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
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* 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