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BAUAW NEWSLETTER Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Sunday, June 26, 2005
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2005
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GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS! MONEY FOR EDUCATION NOT FOR WAR! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW! This week and next marks the final two weeks left in the College Not Combat petition campaign. Over the July 4th weekend (July 2, 3 & 4) the petition campaign will be stationed at Dolores Park starting at 1:00 p.m. A table will be set up at The Mime Troupe performance of: Doing Good Based loosely on the book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins. This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake! MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. - SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (THEN GATHER SIGNATURES AFTER THE SHOW) BAUAW is setting up a COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN table by invitation from the Mime Troupe. THERE WILL BE AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE TABLE FROM THE STAGE. Free antiwar posters and information will be available as well as the petitions. We will be able to gather signatures before and after the performance. After the performance we will also fan out over the city to give this petition drive a big push over the July 4th weekend! COLLEGE NOT COMBAT BALLOT INITIATIVE FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO, NOVEMBER 2005, ELECTIONS: "The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military's "economic draft" by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military!" FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! *********************************************************** 1) Cut all Public School Ties to the Military! Speak up and Picket the S.F. Board of Education the Fourth Tuesday of Each Month Starting: June 28TH, 7:00 P.M. 555 Franklin St., S.F, To get on the speakers list call: 415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000 2) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN 16TH & MISSION STREET TUESDAY JUNE 28 AND THURSDAY JUNE 30, 5 & 7 P.M. 3) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN JULY 2,3 & 4 WEEKEND SCHEDULE *SHOW UP TO PETITION: SATURDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY, JULY 2, 3 & 4, 1:00 P.M. DOLORES PARK, 18TH AND DOLORES STS, SF *SEE THE SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE'S PLAY "DOING GOOD" A play based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. - SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (THEN GATHER SIGNATURES AFTER THE SHOW) 4) HANDS OFF VENEZUELA SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM SHOWING: 7:00 PM, FRIDAY JULY 15 Center for Political Education 522 Valencia, Third Floor, Near 16th Street, SF (not wheelchair accessible) Close the 16th Street BART $5/$3 Students, Seniors, Unemployed 5) SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE PRESENTS: "DOING GOOD" A play based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. JULY 16, PRECITA PARK MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake!...BW) SPONSORED BY BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR Help get the word out about the ballot proposition and upcoming antiwar events. Free antiwar posters! FREE! 6) SAVE THE DATES: AUGUST 4, 5 & 6, 2005 FOR PRESENTATION OF HOWARD ZINN'S ONE MAN SHOW, "MARX IN SOHO" PERFORMED BY JERRY LEVY The central theme of Marx in Soho is unique: heaven's bureaucracy allows Karl Marx more than a century after his death in 1883 to return to Earth to the place where he spent most of his adult life, namely London's Soho. The bureaucracy makes a mistake, however, and he finds himself in New York's Soho and in front of an audience to boot. The single actor in this one-man play is Jerry Levy, who has been teaching sociology at Marlboro College and been acting with the Actors' Theater of Brattleboro since he moved there from Chicago in 1975. Originally directed by Michael Fox Kennedy of the Actors' Theater, Levy has been on the road with Zinn's version of Karl Marx for a year, performing at benefits, colleges, small theaters and other venues around the state. At Middle Earth he was sponsored by the Bradford-based Coos Peace and Justice Alliance and performed free of charge but charged with mighty talent and a bottomless love of the play. LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED TO BENEFIT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR WWW.BAUAW.ORG (FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 415-824-8730) 7) ICT and Millennium Development Goals The Business of Hunger By Devinder Sharma http://www.mindfully.org/Food/2005/Hunger-Business-Sharma17jun05.htm 8) Eyewitness to FBI "witch-hunt" in Lodi, California, By Veena Dubal and Sunaina Maira From: Jess Ghannam 9) Collision Course Presents a new film by Toshikuni DOI "Falluja April 2004" with English subtitles by Toshikuni DOI Sunday, June 26, 2005 at 8 pm on San Francisco Cable Channel 29 Japanese video documentarian Toshikuni DOI was in Falluja two weeks after the US invasion. He was one of the few international journalists able to show the reality of the cost of the invasion. Falluja has become a symbol of the resistance movement against the occupation by the US forces. In April 2004, the US forces invaded Falluja with several thousand US soldiers. About 730 people were killed and 2800 were injured in the siege and attacks by the US military in one month. He interviews medical workers and teachers as well as people in the community about this horrendous assault and the cost of it for the people of Falluja. Why did Fallluj become the base of the resistance against the occupation? How did the US forces attack? Who fought against them and what injuries and damages did the people suffer will be exposed in this important film. Only 10 days after the siege of the US forces had been lifted, Toshikuni DOI went to Falluja and investigated the site. Footage was recorded in August 2003 (4 months after the siege) and in May 2004. falluja2004@hotmail.co.jp 10) Troops Will Carry General's 'Common Sense' Rules on Wallet-Size Cards By ERIC SCHMITT Published: June 26, 2005 General Casey's rules offer a window into his priorities for the troops, military officials say: ¶Make security and safety your first priorities. ¶Help the Iraqis win - don't win it for them. ¶Treat the Iraqi people with dignity and respect. Learn and respect Iraqi customs and cultures. ¶Maintain strict standards and iron discipline everyday. Risk assess every mission - no complacency!! ¶Information saves lives - share it and protect it. ¶Maintain your situational awareness at all times - this can be an unforgiving environment. ¶Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you. ¶Innovate and adapt - situations here don't lend themselves to cookie-cutter solutions. ¶Focus on the enemy and be opportunistic. ¶Be patient. Don't rush to failure. ¶Take care of yourself and take care of each other. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/politics/26cards.html 11) In danger's way Trapped in cycles of poverty, children toil in Bolivia's mines By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005 (Photo not shown) "Lucas Garito, 12, who has worked in a mine in Potosi, Bolivia, since he was 7, pointed to a shrine to El Tio, a devil-like spirit who the miners hope will protect them. (Globe Photo / Dermot Tatlow)" http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2005/06/26/ in_dangers_way/ 12) We shelter behind the myth that progress is being made Robert Fisk, ICH http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m12971&l=i&size=1&hd=0 13) Female Troops Face Hostile Fire in Iraq By Frank Griffiths The Associated Press Saturday 25 June 2005 "Baghdad - The lethal ambush of a convoy carrying female US troops in Fallujah underscored the difficulties of keeping women away from the front lines in a war where such boundaries are far from clear-cut." http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062505A.shtml 14) World Tribunal for Iraq, Culminating Session Testimony Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches ** http://dahrjamailiraq.com ** Istanbul, Turkey 25 June 2005 15) One Year After Sovereignty Restored, Nation is in Crisis By Patrick Quinn The Independent UK Saturday 25 June 2005 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062505X.shtml 16) The Most Cowardly War in History By Arundhati Roy World Tribunal on Iraq Friday 24 June 2005 Opening Statement of Arundhati Roy on behalf of the jury of conscience of the world tribunal of Iraq. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062505Y.shtml 17) Protesters Dismantle Part of Apartheid Wall in Bili`n Israeli 'Screamer' Fails to Stop 3-Month Old Anti-Wall Protests 26/06/2005 18) THE MOTHER OF ALL HOAXES? World Trade Tower 'Controlled Demolition'? MER EDITORIAL: http://www.middleeast.org/premium/ read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=1285&month=6&year=2005&function=text&stan dalone=0 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) Cut all Public School Ties to the Military! Speak up and Picket the S.F. Board of Education the Fourth Tuesday of Each Month Starting: June 28TH, 7:00 P.M. 555 Franklin St., S.F, To get on the speakers list call: 415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000 Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) will be picketing the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Board of Education meetings the 4th Tuesday of each month beginning June 28th until the district cuts all school ties to the military. San Francisco voters passed Proposition N for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq by a 63 percent majority last November. And this November 2005 we will pass an anti-recruitment resolution initiated by College Not Combat, a coalition of groups and individuals opposed to the U.S. militaries' school recruitment program. We are currently gathering the necessary signatures to place this counter-recruitment proposition on the ballot. The proposition says, "The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military's "economic draft" by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military!" Proposition N, passed last November, already mandates the SFUSD to cut all school ties to the military. Yet S.F. children are still being actively recruited at schools throughout the district by direct military recruitment, and through the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs. Many students are forced into JROTC in order to get the necessary Physical Education credits they need to graduate High School. JROTC now fulfills this requirement-and the district actually pays a million dollars a year to the Army to support JROTC. (JROTC, by the way, is totally managed and controlled by the U.S. Army. The Army writes the curriculum and appoints the teachers. The district has no say in this program.) In fact, the U.S. military maintains a presence in the schools at all grade levels from kindergarten on up. And now the Military is beginning to set up JROTC "Military Academies" in the Middle Schools. At these "academies" children are taught how to obey orders and to practice military maneuvers with realistically functioning toy guns. As a result of the board's open door military policy, many San Francisco high school graduates are currently serving in Iraq. This must end. Schools must not be used to recruit youngsters to kill or be killed in this illegal, immoral war! The following resolution was presented to the board several months ago. They still have not acted on it! CUT ALL SCHOOL TIES TO THE MILITARY! Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education WHEREAS, the United States military is actively recruiting high school students into the military to fight in Iraq; and WHEREAS, many young San Francisco high school alumni are presently serving in military units fighting in Iraq; and WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq now; and WHEREAS, over 1,700 U.S. soldiers and approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S. soldiers and unknown thousands of Iraqis have been wounded; and WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the war have robbed our children of resources that should be spent on education and other human needs; and WHEREAS, military presence in our schools legitimizes the message that violence is acceptable; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT: It shall be the policy of the San Francisco Board of Education to cut all ties with the United States military, including, but not limited to: Ending military recruitment on campuses; ending the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students and parents are informed of their right to deny military recruiters access to their names, addresses and telephone numbers. Come to the next planning meeting of Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) Saturday, July 9, 11:30 a.m. at 474 Valencia Street between 15th & 16th Streets, S.F. Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) • www.bauaw.org P.O. Box 318021, San Francisco, CA 94131-8021 • 414-824-8730 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 2) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN 16TH & MISSION STREET TUESDAY JUNE 28 AND THURSDAY JUNE 30, 5 & 7 P.M. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 3) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN JULY 2,3 & 4 WEEKEND SCHEDULE *SHOW UP TO PETITION: SATURDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY, JULY 2, 3 & 4, 1:00 P.M. DOLORES PARK, 18TH AND DOLORES STS, SF *SEE THE SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE'S PLAY "DOING GOOD" Based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake! MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. - SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (THEN GATHER SIGNATURES AFTER THE SHOW) BAUAW is setting up a COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN table by invitation from the Mime Troupe. THERE WILL BE AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE TABLE FROM THE STAGE. Free antiwar posters and information will be available as well as the petitions. We will be able to gather signatures before and after the performance. After the performance we will also fan out over the city to give this petition drive a big push over the July 4th weekend. COME HELP GATHER SIGNATURES FOR THE COLLEGE NOT COMBAT BALLOT INITIATIVE FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO, NOVEMBER 2005, ELECTIONS: "The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military's "economic draft" by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military!" GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS! MONEY FOR EDUCATION NOT FOR WAR! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 4) HANDS OFF VENEZUELA SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM SHOWING: 7:00 PM, FRIDAY JULY 15 Center for Political Education 522 Valencia, Third Floor, Near 16th Street, SF (not wheelchair accessible) Close the 16th Street BART $5/$3 Students, Seniors, Unemployed With the Poor of the World Con los pobres de la Tierra (2003) 56 minutes. by Marta Harnecker on Venezuela In Spanish with English Subtitles This video gives the background and context of the current struggles in Venezuela since 1993. Using TV news footage and archival video, this film documents the rise of Chavez and the Oligarchy's three attempts to overthrow him. May Day in Caracas (2005) 22 minutes. by a J. Carlos Flores. In Spanish with English Subtitles A short documentary about international labor day in Venezuela Hands off Venezuela will show these films as a benefit to bring Stalin Peres Borges, a leader of the National Union of Workers of Venezuela (UNT) a dynamic new Venezuelan Trade Union federation. Call Adam at 415 864 3537 or email sfbay@ushov.org for more info or to arrange a speaker to talk about the inspiring events in Venezuela and the need to protect it from US attack. Also Come To The Next Hands Off Venezuela Organizing Meeting (all welcome): 7:00 PM, Thursday, June 30, Socialist Action Bookstore, corner Valencia and 14th, SF www.handsoffvenezuela.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 5) SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE PRESENTS: "DOING GOOD" A play based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. JULY 16, PRECITA PARK MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake!...BW) SPONSORED BY BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR Help get the word out about the ballot proposition and upcoming antiwar events. Free antiwar posters! FREE! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 6) SAVE THE DATES: AUGUST 4, 5 & 6, 2005 FOR PRESENTATION OF HOWARD ZINN'S ONE MAN SHOW, "MARX IN SOHO" PERFORMED BY JERRY LEVY The central theme of Marx in Soho is unique: heaven's bureaucracy allows Karl Marx more than a century after his death in 1883 to return to Earth to the place where he spent most of his adult life, namely London's Soho. The bureaucracy makes a mistake, however, and he finds himself in New York's Soho and in front of an audience to boot. The single actor in this one-man play is Jerry Levy, who has been teaching sociology at Marlboro College and been acting with the Actors' Theater of Brattleboro since he moved there from Chicago in 1975. Originally directed by Michael Fox Kennedy of the Actors' Theater, Levy has been on the road with Zinn's version of Karl Marx for a year, performing at benefits, colleges, small theaters and other venues around the state. At Middle Earth he was sponsored by the Bradford-based Coos Peace and Justice Alliance and performed free of charge but charged with mighty talent and a bottomless love of the play. LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED TO BENEFIT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR WWW.BAUAW.ORG (FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 415-824-8730) ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 7) ICT and Millennium Development Goals The Business of Hunger By Devinder Sharma http://www.mindfully.org/Food/2005/Hunger-Business-Sharma17jun05.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 8) Eyewitness to FBI "witch-hunt" in Lodi, California, By Veena Dubal and Sunaina Maira From: Jess Ghannam Please circulate widely. Dear all, Thank you so very much for all your supporting emails, telephone calls and offer to help the Muslim community in this difficult time. I have been thinking about writing something about "Lodi terrorism case" but was unable to do so because I could see the same card played over and over again. Our administration is creating a culture of fear, division, anger, frustration, confusion and hate so they can expand their agenda. I would like to assure you that I am very concern about the safety and security of our country, I live here, my friends, family members and children live here but scapegoating the entire community is not the route we should be taking. As I learned more about the case it became Crystal clear that the Muslims and Arabs are not granted the same rights that our Constitution guarantees for all of its citizens. Over two weeks have passed and so far both Hamid and Umer have been charged only with lying to federal investigators about Hamid's visit to Pakistan in 2003. Please read the report written by Sunaina Maira ( a friend and partner in struggle for justice )and Veena Dubal, activists, on their trip to Lodi after the Hayat arrests. Thanks, Samina PS. Both imams cases would be heard in San Francisco and I will need help from all of you to fill up the court room for support and solidarity. We will keep you posted. www.amuslimvoice.org . The FBI "witch-hunt" in Lodi By Veena Dubal and Sunaina Maira On June 7Th 2005, national and international media attention focused on the small, agricultural town of Lodi, located approximately forty miles south of Sacramento. The FBI arrested and detained two individuals, both Pakistani-Americans, who they suspected had AL-Qaeda affiliations. The investigation was presented as a "terrorism case" by the government and news sources. The initial affidavit released to the media said that U.S.-born Hamid Hayat, had attended a terror-training camp in Pakistan along with "hundreds" of other terrorists, and returned to the US intending to "attack . . . hospitals and large food stores." This kind of detail resulted in a flood of sensationalized media coverage, portraying 23-year old Hamid as a prospective mass murder and his father, Umer Hayat, a 47-year old ice cream truck driver, as the financial supporter and mastermind of an alleged "Lodi terrorist cell". Neither allegation, however, was in the affidavit filed with a federal court in Sacramento the same day. The FBI retracted their affidavit alleging Hamid's plot to attack domestic targets and began downplaying the seriousness of the presumed threat the men posed. Both Hamid and Umer were ultimately charged only with lying to federal investigators about Hamid's visit to Pakistan in 2003. Three other Muslim men from Lodi, among them two respected imams, were also detained on suspected visa violations. One of the imams had actually been the target of FBI surveillance beginning three years ago when a secret court used the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to approve wiretapping of Mohammed Adil Khan. While the Justice Department has maintained that it was not deliberately trying to precipitate an anti-Muslim witch hunt, the difference between the two affidavits - the one released to the media and the one filed in court - as well as recent FBI activity in Lodi, speak a different story. None of the five men have been charged with carrying out or planning to commit any act of violence. The many inconsistencies in the case and the hysteria it stoked coincided very neatly with Bush's campaign to renew and expand the 2001 Patriot Act, which can only be justified if there was an ongoing "terrorist threat" and the public continues to fear that there are Muslim or Arab terrorists in their midst. On June 14, we traveled up to Lodi to assess the impact of the arrests and surveillance of the local South Asian community, which is estimated to consist of over 2500 Pakistanis, some of whom have been living in the town for three generations. Basim Elkarra, Executive Director of the Sacramento office of CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) has been diligently organizing in response to the arrests and interrogations of local Pakistanis by FBI agents swarming into town and warned us prior to our arrival about the extent of surveillance and the fear the community felt. But no amount of warning could have prepared us for the state of near siege in the town. As soon as we stepped out of our car in Lodi, we were made aware of the FBI's presence. Not only is the entire Muslim community being surveilled by the FBI, which had interviewed many of its members, sometimes without an attorney present, in the days following the arrest - so are the attorneys and activists who are making sure that constitutional rights are upheld. During our brief visit with Mr. Elkarra and civil rights attorneys from the ACLU, a man with a large afro-wig in a blue SUV circled us and took photos. When we tried to approach him, he fled, only to return later to take more photographs. His conspicuous appearance made us realize the extent to which the FBI harassment is not at all a secret investigation: it is an overt act of intimidation of the community at large. One of the attorneys we spoke to noted that the community feels "terrorized." Residents believe that they are being interrogated by the FBI and placed under automatic suspicion because they are Muslim.. Pakistanis who attended the "Know Your Rights" workshops held by CAIR in Stockton, Lodi, and Pleasanton were all subject to obvious FBI surveillance. One Muslim mother told an attorney that her young child was followed from her home to an ice cream store by an FBI car. Others complained that they were taken out of their places of employment by the FBI for questioning and then could not return because their co-workers became suspicious of them. The most shocking of these reports was that of an incident where the FBI stormed the Hayat home, when only women and children were present, by ramming down the front door and putting a gun to a woman's head. When her eleven-year old daughter passed out, she was denied medical attention, a gross violation of human rights that outraged even the local emergency care personnel. After handing out "Know Your Rights" fliers to community members who have been repeatedly questioned, we went to visit the Lodi mosque that is under FBI scrutiny. The mosque is a small, humble structure - a former Jehovah's Witness church - next to the cannery where Pakistani men have worked as fruit packers, in some cases for more than thirty years. South Asian and Latino children were playing basketball together across from the mosque while older South Asian men sat on the grass, presumably relaxing after a long day's work. Most of the Muslims who attend this mosque speak Pashtu and are from the Northwest Frontier area of Pakistan. Some have family that had been in the area since as early as 1908, working on the railroads. They told us that the FBI began coming to Lodi immediately after September 11Th, making "friends" with mosque members. The men all seemed undaunted by the FBI siege. However, it was clear within minutes that beneath the welcoming, calm exterior, was a harassed, interrogated, and scared community. One man described to us, without looking around, exactly where each federal agent's car was parked; we saw the three large, black-tinted SUVs just yards from the mosque and the courts where the young boys were playing. Another middle-aged man said calmly, "Let them come ask us questions; we have nothing to hide." While this resilience was encouraging, we were reminded by another Pakistani man who had already been questioned several times that while he did not mind speaking to the FBI, it was frightening for his wife and children. In addition, this has led to a racist backlash by some Lodi residents agitated by the lurid media reports about Islamic terrorists and sleeper cells. The government's investigation in Lodi has been conducted in a way that does not respect the legal rights and dignity of the Muslim community: individuals have been systematically discouraged from exercising their right to an attorney and have been disallowed access to attorneys; there has been at least one detention of an individual who was not read his Miranda warnings; and women and children have been intimidated and denied medical care. Perhaps equally disturbing, however, is that the general public has been given new reason to fear South Asians and Muslims as presumed terrorists. A community that has made this area home for over one hundred years has been investigated, intimidated, and cast under a shroud of suspicion, all within days. Veena Dubal is a JD/PhD student at the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall, and Sunaina Maira is an Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California at Davis. Both are volunteers with the SF Bay Area organization, ASATA - Alliance of South Asians Taking Action. American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 522 Valencia Blvd San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 861-7444 adcsf@hotmail.com To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adcsfboard/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 9) Italy Judge Orders Arrest of 13 CIA Agents By Aidan Lewis The Associated Press Friday 24 June 2005 "Rome - An Italian judge ordered the arrests of 13 people in the purported CIA abduction of an imam, who then was sent to Egypt, the Milan prosecutor's office said Friday. An Italian official said earlier the 13 were CIA officers involved in US anti- terrorism efforts. The 13 are suspected of seizing Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, on the streets of Milan on Feb. 17, 2003, and sending him to Egypt, where he reportedly was tortured, Milan prosecutor Manlio Claudio Minale said in a statement. An Italian newspaper said all 13 were American agents." http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062405A.shtml ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 9) Collision Course Presents a new film by Toshikuni DOI "Falluja April 2004" with English subtitles by Toshikuni DOI Sunday, June 26, 2005 at 8 pm on San Francisco Cable Channel 29 Japanese video documentarian Toshikuni DOI was in Falluja two weeks after the US invasion. He was one of the few international journalists able to show the reality of the cost of the invasion. Falluja has become a symbol of the resistance movement against the occupation by the US forces. In April 2004, the US forces invaded Falluja with several thousand US soldiers. About 730 people were killed and 2800 were injured in the siege and attacks by the US military in one month. He interviews medical workers and teachers as well as people in the community about this horrendous assault and the cost of it for the people of Falluja. Why did Fallluj become the base of the resistance against the occupation? How did the US forces attack? Who fought against them and what injuries and damages did the people suffer will be exposed in this important film. Only 10 days after the siege of the US forces had been lifted, Toshikuni DOI went to Falluja and investigated the site. Footage was recorded in August 2003 (4 months after the siege) and in May 2004. falluja2004@hotmail.co.jp ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 10) Troops Will Carry General's 'Common Sense' Rules on Wallet-Size Cards By ERIC SCHMITT Published: June 26, 2005 General Casey's rules offer a window into his priorities for the troops, military officials say: ¶Make security and safety your first priorities. ¶Help the Iraqis win - don't win it for them. ¶Treat the Iraqi people with dignity and respect. Learn and respect Iraqi customs and cultures. ¶Maintain strict standards and iron discipline everyday. Risk assess every mission - no complacency!! ¶Information saves lives - share it and protect it. ¶Maintain your situational awareness at all times - this can be an unforgiving environment. ¶Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you. ¶Innovate and adapt - situations here don't lend themselves to cookie-cutter solutions. ¶Focus on the enemy and be opportunistic. ¶Be patient. Don't rush to failure. ¶Take care of yourself and take care of each other. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/politics/26cards.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 11) In danger's way Trapped in cycles of poverty, children toil in Bolivia's mines By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005 (Photo not shown) "Lucas Garito, 12, who has worked in a mine in Potosi, Bolivia, since he was 7, pointed to a shrine to El Tio, a devil-like spirit who the miners hope will protect them. (Globe Photo / Dermot Tatlow)" http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2005/06/26/ in_dangers_way/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 12) We shelter behind the myth that progress is being made Robert Fisk, ICH http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m12971&l=i&size=1&hd=0 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 13) Female Troops Face Hostile Fire in Iraq By Frank Griffiths The Associated Press Saturday 25 June 2005 "Baghdad - The lethal ambush of a convoy carrying female US troops in Fallujah underscored the difficulties of keeping women away from the front lines in a war where such boundaries are far from clear-cut." http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062505A.shtml ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 14) World Tribunal for Iraq, Culminating Session Testimony Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches ** http://dahrjamailiraq.com ** Istanbul, Turkey 25 June 2005 Thank you very much for inviting me to the Culminating Session of the World Tribunal on Iraq. I first went to Iraq in November of 2003 as an American citizen both frustrated and horrified by what my unelected government was doing. I went to report on the situation because I was deeply troubled by the "journalism" being provided by the corporate media. At the time, as a frustrated mountain climber from Alaska working as a journalist in Iraq, I never would have believed I would be providing testimony to the World Tribunal on Iraq. I want to thank the organizers for this opportunity. I am honored to be here in solidarity with the Iraqi people. In May of 2004 I interviewed a man who had just been released from Abu Ghraib. Like so many I interviewed from various US military detention facilities who'd been tortured horrifically, he still managed to maintain his sense of humor. He began laughing when telling me how CIA agents made him beat other prisoners. He laughed, he said, because he had been beaten himself prior to this, and was so tired that all he could do to beat other detained Iraqis was lift his arm and let it drop on the other men. Later, he laughed again as he told me what else had been done to him, when he said, "The Americans brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house." But this testimony is not about the indomitable spirit of the Iraqi people. About the dignity and strength of Iraqis, we need no testimony. This testimony is about ongoing violations of international law being committed by the occupiers of Iraq on a daily basis in regards to rampant torture, the neglect and obstruction of the health care sector and the ongoing failure to allow Iraqis to reconstruct their infrastructure. To discuss torture, there are many stories I could use here, but I'll use two examples indicative of scores of others I documented while in Iraq. Ali Abbas lives in the Al-Amiriyah district of Baghdad and worked in civil administration. So many of his neighbors were detained that friends urged him to go to the nearby US base to try and get answers for why so many innocent people were being detained. He went three times. On the fourth he was detained himself. Within two days he was transferred from the military base to Abu Ghraib, where he was held over three months without charges before being released. "The minute I got there, the suffering began," said Abbas about his interrogator, "I asked him for water, and he said after the investigation I would get some. He accused me of so many things and asked me so many questions. Among them he said I hated Christians." He was forced to strip naked shortly after arriving, and remained that way for most of his stay in the prison. "They made us lay on top of each other naked as if it was sex, and beat us with a broom," he said. In addition to being beaten on their genitals, detainees were also denied water and food for extended periods of time, then were forced to watch as their food was thrown in the trash. Treatment also included having a loaded gun held to his head to prevent him from crying out in pain as his hand-ties were tightened. "My hands were enlarged because there was no blood because they cuffed them so tight," he told me, "My head was covered with the sack, and they fastened my right hand to a pole with handcuffs. They made me stand on my toes to clip me to it." Abbas said soldiers doused him in cold water while holding him under a fan, and oftentimes, "They put on a loudspeaker, put the speakers on my ears and said, "Shut Up, Fuck Fuck Fuck!" In this manner Abbas's interrogators routinely deprived him of sleep. Abbas said that at one point, "Two men came, one a foreigner and one a translator. He asked me who I was. I said I'm a human being. They told me, 'We are going to cut your head off and send you to hell. We will take you to Guantanamo.'" A female soldier told him, "Our aim is to put you in hell so you will tell the truth. These are the orders we have from our superiors, to turn your lives into hell." Abbas added, "They shit on us, used dogs against us, used electricity and starved us." He told me, "Saddam Hussein used to have people like those who tortured us. Why do they put Saddam into trial, but they do not put the Americans to trial?" But unlike Saddam Hussein, the US interrogators also desecrated Islam as part of their humiliation. Abbas was made to fast during the first day of Eid, the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, which is haram (forbidden). Sometimes at night when he would read his Koran, Abbas had to hold it in the hallway for light. "Soldiers would walk by and kick the Holy Koran, and sometimes they would try to piss on it or wipe shit on it," he said. Abbas did not feel this was the work of a few individual soldiers. "This was organized, it wasn't just individuals, and every one of the troops in Abu Ghraib was responsible for it." Accounts by human rights groups support this. According to an April 2005 Human Rights Watch report, "Abu Ghraib was only the tip of the iceberg, it's now clear that abuse of detainees has happened all over-from Afghanistan to Guantánamo Bay to a lot of third-country dungeons where the United States has sent prisoners. And probably quite a few other places we don't even know about." The report adds, "Harsh and coercive interrogation techniques such as subjecting detainees to painful stress positions and extended sleep deprivation have been routinely used in detention centers throughout Iraq. An ICRC report concluded that in military intelligence sections of Abu Ghraib, 'methods of physical and psychological coercion used by the interrogators appeared to be part of the standard operating procedures by military intelligence personnel to obtain confessions and extract information.'" Amnesty International has also released similar findings. Other human rights groups report that US military doctors, nurses, and medics have been complicit in torture and other illegal procedures such as those administered to Sadiq Zoman. 55 year-old Zoman, detained from his home in Kirkuk in a raid by US soldiers that produced no weapons, was taken to a police office in Kirkuk, to the Kirkuk Airport Detention Center, the Tikrit Airport Detention Center and finally to the 28th Combat Support Hospital, where he was treated by Dr. Michael Hodges, a Lt. Col. Lt. Col. Hodges' medical report listed Zoman's primary condition as hypoxic brain injury (brain damage caused by lack of oxygen) "with persistent vegetative state," myocardial infarction (heart attack), and heat stroke." After one month in custody, Zoman was dropped off in a coma at the General Hospital in Tikrit by US soldiers. Zoman's last name was listed as his first name on the report, despite the fact that all of his identification papers were taken during the raid on his home. Because of this, it took his desperate family weeks to locate him in the hospital. Hodges's medical report did not mention the fact that the back of Zomans' head was bashed in, nor that he had electrical burn marks on the bottoms of his feet and genitals, or why he had lash marks across his back and chest. Today he lies in bed still in a coma, and there has been no compensation provided to his now impoverished family for what was done to Sadiq Zoman. Another aspect I shall discuss is the catastrophic situation of the health system in Iraq. I've recently released a report on the condition of Iraq's hospitals under occupation. Although the Iraq Ministry of Health has supposedly gained its sovereignty and received promises of over $1 Billion of US funding, hospitals in Iraq continue to face ongoing medicine, equipment, and staffing shortages under the US-led occupation. During the 1990's, medical supplies and equipment were constantly in short supply because of the sanctions against Iraq. The war and occupation brought promises of relief from effects of the sanctions, yet hospitals have had little chance to recover and re-supply: instead, the occupation has closely resembled a low-grade war since its inception. In addition, allocation of resources by occupation authorities has been dismal. Thus, throughout Baghdad there are ongoing shortages of functional equipment and medicines of even the most basic items such as analgesics, antibiotics, anesthetics and insulin. Surgical items and even basic supplies like rubber gloves, gauze and medical tape are running out. In April 2004, an ICRC report stated that hospitals in Iraq are overwhelmed with new patients, short of medicine and supplies and lack both adequate electricity and water, with ongoing bloodshed stretching the hospitals' already meager resources to the limit. Ample testimony from medical practitioners confirms this crisis. A general practitioner at the prosthetics workshop at Al-Kena Hospital in Baghdad, Dr. Thamiz Aziz Abul Rahman, said, "Eleven months ago we submitted an emergency order for prosthetic materials to the Ministry of Health, and still we have nothing." After a pause he added, "This is worse than even during the sanctions." Dr. Qasim al-Nuwesri, the chief manager at Chuwader General Hospital, one of the two hospitals in the sprawling slum area of Sadr City, Baghdad and home to 3 million people, added that they, too, faced a shortage of most supplies and, most critically, of ambulances. But for his hospital, the lack of potable water was the major problem. "Of course we have typhoid, cholera, kidney stones...but we now even have the very rare Hepatitis Type-E...and it has become common in our area," said al-Nuwesri, adding that they never faced these problems prior to the invasion of 2003. Chuwader hospital needs at least 2000 liters of water per day to function with basic sterilization practices. According to Dr. al-Nuwesri, they received 15% of this amount. "The rest of the water is contaminated and causing problems, as are the electricity cuts," added al-Nuwesri, "Without electricity our instruments in the operating room cannot work and we have no pumps to bring us water." At Fallujah General Hospital, Dr. Ahmed, who asked that only his first name be used because he feared US military reprisals said of the April 2004 siege that "the Americans shot out the lights in the front of our hospital. They prevented doctors from reaching the emergency unit at the hospital, and we quickly began to run out of supplies and much needed medications." He also said that Marines kept the physicians in the residence building several times, intentionally prohibiting them from entering the hospital in order to treat patients. In November, shortly after leveling Nazzal Emergency Hospital, US forces entered Fallujah General Hospital, the city's only healthcare facility for trauma victims, detaining employees and patients alike. According to medics on the scene, water and electricity were "cut off," ambulances targeted or confiscated by the US military, and surgeons, without exception, kept out of the besieged city. Hospital raids by US military and US-backed Iraqi forces now appear to be standard operating procedure. On the 18th of this month, doctors at the main hospital in Baquba went on strike, saying they are fed up with constant abuse at the hands of aggressive Iraqi police and soldiers. Dr. Mohammed Hazim in Baquba, pleaded for his governor to protect he and his colleagues from "organized terrorism of the police and army." When wounded Iraqi security forces showed up demanding treatment, Dr. Hussein told one of them he would require an x-ray. The doctor was told to go to hell by the policeman he was treating and was then beaten. The same policeman then ordered another police officer to put a bag over the doctor's head and take him away. "Our security guards tried to stop them, telling them I was a doctor, but they didn't listen and beat the security guards too," he said, "Then one of them put a gun to my head and threatened me." Similar behavior has been reported during the recent US-Iraqi military operations in Haditha and Al-Qa'im. Doctors also recently went on strike at the large Yarmouk Hospital in Baghdad in a very similar incident. Many doctors in Iraq believe that the lack of assistance, if not outright hostility, by the US military, coupled with the lack of rebuilding and reconstruction by foreign contractors has compounded the problems they are facing. The former ambassador of Iraq Paul Bremer admitted that US led coalition spending on the Iraqi Health system was inadequate when he said, "It's not nearly enough to cover the needs in the healthcare field." When asked if his hospital had received assistance from the US military or reconstruction contractors, Dr. Sarmad Raheem, the administrator of chief doctors at Al-Kerkh Hospital in Baghdad said, "Never ever. Some soldiers came here five months ago and asked what we needed. We told them and they never brought us one single needle...We heard that some people from the CPA came here, but they never did anything for us." At Fallujah General Hospital, Dr. Mohammed said there has been virtually no assistance from foreign contractors, and of the US military he commented, "They send only bombs, not medicine." International aid has been stymied by the horrendous security situation in Iraq. After the UN headquarters was bombed in Baghdad in August 2003, killing 20 people, aid agencies and NGOs either reduced their staffing or pulled out entirely. With senior Iraqi doctors fleeing Iraq en masse for fear of being kidnapped, interns and younger doctors are left to deal with the catastrophic situation. The World Health Organization last year warned of a health emergency in Baghdad, as well as throughout Iraq if current conditions persist. But despite claims from the Ministry of Health of more drugs, better equipment, and generalized improvement, doctors on the ground still see "no such improvement." In conclusion, a quick summary of the overall situation on the ground in Iraq is in order. Over two years into the illegal occupation, while Iraq sits upon a sea of oil, ongoing gasoline shortages plague Iraqis who sometimes wait 2 days to fill their cars. In a country where a long gas line once meant a one-car wait, Iraqis who are lucky enough to afford it now purchase black market petrol and hope that it is not watered down. Electricity remains in short supply. Most of Iraq, including the northern region, receives on average 3 hours of electricity per day amidst the nearly non-existent reconstruction efforts. Even the better areas of Baghdad receive only 6-8 hours per day, forcing those who can afford them to use small generators to run fans and refrigerators in their homes. Of course, this is only for those who've been able to obtain the now rarefied gasoline. The security situation is, needless to say, horrendous. With over 100,000 Iraqis killed thus far and the number of US soldiers killed approaching 2,000, the violence only continues to escalate. Since the new Iraqi so-called government was sworn in two months ago, well over 1,000 Iraqis and over 165 US soldiers have died in the violence. These numbers will only continue to escalate as the failed occupation grinds on. As the heavy handed tactics of the US military persist, the Iraqi resistance continues to grow in its number and lethality. As I mentioned before, potable water remains in short supply. Cholera, typhoid and other water-borne diseases are rampant even in parts of the capital city as lack of reconstruction continues to plague Iraq's infrastructure. Raw sewage is common across not just Baghdad, but other cities throughout Iraq. With 70% unemployment, a growing resistance and an infrastructure in shambles, the future for Iraq remains bleak as long as the failed occupation persists. While the Bush Administration continues to disregard calls for a timetable for withdrawal, Iraqis continue to suffer and die with little hope for their future. With each passing day, the catastrophe in Iraq resembles the US debacle in Vietnam more and more. Dr. Wamid Omar Nadhmi, a senior political scientist at Baghdad University who was invited to this tribunal, told me last winter, "It will take Iraqis something like a quarter of a century to rebuild their country, to heal their wounds, to reform their society, to bring about some sort of national reconciliation, democracy and tolerance of each other. But that process will not begin until the US occupation of Iraq ends." And it is now exceedingly clear that the only way the Bush Administration will withdraw the US military from Iraq in order for Iraqis to have true sovereignty is if they are forced to do so. More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com Iraq_Dispatches mailing list http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 15) One Year After Sovereignty Restored, Nation is in Crisis By Patrick Quinn The Independent UK Saturday 25 June 2005 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062505X.shtml ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 16) The Most Cowardly War in History By Arundhati Roy World Tribunal on Iraq Friday 24 June 2005 Opening Statement of Arundhati Roy on behalf of the jury of conscience of the world tribunal of Iraq. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062505Y.shtml ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 17) Protesters Dismantle Part of Apartheid Wall in Bili`n Israeli 'Screamer' Fails to Stop 3-Month Old Anti-Wall Protests 26/06/2005 Palestine Media Center - PMC Palestinian, Israeli and foreign protesters on Friday dismantled part of the Apartheid Wall Israel is building on occupied land in the West Bank village of Bili'n, after several-hour clashes with the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) who used an array of sound bombs, rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the anti-Wall demonstrators. Bili'n village has been the scene of daily clashes between anti-Wall protesters and the IOF for over three months, during which dozens were detained or wounded as Israel deported many foreign peace activists. Over 2,500 dunums of the village land were confiscated for building the Wall and expanding the two nearby illegal Jewish colonies of Mod'in Illit and Mattityahu. Since February 2005, at least 200 olive trees have been uprooted and more than 100 Palestinian activists injured in the protests against what the Palestinians officially call the Wall of Annexation and Expansion, but describe as the Apartheid Wall in the media. Early Friday more than 200 protesters marched to the east of Bili'n where the Wall is being constructed. IOF closed off the road leading to the village's confiscated lands with layers of barbed wire and a roadblock. Protestors swept through the roadblock and marched towards their lands where around six IOF bulldozers have been leveling the land and uprooting olive and other trees for the wall on a daily basis. The IOF soldiers used rubber bullets, sound bombs and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, who responded with throwing stones. Clashes ended when the IOF soldiers and bulldozers withdrew at the end of the day's work. Protesters then moved to dismantle part of the groundwork for a section of the Wall's route. Two days earlier, on Wednesday, anti-Wall protesters constructed a mock prison on their expropriated land to symbolize the imprisonment imposed by the Wall on communities and villagers across the West Bank. Ten people with a goat were locked into the mock prison. An IOF bulldozer was used to destroy the mock jail. One Palestinian, Ribhi el-Khatib, 20, was injured by a rubber bullet in the leg during the clashes that erupted when protesters tried to halt the work of the bulldozer. Another Palestinian was detained by the IOF soldiers. A New Israeli Weapon: The 'Screamer' On June 17, Israeli soldiers used a new weapon: A sponge cap attached to a hard plastic shell that is fired from a 40mm gun attachment and spins at high speed. Declaring the village and the surrounding areas a closed military zone, a large force of IOF soldiers, border police and plainclothes officers were waiting for the demonstrators with a white van that housed the new Israeli army weapon, "the Screamer," behind barbed wire. The "Screamer" transmits high-pitched sound waves, which are not only hard on the ears, but can cause some to feel bilious, "a little like sea sickness," an IOF officer had told The Jerusalem Post. When the IOF troops turned on the Screamer, the demonstrators lay down on the road under mock tombstones. A Palestinian who was lying on the ground was hit and burned by a sound bomb. Soldiers refused to allow him to receive medical care, though he was bleeding. He was later detained with seven others, including three Palestinians and four Israelis. Fifteen demonstrators were injured in the course of the demonstration from both the Israeli new and "traditional" weapons. Later, Israeli activists handed to a police station a video tape that proves neither the Israeli nor the Palestinian detainees were throwing stones at the soldiers. Ninetieth Solidarity Foreign Activist Deported Israel has deported many foreign activists who came to show their solidarity with the Palestinians in Bili'n. Johan Persson, from Sweden, was arrested in Bili'n on May 15 and was the latest deportee. Persson was the ninetieth solidarity activist to be deported since April 2002. Hundreds of others have been denied access to the occupied territories. The International Solitary Movement (ISM) alone has documented 161 cases of denied entry. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bayareapalestine/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 18) THE MOTHER OF ALL HOAXES? World Trade Tower 'Controlled Demolition'? MER EDITORIAL: http://www.middleeast.org/premium/ read.cgi?category=Magazine&num=1285&month=6&year=2005&function=text&stan dalone=0 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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