Antiwar.com Blog

Via Atrios, professional Freeper agitator Kristinn Taylor tried to distance FR from a fellow pro-war protestor in Crawford yesterday:

A handful also got themselves arrested, including a protester whose anti-Sheehan sign was deemed unnecessarily offensive by organizers of a
large pro-Bush rally. The man carrying the sign became violent when he was asked to put it down.

Ken Robinson, of Richardson, Texas, who described himself as aVietnam veteran, was carrying a sign at a “You Don’t Speak for Me, Cindy!” rally. The sign read, “How to wreck your family in 30 days by ‘b**** in the ditch’ Cindy Sheehan.”

Kristinn Taylor, an event organizer with FreeRepublic.com, heard about the sign and rushed up to Robinson.

“This is our rally and you can’t do that here,” he said, only for Robinson to insist he was within his rights.

Camera crews rushed in and Taylor turned to face them.

“To all the media here, this sign is not representative of the crowd
here today,” Taylor announced. Some of the crowd around Robinson came
forward to shake his hand, while others chanted, “Idiot, go home.”

The two men then squared off and raised their voices.

“Just get outta here!” Robinson yelled, and aimed a kick at Taylor’s midsection. Taylor called for security, and a young Woodway policeman
quickly showed up.

“I have the right to freedom of speech,” Robinson said.

Robinson continued to protest loudly as police handcuffed him and led him away.

The only way the sign wouldn’t be "“representative of the crowd here today,” is if there weren’t any Freepers there, because as you can see here and here, the sign is highly representative of Freeper attitudes and rhetoric, more shame to all of them.  The Free Republic website is monitored, highly censored and demands conformity of ideology so if posts calling Cindy Sheehan "The bitch in the ditch" or "Ditch Bitch" were unwelcome, they’d be out of there.  They’re displayed in all their vicious glory still.

Were there Freepers in Crawford this weekend?  Well, who else would be stupid enough to attack their fellow pro-war Republicans?  Apparently, some reading-challenged Freepers were enraged at some Protest Warrior signs that were sufficiently complex for the message to go right over their heads, so they did what comes naturally to them – they eliminated them.

AP reports: At the pro-Bush rally several miles away, there
were some heated moments when two members of Protest Warrior, a group
that frequently holds counter protests to anti-war rallies, walked in
with a sign that read "Say No to War Unless a Democrat is President."
 

Many Bush supporters only saw the top of the sign and believed the men
were war protesters, so they began shouting and chasing the pair out.
One man tore up their signs. When Will Marean of Minneapolis kept
repeating that he was on the Bush side and tried to explain Protest
Warrior’s mission, one Bush supporter shook his hand and apologized.

A Freeper who was there posted, "Even the "victim" admitted that he could see how the misunderstanding could happen. But it WAS quite a scene, and I think the poor guy was literally terrified." 

 

KPFA in Berkeley (a Pacifica station) aired a great interview with Daniel Ellsberg today (and he gave a plug to Antiwar.com).

Listen to an archive of the show here.

And raise you a death and dismemberment porn site. A reader alerts me to this post by journalist Helena Cobban about a porn site that allows free entry to U.S. soldiers in exchange for their “gory” photos from Iraq and Afghanistan. WARNING: CONTENT IS EXTREMELY VILE AND NOT REMOTELY WORK-SAFE.

An announcement at the top of the forum reads

If you are a U.S. Soldier stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other combat area and would like free SUPPORTER access for the site, you can post real pictures you or your buddies have taken while you have been deployed.

This section is for the gory ones so that people who do not wish to see that kind of stuff can just not go in here. I also do not want already published pictures that were taken by news people. This is supposed to be an area where we can see pictures posted by the solders themselves.

Just post your pics like you normally would and when I see them I will approve you for free access to the wife and g/f area. There have only been a few people cheat from this but I do now know what kind of pics to expect from the guys over there. So please do not waste my time if you are not a military person by just posting iraq pics you found on CNN or something.

Keep up the good work over there guys, we love seeing your pics.

Billmon rips the curtain back
on American Legion partisan hypocrisy.

Report By Lawrence Samuels

For months, antiwar Libertarian Party leaders in California have attempted to get LP County organizations to pass peace resolutions. Many LP members were upset that the Libertarian Party had put the Iraq War on the backburner. They wanted the LP to become more active in opposing the war.

As more LP county organizations started to pass the Samuels and Hacker antiwar resolutions, (over 14 currently) a new group was formed — the LPC Peace Caucus. Their first major mission was to get the Executive Committee of the Libertarian Party of California to endorse an antiwar resolution at their Aug. 20 meeting in Los Angeles.

Immediately, the Aug. 20 LPC meeting turned into a battlefield. There was an attempt to stop any anti-war resolution by Parliamentary procedures. It was argued that resolutions could only be presented at the annual LPC state conventions. Since the LPC had issued recent resolutions on other subjects, the LPC chair, Aaron Starr, reluctantly ruled to allow a vote.

Several antiwar resolutions were presented and defeated; the main one – the Samuels resolution failed by one vote (8 needed). One thinly veiled pro-war resolution was submitted by Dan Wiener, but received only a few votes. The resolutions appeared dead at this point and the committee continued with other business. However, with 5 minutes remaining in the session, Paul Ireland brought up the Hacker resolution which had been overlooked. A motion was made by Mark Selzer to suspend the rules to consider the new peace resolution. This time, the resolution passed – 8-4-2 (8 yes, 4 abstained and 2 against).

The vote: For: Lawrence Samuels, Mark Selzer, Ted Brown, Bruce Dovner, Allen Hacker, Paul Ireland, Rick Nichol and Richard Newell. Against: Dan Wiener and Bruce Cohen. Abstained: Aaron Starr, Willard Michlin, M. Carling, Kevin Takenaga, and Mark Johnson.

A Resolution

Affirming the National Libertarian Party Principles and Platform Concerning Foreign Intervention and the Invasion of Iraq

Whereas, the National Libertarian Party Platform’s Preamble states in part, “As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives, and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others”;

Whereas, the National Libertarian Party Platform’s Statement of Principles states in part, “…we support the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others….”;

Whereas, the National Libertarian Party Platform at Part IV.D.2. (Foreign Affairs / International Relations / Foreign Intervention), states in part, “The United States should not inject itself into the internal matters of other nations, unless they have declared war upon or attacked the United States, or the U.S. is already in a constitutionally declared war with them,” and, “End the current U.S. government policy of foreign intervention, including military and economic aid, guarantees, and diplomatic meddling”;

Whereas the admittedly (by the President and Vice-president) pre-emptive (“before the fact”) invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq by the United States was accomplished in blatant disregard for American constitutional requirements and international law under treaties to which the United States is a signatory, and upon an apparently false basis of manipulated information and manufactured allegations;

Whereas the continuing military occupation of Iraq is precipitating a deplorable loss of civilian and American lives, is exacerbating American deficit spending, and appears to be aggravating the terrorist threat worldwide;

Now, therefore,

Be it Resolved, that the Libertarian Party of California Executive Committee hereby affirms the National Libertarian Party’s Preamble, Statement of Principles and Platform, in particular for this case those portions cited herein; and

Be it Further Resolved, that the Libertarian Party of California Executive Committee finds, upon no tangible proof having been shown of Iraqi participation in the World Trade Center, etc. (9/11) attack, that the invasion of Iraq appears unwarranted; and

Be it Further Resolved, that the Libertarian Party of California Executive Committee finds that the continuing occupation of Iraq is inimical to the interests of the citizens of the United States as well as to the interests of the citizens of Iraq; and

Be it Further Resolved, that the United States government’s declared purpose of “bringing democracy to Iraq” is an offensive imposition of the values of some of our citizens over a foreign sovereign people; and

Be it Further Resolved, that the Libertarian Party of California Executive Committee formally petitions that the National Libertarian Party remain constant and adamant in demanding that the United States government cease and desist in the most safely expedient manner possible from all foreign economic and military interventions, Iraq in particular, and correct its international policies so that it may at last begin to facilitate world peace through the naturally benevolent function of the Free Market.

This could be big trouble: Rival Shiites clash

Chris Albritton in Iraq has more:

BAGHDAD — Earlier this evening, Najaf police units, led by a Badr Organization commander, descended on Moqtada’s office in Najaf, located on the main street approaching the Imam Ali Shrine. In the clash, Moqtada’s office, only four meters from the shrine, was burned to the ground, according to Abu Hazzim, who worked in the Najaf office and fled for his life to Sadr City. He says 23 people have been killed, most of them Moqtada’s supporters. Iraqi Army and police have been involved in the fighting. Many of the police and army units in the south are packed by Badr militiamen with more loyalty to the party than to the state. As I write, clashes continue.

Moqtada has put out an alert for the jaysh al-Mahdi militia to be on high alert in Sadr City, Najaf, Nasriyah, Amarah and Basra. In Sadr City and Basra, jaysh al-Mahdi members have asked to occupy/attack SCIRI and Badr offices, but so far they’ve been kept in check by Moqtada and Fatah al-Sheikh, one of Moqtada’s supporters in parliament.

Or at least he was. Earlier this evening, Moqtada gave the Jaafari government an hour to explain, pull back or apologize for these attacks. He also called on his supporters in parliament, Fatah and others from the NICE list, to resign because “Moqtada now considers the government illegal,” according to Abu Hazzim. Fatah has told me he has resigned. A press conference is imminent.