molly ivins, danny schechter, jane fonda

The Old War Criminal is back. I try not to hold grudges, but I must admit I have never lost one ounce of rancor toward Henry Kissinger, that cynical, slithery, self-absorbed pathological liar. He has all the loyalty and principle of Charles Talleyrand, whom Napoleon described as "a piece of dung in a silk stocking."
Come to think of it, Talleyrand looks pretty good compared to Kissinger, who always aspired to be Metternich (a 19th century Austrian diplomat). Just count the number of Americans and Vietnamese who died between 1969 and 1973, and see if you can find any indication he ever gave a damn.
As for Kissinger's getting the Nobel Peace Prize, it is a thing so wrong it has come to define wrongness--as in, "As weird as the time Henry Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize."
Tom Lehrer, who was a lovely political satirist, gave up satire after that blow.
The War Criminal's return is the only piece of news I have yet found in Bob Woodward's new book, and what amazes me is the reaction to the work. Gosh, gasp, imagine, Woodward says the war's a disaster!
People who know a lot more than Bob Woodward have been saying the war's a disaster for years--because war is self-evidently a disaster. Why this is greeted as an annunciation from on high just because Woodward, the world's most establishment reporter, now says so is a mystery to me.

that's from molly ivin's 'Return of the War Criminal' at truthdig. i just love molly ivins. sometimes, i'm not in the mood to be as forgiving as she is, but she usually makes me laugh (and usually makes me wish i could be more forgiving). (personally, i'm a very forgiving person. when it comes to politicians, not so.)

danny schechter writes about another strong woman i love, jane fonda:

In fact, as I prepared to screen IN DEBT WE TRUST, I found out that I would be competing for audience in the same venue with none other that Jane Fonda. (It was not very competitive; she won hands down, drawing the far bigger crowd.) I saw her before her talk and she told me she is still promoting "Sir NO Sir," the documentary about the Vietnam war GI protest movement that she was part of.
Jane's Vietnam solidarity work is still like red meat to the hard right. An UNSIGNED flyer had been given out demonizing her. It was called “GET TO KNOW JANE.” It was filled with the usual selective and distorted red-baiting anti-Fonda "facts." The flyer ended with an appeal: "Please help us protest her actions by not attending her speech on this campus, or by walking out in the middle. As Americans, we should let her know her actions were unacceptable."
Someone who attended her speech on the Feminization of Poverty, sponsored surprisingly by part of the Business School, told me that only one of her detractors--one person-- opened a door and shouted "Hanoi Jane" at her and ran away. He didn’t have the guts to challenge her directly. No one walked out.

though not a woman, i like danny too! but i wish he'd put a button for his in debt we trust. i couldn't find it on his news dissector page (i pulled it off of c.i.'s page) and i wanted to link to it and sir! no sir! (i know that address now but if i didn't, like elaine, mike has a poster of it and i'm in mike's room because it's friday, iraq discussion group. they wanted posters when we all saw it in california and c.i. got them. i wish i'd asked for 1.

we're doing 1 room really laid back and fly boy has a reggie jackson, indiana pacers fame, action figure. he's never taken it out of the box. i said, 'are you ever going to take it out of the box?' and he said no, he just got it back in the 90s (yes, i remember and remember teasing him, we were shopping for a gift for my nephew when he exclaims, 'reggie jackson!') because he liked jackson's playing. so i've been telling him that in what i'm calling the 'fun room,' we should hang it up. it's still in the package and i think it would look nice in there. the reason i think of the sir! no sir! poster is because the colors are orange and black and those are also the pacers' colors. (don't tell fly boy, but i've bought some basketball stuff to hang up in there. no offense to any 1 who is, but i've never been what betty calls a 'girly-girl.' and i'm having more fun thinking up things to put in the fun room than any of the other rooms we're redecorating.)

and i'm being told people are already showing up downstairs. i was hoping to note a few more things but no time.

so i'll just note that i'm so blown away by all the people in this country who stood up yesterday and took part in World Can't Wait. there was so much nonsense trying to undercut the activities. you saw the village voice slam it. what a load of crap. if village voice wants to look at monies, maybe every 1 working for new times media should quit and go to work at a real job? i mean talk about ugly money. but you had that, you had a lot of people trying to prevent a turn out and yet in communities across the country, people ignored the efforts and turned out.

that's because the message is an important 1: the world can't wait.

a lot of people wait, a lot of people ignore.

and that's why the country is in such bad shape. i've got to stop here but here's c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Friday, October 6, 2006. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq, war resister Darrell Anderson is headed home (he returned to the United States, turned himself in at Fort Knox on Tuesday, now he's headed home), World Can't Wait staged protests across the United States on Thursday, the Danish military suffers a fatality in Iraq, the US military notes a death toll on Iraqi police officers but continues to look the other way with regards to violence toward Iraqi women, and Bob Watada, father of war resisterer Ehren Watada, continues his second speaking tour to raise awareness on his son.

Starting with war resister Darrell Anderson. In April of 2004, Anderson was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq and awarded a Purple Heart. Returning to the US and learning he would be redeployed to Iraq, Anderson elected to self-check out of the military in January 2005 and move to Canada. Anderson spoke out publicly against the war while in Canada, attempted to win refugee status (something the Canadian government has refused all war resisters), met Gail Greer, married her in February 2006 but decided to return to the United States. On Saturday, he crossed the Peace Bridge back into the US and, on Tuesday, he turned himself in at Fort Knox. Jim Warren (Lexington Herald-Leader) reports that Jim Fennerty, Anderson's attorney, states Darrell Anderson "was released from Fort Knox this morning and is on his way home". AP reports that Anderson "is expected to be discharged without a court-martial".

While some resist war, US Secretary of State Condi Rice incites it. Rice was in Baghdad on Thursday where -- as Robin Wright (Washington Post), Philp Shenon (New York Times) and CBS and AP reported -- her plane had to circle the airport for approximately forty minutes due to mortar and rocket attacks. Not aimed at her, mind you, such is the state of Baghdad that Rice's unnannounced visit didn't effect what's become life as usual. From there, on Friday, Condi headed to the Kurdish region, which is oil rich, and, as AFP reports, made noises about sharing the wealth with Massud Barzani (regional president). She was so busy that the meeting in London among "world powers" had to be delayed two hours, Thomas Wagner (AP) reports which left "leaders little time to reach a consensus and making it unlikely." If the decision on sanctions has been delayed, a detour's been created in Bully Boy's march to war on Iran meaning, possibly, citizens around the world should pray that Condi has many more unexpected layovers. (Update on this by Sophie Walker of Reuters.)

As Wright (Washington Post) noted, Rice's visit began as the Kurdish parliamentarian Mohammed Ridah Sinkawi was assassinated. As Shenon (New York Times) noted, the visit with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani took place "in the dark" after "the lights went out . . . It was a reminder of the city's erratic -- and sometimes nonexistant -- electrical service." Along with electrical problems, Rice visit occurred as Xinhua reported that: "Toxic water in the Tigris river killed thousands of fish and birds in Iraq's Salahudin province . . . The provincial water directorate, which produces drinking water for people in this area, ordered all its projects to suspend working and wait for the tests' results". Three years after the illegal war began and they can't even keep the lights on the fortified Green Zone of Baghdad, nor can they address the issue of the Tigris which provides "drinking water supplies for millions of Iraqis."



Today, CNN reports Joseph Paterson ("commander in charge of police training in Iraq") announced that "Since September 2004 . . . about 4,000 [police] officers have been killed and 8,000 injured". And of course, as AFP reported earlier, between 800 and 1,200 police officers are being retrained after they were thought to be complicit in the mass kindappings from earlier this week. What the US military refuses to talk about is women in Iraq. Nabeel Ziriqi (Al Jazeera) reported earlier this week: "A recent spike in attacks on women has forced many in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul to retreat into their homes or resort to armed escort by relatives and tribal guards. In recent weeks, Mosul residents have witnessed an unprecedented rise in the number of female corpses found throughout the city. Alaa al-Badrani said her friend, a school principal, was kidnapped from her home in the Bakr district of the city by an armed gang."



Bombings?

Bahrain News Agency reports that a roadside bomb targeted "a US military patrol . . . passing by in Husaiba to the est of the Iraqi city of Ramadhi." No word on any casualities or fatalities. AFP reports mortar rounds wounded seven in Baghdad. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports a "double bombing" that first "set the generator ablaze, then when firefighters and others rushed in, the second went off" resulting in one death and four injured.

Shootings?

KUNA reports that Denmark's 500 troops serving in Iraq are now 499 as a soldier, injured in an "armed confrontation" in southern Iraq, died as he was being transported to a hospital.


Corpses?

Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports seven corpses discovered "floating in the area of Suwayrah". AFP reports that Baghdad police discovered 35 corpses in the capital in the last 24 hours.

This comes as the puppet of the occupation, Nouri al-Malki's little examined 4-part 'peace' plan continues to be hailed by an unquestioning press. One not hailing it is Firas Al-Atraqchi (Al-Ahram Weekly) who notes of the first plank -- 'security committees': "The committees would monitor whether police and the Iraqi army effectively pursue militia fighters after an attack. But the plan falls far short of any significant effort to curb violence because it does not address the disarming of militias, which Maliki had promised in late May, and focuses entirely on Baghdad. The rest of the country, it seems, can go to hell."

Meanwhile IRIN reports a slight improvement for the life of prisoners in Iraqi prisons just as AP reports that: "Guards at Guantanamo Bay bragged about beating detainees and described it as common practice, a U.S. Marine sergeant said in a sworn statement". (If you're confused as to the connection between Guantanamo and Iraq, on today's KPFA's Living Room, Kris Welch presented some recorded footage of Janis Karpinski explaining the efforts to "Gitmo-ize" Abu Ghraib.)

In legal news, AP reports that the trial of Pendleton Eight, accused of shooting an unarmed Iraqi dead after dragging from his Hamdaniya home, included testimony today from one of the eight, Melson J. Bacos, who testified "he saw two Marines fire at least 10 rounds into 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad". AP reports that Bacos, a medic, "pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy charges" in the death of Awad.
Reuters reports that Bacos tetified Lawrence Hutchins III had devised a plan for another Iraqi (one who had been in and out of Abu Ghraib) but, when unable to locate that man, they went after Hashim Ibrahim Awad who happened to live next door to the Iraqi Hutchins had intended they kidnap and kill.

Meanwhile, in London, AFP reports that an inquest into the death of ITN reporter Terry Lloyd heard testimony from Nicholas Walshe who stated Lloyd "was shot in the head by US troops as he was driven away from a gunfight". As the BBC noted, March 23, 2003, Terry Lloyd "has not been seen since he and three colleagues came under fire as [they] were on the road to the city of Basra." The Guardian of London reports that, in addition, a British solider testified "he saw a US tank open fire on the ITN team's vehicles" and that this was "the first public acknowledgement that British forces witnessed the events of March 22, 2003, in which Mr. Lloyd and his interpreter Huseein Osman died and his French cameraman Fred Nerac went missing near Basra in southern Iraq."

Frederic Nerac remains missing and Reporters Without Borders notes that "British defence ministry opened an investigation in June 2003 into their [Nerac and Hussein Osman] disappearance at the insistence of Nerac's wife Fabienne and press freedom organisations including Reporters Without Borders."

Will Dunham (Reuters) reports that "signs of wear and tear on the U.S. military" has resulted from Iraq and Afghanistan and that "Many troops are facing second and third long combat tours and less time between overseas deployments." Or none at all. A point Laurie Loving makes very clear on page 2 of The Nation's October 16, 2006 issue. Loving, a member of Military Families Speak Out, opens her letter with the following: "My son is in the 172nd Stryker Brigade (Army). It recently had its one-year deployment to Iraq extended while in the midst of deploying back to the United States. He is one of the 400 soldiers who had made it back to Fairbanks, Alaska. A few days later he was informed that he was going to be sent back to Iraq. His brigade has been sent to Baghdad to save the occupation."

In US congressional news, John Nolen (CBS) covers Republican Senator John Warner's reaction to this week's visit to Iraq: "In two or three months, if this thing hasn't come to fruition and if this level of violence is not under control . . . I think it's the responsibility of our government, internally to determine: Is there a change in course that we should take? And I wouldn't take off the table any option at this time." This as AFP reports on Republican Senator Chuck Hagel's trip to Vietnam which found him drawing some comparisons to Iraq and Vietnam and declaring "War should always be a last resort." Reporting on the other side of the aisle, Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) notes that Democratic "U.S. House Reps. Neil Abercrombie and John Murtha say President Bush will have to mobilize all members of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve -- including 3,000 Hawaii citizen soldiers -- for an indefinite period. There are not enough active-duty military to handle the current level of violence in Iraq, the two Democrats said yesterday. That would affect Army National Guard units like Hawaii's 29th Brigade Combat Team, which currently is not supposed to be mobilized for six years since returning from Iraq this year."

In peace news, across the United States people participated in demonstrations, rallies and marches as part of the World Can't Wait actions. Whethere the turnout was ten people or in the hundreds, all demonstrations made a difference, had an impact and was made up of people willing to stand up. We're going to note some of the events, not all. Over 200 locations took part and what follows is a sample of some events reported by the press.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that an estimated 40 people turned out in Reno, carrying signs that read "Vote for change," "I believe in our Constitution, why doesn't Bush?," "Where is the plan?" and U.S. Out of Iraq." Adam Leech (Portsmouth Herald) reports that at least fifty turned out in Portsmouth, Maine and he quotes Vietnam vet Brian Vawter saying, "I think we're all pretty fed up with what's going on iwth the decline of our rights and the direction this country is going. People have a need to express themselves directly because their view isn't being expressed by either partly in Washington right now." Sam Shawver (Marietta Times) reports that ten people turned out in Marietta, Ohio and quotes two: James Gawthrop stating, "I just learned about worldcantwait.net a few days ago, but my hands were shaking over the 'torture bill' Congress passed last Thursday. Now the Bush administration can detain anybody suspected of being a terrorist indefinitely. They can use secret evidence to hold you. They can even use torture"; and Janie Poe who wore a CODEPINK t-shirt to the demonstration stating, "I've been talking with many young people, and I'm impressed. Listen to young people. They're very concerned about their future, and they're very informed." [Poe urged people to support Amnesty USA and speak out against torture.] In the previous, that's a hundred people who stood up (more if press estimates are off).

In Florida, John Simpson (Bradenton Herald) reports that 150 people turned out in Sarasota to demonstrate and quotes Naomi Nye: "People are fed up. The tide is definitely turning." Simpson also notes 82-year-old Sara Dick who stated, "We're in even more danger (now). In some areas, there are more rights, but we're always slipping and sliding backwards." Christian Hill (The Olympian) reports that an estimated 300 people gathered in Olympia, Washington and quotes college student Brandon Franz stating, "The people of America are supposed to have the voice in what's done, not the ruling elite" and Kirsten Anderson who states, "I'm doing this for my grandchildren. I'm a little old to have it be for me, and it's the ones comping up that I care about. It's their country, too, especially now." Summer Banks (Yale Daily News) reports that an estimated 60 people participated near campus and notes one was "[l]ocal resident and self-proclaimed Republican housewife Monica McGovern" who stated, "I am calling for Bush to step down or for Congress to impeach him. I would like to see him indicted for war crimes." Beth Freed (Dallas Morning News) reports that an estimated forty people participated in Lewisville, Texas resulting in "slowed southbound traffic on Interstate 35E . . . . Many commuters honked in support of the peace demonstrators outside the office of U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, while others slowed to express their disagreement" and quotes Nikki Henderson stating, "We as Americans should not tolerate decisions like last week's legislation. It allows Bush to interpret the Geneva Conventions on his own."

Big or small turnouts, people stood up. They stopped their normal day to speak out.
Louis Medina (The Bakersfield California) reports an estimated seventy-five activists were particiapting by the end of the events and quotes college student Araceli Aguilar stating, "I came here to protest the Bush administration. I don't agree with what they're doing. I don't agree with the war, which they said is over, yet we still have our troops there and they're dying." Melissa Nix (The Free Lance Star) reports that, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, an estimated two dozen students of the University of Mary Washington participated and quotes college student Jason Walsh who held 268 pages listing the names of American troops who had died in Iraq, "That's a small book. It's a waste, because no one's going to read it. No one cares about these soldiers except their families." OregonLive reports that a little less than 400 people participated in Portland's march. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, Lubna Takruri (AP) reports that "dozens" turned out and the mayor, David Coss, spoke to the group.

A mayor, students, retired people, those who work in the home, those who work outside it (and those working outside frequently also work inside), a wide range of people took part. Patrick Flanigan (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) reports that an estimated "150 people gathered in downtown Rochester [New York] on Thursday to protest President Bush's handling of the war on terror and the mounting death toll in Iraq" and quotes Donna Mummery: "Our country is about to embark on a very dangerous course. By taking to the streets on a work day, you are saying enough is enough." Also in New York, Alice Hunt (Poughkeepsie Journal) reports that activists gathered in New Paltz and quotes Josh Schulman stating, "Our first step is to initiate that dialogue and permeat the mass media with the message Bush does not speak for many Americans." While in NYC, Chelsea Cooley (Washington Square News) reports: "Hundreds of protesters packed the streets yesterday, marching 33 blocks from the United Nations building at First Avenue and 47th Street to Union Square, chanting their message: 'Drive out the Bush regime!'"

In one of the largest reported turnouts, Emma Graves Fitzsimmons, Brendan McCarthy and Rudy Bush (Chicago Tribune) report that an estimated 1,500 people turned out in Chicago and quotes college student Rebecca Miller on skipping class to attend, "It's just one class. I can always make up the homework. This is more important." and Thyandrea Adams who shut down her business to be present, "I told them not to come into work today. This is a day that's important. It was worth it to show support from our community." In Seattle, Mike Barber (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) reports "several hundreds" turned out and Barber quotes Patricia Thompson who brought "her 82-year-old father" because, "He is horrified at the mess they made of Iraq. Weapons of mass destruction was a snow job. We never finished in Afghanistan. It's an absolute shambles of incompetency and profiteering."

In San Francisco, Dennis Bernstein and Nora Barrows Friedman covered the event for
KPFA's Flashpoints on Thursday (broadcast archived -- if you can listen online, you can hear it for free), Charles Slay (San Francisco Indybay Media) has created a photo essay, and John Koopman, Patrick Hoge and Marisa Lagos (San Francisco Chronicle) report on the "hundres" (it was well over a thousand) and notes 17-year-old Jessica Cussins, among the many who left campuses to attend, stating, "I felt that this was more useful. I wanted to be part of it. I think what we're doing (in Iraq) is wrong." Alice Walker is quoted stating: "I just want the children to know that some of the elders are with them, and that we're very happy they are speaking out and saving their own lives by resisting the Bush regime." [You can also check out Mike's "Blue Angels buzzing rally and power cut (San Francisco)" which relays Jess reporting via cellphone.]

Ehren Watada was not in Salem, Oregon yesterday but he was remembered. Tim King (Salem-News) reports that among those participating in their local World Can't Wait demonstrations ("between 75 and 100") was Reed Elder who urged that everyone check out Ehren Watada's website and that other "soldiers who also don't agree withe the direction of the nation" should be speaking out.

Bob Watada, Ehren's father, is now on his second speaking tour to raise awareness of his son who is the first US officer to publicly refuse to serve in the illegal war. Some of the upcoming events include:


Sat 10/7 2:00-4:00 pm Welcome Reception for Bob Watada
JACCC Garden Room, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles
Contact: NCRR 213-680-3484, email: ncrrla@yahoo.com.

Sun 10/8 2:00-5:00 pm Forum with Bob Watada
Nat'l Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles.
Contact Ellen Endo 213-629-2231 or Mo 323-371-4502

Sun 10/8 6:00-8:00 pm An Evening of Discussion and Learning hosted by Rev. Phyllis Tyler
11326 CherryLee Dr., El Monte (Rev. Tyler is Senior Pastor of Sage Granada Park United Methodist Church in Alhambra) Co-sponsored by NCRR and the National Japanese American United Methodist Church Caucus
Contact: NCRR 213-680-3484 email: ncrrla@yahoo.com

Mon 10/9 7:00pm Veterans for Peace (Chapter 112) and Citizens for Peaceful Resolution
E.P. Foster Library, Topping Rm. 651, E. Main St., Ventura
Contact: Michael Cervantes 805-486-2884 email: mcervant@mindspring.com

Wed 10/100 7:00-9:45 pm CSULB Asian American and Chicano & Latino Studies Classes
Dr. John Tsuchida and Dr. Juan Benitez
1250 Bellflower Bl, Long Beach

Thurs 10/12 6:00 pm Whittier Area Coalition for Peace & Justice, Mark Twain Club Potluck
($3 donations) Bob speaks at 7:00 pm. First Friends Church of Whittier, 12305 E. Philadelphia St., Whittier
Contact: Robin McLaren 562-943-4051 email: mclaren@charter.net


A full schedule, in PDF form, can be found here. More information on Ehren Watada can be found at ThankYouLt.org. and information on all known war resisters can be found at Courage to Resist.

the world truly can't wait

we're at mike's. elaine, fly boy, trina, mike, two of his sisters, my friend t and i all went to the same World Can't Wait rally. but did we miss the 1. i mean, we didn't have the power suppy cut, we didn't have police lurking and military jets (blue angels - f16s) buzzing overhead. we're listening to kpfa's news right now and missed Flashpoints because we couldn't get it to stream which was hopefully due to the fact that there were so many people listening online.

that all happened in san francisco and we've been on the phone with them. it's nearly ten my time but there it's getting close to 7. good for the people in that area for refusing to be intimidated. good for dennis bernstein, nora barrows friedman and the Flashpoints gang for broadcasting from it. (we're planning to listen to the archived broadcast shortly.) good for every 1 who turned out even though today also brought rain bursts. and shout outs to jim, dona, ty, jess, ava and c.i. who are there.

heads up to the common ills - there are 4 posts today. wally called asking about 1 i'd told him about. if you don't see 4, hit reload. i'm helping out by crossposting later so i checked to make sure and there are 4 posts. (my favorite is the 1 on michael gordon stroking his war-on.)

think about how scared some must be of the people gathering and talking to buzz a demonstration. think about it and think about why, in the united states, military planes were given the okay to do that?

i'm sure we'll hear tomorrow that this was all just some 'hot shots' acting on their own. i don't buy it. but even if so, such is the climate in this country that a 'hot shot' (rotten apple?) can get it into their heads that it's okay to buzz citizens in this country, to harrass them and, no doubt, to attempt to intimidate them.

well too damn bad, the people will not be silenced. you've got would be taste makers and guardians of the status quo attempting to channel the people's energies. attempting to tell them AGAIN to just 'act' by voting.

do we remember this? do we all remember being told to hop on board in 2004? we had to stop talking about iraq. it was for 'the greater good'.

whose greater good?

the election was stolen as most knew it would be and john kerry didn't fight it.

i do vote (and did vote for kerry). and you can be sure i will vote in november. but the reality is that voting's not 'the answer.' it's 1 step in the process but it's not the only step and people need to quit being lulled into this sense of 'i will vote democrat and everything will change.'

want things to change? start making noise. start speaking out.

political parties are interested in political parties.

people need to be intersted in people. start using your voice and if you know some 1 who says 'i am being active, i'm voting' let 'em know that's not enough. it's not nearly enough.

here's c.i.'s 'iraq snapshot:'


Thursday, October 5, 2006. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq; American fatalities for the month of October already reach the double digits; Condi makes "Janie's Got a Gun" her personal theme song; World Can't Wait mobilizes (if you're not taking part you can hear reporting on some actions on KPFA's Flashpoints today at 5:00 pm Pacific, 7:00 pm Central, 8:00 pm EST); a "self-made" begs the question of what do you do after you've blazed a trail begun with the sounds of Motor City? Cave to Bully Boy appeasers?; and the economic and human costs of the illegal war continue.
"Janie's Got a Gun" (Aerosmith), but US Secretary of State Condi Rice appears to use the club. Though bullying is a characteristic of the US administration, diplomacy is required when you're in the State Department. But the AP reports that: "Britain says top U-N allies will meet tomorrow in London to decide a next step in the nuclear stand-off with Iran. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Britain's foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, will join high-level envoys from France, Germany, Russia and China." The so-called "nuclear stand-off" has been and remains a US led one. Gearing up for her Friday meeting, Condi first stopped off in Baghdad where, CBS and AP report, she bragged to reporters about instructing the 'leaders' of Iraq that they had "limited time" and that "They don't have time for endless debate about these issues [political differences]. They have really got to move forward." That is the US Secretary of State giving orders to the supposedly independent government of Iraq. A far cry from, as AFP notes, her previous visit April 26th when she congratulated the newly installed puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki.
Rice's blatant exposure of who pulls the puppet government's strings come at a time when the US administration unveils a 'new' 'military' plan for the war. Outsourced to 'private groups,' the supposed military 'strategy' attempts to put a kinder, gentler face on illegal war. Michael Gordon (New York Times) salivated over the 'plan' in a manner that in many areas would land him with a public obscenity charge. The 'plan' can be boiled down to a "new face for illegal war will come when US troops act like store greeters at Wal-Mart" and decries the fact that they have been holed up on bases without ever grasping the whys of that decision. Those "private groups" thinking up the 'plan' should be encouraged to enlist and and carry out their 'plan' throughout Iraq for however many days they manage to remain alive as they stand around like sitting ducks and wait for the Iraqi police forces to do anything. The plan won't address anything because, despite Andy Card's beliefs, you can't market war. It certainly doesn't address CBS and AP's report that Rice's plane was prevented from landing in Baghdad for 35 minutes due to "mortar rounds or rockets."
The amount paid to "private groups" for their 'input' is unknown; however, Katrina vanden Heuvel (The Nation) reports that, according to the NPP, "$378 billion has already been spent or allocated for the Iraq war. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates that the economic costs of war, occupation, and related expenditures may reach $2 trillion -- despite the Bush administration's promise that this conflict would cost $50 billion and its firing of its economic advisor for daring to estimate the cost between $100 to $200 billion." Meanwhile the Pentagon has earmarked $20 million of its budget for a 'victory' monument to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Anne Plummer Flaherty (AP) reports a "$20 million victory party" has been earmarked out of the Pentagon's $532 billion budget for the fiscal year of 2007. This would make Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld the ultimate "party girl."
The economic realities come at a time when China's Xinhua reports that thirty corpses were discovered today in Baghad while the US military announces two US troops dead in Al-Anbar Province follwoing the US military announcment of four US troops dead -- shot dead in Baghdad. This comes as the number of American troop fatalities for the month of October (this is the fifth day) reach 22. Last Thursday, the total number of US troop fatalities stood at 2710. Right now? 2738.
Bombings?
AFP reports a bomb in Baghdad's Tayyaran Square that wounded 20. Reuters identifies it as a roadside bomb and notes a car bomb in Baghdad also left eight wounded and two dead. Reuters also notes two police officers were wounded in Mahmudiya by a roadside bomb and that mortar rounds killed one man in Mahmudiya and injured five members of his family while mortar rounds "near Balaz Ruz" took two lives and left five wounded.
Shootings?
In Samawa, AFP notes that "two women and a girl from the same Shiite family" were shot dead. Reuters reports that it was a home invasion which resulted in the "shooting dead [of] three women and slitting the throat of a baby girl". In addition, Reuters notes two people shot dead in Falluja, a police officer shot dead in Baquba and four people shot dead in Ramadi.
Corpses?
As already noted, Xinhua reports thirty corpses found in Baghdad. Reuters reports that five corpses were discovered in Ukashat, two in Mahmudiya, one near Kirkuk.
In the United States, Jerome L. Sherman (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) reports on a poll of people serving in the US military which "found that 63 percent of veterans of both conflicts describe the Army and Marine Corps as 'overextended,' while many soldiers also complained about encountering emotional and physical problems when they came back from active duty."
In peace news, World Can't Wait is ongoing (this is a dictated entry). In addition, war resistance gains attention. Ehren Watada, Darrell Anderson (who turned himself in Tuesday), Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, and others serving have said no to war. Zeroing in on Agustin Aguayo and Anderson, Andrew Gumbel (LA City Beat) takes a look at war resistance, notes the risks ("going to prison, losing contact with their families, being forced back to Iraq at gunpoint") and concludes " the rumblings of discontent are unmistakable, and growing louder. Next month, the Iraq resistance movement is planning a national demonstration -- time and place still to be decided. There may be objections to the form of their protest, because of the belief that military personnel are there to serve, not ask questions. But the content is becoming ever more compelling."
Meanwhile, Aaron Glantz (OneWorld) takes an in depth look at Darrell Anderson who self-checked out of the US military in January 2005 and went to Canada. Last Saturday, Anderson returned to the United States and Tuesday he turned himself in at Fort Knox. Anderson was wounded while serving in Iraq and has suffered from PTS since. Glantz notes that the American Journal of Psychiatry has "found that large numbers of returning soldiers suffer from PTSD. Those like Anderson, who suffered severe physical injuries, often developed PTSD within seven months of being hurt. Among injured soldiers, researches found that after one month, 4.2 percent had probable PTSD and 4.4 percent had depression; at 4 months, 12.2 percent had PTSD and 8.9 percent suffered from depression; at 7 months, 12 percent had PTSD and 9.3 had depression."
Turning to war resister Ehren Watada, Mary Adamski (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports: "The Interfaith Alliance of Hawaii will honor Army Lt. Ehren Watada for taking a stand against the war in Iraq by refusing to serve there with his Stryker combat unit. The organization chose the Honolulu-born artillery officer for its Flame of Hope Award to be presented Oct. 21 at its 2006 Community Awards Dinner." In June, Watada became the first US officer to publicly refuse to serve in Iraq.
As the Ventura County Star notes, Bob Watada, Ehren Watada, will be speaking "7 p.m. Monday meeting of Ventura County Veterans for Peace and Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions. Admission is free. The meeting will be in the Topping Room at E.P. Foster Library, 651 E. Main St., Ventura. On June 22, 2005, Ehren Watada became the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to the Iraq War and occupation. He has been formally charged with contempt toward President Bush, conduct unbecoming an officer and missing movement. On Aug. 24, the Army recommended a general court-martial on all charges. Last week, an additional charge was added because Watada made an August speech to the Veterans for Peace National Convention in Seattle, stating, 'To stop an illegal and unjust war, soldiers can choose to stop fighting it.' For the first time since 1965, the military is prosecuting an objector for his opinions. He faces more than eight years in prison. . . . For information on Veterans for Peace call 486-2884; on Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions, 850-5849."
Other speaking dates for Bob Watada include:
Thurs 10/5 5:00 pm World Can't Wait March & Rally
(March starts at noon at pershing S1/Bob speaks in front of Federal Bldg 300 N. Los Angeles St. at 5:00 pm.
Contact: Nicole Lee 323-462-4771 email: la@worldcantwait.org
Fri. 10/6 7:00 am Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP)
Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Bl., Los Angeles
Contact: Thalia 626-683-9004 email: incuip@pacbell.net
Fri 10/6 12:30 San Fernando Valley Japanese Community Center
SFV Japanese American Community Center, 12953 Branford St., Pacoima 91331
Contact: Phil Shigkuni 818-893-1851, cell: 818-357-7488, email pshig2000@yahoo.com.
Sat 10/7 2:00-4:00 pm Welcome Reception for Bob Watada
JACCC Garden Room, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles
Contact: NCRR 213-680-3484, email: ncrrla@yahoo.com.
Sun 10/8 2:00-5:00 pm Forum with Bob Watada
Nat'l Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles.
Contact Ellen Endo 213-629-2231 or Mo 323-371-4502
Sun 10/8 6:00-8:00 pm An Evening of Discussion and Learning hosted by Rev. Phyllis Tyler
11326 CherryLee Dr., El Monte (Rev. Tyler is Senior Pastor of Sage Granada Park United Methodist Church in Alhambra) Co-sponsored by NCRR and the National Japanese American United Methodist Church Caucus
Contact: NCRR 213-680-3484 email: ncrrla@yahoo.com
For a complete schedule, click here (PDF) and for more information on war resisters, visit Courage to Resist.
In news of cowardice/caving, Suzanne de Passe rose from upper-middle class African-American to become one of the most powerful women in Hollywood. Early on she realized the importance of image which was among the reasons she traveled by limo even before she "made it" (the other reason -- cab drivers wouldn't stop for African-Americans at night in the sixties). Becoming Berry Gordy's girl-Friday quickly resulted into a powerful position, overseeing Diana Ross & the Supremes and grooming the Jackson Five. Throughout her tenure, she continued to rise (Academy Award nomination for co-writing the screenplay to Lady Sings the Blues, etc.) at Motown -- until Motown founder Berry Gordy sold her the company's TV and features division which she renamed de Passe Entertainment. The accomplishments and accolades continue to mount (Lonesome Dove, et al). Now Jeff Bercovici (Radar) reports that the power player takes a dive when Paul Mooney's comedy routine offends Bully Boy loyalists. The comedy routine was being taped to air on Showtime at the Apollo which de Passe Entertainment produces. The routine included jokes of Gin and Tonic (a staple of any Mooney routine, the Bully Boy's alleged heavy drinking daughters) and Mooney tells Bercovici "They wanted me out of there, the Republicans, the Time Warner people, They said I was Bush bashing, and it was hatred. I felt like I was in Iran or Cuba or somewhere." Since Showtime at the Apollo is largely geared to an audience where Bully Boy has never, over six years, managed to reach even 20% in approval ratings, the act might seem a natural for the program; however, Mooney states that power player de Passe stopped his act in the middle of taping and blamed it on "unnamed officials from Time Warner" which appears to include Richard Parsons, Time Warner chair and on the Apollo Theater Foundation's board of directors. Power player? Or the woman still best remembered for running around with a steno pad and asking (repeatedly), "What did Miss Ross want?" Mooney's routine was nothing surprising or out of charcter to anyone who knows his standup but when a power player plays lackey, censorship can occur.

if i were pbs, i'd ask, 'who are you to criticize?'

i got a call from a friend at cbs today. he was laughing about fair's alert. you can read an associated press article on it here. why was he laughing? i didn't ask. he read me 1 sentence, here it is:

Its researchers said they couldn't find a single peace activist had appeared on "NewsHour" during the six months studied.

why is that funny? fair (fairness and accuracy in the media - which is a group i like) has studied pbs' newshour. i don't like pbs. i don't care for the newshour. but fair brought the laughter on themselves. why?

a little 1/2 hour program called counterf**k put out by fair that can't address the war. if i were pbs, i would've asked the ap reporter to go back and ask steve rendell what peace activist counterf**k had on their program in the last 6 months?

there hasn't been 1. cindy sheehan hasn't been on. medea benjamin hasn't been on. leslie cagan hasn't been on.

if i were pbs, i would've driven that point home. i would've pointed out that fair has a 30 minute weekly program and week after week, they choose their guests. so if they can't provide peace activists when they chose guests, who are they to criticize pbs' newshour for not providing a guest?

that's why all the cackles and all the goofing off hurts fair. that's why counterf**k needs to get serious. they want to critique the newshour and they argue that the newshour doesn't provide peace activists. neither does fair. you can't count media critics or former heads of fair. they point the finger at pbs for no peace activist.

i can point the finger at pbs for that. but that's because i've pointed the finger at counterf**k for that same issue. due to counterf**k, fair comes off looking like a hypocrite.

now they might argue, 'we critique the mainstream news.' yes, you do and you study it to see what gets covered and what doesn't. when you see that peace activists are shut out, it's your job to provide a peace activist who will discuss that topic. counterf**k never did that.

if i were pbs, i would've responded, 'since fair hasn't been able to find a peace activist worthy of their own show, i think they're coming off like hypocrites and should spend less time issuing a report card on pbs and more time focusing on fixing their own problems.'

the friend is a mutal friend of c.i.'s and mine. c.i. was speaking today, 1st day since the operation last week, and i said i'd drop what i planned to write about tonight if it would mean 1 less call to c.i. i know c.i. was tired today and feeling sick on the plane. so i'm grabbing this topic and it's 1 i have covered before. counterf**k is embarrassing. friends at cbs news feel that they are under the microscope in ways that other networks aren't (i agree with that assessment). that's bad enough. but the fact that they regularly ignore the iraq war is even worse. the fact that they have not provided cindy sheehan or any other peace activist as a guest going back months means they haven't earned the right to point the finger at any 1 else.

the show is still a joke. it's a bunch of titters and giggles. the organization needs a woman's chair because there are so many insulting things going on. where was their look at elizabeth vargas being fired from anchor of world news tonight due to her pregnancy?

that wasn't important to them. doing their weekly i-hate-katie-couric fan club was. citing ratings as a critique was so beyond everything fair is supposed to stand for and the sort of shameful thing that happens far too often. and you know they never critiqued dexter filkins. they couldn't shut up about judith miller but they couldn't devote time to examining filkins' work. when thomas e. ricks outed filkins, in the pages of the washington post, as the go-to-boy for the u.s. military, they reduced that to a headline. and not even a full headline. they mentioned it for a sentence, maybe 2, and then were off on bill o'reilly.

that program has made a joke out of fair and that's why i have grown to hate that weekly thirty minutes of nonsense. fair is an important organization. counterf**k degrades it weekly. i'm not the only 1 that got a call today about this. i know that ___ was circulating the laughable ap story (with that sentence circled and 'hypocrite' written next to it). and the reason for that is counterf**k. the program needs to get it's act together and that's not going to happen by doing a semi-deep (truly superficial) look at new york times op-eds on abortion and acting shocked that women aren't writing the majority of them. what kind of an idiot doesn't grasp that you hardly ever get women on the op-ed pages of the times. maureen dowd's the token and on a good week you might get 2 more women. on a good week.

when men go on vacation, they are almost always replaced by men. once, thomas friedman was on vacation and 3 people filled in for him. 2 were women. that was the exception. but note even with the exception, you didn't get all women filling in for him. you never do.

so when they do these silly little guests that don't know anything they're talking about or when they cover chris hedges outing a source who lied to him and don't bother to point out what any 1 who read the article knows (that there were 2 sources who lied to hedges and he only outed 1).

they treat that show like a comedy show for the really dumb. and that's hurting fair which is why counterf**k needs to get its act together. fair started to hold the media accountable. a noble goal. but counterf**k has made the organization a joke to the mainstream media because it is noted that they cover up for their favorites (as with ignoring the fact that hedges only named 1 source) and that they book silly guests who defend the mainstream and their interviewers just say 'uh-huh.'

on the chris hedges issue, before counterf**k had the guest from mother jones, c.i. had already noted that article on the chris hedges piece (falsely) linking saddam hussein to 9-11 (oh, you thought judith miller wrote that piece - a lot of media critics on the left credit it to her, but chris hedges wrote it). c.i. likes chris hedges but that didn't prevent c.i. from stating the obvious - the story, the new york times story not the mother jones 1, the new york times story that linked saddam and 9-11 mentioned 2 sources. hedges only outed 1.

and was the easiest 1. it was 'i don't know his name, he told me his name was __ but it turns out that's not his name. he was iraqi.'

and there was the increasingly dopey janine jackson interviewing the mother jones writer and never bothering to ask the obvious question: 'chris hedges mentioned 2 sources. did you ask him who the other source was?'

that never gets mentioned. it should have been asked. if you are truly a watch dog it should have been asked.

c.i. loves chris hedges' work. but that didn't mean c.i. played stupid. c.i. tackled the story before counterf**k did. click here to read c.i.'s critique.

and if you're in doubt that there were 2 sources, here's the link to the article hedges wrote followed by an excerpt, 'A Nation Challenged: The School; Defectors Cite Iraqis Training For Terrorism:'

Two defectors from Iraqi intelligence said yesterday that they had worked for several years at a secret Iraqi government camp that had trained Islamic terrorists in rotations of five or six months since 1995.
They said the training in the camp, south of Baghdad, was aimed at carrying out attacks against neighboring countries and possibly Europe and the United States.
The defectors, one of whom was a lieutenant general and once one of the most senior officers in the Iraqi intelligence service, the Mukhabarat, said they did not know if the Islamic militants being trained at the camp, known as Salman Pak, were linked to Osama bin Laden.

'two defectors.' 'they.' 'defectors.' why was only 1 source outed since they both lied? if you're a watchdog, you're a watchdog. you don't play patty cakes or look the other way when you're covering a story just because some 1's a nice guy.

this is only 1 example of how they look the other way and attack some people and give others a pass. and the fact that they do that is why fair is losing impact with the mainstream media.

that's it for tonight. i'll cover planned topics tomorrow. here's c.i.'s 'Iraq Snapshot:'

Wednesday, October 4, 2006. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq; the spin on the 'peace' plan of the puppet continues; 'Who's killing Iraqi educators?" is the question no one's asking; World Can't Wait calls for mass resistance on Thursday; Willie Caldwell continues to state the obvious; and an occupation riddle: When you think you've found killers and those who aid them, what do you do? Retrain them apparently, retrain them.


Those reading this morning's New York Times were greeted by Michael Luo's report on the increased violence in Iraq and the new that, on Monday alone, eight US troops died (highest single day number since July 2005). The AP noted 52 Iraqis reported dead on Tuesday. CNN notes that the US military announced two more deaths this morning (announced this morning, both died on Tuesday) and noted the two deaths bring "the number of U.S. troop fatalities in the first three days of October to 15." Iraq Coalition Casualties, the count we follow, states that 17 US troops have died since the month began (the total since the start of the illegal war: 2733 US troops killed).


That's the reality. Someone tell the United Nations' IRIN News, "Don't fluff so, don't fluff so, don't fluff so close to me. Please, don't fluff so, don't fluff so . . ." In part one of an intended series of articles examing Nouri al-Maliki's so-called 'peace' plan, IRIN ignores not only plank 3 but also seems unaware that the 'security councils' the puppet of the occupation is recommending already exist. Don't fluff so, don't fluff so
. . . AFP gets closer to the truth referring to it as "Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's last plan to stop the country sliding into chaos." Rest assured, it probably is his "last" (not "latest") plan. He's lost all US support and a puppet with no one pulling the strings is just a doll that no one wants to play with.

And why would they? AFP reports a mass suspect in the mass kidnappings: the Eighth Brigade of the Second Division of the Iraqi National Police. Willie Caldwell IV, the Giddiest Gabor in the Green Zone, happy to finger point, states: "There was clear evidence that there was some complicity in allowing death squad elements to move freely, when in fact they were supposed to be impeding their movment. It was realized that removing them from Baghdad would, in fact, enhance security." Now take the 'news' with a grain of salt. It's an allegation. But considering the severity of the allegation, it's interesting that, AP reports, only the police commander in charge was "discharged and arrested for investigation in the kidnapping." And the rest? CNN reports that it's time for retraining. As though deciding to let 'death squads' pass your security check point is akin to not knowing how to use the office copier. AFP reports they're on a US military base being retrained. BBC reports: "A programme has been under way for more than a month for comprehensive assessment and re-training of all national police unites -- a process called by the Americans 'transofrmational training.'"
James Hider (Times of London) reports that since 2004, "US forces have been re-training the Iraqi police, but the programme has had little impact" and that a "survivor of Monday's mass kidnapping . . . described how half a dozen vehicles, with official security forces markings on them, pulled up and men in military fatigues rounded up all the Sunnis in the shops."


Bombs?

Mussab Al-Khairalla and Alastair Macdonald (Reuters) report the US military announcement that "Bomb attacks in Baghdad have hit an all-time high." In reply, insert Goldie Hawn's two-word reply when, in Private Benjamin, she's told she's not fit for the uniform.


A 'series' of bombs went off in Baghdad. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports that "a car bomb and two roadise bombs blew up in the span of 10 minutes in a shopping district of the Camp Sara neighborhood . . . left 15 dead and injured 87". Devika Bhat, James Hider and wires (Times of London) report: "Corpses were seen scattered in the streets next to the smoking wreckage as people frantically placed the wounded in their cars to take them to hospital before ambulances arrived at the scene. A woman sat weeping over the crumpled body of her son, refusing to allow police or rescue workers to take him away, while officials warned residents to leave the area for fear that more bombs were planned." Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports another bomb, close by, that was part of an attack on "a convoy carrying the Iraqi industry minister" which killed three guards and left nine more injured. There has been back and forth reporting all day on whether or not Fawzi al-Hariri (Industry Minister) was in the convoy or not. AFP notes the denial by the ministry and the confirmation by the police before reporting: "Security sources say that such denials are standard whenever there is an attack on an official convoy."


In addition, Reuters reports that, in Baghdad, another car bomb left one dead and four more wounded while, outside Baghdad -- three police officers, "two soldiers and nine civilians" were injured in Tal Afar in a bombing; and mortar rounds targeting an army recruiting center left four dead and eight wounded in Mosul.


Shootings?

Devika Bhat, James Hider and wires (Times of London) report the shooting death of two police officers in Baquba.Reuters notes a translator for the US military was shot dead in Siniya.


Corpses?


AFP reports that seven corpses were discovered in Baghdad and four in Kut. Reuters reports that two corpses were discovered in Mosul, three in Tuz Khurmatu and one in Tikrit.


Reporting for Tuesday's Free Speech News, Aaron Glantz and Salam Talib explored the issue of the deaths of Iraqi professors. 161 professors, minimum, have died in Iraq since the beginning of the illegal invasion. In addition, an estimated 3,250 have fled the country as part of the continue 'brain drain.' Interviewing a variety of people, Glantz and Talib explored this topic with one man interviewed noting that the killings are not accidental, they are targeted and another explaining that he and other professors had suggested living on or near unviersities only to have that idea shot down as well. (This report also aired on yesterday's The KPFA Evening News.)

As you read the above, you may be wondering, "What can I do about any of the above?" World Can't Wait is calling for a day of mass resistance tomorrow (Thursday). Meredith May (San Francisco Chronicle) reports that: "Activists in San Francisco have been working late into the night this week, building a 40-foot statue of President Bush. It's not idolatry. They plan to jail his likeness for war crimes Thursday at Justin Herman Plaza as part of nationwide round of protests calling on Bush to step down. Anti-Bush demonstrations are planned in more than 150 cities across the nation, as well as in Canada and Switzerland, as part of a movement that has been coalescing on the Internet for the past year." Gary Leupp (Dissident Voice) reports that "World Can't Wait has done some excellent work in uniting a wide range of war opponents in numerous actions and events. Daniel Ellsberg, Ray McGovern, Alice Walker, Howard Zinn, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Ralph Nader, Gore Vidal, Ed Asner, Sean Penn, Harry Belafonte, Tom Morello, Martin Sheen, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gloria Steinem, Viggo Mortensen, Margaret Cho, Susan Sarandon, Jane Fonda, Bianca Jagger, Kurt Vonnegut, Rev. Jess Jackson, Gen. Janis Karpinski, Ron Kovic, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney and thousands of others have endorsed the group's call to 'drive out the Bush regime' and to 'stop the attack on Iraq.'"


Sean Penn (at CounterPunch) states: "We the people of the United States have a unique opportunity. We can show each other and the world that what the Bush administration claims is their mission is not ours. And, by leading our country as a citizenry and demanding of our government an immediate end to our own military and profit investments in Iraq, display for the entire world that democracy is a government of people. What more powerful message to send the world than that we ourselves can choose in policy, in peace, and in humanitarian support." For more information, including events in your area, visit World Can't Wait.


Starying with peace news. War resister Darrell Anderson turned himself in at Fort Knox Tuesday afternoon after self-checking out in January 2005 and moving to Canada. Peter Smith (Kentcky's The Courier-Journal) reports that Anderson told people who'd turned out to show their support, "I am proud to be a resister of this war . . . I believe the tide is turning in America." Armina Ligaya (Canada's Globe & Mail) reports Anderson stating, "They broke their contract before I broke mine.". AP reports Anderson declared, "I feel that by resisting, I made up for the things I did in Iraq. I feel I made up for the sins I committed in this war." Among those present when Darrell Anderson turned himself in were his wife Gail Greer, his mother Anita Anderson, his step-father Stephen Dennis and his attorney Jim Fennerty. Jim Warren (Lexington Herald-Leader) reports that Fennerty believes Anderson "could be released by Friday if things go as they Army says." Fennerty's referring to what an officer involved in the case stated last week, "that the Army had decided not to court-martial Anderson, and plans to release him within three to five days. Fennerty said the officer told him that a discharge would be mailed to Anderson a few days after that."


Darrell Anderson is one of many in and from the military resisting the Iraq war -- those resisting publicly include Camilo Mejia, Jeremy Hinzman, Carl Webb, Brandon Hughey, Pablo Paredes, Kyle Snyder, Patrick Hart, Mark Wilkerson, Ricky Clousing and Aidan Delgado. September 2nd saw another war resister take action. That's when Augustin Aguayo self-checked out the Army. Last week, Aguayo turned himself in at Fort Irwin. Aaron Glantz (IPS) reports that Helga Aguayo (Augustin's wife) is attempting to "raise enough money to fly to Germany to testify at her husband's trial." As noted at Augustin Aguayo's home page, the military refused to let Helga or their two daughters have any contact with Augustin prior to his being deported to Germany to stand trial. Those wishing/able to donate can do say at AguayoDefense.org.


Ehren Watada is another war resister and the first officer to publicly refuse to serve in Iraq. He has stated that the war is illegal and, were he to participate, he'd be guilty of war crimes. His father, Bob Watada, has begun a second speaking tour to raise awareness about his son.


Wed. 10/4 7:00 pm Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
6120 S. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles
Contact: So Cal Library 323-759-6063

Thurs 10/5 5:00 pm World Can't Wait March & Rally
(March starts at noon at pershing S1/Bob speaks in front of Federal Bldg 300 N. Los Angeles St. at 5:00 pm.
Contact: Nicole Lee 323-462-4771 email: la@worldcantwait.org


Thurs 10/5 5:00 pm World Can't Wait March & Rally
(March starts at noon at pershing S1/Bob speaks in front of Federal Bldg 300 N. Los Angeles St. at 5:00 pm.
Contact: Nicole Lee 323-462-4771 email: la@worldcantwait.org


Fri. 10/6 7:00 am Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP)
Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Bl., Los Angeles
Contact: Thalia 626-683-9004 email: incuip@pacbell.net


Fri 10/6 12:30 San Fernando Valley Japanese Community Center
SFV Japanese American Community Center, 12953 Branford St., Pacoima 91331
Contact: Phil Shigkuni 818-893-1851, cell: 818-357-7488, email pshig2000@yahoo.com.


Sat 10/7 2:00-4:00 pm Welcome Reception for Bob Watada
JACCC Garden Room, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles
Contact: NCRR 213-680-3484, email: ncrrla@yahoo.com.


Sun 10/8 2:00-5:00 pm Forum with Bob Watada
Nat'l Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles.
Contact Ellen Endo 213-629-2231 or Mo 323-371-4502


Sun 10/8 6:00-8:00 pm An Evening of Discussion and Learning hosted by Rev. Phyllis Tyler
11326 CherryLee Dr., El Monte (Rev. Tyler is Senior Pastor of Sage Granada Park United Methodist Church in Alhambra) Co-sponsored by NCRR and the National Japanese American United Methodist Church Caucus
Contact: NCRR 213-680-3484 email: ncrrla@yahoo.com


Mon 10/9 7:00pm Veterans for Peace (Chapter 112) and Citizens for Peaceful Resolution
E.P. Foster Library, Topping Rm. 651, E. Main St., Ventura
Contact: Michael Cervantes 805-486-2884 email: mcervant@mindspring.com


For a complete schedule, click here. If you're unable to atten, Bob Morris (Politics in the Zeros) provides an MP3 file of Bob Watada speaking yesterday in Los Angeles.
And those wishing to donate to Ehren Watada's defense fund can make out checks to "ECCOR"; P.O. Box 235511, Honolulu, HI, 96823 or (for a tax deduction on your donation), "Hawaii People's Fund"; 810 N. Vineyard Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96817 *write "Lt. Watada legal defense" on the memo of the check. More information on war resisters can be found at Courage to Resist



iraq
agustin aguayodarrell anderson
mark wilkersonehren watada
bob watada
jim warrenthe lexington herald leader
peter smiththe courier journal
armina ligaya
aaron glantz
salam talibricky clousingmark wilkersonaugustin aguaya
free speech radio newsthe kpfa evening news

iraq, iraq, iraq

1st off, on Flashpoints this even, dennis bernstein made a point of noting that the program covers the life or death issues, not scandals. that's some thing to remember if you're planning to donate. if you are, please consider donating when Flashpoints airs. if you plan to donate but to do so at another time, please note to the person taking your donation that you support Flashpoints. if you're not planning to donate (due to funds or choice), don't sweat it.

3 of the visitors that c.i. reached last week when noting a war resister's spiritual beliefs e-mailed today about the snapshot and said they love that c.i. cares about iraq so much but wondered, in the words of 1, 'is it for real?'

oh, you just don't know.

do not get c.i. to talk about jake kovco unless you want tears. you can talk about and you can work on a feature with everybody at the third estate sunday review, with c.i. adding input, but ask, 'what do you really think?' and ...

it happened pretty much every day, the tears, when the inquiry into jake kovco's death was going on. i visited for several weeks and, in public or private, when c.i. was working on that snapshot, it was always wipe the tears away and keep typing.

saturday, the third estate sunday review was trucking along nicely. and then, at midnight my time, there was a call c.i. had to take. they told the rest of us to go to bed. and if we wanted to work on the other features (which we did) we could set a time (which ended up being 5:00 a.m. my time). why?

some 1 was calling that the gang knows who had lost a family member who was serving in iraq.
jim said that the iraq feature they wrote later was chiefly him & c.i. because every 1 knew that this wasn't the best time to be working on an edition and so they wrote the whole thing together and then passed it on for input and changes. jim, like me, can be a pain in the ass. and that's what it took to get that feature written.

they were all effected by the death, by the way. and the reason they called a halt to everyone working on the edition was they were taking a break to process the news.

there are a number of troops serving who have died that c.i. knew the family of or knew them. c.i. knows many still serving in iraq. that's why, when c.i. started speaking out (feb. 2003), the whole life got put on hold. this isn't a hobby or something that's dabbled in.

stories like abeer's, c.i. takes very seriously.

some people in this country haven't been touched by this war, that's true. they can remain oblivious. but c.i. has been touched it and, yes, it is for real.

that's why there's no 2nd thought about calling friends and ex-lovers in big media and begging, hollering, pleading, whatever it takes to try to get them to cover iraq and iraq related stories.

when a number of foolish people were cheerleading the illegal war back in march of 2003, c.i. did a pruning of friends and acquaintences. that included an infamous lunch where a woman rushed up to say how 'great' the war was going and c.i. pointed out whatever the fatalities were thus far (american fatalities, then as now, iraqi fatalities were not public knowledge). c.i. told her the fatalities would be in the 1,000 but she knew it was a 'cakewalk' and started to argue so c.i. told her 'get the fuck away from me and never speak to me again.' that's infamous for a number of reasons but i'll hear about this post from c.i. (or i'll not hear about it and know i told too much).

it is very serious to me. i take the war very seriously. we all do. but i don't think i've ever cried while blogging about iraq (i may be forgetting something) and c.i.'s not a crier. it was years and years before i ever saw c.i. cry and we've known each other since college. but on this issue, the tear do flow. they're genuine and heart felt.

and when some 1 takes a stand and media, big or small, can't note it, c.i. gets pissed. i do as well. i just don't do the tears. i remember watching the nightline reading of the names and just staring stunned at all the lost lives. i'm just shocked really, that the war can continue and some are still going along with it.

i find it all shocking and obscene.

i can also leave the war behind. i don't know that c.i. can, i think it's like the neil young song, 'living with war.'

i think we are both shocked that the nation could so quickly forget the lessons of vietnam. (but there's been so much revision on that, maybe it shouldn't be so shocking.)

on the subject of the common ills, i don't know that c.i.'s ending it in 2008. i know that's the plan. i know 2003, going around speaking against the war, c.i. said it would stop soon. it didn't. then c.i. said, 'well after the election.' didn't happen then. c.i.'s got stuff scheduled for this week and is still recovering from surgery last week.

if any 1 i know had a right to say, 'i want my life back,' it would be c.i. there was a really painfully death a few years back and c.i. was putting the life back together slowly. then that all got put on hold due to the iraq war. there was a really promising relationship but around april of 2003, c.i. called it off because of fears over getting lost in that and losing sight of stopping the war.

c.i. has sex today. i'm not trying to suggest a vow of celibacy. but there's no long term relationship or even a sustained short term 1 and that's by choice. the focus is on ending the war. i got married this summer, as any regular reader should know, remarried, and i was wondering how that would go over?

c.i. was happy for me. it's more like, the decision to put relationships on hold, betty's decision to put it on hold because of her kids not being old enough. i know c.i. wants to bail on the common ills in november 2008 and that may happen but i wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.

i was really shocked, we all were, in 2005 when we were working on an edition of the third estate sunday review and some 1, i think dona, asked a question about when we thought the war would end. most of us were saying 'next year' or the year after. c.i. said it wouldn't end while bully boy was in the oval office. (c.i., if you haven't noticed, never uses the word 'president' and 'bush'.) we were all shocked and i think a few were arguing the point. (as usual when shocked, i fell silent.) but that's what it's looking like now. and the tie-in is that c.i. added the common ills would be ending before the war. (that's if it ends in november 2008.)

2007 is mere months away. and the war drags on.

and 1 reason for that is the sucky job that media, big and small, does. but there's no excuse for independent media to do so damn little. that's what it does though. i think we've all lost our cherry on independent media because it's become so obvious that, day and day out, they want to cover anything except iraq.

democracy now never reported on the hearing about abeer. or for that matter, they never reported on abeer other than the original reporting when the incident became known. you might think that the show would devote a report to her, but they didn't.

they didn't cover the body counts. they couldn't find cindy sheehan or visit camp casey for the summer. (they did a 1 off airing of mark wilkerson's press conference from there. that's what it took for them to even note camp casey, mark wilkerson on top of everything else.) they didn't cover the trip of peacemakers meeting in jordan. they've done a shitty job. and they're still doing a shitty job.

now pacifica could help them out by creating a show about iraq. they've created 1, on kpfa, for the election, ava told me that. and wondered why this was happening when there was no program about iraq - no program about iraq still?

but until they create a program that covers iraq, people will continue to expect 'the war & peace report' to cover iraq and they're going to continue to be disappointed.

and that may not be fair to 1 person (goodman) but the reality is she toured the country (and is doing so again) talking about iraq while selling her book. a lot of people believed what she said and took it to heart. i don't have much sympathy for her.

but pretty much across the board, i don't have sympathy for any 1 in indymedia. i hear a lot of big talk, i don't see any action behind it. i don't see any efforts. it's as though 1 editorial of 'we're against the war' a year is supposed to satisfy us all that they're covering the war.

my grandmother is just as harsh on independent media as i am. she lived through wwii and all the wars after. she knows what real coverage is when your nation is at war and we haven't seen anything like that in some time. what we see is a joke and people who don't want to give to it shouldn't feel bad. it's not like most are doing anything worth giving to. if your country is at war and you're not covering it, then you're not doing your job.

if you're not covering the peace movement, you're not doing your job.

and the lack of coverage has hurt the peace movement so badly. you'll notice that counterf**k and amy goodman and all the rest can complain about what the mainstream doesn't do - like cover the peace movement - but where are they?

it's a joke. but they want your money so they'll pretend like they've done something really amazing. what they've done since july (maybe since the end of june) is a joke. and turning your program over to an informercial for pbs ('bill moyers has a new special on wednesday so let's show clips and talk to bill') or abc (today) is just bullshit.

if pbs is covering something, i think we can assume it's going to reach an audience. ditto the sex scandal that abc's covering. when you say & write things about how it's important for independent media to go where the silence is and then you do that sort of crap, you're making a fool of yourself. it's that simple.

in november of 2004, the day after the election, when all these young people that had worked so hard were down in the dumps and something had to be said to them, c.i. got up and did a thing about how media had failed the country that was the most inspiring thing in the world. even i was uplifted. i had no idea what c.i. was going to talk about (neither did c.i.) but there were all these dumb ass speeches about how 'next time, we'll get them next time' that were greeted with these weak 'yeah's. c.i. got people thinking and willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

but if c.i. were giving that speech after november's elections, i think it would have to include the 'big and small' term because independent media is failing.

i could list several examples of that but i was talking to dona tonight on the phone right before i got online and she asked, 'did you talk to c.i.?'

i had before the snapshot went up. c.i. called, so mad about the dumping of the darrell anderson segment, and said, 'rebecca, i need to vent or i'm never getting the snapshot done.' i said, 'vent away.'

but we hadn't talked about anything in terms of specific examples. the reason we noted the same examples at different times today is because they're so obvious. independent media's done a shit poor job and can't decide whether it wants to cover iraq or not. and then maybe it's the month that they want to hide behind soldiers to cover it. or maybe it's the month that they want to talk strategy (for their 1 day that month). or they want to wrap themselves in the flag or say dopey stuff like 'as a person of faith.'

the war is illegal. too many are putting themselves on the defensive or hiding behind others. the war is illegal. it will always be illegal.

i'm typing this and starting to get really angry. that's the difference right now between c.i. and myself. the more i think about the war, the angrier i get.

i'm angry that an idiot got installed into the oval office and that most people in this country were too stupid or lazy to object when they should have. i'm angry that people are dying in iraq - every 1 who is dying. i'm angry that our congress will not hold bully boy accountable. i'm angry that by pointing to judith miller (still!) a lot of other war liars get off scott free.

i'll do the snapshot and post this. but the reason i'm not listing examples is because that may be a feature at the third estate sunday review. 1 thing on the snapshot 1st. a few weeks ago, c.i. noted that they would not call some 1 a war resister at the common ills who wasn't. c.i. had gotten an e-mail from the family of a war resister who was offended that some 1 was repeatedly called a war resister.

when c.i. had that up and i saw it, i racked my brains trying to think, 'who is it?' c.i. wouldn't tell me or any 1. then the next week, it hit me: suzanne swift.

suzanne swift wants out of the military for good reason. she should be honorably discharged. she was brutalized and assaulted. but she's not a war resister. she has never spoken out against the iraq war. not even during her lengthy interview with amy goodman last month (i believe septemeber 18th or 19th). she didn't say 1 word about being opposed to the war and she never has.

that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve support for her cause. she does deserve support. but she's not a war resister. as c.i. noted (without naming who it was), if you're a war resister, bare minimum, you have to say 'i am against the war.' she's never said that.

her mother did all the early speaking and i know it bothered some people. at t's, i'd talk to women about it and they'd say, 'i could support her if she'd say something, a letter, anything. but i don't want to build my support on 2nd hand knowledge.' i can understand that as well. but when her mother was doing the publicity, her mother would say that she (sara rich) was against the war and involved in counter-recruiting work. and the unstated implication was 'i am against the war and so is my daughter.'

suzanne swift has never stated, to this day, that she's against the war. she's against the military for good reason. her case is an important 1. but it's not war resistance.

war resistance is saying the war is illegal. swift talked about everything with amy goodman in that interview, everything but her opinion on the war. there were open ended questions, the way i remember it, like goodman asking her what she would tell women who were thinking of joining the military. she said not to join because of what happened to her. she didn't add 'and because the war is wrong.'

her case matters, but she isn't a war resister and it does a disservice to those like ehren watada, camilo mejia and the rest who have spoken out to lump her in with them. she has a case and it's important, but it's not war resistance. until she speaks out publicly against the war, it won't be war resistance.

here's c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Tuesday, October 3, 2006. Violence and chaos continues in Iraq; war resister Darrell Anderson has turned himself in today at Fort Knox, the puppet of the occupation has a 'plan' which (US) domestics fluff and Andrew North (BBC) notes is greeted in Baghdad with "desperation"; Dahr Jamail writes of 'tribal' leaders with, apparently, summer homes in the Green Zone; and indpendent media continues to hone the method with which they covered Iraq all through the summer: War as an After Thought. (Credit to Mike for that phrase.) Or possibly it's just a case of "going to where the sex is"?



In Iraq, the American fatality toll continues to rise. Opening papers today, one might have been greeted with Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Qais Mizher (New York Times) reporting that: "the military reported the deaths of 10 more American and British servicemen since Saturday. At least 13 troops have been killed in the past three days." The count has continued to rise and you can drop "three past days" (and therefore Saturday). Since Sunday, October 1st, thirteen US troops have died, and one British soldier, and it's only the third day of the month. The total American military fatality count since the start of the illegal war is 2729. To date, 19910 Americans have been wounded in the illegal war.


The month with the most known number of American wounded soldiers was April 2004 which had a total of 1213. Among those wounded in April 2004 was war resister Darrell Anderson who has turned himself in today at Fort Knox after self-checking out of the military in January 2005 when Anderson drove with his parents to Canada, through a snowstorm.


There, Anderson attempted to seek refugee status (which Canada has refused to grant any war resister thus far), worked odd jobs, met Gail Greer (who was working on a film about war resisters), dated her for a year, and then in February of 2006, Anderson and Greer married. This should have increased his chances for Anderson to remain in Canada (Greer is a Canadian citizen). A missed filing date by his attorney led to the refugee status claim going out the window.

Anderson was already floating the possibility of returning to the United States early this summer. Confirming this to Jim Warren (Lexington Herald-Leader), Anita Anderson (Darrell Anderson's mother) stated that she hoped he would remaing in Canada "because he's probably going to get sponsorship in Canada now that he is married to a Canadian girl. But he's constantly stressed out and worried, and he feels like he can't live out the rest of his life this way."

That feeling, the lack of medical help available to him as an immigrant (Anderson suffers from PST due to the roadside bombing), the lack of income (Anderson had no work-permit) and a desire to draw attention to the realities of the illegal war, led to Anderson deciding to return to the United States. Before turning himself in today, Anderson spoke with reporters. Brett Barrouquere (AP) reports that Darell Anderson stated, "I feel that by resisting I made up for the things I did in Iraq. I feel I made up for the sins committed in this war."

More information on war resisters can be found at Courage to Resist and you can even find information on Suzanne Swift, who is not a war resister, but someone who suffered many tragic experiences while serving and should now be released from the military with an honorable discharge as a result of the abuse she suffered while serving.


Darrell Anderson is news. For those who may wonder why something else isn't noted, I can't note what I don't hear. So, despite listening to a radio station which airs Democracy Now! twice each morning, I can't note what Darrell Anderson said -- I didn't hear it because they didn't air it. Apparently when the show needs to be boiled down to a little under forty minutes (due to fundraising), "going to where the silence is" means twice airing a lengthy segment on Mark Foley (whom no one is covering, apparently) and ditching Darrell Anderson (whom apparently is the saturation topic of all the networks and cable).

That's treating war, AGAIN, as an afterthought and the shame is on me for being foolish enough to think it might be different today. To repeat, when you broadcast a 60 minute show twice in four hours, you can find a way to include Darrell Anderson if you think his actions are news. Obviously some didn't feel it was. We may not have gone "where the silence is" but we did get to "go where the sex is" and to "go where big media is and has been since last week." Well Monday was an infomercial for PBS so "fairness" must have dictated that Tuesday be an informercial for ABC. Tomorrow? Maybe the Pax Network.



In Iraq, the violence continues, whether it or anything Iraq related is covered or not.

Bombings?

CBS and AP report a bombing at "a fish market in Baghdad" left three dead and nineteen wounded. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports that the bomber wore "a belt rigged with explosives in the outdoor market". AFP reports that one person died and nine were wounded by a bomb which "exploded near a well-known Shiite mosque" and that mortar rounds killed one person in Baghdad and ten in Mussayib.

Corpses?

Reuters reports that two corpses were discovered in Rashad while AFP reports seven corpses were discovered in Baquba and three in Kirkuk.

Shootings?

Reuters reports fourteen people were shot dead in Baquba today (including "four members of the same family" who were in the midst of "moving to another house"); in Haditha one civilian was shot dead; in Mosul one civilian was shot dead; and in Ramadi: "Clashes between gunmen and U.S. forces killed a man and wounded three others, including a child".

Ramadi is the locale Ali Al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail (IPS) report on that so-called
"tribal agreement" was never really that noting "Some Sunni leaders," not all, and the criticism they are under from residents in Ramdia such as Sheikh Sa-adoon ("chief of a large Sunni tribe"): "They are a group of thieves who are arming thieves, and this is something dangerous and nasty. This only means we will have more disturbances here, and it could create a local civil war." A lot is also made of the fact that the small "some" aren't in Al-Anbar, they're in the Green Zone. So the much lauded "tribal agreement" was never composed of as many as the press said it was and now it turns out that the "tribal leaders" are living it up in the Green Zone.

Need more reality?

Operation Happy Talkers are on the move and telling you that Nouri al-Maliki offers a 'four-point' peace plan. You may have trouble reading of the 'four-point' plan because the third point isn't about "peace" or "democracy" so reports tend to ignore it. The first step has already been (rightly) dismissed by Andrew North (BBC) of the "local security committees": "In fact, most neighourhoods of Baghdad set up their own local security bodies some time ago to protect themselves -- because they do not trust the authorities to look after them." AP reports that the Iraqi parliament voted in favor of the 'peace' plan (reality title: "continued carnage plan"). Step three? Let's drop back to the September 7th snapshot:


Switching to the issue of broadcasting, were they showing episodes of Barney Miller or NYPD Blue? Who knows but police pulled the plug on the satellite network al-Arabiya in Baghdad. CNN was told by a company official (Najib Ben Cherif) that the offices "is being shut for a month." AP is iffy on who gave the order but notes that Nouri al-Malike started making warnings/threats to television stations back in July. CNN reports: "A news alert on Iraqi State TV said the office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered the office closed for a month."

Ah, yes, the puppet's war with the press. The so-called peace plan is more of the same. The third 'plank' is about the media. Which is why the "brave" US media repeatedly cites the first two and stays silent while a free media (something a democracy is dependent upon) walks the plank.

It's disgusting and shameful, the third 'plank.' The whole 'plan' is a joke. Reuters is one of the few to go beyond the first two 'steps' but even it does a really poor job and those over coverage of Iraq in the mainstream (producers to suits) are very concerned about this. (So why don't they report it?) The "plan" isn't a plan for peace, it's a plan for the puppet to attempt to save his own ass for a few more months. Lee Keath (AP) is only one of many ignoring the third step (possibly AP thinks readers are unable to count to four?) but does note that al-Maliki took office last May with a 24-point plan that, to this day, "has done little to stem the daily killings." Nor will this so-called 'peace plan.' The US military and the American "ambassador" have announced that Nouri al-Maliki better show some results ('after all we've paid' going unspoken).

So al-Maliki pulls a page from Paul Bremer's book and decides to go after the media. For those who've forgotten, on March 28, 2004, al-Hawza was closed down as a result of running a cartoon of Bremer leading to the violence in Falluja in April 2004.

It's not just that there's no new plan (by the Bully Boy or by the puppet), it's that they never learn from their mistakes. (First mistake for the US administration was plotting an illegal invasion.)

But this failure goes across the board to War Hawks of all nations. Terri Judd and Kim Sengupta (Independent of London) report: "A coroner has severely criticised British army officers, saying their failure to plan was partly to blame for the capture and execution of two of their men in the early days of the Iraq war. Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth, 36 and a father of two, and Sapper Luke Allsopp, 24, were murdered by Iraqi intelligence after being captured in an ambush when they strayed into dangerous territory. . . . Instead of being told to skirt around the town of Az-Subayr, in southern Iraq, they were ordered to go through the outskirts. When they took a wrong turn, it led them straight through the town where they were hit by a hail of bullets and a rocket-propelled grenade before being dragged from their vehicle."


In peace news, Bob Watada, father of Ehren Watada, is gearing up to go back out on the road in October. Remember Ehren Watada? If not, Watada, as David Krieger (National Catholic Reporter) writes, "is taking a stand by refusing to follow such orders. He is exercising his rights as an American citizen, an officer of the U.S. Army and a human being with the capacity for thought and reflection. He is making it clear that he did not check his conscience at the door when he joined the military three years ago and is unwilling to be placed in a situation where he will have no choice but to commit war crimes."


Ehren Watada is the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. After an Article 32 hearing in August, he awaits word on what the chain of command will do with the findings and his father Bob Watada is on his second series of speaking engagements. Here are some of the events he will be speaking at starting with tonight's event:


Tues 10/3 7:00pm ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism)
1800 Argyle Ave. #400, Los Angeles
Contact: Carlos Alvarez, 323-464-1636, email: answerla@answerla.org

Wed. 10/4 12:00-2:30 pm Angela Oh's Korean American Experience Class
Life Sciences Bldg., RM 4127, UCLA Westwood Campus
Contact: aeola@earthlink.net

Wed. 10/4 Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
6120 S. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles
Contact: So Cal Library 323-759-6063

Thurs 10/5 5:00 pm World Can't Wait March & Rally
(March starts at noon at pershing S1/Bob speaks in front of Federal Bldg 300 N. Los Angeles St. at 5:00 pm.
Contact: Nicole Lee 323-462-4771 email: la@worldcantwait.org

Fri. 10/6 7:00 am Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP)
Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Bl., Los Angeles
Contact: Thalia 626-683-9004 email: incuip@pacbell.net

Fri 10/6 12:30 San Fernando Valley Japanese Community Center
SFV Japanese American Community Center, 12953 Branford St., Pacoima 91331
Contact: Phil Shigkuni 818-893-1851, cell: 818-357-7488, email pshig2000@yahoo.com.

Sat 10/7 2:00-4:00 pm Welcome Reception for Bob Watada
JACCC Garden Room, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles
Contact: NCRR 213-680-3484, email: ncrrla@yahoo.com.

Sun 10/8 2:00-5:00 pm Forum with Bob Watada
Nat'l Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles.
Contact Ellen Endo 213-629-2231 or Mo 323-371-4502


A full schedule (PDF format) can be found here.