We Cannot Win A War Crime

"You Can't Win a War Crime - only we can end it"

Liam Madden - Iraq Veterans Against the War, The Appeal for Redress speaking at an antiwar rally in Providence RI. 5/9/07

Iraq Vets Bear Witness

I did a post on this for Iraq Today and Out of Iraq Bloggers – but this article is very important, so I thought I would post it here also. Read it and weep.
The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness

Over the past several months The Nation has interviewed fifty combat veterans of the Iraq War from around the United States in an effort to investigate the effects of the four-year-old occupation on average Iraqi civilians. These combat veterans, some of whom bear deep emotional and physical scars, and many of whom have come to oppose the occupation, gave vivid, on-the-record accounts. They described a brutal side of the war rarely seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts.

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Two dozen soldiers interviewed said that this callousness toward Iraqi civilians was particularly evident in the operation of supply convoys--operations in which they participated. These convoys are the arteries that sustain the oc­cupation, ferrying items such as water, mail, maintenance parts, sewage, food and fuel across Iraq. And these strings of tractor-trailers, operated by KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown & Root) and other private contractors, required daily protection by the US military. Typically, according to these interviewees, supply convoys consisted of twenty to thirty trucks stretching half a mile down the road, with a Humvee military escort in front and back and at least one more in the center. Soldiers and marines also sometimes accompanied the drivers in the cabs of the tractor-trailers. These convoys, ubiquitous in Iraq, were also, to many Iraqis, sources of wanton destruction. According to descriptions culled from interviews with thirty-eight veterans who rode in convoys--guarding such runs as Kuwait to Nasiriya, Nasiriya to Baghdad and Balad to Kirkuk--when these columns of vehicles left their heavily fortified compounds they usually roared down the main supply routes, which often cut through densely populated areas, reaching speeds over sixty miles an hour. Governed by the rule that stagnation increases the likelihood of attack, convoys leapt meridians in traffic jams, ignored traffic signals, swerved without warning onto sidewalks, scattering pedestrians, and slammed into civilian vehicles, shoving them off the road. Iraqi civilians, including children, were frequently run over and killed. Veterans said they sometimes shot drivers of civilian cars that moved into convoy formations or attempted to pass convoys as a warning to other drivers to get out of the way.

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Sergeant Flatt recalled an incident in January 2005 when a convoy drove past him on one of the main highways in Mosul. "A car following got too close to their convoy," he said. "Basically, they took shots at the car. Warning shots, I don't know. But they shot the car. Well, one of the bullets happened to just pierce the windshield and went straight into the face of this woman in the car. And she was--well, as far as I know--instantly killed. I didn't pull her out of the car or anything. Her son was driving the car, and she had her--she had three little girls in the back seat. And they came up to us, because we were actually sitting in a defensive position right next to the hospital, the main hospital in Mosul, the civilian hospital. And they drove up and she was obviously dead. And the girls were crying.

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"The first Iraqi I saw killed was an Iraqi who got too close to our patrol," he said. "We were coming up an on-ramp. And he was coming down the highway. And they fired warning shots and he just didn't stop. He just merged right into the convoy and they opened up on him." This took place sometime in the spring of 2005 in Khadamiya, in the northwest corner of Baghdad, Sergeant Campbell said. His unit fired into the man's car with a 240 Bravo, a heavy machine gun. "I heard three gunshots," he said. "We get about halfway down the road and...the guy in the car got out and he's covered in blood. And this is where...the impulse is just to keep going. There's no way that this guy knows who we are. We're just like every other patrol that goes up and down this road. I looked at my lieutenant and it wasn't even a discussion. We turned around and we went back.

"So I'm treating the guy. He has three gunshot wounds to the chest. Blood everywhere. And he keeps going in and out of consciousness. And when he finally stops breathing, I have to give him CPR. I take my right hand, I lift up his chin and I take my left hand and grab the back of his head to position his head, and as I take my left hand, my hand actually goes into his cranium. So I'm actually holding this man's brain in my hand. And what I realized was I had made a mistake. I had checked for exit wounds. But what I didn't know was the Humvee behind me, after the car failed to stop after the first three rounds, had fired twenty, thirty rounds into the car. I never heard it.

"I heard three rounds, I saw three holes, no exit wounds," he said. "I thought I knew what the situation was. So I didn't even treat this guy's injury to the head. Every medic I ever told is always like, Of course, I mean, the guy got shot in the head. There's nothing you could have done. And I'm pretty sure--I mean, you can't stop bleeding in the head like that. But this guy, I'm watching this guy, who I know we shot because he got too close. His car was clean. There was no--didn't hear it, didn't see us, whatever it was. Dies, you know, dying in my arms."

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In the winter of 2004, Sergeant Campbell was driving near a particularly dangerous road in Abu Gharth, a town west of Baghdad, when he heard gunshots. Sergeant Campbell, who served as a medic in Abu Gharth with the 256th Infantry Brigade from November 2004 to October 2005, was told that Army snipers had fired fifty to sixty rounds at two insurgents who'd gotten out of their car to plant IEDs. One alleged insurgent was shot in the knees three or four times, treated and evacuated on a military helicopter, while the other man, who was treated for glass shards, was arrested and detained.

"I come to find out later that, while I was treating him, the snipers had planted--after they had searched and found nothing--they had planted bomb-making materials on the guy because they didn't want to be investigated for the shoot," Sergeant Campbell said. (He showed The Nation a photograph of one sniper with a radio in his pocket that he later planted as evidence.) "And to this day, I mean, I remember taking that guy to Abu Ghraib prison--the guy who didn't get shot--and just saying 'I'm sorry' because there was not a damn thing I could do about it.... I mean, I guess I have a moral obligation to say something, but I would have been kicked out of the unit in a heartbeat. I would've been a traitor."

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During the summer of 2005, Sergeant Millard, who served as an assistant to a general in Tikrit, attended a briefing on a checkpoint shooting, at which his role was to flip PowerPoint slides.

"This unit sets up this traffic control point, and this 18-year-old kid is on top of an armored Humvee with a .50-caliber machine gun," he said. "This car speeds at him pretty quick and he makes a split-second decision that that's a suicide bomber, and he presses the butterfly trigger and puts 200 rounds in less than a minute into this vehicle. It killed the mother, a father and two kids. The boy was aged 4 and the daughter was aged 3. And they briefed this to the general. And they briefed it gruesome. I mean, they had pictures. They briefed it to him. And this colonel turns around to this full division staff and says, 'If these fucking hajis learned to drive, this shit wouldn't happen.'"

Whether or not commanding officers shared this attitude, interviewees said, troops were rarely held accountable for shooting civilians at checkpoints. Eight veterans described the prevailing attitude among them as "Better to be tried by twelve men than carried by six." Since the number of troops tried for killing civilians is so scant, interviewees said, they would risk court-martial over the possibility of injury or death.

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On one occasion, in Ramadi in late 2004, a man happened to drive down a road with his family minutes after a suicide bomber had hit a barrier during a cordon-and-search operation, Lieutenant Morgenstein said. The car's brakes failed and marines fired. The wife and her two children managed to escape from the car, but the man was fatally hit. The family was mistakenly told that he had survived, so Lieutenant Morgenstein had to set the record straight. "I've never done this before," he said. "I had to go tell this woman that her husband was actually dead. We gave her money, we gave her, like, ten crates of water, we gave the kids, I remember, maybe it was soccer balls and toys. We just didn't really know what else to do."

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"As an American, you just put your hand up with your palm towards somebody and your fingers pointing to the sky," said Sergeant Jefferies, who was responsible for supplying fixed checkpoints in Diyala twice a day. "That means stop to most Americans, and that's a military hand signal that soldiers are taught that means stop. Closed fist, please freeze, but an open hand means stop. That's a sign you make at a checkpoint. To an Iraqi person, that means, Hello, come here. So you can see the problem that develops real quick. So you get on a checkpoint, and the soldiers think they're saying stop, stop, and the Iraqis think they're saying come here, come here. And the soldiers start hollering, so they try to come there faster. So soldiers holler more, and pretty soon you're shooting pregnant women."

Prog Dems of Buncombe Meeting July 07

Progressive Democrats of Buncombe Meeting on July 10, 2007 Minutes

We started the meeting with introductions and brief explanations as to why we came to the meeting. Elaine Lite is running for Asheville City Council and she is very concerned with over-development issues in Asheville. Joe C is concerned with western North Carolina issues and with our world image. Bill H is from Polk County, and David G is from Clay County. Tom and Barbara C were there from Madison County. Gary R and John R and Bob L from Buncombe County also attended. There were ten people there total, from four western NC counties.

We had a discussion on our health care system and health care in general. About half the group had seen SiCKO. We discussed what our system will pay for and what it will not pay for – it is geared towards treating illness rather than keeping people healthy. Insurance companies seem to do what they want, and so do the physicians. The money is in procedures, not in prevention. If it is something that cannot be cured, they won’t treat it. We discussed health care in Canada and how it is covered there. Obama, Kucinich and Edwards all have a health care plan, but the group felt we need to ask other politicians if they will support universal, single payer system. It was recognized that we need to cut out our health insurance industries to achieve this. Pharmaceutical industries need to be not for profit also. Susan has handed out PDA and Kucinich flyers after the movie SiCKO. Bob brought up the impact the uninsured have on our society.

We discussed how the media follows a narrative, like a herd. Most voters are not educated about issues, so politicians and media appeal to people’s emotions. The group felt that the majority of people are oblivious and uninformed, and our presidential debates are just sound bites. We discussed how we could get to the point of promoting healthcare. We also discussed Project Vote Smart, which shows how legislators have voted. We also discussed an email service that tells you how someone voted in DC, and what votes are upcoming. You can sign up for those emails here. Barbara talked about Kids Voting and how that may promote voting in kids and even get their parents in to vote.

One person brought up the presidential race and asked who we can support that will advance our issues. Most felt that Kucinich was on target with all the issues, but some felt that he was not electable as president.

Barbara talked about Tom Paine – Campaign for America’s future. Here is a direct link to the article on SiCKO.

“This is where two different tendencies in the health care movement diverge. Some people want to understand which of the possible nominees has the best plan—or discuss how we put pressure on him or her to get better. The other reaction—which I've gotten in person and in angry emails—says don't even bother talking about the promising proposals coming from politicians like Edwards and Obama. They are just not as good as Kucinich's plan (H.R. 676) which would create one national public (single-payer) health plan for everyone. Michael Moore, although he has generally wisely stayed above the details of specific policy, has given a few interviews dismissing Edwards and Obama as fatally flawed because they preserve a role for private insurers.

Now, there is nothing wrong with unremitting public pressure. If everyone who sees "SiCKO" is enlisted in the Kucinich campaign—and if everywhere the other candidates go, they are confronted with crowds chanting for single-payer, it could (in theory) convince Obama or Hillary or Edwards to embrace H.R. 676. Or failing that, if a Democrat gets to the White House anyway, he or she (or the more progressive new Congress) might be forced to support a pure single-payer plan sometime after the election. The debate about health care for all won't be over on Election Day, it just begins. And everyone should energically raise their voices. Tell the politicians that we want a comprehensive health care plan that covers everyone. And those who think HR 676 is the only way to achieve that goal, should be vociferous—and they will. That kind of democracy in action is good.”

Tom has a suggestion for Progressive Democrats of America – that they contact other organizations for health care reform and work with them. (That was forwarded to PDA leadership.) Susan told the group about PDA’s phone meetings and suggested that someone get on the health care issues phone call from PDA to keep this issue going. Susan is on the Out of Iraq phone meetings (two calls a month) and state leadership meeting. There are several others and it would be good to have someone from this district on those meetings. Here are the other issues covered: Clean, Fair, Transparent, & Accurate Elections Issue Organizing Team; PDA Fundraising Team Call; Healthcare for All/Single Payer Issue Organizing Team; Economic Justice Issue Organizing Team; and Inside the Democratic Party Focus Group. Leave a message in the blog if you want to volunteer.

Tom talked about a NC issue, which was publicly funded elections for state level offices. Tom and Barbara went to Raleigh to lobby for this with various Representatives. He said that Rep. Cullie Tarleton was on the committee for this issue and he is from Watauga County. I said I would email a friend up there to encourage her to lobby Rep. Tarleton some more.

We discussed the movie “War Made Easy” and everyone agreed that this would be more singing to the choir, since the people who would likely come are already against the war. We felt the majority of the population was now against the war on Iraq. Susan will be holding Honk to Impeach signs on the Flint Street Bridge on Mondays from 5 to 5:30 (unless it rains) until Labor Day. There is information from Democracy NC and Common Cause NC at the bottom of this email.

Next meeting is on October 10, 2007 at 7 PM. Location will be North Asheville Library.

Minutes by Susan

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UPCOMING EVENTS

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MoveOn is having a nationwide action on Tuesday, July 17th. This action is directed towards Senator Burr and Dole, to pressure them not to filibuster the Iraq Withdrawal bill. They are stating it is a “Counter-Filibuster” protest. They will meet at 5 PM at Otis Street and Patton Avenue, in front of the Federal Building in Asheville and at 401 Main Street in Hendersonville. Please bring signs to support ending the war or other appropriate signs.

ALSO – Cindy Sheehan will lead a rally in Charlotte on July 17 – there is a carpool leaving from Westgate Shopping Center at 8:30 tomorrow morning. There is a rally at Rep. Watt’s office at noon and another one at Hadley Park at 5 PM. (I realize you may get this too late, but it was just decided on Monday.)

07/26/07 Buncombe County Democratic Party will hold a Regional Town Hall meeting for Democrats to discuss resolutions that were passed at the district level. This starts at 6 PM at the party headquarters at 951 Fairview Road. Contact Kathy Sinclair, Chair, for more information at hq@buncombedems.org

08/04/07 Peace Rally, March, Action for Abolition in Oak Ridge Tennessee - see http://www.stopthebombs.org/ WNC Peace Coalition will meet at Westgate Mall to carpool to this event at 8 AM.

08/08/07 Southeast Convergence for Climate Action – It runs until August 14, 2007. Registration is required, and scholarships are available. See www.climateconvergence.org (select southeast) or call 828-675-1792.

08/09/07 Prayer vigil and candle luminaries at Pritchard Park to mark the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. This will be from 8 to 9:30 PM.

8/24/07 to 08/26/07 Southern Energy & Environment Expo (SEEEXPO) go to www.seeexpo.com for more information.

08/25/07 NC Democratic Party State Executive Meeting in Greensboro, NC.

09/19/07 Prayer vigil and candle luminaries at Pritchard Park to mark 4 ½ years of illegal occupation of Iraq. This will be from 8 to 9:30 PM.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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FROM DEMOCRACY NC: VICTORY! Same-Day Registration has passed the NC General Assembly! The final version of the bill was approved in the NC House by a 69-47 margin and the NC Senate by 35-15. Governor Mike Easley has indicated that he will sign the bill into law soon. This would make NC the 9th state in the nation to have Same-Day Registration. History was made in NC -- and you helped make it. This shows what we can achieve when we work together. Thanks again to all those who emailed, called and sent letters to your legislators expressing your support for Same-Day Registration.

In a state where voter disenfranchisement has all too often reared its ugly head, a step towards a new and very different era of voter empowerment was boldly taken today. With the leadership of Rep. Deborah Ross, Sen. Larry Shaw and other legislators, backed by a large coalition of concerned citizens, SDR is now a reality. Thank you!

AND: The General Assembly has just authorized the Town of Chapel Hill to sponsor it's own public financing program for candidates in municipal elections in 2009 and 2011. The bill (H-483) just passed the state Senate with guidance from Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, after clearing the House under the strong leadership of Rep. Verla Insko, with new House Speaker Joe Hackney. The Town Council unanimously requested this authority, and several members were among many of you who lobbied for this victory. Now it's on to the implementation phase, which will likely take many months and involve the public and elections officials. The program is not for this year, but just for elections in 2009 and 2011; then it must be reauthorized.

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And from Common Cause NC (they also covered the above two items):

Jim Black- an example of the need for public financing

Former state House Speaker Jim Black receives a 5 year prison sentence and a $50,000 fine for taking illegal cash payments. A sad but powerful exclamation mark to what is likely the biggest money in politics scandal to hit state government. I attended the court proceeding in Raleigh on Wednesday, watching once one of North Carolina's most powerful politicians be reduced to a common criminal. What Black did was wrong- but it's a symptom of the big money politics system that dominates North Carolina elections. This culture won't change until more reforms are passed. Candidates need an alternative from the money chase. A new system promoting candidates to be accountable to the people rather than beholden to the wealthy special interests is needed. The answer is comprehensive public financing. Read "Black's sentencing casts shadow on lawmakers" from the Greensboro News Record

And, they ask for some action on your part: Write a letter to the editor of your local paper! While the Jim Black scandal is an unfortunate event, we can use it to draw attention to the problems of money in politics. We need your help to publicize the issue across the state. Here are some talking points:

>Jim Black received a $500,000 "loan" from a lobbyist
>personal loans from lobbyists to legislators are illegal (due to last years' new lobbying law) and Jim Black has been sentenced to 5 yrs. in prison
>However, legislators still rely too heavily on lobbyists for campaign contributions.
>Lobbyists can raise unlimited amounts of money for legislators-we need to change this
>If a lobbyist raises large sums of money for a legislator, that legislator is likely to recall the campaign donation when he/she is deciding on legislation
>We need to reduce legislator dependence on lobbyist fundraising
>We need to add to last year's lobbying/ethics laws and ban lobbyists from raising unlimited money for campaigns

These are just some ideas. Put them in your own words. Most letters to the editor are less than 200 words. A majority of papers accept letters to the editor through their websites. Please contact Diane Tworog (dtworog@commoncause.org, 919-836-0027) with any questions. We'd like letters published all over the state, particularly in the big papers: Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Wilmington, Fayetteville, Greenville. We need your help!!!

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On line video “Terrorism USA-style 1980’s” tells us what Bush Sr. was up to 25 years ago, and what has not changed in the last 25 years. Bill Moyers speaks about the ‘secret government’ and the shameless, contemptuousness of the law by our elected officials and other higher level members of our military. I recommend this video. It is about 2 hours long.

http://brasschecktv.com/page/122.html

I share a birthday with this guy.....

PHOTO: Former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela (L) shakes hands with the former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter during a ceremony marking his 89th birthday in Johannesburg, July 18, 2007. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Mandela marks 89th birthday by launching braintrust

Nelson Mandela marked his 89th birthday on Wednesday by launching an international group of elder statesmen, including fellow Nobel peace laureates Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter, to tackle the world's problems. As birthday tributes poured in, Mandela said the group of "elders" would use almost 1,000 years of collective experience to dream up solutions for seemingly insurmountable problems like climate change, HIV/AIDS and poverty. The leaders, who include former Irish President Mary Robinson and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, would also use their political independence to help resolve some of the world's most intractable conflicts. "Using their collective experience, their moral courage and their ability to rise above nation, race and creed, they can make our planet a more peaceful and equitable place to live," said Mandela, wearing his trademark silk African-style shirt.

In this article, Jimmy Carter had this to say:

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said governments had frequently failed to tackle the world's big issues and conflicts because they were beholden to voters, inhibited by their own political agenda and beset with domestic problems. "We will be able to risk failure ... and we will not need to claim credit for any success," he said.

I think Jimmy Carter left out a couple of important elements: GREED AND APATHY. It is greed and the lust for power that stops a lot of governments and their leaders from tackling the world’s biggest issues. It stops a lot of the elites, also. And it stops a lot of regular folks too, although a lot of them are not afflicted with greed or apathy, instead they are overwhelmed just keeping their heads above water. But a lot of governments, leaders, elites and regular folks are also apathetic to what other people are facing – so much so sometimes that they are totally ignorant of what is going on and make no effort to change that.

Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela, who not only overcame many obstacles and suffered many deprivations, he did it all in a peaceful and non-violent way. And because of that – his country of South Africa was not torn apart by violence as they overthrew the oppression that nearly destroyed the majority of the people there. His country was not destroyed in the process. And while there are still very many serious problems in South Africa, they have come a long way. And they did it will a minimal loss of life. And they have a route to going forward, and they were very fortunate that Nelson Mandela was there to lead the way.

What has not changed....

VIDEO: What Hasn’t Changed in 25 Years

George Bush Sr. operated a secret government while a senile Ronald Reagan dozed and coasted on his Hollywood presentation skills. Yet when the Iran-Contra scandal broke, Reagan and others took the heat, while George Sr. remained safely in the shadows. Shameless, contemptuous of the law, and masterful liars...many of the members of the Bush Sr. support term manage things today behind the scenes for Junior.

Justice has been long delayed in this case. This is a review of the Iran-Contra hearings and the evils behind that, and goes on to examine other aspects of the US "secret" government. Today, it is not so secret.

Throughout history, every US president, whatever his intentions, and every tyrant and terrorist, whatever their intentions, have held to the idea that they should be allowed to do whatever is necessary to achieve their goals. And the "goals" they state are remarkably similar, too - promotion of the "common good" for the people. They generally do so in secrecy, but it is chilling to hear a director of the CIA in 1960's say that is was quite okay to kill off a leader of a foreign country. And, as this movie points out, once you take that position, then it is nothing to kill off a domestic leader you don't like, including the president.

It is amazing to me that people were so deluded for so many years into thinking that the communists were a real threat to us and our way of life. It is even more amazing that they can think that Islamic terrorists are a serious threat to us and our way of life. It is just a pile of horseshit. These people who inspire and promote these fears are just interested in making a pile of money, they don't give a rat's ass about the safety of the American people.

And by Americans not paying attention and waking up to this reality, we become our own worst enemies.

What Would Maria Do?

This was done while I was staying at Code Pink House in June 2007. It is a wonderful tribute to the women activists and all that they do. The video is called “What Would Maria Do?"

I like this video because it has many of the Code Pink women in it! I recommend reading the Code Pink blog.

From the lady who made the video: “A video I made for the Maria Leavey Award. I was honored to be nominated, but also feel the need to share the reasons why I do what I do, and why I admire the women who do far more than I.”

Not telling you anything

that you didn’t already know. The US authorities, and the bush/cheney regime, are not intending to leave Iraq for a very long time. Probably not until the oil runs out.

Photo: German railway workers check the loading of 300 Stryker armored personal carriers of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment of the US Army at the US Army training area in Grafenwoehr, southern Germany, Wednesday, July 11, 2007. The unit will be deployed to Iraq for a 15-month assignment starting in early August 2007. (AP Photo/Diether Endlicher)

Today bush said this: "This report shows that conditions can change, progress can be made, and the fight in Iraq can be won."

He’s wrong of course:

NO ONE CAN WIN A WAR CRIME.

But this bloody slaughter will go on, while most Americans will stay inside their delusional bubble about what they are doing to the rest of the world. And they will be stunned, stunned I tell you, when we once again see some blowback from this extensive terror we have visited on other people for oil, expansionism and profits. And they will continue to protest that we are a good people, while they assist in killing millions and making billions hate us for our evil ways.

Yes, we are a good people with very, very bloody hands. We are swimming in blood.

WHO ARE THE TERRORISTS?

“It may be that US administrations would have been no less willing to release their bombs and missiles on white noncombatant populations (as was the case with Germany in World War II); but it can at least be said that, for the past half-century-plus, air power has functionally acted as an armed form of racism, that the sense of "their lives" as cheaper, even if seldom spoken aloud, has made it easier to use the helicopter, the bomber, the Hellfire-missile-armed Predator drone. The fact is that air war always cheapens human life. After all, from the heights, if seen at all, people must have something of the appearance of scurrying insects.” – Tom Engelhardt

As you can see from the chart posted here – the number of US bombing runs are increasing in Iraq, and I can assure you, in Afghanistan too. This is causing a huge uproar in Afghanistan, particularly since the US and NATO bombing runs have killed more civilians than the Taliban have. That is murder, pure and simple. It is murder in Iraq also. It is amazing how, year after year, we keep hearing that the Iraqi forces are not able to “stand up” and protect their own country, yet the insurgents attacks continue and grow ever bolder. Those insurgents are Iraqis. They are defending their country.

I have often thought about what air strikes will do, beyond kill and injure people and destroy homes and businesses in the immediate area. I wonder about the underground water pipes and sewer pipes. It seems to me that these would be heavily damaged by bombing, and this would have an impact on areas far beyond the bombing range. This would result in serious public health issues also.

I just cannot imagine sitting in your home and hearing airplanes or drones dropping bombs around you. I think I would die from the stress and the fear, even if nothing hit me or my home. I cannot imagine digging through the rubble to see if anyone is still alive. I would like to be able to film the bombing raids and broadcast them to the world. I would like to make each and every person who ordered the bombing raid to sit and watch the aftermath of their work.

Some people here in the US think the insurgents and al Qaeda are BARBARIC because they will behead people and film it while they do their evil bloody deeds. And this is barbaric. But *IF I HAD A CHOICE* between being beheaded or having a bomb dropped on my neighborhood, I would choose the beheading. It would be less painful and frightening for me – and it damn sure would be better for the neighborhood.

The media here in the US, during the Iraq war and Afghanistan war, have long ignored the after effects of US bombings. This is not true of other media in other countries. They will often get film of the after effects of the bombings we have done and show them repeatedly. This is a huge moral and journalistic failure on the part of the US media not to show these events. It allows Americans to remain ignorant of the evil and the murder they are supporting. It allows Americans to somehow think they are less barbaric than other people, when the truth is exactly the opposite.

The so-called terrorists of this world have killed tens of thousands by now. But in Iraq alone, we have killed a million or more. We, of course, had help from the al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists and help from all the sectarian violence that we helped get started (on purpose, too, I might add). However, since we are the occupying power, we are the ones responsible for protecting the civilian population, so we are the ones responsible for all those deaths. So, the end result is this – we are the biggest terrorists in the world. We will end up having killed more Iraqis than Saddam did, and it is quite possible we will have killed more people than he did too.

Here is an article on Iraqi deaths since the US invasion:

Is the U.S. Responsible for the Death of Nearly a Million Iraqis?

In a scientific study published last fall in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, researchers from Johns Hopkins estimated that 650,000 Iraqis had died because of the US invasion and occupation of their country. The survey that produced that estimate was completed in July, 2006. Unfortunately, despite the calls of the Lancet authors for other studies, there has been no systematic effort to update these results. Just Foreign Policy has attempted to update the Lancet estimate in the best way we know. We have extrapolated from the Lancet estimate, using the trend provided by the tally of Iraqi deaths reported in Western media compiled by Iraq Body Count. Our current estimate is that 974,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S. invasion.

……The exact toll will never be known. But this is no reason not to attempt to know what the best estimate is. We also don't know many other key facts with certainty. We don't know how many people live in the U.S. The census department creates an estimate, and this estimate is the basis of policy. The Johns Hopkins researchers used the methods accepted all over the world to estimate deaths in the wake of war and natural disasters. The United Nations, for example, uses them to plan famine relief. Even the Bush administration relies on them when it accuses Sudan of genocide in Darfur. At present, this represents the best information we have.

Here is one “fact” we know for sure, thanks to research by McClatchy Newspapers – US troops have shot 429 civilians at checkpoints (or near patrols and convoys) during the past year. This is per statistics compiled by the US military. And, as our troops surged into Iraq, the number of shooting surged also.

And we have growing evidence of what has happened to Iraqis not only from their own blogs, but from the stories of the Iraq war veterans.

The number of Iraqis killed will never be known for sure, but from all my reading and blogging on Iraq, it seems quite likely that we have passed the million dead mark. On top of that, there are about 2 million refugees outside the country of Iraq – those who have voted with their feet to leave the hell-hole the bush/cheney administration and the rest of the US government has created there. And, there are an estimated two million internally displaced persons also. These are – again – people who fled their homes and communities in order to survive. Health care is in shambles in Iraq, electricity and drinkable water is in very short supply, children are dying in massive numbers from birth defects, diarrhea, and pneumonia. Unemployment is estimated to be 60 to 70%. The country has been destroyed, and the population is being subjected to genocide.

I do not have time to research the claims that I will be making in this paragraph – but all these claims have some evidence to support them. We know that historically, the US armed and supported bin Laden and his group when the Russians were occupying Afghanistan. Today, the US is running covert operations to destabilize Iran, this is likely true in Syria and Lebanon also. The US government is arming and funding Fatah in Palestine. After Negroponte showed up in Iraq, the Shi’ite death squads started operating. This was followed by retaliation by Sunni extremists via car bombs. In Basra in 2005, two Brits were detained by the Iraqi police and the police claimed that they had a car full of explosives when they were captured in a gunfight. The British military busted those Brits (in Arab dress) out of the Iraqi prison and confiscated the car. They never allowed anyone to look at the car to determine if there were explosives in the car. It is very likely that the US/UK were behind this car bomb attacks at some point.

So, in summary, there seems to be a lot going on in covert actions that are decidedly promoting violence and instability across the Middle East. They started up a huge game of “Let’s You and Him Fight” – which is, sadly, nothing new for our government. Here is an opinion piece that covers this subject:

Let’s Kill Them All

How many Americans would support our foreign policy if they knew that it was a plan to unleash genocide against civilians (without concern for the consequences to American soldiers)? How many of us would support Bush and Cheney if they knew that the plan was not to "win" the wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq, but to prolong and intensify them in order to use those countries as bases for exporting sectarian warfare to all of their oil-bearing neighbors. Instead of simply fighting the small force of a few thousand radical Islamists who actually attacked us on 9/11, the neocon war plan to remake the entire Middle East was enacted. The "mission" was turned into a monstrous plan aimed at all Islamists, even the non-radical ones. Religion was to be used as a weapon, by turning Islam upon itself. Islamic radicals were armed and trained to function as terrorist combat brigades and death squads in neighboring opponent nations. They carried out brutal attacks and political assassinations within civilian areas, as a method for igniting wars within all of Islam.

It is just an opinion that this is what they are doing – but it does seem to be supported, doesn’t it? Just like the claim that bush was lying about WMDs seems to be supported – after all, anyone who tried could have figured out there were no nuclear WMDs in Iraq, and if bush was just really, really dumb and just COULDN’T figure it out – wouldn’t he be angry that he was lied to? Yet, oddly, he did not seem to care that a war was started over a pack of lies and he was the one responsible for starting it. He even gave a medal to one of the main guy who got it wrong!

And while I like to think of Iraq as “George’s Genocide” in actually, all US taxpayers and citizens share some responsibility for this genocide. May mercy come and wash away WHAT WE’VE DONE.

More information on Iraq Today and News about Afghanistan.

It is impossible at this point to help Iraqis inside Iraq, but there are ways to help the Iraqi refugees.

Please help them if you can.

SAYINGS FROM RABINDRANATH TAGORE

I just put these together because I like them.

Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it.

Let me not look for allies in life’s battlefield but to my own strength.

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved but hope for the patience to win my freedom.

Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling your mercy in my success alone; but let me find the grasp of your hand in the future. -Rabindranath Tagore, Fruit-Gathering

Man barricades against himself. Tagore, from Stray Birds, LXXIX

We read the world wrong and say it deceives us. Tagore, from Stray Birds, LXXV

The woodcutter’s axe begged for its handle from the tree. The tree gave it. Tagore, from Stray Birds, LXXI

The world rushes over the strings of the lingering heart making the music of sadness. Tagore, from Stray Birds, XLIV

I have got my leave. Bid me farewell, my brothers! I bow to you and all and take my departure. Here I give back the keys of my door – and I give up all claims to my house. I only ask for last kind words from you. We were neighbors for long, but I received more than I could give. Now the day has dawned and the lamp that lit my dark corner is out. A summons has come and I am ready for my journey. Tagore, from Gitanjali, XCIII

In desperate hope I go and search for her in all the corners of my room; I find her not. My house is small and what once has gone form it can never be regained. But infinite is thy mansion, my lord, and seeking her I have come to thy door. I stand under the golden canopy of thine evening sky and I life my eager eyes to thy face. I have come to the brink of eternity from which nothing can vanish - no hope, no happiness, no vision of a face seen through tears. Oh, dip my emptied life into the ocean, plunge it into the deepest fullness. Let me for once feel that lost sweet touch in the allness of the universe. Tagore, from Gitanjali, LXXXVII

The father came back from the funeral rites. His boy of seven stood at the window, with eyes wide open and a golden amulet hanging from his neck, full of thoughts too difficult for his age. His father took him in his arms and the boy asked him, “Where is mother?”

“In heaven,” answered his father, pointing to the sky. The boy raised his eyes to the sky and long gazed in silence. His bewildered mind sent abroad into the night the question, “Where is heaven?” No answer came: and the stars seemed like the burning tears of that ignorant darkness. Tagore, from The Fugitive, Part II, XXI

Death, thy servant, is at my door. He has crossed the unknown sea and brought they call to my home. The night is dark and my heart is fearful – yet I will take up the lamp, open my gates and bow to him my welcome. It is they messenger who stands at my door. I will worship him placing at his feet the treasure of my heart. He will go back with his errand done, leaving a dark shadow on my morning; and in my desolate home only my forlorn self will remain as my last offering to thee. Tagore, from Gitanjali, LXXXVI

And, my two favorites:

The storm of last night has crowned this morning with golden peace. Tagore, from Stray Birds, CCXCIII

Death belongs to life as birth does. The walk is in the raising of the foot as in the laying of it down. Tagore, from Stray Birds, CCXVI

DEMOCRACY HYPOCRISY PART 24

Bush in 2007:

“But here's my point: Either they knew or didn't know, and what matters is, is that they're there. What's worse, that the government knew or that the government didn't know?”

Hey, you tell me – which is worse – a government that knew what was going on in Abu Ghraib or a government that didn’t know what it’s military was doing? A government that didn’t know that terrorists were going to strike us, or a government that knew, but did nothing? A government that knew it was starting up a war of aggression based on a pack of lies, or a government that is so blasted stupid that it believed the lies? Since Bush was selected for office, we have had the following MASSIVE intelligence failures – or maybe they are just MASSIVE efforts at pretending “not to know” what was really going on.

1. terrorist attack of 9/11 on NYC and DC, also anthrax attacks

2. unable to capture and arrest bin Laden

3. false claims of WMDs in Iraq leading to a war of aggression

4. no post-invasion plans in Iraq worth a shit

5. torture by US military and CIA

6. kidnapping by US military and CIA

7. destroying infrastructure in Iraq by US military actions, and no restoration

8. not stopping death squads in Iraq (or maybe starting them up in the first place?)

9. allowing genocide in occupied Iraq (or maybe causing genocide in Iraq?)

10. spreading depleted uranium all over Iraq and causing the cancer rate to skyrocket

"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

And when we violated the Nuremberg principles, we violated our own US Constitution.

Neil Young: "Let's Impeach The President"

The official video for Neil Young's "Let's Impeach The President" (also available as a free download on neilyoung.com). I have started holding a big sign that says HONK TO IMPEACH on a bridge over the local freeway on Mondays during rush hour.

DEMOCRACY HYPOCRISY PART 23

This installment of democracy hypocrisy is based on an article by Harold Pinter called “Why George Bush is Insane”. He writes:

The US is at this moment developing advanced systems of "weapons of mass destruction" and it prepared to use them where it sees fit. It has more of them than the rest of the world put together. It has walked away from international agreements on biological and chemical weapons, refusing to allow inspection of its own factories. The hypocrisy behind its public declarations and its own actions is almost a joke.

Yeap, we not only have more weapons of mass destruction than anyone else combined, we have the distinction of being the only country to have used nuclear weapons. We have done a lot of damage to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in the last six years, and today our congress is considering a bill to “update” our nuclear stockpile. This would require more testing of the new nukes, and that means the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty would be null and void.

Please let your elected officials know that you do not want any more nuclear weapons made (or “updated”) and that you do not want any further nuclear tests. Furthermore, please tell them that you want more effort and money in securing loose nukes, particularly from Russia. If these nukes fall into the hands of someone who is willing to use them, we could have a nuclear war on our hands. Even if it does not go that far, they could do a lot of damage with just some dirty bombs from old nuclear material. This is the main reason why we should be working for a world wide ban on nuclear power – because of the waste products it leaves us with, which can never be safe.

In early August each year, there is a protest and rally and march outside the Oak Ridge Nuclear plant. It is always hot as the dickens there (I call it “melt your face off hot” because really, you feel like you might melt on that street walking to the plant that produces some of the bombs the US has in it’s stockpile.) Here is more information on that rally and the group behind it. This year the rally is on August 4, 2007.

OAK RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL PEACE ALLIANCE

War-mongering with Iran

This is ridiculous. It seems the US Congress, and the Bush administration, is doing all that it can to ratchet up the pressure and tension with Iran. For what purpose? I sure don’t know, unless the greedy ones want to get their hands on that oil, too. Maybe Iraq was not enough. Here is an example of rampant stupidity in how the US Congress is engaging Iran - from June 20, 2007, from a press release from Rep. Kucinich’s office:

No Questions Asked?

Congress Votes to Send the President of Iran Before a United Nations Court
While Refusing a New York Times Translation of the President's Remarks
Office of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, June 20, 2007

Today the House of Representatives passed H. Con.Res.21, a resolution that pressures the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his alleged calls for the destruction of Israel. "There is reasonable doubt with regard to the accuracy of the translations of President Ahmadinejad's words in this resolution. President Ahmadinejad's speeches can also be translated as a call for regime change, much in the same manner the Bush Administration has called for regime change in Iraq and Iran, making this resolution very ironic," Kucinich said. Kucinich attempted to insert into the Congressional Record two independent translations of the speech from The New York Times and Middle East Media Research Institute, which contain significant differences in the translations of the speech compared to the resolution before the House. However, Members objected formally and the attempt was blocked.

….."We must make every effort to ascertain the truth because peace in the world may hang in the balance. The only way to definitively know what President Ahmadinejad meant is for the United States to engage in meaningful, diplomatic relations with the country of Iran."

As usual, Rep. Kucinich ‘gets it’ which is why I support him for President.

Yes, this was a war-mongering move on the part of the US Congress - to ask the UN Security Council to charge Ahmadinejad for calling for the destruction of Israel, when that may not be what he actually said in the first place. When you are translating from one language to another, it is easy to misinterpret what was said, but even if he did say what they claim he said, how is that worse than Reagan’s “evil empire” comment or bush’s comment about the “axis of evil”? Bush followed up on that comment with an invasion and tons of bombing on one of the countries in his axis of evil. And he destroyed the country of Iraq. (He is on his way to destroying Afghanistan also.)

A lot of other things going on are war mongering or threatening in nature to the country of Iran. Meanwhile, Iran has not invaded or bombed another country in 200 years. They may be making weapons and selling them to various people in world, but the US is doing more of that than anybody. To call them out on THAT is pure hypocrisy. But then, so is asking the UN Security Council to charge Ahmadinejad but not Bush – when Bush has said things that are worse, and then committed war crimes on top of that. A war of aggression, as per the Nuremberg Principles, is the worst of war crimes. Here’s some more information on Iran:

Iran Has a Message – Are we listening?

At least twice before, the administration has slapped down such overtures. In late 2001, Iran provided invaluable assistance in stabilizing the post-Taliban government led by Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, pledging $550 million worth of assistance (about the same amount promised by the United States) at a January 2002 donors' conference. A week later, Bush declared Iran part of the "axis of evil" during his second State of the Union address -- a stinging rebuff that Iranians still talk about bitterly. Then, in the spring of 2003, Iranian officials used their regular Swiss intermediary to fax a two-page proposal for comprehensive talks to the State Department, including discussions of a "two-state approach" to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. That, too, was ignored.

I do not think the Bush administration will attack or bomb Iran in the near future, provided that Iran does not respond violently to the provocations. However, they are in the process of trying to make them weaker and weaker – because they DO want to bomb and invade them one day. And it ain’t for Israel’s sake – it is for the sake of the oil. But they will not do this until Iran is a lot weaker, following what they did to Iraq with the sanctions. This is pure evil.

The picture above is an Iranian stamp of the day that the US military shot down a passenger plane and killed hundreds. There was NO apology from the US for this evil act of terrorism, and no attempts at making amends either.

Impeachment protest on the 4th of July

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Impeachment protest on the 4^th of July

Five friends and I decided to protest at the local 4^th of July celebration. We made some signs, with my signs saying HONK TO IMPEACH, and went downtown. Three of us stood on the corner of an intersection that has a round-about in it, and the other three stood inside the round-about.

Most of the reactions we got were very positive, with the many pedestrians saying HONK, HONK when they saw us – it was mainly pedestrians down there. We got honks too. But, of course, some folks were very unhappy to see us. Andy and I had a minor confrontation with a lady who walked right up to us and said to stop blocking the crosswalk. Well, we were in no way blocking the crosswalk, and Andy said some stuff back to her, and then her husband started threatening him for “getting in his wife’s business” when in actually, the women was getting in our business.

Then the local police showed up. They first asked the people in the round-about if they had a permit. Well, you don’t need a city permit for six people to hold signs, but we of course do have a permit – it is known as THE BILL OF RIGHTS. Seems the police think that does not apply in the city, which is odd. Then the protesters asked to let them know what city ordinance they were violating. That required several more cop cars, a half dozen cops and even the Chief of Police to answer that one – which they finally did answer by saying the round-about was part of the roadway, and we were not allowed to stand in the roadway. So, the protesters in the round-about moved to the corner where the rest of us were standing. The cop came over and explained (to those of us who did not hear the original explanation) that the round-about was part of the roadway, so I asked him if it was okay to drive my car across the round-about – he said he would not discuss that.

All in all, it was a successful little protest – with probably over 50% totally supporting us. I had a message on my car when I got back: “Fabulous License Plates!”. My NC car license plate says IMPEACH. I think we need to do more protests. I’m going for Friday at 4 PM in front of our local Representative’s office, on Biltmore Avenue. Please join me!

• "Remember, those who sacrifice liberty for security will have neither"

Thank you, Cindy! Thank you, Sami!

This picture was taken at the Greensboro Rally in April 2007. The man in the photo is Sami Rasouli. Sami and Cindy both spoke at this rally. I was busy getting people to sign postcards asking for the end of the occupation of Iraq, so I did not get a change to listen to them closely. I have 150+ postcards for dole, burr and Rep. Shuler which I will deliver this month to their offices in DC.

I just want to say THANK YOU Cindy for the boost you gave to the anti-war movement. THANK YOU for trying to stop this hideous occupation of a country that did nothing to us at all. I hope you will rest up and come back to join the fight, because we need all hands on deck!

And THANK YOU to Sami Rasouli for trying to help the country of Iraq and bring some measure of peace and stability to that country by non-violent means. Sami is an Iraqi-American living in Najaf for most of the year. He is a member of the Muslim Peacemakers Team, which is following the extraordinary example of the Christian Peacemakers Team. Tom Fox was a member of CPT, and he gave up his life in pursuit of non-violent means of solving conflict. I hope Sami does not ever have to make such a sacrifice.

The price that Cindy has paid, and the price that Sami has paid is extraordinary. I hope they find satisfaction in knowing that they are working for, and standing for the right things on this earth. Even if they are not successful during their lifetimes, at least they know that THEY TRIED.

And I am grateful for knowing them and being inspired by their examples. I wish them all the best.

And I am glad that Cindy realizes what a problem with have with the Democratic party here in the USA. They are nearly as war-mongering as the Republicans, the main difference is that the Democrats care a bit more about Americans and are more competent managers. I do work for the Democratic Party and the Progressive Democrats of America, but my eyes are wide open to the reality of what is really going one. We have a one-party two face system that is of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations. And this has to change, one way or another. I am working for peaceful change via non-violent means, but in the end someone else may deliver something quite different to the American people, and it will not be a happy occasion at all.

Once again, THANK YOU Cindy and her sister Dede, and to Sami Rasouli and to all the other people who are putting their heart and soul into changing our corporate-run country into something with decency and morals.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!

And never give up!

I will be downtown today just before the fireworks start, holding up a HONK TO IMPEACH sign. Already put flyers on windshields today saying BRING THEM HOME and plan on handing out flyers after SiCKO.

Happy July 4th to everyone from an true American Patriot!

The apple didn't fall far from that tree....

Photo from the LA Times website.

How hypocritical can they get? Well, they can go pretty far down that road…….

From Wikipedia:

On Sept. 29, 2003, the White House, through spokesman Scott McClellan, said: "If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration."

Knowingly leaking the identity of a covert agent is a criminal violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA), and the CIA is required by law to report any such possible criminal violations.

On September 30, 2003, Mr. Bush said: "And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." He added: "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."

Apparently, that means letting them out of jail even before they go there! After being found guilty of obstruction of justice – and THAT would come from preventing the Federal prosecutor from finding out WHO DID THE LEAK and thereby undermined our national security! By keeping his yap shut, Scooter gets off without jail time (and probably without any penalty, when all is said and done) and the person who did the crime is protected.

President George W. Bush, who has repeatedly denied knowing the identity of the leaker, and called the leak a "criminal action" for the first time on 6 October 2003, stating "[i]f anybody has got any information inside our government or outside our government who leaked, you ought to take it to the Justice Department so we can find the leaker." Speaking to a crowd of journalists the following day, Bush said "I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is — partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers."

What a hypocrite! They sent the leakers to the press themselves!

On 8 October 2003, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that "no one has more of an interest in getting to the bottom of this than the White House does, than the President does."

OH, YEAH, RIGHT.

By the way, bush #1 did pretty much the same thing for the Iran-contra criminals, and he did it for the same reasons – to protect his own backside from criminal prosecution. Apple didn’t fall far from that tree!

“Bring ‘em on home” Video

It's time to Bring 'Em on Home and hold the liars in office accountable. – Video from Ava.