JORGE HEINE: The initial trickle of evidence about the many illegal ways in which Washington pursued its counterterrorist offensive from 2001 to 2008, first exposed by the pictures from Abu Ghraib in 2004, has turned into a veritable flood.
Author: Contributor
Blackwater’s Private Spies
JEREMY SCAHILL: Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for the occasional blip on the media radar sparked by Congressman Henry Waxman’s ongoing investigations into its activities. Its forces remained deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and business continued to pour in.
Covert Action 101
J. V. GRADY: It is quite possible, even probable, that many of the bombings against the Shi’ia and Sunni populations have been carried out by American, British, and even Israeli operatives.
The Illegal Spying Game, Played Over and Over
GLENN GREENWALD: Ever since The New York Times revealed in December, 2005 that the Bush administration had spent the last four years illegally spying on Americans’ communications without warrants, there have been numerous additional revelations of various types of massive illegal government spying.
Brief-ings
Brief insights: 1) Despite Slump U.S. Role As Top Arms Supplier Grows; 2) Intelligence Agencies Say No New Nukes in Iran; 3) Radio Play for Peace – Get Your Free Copy; 4) U.S. Dominates Arms Sales; 5) Keeping Nuclear Abolition on the Agenda; and 6) Think Outside the Box.
OPW Welcomes Leonard Perez as 5% Solution Staff
LEONARD PEREZ: Oregon PeaceWorks is delighted to once again have a staff person working on its 5% Solution to the Climate Crisis program.
Two Events to Feature Claude AnShin Thomas
CLAUDE ANSHIN THOMAS: Highly decorated combat veteran, zen priest, world renowned retreat leader, and public speaker Claude AnShin Thomas will facilitate a meeting with soldiers/veterans and peace activists to address the painful alienation often existing between them at 4 p.m. Sunday November 22, 2009 above the Tea Party Bookshop, 210 Liberty Street N.E. Salem, OR.
Iconic Farm Worker Organizer to Speak in Salem Oct. 21
DOLORES HUERTA: The annual Salem Peace Lecture will celebrate its 20th year by presenting United Farm Worker union organizer Dolores Huerta on Wednesday, October 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University. Ms. Huerta will speak on “Immigration Reform and Farm Worker Justice.” The lecture is free and open to the public.
Are You Getting OPW’s Emails?
OREGON PEACEWORKS: OPW periodically sends out information about current events, OPW projects, new PeaceWorker postings, other groups’ projects, and more. If we have your email address, we have added it to our lists, but if we don’t, we can’t send you any of this great stuff.
Coming Soon: the Great Getaway Raffle
OREGON PEACEWORKS: Tickets for OPW’s popular Great Getaway Raffle will be available as soon as we secure all our great getaway packages. Watch your email for details.
Calendar
To offer calendar items, post them at www.oregonprogressivenetwork.org or email them to: updates@oregonpeaceworks.org before the 12th of the month for following month’s issue.
“If You’re Not Teaching Peace, What Are You Teaching?”Â
DARREN REILEY: This sign was carried by one of our Peace Village teachers at Eugene, Oregon’s annual March protest against the war in Iraq. The explicit, rhetorical question carries within it, naturally, several subtler, implicit ones. One of the main critiques suggested by this question is that “peace,” as a subject, philosophy, or even as a topic for class discussion, is rarely addressed in our public school system.
NPP Tallies Cost of War Through September 2009
Congress has appropriated another $84.8 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the remainder of the 2009 fiscal year ending September 30, 2009. The Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009, signed into law by President Obama on June 24, 2009, allocates $45.5 billion for war-related actions in Iraq and $39.4 billion to Afghanistan[1] [2].
Senate Rubber Stamps Army Increase on 93-1 Vote
JASON DITZ: In a 93-1 vote, the U.S. Senate has agreed to authorize a “temporary†increase of the size of the army by up to 30,000 additional troops. The vote appears to be little more than a rubber stamp approving an announcement by Defense Secretary Robert Gates about his intention to increase the military by at least 22,000. The bill only authorizes the increased size for the next three years and would leave making it permanent to a future vote.
The Incredible Shrinking Health Care Reform
NORMAN SOLOMON: Like soap in a rainstorm, “health care reform” is wasting away.
They’ve Got the Whole World in Their Hands
KEN McCORMACK: If we are to have peace, it must begin with the children.
Seeing Obama as Norwegians See Him
GEORGE LAKEY: I just returned from a research trip to Norway where the people I interviewed often brought up the topic of our new President. The first was Kristin Clemet, the director of a conservative think tank. “This spring on a delegation to Washington I was struck again,” she said, “by how different the political spectrum is in Norway from your country. Here, Obama would be on the right wing.” I checked her view with others — academics, politicians, activists all over the Norwegian spectrum — and all but one agreed. In Norwegian terms, our President’s positions are very conservative.
Letters to the Editor
This month’s letters to the Editor: 1) Vote With Your Dollars Against Chevron ; 2) Mountaintop Removal Protest Prompts Bail Money Request; 3) ACES Bill Too Watered Down to Support; and 4) Voice of the People? Not.
Now We See You, Now We Don’t: The Human Cost of Drone Attacks
KATHY KELLY: In early June, 2009, I was in the Shah Mansoor displaced persons camp in Pakistan, listening to one resident detail the carnage which had spurred his and his family’s flight there a mere 15 days earlier. Their city, Mingora, had come under massive aerial bombardment. He recalled harried efforts to bury corpses found on the roadside even as he and his neighbors tried to organize their families to flee the area.
Beyond the Yellow Ribbon: Hope for Returning Veterans
BILL SCHEURER: Major Tammy Duckworth hobbled to the podium on her own power – aided by prosthetic devices in both her legs and one arm. An Iraq War veteran who was severely injured in battle and now serves as Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs, she spoke of one of her comrades who arrived first on the scene after the helicopter she was piloting had been shot down with a rocket-propelled grenade.
Honduran President Zelaya Preaches Nonviolence to OAS
Inaugurating the recent OAS Assembly in San Pedro Sula, Honduaran President Manuel Zelaya spoke about nonviolence.
U.S. Troops Hiding in Iraqi Homes
DAVID SWANSON: A few words from U.S. troops in Iraq, all quoted in Chapter 1 of Dahr Jamail’s brilliant new book, The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Beltway Bulletin
PHIL CARVER: This month’s Beltway Bulletin includes: 1) Climate Bill Passes the House; 2) Global Warming Likely Worse than Forecast; and 3) Health Care Legislation.
Peace Village Children Empowered to Change the World
KEN McCORMACK: When Charles Busch, a Congregational minister, arrived in Lincoln City, Oregon, from Tombstone, Arizona, he was accustomed to reenactments of the glorious shootout at the famous O.K. Corral. Years later, however, the big community event in Lincoln City became Peace Village, whose 13th anniversary was celebrated last summer.
JROTC to Target Many More Schools
SAM DIENER: JROTC, a high school program to militarize youth in high schools, wants to invade hundreds more schools. It has already invaded almost 3,400. Congress passed a little-noticed measure in the 2009 National Defense Authorization bill to expand the number of JROTC schools to 3,700 by 2020. To do this, the military will have to open at least 45 new JROTC units per year. (Some schools drop the program each year, most often because of low student participation rates. In 2006, for example, Santa Barbara high school dropped its JROTC program due to high costs and low participation rates.
Peace Academy Replaces ROTC
MARY JOHNSTON-DE LEON: Chapter 54 of the Veterans for Peace (VFP) in Santa Barbara, California, is proud to announce the birth of a new entity at Santa Barbara High School: the Peace Academy. The new academy replaces the high school’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), which was closed down because of lack of enrollment. The counter-recruitment arm of the VFP chapter, which educates youth on military recruiting, had a lot to do with the closure. But because the JROTC filled a need for many under-served youth in our community, a gap was created by its dissolution.
Military Charter School Established in New Mexico
CHRISTINE STEELE: Twelve soldiers have been camped out for seven days under the baking desert sun at Firebase Reazin. They were up all night Tuesday defending the perimeter. They are hot, tired, sick of eating MREs. They miss the comforts of home: a hot shower, a bowl of cereal, the television.
Israeli Teens Break Law, Refuse to Serve, Explain Why
PEACEWORK MAGAZINE: In the spring of 2008, a group of high school seniors followed in the tradition of earlier teenaged Israeli conscientious objectors (traditionally referred to as the shministim) and publicly declared their refusal to serve in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) as required by law. Four women COs, signatories of the 2008 high school seniors’ refusal letter, have been sentenced to brief prison terms this fall, and may face further punishment. Others will be sentenced soon. For updates, visit the campaign’s Facebook page (search for “shministim”) or visit www.gush-shalom.org.
Coming to a Mall Near You: High Tech Recruiting
STUDENT PEACE ACTION NETWORK: “This is so cool! This is so cool,” the enthralled 13 year-old kept repeating as he squeezed rounds from his M-16, picking off “enemy combatants” while perched on a real Army Humvee. We’re in the new Army Experience Center in suburban Philadelphia and the young teen, who doesn’t look older than eleven, was obviously impressed with the Army’s killing machines. “I just came to the mall to skateboard in the skate park across the hall but everyone said this was pretty cool. I just had to try it and its great!”
Maryland Fails to Protect Students’ Privacy from Military
PAT ELDER: Maryland has failed to enact legislation to protect the privacy of students who take Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) in Maryland’s public schools.The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, (ASVAB) is the military’s entrance exam that is given to fresh recruits to determine their aptitude for various military occupations. The test is also used as a recruiting tool in 182 high schools throughout Maryland and in11, 900 schools across the country. The four-hour test is used by military recruiting services to gain valuable information on more than 600,000 high school students every year. In most cases, students take the test without parental knowledge or consent.
There is a Field
CHARLES BUSCH: Fields of Peace is a response to what is happening in today’s Global Village: the awareness of people throughout the world that they are part of an immense, intimate whole; and that to injure a neighbor is to injure oneself. Governments can’t respond to this; their understanding is subject to borders. It is our religions that know about oneness and the power of love; and it is out of the smallness of local congregations that this world change will happen.
Peace Teaching Tool Now Available
MICHAEL TROKAN: Rethinking Schools Press has announced the publication of a new book by nationally renowned teacher and writer Linda Christensen — Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-imagining the Language Arts Classroom. It combines concrete, hands-on advice with inspiration, hope and joy. As Christensen writes in her introduction, the book begins “with the non-negotiable belief that all students are capable of brilliance.”
Brief-ings
Brief insights: 1) No Longer Home of the WOPR; 2) What’s Happening to the Economy? and 3) George Carlin’s thoughts about the “American Dream”.
Text of U.S.-Russia Nuclear Understanding
Here is the actual text of the understanding between the U.S. and Russia. As you can see, there is a lot to be worked out, which I hear is supposed to be done by December. There may be a temporary understanding between the time START expires and when the Senate ratifies in the first quarter of next year. — Paul Kawika Martin, Peace Action.
What Has Prevented Nuclear War?
LAWRENCE S. WITTNER: One of the great questions of the modern world is: Why has nuclear war not occurred since 1945?
Global Civil Society Versus Planetary Annihilation: The Chronicle of Challenge
TOM H. HASTINGS: Lawrence S. Wittner embodies two roles to me. First, he is a first-rate academic historian, a scholar whose work defies what academicians call validity threats. That is a good thing, because he needs that in order to continue surviving in his second role that I find especially exemplary; he is a public scholar whose work challenges those who are in power and empowers “and challenges” those who work from the grassroots.
Perennial Plowshares Activist Jailed on Hiroshima Day
FR. CARL KABAT: Fr. Carl Kabat marked Hiroshima Day this year by slipping into a Colorado missile silo and hammering on a nuclear weapon, for which he was arrested. He entered the site at about 8:30 a.m. By 8:34 he had hung banners and begun to symbolically disarm the missile. Security forces moved in at 8:57. This is his statement:
Burrito Booth Generates Fun, Dollars
PETER BERGEL: OPW’s annual Burrito Booth fundraiser at the Salem Art Fair generated about $3,500 for OPW projects as well as giving some 60-70 volunteers a great chance to work together in a delightful, peaceful atmosphere serving organic vegetarian burritos to hungry fairgoers.
Walkers, Coastal Contacts Needed for Climate Crisis Walk
A group of dedicated people is organizing a 35-day walk from Coos Bay to Portland, via Astoria — a total of 350 miles at an average pace of ten miles a day. Walkers and organizers will meet with local residents along the route to talk about the threat of rising sea level due to global warming.
Corvallis Peace Fair to Mark International Day of Peace
CHARLES NEWLIN: The United Nations’ International Day of Peace – celebrated every year on September 21 – is a global holiday when individuals, communities, nations and governments highlight efforts to end conflict and promote peace. Established by U.N. resolution in 1982, “Peace Day” has grown to include millions of people around the world who participate in all kinds of events, large and small (www.internationaldayofpeace.org).
Calendar
To offer calendar items, post them at www.oregonprogressivenetwork.org or email them to: updates@oregonpeaceworks.org before the 12th of the month for following month’s issue.
A Weaver’s Welcome: Eyewitness Report from Pakistan
KATHY KELLY: Pakistan needs help on a much larger scale. The U.S. has pledged 100 million dollars toward relief efforts. Two other disclosures about money budgeted for Pakistan should be considered in light of the unbearable burdens borne by close to two million new refugees.
DeFazio Explains Why He Voted for More War Funds
CONGRESSMAN PETER DEFAZIO: Thank you for contacting me about the 2009 Iraq/Afghanistan Defense Supplemental Appropriations bill. This bill provides $96.7 billion, 87% of which would be to cover costs relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for the rest of this fiscal year. I voted for these funds because I chose to give President Obama time to implement his Afghanistan strategy and withdraw troops from Iraq. But it was not an easy decision.
Response to DeFazio on the Supplemental
REBECCA GRIFFIN: Here in Oregon, it’s instructive to look at Rep. Peter DeFazio’s letter to his constituents explaining his decision to vote in favor of more than $90 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. DeFazio is reliably progressive on foreign policy, and is likely to be an ally if we can address the concerns he and other members of Congress have about Afghanistan policy.
Afghanistan: the March of Folly Continues
NORMAN SOLOMON: To understand what’s up with President Obama as he escalates the war in Afghanistan, there may be no better place to look than a book published 25 years ago.
What are our Fireworks Celebrating?
KEN McCORMACK: The Fourth of July is when “We, the people,†light up the sky with conspicuous consumption — blowing up millions of dollars because it’s pretty. Sometimes, it seems as though we are indeed only killer apes, as the anthropologist said, whose salient feature is a love of things that go “bang.” But the founders thought differently. They aimed their fireworks at bad government, at the “system” that enslaves the rest of us. So what are we celebrating? The trillions of our dollars transferred to the Power Elite in order to save their country?
President Obama: Change Your Afghanistan Plans
CHARLES BUSCH: The purpose of this letter is to ask you to change the plans you have announced for increasing the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
Army Chief of Staff Wants to Keep U.S. Combat Troops in Iraq for 10 More Years
TOM ANDREWS: Comments on May 27th by Army Chief of Staff General George Casey that the Pentagon needs to begin planning to leave U.S. combat troops in Iraq for another decade stand in direct conflict with the current Status of Forces Agreement between our two countries, the stated policy of President Obama and the wishes of an overwhelming majority of American and Iraqi citizens.
Why Would Anyone Oppose Torture?
DAVID SWANSON: Someone recently asked if I could please explain to him why anybody would oppose torture. After all, we defend killing in wars, so why not defend torture? Wouldn’t I torture to save my kidnapped child?
Wexler: We’re on the Road to Stopping Torture
CONGRESSMAN ROBERT WEXLER: On May 14th, I participated in Judiciary Committee hearings where Attorney General Eric Holder said definitively: “If somebody was tortured to death, clearly a crime would have occurred.” My confidence in our Justice Department and American justice system was redeemed today while watching and listening to Attorney General Holder. There is now no doubt we are on the proper road toward re-establishing a nation that protects our citizens and respects human rights.