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Today's Stories December 13, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts Shrinking the Dollar from the Inside-Out December 12, 2007 Allan Nairn US Intelligence is Tapping Indonesian Phones Alan Farago How Sprawl Eats Its Young Ray McGovern Torture, Lies and Videotape Winslow T. Wheeler The Phony Pentagon Budget Cuts Evan Jones The Raid on Great Western: Why an Australian Bank Might Spell Doom for the US Farm Belt James Petras An Open Letter to Sarkozy on the Exchange of Political Prisonsers Joel Hirschorn The Horserace Fiction: Clinton, Obama and the Democratic Machine Joshua Frank Why Ron Paul Deserves Our Attention Sherry Wolf Why the Left Should Reject Ron Paul Dan Bacher Survey of a Fish Graveyard Website of the Day Men Eating Bugs   December 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn What's Really Happened During the Surge? Diana Johnstone The Next Kosovo War Paul Craig Roberts It's Waco All Over Again: Preventive Detention and the Constitution David Macaray Impasse in Hollywood Ralph Nader Gail Collins Versus the Underdogs Andy Worthington Guantánamo Britons to be Released: a Mixed Result Martha Rosenberg No Holiday for High Risk Sex Workers Steve Champion / Anthony Ross Words for Our Brother, Tookie Williams Kim Nicolini Tangled Up in Dylan Michael Dickinson Say Goodbye to Purgatory: Pope Rat Gets Indulgent Website of the Day A Charming (and Worthy) Pitch December 10, 2007 Uri Avnery How They Stole the Bomb From Us Debbie Nathan The Perils of Journalism and Child Porn JoAnn Wypijewski Is There a Left Here Left? If So, What Can It Do? Steve Kelly Cheap Chips, Counterfeit Wilderness Donna J. Volatile Welcome to the Revolution   December 8 / 9, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Coup Against Bush and Cheney Brenda Norrell Seize the Land, Chain the Peace Activists Saul Landau The Ruins of Empire R. F. Blader A Rape in Every Drink? Ray McGovern Spinning Iran's Centrifuges Allan Nairn Imposed Hunger in Gaza, the Army in Indonesia Linn Washington, Jr Spotlight on Death Row Paul Craig Roberts When Will Bush Come Clean?   December 7, 2007 Sean Penn Piano Wire Puppeteers Arthur Versluis Mining Water in the Desert M. G. Piety Racism and the American Psyche: Some Thoughts on Race and Intelligence Pam Martens Banksters Gone Wild Alan Farago Will the Free Market Kill Suburbia? Sprawl and the Credit Crisis Allan Nairn It Takes (Out) a Village Col. Dan Smith Bush, Iran and the Politics of Doomsday Alice Slater The Iran Opening Robert Weissman The Story of Stuff Website of the Day Something About Mitt   December 5, 2007 Mike Whitney Why the CFR Hates Putin Sharon Smith The Anti-War Enablers: Tom Hayden and the Dead End Democrats James Petras Venezuela in the Aftermath Ron Jacobs The Iran Charade Dave Zirin Kicking a Dead Man: the Sliming of Sean Taylor John V. Whitbeck Two States or One? Time to Choose Peter Zinn Covered in New Orleans Niranjan Ramakrishnan Impeach Pelosi Instead Alan Farago The Credit Bomb Detonates in Florida Heather Gray US Meddling in Australian Politics Website of the Day A Donner Summit Night Before Xmas   December 4, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Jackboot State Stubs Its Toe in Ann Arbor Andy Worthington Guantánamo and the Supreme Court Paul Craig Roberts The Lies at the End of the American Dream Ray McGovern No-Nuke Iran Winslow T. Wheeler Admiral Mullen and the Defense Budget: When White Elephants are Too Small Allan Nairn The Regime Still Stands in Burma, Where "the People Just Want Food" Russell Mokhiber The USA v. Al Arian Nikolas Kozloff As Chávez Falters: Raising the Stakes for the South American Left John V. Walsh Peace Movement Paralyzed Ghada Ageel Will Peace Cost Me My Home? Stephen Soldz The Facts be Damned!: Psychologists' President Defends Psychologist Involvement in Interrogations Website of the Day Hands Off the People of Iran     December 3, 2007 Tariq Ali Venezuela After the Referendum Bill Quigley New Orleans: Bulldozers for the Poor, Tax Credits for Developers Eric Walberg The Bible and Middle East History Uri Avnery After Annapolis Marjorie Cohn Operation Iraqi Freedom Exposed Dave Lindorff Vengeance Isn't Sweet Stephen Fleischman Homeless in Paradise Martha Rosenberg Perp Walks for the Mink Clad on Chicago's Mag Mile Website of the Day So Just Lead!   December 1 / 2, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Emblems of the Bush Age: Adrift in a Sea of Booze Jeffrey St. Clair The Bear Minimum: the Grizzly and the Future of the Rocky Mountain West Mike Whitney "Iraq Doesn't Exist Anymore": an Interview with Nir Rosen Shemon Salam A Visit From the FBI Roger Burbach The Battle in Bolivia Benjamin Dangl New Politics in Old Bolivia Brian M. Downing The Quiet on the Middle Eastern Front: How Much Credit Goes to the Surge? Greg Moses Night of the Living Redneck: a Texas Horror Story Sonja Karkar The "Never-Never" Peace Conference Saul Landau Ethics and Evil in South Boston Margaret Kimberley Black America Left Behind John Ross What are the Prospects for a New Mexican Revolution? Reza Fiyouzat Exit on the Left: When Che's Children Visited Iran Judith Scherr Berkeley Turns Right for the Holidays Lance Olsen Of Forests and Finance: Logging for the Wealthy Christopher Brauchli Mr. Bush and the Despots Robert Fantina Iraq as U.S. Colony Dan Bacher Fish Triage on Prospect Island Michael Donnelly Remembering How to be Human: John Trudell and the Music of Urgency Website of the Weekend Appalachian Voices   November 30, 2007 Peter Stone Brown The Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan Wajahat Ali The Volatile Mistress: an Interview with Javed Jabbar, Pakistan's Former Minister of Information Allan Nairn Cold-Blooded Celebrity: Thomas L. Friedman and the Bali Bombers Alan Farago The Sorrows of Suburbia: Politics, Sprawl and the Housing Crash John Ross The Death of Latin America's First Revolution Corporate Crime Reporter America's Corporate Crime Capitals Lucia Alvarez Diego Gonzalez Argentina's Political Future James Rothenberg The Iraqi Miracle Website of the Day Bio-Bling?   November 29, 2007 R. F. Blader The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran Stephen Soldz War on the Couch: Fear, Aggression and Empire Sheldon Richman Iraq 3.0 George Wuerthner Forest Fires, Lies and Chainsaws Felice Pace Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis? Col. Dan Smith The Meaning of Annapolis Harvey Wasserman Terror Target Nukes Nikolas Kozloff Primetime Hate Debate: Lou Dobbs, Immigration and Campaign '08 Paul Krassner Huffington Post Bloggers Go On Strike! Dave Lindorff News Not Fit to Print: US Coup Planned for Venezuela? CP News Service The One State Declaration Website of the Day A Native View of Yellowstone Bison Slaughter November 28, 2007 James Petras CIA Destabilization Memo Surfaces on Venezuela Jeff Halper Annapolis: When the Roadmap is a One Way Street Pam Martens Crashing Citigroup Peter Morici Economy in Crisis: Avoiding a Recession Mohammed Khatib Separate and Unequal in Palestine Helen Redmond The Horror and the Hope: Health Care in America William S. Lind In the Fox's Lair: Quiet Before a New Iraq Storm? Ben Tripp We, the People: a Trope for All Seasons Liaquat Ali Khan Pakistan: First, Restore the Constitution and Reinstate the Judges Jeff Berg Holbrooke Says Bush Won't Attack Iran Website of the Day The Lies of Joe Klein   November 27, 2007 Joe DeRaymond On the Road to the Torture School Paul Craig Roberts Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney: Hillary and Rudy Marjorie Cohn Remembering Victor Rabinowitz Mike Whitney A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp Ron Jacobs The Myths of Military Progress Col. Dan Smith The Pentagon's "People System" Still Doesn't Work Ralph Nader Family Learning Karim Makdisi Annapolis and the Unholy Alliance: the View from Beirut Christopher Ketcham Memo to Hollywood Writers: Strike Until You Drop Ronan Bennett Martin Amis Does a Coulter Website of the Day Celebrating the Uncensored Media   November 26, 2007 Kathleen and Bill Christison Heading for Annapolis Paul Craig Roberts The End of All That David Macaray Enter Mediator Sameer Dossani Pakistan's Wounded Dictator Roger Burbach The Final Battle in Bolivia Mark Scaramella Guns and Greed in the Emerald Empire Brian McKinlay Howard's End Rick Kuhn The Fall of a Racist Union Buster Binoy Kampmark Ruddslide and Dull Alec Monica Benderman What Do You Know of War? Brenda Norrell Return to Alcatraz Website of the Day Ghostworld by DJ Spooky   November 24 / 25, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson, MD Robert Fisk Darkness Falls on the Middle East Saul Landau Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P. Jeffrey St. Clair Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal Environmentalism Rannie Amiri Beirut's Black Friday Christopher Brauchli Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace Daniel Gross The Gap and Black Friday Mike Whitney "A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions" Marjorie Cohn Iran and the 2008 Elections David Rosen Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans David Michael Green If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom .... Kenneth Rexroth When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in Afghanistan Muhammad Iqbal Trans. Shahid Alam Ghazal Website of the Day Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill November 23, 2007 Gary Leupp Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat Valley Laura Carlsen Coming to Terms with Diversity in Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP David Macaray Keeping Labor Unions Out Andy Worthington Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden Clifton Ross Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant Seth Sandronsky Battling Sodexho Dan Bacher Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation William A. Cook The Myth of Middle East Peace Website of the Day Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short Film   November 22, 2007 Alan Farago Who Lost America's Everglades? Greg Moses A Thanksgiving Basting Dave Lindorff Impeachment is Back on the Table Mike Ely Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving Omar Azfar Gore for President of Pakistan?   November 21, 2007 Vijay Prashad Our Dictator, Their Democracy Martha Rosenberg Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant Manuel Garcia, Jr. Epiphany on the Glacier John Ross The Last Days of Mexican Corn Brian McKenna Cancer Terrorists Unmasked Stephen Soldz Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo Monica Benderman Needing Peace Ben Terrall Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar Website of the Day Mercy for Animals   November 20, 2007 Oren Ben-Dor Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist" as a Jewish State Wajahat Ali An Interview with Norman Finkelstein Alan Farago The Dark Arts and the Bush Dynasty Marjorie Cohn Musharraf Plays Bush for a Fool Ralph Nader Green is Gold? Andy Worthington Guantánamo Whistleblower Launches a New Attack on Rigged Tribunals Sara Olson When Going AWOL is the Only Escape Dave Lindorff Likelihood of Iran Attack Gains Credence Paul Krassner The First Amendment, a Dialogue Website of the Day Joanne Mariner on Torture November 19, 2007 Winslow T. Wheeler Why Congress Won't Reform China Hand The U.S. Game Plan in Pakistan Allan Nairn Sitting Around Talking, in Indonesia Uri Avnery How to Get Out? David Macaray The Chalice that Poisoned the Labor Movements Dave Lindorff Democrats in Future Shock: They Could Lose It All in 2008! Bill Quigley Twenty Thousand Protest at Ft. Benning; Eleven Face Federal Criminal Trials Ron Jacobs Sitting on the Group W Bench: War, Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie Sunsara Taylor Legalized Rights for Fertilized Eggs? Binoy Kampmark Why Steve Irwin--You're Dead! Heather Gray Another Look at W.E.B. DuBois Website of the Day The Meat Market     November 17 / 18, 2007 P. Sainath Neoliberalism's Price Tag: 150,000 Farm Suicides in India David Rosen The Scarlet Hypocrites: Republicans, Christians and the Politics of Adultery Mike Whitney Pentagon Cover Up: 15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War? George Wuerthner Saving the Big Wild Brenda Norrell The Case of Jim Main, Jr: In Montana, Indians are Guilty Until Proven Innocent George Ciccariello-Maher Of Submarines and Loose Screws Karim Makdisi Lebanon is Hanging by a Thread Marie Trigona Wal-Mart in Argentina Valerio Volpi The Catholic Church, Incorporated Fred Gardner The Straight-Ahead Runner Robert Fantina The White House Press Office Mike Ferner Thank God for the Senate Republicans! Missy Comley Beattie The Radical Majority Kenneth Couesbouc Circles of Power Patrick O'Hayer A Portrait of Mailer and a Young Poet Poets' Basement Davies, Buknatski and Ford   November 16, 2007 Cockburn / St. Clair The Vices of Hillary Clinton: Secrecy, Intransigence and War Dave Zirin The Indictment of Barry Bonds: Busted by a Broken System Gary D. Barnett A Day in the Life of an Unwilling Federal Agent Alan Farago Sprawl, Mortgage Fraud and Political Corruption Dave Lindorff Two Brothers and Two Scandals Russell Mokhiber Pelosi and Me: "What Should be Done with Those Protesters?" Robert Ovetz Cargo Ships in Paradise: Shipping Lanes Threaten the Yosemite of the Sea Brenda Norrell "Today We Experienced America:" Arresting Indigenous People on the Border David Swanson Wolf Blitzer Loses Democratic Debate Peter Letheby Outside the Box on the Great Plains Website of the Day Why Activism Fails   November 15, 2007 Cockburn / St. Clair Hillary Clinton in Arkansas Adolfo Gilly The Spirit of Revolt Peter Bohmer 10 Days That Shook Olympia Andy Worthington The Trials of Omar Khadr: Gitmo's Child Soldier Gray / Derks Obama's Pitch to South Carolina's Black Churches Affronts Gay Groups Liaquat Ali Khan Liberating Pakistan Dave Lindorff Where's the Party? Christopher Brauchli Tipping Point: the Politics of Gossip Anthony Papa Racism as Law: Crack Cocaine Sentences Martha Rosenberg Merck's Big Write Off Ben Terrall Thank You, Ehren Watada Website of the Day On the Colorado: Drought, Climate Change and Water Supplies November 14, 2007 Cockburn / St. Clair The Making of Hillary Clinton James Petras Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets Al Giordano Campaign 08: Don't Trust Anyone Over 50 Paul Craig Roberts The Lobby Andy Worthington Innocents and Foot Soldiers Stephen Lendman Torturing Palestinian Detainees Fatima Bhutto Aunt Benazir's False Promises: the Dismantling of Pakistani Democracy Martin Smith Norman Mailer and the "Good War" Jeff Leys Slip Sliding Away: House Votes on War Funding Website of the Day Why the Writers are Striking November 13, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Hillary's Big Problem and How Bill Can Fix It Jeffrey St. Clair Mailer and Us: the Writer as Fighter Robert Bryce The Pakistan Fuel Connection David Macaray The Teamsters and the Hollywood Strike Mike Whitney Bulletins from the Titanic Ralph Nader Pakistani Lawyers vs. American Lawyers Nikolas Kozloff Chavez Blasts the Spanish King Jordan Flaherty Education Versus Incarceration in Tallulah, Louisiana B. R. Gowani Dear Mrs. Bhutto Website of the Day Monty Python: "Fuck You, Very Much FCC"   November 12, 2007 Vicente Navarro Why Hillary's Health Care Plan Really Failed Ben Brown Letter from Ho Chi Minh City: a Tribute to My Vietnam Vet Father Omar K. A Pakistani Lawyer's Testimony: Life Under the Brutal Emergency Sadia Abbas The Roots of Pakistan's Political Crisis: Corrupt Elites and a Kleptocratic Military Farzana Versey Mailer's Miasma Richard W. Behan The Political Crimes of Complicity Paul Krassner Asshole of the Year: Congratulations Tim Russert! Cindy Sheehan Faith and War Peter Stone Brown The Return of Levon Helm Dave Lindorff Dennis, You are Not Alone Website of the Day Police Attack in Olympia   November 10 / 11, 2007 Alain Gresh Uncle Sam's New Backyard: How to Turn a Region into a Graveyard Mike Whitney For Whom the Closing Bell Tolls: the Last Dead Bull on Wall Street Ron Jacobs A View from the Pakistani Left: an Interview with Farooq Tariq Jeffrey St. Clair The First Dambuster: a Coyote Story Alan Farago Tangled Up in Blue: a Brief History of Florida Environmentalism Binoy Kampmark When Language Drowns: Torture in America Robert Fantina Legitimizing Torture Fred Gardner Psychological Torture in the Name of Family Values Ayesha Ijaz Khan The General in His Labyrinth Nicola Nasser NATO's Southward Drift Philip Rizk The Blame Game in Gaza Michael Dickinson Condom Nation: the Pope vs. Terry Higgins Joel S. Hirschhorn The Grand Delusion: a Conspiracy of Two Parties Paul Krassner Flunking Out of the Electoral College Wadner Pierre / Joe Emersberger The Ongoing War on Journalists in Haiti           Subscribe Online

December 13, 2007 Thirteen Days of War Resistance at the Port of Olympia Blocking the Strykers By SANDY MAYES The US military will have to think twice before it ever again tries to use Olympia, WA as a launching point for war. For 13 unforgettable days in November, people in this small community engaged in a courageous and spirited campaign of resistance to the war in Iraq. Sixty-six arrests were made and untold numbers were assaulted by police during a campaign which made national and international news. Day after day, and night after night, people put their lives on hold and their bodies on the line to prevent movement of military equipment from the Port of Olympia to nearby Fort Lewis. The campaign was organized primarily by the Olympia Port Militarization Resistance (OlyPMR), a coalition of peace groups, students, and individual community members. As well, there were student groups such as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and non-affiliated folks, all of whom have worked together in recent years to oppose shipments of war materials through the ports of Olympia, Tacoma and Grays Harbor. Early in November activists learned that the USNS Brittin would arrive on Nov. 5, bringing Stryker combat vehicles and other equipment back from Iraq through the Port of Olympia to Fort Lewis. The equipment belongs to the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, whose roughly 3,600 soldiers returned home in October from a 15-month deployment to Iraq ­ except for the 48 who died from injuries sustained in Iraq. OlyPMR was founded in May of 2006 when activists attempted to block outgoing equipment in advance of the deployment of that same 3rd Stryker Brigade. Activists then united under the banner of Port Militarization Resistance, declaring a common mission to "end our community's participation in the illegal occupation of Iraq by stopping US military use of the Port of Olympia." Thirty-seven arrests were made for acts of nonviolent civil disobedience during that campaign, which was preceded by two years of marches, vigils, forums and petitioning of public officials through multiple avenues to protest the use of Olympia's port for war-related shipments. Just as in May of 2006, when activists blocked shipments directly supplying the war in Iraq, they resolved in November to block the same equipment now returning to Fort Lewis only to be refitted and redeployed to the war. On Nov. 6, the group released a statement saying, "We oppose Olympia's complicity in a war whose disastrous effects have been felt worldwide and we will actively resist the use of Olympia's port to further that war. Through nonviolent actions we intend to stop the Port of Olympia from becoming a revolving door of military machinery furthering illegal war." In another press release later that day, OlyPMR reaffirmed its commitment to a nonviolence statement written in February of 2007, including a pledge to refrain from physical assaults, verbal harassment and malicious sabotage. The USNS Brittin arrives The campaign began with a candlelight vigil of more than 60 people on the evening of Monday, Nov. 5, as military cargo including Strykers began offloading from the ship onto the port quay. The next day, roughly 200 people participated in a "Family Friendly March and Rally." At the rally on the Port plaza, OlyPMR member Phan Nguyen delivered a speech in which he provided context for the ship which was docked in close view from where he stood. He spoke about the war's impact on Iraqis and US soldiers. Among other stories, he read from the journal of a philosophical 36 year-old soldier from the 3rd Brigade who had been killed during his second tour while standing in his Stryker. To illustrate how the war had come home to Olympia, Nguyen pointed to the ship and added, "... one of those Stryker vehicles that are now being unloaded." He also made a confession: "I've never stopped a war before, so I don't know how it's done. But that's not a reason not to try." Civil disobedience: the blockades begin Once military equipment began to leave the Port, war resisters engaged in several days of civil disobedience to prevent its return to Fort Lewis. They held frequent meetings for discussing strategy, tactics and logistics and maintained a nearly 24/7 presence at the Port, alerting others when it appeared that equipment was about to move. Nov. 7: As Stryker combat vehicles and other equipment began exiting the Port on Wednesday evening, dozens of protesters blocked the road with their bodies as one convoy after another exited the Port of Olympia. In each case, the convoys eventually passed after police shoved and struck protesters with batons and dragged them from the road in order to clear the way. Large numbers of police in full riot gear soon marched onto the scene. Participants observed that the police officers' riot gear and demeanor seemed to expect and even provoke confrontation. One demonstrator was injured when, according to witnesses, police struck him in the face with a baton. Witnesses also reported that police later that night doused a cluster of about 20 people with pepper spray and used batons in order to grab one man in their midst. Two people were arrested that night and several reported injuries. Nov. 8: Thursday, a PMR activist who works at the Port of Tacoma was arrested for trespassing on Port property after being allowed in by Port security. That case was later dismissed. Later that afternoon, OlyPMR held a vigil at a busy intersection not far from the Port. Several people, including TJ Johnson, Austin Kelley, Stanley Stahl and myself, were standing at the outer edge of the gathering when a Non Commissioned Officer in uniform pulled over, got out of his car, came over, shook our hands and said, "I just want to thank you people for what you're doing." He told us that he had twice been deployed to Iraq and found it to be a "hopeless mess." He said that he and other soldiers wished that they could speak out against the war, but military regulations prohibited them from publicly opposing the war. He asked us to please continue with our efforts. That evening, approximately 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Port and were prepared with a plan to block every potential exit. The military made no attempt to move equipment that day. Nov. 9: Friday afternoon, approximately 60 people sat down near the main gate, blocking two tractor trailers: one carrying two Stryker vehicles, the other filled with military cargo. Police arrived on the scene and, after failing to persuade the demonstrators to allow one truck through, ceded control of the entrance. The two trucks were forced by these circumstances to back up ­ returning inside the Port gate. Another group later built a structural barricade on a side entrance. At this point, war resisters declared control over movement into and out of the Port. Police violence escalates Nov. 10: Saturday morning as police arrived on the scene and after maintaining these blockades overnight, lines of demonstrators held hands and linked arms in front of the two Port gates in nonviolent resistance. Police repeatedly attacked them with close range pepper spray. As video and witness accounts clearly show, after thoroughly dousing demonstrators with pepper spray, police then wrenched them apart, shoved them with batons and roughly threw many to the side of the road. Shocked onlookers who rushed forward to help the blockaders were attacked. "Street medics" trying to gain access to wounded demonstrators were also pepper sprayed and forced back with batons. At noon, a group of demonstrators moved to a more visible downtown intersection. As military vehicles flanked by police in full riot gear approached, several people pushed garbage bins, newspaper boxes and chunks of concrete into the road. Drivers at the intersection got out of their cars and angrily shoved these objects back out of the road. Police stepped in and following verbal confrontations with the protesters, some of whom had attempted to block the road with their bodies, heavily pepper sprayed, shoved and kicked protesters as well as street medics, legal observers, and bystanders. Three were arrested, including a woman who was denied treatment for pepper spray. Patricia Hutchison reported that while in handcuffs her repeated requests for first aid were ignored. "I thought the skin was literally peeling off my face. I was begging for help and no one would help me." When her identical twin, Kathleen, tried to reach her sister to help her, she was physically subdued and arrested. Both are college students in Olympia. At another location near a freeway entrance, a group of people carried out two "hard blocks" in which their arms were linked together with hardware inside of large PVC tubes, making it more difficult for police to remove them from the road. During the second of these two actions, the hard block was reinforced by a "soft" blockade of people not linked with hardware. The soft block dispersed before arrests were made, as originally planned. At this point, police shot those who remained standing in the road at close range with rounds of painful *pepper balls, causing them to drop to their knees, and continued shooting at them once they were down. Police then removed protective goggles and masks, cut through the PVC and hardware, and arrested the hard blockaders. *Projectile non-lethal weapon, a ball which breaks upon impact and releases an extremely effective super irritant made up of a powdered chemical that irritates eyes and nose (see pepper spray). Veteran's Day Nov. 11: Several witnesses report that while standing on a sidewalk along with other demonstrators at the corner near the Port entrance occupied by war resisters all week, two men were singled out for unprovoked abuse and arrest. Both are college students and are well-known to police for acts of civil disobedience during the OlyPMR campaign in May 2006. Witnesses report that one of them was pulled from the sidewalk into the street where he was pepper sprayed and beaten. The other man yelled at police from the sidewalk as this was happening and was then shot in the chest with pepper balls. Both were charged with pedestrian interference. Later, in honor of Veterans Day, a group of women laid flowers in the road in front of the Port entrance in memory of the 48 soldiers from the 3rd Brigade killed in Iraq. As the women were laying their memorial, the police moved in, trampled the flowers and shoved the women back to the curb with batons. Wes Hamilton, a Vietnam veteran, was shot repeatedly in the groin with pepper rounds as he spoke out against the brutality. Patricia Imani, a longtime Olympia resident, was shocked by what she experienced. "It's unimaginable that police will come in with full riot gear and respond with such violence to women with flowers and shoot a veteran during a Veteran's Day memorial." OlyPMR sent out a press release earlier that day with the following statement: "As the nation begins its annual observance of the Veterans Day holidays, OlyPMR says they stand with the men and women of the military by demanding an immediate halt to the war and the return of all the troops. 'We want the troops to know we are glad they are home. We also want them to know that we will do everything we can to make sure that they never have to go again,' said Sandy Mayes." This message seems to resonate with many soldiers. Activists involved in PMR actions in Olympia and Tacoma report overwhelmingly positive gestures such as "thumbs up" from troops as they drive by in their Strykers and other vehicles (as I have witnessed repeatedly myself). Emergency forum on police violence On Sunday evening, Olympia City Councilmember TJ Johnson opened City Hall for an emergency community forum where a packed City Council chamber heard compelling testimony from more than 60 citizens who experienced or witnessed police brutality over the preceding several days. Television and other mainstream media were present and over three hours of testimony is documented on YouTube. Witness after witness reported acts of violence by police against nonviolent, mostly young, protesters. People reported that police sometimes prevented street medics from reaching injured people, pepper sprayed street medics, pepper sprayed journalists and photographers, and pepper sprayed, shoved and kicked legal observers and bystanders alike. Demonstrators reported police removing their protective goggles in order to expose their eyes directly to the chemicals the police were using. (All of which is supported by numerous videos and photographs available on the internet ­ not only on YouTube and Flickr, but also on commercial sites such as the Olympian website.) The final speaker of the evening was Councilmember Johnson who himself had been pepper sprayed. He testified to the multiple accounts of police violence he witnessed at the Port. He summarized by saying, "This war is so incredibly unpopular that the only way they can continue to wage it is with a significant crackdown on dissent here in this country. So, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but we're going to see more of this, not less of this, as this thing continues. That's the short term. The long term is we're gonna win. Because we've got truth, we've got commitment, and we've got power and solidarity on our side and they can't beat that." A powerful day for war resisters Nov. 13: Things were fairly quiet on Monday. But Tuesday, Nov. 13, was a day which older, longtime Olympia activists describe as the most hopeful and empowering day of resistance they've ever experienced in this community. Once again, military shipments were prevented by human blockades from leaving the port that morning, and the blockades were maintained throughout the day. That evening, in what they described as an act of solidarity on behalf of human rights and with women in Iraq, over 40 members of the OlyPMR Women's Caucus sat in the road blocking the Port's main gate. A huge gathering of supporters amassed, standing behind them. The positive sense of solidarity and determination amongst the women was met with verbal harassment and violent threats from a cluster of pro-war counter-protesters gathered on one side of the road. One of them had displayed a gun, the only point at which police confronted the group, simply telling the gun owner to put his gun away. Eventually, about two dozen male protesters stood between the women and the counter-protesters, as requested by some of the women. These men were then themselves subjected to harassment and threats. Nevertheless, energy remained high as the women chanted things like, "Ain't no power like the power of the sistas cause the power of the sistas don't stop," with the men and others in the crowd playfully answering back, "Say what?" Later the women chanted, "No force is necessary. We are non-violent." All of this went on for about two hours. Early on, as the women were forming their blockade, a soldier from Fort Lewis walked out of the Port. Witnesses report that he said he was against the war and refused to transport the war equipment. Shortly thereafter, he was driven back to Fort Lewis by one of the activists in the crowd. The soldier's name and other details are not public at this time. As the women and their supporters held their ground, a large assembly of police in full riot gear repeatedly threatened over a bullhorn to pepper spray the women and, based on police tactics used throughout the week, the women had every reason to expect that they too would be pepper sprayed. Yet, they bravely maintained their position in the road. As it turned out, a number of factors intervened to compel police to temporarily abandon the tactic of brutalizing human blockaders. First, there were a lot of media present with cameras that night, and a couple hundred supporters. As well, the city council had been forced to address complaints of police abuse in a meeting earlier that evening. And finally, the women themselves made a powerful appeal over their own bullhorn that they were nonviolent and there was no justification in such tactics as pepper spray or other uses of force. So, instead, the police arrested them one by one. Forty-three people were arrested at this action, including four men who also sat in the road. But midway through the process of arresting the women, police did begin spraying and beating back those who stood behind them. As this was happening, Strykers began to move on a side entrance about a block away. Protesters rushed in, forcing the convoy to a halt. Riot police moved in, used pepper spray on them, and dragged them away. Then another blockade formed, and police used pepper spray and batons, dragged and shoved protesters out of the street, and shot beanbag rounds and pepper balls at the crowd. Roughly a hundred people endured at least two concussion grenades and an onslaught of beanbag and pepper rounds as they chased after the convoy now headed for the center of town. People who were already downtown and saw the Strykers coming pushed newspaper boxes and garbage bins into the road to block the way. Those people, along with bystanders caught unaware, were struck with batons and hit with pepper rounds from police. The Strykers eventually made their way from the Port of Olympia to Fort Lewis that night, but not for lack of effort by the people in this community who tried to stop them. Four more days Nov. 14: Some military equipment was transported by rail. On Wednesday, Nov. 14, the Olympian reported: "Earlier Tuesday, port maintenance workers had found concrete on the railroad leading out of the property and removed it. Railcars carrying military equipment and vehicles moved from the port to Fort Lewis on Wednesday morning." (On Nov. 28, the final train of military equipment left the Port, carrying, among other things, M1 Abrams tanks with depleted uranium armor.) Nov. 15: Five people were arrested while attempting to blockade at the main gate. Pepper spray and batons were used and injuries were reported. Later that evening, over 100 people joined in a candlelight vigil at a downtown location near the Port. The vigil was originally organized by OlyPMR to protest the war, but many participants held signs decrying the recent police violence. Nov. 16: As reported in the Olympian the following day: "More than 200 high school and community college students walked out of class Friday to protest the war in Iraq. [They] ... marched to the Capitol Campus, where they lined Capitol Way for an hour, holding signs and chanting, then participated in a 'die-in' on the Capitol steps. ... The protest was part of a national call for students to demonstrate." More like a victory march Finally, on Saturday November 17, over 400 people of all ages came out in the pouring rain to march through the streets of Olympia to protest the war in Iraq and the police violence in Olympia. But by the time they got started the rain had subsided and to most participants it felt more like a victory march than a protest. People had devoted incredible personal resources to the two week campaign ­ time and energy, physical and financial ­ and now shared a collective sense that something hugely significant and powerful had just happened in their town. And it happened because they made it happen. Carrying banners proclaiming "Not in Our Port," the crowd marched through downtown, directly past the Port gate, and back to the Port plaza where Phan Nguyen had given his speech on Nov. 6. On this day Nguyen said: "We understand that the road that leads to Iraq goes through Olympia. The fact that this road goes through Olympia is a warning to us, and it reminds us that we are complicit. But it also empowers us to do something about it." Wearing complicity like a badge Throughout the 13-day campaign, the demonstrators were overwhelmingly nonviolent. Nevertheless, a couple of windows (a bank window and the window of an OPD squad car) were broken on the night of Nov. 13, and reportedly a rock hit a police officer in the knee that same night. Mainstream news media were quick to emphasize those isolated episodes, erroneously holding OlyPMR accountable; such actions clearly ran counter to OlyPMR's principles of nonviolence. As well, there was grossly disproportionate emphasis placed on the newspaper boxes and garbage bins blocking the streets. Nearly every commercial media report on the protests began by stating that police had no choice but to use forceful means such as batons and pepper spray on protesters. At no point did mainstream media mention the option used by the Olympia Police Dept. on May 24, 2006 when they simply arrested rather than brutalize a group of people who blocked a Stryker convoy with their bodies in an act of civil disobedience virtually identical to those taken in November. Nor did they address the contradiction between the arrests of the Women's Caucus blockade and police claims that the only way to handle such situations is with force. In a scathing editorial on Nov. 14, the Olympian asserted that the paper's editorial board opposed the war, but that OlyPMR had gone too far. They said, "When police repeatedly plead with protesters to clear the streets and are met with stubborn refusals, they have little option but to resort to batons and pepper spray." Protesters had "clearly crossed the line" and "tarnished the anti-war effort" and they must be held accountable. In a Dec. 6 op-ed in the Olympian, Phan Nguyen stated: "As long as the road to Iraq goes through Olympia, we will be there to block it. ... The Olympian editorial board wants us to be held accountable for our actions, but it is precisely because we take accountability that we act. Those who fail to act should be held accountable for their complicity, and those who criticize us should exit the peanut gallery, take the stage and lead by example." A call to action Olympia's resistance to war has inspired peace activists throughout the US and the world. OlyPMR has issued a call for people everywhere to find the ways that their own communities participate in the war, and to join together to creatively resist that participation: "We are ordinary people who have found a way to organize ourselves in resistance to this unjust war. We call on all people of goodwill to find their own methods of creative noncompliance. In so doing, we will be joining together to dissent from unlawful and unjust authority, which should be considered the essence of democracy. In this way we will act in the interests of the Iraqis, the soldiers, our children, and ourselves." Sandy Mayes is a longtime resident of Olympia and a member of OlyPMR. She can be reached at sandy@zhonka.net. 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