Tacoma SDS

A federal appeals court panel on Tuesday strongly backed the powers of the government to hold Guantánamo detainees and other noncitizens suspected of committing terrorist acts.

In a sweeping opinion, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the presidential war power to detain those suspected of terrorism is not limited even by international law of war.

The Obama administration supports extending three key provisions of the Patriot Act that are due to expire at the end of the year, the Justice Department told Congress in a letter made public Tuesday.

Lawmakers and civil rights groups had been pressing the Democratic administration to say whether it wants to preserve the post-Sept. 11 law's authority to access business records, as well as monitor so-called "lone wolf" terrorists and conduct roving wiretaps.

To mark the anniversary of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan and resist the recent escalation enacted by the Obama administration, people in Olympia will be holding a rally and march scheduled for October 7th @ 3:30 pm at Woodruff Park.

Act Now! To End the War in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Everywhere!

Rally and March

Oct. 7th Woodruff Park (on the corner of Harrison and Thomas on the Westside of Olympia)
Rally @ 3:30 pm
March @ 4:30 pm

This march and rally will be a peaceful, family-friendly event with speakers, music, food, and spoken-word.

All are welcome!

Sept. 14, 2009 - What is Obama's real plan for Afghanistan? Surely he sees all the signs of quagmire that we do. So why is this happening?

The key to Obama is that he often assumbles what he considers "best practices" into new packages he then tries to promote. The other key is that like any President, he wants to avoid the appearance of losing, even if escalating doesn't assure winning. So here is what he is doing:

A roadside bomb Tuesday killed two soldiers of a Fort Lewis Stryker brigade sent to southern Afghanistan to battle the Taliban, the Pentagon announced Sunday.

Pfc. Jonathan C. Yanney of Litchfield, Minn., and Spc. Troy O. Tom of Shiprock, N.M., became the first members of 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division killed since it deployed in June.

Human Rights Watch released a report yesterday that indicates hundreds of Iraqi gay men have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered since the beginning of 2009. The report claims that Iraqi authorities have not acted to stop militias that are actively targeting men suspected of engaging in homosexual conduct and may be complicit in some attacks.

U.S. out of Afghanistan Now!

On October 7 begins the ninth year of U.S.-sponsored war and ruin for the Afghan people. The Obama/NATO escalation has only escalated this great crime, while generals and government officials talk of sending still more troops, and of being in Afghanistan for many years, if not decades.

We say no! With tens of thousands of innocent Afghans already dead, no more! With nearly 1300 U.S.-NATO soldiers already dead, no more! Step up work to build the anti-war movement!

Demonstrate Saturday, October 17

Already, military operations in Afghanistan have turned public opinion against the United States and have unintentionally given legitimacy to the Taliban, who are now more able to benefit from their position as a symbol of resistance to US occupation. Since the invasion, the US has bombed a significant number of civilian targets, including an unprecedented number of weddings. In August 2008, the bombing of the village of Azizabad left ninety-one civilians dead, sixty of whom were children.

Seven soldiers dead in seven days. It is a grim statistic, but it is also the reality of British losses in the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Six of the seven died in operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw, in Helmand in the last week.

"We had been travelling on the front line with the troops from A Company, 2 Mercian, part of the Light Dragoon Battle Group.

This is a brutal, bloody struggle.

I didn't know what to do, I just stood there in shock. I just didn't have a clue where I was, it was just mad" -Trooper Martin Watson after being caught up in a bomb blast