hupcollective

Washington's Wars and Occupations:
Month in Review #25
May 29, 2007
By Max Elbaum, War Times/Tiempo de Guerras

IRAQ: "HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL"

This time the admission came from a senior military official of Washington's
only remaining major ally:

"The evidence does not suggest that the surge is actually working," said
Alastair Campbell, the outgoing defense attache at the British Embassy
in Baghdad
May 20. According to Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Campbell also disclosed that
U.S. commanders had decided that the criteria for "success" would be only
a reduction in violence to the level prior to last year's bombing of
the al-Askari
Mosque in Samarra. That means 800 dead Iraqis a month - a figure that
the Telegraph
admits "few would regard as anything remotely approaching peace."

The administration's utter failure in Iraq is the driving force behind Bush's
loss of public support and the fracturing of his right-wing coalition.
The latest
poll (May 24) shows opposition to the Iraq war at an all-time high: 60% say the
U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq; 76% - including a majority of Republicans -
say that the additional U.S. troops sent this year have had no impact
or are making
things worse. Bush's overall approval level is just 30% compared to
63% disapproval.

Bush won some breathing space when the majority of House and Senate
Democrats caved
in to "don't-stab-our-troops-in-the-back" demagogy and approved Iraq
war funding. But defeat in Iraq and popular disgust with the war are
here to stay.
Even Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell predicted a change: "I think
the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the
fall." He added the Republican spin that Bush "is going to lead"
this policy shift and the White House leaked its standard scam that
Bush is "considering
major troop reductions next year." But the President will be even weaker in
September than he is now.
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Washington's Wars and Occupations:
Month in Review #23
March 29, 2007
By Max Elbaum, War Times/Tiempo de Guerras


TODAY'S ANTIWAR DILEMMAS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

In March 1965, before ordering the first deployment of U.S. ground troops to Vietnam (U.S. "advisers" had been there for years) President Lyndon Johnson told Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara: "I don't think anything is gonna be as bad as losing, and I don't see any way of winning."

Johnson had just received a classified briefing saying that the U.S. client regime in South Vietnam was about to collapse. Military experts informed the President that only a huge U.S. military commitment could avert defeat in the short run. They said that looking ahead even "warfare of any design, scale or duration" could not assure lasting success. Maxwell Taylor, then the country's most famous active-duty general and Ambassador to South Vietnam, warned against sending U.S troops, arguing that Vietnamese civilians would turn to patriotic resistance against the "white-faced soldier, armed, equipped and trained as he is" as a successor to the hated French colonialists.

A few days later Johnson commiserated about Vietnam with his old friend Richard
Russell of Georgia, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "I guess
we got no choice, but it scares the death out of me," Johnson said. "Those marines, they'll be killing a whole lot of friendly Vietnamese," Russell responded.

"Airplanes ain't worth as damn, Dick," Johnson continued. Bombing only "lets you get your hopes up... A man can fight if he can see daylight down the road somewhere, but there ain't no daylight in Vietnam."
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Friends,

On March 19 the fifth year of the illegal, immoral, disastrous war in Iraq will
begin. Activists across the country are mobilizing to mark the occasion with
demonstrations, vigils and direct actions from Friday March 16 through Tuesday March
20. Add your voice to the rising call for peace: to find an activity in your area
go to http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?sortby=&caltype=51

In many cities individuals and groups have already begun to act. Below are two
inspiring stories. The first, by Veterans for Peace Executive Director Michael
McPhearson, tells the story of his first arrest in a civil disobedience protest.
Following Michael's article is a press release from the reborn SDS (Students for a
Democratic Society) announcing the occupation of a Manhattan Recruiting Station by
New York City area SDS members.

And if you need materials presenting the case for an immediate U.S. withdrawal from
Iraq, check out the new flyer "Time To End the Occupation of Iraq" available from
War Times/Tiempo de Guerras. The flyer is downloadable in English and Spanish as a
.pdf file from http://www.war-times.org Or e-mail us at info@war-times.org and we
will mail you up to 25 copies free of charge.

Peace,

The War Times/Tiempo de Guerras All-Volunteer Staff

My Small Act of Civil Disobedience

Michael T. McPhearson

Yesterday, Feb 27th, I participated in my first open act of civil disobedience as
part of the Occupation Project. I along with St. Louis local chapter President Chuc
Smith, three other veterans; Jim Allen, Harry Wyman and VFP office manager Cherie
Eichholz and Military Families Speak Out Member D. Ridgley Brown visited
Representative Russ Carnahan's office to continue our conversation to persuade him
to vote down any bills that continue to provide funding for the war in Iraq.
Jim Allen and I decided to sit-in to protest Carnahan's refusal to pledge not to
continue funding for the war. As a result, Jim and I were arrested.
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--

SDS Occupies Recruiting Station in Manhattan

Contact:
Matt De Vlieger: 954.536.7461
Uruj Sheikh: 201.407.8670

At noon, Monday, March 12, 2007, nearly 100 students from area
universities marched to the armed forces recruiting station on 157
Chambers Street. Twenty-three members of Students for a Democratic
Society entered and occupied the recruiting station shutting down
recruitment activity for nearly two hours. Outside dozens more
protesters supported those being arrested with chants including,
"Troops out now," "No justice, no peace. U.S. out of the Middle East,"
and "Stop the war. Yes we can. SDS is back again." Member of Pace
University SDS, Uruj Sheikh said, "The fourth anniversary of the
occupation of Iraq is in one week. Billions of dollars are being
spent and hundreds of thousands have been murdered. Military
recruitment has been systematically deceptive and we as students, as
targets of recruitment, say something must be done to stop the war
aboard and at home." Protester Rakshan Kateeb, sophomore at Pace
University said, "The action was successful in that we are building up
to the big mobilizing actions at the end of this week and the
continued actions that will end this war." Visiting on Spring break
from the University in Central Florida, SDS member, Matt De Vlieger
said, "This demonstration was empowering and necessary. We need to
step up our resistance to the war against Iraq and U.S. imperialism.
As the war escalates, so does our resistance." Jessica Rapchik,
member from Antioch College SDS in Ohio said, "It was really
encouraging to be there locking arms with our brothers and sisters who
used civil disobedience for something they believe in." Jail
solidarity is being held across from New York State court on 100
Centre Street.

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