From The Frontlines Of The Anti-War Struggle
Hello
Everyone!
I was
arrested for trespassing this past Friday at the DeVos Place in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. I interrupted David Petraeus as he was speaking for a luncheon
sponsored by the West Michigan World
Affairs Council. Please read the story below. The short version comes first,
under "The Essential Facts". If you have time, read "The Details". The last
section contains information about Petraeus' war crimes. Thanks for your
support!
The
Essential Facts:
. . .
As I sat in that ballroom luncheon, I designed to send a fissure through David
Petraeus’ edifice of lies with the intent to reach someone with the truth who
desperately needed to hear it like I once did. While
Petraeus was talking about Iraq, I stood up and yelled, “David Petraeus, you are
a war criminal! You are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent
men, women and children!” At some point during those sentences my arm was
grabbed as I was told to stop speaking and leave the room. I stood in place and
kept talking. I don’t remember exactly what I said next; I had intended to talk
about the escalation of the drone wars under Petraeus and the hundreds of
innocent men, women and children that were killed. After
I was escorted out of the room the two men with me asked to see my ID and then
told me I was under arrest for trespassing at a private event. They said I was
charged with trespassing for two reasons: one, I did not have a ticket to the
event and two, I continued speaking after they asked me to stop. They put
handcuffs on me while in the lobby and then escorted me to the police car
outside.
The
Details:
This
past Wednesday, on January 29 I found out that David Petraeus, the former
commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and former CIA Director
under the Obama Administration, was scheduled to speak at a West Michigan World
Affairs Council luncheon in Grand Rapids, Michigan just two days later. Since I
am now living in Grand Rapids (GR), I began imagining the opportunities I might
to confront Petraeus’ for his history of horrible war crimes. (To learn more
about Petraeus, please refer to the information at the end of this piece.)
In the
48-hour period I had to plan an action, my first move was to find out if any
other activists were planning anything around Petraeus’ visit. With no
information forthcoming about any other actions, I decided on the Friday morning
of the luncheon that I had to at least check out the scene which was just over
one mile from my house. As I walked downtown, I fantasized about actually being
heard by Petraeus and the assembly, but I did not think I would be admitted into
the Steelcase Ballroom for the luncheon. However, when I arrived at the DeVos
Place, I was surprised to be allowed entry into the ballroom after saying that
the reason there was no printed nametag for me was because I registered late for
the luncheon. I was asked to manually fill out a name tag and then find a seat
inside. While I waited for the mediated discussion with Petreaus to begin, I
contemplated how to capitalize on this opportunity; after all, capitalism was in
the air. (Here is the description of the luncheon with Petraeus: http://www.worldmichigan.org/~worldmic/?page_id=4541)
As
Petreaus was asked various questions by the moderator, he responded to each of
them with simplistic statements. For example, he said there is no debate in his
mind about Snowden: the damage he did was “colossal”. He mentioned “cyber
theft” and “Islamic extremism” as major concerns for the US government. He also
said the United States is best positioned to be the world leader in fracking
because US mining companies have superior “technical expertise”. As he
discussed Israel, Iran and Syria with imperialistic overtones, I resisted the
intense cloud of brainwashing in preference to focus on my next steps. His talk
about fracking had triggered an idea: I decided my action would be a humble
effort to frack the thick fog of doublespeak overwhelming the room.
You
see, I was raised in a similar bubble of ignorant righteousness. Attending the
luncheon, as often happens when I return to GR, I was transferred back to my
days as a member of College Republicans at Calvin College. While a student at
that private liberal arts school (where Bush junior gave the commencement
address a few years back), I attended a Ronald Reagan birthday party and a Bush
senior campaign rally. Two of my best friends were big fans of Ollie North (who
I understood nothing about) and I thought all environmentalists were “wackos”.
Oh, those were the days!
Back
to the frack thang. As I sat in that room, I decided my action would be
designed to send a fissure through David Petraeus’ edifice of lies. I intended
to reach someone with the truth who desperately needed to hear it like I once
did.
While
Petraeus was talking about Iraq, I stood up and yelled, “David Petraeus, you are
a war criminal! You are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent
men, women and children!” At some point during those sentences my arm was
grabbed and I was told to stop speaking and leave the room. I stood in place
and kept talking. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I had intended to
talk about the escalation of the drone wars under Petraeus and the hundreds of
children that were killed.
After
they escorted me out of the room they asked to see my ID, and then told me I was
under arrest for trespassing at a private event. They said I was charged with
trespassing for two reasons: one, I did not have a ticket to the event and two,
I continued speaking after they asked me to leave. They put handcuffs on me
while in the lobby and then escorted me to the police car waiting out front. As
I was processed at the Kent County Jail, I learned that if someone did not post
the $100 bail for me immediately, I would spend the weekend in jail, until
Monday morning when the judge would appear to give me a court date. My
wonderful brother (whose wonderful family is the primary reason I am currently
living in Grand Rapids) paid the bond and picked me up. After a total of five
hours since the ordeal began, I was back home with a story to tell and a court
date of Friday, February 7 at 8:30am.
As to
the effects of my actions on David Petraeus or others in that fancy ballroom, I
may never know. I do know that I had a number of fabulous conversations about
Petraeus, my actions of civil disobedience, and the US military with various
police officers throughout my processing. In addition, I sat in a holding cell
for about 1.5 hours with a woman who recently lived at Ft. Meade, Maryland. (I
spent most of this past summer at Ft. Meade, making court room sketches of the
Chelsea Manning trial.) Her husband and her brother-in-law are both employed in
the US drone program. Having been raised in a military family and now separated
from her husband, she is questioning the system more seriously than ever
before. I gave her my version of food for thought and sent her a facebook
friend request upon my return home.
If any
of you reading this would like to financially support my action of civil
disobedience, please let me know via email and I will send you my address! I
wrote to an attorney in GR who works for the ACLU who might help me out but I
have not heard back from him yet. An activist friend in GR has offered court
solidarity and help with fundraising.
The
images attached to this email are both available as archival giclee' prints; I
am happy to send you one of them for the donation of your choice (plus $10 for
shipping!). The flag image has the eyes of Chelsea Manning. The other image is
from the Manning trial when the defense attorney played the
Collateral Murder video at the beginning of his opening
statement.
Thanks
for your support of justice, peace, whistleblowers and me!
Loving
hugs,
Deb
VERY
IMPORTANT POST SCRIPT: Information about David Petraeus' widespread military
actions and the escalation of drone killings under his term as CIA
director:
From
World Can't Wait: Under
Obama, Petraeus became Commander, U.S. Central Command responsible for the U.S
war of terror throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. He has been overall
in charge of the U.S. military action in over 20 countries including the wars in
Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. (http://warcriminalswatch.org/index.php/the-culpable/36-the-culprits/161-petraeus-david-h)
From
Wikipedia: David
Petraeus served as Director
of the Central Intelligence Agency from
September 6, 2011,[3] until
his resignation on November 9, 2012.[4] Prior
to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a highly decorated
four-star general,
serving over 37 years in the United
States Army. His
last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 4, 2010, to July 18,
2011. His other four-star assignments
include serving as the 10th Commander, U.S.
Central Command (USCENTCOM)
from October 13, 2008, to June 30, 2010, and as Commanding General, Multi-National
Force – Iraq (MNF-I)
from February 10, 2007, to September 16, 2008.[5] As
commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq.[6][7
From alternet.org: Under
Petraeus’ control, the CIA accelerated the use of drone strikes to target
suspected anti-American fighters in Pakistan. But the CIA also bombed Pakistan
using what is called “signature strikes”--which means the “launching [of]
strikes against terrorism suspects even when it does not know the identities of
those who could be killed,” as the Washington
Post puts
it. Those
signature strikes are likely responsible for the deaths of scores of civilians,
though the exact number is not known since the Obama administration categorizes
dead “militants” as “all military-age males in a strike zone.” Before
Petraeus resigned, the CIA was requesting the
authority to
use “signature strikes” in Yemen as well. (http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/cia-head-and-drone-booster-david-petraeus-resigns-over-extramarital-affair)
From namingthedead.org: Naming
the Dead is
a project run by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a not-for-profit
research organisation based in London. The
project aims to identify those killed in CIA drone strikes on Pakistan.
Over
the past nine years, the tribal region of Pakistan’s northwest has been hit by
hundreds of drone attacks as the CIA has sought to stamp out al Qaeda fighters
and the militant groups that have given them shelter.
Missiles
launched from these high-tech, unmanned aircraft have hit homes, cars, schools,
shops and gatherings. At least 2,500 people have been killed, according to data
already collected by the Bureau as part of our wider Covert Drone
War research.
Senior
US officials have described drones as highly precise weapons that target and
kill enemies of the US. John Brennan, who oversaw the development of the drone
campaign and is now director of the CIA, has called
drone technology an ‘essential tool’ for its ‘surgical precision
– the ability, with laser-like focus, to eliminate the cancerous tumour called
an al Qaeda terrorist while limiting damage to the tissue around it.’
Those
killed by drones include high-ranking militant leaders – figures such as Abu
Yahya al Libi, al Qaeda’s feared second-in-command, or Baitullah Mehsud,
commander of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP).
But
according to credible media reports analysed by the Bureau, the dead also
include at least 400 civilians. Some were unlucky enough to be nearby when
militants were attacked. Others were killed alongside their husbands or fathers,
who were believed to be militants. Still others were mistaken for terrorists by
drone operators sitting thousands of miles away.
Here is one page from the Naming the
Drone project website which lists some of the drone strikes conducted during
Petraeus’ term as director of the CIA:
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