NATO Game Over - April 1st, 2012

Pulitzer-winner, ex-CIA analyst, FBI whistleblower among those arrested outside White House

From Raw Story.

As President Barack Obama was unveiling a new report on progress of the war in Afghanistan, a lineup of high-profile dissenters joined in an act of civil disobedience that ended with about 135 demonstrators being arrested outside the White House Thursday afternoon.

The number of arrestees came by way of an attorney for one of the defendants, who spoke to Raw Story. (Update: the official number of arrestees was 131.)

The military's assessment (.pdf) of the war effort found that while US troops can begin withdrawing as scheduled in July, a military presence will continue until at least 2014.

At the same time the president was speaking, dozens of protesters, organized by Veterans for Peace, lined up along the White House fence in an act of civil disobenience. Many chained or tied themselves to the fence and chanted "End, end, end the occupation. Troops out now!"

Police spent several hours arresting demonstrators, taking photos of each one before placing them into vans.


Notable participants risking arrest included Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, retired 27-year CIA analyst Ray McGovern, FBI whistleblower Colleen Rowley, and Pulitzer-winning former New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges.

Raw Story was able to confirm the arrests of Ellsberg, McGovern, Rowley and Hedges, along with Veterans for Peace members Elliott Adams, Mike Ferner, Mike Hearington and Leah Bolger...

More then 1,000 March Against Israeli War Crimes in Times Square

I was present at this large demonstration, alerted to it by World Can't Wait, and took some small photos with my mobile phone. The demonstrators marched through mid-town Manhattan, stopping traffic and closing sidewalks until they finally poured into Times Square. Of course a couple times the usual infuriated Zionists lashed out from the street that the demonstrators dare express distaste at the brutality of Israel's right-wing Netanyahu led authoritarian politics. On one occasion a man yelled something about the protestors being Nazis for their criticism of Israeli aggression, though the crimes of the IDF seem to mean nothing to these furious whiners who always see themselves as the victims no matter what brutality they unleash. The crowd was very mixed, as can be seen from the photos, reflecting the melting pot of New York. It seems people of all types had gathered together to express disgust for the brutality of the Israel of Netanyahu and all that it represents. I didn't find myself agreeing with every poster I saw, but there were many good ones. I certainly think it is high time that people take to the streets to protest against the hypocrisy of the self-annointed "good guys", USA and Israel, in the wake of one of their killing sprees. Enjoy the pictures.

Anti-War Protest At West Point During Obama Visit

I received an email from World Can't Wait about a small Anti-War protest to take place today at West Point. I was in the area so I drove down and took some pictures. There were members on hand from the Orange County Democratic Alliance
, Iraq Veterans Against The War, and others.
After speeches at Highland Falls the group of around a hundred or more marched down to the West Point Gate not far away.



A few Pro-War protesters were also on hand. Strangely one of them was holding a "Don't Tread On Me" flag. This is pretty illogical(not the flag, but the intention here) since wars of occupation certainly are all about treading on people, not to mention the Patriot Act and all the rest that comes with these wars. Still many are caught up in the old leftist/right-wing blame game which insults the intelligence of anyone who cares about the issues themselves. I shouted out to the man, "the Tea Party isn't for these wars" thinking that might snap their thinking. Hoping of course the Tea Party isn't for these wars, though it is still unclear, in my mind at least, how far the movement will distance itself from the typical mainline republican my-country-right-or-wrong attitude.



We were also closely watched by some black uniformed troops carrying some assault weapons and wearing "Police" on their shirts who seemed to be guarding the West Point gate.



Enjoy the pictures.