Coleen Rowley at St Scholastica 3/22

UPDATE 3/22: Coleen Rowley's lecture has been POSTPONED on account of the blizzard. It has been rescheduled to TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 7:30pm

Tuesday, March 22  April 12

7:30 pm

College of St Scholastica - Mitchell Auditorium

"Obama's Response to Terrorism"

         with Coleen Rowley

Free and open to the public

Sponsored by the Alworth Center 

         for the Study of Peace and Justice

 

Our friend Coleen Rowley is returning to Duluth to give the closing lecture of the Terrorism and Human Rights series at the College of St Scholastica. A retired, 23-year veteran of the FBI, Rowley was honored by TIME Magazine as a Person of the Year in 2002 for blowing the whistle on pre-9/11 intelligence lapses. We don't want to give away her talk, but it's safe to say she'll tear U.S. war policy and intelligence gathering to shreds as anti-democratic and counter-productive. Don't miss her... we're sure you'll learn something new from our favorite agent-turned-activist.

While you're at it, check out these other fine speakers coming to our area:

Thursday, March 17

7:30 pm

College of St Scholastica - Mitchell Auditorium

"Dying to Drive the Foreigners Out"

      with Robert Pape

Dr. Pape is the director of the University of Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism and a leading international authority on the psychology of suicide terrorism. Check out his article "It's the Occupation, Stupid" for Foreign Policy here.

Saturday, March 26

7:00 pm

College of St Scholastica - Burns Wellness Center 249

"The Perils of Military Presence in Our Urban Communities"

      with Art Laffin

Art Laffin is an author, longtime peace activist and member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Community in Washington, DC. He has participated in numerous nonviolent actions for disarmament and upholding the rights of the homeless, prisoners, immigrants and victims of torture. Sponsored by the Duluth chapter of Pax Christi - the international Catholic peace movement. Free and open to the public.

Iraq war logs: torture, "body counts" and what our government knew but refused to tell

Photo: Fallujah, 2003, by Christan Peacemaker Teams

Last week, the whistleblower website Wikileaks released nearly 400,000 previously secret US military field reports from Iraq, dated from 2004 to early 2010. Reporters at the UK-based Guardian and the German Der Spiegel are only beginning to sift through the mountainous files, but already a disturbing picture has emerged of torture, deception and a much larger civilian death toll than the US government previously admitted.

Some of the chilling details:

• ** US commanders ordered troops to ignore reports of torture by Iraqi security forces, and knowingly turned captives over to torture squads;
• ** Despite Gen. Tommy Franks' insistence that "we don't do body counts," the Pentagon in fact cataloged at least 100,000 violent deaths of Iraqis between 2004 and 2009, including 66,000 civilians;
• ** Apache helicopter pilots killed insurgents they knew were trying to surrender;
• ** Frightened and trigger-happy US troops routinely gunned down civilians at checkpoints, and deaths and injury by "friendly fire" were far more common than reported.
  

This information comes as little surprise to anti-war activists, but provides concrete evidence of torture and lies by US and Iraqi forces. The leaks have sent shock waves across the world, and both UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and the UN's chief investigator on torture have called for investigations of possible war crimes.

But the US media have been largely quiet about the details of the documents, preferring to regurgitate the Pentagon's Orwellian claim that Wikileaks, and not the US military, has "blood on its hands." The Obama Administration, led by a man who once campaigned on an anti-war and transparency platform, has likewise attacked the messenger, calling for prosecution not of US war criminals but of Wikileaks volunteers and brave whistleblowers within the military. Already in May of this year, military police arrested 23-year old Private Bradley Manning for allegedly leaking secret military data. Commanders who okayed torture walk freely, but Pvt. Manning faces 52 years in prison for exposing their crimes.

What you can do:

1. Read the war logs. You can check out wikileaks.org or read synopses as they become available at the Guardian or Der Spiegel.
2. Support Bradley Manning. Sign the online petition and make a donation to his legal defense at bradleymanning.org.
3. Get organizing! The times demand a people's movement for accountability and an end to the bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. NAWC's next monthly meeting is November 7, 2pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Duluth (835 W College). All are welcome.
   

End SOA/WHINSEC secrecy - act today!

UPDATE (6/25): WE WON, BY A VOTE OF 224-190! Now it must pass a House-Senate Conference Committee to become law. Stay tuned to SOA Watch for more.

Most House Democrats supported the measure, including our own James Oberstar and David Obey. SHOCKINGLY, Collin Peterson of Minnesota (including Bemidji, Detroit Lakes) and Bart Stupak of the UP voted AGAINST transparency. If you are a constituent of either Peterson or Stupak, please contact them to express your disappointment.

ON WEDNESDAY, June 24, the House will vote on a Defense Authorization Act amendment that would require the Army to release names, ranks, countries of origin and courses attended for students of the notorious School of the Americas/WHINSEC.

SOA/WHINSEC is a US-run training program for Latin American armed forces that has graduated the worst human rights abusers, dictators and coup-leaders in the hemisphere. In 1996, the Pentagon was forced to release SOA training manuals that advocated torture, disappearances and blackmail against nuns, trade unionists, students and indigenous activists.

In 2000, the Pentagon "closed" the SOA and reopened it under a new name - the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). They promised that the school would be more transparent, yet they have consistently blocked the release of student data to human rights groups.

This information must be public, so that we can track the activities of graduates and expose the SOA/WHINSEC for what it is: a training ground for the hired guns of transnational corporations.

TAKE ACTION TODAY!!!

Please call your representative and urge him or her to vote yes on this amendment. Here are the numbers for our area representatives:

David Obey (WI-7, including Superior and Ashland):
(202) 225-3365
James Oberstar (MN-8, including Duluth and Grand Rapids):
(202) 225-6211
Colin Peterson (MN-7, including Detroit Lakes and Bemidji):
(202) 225-2165

SUGGESTED MESSAGE:

Hello, My name is __________, and as your constituent, I urge you to vote YES on the McGovern-Sestak-Bishop-Lewis amendment to the National Defense Authorization bill.

The amendment would release the names, country of origin, rank and dates of attendance at WHINSEC for graduates and instructors. This amendment is supported by Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Congressman Ike Skelton.

As you may know the School of the Americas, renamed WHINSEC, has a notorious history linked to serious crimes and human rights abuses throughout Latin America. In the past few years under WHINSEC, known human rights abusers have attended the school and WHINSEC instructors have been arrested in Colombia for returning home and aiding the drug cartels. None of this information would be known if the basic information about enrollment at WHINSEC were not disclosed. This information is vital to the work of Congress and human rights organizations who seek protection of human rights and promoting transparency, however all FOIA requests for this information are now being denied.

What is WHINSEC hiding?! Voting YES on the McGovern-Sestak-Bishop-Lewis amendment is a vote FOR human rights and FOR transparency. I urge your boss to vote YES!!!