Check the new
WhoseFlorida
for updates
Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team to Leave Iraq
Task Force Unable To Find Any Weapons
BAGHDAD -- The group directing all known U.S. search efforts for
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations
without finding proof that President Saddam Hussein kept
clandestine stocks of outlawed arms, according to participants.The
75th Exploitation Task Force, as the group is formally known, has
been described from the start as the principal component of the
U.S. plan to discover and display forbidden Iraqi weapons. The
group's departure, expected next month, marks a milestone in
frustration for a major declared objective of the war....
One thing analysts must reconsider, he said, is: "What was the
nature of the threat?" JK, 5/13/03
Did The Iraqi Army Take A Dive For The US? JK, 5/13/03
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/politicalcartoons/pccartoons/archives/lalo.asp?Action=GetImag
Iraqi 'Freedom' Day 7: At Least 10 Anti-Occupation
Protesters Massacred in Mosul
Islam-Online.net reports, "At least 10 Iraqi people were shot
dead and scores wounded Tuesday, April 15, in the northern
Iraqi town of Mosul, a hospital doctor said, with witnesses
claiming U.S. troops opened fire after a crowd turned against
an American-installed local governor... 'We were at the market
place near the government building, where Mashaan al-Juburi
was making a speech,' said Marwan Mohammed, 50... The American
[soldiers] were going through the crowd with their flag. They
placed themselves between the civilians and the building. The
people moved toward the government building, the children
threw stones, the Americans started firing. Then they
prevented the people from recovering the bodies,' he told AFP...
'Juburi said the people must cooperate with the US. The crowd
called him a liar, and tempers rose as he continued to talk.
They threw objects at him, overturned his car which exploded,'
said Dr. Said Altah. 'The wounded said Juburi asked the
Americans to fire.'"
http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2003-04/15/article08.shtml
__Iraqi 'Freedom' Day 7: US Says Troops Fired at 'Top of
Building', not Crowd
Here's the US version of the Mosul Massacre from Rupert
Murdoch's Sky News: "US forces said they fired back after
being shot at, but did not aim at the crowd during the
incident. 'There were protesters outside, 100 to 150, there
was fire, we returned fire,' an [anonymous] US military
spokesman told AFP. The shots came from a roof opposite the
building, about 75 metres away, he said. 'We didn't fire at
the crowd, but at the top of the building,' he added. 'There
were at least two gunmen, I don't know if they were killed.
'The firing was not intensive but sporadic, and lasted up to
two minutes.'" If they fired at the top of the building, how
were 10 killed and scores wounded on the ground? The official
US version is completely at odds with the reports from Iraqis
at the hospital, who say the only shots came from US troops. A
few days ago, a US tank killed 2 journalists at the Palestine
Hotel after claiming it was fired upon - a claim rejected as
false by all the reporters on the scene.
.... BernieW, 4/19/03 |
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12287762,00.html
Here's a different tactical and strategic view of the war, from
Russia:
"The IRAQWAR.RU
analytical center was created recently by a group of journalists
and military experts from Russia to provide accurate and
up-to-date news and analysis of the war against Iraq. The
following is the English translation of the IRAQWAR.RU report
based on the Russian military intelligence reports."
http://www.aeronautics.ru/news/news002/news082.htm
- posted 3/29/03
-------------------
Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), who leads opposition in the House to the war in Iraq, issued the following statement upon the American attack against Iraq:
"This is a sad day for America, the world community, and the people of Iraq. Tonight, I hope and pray for the safe return of our troops and the end to this unjustified war."
"President Bush has launched an unprovoked attack against another country. Iraq does not pose an imminent threat to the United States or any of its neighboring nations. Iraq was not responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11. Tonight, President Bush has commanded U.S. forces to go to war in violation of American traditions of defensive war that have lasted since George Washington. This war is wrong; it violates the Constitution and international law."
-------------------
"The official story on Iraq has never made sense. The connection that the Bush administration has tried to draw between Iraq and al-Qaida has always seemed contrived and artificial. In fact, it was hard to believe that smart people in the Bush administration would start a major war based on such flimsy evidence.
The pieces just didn't fit. Something else had to be going on; something was missing.
In recent days, those missing pieces have finally begun to fall into place. As it turns out, this is not really about Iraq. It is not about weapons of mass destruction, or terrorism, or Saddam, or U.N. resolutions.
This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the "American imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we were.
Once that is understood, other mysteries solve themselves. For example, why does the administration seem unconcerned about an exit strategy from Iraq once Saddam is toppled?
Because we won't be leaving. Having conquered Iraq, the United States will create permanent military bases in that country from which to dominate the Middle East, including neighboring Iran.
...." (more) Halliburton, Carlyle Group: Follow the money
3/6/03 U.S.
Diplomat Resigns, Protesting 'Our Fervent Pursuit of War' 2/28/03 War
- by Howard Zinn 2/27/03 A
Doctor, USAF Grad, Vietnam Vet Reports on Iraq 2/27/03 Norman
Mailer: Gaining an Empire, Losing Democracy? 2/26/03
Bush
dragging us through muck with fixation on Babylonian Lewinsky 2/20/03 Aerial
photos of the 2-15-03 world-wide demonstrations 2/19/03 ON the streets of New York I saw the kind of freedom George Bush has vowed to gift to Iraq - menacing squads of riot police.
2/18/03 White house urged no permit to march
in NYC + hour by hour log of NYC protest 2/18/03 Montréal 2-15-03 protest numbers grossly
under-reported in US
2/16/03 Floridians
turn out for Peace - join millions around the world 2/16/03 |
|
News Clips
updated
06/19/04 Space for Peace - Global networks against weapons
and nuclear power in space
We have got to bring the staging for war from space home, just as we
are bringing the war home by showing how it puts human services in
poverty.
http://www.space4peace.org/
... Barry and Judy,
2/17/03 If
we followed your (whoseflorida's) lead in the past this country
would still be under British rule.
.... James H, 2/26/03 
http://www.votetoimpeach.org/
|
According to the United Nations, Halliburton, under the leadership of Dick Cheney, did $73 million in reconstruction business with Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. Similarly, Root & Brown, a subsidiary of Halliburton, has already won a share of a $900 million government contract to rebuild roads and bridges in postwar Iraq. This is the same company that earned the $300 million contract to build prison cells in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where suspected terrorists are currently held.
Finally, the Carlyle Group, with George H. W. Bush as a paid senior adviser among other ties to the administration, currently owns United Defense, a weapons manufacturer that supplies the Bradley Fighting Vehicle along with a host of other war machinery.
These gross conflicts of interest require President Bush to declare that no corporation with ties to this administration will profit from the war with Iraq. Waging war and profiting from destruction may be Bush's idea of an economic stimulus plan, but it is immoral, certainly not compassionate and totally unacceptable.
ANDYO,
letter to Tall. Democrat,
top
Lying about his sexual dalliances was not Bill Clinton's great crime. Even the Talmud includes sex among the three things one may lie about (one's erudition and the quality of someone else's hospitality are the other two). Better spare a spouse or a child -- or a nation -- the embarrassment of scurrilous but private misdeeds than publicly own up to a truth that's none of the public's business. The walls of the White House could speak of enough scurrilous "misdeeds" to make a Times Square wall blush, and not just because of Kennedy groupies. Half of South Dakota's Black Hills would have to be carved out if Mount Rushmore were devoted to our philanderers-in-chief.
Clinton's crime was to have misjudged the times. He failed to detect a political establishment high on what Philip Roth so aptly termed "the ecstasy of sanctimony." That was a failure of leadership far greater than his bush-league misdeeds, because it gave way to Ken Starr's fixation on the president's libido and a right-wing cabal more interested in destroying a presidency than in serving the public interest. In that sense, Clinton and his detractors co-dependently reduced the world's most powerful government into a vaudeville act. It was no joke. For two years the national agenda shifted from a world of crises and emerging dangers, including al-Qaida's rise and the economy's coming free-fall, to an obsession with Monica Lewinsky. The world became a more dangerous place because Washington wouldn't look past the president's crotch.
Ancient history? In names only. Today, Saddam is President Bush's Lewinsky.
It is an obsession as scabrous as the original, but with hugely worse consequences. The president isn't being harebrained. He isn't misguidedly dragging the nation through the muck of private thrills gone wrong. He is purposefully letting a private obsession rooted in his father's unsettled scores turn into an international game of chicken. He is about to drag the United States and Iraq through the most violent and costliest conflagration, potentially, since Vietnam in lives, money and good will. He is about to unsettle every government from North Africa to East Asia. And he's digging rifts through every community of nations that helped keep the peace since World War II (NATO, the United Nations, the European Union).
He's doing all this not because of Sept. 11 terrorism, al-Qaida's ties to Iraq being nil, not because of any credible threat Iraq poses to its neighbors or the world's oil supplies, and least of all to the United States. He's doing it because he has a score to settle and because he has discovered himself to be incapable of governing as a peacetime president. He made it clear to his National Security Council within weeks of the 2001 attacks, as Bob Woodward's last book, "Bush at War," indicated. A war against Iraq had to be high on the priority list, if only to keep the American public's interest in the greater war on terror from flagging. Never mind that there was no link between the two. From his Texas-size magic bag of evildoers, Bush would provide the link if his aides provided the war. And so they have.
As with the original Lewinsky, even the president's detractors are abetting his obsession. There is no war opposition to speak of in Congress. Sens. Robert C. Byrd, Bob Graham and a couple of others tried. But three and a half speeches on C-SPAN don't make an opposition. Democrats beat a retreat from any organized opposition in 2001 and never returned. Only six members of Congress are suing Bush over his end-run around the constitutional requirement that only Congress can declare war. Which is to say that 528 members don't take one of the Constitution's gravest provisions, or themselves, seriously. Eunuchs usually don't.
The chasm between Bush and his abettors gaped last weekend as millions of marchers at home and abroad voiced opposition to war. The signs from England to New Zealand were telling, and once again -- as in the aftermath of Sept. 11 -- revealed a deep empathy with Americans. There is no anti-Americanism to speak of in Paris any more than in New York or Daytona Beach. There is only anti-Bushism (or anti-boucherie, as the French pointedly punned on their translation for "butchery"). There is a refusal to go along with one man's obsession.
When the Lewinsky affair broke mid-way through Clinton's second term, the world wasn't exactly in crisis. Kosovo and the East Asian currency crisis aside, the planet seemed OK for a change. The Lewinsky obsession only deepened the delusion that nothing else of great importance needed attention. After 2001 Bush had no such excuse, and in 2003 even less. The United States is threatened by a worldwide terror network. Osama bin Laden is still happily at large. Al-Qaida's dalliances with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, those Bush administration "friends," don't even bother with covertness. North Korea is rattling nuclear-tipped sabers. Anti-Bushism is at an all-time high. Bush's domestic popularity, after its NASDAQ-like bubble of 2001, is paralleling the sputter-coughs of the economy. Deficits are out of control again, and the nation's health care system is as good as a daily human right abuse for millions. But Bush persists in courting his Babylonian Lewinsky and dragging us all through the muck.
The stain, this time, will be bloody, and the consequences won't end with a book deal. They'll be brutish and enduring.
http://www.n-jcenter.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Columnists/Essays/opTRISTAM021803.htm
Tristam is a News-Journal editorial writer. Reach him at ptristam@att.net.
top
Saturday, February 15th, 2003
Many more than 1 million protest in London, England
|
By Andrew Limburg, Independent Writer
Tallahassee, Florida - It's been a long journey. It's been a long journey since September 11th, 2001. Our nation was attacked, and their was a sense of unity not felt in the country for a long time. There was world wide outpouring of sympathy and support.
There was definitely world wide support for our war on terror. Don't you ask yourself why or how? How can all of this world unity and world sympathy be turned into the biggest day of public outpouring in the history of the world? I can tell you why. Unilateral foreign policy as far as Kyoto, International Criminal Court, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and of course the obvious, our rush to war with Iraq. Also in the United States they protest because of a lack of media representation of a point of view that many in the United States have.
...
More aerial photos and complete text of the article
|
From the Mirror.
It's a bitch when the foreign press is more reliable than what we have
here, isn't it??
From Richard Wallace, US Editor In New York
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12646945&method=full&siteid=50143
ON the streets of New York I saw the kind of freedom George Bush has vowed to gift to Iraq - menacing squads of riot police.
In an attempt to sabotage this deafening chorus of disapproval, blue helmeted officers backed by horses confined pockets of protesters to Manhattan side streets.
At the corner of 24th Street and Sixth Avenue, 30 blocks from the rallying point, I watched incredulous as around 200 baton wielding police set about a group of 100, feverishly tearing down their banners.
The provocation? Not staying on the pavement. Saddam Hussein's goons would have been proud.
Then they kept them tightly penned in a car park entrance, enjoying the fear and confusion on their faces. One officer warned me: "Hey bud, if you know what's good for you, get the f*** away."
Four days earlier a judge had banned the march, citing "security" anxieties. Curiously there were no such concerns for the Thanksgiving Parade in November or next month's St Patrick's Day march. Funny that.
"First we couldn't have a march, then we're threatened for trying to get to the legal rally," said Max Thornburgh, 29, from New Jersey.
The office phone system of United for Peace and Justice, one of the main co-ordinating groups, packed up half an hour before the rally began. Funny that.
NYPD chiefs called a Level Four mobilisation - the highest since a plane crashed in Queens two years ago - with 5,000 officers on the streets.
But their crude attempts to intimidate were laughable. Their barely concealed rage as a tide of humanity flooded the island was palpable. Sneering and shouting unfunny insults at marchers, many had clearly taken sides.
First Avenue was the original rallying point but 10 minutes after the noon start time police chiefs gave the order to close First and Second Avenues to traffic. Tempers frayed as demonstrators wanting to join the rally, many having travelled hundreds of miles, were prevented for no good reason.
Officially only 50 were arrested but I saw dozens dragged off with as many as 400 handcuffed and locked in freezing buses.
None was charged. All were released in the early hours of yesterday. Another proud day for the First Amendment.
Eight officers were injured, one kicked in the head and another punched in the face. A police horse was punched in the face and dragged to the ground.
Police and rally organisers gave widely varying estimates of the number of demonstrators, with organisers putting it at more than 500,000 shrugging off sub-zero temperatures.
It was not just the usual suspects. Of course there were over-excited students, of course there were professional activists.
But most were the so-called silent majority - blue collar Joes, the middle classes, couples with baby carriages, fur clad Upper East Siders.
Arthur Buonomia said: "Middle America is getting off their sofas and their big screen TVs and trying to bring about changes to end this war."
Adele Welty, whose firefighter son was killed in the September 11 attacks, said: "Timothy was at the World Trade Center to save lives. I don't feel he would sanction innocent lives being shed in his name."
Charley Richardson, 50, of Boston, held a photo of his son Joe, a Marine in the Gulf, and a sign reading: "Don't send him to war for oil."
The Daily Mirror's "No War" and "Make Love Not War" front pages were much in evidence.
"Peace! Peace! Peace! Let America listen to the rest of the world - and the rest of the world is saying, 'Give the inspectors time'," Archishop Desmond Tutu told Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists who filled an ecumenical service.
Hundreds more rallies were held tacross the US.
In Colorado Springs 34 were arrested for failing to disperse. Police used pepper spray and teargas at them. After one man threw a teargas canister back they fired rubber bullets and used a stun gun.
In Canada about 100,000 marched in Montreal and 25,000 clogged the streets of Vancouver. In South Africa, 5,000 turned out in Capetown and 4,000 in Johannesburg.
Japan held more than 10 demos, the biggest in Tokyo attracting 5,000. In Damascus, Syria, 200,000 marched.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, thousands rallied. Some 30,000 marched in Mexico City, at least 300,000 across France. And Berlin's rally drew 500,000.
More than 70,000 marched in Amsterdam, Holland, 60,000 in Oslo, Norway, 20,000 in Vienna, Austria, 50,000 in Brussels, Belgium, 35,000 in Stockholm, Sweden, 40,000 in Bern, Switzerland and 25,000 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In eastern Europe 20,000 turned out in Budapest, Hungary, 10,000 in Zagreb, Croatia, and 1,200 in Prague, Czech Republic, hundreds in Bratislava, Slovakia, Bucharest, Romania, and Skopje, Macedonia, and 2,000 in Kiev, Ukraine. Belgrade, the Serbian capital bombed by Nato in 1999, held a silent protest.
In Mostar, Bosnia, 100 Muslims and Croats united for the first cross-community action in seven years.
ROME played host to the world's biggest march on Saturday. Police estimated that two million people took to the streets butorganisers insisted the figure was closer to four million. Eighty trains were laid on to get people to the capital from 130 locations across Italy.
SYDNEY MIRROR writer John Pilger addressed 500,000 anti-war protesters in Sydney.
SPAIN MILLIONS turned out for peace rallies in 55 cities and towns in the country's biggest ever demonstrations.Barcelona was brought to a standstill by 1.3million protesters - 200,000 short of the city's entire population. Film director Pedro Almodovar told crowds of up to a million in Madrid: "The only preventive war is peace."
.... posted by DaveG, 2/18/03
top
FEBRUARY 18. The Post-Standard (an affiliate of Syracuse.com) is reporting that the Bush administration tried to halt the NYC anti-war rally.
Last week, the NY mayor's office told organizers of the rally they could not march on the UN, citing "security concerns." Then, a three-judge federal panel upheld the mayor.
But the Bush administration had filed a brief with the judge panel, urging it to support Bloomberg's decision to halt the march.
That last line bears repeating; The Bush administration filed a brief in an attempt to stop the rally. This was a blatant maneuver to discourage the growing protests against the White House and the rush towards war.
It was a denial of 1st Amendment rights. This latest effort marks yet another assault on the Bill of Rights by this administration.
The 100,000 to 1,000,000 (numbers depend on who you talk to) people who rallied in NYC were not deterred, but this does not change the fact that Bush and his minions wanted to shut them down.
The question that begs to be asked is this; If "We The People" can't march, should our soldiers be allowed to?
Regards, DaveG, Chattahoochee, FL 2/18/03
 | This was forwarded to me by a friend. The news last night said only 1 person had been arrested. Dana
Okay, so I'm a little irate about the lack of real news coverage on the peace rally in New York on Feb. 15th. I know a lot of you were there, so everything I'm writing may be stuff you already know. But in case you weren't near any of the police activity "hot spots," I wanted to send this email to let people know some of the stuff that happened. Because if this is any indication, the United States is becoming a dictatorship and we are on the way to being a fascist state.
Maybe I'm being melodramatic. But on the otherhand, maybe not.
Hundred of thousands us tried to go to the rally and we were not allowed to go. The streets leading to the rally were barricaded for miles. The police used pepper spray on the crowd. They hit people and pushed them to the ground. People laid down in the streets in peaceful protest and the police attempted to trample the crowd with horses. Over a hundred people were dragged away and arrested.
I have seen international news coverage of the violence in Turkey and Greece, but very little news about what happened in New York. We must spread the truth: on Feb 15, there were probably a half a million people in NYC that tried to protest the coming war on Iraq.
... Tanya , 2/18/03
|
| (Note: From the NYC Indymedia on 2/15/03, the day
of the march)
pF17 3:45pm For the latest news and views, please visit the main NYC Indymedia.org site.
F16 12:40am The 20 snake-marchers arrested at 39th & 8th were held on the bus for five hours, were processed at central booking, and have been been transferred to the 7th precinct, 19 1/2 Pitt Steet at Delancey, 212-477-7311.
F15 9:24pm Due to a printing error, several of the promotional materials for tonight's benefit party have the wrong address. The correct address is 38-09 31st St in Queens. We're going til 4 a.m. Come join us.
F15 8:44pm There are 15 people (including 1 legal observer) at the vigil at 1 Police Plaza. The National Lawyers Guild is asking for more legal support staff to come down. We have an unconfirmed report that the arrestees will not be released until tomorrow morning.
F15 8:25pm United for Peace & Justice spokesperson Chris Pasteraro reports that UFPJ's phonelines at their 42nd St. office went down at 11:30 a.m. Saturday just as 67 feeder marches were getting underway. UFPJ was unable to communicate with feeder march liaisons. The phones briefly resumed working at 12:20 p.m. but went down again at 1 p.m. "We've been in this building for a month,"Pasteraro said, "and we've never had any trouble until today."
F15 7:17pm 311 confirmed arrests. Detainees locked in buses at 1 Police Plaza, just behind 100 Center Street. United For Peace and Justice asking for people to go down to Police HQ or their or flood their switchboard. 212-374-3921 An unknown number of people have been hospitalized as a result of being trampled on by horses.
F15 7:04pm Unconfirmed of 20 arrests at 39th street between 7th and 8th avenue. Another nearby group of approx. 100 protesters facing a potential mass arrest.
F15 6:51pm New York seems to be calming down from one of its largest days of protest ever. We will continue to post more updates as we recieve them.
F15 5:54pm The St. Marks Snake March has largely dissipated. Marchers reached Astor Place abd held a moment of silence to remember those beaten today by the police.
F15 5:49pm 300-400 people are marching down 5th Avenue and 18th st. The police have just arrived.
F15 5:27pm The Snake March from St. Marks has moved to Houston to 2nd Avenue. The march is moving on and off the sidewalk. No reports of police harassment.
F15 5:17pm 200-250 protestors assembling at St, Marks and 2nd for a Snake March. Police are present with horses and vans.
F15 5:11pm Times Square Update: The police have blocked off 8th Avenue south of 42nd street; Times Square is cut in half by police and small groups of protesters continue to mill around.
F15 5:04pm Reports of protestors establishing a street blockade at 34th st and 6th Ave. A large group left Times Square, marched to 34th and 6th, and held the intersection for several minutes. Police activity continues and we have reports of two arrested.
F15 4:53pm We have heard reports, unconfirmed, of unprovoked arrests earlier in the day on 92nd and 2nd Ave between 1:30 and 2:00pm. Our source is telling us that he saw several high school students arrested and maced. *** We have started to get many reports of police brutality throughout the day. While you can call the IMC to report on todays events, we would encourage you to post your own experiences directly to our newswire.
F15 4:49pm We are hearing reports of police brutality outside Times Square, 42nd St and 7th Ave; police on horses running into and over protesters.
F15 4:23pm About 200 people are on 42nd street and 6th Ave, with no police presence, heading west.
F15 4:17pm 52nd and Lexington: The southern line of horse-cops backed off, but then the northern line pressed into the crowd. Cops on foot were shoving people out of the intersection, trying to get people moving again. They reportedly beat an old man.
F15 4:12pm The 50-100 people at 52nd and Lexington have sat down in the street. A line of cops on horseback have moved in from the north, and another line have moved in from the south. The southern line is riding into the crowd.
F15 4:11pm Times Square subway station is closed; no one is allowed in or out. Times Square webcams.
F15 4:00pm Critical Mass cyclists have left, but 30 people on foot are on 7th ave between 47th and 48th chanting, "This is what democracy looks like." Police are preparing to make arrests.
F15 3:59pm People at Lexington between 51st and 52nd have surged into the streets, surrounding traffic and groups of police officers.
F15 3:37pm Critical mass shut down Times Square for about 5 minutes. About 20 to 30 bikes and 100 people surrounded Times Square, but we are hearing that the police have begun to move people out of the way.
F15 3:34pm Reports of 300 police at Times Square.
F15 3:24pm 57th and 2nd: The crowd has taken the streets and is chanting “Whose streets? Our streets?” Police have not made any arrests or injuries, but they are using their horses to push the crowd with their horses back on to the sidewalk.
F15 3:01pm 53rd and 3d Avenue: People on the west side of the barricade have been trying to negotiate with the police but they may be getting ready to storm it. There have been seven or eight reported arrests. There have been reports of plainclothes policemen have been getting very violent with protesters.
3:04 50th and 3rd: Unconfirmed reports that people marching on the sidewalk were attacked by police. Completely peaceful when police attacked crowd. Mass pepper-spraying of crowd and large amounts of police violence. There is a report that there is a severe lack of medical help at the scene. There were men, women and children in the crowd.
53rd and 3d: Crowd has been corralled on all four corners. Police are pushing the crowd against the buildings.
F15 3:00pm There have been 2 reported arrests at 2nd avenue and 57th street of people trying to storm a barricade. The crowd has begun getting very restless and has begun shouting “War means War.”
F15 2:42pm Estimate from organizers and the mainstream media on crowd size: the rally on 1st avenue streches many blocks north. NYPD usually estimates 7000 people can fill an avenue block. Including the additonal people trapped by police at 2nd and 3d organizers estimate over half a million people.
F15 2:40pm More reports of police violence at 53d and Third. There were reports of people climbing atop barricades and being pushed off by police, about 25 on horses, plus others coming out of buses. The police have started to push the crowd back from 53rd street. However, people are completely trapped with nowhere to go
2:18 pm 2:04 At 53d and 3d Avenue, New Yorkers rushed the street barricade and 15 people made it through. Ten minutes later a group of 8 or 9 anti-capitalists linked arms and organized a second rush on a barricade. About 50 or 60 other people joined them in the rush. The police brought in reinforcements, maced 15 or more people, and pushed the crowd back.
1:50 Sources report that police have begun arresting demonstrators on 54th and 2nd Avenue.
1:43 First avenue is reported to be completely inacccessible-- people who want to get there to protest cannot. 2nd avenue is full wall to wall in the 60's. We are hearing reports that the police on 3d avenue have given up, though this isn't confirmed.
1:37 A smaller group of people made it out of the 51st / 3d Avenue pen and were herded north on 2nd avenue. It is a diverse group. They are now being stopped by a row of mounted police on 54th st, and they cannot move north.
1:24 We have reports that portions of Second Avenue have been taken over by marchers as well.
1:23 The uptown Lexington avenue line has been stopped at 23rd street because of the protest.
1:21 Third Avenue is full from 50th to 53d street . Cars and buses have been trapped by the crowd-- there are US Postal Service vans, a service van, and taxis. Marchers have completely taken the street.
1:09 The police are putting up barriers on 53d and 3d avenue. They are throwing them to one another. There is a huge crowd of people stopped by the barriers and they are chanting "let them through, let them through." There have been several unconfirmed arrests of people trying to get over the barriers. There is a lot of pushing and shoving with the police.
1:07 There is a march occuring on 3d avenue; people are trying to get to the protest and are moving north. 1:00pm. A report just came in that 2nd Ave. is “a sea of humanity” protesters have taken over half the avenue and more people are joining from every direction.
12:41 "3rd avenue and 58th is ours!" says one caller. From 57th to 58th is completely full. There are no protest pens on third avenue. There are groups up third avenue as far north as 72nd street.
12:38 The Labor March marching from 59th street is back on the sidewalk. The police have broken it in half.
12:32 Police are making it very difficult for protesters to get to the rallly; they are requiring people to go further and further north.
F15 12:06pm Update from Youth Bloc at 24th St and 6th: 300-400 protesters remained penned in, on the sidewalk not being allowed to move. Approximately 200 police, 3 deep for an entire block. Possibility that mass arrests will be made soon
F15 12:02pm If you are heading to the rally from the west side of Manhattan, you should attempt to get there above 55th st. It will be difficult to get there otherwise. There are large numbers of protesters heading north past 51st and Lexington.
F15 12:00pm From the rally: There are large numbers of people turning out in the bitter cold, and it is difficult to estimate numbers. At least ten blocks are packed in outside the Dag Hammarskjold plaza.
F15 11:53am Police have confirmed arrests at Union Square. No numbers given by police.
F15 11:47am Youth Bloc Update: several hundred people penned in by police at 24th st between 5th and 6th ave. One-hundred police and 15 or more mounted police. There have been several arrests. Police are letting people out five at a time. The march is on the sidewalk. The marchers are chanting "The whole world is watching, they are on our side."
F15 11:39am We have word that the Youth Bloc was the march that moved west from Union Square, not east. They marched towards 6th ave. and then north. At 23d st and 6th ave, police moved in and pushed the march back east. There are several mounted police, 15 vans vans, and several buses. At 24th st, the march was cut in half by police.
F15 11:25am At the Public Library: Approximately 1,000 people at the library. There are between 100-200 police in full riot gear, some with batons drawn, standing in the second lane of 5th Avenue. People are leaving in small groups, but no organized mach has yet left the library.
F15 11:03am One of the feeder marches just took the street on West 21st street and 6th avenue. There are at least a thousand people on the street. About 20 or so riot police are stationed on the street, but they have now given up trying to force marchers back onto the sidewalk.
F15 10:59am 100 people have now left the Green Party headquarters, and are headed towards the rally.
F15 10:55am Approx. 1,000 people have left Union Square, and they have just been joined by an additonal march. The march has headed west on 14th st., not east. They are marching behind a banner that says "Our Nation Says No To War," and are marching on the sidewalk.
F15 10:14am Plans continue to percolate for post-rally marching. Read updates here.
F15 10:04am Looking for somthing to do before the rally? Come down to the IMC at 29th street, pick up copies of the Indypendent and awesome party benefit flyers to distribute at the march.
F15 9:27am Update on crowd control techniques near the UN: 1st avenue is closed to traffic from 34th to 59th to begin with... Entry to side streets from 2nd avenue ... will only be allowed every 4th street or so along 2nd ave, and exit at different streets. [Read More]
F14 12:40am Welcome to the NYC IMC website for the F15 convergence.
|
Top
Montréal 2-15-03 protest numbers grossly
under-reported in US
Comparative figures, reality vs. fantasy island newspapers
Saturday, the streets of Montréal saw near 150,000 protesters gathered to protest against the war. This figure has been reported by the two main newspapers of this metropolis, Le Journal de Montréal and La Presse [see excerpt from La Presse reproduced hereafter & webpage link to the full article].
Here the St. Petersburg Times continues its politics of underestimating the real figures. Be it for foreign demonstrations in Europe as well as in the United States herself.
Montréal city was picked just as an example of how the Florida newspaper is plainly incapable to report facts, real facts. We can bet with a certain assurance that this exercise of comparing figures would have produced the same results had we chosen another city in the world to compare the reported data.
Loyal to itself, the St. Pete Times reported 20,000 people in the streets of
Montréal. Hey, this is more than 7 times less than the reality. What is it? The St. Petersburg Times is the reporter of fantasy island? Bush, Rumsfeld & Co. fantasy island?
Again, the Times produced a "Compiled from wires" article. Press wires issued by the New York Times, infamous for its lack of journalistic integrity when time arises to produce 'factual' data, the Associated Press and the Washington Post. This St. Petersburg Times custom of relying its anti-war coverage articles on incredible sources is now a well-known fact: No place for reality.
The 'official' version of reality, what we can call a fantasy production will now be handled by Disney Productions. This corporation has been retained to produce the "Homeland Security" commercials soon to come on your ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX/CNN screens.
While all this complicity between the government and the mainstream media continue to be entertained, more and more people are leaving the corporate media to access foreign media. Thanks to the internet and the access to real and factual information that can be found there. People just thirsty for truth and reality. Survival islands they leave it to what it is: A show.
They leave what once was perceived as organs of information, the newspapers and TVs news for another market: The truth market. So to enable them to truly know what's going on in the world and even what's going on here in the good US of A.
What a shame, what a REAL shame.
Diane Cardin-Kamleiter, Women in Black-Gulfcoast,
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/article/1,63,0,022003,202495.shtml
<<Près de 150 000 personnes bravent le froid
Laura-Julie Perreault La Presse
Des millions de personnes dans le monde ont dit non à la guerre en Irak
hier.
n'a pas été en reste. Près de 150 000 personnes ont bravé un froid sibérien pour demander au président des États-Unis de retenir ses missiles.>>
Top
Anti-war
protesters take to streets of Naples, world
America's true motives for a war on Iraq are greed, power and
retribution.
Anti-war protesters took those sentiments to one busy Collier County
intersection Saturday to condemn the war on terror and denounce
President Bush's tough stance to launch an attack against the
oil-rich, Arab nation. ...
Protesters
rally around the state
MIAMI — Thousands of Floridians joined a worldwide chorus of
anti-war protesters on Saturday, hoping they could dissuade President
Bush from moving forward with plans for an attack against Iraq. At
least 20 rallies took place statewide, including a heavily attended
event in Miami's Bayfront Park that drew at least 750 protesters, many
of whom carried signs saying "Don't bomb in our name" and
"Contain Iraq without war." "War can be a solution to
defend a nation," said Rafael Velasquez...
Millions
protest war
Rallies span globe, decry U.S. stance. Protests were held in more than
600 towns, cities. Up
to 500,000 in New York City. War
protest.(Orlando)
Orlando
peace movement swells
Carrying signs denouncing war with Iraq, many of the protesters
marched from Orange Avenue at Colonial Drive to Gaston Edwards Park on
Lake Ivanhoe. The rally, organized by PeaceOrlando, coincided with a
day of global protests.
One of the group's organizers, Kathy DiBernardo, said she thought
Saturday's rally would be the group's largest since beginning a weekly
demonstration in downtown Orlando several months ago...
300
rally locally against war
By Campbell Roth, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The Rev. Thomas Masters leads the Currie Park crowd by criticizing
President Bush... South
Floridians join worldwide call for peace
More than 700 South Floridians joined a worldwide call for peace
Saturday, protesting in Miami-Dade and Broward counties against a
potential war with Iraq...
South
Floridians join worldwide peace protests
SUNRISE -- Rocky Solomon is no pacifist.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with anti-war demonstrators on the
corner of Flamingo Road and Sunrise Boulevard on Saturday, Solomon
wanted to make clear that he was not the kind of person who thinks
military action can never be justified. It's just that he knows what
it's like to be in combat, he said, and he doesn't want to see anyone
else go through it unless the mission is truly justifiable...
Hundreds
rally against war in Tallahassee
Downtown demonstration draws massive crowd
Antiwar demonstrators packed the downtown chain of parks Saturday in
the biggest peace rally in more than a year. The crowd swelled to an
estimated 500 people at one point, organizers said, with protesters
lining Monroe Street and carrying signs with messages such as "No
Bombing Civilians" and "No More Innocent Lives Lost."
Protesters chanted and cheered as some passing drivers honked their
horns in support. (more
from Tallahassee Indymedia with links to photos)
Peace
vigils continue across Volusia (2/15)
DAYTONA BEACH -- They talked and sang and rallied for peace Saturday
afternoon on the steps of the Courthouse Annex on City Island.
Linda Ryan, who coordinated the rally with the help of Halifax
Citizens Against the War, estimated the turnout at 220. Though the
rally coincided with protests elsewhere in the nation and the world,
the Halifax group and an unnamed group in the DeLand area have been
staging weekly protests or vigils since early this year.
Saturday's local event featured 19 speakers, including ministers,
professors and representatives of other organizations that oppose war.
Local musicians also performed songs of peace...
Peace rally in sync with global protests
As war drums beat louder in Washington, D.C., demonstrators in St. Augustine joined millions of people around the world Saturday to protest military action against Iraq.
A crowd of about 400 gathered in the Plaza de la Constitucion. A month ago, the crowd was 250. The voices of dissent grow in numbers as tension between the U.S. and Iraq escalates...
Possible war draws protests
More than 150 people participated in two Jacksonville rallies yesterday to protest U.S. military action against Iraq.
Protesters march downtown
- Hodgepodge of Pensacolians opposed to U.S. stance on Iraq
Punks and anarchists joined veterans, professors and soccer moms on Saturday to oppose what they increasingly fear will be an inevitable U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Pumping signs with slogans such as "Whoa Cowboy" and "We're just a tantrum away from
WWIII," about 250 protesters lined Palafox and Garden streets at the height of the demonstration, and few had any kind words for President Bush...
Local activists take part in protests
More than 100 Gainesville-area protester voices joined an international
anti-war chorus on Saturday.
Demonstrators took over the four corners at NW 13th Street and NW 23rd Avenue for about two hours beginning at noon carrying signs in an effort to garner support for an ever-growing movement against a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The protest - by all accounts the largest of late - drew a cadre of war opponents ranging in age from 15 to 75, said Joe
Courter, a community activist and a founding member of the Community Coalition Against War and Terrorism, a loose-knit group representing about a dozen organizations that mobilized the demonstration.
.... 2/16/2003
Click for larger
photo
Top
Bush Wants to Scrub the Possibility of Body Bags
Returning from Iraq - Through Cremation
Tom Flocco writes, "In a few weeks, American military parents,
husbands, wives, and children may face the prospect of receiving ashes
of a dead family member instead of the time-honored tradition of a
body in a flag-draped casket if a Pentagon-sponsored plan takes effect
shortly. According to CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/06/sprj.irq.cremating.soldiers/index.html),
the US military has floated a trial balloon to determine how military
families and the public in general would react if soldiers falling
victim to either biological or chemical attacks in Iraq by Saddam
Hussein were cremated in a Middle East crematorium near Iraqi
battlefields. The disturbing report, which has received little
attention save on CNN, also fails to address religious and cultural
implications which are sure to be raised by American families."
Returning body bags fueled the anti-Vietnam War movement - no doubt
BushRove decided to eliminate the risk - by eliminating the body bags!
http://www.tomflocco.com/pentagon_considers_cremating_ame.htm
...BernieW, 2/11/03
Material Protest
Madonna, according to the Drudge Report, is planning a protest video in connection with her new CD, "American Life," that "insiders say may be the most shocking anti-war, anti-Bush statement yet to come from the show business industry." Viewers will reportedly be treated to Madonna in fatigues, throwing grenades with accompanying scenes of carnage, flying limbs and bodies, and what is described as a "disturbing clip" featuring Iraqi children.
"You know, Barb, his belligerence toward Iraq
and North Korea doesn't surprise me. Remember how he loved
playing with matches as a kid?" .... see Beattie
cartoon 2/9/03
The Real but Unspoken Reasons for the Upcoming
Iraq War
summary
Although completely suppressed in the U.S. media, the answer to the
Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking - it an an oil CURRENCY war. The
Real Reason for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of
preventing further OPEC momentum towards the euro as an oil
transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC,
they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd
largest proven oil reserves. This lengthy essay will discuss the
macroeconomics of the "petro-dollar" and the unpublicized
but real threat to U.S. economic hegemony from the euro as an
alternative oil transaction currency.
http://www.indymedia.org/print.php3?article_id=231238
... JohnK, 2/7/03
Top
 |
Rice
For Peace
No War On Iraq
In the 1950's, tens of thousands of people sent small bags of rice to President Eisenhower to encourage him to send food to then-enemy China during a famine. The campaign helped dissuade Eisenhower from attacking China during two distinct international confrontations. Now a nationwide effort has been launched to send a similar message to President Bush about Iraq. If we are going to send something to Iraq it should be food, not bombs.
(Lots of bags being sent... click
here)
Rice to W cartoon
|
Feb. 15 Protests Will Be the Largest in World
History
UnitedForPeace.org writes, "On Feb. 15, hundreds of thousands
of people will converge on New York City to stand with millions
around the globe against Bush's plan for war on Iraq. While we are
still unable to announce a location for this march and rally, one
thing is certain: It is happening. We urge everyone to continue
mobilizing full speed ahead for Feb. 15. Continue with your plans
to come to New York City -- we are confident a permit will come
through. Confirmed speakers and performers include: Nobel Laureate
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Patti Smith, Angela Y. Davis, Martin
Luther King, III, Rosie Perez, Julian Bond, Pete Seeger, Def
Poetry Jam poets, Holly Near, Tony Kushner, Danny Glover...
Anti-war protests are already being organized on every continent,
and the list of host cities is growing rapidly. Worldwide,
February 15 will likely be the single largest day of protest in
world history." [Note: UFP has been forced to sue NYC for
refusing to issue a permit.]
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/index.php
|
Top
Blix Calls Bush a
LIAR - Why Did the NY Times Bury the Story?
On Tuesday, Bush cited the findings of Hans Blix as justification for
W-ar. But according to Blix, Bush is lying about Blix's findings.
Inspectors have NOT "found that iraqi officials were hiding and
moving illicit materials... to prevent their discovery." There is
NO evidence "Iraq was sending weapons scientists [abroad] to
prevent them from being interviewed." There is NO evidence
"Iraqi agents were posing as scientists." UNMOVIC has NOT
"been penetrated by Iraqi agents." NO "sensitive
information might have been leaked to Baghdad, compromising the
inspections." Blix is calling Bush a LIAR - so why is this
front-page news BURIED on page A10? E-mail letters@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2003/01/31/international/middleeast/31BLIX.html
...BernieW, 2/1/03
Tony Blair Is A Coward -- And A Fascist Boot Licker
John Pilger writes, "Unelected in 2000, the... regime of George W Bush is now totalitarian, captured by a clique whose fanaticism and ambitions of 'endless war' and 'full spectrum dominance' are a matter of record... Bush's State of the Union speech last night was reminiscent of that other great moment in 1938 when Hitler called his generals together and told them: 'I must have war.' He then had it. [Tony Blair] is the embodiment of the most dangerous appeasement humanity has known since the 1930s. The current American elite is the Third Reich of our times... When you next hear Blair or Straw or Bush talk about 'bringing democracy to the people of Iraq', remember that it was the CIA that installed the Ba'ath Party in Baghdad from which emerged Saddam Hussein."...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12581179&method=full&siteid=50143
Bush Perfects Presidential Performance Art
Bob Borosage writes, "For George Bush, State of the Union addresses are presidential performance art. Bush's pollsters pre-test key words and phrases. His handlers preview each practiced gesture, dramatic whisper, narrowed eye. The public is presented with pleasing tableaux of presidential postures, not of his actual policies. But this posturing exacts a price in credibility that can become particularly costly in times of 'large consequence.' In last night's performance by Mr. Bush, that price was particularly high because the gap between word and reality was immense -- and because Bush relies on faith rather than evidence to convince Americans of the need to launch a pre-emptive war abroad and audacious tax breaks at home. Seldom has a nation been more shabbily treated by a president. At the very moment when Bush had to level with the American people, he appeared ever more the clever poseur than the prudent leader."
http://www.ourfuture.org/onmessage/borosage/1_29_03.cfm
Laura Bush (R-Stepford) Scrubs Poetry Symposium over Iraq W-ar
Protests
Laura Bush scrubbed "a poetry symposium out of concerns it
would be politicized after some poets said they wanted to protest
military action against Iraq. The symposium on the poetry of Emily
Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman had been scheduled for
Feb. 12... 'While Mrs. Bush respects the right of all Americans to
express their opinions, she, too, has opinions and believes it would
be inappropriate to turn a literary event into a political forum,'
Noelia Rodriguez said Wednesday. Mrs. Bush, a former librarian... has
held a series of White House symposiums to salute America's authors...
But the poetry symposium quickly inspired a nationwide protest. Sam
Hamill, a poet and editor of the highly regarded Copper Canyon Press,
declined the invitation and e-mailed friends asking for antiwar poems
or statements... He had expected about 50 responses; he's gotten more
than 1,500, including contributions from W.S. Merwin, Adrienne Rich
and Lawrence Ferlinghetti."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20030130/ap_on_go_pr_wh/poets_white_house&e=2&ncid=
Those Who Know History Condemn Bush
"At the 117th Annual Meeting of the American Historical
Association in January, historians from more than forty colleges and
universities agreed to form a new national network, 'Historians
Against the War.' A committee was appointed to draft the following
statement, which has been circulated for other historians to sign: 'We
historians call for a halt to the march towards war against Iraq. We
are deeply concerned about the needless destruction of human life, the
undermining of constitutional government in the U.S., the egregious
curtailment of civil liberties and human rights at home and abroad,
and the obstruction of world peace for the indefinite future. Since
that meeting, more than one THOUSAND historians, from 250 colleges and
universities in 47 states, have endorsed the HAW statement."
http://chnm.gmu.edu/rhr/haw.htm
.... from democrats.com www.democrats.com
2/1/03
info: email info@whoseflorida.com
(Top) (Home)
Check the new
WhoseFlorida
for updates
|
Help
support 
