Want for an End to War

The USA has a new President. Obama's victory over McCain signals a mandate for change - for deep and substantial change - a mandate to end war. We are very much experiencing a different America; the new President does not refer to other nations as components in an "axis of evil," but he instead pushes for dialogue between nations.

Do you want an end to war. Can you imagine another world? What might it look and feel like?

I want an end to war. I can imagine another world. Among other aspects, it's a world without the fear that is created by violence between humans.

How can we make the possibility of another world into the reality of another world? How can we best effect change in the direction of a world where human beings do not hurt each other?

Talk about it.

"I" The Impeachment of George W. Bush

John Yoo is questioned by Prosecutor Walter Jones as Chief Justice John Robert presides, in "I" the Impeachment of George W. Bush, a play by Richard Lasser and Bruce Fein.

This photo was taken during a studio (film) production of the play that is scheduled to air sometime on community access television. I played the role of Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA bin Laden unite, who was a witness for the prosecution. He was interrogated primarily about the extraordinary rendition program.

I will be adding more photos to a set on Flickr.
[June 29, 2008, here it is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwhitlock/sets/72157605768293983//June 29, 2008]

Jail to the Chief

Upon suspicion of serious crimes, like murder or robbing a bank, suspects - in the USA - are customarily sought for apprehension and (when apprehended) confined until a trial can be convened so that they can either be proven guilty, or declared innocent, based on evidence presented in a court of law.

Why the case is different when an acting President of the USA is suspected of grievously breaking the most serious laws that govern our nation, and indeed the world, is very frustrating.

Upon suspicion of breaking the nation's highest laws in a most heinous and grievous manner; on suspicion of committing the most serious criminal offenses possible, namely aggression (a war crime with all of its consequential violence, death and destruction): this is a call to Jail the Chief!


photo © Robin Dude All Rights Reserved.

Washington State Impeachment Hearing SJM 8016 2007 - 2008

[for more information about impeachment in WA State, please see Washington for Impeachment]

Senator Eric Oemig has introduced a memorial bill that calls on the US Congress to initiate investigation into alleged impeachable offenses committed by President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Tomorrow there will be a hearing on the Memorial in the Washington State Senate Committee on Government Operations & Elections. This is from the Washington State Legislature:

go to original [link to official information about SJM 8016]
Requesting an impeachment investigation into actions by President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Here's video of Rep. Wexler discussing impeachment on the floor of the House:


Tomorrow's (Thursday, January 17th, 2008) hearing will be in the Cherberg Building (Capitol Campus, Olympia, Washington) at 3:30 PM.

Saudi Blogger Arrested

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...Fouad al-Farhan is Saudi Arabia’s most popular blogger and last month he was arrested. His case has been taken up by over 200 Saudi bloggers. The Independent newspaper in the UK believes attempts by the Saudi authorities to intimidate their online critics is in fact had the reverse effect, and says ‘it will be fascinating to see where this online insurrection ends’. ...

and from the Independent:

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Blogger who dared to expose Saudi corruption is arrested
By Claire Soares
Published: 03 January 2008
Fouad al-Farhan knew they were coming for him. A few days before Saudi security forces swooped on his offices, he sent a letter to friends telling them he was a wanted man. "They will pick me up any time in the next two weeks," he predicted.

His crime? Writing one of the most widely read blogs in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Farhan, 32, who describes his online mission as "searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, public participation and other lost Islamic values", had already broken ground by refusing to hide behind a pen-name as he vented his spleen about the rampant corruption blighting political life. Now he has clocked up another first – the first blogger to be arrested in the kingdom.

The blogger was picked up on 10 December from the offices of his computer company in Jeddah, but it was not until this week that the interior ministry finally confirmed his arrest.

...

Mr Farhan said he had been asked to issue an apology. "I'm not sure if I'm ready to do that," he said. "An apology for what? Apologising because I said the government is [a] liar when it accused those guys of supporting terrorism?" [emphasis mine]

...

It is interesting to note that the President of the USA, Mr. George W. Bush just made (January 2008) a $20 billion weapons deal with the Government of Saudi Arabia...

Dear President Bush, is this what you mean by promoting Democracy? It seems that the freedom to which you aspire is just the freedom to amass weapons. I am discouraged by your example.

Support Our Troops?

It's frustrating to hear people say how they support our troops, while at the same time supporting the Bush Administration, President Bush et al., and the 'wars' in Iraq, Afghanistan and 'against terror.'

Prominent members from within the Bush Administration, and associated interests, have led this nation into aggressive military conflicts. The 'wars' are based on lies. The 'wars' are exacerbating anti-American sentiment. Our troops are being sacrificed, not to defend our freedom or to provide for our security, but instead to protect the interests of, and to support the expansion of, Western Corporations and Corporatist Governments (e.g. the US Gov't under Bush and to be fair, Clinton before him.)

From Mr. Fish:

George W. Bush Mural

by Christine Holtz

Top Planners Expect Troop 'Surge' to Fail

This article appears in Salon.com - please take a look at it.

The Pentagon's not-so-little secret

As the president and Republicans continue to hype the surge -- and stifle debate about it -- Bush's own war planners are preparing for failure in Iraq.

By Sidney Blumenthal

Feb. 8, 2007 | Deep within the bowels of the Pentagon, policy planners are conducting secret meetings to discuss what to do in the worst-case scenario in Iraq about a year from today if and when President Bush's escalation of more than 20,000 troops fails, a participant in those discussions told me. None of those who are taking part in these exercises, shielded from the public view and the immediate scrutiny of the White House, believes that the so-called surge will succeed. On the contrary, everyone thinks it will not only fail to achieve its aims but also accelerate instability by providing a glaring example of U.S. incapacity and incompetence.

The profoundly pessimistic thinking that permeates the senior military and the intelligence community, however, is forbidden in the sanitized atmosphere of mind-cure boosterism that surrounds Bush. "He's tried this two times -- it's failed twice," Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said on Jan. 24 about the "surge" tactic. "I asked him at the White House, 'Mr. President, why do you think this time it's going to work?' And he said, 'Because I told them it had to.'" She repeated his words: "'I told them that they had to.' That was the end of it. That's the way it is."

On Feb. 2, the National Intelligence Council, representing all intelligence agencies, issued a new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, as harsh an antidote to wishful thinking as could be imagined. "The Intelligence Community judges that the term 'civil war' does not adequately capture the complexity of the conflict in Iraq, which includes extensive Shia-on-Shia violence, al-Qaida and Sunni insurgent attacks on Coalition forces, and widespread criminally motivated violence. Nonetheless, the term 'civil war' accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict, including the hardening of ethno-sectarian identities, a sea change in the character of the violence, ethno-sectarian mobilization, and population displacements."
...

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