[Peace] [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

[C. G. Estabrook]

Who'll come on "AWARE on the Air" to talk about any of this?

We record at 1pm in the Urbana City Council Chambers.  No rehearsal.

All welcome...


On 7/26/10 1:32 PM, Stuart Levy wrote:
> 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
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