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131 Arrested at Veteran-led Civil Resistance Against Wars Dec. 16
The organizers wrote about their action, but corporate media hacks largely ignored it. Here's what they had to say.
After a 10 am rally in Lafeyette Park featuring Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame, retired CIA officer Ray McGovern, Dr. Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program, and others, activists formed a solemn single-file process to the White House, silent except for a drum beat. There, they encountered police barricades. Some veterans began climbing over the barricades, until the police opened them up, allowing people to approach the fence in front of the White House.
As the light snow increased to heavy and began accumulating, activists kept warm by singing and chanting. At about 12:30, police began arresting protesters who remained along the fence, while supporters who did not want to risk arrest were moved across the broad street. Some of the demonstrators stood in the snow and freezing temperatures for nearly four hours before being taken to Anacostia processing center and released. They have all since been released. Some have elected to pay a fine, while others, including Ellsberg and McGovern, will go to trial on the charge of disobeying a lawful order.
Video from the protest is available on YouTube:
Democracy Now, to its credit, did report on this. Here's a particularly interesting quote they ran from an Iraq War veteran.
Mike Prysner: "They’re not going to end the wars. And they’re not going to do it, because it’s not our government. It’s their government. It’s the government of the rich. It’s the government of Wall Street, of the oil giants, of the defense contractors. It’s their government. And the only language that they understand is shutting down business as usual. And that’s what we’re doing here today, and we’re going to continue to do until these wars are over. We’re going to fight until there’s not one more bomb dropped, not one more bullet fired, not one more soldier coming home in a wheelchair, not one more family slaughtered, not one more day of U.S. imperialism."
He's absolutely correct when he points out that our government is owned by wealthy and corporate interests. They are looting America to the point we may not be able to recover.
Obama's imagination seemed to run away with him during his Afghanistan speech. We aren't fighting AQ over there because there effectively is no AQ there, our own intelligence agencies admit that.
Maybe Obama was voting "present" when that intel came out.
There's $ being made off this, yeah. But I think even more the fact that the compliant MSM isn't reporting much on this is a factor too.
As well as most Americans not giving a fuck about Iraqi or Afghani or Pakistani deaths.
Obama's cowardice in praising Bush and chastising the Iraqis several months back when he did his version of "Mission Accomplished" showed his true colors, which have been in evidence his entire career but unobserved by his ebullient supporters.