Peace and War

By David Swanson

Would the United States military lie about how four Marines were killed? Would abuse continue at Abu Ghraib after the scandal exploded? Any soldier you talk to has a story you may not want to hear. I recently had occasion to speak with two that were particularly troubling.

Part I: Snipers Dead in Ramadi:

Here’s a military report from August 2006 on how four Marines died in Iraq in 2004. Christian Lowe, a Marine Corps Times staff writer, tells us:

“It was supposed read more

By David Swanson

Congressman David Obey (D., Wis.) is the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He’s in charge of spending our money. For years he spent it on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq without any resistance.  Until last October, Obey maintained that spending hundreds of billions of our dollars on wars was something he just had no choice about.

Three years ago, 180,000 people watched this Youtube video, read more

By David Swanson

Sixty-five congress members, including 60 Democrats and 5 Republicans, voted to end the occupation of Afghanistan on Wednesday. But 356 congress members, including 189 Democrats and 167 Republicans voted to keep the war going. The vote followed three hours of debate created by Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s introduction of a privileged resolution.

The debate featured three leaders from three groups of congress members: the war opponents (almost all Democrats), the pro-war read more

Go here and join in:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/afghanliveblog

By David Swanson

I haven’t read Karl Rove’s book and don’t plan to, but this is what I gather from those who have.

Despite serving on the White House Iraq Group and lying about the war, Rove claims everyone was careful not to overstate or exaggerate.

Despite having routinely told Fox News what the news would be, Rove now blames himself for not being aggressive enough in pushing his lies into the media.

Despite having pushed WMD lies after settling on that as the best approach to read more

By David Swanson

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By David Swanson

At the first of the year, a story hit the news about US-led troops executing 8 handcuffed kids in Afghanistan. I blogged about it. The outrage was tremendous. How dare I comment on such atrocious reporting? Didn’t I know the president was now a Democrat and wars were tools of peace? Surely I was just making it all up.

So, I blogged again, citing all the sources of information. Of course, I couldn’t know what happened, read more

By David Swanson

Tomorrow, Thursday, March 4, Congressman Dennis Kucinich plans to introduce a privileged resolution to end the Afghan War. The resolution requires that the House debate, within the next week, the continuing war in Afghanistan, now the second longest war in American history.

While we may not win a majority vote in the House on this first go-round, and would still have to get past the Senate and the President (a good time if ever there was one to throw Scylla and Charybdis into a read more

By David Swanson

One of the most unusual books and far-and-away the saddest I have ever read is James Douglass’s “JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters.” This is the best documented account ever produced of why and how the CIA assassinated John F. Kennedy. That the CIA did this is beyond dispute, and that the first President Bush was involved is well established by Russ Baker’s book “Family of Secrets.” What separates Douglass’s book read more

By David Swanson

On Friday afternoon, I posted the following announcment online:

CONTEST: Obama Calls War on Iraq “A New Dawn” — What Do You Call It? (Limit 8 Words)

I’ll start the entries:
Operation Funnel Unlimited Cash to Killing (OFUCK)

The winner will be announced on an aircraft carrier with a banner! Plus job offer possible for video editing work to insert “rename” in place of “end” in campaign speeches.

Winner gets signed copy of Daybreak, read more

By David Swanson

I don’t think I have any choice but to help stimulate the economy by hiring a lawyer.

Whoever owns George Orwell’s estate better jump on this as well.

Iraq War To Be Rebranded ‘Operation New Dawn’
By Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s administration plans to rebrand its military operation in Iraq “Operation New Dawn,” beginning September 1, a Pentagon memorandum shows.

The memo, signed by US Defense Secretary Robert read more

By David Swanson

I recently blogged on the conclusive evidence that Dick Cheney has committed felonies. In response bewildered Americans asked why he wasn’t being prosecuted or investigated.

But the reasons are public knowledge: Obama is continuing the crimes. Obama controls the Department of Justice. Obama controls the Congress.

If I had been paying attention, I would have noted that the day before I posted that blog Obama’s press secretary committed one of the crimes of which read more

At 3pm Saturday, June 5, 2010, Humanists for Peace will hold a landmark session on peace and humanism at the 69th Annual Conference of the American Humanist Association. The conference, among the largest gatherings of humanists, atheists, and freethinkers from across the country, runs from June 3-6 at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose, California.

Official website:
http://www.americanhumanist.org/What_We_Do/Annual_Conference

Why Peace is a Humanist Issue:
Humanism and Past and read more

It’s an inspiration, an achievable goal, an organizing tool, and a route around the corporate media cartel: a giant billboard for what we all want but our televisions are afraid to mention.  It’s a project worth supporting!

Imagine…a "Peace Blimp"- defiantly displaying a message of peace across the skies of the nation, unable to be dismissed, ignored or brushed aside. Rallies for peace greet the blimp in every city it visits. Politicians, read more

I’ve seen a lot of war movies, but this is a great one:
http://thegoodsoldier.com

This is the story of real veterans of U.S. wars, including Michael McPhearson whom many of us know as a leader in Veterans for Peace. These are veterans who have come to an understanding that war is all about training and compelling human beings to become murderous animals, and that the damage is deep even for those least harmed by this project, namely the killers themselves.

By David Swanson

Peter Dyer sums up well the sort of conclusions we can draw from the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry into Britain’s role as sidekick launcher of aggressive war on Iraq:

“On March 18, 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, Elizabeth Wilmshurst resigned as Deputy Legal Adviser to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the British equivalent of the U.S. State Department.

“‘I regarded the invasion of Iraq as illegal, and I therefore did not feel able to continue read more

By David Swanson

At http://defundwar.org citizen activists are constantly updating a spreadsheet tracking the positions of their congress members on voting to fund more war.

Vernon Huffman recently posted this report:
“In his recent town hall, Rep. Schrader (D-OR) said he would vote against funding the war in Afghanistan.”

Leah Bolger posted this one:
“I have spoken with Congressman Schrader several times about pledging to defund the wars, HR 3699, etc. He has said repeatedly read more

Brownbaggers Not Teabaggers
VIGILS AGAINST WAR FUNDING SPREAD ACROSS NATION

Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) organized "brownbag" lunch vigils against war funding at noon on Wednesday, January 20th, at the district offices of 22 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

On February 17th, PDA will be joined by CODEPINK, AfterDowningStreet, Democrats.com, the California Nurses Assn./National Nurses United, and United for Peace and Justice in holding brownbag vigils read more