Minneapolis, MN – About 70 peace activists in the Twin Cities protested against the growing danger of a new U.S. military intervention in Syria, Aug. 28, at the Marshall Avenue-Lake Street bridge peace vigil.

Meredith Aby, of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, explained the reason for the action call: “News reports indicate that the U.S. is preparing a military intervention in Syria. Despite the majority of people in the U.S. being against new wars and interventions, the talk of military involvement in yet another war is growing. U.S. military intervention will not bring peace and justice to a people already devastated by war.”

Aby continued, “Today President Obama gave a speech commemorating the March on Washington, but in reality Martin Luther King Jr. would be with us – protesting war threats on Syria. Dr. King knew that U.S. military inventions do not help people at home or abroad.”

Marie Braun, of Women Against Military Madness, was the first speaker to the crowd of supporters. She said, “While the administration says they are not seeking regime change, we know that similar claims were made at the outset of the NATO intervention in Libya. And these so-called limited military actions have a habit of spiraling out of control with unexpected consequences that can lead to massive escalation. There is no military solution in Syria. Expanded U.S. military intervention in Syria will not lead to peace, justice or democracy for the Syrian people. It can only lead to greater civilian death toll, more refugees and further destabilization in the region.”

The Women Against Military Madness End War Committee and the Twin Cities Peace Campaign sponsor the weekly peace vigil. The call for the Aug. 28 vigil to speak out against a U.S. war in Syria was endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Veterans for Peace and others.

#Minneapolis #MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Syria #WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness #TwinCities #HandsOffSyria #USIntervention #MiddleEast

Many people first heard about plans for U.S. intervention in the African country of Mali during the third Presidential debate in October. Republican candidate Mitt Romney clumsily tried to speak about Mali’s recent turmoil.

On Dec. 20, 2012, those plans continued to move forward. The UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution calling for military invention in Mali. The resolution comes after nearly nine months of unrest in the landlocked West African country following a military coup d'état in Bamako, the capital.

For months, international human rights organizations warned about the human cost of military intervention in Mali. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in West Africa estimates that intervention will displace more than 300,000 Malians. Additionally, the 500,000 people living in northern Mali will face food insecurity, starvation and disease because of reduced access to aid.

While the UN resolution calls for an African-led military intervention under the guise of combating Islamist militants in the north, the actual architects of the intervention are the U.S. and France. The plan is meant to further U.S. plans for re-colonizing Africa. The U.S. is expanding AFRICOM, a U.S. regional command and military force. In 2001 the U.S. Central Command took over a large French military base located in Djibouti, and this became AFRICOM military headquarters in 2009. Djibouti is a small and very poor African state and former French colony, where a demi-brigade of the French Foreign Legion is still stationed today. As part of AFRICOM expansion, the U.S., with French help, is pressuring Algeria for military “basing rights”. This Algerian base will be used to launch attacks in Mali.

Mali is facing an internal rebellion in the north that began in January 2012. The roots of the rebellion in Mali lie in NATO's military assault on Libya in 2011. Under Qaddafi's government, Libya's tribes and ethnic minorities enjoyed relative autonomy and freedom. When NATO began its offensive against Libya, many of these ethnic minorities fought against the reactionary forces supported by the U.S., France and Britain.

One of the groups affected by NATO's assault in Libya was the Taureg people, who are a nomadic ethnic group located in Libya, Mali and other West African countries. Many Taureg militants fought to keep Libya independent of U.S. control, but left Libya once Gaddafi was brutalized and executed. After crossing through Niger and into Mali, they began fighting to demand greater power for their people and a Mali independent of U.S. or French dominance.

Shortly after the rebellion in Mali broke out, the Malian military overthrew President Amadou Toumani Touré in a coup d'état on March 21, 2012. Claiming that Touré was mismanaging the government response to the Taureg rebellion in the north, the military junta suspended the constitution and took control of the state.

Since that time, Islamist forces joined the conflict against the military junta. The most significant of these groups is Ansar Dine, an Islamist group based in northern Mali, and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The U.S. claims that military intervention is necessary to combat radical Islamist groups from taking control of Mali. In reality, the Malian government met directly with the two most significant rebel groups in the north on Dec. 4 to start a dialogue for resolving the crisis. Government officials met with Ansar Dine and the Taureg-led National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and formally agreed “on the respect for Mali's national unity and territorial integrity,” and “on the rejection of any form of extremism and terrorism,” according to the AFP. Delegates from the Malian government and the most important players are attempting to resolve the crisis internally, without U.S. and French-directed military intervention.

The U.S., France and Britain will train, supply and direct troops from Mali and neighboring African countries. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will spearhead the intervention. ECOWAS is chaired by Côte d'Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara, a puppet of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In March 2011, the French military launched an offensive against Côte d'Ivoire to remove then-President Laurent Gbagbo and install Ouattara as a puppet. The military intervention by ECOWAS will include significant forces from both Côte d'Ivoire and Libya, both with governments installed by France and the U.S.

The U.S., France and Britain increasingly intervene in Côte d'Ivoire, Libya, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan. Meanwhile, the U.S. looks to erect new military bases for their military forces of AFRICOM. Having lost some their foothold on the continent due to the national liberation movements of the 20th century, the U.S., France and Britain are deliberately working to recolonize Africa.

Military intervention in Mali does not receive the same coverage by the corporate media in the U.S. as aggression towards Iran and Syria. However, anti-war and international solidarity activists should stand resolutely against U.S. intervention in Mali's affairs, whether through AFRICOM or neighboring puppet governments.

U.S. Hands Off Mali!

#Mali #AntiwarMovement #Africa #USIntervention #AFRICOM

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by Jorge ‘Ka Oris’ Madlos, spokesperson for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Mindanao. U.S. troops are now fighting the New People’s Army. The New People’s Army, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting to free the Philippines from foreign domination and local exploiters.

US troops engaged in counter-guerrilla operations in Bukidnon

Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos

Spokesperson

National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Mindanao

November 2, 2009

The National Democratic Front (NDF)-Mindanao has received more information regarding the actual participation of US soldiers in combat operations in Mindanao. This time, the operations are not just in Basilan and Sulu, but in other areas of the island as well. According to confirmed reports, US military personnel have been playing an active role in combat operations against the NPA in the hinterlands of Bukidnon.

Four separate incidents were initially cited. Around mid-February and in early July, US soldiers were seen participating in combat operations in Quezon, Bukidnon. These troops, together with a unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), engaged an NPA unit in a firefight and committed fascist acts against the residents in the area. In April and again in September, US troops were also sighted with AFP soldiers in Valencia and Malaybalay asking local residents for possible NPA locations and even intimidating civilians in the area.

Aside from these reports, the NDF-Mindanao has also received similar information from reliable sources in South Cotabato, Central Mindanao and the Davao provinces.

The increasing participation of US troops in combat operations in Moro areas have become even more common. Last September, at least two US soldiers were killed in an armed attack against a convoy of US troops in Indangan, Sulu. Earlier that month, US troops in a knee-jerk reaction to a nearby grenade explosion fired their guns indiscriminately at the port of Jolo, Sulu, damaging dock facilities and a nearby mosque. Back in 2002, a US Army serviceman, Sgt. Reggie Lane, embedded among troops of the 18th IB, shot Buyong-buyong Isnijal, a farmer in Basilan whom a combined team of US and Filipino soldiers raided his house.

These reports increasingly expose the lies behind the template pronouncements of US officials denying the actual involvement of its troops in combat operations in Mindanao. They provide further evidence that US troops belonging to the Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF)-Philippines have been joining AFP units engaged in counterrevolutionary operations in the island.

Even as US and Philippine officials are quick to deny that US soldiers are engaged in combat operations, they do not deny that the US military has been actively involved in providing the AFP with combat and aerial intelligence as well as logistical support to AFP ground operations.

These incidents point clearly to increasing US military intervention and fascist atrocities in league with local puppet troops.

The NDF-Mindanao will continue to expose incidents of US military involvement in actual combat operations in the country, especially against the revolutionary forces and the people. Local commands of the New People's Army in Bukidnon have been instructed to closely monitor the movements of US soldiers and their participation in counterrevolutionary and antipeople military activites.

The NDF-Mindanao supports the recent efforts by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the senate committee on foreign affairs to review the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). We, however, believe that these efforts must not simply lead to amending some vague provisions of the agreement. Instead, the NDF-Mindanao echoes the call of patriotic Filipinos nationwide for the abrogation of the VFA, the Military Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) and other one-sided military treaties.

It is these agreements that provide the framework for the US to permanently station its troops in the Philippines, engage in outright military intervention and wage war against the national democratic revolutionary movement in the country.

The NDF-Mindanao calls on the Filipino people to wage an allout, renewed, aggressive and sustained campaign against continuing US military intervention in the country.

We also urge the American people to demand the pullout of American troops permanently stationed in the Philippines and the cessation of US military interventionism in the country. We call on our Filipino compatriots in the US and other countries to help heighten public awareness in their host countries and internationally about US military intervention in the Philippines.

#Philippines #AntiwarMovement #USIntervention #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #NationalDemocraticFront #Asia

In response to the bombardment of South Ossetia, Russia intervened to defend a population from ethnic cleansing. The Russian forces easily repulsed the Georgian governments forces, giving them a beating. Despite the destruction and devastation brought upon the South Ossetians by the Georgian regime and their U.S. backers, the U.S. news media rushes to defend Georgia and condemn Russia. Nearly all U.S. press headlines claim “Russia attacked Georgia.” Likewise, U.S. corporate media repeatedly claims the Georgian leader was “democratically elected,” even though the recent elections, orchestrated by the U.S., were condemned as a farce with widespread voting irregularities. When it comes to U.S. aggression overseas, the facts are turned upside down.

The timing of the attack by the Georgian President is cynical and calculated. While the world was assembled in the spirit of unity for the Olympic Games, Georgian President Saakashvili attempted to annex an autonomous region by force. Shortly before Saakashvili had promised an “Olympic truce.” He violated a peace agreement to not use force to resolve South Ossetia’s status. With U.S. support, Georgia rapidly multiplied its military over the past few years, increasing its defense budget 30 times over. The U.S. government is attempting to further weaken and isolate Russia, but found out it is dangerous to poke the bear.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, in the face of these war crimes, chants, “We are all Georgians.” The liberals in the media condemn President Bush for not doing enough to aid Georgia in its quest to slaughter the South Ossetian people, unbelievably equating his so-called lack of response with the criminal indifference displayed during Hurricane Katrina. President Bush meanwhile, airlifts 2000 Georgian soldiers, the third largest foreign fighting force in Iraq, to the battleground in South Ossetia.

The Georgian attack on South Ossetia could not go forward without the connivance of the Bush administration. Every rich oil magnate knows that Georgia is a vital transit route for energy, avoiding both Russia and Iran. Georgia is also part of Washington’s campaign to ‘contain Russia.’ Bush wants Georgia to become a NATO member. This recent conflict will be used to demonstrate the urgency of pushing Georgia into NATO.

However, the Bush White House miscalculated Russia’s tolerance for U.S. meddling in neighboring countries. Russia delivered the Bush government a setback.

The people of South Ossetia have been brutally attacked. They are a proud people with their own language, culture and history. The fact they are a small a national minority made them an target for those like Bush with plans for domination and empire. Progressive people around the world should unite in condemning the U.S.-backed Georgian attack and express their heartfelt solidarity with the people of South Ossetia The U.S. should stop provoking crisis and war on the borders of Russia. U.S. out now!

#Commentary #USIntervention #Georgia #Russia #Asia

Aristide states that U.S. envoys forced him to sign a 'resignation' letter, under the threat of bloodshed against the people of Haiti. Guy Philippe and other death squad members, convicted felons and murderers, have declared themselves to be Haiti's new government. No one should be confused about the nature of these 'rebels.' Their roots can be found in the Duvalierist regimes that terrorized Haiti from 1957 until 1986 and the CIA-tied military government that ruled in the early 1990s.

The blame for Haiti's current crisis must be placed squarely on the U.S. government, which has attempted to control Haiti's politics and economy for more than a century. The U.S. occupied Haiti militarily from 1915 to 1934 and supported the Duvalier dictatorships for decades. With the full backing of the U.S. government, Haiti's elite lined their pockets, while the majority sank deeper and deeper into poverty.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has a standard of living comparable to sub-Saharan Africa. Life expectancy is 52 years. Of every 1,000 children born, more than 100 died before their fifth birthday. Haiti has the worst AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean.

Rise of Aristide: Coup and Return

The Haitian people, desperately looking for something or someone to bring them out of the grinding poverty, found hope and inspiration in Jean Bertrand Aristide. A parish priest influenced by liberation theology, Aristide worked with the poorest of the poor. Loved by the Haitian people, he was elected president by a landslide in 1990. For the first time in recent history, Haitians believed that the government would represent them and that it would work to resolve the needs of the poor majority.

Aristide's call for populist economic programs set off alarms for the richest Haitians and in Washington D.C. Leading the charge against Aristide was Senator Jesse Helms, then the chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee; Roger Noriega, Helm's chief of staff and Otto Reich, a fanatically anti-Castro policy maker in the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Aristide's populist experiment in Haiti was not to be allowed by Washington. Guy Philippe and other members of FRAPH, a U.S.-backed death-squad, carried out a coup that killed between 3,000 and 5,000 Haitians just months after Aristide's election.

Aristide went into exile and worked to negotiate a return to power. In exchange for the U.S. government 'backing' Aristide's return in 1994, he was forced to agree to the presence of 20,000 U.S. troops in Haiti. Aristide was also mandated to implement a World Bank economic plan for Haiti that would privatize state industries, lower tariff barriers, dismantle the traditional agricultural sector and destroy food security. The World Bank and the U.S. forced Aristide to reverse all of the populist economic programs he had promised the people.

In spite of the growing discontent over the economic policies, Aristide continued to be wildly popular. In 2000, Aristide again ran for president and again won overwhelmingly. The U.S.-backed opposition refused to take their seats in parliament, though, claiming that the election was unfair.

Bush's War on Caribbean and Latin America

When George Bush came to power, he appointed Roger Noriega, mastermind of Jesse Helms' anti-Aristide policies, to the post of Under Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs. Citing the 'undemocratic' Haitian elections, the Bush government immediately cut off international funds promised to Haiti, forced Aristide to empty the national treasury to repay International Monetary Fund loans and (via the Republican party) poured money into the coffers of the opposition forces who had been ousted by Aristide in 1991 and in 1994. The country plunged into even greater levels of poverty and social crisis. Taking advantage of the discontent, a small group of right-wing 'rebels,' aided by the U.S., invaded from the Dominican Republic and demanded that Aristide step down. When he refused, the U.S. military stepped in.

The U.S. government's role in the coup in Haiti is yet another example of the return to the gunboat diplomacy that the U.S. is so well known for throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. George W. Bush has brought back the zealous right-wing policy makers of the old Reagan-Bush era. Otto Reich, Roger Noriega and their cronies see Latin America and the Caribbean as nothing more than the U.S.'s backyard – a source of cheap labor and environments ready for U.S. corporate exploitation. They will stop at nothing to ensure imperialist domination.

However, they have underestimated the ability of the people of Latin America to resist. A similar coup attempt in 2002 against Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected president of Venezuela, was unsuccessful due to the powerful resistance of the Venezuelan people.

The people of Latin America and the Caribbean will not kneel down to U.S. aggression. The Haitian people in particular have a proud history of resisting imperialism. Two hundred years ago, under the leadership of Toussaint, the Haitian people rebelled against French rule, destroyed slavery and established the world's first Black republic. In 1986, they brought down the dictatorship of the U.S.-backed 'Baby Doc' Duvalier. There is no doubt that they will continue to fight for a free Haiti, where the country's destiny is in the hands of the Haitian people.

Cherrene Horazuk is an expert in on Latin America and the former National Director of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES).

#News #Haiti #Aristide #USIntervention #Americas