12 Ways the US Invasion of Iraq Lives On in Infamy
The most serious consequences of the disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq confirm what millions of people around the world warned about 17 years ago.
While the world is consumed with the terrifying coronavirus pandemic, on March 19 the Trump administration will be marking the 17th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq by ramping up the conflict there. After an Iran-aligned militia allegedly struck a U.S. base near Baghdad on March 11, the U.S. military carried out retaliatory strikes against five of the militia’s weapons factories and announced it is sending two more aircraft carriers to the region, as well as new Patriot missile systems and hundreds more troops to operate them. This contradicts the January vote of the Iraqi Parliament that called for U.S. troops to leave the country. It also goes against the sentiment of most Americans, who think the Iraq war was not worth fighting, and against the campaign promise of Donald Trump to end the endless wars.
I was abused by the US in Afghanistan and am still detained in Guantanamo Bay - the ICC are right to hold them to account
If the United States will not allow its own people to be subject to the rule of law in such cases, how can others be held to account?
I have become rather used to being kicked in the stomach. Suddenly, the kicking has stopped. Yesterday, I learnt that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has agreed to investigate war crimes committed in Afghanistan, by United States forces. My American tormentors in the “dark prison” in Kabul, believed they had impunity to do whatever they wanted to me. Now there is a possibility that they may be held to account. Indeed, it is an historic moment: US torturers may face international justice for the first time.
I was one of a hundred people who filed the complaint, though the only one from Guantánamo Bay willing to be named in public. I understand why others wish to remain anonymous, but I have no fear of reprisals – what could they do to me, that they have not already done?
Photos and Report: The Launch of “Guantánamo [Un]Censored: Art from Inside the Prison” at CUNY School of Law in New York
Last week was the launch of “Guantánamo [Un]Censored: Art from Inside the Prison,” a powerful new art exhibition featuring work by eleven current and former Guantánamo prisoners at CUNY School of Law’s Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice, in Long Island City in Queens, New York, which I wrote about in article entitled, Humanizing the Silenced and Maligned: Guantánamo Prisoner Art at CUNY Law School in New York.
Trump Pardons War Criminals
Trump worked to bring down Joe Biden via U.S. foreign policy and obstructed the Congressional investigation, the Democrats say they intend to keep the impeachment inquiry limited to these narrow grounds of "endangering national security" and possibly obstruction as well as bribery.
They are not investigating Trump for his threats to humanity. Concentration camps on the border… acceleration of ecological devastation… the danger of continuing and further wars, even nuclear… white supremacy with increasing rabid mobs and racist mass murderers… truth and science erased… the right to abortion nearly gone… the rule of law and democratic and civil rights stripped away… This is fascism unfolding.
Helping Students Keep Their Humanity by Not Signing Up for War
Stephanie Rugoff | November 11, 2019
We Are Not Your Soldiers brings exposure of imperial wars to a generation of youth largely unaware of the crimes being carried out throughout the world in their names.
On this Veterans Day, 2019, for the United States, making war is less about amassing human air, land and sea forces to attack “the enemy” as it is increasingly about amassing technological superiority in which machines replace humans enabling politicians and corporate bosses to pursue their goals without the pesky problem of waves of homeward-bound body bags and caskets.
Yet, the Pentagon was confronted with the obstacle of conscience being applied to technological research in mid-2018 when Google employees protested working on Project Maven, a program that would use artificial intelligence to assist in drone killing, causing Google to drop Maven. Tech workers at Amazon and Microsoft have also protested working on technology that supports repression and killing.
While work on Maven has been picked up by another firm and Amazon and Microsoft leadership have apparently felt free to ignore the pleas of their workers these protests illustrate the increasing power of individuals to throw monkey wrenches into the gears of the war machine.
Hence, the increasing importance of the task of educating all students on the consequences of war, whether or not they plan to join the military.
This is what We Are Not Your Soldiers has been doing for 13 years by bringing veterans into classrooms. Being knowledgeable of the realities of fighting in or, by inertia, supporting the wrong side of imperialist wars can lead to people speaking and acting in opposition to them.
“It’s better than having everybody blown up”...
That’s what Martha Hennessy said when asked if she is sad about the possibility of going to prison. Martha is one of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 who walked onto the largest U.S. 
Navy Trident Nuclear Submarine base in the world, carrying an indictment charging the U.S. government with crimes against peace. On April 4, 2018, the seven members entered the base in Georgia, cut fencing, hammered a concrete missile monument, poured out their own blood, draped crime scene tape around the area and spray-painted “Love One Another” on the ground. That day was the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death, who admonished: “The greatest purveyor o violence in the world is my own government."
Out of Ireland: These Antiwar Vets Can't Come Home
I had the privilege of talking with two Veterans For Peace who are being detained in Ireland because of their antiwar actions there. Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers are U.S. military veterans who went to Ireland with a delegation to join Veterans For Peace Ireland and Ed Horgan, its founder, in ongoing opposition to U.S. military presence at Shannon Airport. Ed Horgan is a 20-year veteran of the Irish military.
On the Eve of Global Climate Strikes and Summit, Celebrities, Advocates and Grassroots Groups Call on UN to Endorse Worldwide Fracking Ban
For immediate release:
Prominent activists, hundreds of groups urge U.N. to champion a global ban, call fracking a climate and human rights disaster
New York, NY – On the eve of international youth-led climate strikes and next week’s United Nations Climate Change Summit, nearly 500 grassroots groups, faith communities, celebrities, activists and organizations from across the world are calling on the United Nations to endorse a worldwide ban on fracking.
Actors Mark Ruffalo, Emma Thompson and Amber Heard, authors and activists Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, Karenna Gore and Wenonah Hauter, fashion icons Vivienne Westwood and Joe Corré, human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, iconic childrens’ singer Raffi, climate experts Dr. Robert Howarth and Dr. Sandra Steingraber, and nearly 500 grassroots groups sent an open letter to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres stating that the “continued production, trade and use of fracked hydrocarbons for energy, petrochemicals and plastics torpedoes our global efforts to tackle climate change and violates basic human rights.”
17 Years Since the Notorious Yoo-Bybee “Torture Memos,” the US Still Finds Itself Unable to Successfully Prosecute the Men It Tortured
August 1 was the 17th anniversary of a particularly grotesque and dispiriting event in modern US history, one that has ramifications that are still being felt today, even though it was completely unnoticed — or ignored — by the US media.
On August 1, 2002, Jay S. Bybee, then the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), the branch of the Justice Department responsible for advising the executive branch on what is, and what is not legal, signed off on two blatantly unlawful memos written by OLC lawyer John Yoo, which attempted to re-define torture, and approved its use on Abu Zubaydah, a prisoner of the “war on terror” that the US declared after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, who was being held in a secret prison — a “black site” — run by the CIA.
AN INSPIRING 2018-19 SCHOOL YEAR!
Should another generation of youth living here be sucked into war for empire, the way two million+ have sacrificed their humanity and lives in the so-called “war on terror?” We say no, and are actively working to present what the recruiters for the U.S. armed forces won’t ever say. Should another generation of youth in this country be unaware of what is being carried out around the world in their names? We say no, and are determined to build anti-war consciousness and activism. It is neither in the interests of this generation of young people nor those of the people of the world for them to enlist in the military – while, on the other hand, becoming part of a movement opposing these wars is.
Video by Will Griffin of the Peace Report.
Kings Bay Plowshares Case Shifts to U.S. District Court for August 7 Hearing
The seven members of the Kings Bay Plowshares received a notice of hearing June 4 answering their request for an oral argument before District Court Judge Lisa Wood. The seven are ordered to be in Brunswick, GA in U.S. District Court on August 7 at 10 a.m.
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