thomasfbarton@earthlink.net Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

REAL WOMENS’ LIBERATION

Demonstration against the occupation in Baghdad’s Sad’r city February 22, 2006. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem

"No To America, No To Terrorism"

Sadr was reported by the BBC as calling for revenge on Sunnis: in fact, he said "no Sunni would do this" and called for revenge on the occupation.  

It has not been Sunni religious symbols that hundreds of thousands of angry marchers protesting at the bombing of the shrine have targeted, but US flags. The slogan that united them on Wednesday was: "Kalla, kalla America, kalla kalla lill-irhab." No to America, no to terrorism.

February 24, 2006 Sami Ramadani, The Guardian.  Sami Ramadani was a political exile from Saddam’s regime and is a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University

The shattered golden dome of Samarra is yet another milestone in George Bush’s "long war," in which a civil war in Iraq shows every sign of being a devastating feature.

But what sort of civil war? 

I am convinced it is not the type of war that politicians in Washington and London, and much of the western media, have been anticipating.

The past few days’ events have strengthened this conviction. 

It has not been Sunni religious symbols that hundreds of thousands of angry marchers protesting at the bombing of the shrine have targeted, but US flags. The slogan that united them on Wednesday was: "Kalla, kalla Amrica, kalla kalla lill-irhab." 

No to America, no to terrorism.

The Shia clerics most listened to by young militants swiftly blamed the occupation for the bombing.

They included Moqtada al-Sadr; Nasrallah, leader of Hizbullah in Lebanon; Ayatollah Khalisi, leader of the Iraqi National Foundation Congress; and Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s spiritual leader.  Along with Grand Ayatollah Sistani, they also declared it a grave "sin" to attack Sunnis, as did all the Sunni clerics about attacks on Shias.  

Sadr was reported by the BBC as calling for revenge on Sunnis: in fact, he said "no Sunni would do this" and called for revenge on the occupation.

None of the mostly spontaneous protest marches were directed at Sunni mosques.

Near the bombed shrine itself, local Sunnis joined the city’s minority Shias to denounce the occupation and accuse it of sharing responsibility for the outrage.  In Kut, a march led by Sadr’s Mahdi army burned US and Israeli flags.  In Baghdad’s Sadr City, the anti-occupation march was massive.

There was a string of armed attacks on Sunni mosques in the wake of the bombing but none of them was carried out by the protesters.  Reports suggest that they were the work of masked gunmen.  Since then there has been an escalation of well-organised murders, some sectarian, some targeting mixed groups, such as yesterday’s killing of 47 workers near Baquba.

But as live coverage of Wednesday’s demonstrations on Iraqi and Arab satellite TV stations clearly showed, the popular mood has been anti-occupation rather than sectarian.

Iraq is awash with rumours about the collusion of the occupation forces and their Iraqi clients with sectarian attacks and death squads: the US is widely seen as fostering sectarian division to prevent the emergence of a united national resistance.

Evidence of their involvement in Wednesday’s anti-Sunni reprisals was picked up in the Times, which reported that after an armed attack on the al-Quds Sunni mosque in Baghdad the gunmen climbed back into six cars and were ushered from the scene by cheering soldiers of the US-controlled Iraqi National Guard.

Two years ago I argued in these pages that the US aim of installing a client pro-US regime in Baghdad risked plunging the country into civil war, but not a war of Arabs against Kurds or Sunnis against Shias, rather a war between a US-backed minority (of all sects and nationalities) against the majority of the Iraqi people.  That is where Iraq is heading.

Crucial political turning points are going unnoticed, though not by the US ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, who organised the pro-US opposition before the invasion and devised the sectarian formulas put into practice thereafter.

In the run-up to the December elections, Sadr’s forces won decisive battles in Baghdad and the south against Sciri, the Shia faction more inclined to work with the US.

The defeat of the Sciri forces gave Sadr’s Mahdi army a powerful voice in the coalition that won the election, and helped nominate Ibrahim Jaafari as prime minister against the US-backed Sciri man, Adil Abdulmahdi.

Khalilzad is adamant that Sadr’s supporters should not be able to exercise such influence.  This is the cause of the political crisis engulfing the Green Zone regime.

For nearly two years, we have been inundated with US and British "exit strategies".  So, why do you need a strategy to pack up, end the occupation and let the Iraqi people decide their own future?

The "threat of civil war" of course.  But that is to ignore the war unfolding in Iraq thanks to the continued occupation.

None of these exit strategies will work for the simple reason that they are based on an unrealisable ambition: to have the Iraqi cake and eat it.

All the Bush and Blair strategies are based on maintaining a pro-US regime in Baghdad.

Freed from this hated occupation, proud and independent Iraqis will never elect a collection of US- and British-backed proteges.

MORE:

Collaborator Traitors Try To Stop Sunni-Shia Unity Against The Occupation

2.24.06 By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer

Shiite and Sunni clerics met Friday and agreed to work to discourage killings between the two sects.

The meeting between followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and members of the influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars was held in northern Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, said Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, one of the participants from al-Sadr’s group.

[For some odd reason, the reporter forgot to mention that both Sadr and Muslim Scholars association bitterly oppose continuing the occupation of Iraq. Now why on earth could that be?]

Several joint Sunni-Shiite prayer services were announced for Friday, including one at the Askariya shrine.

But security forces turned away about 700 people, virtually all of them Sunnis, who showed up for the service.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

So Much For All That "Withdrawal" Bullshit:
Generals Say "Coalition Force Levels Will Increase, If Necessary, To Defeat The Enemy"

February 24, 2006 By Gordon Lubold, Army Times staff writer [Excerpts]

U.S. commanders say the recent spike in violence in Iraq is more than just a "bump in the road," but they have confidence in Iraqi army forces to quell the unrest themselves.

They do not rule out increasing U.S. force levels, however, if the Iraqis are unable to stabilize the country.

"This is more than a bump in the road, it’s a pothole," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of plans and strategy for Central Command, in a Thursday interview at a hotel near the Pentagon.

But Kimmitt added if events do deteriorate, U.S. commanders, including Gen. George Casey, commander of Multi-national Forces-Iraq, might ask for more troops.

"There may be a need for more American forces. We don’t think so at this time, but events are going to bear this out," he said.

Casey will likely make recommendations on force levels within the next two months, Kimmitt said.

On Friday, the Pentagon also issued its congressionally-mandated quarterly report on progress in Iraq called "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq."

At the end of the 56-page report, in a section titled "Withdrawing Forces," the report repeats the Pentagon’s mantra regarding troop withdrawal, namely that as conditions improve on the ground, U.S. forces will be allowed to go home.

But even the report hints at the possibility of a troop increase.

"Coalition force levels will increase, if necessary, to defeat the enemy or provide additional security for key events like the recent referendum and elections," the report said.  [The troops may have something to say about all this. They did in Vietnam, and the war stopped. They decided it was for shit. They stopped it.]

Utahn Killed By Blast:
Humvee Struck;
Soldier Leaves A Wife, Four Children

02/24/2006 By Jason Bergreen, The Salt Lake Tribune

MIDVALE: Jerome Gourley was at St. Mark’s Hospital getting a checkup Wednesday afternoon when his wife, Judy, called and told him two military chaplains were at their Midvale home.

"I knew then . . ." he said Thursday from his living room. "The chaplain on your porch is not good news."

The chaplains were there to tell the Gourleys their 38-year-old son, Staff Sgt. Gregson Gourley, was one of four U.S. soldiers killed Wednesday when the Humvee they were patrolling in hit a road-side bomb near Hawijah, Iraq, about 150 miles north of Baghdad.

He was the 25th soldier with Utah ties killed since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.

Gregson Gourley grew up in Sandy and Midvale and attended Alta and Hillcrest high schools. He was a bit of a loner as a teenager, his father said, but he matured after serving a mission in Pennsylvania for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As a soldier, Gregson Gourley was a meritorious service winner, a squad leader and weapons specialist with the 101st Airborne Division, based in Kentucky.

"He was a very gentle person," his grandmother Adena Gourley said. "He had a great desire to be an outstanding soldier and an outstanding man. He wanted to be a father his children could be proud of."

Gregson Gourley was four weeks into his second tour of duty when he died.

Soldier From Ann Arbor Killed By Roadside Bomb

Feb. 24, 2006 Associated Press, ANN ARBOR, Mich.

An Army staff sergeant from Michigan has been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, his family said in a statement.

Curtis T. Howard II, 32, was on his second tour in Iraq as a member of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division when the incident occurred.

Friends and family members gathered Thursday afternoon at the Ann Arbor home of Howard’s parents, Curtis and Linda.

John Woods, a family friend, read a statement saying the family was devastated by Howard’s death.

The minister at Howard’s church, Bethel AME, recently read a letter from Howard to the congregation, said Joetta Mial, former principal at Huron High School, from where Howard graduated in 1991.

"It was about a friend of his that was just killed and he wrote, 'Say a prayer for his parents,’" said Mial, a church member. "I got the funniest feeling. It was, 'My gosh. I hope he hurries up and gets home,’" Mial told The Ann Arbor News.

REALLY BAD PLACE TO BE:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

U.S. soldiers at the scene of a bomb attack in Baquba February 23, 2006. REUTERS/Helmiy al-Azawi

GJ Soldier Serving In Iraq Survives Third Wounding:
"He Will Likely Finish Serving His Time"

02/24/06 Pikes Peak Broadcasting

30-year-old Jason Tobin has been injured three times while serving in Iraq. His father, Dennis Tobin says he has a cats life.

Jason first brush with death happened along the Syrian border. He was knocked out of a humvee after being shot in the chest with a rifle. His life saver was an armored vest.

The second time was only a month ago after just beginning his second tour in December. He was riding in a humvee when it hit a roadside bomb. The accident killed the gunner, blinded the Sergeant Major and perforated one of Jason’s ear drums.

On Tuesday the Tobin’s phone rang. Family members found out Jason had been injured again. He was coming out of a building and a mortar landed 30 feet from him. He was thrown back into the building from impact. After being examined at a hospital in Baghdad for internal head injuries, Jason has permanently lost hearing in one ear.

Jason’s father says he will likely finish serving his time.

Local Wounded

February 24, 2006 White County News Telegraph

A local soldier is back on U.S. soil from Iraq with a Medal of Valor and two Purple Hearts to his credit, and a shattered shoulder from a sniper’s bullet. Sgt. Tim Carr, 25, of the 48th Brigade 10th Mt. Division of Gainesville was wounded Feb. 8 while standing guard outside a prison.

Carr’s older brother, Ray Carr, said Carr told him over the phone that a guardian angel must have stood watch over him on that windy day outside the prison, preventing the sniper’s bullet from hitting him in the head. Sgt. Carr knew he was under fire but remained at his post before he was wounded, said Ray Carr.

Carr, who was initially listed as having life-threatening injuries, is progressing well and is expected to heal from his wounds after a lengthy recuperation, his family said. Carr was en route from a military hospital in Germany to the states at press-time.

Carr’s mother, Linda Carr, said her son had just been released from a military doctor’s care in Iraq two days before he was shot by a sniper. Linda Carr said the young sergeant had healed from a ruptured pelvis, back injuries and pinched nerves in his neck when he was cleared to go out on another mission.  Carr was initially hurt in early November, his mother said, when the tank he was riding in drove over a land mine.

Carr began his tour of duty in Iraq on May 15, 2005.

Carr’s parents, Roy and Linda Carr, and his two brothers are relieved the Army National Guardsman will be home, but are anxious about his upcoming surgery and subsequent recuperation. The family plans to be with Carr when he undergoes reconstructive shoulder surgery at Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon in Augusta.

"It will take six months or more for him to recuperate from the surgery," Linda Carr said. "He’ll have to have physical therapy to get his arm working again."

The Carrs expect that friends and neighbors will eagerly welcome their son home. Carr, though born in the upper Midwest, has been a White County resident since Kindergarten.

"Tim was born in Claire, Michigan but grew up here," Ray Carr, said. "He’s lived in White County for 20 years. There’s a lot of people here that know Tim."

Carr worked for Sensory Construction of Alpharetta before he was called to active duty, his brother said. "Tim helped build Black Bear Dinner Theatre, some cabins and condos in Helen," he said.

Ray Carr said his brother missed his rural Georgia home and family, especially his five-month old nephew and five-year old daughter, but was dedicated to serving his country.

"Tim had planned to re-enlist before he was shot," Ray Carr said.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Soldiers Die

24 February 2006 BBC

Suspected Taleban rebels have killed four Afghan soldiers in the southern province of Helmand, officials say.

The soldiers are said to have been ambushed while on a patrol in Girishk district.  They returned fire but the attackers fled the scene.

The latest attack is said to have happened late on Thursday.

"The soldiers were patrolling in vehicles when they were attacked," district police chief Khan Mohammad Khan is quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.

Res Ipsa Loquiter
[It Speaks For Itself]

February 24, 2006 Associated Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: An attacker drove a car loaded with explosives into a convoy of U.S. led coalition and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan, but the bomb failed to detonate, an Afghan official said.

Coalition forces killed the attacker Thursday when he got out of the car and threw a grenade at a heavy jeep in the convoy, said Obaidullah Khan, chief of Shah Wali Kot district in Kandahar province, where the attack happened around 1 p.m. local time.

One Afghan national army soldier was injured, a U.S. military statement said.

TROOP NEWS

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

The coffin of U.S. Army Sgt. Myla Maravillosa during her funeral Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006 in Inabanga, in Bohol province in central Philippines. Sgt. Maravillosa was the first Filipino-American woman killed in Iraq. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)

You’re Invited!
To our panel discussion of:

"A Soldiers’ Movement Against the Iraq War"

A part of the annual Left Forum (formerly Socialist Scholars Conference) co-sponsored by Citizen Soldier and Iraq Veterans Against the War (New York City chapter)

Cooper Union, Third Ave at 7th St., New York City
2:00 pm, Sunday, March 12, 2006

Participants include:

Tod Ensign, Moderator, Director, Citizen Soldier, a GI/Veterans Advocacy organization

Geoff Millard, Iraq combat veteran, 8 year Army vet, recently participated in World Forum, Venezuela

Aidan Delgado, Iraq war vet, stationed at Abu Ghraib prison, won CO claim while serving in Iraq.

Jose Vasquez, Army Reservist, Iraq war refuser, CUNY graduate student

The conference, held on March 10th-12th, offers dozens of other panels covering a broad range of political topics. For more information see www.leftforum.org

Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward this E-MAIL along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the war, at home and inside the armed services. Send requests to address up top.

"I Am A Combat Veteran For Peace"
"I Will Keep Fighting!!!"
Walkin’ To New Orleans
14-19 March

Our intent is simple and focused. We hope to show by our march and our visits with the communities still devastated that there is a startling disconnect somewhere in our government, in our citizenry, that allows money to be found at the drop of a hat for the never-ending war and nothing is available for our own citizens living in conditions akin to a war zone.

February 23, 2006 By Billy Kelly
TO: GI Special

Xin Chao Cac Ban,

My usual prefatory comment as to an apology for the unsolicited, unprovoked, etc. nature of this E-Mail. And a further Xin Loi for its communality as well.

All on this lengthy list are involved in the dissemination of the truth. Once I might have written 'information’ but that common word has now been inextricably intertwined with 'entertainment’.

Whether by the written word, the spoken word, film, photos, or, as educators. Many of you wear several hats. I could have written these few words earlier and thus have relayed a scoop of sorts but the time for that has surely passed. Much of this may be redundant to some of you.

On 5 August 2005, Cindy Sheehan spoke at the Veterans For Peace Convention in Dallas and indicated she intended to take a trip to the 'faux ranchette’ of our leader Bush.

She asked for a contingent of vets to accompany her. This was done the following day and the sit-down began. And it might be said 'the rest is history’.

The simple question, "What was the noble cause my son died for?" (If she ever gets an answer to that, I have a similar question as to Viet Nam.)

And we sat in the ditch until the summer vacation was over and Bush made his rather high fly-over of the area that was devastated by Katrina. It certainly was not the moment for a risky 'Mission Accomplished’ landing.

These same forces, veterans of our nation’s wars and the families of our present day military, will be joined by the survivors of the hurricanes in the South-East USA.

We plan to begin a march in Mobile, Alabama on 14 March and culminate in New Orleans on 19 March. The 3rd Anniversary of the present day obscenity in Iraq.

Our intent is simple and focused. We hope to show by our march and our visits with the communities still devastated that there is a startling disconnect somewhere in our government, in our citizenry, that allows money to be found at the drop of a hat for the never-ending war and nothing is available for our own citizens living in conditions akin to a war zone.

I know, "We have to Support the Troops." Such bullshit!!

So that’s the scoop.

What I would request from each of you is your support.

We look upon you as our intellectual source of strength. That support can range from well-wishing to actual participation. 

I realize some on this list are of a 'certain age’, thus there will be no need to actually hump 25 miles or so each day. But all can follow and report on our 5 day trek in any way that might be deemed suitable to your interest and your expertise.

I am a combat veteran of the American War in Viet Nam. I also travelled to Iraq one year into this foreordained debacle.

Iraq is worse.

For the GIs and the Iraqis.

Hard to believe but I feel it is true.

Many of you have also experienced Viet Nam and what it did, still does (?), to our national psyche.

The aftermath of Iraq will be worse.

As hard as we have worked, it still continues, thus we all have failed. But now is the time to dig a little deeper within. If we do not take charge of our democracy, soon, it will be gone. We are acting like a nation of cowering sheep. Being led by a 'leadership’ of REMFs.

Whatever you can do to help us will be greatly appreciated. You’re the 'brains’ in this outfit and the 'old’ and 'not-so-old’ vets will do the grunt work.

If there are any questions, they can be addressed to me and I will hook you up with the designated press person in our group. At present I am in Viet Nam so E-mail works. And I will be back 'home’ 3 March. All data below.

Pushing my luck a little, I quickly will add the fact that I have read, heard, watched or peered at the work of each and every one of you. And, I am forever in your debt. 

And I? I will keep fighting!!!

Contacts: sherrynstan@igc.org Stan Goff  

ziontrevor@yahoo.com Paul Robinson

Essential web sites. Check out and add to mailing list. You will not be disappointed. Money back guarantee!!

www.tomdispatch.com & www.dahrjamailiraq.com & www.veteransforpeace.org & www.stangoff.com

I am a combat Veteran For Peace.

I am not, and shall not be, an OXYMORON!!!!

Hoa Binh,
Billy Kelly

USA
PO Box 307; Stockholm, NJ 07460; (001) 973-209-2612

Viet Nam
12/5A Truong Quoc Dung; Quan Phu Nhuan; Tp. HCM;
(011-84-8-997-1967)

bilikelly@hotmail.com

Rock On:
Benefit For Iraq Veterans Against The War And Veterans For Peace By Stipe, Bright Eyes And More

Feb 22 By Jonathan Cohen, News.yahoo.com

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, Bright Eyes, Rufus Wainwright, Fischerspooner, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Devendra Banhart and Peaches have signed on for "Bring 'Em Home Now," a March 20 concert at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom.

The event is tied to the third anniversary of the United States’ invasion of Iraq and will feature a speech by antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan.

Proceeds will benefit Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace. Janeane Garofalo’s Air America Radio show "The Majority Report" will broadcast live from the show and feature interviews with the performers.

"It is impossible not to react to the current state of affairs through personal action and artistic production," Fischerspooner’s Casey Spooner says.  "We have been at war for three years.  One desperately feels the need for someone to speak some sort of truth, either poetic or factual."

Afterward, Sheehan and authors to be announced will embark on a speaking tour, which will visit 15 U.S. cities in April.

Silliest Idea Of 2006, So Far

2.23.06 InsideDefense.com

DoD is considering a new, low-tech approach to countering roadside bombs:-construct new roads for supply convoys that simply bypass densely populated, high-threat areas. [Right up there with building a fence across the South Vietnamese border to keep out the NVA, building the Great Wall of China to keep out Mongol invasions, and building the Berlin Wall to make sure East Germany would always belong to the Russian Empire.]

Stupidest Bullshit Of 2006, So Far

2.22.06 Defense Daily

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody disputes "pundits and naysayers" who say his service is a "thin green line," or broken.

Cody said, "In places like Iraq and Afghanistan both our allies and our enemies call our troops in our Army by a very different name: the solid green line."  ["Hey Ahmed, shall we ambush some occupiers today?" "What, take on the solid green line?  Oh no, I tremble with fear at the mere mention of those words."]

As Soldiers Die, War Profiteers Have A Wonderful Year:
Defense Industry Executives Cash In For $80 Million

2.24.06 Wall Street Journal

The top bosses of defense contractors are cashing in on the surge of business that has made tons of money for their companies.

Executives at four firms, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon, have sold more than $80 million worth of stock since late January.

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Assorted Resistance Action

02/24/06 KUNA & By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer

A source of the Iraqi Interior Ministry said a member of the Iraqi Elite Squad was killed and four others were wounded in a gunfire attack that targetted their patrol in the district of Al-Dora in Baghdad.

In Samarra, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two officers 10 minutes after the daytime curfew expired.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, guerrillas killed a member of Badr [collaborator] organization of the (Shiite) Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), police said.  Ali Mohammed was gunned down in Al-Qadisiah district, they said.

A source of the Iraqi Interior Ministry said a member of the Iraqi Elite Squad was killed and four others were wounded in a gunfire attack that targetted their patrol in the district of Al-Dora in Baghdad.

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE OCCUPATION

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

Respect To An Honorable Soldier:
"The Courage To Relay Truth, Even In The Face Of Overwhelmingly Powerful Odds"

From: Alycia A. Barr [Iraq veterans’ mom.]
To: GI Special
Sent: February 24, 2006
Subject: GI Special 4B23: "The Crack At The End Of The Whip"

OUTSTANDING!

Was so moved by the precision that encompassed [Iraq veteran] Jeff E’s account of his personal experiences. He addressed every issue we are now facing to stop this war, while putting a recognizable face on our soldiers.

So often we forget these individuals we love were not born killing machines. They were forged by our own government. No one who has NOT gone through basics, then specialized training, can truly say they "understand what the American soldier represents." 

Every troops’ opinion will differ upon graduation and continue to vary and evolve, especially after combat duty. 

It is clear, however, that those who possess strength of character, a genuine sense of patriotism and a valid belief is what is right or wrong are the ones, like Jeff, who find the courage to relay truth, even in the face of overwhelmingly powerful odds.

Soldiers whose moral integrity was broken, but not shattered during their "desensitizing" training, that go on to implement abuse or torture on the implied enemy, are then self demonized. They become this war’s walking dead, suffering from guilt, flashbacks, and nightmares after realizing a part of who they are died "under orders!"

The only hope for even a small chance of recovery is to do as Jeff and many other brave combat hardened Vets of this God forsaken war have done…SPEAK OUT…so that the truth is heard by every serving solder, their families, and the American public.

In doing so they will not only begin to forgive and heal themselves, but wield the ONLY weapon capable of bringing down this administration’s dark agenda, thereby exposing it’s war criminals to the masses who can and MUST remove them from power!

My deepest respect and gratitude to Jeff and others like him who have found their moral courage and voice. Truly a job well done!!!!!

In Peace and Humanity,
Alycia A. Barr

MORE:

Jeff Englehart And Kayla Williams

From: JL
To: GI Special
Sent: February 24, 2006

Thanks for the words of Jeff Englehart and Kayla Williams.

Pleas keep up the good work.

REPLY: They make the work possible.

MORE:

From: A
To: GI Special
Sent: February 24, 2006
Subject: RE: GI Special 4B23: The Crack At The End Of The Whip

Jeff’s work is superb.  Please make sure he doesn’t stop.

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to thomasfbarton@earthlink.net. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.

The Hostage #286:
By Sherlock Hommos Phd

February 19, 2006 By Raja Chemayel
To: hostages@guantanamo.us

Imagine any Prisoner in Guantanamo Bay,
and give him the number # 286…
and let us say ,for example , that he was arrested 3 years and 2 months ago and let us also assume that # 286 were guilty and that he were holding some Vital information’s.

By now ,
we have to realise that what ever information this prisoner # 286 would have had it is no more valid , let alone vital, anymore today.

And to release # 286 ,today, would not harm anything nor anyone,
because he is now ,exposed and drained-out!!
…and probably he has repented by now and shall start a fresh new life, as a waiter at KFC in Islamabad …or in MacDonald in downtown, Kandahar.

 
First question :
Why withholding anymore the prisoners of Guantanamo when the most recent information they might still have is, at least, 38 months old .

Second question:
What if prisoner # 286 were otherwise innocent, right from the start!
so what is the use of holding him much longer, or at all, or anyhow??

Third question:
Besides the Pentagon, Israel, Rumsfeld and the CIA, who dares today to claim that the Guantanamo-prisons are legal??
Not even Tony Blair does…!

Last question:
When someone imprisons any other person without any legal reason
nor any legal authority, would that not amount to "hostage taking"?
Check it out with any Law-book !!… or just ask the UN.

Sherlockwww.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZSYYYYYYYYCZ Hommos . PhD
Protesting  hidious Demagogy
19 Feb.2006

Deja Vu All Over Again

Via Ron Jacobs, from: Lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

"The Israeli Nation Today Rests On A Scaffolding Of Corruption, And On Foundations Of Oppression And Injustice"

By Kathleen Brown, International Socialist Review, January-February 2006 [Excerpts]

Book Review: THE MYTHS OF ZIONISM, By John Rose, Pluto Press, 2004, 248 pages; $24

One of Zionism’s myths is that Jews were always Zionists. But up until the Holocaust, Zionists held a minority position.

In the early twentieth century, ideas of revolutionary socialism and the commitment of socialists in fighting the oppression of Jews gave a more inspiring example of Jewish liberation. Socialists argued that Jews should be part of society, while Zionists argued that Jews could never be, and thus needed a state of their own, backed by imperialist powers.

In Russia’s revolutionary years, Jews joined the fight for their own liberation. Rose writes, "Jews proved themselves ready to take collective action against their appalling conditions, and helped spread the idea, far beyond their own ranks, of the mass strike as a political weapon of liberation."

Zionism’s performance during the Nazi Holocaust provides a disturbing contrast. 

Ben-Gurion summed up his approach:

If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by bringing them over to England, and only half of them to Eretz Israel then I would opt for the second alternative. For we must weigh not only the lives of those children, but also the history of the people of Israel.

Tragically, the formation of Israel was allowed because it fit the needs of British, and then American, imperialists. They never aimed to fight anti-Semitism, but needed a watchdog state in the oil-rich region to do their dirty work against Arab nationalism and the Left.

Rose repeats questions asked after the Balfour Declaration in 1917 declaring British interest in Zionism:

Wouldn’t Zionism create two national identities for Jews? Wouldn’t this encourage anti-Semites everywhere to call for Jews to be deported to Palestine? Didn’t this mean that Palestine would become a modern Jewish ghetto?

Wouldn’t Zionism itself, far from alleviating anti-Semitism, promote it?

Rose ends with the voices of leading dissident Israelis. Avraham Burg, an Israeli politician, has argued "The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice."

This book is a useful weapon for everyone opposed to Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

[To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation by a foreign power, go to: www.rafahtoday.org The foreign army is Israeli; the occupied nation is Palestine.]

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

Pentagon Traitors Defied Congress:
Kept Outlawed Spy Program Going

2.23.06 NationalJournal.com

A controversial counter-terrorism program, DoD’s Total Information Awareness program which lawmakers halted two years ago amid outcries from privacy advocates, was stopped in name only and has quietly continued within the intelligence agency now fending off charges that it has violated the privacy of U.S. citizens.

Stupid Assholes Harass Anti-War Musician:
"You Can’t Really Speak Your Mind And If You Do You’re Investigated"

23/02/2006 Contactmusic.com

Singer MORRISSEY was quizzed by the FBI and British intelligence after speaking out against the American and British governments.

The Brit is a famous critic of the US-led war in Iraq and has dubbed President GEORGE W BUSH a "terrorist," but he was baffled to be hauled in by authorities.

Morrissey explains, "The FBI and the Special Branch have investigated me and I’ve been interviewed and taped and so forth.

"They were trying to determine if I was a threat to the government, and similarly in England.  But it didn’t take them very long to realise that I’m not.

"I don’t belong to any political groups, I don’t really say anything unless I’m asked directly and I don’t even demonstrate in public.

"I always assume that so-called authoritarian figures just assume that pop/rock music is slightly insane and an untouchable platform for the working classes to stand up and say something noticeable.

"My view is that neither England or America are democratic societies.  You can’t really speak your mind and if you do you’re investigated."

Stupid Assholes Spied On Raging Grannies Potluck Dinner:
A "Threat" To National Security

Under a threat assessment, a federal criminal justice source said, agents can attend public meetings without identifying themselves and conduct such simple surveillance as watching a protest march.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI acknowledged that their agencies collect and disseminate information on U.S. political activists.

02/23/06 By MIKE BARBER AND PAUL SHUKOVSKY, P-I REPORTERS [Excerpts]

In the post-9/11 world, some unlikely figures have attracted the attention of local police and federal agents: the Raging Grannies, known for musical satire, and Quaker peace activists, known for non-violence.

Recently disclosed FBI files show that in Seattle in recent years, federal agents and local police looked for signs of civil disobedience among activists preparing to protest Navy ships arriving for Seafair:

Local anti-war groups such as the Raging Grannies, Not in Our Name and Ground Zero were watched for intent to disrupt Navy ships through civil disobedience such as chaining themselves to ships.  It never happened.

A Navy criminal investigator traveled to Eugene, Ore., to find out if anarchists blamed for violence at Seattle’s 1999 World Trade Organization conference might return to protest the fleet.  They never did.

A law enforcement agent conducted surveillance as two small, Peace-Fleet boats were launched in West Seattle.

One key Pentagon database was piloted here, the Joint Protection Enterprise Network. Its purpose is to share intelligence to safeguard military bases, including seven around Puget Sound.  It’s controlled by the Pentagon’s secretive Counterintelligence Field Activity office.  The Pentagon did not return numerous calls for an explanation about the database.

"Surveillance of actual threats might be warranted.  Surveillance of known, non-violent activists is not warranted and has a chilling affect on protest or demonstrations against our government," says Glen Milner, 53, an electrician from Shoreline.

Milner, a Quaker peace activist, was watched by local and federal law enforcement who feared his peace fleet protest boats could interfere with Navy ships at Seafair, or worse be a Trojan horse for terrorists.  The Coast Guard charged Milner with intruding into security zones around the Navy ships during the 2004 peace fleet demonstrations. Milner denies it.

Milner’s name and those of local peace organizations appear throughout 18 pages of documents about government "threat assessments" of the 2003 and 2004 peace fleet demonstration.  The papers were acquired through the Freedom of Information Act by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington last year on Milner’s behalf.

"This is part of a troubling pattern by the government of spying on peaceful groups," said Kathleen Taylor, executive director of the ACLU of Washington.

Keeping watch on "groups like Raging Grannies doesn’t make us safer," she said. "And it interferes with people’s right to protest government policies.  When government believes that advocacy of peace is a threat, we are going in the wrong direction.  The government needs to focus on real threats to public safety rather than to presume that anyone who objects to government action is a safety threat."

In the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration responded to its failure to detect the attacks by broadening the rules for the FBI to open a national security investigation.

The old guidelines required that a crime had been committed or was being planned.  The new guidelines create a category called "threat assessment," and no crime has to be committed or planned to perform a threat assessment.

Under a threat assessment, a federal criminal justice source said, agents can attend public meetings without identifying themselves and conduct such simple surveillance as watching a protest march.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI acknowledged that their agencies collect and disseminate information on U.S. political activists.

It’s unclear whether information about local political activists has been collected in the database intended for military installations to use to share intelligence.  

The Pentagon did not make itself available to answer the question.

The database is fed raw, unclassified information from another government database, said a federal criminal justice source.  That second database often contains unverified information about possible threats to military installations.  If you get off the wrong exit on Interstate 5, pull up to the Fort Lewis gate, then turn around and leave, guards might enter your license and vehicle description i