War Is A Crime .org

September 19, 2005 - Binghamton, NY Federal Court

Two days before the beginning of "Shock and Awe" four concerned
citizens went to their local military recruiting station to say no to
the war. They acted in the spirit of non-violence and civil
resistance, pouring their own blood in the lobby of the recruiting
center. They then knelt and prayed. They were later tried in
Tompkins County Court. Nine of the twelve jurors voted for
acquittal. Despite this overwhelming majority to acquit, the Federal
government has decided to bring new charges against them. If
convicted, they could face up to six years in prison, a period of

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, August 15, 2005; 12:24 PM

Just about now, President Bush is probably wishing he'd built a secret back way out of his ranch.

And maybe something similar for Iraq as well.

Cindy Sheehan and her growing band of followers are camped out for the duration along the only road leading out of Bush's sprawling Crawford estate. The grieving mother of a soldier killed in Iraq has emerged as a powerful focal point for the hitherto amorphous majority of Americans who, according to a recent poll , want to see U.S. troops start leaving Iraq now.

Rove and Ashcroft face new allegations in the Valerie Plame affair
Village Voice
By Murray Waas

Rove consulted on three of Ashcroft’s political campaigns, earning $746,000.
photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

Murray Waas will be writing more about the latest in the Plame affair at www.whateveralready.blogspot.com.

Justice Department officials made the crucial decision in late 2003 to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame in large part because investigators had begun to specifically question the veracity of accounts provided to them by White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to senior law enforcement officials.

From Crawford Update Blog

Press Conference Photo:

Catch the coverage:
http://crawfordorbust.com/

Here's an update of our local support of Cindy's effort. We are going on the NDSU (college) radio tonight at 9PM to announce our Solidarity with Cindy rally scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 21, 2005--on the Main Avenue Bridge between Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN. We will be giving a brief explanation of Cindy Sheehan's position, and then some of our own statements against the war. Then we will light up the phones for questions and answers. John Peterson (of The Red River Anti-War Coalition and Workers International League) is presently at the university distributing leaflet copies of the press release below.

STATEWIDE PROTEST OF BLUE ANGELS AIR SHOW

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th BRUNSWICK MALL TO NASB MARCH BEGINS AT 9am

The Navy's "Blue Angels" flight team will come to Naval Air Station Brunswick (NASB) to perform on the anniversary of 9-11. The event is a recruiting gimmick at a time when the military is in desperate need for more of our kids to fight in Iraq.

Maine Veterans for Peace is calling for a statewide peace march from the downtown Brunswick mall to NASB on September 10. We will begin gathering just after 8am that morning. Over 100,000 people are expected to view the expensive war promotion air show.

Dean Decisively Undecided on Anything Yet, But don't worry - he's working on it:
LINK

From Crawford Update Blog

Cindy had a press conference this morning at Camp Casey. Most the major media was there. If you missed it, be sure to tune into Headline News or CNN in the coming hours. Cindy offered President Bush to join her and other military families in a non-denominational prayer meeting this Friday in support of our troops in Iraq and their families. Let's hope the President makes the right decision.

A gentleman from ABC News has been here since the beginning and done some great work for us. At the press conference he couldn't seem to let go of the question around whether Cindy felt as though she had become distracted from her original goal of meeting with the President because of the media circus and all the people that had arrived in support of her.

"What I witnessed was the total opposite of what President Bush told the American people"

by Sgt. John Bruhns

Editor's note: Following is a letter by Army Sgt. John Bruhns, excerpts of which were read on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) on July 19, 2005.

I am a concerned veteran of the Iraq war. I am not an expert on the vast and wide range of issues throughout the political spectrum, but I can offer some firsthand experience of the war in Iraq through the eyes of a soldier. My view of the situation in Iraq will differ from what the American people are being told by the Bush administration. The purpose of this message is to voice my concern that we were misled into war and continue to be misled about the situation in Iraq every day. My opinions on this matter come from what I witnessed in Iraq personally.

From North Brazoria County Democrats

Pearland, TX, Local political group sends supplies and support to mother waiting for meeting with Bush.

North Brazoria County Democrats Send Supplies and Support to Cindy Sheehan

On Saturday, August 20, 2005, after their monthly meeting, the North Brazoria County Democrats will send a group of Good Will ambassadors to Crawford, TX to deliver supplies and show support for Cindy Sheehan. The caravan will deliver sunscreen, bottled water and a variety of other sundries to the grieving mother who lost her son, Casey Sheehan, in Iraq in April 2004. They are expecting departure time to be between 10:15 and 10:45 am.

Go to Velvet Revolution's Ad Campaign.

Go to RAWSTORY.com's article about it.

From Velvet Revolution:

VR today launched a long-term advertisement and awareness campaign to galvanize American citizens into taking their country back from those who believe that they are untouchable and unaccountable. This campaign will graphically show that those in power have lost touch with real people through a pattern of lies, corruption, fear mongering, incompetence, indifference and arrogance.

The first ad will appear today as a full two-page spread in the Crawford, Texas Iconoclast newspaper and will be delivered to the President's ranch during his long five-week vacation. Cindy Sheehan and hundreds of others opposed to Iraq war are protesting nearby and they will all be given free copies of the paper. VR supports Cindy and her cause, and she was interviewed on June 18th by VR founder Brad Friedman on the BradShow. Cindy's son Casey was killed five days after arriving in Iraq in what the President calls a "noble cause." Now, however, in light of the Downing Street Memos, the world knows that the war was based on lies and deception.

Today's ad says: DON'T LOOK FOR THESE NAMES AMONG THE DEAD AND WOUNDED, and lists on Dog Tags the names of Jenna Bush, David Wolfowitz, Elizabeth Cheney, Valerie Rumsfeld, along with their religious affiliation. Below it says, "Our children have to die so Chicken Hawk children can stay home and get richer? Take back the White House for Americans who know the value of human life. Come to www.VelvetRevolution.us."

http://standwithcindy.textamerica.com/

Monday, August 15, 2005
From Crawford Update Blog

I've just been told that we're running out of fresh flowers for the memorials along the road. If you have any time today it'd be great to have flowers sent to Camp Casey via the Crawford Peace House. Here is the address:

Crawford Peace House
9142 East 5th Street
Crawford, TX 76638-3037

It's important that you include the 9 digits for the zip code as the local post office will not deliver to the Peace House unless it's addressed exactly (that's a whole other issue I'll go into later...)

Cindy has invited President Bush to join her at noon on Friday to pray for the troops serving in Iraq and the mothers who have lost their sons to war. She will be joined in Crawford by religious leaders from around the nation. Join Cindy, by organizing an interfaith prayer service or moment of silence in your community at noon on Friday the 19th.

Some quotations sent in by John Meinhold:

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5: 6

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

by Ahmed Amr
(Sunday August 14 2005)
Media Monitors Network

"Cindy has drawn a line in the sand for George Bush. In doing so, she has energized tens of thousands of peace activists and tens of millions of Americans. By now, it should be clear that Sheehan is speaking for the silent majority of Americans who want some straight answers from Bush instead of bumper sticker slogans."

This war can best be told by narrating the stories of two women. One woman played an instrumental role in launching the invasion of Iraq and the other is determined to end the occupation and bring the troops home. One woman wants to shed light on the lies that led to war and the other is willing to hide in jail to avoid telling the truth about her role in this catastrophe.

Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky)
FAMILY PUTS ASIDE POLITICS IN REMEMBERING COMLEY
By Andy Mead
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

One by one, Marines in dress uniforms stepped forward yesterday to give a final, formal, white-gloved salute to Lance Cpl. Chase Johnson Comley.

The Marines' Hymn played softly as his flag-draped coffin was slowly taken from Calvary Baptist Church for a military burial at Lexington Cemetery. Comley, a driver for an amphibious assault vehicle battalion, was killed by a suicide bomber last weekend while conducting combat operations near Amiriyah, Iraq.

The funeral was a variation of a ceremony that has been repeated somewhere in the state at least 28 times since the Iraq war began.

From TomPaine.com

It seems that Cindy Sheehan's protest is getting more mainstream media attention every day. A story about her vigil landed above the fold in The Washington Post on Saturday. Joe Biden was asked about Sheehan on Meet The Press yesterday. And the media covered President Bush's bike-riding snub of Sheehan. Our fearful leader—who has said he doesn't have time to meet with Sheehan—explained his decision to take a two-hour bike ride as an example of how he is merely trying to "go on" with his life. Sheehan, meanwhile, manages to "go on" with her life, too. She writes a surprisingly uplifting blog entry on HuffingtonPost about the weekend's events:

The Challenges We Face
by Robert Jensen
August 15, 2005

[Remarks to an interfaith service at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Austin, TX, August 14, 2005]

We gather here this afternoon, challenged by Cindy Sheehan's courage. Out of her struggle to come to terms with the ultimate loss has come a moment for all of us to commit ourselves to peace, and to the actions necessary to bring peace to the world.

There is another opportunity that arises out of Ms. Sheehan's vigil, a struggle that takes us beyond that ultimate loss. Though I am not of the church, I will borrow its language: It is the struggle to reconcile that we are spirit living in flesh.

TomPaine.com
Celeste Zappala and Dante Zappala
August 15, 2005

Celeste Zappala is the mother of Sgt. Sherwood Baker, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Dante Zappala is the brother of Sgt. Sherwood Baker. This piece originally appeared the The Philadelphia Inquirer.

_________________

We are in Crawford, Texas. We are sunk down into the soil of our country, digging in for a few days near the president's ranch. Our friend Cindy Sheehan has been entrenched here for a week, demanding a meeting with the president.

We've come to speak up for a man who is now forever silent. Sgt. Sherwood Baker, our Sher, was a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He was killed in Baghdad last year. He was on duty for the Iraq Survey Group. He was looking for weapons of mass destruction.

The drama of King George and Cindy is now a week old. Cindy Sheehan is patiently waiting for an audience with the ruler who sent her son to be killed in an unjust, illegal war.
by Carol Wolman
http://www.opednews.com

The drama of King George and Cindy is now a week old. Cindy Sheehan is patiently waiting for an audience with the ruler who sent her son to be killed in an unjust, illegal war. Bush, in his arrogance, does not feel that he has to meet with her, and has not. She sits in the hot Texas sun as his motorcade passes by, and asks why the donors of money are more important than she, who donated her son to his cruel cause.

Bike Riding With Bush Gives White House Reporters New Perspective on President

By E&P Staff

Published: August 15, 2005 10:32 AM ET

NEW YORK Surely the comic highlight of President George W. Bush's mountain bike ride with seven journalists at his ranch this weekend occurred when USA Today writer Sal Ruibal stopped at a tree and urinated.

"Ruibal, don't worry,

Cindy Sheehan and other military families, veterans, and concerned citizens have brought the issue of the lies that launched this war to Crawford, Texas, and to the corporate media.

Cindy's New Site With a Video Message:
http://www.meetwithcindy.org

Latest News from Crawford (354 articles posted):
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=taxonomy/term/13

Here are some things that you can do to help:

Candlelight Vigils
Join with MoveOn, True Majority, and Democracy for America in organizing or attending a Vigil for Cindy Sheehan in your town on Wednesday, August 17, 2005, at 7:30 p.m.
http://www.moveonpac.org/event/cindyvigils/

Other Meet-With-Cindy Events
Plan your own event at a time and place and description of your choosing using this new MeetWithCindy.org events system.
Create an Event:
http://tinyurl.com/9otjy
Search Existing Events:
http://tinyurl.com/7f73z
Some groups around the country have already held press conferences or rallies, or staged send-offs for people headed to Crawford, or set up Camp Caseys in solidarity with the one in Crawford, or held protests at media outlets to demand coverage. Send us a report on what you do, and we'll post it on the website.
david@davidswanson.org

From an article on MediaMatters.org:

With her vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, gaining more and more attention, Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, has become the latest target of the right wing.

How did that happen? It started with Matt Drudge, who posted an item on his website on August 8, charging that Sheehan "dramatically changed her account" of a meeting she had with Bush in June 2004. How so? Drudge took quotes from an article in her local paper out of context to claim that she initially was happy with her meeting with Bush but is now critical of the president.

By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Monday 15 August 2005

This thing, the wheels are coming off it.
- Gen. Barry McCaffrey, after returning from an inspection of Iraq, 08/12/2005.

They are sunburned and storm-lashed. They sleep in tents that sit along the muddy earth of drainage ditches by the side of the road. They have been heckled by "counter-demonstrators" who chanted "We don't care!" during a rendition of "God Bless America." They have been attacked by fire ants and hassled by local health inspectors. On Thursday morning, at about 5:30am, they were blasted awake by a fourteen-car convoy of Secret Service SUVs which roared through the camp at high speed while leaning on their horns the whole time.

by Cindy Sheehan on DailyKos
Mon Aug 15th, 2005 at 01:44:40 PDT

I apparently am the sacrificial lamb of the peace movement. I don't care about myself. Putting myself in the forefront and daring to challenge the president on his lies left myself open to the attacks. Which are, of course, half truths and distortions.

When they start sliming my home life and my family, that's where I draw the line. Yes, my husband has filed for divorce and yes he filed before I left for the VFP Convention and this trip to Crawford and yes IT IS BETWEEN MY HUSBAND AND I.

Having Casey murdered in Iraq by George Bush's reckless policies has been hard enough on my family, but me setting off on my holy war to bring the troops home, my constant absences, and all of the media attention has put additional stresses on my family.

By Robert Freeman
Published on Sunday, August 14, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

Is Cindy Sheehan the Rosa Parks or the Jane Fonda of the War in Iraq? Is she the lonely sentinel, standing righteously against injustice? Or a self-centered publicity seeker, endangering American soldiers in the War?

The question is something of a political Rorschach test, telling us more about ourselves and our appraisal of America's wars than about Sheehan. But asking it and understanding the issues behind the question might help us find a solution to the illegitimate and failed War.

By David Rossie
Published on Sunday, August 14, 2005 by the Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, New York)

Someday, when the account of this sorry period in American history is recorded, Cindy Sheehan may be recalled in the same way we recall that lonely Chinese man who stood before a tank near Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

We do not know what happened to that brave man. He may have been among the 10,000 or so dissidents arrested in the wake of the demonstrations, and he may even have been one of those executed.

This is not meant to diminish his courageous act. Nor is it meant to exaggerate the significance of Mrs. Sheehan's effort to confront George Bush over the war that his handlers have led us into. No one is about to cart her off to prison or a firing squad.

From the Crawford Update Blog

Monday, August 15, 2005

Getting Around in Crawford

So the Crawford Peace House is about a 3 mile hike from Camp Casey. It's serving as the HQ for most of the activity and planning. One of the major hurdles here in is parking. There isn't alot of it and most of it is illegal. Though we do have an excellent group of volunteers who are working to "coordinate vehicular movement," according to one woman. Most of that involves yelling out, "If yer drivin a white Dodge Stratus with Texas plates yer 'bout to git towed! Better get on your horse before you git a ticket." Ok...the emphasis was mostly me but I do have a thing for a good strong Texas accent. It looks like more and more folks are sharing rides (and they'll be a rideshare message board on the Meet With Cindy website in a few days I believe) or packing rental vans to get out here.

By ANGELA K. BROWN
The Associated Press
Sunday, August 14, 2005; 10:57 PM

CRAWFORD, Texas -- Undaunted by counter rallies and even a neighbor's gunshot blasts into the air, a woman whose son died in Iraq said Sunday that she will continue her anti-war demonstration near President Bush's ranch for three more weeks.

"We can't give up, no matter hard it gets," said Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif. She started the protest Aug. 6 in memory of her 24-year-old son Casey, an Army specialist killed in Iraq last year.

Her makeshift campsite along the road leading to the Western White House has grown to more than 100, and hundreds more have stopped by for a few hours to show their support. Sheehan says she won't leave "Camp Casey" until Bush meets with her and other grieving families or until his monthlong ranch visit ends.