Psyche, Science, and Society

A Veteran’s Letter to the President: “I Return Enclosed the Symbols of My Years of Service”

Joseph W. DuRocher, a former naval officer and elected Florida Public Defender speaks for us all
[ from http://www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/Contributors/JD030806.htm]:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As a young man I was honored to serve our nation as a commissioned officer and helicopter pilot in the
U. S. Navy. Before me in WWII, my father defended the country spending two years in the Pacific aboard the U.S.S. Hornet (CV-14). We were patriots sworn “to protect and defend”. Today I conclude that you have dishonored our service and the Constitution and principles of our oath. My dad was buried with full military honors so I cannot act for him. But for myself, I return enclosed the symbols of my years of service: the shoulder boards of my rank and my Naval Aviator’s wings.

Until your administration, I believed it was inconceivable that the United States would ever initiate an aggressive and preemptive war against a country that posed no threat to us. Until your administration, I thought it was impossible for our nation to take hundreds of persons into custody without provable charges of any kind, and to “disappear” them into holes like Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram. Until your administration, in my wildest legal fantasy I could not imagine a U.S. Attorney General seeking to justify torture or a President first stating his intent to veto an anti-torture law, and then adding a “signing statement” that he intends to ignore such law as he sees fit. I do not want these things done in my name.

As a citizen, a patriot, a parent and grandparent, a lawyer and law teacher I am left with such a feeling of loss and helplessness. I think of myself as a good American and I ask myself what can I do when I see the face of evil? Illegal and immoral war, torture and confinement for life without trial have never been part of our Constitutional tradition. But my vote has become meaningless because I live in a safe district drawn by your political party. My congressman is unresponsive to my concerns because his time is filled with lobbyists’ largess. Protests are limited to your “free speech zones”, out of sight of the parade. Even speaking openly is to risk being labeled un-American, pro-terrorist or anti-troops. And I am a disciplined pacifist, so any violent act is out of the question.

Nevertheless, to remain silent is to let you think I approve or support your actions. I do not. So, I am saddened to give up my wings and bars. They were hard won and my parents and wife were as proud as I was when I earned them over forty years ago. But I hate the torture and death you have caused more than I value their symbolism. Giving them up makes me cry for my beloved country.

Joseph W. DuRocher

Mr. DuRocher can be reached at PDJWD@aol.com.

March 17th, 2006

Abortion making immigration a necessity, GA pol explains

Frankness on one factor in the antiabortion fight [from http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/insider/stories/030606.html: Scroll 60% down]:

Democrats have been buzzing about comments made by state Sen. Nancy Schaefer (R-Turnerville) at a recent eggs-and-issues breakfast in Hart County. We quote from the Hartwell Sun newspaper: “Commenting on illegal immigration, Schaefer said 50 million abortions have been performed in this country, causing a shortage of cheap American labor. ‘We could have used those people,’ she said.”

March 17th, 2006

Statement by Iraqi expatriates on the Third Anniversary of the Occupation of Iraq

Gilbert Achcar has forwarded the following statement:

Statement by Iraqi expatriates on the Third Anniversary of the Occupation of Iraq
March 18, 2006

We the undersigned expatriate Iraqi workers, students, scientists, academics, writers, artists, professionals and business people, witnessing with horror the destruction of our people under an illegal foreign occupation, stand together with the peace movement throughout the world in commemorating three years of a brutal military occupation that has killed and maimed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, blighted the lives of an entire population and spoiled their environment, shattered our country’s physical infrastructure, its civic institutions and its life-support systems, assaulted our culture and desecrated sacred sanctuaries, violated people with deviant cruelty and racist intent, implanted mercenaries and death squads, and encouraged corruption and sedition that threaten us as a people.

We support the call for world-wide demonstrations on 18 March and the demand for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq, the dismantling of US bases, and an end to US domination of economic and social policies and its interference in domestic Iraqi affairs.

We believe that the occupation is the main cause of insecurity in Iraq, encouraging mistrust among Iraqis, and fomenting sectarian strife and ethnic conflict. The occupation has nurtured corruption and fostered gang crime, and it bears primary responsibility for the activities of murderous sectarian terrorists and criminals. The US occupation prevents Iraqis from overcoming the legacy of 35 years of corrupt and vicious dictatorship and of decades of sanctions and war. It promises nothing except more war of one kind or another for a generation to come. We do not believe that the occupation acts as an insurance against civil war, but that sectarian attacks and the threat of civil war are being used to prolong the occupation.

The Iraqi people have a legitimate inalienable right, under International Law, to resist the occupation. We call upon all Iraqi civil society and political activists, community and religious leaders to cease forthwith all meetings and communications with US, British and other occupation officials and military commanders in Iraq, and to pursue instead a national Iraqi dialogue that is inclusive of the genuine patriotic resistance. The United States must not be allowed to wage its war by proxy, and Iraqi security forces will only gain legitimacy if they break links with the US occupation and dedicate themselves to the service of the Iraqi people. We call upon officials in the new Iraqi military and police, together with civilian officials in government, local authorities, public institutions and state enterprises to end co-operation with US and British occupation forces and to boycott all US and British official personnel, except for withdrawal negotiations.

The objective must be to terminate the abnormal relationship between Iraq and the United States and to establish a healthy state–to-state relationship that is based on Iraqi sovereignty, independence, mutual respect and the principles of international legality.

Peaceful resistance, resistance by other means, and non-cooperation with occupation forces and officials must be a prelude for the new Iraqi Parliament to remove the fig leaf of legitimacy from the forces of occupation. Only then would the new state institutions and political process gain respect and acceptance. Iraqis want unity, peace and stability in order to rebuild their shattered lives and to pursue a national programme of reconstruction and development.

The American and British peoples and the whole world can help Iraq by exerting maximum pressure upon the US and British administrations to remove all their troops and bases, along with the forces of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” from Iraq; to acknowledge the injustice committed against the people of Iraq; and to help a unified democratic fully independent Iraq in a reconstruction effort.

Professor Abbas Alnasrawi, Vermont, USA
Professor Tareq Ismael, Alberta, Canada
Dr Scheherazade Hassan, Paris, France
Dr Sami Albanna, Bethesda, MD, USA
Dr Kamil Mahdi, Exeter, UK
Dr Mohammed Alwan, Boston, USA
Sami Ramadani, London, UK
Professor Kamal Majid, London, UK
Ghazi Sabir-Ali, Bath, UK
Dr Ahmed Al-Kawaz
Dr Haifa Jawad, Birmingham, UK
Ja’far al-Samarrai, Toronto, Canada
Sabah Jawad, London, UK
Hani Lazim, London, UK
Fenik Adham, London, UK
Mayada Akrawi, Geneva, Switzerland
Dr Ali Al-Assam, London, UK
Dr Nada Shabout, Texas, USA
Valerie Sabir-Ali, Bath, UK
Dr Nadje Al-Ali, Exeter, UK
Rashad Salim, London, UK
Zaid Albanna, San Francisco, CA, USA
Ali AlShahwani, New Zealand
Badia Albanna, Takoma Park, MD, USA
Nesreen Melek, Toronto, Canada
Mumtaz Kamala, UK
Nadhim Al-Qazzaz, UK
Dr Jennan Ismael, Sydney, Australia
Fay Mahdi, London, UK
Dr Adnan Aldaini, Exeter, UK

March 17th, 2006

Another Big Pharma/Biotech shill appointed to top FDA post

As the country prepares, or doesn’t, for the avian flu epidemic, Revere at Effect Size reminds us [FDA's little helper] that the Bush administration’s health policies are more about giveaways to crooks than about protecting the public health. He describes the Bioshield I and now II bills, that simply channel billions to incompetents to do things (like make 75 million doses of an anthrax vaccine) that we have no need for. With all the pressing public health needs that are completely unaddressed, these actions are simply criminal. Of course, they’d be criminal anyway. That’s probably why, as Revere points out, Joe (“I never met a worthless Bush policy I didn’t love”) Lieberman is such a fan.

No it turns out that one of the chief crooks, David Boyer, from the Pharma and biotech industry trade organization has been appointed the FDA’s Assistant Commissioner for Legislation. Heaven help us! The FDA certainly won’t.

March 17th, 2006