Ex-Resident Of Stockton Killed:
Staff Sgt. “Wasn’t Shy About Stating His Opinion Against The United States’ War In Iraq”

Jul 19, 2006 SCOTT SMITH, Record Staff Writer

Staff Sgt. Jason Evey

STOCKTON: The son of a former administrator at Stockton’s University of the Pacific was killed this week in a bomb blast while on tank patrol in Baghdad, Iraq, a Department of Defense spokesman said Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Jason M. Evey, 29, died immediately Sunday afternoon when the Bradley tank he commanded ran over an improvised explosive device on a road, said Maj. Nathan Banks, an Army spokesman.

Evey was born in Corvallis, Ore., but lived in Stockton for a short time with his parents, Beate and John Evey. John Evey worked from 1996 to 2001 as Pacific’s vice president for institutional advancement, leading fund-raising. Jason Evey worked in Stockton and took classes at both Pacific and San Joaquin Delta College before enlisting, his father said.

John Evey said his son wasn’t shy about stating his opinion against the United States’ war in Iraq, but he nonetheless led with dedication and honor.

Too emotional to comment when contacted at the couple’s San Diego home, Evey instead released a written statement.

“With an artist’s sensibility, Jason enjoyed drawing and taking photographs,” he said. “Even in Iraq, he found beauty, especially when earlier stationed near the historic city of Babylon.”

Jason Evey was born on Christmas Eve 1976 and had a lifelong love of the outdoors. As a boy, he was active in the Boy Scouts and camped along the Oregon Coast and in California’s Yosemite National Park, his father said.

Jason Evey enlisted in the Army while in Stockton. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 10th Calvary Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team based in Fort Hood, Texas.

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 Killed In Western Iraq

July 23, 2006 Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq U-S military officials say an American soldier has died due to “enemy action” in western Iraq.

They say the soldier was killed during combat operations yesterday. The soldier was assigned to the First Brigade, First Armored Division.

Ruckersville Native Killed In Action

July 23, 2006 By Liesel Nowak, Daily Progress staff writer

A Ruckersville family is mourning the loss of their son and brother, an Army medic who was killed Saturday morning in Iraq by a roadside bomb.

Adam Fargo, 22, died in Baghdad after his convoy struck an improvised explosive device, according to his father, Doug Fargo.

He and his wife, Libby, got the news late Saturday afternoon from an Army chaplain and two officers stationed out of Fort Belvoir in Alexandria. Adam is also survived by his older brother, Jason, and his younger sister, Sarah.

By Saturday night, the Fargos were surrounded by friends at their home on Cedar Grove Road where they were remembering Adam, who was a standout on the William Monroe High School soccer team.

“We are very proud of him and his service … he was a top soldier at the time,” his father said.

Adam, a medic with the 101st Airborne Division, was assigned to an engineer platoon that was responsible for keeping a thoroughfare clear of IEDs. His vehicle – the second in his convoy – struck one of the devices. Adam was the only fatality, though other soldiers were critically injured, Doug said.

His son wasn’t much of a letter-writer, Doug said, but he used a satellite phone to call home somewhere between every 10 days to three weeks. The last time Doug talked to his son was the night of July 18.

“He sounded very good,” Doug said. “I think he felt confident in his job. I know he was doing a good job because he was promoted to the rank of specialist.”

In May, Adam had also been awarded a combat medic badge, a coveted award in the Army. Doug said his son received the award for “going over and above his job,” probably the result of helping a fellow soldier.

Doug said that his son could not reveal many details about his duties. “But I’m very proud,” he said. “I’m an Army veteran myself, and so were both his grandfathers.”

Adam is the second Iraq War fatality from the Charlottesville area.

At least 2,558 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in March 2003, according to a recent Associated Press count.

Described as a “smart and athletic kid,” Adam Fargo joined the Army on Dec. 30, 2004, after deciding against college and working at local pizza joints, his father said.

“He decided he wanted to make something of himself, get some training and so on,” Doug said. “He didn’t really discuss this with me until he was close to deciding. He had already taken the steps and talked to recruiters. I told him that it was a hard life, but it was a good life. I was all for whatever decision that he was going to make. We laid out the pros and cons and he made the decision. I didn’t get the impression that he had any reservations.”

After months of training, Adam’s unit was deployed in November 2005. He came home in March for a three-week “mid-tour” break, his father said.

“Adam and my son graduated from high school together. He was a top soccer player,” said neighbor and friend Rodney Kibler. “He was just a great kid. Serving his country, you know.”

Doug said Adam talked about a future career in medicine after he returned from Iraq.

“Once he knew he was going to be a medic, he really latched on to that,” Doug said. “He wanted to take more classes, looked into getting a nursing degree. He might have had his sights set farther out. When he was younger, he talked about being a doctor.”

Salute Prepared For Aledo’s Fallen Hero

July 19, 2006 By Dustin Lemmon, The Quad-City Times

ALEDO, Ill.

The giant American flag that flew over College Avenue on Tuesday night was held aloft by the same truck that Jerry Tharp used to drive around town.

Be it in Aledo, Keithsburg, or any other city he was working in, Tharp would honk to announce his arrival, saying hello to neighbors and strangers no matter the time of day.

It was one of Dan Feik’s fondest memories of Tharp, who he’d been friends with for years. Feik spent most of Tuesday evening beside the flag and the truck, which is owned by Williams Brothers Construction of Peoria, while several hundred residents gathered nearby in Central Park in Aledo awaiting the arrival of Tharp’s remains in a motorcade that finally arrived here early today.

Tharp, 44, of Aledo, Ill., was killed in action July 12 by improvised explosive devices in the Al Anbar province of western Iraq. He was assigned to the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25, the Seabees, which is based on Arsenal Island.

Feik recalled how Tharp would honk as he drove by his house on his way to work at 3 a.m., waking him for a laugh. He also remembered how his friend taught him to drive that same truck before Tharp left for Iraq.

“Jerry was a very happy guy, very chipper, but he was very humble,” Feik said. “You just couldn’t get him to say how good he was at anything. If you said he was great he always would make you look better than him.”

Feik and several other friends and neighbors waited at the park Tuesday night for Tharp’s body and his family to arrive. Tharp was flown into Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and a motorcade then traveled back to Aledo, passing through Milan, Preemption and Viola via U.S. 67. Several members of Tharp’s family joined the procession in Princeton, Dave Greenlief, an event organizer said.

“The whole idea is to show the families, both sides of the family, that they have support,” Greenlief said.

On the way into Aledo several business put up signs thanking Tharp for his service and saying that he would be remembered. In the park there were luminaries waiting to be lit and patriotic music playing through amplifiers.

“This town always comes out anytime something like this happens,” said Karen King who was handing out small flags and candles to welcome the family.

On U.S. 67 south of Preemption neighbors Tom Lingafelter and Bob Melliere set up a row of 17 American flags that were lit by a light on the Matherville Fire Department’s brush truck. The men said they set up the display for the Fourth of July and wanted to use it to honor Tharp. Throughout the day Tuesday motorists took notice.

“They’ve been honking all day while I’ve been out working,” Lingafelter said.

“The local folks know what it’s for,” Melliere added.

According to event organizers there were also people waiting for the motorcade in Milan with flags and signs.

Tharp was an operating engineer with Local 150 and worked the past six years for Williams Brothers Construction until his deployment to Iraq in January.

Funeral service will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Bethel Baptist Church, 1196 N. Academy St., Galesburg, Ill. Burial is in Greenmound Cemetery, Keithsburg, Ill. Visitation is 4-8 p.m. Friday at First Christian Church, Keithsburg.

Jerry had more than 18 years in the military. He enlisted in the Army in 1978. He then served in both the Army Reserves and Navy Reserves. His tour in Iraq was with the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25.

Feik said his friend’s death struck Tharp’s family hard. He said friends of the family want to complete renovations to Feik’s home for his wife.

“He spent more time helping other people than he would do for himself,” Feik said.

Feik said there was no one quite like his friend.

“I can just see his face, see him laughing,” Feik said. “It’s a terrible loss. He was so full of life. It’s almost impossible to believe that he’s gone.”

Hoosier GI Killed After Missile Hits U.S. Convoy

Jul. 19, 2006 Associated Press

LOGANSPORT: A soldier from White County was killed while traveling with an Army convoy in Iraq, becoming the fourth serviceman with an Indiana connection to be killed overseas this month.

Army Spc. Nathaniel Baughman, was killed in Iraq, workers at the Cass County Red Cross confirmed Tuesday. His mother, Jill Baughman, is the agency’s executive director.

Baughman told WSAL-AM in Logansport that her son’s convoy was hit with a missile and he suffered massive head injuries. She said it was her son’s last mission and he was scheduled to return home in a few weeks.

Nathaniel Baughman was a 2001 graduate of Twin Lakes High School in Monticello, and his family lives in nearby Idaville, about 30 miles northeast of Lafayette.

Altoonan Severely Wounded In Iraq

7.12.06 By Allison Bourg, The Altoona Mirror

Jeffrey Reffner was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded July 5, blowing apart his left leg and burning his face, family members said Tuesday.

Reffner, 23, is listed in stable condition, a spokeswoman at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio said.

But the Altoona native, who was in surgery Tuesday night, is looking at another year to 18 months of recovery, said his father, Jeffrey Reffner Sr.

“He lost a big chunk of his fibula, and we have to make sure it doesn’t get infected,” said Reffner, in Texas with Jeffrey’s stepmother, Chris, and mother, Nancy.

Jeffrey Jr., a U.S. Army combat engineer, was on night patrol with four others when their humvee struck a bomb implanted in the ground.

He was the only one seriously injured when he couldn’t escape from the vehicle in time. He sustained first- and second-degree burns to his face, hands and forearms.

“His glasses just melted into his face,” his father said.

His left leg suffered a double compact fracture, shattering his fibula and tibula.

“He has a long road to recovery,” Reffner Sr. said.

The younger Reffner previously served in Iraq from November 2002 to June 2004. He returned to the Middle East in November.

His father wasn’t concerned because Reffner always was careful.

But when he found out, “it was like being hit by a bus in the chest,” Reffner Sr. said.

Dawn Strobert, Jeffrey’s older sister, said she saw the realities of the Iraq war on the news everyday.

But the 26-year-old didn’t think it would hit home until last week.

“I think I kind of took advantage of the fact that he was OK the last time,” Strobert said.

She chatted with Jeffrey, “my best friend,” on the computer almost daily. The last time she spoke to him was right before the accident.

“He felt it was something he needed to do,” she said of her brother’s decision to enlist in the Army. “He wanted to make our father proud, our grandfather proud.”

The first time Jeffrey went to Iraq, “I couldn’t watch the news,” his mother Nancy said.

“I was constantly on the computer with him, asking him how he was doing,” she said. “It’s just like having a sick feeling in the back of your throat.”

Though he’s in a lot of pain, Jeffrey’s spirits remain high, Nancy Reffner said.

“It’s all just overwhelming right now,” she said.

Dying In Vain:
Just In Case You Missed It

July 23, 2006 By Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writer

“Right now, coalition forces have about 8,000 troops operating within the entire Baghdad area,” which has a population of 5 million, Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV told reporters a day after the incident.

“We are not across the entire Baghdad city. We are at key locations worked out in agreement with the Iraqi security forces. We responded when asked by our counterparts.”

FUTILE EXERCISE:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!

U.S. military at the area of a car bomb attack July 5, 2006, in Mosul. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ibrahim)

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Canadian Killed

July 22 CP

Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, and Cpl. Jason Patrick Warren, 29, of the Black Watch, the Royal Highland Regiment of Canada, based in Montreal, killed when a car packed with explosives rammed their armoured vehicle.

Eight other Canadian Forces personnel were injured.

Two More Canadians Killed

July 23 Xinhua News Agency

Taliban militants carried out two attacks in the southern Kandahar province Saturday, killing seven persons including two Canadian troops and injuring 24 others.

Assorted Resistance Action

07-23-2006 (AFP) & Xinhua News Agency & BBC

KHOST, Afghanistan

Taliban militants have killed four policemen and kidnapped three others after they attacked a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan.

A police company commander was shot dead with two colleagues after the rebels attacked their post in in the town of Gelan in Ghazni late Saturday, a provincial police official said.

The enemies raided several police checkpoints in Gilan district on Saturday night, killing four policemen, Tafsil Khan told Xinhua.

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE OCCUPATION

Occupation Forces Short Key Supplies

22 July 2006 By Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian UK

The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan yesterday described the situation in the country as “close to anarchy” with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption.

The stark warning came from Lieutenant General David Richards, head of Nato’s international security force in Afghanistan, who warned that western forces there were short of equipment and were “running out of time” if they were going to meet the expectations of the Afghan people.

He described “poorly regulated private security companies” as unethical and “all too ready to discharge firearms”.

Nato forces in Afghanistan were short of equipment, notably aircraft, but also of medical evacuation systems and life-saving equipment.

TROOP NEWS

“Why The Fuck Am I Sitting Out Here Guarding A Truck Full Of Cheesecake?”

Jul. 19, 2006 By ANA MARIE COX, Time [Excerpt]

The National Guardsman in the frame looks grim. His bunkmates are cutting up a bit, clowning for the camera.

The cameraman tries to coax some action out the unwilling documentary subject, who refuses: “I’m not supposed to talk to the media,” he says.

You can hear the insult’s sting in the cameraman’s shouted protest: “I’m not the media! I’m not the media!” The sharp denial reflects a key collateral campaign in the Iraq war: to keep soldiers strictly on message.

But there’s no question that the soldier behind the camera in “The War Tapes” is part of this war’s media.

Just as Vietnam had been America’s first “living-room war,” spilling carnage in dinnertime news broadcasts, so is the Iraq conflict emerging as the first YouTube war.

Talk show host Laura Ingraham encouraged those covering Iraq to “talk to those soldiers on the ground” in order to get a sense of all the good things happening there that should be “celebrated.”

By that logic, putting cameras in the hands of those soldiers on the ground should provide enough celebration for an “Up with Iraq” musical.

There’s music in a lot of the soldiers’ videos, but precious little uplift.

In “The War Tapes,” one soldier/auteur complains frequently about the risks he and his comrades take to protect the property of the Halliburton subsidiary subcontracted to feed the troops: “Why the fuck am I sitting out here guarding a truck full of cheesecake?” he laments.

After another guardsman supplies a Bush Administration-approved justification for their presence (freedom and democracy for the Iraqi people, stability in the Middle East), the cameraman asks, “tell me how you really feel.”

Deadpan, he continues: “After that happens, maybe we can buy everybody in the world a puppy.”

Mac Soldier Badly Wounded:
In Texas Hospital

July 11, 2006 By DAVID BATES Of the News-Register

A 22-year-old McMinnville soldier is recovering in a Texas military hospital from burns suffered in a roadside attack on his Bradley fighting vehicle on June 23 in Iraq.

Salvador Trujillo-Lopez suffered second- and third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body, according to his wife, Brittnay. She is with her husband at Brook Army Medical Center, at San Antonio’s Fort Sam Houston, where he is expected to spend the rest of the year.

The main threat to the lightly armored Bradleys is roadside bombs, known in military parlance as improvised explosive devices or IEDs.

“We don’t know if it was an IED or something else, but the main thing is that it hit the Bradley and went up the fuel line,” Brittnay said in a phone interview.

The couple lived in Yamhill County prior to Salvador’s deployment in the fall of 2005. Brittnay, whose father, Roger Morgan, is also a Yamhill County resident, said they plan to return once Salvador is released.

The family has not been able to get many details on the incident, not even its location.

Brittnay, staying in housing designed for the spouses of patients, said patients suffering such severe burns are often left with no memory of it. She said that’s not the case with Salvador, who clearly remembers being trapped in a burning vehicle with four others.

But she said, “He doesn’t want to talk about it. I said, ‘You don’t need to talk about it,’ and he said, ‘I don’t want to.’”

Spc. Trujillo was serving with Charlie Company, 1st and 32nd Cavalry, 1st Brigade, an element of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, based at Kentucky’s Fort Campbell.

He is one of nearly 18,800 American soldiers wounded in Iraq to date. Another 2,541 have been killed.

He spent eight months in Iraq before returning home April 1 to see his family, which includes a 3-year-old daughter. He went back April 23.

He and Brittnay are expecting their second child in January. He was next due home again in September.

Brittnay said Salvador already has undergone one round of surgery and can expect many more rounds over the course of a lengthy recovery. After he gains his release from the Texas military hospital, he may need to spend as much as a year coming into the facility for outpatient rehab work, she said.

She said he can walk, talk and see, but is battling burns to his hands, arms, legs, face and neck.

“It was hard the first couple of days, really hard,” Brittnay said. “The main thing right now is that he’s alive, he has all his extremities and he knows what’s going on.”

Morgan is keeping their child for now. He expects to take the little girl to Texas to visit her parents in the next month or so.

Naturally, the family is anxious about how such a young child will react to seeing her father’s appearance so dramatically altered, he said.

“His legs are OK and his eyes are OK and they’ve had him walking, so he’s doing better than they expected,” Morgan said. “But he’s going to be scarred for the rest of his life.”

Officer Who Sued Army For Forcing Him Into “Involuntary Servitude” Wins!
He Is Honorably Discharged

July 21, 2006 By Michelle Tan, Army Times Staff writer

The Army Reserve officer who sued the service so that he could resign his commission has been honorably discharged.

Capt. Brad Schwan, who accused the Army of being in breach of contract and forcing him into “involuntary servitude,” had filed his lawsuit in federal court in California. He was waiting for a hearing before the federal judge to argue against a motion filed by the government to have his case dismissed.

Schwan, a military intelligence officer and 1997 West Point graduate, completed his eight-year service obligation in May 2005. He filed the lawsuit after the Army twice denied his application to resign.

The resignation policy is believed to be under review, Luton said.

No more information was available Friday afternoon.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

When The Troops Stopped A War Of Empire

06/29/2006 By Sean P. Means, The Salt Lake Tribune

David Zeiger was a college kid organizing protests against the Vietnam War.

Now, as a documentary filmmaker, Zeiger explores one aspect of the anti-war protests not widely publicized today: the role of active-duty GIs and veterans in protesting the war, from objectors who faced court-martial to veterans recounting atrocities they say were sanctioned by the Pentagon.

Zeiger combines interesting archival footage (such as some political-theater skits featuring Jane Fonda) and touching interviews with veterans and protesters, and suggests how forces have rewritten history to drive a wedge between Vietnam veterans and the protest movement.

(For example, one interviewee argues the iconic image of protesters screaming “baby killer” at disembarking soldiers was an urban legend.)

Zeiger presents a trippy alternative history that prompts questions about what today’s troops in Iraq might be thinking.

Sir! No Sir!:
At A Theatre Near You!
To find it: www.sirnosir.com/

The Sir! No Sir! DVD goes on sale July 15, exclusively at www.sirnosir.com.

Also available will be a Soundtrack CD (which includes the entire song from the FTA Show, “Soldier We Love You”), theatrical posters, tee shirts, and the DVD of “A Night of Ferocious Joy,” a film by me about the first hip-hop antiwar concert against the “War on Terror.”

“It Doesn’t Take Bravery To Pelt Civilians With High-Explosives”
“That’s Just Terrorism, Isn’t It?

July 23, 2006 Mike Whitney, Uruknet.info [Excerpt]

The Israeli High-Command loves the air-war phase of the conflict. After all, no one gets killed at 30,000 ft. The only victims of this lethal-strategy are the unlucky women and children who are left scampering for their lives while Israeli bombs flatten their homes and all their worldly possessions.

For 10 days now Israel has casually showered Lebanon with laser-guided munitions, bunker-busters, Daisy Cutters and cluster-bombs. The cheerily-named ordinance reflects the profound affection that US/Israel feel for the deadly weaponry that assures their dominant place in the global order.

But, let’s face it; the bombing campaign is the “coward’s war”. It doesn’t take bravery to pelt civilians with high-explosives when the F-16s are unchallenged in the sky. Nor does it show any courage to ravage the countryside leveling bridges, milk factories and mosques.

That’s just terrorism, isn’t it?

Hezbollah is reviled in the West as a terrorist organization. That may be true, but what difference does it make? It arose as a direct result of Israeli occupation, just as the militias in Iraq have naturally grown up in response to American occupation.

In the present conflict, Hezbollah is the only nationalist organization that is prepared to defend its native-soil from foreign aggression. That’s worth something isn’t it?

Was it wrong for Hezbollah to defend their country and chase Israel from Lebanese soil?

Is that terrorism?

Don’t Trust A Vet Who Isn’t Angry

From: Richard Hastie
To: GI Special
Sent: July 21, 2006 5:27 AM

Don’t Trust A Vet Who Isn’t Angry

Dennis Serdel’s (Vietnam Vet ) poem, “What Woman Would Want A Man,” was a chainsaw of truth cutting through America’s Mickey Mouse world.

I would love to take George Bush by the back of his head, and shove it inside the gutted body of a dead American soldier.

I guarantee you it would be the last day of his cowboy shithead swagger.

War is vulgar!

Mike Hastie
Vietnam Veteran
Don’t trust a Vet who isn’t angry

Photo from the I-R-A-Q (I Remember Another Quagmire) portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T)

For “What Woman Would Want A Man” by Dennis Serdel, see GI Special 4G21:
www.militaryproject.org/PDF/vol4/GISpecial4G21ALargePercentageHateThisWar.pdf

“Spreading Israeli Propaganda Must Be The Main Goal Of United For Peace And Justice”

July 22, 2006 Gabriele Zamparini, Thecatsdream.com [Excerpts]

Dear Leslie Kielson,
UFPJ-NYC

Dear Judith Le Blanc,
UFPJ National Co-chairperson

Thank you for your message. Even though I don’t live in your country anymore I am glad to receive your e-mails; it’s a good way to keep in touch with “the largest antiwar coalition in the United States”.

In your e-mail you remind your supporters of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s call for an immediate ceasefire.

Immediately after you have the impudence to write: “Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki condemned the Israeli aggression and called on the world to take action”.

Among all the heads of States and Governments you could mention (the entire world but the Axis Washington – London – Tel Aviv) why did you choose the PUPPET Prime Minister of Occupied Iraq?

Your letter continues: “Hezbollah’s crossing of the Israeli border to capture two soldiers may have violated the 1949 Armistice between Israel and Lebanon.”

Spreading Israeli propaganda must be the main goal of United for Peace and Justice. The two Israeli soldiers were captured in Lebanon and the “cross-border operation” is just another myth coming directly from Tel Aviv.

But who cares for the truth when printing propaganda is much easier and far more convenient?

Yes, I read in your letter the words “international Law” many times. So much nobility! But what does “international Law” exactly mean for United for Peace and Justice, an organization that sees the Democratic Party of Hilary Clinton as its own natural harbour? Your heroine recently said: “I fully support Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Have you sent a copy of your letter to Lady Clinton and all the other pro-Israeli Democratic members of the Congress as well? Or didn’t you have enough envelopes?

One of the most ugly faces of this bloody Empire is mirrored in the so-called “anti-war movement”. Just to be clear, there is NO anti-war movement as such. The oppressed victims fight the real struggle for peace and justice wherever the Empire strikes. There is then an international, diverse galaxy of different, independent subjects, more or less organized, moved by solidarity, compassion and an inner drive for justice.

Even though too often it represents an obstacle for a more effective organizing, the diversity of opinions, ideas and tactics is the real wealth we all should seriously defend against the old danger of authoritarian ideologies and vertical structures.

However this shouldn’t prevent us to speak out when “peace and justice” become a business that has nothing to do with the oppressed victims’ struggle and all to do instead with the acquisition of privileges and power that neutralizes real dissent and block change.

“Please forward widely”, you wrote at the top of your email. That’s what I am doing.

Thank you for your time.

Take care,
Gabriele Zamparini

OCCUPATION REPORT

Good News For The Iraqi Resistance!!
U.S. Occupation Commands’ Stupid Terror Tactics Recruit Even More Fighters To Kill U.S. Troops

An Iraqi citizen shows handcuffs used to lock her and six other women in a room during a raid led by U.S. troops, July 23, 2006 in Sadr City, Baghdad. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

[Fair is fair. Let’s bring 150,000 Iraqis over here to the USA. They can kill people at checkpoints, bust into their houses with force and violence, butcher their families, overthrow the government, put a new one in office they like better and call it “sovereign,” and “detain” anybody who doesn’t like it in some prison without any charges being filed against them, or any trial.]

[Those Iraqis are sure a bunch of backward primitives. They actually resent this help, have the absurd notion that it’s bad their country is occupied by a foreign military dictatorship, and consider it their patriotic duty to fight and kill the soldiers sent to grab their country. What a bunch of silly people. How fortunate they are to live under a military dictatorship run by George Bush. Why, how could anybody not love that? You’d want that in your home town, right?]

“In the States, if police burst into your house, kicking down doors and swearing at you, you would call your lawyer and file a lawsuit,” said Wood, 42, from Iowa, who did not accompany Halladay’s Charlie Company, from his battalion, on Thursday’s raid. “Here, there are no lawyers. Their resources are limited, so they plant IEDs (improvised explosive devices) instead.”

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

“The picture of the world’s greatest superpower killing or seriously injuring 1,000 non-combatants a week, while trying to pound a tiny backward nation into submission on an issue whose merits are hotly disputed, is not a pretty one.” Robert McNamara, Secretary Of Defense, speaking of the U.S. war on Vietnam, 1967

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to contact@militaryproject.org. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.

Reopening Of Northern Pipeline Announced For 287th Time Since U.S. Invasion;
Signal Given To Resistance To Attack Again

July 23 By Simon Webb, Reuters

Iraq has completed repairs to one of two sabotaged oil pipelines that export crude from its northern fields to Turkey and aims to restart the flow this week, Iraq’s oil minister said on Sunday.

“We completed the repairs today,” Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told Reuters in London. “We hope to restart it very soon. This week.”

The pipelines to Kirkuk have been mostly unusable due to sabotage since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Both pipelines were fractured in the most recent attack on July 9. The attacks forced Iraq to halt sales of Kirkuk crude from Turkey.

In the weeks before that attack, Iraq had sold 8.5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude from Ceyhan, boosting total exports to match their highest levels since October 2004 in June at 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd).

OCCUPATION PALESTINE/LEBANON

Tel Aviv, July 22, 2006 Jacob-katriel.tripod.com

“What Is Happening In Lebanon Doesn’t Surprise Us At All”
“We Ourselves Have Been, And Continue To Be, Slaughtered By Israel On A Daily Basis”

July 21, 2006 Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram [Excerpt]

Palestinians under military occupation have been watching with helpless anguish the gruesome images of Israel’s campaign of murder and horror in Lebanon. For a people who have just buried an additional 100, victim to Israeli state terrorism which also targets schools, bridges and power stations, the merciless killing of Lebanese civilians and wanton destruction of Lebanon’s infrastructure, clarion testimony to Israeli criminal savagery, are scenes all too familiar.

Equally familiar for the Palestinians has been the brazen approval by the Bush administration of Israel’s murderous aggression, as well as the impotent silence and betrayal by brotherly Arab states and segments of the international community as a whole.

“What is happening in Lebanon doesn’t surprise us at all.

“We ourselves have been, and continue to be, slaughtered by Israel on a daily basis while the Arabs are watching passively as if this was happening on another planet.

“The West is merely pleading with Israel to exercise a modicum of discretion while killing us,” said a Hebron physician while watching dead Lebanese children and women being retrieved from under the rubble of a Tyre building bombed by Israeli warplanes.

“The Flags Of Surrender Did Not Work”
“The People Who Did This, They Are The Terrorists”

[Thanks to JM, who sent this in.

July 23, 2006 By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer [Excerpts]

SIDON, Lebanon

Children with grimy hands and dirt-smeared faces peeked through the rusty bars on windows at the old prison in the heart of Sidon where cells in the two-story stone relic teemed Sunday with refugees from Israel’s fierce assault on southern Lebanon.

The more than 30,000 Lebanese, a crushing burden for the port city of Sidon, had fled their villages farther south to escape the Israeli operation to rout Hezbollah militants.

Zaina Abbas, a Sri Lankan woman who worked in the south, was tucked into a cell with her eight-year-old son and wounded husband. She leaned forward in her wheelchair and recounted the harrowing escape from Aitaroun, a village deep in the southeast corner of Lebanon near the Israeli border.

Bombs shattered the village. Her house was damaged and she was trapped in the rubble. Her neighbors dug her out, but it took hours because rescuers had to flee repeated bombing runs.

“I was choking. There was dirt and mud in my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move,’’ she recalled.

Her husband, Mohammed, could not move his leg when he was freed and she had to drive even though her hip had been dislocated.

She gave Mohammed and her son pillow cases to wave from the car windows to identify themselves as noncombatants.

The flags of surrender did not work.

“What we survived in our village was nothing to what happened on the road,’’ she said.

“The planes came again and they attacked us. The car in front of me was hit and the car behind me. I couldn’t stop to help anyone. My cousin died and his family. As I raced to escape, I saw a two-year-old boy stuck against the windshield of a car. What could I do? I had to escape.’’

She gulped a breath of air and her voice became soft. “I don’t know what we did. I don’t know why this happened to us. I am here talking only because God was with me. I don’t know how we survived.’’

Eight Canadians of Lebanese descent were killed in Aitaroun. A relative of the Canadians, Abdul Aziz Raislan, was searching the old prison for relatives who might have survived. His sister Amira Raislan and her husband, Ali Al-Akrass, were to return to Canada just one week before they were killed in the bombing.

He said Ali died because the ambulance rushing him for treatment came under attack by Israeli jets and was delayed. They tried to get to the nearby city of Tyre but had to turn back.

When the bombing stopped, the ambulance returned to the road and headed for Beirut, normally a two-hour journey that took them 20. His brother-in-law died as he arrived at the hospital in Beirut, Raislan said.

“I just want to say to you that he didn’t have to die,’’ said Raislan. (I haven’t seen one word of protest from Canada yet! – J)

Al-Akrass’ father is in hospital in Sidon in critical condition. Raislan said he has not been told that his son is dead.

Inside the former prison, pieces of foam served as mattresses for some of the 350 refugees there. Others had only scratchy wool carpets for beds.

Children ran through halls. Twin 3-year-old girls sat quietly outside one of the cells, sharing a bag of potato chips. Their curly, blond hair was thick with dirt and dust.

For residents of Sidon, the war became even more real early Sunday morning when Israeli jets bombed the city for the first time.

They hit a Shiite mosque known to all in Sidon as a Hezbollah mosque. A black flag hung limply atop the remains of the pale green dome.

“Yes we knew it was for Hezbollah. It was not used for military purposes, but for praying and studying and learning,’’ said 28-year-old Khaled Jumma, wearing designer label western clothes.

“The people who did this, they are the terrorists.’’

From Lidici To Lebanon;
It’s The Same Enemy

Ali Safiyeddin carries his six-year-old daughter after she was killed during an Israeli air attack on their house in Tyre (Soure) in southern Lebanon July 23, 2006. REUTERS/Ali Hahsisho (LEBANON)

July 22, 2006 John Chuckman, Al-Jazeerah

Following the assassination of Reinhard Heidrich by Czech partisans in 1942, Hitler’s government executed all the men in the village of Lidici, sent its women and children to concentration camps, and razed the village to the ground. A few weeks later, the barbarism was repeated on the village of Lezaky.

Lidici was far from being the worst atrocity of the war, but it rightly came to symbolize heartless oppression by occupiers, what we sometimes today call state terror.

I cannot think of another historical example which better parallels Israel’s savage behavior in Lebanon.

Two of its soldiers are kidnapped, and Israel quickly destroys much of the infrastructure of Lebanon, cuts the country off from the world, and kills, at this writing, two hundred civilians.

Zionist Terrorist Rats Target Ambulances, Medical Workers;
“She Had Bled To Death Waiting For An Ambulance That Could Not Reach Her”

July 22, 2006 Clancy Chassay in Tyre, The Guardian & July 23, 2006 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Watching the burial was Qasim Shaala, the chief medic at Tyre’s Red Cross offices. “Most of the casualties are women and children,” he said. “They (Israel) are not letting us save them. Ambulances aren’t allowed into areas after they are shelled.”

For the past four days, Mr Shaala and his team of 50 volunteers have been ferrying people from the Red Cross centre in Tibnin, near the border with Israel, to Tyre. Earlier that day Mr Shaala described the dangers and difficulties his ambulance workers had faced.

“We are being bombed as we try to get to the victims, and when we try to bring them back. Many of the roads are destroyed so we have to take detours through the orchards and farmland.”

Several of his drivers had been wounded by Israeli air strikes and one of his five ambulances was rendered useless.

Another driver from his team was wounded as he tried to bring injured from an attack near Qasmieh refugee camp. A bomb landed 10 metres from the ambulance as they arrived at the scene.

As they were leaving the coastal city, the three ambulances at the tail of the convoy were driven off the road when an Israeli shell landed 100 metres to the left of them. “I have been an ambulance worker for 15 years and I have never seen it like this before. In 1996, (when Israel launched an operation to destroy Hizbullah, killing 170 civilians) we never had these problems,” said Mr Shaala.

Mr Shaala and his 50 staff are all volunteers: they receive no payment, it is the same for all ambulance workers in Lebanon. “I have told my staff they are free to go whenever they feel the risk is too great.” But no one wants to quit. “The victims they are our people, our countrymen, our family: we must save them.”

Ahmad Ghanen, one of Mr Shaala’s team, described coming under Israeli fire as they tried to retrieve the bodies of a baby and her mother along with two others who were killed in an air strike on their car.

He had found the tiny body lying under a tree in a nearby orange grove, her mother was a few metres away, her leg severed above the knee: She had bled to death waiting for an ambulance that could not reach her.

[A] stricken minibus was carrying 16 people fleeing the village of Tairi, heading through the mountains for the southern port city of Tyre. A missile hit the bus near the village of Yaatar, killing three and wounding the rest, security officials said.

On Saturday, the Israeli military told residents to evacuate Taire and 12 other nearby villages.

[To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation by foreign terrorists, go to: www.rafahtoday.org The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”]

CLASS WAR REPORTS

One For Our Side:
All Charges Dismissed Against Three Cop-Watchers From The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (Mxgm);
Arresting Officer Does Not Cooperate With District Attorney;
Judge Admonishes District Attorney

We must combat police and state terrorism and secure the release of the many Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in the US.

July 18, 2006 Contact: Monifa Akinwole-Bandele (917) 407-3018 New York

On Monday, July 17, 2006 a year and a half after being arrested and indicted for assault, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration, the Brooklyn DAs office dismissed all charges against the three activists from the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM). In what had been expected to be a routine court appearance, the Brooklyn ADA, surprisingly made a motion to dismiss all charges.

The motion was based on the inability of the people to secure their witness participation. The witness to whom they were referring was arresting officer Thomas Stevens of the 77th Precinct.

The Judge chastised the ADA stating that he had never heard of case in which the DA’s office could not compel the testimony of a witness totally within their control—a police officer.

The events which culminated yesterday began just past midnight on February 8th, 2005 when three members of MXGM, Djbril Toure, Dasaw Floyd, and Lumumba Bandele were arrested in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

At the time of their arrest, the three were engaged in the legal monitoring of police activities as part of the MXGM’s Cop-Watch Program.

The three were driving down Greene Avenue and observed an unusual amount of police activity on the block. They parked their car and began recording the scene.

Bandele, Toure and Floyd were then approached by Officer Thomas Stevens of the 77th precinct who demanded that they turn the camera off and leave the area. Bandele told the officer that they had a legal right to observe the activities, and that they were not interfering with the arrest, only witnessing it.

At that point, the officer along with back-up violently arrested the three, charging them with assault, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration.

While all three expressed both relief at the sudden turn of events, Mr. Akinwole-Bandele also offered that “on behalf of MXGM we thank all of our members and supporters who helped spread the word about the case. And while we celebrate this moment, we understand that the state will continue to use arrests and the threat of imprisonment as a tactic to discourage further organized efforts of resistance.

We must combat police and state terrorism and secure the release of the many Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in the US.

The three MXGM members were represented by Kamau Karl Franklin, Joan Gibbs and Robert Boyle. Franklin stated that a lawsuit against the police department is in the works. It is important that we continue to challenge the illegal use of police power to intimidate activists and other community members from safe guarding their human and civil rights.

GET THE MESSAGE?

1.23.06 Lahore, Pakistan [Arab-americans.blogspot.com]

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

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

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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