AWOL IN SEATTLE

The local newspaper in Seattle today ran a big story about the young GI's who belong to IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War) that are at the Veterans for Peace convention. Jane Fonda showed up yesterday with a group of them. Two of them spoke yesterday in a plenary and two more sang anti-war songs they have written. They represent a real surge in activism for Veterans for Peace.

Also in today's article are interviews with two GI's who are now AWOL from the Army. One of them turned himself in this morning at 9:00 am at the convention. An Arlington West display has been set up just outside the student union building at the Univ of Washington (the site of the VfP convention). They held the news conference there this morning, among the rows of crosses with the names of more than 2,500 dead American soldiers killed in Iraq.

There are now thousands of GI's who have deserted the military, refusing to go to Iraq. Mostly working class, many of these soldiers have already done one tour in Iraq and don't want to go back.

I can't help but wonder what the connection of the new London terrorist story is to the defeat of Joe Lieberman. Another article in the paper today says the Republicans knew about this story days before the arrests were made and that V-P Cheney had held an unusual media event a couple days ago referring to the fact that the Dems were being taken over by people (on the left) who would not be tough on terrorism. I look for many more of these kinds of "preemptive arrests" in the months leading up to the elections.

With this London story all over the news, the Israeli/U.S. destruction of Lebanon is also removed from the front pages for a few days.

U.S. & ISRAEL SELECTING TARGETS FOR CRUISE MISSILE FIRST-STRIKE ATTACK

Multiple military sources have told the Global Network that Pentagon personnel responsible for selecting targets for cruise missile first strike attacks have been sent to Israel.

This indicates that U.S. and Israeli military strategists are now likely meeting to plan a joint attack on Syria and/or Iran.

The Persian Gulf war and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq both began with cruise missile attacks by the U.S. from Naval ships. U.S. military satellites were used to guide the missiles to their targets.

It would be wise to recognize that Bush has decided to expand the current war and chaos into the entire Middle East region. The implications for the U.S. will be enormous.

Israel's recent bombing of Lebanon near the Syrian border indicate to me that they are trying to draw a response from Syria. So far Syria has not responded. Look for more such efforts by Israel and the U.S. to provoke Syria.

I would highly recommend local peace groups call on their members of Congress and demand they speak out against a further widening of this already insane war.

More and larger public protests should be organized immediately.