No Love For Rove From UI Anti-War Committee Who Plan Protest

From the University of Iowa Anti-War Committee:

The University of Iowa Lecture Committee may be paying Karl Rove $40,000 to speak on campus, but Rove's presence in Iowa City won't be met without opposition.

The UI Anti-war Committee is not opposed to Karl Rove because of his conservative viewpoint. We are opposed to him because his role in crafting Iraq war policy, exposing CIA operative Valerie Plame, and the politically-motivated firings of U.S. Attorney Generals makes him a traitor and a war criminal. If we lived in a functioning democracy, the only place Rove would be expressing his 1st Amendment rights would be inside a courtroom and then a prison cell.

Despite our opposition to Rove's presence on campus, and our disagreement with the UI Lecture Committee's decision to give a traitorous war criminal a $40,000 speaking fee, the UI Antiwar Committee and allies will not prevent Rove from speaking. Instead, we have negotiated a space inside the IMU to protest Rove. We will be protesting in the South Room, directly adjacent to the Main Lounge at 5:30 pm on Sunday February 27. If Rove is protected by the 1st Amendment, then the rights of large segments of the Iowa City community opposed to his presence must also be protected.

We know when Rove is coming into town, where he will be, and who he will be with. However, there are no plans to dog him at this time. The UI Anti-war Committee sees this as an opportunity to further educate the community about Rove's direct involvement in crafting Iraq war policy.

We are calling on federal authorities to arrest Rove in Iowa City for treason, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. If federal authorities are not available at this time, we are calling on the Iowa City Police Department and the University of Iowa Police to hold Rove in custody until such time that U.S. Federal Marshals may be dispatched to pick the traitorous war criminal up.

Supporting evidence and documentation:

Fact: In July 2002, a high-level classified British/UK government document, the Downing Street Memo, was written which reads in part:
"Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
http://downingstreetmemo.com/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article387374.ece

Fact: In August 2002, one month after the Downing Street Memo was written, the White House Iraq Group was formed "to sell Iraq War to Congress, Public, and Allies." The White House Iraq Group met once a week at the White House throughout 2002 and 2003, and Karl Rove chaired every meeting. Public rhetoric against Iraq was escalated by the White House Iraq Group, who came up with propaganda terms like "smoking gun" and "mushroom cloud".
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp?entity=white_house_iraq_group
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061200932.html

Fact: Bush Administration officials made at least 935 demonstrably false statements to the American people about the threat posed by Iraq prior to the invasion, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/

Fact: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby exposed Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, because her husband blew the whistle on the Bush Administration's demonstrably false claims.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/18/politics/18rove.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/01/AR2005100101317_pf.html
http://thinkprogress.org/leak-scandal#rove
http://www.npr.org/templates/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ATC&showDate=13-Jul-2005&segNum=2&mediaPref=RM&getUnderwriting=0

Fact: Rove has also been implicated in the illegal firings of several U.S. Attorney Generals. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee recently voted to hold Rove in "contempt" for refusing to testify and hand over documents related to the case. According to CNN:
"Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday in favor of handing out contempt citations to a former and current White House official for failing to comply with subpoenas issued in the investigation into the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

The committee voted 11-7 to cite White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten for refusing to hand over documents related to the firings and to cite former White House adviser Karl Rove for refusing to testify and hand over internal documents."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/13/contempt-citations-recomended-for-rove-bolten/

This is Why We Have Free Speech

Note of Explanation: Rosemary Persaud was one of 11 anti-war protesters arrested for occupying the Cedar Rapids office of Senator Charles Grassley on February 26th. She was sentenced on July 6,2007. This was her statement read in Linn County District Associate court at her sentencing, and the sentencing of 10 others, on simple misdemeanor criminal trespass charges:

"Why did we do this act of civil disobedience? Because we want peace. If the state's prosecutor had asked every single one of the Cedar Rapids 11 at trial this question: Why did you do this civil disobedience? I think she would have heard 11 times, the answer: Because I want peace. Because I want peace. Because I want peace. And she would hear a chorus of the same from all of you sitting here today.

But is anyone else listening? I know I have the right and I believe I have a duty as a citizen of this country, to speak up when I see my government go so badly off course. But because the current president is not listening and has never listened to the American people, I'm more determined than ever to be heard and faithfully represented at least by my elected Congresspeople.

Congress has the power to end this unjust war and illegal occupation of Iraq. They can stop funding it. We're asking Mr. Grassley as a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee to do everything in his powere to cease the funding of this war.

I want to ask Senator Grassley, as someone who has spent years of service investigating fraud and waste in government spending, why he sees no waste in human life as this war goes on and on, year after year. Is not a life worth more than a dollar? It seems our Congress has lost its ability and courage to measure what matters, and has lost its moral compass to find us home. The American people want our troops HOME, to live, and we want the Iraqi people to live. It was a crime for the United States to invade Iraq and it's a crime to continue waging a brutal war for oil. Congress must stop it. They must end it now.

Sen. Grassley has, I think, made a good effort to listen to and know the people of Iowa, so we hope that he will take seriously what we offer as our best qualities to help him do what is right. This is why we are all here today, why some of us were at his office on Monday, February 26, asking him to listen and to act. We refused to budge because we refuse to give up hope for a chance at peace. To Sen. Grassley we offer all our best qualitites because we want and demand a participatory democracy. So to start, I suggest Mr. Grassley take some of Megan's compassion and Tim's energy and Ryan's commitment. Let him have David's determination and Joshua's understanding. Let him know John Paul's heritage. Let him lear some of
Justin's ideas, and ask Andrew's questions, and use Conor's words. Also, he can take Frank's freedom if necessary. Because we want peace.

As a mother I have to speak out against this war and All wars. As a mother, I have the responsibility to teach my children to be understanding of other people and to find ways to solve problems and settle differences non-violently. It's hard to teach your kids these lessons when their government is provoking and waging war as a means to an end.

Our children grip our hearts. They girp our hearts so tightly and so unexpectedly at times that it transforms us somehow from citizens of our state into people of the world. It's been said that when you bring a child into the world you agree to let your heart walk around outside your body. Mothers and fathers -- everywhere -- want the world to know their children, to know their dreams and their potential and their inherent goodness. Mothers want peace for everyone, not just their own children, and mothers believe peace is possible because we've learned that it's through our hearts that we're all connected in the world. Our children teach us this. So I refuse to offer my children or anyone else's children as fodder for the war machine. Instead I offer my children's hope, and I offer some of my own time spent away from tending them to help tend our world as well. Because we want peace."

How Many More?

It is Friday May 4th and I'll be out on the corner of Washington and Clinton Streets protesting the war. In the past week, there was Walk out on the War, Dr. Joe Gerson discussing his book Empire and the Bomb: How the United States Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World at PEACE Iowa, and today, it is the 37th anniversary of the Massacre at Kent State. I sense a building up of people who have had enough with the war and the unnecessary deaths of our soldiers and civilians.

Unfortunately, there are people who are convinced that pulling out our troops will lead to worse things like the "terrorists following us home". I believe there are two wars being waged, the one in Iraq and the psychological war being waged to convince us, against our better natures, that "they" are out to "get us". The Republican minority has been pounding us with that message all this week. Even the Democrats are hedging about our future in Iraq.

The only thing I know as a fact is our government, through our tax dollars, has the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons ever assembled on the face of the earth. Our government has threatened to use them on Korea and Iran. While we have signed a number of nonproliferation treaties, we have not reduced our arsenal by even one bomb since inventing them, though we have promised innumerable times to do so. As an example, in November of 2001, President Bush in meeting with President Putin, said, "We will reduce our operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads to a level between 1,700 and 2,200 over the next decade, a level fully consistent with American security." To date, none of these warheads have been decommissioned. In fact, we want to renew these weapons and make them even more lethal.

The beautiful thing about our country is the ability of its people to live in denial about how our government serves us. I love our country because of the ideals that our nation's founders built it on, not the way our government functions.

It is because of the idea that "we, the people" can change things that I refuse to go over to the side of those who believe there is nothing that we can do about how things are. That is why I will be on the corner tonight holding a sign to end this war. It isn't the only thing I do, but it is the most visible. I don't live in the past, I live here and now.

Standing on a Corner and Waiting for Peace

Every Friday in Iowa City, since the war in Iraq began, a small group of people have met at the corner of Washington and Clinton Streets between 5:15 and 5:45 pm to protest it. The number ebbs and flows. On really cold days, there may be one or two people out there.

My wife and I are relatively new to the group. There are at least two Iraq war Veterans and maybe a couple of Vietnam-era Vets, a mother of a soldier on his third tour, and a sister of an sibling who is out in the Persian Gulf on a naval vessel. Then there are the rest of us--a few college students, a professor or two, some retirees, and a handful of regular 9 to 5 people.

We hold up signs (including one that was cross-stitched by hand) and we wave to passing motorists who acknowledge our "honk for peace" signs. A couple of the protesters bang on drums and cowbells. Sometimes there are arm bands passed out. In fact this past Friday a dapper young fellow came by and passed out May 1 arm bands to all of us that would take them. Always there are kind words flowing, even if they sometimes come between chattering teeth.

Sometimes we deal with people who don't agree that the war must end--usually a weak drive-by epithet, and occasionally, an unbelieving stare. Sometimes people grab a sign and join us.

The best part of being there is that a community is forming, people look forward to seeing their Friday friends. We catch up on what's going on and support each other. But mostly we are there to speak for those who can't or won't speak for themselves; whether it is a soldier who wonders what the hell he or she is there for or the Vet who is dealing with the aftermath of their tour of duty or an Iraqi civilian that lives in fear of being killed or those blanked faced people we witness who scuttle down the sidewalk who, by their avoidance, allow this war to go on--we are there for all of them.

And, yes, we are there for ourselves. Each of us have our personal reasons. I am there because I can be. I believe in a just America, not the bellicose nation that others in the world may believe us to be. I believe, because we are a just nation, that we can stop our government's actions by our actions. Mostly, I believe in the power of insisting on peace.

I do not know where you live or what you can do, but I know that visible public protest is important. It says that we care what happens, we are participants in moving our government toward peace, and we believe we can affect change--even if it is showing up on a street corner in the heart of the Midwest and saying enough is enough.

IRAQ: Cauldron of Chaos or Pisspot of Politics

A news story yesterday reported that "in a Rose Garden news conference this week, George Bush disputed that he was becoming increasingly isolated _ even in his own party _ and portrayed himself as a strong leader determined to keep Iraq from becoming a "cauldron of chaos.""

Too late Mr. President. How do I say this...the horse is already out of the barn--or for you, the brush has already been cleared. It is highly unlikely that sending more troops is going to do anything more than add ingredients to the cauldron (as in Shakespeare's MacBeth--Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble).

To the Democrats and Republicans who will not cut off funding to the war, you are complicit in this boiling pot. Don't add more blood of our sons and daughters into the mix.

For those of you who need a place to act on your belief that the war should be ended, if you are in Iowa City, we meet at the corner of Clinton and Washington tonight (and every Friday) between 5:15 and 5:45--you don't even need a sign. And despite my diatribe above, it is actually serious fun!

Protesters Arrested on Wall Street

Reuters and the Irish Times report Anti-war protesters arrested on Wall Street

Police arrested 44 anti-war protesters outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday after they lay down in front of the entrance to mark the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

There was no impact on trade.

Uniformed police outnumbered the fewer than 100 protesters outside the stock exchange building at the corner of Broad and Wall streets in New York's historic financial district.

"Stop the money, stop the war," people chanted as police hauled away limp-bodied protesters.
Protesters said there had been four separate but coordinated acts of civil disobedience. A police spokesman said 44 people were arrested.

Demonstrators said they were directing their protest at major defense contractors Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Halliburton, General Electric and others.

"U.S. service members and Iraqi civilians are dying so that an elite few can profit," said Fabian Bouthillette, 26, a high school teacher who served for two years in the U.S. Navy.

The demonstrators began the day at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, several blocks from the stock exchange, where they were met by seven Vietnam War veterans who said they were guarding the monuments.

Got Balls?

University of Iowa students were among the 11 anti-war protesters who were arrested for staging a sit-in outside senior Senator Charles Grassley's office in Cedar Rapids. It appears the good Senator would not answer their phone calls, so they thought they would wait for him and speak personally to him about further funding of the war. Grassley, one of the inplacable Republicans still "staying the course," apparently believed that his staged public events were public enough for these raggamuffins. See the Daily Iowan for more.

The Des Moines Register and WHO TV report similar actions in the Iowa capital city where at least seven protesters were cited.

From Radio Iowa

Grassley was flying from Iowa back to Washington, D.C. at the time, after holding 17 town meetings across Iowa during the past week while Congress was on break.

Grassley says "There isn't a town meeting I had that we didn't have a non-emotional discussion of Iraq including people that were there from this group and for some reason or other, they saw it necessary to repeat the effort by coming to my office." The seven protesters were reportedly members of a group taking part in what's called the Occupation Project, which advocates non-violent demonstrations.

Grassley says they planned to remain in his office until he consented to vote against President Bush's request for supplemental funding for American troops in Iraq. He says "They were planning on just sitting in until I agreed to something." Grassley says.

From the CR Gazette 2/28
CEDAR RAPIDS

The 11 people who were arrested for protesting at the offices of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, were charged Tuesday with criminal trespass in Linn County District Court. Seven of those charged are Iowans. Here are the names of all who were charged: Andrew J. Alemao, 19, of Cedar Falls; Joshua E. Casteel, 27, of 1242 Second Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids; Frank J. Cordaro, 56, of Des Moines; Megan R. Felt, 19, of 2401 Highway 6 E., Iowa City; Timothy L. Gauger, 36, of Eugene, Ore.; David A. Goodner, 26, of 4649 Running Deer Ct. NE, Iowa City; John P. Hornbeck, 25, of 321 Hawkeye Ct., Iowa City; Ryan D. Merz, 20, of Maple Plain, Minn.; Conor A. Murphy, 29, of Madison, Wis.; Rosemary M. Persaud, 47, of 522 Rundell St., Iowa City and Justin N. Riley, 19, of Crystal, Minn. According to the court complaint, the defendants refused to leave the federal Courthouse at 101 First St. SE after it was closed, after they were told to leave several times and after they were given a trespass warning.