GI SPECIAL 4D20

The New Hampshire Gazette 16 April 2006

Let The Troops At Home See “Sir! No Sir!” Too!

From: David Honish, Veterans For Peace
To: GI Special
Sent: April 19, 2006
Subject: A Step In The Right Direction

The recent announcement in GI Special # 4D19 that 500 DVD’s of “Sir, No Sir!” are being made available free to active duty troops in Afghanistan or Iraq by the IVAW and displaced films is a step in the right direction.

My immediate reaction to seeing this film in a showing at the VFP National Convention last AUG was inspired by the Navy Nurse featured in the film who dropped leaflets from a light aircraft over military bases.

I thought that if I was a millionaire, I’d like to buy enough DVD copies of this film to air drop them over every US military base worldwide.

Perhaps a bit of an unrealistic goal?

Still, while putting 500 copies of “Sir, No Sir!” in the hands of those already in combat is a good idea, it might be a bit of ‘locking the barn after the horse is already out?’

I would hope that the film’s producers would not overlook the decimated divisions that are currently back in the USA refitting and training up replacement personnel before yet another deployment to SW Asia?

If prevention is better than a cure, perhaps making this film available for showing near US military bases to troops not yet deployed would pay off larger dividends?

While I would not expect the ideal of having the film distributed in the PX theater chains on post to happen, perhaps showings could be arranged off post near Ft. Hood, Ft. Campbell, Ft. Carson, etc.?

Might it not be more effective to encourage dissent of troops before they deploy, instead of once they are already in Iraq?

‘Sir! No Sir!’ Salutes Vietnam’s Dissenters in Uniform:
“As Antiwar Sentiment Gathered Strength In American Streets, A Parallel Movement Seized The Armed Forces”
“Called The G.I. Movement, This Resistance Manifested Itself In Countless Ways”

April 19, 2006 Review By MANOHLA DARGIS, The New York Times

In March 1964 Robert S. McNamara opened a speech about South Vietnam with the statement that “the independence of a nation and the freedom of its people are being threatened by Communist aggression and terrorism.”

Many words later, Mr. McNamara, the secretary of defense, concluded, in rosy terms that sound eerily similar to contemporary dispatches, that “when the day comes that we can safely withdraw, we expect to leave an independent and stable South Vietnam, rich with resources and bright with prospects for contributing to the peace and prosperity of Southeast Asia and of the world.”

Much happened in the bloody decade that followed, but one of the most memorable chapters of the Vietnam War has also long been one of the least revisited: the antiwar movement inside the military.

Called the G.I. Movement, this resistance manifested itself in countless ways: in organized protests, in desertions and in the coffeehouses that sprang up across the country near military bases.

In the early 1970's the documentary filmmaker David Zeiger worked in one such coffeehouse, the Oleo Strut in Killeen, Tex., not far from Fort Hood. Named for a helicopter shock absorber, the Oleo Strut was where off-duty soldiers went to decompress and to check out the latest issue of one of the many underground military publications, like The Fatigue Press, that gave powerful voice to their dissent.

In his smart, timely documentary about the G.I. Movement, “Sir! No Sir!,” Mr. Zeiger takes a look at how the movement changed and occasionally even rocked the military from the ground troops on up.

On one level the film serves as a corrective to the rah-rah rhetoric about Vietnam in such schlock entertainments as the 1980's “Rambo” franchise, in which Sylvester Stallone’s veteran turned mercenary ritualistically wipes away the spit lobbed at him by a phantom antiwar protester.

The image of the spat-upon Vietnam veteran, explains Jerry Lembcke, himself a Vietnam veteran and one of the persuasive talking heads who appears in the new film, helped maintain the important fiction that opposition to the war came strictly from outside the military.

During the 1960's and 70's American newspapers routinely reported a significantly different story than the one later cooked up by Hollywood and other revisionists.

This film shows that as antiwar sentiment gathered strength in American streets, a parallel movement seized the armed forces.

By September 1971 dissent among the ranks had become a front-page subject in this newspaper, with a headline that read “Army Is Shaken by Crisis in Morale and Discipline.”

Soldiers were fed up and up in arms, and not always against the Vietcong.

Desertions were on the rise, as were fraggings, named for the fragmentation grenades lobbed at superiors by their own men.

By 1974 the Defense Department would record more than half a million incidents of desertion since the mid-60's.

Mr. Zeiger fits so much into his 84-minute film that it’s hard not to wish he had spent more time on what happens when American soldiers break ranks with their leaders. John Kerry’s bid for president proved that long after fighting in Vietnam came to an end, a war of words continues to rage.

It’s a war of words that finds Jane Fonda, who performed for tens of thousands of troops in an antiwar revue, “Free the Army,” and makes a passionate appearance in the film, still labeled Hanoi Jane.

“Remembered as a war that was lost because of betrayal at home,” Mr. Lembcke has written, “Vietnam becomes a modern-day Alamo that must be avenged, a pretext for more war and generations of more veterans.”

In “Sir! No Sir!,” Mr. Zeiger remembers that war and the veterans whose struggles against it are too often forgotten.

Sir! No Sir!

Written and directed by David Zeiger; directors of photography, May Rigler and Mr. Zeiger; edited by Ms. Rigler and Lindsay Mofford; music by Buddy Judge; produced by Mr. Zeiger, Evangeline Griego and Aaron Zarrow; narrated by Troy Garity; released by Balcony Releasing.

At the IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas at Third Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 84 minutes.

Sir! No Sir! OPENS for one week on Wednesday April 19th at the
IFC Center
322 Sixth Avenue, at West Third Street, New York City

Advance tickets on sale NOW through the IFC box office
Recording: 212-924-7771
Live box office: 212-924-5246
Online at www.ifccenter.com

Check out the trailer at www.sirnosir.com

Please contact max@riseup.net or celia@riseup.net for posters, postcards and flyers to help promote this event!

Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward this E-MAIL along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the war, at home and inside the armed services. Send requests to address up top.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

U.S. Soldier Dies Of Baghdad IED Wounds

April 19, 2006 (Reuters)

A U.S. soldier died from wounds sustained on Tuesday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

New England Soldiers Killed Overseas

April 4, 2006 NewsCenter 5

BOSTON: Two Marines with New England ties have been killed in Iraq, officials announced Tuesday, one day after a Saugus Marine killed overseas was identified.

The family of 27-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick J Gallagher said they were notified of his death on Monday. Gallagher, of Fairhaven, was married with a 2-year-old son. He worked as a heavy equipment operator.

Marine Cpl. Brian St. Germain, 22, of West Warwick, R.I., was also killed. St. Germain was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was working as a heavy equipment mechanic in the Marine Corps.

His death is the third Rhode Island military casualty in the last nine months.

Henrico’s Tucker High School Grad Killed

April 4, 2006 By Rob Richardson, NBC12 News

A local high school is mourning the loss of a former graduate Private First Class Jeremy Ehle died Sunday after a gun battle in the town of Hit, Iraq. Ehle was a 2005 graduate of Henrico’s Tucker High School.

We spent part of the day at that school where many of the current students and teachers still remember Jeremy Ehle.

At Tucker High School Tuesday, grief counselors were on hand and a moment of silence was held for graduate and now army soldier Private Jeremy Ehle.

He was killed just two days ago in Iraq. The Department of Defense reports a firefight in the town of Hit, Iraq. Private Ehle’s patrol came under enemy small arms fire.

He was with the army’s First Battalion 36th Infantry. He’d only been in the country 3 weeks.

Sources said Tuesday that Ehle lived in a group home his last two years in Richmond. Then, after graduation last June, he joined the army.

He was described as patriotic, joining the military because he thought it would help him better himself. He liked to exercise and he liked music.

Ehle was part of the ROTC group at Tucker High School.

The man who recruited Ehle to be in the army said Tuesday those cadets at the school are taking Ehle’s death very hard.

Pawnee Soldier Seriously Injured In Iraq Bombing

4/19/2006 Sam Lewin, Native American Times

An American Indian soldier originally from Oklahoma has been seriously injured in an Easter Sunday bomb attack in Iraq.

Pvt. Joshua P. Stein is now recovering in Germany following the assault on his unit by insurgents using an Improvised Explosive Device. Stein, a member of the Pawnee Nation, suffered two broken arms, burns and other injuries in the attack. Doctors have amputated both of his legs above the knee.

Stein’s mother is Sandy Kaulaity of Perkins, Oklahoma. He is the grandson of Yvonne and Hershall Kaulaity. Stein’s aunt, Carol Kaulaity, said her sister has flown to Germany to be at her son’s bedside.

“Joshua is a spirited boy,” Carol told the Native American Times. “Sandy said he’s still himself after everything that has happened to him. He’s joking and making everyone laugh. They asked him to wiggle his fingers and he flipped them off. That’s the type of spirited guy he is.”

Stein serves in the Army’s Echo Company, 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment. He had been stationed at Fort Hood and was dispatched to Iraq last fall. After living in Perkins for a stint as a youngster he moved to stay with his father, who has a home overseas.

Stein has a wife and a two-year-old daughter. His wife is pregnant and expecting another child in August. She has joined her mother-in-law in Germany.

Carol Kaulaity said her sister reported that upon waking, the first thing Stein asked was “did the other guys make it through?” He was informed that they did.

Stein now faces intense physical therapy. He will soon be transferred stateside for further medical treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

“It hurts because we know what happened and we are praying for him,” said Carol Kaulaity. “My sister said he knows that people prayed for him.”

U.S. Tank Destroyed In Ramadi:
Casualties Not Announced

April. 19 (BNA)

US troops clashed with insurgents in al Ramadi, 110 kilometers west of Baghdad, killing four civilians and injuring six others today, a police source said. Among the victims were small children and women, the source added.

Civilian houses were struck by rockets fired by American tanks following the clashes, and a US tank was hit and destroyed by a rocket-propelled grenade, the source said.

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMPREHENSIBLE REASON TO BE IN THIS EXTREMELY HIGH RISK LOCATION AT THIS TIME, EXCEPT THAT A CROOKED POLITICIAN WHO LIVES IN THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU THERE, SO HE WILL LOOK GOOD.
That is not a good enough reason.

U.S. troops patrol Azamiyah after an early morning gunbattle April 17, 2006 in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Notes From A Lost War:
“Praise For Insurgents Is Displayed On At Least Two Market Stalls”

April 19, 2006 By Antonio Castaneda, Associated Press [Excerpt]

In the Dora [Baghdad] market, U.S. soldiers have countered insurgent signs with messages of their own asking for information.

But two signs they put up are now missing, and praise for insurgents is displayed on at least two market stalls.

The Americans say they struggle to persuade residents to help them find militants, and the dearth of such tips has left many soldiers frustrated.

“If they don’t want my help, and they keep hiding stuff, either way I’m going home with my men,” [Staff Sgt. Feliciano] Cruz said.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Two U.S. Soldiers Wounded By Argandab IED

April 19, 2006 By Amir Shah, Associated Press & New York Times

Two U.S. soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in the southern Zabul province’s Argandab district, military spokesman Lt. Mike Cody said.

The soldiers were in stable condition.

Separately, U.S. forces shot at a car and wounded two men who failed to heed orders to stop in the eastern province of Khost, a military spokeswoman said.

U.S.-led coalition soldiers shot dead a militant who was about to throw a hand grenade at a military convoy in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, police said.

The militant stepped out of a vehicle in the Batikot district of the eastern Nangarhar province and prepared to throw the grenade at a passing convoy, said area police spokesman Ghafur Khan.

More than 20 Afghan civilians have been reported killed or wounded in the last three days by Afghan and American security forces as the troops have fought an outbreak of insurgent activity, Afghan officials said.

Notes From A Lost War:
“Trying To Cut Through A Thick, Polite Fog”

April 19, 2006 Washington Post [Excerpt]

Hoping to keep local Afghans in the pro-government camp, U.S. forces have made regular excursions to dozens of villages across Khost, near the Pakistan border, during the past month. Usually the soldiers bring sacks of school supplies and promise more help if the leaders provide useful intelligence on the locations and activities of insurgents.

But more often than not, the troops return with little more than vague promises of cooperation and staunch denials of any insurgent sightings. Although the officers have a basic knowledge of local tribal politics and try to cultivate relationships with village elders, they often feel as if they are trying to cut through a thick, polite fog.

Resistance Rocket Attack Hits U.S. Embassy In Kabul

[Thanks to PB, who sent this in.]

4.19.06 By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer

A massive explosion believed to have been caused by a rocket shook the Afghan capital late Wednesday near the U.S. Embassy compound, wounding an Afghan security contractor, officials said.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said the blast did not occur on embassy property, and no Americans were injured. Staff members rushed to a bunker in the compound after the 11 p.m. blast.

A U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it is still early in the investigation, said the southwest side of the U.S. Embassy’s compound was among the buildings struck in the rocket attack.

The official was not immediately aware of casualties or the magnitude of the attack. It also was too early to say who was responsible. [It may be safely assumed it was not the tooth fairy.]

The blast occurred inside the grounds housing the state-run television offices, a police official at the scene said. The building is next to the heavily fortified embassy and the base for NATO-led forces in the capital.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the explosion apparently was caused by a rocket fired from southeast Kabul targeting the U.S. Embassy.

“It was a very strong explosion near the ISAF (NATO’s International Security Assistance Force) compound and we are trying to confirm its cause,” spokesman Lt. Col. Riccardo Cristoni said.

Militants occasionally fire rockets into downtown areas, and the threat of being kidnapped forces many foreigners to live in tightly guarded compounds surrounded by concrete bomb barriers and to travel in armored convoys.

But Wednesday’s rocket strike was believed to be the closest to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul since an American-led coalition toppled the hard-line Taliban government following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Missing Brother Motivated Fallen Soldier

[Thanks to Anna Bradley, who sent this in.]

Apr 7 By WILSON RING, Associated Press Writer [Excerpts]

When Tom Stone joined the Army in 1971, one of his reasons for doing so was unusual: He hoped to find clues about his brother’s disappearance in Southeast Asia the year before.

He never did find what he was looking for, but he spent the next 35 years in and out of the military. That career came to an end last week when Stone, 52, a sergeant first class with the Vermont National Guard, was killed in Afghanistan, possibly by friendly fire.

Military representatives of the United States, Canada and Afghanistan will investigate his death, officials said Tuesday.

Stone was a junior in high school when his older brother Dana, a freelance photographer, disappeared in Cambodia on April 6, 1970, along with Sean Flynn, the son of the actor Errol Flynn. Dana was on assignment for CBS News and Flynn for Time magazine; they had ridden into the Cambodian countryside on motorbikes when they were captured by communist guerrillas.

Tom Stone joined the Army the next year.

“He had it in his mind he might go and try to find his brother,” said Elisha Morgan of Norwich, who played football with Stone at Woodstock High School.

Stone died as he was helping Afghan soldiers repel an attack by Taliban militants on an Afghan base. He was promoted to master sergeant after his death.

Stone was on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan with the Vermont Guard when he was killed.

Laurie Schultz Heim, a staffer for Sen. James Jeffords, said she worked with Tom Stone as he tried to get answers about his brother.

“Not only did he do this trip in part searching for his brother, I think he was always searching for what he wanted to do,” she said. “Clearly he was definitely looking for meaning in life.”

TROOP NEWS

The Price Of Government Lies And Imperial Greed:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

Kentucky National Guard Soldier Master Sgt. Clinton Cubert is carried by members of the 2113th Transportation Company during graveside ceremonies at Camp Nelson near Nicholasville, Ky., April 19, 2006. Cubert died on April 16, 2006 from injuries sustained on Sept. 11, 2005, near Samarra, Iraq. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

500 Connecticut National Guard Soldiers Ordered Off To Bush’s Imperial Slaughterhouse

April 18, 2006 (AP)

State military officials announced Monday that 500 soldiers from a New Haven-based National Guard unit have been deployed to Afghanistan.

The 102nd Infantry Battalion of New Haven had been training at Fort Bragg, N.C., since January.

The 102nd will be deployed for up to 18 months.

Panic Time At The Pentagon:
Sailors Trying To Learn How To “Survive” As Ground Combat Troops In Mideast Wars

A group of U.S. sailors learn the combat training technique of entering a building with instruction from an Army drill sergeant, left, April 19, 2006, at Fort Jackson Army base in Columbia, S.C.

In a major turnabout, the U.S. Army is opening its largest training base to help Navy sailors trade in their sea legs for land combat skills so they can survive when sent as ground troops to places such as Afghanistan or Iraq. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

A Thieving Officer Says There Are No Smoking Guns

19 April 2006 By Griff Witte, The Washington Post

An American businessman who is at the heart of one of the biggest corruption cases to emerge from the reconstruction of Iraq has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bribery and money-laundering charges, according to documents unsealed yesterday in federal court in Washington.

As part of the plea, Philip H. Bloom admitted his part in a scheme to give more than $2 million in cash and gifts to U.S. officials in exchange for their help in getting reconstruction contracts for his companies. Bloom’s firms won $8.6 million in reconstruction deals, with an average profit margin of more than 25 percent.

Yesterday’s filings included e-mails that provide insight into the fraud.

In one, an Army Reserve officer who allegedly helped Bloom secure his contracts expresses gratitude for Bloom’s largesse.

“The truck is Great!!! I needed a new truck . . . People I work with cannot stop commenting on how much they love it,” the officer wrote in a Sept. 2, 2004, message to Bloom.

The officer then added a bit of reassurance: “If there were any smoking guns, they would have been found months ago.”

Another Officer Caught Thieving In Iraq;
Gets Little Bitty Slap On Risk

4.19.06 Los Angeles Times

Pentagon investigators say that a decorated Air Force colonel known for her integrity used her high-level administrative post in Iraq for personal gain during the early corruption-plagued reconstruction efforts.

One of the first female pilots in the Air Force, Col. Kimberly D. Olson was accused of profiting from the post-invasion chaos by using her position to benefit a private security firm that she helped operate, according to interviews and government documents.

Olson, 48, spent more than a year fighting the case, but ultimately agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges. She was reprimanded and allowed to resign from the Air Force with an honorable discharge and no reduction in rank.

She is appealing a three-year ban against receiving government contracts.

British General Says U.S. Iraq Generals A Pack Of Showboating Ego-Tripping Movie Actors

A three-star US general steps out to meet the press in Iraq

[Thanks to Clancy Sigal, who sent this in.]

19/04/2006 By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent, Telegraph Group Limited

A senior British officer has criticised “shoulder-holster” American generals for trying to emulate film stars.

Brig Alan Sharpe, who worked alongside Americans in Baghdad, said there was a “strong streak of Hollywood” with officers trying to portray themselves as Sylvester Stallone or John Wayne.

An important part to being a successful American officer was to be able to combine the “real and acted heroics” of Audie Murphy, the “newsreel antics” of Gen Douglas MacArthur and the “movie performances” of Hollywood actors, the brigadier wrote.

While this might look good on television at home, the brigadier suggested that “loud voices, full body armour, wrap-around sunglasses, air strikes and daily broadcasts from shoulder-holster wearing brigadier-generals proudly announcing how many Iraqis have been killed by US forces today” was no “hearts-and-minds winning tool”.

Brig Sharpe, 46, who was awarded the OBE and the American Bronze Star for writing the “coalition campaign plan” for Iraq during a tour in Baghdad in 2004, is regarded as a high-flier.

But US officers he is working with as commander of British Forces in the Balkans will not be impressed by references to the early US regime in Iraq as “autocratic” and an “interim dictatorship”.

He referred to America as a “hyper power” in the paper, written during a year-long course with other leading military figures from around the world, run by the Royal College of Defence Studies.

Brig Sharpe gave the “last word” to an anecdote about a “subjugated Iraqi” just before his release from detention.

The Ba’athist was loudly lectured by an American officer, who was accompanied by a quiet British brigadier, on the dangers of returning to his “previously nefarious ways”.

As the Iraqi left he said: “Hey, Mr American, next time before you shout so much you should speak to him. He is British – they know how to invade a country.”

NEED SOME TRUTH? CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER
Telling the truth – about the occupation or the criminals running the government in Washington – is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance – whether it’s in the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. If you like what you’ve read, we hope that you’ll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers. www.traveling-soldier.org/ And join with Iraq War vets in the call to end the occupation and bring our troops home now! (www.ivaw.net)

“Thy Brothers’ Keeper”

From: William Bowles
To: GI Special
Sent: April 19
Subject: Thy Brothers’ Keeper

I contributed an essay to a show that’s just opened in Flint, Michigan, ‘Thy Brothers’ Keeper’ an exhibition of photography from around the planet curated by a mate of mine from my NY days.

[William Bowles is one of the strongest voices out there fighting to mobilize opposition to wars of empire, and the whole rotten system that leads to those wars. Check out his work at: williambowles.info/ A show that has the good sense to include one of his essays is worth attending. T]

************************************************

“Thy Brothers’ Keeper”

The special exhibition Thy Brothers’ Keeper, will run from April 22, 2006 through July 30, 2006.

Thy Brothers’ Keeper is an exhibition of approximately 150 photographs of people from around the world who suffer as a consequence of religious beliefs, greed, prejudice, natural disaster, and issues related to the environment and technology. Each image serves as a reminder of our responsibility to our fellow man.

Although we live in a time that should be filled with advances for mankind throughout the world, we are instead living in one that is increasingly divided by religious, economic and ethnic strife; it is also a world where too many of its inhabitants are living in abject poverty, hunger and isolation, and dying from epidemics that have no cure, despite medical advances.

These situations are all the more tragic because the basic tenants of global human rights have gone unfulfilled, a betrayal that not only affects wealthy nations but devastates the poorer ones who are unable to gain advantage from 21st century economic, technical and medical advances.

This exhibition presents a story of diverse peoples who have endured, and continue to endure, intolerable conditions that violate the basic principles of humanity, and shows us, through photographs, that we are all citizens of the world.

The photographers ask us to contemplate our own roles in taking responsibility to ensure that the conditions under which our fellow citizens live are humane on all levels, and to remind us that we are all interconnected – we are, in biblical terms “our brother’s keeper.”

The men and women who took these photographs are deeply committed to the concept of ‘compassion,’ and hope that through their images viewers will be motivated to act and create a better world.

The list of critically acclaimed photojournalists represented in Thy Brothers’ Keeper includes Nina Berman, Andrew Lichtenstein, Stephen Shames, Fanie Jason, Guy Tillim, Humberto Mayol, Wang Yishu, Noel Jabbour, Ilan Mizrahi, Sharon Paz, David Binder, Alexandra Boulat, Heidi Bradner, Raul Canibano, Peter Essick, Philip Jones, Carol Guzy, Geert van Kesteren, Gary Knight, Fernando Moleres, Lucian Perkins, John Stanmeyer, and Vida Yovanocih, Andres Carrasco Ragel, and Encarna Mozas.

Most of these 25 photojournalists have received international recognition and awards, including Pulitzer Prize and other awards of the highest excellence.

The photographers, who live and work around the globe, were selected by exhibition curator Geno Rodriguez, Director of The Alternative Museum, an online museum, and six guest curators selected by Mr. Rodriguez, including Diana Edkins, Director of Exhibitions, Aperture Foundation (NYC), Kathy Grundlingh, Curator, Michael Stevenson Galleries (Capetown), Wu Jiabao, Director, Fotosoft (Taiwan), Katherine Slusher, Independent Curator (Barcelona), and Nissan N. Perez, Curator, The Israel Museum (Jerusalem).

To delve deeper into the subjects and issues raised in this special exhibition, the Flint Institute of Arts will offer a variety of related programs.

The FIA will present, in its newly renovated theatre, selections from The Human Rights Watch traveling film festival, including Private, State of Fear and Living Rights.

Videos by Nina Berman, Sharon Paz and Lucian Perkins will be on view during the run of the exhibition in the FIA’s Fleckenstein Video Gallery.

On Saturday, April 22, the FIA will host a panel discussion moderated by FIA Director John Henry, with panelists Geno Rodriguez, Carol Guzy, and Colin Bossen, Intern Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach (California).

The FIA Library will be established during the exhibition as a quiet place for FIA visitors to sit, reflect and respond to the issues addressed in the show, through writing or drawings. Educator Workshops will also be offered by the FIA, so that teachers may learn how to identify and discuss the big ideas and enduring themes with their students.

During the run of Thy Brothers’ Keeper, the FIA will also present the exhibition The Human Condition: After Effects.

This exhibition contains 57 photographs, featuring award winning photographic essays by outstanding photographers who explore the many physical and psychological issues related to the after effects of war on children.

In conjunction with Thy Brothers’ Keeper, a number of colleges and universities in the region have collaborated with the FIA in developing programs for students and members of the general public. Michigan State University’s School of Journalism will offer two courses related to photography and images of social injustice. The Michigan Interscholastic Press Association will hold a one-day workshop at the FIA. Mott Community College will host student field trips to view the exhibition, and offer two related courses in communication design and fine arts. Mott Community College will also present an exhibition of work submitted as artistic responses to Thy Brothers’ Keeper.

Presenting these thought provoking images within the context of art rather than politics is intended to open new avenues for discourse within the arts and education communities, invoke a sense of personal responsibility and to stimulate involvement in the creation of just societies.

The goals of the project are to urge viewers and participants to see themselves not just as citizens of a country, but of the world— and to bring an awareness about the ongoing causes of current conflicts around the globe.

It seeks to encourage viewers to become involved and to show that the arts can be an important partner, supplying the stimulus needed to advance the cause of human rights worldwide.

Thy Brothers Keeper will be especially directed toward: (a) young adults who have the potential to devote many years and much energy to the struggle for justice; (b) Post Vietnam generations who have not yet lived through war and (c) to scholars and students who focus on political science.

Flint Institute of Arts
(810) 234-1695, www.flintarts.org

Exhibition dates: April 22, 2006 through July 30, 2006

Hours: 10am-5pm Tuesday through Saturday, 1pm-5pm on Sunday

Admission: Children 0-12 Free; Adults $7.00; Students with ID and Senior Citizens $5.00

Location: Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 East Kearsley Street, Flint, Michigan 48503

Parking: Free parking is available near the front and rear entrances.

Gay Hating Freaks Say “Thank God For Dead Soldiers”

NASHVILLE, April 11 By LIZETTE ALVAREZ, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, via Associated Press

As dozens of mourners streamed solemnly into church to bury Cpl. David A. Bass, a fresh-faced 20-year-old marine who was killed in Iraq on April 2, a small clutch of protesters stood across the street on Tuesday, celebrating his violent death.

“Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” read one of their placards.

“Thank God for I.E.D.’s,” read another, a reference to the bombs used to kill service members in the war.

To drive home their point, that God is killing soldiers to punish America for condoning homosexuality, members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., a tiny fundamentalist splinter group, kicked around an American flag and shouted, if someone approached, that the dead soldiers were rotting in hell.

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Assorted Resistance Action

April 19, 2006 BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer & Reuters & Mail & Guardian

One bomb targeting a police patrol blew up in the western neighborhood of Harthiya, injuring two policemen and an Iraqi soldier, police said.

Five foreigners, including an Egyptian, were killed as they drove near a village 31 miles southwest of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, police said. Officials declined to reveal the nationalities of the other four victims.

In Baghdad’s west Amariyah district, guerrillas killed a medic as he walked from house to house administering vaccinations, police said.

In three separate attacks, gunpersons in the southern neighborhood of Dora killed a construction worker, trade ministry employee and three power plant security guards who had been snatched from their car an hour earlier, police said. At least two cars were stolen in the attacks. Police were investigating whether the attacks were linked.

Guerrillas destroyed a mobile phone tower used by Iraqna mobile company on Tuesday when they planted a bomb near the tower in Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

Two policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb hit a police patrol near one of the entrances to the Green Zone, where U.S. and Iraqi government offices are housed, police said.

Gunpersons blew up a newly established police station in Yusufiya, south of Baghdad, police said. No casualties were reported.

In Baquba, a police officer was shot dead,

Two tailors who made uniforms for Iraqi soldiers were shot dead by insurgents in Baquba on Wednesday, police said.

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE OCCUPATION

The Resistance Sends A Message:
“The Acting Commander In Chief Of The Resistance, Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, Made The Voice Of The Resistance Clear And Loud To The American People”

(Graphic: London Financial Times)

April 7 Ibrahim Ebeid, Al-moharer.net. Ebeid is a U.S. armed forces veteran.

April 7, 2006 is the fifty ninth anniversary of the establishment of the Baath Party. It is also the third anniversary of the birth of the Iraqi Resistance against the Anglo-American invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq. Baathists, Arab progressive and Nationalist Movements across the Arab Homeland celebrate and salute this dear occasion.

AL-Moharer, its staff and friends pay tribute to this great party which is leading the Resistance in Iraq against the aggressors and the enemies of humanity whether Imperialist invaders, sectarians or Zionist racists.

The Arab Baath is a nationalist movement that addresses itself to Arabs of all religions and sects and looks at all religions and faiths with equal respect. It regards all Arabs as being part of one Nation both in the cultural and spiritual sense. The reunification of the Arab Homeland under freedom and social justice is its aim.

This great party is not alien to the Arab masses. It sprang from them and its roots are very deep in Iraq and all over the Arab Homeland. This movement represents the hopes and aspirations of all the Arabs and those who live on Arab lands or identify themselves with the Arab cause.

The De-Baathification –uprooting of the Baath- Bill introduced by George W. Bush will not work. It might work only by killing every Arab that exists across the Globe, this is impossible to achieve.

It is impossible to annihilate an entire nation while most of its sons and daughters are not born yet. It is impossible to eradicate the Baath because Baath means resurrection and resurrection means rebirth, life for ever. Baath is against death, it is life, and it is continuity.

The Acting Commander in Chief of the Resistance, Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, made the voice of the Resistance clear and loud to the American People and other nations: we tell the American people and all the peoples whose governments joined the aggression against us that, we the people of Iraq, who taught Humanity what it didn’t know, and whose civilization history goes back to ten thousands years, when half of this world was plunged into oblivion, though we appreciate everyone, honest peoples, their interests and their right to live in a secure and peaceful environment! Rather we are on their side against tyrants, despots and against injustice, against aggressors, against terrorists and against terrorism.

Our hope is big in these peoples to see them wake up, press their governments and force them to get out from our soil and stop the bloodshed which struck the innocents, sick people, elderly, children and women and which destroyed the very foundations of every day human life, otherwise this proud and dignified country will be a furnace and a graveyard for their children and death will reach them if the Occupation is due to last longer…for if the aggression continues, it will destroy its people wherever they are.

On this dear occasion Al-Moharer hopes that the Anti War Movements recognize the Iraqi National Resistance that is led by the Baath as the sole representative of the Iraqi people.

Those Organizations that were established under occupation are illegitimate and represent the occupation interests only and not those of the Iraqi people.

The leadership of Iraq, whose most of its members are in captivity, must be recognized, supported and released, they are the ones along with the leadership of the Resistance that are able and capable to restore security and progress to Iraq.

Also we demand our friends in the World to lend their support to the hundreds of thousands of Prisoners of war held in the occupation jails and in the sectarian militia secret prisons and work seriously for their release.

The Anti War Movement, especially in the United Sates, must work harder to force Washington to bring the troops home immediately and unconditionally.

Since the Palestinian struggle is inseparable part of the Arab National struggle we call upon all honest people in the World, especially in the United Sates, to take a firm stand in supporting the Palestinian people in their struggle to liberate their land from the grips of Zionism.

The Palestinians have the right to fight the Zionist invaders, liberate their historic land, return to their homes and establish their state on the entire land of Palestine.

Finally, on this dear occasion, we salute the International Anti War Movements for their heroic and noble stand for justice and peace but we expect them to do more.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

DID THEY YELL “WE ARE SUNNI MUSLIM ARAB FIGHTERS!!”

[Thanks to PB, who sent this in. He writes: HOW DO THEY KNOW IT WAS “SUNNI ARAB” RESISTANCE FIGHTERS? DID THEY YELL “WE ARE SUNNI MUSLIM ARAB FIGHTERS!!” IN ENGLISH BEFORE THEY BEGAN FIRING ROCKETS??]

Apr 17 By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer

There were no reports of U.S. casualties in the 90-minute attack in Ramadi, the second in the past 10 days against the government headquarters for Anbar.

U.S. troops repelled an attack Monday by Sunni Arab insurgents who used suicide car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons in a coordinated assault against this city’s main government building and two U.S. observation posts.

“Impeachment?”
“They’d All Be In Jail For Premeditated Murder”

19 April 2006, William Rivers Pitt, Truthout Perspective [Excerpt]

2,377 American soldiers have been killed, 49 of those deaths coming in the first eighteen days of April. Tens of thousands more have been wounded. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed and maimed. The country, and indeed the entire region, teeters on the verge of total chaos.

If the record were indeed ever made truly straight, if all the lies that have been told to such bloody and costly effect were presented before an empowered investigation or inside a courtroom, the men and women within this administration would be staring down the barrel of significant prison time.

Impeachment? That’s small potatoes.

They’d all be in jail for premeditated murder.

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to thomasfbarton@earthlink.net. Name, I.D., address withheld unless publication requested. Replies confidential.

OCCUPATION REPORT

“They Fear Reprisals From The Police For Working With The Army If They Are Identified”

18 April 2006 By Lisa Mitchell, BBC News website in Basra, southern Iraq

An internal US embassy report on security in Iraq concluded that the situation in the southern city of Basra is every bit as bad as it is in cities further north.

Once considered a “safe zone”, the oil-rich governorate is increasingly dangerous for its citizens and the British troops guarding it.

The Army is working to root out these elements which it says pose a threat to its security and has set up a database of intelligence on who they are and who they work for.

But their progress is not being helped by a falling out with Basra provincial council which controls the city’s police.

The council withdrew its co-operation with the Army after video pictures of soldiers apparently beating locals, taken in 2004, were printed by the News of the World last September.

The Basra police have not worked with them since, including dropping out of training programmes backed by the Iraqi government in Baghdad.

In order for co-operation to resume, the council is demanding the Army pull out of its bases, reduce city centre patrols and release the 56 or so people it has detained for being a threat to its own security.

None of the demands is likely to be met and the stalemate persists.

Two interpreters trying to translate Texan English from a US army instructor are wearing woolen balaclavas, despite the heat.

They fear reprisals from the police for working with the Army if they are identified. One has already been picked up and threatened.

Being seen with the British is dangerous for ordinary Iraqis.

Fewer and fewer journalists are willing to take the risk of attending press conferences at the base after receiving threats from militias who want the foreign forces out of Iraq.

One journalist, who did not want to be named, said if you asked people on the street who was planting bombs and killing people, they would say the British army.

“They know exactly who is doing it but blaming the army is the safest option,” he said.

One father-of-three was forced out of his job with the Royal Engineers after he was followed home one night.

“They were wearing black masks and heavily armed,” he said.

“They said they would kill me and my son if I did not stop working with the British.”

Mohammad, who also would not give his real name, said things like this happened every day but it could not be reported to the police.

“Toyotas go around snatching people but this is not like London – if you call the police here you don’t know what will happen,” he said.

“They could come and kill you.”

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

OCCUPATION HAITI

Welcome To Liberated Haiti:
Where Children Are Imprisoned For “Association With Malefactors” And Prisoners Are Beaten For Singing

Some of these kids are as young as 7, 8, 9 years old. Many have been arrested and are being held in preventive detention, which is when they arrest the child because there is the assumption that the child is from a poor neighborhood and therefore may be a criminal sometime in the future.

April 19, 2006 By Stuart Neatby, haiti.nspirg.org [Excerpts]

In recent days, Haiti’s judicial and prison system has come under fire from members of the United Nations, whose previous silence on such human rights abuses committed by the Latortue government has effectively amounted to a stance of outright support.

Detainees are often beaten by prison guards during recreation times, are kept in over-crowded cells without lighting or ventilation, and are sometimes barred access to washroom facilities. Prisoners in solitary confinement spend whole days in darkness. Further to this, what lavatory facilities that do exist within this area are close to the prison’s water wells, raising concern about the contamination of water supplies.

Mario Michele, who was released from detainment shortly before we met him, told us that he had witnessed a coordinated beating of detainees in the brig on February 7th.

The detainees had planned a small celebration in expectation of the February 7th election, which frontrunner and former elected president Rene Preval was expected to win.

As they began singing “Vent en Vire” (”The Wind Will Change”) in their cells, 4 separate teams of guards, consisting of approximately 50 in total, entered the Brig and began severely beating the detainees. Detainees were reportedly passed between the four teams, and beaten sequentially by each one.

Michele, who witnessed this attack from a nearby cell, stated that the guards “broke sticks (while beating) them, hit them with their guns, stepped on them with their boots, and kicked them. They treated them very very badly.”

UN forces have also detained an uncounted number of Haitian civilians without charge, and have then handed them over to the Haitian police, exacerbating the crisis within Haiti’s packed jails.

Interviewed on Flashpoints Radio in Berkeley, journalist Lyn Duff reported that an uncounted number of children have been pre-emptively arrested in poor neighborhoods by the UN and Haitian police.

Our own interviews and testimony collected from several family members of prisoners in Cite Soleil and Pele supports this account.

Most stated that their relatives, some as young as 12 years old had been detained by Brazilian UN troops, and had been imprisoned for several months. Some, particularly in Pele, had resorted to paying bribes to prison officials in the hopes of obtaining a release of their relatives.

Most claimed their relatives had simply been charged with “Association with Malefactors.”

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

[Thanks to David Honish, Veterans For Peace, who sent this in.]

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

NEED SOME TRUTH? CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER

Telling the truth – about the occupation or the criminals running the government in Washington – is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance – whether it’s in the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. If you like what you’ve read, we hope that you’ll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers. www.traveling-soldier.org/ And join with Iraq War vets in the call to end the occupation and bring our troops home now! www.ivaw.net

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