Maine Owl

As a U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton voted against banning use of cluster munitions in civilian areas

For his part, Obama voted for such a measure against cluster bombs in that Senate vote on September 6, 2006.

Today in Oslo, 100 nations of the world signed the anti-cluster-bomb treaty. The insufferable Dana Perino yesterday offered this shameful exchange in response to a question from Helen Thomas about why the U.S. and several other rouge military powers are boycotting it.

Q [Helen Thomas] Yes. Is the President going to sign the anti-cluster bomb treaty? Apparently this is --

MS. PERINO: Right, this is a treaty that was passed out of the U.N. Security Council several months ago. We said then that, no, we would not be signing on to it. And so I think that the signing is actually -- we did not participate in the passage of it, and therefore we're not going to sign it either.

Q Why not?

MS. PERINO: What I have forgotten is all the reasons why, and so I'll get it for you. (Laughter.)

The absolute worst thing there is the press corps thinking this is all very funny. Nobody is there to back up Helen. Who the hell cares about the world's civilians being ripped up by these horrors rained upon them by America and its clients?

Certainly not Ms. Clinton. She has displayed unflinching hawkishness in supporting Israel after its heinous sewing of "a million cluster bombs" (according to an Israeli commander) in Lebanon during the summer of 2006. It will be interesting to see how the Obama administration approaches these questions of morality versus military expedience. I'll be watching and hoping but so far I am extremely troubled by what the future portends.

They need more than prayer.

Maybe you've seen the forwarded email going around that starts

The average age of the military man is 19 years. He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's, but he has never collected unemployment either. ...

It goes on to mention, "He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation," and "He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding."

The closing is a prayer,

Prayer wheel for our military...

'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands.
Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them and their families for the selfless acts
they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.'

The last line is, "Of all the gifts you could give a US Soldier, Sailor, Coastguardsman, Marine, or Airman, prayer is the very best one."

I won't debate the prayer for now, though THIS adds some alternate impressions. No, what I'd like to challenge head on is the notion that prayer is the "best" gift for our troops.

Let's start with this continuing shocking story of rising suicide rate amongst military personnel, covered yesterday on the PBS News Hour:

BETTY ANN BOWSER, NewsHour Correspondent: By most accounts, specialist Scott Eiswert was a happy, outgoing father of three when he was deployed to Iraq in 2004 as a driver for the Tennessee Army National Guard.

TRACY EISWERT, Widow of Iraq Veteran: Before he went, oh, my gosh, he was fun, and caring, and giving, and loved people. He was just a big kid.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: But during his one year in the war zone, he experienced a lot of stress. There were close calls with roadside bombs. On one occasion, he saw three of his friends blown up.

TRACY EISWERT: I was not prepared for the man that came home. No one told me what to prepare for, what to look for. No one said he would be different. No one said he'd be angry. Nobody told me how different he would be when he got home.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: When Eiswert came home in December of 2005, he was different, radically different.

TRACY EISWERT: He was very angry. One of the girls said, "I want my daddy back." That hurt him really, really bad. They said, "You're not my daddy."

Over the past year, CBS News also has reported on this tragic issue. But see Maine Owl HERE for a troubling example of reduced priority in local coverage. What our veterans need is for their problems to be taken seriously, for hard-dick attitudes stopping people from getting the help they need to be eliminated, and above all, vastly increased funding for mental health services.

Furthermore, THIS is shameful: Our veterans organizations are forced to sue in order to get the attention of the war-crazy Bush Administration on the crying needs of veterans:

Suit Asks VA to Expedite Benefit Claims Handling
By Ann Scott Tyson - Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 11, 2008; Page A08

Two groups representing about 60,000 military veterans filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to speed up its handling of disability claims or provide interim financial relief for applicants.

The lawsuit demands that the VA make an initial decision within 90 days on all claims for disability benefits and resolve any appeals within 180 days. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, further requests that the court grant interim benefits to veterans if the VA is unable to resolve their claims under the deadlines. ...

Chase McCombs, a 26-year-old Navy veteran from Phoenix, said he suffered several injuries and eyesight deterioration during a stint as a Navy mechanic that lasted more than three years, including a deployment on an aircraft carrier during the early phase of the Iraq war.

After his discharge, private doctors gave him a diagnosis of optical nerve deterioration as a result of exposure to a harmful substance or head injury, and he is legally blind, he said in an interview. But he said his application for benefits related to his blindness has been denied twice since he first filed in December, and he is still awaiting a response to his appeal. ...

No, the "best" gift for our troops is not just a prayer. It is real pressure on our government to fund and resolve the issues that threaten to rob them of the decent, respected post-war lives they deserve.

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed the Obama victory speech and savored my very tiny roll in trying to help make it happen. It was deeply inspiring. My best election night since 1992, and maybe ever.

Honeymoon's over.

I do not believe this was a throw-away line:

President-elect Obama: To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you.

Note that was the first thing he said after "a new dawn of American leadership is at hand"! I just want to remind everyone that this is a peace blog. So it's my job to wonder if that was a call to arms in the sense of the Bush Doctrine.

Obama also did make noises suggesting America was going to be back in the business of diplomacy. I hope so. But the choice of Rahm Emanuel as the first major appointment would signal a hard line. Ick.

From headlines on Democracy Now! today:

Senate Approves US-India Nuke Deal

Back in Washington, the Senate has approved a measure to lift a three-decade ban on nuclear trade with India. The deal will allow India to expand its nuclear power industry without requiring it to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty as other nations must. Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said the agreement would encourage nuclear production worldwide, because it effectively rewards India for developing nukes outside the treaty.

Sen. Byron Dorgan: "The bill before us will almost certainly expand the production of nuclear weapons by India. And here is what is says to India: even as we take apart the basic architecture of nonproliferation efforts, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which India is one of three countries that has never signed—even as we take that nonproliferation architecture apart with this bill, we have said to India with this agreement, 'You can misuse American nuclear technology and secretly develop nuclear weapons.' That’s what they did."

The House passed its version of the measure earlier this week. The vote marks a victory for the Bush administration, which has lobbied heavily for the deal.

I've been concerned about the contradictions this represents for a long time. Commercial nuclear interests trump high-minded concerns about nuclear war.

In Section B this time



Read the full story HERE.

As always, I thank the BDN from the bottom of my heart. I'm proud to point out that my local newspaper has been since 2006 one of the fairest in the country in providing quality coverage of peace events. Shoot 'em a thank you too. Also, if you can, please add comments at the BDN website to counter the noise posted there.

Rally in Bangor Saturday


I think it's pretty good when you can get the teevee to give 1 minute, 10 seconds for peace late on a Saturday night. Thank you very much, Channel 5.

Below is an audio player for one of the rally speeches. The thing that's missing from almost all discussion of Iraq in American media--and especially not in the presidential campaign--is devastation of the Iraqi people over the last five-and-one-half years. Mary Trotochaud, a Maine resident who has lived in Iraq (along with her husband, Rick McDowell, interviewed by Ch. 5 above) speaks about the horrors faced by Iraqi friends with whom she recently has been in touch. This file is about twelve minutes:

The Terror War is so ... yesterday


Rice kicked the Bear last month, now it's Palin's turn

It's been quite a month of U.S. posture after the Russia-Georgia conflict. Tonight the Republican veep nominee had this to say to her thus far sole interviewer:

GIBSON (ABC News): And under the NATO treaty, wouldn't we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?

PALIN: Perhaps so.

She's none too clear, however, because later she said it "didn't have to lead" to war, or Cold War. She's a quick learner with that little twist of ambiguity. A few days with trained Cold Warrior Rice and Palin will be ready to saddle up and ride like Slim Pickens in a certain Kubrick movie (that just played a couple of nights ago on TCM).

It's all really just verbiage designed to kick up the jingoism play of the day. My how things change. I recall a September 11 not too long ago (2006) when the biggest thing in all of history, the "calling of our generation," as President Bush put it, was the global Terror War:

President Bush (9/11/2006): Since the horror of 9/11, we've learned a great deal about the enemy. We have learned that they are evil and kill without mercy -- but not without purpose. We have learned that they form a global network of extremists who are driven by a perverted vision of Islam -- a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and despises all dissent. And we have learned that their goal is to build a radical Islamic empire where women are prisoners in their homes, men are beaten for missing prayer meetings, and terrorists have a safe haven to plan and launch attacks on America and other civilized nations. The war against this enemy is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century, and the calling of our generation.

Is the Terror War being buried along with the Bush-tainted Republican "brand" in favor of the New Cold War?

Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine news clips





Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! will appear at the Hammond Street Church in conjunction with our peace event and the 20th Anniversary of WERU Community Radio!!

Many people are focusing on the next election with the hope that a new administration will end the occupation of Iraq and use diplomacy to negotiate with Iran. We look forward to that possibility, but also want to make sure we continue to build a multi-faceted peace movement that can support and/or challenge the next administration to promote cooperation and diplomacy, reparations for the people of Iraq, support for Veterans of this war and federal budget priorities that serve the needs of people and not primarily military contractors and large corporations. ...

Read the rest with full details HERE.

Here is a release from the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine:

The Orono Town Council unanimously supported a "No War on Iran" Resolution at a Town Council meeting last night (September 8th, 2008). Ron Davis, of the Orono Peace Group presented the council with 290 signatures from Orono residents in support of the resolution.

Eleven Orono residents spoke in favor of the resolution including Ilze Petersons of the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Doug Allen of the Center and the Maine Peace Action Committee, Al Larson of Veterans for Peace, 001 Chapter, Phyllis Brazee, Chair of the Peace Studies Program at UM, Connie Jenkins, a psychotherapist and nurse practitioner, and Hosain Aghamoosa, Iranian American student at the University of Maine. Two residents spoke against the resolution. Councilors said the council does not get in involved in foreign policy decisions but is aware of the needs of the community and has a responsibility to comment when it sees how services are affected because billions of dollars are being used to fund a war.

Orono joins Bar Harbor and Harpswell who previously passed similar resolutions.

The Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine did not plan a special event for 2008. So, I am posting an audio player for the WERU Voices program I assembled from our August 6, 2007 Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemorations at Pierce Park and the Hammond Street Church in Bangor:


You may visit peacecast.us HERE to download the podcast.

Today, August 6, 2008, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba asked for the new U.S. president to support a proposed ban on nuclear weapons. Mayor Akiba is quoted extensively in our 2007 program.

"Gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a 'guy really anxious for war'"

This is precious:

President Bush regrets his legacy as man who wanted war
The Times (London) - Tom Baldwin and Gerard Baker in Ljubljana

President Bush has admitted to The Times that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a "guy really anxious for war" in Iraq. He said that his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran.

In an exclusive interview, he expressed regret at the bitter divisions over the war and said that he was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood. "I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric."

Let's see, he regrets his rhetoric that has made him look like a warmonger, not the wars that make it crystal clear that he is a warmonger. No regrets about a million civilian casualties either. And how about American deaths? Apparently they are not "in vain" as long as more of them continue to pile up.

This man is one of the most notorious criminals in world history.

The country that thinks of using cluster munitions next week should think twice, because it would look very bad.

--Espen Barth Eide, deputy defense minister of Norway

Damn straight. (Thanks, Rodger)

These maniacal munitions are responsible for untold civilian harm. I'm amazed at the mockery some American commentators have leveled against the anti-cluster-bomb treaty agreed to by 111 nations in Dublin Friday. American military analyst John Pike, for example, acused the signatories of being "countries which do not fight wars" and of making him "want to barf." I think the point here, contrary to Pike's notions, is that countries are sick to death of the wars and military tactics the U.S. and Israel have found, in the words of a U.S. State Department spokesman, so "absolutely critical and essential."

Boycotters of the treaty include Russia, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and the United States. This forms a pretty good list of the world's rouge military powers. For example, Israel found it critical and essential to sew "500,000 unexploded munitions on the ground in Lebanon" at the end of its summer 2006 bombardment campaign--an action regarded widely as "immoral." Can it be so hard for American and Israeli military strategists who use these evil devices to see why they look "bad"?

Memorial Day (originally Decoration Day) is a day to mark with sadness for all those who died the end of war.

Today my moment of silence will be a prayer of hope for the end of war, what Memorial Day is supposed to be.

My late father (picture) served in World War II. My dad returned from the war with his body intact, but his being was changed forever. They used to call it shell shock, now it's better known as PTSD. As a result of growing up with this great and gentle man as my father, I have felt from a very young age that there is always a better way than war to solve political problems.

That sentiment is conspicuously missing from all of this holiday genuflection before our Pentagon greatness. The leaders of our country, both Republican and Democrat, through their approval of limitless war funding and utter failure to even breath one word of concern about the myriad of human wreckage we are causing in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, have driven a stake through the heart of the spirit of Memorial Day.

THIS should be blockbuster news:

Secret Bush "Finding" Widens War on Iran
By ANDREW COCKBURN

Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope."

Bush’s secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area – from Lebanon to Afghanistan – but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines – up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups.

Of course on U.S. shores it's not possible to think about consequences in such a manner, but looking at this finding from Iran's point of view and applying the standard for self defense established by President Bush himself would mean immediate preventive Iranian attack upon the United States is justified by the Bush Doctrine. If Iran were to wait until the threat against its territory were to fully materialize, it would be too late.

Are violent terrorists just mental defectives unwilling to see the light of Western liberation? (Note: click "Read more" to see updates.]

I'm certainly all for preventing criminal acts that hurt and kill innocent people. But is this task best left to Western clinical psychology? An Ideas piece in today's Boston Globe examines how "specialists" are interested in how to get Middle Eastern defectives to give up their "thoughts and feelings that drove them to support violent strains of Islam."

Certainly, an ideology that promotes force, violence, and fear as the way to achieve goals and influence the behavior of others would seem on the face of it to be wrong. But the article does not propose that anyone look in the mirror and ask if policies described as "capture and kill" have any effect on the ideologies of their targets. In fact it dismisses with two words that these extremists we are worried about are "not aggrieved," but rather likely engaging in the "allure" of terrorism because "their friends are doing it."

One thing I find kind of amazing in the article is how the U.S. has been running these "deradicalization" programs in Iraq: "Major General Douglas Stone, commander of detention facilities in Iraq, says that since the US program was set up last September, only 12 of more than 6,000 released inmates have been rearrested."

What? Six thousand released? So, how many have they put in their dungeons? It's well known that the U.S. has rounded up tens of thousands of Iraqis for no other reason that they accidentally crossed paths with operations based on "bad intelligence." Lots has been written on this, but the Winter Soldier testimony was replete with stories about how there is no rhyme or reason to why Iraqis are detained. The article can't bring itself even to discuss the possibility that the Iraqi people are detained arbitrarily, admitting only that there can be "marginal members, imprisoned for supporting extremist groups or (in the Iraqi program) supporting the insurgency in relatively minor ways."