Peace and War

By David Swanson

In 1975 Dorothy T. Samuel published “Safe Passage on City Streets,” a book that examined the state of mind and behavior of people who tended not to get attacked on city streets or tended to walk away unscathed. She found that the safest people were not those who focused on the danger, not those who walked in fear, and not those who carried weapons – which, as often as not, were turned against them. The safest people – though there was no guarantee – were people read more

By David Swanson

Have you ever heard someone try to argue that the Iraq War was a mistake but that now the proper course is to continue the mistake a bit longer or to carefully end it in a long and complicated way that could take months or years? Have you ever wondered how such a position, if examined in detail, could possibly make any sense?

Wonder no more. Such a position, in various forms, actually makes no sense. In fact, such a position requires a stunning degree of illogic.

There’s read more

By David Swanson

I just read an excellent book from http://www.endthewartour.org called “10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military.” Personally I was never attracted to the military because I could never stand having anyone tell me what to do – well, and because I had parents who helped me find other options in life.

The military glorifies the giving and obeying of orders as somehow something good for its own sake, something called “discipline” or “character.” read more

Video of DontAttackIran Rally and March to Rummy’s on May 18th by Chris Belcher
PLAY.

By David Swanson

This collection of photos is the most complete we are aware of. Many of them are being made public here for the first time. Many of them are extremely gruesome. These must not be censored, because this is what a war really looks like, and that is something citizens need to see in order to cast informed ballots and lobby our representatives for or against war.

Please copy all of these images onto your own website. No need to ask permission. Please simply give credit to AfterDowningStreet.org. read more

By David Swanson

Cindy Sheehan’s interviews, essays, and speeches get better with each passing month, as her pain continues, her passion and insight grow, and the war that killed her son goes on – as the president who killed her son goes on being president. Cindy’s latest book, “Dear President Bush,” is the best of the three books by or about Cindy Sheehan that I’ve read.

“Not One More Mother’s Child” was Cindy’s first collection of essays. read more

By David Swanson, http://www.opednews.com
A new poll conducted in Pennsylvania by Zogby International and commissioned by OpEdNews.com asked some of the questions the corporate media has failed to ask. The answers are surprising. One revelation is this: the single greatest predictor of an American’s political views is whether she or he watches Fox News. READ MORE: http://tinyurl.com/sxwcz

By David Swanson

Public opinion in the United States and Iraq favors pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, not to mention removing any who have already entered Iran. This sentiment will be on display this Saturday at the United for Peace and Justice March in New York: www.april29.org

Inside Congress opinions vary, and it is a distinct minority that is willing to support public opinion. Some in Congress are willing to take half-way and tenth-of-the-way steps in the direction of ending the war, some read more

May 1 marks three years since George W. Bush staged his “Mission Accomplished” aircraft landing in San Diego Harbor and “delivered good news to the men and women who fought in the cause of freedom: their mission is complete and major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”

As of April 27, at 3:15 p.m. EST – 2,393 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

The count of US wounded is around seven times that number, and Iraqi civilian read more

By David Swanson

I’ll be co-hosting with Verna Avery-Brown of Pacifica Radio a live broadcast on Pacifica from 8:30-11 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 27, of a forum on Capitol Hill hosted by Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee.
http://www.pacifica.org/stations

The forum will take place in 2325 Rayburn House Office Building (with an overflow room planned for anyone wanting to attend who can’t fit in). The two Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are continuing to do read more

By David Swanson

Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee will host a hearing on the Iraq War next Thursday, April 27, 8:30-11 a.m., in 2325 Rayburn House Office Building (with an overflow room planned for anyone wanting to attend who can’t fit in). The two Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are continuing to do what the “leadership” of both parties does not, respond to the demands of the majority of Americans, who disapprove of current policy.

Woolsey and Lee read more

By David Swanson

“When it came to pinning the terrorist label on the Saddam Government,” Dilip Hiro wrote in 2004 (“Secrets and Lies,” p. 381), “all the Bush administration had to do was point a finger at the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, People’s Mujahedin). An anticlerical Iranian group opposed to the regime in Tehran, the MKO, placed on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations in 1997, had located its headquarters in Baghdad since read more

By David Swanson

John Aravosis suggests some talking points on Iran, but I’d like to suggest some changes in bold.

George Bush has decided to use Iran as a foil to help his sagging poll numbers and to help Republicans in the fall congressional elections. I’m going to discuss why this is true, and what the Dems should do about it.

Iran is ten years away from developing nukes.

I’ll say it again, TEN YEARS away. And that’s not according to some peacenik liberal, it’s according read more

By David Swanson

Now might be the time to read, if you haven’t already, “Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism,” an amazing book edited by CODE PINK cofounders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, which includes a forward by Alice Walker and an introduction by Arundhati Roy.

While this book was published last year, its title and theme take on a new urgency with each new revelation that our read more