Antiwar.com Blog

 From  Military Families Speak Out

Celeste, Dante and Raphael Zappala of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Celeste and her son Dante arrived in Crawford on Tuesday August 9; son Raphael will arrive Friday night August 12. Celeste’s son Sgt. Sherwood Baker (Dante and Raphael’s brother) was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II. He was killed in action in Baghdad on April 26, 2004 while searching for non-existent WMD’s. Celeste is a co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace.

 

Tammara Rosenleaf of Belton, Texas arrived in Crawford on Tuesday, August 9^th. Tammara’s husband serves in the Army, stationed at Ft. Hood, and will be deploying to Iraq this fall.

 

Lietta Ruger of Bay Center, Washington will be arriving in Crawford Wednesday morning, August 10th. Lietta’s son-in-law and nephew serve in the 1st Armored Division of the U.S. Army and are currently in Germany. They have both served extended 15-month tours of duty in Iraq; they are both under stop-loss orders and due to re-deploy to Iraq this fall.

 

Linda and Phil Waste of Hinesville, Georgia will arrive in Crawford Wednesday morning August 10th. Linda and Phil have 3 sons and 2 grandchildren (a grandson and a granddaughter) who are active-duty military. Together, they have already spent a total of over 57 months on tours of duty in Iraq. Several of these children/grandchildren are currently serving in Iraq, and have served extended and multiple deployments.

 

Jean Prewitt of Birmingham, Alabama will arrive in Crawford on Wednesday morning, August 10^th. Jean’s son Private Kelly Prewitt was killed in action during the first few weeks of the war in Iraq, on April 6, 2003.

 

Valarie Fletcher of Seymour, Missouri is driving to Crawford and arriving Wednesday evening, August 10. Valarie’s son serves in the Marines and will be deploying to Iraq at the end of this month.

 

Sherry Bohlen of Scottsdale, Arizona is driving to Crawford and arriving on Wednesday evening, August 10. Sherry’s son serves in the Army and deployed to Iraq on June 10, 2005.

 

Rebecca Bahr of Scottsdale, Arizona is driving to Crawford and arriving on Wednesday evening August 10.  Rebecca’s daughter serves in the Marines and is currently stateside.

 

Caryn Unsicker of Silvis, Illinois is driving to Crawford and arriving Wednesday evening, August 10. Caryn’s son serves in the Marines, currently stateside.

 

 Anne Sapp and her daughters Lydia (age 17) and Mary (age 8) of Billerica, Massachusetts will be arriving in Crawford on Thursday morning, August 11th. Anne’s husband/Lydia and Mary’s father is a Staff Sergeant in the Massachusetts National Guard and currently serving in Iraq.

 

Barbara Porchia of Camden, Arkansas will be arriving in Crawford on Thursday morning August 11th. Barbara’s son, Army Reservist Private 1st Class Jonathan Cheatham, was killed in action in Baghdad two years ago, on July 26, 2003.

 

Sue Niederer of Pennington, New Jersey will be arriving in Crawford on Thursday morning August 11th. Sue’s son, 1st Lieutenant Seth Dvorin, was killed in action near Iskandariyah, Iraq on February 3, 2004. Sue is a co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace.

 

Kristin Williams and Matthew Williams of Dallas, Texas will be arriving in Crawford this weekend (August 13-14). Matthew Williams is an Iraq War Veteran who served as a combat medic for one year in Iraq (2003-2004). He was honorably discharged from the Army. Kristin is his sister.

 

Bill Mitchell of Atascadero, California will be arriving in Crawford in the next several days. Bill’s son Sgt. Michael Mitchell was killed in action in Sadr City, Iraq on April 4, 2004, along with Cindy Sheehan’s son Spc. Casey Sheehan. Bill is a co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace.

 

Mimi Evans of Hyannis, Massachusetts will be arriving in Crawford on Tuesday, August 16th. Mimi’s son serves in the Marines; he will be deployed to Fallujah, Iraq in the next two weeks.

 

 Eric Blickenstaff of Portland, Oregon will be arriving in Crawford early next week. Eric’s brother Spc. Joseph Blickenstaff served in the Army and was killed when his Stryker vehicle rolled into a ditch on December 8, 2003 in Balad, Iraq.

 

Looks like the Republican/RightWingnut Noise Machine is going to have to smear alot more people than just Cindy Sheehan.  

 

 

UPDATE: Jonathan Schwarz has more on Bill Mitchell, who is with Cindy at Camp Casey.

Mitchell: “I’m here in Crawford, Texas today to support my friend, Cindy Sheehan. I appreciate what she’s doing. I was against the war beforehand. I wish I could sit here and tell you how much you should appreciate my son for your liberty and freedom, but, you know, I didn’t believe that before the war, and when my son died I surely couldn’t grab that and cherish that feeling, because I know it’s lies that got us there.”

Drink-soaked former Trotskyist popinjay Christopher Hitchens, in yet another of the near formulaic “clap louder”articles churned out by warbots desperately looking for someone, anyone to blame for the violent quagmire they instigated in Iraq, pens this whiny, delusionary bit:

Losing the Iraq War – Can the left really want us to? By Christopher Hitchens

The New York Times ran a fascinating report (subscription only), under the byline of James Glanz, on July 8. It was a profile of Dr. Alaa Tamimi, the mayor of Baghdad, whose position it would be a gross understatement to describe as "embattled." Dr. Tamimi is a civil engineer and convinced secularist who gave up a prosperous exile in Canada to come home and help rebuild his country. He is one among millions who could emerge if it were not for the endless, pitiless torture to which the city is subjected by violent religious fascists. He is quoted as being full of ideas, of a somewhat Giuliani-like character, about zoning enforcement, garbage recycling, and zero tolerance for broken windows. If this doesn’t seem quixotic enough in today’s gruesome circumstances, he also has to confront religious parties on the city council and an inept central government that won’t give him a serious budget.

Question: Why have several large American cities not already announced that they are going to become sister cities with Baghdad and help raise money and awareness to aid Dr. Tamimi?

I ask you, what part of you installed these “violent religious fascists” as the ruling power in Iraq with “elections you proclaimed as a purple-fingered tsunami of freedom”,  just like we warned over and over and over would happen don’t you understand?  These are your guys, Hitchens:

Baghdad Mayor Is Ousted by a Shiite Group and Replaced – New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 9 – Armed men entered Baghdad’s municipal building during a blinding dust storm on Monday, deposed the city’s mayor and installed a member of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite militia.

The deposed mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was not in his offices at the time, recounted the events in a telephone interview on Tuesday and called the move a municipal coup d’état. He added that he had gone into hiding for fear of his life.

"This is the new Iraq," said Mr. Tamimi, a secular engineer with no party affiliation. "They use force to achieve their goal."

Yeah, that’s all Baghdad needs: an American “sister city.”   

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday), Democracy Now! will feature FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and David Rose, author of the interview with Edmonds appearing in the latest issue of Vanity Fair.

The show is available via multiple media:

On the Internet at the Democracy Now! Website, archive now available.

On Satellite Television:

DirecTV: Link TV, Channel 375, 11am-12noon and 6-7pm EST

DISH Network: Link TV channel 9410, 11am-12noon, 6-7pm EST and Free Speech TV, channel 9415, 8-9am, 12noon-1pm, 7-8pm & 12midnight-1am EST

On Local Television at these stations.

On local radio at these stations.

Six U.S. soldiers were killed when insurgents attacked their patrol in a northern Iraqi city, and a car bomb targeting a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in Baghdad killed seven people, including one U.S. soldier, the military said Wednesday. A sixth died by small arms fire during combat operations near Habbaniyah in northwest Iraq.

This brings to 45 the number of US servicemembers who have been killed in Iraq in the last 10 days.

With the death rate continuing daily, August could become one of the deadliest months yet for the US in Iraq.

Here is a banner that ought to fly from every home and business in America.

Bring Them Home

According to a poster on Daily Kos, Cindy Sheehan, a mother whose son was killed in Iraq, has been informed that she and her group will be arrested Thursday as a "threat to national security" for protesting the war on a road near Bush’s "ranch" in Crawford, Texas.  Cindy says that she and others plan to be arrested. 

Sheehan has vowed to continue protesting until Bush meets with her.