GI SPECIAL 3B97:

ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

US marine Sgt. Kevin Boyd (l.) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance company, near Fallujah. www.undermars.com

Ft. Carson Scum Want To Send War-Resisting Iraq Vets Wife To Prison Too:

I Didnt Know Id Get Into Trouble For Being A Housewife

[Every member of the armed forces swears an oath to defend Americans against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The army officers who are responsible for this atrocity have gone so far over the line they have revealed themselves for what they are. They are the enemies domestic, up close and personal. Here are the traitors who shit on everything decent and honorable. Here are the enemy combatants. They have no place among decent people.

[Payback is overdue for them and their kind. They rape the freedoms of the people. Let their disgrace and punishment come soon, and what they did here never be forgotten.]

July 21, 2005 By DENNIS HUSPENI, THE GAZETTE

A Fort Carson soldier has been convicted of intent to avoid hazardous duty what amounts to desertion and is serving time in a military prison after trying to declare himself a conscientious objector.

Army officials also have filed a felony charge against his wife, alleging she was enticing, abetting a deserter, her attorney said.

Spc. Dale Bartell, assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, didnt always oppose war.

He enlisted almost three years ago and served a tour in Iraq.

But Bartell and his wife, Amy Bartell, joined a Mennonite church, and their philosophies changed, she said Wednesday outside a U.S. District courtroom in Colorado Springs where she was scheduled for a hearing.

Hes changed since joining. If he knew the teachings then that we know now, he never would have joined, Amy Bartell said. He knew there was going to be consequences for his stance.

I didnt know Id get into trouble for being a housewife.

As his unit was preparing to go back to Iraq, Bartells commanding officers would not help him and even hindered him in filing the paperwork to become a conscientious objector, said Amy Bartells attorney, Bill Durland.

He knew that once they got him over there, they would have their way, Amy Bartell said, noting officers offered to let him use non-lethal ammunition in Iraq. He would have to ignore his religious convictions. What choice did he have? He went AWOL.

Soldiers have filed about 150 conscientious-objector applications since 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported recently using Pentagon figures. About 71 of those applications were approved. During the Vietnam War where many soldiers were drafted there were some 17,000 applications from active-duty soldiers, according to the Times report.

Bartell, who has been transferred to a military prison in Fort Sill, Okla., was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

The first time Bartell went absent without leave was from March 7 through April 8, according to Durland. During that time, Bartell never left Fort Carson, where the couple lived on base with their four children, ages 1 to 11.

Amy Bartell received a letter saying all pay and benefits were being cut off.

The second time Bartell went AWOL was on the day he thought his unit was to ship out, April 17. He met with a military defense attorney May 12 and turned himself in.

By that time, the couple had moved to the Caon City area to be near their church, the Skyline Mennonite Church.

Military police showed up in early May and served Amy Bartell with the felony charge of enticing, abetting a deserter, Durland said.

That charge could result in punishment of up to three years in prison, Durland said.

Prosecutors charged Spc. Bartell with intent to avoid hazardous duty, which is basically the same as desertion, Durland said. On advice from his military attorney, Bartell pleaded guilty to the charge in hopes his conscientious objector position could mitigate a harsh prison sentence.

He pleaded guilty because he accepted responsibility for what he had done, Bartell said. It was his only option. He was not going to say no to God.

Bartells military attorney told a Fort Carson public affairs officer Wednesday she would have to get permission from her client before answering any questions.

The spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Denver declined comment on the case Wednesday.

On July 12, Spc. Bartell was sentenced to four months in prison, after which he will be dishonorably discharged.

Rev. Loren Miller, of Skyline Mennonite, said the church is for pacifist Christians. Church officials and volunteers have helped the Bartells, and were at the hearing Wednesday which was postponed until Aug. 17.

We are harmless, peaceloving people, Miller said, noting Mennonites take the Scriptures literally.

Amy Bartell is worried about the felony charge she faces. And shes worried about her husband.

Hes going through a lot, she said. It does affect him. Hes sitting in prison knowing Im getting into trouble for what we believe.

[Thanks to CS and Tom Joad, who sent this in. CS writes: That wife out at Ft Carson is a first to my knowledge. They need support.]

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Sailor Dies From IED Wounds

7.21.05 CNN

A U.S. sailor died Thursday of wounds suffered last Friday in an improvised explosive device attack during combat in western Iraq, the Marines said.

The sailor was assigned to Regimental Combat Team-2, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward). This brings the number of U.S. deaths in the war to 1,769.

Army Says Fort Campbell Soldier Died From Self-Inflicted Injuries:

Dad Says Bullshit

7.21.05 WKYT

ST. LOUIS An Army representative who delivered news of a Fort Campbell soldier's death to her family in Missouri says she died from self-inflicted injuries.

But her father says the 19-year-old's death was not a suicide.

Army Private LaVena Johnson died Tuesday near Balad, Iraq, from what the Army called noncombat-related injuries. The Army said the cause of death remained under investigation. [Well, which is it? Get the stories straight.]

Johnson was assigned to the 129th Corps Support Battalion based at Fort Campbell. She would have turned 20 next Wednesday.

She graduated from Hazelwood Central High School in 2004, where she was described by her father as an honor roll student who had straight A's her senior year.

Local Soldier Injured

07/21/05 By Kelly Reed, Staff writer, Feather Publishing

A Westwood man serving with the California National Guard was injured Saturday, July 9, in Baghdad while on a routine patrol.

Staff Sgt. Adam Skillen, with the 184th National Guard unit stationed out of Auburn, was leading a convoy on a patrol when an improvised explosive device hit his truck, said his wife Heather Skillen of Westwood.

The blast from the IED sent shrapnel into his face and neck but avoided his eyes, she said. The other soldiers in his truck were also injured but there were no fatalities.

"He had all his gear on, thank God," she said.

Skillen was flown to Walter Reed Memorial Hospital in Washington D.C. where he remains in serious condition.

An account has been set up at Golden One Credit Union to help the family with expenses. To donate, send a check or drop it off at The Golden One Credit Union at 2942 Main Street. Make your the check out to Golden One but write "Skillen account" in the memo.

TROOP NEWS

My Son Was Killed In A War Without Honor For The Sake Of Lies

We Invaded Iraq For Oil. Is That Enough To Deserve My Sons Blood?

Army Chief Warrant Officer Steven E. Shepard, 30, Purcell, Okla., is carried to the church during his funeral service July 6, 2005, in Lexington, Okla. Shepard, died June 27, 2005, near Taji, Iraq. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

10 July 2005 By Hada Sarha, Al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan. Translated from Arabic by Muhammad Abu Nasr

The bridge of death from Baghdad to Washington sets off grief and anger among the American people.

* Bill Mitchell: I asked Bush to bring me my son home from Iraq, and he sent him home in a coffin.

* Nadia McCaffrey: My son was killed in a war without honor for the sake of lies.

* Sue Niederer: Im talking to you in order to expose the face of the killer of humanity who stole my dreams.

* The star of Fahrenheit 9 /11: We invaded Iraq for oil. Is that enough to deserve my sons blood?

Bill Mitchell took part in a demonstration against the Iraq war in California. He called out, Bring back my son from Iraq! But his son Michael Mitchell, a transport mechanic soldier was killed two weeks later in Madinat as-Sadr and came home to his relatives in a coffin.

Bill Mitchell, now a grieving father, said, I was wrong. I should have asked them to bring my son back from Iraq alive, not dead. Mitchell said that he wished he could spend an hour showing Bush pictures of his son his smiling face . . his positive attitude . . . and show him that his murder has had a disastrous effect on the betterment of this world.

Let Bush know that we wont allow that my son died for an unjust war. Michael died with honor in a war with no honor.

Mitchell added, I would like to meet Bush to stop his madness, because concealing the number of American dead and the extent of damage done in Iraq only makes the war easier for those trying to conceal the truth.

Mitchell says that he is working with large groups of Americans who have also lost their sons or who sent their children off to fight in Iraq and who are trying to stop this war, end the occupation of Iraq, and let the Iraqis govern themselves.

This was one of the letters that al-Arab al-Yawm has received in answer to the questions we posed to the fathers and mothers of the soldiers killed in Iraq who are now active in a rising movement against the unjust war that Bush is waging in Iraq.

Yet as the war continues to grow ever fiercer and more grueling, the traffic of coffins along the Bridge of Death from Baghdad to Washington becomes heavier and heavier.

In order to confront this increasingly difficult and tragic situation facing the US in Iraq, an American woman from California, Nadia McCaffrey, formed an anti-war organization called the Peace Organization for Women and Children.

This American woman lost her son Patrick, 34, who was killed in the Iraqi city of Balad. Ms. McCaffrey says that she will raise her voice to tell the world that this is a war without honor.

She notes that there have been numerous attempts to attack her Internet website and to distort its contents.

In a conversation with al-Arab al-Yawm, Ms. McCaffrey recounted that her son Patrick went to Iraq as a member of the US National Guard on a mission to rebuild Iraq the sort of mission that the American National Guard does.

But I know, and many others know, and my son knows that this is untrue, Ms. McCaffrey says. Patrick discovered in Iraq that this was nothing but a lie and that Iraq had no hand in the September 2001 events. My son fought for lies.

Nadia McCaffrey wrote us saying that she had no respect for Bush and that she didnt vote for him.

He lied to us, she says, and went into this immoral war, killing many innocent people on both sides for oil. Iraq is now being sold to American oil companies.

Ms McCaffrey goes on: We are America: the people. We have now lost our rights. . . . I wouldnt bother talking to Mr. Bush . . . I would turn my back on him. I will raise my voice against the war for my grandchildren because I know that my son who was killed in Iraq felt shame and disgrace over what we are doing in that country.

Patrick was saddened and pained by the hatred that the Iraqis now have for Americans for which we are the reason.

At the end of our conversation, Nadia said, In the last letter that Patrick sent me he said, theres nothing for us to do here. We must get out.

Nadia said that she would be coming to Jordan next October on her second visit to the country within the framework of her campaign in the course of which she has visited many Arab and European countries, giving lectures and holding conferences where she demands an end to the war and calls on others to raise their voices too against Bushs war in Iraq.

An American woman named Sue Niederer appears in the picture in the middle of a memorial display of empty combat boots corresponding to the number of soldiers killed in the war, a number that continues to increase in what has now been turned into a poster that has spread by the anti-war movement throughout the United States.

Sue says that she doesnt believe that the US army should be in Iraq because that country must rule itself. She told al-Arab al-Yawm that her young son Seth had not received the necessary training for the combat that he encountered, yet he was sent to Iraq five days after his wedding on what Ms. Niederer calls a suicide mission.

Soldier Seth Dvorin was killed in al-Iskandariyah in Iraq, leaving behind a wife no more than 24 years old. Seth himself was a young man who dreamed of continuing his university study, but, says Ms. Niederer, Bush stole that dream.

After the death of her son, Sue Niederer became an anti-war activist. It is important for people to understand that there are families that have been left behind and that mothers are not supposed to bury their children. So, she says, she stands against he war and takes part in marches opposed to the war alongside many other women.

Ms Niederer asks, Does our going to Iraq justify taking the life of any one of our children? In conclusion, she says that she took part in the discussion on al-Arab al-Yawm to put a face on the killing of a human life.

The face of Ms. Lila Lipscomb is well-known. She was one of those who appeared in Michael Moores film Fahrenheit 9 /11. She read a letter that her son Michael Pedersen, 26 , sent her from Iraq in which he described the how hard were the conditions over there.

This lady is still flying the American flag by the door of her house and says in interviews with journalists, Im proud to be an American citizen. But Ive lost my faith and my trust in those who lead my country.

In her letter to al-Arab al-Yawm, Lila asked repeatedly: Should my sons blood have been shed for greed? No. No, I dont think so. Lila says that she took part in this discussion with al-Arab al-Yawm because she believes that mothers will heal the nations.

Ms. Lila Lipscomb is saddened by the fact that she knows no details about the death of her son Michael, and because the versions that were told her by the military administration were numerous and contradictory. She says: Some say that Michael was killed while on a rescue mission. Others say that Michael was killed in a rocket attack and that he died with six of his buddies. But along with other families of soldiers she has many questions and many doubts about what really happened. Will there ever be any answers? Probably not, she says.

Lila points out: My son had a closed casket, so I am forced to trust in a government that I dont trust that it was indeed my son in the casket they sent. I still at times have visions of him stepping onto the porch with a smile on his face, the way he always used to do.

She concluded, saying, No, I dont believe in the presence of American soldiers in Iraq and neither did my son. We invaded a country to take control of its oil and when we got there the American Administration decided that it would fight terrorism. Dont they know that the American presence in Iraq is the reason for the terrorism? Is a lie ever worth the cost of a mothers child? Does it matter if it is an Iraqi mother or an American mother who grieves? Is it not the same grief?

Lynn Bradach lost her son Travis, 21, in Iraq. She marked the second anniversary of his passing and has participated in many actions against the war. Al-Arab al-Yawm joined her in her grief over the Internet something she regarded as a valuable opportunity to express her feelings and her anger despite her long-time resolve not to talk to the press and media.

Lynn admits: Its so hard to put into words all the feelings I have. She says, sometimes I think that Lynn died with Travis. She says I still believe the US should never have invaded Iraq. She adds, We know that Bushs only thought was to get rid of Saddam Hussein, in spite of the reports that proved that he didnt have weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq had no connection with September 11th or with Bin Ladin. How could we as a country and a people allow that to happen? How could we have let Bush and his administration take charge of our country and lead us in this direction?

Lynn went on, I now realize how much the politics of this country is my responsibility. Its up to me to pay attention to whom Im voting for and whom Im voting against and to work hard to get others to understand why I feel this way. I can no longer ignore whats happening in places outside my beautiful existence my beautiful green Oregon just because it frightens me. Each and every one of us is responsible for the death of my son and so many others due to our complacent attitude.

The message I have for Bush is to listen to those outside of his little protective circle. Talk to experts in the subjects of warfare, the history of terrorism, the history of Iraq and the Arab peoples. What does victory mean to you and how many of our troops and innocent Iraqis need to die for this victory of yours?

I also want to know what are you willing to sacrifice? Would you be willing to encourage your daughters to join up and fight for this victory the army is in desperate need of new troops.

Lynn Bradach concluded by saying, I have never heard this president ever admit that he made some wrong decisions. I guess I want history to show how very, very wrong he was.

Among those who answered the questions of al-Arab al-Yawm was one American woman of Jordanian origin Adelle Qabbaayn, a Lecturer in an American university. This woman has a different story.

She declined to supply a picture of her daughter or to allow us to talk to her because she is still on duty in the US Army.

But she said that her daughter joined the US National Guard and that she was proud of her and didnt know that a disaster was lying in wait for her when she was sent along with the American forces to Iraq. What happened was that she found herself as a party in a military confrontation. The helicopter on which she was riding was shot down. All the soldiers aboard the craft were killed; only her daughter remained alive, though she was so severely wounded that she is now disabled.

She asked: I want to know if there was a convincing reason for my daughter and all the other American soldiers to pay that price when they were sent to Iraq.

Ms. Qabbaayn has joined an activist group against the war and in solidarity with the bereaved mothers and widowed wives produced by the conflict. Ms. Qabbaayn asks people to raise their voices against the war and to support those who organize demonstrations and protests to put an end to the conflict.

These are but a few samples from the mail that flooded in to al-Arab al-Yawm from mothers, fathers, and wives of American soldiers killed in the war who have raised their voices against the American administration. They are now gathering together to apply some real pressure in order to stop the war against the people of Iraq.

I Pledge My Allegiance To The Poor And Oppressed

July 22, 2005 Socialist Worker

CAMILO MEJIA was the first U.S. soldier who served in Iraq to go public with his refusal to continue fighting George Bushs war for oil and empire.

Camilo refused to be redeployed to Iraq before the revelations about torture at the Abu Ghraib prison came to light, but these abuses didnt take him by surprise. One of his first assignments when he arrived in Iraq in 2003 was to detain--and abuse--Iraqi prisoners by depriving them of sleep and using mock executions to terrify them.

A military court forced Camilo to serve seven months confinement for his decision to abide by his conscience. Since his release, Camilo has thrown himself into building the antiwar movement and counter-recruitment efforts--and speaking about how his time in Iraq has changed his thinking about the world.

On July 3, Camilo spoke at an evening rally against war and empire at the Socialism 2005 conference in Chicago. Here, Socialist Worker prints an extended version of his speech.

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

THOSE OF us in the GI antiwar movement, whether we know it or not, face a powerful enemy. When I say antiwar movement, it is assumed that I mean the war in Iraq, but the war in Iraq should be seen as part of something far bigger and far more devastating.

The powerful enemy is the corporations that finance congressional and presidential campaigns, the corporations in control of our privatized government. This is the same enemy that charges the American people a billion dollars per week to send their children to fight a criminal war against the children of Iraq.

Our struggle is the struggle against those who say support our troops while turning their backs on returning veterans. It is rather comfortable to say support the troops while keeping their reality in Iraq a mystery.

Support the troops by waving flags and slapping yellow ribbons on the bumpers of SUVs.

Support the troops while they are killing their brothers and sisters in Iraq--meanwhile, hiding the flag-draped coffins some of them are coming home in, and keeping the horror of their wounds out of the publics view.

We struggle against those who create terrorism through the spread of hunger and poverty, so they can spread war and reap the profits. We struggle against those who invade and occupy a land for its resources, and then call its people terrorists for refusing to be conquered.

No longer able to rely on the rhetoric of the Cold War, the corporate warmongers need this global terrorism to justify the spread of its empire.

So the war we oppose is the war waged by corporations on the billions of people around the world who live in utter misery.

We fight an enemy that can only be made powerful through the systematic exploitation of natural resources and through the constant and systematic poisoning of the environment across the world. This enemy does not need war to spread death and destruction.

We fight a system that feeds on poverty and lack of options to fill the ranks of its imperialist military.

The United States of America is the only superpower on earth--a nation rich and powerful beyond anything ever seen or heard of in history. There is no reason why everyone in this nation should not live a comfortable and stable life. Yet more than 40 million people live without health insurance. The public school system is overcrowded and failing, but to get help from the government, public schools must open their doors to military recruiters.

The so-called American Dream, to many poor people, is tied to the obligation to fight in a war for corporate domination.

They call it an all-volunteer army. But to them, I say: Show me a society where everyone has access to health care. Show me a society where everyone has access to an education. Show me a society where everyone has access to decent wages, where everyone lives a dignified life, and then I will show you an all-volunteer army.

Poverty and oppression around the world provide the building blocks for an empire. Poverty and oppression at home provide the building blocks to build an imperial army.

In saying no to that imperial army--in refusing to fight an imperial war against our brothers and sisters of Iraq--I pledge my allegiance to the poor and oppressed of the world. In saying no to an imperial army and in refusing to fight an imperial war against our brothers and sisters of Iraq, I pledge my allegiance to the working class of the world.

Their struggle--which is your struggle--is my struggle as well.

U.S. patrol Baghdad June 23, 2005. (Ceerwan Aziz/Reuters)

SITUATION:

YOU DONT WANT TO BE THERE.

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DONT WANT YOU TO BE THERE.

THE IRAQIS DONT WANT YOU TO BE THERE.

MISSION:

RECTIFY THE SITUATION

1. IDENTIFY THE ASSHOLES RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR BEING THERE;

2. TAKE COORDINATED ACTION TO NEUTRALIZE THE ASSHOLES AND IMPOSE A SATISFACTORY SOLUTION, USING A CONCENTRATION OF FORCES APPROPRIATE TO THE MISSION

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Assorted Resistance Action

Jul. 21, 2005 BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press & Aljazeera & WJLA & The International Herald Tribune & CNN & Reuters

Two Algerian diplomats and their driver were abducted Thursday in a western Baghdad neighborhood, police and embassy employees said. The diplomats had an unknown number of guards.

The diplomats' Toyota Land Cruiser was left behind and claimed later by Algerian Embassy staff.

Guerrillas in two cars stopped the vehicle carrying charge d'affaires Balarousi Ali and another diplomat near the al-Sa'a restaurant in the upscale Mansour district, which is home to many embassies, and dragged the men from their car, police officials said.

An embassy employee confirmed by telephone that Ali had been seized but said Algerian staff "have no further information."

The second diplomat was identified as Azzedine Ben Kadi, according to an Algerian diplomatic source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

A car bomber rammed into an Iraqi army checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing five soldiers in Mahmoudiyah, about 20 miles south of the capital. Eight other soldiers were injured, according to army Lt. Odai al-Zeiadi.

A second Iraqi army checkpoint in the southern Baghdad suburb of Bueitha was also hit by a car bomber, killing one soldier, al-Zeiadi said. Seven soldiers were injured, he said.

Police said two Iraqi commandoes were killed and 10 injured by a car bomb strike on a checkpoint in the Dora neighbourhood of the capital.

Resistance fighters killed three members of the Iraqi Reconstruction Committee of Qadisiya province at about 10 a.m. (2 a.m. ET) in a drive-by shooting in the al-Jamiaa neighborhood in western Baghdad as they were heading to an Internet cafe in the western neighborhood of Khadhra, said police 1st Lt. Mohammad Al-Hiyali.

In Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, an employee of the Ministry of Trade was killed in a drive-by shooting, said police 1st Lt. Talib Naim said.

"Salman Lazim Shikara was heading to work when gunmen in a speeding car sprayed him with machine guns inside his car," Naim said.

Explosives were thrown into the compound of a British security [translation: mercenary] firm in the western Yarmouk neighborhood, killing one Iraqi guard and injuring two others, said police Maj. Falah Al-Mihamadawi. Witnesses said the armed attackers had driven up in a speeding car.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi patrol minibus detonated at dawn in Latifiyah, killing three and injuring another three soldiers who were headed to Hilla for vacation and wearing civilian clothes, said a Babil provincial police spokesman.

Latifiyah is located about 20 miles south of Baghdad in

Insurgents using machine guns ambushed an Iraqi police patrol moving toward western Mosul on Wednesday afternoon, killing seven officers and wounding one.

In a separate attack, gunmen attacked an Iraqi police lieutenant colonel's vehicle in Mosul, killing the driver and wounding the officer.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

The absurdity of capitalism --

Operation Gratitude

Sending care packages

to our troops

Will donate 50 cents

For every bottle purchased

(Photo taken at Safeway)

Marine Corps Shortens Slogan To The Few'

[Thanks to PB, PG and a host of others who sent this in today.

7.21.05 The Onion

WASHINGTON, DC-In light of recruiting shortfalls, a near standstill in re-enlistment, and rock-bottom troop morale, U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee announced Monday that the Marines will alter their unofficial slogan, abbreviating it to the more accurate "The Few."

Hagee said, "We are still the Marines, the premier combat arm of the U.S. military."

The Marines will also change their motto to Semper Fidelis, Sic Non Sapienti, or "Always Faithful, But This Is Just Ridiculous."

NATIONAL MUSLIM LEADERSHIP REJECTS UFPJ "SEGREGATION" APPROACH TO SEPTEMBER 24 MARCH ON WASHINGTON

Thousands of Muslims Mobilizing for September 24 March on Washington Under the MAS Freedom and National Coalition Banner

(Washington, DC) - Over one hundred prominent Muslim leaders and National organizations have indicated that there is only one rally and march in Washington, DC, on September 24. And it will not be the "Segregation" March proposed by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ).

Responding to what has been categorized as a patronizing elitist and separation agenda that has long been a divisive issue in the anti-war and peace movement, prominent leaders in the Muslim and Arab community made it clear that they will not allow groups like the United for Peace and Justice set the agenda for American Muslim involvement in the peace movement.

Thus the idea that UFPJ will attempt to hold a separate March and Rally on September 24 in Washington, DC, and not join in principle the September 24 National Coalition for the March on Washington is viewed by many as a "segregationist counter-rally".

Why?

The answer is simple. It is all about having a principle position on Palestine. When it is all said and done UFPJ has paid mere lip service to the Palestine issue and struggle as being part and parcel of the American Peace Movement. They have ignored the insistence of authentic voices in the Muslim and Arab community that ending the occupation of Palestine and other regions of the world should not be decoupled from ending the occupation in Iraq.

Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, MAS Freedom Foundation stated, "The days when a few elitists with a few surrogate persons of color can stymie the hope and aspirations of millions of American Muslims concerning a principled agenda and response to what takes place in the Muslim world is over.

Lets get real here, UFPJ called for a segregated March in DC after the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition made the initial call. They listed all kinds of excuses why they can't join a unity effort. The reality is that a strong peace agenda put forth by the Muslim Community is not a reality that UFPJ is willing to accept and that is most unfortunate for the Peace and Justice Movement.

I was there at a unity event when UFPJ remove the Palestinian flag from the stage. That speaks volumes for the leadership of UFPJ. However, I don't believe that the UFPJ leadership aversion to the Palestinian struggle is representative of the position of UFPJ's grassroots.

"As I've stated earlier we hold no ill will toward our brothers and sisters in the UFPJ, however, I just wish the leadership would drop the fig leaf, be up front and say that because of money and the fact of upsetting some left of center Democrats and other who have resisted the raising of the issue of the rights of the Palestinian People for true self determination they can not join the masses on September 24th.

Instead, they have chosen to sponsor a segregated counter march and rally. It is sad commentary on this facet of our movement but I truly believe that on September 24 those who want an inclusive movement will prevail on the streets of Washington, DC."

The Freedom Foundation is the public affairs arm of the Muslim American Society (MAS), a national grassroots religious, social, and educational organization. MAS is Americas largest grassroots Muslim organization with over 50 chapters nationwide. Learn more at www.masnet.org. Support our work at MAS Freedom Foundation. Make a donation.

MAS Freedom Foundation

1050 17th Street NW, Suite 600

Washington, D.C. 20036

Tel: (202) 496-1288

Fax: (202) 463-0686

CLASS WAR REPORTS

Chinese Garment Workers Strike;

Fight Police

[Next time you run into some silly asshole babbling about socialism in China, shove this in the offenders face, or elsewhere. T]

July 18, 2005 By Edward Cody, Washington Post Foreign Service,

XIZHOU, China

A lean worker in a red T-shirt squatted beside the battered police motorcycle and, reaching out with his cigarette lighter, ignited a trickle of leaking gasoline. Flames immediately whooshed to life, witnesses recalled, and black smoke licked up in an oily cloud, signaling that a chaotic strike at Futai Textile Factory had turned into a riot.

Before the day was over, several hundred anti-riot police had fired tear gas and swung truncheons against 3,000 enraged workers, who, witnesses said, had pelted cars and buses with rocks, bricks and watermelon rinds.

Chanting demands for higher pay, the workers fought back as best they could, but ultimately most fled. A few of the injured ended up in the hospital, friends and relatives said, and about 20 were locked into jail cells.

The riot, on the morning of June 3, had its roots in the refusal of China's government to permit the establishment of any independent organization, including nongovernment labor unions, as a reliable, independent channel for workers' grievances.

It was a shocking first for Xizhou, a raw industrial zone on the northeastern edge of the city of Guangzhou, in southern China's muggy Pearl River Delta.

But across China there are thousands of such explosions every year -- by farmers who lose their land, workers who get laid off and villagers who feel cheated by corrupt officials.

The protests have become a major concern for the Communist Party [translation: Capitalist Party that lies about what it really is] government in Beijing at a time of meteoric economic growth and massive migration from villages to factories, raising the prospect of broad instability that could potentially undermine the party's grip on power.

In apparent recognition of the danger, President Hu Jintao and his lieutenants have made appeals for "a harmonious society" and "social stability" a refrain in their public appearances. [Harmonious means predators like Jintao get the best of everything, and the Chinese workers get to eat shit. Social stability means the Chinese workers shut up, keep quiet, and obey their privileged, elite masters. Why, just like right here in the good old USA.]

Chinese laborers and farmers run a strong risk of prison time when they resort to protest. Yet a look at the riot here shows why, with growing frequency, they do so nevertheless.

As in other incidents, Futai's violence involved poor and poorly educated people who felt they had suffered an injustice and had no representatives to do anything about it. At some point, their chagrin turned to anger, and their anger to rage. [Good. Excellent. They are in fact very well educated about what it takes to get anything from the greedy rich: mass violence against them and their agents. Same the whole word over. Duh.]

The troubles at Futai began the last day of May, when workers received their monthly salary at about 4 p.m. For many, the computer-generated pay slip contained intolerable news. From $60 to $100 a month for weaving sweaters, their piecework pay had slumped to $50, $40 and even lower, they said.

That, the workers complained, was not enough compensation for 11-hour shifts and one day's rest a month, the day after payday. So this time, instead of doing laundry and going to the Internet cafe, many of the young migrant workers spent their June 1 day off in long, angry conversations.

Despite the sour feelings, the workers went back to the weaving machines on schedule June 2. Since they were paid for every dozen sweaters they wove, standing down would mean no money at all.

"The pay is not reasonable!" the activists shouted, according to several workers who were on the factory floor. "Let's stop working!"

The striking workers, led by those whose pay had been most severely cut, gave a written list of demands to their unit foremen later that day and asked that they be passed along to factory management. They asked for more money and guarantees against abrupt fluctuations in salaries.

Their demands were answered by silence.

Futai's management had reacted to the demands by calling a meeting of executives for the next day to discuss raising salaries. But no one told the workers.

Wu Huihai, China operations chief for the company that owns the factory, was apprised of the budding trouble late on June 2, he recalled, and swiftly summoned factory managers for a meeting June 3. He expressed amazement that workers felt their demands had been ignored.

"If I just shut my ears, that would be one thing," he said. "But no. I called a meeting for the next day." [The suits are the same the whole world over too. Always got an excuse why everything is the workers fault, not theirs. They probably made up the story about this meeting to cover their ass after the shitstorm broke.]

Wu Huiquan, whose Hong Kong-based Fu Xin group owns the Futai Textile Factory, said his company's relations with the workers were so good that, in contrast to other factories in the region, it has had no trouble keeping enough employees to function at full speed. [Obviously relations are good. Thats why the workers fought back. My, Im happy here. Relations are so good! Lets all go on strike!]

"If conditions were not good, the workers would not come," said Wu Huihai, who was interviewed at the company's headquarters in Hong Kong. [Oh right, the proof that everything is just lovely is that they take a job in a sweatshop rather than starve.]

Workers at the Futai factory, one of 10 run by Fu Xin in a $100 million-a-year business, earn an average of $85 to $105 a month, with some of the more agile and experienced making considerably more, Wu Huihai said. [Wow! And how much does Mr. Wu Huihai make? How odd the reporter forgot to ask.]

Kenneth Wan, a sales director for one of Fu Xin's marketing spinoffs, said the salary dip in May for some workers, particularly the less experienced, was due to seasonal fluctuations. Wan said their pay was affected by the factory's annual early spring shortage of orders. The May 31 paychecks, he pointed out, reflected the number of sweaters made in April, a traditionally slow month. [And how much does Mr. Kenneth Wan make? How odd the reporter forgot to ask.]

"Every year the same thing," he said. "February, March, April, always happening like that. Trouble always happens in April or March."

As the workers again filed into Futai's vast workroom at 7 a.m. on June 3, resentment was in the air. A worker named Liu, who agreed to describe what happened on condition th