Thursday, March 30, 2006

Casey Austin Sheehan May 29, 1979 - April 04, 2004






Casey Austin Sheehan

May 29, 1979—April 04, 2004
Cindy Sheehan

As far as we can piece things together, March 31st, two years ago is the day that the First Cavalry arrived in Sadr City, a slum in Baghdad, formerly named "Saddam City," Iraq. I say "as far as we can piece together" because we have heard many different stories, but this date seems to be the one that we have heard most often.

Casey began a letter to us, his family, on April 1, 2004, telling us that he finally had an address where we could send letters and packages, and most of all, calling cards. The one and only time he called home from Kuwait, it had cost him 400 minutes just to connect the call and he didn't have much time to talk. That was the last we heard from him. He called about 12:30 one morning and said it was "hot" he was on his way to mass, and they should be convoying to Iraq at the end of that week. In his letter he mentioned that he had talked to me that morning, but I probably wouldn't remember it, because he had awakened me. Little did he know, I will never forget that call and I pray fervently that I never forget the sound of his voice.

In his letter he also expressed regret that he wouldn't be home for his baby sister, Janey's, high school graduation that June. Little did he know that he would be home. He also told us that the First Cav was expecting a pretty "smooth year" because the unit that they were replacing had only 2 casualties for the entire year before. Maybe he knew, maybe he didn't know that the day he arrived in Baghdad, four mercenary soldiers from Blackwater Security Company were hanging off of a bridge in Falluja and the proverbial doo-doo was about to hit the fan in Iraq and less than 5 days later he would draw his last breath in an alley thousands of miles away from home, shot dead by a rebel who didn't welcome him with "flowers and chocolates." I wonder what his last thought was as he lay dying for George and the other Chickenhawks.

I would beg Casey not to go to Iraq before he left because we both knew it was wrong. He would say: "I wish I didn't have to, Mom, but the sooner I get there the sooner I will be home." Little did Casey know that not even 4 weeks after the First Cavalry left Ft. Hood, that he would be coming home in a cardboard box in the freight area of a United Airlines 747.

I am often accused by the right-wing smear propaganda machine of making this struggle about me, and not about Casey. How Casey's story has been lost in the hulla-balloo that almost always is surrounding me. This is so ironic, because I started working for peace shortly after Casey was killed to be sure that Casey would not be forgotten by America, that he would not just be a number. I started this so Casey's sacrifice would count for love and peace; not hatred, killing, and lies. I started on my journey for peace to make sure it didn't happen to other Caseys and their families.

As the two year mark of Casey's death is careening helplessly towards me, I reflect that even if I tried with all my might, I could never forget, nor want to forget Casey or his story. I can never forget the joyous day that he came into our lives on JFK's birthday which was also Memorial Day that year. I will never forget the 21 Memorial Day birthdays before Casey donned the uniform of the Military Industrial Complex that we had where we invited family and friends over for a bar-be-que to celebrate his life. The two Memorial Day birthdays we have had so far without him are pain-filled beyond measure and we will have to endure many, many more. What about the holidays: The happy ones before Casey was killed, and the devastating ones since he died? Looking at pictures of the Sheehan family before Casey was killed is heart-rending to say the least. What about our birthdays? The ones since 04/04/04 where we won't even get a call from him, wishing us a happy day?

How many families have BushCo sent on this spiral of never ending grief and pain? Tens of thousands of people here in America have been debilitated by their policies and another country and its people lie in ruins for lies and deceit. How many families around the world have black holes in their lives that can't be filled by any light, but suck the light and life from the marrow of the fabric of those families?

No, I won't ever forget about Casey, or Mike Mitchell, KIA with Casey; or Evan Ashcraft, KIA 7/24/2003; or John Torres, KIA 7/12/2004; or Chase Comely, KIA on 08/06/2005; Daniel Torres, KIA 2/04/2005; nor will I forget why I am trying to get our troops out of the predicament of colossal proportions that George Bush has gotten us into. I won't forget the thousands of other wonderful Americans who have been needlessly killed here in the Gulf States and in Iraq for the crimes of BushCo. Nor will I ever forget the images of dead Iraqis burned by toxin of this war: white phosphorous; or the 7 month old baby with half of her head shot off by American troops; or the images of the Iraqi babies born with horrendous birth defects from left over depleted uranium from the first gulf war travesty. The images of the Bush destruction in the desert are horrifying in their brutality and we should all know that nothing good ever comes from killing innocent people.

I am convinced that the years of the Bush Regime will go down as the years that America lost its collective mind. We allowed the Bush crime family to scare us into two invasions of countries that had nothing to do with 9/11 and despite all evidence to the contrary, let them assure us that we are safer because of the uncalled for wars. We have no problem with the administration authorizing, encouraging, and condoning torture which only puts our troops and our children and their children more at risk for terrorist attacks. We allow our administration to use weapons of mass destruction on the innocent people of Iraq and think the invasion of Iraq was warranted because Saddam "used chemical weapons" on his own people. We allowed George Bush to play golf and Condi to shop for shoes in NYC while citizens of our country were hanging off of their roofs and drowning in New Orleans. We allow BushCo to spread the rubbish that we are spreading "freedom and democracy" in the Middle East, while we allow our faux-leaders to take away our freedoms here in America and destroy our democracy with a Republican coup that was bloody but virtually unopposed by the faux-opposition party and its followers.

My family has had people fighting and needlessly dying in every mistake of a war that the war machine has tricked our country into since the Civil War. I will never forget the brave men and women who have been killed for profit that have gone before us. I won't forget because I don't ever want it to happen again.

If we didn't learn the lessons of Vietnam until it was too late, let's learn one while we still can: America will eventually pull out of Iraq, let's pull our fighting troops out now and I am convinced that lives on both sides will be saved if we do. If we don't pull out soon, who knows where else the sickly cancer of American empire will spread and how many more innocent people like Casey will die.

Also, one lesson that we should have learned from Vietnam is that there is always a war and an enemy in the offing. The neocon war machine is planning the new "ist" and "ism" for us to fear next when the "ism" du jour fails to sufficiently frighten us. We must stay on our guards against this.

Buddhists say that a person dies twice. Once when his/her physical body dies and once when the last person to remember him/her dies. We should never forget the lesson of Casey and his untimely death on the altar of the war machine. We should never have forgotten the lessons of the millions dead in Vietnam who were sacrificed on that same altar.

Casey and the millions of others who have been tragically killed by our leaders in worship of greed for money and power will never die as long as there are people working for peace and justice.

This is their gift to us. Let's never forget them. Their deaths can't be in vain.





TELL THE HOUSE TO PASS H.R. 550 (PAPER BALLOT VOTING REFORM) AS WRITTEN


http://www.millionphonemarch.com/hr550.php


In the next two weeks there will be a final push to get H.R. 550, a bill introduced by Rep. Holt of New Jersey, on the House floor.

H.R. 550 would protect the integrity of our elections by requiring a voter verified paper record of every vote, requiring mandatory random hand counted audits to verify the accuracy of electronic tallies.

We only have until April 6 to fully mobilize on this. Please forward a link to this action page to everyone else you know. This is the only way to ever conduct an audit we can trust. It will also prohibit the use of secret software and wireless communication devices in voting machines. The recent change in leadership of the Committee on House Administration has created a new opportunity for passage of this vital election integrity measure. Previous constituent meetings in June and August of 2005 were a huge success, generating 24 new co-sponsors on the bill from both parties. In addition, 27 States have now passed voter-verified paper record requirements.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Had Enough?

"White House Memo" Drives a Stake into the Heart of White House Lies
Bob Fertik writes, "Something remarkable happened Monday: the Corporate Media finally got sick of Bush's endless lies about Iraq, and started to tell the truth. The immediate cause was a front-page New York Times story about the "White House Memo," which proved Bush was determined to invade Iraq no matter what. Now we have reached a turning point in our "long march" for Truth. Everyone in the world knows in their heart that Bush lied. Soon everyone will say it out loud: Bush Lied. When millions of Americans say those two simple words - and the media finally joins us - Bush's reign of fear will come to a crashing halt. Let's make that happen now."
http://www.democrats.com/white-house-memo

Truth Seeping Through Media After Ten Months
David Swanson writes, "There is something about this week that feels better than the average one for bringing a child into the world. I have hope that others will have hope, and that this will let them press hard for action. And there is something about bringing a child into the world that makes me want to push harder for a full measure of truth, and not be satisfied with the thrill of seeing bits of truth squeeze through. Someone said: He not busy being born, is busy dying. That certainly goes for democracies."
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/9847

Kit Created to Help Towns, Cities, Counties Pass Impeachment Resolutions
Brattleboro VT has joined nine other towns and cities, five state Democratic parties, and 19 local Democratic committees in passing resolutions urging the impeachment of George Bush and -- in most cases -- Dick Cheney. ImpeachPAC is working with Progressive Democrats of America and local activists to pass similar resolutions around the country, and has created a kit to assist local organizations in the task. Take a look and give it a try. Put your town on the map of the impeachment movement!
http://www.impeachpac.org/resolutions

Calling all Vermonters
Led by the spiritual descendants of the Green Mountain Boys (including carpenter/musician Dan DeWalt), Vermont is making real progress towards impeachment. Their next goal is to persuade their state legislature to formally adopt an impeachment resolution. Send this link to everyone you know in Vermont:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/862004571?ltl=1143521278

Impeachment Movement Gaining Steam
Funds raised by ImpeachPAC: $63,316 from 1,656 donors
Candidates Endorsed by ImpeachPAC: 3
http://impeachpac.org/candidates

Congress Members sponsoring H Res 635: 33
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/635

Senators Supporting Censure: 3
http://www.democrats.com

Americans Favoring Impeachment: between 26 and 53%
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/polling

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Tell Senators on Judiciary Committee to Support Censure on Friday

The Senate Judiciary Committee will take up Senator Feingold's censure proposal on Friday. FireDogLake.com has come up with the idea of faxing members of the Senate Judiciary Committee with these words at the top of your fax: "U.S. Constitution: Do Not Shred."

Here are the FAX numbers for the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:
Arlen Specter, Chairman - Pennsylvania - Fax (202) 228-1229
Orrin G. Hatch - Utah - Fax (202) 224-6331
Patrick J. Leahy - Vermont - Fax (202) 224-3479
Charles E. Grassley - Iowa - Fax (515) 288-5097
Edward M. Kennedy - Massachusetts - Fax (202) 224-2417
Jon Kyl - Arizona - Fax (202) 224-2207
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. - Delaware - Fax (202) 224-0139
Mike DeWine - Ohio - Fax (202) 224-6519
Herbert Kohl - Wisconsin - Fax (202) 224-9787
Jeff Sessions - Alabama - Fax (202) 224-3149
Dianne Feinstein - California - Fax (202) 228-3954
Lindsey Graham - South Carolina - Fax (864) 250-4322
Russell D. Feingold - Wisconsin - Fax (202) 224-2725
John Cornyn - Texas - Fax (972) 239-2110
Charles E. Schumer - New York - Fax (202) 228-3027
Sam Brownback - Kansas - Fax (202) 228-1265
Richard J. Durbin - Illinois - Fax (202) 228-0400
Tom Coburn - Oklahoma - Fax (202) 224-6008
You can sign up for an eFax 30-day trial and fax for free here:
http://home.efax.com/s/r/gen-efax-plus5?VID=31629&CMP=AFC-fax4free

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Tell The Committee Chairman To Speak Up

Senator Arlen Specter will chair the hearing on censure. Specter has repeatedly denounced Bush's illegal wiretapping. But he refuses to do anything to stop Bush from doing it!

Call/fax/email his offices (numbers below) with this simple message:
Speak Up Specter! Censure Bush for illegal wiretapping!

Senate switchboard: 888-355-3588
D.C. office direct line: 202-224-4254
D.C. office fax: 202-228-1229

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Two Months Later, Better Than Never, New York Times Covers White House Memo
AfterDowningStreet.org began demanding coverage of the White House Memo almost two months ago. Finally, the New York Times has written about it, and acknowldged that -- contrary to Bush's claims -- Bush was intent on going to war and not attempting in any way to avoid it.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/9779

Read Jonathan Schwarz on Bush/Blair Excuses in Face of Evidence
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/9806

Read Bob Fertik on how the New York Times is still lying for Bush
http://www.democrats.com/node/8337

Read Editor and Publisher on what Bush and Blair were saying publicly at time of White House Memo
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/9829

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Bi-Partisan Group of Congress Members to Call for Debate on War

A bi-partisan group in the House of Representatives has sent around this "Dear Colleague" letter asking other Members of Congress to join in calling for an open floor debate on the war.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/opendebate.pdf

Urge your Congress Member to sign on!
http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=8621401&type=CO

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There Is Blood on Our Hands

"We the People" must accept the responsibility for the killing of innocent civilians. Our tax dollars are used to fund the illegal war in Iraq and we must now act, collectively, to put an end to this.
http://bloodonourhands.us.com/demonstrate

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A New Book


In the United States, our best journalism is published in books now and talked about on the radio and the internet. If you get your news from a television or a newspaper, you live in another world. This no doubt contributes to how divided we are politically. Dave Lindorff's and Barbara Olshansky's book could help bridge this national divide. The genius of this book is in its brevity. Lindorff and Olshansky have boiled the list of Bush and Cheney's documented crimes down to an amazingly concise summary, one that however gives a real flavor of the goings on in this criminal administration. I work on these issues and still learned a great deal by reading this book. If each of us who knows some of this and is able to process it easily buys ten copies to give to people who get their news from TV, this clear crisp book might just help save this country. -- David Swanson
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/id16.html

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UPCOMING EVENTS

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST GEORGE W. BUSH: The Evidence, and What the
Constitution Dictates

March 28, 7:30 p.m.
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now hosts a panel discussion featuring Michael Ratner, Bill Goodman, Shayana Kadidal, and Maria Lahood, attorneys from the Center for Constitutional Rights and authors of a new book, Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush (Melville House). At The Culture Project, 45 Bleecker Street, NYC (corner of Bleecker and Lafayette Streets) Admission is free - seating is limited - first come, first served LINK

Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings on Censure
March 31, 9:30 a.m.
Senate Dirksen 226
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/9668

March to Redeem the Soul of America
April 1 – 14, 2006 in Texas: Irving – Dallas – Waco – Crawford
ConsumersforPeace.org, Crawford Peace House, Dallas Peace Center, Texas Peace Action
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/9628

SOUTHERN REGIONAL MARCH FOR PEACE IN IRAQ & JUSTICE AT HOME
April 1, Atlanta will host the largest anti-war march in the history of the South. The date, APRIL FIRST, links the 3rd anniversary of the war, March 20, with the 38th anniversary of Dr. King's death, April 4. Activists are organizing contingents from Birmingham, Alabama; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Memphis & Nashville, Tennessee; Tallahassee, Florida and all corners of Georgia.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/7943

Guantanamo on Capitol Hill
On April 6, 5pm
A reading of the Tricycle Theater’s production of Guantánamo in the Rayburn House Office Building, The House of Congress, Capitol Hill, Washington DC.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/9571

Easter in Crawford, Texas
April 10-16
Join Cindy in Crawford. Everyone's welcome!
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/9585

Sign up for these events, find others, and create your own at
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event

See Also UFPJ:
http://unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?caltype=39&lcountry=&state=&search=Search

And PDA:
http://pdamerica.org/events/main-list.php

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Monday, March 27, 2006

Are You On The Government Watch List?

I couldn't watch Condi-lies on MTP yesterday. But as I was flipping around I came across this on PBS Now. Try to find the show times in your area and watch this.


http://www.pbs.org/now/

Are you on the Government watch list?
Are you being watched by the government? If you are, it'd be hard to know for sure. The government maintains various watch lists to catch suspected terrorists and others deemed potentially harmful, but most of these lists are not public, though one exception is the Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals list.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) compiles watch lists based on information they receive from federal intelligence, law enforcement, and other agencies.

A representative from the TSA told NOW Online that the only way to find out if you're on one is by purchasing a boarding ticket. If your name matches one on a watch list, you'll be subject to increased security attention at the airport. (Read about the experience of the ACLU's Anthony Romero.)

If it's just your name that matches, they'll send you off to your flight. The TSA has even developed a clearance protocol to help speed up the process. But if you are the person on the list, you won't be going anywhere.

Of course, that's just one agency's watch list. The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), created in 2004 as the main U.S. terrorism intelligence agency, keeps the largest watch list — reported by the THE WASHINGTON POST to include 325,000 names. The list includes information from other agency reports, such as the CIA, the FBI, and the National Security Agency. Many have criticized the government for not having a single, authoritative, and accurate terrorist watch list; there are reportedly more than 26 terrorism-related databases in use by various agencies. The NCTC is trying to streamline the process.

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Domestic Spying Update

Civil rights groups and some lawmakers were outraged when President Bush admitted authorizing eavesdropping without court approval on American citizens suspected of having links to terrorist organizations. Was the move necessary to protect Americans, or did his actions undermine civil liberties or even circumvent the law? Those are the questions being asked by U.S. citizens, Congress and the intelligence services themselves.

In fact, recently, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced a measure to censure the President for his actions. Read the Senator's press release and the censure resolution. So what is censure exactly? According to the U.S. Senate's Virtual Reference Desk, it is a "formal statement of disapproval." Only once in the nation's history has a President been censured - it was in 1834, when President Andrew Jackson was denounced for refusing to hand over a document requested by the Senate. Other than that, the Senate has censured nine of its own members since 1789.

Feingold is facing harsh criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his resolution. Some object on the grounds that the President has every right to take action as necessary to protect the country from terrorism. Others merely feel that Feingold is wasting his breath on a hopeless cause when there are larger political battles to be fought.

While censure is an unlikely outcome in this case, the story leading up to it still has many concerned. Learn about the controversy below.

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A History of Dissent
The First Amendment reads "Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances."

Of course, our right to protest is not unrestricted. The Supreme Court has handed down decisions that limit certain expressions, creating a very complicated area of constitutional law. Conduct (picketing, demonstrating, etc.) can be restricted to a greater degree than plain speech. Some reasons that government might restrict protest include: public safety, maintaining the public peace, prevention of violence, prevention of a threat of violence, and protection of property.

In a public forum, governments may restrict expression with "time, place, and manner regulations." However, restrictions cannot be based on the content of the speech, and must show that the regulation serves a significant government interest and leaves ample alternatives for expression. The regulation cannot be "substantially broader than necessary to achieve the government's interest."

Activists have developed many different means of expressing dissent over the years. Read below about some of the most powerful examples of protest in America.

Civil Rights protester
Civil Rights Battle

One of the most unique tools of the civil rights movement was the silent protest. In 1917 in New York City, a silent parade was staged in protest of the East St. Louis, Illinois massacre and recent lychings in the south. Protesters dressed in their finest clothes, and to the sound of nothing but muffled drums, carried picket signs as they proceeded along the parade route. As reported in the NEW YORK AGE in 1917:

"They marched without uttering one word or making a single gesticulation and protested in respectful silence against the reign of mob law, segregation, "Jim Crowism" and many other indignities to which the race is unnecessarily subjected in the United States."
Read more about the NAACP-organized silent parade from The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

In 1960, "Jim Crow" laws throughout the South continued to segregate people by race in public places, including a lunch counter at a F.W. Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina. On a February afternoon, four African American students sat down there to order lunch. When asked to leave, they stayed where they were, beginning one of the first sustained sit-ins, which then "ignited a youth-led movement to challenge injustice and racial inequality throughout the South." Their passive protest brought increased awareness to the injustice of Jim Crow laws, and the eventual desegregation of the Woolworth lunch counter. For more on "Sitting for Justice," visit the Web site of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Suffrage Parade
Suffrage and Women's Liberation

In the winter of 1917, Alice Paul led the National Women's Party to picket the White House in hopes that President Woodrow Wilson would support a Constitutional amendment giving all women the suffrage, the right to vote. During the months they spent picketing, the protesters were subjected first to verbal and physical assault from spectators, and later police arrest on charges such as obstruction of traffic. Eventually, Alice Paul herself was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 7 months in prison, during which she embarked on a hunger strike. She was released after being jailed for 5 weeks, and finally in 1920, women's right to vote became the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

The battle for equal rights for women has continued over the years. In 1968, the feminist group New York Radical Women targeted the Miss America Pageant for protest. This was one of the first events to bring attention to the emerging Women's Liberation Movement, as four hundred protesters gathered on the Atlantic City boardwalk outside the convention center where the pageant was being held. Protesters threw items such as dish detergent, false eyelashes, wigs, high heels, bras and girdles into the "Freedom Trash Can" but although rumors of the items being burned circulated, the so-called "bra burners" set nothing on fire. As reported on the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site, "the law-abiding protesters had not been able to get a fire permit."

Protesting War in Iraq
Peace Protests

Around the time the Vietnam war draft was announced, people around the country from college campuses, middle-class suburbs, labor unions, and government institutions began to organize protests against the war, the first prominent rally happening in 1965. Over the next few years, anti-war rallies, speeches, demonstrations, and concerts continued all over the country, remaining powerful for the duration of the conflict. As described in THE OXFORD COMPANION TO AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY, diverse tactics were used:

"...legal demonstrations, grassroots organizing, congressional lobbying, electoral challenges, civil disobedience, draft resistance, self-immolations, political violence."

In 2003, anti-war activists across the country marched against the U.S.-led war on Iraq. As was reported at the time by the CHARLESTON POST AND COURIER:

"Since the outbreak of war, peace demonstrations have spread to dozens of American cities large and small in one of the widest outpourings of anti-government protesting in many years. Antiwar activists have blocked traffic, sat in at federal buildings, prayed at somber candlelight vigils, and laid down on sidewalks to symbolize the war deal.... Nearly all protests have been peaceful, though scuffling with police broke out on a few occasions."

In February of 2003 in New York City, antiwar demonstrators were prohibited to march past the United Nations complex or anywhere else in Manhattan by a federal judge ruling. The judge said the organizers would have to settle for a stationary rally five blocks north of the complex, saying that free-speech rights were adequately addressed in this counteroffer.

Protesting the FTAA
The Globalization Debate

In recent years, protests against globalization have attracted a lot of media attention. Events in Seattle, Quebec City, and Miami, for example, have brought worldwide attention to the fight against globalization and free trade agreements.

At World Trade Organization talks in Seattle in December 1999, more than 100,000 protesters marched on the conference. Most demonstrations were peaceful, but there was a core group of anarchists seeking confrontation with police.

At the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in April of 2001, riot police braced for violence, and reportedly fired rubber bullets and tear gas, and turned water cannons on demonstrators who took over streets, started fires, broke shop windows and tore down a concrete barrier.

Most recently, last November in Miami at the FTAA summit, unarmed demonstrators, local residents, and journalists were said to be assualted with tear gas, pepper spray, beanbag projectiles, electric-shock tasers, and other police weapons. NOW's "Criminalizing Dissent?" examines what happened in Miami from the perspective of protesters and police.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Support Sen. Feingolds Censure of George HELP FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOM BEFORE YOU HAVE NONE!!!!


Call your Senator and insist they support Sen. Russ Feingolds censure of George Bush.

On Friday, 31 March 2006 the US Senate will hold hearings on Senator Russ Feingold's (WI) resolution to censure the President for his illegal domestic surveillance. Read the Truthout article: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032606Y.shtml

Please call your Senator this week and insist they support the Feingold resolution to censure. Please also encourage your friends and relatives to do the same. We can not continue to allow the Bush administration to think of itself as a monarchy.

Locate and contact your Senators through this link: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

In Peace,

Gold Star Families for Peace

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Go to Original

Feingold's Standing Boosted Among Voters
The Associated Press

Sunday 26 March 2006

Wahsington - While only two Democrats in the Senate have embraced Sen. Russ Feingold's call for censuring President Bush, the idea is increasing his standing among many Democratic voters as he ponders a bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2008.

Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, insists his proposal has nothing to do with his political ambitions. But he does challenge Democrats who argue it will help energize Republicans.

"Those Democrats said that within two minutes of my announcing my idea," Feingold said in a telephone interview last week. "I don't see any serious evidence of that."

A Newsweek poll taken March 16-17 found that 50 percent of those surveyed opposed censuring Bush while 42 percent supported it, but among Democrats, 60 percent favored the effort.

Feingold's resolution would censure the president for authorizing a warrantless surveillance program, which the senator contends is illegal. Co-sponsors are Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Barbara Boxer of California.

The White House argues that Bush was authorized to order eavesdropping on American citizens under his wartime powers as commander in chief.

Feingold said his sole purpose was to hold Bush accountable, but he argued that it's also good politics.

"These Democratic pundits are all scared of the Republican base getting energized, but they're willing to pay the price of not energizing the Democratic base," he said. "It's an overly defensive and meek approach to politics."

Some Democrats have accused Feingold of putting his 2008 presidential ambitions over helping Democrats try to recapture the House and Senate in this year's midterm elections. Should Feingold run, his opposition to the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act and the spying program would help position him as the liberal candidate.

Many also see his effort as a distraction at a time when the Bush administration was on the ropes over Iraq and a since-scuttled port deal.

"It just takes us off discussions we ought to be having in this country on issues that really matter in people's lives," said Rep. Sherrod Brown, a liberal Democrat from Ohio who is running for Senate.

Some Republicans have been thanking Feingold for what they consider a political fumble.

"This is such a gift," Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show. The National Review came to the same conclusion. In an online editorial titled, "Feingold's Gift to the GOP," the conservative magazine wrote that Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman would hug Feingold if given the chance.

The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing Friday on Feingold's resolution.

Mehlman, visiting Wisconsin last week, skipped the hug and instead criticized Feingold. That reinforced an RNC radio ad buy in the state, in which a narrator says, "Call Russ Feingold and ask him why he's more interested in censuring the president than protecting our freedom."

Feingold's response, essentially, is bring it on.

"I welcome their attempt to make a campaign issue of the question of whether there will be accountability for the president's breaking the law," he said. "They will remind people every minute that the president thumbed his nose at the law."

Saturday, March 25, 2006

A Moment of Silence IS NOT ENOUGH by Sara Rich

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032006S.shtml
A Moment of Silence Is Not Enough
By Sara Rich
t r u t h o u t | Statement

Monday 20 March 2006

On March 18th Sara Rich, mother of an AWOL US soldier, gave this address at an anti-war rally in Eugene, Oregon.

Hello - I came to you in September praying for peace as I was bound by the fear of my daughter's impending redeployment to Iraq.

WHO SAYS LIGHTNING DOESN'T STRIKE TWICE? We got the date for her redeployment 9 months before her entitled 18 months decompression time. Her commanding officer forced her to sign a waiver of her rights to decompression time between deployments and gave her a date 11 months after she returned from Iraq the first time. Then, a few weeks later, she got her readiness papers - that 6 months after she hopefully returned from Iraq the second time, she was scheduled to go over for yet another year. Making it three deployments to Iraq in less that four years.

All of our hearts were heavy. Three days before her actual redeployment, she was packed and ready to go, she had her car keys in her hand, and she turned to me and said, "I don't think I can do this." I was shocked but knew any type of coercion on my part would not help, so I said, "Are you serious?" She replied, "I just can't do it, Mom." She could not go back there to the misery. She told me that being separated from her family and living and breathing Army for a year at a time in a war zone was a constant source of distress for her. Where nobody cares whether you live or die as long as you do what you are told and they look good afterwards. Nor could she handle another deployment, dealing with the daily hour-to-hour sexual harassment that she endured from 99% of her male officers and fellow soldiers. The isolation and fear of being attacked, harassed, molested and raped was a huge part of her life in Iraq. She was always full of anxiety and stress just keeping herself safe when her commanding officers would show up banging on her door in the middle of the night, intoxicated and wanting to have sex with her. The intimidation and sexual harassment that our female soldiers are enduring is leading to massive stress and in some cases even death for our military women in Iraq. They are not supported but shamed when they bring these to the attention of their superiors.

I TOOK A DEEP BREATH and I told her either way she is my hero and I will support her decision. She decided that she was going to go AWOL and to leave the Army.

That the US is in Iraq for something that is pointless was a common feeling for many of the soldiers she was stationed with. (Here's were she went off.) The US is not the world police. Why can't we focus on the multiple crises we have in our own country? The hurricanes that took thousands of lives. Or why not go to Afghanistan, where there are actually terrorists? It is abominable that we are sending our troops over there and paying them a pittance - the average soldier that is married and has a family to support gets about $2,000 a month, and at the same time we are sending contractors from Blackwater over to do the same security jobs and paying them $15,000 a month to be there and risk their lives. This makes no sense, especially to our soldiers.

She kept asking, and now I'm asking you, WHAT IS THE PURPOSE? This is an outrage and is just adding to the growing evidence that we are losing thousands of lives and causing permanent injuries to our soldiers, for what? Oil? Money? Why are we not trying to educate the Iraqis, if liberating them is so important.

My daughter tells me, "Mom, while I was in Iraq, the children were never in school, they were out in the street begging for candy. They were never being watched or supervised, just allowed to run wild. I was never sure what we were or still are trying to accomplish in Iraq. I never saw the US do anything to make things better while I was there. My unit would go out on useless missions and end up being shot at in the dark by our supposed allies because communication between the US and our allies was so poor. We need to get the hell out of Iraq and let them solve their own problems. Most Iraqis don't want us there anyway. We should have done this years ago, but I guess our government saw it as making us money in some weird way. I think the reason that post traumatic stress syndrome is so huge is because this was an invasion/war without a purpose. NO one benefited from us being there. Except that Saddam Hussein got a free ticket out of Iraq.... Why do we think we should be liberating all these countries when we can't even feed or house our own children in the United States. How about working on oppression and racism here in the US? Maybe we need someone to come liberate us!!" I could tell that my daughter felt liberated herself and finally touched on some of her anger for the Army as she went on. Here are some more thoughts for us here today.

Listen closely to me now.... We Need to Bring Our Soldiers Home NOW and Take Care of Them When They Get Here. The most controversial part of this, for many people, is the "Now." We are moving into the fourth year of a war that should never have happened. The largest air assault since the invasion of Iraq three years ago has just been launched by the US.

The problem remains: This war was wrong from the beginning and continuing it will not make it right. A continuation - and now escalation - of the war in Iraq will only lead to more deaths among US troops and Iraqi children, women and men. It will make us less safe in the world. It will mean more troops suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We also need to take care of the troops when they get home, giving them the support - medical, psychological and economic - that they need. The administration has failed at this as well.

Some say a phased withdrawal is not a good strategy. Partial withdrawal of the troops will only leave those who remain in Iraq at greater risk. Phased withdrawal was attempted in the Vietnam War, resulting in an increased death rate for troops who remained in Vietnam as others were "phased out." The safest thing for our troops, the best thing for our nation, and the best thing for the people of Iraq is to get the troops home now. Military people with whom we have spoken say that all troops could be pulled back into Kuwait in a matter of a month or so; and from there, planes and boats could bring them on home.

I WOULD TELL YOU THAT ... Congress is responsible for allowing the president to take the nation to war; Congress continues to fund the war, which allows it to continue; and Congress has failed to show leadership and take action to bring the war to an end. We are calling on Congress to show some leadership, take a stand and bring our troops home now. Although it is true that the president ordered the troops into Iraq, and the president used and continues to use fear of terrorism and of Al Qaeda to try to justify his policies and to keep the American people from asking the questions that need to be asked, Congress has been complicit with the president's plan. They have gone along with George Bush's war plan and have consistently failed to challenge and question his actions. It is past time for both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to show some courage, speak out and bring our troops home now.

Leaving Iraq now is the best way to honor those who have already sacrificed in this war. The President would like us to think that leaving now would be dishonoring those who have already died, those who have already been wounded, those who have sacrificed so much. But more deaths, more wounded, more troops suffering from PTSD, more families suffering both here and in Iraq will not honor the sacrifices that have been made.

Yet there are those who would ask for a moment of silence. Tell that to the grieving mother, the young wife, the orphaned child of the 2,314 dead soldiers this war has caused. They will listen to that silence FOREVER. A "moment of silence" isn't enough! Many politicians want to offer a moment of silence at times like this, "to honor the sacrifice of our service men and women." A "moment of silence" is not what is needed from our political leaders, who are allowing the violence in Iraq to escalate with the recently launched large-scale US air assault. Politicians who want to honor the fallen and support our troops need to show some leadership and speak out to bring our troops home NOW!

YOU here today are part of a massive groundswell of opposition. My family is asking you to reach out to friends who have not yet taken action, and encourage them to get involved now. Actions that can be taken: War tax resistance, counter military recruitment work, letters to newspapers, supporting peace candidates and delegations, bringing Iraqi women speakers here, full page newspaper ads, speaking out in their own circles and showing that dissent is patriotic. And as we spiritually pray for peace, let's start demanding peace from our nation's leaders. Demand an end to the killing and the violence. We have over 16,000 injured soldiers who are receiving sub-standard care. Now is not the time for passivity. Now is the time to write the letters, make some noise.... Do not be complacent anymore. Do something every day to demand peace and the safe return of everyone of our soldiers NOW!

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Friday, March 24, 2006

Good News From Iraq?


Schools Also on the Front Lines in Iraq

By Alexandra Zavis and Bushra Juhi / Associated Press

The day began like any other at Dijla Primary School in Baghdad's posh Mansour district. Rows of students in neat gray and white uniforms gathered in the courtyard to raise the Iraqi flag and sing the national anthem. They read passages from religious texts, then cheerfully went to their classrooms.

Headmistress Wajida Sharhan was working in her office when a mortar shell slammed into a second-floor fifth grade classroom.

"The sound of the explosion was so powerful, as if heaven and earth collided," she said. "I couldn't open my eyes because of the dust. I heard loud screams from the children, and a girl came into my office with her arm nearly cut off."

The torrent of violence that has swept Baghdad and surrounding provinces since U.S. forces invaded three years ago, and surged since last month's attack on a Shiite shrine, has left little unscathed — even schools. What were once sanctuaries of learning have become places of fear, undercutting efforts to rebuild the dilapidated education system left by Saddam Hussein.

Bombs, rockets, mortar and machine-gun fire killed 64 school children in the four months ending Feb. 28 alone, according to a report by the Education Ministry. At least 169 teachers and 84 other employees died in the same period.

"We are in a society of insecurity," said Education Minister Abdul Fallah al-Sudani. "Schools are not excluded from the suffering of our society."

It's unclear why the Dijla school was struck last October.

But dozens of other schools were targeted in the weeks before December parliamentary elections, when their use as polling stations put them on the front line of insurgents' efforts to derail the vote. More recently, schools have been caught in the wave of sectarian killing unleashed by the Feb. 22 destruction of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra.

In one case, gunmen pulled over a school bus carrying about 25 high school girls in a mostly Sunni neighborhood of Baghdad on March 8, shooting and killing the driver in front of his terrified passengers. In another, a security guard caught a would-be suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his waist as he mingled with children entering a primary school in a mostly Shiite neighborhood.

Iraq once had one of the best education systems in the Middle East, but its schools and universities crumbled under two decades of war and neglect. Teaching methods became outdated, enrollment dropped, and adult literacy fell to less than 60 percent — one of the lowest rates in the Arab world.

The system has been a focus of U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq. Nearly 3,000 schools have been refurbished, more than 8 million textbooks distributed and 30,000 teachers received training since 2003, according to U.S. government figures.

Al-Sudani, the education minister, has ambitious plans to modernize the curriculum, restock libraries and put computers in every school. But the unrelenting bloodshed hampers progress.

After Saddam's fall, Dijla Primary School received a thorough spruce-up. Walls were painted, air conditioners and water coolers installed, and students got new paper and pencils.

But when Sharham, 61, ran upstairs after the shell landed, what she saw was bedlam. Desks and chairs were torn to pieces. Shoes, clothes, books and sandwiches were scattered everywhere. And pools of blood stained the floor.

Panicked children streamed downstairs, dust and blood covering their faces. The surrounding streets filled with desperate parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles calling children's names.

The blast wounded 10 students, and 11-year-old Hassan Esam was killed. His photograph hangs in Sharhan's office — a poignant reminder of that October day.

Dijla closed for a few weeks, but staff and parents rallied to get children back in class. Every day mothers accompany their children to school and wait in the dining room until it is time to take them home. On a blackboard in the hallway is written: "Forgive your enemy, nothing torments him more."

Shahad Haidr, the shy 11-year-old in a bright red head scarf whose arm was nearly sliced off, is back and studying hard to become a pediatrician. But classmate Saad Hassanein, who lost a leg in the blast, refuses to enter the building.

Saad did her midyear exams in a car parked behind the school and is now in Jordan, learning to use a prosthetic leg.

"Those who did this are merciless people," said Saad's mother, who refuses to give her name for fear the family will be targeted. "I don't know what will happen, or where she will continue her studies, because things are unstable in Iraq."

Attacks and threats shut 417 schools between Oct. 27 and Feb. 28 — most only for a few weeks, but some longer — disrupting the education of thousands of children. The violence was concentrated in the capital and the volatile provinces of Anbar, Diyala and Babil, according to the Education Ministry report.

In the most dangerous areas, some parents prefer to keep their children home. Nawal, a first grade teacher in the tough Abu Ghraib neighborhood, said parents have pulled 12 children from her class since September.

The Education Ministry can arrange transfers, but there is still the trip to and from school to negotiate — a gauntlet of bombs, gunfire and kidnappers. At least 47 children were abducted for ransom in the period covered by the report.

It takes Nawal, 42, two hours to get to work. A few weeks ago, a roadside bomb narrowly missed the minibus she shares with other teachers. Days later, bullets whizzed by them as gunmen fired on an American patrol.

"My colleagues weren't as brave as me," she said. "They started crying."

Many of her students have seen loved ones hurt and killed and struggle to concentrate on their school work, she said. One bright 7-year-old is the daughter of a feared insurgent and is isolated by students and staff alike.

Nawal, a Shiite Muslim, gave only one name for fear of reprisal in the mostly Sunni neighborhood where she works.

Some schools have resorted to armed guards for protection, and the Education Ministry has also appealed for help from the police and the army.

"Personally," said ministry spokesman Mohammed Hanoun, "I am worried about my children, my friend's children and all Iraqi children."