Great Anti-War Radio Station & PeacePod
GREAT Anti-War Radio Station from Seattle - listen online 24/7 for free -
many of the old favorites and much more!
Also check out the Peacepod in Support of a 'US Department of Peace'.
Thanks to a friend, and fellow member, of the PeaceRoots Alliance who passed these on!!
I've been Tuned In since getting back from work and finding these Gems, Speakers are Up Full!!!
{Thank God my upstairs neighbor isn't home!}
Saturday, June 17, 2006
A Fathers’ Day Statement
A Fathers’ Day Statement
by Michael Berg
by Michael Berg
Of all of the holidays a grieving father can be confronted with after the death of his child, Fathers’ Day is for me the most difficult.
My son Nick died in Iraq on May 7, 2004. He is buried next to my father, who had died just a year and a half before. That is not the way it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to go somewhere between my father and my son. My mother is on the other side of my father, and my mother’s parents are nearby. My proud immigrant grandparents died first, then my parents died many years later. That is the way it is supposed to be.
I want to make sure no father suffers the loss of their son or daughter in Iraq or a future illegal war of aggression. I urge all those who oppose the military occupation of Iraq and do not want to see future wars of choice to sign the Voters Pledge at VotersForPeace.us. Nearly fifty thousand people have already signed. It will let politicians know that we will not support pro-war candidates in the future.
There is a lot else going on that is not the way it is supposed to be. Our leaders are not supposed to lie to us. Yet that is precisely what George Bush and company have done. They told us to beware of weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi involvement in 9/11, and Al Qaeda infiltration of Iraq. We now know these were all lies, yet still my son and the loved ones of 150,000 other grieving souls lost their lives because of them.
I have no excuse. Though I doubted the veracity of George Bush’s words, I did too little too late.
My son Nick was an independent contractor, not associated with Halliburton, Bechtel, Lockheed-Martin, or the U.S. military. Nick was murdered in retaliation for the atrocities committed at the Abu Ghraib prison: murders, rapes, and torture of Iraqi citizens. Though Donald Rumsfeld says he took responsibility for those atrocities, no consequences were felt by him, but they were by my son and everyone who loved him. George Bush ordered Alberto Gonzalez to rewrite definitions of torture essentially ordering these sins, and he did so with impunity. This is not the way it’s supposed to be either.
Nick was arrested by George Bush’s military without reason and then illegally detained for thirteen days. While he was in custody, the revelations of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal became public. These revelations ignited the resistance in Iraq and made it impossible for Nick to get home alive. When Nick did arrive home, it was to the military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, a base from which I and all other loved ones of the invisible deceased are barred. This is not the way it’s supposed to be either.
We learn more and more of the truth of what is happening in Iraq every day. We learn what is happening to America and our allies as a result of the voters of these United States electing the wrong men and women: unjustifiable wars, the undermining of vital social programs, willful neglect of the maintenance of the infrastructure of our nation, and dangerous "ignorance" of climate change that could result in unprecedented disaster. This is the legacy of these leaders. Neither of the two largest political parties in this country are doing anything to make things the way they are supposed be.
On March 17, 2006, I joined many others, both conservatives and liberals, in taking the first steps to put things right. I had the honor to be the first person to sign the Voters Pledge for Peace.
The Voters Pledge on the Voters for Peace website is a project comprising many of the major organizations in the antiwar movement – United for Peace and Justice, Peace Action, Gold Star Families for Peace, Code Pink, and Democracy Rising – as well as groups with broader agendas like the National Organization for Women, Progressive Democrats of America, AfterDowningStreet.com, and magazines including the American Conservative and the Nation. The goal of this coalition is to build a base of antiwar voters that cannot be ignored by anyone running for office in the United States. We want millions of voters to sign the pledge and say no to pro-war candidates.
You can help right now by visiting Voters For Peace and immediately signing the Voters Pledge, which states:
I will not vote for or support any candidate for Congress or President who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq, and preventing any future war of aggression, a public position in his or her campaign.
And after you sign it, send it to everyone you know and urge them to do the same. Together we can change the path of the United States – move ourselves in a new direction toward the way it’s supposed to be, so that all fathers, all mothers, all Americans will be able to face the next Fathers Day, Mothers Day, and Independence Day with the pride these holidays deserve.
June 12, 2006
Michael Berg is the father of Nick Berg, who was beheaded in Iraq.
Copyright © 2006 Michael Berg
by Michael Berg
Of all of the holidays a grieving father can be confronted with after the death of his child, Fathers’ Day is for me the most difficult.
A Fathers’ Day Statement
by Michael Berg
Of all of the holidays a grieving father can be confronted with after the death of his child, Fathers’ Day is for me the most difficult.
My son Nick died in Iraq on May 7, 2004. He is buried next to my father, who had died just a year and a half before. That is not the way it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to go somewhere between my father and my son. My mother is on the other side of my father, and my mother’s parents are nearby. My proud immigrant grandparents died first, then my parents died many years later. That is the way it is supposed to be.
I want to make sure no father suffers the loss of their son or daughter in Iraq or a future illegal war of aggression. I urge all those who oppose the military occupation of Iraq and do not want to see future wars of choice to sign the Voters Pledge at VotersForPeace.us. Nearly fifty thousand people have already signed. It will let politicians know that we will not support pro-war candidates in the future.
There is a lot else going on that is not the way it is supposed to be. Our leaders are not supposed to lie to us. Yet that is precisely what George Bush and company have done. They told us to beware of weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi involvement in 9/11, and Al Qaeda infiltration of Iraq. We now know these were all lies, yet still my son and the loved ones of 150,000 other grieving souls lost their lives because of them.
I have no excuse. Though I doubted the veracity of George Bush’s words, I did too little too late.
My son Nick was an independent contractor, not associated with Halliburton, Bechtel, Lockheed-Martin, or the U.S. military. Nick was murdered in retaliation for the atrocities committed at the Abu Ghraib prison: murders, rapes, and torture of Iraqi citizens. Though Donald Rumsfeld says he took responsibility for those atrocities, no consequences were felt by him, but they were by my son and everyone who loved him. George Bush ordered Alberto Gonzalez to rewrite definitions of torture essentially ordering these sins, and he did so with impunity. This is not the way it’s supposed to be either.
Nick was arrested by George Bush’s military without reason and then illegally detained for thirteen days. While he was in custody, the revelations of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal became public. These revelations ignited the resistance in Iraq and made it impossible for Nick to get home alive. When Nick did arrive home, it was to the military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, a base from which I and all other loved ones of the invisible deceased are barred. This is not the way it’s supposed to be either.
We learn more and more of the truth of what is happening in Iraq every day. We learn what is happening to America and our allies as a result of the voters of these United States electing the wrong men and women: unjustifiable wars, the undermining of vital social programs, willful neglect of the maintenance of the infrastructure of our nation, and dangerous "ignorance" of climate change that could result in unprecedented disaster. This is the legacy of these leaders. Neither of the two largest political parties in this country are doing anything to make things the way they are supposed be.
On March 17, 2006, I joined many others, both conservatives and liberals, in taking the first steps to put things right. I had the honor to be the first person to sign the Voters Pledge for Peace.
The Voters Pledge on the Voters for Peace website is a project comprising many of the major organizations in the antiwar movement – United for Peace and Justice, Peace Action, Gold Star Families for Peace, Code Pink, and Democracy Rising – as well as groups with broader agendas like the National Organization for Women, Progressive Democrats of America, AfterDowningStreet.com, and magazines including the American Conservative and the Nation. The goal of this coalition is to build a base of antiwar voters that cannot be ignored by anyone running for office in the United States. We want millions of voters to sign the pledge and say no to pro-war candidates.
You can help right now by visiting Voters For Peace and immediately signing the Voters Pledge, which states:
I will not vote for or support any candidate for Congress or President who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq, and preventing any future war of aggression, a public position in his or her campaign.
And after you sign it, send it to everyone you know and urge them to do the same. Together we can change the path of the United States – move ourselves in a new direction toward the way it’s supposed to be, so that all fathers, all mothers, all Americans will be able to face the next Fathers Day, Mothers Day, and Independence Day with the pride these holidays deserve.
June 12, 2006
Michael Berg is the father of Nick Berg, who was beheaded in Iraq.
Copyright © 2006 Michael Berg
Iraq Through the Looking Glass
FCNL Iraq Through the Looking Glass
Iraq: 60 soldiers a month suffer mental illness
GI SPECIAL 4F14: '2500 Gone'.pdf
The discussion this week of U.S. policy in Iraq makes me wonder if we are now living in the world described in Alice in Wonderland.
How else to describe a week in which the House voted to affirm that the U.S. must stay the course in Iraq, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to reject calls for a change in policy, and the president declared during a visit to Iraq that the U.S. is committed to success in Iraq?
We must be on the other side of the looking glass, because these actions by both political parties here in Washington do not respond to the situation in Iraq that we at FCNL are hearing about. The bottom line is staying the course in Iraq is not a strategy for success.
We know that the debate about U.S. policy is continuing in Congress. We also know that many members of Congress, from both parties, would like to see a change in the direction of U.S. policy. But politics keep getting in the way. The discussion this week was a stark contrast to the votes by the House and the Senate earlier this year to approve resolutions declaring the U.S. will not maintain permanent military bases in Iraq. The administration lobbied successfully to have those resolutions defeated in back room negotiations, but others will propose them again.
Meanwhile U.S. policy continues on its present course and the situation in Iraq gets worse.The last three years of war and U.S. occupation in Iraq have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis and 2,500 U.S. troops. The Washington Post reported today that armed militias are running the prisons, freeing their friends and executing their enemies. Last month, the Baghdad morgue was busier than ever trying to cope with the onslaught of broken bodies.
Rick McDowell and Mary Trotochaud, our senior fellows who joined FCNL after nearly two years of living in Iraq, hear every day in telephone conversations the desperation of friends in Iraq. “The majority of people in Iraq would like to see an Iraqi government succeed, but there is not much faith in the new government,” Rick told us this week. “President Bush’s trip to Iraq may have played well in the United States, but in Iraq the trip confirmed the belief that the new Iraqi government is a puppet of the U.S. That impression undermines the new government and generates support for attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces.”
No wonder one Iraqi told Rick this week: “We are the 53rd U.S. State, aren’t we?”
Why is the U.S. government reluctant to say in this country what the Iraqi government is saying in Iraq? Iraq’s national security advisor, Mouwafak Al-Rubaie, said this week that large numbers of U.S. forces would leave this year, that the “majority” of coalition forces should leave in 2007 “and maybe the last soldier will leave Iraq by mid 2008.” The president refuses to discuss when U.S. troops might leave and The New York Times reports that the Pentagon plans to keep at least 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq for years to come.
We need to change the conversation from how does the U.S. win to how does the U.S. leave Iraq. The war in Iraq is raging, but security is not improving. A change in U.S. policy in Iraq, at this point, is no guarantee that a peaceful, stable Iraq will emerge. But we can be certain that staying the course in Iraq will lead to more civil war, more deaths, more destruction, and quite possibly the disintegration of the government.
Over a hundred members of Congress from both parties asked for a substantive debate on U.S. policy in Iraq this week. The debate happened on Thursday and Friday, and some members from both parties spoke eloquently about the need for a change in policy. But the leadership in the House engineered an up or down vote on a resolution endorsing president Bush’s war policy and rejecting calls to set a date for the withdrawal of U.S. military troops.
There is another way. We at FCNL urge Congress to enact legislation that:
states that it is the U.S. policy to remove all U.S. military troops and bases from Iraq;
requires the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. military troops and bases from Iraq; and
provides resources for reconstruction by the people of Iraq through appropriate multinational, national, and Iraqi agencies. Read more
In the House, Rep. John Murtha (PA) continues to propose alternatives to the current U.S. policy and, most recently, attached an amendment to military appropriations legislation that would bar funding for an agreement to build permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. Sen. Joseph Biden (DE) is considering offering a similar amendment in the Senate.
These proposals would begin a substantive discussion about how to change the failed U.S. policies in Iraq. There may be no strategy for success. But we must continue to seek a strategy that will end the killing, end the cycle of violence, and provide some hope that Iraqis may determine their own future.
Sincerely,
Joe Volk
Executive Secretary
P.S. As I write this, Mary is describing to us how U.S. troops are preparing for what they describe as a “major military offensive” against the city of Ramadi, similar to the attack on Fallujah two years ago. Ramadi is a city of nearly 400,000 people. The residents of that city, remembering what happened when U.S. troops leveled Fallujah several years ago, are fleeing, but they have nowhere to go. Baghdad is closed off and under a curfew. How will this new offensive help bring peace and stability to Iraq?
Printer-friendly version
Iraq: 60 soldiers a month suffer mental illness
GI SPECIAL 4F14: '2500 Gone'.pdf
Friday, June 16, 2006
Dem Candidates TRUTH Talking Points
Putting Truth, Finally, Into An Election Campaign and Ending a Devestating Fiasco!!
The following was on the PBS News Hour the other night, it needs to be listened to and the transcript read, copied, and the points used!
This was a Debate featuring former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, he's now a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Walter Russell Mead, the Henry Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Listening to Mead brought back memories of long ago, you could tell the Kissinger tie was Engrained, thing is you could understand him, no accent.
You can listen to it here President's Baghdad Trip Sparks U.S. Iraq Policy Debate or listen and read the transcript HERE
It is what Brzeinski is saying, and taking no Bull from Mead's attempts to Spin, are what are important and need to be used, here's a snippet:
The above starts it off, here's abit more:
Many have been saying similar, and have been heard, but Not Listened To! Now is the time not only to listen but to bring forward, over and over, so all will here and understand!
Here's abit more:
The second point sounded just like Kissenger way back than. The first describes both Debacles, for an Insurgency, in Anothers Country, cannot take place, grow, and become more entrenched without the support of the people, it's that simple! The invading force are fighting shadows, knowing not who are the so called enemy nor innocent civilian, except for the Kids being Killed and Maimed!!
and abit more:
This one is an attempted joke, it has to be:
But nobody laughed, but me, so they moved on.
This was a reality point:
There's more just Listen to and Read the Transcript, listening is a much better option, you could tell Brzezinski was Fed Up!!
I'll end with this. I think we're past the point of any Hopefull Obtion as to the outcome of this Debacle. If we pull out we'll be saving U.S. Lives and any other Foreigners of the so called Coalition, but the Sectarian Violence will Continue, for now it has become more than just getting rid of the Occupation Forces, Hatreds have built where No One, including the Religious Leaders, can Stop the Violence!
If you listened to bush's speach, the other day, they know this as well. Once again he kept refering to the Iraqi's, setting up the blame game when All Hell Breaks Loose. The Cabal will simply walk away and the talking points will be that 'It's The Iraqi's Failure', not the Destructive Neo-Cons!!
We Need To Pull Out Now, All Occupation Forces! The only option that makes sense is filling the Violent Void with Arab Nations/Arab League, of the same religious factions, and Pray they can bring some sort of order and peaceful solutions. It's their Region, their Neighbor, and their People!!
This Country will have more to worry about than the Hatreds Building Towards It from outside. Keep in mind the Mutiple Tours taking place in both Theaters, Iraq and Afganistan, think of the recent reports of suspected Atrosities, think what this is doing to many of the Troops, Male and Female, when Mind Goes, it makes No Differance which sex!
This Country Had Better Be More Than Willing To Take Care Of This Generations Returning Veterans Or It Will Come Back To Haught The Very Soil We Are On!!
The following was on the PBS News Hour the other night, it needs to be listened to and the transcript read, copied, and the points used!
This was a Debate featuring former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, he's now a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Walter Russell Mead, the Henry Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Listening to Mead brought back memories of long ago, you could tell the Kissinger tie was Engrained, thing is you could understand him, no accent.
You can listen to it here President's Baghdad Trip Sparks U.S. Iraq Policy Debate or listen and read the transcript HERE
It is what Brzeinski is saying, and taking no Bull from Mead's attempts to Spin, are what are important and need to be used, here's a snippet:
Gentlemen, welcome.
Dr. Brzezinski, the president ended his news conference saying, "Going to war in Iraq was worth it. It was necessary, and it will succeed." Do you agree?
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, Former National Security Adviser to President Carter: No, I do not. I don't think it was worth it. I don't think it is succeeding, and I think we ought to think very seriously as to how we can extract still some degree of success from what, obviously, has been a major misadventure.
The above starts it off, here's abit more:
BRZEZINSKI, Now, this is what the president actually visited. This is an aerial map of Baghdad and, within it, the viewers can see a small spot. That is the so-called Green Zone, a fortified American fortress housing the American embassy, the American high command, and all the major institutions of the Iraqi, as he said, free and democratic government, in an American fortress.
This is worse than in the bad days of Vietnam, when the South Vietnamese regime was still operating from its own palaces, had its own army and so forth. We do not have in Iraq a free and democratic government that is functioning.
Many have been saying similar, and have been heard, but Not Listened To! Now is the time not only to listen but to bring forward, over and over, so all will here and understand!
Here's abit more:
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD, Council on Foreign Relations: Well, I think that's -- you know, there is, obviously, some truth to it, but I wouldn't be quite so grim about it, because, particularly making the comparison with South Vietnam, the big difference in South Vietnam is we had a government but we could never quite find enough of a people who wanted to support that government.
In Iraq, I think it's very clear that the large majority of Iraqis wants this government to work. Now, whether they'll be able to succeed, that's another question.
The second point sounded just like Kissenger way back than. The first describes both Debacles, for an Insurgency, in Anothers Country, cannot take place, grow, and become more entrenched without the support of the people, it's that simple! The invading force are fighting shadows, knowing not who are the so called enemy nor innocent civilian, except for the Kids being Killed and Maimed!!
and abit more:
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: I would have to have an enormous magnifying glass to be able to see them that way. The fact of the matter is: The government is meeting in an American fortress.
If it is meeting in an American fortress, it is because it is not able to operate outside of an American fortress. That tells you a lot. The notions that a new plan is being put in to enhance security in Baghdad makes me think of a person in the midst of a huge fire in a house who all of a sudden announces that he has a new plan for the installation of air conditioning.
BRZEZINSKI, And, last but not least, we have to get rid of the mindset, which is really by now totally ahistorical -- we no longer live in the age of colonialism. We no longer have to assume "the white man's burden" in order to civilize others, and I'm using these phrases in quotation marks.
The Iraqis are a historical people. They're quite capable of handling things on their own, provided their leaders are real leaders of the country and not essentially proteges of an occupying power hiding in an American fortress.
This one is an attempted joke, it has to be:
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Well, certainly, the United States overthrew Saddam Hussein, but the Iraqi leadership emerged, first of all, from a constitutional process, then from elections, and then from a political process, which the United States did not control.
But nobody laughed, but me, so they moved on.
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: Well, it's worth a try. The question is: How long do you continue trying?
Now, Walter says, if I understood him correctly, that he's willing to wait three more years to see if the present government leaves the Green Zone, the American fortress. Well, how many thousands of Iraqis will die in the meantime? How many hundreds, how many thousands of Americans will die in the meantime?
How much will our prestige internationally decline? How many billions of dollars will we spend on this?
This was a reality point:
JIM LEHRER: So pull out, Dr. Brzezinski, now?
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: Pull out in an intelligent fashion. I have been advocating a four-point program which, in a nutshell, is the following.
Talk at length with the Iraq leadership as to when we have to leave. Those who say, "We don't want you to leave," are the ones who leave when we leave. The real leaders, probably not living in the Green Zone, will say, "Yes, leave." I suspect Sistani is among them.
There's more just Listen to and Read the Transcript, listening is a much better option, you could tell Brzezinski was Fed Up!!
I'll end with this. I think we're past the point of any Hopefull Obtion as to the outcome of this Debacle. If we pull out we'll be saving U.S. Lives and any other Foreigners of the so called Coalition, but the Sectarian Violence will Continue, for now it has become more than just getting rid of the Occupation Forces, Hatreds have built where No One, including the Religious Leaders, can Stop the Violence!
If you listened to bush's speach, the other day, they know this as well. Once again he kept refering to the Iraqi's, setting up the blame game when All Hell Breaks Loose. The Cabal will simply walk away and the talking points will be that 'It's The Iraqi's Failure', not the Destructive Neo-Cons!!
We Need To Pull Out Now, All Occupation Forces! The only option that makes sense is filling the Violent Void with Arab Nations/Arab League, of the same religious factions, and Pray they can bring some sort of order and peaceful solutions. It's their Region, their Neighbor, and their People!!
This Country will have more to worry about than the Hatreds Building Towards It from outside. Keep in mind the Mutiple Tours taking place in both Theaters, Iraq and Afganistan, think of the recent reports of suspected Atrosities, think what this is doing to many of the Troops, Male and Female, when Mind Goes, it makes No Differance which sex!
This Country Had Better Be More Than Willing To Take Care Of This Generations Returning Veterans Or It Will Come Back To Haught The Very Soil We Are On!!
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Our Duty as Veterans -
Garett, Iraq Vet, Writes It Like It Is!
Tuesday, 13 June 2006
The Duty of Veterans
Posted By Garett Reppenhagen
Tuesday, 13 June 2006
The Duty of Veterans
Posted By Garett Reppenhagen
What do Veterans owe the Country once they have separated from the service? I have a deep sense of duty still to my nation. Especially since the Global War on Terror continues to wage on. There is an unfinished commitment that may never pass as long as I live, perhaps even longer as I plant the seeds of social change within the next generation.
I have been asked “Repp, why the hell do you still wear your dog tags?” Well to me, my war is not over. I continue to fight to survive along side the other veterans of this war. I will likely resume the fight with the veterans of future wars just as the veterans of previous wars mentor and stand beside me.
It is because there is a horrible injustice to the veterans, those who are the few .4% of Americans who choose to sacrifice for this nation’s majority and who are being neglected and abused by the institution that causes me such unrest. We receive inadequate healthcare and are avoided in most other areas of benefits. We are expected to continue our sacrifice long after our discharge.
For that reason I stand along side my brothers and sisters who wore the uniform in a struggle to gain the fair treatment that might set us on par with our peers who decided not to serve their country.
As a veteran I also am obligated to educate civilians on the realities of modern warfare in the Middle-East. Where popular media has failed to report honestly on the Iraq War, I feel we veterans are a missing link so society may understand the experience of a soldier and what it is to be at war. I feel bound to report what I have witnessed and give expression of my perceptions of the conflict.
I also felt first hand what it is like to be an instrument of the military industrial complex. I have a passion to attempt to change the system so it has less ability to control the Armed Forces and put soldiers in harms way in a war of choice. Hopefully altering the role citizens play in this democracy, forcing more accountability to our leaders.
I also feel a responsibility towards the war torn region that I left over a year ago. The guilt I have over my part in the destruction of Iraq is haunting. I will be fettered by a duty to the Iraqi people for the rest of my life. As a veteran of the Iraq War I feel that in a large part I must have a position that will heal the growing divide between our cultures and reconcile our differences.
My place as an American war veteran is an honorable but underrated role in our civilization. The wisdom that soldiers gain through war is not always self-realized. However, I hope that our country has the openness to listen when we voice our opinions. For those views have been tempered and forged in the hottest of fires.
Haditha, Vietnam and War Crimes
FOCUS | William Rivers Pitt: House Republican War Crimes
Opinion: Haditha, Vietnam and War Crimes
* Sexually Harassed Soldier is Arrested After Refusing to Redeploy to Iraq *
* Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No To Iraq *
* In Iraq, Three Groups Struggle For Control Over Oil-Rich Kirkuk *
GI SPECIAL 4F13: 'Troops Support Combat Refuser'.pdf
As Congress prepares to "debate" the Iraq war, William Rivers Pitt responds to a memo from House Majority Leader John Boehner (Ohio). Boehner's memo sent to all of the Republican members of the House signals that this debate will be yet another dog-and-pony show designed to do little more than frighten and divide the populace.
Opinion: Haditha, Vietnam and War Crimes
When George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq more than three years ago, much of what has happened since was predictable and even inevitable: armed resistance, house-to-house fighting, mistreatment of suspected enemy fighters and, yes, atrocities.
* Sexually Harassed Soldier is Arrested After Refusing to Redeploy to Iraq *
Police in Eugene, Oregon have arrested 21-year-old Army Specialist Suzanne
Swift for refusing to return to fight in Iraq. Swift served in Iraq for a
year but decided she could not return and went AWOL. Not only did she feel
the war lacked purpose, Swift said her superiors repeatedly sexually
harassed her while serving in Iraq. We speak with her mother, Sara Rich.
Listen/Watch/Read
* Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No To Iraq *
We speak with Peter Laufer, a Vietnam war resister and author of the new
book, "Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq." The book
profiles a number of soldiers who refuse to participate in what they believe
to be an illegal and immoral war.
Listen/Watch/Read
* In Iraq, Three Groups Struggle For Control Over Oil-Rich Kirkuk *
Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs are competing for control over Kirkuk, Iraq's third
largest city. Turkey recently sent thousands of troops to its border with
Iraqi Kurdistan, amassing what is the largest buildup of Turkish soldiers
along the Iraq border since 1999. We speak with John Tirman, Executive
Director of MIT's Center for International Studies.
Listen/Watch/Read
GI SPECIAL 4F13: 'Troops Support Combat Refuser'.pdf
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Fwd: From VFP Group Board - 'Why Billy Why'
I posted this Flash Video a short while ago, Mark has passed it on to Veterans For Peace board for Listening and Viewing, It Deserves the Re-View!!
I'd give you the Video direct link but click on the Site Link, read what is written, than download and view the Very Well Done Flash Video and Great Song!!
Peace!!!
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
Subject: why billy why
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:31:02 EDT
my name is mark grayson i am a song writer from sarasota,
florida....in light of Bush's comments this morning it is obvious he has no
intention of withdrawing our troop from iraq. On the contrary they are stepping
up their efforts in both iraq and afghanistan.
I don't believe our government has the right to ask anybody to die for democracy
in Iraq. I thought you guys might appreciate this song i wrote last year when my
son-in-law was deployed to iraq.
'why billy why' is an honest look at a mother's loss. It carries a strong message
and reflects what most americans are feeling right about now.
i am going to attach a copy of the video to this email in case you would like a
version you can download....otherwise you can view the video in it's entirety by
simply going to Why Billy Why
please feel free to share 'why billy why' with all your chapters...friends...and
members. you are welcome to post it on your webpage....or a link to my site.
Thank you for your contribution to end the war...pray for peace....mark
I'd give you the Video direct link but click on the Site Link, read what is written, than download and view the Very Well Done Flash Video and Great Song!!
Peace!!!
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
Subject: why billy why
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:31:02 EDT
my name is mark grayson i am a song writer from sarasota,
florida....in light of Bush's comments this morning it is obvious he has no
intention of withdrawing our troop from iraq. On the contrary they are stepping
up their efforts in both iraq and afghanistan.
I don't believe our government has the right to ask anybody to die for democracy
in Iraq. I thought you guys might appreciate this song i wrote last year when my
son-in-law was deployed to iraq.
'why billy why' is an honest look at a mother's loss. It carries a strong message
and reflects what most americans are feeling right about now.
i am going to attach a copy of the video to this email in case you would like a
version you can download....otherwise you can view the video in it's entirety by
simply going to Why Billy Why
please feel free to share 'why billy why' with all your chapters...friends...and
members. you are welcome to post it on your webpage....or a link to my site.
Thank you for your contribution to end the war...pray for peace....mark
Peaceful Tomorrows - Support The Families
Especially Now That Those Who Call Themselves 'Republican'{That Party No Longer Exists} Are Swiftboating The Wives Of Those Who Perished On 9/11, After All This Time Using 9/11 To Justify The Slaughter Of More Innocents!!
~~~~~~
Dear Peaceful Tomorrows Supporter,
The fifth anniversary of 9/11 will be a critical date. More than ever before, Americans are questioning the choices we made as a nation after September 11th, and are calling for bold new directions.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows will use that anniversary to launch an ambitious new phase of our work to turn our grief into action for peace. In the week leading up to September 11, 2006 we will convene a meeting of more than 30 extraordinary individuals from around the world who are devoted to cooperation, healing and reconciliation. Together we will meet to establish an international network that will share ideas and information.
Confirmed attendees for this gathering represent these organizations and many others:
The Parents Circle - The Circle includes Israeli and Palestinian parents who have lost a child as a result of the Israeli-Arab conflict and are working to break the cycle of violence.
Afghan Women’s Network - Inspired by a UN Conference on Women in 1995, seven Afghani women founded the Network to promote the rights of women and children on a national and international level.
Hibakusha - Living reminders of the horrors of nuclear war, these survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings have committed their lives to abolishing nuclear weapons.
Orphans of Rwanda - Dedicated to relieving the suffering of orphans of the Rwandan massacre, this group provides educational, medical and psychological support.
Building Bridges for Peace - Growing out of the conflict in Northern Ireland, this group lends support to all victims of terrorism.
New Horizons for Women - This group is dedicated to empowering Iraqi women as leaders of the new Iraq and to promoting integrity, civility and responsibility.
Will you support this significant gathering with a financial donation? Your help can underwrite:
Transportation for a conference delegate;
Meals and housing for our guests while they are in the US;
Translation services;
Public events in university settings and other locations;
The creation of educational materials that will spread our messages to new communities around the world.
Each of the men and women joining this network has been personally affected by violence, yet has rejected the idea of retaliating with further violence. From Iraq to Afghanistan, from South Africa to Northern Ireland, they have successfully built bridges between groups previously in conflict, and have formed organizations to promote justice, reconciliation and genuine peace. We believe their collective wisdom has much to offer our nation, and the world, at this critical time. The stakes have never been higher. Will you help us make this gathering happen? Make a tax-deductible donation by visiting:
or mail a check to the following address:
Peaceful Tomorrows
P.O. Box 1818
Peter Stuyvesant Station
New York, NY 10009
For more information about the event please visit our website by clicking here or here for the biographies of the attendees.
Please be a part of this unique opportunity to make the fifth anniversary of 9/11 an occasion that brings the message that peace and transformation are truly possible! This event can be the seed from which a multitude of new initiatives to promote peace and eradicate the horrors of civilian casualties will grow worldwide. We welcome your support, and give you our thanks.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Click here for highlights of Peaceful Tomorrows' work.
P.O. Box 1818
Peter Stuyvesant Station
New York, New York 10009
United States
"Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows"–Martin Luther King, Jr.
~~~~~~
Dear Peaceful Tomorrows Supporter,
The fifth anniversary of 9/11 will be a critical date. More than ever before, Americans are questioning the choices we made as a nation after September 11th, and are calling for bold new directions.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows will use that anniversary to launch an ambitious new phase of our work to turn our grief into action for peace. In the week leading up to September 11, 2006 we will convene a meeting of more than 30 extraordinary individuals from around the world who are devoted to cooperation, healing and reconciliation. Together we will meet to establish an international network that will share ideas and information.
Confirmed attendees for this gathering represent these organizations and many others:
The Parents Circle - The Circle includes Israeli and Palestinian parents who have lost a child as a result of the Israeli-Arab conflict and are working to break the cycle of violence.
Afghan Women’s Network - Inspired by a UN Conference on Women in 1995, seven Afghani women founded the Network to promote the rights of women and children on a national and international level.
Hibakusha - Living reminders of the horrors of nuclear war, these survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings have committed their lives to abolishing nuclear weapons.
Orphans of Rwanda - Dedicated to relieving the suffering of orphans of the Rwandan massacre, this group provides educational, medical and psychological support.
Building Bridges for Peace - Growing out of the conflict in Northern Ireland, this group lends support to all victims of terrorism.
New Horizons for Women - This group is dedicated to empowering Iraqi women as leaders of the new Iraq and to promoting integrity, civility and responsibility.
Will you support this significant gathering with a financial donation? Your help can underwrite:
Transportation for a conference delegate;
Meals and housing for our guests while they are in the US;
Translation services;
Public events in university settings and other locations;
The creation of educational materials that will spread our messages to new communities around the world.
Each of the men and women joining this network has been personally affected by violence, yet has rejected the idea of retaliating with further violence. From Iraq to Afghanistan, from South Africa to Northern Ireland, they have successfully built bridges between groups previously in conflict, and have formed organizations to promote justice, reconciliation and genuine peace. We believe their collective wisdom has much to offer our nation, and the world, at this critical time. The stakes have never been higher. Will you help us make this gathering happen? Make a tax-deductible donation by visiting:
or mail a check to the following address:
Peaceful Tomorrows
P.O. Box 1818
Peter Stuyvesant Station
New York, NY 10009
For more information about the event please visit our website by clicking here or here for the biographies of the attendees.
Please be a part of this unique opportunity to make the fifth anniversary of 9/11 an occasion that brings the message that peace and transformation are truly possible! This event can be the seed from which a multitude of new initiatives to promote peace and eradicate the horrors of civilian casualties will grow worldwide. We welcome your support, and give you our thanks.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Click here for highlights of Peaceful Tomorrows' work.
P.O. Box 1818
Peter Stuyvesant Station
New York, New York 10009
United States
"Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows"–Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
35th Anniversary of Pentagon Papers Today
~~~~~~~~
Ellsberg.net Newsletter
Issue #2 June 13, 2006
~~~~~~~~
in this issue
-- Article 1 35th Anniversary of the Pentagon Papers
-- Article 2 Ellsberg on NPR and PBS tonight
-- Article 3 Ellsberg in US News and World Report and National Radio Project
-- Article 4 Current TV update
If you know anyone who would be interested in receiving this newsletter, please forward this to them. They may subscribe by sending a blank email with with the word "list" in the subject heading to list@ellsberg.net
Thank you!
--Michael Ellsberg
Article 1 35th Anniversary of the Pentagon Papers
~~~~~~~~
Thirty-five years ago today, on June 13th, 1971, the New York Times began printing portions of a 7,000-page top-secret document which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In this article, Daniel Ellsberg, the source of the Papers to the Times, talks about the continuing relevance of the Papers today as our leaders wage war in Iraq and make plans for war in Iran.
IRAQ'S PENTAGON PAPERS
This unjustified war is waiting for its whistle-blower, says the leaker of Vietnam's secret history.
by Daniel Ellsberg
Los Angeles Times
June 11, 2006
(Link to original article)
A JOINT resolution referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) calls for the withdrawal of all American military forces from Iraq by Dec. 31. Boxer's "redeployment" bill cites in its preamble a January poll finding that 64% of Iraqis believe that crime and violent attacks will decrease if the U.S. leaves Iraq within six months, 67% believe that their day-to-day security will increase if the U.S. withdraws and 73% believe that factions in parliament will cooperate more if the U.S. withdraws.
If that's true, then what are we doing there? If Iraqis don't believe that we're making things better or safer, what does that say about the legitimacy of prolonged occupation, much less permanent American bases in Iraq (foreseen by 80% of Iraqis polled)? What does it mean for continued American armored patrols such as the one last November in Haditha, which, we now learn, led to the deaths of a Marine and 24 unarmed civilians?
It was questions very much like these that were nagging at my conscience many years ago at the height of the Vietnam War, and that led, eventually, to the publication of the first of the Pentagon Papers on June 13, 1971, 35 years ago this week. That process had begun nearly two years earlier, in the fall of 1969, when my friend and former colleague at the Rand Corp., Tony Russo, and I first started copying the 7,000 pages of top-secret documents from my office safe at Rand to give to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
That period had several similarities to this one. For one thing, Republican Sen. Charles Goodell of New York had just introduced a resolution calling for the unilateral withdrawal of all U.S. armed forces from Indochina by the end of 1970. Unlike the current Boxer resolution, his had budgetary "teeth," calling for all congressional funding of U.S. combat operations to cease by his deadline.
Two other similarities between then and now: First, though it was known to only a handful of Americans, President Nixon was making secret plans that September to expand, rather than exit from, the ongoing war in Southeast Asia — including a major air offensive against North Vietnam, possibly using nuclear weapons. Today, the Bush administration's threats to wage war against Iran are explicit, with officials reiterating regularly that the nuclear "option" is "on the table."
Second, also in September, charges had been brought quietly against Lt. William Calley for the murder 18 months earlier of "109 Oriental human beings" in the South Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai 4. This went almost unnoticed until mid-November of that year, when Seymour Hersh's investigative story burst on the public, followed shortly by the first sight for Americans of color photographs of the massacre. The pictures were not that different from those in the cover stories of Time and Newsweek from Haditha: women, children, old men and babies, all shot at short range.
What was it that prompted me in the fall of 1969 to begin copying 7,000 pages of highly classified documents — an act that I fully expected would send me to prison for life? (My later charges, indeed, totaled a potential 115 years in prison.) The precipitating event was not Calley's murder trial but a different one. On Sept. 30, I read in the Los Angeles Times that charges brought by Creighton Abrams, the commanding general of U.S. forces in Vietnam, against several Special Forces officers accused of murdering a suspected double agent in their custody had been dismissed by the secretary of the Army.
The article, by Washington reporters Ted Sell and Robert Donovan, made clear that the reasons alleged by Secretary Stanley Resor for this dismissal were false (and that the order to dismiss the charges had most likely come directly from the White House). As I read on, it became increasingly clear that the whole chain of command, civilian and military, was participating in a coverup.
As I finished the article, it hit me: This is the system I have been part of, giving my unquestioning loyalty to for 15 years, as a Marine, a Pentagon official and a State Department officer in Vietnam. It's a system that lies reflexively, at every level from sergeant to commander in chief, about murder. And I had, sitting in my safe at Rand, 7,000 pages of documentary evidence to prove it.
The papers in my safe, which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers, constituted a complete set of a 47-volume, top-secret Defense Department history of American involvement in Vietnam titled, "U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68."
I had exclusive access to the papers for research purposes and had been reading them all summer; they made it very clear that I, like the rest of the American public, had been misled about the origins and purposes of the war I had participated in — just as are the 85% of the troops in Iraq today who still believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and that he was allied with Al Qaeda.
The papers documented in stunning detail a pattern of lies and deceptions by four presidents and their administrations over 23 years to conceal their war plans — along with internal estimates of the high costs and risks of these plans (and their low probabilities of success), never meant to reach the public and provoke debate. They showed very clearly how we had become engaged in a reckless war of choice in someone else's country — a country that had not attacked us — for our own domestic and external purposes.
It seemed to me that to be doing that against the intense wishes of most of the inhabitants of that country was not just bad policy but morally wrong. Moreover, it became clear to me that the justifications that had been given for our involvement were false. Vietnam was not a just war, and never had been. And if the war itself was unjust, then all the victims of our firepower were being killed without justification. That's murder.
As I read the story in The Times that morning about the coverup of the Special Forces murder and compared it with what I'd been reading in the secret history, I came to see it as a microcosm of what had been happening since the war began. And I thought to myself: I don't want to be part of this lying machine anymore. I am not going to conceal the truth any longer.
I called Russo, who had been fired from Rand a year earlier, in part for inconvenient field reporting about torture of prisoners by our Vietnamese allies. I asked him if he had access to a copying machine.
He did.
We began on Oct. 1. Night after night, I brought out batches of papers from my safe, and we copied them. I gave them first to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hoping that they would make the documents public. But they did not. Eventually, I gave them to the New York Times, which began publishing them Sunday, June 13, 1971.
Two days later, the New York Times was ordered by a federal judge, at the request of the White House, to stop publishing — the first injunctive prior restraint of the press in U.S. history. I then gave copies to the Washington Post and, when it also was enjoined, to 17 other newspapers, while I was being sought by the FBI. On June 28, I turned myself in and was arrested and charged with violations of the Espionage Act and theft.
Today, there must be, at the very least, hundreds of civilian and military officials in the Pentagon, CIA, State Department, National Security Agency and White House who have in their safes and computers comparable documentation of intense internal debates — so far carefully concealed from Congress and the public — about prospective or actual war crimes, reckless policies and domestic crimes: the Pentagon Papers of Iraq, Iran or the ongoing war on U.S. liberties. Some of those officials, I hope, will choose to accept the personal risks of revealing the truth — earlier than I did — before more lives are lost or a new war is launched.
Haditha holds a mirror up not just to American troops in the field, but to our whole society. Not just to the liars in government but to those who believe them too easily. And to all of us in the public, in the administration, in Congress and the media who dissent so far ineffectively or who stand by as murder is being done and do nothing to stop it or expose it.
It is past time for Americans to summon the civil courage to face what is being done in their name and to refuse to be accomplices. We must force Congress and this president, or their successors if necessary, to act upon the moral proposition that the U.S. must stop killing men, women and children in Iraq, and must not begin to do so in Iran.
Neither the lives we have lost, nor the lives we have taken, give the U.S. any right to determine by fire and airpower who shall govern or who shall die in countries we have wrongly attacked.
Article 2 Ellsberg on NPR and PBS tonight
~~~~~~~~~
Daniel will be on NPR and PBS tonight to discuss the continued relevence of the Pentagon Papers. Dan's segment on NPR will air in the last few minutes of their hour-long show "On Point," after John Updike. To find out what time On Point airs near you, go to On Point Radio . If no station is near you, most of the stations linked from that page allow you to listen live online.
The PBS segment will be on the Tavis Smiley Show. To find out what time this show will air on your local PBS channel, go to PBS TV Schedules and type in your ZIP code. For most viewers, it will air at midnight Tuesday night (i.e., technically Wed. morning)
Article 3 Ellsberg in US News and World Report and National Radio Project
~~~~~~~~~
Other outlets covering the 35th anniversary of the Papers include U.S. News and World Report and the National Radio Project. The latter has a wonderful 30-minute audio segment downloadable from their site, with clips of Daniel speaking about the need for civil disobedience against Bush policies, to activists near the Bush ranch in Crawford, TX.
Article 4 Current TV update
~~~~~~~~~
Thank you Ellsberg.net Newsletter subscribers for heeding the call to action last issue and voting for Sandi Bachom's clip of Daniel speaking on Current TV. Thanks to all your votes, the clip climbed from #14 to its current rank of #6, and they are considering it for broadcast nationwide. WAY TO GO!
To see the clip again, or to vote for it if you haven't already, click here.
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~
email: list@ellsberg.net
web: Ellsberg.net
~~~~~~~~~
THE DAY AFTER THE NEXT 9/11...
Global Research Video
Our freedoms are
gone. Daniel Ellsberg interview
Ellsberg.net Newsletter
Issue #2 June 13, 2006
~~~~~~~~
in this issue
-- Article 1 35th Anniversary of the Pentagon Papers
-- Article 2 Ellsberg on NPR and PBS tonight
-- Article 3 Ellsberg in US News and World Report and National Radio Project
-- Article 4 Current TV update
If you know anyone who would be interested in receiving this newsletter, please forward this to them. They may subscribe by sending a blank email with with the word "list" in the subject heading to list@ellsberg.net
Thank you!
--Michael Ellsberg
Article 1 35th Anniversary of the Pentagon Papers
~~~~~~~~
Thirty-five years ago today, on June 13th, 1971, the New York Times began printing portions of a 7,000-page top-secret document which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In this article, Daniel Ellsberg, the source of the Papers to the Times, talks about the continuing relevance of the Papers today as our leaders wage war in Iraq and make plans for war in Iran.
IRAQ'S PENTAGON PAPERS
This unjustified war is waiting for its whistle-blower, says the leaker of Vietnam's secret history.
by Daniel Ellsberg
Los Angeles Times
June 11, 2006
(Link to original article)
A JOINT resolution referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) calls for the withdrawal of all American military forces from Iraq by Dec. 31. Boxer's "redeployment" bill cites in its preamble a January poll finding that 64% of Iraqis believe that crime and violent attacks will decrease if the U.S. leaves Iraq within six months, 67% believe that their day-to-day security will increase if the U.S. withdraws and 73% believe that factions in parliament will cooperate more if the U.S. withdraws.
If that's true, then what are we doing there? If Iraqis don't believe that we're making things better or safer, what does that say about the legitimacy of prolonged occupation, much less permanent American bases in Iraq (foreseen by 80% of Iraqis polled)? What does it mean for continued American armored patrols such as the one last November in Haditha, which, we now learn, led to the deaths of a Marine and 24 unarmed civilians?
It was questions very much like these that were nagging at my conscience many years ago at the height of the Vietnam War, and that led, eventually, to the publication of the first of the Pentagon Papers on June 13, 1971, 35 years ago this week. That process had begun nearly two years earlier, in the fall of 1969, when my friend and former colleague at the Rand Corp., Tony Russo, and I first started copying the 7,000 pages of top-secret documents from my office safe at Rand to give to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
That period had several similarities to this one. For one thing, Republican Sen. Charles Goodell of New York had just introduced a resolution calling for the unilateral withdrawal of all U.S. armed forces from Indochina by the end of 1970. Unlike the current Boxer resolution, his had budgetary "teeth," calling for all congressional funding of U.S. combat operations to cease by his deadline.
Two other similarities between then and now: First, though it was known to only a handful of Americans, President Nixon was making secret plans that September to expand, rather than exit from, the ongoing war in Southeast Asia — including a major air offensive against North Vietnam, possibly using nuclear weapons. Today, the Bush administration's threats to wage war against Iran are explicit, with officials reiterating regularly that the nuclear "option" is "on the table."
Second, also in September, charges had been brought quietly against Lt. William Calley for the murder 18 months earlier of "109 Oriental human beings" in the South Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai 4. This went almost unnoticed until mid-November of that year, when Seymour Hersh's investigative story burst on the public, followed shortly by the first sight for Americans of color photographs of the massacre. The pictures were not that different from those in the cover stories of Time and Newsweek from Haditha: women, children, old men and babies, all shot at short range.
What was it that prompted me in the fall of 1969 to begin copying 7,000 pages of highly classified documents — an act that I fully expected would send me to prison for life? (My later charges, indeed, totaled a potential 115 years in prison.) The precipitating event was not Calley's murder trial but a different one. On Sept. 30, I read in the Los Angeles Times that charges brought by Creighton Abrams, the commanding general of U.S. forces in Vietnam, against several Special Forces officers accused of murdering a suspected double agent in their custody had been dismissed by the secretary of the Army.
The article, by Washington reporters Ted Sell and Robert Donovan, made clear that the reasons alleged by Secretary Stanley Resor for this dismissal were false (and that the order to dismiss the charges had most likely come directly from the White House). As I read on, it became increasingly clear that the whole chain of command, civilian and military, was participating in a coverup.
As I finished the article, it hit me: This is the system I have been part of, giving my unquestioning loyalty to for 15 years, as a Marine, a Pentagon official and a State Department officer in Vietnam. It's a system that lies reflexively, at every level from sergeant to commander in chief, about murder. And I had, sitting in my safe at Rand, 7,000 pages of documentary evidence to prove it.
The papers in my safe, which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers, constituted a complete set of a 47-volume, top-secret Defense Department history of American involvement in Vietnam titled, "U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68."
I had exclusive access to the papers for research purposes and had been reading them all summer; they made it very clear that I, like the rest of the American public, had been misled about the origins and purposes of the war I had participated in — just as are the 85% of the troops in Iraq today who still believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and that he was allied with Al Qaeda.
The papers documented in stunning detail a pattern of lies and deceptions by four presidents and their administrations over 23 years to conceal their war plans — along with internal estimates of the high costs and risks of these plans (and their low probabilities of success), never meant to reach the public and provoke debate. They showed very clearly how we had become engaged in a reckless war of choice in someone else's country — a country that had not attacked us — for our own domestic and external purposes.
It seemed to me that to be doing that against the intense wishes of most of the inhabitants of that country was not just bad policy but morally wrong. Moreover, it became clear to me that the justifications that had been given for our involvement were false. Vietnam was not a just war, and never had been. And if the war itself was unjust, then all the victims of our firepower were being killed without justification. That's murder.
As I read the story in The Times that morning about the coverup of the Special Forces murder and compared it with what I'd been reading in the secret history, I came to see it as a microcosm of what had been happening since the war began. And I thought to myself: I don't want to be part of this lying machine anymore. I am not going to conceal the truth any longer.
I called Russo, who had been fired from Rand a year earlier, in part for inconvenient field reporting about torture of prisoners by our Vietnamese allies. I asked him if he had access to a copying machine.
He did.
We began on Oct. 1. Night after night, I brought out batches of papers from my safe, and we copied them. I gave them first to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hoping that they would make the documents public. But they did not. Eventually, I gave them to the New York Times, which began publishing them Sunday, June 13, 1971.
Two days later, the New York Times was ordered by a federal judge, at the request of the White House, to stop publishing — the first injunctive prior restraint of the press in U.S. history. I then gave copies to the Washington Post and, when it also was enjoined, to 17 other newspapers, while I was being sought by the FBI. On June 28, I turned myself in and was arrested and charged with violations of the Espionage Act and theft.
Today, there must be, at the very least, hundreds of civilian and military officials in the Pentagon, CIA, State Department, National Security Agency and White House who have in their safes and computers comparable documentation of intense internal debates — so far carefully concealed from Congress and the public — about prospective or actual war crimes, reckless policies and domestic crimes: the Pentagon Papers of Iraq, Iran or the ongoing war on U.S. liberties. Some of those officials, I hope, will choose to accept the personal risks of revealing the truth — earlier than I did — before more lives are lost or a new war is launched.
Haditha holds a mirror up not just to American troops in the field, but to our whole society. Not just to the liars in government but to those who believe them too easily. And to all of us in the public, in the administration, in Congress and the media who dissent so far ineffectively or who stand by as murder is being done and do nothing to stop it or expose it.
It is past time for Americans to summon the civil courage to face what is being done in their name and to refuse to be accomplices. We must force Congress and this president, or their successors if necessary, to act upon the moral proposition that the U.S. must stop killing men, women and children in Iraq, and must not begin to do so in Iran.
Neither the lives we have lost, nor the lives we have taken, give the U.S. any right to determine by fire and airpower who shall govern or who shall die in countries we have wrongly attacked.
Article 2 Ellsberg on NPR and PBS tonight
~~~~~~~~~
Daniel will be on NPR and PBS tonight to discuss the continued relevence of the Pentagon Papers. Dan's segment on NPR will air in the last few minutes of their hour-long show "On Point," after John Updike. To find out what time On Point airs near you, go to On Point Radio . If no station is near you, most of the stations linked from that page allow you to listen live online.
The PBS segment will be on the Tavis Smiley Show. To find out what time this show will air on your local PBS channel, go to PBS TV Schedules and type in your ZIP code. For most viewers, it will air at midnight Tuesday night (i.e., technically Wed. morning)
Article 3 Ellsberg in US News and World Report and National Radio Project
~~~~~~~~~
Other outlets covering the 35th anniversary of the Papers include U.S. News and World Report and the National Radio Project. The latter has a wonderful 30-minute audio segment downloadable from their site, with clips of Daniel speaking about the need for civil disobedience against Bush policies, to activists near the Bush ranch in Crawford, TX.
Article 4 Current TV update
~~~~~~~~~
Thank you Ellsberg.net Newsletter subscribers for heeding the call to action last issue and voting for Sandi Bachom's clip of Daniel speaking on Current TV. Thanks to all your votes, the clip climbed from #14 to its current rank of #6, and they are considering it for broadcast nationwide. WAY TO GO!
To see the clip again, or to vote for it if you haven't already, click here.
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~
email: list@ellsberg.net
web: Ellsberg.net
~~~~~~~~~
THE DAY AFTER THE NEXT 9/11...
Global Research Video
Our freedoms are
gone. Daniel Ellsberg interview
Monday, June 12, 2006
"Imagine"
John Lennon poem Imagine
Imagine there’s
no heaven - it’s
easy if you try
- no hell below
us and above us
only sky.
Imagine all the
people living
for today…
Imagine there’s
no countries it
isn’t hard to do
- nothing to kill
or die for and
no religion
too.
Imagine all the
people living
life in peace…
imagine no
possession. I
wonder if you
can - no need
for greed or
hunger. A
brotherhood of
man. Imagine
all the people
sharing all the
world…You
may say: I’m a
dreamer - but I
am not the
only one - and I
hope some day
you will join us
and the world
will be as one…
Imagine there’s
no heaven - it’s
easy if you try
- no hell below
us and above us
only sky.
Imagine all the
people living
for today…
Imagine there’s
no countries it
isn’t hard to do
- nothing to kill
or die for and
no religion
too.
Imagine all the
people living
life in peace…
imagine no
possession. I
wonder if you
can - no need
for greed or
hunger. A
brotherhood of
man. Imagine
all the people
sharing all the
world…You
may say: I’m a
dreamer - but I
am not the
only one - and I
hope some day
you will join us
and the world
will be as one…
"Imagine a world in which you were;"
"Imagine a world in which you were unable to write;
imagine a world in which you were unable to read;
imagine a world in which you were unable to look at any pictures;
imagine a world in which you were unable to hear any music;
imagine a world where you knew nothing of other cultures so you did not know where you wanted to travel or if you wanted to travel;
imagine a world in which you could not imagine, in which there were no novels or plays, there was no science fiction, there was no poetry.
Imagine a world in which there were no values, in which the words love, justice, equality, right, wrong, good and evil did not exist.
Imagine a world in which there were no theodicies.
Finally, imagine such a world without all these things. That would be a world without the humanities."
Kate Stimpson, "The Humanities in Everyday Life," in Hilda Smith, ed., The Humanities and Civic Responsibility (Washington, D.C.: Council of Chief State School Officers, 1986), 33-47.
imagine a world in which you were unable to read;
imagine a world in which you were unable to look at any pictures;
imagine a world in which you were unable to hear any music;
imagine a world where you knew nothing of other cultures so you did not know where you wanted to travel or if you wanted to travel;
imagine a world in which you could not imagine, in which there were no novels or plays, there was no science fiction, there was no poetry.
Imagine a world in which there were no values, in which the words love, justice, equality, right, wrong, good and evil did not exist.
Imagine a world in which there were no theodicies.
Finally, imagine such a world without all these things. That would be a world without the humanities."
Kate Stimpson, "The Humanities in Everyday Life," in Hilda Smith, ed., The Humanities and Civic Responsibility (Washington, D.C.: Council of Chief State School Officers, 1986), 33-47.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Anti War Poems
R.B. Jones' reads his Anti-Iraqi War poems
By William Hughes
"Collateral Damage" and "Depleted Morality" are scathing attacks on the criminality of the Bush-Cheney Gang.
PLAY
Thanks to David at After Downing Street for posting this!
By William Hughes
"Collateral Damage" and "Depleted Morality" are scathing attacks on the criminality of the Bush-Cheney Gang.
PLAY
Thanks to David at After Downing Street for posting this!
Same Old!! Same Old!!
Thanks to Thomas who started G.I.Special, at the beginning of the Cheerleading for War, modeled on the Underground Newsletters, both In-Country and at U.S. Bases during the Vietnam Era by Active and Vets of that time and that Tragic Debacle.
The following comes from the most recent edition of G.I.Special
Thomas also has the site: Traveling Soldier
Here's a link GI Special 4F9 'Same Old Same Old'.pdf to the recent edition.
GI Special:
6.11.06
Haditha: Kilo Company
My Lai: Charlie Company
Same Old Same Old
More
“Atrocities Were As Common To The Vietnamese Battlefields As Shell Craters And Barbed Wire”
“The Thing We Had Done Was A Result Of What The War Had Done To Us”
[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]
June 9, 2006 By Jason Motlagh, UPI Correspondent [Excerpts]
And More
From: Mike Hastie
To: GI Special
Sent: June 10, 2006
Subject: Forgotten History
Forgotten History
Thomas had his site Military Project-G.I. Special shut down for quite awhile, no explanation was given, but he had All of the G.I. Special Newsletters archived there. The site is back up, again apparently no explanation as to why. They are once again Archiving the issues there. There is much more within each issue than what is posted above, from the most recent one. With recent KIA's names and photo's, letters from In-Country etc., Toms Very Blunt Words and Thoughts, etc. etc.. If you haven't ever read the Newsletter you may want to take a look, than again maybe not, as this Country didn't pay Attention to the Lessons of 'Nam, will it Repeat Same Apathy Again with Iraq and Afganistan!!
When it went done others started posting up some of the issues, I recently started doing same a few months back. You can find some at these sites:
Recent GI Special issues archived at website Military Project recently back online .
The following comes from the most recent edition of G.I.Special
Thomas also has the site: Traveling Soldier
Here's a link GI Special 4F9 'Same Old Same Old'.pdf to the recent edition.
GI Special:
6.11.06
Haditha: Kilo Company
My Lai: Charlie Company
Same Old Same Old
[Vietnam GI, June 1970]
Because when you come right down to it, the wrong people are on trial for atrocities.
Nixon, Westmoreland, Abrams and Mendal Rivers, the very bullshitters who are most eager to see Charlie Co. brought to justice, are finally the men most responsible for My Lai. They were the ones telling us that Ky and Thieu’s corrupt government is worth dying for. They are the ones who taught us to kill, who put us over here in this mind-fucking shit hole and told us to go to it. In short, they started the war and they know you never have a war without atrocities.
[Vietnam GI, June 1970]
Laughin’, Cryin’,
Livin’, Dyin’
Hee Haw
Who’s the jackass now?
Charlie Co. is the jackass. From Nixon and Abrams on down to all sorts of deluded fat ass liters and selfrighteous civi-pigs there is a feeling that Charlie Co. really blew it. They didn’t give candy bars to the kids of My Lai. They didn’t pass out soap to the women. Instead they blew off the village.
So the men of Charlie Co. fucked up. They didn’t act like your friendly neighborhood Peace Corpsman. They acted instead like the ordinary sons of ordinary people.
They acted like an outfit of short-timers and Purple Heart winners who’d been in the shit, who’d lived it and breathed it for a long time. They acted like men who
were taught to believe in and respect officers like Lt. Calley, who awarded himself an extra 7 days leave while his platoon was being chopped to shit in a minefield. They acted like men who were given the bullshit line about getting their GED’s and going to an Army school and then were dumped into the infantry.
The men of Charlie Co. conducted themselves like men whose personal knowledge of the Vietnamese people came from encounters with whores, pimps, begging kids, black market operators, thieves, and of course the VC. They acted like men, a tight group of men, who for two months had seen their brothers getting mangled in mine fields and ripped off by snipers and who’d rarely seen anybody to shoot back at.
Sound familiar so far?
Then pay attention.
Charlie Co. is ordered by Lt. Col. Barker to hit My Lai 4. He tells Medina there’s a crack VC battalion in the village. They are supposed to destroy it, then burn out the village.
Next day they move in. No VC. But a few of the villagers panic and run. The men, fucked over, psyched up, looking for revenge, open fire.
A lot of people fall.
The rest of them are too scared to move.
Next we see Snot Calley ordering his men to herd the people into ditches and to start cutting them down. Some do and dig it. Some get pissed off and sickened by the whole thing.
Calley and Medina make a bullshit body count, find a few imaginary weapons, and pull out. A few days later Westmoreland commends Medina for doing a good job. The real story gets hushed up for the obvious reasons that nobody in the Army wanted the publicity
But after 20 months word does get out. And as the story gets pieced together by the CID, the press takes it up. The Establishment is surprised, shocked and outraged... both because there was a massacre (“How could our boys have done such a thing?”), and because the Army covered it up.
After showing that their hearts were in the right place, they gave up the stage to the Brass with parting remarks to the effect of “well, if you are just men, you will not sweep this under the rug... you will see to it that the guilty are punished.”
Enter the Brass, anxious to prove that they are indeed, just men.
How do they do it?
They tell the ex-GIs of Charlie Co. that they want them to come to Washington, all expenses paid, to tell their version of the massacre so they can get the goods on Calley.
Half of the company gets sucked in. Now that the Brass has the whole story of My Lai, what do they do?
The two-faced bastards turn around and announce their intention to prosecute the whole company. But you say most of the guys are civilians now, so they are out of the reach of military “justice”? Well, not exactly... the latest is that the JAG is trying to find a way to extradite them to SVN for trial.
The Brass is really pissed at Charlie Co. But it’s not because they give a fuck about the killing of innocent people.
If that were true they’d be a little more careful where they ordered air and artillery strikes. They’d also find it a little harder to just shrug when they hit our own men and say, “Well, accidents happen you know.”
What they are pissed about is that news of the massacre has made them and their war look worse than they ever have before. So they know what they have to do. Put the screws to Charlie Co., to make it look to people back home and around the world that they believe in-fighting a good clean war.
A t the same time they are making the GI’s of Charlie look like bloodthirsty freaks. While everyone is talking about what a terrible thing it is they completely forget who is really responsible.
Because when you come right down to it, the wrong people are on trial for atrocities.
Nixon, Westmoreland, Abrams and Mendal Rivers, the very bullshitters who are most eager to see Charlie Co. brought to justice, are finally the men most responsible for My Lai. They were the ones telling us that Ky and Thieu’s corrupt government is worth dying for. They are the ones who taught us to kill, who put us over here in this mind-fucking shit hole and told us to go to it. In short, they started the war and they know you never have a war without atrocities.
If you put men in the shit long enough, you’re going to have My Lai’s.
It’s as simple as that.
If they were really concerned about putting a stop to massacres like My Lai they’d stop the war.
But right now their concerns are very clear; easy promotions, soft civilian jobs for retired Brass, and money for the owners of the arms industry. If by making the men of Charlie Co. into the scapegoat they can keep the ball rolling a bit longer you can bet your ass they’ll do it.
Comment: T
If you’re looking for people to blame for the endless evil shit that happens in Iraq in this dishonorable Imperial war, blame the politicians that put the troops downrange, in an impossible situation.
Everything flows from the act of invasion and conquest ordered up by the greedy Imperial liars and traitors in Washington DC. They are the enemy.
More
“Atrocities Were As Common To The Vietnamese Battlefields As Shell Craters And Barbed Wire”
“The Thing We Had Done Was A Result Of What The War Had Done To Us”
[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]
June 9, 2006 By Jason Motlagh, UPI Correspondent [Excerpts]
Allegations that 24 Iraqi civilians were gunned down in cold blood by Marines on a rampage in the town of Haditha have unlocked the demons of Vietnam's My Lai massacre, and other nameless atrocities that exist only in the darkest corners of the minds of former combatants.
Philip Caputo's "A Rumor of War" is a disarmingly honest account of his experiences as a Marine unraveled by violence. Arriving in Vietnam March 1965 with the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, the first U.S. combat unit in Indochina, Lt. Caputo returned home after 16 months spent knee-deep in a brutal war that drove him from reasonable to the unthinkable, earning a court-martial that nearly ended in a murder conviction.
Unlike many war veterans who lapsed into drink and dissolution, Caputo went back to Vietnam in 1975 as a Chicago Tribune correspondent and covered the fall of Saigon. His motive in writing the book was to show that evil is not inherent in certain men as some people are quick to conclude, "except in the sense that the devil dwells in us all."
Rather than describe the ill deeds of others, Caputo lays bare his own descent into murderousness.
Mentally and physically depleted after 10 months in the bush, mired in hostile territory, he orders some of his men to go to a nearby village to seize a pair of suspected VC and kill them if they resist.
Half-mad, the GIs execute the pair without provocation, and Caputo finds himself laughing at the sight of one of the victims' head's blown out, only to realize their innocence in a case of mistaken identity, and his own bottomless guilt. His cavalier emphasis to "kill," in effect, was the green-light that sealed their deaths.
Caputo's story is, in the most fundamental sense, cut from the same cloth as My Lai and Haditha: Death tolls may vary, along with the equipment and expertise of the fighting men involved, but the constant is that "war, by its nature, can arouse a psychopathic violence in men of seemingly normal impulses."
"At times, the comradeship that was the war's only redeeming quality caused some of its worst crimes -- acts of retribution for friends who had been killed," Caputo continues.
"Some men could not withstand the stress of guerilla fighting: the hair-trigger alertness constantly demanded of them, the feeling that the enemy was everywhere, the inability to distinguish civilians from combatants created emotional pressures which built to such a point that a trivial provocation could make these men explode with the blind destructiveness of a mortar shell."
Caputo testifies in his memoir that "atrocities were as common to the Vietnamese battlefields as shell craters and barbed wire."
If a raft of such incidents has already surfaced in Iraq, it is not a stretch to imagine that others remain buried.
"I could not conceive of the act as one of premeditated murder," he writes. "It had not been committed in a vacuum. It was a direct result of the war. The thing we had done was a result of what the war had done to us."
Ishikawa and Kuroshima would understand: insert troops into a hell on earth and there's no way to prevent atrocities. Yet the real fiends in their capital suites are never spattered with a single drop of blood. Solidarity, Z
What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to contact@militaryproject.org . Name, I.D., address withheld unless publication requested. Replies confidential.
And More
From: Mike Hastie
To: GI Special
Sent: June 10, 2006
Subject: Forgotten History
Forgotten History
America loves their veterans, as long as they keep their mouth shut.
The minute they start telling the truth, It’s Love It Or Leave It.
The tomb of the Unknown Soldier should read: Here Rests In Emotional Silence, An American Soldier Known But To God.
There was an old Hoover
who lived in a shoe.
He had so many veterans
he didn't know what to do.
So he gassed them and tanked them,
and burned up their beds.
And then told the people
the vets were all Reds.
September 17, 1932
SUPPORT THE TROOPS
Mike Hastie
Vietnam Veteran
Thomas had his site Military Project-G.I. Special shut down for quite awhile, no explanation was given, but he had All of the G.I. Special Newsletters archived there. The site is back up, again apparently no explanation as to why. They are once again Archiving the issues there. There is much more within each issue than what is posted above, from the most recent one. With recent KIA's names and photo's, letters from In-Country etc., Toms Very Blunt Words and Thoughts, etc. etc.. If you haven't ever read the Newsletter you may want to take a look, than again maybe not, as this Country didn't pay Attention to the Lessons of 'Nam, will it Repeat Same Apathy Again with Iraq and Afganistan!!
When it went done others started posting up some of the issues, I recently started doing same a few months back. You can find some at these sites:
Recent GI Special issues archived at website Military Project recently back online .
The following have posted issues; there may be others: William Bowles Info; Robin Lea.com; my site Imagine A World Of on the rightside; G.I. Special, Iraq News; Trap Rock Peace; URUKNET; Albasrah.net
SOA - School Of the America's
Historic Congressional debate and vote
on School of the Americas
on School of the Americas
After five years, the silence in Congress has been broken.
Your work and the amazing contributions of over 40 national religious, labor and political organizations delivered an incredible vote today in what is possibly the most conservative Congress in U.S. history. Because of you, for the first time in six years, we won the debate, and we had a vote in Congress that garnered the support of 188 Representatives who voted to cut funding the School of the Americas/ WHINSEC, including almost 30 Republicans!
Today’s session was a critical day in our ongoing campaign to close the School of the Americas and to bring accountability to a “school of shame.” Now we know where Members of the House stand – and who we need to target. You now have the opportunity to invite at least 55 Members who voted with us but who aren’t yet co-sponsors of HR 1217 to sign on to our bill to suspend and investigate the SOA/ WHISNEC. See the final Roll Call.
This week you successfully leveraged more pressure on Congress than was leveraged on any other issue, you had the Republican leadership in the House worried about the vote. At the last minute, the right wing pulled out all the stops to get the bare minimum of votes needed – 218 – to defeat the amendment.
Our bill, HR 1217, is still alive! Today’s amendment vote is a good marker for us, and it will continue to serve as a tool for educating Members of Congress. Today’s vote will keep up our momentum as we continue to build support for HR 1217!
Our supporters won today’s debate hands-down. Representatives Lowey (NY), the ranking member of the House; Barbara Lee (CA), of the Human Rights Caucus; Schakowsky (IL); Meehan (MA); Kucinich (OH); and McGovern (MA) laid out strong arguments in favor of cutting funding to WHINSEC, citing serious concerns over human rights abuses, over the harm the institution does to relationships with Latin American nations and over known human rights abusers returning to WHINSEC.
Each Representative in favor of the amendment gave compelling and specific examples that supported their arguments. Those speaking against the amendment were not nearly as eloquent -- and didn't even have enough speakers to fill their time!
We have had an unprecedented level of success with our bill, HR 1217. We have more Republicans as co-sponsors than we’ve ever had; about 30 Republicans voted with us today; and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the House Minority Leader, a majority of the Human Rights Caucus and Budget Chairman Jim Nussle (R-IA) are on board with the bill.
We have made incredible strides forward, and we know that one day this school of torture, this school of coups, this school of repression will be closed down for good. We are continuing to grow our movement here in North America. Three South American countries have already pulled out of the school, and more may be on the way! Across the Americas, major social change is happening, and people’s movements continue to elect leaders that listen to the will of the people. There is much about which we can be hopeful. Now as we continue the momentum you must take action!
Read more about actions you can take to close the SOA.
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