Advertisement

Veterans for Peace President Mike Ferner responds to President Obama's rebranded occupation of Iraq

A veteran’s perspective makes it clear that two major points must be made in response to President Obama’s announcement regarding combat troops leaving Iraq.

First, there is no such thing as “non combat troops.” It is a contradiction in terms. It is internally inconsistent. It is illogical. It is simply not true.

Ask any of the millions of men and women who went through basic training and they can tell you that every U.S. troop anywhere in the world was indoctrinated and trained in the basics of combat. While in Iraq, the transition from mechanics or communications back to combat-ready soldier takes but an order. “Non-combat troops” is simply the latest in a long line of military euphemisms meant to obscure painful reality.

The second point can best be made by drafting a section of the President’s remarks for him. If Veterans For Peace were to do that it would read something like this.

-------

Peace movement pushes for end to war on Iraq

As news stories are leading those still aware of the war on Iraq to believe it's over, it was encouraging to see Busboys and Poets restaurant in Washington, D.C., packed Sunday evening for a four-hour forum on actions needed to actually end that war, make reparations, and deter future wars of aggression. The event was advertised with the following description:

"Is the U.S. military really leaving Iraq or just rebranding? What is the toll of seven years of occupation on Iraqis, U.S. soldiers and our economies? What is the status of Iraqi refugees around the world? Is it still possible to hold accountable those who dragged us into the war or committed crimes such as torture? What role did Congress and the media play in facilitating the invasion/occupation? We'll also look at the role of the peace movement -- its strengths and weaknesses -- and draw key lessons to make our work for peace, including in Afghanistan, more effective."

Brightmoor - Detroit's unnatural disaster and the need to Rebuild America

On Saturday I marched with ten thousand people in downtown Detroit demanding "Good Jobs Now" as part of Rev. Jesse Jackson's "Rebuild America" rally. I then visited my desolate boyhood westside Detroit neighborhood, Brightmoor, to remind myself what happens when an advanced nation foolishly refuses to have an industrial policy. Brightmoor was a thriving community in post-World War II society, when we actually manufactured things at home instead of outsourcing them to oppressive Third World regimes.

Tell Congress: Restore the right to travel to Cuba

Dear friends, On June 30th, HR4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, passed the Committee by a bi-partisan vote of 25-20.
HR4645 came through committee intact, and combines freedom for US citizens to travel to Cuba with some changes that make it easier for US farmers to trade with Cuba.

The vote on this bill is expected to take place in September, and we know that the forces who want to keep every bit of the US blockade and travel ban in place are working hard to make sure that it won’t pass.

Here is one more step that we can take to make sure that it is clear to the House of Representatives that people in the United States support HR4645. The Latin American Working Group has worked with www.change.org to create a petition that we are asking you to sign and pass on to everyone that you know. Just go to:
Petition
and fill out the form on the right hand side of the page; an e-mail is then automatically sent to your Representative.

"Living Downstream" Makes Pollution Personal

When I described the documentary “Living Downstream” to my friend she expressed uncharacteristic apathy: “I'm not really worried about pollution causing cancer. Everyone gets cancer anyway if they live long enough.” I rolled my eyes at her, but she was exhibiting a common contemporary experience. Our constant exposure to medical information is overwhelming even to members of a health obsessed society. News programs now designate entire segments to health. Doctors become celebrities. TV ads peddle pills. Websites like webMD.com provide enough detailed medical information to keep any hypochondriac awake and sweating. We are bombarded with so much information that it is difficult to absorb all the claims let alone decide which are true.

Jennifer Bowman interviews Jason Miller

Jennifer Bowman: So let's cut right to the chase. In some of your recent writings, you've indicated that you're dealing with some serious challenges in your life right now. What are they?

Jason Miller: Aside from the systemic backlash resulting from my vigorous activism, I'm dealing with a number of serious personal issues. Some of these were self-inflicted and some weren't. Either way, I need to deal with them.

I was so absorbed in my activism for about a year that I let certain aspects of my life get away from me, in a manner of speaking. As many of you may have already read, I'm a recovering alcoholic (since 1992—hence my straightedge beliefs). However, I got away from some of my spiritual and intellectual efforts to manage my passion and set aside working the Twelve Steps, which tends to land me into trouble. Fortunately, I'm back on the path I need to follow, which still includes veganism of course, and have turned to the painful task of cleaning up my messes.

JB: What do you mean by "systemic backlash resulting from your vigorous activism?"

To honor Dr. King bring the troops home NOW!!

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" is one of history's greatest orations, as well as one of its most beautiful arias.

To truly honor him and the heartfelt genius he brought us, we must do the one thing that most hurtfully blocked his Dream: we must end the imperial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, at long last, bring our troops home from all over the world.

Because I use it in my US history classes, I have heard Dr. King's speech scores of times. I play it on a scratchy video whenever possible and never tire of it. It is more sung than delivered, and his sonorous voice and perfect cadence are the equal of any operatic oratorio ever written. Close your eyes and you are in the greatest of all concert halls.

But its message cuts the core of our entire history. It contains beautiful descriptions of much our national landscape. It references Stone Mountain, Georgia, where we suffered the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, and Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, the origin of the infamous Scottsboro Boys legal persecution.

Surpassing America

Rebranding Iraq: Playing with numbers and human lives

The soldiers of the US 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division hollered as they made their way into Kuwait. "We won," they claimed. "It's over."

But what exactly did they win?

And is the war really over?

It seems we are once again walking into the same trap, the same nonsensical assumptions of wars won, missions accomplished, troops withdrawn, and jolly soldiers carrying cardboard signs of heart-warming messages like "Lindsay & Austin ... Dad's coming home."

While much of the media is focused on the logistics of the misleading withdrawal of the "last combat brigade" from Iraq on August 19 - some accentuating the fact that the withdrawal is happening two weeks ahead of the August 31 deadline - most of us are guilty of forgetting Iraq and its people. When the economy began to take center stage, we completely dropped the war off our list of grievances.

But this is not about memory, or a way of honoring the dead and feeling compassion for the living. Forgetting wars leads to a complete polarization of discourses, thus allowing the crafters of war to sell the public whatever suits their interests and stratagems.

Viktor Bout avoids an immediate boot to America

BANGKOK, Thailand -- American officials hoping to extradite Viktor Bout on Wednesday (August 25) were unable to fly the suspected Russian weapons smuggler to New York, because the U.S. added fresh allegations against him which must be heard or dismissed in a Thai court.

A sleek, white, twin-engine jet from the U.S. reportedly waited in vain on the tarmac at Bangkok's Don Muang air force base on Wednesday (August 25), only to be told that he would not be handed over without going through some additional legal hoops.

"We are not sending Viktor Bout back today. There are still several legal steps to go through," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Wednesday (August 25).

"Before Bout's extradition can take place, the second case needs to be dropped by the court," Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said on Wednesday (August 25).

The unpredictable problem could be quickly sorted out by U.S. officials and a Bangkok judge, allowing Mr. Bout to then immediately be flown to New York, or could meander through Thailand's murky court system resulting in a delay or cancellation of his extradition,

Pages

Subscribe to ColumbusFreePress.com RSS