Flags for Iraqi Civilians

Several years ago, I decided I wanted to make some kind of memorial for all the Iraqi civilians killed in this war and occupation of Iraq. At that time, it was estimated that there were 80,000 to 100,000 civilians killed in the war. I made up a ‘flag’ of white paper that had a peace dove printed on it and I put on the bottom of the paper:

THIS IS IN REMEMBERANCE OF IRAQI CIVILIAN CASUALTIES. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. MAY THEIR COUNTRY FIND PEACE.

I called these the “Iraqi Civilian Peace Flags”. (At this point, every flag represents more than 100 civilians casualties, unfortunately.) This design and saying was approved by the WNC Peace Coalition, and they felt that we should add ‘flags’ for US and coalition deaths. At that time, there were under 2,000 deaths. We decided to make up blue ‘flags’ for the US and coalition deaths. Originally, we had one flag per one hundred deaths from the war and occupation of Iraq. Today, however, we are not able to keep up with that number. There are many more than a hundred deaths per ‘flag’. We have about 28 flags for US and coalition troops and about 1600 for Iraqi civilian casualties. It is estimated that between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the US/UK invasion.

The stakes the flags are on is three feet high and is actually a survey’s stake. Those were donated by a friend of mine.

These flags have been displayed at Unitarian Universalist church in Asheville in March of 2005, 2006 and 2007. The picture above is from the display this year. I have written blog posts from prior years. They were shown at Unitarian Universalist church in Black Mountain in May of 2006. This year, they went down to the Unitarian Universalist church in Clemson, South Carolina for a display.

The women who picked up the Iraqi Civilian Peace Flags to take to South Carolina told me that her son served in Gulf War I. He had traveled from Kuwait to Basra and saw the shooting gallery – and notice that the ammo boxes that the Iraqis had said MADE IN THE USA. Rather does underline the real motivation for wars, doesn’t it?

Anyway, they had the flags up for over two weeks down there and had this report in the press:

Dozens of tiny flags on metal stems were stuck into the grass, in a random pattern. A few flags, in front, were baby blue but all the others were white.

In front of them was a sign affixed to a wooden stake, also stuck in the grass.

“Each flag represents more than 100 deaths,” the sign stated in capital letters, stark black.

Another, smaller sign stood next to it. That one announced that the blue flags represented United States troops, the white ones Iraqi civilian casualties.

Farther back was one last sign, much taller than the others, standing stiffly like a general amid his troops.

“With these flags we sadly commemorate Iraqi war deaths,” it said.

I squatted to look at one of the blue flags near my feet. It had a black outline of a dove, with an olive branch in its mouth. In the corner was a tiny stars-and-stripes emblem.

Small letters whispered the message:

“This is a remembrance of US military casualties in Iraq. May they rest in Peace. May their country find Peace.”

….Then I looked out over the sea of white flags. There were so many, I couldn’t count them. They stretched across the grass to the other side of the church parking lot. Each one was encased in a plastic sleeve, still dotted with water droplets from an overnight rain.

They carried the same dove, the same “Rest in Peace” message.

A chilly wind stirred the flags, making them flutter slightly, like origami paper cranes about to take flight.

I hope there are more places to display the flags and I hope that someday other groups join me in doing the same thing. I could make more flags for them – I even have more stakes to put the flags on – but it is too much for me to store and care for and move from one place to another. It would be awesome to have a display that has one flag for every 100 civilian deaths – and 37 flags for the US and coalition deaths. Both these numbers will rise.

Sadly.

This war is illegal, immoral and very, very stupid. More information on Iraq Today, and a picture memorial of WHAT WE’VE DONE.

Iraq Refugee Crisis

The World’s Fastest Growing Refugee Crisis

“Iraqis who are unable to flee the country are now in a queue, waiting their turn to die,” is how one Iraqi journalist summarizes conditions in Iraq today. While the US debates whether a civil war is raging in Iraq, thousands of Iraqis face the possibility of death every day all over the country. Refugees International has met with dozens of Iraqis who have fled the violence and sought refuge in neighboring countries. All of them, whether Sunni, Shi’a, Christian or Palestinian, had been directly victimized by armed actors. People are targeted because of religious affiliation, economic status, and profession – many, such as doctors, teachers, and even hairdressers, are viewed as being “anti-Islamic.” All of them fled Iraq because they had genuine and credible fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

National Call-In Day: Tell President Bush to Increase Funding for Iraqi Refugees

We were wondering if you might possibly want to promote our National Call-In Day for Iraqi Refugees on June 19th. We're hoping that Americans can call attention to the 4 million Iraqis who have been forced out of their homes. We would really appreciate it if you could support us in any way you can. Here's the link to our National Call-In page.

Our homepage (www.refugeesinternational.org) is a good source of information for everything we're working on. Currently, we have a mission out to Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria assessing the refugee situation, interviewing refugees, and speaking to NGO's to get a better idea of how the situation is going. Here's a link to our Iraqi mission page.

Collateral Genocide in Iraq

This was posted on Daily Kos last week:

I follow the news on Iraq closely, and I blog about it regularly on the blog Iraq Today, which is a follow up to the blog Today in Iraq. This blog has been around since June 2003, and I have been either a daily reader since then, and started blogging at these blogs in 2005. Doing a blog on Iraq means I read lots of sources of information on Iraq, and I have developed a reasonable idea of what sources are good, which ones are bogus, and which ones are questionable.

I know, beyond doubt, what is happening today in Iraq is genocide.

Today, there are at least a half-million excessive deaths in Iraq since the US invasion in March 2003. The actual death toll maybe between one million and two million. And, it continues to go up. There are about two million refuges outside the country of Iraq, and another two million internally displaced. Their homes are still being invaded.

Their children are still being killed by US forces.

Their homes are still being destroyed by airstrikes.

They often live in tents with no water, electricity, jobs, health care or education for the children.

AND FOR WHAT, FOR WHAT, IS THIS BEING DONE?

And today I read a report called “Collateral Genocide” written by Mike Ferner at Online Journal.

He starts his report by discussing what constitutes a genocide:

Two elements are necessary to commit the crime of genocide: 1) the mental element, meaning intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, and 2) the physical element, which includes any of the following: killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births; or forcibly transferring children to another group.

Considering that such clear language comes from a UN treaty which is legally binding on our country, things could start getting a little worrisome -- especially when you realize that since our government declared economic and military warfare on Iraq we’ve killed well over one million people, fast approaching two.

He does a short review of what the US-inspired UN sanctions did to Iraq, and that alone would probably qualify for a genocide. But the purpose of this diary is to present some of the facts of what is happening now in Iraq. The water is not drinkable. The unemployment rate is sky-high (this article claims it is three times higher than the great depression). Electricity is available for an hour a day, or maybe on a good day three or four hours a day. Sometimes, there is no electricity for days at a time. The summer temperature is over 110 degrees on a regular basis. The hospitals are not functioning very well. There is often no medicines, no gaze, no sheets for the beds, and sometimes no beds. Patient lie on the floor, the dirty bloody floor. The entire population is overwhelmed with grief and has PTSD.

Mr. Ferner has translated the data for Iraq into US population figures:

Reflect for a minute on the grief brought by a single loved one’s death. Then open your heart to the reality of life if we suffered casualties comparable to those endured by the people of Iraq.

• In the former cities of Atlanta, Denver, Boston, Seattle, Milwaukee, Fort Worth, Baltimore, San Francisco, Dallas and Philadelphia every single person is dead.
• In Vermont, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, Kansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Oregon, South Carolina and Colorado every single person is wounded.
• The entire populations of Ohio and New Jersey are homeless, surviving with friends, relatives or under bridges as they can.
• The entire populations of Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky have fled to Canada or Mexico.
• Over the past three years, one in four U.S. doctors has left the country.
• Last year alone 3,000 doctors were kidnapped and 800 killed.

In short, nobody “out there” is coming to save us. We are in hell.

He finishes by saying this:

Of course our government didn’t intend to commit genocide, it just sort of happened. The Iraqis kept getting in the way while we were trying to complete the mission. Mistakes were made as we were building democracy, but surely no genocide was intended. After all, we are the international deciders of what is and what isn’t genocide, and we know full well that intent is a requirement.

It was only “collateral genocide” and lord knows we did our very best to avoid it.

Did they really do their best to avoid it? I am not that charitable to the bush/cheney administration and the democrats that enable them. It seems to me that they do not care one bit about the suffering of the Iraqi people, to the point that our military is trying to start up a jobs program for Iraqis (by re-opening government run factories) and our State Department insists should remain closed – because they have a different idea of what path Iraq’s economic development should follow. I frankly see NO concern from any of our elected officials about the health care crisis that is engulfing Iraq – with the latest being that the cholera infections have started early this year. Iraqi children are dying by the truck-load – from diarrhea, pneumonia, and birth defects. I have lost track of where I first read this information, but it is without a doubt sickening that our country is letting children CONTINUE to die from easily treated diseases in Iraq.

There is one Representative who is working on Iraq Refugee problems, and that has been written about here at Daily Kos. The vast majority of our elected officials, and the vast majority of Americans, do not know or care about the genocide that they have caused in Iraq.

On the Iraq Today blog, you can find reliable information and comments, and a link to helping Iraqi refugees, who are in dire need of your help.

MAY MERCY COME AND WASH AWAY WHAT WE’VE DONE.

Picture of Iraqi child

An Iraqi child, dressed in a costume as a white dove symbolizing peace, perform during the fourth anniversary of Iraq's most powerful militia, the Mahdi Army, in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, June 11, 2007.

Writing on the fingers on the poster in the back read, from the top, Terrorism, Sectarianism, Occupation.

(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Another picture of an Iraqi child

Iraqi boys dressed as angels distribute candies during a Sh'ite celebration in Baghdad's Sadr City June 11, 2007.

Residents took part in a parade marking the third anniversary of the founding of the Shi'ite Mehdi Army.

REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ)

I thought these pictures were so sweet. They look like little pixies.

Hometown Baghdad - "One of Thousands"

US Senate Committe Meeting

US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Meeting

June 12, 2007

This was an open meeting on Intelligence and Terrorism Ideology Report, with three outside experts giving their opinion and answering questions from the Senators. This hearing did not cover intelligence sources inside our own government (is there any? I wonder.) It was an open hearing. There were five Code Pinkers there when it started, and I think nine by the ending. The chairman was Senator Rockefeller and the vice-chair was Senator Bond. The focus was on Islamic terrorists, with no mention of Christian terrorists or any other kind. Timothy McVeigh just does not rate. The opening comments from Senator Rockefeller said that he is concerned that the progress in capturing and killing terrorists has been undermined and that the rate of terrorism has metastasized since Afghanistan. He would be correct in his perceptions.

Rockefeller commented on two recent studies. The first one reported that we are not “winning” this war on terrorism, indeed terrorism is spreading. This report was from the State Department Annual Country Reports on Terrorism, done in conjunction with the National Counterterrorism Center. There has been a 25% increase in attacks and a 40% increase in deaths from terrorism just from 2005. (They obviously define terrorism as violence by non-state actors, and do not include violence by establish militaries or even militias or private security contractors that they happen to like. For example, the shootings by Blackwater personnel in Iraq of unarmed civilians would not be considered terrorism.)

The second report said that Muslim Americans are diverse in their attitudes and mostly assimilated into our society. They reject Islamic extremism for the most part, but there is a minority (13%) that agrees that suicide bombings of civilians to protect Islam can be justified, at least sometimes. And about 53% agree that it has been harder to be a Muslim since 9/11. Only 25% believe that the US war on terror is a sincere effort to reduce terrorism.

Then Senator Rockefeller went on to explain that he felt we needed to understand as much as we could about what causes an individual to get involved in violent terrorism.

This meeting DID NOT cover what behaviors and actions and the amazing amount of violence that the US authorities are taking to inspire people to respond with more violence. It was all about what cultural or social factors might inspire other people to become violent. It was rather like “we” had NOTHING TO DO with the growing amount of suicide bombings around the world, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rockefeller commented that it is hard to understand why they would want to kill innocent civilians without a hint of irony.

Vice-chair Senator Bond started out by blaming the media. He felt that they were encouraging more terrorism by not reporting what the US military says was happening in Iraq. He said we have to focus on ideology front and convince them we have good intentions (like hell we do) and to back it up with specifics which he said we are not doing enough of. Well, he’s right on the last one. However, if we stop bombing and invading their countries, THAT may go a long way towards fighting the ideology front, in my opinion.

The first speaker was Stephen Ulph from the Jamestown Foundation. He said his purpose was to research and map out the ideology from inception to acting out and that the ideology struggle is the heart of jihadist culture. He said on our side, those who are fighting jihadists think they are fighting individuals when they are actually fighting an ideology. He said his research showed that the majority of materials on jihadist chat forums and sites are under “doctrinal” or “cultural” sections. They are not under news commentary or audio-visual propaganda. He did not define what constitutes “propaganda” in his views, nor did he comment on what may be driving people to look at these doctrinal or cultural sections.

From his hand out about the jihadists organize and train recruits into being radicals:

They show how the mujahideen attract the uncommitted broad armchair sympathizer, detach him from his social and intellectual environment, undermine his self-image hitherto as an observant Muslim, introduce what the ideologues claims is “real Islam”, re-script history in terms of a perennial conflict, centralize jihad as his Islamic identity, train him not only militarily but also socially and psychologically for jihad and doctrinally defend the behavior of the mujahideen against criticism.

Sound awfully close to me to “basic training” in our military. This speaker says that this ideology and its propagation have been going on for decades, and all of this is open source information. He said that this is being fought for the minds of the Muslim youths.

He did not speak to what motives or causes might be behind this behavior at all. I personally feel that violence is always wrong. I also feel there is no excuse for violence, but there are explanations. His presentation focused on how the jihadists were promoting violence, not on why they might be inspired to do so. But in his handouts, he did advocate for taking sides and fighting the jihadists teachings and attempts to recruit Muslim youths. He feels we need to tackle the production process that goes into making jihadists. He said in his handout that we need “to protect ourselves from the slow erosion of our commonly held values which alone can safeguard our peace and our freedom”. He is referring to the erosion by the jihadists, not by Homeland Security and the Military Commissions Act, which came from our own Congress, not from Islamic jihadists.

The second speaker was Kim Cragin from the Rand Corporation. Her topic was “understanding terrorist ideology”. Her area of research is to look at what motivates individuals to become terrorists as well as what influences communities to sympathize with terrorist groups. Her handout states that there is variation in what motivates individuals and groups across countries and communities. She attempted to answer two questions – how have al Qaeda reached out, and how has communities responded?

The current al Qaeda had its founding in the war in Afghanistan, where Arab fighters were recruited to fight Soviet forces there. (No mention was made of US support and arms for those fighters.) One aspect of this was publication of al Jihad magazine, and other publications, that said it was a religious duty to support the Afghan jihad. The same people who were behind this effort also tried to indoctrinate them in what some refer to as the violent Salafi jihadi movement, which formed the core of the development of Islamic terrorism in the later 1980’s. Most Salafi leaders are not violent – but all feel that a lack of Islamic law is the basis of society’s problems like poverty and corruption.

One component of their philosophy is that they believe only God can make laws, and that any humans or governments who do so are “infidels” and therefore true Muslims should wage jihad against them. However, these same groups do not have the solutions to today’s problems faced by today’s governments. (I would add – neither do the current governments, although I suppose it is possible they could do a worse job than they are currently doing.) The developing terrorists were also concerned with the significance of regional factors, such as the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, which seems to be the basis of the anti-Americanism that developed in the 1990’s from this group.

This speaker pointed out that Hamas has come out strongly against al Qaeda, because of their attacks on Hamas for participating in an election and because al Qaeda has harmed many civilians. Hamas, no doubt, feels the same way towards Israel and the USA for harming so many civilians. I have NOT found any concern on their part about the Israeli civilians that they have harmed. And I have NOT found any REAL concern on the part of Israel or the USA for the civilians that they have harmed. Each group is extremely concerned about the harm inflicted by someone else, particularly when it is harming someone of their own group. As to concern for the harm they are inflicting – well, that mainly seems to be absent.

This speaker said that al Qaeda has tried to keep the various fractions together across the Muslim world in the Middle East and in northern Africa, with various degrees of success. The main points for cohesion to al Qaeda are anti-Americanism and corruption in local governments.

This speaker claimed that ideology, politics and poverty all serve as motivators to terrorism to varying degrees. She also mentions in her handout that the process of radicalization of Islamic terrorists is similar to the process of recruitment of students into cults here in the USA. She based this on the research of Phillip Zimbardo who did the Stanford prison experiment. The Stanford prison experiment demonstrated what happens to human behavior under certain conditions, and how the “system” can produce abusive and cruel behavior in otherwise normal people.

This speaker also states in her handouts that political and economic grievances are what justifies the use of violence to resolve problems for these groups. That is also true for our country.

The third and final speaker was Daniel Kimmage of Radio Free Europe. He spoke about Sunni insurgents in Iraq, and they will have a full report published later this month. He spoke about the terrorist ideology, and the several factors they have identified. This includes the legitimacy of violence; license to target opponents (Muslim or non-Muslim); a global struggle between faith and unbelief; a backwards looking utopia; license to target Muslims who have strayed; and the need to target the USA, Israel, and “apostate” rulers in the Muslim world. The bush/cheney administration and many of our elected officials also share many of these values. Unfortunately.

This speaker says the number of al Qaeda is small, but their violence against civilians and their exploitation of media has made them more of an international prominence. He also stated that terrorism springs from “social and economic problems, misgovernment, and an ideology that presents itself as a panacea”. And that the US became a target because of “the perception that it supports and uses corrupt Arab regimes”. This would be a perception rooted in reality, in my opinion.

This speaker talks about the man fissures within the overall jihadist ideology. He also points out that many Iraqi insurgents are not al Qaeda, but conflict in Iraq is a boost to al Qaeda globally. (And the longer we stay, the more this will increase, in my opinion.) Iraq’s fighting is attracting foreigners to join in, but Iraq is viewed by al Qaeda as only part of the global struggle.

This ended the presentation from the speakers, and I have no links to their works, but if I had more time, I am sure that goggling their names or corporations would yield more information. Next, we had statements and questions from our Senators. Some were good, but many of the questions reflected a shallow world view, in my opinion.

Senator Rockefeller started by saying there are multiple groups attacking in Iraq (over 30) but US forces say 90% of the attacks are from al Qaeda. One speaker on the panel said that al Qaeda in Iraq has really good media. Rockefeller wanted to know why we did not understand Iraq better……. I am not sure what there is to understand in ruining a culture and all its infrastructure and letting chaos and violence reign. I don’t know what there is to understand about kicking in doors in the middle of the night or killing people randomly out on the street because they get too close to the US military. I think any sane person would feel inclined to resist this, and unfortunately, a lot of people would choose violent resistance. I am not sure what there is to understand about the fact that the US military is there to control the area and the resources, and this is not a good idea for the Iraqi people. I gather that Senator Rockefeller will never understand these things unless he experiences them directly.

Senator Bond made the observation that there has been hostility since Israel was created (gee, I wonder why?) and he asked if we did not have a presence in Iraq, would they still hate us? One panel member answered that the Salafis feel that the US is the spear heading the drive to squelch Muslim identity and pillage their resources, and they use this as a basis for fighting us. He added that al Qaeda feels that attacks on US troops were a great recruiting tool. There was no indication from anyone that bombing their babies to death would impact on the feelings of Muslims. And also no indication that the reason behind the videos of attacks on US troops are popular is because the Muslims have felt impotent and humiliated, and seeing these videos give them reason to cheer. Now, I think it is horrible that humans celebrate the harming of other humans, but I certainly remember the hoopla on our TVs during the start of the bombing of Iraq. It was like all the pundits and military analysts thought our country was so clever to bomb some country that had never attacked us. There was precious little coverage of the civilians killed and injured or the feelings of grief and rage that we engendered.

Another panel member feel that Iraq is being used as an example by the al Qaeda terrorists of the US turning Muslim against Muslim (and this was true in Lebanon also). This, he claimed, is being used as a recruiting tool. The way he said it implied that the poor Muslims over there are just mis-interpreting reality, rather than seeing things as they actually are.

Senator Bayh asked if our actions in Iraq are an intelligent move (my answer: NO) and are we creating more terrorists (my answer: YES)? I nearly shouted out my answers, because these folks (our US Senators) are really in need of help. One of the panelists answered that our presence there is a magnet and recruiting tool --- BUT, WHO KNOWS – maybe if we leave it will get worse. (Hey, if we stay it is SURE TO GET WORSE!! SO LET’S STAY!! Oh dear God, this is stupidity run amuck!!)

They discussed what percentage of the Muslim world is extremist, with no solid answers from the panel, but one person said it was a fraction of a percent.

Senator Werner made the comment that he did not understand Muslims killing Muslims in Iraq. I suppose that Werner does not understand why British citizens fought other British citizens in the American Revolutionary War – nor does he understand the American Civil War – I could go on – but several of us felt that Werner took the prize for stupid statements.

They discussed if calling it a GWOT was a good idea – decided it was not – and then discussed why suicide bombings are used. One panelists explained to them that they don’t have an Air Force or other weapons, and the suicide bombings are effective.

Senator Nelson (FL) asked about the Israel Palestine conflict and the answer he got from a panelist was that the underlying assumption is that Israel and the US pretty much act the same. He then asked if foreign language literacy is a significant factor, and the response was it did not help. He then asked what causes them to become jihadists? And Stephen Ulph said that the jihadists are focused on themselves and their own ideology, which seemed to imply that we westerners had nothing to do with it. A follow up question should have been then – why are they attacking us more than other people? Of course, that question was never asked. The underlying assumptions from all of our Senators are that our actions, all of them, are good and benign, always. So there is no reason to look at what we might be doing, or notice or count the dead civilians along the way.

Senator Hatch raised the question about the possibility of Christians being targeted in Lebanon. One panelist answered that the real targets of the Islamic jihadis was Shi’a Muslims rather than Christians. I decided to get up and follow Senator Hatch out of the room to tell him that Christians in Palestine and Iraq are either being killed or leaving their countries as refugees. He agreed with that, but when I said that was due to Israeli and American policies, he disagreed. I then mentioned how the committee meeting did not look at all at what the US was doing to inspire terrorism, and that bombing babies had a large part to do with why we are so hated around the world. I could have added that kicking in doors and terrorizing people also had a large part to do with this – and that our actions are certainly terrorist actions in their own right.

Senator Feingold spoke and he asked if the extended presence of Ethiopian troops in Samolia would encourage al Qaeda there? There was no clear answer from the panel on this. He also questioned how can US policy or strategic influence address the problem of al Qaeda? Maybe the Senator could talk to Rep. Ron Paul.

Senator Whitehouse asked about the word “crusade” and if that was helpful (the panel said it was not) and then said that we should call them “criminals” not “warriors”. He felt we had given them too much credit and too much publicity.

Senator Bond said that the Philippines are doing well and the people there want more educational and cultural exchanges. He asked “what are the things we can do to appeal to broad Muslim groups to show we are not ogres?” The answer from the panel was to do research, fund and promote moderate to do work for us and to focus on groups that are sympathetic to al Qaeda and make political, social and economic progress with them.

Senator Bayh said that anti-Americanism sentiment is Muslim lands is so high that moderates are not able to speak up in support of the USA and to counter the argument that the USA is trying to divide Muslim against Muslim.

There was no discussion on how this anti-American sentiment is routed in reality, and that we would need to seriously change our behaviors to achieve a different reality. There was no discussion on the fact that we need to stop acting like ogres before we will be released from being looked on as ogres. There was no discussion on how what the USA considers “moderates” in the Muslim world are corrupt governments who do not allow personal freedom, free elections, and who regularly engage in human rights abuses. The ones they call “moderates” really means that they are compliant with US elites and the bush/cheney administration goals and agendas. There was no discussion on the fact that the US and Israel have been arming Fatah and thereby increasing the fighting between Palestinians – and furthering the reality that the US is trying to turn Muslim against Muslim.

As one of the Code Pink women was leaving, she stated loudly that we need to get out of Iraq because that is making terrorism worse. We also need to get out of Iraq because our troops are in a position were they are forced to act like terrorists themselves. This awareness has not reached our Senator’s consciousness, with the possible exception of Senator Feingold.

One last picture

This picture is of a women named Lucy, who in this picture at least, looks a lot like me. Her sign says "Another Jew Against the Israeli Occupation." Now, you may think from these photos that all my friends are Jews - not true. It is just that some of them are, and the ugly comments I got on this blog inspired me to post the ones from the rally that show that there are many Jewish people working for peace and justice. Thank goodness.

Never Again is for all of humanity

This photo is of a new friend here at Code Pink house. Her name is Rita and her sign says:

"NEVER AGAIN is for all of humanity or else it does not work."

Rita was quite touched by talking with the very shy and conservative Jews at the rally. They totally support the end of the occupation of Palestine.

I walked with Rita on the march after the rally.

Rally in DC for Ending Occupation of Palestine

This one is of a friend of mine - his sign says "The occupation is a moral disaster for the Jewish people."

I had a great time at the rally talking with old friends and making some new ones. I did not follow closely what was being said on the stage, but I heard a lot of "Free Palestine". I got some great handouts, including a DVD from the group If Americans Knew.

I saw some signs at the rally that said things about Israel that were unflattering. These signs were not only true for Israel, they would be true if the word 'Americans' or 'USA" were inserted. This is very sad. I did see three young women with tee-shirts that I thought were totally inappropriate. They had pictures of the Palestinian flag on them (no problem with that) and then said "Fcuk Israel". They had as bad of manners and communication skills as someone who posted a comment (that I deleted) in the last blog post. I went up to these young women THREE TIMES to tell them that what their shirts said was inappropriate, unhelpful, and hateful. I told them that it was not helpful to our cause to have hateful garbage like that at our rally. The third time I talked to them, they told me to stop bothering them. They did get the message.

At the rally and the march, I tried to talk people out of their flags - I really like flags. I could not talk anyone out of a single Israeli or Palestinian flag.

Live Blooging from Code Pink House

Hi there from Code Pink house in Washington DC! I arrived yesterday, and this place is great. It is well set up for socializing, and an even better set up for activism. The hallway has white boards with events listed every day, and another white board for all those staying at the house and how to contact them. There are bumper stickers and materials stacked along the wall. The house has a wireless router, and it is common to see a half dozen women with laptops typing away in the living room. There is a common dining area and kitchen, and the basement has space for a large meeting or to work on banners or other projects.

The upstairs has bedrooms, where 3 to 5 can sleep per room. There was an article today in the Washington Post on the CODE PINK HOUSE and the activists that live there:

Protesting for Peace with a Vivid Hue and Cry

Medea Benjamin, one of the founders of the women's peace group Code Pink, wears pink every single day, and sleeps in it, too. Her shoulder bag, her wallet and her cellphone are all pink. When she visits Washington from San Francisco to lobby Congress against the war in Iraq, she stays in Code Pink's new group house on Capitol Hill, where nearly everyone wears pink, where her bedspread and her pillow and her bedroom curtains are pink, as are the drinking cups in the kitchen and the flowers that grow out back.

……..The rent, $2,200 a month, is paid by member contributions. The chairs are donated, the forks are donated. The women come for a week or months at a time, and when the house is crowded, they sleep three or four to a room, many in bunk beds.

In the basement, where the group holds strategy meetings and pink fabric swathes the exposed pipes, there are rules posted in the perfect handwriting of a former schoolteacher. They include "Come on time!" and "If you hear 'Pink,' listen." During one meeting of about 20 people, Elizabeth Barger, 71, who wears pink and purple ribbons in her long gray braids, stretches out her bare feet. Another woman wears a pink police officer costume, complete with cap and badge. Soft guitar music wafts in, perhaps from the front lawn.

The above is a picture of Desiree, the house-mama, and Ena, who is one of the interns here this summer. Desiree did the house orientation, and Ena happens to be my room mate. She also happens to be a good cook. Dinner was great!

What I really like about this house is the “activism at your fingertips” feel to the place. I feel awful about what this country has been doing for the past six years (well, longer, but I have felt much worse since cheney started running things into the ground) and the best way for me to feel better fast is to DO SOMETHING.

Already, I have done a blog post on Iraq Today (the wireless works great) and posted on my personal blog the letter I will be handing out to the Dems that caved on Monday. I arranged an interview on the local low power FM station with myself and Medea Benjamin, and we did that at 9 this morning. That will be broadcast on WPVM on the show “Making Progress” on Monday evening.

And this afternoon, I am headed to the Rally and March to end the occupation of Palestine and to find a just peace in the Middle East. AND, there is something you can do to support this from your home. All you need is a telephone. This came from the Progressive Democrats of America emails:

Lobby Day for Israeli/Palestinian Peace and End to Occupation

The Iraq War is only one piece of the violent puzzle in the Middle East. We believe the road to peace in the Middle East must include Israel and Palestine. As long as unrest continues there, peace throughout the region will elude us. On June 10 and 11, people around the world are joining together in a Day of Action to mark the 40th year of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Please support the national lobby day on June 11.

Tens of thousands will march in Washington D.C. on June 10, and hundreds of activists will be lobbying Congress on June 11. Add your voice to theirs! Call your representative in support of H. Res 143, in support of a special US envoy for Middle East Peace. To reach the Capitol switchboard dial 1-202-224-3121 or CALL TOLL FREE: 1-888-597-0909. This is the best way to show support for the Arab League’s recent peace proposal, which the US and Israel have been slow to endorse.

And from a Code Pink email:

On June 10 and 11, people around the world are joining together in a global Day of Action as " The World Says No to Israeli Occupation " to mark the 40th year of Israel's illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Tens of thousands will march in Washington D.C. on June 10 -- hundreds will stay to lobby Congress on June11.

If you can't join us in Washington, please call in!

Participate in a National Call-in day on June 11. Hundreds of activists will lobby Congress on June 11, please add your voice to theirs. Call your representative and two senators. To reach the Capital switchboard dial 1-202-224-3121 or CALL TOLL FREE: 1-888-597-0909.

Tomorrow, I will be meeting with dole, burr and Shuler – and stopping by some more US Representatives offices. I will be blogging on further actions that will be taken this week, mainly on my own blog but also on the Code Pink Blog.

Please join me in being active, and consider coming to Code Pink House this summer to pursue more action to stop war and violence and injustice everywhere.

Web site for Code Pink

Web site for End the Occupation

Letter to Democrats who support more occupation

Lobbying in DC

This week, I am lobbying in DC. I will be taking the following to all the Democratic Senators who voted for more war last month and I will take a copy to the NC Democratic Representatives who voted for more war last month also. I wish I could take one to every Democratic Representative who voted for this – but it was too many. If your Representative was one of them, feel free to copy and mail this off to them. I will be telling the staff person (or Senator or Representative, if I see them) that I want this occupation of Iraq to END NOW. I put my name and address on the back of every one. I included three photos on the letter – the one on this blog post and two others that I have linked to below.

Here’s the letter:

DEMOCRATS – TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK AT THE EVIL THAT YOU DECIDED TO CONTINUE BY FUNDING BUSH’S WAR

Home Invasions……..

A girl sits on her mother's lap after a raid by joint U.S.-Iraqi forces in Mosul May 23, 2007. U.S. forces raided six buildings and arrested five suspected insurgents during a raid in Mosul, the forces said in a statement. The girl's mother claimed she and her daughter had their hands hurt during the raid. REUTERS/Khaled al-Mousuly

Children murdered while sleeping…..

An Iraqi woman reacts at the site where three members of her family were killed in Sadr City slum of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, May 13, 2007. A U.S. military helicopter opened fire at a family sleeping on their rooftop, killing a mother and two children and injuring two other children, Iraqi police said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim) The stain on the roof is blood. There was a lot more blood in the photo, but I cropped it out. A mother and two children were killed by the US military while sleeping. This is pure evil.

Children living in tent cities with no water, electricity, health care or schools…….pictured above.

Iraqi refugees from the violence-ridden Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, sit in their tent, provided by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society in the al-Husseiniya district of the capital city. Nine hundred families are currently staying in the tent city according to Red Crescent workers. (AFP/Ali al-Saadi) Imagine living in a tent with no electricity and no water, with all these young children.

Lament for Iraq

The video and tune above were written by Bob, a commenter on the Iraq Today blog. This is what he said at the You Tube site:

Slide show and original music dedicated to the people of Iraq. The chord changes for this tune I had in my head for over a year and when I played it on guitar I kept thinking of Iraq and the suffering of the people over there. A picture paints a thousand words. The tune took 3 days to record.

Democracy Hypocrisy, Part 22

This example is from April of this year, and I have been too busy to write about it. This is a story of how bush allies in our congress blocked a bill that would require the bush administration to disclose where they have secret prisons.

(Can you even believe that? The US is running secret prisons to torture and kill people. And we don’t even have any idea how many they are torturing and killing! Oh, and they kidnap the people to get them into these secret prisons. How low can we go? How low and how evil will bush go before we stop him? How long will this go on?)

Anyway, this report came from the NYT:

>The Bush administration's allies in Congress on Monday blocked a bill that would require the White House to disclose the locations of secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency and to reveal the amount spent annually by American intelligence agencies. The vote on the intelligence bill was a blow to Senate Democrats, newly in control of Congress, who had hoped that they would be able to extract more details from the White House about some of the most widely debated intelligence programs begun after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Opponents of the legislation, led by Senator Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, won enough support on Monday to prevent the bill from going to the Senate floor for a final vote. But Congressional officials said that negotiations over the measure would continue Tuesday, and Democrats said they were still hopeful the bill could eventually pass. The Senate bill also requires the White House to make public the annual budget of the American intelligence agencies. The intelligence budget, which has long been classified, is widely believed to be approximately $44 billion.<

Well, shoot, that is a lot of money to kidnap, torture and kill people without the benefit of a judicial system.

Just think what that kind of money would do in areas of the world where there is no safe drinking water, where there is no health care, where there are no decent schools! Just think of the good we could do! And how these poor people that we helped would like and appreciate us for helping them out and keeping their children alive and giving the children an education.

Instead we do kidnapping, torture, rape, murder and wars of aggression. What a hideous evil shame it is that the American people allow this to happen. What we need to do to show the world that we really are decent, moral human beings is to IMPEACH bush & cheney. The photo above was taken by me in Apri l 2007 in North Carolina of course!

"To initiate a war of aggression . . . is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." - Nuremberg Tribunal

Democracy Hypocrisy, Part 21

Photo: This was taken from the Portland Veterans for Peace website for their Peace Memorial Park. What a cool idea. What a cool photo. This is in Portland, OR. I found out about this through the local chapter of Veterans for Peace, who are also very cool people!

DEMOCRACY HYPOCRISY PART 21

This example of democracy hypocrisy has to do with terrorism. Supposedly, the current US government is against terrorism, except of course, when they are doing it themselves – then they call it something else. However, this example has to do with a terrorist now living in our country. Luis Posada Carriles is living in Florida without being charged or arrested by the US government authorities for the terrorist act he committed. He has boasted of bombing Havana hotels. He is suspected of being the mastermind behind a 1976 bombing of a Cuban airplane that killed 73 people. He is walking around, out on bail, from immigration charges, in Florida. This is from an editorial in the Los Angeles Times last April:

With a misguided decision upholding bail for Cuban-born terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has done more than free a frail old man facing unremarkable immigration charges. It has exposed Washington to legitimate charges of hypocrisy in the war on terror.

By allowing Posada to go free before his May 11 trial, the court has released a known flight risk who previously escaped from a Venezuelan prison, a man who has boasted of helping set off deadly bombs in Havana hotels 10 years ago and the alleged mastermind of a 1976 bombing of a Cuban airplane that killed 73 people. Posada's employees confessed to the attack, and declassified FBI and CIA documents have shown that he attended planning sessions.

In other words, Posada is the Zacarias Moussaoui of Havana and Caracas. Moussaoui is serving a life sentence without parole in a federal prison in Colorado for conspiracy in the 9/11 attacks; Posada is free to live in Miami.

What’s the reason he is allowed to walk around free? Here’s is the answer from that same editorial:

…..Posada's lawyer has preemptively warned that if charged, his client would likely reveal extensive collaboration with the CIA.

And, just to underscore the hypocrisy, they end with this statement:

The United States keeps 385 suspected terrorists imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, many in isolation and all without U.S. norms of due process. Yet Posada, a confessed terrorist, is sent home with an ankle bracelet.

"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do." - Samuel P. Huntington

Democracy Hypocrisy, Part 20

This is part of my continuing series on Democracy Hypocrisy by the bush administration and the US government. I started this last year, and this is installment number 20. Sometimes, the articles are just about plan hypocrisy.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is a congressionally appointed committee with six Republicans and four Democrats. They had this to say about Iraq recently:

"The Iraqi government has engaged in human rights violations through its state security forces, including arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention without due process, extrajudicial executions and systematic torture," it said.

Of course, the USA has been doing ALL OF THE ABOVE, in addition to having started and trained and funded and supervised the “state security forces” in Iraq. Hundreds have died in captivity in foreign US jails in Iraq, Guantanamo, Afghanistan and god-only-knows-where-else they have these hideous prisons that are lawless and morality-free zones. Some of these deaths were extrajudicial executions; some were the result of suicide from all the torture. The movie, “The Road To Guantanamo”, shows some of the lesser torture inflicted on these people and hints at worse torture. It is the story of the Tipton Three – three Brits picked up in Afghanistan, shipped to Guantanamo, tortured and finally years later, released without arrests or apologies. And recently, this article stated that there are 82 people in Guantanamo who have been cleared of any charges, are cleared for release, but are still being detained – because the US does not want them and neither do their home countries. And, no wonder they are not wanted – the torture and abuse they went through no doubt made them bat-shit crazy, and they are likely threats to the security of others. What was done to them is a horrible bush-era evil that can never be undone. More recent news is the charges were dismissed for two captives in Guantanamo by a military tribunal. But in spite of that, they will not be released.

This, and making wars of aggression, is as far from Christianity as you can get, and has nothing in common with true democracy either. In a democracy, people are charged, give a trial, and then jailed or released. And don’t think for one second that this could not happen here in the USA – it already has to Jose Padilla, and any one of us could be a “enemy combatant” and treated that way.

Speak out now before it is no longer possible!

"Always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption."
— Publisher Joseph Pulitzer

Various Items......

Well, I went to a high school graduation in the heart of Republicans country in very white skinned Ohio. And the class president said that she learned in high school that Democrats are smarter than Republicans. That rather made my evening, but I hope she figures out soon that a lot of Democrats are just like Republicans, which is a large part of the reason that we are in the mess we are in. The graduation was fun. My sister has too much food at her house, and very slow internet! Anyway, here are some recent items:

MOVE ON PETITION

I have had some reservations about Move On – they seemed very slow to pick up the anti-war theme, but this is a worthwhile issue – we need to have internet for the people, not for the corporations. Move On is good for getting people out there on the street and for getting people active. So, I recommend signing up with them, because there is power in numbers. And they have a new petition – about the internet. Here’s the info:

The federal government is on the verge of turning over a huge portion of our public airwaves to companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast--who will use them for private enrichment instead of the public good. These newly available airwaves are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionize Internet access -- beaming high-speed signals to every park bench, coffee shop, workplace, and home in America. Phone and cable companies don't want this competition to their Internet service--they'd rather purchase the airwaves at auction and sit on them. You can sign the petition I signed here - urging the government to make sure the public airwaves are used for the public good - click link HERE.

Thanks!

And, in the state of North Carolina, we have a bunch of people working on stopping torture flights out of Johnston County airport. I did a blog post on that, but I have limited internet, so I will let you dig for it….. but, meanwhile: Stop Torture Bill Survives in the NC House. Here’s the message:

Our bill to stop torture in North Carolina, HB 1682, hit a snag on the House floor when Representative Stam (R.) tried to refer it to JI committee to kill the bill. Because of his move, one of the bill sponsors, Representative Luebke, pulled the bill from the calendar and referred it to the Rules Committee where we hope to have it included in a list of bills which the Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission will study , and the bill will be presented again in 2008 . In this way, Rep. Luebke(D.) kept the bill alive. (Apparently some members of the General Assembly think torture is OK.)

AND: Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice

On Tuesday, June 26^th, the ACLU is sponsoring a Day of Action in Washington D.C. to call on Congress to restore habeas corpus, fix the Military Commissions Act, and restore our constitutional rights. The event will include a rally outside the Capitol and meetings with members of Congress. Join other ACLU members from North Carolina as we bring this urgent message directly to our representatives in Washington! For more information and to sign up for the event, visit the Day of Action website. The ACLU will be sponsoring a free bus to DC that will pick members up in Raleigh on Monday, June 25th and return to Raleigh the evening of June 26th. Look for detailed updates on travel, lodging and itinerary for the Day of Action in future action alerts.

And one last item: Mad at Congress? Take the Iraq Vote Pledge

Are you mad at Congress for surrendering to George Bush over the Iraq Supplemental? So are we - and we're determined to do something about it. Together, we have spent the past six months doing everything in our power to persuade the new Democratic Congress to end the disastrous Iraq War. But even though a majority of Democrats (including Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid) want to set a timetable for withdrawal, Republicans are marching in lockstep behind Bush along with a crucial minority of "Bush Democrats." So what can we do? Let's put them on notice that we will defeat all pro-war Republicans next November, and replace "Bush Democrats" with progressive Democrats in next year's primaries. Take the Iraq Vote Pledge:

"I pledge to vote against every Senator and Representative who approves funding to continue the disastrous Iraq War. We have already given far too much of our blood and treasure - and killed far too many Iraqis - for a war based on lies. We are now occupying a hostile nation divided by civil war for the benefit of military contractors and Big Oil. The only way to support our troops is to bring them home NOW, and no funds should be used for any other purpose. If Congress fails to bring our troops home, I will do everything I can - and urge everyone I know - to defeat pro-war Senators and Representatives, both in my party's primary elections and in the November general election."

Sign .it here.

Read about our plan to support anti-war Democrats in primaries.

That's all for now!

Lay down candles

Photo: A boy lights candles on a street, for the victims of recent shelling in the Shiite neighborhood of Karradah, Baghdad, late Monday, May 28, 2007.

Many occupants of Karradah have been killed in the last week by mortal shells attacks.

(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

I posted this on my Faces of Grief blog, but I like this photo so much I posted it here also.

This is a beautiful photo, and this is something that I do about twice a year - a public display of candles to honor and remember the innocents killed in war. Here in my home town, we will be doing this in August to remember the victims of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And on September 19th, we will be doing this to mark four and a half years of US occupation of Iraq.

I started lighting candles as a form of prayer and protest and remembrance just before the start of the war and invasion of Iraq. We generally used candle luminaries - that is tea candles in sand inside a paper bag. We need to put them inside paper bags so the wind won't blow them out right away. Sometimes we just hold candles inside a glass jar in our hands. One time, we had a sight rain start up during the vigil, and that made the paper bags soggy, and then they fell over and the candle lit the bag on fire. That was kinda cool to watch.

When this war was being planned and promoted, I pulled out an old song from my teenage years, "Lay down candles (in the rain)". For some reason, that song was popular with me and my friends, even though we never protested for peace during the years of the war on Vietnam. We were too young. But we did do a rebellion period, which included doing some things that was not good for our lungs. I remember thinking that we got the drugs, sex and rock-n-roll - but not the protests or large music events.

I never imagined that 30 years later the protests and organizing would be a major part of my life. And for this spell of working against the US government and their plans of evil, we have no drugs, sex or rock-n-roll to accompany us. Maybe the younger protesters do, but my generation does not.

Here's some of the words to "Lay Down Candles (in the rain)"

Lay down, lay down, lay it all down
Let your white birds smile up
At the ones who stand and frown

We were so close, there was no room
We bled inside each others wounds
We all had caught the same disease
And we all sang the songs of peace

So raise the candles high, 'cause if you don't
We could stay black against the night
Oh raise them higher again and if you do
We could stay dry against the rain

Some came to sing, some came to pray
Some came to keep the dark away

Well, I am off to family visits (my niece is graduating from high school!) and then back to DC for lobbying, rallies and protests. There will be no updates until Monday.

Melanie and The Edwin Hawkins Singers 1970

The same thing, always, the world over

This war and occupation of Iraq are about - a quest for power and control of an area and/or resources, to exploit them to provide them for your own family/group/nation/clan/whatever. That is, expansionism to further the development of your own group, etc.... and the aggressors feel they are "entitled" to this because they happen to be EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE in one form or another - race, religion, skin color, form of government, or other ridiculous criteria. And the ones starting up the wars of aggression always do that by LYING to the people who will have to do the fighting and killing and dying. It is a tale that is older than recorded human history.

AND, of course, along the way (now that humans found a way to make weapons and sell them) it is also about MAKING A BUNCH OF MONEY. Sometimes, they are so "clever" about this that they manage to sell weapons to both sides of a conflict - ie, during the 1980's to Iran and Iraq, and today to Palestinians and Israelis and Israelis and Lebanese. Oh, and probably more that I am missing.....

BUT HERE'S THE REAL KICKER --- now, humans have gotten so "clever" about making weapons that we could wipe our entire species off the planet, or nearly so. And, IN ALL OF RECORDED HISTORY, weapons that were made were generally USED.

SO --- we have to make a choice now: non-existence or non-violence.

I posted the above as a comment on Daily Kos.

Cindy Corrie call to action

People around the world are joining together in a global Day of Action as "The World Says No to Israeli Occupation" to protest the 40th anniversary of Israel's illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, and Syrian Golan Heights. In the United States, thousands of people from all over the country will converge on Washington, DC from June 10-11, 2007 to send a clear message: The United States Says No to Israeli Occupation! We know that occupation is wrong. We see U.S. troops occupying Iraq, and we say no. We see Israeli troops and civilians occupying Palestinian land, and we say no again. Wrong in Iraq, wrong in Palestine. We in the United States have a special obligation to protest Israel's illegal military occupation because it is our government that provides Israel with the uncritical military, economic, diplomatic, and corporate support that it needs to sustain and expand its control of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.