Report – Vigil at the Supreme Court in London for Julian Assange

From our friends at “WISE UP for BRADLEY MANNING” in the UK, a report on an excellent action in London to protest Julian Assange’s possible extradition to Sweden.

Report – Vigil at the Supreme Court in London for Julian Assange.

Photo: WISE UP for Bradley Manning

“About a dozen of us had gathered outside the Supreme Court by 7.30am in preparation for what we expected to be the last stage, one way or the other, in Julian Assange’s fight against extradition to Sweden. We were not encouraged by the news that Hillary Clinton would be visiting Sweden hours after the verdict. This visit is the “first bilateral visit to Sweden by a US SecState for a very long time” according to Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and was only announced after the Supreme Court date was publicly released last week. Draw your own conclusions.”

A Memorial Day Message …

… from the late Howard Zinn, once active and now honorary member of Veterans For Peace.

Excerpt:

“Memorial Day should be a day for putting flowers on graves and planting trees. Also, for destroying the weapons of death that endanger us more than they protect us, that waste our resources and threaten our children and grandchildren.”

This Op-Ed from Howard Zinn appeared in the Boston Globe on June 2, 1976, after which his regular column in that paper was canceled.

Read the entire post at Common Dreams and see Howard’s official commemorative Facebook page, which still provides us his wisdom and inspiration.

Our favorite Howard Zinn quote:

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”

Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

Andrew Bacevich: A Decade of War

Andrew Bacevich spoke at U of O on May 15.  It was a powerful talk with some Q&A following. Here’s a link to view the archived video of the talk, which runs 87 minutes–time well spent, for us at least. This man is a brilliant observer of U.S. foreign affairs and has many keen insights to offer.

Andrew Bacevich : A Decade of War

From the U of O website:

Andrew Bacevich discussed the U.S.’s over-reliance on military power to achieve its foreign policy aims in his 2011-12 Kritikos Lecture, “A Decade of War,” that took place on May 15th 2012 in the EMU Ballroom. In his talk, Bacevich addressed several urgently important questions: “More than a decade into the ‘Global War on Terror,’ where has that conflict taken us? What has it achieved? What has it cost? Although,” Bacevich notes, “the inclination to turn away from these questions may be strong, Americans should resist that temptation.”

Andrew Bacevich was a persistent and vocal critic of the U.S. occupation of Iraq from the outset, describing George W. Bush’s endorsement of such “preventive wars” as “immoral, illicit, and imprudent.” His son, Andrew Bacevich Jr., also an Army officer, was killed in action in Iraq in 2007 at the age of 27. In 2010, Bacevich accused President Obama of “want[ing] us to forget about the lessons of Iraq.”

A graduate of West Point (1969), Bacevich holds a Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton. He taught at West Point and Johns Hopkins prior to joining the faculty at Boston University in 1998. Bacevich is the author of several books, including Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War (2010); The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (2008); and The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War (2005). He is also the editor of a book of essays titled The Short American Century: A Postmortem (March 2012).

‘Why Are We There? Who Are We Helping?’ Americans Tire of Endless War

What’s astounding about these numbers is that, even after being dumbed down by mainstream media, folks are still waking up to the futility of remaining in Afghanistan.

New AP-GfK Poll:  “In results released Wednesday [May 9, 2012], 66 percent opposed the war, with 40 percent saying they were “strongly” opposed.”

It took the Soviets ten years.  It’s taking us a bit longer.  Could it be our national leadership has too much ego invested in our support for the Karzai government?  As Colin Powell once said, “Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.”

Read the Common Dreams story on this poll here.

For us peace activists, the task at hand is to send a clear message that Obama must overcome his administration’s egoistic “stay the course” mentality or risk losing what’s left of our support.

Why are we still in ‘Vietghanistan?’

The pubic focuses on the atrocities–if it bleeds, it leads–but the real problems are the war and the dehumanizing indoctrination given our troops which makes them inclined to commit the atrocities.

An excellent piece by a brother from Veterans For Peace.  Scott Camil is president of the Gainesville, FL, chapter.  He is a former Marine Corps sergeant and served four years in Vietnam.  He really nails this…definitely worth a read. [reprinted from cnn.com]

Scott Camil pictured in a cemetery in Dai Loc, Vietnam in 1967

Camil:  “…if we’re going to talk about rules of war, we have to start with the powerful people who chose to put those soldiers there. The No.1 war crime is starting a war, because all other war crimes emanate from that first crime.”

Scott Camil

“Preparing for these wars means continuing to train our children to hurt and kill other humans. This involves a process of dehumanization that is in conflict with the training required to produce good citizens in a democratic society.”

“We did not choose this war…”

As Obama tries to define the new normal in Afghanistan, some of us from the foreign-occupier countries are not buying it.

Leah Bolger and David Swanson collaborated on this post in reaction to Obama’s speech from Bagram on May 1, 2012. It was published several places, including this copy at FireDogLake.

These people have feelings and family too. They want us to go home. Why aren’t we listening?

The Afghan people are certainly fed up with our atrocities and insulting treatment. President Karzai, caught between a rock and hard place, calls for our ouster after every innocent civilian death, then turns around and signs the agreement to keep foreigner patrolling his land for the indefinite future.

We need to raise this issue–get out of Afghanistan now–at every town hall meeting with candidates this summer.  Let them know:  Obama’s new normal is not ours nor the Afghan people’s.

Bradley Manning Hearing – April 24-26

Next Hearing Could Remove “Aiding the Enemy” Charge

From Courage to Resist:

“Events in the Washington DC area and internationally in support of accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower

Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bradley Manning’s next appearance in court will take place April 24-26 at Ft. Meade, MD.  At the previous hearing on March 15th, Bradley’s lawyer filed a motion to dismiss all charges based on the government’s failure to present evidence as requested.”  Read the full Courage to Resist call to action here.

Also, FireDogLake has been doing some really good reporting on the case.

On the banner (l - r): Kevin Zeese; Dan Choi; Ann Wright; Patrick McCann; Carol Ezell. Next row - center: Ward Reilly; Ray McGovern.