Support Agustin Aguayo
At the rally for Lt. Watada, I heard both the wife and mother of war resister Agustin Aguayo speak. It was really moving. His wife asked that we ask everyone we know to go to the website “Aguayodefense.org” and send him an auto-postcard of support so he knows how many people are behind him.
He’s being held in Germany. There’s a special box for the postcard info which leads you to a German peace site, which is pretty easy to figure out. You can either send the canned message or add your own words.
Erika Hamerquist
Sequim WA
For more information on Aguayo you can read Rosalio Muñoz’s story “Ready for court-martial, but not return to war” (PWW 9/30-10/6, 2006) at
Free Leonard Peltier
We are pleased to announce the new Friends of Peltier web site at
Friends of Peltier is an independent volunteer organization that supports freedom for political prisoner and Native American activist Leonard Peltier and works in solidarity with other individuals and organizations that share our goal. Visit the web site to find out how you can help win Peltier’s freedom. Everyone is welcome in The Circle.
John Gallagher
Woonsocket RI
Don’t let Lieberman give Bush a pass on Katrina
Unbelievable. Ten months ago, Sen. Joe Lieberman blasted the White House for obstructing a Senate committee’s investigation into the federal response to Katrina. Now he controls that committee, but instead of forcing the White House to participate, he’s called off the investigation altogether! Lieberman is sidestepping his responsibility to hold the White House accountable and betraying the citizens of the Gulf Coast. I’ve joined ColorOfChange.org in calling him out and demanding that others in Congress conduct a full investigation if he won’t. I wanted to invite you to do the same.
Before last year’s election, Lieberman talked like someone who cared about the people of the Gulf, and about accountability. Then, Bush helped Lieberman win re-election in November — bringing Republican contributors to his campaign and pulling support from Lieberman’s Republican challenger.
Now it seems Lieberman cares more about protecting the White House. Worse, no other elected official is stepping up to do what Lieberman won’t. It’s Congress’s duty to exercise oversight over the White House when there’s a failure — especially a massive failure like the one we saw with Katrina.
Congress has a duty to investigate what went wrong.
Carrie Anne Johnson
Via e-mail
Bill Clinton was no angel…
In your editorial “The corpse of habeas corpus’” (PWW 10/7-23, 2006), you assume the writ of habeas corpus has only recently been put to rest as a result of the Bush administration and “Republican senators.”
I beg you to note, however, that the writ of habeas corpus was all but annihilated in 1996 as a result of the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, drafted by the Clinton/Reno Justice Department and passed on not only by Republican Senators but right-wing Clintonesque Democrats.
That legislation applies to all U.S. prisoners, whether they are citizens or not, state and federal, and basically denies the innocent and wrongfully convicted of any chance of habeas relief unless their petition is filed within one year from date of conviction, and even then poses often insurmountable obstacles.
Tens of thousands innocents were wrongfully convicted without a forum for review of their illegal convictions as a result of this right-wing Democratic legislation.
It is notable that this legislation immediately followed the 1995 Prison Litigation Reform Act, also pushed through by the Clinton/Reno Justice Department and right-wing “tough on crime” Democrats. That act makes it impossible for all but the most skilled and educated jailhouse lawyers to complain in federal court about constitutional violations suffered by prisoners.
By no means is it my intent to justify any of the well-documented Bush regime atrocities. At the same time, even and especially during election time, we should not ignore the fact that so often right-wing Clintonesque Democrats have been there first. At some point, we have to be true and honest with ourselves and with Democrats; we have to be socialists.
Mark Jordan
Florence CO
.…But Bush is worse
Fellow Americans wake up! Bush lied to you. He had Condi Rice show you the mushroom cloud, saying we could be the victims of a nuclear attack if he didn’t invade Iraq to take out their nonexistent “weapons of mass destruction.” He couldn’t wait for the UN inspectors to do their job.
He had to get Saddam Hussein because he was in cahoots with those who attacked us on 9/11, even though Hussein had nothing to do with that attack, and actually was also hated by them.
Bush has defiled our Constitution and our laws by torturing and confining people for years without trial or legal representation at Guantanamo and in other parts of the world.
The only solution: bring the troops home now; impeach and then jail Bush for his monstrous crimes against humanity and the American people in particular; apologize to the people of Iraq for his crimes. Then meet with Iran, Syria and other nations to build a “new world order” based on equality, respect and love for all — because we are all God’s children.
Walter Pietch
Bay Shore NY
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