| Even so, after nine months of studying the disastrous situation in the country, the study group fails to make a clear-cut recommendation to end the war. Military Families Speak Out, a nonpartisan group of more than 3,100 military families who are opposed to the war in Iraq, is among many individuals and organizations disappointed with the study group's conclusions. The grassroots group is concerned that even if the document says U.S. troops should begin withdrawing from combat, and Washington should launch a diplomatic and political push to halt a "grave and deteriorating" crisis in Iraq, in reality the report could provide a cover for prolonging the war instead of ending it and bringing home the troops. "It appears that the purpose of the Iraq Study Group report has been to provide political cover to politicians as they prepare for the 2008 elections," said Nancy Lessin, a co-founder of Military Families Speak Out. "It seems that the report will allow the administration and Congress to avoid dealing with the real problem in Iraq - the U.S. military occupation." In what seems like an attempt to give President Bush a chance to save face, the report recommends "gradual pullback" of combat brigades, but falls short of setting a timetable or a deadline for the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Even this is an improvement over the stubbornness of the "staying the course" position, of course. But the report fails to take into account that most Americans - not to mention the great majority of Iraqis - favor much more drastic and rapid action to end a war that should have never happened, has lasted longer than U.S. involvement in World War II and so far has killed more than 2,900 American soldiers. In recent polls, 62% of the people in this country and 80% of all Iraqis favor withdrawing all U.S. troops - not at some indeterminate time in the future, but either immediately or within one year. It should not be forgotten that in last month's elections, the American people made it very clear that they want the war in Iraq to end. The antiwar group United for Peace and Justice, organizer of some of the largest national and local demonstrations against the war, shares the military families' preoccupation. "As Iraq's civil war spirals out of control and deaths on all sides continue, it is time for decisive action to bring the troops home," said Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator of United for Peace and Justice. "The recommendations from the Iraq Study Group seem designed to lull people into a false sense that 'peace is at hand.'" But peace is not at hand. In fact, following the report's recommendations will not end the war. A statement put out by the group of military families yesterday after the release of the report makes that clear. "Partial withdrawal of troops that is not part of a concerted effort to safely and quickly remove all of the troops from Iraq will not only continue the occupation of Iraq, but will leave those who remain in Iraq at greater risk. "The safest thing for our troops, the best thing for our nation, and the best thing for the people of Iraq is to get U.S. troops out of Iraq as quickly as possible," the statement said. As quickly as possible. |
Showing posts with label activists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label activists. Show all posts
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Peaceniks' dismay at Iraq war report
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
How war losses are attributed to "stab in the back" anti-war activists
Nov 28, 2006
The stab in the back in Europe 1918, China 1949, Vietnam, and Iraq
Everyone in Germany in 1918 knew that they had the best army in the world. Everyone in Germany knew that peace with Russia would release thousands of soldiers to the Western Front. Everyone in Germany knew that the Americans had too small an army to make a difference. Then Germany was defeated, her armies in full retreat, her homeland threatened with invasion. The only reason that made sense was treachery at home. The mighty invincible German military was "stabbed in the back" by pacifists, defeatists, Communists, and Jews at home. (The fact was that the German army was bled white and had no way to repulse the fresh American troops who went "over the top" and because they didn't know the German army was the best in the world, beat it.)
When China was taken over by Mao and the Communists in 1949, everyone in the US knew that the only way our policy could have lost and our ally Chiang Kai-Shek defeated was by treachery at home. Our policy-makers were the best and brightest in the world, we had just won World War II, and so Communists, pinkos, and fellow-travelers had to have sabotaged our efforts. (The face was that the Chinese preferred their own brand of dictatorship rather than one supported by foreign powers, and it wasn't long before China broke with the USSR's supervision.)
Current myth-making about the war in Vietnam has been expressed by GW Bush when he said, "We will win unless we quit." After General Westmoreland's strategy of American dominance in the war seemed to have failed, Vietnamization was the order of the day. This meant supporting the efforts of the government and army of South Vietnam to fight their own battles and win their own war. But just as we were on the verge of victory, defeatists at home sabotaged this effort and we ended up withdrawing our troops, assuring a Communist victory. (The fact is we won every battle, including the Tet offensive, but nevertheless could not win the war. The Vietnamese had been struggling for independence at least since 1918 when Ho Chi Minh as a student in Paris was turned down at the Versailles peace meetings for self-rule for Vietnam, and weren't about to give in now).
We see this same thing happening with regard to Iraq, that we can just win if we hang on and don't listen to the negative thinkers who actually are undermining our troops' morale and efforts. But consider this: We won the war against Saddam, but we are losing the peace. To win the peace we need to declare victory in the war and withdraw our troops. Our presence in Iraq cannot help the situation and can only hurt it. Primum non nocere (First, do no harm).
--By ceratotherium
The stab in the back in Europe 1918, China 1949, Vietnam, and Iraq
Everyone in Germany in 1918 knew that they had the best army in the world. Everyone in Germany knew that peace with Russia would release thousands of soldiers to the Western Front. Everyone in Germany knew that the Americans had too small an army to make a difference. Then Germany was defeated, her armies in full retreat, her homeland threatened with invasion. The only reason that made sense was treachery at home. The mighty invincible German military was "stabbed in the back" by pacifists, defeatists, Communists, and Jews at home. (The fact was that the German army was bled white and had no way to repulse the fresh American troops who went "over the top" and because they didn't know the German army was the best in the world, beat it.)
When China was taken over by Mao and the Communists in 1949, everyone in the US knew that the only way our policy could have lost and our ally Chiang Kai-Shek defeated was by treachery at home. Our policy-makers were the best and brightest in the world, we had just won World War II, and so Communists, pinkos, and fellow-travelers had to have sabotaged our efforts. (The face was that the Chinese preferred their own brand of dictatorship rather than one supported by foreign powers, and it wasn't long before China broke with the USSR's supervision.)
Current myth-making about the war in Vietnam has been expressed by GW Bush when he said, "We will win unless we quit." After General Westmoreland's strategy of American dominance in the war seemed to have failed, Vietnamization was the order of the day. This meant supporting the efforts of the government and army of South Vietnam to fight their own battles and win their own war. But just as we were on the verge of victory, defeatists at home sabotaged this effort and we ended up withdrawing our troops, assuring a Communist victory. (The fact is we won every battle, including the Tet offensive, but nevertheless could not win the war. The Vietnamese had been struggling for independence at least since 1918 when Ho Chi Minh as a student in Paris was turned down at the Versailles peace meetings for self-rule for Vietnam, and weren't about to give in now).
We see this same thing happening with regard to Iraq, that we can just win if we hang on and don't listen to the negative thinkers who actually are undermining our troops' morale and efforts. But consider this: We won the war against Saddam, but we are losing the peace. To win the peace we need to declare victory in the war and withdraw our troops. Our presence in Iraq cannot help the situation and can only hurt it. Primum non nocere (First, do no harm).
--By ceratotherium
Monday, November 27, 2006
"Our university is complicit too through its investments in arms companies that provide Israel its arsenal."
Monday, November 27, 2006
Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, 1948.
_____________________________________________________
"A flawed democracy"
By Shimaa Abdelfadeel
MICHIGAN DAILY (University of Michigan)
11/27/06
"Since late June, Israel has killed 400 Palestinians in Gaza. In the morning hours of November 8, 2006, in the village of Beit Hanoun,
"Israeli tanks repeatedly fired shells on a house, killing 18 members of the same extended family. Other attacks earlier in the month were launched against peaceful protesters in Gaza. In breaking the months-long cease-fire that Hamas had agreed to this summer, this invasion collectively punished innocent people in the name of Israeli security.
"Promoters of Zionism tout its democracy, which offers legal protection to all. There exists, however, a gap between theory and practice that has bred racial apartheid within Israeli society and between Israel and its occupied populations in Palestine. In a state that asserts the dominance of one religious persuasion, democracy cannot really flourish. By failing to protect a plurality of ethnic and religious groups, the Israeli government exposes non-Jewish populations to persecution in a variety of ways.
"Israeli political leaders like Avigdor Lieberman, who was recently promoted deputy prime minister, explicitly support the ethnic cleansing of Arab populations as a way of preserving the Jewish majority in Israel.
"Immigration law under the Israeli democracy is another site of exclusion. Israel's "Law of Return" offers citizenship to anyone of the Jewish faith from anywhere in the world, yet Palestinian refugees are denied the right to return to their homes and become citizens. These refugees are numbered in the millions and were displaced from their homes at various points during the last 60 years.
"In 1948, Israeli independence came in conjunction with the forced removal of 750,000 Palestinians from their land. Through the years, Israel has conquered and occupied more Palestinian land by war, a violation of the United Nations Charter. During these wars, millions more were displaced from their homes in Israel/Palestine. Despite UN Resolution 194, Israel refuses to grant refugees the right to return home because this would threaten the demographic majority in Israel. In its obsession with maintaining this majority, Israeli policy has led to the removal and marginalization of another people and culture, instead of upholding the values of inclusion and equality that democracies promise to foster.
"Arabs living in Israel as citizens compose the lowest socioeconomic classes. They cannot purchase land owned by the Jewish National Fund, an organization that administers a large proportion of Israel's land and only sells real estate to its Jewish citizens.
"In occupied Palestine, Israeli military rule does not even pretend to uphold democratic values. Nor does it adhere to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bars the settlement of Israelis on land that is under Israeli military occupation. Not only did Israel transplant 12,000 new settlers into the West Bank after its formal withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, but it also maintained a military siege on the strip, controlling the flow of people and goods in and out and violating Palestinian airspace and ports.
"In the name of security, Israel has laid waste to the Palestinian economy and turned Gaza into an open-air prison. To enforce an illegal settlement project in the territories, the Israeli military implements policies that degrade their democratic ideal further, as witnessed by the tragedy in Beit Hanoun weeks ago.
"Israelis and Palestinians are using peaceful resistance against Israeli policy. Hundreds of Palestinians assembled at a Gazan home, forcing the Israeli military to call off its planned air attack. In defiance of their government's occupation, Israeli activists seized control of tanks at a Gaza border crossing. This cross-national struggle desires a peace that only justice can nourish. The end of Israeli occupation and an overhaul of Israel's exclusionary state are prerequisites to a just solution.
"The UN General Assembly recently condemned the attacks in Gaza, but the United States vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council, thus exerting American power to excuse its ally's atrocities. But massive American military aid also facilitates Israeli crimes.
"Our university is complicit too through its investments in arms companies that provide Israel its arsenal. Divesting from these companies would allow our campus to invest in just outcomes rooted in equality and lasting security for Israelis and Palestinians."
"-- Shimaa Abdelfadeel is an LSA senior and a co-chair of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality."
On the Web at:
http://www.michigandaily.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=2b7b6a66-0c4c-4627-b543-f21c5416ebc1
_____________________________________________________
# posted by Stop Crucifying Palestine @ 7:58 AM
http://stopcrucifyingpalestine.blogspot.com/2006/11/our-university-is-complicit-too.html
Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, 1948.
_____________________________________________________
"A flawed democracy"
By Shimaa Abdelfadeel
MICHIGAN DAILY (University of Michigan)
11/27/06
"Since late June, Israel has killed 400 Palestinians in Gaza. In the morning hours of November 8, 2006, in the village of Beit Hanoun,
"Israeli tanks repeatedly fired shells on a house, killing 18 members of the same extended family. Other attacks earlier in the month were launched against peaceful protesters in Gaza. In breaking the months-long cease-fire that Hamas had agreed to this summer, this invasion collectively punished innocent people in the name of Israeli security.
"Promoters of Zionism tout its democracy, which offers legal protection to all. There exists, however, a gap between theory and practice that has bred racial apartheid within Israeli society and between Israel and its occupied populations in Palestine. In a state that asserts the dominance of one religious persuasion, democracy cannot really flourish. By failing to protect a plurality of ethnic and religious groups, the Israeli government exposes non-Jewish populations to persecution in a variety of ways.
"Israeli political leaders like Avigdor Lieberman, who was recently promoted deputy prime minister, explicitly support the ethnic cleansing of Arab populations as a way of preserving the Jewish majority in Israel.
"Immigration law under the Israeli democracy is another site of exclusion. Israel's "Law of Return" offers citizenship to anyone of the Jewish faith from anywhere in the world, yet Palestinian refugees are denied the right to return to their homes and become citizens. These refugees are numbered in the millions and were displaced from their homes at various points during the last 60 years.
"In 1948, Israeli independence came in conjunction with the forced removal of 750,000 Palestinians from their land. Through the years, Israel has conquered and occupied more Palestinian land by war, a violation of the United Nations Charter. During these wars, millions more were displaced from their homes in Israel/Palestine. Despite UN Resolution 194, Israel refuses to grant refugees the right to return home because this would threaten the demographic majority in Israel. In its obsession with maintaining this majority, Israeli policy has led to the removal and marginalization of another people and culture, instead of upholding the values of inclusion and equality that democracies promise to foster.
"Arabs living in Israel as citizens compose the lowest socioeconomic classes. They cannot purchase land owned by the Jewish National Fund, an organization that administers a large proportion of Israel's land and only sells real estate to its Jewish citizens.
"In occupied Palestine, Israeli military rule does not even pretend to uphold democratic values. Nor does it adhere to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bars the settlement of Israelis on land that is under Israeli military occupation. Not only did Israel transplant 12,000 new settlers into the West Bank after its formal withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, but it also maintained a military siege on the strip, controlling the flow of people and goods in and out and violating Palestinian airspace and ports.
"In the name of security, Israel has laid waste to the Palestinian economy and turned Gaza into an open-air prison. To enforce an illegal settlement project in the territories, the Israeli military implements policies that degrade their democratic ideal further, as witnessed by the tragedy in Beit Hanoun weeks ago.
"Israelis and Palestinians are using peaceful resistance against Israeli policy. Hundreds of Palestinians assembled at a Gazan home, forcing the Israeli military to call off its planned air attack. In defiance of their government's occupation, Israeli activists seized control of tanks at a Gaza border crossing. This cross-national struggle desires a peace that only justice can nourish. The end of Israeli occupation and an overhaul of Israel's exclusionary state are prerequisites to a just solution.
"The UN General Assembly recently condemned the attacks in Gaza, but the United States vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council, thus exerting American power to excuse its ally's atrocities. But massive American military aid also facilitates Israeli crimes.
"Our university is complicit too through its investments in arms companies that provide Israel its arsenal. Divesting from these companies would allow our campus to invest in just outcomes rooted in equality and lasting security for Israelis and Palestinians."
"-- Shimaa Abdelfadeel is an LSA senior and a co-chair of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality."
On the Web at:
http://www.michigandaily.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=2b7b6a66-0c4c-4627-b543-f21c5416ebc1
_____________________________________________________
# posted by Stop Crucifying Palestine @ 7:58 AM
http://stopcrucifyingpalestine.blogspot.com/2006/11/our-university-is-complicit-too.html
Significant Victory on Boycott Front in Ireland
Sean Clinton, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, 26 November 2006
An international peace activist argues with an Israeli soldier during a demonstration against the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in west of Ramallah, November 24, 2006. (MaanImages/Fadi Arouri)
On Saturday 25th November the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) mounted a successful picket outside the entrance to the Limerick branch of the Atlantic Homecare chain store in Ireland. After refusing to move the picket when approached by security guards the protestors eventually agreed to call off their action after the store manger removed from sale all of the Israeli manufactured Keter Plastic products in the store. Within two hours of the commencing the action IPSC members witnessed pallet loads of the Israel made plastic storage boxes, wheelbarrows and garden sheds being taken off the sales floor. Some assembled garden sheds which were too large to shift right away had sales notices removed and replaced with Out Of Stock stickers. The store manager indicated that the items would remain off sale until management had an opportunity to discuss the matter further with the IPSC.
This latest success is part of the IPSC's campaign calling for a comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the pariah Israeli state. It follows the publication last August of a letter by 61 Irish academics calling for a moratorium on EU aid to Israeli universities, until Israel abides by international law and basic human rights norms. In the run up the Christmas shopping spree the IPSC is stepping up its BDS campaign to increase public awareness about the sale of Israeli manufactured good in some Irish shops.
Sean Clinton is a member of the National Executive of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and is Coordinator of the Limerick Branch of the IPSC.
Related Links
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC)
BY TOPIC: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6115.shtml
An international peace activist argues with an Israeli soldier during a demonstration against the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in west of Ramallah, November 24, 2006. (MaanImages/Fadi Arouri)
On Saturday 25th November the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) mounted a successful picket outside the entrance to the Limerick branch of the Atlantic Homecare chain store in Ireland. After refusing to move the picket when approached by security guards the protestors eventually agreed to call off their action after the store manger removed from sale all of the Israeli manufactured Keter Plastic products in the store. Within two hours of the commencing the action IPSC members witnessed pallet loads of the Israel made plastic storage boxes, wheelbarrows and garden sheds being taken off the sales floor. Some assembled garden sheds which were too large to shift right away had sales notices removed and replaced with Out Of Stock stickers. The store manager indicated that the items would remain off sale until management had an opportunity to discuss the matter further with the IPSC.
This latest success is part of the IPSC's campaign calling for a comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the pariah Israeli state. It follows the publication last August of a letter by 61 Irish academics calling for a moratorium on EU aid to Israeli universities, until Israel abides by international law and basic human rights norms. In the run up the Christmas shopping spree the IPSC is stepping up its BDS campaign to increase public awareness about the sale of Israeli manufactured good in some Irish shops.
Sean Clinton is a member of the National Executive of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and is Coordinator of the Limerick Branch of the IPSC.
Related Links
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC)
BY TOPIC: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6115.shtml
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Activists seize IDF tanks in Gaza in protest at Israeli 'war machine'
Last update - 00:54 19/11/2006
Activists seize IDF tanks in Gaza in protest at army 'war machine'
By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent
Activists of the left-wing group Anarchists Against the Fence on Saturday took over Israel Defense Forces tanks and bulldozers between the Erez and Karni crossings in the Gaza Strip.
Soldiers in the area were caught unawares as the activists scattered dummies to symbolize body parts.
The activists said their intention was to "stop the war machine, as citizens in whose name the army operates."
At the same time, a procession of some 40 Peace Now activists' cars passed through Sderot on their way to the Erez crossing carrying a banner reading "only political negotiations will stop Qassams."
The activists, whose procession had left from the Glilot intersection north of Tel Aviv, held their own protest at the crossing.
MK Haim Oron (Meretz) said at the protest that the only solution to the conflict is a political one and that Israel must not deploy an excessive number of troops in the Gaza Strip.
Sufyan Abu Zaida, a Fatah leader in the Strip, addressed the protesters by phone, having been denied entry to Israel.
Abu Zaida said that the only way to stop Qassam fire is the recognition of the legitimacy of both peoples.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/789472.html
Activists seize IDF tanks in Gaza in protest at army 'war machine'
By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent
Activists of the left-wing group Anarchists Against the Fence on Saturday took over Israel Defense Forces tanks and bulldozers between the Erez and Karni crossings in the Gaza Strip.
Soldiers in the area were caught unawares as the activists scattered dummies to symbolize body parts.
The activists said their intention was to "stop the war machine, as citizens in whose name the army operates."
At the same time, a procession of some 40 Peace Now activists' cars passed through Sderot on their way to the Erez crossing carrying a banner reading "only political negotiations will stop Qassams."
The activists, whose procession had left from the Glilot intersection north of Tel Aviv, held their own protest at the crossing.
MK Haim Oron (Meretz) said at the protest that the only solution to the conflict is a political one and that Israel must not deploy an excessive number of troops in the Gaza Strip.
Sufyan Abu Zaida, a Fatah leader in the Strip, addressed the protesters by phone, having been denied entry to Israel.
Abu Zaida said that the only way to stop Qassam fire is the recognition of the legitimacy of both peoples.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/789472.html
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