War Criminals appearances around the country for January 2012. Check it out to see if any are in your area. If you are planning something let us know and we'll assist you in organizing. Download leaflets for your use from our website  www.warcriminalswatch.com  at  "Downloadable materials".

Crimes are crimes and must be denounced whoever commits them. This government has passed yet another bar for disregarding the rule of law and the basic rights of people with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and many of you are rightfully angry about that.

Friday December 16: Beginning of pre-trial hearings in the US Army's Court Martial of Bradley Manning

Saturday December 17: Vigil for Bradley's release on his 24th Birthday

Graham Nash posts a new song for Bradley! You can see the video on YouTube at

                                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dAYG7yJpBbQ

I can’t tell you anymore than this: The Bush regime’s invasion and occupation of Iraq, based on lies, was illegitimate, unjust, and immoral from the start.  Barack Obama’s announcement yesterday that the “war is over” is wrong on so many levels.  For those on the ground, the millions in Iraq, and the one million US military sent there, it won’t end.

The wealthiest country and military in the world leaves behind billions of dollars worth of trashed equipment, and civil and physical society in shambles.

A young soldier, Bradley Manning, formerly stationed in Iraq, will begin a court martial Friday at Ft. Meade, because the U.S. military claims he released classified information about the war to Wikileaks.

You've given generously to enable this movement to reach out broadly in the past, especially when it became time to say to Obama, "Crimes Are Crimes, No Matter Who Does Them." This year, we've met many new people who are just awakening to political life, and many who are re-energized by the vision of relying on ourselves to change the world as we've seen in the streets from Cairo to Madison to lower Manhattan.  You know how important it is that this message reach many more, and can see the potential for a critical mass emerging in this country that stands with the people of the world first and foremost. As we raise funds to support plans for 2012, can you make an end-of-year tax deductible donation of $100?

WarCriminalsWatch Events

Protest Cheney at Republican Fund-Raiser

When:

12.12.2011 - 12.12.2011 17.30

Where:

Hilton Garden Inn - Staten Island

Description

When we read Andy Worthington’s website telling the stories of the Guantánamo prisoners, we are shocked and dismayed and above all sick at heart. Stories of goat-herders, carpenters, farmers on their way to buy tractor parts who happened to be in the vicinity of an attack on US troops and who were wearing olive drab jackets--an item found in large numbers at the bazaar. Stories of people picked up because they had been named by local rivals. Stories of people sold to the US for the bounty being offered for “terrorists.” Stories of people working for the Karzai government arrested, beaten, and sent to Guantánamo for years. In some ways these are stories of error, incompetence, and over zealousness on the part of US military and intelligence personnel. But that would be to discount the actual horrors of what was inflicted on the bodies and minds of the prisoners when the rule of law and common

A British resident with a British wife and four British children, Shaker Aamer has never been charged or tried, and yet, as Clive Stafford Smith reports, in an article, a press release and a letter to the British foreign secretary William Hague, all cross-posted below, he remains held, exactly ten years since

A seven-member panel chaired by former Malaysian Federal Court judge Abdul Kadir Sulaiman presided over the trial, which began last Saturday, and both Bush and Blair were tried in absentia.

"The evidence showed that the drums of wars were being beaten long before the invasion. The accused in their own memoirs have admitted their own intention to invade Iraq regardless of international law," it said.

The verdict is purely symbolic as the tribunal has no enforcement powers.

The tribunal is also expected to later hear torture and war crimes charges against seven others, including former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former vice president Dick Cheney.

by Debra Sweet, National Director, World Can't Wait

It's thrilling to hear that 3,000 people showed up to defend Occupy LA against the city's plan to shut it.  And, in Philly, people are also defying the city. From CBS News: Occupy L.A. Defies Vacate Order   From OccupyWallSt.org:

A correspondent wrote me yesterday, "what [is]our government and military doing attacking a Pakistani military base?  Pakistan is supposed to be our ally in this ten years old crazy war in Afghanistan."  NATO Airstrike Kills 24 Pakistani Soldiers.

Pakistan had a military government over decades, supported by every US administration.  There's a large base in Pakistan for Islamic fundamentalism, which has deeply penetrated the Pakistani military, which is itself an utterly corrupt institution deeply involved in owning land and business (like Egypt's US-funded military is).

Look at the calendar to see if a war criminal will be in you neighborhood. Check out if there is a protest already planned and if not gather some people together and create your own. We can help publicize your efforts and assist you with organizing. Posters and leaflets are available at warcriminalswatch.org. in "Downloadable Materials."

NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2011 WAR CRIMINAL APPEARANCES

Michael Chertoff
12/8/11 - San Francisco CA

Condoleezza Rice
11/30/11 - Claremont CA

Tariq Aziz (centre, second row) attending a meeting about drones strikes in Waziristan, held in Islamabad, Pakistan on 28 October 2011. Three days later, the 16 year old was reported killed by a drone-launched missile.

"Veterans' Day" is used almost universally in this country as a day to honor imperialist wars and "warriors,"  But today we honor our friend Anthony Wagner, an Iraq veteran who spoke out against the war, including as part of the We Are Not Your Soldiers tour.

It is heart breaking when we lose someone who tried to change the world for the better, for all humanity. In his short time Anthony Wagner, World Can’t Wait activist and Iraq Veteran Against the War (served in Iraq March 2004-March 2005), tried to do just that. It is with profound sorrow that we of the Chicago World Can’t Wait chapter share that Anthony has died.

Close Guantamo & Bagram - 10 years too many.

Somewhere around 10,000 people marched with a lot of energy and unity yesterday, shutting down the Port of Oakland with the help of the Longshore union.  City workers took the day off; some schools and shops closed.  The Oakland Occupy is still there, after police through everyone out last week, and later attacked a support march.  Police used teargas overnight and arrested about 80 people.  We will report further.

Over the last few weeks, there have been many protests to stop police brutality in NYC.  I’ve been at two very dynamic and inspiring civil disobedience actions to STOP “Stop & Frisk,” including the most recent on Tuesday in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where the NYPD stops people at the highest rate.  Most are young men, but I met several men way over 40, and a woman in a wheelchair who have all been stopped in the area.

I thought Michael Moore had a good idea when he proposed naming Occupy SF after Bradley Manning.  Bradley is accused by the U.S. government of leaking to Wikileaks government reports and cables on years of military operations and communications about and with other governments.

He may go before a court martial soon, although there is apparently deep disagreement between different sections of the government over what evidence to let the defense see, and what they will allow to be made public.

Check ouf if a war criminal will be in your area this November.  Join something that's planned and if there isn't any, start something with your friends and co-workers. Let us know and we will help publicize your activities. We have ready made downloadable leaflets for you one our web site.  Send use your report about your acttion and we will print it on our web site.                                                                                

Despite the Obama administration’s announcement Friday that U.S. combat troops are finally leaving Iraq — giving rise to the popular perception that “Iraq war is over”–  I ask those who are celebrating to consider: where is the joy coming from?

It’s been ten years now since Donald Rumsfeld’s brain went “9/11 = attack Iraq,” apparently minutes after the WTC was hit by airliners.  From that moment, when the world’s largest military machine began planning it, through today, after over a million Iraqi deaths, this war and occupation has never been legitimate, just or moral!

In this season of 10-year anniversaries, one almost got by me, just as it almost got by many of us on October 26, 2001.  The Ashcroft Justice Department, which could hardly find a case of discrimination against a Black person or a woman to prosecute, and was busy dismantling its Civil Rights division, had apparently been busy elsewhere.  Even before 9/11, they had written the USA PATRIOT Act (that’s “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism” for those of you not patriotic enough to think that up yourselves).

Iraq Veterans Against the War said "It's ironic that days after Obama's announcement of the end of the IraqScott [Olsen] faced a veritible war zone in the streets of Oakland last night.  He and other protesters were surrounded by explosions and smoke (tear gas) going off around him as people nearby carried him while yelling for a medic."

Despite the Obama administration’s announcement Friday that U.S. combat troops are finally leaving Iraq — giving rise to the popular perception that “Iraq war is over”–  I ask those who are celebrating to consider: where is the joy coming from?

Debra Sweet, National Director of World Can't Wait, at Occupy Wall Street, leading a Street-Teachin on drones and the war.http://warcriminalswatch.org/index.php/news/87-videos/1092-10-11-11-debra-sweet-at-occupy-wall-street-teach-in-on-wars-and-drones-

Mayor Bloomberg has announced that those who are at Zuccotti Park or Liberty Plaza must leave at 7am Friday October 14th so that it can be "cleaned".  He stated that people can re-enter when they are finished but under certain conditions. Just a few days ago he issued a statement saying  that the occupation could continue "for as long as they want".