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<font size=3><br><br>
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</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>September 19,
2005<br><br>
<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.CounterPunch.org<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=6 color="#990D00"><i>
The Case of the St. Patrick Four<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=6>Today, the Anti-War
Movement Goes on Trial<br><br>
</b>By LEIGH SAAVEDRA<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=3>"If you fall on the side that is
pro-George, and pro-war, you get your ass over to Iraq and take the place
of somebody who wants to come home. And if you fall on the side that is
against this war and against George Bush, stand up and speak out."
<br>
- Cindy Sheehan, mother of Casey Sheehan, a U.S. soldier killed in
Iraq<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=7 color="#990D00">T</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=3>oday, the rights of all peace activists go on
trial. Representing us are four Catholic antiwar activists who have
already stood trial for their stand against the invasion of Iraq. Now,
more than two years later, cleared of the original charge of criminal
mischief, they are being charged with conspiracy and will be tried
again.<br><br>
THE ACCUSED: Four Catholic workers from Ithaca, N.Y.<br><br>
Daniel Burns works in the film industry and traveled to Iraq in 2003 to
promote peace and reconciliation.<br><br>
Clare Grady has worked for 17 years as a kitchen coordinator at Loaves
and Fishes Community Kitchen, a ministry that feeds the hungry.<br><br>
Peter de Mott is a former marine who served in Vietnam, then joined the
Army and took a NATO post as a linguist. Peter, too, has traveled to Iraq
as part of a Christian peacemaker team.<br><br>
Teresa Grady is a dance instructor and founder of the Ithaca Catholic
Worker community with a long history of working with the
homeless.<br><br>
THE CRIME: On March 17, 2003, Dan, Clare, Peter, and Teresa entered a
military recruiting center in Lansing, N.Y., and poured a half cup of
their own blood around the vestibule. No one was prevented from entering
or leaving the recruiting center as they then knelt and read the
following statement:<br><br>
"Our apologies, dear friends, for the fracture of good order. As our
nation prepares to escalate the war on the people of Iraq by sending
hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers to invade, we pour our blood on
the walls of this military recruiting center. We mark this recruiting
office with our own blood to remind ourselves and others of the cost in
human life of our government's warmaking.<br><br>
"Killing is wrong. Preparations for killing are wrong. The work done
by the Pentagon with the connivance of this military recruiting station
ends with the shedding of blood, and God tells us to turn away from it.
Blood is the symbol of life. All life is holy. All people are created in
the image and likeness of God. All people are family, and everyone is
loved by God.<br><br>
"Dr. Martin Luther King reminds us that 'we are called to speak for
the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation, for those it
calls "enemy," for no document from human hands can make these
humans any less our brothers [and sisters].'<br><br>
"We come here today with pictures of Iraqi people mothers,
children, those who have been the victims of U.S. bombardment and
sanctions for the past 12 years. We also come here with love in our
hearts for the U.S. servicepeople, also victims of warmaking.<br><br>
"We find hope in these dark times when sisters and brothers around
the world resist the spirit of hatred and violence, lift up prayers for
peace together with works for peace.<br><br>
"The St. Patrick's Four"<br><br>
The following month the four were tried for criminal mischief. Nine of
the 12 jurors voted to acquit them, and after 20 hours of deliberation,
the judge declared a mistrial. At such declaration, the crowded courtroom
gave the four a standing ovation. The district attorney said that he
would not prosecute them again, expecting that another jury would yield
the same verdict.<br><br>
A year later, however, the U.S. government decided to retry the four
peace activists, this time on the more serious charges of conspiracy.
Technically, they are charged with conspiracy to impede "by force,
intimidation, and threat" an officer of the United States, and three
lesser charges. The trial begins Monday Sept. 19, and if the four are
convicted, the penalty could be up to six years in prison and $250,000 in
fines.<br><br>
This will be the first federal conspiracy trial arising out of civil
resistance to the invasion of Iraq. It will also be the first federal
conspiracy trial of antiwar protesters since Vietnam.<br><br>
When Dan, Clare, Peter, and Teresa cut themselves and drew their own
blood to make a powerful statement about the feared invasion, they were
not alone. A month earlier, throughout the world, primarily in Europe but
including such remote places as Antarctica, people appeared by the
millions to demand that no such war be started. The UN Security Council
had not sanctioned it, so that aside from the immorality of attacking a
sovereign country without the means to defend itself, the invasion was
illegal both through lack of UN approval and through the breaking of the
Nuremberg Principles, ratified by the U.S. in 1950.<br><br>
Since that day, much has happened. The people of the world, even in those
countries whose leaders side with George Bush, such as Britain and Italy,
remain staunchly against the invasion and occupation.<br><br>
I recently witnessed the popular response of people Bush considers
"allies." In May, in Italy, I noticed anti-Bush graffiti on the
walls of the narrow streets of Rome and Florence, some of it strongly
worded. While we were there, there was one demonstration against the
so-called war. An artist near the Uffizi got into a heated conversation
with me, though we were both on the same side.<br><br>
"At first," he said, "we just thought the people of your
country didn't know better. Bush wasn't that well known. But then, he
broke all the rules. He ignored the world and started a criminal war. We
thought he was through, but then he was reelected. WHY?"<br><br>
I couldn't answer, still can't. I also couldn't find an Italian who
supported the so-called war against Iraq.<br><br>
The great blind nationalism that props up support for what Bush did and
does is eroding now, according to all the polls. The initial reason for
attacking Iraq, to rid the country of its weapons of mass destruction,
was rendered null when it was discovered that Iraq had none. Further,
there have been strong indications that the planning of the war began
long before the attacks of 9/11, so that many now think that WMD was
never an issue, only a way to raise fears and, consequently, support for
war. The "evidence," it began to appear, was created to fulfill
the neocons' desire to conquer Iraq, whether for its oil or for a better
foothold in the Mideast or for the economic boon to a few who profit from
war.<br><br>
The erosion of support for the so-called war (I do not refer to the
invasion/occupation as a war, as Iraq had no real means of defending
itself) seems to be based primarily on costs in money and human lives.
Over $194 billion dollars have been spent, and we do not yet have the man
who was allegedly behind 9/11, Osama bin Laden. Many would question
whether the handful of true terrorists the U.S. has killed are worth that
much, an amount that could have fully funded global anti-hunger efforts
for eight years, or could have provided four-year scholarships at public
universities for almost 10 million students.<br><br>
Worse for many is the cost in human lives. Approximately 1,900 U.S.
soldiers have been lost in Iraq, in addition to 200 from other countries
that have sent token support. The number of Iraqi deaths, mostly
civilians, soars, estimated to be as high as 28,000 by some counts and
closer to 100,000 by other independent studies.<br><br>
This was the "war" that the St. Patrick's Four spilled their
own blood to try to stop. And now, with the war machine down in the polls
and the civil war in Iraq growing more violent and claiming more lives
each day, it appears that breaking the Nuremberg Principles is something
that will haunt the United States for years as we fight to regain a
measure of world respect.<br><br>
None of these points, none of the evidence that the war was based on
mistakes and lies, is allowed as part of the defense of the St. Patrick's
Four. Not in the coming trial. Further, the four are under a gag order,
unable to discuss their reasons for demonstrating their objections as
they did.<br><br>
To counter the gag order, a large support group for the four has been set
up in Binghamton, N.Y., where the trial will be held. I spoke with
William Meyer of the group today, and he hesitantly mentioned the number
200 for the number of people expected. A moment later, he added, "A
thousand is possible."<br><br>
For such numbers, citizens tribunals are set up as seminars on what is
happening in Iraq, the facts that the four are not allowed to mention.
These meetings and speeches will continue throughout at least the early
days of the trial, certainly throughout jury selection. Among the
moderators are James Petras, author and editor of over 60 books,
including the acclaimed Globalization Unmasked: Imperialism in the 21st
Century. Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst, and Ann Wright, who resigned
from the U.S. Foreign Service on March 19, 2003 to protest the invasion
of Iraq, will be involved in the tribunals.<br><br>
Because of this kind of persecution of those who don't conform to the
neocon notion of "patriotism," all of us who fight media
manipulation of news and the ongoing occupation are in danger. If four
ordinary parents are not allowed to make a somewhat graphic display of
their objections to the war, then how can we assume that to write of the
blundering mistakes and deceit of George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald
Rumsfeld is not an invitation for a knock on the door, an arrest, a
trial?<br><br>
My empirical bent does not allow me to be lax with conspiracy theories.
I'm not cut that way, nor are most of the writers I know. But if Clare
Grady, who has spent most of her adulthood working to feed the hungry is
not allowed to cut herself and mark a spot with her own blood, how can a
writer who regularly accuses George Bush of being a liar feel secure in
his or her freedom? What about someone who attends a march, such as the
one approaching on Sept. 24?<br><br>
How safe is dissent? As much as we care about four brave individuals who
did what they could to stop the invasion in 2003, we must go beyond them
and consider the thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, who wear antiwar
or anti-Bush tee-shirts, who attend rallies, who write letters to the
editor. Dare they keep their bumper stickers?<br><br>
The fact that these four pacifists are being tried again, even after the
war has been shown to most people's satisfaction to have been a mistake,
and worse, that they are not allowed to express their feelings or use the
illegality of the war in their defense throws open doors and windows that
even the most cynical weren't truly expecting two years ago.<br><br>
Whether our constitutional right to freedom of speech will live or not is
the point. What happens in Binghamton in the coming week or weeks will
probably be a barometer. If Daniel, Clare, Peter, and Teresa are found
guilty of conspiracy, then all those who vocally support them are
guilty.<br><br>
And if we are, then our worst fears about the so-called PATRIOT Act have
grown as real as a match held up to our Constitution.<br><br>
<br>
*****<br><br>
<br>
Further details about the accused and about the case can be found
</font><a href="http://www.stpatricksfour.org/index.php">
<font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#114E80">here</a></font>
<font face="Verdana" size=3>. Also at the site is a letter of support
that people may sign, and
</font><a href="http://www.stpatricksfour.org/contact.php">
<font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#114E80">contact
information</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=3> for those who want to
expose this event and show their objections not only to the invasion and
occupation of Iraq but also to the retrying of four people who attempted
to do their part in stopping the invasion of a sovereign
country.<br><br>
Please go to the Web site. Please sign the letter. And if you're near
Binghamton, N.Y., please consider attending the trial and lending your
support.<br><br>
<b>Leigh Saavedra</b> has written poetry, fiction, and political essays
for several years under the name Lisa Walsh Thomas. Her second book,
"</font><a href="http://www.whatIdidinthewar.com/">
<font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#114E80">The Girl with Yellow Flowers
in her Hair</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=3>," is a collection
of dissident<br>
articles. She can be reached at:
</font><a href="mailto:saavedra1979@yahoo.com">
<font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#114E80">saavedra1979@yahoo.com<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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