Support grows for Lt. Ehren Watada
SAN FRANCISCO — Supporters of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada — the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq — welcomed his father, Bob Watada, this week for a whirlwind tour of the Bay Area.
Brooklyn peace marchers call for Mideast cease-fire
NEW YORK — On Aug. 9, dozens of Brooklynites gathered at the corner of 3rd Ave. and Flatbush Ave., in a quickly mobilized demonstration called by Brooklyn Parents for Peace (BPFP), to voice concern and outrage over the widening conflict in the Middle East.
U.S. vets, Koreans: End Korean War finally
Korean Americans at the Veterans for Peace convention in Seattle, Aug. 11, made an impassioned plea for solidarity with the embattled farmers of Pyeongtaek, South Korea, who are being evicted to make way for a vast expansion of a U.S. Army base on their land
Bush administration targets Cuban churches
Church leaders the world over have objected to a misleading reference to the Cuban Council of Churches that appeared in the July 10 report from the President Bush’s “Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba.”
Spotlight reveals Bechtels nuclear tentacles
SAN FRANCISCO — Demonstrators around the country aimed a spotlight at one of the biggest U.S. corporations on Aug. 9, and what it revealed wasn’t a pretty sight.
Cease-fire greeted warily in Lebanon
Writing from Lebanon’s capital on the eve of the UN Security Council’s adoption of Resolution 1701, which calls for a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon and Israel, Judith Le Blanc, co-chair of United for Peace and Justice, told friends and co-workers, “On day 29 of the war, Beirut is a blend of many realities.
Veterans denounce Iraq war at U.S.-Canada Peace Arch
PEACE ARCH, U.S.-Canada Border — U.S. and Canadian war protesters gathered here Aug. 13 to applaud U.S. soldiers who fled to Canada to avoid duty in Iraq and to demand an end to the war and occupation.
Maryann Mahaffey, peoples champion, 81
The people of Detroit are mourning the death of City Council President Maryann Mahaffey, who for 31 years, until illness forced her retirement from office last December, was a selfless fighter for labor’s rights, peace, equality and justice. She died July 27 at the age of 81.
Q&A
I noticed that recent CPUSA statements on the Middle East put a heavy weight on Israel’s responsibility and much lighter weight on Hezbollah or Hamas. Why doesn’t the CPUSA take a more even-handed approach?
WMDs in North Dakota
Father Carl Kabat, 72, Greg Boertje-Obed, 51, and Michael Walli, 57, sit in jail in North Dakota awaiting a federal criminal trial because of weapons of mass destruction and because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I visited them last week.
