Peace and War

By David Swanson

Congressman David Obey (D., Wis.) is the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He's in charge of spending our money. For years he spent it on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq without any resistance.  Until last October, Obey maintained that spending hundreds of billions of our dollars on wars was something he just had no choice about.

By David Swanson

Would the United States military lie about how four Marines were killed? Would abuse continue at Abu Ghraib after the scandal exploded? Any soldier you talk to has a story you may not want to hear. I recently had occasion to speak with two that were particularly troubling.

Part I: Snipers Dead in Ramadi:

Here's a military report from August 2006 on how four Marines died in Iraq in 2004. Christian Lowe, a Marine Corps Times staff writer, tells us:

"It was supposed to be a mission like many they had done in Iraq. Ride the Humvees to a position at a building abutting a busy street in Ramadi. Relieve the four Marines on the roof there. . . .

By David Swanson

Tom Hayden wants peace, but he's sincerely mistaken about how to get it. He claims that Wednesday's unsuccessful vote to end the war in Afghanistan makes ending the war less likely, and that the way to end the war is to pass a bill that would then have to pass the Senate and the President, a bill requiring an exit strategy, any exit strategy -- it could be "redeployment" to Iran in 2038 or anything else.

By David Swanson

Sixty-five congress members, including 60 Democrats and 5 Republicans, voted to end the occupation of Afghanistan on Wednesday. But 356 congress members, including 189 Democrats and 167 Republicans voted to keep the war going. The vote followed three hours of debate created by Congressman Dennis Kucinich's introduction of a privileged resolution.

Go here and join in:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/afghanliveblog

By David Swanson

I haven't read Karl Rove's book and don't plan to, but this is what I gather from those who have.

Despite serving on the White House Iraq Group and lying about the war, Rove claims everyone was careful not to overstate or exaggerate.

Despite having routinely told Fox News what the news would be, Rove now blames himself for not being aggressive enough in pushing his lies into the media.

Despite having pushed WMD lies after settling on that as the best approach to creating an already determined war, Rove now pretends that without the WMDs (or belief in them) even Bush wouldn't have wanted to go to war.

Despite exposure of lies tying Iraq to 9-11, Rove is still claiming Iraq-Al Qaeda ties in the book.

By David Swanson

The tea and coffee parties have cornered the market on vacuous meanness and niceness, respectively.  But brownbagging is where the substance and sustenance are.  Every third Wednesday of the month, those who want war defunded and everything useful funded are bringing brown bag lunches to vigil at their congress member's local office.  This month that means March 17th, St. Patrick's Day.  And that means more than food: Kicking off the Green Beer Party.

By David Swanson

At the first of the year, a story hit the news about US-led troops executing 8 handcuffed kids in Afghanistan. I blogged about it. The outrage was tremendous. How dare I comment on such atrocious reporting? Didn't I know the president was now a Democrat and wars were tools of peace? Surely I was just making it all up.

So, I blogged again, citing all the sources of information. Of course, I couldn't know what happened, but the grounds for an investigation were overwhelming. Now Dave Lindorff reports on his efforts to investigate further. And you know how many of those outraged liberals who wanted to better verify the facts have lifted their little finger to look into the matter at all? How many investigations have been conducted or reports produced? How many individuals subpoenaed or prosecuted?

The answer is a measure of what's left of our national decency: ZERO.

By David Swanson

Tomorrow, Thursday, March 4, Congressman Dennis Kucinich plans to introduce a privileged resolution to end the Afghan War. The resolution requires that the House debate, within the next week, the continuing war in Afghanistan, now the second longest war in American history.

By David Swanson

One of the most unusual books and far-and-away the saddest I have ever read is James Douglass's "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters." This is the best documented account ever produced of why and how the CIA assassinated John F. Kennedy. That the CIA did this is beyond dispute, and that the first President Bush was involved is well established by Russ Baker's book "Family of Secrets." What separates Douglass's book from the pack is his account of how Kennedy lived his final months, the actions he took that turned the CIA against him but saved the world from a nuclear holocaust and -- had he lived -- would probably have avoided the Vietnam War and brought the Cold War to a swift and peaceful conclusion.

By David Swanson

On Friday afternoon, I posted the following announcment online:

CONTEST: Obama Calls War on Iraq "A New Dawn" -- What Do You Call It? (Limit 8 Words)

I'll start the entries:
Operation Funnel Unlimited Cash to Killing (OFUCK)

The winner will be announced on an aircraft carrier with a banner! Plus job offer possible for video editing work to insert "rename" in place of "end" in campaign speeches.

Winner gets signed copy of Daybreak, latest issue of Humanist magazine, a bucket of snow, and anything else I can find.

**

By David Swanson

I don't think I have any choice but to help stimulate the economy by hiring a lawyer.

Whoever owns George Orwell's estate better jump on this as well.

Iraq War To Be Rebranded 'Operation New Dawn'
By Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's administration plans to rebrand its military operation in Iraq "Operation New Dawn," beginning September 1, a Pentagon memorandum shows.

The memo, signed by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, shows the Pentagon approving a request to switch the name of the US military effort in Iraq from its current designation -- "Operation Iraqi Freedom."

"The request... is approved to take effect 1 September 2010, coinciding with the change of mission for US forces in Iraq.

By David Swanson

I recently blogged on the conclusive evidence that Dick Cheney has committed felonies. In response bewildered Americans asked why he wasn't being prosecuted or investigated.

But the reasons are public knowledge: Obama is continuing the crimes. Obama controls the Department of Justice. Obama controls the Congress.

If I had been paying attention, I would have noted that the day before I posted that blog Obama's press secretary committed one of the crimes of which I was accusing Cheney.

An article of impeachment introduced in 2007 against Cheney read in part:

By David Swanson

At http://defundwar.org citizen activists are constantly updating a spreadsheet tracking the positions of their congress members on voting to fund more war.

Vernon Huffman recently posted this report:
"In his recent town hall, Rep. Schrader (D-OR) said he would vote against funding the war in Afghanistan."

Leah Bolger posted this one:
"I have spoken with Congressman Schrader several times about pledging to defund the wars, HR 3699, etc. He has said repeatedly (most recently during a town hall meeting in Corvallis Oregon on Jan 30th, 2010) that he will not vote for funding to escalate troops in Afghanistan. He has also repeatedly declined to sign on as a co-sponsor of HR 3699, but I think he could still be persuaded. He is on the House Budget Committee."

This makes Schrader the 14th member of the U.S. House of Representatives listed at http://defundwar.org who has publicly committed to voting No on the next $33 billion for wars.

In normal circumstances, we would need to raise that number to 218 for Congress to reflect the will of the public and the expressed "opposition" to the wars by over 100 congress members. If, as reported, the congressional leadership includes the moving of Guantanamo's death camp to Illinois in the same bill, then we will only need 40 Democrats to vote against the war funding, because all of the Republicans will almost certainly vote No.

A group of 14 members could move this forward if any of them would take the additional step of publicly urging their colleagues to join them. We're still waiting for and asking for that leadership.

Find links to join in brownbag vigils and other actions to persuade your representative to join the list of war defunders at http://defundwar.org

By David Swanson

Peter Dyer sums up well the sort of conclusions we can draw from the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry into Britain's role as sidekick launcher of aggressive war on Iraq:

"On March 18, 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, Elizabeth Wilmshurst resigned as Deputy Legal Adviser to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the British equivalent of the U.S. State Department.

"'I regarded the invasion of Iraq as illegal, and I therefore did not feel able to continue in my post,' she said later. Ms. Wilmshurst discussed her resignation while appearing before the current British inquiry into the Iraq War — the Chilcot Inquiry.

I've seen a lot of war movies, but this is a great one:
http://thegoodsoldier.com

This is the story of real veterans of U.S. wars, including Michael McPhearson whom many of us know as a leader in Veterans for Peace. These are veterans who have come to an understanding that war is all about training and compelling human beings to become murderous animals, and that the damage is deep even for those least harmed by this project, namely the killers themselves.

It's an inspiration, an achievable goal, an organizing tool, and a route around the corporate media cartel: a giant billboard for what we all want but our televisions are afraid to mention.  It's a project worth supporting!

Imagine...a "Peace Blimp"- defiantly displaying a message of peace across the skies of the nation, unable to be dismissed, ignored or brushed aside. Rallies for peace greet the blimp in every city it visits. Politicians, celebrities, movie stars, athletes, war veterans and peace activists make the call to bring our troops home by boarding the blimp for a ride. Crowds flock to the events and are educated about the war. With each stop along the tour the momentum for peace grows from a dull roar into an undeniable fervor until the seemingly endless wars come to an end.

Now, let's make this a reality.

Please join us this March 20th for the largest online monetary
war protest in history. Our goal is to bring together
100,000 people to donate $10 each (minimum),
creating a one day total of millions to fly the
Peace Blimp until we the people
force our government
to end this war.

Please pledge now by entering your email address on the peace blimp site.
Then spread the word to your friends. Thank you!

At 3pm Saturday, June 5, 2010, Humanists for Peace will hold a landmark session on peace and humanism at the 69th Annual Conference of the American Humanist Association. The conference, among the largest gatherings of humanists, atheists, and freethinkers from across the country, runs from June 3-6 at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose, California.

Official website:
http://www.americanhumanist.org/What_We_Do/Annual_Conference