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Iraqi Journalist Threw Shoes At Bush; His Statement Why He Did It
Sep 20, 2009

The following is the statement of Mutadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi who threw his shoes at George Bush gave this speech, on his recent release from prison.

In the name of God, the most gracious and most merciful.

Here I am, free. But my country is still a prisoner of war.

Firstly, I give my thanks and my regards to everyone who stood beside me, whether inside my country, in the Islamic world, in the free world. There has been a lot of talk about the action and about the person who took it, and about the hero and the heroic act, and the symbol and the symbolic act.

But, simply, I answer: What compelled me to confront is the injustice that befell my people, and how the occupation wanted to humiliate my homeland by putting it under its boot.

And how it wanted to crush the skulls of (the homeland's) sons under its boots, whether sheikhs, women, children or men. And during the past few years, more than a million martyrs fell by the bullets of the occupation and the country is now filled with more than 5 million orphans, a million widows and hundreds of thousands of maimed. And many millions of homeless because of displacement inside and outside the country.

We used to be a nation in which the Arab would share with the Turkman and the Kurd and the Assyrian and the Sabean and the Yazid his daily bread. And the Shiite would pray with the Sunni in one line. And the Muslim would celebrate with the Christian the birthday of Christ, may peace be upon him. And despite the fact that we shared hunger under sanctions for more than 10 years, for more than a decade.

Our patience and our solidarity did not make us forget the oppression. Until we were invaded by the illusion of liberation that some had. (The occupation) divided one brother from another, one neighbor from another, and the son from his uncle. It turned our homes into never-ending funeral tents. And our graveyards spread into parks and roadsides. It is a plague. It is the occupation that is killing us, that is violating the houses of worship and the sanctity of our homes and that is throwing thousands daily into makeshift prisons.

I am not a hero, and I admit that. But I have a point of view and I have a stance. It humiliated me to see my country humiliated. And to see my Baghdad burned. And my people being killed. Thousands of tragic pictures remained in my head, and this weighs on me every day and pushes me toward the righteous path, the path of confrontation, the path of rejecting injustice, deceit and duplicity. It deprived me of a good night's sleep.

Dozens, no, hundreds, of images of massacres that would turn the hair of a newborn white used to bring tears to my eyes and wound me. The scandal of Abu Ghraib. The massacre of Fallujah, Najaf, Haditha, Sadr City, Basra, Diyala, Mosul, Tal Afar, and every inch of our wounded land. In the past years, I traveled through my burning land and saw with my own eyes the pain of the victims, and hear with my own ears the screams of the bereaved and the orphans. And a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless.

And as soon as I finished my professional duties in reporting the daily tragedies of the Iraqis, and while I washed away the remains of the debris of the ruined Iraqi houses, or the traces of the blood of victims that stained my clothes, I would clench my teeth and make a pledge to our victims, a pledge of vengeance.

The opportunity came, and I took it.

I took it out of loyalty to every drop of innocent blood that has been shed through the occupation or because of it, every scream of a bereaved mother, every moan of an orphan, the sorrow of a rape victim, the teardrop of an orphan.

I say to those who reproach me: Do you know how many broken homes that shoe that I threw had entered because of the occupation? How many times it had trodden over the blood of innocent victims? And how many times it had entered homes in which free Iraqi women and their sanctity had been violated? Maybe that shoe was the appropriate response when all values were violated.

When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora.

After six years of humiliation, of indignity, of killing and violations of sanctity, and desecration of houses of worship, the killer comes, boasting, bragging about victory and democracy. He came to say goodbye to his victims and wanted flowers in response.

Put simply, that was my flower to the occupier, and to all who are in league with him, whether by spreading lies or taking action, before the occupation or after.

I wanted to defend the honor of my profession and suppressed patriotism on the day the country was violated and its high honor lost. Some say: Why didn't he ask Bush an embarrassing question at the press conference, to shame him? And now I will answer you, journalists. How can I ask Bush when we were ordered to ask no questions before the press conference began, but only to cover the event. It was prohibited for any person to question Bush.

And in regard to professionalism: The professionalism mourned by some under the auspices of the occupation should not have a voice louder than the voice of patriotism. And if patriotism were to speak out, then professionalism should be allied with it.

I take this opportunity: If I have wronged journalism without intention, because of the professional embarrassment I caused the establishment, I wish to apologize to you for any embarrassment I may have caused those establishments. All that I meant to do was express with a living conscience the feelings of a citizen who sees his homeland desecrated every day.

History mentions many stories where professionalism was also compromised at the hands of American policymakers, whether in the assassination attempt against Fidel Castro by booby-trapping a TV camera that CIA agents posing as journalists from Cuban TV were carrying, or what they did in the Iraqi war by deceiving the general public about what was happening. And there are many other examples that I won't get into here.

But what I would like to call your attention to is that these suspicious agencies -- the American intelligence and its other agencies and those that follow them -- will not spare any effort to track me down (because I am) a rebel opposed to their occupation. They will try to kill me or neutralize me, and I call the attention of those who are close to me to the traps that these agencies will set up to capture or kill me in various ways, physically, socially or professionally.

And at the time that the Iraqi prime minister came out on satellite channels to say that he didn't sleep until he had checked in on my safety, and that I had found a bed and a blanket, even as he spoke I was being tortured with the most horrific methods: electric shocks, getting hit with cables, getting hit with metal rods, and all this in the backyard of the place where the press conference was held. And the conference was still going on and I could hear the voices of the people in it. And maybe they, too, could hear my screams and moans.

In the morning, I was left in the cold of winter, tied up after they soaked me in water at dawn. And I apologize for Mr. Maliki for keeping the truth from the people. I will speak later, giving names of the people who were involved in torturing me, and some of them were high-ranking officials in the government and in the army.

I didn't do this so my name would enter history or for material gains. All I wanted was to defend my country, and that is a legitimate cause confirmed by international laws and divine rights. I wanted to defend a country, an ancient civilization that has been desecrated, and I am sure that history -- especially in America -- will state how the American occupation was able to subjugate Iraq and Iraqis, until its submission.

They will boast about the deceit and the means they used in order to gain their objective. It is not strange, not much different from what happened to the Native Americans at the hands of colonialists. Here I say to them (the occupiers) and to all who follow their steps, and all those who support them and spoke up for their cause: Never.

Because we are a people who would rather die than face humiliation.

And, lastly, I say that I am independent. I am not a member of any politicalparty, something that was said during torture -- one time that I'm far-right, another that I'm a leftist. I am independent of any political party, and my future efforts will be in civil service to my people and to any who need it, without waging any political wars, as some said that I would.
My efforts will be toward providing care for widows and orphans, and all those whose lives were damaged by the occupation. I pray for mercy upon the souls of the martyrs who fell in wounded Iraq, and for shame upon those who occupied Iraq and everyone who assisted them in their abominable acts. And I pray for peace upon those who are in their graves, and those who are oppressed with the chains of imprisonment. And peace be upon you who are patient and looking to God for release.

And to my beloved country I say: If the night of injustice is prolonged, it will not stop the rising of a sun and it will be the sun of freedom.

One last word. I say to the government: It is a trust that I carry from my fellow detainees. They said, 'Muntadhar, if you get out, tell of our plight to the omnipotent powers' -- I know that only God is omnipotent and I pray to Him -- 'remind them that there are dozens, hundreds, of victims rotting in prisons because of an informant's word.'

They have been there for years, they have not been charged or tried.

They've only been snatched up from the streets and put into these prisons. And now, in front of you, and in the presence of God, I hope they can hear me or see me. I have now made good on my promise of reminding the government and the officials and the politicians to look into what's happening inside the prisons. The injustice that's caused by the delay in the judicial system.

Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you.

The translation is by McClatchy’s special correspondent, Sahar Issa.

 
Please Note and get all your friends to Note this!
Why I Threw My Shoes At Bush: Iraqi Journalist Released From Prison, Speaks
Why I Threw My Shoes At Bush: Iraqi Journalist Released From Prison, Speaks

US Politics & Gov't  (tags: bush, bushadministration, abuse, war, iraq )

BMutiny  - alternet.org
"And to my beloved country I say: If the night of injustice is prolonged, it will not stop the rising of a sun and it will be the sun of freedom."
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Posted: Sep 20, 2009 9:50pm
Far Right trying to make you hate Obama, not Bush!
Mar 28, 2009
Focus: Media
Action Request: Think About
Location: United States
The Far Right is trying to mess with your mind; creating an Alternate Reality for you that is the opposite of Real Reality! 

The Far Right, is trying their darndest, to EXPLOIT ANY dis-satisfaction with President Obama, ANY disappointment, ANYthing less than total fulfillment of expectations; into TOTAL, TOTAL DIS-ILLUSIONMENT with President Obama. {What, they've got something better to offer?} To some extent, it seems they may be succeeding. The Far Right, make no mistake about it, is TRYING TO MAKE A COMEBACK. Their strategy, is not only to distance themselves from Bush. {Who's he? we never heard of him!} The Republicans are trying their darndest, to channel 8 YEARS OF DISGUST WITH, AND HATRED FOR, BUSH/CHENEY AND THEIR POLICIES, into -- watch it! -- HATRED OF PRESIDENT OBAMA.

Their line is, that "ALL politicians are the SAME; ALL of them are crooks, not just Republicans are; Obama is NO DIFFERENT; Obama is NOT ANY BETTER; there is NO DIFFERENCE between the Republican and Democratic parties, between Bush and Obama; Obama is out to get you {no differently than Bush and his cronies were}"; et cetera et cetera.

This is a kind of SIMPLISTIC, KNOW-NOTHING, EASY POPULISM. One that makes NO distinctions between ANYthing. If it exists, we're AGIN it.

It is also rather EASY to promote, because there is this undercurrent..... of not exactly "racism" in the old sense. But, Obama is {I love that term!}, an "EXOTIC OTHER". So, it is EASIER to be SUSPICIOUS of him, if he is not one of your own "family". That is Human Nature, I guess. All I am saying, is, that it makes the Repugs' job easier. I am NOT saying, that anybody is a "racist"; or, that any criticism of President Obama, has a "racist" origin!

I criticize Obama myself, have done so and no doubt will find plenty to criticize in the future. What I am saying, is, there is a SENSIBLE, REASONABLE ground between total "worship" of Obama {and I don't know a single person who actually does so!}; and TOTAL CONDEMNATION of President Obama; of ALL Democrats; ALL reform advocates; ALL politicians; ALL actions; etc. etc. etc. It is the Far Right that is trying to MANIPULATE; and make you SO DIS-ILLUSIONED, that they think you won't vote or hope -- or do further work on the issues -- at all. THEN, having distracted you and gotten you riding off on the WRONG track, they WILL have a chance at a comeback. And that WOULD be totally disastrous. And it WOULD be "different" -- and much, much, much, much WORSE.  BMutiny T
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Posted: Mar 28, 2009 2:02am
TWO TO NOTE FOR CNN: ON 9/11, GENERAL STRIKE & NON-VIOLENT PEACE ACTIONS
Aug 25, 2007
PLEASE NOTE BOTH ARTICLES; THEN START SOMETHING IN YOUR OWN COMMUNITY IF YOU CAN. BMT

Please, someone come up with a way to get it into the mainstream media and not just in cyberspace

Here's something we ALL can do - really! TELL THE  -Cate


9/11: GENERAL STRIKE visit site
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: US general strike, 9/11 protest, activism, general strike )

Cate - nyc.indymedia.org
What a good idea!










AND THIS:
Rev. Rich Lang's 9/11: Call to Action Freedom From Fear in Seattle   video visit site
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: 9/11, impeach, iraq, lies, politics, war, healthcare, elections )

Patti  - youtube.com
Rich Lang is a Methodist minister from Seattle. He is a passionate and powerful speaker (please watch the enclosed link). He is right in saying that passive protest is not going to change anything. A YouTube video in 3 parts.

 
http://www.livingfaithnow.org/
Philosophy of Living Faith Radio

  • A positive, progressive Christian alternative
  • Reflecting the joy and justice message of Jesus
  • Aimed toward spiritual seekers and strugglers
  • For the purpose of amplifying the voice of Progressive Christianity.

Living Faith is a positive, progressive, Christian alternative that lifts up themes of nonviolence, compassion, co-operation, and community. Living Faith will educate the public in the liberal family values of Jesus, his commitment of economic justice for the poor, care of creation, compassion for the excluded, and resistance to empire. Living Faith will articulate a positive expression of a Wisdom Culture that promotes lifestyles of balance and reconciliation. Living Faith will invite others into a conversation about the values and vision of Jesus.

CALL TO ACTION ON 9/11; Please go to the above URL for the entire speech; or watch the video. BMT
"First they came for the terrorists but I wasn't a terrorist so I stayed silent and went about my business. Then they came for those suspected of terrorism, but I certainly wasn't a suspect so I stayed silent and went about my business. Then they came for those who defended those who were suspected of terrorism, but I wasn't defending such people so I stayed silent and went about my business. Then, one day, they came and began to "suspect" me, so I stayed very, very silent and went about my business.
And that is how I lost my soul."

You can feel it in the air: many of us are living in the fear that we are one "bad event" away from this administration seizing power over the people in such a way that we will find ourselves swept up in a nightmare of tyranny such as we've never seen before.

Others before us have also lived in such times. Others before us have also witnessed the tyranny of empire, the fear it unleashes, and the trance it imposes on its population. There is a story in the Gospel of Mark (this Sunday I'll be preaching about it) that has Jesus encountering a man in a graveyard, chained to the tombs and possessed by a powerful demon that has caused the man to become violent, insane, and out of control. The name of the demon is Legion, a military term that symbolizes the occupying army of Rome. In the story Jesus breaks through the silence, the denial, the trance and compels the demon to acknowledge its name. Once named, Jesus "exorcizes the demon", that is, he performs a direct public action that breaks through the denial and the trance while restoring the man to sanity and community.

We are gathered tonight because our nation has fallen into a trance: we've become possessed by a spirit that is causing us great harm. It is a spirit that causes great violence. It is a spirit that destroys community. It turns us against each other. It causes us to distrust each other. And it certainly causes us to question our sanity, our understanding of events and of basic human qualities like honesty, forthrightness, integrity, co-operation. This trance has caused us to lose our voice, we have become silent in the face of great evils. We have learned how to live in denial of the obvious. Indeed, we now know the answer to that old question, "how could good German citizens allow the Nazi Party to rise to power?" We need somehow to awaken from this trance, and find our voice. We need to break through the denial and compel the demon that possesses us to state forth its name, and having done that, then through direct public actions we can restore our citizenry to sanity and community. We need to awaken and reclaim our roots as a democracy.

That's the assumption of this call to meeting. We face a multitude, a whole legion of evils that are silencing us, chaining us to fears and denial, possessing us with a spirit contrary to our nature. You have probably come here because you have seen this possession and have become restless and frustrated in "casting it out" of the body politic. Some of you are here because you think electing Democrats in 2008 will bring a new birth of hope. Some of you are here because you think our governing system has fallen into disrepair and needs a few tweaks and adjustments. Some of you want to fix our broken elections, or stop the impending war in Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Some of you want to get to the bottom of the 9/11 contradictions, and some of you are worried sick about the house of cards that is our economy. Many of you are greatly concerned about the growing power of the executive and the military. Many of you worry about the corruption of our political process through Corporate money. The urgency of multiple crisis (legion) is certainly before our nation this evening. But tonight the focus is really on one part of the crisis: breaking the trance, breaking through the denial and finding our voice.

CONTINUED............
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Posted: Aug 25, 2007 7:43pm
BUSH SCARED OF MUTINY; SUPPRESSES PEACE MOVEMENT
Aug 3, 2007

 
Bush Executive Order: Criminalizing the Antiwar Movement visit site
US Politics & Gov't (tags: bushadministration, bush, constitution, americans, freedoms, government, iraq )

Pamela Ly  - globalresearch.ca
"Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq" provides the President with the authority to confiscate the assets of whoever opposes the US led war. Under this executive order, opposing the war becomes an illegal act.
=================================
The ONLY answer to this situation, is to MUTINY FOR PEACE.
MUTINY FOR PEACE.
You may be noticing, that CONGRESS IS TAKING NO ACTION;
AND WILL TAKE NO ACTION.
So DON'T BE SURPRISED if NOTHING happens there.
You are DELUDING yourselves if you think the answer lies with Congress.
NOBLE EFFORT, guys, thank you, and I am doing it too.
Knowing that IT HAS NO CHANCE OF WORKING.

The ANSWER LIES WITH THE ARMY.
Bush/Cheney are COUNTING on the Army, to carry out
and ENFORCE their Dictatorial Decrees. With GUNS.
But, the Army are OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS.
The Army is NOT ROBOTS, NOT ALIENS FROM OUTER SPACE.
 
The Army must BREAK THE HABIT OF BLIND OBEDIENCE,
subservience to a Commander-in-Chief who is
NOT WORTHY OF ANYONE'S OBEDIENCE OR RESPECT.
Bush is COUNTING ON the Army. If the Army will shoot, on Bush's orders,
an Iraqi, the same Army will shoot, on Bush's orders, YOU.
MUTINY FOR PEACE is the ONLY solution.

I probably will be one of those who
"has my property confiscated" for saying this.
But, WE MUST LET THE ARMY KNOW, THAT WE SUPPORT THEM 
WHEN THEY MUTINY FOR PEACE.

We have ALREADY lost our Democratic Rights. Congress is AFRAID.
The next {s}elections WON'T BE HELD; unless the Repug thugs can STEAL THEM.

MUTINY FOR PEACE. MUTINY FOR PEACE.
MUTINY FOR PEACE. MUTINY FOR PEACE.
Tell the Troops the Truth of what is happening here.
Then the Troops will know what to do.
If the Troops lose the Will to fight, THERE IS NO POWER ON EARTH
THAT CAN MAKE THEM FIGHT. No threat, and no punishment can make
Troops fight, if they lose the Will to fight.

MUTINY FOR PEACE. Believe me, it's our ONLY HOPE.
BMutiny ThemIDefy

 Friday August 3, 2007, 9:35 am
"In substance, under this executive order, opposing the war becomes an illegal act.

The Executive Order criminalizes the antiwar movement. It is intended to "blocking property" of US citizens and organizations actively involved in the peace movement. It allows the Department of Defense to interfere in financial affairs and instruct the Treasury to "block the property" and/or confiscate/ freeze the assets of "Certain Persons" involved in antiwar activities. It targets those "Certain Persons" in America, including civil society organizations, who oppose the Bush Administration's "peace and stability" program in Iraq, characterized, in plain English, by an illegal occupation and the continued killing of innocent civilians.

The Executive Order also targets those "Certain Persons" who are "undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction", or who, again in plain English, are opposed to the confiscation and privatization of Iraq's oil resources, on behalf of the Anglo-American oil giants.

The order is also intended for anybody who opposes Bush's program of "political reform in Iraq", in other words, who questions the legitimacy of an Iraqi "government" installed by the occupation forces.

Moreover, those persons or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), who provide bona fide humanitarian aid to Iraqi civilians, and who are not approved by the US Military or its lackeys in the US sponsored Iraqi puppet government are also liable to have their financial assets confiscated.

The executive order violates the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the US Constitution. It repeals one of the fundamental tenets of US democracy, which is the right to free expression and dissent. The order has not been the object of discussion in the US Congress. So far, it has not been addressed by the US antiwar movement, in terms of a formal statement.

Apart from a bland Associated Press wire report, which presents the executive order as "an authority to use financial sanctions", there has been no media coverage or commentary of a presidential decision which strikes at the heart of the US Constitution.. "
===========================================
THIS ORDER, AS YOU MAY NOTICE, DOES MORE THAN MERELY
CRIMINALIZE THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT.
IT SEEKS TO LEGITIMATIZE THE SEIZURE OF IRAQ'S
OIL RESOURCES BY BUSH/CHENEY/HALLIBURTON;
AN OUTRIGHT THEFT NO BETTER THAN A BURGLARY.

The U.S. Troops who are assisting their Commander-in-THIEF
with this BURGLARY and OUTRIGHT THEFT, are actually, if
they ONLY KNEW IT, NO BETTER THAN HIT MEN AND HIT
WOMEN FOR THE MAFIA, FOR A KLEPTOCRACY OUT-OF-CONTROL.

THE TROOPS ABSOLUTELY MUST BE TOLD THE TRUTH OF
WHAT THEY ARE PARTICIPATING IN. THEY MUST. THEY MUST
BE TOLD THE TRUTH, AND ALL THE TRUTH.
Then the Troops themselves will know what to do with this information.

MUTINY FOR PEACE.
That is the ONLY way to END THIS LONG NIGHTMARE,
which is getting WORSE.
Aside from the deaths and their OWN injuries and
psychological disabilities, WHAT SORT OF WORLD
WILL THE TROOPS BE COMING HOME TO???
Unless THEY THEMSELVES STOP FIGHTING in Iraq
and MUTINY FOR PEACE????????????? 
        
"Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.
But silence is impossible.
Silence screams.
Silence is a message,
just as doing nothing is an act.
Let who you are ring out & resonate
in every word & every deed.
Yes, become who you are.
There's no sidestepping your own being
or your own responsibility.
What you do is who you are.
You are your own comeuppance.
You become your own message.
You are the message."

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
---Leonard Peltier
===========================
The troops must actually be very near to Mutiny now, for this Executive Order, which reflects Bush's FEAR, to come at this time.
If your country has any Troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, this applies equally to YOUR country's troops.
If you are near any American bases in any country, in Europe, Asia, or wherever, YOU CAN TALK TO THE TROOPS THERE.
If you have family or friends in the Military, YOU ARE IN AN ESPECIALLY GOOD POSITION TO TALK TO THE TROOPS; TO TELL THE TROOPS THE TRUTH.
BMT
[The TRUTH is, that they are being HIT MEN AND HIT WOMEN FOR BUSH/CHENEY.
That is the ONLY TRUTH. Many Troops more-than-suspect-it ALREADY. It should NOT BE THAT DIFFICULT, in many cases, to TALK TO THE TROOPS. There are also means like Posters where the troops can see them, Leaflets and Flyers, Signs in demos, and GRAFFITI!]
[A really good opportunity for Americans, is when TROOPS COME HOME ON LEAVE BEFORE RE-DEPLOYMENT. TELL THE TROOPS WHY IT IS IN THE INTERESTS OF THEIR COUNTRY, THEIR COMMUNITIES, THEIR FAMILIES, AND EVEN OF THEIR ARMY BUDDIES, TO NOT RE-DEPLOY!!! It is the Troops' PATRIOTIC DUTY TO NOT RE-DEPLOY.]




Imported from external blog

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Posted: Aug 3, 2007 1:01pm
LESSONS OF VIETNAM:IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN
May 23, 2007
What will it take to bring an end to the illegal Iraq war and Occupation?
It is on everyone's mind. Both Americans, and non-Americans, wonder what it will take.
Here are some points I would make:

1] There is talk blah blah blah about "storming Pennsylvania Avenue", "revolution", etc. Sorry my Leftist and non-Leftist friends, that simply ain't gonna happen. Life in these United States has just become too difficult and complicated; most people and their families are struggling for survival, to cope with debt or to keep out of debt, to keep healthy and to keep economically afloat. That is what takes up most people's energies these days. You can see it if you read what they write on Care2 groups. Then there are all these Natural Disasters because of Global Warming; broken Health Care systems and Educational systems; destroyed or decaying Infrastructure; etc. Most people simply are trying to make it thru the next month, or DEPENDING on that NEXT PAYCHECK.
They TALK big, to VENT -- but TALK is all that's happening. They are in no position to Storm the White House -- and possibly lose their JOB for that!
{Not to mention the Police armed with tasers, lasers, heat weapons, and god-knows-what!}
Same with wild plans to boycott, not pay taxes, go on strike, shut things down, etc. Sure, they would WORK -- only if EVERYBODY, or MOST people, did it. Ain't gonna happen. For the same reasons. People have FAMILIES to support; and their lifestyles they think they can't do without.

2] So, then what?
Well, THE ARMY ITSELF SAYS, IT IS STRESSED TO THE BREAKING POINT.
The soldiers, it is said, are LOSING THEIR WILL-TO-FIGHT. THIS is why, it is said, the PENTAGON HAS SHUT OFF ACCESS OF TROOPS TO THE INTERNET; except on a tightly-controlled and censored government channel, that they and their families don't like to use.
The same thing happened in Viet Nam. THE TROOPS WOULD NOT OBEY ORDERS TO "ENGAGE THE ENEMY".
And would often "frag" their officers, instead. Historical FACT.
The mis-Administration has learned NOTHING from the Lessons of Viet Nam!

My focus is, and has always been, to BRING THE TROOPS HOME. That, to me, is the KEY. Not silly talk of this & that "ideal" solution -- day-dreaming!!!

See the on-line film, if you haven't, "Sir! No Sir!".
The Resistance to fighting, resistance to obeying the orders they were given, plus civilian support, was what helped hasten the end of U.S. involvement in Viet Nam. Whether people think this was right or wrong, a Good Thing or a Bad Thing, that is what actually did happen.
Following this LOGIC, I say, we Civilians make LOUD AND CLEAR, PERFECTLY CLEAR TO THE TROOPS, our SUPPORT for them -- SUPPORT FOR THEIR COMING HOME!
That we also show our SUPPORT, for Lt. Ehren Watada, and several others, who have OPENLY RESISTED GOING TO WAR.
I think that there is going to be more and more resistance within the military -- that it will become, or is becoming fast, like Viet Nam.
Examples are, the 343rd Quartermasters {in 2005}, the 10th Mountain Division {earlier this month}. They both refused orders to go into danger zones with INADEQUATE armored protection. Well, I've heard that they aren't the ONLY ones with inadequate protection; and it figures, there must be other units where the word just hasn't gotten out, yet, about them. There was a video I remember seeing, about troops refusing to protect a convoy driven by contractors, not the US Army. Don't know if it was released which unit it was.
Stuff like that, the military is just FRANTIC to censor! Doesn't want the word spreading from troop to troop!

So, then, eliminating all the stuff that WON'T work, that CAN'T POSSIBLY work, this is ALL I can come up with! Like it or not!
Some people strongly disapprove of this -- of troops, in essence, mutinying. {The Pentagon calls it, "Combat Refusal".}
Well, number one, it IS happening, whether someone personally likes it, or approves, or not. Just like the "fragging" of over 800 officers happened, in Viet Nam. {I think that was atrocious. But it DID happen! We can't close our eyes to it! Whether we approve or not!}{I HOPE, the FEW instances of fragging in this war, remain just a FEW!}

Number two, I think, no I KNOW, that it will GIVE TROOPS THE WILL TO RESIST ILLEGAL ORDERS, if they KNOW that the folks at home support them 101% in that!
Illegal orders, for example, ACCORDING TO THE ARMY'S OWN UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE {which I have read}, WOULD INCLUDE PARTICIPATION IN TORTURE, AND IN MURDERING CIVILIANS AND TAKING THEIR PROPERTY.
These are PUNISHABLE OFFENCES and soldiers can be PROSECUTED for them. "I was only following orders" is NOT a defence! A SOLDIER HAS THE OBLIGATION TO NOT FOLLOW ILLEGAL ORDERS.
According to treaties the U.S. has signed, which ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION ARE THE LAW OF THE LAND, and the Geneva Conventions, THE ENTIRE IRAQ WAR IS AN ILLEGAL WAR. This was the DEFENCE that Lt. Watada tried to bring to his trial {postponed}. His defence for not deploying with his company for Iraq.

Therefore, I PERSONALLY STATE, that I am FOR THE SOLDIERS NOT OBEYING THEIR ILLEGAL ORDERS whether BEFORE, or AFTER, deployment to Iraq.

It would have been better, if Lt. Watada's entire COMPANY had refused to go to Iraq; as someone who deserts his or her company, is perceived by many as a traitor. Altho MANY INDIVIDUAL SOLDIERS have expressed SUPPORT for Lt. Watada -- and several of my friends are active in his support -- it is when entire UNITS refuse, that THERE CAN BE A REAL TURNAROUND.

THIS IS WHAT DID HAPPEN DURING THE VIET NAM WAR. There was a famous instance, when LIVE ON NATIONAL TV, an entire COMPANY REFUSED to go on patrol into a danger zone! HOW EMBARASSING FOR THE ARMY BRASS -- who had probably ORDERED them to go in the first place, to GRANDSTAND FOR TV!!!!!!! I sortof remember the FUROR that caused at the time! and the lift it gave to the anti-war movement I was then a part of!
This was just one of many instances of Combat Refusal by entire units in Viet Nam.
There was even a group of B-52 Bomber Pilots, who refused for "reasons of conscience" to go on missions to bomb Cambodia; and were prosecuted by the Military.
There were other units about which there is just "hearsay" -- what the troops widely reported when they got home.
There is a book about this, written by a General, deploring this, which I could refer to if asked.

So, anyone asks my opinion, you got it. I think there could and should be a DYNAMIC set up, between the troops, and the extended Peace Movement. In SPITE of military censorship, people, families, WILL find means to communicate!
WE support the troops, and EXPLODE the LIE that they are "Protecting" us, or "protecting" anything but Bush's oil! So they don't feel uncomfortable "sitting down".
THEY support US, {and our Economic Survival!} by not dragging on this war any further!
I think, under such circumstances, the war COULD end on the TROOPS' TIMETABLE; rather than on Bush's NON-EXISTENT "timetable"! Bush keeps EXTENDING AND EXTENDING THE WAR AND THE TROOPS' DEPLOYMENTS; he is simply LYING about any troop pullout, EVER EVER EVER. And the troops should KNOW this, by now!!!
THE TROOPS WILL ONLY COME HOME, AT ALL, EVER, NOT IN BODY BAGS, IF THEY TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS.
And to finish, as Patrick Henry said to the Virginia Burgesses {before the American Revolution}: "If this be TREASON, then MAKE THE MOST OF IT."

This is what I truly think, and will stand behind it till I die.
BMutiny T



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Posted: May 23, 2007 8:08pm
ACTIONS TO BRING TROOPS HOME; SUPPORT ARMY RESISTANCE, IMPEACH CHENEY & BUSH
May 12, 2007
Focus: Peace
Action Request: Other
Location: United States
Let's give all Mothers all over the world - particularly Mothers of U.S. and allied troops, and especially all Iraqi Mothers - a great big Mothers Day present.

BRING THE TROOPS HOME FROM IRAQ!!!

We have all petitioned, sent letters and e-mails, demonstrated -- even and especially, people outside of the U.S. THANK YOU! And KEEP DOING IT!

However, that has proved to be NOT ENOUGH.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, in a TV interview the other day, indicated that THE WAR COULD GO ON FOREVER; THE ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL OCCUPATION OF IRAQ, IS INTENDED TO LAST FOREVER. No matter HOW the mis-Adminstration hems and haws and dances around the subject, THAT IS WHAT THEY REALLY, IN THE END, MEAN -- even if they can't SAY that, directly.
The mis-Administration will actually, keep on EXTENDING, and EXTENDING, and EXTENDING troops' deployments -- for the foreseeable future, for our LIFETIMES if they steal another Election and get re-elected by fair means or foul!!!

Congress says they are doing their best! Congress was elected in 2006 with a CLEAR MANDATE TO STOP THE WAR. Evidently they can't or won't TRY hard enough; or their hands are tied. AND THIS COUNTRY IS NO LONGER A DEMOCRACY REFLECTING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.

Shall we sit on our backsides? wait and "hope for the best"? Hope hope hope hope hope????? Shall we wait for the next election? and the next? and the next? and the......?

There are TWO THINGS WE CAN ALL, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US, DO NOW THIS MOTHERS DAY TO BRING THE TROOPS HOME, HOME TO THEIR MOTHERS AND FAMILIES, HOME TO PEACE WHILE THEY ARE STILL ALIVE AND UN-MAIMED.

YES, WE CAN END THE WAR ON OUR TIMETABLE, NOT ON BUSH'S PHONEY "TIMETABLE"! SI SE PUEDES! YES WE CAN!!!!!

The two things are:
1] The troops must THEMSELVES REFUSE to fight in this war any longer. There have been NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS who have done this: to mention only ONE, Lt. Ehren Watada, who deserves all of our support for his trial and court-martial hearing in a few weeks.
But, that has not been enough. WHOLE UNITS must revolt, disobey direct orders, lay down their weapons, REFUSE TO DEPLOY TO IRAQ. There is NO glory, NO Honor for being DUPES of Media LYING! And we the Civilians, communities and friends and family members, MUST SHOW VERY AUDIBLY AND VISIBLY, OUR UNQUALIFIED SUPPORT FOR THEIR REFUSAL.

2] First that CRIMINAL MASTER-MIND, DICK CHENEY, MUST BE IMPEACHED: THEN BUSH MUST BE IMPEACHED ALSO. THAT will bring the War and Occupation to a screeching halt, if and when Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives and next in line, becomes THE FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. {Speaker Pelosi is not very big on Impeachment NOW; but she wouldn't turn down the Presidency if it was offered her!}

Below, there is a "DO-IT-YOURSELF" Impeachment Kit, for Americans.
GO, AMERICANS, GO!!! What have you to lose, "You have nothing to lose but your chains"!

What can a non-American citizen do? Well, plenty.
HELP US, PLEASE!

If there are American bases and Embassies in your country, PROTEST AT THEM. And ask that the American bases be CLOSED, THROWN OUT. As the People are protesting now in Vicenza, Italy. Did you know, that America has MORE FOREIGN BASES THAN FOREIGN EMBASSIES ABROAD??? Seven hundred and something. DISGUSTING! And, Americans are BUILDING SEVERAL PERMANENT BASES IN IRAQ. Gives the LIE, doesn't it, to "We are going to leave sometime.......... whenever........."!!!

If there are American bases in your country, and there probably are, TRY TO GET IN CONTACT WITH AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHEN THEY LEAVE THE BASE. Are there G.I. coffeeshops, or social events to which American troops would come? Can you arrange for any? LEAFLET, or put up POSTERS or GRAFFITI. {Legally, or ILLEGALLY, as I and my friends do here!} Talk face-to-face with the troops if you possibly can, or thru the Internet, in demos, broadcasts, etc. etc.

THERE IS ALREADY A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF RESISTANCE WITHIN THE AMERICAN ARMY, AS THERE WAS DURING THE VIET NAM WAR. I CAN PERSONALLY VOUCH FOR THAT {but I am not going to give anything away! But some of my sources are Public ones, such as War Cry newspaper [Grito de Guerra], Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist [VVAWAI], and Iraq Veterans Against the War}. But there is a CURTAIN OF MILITARY CENSORSHIP that will have to be breached!

We, you and I, need to BUILD ON THE RESISTANCE THAT IS ALREADY THERE, AND ENCOURAGE IT, AND SUPPORT IT IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.

[Of course, the FAMILIES AND FRIENDS of the troops, are BEST placed to BREACH THAT MILITARY CENSORSHIP. So, if one is in a position to TALK TO FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS of the troops......]

[All of the above goes of course for British, Canadian, any other troops deployed to Iraq as well.]

THESE ARE ACTIONS THAT EVERY RECIPIENT OF THIS MOTHERS DAY MESSAGE, CAN START TO TAKE.
AND PASS ON, AND INFLUENCE OTHERS TO TAKE. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU. THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD ARE COUNTING ON YOU.
PLEASE!

I HAVE BEEN CALLED A TRAITOR, SUBVERSIVE, AND WORSE.
WELL, IN THE WORDS OF THAT GREAT AMERICAN PATRIOT, PATRICK HENRY:

"IF THIS BE TREASON,
MAKE THE MOST OF IT!"

Love & Peace & all that good stuff;
BMutiny you know what it means by now T

Friends,
There is a DIY Impeachment kit available at www.impeachforpeace.com I've already sent 11 Memorials to my Rep. and 5 other Reps. This is a prescribed procedure in the House Rules. You can see the rule at the Website. Share this with everyone you know![From Robert K. -- thank you!]

Other links:
http://www.worldcantwait.net/

http://www.bushcommission.org/

Center for Constitutional Rights CCR http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/home.asp

http://www.eff.org/

Impeachment PAC http://impeachpac.org/taxonomy/term/5

http://www.defconblog.org/

After Downing Street [Impeachment] http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/index.html
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Posted: May 12, 2007 8:53pm
Confessions of a Torturer
Mar 16, 2007
Focus: Human Rights
Action Request: Read
Location: United States

The story of U.S. Army interrogator Tony
Lagouranis

By John Conroy

He tortured detainees for information he admits they rarely had. Since
leaving Iraq he’s taken this story public, doing battle on national television

against the war’s architects for giving him the orders he regrets he obeyed.


03/13/07 "Chicago Reader"
 -- TONY LAGOURANIS DOESN’T fit the profile of a person likely to go
wrong by following orders. He’s lived a footloose life unconstrained by a
desire for professional advancement, for the approval of superiors, even for a comfortable home.

A freethinker, he read the great works of Western civilization in college and mastered classical languages. It was his desire to learn Arabic as well that took him to Iraq.

And there, as an army interrogator, he tortured detainees for information he admits they rarely had. Since leaving Iraq he’s taken this story public, doing battle on national television against the war’s architects for giving him the orders he regrets he obeyed.


http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/871/2/

===============

 
 JUST A FEW "BAD APPLES", HUH? 

Lagouranis says the MPs were “willing and enthusiastic participants in all this stuff. A lot of the guys that we worked with were former prison guards or they were reservists who were prison guards in their civilian life. They loved it. They totally wanted to be involved in interrogations. It actually was a problem sometimes. I remember I would be standing guard at three in the morning outside of the shipping container with a prisoner inside and people would come by and they would know what was going on because they could hear the [loud] music and maybe see the [strobe] lights. And they’d want to join in. So I’d have four sergeants standing around me, and I’m a specialist, and they want to go and %#&!*% the guy up, and I would have to control these guys who outrank me and outnumber me and they have weapons and I don’t—because I’m guarding a prisoner I don’t have a weapon. It got really hairy sometimes and I couldn’t call for help because there was nobody around. I remember at one point the MPs came over from the facility and they were banging on the shipping container, one guy got on top and he was jumping up and down, they were throwing rocks at it, they were going inside and yelling at the guy. And I was like, ‘How do I control this situation?’”

==========================

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PASS THIS ARTICLE AROUND TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, BOTH ON AND OFF OF CARE2, EVERYWHERE ON THE ENTIRE INTERNET.


ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES IS UNDER FIRE RIGHT NOW FOR THE POLITICAL FIRING OF PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS THAT DIDN'T CARRY OUT THE REPUG PARTY LINE.


ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES SHOULD EQUALLY BE UNDER FIRE FOR ALLOWING, ENCOURAGING, INSTIGATING THE TORTURE OF MEN AND OF WOMEN AND OF CHILDREN, THE SODOMIZING OF YOUNG BOYS, AS CAUGHT ON TAPES THE PUBLIC HASN'T SEEN YET.


GONZALES IS RESPONSIBLE. HE SHOULD LOSE HIS JOB, THEN BE TRIED IN AN INTERNATIONAL COURT JUST AS THE NAZI TORTURERS AND MURDERERS WERE.


PLEASE READ AND FORWARD THIS ARTICLE. EVERYWHERE. THEN WRITE YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE AND BRING THE FULL WEIGHT OF JUSTICE DOWN ON BUSH'S PAL, ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES.


BMutiny T
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Posted: Mar 16, 2007 12:57am
MAYAN PRIESTS TO PERFORM BUSH EXORCISM
Mar 9, 2007
And We'll Scorch the Indentations of His Footsteps 


By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.

"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.

Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.

Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites - which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles - would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.

Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives.

The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the United States has neglected the region and at combatting the rising influence of Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has called Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."

Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524.

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Posted: Mar 9, 2007 4:37am

 
 
 
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