Veteran's Day, November 11 2006

Cities For Peace
Karen Dolan is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. She also co-directs the
Cities for Peace and Cities for Progress projects.

Red state, blue state? That is SO last week.
As Democrats have swept into power, shamelessly ignoring the once-sacred red state–blue state divide, one more aspect of this blurring of the nation's political divide remains underreported. This story more fully illustrates the passionate energy of anti-war sentiment in America and it’s a lesson former red-staters would do well to heed.

If your ommunity didn't have a ballot measure on the above, it's time that you get out and push for one, and you don't need an election day, push your communities elected officials and your state legislatures to do the work you hired them for, Bring Them Home, NOW!
And Take Care Of Them When They Get Here!

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Jan Barry

Veterans Day sales, speeches, salutes. The November 11 holiday carved out
of World War I's Armistice Day has become a hollow cliche, a platform for
politicians to wax patriotic far from any battlefield. Wouldn't it be
grand if politicians spent the day listening to veterans.

"They're no good, these wars," Roy Longmere, an Australian veteran of the
Gallipoli campaign who miraculously lived to be 107, once said in memory
of 60,000 countrymen killed in World War I. "A lot of lives lost, no use
at all. There's got to be another way of fixing up these rows without
killing each other."

"There wouldn't have been a war if it had been left to the public," said
Bertie Felstead, who lived to be 106, the last surviving member of a
British battalion in WWI that struck a spontaneous truce with Germans on
Christmas Day 1915. When fighting resumed, it lasted nearly three more
years and killed millions of people until an armistice was signed.

Fast forward to 2006.

“Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal
invasion becomes,” Kevin Tillman said shortly before Veterans Day of the
death of his brother, Pat Tillman, in April 2004 while they were on a US
Army Ranger mission in Afghanistan that went horribly wrong. The Tillman
brothers previously served together in Iraq after volunteering in the wake
of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and
illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue
and honor of its soldiers on the ground. Somehow those afraid to fight an
illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an
illegal invasion they started,” Kevin Tillman said in a bitter tribute to
his brother’s death widely posted on the Internet.

The Army initially claimed that Pat Tillman, who left a professional
football career to serve in the War on Terrorism, died heroically fighting
the enemy. It was later revealed that he was killed by fellow Rangers in a
murky incident that is now the subject of a criminal investigation.

Many veterans I know have bitter memories of war that are seldom
acknowledged in official pronouncements on Veterans Day. They tell anybody
willing to listen. At a forum on art by Vietnam veterans three years ago
at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial and Vietnam Era Educational
Center, it was hard to tell where the war ended and the art began.

"Our family sustained six continuous years of incredible fear and threats
of death," photographer Tony Velez wrote in a statement about his exhibit
that interspersed snapshots of GI's in Vietnam with head-snapping scenes
of an antiwar march by Vietnam veterans. Velez and a brother served
back-to-back tours in the war, another brother was drafted, a cousin was
killed, another lost an arm, and haunting memories of dead GI's and
Vietnamese came home with him and refused to go away.

"Images of my experience in the war can still provoke a deep rage within
me of the injustices, lies, the horrors and terrors of war, as well as
nightmares, a sense of guilt, loss and sadness," Velez, a professor of
fine arts at Kean University, wrote.

An exhibit assembled by artist Frank Romeo presented a gallery of
veterans' nightmares: skulls in the place of soldiers' faces, a grim
reaper Death posing with an arm around a spit-and-polish general, a
trussed-up enemy prisoner who looked like an African-American.

"My paintings are of the horror show that was Vietnam: butchery carried
out for politicians, bureaucrats, and ambitious generals whose egos would
not let them say "enough"; art for an indifferent public; art to honor
those who lived and died there, and earned only a few hundred dollars a
month. It would take a lifetime to paint it all," said a statement by
Charlie Shobe, whose painting, "Waiting for Henry Kissinger," showed a
grinning dead GI sitting under a tree.

Charles H. Johnson read a poem on an unforgettable experience as an
infantry platoon leader. In the midst of a monsoon, he had to pull guard
duty:

So I trudge through the muck,
each step sucked deeper into the stuff
until (madly trying to free myself)
I trip and fall face first.

Not only must I fight in a cesspool.
Now I have become part of it.
Earth Songs: New and Selected Poems-Jan Barry

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What would this Vet like to see, no lets change that to Demand To See. That with this shift in Washington Power that the Congressional Democratic Party stop Immediatly using the Term 'Terrorists' to describe who we are fighting in Iraq and Afganistan, not all are Criminal Terrorists and that is what 'Terrorism' is a Criminal Offense! Start fighting/investigating/treating these for what they are 'Crimes', much of Europe and other parts of the World are doing just that and not invading countries and labeling all as Terrorists as we are. We invaded both countries and those that are fighting Us either live in those countries or are from that region. They want us Gone!
STOP, Imediately, using Muslim Religious names and terms to describe those who are fighting, for when these terms are used we are not just describing a small radical fringe, and Thanks to us their Ranks are Growing, but All who follow those religious beliefs, around the World! This has nothing to do with Religion nor Religious Beliefs!
Get Rid of this Extremists Ideology that one can Blow Up Others while saying you are bringing them 'Freedom' and 'Democracy', it just plain don't work that way. It does Create more Enemies and Hatreds, especially within the children that survive
Immediatly call for a Worldwide Summit, or series of Summits leading to a single Worldwide Summit, of Moderate Voices of Political Leaders, Religious Leaders, and Citizens known for their Moderate views. Discussions should be on Peace, Treatment of the less powerful by the powerful in political policies, business, human rights, support of those who dictate instead of lead by the powerful, banning the extreme ordinance that cause so much death amoung the innocent, and Especially getting back to the table on Nuclear Weapons, and all that greater minds than my own can bring to the table. Summits with those in the Middle East should be leading towards them taking more of a stance to help stop the violence that We Created. We foot the bill because we destroyed, but they can help quell the negative feelings, especially between the differant religious sects if the differing moderate religious/political leaders are brought into the discussions of this mess instead of pushed away. Also get these so called expert contractors, they're not, out of the region and turn All Rebuilding over to those in the Countries and Region with their citizens doing the work, not outsiders!
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Soldiers are not the only ones who suffer!
You may want to view this, than again maybe not.
Baghdad's Traumatized Patients

Iraqi psychiatric hospital offers extraordinary insights on the ravages of war.

Prepare yourself for this short video, and the kid in it!
If you view keep in mind that what is happening, especially in this new century, are that many, especially the children, are creating Extreme Hatreds that they will release on innocents around them and others as well. How far will these Hatreds carry them, and to what ends for them and us all?
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And this video:
'Iraq: Legacy of Hate' : The Lost Generation

Video Documentary By Channel 4 - UK

'Iraq: The Lost Generation' opens a window onto the hidden world of Iraqi youth, revealing the brutalisation and psychological trauma of living under military occupation. It reveals how the people with whom the future of Iraq rests, are reacting with anger, aggression and, in some cases, violence.

When the US-led invasion of Iraq promised to replace Saddam Hussein's brutal regime with freedom and democracy, nearly half of the country's population was under 21.

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I also want to start seeing Immediatly Investigations into the No-Bid Contracts, the Lost Billions, I want my money Back in the Peoples Treasury, a Complete investigation on the Intelligence and Lies that led us into the creation of an even greater force of Criminal Terrorists.
I want to see Investigations into the Incompetance that not only occurred after Katrina but in so many other areas as well. I want to know just how far backwards we have gone on policies covering the environment, business practises, drug research and release, protective inspections in a number of area's, and this list could keep going and going, for we have lost so much ground in so many area's it's simply mindboggeling.
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I want Investigations into the practises of Torture and Secret Prisons, this Country once Condemned now we are the Worlds Greatest Practitioners of!
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We Failed Our Children, with War
The Vietnam generation forgot lessons learned decades ago and let itself be bamboozled

Before shipping out to river patrol in the Mekong Delta in early 1967, I managed to get home to New York for a few days. As my parents were driving me back to the airport for my trip overseas, we talked about everything but the subject at hand. Then, as the flight was being called, they told me they wanted to say something, to make an apology. They had been good and loving parents, I thought, what on earth did they have to apologize for?

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This Veterans Day Let's Hear from the Troops Themselves

The divisive war in Iraq was what drove this fall's march of troops through dueling political commercials. But history and tradition both suggest more deeply rooted tendencies about how we enlist veterans in public life and how rarely we listen to the actual words of these men and women.

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History Comes Alive for Students Tracing World War II Dead (NY)

The Army-issued memorial flag, tucked away in storage for decades at the Queens College library, was a tantalizing clue. But it needed some decoding.

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On this Veterans Day give 'Honor' and 'Thanks' to those who serve, think about the reasons many do, even if only in a silent moment. Everyone is touched by the experiance of, by family members, friends, of the past generations to the present, and especially the results of the policies that lead us into these Conflicts we send our Military Troops Into!
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I recently put this video together of Actions of 'Honor':

Real 'Honor' for the Fallen - 'Peace In The World'

True 'Honor for the Fallen', of All Nations of All Conflicts, would be 'Peace'

Arlington East on Cape Cod National Seashore


Arlington Midwest - Kent State University


Arlington West Chapter 54 Santa Barbara CA Crosses Project

The Peace Ribbon Project


Walk In Their Shoes


Eyes Wide Open


Visions of Peace Garden at Camp Casey 3


There are other Memorial's to 'Honor' and for 'Peace', many led by Veteran's of previous conflicts in coalition with many others, as well as individual Memorials of 'Honor' and 'Peace', those who sent them into these conflicts Hide the 'Fallen's' Return, leaving an already Apathedic Society even More So!

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Any viewing this add your own thoughts, stories, articles, in comemoration of those who have served or are serving now!

Veterans Day

Jan Barry

Veterans Day sales, speeches, salutes. The November 11 holiday carved out
of World War I's Armistice Day has become a hollow cliche, a platform for
politicians to wax patriotic far from any battlefield. Wouldn't it be
grand if politicians spent the day listening to veterans.

"They're no good, these wars," Roy Longmere, an Australian veteran of the
Gallipoli campaign who miraculously lived to be 107, once said in memory
of 60,000 countrymen killed in World War I. "A lot of lives lost, no use
at all. There's got to be another way of fixing up these rows without
killing each other."

"There wouldn't have been a war if it had been left to the public," said
Bertie Felstead, who lived to be 106, the last surviving member of a
British battalion in WWI that struck a spontaneous truce with Germans on
Christmas Day 1915. When fighting resumed, it lasted nearly three more
years and killed millions of people until an armistice was signed.

Fast forward to 2006.

“Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal
invasion becomes,” Kevin Tillman said shortly before Veterans Day of the
death of his brother, Pat Tillman, in April 2004 while they were on a US
Army Ranger mission in Afghanistan that went horribly wrong. The Tillman
brothers previously served together in Iraq after volunteering in the wake
of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and
illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue
and honor of its soldiers on the ground. Somehow those afraid to fight an
illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an
illegal invasion they started,” Kevin Tillman said in a bitter tribute to
his brother’s death widely posted on the Internet.

The Army initially claimed that Pat Tillman, who left a professional
football career to serve in the War on Terrorism, died heroically fighting
the enemy. It was later revealed that he was killed by fellow Rangers in a
murky incident that is now the subject of a criminal investigation.

Many veterans I know have bitter memories of war that are seldom
acknowledged in official pronouncements on Veterans Day. They tell anybody
willing to listen. At a forum on art by Vietnam veterans three years ago
at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial and Vietnam Era Educational
Center, it was hard to tell where the war ended and the art began.

"Our family sustained six continuous years of incredible fear and threats
of death," photographer Tony Velez wrote in a statement about his exhibit
that interspersed snapshots of GI's in Vietnam with head-snapping scenes
of an antiwar march by Vietnam veterans. Velez and a brother served
back-to-back tours in the war, another brother was drafted, a cousin was
killed, another lost an arm, and haunting memories of dead GI's and
Vietnamese came home with him and refused to go away.

"Images of my experience in the war can still provoke a deep rage within
me of the injustices, lies, the horrors and terrors of war, as well as
nightmares, a sense of guilt, loss and sadness," Velez, a professor of
fine arts at Kean University, wrote.

An exhibit assembled by artist Frank Romeo presented a gallery of
veterans' nightmares: skulls in the place of soldiers' faces, a grim
reaper Death posing with an arm around a spit-and-polish general, a
trussed-up enemy prisoner who looked like an African-American.

"My paintings are of the horror show that was Vietnam: butchery carried
out for politicians, bureaucrats, and ambitious generals whose egos would
not let them say "enough"; art for an indifferent public; art to honor
those who lived and died there, and earned only a few hundred dollars a
month. It would take a lifetime to paint it all," said a statement by
Charlie Shobe, whose painting, "Waiting for Henry Kissinger," showed a
grinning dead GI sitting under a tree.

Charles H. Johnson read a poem on an unforgettable experience as an
infantry platoon leader. In the midst of a monsoon, he had to pull guard
duty:

So I trudge through the muck,
each step sucked deeper into the stuff
until (madly trying to free myself)
I trip and fall face first.

Not only must I fight in a cesspool.
Now I have become part of it.

Earth Songs: New and Selected Poems - Jan Barry

This Veterans Day

This Veterans Day, Washington looks different. But Baghdad and Kabul don't. As elections come and go, IAVA is still going to be here, advocating for troops and veterans, and educating the public about the situation on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This Saturday is Veterans Day. More than one million people have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now's the time to spread the word about IAVA. Please continue your commitment to the troops and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

We're not asking for donations. But please take a moment to spread the word about
IAVA to five of your friends. Let them know about our crucial work - on issues from body and Humvee armor to VA funding -- and that, with your support, there is much more to be done.

Thank you for all you do to support our work.

Sincerely,

Paul Rieckhoff
Executive Director
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

Coalition of Antiwar, Veteran Groups Launching National Movement to Impeach Bush and Cheney

Friday, November 10th, 2006

Democracy Now

A coalition of groups are meeting near Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Saturday to announce plans to mobilize a national movement to impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. We speak with former New York Congressmember Elizabeth Holtzman, who played a key role in the committee investigating Watergate, and we speak with Pentagon whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. [includes rush transcript]

Listen to Segment

Watch 128k stream

Magnetic Yellow Ribbon

Asylum Street Spankers-Magnetic Yellow Ribbon


Great, Funny Video, and Oh So True!!!!!

War Widows Wronged

WTOV9 Report
Video,Windows Media
It's the military's most solemn duty: caring for the families of soldiers killed in battle. But, as WTOV9 discovered, too many war widows feel like they've been wronged by the system that is supposed to protect them.
From the burial process to collecting money from the military and other agencies, Iraq war widow Holly Wren faced a challenge at every turn.
"There was no healing time. I wasn't able to grieve at all," she said. "It's hard to shuffle from office to office after you deal with something like this."
Wren's ordeal started at the sacred place where her beloved husband, Lt. Colonel Thomas Wren, was buried. She says the date on his headstone at Arlington National Cemetery is wrong, and she does not believe he was buried with all of the medals he earned.
Then she had to go to battle for her benefits. Her housing allowance was half of what she was owed. She waited longer that she was supposed to for her husband's retirement money and death benefit. She also had to hire a lawyer and go to court so their infant son, Tyler, could be a beneficiary.
She said, "The paperwork sat on someone's desk for months, the benefits were not explained properly."
Wren's assigned casualty officer tried to help untangle the bureaucracy, but he didn't know all of the benefits she should receive and the two of them felt like they were cobbling information together. Other people she encountered in the system were downright rude.
"I was treated like a nuisance at times," she said, "We're just a job to them, and it's so much more than that."
Members of Congress have been hearing similar complaints from widows like Holly Wren for years. California Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher is on the committee that recently ordered the Government Accountability Office to investigate. It found that while most survivors do get the benefits owed to them, there are system-wide problems that lead to confusion and frustration.
Tauscher said the country owes its troops and their families much more.
"That is a heinous bureaucratic tangle," she said. "I believe each of these families should have a benefits advocate cutting through the red tape and working this for them. That is the least we can do."
The Department of Defense is trying to make improvements, and will be instituting new casualty assistance policies that include more training for casualty officers. The Army has set up a call center and the Marine Corps has assigned long term case workers to help survivors. DOD issued a statement that reads in part, "Each and every situation and family member concern is taken very seriously and reviewed with a view towards fixing the problem..."
Holly Wren has now joined other widows lobbying for a centralized, one stop, casualty office to help survivors. She's hoping that by sharing her story, she'll inspire change, and other widows won't have to go through the same difficulty.
She said, "I just want them to make the process better, because unfortunately there are more of us to come."
If your loved one has been killed in battle, the last thing you may want to deal with is the military's massive bureaucracy. But it is necessary to deal with several government agencies in order to collect the benefits owed to you. If you need help navigating the system, there are a number of groups that work for survivors. Following are some links that may be of use:
Gold Star Wives of America
Armed Forces Services Corporation
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors
National Association of County Veterans Service Officers
The Department of Defense has also developed, and placed online, A Survivor's Guide to Benefits.
If you would like to read the recent GAO investigation of the DOD Casualty Assistance programs, you can access that report here.
-Alison Burns, Cox-TV Washington Bureau

I Have Been to Funerals

Sit Down for Change and Stand Up for Peace: Day 3
By Cindy Sheehan

I haven't met anyone who likes to go to funerals. Attending a funeral must be one of the last things anyone of us would ever choose to do. Here in America we are even more distanced from death than we are from birth. Both natural activities have been made abnormal and something that only happens in hospitals.

Even though I had my babies at home, I am totally like the average American who has an aversion to death and funerals. So, can you imagine the feeling of panic and immeasurable pain when I awoke on April 13, 2004, the morning of my son's funeral? Can you imagine how I was feeling when I took a shower that morning, a morning just like every other morning, except I was burying my oldest child? Can you imagine the surreal feeling of putting on a new "mother of a hero" suit and walking out to the limo that picked us up for the very well traveled trip to our church, where I had spent so many happy hours with Casey? My surviving children looked so beautiful in their funeral clothes and Casey's dad was so handsome in his new black suit. It took all my energy to not throw up. This week how many more Iraqi mothers and American mothers have had to so needlessly walk in the same sad shoes that I had to walk in two and a half years ago? To the people who say I should just "get over it," the tears are pouring down my face right now recalling that awful April day, but also for the families who will have to go to their loved ones' funerals because of the clown in chief.

Yesterday, in his press conference, George said that he has been to "rodeos" before. Was he the one in the clown suit diving into the barrel right before the bull gored him in the buttocks? What George has done to our country is not a "rodeo" it is one long funeral of death and misery and the rodeo clown has presided over the demise of our democracy and abolishment of our security.

America and humanity won huge victories this week, but peace wasn't the victor, change was.

To have true peace we need more than Rumbo to resign. Congress needs to do their Constitutional duty to impeach the rest of the war criminals and remove them from office. Like Saddam, George, Darth Cheney, Rumbo, Condi, and the rest of the warniks need to be tried for crimes against humanity.

Yes, we won some battles this week, but we need to stay on the offensive and work for true change and peace. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid need to know that we voted in record numbers to bring our troops home. The democratic leadership also need to know that we stood in long lines and sometimes in the rain to vote for accountability and justice. We can't relax now that we have the upper hand.

When the 110th Congress is sworn in in January, we will need to be there in the halls of Congress demanding that the people we just elected represent us and not the war machine.

Our responsibilities as American citizens do not end on election day. True democracy happens between elections and the time between elections is where the real work gets done.

We Americans are a formidable force when we unite and work together and, in the past, we have engineered and have been responsible for amazing change in our nation.

Let's make history and do it again.

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Casey Sheehan who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is the president and co-founder of GSFP and the author of Peace Mom.

Younger Veterans-If You Missed, Listen In

Younger Veterans


Diane and her guests talk about how this era's veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan differ from past generations of veterans, and how the country can better meet their needs, from health care to employment to military benefits.

Real Media Player

Windows Media Player

Guests

William A. Boettcher, past national commander of AMVETS and co-chair of the National Symposium for the Needs of Young Veterans

Rick Maze, Times News Service staff writer

Patrick Campbell, sergeant in the D.C. National Guard who served as a combat medic in Iraq

Shoshana Johnson, retired specialist from the U.S. Army and America's first black female prisoner of war (Iraq, 2003)

Lonnie Moore, president of the board of directors for the Wounded Warrior Project. He is medically retired as an Army captain.

Veterans Day, Nov 11th, Events 2006 - VFP

Veterans For Peace
Veterans Day Events
There are exciting events happening across the country for Veterans Day:
1. Over twenty VFP Chapters are either holding their own events or participating in local parades.
2. Saturday, November 11, you can join the makers of "The Ground Truth," Iraq Veterans, and AOL in an online chat. You can purchase your own copy of The Ground Truth here.
3. Military Families Speak Out will be traveling to Washington DC to "Stop the Backdoor Draft" between November 9th and 11th. On Saturday, November 11, they will be planting flags at the National Mall for each soldier killed in Iraq.
4. Cindy Sheehan and Gold Star Families For Peace are saying, "Sit down for Change, Stand UP for Peace" with actions in Washington DC between November 6th and 9th.

VETERANS FOR PEACE SPONSORED EVENTS:
The following cities have Veterans Day events. You can scroll down to find the appropriate city, or click on This Link to take you to the VFP page.



Chicago , Illinois - Cpl. Joseph E. Powers Chapter ( Ch. 26)

Event Description: Will participate in a joint Veterans' Day Ceremony with the Chicago Chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The Ceremony will consist of speakers, music and laying flowers on the Memorial Fountain. It will last about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

At 2:00 P.M. , following the Ceremony, there will be a Bar-B-Q for participants at the New World Resource Center , 1300 N. Western Ave. , Chicago , IL . We ask that people bring canned goods for a food pantry or pay $5.00 at the door. The Bar-B-Q will last until 7:00 P.M. .
Location: Chicago Vietnam Veterans' Memorial at the North-West corner of Wacker and Wabash (Lower Level at the Chicago River ) in Downtown Chicago
Time and Date of Event: Saturday, November 11 @ 10:30 A.M.
Contact Information: Mike Woloshin at: mike71atkron86vfp26@hotmail.com, Ken Nielsen at: info@chicagovfp.org, or VVAW at: vvaw@vvaw.org

Pacifica , California – Chapter 69 ( San Francisco Area)

Event Description: Pacifica Peace People and Veterans for Peace present a very special Veteran's Day event. Join us for a concert and reading featuring Country Joe McDonald singing songs of peace. You'll also hear musician and Viet Nam vet Joe Paquin play some of his songs, plus Jim Janko, who will read a passage from his Pulitzer-prize-nominated book, "Buffalo Boy and Geronimo." $10 if you're over 18 and $5 if you're not (suggested donation---no one will be turned away for lack of funds)
Location: Sanchez Concert Hall, 1220 Linda Mar Boulevard (about one mile off Highway 1 in Pacifica---building with mural on the right side of the street)
Time and Date of Event: Saturday, November 11, 2006, 7-10 p.m.
Contact Information: Phil Reser 415-476-2817

St. Paul , Minnesota – Chapter 27 ( Minneapolis , Minnesota )

Event Description: Minnesota State Capitol grounds at the First Shot Monument Twin Cities Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 will host our annual bell ringing service. The theme of our service harkens back to the original purpose of Armistice day which was the Armistice that ended World War I (the war to end all wars) when at 11:00 a. m. on the 11-day of the 11th month (November 11, 1918) the armistice ending WWI was to go into effect. At that time the killing was to stop and the church bells through-out the world were to ring signaling the end of war as an activity of human beings We have readings, a bell is rung 11 times at 11;00 a. m. , we give those in attendance an opportunity to make a statement and recite the names of service-personnel who have lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Location: Minnesota State Capitol grounds
Time and Date of Event: Saturday, November 11 @ 11:00 pm
Contact Information: Wayne Wittman, (651) 774-4008

Hartford , Connecticut – Chapter 42 ( Hartford/Windham CT )

Event Description: Veterans For Peace Contingent in the Hartford’s 2006 Veterans Day Parade Peace Activists Are Welcome To March With VFP
(as part of the VFP Supportive Auxiliary)
Location: Downtown Hartford (Meet at the intersection of Buckingham St. & Hudson St.) For the last several years, the Veterans for Peace, their family, and friends were met with clapping and cheers as they participated in the 2003, 2004, and 2005 parades. Despite official attempts to prevent the anti-war contingent from participating in the parade following the 2003 Iraq Invasion, the contingent has become an integral part of the parade for the last several years. Come out this year to march and show your support for the troops! Demand an end to the occupation of Iraq ! (http://www.hopeoutloud.org/VFPparade2006.htm)
Time and Date of Event: Sunday, November 5th @ 11:30am
Contact Information: Dave Ionno, dionno@aol.com

Boulder / Denver Colorado – Chapter 120 (Boulder, CO) and Chapter 79 (Colorado)

Event Description: Chapter 102, Boulder, CO, will travel to Denver and join with the Denver and surrounding chapters to commemorate Veterans Day with a march and rally
Contact Information: Gene Glazer, geneandalice2@yahoo.com

Ann Arbor, Michigan – Chapter 93 (Michigan)

Event Description: Veterans Day Peace Ceremony - 11am, Hanover Square Park, Ann Arbor, Michigan (corner of Division and Packard).

Arlington Michigan Display - 11am to 5pm. One cross for every Michigan soldier killed in Iraq (97 as of mid-October). Hanover Square Park, Ann Arbor, Michigan (corner of Division and Packard).

Veterans Day Film Screening - Showing of the film "The Cost of War" (60 minutes) followed by a panel discussion. Cosponsored by the Huron Valley Gray Panthers, the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, and Michigan Peaceworks and Veterans For Peace Chapter 93. Held at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 2145 Independence Avenue, in Ann Arbor, starting at 7pm.
Time and Date of Event: Saturday, November 11
Contact Information: Bob Krzewinski, Wolverbob@cs.com

Houston, Texas – Chapter 12 (Houston)

Event Description: The Houston chapter of Veterans For Peace is marching in downtown Houston on Veterans Day, to honor all veterans of past and current wars. Members and others supporting peace are invited to join VPF12 in marching to honor vets and to protest policies that send them into harms way for greed, not to defend our country, and then abandons them when they return home. The commemoration begins at 10:00a.m. at Sam Houston Park, 800 Bagby. A demonstration by the United States Army Special Forces "Black Daggers" parachute team will be staged at 11:15 a.m. The parade, featuring veterans and military organizations, starts at 11:30 a.m. at Lamar and Bagby.
Location: Sam Houston Park, 800 Bagby
Time and Date of Event: Saturday, Nov. 11
Contact Information: Jim Rine at jmrine@hotmail.com, 281 414 1386

Salt Lake City, Utah – Chapter 118 (Nikko Schoch Chapter)

Description of Event: The Nikko Schoch Chapter 118 in Salt Lake City will unveil our new chapter banner in front of the Vietnam Memorial at the state capital. The Chapter was renamed in honor of Hamburger hill medic Nikko Schoch who passed away August 5, 2006.
Location: Vietnam Memorial at the state capital, Main Street
Time & Date of Event: Saturday, November 11 @ 2:00 p.m.
Contact Person: Aaron Davis, aaronmdavis1950@msn.com

Miami, Florida – Chapter 32 (South Florida)

Description of Event: Chapter 32, South Florida, will be marching in the Veterans Day Parade on Miami Beach and we will have the Arlington South Beach event on Ocean Drive on Nov 10, 11, 12.
Location: Miami Beach
Contact Person: Sam Feldman, vetsforpeace@the-beach.net

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Chapter 144

Description of Event: Come join us in Philadelphia for A Sea of Tombstones: The Cost of War Tombstones will be on display November 10th, 11th & 12th with a special event Saturday, November 11, 2006, 3:00 to 5:30 p.m.
Gold Star Parents and Guest Speakers include Celeste Zappala, Cindy Sheehan & Sue Niederer. Their sons Sgt. Sherwood Baker, Spc. Casey Sheehan., and Lt. Seth Dvorin were killed in action in 2004.
Location: Arlington North will be displayed in Center City Philadelphia at the Visitor Center across from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Arlington North at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia 5th & Market Street
http://www.arlington-libertybell.net
Sponsored by: Delaware Valley Veterans For America and Veterans For Peace Organizing Committee 144
Contact Person: 215-945-1669 215-945-3350

New Jersey – Chapter 21

Description of Event: Chapter 21, New Jersey, will be marching in the N.Y.C. Veteran's Day Parade along with our brothers and sisters from that venue.
Contact Person: Ken Dalton, njvfpken22@netscape.net

Eugene, Oregon – Chapter 929

Description of Event: One entry will be our more "conservative" members who are planning on carrying VFP flags and signage, American flags, and Peace flags.
Entry two by our most "progressive" members will be under a fictitious name "Lane Country Vets for Alternative Energy" and will feature bio-diesel vehicles, an assortment of esoteric bicycles, walkers and other bio-friendly forms of transportation. Our theme will be "...zero soldiers per mile". Further elaboration on the "zero" plan can be found here: http://www.squadron13.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1127
Contact Person: Gordon Sturrock, gs@squadron13.com

Santa Fe, New Mexico – The Joan Duffy Chapter of Veterans for Peace (Chapter 55)

Description of Event: On November 11th, through the efforts of Robert Sinn, Carla Lopez, and Mayor Coss, VFP Santa Fe has been invited to join with the VFW and other veterans groups in a Veterans Day Parade. Friends and collaborators of VFP are invited as well.
It would be refreshing if a number of the 170+ "ghost" members would share with us in this event either as workers on the installation and its removal or as marchers in the parade. A perfect opportunity for us to bring awareness the original intent and purpose of "Veterans Day" to our misguided comrades who believe the event another opportunity to glorify war.
The parade will begin at 9:00, starting from the parking lot of St. Francis Cathedral. It will go around the Plaza then proceed to the Bataan Memorial Building where there will be a ceremony. We hope to keep the Iraq/Afghanistan Memorial Installation set up on the Plaza until sunset. The Installation now has more than 65 3ft by 6ft vinyl banners, each displaying either 39 or 52 pictures and basic biographical data of the American dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.Contact Person: Ken Mayers, kenmayers@vfp-santafe.org

Northern Michigan Chapter – Chapter 50

Description of Event: Nothern Michigan Chapter 50 will construct an “Arlington Northern Michigan" display of 99 crosses (at this date, Oct. 30) one for each Michigan resident killed in Iraq. These crosses will show the name, picture, date of birth, home town and circumstances of death on each cross. This display offers a place and time to contemplate the human cost of war, to grieve and honor those who have lost their lives, and to keep their memory alive. It is also a time and place to stand with the families of the fallen and those war veterans still living, many with invisible wounds.
Location: Downtown park in Traverse City on Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan.
Time & Date of Event: November 11, 2006, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Contact Person: John Lewis, johnbetty@bignetnorth.net

Albuquerque, New Mexico – Chapter 63

Description of Event: Silent protest across the street from the celebration of war at the Veterans Memorial Park, where Rep. Heather Wilson, dedicated Bush flack will be speaking.
Contact Person: Sally – Alice Thompson, sally-aliceanddon@juno.com

Atlanta, Georgia – Greater Atlanta Chapter 125

Description of Event: Veterans For Peace, Greater Atlanta Chapter 125, has been accepted as both a participant and a sponsor of the Atlanta Veterans Day Parade .

The American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER), Georgia Chapter, a gay veterans organization and fellow sponsor of the Atlanta Veterans Day Parade, will march in solidarity with the Atlanta VFP. Headed by VFP member Danny Ingram, AVER and VFP both anticipate being placed at the rear of the parade,
with VFP taking the lead.

The Atlanta Veterans Day Parade is the second largest Veterans Day Parade in
the nation and honors ALL military veterans. Grand Marshal for the 2006 Atlanta Veterans Day Parade is the decorated combat news correspondent, Joe
Galloway .

Greater Atlanta Chp. 125 of Veterans For Peace and American Veterans for
Equal Rights invites ALL interested veterans and active duty military personnel to join with us on Veterans Day in solidarity for peace and the inherent rights of all human beings in the Atlanta Veterans Day Parade!!!
Location: Assembly point for the Atlanta Veterans Day Parade is on West Peachtree Street at the beginning of Pine Street at the Civic Center MARTA Station.
Time & Date of Event: November 11, 2006, The Atlanta VFP, along with AVER, will assemble at 10 AM, with the parade commencing at 11:11 AM.
Contact Person: Veterans For Peace: Debbie Clark, 770-855-6163, debbie@vfp125.org, American Veterans for Equal Rights: Danny Ingram, 404-378-3240, president_averga@yahoo.com

Sheboygan, Wisconsin – Chapter 114

Description of Event: Our counterparts in Milwaukee have been banned from the Veteran's Day Parade in that city, so we will be standing next to them in solidarity, on Nov. 4th, as the "real vets" march by. We will be helping them set up and take down "Arlington-Great Lakes" 2700 markers in geometric rows at Juneau Park, and also be hearing Lt. Watada's father, and Cindy Sheehan speak that day.
Friday, the 10th, we will be taking part in a Veteran's Day ceremony here in our city (we are about 50 mi. north of Milwaukee, on Lake Mich.) at a local high school. That event generally entails the reading of Wisconsin service people KIA this yea, and local vets who died in past 12 months, a short speech, laying of wreathes at a tomb prop, taps and rifle volley as we salute.
Contact Person: Tom Contreston, tom@vetsforpeacesheboygan.org

Portland, Maine – Chapter 114

Description of Event: Chapter 001 of Maine will be joining the “traditional” Veterans Day March in the city of Portland after we were initially denied a place in the parade. Maine VFP will be holding our own commemoration ceremony on Veterans Day in Portland with the full support of the city.
Contact Person: Doug Rawlings, rawlings@maine.edu

St. Paul, Minnesota - Chapter 127

Description of Event: 1) 10:30, First Shot Memorial (far side from the steps of the Capital), St. Paul. Open to all who wish to pay respects to the original day: Armistice Day - the representation of the War to End All Wars. There will be a reading of the Minnesota names of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Others are welcome to say a few words or read a poem or memory. We ask that it be brief and respectful.
2) "Salute to Vets Via Story"Storytelling by Larry Johnson, 3:00 pm at the Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave. Across from the new Guthrie.
Contact: Daniel Fearn, aldermn@earthlink.net

OTHER EVENTS:

Naples, Florida

Event Description: Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Broward for Peace, Social Action Committee of Ft. Myers and others will erect a field of crosses on the beach representing the 2,800 plus American soldiers killed in Iraq. This solemn display to mourn and grieve for our soldiers killed in Iraq will be at the. Each 700 plus white crosses will bear the name and age of the killed soldier; in addition there will be 21 red crosses with each red cross representing 100 American soldiers killed in Iraq. At 1 PM taps will be played as volunteers begin calling out the name and age of each of the 2,800 plus American soldiers killed in Iraq. The display called Arlington South will end at 5PM.
Location: Naples Beach Pier at Gulf Shore Blvd.and 12th ave south
Time and Date of Event: Saturday, November 11 @ 7:00 am
Contact Information: John Riccio, 239-649-6863.

Cornish, Maine

Event " 'Voices in Wartime' Hear Others- Let Your's Be Heard"
Location: Horizons Building, South Hiram Elementary School, South Hiram Rd, Maine
Time & Date of Event: Sunday, Nov 12, 2006, 7:00
Sponsored by: Sacopee Valley Forum
Description of Event: We will be showing the video of "Voices in Wartime" an account of war poetry throughtout the ages & we will be encouraging others to bring along their favorite poems or poems of their own. There will be time for sharing our own poems, discussion, & of course, refreshments.
Contact Person: Denis J. Dunn dahrev@psouth.net, PO Box 125, Cornish, ME 04020-0125

Fort Drum, New York

Event Description: The first GI Coffeehouse, "The Different Drummer" at Ft Drum NY will be holding a special afternoon program on Veterans Day featuring a showing of the "Poison Dust" (2pm) film followed by a discussion of the health hazards of DU weapons. In the evening, we will feature the Syracuse band "Los Blancos" (8pm)
Location: Different Drummer Cafe, 12 Paddock Arcade, 1 Public Square, Watertown NY 13601 Phone 315-782-0595
Time and Date of Event: Saturday, November 11
Contact Information: Tod Ensign, (212) 679-2250

Cleveland, Ohio

Event Description: Women Gather to Pray/Meditate for Peace in the World - Join us . . Nov. 11 (Veterans Day), 7:45am Saturday, TRINITY CATHEDRAL Chapel, 2230 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio-parking lot off Prospect (wheelchair accessible) for 45min of prayer and meditation. Gather the Women of Cleveland to Save the World meet again to pray/meditate for peace - for the end of violence.
Location: Trinity Cathedral Chapel, 2230 Euclid Avenue
Time and Date of Event: Saturday, November 11 @ 7:45 am
Contact Information: Susan Greene: greenemidwife@hotmail.com, Susan Hannibal: suehannibal@yahoo.com Kathy Smith Baker: jhardeeb@aol.com or Joan Southgate: gonnawalk439@hotmail.com

VETERANS WORKING TOGETHER FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE THROUGH NON-VIOLENCE.
WAGE PEACE!
Veterans For Peace, 216 S. Meramec, St. Louis, MO 63105, 314-725-6005
Veterans For Peace

Git 'R Done

The New 'Noble Cause' Reasoning!


“If People Want To Support The Troops, Then They Should Support Us Coming Home”
“The First Antiwar Movement Organized By Active Military Personnel Since The Vietnam War”

The following is posted in Thomas Barton's most recent edition of Military Project-G.I.Special. You can visit that link to read all of his News Letters, or you can download this recent addition .pdf here: GI SPECIAL 4K7: “This War Is Not Right”.pdf.

November 01, 2006 Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation The Soldiers Speak Out & Nov. 02, 2006 By Mark Benjamin, Salon.com The antiwar GIs & November 06, 2006, Gordon Lubold, Army Times Staff writer Active troops going public to oppose war {This is a Subscription only access view article}
[Excerpts of above articles - of which I blockquoted Thomas's Highlighted points, adding links not found in the News Letter- some e-mail servers were blocking at reception point because of certain links contained in earlier editions]

"As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for US troops to come home."
This statement – the Appeal for Redress – has been signed by over 600 active-duty soldiers who have had enough of seeing their brothers and sisters sacrificed to the disastrous war in Iraq.
Seaman Jonathon Hutto and Marine Sergeant Liam Madden spearheaded the Appeal which is co-sponsored by Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace {the VFP site is being rebuilt, if not getting directly to the site, with this link, click on 'Home', at top of that page, it'll take you to the New Home Page} and Military Families Speak Out.

It is the latest effort stemming from the antiwar energy that has emerged among military families, veterans, and active military, including generals and other high-ranking officers.

It's also the first antiwar movement organized by active military personnel since the Vietnam War.

A minority of the troops who have signed on so far are reservists, while more than 75 percent are active-duty service members -- more than 60 percent of whom have served in Iraq.

Hutto, who served off the Iraq coast from September 2005 until March, told the Washington Post, "I hear discussions every day among my shipmates about the war in Iraq and how it doesn't make any sense at this point. There is no victory in sight."

“We’ve heard many voices, we heard from some politicians, some activists and pundits. We haven’t heard from the men and women who actually serve, and I think that’s a constituency that has to be heard from,” he said in a phone interview Oct. 23.

There are “thousands of men and women” who believe that it’s time to end the war, he added.

Madden served in Anbar province from September 2004 until February 2005.

"I don't think any more Iraqis or Americans should die because of the US occupation," he told ABC News. "If people want to support the troops, then they should support us coming home."

Madden cited his disillusionment with a war based on non-existent weapons of mass destruction and phantom links between al Qaeda and Iraq.
At a White House press briefing last week, press secretary Tony Snow {whom I believe Never Served- but fancies himself amoung the blabbering crowd as an expert of Military/War and Everything else, just ask FOX Propaganda, whoops News-JS} dismissed the protest effort as tiny, and suggested the participants were not "proud" of their service. At that time, only 65 service members had signed on.
"You get 65 guys who are, unfortunately -- no, not unfortunately -- 65 people who are going to be able to get more press than the hundreds of thousands who have come back and said they're proud of their service," Snow told reporters.
Madden says he takes pride in his service to his country, and that he loves the Marine Corps.
"Joining the Marine Corps was one of the best decisions I've ever made," Madden told me over dinner in Washington, about a 45-minute drive from his post at Quantico, Va.
But he harshly criticized what he considers to be a botched strategy -- along with the shifting rationale for the war, its high human toll and the poor prognosis for success.

He said there is "an implied trust" between soldier and government that the military will not be ordered into a dubious, costly adventure.
"When it becomes blatantly evident that you are being exploited then it is justified for those in the military to dissent," Madden said. "This war is not right."

David Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland, said he thinks that disillusionment about Iraq is "latent but widespread" among troops.

"I think they are expressing a sentiment that is really there," he said, referring to the small but growing group of protesters. "I think we could see a newly emerging soldiers' movement," Segal said. "I don't think it is there yet. But the germ is there."
One soldier, speaking under condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said, "I don't think that the American public realizes just how many soldiers and service members in general really do have reservations about what is going on over there….It's very hard. These soldiers seeing all this tribal fighting, ethnic fighting going on around them.…There is not really anything you can do to stop this."

Madden admits that it is difficult to say exactly how many of his fellow Marines quietly agree, beyond those who have participated in the campaign. A drafted soldier in the Vietnam era might have been quicker to make his voice heard. But fear of retribution prevents professional service members in particular from voicing their concerns in order to protect their careers.

Yet the silent resistance runs deep, Madden believes. "It is more than anybody would ever admit," he explains.

"A lot of people are in the military for life, because of their economic situation. But their hearts may be against this war."

At least some measure of that sentiment has surfaced recently: A February 2006 poll by Zogby International showed that 72 percent of troops serving in Iraq thought the United States should get out by the end of the year.
Another soldier said he believed the Appeal would have "a snowball effect" and more and more people would sign on.
"Once they start seeing momentum going forward and more and more service members coming out, they will be much more inclined to come out as well."

“These brave men and women, who put their lives on the line for our nation every day, must be heard.”

The top brass has taken notice. Organizers say they got a call last week from staff on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who asked for details on the number and kind of troops signing on to the protest.
The campaign of appeals to Congress is largely the brainchild of Jonathan Hutto, a 29-year-old Navy seaman based in Norfolk, Va., recently named the best seaman of the quarter on his aircraft carrier. While floating off the coast of Iraq in December 2005, Hutto read "Soldiers in Revolt" by David Cortright, a chronicle of the GI movement against the war in Vietnam.

Back in Norfolk in June, Hutto invited Cortright to town to address an off-base meeting of about 100 like-minded people, including many military service personnel. Madden happened to be in town visiting a friend and he went to see Cortright speak. Then Madden and Hutto began exchanging e-mails, and the movement took shape.
"We are appealing to the best of our political leadership. We are appealing to our government.

“And if those appeals are met we can avoid those more massive forms of protest."

Cortright, who was active in the GI movement during Vietnam and is now a research fellow at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, has become an advisor and organizer of the protest movement.
"This is an incredibly elegant and interesting way for service members to express their feelings about the war, in a legal way, to their congressional reps," Cortright said in a phone interview. Despite the formal approach, he added, the appeals are based on powerful personal convictions. He said they "reflect this growing feeling in the ranks" that the war in Iraq "is not working."
While the methods may be different from Vietnam, Cortright said he detects a striking similarity in the disillusionment among service members from both wars -- particularly as the mission in Iraq becomes increasingly unclear to troops there, and the war continues to "drift sideways," as Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner put it early last month.
The movement includes soldiers who say they still love the military, but are angry because it is unclear to them just what they are supposed to be doing there. Daily patrolling through Iraq's dangerous streets serves as one example.
"There is a civil war going on and we are stuck in the middle of it," one female Army soldier, who had returned from Iraq in September, told me.

She has signed on to the current protest to Congress, but did not want her name to be made public out of fear that it might hurt her military career.
She said of the daily patrols: "You go out and you drive around the city to show a presence. Sometimes you stop and search houses. But a lot of times you drive around for a while and drive back, unless you get hit, and then you come back a little earlier. In some places, you were guaranteed to be hit within 15 minutes."

Retired Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard, now a senior military fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, acknowledges there is debate about whether service members should speak out. "That is a tough question to come down on," Gard said. "We have a social contract in this country that the military does not question the civilian control over it."

"But the flip side," Gard continued, "is that there is an implicit assumption that they will not put the military into harm's way and accept casualties except in causes that are reasonably in the national interest. In this case, I can't find a rationale that makes any sense."

The Appeal:


*******

*******

As the 'Chimp' and his Controlling Puppeteers:

Wage their War of Choice, Wasting Billions A Week on same, paying Mercenaries Tens of Thousands of Our Money 'Each' while Military Personal, putting lives and limb on the line receive a Tiny Fraction of that as their Pay. Do we keep hearing about How This Country, of which the Greater Majority isn't Sacrificing a Damn Thing, treats it's Military Personal.

The following is an LTE to the Army Times:
Troops Need Child Care Help

Letters To The Editor
Army Times
11.6.06
Why do we have to pay for child care, giving up one-sixth of our pay or more if we have more than one child?
The military could make child care a military occupational specialty. It could fall under the medical field. Medics are already qualified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, first aid, emergency medicine and other specialties. This MOS could become a 68W with a pediatric/child care additional skill identifier.
One or two pediatricians could work for an installation’s day care center. This would free up appointments for military and dependents at other medical clinics. All physicals, well-baby and other appointments could be handled at the day care site and not at the clinics.
Child care could become a 24-hour service. This would also help soldiers when they have charge of quarters, noncommissioned officer staff duty, field training exercises or other military obligations, such as having to work late.
Units would not have to release soldiers to go pick up their children, losing manpower and compromising military duties.
When soldiers have duty or go to the field, they would have to bring proof of duty to the day care center from either their first sergeant or company commander. Soldiers would have to care for their own child on holidays, training holidays and weekends unless they are working.
Staff Sgt. Eric J. Kelley
Baumholder, Germany

Why is this, and so much more, being Dumped on our Military Personal! This should be a No-Brainer, especially at times of 'Wars of Choice'. This 'Country' should be Giving All to our Military Personal whom we seem to find no problem sending them to Invade other Countries, on Extremely Questionable Reasoning, than Not 'Sacrificing' any of our so called Wealth taking the measures to insure they and their families are taken care of!

All they get are Empty Words 'Support The Troops' from the likes of the Politicians who sent them, Military Leaders jockeying for Rank Advancement, Talking Heads of the MSM and Rightwingnut Talk Radio Programs, and of course the
The Kombat Keyboard Badge w/yellow Elephant
{Thanks BOHICA for this one!}
of the 'Chickenhawks' All, 101st Keyboard Brigade!

This Country never seems to see the Shame in their treatment of those who Serve them, at their Choice, while they Serve and when they Return, especially with PTSD!!!

Signature:If the recent Lancet reports of 655,000 Iraqi deaths are true, a field of markers representing that tragedy 51’ wide (15.55 m) would be 21.14 miles (34.02 km) long.
(If markers were three feet apart in all directions, as in the Arlington Memorials around the Country)

End of the Neo-Cons

Nov. 5, 2006. 08:16 AM
DAVID OLIVE


"Every dogma has its day."
— Abraham Rotstein

"America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law!
— Katharine Lee Bates, "America The Beautiful" (1893)

Whether or not the Republicans lose control of one or both houses of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, the neo-conservative vision that has guided American foreign policy since 2001 has run its course. The neo-cons' grand design lies in ruins, having accomplished nothing other than to shrink America's stature in the world.

SNIP Read Rest HERE



FOCUS | William Rivers Pitt: The Rat Pack

William Rivers Pitt writes: "Ken Adelman, Michael Ledeen, Frank Gaffney and Richard Perle have spent many years waiting for the opportunity to road-test their wild ideas about how to deal with the world, and with the installation of the Bush administration, they finally got their big chance. Now that the wheels are coming off, however, they are trying to pretend that none of this has anything to do with them."



Signature: If the recent Lancet reports of 655,000 Iraqi deaths are true, a field of markers representing that tragedy 51’ wide (15.55 m) would be 21.14 miles (34.02 km) long.
(If markers were three feet apart in all directions, as in the Arlington Memorials around the Country)

Why Should You Vote?

Pass This On, Short But Too The Point!

Belligerent draft dodgers.......

Published on Saturday, November 4, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
The Apologist
by Ralph Nader

The baying pack of belligerent draft dodgers - Messrs. Bush, Cheney and Limbaugh - were out in verbal force this week against John Kerry. The Senator miscued a joke about Bush by reading without the "us" in the line, "You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." The missing of the "us" word gave the messianic militarists an opening to demand that Kerry apologize to the U.S. troops for his "insulting" and "shameful" remarks.

Interesting isn't it, how a mis-reading of a word can be seen as cause for apology when thousands of illegal and destructive deeds and tortures constitute the Bush regime's "business as usual."

There will likely be no apologies from Bush/Cheney for putting U.S. soldiers into a fabricated war-quagmire - a disastrous, costly boomeranging invasion. But to set the record straight about who should apologize, here are on the ground reasons for nine Bush/Cheney mea culpas.

1. FAILURE TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE BODY ARMOR AND TRUCK ARMOR IN A TIMELY FASHION.
A Pentagon study found that "as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor," according to a New York Times report. Hundreds of soldiers died who could have been saved.

The Washington Post reported "that in some places in Iraq the U.S. military could provide only one Interceptor vest with protective plates for every three U.S. soldiers."

2. FAILURE TO ACCURATELY REPORT CASUALTIES.
The Bush administration has undercounted injuries to soldiers in Iraq to hold down opposition to the war. Injuries that were not incurred in the middle of battle are not part of the official casualty count by the Bush Administration. Cases of diseases, such as thousands of Sand Fly afflictions, are not even counted. This disrespects these soldiers and their families to bolster a cynical political calculation.

3. FAILURE TO PROVIDE SUFFICIENT TROOP STRENGTH IN IRAQ
The Washington Times reports that retired military leaders who served in Iraq said that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "ignored advice for more troops, failed to make a post- invasion plan or equip troops properly and hid information from the public." "I believe that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the administration did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq," retired Army Maj. Gen. John R.S. Batiste told the panel. Mr. Batiste, a self-described Republican who has been criticizing Mr. Rumsfeld for months, said the secretary "forbade military planners from developing plans for securing a postwar Iraq" and helped create the current insurgency by ignoring the potential for one, though it was "an absolute certainty."

Retired Army Maj. General Paul D. Eaton, who criticized Mr. Rumsfeld in the New York Times last spring, said the post-invasion effort in Iraq is about 60,000 troops short of what it needs for success and that the Army "is in terrible shape," lacking proper equipment and resources.

President Bush should never have invaded Iraq, but whenever troops are deployed they should be at levels which are necessary to protect the civilian population -- an obligation military occupiers are required, under international law, to fulfill. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi women, men and children have become the casualties of incompetent planning.

4. FAILURE TO PROVIDE TROOPS IN IRAQ WITH SAFE DRINKING WATER.
Former Halliburton employees and army officials have testified before Congress that Halliburton provided our troops in Iraq with very contaminated water, which the troops used to shower, wash their hands and their faces, brush their teeth, wash their clothes, and sometimes even make coffee.

5. SENDING PART-TIME SOLDIERS FROM THE RESERVES AND NATIONAL GUARD ON DANGEROUS MISSIONS - SUCH AS ROADSIDE MINE SEARCHES - WITHOUT ANYTHING RESEMBLING ADEQUATE TRAINING.

6. FAILING TO CARE FOR RETURNING TROOPS.
The Knight Ridder News Service reported that the Government Accountability Office found that the Veterans Administration "badly underestimated how many soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan might seek medical and other services, in part because of problems in getting accurate information from the Pentagon." Consequently many returning troops have had difficulty getting prompt medical attention.

7. FAILURE TO HELP VETERANS WITH POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD).
The Washington Post reports that a Government Accountability Office report concluded: "Nearly four in five service members returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who were found to be at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were never referred by government clinicians for further help..."

8. FAILURE TO PROTECT SOLDIERS AND VETERANS FROM OFF-BASE SCAMS.
The New York Times reports that "several financial services companies or their agents are using questionable tactics on military bases to sell insurance and investments that may not fit the needs of people in uniform." USA TODAY reports that a Defense Department report said "the average borrower pays $827 on a $339 loan and called the lending predatory." A recently passed law will cap interest rates at 36 percent. The Defense Department should have cracked down on the corporate and economic predators that prey on military personnel and their families.

9. FAILURE TO ADEQUATELY PAY TROOPS WHEN ABROAD AND WHEN INJURED.
The Baltimore Sun reports that deployment in Iraq is "taking a financial toll on part-time soldiers who make up about half of the 150,000 troops there. Forty-one percent of National Guard and Reserve soldiers are losing thousands of dollars through a "pay gap" between their civilian salary and military pay..."

These inexcusable, contemptuous indifferences to the well-being of the soldiers, combined with the rush to wage an unnecessary, immoral and unconstitutional war, characterized by corrupt, wasteful contracting debacles of unprecedented proportions, should compel President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney not only to apologize, but to resign.

LTE to Fayetteville Observer - Ft. Bragg

Both political parties have explaining to do

I heard Sen. John Kerry’s misstatement in California concerning the education of some of our brave military personal. He should issue an explanation, before an apology, so as to understand his comments in context.

But during the interim, the Republicans have some issues they need to address. What about the distribution of those “Purple Heart Band-Aids” at the 2004 Republican Convention. The distributor (Republican Morton Blackwell of Virginia) opted to never serve in the military.

Those Republicans’ calloused actions were much more disrespectful to our brave military. Those Republicans’ despicable humor came at the expense of all of those who earned Purple Hearts. Where’s the outrage?

On Jan. 19, 1973, I was standing at the MAC Terminal Desk at Travis Air Force Base in California, headed for the USS Inchon (LPH-12), cruising the Gulf of Tonkin as a certified air traffic controller (visual flight control and ground control approach units). Where were the Republican leaders Frist, McConnell, Santorum, Hastert, Boehner or Blunt? What about Bush (43), who has a questionable military history? Shouldn’t he fully explain where he was during that “lost period”?

I remember Republican attacks on Clinton as a draft dodger, who received two deferments to evade Vietnam. Based on that Republican theory, how should we label Cheney, who received five?

I’m waiting for the Republican explanation(s) while I wait for Kerry’s.

I sent a similar to them and the Charlotte Observer, it wasn't printed, didn't expect so from the CO, but the one above hit's same points. This is what I sent:

First, I'm an In-Country Vietnam Veteran '70-'71, having been in the U.S. Navy '67-'71! Kerry's attempt at the 'joke' was not a slam on the Military Troops, others I know will disagree.

To them I ask, where is the Apology for the Republican Convention 'Purple Heart Bandages', from the Republican Party or President Bush, I never heard one, Especially coming from Hayes.

Where is the 'Apology', from President Bush on his very lame, and sick, WMD joke, with video, given in front of a Room Full of People at I believe the Washington Press Club a few years back while the Troops were dying in Iraq? Never heard any 'Apology', Especially from Hayes!

Where is the 'Apology', from President Bush, for his statement that Iraq will be remembered as a 'Coma' in the future, or is that what our Troops are fighting and Dying, getting Maimed, for?

Why the pass on these and oh so many more, and where is Hayes responses?


James Starowicz

POST-SADDAM IRAQ: THE WAR GAME

Why does this not surprise, reason many were listening to those who had snippets of the Intelligence, both in government service or had left, in the buildup to the 'Shock and Awe'! This was All out there along with the Common Sense that Conventional Warfare no longer exists, and Invasion of anothers country leads to Resistance, i.e. Insurgency - Guerilla Warfare, that cannot be 'Won' by Any Invaders!!!!!

"Desert Crossing" 1999 Assumed 400,000 Troops and Still a Mess


Washington, DC, November 4, 2006 - A series of war games held in 1999 specifically to anticipate problems following an invasion of Iraq assumed a deployment of 400,000 troops to maintain order, seal borders and provide for other security needs. But the games, known as Desert Crossing, were apparently ignored by the Defense Department. When CENTCOM commander Gen. Anthony Zinni, after his retirement, advised planners to refer back to Desert Crossing as they prepared for the 2003 invasion, the response reportedly was, "Never heard of it."

Now, seven years later, documentation on preparations for the games and detailed After Action records have surfaced in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Security Archive, which is posting the materials on its Web site today.

"The conventional wisdom is the U.S. mistake in Iraq was not enough troops," commented National Security Archive director Thomas Blanton, "but the Desert Crossing war game in 1999 suggests we would have ended up with a failed state even with 400,000 troops on the ground."

Desert Crossing, which amounted to a feasibility study for part of the main war plan for Iraq -- OPLAN 1003-98 -- tested "worst case" and "most likely" scenarios of a post-war, post-Saddam, Iraq. The After Action Report presented its recommendations for further planning regarding regime change in Iraq. The results drew some pessimistic conclusions regarding the immediate possible outcomes of an invasion. A number of these mirror the events which actually occurred after Saddam was overthrown.

* "When the crisis occurs, policy makers will have to deal with a large number of critical issues nearly simultaneously, including demonstrating U.S. leadership and resolve, managing Iraq's neighbors, and rapid policy formulation."

* "A change in regimes does not guarantee stability. A number of factors including aggressive neighbors, fragmentation along religious and/or ethnic lines, and chaos created by rival forces bidding for power could adversely affect regional stability."

* "Iran's anti-Americanism could be enflamed by a U.S.-led intervention in Iraq. ... The influx of U.S. and other western forces into Iraq would exacerbate worries in Tehran ... More than any other country in the region, the principals were most concerned by how Iran would respond to a U.S.-led intervention in Iraq."

* "Iraqi exile opposition weaknesses are significant ... The debate on post-Saddam Iraq [during the war game] also reveals the paucity of information about the potential and capabilities of the external Iraqi opposition groups ... [T]here was no dispute that if the United States were to support them, much must be done in order for these groups to be politically credible within Iraq."

These documents were posted today on the Web site of the National Security Archive