We’re here! We arrived yesterday afternoon. When we arrived at the camp we discovered things had slowed down for the day and preparations were being made to set up a second camp a few blocks away.
We were pleasantly surprised to learn upon meeting staff that we were being expected! So today we are up and out early to go help set up the second camp.
We are staying at fellow Green’s home of Tom and Tamar Yager.
Here are a few photos – more to come of course!
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged anti-war, camp democracy, government corruption, peace
It’s an election year. His approval ratings are dropping. So it makes sens that Bush admits the CIA runs secret prisons: He says interrogations have thwarted attacks against U.S.. Now Bush is asking that Congress look into article 3 of the Geneva Convention and specifically define it stating that it is “vague and undefined.” What he is attempting to do is to get excused from violating international laws:
Nearing the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, Bush pressed Congress to quickly pass administration-drafted legislation authorizing the use of military commissions for trials of terror suspects. Legislation is needed because the Supreme Court in June said the administration’s plan for trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.
Administration officials said they were concerned the ruling left U.S. personnel vulnerable to be prosecuted under the War Crimes Act because the language under the Geneva Conventions was so vague.
An administration-drafted legislation would authorize the defense secretary to convene a military commission with five members, plus a judge to preside. It would guarantee a detainee’s access to military counsel but eliminate other rights common in military and civilian courts. The bill would allow reliable hearsay and potentially coerced testimony to be used as evidence in court, as well as the submission of classified evidence “outside the presence of the accused.”
But some senators have drafted another idea:
Republican Sens. John Warner, John McCain and Lindsey Graham have drafted a rival proposal. Unlike the administration’s plan, the senators’ proposal would allow a defendant to access to all evidence used against them. The plan by Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, also would prohibit coerced testimony.
Ironically,
Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon put out a new Army field manual that spells out appropriate conduct on issues including prisoner interrogation. The manual applies to all the armed services but not the CIA. It bans torture and degrading treatment of prisoners, for the first time specifically mentioning forced nakedness, hooding and other procedures that have become infamous during the war on terror.
Democracy Now! has, as its lead story today, an analysis of Bush’s speech.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged anti-war, government corruption, military industrial complex, peace
WASHINGTON – Sen. Bob Bennett said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made mistakes in prosecuting the war in Iraq, but the Utah Republican would not answer directly whether he has confidence in the secretary.
Responding to a push by Democrats for a vote of no confidence in Rumsfeld, Bennett said, ”I can criticize some of the decisions that have been made, but the question arises, ‘Who would replace him?’ ”
I have a suggestion: My dog, Star.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged anti-war, government corruption, iraq, military industrial complex, peace, politics
Camp Democracy officially begins today. Camp Democracy is a non-partisan camp for peace, democracy, and the restoration of the rule of law. It is focused not only on ending the war but also on righting injustices here at home and on holding accountable the Bush Administration and Congress.
View the schedule of events here.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Activism, anti-war, camp democracy, Green Party, peace
In today’s article, An Army Minus One on Common Dreams, it’s been announced that Army Specialist Mark Wilkerson has turned himself in to Fort Hood in Texas, after being AWOL (Absent Without Leave) for more than 18 months.
Initially supportive of the Iraq War, Wilkerson realized over time that the war was wrong and that he could not bring himself to kill and developed an inner urging to not go back with his company’s second deployment.
Wilkerson is one of hundreds of U.S. Soldiers who have refused to fight in Iraq and have claimed Conscientous Objector Status.
Cindy Sheehan has asked for more people to follow in Wilkerson’s footsteps. “Mark served one tour in Iraq and what he saw there changed him to such a degree that he couldn’t in good conscience return again. It shouldn’t be his duty to enter combat once again. He has already done what has been asked of him, and fulfilled his oath,” Sheehan said.
“There is a belief on the part of the soldier that they will be used carefully, and as a last resort only when all other means to resolve a conflict have been exhausted. Instead, soldiers are put into harm’s way without proper training and equipment, and for reasons we have come to find were fraudulent. The social contract between the U.S. government and our society and the solider who serves has been broken,” she said.
In The Wasatch Front’s post Questus Furore – Civility and Disagreement, I was disappointed to read:
When Utah did not erupt in spontaneous revulsion, the mayor [Rocky Anderson] took it upon himself to organize protests against the President’s presence. (Unanswered and unexplored is the question of what city resources and employees were used to organize these protests. Seems like a job for some enterprising reporter out there. Too bad the local newspapers – the Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News – don’t employ any.)
Here is my response to that statement:
I would like to clarify that Rocky Anderson did not organize any of the rallies in Salt Lake on August 30.
Continue reading
Public Forum Letters – Response to Cheers, Jeers for Bush 08/31/06:
The Republican Party has become a quasi-government organization under the Bush Administration. The evidence of this continues to mount starting with overthrowing the 2000 presidential elections by conspiring to make mass challenges to opposition voters. Other examples include taking control of mass media ownership. The Republican Party has become an extra-Constitutional institution with the ability to subvert national elections and manage war propaganda.
The Utah Republican Party confirmed my worst suspicions at their “Pro-Bush” rally on August 30th. The contrasts between the, “Rock-Against-Rumsfeld” at Pioneer Park and the “Pro-Bush” rally at Washington Square were striking. At Pioneer Park the crowd was surrounded by 50 or more Salt Lake Police with riot gear and squad cars parked around the perimeter. When I arrived at the “Pro-Bush” rally I saw three police officers in uniform standing on the sidelines chatting. Orrin Hatch was speaking when I arrived there. I shouted out to him as loud as I could from the crowd. I exclaimed, “[Hatch] refused to
see the peace delegation at your office to hear our grievances.” At this point I was grabbed from behind kicked and kneed hard in the back. A man grabbed my arm and doubled his fist to punch me (See Cheers, Jeers for Bush, Salt Lake Tribune August 31st). The police at the event did not intervene. I can’t help but feel this is deliberate cooperation between the Republican Party and law enforcement agencies to squash dissent and intimidate critics of an out of control President.
Nate Smith
c/o Free Speech Zone
2144 S Highland Dr Suite 130
Salt Lake City UT 84106
Common Dreams published an article today called Camp Crawford Bush Protesters Moving Operation to DC.
In the article, this account is written:
A Bush supporter James Vergauwen sat in a convenience store parking lot in downtown Crawford on Saturday afternoon, under a tent with a sign reading “The Price of Freedom Is Not Free.”
The Vietnam veteran from Windthorst, near the Oklahoma line, said he and his wife been staying in his RV in the parking lot the past few weeks to counter Sheehan’s protest. Tourists and other supporters stop by or sit with him and thank him, he said.
“She has the right to say whatever she wants, and she does, but she doesn’t have the right to slander,” said Vergauwen, who added he was also supporting Bush in Crawford last summer.
This is probably the same man who was sitting at the same table when I was in Crawford a few weeks ago with these signs:
Now, if Cindy Sheehan “doesn’t have the right to slander”, why do these people?
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Cindy Sheehan
I bought land in Crawford, Tx to conduct our Camp Caseys until the horrendous nightmare of an occupation ends in Iraq or/and until our world no longer has to suffer under the Bush Regime. But our land will also be a permanent place for peace and as a bastion of hope and refuge for soldiers whether they want to be in the military or not.
So many other people have literally put their blood, sweat and tears into Camp Casey III and all of the previous Camp Caseys — wonderful peace activists who give up many days, but in most cases, many weeks to come to hot, sweaty, dry, and dusty Crawford, Texas to show BushCo, our country and our world, that there are people in our nation who love peace with freedom so much that they are willing to drop their own lives to make such things realities in our lifetimes.
Camp Casey has not received the media coverage that we enjoyed (or not) last summer — because Cut and Run George has spent less time in Crawford this year than Camp Casey has. For some reason, the media follows him.
All of our hard work and every penny that I have spent was made abundantly worthwhile today when Mark Wilkerson, a 22 year old Army Specialist out of Ft. Hood, who has been AWOL for 19 months heard our call of sanctuary and came to Camp Casey to spend his last few days of freedom before turning himself in to military authorities at Ft. Hood.
After one tour in Iraq, Mark decided that the war, which he initially supported, was as illegal and immoral as he was hearing some people say. He tried very hard to go through the proper channels to attain Conscientious Objector status, but he was denied. So instead of being redeployed to Iraq for a 2nd time, he decided to go AWOL.
He heard our call for sanctuary at Camp Casey and he came. He found a home and a new family who love and support him fully. Mark is anxious to pay whatever price he has to pay for his decision and then to work with us in the Camp Casey Peace Institute and in the peace field.
One question that I heard the media that were there ask him, over and over again, went something like this: “Don’t you feel that when you take an oath you have an obligation to fulfill?” Mark handled this question wonderfully stating that he also has an obligation to follow his own conscience. Knowing that this war is both illegal and immoral by all rational and sane standards, he could not morally participate in the war crimes and crimes against humanity forced on everyone by our lying leaders.
I watch a lot of news and I read reports of Bush’s rare press conferences, and I have never seen any one ask George Bush the same question asked of Mark. The commander in chief did not fulfill his obligation during the Vietnam War. He was transferred to the Alabama Air National Guard, and despite a reward, that no one has come forward to claim saying anyone saw him there, he never reported for duty. I would like the same question asked of the president as was asked repeatedly of Wilkerson. How can he dare send a 22 year old Spc 4 to Iraq to fight, perhaps die and perhaps kill innocent people in a FUBAR excuse for a war, when he used all of his daddy’s connections to get out of the FUBAR excuse of a war that his generation had to fight, die, and kill innocent people for?
Along with most of the Republican Senators, Congresspeople, Executive Branch, and Dick “I had other priorities” Cheney, I have no problem with anyone who did whatever they had to do to not go to Vietnam. What I surely do have a problem with is, while they ran from the military industrial complex in the 60’s and 70’s, they feed our children to the ravenous monster in the next century’s first war for greed. Congress also abrogated its Constitutional responsibility to declare war and handed the keys to the war machine to an irresponsible deserter and his vice-draft dodger. Additionally, our commander in chief has an obligation to use his troops wisely — not recklessly and negligently. And what about the obligation to tell the truth to your country?
Instead of having the dubious “courage” of asking a brave young man full of integrity and honor the question of fulfilling an obligation, I would love for one of the press corps to ask the same question of Mark and Casey’s commander-in-chief. George had all the advantages of his East Coast birth and daddy’s wealth and cronies — so, he just didn’t have to show up if he didn’t want to. Mark did not have such advantages. He had to live in fear of discovery for over a year and a half. The rich always send the children of the poor to die to make themselves richer.
The peace movement needs to encourage all the soldiers to lay down their weapons and refuse to die or kill innocent people for the cowards in DC and the war machine. We, as peace people, need to support them with our moral support and monetary support so they feel comfortable doing so. We, as peace people, need to work on stopping the next war and work on giving families information and alternatives to their children putting on the uniform of the war profiteers. College is too expensive and they have no jobs in their communities. We need to wrest away money from the War Department and give it back to our future: our children.
War will only continue if we keep giving our kids to the war machine to chew up and spit out for their wicked profits.
To find more information on how to help young people get out of going to a war, please go to The GI Rights Hotline.
To find more information on obtaining C.O. Status please go to the Conscientious Objectors Web Site.
To find more information about alternatives to joining the military, please go to American Friends’ Service Committee.
I wish I had all of this info before my oldest child came home in a body bag.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Cindy Sheehan is mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is the author of Peace Mom which will be available on Sept. 19th, 2004.
Here’s the problem with this coverage. The media has clearly taken a photo of Nate being publicly assaulted. Isnt’ that a crime? Also, the article does not in any way explain what happened here – it’s just a photo. I’m really disappointed in this “coverage”. Read the real story about what happened here and here.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 