War resistance ignored

Starting with war resistance. Canada's Global TV reports, "Corey Glass, a former U.S. National Guardsman who deserted to Canada in 2006 to avoid serving in Iraq, was told today that his application to stay in Canada has been rejected supporters say. Michelle Robidoux, a spokesperson for the War Resisters Support Campaign, said Glass could be deported by June 12." Canadian Press notes: "Ottawa has decided that an American soldier who fled the army over the Iraq war will not face the risk of abuse or mistreatment if returned to the U.S. The means Corey Glass can now be deported to the United States, where he faces possible jail time for desertion."

On March 30, 2007, Corey Glass stood before Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board explaining he signed up for the National Guard in Indiana to assist with national disasters "on American soil." Iraq War veteran Glass self-checked out, went underground and moved to Canada in the fall of 2006. After self-checking out, Glass was underground for seven months before going to Canada and, during that time, the Army (which supposedly just waits for traffic violations to catch self-check outs) was visiting his parents, calling phone numbers trying to track him down. In October of 2006, Corey Glass, Justin Colby, Ryan Johnson and other war resisters in Canada were considering returning to US as a result of the way Darrell Anderson's discharge was resolved. However, once the military attempted to screw over Kyle Snyder, that changed. Glass told Brett Barrouqere (AP) at the start November 2006, "After what they did to him, I don't see anybody going back." Glass stated, "I knew the war was wrong before I went, but I was going to fulfil my end of the bargain, right or wrong and eventually my conscience just caught up with me. . . I felt horrible for being a part of it. If I could apologise to those people [Iraqis], every single on, I would."

Today at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre in Spadina, Glass spoke explaining, "What I saw in Iraq convinced me that the war is illegal and immoral. I could not in good conscience continue to take part in it. I came here because Canada did not join the Iraq War. Also I knew Canada had welcomed many Americans during the Vietnam War." Reuters notes, "If he is returned to the United States, Glass, of Fairmount, Indiana, could face jail time. He joined the National Guard in 2002" and they quote him stating of his work in military intel in Iraq, "Through this job I had access to lots of information about what was happening on the ground in Iraq. Through what I saw, I realized innocent people were being killed unjustly."



That's what the May 21st "Iraq snapshot" led with. May 21st. And where is Panhandle Media? The Queen of the Beggars, Amy Goodman, not only has refused to do a segment on it, she couldn't even include it as an item in headlines. Do you realize how long ago May 21st was? But Goody was 'going where the silences are' and, apparently, that now includes John Cusack's film career.



But it doesn't include war resisters.



You want to know when The Queen of the Beggars last interviewed a war resister who was resisting -- not someone who the military had tried and punished, someone who was resisting?

November 3, 2006.



Repeating, November 3, 2006. The Queen of the Beggars gets a lot of a mileage out of pretending she gives a damn about war resisters. She has that image. And she's not done a damn thing since 2006.



That's why, in the summer of 2007, she missed her chance to air the US exclusive story on the kill teams in Iraq. Those are US military teams who leave property lying around to tempt Iraqis into touching it. When they touch it, they are shot. James Burmeister was talking about that in the summer of 2007. James Burmeister, Iraq War veteran, US war resister, who moved to Canada.



Goody wasn't there.



She wasn't there to cover it. She never had time for Burmeister. His name has never been mentioned on the program. Not even when The Washington Post made the kill teams national news in the fall of 2007. Burmeister came back to the US, Goody wasn't there. He's at Fort Knox now, waiting to find out how the military plans to punish him and Goody's not interested.



Friday, war resister Ryan Jackson was sentenced to 100 days at Fort Gordon. You didn't hear about that from Panhandle Media, did you?



Eli Israel resisted the illegal war while serving in Iraq in the summer of 2007 and did so publicly. Where was the media?



Friday on CounterSpin, the kooks were tut-tutting the media silence on Winter Soldier and noting that Iraq Veterans Against the War were testifying to Congress in May and where was the mainstream media? Where was Panhandle Media. Memorial Day, Goodman usually re-airs one of her canned programs assuming no one is watching. She gave the hour -- on a least watched day -- finally to that story. May 26th.



Least watched day and late, late, late. The hearings took place on May 15th and they made that day's snapshot and the next day's and Monday the 19th's snapshot. They were also noted in the community in Trina's "Contentment in the Kitchen," Rebecca's "sergio korchergin speaks to congress," Betty's "A red day," Ruth's "Sgt. Adam Kokesh speaks to Congress," Kat's "Luis Montalvan," Marcia's "Vincent Emanuele testifies to Congress," Elaine's "IVAW's Vincent Emanuele testifies to Congress," Mike's "IVAW's James Gilligan speaks to Congress" and our "Editorial: The teachable moment." Outside the community, CSPAN, it was broadcast by KPFA (click here for KPFA's archived broadcast) and at Aaron Glantz' website The War Comes Home on the day of the hearing and Glantz and Aimee Allison anchored KPFA's coverage.



Eleven days later, Goody show ups to use them as filler on a day when even less are watching or listening to her show due to the holiday. And, pay attention to this, though she's eleven days late, she somehow forgets to include Matthis Chiroux. She's eleven days late and somehow misses Chiroux who made a public statement following the hearing?



What statement?



The Iraq Veterans Against the War member was discharged only to be informed he was being called back up. Here's what he declaredy publicly (text, video):

Good afternoon. My name is Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, and I served in the Army as a Photojournalist until being honorable discharged last summer after over four years of service in Afghanistan, Japan, Europe and the Phillipines. As an Army journalist whose job it was to collect and filter servicemember's stories, I heard many stomach-churning testimonies of the horrors and crimes taking place in Iraq. For fear of retaliation from the military, I failed to report these crimes, but never again will I allow fear to silence me. Never again will I fail to stand. In February, I received a letter from the Army ordering my return to active duty, for the purpose of mobilization for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Thanks in great part to the truths of war being fearlessly spoken by my fellow IVAW members, I stand before you today with the strength, clarity and resolve to declare to the military and the world that this Soldier will not be deploying to Iraq. This occupation is unconstitutional and illegal and I hereby lawfully refuse to participate as I will surely be a party to war crimes. Furthermore, deployment in support of illegal war violates all of my core values as a human being, but in keeping with those values, I choose to remain in the United States to defend myself from charges brought by the Army if they so wish to pursue them. I refuse to participate in the occupation of Iraq.



He did that on May 15th and, if you're wondering, his declaration was never the focus of a segment on Democracy Now! or even a headline. His name has never been mentioned by Goodman on her program. You want to keep pretending that Goodman's trying to end the illegal war and that she gives a damn about war resisters?



At the end of 2006, Goodman banked a $100,000 check from Peace Resister Katrina vanden Heuvel and she never thought twice, she didn't look back.



On what was Goodman's last profile on a war resister actively resisting, November 2006, she ended with this comment, "We'll continue to follow Kyle's case and see what happens to him next. Again, he was speaking to us from Louisville, Kentucky. He had turned himself in at Fort Knox and then went AWOL." Did she keep her word? She didn't interview any other war resister but did she keep her word regarding Kyle. The answer isn't "no," it's "hell no!" Kyle Snyder traveled around America. In November, he was volunteering with work rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He was also speaking out publicly. He went to the West Coast for an announced speaking tour. The military called the police who began showing up at scheduled stops. Goodman never told her audience that. He returned to Canada and Goodman never said a peep. As he was preparing to marry, he was pulled out of his home one morning by Canadian police on the orders of the US military -- pulled out in his bathrobe and underwear. Goodman never said a word.



She didn't say a word and she doesn't keep her word.



$100,000 buys a lot of silence.



There's a lot of buying and selling going on in Panhandle Media and no one's supposed to notice, everyone's supposed to pretend it's an "independent" media -- even when a Nation article refers to In These Times as "our sister publication." Really? James didn't start that magazine as a "sister publication" to anyone so it would be really interesting to hear The Nation -- which is infamous for its media consolidation chart of Real Media -- explain what "sister publication" means to their readers.



It's become one big circle-jerk and, when you hear the same take on show after show and read it in magazine after magazine, you need to grasp that inbreeding has occurred.



Big Media's always being sliced and diced by Panhandle Media over its conflicts of interest. There's nothing wrong with that if they apply the same standards to themselves, but they don't. Guests come in and no one's ever told, "We serve on ___ together." Katrina writes a blog post marveling over an organization and just happens to forget to inform readers she sits on the board of that organization.



They're inbred and it needs to stop before the senility is joined with genetic mutation. If there's any thought more frightening than Katrina vanden Heuvel, it's a two-headed Katrina vanden Heuvel.



Oh look, there's Ruth Conniff writing for . . . The Progressive and The Nation! And Barbara Ehrenreich doing both as well! And a lot of Open Society money being spread around that no one's ever supposed to talk about either.



This inbreeding destroyed the last good program Air America Radio had. That was Radio Nation with Laura Flanders which was great when it was just The Laura Flanders Show. But a six hour live program that mixed up things with various guests and reports was reduced down to a pre-taped one hour program (no more calls!) that did nothing but discuss that week's Nation magazine. A one hour infomercial for The Nation magazine. We honestly think Flanders has gone nuts and, in a way, we can't blame her after seeing her show destroyed and having to gush over Nation writers like she's a washed up TV actress gushing over the marvels of a tread mill or acne medication.



There's too many reach-arounds going down and not enough independence.



Five years ago, if one outlet was ignoring a story, you could go elsewhere. Today, Panhandle Media has become "57 Channels and there's nothing on."



The Canadian Parliament is supposed to finally debate the motion the NDP put together in December -- granting safe harbor to US war resisters in Canada. That action is supposed to take place Tuesday.



Canada's Liberal Party issued "Liberals Call on Government to Show Compassion for War Resisters" last Thursday:



The Liberal Opposition is calling on the Conservative government to support a motion that would allow conscientious objectors to apply for permanent resident status in Canada, said Liberal Citizenship and Immigration Critic Maurizio Bevilacqua.

"Five years ago, the Liberal government made a principled decision not to participate in a war that wasn't sanctioned by the United Nations (U.N.). We should not now punish individuals and their families for making the same decision based on their personal principles," said Mr. Bevilacqua.

The motion, which was passed by the Immigration Commmittee and is being debated in the House today, calls on the government to allow conscientious objectors, and their immediate family members, who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the U.N. and who do not have a criminal record to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada. The motion also stipulates that the government should not proceed with any action agains any war resister who currently faces deportation.

"The government has a choice: it is not compelled to force these people to go back to a country where they may face prosecution under military law, or may be permanently branded for making a principled decision," said Mr. Bevilacqua.

"Stephen Harper has indicated that, had he been Prime Minister in 2003, Canada would have participated in the Iraq war. I hope that the fact that Mr. Harper got it wrong at the time will not prevent him from showing compassion for those who made the right decision."



And still Panhandle Media's response is silence. Why hasn't the illegal war ended already? One reason is Panhandle Media doesn't even cover it.