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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Table of Contents:
A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.
C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
D. ARTICLES IN FULL
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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
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Thursday, May 5th - Committee to Defend ILWU Local 10
Meets 7:00 p.m., ILWU, 400 North Point (at Mason), SF, Henry Schmidt Room - 2nd floor
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Middle East Children's Alliance
Bay Area book release event: The Goldstone Report
Thursday, May 5, 2011, 7:00 P.M.
First Congregational Church
2501 Harrison St.
Oakland, Ca. 94610
$15, $10 low income/ students
The Middle East Children's Alliance presents the bay area book release of "The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict" -- an edited version of Judge Richard Goldstone's UN report which documents war crimes during Operation Cast Lead, with a Forward by Desmond Tutu, an Introduction by Naomi Klein, and essays by leading journalists/activists/academics. Two of the book's editors, Phillip Weiss & Adam Horowitz of Mondoweiss.net, will speak about first-hand testimonies and lead a discussion about why these stories matter and what we can do. Also, George Bisharat, law professor at UC Hastings, will introduce the event.
Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/167898
A Benefit for MECA's Maia Project: http://www.mecaforpeace.org/project/maia-project
Event page: http://www.mecaforpeace.org/events/bay-area-book-release-goldstone-report-legacy-landmark-investigation-gaza-conflict
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March & Rally at Wells Fargo's Annual Shareholders Meeting
When: May 3, 2011 at 11:30 a.m.
Where: Justin Herman Plaza (Embarcadero & Market Streets, San Francisco)
We are all sick and tired of paying for the cost of the economic crisis caused by Wall Street greed and government neglect. This is not new, we're all well aware that our communities have been suffering from an economic crisis for decades, but what is new is the opportunity that we have at the moment to bring our communities together to demand that the BIG BANKS PAY!
Millions of California families have lost their homes, their jobs and freedom to incarceration, all at the hands of the BIG BANKS.
Despite the tremendous impact the economic crisis is having on families, our communities, our cities and our lives, BIG BANKS like WELLS FARGO have continued their corrupt practices and neglected their responsibility to PAY WHAT THEY OWE our communities.
Wells Fargo made record profits last year, and handed out HUGE executive bonuses. Wells Fargo brought in almost $19 BILLION in pretax income in 2010, yet they are still FORECLOSING on homes, ILLEGALLY EVICTING tenants, AVOIDING PROPERTY TAXES AND FEES on BLIGHTED properties they own.
What makes matters even worse, is that they choose to invest their money in the incarceration of communities of color as a major stockholder in the GEO group, a private prison corporation!
We cannot stand by and let corporations like Wells Fargo take OUR money, OUR homes, OUR jobs, and OUR lives! That's why hundreds of tenants, families, homeowners, immigrants, and workers will gather on May 3 for a march and rally at the Wells Fargo Annual Shareholders meeting in downtown San Francisco.
We're taking our message directly to the bank leadership, demanding that they to pay their fair share and act now to keep families in their homes, stop predatory lending, and stop profiting from detaining immigrant communities.
This event is the first of a series of public actions being organized at Big Bank Shareholder Meetings throughout the month of May. The event is being organized by ACCE, CCISCO, Causa Justa::Just Cause (CJJC), SEIU 1021, Jobs with Justice, CRC, PICO California, Oakland Education Association, and many others.
Please see the flier in English and Spanish and forward it far and wide!
SAVE THE DATE!
Thursday May 12th
Campaign to End Wage Theft Launch
9:30 AM Press Event at SF City Hall
10 AM Public Hearing
Join the Progressive Workers Alliance to launch our campaign to end wage theft-because everyone has the right to be paid for the hours they work. For a San Francisco of opportunity and progress, it's time to say no more wage theft!
Friday, May 13th
State of Emergency Statewide Actions to Defend Public Education and Services
4:00 pm Rally at SF Civic Center Plaza
August 5-7th
National Jobs with Justice Conference
Washington, DC
Help build the movement for worker's rights and social justice locally and nationally by supporting Jobs with Justice San Francisco!
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Educators for a Democratic Union/EDU
Occupy the State Capitol May 9-13. Bring signs that say:
- Tax the Rich and the Corporations
- Fully Fund Public Education and Public Services
- California for All: Transfer the Wealth to the Bottom
The California Teachers' Association (CTA) has declared a "State of Emergency" in public education and public services and issued a call to all unions and their allies to support a Week of Action, May 9 - 13, to occupy the Capitol in Sacramento. The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) has also endorsed this action. United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) is getting involved locally and in Sacramento!
Educators for a Democratic Union (EDU) is asking for a concerted effort to kick off the week of action by having as many of our unions, community members and parents allies join us by occupying the Capitol on Monday, May 9th. Consider coming for as much of the week as you can: EDU hopes to turn out huge numbers on Monday May 9! Call UESF at 956-8373 to ask about transportation to Sacramento.
For educators, public workers and recipients of public services, the "state of emergency" in California is no surprise. Public workers at all levels have seen cuts to our livelihoods: furloughs, pay cuts, and layoffs. Residents and students have seen services cut and tremendous increases in fees, while attempts to stave the bleeding are usually regressive local tax options.
The Republican party and their more extreme Tea Party allies blame public workers and portray the public sector as a drag on economic growth and efficiency. Currently Republicans are calling for a firm $25 billion in cuts. Democrats tell us to live within our means and tighten our belts. Jerry Brown is pushing for $12 billion in cuts and $12 billion in largely regressive tax extensions on sales, income and vehicle fees. Public debate is only beginning to address corporate responsibility, an unfair and unfixed tax system -- and a horrifying and increasing unfair distribution of wealth. NOW IS THE TIME to mobilize independently and build a coalition around defense of public service and progressive taxation.
The $25 billion budget shortfall has a solution!
- Raise the income tax on the wealthiest 1% by 4% = $20 billion
- Increase the corporate tax rate by just 4% = $4 billion.
- Institute an Oil Company Severance Tax = another $1 billion.
Even if you think that Jerry Brown and the Democrats current "alternative" is reasonable or a "necessary evil" -- you probably agree with BUILDING an ALTERNATIVE; a CALIFORNIA for ALL.
There is the wealth in California to fully fund parks, water systems, schools, public transportation, etc. EDU asks you to join us in resisting a discourse and a system that tells us poverty is the only choice: user fees, less services, more unemployment, ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE -- for us, for other public workers, for our students and their families.
There is an alternative: Tax the Rich. And then help us bring the debates and on-going organizing & coalition-building back to the local level, regional and state levels, Empowerment, not poverty; Build the alternative: California for all.
To work with EDU on "Tax the Rich/Fight Cuts/Fight for Public Education" and public service/community coalition efforts, please contact:
Andy Libson at: ed4all@googlegroups.com &/or 415-336-5034
If you are an SF teacher and are interested in Educators for a Democratic Union,
The next EDU meeting is:
Thursday May 19th, 4:30 at the Glen Park Library; 2825 Diamond Street
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Save the Date!
NATIONAL LABOR-COMMUNITY CONFERENCE TO DEFEAT THE CORPORATE AGENDA AND FIGHT FOR A WORKING PEOPLE'S AGENDA
Kent State University
Kent, Ohio
June 24-26, 2011
Working people across the country -- from Wisconsin and Ohio to New York, Oregon, and California -- are facing unprecedented attacks by corporations and the rich with the help of the federal, state and local politicians that they fund.
The corporate agenda is clear: It is to bust unions and cut workers' pay and benefits -- both in the private and public sectors. It is to erode and privatize Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It is to dismantle the public sector and social services by denying funds for job creation, education, health care, environmental protection, and rebuilding the infrastructure. It is to ensure that taxes on the wealthy are constantly lowered while the bite on workers and the poor is constantly increased. It is to perpetuate U.S. wars and occupations whenever it serves the interests of the multinationals. It is to divide the working class by race, gender, national origin, religion, and sexual orientation. It is also to limit and restrict constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties. The list goes on.
In state capitals, communities and workplaces across the country, workers are fighting back. But if we're going to be successful in pushing back the attacks on collective bargaining, stopping the budget cuts and concessions, creating jobs, and defending social services and education, we need to build unity within our movement, including forging stronger ties with labor's allies: communities of color, students and youth, single-payer advocates, environmentalists, antiwar activists, immigrant rights supporters, and other progressive forces.
Relying on politicians to defend us -- the so-called "friends of labor" -- has proven to be disastrous. During the past three decades, working people have suffered a dramatic decline in their standard of living while the rich have amassed an unprecedented amount of wealth at the top, regardless of which of the major parties was running the government. We have had every combination imaginable: Republicans occupying the White House with a majority in Congress, Democrats occupying the White House with a majority in Congress, or some kind of "divided government." But in each case the result for working people has been the same: conditions got worse for workers while the corporations prospered even more. Why should we continue this vicious cycle?
The working class has the power to put an end to this situation. And as the debate over the debt and the deficit intensifies, the need has never been greater for an organized campaign to demand "No Cuts, No Concessions!" whether in regard to social programs or workers' wages and benefits. We say place the burden for solving the financial crises squarely where it belongs: on the rich. They caused the crisis, let them pay for it!
The Emergency Labor Network (ELN) was initiated earlier this year at a historic meeting of 100 union leaders and activists from around the country. Join us June 24-26, 2011 at Kent State University in Ohio for a national labor-community conference to spur the campaign to build a more militant fight-back movement and to launch a national campaign for an alternative agenda for working people. Together we can move forward on both fronts.
This conference is open to all who agree with its purpose, as explained in this Call. To register for the conference, please go to our website at www.laborfightback.org. If you prefer to register offline, write emergencylabor@aol.com or call 216-736-4715 for a registration form.
For more information, e-mail emergencylabor@aol.com or call 216-736-4715.
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Oct. 7 - Protest, March & Die-In on 10th Anniversary of Afghanistan War
Friday, Oct. 7, 2011, 4:30-6:30pm
New Federal Building, 7th & Mission Sts, SF
Protest & Die-In on 10th Anniversary of Afghanistan War
End All the Wars & Occupations-Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Libya, Haiti . . .
Money for Jobs, Healthcare & Schools-Not for the Pentagon
Friday, October 7, 2011 will be the exact 10th anniversary of the U.S./NATO war on the people of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of Afghani people have been killed, wounded and displaced, and thousands of U.S. and NATO forces killed and wounded. The war costs more than $126 billion per year at a time when social programs are being slashed.
The true and brutal character of the U.S. strategy to "win hearts and minds" of the Afghani population was described by a Marine officer, quoted in a recent ANSWER Coalition statement:
"You can't just convince them [Afghani people] through projects and goodwill," another Marine officer said. "You have to show up at their door with two companies of Marines and start killing people. That's how you start convincing them." (To read the entire ANSWER statement, click here)
Mark your calendar now and help organize for the October 7 march and die-in in downtown San Francisco. There are several things you can do:
1. Reply to this email to endorse the protest and die-in.
2. Spread the word and help organize in your community, union, workplace and campus.
3. Make a donation to help with organizing expenses.
Only the people can stop the war!
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.AnswerCoalition.org
http://www.AnswerSF.org
Answer@AnswerSF.org
2969 Mission St.
415-821-6545
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B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.:
[Some of these videos are embeded on the BAUAW website:
http://bauaw.blogspot.com/ or bauaw.org ...bw]
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MAY DAY 1886-International Workers Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF-ADtNerPM&feature=player_embedded
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Labor Beat: We Are One - Illinois
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOntwNsWHac
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BRADLEY MANNING "BROKE THE LAW" SAYS OBAMA!
"He broke the law!" says Obama about Bradley Manning who has yet to even be charged, let alone, gone to trial and found guilty. How horrendous is it for the President to declare someone guilty before going to trial or being charged with a crime! Justice in the U.S.A.!
Obama on FREE BRADLEY MANNING protest... San Francisco, CA. April 21, 2011-Presidential remarks on interrupt/interaction/performance art happening at fundraiser. Logan Price queries Barack after org. FRESH JUICE PARTY political action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfmtUpd4id0&feature=youtu.be
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More troops join anti-government protests in Yemen
More soldiers have been joining anti-government protests on the streets of the capital Sana'a.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6658
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W.E. A.L.L. B.E.: Miss. Medical Examiner Dr. Adel Shaker On Frederick Carter Hanging (4/19/2011)
http://blip.tv/file/5057532
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Egyptian Soldiers Join Protest Demanding End to Military Dictatorship
Adam Hanieh: Class struggle in Egypt enters a new stage
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6626
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Row over Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning treatment (12Apr11)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv8xyHhDKkY&feature=related
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AP writer--State Department on Human Rights Abuse of Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUctxdsKk9Q
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Max Romeo - Socialism Is Love
http://youtu.be/eTvUs4rY4to
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Cuba: The Accidental Eden
http://video.pbs.org/video/1598230084/
[This is a stunningly beautiful portrait of the Cuban natural environment as it is today. However, several times throughout, the narrator tends to imply that if it werent for the U.S. embargo against Cuba, Cuba's natural environmet would be destroyed by the influx of tourism, ergo, the embargo is saving nature. But the Cuban scientists and naturalists tell a slightly different story. But I don't want to spoil the delightfully surprising ending. It's a beautiful film of a beautiful country full of beautiful, articulate and well-educated people....bw]
Watch the full episode. See more Nature.
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VIDEO: SWAT Team Evicts Grandmother
Take Back the Land- Rochester Eviction Defense March 28, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2axN1zsZno&feature=player_embedded
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B. D. S. [Boycott, Divest, Sanction against Israel]
(Jackson 5) Chicago Flashmob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4tXe2HKqqs&feature=player_embedded
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Afghans for Peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ror0qPcasM&NR=1
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The Kill Team
How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses - and how their officers failed to stop them. Plus: An exclusive look at the war crime photos censored by the Pentagon
Rolling Stone
March 27, 3011
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327
Afghans respond to "Kill Team"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3guxWIorhdA
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END THE U.S./UN/NATO KILL TEAM NOW!
WARNING: THESE ARE HORRIFIC, DISGUSTING, VIOLENT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE U.S. MILITARY MAKING THE UPCOMING APRIL 10 [APRIL 9 IN NEW YORK] MARCH AND RALLY AGAINST THE WARS A FIRST PRIORITY FOR WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE U.S. WE DEMAND OUT NOW! END THE WARS AGAINST WORKING PEOPLE HERE AND EVERYWHERE! BRING ALL THE TROOPS, UN/NATO/US/ and CONTRACTORS HOME NOW!
The Kill Team Photos More war crime images the Pentagon doesn't want you to see
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/the-kill-team-photos-20110327
'Death Zone' How U.S. soldiers turned a night-time airstrike into a chilling 'music video'
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/death-zone-20110327
'Motorcycle Kill' Footage of an Army patrol gunning down two men in Afghanistan
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/motorcyle-kill-20110327
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BOB MARLEY - WAR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73zaNwyhXn0&playnext=1&list=PLA467527F8DD7DE1F
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LOWKEY - TERRORIST? (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmBnvajSfWU
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Frederick Alexander Meade on The Prison Industrial Complex
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vqzfEYo6Lo
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BP Oil Spill Scientist Bob Naman: Seafood Still Not Safe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3VdxvMnDls
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Exclusive: Flow Rate Scientist : How Much Oil Is Really Out There?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsHl3kn63ZA&NR=1
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Iraq Veterans Against the War in Occupied Capitol, Madison, WI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7K0wn73uJU
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Stop LAPD Stealing of Immigrant's Cars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0lf4kENkxo
On Februrary 19, 2011 Members of the Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC) organized and engaged in direct action to defend the people of Los Angeles, CA from the racist LAPD "Sobriety" Checkpoints that are a poorly disguised trap to legally steal the cars from working class people in general and undocumented people in particular. Please disseminate this link widely.
Venceremos,
SCIC
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WikiLeaks Mirrors
Wikileaks is currently under heavy attack.
In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove Wikileaks from the Internet, you will find below a list of mirrors of Wikileaks website and CableGate pages.
Go to
http://wikileaks.ch/Mirrors.html
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Labor Beat: Labor Stands with Subpoenaed Activists Against FBI Raids and Grand Jury Investigation of antiwar and social justice activists.
"If trouble is not at your door. It's on it's way, or it just left."
"Investigate the Billionaires...Full investigation into Wall Street..." Jesse Sharkey, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSNUSIGZCMQ
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Oil Spill Commission Final Report: Catfish Responds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZRdsccMsM
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Free Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eNzokgRIw&feature=player_embedded
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Domestic Espionage Alert - Houston PD to use surveillance drone in America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpstrc15Ogg
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Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
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Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
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Flashmob: Cape Town Opera say NO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk
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"Don't F*** With Our Activists" - Mobilizing Against FBI Raid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyG3dIUGQvQ
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C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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Defend our liberties! In solidarity, buy a Civil Liberty Bond today
Committee to Stop FBI Repression Defend Our Civil Liberties!
PO Box 14183, Minneapolis MN 55414 Buy a Civil Liberty Bond Today!
www.StopFBI.net An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
Dear Friends,
Statements of support and actions taken by your organization are deeply appreciated. Thank you!
Do you want another way to actively support the defense of our Civil Liberties and the antiwar and international solidarity activists targeted by the FBI in the current sweep of repression?
Civil Liberty Bonds are perfect birthday or holiday or any-day gifts! For organizations and for individuals.
Civil Liberty Bonds are available in denominations of $10, $25, $50, $100, $250 & $500. They may be purchased online and printed directly from the website by clicking on this link: Civil Liberty Bonds.  Or from a link that appears in the upper right corner on the www.stopfbi.net home page that takes you directly to the Civil Liberty Bond page.
Show your visible support for Civil Liberties. Buy a Civil Liberty Bond for your organization! Civil Liberty Bond can a gift to a liberty-loving individual or presented to honor a courageous organization like yours. Or a bond may be framed to hang on wall in an office or home to boldly declare, as it says: Material Support for the defense of freedom of speech, thought and action in the service of solidarity and peace. The bearer is entitled "as are we all" to a future free from harassment and repression.
All 23 of the targeted activists say that they will not cooperate with this witch hunt against the movements so many of us have worked to build. The U.S. attorney is working to put these activists in prison. Whether some of them are indicted, or others are jailed for refusing to testify, the threat is very real. We will carry forward the fight for our right to speak out, organize and to stand in solidarity with those who want freedom.
We invite your organization to purchase a Civil Liberty Bond to help with legal expenses for the subpoenaed activists. National Lawyers Guild attorneys are donating countless hours of time and expertise to ensure the protection of First Amendment rights. As the legal processes continue and several more people have been subpoenaed, the costs of legal office staff, court fees, and supplies are mounting.
Please also forward this request to purchase bonds to your membership via a special mailing or your regular communications. Remember that Civil Liberty Bonds are perfect birthday or holiday or any-day gifts!
Gratitude for your solidarity can hardly be expressed in words. Thank you for your continuing support of our Civil Liberties and those who are specifically targeted by the FBI. Your support is essential for all of us.
Sincerely,
the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
www.StopFBI.net
http://www.stopfbi.net/donate/liberty-bonds
CSFR
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis MN Â 55414
612-379-3585
P.S. Don't forget to go to Stop FBI.net and sign the Pledge to Resist!
++++++++++
Please forward and otherwise distribute this message!
Committee to Stop FBI Repression StopFBI.net
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Abolish the Death Penalty Blog
http://www.ncadp.org/blog.cfm?postID=165
Abolish the Death Penalty is a blog dedicated to...well, you know. The purpose of Abolish is to tell the personal stories of crime victims and their loved ones, people on death row and their loved ones and those activists who are working toward abolition. You may, from time to time, see news articles or press releases here, but that is not the primary mission of Abolish the Death Penalty. Our mission is to put a human face on the debate over capital punishment.
You can also follow death penalty news by reading our News page and by following us on Facebook and Twitter.
1 Million Tweets for Troy! April 12, 2011
Take Action! Tweet for Troy!
The state of Georgia is seeking to change the drugs they use to carry out executions so they can resume scheduling execution dates, including that of Troy Davis, a man with a strong claim of innocence. Doubts in the case persist, including the fact that no physical evidence links him to the murder, most of the witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony and newer testimony implicates a different person (including an eyewitness account).
The Davis case has already generated hundreds of thousands of emails, calls, and letters in support of clemency, including from leaders such as the Pope, Jimmy Carter and former FBI chief Bill Sessions. We need to continue to amass petitions in support of clemency, demonstrating the widespread concern about this case and what it represents.
Please help us send a message to Georgia officials that they can do the right thing - they can intervene as the final failsafe by commuting Davis' sentence. Please help us generate 1 million tweets for Troy Davis!
Share this tweet alert with your friends and family that care about justice and life as soon as you can.
More information about the case is available at www.justicefortroy.org
Here are some sample tweets:
When in doubt, don't execute!! Sign the petition for #TroyDavis! www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
Too much doubt! Stop the execution! #TroyDavis needs us! www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
No room for doubt! Stop the execution of #TroyDavis . Retweet, sign petition www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
Case not "ironclad", yet Georgiacould execute #TroyDavis ! Not on our watch! Petition: www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
No murder weapon. No physical evidence. Stop the execution! #TroyDavis petition: www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
7 out of 9 eyewitnesses recanted. No physical evidence. Stop the execution of Troy Davis www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition #TroyDavis
Thanks!
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FREE BRADLEY MANNING! HANDS OFF JULIAN ASSANGE!
In a recent New York Daily News Poll the question was asked:
Should Army pfc Bradley Manning face charges for allegedly stealing classified documents and providing them for WikiLeaks?
New York Daily News Poll Results:
Yes, he's a traitor for selling out his country! ...... 28%
No, he's a hero for standing up for what's right! ..... 62%
We need to see more evidence before passing judgment.. 10%
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/03/05/2011-03-05_wikileaks_private_loses_his_underwear.html?r=news
Sign the Petition:
We stand for truth, for government transparency, and for an end to our tax-dollars funding endless occupation abroad...
We stand with accused whistle-blower
US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning
Stand with Bradley!
A 23-year-old Army intelligence analyst, Pfc. Manning faces decades in prison for allegedly leaking a video of a US helicopter attack that killed at least eleven Iraqi civilians to the website Wikileaks. Among the dead were two working Reuters reporters. Two children were also severely wounded in the attack.
In addition to this "Collateral Murder" video, Pfc. Manning is suspected of leaking the "Afghan War Diaries" - tens of thousands of battlefield reports that explicitly describe civilian deaths and cover-ups, corrupt officials, collusion with warlords, and a failing US/NATO war effort.
"We only know these crimes took place because insiders blew the whistle at great personal risk ... Government whistleblowers are part of a healthy democracy and must be protected from reprisal," noted Barack Obama while on the campaign trail in 2008. While the President was referring to the Bush Administration's use of phone companies to illegally spy on Americans, Pfc. Manning's alleged actions are just as noteworthy. If the military charges against him are accurate, they show that he had a reasonable belief that war crimes were being covered up, and that he took action based on a crisis of conscience.
After nearly a decade of war and occupation waged in our name, it is odd that it apparently fell on a young Army private to provide critical answers to the questions, "What have we purchased with well over a trillion tax dollars and the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan?" However, history is replete with unlikely heroes.
If Bradley Manning is indeed the source of these materials, the nation owes him our gratitude. We ask Secretary of the Army, the Honorable John M. McHugh, and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General George W. Casey, Jr., to release Pfc. Manning from pre-trial confinement and drop the charges against him.
http://standwithbrad.org/
Bulletin from the cause: Bradley Manning Support Network
Go to Cause
Posted By: Tom Baxter
To: Members in Bradley Manning Support Network
A Good Address for Bradley!!!
We have a good address for Bradley,
"A Fort Leavenworth mailing address has been released for Bradley Manning:
Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027
The receptionist at the military barracks confirmed that if someone sends Bradley Manning a letter to that address, it will be delivered to him."
http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/update-42811
This is also a Facebook event
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=207100509321891#!/event.php?eid=207100509321891
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The Arab Revolutions:
Guiding Principles for Peace and Justice Organizations in the US
Please email endorsement to ekishawi@yahoo.com
We, the undersigned, support the guiding principles and demands listed in this statement. We call on groups who want to express solidarity with the Arab revolutions to join our growing movement by signing this statement or keeping with the demands put forward herewith.
Background
The long-awaited Arab revolution has come. Like a geologic event with the reverberations of an earthquake, the timing and circumstances were unpredictable. In one Arab country after another, people are taking to the street demanding the fall of monarchies established during European colonial times. They are also calling to bring down dictatorships supported and manifested by neo-colonial policies. Although some of these autocratic regimes rose to power with popular support, the subsequent division and subjugation of the Arab World led to a uniform repressive political order across the region. The Arab masses in different Arab countries are therefore raising a uniform demand: "The People Want to Topple the Regimes!"
For the past two decades, the Arab people witnessed the invasion and occupation of Iraq with millions killed under blockade and occupation, Palestinians massacred with the aim to crush the anti-Zionist resistance, and Lebanon repeatedly invaded with the purposeful targeting of civilians. These actions all served to crush resistance movements longing for freedom, development, and self-determination. Meanwhile, despotic dictatorships, some going back 50 years, entrenched themselves by building police states, or fighting wars on behalf of imperialist interests.
Most Arab regimes systematically destroyed the social fabric of civil society, stifled social development, repressed all forms of political dissent and democratic expression, mortgaged their countries' wealth to foreign interests and enriched themselves and their cronies at the expense of impoverishing their populations. After pushing the Arab people to the brink, populations erupted.
The spark began in Tunisia where a police officer slapped and spat on Mohammad Bou Azizi, flipping over his produce cart for not delivering a bribe on time. . Unable to have his complaint heard, he self-immolated in protest, igniting the conscience of the Tunisian people and that of 300 million Arabs. In less than a month, the dictator, Zine El Abedine Ben Ali, was forced into exile by a Tunisian revolution. On its way out, the regime sealed its legacy by shooting at unarmed protestors and burning detention centers filled with political prisoners. Ben Ali was supported by the US and Europe in the fight against Islamic forces and organized labor.
Hosni Mubarak's brutal dictatorship fell less than a month after Tunisia's. The revolution erupted at a time when one half of the Egyptian population was living on less than $2/day while Mubarak's family amassed billions of dollars. The largest population recorded in Egyptian history was living in graveyards and raising their children among the dead while transportation and residential infrastructure was crumbling. Natural gas was supplied to Israel at 15% of the market price while the Rafah border was closed with an underground steel wall to complete the suffocation of the Palestinians in Gaza. Those who were deemed a threat swiftly met the fate of Khalid Said. 350 martyrs fell and 2,000 people were injured.
After Egypt and Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Oman, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan exploded in protest. Some governments quickly reshuffled faces and ranks without any tangible change. Some, like Bahrain and Yemen, sent out their security forces to massacre civilians. Oman and Yemen represent strategic assets for the US as they are situated on the straits of Hormuz and Aden, respectively. Bahrain is an oil country that hosts a US military base, situated in the Persian Gulf. A new round of US funded blood-letting of Arab civilians has begun!
Libyan dictator Qaddafi did not prove to be an exception. He historically took anti-imperialist positions for a united Arab World and worked for an African Union. He later transformed his regime to a subservient state and opened Libya to British Petroleum and Italian interests, working diligently on privatization and political repression. He amassed more wealth than that of Mubarak. In the face of the Libyan revolution, Qaddafi exceeded the brutality of Ben Ali and Mubarak blind-folding and executing opponents, surrounding cities with tanks, and bombing his own country. Death toll is expected to be in the thousands.
Qaddafi's history makes Libya an easy target for imperialist interests. The Obama administration followed the Iraq cookbook by freezing Libyan assets amounting to 30% of the annual GDP. The White House, with the help of European governments, rapidly implemented sanctions and called for no-fly zones. These positions were precipitated shortly after the US vetoed a resolution condemning the illegal Israeli colonization of the West Bank. Special operations personnel from the UK were captured by the revolutionary commanders in Ben Ghazi and sent back. The Libyan revolutionary leadership, the National Council clearly stated: "We are completely against foreign intervention. The rest of Libya will be liberated by the people ... and Gaddafi's security forces will be eliminated by the people of Libya."
Demands of the Solidarity Movement with Arab Revolutions
1. We demand a stop to US support, financing and trade with Arab dictatorships. We oppose US policy that has favored Israeli expansionism, war, US oil interest and strategic shipping routes at the expense of Arab people's freedom and dignified living.
2. We support the people of Tunisia and Egypt as well as soon-to-be liberated nations to rid themselves of lingering remnants of the deposed dictatorships.
3. We support the Arab people's right to sovereignty and self-determination. We demand that the US government stop its interference in the internal affairs of all Arab countries and end subsidies to wars and occupation.
4. We support the Arab people's demands for political, civil and economic rights. The Arab people's movement is calling for:
a. Deposing the unelected regimes and all of its institutional remnants
b. Constitutional reform guaranteeing freedom of organizing, speech and press
c. Free and fair elections
d. Independent judiciary
e. National self-determination.
5. We oppose all forms of US and European military intervention with or without the legitimacy of the UN. Standing in solidarity with the revolution against Qaddafi, or any other dictator, does not equate to supporting direct or indirect colonization of an Arab country, its oil or its people. We therefore call for:
a. Absolute rejection of military blockades, no-fly zones and interventions.
b. Lifting all economic sanctions placed against Libya and allowing for the formation of an independent judiciary to prosecute Qaddafi and deposed dictators for their crimes.
c. Immediately withdrawing the US and NATO troops from the Arab region.
6. We support Iraq's right to sovereignty and self determination and call on the US to immediately withdraw all occupation personnel from Iraq.
7. We recognize that the borders separating Arab nations were imposed on the Arab people by the colonial agreements of Sykes-Picot and the Berlin Conference on Africa. As such, we support the anti-Zionist nature of this revolution in its call for:
a. Ending the siege and starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza
b. Supporting the right of the Palestinian people to choose their own representation, independent of Israeli and US dictates
c. Supporting the right of the Lebanese people to defend their country from Israeli violations and their call to end vestiges of the colonial constitution constructed on the basis of sectarian representation
d. Supporting the right of the Jordanian people to rid themselves of their repressive monarchy
e. Ending all US aid to Israel.
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Committee to Stop FBI Repression
NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY -- ANY DAY
to Fitzgerald, Holder and Obama
The Grand Jury is still on its witch hunt and the FBI is still
harassing activists. This must stop.
Please make these calls:
1. Call U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at 312-353-5300 . Then dial 0
(zero) for operator and ask to leave a message with the Duty Clerk.
2. Call U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder 202-353-1555
3. Call President Obama at 202-456-1111
Suggested text: "My name is __________, I am from _______(city), in
______(state). I am calling _____ to demand he call off the Grand Jury
and stop FBI repression against the anti-war and Palestine solidarity
movements. I oppose U.S. government political repression and support
the right to free speech and the right to assembly of the 23 activists
subpoenaed. We will not be criminalized. Tell him to stop this
McCarthy-type witch hunt against international solidarity activists!"
If your call doesn't go through, try again later.
Update: 800 anti-war and international solidarity activists
participated in four regional conferences, in Chicago, IL; Oakland,
CA; Chapel Hill, NC and New York City to stop U.S. Attorney Patrick
Fitzgerald's Grand Jury repression.
Still, in the last few weeks, the FBI has continued to call and harass
anti-war organizers, repressing free speech and the right to organize.
However, all of their intimidation tactics are bringing a movement
closer together to stop war and demand peace.
We demand:
-- Call Off the Grand Jury Witch-hunt Against International Solidarity
Activists!
-- Support Free Speech!
-- Support the Right to Organize!
-- Stop FBI Repression!
-- International Solidarity Is Not a Crime!
-- Stop the Criminalization of Arab and Muslim Communities!
Background: Fitzgerald ordered FBI raids on anti-war and solidarity
activists' homes and subpoenaed fourteen activists in Chicago,
Minneapolis, and Michigan on September 24, 2010. All 14 refused to
speak before the Grand Jury in October. Then, 9 more Palestine
solidarity activists, most Arab-Americans, were subpoenaed to appear
at the Grand Jury on January 25, 2011, launching renewed protests.
There are now 23 who assert their right to not participate in
Fitzgerald's witch-hunt.
The Grand Jury is a secret and closed inquisition, with no judge, and
no press. The U.S. Attorney controls the entire proceedings and hand
picks the jurors, and the solidarity activists are not allowed a
lawyer. Even the date when the Grand Jury ends is a secret.
So please make these calls to those in charge of the repression aimed
against anti-war leaders and the growing Palestine solidarity
movement.
Email us to let us know your results. Send to info@StopFBI.net
**Please sign and circulate our 2011 petition at http://www.stopfbi.net/petition
In Struggle,
Tom Burke,
for the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
FFI: Visit www.StopFBI.net or email info@StopFBI.net or call
612-379-3585 .
Copyright (c) 2011 Committee to Stop FBI Repression, All rights
reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55415
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Call for EMERGENCY RESPONSE Action if Assange Indicted,
Dear Friends:
We write in haste, trying to reach as many of you as possible although the holiday break has begun.......This plan for an urgent "The Day After" demonstration is one we hope you and many, many more organizations will take up as your own, and mobilize for. World Can't Wait asks you to do all you can to spread it through list serves, Facebook, twitter, holiday gatherings.
Our proposal is very very simple, and you can use the following announcement to mobilize - or write your own....
ANY DAY NOW . . . IN THE EVENT THAT THE U.S. INDICTS JULIAN ASSANGE
An emergency public demonstration THE DAY AFTER any U.S. criminal indictment is announced against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Spread the word and call people to come out, across the whole range of movements and groups: anti-war, human rights, freedom of information/freedom of the press, peace, anti-torture, environmental, students and youth, radicals and revolutionaries, religious, civil liberties, teachers and educators, journalists, anti-imperialists, anti-censorship, anti-police state......
At the Federal Building in San Francisco, we'll form ourselves into a human chain "surrounding" the government that meets the Wikileaked truth with repression and wants to imprison and silence leakers, whistleblowers and truthtellers - when, in fact, these people are heroes. We'll say:
HANDS OFF WIKILEAKS! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!
Join the HUMAN CHAIN AROUND THE FEDERAL BUILDING!
New Federal Building, 7th and Mission, San Francisco (nearest BART: Civic Center)
4:00-6:00 PM on The Day FOLLOWING U.S. indictment of Assange
Bring all your friends - signs and banners - bullhorns.
Those who dare at great risk to themselves to put the truth in the hands of the people - and others who might at this moment be thinking about doing more of this themselves -- need to see how much they are supported, and that despite harsh repression from the government and total spin by the mainstream media, the people do want the truth told.
Brad Manning's Christmas Eve statement was just released by his lawyer: "Pvt. Bradley Manning, the lone soldier who stands accused of stealing millions of pages secret US government documents and handing them over to secrets outlet WikiLeaks, wants his supporters to know that they've meant a lot to him. 'I greatly appreciate everyone's support and well wishes during this time,' he said in a Christmas Eve statement released by his lawyer...." Read more here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/mannings-message-christmas-eve-i-gr/
Demonstrations defending Wikileaks and Assange, and Brad Manning, have already been flowering around the world. Make it happen here too.
Especially here . . .
To join into this action plan, or with questions, contact World Can't Wait or whichever organization or listserve you received this message from.
World Can't Wait, SF Bay
415-864-5153
sf@worldcantwait.org
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DEFEND LYNNE STEWART!
Write to Lynne Stewart at:
Lynne Stewart #53504 - 054
Unit 2N
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TEXAS 76127
Visiting Lynne:
Visiting is very liberal but first she has to get people on her visiting list; wait til she or the lawyers let you know. The visits are FRI, SAT, SUN AND MON for 4 hours and on weekends 8 to 3. Bring clear plastic change purse with lots of change to buy from the machines. Brief Kiss upon arrival and departure, no touching or holding during visit (!!) On visiting forms it may be required that you knew me before I came to prison. Not a problem for most of you.
Commissary Money:
Commissary Money is always welcome It is how Lynne pay for the phone and for email. Also for a lot that prison doesn't supply in terms of food and "sundries" (pens!) (A very big list that includes Raisins, Salad Dressing, ankle sox, mozzarella (definitely not from Antonys--more like a white cheddar, Sanitas Corn Chips but no Salsa, etc. To add money, you do this by using Western Union and a credit card by phone or you can send a USPO money order or Business or Govt Check. The negotiable instruments (PAPER!) need to be sent to Federal Bureau of Prisons, 53504-054, Lynne Stewart, PO Box 474701, Des Moines Iowa 50947-001 (Payable to Lynne Stewart, 53504-054) They hold the mo or checks for 15 days. Western Union costs $10 but is within 2 hours. If you mail, your return address must be on the envelope. Unnecessarily complicated? Of course, it's the BOP !)
The address of her Defense Committee is:
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216
For further information:
718-789-0558 or 917-853-9759
Please make a generous contribution to her defense.
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Help end the inhumane treatment of Bradley Manning!
Bradley Manning Support Network.
Contact the Marine Corps officers above and respectfully, but firmly, ask that they lift the extreme pre-trial confinement conditions against Army PFC Bradley Manning.
Forward this urgent appeal for action widely.
Sign the "Stand with Brad" public petition and letter campaign at www.standwithbrad.org - Sign online, and we'll mail out two letters on your behalf to Army officials.
Donate to Bradley's defense fund at www.couragetoresist.org/bradley
References:
"The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention", by Glenn Greenwald for Salon.com, 15 December 2010
"A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning", by attorney David E. Coombs, 18 December 2010
"Bradley Manning's Life Behind Bars", by Denver Nicks for the Daily Beast, 17 December 2010
Bradley Manning Support Network
Courage To Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
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In earnest support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange:
http://readersupportednews.org/julian-assange-petition
rsn:Petition
We here undersigned express our support for the work and integrity of Julian Assange. We express concern that the charges against the WikiLeaks founder appear too convenient both in terms of timing and the novelty of their nature.
We call for this modern media innovator, and fighter for human rights extraordinaire, to be afforded the same rights to defend himself before Swedish justice that all others similarly charged might expect, and that his liberty not be compromised as a courtesy to those governments whose truths he has revealed have embarrassed.
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KEVIN COOPER IS INNOCENT! FREE KEVIN COOPER!
Reasonable doubts about executing Kevin Cooper
Chronicle Editorial
Monday, December 13, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/13/EDG81GP0I7.DTL
Death penalty -- Kevin Cooper is Innocent! Help save his life from San Quentin's death row!
http://www.savekevincooper.org/
http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/essays_content.html?ID=255
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
17 December 2010
Click here to take action online:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=15084
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa25910.pdf
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Free the Children of Palestine!
Sign Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
Published by Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition on Dec 16, 2010
Category: Children's Rights
Region: GLOBAL
Target: President Obama
Web site: http://www.al-awda.org
Background (Preamble):
According to Israeli police, 1200 Palestinian children have been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned in the occupied city of Jerusalem alone this year. The youngest of these children was seven-years old.
Children and teen-agers were often dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night, taken in handcuffs for questioning, threatened, humiliated and many were subjected to physical violence while under arrest as part of an ongoing campaign against the children of Palestine. Since the year 2000, more than 8000 have been arrested by Israel, and reports of mistreatment are commonplace.
Further, based on sworn affidavits collected in 2009 from 100 of these children, lawyers working in the occupied West Bank with Defense Children International, a Geneva-based non governmental organization, found that 69% were beaten and kicked, 49% were threatened, 14% were held in solitary confinement, 12% were threatened with sexual assault, including rape, and 32% were forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand.
Minors were often asked to give names and incriminate friends and relatives as a condition of their release. Such institutionalized and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children by the state of Israel is a violation international law and specifically contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Israel is supposedly a signatory.
Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
We, the undersigned call on US President Obama to direct Israel to
1. Stop all the night raids and arrests of Palestinian Children forthwith.
2. Immediately release all Palestinian children detained in its prisons and detention centers.
3. End all forms of systematic and institutionalized abuse against all Palestinian children.
4. Implement the full restoration of Palestinian children's rights in accordance with international law including, but not limited to, their right to return to their homes of origin, to education, to medical and psychological care, and to freedom of movement and expression.
The US government, which supports Israel to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars a year while most ordinary Americans are suffering in a very bad economy, is bound by its laws and international conventions to cut off all aid to Israel until it ends all of its violations of human rights and basic freedoms in a verifiable manner.
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"Secret diplomacy is a necessary tool for a propertied minority, which is compelled to deceive the majority in order to subject it to its interests."..."Publishing State Secrets" By Leon Trotsky
Documents on Soviet Policy, Trotsky, iii, 2 p. 64
November 22, 1917
http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/foreign-relations/1917/November/22.htm
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING! STOP THE FBI RAIDS NOW!
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
To understand how much a trillion dollars is, consider looking at it in terms of time:
A million seconds would be about eleven-and-one-half days; a billion seconds would be 31 years; and a trillion seconds would be 31,000 years!
From the novel "A Dark Tide," by Andrew Gross
Now think of it in terms of U.S. war dollars and bankster bailouts!
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For Immediate Release
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
12/2/2010
For more information: Joe Lombardo, 518-281-1968,
UNACpeace@gmail.org, NationalPeaceConference.org
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
The United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) calls for the release of Bradley Manning who is awaiting trial accused of leaking the material to Wikileaks that has been released over the past several months. We also call for an end to the harassment of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks and we call for an independent, international investigation of the illegal activity exposed through the material released by Wikileaks.
Before sending the material to Wikileaks, Bradley Manning tried to get his superiors in the military to do something about what he understood to be clear violations of international law. His superiors told him to keep quiet so Manning did the right thing; he exposed the illegal activity to the world.
The Afghan material leaked earlier shows military higher-ups telling soldiers to kill enemy combatants who were trying to surrender. The Iraq Wikileaks video from 2007 shows the US military killing civilians and news reporters from a helicopter while laughing about it. The widespread corruption among U.S. allies has been exposed by the most recent leaks of diplomatic cables. Yet, instead of calling for change in these policies, we hear only a call to suppress further leaks.
At the national antiwar conference held in Albany in July, 2010, at which UNAC was founded, we heard from Ethan McCord, one of the soldiers on the ground during the helicopter attack on the civilians in Iraq exposed by Wikileaks (see: http://www.mediasanctuary.org/movie/1810 ). He talked about removing wounded children from a civilian vehicle that the US military had shot up. It affected him so powerfully that he and another soldier who witnessed the massacre wrote a letter of apology to the families of the civilians who were killed.
We ask why this material was classified in the first place. There were no state secrets in the material, only evidence of illegal and immoral activity by the US military, the US government and its allies. To try to cover this up by classifying the material is a violation of our right to know the truth about these wars. In this respect, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange should be held up as heroes, not hounded for exposing the truth.
UNAC calls for an end to the illegal and immoral policies exposed by Wikileaks and an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to threats against Iran and North Korea.
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Courage to Resist needs your support
By Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist.
It's been quite a ride the last four months since we took up the defense of accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Since then, we helped form the Bradley Manning Support Network, established a defense fund, and have already paid over half of Bradley's total $100,000 in estimated legal expenses.
Now, I'm asking for your support of Courage to Resist so that we can continue to support not only Bradley, but the scores of other troops who are coming into conflict with military authorities due to reasons of conscience.
Please donate today:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
"Soldiers sworn oath is to defend and support the Constitution. Bradley Manning has been defending and supporting our Constitution."
-Dan Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower
Iraq War over? Afghanistan occupation winding down? Not from what we see. Please take a look at, "Soldier Jeff Hanks refuses deployment, seeks PTSD help" in our December newsletter. Jeff's situation is not isolated. Actually, his story is only unique in that he has chosen to share it with us in the hopes that it may result in some change. Jeff's case also illustrates the importance of Iraq Veterans Against the War's new "Operation Recovery" campaign which calls for an end to the deployment of traumatized troops.
Most of the folks who call us for help continue to be effected by Stoploss, a program that involuntarily extends enlistments (despite Army promises of its demise), or the Individual Ready Reserve which recalls thousands of former Soldiers and Marines quarterly from civilian life.
Another example of our efforts is Kyle Wesolowski. After returning from Iraq, Kyle submitted an application for a conscientious objector discharge based on his Buddhist faith. Kyle explains, "My experience of physical threats, religious persecution, and general abuse seems to speak of a system that appears to be broken.... It appears that I have no other recourse but to now refuse all duties that prepare myself for war or aid in any way shape or form to other soldiers in conditioning them to go to war." We believe he shouldn't have to walk this path alone.
Sincerely,
Jeff Paterson
Project Director, Courage to Resist
First US military service member to refuse to fight in Iraq
Please donate today.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
P.S. I'm asking that you consider a contribution of $50 or more, or possibly becoming a sustainer at $15 a month. Of course, now is also a perfect time to make a end of year tax-deductible donation. Thanks again for your support!
Please click here to forward this to a friend who might
also be interested in supporting GI resisters.
http://ymlp.com/forward.php?id=lS3tR&e=bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com
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Add your name! We stand with Bradley Manning.
"We stand for truth, for government transparency, and for an end to our tax-dollars funding endless occupation abroad... We stand with accused whistle-blower US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning."
Dear All,
The Bradley Manning Support Network and Courage to Resist are launching a new campaign, and we wanted to give you a chance to be among the first to add your name to this international effort. If you sign the letter online, we'll print out and mail two letters to Army officials on your behalf. With your permission, we may also use your name on the online petition and in upcoming media ads.
Read the complete public letter and add your name at:
http://standwithbrad.org/
Courage to Resist (http://couragetoresist.org)
on behalf of the Bradley Manning Support Network (http://bradleymanning.org)
484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610
510-488-3559
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Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Dear Friend,
On Friday, September 24th, the FBI raided homes in Chicago and Minneapolis, and turned the Anti-War Committee office upside down. We were shocked. Our response was strong however and we jumped into action holding emergency protests. When the FBI seized activists' personal computers, cell phones, and papers claiming they were investigating "material support for terrorism", they had no idea there would be such an outpouring of support from the anti-war movement across this country! Over 61 cities protested, with crowds of 500 in Minneapolis and Chicago. Activists distributed 12,000 leaflets at the One Nation Rally in Washington D.C. Supporters made thousands of calls to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Solidarity statements from community organizations, unions, and other groups come in every day. By organizing against the attacks, the movement grows stronger.
At the same time, trusted lawyers stepped up to form a legal team and mount a defense. All fourteen activists signed letters refusing to testify. So Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox withdrew the subpoenas, but this is far from over. In fact, the repression is just starting. The FBI continues to question activists at their homes and work places. The U.S. government is trying to put people in jail for anti-war and international solidarity activism and there is no indication they are backing off. The U.S. Attorney has many options and a lot of power-he may re-issue subpoenas, attempt to force people to testify under threat of imprisonment, or make arrests.
To be successful in pushing back this attack, we need your donation. We need you to make substantial contributions like $1000, $500, and $200. We understand many of you are like us, and can only afford $50, $20, or $10, but we ask you to dig deep. The legal bills can easily run into the hundreds of thousands. We are all united to defend a movement for peace and justice that seeks friendship with people in other countries. These fourteen anti-war activists have done nothing wrong, yet their freedom is at stake.
It is essential that we defend our sisters and brothers who are facing FBI repression and the Grand Jury process. With each of your contributions, the movement grows stronger.
Please make a donation today at stopfbi.net (PayPal) on the right side of your screen. Also you can write to:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
This is a critical time for us to stand together, defend free speech, and defend those who help to organize for peace and justice, both at home and abroad!
Thank you for your generosity! Tom Burke
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Short Video About Al-Awda's Work
The following link is to a short video which provides an overview of Al-Awda's work since the founding of our organization in 2000. This video was first shown on Saturday May 23, 2009 at the fundraising banquet of the 7th Annual Int'l Al-Awda Convention in Anaheim California. It was produced from footage collected over the past nine years.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiAkbB5uC0&eurl
Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, depends on your financial support to carry out its work.
To submit your tax-deductible donation to support our work, go to
http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the simple instructions.
Thank you for your generosity!
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COURAGE TO RESIST!
Support the troops who refuse to fight!
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/
Donate:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/21/57/
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D. ARTICLES IN FULL (Unless otherwise noted)
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1) NYC Holds May Day Rally for Workers, Immigrants
"About 200,000 workers gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square in Turkey. Across Germany, some 420,000 people took to the streets to demand fair wages and better working conditions."
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 1, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/05/01/business/AP-US-May-Day-US.html?src=busln
2) Rough Homecoming for a Washington Lawmaker
"What did I take away from this meeting?" he said. "We need to tax the millionaires and billionaires, and that's the magical formula."
By ASHLEY PARKER
April 28, 2011, 10:17 am
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/rough-homecoming-for-a-washington-lawmaker/
3) Bin Laden Is Dead, Obama Says
By PETER BAKER, HELENE COOPER and MARK MAZZETTI
May 1, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html?hp
4) Jeremy Scahill on Killing of Bin Laden: Obama Has "Doubled Down on Bush Administration Policy of Targeted Assassination"
May 2, 2011
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/2/jeremy_scahill_on_killing_of_bin
5) BRICS can build common currency
By Ahmed Sule (China Daily European Weekly)
Updated: 2011-04-08 10:35
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2011-04/08/content_12291921.htm
6) Obama's Remarks on Bin Laden's Killing
[No body; no trial; who's next?...bw]
Following is the text of President Obama's remarks Sunday night announcing the killing of Osama bin Laden, as released by the White House:
May 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/middleeast/02obama-text.html
7) Obama Calls World 'Safer' After Pakistan Raid
"Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and the most hunted man in the world, was buried a few hours after his death in the North Arabian Sea, from the American aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in what was clearly an effort to prevent his grave becoming a shrine to his followers. His body was washed in accordance with Islamic custom, placed in a white sheet and then inside a weighted bag, a senior defense official said. A military officer read religious rites - translated into Arabic - and then the body was placed on a board, tipped up and 'eased into the sea,' the official said." [So, they can kill you on Presidential orders; then dump your body into the ocean never to be seen again! The U.S. bi-partisan government has effectively "disappeared" Osama Bin Laden, setting the precedent of executive execution and disappearance for all of us; just as it has set a precedent in the case of Bradley Manning, who has been treated as guilty and imprisoned for at least 10 months and counting before his trial has even begun. And the U.S. bipartisan bombing and killing rages on and expands its boundaries!...bw]
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and ELISABETH BUMILLER
May 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-dead.html?ref=world
8) German Politics Faces Grass-Roots Threat
By JUDY DEMPSEY
May 1, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/europe/02germany.html?ref=world
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1) NYC Holds May Day Rally for Workers, Immigrants
"About 200,000 workers gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square in Turkey. Across Germany, some 420,000 people took to the streets to demand fair wages and better working conditions."
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 1, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/05/01/business/AP-US-May-Day-US.html?src=busln
NEW YORK (AP) - Labor leaders from Wisconsin are joining New York activists to march for the rights of America's immigrants and workers.
The noon rally in Manhattan's Union Square is one of dozens around the nation on Sunday marking May Day. Marchers plan to walk down Broadway to lower Manhattan for a second rally there.
May 1 is a traditional date for pro-labor demonstrations. Immigration advocates latched onto the tradition in 2006.
Labor advocates are protesting efforts to curtail the right to collective bargaining in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states.
May Day rallies also are taking place around the world on Sunday.
About 200,000 workers gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square in Turkey.
Across Germany, some 420,000 people took to the streets to demand fair wages and better working conditions.
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2) Rough Homecoming for a Washington Lawmaker
"What did I take away from this meeting?" he said. "We need to tax the millionaires and billionaires, and that's the magical formula."
By ASHLEY PARKER
April 28, 2011, 10:17 am
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/rough-homecoming-for-a-washington-lawmaker/
Audience members yelled at one another to stop yelling. The moderator talked over Representative Michael G. Grimm to ask the crowd to please stop talking over him.
And Mr. Grimm, a Republican from New York, was alternately cordial and combative on Wednesday night as he hosted the first town-hall-style forum of his term, a freewheeling and rowdy meeting that often felt more like wrestling than local politics.
Mr. Grimm stood at the front of a Brooklyn school auditorium filled with about 100 people and started off optimistically, asking for a show of hands from all who believed they were better off now than their parents were.
"That's the vast majority, I'd say," Mr. Grimm said, scanning the raised arms inside William McKinley Junior High School.
"I don't," a middle-aged man called out.
"Well, in this room, that's how many hands went up," Mr. Grimm said. "Are we going to debate that, how many hands went up? That's a little silly."
But debate they did, everything from why the wealthy might pay less in taxes than the audience felt was fair ("The Cayman Islands!") to overhauling health care ("Single payer!").
Many in the auditorium had come to Mr. Grimm's event to express their displeasure with his support for the budget proposal by Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin. Some believe the plan would do away with Medicare while cutting taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations.
"We can't dismantle Medicare!" a woman in the front called out. "Everybody gets old; everybody gets sick!"
"The deficit is due to the Bush-era tax cuts," someone else said.
"The whole deficit is due to the Bush-era tax cuts?" Mr. Grimm asked.
"A good part, a good part," came the resounding reply.
Former President George W. Bush was one of the evening's frequent scapegoats, prompting Mr. Grimm, at one point, to say: "This year's deficit is due to George Bush? That's insanity! That's insane."
Later, he turned to the reporters in the room, as if looking for support.
"I want the press to document this," he said. "The reason that the Democratic House, the Democratic Senate and the president, who's a Democrat, and his name was President Barack Obama, not President George Bush, they didn't pass a budget or pass any plan to stop our debt crisis because of George Bush? It was because of George Bush?"
At times, it seemed as if Mr. Grimm was leading his angry and murmuring constituents in a call-and-answer refrain, as they shouted out comments and answers to questions he had not yet posed.
The crowd had come equipped with facts and figures, and it hurled them with abandon.
"We watch C-Span," said Peggy Devane, 68, who lives in Mr. Grimm's district in Bay Ridge. "We know what goes on in Congress."
Rosalie Caliendo, 64, read from her notebook for a moment, concluding, "We know what happened when Herbert Hoover was president."
Mr. Grimm was alternatively respectful, listening to audience members who were angry with him, and confrontational, inviting the crowd to jeer.
"I'll say it again - I supported that budget," Mr. Grimm said, referring to Mr. Ryan's plan. "You don't have to yell out."
As the crowd erupted into a loud chorus of boos, he continued: "Get it all out, get it all out. It's good to get it out. Get it out of your system."
Another time, when Ms. Devane continued to heckle him and shout out comments when others were trying to speak, Mr. Grimm came to the edge of her row.
"We know you disagree," he said, growing increasingly loud. "You saying it 10 times isn't going to change my mind. I get it. I respect it. I think you're wrong."
When Ms. Devane said Mr. Grimm was supposed to be representing her, he added: "You wouldn't vote for me, and I know that. I respect that. So don't pretend you voted for me. You didn't."
Finally, Mr. Grimm and Ms. Devane laughed and shook hands, and the congressman turned to the crowd.
"How many people in here did vote for me?" he asked.
Mr. Grimm was met with a roar of applause and whistles, and the girl who had sung the national anthem offered, "I can't vote yet, but I would've."
Eventually, Mr. Grimm tried to bring the event to a close.
"What did I take away from this meeting?" he said. "We need to tax the millionaires and billionaires, and that's the magical formula."
Mr. Grimm struggled to be heard over the din as half the audience tried to shout him down and the other half tried to shout them down, as the moderator called for a woman to put away her sign, and as someone, somewhere near the front, yelled out that it was all Mr. Bush's fault.
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3) Bin Laden Is Dead, Obama Says
By PETER BAKER, HELENE COOPER and MARK MAZZETTI
May 1, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html?hp
WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced.
In a dramatic late-night appearance in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Obama declared that "justice has been done" as he disclosed that American military and C.I.A. operatives had finally cornered Bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader who had eluded them for nearly a decade. American officials said Bin Laden resisted and was shot in the head. He was later buried at sea.
The news touched off an extraordinary outpouring of emotion as crowds gathered outside the White House, in Times Square and at the ground zero site, waving American flags, cheering, shouting, laughing and chanting, "U.S.A., U.S.A.!" In New York City, crowds sang "The Star-Spangled Banner." Throughout downtown Washington, drivers honked horns deep into the night.
"For over two decades, Bin Laden has been Al Qaeda's leader and symbol," the president said in a statement televised around the world. "The death of Bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat Al Qaeda. But his death does not mark the end of our effort. There's no doubt that Al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad."
Bin Laden's demise is a defining moment in the American-led fight against terrorism, a symbolic stroke affirming the relentlessness of the pursuit of those who attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. What remains to be seen, however, is whether it galvanizes Bin Laden's followers by turning him into a martyr or serves as a turning of the page in the war in Afghanistan and gives further impetus to Mr. Obama to bring American troops home.
How much his death will affect Al Qaeda itself remains unclear. For years, as they failed to find him, American leaders have said that he was more symbolically important than operationally significant because he was on the run and hindered in any meaningful leadership role. Yet he remained the most potent face of terrorism around the world, and some of those who played down his role in recent years nonetheless celebrated his death.
Given Bin Laden's status among radicals, the American government braced for possible retaliation. A senior Pentagon official said late Sunday that military bases in the United States and around the world were ordered to a higher state of readiness. The State Department issued a worldwide travel warning, urging Americans in volatile areas "to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations."
The strike could exacerbate deep tensions with Pakistan, which has periodically bristled at American counterterrorism efforts even as Bin Laden evidently found safe refuge on its territory for nearly a decade. Since taking office, Mr. Obama has ordered significantly more drone strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan, stirring public anger there and prompting the Pakistani government to protest.
When the end came for Bin Laden, he was found not in the remote tribal areas along the Pakistani-Afghan border where he has long been presumed to be sheltered, but in a massive compound about an hour's drive north from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. He was hiding in the medium-sized city of Abbottabad, home to a large Pakistani military base and a military academy of the Pakistani Army.
The compound, only about a third of a mile from the academy, is at the end of a narrow dirt road and is roughly eight times larger than other homes in the area, but had no telephone or Internet connections. When American operatives converged on the house on Sunday, Bin Laden "resisted the assault force" and was killed in the middle of an intense gun battle, a senior administration official said, but details were still sketchy early Monday morning.
The official said that military and intelligence officials first learned last summer that a "high-value target" was being protected in the compound and began working on a plan for going in to get him. Beginning in March, Mr. Obama presided over five national security meetings at the White House to go over plans for the operation and on Friday morning, just before leaving Washington to tour tornado damage in Alabama, gave the final order for Navy Seals and C.I.A. operatives to strike.
Mr. Obama called it a "targeted operation," although officials said one helicopter was lost because of a mechanical failure and had to be destroyed to keep it from falling into hostile hands.
In addition to Bin Laden, three men were killed during the 40-minute raid, one believed to be his son and the other two his couriers, according to an American official who briefed reporters under White House ground rules forbidding further identification. A woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant, the official said, and two others wounded.
"No Americans were harmed," Mr. Obama said. "They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body." Muslim tradition requires burial within 24 hours, but by doing it at sea, American authorities presumably were trying to avoid creating a shrine for his followers.
The fate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's second-in-command, was unclear.
Bin Laden's death came nearly 10 years after Qaeda terrorists hijacked four American passenger jets, crashing three of them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington. The fourth hijacked jet, United Flight 93, crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside after passengers fought the militants.
"This is important news for us, and for the world," said Gordon Felt, president of the group, Families of Flight 93. "It cannot ease our pain, or bring back our loved ones. It does bring a measure of comfort that the mastermind of the September 11th tragedy and the face of global terror can no longer spread his evil."
The mostly young people who celebrated in the streets of New York and Washington saw it as a historic moment, one that for many of them culminated a worldwide manhunt that started when they were children.
Some climbed trees and lampposts directly in front of the White House to cheer and wave flags. Cigars and noisemakers were common. One group started singing, "Osama, Osama, hey, hey, hey, goodbye."
Maureen Hasson, 22, a recent college graduate working for the Justice Department, came down to Lafayette Square in a fuchsia party dress and flip-flops. "This is full circle for our generation," she said. "Just look around at the average age here. We were all in middle school when the terrorists struck. We all vividly remember 9/11 and this is the close of that chapter."
Sam Sherman, 18, a freshman at George Washington University originally from New York, also rushed down to the White House. "The feeling you can't even imagine, the feeling in the air. It's crazy," he said. "I have friends with parents dead because of Osama bin Laden's plan, O.K. So when I heard this news, I was coming down to celebrate."
Mr. Obama said Pakistan had helped develop the intelligence that led to Bin Laden, but an American official said the Pakistani government was not informed about the strike in advance. "We shared our intelligence on this compound with no other country, including Pakistan," the official said.
Mr. Obama recalled his statements in the 2008 presidential campaign when he vowed to order American forces to strike inside Pakistan if necessary even without Islamabad's permission. "That is what we've done," he said. "But it's important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to Bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding."
Relations with Pakistan had fallen in recent weeks to their lowest point in years. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly criticized the Pakistani military two weeks ago for failing to act against extremists allied to Al Qaeda who shelter in the tribal areas of North Waziristan. Last week, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, head of the Pakistani Army, said Pakistan had broken the back of terrorism on its territory, prompting skepticism in Washington.
Mr. Obama called President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan to tell him about the strike after it was set in motion, and his advisers called their Pakistani counterparts. "They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations," Mr. Obama said.
The city of Abbottabad where Bin Laden was found has had other known Al Qaeda presence in the past. A senior Indonesian militant, Umar Patek, was arrested there earlier this year. Mr. Patek was protected by a Qaeda operative, a clerk who worked undercover at the main post office, a signal that Al Qaeda may have had other operations in the area.
The Pakistani military cordoned off the roads and alleys leading to the compound Monday. But residents of the middle-class area who were reached by phone said they had not been suspicious about the residents of the house, despite its size and the fact that very few people ever seemed to leave the compound.
As the operation's start approached, many American officials at the United States consulate in Peshawar, the capital of the northwest area of Pakistan, were told suddenly to depart last Friday, leaving behind only a core group of essential staff. The American officials said they had been told to leave because of fears of kidnapping but were not tipped off to the operation.
Analysts said Bin Laden's death amounted to a double blow for Al Qaeda, after its sermons of anti-Western violence seemed to be rendered irrelevant by the wave of political upheaval rolling through the Arab world.
"It comes at a time when Al Qaeda's narrative is already very much in doubt in the Arab world," said Martin S. Indyk, vice president and director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. "Its narrative was that violence was the way to redeem Arab honor and dignity. But Osama bin Laden and his violence didn't succeed in unseating anybody."
Al Qaeda sympathizers reacted with disbelief, anger and in some cases talk of retribution. On a Web site considered an outlet for Al Qaeda messages, forum administrators deleted posts by users announcing Bin Laden's death and demanded that members wait until the news was confirmed by Al Qaeda sources, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors radicals.
Even so, SITE said, sympathizers on the forum posted messages calling Bin Laden a martyr and suggesting retaliation. "America will reap the same if the news is true and false," said one message. "The lions will remain lions and will continue moving in the footsteps of Usama," said another, using an alternate spelling of Bin Laden's name.
In the United States, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy organization, said it welcomed Bin Laden's death. "As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, Bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam," the group said in a statement. "In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and Al Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide."
Mr. Obama called to inform his predecessor, George W. Bush, who launched the war against Al Qaeda after Sept. 11, yet was frustrated in his efforts to capture Bin Laden "dead or alive," as he once put it. Mr. Bush released a statement saying, "this momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001."
"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done," he added.
Mr. Obama used similar language and warned that the war against terrorists had not ended. "We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies," he said. "We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to Al Qaeda's terror, justice has been done."
The president was careful to add that, as Mr. Bush did during his presidency, the United States is not at war with Islam. "Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims," Mr. Obama said. "Indeed, Al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity."
Reporting was contributed by Elisabeth Goodridge, Scott Shane, Ben Werschkul, Mark Landler and Michael Shear from Washington; Jane Perlez from Sydney, Australia; Pir Zubair Shah from New York and Salman Masood from Abbottabad, Pakistan.
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4) Jeremy Scahill on Killing of Bin Laden: Obama Has "Doubled Down on Bush Administration Policy of Targeted Assassination"
May 2, 2011
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/2/jeremy_scahill_on_killing_of_bin
The manhunt for Osama bin Laden is over. Nearly 10 years after the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, U.S. forces are said to have assassinated the Saudi-born founder of al-Qaeda inside Pakistan. The U.S. operation was reportedly carried out by 25 Navy Seals under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command. At the time of his death, bin Laden was reportedly living in a heavily fortified mansion just a mile from the Pakistani army's principal military academy. We speak with Jeremy Scahill, the national security correspondent for The Nation magazine, who has followed the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts closely as well as reported on the covert war inside Pakistan.
Jeremy Scahill, Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at the Nation Institute and the author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He blogs at TheNation.com
AMY GOODMAN: In a televised address to the nation last night, President Barack Obama announced al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan. Bin Laden was killed on Sunday in a U.S. operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, about 60 miles north of the capital, Islamabad.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children.
AMY GOODMAN: Osama bin Laden was shot in the head and buried at sea. The Saudi-born leader of al-Qaeda is believed to be the mastermind of the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, as well as a number of other attacks around the world.
Osama bin Laden's death raises questions about the future of the U.S. war on terror and whether U.S. policy in the region will change. Almost 10 years ago, on October 7, 2001, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in an attempt to capture bin Laden and destroy his al-Qaeda network. The war in Afghanistan has since become the longest in U.S. history and has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. For years, the U.S. has also waged a secret war inside Pakistan.
Despite the killing of Osama bin Laden, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said today the war on terror will continue.
PRIME MINISTER JULIA GILLARD: Can I say, too, about the death of Osama bin Laden, that whilst al-Qaeda has been hurt today, al-Qaeda is not finished. Our war against terrorism must continue. We continue to be engaged in Afghanistan so that that country does not again become a haven for terrorists. That work will need to continue. That work has already cost Australian lives. But that work is vital, and we will continue the mission in Afghanistan.
AMY GOODMAN: To discuss the death of Osama bin Laden, we're joined by a number of guests.
We'll be speaking with Robert Fisk on the phone in Beirut. Robert Fisk, the longtime Middle East correspondent of The Independent newspaper in London, he was the first Western journalist to interview Osama bin Laden.
We're also joined in New York by Jeremy Scahill, Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at the Nation Institute, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He blogs at thenation.com.
We're also joined by Allan Nairn, an award-winning investigative journalist and activist.
In London, we're joined by Tariq Ali, the well-known author, Pakistani-born commentator.
We're going to start with Jeremy Scahill. Jeremy, tell us what you understand-you have been following JSOC for a long time now-what you understand happened yesterday and in the last months?
JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, in a way, this operation in Pakistan was the culmination of the life's work of General Stanley McChrystal, who headed the Joint Special Operations Command from 2003 to 2008, and was the man tasked by the Bush administration with leading a global assassination campaign of people that the administration determined to be high-value targets or terrorist threats or militant threats to the United States. The current commander of JSOC is Admiral William McRaven, who himself is a former Navy Seal. And this really is the most elite force within the U.S. military.
The individuals who we believe actually killed Osama bin Laden are reportedly members of Navy Seal Team Six, also known as the Development Group. And those are probably the most elite forces in the world. General Barry McCaffrey said these are the most dangerous people on planet earth. This operation was carried out by a drone that was overhead, 25 Seals, and then shooters that allegedly stormed this compound. The role of JSOC within the broader U.S. so-called war on terror has been a surgical strike force.
So I think you have the one story playing out, which is how this happened, and it does sound like there was some incredible detective work that took place in tracking this courier, who was Osama bin Laden's go-to to communicate with the outside world. For five years, they were reportedly tracking the developments at this compound. Interestingly, this compound is a stone's throw away from a Pakistani military academy. And just days ago, General Kayani, the head of Pakistan's armed forces, actually was basically a block away from Osama bin Laden, if all of these reports are true.
On the other side of this, though, I think there's another reaction. I found it quite disgusting to see people chanting, like it was some sort of sporting event, outside of the White House. I think it was idiotic. Let's remember here, hundreds of thousands of people have died. Iraq was invaded, a country that had nothing to do with al-Qaeda, nothing to do with Osama bin Laden. The United States created an al-Qaeda presence in Iraq by invading it, made Iran a far more influential force in Iraq than it ever would have been. We have given a grand motivation to people around the world that want to do harm to Americans in our killing of civilians, our waging of war against countries that have no connection to al-Qaeda, and by staying in these countries long after the mission was accomplished. Al-Qaeda was destroyed in Afghanistan, forced on the run. The Taliban have no chance of retaking power in Afghanistan. And so, I think that this is a somber day where we should be remembering all of the victims, the 3,000 people that died in the United States and then the hundreds of thousands that died afterwards as a result of a U.S. response to this that should have been a law enforcement response and instead was to declare war on the world.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk, Jeremy, about what you understand did take place in this-not place in the frontier-
JEREMY SCAHILL: Right.
AMY GOODMAN:-on the border, the tribal lands between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but in a mansion in a city of 500,000 next to a military academy?
JEREMY SCAHILL: This is a very big problem for Pakistan's government, because had Osama bin Laden been captured in an area that the Pakistani government didn't have control of, there would have been a very different narrative that would have unfolded. You already see right-wing commentators, Bush-former Bush officials, really ratcheting up their rhetoric about Pakistan. And the fact that he was captured in what was essentially a town equivalent to Vale, Colorado, a vacation town, really shows that he must have had some sort of protection from the Pakistani state in order to live for so long, at least five years, it seems, in this location, rather than being in a cave somewhere.
The way that this operation went down, if in fact it is confirmed that it was the Joint Special Operations Command coming in from Afghanistan, goes back to an agreement that General McChrystal brokered with then-President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan that allowed what was called a "hot pursuit" clause, which authorized U.S. Special Operations forces to go into Pakistan from Afghanistan if they were in pursuit of Osama bin Laden or other al-Qaeda leaders. And the agreement was that the U.S. could do those operations as long as the Pakistani government could then deny it. And so, it seems as though this operation was, at least in part, launched from Afghanistan into Pakistan, President Obama chairing five National Security Council meetings about this specific operation.
So, I think that, you know, there's going to be a lot of celebrating within the Special Ops community for having taken down the man that was identified as the number one target of this operation. And it shows that President Obama has really continued and doubled down on the Bush administration policy of targeted assassination leading the way in terms of America's response to al-Qaeda and to people it designates as so-called terrorists.
AMY GOODMAN: And the news of how Osama bin Laden died?
JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, that's interesting. Allan and I were talking before the show about this, and I'd be interested in hearing what he has to say. The phrasing that President Obama used was very interesting. I mean, we'll have to see before, I think, we give any detailed commentary on it. They said there was a firefight there. They said someone used a woman as a human shield at some point during the operation. It sounds like Osama bin Laden was shot in the head. Navy Seals are the most highly trained forces within the U.S. military. It wouldn't be surprising that they could sniper shoot him from a distance and hit him dead between his eyes. Maybe something else went down. I don't-we don't know what happened inside of that compound, but it does sound like he was shot directly in the head.
AMY GOODMAN: And buried at sea.
JEREMY SCAHILL: And then-they say buried at sea. I'm not sure exactly what that means, if they took him down deep into the sea and buried him or if they just dumped his body. I mean, who-we don't know.
AMY GOODMAN: We're going to go to break and come back, and we'll be joined by Talat Hamdani. Talat Hamdani lost her son, 9/11. She is the mother of Mohammed Salman Hamdani. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. We'll also be joined by Matthew Hoh, highest-level diplomat to have quit amidst the war in Afghanistan. This is Democracy Now! Back in a minute.
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5) BRICS can build common currency
By Ahmed Sule (China Daily European Weekly)
Updated: 2011-04-08 10:35
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2011-04/08/content_12291921.htm
On April 14, the third BRIC summit will be held in the southern Chinese city of Sanya and will for the first time feature South Africa, which will join Brazil, Russia, India and China to discuss matters of common interest to the bloc such as trade, politics, climate change, and global security. And so, BRIC becomes BRICS.
Ever since the chief economist at Goldman Sachs coined the acronym BRIC in 2001, each of these economies has continued to grow in dominance and influence. By the end of 2010, the BRIC economies accounted for about 25 percent of the global land mass and 40 percent of the world's population.
With a combined GDP of $8.7 trillion (6.2 trillion euros) in 2010, the BRIC economies have accounted for 30 percent of global economic growth since 2000 and 45 percent of global economic growth since the beginning of the financial crisis.
Goldman Sachs says the BRIC economies will potentially constitute four of the five largest economies by 2032.
The growing influence of the BRIC economies can be seen in their prominence in global trade. The Standard Bank Group says the combined BRIC share of world trade increased from 6.9 percent in 1999 to about 14.2 percent in 2008.
Furthermore, BRIC collective trade with the world increased almost six-fold from $790 billion in 1999 to $4.4 trillion in 2008. In addition to their contribution to global trade, BRIC economies have contributed to an increase in trade among developing countries, which is growing three times faster than the trade growth rate among advanced economies.
BRIC economies have contributed up to 60 percent of trade between low-income countries (LIC) and non-LIC emerging economies with bilateral trade between the BRICs and LICs increasing by about 25 percent a year in the last decade.
Intra-BRIC trade, or trade among the BRIC members, has also played a significant role in global trade. Despite the fact that intra-BRIC trade is small in relation to BRIC trade with other blocs such as the European Union and the United States, it has accounted for the fastest growth rate in global trade in the last decade.
This growth trend is expected to continue as BRICS economies become more dominant. The IMF says intra-BRIC trade, which is valued at more than $170 billion, has grown at the rate of 30 percent a year since 1999 and now accounts for 8 percent of global trade.
Intra-BRICS trade is mainly characterized by Russia, Brazil and South Africa providing natural resources to satisfy the industrial and infrastructural needs of India and China.
During the 10-year period up to 2009, intra-BRIC trade increased nine fold compared to global trade, which doubled over the same period.
In recent years, the US, which used to be the largest trading partner for most of the BRICS economies, has gradually seen its position challenged by partners of the BRICS.
Goldman Sachs says three of the four countries that make up the BRIC have a BRIC counterpart as one of their top two trading partners. For instance, China has overtaken the US as Brazil's largest trading partner, while in 2009 China overtook the US to become South Africa's largest export destination.
Despite the increasing trend of intra-BRICS trade, the bulk of these trades is still denominated in US dollars, rather than the currencies of the BRICS economies.
There are several factors contributing to the popularity of the dollar as a vehicle currency in international trade, such as the size, economic strength and stability of the US economy.
As a consequence of using the dollar in intra-BRICS and international-BRICS trades, the BRICS economies have amassed a sizeable portion of its foreign reserves denominated in US dollars.
BRICS economies hold 40 percent of the world's currency reserves, the majority of which is denominated in US dollars.
In recent years, the BRIC economies have signaled their intention to move away from the use of the dollar toward the use of local currencies in cross-border trade settlements.
In November 2010, Russia and China agreed to use their currencies in bilateral trade. Furthermore, at the second BRIC summit in April 2010, the leaders of the four BRIC economies agreed to study ways to make use of their currencies in bilateral trades.
However, despite these expressions of intention, the dollar continues to constitute a sizable part of intra-BRICS and international BRICS trade.
There are several reasons why it would be worthwhile for the BRICS group to substitute the use of the dollar in intra-BRICS trades.
First, it will help the BRICS economies to diversify their foreign reserve exposure away from the dollar. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the stability of the US is being threatened as evidenced by the increased risk of a downgrade or default of US government debt, thereby threatening the role of the dollar as a global reserve currency.
In the event of a US debt downgrade or default, BRICS economies would suffer significant losses due to their exposure to the dollar. Furthermore, policies adopted by the US such as quantitative easing could lead to future inflation, thereby eroding the value of the dollar reserves maintained by the BRICS economies.
Second, the use of local BRICS currencies could facilitate the development of these currencies as global reserve currencies. As the BRICS economies share of global trade continues to increase, its currencies could be used more in international trade, thereby adding to the pool of currencies that could act as global reserve currencies.
Third, the use of BRICS currencies in cross-border trade will help reduce transaction costs and exchange rate variability, thereby promoting greater intra-BRICS trade, which will result in more sustainable growth.
Fourth, greater use of local currencies in intra-BRICS trade will help increase the influence of the BRICS economies in a multi-polar world and give it influence in multilateral bodies such as the IMF, World Bank and WTO.
Fifth, the use of local currencies in intra-BRICS trade could be a precursor to the formation of a BRICS monetary union.
There are three approaches the BRICS economies could consider when using local currencies for intra-BRICS trades.
The BRICS economies could (1) select a particular currency of one of its members to use as the vehicle for intra-BRICS trade, (2) use the local currency of the exporting or importing country in bilateral trade, and (3) consider setting up a BRICS common currency to settle intra-BRICS bilateral trades.
The first approach would involve the BRICS economies agreeing to use the currency of one of its members in all forms of BRICS-to-BRICS trades. They could agree to use the Brazilian real, the Chinese renminbi, the Indian rupee, or the Russian rouble as the currency for intra-BRICS bilateral trade.
For instance, if they all agree to use the rupee for bilateral trade, then even if trade takes place between Brazil and Russia, the currency used would be the rupee. This approach could result in the emergence of the selected local currency as a potential global reserve currency to rival the dollar.
Based on present trends, the renminbi would appear to be the most likely currency to be used under this approach, as China is a creditor country with large current account surpluses, a small budget deficit, remarkable growth and a low public debt as a share of GDP.
Obtaining the agreement of all members of the BRICS countries to select a vehicle currency could, however, prove challenging.
The second approach would involve the exporter invoicing the importer using the currency of either the exporting or importing country. This approach would be similar to the bilateral arrangement made between China and Russia in November 2010.
The BRICS economies would need to agree whether to transact bilateral trades in the currency of the exporting or importing country.
The third approach would involve setting up a currency union, eventually leading to the formation of a BRICS common currency.
This would perhaps be the most difficult approach to adopt, but could have the biggest impact as it would harness the combined strengths of all BRICS economies.
Each country within the BRICS group would have to replace its domestic currency with the BRICS common currency. The BRICS currency would become the official currency of the four countries that make up the BRICS and would be the currency of choice for intra-BRICS trade.
The adoption of the BRICS currency could resolve the potential difficulty under the first approach, that is, the challenge in agreeing to select a single currency of one of the BRICS countries as the vehicle for bilateral trade.
The formation of a BRICS common currency would present a formidable alternative to the dollar and the euro as the global reserve currency. The adoption of a BRICS currency would also improve the probability of the usage of the currency in BRICS-developing economies and BRICS-advanced economies trades.
In addition to stimulating intra-BRICS trade, a BRICS common currency would promote growth and could help integrate the intra-BRICS capital markets.
However, its implementation would require member countries to relinquish control of their monetary policy to an external independent central bank and commit to a stability oriented fiscal policy.
For the BRICS economies to successfully implement the use of a local or BRICS currency in intra-BRICS cross border trade, a number of issues would need to be addressed.
There would need to be a strong political commitment toward the use of a local currency in intra-BRICS trade. This commitment appears to be in place as evidenced by the pledge among BRICS leaders to study ways to make use of local currencies in bilateral trade.
There would also have to be trust among the BRICS countries, as this would help provide a stable environment in which to conduct bilateral trade, as an atmosphere of mistrust among the BRICS members could act as a barrier to the use of local currencies in intra-BRICS bilateral trade.
Since a major long-term aim of the gradual move away from conducting intra-BRICS trade in US dollars is to promote the BRICS local currencies as reserve currencies, it becomes important for the currencies of the BRICS countries to be fully convertible and for the BRICS countries to open up their economies over the long term.
As China is the largest economy among the BRICS countries, it is imperative for China to ensure that its currency is fully convertible with restrictions on moving money into and out of the country lifted, as this would make it more effective in using the renminbi in intra-BRICS and international trade.
In conclusion, whatever approach the BRICS economies adopt in diversifying away from the dollar in cross-border trades, a move by the BRICS economies toward the use of local currency in intra-BRICS trade would promote intra-regional trade, mitigate against the risk of heavy reliance on the dollar and promote a new international currency order, and be more reflective of a multi-polar world.
The writer, a CFA charterholder, is the macro strategist for Diadem Capital Partners Ltd, London.
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6) Obama's Remarks on Bin Laden's Killing
Following is the text of President Obama's remarks Sunday night announcing the killing of Osama bin Laden, as released by the White House:
May 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/middleeast/02obama-text.html
Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory - hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.
And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child's embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.
On September 11, 2001, in our time of grief, the American people came together. We offered our neighbors a hand, and we offered the wounded our blood. We reaffirmed our ties to each other, and our love of community and country. On that day, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family.
We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice. We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by Al Qaeda - an organization headed by Osama bin Laden, which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe. And so we went to war against Al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends, and our allies.
Over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we've made great strides in that effort. We've disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense. In Afghanistan, we removed the Taliban government, which had given bin Laden and Al Qaeda safe haven and support. And around the globe, we worked with our friends and allies to capture or kill scores of Al Qaeda terrorists, including several who were a part of the 9/11 plot.
Yet Osama bin Laden avoided capture and escaped across the Afghan border into Pakistan. Meanwhile, Al Qaeda continued to operate from along that border and operate through its affiliates across the world.
And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against Al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network.
Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.
Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.
For over two decades, bin Laden has been Al Qaeda's leader and symbol, and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies. The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat Al Qaeda.
Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There's no doubt that Al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must -- and we will - remain vigilant at home and abroad.
As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not -- and never will be -- at war with Islam. I've made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, Al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.
Over the years, I've repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we've done. But it's important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well, and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people.
Tonight, I called President Zardari, and my team has also spoken with their Pakistani counterparts. They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations. And going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against Al Qaeda and its affiliates.
The American people did not choose this fight. It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens. After nearly 10 years of service, struggle, and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war. These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one, or look into the eyes of a service member who's been gravely wounded.
So Americans understand the costs of war. Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies. We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to Al Qaeda's terror: Justice has been done.
Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who've worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome. The American people do not see their work, nor know their names. But tonight, they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of justice.
We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. And they are part of a generation that has borne the heaviest share of the burden since that September day.
Finally, let me say to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 that we have never forgotten your loss, nor wavered in our commitment to see that we do whatever it takes to prevent another attack on our shores.
And tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today's achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people.
The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it's the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.
Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
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7) Obama Calls World 'Safer' After Pakistan Raid
"Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and the most hunted man in the world, was buried a few hours after his death in the North Arabian Sea, from the American aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in what was clearly an effort to prevent his grave becoming a shrine to his followers. His body was washed in accordance with Islamic custom, placed in a white sheet and then inside a weighted bag, a senior defense official said. A military officer read religious rites - translated into Arabic - and then the body was placed on a board, tipped up and "eased into the sea," the official said.
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and ELISABETH BUMILLER
May 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-dead.html?ref=world
WASHINGTON - Calling it a "good day for America," President Obama said Monday that the death of Osama bin Laden had made the world "a better place," as new details emerged about the daring overnight raid in Pakistan that killed him.
"The world is safer," Mr. Obama said as he appeared at a White House ceremony bestowing the Medal of Honor to two soldiers killed in the Korean War. "It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden."
Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and the most hunted man in the world, was buried a few hours after his death in the North Arabian Sea, from the American aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in what was clearly an effort to prevent his grave becoming a shrine to his followers.
His body was washed in accordance with Islamic custom, placed in a white sheet and then inside a weighted bag, a senior defense official said. A military officer read religious rites - translated into Arabic - and then the body was placed on a board, tipped up and "eased into the sea," the official said.
Bin Laden died near the end of what officials described as an intense, 40-minute firefight that began 12 hours earlier when a team including helicopter-borne Navy Seals raided a heavily fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He had been living for years in relative comfort with his family on the second and third floors of a home inside the compound, located at the end of a narrow dirt road in Abbottabad, a city an hour's drive north of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.
He was killed along with a son and two other men who put up resistance during the raid, ending any hope of arrest and prosecution. A woman used as a human shield protecting Bin Laden during the raid was also killed, but several other women and children survived and are in Pakistani custody, officials said.
President Obama's counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, said that the raid had been intended to capture Mr. Bin Laden, though those who planned it assumed he would resist. "If we had the opportunity to take him alive, we would have done that," he said.
American intelligence officials said that the team removed a large trove of documents and materials and that the C.I.A. was just beginning to go through it.
One of Bin Laden's wives, who was living in the compound with him, identified his body after the fighting stopped, while the Central Intelligence Agency analysis matched "virtually 100 percent" his DNA with that of several members of his family.
The reaction in Washington the day after was ebullient. Mr. Obama recalled the sense of unity and purpose that immediately followed the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon nearly a decade ago. "Today we are reminded that as a nation there's nothing we can't do when we put our shoulders to the wheel, when we remember the sense of unity that defines us as Americans," he said.
There were words of caution, too. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised Pakistan for its cooperation in fighting Al Qaeda, even as some analysts and officials voiced disbelief that Bin Laden could have lived where he did without the knowledge of Pakistani officials.
"Continued cooperation will be just as important in the days ahead," she said, "because even as we mark this milestone, we should not forget that the battle to stop Al Qaeda and its syndicate of terror will not end with the death of Bin Laden."
The raid, months in the planning, came after intelligence officials learned the identity of one of Bin Laden's couriers and traced him to the hideout.
Last night, an official said that "detainees" had identified a few years ago the nickname of one courier who "in particular had our constant attention." He described the courier as, among other things, a "trusted assistant" of Abu Faraj al-Libi, who was the No. 3 figure in Al Qaeda until his capture in 2005. Officials later figured out the real name for that courier, which in turn eventually allowed them to trace him to the compound in Abbottabad.
One of the Guantánamo detainee assessment files disclosed recently to WikiLeaks and obtained independently by The New York Times may provide a clue about the origins of the intelligence that led to the breakthrough.
That document, an assessment for Mr. Libi, who was transferred from a secret C.I.A. prison to Guantánamo in September 2006, discusses his interactions with a courier for Bin Laden - identified by the initials UBL - in Pakistan. Footnotes to those sentences cite what appear to be C.I.A. accounts of interrogations of Mr. Libi in 2005 and 2006.
"In July 2003, detainee received a letter from UBL's designated courier, Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan, requesting detainee take on the responsibility of collecting donations, organizing travel, and distributing funds to families in Pakistan," the assessment says. "UBL stated detainee would be the official messenger between UBL and others in Pakistan.
The file then immediately connects Mr. Libi's activities at that time to Abbottabad, stating: "In mid-2003, detainee moved his family to Abbottabad, PK and worked between Abbottabad and Peshawar."
A footnote to that section also includes an analyst's note that in May 2005 Mr. Libi stated that "he was responsible for facilitation within the settled areas of Pakistan, communication with UBL and external links. He was responsible for communicating with al-Qaida members abroad and obtaining funds and personnel from those al-Qaida members."
Bin Laden's demise is a defining moment in the American-led fight against terrorism, a symbolic stroke affirming the relentlessness of the pursuit of those who attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. What remains to be seen, however, is whether it galvanizes Bin Laden's followers by turning him into a martyr or serves as a turning of the page in the war in Afghanistan and gives further impetus to Mr. Obama to bring American troops home.
How much his death will affect Al Qaeda itself remains unclear. For years, as they failed to find him, American leaders have said that he was more symbolically important than operationally significant because he was on the run and hindered in any meaningful leadership role. Yet he remained the most potent face of terrorism around the world, and some of those who played down his role in recent years nonetheless celebrated his death.
Given Bin Laden's status among radicals, the American government braced for possible retaliation. A senior Pentagon official said late Sunday that military bases in the United States and around the world were ordered to a higher state of readiness. The State Department issued a worldwide travel warning, urging Americans in volatile areas "to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations."
The strike could deepen tensions with Pakistan, which has periodically bristled at American counterterrorism efforts even as Bin Laden evidently found safe refuge on its territory for nearly a decade. Since taking office, Mr. Obama has ordered significantly more drone strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan, stirring public anger there and prompting the Pakistani government to protest.
When the end came for Bin Laden, he was found not in the remote tribal areas along the Pakistani-Afghan border where he has long been presumed to be sheltered, but in a massive compound about an hour's drive north from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. He was hiding in the medium-sized city of Abbottabad, home to a large Pakistani military base and a military academy of the Pakistani Army.
The compound, only about a third of a mile from the academy, is at the end of a narrow dirt road and is roughly eight times larger than other homes in the area, but had no telephone or Internet connections. When American operatives converged on the house on Sunday, Bin Laden "resisted the assault force" and was killed in the middle of an intense gun battle, a senior administration official said, but details were still sketchy early Monday morning.
The official said that military and intelligence officials first learned last summer that a "high-value target" was being protected in the compound and began working on a plan for going in to get him. Beginning in March, Mr. Obama presided over five national security meetings at the White House to go over plans for the operation and on Friday morning, just before leaving Washington to tour tornado damage in Alabama, gave the final order for members of the Navy Seals and C.I.A. operatives to strike.
Mr. Obama called it a "targeted operation," although officials said one helicopter was lost because of a mechanical failure and had to be destroyed to keep it from falling into hostile hands.
In addition to Bin Laden, three men were killed during the 40-minute raid, one believed to be his son and the other two his couriers, according to an American official who briefed reporters under White House ground rules forbidding further identification. A woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant, the official said, and two others wounded.
"No Americans were harmed," Mr. Obama said. "They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body." Muslim tradition requires burial within 24 hours, but by doing it at sea, American authorities presumably were trying to avoid creating a shrine for his followers.
The whereabouts of Ayman al-Zawahri, Zawahri Al Qaeda's second-in-command, were unclear.
Bin Laden's death came nearly 10 years after Qaeda terrorists hijacked four American passenger jets, crashing three of them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington. The fourth hijacked jet, United Flight 93, crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside after passengers fought the militants.
"This is important news for us, and for the world," said Gordon Felt, president of the group, Families of Flight 93. "It cannot ease our pain, or bring back our loved ones. It does bring a measure of comfort that the mastermind of the September 11th tragedy and the face of global terror can no longer spread his evil."
The mostly young people who celebrated in the streets of New York and Washington saw it as a historic moment, one that for many of them culminated a worldwide manhunt that started when they were children.
Some climbed trees and lampposts directly in front of the White House to cheer and wave flags. Cigars and noisemakers were common. One group started singing, "Osama, Osama, hey, hey, hey, goodbye."
Maureen Hasson, 22, a recent college graduate working for the Justice Department, came down to Lafayette Square in a fuchsia party dress and flip-flops. "This is full circle for our generation," she said. "Just look around at the average age here. We were all in middle school when the terrorists struck. We all vividly remember 9/11 and this is the close of that chapter."
Sam Sherman, 18, a freshman at George Washington University originally from New York, also rushed down to the White House. "The feeling you can't even imagine, the feeling in the air. It's crazy," he said. "I have friends with parents dead because of Osama bin Laden's plan, O.K. So when I heard this news, I was coming down to celebrate."
Mr. Obama said Pakistan had helped develop the intelligence that led to Bin Laden, but an American official said the Pakistani government was not informed about the strike in advance. "We shared our intelligence on this compound with no other country, including Pakistan," the official said.
Mr. Obama recalled his statements in the 2008 presidential campaign when he vowed to order American forces to strike inside Pakistan if necessary even without Islamabad's permission. "That is what we've done," he said. "But it's important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to Bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding."
Relations with Pakistan had fallen in recent weeks to their lowest point in years. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly criticized the Pakistani military two weeks ago for failing to act against extremists allied to Al Qaeda who shelter in the tribal areas of North Waziristan. Last week, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, head of the Pakistani Army, said Pakistan had broken the back of terrorism on its territory, prompting skepticism in Washington.
Mr. Obama called President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan to tell him about the strike after it was set in motion, and his advisers called their Pakistani counterparts. "They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations," Mr. Obama said.
The city of Abbottabad where Bin Laden was found has had other known Al Qaeda presence in the past. A senior Indonesian militant, Umar Patek, was arrested there earlier this year. Mr. Patek was protected by a Qaeda operative, a clerk who worked undercover at the main post office, a signal that Al Qaeda may have had other operations in the area.
The Pakistani military cordoned off the roads and alleys leading to the compound Monday. But residents of the middle-class area who were reached by phone said they had not been suspicious about the residents of the house, despite its size and the fact that very few people ever seemed to leave the compound.
As the operation's start approached, many American officials at the United States consulate in Peshawar, the capital of the northwest area of Pakistan, were told suddenly to depart last Friday, leaving behind only a core group of essential staff. The American officials said they had been told to leave because of fears of kidnapping but were not tipped off to the operation.
Analysts said Bin Laden's death amounted to a double blow for Al Qaeda, after its sermons of anti-Western violence seemed to be rendered irrelevant by the wave of political upheaval rolling through the Arab world.
"It comes at a time when Al Qaeda's narrative is already very much in doubt in the Arab world," said Martin S. Indyk, vice president and director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. "Its narrative was that violence was the way to redeem Arab honor and dignity. But Osama bin Laden and his violence didn't succeed in unseating anybody."
Al Qaeda sympathizers reacted with disbelief, anger and in some cases talk of retribution. On a Web site considered an outlet for Qaeda messages, forum administrators deleted posts by users announcing Bin Laden's death and demanded that members wait until the news was confirmed by Qaeda sources, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors radicals.
Even so, SITE said, sympathizers on the forum posted messages calling Bin Laden a martyr and suggesting retaliation. "America will reap the same if the news is true and false," said one message. "The lions will remain lions and will continue moving in the footsteps of Usama," said another, using an alternate spelling of Bin Laden's name.
In the United States, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy organization, said it welcomed Bin Laden's death. "As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, Bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam," the group said in a statement. "In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and Al Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide."
Mr. Obama called to inform his predecessor, George W. Bush, who started the war against Al Qaeda after Sept. 11, yet was frustrated in his efforts to capture Bin Laden "dead or alive," as he once put it. Mr. Bush released a statement saying, "this momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001."
"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done," he added.
Mr. Obama used similar language and warned that the war against terrorists had not ended. "We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies," he said. "We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to Al Qaeda's terror, justice has been done."
The president was careful to add that, as Mr. Bush did during his presidency, the United States is not at war with Islam. "Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims," Mr. Obama said. "Indeed, Al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity."
Reporting was contributed by Charlie Savage, Elisabeth Goodridge, Scott Shane, Ben Werschkul, Mark Landler and Michael Shear from Washington; Jane Perlez from Sydney, Australia; Pir Zubair Shah from New York; and Salman Masood from Abbottabad, Pakistan.
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8) German Politics Faces Grass-Roots Threat
By JUDY DEMPSEY
May 1, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/europe/02germany.html?ref=world
KLEINMACHNOW, GERMANY - They are called "Wutbürger." And they have become the bane of every political party in Germany.
Loosely translated as "enraged citizen," the Wutbürger has stepped outside the classical political and parliamentary system by organizing demonstrations and town-hall meetings, protest marches and sit-ins.
"It's as if the post-1945 consensus of Germans accepting the status quo and the conventional structures of the main political parties is coming to an end," said Andrea Römmele, a professor at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. "These new trends should be seen as a strength, not as a threat to democracy," she added.
The past several months have seen an extraordinary swelling of spontaneous civil society movements that have jolted the political parties.
"There is no doubt about it," said Wolfgang Bosbach, a leading Christian Democrat lawmaker. "We are concerned."
"You have all kinds of protest movements springing up all over the place," Mr. Bosbach continued. "They consist mostly of educated people who are neither left-wing nor right-wing but somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum. We should be worried. We should be reaching out to them."
In Stuttgart, the regional capital of Baden-Württemberg, tens of thousands of citizens have protested the construction of a new railroad station, Stuttgart 21, that would serve as a hub for fast connections between German cities and Paris.
Those protests caught all the political parties off guard, especially the Christian Democrats, the governing party at the time.
Partly as a result, during regional elections in March, voters ended the party's 58-year rule by electing the Greens, who for the first time in Germany will head a state government. The new premier, Winfried Kretschmann, has promised to hold a referendum on the future of Stuttgart 21.
On the other side of Germany, near Berlin, thousands of residents in Kleinmachnow have been holding demonstrations against the capital's new international airport, which is scheduled to open next year at Schönefeld.
"These demonstrations here are very focused," said Antonia Akmann, a resident of Kleinmachnow, a quiet suburb that has become popular for parents with young families. "They are about defending our interests. If the planes fly over here, the value of property will decline. That is why so many people join these demonstrations."
Further north, locals in the eastern state of Brandenburg have marched successfully against plans by the army to continue using a huge military base for practice shooting.
And all over the country, there are protests against nuclear energy, including many thousands who are trying to prevent the transport by rail of nuclear waste from France to a storage site at Gorleben in central Germany.
This phenomenon of the angry or even enraged citizen has become so entrenched that the German Language Society in December named "Wutbürger" word of the year for 2010.
"The word reflects a particular mood," said Andrea-Eva Ewels, managing director of the German Language Society, which was established in the late 1940s to oversee the development of the language. Each year, it finds and documents new words entering the German language. And each year, it selects a winner.
"In the case of the Wutbürger, the citizens feel that the political decisions are made over their heads," Ms. Ewels said. "It has created a kind of frustration, or anger. You can see it from the spate of protests over the past year."
In Germany, the late 1960s and 1970s saw the rebellion of students and the emergence of the anti-nuclear and peace movement that eventually led to the establishment of the Greens. Then there was the violent anti-capitalist Baader-Meinhof group, which became the terrorist Red Army Faction that eventually gave up its struggle for lack of support.
"But the Wutbürger phenomenon is different," said Ms. Römmele, of the Hertie School of Governance.
The 1960s movements were generally left-wing student rebellions focused on one or two issues, Ms. Römmele said.
"The Wutbürgers are not ideological as such," she added. "They are educated people who are against a certain style of politics in which the political parties have failed to create a platform for citizens' discussions."
The citizen's sense of alienation from the political parties is reflected in the increasingly low turnout in both federal and regional elections.
"Over the past 20 years or so, you have seen here, but in other European countries too, a trend toward de-politicization," said Harald Welzer, a political sociologist at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen. "The citizens feel isolated from the parties."
One main reason is that the traditional ties forged by the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats are all but broken. In the past, they could communicate policy at gatherings after church services, at trade union and miners' festivals, at annual holiday celebrations. With the fall in church attendance, the decline of traditional industrial areas and the morphing nature of the modern work world, the parties have lost contact with the grass roots.
"The parties are out of touch with the changing democratic needs of the 21st century," said Gero Neugebauer, a political science professor at the Free University in Berlin. "The issues are now so complex, ranging from debts and immigration to climate change and energy policy that government and civil society will have to work much more closely in reaching consensus over these issues."
Mr. Bosbach, the Christian Democrat lawmaker, admits his party could do much more to get policy across.
"We have to make a big effort, especially if we want people to become active in politics and not just in the Wutbürger movements," he said. "It's all very well demonstrating but you have to take responsibility for your actions."
Ms. Römmele says regular local and national elections no longer confer democratic legitimacy.
"You need a double legitimacy: the traditional parliamentary system of top down but also a parallel way, of bottom up, that will involve citizens," she said. "The problem is that the parties are not structured to provide such discussions or deal with civil society. It is not part of their culture."
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democrats have been slow to introduce town-hall meetings. This is despite the fact that Mrs. Merkel's own democratic experiences were rooted in the civil society movements that blossomed in the former East Germany during 1989, only to give way to the established political parties.
The Social Democrats said they are trying to respond.
"We do have a dialogue with the Wutbürger movements," said Anni Betz, deputy manager of the Social Democrats in Baden-Württemberg. "The new Green-Social Democratic government here in Stuttgart made a specific reference in the coalition treaty to involving more of the citizens in decision-making."
It could mean that decisions, already hobbled by heavy bureaucracy, could take just a bit longer, Ms. Römmele said, "but you will get a stronger and more vibrant democracy."
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9) Sports, bin Laden and the New Normal
Dave Zirin
May 2, 2011
http://www.thenation.com/blog/160329/sports-bin-laden-and-new-normal
Howard Cosell said that "rule number-one of the sports jockocracy" was that sports and politics don't mix. And yet last night, at the ballpark in Philadelphia, we received another reminder that some political expression is deemed not just acceptable but glorious.
When the killing of Osama bin Laden reached the Philadelphia Phillies fans, amidst their fourteen-inning loss to the New York Mets, boisterous chants of "U-S-A" filled the park. This was praised across the sports landscape as a remarkable, yet altogether appropriate moment of national joy. "It was beautiful," said one radio commentator. "It reminded all of us what is so wonderful about sports in our society."
The eruption of patriotic emotion at the park should surprise no one. Since 9/11, the sports arena has been an organizer of patriotism, a recruiter for the US armed forces, and at times a funhouse mirror, reflecting the principles of freedom in a manner so misshapen and distorted as to rise to the level of farce.
As the Phillies faithful cheered, I thought about the NFL postponing games following 9/11, but only after a players revolt led by Vinny Testaverde made clear to Paul Tagliabue that no one was in a condition to play a game. I thought about the spread of "Military Appreciation Nights" at the stadium and the increased prevalence of jet flyovers and troops processions in the field. I thought about the military recruitment stations organized outside preseason NFL games.
I thought about Major League Baseball adding the second national anthem, "God Bless America" to the seventh-inning stretch. I thought about the late Yankee owner George Steinbrenner having chains put up along the side of the bleachers and hiring off-duty police to make sure no one did anything but pay fealty to the flag. I thought about a young man named Bradley Campeau-Laurion who was led from the park in handcuffs because he left his seat to use the bathroom during this celebration of freedom. I thought about ESPN's week of SportsCenter from Iraq in September of 2004, which allowed the network to do what George W. Bush couldn't: connect Iraq to 9/11.
I also thought about the athletic dissenters. I thought about then Toronto Blue Jay Carlos Delgado who refused to come out for the second seventh-inning stretch anthem, saying, "I don't [stand] because I don't believe it's right, I don't believe in the war. It's a very terrible thing that happened on September 11. It's [also] a terrible thing that happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. I just feel so sad for the families that lost relatives and loved ones in the war. But I think it's the stupidest war ever."
I thought about then Washington Wizards forward Etan Thomas electrifying a mass antiwar rally in DC in September 2005. I thought about Steve Nash wearing a T-shirt at the start of the Iraq invasion that read "No war. Shoot for peace." I thought about NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. imploring people to see Fahrenheit 9/11. I thought about the fiercely brave Manhattanville women's basketball captain Toni Smith turning her back on the anthem and igniting a firestorm with her courage. I thought of Adalius Thomas, Josh Howard, Nick Van Exel and all athletes who used their platform and spoke out.
But more than anyone, I thought about Pat Tillman. I found myself wondering if the 19-year-olds who were turning Ground Zero and the White House into a frat party last night even knew who Pat Tillman was. And if they were aware that a man named Pat Tillman once walked among us, which Tillman did they know? Did they know the Tillman the NFL wants us to remember? That Tillman was a star safety who turned down a multimillion-dollar contract after 9/11 to join the Army Rangers, only do die in combat twenty-two months after enlisting. In the immediate aftermath of his death Tillman became a caricature, used to promote and encourage war.
But the Pat Tillman his family has fought to be known is the actual, thinking, opinionated human being. This Pat Tillman believed that 9/11 had been manipulated to justify an illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. As journalist Jon Krakauer said, "He thought the war was illegal. He thought it was a mistake. He thought it was going to be a disaster. And in the Army, you're not supposed to talk about that. You're not supposed to talk politics. And Pat didn't shut up. He told everyone he encountered, 'This war is illegal as hell.' " He started reading the antiwar theorist Noam Chomsky and sent word that he wanted to meet Chomsky upon returning to the states.
This Pat Tillman died not at the hands of the Taliban but in an incident of "friendly fire," a fact hidden from his own family for weeks after his nationally televised funeral. Pat's family has spent years fighting to get the true facts of his case known. I thought about Pat's brave mother Mary and I was just so sad. We killed bin Laden and all it took was three wars, a million deaths, a trillion dollars and countless broken families and broken hearts.
Yes, sports has been co-opted, exploited, scarred and turned inside out by the aftermath of 9/11 and the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Some have wondered if now that bin Laden is dead, life will "go back to normal." But as we saw in Philly last night, this is the new normal and will continue to be so, until every last troop is home. Maybe then we can enjoy sports as an escape from, rather than a promoter of, this country's culture of war.
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