Antiwar.com Blog

Writes Andrew Sullivan:

This blog broke the story of more Geneva Convention violations recently: the posting of mutilated and dead Iraqis photographed by U.S. soldiers on a website also devoted to porn. Now, there’s an investigation. No other blog, to my knowledge, followed up.

Well, I guess you can’t call it a follow-up, since this blog addressed the corpse porn matter a month before Sullivan (and gave credit to Helena Cobban for breaking it), but hey, we don’t want any props. We would, however, like to know how the sanctimonious Sullivan, who calls antiwar protesters “fascists,” thought his little pet invasion would turn out any other way. In fact, it seems to us that Sullivan’s show of outrage over nowthatsfuckedup.com might be just the teensiest bit motivated by a desire to hide the evidence of what his war of liberation has wrought. After all, Andrew, wouldn’t those “hajis” be just as dead and dismembered if their photos weren’t posted on that site? What are you afraid of? That what’s left of pro-war America might see those photos and come to its moral senses?

UPDATE: I see that Andrew Sullivan is still prattling on about the porn site. He wants the soldiers involved prosecuted for Geneva Conventions violations – for disseminating the photos, of course. Bad for the war effort, you know.

I hope someday to take a deep drag of the magical air Sullivan and his brethren enjoy atop Mt. Olympus, to send the mortals off to do my bidding then strike the stupid brutes down when they fail me. And never miss a wink.

Joshua Frank writes:

In a recent article in these pages, I criticized Cindy Sheehan for going soft on Hillary Clinton’s warmongering. Well, I was wrong. Sheehan hasn’t gone soft on Clinton; she’s attacked the New York senator for her hollow position on the Iraq conflict.

At a rally outside Hillary Clinton’s office in New York, Cindy Sheehan declared to the crowd on hand that Clinton must either speak out against the war or risk losing her job. In fact, New York antiwar advocates are hoping Sheehan will run against Clinton in the Democratic primaries in 2006. Others out West are hoping Sheehan will take on Dianne Feinstein in California.

In a recent interview with the Village Voice Sheehan contended that she was “so frustrated” by top Democrats like Hillary Clinton “who should be leaders on this [war] issue, but are not,” arguing that it is “time for them to step up and be the opposition party. This war is not going to end unless the Democrats are on board with us.”

It sure would be nice if more antiwar activists were to follow Cindy’s lead on this one. If the majority of protesters took their protests to the front steps of each elected pro-war Democrat as well as Republican, we might have a big-time movement on our hands. I’ll admit it; Sheehan is savvier than I gave her credit for. She knows that the antiwar movement should stick to the war, not lesser-evil politics. Too bad Sheehan wasn’t making headlines during the 2004 elections; if she had been, the antiwar movement might have not been so soft on the pro-war Kerry campaign.

We certainly have a long way to go before antiwar activists start taking on the Democrats for embracing everything Bush has propagated.

Some have speculated, including respected journalist Wayne Madsen, that the Democrats didn’t attend last weekend’s rallies because the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC had urged them not to. Madsen reported that Congressman Barney Frank was pressured by AIPAC to intervene and scare Democrats out of attending the rallies. I certainly agree that AIPAC doesn’t want elected officials to attend antiwar festivities, but to think that AIPAC alone is responsible for the Democrats’ absence is foolish. The Democrats have been pro-war and pro-occupation since the Iraq war’s inception. Is this solely because of AIPAC’s influence?

No, the Democrat’s inability to challenge Bush goes a lot deeper than their ties to Israel. The Democrats haven’t been able to go after Bush on any major issue, from PATRIOT Act to CAFTA to John Roberts. The Iraq war is just one more failure in a laundry list of Democratic disappointments.

Perhaps next we’ll see Cindy Sheehan take on the plight of the Palestinians and speak out against Israel’s influence over U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. If she does so, we might really be getting somewhere. In the meantime, however, let’s just be happy that Sheehan recognizes the Democrats are Bush’s war enablers. At least it’s a start.

The “why the heck is Nancy Pelosi voting for the war” rally was great: thanks to United for Peace and Justice (Bay Area chapter) for making it possible. It was gratifying to see some of my readers there: they came up and introduced themselves, and I’m glad I could be of some assistance in building the rally. The star of the occasion, by the way, was Stephen Zunes, who gave a bang-up speech, detailing Pelosi’s two-faced campaign to present herself to her district as opposed to the war, and yet when it comes to her votes and general behavior on the floor of congress, it’s Nancy the War Goddess all the way. He cited her speeches, and pointed out how she has consistently echoed the Bush administration’s line on Iraq, even down to accusing pre-war Baghdad of harboring Al Qaeda — a charge usually reserved for the more perfervid neocons, but almost never from any Democrats. She is, Zunes, trenchantly pointed out, to the right of people like James Baker and other veterans of the Bush I administration who opposed this war and are now calling for withdrawal.

There were quite a few people there, for a mid-day Monday demonstration — at least 150 — and the media was out in force. Madame Minority Leader, who has always gotten a free ride from the San Francisco Democrats and the local media, is — I predict — in some trouble. There was just no reason for her to oppose Lynn Woolsey’s “exit strategy” resolution, which would have called on the President to set a time certain for getting our troops home, yet she quashed it without even considering the overwhelming support for withdrawal in her own district. Such arrogance is begging to be punished….

By the way, on the subject of the Jewish Community Relations Council email sent out to its members and supporters about the anti-Pelosi rally being an “anti-Israel” action — check out my blog item on the subject — nary a word was said about Israel, either by me or by any of the other speakers. I called the JCRC earlier, before the rally started, and complained: one Dganit Herzig claimed responsibility for the offending email, and, although she stuck by her guns, promised that if she turned out to be wrong about the rally, she would write to me and apologize.

I’m waitng, Dganit …..

Cindy Sheehan was just arrested during a sit-down protest on the sidewalk in front of the White House.

The sickening manipulation of ethnic and religious passions by the War Party is nowhere more dramatically demonstrated than in this “rapid response alert” sent out by someone in the office of the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, the Peninsula , Marin, Sonoma Alameda and Contra Costa Counties:

“PRO-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS – SEND A MESSAGE OF SUPPORT TO CONGRESSWOMAN NANCY PELOSI TO COUNTER AN ANTI-ISRAEL RALLY PLANNED ON

“Monday, September 26, Noon – outside Pelosi’s office at the Federal Building – 450 Golden Gate, San Francisco.

“United for Peace & Justice and ANSWER, two Anti- Israel groups, will gather outside Nancy Pelosi’s office at the Federal Building, to protest the Iraq War, and ‘the atrocities and crimes of the Israeli state.'”

The email goes on to cite a quote that does not come from UJP or Code Pink, the two co-sponsoring organizations, in an effort to link the protest — which is about the Iraq war, and nothing else — to “anti-Israel” activities. This is a lie, and a shameless one. I saw the same nonsense going on at the San Francisco antiwar rally on Saturday: there was a group of counter-protesters holding Israeli flags. I went up to one of them and said: “What does any of this has to do with Israel? After all,” I averred, “this demonstration is about the war, not Israel.” The guy told me that he had gotten an email saying that an “anti-Israel” demonstration was going to take place, and that it was his duty to show up and show the flag.

It’s interesting how the War Party lies, and manipulates ethnic-nationalist feeings to its advantage — when, in reality, the overwhelming majority of Bay Area people of the Jewish faith support the antiwar position. This email is a fraud perpetrated on the Jewish community. What in the name of all that’s holy is the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area doing acting as a shill for the War Party? An interesting question, which you might want to ask them yourself. Just call them up. Here’s the number:

415-957-1551

Just got back from the antiwar march in San Francisco: easily 20,000 people out in the streets. I’ll have more about it in my Monday column, but I just wanted to let you know about an event I found out about at the rally. “Code Pink,” the antiwar group famous for mocking and harassing the War Party wherever they may be found, had the best protest signs at the march: specifically calling attention not only to the creation of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, but also pointing out local Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s consistent support for Bush’s war. “Pelosi, Why Do You Vote Pro-War? — the neatly-lettered protest signs really stood out along the march route, and I quickly grabbed one and happily held it high. Finally Pelosi is being made to answer for her pro-war stance by her overwhelmingly anti-war district! I pointed out her lack of accountability in a recent column, and I’m glad to see that I’m not alone. But we’re going to be doing a lot more than holding picket signs….

On Monday, September 26, at noon, there is going to be a rally at the San Francisco Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, calling Pelosi to account for her pro-war stance. Not only that, but — get this — there will be a “mock trial” of Ms. Pelosi, to be held in the lobby!

Oh, please, will somebody make me one of the judges!

This, my fellow San FRanciscans, is going to be fun, fun, FUN! Finally, the imperious Pelosi — who has never had to debate an opponent, and is never questioned by the “mainstream” liberal-schmiberal local media — is going to be put in the hot seat. Will the local media black it out? I have to listen to KTVU, out of Oakland, feature EVERY NIGHT the carefully-orchestrated protests by public employee unions of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cost-cutting measures. Will a Democratic party politician, as entrenched as Pelosi, continue to get a free pass?

How long must we endure her — how long?

Monday, September 26, noon, at the San Francisco Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue — be there, or be square!