CONTENTS:
PHILLY ACTION
"A View of Global Warming" Town Square/ Film Screening/Roundtable
Discussion
The Philadelphia Interfaith Walk for Peace and Reconciliation group
Rabbis for Human Rights-North America: National interfaith campaign
against torture conference
PEACE PRESENCE NEAR SEN. SPECTER'S HOME ON DR. KING'S BIRTHDAY, JANUARY
15
Peace Child Israel performance [and appeal for support]
Brandywine Peace Community: Potluck and area premiere of Forward
March to Peace
Northwest Peace & Justice Movement - preparing for the King's
Birthday Peace Event
The Shalom Center will honor three Philadelphians and one Californian:
TWO PEACE VIGILS Every Wednesday
2006 and still standing on 15th Street across from the Israeli Consulate
Playgrounds for Palestine's annual fundraiser
--------------
NATIONAL ACTION:
Demand Release of Mexican Human Rights Activist Martin Barrios
Hernandez!
California Steelworker Local Endorses HR 676
Stop CAFTA Coalition Announces Actions to Protest Faulty, Undemocratic
Implementation Process
YOur secret weapon to SAVE the Supreme Court
RUN FOR OFFICE YOURSELF OR FIND US SOMEONE WHO IS
-------------------------------------------------
Job Opening: Director, Web Communications - AFSC
--------------------------------------------------
COMMENTARY:
* After the War By Howard Zinn
* What Fate Awaits NSA Spying Whistleblower By David Swanson
* This fence makes for nervous neighbours
* Army uproots 400 olive trees in a village near Hebron
* Army arrests Palestinian election campaign coordinator of a left-wing
coalition
* Pentagon propaganda program orders soldiers to promote Iraq war while
home on leave By Doug Thompson
* Scott Ritter: Elections in 2005, Civil War in 2006?
* CHICAGO VS. HUGO CHAVEZ Jessica Pupovac
* SOLVING THE IMMIGRATION DILEMMA Neil Peirce
* 'STRAPPED' FOR ADULTHOOD Jodie Janella Horn
* Zapatistas' Marcos Quits Armed Struggle for Peaceful Campaign
* 20 Years On and Whales are Under Threat Again
* Iraq Oil Minister Resigns Under Pressure; Replaced with Chalabi
=============
PHILLY ACTION:
"A View of Global Warming" Town Square/ Film Screening/Roundtable
Discussion
January 10, 200- 6:30 p.m.
to 8:30 p.m.
The Academy of Natural
Sciences, Auditorium, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy. Philadelphia
Join us for the Philadelphia premiere of the film "Washed Away," from
the
provocative Canadian series "Arctic Mission." To be followed by a
panel
discussion featuring Larry J. Schweiger, President & CEO, National
Wildlife
Federation, and Academy climate change expert, Dr. Melanie Vile.
Refreshments served before and after program.
RSVP recommended. For
more information visit www.acnatsci.org/townsquare or
contact Roland Wall at
(215)-299-1108, rwall@acnatsci.org.
________________________________________________________________
The Philadelphia Interfaith Walk for Peace and
Reconciliation group
Wednesday, January 11, 2005
Al-Aqsa Islamic Center, 1501 Germantown Avenue (at 3rd & Jefferson
Sts.) at 7:00 PM.
All ar welcome.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Rabbis for Human Rights-North America: National
interfaith campaign against torture conference
Friday-Sunday, January 13-15, Princeton Theological Seminary campus,
Princeton, New Jersey
The conference will include well-known theologians, experts on
international law and leaders in the human rights community.
· Friday: Panel
sessions on Law Morality and Torture, and Government and Military
issues; Shabbat service, dinner and
plenary address (by Mark Danner, author,
Torture and Truth)·
Saturday:
Shabbat service; two panel discussions on Theology, Ethics and Human
Rights·
Sunday:
Christian worship; break-out groups for Jews and Muslim conferees;
panel on Inter-religious concerns.
During the
conference, there will be opportunities for Muslim prayers.
Registration (online): http://www.peacecolalition.org/projects/churchfolks
Conference registration fee: $25;
For info on housing and meals, contact Dan Thompson:
609-924-5022. Housing costs: $55 Friday, $55 Saturday.
Meals: $75 (vegetarian, kosher and halal meals optional).
Registration deadline is January 6, 2006. See icon below for full
conference details and a registration form.
_____________________________________________________
PEACE PRESENCE NEAR SEN. SPECTER'S HOME ON DR.
KING'S BIRTHDAY, JANUARY 15
Sunday, January 15,
from 2:00 until 4:00 p.m.
Schoolhouse Lane
(between Henry Avenue and Gypsy Lane) in East Falls.
We will continue to return monthly until Specter responds
positively to the growing anti-war
sentiment sweeping across our state and nation . Meanwhile,
pressure continues to be placed on Specter's downtown office by
the Philadelphia Affinity Group to get him to sponsor legislation in
the Senate that Pentagon funds in Iraq be allowed only "for the safe
and orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops." Similar legislation ["The
End the War in Iraq Act of 2005" (H.R. 4232)] has been introduced
in the House of Representatives by Rep. James McGovern.
- Philadelphia Regional
Anti-War Network (PRAWN) For more Information: 215-307-7980
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Peace Child Israel performance [and appeal for
support]
Friday, January 20, 2006, 8:00 PM, Mishkan Shalom, 4101 Freeland Avenue
(at Shurs Lane), Philadelphia/Roxborough
The free performance will
follow Shabbat services at 6:00 PM and a catered community dinner at
7:00 PM. To RSVP
for the dinner, call Mishkan
Shalom at 215-508-0226.
PERFORMANCE: Eighteen Jewish and Arab teens from Israel will
perform their original work, "The Other Side," a play dealing with
issues of tolerance and co-existence (in Hebrew, Arabic and
English). The group uses theatre and the arts as a tool to foster
dialogue between Jewish and Palestinian teens in Israel and East
Jerusalem about the current conflict and their experiences living in it.
OTHER US TOUR STOPS:
The US tour of Peace Child Israel (1/15-1/24/06) will include the
following Philadelphia events in addition to the Mishkan Shalom
performance:
· A workshop with Director
Billy Yalowitz (Six Actors in Search of a Plot) and his teen group,
Philadelphia North Stars, who will join together with the PCI teens for
a performance at the Church of the Advocate on Wednesday, 1/18/06.
· On Saturday, 1/21/06 at
the National Constitution Center stage, 100 kids will perform the debut
of a new peace anthem, The Time Has Come, together with PCI's We
Brought Peace Upon Us.
For more information about the group, see the Peace Child Israel
website: http:///www.mideastweb.org/peacechild/
_______________________________________________
Brandywine Peace Community: Potluck and
area premiere of Forward March to Peace & civil disobedience
Sunday, January 8, 2005, potluck-4:30 PM; program-5:30 PM, University
Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
Forward March to Peace, by Canadian film producer Laura Jones, depicts
the history of GI resistance around Ft. Bragg,
Fayetteville, NC, from the Vietnam War to today's opposition to the war
in Iraq.
· March to Peace:
Planning for civil disobedience at Lockheed Martin on Martin Luther
King Day
Monday, January 9, 2006, Friends Center (ML King Room), 1501 Cherry
Street, Philadelphia
Planning and preparation
meeting for those doing civil disobedience on King Day-within the
context of the overall demonstration at
Lockheed Martin, Mall & Goddard Boulevards, Valley Forge, PA
(behind the King of Prussia Mall) on
January 16, 2005 at 12:00 PM. Lockheed Martin is the world's
largest weapons corporation and nuclear weapons contractor.
For more information, contact the Brandywine Peace Community at:
610-544-1818; brandywine@juno.com www.brandywinepeace.com
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Northwest Peace & Justice Movement
Join us in preparing for the King's Birthday Peace Event and in
discussing future peace activities.
Tuesday January 10, 2006,
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Parish Center behind Saint
Vincent's Church Street: 109 East Price Street in Germantown,
Phila. PA 19144
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Shalom Center will honor three Philadelphians
and one Californian:
· Jeffrey Dekro, founder of
The Shefa Fund and vice president, Jewish Funds for Justice;
· Judy Wicks, founder of the
White Dog Café and co-founder, Business Alliance for Local
Living Economies;
· Celeste Zappala,
pioneering bereaved mother in awakening military families
·
Cindy Sheehan,
keynote speaker.
Sunday, February 5, 2006, 2:00 PM, Mishkan Shalom, 4101 Freeland Avenue
(at Shurs Lane), Philadelphia/Roxborough
2:00 PM: Public
program [$36 in advance, $45 at the door].
4:00 PM: Sunday supper
with the honorees [by reservation only: $360 sponsorships and above].
For more
information or to attend: Contact The Shalom Center, 6711 Lincoln
Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19119.
_______________
TWO PEACE VIGILS
Every Wednesday - 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Event Location: Outside Unitarian Society of Germantown
Street: 6511 Lincoln Drive (between Wayne & Horter) in West Mount
Airy, Philadelphia, PA 19119
- Candles and signs welcome. Let's make them "HONK FOR PEACE!"
Every Wednesday 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Event Location: Outside Borders Book Store, Germantown Avenue at
Bethlehem Pike in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA 19118
Philadelphia, PA 19118
Notes: Dress warmly and bring your candle and sign. (Try this in your
neighborhood.)
____________________________________________________________________________________
2006 and still standing on 15th Street across
from the Israeli Consulate
When we began the weekly vigil - our intention was to continue until
there was a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis. We
will continue - with your help - to work at disseminating the messages
of Israeli and Plaestinan peace activists! See you on Friday at
noon on S 15th Street above Locust. From: CSwartz [mailto:cswartz@pil.net]
____________________________________________
Playgrounds for Palestine's annual fundraiser
Sunday, February 12, at Samba, a Palestinian-owned restaurant and night
club (714 W Girard Ave) in Philadelphia.
Begin with a buffet dinner (cash bar) and silent auction at 5 pm with a
suggested donation of $30-50.
Live entertainment (Arabic dance and music) will follow.
The evening will segue in to an Arabic music dance party.
For those arriving only for the party, there will be an entrance fee of
$10 (cash bar).
The fundraiser is intended
to raise money for the Gaza Design Competition, a joint project
including the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG), whereby a playground
design competition will be held among architecture students. Winners
will be selected based on predefined guidelines that aim to create fun,
safe, and aesthetically Palestinian playgrounds using local raw
materials and local labor. For info. or tickets 215-852-6963 or email
Susan Abulhawa sjabulhawa@yahoo.com
However, if you cannot attend - you are invited to make a contribution!
================
NATIONAL ACTION:
Demand Release of Mexican Human Rights Activist Martin Barrios
Hernandez!
From: United Students Against Sweatshops [mailto:organize@usasnet.org]
Falsely accused of
attempting to blackmail a maquila owner,
Mexican human rights activist Martin Barrios Hernandez is being
held in a Puebla state prison, locked up in a cell with 14 other
prisoners with no chance under Mexican law of getting out on bail.
However, growing national
and international attention to
Barrios' case could force Puebla state governor, Mario Marin
Torres, to order his release as soon as Wednesday, January 4,
when there will be a formal review as to whether there is
sufficient evidence to prosecute him on the criminal charge of
blackmail.
Your support is urgently
needed to obtain the immediate release
of this well-respected defender of the rights of maquila workers
and indigenous communities in the Tehuacan Valley region of the Mexican
state of Puebla.
Take action at: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/barrios/g7ugbi427w3j6w?
________________________________________________________________________
California Steelworker Local Endorses HR 676
Carson, CA USW Local 675, with 3,000 members in petroleum
production,
refining, chemical plants and pharmaceuticals in both southern
California and
southern Nevada, has endorsed HR 676, a bill introduced by John Conyers
(D-MI) which would
establish a single payer health care system in the U.S.
The local's executive board
and membership acted on Dec. 15 saying: "We are
part of a national movement joining with other organizations across the
country working to pass universal single payer health insurance as
embodied in HR
676,. the Medicare for All legislation, sponsored by Rep. John Conyers."
HR 676 is a comprehensive
program that would cover everyone in the U.S. by
extending a vastly expanded and improved medicare system.
Coverage would
include, dental, drugs, nursing home, etc without any co-pays or other
fees. The
legislation currently has 63 co-sponsors in the House
Representatives
For a complete list of union endorsers of HR 676
contact:
Kay Tillow, All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care--HR 676,
c/o Nurse Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Pkway, suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217- Tel:(502)
459-3393- email: nursenpo@aol.com
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stop CAFTA Coalition Announces Actions to
Protest Faulty, Undemocratic Implementation Process for
Central American Free Trade Agreement
CONTACT: Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
(CISPES) / Quixote Center Burke Stansbury,
718-832-9399 Tom Ricker , 301-922-8909 http://www.stopcafta.org
WASHINGTON - December 29 - In January, local groups
around the country will mobilize to protest the
implementation of the US-Dominican Republic-Central
America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). CAFTA passed
in the US House of Representatives by a mere 2 votes in
July after a draining political battle.
January 1, 2006 marks the date that the Bush
Administration had set for implementation of CAFTA.
However, progress has been frustrated in various
countries where the US insists on the need for
constitutional reforms before CAFTA goes into effect,
while in Costa Rica the parliament has yet to bring
CAFTA to a vote, despite recent threats from the U.S.ambassador.
Organizations from throughout Central America recently
met in Costa Rica for the 5th Mesoamerican Forum where
they pledged to continue fighting CAFTA, and to
mobilize huge protests for the visit of President Bush
to El Salvador in mid-January. In the US, the Stop
CAFTA Coalition is organizing coordinated, local
anti-CAFTA actions in January to denounce the likely
effects of the agreement in Central America and to hold
accountable Representatives and Senators who voted in favor of CAFTA in
July.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Nationally, 129 new coal power plants proposed!
In Pennsylvania, we have three large new power plants planned in
western and central PA to burn waste coal (a fuel far dirtier than
normal coal), with support from Rendell's "alternative energy"
policies. We've been in the forefront on this issue, having
developed local opposition to these plants, one of which now has an
organized grassroots group we started in March (just west of
Pittsburgh... see http://www.rapp.2truth.com).
Due to our research,
outreach and advocacy on waste coal burning, two of the three
proposals for large new waste coal burning power plants in
Pennsylvania have their air permits being appealed, holding back the
financing and development of those projects (one of which would be
the largest in the world). More info on waste coal can be found on
our website here: http://www.energyjustice.net/coal/wastecoal/
We're also working with people in northern Schuylkill County in
eastern PA to stop the nation's first experimental coal-to-oil
refinery. It would be located adjacent to a state prison, where
the
largely African-American population would be trapped in close
proximity to the refinery. There area is home to very low-income
rural white communities where they're already surrounded by the
largest concentration of waste coal burning power plants in the
nation. Stopping this refinery (also backed with hundreds of
millions in subsidies from Rendell and the feds) is critical to
preventing the growth of the dirtiest possible "solution" to our oil
problem. We recently initiated the formation of a local group
called
Schuylkill Taxpayers Opposed to Pollution (STOP) to stop this (see
http://www.ultradirtyfuels.com).
Since we have the support of the
local government we have a good chance of winning, but it's an uphill
battle, since raising funds in an economically-depressed mining region
isn't easy.
More info on the coal
revival on our coal page, here: http://www.energyjustice.net/coal/
Mike Ewall,
ActionPA, 215-743-4884, catalyst@actionpa.org, http://www.actionpa.org
___________________________________________________________________________________
Our secret weapon to SAVE the Supreme Court.
The Pen [mailto:activist.gb@gmail.com]
YOU ASKED FOR IT, WE LISTENED TO YOU, AND NOW IT'S HERE!
With this email we announce the launch of a revolutionary NEW and more
powerful way of doing online activism. You have reported to us repeated
instances of large corporate ISPs blocking our email alerts, and as our
numbers have grown we have wracked our brains for the ultimate solution
to this problem. Because we are doing action pages for no charge for
more and more other groups. http://www.usalone.com/index.php
Please note, the
ONLY way you can obtain a copy of the Desktop Action
program is to download a copy directly from the site above. We will
never under any circumstances distribute the program in any other way,
and for this reason we ask you not to send a copy of the program
yourself to anyone else you know, no matter how fantastic and wonderful
you think it is. Instead, send all your friends a link to the site
above, so they can actually visit the page and know you are getting the
latest digitally signed security copy of the Desktop Action program.
RUN FOR OFFICE YOURSELF OR FIND US SOMEONE WHO IS
In the meantime, if you know anyone who is running for office,
especially if there is an incumbent you think deserves to be challenged
in their own PRIMARY, please contact us at once and we will set them up
with the magic tools you will need to come from nowhere with no money
and win. In particular, the best way to persuade those incumbents to
vote the correct way now is to make them feel the heat from our side.
Email us at once on this as time is of the essence.
If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at http://www.usalone.com/in.htm
Powered by The People's Email Network/ Copyright 2005, Patent
pending, All rights reserved
============
Job Opening: Director, Web Communications - AFSC, American Friends
Service Committee, Philadelphia, PA
Responsible for planning and managing the growth and development of
the AFSC Web site. Plan and implement Web communications strategy.
Develop Web policies, procedures and style guidelines. Manage Web
projects from start to finish. Edit, proofread, review, and write Web
content. Plan and coordinate Web-related training. Requires a BA
degree in Communications or related field (or equivalent experience).
4 years experience writing and editing content for a Website or
electronic newsletter. Demonstrated ability to write clear, concise
copy for publication; demonstrated ability to effectively edit and
proofread the writing of others. 4 years experience managing the
development of a complex website.
Contact: Clara Wright. Letter of interest, resume and application by
January 17, 2006. Send to jobs@afsc.org. To receive an application,
click here (Word " 0.1mb ) or here (RTF - 5mb), or email
jobs@afsc.org. Job Description >
===========
COMMENTARY:
,
January 2006 Issue
The war against Iraq, the assault on its people, the occupation of its
cities, will come to an end, sooner or later. The process has already
begun. The first signs of mutiny are appearing in Congress. The first
editorials calling for withdrawal from Iraq are beginning to appear in
the press. The anti-war movement has been growing, slowly but
persistently, all over the country. Public opinion polls
now show the country decisively against the war and the Bush
Administration. The harsh realities have become visible. The troops
will have to come home.
And while we work with increased determination to make this happen,
should we not think beyond this war? Should we begin to think, even
before this shameful war is over, about ending our addiction to massive
violence and instead using the enormous wealth of our country for human
needs? That is, should we begin to speak about ending war-not just this
war or that war, but war itself? Perhaps the time has come to bring an
end to war, and turn the human race onto a path of health and healing.
A group of internationally known figures, celebrated both for their
talent and their dedication to human rights (Gino Strada, Paul Farmer,
Kurt Vonnegut, Nadine Gordimer, Eduardo Galeano, and others), will soon
launch a worldwide campaign to enlist tens of millions of people in a
movement for the renunciation of war, hoping to reach the point where
governments, facing popular resistance, will find it difficult or
impossible to wage war.
There is a persistent argument against such a possibility, which I have
heard from people on all parts of the political spectrum: We will never
do away with war because it comes out of human nature. The most
compelling counter to that claim is in history: We don't find people
spontaneously rushing to make war on others. What we find, rather, is
that governments must make the most strenuous efforts to mobilize
populations for war. They must entice soldiers with promises of money,
education, must hold out to young people whose chances in life look
very poor that here is an opportunity to attain respect and status. And
if those enticements don't work, governments must use coercion: They
must conscript young people, force them into military service, threaten
them with prison if they do not comply.
Furthermore, the government must persuade young people and their
families that though the soldier may die, though he or she may lose
arms or legs, or become blind, that it is all for a noble cause, for
God, for country. When you look at the endless series of
wars of this century you do not find a public demanding war, but rather
resisting it, until citizens are bombarded with exhortations that
appeal, not to a killer instinct, but to a desire to do good, to spread
democracy or liberty or overthrow a tyrant. Woodrow Wilson
found a citizenry so reluctant to enter the First World War that he had
to pummel the nation with propaganda and imprison dissenters in order
to get the country to join the butchery going on in Europe.
In the Second World War, there was indeed a strong moral imperative,
which still resonates among most people in this country and which
maintains the reputation of World War II as "the good war." There was a
need to defeat the monstrosity of fascism. It was that belief that
drove me to enlist in the Air Force and fly bombing missions over
Europe. Only after the war did I begin to question the
purity of the moral crusade. Dropping bombs from five miles high, I had
seen no human beings, heard no screams, seen no children dismembered.
But now I had to think about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the
firebombings of Tokyo and Dresden, the deaths of 600,000 civilians in
Japan, and a similar number in Germany.
I came to a conclusion about the psychology of myself and other
warriors: Once we decided, at the start, that our side was the good
side and the other side was evil, once we had made that simple and
simplistic calculation, we did not have to think anymore. Then we could
commit unspeakable crimes and it was all right. began to think
about the motives of the Western powers and Stalinist Russia and
wondered if they cared as much about fascism as about retaining their
own empires, their own power, and if that was why they had military
priorities higher than bombing the rail lines leading to Auschwitz. Six
million Jews were killed in the death camps (allowed to be killed?).
Only 60,000 were saved by the war-1 percent.
A gunner on another crew, a reader of history with whom I had become
friends, said to me one day: "You know this is an imperialist war. The
fascists are evil. But our side is not much better." I could not accept
his statement at the time, but it stuck with me.
War, I decided, creates, insidiously, a common morality for all sides.
It poisons everyone who is engaged in it, however different they are in
many ways, turns them into killers and torturers, as we are seeing now.
It pretends to be concerned with toppling tyrants, and may in fact do
so, but the people it kills are the victims of the tyrants. It appears
to cleanse the world of evil, but that does not last, because its very
nature spawns more evil. Wars, like violence in general, I concluded,
is a drug. It gives a quick high, the thrill of victory, but that wears
off and then comes despair.
I acknowledge the possibility of humanitarian intervention to prevent
atrocities, as in Rwanda. But war, defined as the indiscriminate
killing of large numbers of people, must be resisted.
Whatever can be said about World War II, understanding its complexity,
the situations that followed-Korea, Vietnam-were so far from the kind
of threat that Germany and Japan had posed to the world that those wars
could be justified only by drawing on the glow of "the good war." A
hysteria about communism led to McCarthyism at home and military
interventions in Asia and Latin America-overt and covert-justified by a
"Soviet threat" that was exaggerated just enough to mobilize the people
for war.
Vietnam, however, proved to be a sobering experience, in which the
American public, over a period of several years, began to see through
the lies that had been told to justify all that bloodshed. The United
States was forced to withdraw from Vietnam, and the world didn't come
to an end. One half of one tiny country in Southeast Asia was now
joined to its communist other half, and 58,000 American lives and
millions of Vietnamese lives had been expended to prevent that. A
majority of Americans had come to oppose that war, which had provoked
the largest anti-war movement in the nation's history. The
war in Vietnam ended with a public fed up with war. I believe that the
American people, once the fog of propaganda had dissipated, had come
back to a more natural state. Public opinion polls showed that people
in the United States were opposed to send troops anywhere in the world,
for any reason.
The Establishment was alarmed. The government set out deliberately to
overcome what it called "the Vietnam syndrome." Opposition to military
interventions abroad was a sickness, to be cured. And so they would
wean the American public away from its unhealthy attitude, by tighter
control of information, by avoiding a draft, and by engaging in short,
swift wars over weak opponents (Grenada, Panama, Iraq), which didn't
give the public time to develop an anti-war movement.
I would argue that the end of the Vietnam War enabled the people of the
United States to shake the "war syndrome," a disease not natural to the
human body. But they could be infected once again, and September 11
gave the government that opportunity. Terrorism became the
justification for war, but war is itself terrorism, breeding rage and
hate, as we are seeing now.
The war in Iraq has revealed the hypocrisy of the "war on terrorism."
And the government of the United States, indeed governments everywhere,
are becoming exposed as untrustworthy: that is, not to be entrusted
with the safety of human beings, or the safety of the planet, or the
guarding of its air, its water, its natural wealth, or the curing of
poverty and disease, or coping with the alarming growth of natural
disasters that plague so many of the six billion people on
Earth. I don't believe that our government will be able to
do once more what it did after Vietnam-prepare the population for still
another plunge into violence and dishonor. It seems to me that when the
war in Iraq ends, and the war syndrome heals, that there will be a
great opportunity to make that healing permanent.
My hope is that the memory of death and disgrace will be so intense
that the people of the United States will be able to listen to a
message that the rest of the world, sobered by wars without end, can
also understand: that war itself is the enemy of the human race.
Governments will resist this message. But their power is dependent on
the obedience of the citizenry. When that is withdrawn, governments are
helpless. We have seen this again and again in history.
The abolition of war has become not only desirable but absolutely
necessary if the planet is to be saved. It is an idea whose time has
come.
Howard Zinn is the co-author, with Anthony Arnove, of "Voices of a
People's History of the United States."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What Fate Awaits NSA Spying Whistleblower By
David Swanson. January 1, 2006
Can there be any doubt that if the White House finds out who leaked the
story of its illegal spying, fierce retribution will follow?
Another way of asking that question is: Should auld acquaintance be
forgot and never brought to mind?
Remember what happened to Ambassador Joseph Wilson? The White House
leaked to the media his wife's identity as an undercover agent for the
CIA, putting her life and those of her colleagues in danger and ending
her career.
And let us recall what became of General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff
of the U.S. Army, who dared to accurately predict how many troops would
be needed to occupy Iraq. Defense Department officials leaked the name
of his replacement 14 months before his retirement, rendering him a
lame duck commander and embarrassing and neutralizing the Army's top
officer. We should also bring back to mind the fate of Major General
John Riggs. He told the Baltimore Sun that the Army needed at least
another 10,000 soldiers because it was being stretched too thin between
Iraq and Afghanistan. General George W. Casey told Riggs to "stay in
your lane" and not discuss the troops. Riggs retired and was denied his
full rank, officially for "minor infractions."
Does anyone remember Army Spc. Thomas Wilson, a 31-year-old member of a
Tennessee National Guard unit? After asking Donald Rumsfeld why vehicle
armor was still scarce nearly two years after the start of the war,
Wilson was trashed as an insubordinate plant of the "liberal media." We
can't forget former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill. He was
punished twice by the Bush Administration, once for opposing Bush's tax
policy, for which he was forced to resign in January 2003, and later
for providing a first hand account of the Administration's
decision-making process in the lead up to the Iraq war. The
Administration sought to discredit him by launching an investigation
into his use of classified documents and whether he shared them with 60
Minutes in his interviews. The investigation did not uncover any
improprieties. The White House also sought to discredit O'Neill through
numerous anonymous comments in the press.
Let's remember former senior White House economic adviser Larry
Lindsey. Mr. Lindsey angered the White House in September 2002 when he
made a prescient prediction that a war with Iraq would cost between
$100 billion and $200 billion, an estimate Administration officials at
the time insisted was too high. In December 2002, the White House
requested that Lindsey resign from his post.
And we should keep in mind the smear campaign against Richard Clarke,
the former counterterrorism czar who published a book recounting how
the Bush Administration had been fixated on invading Iraq. Dan
Bartlett, White House communications director, dismissed Clarke's
accounts as "politically motivated," "reckless," and "baseless." Scott
McClellan, President Bush's spokesman, portrayed Clarke as a
disgruntled former employee: "Mr. Clarke has been out there talking
about what title he had . . . He wanted to be the deputy secretary of
the Homeland Security Department after it was created. The fact of the
matter is, just a few months after that, he left the administration. He
did not get that position. Someone else was appointed." National
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice alleged that: "Dick Clarke just does
not know what he is talking about. He wasn't involved in most of the
meetings of the Administration." Vice President Cheney stated that
Clarke "wasn't in the loop, frankly, on a lot of this stuff . . . It
was as though he clearly missed a lot of what was going on."
The media ate that stuff up, but it was pretty tame compared to the
attacks on Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan, who managed to find a voice
in the media for expressing opposition to the war. Fred Barnes of Fox
News labeled Sheehan a "crackpot." Conservative blogs then started
talking about Sheehan's divorce, her angry Republican in-laws, her
supposed political flip-flops, her incendiary sloganeering and her
association with known ticket-stub-carrying attendees of Fahrenheit
9/11. Rush Limbaugh said her "story is nothing more than forged
documents - there's nothing about it that's real. Bush himself declared
Cindy unrepresentative of most military families he meets, and labeled
anti-war protestors as dangerous isolationists who embolden terrorists.
And what about members of the media who reported unpleasant truths?
Well, let's bear in mind the tale of Jeffrey Kofman, an ABC reporter.
On July 15, 2003, one week after Donald Rumsfeld told certain troops
they would be going home, Kofman covered a story in which American
soldiers in Falluja described low moral in Iraq and spoke angrily of
how their tour of duty had been extended yet again. The White House
retaliated, using Matt Drudge. His Drudge Report website posted the
headline: "ABC News Reporter Who Filed Troops Complaint Story -- Openly
Gay Canadian." When asked about the story, Drudge pointed to the White
House as his source.
And then there's Jose Bustani, a Brazilian diplomat and former director
of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),
which oversees the destruction of two million chemical weapons and
two-thirds of the world's chemical weapon facilities. The Bush
Administration attacked and ultimately ousted him for failing to
cooperate with the Administration's decision to attack Iraq. The
Bush Administration also sought to undermine the IAEA and its Director
General Mohammed ElBaradei as retribution for revealing the Niger
documents (allegedly evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program) to be
forgeries. Cheney denounced the IAEA on television, and the White House
made a push to oust ElBaradei from the agency. The Administration's
retaliation campaign included a complete halt of intelligence-sharing
with the agency, recruitment of potential replacements and
eavesdropping on his calls in search of ammunition to use against
ElBaradei and the IAEA.
There are so many people to remember, but let's not leave out Bunnatine
Greenhouse, the chief contracting officer at the Army Corps of
Engineers. In October 2004, Ms. Greenhouse came forward and revealed
that top Pentagon officials had shown improper favoritism to
Halliburton when awarding military contracts. Greenhouse stated that
when the Pentagon awarded Halliburton a five-year $7 billion contract,
it pressured her to withdraw her objections, actions which she claimed
were unprecedented in her experience. The Army demoted Ms. Greenhouse,
removing her from the elite Senior Executive Service and transferring
her to a lesser job in the corps' civil works division. The Bush
Administration also undermined and used the CIA and its analysts as a
scapegoat for its own failings. Among other things, the White House
blamed the CIA and George Tenet for the Niger reference in the State of
the Union address after the CIA had sought to modify, if not delete,
the reference. Tenet was gone by early 2004.
The Bush Administration also retaliated against two officials who
sought to provide accurate information regarding the Administration's
inappropriate reliance on the Iraqi defector known as "Curveball" and
his alleged statements regarding mobile chemical weapons laboratories.
The first is "Jerry," who led a CIA unit that went to Iraq and found
Curveball's claims to be blatantly false and misleading. After he did
so, he was chastised and transferred. According to The Los Angeles
Times: "Back home . . . Jerry was 'read the riot act' and accused of
'making waves' by his office director, according to the presidential
commission. He and his colleague ultimately were transferred out of the
weapons center."
Another victim was David Kay, head of the Iraq Survey Group, which
found the Bush Administration's WMD claims to be inaccurate, including
its reliance on Curveball. "In December 2003," according to the LA
Times, "Kay flew back to C.I.A. headquarters. He said he told Tenet
that Curveball was a liar and he was convinced Iraq had no mobile labs
or other illicit weapons. C.I.A. officials confirm their exchange. Kay
said he was assigned to a windowless office without a working
telephone. On Jan. 20, 2004, Bush lauded Kay and the Iraq Survey Group
in his State of the Union Speech for finding 'weapons of mass
destruction-related program activities. . . . Had we failed to act, the
dictator's weapons of mass destruction program would continue to this
day.' Kay quit three days later and went public with his concerns."
In spring 2001, according to the New York Times, an informant told the
CIA that Iraq had abandoned a major element of its nuclear weapons
program. However, according to a CIA officer, the agency did not share
the information with other agencies or with senior policy makers. The
officer, an employee for the agency for more than 20 years, including
several years in intelligence related to illicit weapons, was fired in
2004. In his lawsuit, the officer states that his dismissal was
punishment for his reports questioning the agency's assumptions on a
series of weapons-related matters and with the agency's intelligence
conclusions.
Each of these cases of retribution for truth-telling is discussed and
documented in Congressman John Conyers' report, "The Constitution in
Crisis; The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation,
Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War." See pages 113 -
133. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/5769
_____________________________________________________________________________
* Restrictions on Barghouti eased
Political echelon's orders to Prison Authority allow jailed leader to
campaign.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1136102658016
* This fence makes for nervous neighbours
With almost an acre of land stretching behind the school, the 750 boys
who study here would spread out during recess and organize several
games at once. That ended in September when the boys returned from a
weekend home to find an eight-metre-high concrete wall cutting through
their schoolyard, reducing their soccer space to a 10 m by 10 m
enclosed box.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060102.wxwall0102/BNStory/International/
* Army uproots 400 olive trees in a
village near Hebron
Israeli soldier, backed by 25 armored vehicles, uprooted on Monday
morning, more than 400 olive trees from the orchards which belong to
residents of Al-Sikka village, south of the West Bank city of Hebron.
Majed Ihshiesh, headmaster of a school which is 100 away from the
Separation Wall, said that soldiers placed the uprooted trees in large
vehicles and drove away to an unknown location. http://www.imemc.org/content/view/15829/1/
* Army arrests Palestinian election
campaign coordinator of a left-wing coalition
Several political groups and organization condemned the arrest of Jaber
and accused Israel of delebrate provocation to disturb the Palestinian
elections. The groups also called upon international human rights
organizations to interfere to stop Israeli acts that affects the
election process negatively. http://www.imemc.org/content/view/15840/1/
* Pentagon propaganda program orders
soldiers to promote Iraq war while home on leave By Doug Thompson,
Capitol Hill Blue
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7918.shtml
* Scott Ritter: Elections in 2005, Civil
War in 2006?
AlterNet is pleased to announce that former U.N. weapons
inspector Scott Ritter has started blogging exlusively in The Mix. In
his first dispatch, Ritter says that 2005 may have been the year of
democratic elections in Iraq, but history will judge it as the year
that set the foundation for a large-scale civil and regional war that
began in 2006. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/30299
* CHICAGO VS. HUGO CHAVEZ Jessica Pupovac,
New Standard News
Rather than accept cheap diesel from Venezuela, the city
chose to raise commuting costs for low-income residents. http://www.alternet.org/story/30296/
* SOLVING THE IMMIGRATION DILEMMA Neil
Peirce, Stateline.org
A California Republican proposes a middle ground between anti-immigrant
xenophobia and the
nation's need for unskilled labor. http://www.alternet.org/story/30297/
* 'STRAPPED' FOR ADULTHOOD Jodie Janella
Horn, PopMatters
A new book explores the societal and financial reasons that
today's twenty- and thirtysomethings are finding it nearly
impossible to stay afloat. http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/30041/
* Zapatistas' Marcos Quits Armed Struggle
for Peaceful Campaign
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0102-02.htm
* 20 Years On and Whales are Under Threat
Again
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0102-03.htm
* Iraq Oil Minister Resigns Under
Pressure; Replaced with Chalabi
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0102-04.htm