy stinking rich off this war while everyone else is suffering.  From their perspective, the war is going very well."
 
From whose perspective is it okay to tell the voters a known lie?
 
 
Stephen Sackur: You said that he'll revisit it [the decision to pull troops] when he goes to the White House.  So what the American public thinks is a commitment to get combat forces out within sixteen months, isn't a commitment is it?
 
Samantha Power: You can't make a commitment in whatever month we're in now, in March of 2008 about what circumstances are going to be like in January 2009.  We can'te ven tell what Bush is up to in terms of troops pauses and so forth.  He will of course not rely upon some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or as a US Senator.
 
We noted the above on Friday.  The then foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama, Samantha Power, speaking to the BCC.  Most haven't noted the story (the list includes The Nation, Common Dreams, The Progressive among others, see The Third Estate Sunday Review's "Editorial: The Whores of Indymedia" ).  AP noted it.  Gideon Rachman (Financial Times of London) lies but notes not only did Power say it on the BBC, Power also stated similar things to Rachman last week. Rachman's lie is that Samantha Power was against the illegal war before it started. As John R. MacArthur (Common Deams) noted in 2005 -- before so many War Hawks started going in for Extreme Makeovers --  the "humanists such as [George] Packer, [Samantha] Power, and Michael Ignatieff signed on with the neo-conservative crowd for a 'democracy-building' project in Iraq".  David Corn (Mother Jones) embarrasses himself (but give him credit, like Rachman, for not pretending the BBC interview never took place -- many others pretended it didn't take place).  Corn excuses Power's remarks but they don't need any excuse.  She spoke the truth, it's Corn who's spinning claiming that all it means is "a campaign proposal is just that: a proposal."  Since Corny's among the crowd 'jazzed' by the 'youth' for Bambi, Corny should be aware that what his 'seasoned' and non-reasoned (remember his attacks on Gary Webb?) 'insider' status allows him to 'know' is not a known to people turning out at Obama's rallies and hearing him pledge to pull all combat troops out of Iraq in 16 months.  What it is, and Corn knows this, is a lie -- a big fat lie.  Samantha Power revealed it as such in her interview with the BBC and Corn quotes from it selectively.  He really needs to be ashamed of himself. It's the sort of crap that makes Mother Jones just another whore in Panhandle Media and they really ought to be ashamed because more than any other outlet, they used to march to their own drum.  Now they've got their hands out begging like every other cheap hustler.  Barack Obama has declared in ads and speeches that he will withdraw troops 16 months from being sworn in. 
 
Kristen Senz (The Union Leader) reported that in November, "If elected, Obama vowed to end the war in Iraq within 16 months".  Does David Corn think Senz misunderstood?  Use the link, it goes to Barack Obama's site which reposted that article under the heading "Change We Can Believe In."   "Believe in me" says Bambi.  He's got no record to run on, so he's run on personality and told everyone he has 'judgement' and can be 'trusted.'  But he's lying.  Need more from "Change We Can Believe In"?  Barack's campaign has posted Peter Hecht (Sacramento Bee) reporting Bambi declared, "As president I will end the war in Iraq.  I will bring the troops home.  They will be home in 16 months. . . . America, San Francisco.  Our moment is now.  You can't wait any longer.  Our moment to bring about change is now."  Sounds like a promise because that's what he wants people to hear it as.  On October 2nd (again, link goes to Bambi's campaign site) his campaign posted his speech that day which included Barack declaring, "The first thing we ahve to do is end this war. . . .  I will remove one or two brigades a month, and get all of our combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months."  That's pretty damn clear unless your name is David Corn.  December 18th, campaigning in Iowa, he declared that if he was "the Democratic nominee, I will offer a clear choice.  My opponent won't be able to say that I ever supported the war in Iraq, or that I don't support a clear timetable to bring out troops home."   He also stated in that speech, "So when you consider who to caucus for, I ask you to consider myjudgement and vision for new American leadership.  Leadership that brings our combat brigades out of Iraq in 16 months, renews American diplomacy, finishes . . ."  Get the point? 
 
He's campaigned on this over and over in speeches and commercials.  Tom Hayden has assumed it was a real pledge.  He's written column after column praising Bambi.  You better believe others have taken Bambi at his word.  At the Barack Obama campaign website it reads here that "In September 2007, he laid out a detailed plan for how he will end the war as president.  Bring Our Troops Home Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq.  He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat briages out of Iraq within 16 months."  Will is the verb in the final sentence (written by Bambi's campaign and posted on his website).  While David Corn embarrasses himself, NBC' Domenico Montanaro (reporting on the same press call Corn did) explains that "when (now former) top Obama foreign policy adviser Samantha Power told BBC that Obama 'will, of course, not rely on some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator,' the Clinton campaign found something tangible to seize on." 
 
And the Hillary Clinton campaign released "MEMO: Obama's Iraq Plan: Just Words" which opens with, "Once again, it looks like Senator Obama is telling voters one thing while his campaign says those words should not be mistaken for serious action.  After months of speeches from Senator Obama promising a hard end date to the Iraq war, his top foreign policy adviser that counseled his campaign during that period is on the record saying that Senator Obama will 'not rely on some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator.  Voters already have serious questions about whether Senator Obama is ready to be Commander-in-Chief.  Now there are questions about whether he's seriou about the Iraq plan he's discussed for the last year on the campaign trail. . . . It turns out those attacks and speeched were just words.  And if you can't trust Senator Obama's words, what's left?"  Nothing.  And certainly nothing that indicates the illegal war's ending. 
 

""

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Saturday, March 08, 2008

Sammy Power's new war

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- CAMPAIGN TRAIL.
 
BAMBI OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADVISOR SAMMY POWER. NEVER SHOWED FOR HER SCHEDULED INTERVIEW THIS MORNING.
 
AS TWO REPORTERS WHO HAD LONG DOCUMENTED OUR MODERN DAY CARRIE NATIONS'S ADVANCED DEMENTIA, WE DID NOT FEEL SHE WAS DODGING US SINCE SHE'S REPEATEDLY OFFERED ONE CRACKPOT STATEMENT AFTER ANOTHER TO US FOR ATTRIBUTION.
 
 
THIRTY MINUTES AFTER THE INTERVIEW WAS DUE TO START, SHE PHONED. 
 
"SORRY, GUYS," SHE EXPLAINED OVER THE BACKDROP OF BOMBS GOING OFF IN THE BACKGROUND, "BUT I WAS NEEDED ELSEWHERE."
 
TURNS OUT SHE HAD FOUND ANOTHER 'GENOCIDE' TO HALT.  
 
"IT INVOLVES TWO TRIBES," SHE EXPLAINED, "WATER AND SEWAGE.  IT IS A BLOODBATH!  THEY'RE TALKING RATE INCREASES!  IF THE WORLD WON'T GIVE ME DARFUR, I'LL TAKE CAMBRIDGE!"
 
BEFORE WE COULD ASK HER WHAT WAS TO BE GAINED BY DECLARING WAR ON CAMBRIDGE, MASS., SAMMY HAD TO GO.
 
"OH!" SHE GASPED.  "THEY'RE GOING TO LET ME DROP THE NUKE!  GOTTA' GO, BOYS, I'LL BE IN TOUCH!"
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance. Julie Muhlstein (HeraldNet) reports that Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimber's documentary Soldiers of Conscience will be shown at 10:30 Saturday morning in the Historic Everett Theatre as part of the Everett Women's Film Festival.  "Their country asked them to kill, their hearts told them to stop" is the tagline in some promotional materials for the film that won Best Documentary at both the Rhode Island International Film Festival and Ireland's Foyle Film Festival.  Ryan (co-director and co-producer) will be present Saturday as part of the filmmaker forum.  Among those featured in the documentary is war resister Aidan Delgado who told his story of serving in Iraq and rejecting the illegal war in The Sutras Of Abu Ghraib: Notes From A Conscientious Objector In Iraq.  In the book, Delgado explains how he knew the whispers of abuse at Abu Ghraib weren't false speculation -- they're all called in for a speech by a commander:
 
There's no doubt now that everything we've heard about is true, and it must be even worse than we thought, for the commander himself to get on our backs about it. All a family? I laugh. We're only a family when the captain wants us to do his bidding or conceal some wrongdoing. The Army has tried that rhetoric before, talking about family and Army pride and everything else to try to get you to buy into what they do. When the Army talks about "handling something internally," it's only because they've done something so obviously wrong, they can't allow the rest of the country to see it. This doesn't surprise me. After all, if Americans back home saw Iraqi prisoners shot dead for throwing stones, saw the wretched conditions inside Abu, or saw the way the MPs dealt with the prisoners, what would they think of our glorious and righteous invasion? The truth about Abu Ghraib has to be concealed, has to be "kept in the family," because if the average citizen saw what we're doing to the people here, they would know in their guts that it's un-American.
 
Delgado's journey doesn't begin in the excerpt (read the book) and every war resister has a moment where they realize they can't take part in the illegal war.  For some, it may be after they serve in Iraq and see it with their own eyes, for others it may come as they begin exploring the 'reasons' given for the Iraq War, some have a religous awakening . . . Every individual has their own story and these are the stories that are not being told.
 
Among the stories that need to be told due to a window of time are the stories of war resisters who went to Canada.  They  were dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, 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. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, 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 has a DC action this month:

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'." IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it." The hearings will be broadcast throughout at the Iraq Veterans Against the War home page an on KPFA March 14th and 16th with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home.
 
Today, at Foreign Policy in Focus, Aaron Glantz reports more on the upcoming action:
 
"We have given a blanket invitation to Congress," said Camilo Mejia, the Chair of the Board of Iraq Veterans Against the War.  "We hope the Congress will give these hearings the same attention they did during the Vietnam era." 
But action from politicians is only one possible outcome.  Mejia says IVAW also hopes Winter Soldier will increase the size and strength of GI Resistance against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
"The event is going to empower soldiers to follow their conscience whatever that means for them," said Mejia . . .  "The kinds of things we're talking about are non-partisan.  They're non-political.  They have to do with human being trapped in this atrocity producing situation." 
 
Meanwhile, it was not a good day to be Our Modern Day Carrie Nations or, as Samantha Power prefers to be called, "the humanitarian War Hawk."  Last night, The Scotsman was making news with Power's insults of US Senator Hillary Clinton and "the poor" in America and, generally, just flashing that foul mouth everyone knows about but generally ignroes.  The morning started with Sammy Power expressing 'sorrow.'  She wasn't sorry and we're not going to play around with this story.  Here's reality, the press was lining up this morning the stories on this and talking to one another (as they are prone to do) for background examples of other times Sammy Power has personally (and destructively) insulted Hillary Clinton.  When it was obvious that those stories would come out if she stayed with the campaign she 'resigned.'  At The New Statesman, she was flaunting her War Hawk nature in an interview (as well as that foul mouth). [Personal note: I'm sure I could match Sammy swear word for swear word, but I wasn't planning on becoming Secretary of State.] Lynn Sweet (Chicago Sun-Times) was one of the first out of the gate noting that Sammy Power "resigned as a foreign policy advisor to Sen. Barack Obama" this afternoon.  Her calling Hillary a "monster" did matter, it was off sides -- both for a future Secretary of State as well as for a professor at Harvard.  It's a shame Obama still lacks the leadership to take control of his campaign -- that would have required firing Power.  Instead she resigned indicating that he's unable to run a campaign as well as unable to tell the truth.  Power -- who also went to work for Obama in 2005 when he was first elected to the US Senate (November 2004) -- also had to deal with the BBC interview she'd given.  Barack Obama has not promised to pull ALL troops out of Iraq in 16 months.  He has promised the American people that "combat" troops would be removed.  But promises, promises (as Dionne Warwick once sang) . . .
 
Stephen Sackur: You said that he'll revisit it [the decision to pull troops] when he goes to the White House.  So what the American public thinks is a commitment to get combat forces out within sixteen months, isn't a commitment is it?
 
Samantha Power: You can't make a commitment in whatever month we're in now, in March of 2008 about what circumstances are going to be like in January 2009.  We can'te ven tell what Bush is up to in terms of troops pauses and so forth.  He will of course not rely upon some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or as a US Senator.
 
Which would mean Mr. Pretty Speeches has been lying to the American people.  (Add the "AGAIN!") 
 
Her rise was swift, her fall even faster.  Our Modern Day Carrie Nations took part in the "Bring the troops home and send them to Darfur" nonsense.  [For more on that nutso crowd, see Julie Hollar's "The Humanitarian Tempatation" (Extra!).]  Despite presenting herself recently as against the Iraq War from the start, the public record has never backed that up.  But it is true that she wanted wars in Africa and was selling them under "humanitarian" guise.  "Stop the killing!" she cried but if she really wanted to stop the killing, she might have tried to speak out against the ongoing genocie in Iraq (which has also produced the largest refugee crisis in the world).  She didn't care about that.  Probably because it demonstrates that sending armed forces in is not an answer.  Again, if Barack Obama had any leadership abilities, he would have announced today that he fired his longterm advisor.  He did not, she resigned.  (She foolishly doesn't grasp that this is her Alexander Haig moment and there is no comeback.)  Power was not a campaigner, she was a high level, longterm foreign policy advisor being groomed to be the next Secretary of State.  As Krissah Williams (Washington Post) notes, Senator Clinton's response to Power's BBC interview was to note Power's agreement that Obama's pledge to have "combat" troops out in 16 months was never more than a "best-case scenario".  Hillary Clinton: "Senator Obama has made his speech opposing Iraq in 2002 and the war in Iraq the core of his campaign, which makes these comments especially troubling.  While Senator Obama campaigns on his [pledge] to end the war, his top advisers tell people abroad that he will not rely on his own plan should he become president.  This is the latest example of promising the American people one thing on the campaign trail and telling people in other countries another.  You saw this with NAFTA as well." 
 
Meanwhile Tom Hayden again offers Barack advice from the heart, from love.  At Common Dreams, Hayden feels that, "The only policy difference favoring Obama that goes straight to the issue of 'experience' is Iraq. It no longer is enough that Obama opposed the war five years ago, especially if it appears that there are no differences between the candidates now. For whatever reason, Obama has allowed Clinton to appear to take an identical stand on the war. Is that true? Or is it time for Obama to issue a further clarification of his position separating him from both Clinton and McCain? The peace movement and media can play a role here."  Tom then asks, "Does Clinton propose a timetable for withdrawing combat troops, like Obama does?"  Apparently Tom missed Sammy's interview -- Obama has no proposal.  As Sammy notes, things change, who can say?  Should we expect Hayden's endorsement of Hillary anytime soon?  Or will he again plan to 'represent' the peace movement by covering for the 'anti-war' candidate -- one whose own foreign policy advisor (she was that when she gave the interview) informs is saying words he'd not planning to live up to?
 
 
 
 
 

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Thursday, March 06, 2008

Bambi Explains It All

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- CAMPAIGN TRAIL.
 
TODAY THESE REPORTERS ASKED SENATOR BAMBI OBAMA WHY HE WAS SO OBSESSED WITH HILLARY CLINTON'S TAX RETURN?  IS HE PLANNING ON GOING TO WORK FOR H. & R. BLOCK?
 
BAMBI EXPLAINED IT TO US, "HERE'S THE THING ABOUT PEOPLE AND MONEY: IT ALWAYS TRIPS THEM UP.  IT WILL ALWAYS BE THEIR DOWNFALL.  TIME AND AGAIN, IT'S THE THING THAT WILL HAVE THEM TO GREEDY TO BE SENSIBLE.  SO YOU END UP WITH THAT MANSION IN CHICAGO THAT YOU CAN'T AFFORD.  YOU WANT IT, YOUR WIFE WANTS IT, BUT YOU JUST GOT ELECTED TO THE U.S. SENATE AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO BE SPENDING OVER A MILLION DOLLARS FOR A MANSION ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'LL BE IN D.C. THE BULK OF THE TIME?  SO YOU GO TO YOUR MOB BOSS FRIEND, SAY HIS NAME IS BIG TONY, AND YOU SAY 'BIG TONY, I WANT THIS HOUSE.  GET ME THE MANSION1'  BIG TONY AND YOUR TACKY SPOUSE WORK OUT A DEAL WHERE YOUR SPOUSE WILL USING SITTING ON THE CHICAGO LANDMARK COMMISSION TO OKAY THAT THE MANSION AND THE LITTLE STRIP OF LAND TO THE RIGHT OF IT ARE SPLIT UP EVEN THOUGH IT GOES AGAINST WHAT THE LANDMARK COMMISSION SHOULD DO.  THEN YOU AND BIG TONY TOUR THE PLACE AND HE EXPLAINS HOW HE NEEDS HIS FRIENDS TO BE IN HIGH PLACES.  YOU TELL HIM, 'I WATCH THE SOPRANOS.  I GET YOU, BIG TONY.'  SO HE SAYS HE'LL BY THE LAND AND YOU'LL BUY THE MANSION AND HE'LL SEND HIS WIFE IN WITH YOU TO CLOSE ON THE PROPERTY.  AND HE ENDS UP UNDER FEDERAL INDICTMENT BUT YOU KEEP TELLING YOURSELF, IF I JUST SMILE LONG ENOUGH EVERYONE WILL FORGET. JUST KEEP SMILING.  KNOWING YOU CAN ALWAYS DEPEND ON BIG TONY.'  YOU HUM A LITTLE DIONNE AND TRY TO SMILE."
 
BAMBI PAUSED AND HIS MOUTH DROPPED OPEN.
 
"AT LEAST," HE HURRIEDLY ADDED, "I THINK SOMETHING LIKE THAT HAPPENED WITH HILLARY!  THIS INTERVIEW IS OVER!"
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  IVAW chair Camilo Mejia told his story in  Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia.  He is the first Iraq War veteran to refuse to continue serving in the illegal war.  Frank Houston (Miami New Times) notes that Querido Camilo (Dear Camilo) plays tonight (9:15 pm at Bill Cosford Cinema, University of Miami) and tomorrow (9:15 pm at Regal Cinemas South Beach) as part of the Miami International Film Festival and notes, "Querido Camilo tells Mejia's story from the perspective of friends and family members, sketching in his background with snapshots, interviews, and narrated letters that begin in 1995, when Mejia arrived in the United States from Nicaragua. 'I thought it would be more fun, more beautiful.  But it's really very different,' Mejia says of the United States in an interview with filmmakers Julio Molina and Daniel Ross Mix.  They explore military enlistment as a last resort for the working class, especially immigrants."
 
Agustin Aguayo is another war resister who served in Iraq and today Aguayo and his wife Helga Aguayo will be speaking at UCLA Riverside, in the Interdisciplinary Building at 6:00 pm while yesterday he took part in a debate on the illegal war at Paso Robles High School. Amber Lee (KSBY -- link has text and video) reports that it is "the second year in a row" that the school has "decided to hold a war debate forum to give students the opportunity to decide about the military."  Aguayo explains, "You know you can't really tell anyone what to do but you can share some knowledge with them."
 
Meanwhile Americans Against the War-France announces their support for the US war resisters in Canada.   War resisters who went to Canada need the coverage right now.  They  were dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, 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. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, 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 has a DC action this month:

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'." IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it." The hearings will be broadcast throughout at the Iraq Veterans Against the War home page an on KPFA March 14th and 16th with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home.
 
Congress held several hearings today and we're noting two.  Background for the first,  Reuters reported this morning, "The U.S. military has authority to conduct combat operations in Iraq beyond the end of this year, even though a United Nations mandate for force ends then, a State Department official said on Wednesday.  David Satterfield, the State Department's coordinator for Iraq, said Congress had authorized U.S. combat in Iraq back in 2002, and the Bush administration did not believe it needed to seek 'explicit additional authorization' from Congress for U.S. combat beyond the end of this year."  Karen DeYoung (Washington Post) reported that "[t]he Bush administration yesterday adavanced a new argument for why it does not require congressional approval to strike a long-term security agreement with Iraq, stating that Congress had already endorsed such an initiative through its 2002 resolution . . . Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), whose questions at a House hearing Tuesday elicted the administration statement, described it as an 'open-ended, never-ending authority for the administration to be at war in Iraq forever with no limitations.'   The conditions of 2002 no longer exist, he said."  This afternoon the US House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia held a hearing that David Satterfield again showed up for (but couldn't really answer anymore than on Tuesday) as did Mary Beth Long the Asst. Secretary of Defense for International Affairs.
 
Satterfield attempted repeatedly to claim everything was a hypothetical and refuse to answer.  A lively exchange took place between Gary Ackerman and Satterield.  Asked specific questions, Satterfield declared, "I will respond more formally to that question subsequent to this hearing" leading Ackerman to ask, "When will we hold that hearing?"  At another point Satterfield attempted to hide by declaring, "I'm not a constitutional expert" leading Ackerman to respond, "Neither is anyone else" in the administration "apparently."
 
The basic principles here (outlined many times before) is whether or not Bully Boy and Nouri al-Maliki can enter into a treaty without Congressional/Parliamentary approval.  The constitutions for both the United States and Iraq say "NO!"  But that hasn't stopped the White House from attempting to circumvent the US Constitution.  As Ackerman noted when Satterfield repeatedly declared questions "hypotheticals," "The Constitution is a document.  It is not a hypothetical."  Her futher noted, "The problem with the administration is that it thinks the Constituion is optional."  Ackerman noted that everything was undefined -- now and in the lead-up to the illegal war.  He noted that now Iraq was apparently a 'threat' to the US in some of the vague responses from Satterfield and that "threat" seems to change from moment to moment leading Satterfield to snap "No, Mister Chairman," the administration has clearly defined threats. Ackerman asked, "Is it this adminstration's belief that you have ongoing authorization in perpetuity?" and "Is Iraq about to attack the United States?" Ackerman noted that it appeared the White House had redefined the mission in Iraq so that "as long as there is trouble in Iraq" the US must remain in "a never ending process".
 
As the committee told Sattefield, it appeared he arrived with an attitude of he would talk about what he wanted to and not answer the questions posed.  In a milder but still comical moment, Mary Beth Long attempted to compare the agreement Bully Boy and al-Maliki are trying to impose with agreements the US has with Belize. Bill Delahunt noted that nothing with Belize talks "about search and destroy actions" such as what takes place in Iraq and Long had to admit that they didn't.  US House Rep Rosa DeLauro was brought into the meeting with the approval of other committee members (she's not a member of the subcommitte) and she noted that this wasn't a "typical" SOFA agreement and that "we should not rush to approve" it, that it is in the best interests of both countries not to rush.  As Satterfield continued to obsfucate, DeLauro noted that, "We're not going to get any straight answers on this."  While Rep Bill Delahunt had noted earlier -- when Satterfield again attempted to propose a closed door briefing -- "The American people deserve to hear what you have to say."  The hearing ended with Ackerman having extracted the promise that Satterfield would have answers to the questions asked no later than three p.m. Friday.
 
 

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Wednesday, March 05, 2008

The sore loser

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- CAMPAIGN TRAIL.
 
FOLLOWING YESTERDAY'S DECISIVE ASS-WHOOPING IN TEXAS, OHIO AND RHODE ISLAND, SENATOR BAMBI OBAMA MET WITH THESE REPORTERS TO WHINE. 
 
"VOTERS ARE STUPID!  VOTERS IN OHIO, RHODE ISLAND AND TEXAS ARE STUPID!  THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN AND I AM THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE!" BAMBI DECLARED STAMPING A FOOT ON THE FLOOR.
 
WHEN THESE REPORTERS POINTED OUT THAT IN TEXAS, FOR INSTANCE, HE LOST TO HILLARY CLINTON BY APPROXIMATELY 100,000 VOTERS, BAMBI INSISTED IT DID NOT MATTER.
 
"AMERICA MAKES ME PRESIDENT OR ELSE!" HE SHOUTED.
 
OR ELSE WHAT?
 
"I TAKE MY CHICKEN SOP FOR THE SOUL AND HEAD HOME!"  BAMBI POUTED.
 
WHEN THESE REPORTERS POINTED OUT THAT HE SOUNDED LIKE A VERY SORE LOSER, BAMBI ANNOUNCED THE DISCUSSION WAS OVER AND LEFT IN A HUFF STATING IF BIG TONY WASN'T FACING FEDERAL CHARGES, HE'D TAKE OF US FOR BAMBI.
 
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  Alexis Alexander tells Rebekah Dillon (Ithica Times), "The peace movement needs to team closely with G.I. war resisters and support them in getting their stories out to the general public."  Alexander and several other voices of resistance Dillon speaks with are correct on many points (wrong? whining about a non-existant draft is just wasting everyone's time) but Alexander's point and the others go to the media and no one makes that connection in the article.  Alexander rightly states that the peace movement needs to work on getting the stories of war resisters out.  But why do they need to work on that? 
 
Because the stories are important, yes.  But anyone paying attention in 2007 saw the AP, Reuters and many daily papers (some national, some regional) as well as many TV programs (national like Nightline, as well as regional) cover stories.  Where was the coverage not coming from?  Take  Ehren Watada who is the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to the Iraq War.  Even MTV covered it.  (And the coverage did have an effect.)  But where was Panhandle Media?  CNN covered it, where was Panhandle Media?
 
It's a question people need to be asking.  When CNN covered it on one of their program, they had on three guests.  One was a CO, one was Mommy's Pantyhose (spewing his usual hate) and the third?  Who was the third guest, brought on to discuss this important issue, does anyone remember?  It was Amy Goodman.
 
CNN was covering it because the court-martial was gearing up and Pacifica's Amy Goodman who has an hour program Monday through Friday entitled Democracy Now! was brought on to CNN as a guest to discuss Watada.  (Paula Zahn also featured Watada himself in a separate segment that broadcast.)  Wow.  That might be a clue that the story is important.  Certainly Aaron Glantz was in Tacoma before the court-martial started and reporting.  But where was Amy Goodman?  Not only did she not go to Washington for the court-martial (which ended in a mistrial over the objection of defense attorneys), she wasn't interested.
 
Now when Sarah Olson was pimped as the story of the Watada court-martial (by Norman Solomon and everyone else including Phil Donahue -- who did not know the basics about Watada as evidenced by that embarrassing column he wrote where he seemed to think Watada had gone AWOL -- Watada reported for duty every day at the base -- something he continues to do), Goody could gas bag with the best of them. Olson MIGHT have to testify!  That was a story.  When Olson didn't have to testify, it was the end of the interest in the leadup to the court-martial.  After it was over (it ran three days -- Monday through Wednesday), Goody would air a report Truthout did on Thursday.  After it was over.  Olson was not the story.  Olson wasn't even a human interest story.  She was a reporter who wouldn't say whether she would testify or not but wanted the whole damn world to be up in arms that she was even asked to testify.  She wanted the world to stand up while she refused to take a stand herself (by saying whether or not she'd testify).
 
Now that was Ehren Watada, one of the best known war resisters.  And Democracy Now! wasn't interested in his court-martial.  Amy Goodman was more than happy to go on CNN and talk about Watada . . . while not covering his court-martial on her own program.  Do you see the problem or are we all going to continue to pretend it didn't happen?  James Burmeister self-checked out in 2007 and went to Canada.  In June and July he was telling Canadian media about the "kill teams" -- how the US military had teams whose job it was to lay out US property in the open in Iraq for the purpose of shooting Iraqis who picked any of it up.  In the fall the Washington Post would report on that story.  Panhandle Media could have had the story if they'd bothered to cover war resisters.  Burmeister was not covered.  Eli Israel, while stationed in Iraq, refused to serve.  That's a 2007 story.  Where was Panhandle Media's coverage of that?  He needed coverage, the military was threatening to come down hard on him.  He was refusing while in Iraq.  It was news.  But not to Panhandle Media.  A large number of war resisters stepped out in 2007 and only In These Times covered them.  Not The Nation, not The Progressive and certainly not Democracy Now!  A viewer or listener of Democracy Now! could easily think that no new war resisters have emerged since the summer and fall of 2006 because that's the last time Goodman elected to interview any. 
 
Alexander is not wrong about the need to get the stories of war resisters out there.  But we need to look seriously at why that need exists.  The Washington papers, AP, Reuters and AFP were covering the Watada court-martial (others were as well).  Where was Panhandle Media during it?  It was important enough that CNN invited Amy Goodman on to speak about the topic and she was more than happy to go on CNN.  But with the five hours of air time she controls a week, there were other things to do.
 
The stories do need to be out there.  They make a huge difference.  But we need to get honest about what has taken place.  The Nation no longer uses the term "war resister" in print (though "coward" can and did pop up).  The problem is not Real or Big Media which has its faults (to the extreme), the problem goes to Panhandle Media.  The Ithica Times notes that it seems like there was more action agains the illegal war and more people against it before it started.  Well there was certainly more coverage before it started.  But the American public gets obsessed with what's emphasized.
 
That's how you see a craze for an OJ trial, for example.  Our media critics from Little Media have been happy to talk about the tabloid-ization of the news in Big Media.  They clearly feels it has an impact.  Their argument (a solid one) goes that it steers people away from the stories that matter with distraction.  But what has Panhandle Media offered in the last two years?  If the Iraq War doesn't seem "important" to some people, take a look at Panhandle Media in the summer of 2006 when they ignored Iraq stories like the gang-rape and murder -- by US soldiers -- of Abeer.  They were pushing the elections in Mexico and telling you about the nationwide riots that were going to take place and blah, blah, blah.  It never happened.  So they moved on to Lebanon.  And they ignored Iraq for basically the entire summer.  They have not picked their one-time interest back up from the floor.  War resisters do matter and their stories do have an impact.  But it's not enough to say that the stories need to 'get out.'  It also requires looking at who is getting them out.
 
Agustin Aguayo (who will be speaking this Thursday (March 6th), he and his wife Helga Aguayo will be speaking at UCLA Riverside, in the Interdisciplinary Building at 6:00 pm) is taking his fight for CO status to the US Supreme Court.  Where's the coverage of that?  Where's the coverage of any of it in our 'brave' and 'independent' media?  It's not enough to say these stories need to 'get out.'  It requires noting who is not 'getting' them 'out.'  The American public is more opposed to the illegal war now than before it started.  It is the failure of Panhandle Media to regularly cover it that promotes distractions.  Until that is confronted, keep expecting to hear these airy claims of "We need to get the message out" over and over without any change taking place.  As they did in 2007 with no coverage (In These Times is an exception), war resisters are still going public this year.  And Panhandle Media is still ignoring them.
 
When we're all ready to confront that reality, we may see a greater interest in the illegal war across the board.  The protests that took place for war resisters in Canada are another example.  They took place in the US and in Canada.  Goodman didn't cover them.  One action took place in NYC but even that didn't make it as a segment.  After they were over -- having offered no heads up to them ahead of time -- Goody would rush with a quick mention of these national and international protests in a brief headline.  She would also be wrong about when they took place in the US.  But when no one's calling you out on the 'coverage' you ARE NOT offering, you can get away with that.
 
War resisters who went to Canada need the coverage right now.  They  were dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, 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. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, 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 has a DC action this month:

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'." IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it." The hearings will be broadcast throughout at the Iraq Veterans Against the War home page an on KPFA March 14th and 16th with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home.
 

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