“The country’s biggest force, the Metropolitan police, is to lobby the attorney general… because officers believe that large sections of the population have become increasingly politicised”
I really should have made some mention here of the recent Carnival Against the Arms Trade last week, but I ran out of time. At least I managed to get something posted to TawNews though…
“Recently smashEDO have been holding “noise demonstrations” outside EDO’s site at Home Farm Road in Brighton every Wednesday afternoon.
But this past Wednesday (4th June) the regular local effort was supplemented by something much larger… the Carnival Against the Arms Trade…
With everyone in high spirits and numbers reaching an estimated 600+, folk having turned up for the event from all over the country and being joined by Critical Mass cyclists, the Carnival set off up the Lewes Road toward EDO’s offices…
…people adopting the fitwatch approach seemed to be all over the place, photographing the cops photographing the Carnival, waving flags in front of the cameras of FIT and local “intelligence-gatherers”, and generally giving the snoop cops a bit of a hard time…
And how many times do we need to witness a largely peaceful (although perhaps noisy) demonstration quickly turn into something potentially quite unpleasant by the provocative over-reactions of the cops?”
Last Monday saw me down in London for the Stop the War-organised march on Parliament. Hyped up a bit beforehand so consequently quite a good turnout, but nothing greatly significant and I doubt if it will have achieved very much. Met a few old acquaintances though (from the early days of my antiwar involvement), and made a coupla new friends.
Hello, my name is Cindy Sheehan and my son Casey Sheehan was killed on April 04, 2004 in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq. He was killed when the Republicans still were in control of Congress. Naively, I set off on my tireless campaign calling on Congress to rescind George’s authority towage his war of terror while asking him “for what noble cause” did Casey and thousands of other have to die. Now, with Democrats in control of Congress, I have lost my optimistic naiveté and have become cynically pessimistic as I see you all caving into as one Daily Kos poster called: “Mr. 28%”
There is absolutely no sane or defensible reason for you to hand Bloody King George more money to condemn more of our brave, tired, and damaged soldiers and the people of Iraq to more death and carnage. You think giving him more money is politically expedient, but it is a moral abomination and every second the occupation of Iraq endures, you all have more blood on your hands.
Ms. Pelosi, Speaker of the House, said after George signed the new weak as a newborn baby funding authorization bill: “Now, I think the president’s policy will begin to unravel.” Begin to unravel? How many more of our children will have to be killed and how much more of Iraq will have to be demolished before you all think enough unraveling has occurred? How many more crimes will BushCo be allowed to commit while their poll numbers are crumbling before you all gain the political “courage” to hold them accountable. If Iraq hasn’t unraveled in Ms.Pelosi’s mind, what will it take? With almost 700,000 Iraqis dead and four million refugees (which the US refuses to admit) how could it get worse? Well, it is getting worse and it can get much worse thanks to your complicity.
Being cynically pessimistic, it seems to me that this new vote to extend the war until the end of September, (and let’s face it, on October 1st, you will give him more money after some more theatrics, which you think are fooling the anti-war faction of your party) will feed right into the presidential primary season and you believe that if you just hang on until then, the Democrats will be able to re-take the White House. Didn’t you see how “well” that worked for John Kerry in 2004 when he played the politics of careful fence sitting and pandering? The American electorate are getting disgusted with weaklings who blow where the wind takes them while frittering away our precious lifeblood and borrowing money from our new owners, the Chinese. I knew having a Democratic Congress would make no difference in grassroots action. That’s why we went to DC when you all were sworn in to tell you that we wanted the troops back from Iraq and BushCo held accountable while you pushed for ethics reform which is quite a hoot don’t’ you think? We all know that it is affordable for you all to play this game of political mayhem because you have no children in harm’s way. Let me tell you what it is like:
You watch your reluctant soldier march off to a war that neither you nor he agrees with. Once your soldier leaves the country all you can do I worry. You lie awake at night staring at the moon wondering if today will be the day that you get that dreaded knock on your door. You can’t concentrate, you can’t eat, and your entire life becomes consumed with apprehension while you are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then, when your worst fears are realized, you begin a life of constant pain, regret, and longing. Everyday is hard, but then you come up on “special” days.like upcoming Memorial Day. Memorial Day holds double pain for me because, not only are we supposed to honor our fallen troops, but Casey was born on Memorial Day in 1979. It used to be a day of celebration for us and now it is a day of despair. Our needlessly killed soldiers of this war and the past conflict in Vietnam have all left an unnecessary trail of sorrow and deep holes of absence that will never be filled.
So, Democratic Congress, with the current daily death toll of 3.72 troops per day, you have condemned 473 more to these early graves. 473 more lives wasted for your political greed: Thousands of broken hearts because of your cowardice and avarice. How can you even go to sleep at night or look at yourselves in a mirror? How do you put behind you the screaming mothers on both sides of the conflict? How does the agony you have created escape you? It will never escape me. I can’t run far enough or hide well enough to get away from it.
By the end of September, we will be about 80 troops short of another bloody milestone: 4000, and MoveOn.org will hold nationwide candlelight vigils and you all will be busy passing legislation that will snuff the lights out of thousands more human beings. Congratulations Congress, you have bought yourself a few more months of an illegal and immoral bloodbath. And you know you mean to continue it indefinitely so “other presidents” can solve the horrid problem BushCo forced our world into.
It used to be George Bush’s war. You could have ended it honorably. Now it is yours and you all will descend into calumnious history with BushCo.
The Camp Casey Peace Institute is calling all citizens who are as disgusted as we are with you all to join us in Philadelphia on July 4th to try and figure a way out of this “two” party system that is bought and paid for by the war machine which has a stranglehold on every aspect of our lives. As for myself, I am leaving the Democratic Party. You have completely failed those who put you in power to change the direction our country is heading. We did not elect you to help sink our ship of state but to guide it to safe harbor. We do not condone our government’s violent meddling in sovereign countries and we condemn the continued murderous occupation of Iraq.
We gave you a chance, you betrayed us.
Sincerely,
Cindy Sheehan
Founder and President of
Gold Star Families for Peace.
Founder and Director of
The Camp Casey Peace Institute
Eternally grieving mother of Casey Sheehan
Just the other day I was pointed in the direction of an absolutely superb video… how its managed to elude my notice so far I really don’t know.
Essentially its a “fast-paced 64-minute documentary that covers the world politics of power, war, corporations, deception and exploitation… It visualizes the words of Arundhati Roy, specifically her famous “Come September” speech, where she spoke on such things as the war on terror, corporate globalisation, justice and the growing civil unrest.“
Although I’d heard of her previously (particularly during all the antiwar stuff I was doing prior to Bush’s invasion of Iraq) I can’t recollect ever having seen her on the screen or wherever.
Now I have… I’m totally enamoured! Ms Roy’s presentation is superb and her “presence” (even through the medium of a miserable .wmv file) comes across really strongly. I cannot now imagine anyone presenting this vitally important subject-matter more compellingly.
The video’s a definite “must see” (if you haven’t done so already) and I’m sure that both the hardened activist and those new to the experience of “politicisation” (as the Met Police recently complained about!) will find it equally informative.
Below is a short preview (courtesy of YouTube) but the whole thing can be watched as streaming video on Google, or downloaded as a .wmv file from weroy.org.
I’ve set up a dedicated page for it on the main TaW site, which has all the access info.
A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.
Apparently a military strike against Iran may be imminent. If we’re to avoid a repetition of the Iraq disaster - only worse; if we’re to avoid the destabilising of yet another Middle East country by the obsessed Bush cabal; if we’re to avoid delivering death and destruction to thousands more innocents courtesy of the rampaging US war machine, its imperative we act now!
And start making plans for what else we can do in the event of war on Iran - particularly so if our government once again gives it support, or even just stands by and idly does nothing. And remember, demos and marches - no matter how large and impressive - simply didn’t work the trick last time.
Y’know how it is that you sometimes get a tune in your head (usually some utterly superficial pop tune or advertising jingle) that plays over and over, and simply won’t be dispelled?
Well, since writing my last post I’ve been experiencing a rather similar phenomenon; though this time not a tune but a phrase.
Its that damned sentence I quoted from Faye Turney…
“I want everyone out there to know my story from my side, see what I went through.”
Having got totally fed up with it niggling away at my subconscious I’ve dragged it out into the light of day (or darkness of ridiculously early in the morning, in this particular case), and tried to analyse why its bugging me so much.
The only conclusion I’ve been able to arrive at is because of the subtext as it were… the attitude it betrays. And that attitude strikes me as one of utter self-indulgence, entirely inappropriate for someone serving in the Armed Forces.
I wonder if Ms Turney has paused to reflect on why she was in the Shatt al-Arab River in the first place.
Let’s consider that “why” shall we? Presumably she was ordered there by a superior officer. That order came about because our government decided to support Bush’s scheme to launch an unjustified and almost certainly illegal attack on a relatively defenceless country. As a consequence of which, hundreds of thousands of completely innocent Iraqis have suffered unimaginably. I wonder therefore if our Ms Turney is in the least interested in hearing their story, from their side, and trying to get an understanding of what they’ve been through?
And if she’s got the least concern for those victims of the heinous military aggression perpetrated by the combined US/UK Armed Forces, perhaps she should donate any and all money she acquires from peddling her “story” to one of the organizations seeking to alleviate the suffering and impoverishment her employers have caused.
WASHINGTON, March 27 Reuters - A U.S. federal judge dismissed on Tuesday a lawsuit seeking to hold former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking military officers liable for the torture and abuse of Afghan and Iraqi prisoners, including some at Abu Ghraib prison.In throwing out the lawsuit, U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas Hogan ruled in the 58-page opinion that the defendants are entitled to immunity.
The plaintiffs had said they were stabbed, sexually abused, dunked in freezing water, and beaten while being hung upside down from the ceiling in Iraqs notorious Abu Ghraib prison and other U.S.-run facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In his opinion, Hogan cited other court rulings that rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution generally do not extend to foreign citizens in other countries. The plaintiffs have no right to sue in U.S. court, he said.
Hogan said that allowing money damages against military officials during a war “would invite enemies to use our own federal courts to obstruct the armed forces ability to act decisively and without hesitation in defense of our liberty and national interests.”
In other words, to act in contravention of international law without fear of reprisal. Hmm… wonder how he’d feel about the so-called “insurgents” in Iraq (in reality resistance fighters opposing an occupying force) using similar arguments?
Khalid Shaikh Mohammeds alleged confession testimony has been thoroughly discredited after it emerged that one of the targets he identified, the Plaza Bank, was not founded until 2006, four years after the alleged Al-Qaeda masterminds arrest.In his confession, KSM claims, “I was responsible for planning, training, surveying, and financing for the New or Second Wave of attacks against the following skyscrapers after 9/11: …Plaza Bank, Washington state.”
KSM was arrested in March 2003. According to the Plaza Banks website, the organization was founded in early 2006, making it impossible for KSM to have even known of the banks existence before 2003, never mind plotted against it.
Skepticism about the legitimacy of KSMs confession has gushed forth from all quarters, leaving the credibility of the Pentagon and the process of military tribunals in ruins and provoking additional questions about why the alleged Al-Qaeda mastermind admitted to involvement in such a vast range of plots.
JURIST Guest Columnist Anthony DAmato of Northwestern University School of Law says the sweeping Guantanamo “confessions” of al Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed rival the scope of those made in the Stalinist purge trials of the 1930s, and should equally prompt us to question the legal process in which they were made…
