IRAQ VETS RESISTANCE IS GROWING

  This report covers the period of August 9-13 as I traveled to Seattle, Washington to attend and speak at the national Veterans for Peace Convention.

I traveled with my friend Doug Rawlings who is president of the Maine Veterans for Peace, Chapter 001. Doug lives in Chesterville and works for the University of Maine in Farmington. We began our trip early in the morning (getting up at 3:45 am) and Mary Beth drove us to Portland where we caught a bus to the Boston airport. From there we flew to Las Vegas (what an ugly airport, full of slot machines and not much else) and then landed in Seattle by about 5:30 pm. We were picked up at the airport by fellow veteran Bob Beveridge who lives in Seattle. Bob used to fly B-52 nuclear bombers for the Air Force during the Cold War and decided he didn't feel good about that line of work. He later became an Episcopal minister and retired in Seattle where he abd his wife Berta live upstairs from his son's winery.

Bob took Doug and me directly to the Veterans for Peace (VfP) convention that was being held at the University of Washington. We attended the opening reception and after a short visit there I was ready to get to bed. Bob took me to his house but Doug stayed for the poetry reading that was to happen that evening. He ended up getting to read his anti-war poetry by about 11:30 pm - by then I was in dreamland.

The VfP convention officially began on August 10 with a powerful speech by Iraq war resister Camilo Mejia. Camilo did one tour in Iraq which broke his heart and when ordered to return he refused to go. VfP national president David Cline, when introducing Mejia, told the story about being with him the day he turned himself in as a war resister at his Army base. Cline said a group of supporters stood outside the base with Mejia and watched him make the "lonely walk" toward the front gate. Cline recalled thinking that Mejia showed much courage as he walked toward an unknown future. Mejia was ultimately sentenced to one year in prison, reduction in rank, forfeiture of 2/3 pay for one year, and a bad conduct discharge. During his talk at the convention Mejia spoke out for the need for the peace movement to speak out strongly in support of the Lebanese people who at that moment were being pummeled by Israeli bombs.

Outside the student union, where the VfP convention took place, there were almost 2,600 crosses set up in the lawn in a temporary version of Arlington West to remember the American soldiers who had been killed in Iraq. One morning while entering the student union I ran into Cindy Sheehan and she gave me a big hug as she does with nearly every person she meets. She had just returned from her trip to Jordan to meet with Iraqi parliamentarians who wanted to share with her, and other women who had been fasting against the war, their plans for a peaceful end to the madness. Cindy was supposed to address the convention that evening but by that time she had taken ill from the strain of the fast and intense travel schedule. We heard the next day that she had been taken to the hospital in Texas and ordered by doctors to eat.

Global Network and WILPF member Carol Urner joined Jackie Cabasso of Western States Legal Foundation (a GN affiliate) and led a workshop called "Eliminating Weapons of Terror from U.S. Foreign Policy" during the convention. Jackie talked about the hypocritical attitude of the U.S. as it lectures the rest of the world about WMD's while it builds new generations of nuclear weapons. Carol did a presentation about plans for weapons in space and put up the Global Network's website on the huge screen above the speakers platform. On the GN's homepage at this moment is a photo of George W. Bush with a huge cannon protruding from his groin. It got quite a laugh from those attending the workshop. Carol ended her presentation with an appeal for groups to help promote Keep Space for Peace Week on October 1-8. The week of local actions is being co-sponsored by the GN and WILPF and Carol is a key organizer.

The convention ended with an exciting banquet on August 12 that was attended by over 500 people. I was deeply honored to have been invited to be one of the speakers at the dinner. I am told that VfP members from the Seattle area, who heard me speak the year before while on a tour of their region, made the invitation happen. When I began speaking I asked Maine VfP president Doug Rawlings to stand and told the story how he had been at the founding meeting of national VfP in 1986 when five veterans got together in a Denny's restaurant in Lewiston, Maine. The rest of my talk I devoted to calling for a cut-off in funding for the war if we ever hoped to end the insane occupation of Iraq. I also appealed for a nationwide effort to begin talking about the need to convert the military industrial complex in order to end our addiction to war and violence. Jobs, I told the audience, are diminishing in my state and around the country, and increasingly, many people are finding that weapons production is the best paying opportunity for work. How can we ever end war when growing numbers of our citizens depend on endless war in order to feed their families?

After I spoke, I was thrilled to hear Army Lt. Ehren Watada speak to the assembled. He is the first officer to refuse to go to Iraq. About 50 Iraq war veterans lined up behind him on the stage as he made his dignified and heartrending speech. "I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to watch families torn apart, while the President tells us to 'stay the course.' . . . I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. I wanted to be there for my fellow troops. But the best way was not to help drop artillery and cause more death and destruction. It is to help oppose this war and end it so that all soldiers can come home," Watada said.

Watada's speech for me was the highlight of the convention. This remarkable young man, with his quiet certitude, represented the turning away from war that is now sweeping the U.S. military. As he finished the audience stood and cheered for this young officer and all the other courageous young veterans who have now experienced more death and destruction than anyone should at any age.

It was an honor to be part of another VfP convention, but this one was the best one yet.

LET'S PRAY THE PEACE LASTS

 So far it appears that the ceasefire in Lebanon is holding. I fear that the U.S. and Israel have more cards up their sleeve but for now I hope I am wrong. It is good to see the Lebanese people returning to the southern part of the country although they don't have much to return to. Roads, bridges, homes are largely gone. It will be hard for them to recover.

Let the world speak out to keep the guns of war at bay. 

BUSH PIRATE CREW MOVING TO CONSOLIDATE CONTRAL AND DOMINATION

 I got back home late last night from the Veterans for Peace convention in Seattle. It was a long flight to Boston and then the bus to Portland. Mary Beth was waiting there to give Doug Rawlings (Maine VfP chapter president) and me a ride home. Doug still had to make the drive further north to Chesterville.

Slept in a bit this morning and then began to wade through the many e-mails. One email had a CNN interview link with New Yorker magazine write Seymour Hersch about how the U.S. had been working with Israel well in advance of their shock and awe bombing of Lebanon. It had all been planned and was just waiting for the right "incident" to be put into motion. The Bush team saw the Israeli bombing of Lebanon as a field test for the eventual bombing of Iran. I'm certain both the Bush pirate crew and Israel are now just "waiting" for the right incident to justify the attack on Syria and/or Iran.

Also across my e-mail today was an AP story from July 29 that reports, "U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill. A 32-page draft measure is intended to authorize the Pentagon’s tribunal system, established shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks to detain and prosecute detainees captured in the war on terror. The tribunal system was thrown out last month by the Supreme Court. Administration officials, who declined to comment on the draft, said the proposal was still under discussion and no final decisions had been made."

I am convinced that the Bush team will try some bold stroke before the November mid-term elections that will give them the "excuse" to declare martial law and suspend the election. (I hope like hell I am dead wrong on this but the evidence seems to be lining up.) They don't want to take a chance and lose the Senate or the House in an open election. They have the power now and don't intend to give it up. They want to bring "democracy" to the Middle East. Of course what that really means is that they want to "control and dominate" the Middle East so they can control the flow of oil from that region. By doing that they then would have leverage over Europe and China.

These folks in power are sick mad men and women who will do anything to keep control. We had better stop harboring illusions that they are anything other than three-piece suit fascists and begin to act accordingly.
 

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.

PENTAGON WANTS MORE STUFF

  The Pentagon is complaining that they are running out of money. Congress has just agreed to give them $500 billion for 2007 but that is not enough. Because of the war in Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq, the military says they need another $52 billion to "reset forces to full readiness." Translation is they need to replace their broken and worn out stuff. Production lines must be ramped up to keep the military industrial complex wheels turning. (See the linked article by clicking on the headline above for more Pentagon poor-mouthing details.)

The news today out of the Middle East is not good. Pentagon brass, testifying before Congress yesterday, acknowledge that civil war in Iraq "may" be happening. I thought it had been going on for the past year or so but what do I know. I just see the bloody pictures on TV. My Congressman says if the U.S. withdraws from Iraq there will be a civil war. So it is good, he says, that we should stay and keep things peaceful.

Israel continues to rampage throughout Lebanon, now bombing Christian areas north of Beirut. Please help me out here. I thought Israel was going after Hizbullah targets.....why the Christians? Or is it possible to consider that Israel wants to destroy all of Lebanon. Why would Israel want to do that? Why would Israel want to make an enemy out of Christian Lebanese who have no love for Hizbullah? I am wondering if the American people are yet beginning to reevaluate our long-time financial and military support for Israel? Israel is way out of control. (Read the reports from Gush Shalom, the leaders of active anti-war opposition in Israel, to hear how they think Israel is on a suicidal course.)

The reports out of Lebanon now say that 530 people have been killed since Israel began their bombing campaign, with 454 of that number of dead being civilians. One million Lebanese are now refugees, one-quarter of the entire population. Collective punishment of civilian people is illegal under international law. Why does the U.N. remain so quiet? I sent a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan a couple days ago asking him that very question.

What happens to the Lebanese people when you bomb their country back to the stone age? What happens when you create a massive refugee crisis and international aid organizations cannot bring them supplies because roads and bridges are destroyed?
Harbors are blockaded by Israel's navy so supplies cannot be brought in by sea. Would you call this genocide?

And just in case we have all forgotten Gaza, the other front in Israel's version of "shock and awe", there are now 175 dead people since Isreal's re-occupation of those Palestinian lands.

Back home in the USA the neo-cons are only thinking about one thing. How can they widen this war into Syria and Iran? Watch Fox News for the details.

CONVERT THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX!

  Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins has just sent around a news release proudly proclaiming that she has helped to bring big money to our state. She says the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved, for fiscal year 2007, $3.4 billion for DDX destroyer ships at Bath Iron Works and an additional $50 million for smaller military contracts sprinkled throughout the state.

This is the industrial policy of America today. Weapons production. It is our #1 industrial export product. And when weapons are your # 1 industrial export product, what is your global marketing strategy for that product line? That’s right, endless war.

Our Congress should be fighting to bring funding to our states to build rail systems, solar and windmills. At a time when we are told that we are now having the hottest summer in the recorded history of the U.S., does it not make sense that the taxpayers should be demanding that OUR TAX DOLLARS be used to expand the production of sustainable technologies? What does more military production do to alleviate global warming? How will we be able to get to work when gas hits $4, $5, $6, $7 a gallon if we don’t have public transit?

Think of the jobs created by building the industrial capacity to put a solar system on every house and business in the U.S.! Think of the jobs created if we built a world-class rail system connecting every corner of the country. Imagine how many people could be employed while building windmill farms all across the nation.

Why don’t the peace movement, the environmental movement, and the labor movements get together and create a unified demand to convert the military-industrial complex to peaceful production? Imagine the legs that could be put under the political demand for conversion if we did come together with such a coordinated national positive campaign?

What are we waiting for? We will never end war as long as making weapons for endless war employs growing numbers of people in the U.S. This is the direction that the corporate militarists are taking our nation as they now determine that “security export” will be our role in the New World Order. What does it do to the soul of our nation when we have to make weapons of destruction in order to employ people so they can feed their families?

Today the U.S. is feverishly resupplying Israel with new orders to replace the bombs, bullets, tanks shells and other weapons they are using to destroy Lebanon. All the while people work overtime at military production sites to keep up with the orders for more weapons. An endless cycle of death and destruction. Can military production workers be proud of their work? Hardly. But it’s a job.

The idea of moving the arms race into space, what the Pentagon says will be the largest industrial project in the history of the planet Earth, has the weapons industry drooling. Again, how will we ever end war as long as we allow a new arms race into the heavens happen?

The Congress is complicit in the disinvestment in American peacetime industry. We don’t make hardly anything in this country anymore. Look in any Wal-Mart store and see for yourself. But what we do make is weapons.

We must demand over and over again that we want OUR TAX DOLLARS to be used for peaceful and sustainable production. We can’t end global warming by building weapons so that we can grab the diminishing supplies of the world’s oil and natural gas. We must convert the military industrial complex.

Trains not tanks. Windmills not Star Wars. Solar power not fighter planes and new generations of naval destroyers.

We need life not death for our children and grandchildren.

Help us make this demand public.

U.S. AND ISRAEL PLAN WIDENING WAR & CHAOS

I was in Brattleboro, Vermont yesterday for a regional activist meeting. People came from New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Over 50 folks (nine of us were from Maine) gathered to discuss how we could coordinate and expand our regional efforts to call for impeachment of Bush/Cheney and end the occupation of Iraq, stop the war on Lebanon and prevent an expansion of the U.S./Israeli war into Syria and Iran.

Some of the ideas people came up with were to hold Teach-Ins in the fall at colleges and universities; bird dog Democrats as they run for office this fall asking them tough questions about cutting the funding for the war and their stand on impeachment; support for Camp Democracy in Washington DC; counter recruitment; expanding direct action; holding a regional demonstration (a committee was created to work on this); and organizing speaking tours for Iraqi peace activists.

Following the networking meeting a public demonstration was held in Brattleboro where more than 300 people were in attendance. Following some great music, speeches were heard from various representatives of those who had attended the meeting. I was invited to be one of the speakers.

After a four-hour ride home I discovered that while I had been gone Israel had massacred 57 innocent civilians, including 37 children, in Qana, Lebanon with bombs provided by the U.S. government. The bombing had been launched in the dead of night while the targeted victims were asleep.

Former high-ranking Israeli military officer, now turned peace activist, Uri Avnery says this about Israel’s war on Lebanon, “It is the old story about the losing gambler: he cannot stop. He continues to play, in order to win his losses back. He continues to lose and continues to gamble, until he has lost everything: his ranch, his wife, his shirt.”

Avnery continues, “Condoleezza Rice's stubborn struggle against any attempt to stop the war shows that this is indeed the aim of the United States. From the first day
of George Bush's presidency, the neo-conservatives have been calling for the elimination of Syria. The deeper Bush sinks into the Iraqi quagmire, the more he needs to divert attention with another adventure.”

The deeper the U.S. and Israel (and make no mistake, the world sees the Lebanon war as a joint U.S./Israel war) get into this quagmire the worse it is going to get. There is no victory possible here - only a widening of war and chaos. This is what the U.S. and Israel want. This is the way to Condi Rice’s “New Middle East.” The U.S./Israel strategy is to destroy Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iran and Iraq and start all over again. It is the strategy of insanity and it is being done in our name with our tax dollars. We must take responsibility for this madness and stop it now before it gets worse.

LIES AND DECEPTION CONTINUE

 Israel is totally out of control - like a wild man on steroids rampaging through a neighborhood with a machine gun. Yesterday we saw Israel kill four U.N. peacekeepers at their post in southern Lebanon. The story is now out that the U.N. post called the Israeli military 10 times during the six-hour shelling of their post begging for it to stop. Each time the Israeli military promised they would end the shelling. They did not.

It is quite clear that this Israeli intentional killing of the U.N. peacekeepers was a message to the world. The message is that Israel, like the U.S., will not be restricted by the international community, international law, and particularly the U.N. This is the attitude of two outlaw nations.

Condi Rice's fake peace summitt in Rome is more evidence that the Bush team and Israel are playing with the international community. They have reluctantly gone through the motions of "discussing" a ceasefire in Lebanon and then quickly ruled it out. Outlaws don't do "no stinking treaties." Rice, as the U.S. chief diplomat, is really the gate keeper of the military agenda. Her job is to run cover for the blitzkreig, smiling and shaking hands, giving the American people the illusion that no diplomatic stone has been left unturned. Then once violence is used, as is now the case by Israel, Rice says to the American people, "Well, we tried. But these Arabs don't value life the way we, and Israel, do."

It's also been very instructive to watch TV news programs the past few days to see how the Democrats are handling this whole episode. Howard Dean, the head of the Democratic Party, said yesterday that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki should not be allowed to speak before a joint session of Congress because he was "anti-semetic" for remarks he had made this past week criticizing Israel's attack on Lebanon. Puppets of the U.S. are not supposed to make such statements and al-Maliki has quickly turned back in line with U.S. policy. He either does so or he is gone. He got the message.

Other "liberal" Democrats have been heard on TV supporting the Bush program in the Middle East, which is code language for "we support Israel's attack on Gaza and Lebanon." Democrats fear they will lose the financial support of wealthy Jewish campaign donors unless they toe the Israeli line.

At this point Rep. Dennis Kucinich has only been able to secure 28 members of his own party as co-sponsors for his House Resolution 450 that calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon. The Democrats, just like we've seen over the war/occupation of Iraq, are too timid to stand up for what is right.

The Dems though want the peace community to vote for them in November. They seek our votes because with our support they feel like they can take back the Congress. And if they did take back the Congress, could the peace community be confident that the Dems would (1) Cut the funding for the war? (2) Call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq? (3) Support a ceasefire in Lebanon? (4) End the massive redirection of federal tax dollars to the military industrial complex? The honest answer to all of these questions is NO. A LOUD AND CLEAR NO!

Why then do peace activists continue to think that the Democrats will change anything of substance if they take control of Congress? Of sure, if the Dems take control we might not have to worry about the flag burning amendment or school prayer being a top issue. But what about any key issue that impacts the global corporate military and economic empire? Will the Dems step on any toes in that regard? My experience tells me no.

What we see now from the Dems is what we get. In or out of power they are a corporate dominated party. The Dems have sold their souls to the devil for power and money. No amount of wishful thinking will change that. Why are peace activists so slow to face the music? 

ISRAELI BOMBS MADE IN USA

 
 
 
  The news reported last night, as I sat unable to go to bed, that Israeli bombing has now destroyed 80% of the highways and 95% of the bridges in Lebanon. Over 300 Lebanese are now dead, mostly civilians. It is being reported that 55% of the casualties inside Lebanon are children. Israel is now using cluster bombs and white phosphorous munitions on the people.

I read today in the UK Guardian that the U.S. is even supplying Israel's Air Force with the fuel for their planes. So the U.S. provides the planes, the bombs, satellite technology to guide the bombs, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) to identify targets, tanks and helicopters. I'm sure I'm leaving out many other weapons systems that the U.S. furnishes Israel. The American taxpayers need to know that this is our war on Lebanon and the people of Gaza.

The Israeli military has even been bombing the bomb shelters and according to Lebanese doctors this is how most of the children are getting killed and wounded. The big bunker buster bombs are generously provided by U.S. taxpayers, who can't afford to provide themselves with health care these days.

As this goes on Condi Rice plays at pretending to be doing shuttle diplomacy but we all know that the Bush administration is sitting back and cheering Israel on. In fact the U.S. military industrial complex is now working overtime to resupply Israel with more munitions as they are starting to run low after pounding Lebanon back into the stone age.

One million people in Lebanon are now refugees, that is 1 out of every 4 people in the entire nation.

The Democrats and the Republicans have passed a resolution. (All four members of the Maine Congressional Delegation voted in favor of the resolution. Clik on the headline link above to see how the Congress voted.) The resolution gives Israel the green light to keep pounding away. After all it makes sense. The number one industrial export product of the U.S. today is weapons. And the entire Lebanese slaughter is good for business back in the home districts. Keep the weapons assembly lines humming brother....we are making money back home! To hell with international law, human rights and the rest of it. We are selling product here! We are helping Israel defend itself from a hapless nation of 4 million people. Pound away Israel......manufacture away U.S. weapons workers!

I participated in a one-hour vigil today in downtown Portland at noon. My sign said the same thing that you see in the headline above. A few people walked by and stuck up their nose but not a negative word was said to us. Quite a few people were very positive. The sheen is wearing off the great myth of Israel being the noble nation. People are beginning to see that Israel, and the U.S., are killer cultures. We both thrive on endless war and violence. Bullies always do.

FULL CIRCLE FAIR

 This past weekend Mary Beth and I went to the Full Circle Fair put on by WERU radio in Blue Hill. WERU is a wonderful community radio station that covers most of the key political events in the Bangor/Belfast/Blue Hill part of Maine. When 18 of us were arrested inside the Bangor office of Sen. Olympia Snowe last December for trying to deliver a letter opposing the war that over 500 people had signed, it was WERU that was there recording the whole episode.

I was invited to be the keynote speaker at the fair this year. MB and I went up on Friday night and stayed with friends Dud & Jean Hendrick on Deer Isle and went to the fair for much of Saturday. The weather was bad the whole weekend and by Saturday evening it was pouring. Luckily they had a huge covered seating area by the main stage where the musicians were performing and we got to hear Emma's Revolution. They did one song about the choir. People are always saying, "Ah, were just talking to the choir here." They asked, Oh yeah, what's the choir doing about it? Good stuff. After Emma's Revolution we saw Tony Bird sing, a very original guy whose last song got us all going. The chorus was Don't vote for(fight for,listen to, etc)the dollar, the flag, and the cross.

On Sunday we went back to the fair and I spoke to a crowd of over 120 folks. Not bad considering all the good music happening at the time. Most people don't come to these events to listen to speakers. The radio station says they will re-play the talk on the air and make it available on-line as well.

The best part of the event was seeing friends, and even two folks that I knew in Florida years ago. 

WAR DESTROYS THE SOUL

These two photos above tell us alot. The top picture, taken by the Associated Press, shows Israeli children proudly writing notes on tank shells that are being fired into Lebanon. War is made into a game. Over 300 civilians are now dead in Lebanon since Israel began its bombardment.

The bottom photo is what happens on the other end of exploding bombs. A Palestinian child is dead, more than 100 civilians have been killed since Isreal has reentered Gaza.

People can talk all they want to about terror, but war is terrorism. And in modern times it is civilians, on all sides, that end up paying the price.

There is no excuse for this kind of shock and awe attack by Israel today on Gaza and Lebanon.

This war of indiscriminate killing must stop.

The U.S. has vetoed a U.N. resolution, sponsored by France, that called for a ceasefire in Lebanon. Rep. Dennis Kucinich has introduced a ceasefire resolution in the U.S. Congress but his own Democratic party won't support it.

This cycle of war and chaotic violence must end. The militarists are destroying humankind. They are the real enemy of the people.

U.S. FIDDLES WHILE ROME BURNS

 Whether we are talking about global warming, the U.S. devastation and occupation of Iraq, the effort by the military-industrial complex to move the arms race into the heavens, or the now ugly Israeli invasion of Lebanon, it is clear that the U.S. political system is broken. Flat out busted.

Corporate domination of the Congress and the White House now ensures that the U.S. will continue on its deadly course of policies that encourage endless war and environmental degradation. The only way out now is for the American people to send a shock to Washington in November by refusing to support candidates from either war party currently running America into the ground.

Just yesterday in New York, Sen. Hillary Clinton was given a big fundraising party by Rupert Murdoch and then she held a news conference to express her unwavering support for Israel's illegal and immoral policy of "collective punishment" in Gaza and in Lebanon. (Murdoch's empire covers television, filmed entertainment, cable network programming, book publishing, direct broadcast satellite television, magazines and newspapers operating in the United States, Australia, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia and the Pacific Basin. It was Murdoch who helped to put Bush's lap dog Tony Blair in power.)

It was a classic case of a "soul for sale" as Hillary accepted Murdoch's big $$$$ and then looked the other way as a humanitarian crisis develops before the world's eyes. But Hillary, and the Dems, don't care. All they care about is taking power. And they are now showing the oligarchy, that holds control of the world's wealth, that they will play along. The reality is that Hillary and the Dems are neutered.

The Dems House leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi announced a couple of days ago that if they take power of Congress in November, that they will probably scrap the senority system. This is a signal that the Dems will not pursue impeachment investigations if they win the House. Rep. John Conyers, the leading impeachment hearings advocate, would be in line to chair the House Judiciary Committee because he is the most senior Democrat on the committee. But Pelosi is showing the elite that if the Dems can win, they will screw Conyers and put someone else, more complaint, into the chairmanship of that important committee. What is the message to black activists when they are ready to throw John Conyers, a distinguished black political leader, on the scrap heap of history? No wonder the Dems are losing ground in black communities all over the country.

If people seriously want change, and I think they do, then they must begin to boycott the Dems because the Dems are not going to deliver. For my entire adult life I have heard the words, "Work inside the Democratic Party and try to change things from the inside-out." I've seen a succession of Democratic national candidates, from Jimmy Carter to John Kerry, sell out the progressive movements during their campaigns. How much longer will people hang onto the Dems coat tails in hopes that they will deliver us from the right-wing agenda? I became convinced some years ago that it just AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!

The sooner we wise up, the better. 

HOW MANY MORE MUST DIE?

Over 600 people protested against Israel's bombing of Lebanon yesterday in the streets of Tel Aviv. As one Jewish anti-war protestor said, "That's exactly how it happened after Ariel Sharon's invasion of Lebanon. On the first day of the war we were a hundred, after a week we were a thousand, after three weeks we were 10 thousands and after two months, following the Sabra and Shatila massacre, we were 400 thousand."

Together with Gush Shalom, members of all the consistent Israeli peace organizations took part, including Yesh Gvul, Anarchists Against Walls, Ta'ayush, Women's Coalition for Peace, Courage to Refuse, Hadash, Balad, The Committee Against House Demolitions and The Center for Alternative Information. They shouted in unison: "Return to the Negotiation Table!", "All the Ministers are War Criminals!", "We shall Neither Kill Nor Die for the Settlements!" and more.

This story about growing protests in Israel will not make it into the media in the U.S. Instead the American people will continue to be told that "100%" of Israeli people support the war.

Back here in the USA several thousand "Christian fundamentalists" conveniently planned to descend on Washington DC today to lobby Congress to support Israel. David Brog, former chief of staff for Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, has gone to work for the Rev. John C. Hagee, organizer of the "lobby crusade." Brog, who is Jewish, says he works for the Rev. Hagee's evangelical enterprise because "we're bringing into a pro-Israel camp millions of Christians who love Israel and giving them a political voice. Israel's enemies are our enemies, and this group instinctively understands that."

Christian fundamentalists want to see the "rapture" happen, the sooner the better. They believe that when the "end times" come that Jesus will return and they will go to heaven. The rest of us "sinners" will be left behind here on Earth to fry in eternal damnation. And so it goes in Washington these days. Our foreign policy is now being directed by the right-wing fanatics and the Bush administration is quite happy to have their active support to expand this madness into a wider war. The weapons corporations and oil corporations are cheering the whole show on.

In the meantime growing numbers of innocent people in Lebanon are dieing as they are hit by Israel's high-tech weapons, most of which came from the U.S. military-industrial complex. The collective punishment of civilians, as is now underway in Gaza and Lebanon, violates international law. But the fascists now running this country, and Israel, don't give a damn about that.

Most American peace activists are afraid to speak out against Israel for fear they will be called anti-Semitic. But they must speak out, especially in support of Jewish activists who are now in the streets protesting the enlarging circle of violence. This is the moment where we find out who are the real peaceniks of courage.

TV NEWS LIES ABOUT PEACE MOVEMENT IN ISRAEL

 This morning I was watching NBC TV's Meet the Press Sunday Morning news show. Tim Russert had a live report from a correspondent in Israel. Russert asked the reporter if there was opposition to Israel's bombing of Lebanon and the reporter replied, "No, there is 100% support inside Israel for this military action."

This of course is an outright lie and the reporter knows it. Israel has a strong and long established peace movement. Within hours of the Israeli bombing of Lebanon protestors gathered outside of the Israeli "Defense" Ministry to protest the action. They are now planning a large national demonstration to protest the war. NBC knows all this.

Why then does NBC lie to the American people? The reason is because NBC, and all the American power structure, want the American people to support Israel's effort to now expand this war. The American people must be made to think that if the Israeli people "all" support this war then it must be all right.

Newt Gingrich was also on Meet the Press calling this World War III and easily throwing in the names of Syria and Iran as likely next targets in this Israeli attack.

Let me make a prediction. Israel will continue to bomb Lebanon, they will move into Southern Lebanon, a refugee situation will arise, 25,000 Americans are reported to be in Lebanon, the U.S. Marines will be sent into Lebanon to "rescue" the Americans, Israel will bomb Syria, Iran will be further blamed for supporting Israel's enemies and the U.S. and Israel will attack Iran. Bush will get his Middle East war that he has been spoiling for. Who knows what will follow?

The American people are being played like a fiddle right now. We'd better wake up fast. 

TALKING ON THE TRAIN ABOUT WAR AND PEACE

  This trip report covers the period of July 9-12 as I traveled to western New York to speak at the Chautauqua Institution.

My hosts for this trip, Karen and Roy Harvey of Snowshoe Films, suggested I might consider taking the train from Maine rather than flying. I am glad I followed their advice as the trip turned out to be relaxing and incredibly rewarding.

I boarded the train in Portland, Maine and made changes in Boston and Albany, New York. I arrived in Erie, Pennsylvania about 2:00 am on July 10 and as I got off the train I noticed Karen filming me. She would film virtually everything I did during my stay.

After a sleep, Karen and Roy took me to the grounds of Chautauqua to do a radio interview that promoted my talk, set for the next evening. Chautauqua was founded in 1874 and today welcomes over 170,000 people each summer. Located in the southwestern corner of New York State, near the Pennsylvania border, Chautauqua is a 783-acre village. By 1880, the Chautauqua lecture platform had established itself as a national forum for open discussions on domestic and international issues. A newspaper is published on the grounds, reporting on the daily events, and my hosts arranged for me to be interviewed in advance of my talk. The story was published the day of my speech on “the necessity for the conversion of the military-industrial complex.”

Karen is a fourth-generation Chautauqua devotee. In fact, she and Roy live within walking distance of the heavily-guarded gates of the institution. Admittance is strictly regulated, and people are charged for each activity they wish to participate in. Karen informed me that in recent years Chautauqua has become more conservative, with the Brookings Institution and the conservative Heritage Foundation influencing programming. My talk, Karen said, would be a radical departure from standard operating procedure. Karen and Roy don’t participate much at Chautauqua anymore. They like the place the best when winter comes and they cross country ski through the deserted grounds.

Before doing the July 10 radio interview, they warned me that it might be very short, but I ended up getting about 15 minutes of radio time. I told my former Republican-military story and the talk show host’s ears perked up. By the time I said that America was addicted to war and violence the host seemed to like me.

As we walked back to their home, in the rain, Karen pointed out the Packard mansion on the edge of the Chautauqua grounds. She told me how the stately residence was built after the Packard automobile family had drained the worker pension plan. The family now gives away big grants to the arts community and other notable charities with the money stolen from the working stiffs.

Next, Roy interviewed me on his local cable TV show, and I soon learned that Karen had been broadcasting “commercials” about my coming talk at Chautauqua on the cable station, using tiny bits of previous speeches of mine that she had taped. That evening, they had a house party, inviting people to come share food at their home and talk politics with me.

Shortly after I arose on the morning of July 11, I did a half hour phone interview on a Buffalo, N.Y. radio station. It is a station now owned and run by the local activist community, called Niagara Independent Media. It also broadcasts Air America content.

From there we went to nearby Jamestown where I was to do another radio interview with local talk show host Ray Hall whose show is called “The Hall Closet.” It was to be a half-hour segment but Ray was having fun with me, and his phone lines lit up with calls from folks on the left and the right. After the first-hour he asked if I’d stay for another. I ended up being on the show for 2 1/2 hours. At the end he discovered he had forgotten to do the commercials for his sponsors. He apologized to them, saying he’d make it up to them in the future.

One young man called in to say he was enjoying the show. He said he was in the Army and had been to Afghanistan twice and was soon to go to Iraq. He said he’d talked to over 1,000 GI’s during his time in the military and had yet to meet anyone who agreed with George W. Bush. One older woman called in and suggested that Ray and I leave the country if we did not support the government. I asked the woman if she could give me one example of something that she did not agree with our government about. There was a long silence…… She could not think of a single thing.

That evening we gathered at the Hall of Philosophy on the Chautauqua grounds. The weather was threatening and I wondered how many people would show up. The venue was an open-air facility with a roof covering the seats. Large white pillars held up the roof, giving the place a feel of ancient Greece. Over 350 people came to hear my talk and I gave them all I could in my allotted one hour, covering the Pentagon’s plans for “control and domination” of space and endless war. I concluded with a call for conversion of the military-industrial complex, asking again, as I do now at every speech, why we can’t build rail systems, solar, and windmills rather than weapons for war in our local communities.

Following my talk, we went back to Karen and Roy’s for another house party. Fifteen people gathered, folks from Erie, Buffalo, Syracuse, Florida, and local activists as well. We had a wide-ranging discussion and we came to this question: What do we do if in this November’s election, and in 2008, the Republicans once again cheat and steal races across this country? At what point do we begin to organize a boycott of federal elections? Try that one on for size.

Karen and Roy woke me up at 4:00 am on July 12 for the one-hour drive to Erie so I could catch the train home. I was to get back home at 11:00 pm that night. Once again the train ride home was a pure joy. I spent much of my time reading a wonderful novel someone had recently told me about. Written by award-winning Canadian author Ann-Marie MacDonald, the book is called “The Way the Crow Flies.” It tells the story of Operation Paperclip, the secret U.S. (and Canadian, I learned) program to smuggle former Nazi scientists into North America after WW II. These Nazi scientists helped to create the U.S. space program, all 100 of them former members of Hitler’s V-2 rocket team.

While reading I noticed that a young man in the seat in front of me was also reading. It was right-wing writer Ann Coulter’s book, “How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).” I began to ask him about the book and discovered he was the son of Russian Jewish parents who had immigrated to Israel in the 80’s. The young man, now 21 years old, was born in Israel; his family moved to Ithaca, New York when he was two. He is now in graduate school. For the next four hours we debated the war in Iraq, Israel-Palestinian issues and the current Israeli occupation of Gaza, Star Wars, and much more.

At first he told me he was a moderate-conservative and gets his news from the Wall Street Journal. By the end of the long conversation he revealed to me that he had recently read “My Enemy, My Self” by Yoram Binur, which is the story of a young Jewish man who disguised himself as a Palestinian and went to live in Gaza to find out what it would be like to be a Palestinian. My new friend said the book’s author learned that the Palestinian people loved each other, took care of each other in a wonderful way, and were human in ways that he had never before realized. (The photo above was taken at the Rafah Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza in the last few days during Israel's re-occupation.)

We shook hands as we left the train in Boston. I told him I would write about him in my trip report. (He was very pleased to hear that.) I told him that despite the fact that we did not agree on many issues, we had for a moment found peace with one another in the midst of this violent time in which we live. I told him, that for me, being a peace activist meant that I had to try my best to live in each moment in such a way. I saw the emotion in his eyes. All I could think of was my son, Julian, who is just a couple years older than this sweet young man. They even looked a bit alike. I felt fatherly and I felt good that we had such a wonderful exchange.

I am sold on riding the train now. I will do so more often, that is if Bush does not kill the funding for Amtrak as he is now trying to do. Help us out. Demand your tax dollars be used for rails not jails…..trains not Star Wars and the illegal occupation of Iraq to the tune of $8.5 billion a month. Let’s have conversion….of the military-industrial complex — and our hearts as well.

While at Karen and Roy’s, during one of the house parties, a man gave me this quote. I don’t know where it came from. It seems to me to represent what I do on these trips. “The seed, hidden in the heart of an apple, is an orchard invisible.”

JUST BACK HOME

 Just back from my trip to Chautauqua, New York. Took the train all the way there and loved the ride. Had a really excellently organized experience there. Will write up a report in the next day or so.

News is bad as Israel going on a rampage last few days. They are trying to expand the war in the Middle East knowing that the U.S. will ultimately support them as they move closer to attacking Iran and Syria. Very dangerous times.

Was nice to return and find that the Global Network's new Administrative Assistant, Mary Beth Sullivan, had been working in my absence meaning that I did not have a zillion things to catch up with when I came back. Very grateful to the Wallace Global Fund for making her part-time work possible with us. It will help alot.

I've been invited to deliver the keynote speech at the WERU Fair in Blue Hill, Maine on July 23. A real honor as this progressive community-based radio station has been very supportive of the work of our organization since arriving in Maine three years ago. Should be an exciting experience. 

NAMES OF WAR DEAD CONTINUE TO GROW

 Yesterday, for eight full hours, members of Maine Veterans for Peace and Peace Action Maine read the names of dead American GI's and innocent Iraqi civilians at a downtown park in Portland.

When we first began reading these names inside Congressional offices 1 1/2 years ago, it took four hours to finish. Now 2,539 American soldiers have died in Iraq and 18,786 have suffered serious injury. It is estimated that more than 100,000 Iraqi people have died since the U.S. illegal war began in 2003.

Throughout this reading time our volunteers handed out over 800 leaflets explaining our action to the public. Many people would sit on nearby park benches and listen for a time as we read an American name and then an Iraqi name. A bell was rung after each name and an X was marked on the "Chaos cloth" that was widely spread out.

In spite of the fact that many were positively impacted by our action, you could see a significant number of people who tried to act as though this was nothing to be concerned about. Many, many people went about their Friday afternoon and early evening getting their ice creams, watching the fire twirlers and rope walkers just across the way from us. Entertainment is always a good salve for the aching soul of a nation at endless war.

But not everyone was so mindless.

One black man on a bicycle, with his son riding by his side, pulled their bikes up close to us and I listened as he explained to his son what we were doing. He talked harshly about the "horrible president" that we have in the U.S. today and compared the Iraq occupation with the Vietnam war.

One older woman sat on a bench intensely watching us for almost an hour. You could see the expressions on her face change when we called about the names of children, age 2 or 6 months old who had been killed in Iraq. Another woman approached me and bent down as she wept about the sadness of the war.

Other moving moments were when Dexter Kamilewicz read the names of American GI's who had been stationed with his son Ben in Ramadi, Iraq. As a member of the Vermont National Guard, Ben escaped death several times. As Dexter read the names of Ben's fellow soldiers, one could hear the heartbreak in his voice as familiar names reminded him of the agonizing year he spent closely following every report of casualties from units in Ramadi.

We will continue to read the names. And the time it takes to finish them will continue to grow as the list of the war dead increases. The war will not end until Congress votes to cut off the funds for the war. So far our congressman and senators (Democrat and Republican) continue to vote in favor of war funding.

How long can the American people avoid dealing with the war? Now costing us $8.5 billion per month, how much longer can we afford to drain the national treasury and cut already meager programs for education, health care,infrastructure repair,and the like? 

COORDINATOR TRIP REPORT - CANADA

   This trip report is for the period of June 21 - July 5, 2006 as I traveled to Vancouver, Canada to attend the World Peace Forum and ended with a short visit to New Hampshire over the July 4 holiday.

On June 21 I made my way to Boston in order to fly to Victoria, Canada. Like my last two trips to Canada, as I switched planes in Toronto, I was held for over an hour by Canadian immigration because of my past history of arrests for non-violent civil disobedience in the U.S. Each time I now enter Canada they run a computer printout of my arrest history and then claim they can't tell if I have any outstanding warrants for my arrests. They question me about why I was arrested in each case and what the outcome was. This time, while reading their computer printout up-side-down I noticed that they had me listed with an alias: Joe Nagasaki. In 1987 at a large protest in Florida at Cape Canaveral about 250 people were arrested for climbing over the base fence in protest of the first flight test of the Trident II nuclear missile. When we went to jail many of us refused to give our real names for several days. I said my name was Joe Nagasaki. The jail guards near the space center called me Joe Nag-ask-i as if I were of Polish origin. Eventually the Canadians let me pass into the country, but with only a nine-day pass. The message is clear - I am not welcome in Canada.

My first stop was to go to Victoria to speak at an event organized by the Victoria Peace Coalition just before the World Peace Forum began. I was joined in Victoria at the talk by Richard Sanders who heads the Ottawa-based group called Coalition Opposed to the Arms Trade. Richard has done extensive research on how Canadian aerospace corporations have long been involved in developing technology for the U.S. Star Wars program. In spite of Canada's very public claim last year that they "would not" get involved in Bush's "Missile Defense" program, they in fact have been, and still are, helping to build the program to move the arms race into space. One bit of information Richard pointed out was how the Canadian Pension Plan formerly invested heavily in national infrastructure development, but now increasingly invests in military production and Star Wars research and development. In recent times the Canadian government has cut $5 billion from its budget for global warming research; it plans to increase military spending by $15 billion. Social services, including national health care, are being cut as Canada follows the U.S. into global militarism.

My trip to Victoria was coordinated by Susan Clarke. Following my talk in Victoria we took the beautiful ferry ride to Vancouver. I did two interviews with Victoria radio stations while on this leg of the trip.

The World Peace Forum (WPF) in Vancouver drew over 4,500 people from about 100 countries to the campus of the University of British Columbia. The Global Network (GN) was asked by the WPF to coordinate the "track" of five space issue workshops and panels during the event. We were able to bring 15 of our key GN leaders to the event from around the world thanks to a generous travel grant by the Secure World Foundation. In addition, many other GN members came to participate in the Vancouver events. (We videotaped the various space events and GN member/filmmaker Eric Herter will be developing a one-hour documentary video that should be available for sale in a month or so.)

Things began at the WPF on June 24 with a large peace march through downtown Vancouver at mid-day followed by a festival at a park by the harbor. During the march, Canadian peace activists were visibly outraged at their government's participation in the war in Afghanistan through Canada's membership in NATO. While at the WPF, we heard the news that six Canadian soldiers were wounded in Afghanistan.

I was told that the Vancouver Sun newspaper ran a critical editorial days before the WPF began saying, "Let the hate fest begin."

That first evening in Vancouver several of us from the GN went to a local community center to hear one of our friends, Holly Gwinn Graham, perform as part of a musical show. In her part of the evening, Holly entertained her audience with a couple of songs related to space issues and had an overhead slideshow running with many photos of past GN activities.

We held our first GN space event at the WPF on June 25. At our first panel discussion, well-respected Canadian author/activist Mel Hurtig spoke about U.S. plans for control and domination of space. Also speaking were Dr. Rebecca Johnson (Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, UK), and Dr. Jurgen Scheffran (Int’l Network of Engineers & Scientists Against Proliferation, Germany). Despite a tremendous amount of competition at the WPF with legions of events concurrently scheduled, we had good turnouts for each event we organized. Following our first panel discussion on June 25, we held our GN annual business meeting at which we presented our annual Peace in Space Award to GN co-founders Bill Sulzman (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado) and Karl Grossman (Journalism professor, New York).

On June 26 and 27 we held other space events at the WPF, including an excellent panel called "Star Wars Organizing: Activists Reports from around the World." GN board member Loring Wirble (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado) did an excellent presentation showing how satellite technology is used by the Pentagon to direct all warfare on Earth. Thus, he said, we need to talk about how space satellites promote the "militarization of space" and have in a way become weapons systems themselves as they direct "conventional" weapons to their targets on Earth. It is hard, Loring reminded us, to say that military satellites are benign these days.

During the WPF I ran into old friend Al Marder from New Haven, CT. Al was in Vancouver representing the International Association of Peace Messenger Cities and we had a good talk about the increasingly difficult political conditions in the U.S. I asked Al, given the fact that polls reveal most Americans are against the war in Iraq, why do we not see more vocal opposition to the war? Al's response was instructive. "We in the U.S. are paying for our historic inability to develop independent political voices to speak for us," he said, obviously referring to the lack of commitment to peace from the two corporate dominated political parties in the U.S. today. We must begin to link our disarmament and anti-war work to social progress here at home and development issues in the Third World, he reminded me. Al has been organizing for a long time, he is a wise elder, and I listened closely to his good advice. "We must develop public outrage everywhere," he concluded.

During the WPF, in between our space events, I went to hear a panel of international activists talking about U.S. bases in their countries. I heard activists from Canada, Turkey, Cuba, England, Korea, Puerto Rico, Okinawa, Japan, Greece and Ecuador. They described in detail the environmental contamination resulting from U.S. military installations, the anger of their citizenry, and showed photos of protests against the bases. (It is estimated that there are more than 750 U.S. military bases around the world today as part of the U.S. empire.) One Japanese activist told the audience that, "If we keep silent now we will be silent forever." I turned to GN board convener Dave Webb (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in England) and said, "The U.S. is catching hell everywhere these days."

I left Canada on June 28 and it took me 28 long hours to make it back home to Maine due to cancelled and delayed airline flights caused by bad weather along the way. When I got home I had one day to rest before we held an important Iraq war organizing meeting in Portland to continue to develop our statewide campaign against endless war. Maine State Senator Ethan Strimling (D-Portland) showed up and asked our meeting to support his efforts to build a coalition of state legislators in Maine who are beginning to speak out against the war. So far Strimling has organized 26 of his fellow "Legislators for ending the war" and they are focusing on the cost of the war to taxpayers in our state and the loss of federal revenue due to war spending. (See http://www.nationalpriorities.org/ for details of how much the war has cost your local community.)

On July 2 Mary Beth Sullivan and I attended a funeral in Boston for a relative of hers that unexpectedly died. We then drove north again to the White Mountains of New Hampshire where I spoke on July 4 at the World Fellowship Center on the topic of "Rockets Red Glare: Militarism & Citizenship." (http://www.worldfellowship.org/) The center is directed by Andy Davis and Andrea Walsh. They do a great job of running this educational/vacation center that offers a beautiful rustic environment to renew body, mind and spirit.

On July 5 we made it home and I am ready for a rest before hitting the road again on July 9 to speak at the Chautauqua Institution in New York.

A belated happy Inter-dependence day to everyone.

MAINE ANTI-WAR ORGANIZING PRESSES ON

 We had a networking meeting in Portland, Maine today of our ad-hoc group that organized the successful town hall meeting last April that drew over 400 folks. We've met twice now following that event to make future plans for anti-war work across the state.

We had good attendance again today with people coming down to Portland from around the state. Also showing up today was Maine State Senator Ethan Strimling who has organized 26 Maine state legislators in a group they are calling "Legislators for ending the war." They are emphasizing how much the war has cost Maine (our share is now over $800 million)and talking about how social services and infrastructure in our state are suffering as a result of endless war spending.

We thanked Sen. Strimling for taking the leadership and challenged him to ask our Maine Congressional Delegation (Snowe, Collins, Allen & Michaud) to vote against all future war funding requests in Washington. We also suggested that the 26 state elected officials talk with the governor about refusing to send the National Guard to Iraq anymore. We also suggested that they might begin to call for conversion of the military industrial complex rather than continually begging for more federal money to keep building weapons. Strimling asked us to help get other Maine state legislators to join their coalition and we agreed to do that.

We are also planning Teach-Ins at colleges and universities around the state this fall and can already report that the University of Southern Maine (Portland) and the University of Maine (Orono) now have people working on these events.

On July 7 we read the names again of dead American GI's and innocent Iraqi civilians - this time it will be done outside in a downtown Portland park. Then on September 20 there will be a town hall meeting in Portland on the topic of impeachment of Bush.

Our next meeting to plan the anti-war movement in Maine will be August 26 in Portland. 

STORMY TRIP HOME

 I finally made it home last night at 11:00 pm after a 28-hour return trip from Vancouver. Stormy weather throughout North America had caused massive delays in Toronto and Boston so my flights into each of those locations were delayed several times. I have never been much good at sleeping on planes so needless to say I was a bit worn out by the time I got home. And I was not particularly impressed with Canada Air's handling of customer relations along the journey. Basically they didn't go out of their way to provide information and help their customers get scheduled on other flights. It was literally "every person for themselves", a real dog eat dog situation.

So after a good sleep in my own bed last night I am back to work this morning with massive amounts of e-mails and postal mail to sort through. And a trip report to write as well but that will have to wait a couple days. On the July 4 holiday Mary Beth and I will drive over to New Hampshire where I will speak at the World Fellowship Center, a wonderful retreat facility in the woods that does progressive summer programming. Hopefully I will get a bit of a rest there as well.

The World Peace Forum in Vancouver was very good. We had quite a good number of Global Network members attending and we had excellent crowds in each of the workshops/panels that we organized on space. So our message got a good boost with some new folks from all over the world. In the end worth the trip.

Our friend Eric Herter from Brunswick, Maine filmed most of our space events and will create a one-hour documentary about the event. In about one month we will have that available to order. 

COOL IN VICTORIA

 Made it to Victoria, British Columbia at 10:30 pm (Pacific time) last night. After the eight-hour layover in Toronto I had a five-hour flight to Victoria. While in the Toronto airport I did a one-hour radio interview with a Victoria station that was a promotion for my talk here tonight. Richard Sanders, a Canadian peace activist with the Ottawa-based Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, was also on the show and will be the co-presenter with me tonight in Victoria. He does alot of work trying to keep Canada out of Star Wars.

With the election of their Conservative prime minister Harper recently, keeping the Canadian aerospace industry out of the weapons in space money grab will be a tough haul. Canadians complain, like we do in the U.S., about growing corporate takeover of their government. Globalization is real for everyone these days.

I went for a nice walk this morning. The place I am staying is right on a bay so the views are quite beautiful. Islands can be seen in the distance, the air is wonderfully crisp and cool, lots of sun. A perfect day. I walked up a big hill that overlooks the ocean and then took a narrow path to a public beach where I sat and enjoyed the solitude for some time. I found myself just appreciating the great gift of travel that I have in my life. Meeting activists who are doing good work all over the world is the icing on the cake.

I leave mid-day on Friday for the trip to Vancouver. My host Susan Clarke is a leader of the Victoria Peace Coalition and she will drive us to Vancouver. We will take the ferry to get there. Should be a nice trip. Susan, and her husband Alan, have set me up with computer access, good food, and a great view. Can't ask for much more than that. 

HEADING TO VANCOUVER

 Early on Wednesday morning I will be taking a bus to the Boston airport and then fly on to Victoria, British Columbia. During that long flight, I will have an eight-hour layover in Toronto. It will turn out to be a long day.

I'll speak in Victoria on Thursday evening and then head to Vancouver on Friday for the World Peace Forum. The Global Network has coordinated the space track of workshops at the forum and we are looking forward to seeing many old friends from around the world at the event. Thanks to a Secure World Foundation grant we were able to provide significant transportation assistance to 16 people so they could come to the event.

At this point we are still waiting on the Bush administration to announce their new national space policy. It is expected that the new policy will give the green light to operational testing, and likely deployment, of anti-satellite weapons (ASATS) that so far Congress and previous administrations have restricted.

Also under development at this moment is the military space plane that would give the U.S. the ability to rapidly launch attacks on any part of the world from orbit. The space plane would descend from orbit, drop an attack, then fly back up into orbit. The Space Command has been war gaming this kind of attack for the past several years using computer simulation. The first-strike attack has so far been directed, during the war games, on China.

So we have much to discuss at the World Peace Forum as we gather our key peace in space organizers and work to share what we know with many new interested people. You can expect that the U.S. government will have their spies on-hand to take names and listen for any organizing plans that come forward. We know they are watching us, and in fact reading this blog regularly. The ACLU just last week launched a national lawsuit on behalf of 40 peace groups in the U.S. who are seeking the up-to-this-point secret files gathered on them. The Global Network is one of the 40 organizations that the ACLU is representing in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.

I will try to post as often as I can while on this trip but I am not certain what kind of Internet connection I will find available.

Best wishes to all our readers. 

'Wash Post' Obtains Memo from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Details Increasing Danger and Hardship

By Greg Mitchell

NEW YORK: The Washington Post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive," that it says show that just before President Bush left on a surprise trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad for an upbeat assessment of the situation there, "the U.S. Embassy in Iraq painted a starkly different portrait of increasing danger and hardship faced by its Iraqi employees."

This cable outlines, the Post reported Sunday, "the daily-worsening conditions for those who live outside the heavily guarded international zone: harassment, threats and the employees' constant fears that their neighbors will discover they work for the U.S. government."

It's actually far worse than that, as the details published below indicate, which include references to abductions, threats to women's rights, and "ethnic cleansing."

A PDF copy of the cable shows that it was sent to the SecState in Washington, D.C. from "AMEmbassy Baghdad" on June 6. The typed name at the very bottom is Khalilzad -- the name of the U.S. Ambassador, though it is not known if this means he wrote the memo or merely approved it.

The subject of the memo is: "Snapshots from the Office -- Public Affairs Staff Show Strains of Social Discord."

As a footnote in one of the 23 sections, the embassy relates, "An Arab newspaper editor told us he is preparing an extensive survey of ethnic cleansing, which he said is taking place in almost every Iraqi province, as political parties and their militiast are seemingly engaged in tit-for-tat reprisals all over Iraq."

Among the other troubling reports:

-- "Personal safety depends on good relations with the 'neighborhood' governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. The central government, our staff says, is not relevant; even local mukhtars have been displaced or coopted by militias. People no longer trust most neighbors."

-- One embassy employee had a brother-in-law kidnapped. Another received a death threat, and then fled the country with her family.

-- Iraqi staff at the embassy, beginning in March and picking up in May, report "pervasive" harassment from Islamist and/or militia groups. Cuts in power and rising fuel prices "have diminished the quality of life." Conditions vary but even upscale neighborhoods "have visibly deteriorated" and one of them is now described as a "ghost town."

-- Two of the three female Iraqis in the public affairs office reported stepped-up harassment since mid-May...."some groups are pushing women to cover even their face, a step not taken in Iran even at its most conservative." One of the women is now wearing a full abaya after receiving direct threats.

-- It has also become "dangerous" for men to wear shorts in public and "they no longer allow their children to play outside in shorts." People who wear jeans in public have also come under attack.

-- Embassy employees are held in such low esteem their work must remain a secret and they live with constant fear that their cover will be blown. Of nine staffers, only four have told their families where they work. They all plan for their possible abductions. No one takes home their cell phones as this gives them away. One employee said criticism of the U.S. had grown so severe that most of her family believes the U.S. "is punishing populations as Saddam did."

-- Since April, the "demeanor" of guards in the Green Zone has changed, becoming more "militia-like," and some are now "taunting" embassy personnel or holding up their credentials and saying loudly that they work in the embassy: "Such information is a death sentence if overheard by the wrong people." For this reason, some have asked for press instead of embassy credentials.

-- "For at least six months, we have not been able to use any local staff members for translation at on-camera press events....We cannot call employees in on weekends or holidays without blowing their 'cover.'"

-- "More recently, we have begun shredding documents printed out that show local staff surnames. In March, a few staff members approached us to ask what provisions would we make for them if we evacuate."

-- The overall environment is one of "frayed social networks," with frequent actual or perceived insults. None of this is helped by lack of electricity. "One colleague told us he feels 'defeated' by circumstances, citing his example of being unable to help his two-year-old son who has asthma and cannot sleep in stifling heat," which is now reaching 115 degrees.

-- "Another employee tell us that life outside the Green Zone has become 'emotionally draining.' He lives in a mostly Shiite area and claims to attend a funeral 'every evening.'"

-- Fuel lines have grown so long that one staffer spent 12 hours in line on his day off. "Employees all confirm that by the last week of May, they were getting one hour of power for every six hours without.....One staff member reported that a friend lives in a building that houses a new minister; within 24 hours of his appointment, her building had city power 24 hours a day."

-- The cable concludes that employees' "personal fears are reinforcing divisive sectarian or ethnic channels, despite talk of reconciliation by officials."

The final line of the Cable is: KHALILZAD

COORDINATOR TRIP REPORT - FLORIDA

This trip report covers the period of June 1-10 as I, along with my partner Mary Beth, made a working/vacation trip to Florida.

The trip was brought about when the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice (FCPJ) invited me to their "Weaving a Culture of Peace" statewide convocation in Gainesville. I worked for the FCPJ for 15 years and in 1992 we created the Dr. Benjamin Spock Peacemaker of the Year Award. Dr. Spock came to Florida that year and gave the first award in his name to the first recipient. Last week, I was invited by the FCPJ to come to their event to receive the Dr. Spock award, honoring my years of work to stop the nuclearization and weaponization of space.

The FCPJ became friends with Dr. Spock in 1987 when he came to Cape Canaveral to speak at a protest we organized opposing the first test launch of the Trident II nuclear missile. When over 5,000 people marched to the front gates of the space center, it was Dr. Spock who was the first one to climb over the base front gate into the waiting arms of the military police in a symbolic act of opposition to the launch. In his final book, called "Spock on Spock", Ben had a photo of himself climbing the Cape Canaveral fence.

When Mary Beth and I arrived in Jacksonville on June 1 the first thing we did was rent a car and drive south to St. Augustine to visit our 95 year-old friend Peg McIntire. I have worked with Peg for about 20 years and she is fondly known as the "Grand Dame" of the Florida peace movement. Peg has been arrested at the space center more times than most people and remains active in her beloved Grandparents for Peace group that she still ably coordinates.

We moved on to Gainesville to attend the FCPJ convocation on the weekend of June 2-4. The keynote speaker for the event was David Korten, the author of the highly popular book called "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community." In his talk to the FCPJ Korten talked about the coming hard times due to peak oil and global warming. "Communities that fare best will be the ones that begin now to plan for the coming changes. Building true community means moving beyond competition and empire to cooperation," Korten said. We must break the silence and end our isolation, Korten suggested, if we hope to save democracy.

I spoke at a workshop on organizing during the FCPJ conference with old friend Joy Towles Ezell who has been working to stop the Pentagon from moving a bombing range into her north Florida rural county. I suggested that we begin the workshop by having people go around and say why they came to this particular workshop and what they were looking to learn. They key themes on people's minds were how to sustain a peace group over time, how to expand our base and how to connect issues in our work.

On the evening of June 3 there was a formal dinner and Peg McIntire presented the Spock award to me. In my talk I reminded the assembled how the FCPJ had played a key role in the creation of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space when it was formed in 1992. I shared stories about the work I am doing today and concluded by offering a transformative vision for an end to this cycle of endless war that we find ourselves in today.

From there I would travel to speak at the Sunday service of Peg McIntire's Unitarian Church in St Augustine and then back to Gainesville to do a June 6 speech at the Civic Media Center in Gainesville. This event was sponsored by the Gainesville Chapter of Veterans for Peace which I belonged to for many years before moving to Maine. It was wonderful to see old friends there like Julie Netzer, Miriam Elliott, Bill & Sally Warrick, Bill Gilbert, Joe Courter, and Eve & Richard MacMaster. All of these folks I had worked closely with on campaigns in Gainesville around issues like the Patriot Act and the local cost of the Iraq war.

In between talks I was able to visit my mother in Titusville and to return to Peg's home on St Augustine Beach. Long walks on the beach and a couple swims in the ocean were nice breaks from the otherwise hectic but exciting visit to Florida where I had lived for 30 years before moving to Maine three years ago.

Our last day took us back to Jacksonville where I was invited to speak by the local peace group called Waging Peace. They held a community supper at their beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright-style church where I had spoken many times over the past 20 years. Old friends like Al & Wendy Geiger, Mary Claire VanderHorst and Doris Marlin made Mary Beth and I feel at home again.

At each of my talks on this trip I continued to emphasize the theme that the peace movement needs to provide a positive, alternative vision to endless war. America's economy is addicted to military spending, I said, and until we offer another way to create jobs for military industrial complex workers we will never be able to break the cycle of weapons production and war. Why, I asked over and over again, can't the peace movement create a national political demand that calls for our tax dollars to be used for production of public mass transit systems, windmills and solar technology instead of weapons of war? Imagine what would happen if the peace movement, the environmental movement and the labor movements all began to create a unified demand to convert the military industries to peaceful and sustainable technological development. Think of the good jobs created. Think of the lessening of our demand for oil as our nation turned to mass transit, wind energy and solar. Think of the positive impacts on global warming as we helped create this shift in national industrial policy.

It is one thing to say NO to war in Iraq and Iran. That we must do. But as I travel to places like Jacksonville, Florida or Colorado Springs, Colorado, what I see are communities dominated by the military industrial complex. If we wish to create the "Great Turning" that David Korten speaks of then we must also change the stories of our communities. Right now the military culture - the death culture - is the prevailing story of America. If we are to weave a culture of peace then we must begin to offer the public another vision of a society that can provide their families with jobs, hope, and a real possibility of a positive future for their children.

GLOBAL NETWORK TO MEET AT VANCOUVER WORLD PEACE FORUM

STAR WARS EVENTS AT VANCOUVER WORLD PEACE FORUM


1) Gallstones in the Belly of the Beast (A musical/comedy performance)
Featuring Singer/Songwriter, and Global Network member, Holly Gwinn Graham
Saturday, June 24
6:30 p.m.
The Roundhouse Community Arts Center (181 Roundhouse Mews, Davis & Pacific)
Vancouver, BC, Canada


2) Weapons in Space: Should We Extend the Arms Race Into the Heavens?
(A panel discussion)
Speakers: Mel Hurtig (Canadian author/activist), Dr. Rebecca Johnson (Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, UK), Dr. Jurgen Scheffran (Int’l Network of Engineers & Scientists Against Proliferation, Germany), and Holly Gwinn Graham (Singer/Songwriter, Olympia, Washington)
Sunday, June 25
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
University of British Columbia (UBC), Theas Lounge, Graduate Student Centre


3) Global Network Annual Membership Meeting & Dinner
Sunday, June 25
4:00 – 8:00 p.m.
UBC, Theas Lounge, Graduate Student Centre
(Please RSVP to Global Network before June 20 for dinner)


4) No Means Yes: Canadian Complicity in the “Missile Defense” Weapons Development Program (A workshop)
Speaker: Richard Sanders (Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, Canada)
Monday, June 26
11:00 – 1:00 p.m.
UBC, Student Union Building (SUB) Room 205


5) Space Weapons & Canada: Strategies for Citizen and Government Action
(A workshop)
Speakers: Steven Staples (Polaris Institute, Canada) and Mike Wallace (Professor of International Relations, UBC)
Monday, June 26
3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
UBC, Student Union Building (SUB) Room 205


6) Star Wars Organizing: Activists Reports from Around the World
(A workshop)
Speakers: Dennis Apel (Guadalupe Catholic Worker, California), Robert Anderson (Stop the War Machine, New Mexico), Sarah Estabrooks (Project Ploughshares, Canada), Bruce Gagnon (Global Network, Maine), Regina Hagen (INESAP, Germany), Tamara Lorincz (Halifax Peace Coalition, Canada), Bill Sulzman (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado), Dave Webb (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, UK), Alice Slater (GRACE, New York)
Tuesday, June 27
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
UBC, Student Union Building (SUB) Room 205


7) The Space-Military-Industrial Complex: Connecting the Dots and Acting on the Picture (A workshop)
Speakers: Bill Sulzman & Loring Wirbel (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado)
Tuesday, June 27
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
UBC, Student Union Building (SUB) Room 205

GOING EXTRA INNINGS

Mary Beth and I made it home last night but first we made a stop at Fenway Park in Boston to see the Red Sox play. Childhood friends of MB (she grew up in Cambridge) had tickets and took us to the game. It's a beautiful old ball park and it is virtually impossible to get into a game these days because they are sold out well in advance for every game.

I actually am a Baltimore Orioles fan, they are mired in 4th place with 8 straight years of losing seasons. But a fan is always a fan!

Back at work today I had a ton and a half of things to get caught up with. Among my big jobs on the to do list is getting ready for the Vancouver World Peace Forum at the end of this month. The Global Network is coordinating the track of space issues at the forum. All have been organized for several months but the forum staff keep changing the meeting room venues of our events. Each time I think I can confidently advertise them, another change comes. Very frustrating. So if you are planning to come to Vancouver check with me about the location of the events.

The news brings the sad story about three prisoners at Guantanamo hanging themselves. What is most sickening is the "spin" the U.S. military has put on this story. A Pentagon spokesman had this to say about the suicides: "They are smart, they are creative, they are committed. They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us." -- Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., Commander, Joint Task Force, Guantánamo

Can you believe this? Here Bush has been holding these people, without charges or a legal avenue to challenge their incarceration, and the Pentagon says the captives are waging war by killing themselves. Such cynical people. These desperate prisoners clearly see no end in sight and prefer to die rather than live in such inhuman conditions. And they are the ones who don't value life! It makes me furious.

So even after going to a baseball game for one day, escaping a bit, I am now back in the middle of the fight for justice and to end this insane war. I read today that the Bush team wants to keep 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq forever. We are in for a long struggle to try to end this war. This Iraq war is going extra innings I am afraid.

DEBATING THE PREACHER IN THE JACUZZI

I am in St Augustine, Florida visiting 94 year-old friend Peg McIntire. She lives in a condo village right on the beach. This time of year many of the condos are rented as vacationers from the region come for a week of sun and fun.

Last night we were sitting in the jacuzzi talking with a Baptist preacher from southern Georgia. I asked him what he thinks about the Iraq war. He said that the Muslim people want to destroy America. He said "they" do not value life the way we do here in the U.S. He said the U.S. should wipe the whole region out. I asked him if he meant with nuclear weapons. Her said yes. He told us that the sooner Armageddon comes the better, because that would mean that Jesus would return and we'd have the rapture where the Christians would go to heaven and the rest of us sinners, those not born again in Christ, would die here on Earth in the resulting fire.

I told him I was confused by this kind of talk. I said that I thought Jesus was the prince of peace and had taught that we should love our neighbors and turn the other cheek. In response the preacher said that the Iraqi people are just killing each other in a civil war rampage of evil violence. I reminded him that in our own civil war in the U.S. we'd done a pretty horrible job of resolving our internal conflicts. In fact I said we killed an enormous amount of our fellow citizens. How was this different from Iraq, I asked?

The preacher was actually a very nice man. He was friendly, had a kind and warm smile, and was thoughtful and polite to Peg as she strained to keep up with the conversation without the use of her hearing aide. But when it came to talking politics he quickly reverted to the script that institutions like the church, the military, and southern educational system have effectively trained him in.

I must admit that when I would challenge his thinking, and he reverted to script, I could tell that even he saw that he had no real answers to my questions. He is not a stupid man like many people would say of someone living in a "Red" state. He has just been brainwashed and is not often given the cultural opportunity to be around people who think differently. Thus his thinking largely goes unchallenged in his day-to-day life and he becomes comfortable with his doctrines.

Today I head back to Gainesville to speak at the Civic Media Center. On Friday I speak in Jacksonville at the Unitarian Church. In between I’ll visit my mother again in Titusville and then return for a quick visit with Peg again in St Augustine.

Last Saturday night I received the Dr. Benjamin Spock Peacemaker Award from the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice. In 1992, while working for the FCPJ, I had asked Dr. Spock if he would allow us to give an annual award in his name. He came to that 10th anniversary event of the FCPJ, and presented the first such award given in his name. So it was a real nice feeling to be given the same award that I had created many years ago.

This past Sunday I delivered a talk at Peg’s St. Augustine Unitarian Church service. In between the work I’ve had a chance to walk on the beach and swim in the ocean. It has felt nice to be able to relax a bit on this working trip to Florida.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

I am writing from Titusville, Florida. My partner Mary Beth and I arrived here today, flying into Jacksonville and paying a quick visit to our long-time dear friend Peg McIntire in St. Augustine. Peg is 94 years old and will introduce me on Saturday evening in Gainesville when I receive an award from the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice (FCPJ). I worked for the FCPJ for 15 years and it was there that I became involved in organizing around space issues.

From St. Augustine we drove further south to Titusville where my mother lives. We took mom out to dinner at a local restaurant overlooking the Indian River. Just across the river from our dinner we could see NASA's vehicle assembly building where the space shuttle is prepared for each mission.

I told mom and Mary Beth a story about my first big space event back in the early 1980's. I organized a space conference for the FCPJ and we had a Russian cosmonaut and U.S. astronaut Edgar Mitchell as speakers for that event. It was the first time that a Russian and U.S. space traveler had ever been together on the same stage. They both came to speak out against weapons in space.

I had called NASA and asked if the cosmonaut could get a tour of their facility. At this time we were still in the midst of the Cold War with the former Soviet Union so this was a big deal. NASA invited me to bring the cosmonaut to the vehicle assembly building for a tour. As we entered the huge building, with a shuttle standing on end inside, the workers all stopped what they were doing and watched us as we were shown around the complex. It must have been quite a site to see the Russian and the peacenick getting the tour.

And today we now hear that NASA is reassuring people that the next shuttle launch will be only in "minimal" danger due to orbiting space debris that could impact and destroy the shuttle. Just as we face global warming due to earthly pollution, we also face the problem of pollution of space due to our thoughtless use of space.

As I retrace my footsteps during this 10 day trip to Florida I will see many old friends who helped build the momentum that launched the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. The issues are more important than ever.