On May 10th, 2007, this video was banned in the United States Congress.
Robert Greenwald, the director of IRAQ FOR SALE, was invited to testify before Congress by Rep. Jim Moran. He prepared four minutes from the documentary to show.
Republicans insisted this not be shown.
May death toll spikes as 10 US soldiers in Iraq die on Memorial Day: here.
Peace activist Cindy Sheehan quits US Democratic party: here.
See also here.
British Labour party deputy leader candidate Cruddas: get British troops out of Iraq.
Britons taken prisoner in Iraq: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
From democrats.com:
Today Cindy Sheehan “retired” from the anti-war movement after leading the fight for two years with every piece of her heart and soul.
Cindy wrote: “Good-bye America… you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it. It’s up to you now.”
Sadly, America needs Cindy more than ever. Eight more Casey Sheehans died today in Iraq, leaving eight more grieving Cindy Sheehans back home. Sgt. David Safstrom of the 82nd Airborne told the NY Times, “What are we doing here? Why are we still here? We’re helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us.”
Cindy lost heart after a few dozen “Bush Democrats” voted with virtually every Republican to keep Bush’s criminal occupation going forever.
And it’s easy to lose heart when we put our time and money into electing anti-war Democratic majorities, only to have those majorities betrayed by a few dozen “Bush Democrats” who are bribed by powerful defense contractors or intimidated by Karl Rove’s political henchmen.
But we cannot afford to lose heart because May’s total deaths of U.S. troops hit 114, the highest since Cindy began her anti-war campaign and the third highest of the war. And at the current monthly rate, 2007 will be the deadliest year for U.S. troops in the four years of Bush’s criminal occupation.
So all of us must pick up the torch that Cindy laid down and find a way to end this war. But how?
In May, 169 House Democrats voted for the McGovern Amendment to end the occupation in March 2008, while only 59 “Bush Democrats” voted against it. If we can switch 43 of those 59 “Bush Democrats,” the McGovern Amendment will pass. So let’s recruit anti-war Democrats to run against those 59 “Bush Democrats” in the 2008 primaries.
This strategy produced dramatic results in 2006. Both Jane Harman (CA-36) and Al Wynn (MD-4) voted for the war in 2002, but voted against the occupation in 2007 as a direct result of primary challenges by outstanding anti-war candidates Marcy Winograd and Donna Edwards. (Edwards lost by only 3% and will run again in 2008.)
So let’s find challengers for all 59 “Bush Democrats”! We created a map of all 59 “Bush Democrat” districts here:
http://tinyurl.com/2hl9vz
Click the pins to see the incumbent’s name and a link to a page for that incumbent.
If you know an anti-war candidate who could run a good race, click that link and nominate that candidate in a comment. Also share your thoughts on other nominees you find there.
We also created an online pledge form to start building support for our anti-war challengers:
“I pledge to vote against every Senator and Representative who approves funding to continue the disastrous Iraq War. We have already given far too much of our blood and treasure – and killed far too many Iraqis – for a war based on lies. We are now occupying a hostile nation divided by civil war for the benefit of military contractors and Big Oil.
The only way to support our troops is to bring them home NOW, and no funds should be used for any other purpose. If Congress fails to bring our troops home, I will do everything I can – and urge everyone I know – to defeat pro-war Senators and Representatives, both in my party’s primary elections and in the November general election.”
Over 18,000 have already signed our pledge. Sign it now and tell your friends:
http://www.democrats.com/iraq-vote-pledge
Let’s do it for Cindy Sheehan – and for her beloved son Casey.
—
Tell Congress to Impeach Cheney First
Dick Cheney was in the news today as Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald filed a court memo highlighting Cheney’s direct role in the criminal outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. Cheney also made news for illegally scrubbing records of who he meets with.
Behind the scenes, Dick Cheney is doing everything in his power to provoke World War III with Iran, even over the objections of Condi Rice. So Dennis Kucinich is doing everything in his power to impeach Cheney. Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney (H. Res. 333) has three co-sponsors. Urge your Representative to join them:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/73
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Troops Out Now Coalition
DEFEND CINDY SHEEHAN
Cindy Sheehan made public two letters this weekend. The first letter announced her resignation from the Democratic Party over the agreement by the Democratically-controlled Congress to unconditionally fund the criminal and colonial war in Iraq that killed her son Casey and hundreds of thousands of others, mostly Iraqis.
In the second letter, coming a day after the first, Sheehan announced that she would no longer be active in the peace movement. The reason for her first letter is self-evident. Why did she feel compelled to write the second one?
It should come as no surprise to anyone that Sheehan has been the target of endless threats and attacks by pro-war groups, right-wing talk radio, and the corporate media. But they haven’t been the only attackers. As Sheehan has stepped up her criticism of the Congressional Democrats’ complicity in the war, she has come under attack, some as venomous and personal as any right-wing Republican attack, by some who insist that the antiwar movement must be limited to protesting against Bush and the Republicans. Some of the same forces, who are closely tied to the Democrats, were happy to use Sheehan as long as she limited her criticism to Bush, but then viciously turned on her after she announced her resignation from the Democratic Party over the war.
Cindy Sheehan has come to the conclusion that she has been pushed out of the antiwar movement and it’s not hard to understand why she feels this way. She feels pushed out by the betrayal of the Democrats on the war funding. She feels pushed out by the isolation and hostility not only from the “right,” but also from many in the orbit of the Democratic Party that Sheehan had once considered allies. She feels pushed out be the failure of the various coalitions in the antiwar movement to put aside egos and narrow agendas in the interest of forging an independent and militant mass movement powerful enough to shut the war down.
Some good can come from this, if the antiwar movement takes this as a turning point. Many of us made a struggle to demand that Congress cut off all war funding and end the war a priority this spring. Some of us did this, not based on any expectation that Congress would actually end Bush’s war, but to clearly expose the Democratic Party and to demonstrate that they are as much of a pro-war party as the Republicans. If the antiwar movement can absorb this reality, as painful as it is, than it will be all the much harder for the movement to be pulled off the streets and made an appendage of the Democratic Party.
The movement owes a debt to Cindy Sheehan for striking a blow against those who plan to mislead the antiwar movement and tie it to the pro-war Democratic Party.
The rank and file of the antiwar movement stands in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan, not with those who are beholden to the Democratic Party. It takes courage for a mother, catapulted into the world spotlight after camping out in Crawford Texas two summers ago to protest the death of her son in Iraq, to stand up to and openly break with powerful politicians who would be all too willing to provide her a platform with all the perks if she simply toed the line.
It is our hope that after Cindy Sheehan had taken the time to re-unite with her family, and do whatever she feels necessary to repair the toll that all of this has taken on her family and herself, that she will once again be a leading voice against war, against empire, and for justice at home and abroad.
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Gainesville Veterans For Peace “Memorial Mile”
Posted by: “Compañero” companyero@bellsouth.net chocoano05
Wed May 30, 2007 5:55 pm (PST)
The Gainesville VFP “Memorial Mile” served well to
demonstrate the real cost of giving up PEACE to choose
WAR. A thumbs-up response from the public was
overwhelming throught the day. Gainesville VFP even
received a big “Thank You” from uniformed Army Reserve
personnel and cash donations from drivers who insisted on
showing their appreciation.
While many traditional Memorial Day observations serve
mostly to re-affirm patriotism, the VFP display gave
citizens a look into the present and future costs when
leaders prove too eager to commit Americans to a WAR of
attack and occupy.
It was assumed that the soldiers who died in the last war
would at least serve to teach our leaders how to avoid
repeating the mistake. But our leaders forgot the tragedy
of a mistake made within their own lifetimes.
It was supposed to be the legacy of soldiers who died in
Viet Nam that our government would never again choose to
fight a war of invasion and occupation but our leaders
repeated the mistake in 2003. Now the sacrifices made by
those loyal troops who died in Viet Nam just 35 years ago
is completely wasted when our leaders refuse to learn from
history.
Keep working for Peace!
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Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan from Campus Antiwar Network students
Posted by: “Charles Jenks” charles@traprockpeace.org chaspeace
Mon Jun 4, 2007 10:14 am (PST)
Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan
Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan: We need you now more than ever
May 31, 2007
We remember first hearing about you standing up to Bush in Crawford,
Texas with admiration and hope. Just months before he had been re-
elected, not because the majority of people supported the war, but
because John Kerry offered us nothing for which to vote. He provided
no alternative to the neocon strategy of more war and barbarism.
Instead, you did.
Since then, larger and larger numbers of people have turned against
Bush and the war, in constant search for more ways to resist. Bush
now has an approval rating lower than Nixon during the Watergate
scandal.
It was disheartening to read your decision to leave the antiwar
movement because of how you were treated and slandered by
Republicans, and now liberals. They may see you as a pawn on a
chessboard but we see you as a courageous woman who took a stand when
it was the hardest. You have sacrificed so much, particularly your
health and precious time with your children, in the struggle for a
better world and on behalf of the student antiwar movement: thank
you. The revival of the antiwar movement today is in debt to you.
You remind us of Rosa Parks. When you camped out at Camp Casey, you
also embodied the history of ordinary people in this country sitting
in and standing up until their voices were heard. You decided to keep
fighting because those who are most affected by Bush€ ’²s war for oil
and empire often have no other choice: family members who have lost
children, Iraq veterans and active duty soldiers who now oppose the
mission for which they were sent, and the people throughout the
Middle East who have witnessed decades of economic sanction and
military occupation. Iraq is now experiencing the largest refugee
crisis in the world. Close to a million Iraqis are now dead.
Thousands of US soldiers have died, many of whom turned against the
war. The vast majority of Iraqis, Americans and US soldiers oppose
the continuation of war in Iraq.
Who will put an end to it?
Your anger at the failure of the Democratic Party to end the war is
justified. The November election was a referendum on the war in Iraq
and since then, not only has the Democratic Party refused to call for
an immediate withdrawal of US troops, but they have decided to remove
mention of a timetable from the most recent legislation.
The Democratic Party has no intention of ending the war, only
continuing it by other means, most recently to the tune of $120
billion dollars. This is why the Campus Antiwar Network and Iraq
Veterans Against the War in Madison, Wisconsin decided to stage a sit-
in at Senator Kohl€ ’²s office. This is why the Campus Antiwar Network
in San Francisco sent a delegation to Nancy Pelosi€ ’²s office to demand
an end to the Democrat€ ’²s funding of the war.
Antiwar politicians do not continue to fund wars.
The fact that the Democratic Party, like the Republican Party,
continues to use us as cannon fodder for their war means we need to
build an antiwar movement independent of both. Our demands must no
longer be shaped by what they deem € ’³reasonable€ ’´ or what will make
them € ’³electable€ ’´. We must not only put forward our own demands but
build the type of grassroots organization that can see them through.
The Campus Antiwar Network in New York City recently participated in
Iraq Veterans Against the War€ ’²s € ’³Operation First Casualty€ ’´, a moving
street theatre that conducted raids and set up check points
throughout the city in order to bring the war home. This was inspired
by similar actions that were taken during the Vietnam War. Similar to
today, the White House and Pentagon dragged out an increasingly
savage and hopeless slaughter as long as possible, and refused to
acknowledge even being affected by the antiwar movement. This was
disorienting to activists who had faith in American democracy. Many
dejectedly concluded that protests are ineffective. Yet they were
part of a movement that proved just the opposite! Congress, dominated
by the Democrats, complained more loudly each year about the war, but
it never stopped funding it. The war might still be going on today if
it were left up to them. Fortunately, it wasn€ ’²t.
Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama for
protesting what he termed the € ’³broken promises€ ’´ of liberal
politicians. The civil rights movement made a decision to abandon the
idea of negotiation and instead demand power through direct action.
King stated in a letter from Birmingham jail that € ’³moderates€ ’¥
paternalistically believes he can set a timetable for another man€ ’²s
freedom€ ’¥We know through painful experience that freedom is never
voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the
oppressed€ ’¥Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The
yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.€ ’´
We have a lot of work ahead of us. We live in the belly of the beast
– a beast founded on slavery and imperial ambition, with no human
price too high. But we also have the majority of people on our side,
in this country and around the world, who want to see things change.
And because of this, the beast is wounded.
What we need now is a new strategy. One based on self-activity, not
reliance on the Democrats, similar to your stand in Crawford nearly
two years ago. Similar to the sit-ins that are taking place in
Democratic offices, similar to the decision of hundreds of students,
faculty and staff at UMass-Amherst to disrupt their commencement
ceremony to demand Andrew Card not be given an honorary degree, and
similar to the recent refusal of Oakland longshoremen to cross an
anti-war picket line demanding an end of arm shipments. The yearning
for freedom and justice are manifesting itself before our eyes everyday.
It is still time for the € ’³antiwar chorus to start singing€ ’´ and now is
not the time to give up, but instead raise the cost of war at home.
We hope you can come back soon, because the movement needs you now
more than ever.
Leia Petty, Brooklyn College
Katrina Yeaw, San Francisco State University
Charles T. Peterson, UMass-Amherst
Chris Dols, University of Wisconsin – Madison
CAMPUS ANTIWAR NETWORK
http://www.campusantiwar.net
Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board
Traprock Peace Center
103 Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
http://www.traprockpeace.org
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