Kali Tal

March 30, 2003

Hactivismo

Those interested in the digital war taking place simultaneously with the land war in Iraq should check out Hactivismo for the latest news on the hacker front.

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Operation Double Trouble

Nice antiwar video created by sampling Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force commercials, created by Keith Sanborn: "Operation Double Trouble." Hosted by Thing.net. There are quite a few interesting videos hosted on the site.

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March 28, 2003

U.S. Congress Prays for Divine Protection

I guess Congress just felt like it hadn't done enough to protect us, even after mandating the erasure of That Country Which Shall Not Be Named in the titles of popular dishes like "Freedom Fries" and "Freedom Toast". Now it seems that we're all supposed to fast and pray for "divine protection." Congress urges the President to set aside a "day of fasting and prayer... to secure the blessings and protection of Providence for the people of the United States and our Armed Forces during the conflict in Iraq and under the threat of terrorism at home."

On the other hand, maybe it's a good idea to worry about the approval of the Creator, because I've got the distinct feeling that God ain't on our side in this one. Why should she be?

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March 27, 2003

Finally, a news source on the progress of the war

Information about the progress of the U.S. war in Iraq is pretty hard to find. One of the first sources I've located for battlefield reports and intelligence is IRAQWAR RU, put together by journalists and military experts from Russia. It's available in English translation through Venik's Aviation. Reports are based on the Russian Army Main Intelligence Directorate. Therre are great maps available as well.

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March 24, 2003

American Fries vs. French Fries

Photo essay poking fun at the name change (from "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries") recently mandated by Congress.

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March 23, 2003

Veterans Against Iraq War

Antiwar veterans organizations and individual veterans are joining Veterans Against the Iraq War, and taking part in coordinated protests. Stories about veterans opposed to the U.S. war in Iraq are just starting to appear in the press. See the AFP report: "Baghdad Bombings Fuel Fourth Day of Protests" (March 22).

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March 22, 2003

Winter Soldier Investigation

Since most of the history of the 1960s has been radically revised by right wing ideologues, I thought it useful to point out the existence of a unique resource on soldiers in the U.S. peace movement. The antiwar organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War sponsored hearings held in January and February 1971. These were the Winter Soldier Investigations, in which Viet Nam combat veterans testified to witnessing and participating in war crimes and atrocities. The transcript of this testimony (which was read into the Congressional Record by Ron Dellums) is a sobering reminder that U.S. policy was not then, and is not now, respectful of the human rights of either its enemies or its own troops. The in-depth testimony was given by one hundred veterans, representing all branches of service, and a wide variety of different military service experiences.

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March 21, 2003

Support the Troops: End the War and Bring Them Home

I'm getting pretty tired of hearing well-meaning but ignorant people say, "We can't protest the war--we need to support our troops!" As anyone who wasn't a right-wing fool in the 1960s knows, one of the strongest and most vocal contingents of antiwar protestors was Viet Nam veterans themselves. "Vets to the front!" was the ubiquitous cry at antiwar protests, and the members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (some 300,000 strong) were present at virtually every antiwar protest during the Viet Nam war era. Ten years ago, Vietnam Vets Against the war rallied once again to support GI resistance among Gulf War soldiers. Today they've joined forces with Gulf War veterans and other groups of veterans for peace to challenge all those who claim that supporting our soldiers means letting our government send them to war. The liberal wing of VVAW has been issuing statements against Gulf War II, and about the concerns of and for soldiers for over a year now. The radical wing (splintered off in the 1980s, with a hard-line Marxist perspective) is still active as well, and operates under the name Vietnam Veterans Against the War-Anti-Imperialist. You can find the comments of more antiwar veterans at Veterans For Peace and Citizen Soldier.

The right wing has done everything it could to erase the voices of the majority of Viet Nam veterans in the wake of the disaster that was U.S. policy during the Sixties and early Seventies. The idea that the peace movement is anti-soldier is an outright lie. Of all the tales of peace activists spitting on Viet Nam veterans that I've ever heard or read about, not a single one has ever been documented. I have, however, seen footage of World War II veterans, who belonged to Veterans of Foreign Wars, spitting in contempt at the feet of Viet Nam veterans at a peace march. It's the right who hates soldiers and wants to kill them. It's the left who wants to bring the soldiers home, who respects human life and human rights.

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