Vote for the Soldier Killer

From today's GI Special/Traveling Soldier comes this passionate reminder of what we have to lose if you vote for McCain.

By Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, purple heart, Veterans For Peace 50 Michigan, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan

Vote For The Soldier Killer

Vote for the Soldier killer on the black and white ballot
vote for the corporations the bloody war profiteers
vote for an empty wallet a dead billfold and purse
vote for those who gave all the money away on wall street
vote for those who slaughtered and IED-ed your 401 k’s
vote for the change left in your pocket
after you payed all the bills, vote for your credit cards
while the Dow jumps around like it is on crystal meth
the hell with the Soldiers so far away
who gives a damn if they die, it’s every man for himself now
gas prices down just before elections what about that
vote for a job in the long voting lines, vote for your next meal
but the only ones hiring are the army the navy
the air force and marines
but the Soldiers are just Workers in uniforms
that die faster than a slow death like the cancer back home
Factories are broke like old beat up cars
sitting in the weeds with flat tires all around
dead carp rot in a pond by another closed shop
like a coffin with jagged windows
that stare back like black stars from the street
gangs rule the night because the cops are all gone
street lights shot out to sell drugs
houses burn down because the firefighters
are standing in an unemployment line in an America gone bad
living hand to mouth but who gives a damn
about the people in the streets
who gives a damn about winter while the banks
mortgage companies now own all of these homes that the people
used to live in with plywood on the windows
plywood on the doors, lawns are now three feet high
Vote for the home killers, vote for no jobs
on the black and white ballot
who cares if Bush and the white collar gangs
run off after shaking the piggie banks up side down
until the last trillion fell out
leaving the collapse of a country, collapse of a world behind
Garbage in the streets shots fired in the night
4 hours of electricity in Baghdad
Vote for more war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and...

Do you get it? What is the moral imperative? Step up to the plate!

Pakistan War Launched on 9/11

It's just a matter of time before the mainstream media start to use the words "Pakistan War." Just like Afghanistan and Iraq, we will be busy with our lives and yet feel a vague discomfort. Someday I hope we become conscious of the suffering of innocent people, and put an end to it.
September 11, 2008
BUSH SAID TO GIVE ORDERS ALLOWING RAIDS IN PAKISTAN
By ERIC SCHMITT AND MARK MAZZETTI
President Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the prior approval of the Pakistani government, according to senior American officials.
The classified orders signal a watershed [my bold] for the Bush administration after nearly seven years of trying to work with Pakistan to combat the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and after months of high-level stalemate about how to challenge the militants' increasingly secure base in Pakistan's tribal areas.
American officials say that they will notify Pakistan when they conduct limited ground attacks like the Special Operations raid last Wednesday in a Pakistani village near the Afghanistan border, but that they will not ask for its permission.
''The situation in the tribal areas is not tolerable,'' said a senior American official who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the missions. ''We have to be more assertive. Orders have been issued.''
[...] Pakistan's top army officer said Wednesday that his forces would not tolerate American incursions [my bold] like the one that took place last week and that the army would defend the country's sovereignty ''at all costs.''
It is unclear precisely what legal authorities the United States has invoked to conduct even limited ground raids in a friendly country. A second senior American official said that the Pakistani government had privately assented to the general concept of limited ground assaults by Special Operations forces against significant militant targets, but that it did not approve each mission.
The official did not say which members of the government gave their approval.
[…] Details about last week's commando operation have emerged that indicate the mission was more intrusive [my bold] than had previously been known.
According to two American officials briefed on the raid, it involved more than two dozen members of the Navy Seals who spent several hours on the ground and killed about two dozen suspected Qaeda fighters in what now appeared to have been a planned attack against militants who had been conducting attacks against an American forward operating base across the border in Afghanistan.
Supported by an AC-130 gunship, the Special Operations forces were whisked away by helicopters after completing the mission.
[…] Pakistan's government has asserted that last week's raid achieved little except killing civilians and stoking anti-Americanism in the tribal areas.
''Unilateral action by the American forces does not help the war against terror because it only enrages public opinion,'' said Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, during a speech on Friday. ''In this particular incident, nothing was gained by the action of the troops.''
As an alternative to American ground operations, some Pakistani officials have made clear that they prefer the C.I.A.'s Predator aircraft, operating from the skies, as a method of killing Qaeda operatives. The C.I.A. for the most part has coordinated with Pakistan's government before and after it has launched missiles from the drone. On Monday, a Predator strike in North Waziristan killed several Arab Qaeda operatives.
[…] Spokesmen for the White House, the Defense Department and the C.I.A. declined to comment on Wednesday about the new orders. Some senior Congressional officials have received briefings on the new authorities. A spokeswoman for Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who leads the Armed Services Committee, declined to comment.
[…] The commando raid last week and an increasing number of recent missile strikes are part of a more aggressive overall American campaign in the border region aimed at intensifying attacks on Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the waning months of the Bush administration, [my bold] with less than two months to go before November elections.
State Department officials, as well as some within the National Security Council, have expressed concern about any Special Operations missions that could be carried out without the approval of the American ambassador in Islamabad.
The months-long delay in approving ground missions created intense frustration inside the military's Special Operations community, which believed that the Bush administration was holding back as the Qaeda safe haven inside Pakistan became more secure for militants.
The stepped-up campaign inside Pakistan comes at a time when American-Pakistani relations have been fraying, and when anger is increasing within American intelligence agencies about ties between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, known as the ISI, and militants in the tribal areas.
Analysts at the C.I.A. and other American spy and security agencies believe not only that the bombing of India's embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in July by militants was aided by ISI operatives, but also that the highest levels of Pakistan's security apparatus -- including the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani -- had knowledge of the plot.
''It's very difficult to imagine he was not aware,'' a senior American official said of General Kayani. […]
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E7DD163EF932A2575AC0A96E9C8B63&fta=y

No Time Out for the Iraqi People

In another time and place, this guy was a Maverick, too.

I like this brief essay, but also must add that we consider the needs of the innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and any other country we are bombing and/or intimidating into submission to full spectrum dominance.
Our Troops Don't Get a Time-Out for the Financial Crisis
Jon Soltz Posted September 24, 2008 05:56 PM (EST)
So, because there's a financial crisis, Senator McCain cannot take 90 minutes to address how he will face challenges around the world, including how and when he will send American troops to fight, and possibly die.
Wow. Troops would sure love that luxury.
Unfortunately, though, insurgents in Iraq don't stop shooting at us, or setting IEDs, because our Commander in Chief needs a breather to figure out Wall Street.
Al Qaeda in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region don't send our troops notes that read, "Hey, I hear you guys are tied up with Wall Street. Your President needs to concentrate on other things, so we'll give you a break. So, to make things easier on you, here's our coordinates."
Nor do our troops get a few days to figure out how to hold onto an area we've secured, if there's an unexpected attack. Sometimes we need to deal with multiple flare-ups at once in any warzone. We'd sure love a time-out, but sadly, the world isn't such a nice place that it gives us that kind of pity.
When you're Commander in Chief, I don't think there'd be a worse signal to send to our troops in harm's way than to say, "Hey, hold on guys. I know you're getting killed over there, but I have to get a time-out here to deal with Wall Street."
If troops need to multi-task without a break, is it so wrong that we demand that a potential President-in-waiting prove that he can manage a financial crisis, and still address crises around the world for 90 minutes? And, if a potential President-to-be can't manage that, is it wrong to think that maybe he ought not just suspend a debate and the campaign, but move aside and get out of the race?
Just something to think about.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-soltz/our-troops-dont-get-a-tim_b_129055.html

FREEZE on July 10th

Please forward widely.

Dear Friends,
Responding to the renewed threats of a U.S./Israeli attack on Iran before President Bush leaves office, United for Peace and Justice calls for actions to speak out against any U.S./Israeli military attack on Iran.
U.S. officials say Israel is mounting a "full court press" to get the Bush administration to strike Iran's nuclear complex, CBS News reports. In The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh reports that congressional leaders agreed last year to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran. New York Newsday and the Seattle-Post Intelligencer warn that Congress is considering a resolution promoted by AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) that would effectively endorse a naval blockade of Iran, an act of war.
Join NYC-UFPJ and other NYC groups on Thursday for a FREEZE in Grand Central Station. This dramatic action was used on the 5th anniversary of the war in Union Station in Washington, DC and drew a great deal of attention. At 5:00 PM, we will gather at Lexington and 42nd Street. At 5:30, we will enter Grand Central, spread out walking and talking casually and then at the appointed time, everyone will freeze and stand still and silent for 5 minutes. If you have "Peace with Iran" or "We Not Be Silent" t-shirts, we encourage you to wear them and we will have some for sale that day. We will also have Peace with Iran signs that can be pinned to your shirts. (No signs are allowed in Grand Central). To particpate, we ask that you register so that we know how many people to expect.

In addition to this action, we encourage all to take part in the National Days of Coordinated Action against war with Iran on July 19-21 that is being called for by United for Peace and Justice. Voices in the U.S. calling for real diplomacy and negotiations with Iran are being silenced and we help to bring them to light. Few people in this country know Iran has an offer on the table for comprehensive negotiations with the United States that could resolve the nuclear stand-off and other issues. Nor do they know that talks with Iran without preconditions are supported by independent experts like Thomas Pickering, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN during the first Bush administration.
To counter the renewed threats of military action, UFPJ is calling for actions around the country

---

Help us continue to do this critical work:

Make a donation to UFPJ today.

UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
PO Box 607; Times Square Station; New York, NY 10108
To subscribe, visit www.unitedforpeace.org/email

August 2 Action to Stop War on Iran NOW!

STOP WAR on IRAN !
An Attack could be Imminent
We Can’t Afford to Wait
Take It to the Streets This Summer
U.S. out of Iraq
Money for human needs, not war!
It is with grave concern that we observe the growing threat of a new U.S. war--this time against the people of Iran.
The media is filled with reports of an alleged nuclear threat posed by Iran and the assumed need for the U.S. to take military action. These reports remind us of the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" reports issued in the months leading up to the war on Iraq.

>> view full statement and signers In Farsi En Español
An Emergency Call to Action
August 2

Demos in NYC and across the country to

STOP WAR ON IRAN!
Read the Call Endorse List a local action
EMAIL BUSH, CHENEY, HALLIBURTON & PELOSI - No War on Iran!
DONATE -Help organize NOW to Stop War on Iran
http://stopwaroniran.org/

Ban Cluster Bombs Now!

From our friends at Avaaz.org, an appeal to pressure all governments to stop producing and using cluster bombs. Please take a moment to view the video and sign their petition. Perhaps now is the time to finally see an end to this abomination.
Dear Friends:
Final negotiations are underway right now in Dublin, Ireland on a treaty to ban cluster bombs. Arms manufacturers are pushing governments to riddle the treaty with loopholes and delays -- and the final text will be decided in the next 72 hours.
Cluster munitions don't just kill during war. They scatter small, shiny, unexploded "bomblets" on the ground that hold their deadly charge for years. When children pick them up, they are often maimed or killed. Most governments agree that these weapons should be outlawed, but back-room pressure is rising to undercut a strong ban.
If enough of us act before the treaty is signed on Friday, we can drown out the weapons merchants and convince our governments to ban cluster bombs once and for all. Click below to send a message, and then forward this email to friends and family: http://www.avaaz.org/en/ban_cluster_munitions/13.php?cl=91927835
The treaty to ban cluster munitions is the result of an inspiring, years-long campaign by citizens from around the world -- with victims and survivors of cluster bombs leading the way. One spokesman for the effort, Branislav Kapetanovic, lost his hands, legs, and some of his hearing and eyesight in a cluster-bomb explosion in his native Serbia. He is now in Dublin, pushing for the treaty -- but he took a moment to sent this message to the Avaaz community (you can see a video on the the Avaaz site):
http://www.avaaz.org/en/ban_cluster_munitions/14.php?cl=91927835 http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/
And here are some news articles about the state of the negotiations:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL2629379720080526 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/26/news/Ireland-Cluster-Bombs.php
BAN CLUSTER BOMBS NOW!
Cluster munitions kill children and other civilians long after wars are over--and this week, we have a chance to ban them. 116 countries are in the final stages of negotiation on a cluster bomb ban -- but some are trying to water down the treaty with loopholes, exceptions, and delays.
Our information is that the delegations obstructing a strong treaty in the last few days include the UK, France, Germany, South Africa, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland, so messages to these leaders will be particularly valuable. [my bold] A worldwide outcry for a strong treaty is needed now. The treaty will be signed Thursday--so add your voice by using the tool below to send a message to government leaders:
To see if your country makes, stockpiles, or uses cluster bombs, click here.
Or click here to see a video message from a cluster bomb victim.
Send your message now!
http://www.avaaz.org/en/ban_cluster_munitions/14.php?cl=91927835

What Are They Fighting For?

The ever wonderful Chris Floyd points out the decrepitude of "rules of engagement" during war.
Shoot, Kill, Lie, Repeat: America's New Moral Universe
Written by Chris Floyd Friday, 09 May 2008
Tell me that this doesn't sound like something out of a history of Nazi tactics in World War II:

The rules [of engagement]t explicitly allowed the killing of unarmed Iraqis under certain circumstances...Specifically, the snipers were allowed to shoot unarmed people running away from explosions or firefights....Of course, it's not unusual for innocent people to run from explosions.
Didier, who has since been promoted to captain, said that "if that individual makes contact with you and then breaks contact of their own accord and disarms themselves while they are breaking contact, they are still an engageable target because they are not wounded, nor did they surrender." He explained, "They are only breaking contact so that they can engage coalition forces at a later time." In court, Sgt. Anthony Murphy, one of the snipers who was responsible for a questionable kill, testified that he interpreted this order about breaking contact so they can engage at a later time as: "Engage fleeing local nationals without weapons."

In other words, if an innocent, unarmed Iraqi runs away to seek safety from a suicide bombing, a missile attack or a gunfight — which any human being would instinctively do — then he is fair game to be killed by an American sniper.
The excerpt above comes from a story in Salon.com, "Killing by the Numbers," about an "elite" U.S. sniper squad that murdered a captured, unarmed civilian in cold blood. A more detailed excerpt follows below, but I'd like to deal briefly with one ancillary aspect first.
The story expands to talk more generally about the sniper program in Iraq, and is careful — overly careful — to emphasize that the snipers responsible for so many "questionable kills" are operating in very stressful conditions: sleep-deprived, sweltering in deadly heat, surrounded by potential "hostiles," at constant risk of attack. All true, of course, but it prompts this simple question: What the hell are they doing there in the first place? Why are they squatting and sweltering in "hides" in a foreign land, looking to kill people who never attacked the United States?
Yes, it is entirely understandable that a soldier subjected to nerve-wracking, physically tormenting conditions might fail to act with reason, patience, judgement and prudence. But is this supposed to be some kind of excuse for crimes committed within the context of a larger crime: a war of aggression, the military invasion and occupation of a foreign country without any provocation? Surely many of the Nazi atrocities were committed by men under unbearable mental and physical strain as well. So what? Were they absolved of their crimes? And more importantly — were their leaders absolved for instigating the larger crime that engendered these atrocities?
For as the story also shows, the "questionable kills" by American snipers derive largely from the murderous "rules of engagement" they are given by their superiors — and by the anxiety of their officers to produce big "kill numbers" to appease the bloodlust — and PR needs — of the thugs in the White House and their "counterinsurgency genius," David Petraeus. [...]
A detailed recount of another two other incidences follow, but I'd rather return to the theme that people suffer in war, all people, soldiers and citizens alike.
[...] It goes without saying that the officers who put these men in this situation — not to mention the civilian "leaders" in Washington who instigated the mass murder in Iraq — suffered not the slightest adverse consequence of this crime, for which they bear the primary responsibility.
[...] When even the scapegoats escape justice, what possible hope can there be that the perpetrators and abettors of the Nazi-like war crime in Iraq will ever pay the price — or even suffer the slightest trouble — for their monstrous outrage?
http://atlanticfreepress.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3898&Itemid=81
Bravo, Chris, and write on, please!

NYC Lawyers for May Day

NYCLAW Support for ILWU May Day
Antiwar Work Stoppage
NYCLAW salutes:
The ILWU's Pacific Coast May Day
Shutdown to Stop the War in Iraq and Afghanistan By New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
It will take a mutiny to end this war. The ILWU has a proud tradition of work stoppages to protest South African apartheid and U.S. death squads in Central America. Your May Day action shows how workers -- both in and out of uniform -- have the collective power to end this war, bring the troops home now, and get the U.S. out of the Middle East.
From the beginning, Bush & Co. have sought to justify this war for oil and empire with phony claims about "fighting terrorism," finding "weapons of mass destruction," and spreading "democracy." Despite overwhelming rejection of its policies at the polls, the administration has steadily escalated its war in the Middle East.
This has meant not only ordering thousands more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, but also arming and financing Israel's war on Lebanon and its increasingly brutal slow-genocide of the Palestinians, launching a proxy invasion of Somalia, bombing Pakistan, and threatening to attack Iran.
As in all such wars, ordinary working people pay the price. In Iraq and Afghanistan, this war has killed more than a million people, caused more than 50,000 G.I. casualties, promoted civil war, cost at least $1.2 trillion and pushed the economy into crisis — with no end in sight.
At home, the administration continues to attack civil liberties, the Arab-Muslim community, undocumented immigrants, Katrina refugees, people of color and labor.
Yet this is a bipartisan war. Congressional Democrats -- including senators Clinton and Obama -- have given Bush every penny he has asked for. They have refused to filibuster war spending (which requires only 41 Senate votes) and won't even promise to get out by the end of the next presidential term in 2013. At most, they call for "redeployment" to maintain U.S. control of the region.
A generation ago, a war ended when Vietnamese resistance and the Black freedom movement ignited a grassroots working class mutiny in the military, auto plants, ghettos and barrios, against what Martin Luther King Jr. accurately called "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today . . . my own government."
It will take a similar mutiny to end this war. The ILWU has a proud tradition of work stoppages to protest South African apartheid and U.S. death squads in Central America. Your May Day action shows how workers -- both in and out of uniform -- have the collective power to end this war, bring the troops home now, and get the U.S. out of the Middle East.
Issued by NYCLAW Co-Conveners
(Other affiliations listed for identification only): Larry Adams, Former President, NPMHU Local 300, Michael Letwin, Former President, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys, Brenda Stokely, Former President, AFSCME DC 1707; N.E. Regional Coordinator, Million, Worker March Movement
By New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW) nyclaw01@gmail.com

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/04/96527.html

"This is My First Time Out of Gaza"

Gaza's falling wall changes Middle East map for ever
The tide of humans pouring over the frontier from Gaza into Egypt for days has now become a vast convoy of carts, cars and lorries. Peter Beaumont joined the jubilant throng who watched as the borders of a conflict that has lasted for generations were crossed.
The Observer, Sunday January 27, 2008
They came and went in lorries and gas tankers, in flatbed trucks loaded with cattle and sheep, in coaches and mini-buses, loaded by the dozen in the backs of trucks, all shuttling across Gaza's southern border. Four days ago they went on foot like refugees, but yesterday for the first time the trucks drove through and it felt like an unstoppable momentum had been reached.
[...] Ameera, 24, texts her husband to ask if there is anything he wants brought back from Egypt. 'Oh!', she says suddenly in a quiet, happy voice, surveying a pretty vista of open fields, without walls or boundaries that cannot be crossed without risk. 'This is my first time out of Gaza.' http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2247566,00.html
Here are two pictures with different stories. One shows an orderly cue of cars waiting to cross the border, the other shows chaos and fear. Below is another side of a day in Gaza.

Bizarre Bedfellow

Holy crap! I never dreamed I'd be on the same side of anything with KKK & RRR King DAVID DUKE, but here he is, screaming to his masses for the impeachment of our imperial president. I had a slight moral crises over whether or not to put his link up, lest I appear to promote the douche bag in anyway, but decided that people who visit my site are unlikely to be “tempted” into his camp, or to misconstrue my intention. But I refuse to give the bastard any more time or energy. So, here’s the latest prominent citizen calling for impeachment:

David Duke says:

Impeach George Bush!

Impeach Him Now!
The consensus of the sixteen top U.S. Government intelligence agencies is that Iran has not pursued any program to build an atomic bomb for at least the last five years. This is in the face of President Bush and countless politicians and media pundits over the last 5 years making repeated threats of possible war, even nuclear strikes against Iran, for a weapon’s program that they knew didn’t even exist!
http://www.davidduke.com/general/david-duke-says-impeach-george-bush-impeach-him-now_3198.html