Rafi Dajani on Hamas

The American Task Force on Palestine, Americans for Peace Now React to Hamas Election Victory

Catholic and Methodist Bishops Pass Resolutions on Iraq

Here are links to the Catholic Bishops Resolution and the Methodist Bishops Resolution

Brzezinski Says Bush "Victory or Defeat in Iraq" is False Choice

Seymour Hersh Says Murtha Speaks for Generals

In the following interview with Amy Goodman, Seymour Hersh says among other things that (1) Congressman Murtha's call for withdrawal from Iraq is really a message from Army generals who are speaking though Murtha and (2) if Bush pulls out US forces he will support the Iraqi army with Air Force bombing strikes that will devastate the country.

Ray McGovern on Meeting of Iraqi Factions

Rumsfeld tells media: Don't use term "insurgents."

Click HERE for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's statement that media should call insurgents "terrorists."

Army says 28% of Iraq Veterans Have
Serious Medical, Psychological Problems

Click HERE for the Time Online article about the Army study of soldiers who have returned from Iraq.

Rafi Dajani: How Abbas Can Stop the Violence

Hear Rafi Dajani and Mark Rosenblum at the Woman's Club of Maplewood Monday November 7th from 7:30 to 9:30 pm. Click HERE for a recent article by Rosenblum


[from the Daily Star (Lebanon) 10-25-05]

Mark Rosenblum: Gaza and West Bank Need Help

"The West Bank Connection"

by Mark Rosenblum, founder and policy director of Americans for Peace Now

[This article was reprinted in the Daily Star on Oct 12, 2005 and by United Press International on Oct 14, 2005]

The Forward / September 2, 2005

President Bush was right on the money when he lauded Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for "having made a very tough decision" to carry out the evacuation of settlements from Gaza and the northern West Bank, a bold choice of demography (i.e., a Jewish state) over geography (i.e., the Land of Greater Israel). Indeed, Sharon's decision cost him

Former Commerce official puts cost of Iraq and Afghan wars at $1.3 trillion by 2010

Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Linda Bilmes, writing in the NY Times, estimates total costs of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan could reach $1.3 trillion in 5 years, if disability payments for injured soldiers, interest costs and the impact of higher oil prices are included.

Bilmes estimates a total cost from March 2003 to July 2010 at $1.3 trillion as follows: $718 billion operational costs | $315 billion health care and disability costs | $220 billion in increased deficit financing (interest) costs | $119 billion cost from increases in the cost of oil.

Sen Feingold Says Troops Out by End of 2006

Feingold Proposes Target Time For Completion Of Military Mission In Iraq; Says Senators Must Break "Taboo" On Discussing Timing Of End Of Mission

Proposes Gradual Troop Drawdown with Target Completion Date of December 31, 2006

PRESS RELEASE August 18, 2005

Marquette, WI -- U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today, at a local Listening Session in Marquette, Wisconsin, proposed a target timeframe for the completion of the military mission in Iraq and suggested December 31, 2006 as the target date for the completion of the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

In June, Feingold introduced a resolution calling for the President to clarify the military mission in Iraq, lay out a plan and timeframe for accomplishing that mission, and publicly articulate a plan for subsequent troop withdrawal. Because of the Administration's recent flurry of conflicting signals about the duration of U.S. troop deployments, Feingold said he feels obligated to help jump start that process by proposing a specific goal for bringing U.S. forces home from Iraq.

The former chief of Australia's armed forces, General Peter Cosgrove, recently argued that the foreign troop presence was fueling terrorist activity in Iraq, and called for foreign troops to be out of Iraq by the end of 2006. "Those remarks were constructive, and we need to be having this discussion here at home. I am putting a vision of when this ends on the table in the hope that we can get the focus back on our top priority and that is keeping America and the American people safe," Feingold said.

Feingold has argued that this kind of clarity, combined with an effective reconstruction effort and constructive assistance to the political process, could help the U.S. to:

Houston Chronicle Editorial on Cindy Sheehan

Friday, August 12, 2005

Mother of Peace

Nothing is more emblematic of American democracy than the idea of one person standing up for his beliefs and in the process becoming the catalyst for a national debate. In the arena of civil rights, Rosa Parks' refusal to sit in the back of a Montgomery, Ala., bus was such an act. During the Vietnam War, Daniel Ellsberg's decision to give the media the Pentagon Papers detailing the secret history of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia was another.

Now Californian Cindy Sheehan's August vigil on a sweltering roadway near President Bush's Crawford ranch has given a human voice and face to the revulsion of the carnage in Iraq.

Marine Lance Cpl Edward "Augie" Schroeder
Columbia High School Graduate
Killed in Iraq

Left photo courtesy of Maplewood Online.

An AP story in the Akron Beacon reports:

Rosemary Palmer wouldn't let her son play with guns when he was little, and she certainly didn't want him involved in the military.

"He was persuaded that if he joined the Marines, he would get a new sense of purpose," said Palmer, who found out Wednesday that her 23-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder, died in a roadside explosion.

Military Families Join Cindy Sheehan in Texas

8/9/2005

More members of Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP) and Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) are traveling to Texas to join the protest outside of President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas,

Lance Armstrong Compares
Funds for War vs Funds for Cancer

USA Today quotes Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong on the discrepancy between funding on Iraq vs Cancer Cures:

"Funding is tough to come by these days," he says. "The biggest downside to a war in Iraq is what you could do with that money. What does a war in Iraq cost a week? A billion? Maybe a billion a day? The budget for the National Cancer Institute is four billion. That has to change. It needs to become a priority again.

"Polls say people are much more afraid of cancer than of a plane flying into their house or a bomb or any other form of terrorism. It is a priority for the American public."

AFL-CIO calls for Rapid Return of US Troops in Iraq

The AFL-CIO passed a on July 26, 2005, which calls for a rapid return home of US troops in Iraq. Click for the text of the resolution.

Seymour Hersh: Iraq election had 30,000 polling places, but only 8,000 poll watchers

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reports in this week's issue of The New Yorker that President Bush authorized covert plans last year to support the election campaigns of Iraqi candidates and political parties with close ties to the White House.

Hersh's article cites unidentified former military and intelligence officials who said the administration had gone ahead with covert election activities in Iraq that "were conducted by retired CIA officers and other nongovernment personnel, and used funds that were not necessarily appropriated by Congress." Hersh was interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!


AMY GOODMAN: We're joined on the line now by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Seymour Hersh, author of the piece. Welcome to Democracy Now!

SEYMOUR HERSH: Hi.

AMY GOODMAN: It's great to have you with us. Well, can you explain exactly what you found?

SEYMOUR HERSH: Yeah. What I found was about a year's worth -- the election took place as you know this January. It was scheduled initially to take place in December, and from my -- I would say from February of last year, 2004, on until the election, we're talking eleven-and-a-half months or so, there was an enormous concern inside the White House and the Pentagon among the [inaudible] the neoconservatives in the Pentagon about what's going to happen, because in February of 2004, we agreed -- the Bush administration agreed with Ayatollah Sistani, the leader of the -- the religious leader of the Shiites, many Shiite factions, in one man, one vote.

Iraq Shiites Petition for US Withdrawal

Iraq Shiites say 400,000 of 1 million signatures have been gathered.

Mon Jul 11, 3:29 PM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) - (summary) Radicals within Iraq's Shiite majority community launched a petition for the withdrawal of US-led troops, which they said was drawing support from across the sectarian divide.

WP / ABC Poll on Iraq Details US Views

A majority of the US public thinks the war in Iraq was a mistake (53-46) a larger majority thinks the number of US casualties is unacceptable (69-29), but an even larger majority thinks the Iraqi people will be better off in the long run as a result of the war (74-20).

Portions of the poll can be viewed in the Documents section of this website (in three parts): Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3.

Letter in NYT from American Task Force on Palestine pres

In the July 15, 2005 edition of the NY Times the following letter by the president of the American Task Force on Palestine appears:

Thomas L. Friedman writes that in supporting Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza, the "New Israeli Center" is confronting extremism within Israeli society, especially the settler movement, and that "the struggle in Israel today is a microcosm of what needs to happen in this whole region." A similar struggle has been taking place among Palestinians.

Tom Hayden's Iraq Exit Plan

NJPA Dir Madelyn Hoffman interview on trip to Afghanistan

NorthJersey.com features an interview with NJ Peace Action director Madelyn Hoffman, recently returned from a fact-finding tour of Afghanistan.

Gallup Poll Finds 51-44 Percent for Exit Strategy

A CNN / USA Today / Gallup poll released on June 27, 2005, found 51% of Americans want to see the US set a timetable for removal of troops from Iraq, versus 44% who said they are willing to see US troops in Iraq for "several more years." 53% said they thought the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, 46% said it was the right thing to do.

The poll was released on the eve of President Bush's nationally-televised speech from Fort Bragg, NC.

The poll also found that 46% of Americans believe the war has made the US less safe, versus 43% who believe it has made us safer.

57% of Americans Say Iraq War "Not Worth It"

A CNN-Gallup poll taken April 29-May 1, 2005, found 57% of Americans believe the current situation in Iraq is not worth going to war over,

Nonviolent Opposition in Iraq to US Occupation

The April 10, 2005 demonstration in Baghdad of 300,000 people inaugurated a nonviolent opposition movement among Iraqis to the US occupation.

While most US newspapers reported "tens of thousands" at the Baghdad demonstration, virtually none mentioned that in fact there were "hundreds of thousands" at the demonstration.

Tens of Thousands of Iraqis Protest US Occupation

On anniversary of fall of Baghdad, supporters of radical cleric demand U.S. military pullout

Boston Globe 4/9/2005 05:42

By Antonio Castaneda, Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Tens of thousands of Shiites marked the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with a protest against American troops at the same square where jubilant crowds toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein two years ago [photo of demonstration]

Senate Committee Approves $80 billion more for Iraq

from Antiwar.com

Looks Like $80 Billion More for War, Despite Objections

by Aaron Glantz

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congress is poised to give President George Bush $80 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pope vs Bush and Powell on War and Peace

A Pope of Peace and Bush's War

by Derrick Z. Jackson
April 6, 2005 by the Boston Globe

The facade of respect did not hide President Bush's utter disdain for the pleas for peace from Pope John Paul II. In his press conference Monday to announce that he would attend John Paul's funeral, Bush was asked by a reporter: ''How do you think this pope has affected America's spiritual and political life? And how much weight did you give to his opposition to the Iraq war?"

Detailed Report on Iraqi Election and US Media

Iraq: The Real Election

by Mark Danner, New Yorker Staff writer and journalism professor at UC Berkeley

This article appears in The New York Review of Books, April 28, 2005

1. "The essence of any insurgency, and its most decisive battle space, is the psychological.

UN Says Malnutrition of Children Higher Under US Occupation

Click this web address for the whole story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4395525.stm

Scott Ritter Says Democracy is Being Hijacked in Iraq

Hijacking Democracy in Iraq

By Scott Ritter, AlterNet. Posted March 23, 2005.

What occurred in Iraq on Jan. 30, 2005 was an American-brokered event, not an expression of Iraqi national unity. The U.S. lowering of the Shi'a vote is case in point.

Greg Palast on Fight Between Neocons and Big Oil over Iraq