Cleveland Catholic Workers Using Trial to Protest War in Iraq on Guerrilla Radio

Chris and Joe from the Cleveland Catholic Worker movement were arrested Saturday March 18 at the Lakewood military recruiting center. They plan to use their upcoming trial on June 7 to "Put the War on Trial." You can listen to the interview here on WRUW-fm 91.1 Cleveland.

Bush "impressed by the determination of the people" as anti-U.S. occupation insurgency grows

Six months after Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced a reduction in U.S. troops in Iraq, the Pentagon made the obvious public: the economy and security of Iraq are getting worse under the control of the United States military. It should come as no surprise that drug abuse is on the rise there as violence, insecurity, unemployment, and despair continue to grow. The recent killing of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in Haditha seems to be the norm rather than the exception.

Olmert Addresses Congress and Demands Palestinians Renounce Violence

Placing the blame for the situation in Palestine/Israel squarely on the backs of Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today, "should the Palestinians ignore our outstretched hand for peace, Israel will seek other alternatives to promote our future and the prospects of hope in the Middle East." Meanwhile, settlers continue to use stolen land and Israeli forces killed three in a Ramallah raid today. The contradictions of the situation are pointed out in this editorial by Ghlai Hassan. Olmert, while correctly criticizing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the holocaust, agreed with U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear developments but causually ignored the extent to which Israel possesses nuclear weapons. A day before Olmert's show, the House passed restrictive legislation declaring Palestine a "terrorist sanctuary" and called for reducing U.S. contributions to the U.N. in proportion to the amount of financial assistance given to deal with the growing crisis there.

AK Steel Lockout Continues, Company Wants a "New Era" Labor Agreement

Calling for "fewer employees, fewer job classes, defined-contribution pensions and active and retiree health care cost sharing," AK Steel CEO James Wainscott continued to insist on locking out the Armco Employees Independent Federation (AEIF) union after its contract expired on March 1st in Middletown, Ohio. The union contends the lockout is seriously curtailing AK Steel's production and safety, and tried to influence stockholders on Wednesday to pressure the company back into negotiations.

Iraqi Gov't Comes Together WITHOUT Defense and Interior Heads

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced top cabinet officials today, but left out who would control both the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior. The two ministries, which control the Iraqi security and police forces, may have heads announced tomorrow. In the meantime, however, 19 day laborers were killed in Shi'ite Sadr City as the unrecognized civil war in Iraq moves forward. Both Italy and Japan have suggested they will be pulling out troops very soon in response to the civil war. Italy's new prime minister, Romano Prodi, called the war a "grave mistake" but failed to give a date for troop withdrawal. For a run down of recent Iraqi Cabinet nominees, as well as basic info on other key leaders in Iraq, click here. Bush admitted the extent to which the war and occupation in Iraq was unpopular with the American populace in an interview yesterday on the "Today Show" but hinted at continuing to not give a shit.

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Carol Fisher Ordered to Jail Pysche Unit

Cleveland World Can't Wait activist Carol Fisher, who was arrested while posting an anti-Bush poster on a Cleveland Heights telephone pole, was recently convicted on two counts of felonious assault. Judge McGinty, a notorious pro-police conservative judge, ordered her to take a pyschiatric evaluation test which she flatly refused. In response, McGinty forcibly incarcerated Fisher to the jail pysche unit indefinitely. A "Speak Out!" for Carol Fisher will be held Saturday, May 13 at 7pm at the corner of Coventry and Euclid Heights Blvd in Cleveland Heights.

Crackdown on Radical Environmentalists Moving Forward

With "anti-terrorist task forces" being built up by surge of funds from Washington, as recently reported by U.S. News and World Report, the targets of these intelligence units vary but all are being labeled security or terrorists threats. The publication says it "has identified nearly a dozen cases in which city and county police, in the name of homeland security, have surveilled or harassed animal-rights and antiwar protesters, union activists, and even library patrons surfing the Web." Radical direct-action oriented environmental groups, like the Earth Liberation Front, are recieving the brunt end of the FBI stick. In an article published in yesterday's Seattle Times the paper told of over 190 FBI investigations in the last three years which focused on what the agency has labeled "ecoterrorism." Others have taken notice, as well. The Southern Poverty Law Center recently published a report which illuminated the extent to which the FBI is going after groups like the ELF and ALF, using informants, plants, high-tech surveilance, and formerly obscure laws.

Bush Criticizes Anti-immigrant Movement

Displaying more cracks in the conservative armor, Bush called out those on the right who have been calling for stricter border patrol and the passage of anti-immigrant bill HR 4437 as promoting a "sure path to stagnation and decline." While the debate over immigration reform carries on, border patrols arrests are on the rise. Some attribute it to increased patrolling, a possibility more likely after hearing Bush's above remarks. Others argue talk of the signing of a guest worker program and a possible amnesty campaign has led to the increase. It could also be the braggadocio beaming from the Whitehouse about how great the economy is doing. It also seems as if the more moderate wing on the right of the debate (which, strangely, Bush is clearly on) has created an organization to try and galvanize conservative Latinos around this idea that "immigration reform should not be a choice between two evils - giving up border security or giving up economic security."

Minuteman Tour Confronted in LA at Start of U.S. Tour

Beginning a tour of the U.S. that will make its way to Washington, D.C. by May 12, the fiercely anti-immigrant Minuteman Project were largely given the cold shoulder by folks in L.A. The group, which encourages vigilante border patrol, attempted to find a sympathetic ear in poor Black communities with high rates of unemployment. Check out this new blog devoted to coverage of the Minuteman tour and efforts against it.

U.S. Creating Climate of Torture

In a report made public yesterday, human rights watchdog Amnesty International told the UN Committee Against Torture that the U.S. was flagrantly contradicting its own policies on torture and was creating a climate where it could flourish. Comparisons to the treatment of prisoners here in the U.S. were also made. The U.S. plans to send a 30-strong delegation to Geneva to defend its increasingly narrow definition of torture and its track record in place like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. U.S. officials also continued to claim it had a right to detain people indefinitely because of the so-called "war on terrorism." "Like other wars, when they start, we do not know when they will end." Today, two more human rights organizations added to the chorus. The ACLU and Human Rights Watch both condemned the widespread use of torture in the "war on terror" and agreed that similar concerns exist about prisoners in U.S. prisons. "There is overwhelming evidence of torture and abuse of detainees held in U.S. custody abroad. Prisoners held within the United States have been similarly abused," an ACLU spokesperson said.

Guerrilla Radio Interviews Col. Janis Karpinski

On today's Guerrilla Radio we played an interview conducted Monday with Col. Janis Karpinski, former Brig. Gen. who oversaw the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Click here to listen to Karpinski is what was a surprisingly forthcoming interview about impossible objectives, intelligence cover-ups, larger problems of prisoner torture, and how this all leads back to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.