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by Kathy Kelly
November 15, 2006

Barely a day goes by when I don’t learn a new report about a beleaguered Iraqi refugee, or of an entire family, in desperate need of help. We think hard, within our Voices for Creative Nonviolence network, about ways to build concern for the estimated three million Iraqis who have been displaced from their homes. Ironically, I think some of the people who can best empathize with Iraqi refugees are the U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq, far from their homes and families.

Recently, an A.P. reporter in Baghdad described a town hall meeting which U.S. military officials helped organize in a Shi’ite area of northern Baghdad. (“U.S. takes on community building in Iraq� by Lauren Frayer, 11/11/06). Tucked into the article is her observation of two U.S. soldiers who stood guard during the 3 ½ hour meeting. “Outside the auditorium, two U.S. Army snipers clicked their rifles on safety and kicked at tufts of grass to pass the time.�

By Kathy Kelly
November 7, 2006

In mid-April, 2003, Baghdad skies were still heavy with fumes from the Shock and Awe bombing. The intersection immediately outside our hotel was filled with scores of newly arrived invading U.S. Marines. We began to grow acquainted with many of the Marines who stood guard next to bulldozers, Armored Personnel Carriers, tanks, and humvees. First there were mutually curious exchanges, then longer conversations over water and dates.

Within a few days, we realized that the Marines were protecting the Ministry of Oil building, but that numerous other places were vulnerable to looting and destruction. Alarmed by a rumor that people in Hilla faced an outbreak of cholera because of contaminated drinking water, we wondered if perhaps the Marines weren’t getting information about ways to deliver clean water. Were they having trouble locating various hospitals in critical need of protection? Were they aware that there had been no garbage collection for the past month? Did they need information about where to find humanitarian relief organizations? We sent two of our folks over to visit with the U.S. authorities at the Palestine Hotel. The response to our overture was polite, but unmistakable: “Get Lost.” You could read about this on E-Iraq’s archives (April 16, 2003, “Heavy-handed and hopeless, the U.S. military doesn’t know what it’s doing in Iraq,”) and see a picture that shows Marines setting up a makeshift sign banning Voices in the Wilderness from re-entry into their headquarters.

By Neville Watson
November 5, 2006

I appreciate this opportunity to give an update on Iraq. Because of my interest in Iraq and the people I met when I was there, I have kept myself pretty much up to date on the situation and appreciate the opportunity of sharing my reading, research and thinking with you.

Let me now say what I always say when talking about Iraq

(1) I don’t expect you to agree with me. I have no desire to convince you of the validity of my ideas. I want only to share them with you.

(2) I am no expert on Iraq. Because I was in Iraq before, during and after the war doesn’t make me an expert on Iraq. I did not go to Iraq to become an expert. My 11 year grand daughter summed up the reason when she wrote in a school essay “My grandpa has gone to Baghdad to comfort the Iraqis while the Americans bomb them.” I went, as Bonhoeffer would say, to participate in the suffering of God. In the context of this morning’s sermon, I went there to pray. I went because there comes a time when it is better to be a victim rather than an accomplice, when the issues are so clear to you that you would rather be in the country where the bombs are dropping rather than in the country responsible for the bombing. At the service before I left the Minister with whom I am associated blew out the candle, handed it to me and said “Go and light this candle in Iraq. Be our man in Baghdad.” And this I tried to do. But this doesn’t make me an expert!

INITIATED BY: Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
ENDORSED BY: Veterans for Peace and Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Voices for Creative Nonviolence is organizing the Occupation Project, a campaign of sustained nonviolent civil disobedience aimed at ending the U.S. war in and occupation of Iraq. The campaign will begin the first week of February 2007 with occupations at the offices of Representatives and Senators who refuse to pledge to vote against additional war funding.

We invite your participation and your organization’s endorsement. To become involved with this campaign, please contact us via phone at 773-878-3815 or via email, occupationproject@vcnv.org

Please click on the “Read More” to read the campaign’s foundational document.

Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Vietnam 1963-1975 Iraq 2003-2006 An illegal act of pre-emptive aggression unsanctioned by international law or world opinion. An illegal act of pre-emptive aggression unsanctioned by international law or world opinion. Fabricated “Gulf Of Tonkin Attack� fools Congress. “Weapons of Mass Destruction� claims fool Congress. Sold as a war to promote democracy, and to fight communism, actually an imperial war for rubber and manganese. Sold as a war to promote democracy, a battle in the “war on terror,� actually an imperial war to control pricing and flow of oil. Upwards of 2 Million Vietnamese civilians die. (Lots of images on TV screen). Estimates of Iraqi deaths range from 45,000 to 655,000 and counting. (TV images suppressed). 55,000 American soldiers die. Over 2,804 American soldiers dead, so far. Tens of thousands of U.S. service members wounded, physically and mentally; treatment inadequate. Over 20,000 U.S. service members wounded, so far; veterans’ benefits cut. Agent Orange health effects denied. Depleted uranium health effects denied. Government lies to press called “credibility gaps.� Government lies accepted as “information warfare.� US media celebrate start of war, question war as protests increase, some coverage from north’s point of view. US media celebrate start of war, question war as protests increase, reporters are stuck in the green zone. Flag draped coffins come home. Johnson, McNamara, Nixon attended funerals. Flag draped coffins concealed from view. Bush, Rumsfeld ignore funerals, media follow suit. Arrogant Defense Secretary McNamara sees “light at the end of the tunnel.� Arrogant Defense Secretary Rumsfeld sees “long hard slog� to victory. Demonstration elections held in Vietnam, “Free Elections� celebrated by press. Press credits Bush with securing “Free Elections� in Iraq, Voter insistence on US withdrawal ignored. Resistance and casualties keep growing. Resistance and casualties keep growing. President Johnson’s domestic “War On Poverty� lost to military spending. Bush throws up hands: can’t fund health care and other urgent social needs. U.S. allies angry and alienated. U.S. allies angry and alienated. “Vietnamization� plan to train South Vietnam Army, and gradually withdraw U.S. troops. Attempts to train Iraqi Army to take brunt for fighting (permanently backed up by U.S. Military bases) countered vigorously by Iraqi resistance. Prisoners in south tortured and held in “tiger cages,� U.S. POW’s tortured and killed in the north. Iraqi prisoners tortured at Abu Ghraib, U.S. troops tortured and killed. U.S. troops first to reveal war crimes, such as the My Lai Massacre. U.S. troops leak images from Abu Ghraib. Use of illegal munitions, napalm, cluster bombs and Agent Orange used on civilians. Use of illegal munitions, cluster bombs, napalm-like firebombs and depleted uranium used on civilians. U.S. troops finally withdrawn after 11 years. U.S. builds permanent military bases in Iraq and, in the Green Zone, the largest embassy in the world.

The above comparisons were developed by Karl Meyer (karlmeyerng@hotmail.com), as well as compiled from an article by Danny Schechter

Statistics of US casualties and wounded

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Voices for Creative Nonviolence, info@vcnv.org
1249 West Argyle, Chicago, IL 60640 773-878-3815

October 10, 2006

War Crimes Report Shows US Violations of International Law and Demands Prosecution of US Military and Civilian Leaders

The violence of the Iraq War, the chaos that has come to Iraq, can be traced directly to the illegality of the invasion and occupation of that country and the illegality of the tactics and weapons being used to maintain the occupation. “U.S. War Crimes in Iraq and Mechanisms for Accountability” documents these violations and calls on us all to demand investigation and prosecution of violations of international law by military and civilian leaders.

Read the full report (pdf)

Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, has a new article that was published on ElectronicIraq.net, October 10th 2006.

Read When Evil Doing Comes Like Falling Rain

WITNESS: Kathy Kelly is a veteran of world’s battle zones.

By DEBRA McKINNEY
Anchorage Daily News
*Published: October 5, 2006 *

From the sounds of it, about the only time Kathy Kelly can get some rest is when she’s in prison. When she’s not, there are minds to open, wars to stop, a world to save.

She’s been to many battle zones many times. She’s seen things no one should have to see and heard things no one should have to hear.

Like how a little boy named Ali, who’d lost his arms in an explosion, asked from his hospital bed if he’d always be this way. This was before he knew that, except for an aunt, the bomb that hit his home had killed his entire family.

Published: 22 September 2006
Independent

They have organised elections, and pushed through a new democratically-ratified constitution that has given birth to a national government with a true mandate. They have sent more of their own troops, and trained the locals. They have sacrificed some 2,700 of their servicemen and over $300bn (£1.6bn) of their taxpayers’ money. But nothing the Americans can do has stopped post-Saddam Iraq’s long slide into chaos and despair.

President Bush and his top aides still insist civil war has not broken out. That, however, is a matter of semantics after the latest UN report that almost 6,600 people died in sectarian violence in the last two months for which statistics are available - an “unprecedented” 3,590 in July, followed by 3009 in August.

By Jeff Leys, jeffleys@vcnv.org
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
September 18, 2006

This week, the International Monetary Fund will be holding its annual meeting in Singapore. No doubt, the economic restructuring and forced leveraging of Iraq will be a key component of talks surrounding the meeting. In these past few months, free trade zones have been established along the borders with Syria and Iran; foreign investment laws have been vetted and approved; and laws governing investment in the oil sector have been drafted and introduced. Iraq continues to move forward in implementing conditions imposed upon it through the Stand By Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in December of 2005. While the command economy established under Saddam Hussein’s regime was unsustainable, it is also highly probable that the benefits of the economic restructuring under way at present will accrue to the benefit of an elite segment of Iraq and of the international community. It is improbable that ordinary Iraqi citizens will be the beneficiaries of these changes.

Joel Gulledge, co-coordinator with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, is currently a member of a Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation in At-Tuwani, Palestine. Joel recently sent us updates of his experiences of the last week, a well as a press release.

Sept 19, 2006 Joel Gulledge
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)
Occupied Palestinian Territories
At-Tuwani,South Hebron Hills:

12 Sept 2006

It can be surreal here in Tuwani, to be watching a shepherd boy tend to his flock, and then see an armoured humvee pull up.

I am sitting here holding in my hands, metal spikes that were used today by Israeli settlers to sabatoge a truck carrying water (supplied by international aid organization Oxfam) to nearby Palestinian village Susiya. This entire area has been affected by serious drought, and the water brought by Oxfam is a necessity.

Dozens of spikes were placed across the road before the time of the water truck’s regularly scheduled arrival. The truck was disabled, three tires punctured. One, two, three. After a delay, the driver was able to deliver the water.

by Bill Quigley
www.dissidentvoice.org
September 17, 2006

On the morning of June 20, 2006, three people dressed as clown arrived at Echo 9. The clowns broke the lock off the fence and put up peace banners and posters. One said: “Swords into plowshares — Spears into pruning hooks.â€? Then they poured some of their own blood and hammered on the nuclear launching facility.

by David Yonke
September 12 2006
The Toledo Blade

Peace activist Kathy Kelly said yesterday that she has been to Iraq 28 times in the last 15 years because she feels that action, not just words, are needed to make a difference.

“You can’t be a vegetarian between meals, and you can’t be a pacifist between wars,” Ms. Kelly said, quoting American pacifist Ammon Hennacy.

The 53-year-old peace activist from Chicago, speaking to a packed house of several hundred people in the University of Toledo Law Center Auditorium, was the featured speaker at the Sixth Annual Maryse Mikhail Memorial Lecture.

Updated August 29th 2006

View the slideshow of photos by Farah Mokhtareizadeh. Farah traveled to Lebanon on August 11th to join with Lebanese and internationals seeking an end to the war. Farah is currently in Beirut. (requires flash)

by Diane Hughes
August 29, 2006

On 8/25, we attended our second court hearing for the criminal trespass to property charge at the Military Entrance Processing Center at Great Lakes Naval Base on July 5. At that time, Jeff Leys, Cey Mooney and I entered the Base parking lot to read the names of US soldiers and Iraqi civilians who have died in the Iraq War Missing from the court scene was Mike Ferner, held in Ohio at the insistence of his by-the-book probation officer from another anti-war related charge. Although Mike had not intended to cross the line, the GLNB police had a different interpretation of his nearby presence. At this court appearance, his case was incorporated with our charges.

by Ramzi Kysia
August 28, 2006

Yesterday, I shed my first tears for Lebanon.

Yesterday, I visited Houla, a stone’s throw from the Israeli border.

Yesterday, I was discovered by Zainab Fawqi-Sleem - a young, Lebanese woman who was killed in Houla, alongside her sister-in-law, Selma, on July 15th. Zainab is but one of over 1,300 innocents killed in this war, but she is the one who found me.

by Ramzi Kysia
Aug 22, 2006

lebanonsolidarity.org

Last week, I made my first trip to South Lebanon since the war began. Having traveled a fifth of the world, and been present during “wars� in Iraq, Palestine, and New York – I can honestly say that I have never seen such complete devastation in my entire life. The only thing that even comes close are the pictures I’ve seen from World War II. Much of South Lebanon simply lies in ruin.

In the South, Israeli warplanes occasionally break the sound barrier, rattling people as they fly off on God knows what missions. Israeli drones constantly fly overhead. The low, insistent hum of their engines serves as a continual reminder that Lebanon is not yet safe.

See also: Grieving Relatives of Qana Massacre Emerge From the Rubble to Bury Their Dead, (Aug 22), Kathy Kelly speaks with Ami Goodman on Democracy Now! Kathy attended a funeral that took place in Qana where an Israeli airstrike on the town on July 30th killed 29 people.

By Kathy Kelly
August 21, 2006

Upon arrival in Beirut in early August, 2006, Michael Birmingham met Abu Mustafa. Michael is an Irish citizen who has worked with Voices campaigns for several years. Abu Mustafa is a kindly Lebanese cab driver.

Having fled his home in the Dahiya neighborhood which was being heavily bombed, Abu Mustafa was living in his car. Abu Mustafa joked that he sometimes went back to his home in the already evacuated area of the Dahiya, just to take a shower or sometimes a proper nap. His family was living with relatives in a safer area. Toward the end of the war, Israeli bombs blasted buildings quite near his home. He tore out of the suburb in his cab and made that his home until we met him again on August 15th.

by Kathy Kelly
August 19, 2006

Two days ago, driving toward the village of Qana, we saw men at work, creating neatly aligned rows of rectangular cement structures that would soon be ready for burials. On foot, we entered Qana, thinking we should at least identify the site where a massacre had taken place when, on July 30th, an Israeli bomb hit a building that sheltered children as they slept. It took five hours for ambulances to reach them. Statistics differ, but the most recent Human Rights Watch report estimated that twenty-three were killed.

Turning a corner, we saw men arranging white plastic chairs for guests who came to mourn with family members in the funeral tradition. The men sat in front of one home. Women were next door.