Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

On the eve of the Iowa Presidential Caucus, 10 Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Baltimore area peace activists visited Sen. Hillary Clinton's national headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The nonviolent protest, featuring a mock coffin and the reading of Iraqi and American names killed in the more than five years of war and military occupation in Iraq. While our protest was going on, we learned that several of our brothers and sisters with Season of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project, were arrested in the Des Moines, Iowa offices of Republican candidate Mitt Romney and Democratic candidate Barack Obama. This new round of the Occupation Project has been largely organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV). There were no arrests during our action. We hand-delivered two letters to Hillary, and asked politely to speak with a staff member. We were denied that meeting and the inner doors of the office building were barred to us. While we began reading names of A...

Yesterday Adam Kokesh of Iraq Veterans Against the War and his attorney held a press conference at Union Station shortly before departing for a military hearing in Kansas. What awaits this brave member of IVAW and the individual ready reserves of the US Marines is a possible re-discharge to "other than honorable." This is unheard of, as the individual ready reserves have typically already been discharged. Why is this being done? Simple: Adam Kokesh has been vocal in his opposition to the war and continuing occupation in Iraq. At the press conference, Adam quoted Thomas Jefferson: "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." So, if the media needs a new "face" of the anti-war movement, let it be Adam. Yesterday he, Tina Richards from the Swarm on Congress and several other supporters boarded the Yellow Rose of Texas Peace bus bound for Kansas. They will fight this assault on veterans' First Amendment rights. Interestingly enough at the press conference,...

On Thursday the Democrats failed the American people by writing Bush a blank check for more war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's the results of the Occupation Project where there were more than 300 arrests across the nation. Occupation Project Voting Records Where Arrests Occured YES this year 2005 2006 2007 Gordon Smith Y Y Y Richard Durbin Y Y Y John McCain Y Y Y Lisa Murkowski Y Y Y Ted Stevens Y Y Y Claire McCaskill Y Y Y Ken Salazar Y Y Y Virgil Goode Y Y Y Charles Grassley...

Swarm on Congress: This summer has the potential to be a significant moment in the history of the end of the Iraq War. We made lots of progress in the first part of the year putting pressure on the Democrats to use the power of the purse, but our power will increase as we get closer to elections -- if we use it. We need to let incumbents of both parties know they will lose votes if they vote for war funding. That is a message for Republicans and Democrats who continue to vote billions for the war. While we are working to get people to come to DC to participate, activists in the DC area are going to play a key role in the summer of anti-war activities. Peace activists in DC, Maryland and Virginia will need to play a core role for the summer's efforts to build on. Tina mentions the "SWARM on Congress." This will begin on May 14th with Cindy Sheehan's Mother of a March and extend through July 31. The “SWARM” will build on the successful efforts of activists in DC and aro...

I guess many of us are anxiously awaiting to see the results of the Senate and the House's joint conference on the supplelemental bill for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush asked for approximately $99 billion, the Democrats newly installed in power, turned around and are willing to give him more than $120 billion. At this point approximately $500 billion has been spent on these disastrous and immoral invasions (November 2001 and March 2003 respectively). The Senate's version has a March 2008 timetable for withdrawal, while the House has an August 2008 date (two months before the Presidential election which the Dems are now expected to win). Anything smell political here? Sure! Not only are these timetables for withdrawal timed to gain the Dems as much political power as possible, there's nothing about them that can be enforceable when dealing with a reckless and completely morally empty commander-in-chief. Then throw in this weekend's interview of Sen. Carl Levin b...

Nonviolent Maryland citizens protesting Iraq War are taken away by Capitol Police; Senator continues to support war funding Washington, D.C. - At 6:05pm today, Sen. Barbara Mikulski had Capitol Police arrest four of her own constituents when they refused to leave her office. The four were part of a group of 20 that nonviolently occupied Sen. Mikulski’s office for three hours that afternoon, reading the names of Iraqi and American dead in a memorial to those killed, and in a plea to Sen. Mikulski to stop voting for continued war funding. Sen. Mikulski has refused repeated requests to meet with the Maryland groups opposing the war, and has said that she will continue to vote for funding for the Iraq war even while she claims to oppose it. She has also called President Bush, whose war plan the Senator is fully funding, a "reckless and dangerous" man. The ceremony was a moving one for the participants, and started with a reading of the names of the 55 Marylanders who have been ki...

This was a great action, and I think next time we will be staying longer. We might utilize waves of protestors to lengthen it. I am very proud to be taking part in The Occupation project! Indeed, the most efficient way to end this quagmire in Iraq is to cut off funds. And the best way to support our troops is to get them out of the quagmire and bring them home now. THe incident between Kevin Z. and Ms. Schwarts was unfortunate, but it's not as bad as this story makes it out to be. Also, Kevin's son got some excellent video footage of our little occupation. Maryland Protesters Demand Mikulski's 'NO' Vote on War Funding By HALLIE C. FALQUET, Capital News Service WASHINGTON - Maryland protesters stood shoulder to shoulder in Sen. Barbara Mikulski's Washington office Thursday morning for an hour and a half, reading out loud the names of both Maryland and Iraqi fallen soldiers. "Sen. Mikulski's heart is in the right place," said Mary Parker of Mt. Raini...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, February 13, 2007 CONTACT: Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund (301) 565-4050, ext. 307 (office), (301) 537-8244 (mobile) Iraq War to be put on trial in Washington, DC along with Non-violent Peace Activists on Valentine’s Day WHO: Over 50 religious and secular peace activists arrested on Capitol Hill last September for acts of non-violent civil resistance to the war in Iraq WHAT: Trial on charges of Unlawful Assembly and Crossing a Police Line WHERE: District of Columbia Superior Court, 500 Indiana Ave., NW, Washington, DC WHEN: Valentine’s Day – Wednesday, February 14, 9:00 a.m. BACKGROUND: On September 26 and 27, 2006, hundreds of non-violent protesters converged on Capitol Hill to bear witness to their opposition to the US occupation of Iraq. The protests were organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance as part of a nationally coordinated campaign called the Declaration of Peace, in which thousand...

For more information, please check out www.vcnv.org. Here is a CNN report on Monday's action: Monday, February 05, 2007 Ten protesters arrested in McCain's office from Alexander Mooney--> WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Capitol Police arrested 10 anti-war protestors in Sen. John McCain's Capitol Hill office Monday, police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider tells CNN. The protestors, members of the anti-war organization "Code Pink," said the demonstration was one of more than two dozen similar protests held across the country on Monday. The group said more protests were planned targeting congressional offices in the coming months. The demonstrations were held Monday to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the U.N. speech delivered by former Secretary of State Colin Powell outlining the threat Iraq posed to the world because of its weapons of mass destruction programs, according to a press release issued by the organization. The demonstration in McCain's offic...

By Mike Ferner, VFP member Passing the grim marker of 3,000 U.S. troops killed in Iraq briefly focused Americans' attention on the war. But we live in a big country with lots of malls. To be sure, the death of 3,000 soldiers is tragic and sickening, yet we are a nation of over 300 million and most families have not lost a loved one. Even with some 32,000 G.I.'s requiring medical evacuation for wounds, most Americans still do not personally know a casualty of this war. But what if our fellow citizens were killed and wounded at the same rate as people in Iraq? Here's the math. Last fall the British medical journal "Lancet" published a study done by researchers from Johns Hopkins University estimating that the midrange number of Iraqis dead "as a consequence of the war" was about 2.5 percent of that country's population, or roughly 655,000 people. Over 90% of those died from violence. Comparable casualties in our country would mean that every person in ...