David Cracknell, Political Editor
The Sunday Times - Britain
May 08, 2005

PRESSURE on Tony Blair to quit as prime minister intensified this weekend with a growing number of Labour MPs calling for him to leave Downing Street within a year.

The backbenchers, many speaking publicly for the first time, have been moved to hasten Blairs departure after his majority was slashed by 94 in Thursdays general election.

Many of them say they were shocked by the hostility shown towards them and the prime minister on the doorstep during the election campaign. With a smaller majority, backbenchers will wield far more power and have the potential to help vote down key government bills in the forthcoming Queens speech, including soon-to-be-published legislation on ID cards. [...] Read it all at: http://tinyurl.com/exddx


© Virginia Metze

05/09/05

The first and most obvious thing to be said about yesterday's elections is this: They were a referendum on the war, and the war lost. Remember this well. The War Party in the US will try to tell you that it isn't so, and they'll trot out various alternative explanations. They're lying. ... Labour didn't just lose seats: Its cabinet ministers lost seats -- at least four ministers and former ministers lost to Tory and Lib Dem opponents. And what, precisely, has been the source of conflict between the members of Blair's government and Parliament's Labour delegation? The war. The anti-war Lib Dems made significant percentage gains even where they didn't pull off wins. They made those gains against MPs who, reluctantly or with enthusiasm, supported the war...

http://www.freemarketnews.com/pview/5837/1514/html/index.php

from Free Market News Network, by Thomas L. Knapp

05/09/05

The second anniversary of America's expedition into Iraq passed with relatively scant fanfare. Since hostilities in Mesopotamia commenced, thousands of American and Iraqi casualties have been tallied. Every month Washington spends billion of dollars on counterinsurgency and rebuilding efforts in Iraq and further afield, which swells the nation's largest budget and budget deficit in its history. As vast quantities of blood and treasure are expended abroad, Washington politicians win plaudits domestically for their warmongering, and government contracting at home and abroad burgeon, on what basis is this imperial project—financed by foreign lenders and American taxpayers—justified?

http://www.mises.org/story/1811

from Ludwig von Mises Institute, by Grant M. Nülle


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Home from Iraq: Speech Given by Reporter who Covered Occupation

Here is a reporter who speaks truth to power. The article below is adapted from a speech given by photojournalist Molly Bingham at Western Kentucky University last month. Bingham, a Louisville, Kentucky native, was detained in 2003 by Iraqi security forces and held in Abu Ghraib prison from March 25 to April 2, 2003.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3196

Please Forward Widely -- Please Forward Widely

PUT THE IRAQ WAR ON TRIAL - NOT GI RESISTERS

Picket May 10th @ 5:00 Support GI Resisters!
Burlington

On Tuesday, May 10th at 5:00 Vermont Military Families Speak Out and other anti-war organizations will be holding a picket in Burlington in front of the Federal Building (corner of Elmwood and Pearl Streets).

We are picketing to support Pablo Paredes and Kevin Benderman, two GIs standing trial beginning May 11th for refusing deployments to Iraq. Their applications for conscientious objector status have not been accepted.

Please join us at this picket. Bring signs, banners, friends, co-workers! We ask everyone who is against this war to join us in supporting these men who are refusing to take part in this unjustified and brutal war.

If you haven't signed the petition for Pablo Paredes, you can do it now at http://www.defendpablo.org. In just the last 5 days the number of signers has increased from less than 200 to over 4,000! --background information below--


Vermont Military Families Speak Out

864-5587--Paul Fleckenstein
vermontmfso@yahoo.com

Endorsed by: American Friends Service Committee, Burlington Anti-War Coalition, International Socialist Organization, Vermont Peace and Justice Center, Students Against War (UVM), U.S. Labor Against the War, Vermont Nonviolent Student Activism Coalition, Vermont Green Party, Enosburg Area Candlelight Peace Vigil, Johnson Anti-War Coalition


Letter of Solidarity from Vermont Military Families Speak Out to Pablo Paredes and Kevin Benderman

May 5, 2005

As members of the Vermont chapter of Military Families Speak Out we stand in solidarity with Pablo Paredes and Kevin Benderman. Each man will stand trial on May 11th for refusing deployment to Iraq to fight the unjustified war that tears that country apart today. Their applications for conscientious objector status have not been accepted.

Petty Officer Third Class Pablo Paredes refused deployment on December 6, 2004. He stated at the time, “I don't want to be a part of a ship that's taking 3,000 Marines over there, knowing a hundred or more of them won't come back. I can't sleep at night knowing that's what I do for a living." Since then he has actively opposed the war appearing at many rallies.

Sgt. Kevin Benderman refused redeployment after having served a year in Iraq. A! fter seeing first hand the carnage that the war wrought on the Iraqi people he stated, “I was there for six months and I did not see the first weapon of mass destruction. I did receive orders from the company commander to shoot children if they threw small rocks at us and that was when I figured out that the entire thing was way over the line.”

These two men have become powerful voices in the opposition to the illegal and immoral war in Iraq. Their refusal to take part in the war machine has given credence to the demand for immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. Because of this the military is trying to make an example of these men by imprisoning them. We believe that the war itself should be put on trial not the soldiers who refuse to fight it. Join us in demanding the freedom of Pablo Paredes and Kevin Benderman.

--Vermont Military Families Speak Out


CALL FOR NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR GI RESISTERS: MAY 10

Please circulate widely:

Call for a National Day of Action for GI Resisters on May 10, 2005

May 1, 2005

We urge you to join us in a "National Day of Action for GI Resisters" on Tuesday May 10, 2005. This is the day before the US military is planning to bring sailor Pablo Paredes and soldier Kevin Benderman before military court martial tribunals for their opposition to the Iraq War. They face forfeiture of pay and benefits, and military jail time.

On December 6, 2004, Navy Petty Officer Pablo Paredes refused to board his ship as it left the San Diego Naval Station in support of the Iraq War and occupation. At the time of his refusal, Pablo said he hoped his protest might inspire other GI's to refuse to take part in the war.

On January 5, 2005, Kevin Benderman refused to deploy for a second tour of duty in Iraq with the Army's Third Infantry Division. At the same time seventeen other soldiers from his unit went AWOL, two tried to kill themselves and one had a relative shoot him in the leg to avoid deploying.

Both men applied for discharge from the US military as conscientious objectors. The military has wrongly rejected both claims.

It's time for us to escalate public pressure and action in support of Pablo, Kevin and the thousands of other courageous men and women who have followed their conscience to uphold international law and to take a principled stand against the unjust, illegal war and occupation of Iraq. It's time we had their backs.

Objection and resistance by military servicepersons is a healthy and important assertion of Democracy in a country where the decisions to invade Iraq, to maintain an occupation, and engage in widespread human right violations and torture were made undemocratically in violation of international law and based on continuing lies and disinformation.

Please join us by organizing a public demonstration, vigil or rally of support on May 10. Every action, no matter how large or small is important.

Also,

* Send letters of support and donations to cover legal fees to Pablo and Kevin via their websites listed below.

* Come to San Diego, California (Pablo) or Fort Stewart, Georgia (Kevin) to show your support during their trials.

* Write letters to the editor, and help educate your organization, church, union, school, co-workers and community.

Resisting illegal occupation and war is not a crime! The right to conscientious objection is being systematically violated by the military. Those objectors who are publicly asserting their rights are being singled out for punishment. We demand that military personnel retain their right to follow their conscience, publicly dissent and that their basic democratic rights be respected.

A better world is possible.

Initial signatures

* Monica Benderman - spouse of Kevin Benderman
* Victor Paredes - brother of Pablo Paredes
* Aimee Allison - Gulf War CO; Oakland City Council Candidate
* Medea Benjamin - CodePink, co-founder; Global Exchange, founding Director
* Leslie Cagan - United for Peace and Justice, Nat'l Steering Cmte
* Stephen Funk - former Marine and first public Iraq War resister
* Susan Galleymore - MotherSpeak; military mother; Courage to Resist
* Lynn Gonzalez - San Diego Military Counseling Project
* Jack Heyman - Int'l Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10, Exec Board member
* George Johnson - Veterans for Peace, Nat'l Exec Board member
* Ragina Johnson - College Not Combat
* Naomi Klein - activist; writer
* Sharon Lee Kufeldt - Veterans for Peace, Nat'l Exec Board VP
* Barbara Lubin - Middle East Children's Alliance, Director; ANSWER, Nat'l Steering Cmte member
* Efia Nwangaza - Afrikan Am Institute for Policy Studies
* Siri Margerin - United for Peace and Justice, Nat'l Steering Cmte; Iraq Peace Panel Project
* Steve Morse - GI Rights Program Coor, Central Cmte for Conscientious Objectors
* Jeff Paterson - Not in Our Name; former Marine and 1991 Gulf War resister
* David Solnit - People Powered Strategy Project; Courage to Resist
* Vida Shahamat and Brain Barry - South Bay Mobilization Against the War
* Aryeh Shell - Courage to Resist; Popular Education and Action Collective
* Samina Faheem Sundas - American Muslim Voice
* Fernando Suarez del Solar - father of Marine Jesus Suarez killed in Iraq
* Fr. Louie Vitale, O.F.M., St Boniface Church; Korea War veteran
* Bob Wing - War Times
* Howard Zinn - historian; author

(organizations listed for identification purposes only)

More info about Pablo Paredes:
http://www.SwiftSmartVeterans.com

Sign online petition to support Pablo Paredes:
http://www.defendpablo.org

More info about Kevin Benderman:
http://www.BendermanDefense.org

For May 10 actions, leaflets, and more:
http://www.CourageToResist.org
Contact: courage@riseup.net


Informant: Ashley Smith

05/06/05

It is time to ponder the strategic impact of the casualty figures. Those that are relevant to this analysis are widely familiar. The U.S. has lost approximately 1,500 dead in military action and 10,000 wounded, and we continue to lose, dead, about 50 soldiers every month. The Iraqis (using loose counts) die and are wounded at about ten times the U.S. rate. Moreover, the Iraqi deaths have increased substantially since the national election in January...

http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/wfb200505061240.asp

from National Review, by William F. Buckley, Jr.


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp