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WAR WATCHPUBLIC OPINION SOURS FOR BUSH'S WARAs fighting intensified and U.S. casualties mounted, public opinion on the Iraq war took a tailspin. An April 9 Gallup poll found that 64 percent of respondents believe things in Iraq are going either "very badly" or "moderately badly," up from 43 percent a month ago. In a CBS poll, only 34 percent said the war in Iraq was worth its costs, a loss of five percentage points in just one week. A Pew Center poll found that 53 percent disapproved of the president's policies in Iraq. Bad news from Iraq also dropped public opinion of the Bush presidency to an all-time low. A poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press taken after the deaths of four contractors in Fallujah, Iraq found that 43 percent approved of the president's overall job performance, a far cry from the 90 percent approval Bush enjoyed after Sept. 11. U.S. SOLDIER REJECTS WARStaff Sgt. Camilo Mejía is the first soldier who served in Iraq to declare himself a conscientious objector (CO). After coming to the U.S. from Nicaragua, Mejía spent seven years in the Army and National Guard, before he was deployed to the Middle East in April 2003. According to his CO application, Mejía was particularly upset when a young Iraqi boy who was caught in crossfire died because of confusion at the medical unit. Mejía left Iraq in October for a 14-day furlough. He spent five months "absent without leave" (AWOL), before requesting a CO discharge on March 15. Mejía told War Times: "War is senseless. You go out there, get attacked and you shoot back. Then all of the sudden five or six people are dead who had nothing to do with it. There were no weapons of mass destruction. So why am I there shooting at people?" Mejía has been charged with desertion. His court martial is scheduled for Armed Forces Day, May 19, in Fort Stewart, Ga. He could face a one-year prison sentence and a bad-conduct discharge. For more information, visit www.citizen-soldier.org. SOLDIERS FOR HIRE FIGHT U.S. WARPresident Bush called on a "coalition of the willing" to send troops to support the war on Iraq. But most nations refused because the U.S. started the war without U.N. support. Today, the largest armed component of the occupation force after the U.S. is composed of 15,000 soldiers for hire. The British contingent comes in third. The four private security "consultants" found hanging from a bridge in Iraq on March 31 worked for Blackwater, one of about 25 private security firms there. These personnel provide services once performed solely by the military. They are former Green Berets, Army Rangers and Navy Seals trained in counterterrorism and urban warfare. "We do have an international coalition in Iraq, a coalition of the billing," says Peter Singer, an analyst at the Brookings Institution, who wrote a book on this new industry. Singer says these private companies make $100 billion a year worldwide. SUPPORT NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATIONWhen governments meet at the U.N. from April 26 to May 7 to discuss the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, peace activists will rally around the message: "Let's rid the world of all nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction." For more information, visit www.1may04.org. Since 1970, the Non-Proliferation Treaty has required countries with nuclear weapons--including the U.S., India, Pakistan and Israel--to disarm, and non-nuclear nations not to develop nuclear capacity. Currently, the U.S. is spending billions to develop its weapons, while threatening to punish Iran, Iraq, North Korea and others for proliferation. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says: "We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction yet morally acceptable for others [to do so]…." SPEAK OUT AGAINST WAROn March 20, the one-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion, more than two million people in 60 countries joined a Global Day of Action against War and Occupation. In New York City, 100,000 rallied; in Rome, one million. In the days following, the war in Iraq exploded, and emergency demonstrations around the world pressed to Bring the Troops Home. The next opportunity to project massive opposition to war is Aug. 29, when the Republican Party begins its 2004 convention in New York City. See www.unitedforpeace.org for worldwide activities planned to coincide with the Republican Convention. There will also be demonstrations at the Democratic Party convention in Boston from July 26 to July 29.
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