Brian
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Post by Brian on Feb 6, 2021 0:00:28 GMT -8
Covid infection rates have been declining in Los Angeles County for the past few weeks yet the daily numbers of positive tests and hospitalizations are still much worse than they were in October. With good weather and the sun now setting at 5:28, there were a lot more people on the sidewalks during the first half hour of this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, many of them teenagers. After dark, foot and wheel traffic was light at the intersection of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue, as we've seen for months.
Eight regulars came to the corner this week. Somewhat miraculously, given all that I've been reading and hearing about the vaccine rollout in this county, six of those participants have obtained their first Covid vaccinations.
This doesn't happen every week but it's been going on for years: On Friday, a young family stopped to ask what wars our signs were referring to. We don't just advertise for peace -- we're there to remind people that U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Africa and elsewhere, now in a fourth presidential administration.
Since October 2011, we have printed and displayed every Defense Department news release announcing the deaths of soldiers, sailors and airmen in our many ongoing wars. The Pentagon reported no uniformed U.S. casualties in the previous seven days. |
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Roberta
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Vigil founding member
Posts: 1,027
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Post by Roberta on Feb 12, 2021 14:50:45 GMT -8
I managed to be civil and fairly cogent answering the query which Brian reported last week, and vowed to make a new sign for future vigils: What Wars??? and then list the countries. That is as far as I have gotten, so maybe for next week! Not finding a good online source for an authoritative, up-to-date list — any suggestions appreciated. Off the top of my head and from what I did find: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Niger, Sudan, Ethiopia.
“ This doesn't happen every week but it's been going on for years: On Friday, a young family stopped to ask what wars our signs were referring to. We don't just advertise for peace -- we're there to remind people that U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Africa and elsewhere, now in a fourth presidential administration.”
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Brian
Administrator
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Post by Brian on Feb 13, 2021 0:00:42 GMT -8
Traffic definitely picked up during this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil on both the streets and the sidewalks. While garnering lots of honks and waves from the vehicles, we were passed by more pedestrians than we've seen in months -- especially teenagers and dog walkers. All but a very few people were wearing masks. Nine vigil stalwarts participated this week. Jim's been arriving on the corner at 5 p.m., so we had another two-hour vigil. In the previous seven days, the Department of Defense reported no military deaths in Operation Freedom's Sentinel in Afghanistan, Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria or in any of the many other operations underway around the world. I managed to be civil and fairly cogent answering the query which Brian reported last week, and vowed to make a new sign for future vigils: What Wars??? and then list the countries. That is as far as I have gotten, so maybe for next week! Not finding a good online source for an authoritative, up-to-date list — any suggestions appreciated. Off the top of my head and from what I did find: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Niger, Sudan, Ethiopia. That's fantastic, Roberta! The best way that I can contribute to your list of countries was by going through the Pentagon's news releases that we've displayed to see where else uniformed American service members have died recently: - one soldier on January 20, 2021 in Kuwait, Operation Spartan Shield
- one soldier on February 13, 2020 in Djibouti, Operation Enduring Freedom-Horn of Africa
- one soldier on January 5, 2020 in Kenya, Operation Octave Shield
- one special ops sailor on May 5, 2017 in Somalia in "a Somali National Army-led operation with U.S. Africa Command"
I confirmed your inclusion of Niger -- there were four U.S. deaths there on the same day in October 2017 as "part of a joint U.S. and Nigerien train, advise and assist mission," not a named U.S. operation. As far as I could tell, all of the operations above are still active in those countries. I omitted a non-combat death in Kosovo last year because the soldier was part of a peacekeeping mission, Operation Joint Guardian. |
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Post by Sharon W on Feb 13, 2021 5:21:56 GMT -8
Thank you for gathering, organizing and sharing the facts about our endless wars. It's a shame news organizations don't do the same.
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Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,788
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Post by Brian on Feb 20, 2021 0:00:16 GMT -8
The impeachment was over last Saturday, but Jim's "Lock Trump Up" sign was more popular than ever, judging by the shouts, honks and waves that he got from the passing vehicles. Jim stood by himself for half an hour with his sign and large American flag before Anni and I got to the corner, so all of the reactions were for him alone. Twice he was asked by passing teenagers to pose for photos with them, a brand new phenomenon.
Nine people participated in this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil. Many thanks to Yoshio for driving all the way to Montrose to see us again.
For the fourth week in a row, the Pentagon reported no U.S. military casualties. |
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Post by peace now on Feb 26, 2021 17:17:50 GMT -8
www.newsweek.com/us-war-terror-nearly-half-world-three-years-1572189
U.S. 'War on Terror' Covered Nearly Half the World in Past 3 Years, This Map Shows Where
By Tom O'Connor On 2/25/21
"U.S. post-9/11 wars are now taking place in far more places than most Americans realize—at least 85 countries. That amounts to more than 43% of countries in the world."
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Feb 27, 2021 0:00:35 GMT -8
Thank you, peace now -- that's exactly the kind of information we're seeking to fill out our new "What Wars?" sign. Toward the end of this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, a man shouted from a passing car, "Biden bombed Syria!" Sadly, we knew that Biden had conducted the first military attack of his administration. And Syria was already on the "What Wars?" sign. We've stood on the corner every Friday for more than 15 years under four presidential administrations. Back in 2009, people stopped to ask us why we were still there after Obama took over from Bush. These wars go on -- and peace is not a partisan issue. Vigil attendance averaged one more peacenik per week compared to the previous two months: - Feb. 5 - 8
- Feb. 12 - 9
- Feb. 19 - 9
- Feb, 26 - 7
This month's weekly average rounds down to 8 participants, after averaging 7 in January and December, 8 in November, 10 in October, 9 in September, 11 in August, 10 in July, 14 in June, 10 in May and April, and 12 in March and February 2020 -- one dozen had been our average attendance for many years before the pandemic.
No U. S. military deaths were reported in the previous seven days.
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Brian
Administrator
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Post by Brian on Feb 28, 2021 0:00:12 GMT -8
That's the sign Roberta made as of February 26. The names of the countries are designed to be removed -- we've been asking four presidents for that -- or replaced by, God forbid, new venues for U.S. violence.
According to the new Costs of War report cited in peace now's post above, there are 12 nations where U.S. military forces were directly involved in combat operations or where special ops forces are allowed to lead operations from 2018 through 2020. Add to those named on the sign: Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Yemen, Cameroon and Tunisia, where U.S. troops had boots on the ground, plus Pakistan, where drones bombed people and places.
We may be done in Yemen in 2021. Check back next January.
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Post by peace now on Mar 4, 2021 0:44:25 GMT -8
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anni
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Administrating Designer
Posts: 1,606
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Post by anni on Mar 4, 2021 20:56:52 GMT -8
Thanks so much, peace now. What excellent resources! We've seen the Costs of War in the mainstream media, too.
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