[Peace-discuss] worldcantwait: On Albany Peace conference, accused leaker Bradley Manning, yesterday's Wikileaks on the war in Afghanistan, and Arizona's immigrantion enforcement law

[Stuart Levy]

This note from World Can't Wait touches on several things
that came up at yesterday's AWARE meeting...

  * Last weekend's Albany Peace conference,
	http://nationalpeaceconference.org/

    from which *lots* of video clips are already available;
    see link near top of page above, or the youtube channel at:
	http://www.youtube.com/mediasanctuary

  * Bradley Manning, who is accused of leaking the video of US soldiers in Iraq
    casually firing on civilians from the air -- the "Collateral Murder" video.
    People are organizing for his defense, and in defense of whistleblowing, at
	http://www.bradleymanning.org/
    and Elaine Brower talks about that effort
    in one of the clips from the conference:
	http://www.youtube.com/user/mediasanctuary#p/u/5/ZZotRFGVpbY

  * The newly released vast collection of military reports from the war
    in Afghanistan, with documentation of many incidents of civilian casualties,
    evidence that Pakistani intelligence has continued to support
    insurgents in Afghanistan, and much more about the dirty things that
    go on in this war -- reported on by three newspapers (NYT, Guardian, Der Spiegel).
    [This was too recent to be mentioned last night, but see below.]

  * And a link to a World Can't Wait article on Arizona's SB 1070 law
    empowering local police to arrest anyone suspected of being an undocumented
    immigrant, which goes into effect this Thursday, July 29th.
    There's a national call for demonstrations against this racist law:
       http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/6535-protest-arizonas-anti-immigrant-law-set-to-go-into-effect-july-29
    Other states are watching to see how Arizona's law is received --
    and several have proposed laws of their own.

    There were 2 proposals last night for local C-U protests against
    this terrible law and the thinking behind it.  More about that
    elsewhere (would anyone like to say more)?  Briefly:
     - Sam and Allison invite anyone to bring signs and come protest
       on the Neil St. overpass of I-74, this Thursday 7/29, from 4:30-6:00pm.
     - Jesse talked about demonstrating in front of a local
       Arizona-based company (Cold Stone Creamery, in campustown).

But back to...

The World Can't Wait    worldcantwait.net
Stop the Crimes of Your Government


The National Peace Conference unanimously included support for Bradley Manning
and for a national day of showing/projecting the Collateral Murder video into
its action plan.

Bradley Manning is charged by the US Army with leaking that footage.  Whether
he did, or didn't leak that or anything else he's charged with leaking, we do
not know.  We call on everyone to support him and make sure he gets a vigorous
defense.

Whoever the leaker/s is/are, they deserve medals! 


Very big news today!  Upon leaving the United National Antiwar Conference,
where 700 met in Albany NY to plan actions against the occupations, we learned
that the most significant leak of secret documents of the U.S. military's
conduct of an illegitimate occupation since Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon
Papers was published today on wikileaks.org.  

The files, which were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times and
the German weekly Der Spiegel, give a blow-by-blow account of the US occupation
of Afghanistan over the last six years, which has so far taken the lives of 320
British and more than 1,000 US troops, and uncounted numbers of Afghans.
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/afghanistan-the-war-logs
   http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/war-logs.html
   http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708314,00.html

Julian Assange of WikiLeaks.org said today, "We have released 91,000 reports
about Afghanistan from the US military. It covers 2004-2010 in minute detail.
They cover all US military operations, with the exclusion of some Special
Forces operations and the CIA. It covers each civilian kill, each military
kill, when and where it happened. It is the most comprehensive history of a war
ever to be published during the course of the war." (Channel4.com)

The files reveal that hundreds of civilians have been killed, that "execution
squads" roam the country looking for leaders to "kill or capture," among other
details about the difficulty the US is having in stabilizing the country under
the Karzai regime. 

Just one of the incidents:  
"Patrolling on foot, a Kentucky-based squad from 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry
Regiment, known as "Red Currahee", decided to flag down the approaching bus, so
their patrol could cross the road. Before sunrise, a soldier stepped out on to
Afghanistan's main highway and raised both hands in the air.

"When the bus failed to slow - travelers are often wary of being flagged down
in Afghanistan's bandit lands - a trooper raked it with machine-gun fire. They
killed four passengers and wounded 11 others."  Afghanistan war logs: Secret
CIA paramilitaries' role in civilian deaths.

>From the Guardian UK:  "A huge cache of secret US military files today provides
a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how
coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents,
Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and
Iran are fuelling the insurgency."
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/afghanistan-the-war-logs

These revelations must not be allowed to be swept under the rug.
See wikileaks.org for more.
Watch the interview with Julian Assange:
    http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/secret+files+wikileaks+exposes+aposunseen+afghan+warapos/3723387

More from the Peace Conference:

Last night, World Can't Wait showed Collateral Murder,
    http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/6270-response-to-wikileaks-shows-the-whole-war-is-illegitimate-
the footage of U.S.  Apache helicopter crews killing 12 Iraqi 
ivilians in 2007.  A third of the 125 antiwar activists were
already in tears when Ethan McCord, who had been a
member of Bravo Company 2-16 Infantry, narrated the story.

Watch Ethan McCord speaking July 25:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ihPGtcHjNk
McCord rescued the two children shot in the Wikileaks
"Collateral Murder" video, and recounts the effect this experience
had on him: "My humanity and love for the human race was overcoming
everything [the military] taught me."  Ethan and Josh Stieber published a
letter of reconciliation and apology to the Iraqi people, which you can sign here:
    http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5966/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2724

In the video below, Elaine Brower urges support for Bradley Manning, charged by
the Army with leaking the 2007 footage, and Ethan talks more about what it
takes to oppose your own military:
    http://www.youtube.com/user/mediasanctuary#p/u/5/ZZotRFGVpbY

Tonight we sent big props and love to Ethan, Brad Manning, Julian Assange and
to the unknown leakers of the Afghan War Crimes records!

WHAT YOU Can Do NOW!

Get onto talk radio and into the letters to the editor page wherever you can,
exposing the nature of the unjust occupation of Afghanistan.  

Forward this message, asking people to read the revelations, and watch these videos.

Order a copy of Collateral Murder, with Ethan's narrative, to show to others.
(Write to debrasweet at worldcantwait.net, with
"I would like a copy of the Collateral Murder DVD" in the subject line.)


This Week - Don't Forget!!

Protest Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law - Set to Go into Effect July 29
   http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/6535-protest-arizonas-anti-immigrant-law-set-to-go-into-effect-july-29

Protest Friday July 30 - 100 Days of Gulf Oil Disaster
   http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/6534-protest-friday-july-30-100-days-of-gulf-oil-disaster


Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can't Wait
P.S. SHARE this newsletter!


World Can't Wait - info at worldcantwait.org - 866.973.4463 - 305 West Broadway #185, NY, NY 10013

Send checks or money orders, payable to "World Can't Wait":
World Can't Wait
305 W. Broadway #185
New York, NY 10013

For sponsorship level donations, or if you wish to make stock donations please
contact our development director Samantha Goldman samantha at worldcantwait.org,
347-581-2677.

To make a tax-deductible donation of $100 or more in support of WCW's
educational activities, please make checks out to "The Alliance for Global
Justice," a 501(3)(c) organization, and designate "for WCW" in the check memo line.