GI Special:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

3.10.06

Print it out: color best.  Pass it on.

 

GI SPECIAL 4C10:

 

 

(www.ivaw.net)

 

“I Remember Being Over There, And It's Really Nice To Know Someone's Over Here Trying To Bring You Home”

 

 

March 8, 2006 By David Enders, Mother Jones

 

NEW YORK:  When 23-year-old Joseph Wood came back from Iraq after serving in Fallujah with the 82nd Airborne Division in June 2004, he just wanted to forget about the war.

 

"I came out of the Army not wanting to have anything more to do with it," Wood said. He enrolled in design school, hoping for a "regular life."

 

"It wasn't until recently that I began feeling really out of place.  It seems no one has any idea what's going on over there in Iraq.  Everybody is so tuned into their own lives. "

 

So a couple weeks ago, Wood, who appears in the documentary Occupation Dreamland, joined Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW).  He said he did so after attending a reading by conscientious objector Camilo Mejia, who served prison time for refusing to go to Iraq.

 

"I remember being over there, and it's really nice to know someone's over here trying to bring you home," Wood said.

 

He's also one of the vets planning to walk from Baton Rouge to New Orleans between March 7 and 14 to mark the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

 

"We're going down there basically to connect the two biggest problems we think the United States is facing right now," says Staff Sgt. Jose Vasquez, a member of the military since 1992.  Vasquez, now a member of the New York National Guard, was set to be deployed to Iraq before applying for conscientious objector status in January 2005.

 

"I had been researching, kind of seriously looking into it since August of 2004.  I had just returned from Army leadership training school.  One of the lessons was on the ethics of warfare.  They had us read a website about the My Lai massacre.  And after that we were supposed to discuss how to maintain ethics in warfare.  I kind of just raised my hand and I said, 'The real problem is war itself.'  I got a bunch of blank stares from 39 other sergeants. I realized then that I wasn't thinking about things the same way as everyone else," Vasquez says.

 

"My father was a Vietnam vet and he was really messed up when he came back.  I really cared about what he thought about it.

 

I called him up after the (2004 presidential) election and told him I'm basically fed up, and he said 'I fought in a war we shouldn't have fought, and I don't want you to go through the same thing.'"

 

Tim Goodrich, deployed in Saudi Arabia with the Air Force in 2002, co-founded Iraq Veterans Against the War in the summer of 2004. It now numbers more than 200 members, some of whom are still in active duty or serving overseas.

 

"There are many more (dissenters) than that in the military.  A lot of them are really supportive of IVAW, but there's a culture of fear within the military.  They'll say, 'That's risking my job.  Come look me up when I get out.'"

 

Goodrich expects more action against the war this summer.

 

"The majority of the American people want the troops to start coming home or to be pulled out immediately," Goodrich says.  "If everyone was taking action, our public officials would have to act.  It's time for something to start changing. 

 

“I'm in support of non-violent civil disobedience that, if need be, shuts down the system. There are people dying as we speak.  How many more deaths does it have to take? How many more people have to die?"

 

Ward Reilly, part of the First Infantry Division from 1971 to 1974 and today a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), lives in Baton Rouge.

 

"We feel a strong bond between ourselves and Iraq veterans," Reilly said. 

 

"They are coming home by the thousands, and according to (Veteran's Affairs), 103,000 of them have turned to the VA for help, be it mental or physical.  That is the truth about the number of casualties.  Thirty percent have come for help because of PTSD.  That is a staggering number, and the long term cost is incalculable."

 

Reilly joined VVAW while still on active duty in the 70s, but after the Vietnam War ended, his activism continued.

 

Listing off the accomplishments of his organization, Reilly noted: "Agent Orange recognition, Veterans' Rights, and PTSD awareness after the war ended in 1975.  That work was done by the core of VVAW leadership.  More recently, my friend Bob Smith, who did three combat tours as a Green Beret in Vietnam and is also part of VVAW, and I testified in front of Louisiana House and Senate committees to spearhead a Depleted Uranium Testing Bill for our returning troops.  That bill, Act 69, became law in 2005, making Louisiana the first state in the union to mandate DU testing for our troops."

 

"After September 11, the membership in VVAW and Veterans for Peace skyrocketed," Reilly said.  "Mainly because we all foresaw the imminent war-orgy on the horizon, and we, again, knew that it was time to act."

 

"Down here in south Louisiana, we organized 15 street demonstrations against the war before it even started.  We did teach-ins at Louisiana State University, we conducted educational forums, and we started a writing campaign in hopes of preventing the invasion of the Middle East, an invasion that we knew would be the disaster that it has become."

 

 

 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

 

 

U.S. Tank Destroyed East Of Baghdad:

Casualties Not Announced

U.S. army Abrams battle tank east of Baghdad, Iraq, March 10, 2006, after a large explosion set fire to it.  The U.S. military had no immediate information on the incident and on casualties. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

 

Marine Killed In Anbar 3.7.06

 

March 9, 2006 American Forces Press Service

 

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2006: A Marine assigned to 1st Marine Logistics Group was killed in Anbar province, Iraq, March 7, military officials in Iraq reported.

 

Marine Killed In Anbar 3.8.06

 

3/9/2006 HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND NEWS Release Number: 06-03-09C

 

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq: A Marine assigned to 1st Marine Logistics Group died due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province March 8.

 

New Mexico Soldier Killed

3.7.06: U.S. Army soldier Rick Salas from Roswell, N.M., has been killed while serving in Iraq, his family said, March 7, 2006. Salas leaves behind a wife and two children. He was assigned to the 37th Armored Regiment, C Company. Salas is the 19th New Mexico soldier or Marine killed in Iraq. (AP Photo/Salas Family via KRQE-TV)

 

Ambush In Fallujah

Lance Corporal Eric DesBiens, USMC, was a patient at the National Navy Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., earlier this week, recovering from wounds he suffered while in Iraq.-photo courtesy Stefanie Ehnot

 

03/09/06 By Shannon Hicks, Bee Publishing

 

Eric DesBiens's family had not heard from him for a little while, and they were starting to get worried.

 

A 2002 graduate of Newtown High School, Eric, 23, is a lance corporal with the United States Marine Corps. He had been stationed in Fallujah about seven months ago.

 

"We've been worrying all along, of course, but he'd been calling whenever he could," said his aunt, Stefanie Ehnot. "He called on Thanksgiving, and he called a few other times. But he hadn't been heard from in a while... and then we got a call from a major who told us that Eric had been shot in an ambush."

 

Fortunately, while the injuries that Lance Corporal DesBiens suffered on February 25 were very serious, none seem to be life-threatening. He arrived at The National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on February 28, and was discharged this week on Tuesday.  Ahead of him is a long recovery time to get through the injuries caused to his chest, back, ribs, one of his lungs, and his jaw.

 

Ms Ehnot was in Maryland last week, along with other family members, when Lance Corporal DesBiens arrived in Bethesda.

 

By phone earlier this week, Lance Corporal DesBiens was able to talk to The Newtown Bee about what happened in Iraq less than three weeks ago.

 

A member of FAST (Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team) Company, based in Virginia, Corporal DesBiens's team was deployed to Iraq in mid-September. FAST was on a deployment to Iraq, attached to a reconnaissance battalion.

 

On February 25, he was serving as point man.

 

"I remember everything. I was conscious the whole time," Lance Corporal DesBiens said from his bed. "We were conducting a normal security patrol, around our  FOB, and we had stopped a vehicle to search it.  When we searched the vehicle, there were seven males in the vehicle, and it turned out that the vehicle they were driving was carrying a large amount of weapons.

 

"Everything from sniper rifles to machine guns, and ammunition for all of them, were in there," he continued.  "We took the guys out of the vehicle, we detained them and we were patrolling back to our FOB and we had just rounded a corner, and I told all the guys to keep their eyes open.  If somebody saw what had just happened, they' weren't going to be too happy."

 

Just as Lance Corporal DesBiens was warning the other soldiers to be on heightened alert, a machine gun started firing.

 

"As soon as I said that, I got hit in the chest. It just missed my body armor," he said.

 

The bullet entered through his chest.  It fractured three of his ribs and punctured a lung before exiting from his back.

 

"I started to return fire, and that's when I got shot in the face.  That blew teeth out of my mouth pretty good. I was still conscious and took cover in a canal. I just dove into the canal.

 

"When I looked up," he continued, "I saw that our corpsman had been hit, and he was still taking fire.  There were still rounds impacting around him, and he was calling for me, so I jumped up to grab him, and dragged him into the canal with me.

 

"I started assessing his wounds, and the gunfire slowed down a little bit," he said.

 

FAST members began assessing the two wounded men who were, surprisingly, the only two wounded Marines.  There were no fatalities.  A Medivac unit was on the scene quickly because the FAST group had already radioed ahead to alert their higher command of the incident with the guns and ammunition.

 

"They already knew where we were.  They got there fast," Lance Corporal DesBiens said. He and the corpsman were first taken to Fallujah Surgical (the medical station in Fallujah, its full name is Surgical Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 8, 2nd Force Service Support Group, Forward), and then flown to a medical center in Germany before they were then flown to Bethesda.

 

The corpsman, said Lance Corporal DesBiens, is "fine. He's doing all right."

 

As for himself, he said, "I'm pretty sore all over. My body's pretty sore because they did some exploratory surgery while I was in Germany.  They wanted to make sure there was nothing else internal.

 

"My face, my jaw hurts pretty bad.  Jaw is pretty sore, not really to speak but it hurts inside."

 

Lance Corporal DesBiens's parents, Paul and Sallie DesBiens, moved from Newtown to Texas a few years ago.  His aunt is still here in Newtown and Lance Corporal DesBiens has decided to stay in Woodbury with his brother Chris during his convalescence.  He plans to return to Virginia at the end of his leave to rejoin his company for the remainder of his enlistment, which is another ten months.

 

Eric DesBiens joined the Marines in September 2003.  Stefanie Ehnot said it was always a dream for her nephew to become a Marine.

 

"I don't have family members in the Corps," Lance Corporal DesBiens said this week. "The Marines is just better than any other military branch."

 

Lake Isabella Navy Corpsman Injured

 

March 9, 2006 TurnTo23.com, LAKE ISABELLA

 

The Kern Valley Sun is reporting that a Navy corpsman from the Lake Isabella area has been injured in Iraq.

 

Navy Corpsman Daniel Jacobs suffered injuries from an improvised explosive device in Ramadi on Feb. 26.

 

He's currently receiving medical treatment at the National Medical Naval Medical Hospital in Bethesda, Md.  The Kern Valley Sun says Jacobs has two seriously injured legs and feet, as well as a broken arm.

 

Jacobs' family members have flown to Maryland to be by his side.

 

REALLY BAD IDEA:

NO MISSION;

HOPELESS WAR

US soldiers following a car bomb on Kindi street, in a western Baghdad neighborhood.(AFP/Awad Awad)

 

 

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

 

 

US Helicopter Crashes

 

March 9 (Xinhuanet)

 

A U.S. military chopper crashed in a mountainous area between Wardak and Ghazni provinces some 100 km south of here on Thursday, local officials said.

 

"The incident occurred around noon and it crashed inside Wardak territory," Ghazni's police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang told Xinhua.

 

Confirming the incident, police chief of Wardak province Pacha Gul Bakhtiary also told Xinhua that personnel of law enforcing agencies had been sent to the area to locate the chopper's wreckage.

 

"Police have yet to spot the wreckage or identify the reason behind the incident or if there were any casualties," Bakhtiary asserted.

 

No U.S. military official was immediately available to make any comment on the issue.

 

 

TROOP NEWS

 

 

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

Honor Guard carry Cpl. Jeffrey Boskovitch for the memorial service at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church Aug. 12, 2005 in North Royalton, Ohio.  (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

 

 

GET THE MESSAGE FROM A SOLDIER’S MOM?

Denise Snyder who has a son that served in Afghanistan demonstrates her displeasure with the war in Iraq during Bush's visit for a Republican fund raising dinner at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, Ga., March 9, 2006.

 

The New Issue Of Traveling Soldier Is Out!

 

This issue features:

 

1. “We definitely needed something more, more armor than just plywood and sandbags because that wasn’t really going to stop much” says Iraq vet Joseph Woods in the first installment of a three part interview with Traveling Soldier’s T Barton.

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/2.06.woods.php

 

2. “I have not heard a worthwhile nor just reason for staying the course” says Iraq veteran Captain Justin Gordon.

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/2.06.gordon.php

 

3. “The government had a plan, but it did not include the poor black people of the south”  An active duty soldier speaks out about the war on Iraq and the abandonment of Katrina victims.

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/2.06.soldiermedic.php

 

4. Media Chatter Ignored Soldiers for Cindy Sheehan

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/2.06.sheehan.php

 

5. How the Soldiers Stopped the Vietnam War: a book review of the newly republished classic, Soldiers in Revolt. 

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/2.06.cortright.php

 

6. Download the new Traveling Soldier to pass it out at your school, workplace, or at nearby base.

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/TS12.pdf

 

DC Troops’ Supporter Demands Rumsfeld Resignation

A security official escorts a protester from a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing where Rumsfeld was testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington March 9, 2006.  Rumsfeld had just begun his remarks when the protester stood up and called for his resignation.  REUTERS/Jason Reed

 

[Army Times reported this month that a majority of people in the armed forces want the traitor Rumsfeld to be gotten rid of.  T]

 

War Profiteering Rats Convicted:

“There Is An Orgy Of Greed” In Iraq:

“The Bush Administration Is For All Practical Purposes Participating In It”

 

March 09, 2006 T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times [Excerpts]

 

WASHINGTON: In the first action of its kind, a federal jury found Thursday that a private security company bilked the U.S.-led government in Iraq out of millions of dollars.

 

Custer Battles, which has had offices in Virginia and Rhode Island, was found to have used shell companies, fake invoices and even stolen forklifts in an elaborate scheme to defraud the Coalition Provisional Authority that oversaw Iraq after the invasion.

 

"There is an orgy of greed among contractors in Iraq, and the Bush administration is for all practical purposes participating in it," said Alan Grayson, lawyer for the whistle-blowers who filed the case.

 

"They have done nothing to get the taxpayers' money back. They've done nothing to punish the wrongdoers."

 

Candidate For Congress Demands Immediate Withdrawal Of All U.S. Troops

Jim Smith, candidate for U.S. Congress, 36th District.  He is a community activist, educator and journalist who was overwhelmingly elected Treasurer of the Venice Neighborhood Council, is a member of the Venice Progressives Steering Committee and a long-time union leader, organizer & activist.  He is the only progressive third-party candidate running in the 36th Congressional District, which stretches from Venice and West L.A. along the coast to Torrance and Lomita.

 

 

March 08, 2006 From: Jim Smith (by way of Tom Condit tomcondit@igc.org

 

Contact: Yolanda Miranda  310-399-2215, www.VoteSmithforCongress.org

 

James R. "Jim" Smith condemned Jane Harman's vote today for the renewal of the so-called Patriot Act. "Harman has voted with the military-industrial complex and against the wishes her well-informed and pro-civil liberties constituents," said Smith who took out papers on Dec. 30 to run for Harman's 36th Congressional seat.

 

The new law makes permanent the ability of federal agents to secretly obtain records and communications of Americans without a judge's approval. "This law, which Harman is praising, gives the government a green light to secretly tap phones, obtain library and bank records and search our homes," said Smith.

 

"We cannot defeat terrorism by jettisoning our Constitutional rights. I pledge to work for the repeal of the Patriot Act and the restoration of civil liberties," Smith continued.

 

Smith said he is running against Harman to restore the rule of law, both at home an internationally. He is in favor of the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, an end to the kidnapping (rendition), transportation and torture of suspects, and the closing of Guantanamo and other military and CIA prison gulags.

 

He also advocates a national bill for free single-payer health insurance for all, funding for the preservation and building of affordable housing, free college education and federal funds for housing and services for the homeless.

 

He is unopposed for the Peace and Freedom Party nomination and will be on the ballot as the peace and civil liberties alternation to Jane Harman in November.

 

The 36th Congressional District extends along the coast from Venice to San Pedro.

 

Smith has also endorsed Karl Abrams who is running in the overlapping 53rd Assembly District, as well as a full slate of P&F statewide candidates. See www.peaceandfreedom2006.org for more information.

 

25 Suggestions For The Ex-Submariner That Misses “The Good Old Days On The Boat”

 

3.6.06, Bob Frasier, firebase-humor

 

(1) Set your alarm clock to go off at random times during the night. When it goes off, jump out of bed and get dressed as fast as you can, then run to your kitchen with the garden hose while wearing a scuba mask.

 

(2) Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Two to three hours after you fall asleep, have your wife whip open the curtain, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and mumble "Sorry, wrong rack".

 

(3) Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of your bathtub and move the shower head down to chest level. Shower once a week. Use no more than 2 gallons of water per shower.

 

(4) Buy a trash compactor and use it once a week. Store garbage in the other side of your bathtub.

 

(5) Watch only unknown movies with no major stars on TV and then, only at night. Have your family vote on which movie to watch, then watch a different one.

 

(6) Have the paperboy give you a haircut.

 

(7) Put on the headphones from your stereo (don't plug them in). Go and stand in front of your stove. Say (to nobody in particular) "Stove manned and ready". Stand there for 3 or 4 hours. Say (once again to nobody in particular) "Stove secured". Roll up the headphone cord and put them away.

 

(8) Use 18 scoops of coffee per pot and allow it to sit for 5 or 6 hours before drinking. Never wash any coffee cups.

 

(9) Have a fluorescent lamp installed on the bottom of your coffee table and lie under it to read books.

 

(10) Check your refrigerator compressor for "sound shorts".

 

(11) Every so often, yell "Emergency Deep", run into the kitchen, and sweep all pots/pans/dishes off of the counter onto the floor. Then, yell at your wife for not having the place "stowed for sea".

 

(12) Tag out the steering wheel, gas pedal, brake pedal, transmission and cigarette lighter when you change the oil in your car.

 

(13) Ask for 'permission to enter' whenever you go into the kitchen.

 

(14) Replace the windshield of your car with a panel full of gauges and widgets. Make your wife stand up thru the sunroof and give you directions on where to drive. Drive thru as many big puddles as possible.

 

(15) Replace all doors in your house with windows so that you have to step up AND duck to go thru.

 

(16) Have your kids stand at attention every time you enter the room and make them state quite loudly, "Attention on Deck" or "Make a Hole".

 

(17) Repeat back everything anyone says to you, followed by the word "aye".

 

(18) Use kool aid on all your breakfast cereals for 2 months.

 

(19) (Optional for Nukes and A-Div) Leave lawnmower running in your living room six hours a day for proper noise level.

 

(20) When you spill a beer, rope off the area, turn off the AC, put on a suit made of garbage bags with a zip lock bag tied securely around your head, clean up the beer and then have your wife scrub you down with a hose and a broom.

 

(21) Rig 700 PSI air to the bottom of all toilets.

 

(22) Whenever someone enters a room you're cleaning, shout "up and over" at them so they'll go thru the attic to get to the kitchen.

 

(23) Lockwire the lugnuts on your car.

 

(24) Tell your kids to "go find me a can of relative bearing grease".

 

(25) Start every story with "This is no-shit".

 

 

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

 

 

Assorted Resistance Action

Smoke rises after a bomb attack in Falluja March 10, 2006.  A truck bomb struck a checkpoint manned by U.S. soldiers killing five police.  There was no immediate word from the U.S. military on the blast in eastern Falluja.  REUTERS/Mohammed Faisal

 

Mar 9, 2006 By SAMEER N. YACOUB, (AP) & Aljazeera & (KUNA) & Reuters & The Daily Telegraph

 

Guerrillas attacked the convoy of Interior Ministry Undersecretary Hekmet Moussa in west Baghdad, killing two bodyguards and injuring two others, police said.

 

A bomb hidden under a parked car detonated as police from Jabr's protection force were driving through Baghdad, killing two officers and wounding a third, police said.

 

A woman accountant was killed as she left her west Baghdad home for work, said police Lt. Mohammed Khayoun, who said she was attacked because she worked in the capital's U.S.-controlled Green Zone.

 

The bodies of accountant director Rana Abdul-Wahid and her colleague Luay Alwan - both of whom worked at the Green Zone - were found in a house in Al-Mansour.

 

An explosion occurred in central Kirkuk targeting a police patrol, during which a police commissioner was injured.

 

A CAR bomb exploded in a busy street outside one of Baghdad's main hospitals today.

 

Police said the bomb in front of the Yarmouk hospital had targeted an Iraqi army patrol. Two military vehicles were reported to be on fire.

 

An Iraqi policeman holds a weapon near a damaged police vehicle after a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad March 8, 2006.  REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud

 

 

 

OCCUPATION REPORT

 

 

Sow The Wind: 2003

Reap The Whirlwind: 2006

US soldiers destroy homes of Iraqi citizens after US troops were fired upon in Ramadi, June 3, 2003. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

 

[Fair is fair.  Let’s bring 150,000 Iraqis over here to the USA.  They can kill people at checkpoints, bust into their houses with force and violence or just destroy them completely like this, overthrow the government, put a new one in office they like better and call it “sovereign,” and “detain” anybody who doesn’t like it in some prison without any charges being filed against them, or any trial.]

 

[Those Iraqis are sure a bunch of backward primitives.  They actually resent this help, have the absurd notion that it’s bad their country is occupied by a foreign military dictatorship, and consider it their patriotic duty to fight and kill the soldiers sent to grab their country.  What a bunch of silly people.  How fortunate they are to live under a military dictatorship run by George Bush.  Why, how could anybody not love that?  You’d want that in your home town, right?]

 

 

 

No Oil For Blood Yet:

Still Illegal For Foreign Firms To Take Over Production:

“The Only Direction The Oil Sector Is Going Is Downwards”

 

 

Mar 9, 2006 By Mariam Karouny, (Reuters)

 

Analysts and officials said Iraq risks losing entirely the confidence of the international market as a supplier.  The Oil Ministry said a cash crunch could hit even domestic supplies if the limbo continues, something that could provoke public anger.

 

"With the political situation as it is, the only direction the oil sector is going is downwards," Saad Allah al-Fathi, a former official at Iraq's oil ministry, told Reuters.

 

Iraq's oil sector has lurched from one crisis to another since the U.S. invasion of 2003. Exports have hit their lowest level since then, reaching 1.1 million bpd in December due to sabotage in the north and bad weather in the south combined with logistics problems. They were 1.3 million bpd in February.

 

The export crisis comes at a time when Iraq has tripled state-controlled domestic prices, angering many Iraqis.

 

 

Another senior oil official said that even if a full government is formed soon, the industry is in desperate need of reform and assistance: "Even if a government were formed now, it would still need a long time to revive the sector," he said.

 

"If they don't start now, God knows what will happen to the industry and the country. It will enter unknown territory."

 

 

 

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

 

 

Defend The Rights Of Pace University Students From Attack By Those Who Hate Our Freedoms

 

 

From: Charles Jenkscharles@traprockpeace.org

To: GI Special

Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 1:32 AM

Subject: Asking you to help Pace University students

 

Here I am again.  Again, a university, this time Pace, is threatening students with possible expulsion. The charges are:

 

"1.  Failure to register a rally

2.  Violation of distribution and solicitation policy

3.  Reservation of university space by an unrecognized organization"

 

The University had not "approved" the Campus Antiwar Network and Pace  Students for a Democratic Society as organizations.

 

The students, Brian Kelly, kelly@leftist.ws 845-649-2146 and Lauren Giaccone, lg11679n@pace.edu 917-597-3203 had made headlines recently for proclaiming that former President Clinton was a war criminal during his recent appearance at Pace. (More on that below: they were threatened by Secret Service.)

 

On Monday, March 13, Pace students are holding a press conference at the downtown NYC campus.  Statements and letters of support will be read to the press.

 

I am asking you to consider writing a statement of support, or a letter to the administration, that we would post on our site (it would also appear on student web sites) and that would be read at the press conference.

 

Your help has meant so much in previous similar efforts, at Kent State, Hampton University, Wisconsin, and Holyoke Community College this year.  In every case where Campus Antiwar Network students have been threatened with serious discipline, the school has backed down in the face of phone calls and letters from you and others.

 

We need your help again.

 

If you could find the time to write a statement or letter, please forward to me and I will make sure it gets to the students. They have asked me to create a blog again for these letters:  the address for the blog is http://www.traprockpeace.org/pace_repression/  [See Statement Below  T]

 

Here is the contact information if you wish to write/call the university:

 

David A. Caputo

President

president@pace.edu

campus “hotline” 1-866-PAC-E001

 

We have no letters yet: you are among the first I am asking.

 

Thanks.

Charlie

413-627-5980

 

****************************************

 

Sign This Petition To Defend The Rights Of Pace University Students From Attack By Those Who Hate Our Freedoms

 

Forwarded from : Elizabeth Wrigley-Field wrigleyfield@nyu.edu

Date: March 8, 2006 11:48:00 AM EST

Subject: Defend Free Speech at Pace University! Sign the petition

 

Please take a minute to sign this petition to Pace University, demanding that they drop all charges against two students facing potential expulsion for peaceful anti-war protest, and cease the harassment of activist groups on campus.

 

http://www.petitiononline.com/paceuniv/petition.html

 

If you'd like to write a more personalized statement of support for the students as well, please contact me at wrigleyfield@nyu.edu (with a recognizable subject line)

 

For more information and ongoing updates in the case see: http://www.campusantiwar.net/ (we'll be posting more updates as they come in so check back to see how the case is progressing)

 

Thanks very much,

Elizabeth Wrigley-Field

Campus Antiwar Network

 

******************************************************

 

Reprinted Below Are

A 1) Letter And

2) Press Release From The Pace Students Who Are Facing Discipline.

 

1) Letter by Brian Kelly:

 

Dear Friends:

 

Yesterday we (Brian Kelly and Lauren Giaccone) were threatened with disciplinary actions ranging from warnings to expulsion: all for holding a peaceful rally, handing out educational flyers about Bill Clinton’s war crimes, and holding regular CAN/SDS meetings at our school.

 

Yesterday, the Pace University Dean of Students disrupted our regular joint Campus Antiwar Network (C.A.N.) and Students for a Democratic Society (S.D.S.) meeting citing a university policy against “unrecognized student organizations” reserving or using university space.

 

This occurred after an event we held on Sunday where I (Brian Kelly) called Bill Clinton a “war criminal” with my friend and fellow anti-war activist Lauren Giaccone, citing his atrocities around the world during his presidency.  We were not charged with any violation; however, we were detained and threatened by both Secret Service agents and various police officers.

 

For more information about what happened at the event, including the threats made to us and the illegal searches that occurred please visit the following link:

 

http://leftist.ws/2006/03/08/why-i-called-bill-clinton-a-war-criminal/

 

MORE:

 

A 1): What I Saw Yesterday At Our Meeting:

 

 

Several members of S.D.S./C.A.N. and I were sitting in our student union when the Dean of Students walked over to us escorted by a Pace University security officer.  She sat down and preceded to showed us a copy of Pace S.D.S.’s website (http://

www.studentsforademocraticsociety.org/pace).

 

She said we were violating university policy by meeting at the school as an “unrecognized organization.”  Her claim holds little weight as we had filled out the paperwork well in advance of the date of today’s meeting and still had not heard any response from the university.

 

We have held both C.A.N. and S.D.S. meetings before without any hassle; that is until Sunday’s demonstration happened.

 

When I got back to my dorm I found:

 

An envelope from my university on the ground near my front door.  Inside the envelope was a letter from Pace stating that they are pursuing disciplinary actions against me for the following:

1.       Failure to register a rally

2.       Violation of distribution and solicitation policy

3.       Reservation of university space by an unrecognized organization

 

These charges are an attempt to stop us from voicing our opinions and exercising our constitutional rights to free speech, press, and assembly.  Pace’s message to students and the community is clear: We do not recognize constitutional rights.

 

Any of these charges can carry penalties ranging from verbal warnings to expulsion.

 

We believe the only chance to challenge these charges is to make sure that Pace knows that the world is watching them.

 

We are challenging President Caputo and the University not only on this instance, but also on their attack on civil liberties around the university, their enforced apolitical atmosphere, their union-busting activities, and the presence of Homeland Security agents on campus.

 

This coming Monday the president of PACE, David A. Caputo, will be delivering a "State of the University" speech at 2:30 pm at the Downtown campus.  he Pace Campus Antiwar Network and Students for a Democratic Society Chapters will be holding a picket in front of the University starting at 2:00 pm.

 

Perhaps President Caputo is not aware that his university, as a institution of higher education, should be devoted to protecting free speech, not curtailing it.

 

From the Pace website:

 

"On behalf of the entire Pace community, I would like to welcome you.  I hope that our site and its many informative pages will answer your questions and give you a sense of the many programs and activities at Pace. Don't hesitate to contact the President's Office at 212-346-1097, or email us at: president@pace.edu. I welcome your suggestions and look forward to greeting you in person.

 

“David A. Caputo

“President”

 

And this:

 

“How can we help?  If you need an answer to a pressing problem, can't seem to find the appropriate person to help you, or want to bring something to our attention, please use the Hotline. We'll do our best to get you in touch with the appropriate office or person as well as assist in any way we can.  Also, don't hesitate to use the Hotline to tell us good news too! 

 

“1-866-PAC-E001

 

“We look forward to hearing from you.

president@pace.edu

David A. Caputo

President”

 

I submit to you that he needs to hear our concerns.  Please give a call or drop him an email and share your desire to see justice done.

 

 

If you want to help, we need fliers designed and printed letting New Yorkers know why we are picketing and signs and banners. We need to get the word out about what is happening at Pace.  Please join us in these efforts.

 

Please contact us to send letters of support that we can give to President Caputo, or if you would like to volunteer to help combat Pace’s repression of student dissent:

 

Brian Kelly kelly@leftist.ws 845-649-2146

Lauren Giaccone-lg11679n@pace.edu 917-597-3203

 

Pace Downtown Campus:

1 Pace Plaza New York, NY 10038

212-346-1200

 

Thanks for your Support! Hope to see you all on Monday!

 

Brian Kelly

President, Pace Campus Antiwar Network

kelly@leftist.ws

845-649-2146

AIM Screen Name: Resistance 1986

 

MORE:

 

2): Pace Students Get A Taste Of Imperial Freedom:

Threatened By “Security” Scum With Being Sent To Mental Institutions For Not Ratting Out Other Students:

PRESS RELEASE: 3/7/06

 

2) March 7, 2006 Press Release:

 

Yesterday, the national media has picked up the story of two students heckling President Clinton. This is a press release from the two students, Lauren Giaccone and Brian Kelly.

 

Lauren Giaccone and Brian Kelly are students at the Pace University Downtown campus and participated in the action against President Bill Clinton on March 5th, 2006.

 

Lauren and Brian are both members of  Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) as well as Campus Anti-War Network (CAN) at Pace University.  Both groups are left-wing, anti-war, and anti-militarization. 

 

The groups are democratically run student organizations.  SDS is a relatively new group with a focus on labor and class issues, radical student empowerment and grassroots democracy.  SDS was a radical group in the 1960's which has recently resurged.  CAN is a national organization that is active in fighting the war for several years.

 

 

Inside the event, Lauren Giaccone and Brian Kelly stood up and called President Clinton a war criminal and cited the atrocities he committed during his time in office.  The two students referenced Clinton’s inaction during the Rwandan genocide, the bombing of a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory, the increased ethnic cleansing in Bosnia as a result of U.S. action and the renewed sanctions and bombings against Iraq which murdered countless people.

 

It was at this time that the two students were forcibly removed by Westchester police and brought to an isolated room within the campus where Secret Service were waiting.

 

 

The students were searched and had their photos taken several times by both police and Secret Service, neither of which was consented to.

 

The students were detained for a period of time and questioned about their ties to SDS. When the students refused to give information like their Social Security numbers, the officers threatened them with statements such as "We can keep you here for 3 days."

 

The Secret Service also tried to get the students to waive their patient/doctor privilege by having them sign a form that would allow the agents to investigate if they were on any medication or if they had been to a psychiatrist; however, the students refused.

 

The police demanded to know the names of who the students traveled with and what type of vehicles were used.

 

The students refused to give this information. 

 

The other SDS students were found waiting for their friends in the lobby, where the police took their IDs even though they had nothing to do with the action.

 

The students were then questioned about a letter that the Pace Chapter of SDS sent to the President of the University denouncing the invitation to President Clinton.  President Caputo had given this letter to the Secret Service.

 

The students were then loaded into a van with an officer and driven to their cars where

police searched the students' cars under direst.

 

The searches were not consented to.

 

The students Lauren Giaccone and Brian Kelly would like to make it clear that they do not support Democrats or Republicans.