The ProgBlog (News and views from the TÜBINGEN PROGRESSIVE AMERICANS)

Pazifismus-Tage in Tübingen

charlesy — 2006-12-11T10:25:00Z

10 Dec 2006, Peace Fest/ Peace Day, in Tübingen Landesteater LTT, http://www.kulturdesfriedens.de/ter.htm

Last night we had the Tübingen peace fest where Tü-Progressive Americans had an Infostand, representing our group as well as MCN (Military Counseling Network, http://www.getting-out.de/). The attendence was very good for a Sunday night. We were there talking to Germans, conveying our committment to peace, discussions focusing mainly on the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, handling powers to UN and Iraqis, reparations, and urging for the US government to abide international law.

The main program of the Fest consisted of various speeches with folk music interlude. During the second half, Penny introduced our group to the town folks, Michael Sharp gave an introduction of MCN to the audience, followed by Bob Evers, an ex-vet injured in Iraq. Bob gave a moving account on his realization of the illegality and immorality of this war, much attributed to witnessing the deaths of his friends in warzone Iraq. He endorsed that countries within the European Union, specifically Germany, should give asylum to American soldiers who in their conscience, refuse to deploy and committ themselves to the criminalities of this war. The German government (the Federal Administrative Court) had in September 2005, amongst dozens of other nations, officially denounced and declared the invasion as in violation of international law. If its actions are consistent with its accusation, then such policy should logically follow.

Iraq Study Group publishes its results...

NeckarAmis — 2006-12-06T08:30:00Z

The Iraq Study Group has just published its long-awaited report.

Iraqi Death Toll

NeckarAmis — 2006-10-16T07:44:00Z

Gus mentioned a new study shows that over 600,000 people have suffered violent death in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Read the study in the British journal Lancet (pdf file). It is a statistical study based on randomly-chosen clusters of interviews. There is less than a 2% chance that the number of dead is under 400,000. This is a much higher figure than official sources have reported.

Les Roberts, one of the co-authors, was interviewed on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman (mp3). He noted a change in U.S.-American media landscape. When their first study came out in the Lancet in 2004, the British prime minister was asked about it by reporters three times in the first week after publication. The American president was asked only 14 months later - and not by a reporter, but by a member of the public. Now, the new study had hardly been out for several hours when he was already asked about it by reporters.

President Bush dismissed the study, but at least he had to address it.

Mark