From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Dec 20 00:42:53 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 00:42:53 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Oh the Irony and the Twisted Logic of Our Once Great Country Message-ID: <20041220084253.43356.qmail@web13606.mail.yahoo.com> Oh the irony and the twisted logic of our once great country. Turns out the "Eco-terrorist act" was carried out by some of the most notorious fire bugs around. Yeap, one of the suspects of the Maryland track homes fire happens to be a fireman. Does anyone see a pattern here? Seems like a large majority of our fire bugs lead a double life as fire fighters! (Firefighter among 3 arrested for Md. arson ) The one guy that was a fire fighter, Jeremy Parady, had the company he was assigned to, was one of the companies that responded to the fire that night. His name is listed on the companies website under riding members, http://www.avfd24.com/members.php , pictures of that night is posted on their website, http://www.avfd24.com/ . I wonder how well they will cover their own going bad? Keep an eye out and lets see. You would think these guys would be treated as the worst of the worst of fire bugs right? But no, not even these guys earn the label of "domestic terrorist". Why? Well because their motives wasn't making an environmental statement. Yeah, you see, you can a motive like racism or revenge and authorities handle it as arson. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2954995 But make the claim that you're doing it to save Bambi and all the sudden the charges escalate to DOMESTIC TERRORISM. Four times the regular arson penalties! Don't even think about fighting, that just gets you a longer sentences! Twenty years and longer. Good time for a model prisoner? Dude! Your a terrorist! Terrorist don't get good time. LOL So the lesson learned here for you future Eco-terrorist? You get caught, you let them know you hate blacks and that was the reason you did your act. Forget about Bambi, unless you wana do 20 plus years! IBB ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Send a seasonal email greeting and help others. Do good. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Dec 20 15:22:48 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 15:22:48 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] President Bush signed order to allow torture, says ACLU Message-ID: <20041220232249.74750.qmail@web13625.mail.yahoo.com> President Bush signed order to allow torture, says ACLU December 20, 2004 NEW YORK -- A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as "torture" and a June 2004 "Urgent Report" to the Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered up. "These documents raise grave questions about where the blame for widespread detainee abuse ultimately rests," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Top government officials can no longer hide from public scrutiny by pointing the finger at a few low-ranking soldiers." The documents were obtained after the ACLU and other public interest organizations filed a lawsuit against the government for failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request. The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists. The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene Commander--Baghdad" to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the techniques that the President is said to have authorized. Another e-mail, dated December 2003, describes an incident in which Defense Department interrogators at Guant?namo Bay impersonated FBI agents while using "torture techniques" against a detainee. The e-mail concludes "If this detainee is ever released or his story made public in any way, DOD interrogators will not be held accountable because these torture techniques were done [sic] the ?FBI? interrogators. The FBI will [sic] left holding the bag before the public." The document also says that no "intelligence of a threat neutralization nature" was garnered by the "FBI" interrogation, and that the FBI?s Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF) believes that the Defense Department?s actions have destroyed any chance of prosecuting the detainee. The e-mail?s author writes that he or she is documenting the incident "in order to protect the FBI." "The methods that the Defense Department has adopted are illegal, immoral, and counterproductive," said ACLU staff attorney Jameel Jaffer. "It is astounding that these methods appear to have been adopted as a matter of policy by the highest levels of government." The June 2004 "Urgent Report" addressed to the FBI Director is heavily redacted. The legible portions of the document appear to describe an account given to the FBI?s Sacramento Field Office by an FBI agent who had "observed numerous physical abuse incidents of Iraqi civilian detainees," including "strangulation, beatings, [and] placement of lit cigarettes into the detainees ear openings." The document states that "[redacted] was providing this account to the FBI based o­n his knowledge that [redacted] were engaged in a cover-up of these abuses." The release of these documents follows a federal court order that directed government agencies to comply with a year-old request under the Freedom of Information Act filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace. The New York Civil Liberties Union is co-counsel in the case. Other documents released by the ACLU today include: An FBI email regarding DOD personnel impersonating FBI officials during interrogations. The e-mail refers to a "ruse" and notes that "all of those [techniques] used in these scenarios" were approved by the Deputy Secretary of Defense. (Jan. 21, 2004) Another FBI agent?s account of interrogations at Guant?namo in which detainees were shackled hand and foot in a fetal position o­n the floor. The agent states that the detainees were kept in that position for 18 to 24 hours at a time and most had "urinated or defacated [sic]" o­n themselves. o­n o­ne occasion, the agent reports having seen a detainee left in an unventilated, non-air conditioned room at a temperature "probably well over a hundred degrees." The agent notes: "The detainee was almost unconscious o­n the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his own hair out throughout the night." (Aug. 2, 2004) An e-mail stating that an Army lawyer "worked hard to cwrite [sic] a legal justification for the type of interrogations they (the Army) want to conduct" at Guant?namo Bay. (Dec. 9, 2002) An e-mail noting the initiation of an FBI investigation into the alleged rape of a juvenile male detainee at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. (July 28, 2004) An FBI agent?s account of an interrogation at Guant?namo - an interrogation apparently conducted by Defense Department personnel - in which a detainee was wrapped in an Israeli flag and bombarded with loud music and strobe lights. (July 30, 2004) The ACLU and its allies are scheduled to go to court again this afternoon, where they will seek an order compelling the CIA to turn over records related to an internal investigation into detainee abuse. Although the ACLU has received more than 9,000 documents from other agencies, the CIA refuses to confirm or deny even the existence of many of the records that the ACLU and other plaintiffs have requested. The CIA is reported to have been involved in abusing detainees in Iraq and at secret CIA detention facilities around the globe. The lawsuit is being handled by Lawrence Lustberg and Megan Lewis of the New Jersey-based law firm Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C. Other attorneys in the case are Jaffer, Amrit Singh and Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU; Art Eisenberg and Beth Haroules of the NYCLU; and Barbara Olshansky and Jeff Fogel of CCR. The documents referenced above can be found at: http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/fbi.html. More o­n the lawsuit can be found at: http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/. Newly Obtained FBI Records Call Defense Department?s Methods "Torture," Express Concerns Over "Cover-Up" That May Leave FBI "Holding the Bag" for Abuse News release and documents made public today by the ACLU points a finger at the President. The information releases indicates President Bush signed an executive order permitting inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. For hotlinks embedded in this article go to: http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/967790.htm Related: Fatimah?s Letter reverberates throughout all Iraq http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/967504.htm Latest CCNWON Headlines at: http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/index.cfm?d=20&m=12&y=2004 Yesterday's: http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/index.cfm?d=19&m=12&y=2004 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Send a seasonal email greeting and help others. Do good. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Dec 20 21:41:06 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:41:06 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Emergency appeal to help an activist in need Message-ID: <20041221054106.75856.qmail@web13624.mail.yahoo.com> December 7, 2004 Dear friends, We are writing to encourage you to help support our dear friend and colleague, Luke Anderson. As you may know, Luke is one of the world's leading activists on genetic engineering, and has been working tirelessly for many years on behalf of all of us. A few weeks ago, Luke's biodiesel camper van was stolen in Berkeley. His van was his traveling home and contained virtually all of his possessions, including over a year's worth of creative writing and other personal mementos. Although the van was found three weeks later, the people who stole it had sold or trashed all of Luke's belongings and damaged the vehicle. Can you help us raise the $9,200 that Luke needs to at least recover the replaceable portion of his losses and repair his van? Luke has been a full time activist since the 1990s, writing, speaking, inspiring and organizing groups in the US and around the world. Activists like Luke forego the usual measures of personal security in order to put their best energies toward the work of social change. This is a chance for all of us to show that the movement can take care of its own -- to model the caring society we hope to create. Please contribute what you can: $100, $50, $10. More if you can. Please send your donation to Luke Anderson, c/o Margaret and Gary, P.O. Box 233, Boonville, CA 95415. Electronic donations are also possible, via http://www.adoptanactivistorg/donate. Click on the "Paypal" button and enter "Luke Anderson" in the "Payment For" box. For a tax deductible contribution, make your check out to "Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County," write "Adopt-an-Activist/Luke" in the memo line, and mail it to Adopt-an-Activist, PO Box 9363, Santa Rosa, CA 95405. For questions regarding donations, email adoptanactivist at riseup.net Please forward this to any email lists you feel would be appropriate. Thank you, and have a phenomenal (and GE-Free) holiday season! Brian Tokar (briant at sover.net) Jeffrey Smith (jeffrey at seedsofdeception.com) Starhawk (stella at mcn.org) __________ Some more information about Luke's work: In 1997, Luke founded the Totnes (UK) Genetics Group, which helped set the stage for the most successful, sustained opposition to genetic engineering anywhere in the world. In 2000, he began touring the US with his comprehensive book, Genetic Engineering, Food and Our Environment (now in its third edition), informing many for the first time about the dangers of GE foods. In 2001 he relocated to California, touring the state in preparation for that year's Biojustice event in San Diego. Subsequent tours helped gather thousands of people for the 2003 Sacramento Mobilization against the USDA and the 2004 Reclaim the Commons events in San Francisco. Luke has also worked extensively in Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Europe, Canada, and in several California counties in support of local anti-GE intiatives. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Mon Dec 20 21:38:42 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:38:42 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Former Marine Says Unit Killed Iraqi Civilians Message-ID: <20041221053842.6787.qmail@web13607.mail.yahoo.com> "When you don't know who the enemy is, what are you doing there?" asked the former Marine. ABC Online US Marine claims unit killed Iraqi civilians. 08/12/2004. ABC News Online [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1260377.htm] Last Update: Wednesday, December 8, 2004. 11:45am (AEDT) US Marine claims unit killed Iraqi civilians A former US Marine said his unit killed more than 30 innocent Iraqi civilians in just two days, in graphic testimony to a Canadian tribunal probing an asylum claim by a US Army deserter. Former Marine Sergeant Jimmy Massey appeared as a witness to bolster claims by fugitive paratrooper Jeremy Hinzman that he walked out on the 82nd Airborne Division to avoid being ordered to commit war crimes in Iraq. Mr Hinzman, 26, claims he would face persecution if sent home to the United States, in a politically charged case which could set a precedent for at least two other US deserters seeking asylum in Canada. Mr Massey told Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) that men under his command in the 3rd battalion, 7th Marines, killed "30 plus" civilians within 48 hours while on checkpoint duty in Baghdad. "I do know that we killed innocent civilians," Mr Massey told the tribunal, relating the chaotic days after the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Mr Massey said that in some incidents, Iraqi civilians were killed by between 200 and 500 rounds pumped into four separate cars which each failed to respond to a single warning shot and respond to hand signals at a Baghdad checkpoint. At the time, US soldiers feared suicide bombers would try to ram checkpoints, he said. Searches found no weapons in the vehicles or evidence that those killed were anything but innocent civilians, he said. He also said Marines killed four unarmed demonstrators, and more Iraqis the next day during another spell of checkpoint duty in the occupied Iraqi capital. "I was never clear on who was the enemy and who was not," said Mr Massey. "When you don't know who the enemy is, what are you doing there?" asked the former Marine, later honourably discharged from the service with severe depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Mr Hinzman earlier argued in the tribunal, which started on Monday and was due to end Wednesday, that he gradually realised after joining the Army in 2001 that he could not bring himself to kill another person. "I was faced with being deployed to Iraq to do what the infantry does, kill people, and I had no justification for doing so," said Mr Hinzman. Mr Hinzman and his wife and two-year-old son arrived in Canada early this year, after deserting from his unit, an action which carries a maximum five-year term in jail. The South Dakota-born soldier is claiming refugee status based on his contention that he was right to refuse to fight in a war which he says was illegal and violated human rights and the Geneva Conventions. He also claims he would face persecution if returned home to face desertion charges. Mr Hinzman first requested conscientious objector status in 2002 before learning he was to be posted to Afghanistan, where he eventually made 18 combat parachute jumps. The following year, the request was rejected, and late in 2003 he learned he was to be deployed to Iraq, prompting his flight to Canada. Odds against him winning the case are slim, as no such verdict has ever been handed to a US soldier here or to a combatant in a non-conscription army. The IRB was set up to consider the merits of refugee claims at arms length from the Canadian Government. Presiding member Brian Goodman signalled on Tuesday he would ask for written submissions from Mr Hinzman's counsel, a government lawyer and a refugee officer, thereby ruling out a judgement on the case on Wednesday. Mr Goodman will decide whether Hinzman would face persecution if sent back to the United States by dint of political or religious beliefs or his status as an objector to US military action. The judgement will also question whether Mr Hinzman will face "cruel and unusual" punishment, during what would likely be a long prison term. -AFP ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Tue Dec 21 22:37:16 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 22:37:16 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Conscientious Objector Witnessed Killing of Iraqi Detainees Message-ID: <20041222063716.84749.qmail@web13603.mail.yahoo.com> Friday, December 17th, 2004 Exclusive: Conscientious Objector Witnessed Abuse, Killing of Iraqi Detainees at Abu Ghraib http://tinyurl.com/4llgw In a Democracy Now! national broadcast exclusive, we speak with former Army Reserve Specialist Aidan Delgado. He served in Iraq from April 2003 to April 2004 where he was deployed in Nasiriyah and Abu Ghraib. Soon after his arrival in Iraq, he sought conscientious objector status and turned in his weapon. At Abu Ghraib, he witnessed U.S. soldiers abuse and kill Iraqi detainees. After serving his full tour of duty, Aidan Delgado was finally granted conscientious objector status and was honorably discharged. [rush transcript follows] On the morning of September 11, 2001, New College student Aidan Delgado was at the Army recruiting station in Tampa, Florida finalizing his paperwork to enlist in the Army Reserves. Later that morning, still at the station, Delgado watched the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. A year and a half later, as the US invasion of Iraq was in full swing, Delgado was shipped off to fight. Soon after his arrival in the southern city of Nasiriyah, Delgado decided he did not want to participate in the war and applied for conscientious objector status and handed in his weapon. After six months, he was transferred to the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, where he served as a vehicle mechanic for his remaining tour of duty. During his time there, Delgado says he witnessed numerous cases of abuse, violence and killing of Iraqi detainees. On April 1, 2004, exactly, one year after his arrival in Iraq, Aidan Delgado returned home. He was finally granted conscientious objector status in June and was honorably discharged. Aidan Delgado joins us in our firehouse studio today. * Aidan Delgado, soldier in the Army Reserves. He served in Iraq from April 2003 to April 2004 where he was deployed in Nasiriyah and Abu Ghraib. He sought conscientious objector status soon after his arrival in Iraq. He was granted CO status after he served his full tour of duty in Iraq. RUSH TRANSCRIPT This transcript is available free of charge, however donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more... http://www.democracynow.org JUAN GONZALEZ: Welcome to Democracy Now!, Aidan. AIDAN DELGADO: Thank you. Good to be here. JUAN GONZALEZ: Tell us a little bit about your decision, first, to get into the army, and into the reserves, and what prompted you, and then how you ended up in Iraq? AIDAN DELGADO: Well, actually, ironically, even though I enlisted on September 11, really, the reason that I joined had nothing to do with September 11. I was in school. I wasn't doing very well. I was stagnant. I was looking for a change of scene and I thought the army would be something for a young man to do, get a little travel, do something different. Then when I signed up, it was not a big deal to be in the reserves. It was not serious military commitment, and then, after that morning of September 11, and everything changed. So, the reasons I signed are really just personal. Just go do something different, and then the reasons I ended up serving, well. JUAN GONZALEZ: How soon after you enlisted did you learn that you were going to Iraq? AIDAN DELGADO: Well, I heard about that after I came back from my advanced training, which was in August of 2002 or 3. So, I served about a year- and-a-half in the reserves before I was deployed, and I'd been to maybe three or four drills; a weekend here and there, once a month. And so I really didn't have very much military experience or much of a career under my belt when I got deployed. AMY GOODMAN: What was the situation in Nasiriyah. You first went to Nasiriyah? AIDAN DELGADO: Yeah, when we first crossed over, we were kind of in the second wave. The third infantry division had gone ahead and had done most of the heavy fighting. We were there in the third or fourth week of the war. We moved through Nasiriyah and served in this sort of bombed out Iraqi air base called Talil in the south. At that point, the war was still going on. Nasiriyah was still hot. There was a lot of fighting going on, somewhat of an insurgency, some remnants of Saddam's army. Mostly the threat that confronted us was unexploded ordinance and the occasional bombing or mortar shell. So, when I settled in Nasiriyah, it actually was pretty hot. There wasn't any supply. There wasn't any infrastructure for soldiers. We were really kind of roughing it in the desert at first. And then later as we sort of settled in, after the forces took Baghdad, then things became more stable, and Nasiriyah was much more of a permanent base. JUAN GONZALEZ: You were telling us before the show began, that you began to have doubts early on about whether you wanted to be in the combat situation there. Can you talk a little bit about that, how your thinking evolved? AIDAN DELGADO: Actually yeah, after I came back from my advanced training as a mechanic in August, I talked to my sergeant about the possibility of being a conscientious objector, and I didn't feel right in the military anymore, that having become much more serious of a Buddhist and having given more consideration to it, I thought maybe the military and I were not a good fit. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to pursue that, because I was deployed to Iraq very rapid. Over there, you know, two or three months of the occupation, had really made it much more personal for me. The idea to become an objector before was kind of abstract, you know, because you're not really a soldier, you're just going to these weekend drills. But then when you're in war and you're seeing it face-to-face, it becomes much more immediate, and you just can't ignore it anymore. And ultimately I was at such ill ease, and so miserable in the conflict, doing what I was doing that ultimately, I had to, and that's when I turned in my weapons and said, take this back I want to be a conscientious objector. AMY GOODMAN: Had you used your weapon. AIDAN DELGADO: No, thank God. I had no desire to use it, and that's why I felt no remorse at all giving it up. That just turned out to be the first step in a very long, very harrowing process to become a conscientious objector. The command was extremely hostile. AMY GOODMAN: Did you also give in your protective gear? AIDAN DELGADO: No. Actually, I was issued a ballistic plate, that's like the hard shell on the front and back of the vest that actually stops bullets. Without that, the vest is virtually useless. I have been issued one, after I applied for conscientious objector status, they took it back and said that there weren't enough and if I wasn't a combatant that I wouldn't need one. Which was mostly true in Nasiriyah, which it wasn't much of a threat. However when we went to Abu Ghraib prison, we were taking 30 to 40 mortar rounds a night and the base was being routinely shelled. Then I began to feel the lack of my ballistic plates. JUAN GONZALEZ: What was the response of your fellow soldiers in the unit to your decision? AIDAN DELGADO: Well you know, I had a few close friends in the army that really kept me alive. But generally, they were very hostile. People knew about my background, from Egypt, they knew that I spoke some Arabic. They knew I was very sympathetic to the Arabs and very critical of the occupation. So, by and large, people called me a traitor. They didn't want to sit with me. They didn't want to eat with me. Didn't want me to go on missions. They thought I wasn't trustworthy. And that's really what hurt the most. That I was there in Iraq, as a soldier, doing my job, working to the bone as a mechanic, and people would call me a traitor, and whisper behind my back. Only my close friends in the motor-pool who knew what kind of a person I was, knew I was sincere, ever actually supported me. The command itself was against me and did a lot of sort of punitive measures, and that's another thing that showed just how hostile they were. AMY GOODMAN: Like what? AIDAN DELGADO: Well initially, they restricted me to base. I wasn't allowed to leave. I couldn't go out into the city anymore and talk to Iraqis. One of the few aspects of my job that I relished, going on humanitarian missions or speaking to Iraqis, getting a chance to practice my Arabic and get acquainted with the local citizens. That wasn't so bad, you know, the war was getting really ugly. So I wasn't too sad to be not able to go out anymore. But then they said that I couldn't go on home leave because having applied for conscientious objector status, they were afraid I wouldn't come back. They said I was a flight risk, simply because I said I didn't want to kill anyone. And this was extremely distressing after eight months in Iraq. I really, really wanted to go home. Ultimately, I just pestered my command so much and became such a nuisance they finally relented after about nine, maybe ten months in Iraq. They let me take my two- week home leave. JUAN GONZALEZ: You mentioned earlier your knowledge of Arabic and you said your time in Egypt. Can you talk a little bit about that? How you learned Arabic? AIDAN DELGADO: Sure, actually, my father is a diplomat. He works in the overseas. I only came to the United States in 2000 to go to college. I spent all of my life before that in different countries, Thailand, Senegal. And then I spent eight years through middle school and high school in Egypt. So, I am not a fluent Arabic speaker, but I picked up slang, street enough to be able to get along and ironically, I was one of the two people in the battalion who spoke any Arabic. They ended up using me sort of as an inform translator and to help them get around and help them do things in Nasiriyah. Because I was the only one that spoke anything. AMY GOODMAN: And what were Iraqis saying. What were you translating back? AIDAN DELGADO: Generally at first I was just buying things, helping people get around the city. But eventually, Iraqis realizing that I spoke some Arabic would open up to me and ask me questions about when are you leaving or what are you doing here? How many are you? Things I couldn't answer. At first, they were very friendly. It was almost a level of flowers in the streets, really. God bless you. We love you. We love George Bush. Thank you. Down with Saddam. That was in the initial months of the war. As the occupation continued, their attitude definitely soured. Six months into it, the predominant response I got was thank you, God bless you, but when are you going home. All I could say was soon, I hope. I want to go back to America, too. Then near the end in Abu Ghraib when I would occasionally meet electricians or Iraqis working in the prison, they would say, you need to go home. So. JUAN GONZALEZ: Talk to us about some of that experience in Abu Ghraib and also the things that you saw that convinced you more than ever that you needed to get out of the army? AIDAN DELGADO: Well, by the time I got into Abu Ghraib, I had made it clear to the command that I was very critical of the war, that I was a pacifist, virtually, that I had no interest in doing what they were doing. So they knew I was not going to play ball. They knew I was not going to tow the party line. So they tried to keep me as far away from prisoners, prison operations as possible. Ultimately, they relegated me to the very undesirable duty of working in the battalion headquarters. It was a long shift, and it was far away from my company. But there I got a good inside view of sort of the running of the prison and I got to know a lot of what was going on there. I was working in the command with bunch of officers and with sort of all of the key paperwork. That's where I found some things that really disturbing like I discovered that the majority of prisoners at Abu Ghraib weren't even insurgents. They weren't even there for crimes against the coalition. They were there for petty crimes: Theft, public drunkenness. And they were here in this horrible, extremely dangerous prison. That's when I began to feel, oh, my God, I can't believe I'm even participating in this. Then there was sort of a series of demonstrations or prisoner protests against the conditions, against the cold, against the lack of food and the type of food. And the military's response to these demonstrations was, I felt, extremely heavy- handed. I'm not going to say it was illegal. I don't have the background to bring a legalistic challenge, but I will say that it was immoral, the amount of force they responded with. And I think I shared some images of prisoners beaten to within an inch of their life or dead, by the guards. And five prisoners that I know of were shot dead during a demonstration for what amounted to throwing stones. I just felt it was extremely heavy-handed. I was very disillusioned with how the military handled it. AMY GOODMAN: Aidan Delgado we have to go to break, but when we come back, we want to continue to talk about what happened, because you were there until April of 2004. The Abu Ghraib prison scandal was just breaking in the United States. But you knew about it months before. And we want to ask you about that. We're speaking with Aidan Delgado. He served in Iraq. He applied for conscientious objector status and he ultimately got it. [break] AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan Gonzalez. Our guest is Aidan Delgado. He's a soldier in the Army Reserves, served in Iraq from April 2003, where he was sent to Nasiriyah for 6 months then went on to Abu Ghraib, where he also spent 6 months. He applied for conscientious objector status, turned in his weapon; ultimately when he came back from Iraq, was granted CO status- conscientious objector status. And I just want to warn our viewers--Democracy Now! broadcasts on three hundred radio and television stations around the country, Pacifica and NPR stations, public access TV and PBS stations as well as...satellite networks?.-- I want to warn those who are not just listening, but viewing, that Aidan took many pictures in Iraq, and we're going to be showing some of those pictures. Some are gruesome-- what he saw, what he captured in Iraq. And if you don't want to watch, just turn away and listen. Tell us about Abu Ghraib, and you can also tell us about the circumstances of these photographs that you took. AIDAN DELGADO: Generally the circumstances at Abu Ghraib were extremely grim, extremely dire. My predominant impression of the prisoners [was] they were treated with the bare minimum standards of humanity. They were in a barbed wire enclosure, they were resting on wooden platforms in mud. For a long time, they didn't have cold weather clothing, and it was extremely cold in Baghdad. And then there was just the element of continual brutality and disregard from the soldiers. AMY GOODMAN: When did you start to learn about the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib? AIDAN DELGADO: You're referring to the torture of the prisoners that came out on CNN, the scandal? We heard about that in late December, early January of 2004. We hadn't heard the specifics, and I myself - I was surprised at the nature of the abuse-- but that it was going on was old news to us. We'd heard that there had been some hijinks in the hard site and certain units were involved, and one of them was disgruntled and had sent a tape to CNN. We also chuckled about that, thinking, "Oh, now we're all going to get in trouble." And much to our chagrin, our members of our command came out to us and had a little talk and they said, "You know, there's some stuff going around but we're all a family here, we wash our own dirty laundry. This doesn't need to go to CNN. Nobody needs to find out about this." There was sort of an informal gag order, just an attempt to muffle what was going on. AMY GOODMAN: Did they acknowledge there were pictures? AIDAN DELGADO: My impression originally was that it was a videotape. That's what we heard. That was the main thing, that they had sent a tape to CNN. JUAN GONZALEZ: How many soldiers, American soldiers overall, roughly, were at Abu Ghraib, do you think? AIDAN DELGADO: Uh, several thousand. JUAN GONZALEZ: Several thousand? AIDAN DELGADO: Yeah, several thousand. JUAN GONZALEZ: And in terms of your unit, you specifically were doing what at the prison? AIDAN DELGADO: Mostly my job -- by profession, I was a mechanic, so I was in charge of fixing humvees. That's what I did a lot of the time there. However, for about two months they put me on this battalion radio duty, where I'd be like, basically, the voice of the base, the radio operator and coordinating operations. That's when I got to see a lot of inner workings of the prison, that was the only chance I had to really go outside of my unit, outside the motor pool. AMY GOODMAN: And on the issue of prisoners being shot, prisoners being tortured, what exactly did you witness? AIDAN DELGADO: Within two months of being at Abu Ghraib prison, it had become really clear that the prisoners were dissatisfied, there was a lot of unrest. There were almost these continual nightly demonstrations [with] homemade banners; the prisoners would march around in the yard, protesting against not being allowed to smoke, or some conditions-- cold weather, food, different circumstances. The MP's, the military police, had experience dealing with these disturbances, and they put them down relatively peacefully. However, one day we got sort of like an alert that everyone was to get on their flak vest and grab their weapons and report to the base-- to the prison camp, that is. I of course didn't go, since I had no weapon. AMY GOODMAN: You had given in your weapon? AIDAN DELGADO: Yeah, I had given in my weapon long ago. So, but everyone else in my unit went out there, because there was a prisoner demonstration that had become out of control. They were throwing tent stakes and pieces of stone and debris. And they had struck one of the soldiers with a rock. He wasn't seriously injured, but he was annoyed. And so in response, they had asked for the permission to use lethal force. It was still unclear afterwards, in the military's very cursory investigation, whether they actually got the order to use lethal force-- it was obscure. So, they opened fire with a heavy machine gun and they killed five prisoners-- several of whom took several days to die. This is something that I learned about from the horse's mouth when they came back and told me, "Oh, here is a photo of the guys we killed. I killed three, I killed two. My guy took three days to die, I shot him in the groin with a machine gun." And the command had even posted these photographs in our headquarters, and they had been very ghoulishly circulating them. It was very much a trophy-taking thing. And I remember just sort of questioning the guy, saying, "Do you really feel proud of having shot an unarmed man who threw a stone?" He was like, "Well, I'm doing my job." It was a very machismo thing, to have killed someone. I felt this immense loathing and this immense disgust for the whole incident. AMY GOODMAN: Some of the pictures that you sent, extremely bloody. People in their own blood, people shot up. Where are they from? AIDAN DELGADO: The ones from the initial assault come from the Third Infantry division. They had gone ahead of us, and we were attached to them, served as their support. Any of the photos taken that are extremely sharp, with a telephoto lens-- those come from the Third Infantry division; I was not the photographer. The grainy photos are, are myself. The prisoners who were killed, those photographs come from the people who were there. I received them from a friend of mine who-- from one of the participants. AMY GOODMAN: And how do they feel about your taking pictures? AIDAN DELGADO: Not good, I imagine. There's a real old boys' club and a sense of we're all -- there's this brotherhood mentality that we protect each other and I agree with that in some respects. But when it comes to just this blatant immorality, then I feel like I have a duty to come forward. JUAN GONZALEZ: But the fact is that many, many soldiers in Iraq brought cameras with them, right? Because I have talked to many who have taken -- AIDAN DELGADO: Thousands. JUAN GONZALEZ: There must be thousands and thousands, downloading them into their computers... AIDAN DELGADO: I'm sure there must be thousands of similar photos floating around. The point I want to bring up is that what happened at Abu Ghraib that came out on CNN was not anomalous in any way. When I was in the south in Nasiriyah, it was routine for members of our unit to strike Iraqi children, break bottles over people's heads, they would drive by. This was a matter of no comment. That's how common it was. And so, they transported all that brutality to Abu Ghraib. I can tell you that my company would not be a bad example for all of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib. And there was just this aura of brutality and this aura of disconcern. JUAN GONZALEZ: What did you feel was the signal being sent by the commanders about the treatment of civilians or the treatment of prisoners? AIDAN DELGADO: At best the commanders absolutely ignored anything they knew was going on. I wouldn't go so far as to say there was approval, but I would say there was tacit approval in not condemning it. Our command definitely knew about the prisoners being shot. They posted the photos in their headquarters. They knew about prisoners being beaten. But it was just very like, a prison- guard like machismo atmosphere, like, the harder you were with the prisoners, the better a soldier you were. And so there was at least a lack of concern. AMY GOODMAN: As we wrap up, Aidan Delgado, at Abu Ghraib as this was coming out-- as they were taking the pictures, as the prisoners were opened fire on, as prisoners-- did you hear that they were being tortured? The stories of the dogs, the stories of the sexual abuse? AIDAN DELGADO: No. No, I never heard any of those specific incidents. All I encountered was a prison guard level brutality, like beatings or shootings. But I heard of someone having their leg shot off and then dragged on the stump, that was like the sort of? But I didn't hear of any of the inventive tortures that came out on CNN. AMY GOODMAN: And as you come back and now have gotten your conscientious objector status: your thoughts today about what's happening in Iraq? AIDAN DELGADO: Well, you know, I am a patriot despite being a conscientious objector, and I really do love the U.S., and I really want to be sort of a voice of conscience for the military. I'm not trying to denigrate soldiers and I'm not trying to undermine morale, but I really think that when something like this happens, I really want American people to think about their support for the war. And if they have this sort of unexamined support for the war, I want them to know there's all these horrible, nasty incidents going on, that's taking place in their name, and that they should have a sense of ownership about all that, too, in addition to opening schools and bringing democracy to Iraq. So that's my goal and the reason I'm speaking and the reason I'm getting out here is that I want people to examine their own support for the war, and to think about all these horrible things that are a part and parcel of the occupation, like, "When I give my support for the war, I'm supporting that, too." AMY GOODMAN: Finally, the protective gear. You didn't have it at Abu Ghraib and you weren't able to get it, even as you came under attack from the outside, the shells, gunfire? AIDAN DELGADO: Yes. Abu Ghraib was being routinely shelled with mortars and eight foot rockets from outside the base, from the insurgency. I had been issued a heavy ballistic plate in the south. Later, after I applied for conscientious objector status, my command said that I didn't need it since I wouldn't be a combatant. So I didn't have the plate that stops bullets and heavy shrapnel. So, yeah, it was dangerous, but it really wasn't something I could do anything about, so I just tried not to think about it, and tried to stay out of harm's way as much as possible. But I felt that was another punitive measure, at least a repressive measure against me, for coming out with my beliefs. AMY GOODMAN: Aidan Delgado, thank you so much for being with us. [Aidan Delgado] served in Iraq for a year, from April 2003 to 2004, April; was deployed in Nasiriyah and Abu Ghraib, and ultimately got conscientious objector status and now lives in Florida. Thank you for joining us. To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (800) 881-2359. http://www.democracynow.org ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Jazz up your holiday email with celebrity designs. Learn more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Dec 22 12:00:47 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 12:00:47 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Is FactCheck.org MIA? Message-ID: <20041222200047.56481.qmail@web13621.mail.yahoo.com> Hello, You guys were a great during the elections, but there has been hardly a word from you guys since. Are you in the Bahamas working on your tan? The country could use your help. Your help is needed from the confusions of election day and it's aftermath, to getting the story right about the number of Iraqis killed. If you need a personal invitation then consider this a start. I will forward this to others and maybe we can get a bunch of personal invites for you guys to pick up where you left off. Peace, IBB ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Dec 22 14:37:39 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 14:37:39 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] Mark Morford: Amazon.com Is For Republicans Message-ID: <20041222223739.45869.qmail@web13625.mail.yahoo.com> ===== Mark Morford's Notes & Errata ===== SFGate.com - December 22, 2004 --------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- (NOTE: Mark's column is going on short holiday break. Back kneading the warm lavender massage oil of deep karmic truth into the tight glutes of your gleaming intellect on January 5. Salud, namaste, etc. --mm) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Amazon.com Loves Republicans? Attention liberal shoppers: Next year, screw those GOP-loving companies, and start buying blue By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist Do you care much that greasy ol' Pizza Hut gave tens of thousands in PAC money to the GOP last year? How about the fact that Taco Bell stopped pumping out its happily toxic semirancid meat-like substances just long enough to write a fat check to the conservative Right? Isn't that weirdly fascinating, in a depressing and indigestible sort of way? Does it matter a whit that, say, Fruit of the Loom underwear gave nearly 100 percent of its corporate donations to tiny- whitey-wearing Republicans, nearly every one of whom I'm guessing wouldn't know appetizing undergarments from a flap of burlap and some string? Do you think maybe it should? Matter, that is? This is what happened: there was this list, see, a long and rather surprising list of major consumer companies in America, and it detailed just how much money each company forked over to the respective political parties last year in political action committee (PAC) donations. Stop yawning. It gets better. And the list was a bit revelatory and interesting, as such lists are often wont to be, and the companies' fiscal behavior might even surprise you a little, might even take you aback and make you reconsider your consumerist options, especially the part about how Amazon.com gave 61 percent of its donations to the GOP and except maybe for the part about how Coors Brewing gave almost every penny of its donations to Republicans in a concerted effort to, presumably, stop them icky Colorado gays from getting married and keep women in their place all while furthering the cause of skanky undrinkable pisswater beer made for red-blooded Americans who lack taste buds and hope .... (click here to read the rest) (Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2004/12/22/notes122204.DTL&nl=fix ) --------------------------------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca Wed Dec 22 15:12:10 2004 From: shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca (shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca) Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 15:12:10 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Shadow_Group] ELP Support Network: Two Americans Arrested & other news Message-ID: <20041222231210.18517.qmail@web13605.mail.yahoo.com> ELP Information Request Bulletin (22nd of December 2004) Dear friends Sadly ELP has an information request. Last night it was revealed that two young Americans have been arrested for allegedly planning to blow up trucks and equipment belonging to a construction company they believe is polluting a stream. According to media reports, Charles Arthur Jordan IV, 20, and Stephen Philip Marshall, 19, have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to damage or attempt to damage equipment used in interstate commerce. The alleged target was quarry company Morse Bros. According to media reports the two became suspects after they allegedly boasted to friends about their alleged plans. ELP has confirmed that Charles Jordan is in Multnomah County Jail. Stephen Marshall is Washington County Jail but we do not know the full postal addresses for these prisons. If anyone has these address please let us know as soon as possible. Thanks. Other news, Italian eco-activist William Frediani have been transferred to the high level security jail of Spoleto (Perugia). His new address is: William Frediani Casa di Reclusione Via Maiano 10 06049 Spoleto (PG) Italy Also, former American animal rights prisoner Rod Coronado has been charged, along with two other people, with allegedly sabotaging a lion hunt. The tactics used were standard "hunt saboteur" tactics and a full report of this will appear in the next bumper issue of Spirit of Freedom due out very soon. In the meantime, we'd like to finish this e-mail with a support campaign alert. ELP has been sent the following e-mail which you may find of interest. >On October 1, 2004 18-year old Joshua Demmitt of Provo, Utah plead guilty > to arson in conjunction with an A.L.F.-claimed action targeting animal > testing facilities at Brigham Young University (BYU). Josh fell under > investigation after his name and other information was provided to > authorities by Harrison David Burrows. In exchange for fully cooperating > with authorities, Burrows received a plea bargain of five years. After > being identified by Burrows, Josh felt he had limited options and so > accepted a pre-trial plea bargain. He is expected to be sentenced on > January 18, 2005 and is facing five to 25 years in prison. > > Before dawn on July 8, 2004, the ALF set fire to two tractors and > thousands of pounds of cardboard affiliated with the Ellsworth Meat and > Livestock facilities at BYU. In total, damages exceeded $30,000. A few > days later, the ALF issued a statement claiming responsibility for the > action and vowed to continue targeting BYU until the university ceased > animal experimentation. "These actions will not stop until BYU ends their > testing on animals. You call us terrorists because we break your property > laws. To us, they are nothing more than artificial constructs. We answer > to a higher law." > > Josh is a vegan, animal liberationist facing significant time in prison > for actions taken on behalf of the animals. He has firmly demonstrated his > commitment to not put anyone in the position that Burrows placed him in. > Josh is not currently receiving support but is actively seeking it. He has > been violated by the testimony of Burrows and by the authorities; support > is crucial to help him through these difficult times. To contribute to his > defense fund, please make checks payable to Elizabeth Zamora. He can also > receive letters of support at the same address. > > Josh Demmitt Support Fund > P.O. Box 3372 > Anaheim, CA 92803-3372 > USA > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Prison is a weapon used by the State to crush individuals who step out of line" (Michael Collins - former Mayday 2000 prisoner) Support All Animal & Earth Liberation Prisoners Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network BM Box 2407, London, WC1N 3XX, England E-Mail < ELP4321 at hotmail.com > < www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk > Earth Liberation Prisoners Poland c/o E-Mail < ELP4321 at Hotmail.com > Italian Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network E-Mail < italianelp at yahoo.com > < www.italianelp.net > (Under Construction) North American Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network c/o E-Mail < ELP4321 at Hotmail.com > < www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk > Turkey Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network E-Mail < elp_tr at hotmail.com > < www.geocities.com/yesilanarsi/elp.htm > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++ www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? 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