Dahr Jamail at ECSU, Eastern CT State University, Reinventing Journalism in a Time of War pt 2

Talk Nation Radio for October 22, 2009
Dahr Jamail at ECSU, Eastern CT State University, Independent Journalism in a Time of War


This is part two of a two part show, page for part one is here

Special Thanks to Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, CT where this program was taped and also to: Prof. Helma De Vries, Political Science Dept., who coordinated the event, and the campus human rights group, as well as sponsor, Promoting Enduring Peace, PEP, a Connecticut based peace group. Video of this event here taped by ECSU audio visual dept.

TRT: 29:42
Produced by Dori Smith
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here
Or at Archive.org and see our new Talk Nation Radio collection, or at Radio4all.net

Journalist Dahr Jamail spoke at ECSU, Eastern Connecticut State University, in Willimantic, Connecticut before a crowd of several hundred students, professors, and members of the general public at an event marking the UN's International Day of Peace, September 21, 2009. The program was sponsored by Promoting Enduring Peace based in Connecticut and campus groups including the campus human rights group.

Last week we heard Dahr Jamail explain how the US Military has been deploying or redeploying tens of thousands of US soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan. In many cases they are on their 4th, 5th or even 6th deployment. He mentioned an incident involving a US soldier who killed five fellow soldiers. One month after his comments, on October 21, 2009, Associated Press writers Chelsea J. Carter and Rebecca Santana, published a story about the condition of the soldier arrested in the killing in the weeks prior to the shooting. The report is here in PDF format.

Carter and Santana wrote that Sgt John M. Russell, had been unraveling for nearly two weeks prior to the shooting, and staff at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Control Clinic, had called Military police on the morning of the shooting to say he was 'verbally noncompliant'. No one put him on 24 hour watch and staff at the clinic said there was no staff for that purpose. The Military Police did not arrest Russell that morning, and they ordered him returned to his unit instead.

You can learn more about the crisis for other soldiers on the 'treadmill' of war at Dahr Jamail's recent book, 'The Will to Resist, Soldiers who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghansitan' at his web site http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com or from the publisher, Haymarket Books. Dahr Jamail's previous book was, 'Beyond the Green Zone, Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq'.

Write to us at talknationradio@gmail.com
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David Rovics: News and History in Song

This week's Sprouts: David Rovics: News and History in Song


An interview with David Rovics about his writing and the meaning in his songs.
Produced by Dori Smith, Talk Nation Radio, Storrs, CT

Left KU Channel
Thursday, October 22, 2009 3PM EST
TRT: 28:47
Download after October 21 as broadcast quality .mp3 at Audioport.org or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

This week's program:
David Rovics is well known for powerful anti war songs like Operation Iraqi Liberation. We also focus on his songs about under-reported news stories and some of the lesser known figures in world history like Ginger Goodwin of British Columbia, who was killed for standing up for worker's rights.

David Rovics sings about the miners, revolutionaries, and farmers who shaped US and world history. We discuss several Rovics songs including, 'Guanajuato' from his new CD, Ten Thousand Miles Away. This recent song is about a Ciudad de Mexico man who lost his farm and his income after the passage of NAFTA, the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement. In this modern description of what has been happening to many people from Mexico, the farmer loses his life while trying to cross the desert into North America.

Other songs of David Rovics on this week's Sprouts include: Operation Iraqi Liberation, OIL, Saint Patrick Battalion, From Kabul to Khartoum, In the Name of God, John Brown, Berkshire Hills, Brad, Song for Eureka Stockade. These are from the new Rovics CD, Ten Thousand Miles Away, and also from an earlier album, Living in These Times.

Sprouts is a weekly program that features local radio production and stories from many radio stations and local media groups around the world. It is produced in collaboration with community radio stations and independent producers across the country.

The program is coordinated and distributed by Pacifica Radio and offered free of charge to all radio stations. For information, or if you would like to feature your work on Sprouts, contact Ursula Ruedenberg at ursula@pacifica.org.

David Rovics is currently touring the USAin performances with Ann Feeney. You can view a video of him performing with ALISTAIR HULETT here.

October/November 2009 and beyond here

Friday, October 30th, 8:30 pm
Trail Room in Templeton Student Center
Lewis & Clark College
Portland, OR

November 5th though December 18th: Tour of Denmark, Norway and Belgium
Details coming soon...

March 7-21: West coast tour with Danbert Nobacon of Chumbawamba

Late April through mid-May: Tour of England, Scotland and Wales with Attila the Stockbroker

Dahr Jamail Lecture at ECSU on Reinventing Journalism in a Time of War

Talk Nation Radio for October 14, 2009
Dahr Jamail Lecture at ECSU on Reinventing Journalism in a Time of War



Special Thanks to Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, CT where this program was taped and also to: Prof. Helma De Vries, Political Science Dept., who coordinated the event, and the campus human rights group, as well as sponsor, Promoting Enduring Peace, PEP, a Connecticut based peace group. Video of this event here taped by ECSU audio visual dept.

Produced by Dori Smith
TRT:29:51
Recorded September 21, 2009
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here and at Archive.org or Radio4all.net

Dahr Jamail spoke at Eastern Connecticut State University, [ECSU] in Willimantic, Connecticut before a crowd of several hundred students, professors, and members of the general public. The event September 21, 2009, marked the UN's International Day of Peace and was sponsored by Promoting Enduring Peace and campus groups. Link to video here.

You can learn more about Dahr Jamail's recent book, 'The Will to Resist, Soldiers who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan' at his web site dahr.org or at the publisher, Haymarket Books. Dahr Jamail's previous book was, 'Beyond the Green Zone, Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq'.

The US President, the Peace Prize, and War in the MidEast, Discussion with Francis A. Boyle and Norwegian Editor Rolleiv Solholm

Talk Nation Radio special 1 hour discussion on politics, human rights, and the environment.


Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 59:09
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

International Law and politics expert Francis A. Boyle, and Rolleiv Solholm, Chief Editor at The Norway Post, discuss prospects for peace in Palestine and assess the significance of President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.

Ad featured on the web site for The Norway Post. The Norway Post Chief Editor, The Norway Post, Rolleiv Solholm pointed out that U.S. President Barack Obama is highly popular world wide, and he read from the Nobel Committee's statement upon awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize. He also noted that members of the press who were on hand for the announcement burst into spontaneous applause. This was the first time he had seen this happen, he explained.

The small but symbolic Norwegian military presence in Afghanistan is described from a Norwegian journalist's perspective, and from the perspective of an international legal expert with experience in the Balkans and the Middle East. Norway has some 700 troops serving in Afghanistan.

First, Professor Francis A. Boyle, has served as counsel to the Provisional Government of the State of Palestine, and is counsel to Bosnia and Herzegovina and also represents two associations of citizens within Bosnia and has been instrumental in developing the indictment against Slobodan Milosevic for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He is attorney of record fo the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and has represented national and international bodies including the Blackfoot Nation of (Canada), the Nation of Hawaii, and the Lakota Nation, as well as numerous individual death penalty and human rights cases.

Professor Boyle's eleventh book is Breaking All the Rules: Palestine, Iraq, Iran and the Case for Impeachment was recently published by Clarity Press. Professor Boyle also combines scholarly work on the law, and legal representation for nations and peoples with work for human rights organizations like Amnesty International and peace groups like the American Friends Service Committee. He drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, signed into law by George W. Bush, and served as Legal Advisor in 1991 to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations.

Jeff Bartos of IVAW CT and Denisa Jashari, Trinity College Anti War Coalition

Talk Nation Radio for October 8, 2009
Jeff Bartos of IVAW CT and Denisa Jashari, Trinity College Anti War Coalition

US Veteran Jeff Bartos, IVAW CT describes G20 arrest, and state and national anti war activities. IVAW CT co founder Chris Grohs, who has worked as a media activist at WHUS FM 91.7 Radio for the People, at the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, Connecticut, discusses need to increase membership. These friends from high school who both deployed to Iraq are now working as activists trying to help end the US occupation and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Contact: connecticut@ivaw.org The national organization, Iraq Veterans Against the War is here.

Trinity College Senior Denisa Jashari discusses her organizing efforts and urges people to attend the Oct 17th Peace March in Boston. Plus how to help Veterans who Resist War, or who are in crisis in your communities. The GI rights hot line at 1-877-447-4487.



TRT: 29:45
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here and at Archive.org and Radio4all.net

Clip: On September 20th in Hartford Connecticut's Bushnell Park, Connecticut IVAW member Chris Grohs talked about his group's efforts as he introduced journalist Dahr Jamail, author of the 2009 book, The Will to Resist, Soldiers who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan: We will be hearing more of what Dahr Jamail had to say in Hartford, Storrs, Willimantic, and New Britain Connecticut, in upcoming shows.

You can learn more about Dahr Jamail's book, The Will to Resist, and an award he received from Connecticut Independent Media, at Willtoresistwar.blogspot.com

An Hour with David Swanson on Mobilizing for Peace and to Form a More Perfect Union

Talk Nation Radio Special
An Hour with David Swanson on Mobilizing for Peace and to Form a More Perfect Union

Topics: Insurance Agency Sit Ins, Health Care Reform, Drumbeats for War, and Who Decides about War? The G-20 protests,Activating toward Restoring the Constitution, Strengthening U.S. Congress, working through the House for Now, and more!

More Perfect Union


Produced by Dori Smith TRT:59:12 Download at Pacifica's Audioport or try Radio4all.net and Archive.org

Mp3PRO Formatted active link

David Swanson is author of the new book, Daybreak, Undoing the Imperial Presidency and forming a More Perfect Union, from Seven Stories Press. David Swanson is the co-founder of After Downing Street, a coalition that formed after discovery of key documents on the British role in planning and carrying out the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He is creator of ProsecuteBushCheney.org and Washington Director of Democrats.com, and a board member of Progressive Democrats for America. He was press secretary to Democratic Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich during his Presidential Campaign of 2004.

WhoDecidesAboutWar.org
Nogoodwar.org


Mobilization for Peace
Boston OCT 17th! New England Demonstrates Against the Wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan & Iraq

See also: Promoting Enduring Peace

prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh, Bethlehem, Al Mazen Center for Human Rights, Gaza

Talk Nation Radio for October 1, 2009

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh in Bethlehem, Al Mazen Center for Human Rights, Gaza


Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT
TRT:29:45
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here
And at Radio4all.net and Archive.org.

Prof. Mazin B. Qumsiyeh is author of, "Sharing the Land of Caanan, Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle". His soon to be released book is, "Hope and Empowerment: Civil Resistance in Palestine." We discuss Palestine, US President Barack Obama, the UN, the Goldstone Report, as Israeli war planes target Gaza's border with Egypt over three days time. Israelis predict more war between Israel and Gaza. Media conflicts over rockets from Gaza, Haaretz reporting Israel fired first.

Al Mazen Center for Human Rights in Gaza, describes the importance of the Goldstone Report. Her organization issued a Joint Report on Gaza with DCI, Defence for Children International, "Bearing the Brunt Again – Child Rights Violations during Operation Cast Lead." The comprehensive report is based on forty three case studies to illustrate the vast range of violations perpetrated by Israel, many of them deadly for children. Download PDF File of report: http://www.mezan.org/upload/9056.pdf

The Al Mezan Center and DCI endorse recommendations from Judge Goldstone's Mission including bringing Israel to the ICC, International Criminal Court should the Government of Israel fail to undertake timely independent and impartial investigations. South African Judge Richard Goldstone is the international law expert who prosecuted war crimes in Rwanda. Israeli leaders have hired an attorney to address any legal claims stemming from the his report on civilian casualties in Gaza during Israeli Operation Cast Lead.

As we talked about the report we read the headlines running across the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights web site: Three Israeli Air Raids on Gaza-Egypt Border, Israeli war planes launching missile attacks at Salah Ad-Din Gate south of Rafah Town, missile fired at Block G southwest of Rafah Refugee Camp, a tunnel bombarded in a raid with some casualties still inside, Israeli drone attacks at West Biet Lahiya Beach, two children injured by Israeli shelling at Al Mosadar Village, Middle Gaza District, a two storey house destroyed by Israeli artillery fire, twin boys injured as they dressed for school.

There were 43 case studies, confirming 353 children were killed during the aftermath of Israeli operation "Cast Lead." 116 of these children were killed in drone attacks, 66 of them died after Israeli forces obstructed medical access, and seven children were used as human shields by Israel with one child detained for ten days. Israeli attacks destroyed 18 schools, displacing 10,500 kids, and overall Israeli military actions resulting in the deaths of at least 623 children in the Gaza strip.

The Palestinian Authority Drops Support for Goldstone's Report, Pressure from Netanyahu AND Obama: [This report is not about Gaza leadership, or Hamas, and also does not claim that other agencies such as Al Mazen Center for Human Rights, Gaza, or DCI, have dropped calls to bring Israel to ICC.]

UPDATE: Last update - 23:47 01/10/2009
Source: Palestinians drop their endorsement of Goldstone's Gaza report By Barak Ravid and Natasha Mozgavaya, Haaretz Correspondents, 'The source added that the decision appears to be based on pressure from the Obama administration, exerted by way of U.S. representatives in Geneva, as well as through contacts between Washington and Ramallah'.

'Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated in recent days that efforts to use the Goldstone report to advance anti-Israel measures in the Human Rights Council or the International Tribunal in The Hague will deal a death blow to the peace process/.

David Rovics on the Music of Political and Economic Activism

Talk Nation Radio for September 24, 2009

David Rovics on the Music of Political and Economic Activism

(Photo, David Rovics, Dahr Jamail, Paul Blasenheim, 9-21-09 at Memorial Chapel after a concert there, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT) David Rovics is on an international tour, and he met up with Dahr Jamail briefly in Connecticut where they shared the stage at Wesleyan University. Prior to his arrival we spoke with Rovics by phone to discuss his tour and the significance of sharing a stage with Dahr Jamail.
First we hear a clip of Dahr Jamail answering our question at a press conference regarding the Obama administration's leak on the Afghan War. Jamail says that while there may seem to be discussion going on about Obama policy, and how badly things are going in Afghanistan, the plan is really set, and discussion now is more to get people to accept it.

We remastered the audio in this show on Sat. PM due to a sound imperfection. We hope this is better and we regret that the previous upload had problems. Please replace all posted files.


TRT: 29:36
Produced by Dori Smith, Talk Nation Radio studios
Download at Radio4all.net (Use remastered versions) and Archive.org

We hear portions of songs from David Rovics' new CD Ten Thousand Miles Away including, Falluja written in 2008, Brad, (for Brad Will, a journalist shot to death in Oaxaca City, October 27, 2006) and World of Broken Dreams.

Cindy Sheehan described David Rovics as 'our peace poet, and a troubadour of our time'. With his three year old daughter at his side, Rovics discusses his music, the things that are on his mind such as the inequities between rich and poor in the world, and the differences between American versus European political activism.

David Rovics has shared the stage regularly with leading intellectuals such as Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Billy Bragg, the Indigo Girls, Martin Sheen and Susan Sarandon. He has been called the musical voice of the progressive movement in the US and Democracy Now's Amy Goodman has called him "the musical version of Democracy Now!" His music is available for download free of charge at his web site http://www.davidrovics.com/

David Rovics returns to Connecticut September 30, 2009 for a concert at The Wrench in the Works, 861 Main Street, Willimantic, CT at 8PM. Then he heads to Pittsburgh for concerts at events held there during the G20talks.

contact Dori at talknationradio@gmail.com

Veteran for Peace Fred Louis, and Organizers for Dahr Jamail's Will to Resist War Tour of CT

Talk Nation Radio for September 17, 20090

Veteran for Peace Fred Louis, and Organizers for Dahr Jamail's Will to Resist War Tour of CT

Fred Louis shares some reactions to Dahr Jamail's report that American soldiers are avoiding combat patrol missions. He is a Vietnam Veteran working for Peace who says GIs did the same thing during the Vietnam War. See Veterans for Peace.


Listen to the broadcast here, please share!
TRT: 29:26
Produced by Dori Smith
Short audio clips for montage about Iraq and Afghan Wars: Democracy Now, NPR Morning Edition, sound from Pepperspray Production, Eyewitness In Iraq, Dahr Jamail an Unembedded Report
Download at Audioport.org Radio4all.net and Archive.org

Connecticut Plans Six Events:
Topics: Six CT Events mark UN International Day of Peace

Fred Louis served in Vietnam as a U.S. Army infantryman from February 1968 to February 1969, it was a year that forever changed the Central Connecticut resident. He continues to deal with the long term effects of the war on his life and on the lives of his family members and friends. Louis plans to attend the Hope Out Loud Peace and Arts Festival in Hartford's Bushnell Park, in Connecticut September 20th, where Dahr Jamail will deliver the keynote address at 2:30 PM. Event starts at 12 Noon through 5 PM near the Carousel.

Organizers of Dahr Jamail's Connecticut tour join us to talk about the importance of having this independent journalist in Connecticut. They also discuss an upcoming peace march in Boston October 17th, and new energy within the American peace movement that is mobilizing to bring US forces home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

We hear from, Eastern Connecticut State University Professor Helma De Vries, in the Political Science Dept. at ECSU. She describes her reasons for selecting Dahr Jamail as a speaker for a major campus event in Willimantic, CT at ECSU, the Student Center, Betty Tipton RM, 1PM, press conf. at 12:30.

Peace activist and organizer Chris Hutchinson, is a teacher and organizer with Connecticut United for Peace. He talks about how important the events in Connecticut are to students and peace activists and explains that on the CCSU campus in New Britain, CT., there is a free speech challenge underway.

Miriam Kurland, an Eastern Connecticut media activist and key person at the Wrench in the Works Collective in Willimantic, Connecticut where Dahr Jamail speaks on Sept. 19th talks about the importance of looking honestly at what is happening in Iraq and organizing. There will be a workshop at the Wrench in the Works, on national legislation to prevent the US Military from stripping soldiers of their benefits when they speak out against the war or refuse to deploy.

Organizations sponsoring Dahr Jamail's Connecticut Events include:
9-19 Wrench in the Works Event: The wider Wrench in the Works community and Talk Nation Radio, Joseph and Dori Smith
9-20 The Hope Out Loud Event: Connecticut United for Peace, West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice, Hope Out Loud, Socialist Action, CT, Manchester Peace Coalition, We Refuse to Be Enemies, National Lawyers Guild, CT, International Socialist Organization, CT, Middle East Crisis Committee, Connecticut Students Against the War, Endorsers: Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, TransAdvocacy, CT People of Faith.
9-20 The Dodd Center, University of Connecticut Event: WHUS FM 91.7, Talk Nation Radio, The Daily Campus, The UCONN Free Press
9-21 Eastern Connecticut State University Event: Promoting Enduring Peace.
9-21 Central Connecticut State University: Ad hoc group and Connecticut Students against the War
9-21 Dahr Jamail and David Rovics, Wesleyan University, Memorial Chapel, Wespeace at Wesleyan University and WESU FM 88.1

There are six educational and organizing events in Connecticut in all over the 19th, 20th and 21st, featuring Dahr Jamail, who will speak about what is really going on in Iraq and Afghanistan today, the impact of independent journalists, and how more than six years of war has impacted US soldiers who have been deployed and redeployed, regardless of their condition of health or their stated willingness to go.

DAHR JAMAIL Connecticut Will to Resist War Book Tour
The General Public is invited to all Six FREE Events from Sept. 19th 20th and 21st Click Here for further information.

Dahr Jamail: Obama Channels Bush on Promoting Afghan War

Talk Nation Radio for September 3, 2009 Dahr Jamail: Obama Channels Bush on Promoting Afghan War

Part one of a series:
Dahr Jamail's Will to Resist War Tour of Connecticut. September 19th, 20th, and 21st, Dahr Jamail will speak to students, veterans, and the general public at six locations in Connecticut. Despite promises of a more peaceful and diplomatic U.S. strategy, President Obama is moving ahead with strategies that will depend on the use of force. Bogged down in Iraq, the Military keeps escalating the war in Afghanistan. That despite an obvious lack of available personnel.



Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT
TRT: 29:39
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

Part two Dahr Jamail, Sept 10, 2009
Dahr Jamail on the Will to Resist within the US Military


Will to Resist War book tour Connecticut 2009!

On September 19th, 20th, and 21st, Dahr Jamail will speak to students, veterans, and the general public at six locations in Connecticut. He will be in Willimantic at the Wrench in the Works collective and Eastern Connecticut State University, in Storrs, at the University of Connecticut's Dodd Center, in Hartford at the Hope Out Loud festival, in New Britain at Central Connecticut State University, and in Middletown, at Wesleyan University where he will share the stage with singer/songwriter David Rovics.

Connecticut is Obama country, and support for the President continues, yet, peace activists here hope to also make it Dahr Jamail country.

They are concerned about civilian lives, money for war that could be used for social programs at home, but they are also heavily supported by US veterans groups with similar goals. Right now the US is sending even decorated war heroes to prison, detention at the dreaded Echo Platoon facility and others like it, for refusing to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Thousands of wounded soldiers are being deployed, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers are in tatters. Still they are being asked to serve a policy that is running in the background of the Obama White House like the rogue computer in the film War Games.

US and British commanders argue that US security interests are at stake, they point to the presence of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, as their argument for continuing the US Military policies enacted by former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. But veteran journalist Dahr Jamail explains that the real reasons for the war continue to be oil pipeline routes and U.S. corporate interests. Meanwhile, the lives of tens of thousands of US soldiers are at stake. As more and more of them refuse to deploy the Bush military policies of using threats and blackmail against them to force them to return to war are also continuing under President Obama.

Dahr Jamail: 'When we hear President Obama standing up there talking about using those superlatives that you just talked about, war on terror, and "the just war, and the preservation of western civilization depends on it, this kind of thing, he is really channeling George Bush. Because he is actually engaged in using the propaganda to conceal the fact that we have the same US agenda now as we did last year and the year before that and the six years before that and the twenty years before that. We are looking at the US empire project, and we are looking at the continuation of the same national security strategy, the same Quadrennial Defense Report, the same secretary of defense, and just all of the same high ranking echelons in the Pentagon that we had under Bush we have the same under Obama, and of course the same corporate interests at work today as we did last year and the year before that and a lot of the decades before that.

'So we look at a situation in Afghanistan where we have four major US Military bases located specifically along a proposed pipeline route, the same proposed pipeline route that brought the Taliban over to this country under the Bush administration for meetings, the same proposed pipeline route that the Clinton administration had engaged in talks with the Taliban about. And those obviously didn't work so we have to use war as politics and that's exactly what it is, so as a last resort of politics the US decides to invade and occupy the country to defend it's so called national security interests which are the shipping lanes, in this case the shipping pipeline lanes, for natural resources and control of those. And that's what this is all about'.

Find out more about Dahr Jamail's Connecticut Tour here

Contact the Center on Conscience and War, and the GI Rights Hotline

Contact us at talknationradio@gmail.com and look for us on Facebook and Twitter.

Dahr Jamail's 2008 book, Beyond the Green Zone, Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. Haymarket, An award-winning, unembedded journalist tells the hidden story of American soldiers turning against military occupation.

“Dahr Jamail’s human portrait of the men and women who turned away from the project of empire should serve as a beacon…The truth they tell demands that we find the courage to make our nation accountable for the crimes committed in our name.”
- From the Foreword by Chris Hedges

Dahr Jamail, author of Beyond the Green Zone, brings us inside the movement of military resistance to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2006, a majority in the United States have opposed the continued occupation of Iraq, and increasing skepticism surrounds the escalation in Afghanistan. But how do the soldiers who carry out the American occupations see their missions?

“Dahr Jamail’s Beyond the Green Zone is the response to the embedded, propagandistic corporate media empire that played a crucial role in making the invasion and occupation of Iraq possible and helps ensure its continuation. While the powerful media conglomerates embedded on the ground with the invading and occupying forces — and ideologically with the men running the war — Jamail embedded in the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah and Sadr City with the suffering people of Iraq and uncovered the horrors of this war of ‘liberation.’ With trademark bravery and a quiet and humble commitment to telling the stories of those forced to live on the other end of the barrel of the U.S. foreign policy machine gun, Jamail ensured that the history of the Iraq occupation would not be written exclusively by self-proclaimed victors and the powerful. Simply put, Dahr Jamail is the conscience of American war reporting, the quintessential un-embedded reporter.”
—Jeremy Scahill, New York Times best-selling author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (More about this book including where to purchase it here

Ridgely Fuller, US Weapons to Israel, Health Crisis for Gaza War Victims

Talk Nation Radio for August 26, 2009
Ridgely Fuller, US Weapons to Israel, Health Crisis for Gaza War Victims

Codepink member speaks out about DIME (dense inert metal explosive) weapons sold to Israel by US during the Bush administration's tenure in the White House. See also Democracy Now coverage of Dime here.


Codepink member Ridgely Fuller on TNR, see web site here

TRT:29:45
Produced by Dori Smith
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here and at Archive.org and Radio4all.net


Or (64 bitrate) Click and play: here

Ridgely Fuller is a social worker and Tufts' School of Law and Diplomacy graduate with a deep commitment to peace in the MidEast. She has used her skills to foster healing after Israeli air attacks left 5,000 Gazans wounded during the winter of 2009. She visited Israel and Palestine during 2002, again in 2003, and her latest visit was in June of 2009. She has also worked to foster understanding between US, Israeli, and American Jews and Palestinians, working to support regional woman's organizations and human rights groups in Israel and Palestine by participating in an international woman's march and other activities.

Click here to watch a video of Ridgely teaching a large group of Palestinian kids the Hokey Pokey online at Youtube.

Ridgely Fuller is touring the East Coast with a slide show on Palestine, and will visit Connecticut on September 14th to speak at the First Church of Christ in Mansfield. Her talk will begin at 7 PM. The well known church is located at 549 Storrs Rd. at the intersection of Routes 195 and 89. The event is sponsored by the Israel/Palestine Peace, Education and Action Group of Eastern Connecticut.

Topics for this week's program:

1. Israel has continued it's pressure on Palestinian fisherman, curtailing still more of the amount of farm land that can be used for food and market crops by shooting at farmers even before they cross an Israeli imposed boundary on Palestinian land.

2. Israel has been blocking efforts to complete a new hospital facility that would treat 5,000 civilians wounded during Israeli attacks this past winter. Brand new equipment such as a new MRI machine cannot be used because Israel refuses to allow an isotope part to be brought into Gaza.

3. Parts of Gaza still flattened from Israeli air strikes, otherwise some reconstruction efforts have taken place but most are still being blocked.

4. Importance of person to person diplomacy, US and Palestine.

Be sure to visit our new blog: http://willtoresistwar.blogspot.com/ where you will find a complete listing of events featuring journalist Dahr Jamail who has been a frequent guest on Talk Nation Radio. Dahr will speak in Willimantic at the Wrench in the Works collective, Sat. Sept 19, 2009, time to be announced, and at Hope Out Loud 8, Bushnell Park, Hartford, Sunday Sept 20th, UCONN, The University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT., then on Monday September 21, 2009 he will speak to students and the general public at ECSU, Eastern Connecticut State University, followed by a talk at CCSU, Central Connecticut State University and then Wesleyan University in Middletown. See blog for details and lists of sponsors.

Note: Singer/Songwriter David Rovics has been added to the program at Wesleyan University Monday September 21, 2009 at 8 PM in Middletown, Connecticut.

Join us next time as we hear about Dahr Jamail's new book: The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Monitor the blog for updates on events.

Afghanistan's Invisible History, Gould and Fitzgerald

Talk Nation Radio for August 20, 2009

Afghanistan's Invisible History, Gould and Fitzgerald
Part two of two, each stands alone



Authors of the book, 'Invisible History, Afghanistan's Untold Story'

TRT: 29:52 music fades 12 seconds
Produced by Dori Smith
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here: Or try Radio4all.net and Archive.org

Music by Fritz Heede

Topics include:
-The history of British and US imperialists who have long sought to dominate Afghansitan.
-What the Obama administration must and must not do.
-The cost of the Afghan war, could Afghansitan bankrupt America?
-How US foreign policy has strengthened the extremists and undermined social progress.

We turn once again to our discussion with Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald, the husband and wife writing team who were the only journalists to gain access to Afghanistan in 1981, after the Soviet invasion. They then co wrote the book, "Invisible History, Afghanistan's Untold Story." Their web site is: http://www.invisiblehistory.com.

As Afghans go to the polls, we consider the impact of US foreign and military policies on their country dating back to the 1970s. Their book delves into the history dating back to before the turn of the century, and reveals a budding democracy, woman's rights, up until US support for misogynist war lords like Gulbadin Heckmaytar, led to an increase in power for extremists.

Afghanistan is vital to the foreign policy interests of many nations. But the real history of the impact of British colonialism, and America's covert alliances with war lords and terrorists dating back to the 1970s and 1980s, is seldom discussed.

Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald offer their insights and warnings to President Barack Obama, and assess how US foreign policy is going. They also assess the role played by individuals with commitments to a form of mystical imperialism, with goals of dominating Afghanistan. They will not succeed, according to the authors.

If they befriended the Afghan people, took measures to re-stabilize their country, and build a strong Afghanistan, the US would insure stability and friendship in the region.

Syndicated with Pacifica Network

Articles of interest:
PBS Dares to Show Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan
A note from Dori

PBS finally offered solid coverage in the form of a video from Nima Elbagir of Independent TV News. The film, Afghan War takes toll on civilians, left Jim Lehrer speechless, so much so in fact that he neglected to remind viewers at the end of this clip that Elbagir provided it.

Right after the film which aired Friday August 21, 2009, during the Jim Lehrer News Hour, two more traditional talking heads rolled into place for 'discussion' of Afghanistan policy and health care in America.

It seemed to me that both David Brooks, the NY times columnist, and WA Post's Ruth Marcus, were also speechless for a few seconds after viewing the coverage from Mir Wais hospital, Kandahar. It didn't take these two professionals long though, they were soon jabbering away about this side v that side on policies as usual.

Now if we could only get PBS to sign a contract with Nima Elbagir so that she might be on all the time! That would be a great way to improve coverage in general. Her video showing the casualties of both the US operation in Afghanistan and the Taliban or Al Qaeda, helps us cut to the chase in our analysis of what is happening in this long suffering country.

Once we evaluate the way a US policy is unfolding in how it impacts human beings, both civilians and US soldiers, we understand that there must never be an argument made for war without first considering all other options.

When Gould and Fitzgerald spoke about the impact of empire builders on Afghanistan, they also centered much of their research on how the policies of Great Britain, America, Russia, and Pakistan, have played out on the ground for civilians. Their book, 'Invisible History, Afghanistan's Untold Story', helps us realize that Afghan society would have been far better off before the arrival of empire builders like Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Finally, before airing Nima Elbagir's clip, Jim Lehrer issued a warning to viewers that some of us might find the film disturbing. Indeed, and that is why we should all view it! I only hope people didn't switch the set to another channel at that point.

See also:

World Focus, August 18th operation Leslie Hilsum, ITN especially the portion of her clip where she offers the words of Colonel Grevill Bibby, British Army, explaining that he had arrived in Afghanistan on behalf of her royal highness the Queen of England. Just like the old days...

And, Afghanistan news, New York Times, elections