Ann Wright speaking at Brown University on April 16, 2007 about the war with Iraq and the possibility of war with Iran. Filmed by Paul Hubbard.
Thank you Ann and Paul for sending this to us!
Watch Cindy Sheehan - They Can’t Kill Love
The Yellow Badge of Cowardice
Cindy Sheehan
There was an unbelievable story in The Cove Herald last week that comes from near where George Bush and I own property: Copperas Cove, Texas. Apparently two residents: Bill and Georgia Thomas decided that the Resident in Chief deserved one of the three Purple Hearts that Bill earned in Vietnam for: “emotional wounds and scars” because people all over the world talk so badly about poor George.
This story stunned me on a day when nine US soldiers and 20 were wounded in a car bomb attack in the Iraqi province of Diyala. Over 500 Iraqis were killed or found decomposing in Baghdad last week and April ’07 is shaping up to be one of the deadliest months for US troop fatalities. This is also a day when there is a hearing into the Army’s exploitation of Pat Tillman’s death to use him as a poster boy for patriotic fervor and unfounded hero worship. Why can’t we talk about our soldier’s heroic lives and not their tragic deaths as victims of the military industrial complex. (more…)
Mass Murderers
Cindy Sheehan
“Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.”
~Chief Seattle~1855
Last night, at the annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner, we did not get the usual “stellar” comedy performance from George Bush in deference to the Virginia Tech tragedy. Who can forget that “uproariously hilarious” bit he did looking for WMD under the couch in his office in 2004 shortly before my son was killed in Iraq by this joker in chief? How nice that George reined in his comedic impulses for the families and friends of the murdered VT students…because I can assure you, their families are finding nothing funny right now.
Troops dying unnecessarily every day in Iraq has not even slowed down this annual event with correspondents and George Bush has not found it in the slight bit crucial to temper his comedy routines in deference to the families that he has destroyed by his war for profit in Iraq . (more…)
“War will not solve any problem we face with Iran.”
Scott Ritter, former Major of the US Marines and Chief UNSCOM Weapons Inspector in Iraq, spoke on the folly of war with Iran in the General Pershing Room of the War Memorial, Indianapolis, IN on April 18, 2007.
This is Part 1 - his presentation in the program “US Policy in the Middle East; Target Iran and the role of Congress.”
Clips from the Q and A will follow. He spoke on a two person panel with the Honorable Andy Jacobs, former Congressperson from Indiana.
The program was sponsored by Veterans for Peace, Indiana Chapter #49, Indianapolis Peace House & Plowshares, Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center, and Traprock Peace Center.
Moderator: Pierre Atlas
Political Science Professor and Director of Franciscan Center for Global Studies at Marian College
Video recorded and edited by Charles Jenks; © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved. Contact: charles@traprockpeace.org
“Why We Occupied Senator Herb Kohl’s Office — And Why This is Just the Beginning”
A statement from the Campus Antiwar Network at UW-Madison
http://www.campusantiwar.net/ * WisconsinCAN@gmail.com
On Wednesday, April 18, the Campus Antiwar Network at the University of Wisconsin-Madison led a walkout of approximately 200 students against the war. This walkout culminated in 100 antiwar activists entering the office of Senator Herb Kohl, with twenty-five staying the night and dozens more joining us in the morning before Senator Kohl’s staff had us evicted by the Madison Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
WHY WE OCCUPIED SENATOR KOHL’S OFFICE
The simplest reason: Senator Kohl (D - WI) says he’s against the war, but votes to fund the continuation of the war. Moreover, in a remarkable display of arrogance, Senator Kohl has refused to meet with the antiwar movement in his state during the entire four years of the war in Iraq. Thus, the vibrant antiwar community in Madison, including chapters of the Campus Antiwar Network and Iraq Veterans Against the War, the Madison Area Peace Coalition and the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, has never been able to discuss our position with a senator who says he is on our side, but never votes that way.
We presented Senator Kohl’s office with six demands, and informed him that setting a definite date for a public meeting with him to discuss these demands would end our building occupation immediately. Ultimately, his office preferred to inflict the force of the police on us rather than the force of our arguments on the senator. (more…)
Below is coverage of UW-Madison CAN’s ongoing occupation of Senator Herb Kohl’s office. (Despite the abrupt ending of the first article, which doesn’t make this clear, we’re still in the office.) Other coverage has included Air America and local television and radio.
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field
Anti-war network sits in at Sen. Kohl’s office through the night
Written by Erica Pelzek
Thursday, 19 April 2007
UW students stage walk out in protest of Iraq war
After walking out of their classes at 1 p.m. Wednesday in protest of the war in Iraq and rallying students down State Street, more than 40 members of UW-Madison’s Campus Anti-war Network staged an all-night sit-in at U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl’s, D-Wis., Madison office. (more…)
Sacrifice
Keynote Speech for the Omaha Peace and Justice Expo
Cindy Sheehan
If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.
Arabian Proverb
I recently discovered an incredible woman: Jeannette Rankin. She was the first Congress woman, in 1916…she was from the state of Montana and besides beginning the debate on the 19th Amendment to finally give women our long overdue right to vote, she was an uncompromising and sassy peace activist (like me) for her entire life. In her Congressional roles, she voted “Nay” on World War I and II. (more…)
“They can kill somebody’s body, but they can’t kill love.” - Cindy Sheehan.
Cindy Sheehan calls for nonviolent revolution, encourages activists and shares her emotions about the senseless killings of Iraqis and US soldiers due to this war. This is a must watch question and answer session, after her talk at the 3rd Annual Midwest Peace and Justice Summit held at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, on April 13, 2007.
“They want us to live in fear….It’s time that we’re willing to sacrifice and put our bodies on the line for peace and justice.”
Sponsoring organizations were IUPUI Students Advocates for Global Equality, Plowshares Consortium of Peace Studies, Indiana Peace and Justice Network, IUPUI Center for Service and Learning, Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center, and IUPUI Office of Campus and Community Life.
Organizations throughout the Midwest participated. See more on the conference at http://www.mpjs.org
Video © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved. Recorded and edited by Charles Jenks.
Cindy Sheehan spoke at Purdue University on April 12, 2007. Proponents of war with Iraq tried to prevent her coming, by smearing her in the Lafayette newspaper and trying to discourage the university for bringing her to speak. The Peace Studies Committee at Purdue University sponsored her appearance (without using university funds). Protestors in the hall were vastly outnumbered by those against the war and continuing occupation of Iraq. About 600 people heard her speak, live or in the overflow room.
This is the Q and A session. While we taped the main talk, it is available in its entirety via the student newspaper site. We defer to the students, and offer the Q and A as it is not otherwise available.
Many thanks to Professor Harry Targ - one of the ‘most dangerous 100 professors’ according to David Horowitz (oh, to be on that list!) and Sheila Rosenthal - an organizer supreme - of the Lafayette Area Peace Coalition.
Recorded by Charles Jenks; © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved.
This is Part 2 of a 2 part video (split due to YouTube size limitations). It features Chaplain James Yee, former US Army Muslim Chaplain at Guantanamo. In this Part 2, he discusses Guantanamo, including shocking interrogation technigues (such as sexual taunting from naked female interrogators), physical and psychological abuse, and desecration of the Koran. He also discusses his own arrest, solitary confinement with sensory deprivation, and eventual total exoneration. All charges were dropped again him. He was returned to duty and given a commendation. He resigned his commission and received an honorable discharge.
In Part I, he went into detail about why he became a Muslim.
Chaplain Yee spoke on April 14, 2007 at the 3rd Annual Midwest Peace and Justice Summit held on the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis, IN. For more information, see http://www.mpjs.org
Conference sponsors were: IUPUI Student Advocates for Global Equality; Indiana Peace & Justice Network; Plowshares Consortium of Peace Studies Programs; IUPUI Center for Service and Learning; Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center; and IUPUI Office of Campus and Community Life.
Video recorded and edited by Charles Jenks; © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved.
This is Part 1 of a 2 part video (split due to YouTube size limitations). It features Chaplain James Yee, former US Army Muslim Chaplain at Guantanamo. In this Part I, he discusses how he became a Muslim. In Part II, he goes into detail about shocking abuses at Guantanamo and his arrest and threatened court martial while serving as chaplain. All charges were dropped again him. He was returned to duty and given a commendation. He resigned his commission and received an honorable discharge.
Mr. Yee spoke on April 14, 2007 at the 3rd Annual Midwest Peace and Justice Summit held on the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis, IN. For more information, see http://www.mpjs.org
Conference sponsors were: IUPUI Student Advocates for Global Equality; Indiana Peace & Justice Network; Plowshares Consortium of Peace Studies Programs; IUPUI Center for Service and Learning; Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center; and IUPUI Office of Campus and Community Life.
Video recorded and edited by Charles Jenks; © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved.
Cindy Sheehan gave the Plowshare Keynote Address at the 3rd Annual Midwest Peace and Justice Summit on April 13, 2007 at the Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis campus.
See more on the conference at http://www.mpjs.org
Sponsoring organizations were IUPUI Students Advocates for Global Equality, Plowshares Consortium of Peace Studies, Indiana Peace and Justice Network, IUPUI Center for Service and Learning, Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center, and IUPUI Office of Campus and Community Life.
Organizations throughout the Midwest participated.
Video © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved. Recorded and edited by Charles Jenks.
by David Taylor
I was hoping to see someone else write a substantive post about yesterday’s action in Smithfield, North Carolina. Here I’ll share my experience/observations in lieu of a report from someone more intimate with the details. I think it’s important that awareness be raised on this issue for several reasons. First and foremost because torture is illegal and inhumane. Secondly because our Governor, to my knowledge, hasn’t taken any real steps to end the complicity of the state of North Carolina and county of Johnston with Aero Contractors by allowing the torture taxis to be based in Kinston and Smithfield apparently without question. Whatever good the CIA and AERO may have done is being overshadowed by a grievous series of events involving renditions and torture.
I got up early Monday to drive to Smithfield where I met with organizers and participants of a planned frontal approach to AERO CONTRACTORS who lease space at the Johnston County Airport. You may not know that 3 employees of AERO CONTRACTORS have been indicted by the government of GERMANY for their participation in the kidnapping and rendition of a German citizen, Khaled El-Masri. He is of Lebanese descent - not Iraqi, Iranian, Pakistani nor Afghani. Heck, he isn’t even Saudi like most of the folks who supposedly perpetrated the 911 attack on the WTC. (more…)