Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

Three and a half days ago Col. Denise Lind sentenced Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning to 35 years imprisonment for releasing information to the public, which exposed war crimes, massive wrongdoing and knowledge of deep-seated corruption of regimes our government long supported. There was of course the famous Apache Helicopter video from Baghdad, dubbed "Collateral Murder," but there was also State Department cables such as the one about the severely corrupt ruling family in Tunisia which helped spark the Arab Spring, as well as information on Guantanamo prisoners, most of whom are still being held in this gulag despite being cleared for release, and more accurate civilian casualty counts from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq than had ever previously been released. Much of this information was indeed embarrassing to the U.S. government, but no one was directly harmed by the releases, despite the prosecution's best efforts (even in closed door sessions from what Manning...

Myself and several other activists associated with the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance visited the Pentagon Tuesday morning taking with us copies of a letter that had been delivered a week earlier to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The letter asked for the U.S. government to pursue peace and just diplomacy over illegal and immoral wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as an immediate cessation of bombing portion of the nation of Pakistan. We also said that if we did not receive a response, we would pay him a visit. Seven of us approached the doors of the Pentagon, about 30 yards from an entrance to the Metro station. We spoke with a guard monitoring those entering the building, as we did not carry officially-issued Pentagon badges. However, we are all citizens and taxpayers of the U.S., and wished to meet with at the very least someone from Gates' office. We were told to go into a security booth for those arriving at the Pentagon for business where we had to show tw...

On Tuesday, January 6, about 80 anti-war protestors came to Capitol Hill to remind elected representatives of the death and destruction they continue to fund. Laurie Arbeiter and her colleagues in the Activist Response Team (ART) organized another performance of the March of the Dead on the first day of the 111th Congress, followed by dramatic banner drops and arrests for nonviolent civil resistance later that day. The protestors did not gain much media attention, although plenty of cameras were on the scene. It appears at the end of the day their producers and editors only had time for Mr. Burris, the man appointed by a defamed governor to take the president-elect’s seat in the senate. However, Bill Moyers picked up on it and commented on it during his TV show. The rest of the media did not have time for the names of the dead slain by our military, or our proxies the Israelis. I marched in this somber procession of remembrance that rainy day, and I took part in the nonviolent civil re...

By Eve Tetaz As was anticipated Judge Morin sentenced us to five days in jail(suspended as the prosecutor didn't think it was worth the expense to jail us), 6 mos. probation, and a heavy fine. He then allowed us to give our sentencing statements. After I gave mine, I told him that I would refuse probation and would not pay the fine. (Last time I refused, I was sent to jail.) Each of my codefendents gave his or her statement followed by the same refusal. After the last defendant spoke, the Judge gave a new ruling, as follows: None of us would be required to be on probation, none of us has to pay a fine, and all of us were sentenced to one day in jail already served because we had spend the night and a day in jail waiting for arraignment. It is apparent to me, that Judge Morin was moved to change his ruling because of the justice of our actions. I think I can speak for the others when I say, "We will not be silent." We will continue to speak truth to power. Amen and Hallelu...

Our fellow DC area activist-organizers, There has been much change during the last couple years within the local peace and justice movement. The changes we have witnessed have included dissolution of the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN) as a group but not the commitment of several of its participants, there has been an increase in levels of nonviolent resistance actions, the revitalizing of the Washington Peace Center as a dynamic force in the wider DC metro community, and most recently the founding of a capacity-building coalition for future mobilizations, known as Activist Coalition of DC (ACDC). However, there is an important and vital need to share resources, creativity, and skills to unite collective energies and move beyond being only somewhat effective to being successful in our peace and social justice struggles. This needs to be our highest priority. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that the U.S. Government was the greatest purveyor of violence in the wor...

Dear friends, By the time you read this letter we will likely know who our next president will be. But whether Obama or McCain wins the election, we need to continue our work calling for peace and justice. We must continue to demand that the new president ends the occupation of Iraq and does not escalate military action in Afghanistan. We also must call for justice and demand that Bush and others in his administration are held accountable for the murders of millions of innocent people from Iraq, from Afghanistan, and almost 4200 US soldiers. Our work is far from over. I will be flying to Washington, DC to join other activists from around the country in an action on November 10 at the Department of Justice. This action is being organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) www.irqpledge.org following the principles of nonviolence that we have learned from Gandhi, King, Day and others. In September organizers from NCNR sent a letter to Attorney General Michael...

Peace activists Eve Tetaz (DC), Maria Alwine (Maryland), Ellen Barfield (Marlyand), Tim Chadwick (Pennsylvania), Joy First (Wisconsin), Judith Kelly (Virginia), Art Landis (Pennsylvania), Linda LeTendre (New York), Max Obuszewski (Maryland), and Manijeh Saba (New Jersey) went on trial yesterday selecting a jury of their peers. All 10 of them face a maximum sentence of six months in prison for speaking out in the U.S. Senate Gallery on March 12, 2008. All 10 citizens of conscience were calling on their elected representatives to cease funding an illegal war and occupation to the tune of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. Nine of the 10 defendants are pro-se defendants in this trial brought by the U.S. Government. The trial continues today, and likely Wednesday in courtroom 312 of DC Superior Court, Carl Moultrie Building, 500 Indiana Avenue NW. All defendants are affiliated with the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (www.iraqpledge.org). For more info: Joy First, 608-23...

This morning, I rolled out of bed and grabbed a bus downtown. I was determined to be bear witness to what many in our country have never seen, and seldom ever hear of... The last 50 homeless men were kicked out of Franklin Shelter at 13th and K Streets NW. Out of sight, out of mind. I got to the front of the shelter at 6:55 a.m. There were a couple of the men standing out front with some young white folks, mostly students, some anarchists. One man, I had seen the evening before when we chanted and protested in the nearby intersection, was on the lower steps of the shelter loudly expressing himself. I thought of the Biblical figure of John, the voice crying out in the wilderness. Alone but full of truth. "They don't care, they go about their business, they don't care about people like us," he shouted. "And for (Adrian) Fenty? He doesn't give a damn! Those in power, they are baby killers." I was speechless, but I nodded in agreement. Those in power are b...

In honor of Independence Day, I was originally going to write a piece talking about the loss of our republic to the military-corporate empire we live in now, but I thought I would just save myself the additional frustration and post Max from Baltimore's report on civil resistance actions and trials thus far this year! Thanks Max... Thanks to all of you who were able to risk arrest or to support such protests against the Iraq War. Let us continue to take the risks of peace. This list of appeals, arrests and legal cases is not all-inclusive. Please send additions, corrections and updates to mobuszewski at verizon.net. Included are arrests and pending cases in 2008. JULY 20—[WDC] The government was to file a brief in response to the one filed on Dec. 29, 2007 by Mark Goldstone on behalf of Beth Adams, Ellen Barfield, Michelle Grise, Sherrill Hogen, Kathryn McClanen, Joan Nicholson, Max Obuszewski & Eve Tetaz with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. They are appealing ...

WASHINGTON -- California peace activist Toby Blome will be arraigned in DC Superior Court Friday after she interrupted General David Petraeus during a Senate confirmation hearing. Petraeus was confirmed to be the new leader of Central Command. Blome stood and challenged the general to immediately end the illegal and immoral war and occupation of Iraq. Blome was a co-defendant in the Rumsfeld 4 trial in the fall of 2006. That jury trial stemmed from a protest in former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's front yard, and ended in a hung jury. The government decided not to retry the peaceful protesters. A member of Code Pink, Blome has helped organize many protests outside of Nancy Pelosi's home in the Bay area. Friends and fellow activists will be in DC Superior Court (500 Indiana Avenue NW) awaiting her arraignment and release Friday afternoon.

Mike Ferner with VFP reported on what happened between First Lady Laura Bush and Gilda Carbonaro, mother of a soldier killed in Iraq... Mike wrote yesterday: gilda carbonaro did a fine job. she waited in line (it stretched outside the building a hundred feet or more) for a half hour, and purchased a copy of "read all about it" (a requirement to get in line) by jenna and laura bush so she could get it signed and have a couple moments with them. gilda took two signed, laminated copies of her letter (attached) with her, and when she got to the head of the line calmly asked the two bushes to please read it. gilda said that before they could actually take it from her, a secret service person swooped in from nowhere and grabbed the letters. gilda asked the bush women if they would please still read it. jenna said she would, but chances are slim that will happen. and that, as they say, was it. no protesters showed up, and no press showed up as far as i could tell, except for on...

On Friday, April 25, at 7:00pm, at the Borders bookstore at 14th and F Streets, NW , Gilda Carbonaro, mother of Sgt. Alesandro Carbonaro who died after being burned in an IED blast in Iraq, plans to deliver her letter which reads in part: “Your children, Mrs. Bush, are safe and I am glad for you. But I wonder, have you ever urged them to enlist in this heroic adventure? Your husband has told us many times how important this cause is…Why, then, has the price for this war been paid only by people like my son, Marine Corps Sgt. Alesandro Carbonaro, who died May 10, 2006, eight days after being horrifically burned in an IED blast in Al Anbar Province, Iraq? Can you not see the simple, basic unfairness of asking others to do what you yourself are unwilling to do? Have you drifted so far from an understanding of fundamental justice that you cannot see the contradictions apparent to so many of us? These are not rhetorical questions. They are as real as the knot in our stomachs and the...

April 20, 2008 By Dean Powers http://www.opednews.com From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, Democrats voiced surprise and then anger over comments that Senator Hillary Clinton made at a private fund raiser that were caught on tape. Surprise because the media has largely blacked out coverage of the comments; anger because of their nature. The Huffington Post published those comments and the clip of the audio sound bite on Friday. At the event last February, Clinton told those in the audience, "We have been less successful in caucuses because it brings out the activist base of the Democratic Party. MoveOn didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan. I mean, that's what we're dealing with. And you know they turn out in great numbers. And they are very driven by their view of our positions, and it's primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I don't agree with them. They know I don't agree with them. So they flood into these caucuses and dominat...

Challenged Gen. Petraeus During September 2007 Hearing Washington – Last September General David Petraeus sold the continued illegal and immoral war of Iraq to Congress, and they bought it. Washington, D.C. activist David Barrows was arrested for rising and speaking during Petraeus’ testimony before during a congressional hearing in order to bring attention to the general’s lies and the possible expansion of the criminal war and occupation into Iran. Barrows faces sentencing this Wednesday, April 23, at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 220 of D.C. Superior Court, 500 Indiana Avenue N.W. On September 11, 2007 Barrows was arrested by the U.S. Capitol Police and charged with “Disrupting Congress.” Earlier this month he had a jury trial in D.C. Judge Robert S. Rigsby’s courtroom. After a two-day trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict and Barrows, an artist and a nonviolent peace and justice activist faces up to six months in prison. “I continue to believe that we, the people, should not allow Con...

For Immediate Release March 17, 2008 Contact: Malachy Kilbride, 202-841-2230 Jay Marx, 202-234-2000 Washington Peace Center Endorses War Resisters Action on Anniversary of Iraq War WASHINGTON, D.C. -- One of the region's oldest peace and social justice organizations, the Washington Peace Center, will join with one of the nation's oldest pacifist organizations this week to clearly state that there should be no more tax dollars spent on the war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. On Wednesday, March 19, the War Resisters League will set up a nonviolent blockade of the national Internal Revenue Service headquarters in downtown Washington, as part of the day of actions against the war of terror. The Washington Peace Center fully supports this action, and will continue to highlight the immoral waste of U.S. tax dollars on violence and empire while the federal government continues to ignore serious social concerns at home. According to government budget rep...