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Readings 2003

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  • Letters the Troops Have Sent Me... – Michael Moore
    I've received hundreds of letters from our troops in Iraq... What they are saying to me, often eloquently and in heart-wrenching words, is that they were lied to... MichaelMoore.com, December 19th, 2003

  • War, Peace and 9-11 – Americas.org
    Minneapolis' own Resource Center of the Americas – selected articles almost daily since September 11, 2001. AMERICAS.ORG

  • We Caught The Wrong Guy – William Rivers Pitt
    Saddam Hussein, former employee of the American federal government, was captured near a farmhouse in Tikrit in a raid performed by other employees of the American federal government. t r u t h o u t | 15 December 2003

  • The Logic of Withdrawal – Howard Zinn
    I am writing a speech for whichever candidate emerges as Democratic Party nominee for President. My supposition is that the nation is ready for an all-out challenge to the Bush Administration, for its war policy and its assault on the well-being of the American people. The Progressive, January 2004

  • War critics astonished as US hawk admits invasion was illegal – Oliver Burkeman and Julian Borger
    International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment yesterday after the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal. The Guardian, November 20, 2003

  • The Soldiers At My Front Door – John Dear
    Everyone in town--and the whole state--knows that I am against the occupation of Iraq, that I have called for the closing of Los Alamos, and that as a priest, I have been preaching, like the Pope, against the bombing of Baghdad... They wanted to put me in my place. CommonDreams.org, November 29, 2003

  • Paper left out voice of protesters – Phil Steger
    Unfortunately for all except Alliant Techsytems, the Star Tribune dismissed us as faceless, voiceless, "protesters." StarTribune Op-Ed, Published November 8, 2003

  • The Return of Anti-Semitism – Matthew Rothschild
    Anti-Semitism is back. Actually, it never went away. But the virulent strain that is now circulating throughout the world is unmatched since the days of the Holocaust. The Progressive, November 17, 2003

  • The Policies of War; Refocus the Mission – Newt Gingrich
    I strongly believe the Patriot Act was not created to be used in crimes unrelated to terrorism. Newt.org, November 18, 2003

  • Patriot Act's Supposed Justification is Gone – Peter Erlinder, Minneapolis Star Tribune
    The "lack of specific warnings" defense may justify a lack of action before the airliners hit the World Trade Center, but it can't explain away the lies that were told to Congress and the American people after Sept. 11 to justify the administration's war on civil liberties. truthout.org, May 22, 2002

  • Blueprint for a Mess – David Rieff, New York Times
    Historically, it is rare that a warm welcome is extended to an occupying military force for very long, unless, that is, the postwar goes very smoothly. And in Iraq, the postwar occupation has not gone smoothly. truthout, 01 November 2003

  • Molly Ivins, Hellraiser – Aria Seligmann, Eugene Weekly
    Molly Ivins, syndicated columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, good ol' Texas girl, witty political pundit, has a new book out. 'Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America,' outlines the underreported goings-on of the Bush administration, ultimately drawing the connections between public policy and people's lives. Alternet.org, October 24, 2003

  • A Fiction Shattered by America's Aggression – William Pfaff, International Herald Tribune
    More than nine months into the Iraq crisis, meetings between West Europeans and Americans of goodwill remain strained nondialogues in which most of the American participants find it hard to admit that the catastrophic loss of America's reputation abroad has anything to do with them. Common Dreams, Nov. 1, 2003

  • Get the U.S. Out, and the U.N. In – U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WVa)
    Senator Byrd delivered the following remarks in support of an amendment that he offered with Senators Kennedy and Leahy that would spur a greater international role in the political and economic reconstruction of Iraq and in the security efforts there. Sen. Byrd website, October 16, 2003

  • U.S. Rebuffs to Neighbors Should Raise Concerns – Barbara Crossette
    Ever since the epochal terrorist attacks on the United States two years ago, no two countries have been more important to American security than Canada and Mexico. The Atlantic Online, October 14, 2003

  • War on terror fuels small arms trade – Owen Bowcott and Richard Norton-Taylor
    The "war on terror" has weakened national arms controls and fuelled the proliferation of conventional weapons, a coalition of leading human rights charities warned yesterday. Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the International Network on Small Arms said that on average 500,000 people were killed each year by armed violence. The Guardian, October 10, 2003

  • He spoke the truth to power – John Higgins
    Edward Said, who died recently, lived as a true intellectual. He applied critical rigour not just to writing but also to the world, denouncing corruption, defending the weak and standing up for truth and justice. The Times Higher Education Supplement, 10 October 2003

  • Human Shield – Dan Hoyle
    In 1991 Antoinette McCormick was shipped to the Persian Gulf as a jet mechanic with the United States Navy. 12 years later she returned, but this time she was not in uniform and hers was a non-combat battalion. She was a "human shield." WireTap, September 8, 2003

  • Study Finds Direct Link Between Misinformation and Public Misconception – Program on International Policy Attitudes
    An in-depth analysis of a series of polls found 48% incorrectly believed that evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda have been found, 22% that weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, and 25% that world public opinion favored the US going to war with Iraq. Overall 60% had at least one of these three misperceptions. Fox viewers were more Likely to misperceive, PBS-NPR less likely. truthout.org, 02 October 2003

  • Visualize a Fair Election in 2004 – Greg Palast and Ina Howard
    The civil rights activists knew in detail what most Americans today have yet to learn: In the five months leading to the 2000 presidential election, political appointees working for Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his Secretary of State Katherine Harris ordered the removal of 57,700 voters from Florida’s vote registries. YES! Magazine, August 22, 2003

  • Let's Act Like Citizens, Not Consumers – Betsy Barnum
    Consumer power is a myth, and a very potent one, that not only doesn't work but actually distracts us from the only real power we have to address corporate rule and the degradation of our world. CommonDreams.org,September 29, 2003

  • The Challenges to Creating a New Democratic Majority – Steven Hill and Rob Richie
    A stable Democratic majority in the Congress or the Presidency is not likely to emerge anytime soon, and here's why: Because even if the demographics are shifting toward the Democratic side, structurally our 18th century winner-take-all political system will continue to favor conservatives and the Republican Party. Unless confronted by reformers, that structural bias trumps the shifting demographics. Alernet.org, September 25, 2003

  • Preventing Violence in Our Schools – University of Minnesota Extension Service
    The University of Minnesota Extension Service offers these resources to provide insights and strategies for working with teachers, students, community groups, and families as they react to the recent school shooting tragedy. Sept., 2003

  • The USA PATRIOT Act – Elecronic Privacy Information Center
    The clumsily-titled "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act, or USAPA) introduced a plethora of legislative changes which significantly increased the surveillance and investigative powers of law enforcement agencies in the United States. The Act did not, however, provide for the system of checks and balances that traditionally safeguards civil liberties in the face of such legislation. www.epic.org

  • Can you find the 87 Billion Dollars? – Ward Curtin
    If the dividend/capital gains and 2001 tax cuts for the richest 1% were immediately frozen, the nation would save $590 billion. That is enough to fund the $105 billion cost of occupying Iraq for five years, pay for the proposed $400 billion Medicare prescription drug plan, and pay down about $85 billion of the deficit. [Source: CSBA] Oklahoma Democratic Party, September 12, 2003

  • Telling kids to say 'no' to war – Marjorie Coeyman
    John Grant and Frank Corcoran are Vietnam vets with a message they long to bring into schools and share with a younger generation: Don't be sucked into believing in notions of war as glorious and patriotic. War is an evil to be avoided at all costs. The Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 16, 2003

  • How a Small Group of Dedicated People Might Actually Do Something – Doris "Granny D" Haddock
    Well, you've heard that wonderful Margaret Mead quote. Well, I think it's time we stopped repeating that quotation and came to some agreement about what we happy few might do over the next five years or so. That is the purpose of my remarks today. August 27, 2003 by CommonDreams.org

  • The Names – Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins
    This poem was read during a special session of the U.S. Congress held in New York on Friday, September 6, 2002. The Poetry and Literature Center of the Library of Congress

  • Regain the Focus on the War on Terrorism – U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WVa)
    Our homeland security efforts are underfunded. The Department of Homeland Security is a bureaucratic catastrophe. The White House has prioritized tax cuts over protecting our airliners and securing our ports. Through carefully worded rhetoric, the Administration has morphed the image of America's most wanted man from Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein. http://byrd.senate.gov

  • Religion and Our World in Crisis – Speaking of Faith
    In this personal exchange between esteemed Rabbi Harold Schulweis and innovative Muslim scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl, the conversation didn't start in the predictable places, or end with the usual answers. Moderated by host Krista Tippett. Minnesota Public Radio, June 19, 2003

  • Prosecutors Are Urged To Press Congress – Dan Eggen
    Opponents of the Patriot Act are targeted. Washington Post, August 22, 2003

  • Six Minnesota ELCA Bishops issue statement on new Conceal and Carry Law
    As persons called to leadership we add our voices to the continuing legal and civil deliberation regarding Minnesota's recently enacted "Conceal and Carry" gun law. Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, June 23, 2003

  • August Marks Another Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Japan, the Ultimate Act of Terrorism – John Pilger
    231,920 people have now died, the latest, the children of 1945, from a plague of cancers. Common Dreams, August 15, 2003

  • No Peace Protesters Allowed in Fourth of July Parade – Matthew Rothschild, McCarthyism Watch
    This year, the Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace (BACP) requested to march in the parade. But Brainerd Community Action, the group sponsoring the parade, turned down the coalition's request after consulting with Brainerd City Attorney Tom Fitzpatrick. The parade organizers said they were worried about the safety of the protesters. The Progressive, August 13, 2003

  • We Stand Our Ground – William Rivers Pitt
    The author delivered the following comments as the keynote speaker at the Veterans for Peace National Convention in San Francisco. truthout.org, August 10, 2003

  • On Rising Above Fear to Make a Better World – Beverly Eckert
    This speech was delivered to Japanese Delegates of the 'Peace Boat', which included Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors, in Battery Park on Friday, August 8 before walking to the WTC site on August 8th, 2003. September Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows, August 8, 2003

  • Human shields face 12 years' jail for visiting Iraq – Suzanne Goldenberg
    Anti-war activists who visited Iraq before the US invasion have discovered that they could face up to 12 years in prison and $1m in fines. The Guardian

  • Liberia's Broken Promise – Noah Leavitt, FindLaw.com
    After 14 years of civil war, a rebel army composed primarily of teenagers with outdated rifles attacked Monrovia, Liberia's seaside capital. The fighting has killed hundreds of civilians, filled refugee camps and led to an outbreak of disease. It has also pushed hundreds of thousands of civilians into Monrovia, swelling the normal population of 1 million. AlterNet.org, July 25, 2003

  • Ballots Can Keep Bullets From Flying – Elizabeth Ready and John Moyers
    Would Bush listen any better if everyone who has attended a march pledged to vote in 2004? Or if, in addition, everyone who carried a sign, made a speech, sent an email, wrote a letter or lit a candle for peace committed to register one new American voter every month between now and the next presidential election? Would he get the message if a groundswell of new peace voters went to the polls in 2004 and showed how regime change can happen peacefully? TomPaine.com, Apr 15 2003

  • Congress Has Second Thoughts On Patriot Act – Katrin Dauenhauer
    Taking a clear stand against anti-privacy provisions in the Patriot Act, the U.S. House of Representatives in an overwhelmingly bipartisan effort last night agreed to an amendment that would bar federal law enforcement from carrying out secret "sneak and peek" searches without notifying the target of the warrant. Inter Press Service, Aternet.org, July 24, 2003

  • Goodbye, New World Order: Keep the Global Ideal Alive – Todd Gitlin
    Triumphant, feared, despised, shocking, and awesome -- in the flush of victory in Iraq, George W. Bush's America stands almost alone, a colossus astride the world, apparently vindicated in its righteous might and mighty righteousness. Mother Jones, July 14, 2003

  • Locking Up Nuns Makes Sense To None – Jim Spencer
    The sentencing guidelines call for three nuns, who have devoted their lives to promoting peace and nonviolence, to serve six to eight years in the penitentiary. Common Dreams, July 17, 2003

  • A Proud History of Women Advocating for Peace – Sarah V. Safstrom
    While the legacy of women's peace movements over the last century is inspiring, it is not well known or well documented. The NOW Times presents here a piece of that history. National Organization for Women (NOW) Times, Spring 2003

  • The Road to Coverup Is the Road to Ruin – U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd
    ...A strategy of striking first against possible dangers is heavily reliant upon interpretation of accurate and timely intelligence. If we are going to hit first, based on perceived dangers, the perceptions had better be accurate. If our intelligence is faulty, we may launch pre-emptive wars against countries that do not pose a real threat against us. Sen. Byrd website, June 24, 2003

  • Populism, Organization and Conviction: How Paul Wellstone Won Elections – Jeff Blodgett
    Today, the silence that Senator Paul Wellstone's progressive voice once filled is deafening. The plane crash that took his life in late October, 13 days before Election Day, was an agonizing tragedy on many levels. Wellstone Action!

  • An American Empire Built on Deception – Ellen Goodman
    ...Would the American people care if they'd been conned into conflict? I was haunted by a congressional aide who said the absence of the smoking guns of WMDs wouldn't ''sway public opinion much,'' because ''everyone loves to be on the winning side.'' Boston Globe, June 26, 2003

  • Is there anything left that matters? – Joan Chittister,OSB
    First, they said they wanted Bin Laden "dead or alive." But they didn't get him. So now they tell us that it doesn't matter. Our mission is greater than one man. Then they said they wanted Saddam Hussein, "dead or alive." He's apparently alive but we haven't got him yet, either. However, President Bush told reporters recently, "It doesn't matter. Our mission is greater than one man." ...Except that it does matter... National Catholic Reporter, May 27, 2003

  • The Truth Will Emerge – Senator Robert C. Byrd
    There is ample evidence that the horrific events of September 11 have been carefully manipulated to switch public focus from Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, who masterminded the September 11 attacks, to Saddam Hussein, who did not. The Nation, May 22, 2003

  • Missing Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Is Lying About The Reason For War An Impeachable Offense? – John W. Dean
    President George W. Bush has got a very serious problem... Now it is clear that many of his statements appear to be false. In the past, Bush's White House has been very good at sweeping ugly issues like this under the carpet, and out of sight. But it is not clear that they will be able to make the question of what happened to Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) go away - unless, perhaps, they start another war. FindLaw, on Truthout.org, 06 June 2003

  • Aid Agencies Make Faustian Bargains – Doug Merlino
    In Iraq, aid groups are in an uncomfortable spot: Not only are they cleaning up after a war they openly opposed, but they are also being compelled to do so under the supervision of the Pentagon, a position that would seem to jeopardize the independence of their operations. AlterNet.org, May 30, 2003

  • Rise of Conscientious Objection – Gabriel Packard, Inter Press Service
    Although only a handful of them have gone public, several hundred U.S. soldiers have applied for conscientious objector (CO) status since January, says a human rights group. Alternet.org, April 21, 2003

  • Acts of Hope – Challenging Empire on the World Stage – Rebecca Solnit
    "Who twenty years ago would have pictured a world without the USSR and with the Internet? ... who would have imagined that the Canadian government would give a huge swathe of the north back to its indigenous people, or that the imprisoned Nelson Mandela would become president of a free South Africa?" Activists do succeed ... eventually. Orion Online, May/June 2003

  • Winning Peace – produced by Big Picture, Small World
    A three and a half minute web program that connects globalization, terrorism, diversity, global trends, regional conflicts, local needs and personal options in the context of war and peace – in exciting ways that you will not forget.   Thanks to Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers


  • Democracy Unbalanced – Steven Hill and Rob Richie
    The war in Iraq revealed a disturbing weakness in our democracy. Regardless of one's views on the war, it's hard to defend how Congress avoided debate about the administration's dramatic shift toward pre-emptive warfare. Lack of democracy at home is a grave threat to our national well-being and future. Common Dreams, Published May 2, 2003, by the Baltimore Sun

  • Virtual Peacenik – Alex Markels
    In the immediate aftermath of September 11, to protest the president's demand for vengeance, 22-year-old Eli Pariser created an online petition, which urged "moderation and restraint." In what would prove a powerful lesson in online organizing, Pariser emailed the link to 30 friends. They did likewise, and so did their friends. Within two weeks, more than half a million people had signed the petition... Motherjones.com, May/June 2003 Issue

  • Are We Safer? – Stephen F. Cohen
    Critics of the war have no reason to regret their views. The real issue was and remains: Will the Iraq war increase America's national security, as the Bush Administration has always promised and now insists is already the case, or will it undermine and diminish our national security? We will learn the answer to that fateful question by judging developments by seven essential criteria...  The Nation, April 17, 2003

  • The last place we liberated – Jake Tapper
    The White House calls Afghanistan a success story. But the failure to commit needed resources has left it a chaotic, increasingly dangerous country where violent warlords run amok. Are we going to repeat our mistake in Iraq? (Click on Free Day Pass to read the whole article.) Salon.com, April 10, 2003

  • Peace in the Eye of the Storm, or Why the Anti-War Movement Did Not Fail – Ibrahim Ramey
    As the cruise missiles and bombs fall on Basrah and Baghdad, some cynics and skeptics are pronouncing the death of the peace movement (along with the virtual demise of the UN as a relevant institution). They – the war hawks, the unilateralists,and the supporters of Mr. Bush, say that we have failed. Here are a few reasons why we have not... The Fellowship of Reconciliation, 3/03

  • Working Class Women as War Heroes – Farai Chideya, AlterNet
    Private Jessica Lynch and Shoshana N. Johnson, both of these female war heroes come from hometowns fighting their own battles, economic ones. Joining the military is both a first choice and a last resort. AlterNet's Iraq Coverage, April 4, 2003

  • The USA Patriot Act and the US Department of Justice: Losing our Balances? – Professor Susan Herman
    Partly because of the most recent spate of anti-terrorism legislation, two out of three branches of the federal government are being left out of the loop in a growing number of circumstances. Read more about Patriot I. Jurist, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

  • Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War – October 21, 1950
    Everyone refers to it, but what is it? Is Iraq violating it? Is the US? University of Minnesota Human Rights Library

  • Statement by Sen. Wellstone Regarding Military Action Against Iraq – Wellstone website
    Remembering the voice that spoke out even when it was not political to do so. October 3, 2002

  • I'm losing patience with my neighbours, Mr Bush – Terry Jones, of Mony Python fame
    I'm really excited by George Bush's latest reason for bombing Iraq: he's running out of patience. And so am I! For some time now I've been really pissed off with Mr Johnson, who lives a couple of doors down the street... The Observer, 1/26/03

  • How To Take Back America – Thom Hartmann
    Marching in the streets is important work, but wouldn't we have greater success if we also took control of the United States government? It's vital to point out right-wing-slanted reporting in the corporate media, but isn't it also important to seize enough political power in Washington to enforce anti-trust laws to break up media monopolies? March 24, 2003, CommonDreams.org

  • The Case Against War And How We Can Convince Our Neighbors and Networks to Act – Phil Steger, Executive Director, Friends for a Non-Violent World
    Steger was the speaker at our first Peace Potluck in January. This is "a script-guide to make the most powerful case against war that we know how to make." Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers

  • A Letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush on the Eve of War
    So today is what you call "the moment of truth" . . . I'm glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn't sure if I could take much more. So I'm glad to hear that today is Truth Day, 'cause I got a few truths I would like to share with you. . . MichaelMoore.com, March 17, 2003

  • Corporate America Divvies Up The Post-Saddam Spoils – Arianna Huffington
    The war has already been won. The conquering heroes are not generals in fatigues but CEOs in suits, and the shock troops are not an advance guard of commandos but legions of lobbyists. Arianna Online, Filed March 19, 2003

  • Bush Wins: The Left’s Nightmare Scenario – Mark LeVine
    ...the war is over quickly with relatively low U.S. casualties...President Bush and his policies gain unprecedented power and prestige. From my recent conversations with organizers and their latest pronouncements, it is clear that this possibility has yet to be addressed. Waiting much longer could spell disaster for the antiwar movement. AlterNet.org, March 13, 2003

  • U.S. Diplomat John Brady Kiesling's Letter of Resignation
    A letter of resignation written by John Brady Kiesling, a member of Bush's Foreign Service Corps and Political Counselor to the American embassy in Greece. . . is quite possibly the most eloquent statement of dissent thus far put forth regarding the issue of Iraq. 2/27/03 on Truthout.org

  • A Citizen's Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States of America – Wendell Berry
    The new national security strategy published by the White House in September 2002, if carried out, would amount to a radical revision of the political character of our nation. . .
    Orion Online, March/April 2003

  • Desert Caution – Thomas E. Ricks
    Norman Schwarzkopf wants to give peace a chance. The general who commanded U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf War says he hasn't seen enough evidence to convince him that his old comrades Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Paul Wolfowitz are correct in moving toward a new war now. . . Washington Post, 1/28/03; Page C01

  • Confronting Empire – Arundhati Roy
    . . . The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling -- their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them. 1/27/03 at the World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil

  • Burying Uncomfortable News On Iraq – Michael Griffin, Media Studies, Macalester College, St. Paul
    The United States provided the government of Iraq with 'dual use' licensed materials which assisted in the development of Iraqi chemical, biological and missile-system programs. . . Posted 10/21/02 on Cursor.org

  • Are We Reaping What We Have Sown in Iraq? – Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WVa)
    In a recent hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee and in a pair of Senate speeches, Senator Byrd made the case that the United States provided the Iraqi government with the building blocks for its biological weapons program. . . September, 2002