Joshua Harris, a California graduate student, is set to appear for arraignment at the U.S. District Court, 405 W. Congress Street, Tucson on Wednesday, February 3, to answer criminal charges following his arrest last November 15 during a protest of military involvement in torture and robotic warfare. He is on the docket for an 8:30 a.m. arraignment, along with other unrelated arraignments scheduled that day.
Harris, 33, is charged under Arizona law with trespass onto the U.S. Army's Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Arizona, and with refusing to provide a truthful name. His prosecution is proceeding in federal court in Tucson under the Assimilative Crimes Act (18 USC 13).
Harris is the only one among five people arrested during the November demonstration to be prosecuted. Four others were released within the hour after identifying themselves to military police and receiving a formal letter barring them from entering the base for one year.
Harris was released later that day, having identified himself after being cited for the offenses. He initially said he was there representing a victim of torture, and had only given that man's name.
Following is the statement explaining why the five were among 150 people protesting at Ft. Huachuca.
More information about the November demonstration can be found at:
US military plans to extradite stop-lossed Iraq war vet to Iraq for court martial over protest rap song
Veterans for Peace, IVAW, Courage To Resist and many others are encouraging us to support Marc immediately as he may be shipped out any day. Following are two posts about his situation.
Since December 11 an Iraq War veteran and rap musician named Marc Hall as been sitting in the Liberty, Georgia jail. Hall wrote an anti-war song when he was issued a "stop-loss" order after he had finished his tour in Iraq and returned home to his wife and kids and his music.
Under his hip-hop alias, Marc Watercus, Marc Hall sent his song to the Pentagon to protest the stop-loss policy. Hall told his military superiors he opposed stop-loss and the war in Iraq and that his song was a “free expression of how people feel about the Army and its stop-loss policy.” Hall's sergeant told him he actually liked the song and didn’t consider it to be seditious or a threat.
But Hall's base commander at Ft. Stewart had Hall arrested. He then contracted with civilian police authorities to imprison Hall until some future date when a court marshal might be convened. Then the Pentagon enhanced the charges against Hall by claiming that Hall's song had “communicated a threat” to his fellow soldiers.
Using stop-loss, the Pentagon has prevented 120,000 soldiers from leaving the military when their contract is up. Originally intended to prevent having to withdraw soldiers from the battlefield if their active duty contracts expired while they were engaged in combat, stop-loss has morphed into a ploy to force soldiers to remain in the military unwillingly to make up for low reenlistment numbers. Stop-loss orders generally hit soldiers who have come home and who, like Hall, have returned to their families and civilian life.
Attorney Jim Klimanski, a member of the National Lawyers Guild and the Military Law Task Force, has been following Hall’s case. Klimanski says that the military is grossly “overreacting” and that Hall’s musical protest is protected by the First Amendment.
Marc Hall and other stop-loss victims look at the unending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and believe that they are doomed to keep returning to battle until they are killed. Hall says his song is simply reflecting this attitude, a common one among troops who have been forced to serve multiple combat deployments in violation of their military contracts.
We can support Marc Hall and others like him who feel stop-loss is a travesty and violation of our basic liberties as Americans. Call your elected representatives and demand that Hall and other stop-loss protesters be released. Tell military age men and women tempted by promises of college funding and "signing bonuses" the truth. Let them know that they can be prevented from ever using their GI benefits by being stop-lossed to death. Make them aware that at the military’s whim they can be kept under fire virtually forever, just like Marc Hall and 120,000 other betrayed troops.
Selena Coppa's facebook page:
IVAW Press Release: Please Share!
Fort Stewart, Ga. – The US military plans to extradite a stop-lossed Iraq war veteran to Iraq “within a few days” to face a court martial for allegedly threatening military officers in a protest rap song he made.
Spc. Marc Hall has been jailed in the Liberty County Jail near Fort Stewart, Ga., since Dec. 11 because he wrote a song called “Stop Loss” about the practice of involuntarily extending military members’ contracts.
"It is our belief that the Army would violate its own regulations by deploying Marc and it would certainly violate his right to due process by making it far more difficult to get witnesses. It appears the Army doesn't believe it can get a conviction in a fair and public trial. We will do whatever we can to insure he remain in the United States," said Hall’s civilian attorney, David Gespass.
Gespass claims the Army's attempts to deploy Hall violate Army Regulations 600-8-105 and the Army's conscientious objector regulations. Hall applied for a conscientious objector discharge Monday. The military’s move would also separate Hall from both his civilian legal team and military defender.
"The Army seeks to disappear Marc and the politically charged issues involved here, including: the unfair stop-loss policy, the boundary of free speech and art by soldiers, and the continuing Iraq occupation. The actual charges are overblown if not frivolous, so I'm not surprised the Army wants to avoid having a public trial," explained Jeff Paterson, executive director of Courage to Resist.
An Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) member, Hall served 14 months in Iraq. He was scheduled to end his military contract on Feb. 27 but received a stop loss order that he would have to stay on active-duty to re-deploy to Iraq with his unit.
"Marc served his tour of duty to Iraq honorably,” said Brenda McElveen, Hall's mother. “To his dismay, he was told that he would be deployed again. When Marc voiced his concerns over this matter, his concerns fell on deaf ears. To let his frustration be known, Marc wrote and released the song. Marc is not now nor has he ever been violent."
Using stop loss orders, the US military has stopped about 185,000 soldiers from leaving the military since 2001. An additional 13,000 troops are now serving under stop-loss orders. President Obama said he thinks the practice should be stopped.
Hall, 34, was charged Dec. 17 with five specifications in violation of Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Conduct, including “wrongfully threatening acts of violence against members of his unit.” His arrest came about a month after 13 people were killed in a shooting incident at Fort Hood, Texas. Hall, whose hiphop name is Marc Watercus, mailed a copy of his “Stop Loss” song to the Pentagon.
Based at Fort Stewart, Hall said the song was a “free expression of how people feel about the Army and its stop-loss policy” not a threat. “My first sergeant said he actually liked the song and that he did not take it as a threat,” Hall added.
A South Carolina native, Hall wanted to leave the military to spend more time with his wife and child.
INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE: - Jason Hurd, IVAW Organizer, is in regular contact with Marc Hall. jehurd@gmail.com , 1-678-896-3821 - Brenda McElveen, Marc Hall's mother, 1-843-206-3439 - Chantelle Bateman, IVAW Field Organizing Team. chantellebateman@ivaw.org , 1-202-758-7818 - David Gespass, Hall’s civilian attorney, 1-205-323-5966 - Jeff Paterson, the founder and director of the soldier advocacy group Courage to Resist, jp@jeffpaterson.net , 1-415-279-9697 - LTC Eric Bloom in Iraq, US Army Public Affairs, eric.bloom@mnd-b.army.mil
It is also suggested that people call Ft. Stewart Public Affairs Chief Kevin Larson, (912) 435-9879 and say they are opposed to holding Marc's court martial in Iraq and that all charges against Marc be dropped. If you are a veteran, tell them so!!
This man was a refreshing beacon in my life. Every Zinn piece I ever read enlightened me. Whenever I saw him speak, in person or in a video, I was always moved to be a better person. Although his death is a great loss to the world, his life was a huge win for all of us. Thank you, Howard, for all of it. Now it's time for you to rest.
Courage to Resist's Jeff Paterson writes:
Professor Zinn never wavered in his support of the troops who refused to fight. Last year he shared:
“I would urge people to support Courage to Resist in whatever way they can. I can think of nothing more important in stopping the war in Iraq than for the soldiers themselves to refuse to fight. As a veteran myself I know how difficult it is to break out of the stranglehold the military has on one's mind, and how much courage that takes. Those who make such a decision need all the support we can give them, and Courage to Resist does just that.”
This is difficult to watch. Too many veterans of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan have seen too many variations of this. Some were intentional; some were accidental.
They were all wrong.
Now we add drones and huge numbers of mercenaries to the mix. It's bad enough that soldiers are misled by our leaders and end up doing unthinkable things, but killing for money adds an additional menacing sting to it. After the cold blooded slaughter of all these people, Blackwater's murderers got off on a technicality. Another little boy dies and our government keeps paying the mercenaries to go back and do it again.
Meanwhile . . .
The soldiers who refuse to participate any more are rewarded with prison and separation from their families. Our government locks up our veterans who have incurred an auspicious injury we should all welcome: the inability to kill innocent people. Our veterans are becoming our prisoners of war.
“Blackwater’s Youngest Victim” is a short film we made about the death of 9-year-old Ali Kinani at the hands of Blackwater forces. He was shot in his head during the 2007 Nisour Square massacre and is the youngest victim of that shooting. The film is based on my article by the same title in The Nation magazine. This video was produced with Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films and aired on Democracy Now!
Robin Long chose Canada rather than go to Iraq and kill innocent people. He was sentence to 15 months in a military prison. Rodney Watson also chose Canada when he was stop-lossed, rather than return to Iraq. He is now living in sanctuary in a church in British Columbia.See the interviewby Global TV.
I came across these two videos on a blog From the Wilderness. The videos sum up Obama's human rights efforts, good and bad, at the end of his first year in office. Both videos are interviews with Michael Ratner who is President of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York. He has taught at Yale Law School, lectured at Columbia Law School, and was President of the National Lawyers Guild.
Obama is asking for an additional $33 Billion so he can send another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. The simplest way to stop this madness is to get Congress to refuse to further fund the debacle. We need to contact our congressperson to:
"Demand that they stop funding illegal war and occupation. Don't let them tell you that they "support the troops," so they have to vote for the money. We know better than that. This money is to support war, and to line the pockets of the military/industrial complex and war profiteers, not to help the troops.
Ask your representative to co-sponsor HR 3699, a bill to prohibit any increase in the number of troops in Afghanistan. This bill is ONE sentence long:
"No funds appropriated or otherwise made available under any provision of law may be obligated or expended to increase the number of members of the United States Armed Forces serving in Afghanistan so that the number of members serving in Afghanistan exceeds the number so serving on the date of the enactment of this Act."
If HR 3699 were passed, it wouldn't matter if the defense budget was approved-it would be UNLAWFUL to spend any money on the escalation in Afghanistan.Congress needs to hear from us, and we have to make it clear that we are very serious in our demands to stop the wars and occupations. The only thing that will counter the power of the big money lobbyists, is the threat of losing their seat in Congress. Make it clear that you will not support anyone who votes for the money. This is an election year-we need to make sure that Congress feels like they need to please us, not big money."
January 21, 2010 Washington, DC: In a dramatic protest, 42 activists with Witness Against Torture were arrested this afternoon at the U.S. Capitol. The protest comes on the eve of the since-voided deadline President Obama had set for closing the prison camp at Guantanamo.
Those arrested on the Capitol steps held banners reading "Broken Promises, Broken Laws, Broken Lives." Inside the Capitol, 14 activists performed a "memorial service" for the three men whose deaths at Guantanamo in 2006 were initially reported as suicides and callously described as "acts of asymmetrical warfare" by military officials. New reports provide strong evidence that the men may have been tortured to death at a CIA secret prison in Guantanamo.
The ceremony brought the names of the men-- Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani-- into the Capitol Rotunda, where deceased presidents have lay in state. "We perform this ceremony to recognize the humanity of those whose lives have been broken by our government's policies of torture and indefinite detention," says Jerica Arents of Chicago, Illinois, one of those arrested in the Capitol.
Witness Against Torture has called for an immediate, independent investigation of the deaths, as it has called for the criminal investigation of all those who allegedly designed, executed, and carried out torture policies.
Most of the 42 arrested at the Capitol did not carry identification, taking instead the names of men at Guantanamo through arrest and processing. "Taking the name of Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif is a necessary and real way of bringing his story to Congress," says Joshua Brollier, a co-coordinator with Voices for Creative Nonviolence in Chicago, Illinois. "Adnan was tortured and continues to be held after eight years without charge or trial. It boggles the mind and breaks the heart. It's time for Congress and the Obama administration to make and fulfill a plan for his release." Brollier and others from Voices will continue in Washington through February 2, participating in the Peaceable Assembly Campaign to pressure Obama administration and Congress to explore alternatives to U.S. militarism.
The actions at the Capitol followed a march of "Guantanamo prisoners" dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods that began at the White House and stopped at the Supreme Court before going to Capitol grounds, home to the U.S. Congress. "Congress has played a horrible role in refusing to check the power of the president and in supporting torture," commented Matt Daloisio of New York City, a Witness Against Torture organizer. "But it was important to pass by all of the government institutions that have failed to uphold justice and protect the rule of law."
Members of Witness Against Torture began a Fast for Justice on Monday, January 11-- the date in 2002 when the first men were brought to Guantanamo under the Bush administration's "war on terror." One-hundred fifty people from around the country joined the 12 day fast, which will end on Friday, January 22, the promised day for Guantanamo's closure.
"We were so hopeful last year," says Christine Gaunt, a grandmother and third generation farmer from Grinnell, Iowa, who was arrested at the Capitol. "But Obama has broken his promise to close Guantanamo. I am acting today because I am horrified and ashamed that this illegal prison continues to exist, and that those responsible for torture have not been held to account. I am using my body to demand that my government stop the insanity of torture and illegal detention."
Witness Against Torture is a grassroots movement that came into being in December 2005 when 24 activists walked through Cuba to the Guantanamo base to condemn the prison camp and torture policies. Since then, it has engaged in public education, community outreach, and non-violent direct action.
"Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."
Dr. Martin Luther King, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize
We're bicycling from San Francisco to Washington, DC between 24-July and 22-Sept, 2010, without motorized support. Cynthia McKinney, six term Member of Congress and 2008 Green Party nominee for President, is riding. The ride will demonstrate the bicycle as a transformational tool to solve the problems of Climate Change, Oil Wars, the Health Crisis, and the Economic Crunch. Along the way, riders will facilitate community discussions around the question "How can we support each other to live true to our best values?"
Join Us!
Our route, schedule, and discussion group are open to anybody with a free Google account. Please join us. If you would like to bicycle all or part of the route, plan a convergence ride, or host riders passing through your community, please e-mail bike4peace@googlegroups.com.
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