Antiwar.com Blog

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Her story, Why We Fight, neoconservatism, OSP, Luti calling Zinni a traitor, Franklin, Ledeen, David Shenker, WINEP, PNAC, Shultz’s memo to Rumsfeld in Summer 2002, how she regrets that it never occured to her to do a Dan Ellsberg and steal documents, Soldier for the Truth David Hackworth (RIP) and his publishing of her anonymous essays from the Pentagon, Ahmad Chalabi and his handler Col. Bruner, Curveball, Michael Mackovsky, permanent bases in Iraq and America’s military “footprint,” the warfare economy, her sunny optimism and more…

Good for you Brian Lamb!!

John Haag, co-founder and long-time leader of the California Peace and Freedom Party, died March 29 after a brief illness. He was 75.

John was my mentor in my early days of politics. He taught me the basic skills of political organizing and strategy that have been essential to me over the last 35 years. John was a good friend who taught me a lot about life.

He was also a poet, proprietor of the Beat generation Venice West Cafe and a founder of the Free Venice (California) movement. He was an early state chairperson of P&F and a candidate for office, including controller and lieutenant governor, a number of times. He was the California campaign chair for Dr. Benjamin Spock’s president candidacy on the Peoples Party in 1972, in which P&F participated.

Here is an article he wrote about the history of P&F.

Here is an in-depth obituary from a local newspaper.

No date has yet been set for a memorial service. Please send letters – and photos – to the Free Venice Beachhead about John for the next issue. Contact: 310-399-2215 or Beachhead@freevenice.org. Thanks to Irv Sutley for letting me know this sad news.

“Just in time for Father’s Day!” said the ad I recently received via e-mail. For only $22.99 I can get twelve double-side DVDs with a total of 50 war movies. Featured actors include Ronald Reagan, James Cagney, and Sidney Poitier. Why in the world would anyone think that a collection of war movies had anything to do with Father’s Day? Is not war the greatest killer of fathers and potential fathers?

See the entire collection here.

Check out this video from the BBC, via Information Clearing House, about the 130 mile march of antiwar Iraq veterans from Mobile, Alabama to St. Bernard’s Parish in New Orleans, Louisiana:

We’re Sorry: Former US soldiers on the personal cost of war in Iraq.

It begins with a young man explaining how isolated he feels since returning home, and his stress over seeing his best friend killed and accidentally running down a child with his truck.

Then we see a view of the rag-tag group of marchers on their way. The men are very excited to see an al Jazeera camera crew. They want desperately to explain to the Arab world that,

“[W]e are not against them. Yes, we may have had to shoot at them when they were shooting at us in some cases, but the thing is, we were sent there to do this job – because it was our job. And we didn’t like doing it. We did what we had to do to survive. And we know it was wrong. And we’re sorry. We’re sorry about that.”

Some more memorable quotes:

“An IED goes off, and you just zap any farmer near you.”

“You get so into it.”

“When I first got there, you could basically kill anybody you want. If you see anybody out here at night, shoot ’em. Just drop [plant] a shovel [i.e. evidence of an IED].”

And I really can’t emphasise this part enough: Collectivism kills. Especially its racist version:

“That’s why they call them Hajis. You have to desensitize yourself to it. They’re not people, they’re animals. … Hajis, hajis. They beat it into your head. These aren’t people.”

(“Haji” is an honorific for Muslims, a term of respect for someone who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.)

“Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam.”

“I’m usually at home all day taking sleeping pills.”

I am terribly sorry, but it doesn’t look to me like the Straussians’ project of using warfare to make a man out of everybody has worked out much better than those to scare the Muslim world into submission/create a democracy, “secure” oil wealth or keep Israel safe. Instead we have a group of guys who left here just fine and came back in shattered pieces.

And for what? Nothing.

Update: The Guardian: “If You Start Looking at Them as Humans, Then How Are You Gonna Kill Them?“

PEN American Center, “the largest of the 141 centers of International PEN, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization,” has decided to give Sibel Edmonds, the “most gagged person in American History” their First Amendment award:

“Translator Fired from FBI for Blowing Whistle on Intelligence Failures to Receive 2006 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award

“New York, New York, March 29, 2006—PEN American Center has named Sibel Edmonds, a translator who was fired from her job at the FBI after complaining of intelligence failures and poor performance in her unit, as the recipient of this year’s prestigious PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award. Ms. Edmonds will receive the $20,000 prize at PEN’s annual Gala on April 18, 2006 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

“In announcing the award today in New York, PEN Freedom to Write Program Director Larry Siems praised Edmonds’ commitment to preserving the free flow of information in the United States in a time of growing international isolation and increasing government secrecy. “It is hard to think of a position in public service more valuable to the nation in these turbulent times than a language specialist who is engaged in making important international information accessible to government officials and policymakers,” said Siems. “Sibel Edmonds understood the importance of her position and carried out her work with energy and honor – only to face retaliation and dismissal. Unintimidated, she has fought to inform Congress and the American people on the urgent need for better translation services in areas vital to our national interests. PEN is proud to recognize her for her work as a language specialist, her heroic efforts to improve our country’s translation services, and her current efforts to organize and protect government whistleblowers.”

Ain’t it about time something went her way?

Update: Sibel informs me that she will be accepting the award on behalf of all the National Security Whistle Blowers.

Howard Kaloogian, California congressional candidate and co-founder of Move America Forward, gets busted passing off a photo of Istanbul as evidence of a bloodless, bustling Baghdad. Kaloogian pleads confusion (scroll down to actual Baghdad photo, apparently taken by the Cassini-Huygens probe).