Vicki Nikolaidis Leaves Asnycnow

Asnycnow Europe Affairs Editor Vicki Nikolaidis , who also fronts the Asnycnow Radio 1 sunday afternoon program ”The Conversation w/ Vicki Nikolaidis” and has served as an Editor to the  ”Environment” Page has left Asnycnow Network for a ne w job in her hometown in  Greece.

Vicki joined Asnycnow in 2009 as part of a restructure of Asnycnow Radio and hosted the second hour of the  Asnycnow Radio 1 Show ”The World Today” until the second hour of ”TWT” became ”The Interview” which was renamed ”The Conversation” in April 2010. ”The Conversation” will be on hiatus until Further Notice.

Vicki who was also the European Affairs Editor for Asnycnow Network , was scheduled to Host the May 2nd Edition of ”The Conversation”  and to Front a new program based on the Environment Column, has accepted a new job offer and notified me via Email :

“Hi Andy, So happy to have had the opportunity to work with you on Asnycnow Radio! I’ve accepted a job that will require a lot of work. I’m fortunate given the state of the economy in Greece so couldn’t turn it down. You and I had so many laughs! Remember when Shelley was on the show? You had us in stitches. But also you bring up lots of interesting, serious subjects – that reminds me our talk with Raul, which was nice, too. So I have to move on to new projects. Thanks, Boss man, for my internship, I learned a lot. Best wishes for your continued success in the world of Internet Radio! your friend, Vicki”

on behalf of Asnycnow Network, we wish Vicki the best in her future Endeavors!!!

The Unravelling: Eggs, String, & Climate Change

April 20, 2010 — Here is a short film that encapsulates the urgency of climate change in a different and compelling way.

Written, Edited and Produced by: Michelle Pokorny, Alicia Benz, and Andrew Jaz

Music by: Andrew Jaz and Brittany Benz

Secret Prison Revelations may Hurt al-Maliki’s bid for Reelection

from Informed Consent by Juan Cole

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Juan

The announcement of the discovery of a secret prison in Baghdad where Sunni Arabs suspected of involvement in guerrilla activities were held and sometimes tortured may have an effect on the shape of the next Iraqi government. Over 400 Sunnis were held at the facility. The revelation starts one thinking about the true character of Iraq’s ‘democracy.’

The London Daily ash-Sharq al-Awsat points out that the prison was administered by the ‘military office’ of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is presently attempting to form a government so as to enjoy a second term as the Iraqi head of state.

Baha al-A’raji, a Sadrist spokesman, confirmed that the movement has decided that not only will it reject the candidacy for prime minister of Nuri al-Maliki, but they do not want a prime minister from the Islamic Mission (Da’wa) Party at all.

The prison torture revelations may make it more difficult for al-Maliki to form an alliance with another potential partner, the Iraqi National List. That list had strong Sunni support. And, supporters of the Iraqiya list are already upset the recount of ballots in Baghdad province, which they fear al-Maliki will manipulate to his advantage.

One possibility is that the Shiite religious coalition will split, with a majority following Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. That division would allow al-Maliki to ally with the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, headed by cleric Ammar al-Hakim. If the two of them could do a deal with the Kurdistan Alliance, they could form a government.

But the price of going for broke with another Shiite-Kurdish alliance is that it would be unacceptable to the Sunni Arabs. The Iraqi National List of Allawi is already threatening to boycott any such government and to instead sit in the opposition and to refuse to join in a government of national unity.

http://www.juancole.com/

Blackwater Officials Indicted for Weapons Violations

By Jeremy Scahill April 19, 2010

From the first days of the launch of the so-called “war on terror,” Blackwater has been at the epicenter of some of the most secretive operations conducted by US forces globally. It has worked on government assassination programs and drone bombings, operated covertly in Pakistan for both the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command, assisted secret raids inside of Syria, trained foreign militaries and continues to bodyguard senior US officials in Afghanistan. The company also has a bloody track record of killing civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many seasoned observers believe that the extent of the dark acts committed by Blackwater have yet to come to light.While Congressional committees, the IRS, the FBI and lawyers representing foreign victims of the company have fought for years to hold Blackwater and its forces accountable for their alleged crimes, the company has proved to be Teflon. Not a single case against the company has resulted in any significant action. Following last December’s dismissal of the high-profile criminal case against the Blackwater operatives allegedly responsible for the 2007 Nisour Square shootings that left seventeen Iraqis dead and more than twenty others wounded, federal prosecutors have now launched another salvo.

Last week, the Justice Department announced that a federal grand jury had returned a fifteen-count indictment against five current and former Blackwater officials, charging them with conspiracy to violate a series of federal gun laws, obstruction of justice and making false statements to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Among those indicted were Blackwater owner Erik Prince’s longtime right-hand man, former company president Gary Jackson, Blackwater’s former legal counsel Andrew Howell and two former company vice presidents. Given Blackwater’s track record and the severity of other allegations against the company–including killing unarmed civilians–if the charges in this case stick, it would be somewhat akin to Al Capone going down for tax evasion. The one major difference being, the number-one man at Blackwater, Erik Prince, is evading prosecution and jail. Prince, who remains the Blackwater empire’s sole owner, was not indicted.

The weapons charges stem from Blackwater’s purchase of 227 “short barrels” for use with the company’s government-issued M4 rifles in Iraq and Afghanistan, a violation of State Department weapons guidelines for contractors. Former Blackwater employees have alleged in sworn affidavits that Prince had used his personal planes to smuggle banned weapons into Iraq, sometimes wrapping them in large shipments of dog food for the company’s K-9 teams in Iraq. Prince, however, is not named in the indictment.

The indictment also charges that the Blackwater officials “arranged straw purchases” of Romanian AK-47s and fully automatic M-4 rifles for use inside the United States. According to the indictment, the local sheriff’s department in Blackwater’s home base of Moyock, North Carolina, provided Blackwater with blank stationery that “was used to prepare letters claiming the sheriff’s office wanted” the weapons. “The weapons were paid for by Blackwater, were immediately delivered to Blackwater upon their arrival, and were locked in Blackwater’s armory to which the sheriff’s office had no direct access,” according to federal prosecutors.

In March 2009, the ATF informed Blackwater that it would be coming to the company’s compound for an inspection of the armory of Blackwater subsidiary XPG. Former Blackwater officials told The Nation that XPG was created in part as a successor to Blackwater SELECT and Blackwater PTC, the divisions of the company that did sensitive covert work for the CIA and JSOC.

When Blackwater was informed of the impending ATF investigation, according to the Justice Department:

Allegedly, [Blackwater lawyer Andrew] Howell did not want any more SBRs [Short Barrel Rifles] to be found and told a subordinate that disclosing the SBRs was “not an option.” He and [Blackwater vice president Ana] Bundy subsequently ordered the short-barreled guns in XPG’s armory to be moved to Blackwater’s armory where the barrels could be switched out. Only the long-barreled guns were returned to XPG. Howell then prepared a letter for the company president’s signature and attached it to an e-mail. The letter was intended to be back-dated and would have given a false impression that the President had ordered the alteration of the guns–which had already been accomplished by direction of Howell and Bundy.

The Justice Department also alleges that Blackwater officials, in an attempt to win a lucrative contract with the Kingdom of Jordan, presented several guns as gifts to Jordanian officials who came to tour Blackwater’s private military base in North Carolina. According to the indictment, “the officials were presented with one M4, three Glocks, and a Remington shotgun. Each was inscribed with the Blackwater logo and presented in a case. Subsequently, the company realized it could not account for the guns in its required records.” Blackwater president Gary Jackson, prosecutors allege, “then organized the false completion” of federal documents that “were designed to give the appearance that employees had bought the guns for their own use.”

Until recently, Blackwater had a partnership with Sig Sauer to manufacture a Blackwater-brand 9 millimeter pistol. For years the company has done a multimillion-dollar business with Jordan, training the company’s special-forces helicopter pilots and advising the kingdom on intelligence matters. Blackwater also has a headquarters in Jordan. Last year the New York Times reported that Gary Jackson was involved in a scheme to bribe Iraqi officials to stay quiet on the company’s alleged massacre of seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in September 2007 and to allow Blackwater to continue operating in the country despite the public outrage in Iraq. That alleged plot, according to the Times, involved the transfer of $1 million into Jordan for ultimate use in Iraq.

Each of the charges against the Blackwater officials potentially carries a penalty of three to twenty years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Lawyers for the accused have said their clients are not guilty of the charges and will fight them. There are two other pending criminal cases against Blackwater. Prosecutors have apealed the dismissal of the Nisour Square case, and two Blackwater operatives have been indicted on charges they killed innocent Afghan civilians. In a recent interview, Prince estimated his monthly legal bills to be between $2-3 million.

Meanwhile, as Blackwater officials face another round of attempted criminal prosecutions, the company continues to fight off the remaining civil lawsuits stemming from the Nisour Square shooting. Last year Blackwater settled with most of the victims, reportedly for a total of $5 million. The only remaining suit against the company over Nisour Square was brought by a small group of Iraqis, most prominent among them Mohammed Kinani, the father of the youngest known victim of the shooting. His 9-year-old son, Ali, was shot in the head that day and died shortly after from his injuries. Kinani originally sued Blackwater in state court in North Carolina, but last week a federal judge sided with Blackwater and took control over the case. That judge, Terrence Boyle, was a former legislative aide to the late Republican Senator Jesse Helms, who urged President Ronald Reagan to appoint Boyle, which Reagan did. For more than a decade, Democrats blocked Boyle’s nomination to the appelate court, characterizing him as an ultraconservative who opposed civil rights and was often over-ruled on appeal. It is hard to imagine a better judge for Blackwater to draw in this case.

As it has done in other cases, Blackwater has asked the Obama Justice Department to intervene in Kinani’s case and to make the US government–not Blackwater and the individual shooters in the case–the defendant. Legal experts have told The Nation that if the Justice Department did that, the case would be dead in the water. The Justice Department has not responded to Blackwater’s request. Blackwater, however, is not wasting any time seeking out alternatives.

On April 7, lawyers for the six alleged shooters and Blackwater asked Judge Boyle to replace Blackwater and the shooters with the “United States” in the case, citing the Westfall Act, which was passed in 1988 “to protect federal employees from personal liability for common law torts committed within the scope of their employment, while providing persons injured by the common law torts of federal employees with an appropriate remedy against the United States.” If Boyle were to do this, the case would likely be immediately dismissed.

In its filing, Blackwater’s lawyers argued that the actions taken by the alleged Blackwater shooters at Nisour Square “indisputably fall within the scope” of their State Department employment. But Kinani’s lawyers and federal prosecutors have alleged that the men disobeyed orders from their superiors not to proceed to Nisour Square that day, leading to the shooting. One of the Blackwater guards, Jeremy Ridgeway, pled guilty to killing an unarmed Iraqi in the square. In his sworn proffer that accompanied his guilty plea, Ridgeway admitted that he and the other five accused shooters “opened fire with automatic weapons and grenade launchers on unarmed civilians…killing at least fourteen people” and wounding at least twenty others. “None of these victims was an insurgent, and many were shot while inside of civilian vehicles that were attempting to flee” the Blackwater forces, the proffer stated. Ridgeway also admitted that his team had “not been authorized” to leave the Green Zone and that after they departed, they “had been specifically ordered” by US Embassy officials to return. “In contravention of that order,” they proceeded to Nisour Square, according to Ridgeway.

The Justice Department could intervene in the Kinani case at any point and produce evidence showing that Blackwater does not equal the US government and therefore should not be allowed to shift the burden of responsibility for the shooting onto the US government. To date, that has not happened, and it is currently a decision for one man: Judge Terrence Boyle.

bout Jeremy Scahill

Jeremy Scahill, a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, is the author of the bestselling Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, published by Nation Books. He is an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!

http://rebelreports.com/

Kucinich: White House Assassination Policy Is Extrajudicial

by Jeremy Scahill    April 15, 2010

There has been almost universal silence among Congressional Democrats on the Obama administration’s recently revealed decision to authorize the assassination of a US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen, has been accused of providing inspiration for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the alleged “underwear bomber,” and Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged Fort Hood shooter. In recent weeks, there has been a dramatic surge in US government chatter about the alleged threat posed by al-Awlaki, with anonymous US officials accusing him of directly participating in terror “plots” (his family passionately disputes this).Several Democrats refused, through spokespeople, to comment on the assassination plan when contacted by The Nation, including Senator Russ Feingold and Representative Jan Schakowsky, both of whom serve on the Intelligence Committees. Representative Jane Harman, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee, said recently that Awlaki is “probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us.”

Kucinich told The Nation he has sent several letters to the Obama administration raising questions about the potential unconstitutionality of the policy, as well as possible violations of international law, but has received no response. “With all the smart people that are in that administration, they’ve got to know the risks that they’re taking here with violations of law,” he says.

Targeted killings are not a new Obama administration policy. Beginning three days after his swearing in, President Obama has authorized scores of lethal drone strikes, including against specific individuals, in Pakistan and Afghanistan, surpassing the Bush era numbers. The elite Joint Special Operations Command maintains a list of individuals, including US citizens, which it is authorized to assassinate. In January, Dana Priest reported in the Washington Post that the CIA had US citizens on an assassination list, but the Post later ran a correction stating that only JSOC had “a target list that includes several Americans.” The policy of the CIA targeting al-Awlaki, a US citizen, for assassination, therefore, appeared to be a new development, at least in terms of public awareness of approved government assassinations.

“In the real world, things don’t work out quite so neatly as they seem to in the heads of the CIA,” says Kucinich. “There’s always the possibility of blowback, which could endanger high-ranking US officials. There’s the inevitable licensing of rogue groups that comes about from policies that are not strictly controlled and that get sloppy–so you have zero accountability. And that’s not even to get into an over-arching issue of the morality of assassination policies, which are extra-constitutional, extra-judicial. It’s very dangerous from every possible perspective.”

He added: “The assassination policies vitiate the presumption of innocence and the government then becomes the investigator, policeman, prosecutor, judge, jury, executioner all in one. That raises the greatest questions with respect to our constitution and our democratic way of life.”

Kucinich says the case of al-Awlaki is an attempt to make “a short-cut around the Constitution,” saying, “Short-cuts often belie the deep and underlying questions around which nations rise and fall. We are really putting our nation in jeopardy by pursuing this kind of policy.”

http://rebelreports.com/

Guard Members Remember Oklahoma City Bombing

Master Sgt. Mike Smith, National Guard Bureau
2010-04-20

ARLINGTON, Va.– 04.19.2010 Some describe April 19 as “the day the world began to look at terrorism differently.”

Hundreds of Oklahoma National Guard members will remember today’s date by how they responded 15 years ago to a homeland disaster, unexpectedly, and on a scale never before seen.

At 9:02 a.m., April 19, 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was the target of a bombing called “the most significant act of domestic terrorism on American soil.”

A rental truck filled with explosives parked in front of the building exploded, destroying the north side of the building and killing 168, including 19 children. At least 850 more were injured.

Today, Oklahomans, federal officials, domestic responders, family members, Guardmembers and others will gather at the grounds of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum to remember as they have each year since the tragedy.

“There were just a lot of people affected by the tragedy, affected even today,” said Army Maj. Gen. Myles L. Deering, the adjutant general of Oklahoma, in a recent telephone interview.

“If you go to one of the ceremonies, you still get a knot in your throat,” he said. “It is still heavy on their minds to what happened that day. You take the people who were tragically killed … and look at the chain or the string that each of those people has with other people’s lives, it’s just amazing how many people, either directly or indirectly, knew somebody who suffered a fate during that day.”

On that morning, and almost immediately, the Oklahoma Guard responded to requests for military assistance. From then on, it was involved in every phase of the operation, Guard officials said.

At least 731 Oklahoma Guard members, including 624 Citizen-Soldiers and 107 Citizen-Airmen, assisted civilian and government response agencies in the hours and days following the bombing.

“In a sense, that was the Guard’s first exposure to a terrorist event,” said Deering. “It woke us in terms of our response [which] has to be in coordination and in concert with those civilian authorities who are in charge of the event that we are in support of, and how we can augment, how we can bring resources to the table to assist them in their jobs.”

At the time, Deering was working as the executive officer for the Oklahoma Guard’s 45th Infantry Brigade and as its full-time officer-in-charge.

“I was in a meeting in my office with another Soldier … the plate glass window right behind me nearly came out of its seams,” he said.

He was 12 miles away.

Army Brig. Gen. Robbie L. Asher, Oklahoma’s director of the Joint Staff, said he took the initial call for Guard assistance when a firefighter called their Command Group at the Oklahoma Guard headquarters, pleading for help.

“He was very excited, saying, ‘Sir, we need help, we need help down here,’” said Asher.

Newly elected Gov. Frank Keating quickly activated the Guard to support the incident commander: Oklahoma City Fire Chief, Gary Marrs.

At the scene, some 100 Guardmembers immediately helped the search for survivors. They set up an emergency operations center and reported to the state’s civil emergency management agency.

Army aviators and medical personnel stood ready with lifesaving care and medevac. Others assisted police with site security and cleared debris from the scene.

Asher said he has a better appreciation today for how the Guard supported emergency responders from the multiple agencies across the state and the nation who worked the mission.

In the recovery operations, Guardmembers helped maintain the security perimeter, brought in equipment and airlifted supplies and donations.

Still other Guardmembers helped the state medical examiner transport and identify the dead. Casualty notification officers contacted next-of-kin, and Guard chaplains assisted families.

In the criminal investigation, Airmen flew reconnaissance missions to photograph the disaster site, and Soldiers even transported the arrested bombing suspect on a military helicopter.

East of the city, Soldiers crawled on their hands and knees to help the FBI comb through more than 120 dump-truck loads of debris for evidence and additional human remains.

“That was one of the more challenging jobs that I think any of our Soldiers had to do,” said Asher.

Those not on duty volunteered long days with the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. They did anything asked of them, officials said at the time.

Asher said it’s important to remind the nation about what happened. The Oklahoma Guard uses what it learned about multi-agency response in its current operations, including last winter’s joint ice storm response, he said.

“The state of Oklahoma came together with the nation’s support and grew from this,” said Asher. “It showed the world that we are resilient, and when you deal with Americans, we are going to come together.”

For Asher and other Oklahoma Guardsmen, their capital city serves as their vigilant reminder.

“When you drive down through Oklahoma City, and you see the memorial, it’s one of those things that always cause reflection,” said Asher.

http://www.emilitary.org/article.php?aid=15268

The Arab Muslim Slave Trade Of Africans, The Untold Story

“If we wish to end slavery and human trafficking. Its time we stand up and allow no more exemptions glorify no slave masters nor laws which promote or condone slavery! We must stand united in saying slavery was is and will always be wrong even in the name of Allah !”

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=79795444548

Muslim Arabs hunted, enslaved, tortured and killed ethnic Africans for a millennium. Middle Eastern Muslim Arabs have a history of over 1400 years of human slavery, which even continues today in the Middle East. …Muslim Arabs hunted, enslaved, tortured and killed ethnic Africans for a millennium. Middle Eastern Muslim Arabs have a history of over 1400 years of human slavery, which even continues today in the Middle East. Arab Muslims controlled, maintained, initiated slavery of ethnic Africans. Islams Arab prophet Muhammad himself brought, kept and sold African slaves.

Let’s Put an End to Human Trafficking ~ Sex trafficking charges released today ~ Win Prize for your Activism

Let’s Put an End to Human Trafficking

Michael Demidenko (Join at Facebook)

Participate and enter to win $200

First, the prize,

after the initial window for participation is over and a number of [at least] 800 participants is reached (1,700 members, so 800 should be possible?), you’ll have *three chances* to win a prize of a $200 value (You can pick one we order for you, or receive a $200 giftcard of your choice or a money order in your name – I’ll work with you).
The winners will be chosen at random, so each participant will have an equal shot at a prize.

To Enter -
Please send an email to: PendingFreedom@live.com
The Subject: Enter
Provide your name and state that you’d like to participate.

Once and if we reach 800 participants, you’ll receive a reply to that email with the instructions of what you’ll need to do to participate – which would take no longer than a minute or two of your time. Your participation will only involve this network and the purpose will be only to raise awareness for the issue at hand.

We’ve not yet attempted this before, so we’ll see how it goes.
Again, details will be released only when a number of 800 people is reached. The prize will serve as a thank you for your participation.

Best Regards,

Michael

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=79795444548

//

Sex trafficking charges in Gambino case

U.S. attorney announces 13 arrests, one person on the run

	Federal agents escort Suzanne Porcelli, a reputed member of the Gambino organized crime family, from New York City’s Federal Plaza on Tuesday //
Jin Lee / AP

April 20, 2010  NEW YORK – A reputed boss of the Gambino organized crime family and 13 other people were charged on Tuesday with an array of crimes, including what prosecutors called new territory for the mob: sex trafficking of a minor.

Papers filed in federal court in Manhattan allege that Gambino soldiers and associates recruited prostitutes at strip clubs, including a 15-year-old, and advertised their services online.

Twelve of the 14 were arrested early Tuesday, one was arrested last week and another is on the run, the Justice Department said. One of those charged, Suzanne Porcelli, is a woman.

“Prosecutors said the mobsters drove the prostitutes to appointments in Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn and New Jersey, splitting their earnings with them. The defendants also “made the young women available for sex to the players at the regular high-stakes poker games” hosted by the family, the court papers said.

At a news conference, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the sex trafficking ring both a “new low” and an apparent “first for the mob.”

An indictment also charged Daniel Marino, an alleged member of the Gambino ruling panel, with ordering a hit from prison on his own nephew because the nephew was cooperating with the FBI. Gunmen lured the victim, Frank Hyell, to a Staten Island nightspot in 1998, where they shot him three times in the face and back.

Marino, 69, was charged in a second murder of a gangland rival in 1989, extorting construction firms and running an illegal gambling operation. The income “sustained Marino’s own lavish lifestyle,” the court papers said.

The case marked the latest in a series indictments and prosecutions that have crippled the Gambino family since notorious boss John Gotti, the so-called Dapper Don, was sentenced to life in prison in 1992. He died in 2002.

Federal authorities said Tuesday that though the Gambinos now maintain a lower profile, they still are 200 strong and are always exploring new ways to stay in business.

“It’s still about making money,” said George Venizelos, head of the New York FBI office.

Marino was detained after pleading not guilty on Tuesday. Afterward, his lawyer, Charles Carnesi, said his client had just been released Monday from a New York hospital, where he had been since Friday.

“It could be heart-related, stroke-related,” Carnesi said. Otherwise, the lawyer added, “He’s in remarkably good health.”

The charges included racketeering, murder, sex trafficking, sex trafficking of a minor, jury tampering, extortion, assault, narcotics trafficking, wire fraud, loansharking and illegal gambling.

The extortion victims were beaten, sometimes with baseball bats, the U.S. Attorney’s office added. “The defendants targeted businesses in the home heating oil industry and the financial services industry, as well as various individuals in and around New York City.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36670145

¡Presente! ~ Graphic History of the Honduran Coup ~ Written by Dan Archer

¡Presente!

Graphic History of the Honduran Coup

Written by Dan Archer

In the final part of this graphic history of the Honduran coup, originally published on Alternet amd followed up on HuffPost. on piecing together the evidence of the repression that went mostly undocumented in the wake of the Nov 29th Honduran elections. Despite the media’s portrayal of a democratic transition to Porfirio Lobo’s inauguration as president, the de facto government’s use of violence and threats against resistance members should stand as an ominous augury, especially given its clear links to Lobo and his cabinet. Most troubling of all is the United States’ involvement under the banner of promoting ‘democracy,’ a term that is being increasingly used as a pretext for supporting a regime whose sympathies correspond to the American agenda (be it CAFTA or alarmist left-wing conspiracies), regardless of popular feeling or their worrying record of human rights abuses. http://www.soaw.org/presente/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=272&Itemid=74 To read more of Dan Archer’s comics journalism visit Archcomix.

About the School of the Americas / Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation ~ Spring Event Report

For more photos of the street theater action and for ideas on how to replicate it in your community, click here.

Spring Event Report

by Cassandra Morgan, SOA Watch

SOA Watch held its annual Spring Event in Washington, DC from April 17-19, 2010. The weekend was full of great events including an anti-oppression workshop, discussions about torture, immigration, as well as a panel discussion about the recent U.S.-Colombia bases agreement. We started Saturday night with a social gathering where SOA Watch activists were able to meet and talk about the events for the weekend.

Sunday morning started with a great workshop discussing anti-oppression in US foreign policy and within our own movement to close the SOA. Cathy Woodson of the Virginia Organizing Project lead participants in a variety of activities exploring ways to stop the cycle of oppression and how to address it while continuing to move forward with our movement. We continued the day with a self evaluation of the movement’s work, addressing strengths, weaknesses, and suggestions for change. We will be sure to follow up with you all about the these suggestions. Later, we were joined by Reverend Richard Killmer and Orlando Tizon who discussed torture and why it is so important to hold our government accountable to make sure that torture is stopped.

The afternoon continued with a discussion of the connections between immigration and the SOA with Sarahi Uribe of the US Social Forum, where we also discussed recently proposed legislation by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, SB 1070, which would encourage police to engage in racial profiling and criminalize undocumented migrants for entering into Arizona. The day ended with a great panel discussion on the Colombia bases with Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy, Livia Suarez of the Venezuelan Embassy, and John Lindsay Poland of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), and what this new agreement between the US and Colombia means for future relations.

Our lobby day on Monday, April 19 started off with some great street theater at the top of the steps exiting the Capital South metro station. Others lined the street leading to the representatives’ offices handing out flyers about the SOA to staffers on their way to work. People were able to use the skills from Saturday’s lobby training, led by SOA Watch Legislative Coordinator Pam Bowman, and stopped in to various offices and talk about our bill H.R.2567, the bill that would suspend operations at WHINSEC while conducting an investigation into the torture manuals and the human rights abuses, and assessing the military training in Latin America. We asked our representatives to support their constituents by cosponsoring H.R. 2567.

The weekend reaffirmed our beliefs in the fight to close the SOA/WHINSEC and why we are fighting so hard to do so. We hope that you feel our passion and drive and that you continue with us on this journey.

from http://www.soaw.org/