It's looking like the U.S. —
notwithstanding President Obama's speech about "justice" and "freedom" today at
the March on Washington 50th anniversary — will launch air strikes on Syria in
the next few days.
It's essential that visible protest in advance
of, and in reaction to, such attacks are as strong as possible.
Protest Thursday August
29:
New York
City 6:00 pm 43rd & 7th Ave Times Square Facebook Event
San Francisco day of, or day after at
5:00 pm Powell & Market
Chicago Thursday 8/29 5:00 pm Federal
Plaza Adams & Dearborn Facebook Event
Find other cities listed by the Answer
Coalition.
Libyan hospital
in Zliten, bombed by NATO in 2011
Continuing our discussion of war
crimes:
According to the U.S.
government and media apologists, what is a war crime, and when is it cause for
action?
A war crime is when a government the U.S. is not currently allied
with does something that, based on self-defined national interests, can be
"exposed" to provide an advantage. By definition, the U.S. does not commit war
crimes, but only acts to spread democracy and freedom.
One can put
together a long list of the "war crimes" that the United States has used to
justify attacks on other countries, sometimes real, sometimes fabricated. An
example in Only Worse Suffering and Horror
Can Result from the US Attack on Syria:
“Staged, fake human
rights outrages, like false testimony in the U.S. Congress that Iraqi troops
disconnected incubators killing babies in Kuwait are concocted and then invoked
to justify all kinds of U.S. crimes. The incubator hoax was invoked to justify
the first U.S. invasion of Iraq, “Operation Desert Storm,” that killed 100,000
Iraqis and created great suffering for millions, including babies who died as a
result of cutbacks in medical care resulting from U.S. sanctions that followed
that war.”
Then there are the war crimes at the hands of
U.S. forces or their proxies, going back to Vietnam, through Korea, Grenada,
Panama, El Savador and the list is really very long through Iraq, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, that were neither investigated, prosecuted, or
resolved with apology by or the conviction of those responsible.
I would
send you to the work of Bill Blum, and advisor to World Can't Wait's project WarCriminalsWatch.org, who has carefully catalogued them from the last 100
years. You can subscribe to his Anti-Empire
Report.
Whenever we hear the
words "humanitarian intervention," used so freely from the Clinton
administration on, we should look very closely at who benefits from what the
U.S. is launching. Just because our government has a political argument for
what they plan, doesn't mean it's based on truth.
Our stand should always
be: Humanity and the Planet Come
First.
Support for Prison Hunger Strikers in
Washington DC
Guantanamo hunger
strikers have now passed 200 days. Follow the GTMO Clock to see what has not changed, and why they must be
released.
California prison hunger strikers have passed 50 days in
pushing for their core demands which include an end to solitary
confinement.
Thanks to the Stop Mass Incarceration
Network for publishing an ad in
support of the CA prison strikers today in the Los Angeles
Times. They still need several
hundred dollars to pay for it. We are hoping World Can't Wait supporters will
make up that amount.
Actions in Washington DC
next week: Join us
CloseGitmo.net: Close Guantánamo & End U.S.- sponsored Torture
came together as a group of organizations in solidarity with hunger strikers at
the U.S. Navy Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and those in prisons in California
supporting the 5 Core Demands of prisoners at
Pelican Bay. Key allies are Codepink, Witness Against
Torture, Veterans for Peace,World Can't Wait & Nonviolence
International.
Wednesday
September 4 – Busboys & Poets Social
Join us for a
social event with speakers, music & poetry at Busboys & Poets at 14
& V, NW 7-9:00 pm. We will distribute Orange Ribbons and encourage people to
donate to the campaign to encourage 2.7 million people to wear them. More info
at OrangeRibbons.net
R.S.V.P. and info: bbp.splashthat.com
Thursday September 5 – Diane Wilson's
Trial
Friday September 6, 12pm at the White
House – Vigil & Force-feeding Simulation
A weekly vigil at
the White House has been focusing on the Guantanamo Hunger Strike since
February, 2013. On Sept. 6, after fasting on water-only for 61 days in
solidarity with hunger striking prisoners in Guantanamo and California Prisons,
Andrés Thomas Conteris will be fed with nasogastric tubes to show how
prisoners are force-fed twice daily in Guantánamo.
Forced-feeding has
been classified as torture by human rights organizations and is denounced by the
American Medical Association. This torture is perpetrated twice daily against
Gitmo prisoners and is allowed to continue as long as it is kept in the shadows,
hidden from public view. This feeding will not only be done to ensure Andrés can
stay alive, but will reveal in the light of day how U.S. policy practices
torture.
Live streaming at White House provided by Witness Against
Torture: www.ustream.tv/user/witnesstorture
Live Tweets: @witnesstorture
R.S.V.P. and info:
septactions.splashthat.com
More information: info@CloseGitmo.net www.CloseGitmo.net
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