The whistleblowers who got out the Afghan Wikileaks documents deserve our deepest thanks.
I am the mother of an Iraq vet who endured two horrific and lengthy tours in Iraq. I have just written a letter of support to Pvt. Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old intelligence analyst suspected of passing videos and documents to Wikileaks. Manning is now in pre-trial confinement in Quantico, VA, facing decades in prison and, if Congressman Mike Rogers has his way, the death penalty.
On Tuesday, TIME Magazine’s cover presented a photo of an Afghan girl mutilated by the Taliban with the title “What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan.” An abbreviated version of the article appears online: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007238,00.html. Today, excellent rebuttals appeared in The Guardian and on feministing.com. An except from The Guardian piece: “The mutilated Afghan woman ultimately [...]
From Kayhan Irani’s blog: So, today I am really missing my friends and colleagues in Kabul after two aggravating incidents. Yesterday an entitled and aggressive man sat next to me on the subway and expected/demanded I move over so his companion could sit where I was sitting. I was confused and wanted to move away [...]
If you're feeling skeptical after hearing President Obama's latest speech on the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, you're not alone. It's hard to know what to make of a President and an administration that brings over 90,000 troops homewhile ordering 50,000 soldiers along with 75,000 military contractors to remain. There are still some 150,000 personnel in Iraq and the US is supposed to be completely out of the country by 2011. That's next year. Bringing home thousands by the end of this August is a good step, but we really need to step on it. Unfortunately, the State Department is dragging its heels as much as the Pentagon and wants to hire 6,000 - 7,000 more staff and train them like soldiers. While working under the auspices of the State Department, these new personnel would have the status of “diplomats.” But who ever heard of a diplomat trained like a soldier and armed with a gun?
Medea Benjamin was the first speaker Friday night, July 23, 2010, at the United National Peace Conference in Albany, New York. Her rousing speech called for building coalitions between different social and grassroots movements to reallocate war funding and resist the military industrial complex. Medea speaks at the United National Peace Conference Share the link [...]
U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke: We’re in Afghanistan because it really matters. We’re in Afghanistan because if we fail in Afghanistan, it will have a direct, immediate danger to us. It will increase al-Qaeda’s worldwide reach. They will come back with the Taliban in all likelihood, and they will gain a [...]
Friday, August 6, 2010
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