If you were to be framed as a mythological character, would you be Cassandra or Sisyphus? What a choice! A woman with a clear vision of the future and no credibility , no one to believe her, or the over-achiever in Hell, condemned to push the huge stone up the hill, only to have it roll back to the bottom, every time, for eternity.

We, the peace movement, the conscience and vision of our country, knew and said an invasion of Iraq could only make matters worse. It didn’t take prophetic vision or an advanced degree in history or political science. Just a little common sense, an understanding of the difference in patriotism and nationalism, and the ability to resist the primitive charm of aggressive war.

It’s big news now, although it was page six in the Sunday Spokesman Review. U.S. intelligence agencies, not noted for harmony or candor, agree that our precious war in Iraq has made the terrorism problem worse.

One can only hope some of our leaders will see that their support of the Commander-in-Chief and his policy of aggressive war was more than a mistake, it was a catastrophe that can only be mitigated by an about face, an immediate withdrawal and institution of an aggressive policy for peace.

Recent history informs us that a substantive change is unlikely before the situation grows even more desperate. Sen. Maria Cantwell, for instance, has barely modified her hawkish approach even though she would have no political price to pay for demanding an end to torture, and end to the occupation of Iraq, and policy changes toward Iran and Afghanistan.

These so-called intelligence agencies, of course, predicted this kind of mess in 2003, before the invasion of Iraq. And, it seemed clear to you and me that using terrorism to fight terrorism would result in creating more terrorists and enemies of the United States. The Bush Administration had already chosen a course of action, without our appreciation for nonviolent action, of course, and continues to use spin doctors to make the tried-and-failed military option compelling.

The New York Times broke this story with an article on the National Intelligence Estimate, a classified document it calls the “most authoritative document(s) that the intelligence community produces on a specific national security issue.” Officials and outside experts interviewed for the article declined to be identified and avoided details because of the highly classified nature of the report.

Previous drafts spoke of U.S. actions that stimulated the jihad movement, including the appalling, indefinite detentions at Guantanamo Bay and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. Meanwhile, President Bush is defending his affinity for torture and trying to quell a Republican revolt that insists setting aside Geneva Conventions will put U.S. military personnel at risk.

Two months before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a National Intelligence Council report warned that the approaching war could increase support for worldwide political Islam and some terrorist objectives.

At the very least, the peace movement must point out that we have offered constructive solutions to the terrorism crisis for five years without getting the ear of the government, or even the mainstream media.

In 2006, though we may be branded as Cassandra or Sisyphus, we must challenge every office-holder, every candidate, and every statement that attempts to blur the facts showing our war is failing and should fail. As a nonprofit, PJALS may seem outside the electoral arena, but we urge your individual role in every race, from local to national. And don’t neglect the non-partisan opportunities. This could be our best chance, ever, to proclaim that a struggle is only worthy when it opposes violence and protects human rights. - RN

Suzanne Swift is another one of those heroes who could never have foreseen or chosen her role in the anti-war movement. And she’s one of many women who learned the hard way that the U.S. military is still unable to produce gender parity.

PFC Swift, is an Iraq veteran, an army MP from Oregon, who went AWOL rather than return to Iraq and an army unit that showed no interest in protecting her from fellow American soldiers who acted as if any attractive female soldier could only be there for their distraction and sexual amusement.

Suzanne’s mother, Sara Rich, says her daughter suffers not only from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but also from Military Sexual Trauma. She survived her abuse in Iraq and came home, only to learn she would be sent back with the same men who terrorized her and the same officers who ignored her pleas for help. She was arrested and is at Ft. Lewis, detained and awaiting charges.

As we wait to see if she’ll be charged with being a rape victim, or desertion, or drummed out of the army, Suzanne is still being humiliated. At least she can call her mother, now, and here’s one of the responses from Sara Rich: “One time she was sitting in the common area in the barracks. The other soldiers started taking about how much they despised Lt. Watada, the first officer to refuse deployment to Iraq on the grounds that it is an illegal occupation, and the nasty things they wanted to do to him. Suzanne has great respect for Lt. Watada, and listening to this conversation scared her so much she left the room panicked. She called me and I had to talk her down. It is saddening to Suzanne that the new unit, where she thought she was among honorable soldiers, is itself a place filled with men and women who speak with and act with dishonorable intentions.”

Sara Rich grew up with high expectations of the U.S. Army. Her grandfather was a colonel. She says it’s no longer her grandpa’s Army, and she’ll speak to the PJALS rally on October 14, about Suzanne and other women and men she’s learning about who have horror stories of sexual abuse and harassment.

Ft. Lewis, meanwhile, is becoming ever more significant in the lives of military personnel who take a stand against the war in Iraq.

As an officer, Ehren Watada is likely to get the most attention, and his case resonates with our Spokane National Guard trespassing case in its implications of international law. Watada is assigned to Ft. Lewis as he awaits court martial on a silly and redundant list of charges.

Already in the Ft. Lewis stockade is Kevin Benderman, earlier profiled in these pages and serving 15 months for refusing redeploy-ment to Iraq, although he applied for CO status. A ten-year veteran, Benderman was reduced in rank and will be dishonorably discharged when released from jail. His letters can be seen at bendermantimeline.com.

Sgt. Ricky Clousing turned himself in at Ft. Lewis in August after a dramatic news conference at the Veterans for Peace National Convention on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. Clousing, who grew up in western Washington, had been AWOL for over a year to prevent his redeployment to Iraq. He is now at Ft. Bragg, N.C., awaiting court martial for desertion which could lead to a sentence of two years.

Like Watada, Clousing says he is not a conscientious objector but considers the Iraq war to be illegal and immoral. As an army interrogator, he had opportunities to see illegality and immorality on display, including a specific instance in which an Iraqi detainee was kicked to death by U.S. guards. At the news conference, Clousing was backed by his mother and other resisters, most of them members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group that has not only supported tough decisions by troubled military personnel, but re-invigorated Veterans for Peace.

Also at the convention, Watada stole the show from several very fine speakers at the banquet. He had not been a scheduled speaker as his status was up in the air at Ft. Lewis, and his court martial has yet to be convened. Perhaps the most emotional moment of the week came when Ehren, toward the beginning of his remarks, his surprise and gratitude for the kind of support he was finding for his position. As if on cue, every attending member of IVAW rose and went to stand on the platform behind the lieutenant as he took a moment to recover and continued his speech, a speech that resulted in additional charges for his court martial.

It should also be noted that Watada said nothing to upset or disappoint the hundreds of veterans in the hall. He seemed to have the unqualified support of everyone in his audience.

One must hope that Benderman, Camilo Mejia (in attendance at the convention after serving his own 6-month sentence) and other early war resisters will have borne the brunt of the military’s wrath. The wrongness of this war becomes more transparent each day, and PJALS will help enlighten Spokane on this issue by bringing Sara Rich into our community and by continuing to find ways to reveal the alternatives to war that our government has ignored.

A Call for Peace in the Middle East

Here’s the next big peace rally from PJALS, and it comes before the elections. We’ll gather at Franklin Park at 1:00 pm on Saturday, October 14.

Our main speaker will be Sara Rich, the mother of Suzanne Swift. Melanie Luedders will sing. And depending upon the weather and the way you feel about it at the time, we may have a one-mile march, so bring your signs.

The evidence against the war in Iraq continues to grow. The excuses for it continue to weaken, even as terrible casualties mount on both sides, but particularly among Iraqi civilians. It’s time to go public in Spokane, again.

Among American casualties obscured by government and media, are women like Suzanne Swift. Her mother describes how she became an activist one night in June when her daughter was taken to jail:

“… she was strip-searched and orifice-checked. She was denied medical care for an abscessed tooth until the following day. She sat in that cell for two and a half days, a veteran of Iraq combat, terrified that she may be sent back. Outside, supporters of Suzanne's plight lined the sidewalks. The mother bear in me rose up - and I swung into action. I am trying to save my daughter's life.”

Celebrate the publication of local writer Meghan Nutall Sayres' young adult novel, Anahita's Woven Riddle, set in 19th century Iran, on Friday, October 6, at 7:30 pm.

Refusing an arranged marriage, Anahita devises a contest, in which suitors must guess the meaning of the riddle woven into her wedding carpet. Anahita is a symbol of those caught between age-old tribal customs and the beginnings of reforms that would soon change the lives of many women in Iran.

Come and enjoy a "Persian style" evening at the Community Building, 35 W. Main. There will be music, Iranian food, champagne, pomegranate beverages, pistachio cookies and Yazdi cupcakes for the kids, as well as a slide presentation on Iran by Meghan and Shahrokh Nikfar, host of The Persian Hour, door prizes and more.

Meghan and Shahrokh are both PJALS members who contributed much to our summer series, The Essential Iran.

INWE, Inland North West Equality

I think INWE needs more WE, in the form of community input. I’m attending various meetings (and drinking a lot of coffee) with local LBGTQ and allied individuals and organizations to talk about community needs and how INWE can effectively serve. If you have any input, please feel free to call or email me (inwe@pjals.net). I’d love to hear from you.

Creating CHANGE Conference

A statewide LBGTQ organization has been generous enough to offer to pay registration and housing for me to attend the Creating Change Annual Conference, presented by the Nation Gay and Lesbian Task Force. It is the 19th Annual National LGBT conference, November 8-12, in Kansas City, Mo. The list of available workshops is impressive including: Political Education, Marriage, Economic Justice, Anti-Violence, Aids and Youth.

The funds still needed are for airfare (approximately $350) and food. Rusty and Nancy are very supportive of me attending this conference, but at this time, PJALS has no budget for this kind of expenditure. If you are interested in contributing to make this happen, Please contact me or send a donation to PJALS at the address in your newsletter. Please write in the memo section: INWE Conference.

Marriage Equality/Freedom to Marry

The update is....There is no update. I spoke with our local contact in the Same Sex Couple supreme court case, and they have not received an answer. Below is the current information, in case you missed it.

Request for reconsideration. At the end of August, attorneys representing 19 couples for the right to marry under the Washington State Constitution, petitioned the Washington Supreme Court to reconsider its July 2, 2006,

5-4 decision. Their contention is that the court did not state why same-sex couples could not marry, but focused on what is good about different-sex marriage.

There’s no time line for a decision. -CB

Thank You, PJALS Members

Working for a non-profit organization, or serving on a board, one learns to either enjoy or tolerate asking for money.

That doesn’t take the unpleasantness out of sending an emergency appeal when the most beloved of organizations run into a fiscal crisis.

What does take the unpleasantness out of it, is a heart-warming response from the membership. And that has happened for the PJALS steering committee after PJALS came perilously close to running completely out of operating funds.

Staff, at least speaking for myself, can take no credit for this campaign. In fact, I was still operating in the glow of last year’s grant money and keeping an eye on the calendar for the next grant deadline that we hoped to meet.

Therein lies one of the dangers of successful grant applications. These things are great when your request is rewarded, but they don’t last forever, and they can let you take your eye off the bread and butter. And PJALS members will always be the fiscal basis for the existence and operation of PJALS.

Some very nice gifts are still coming in, but, from my perspective, there’s a downside. Almost all the contributions are from our usual champions. We still need to hear from some of you who have let dues slide for a few years or have been waiting until you could give a larger gift. We need you to stay invested in local peace efforts, whether it’s $10 or $1,000.—RN

On the November 7 Ballot

VOTE NO ON I-920!

Vote No on 920 to preserve funding for critical education programs. I-920 would only benefit a handful of the state's multi-millionaires by ending the Washington estate tax, while everyone else – particularly students and middle class families – would lose big. The estate tax only impacts the wealthiest heirs – more than 99.5% of estates are exempt.

I-920 would gut programs that directly benefit thousands of young people, slashing $100 million a year in dedicated funding for education.

It’s about priorities. PJALS has endorsed the No On I-920 Campaign because we believe it is more important to support public education than to allow a few wealthy heirs to avoid paying their fair share. It’s a small one-time payment from very few and it benefits thousands of kids.

NO ON I-933!

Initiative 933 is called a property-rights initiative, but it appears to PJALS to be a very expensive way to accord rights to selected property owners at a very high price to other Washington taxpayers.

Arguments seem to come down to the way waivers and exemptions might or might not be applied, hardly firm ground for risking a cost to the state, counties, and cities estimated by the Office of Financial Management, at almost 10 billion dollars over six years.

YES ON I-937!

If it’s not enough that this initiative will mandate that 15% of the electricity from Washington’s largest utilities will come from new and renewable energy sources by 2020, then one might consider the broad coalition of business, labor, utilities and conservationists that worked to get it on our ballot for November 7. Bill-reducing energy conservation should be a winner for everyone.

Latin America is a core issue for PJALS. It has been as long as I can remember. El Salvador, in particular, turned on a social justice light for me like nothing else, before or since.

For years, SOA Watch has been our primary activity regarding Central and South America, and we simply added to that with speakers that toured with other organizations that we look to for networking and information. Like Witness for Peace which brought Freddy Urbano to Spokane in September.

Colombia, of course, has been festering for a long time. Plan Colombia has become practically an institution although it has been an extravagant way for the U.S. to dodge the real issues and problems in the long civil war in that tormented country that happens to be rich in natural resources.

Having Scott Nicholson bring some speakers, and now his journaling from Colombia to us has been a real gift, although there is only so much we can get in these pages. This month, I really wanted to use two of his pieces and chose the one I thought you were less likely to see reported elsewhere.

Beth Poteet brought Freddy Urbano, and we knew we were fortunate to be on his schedule. It was gratifying that good crowds showed up to hear what he said about the utter failure of the Drug War and U.S. efforts at agricultural control. I just found myself wishing candidates for Congress were required to attend this kind of presentation.

While everybody is jumping on Hugo Chavez for using a little hyperbole to get noticed by the U.S. public, we keep sending our money and mercenaries to keep the violence swirling in Colombia. Again, it is left to the few who know the truth to fight for justice.

SCOTT’S COLOMBIA PIPELINE

(Sept. 10, ‘06) Occidental Petroleum and Al Gore want us to believe they're environmentalists. "Caño Limón - Ecological Protection Zone" reads the billboard at the military checkpoint where the highway enters Oxy's Caño Limón oilfield in the state of Arauca. "An Inconvenient Truth" is the title of Al Gore's movie about global warming. The inconvenient truth here in Arauca is that Oxy and Al Gore are responsible for environmental devastation, not protection.

Oxy's "Ecological Protection Zone" is the site of 316 oil wells that produce 95,000 barrels a day. The extensive estuary that used to exist there was drained to create dry ground for those wells, the pipeline that transports the oil to the Caribbean coast, and the highway built to bring in the construction and drilling equipment.

The Arauca Flora and Fauna Sanctuary was created by the Colombian government in 1977. Oxy began exploring for oil in the sanctuary in 1981. The government revoked the declaration of the sanctuary in 1983, and Oxy began pumping oil from there in 1986.

The source of the Limón River was in the sanctuary. The Limón River fed the Lipa Lagoon, the source for seven other rivers. The Guahibo indigenous people lived alongside the Lipa Lagoon, which they considered sacred. Oxy blocked off the source of the Limón River which dried up the Lipa Lagoon. The Guahibo were displaced from their ancestral lands and their culture was destroyed.

Oxy then decided to explore for oil in the Samoré block in the Eastern Range of the Andes. The Samoré block includes territory of the U'Wa indigenous people and is just west of Arauca. The U'Wa initiated a strong campaign to prevent Oxy from drilling on their land.

Thousands of U'Wa and supporters from the Arauca social organizations occupied the road leading to Samoré from February 19 to April 22, 2000. The government agreed to demand that Oxy suspend its operations, and the U´Wa and their supporters lifted the blockade. Less than a month later, Oxy brought in drilling equipment in the midst of a military operation.

During that time, Al Gore campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination while holding hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Al Gore Sr. had been a close friend of Oxy founder Armand Hammer and served on Oxy's board. A national campaign in the U.S. urged Gore to take action to stop Oxy's plans to drill in the territory of the U'Wa. The inconvenient truth is that Gore did nothing.

Meanwhile, Oxy was waging a strong campaign to get Congress to approve the Clinton administration's Plan Colombia - a massive increase in U.S. military aid to Colombia. The plan was approved and Colombia has since received nearly $4 billion in U.S. military aid. In 2003, $98 million of that aid was used to create Mobile Brigade 5 to protect Oxy's pipeline here in Arauca. That Brigade has been implicated in many of the worst human rights abuses committed in Arauca.

The Caño Limón oilfield was supposed to be handed back to the Colombian government in December 2007 - according to the original contract signed by Oxy and the government. That contract was modified in 2003 and Oxy can now operate the oilfield until the reserve has been completely extracted.

Oxy has also begun exploring for oil in the Caricare block located to the south of Caño Limón. The Playa Rica estuary is being drained and more rivers are being blocked off. The fear is that the devastation caused by Oxy in Caño Limón is going to be repeated in Caricare.

The social organizations of Arauca are organizing a national and international campaign to halt the destruction caused by Oxy in Arauca. We'll keep you informed about how you can support this campaign.

- Scott Nicholson, Mt. Human Rights Network

NO MORE BULL!

Howard Lyman speaks at the Community Building October 25th at 6:30 pm. This free event is co-sponsored by KYRS 92.3FM. For info., contact Paul at phaeder@comcast.net.

Howard, a fourth-generation family farmer in Montana for almost 40 years and author of Mad Cowboy, speaks from personal experience when he says that chemically based agricultural production methods today are unsustainable, and therefore ecologically disastrous.

A cattle rancher-turned-vegetarian and food safety activist, in 1996, Lyman revealed, to a national television audience, how the cattle industry potentially exposed Americans to Mad Cow Disease by feeding cows the remains of live animals - including other cows. As a result, Lyman was named a co-defendant with Oprah Winfrey in the infamous "veggie libel" case brought by Texas ranchers in Amarillo.

In a new book, No More Bull! The Mad Cowboy Targets America’s Worst Enemy: Our Diet, Lyman exposes the flimsy lies sustaining the meat industry.

"Mad cow disease is important today, not just as a deadly food-borne illness, but also as a powerful symbol of all that is wrong about the industrialization of farm animals." -- Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation."

Afghan Opium or Democracy (truthdig.com)

The good news, for drug fiends, is that Afghanistan has just harvested its biggest opium crop ever, up a whopping 59% from last year and big enough to cover 130% of the entire world market. The street price for illegal heroin, 92% of which now comes from Afghanistan, should be way down from Bangkok to London, and for those shooting up in the back alleys of Chicago. The bad news, for the rest of us, is that in Bush-liberated Afghanistan, billions in drug profits are financing the Taliban.

Halliburton Super Bowl Party (truthout.org)

Halliburton Co. executives ordered a big-screen television and 10 large tubs of tacos, chicken wings and cheese sticks delivered to Iraq for last year's Super Bowl, then billed US taxpayers for their party, according to a lawsuit recently unsealed. The Houston-based company also defrauded the government by double- and triple-billing for Internet, food and gym services for soldiers, according to the lawsuit by a former employee for KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary that runs dining halls for troops in Iraq.

One Decision Is Due In The Case Of National Guard Five

Judge Adalia Hille is to hand down her decision on whether to allow a defense of necessity and international law for the NG 5 on Friday, October 6.

Mark Hamlin, Rusty and Nancy Nelson, Jim Sheehan and Jay Sullivan are hoping to show that they are innocent of trespass at a Spokane National Guard recruiting office because they were obeying a higher law. U.S. law by treaty, The Nuremberg Principles require citizen action to prevent human rights violations by their governments.

The defendants were arrested in March when they declined to leave the recruiting station before guard personnel called the governor or adjutant general to ask that Washington guard units be withdrawn from or kept out of Iraq.

Judge Hille, from Ritzville, was assigned the case after each judge in Spokane Municipal Court recused herself or himself from presiding.

 

Barbara Lubin on the Palestinian Crisis

Palestine, the Forgotten People continues on Thursday, October 12, at the Parish Hall of St. Ann’s Catholic Church. The speaker is Barbara Lubin, Founder and Director of Middle East Children’s Alliance. Based in California, she often travels to the Middle East and will share with us about the work of getting medical and food aid to children in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon.

Barbara, a longtime friend of our own Marianne Torres, will speak on “Crossing the Lines—Children as First Victims. More about her organization is at mecaforpeace.org.

We had an excellent response to our initial program by Dr. Bill Dienst on September 14, although Bill suffered car and computer problems before delivering his outstanding presentation. On November 9, we will host Judith Kolokoff of Jewish Voice for Peace, accompanied by some Israeli Refuseniks. Again, the program will be at St. Ann’s, 2120 E. First, at 7 pm.