Rolla Peace News
November 10, 2009
Dear Friends:
In this newsletter is:
1. THURSDAY NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE
2. ARMISTICE DAY BALLOON RELEASE IN MEMORY OF AGENT ORANGE VICTIMS
3. SOME REMARKS ON THE FORT HOOD KILLINGS
4. GOLDSTONE REPORT FINDS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN GAZA
5. VETERANS FOR PEACE INSTALLS TWO WATER PURIFICATION UNITS AT ABU GHRAIB PRISON
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1. THURSDAY NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE
Our weekly noon vigils are on Thursdays. We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, November 12, (and all subsequent Thursdays until peace is established) from Noon to 1:00 PM. Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the low 60s under sunny skies. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign.
2. ARMISTICE DAY BALLOON RELEASE IN MEMORY OF AGENT ORANGE VICTIMS
There will be a balloon release in recognition of those whose lives have been affected by agent orange at the south end of Lions Club Park at noon, November 11, Veterans Day (Armistice Day if you are old enough to remember the real meaning of this Holiday, the day when both sides laid down their arms and made peace after years of fighting "The War to end ALL wars". Bring orange colored latex balloons, as many as you wish, or just come to watch.
Agent orange was the dioxin laced defoliant which the US military spread copiously over much of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, 1961-1975. Agent Orange is thought to have affected 200,000 US troops and 3 to 5 million Vietnamese. It is known to be responsible for at least 16 serious diseases including Parkinsons, multiple cancers, leukemia, and birth defects. 400,000 Vietnamese are thought to have died of agent orange exposure and 500,000 children are thought to have been born with defects due to exposure, (click here) .
3. SOME REMARKS ON THE FORT HOOD KILLINGS
Since the killing of 13 soldiers last week at Ft. Hood, allegedly by Major Nidal Hasan, has been all over the news, I'll confine myself to two observations.
A) These killings have a lot in common with Timothy McVeigh's 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah building killing 168 including some small children: Both McVeigh and Hasan were born in the United States, were trained in the US military to kill, came to understand the injustice of the US attacks on the population of the Middle East, (McVeigh stated: "Do people think that government workers in Iraq are any less human than those in Oklahoma City? Do they think that Iraqis don't have families who will grieve and mourn the loss of their loved ones? Do people believe that the killing of foreigners is somehow different than the killing of Americans?") and both quite likely acted alone, (McVeigh stated: "I blew up the Murrah Building and isn't it kind of scary that one man could wreak this kind of hell?").
B) This is a personal observation: Perhaps 4 or 5 times a year, during our weekly vigils for peace, I am accosted by a person who almost always turns out to be a combat veteran (usually Vietnam) suffering from classic symptoms of PTSD - threatening, disoriented, accusatory, repetitious, unable or unwilling to even listen. I'm not sure how I would handle this experience hour after hour, day after day, week after week, year after year, as Hasan's job (military psychiatrist dealing with problems of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan) apparently required him to do.
As Pierre Tristam concludes, (click here) : "The killings at Fort Hood are all of a piece with the horrifying routine of American violence at home and abroad."
4. GOLDSTONE REPORT FINDS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN GAZA
The Israel lobby is hard at work trying to get the US Congress to repudiate The Goldstone Report, which investigates the conduct of all parties before, during and after Israel's December 2008 invasion of Gaza which killed over 1,400, including many children and women. This document finds (among much else) that Israel used white phosphorus and other anti-personnel weapons in crowded urban locations; used civilians as "human shields," and deliberately destroyed civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and water works with no military justification. The Goldstone Report notes the 2008 invasion of Gaza "unprecedented in its severity," and "qualitatively different from any previous military action by Israel."
Most importantly, the report calls on the United Nations and the International Community to fulfill its obligations under the UN Charter and International Law to protect civilians where governments will not or can not fulfill this obligation.
If you read the executive summary, you should be more informed on this issue than 90 percent of the US Congress.
5. VETERANS FOR PEACE INSTALLS TWO WATER PURIFICATION UNITS AT ABU GHRAIB PRISON
The Veterans for Peace Iraq Water Project has installed two sterilight water purification units at the infamous Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad. Those familiar with the prison have noted that before turning the prison over to Iraqi authorities, the US occupation government neglected to install a working water purification system.
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Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (links below my photo on upper left of home page).
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Wage peace,
Yusha
tom (at) tomsager.org
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