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A Nation Bamboozled: Invasion of Iraq 15 Years Later

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By Bill in Portland Maine / Daily Kos

Today is the anniversary of one of the most avoidably-idiotic days in American history—the day Republicans shot our country in the face and expected a parade of sweets and flowers for it. It’s the 15th dumbstickiversary of the invasion of Iraq. As always, we mark the occasion with a reminder of some of the lying and/or moronic statements made by the band of Very Serious People who orchestrated and/or promoted the debacle. Feel free to hurl rotten tomatoes as you see fit…

“Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof—the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
—George W. Bush (10/7/02)

“I will bet you the best dinner in the gaslight district of San Diego that military action will not last more than a week. Are you willing to take that wager?”
—Bill O’Reilly (1/29/03)   [Read more…]

San Diego Vets for Peace Bring My Lai Memorial Exhibit to San Diego

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Who Will Control the Narrative?

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the civilian massacre of My Lai, the Vietnamese village that was destroyed by US forces during the Vietnam War. The Pentagon is spending $63 million dollars to glorify our unnecessary, unjust and immoral military actions in Vietnam and in our continuing wars today. The My Lai Memorial Exhibit honors the Vietnamese who died in what they refer to as the American War. It is a strong, anti-war response to the Pentagon’s campaign and is a way of assuring that the Vietnam War does not slip down the memory hole.

The exhibit, which is traveling the whole country and installed in San Diego this week, is a critical element in fulfilling the Veterans for Peace mission — to seek justice for veterans and the victims of war, expose the true costs of war and to work for peace.   [Read more…]

My Lai Memorial Exhibit Program Comes to San Diego

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By San Diego Veterans for Peace

Fifty years ago, American boys, most under 20 years of age, committed unspeakable acts against a civilian hamlet in Vietnam. Over 500 women, children (yes! there were babies!) and old men were slaughtered by American soldiers. Civilian “collateral damage” is a tragic cost of any war; the My Lai massacre only exemplified it at a highly public level.

The San Diego Chapter of Veterans For Peace is named after Hugh C. Thompson, the courageous US Army helicopter pilot who landed his chopper and, along with fellow crewmen, intervened against fellow American troops to end the carnage at My Lai. Thompson reported the “incident” up the chain of command but was met with indifference and ridicule by authorities.

Fifty years removed from My Lai, today we see American troops in more than 120 countries, with US bases in more than 80. We are embroiled in multiple wars and conflicts, and the “Doomsday Clock” has just been advanced 30 seconds closer to midnight, due to escalating tensions over possible nuclear war. Drone warfare is commonplace with mounting civilian casualties, as American warriors in Nevada routinely target and kill in places around the globe.   [Read more…]

Lennon and Ono – Happy Xmas (War Is Over) | Video Worth Watching

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On this third day of Christmas, here’s John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s Christmas Classic: Happy Xmas (War Is Over). We can dream, can’t we? And we need dreams in order to make them real.   [Read more…]

One Veteran’s Dream – Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘War In Reverse’ | Video Worth Watching

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Kurt Vonnegut’s experience of surviving the fire-bombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war provided a fundamental component of the raw material for his novel “Slaughterhouse Five”. In this video Vonnegut reads a passage from the novel accompanied by remarkable imagery using archival footage in an unconventional way and suggests how Vonnegut may have longed for that history to have been rewritten.

(BTW, today, November 11th, is Vonnegut’s birthday)   [Read more…]

The New and Improved Armageddon 2000!

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Leonard Eiger / The Loose Nukes

Remember the Armageddon 2000? The Armageddon 2000 Nuclear Hardened Travel Trailer is the only travel trailer that you can enjoy all year long and, when the mushroom clouds start to appear on the horizon, instantly converts into a bomb shelter.

We introduced the Armageddon 2000 way back when President Trump was about to take office, and since then sales have gone through the roof. There is a one-year waiting period to get one (humanity should last that long)! And you can bet that all those people on the waiting list are getting nervous as Trump’s days in office seem to go on forever and his Tweets keep pushing the world closer to the coming Trumpocalypse.   [Read more…]

Candlelight Vigil for Peace Set for Shelter Island as Trump Heads for Korea on Tuesday

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“We will speak, sing, and pray for wisdom and grace in the face of nuclear holocaust.”

Starting a war with Korea is a really bad idea. What’s even worse are the people who think there would be a ‘winner’ in such a conflict. As President Trump visits the Korean peninsula on Tuesday, it’s almost a sure bet he’ll rattle the swords of war.

Indivisible San Diego and Interfaith Worker Justice of San Diego County are urging people to join them for a 7pm candlelight vigil for peace on Tuesday at Japanese Friendship Bell Park on Shelter Island (across from the Kona Kai).

  [Read more…]

On The Ground With The Rohingya Muslim Refugees Escaping Myanmar | Video Worth Watching

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The Rohingya Muslims are still facing ethnic cleansing in their homeland of Myanmar (Burma). AJ+ investigator Jason Motlagh documents the conditions facing the latest refugees and hears them relate their harrowing tales of persecution and flight.   [Read more…]

My Father is an American War Hero Rep. Duncan Hunter Wanted to Deport and Ban

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By Kilian Colin

A couple of days after the Battle of Baghdad in April 2003, after the fires had ceased, my father, Adam Colin, took me with him to downtown Baghdad to look for a job. We rode the bus for nearly an hour to the outer border of Downtown before having to continue on foot since the streets had been damaged during the invasion days earlier.

We headed to the Al Rasheed hotel, which was where the U.S. military had taken up headquarters. The hotel was surrounded by heavily armed vehicles and the scene looked like it was straight out of a Star Wars movie.

It wasn’t long before my dad told me to turn around, that we should head back home because the situation might be too dangerous for me. I told him not to worry, that because of my size I could sneak in between the hundreds of people protesting the occupation and lack of jobs outside the hotel to the front.   [Read more…]

Sun Ra on Nuclear War – If They Push That Button, Your Ass Gotta Go | Video Worth Watching

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I couldn’t find any videos of Sun Ra’s ‘Nuclear War’ that were of a live performance illustrating Sun Ra and his Arkestra in their glorious glittery outsider finery. This compilation of blast footage, however, is perfectly apt for the work, and a well crafted statement in its own right. “If they push that button, your ass gotta go …”   [Read more…]

President Truman Talks ‘Fire and Fury’ | Video Worth Watching

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In this archival footage from August 6th, 1945, shortly after dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and three days before dropping a second bomb on Nagasaki, President Truman delivered a warning to the Japanese of “a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on this earth”. Hmm. Now where have I heard language like that recently? If our current Commander in Chief is serious, that’s very troubling. And if he isn’t serious, that’s still troubling, but for different reasons.   [Read more…]

Veterans Call on U.S. to Sign Nuclear Ban Treaty

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By Brian Trautman, Gerry Condon and Samantha Ferguson

On July 7, 2017, the United Nations (UN), in a historic decision, approved a legally binding instrument to ban nuclear weapons, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Months of negotiations involving more than 130 countries began in March of this year, culminating in a final draft endorsed by 122 countries.

The treaty marks a significant milestone to help free the world of nuclear weapons.

Humanity has been at the brink of a nuclear exchange on multiple occasions since the end of World War II, including times when the decision to launch was seconds from happening. An urgent question, then, is why these close calls, as well as the brutal and unnecessary annihilation of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that preceded them, failed to convince all governments that nuclear weapons represent an existential threat to humanity, thus nuclear disarmament must be a top priority?   [Read more…]

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