On December 23, 2011, U.S. Labor Against the War sent this solidarity statement to the unions in Iraq.

Dear Comrades in the Iraqi Labor Movement:

U.S. Labor Against the War recognizes that the end to formal U.S. military occupation of Iraq does not end continuing U.S. interference in the internal affairs of Iraq. The Maliki regime has given
permission to the U.S. to continue to operate unarmed Predator drones from Iraqi
bases, purportedly to provide the Turkish government with intelligence on the
activities of PKK fighters operating in the mountains of Iraq. These can be
armed and redeployed elsewhere in Iraq whenever the U.S. desires.

Many thousands of private mercenary security forces will remain and the U.S.
government has constructed the largest embassy in the world to manage and direct
its continuing interference in Iraqi affairs. It may redeploy many of the
departing troops to bases in Kuwait and other areas in the region, positioned to
reenter Iraq on short notice if U.S. interests appear to be threatened.

The Maliki regime is a political creation of the U.S. occupation, not a
legitimate expression of the democratic will of the Iraqi people. Already
parties that had been cobbled together to provide Maliki with a majority in
Parliament have abandoned him as he aggravates sectarian tensions for partisan
advantage. As a predictable outcome of the U.S. divide and conquer policies that
pitted religious, sectarian, ethnic and regional interests against one another,
Iraq will now likely see escalating sectarian conflict. The responsibility for
this belongs first and foremost to the U.S. government.

Predatory multinational corporations have not abandoned their plans to gain control over
Iraq’s abundant oil and gas reserves. Therefore, the struggle by the Iraqi
people to regain full sovereignty over the nation’s natural resources will
continue because the neo-liberal scheme to privatize the Iraqi economy has not
been abandoned.

The struggle to establish human and labor rights will continue because under U.S. occupation, those rights were a fiction, and were and continue to be regularly violated. The Iraqi government has ignored the country’s own constitution, which calls for the adoption of a basic labor rights
law that conforms to international standards, and continues to enforce the 1987
antiunion decree of the dictatorship, adding even more repressive edicts in an
effort to cripple the Iraqi labor movement and suppress the movement for true
democratic rights. In this the U.S. and Maliki regime will fail because the
Iraqi labor movement will not forfeit its rights. The will of the Iraqi people
for a true democracy and Iraqi sovereignty will prove stronger than the schemes
of a corrupt regime that serves as a willing pawn for U.S. interests.

The U.S. debt to Iraqis will not be paid by the withdrawal of U.S. military forces.
We consider it our honor and duty to stand in solidarity with you, to hold our
government to account, to demand that our government abandon its interference in
the internal affairs of Iraq, to struggle in support of your national
sovereignty and human and labor rights, and to demand that reparations without
strings be paid for the horrific damage inflicted on Iraq and its people.

The U.S. military was driven from Iraq by the iron resolve of the Iraqi
people to be free of all foreign domination, supported by the solidarity of U.S.
and other antiwar forces around the world which finally made it politically
untenable for the occupation to continue. The work of U.S. Labor Against the
War, founded nine years ago in January in response to the threat of the illegal
U.S. invasion, does not end with the departure of U.S. troops. The bonds of
solidarity USLAW forged with the Iraqi labor movement through nine years of
struggle will continue.

We extend to you and the courageous labor movement and working people of Iraq our heartfelt wishes for peace, democracy, justice, security and sovereignty in the new year.

Yours in solidarity and struggle,

USLAW Co-convenors: Kathy Black, Gene Bruskin, Bob Muehlenkamp, Brooks Sunkett, Nancy Wohlforth, Michael Zweig

Staff: National Coordinator Michael Eisenscher, National Organizer Tom Gogan, Administrative Coordinator Adrienne Nicosia

On behalf of the Steering Committee and 195 labor organizations affiliated with U.S. Labor Against the War

http://blip.tv/zgraphix/freeze-flash-mob-police-brutality-don-t-buy-war-5793178

CodePink Austin, along with allies from Veteran’s for Peace and Women in Black staged a Don’t Buy War “freeze” at Barton Creek Mall on Saturday, December 3rd. The strategically chosen mall location was between the Santa photo station and the Gamestop store, which prominently advertises the ‘Modern Warfare 3′ video game. The goals were to raise awareness about the continuing wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, to educate shoppers about the costs (both human and economic) of the wars, and to dissuade parents from purchasing war toys. The creative action was well received by shoppers, and several veterans approached the group to thank us. All was peaceful until mall security and APD arrived, and an APD officer brutally attacked a young woman who had joined the group spontaneously. Produced for Austin Indymedia by Jeff Zavala. A ZGraphix Production. http://zgraphix.org http://twitter.com/zgraphix http://facebook.com/zgraphix.org http://austin.indymedia.org

November 2011

Under the Hood Café and Button Field Press present:

Combat Paper Project Workshop: from uniform to pulp….battlefield to workshop….warrior to artist
Saturday, November 5, 12 noon-6 p.m.
The workshop will include paper making from unserviceable
uniforms for servicemembers and veterans to facilitate communication that transcends the barriers of verbal communication.  Visit our website for more details.

Under the Hood Café & Operation Recovery present:

Warrior Writers – Fort Hood Community Arts Forum

Thanks to everyone who joined us for Hoodstock III.  It was a great success!
In fact, it may have been our best Hoodstock so far.  Throughout the night, we estimate that
more than 100 people showed up to hear great performers, including Barbara K & Richard Bowden, The Possum
Posse and the amazing Austin Lounge Lizards.  Attendees also had the opportunity to participate in
a silent auction.  We sold beautiful items by great local artists including work by  Alan Pogue, Jim McCullough Studio, Carlos Lowry, Just Seeds Art Collective, JoAnn Mulert, and Malachi Muncy.   Those in attendance also had the opportunity to hear from a number of soldiers who currently benefit from the support Under the Hood
provides.  It was a great evening of fun, music, friendship, and serious conversation.

So maybe you didn’t get to attend Hoodstock III, but you still want to show your support of Under the Hood. Well, it’s never too late! You can still show your support by making a contribution today. Whether you are making a one-time donation or want to sign up as a sustainer, it’s easy to contribute through PayPal.

Check out the  ResiStore! Now you can purchase great items
and support Under the Hood at the same time. Check it out here.

UPDATE FROM SEPTEMBER:

The
Fort Hood Support Network (FHSN) operates Under the Hood Café and Outreach
Center.  FHSN is a Texas non-profit corporation with 501(c)(3) tax
exempt status.  Donations may be treated as
tax-deductible.

Iraq war vet Scott Olsen wounded by Oakland police (photo Hart Noecker)

Tell Oakland Mayor Jean Quan to investigate this incident and allow
peaceful protests to continue.

Click
here to send her an email message
• Call the Mayor’s office: (510) 238-3141

Post a message on her Facebook
page

Scott Olsen, a Marine veteran who did two tours in Iraq, was hit by a police
projectile during last night’s brutal police crackdown of Occupy Oakland.  He is
in serious but stable condition at an Oakland hospital.

It’s ironic that days after Obama’s announcement of the end of the Iraq War,
Scott faced a veritable war zone in the streets of Oakland last night.  He and
other protesters were surrounded by explosions and smoke (tear gas) going off
around him as people nearby carried him injured while yelling for a medic.

A disturbing video can be seen at http://ivaw.org/

The Bay Area Indy Media center also
posted dramatic photos of Scott being cared for and escorted to saftey right
after he was hit.
WARNING: these images are graphic and disturbing: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/25/18695124.php

More and more veterans are joining the 99% Movement

Scott is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War who was discharged from
military service with the Marines in 2010 after two tours in Iraq.  He is one of
many veterans who have returned home and gotten involved in the Occupy protests
taking place in hundreds of cities around the nation.  Veterans like Scott
recognize that they are part of the 99% who face uncertain economic futures,
including few job prospects and rising tuition costs. Rates of homelessness and
unemployment are higher for veterans than for their civilian counterparts.

IVAW members around the country have been participating in their local Occupy
demonstrations, and are finding other veterans there as well.  “Our members are
flocking to these occupations,” says Joyce Wagner, IVAW Board President who has
been participating in Occupy Pittsburgh.  “The Occupy encampments are a great
place to meet other veterans, network, and get veterans services.  We’re
actually bringing a VA social worker to our camp and have several older
homeless veterans in our camp.”

Supporting Scott’s recovery

Scott remains in stable but critical condition at an Oakland hospital
awaiting a decision about whether he will undergo surgery. We have set up a
medical fund to support any up-coming health needs he has.
To contribute to this fund, click here.
Thank you for your support. We will keep you posted on Scott’s condition.

In Solidarity,

Iraq Veterans Against the War

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/section.php?id=153

http://vimeo.com/28433517

Also posted on US Labor Against the War,  “Militarism is stealing the future from ordinary Americans,” at http://uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=24810

(By Gene Lantz, reprinted from Labor Dallas, 08-31-11, http://www.labordallas.org/jobz090211.htm)

America Grapples for Solution to the Jobs Crisis

Help for the jobless must continue, but real solutions are even more important. As North Texas Jobs with Justice prepares for our monthly jobs vigil (11:30 AM Friday, September 2, 525 Griffin at Young in downtown Dallas) we review some of the proposals now floating around.

A new bill in Congress

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) wants to bring back the Civilian Conservation Corps. Similar ideas have been put forward by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and by Professor William “Sandy” Darity, whose expertise is public policy, African American studies and economics. Darity’s proposal specifically calls for a new and permanent CCC providing jobs at $20,000/year salary plus $10,000/year benefits.

Don’t waste any time

Kaptur explains her bill in a New York Times editorial where she says that the original CCC was up and running, and providing almost 300,000 new jobs, in three months! She also says, “Every dollar of investment in bricks, mortar, infrastructure and environment returns $1.59 to the economy. This is six times more “bang for the buck” than tax credits and other arcane policy options whose economic impact drain through the economy and yield only 30 cents for every dollar expended.”

Kaptur’s bill is styled HR 494 and is listed on-line.

Other bills worth supporting

Representatives John Conyers and Jan Schakowskfy have also put forward bills that are gaining support. Hers, the “Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act,” would create 2 million jobs fully paid for through separate legislation that “creates higher tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires, eliminates subsidies for Big Oil, and loopholes for corporations that ship American jobs overseas.” Conyers bill reaches for more jobs and also addresses the racist aspects of the jobs crisis. “Official” rates of unemployment are much higher for African Americans and Latinos. None of the proposals would create enough government-sponsored jobs to replace the 8 million lost in the last crisis, let alone the 3 million more that have become necessary since then, but all of them would help.

Bring back the WPA

Rather than focusing on one special proposal, the simple slogan “Bring back the WPA” will probably mobilize the most people. The Works Progress Administration, which focused on public works projects, employed about 8.5 million people from 1935 to 1943, while the CCC gave jobs to 2.5 million unskilled workers. Government-created public works jobs are the only possible solution in the short run. In the long run, reductions in working hours are an absolute necessity. T-shirts like the one shown are available at http://www.printfection.com/BringBackTheWPA.

The “Big Lie” is being used against us

Politicians use the old Nazi “big lie” technique (repetition) to try to convince Americans that “government cannot create jobs,” even though it’s clear they are lying. The government did in fact create millions of jobs to alleviate the last jobs crisis. Some North Texas congressmen, in recent “town hall” meetings, actually repeated this odious lie! On my Monday radio show on KNON, a caller clarified it all when he said, “If government can’t create jobs, Congressman, then you ought to give back your paycheck, because government sure as heck created YOUR job!”

We’re waiting for the President

President Obama is expected to announce a jobs proposal soon. The AFL-CIO, Jobs with Justice, and a long list of at least 70 progressive organizations are organizing a letter to encourage him to come up with a meaningful proposal. The letter is available on-line. The AFL-CIO’s proposal for a tiny “transaction tax” on Wall Street speculations would provide billions for the jobless.

It’s a campaign issue

Proposals for resolving the jobs crisis must be the crux of the coming election campaign. President Obama’s plan may put him over the top, or it may drag him backward. The leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, Texan Rick Perry, has already made his concern clear by flambuoyantly rejecting $555 million in federal funds for the jobless. Mitt Romney wants to raise the retirement age, which would make it even harder for younger workers to find jobs.

What will happen if you don’t take action?

nothing

What if you do?

None of the accomplishments of working people ever happened until they mobilized in public action. There are petitions to sign; vigils, pickets, and rallies to attend, and electoral work just waiting for us to grab them and make them work for us. On this site, we list as many of these opportunities as possible. Please get with us!

Join and/or donate to North Texas Jobs with Justice

(reprinted from the Houston Peace and Justice Center, http://www.hpjc.org/node/275)

U.S. military spending now exceeds the spending of all other countries combined.

In all the talk about the federal deficit, why is the single largest culprit
left out of the conversation? Why is the one part of government that best
epitomizes everything conservatives say they hate about government—- waste, incompetence, and corruption—all but exempt from conservative criticism?

Of course, I’m talking about the Pentagon. Any serious battle plan to reduce
the deficit must take on the Pentagon. In 2011 military spending accounted for
more than 58 percent of all federal discretionary spending and even more if the
interest on the federal debt that is related to military spending were added. In
the last ten years we have spent more than $7.6 trillion on military and
homeland security according to the National Priorities Project.

In the last decade military spending has soared from $300 billion to $700 billion.

When debt ceilings and deficits seem to be the
only two items on Washington’s agenda, it is both revealing and tragic that both
parties give a free pass to military spending. Representative Paul Ryan’s much
discussed Tea Party budget accepted Obama’s proposal for a pathetic $78 billion
reduction in military spending over 5 years, a recommendation that would only
modestly slow the rate of growth of military spending.

Indeed, the Republican government battering ram appears to have stopped at
the Pentagon door. This was evident early on. As soon as they took over the
House of Representatives, Republicans changed the rules so that military
spending does not have to be offset by reduced spending somewhere else, unlike
any other kind of government spending. It is the only activity of government
they believe does not have to be paid for. Which brings to mind a bit of wisdom from one of their heroes, Adam Smith. “Were the expense of war to be defrayed always by revenue raised within the year … wars would in general be more speedily concluded, and less wantonly undertaken.”

The Tea Party revolution has only strengthened the Republican Party’s resolve
that the Pentagon’s budget is untouchable. An analysis by the Heritage
Foundation of Republican votes on defense spending found that Tea Party freshmen
were even more likely than their Republican elders to vote against cutting any
part of the military budget.

What makes the hypocrisy even more revealing is that the Pentagon turns out
to be the poster child for government waste and incompetence.

In 2009 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found “staggering” cost overruns of almost $300 billion in nearly 70  percent of the Pentagon’s 96 major weapons. What’s more, the programs were
running, on average, 21 months behind schedule. And when they were completed,
they provided less than they promised.
The Defense Logistics Agency had no use for parts worth more than half of the
$13.7 billion in equipment stacked up in DOD warehouses in 2006 to 2008.

And these are only the tips of the military’s misspending iceberg. We really
don’t know how much the Pentagon wastes because, believe it or not, there hasn’t
been a complete audit of the Pentagon in more than 15 years.

In 1994, the Government Management Reform Act required the Inspector General
of each federal agency to audit and publish the financial statements of their
agency. The Department of Defense was the only agency that has been unable to
comply. In fiscal 1998 the Department of Defense used $1.7 trillion of
undocumentable adjustments to balance the books. In 2002 the situation was even
worse. CBS News reported that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted, “we cannot
track $2.3 trillion in transactions.”

Imagine that a school district were to reveal that it didn’t know where it
spent its money. Now imagine the Republican response. Perhaps, “Off with
their desktops!”

How did Congress’ respond to DOD’s delinquency? It gave it absolution and
allowed it to opt out of its legal requirement. But as a sop to outraged public
opinion Congress required DOD to set a date when it would have its book
sufficiently in order to be audited. Which the Pentagon dutiful did, and missed
every one of the target dates. The latest is 2017 and DOD has already announced
it will be unable to meet that deadline.

Adding insult to injury, last September, the GAO found that the new computer systems intended to improve the Pentagon’s financial oversight are themselves nearly 100 percent or $7 billion
over budget and as much as 12 years behind schedule!

The Pentagon is not just incompetent. It is corrupt. In November 2009 the
Pentagon’s Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), the federal watchdog
responsible for auditing oversight of military contractors, raised the question of criminal wrongdoing when it found that the audits that did occur were riddled with serious breaches of auditor
independence. One Pentagon auditor admitted he did not perform detailed tests
because, “The contractor would not appreciate it.”

Why would the Pentagon allow its contractors to get away with fraud? To
answer that question we need to understand the incestuous relationship between
the Pentagon and its contractors that has been going on for years, and is
getting worse. From 2004 to 2008, 80 percent of retiring three and four star
officers went to work as consultants or defense industry executives.
Thirty-four out of 39 three- and four-star generals and admirals who
retired in 2007 are now working in defense industry roles — nearly 90 percent.

Generals are recruited for private sector jobs
well before they retire. Once employed by the military contractor the general
maintains a Pentagon advisory role.

“In almost any other realm it would seem a clear conflict of interest. But
this is the Pentagon where…such apparent conflicts are a routine fact of life”,
an in-depth investigation by the Boston Globe concluded.

U.S. military spending now exceeds the spending of all other countries combined. Knowledge
military experts argue that we can cut at least $1 trillion from the Pentagon
budget without changing its currently expressed mission. But a growing number
believe that the mission itself is suspect. Economic competitors like India and
China certainly approve of our willingness to undermine our economic
competitiveness by diverting trillions of dollars into war and weapons
production. Some argue that all this spending has made us more secure but all
the evidence points in the opposite direction. Certainly our $2 trillion and
counting military adventures in the Middle East and Afghanistan and Pakistan
have won us few friends and multiplied our enemies.

Defense experts Gordon Adams and Matthew Leatherman, writing in the Washington
Post offer another argument against unrestrained military spending.

“Countries feel threatened when rivals ramp up their defenses; this was true
in the Cold War, and now it may happen with China. It’s how arms races are born.
We spend more, inspiring competitors to do the same — thus inflating defense
budgets without making anyone safer. For example, Gates observed in May that no
other country has a single ship comparable to our 11 aircraft carriers. Based on
the perceived threat that this fleet poses, the Chinese are pursuing an
anti-ship ballistic missile program. U.S. military officials have decried this
“carrier-killer’‘ effort, and in response we are diversifying our capabilities
to strike China, including a new long-range bomber program, and modernizing our
carrier fleet at a cost of about $10 billion per ship.”

For tens of millions of Americans real security comes not from fighting wars
on foreign soil but from not having to worry losing their house or their job or
their medical care. As Joshua Holland, columnist for Alternet points out 46 states faced combined budget shortfalls this year of $130 billion, leading them to fire tens of thousands of workers and cut
off assistance to millions of families. Just the supplemental requests for
fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan this year were $170 billion.

What is perhaps most astonishing of all is that cutting the military budget
is wildly popular. Even back in 1995, when military spending was only a fraction
of its present size, a poll by the Program on International Policy Attitudes
reported that 42 percent of the US public feeling that defense spending is too
high and a majority of Americans were convinced
that defense spending “has weakened the US economy and given some allies an
economic edge.”

This March Reuters released a new poll that found the majority of Americans support
reducing defense spending.

The next time you hear Republicans insist they want to ferret out government
waste and reduce spending and stamp out incompetence ask them why the one part
of government that exemplifies everything they say is wrong with government is
the one part of government they embrace most heartily.

David Morris is co-founder and vice president of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and director of its New Rules Project.
You can follow David at defendingthepublicgood.org

Posted July 7, 2011