May 3, 2009 - Downtown Los Angeles

This event was very intense. Speakers included:

• Rossana Cambron, a member of the San Gabriel Chapter of Military Families Speak Out, whose son is an active US service member completing a tour in Iraq


• Cole Miller is the Founding Director of No More Victims and co-creator and producer of an award-winning co-environmentally focused radio series, Isla Earth. He travels frequently to the Middle East, and manages the day-to-day operations of NMV


• Suhaila Nasir, co-founder of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund who lived through al Nakba, the partition of Palestine, the 1948 Palestine War and the beginning of the Palestinian refugee problem


• Patty Domay, a local citizen activist who works to oppose military recruiters in her neighborhood


• MC: Eisha Mason, Host of KPFK's Morning Review, Assoc. Regional Director, AFSC-Pacific SW Region


• POETRY: Vivien Sansour, a native of Palestine, poems will include: "Live From Gaza" and "A letter from an Israeli soldier to his mother."
  

Patty Domay spoke first about her conficts with military recruiters in the barrio in which she lives. These guys, she says, prey on the young, vulnerable, and idealistic youth already struggling for an identity in a culture that denigrates them. Patty is mother and friend to all the young people - and their families - in her neighborhood and fights for their lives as if they were her own children.

Rossana Cambron brought a reality to the event that shook many of us to the core: her beloved son was, that very day, deploying back to Iraq! This is his second tour of duty. His mother was eloquent in describing her anguish.

Suhaila Nasir, a Palestinian American, shared the history of her own mother who, in her search for a home after she was displaced from Beir Zeit, held 5 different passports in various stages of her life. I was elated to find that Sunhila is related to Violet, whose story is shared in my book, Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror, I visited Violet and her husband's home in Beirut and she shared the story of her displacement from Beir Zeit.

Vivien Sansour, also Palestinian American, shared her poetry. I"m not going to describe it here other than to say this poetry is a "must hear." I'll share it on Raising Sand Radio next week so be sure to listen in.

Cole Miller talked about the genesis of No More Victims, a project that brings seriously wounded Iraqi children to the US for reconstructive surgery.

Meanwhile, see pix at the blog photo gallery.

May 3, 2009 - Santa Monica Pier

Arlington West Memorial, a project of Veterans for Peace, offers visitors a graceful, visually and emotionally powerful, place for reflection. Every Sunday from sunrise to sunset, a temporary memorial is created on the beaches of Southern California just north of the world famous pier at Santa Monica, California. There is another such memorial at the Sterns Wharf in Santa Barbara.

Just this week six more US military personnel were killed in Iraq. In Santa Monica at Arlington West a sign displays this statistic as well as the overall number of US military personnel killed -- at least the number that is shared for public consumption.

Arlington West at Santa Monica Pier is a beautiful setting for such a stark demonstration of the effects of war. A visitor is struck by the sheer number of dead: each white cross represents one death. Recently a section of red crosses has been added: each red cross represents 10 deaths. The red segment is growing.

(What is not shared is the "body count" of dead Iraqi and Afghans in this war. These numbers are "unknown" although there are at least three studies conducted by reputable academic institutions presenting their finding. All are far above what our former president shrugged off as "about 30,000"....)

Veterans for Peace sponsors this project and many other groups help as, each Sunday, the area honors the dead by erecting all the crosses at dawn then taking them down at sunset. This has been going on faithfully for several years.

I added the names of Karen Meredith's son, Lt. Ken Ballard, Nadia McCaffrey's son, Patrick McCaffrey, and Mary Tillman's son, Pat Tillman. Each of these woman had to toil long and hard to learn the actual circumstances of their children's deaths. For Mary Tillman, the work took many bizarre turns as then Sec Def Rumsfeld lied about the circumstances to propagandize for the war. Mary wrote the book, Boots on the Ground at Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman. (See pix at the blog photo gallery.)

I also remembered the name of the captain of my son's unit who was killed by a new fangled IED in Iraq in September 2008. I did not share that name there as I'm not sure how his parents and family might feel about me, a stranger, sharing their beloved child's name at Arlington West. Nevertheless, that young man's name is seared on my memory as it is, I'm sure, seared onto my own child's memory.

May 2, 2009 - Coffee Strong

Coffee Strong is a GI supported coffee shop at the gates of US Army Base Ft. Lewis - one of the many small businesses lining the street that caters to military personnel. Surplus stores abound along this street along with banks offering loans to GIs. It was raining when we arrived ("we" being Karen Jones of CRP and Martina, a friend). Inside, several young men slept on a sofa or in arms chairs: they'd been hard at work during the night blockading a convoy of Strykers bound for Iraq. They managed to delay the convoy several hours. Nevertheless, right now, those Strykers are bound for that country where there is, in the lingo We The People are learning to adopt, "an uptick in violence." Those pesky Iraqis - don't they know that "we're pulling the troops out"?. I imagine the Iraqis saying, "those pesky Americans...don't they know that we're not falling for that propaganda?"

Go to Raising Sand Radio to listen to an audio segment from the presentations at Coffee Strong and Portland.

A word about Coffee Strong: this business is an example of the sorts of creative endeavors that troops are generating to support themselves and their fellow as they adjust to the reality of life after or on leave from combat and what it means to be a veteran. In some cases, customers are active duty personnel (a valid ID gets you a free cup of Americano!) others are resisters, IRR (Individual Ready Reserve) or discharged troops. Support the troops by supporting the ways they are creating alternatives to "business as usual"... you can stipend Coffee Strong with a small, regular donation each month and help them stay in business as they get on their collective feet. (See pix at the blog photo gallery.)

May 2, 2009

Pacific Northwest Rocks!

One more event in the Puget Sound area today... Coffee Strong, a GI supported coffee shop located in Lakewood right near the entrance to US Army base Ft. Lewis.
Last night I was in Tacoma at the 1st United Methodist Church where the people are so generous and warm-hearted. This church reaches out to residents in an area that is seeing its share of urban stress - misuse of drugs and alcohol, stressed families, for example - and they're doing it with heart, spirit, and an excellent understanding of how these stresses come about.

This afternoon I visit Coffee Strong, 15109 Union Ave SW #2, in Lakewood where I'll ask veterans to share their stories. It is the veterans and those directly affected by the combat zones who have the most to teach "us" - American citizens - about war. Too often, though, the response these vets get from the citizens is an implicit request for silence.

As one vet told me, “Most people on the streets don’t want to know what has to happen for them to have one of the highest living standards in the world… just like you don’t want to see the back room of the butcher shop….”
The troops are often a source of deep truth when they tell their stories of war and a real inspiration.

I'll be airing some of the audio from the various stops on Monday's Raising Sand Radio so listen it when you can. The website carries all shows for free download: www.raisingsandradio.org.

April 30, Seattle - Keystone Congregational Church

A lovely sunny spring day in Seattle and an audience of Seattle's concerned citizen-activists attended the book event at Keystone Congregational Church. (see pix)
Karen Jones spoke of Collateral Repair Project. "Wissam" - an Iraqi refugee and college student - shared the story of her family who had to flee to Damascus from Baghdad. She is their sole support.
Listen to her story on Raising Sand Radio for week of May 3.

Portland, April 29, 2009

We were at the First Unitarian Church of Portland, on 1011 SW 12th Avenue in downtown Portland. A lovely town....
Adele Kubein (her story is shared in the book) spoke about her daughter's service as an Oregon National Guardswoman.
Maxine Fookson, a pediatric nurse practitioner, spoke of her service with No More Victims and shared photos and story of Mustafa. Then 2 years old, he was critically wounded in the bombardment of Fallujah. He came to Portland for prosthetic leg, colostomy, and ended up losing a kidney too. He is back in his village now and his longterm prognosis is "unknown."
Dr. Omar Obeid spoke of the physical wounds he received with an assassination attempt that blew up his vehicle. His two daughters have also been killed and his third daughter is suffering from renal failure. For the time being, he is Portland and part of the Iraqi community there.
Dr. Baher Butti is a solid pillar of this community in Portland bringing vital psychological care to the community and working to bridge cultural misconceptions between diverse groups. He arrived in Portland from Iraq after death threats. His wife and daughter, Ula, joined him last month in Portland.
Thank you to Katie Heald of AFSC and Tess Beistel for their very hard work on this event. (Tess, by the way, was part of the Human Faces of War project that contacted me when I returned from Iraq. They subsequently showed variations of Anwar Jeward's story in art work. Thank you for that work, Tess.)
See pix from the event

Book Launch: San Francisco

April 27, 2009
The book, Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror is officially published as of today. The launch celebration, in Grace Cathedral's Gersham Hall, included Military Moms Rachel Avila and Mary Tillman and Afghan Americans Asma Eschen and Rahima Haya sharing their stories. Robert Abdul Hayy Darr brought Rumi's poetry and Jack Hirschman his poem, "Path." Rose Aguilar of KALW's Your Call radio and singer Kaylah Marin co-MC'd the event. Keep an ear out for Kaylah Marin - this young woman has a powerful and beautiful voice and you'll be hearing more from her in the future. She brought the audience together with Pete Seeger's 1960's anti-war song, "Where have all the Flowers Gone? Long Time Passing."

The event included Iraqi children's art, Liam Curry's "Soldier's Cross," Doug Minkler's posters, and Susan Galleymore's 3 sets of masks.
See the gallery for initial pix of the event - more to follow.

On to Portland where Maxine Fookson of No More Victims and Dr. Butti representing the Iraqi community of Portland will share their stories and Mona will share her music. Thanks to Tess Beistel for her hard work pulling this event together.