Americans on Hunger Strike over Iraq War

THE HUNGER STRIKE IS THE LATEST BID BY THE US ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT TO GRAB HOLD OF AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION, AFTER NUMEROUS MARCHES, VIGILS AND POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS.

FPF - July 5th 2006 - The people began the hunger strike outside the White House in Washington yesterday morning. In the mainstream media last night and today mostly very short stories appear, many times on the 'entertainment' sites and pages.* The infamous british propaganda mill BBC of course does the same, for years already being one of the worst leading advocates of the warmongers - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/f47ey

The war-supporting collaborating media mostly use the expression 'Stars' to indicate that those people - which are known and went on hunger strike - are different from other human beings, that it is some kind of 'whim' by the 'stars' who strangely enough want the global genocide to stop. The global question: "Since when is it wrong to stop a genocide by criminals?" is not answered by the war criminals.*

Thanks to Internet, millions of people got access to other information, which nowhere has been in their 'history' books, and have understood the scope of the massacres. Now one doesn't need to only look at the consequences like Holocausts: one can check and double check who the perpetrators are. Who instigates all the misery? The 'American Dream' has shown to be a global nightmare, a pack of Hollywood- and other propaganda lies which has nothing in common with reality. Like Potemkin villages.*

THE PNAC FAÇADE OF THE WHITE HOUSE IS BURNING...

Americans on Hunger Strike over Iraq War

"Several of them drank alcohol before leaving. When they returned after the incident, they had blood on their clothes, which they immediately burned. A soldier not identified by an affidavit testified that he saw Green rape a girl then shoot her in the head "two-to-three times."

IrelandOnLine (IOL)

WASHINGTON - July 4th, 2006 — While millions of fellow compatriots were dressed up for gala celebrations of the Independence Day on Tuesday, July 4th, anti-Iraq war Americans, including Hollywood stars, went on a symbolic hunger strike, demanding the immediate return of US troops from Iraq.

"We've marched, held vigils, lobbied Congress, camped out at Bush's ranch, we've even gone to jail, now it's time to do more," said Cindy Sheehan, who emerged as an anti-war icon after losing her 24 -year-old son Casey in Iraq.

Anti-war protesters savored a last meal outside the White House Monday night, before embarking on a "Troops Home Fast", reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). The hunger strike saw four prominent anti-war activists, Sheehan, Hollywood star Sean Penn veteran, comedian and peace campaigner Dick Gregory and former army colonel Ann Wright.

Other supporters, including Hollywood stars Danny Glover and Susan Sarandon and novelist Alice Walker, will join a "rolling" fast, a relay in which 2,700 activists pledge to refuse food for at least 24 hours. "We have done everything we could think of to end this war, we have protested, held marches, vigils ... lobbied, written letters to Congress," said Meredith Dearborn, of human rights group Global Exchange.

"NOW IT IS TIME TO BRING THE PAIN AND SUFFERING OF WAR HOME. WE ARE PUTTING OUR BODIES ON THE LINE FOR PEACE."

Perhaps the only time the anti-Iraq war movement captured lasting coverage was in August 2005, when Sheehan and supporters pitched camp outside Bush's Texas ranch, where the president habitually stays in high summer.

The US invaded Iraq in March 2003 on the grounds that it was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and had links to Al-Qaeda.

A congressional report later concluded the Bush administration was "dead wrong" on the MWD claim and that Iraq had no link with Al-Qaeda.

Open-Ended

Some protesters said their fast would continue beyond July 4, Reuters reported.

"I don't know how long I can fast, but I am making this open-ended," said environmental campaigner Diane Wilson, who has launched serious, long-term fasts. "We have to put our own lives on the line, and I'm willing to do that," added Wilson, who pledged to fast until the United States withdraws from Iraq.

Dearborn said 2,700 other activists nationwide would work as a relay team passing the fast daily from one to another. Sheehan said she would drink only water throughout the summer, which she said she would spend outside Bush's ranch.

"THIS WAR IS A CRIME," THE ICON MOTHER TOLD A CROWD OF CLAPPING, CHEERING PROTESTERS.

"We represent millions of Americans who withdraw their support from this government."

Recent polls reveal public skepticism over Iraq, and damage to Bush's personal ratings.*

A poll by Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times showed Monday that fifty-four (54) percent of American adults regret Bush's decision to invade Iraq.

In a poll in Time magazine published Friday only33 percent of respondents approved of Bush's leadership on Iraq while sixty-four (64) percent said they disapproved his handling of the war. Some 2,526 US soldiers have died since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

RAPE CHARGES

Meanwhile, US prosecutors charged a US Iraq war veteran Monday with raping and murdering an Iraqi girl, after gunning down three members of her family, including a five-year-old sister. Steven Green, 21, a former private with the US Army's storied 101st Airborne Division, was arrested Friday in the southern state of North Carolina. He appeared in a US federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday. (July 3d, 2006).

According to court documents, Green and three fellow soldiers conspired to rape the girl, said to be 15 year old, and changed into dark clothes before going to the house. Several of them drank alcohol before leaving. When they returned after the incident, they had blood on their clothes, which they immediately burned.

A SOLDIER NOT IDENTIFIED BY AN AFFIDAVIT TESTIFIED THAT HE SAW GREEN RAPE A GIRL THEN SHOOT HER IN THE HEAD "TWO-TO-THREE TIMES."

NBC television reported late Monday that apart from Green, four soldiers remain under investigation in the incident. Their weapons have been confiscated and they have been confined to base in Iraq. If convicted, Green could face execution for the murders or up to life in prison for the rape. He could also be sentenced to pay a fine of 250,000 dollars.

The US military has come under the spotlight over a number of incidents of Iraqi abuse since the 2003 invasion, most notoriously the sexual abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib, which prompted a string of convictions. The military is also investigating charges that US Marines killed 24 civilians, including 10 women and children, in the Euphrates valley town of Haditha last year after a roadside bomb killed a comrade.

Seven marines and a navy corpsman were charged on Wednesday, June 22, with premeditated murder of a disabled Iraqi civilian, before planting a rifle on his body to frame him as a militant.

[FPF: KILLING CRIPPLED PEOPLE - Palestinian Sheikh Yassin died instantly after being struck by missiles from Israeli military helicopters as he as always seated in a weelchair - after prayers left a mosque near his home in Gaza City. - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/jeqom ]

In a similar case, a fourth US soldier was charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of three Iraqi DETAINEES near the Muthana Chemical Complex in Salaheddin province on May 9.

[andend] - Url.:  http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/04/18285075.php

RELATED:

Patriotism & The Fourth of July - By Howard Zinn - In celebration of the 4th of July there will be many speeches about the young people who “died for their country.” Let's be honest about war. Those who gave their lives did not die for their country, as they were led to believe but for their government. The distinction between country and government is at the heart of the Declaration of Independence, which will be referred to again and again on July 4, but without attention to its meaning. Continue pls. at Url.:  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13850.htm

Bombs Bursting in Air - By Cindy Sheehan - The flag represents so much lying, fixed elections, profiting by the war machine, high gas prices, spying on Americans, rapid erosion of our freedoms while BushCo literally gets away with murder, torture and extreme rendition, contaminating the world with depleted uranium, and illegal and immoral wars that are responsible for killing so many. A symbol which used to represent hope to so many around the world now fills so many with disgust. Continue pls. at Url.:  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13843.htm

Information Clearing House is one of the best sites concerning a broad array of information from mostly reliable sources. - Url.:  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Google ''selection'' of articles on the hunger strike - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/ovcdp

'Potemkin villages were, purportedly, fake settlements erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin, to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787. Conventional wisdom has it that Potemkin, who led the Crimean military campaign, had hollow facades of villages constructed along the desolate banks of the Dnieper River in order to impress the monarch and her travel party with the value of her new conquests, thus enhancing his standing in the empress's eyes.'' - Wikipedia - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/alny3

RELATED: WHY GO ON A HUNGER STRIKE? because of their global crimes. - RELATED LINKS - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/gkgrb

* GOOGLE SEARCH "BIGGEST THREAT TO WORLD PEACE" - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/dk2lj

* THE PENTAGON'S PROPAGANDA WAR - The BBC reports, but is one of the worst - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/3ser2

* MSNBC - LIVE VOTE: DO YOU BELIEVE PRESIDENT BUSH'S ACTIONS JUSTIFY IMPEACHMENT? - Today 264.260 responses: "Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting him on trial." 86% - Url.:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562904/

"PEOPLE DO NOT FORGET. They do not forget the death of their fellows, they do not forget torture and mutilation, they do not forget injustice, they do not forget oppression, they do not forget the terrorism of mighty powers. They not only don't forget: they also strike back." - 2005 Nobel Literature Prize winner Harold Pinter - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/9cyeq

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