Anti-War Actions Continue

Maintaining the scope and broad participation represented in the September 24 anti-war action in Washington D.C., local actions demanding Troops Out Now have continued across the country. People in many cities and towns took action to denounce the continued massacres and killings of Iraqis and to demand Not One More Life, Not One More Dime! Vigils and rallies marked the continued deaths of Iraqis and Americans October 26, following the Pentagon announcement that 2000 U.S. soldiers have died. Actions of various kinds continued into the weekend with more planned for November.

In Berkeley, CA, people gathered on the University Avenue pedestrian walkway to mark the deaths of more than 100,000 Iraqis and 2,000th U.S. troops in the unjust and illegal war on Iraq. People lit candles, played drums, and held two 40-foot banners that read, “Not in Our Name, US Out of Iraq Now.”

In Washington D.C., a number of organizations are continuing their vigils at the White House and at the military’s Walter Reed Hospital. They are demanding an End to the War Now and healthcare for returning veterans. One in four veterans are coming home with serious medical problems. As occurred in the first Gulf War, the government is refusing to provide the needed care.

On behalf of organizers, Cindy Sheehan announced various activities taking place in D.C. as part of their daily vigils. These include delivery of a wreath and sympathy cards to the Iraqi Embassy and laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery. Sheehan and others are expected to again engage in civil disobedience at the White House. She reports, “I will be calling on President Bush to answer my original question: ‘What Noble Cause?’ There is absolutely no noble cause. Our children and the Iraqi people are dying and suffering for no cause except for power and money-greedy criminals.”

In Oakland, CA, Veterans for Peace organized more than 100 people to light 2000 candles on Lake Merritt.

Organizing efforts are going forward for a youth day of action November 17 against military recruiting with the demand Not Your Soldier! Activities are also being planned December 1, as part of efforts to organize a “Day of Absence” at work and school to oppose war and racism.

In addition, Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich has introduced a second Resolution of Inquiry to the House International Affairs Committee. Kucinich is among those in Congress working towards a Bush impeachment. This resolution calls on the White House to provide all notes, emails, papers and other communication kept by the White House Iraq Group (WHIG).

San Francisco demonstrators hold sign calling for the ringing of bells for the thousands of Iraqis and Americans killed in Iraq.

The WHIGs included Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby (who was recently indicted and resigned), as well as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top officials from the Office of the President. The material, largely from 2003, is further evidence that Bush and his office planned to attack Iraq and lied about it to Congress and the world. The lies and his war crimes are impeachable offenses.

Kucinich earlier introduced a similar resolution calling for all materials relating to the Downing Street Memos. These are documents from Britain that also show U.S. and British plans to invade Iraq and the fabricated evidence used to justify the invasion. That resolution failed to pass the Committee by one vote. A vote on the latest Resolution is expected the first week of November.

[TOP]

Former U.S. Marine Recounts Atrocities on Iraqi Civilians

Sergeant Jimmy Massey, a former U.S. marine in Iraq, has described in his book the atrocities his battalion committed against Iraqi civilians during the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, including shooting unarmed protesters.

The French-language version of Massey's book Kill! Kill! Kill! was published in France at the beginning of October and was written with French journalist Natasha Saulnier. The Bush Administration has barred the book from being published in the U.S.

Massey served in the Marines for 12 years and was in Iraq for three months before being honorably discharged with post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The sergeant said he was in charge of a platoon in the 3rd Battalion of Regimental Combat Team 7, responsible for setting up checkpoints and providing armed cover against terrorists and insurgents. He wrote that over a period of a month and a half in 2003, his platoon killed more than 30 civilians in Iraq.

The former marine said in one case shortly after April 2003, marines who heard a gunshot fired upon 10 Iraqi demonstrators shouting anti-U.S. slogans and carrying banners reading "Go Home" near the sprawling Al-Rashid military complex southeast of the city center.

All but one of the demonstrators was killed. None of them were carrying weapons as a sign of their peaceful intentions, Massey wrote.

Pentagon spokeswoman Gabrielle Chapin, however, has said that Massey's complaints had already been investigated and found to be unsubstantiated.

In remarks to the press at the French capital on October 7 Massey said he was not surprised by the reluctance of U.S. publishers since the picture he paints within the book is very difficult for a lot of Americans to grasp and I understand that.

(Prensa Latina, October 9, 2005)

[TOP]

Federation of Journalists Calls on U.S. Army to End Targeting Journalists

- International Federation of Journalists, September 28, 2005 -

The International Federation of Journalists today expressed concern over the targeting of Iraqi journalists by military authorities and called on United States forces to release a leading television reporter detained without explanation two weeks ago.

Majed Hameed, a reporter for the Al Arabiya News Channel, is one of a number of journalists to be detained without charge or explanation from the authorities. In recent months several Iraqi reporters working for international news organizations have been held for lengthy periods without being charged.

"We are very concerned that there is no word about why he has been held in what appears to be a premeditated action against him," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "This man is acknowledged as a hard-working professional whose work has taken him into some of Iraq's most dangerous places from where he has delivered much ground-breaking journalism."

The IFJ says that Iraqi journalists whose energy and resourcefulness is producing some of the most telling reporting from the region are also among those most likely to face harassment from the military.

"There have been a number of cases of journalists being targeted simply because they get to the scene of an incident quickly. In the eyes of the army this is suspicious, but in effect they are penalized for doing their job too well," said White.

Al Arabiya say that Hameed has been an eye-witness to combat incidents between U.S. forces and armed groups in Falluja, al Qa'em, Ramadi, Hadeetha, Rawa and most recently Tella'far, where he was the only broadcast reporter on the spot in a major confrontation. His reports have received global coverage.

But he was arrested away from the front line, while attending the mourning of a family member in Al Anbar area, where he was among a number of people detained. He was taken by U.S. forces to the neighboring Al Anbar detention facility.

Last week, freelance cameraman Samir Mohammed Noor working for Reuters, who was arrested by Iraqi troops at his home in the northern town of Tal Afar four months ago, was found by a secret tribunal to be "an imperative threat to the coalition forces and the security of Iraq." At least four other journalists working for international media are being held without charge by the U.S. military in Iraq.

"These detentions, which appear to have been calculated actions, make no sense at all," said White. "There should be an official explanation as to the whereabouts of all our colleagues and concrete reasons for their arrests. If not, we can only assume that once again Iraqi journalists brave enough to try to report freely are being victimised."

[TOP]