Author Archive
Iowa: Field Of Drones?
The AP article in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on Saturday, March 30th, “Drones Fall in Cross Hairs Amid Privacy Concerns,” addresses the issues surrounding domestic use of drones. It contrasts domestic drones with “the killing machines whose missiles incinerate terrorists abroad.” This remark, presented as a matter of fact, is, as a matter of fact, false and misleading. Our weaponized drone strikes in Pakistan, a country with whom we are not at war, have killed at least 3000 people. Only 2% of those “incinerated” have been identified as leaders of terrorism. Hundreds of children and hundreds of other innocent civilians have been killed.
Our use of weaponized drones is illegal, immoral and counter-productive. It creates much more enmity to the US than it extinguishes. Now, it becomes an even more poignant issue for Iowans. The introduction of a Reaper drone-control unit is underway in Des Moines, as part of the Iowa Air National Guard. The unit will pilot armed Reapers and pull the trigger on suspects thousands of miles away. This, according to Gil Landolt, president of Veterans for Peace in Des Moines, puts Iowa at risk of becoming a Killing Field rather than a Field of Dreams.
The thought of Iowa as a battlefield is sobering. Yes, the thought of Iowa being a target of armed drones from other countries is no longer fantasy. More importantly, in my opinion, is the moral hazard of allowing, without protest, the introduction of killing by drones into our state.
Iowa City Event: Perspectives On Drone Warfare
Perspectives on Drone Warfare: Pakistan & Afghanistan
Wed, Jan. 23rd, 7 PM, St Mary’s Church Social Hall, 302 E. Jefferson St
Iowa City (access involves steps)
sponsored by Veterans for Peace Chapter #161
Featuring Leah Bolger, National President of Veterans for Peace
Leah Bolger, National President of Veterans for Peace and Dan Tallon, a member of VFP Chapter #161, will address the issue of drone warfare.
Ms. Bolger, who was in the US Navy 20 years and retired with rank of Commander, has worked on several national campaigns and has represented VFP in various coalitions and networks. She has also been arrested numerous times for acts of civil disobedience.
In October, 2012, she accompanied 30 others from the US to Pakistan, where they met with family members of drone strike victims and with public officials and activists. The group received much attention from the Pakistani media. The group walked to near the border of South Waziristan, accompanied by thousands of Pakistanis. The group returned to the US with documentation and first-person accounts of being on the receiving end of drone warfare.
Dan Tallon returned to Iowa in August, 2011 after a year in Afghanistan with the Iowa National Guard. He was stationed in E. Afghanistan, near the Khyber Pass. He is a senior at the University of Iowa
Fundraiser In Iowa City Today For Veterans For Peace
Veterans for Peace
If you live in or near Iowa City, and you’re eating out on Monday, December 3rd, consider Thai Flavors. The restaurant will be donating a percentage of all proceeds that day to Veterans For Peace Chapter #161. VFP members will be on hand with information on Peace in Afghanistan and the US Military Budget. The food is great, prices very reasonable. Lunch, 11AM-2PM. Dinner 5PM-9:00 PM. 340 E. Burlington St., Downtown Iowa City.
More info, contact Ed Flaherty 319 621-6766
Tags: military budget, Peace in Afghanistan, Thai Flavors Iowa City, Vetterans for Peace | 
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Rethink Afghanistan: Windows & Mirrors
by Ed Flaherty
October 7th will mark the beginning of the 12th year of our war in Afghanistan. Some call it the forgotten war. Many of us haven’t thought about it in a long time. I suggest it’s time to rethink Afghanistan. If you thought it was a war on the cheap, think again.
Our “direct” expenditures have been $565 Billion, and we continue to spend at the rate of $300 million per day. If you think it’s been done with minimal casualties, think again. Over 2000 members of the US armed services have been killed in Afghanistan, and the suicide rate of US troops exceeds the rate of combat deaths. And in addition to the official count of over 15,000 wounded, add at least 200,000 more US Afghan-war vets with PTSD and/or TBI. If you think we must fight this war for humanitarian reasons, think again. After all our expenditure there in the past 11 years, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with one out of five children dying before the age of five and one out of eleven women dying in childbirth. One million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished. If you think we must continue the war to make the US more secure, think again. With every US raid which kills civilians, anger at the US increases along with the will to drive out the foreign occupier.
If we have not been successful in 11 years, maybe it’s time to rethink it all and give peace a chance.
By coincidence, there is a free film, Rethinking Afghanistan, showing at the Coralville Public Library in conjunctiion with Windows & Mirrors on Tuesday, Sept 25th @ 6:30 PM.
Most importantly, if you think there is nothing you can do, think again. In addition to writing to the President, Senators, and Congressmen, you may become one of 2million friends, calling for a UN-brokered cease fire in Afghanistan by Dec. 10, 2012. A look at 2millionfriends.org explains this straight-forward effort by ordinary Afghans.
Tell Senators Harkin And Grassley To Vote No On Pentagon Spending Bill
The House of Representatives approved HR 5856 on July 19th, appropriating $606 billion for the Pentagon. This includes $88 billion for our 11-year war in Afghanistan, but does not include other war-related expenses, like VA services for 400,000 PTSD-afflicted veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The country with the next-largest military budget, China, recently announced a military budget of $106 billion, though the Pentagon says it’s really $160 billion. Well, let’s take the Pentagon’s word for it. After all, it must be right because it’s the only federal agency that’s never been audited.
So, every man, woman and child’s share of the military budget will be $1,931 per year, and that’s too much!
My proposal is let’s have a military budget that’s TRIPLE the size of China’s. 3 x $160 billion = $480 billion. We would save $126 billion, and still be spending $1,530 per capita on military, vs. $119 per capita in China. Our military spending is not buying us national security, and it has crossed into immorality. Setting those two concerns aside (as it seems we have been all too willing to do), we cannot afford to throw money down the drain like this anymore.
Tell Senators Harkin and Grassley to vote NO when the Pentagon spending bill comes to the Senate.
Sen. Chuck Grassley 202-224-3744 Contact form
Sen. Tom Harkin 202-224-3254 Contact form
Tags: HR 5856, military budget, Pentagon Budget, war in Afghanistan | No Comments »
On Anniversary of Tonkin Gulf Resolution Let’s Say No To War With Iran
Ed Flaherty
On August 7, 1964, the US Senate voted 88-2 to approve the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which was then used as the legal justification for the Vietnam War. Two senators, Morse & Gruening, had the courage to say no. They should be honored as heroes. The resolution was based on lies and pretense – history is clear on this. 58,209 US soldiers died, along with over a million Vietnamese.
We should not have to repeat history, but the War in Iraq was eerily similar. The October, 2002 authorization for that war was also based on half-truths and deliberate manipulation of faulty intelligence. We know there were no WMD’s, we know there was no connection with 9-11.On September 14, 2001, Congress approved the War on Terror, which included the war in Afghanistan, with only one dissenting vote, from Barbara Lee.
We are having the same success with this war, after almost 11 years, as we had in Vietnam and Iraq.
It may be worthy to note that the largest demonstration in empathy with the US after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 was in Tehran, Iran. Iran immediately offered its support to the US in the effort against Al-Queda. However, George Bush found it expedient to declare Iran part of the Axis of Evil. Now we have the opportunity to accept or reject the prospect of another war, against Iran.
Let’s end our war in Afghanistan and just say no to a war with Iran. Speak to your representatives in Congress.
____
Sen. Chuck Grassley 202-224-3744 Contact form
Sen. Tom Harkin 202-224-3254 Contact form
Rep. Bruce Braley (D – 01) 202-225-2911 Contact form
Rep. Dave Loebsack (D – 02) 202-225-6576 Contact form
Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-03) 202-225-3806 Contact form
Rep. Tom Latham (R – 04) 202-225-5476 Contact form
Rep. Steve King (R – 05) 202-225-4426 Contact form
Tags: Tonkin Gulf Resolution anniversary, Vietnam War, war in Afghanistan, War in Iraq, War on Terror | No Comments »
James Zogby Iowa Lecture Tour: U.S. Policy Toward Iran
According to Dr. James Zogby, escalating rhetoric from all sides in the Gulf conflict poses danger. “The region is a tinderbox, and it is as if everyone is too busy playing with matches to think of the consequences….”
The Crisis in the Gulf: U.S. Policy toward Iran
Tuesday, March 20th, Des Moines, 7:00 PM
Waveland Hall, Plymouth Congregational Church,
4126 Ingersoll Ave, Des Moines
Wednesday, March 21st, noon Cedar Falls
UNI Multi-Cultural Center (E. side of UNI campus)
Wednesday, March 21st, 4:30 PM
Senate chambers of Historic Old Capitol, Iowa City
Wednesday, March 21st, Marion 7:30,
Kirkwood Training & Outreach Services Center, 3375 Armar Dr, Marion,IA
Dr. James Zogby is president of the Arab-American Institute. A lecturer and scholar on Middle East issues, U.S.-Arab relations, and the history of the Arab American community, Dr. Zogby appears frequently on tv and radio. A regular guest on all major network news programs and a blogger on The Huffington Post, he is the author of several books including Arab Voices and What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs and Concerns.
Free & open to the public and accessible to all. Sponsored by Veterans For Peace, the Arab-American Institute, American Friends Service Committee, PEACE Iowa, Iowa NEA Peace & Justice Caucus, People for Justice in Palestine, Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility, and University of Iowa United Nations Association.
For further information, contact Ed Flaherty @ flahertyem@q.com
Tags: Dr. James Zogby, Middle East, Peace | No Comments »
How To End A War Before It Starts
Ed Flaherty
War With Iran is Senseless
There has been no “winner” in our war in Iraq. There would be no winners in any war with Iran. If there were ever a time for diplomacy, it is now. If there were ever a time for arrogance and self-righteousness, it is NOT now.
How utterly absurd it would be to go to war because of the insecurity of Israel (which possesses over 200 nuclear weapons) based on Iran’s purported striving for nuclear weapons. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said earlier this month there is no indication of Iran having a nuclear weapon program.
It’s time for citizens to spend a couple minutes and call President Obama, Senators Harkin & Grassley, and Representatives Loebsack and Braley and insist they throw cold water on anything that may lead to war with Iran. This is truly the time for renewing diplomatic talks with Iran. It’s also time to promise Israel that the $3 Billion military aid which we give them annually will stop immediately if it attacks Iran. Israel must also know that the US will no longer automatically veto in the UN Security Council any action that Israel happens not to like.
Wars are easy to start and hard to end. Let’s end this one before it starts.
[Update: Please call the President (202 456-1111), Sen. Harkin (202 224-3254), Sen. Grassley (202 224-3744), Representative Steve King (202.225.4426), Representative Tom Latham (202-225-5476), Representative Boswell (202-225-3806), Representative Loebsack (202 225-6576) and Representative Braley (202 225-2911)]
Iowans Should Tell Reps: Pursue Peace Not War
Ed Flaherty
“We must be smart enough and active enough as citzens to not be suckered into another war.”
It has been a little over a month since the last US troops came home from Iraq, from a war that was born out of lies and lasted over eight years and damaged both countries immensely. So now shall we enter into a war with Iran? If we do, it will be born out of lies and historical amnesia. Please consider the following and then ask your elected officials to pursue peace rather than war.
In 1953, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossaddegh, was overthrown in a coup engineered by the CIA and the British. Power was transferred to the Shah, supported by the US until his overthrow in 1979. The CIA and the Mossad (Israel) helped form the Savak, the Shah’s secret police which gained a reputation for extreme brutality. The US enabled and approved the sale of nuclear technology to Iran under the Shah. The US encouraged and armed Iraq (under Saddam Hussein) in their war against Iran, which lasted from 1980 to 1988 and in which hundreds of thousands of Iranians died. In January, 2002, after having rebuffed Iran’s offer of assistance to the US after 9-ll, Pres. Bush named Iran as part of the Axis of Evil.
None of the above excuses the repression and misdeeds of the Iranian government. Just be clear, this isn’t a showdown between good guys and bad guys.
We must be smart enough and active enough as citzens to not be suckered into another war. And if we are by far the strongest military power on earth, why should we be afraid of true diplomacy?
[Update: Please call the President (202 456-1111), Sen. Harkin (202 224-3254), Sen. Grassley (202 224-3744), Representative Steve King (202.225.4426), Representative Tom Latham (202-225-5476), Representative Boswell (202-225-3806), Representative Loebsack (202 225-6576) and Representative Braley (202 225-2911)]
Veterans For Peace Plan Armistice Day Event
Local groups, including Veterans for Peace, Friday will recall the hopes of peoples for an end to war when the Armistice ending World War I on the Western Front was celebrated 93 years ago on Nov. 11, 1918.
Bells rang throughout many lands as the guns fell silent across France and Belgium–”the war to end all wars” was over–but the hopes for lasting peace foundered over the repeated conflicts which followed during the remainder of the 20th century and into this. Friday the veterans of those wars will be honored as Veterans Day now coincides with Armistice Day.
The local commemoration, open to the public, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Clinton Street at Iowa Avenue in Iowa City, and will culminate with ringing bells at 11 a.m. –the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in the 11th year of the 21st century in the modern era.
Other groups joining in sponsorship of the Nov. 11 Iowa City observance are; Physicians for Social Responsibility, Iowa NEA Peace and Justice Caucus and PEACE Iowa.
Ed Flaherty, who will preside at the commemoration as president of Chapter 161 of Veterans for Peace, Iowa City, notes that the legislation establishing Armistice Day as a national holiday declared it “…a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace…” He added:
“Too often rhetoric and patriotic symbols are used instead of genuine compassion for the extraordinary sacrifices and service of military personnel. Since 90 per cent of the victims of wars are civilians, honoring veterans alone distracts the public from the awful price paid by those other than members of the military.” Flaherty also noted that Veterans for Peace calls for “waging peace” as well as ending wars and the “terrible” human and financial costs resulting.
Names of Iowa service people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as those of some civilians known to have been killed in those wars are to be read by those taking part in the commemoration. Also planned are readings of poetry inspired by the wars, including an Armistice Day poem written by a local veteran, Art Small, and read by him. Another local veteran, Tom Baldridge, will ring a historically significant bell of Veterans for Peace at 11 a.m., the time it is hoped local church bells and the bell of Old Capitol will ring as they did in 1918.
Gil Landolt, president of the Des Moines Veterans for Peace chapter, also will speak.
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