Iraq Town Hall Meeting Will Be Web Cast!

Every participant in this event has valuable information to share. I urge you to log in or if you're in Neu Yawk, get to Town Hall in NYC!

True Crimes
The Untold Story Behind the Devastation of Iraq
June 3, 2008

LIVE WEBCAST!

7:00 PM

On June 3, 2008, join bestselling author JEREMY SCAHILL, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer
CHRIS HEDGES, journalist LAILA AL-ARIAN, and the New Yorker's SEYMOUR HERSH, as they go behind the headlines to tell the untold story of the occupation of Iraq, the daily plight of Iraqi civilians, and the ongoing role of private mercenaries in America's "War on Terror."
The event is a dual book launch for COLLATERAL DAMAGE: AMERICA'S WAR AGAINST IRAQI CIVILIANS by Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian, and the updated paperback edition of BLACKWATER: THE RISE OF THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL MERCENARY ARMY by Jeremy Scahill.
The conversation will be followed by audience questions and a book signing.
Tickets are available for the event at the Town Hall Box Office, 123 W. 43rd St., New York City (www.the-townhall-nyc.org / 212-997-6661) or at Ticketmaster (212-307-4100/ www.ticketmaster.com)
Cosponsored by The Nation, Public Concern Foundation, Democracy Now!, The Indypendent, CERSC, Democrats.com, Peace Action New York, Alternet, Tricycle, The Armenian National Committee, Center for Constitutional Rights, and Veterans for Common Sense.
http://ccrjustice.org/live-webcast-true-crimes

Blackwater Rapes Self-Determination

That these scum suckers consider themselves Christians is the most amazing thing. Eric Prince wants to ram his "vocational" school down the throat of San Diego, no matter what the residents think, then he'll preach "values." I guess Prince & Co think they are good citizens, too!

ACTION ALERT! Tue, 27 May 2008

Do Not Allow Blackwater to Bully the City of San Diego
On May 20 2008 in response to the City of San Diego denying the Blackwater mercenary company occupancy of their proposed new training center in Otay Mesa, Blackwater told the San Diego City Council "If we do not hear from you by close of business Friday, we will be forced to consider taking other steps to enforce and protect Blackwater’s rights" after stating that it was their right to train people in counter insurgency operations whether the city and the people want them here or not.
Now we know, on May 27 Blackwater filed suit against the City of San Diego.
BLACKWATER WORLDWIDE SUES CITY OF SAN DIEGO

Council Member Ben Hueso alerted us at today's City Council meeting that Blackwater Worldwide has filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego. They want to restrain the City from withholding their occupancy permit on a permanent basis, so they can open their "vocational school" on June 2. In an interview with KPBS' Amitra Sharma, Blackwater representative Brian Bonfiglio charged that the city is "trying to curry favor with activists." WE NEED YOU TO PLEASE WRITE TO THE CITY COUNCIL, CITY ATTORNEY MIKE AGUIRRE AND MAYOR SANDERS IMMEDIATELY asking them to stand firm and not let Blackwater bully its way into San Diego!
Please go to http://www.prcsd.org/ and Click on the Red Action alert; this will take you to our No Mercenaries page where you can:
1. Read Blackwater's complaint against the City (in the Potrero/San Diego column)
2. Link to Amitra Sharma's story on KPBS Radio (in the Electronic Media column)
3. Link to the e-mail addresses of city officials (in the Potrero/San Diego column)
4. Read about the Grand Jury probe into Blackwater shootings today in Washington, D.C. where at least 3 Iraqis testified about the September 17, 2007 shooting in Bagdad's Nisour Square (Mercenary News column) The lawsuit demonstrates just what Blackwater is really about--profiting from war, social unrest and suffering at any cost. It is outrageous that Blackwater is using taxpayer dollars--i.e., their ill-gained profits--to force itself on San Diego. Citizens in San Diego and the City are already suffering from hard economic times and suing the city is another theft of taxpayer money. Blackwater also says that denying them their occupancy is a violation of their Constitutional rights and that they are being treated unfairly! Since when does Blackwater play by the rules?

Let the City know that we don't want Blackwater here under any circumstances.

Blackwater's suit will be heard some time this week in Federal Court; when we find out details--day, time--we'll let you know.
Carol Jahnkow, Director, Peace Resource Center of San Diego http://www.prcsd.org/
For the really wonky & lawyers, go here to read the complaint in pdf format: http://www.prcsd.org/mercs.html

Christ Killers, Pt. 2

Here is a different site which is dedicated to analyzing the images which are promoted to manipulate our thoughts:
No Caption Needed is a book and a blog, each dedicated to discussion of the role that photojournalism and other visual practices play in a vital democratic society. No caption needed, but many are provided.
…Blackwater, Worldwide, formerly Blackwater, USA—and the change of name is notable in an age of empire and globalization—is a “private contractor” with multi-billion dollar government contracts to train U.S. military and paramilitary personnel and to provide independent security forces who serve, in Prince’s words, as “gap fillers” with the “skills the U.S. government needs to operate domestically and abroad.
“Gap fillers” is a euphemism for “private armies” or “mercenaries,” terms that Prince steadfastly rejects. But there can be little question as to what Blackwater imagines its continuing “mission” to be, as indicated in the poster titled “The MISSION Continues,” available for purchase at the Blackwater Proshop for $15.00…
…the appeal here is not just to an action narrative driven by an adolescent attraction to pyrotechnics, but to a visual aesthetic of color, angle of view, background and gesture that draws directly from the lucrative, fantasy world of single-shooter video games such as Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.
…what should really draw our attention is an increasingly normative culture of war that fuels and enables a world in which entities like Blackwater can prosper as they give new meaning to phrases like “Playground of Destruction,” or in which the fantasy that “global stability” can be accomplished by “gap fillers” is anything more than a surrealistic “field of dreams.” And that is something we all share a responsibility for.
http://www.nocaptionneeded.com/?cat=9