Peace and War

Remarks at http://whodecidesaboutwar.org conference.

Who actually does: the media, weapons companies, the permanent government, presidents (including simply by decreeing a “war on terror”, through misspending, lying, simply acting, signing treaties), political parties, culture (the one Biden lives in, in which Israel’s sovereign right to attack Iran is uncontroversial), soldiers who obey illegal orders and the culture that leads kids to that place.

Who should decide: we the people read more

By David Swanson

On Thursday, 22 Democratic congress members introduced a bill to deny funding to any escalation of war in Afghanistan, and 60 Democratic senators voted that Congress should not even speak to a general about that war until after the president has decided whether to escalate it. These two actions come out of very different understandings of war powers.

The particular worldview of the 22 House members, which could also be called “The United States Constitution”, holds read more

Challenge military recruitment in your school on October 6th:
http://tr.im/AmrV

 
Join us at the White House on October 5 to take organized nonviolent action against the Afghanistan War.  You can come and safely demonstrate or you can choose to risk arrest.

FIND OUT MORE:
http://nogoodwar.org

Join in and create local and regional anti-war actions on October 17 and surrounding dates:

FIND OUT MORE:
http://natassembly.org

ADDITIONAL EVENTS:
http://unitedforpeace.org

If you can’t come, please phone your congress member on October 5th and tell read more

On October 2nd and 3rd, Friday and Saturday (and you can come for just Saturday too), there will be a conference at Georgetown Law School in downtown Washington, D.C., that you won’t want to miss called "Who Decides About War?" Here are some of the speakers:

* Jean Athey, Peace Action, Montgomery County, MD
* Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies
* Leah Bolger, National Vice-President, Veterans for Peace
read more

By David Swanson

Stephanie Westbrook pointed out to me a very curious PDF, a journal of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published in Europe. It includes an article that begins:

“Uncle Sam wants you to see the home of Judaism and Christianity. He wants you to earn good pay in a sunny climate doing work you are proficient in and enjoy – work that is personally and professionally rewarding and that you know will help an important ally. What could be better than that? Yes, Uncle Sam wants read more

By David Swanson

Eight years of slaughter, and not so much as a hint at what a “victory” would look like. It’s gotten to the point where even polls by Fox News show a majority of Americans against escalating the war in Afghanistan, and polls by more honest organizations show a majority wanting to bring home the troops that are there now.

But our so-called representatives in Congress are reluctant to “interfere” with their own primary Constitutional responsibilities, read more

Well come on all of you big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again,
He got himself in a terrible jam,
Way down in Afghanistan,
Put down your books and pick up a gun,
We’re gonna have a whole lotta fun

And its 1,2,3 what are we fighting for?
Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn,
The next stop’s Afghanistan,
And its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why,
WHOOPEE we’re all gonna die

Well come on wall street don’t be slow,
read more

The people of the Czech Republic collected signatures, organized 130 mayors, went on hunger strikes, won a vote, and took down a government. You can expect none of this to be mentioned in US media coverage read more

By David Swanson

The new film “Virtual JFK” is marketed as the story of the Vietnam War had John F. Kennedy not been killed. I expected a fantasy account of what might have been, and this led me to expect the following problem with the story: If Kennedy was killed because he would not fight a war in Vietnam, then supposing him to have survived Dallas would simply have left him in danger of assassination at each ongoing instant in the drama. read more

By David Swanson

The Army Experience Center, an amusement hall built in a Philadelphia area shopping mall to make killing and dying look like fun to kids, has been the focus of repeated protests and criticism.  This past weekend hundreds again protested at the AEC, and police arrested six protesters and one journalist.  The journalist was not with the protesters, and was picked out of a crowd, apparently because of her professional camera.

Days prior to this long-planned and publicly announced read more

By David Swanson, Voters for Peace

David Swanson is the author of the new book “Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union” by Seven Stories Press, an immediate bestseller at Amazon.com http://tr.im/xBt3 This article is adapted from “Daybreak.”

Since 1973 presidents who have launched wars without the authorization of Congress have done so, not just in violation of the Constitution, but also in violation of the War Powers Act, a law written read more

David Swanson discusses the power of war and chapter 2 of "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" on September 3, 2009, in Charlottesville, VA.

Buy the book.

“Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union” has spent its first four days in publication ranked in the top 10 politics books on Amazon.com. You can keep it there and in the #1 spot by buying a copy for yourself, one for your congress member, two for your senators, and some for your local libraries: http://tr.im/xBt3

Two great websites plan to publish excerpts of the book. Voters for Peace will be posting an article adapted from a section of the book read more

Here’s a study that concludes that many Americans believed Saddam Hussein was behind 9-11 because they wanted there to be a reason for the invasion and occupation of Iraq and that was the easiest one available that they’d heard somewhere. The article writes this up rather simplisticly. This does not actually change the fact that the president lied or the PIPA study finding that viewers of different media read more

By David Swanson

You gotta keep ’em separated. My colleagues over at Velvet Revolution noticed a striking resemblance between certain Republican senators here at home and certain theocrats over yonder in Iran. You can’t necessarily spot it by looking at them. You have to pay attention to what they say.

The Iranians say that prosecuting torturers within the Iranian government would endanger Iran:

“Parliament speaker Ali Larijani called last Wednesday for an investigation but a read more

Listen to today’s show here:
http://www.theurbanjournal.org

By David Swanson

Michael Vick, the football player who’s all over the news, should have tortured humans instead of dogs. Then we would have been told to overlook it for the sake of moving forward. Better yet, he should have killed humans rather than only torturing them. Then we would have been told next to nothing about it at all. It might have been reported, but it wouldn’t have become a hot topic, an echo-chambered story to be dismissed only after a great deal of hand-wringing. read more