What Would Martial Law Look Like?

This is from the “Celebrate Public Service Recognition” exhibition on the Smithsonian Mall in Washington this weekend.

If they put a sign saying “Rule of Law” on front of the howitzer, people would figure it was just one more post-9/11 decorative change.

Some people look at the howitzer and think how easily it could be turned at Congress.

Folks don’t recognize that the barrel is already pointing in their direction.

Other photos I took yesterday of the military on the Mall are at my blog here.

Deja Vu

“And I think that withdrawal would be totally unrealistic and would a catastrophe.”

Sound familiar? It is Hubert Humphrey at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago speaking in defense of the Vietnam War.

Nonchalantly, NYT Details Israeli Ethnic Cleansing

Today is my day off; I wasn’t even planning on looking at the news, but it’s on my Google page and when I opened my browser, there it was: “Israeli Riddle: Love Jerusalem, Hate Living There”. I’ll be brief, as the article speaks for itself. The article starts out right away matter-of-factly stating that Israel has tried to cram more Jews into Jerusalem while trying to squeeze out the natives.

For four decades, Israel has pushed to build and expand Jewish neighborhoods, while trying to restrict the growth in Arab parts of the city.

I can’t imagine the vitriol that would be packaged as journalism if some southern US state were to, say, subsidize the construction of white neighborhoods and yet refuse permits for private building in overcrowded black neighborhoods. In 2007. It would be the only news for weeks. But it’s Israel, so the New York Times shrugs.

The article goes on to document the rising air of religious fanaticism convincing secular Israels to flee to more modern, cosmopolitan cities like Tel Aviv, mainly because of the astounding birth rate of Jewish religious extremists.

Ms. Angel [who left Jerusalem after 30 years] said she was increasingly turned off by religious and political intolerance. She recalled being casually but modestly dressed one day when an ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman began yelling at her that she was not properly clothed.

Also, because the ultra-Orthodox hardly participate in wealth-generating enterprises, in addition to the conscious economic crushing of the Palestinians in their ghettoes, Jerusalem has become service-poor and opportunities have bled away to other, more liberal parts of Israel. Enlightened, upwardly-mobile Israelis simply don’t want to live there. And yet, while

More than 60 percent of Israelis said they would not want to give up Israeli control of the city’s holy sites, even as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians…78 percent of Israelis said they would not consider living in Jerusalem or would prefer to live elsewhere in Israel.

They don’t want to live there, but they want their government to continue the ethnic cleansing of the native population of the Old City. And the New York Times just finds that yawnable.

When War Just Can’t Wait

Prominent in the international press this past month has been Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s latest push to have the nation’s constitution amended to support a more belligerent foreign policy. The Japanese people, to their credit, have organized massive protests in opposition to the government’s rising militarism.

While revision of the constitution has been and remains a top priority for Abe’s administration, former envoy Shunji Yanai feels that the matter is simply too pressing to be allowed to continue through the appropriate legal channels. Revising a constitution can take years, after all, and in the meantime, the prohibitions against starting wars or getting involved in other peoples’ wars would remain in place. That is why Mr. Yanai has been appointed as the head of a committee to seek legal loopholes that would allow the government to further erode the interpretation of this portion of the constitution.

The “growing threat” of North Korea may be the present justification for this policy, but getting Japan to ditch its pacifist constitution so that they can “do their part” in assisting in America’s various international adventures has been a goal of American foreign policy for many years. In 2000, a bipartisan study group featuring such well-placed neocons as Richard Armitage and Paul Wolfowitz issued a report that called the Japanese policy a ‘constraint’ on their alliance and urged a model similar to US-Britain alliance for broadening Japanese involvement in global military operations.

Yohei Kono, the Speaker of the Japanese Parliament says he takes pride in the fact that the Japanese troops haven’t killed a single person in the 60 years since this constitution has been in place. Between that and turning a country devastated by war into the second largest economy on the planet, one can’t help but wonder why there is such haste amongst policymakers, and indeed, why there would be any support at all from the population at large for such a major change. Hasn’t peace served Japan well enough since then? Hasn’t war after war proven enough of a disaster for the nations that have gone down that road since then?

Nir Rosen

Millions of Refugees: Iraq no longer exists

Nir Rosen discuss his article “The Flight from Iraq,” about how that country doesn’t really exist anymore, Iraq’s refugee crisis, how many million they are, Riverbend’s exile, the complete destruction of Iraq’s middle and professional classes, the sad state of the refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and beyond, how the U.S. invasion and collaboration with the Iran parties is responsible for the new sectarian hatred between Sunnis and Shia Arabs in Iraq, the ethnic cleansing among those who remain, the growth of sectarianism and the civil war, John Bolton’s crass dismissal of his own responsibility, the massive new American “Embassy” in the green zone.

MP3 here. (18:02)

Nir Rosen is a journalist who has written extensively on American policy toward Afghanistan and Iraq. He spent more than two years in Iraq reporting on the American occupation, the relationship between Americans and Iraqis, the development of postwar Iraqi religious and political movements, interethnic and sectarian relations, and the Iraqi civil war. His reporting and research also focused on the origins and development of Islamist resistance, insurgency, and terrorist organizations. Mr. Rosen covered the elections in Afghanistan and the differences between the American presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has also reported from Somalia, where he investigated Islamist movements; Jordan, where he investigated the origins and future of the Zarqawi movement; and Pakistan, where he investigated the madrassas and pro-Taliban movements. Mr. Rosen’s book on postwar Iraq, In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq, was published by Free Press in 2006. He has written for The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The New Republic, Boston Review, Time, Mother Jones, and World Policy Journal.

As a Fellow at the New America Foundation, Mr. Rosen is working on a book about his travels in the post-9/11 Muslim world during the global war on terror. Mr. Rosen’s personal Website can be accessed at: NirRosen.com.

Ellen Barfield

The Real Meaning of Mother’s Day: Your security lies in mutual respect, not militarism

Ellen Barfield, of Veterans for Peace and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Julia Ward Howe abolitionist mothers’ day calling for women to rise up to abolish war in the 1870, how Howe evolved from the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic to antiwar leader, Barfield’s upcoming court appearance for harassing John McCain’s office in February and the upcoming “10,000 Mom March” against the war.

MP3 here. (15:13)

Ellen Barfield is the National Vice President of Veterans for Peace and a full-time peace and justice activist. She served in the U.S. Army from 1977-1981. She is also a member of the national boards of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the War Resister’s League, and the School of the Americas Watch.