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War
Watch
BY
ELLEN KAISER
_______________
WIDOWS
LOBBY FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
Meeting in a bereavement group, four women who lost husbands in
the Sept. 11 attacks decided to address their grief by fighting
for the “safety of the nation.” On June 11, they organized
four busloads of people who also lost family members to lobby Congress
for an independent investigation into what they call “the
colossal national security failures that occurred on Sept. 11.”
The Bush administration opposes an independent inquiry as a distraction
from the “war on terrorism.”
OUTGUNNING
THE WORLD
Last year, there was $839 billion in military spending worldwide.
The U.S. comprises less than five percent of the world’s population,
but its defense budget equals 36 percent of this worldwide sum.
This year’s U.S. military budget of $351 billion is roughly
equal to the combined amount allocated for defense by the 15 highest
spenders outside the U.S. Washington is planning to increase its
defense budget by some $45 billion next year. Together, Iran, Iraq,
Libya, North Korea, Cuba, Sudan and Syria spend a total of $13 billion
on their militaries.
BROOKLYN
RALLY AGAINST WAR AND DETENTIONS
Initiated by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and co-organized
by a broad network of 51 organizations, more than 500 people rallied
June 9 to: “Stop the War and Stop the Detentions.” The
protesters gathered in Midwood, Brooklyn, a focal point of post-Sept.
11 hate crimes, FBI harassment and INS detentions of South Asians.
The
rally marks an important step into political activism of South Asian
workers. Taxi driver Tasleem Khan said, “We don’t just
have a right, but a responsibility to fight for peace. When they
build up the military, it’s innocent people who die and suffer
the loss of health care, education and low-income housing.”
ANTI-WAR
REPS FACE ELECTION REPRISALS
Five-term, African American incumbent Rep. Earl Hilliard (D-Ala.)
lost a runoff primary in Alabama’s 7th Congressional District
June 25 to Artur Davis. Hilliard is critical of U.S. policies in
the Middle East and supports Palestinian rights. In May, Hilliard
cast one of 21 votes opposing a House resolution expressing solidarity
with Israel. Davis received 81 percent of his campaign contributions
from outside Alabama after he traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet
with representatives of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Rep.
Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), another five-term, black incumbent, faces
an August primary challenge from a retired judge. The judge has
been busily raising funds from contributors who object to McKinney’s
powerful criticism of the “war on terrorism” and her
“no” vote on the “Solidarity With Israel”
resolution. Contributions can be sent to McKinney at P.O. Box 371125,
Decatur, GA 30037.
KEEPING
SECRETS
A June 28 Supreme Court decision allowed the Bush administration,
pending a full appeal, to hold secret immigration hearings for those
detained since Sept. 11. This was the first time the Supreme Court
ruled on the cutbacks in constitutional rights included in the post-Sept.
11 USA Patriot Act. A lower court had said that the First Amendment
requires open hearings and trials, and secret hearings were permissible
only when there was evidence of a “special interest.”
The Justice Department has refused to disclose how many secret hearings
are scheduled or have been held, but immigrant rights advocates
estimate they may number in the hundreds.
CITIES
PROTEST PATRIOT ACT
Seven U.S. municipalities have passed resolutions that oppose the
USA Patriot Act. The resolutions hold that the Act’s provisions
represent a dangerous loss of civil liberties, including freedom
of speech and assembly, privacy, and the right to due process in
judicial procedures. So far, Denver, Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Cambridge
Amherst, Leverett (Mass.), and Northampton (Mass.) are on record.
The
resolutions are significant as signals to Washington that the population
is sensitive to post-Sept. 11 losses of civil liberties. As important,
the process of getting resolutions passed allows organizers to engage
their communities in discussions about the “war against terrorism.”
The Northampton Bill of Rights Defense Committee website, www.gjf.org/NBORDC,
provides lots of organizing tips, including model petitions and
resolutions.
WAR
KILLS
At least 48 Afghan civilians were killed and 117 more wounded by
U.S. air assaults July 1. Twenty-five of the dead were from one
family, celebrants at a wedding party, where shots were fired into
the air in accordance with Afghan wedding tradition. The Afghan
government demanded an investigation of the attacks that were at
minimum a colossal failure by U.S. forces to gather adequate intelligence
before unleashing tremendous firepower. The Bush administration’s
rationale is that the U.S. planes were fired upon. Earlier in the
week, an explosion at an ammunition storehouse had killed 18 Afghan
civilians.
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