NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND WAR NEWSLETTER #13
NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND GENOCIDE NEWSLETTER # 13, July 27, 2012. OMNI Building a Culture of PEACE, Compiled by Dick Bennett. (See #1, June 14, 2007; #2, January 8, 2008; #3 May 16, 2008; #4 June 10; 2009, #5 July 23, 2009, ; #6 Sept. 21, 2009; #7 August 29, 2010; #8 April 11, 2011; #9 August 4, 2011; #10 Feb. 27, 2012; #11 April 4, 2012; #12 June 27, 2012.) Imagine a world free of nuclear weapons, be committed to that goal.
US NATIONAL SECURITY STATE: CORPORATE-PENTAGON-CONGRESS-PRESIDENT-SECRECY-SURVEILLANCE-NUCLEAR Complex
See: Nuclear Abolition Day June 2. International Day against Nuclear Tests (29 August). OMNI NUCLEAR FREE AND INDEPENDENT PACIFIC DAY AND MARSHALL ISLANDS NUCLEAR VICTIMS DAY, MARCH 1. NEWSLETTER #1. March 1, 2012. Expressions of OMNI's NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL DAYS PROJECT.
http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/ The dozens of newsletters provide OMNI and the peace and justice movement with subject-focused information and criticism. Editors are wanted for these Newsletter who can devote adequate attention to the subjects.
Contents of Nos. 9-11 at end.
Contents of #12
The SANE Act
Schell, Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Uranium Double Standards
Wittner, Deterrence?
Falk and Krieger Dialogue
Contact President: Take Nukes Off Alert
FCNL Washington Newsletter
Hartung, MAD Still
[CLW] 13 Minutes to Doomsday? Tell the President to Reduce the Threat of Nuclear War
John Isaacs, Council for a Livable World advocacy@clw.org via uark.edu
Our good friends at Peace Action, our allies on so many issues, urge you to take action on taking our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert. Peace Action has long been involved in trying to stop the nuclear arms race, having been originally formed to oppose nuclear weapons explosive testing.
Please consider their message.
John Isaacs & Guy Stevens
I don't find myself agreeing with the Washington Post's editorial board all that often. What used to be known as a liberal newspaper has become more and more conservative, especially on war and peace issues, over the years.
But, a recent lead editorial was a nice surprise over my morning coffee. 13 Minutes to doomsday outlines what should be a no-brainer, the case for the U.S. and Russia to take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger, launch-ready alert.
Of course we at Peace Action want all nuclear weapons abolished worldwide, by 5:00 this afternoon if possible! But de-alerting is one of the single most effective steps we could take to reduce the danger of nuclear war.
Tell the president he needs to do it, right away! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/161/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11098
The title of the editorial, 13 Minutes to Doomsday, refers to the time a president would have to make a decision to launch our nuclear missiles in response to a report that the US is under nuclear attack. Not a lot of time to prevent doomsday.
Today, you can prevent doomsday before it's too late. To quote the Post, "the president will soon sign off on instructions to the military to implement the posture review," referring to the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, which set overall current U.S. nuclear weapons policy.
Tell the President to take action to decrease the likelihood of an accidental or hasty decision to launch a nuclear attack. Over two decades after the end of the Cold War, this simple step of "de-alerting" nuclear weapons is long overdue.
Help me convince President Obama to take this simple step to make our country-- and the world-- safer.
Peace Action
PS : There is no sane reason for keeping nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert. Acting together as the President prepares his instructions to the military will impact this important decision. Get your friends involved by forwarding them this message.
[This excellent Quaker newsletter no. is all about controlling nuclear weapons. D]
• Washington Newsletter
Nuclear Weapons: Congress at a Turning Point
In the last 16 months, lawmakers have ratified the New START treaty to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, increased funding to prevent these weapons' spread, and blocked the start of a $5 billion nuclear weapons facility. Yet lawmakers need to hear that constituents want more or this progress could be rolled back.
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The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: Still a Good Idea
Nuclear testing may seem a thing of the past: in the last 10 years, only North Korea has conducted any test explosions. The United States, Russia and other countries that have acknowledged nuclear weapons programs have all publicly announced a moratorium on testing. Yet right now this moratorium depends on good will, not the force of international law. This treaty is critical to preventing a new generation of nuclear weapons powers from emerging in the world today and getting the United States back on the road toward nuclear disarmament.
Budgeting for Fewer Nuclear Weapons
Members of Congress are under pressure to trim federal spending and cut the budget deficit. This era of belt-tightening is leading some members to take a hard look at the high cost of the U.S. nuclear weapons program and could pave the way for some long overdue cuts. At the same time, funding for programs to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and materials is as critical as ever.
A Plan for Action: Ridding the World of Nuclear Weapons
The idea of a world without nuclear weapons is embraced by people on all sides of the political spectrum. However an idea is not a reality. The U.S. could make real progress towards this vision by taking a few important steps to accomplish this goal.
1. The Nuclear Resister
www.nukeresister.org/
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Tomgram: William Hartung, Why No One Notices Our MAD Planet
I can still remember sneaking with two friends into the balcony of some Broadway movie palace to see the world end. The year was 1959, the film was On the Beach, and I was 15. It was the movie version of Neville Shute's still eerie 1957 novel about an Australia awaiting its death sentence from radioactive fallout from World War III, which had already happened in the northern hemisphere. We three were jacked by the thrill of the illicit and then, to our undying surprise, bored by the quiet, grownup way the movie imagined human life winding down on this planet. ("We're all doomed, you know. The whole, silly, drunken, pathetic lot of us. Doomed by the air we're about to breathe.")
It couldn't hold a candle to giant, radioactive, mutant ants heading for L.A. (Them!), or planets exploding as alien civilizations nuclearized themselves (This Island Earth), or a monstrous prehistoric reptile tearing up Tokyo after being awakened from its sleep by atomic tests (Godzilla), or for that matter the sort of post-nuclear, post-apocalyptic survivalist novels that were common enough in that era.
It's true that anything can be transformed into entertainment, even versions of our own demise -- and that there's something strangely reassuring about then leaving a theater or turning the last page of a book and having life go on. Still, we teenagers didn't doubt that something serious and dangerous was afoot in that Cold War era, not when we "ducked and covered" under our school desks while (test) sirens screamed outside and the CONELRAD announcer on the radio on the teacher's desk offered chilling warnings.
Nor did we doubt it when we dreamed about the bomb, as I did reasonably regularly in those years, or when we wondered how our "victory weapon" in the Pacific in World War II might, in the hands of the Reds, obliterate us and the rest of what in those days we called the Free World (with the obligatory caps). We sensed that, for the first time since peasants climbed into their coffins at the millennium to await the last days, we were potentially already in our coffins in everyday life, that our world could actually vanish in a few moments in a paroxysm of superpower destruction.
Today, from climate change to pandemics, apocalyptic scenarios (real and imaginary) have only multiplied. But the original world-ender of our modern age, that wonder weapon manqué, as military expert, TomDispatch regular, and author of Prophets of War: Lockheed and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex Bill Hartung points out, is still unbelievably with us and still proliferating. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1568586973/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20&utm_source=TomDispatch&utm_campaign=8463b3e7f7-TD_Hartung7_8_2012&utm_medium=email Yes, logic -- and the evidence from Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- should tell us that nuclear weapons are too staggeringly destructive to be usable, but in crisis moments, logic has never been a particularly human trait. How strange, then, that a genuine apocalyptic possibility has dropped out of our dreams, as well as pop culture, and as Hartung makes clear, is barely visible in our world. Which is why, on a landscape remarkably barren of everything nuclear except the massive arsenals that dot the planet, TomDispatch considers it important to raise the possibility of returning the nuclear issue to the place it deserves in the human agenda. (To catch Timothy MacBain's latest Tomcast audio interview in which Hartung discusses the upside-down world of global nuclear politics, click here or download it to your iPod here.) Tom
Beyond Nuclear Denial
"How a World-Ending Weapon Disappeared From Our Lives, But Not Our World" By William D. Hartung http://www.tomdispatch.com/authors/williamhartung?utm_source=TomDispatch&utm_campaign=8463b3e7f7-TD_Hartung7_8_2012&utm_medium=email
There was a time when nuclear weapons were a significant part of our national conversation. Addressing the issue of potential atomic annihilation was once described by nuclear theorist Herman Kahn as "thinking about the unthinkable," but that didn't keep us from thinking, talking, fantasizing, worrying about it, or putting images of possible nuclear nightmares (often transmuted to invading aliens or outer space) endlessly on screen.
Now, on a planet still overstocked with city-busting, world-ending weaponry, in which almost 67 years have passed since a nuclear weapon was last used, the only nuke that Americans regularly hear about is one that doesn't exist: Iran's. The nearly 20,000 nuclear weapons on missiles, planes, and submarines possessed by Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, Israel, Pakistan, India, and North Korea are barely mentioned in what passes for press coverage of the nuclear issue.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.Visit our sister sites: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175565/tomgram%3A_william_hartung%2C_why_no_one_notices_our_mad_planet/?utm_source=TomDispatch&utm_campaign=8463b3e7f7-TD_Hartung7_8_2012&utm_medium=email#more
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Swedes push for a nuclear ban
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Cut nuclear spending
Nuclear disarmament campaigners participate in the Global Day of Action on Military Spending.
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• The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is a global grassroots movement for the total elimination of nuclear weapons through a legally binding, verifiable Nuclear Weapons Convention.
With more than 200 partner organizations in 60 countries, we provide a voice to the overwhelming majority of people globally who support the prompt abolition of nuclear weapons.
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CONTENTS OF OMNI NUCLEAR WEAPONS NEWSLETTERS NOS. 9-11.
Weapons Budgets Compared: Obama, Ryan, People
Book: Nuclear WWIII
Facts about Nuclear Weapons
Cost Study Project
Countdown to Zero Film
El Baradei's The Age of Deception
Nonproliferation Funding
Health Effects of Nuclear Weapons Production and Testing
Nuke Spending Increased
O'Hanlon's Book on Disarmament
Weinstein, Nuclear Weapons Locations in US
Mitchell, Atomic Cover-up
Wittner, Scrapping Two Nuclear Plans
Banerjee, A Victory in New Mexico
Norton, Bill to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
End Missile Tests at Vandenberg
International Campaign to Abolish
Pres. Obama's Contradictions
THE POOR AND THE PENTAGON
US POOR, PENTAGON, RECRUITING
From Veterans for Peace. Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:05 am (PDT) . Posted by: "Sanford Kelson" Attorney-at-Law 8231 South Canal Road Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania 16316 Email: sandkel@windstream.net
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 10:53 AM
We condition the poor and the working class to go to war. We promise them honor, status, glory, and adventure.
http://www.bostonreview.net/about JULY/AUGUST 2012
War Is Betrayal: Persistent Myths of Combat by Chris Hedges
We condition the poor and the working class to go to war. We promise
them honor, status, glory, and adventure. We promise boys they will
become men. We hold these promises up against the dead-end jobs of
small-town life, the financial dislocations, credit card debt, bad
marriages, lack of health insurance, and dread of unemployment. The
military is the call of the Sirens, the enticement that has for
generations seduced young Americans working in fast food restaurants or
behind the counters of Walmarts to fight and die for war profiteers and
elites.
The poor embrace the military because every other cul-de-sac in their
lives breaks their spirit and their dignity. Pick up Erich Maria
Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front or James Jones's From Here to
Eternity. Read Henry IV. Turn to the Iliad. The allure of combat is a
trap, a ploy, an old, dirty game of deception in which the powerful, who
do not go to war, promise a mirage to those who do.
I saw this in my own family. At the age of ten I was given a scholarship
to a top New England boarding school. I spent my adolescence in the
schizophrenic embrace of the wealthy, on the playing fields and in the
dorms and classrooms that condition boys and girls for privilege, and
came back to my working-class relations in the depressed former mill
towns in Maine. I traveled between two universes: one where everyone got
chance after chance after chance, where connections and money and
influence almost guaranteed that you would not fail; the other where no
one ever got a second try. I learned at an early age that when the poor
fall no one picks them up, while the rich stumble and trip their way to
the top.
Those I knew in prep school did not seek out the military and were not
sought by it. But in the impoverished enclaves of central Maine, where I
had relatives living in trailers, nearly everyone was a veteran. My
grandfather. My uncles. My cousins. My second cousins. They were all in
the military. Some of them-including my Uncle Morris, who fought in the
infantry in the South Pacific during World War II-were destroyed by the
war. Uncle Morris drank himself to death in his trailer. He sold the
hunting rifle my grandfather had given to me to buy booze.
He was not alone. After World War II, thousands of families struggled
with broken men who, because they could never read the approved lines
from the patriotic script, had been discarded. They were not trotted out
for red-white-and-blue love fests on the Fourth of July or Veterans Day.
The myth of war held fast, despite the deep bitterness of my
grandmother-who acidly denounced what war had done to her only son-and
of others like her. The myth held because it was all the soldiers and
their families had. Even those who knew it to be a lie-and I think most
did-were loath to give up the fleeting moments of recognition, the only
times in their lives they were told they were worth something.
"For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Chuck him out, the brute!'"
Rudyard Kipling wrote. "But it's 'Saviour of 'is country' when the guns
begin to shoot."
Any story of war is a story of elites preying on the weak, the gullible,
the marginal, the poor. I do not know of a single member of my
graduating prep school class who went into the military. You could not
say this about the high school class that graduated the same year in
Mechanic Falls, Maine.
Geoff Millard was born in Buffalo, New York and lived in a predominately
black neighborhood until he was eleven. His family then moved to
Lockport, a nearby white suburb. He wrestled and played football in high
school. He listened to punk rock.
"I didn't really do well in classes," he says. "But that didn't seem to
matter much to my teachers."
At fifteen he was approached in school by a military recruiter.
"He sat down next to me at a lunch table," Millard says. "He was a
Marine. I remember the uniform was crisp. All the medals were shiny. It
was what I thought I wanted to be at the time.
"He knew my name," Millard adds. "He knew what classes I was taking. He
knew more about me than I did. It was freaky, actually."
Two years later, as a senior, Millard faced graduation after having been
rejected from the only college where he had applied.
"I looked at what jobs I could get," he says. "I wasn't really prepared
to do any job. I wasn't prepared for college. I wasn't prepared for the
workforce. So I started looking at the military. I wanted to go active duty Marine Corps, I thought. You know, they were the best. And that's what I was going to do.
"There were a lot of other reasons behind it, too," he says. "I mean, growing up in this culture you envy that, the soldier."
FEMALE HOMELESS VETERANS AND PTSD
Support the Troops? How About 55,000 Female Homeless Veterans By Jin Zhao, AlterNet 25 July 12, RSN
Homelessness among women veterans is a growing national concern. Tens of thousands of women veterans are fighting a war they did not choose to wage, and many of them have had multiple traumatic experiences, not only during service but also before and after. These traumatic experiences, which can include everything from combat-related stress to childhood abuse to domestic violence, contribute to this growing crisis.
There are some 55,000 homeless women veterans in the U.S. today, and that number is likely to grow as the number of women veterans increases overall. (The VA projects the number to grow from 1.8 million, or 8.2 percent of the total number of veterans, in 2010 to 2.1 million, or 15.2 percent of the total, in 2036.)
Research shows that trauma is a gateway to homelessness. As many as 93 percent of female veterans have been exposed to some type of trauma. The high concentration of trauma among women veterans contributes to the fact that women veterans are four times more likely to become homeless than their civilian counterparts. Among homeless women veterans, 53 percent have experienced military sexual trauma (MST), compared to one in five among women veterans in general.
As more women are deployed in combat operations, trauma is becoming an urgent concern in women veterans' care. The VA reports that 182,000 women have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared to 41,000 in the Gulf War. This increase in women deployment correlates the number of women veterans who suffer PTSD and traumatic brain injury, two major risks related to homelessness.
Jennifer, a 45-year-old homeless veteran, shared with AlterNet her story of struggling with MST over the years. Jennifer joined the Marine Corps in 1988, but her dream of building a military career was shattered just a year later when she was sexually assaulted by a staff sergeant while on duty overseas.
The perpetrator was tried and found guilty, but with little support, Jennifer started a downward spiral. For more than 20 years, Jennifer has struggled with substance addiction and mental illnesses. (She's been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, depression and PTSD.) She has a difficult time holding a job. She's neglected her children. After two failed marriages, Jennifer hit a new low point 18 months ago and became homeless.
Those who work with homeless women veterans would easily recognize this familiar pattern: trauma, addition/mental illness, homelessness. Often the cycle repeats itself. A woman interviewed for a VA study described her experience living that pattern:
"It's like for me, you start with the rape. Then you go into the drugs. And drugs leads to homelessness. You regroup. You go back to the rape. You go back to the drugs. Go back to the homelessness....You go to stay with people and they rape you. It's a vicious cycle until something stops."
Trauma-Informed Care for Homeless Women Veterans
There are few available services tailored to women veterans' needs, and many homeless women vets are not aware of the programs and services that are available to them due to programs' inadequate outreach and communication.
In March, the VA's Office of Inspector General audited a number of VA-funded homeless services providers, and the results raised a few red flags. The OIG found that 31 percent of the providers it reviewed did not adequately address the safety, security and privacy risks of veterans, especially female veterans. In one case, a sex offender was placed in a facility where a homeless women veteran and her 18-month-old son lived.
But these issues are not new. Last year, the Government Accountability Office expressed safety concerns with VA-funded housing. Incidents of sexual harassment or assault on women residents had been reported and there were no minimum gender-specific safety and security standards for the programs.
The VA has vowed to improve safety and security of the providers it funds to serve women veterans. However, ensuring safety and security is only part of what needs to be done to better help homeless women veterans.
"Some services providers overlook the impact of trauma. They mislabel or misunderstand people's challenges and behaviors, when they are in a lot of ways responses to traumatic experiences that people have. So what can happen is that it can lead sometimes to services...designed to help people who experienced trauma end up retraumatizing people inadvertently. By retraumatizing I mean in ways sort of recreating situations that may mimic past trauma," said Kathleen Guarino of the National Center on Family Homelessness.
Guarino worked with the Department of Labor Women's Bureau last year to create Trauma-Informed Care for Women Veterans Experience Homelessness, a guide for community homeless service providers that work with women veterans. According to Guarino, the key to success for service providers is to "identify what [women veterans'] unique needs are, and to design [homeless service] programs to speak to those needs."
That means programs must avoid putting women veterans in situations that mimic their traumatic experiences -- situations that make them feel vulnerable or helpless. Details such as installing locks on doors become crucial in facilities housing women veterans. Structural arrangements such as including women veterans in making policies and rules for themselves are also important because they give women veterans a sense of control over their own lives.
Signs of distress can be subtle. "As somebody becomes agitated or shuts down or becomes more anxious, that could be...misunderstood or mislabeled as defensive or difficult, kind of label them in more negative ways. What may be really happening is somebody is having a trauma-related response," said Guarino. That's why a good understanding of trauma should be an important qualification in those who work with this population.
With proper help, homeless women veterans can break their vicious cycle and get back on their feet. Jennifer has been receiving trauma-informed care for three months and is making remarkable progress in the Veterans Village of San Diego, a residential program for veterans with addiction and mental illness. Sober for four months, she has reconnected with her two older daughters and is getting ready for a new semester at the City College of San Diego, where she will study skin care. She said her life has been "turned around."
Though hopeful for the future, Jennifer wished that help had come earlier. "To turn to addiction, to lose your family, seriously, that should have been acknowledged in the beginning," she said. "But that was a long time ago. Now I just started recovering and it's been 20 years."
Empowering Women in the Military and Beyond
In the recently released documentary The Invisible War, director Kirby Dick documents heart-wrenching stories of military sexual violence victims. Many of these women are retraumatized by the responses to their attacks. In a male-oriented military culture, victims of sexual assault are often discouraged or intimidated so they do not report their assaults. And when assaults are reported, they can be dismissed, and victims blamed.
"When you have military sexual trauma, people look at you like it's your fault or you did something wrong, or you provoked it. And then in the male-oriented environment, they look at you like it is your fault completely so...it is tough," said Jennifer, adding that her roommate is an MST survivor who never reported her assault.
What makes it difficult for women in the military or women veterans to come forward and/or ask for help is the high expectation of self-reliance. "You have to be tough. I chose to be in the military, so things shouldn't bother me. That's how I felt. And I felt like I was very weak if I said anything, like I was whining," Jennifer said. Until recently, she did not tell anybody in her personal life about her assault -- not her ex-husband, her children or her friends.
The military isn't the only place where bad things happen. Many homeless women veterans have experienced multiple traumas before and after their military service as well. Taken together, these traumas become a huge burden.
It is reported that 52 percent of homeless women veterans had "pre-military adversity" such as child abuse (sexual and physical) and domestic violence. Post-military intimate partner abuse is also common among this population.
Worse, pre-military abuse often contributes to a young woman's decision to enter the military in the first place. As a homeless woman veteran told VA researchers, she joined the military to get out of her abusive environment, hoping that the military would be a "safe haven."
What we see here is a pipeline that produces trauma, and it should be taken seriously if we are serious about ending homelessness among women veterans. When girls and young women find themselves in abusive situations, they should have more options than joining the military or sleeping on the streets. Only when women are validated, respected and empowered in the military and in society at large, will the wounds of those who have been hurt start to heal.
Jin Zhao is a freelance journalist, multimedia producer and photographer. Her work has appeared in the Nation and on AlterNet. Follow her on twitter @jinealogy and visit her blog thingsyoudontknowaboutchina.com
Retired professor of English speaks up for peace on earth
By aubunique - July 23, 2012 No comments:
CUTTING PENTAGON BUDGET
*Action: A Great Week to Cut the Pentagon Budget and End the War!
The 2013 "Defense" Appropriations Bill is expected to be voted on in the House this week. Members of Congress are introducing amendments to cut the military budget and to end the war in Afghanistan. Urge your Rep. to support these amendments.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/defense-approps-2013
For Barney Frank's Legacy: Pass the Mulvaney Amendment
Frank is retiring from the House this year after thirty-two years of service. In the cause of working to rein in America's out-of-control military spending, Frank has stood out from his colleagues. Now Frank is trying to do something about the fact that, despite all the bloviating about the deficit, the House is on track to pass a military budget that busts the spending caps of the Budget Control Act.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/10412-for-barney-franks-legacy-pass-the-mulvaney-amendment
WAR ON TERROR NEWSLETTER #6
OMNI NEWSLETTER #6 ON US WAR ON TERRORISM, July 19, 2012. Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace. (#4 Jan. 19, 2012; #5 May 29, 2012).
Related Newsletters: Afghanistan, Air War, Bases, Bush, CIA, Homeland Security, Imperialism, Indefinite Detention, Iraq, Lawlessness, Militarism, National Security State, 9-11, Obama, Pakistan, Pentagon, Secrecy, State Terrorism, Surveillance, Terrorism, Torture , War Crimes, Wars, and more.
"Number of private U.S. citizens killed in terrorist attacks in 2010: 15. Number killed by falling televisions: 16." ("Harper's Index," August 2012, p. 9). And our warrior leaders and their war-monger supporters have produced two wars (or is that four?) to defend "America" and "freedom" at the price of trillions of dollars and tens of thousands of innocent people?
Cole and Lobel, Less Safe, Less Free
Costs of Privatized War on Terror
Klare: Al Qaeda to China
Obama, Oil, China
Allende to Bin Laden
Mother Jones: FBI vs. Muslims, Continued Rendition
JPN: Islamophobia Around the World
Younge: Bigotry and Europe's Terrorists
FAIR: Perceiving "Islamic Terror" in Norway
Bacevitch, What Is It?
European Nations and US
Engelhardt and Bacevich, Special Operations
Who's Winning?
FBI's Manufactured Plots
Silverstein, "Terrorism Expert"
In Colombia
Two Terrorists:
Shakir Hamoodi
Tarek Mahanna
Bacevitch, Obama' Secret Ops
Fox News Misinformation
Two Books on Terrorism
SHAKIR HAMOODI: 9/11, War on Terror, and PERSECUTION (There are hundreds of cases, and many more egregious ones like Hamoodi's. One good source is Susan Herman's Taking Liberties).
Take action:
Hamoodi Family Benefit Trust
c/o Law Office, 1103 East Broadway, Columbia, MO 65201
Sign petition and contribute to the trust: www.helphamoodi.org
1. GUEST COMMENTARY: Support justice for Shakir Hamoodi ...
www.columbiamissourian.com/.../guest-commentary-show-support-s...
May 24, 2012 – Shakir should not go to prison for sending money to his family in Iraq.
2. Help Dr. Shakir Hamoodi
www.helphamoodi.org/
Shakir Hamoodi Dr. Shakir Hamoodi is an Iraq-born US citizen, father, Nuclear Engineer, businessman, Interfaith leader, Islamic scholar and cultural leader ...
3. Shakir Hamoodi and the meaning of justice
Chert Hollow Farm, LLC
cherthollowfarm.com/.../shakir-hamoodi-and-the-meaning-of-justice/
May 19, 2012 – Shakir Hamoodi has been sentenced to Federal prison for three years for " conspiring" to send money to support friends and family left behind in ...
4. 2 people named Shakir Hamoodi in the US
names.whitepages.com › Name Popularity
Find shakir hamoodi on WhitePages. There are 2 people named shakir hamoodi in Columbia, MO.
5. Iraq native did what was right
The Columbia Daily Tribune ...
www.columbiatribune.com/comments/cr/73/114571/
May 27, 2012 – When I heard the judge sentence my friend Shakir Hamoodi to three years in prison, I remembered our first introduction and his advice before I ...
6. Hamoodi - Commentary
The Columbia Daily Tribune - Columbia ...
May 21, 2012 – Shakir Hamoodi and his family came from Iraq and settled in Columbia, where he became a nuclear scientist at the University of Missouri and ...
7. Support Dr. Shakir Hamoodi
www.facebook.com/ShakirHamoodi
To connect with Support Dr. Shakir Hamoodi, sign up for Facebook today. ... Dr. Shakir Hamoodi, a Columbia businessman and cultural leader, was sentenced ...
8. President Barack Obama: Commute the 36-month sentence of Dr ...
blazestuck.tumblr.com/.../president-barack-obama-commute-the-36-...
Jun 3, 2012 – Dr. Shakir Hamoodi has worked tirelessly to ease the tensions between many different faith groups and organizations. His was sentenced to 36 ...
9. Shakir Hamoodi Remarks on Sentencing
tomsager.org/ShakirHamoodiRemarksOnSentencing.html
May 28, 2012 – Remarks on the Sentencing of Shakir Hamoodi for Violating Sanctions of Iraq Veterans for Peace Memorial Day Peace Gathering Columbia ...
10. Shakir Hamoodi
kbia.org/term/shakir-hamoodi
May 18, 2012 – Shakir Hamoodi. closeNews podcasts; Use iTunes • Use a different player • RSS. All Content. closeNews podcasts ... Tagged: Shakir Hamoodi ...
11. News for shakir hamoodi
1. Hamoodi punished for his 'family values'
Columbia Daily Tribune - 7 hours ago
Family values are what my friend Shakir Hamoodi exemplifies. Shakir has lived in the United States since 1985 and raised five children to be ...
Son Of Liberty
By Tarek Mehanna, Harper's Magazine (July 2012)
From a statement read in court by Tarek Mehanna, a twenty-nine-year-old Massachusetts man who in April was sentenced to seventeen and a half years in prison on charges including materially supporting terrorism, for offenses such as translating and posting Al Qaeda propaganda online.
July 01, 2012 "Information Clearing House" -- -- I was born and raised right here in America. This angers many people: How can an American believe the things I believe, take the positions I take? In more ways than one, it's because of America that I am who I am.
When I was six, I began putting together a massive collection of comic books. Batman implanted a concept in my mind, a paradigm as to how the world is set up: that there are oppressors, there are the oppressed, and there are those who step up to defend the oppressed. Throughout my childhood, I gravitated toward any book that reflected that paradigm—Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, even The Catcher in the Rye.
By the time I began high school and took a history class, I was learning just how real that paradigm is. I learned about the Native Americans and what befell them at the hands of European settlers. I learned about how the descendants of those European settlers were in turn oppressed under the tyranny of King George III. I read about Paul Revere, Tom Paine, and how Americans began an armed insurgency against British forces—an insurgency we now celebrate as the American Revolutionary War. I learned about the fight against slavery in this country, and the struggles of the labor unions, working class, and poor. I learned about the civil rights struggle.
From all the historical figures I learned about, one stood out above the rest. I was impressed by many things about Malcolm X, but above all I was fascinated by his transformation. I don't know if you've seen the movie Malcolm X by Spike Lee—it's over three hours long, and the Malcolm at the beginning is different from the Malcolm at the end. He starts off as an illiterate criminal but ends up a husband, a father, a protective and eloquent leader, a disciplined Muslim performing the hajj in Mecca, and, finally, a martyr.
Malcolm's life taught me that Islam is not something inherited; it's not a culture or ethnicity. It's a way of life, a state of mind anyone can choose no matter where he comes from or how he was raised. Since there's no priesthood, I could directly and immediately begin digging into the texts of the Koran and the teachings of Prophet Mohammed. The more I learned, the more I valued Islam like a piece of gold.
With that, my attention turned to what was happening to other Muslims in different parts of the world. And everywhere I looked, I saw the powers-that-be trying to destroy what I loved. I learned what the Soviets had done to the Muslims of Afghanistan. I learned what the Serbs had done to the Muslims of Bosnia . I learned what the Russians were doing to the Muslims of Chechnya. I learned what Israel had done in Lebanon—and what it continues to do in Palestine—with the full backing of the United States.
I learned what America itself was doing to Muslims. I learned about the Gulf War and depleted-uraniumbombs. I learned about the American-led sanctions that prevented food, medicine, and medical equipment from entering Iraq, and how—according to the United Nations—over half a million children perished as a result. I remember a clip from a 60 Minutes interview of Madeleine Albright in which she expressed her view that these dead children were "worth it." I watched on September 11 as a group of people felt driven to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings from their outrage at the deaths of these children.
I watched as America attacked and invaded Iraq. I saw the effects of "shock and awe" in the opening days of the invasion—the children in hospital wards with shrapnel from American missiles sticking out of their foreheads. I learned about the town of Haditha, where twenty-four Muslims—including a seventy-six-year-old man in a wheelchair, women, and even toddlers—were shot up by U.S. Marines. I learned about Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, a fourteen-year-old Iraqi girl gangraped by five American soldiers, who then shot her and her family and set fire to the corpses. These are just the stories that make it to the headlines.
I mentioned Paul Revere. When he jumped on a horse and went on his midnight ride, it was to warn the people that the British were marching to Lexington to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock, then on to Concord to confiscate the weapons stored there by the Minutemen. By the time they got to Concord, they found the Minutemen waiting for them, weapons in hand. From that battle came the American Revolution. There's an Arabic word to describe what those Minutemen did that day. It was a word repeated many times in this courtroom. That word is jihad.
"Unleashed: Globalizing the Global War on Terror"
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175547
By Andrew Bacevich, TomDispatch.com, posted May 29, 2012
The author teaches history and international relations at Boston University
Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, The Golden Age of Special Operations
Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 6:51am, May 29, 2012.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch.
They have a way of slipping under the radar, whether heading into Pakistan looking for Osama bin Laden, Central Africa looking for Joseph Kony, or Yemen assumedly to direct local military action against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. I'm talking, of course, about U.S. special operations forces. These days, from Somalia to the Philippines, presidential global interventions are increasingly a dime a dozen; and they are normally spearheaded by those special ops troops backed by CIA or Air Force drones. Few Americans even notice.
An ever expanding secret military cocooned inside the U.S. military, special operations types remain remarkably, determinedly anonymous. With the exception of their commander, Admiral William McRaven, they generally won't even reveal their last names in public, which only contributes to their growing mystique in this country.
But for a crew so dedicated to anonymity, they also turn out to be publicity hounds of the first order. In 2011, for instance, active-duty U.S. Navy Seals (first-name only please!) became movie stars, spearheading a number one box office hit, Act of Valor. It was the film equivalent of a vanity-press production, focused as it did on their own skills in battle in... hmmm, the Philippines (to prevent a terror strike against the U.S.). A team of SEALs even parachuted onto Sunset Boulevard for the film's Hollywood premiere.
Then last week another special ops team, in coordination with their Norwegian and Australian counterparts, heroically rescued the mayor of Tampa Bay, held "hostage." They also rappelled down from helicopters and arrived in Humvees to secure the area around the Tampa Convention Center, which will service 15,000 members of the media when the Republicans hit town to nominate Mitt Romney for president. Whew! Another close publicity call!
It was a mock assault on terror watched by thousands of Tampa residents, all timed to the annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference, also in town and swarmed by 8,000 attendees, including McRaven. Its goal: to bring together special operators from around the world and the industry that arms and accessorizes them. (U.S. special ops forces have a $2 billion purchasing budget each year for all the gadgets the defense industry can produce.)
Oh, and if you want a measure of how hot the special ops guys are these days, how much everyone wants to horn in on their act, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke before the conference, offering, according to Danger Room's David Axe, "a vision in which shadowy U.S. and allied Special Operations Forces, working hand in hand with America's embassies and foreign governments, together play a key role preventing low-intensity conflicts." And if those conflicts aren't prevented, then the Foreign Service, Clinton assured her listeners, will be happy to lend its "language and cultural skills" to the fighting prowess of the special ops troops. Diplomacy? It's so old school in such a sexy, new, "covert" war-fightin' world.
The basic principle is simple enough: if you see a juggernaut heading your way, duck. As TomDispatch regular Andrew Bacevich, editor most recently of The Short American Century, makes clear, war American-style is heading back "into the shadows" and it's going to be one roller-coaster of a scary ride. (To catch Timothy MacBain's latest Tomcast audio interview in which Bacevich discusses what we don't know about special operations forces, click here or download it to your iPod here.) Tom
Globalizing the Global War on Terror
By Andrew J. Bacevich
As he campaigns for reelection, President Obama periodically reminds audiences of his success in terminating the deeply unpopular Iraq War. With fingers crossed for luck, he vows to do the same with the equally unpopular war in Afghanistan. If not exactly a peacemaker, our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president can (with some justification) at least claim credit for being a war-ender.
Yet when it comes to military policy, the Obama administration's success in shutting down wars conducted in plain sight tells only half the story, and the lesser half at that. More significant has been this president's enthusiasm for instigating or expanding secret wars, those conducted out of sight and by commandos.
President Franklin Roosevelt may not have invented the airplane, but during World War II he transformed strategic bombing into one of the principal emblems of the reigning American way of war. General Dwight D. Eisenhower had nothing to do with the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. Yet, as president, Ike's strategy of Massive Retaliation made nukes the centerpiece of U.S. national security policy.
So, too, with Barack Obama and special operations forces. The U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) with its constituent operating forces -- Green Berets, Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, and the like -- predated his presidency by decades. Yet it is only on Obama's watch that these secret warriors have reached the pinnacle of the U.S. military's prestige hierarchy.
John F. Kennedy famously gave the Green Berets their distinctive headgear. Obama has endowed the whole special operations "community" with something less decorative but far more important: privileged status that provides special operators with maximum autonomy while insulating them from the vagaries of politics, budgetary or otherwise. Congress may yet require the Pentagon to undertake some (very modest) belt-tightening, but one thing's for sure: no one is going to tell USSOCOM to go on a diet. What the special ops types want, they will get, with few questions asked -- and virtually none of those few posed in public.
Since 9/11, USSOCOM's budget has quadrupled. The special operations order of battle has expanded accordingly. At present, there are an estimated 66,000 uniformed and civilian personnel on the rolls, a doubling in size since 2001 with further growth projected. Yet this expansion had already begun under Obama's predecessor. His essential contribution has been to broaden the special ops mandate. As one observer put it, the Obama White House let Special Operations Command "off the leash."
As a consequence, USSOCOM assets today go more places and undertake more missions while enjoying greater freedom of action than ever before. After a decade in which Iraq and Afghanistan absorbed the lion's share of the attention, hitherto neglected swaths of Africa, Asia, and Latin America are receiving greater scrutiny. Already operating in dozens of countries around the world -- as many as 120 by the end of this year -- special operators engage in activities that range from reconnaissance and counterterrorism to humanitarian assistance and "direct action." The traditional motto of the Army special forces is "De Oppresso Liber" ("To Free the Oppressed"). A more apt slogan for special operations forces as a whole might be "Coming soon to a Third World country near you!"
The displacement of conventional forces by special operations forces as the preferred U.S. military instrument -- the "force of choice" according to the head of USSOCOM, Admiral William McRaven -- marks the completion of a decades-long cultural repositioning of the American soldier. The G.I., once represented by the likes of cartoonist Bill Mauldin's iconic Willie and Joe, is no more, his place taken by today's elite warrior professional. Mauldin's creations were heroes, but not superheroes. The nameless, lionized SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden are flesh-and blood Avengers. Willie and Joe were "us." SEALs are anything but "us." They occupy a pedestal well above mere mortals. Couch potato America stands in awe of their skill and bravery.
This cultural transformation has important political implications. It represents the ultimate manifestation of the abyss now separating the military and society. Nominally bemoaned by some, including former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, this civilian-military gap has only grown over the course of decades and is now widely accepted as the norm. As one consequence, the American people have forfeited owner's rights over their army, having less control over the employment of U.S. forces than New Yorkers have over the management of the Knicks or Yankees.
As admiring spectators, we may take at face value the testimony of experts (even if such testimony is seldom disinterested) who assure us that the SEALs, Rangers, Green Berets, etc. are the best of the best, and that they stand ready to deploy at a moment's notice so that Americans can sleep soundly in their beds. If the United States is indeed engaged, as Admiral McRaven has said, in "a generational struggle," we will surely want these guys in our corner.
Even so, allowing war in the shadows to become the new American way of war is not without a downside. Here are three reasons why we should think twice before turning global security over to Admiral McRaven and his associates.
Goodbye accountability. Autonomy and accountability exist in inverse proportion to one another. Indulge the former and kiss the latter goodbye. In practice, the only thing the public knows about special ops activities is what the national security apparatus chooses to reveal. Can you rely on those who speak for that apparatus in Washington to tell the truth? No more than you can rely on JPMorgan Chase to manage your money prudently. Granted, out there in the field, most troops will do the right thing most of the time. On occasion, however, even members of an elite force will stray off the straight-and-narrow. (Until just a few weeks ago, most Americans considered White House Secret Service agents part of an elite force.) Americans have a strong inclination to trust the military. Yet as a famous Republican once said: trust but verify. There's no verifying things that remain secret. Unleashing USSOCOM is a recipe for mischief.
Hello imperial presidency. From a president's point of view, one of the appealing things about special forces is that he can send them wherever he wants to do whatever he directs. There's no need to ask permission or to explain. Employing USSOCOM as your own private military means never having to say you're sorry. When President Clinton intervened in Bosnia or Kosovo, when President Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, they at least went on television to clue the rest of us in. However perfunctory the consultations may have been, the White House at least talked things over with the leaders on Capitol Hill. Once in a while, members of Congress even cast votes to indicate approval or disapproval of some military action. With special ops, no such notification or consultation is necessary. The president and his minions have a free hand. Building on the precedents set by Obama, stupid and reckless presidents will enjoy this prerogative no less than shrewd and well-intentioned ones.
And then what...? As U.S. special ops forces roam the world slaying evildoers, the famous question posed by David Petraeus as the invasion of Iraq began -- "Tell me how this ends" -- rises to the level of Talmudic conundrum. There are certainly plenty of evildoers who wish us ill (primarily but not necessarily in the Greater Middle East). How many will USSOCOM have to liquidate before the job is done? Answering that question becomes all the more difficult given that some of the killing has the effect of adding new recruits to the ranks of the non-well-wishers.
In short, handing war to the special operators severs an already too tenuous link between war and politics; it becomes war for its own sake. Remember George W. Bush's "Global War on Terror"? Actually, his war was never truly global. War waged in a special-operations-first world just might become truly global -- and never-ending. In that case, Admiral McRaven's "generational struggle" is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Andrew J. Bacevich is professor of history and international relations at Boston University and a TomDispatch regular. He is editor of the new book The Short American Century, just published by Harvard University Press. To listen to Timothy MacBain's latest Tomcast audio interview in which Bacevich discusses what we don't know about special operations forces, click here or download it to your iPod here.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch and join us on Facebook.
Copyright 2012 Andrew
Does Fox Hire Uninformed Pundits—or Does Being on Fox Make You Uninformed?
Posted on 06/08/2012 by Jim Naureckas
On the popular Fox News show the Five (6/6/12), co-host Eric Bolling blasted Muslim advocates who are suing the New York Police Department over its spying program targeting Muslims, saying that in the last 15 years, "Every terrorist on American soil has been a Muslim."
In fact, Muslims are responsible for a tiny fraction of terrorism in the U.S.; as a Rand study pointed out in 2010 (Extra!, 5/11), of the "83 terrorist attacks in the United States between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only three…were clearly connected with the jihadist cause."
Bolling has made a habit of broadcasting false information about terrorism in the U.S. Last year (7/13/11), he bizarrely claimed that there hadn't been any terrorism on American soil when George W. Bush was in office. He later (7/14/11) amended that to say "in the aftermath of 9/11"–which is equally untrue (FAIR Blog, 7/15/11).
Studies have suggested a correlation between primarily relying on Fox News for your information about the world and ignorance about basic facts. Those studies do not address whether the relationship is causal—in other words, it isn't clear if watching Fox News makes one ignorant, or if less-informed people are somehow drawn to Fox News. Eric Bolling's popularity on Fox does not clear up that question.
Michael Blain, Power, Discourse and Victimage Ritual in the War on Terror
Blending concepts from 'dramatism' such as 'victimage ritual' with Foucault's approach to modern power and knowledge regimes, this book presents a novel and illuminating perspective on political power and domination resulting from the global war on terrorism. With attention to media sources and political discourse within the context of the global war on terror, the author draws attention to the manner in which power elites construct scapegoats by way of a victimage ritual, thus providing themselves with a political pretext for extending their power and authority over new territories and populations, as well as legitimating an intensification of domestic surveillance and social control. A compelling analysis of ritual rhetoric and political violence, "Power, Discourse and Victimage Ritual in the War on Terror" will be of interest to sociologists, political theorists and scholars of media and communication concerned with questions of surveillance and social control, political communication, hegemony, foreign policy and the war on terror.
An Intellectual History of Terror:
War, Violence and the State By Mikkel Thorup
2010 by Routledge – 282 pages.
Series: Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies
• View Inside this Book
• Description
• Contents
• Author Bio
• Subjects
This book investigates terrorism and anti-terrorism as related and interacting phenomena, undertaking a simultaneous reading of terrorist and statist ideologists in order to reconstruct the 'deadly dialogue' between them.
This work investigates an extensive array of violent phenomena and actors, trying to broaden the scope and ambition of the history of terrorism studies. It combines an extensive reading of state and terrorist discourse from various sources with theorizing of modernity's political, institutional and ideological development, forms of violence, and its guiding images of self and other, order and disorder. Chapters explore groups of actors (terrorists, pirates, partisans, anarchists, Islamists, neo-Nazis, revolutionaries, soldiers, politicians, scholars) as well as a broad empirical source material, and combine them into a narrative of how our ideas and concepts of state, terrorism, order, disorder, territory, violence and others came about and influence the struggle between the modern state and its challengers. The main focus is on how the state and its challengers have conceptualized and legitimated themselves, defended their existence and, most importantly, their violence. In doing so, the book situates terrorism and anti-terrorism within modernity's grander history of state, war, ideology and violence.
This book will be of much interest to students of critical terrorism studies, political violence, sociology, philosophy, and Security Studies/IR in genera
Mikkel Thorup is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and the History of Ideas, University of Aarhus, Denmark
CHEMICAL WARFARE NEWSLETTER #1
OMNI CHEMICAL WARFARE NEWSLETTER #1. July 16, 2012. Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace.
Here is the link to all OMNI newsletters: http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/ For a knowledge-based peace, justice, and ecology movement and an informed citizenry as the foundation for change. See: War Crimes, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), Vietnam War and other wars.
VVAW vs. Agent Orange
Agent Orange Relief Act
VFP vs. Agent Orange
Wikipedia: Tear Gas
War Resisters League Campaign vs. Tear Gas
Israeli Tear Gas
The Legacy of Agent Orange is a Continuing Focus of VVAW By Paul Cox
By the time you read this [2008], the fourth Vietnamese delegation of Agent Orange victims co-sponsored by VVAW will have finished their 10-city tour, including a stop in Chicago where they were hosted by VVAW. Public events were held at the Gage Gallery in Roosevelt University and at the Jane Hull House, and they were interviewed on NPR's World View program. Bob Gronko did a great job organizing their stay in Chicago, and VVAW made a generous donation to support the tour.
VVAW has a long history of fighting for justice for victims of Agent Orange poisoning; VVAW was a loud and clear voice exposing AO and calling for help and compensation for veterans suffering the ill effects of AO/dioxin since 1978. In recent years, VVAW has strongly supported the Vietnamese people in their efforts to achieve recognition and for relief from the massive damage AO/dioxin has done to their environment and their people.
VVAW has hosted in Chicago Agent Orange victims delegations in 2005, 2007, and October 2008 (the other delegation went only to DC). The delegations are from the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA), which is the membership organization in Vietnam fighting for justice for the Vietnamese. Dave Cline and Bill Davis—both of whom we lost last year—and many others in VVAW have worked hard on the AO issue, which continues to develop as more information becomes available about its effects. But much more work is needed.
As reported in the last issue of The Veteran, the US Court of Appeals failed in its duty to reinstate the VAVA lawsuit against the chemical companies that was dismissed by Jack Weinstein. On October 6, attorneys for VAVA filed a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court asking them to hear the case for reinstatement. This court, though, is not likely to accept the case, but the Vietnamese want to exhaust all remedies. Whether or not the case dies at the steps of the Supreme Court, the struggle will continue.
As you may know the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC) is one of the organizations in the US that is working to support VAVA. Dave Cline and Bill Davis were on the national board and national coordinators of VAORRC, as are VVAW members Barry Romo and Paul Cox. At the steps of the Supreme Court, VAORRC launched the international corporate campaign against Dow and Monsanto: "Do the right thing – compensate Vietnam's Agent Orange victims!" Next year VAORRC will mount a legislative campaign to convince Congress to step up to our responsibilities and provide—if for no other reason—real funds for humanitarian assistance to the Vietnamese victims of AO. The legislation has not yet been written, but a number of influential congress members and senators have expressed firm support for such a bill. When the bill is submitted, it should have provisions for a number of distinct projects:
• Environmental clean-up of the forty identified hotspots.
• Stationary or mobile clinics for pre-natal testing of pregnant women who may have been exposed to AO.
• Testing programs for populations living near hot spots for dioxin in their bodies.
• Genetic and epidemiological research into the multi-generational effects of dioxin exposure.
• Reconstructive surgery for the many children with deformities whose lives could be improved by it.
• Prostheses, wheelchairs, accessibility modifications to habitat, and independent living training for those whose can benefit from such aid.
• Medical treatment for those sick from AO.
• Long-term supportive care for those who are disabled from exposures or birth defects.
• Financial assistance to those families driven into poverty due to disabilities or birth defects of family members.
Getting comprehensive well-funded legislation through Congress will take a major advocacy effort. If it is to be successful, it will require some effort from every VVAW member and supporter, and every person in this country who thinks our nation needs to step up to its responsibilities. Once the legislation is introduced, we will all have to contact our representatives and urge them to support it. Actually, in some cases, we will have to not only urge it; we will have to require it, insist upon it, demand it, and shout it. It will be a fight worthy of VVAW!
AGENT ORANGE LEGISLATION: VICTIMS OF AGENT ORANGE RELIEF ACT OF 2011, HR 2634, SUPPORT FOR – 2011
(Paul Cox, VFP Chapter 69)
Whereas, The U.S. government, in violation of international law, waged massive chemical warfare in Vietnam, including the use of Agent Orange and other herbicides containing highly toxic dioxin, from 1961 to 1971, and 10
Whereas, Chemical companies, including Dow Chemical and Monsanto and thirty-six others, knowingly and unnecessarily produced Agent Orange contaminated with dioxin, and
Whereas, Dioxin exposure causes various forms of cancers, reproductive illnesses, immune deficiency, endocrine deficiencies, nervous system damage, physical and developmental disabilities, emotional problems, and epigenetic effects, and
Whereas, In Vietnam more than three million people, and in the U.S. hundreds of thousands of veterans, their children, and Vietnamese-Americans, have been sickened, disabled or died from the effects of Agent Orange/dioxin, and
Whereas, Dioxin residues in the soil, sediment, and food continue to poison many people in numerous areas throughout southern Vietnam, and
Whereas, Vietnamese of least three generations born since the war are now suffering from disabilities due to their parents' exposure to Agent Orange or from direct exposure in the environment, and
Whereas, Many Veterans for Peace members and other veterans suffer from affects of Agent Orange due to their exposure in Vietnam, as do their children, and
Whereas, Vietnamese Americans have the same types and incidence of health problems related to Agent Orange as the Vietnamese and US Veterans, and
Whereas, The U.S. government has refused to recognize its responsibility clean up the contamination it left in Vietnam or to heal the wounds of war, and has failed to provide assistance for the serious health, economic and environmental devastation caused by Agent Orange that continues through to the present day, and
Whereas, Dow Chemical and Monsanto and the other chemical manufacturers have refused to recognize that Agent Orange is deleterious to human health and have refused to recognize their responsibility to compensate their victims in Vietnam, and
Whereas, 2011 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the defoliation program in Vietnam in 1961 without any significant remedial action by the U.S. government or the chemical companies, and
Whereas, Veterans for Peace has a long history of holding the US Government and the chemical companies accountable to all victims of Agent Orange both in Vietnam and in the U.S., and
Whereas, Congressman Bob Filner has in July, 2011, introduced legislation into the House of Representatives—Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2001, HR 2634—that contains four elements: environmental remediation of the widespread dioxin contamination in Vietnam; assistance to Vietnamese Agent Orange victims for health care and other necessary social services; creation of regional medical centers in the US for the Agent-Orange-affected children and grandchildren of US veterans; and medical assistance to the Vietnamese-Americans affected by Agent Orange.
Therefore, Be It Resolved, Veterans for Peace calls for all Congress members to co-sponsor and support HR 2634, Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2011,
And Be It Further Resolved, Veterans for Peace calls on all Senators to enact and support similar legislation. 11
And Be It Further Resolved, Veterans for Peace calls for Dow Chemical, Monsanto, and the other chemical companies to assume their responsibility by allocating funds to make a significant contribution to meet the needs of victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam.
Approved at the 2011 VFP national convention – Portland, OR
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Results 1 - 15 of 124 – We found 124 pages based on your search ( Agent Orange ). ... Support Of Agent Orange Victims, Justice for Vietnamā€™s Agent Orange ... OF AGENT ORANGE RELIEF ACT OF 2011, HR 2634, SUPPORT FOR 2011 US . ... by Paul Cox Originally ... of the lawsuit by the Vietnam Association for Victims ...
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H.R. 2634, the Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2011 .... Tribunal of Conscience in Support of the Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange 1. ... Heading the delegation is Paul Cox (Read Paul Cox's statement » and Claire Tran's statement ».
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VVAW has a long history of fighting for justice for victims of Agent Orange ... efforts to achieve recognition and for relief from the massive damage AO/dioxin has done ... coordinators of VAORRC, as are VVAW members Barry Romo and Paul Cox. ... congress members and senators have expressed firm support for such a bill.
ROLLING THUNDER®, INC
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Feb 1, 2012 – after all previous wars, and to help correct the past and to protect future ..... The invocation was given by Rich Cox,. National ... Paul Carro and Gus Dante opposed. ... HR 2634. Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2011.
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Elliott Adams (former President, Veterans for Peace, MO)
Steve Ault (Gay & lesbian activist, NY)
CS gas TEAR GAS
CS gas
IUPAC name[hide]
2-Chlorobenzalmalononitrile
Other names[hide]
Tear gas
Jmol-3D images
C10H5Cl N2[2]
188.6 g/mol[1]
Colourless gas when burned
93°C, (366.15 K), (199.4 °F)
310 °C, (583.15 K), (590 °F)[3]
Vapor pressure
(mm Hg) 3.4 × 10−5 at 20 °C
External MSDS
Related compounds SDBS
Supplementary data page
Structure and
n, εr, etc.
Thermodynamic
Phase behaviour
Solid, liquid, gas
UV, IR, NMR, MS
(verify) (what is: / ?)
Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa)
Infobox references
2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called o-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile) (chemical formula: C10H5ClN2), a cyanocarbon, is the defining component of a "tear gas" commonly referred to as CS gas, which is used as a riot control agent. "CS gas" is actually an aerosol of a volatile solvent (a substance that dissolves other active substances and that easily evaporates with it) and 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, which is a solid compound at room temperature. CS gas is generally accepted as being non-lethal. It was discovered by two Americans, Ben Corson and Roger Stoughton, at Middlebury College in 1928, and the chemical's name is derived from the first letters of the scientists' surnames.[4][5]
CS was developed and tested secretly at Porton Down in Wiltshire, England, in the 1950s and 1960s. CS was used first on animals, then subsequently on British Army servicemen volunteers. Notably, CS has a limited effect on animals due to "under-developed tear-ducts and protection by fur".[6]
• 1 Production
o 1.1 Use as an aerosol
• 2 Effects
• 3 Toxicity
• 4 Decontamination
• 5 Use
o 5.1 Bahrain
o 5.2 Egypt
o 5.3 Cyprus
o 5.4 Iraq
o 5.5 Israel
o 5.6 Philippines
o 5.7 Sri Lanka
o 5.8 United Kingdom
 5.8.1 Northern Ireland
 5.8.2 Great Britain
o 5.9 United States
o 5.10 Vietnam
o 5.11 Elsewhere
• 6 See also
• 7 References
• 8 External links
[edit] Production
CS is synthesized by the reaction of 2-chlorobenzaldehyde and malononitrile via the Knoevenagel condensation:
ClC6H4CHO + H2C(CN)2 → ClC6H4CHC(CN)2 + H2O
The reaction is catalysed with weak base like piperidine or pyridine. The production method has not changed since the substance was discovered by Corson and Stoughton.[7] Other bases, solvent free methods and microwave promotion have been suggested to improve the production of the substance.[8]
The physiological properties had been discovered already by the chemists first synthesising the compound in 1928: "Physiological Properties. Certain of these dinitriles have the effect of sneeze and tear gases. They are harmless when wet but to handle the dry powder is disastrous."[7]
[edit] Use as an aerosol
As 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile is a solid at room temperature, not a gas, a variety of techniques have been used to make this solid usable as an aerosol:
• Melted and sprayed in the molten form.
• Dissolved in organic solvent.
• CS2 dry powder (CS2 is a siliconized, micro-pulverized form of CS).
• CS from thermal grenades by generation of hot gases.[1]
In the Waco Siege, CS was dissolved in the organic solvent dichloromethane (also known as methylene chloride). The solution was dispersed as an aerosol via explosive force and when the highly volatile dichloromethane evaporated, CS crystals precipitated and formed a fine dispersion in the air.[1]
[edit] Effects
Many types of tear gas and other riot control agents have been produced with effects ranging from mild tearing of the eyes to immediate vomiting and prostration. CN and CS are the most widely used and known, but around 15 different types of tear gas have been developed worldwide e.g. adamsite or bromoacetone, CNB, and CNC. CS has become the most popular due to its strong effect and lack of toxicity in comparison with other similar chemical agents. The effect of CS on a person will depend on whether it is packaged as a solution or used as an aerosol. The size of solution droplets and the size of the CS particulates after evaporation are factors determining its effect on the human body.[9]
The chemical reacts with moisture on the skin and in the eyes, causing a burning sensation and the immediate forceful and uncontrollable shutting of the eyes. Effects usually include tears streaming from the eyes, profuse coughing, exceptional nasal discharge that is full of mucus, burning in the eyes, eyelids, nose and throat areas, disorientation, dizziness and restricted breathing. It will also burn the skin where sweaty and or sunburned. In highly concentrated doses it can also induce severe coughing and vomiting. Almost all of the immediate effects wear off within an hour (such as exceptional nasal discharge and profuse coughing), although the feeling of burning and highly irritated skin may persist for hours. Affected clothing will need to be washed several times or thrown away.
[edit] Toxicity
Bogside Artists' mural of a boy running from CS gas in Derry.
Although described as a non-lethal weapon for crowd control, many studies have raised doubts about this classification. As well as creating severe pulmonary damage, CS can also significantly damage the heart and liver.[10]
On September 28, 2000, Prof. Dr. Uwe Heinrich released a study commissioned by John C. Danforth, of the United States Office of Special Counsel, to investigate the use of CS by the FBI at the Branch Davidians' Mount Carmel compound. He concluded that the lethality of CS used would have been determined mainly by two factors: whether gas masks were used and whether the occupants were trapped in a room. He suggests that if no gas masks were used and the occupants were trapped, then, "...there is a distinct possibility that this kind of CS exposure can significantly contribute to or even cause lethal effects."[1]
Many reports have associated CS exposure with miscarriages.[10] This is consistent with its reported clastogenic effect (abnormal chromosome change) on mammalian cells.
When CS is metabolized, cyanide can be detected in human tissue.[10] According to the United States Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, CS emits "very toxic fumes" when heated to decomposition, and at specified concentrations CS gas is an immediate danger to life and health. They also state that those exposed to CS gas should seek medical attention immediately.[2]
In Israel, CS gas was reported to be the cause of death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah on December 31, 2010,[11] although the Israel Defence Forces have questioned the veracity of the report. In Egypt, CS gas was reported to be the cause of death of several protesters in Mohamed Mahmoud street near Tahrir square on November 2011 protests.
It has been noted that the solvent MiBK is itself harmful, and can cause inflammation, dermatitis, burns to the skin and liver damage.[12]
[edit] Decontamination
CS contamination can be removed by washing with an alkaline solution of water and 5% sodium bisulfite.[6][13]
[edit] Use
RWGŁ-3 Polish tear gas grenade launcher.
CS was used to flush the Viet Cong from their tunnels in Vietnam.
CS is used in spray form by many police forces as a temporary incapacitant and to subdue attackers or persons who are violently aggressive. Officers that are trained in the use and application of CS spray are routinely exposed to it as part of their training.
Recently, blank pistol cartridges carrying CS in powder form have been released to public. These, when fired in relatively close ranges, fully expose the target to the effects of CS, and are employed as a potent defensive weapon in regions where blank firing pistols are legally permitted for such use.
Although predominantly used by police it has also been used in criminal attacks in various countries.[14][15][16][17]
Use of CS in war is prohibited under the terms of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, signed by most nations in 1993 with all but five other nations signing between the years of 1994 through 1997. The reasoning behind the prohibition is pragmatic: use of CS by one combatant could easily trigger retaliation with much more toxic chemical weapons such as nerve agents. Only five nations have not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention and are therefore unhindered by restrictions on the use of CS gas: Angola, Egypt, North Korea, Somalia, and Syria.[18]
Domestic police use of CS is legal in many countries, however, as the Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits only military use.
[edit] Bahrain
Bahrain riot police use tear gas on protesters in Manama during 2011-2012 Bahraini uprising
CS gas has been used extensively by Bahrain's police since the start of the 2011 Bahraini Uprising.[19](p260) The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry concluded that Bahrain's police used a disproportionate amount of CS gas when dispersing protests, and that in a number of situations, police fired CS gas into private homes in an "unnecessary and indiscriminate" manner.[19](p277) In one particular incident witnessed by Commission investigators, police fired "at least four tear gas canisters (each containing six projectiles) ... from a short range into the kitchen and living room of a home."[19](p261)
According to opposition activists and families of the deceased, ten individuals have died as a result of CS gas between 25 March 2011 and 17 December 2011.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] One allegedly died from the impact of the CS gas canister[25], and the remainder are said to have died from the effects of inhaling the gas. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry received information that a further three deaths may have been attributable to the use of CS gas.[19](pp239-40,253) Of these three, one allegedly died from the impact of the canister, and two from the effects of inhaling the gas.
[edit] Egypt
CS was widely used by Egypt's Police/Military Forces in November 2011. The CS gas used was imported from the US.[citation needed]
[edit] Cyprus
CS was first tested in the field by the British army in Cyprus in 1958. At this time it was known by the code name T792.[30]
[edit] Iraq
Iraq successfully developed CS during the 1970s and during the 1980s produced tons of the substance firstly at Salman Pak and later at al-Muthanna.[31] Then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered troops to use nerve agents against Iraqi Kurds in his own country and against Iran during the Iran–Iraq War. It is believed that Iraqi forces used multiple chemical agents during the attack, including mustard gas and the nerve agents sarin, soman, tabun and VX;[32] some sources have also pointed to the blood agent hydrogen cyanide.
Main article: Halabja poison gas attack
Blackwater Worldwide, acting as an agent of the United States, deployed CS in the Iraq War from a helicopter hovering over a checkpoint in the Green Zone in Bagdhad.[33]
[edit] Israel
Israel Police forces spray CS gas at riot control situations. It is widely used at demonstrations within the Palestinian Territories and at the Israeli West Bank barrier.[34][35]
[edit] Philippines
CS tear gas was used in suppression of the mutiny in Makati that was led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes. The tear gas was fired in the building and all the people in the building including reporters were affected.[citation needed]
[edit] Sri Lanka
The LTTE, also known as Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, an insurgent group in Sri Lanka used CS gas against government forces that were on an offensive to flush and defeat these insurgents during September 2008.[36] Its use hindered the army's progress but ultimately proved ineffective in preventing the army from overrunning LTTE positions.
This is one of the first few cases of insurgents using CS gas as an insurgent weapon.
[edit] United Kingdom
[edit] Northern Ireland
A mural in Derry, Northern Ireland of a young boy in a gas mask holding a petrol bomb during the Battle of the Bogside, August 1969.
CS gas was used extensively in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland during the "Battle of the Bogside", a two-day riot in August, 1969. A total of 1,091 canisters containing 12.5g of CS each, and 14 canisters containing 50g of CS each, were released in the densely populated residential area.[37] On 30 August the Himsworth Inquiry was set up to investigate the medical effects of its use in Derry. Its conclusions, viewed in the political context of the time, still pointed towards the necessity of further testing of CS gas before being used as a riot control agent. During the rioting in Belfast, the following year, known as the Falls Curfew, the Army fired up to 1,600 canisters into the densely populated Falls Road area. It was also used in Lenadoon on 9 July 1972 on the breakdown of the IRA ceasefire. Not long after, the British Army and RUC ceased using CS in Northern Ireland. Up to this point, it had been used in crowd control scenarios in Derry and Belfast.
[edit] Great Britain
The first use of CS gas on the UK mainland that was not part of military training was carried out in 1944 during a hostage siege at a North London address. Soldiers were asked to throw CS grenades through the skylight in hope of bringing the incident to a speedy conclusion, however, the hostage-taker had brought his civilian-issue gas mask with him, negating the effect.[citation needed]
The siege of Trough Gate, in Oldham, during 1973 was the second non-military use of CS gas on UK Mainland. It was applied to the rear of a van where the chief suspect was hiding. The suspect committed suicide with the handgun he was armed with.
The first use of CS tear gas to quell rioting in mainland Britain was in the Toxteth area of Liverpool in 1981.[38]
CS gas incapacitant sprays were first introduced into the British police in 1995, to assist them in dealing with violent incidents.[39] The CS is in the form of a hand-held aerosol canister, with the solution being 5% CS, with methyl isobutyl ketone as the solvent, which is propelled by pressurized nitrogen. The liquid stream is directed where the user points the canister, being accurate up to 4 metres. All forces dictate that for an officer to be authorised to carry CS, they have to have completed a training course in the spray's use. Under UK firearm law CS and other incapacitant sprays are classed as prohibited weapons, making it unlawful for a member of the public to possess such an item. In recent years, some forces have stopped using CS, in favour of the new PAVA spray.[40]
A six month trial by sixteen police forces in England began on the 1 March 1996. Only two weeks later, on 16 March 1996, a Gambian asylum seeker, Ibrahima Sey was taken to Ilford Police Station in east London. Whilst incapacitating the man, police sprayed him with CS and held him on the ground for over 15 minutes, and he subsequently died. Although a verdict of unlawful killing was given by the jury at the end of the inquest into his death, no charges were brought against any member of the police force.[41]
The police forces that do use the PIS in the UK require that the personnel undergoing training should themselves be sprayed with a 3% dissolved CS, during self-defense training, in order for them to be able to be authorized to carry it as personal protection equipment. They are also trained in helping the incapacitated person recover quickly once successfully restrained. Most forces currently issue CS spray to its officers, but there has been a recent move for a few forces to issue PAVA Spray (pelargonic acid vanillylamide aka nonivamide).
The CS spray used by UK police is generally more concentrated than spray used by American police forces depending on the particular city/state (e.g. Campus Police, Keyser, West Virginia.[42]
In 1999 the UK mental health charity MIND called for a suspension in its use until it is fully tested and there is proof that CS is safe.[43]
In February 2006, there were calls to have CS spray banned in the UK after Dan Ford, from Wareham in Dorset, was permanently facially scarred after being sprayed in the face with a police CS canister. Mr Ford was subsequently advised by doctors to stay out of sunlight for at least 12 months. After the incident, his cousin, Donna Lewis, was quoted as saying, "To look at him, it was like looking at a melting man, with liquid oozing from his face."[44] However, it has not yet been confirmed that Mr Ford's injury was a reaction to having been exposed to police CS spray, or whether an unrelated chemical exposure caused the injury. An investigation is ongoing.
In January 2011, CS was used by the Metropolitan Police at a UK Uncut protest in London.[45][46]
The British Armed Forces use CS gas annually to test their CBRN equipment. During initial training they introduce recruits to CS gas by ordering them into a small enclosed space known as a Respirator Test Facility (RTF) and igniting chemical tablets to induce CS production. After recruits have carried out their CBRN drills, they must remove their respirators and inhale the CS to realise it effects and become confident their masks work.[not in citation given] [47][48]
[edit] United States
CS is used by many police forces within the United States. It was most famously used as one of a number of techniques by Federal Bureau of Investigation law enforcement officials in the 1993 Waco Siege.[49]
Riot police in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in September, 2009 used CS gas and riot control techniques to disperse assemblies in the vicinity of the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit.
In Berkeley, California during the Bloody Thursday events in People's Park on Wednesday, May 21, 1969, a midday memorial was held for student James Rector, a non-protester shot to death by police, at Sproul Plaza on the University campus. In his honor, several thousand people peacefully assembled to listen to speakers remembering his life. Without warning, National Guard troops surrounded Sproul Plaza, donned their gas masks, and pointed their bayonets inward, while helicopters dropped CS gas directly on the trapped crowd. No escape was possible, and the gas caused acute respiratory distress, disorientation, temporary blindness and vomiting. Many people, including children and the elderly, were injured during the ensuing panic. The gas was so intense that breezes carried it into Cowell Memorial Hospital, endangering patients, interrupting operations and incapacitating nurses. Students at nearby Jefferson and Franklin elementary schools were also affected.[50][51]
Members of the United States armed forces are exposed to CS during initial training, and during training refresher courses or equipment maintenance exercises, using CS tablets that are melted on a hotplate. This is to demonstrate the importance of properly wearing a gas or protective mask, as the agent's presence quickly reveals an improper fit or seal of the mask's rubber gaskets against the face. Following exposure while wearing a mask, recruits are ordered to remove the masks and endure exposure in the room for one minute. These exercises also encourage confidence in the ability of the equipment to protect the wearer from such chemical attacks. Such an event is a requirement for graduation from United States Army Basic Training, Air Force Basic Military Training, Navy Basic Training, and Marine Corps recruit training.[52] CS gas in the form of grenades is also used extensively in the United States Marine Corps in some service schools. CS gas is used during the final field exercise of the Scout Sniper Basic Course to simulate being compromised. In addition, it is used during the 25 km (16 mi) escape-and-evasion exercise ("Trail of Tears"), the last event before graduation from the course. It is also used during several events in the Marine Corps Basic Reconnaissance Course (BRC) including some rucksack runs and escape-and-evasion exercises. While students going through the course are given the opportunity to bring and wear a gas mask for the event, usually none are worn because once donned, gas masks could not be removed until the end of the exercise. This could last anywhere from 3–12 hours and would make running 25 km while wearing 125 lb (57 kg) of gear virtually impossible.
[edit] Vietnam
It has been reported that thousands of tons of CS gas were used by the U.S. forces in Vietnam to bring Viet Cong into the open. It was also used by the North Vietnamese forces in some battles like Hue in 1968 or during the Easter Offensive in 1972.[53]
[edit] Elsewhere
Police fire tear gas at protesters in Quebec.
CS gas has been and is still routinely used by Greek riot police (MAT) in order to quell student and labor protests, as well as riots by hooligans. In some cases gas had expired for more than thirty years. The legality and safety of the use of CS by policemen has been challenged both by people within Greece and the European Union.[citation needed]
CS was used to quell a protest in Lusaka, Zambia in July 1997 and the 1999 WTO riots in Seattle. Amnesty International reported that it had been manufactured by the UK company Pains-Wessex. Subsequently, Amnesty called for an export ban when the receiving regime is either not fully trained in the use of CS, or had shown usage "contrary to the manufacturer's instructions".[54]
In September 2000, the Guardian newspaper revealed how a UK company, HPP, used legal loopholes to export CS to a private security company in Rwanda, in breach of United Nations sanctions.[55] The Guardian also reported that CS was used by the Hutu militia in Rwanda to flush Tutsis out of buildings before hacking them to death.
CS has been used by the government in South Africa; by Israel against Palestinians and Israelis; by the South Korean government in Seoul, and during the Balkan conflicts by Serbia. In Malta it was used by Police between 1981 and 1987 to the detriment of Nationalist Party Supporters.
CS tear gas was used at the G8 protests in Genoa, Italy[56] and Quebec City, Canada[57] during the FTAA anti-globalization demonstrations during the Quebec City Summit of the Americas.
The Malaysia Federal Reserve Unit has also been known to use CS tear gas against its citizens who rallied for clean and fair elections under what were called Bersih rallies in 2011 [58] and 2012. [59]
The Canadian, Norwegian and Australian Armies train their soldiers with CS gas in a manner similar to that of the USA, as it is a basic part of CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) training. Gas is released by burning tablets, usually in a building reserved for this purpose (a "gas hut"). In the training, the person enters the building unprotected, and must fit and clear the gas mask before leaving. Other drills such as drinking and under-mask decontamination are also practiced. Some Norwegian units are exposed to CS-gas while engaged in physical activity such as push-ups.
WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE CAMPAIGN AGAINST TEAR GAS 2012. To participate contact WRL's Ali Issa at ali@warresisters.org
Global movements against domestic militarism, local movements against global militarism.
On June 17th, for Fathers' Day, WRL marched with thousands of New Yorkers in the Silent March to End Stop and Frisk, led by Communities United for Police Reform and the NAACP and endorsed by over 200 organizations.
Our contingent merged with that of the Global Justice Working Group of Occupy Wall Street, Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions, and State Repression, and other groups, all of us marching in solidarity with those most targeted by the police practice of Stop and Frisk domestically while making the connections to global and US-led militarism.
Click here for the statement from the Global Justice table and here for an interview about the connections between domestic and global militarism with WRL organizer Kimber Heinz. Also check out this new video created by our partners with South Asia Solidarity Initiative, highlighting interviews with global justice activists about why they stand against Stop and Frisk.
As WRL continues to collect stories about people's experiences with tear gas from all over the world on our Facing Tear Gas Tumblr, we are struck by the pervasive use of tear gas against people rising up in dissent globally as well as against poor people and people of color here in the US. http://facingteargas.tumblr.com/
Similar to Stop and Frisk, the domestic use of tear gas is a preemptive attack against people with the potential to come together to protest structural racism and seek alternative economic systems to the one that keeps them in poverty. Just last week, on July 4th, a group of teenagers were tear gassed in Center City Park in Greensboro, NC, while hanging out downtown following the local fireworks show. Three people were detained, two of them arrested, all of them Black men under the age of 20.
What you can do now to support WRL's campaign against tear gas:
If you haven't already, please share your story about tear gas with us.
On Facebook, post a link to the Tumblr on your wall: "Got a tear gas story? Share it to help build a campaign to ban the gas!"
Change your wall photo to one of our tear gas photo stories.
Reblog our newest post on the Facing Tear Gas Tumblr.
Tweet a link to the Tumblr with the tags #tear gas and #facing tear gas.
Contact us at facingteargas@warresisters.org
Take action against Israeli abuses: Tear gas is just the tip of the iceberg
War Resisters League wrl@warresisters.org via uark.edu to jbennet
Tell Congress: No US military aid for Israel's chemical weapons
WRL is partnering with US Campaign to End the Occupation to call Israel and its US goverment backers to task for Israel's human rights record during its ongoing occupation of Palestinian land. http://www.endtheoccupation.org/ Israel, the top recipient of US military aid, is responsible for a large number of human rights violations thoughout Palestine, as noted in a recent State Department report. http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?dynamic_load_id=186430#wrapper Will you take action in support of human rights?
On a regular basis, the Israeli military uses tear gas often made in the US against people protesting the daily violations of Israeli apartheid in the Occupied Territories and shoots high-velocity tear gas at a close range at demonstrators. This practice killed Mustafa Tamimi in December of last year. http://mondoweiss.net/2011/12/mustafa-tamimi-had-died.html Tamimi's story appears via his friend on WRL's Facing Tear Gas Tumblr.
Take action now by sending a message to your Congresspeople demanding an investigation into Israeli human rights abuses and US government compliance with its own laws on arms export and military aid. http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6521/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11270
For more stories about people's experiences with tear gas all over the world, go to http://facingteargas.tumblr.com .
For more information, send an email to facingteargas@warresisters.org.
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