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Tayeb
13-10-2005, 18:49
s3 to all Muslims and greetings to non-Muslims,

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq. She has been active in anti-war movement in USA. A must read article:

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Not Worth My Son's Sacrifice
by Cindy Sheehan

I was supposed to be on the Larry King Live show last week. I was asked to be on the show to offer my opinion on the election in Iraq from the perspective of a mom whose son was killed in the war prior to the elections. One of the questions I was going to be asked was: Do I think my son's sacrifice was "worth it?" Well, I didn't get a chance to be on the show, because I was bumped for something that is really important: The Michael Jackson Trial.

If I had been allowed to go on Larry King Live last night and give my opinion about the elections and about my son's sacrifice, this is what I would have told Mr. King and his viewers:

My son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan (KIA, Sadr City, 04/04/04) enlisted in the Army to protect America and give something back to our country. He didn't enlist to be used and misused by a reckless Commander-in-Chief who sent his troops to preemptively attack and occupy a country that was no imminent threat (or any threat) to our country. Casey was sent to die in a war that was based on the imagination of some Neo-Cons who love to fill our lives with fear.

Casey didn't agree with the "Mission" but being the courageous and honorable man that he was he knew he had to go to this mistake of a war to support his buddies. Casey also wondered aloud many times why precious troops and resources were being diverted from the real war on terror.

Casey was told that he would be welcomed to Iraq as a liberator with chocolates and rose petals strewn in front of his unarmored Humvee. He was in Iraq for two short weeks when the Shi'ite rebel "welcome wagon" welcomed him to Baghdad with bullets and RPG's, which took his young and beautiful life. I think my son's helmet and Viet Nam era flak jacket would have protected him better from the chocolates and flower petals.

Casey was killed after George Bush proclaimed "Mission Accomplished" on May 1, 2003 – he was also killed after Saddam was captured in December of that same year. Casey was killed before the transfer of power in June of 2004 and before these elections. Four marines were tragically killed after the election. By my count, about five-dozen Iraqis and coalition troops were killed on Election Day – is that the definition of "Catastrophic Success?" But is that a good day in Iraq? Hundreds of our young people and thousands of Iraqis have been needlessly and senselessly murdered since George Bush triumphantly announced an end to "major combat" almost 2 years ago now. All of the above events have been heralded by this administration as "turning points" in the "war on terror" – or as wonderful events in the "march of democracy." Really? I don't think, judging by very recent history, that the elections will stop the bloodshed and destruction.

I would have asked Mr. King if he would want to sacrifice one of his children for sham elections in Iraq. Would he or George Bush send their children to be killed, or maimed for life, for a series of lies, mistakes and miscalculations? Now that every lie has been exposed to the light for the invasion and occupation of Iraq – why are our sons and daughters still there? NOT ONE MORE DROP OF BLOOD SHOULD BE SPILLED FOR THIS PACK OF LIES.

This war was sold to the American people by a slimy leadership with a maniacal zeal and phony sincerity that would have impressed snake oil salesmen a century ago. The average American needs to hear from people who have been devastated by the arrogance and ignorance of an administration that doesn't even have the decency or compassion to sign our "death" letters.

In the interest of being "fair and balanced" (oops, wrong network), I would have been pitted against a parent who still agrees with the "Mission" and the President. Although I grieve for that parent's loss and I respect that parent's opinion, I would have defied Mr. King, or that parent to explain the "Mission" to me. I don't think anyone can do it with a straight face. The President has also stated that we need to keep our troops in Iraq to honor our sacrifices by completing this elusive and ever changing "Mission." My response to him is "Just because it is too late for Casey and the Sheehan family, why would we want another innocent life taken, in the name of this chameleon of a 'Mission'?

Well, I was bumped from the show anyway. Now that Scott Peterson has been convicted and sentenced for his crimes and Laci and Connor's families have the justice they deserve, we have the new "trial of the century" to keep our minds off of the nasty and annoying fact that we are waging an immoral war in Iraq. We can fill our TV screens and homes with the glorified images of the Michael Jackson molestation trial. We can fill our lives with outrage over MJ's victims and hope they get justice; not even questioning the fact that George Bush, his dishonest cabinet, and their misguided policies aren't even brought to the court of public opinion. We won't have to confront ourselves with the fact that the leaders of our country and their lies are responsible for the deaths of 1438 brave Americans – tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis – and the loss of our Nation's credibility throughout the world. That might mean we would have to turn off our television sets and do something about it.

Oh yeah. In answer to the original question Larry: No it wasn't worth it!!


February 7, 2005

Cindy Sheehan [send her mail] is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, KIA 04/04/04 She is co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace.

Copyright 2005 LewRockwell.com

lubna
13-10-2005, 20:44
Subject: Pakistani student brutalized by cops, cheered on by students

October 5th, 2005 5:09 pm

Student Brutalized by Cops, Right-Wing Students, for Protesting Recruiters
At George Mason University

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4419

By M. Junaid Alam / Left Hook

A Pakistani-American who served four years in the United States Air Force as munitions personnel was beaten and brutalized by right-wing students and campus police last Thursday at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Tariq Khan, now a junior majoring in sociology, said he was standing in front of the recruitment table outside the school student center - as he has often done before - during noontime with a paper sign reading, "Recruiters lie, don't be deceived," taped to his shirt. A student approached Khan and initiated a verbal argument, screaming in his face; he then took the flyer and ripped it up in front of him, Khan says.

The student then left and returned with another student claiming to be a Marine having recently served in Iraq, and the three continued a verbal argument that began to escalate, Khan claimed. "I asked the marine, 'So how many people did you kill?'" Khan said. "And he answered, 'Not enough.'" The marine student soon ripped Khan's sign off his shirt and threw it in the trash.

Shortly thereafter, two of Khan's friends came to his defense, and a college staff member told Khan he had to leave because he had no permit to table in the area. "I didn't even have a table to begin with, so I didn't see why I needed a permit for one," Khan said. "Besides, to have a table, you need to be a campus group, and we didn't have one," he added, pointing out that the
student council denied an anti-war group's right to exist on campus earlier because it contained several anarchists.

The staff member called campus security, at which point a police officer, Lt. Reynolds, approached Khan and demanded to see his student ID. Khan said he told the officer he was not carrying his ID and tried to walk away when the policeman tried to arrest him and then became violent. "He threw me into the stage," Khan claimed, referring to a dance area in the student center left from an event earlier in the day, "and I just sort of raised my hands to show I'm not violent and tried to get as much attention by saying,'I'm
being non-violent and I'm being brutalized.'"

Fellow student and friend Amie Wells confirmed Khan's account, saying the officer "grabbed him, put him in a half-nelson headlock," and then "slammed him into a metal stage," propped three feet above the floor. Wells added that the officer then slammed Khan into the ground hard, resulting in his face hitting the surface.

Describing the atmosphere, Wells said a number of right-wing students werecheering on police officers who were attacking Khan, exclaiming, "Kick him!"

She claimed most of the crowd appeared to be on the side of the police. "It was disgusting," she said.

Another student who witnessed events, David Curtis, said some students initially implored the police to let Khan go, but others soon arrived to support the police, chanting "Kick his ass!"

According to Khan, Wells, and Curtis, one of the right-wing students who had earlier harassed Khan joined the cops in forcing him on the ground. Curtis asked the student what authority he was exercising, and the student backed off.

However, Curtis says, a university employee who stood about six feet eight inches and weighed around 300 pounds began helping the cops to further subdue Khan. "He performed jujitsu moves on me while the cops held me down, and the cops let him do it," Khan said.

"Frankly, the cops were doing just fine without him, but this huge guy came and put [Khan's] free arm in a Kamora," Curtis said, referring to a jujitsu maneuver in which the arm ispainfully bent backwards. "You could see on his face that it was really hurting him," Curtis said of Khan.

A police officer claimed the university employee was an "auxiliary police officer," but Wells, who works with the man in the computer store, said she had never seen him in that capacity.

Khan said he was then dragged off by two officers toward a police car but was reluctant to get in. He says one cop was preparing to spray him with mace. "He held the can straight at my eyes, about five inches away from my face," Khan said. "So I started yelling, 'Hey, this cop is trying to mace me, someone take a picture if you have a camera!"

Wells quickly took out her cell-phone camera and began snapping pictures.

"After I did that, the cop put away his mace can and said, 'Okay, no one's going to get maced today.' I mean, clearly, he knew he was doing something wrong," she said.

Khan says Officer Reynolds told him he had to arrest him because, "What with 9/11 and everything else, we didn't know what you would do." Khan also says another policeman told him that "You people are the most violent people in the world."

Before being hauled off to the Fairfax County Jail, Khan was warned by the police who were questioning him that "If you even look at [cops] the wrong way, they'll hang you up by your feet."

Officer Reynolds asked the handcuffed student if he needed medical attention or desired an attorney, Khan claims, but says he was granted neither medical attention nor an attorney after expressly asking for both.

Released after two hours, Khan was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing on campus - even though Khan is a student and police found his ID when they searched him.

The student protester says he is planning to sue the school, the police, and the right-wing students who attacked him. "I went with my wife and my mother-in law to file a complaint at the police office right afterwards, and had pictures taken of all my cuts and bruises," he says.

In response to the incident, the university issued a statement to Khan recognizing that he was staging a peaceful protest and insisting it was committed to students' rights to free speech on campus; it also said it will conduct an internal investigation into the conduct of the police officers and the other students who were involved in Thursday's events.

Khan, however, is not impressed. "They haven't even contacted me yet," he said. "I'll believe them when I see results."

Asked what motivated him to begin his protest against military recruiters on a campus where there is no organized anti-war movement, the former Air Force enlistee said, "For four years, I was making bombs. Then I started wondering where those bombs were actually going." After reading and learning about the bombing of Kosovo and ongoing destruction of civilian facilities in Iraq, he came to his conclusion: "I asked the questions and I wasn't happy with the answers We were bombing civilian plants."

Speaking at a rally held on October 3 that was attended by 150 to 200 supporters at the university, Khan sounded a defiant note: "I will not be bullied or intimidated into silence.The university authority's actions against me last Thursday were their way of telling me to shut up. And my answer to them is, no, I will not shut up...The power-mongers in this country are using 9/11 and terrorism as an excuse to trample all over our individual rights. A friend of mine recently said, 'When we've traded in all our freedom for security, we'll find that the only thing we've secured is our own incarceration.'"

Some pics...

http://lefthook.org/GMU/Tariq%20car%201.jpg
http://lefthook.org/GMU/Tariq-%20hand%20on%20neck.jpg
http://lefthook.org/GMU/Tariq-%20handcuffed.jpg
http://lefthook.org/GMU/Tariq-%20head.jpg
http://lefthook.org/GMU/Tariq-dragged.jpg
http://lefthook.org/GMU/Tariq-%20wrist.jpg