Vigils in February 2024

[Brian]

I attribute a large share of the many honks we got at this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil to Zari and her "Ceasefire in Gaza" sign, often coming in a crescendo from all kinds of passenger vehicles, even city buses.  That's because she sometimes stood on the other end of the crosswalk, closer to the cars waiting for a green light on eastbound Honolulu Avenue or slowly passing, while the rest of us formed a solid contingent on the big patch of grass in the middle of the wide corner.

Eleven regulars participated on another chilly evening, which is one peacenik shy of our average attendance in January.  In order of appearance:  Roberta, Anni, me, Jeanne, Frannie, Zari, Jim, Catherine, Mike, Bruce and Nancy.

As a reminder, we stand on the northwest corner of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue near the Vietnam War memorial in Montrose, CA 91020 every Friday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. without regard to the weather or holidays -- we haven't missed a vigil since January 2006. Please stop by sometime if you can.

Since October 2011, we have printed and displayed every Defense Department news release announcing the deaths of soldiers, Marines, sailors and Airmen in our many ongoing military operations around the world.  About 2,500 troops remain in Iraq and 900 in Syria with countless more troops operating in Africa.  On Sunday, we learned that we had troops based in Jordan too when three soldiers were killed in a drone attack that also injured 40 others, a top story in the news all week.  We taped a large-type printout of the Pentagon's Monday announcement on the utility pole during the vigil:

www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3659496/dod-identifies-army-casualties/

[peace and justice]

Feb 3, 2024 0:00:10 GMT -8 Brian said:

Since October 2011, we have printed and displayed every Defense Department news release announcing the deaths of soldiers, Marines, sailors and Airmen in our many ongoing military operations around the world.  About 2,500 troops remain in Iraq and 900 in Syria with countless more troops operating in Africa.  On Sunday, we learned that we had troops based in Jordan too when three soldiers were killed in a drone attack that also injured 40 others, a top story in the news all week.

www.aaronmate.net/p/unlocked-biden-sacrifices-american

The US claims that its troops were hit on Jordan’s side of the border. Jordanian officials dispute that and say that the incident occurred in Syria, where the US maintains an unauthorized and unwelcome military force.

The joint US-Israeli strikes on Syria are complemented by a US military occupation in about 30% of Syrian territory against the explicit wishes of the Damascus government. The US claims that its “sole purpose” in Syria is to fight ISIS and prevent its resurgence. But as I reported in September 2021, the Pentagon’s own documents acknowledge that the US has barely done any fighting against ISIS. A Wall Street Journal report this past July obliquely noted the contradiction between the stated US mission to fight ISIS in Syria and the reality on the ground. The US, the Journal claimed, is “combating the remnants of Islamic State” in Syria. Yet despite this stated mission, US troops “are operating in the east, far from the northwest enclave where suspected ISIS and al Qaeda leaders have been operating.”

The Journal did not explain how the US could be fighting ISIS while operating far from their enclave, but US officials have answered the riddle. While ISIS may not be in the northeast Syrian region that the US occupies, a far more important US target is located there: Syria’s oil and wheat. As now-senior Biden Pentagon official Dana Stroul explained in 2019, occupying the “resource-rich” region of Syria's northeast -- which contains the country's “hydrocarbons” and is its “agricultural powerhouse” -- gives the U.S. government “broader leverage” to influence “a political outcome in Syria” in line with US dictates. Jennifer Cafarella of the Institute for the Study of War, a neoconservative Washington think tank, has likewise explained that the US military occupation gives it “direct influence over the vast majority of Syria’s most productive oil fields,” thereby controlling “Syrian national treasures that, when added up amount to brute geopolitical power for the US.”

[peace]

Feb 5, 2024 18:23:58 GMT -8 peace and justice said:

<abbr>h</abbr>ttps://www.aaronmate.net/p/unlocked-biden-sacrifices-american

link comes from www.moonofalabama.org

It recommends www.youtube.com/@militarysummary if you want to follow the war in Ukraine.  Updates twice a day, about 12:30 PM Pacific and about 12:30 AM.

Here is a video from a retired Special Forces soldier on Israel: www.mintpressnews.com/former-us-special-ops-greg-stoker-us-israeli-imperialism/286737/

[Brian]

I've too often relied on the word "chilly" in my vigil reports this winter, so I'm here to say that this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil felt downright cold to this old native Angeleno.  The temperature in the low 50's was much the same but a constant breeze from the east blew at me as I faced the vehicle traffic.  I felt better when I turned around, displaying my sign behind my back while enjoying warm conversations with fellow peaceniks and a few of the many friendly pedestrians.

Only nine regulars made it to the corner this week, our least attendance since November 24.  Anni and I stood by ourselves for the first half hour before Russell, Jim, Mike, Justeen, John and Jeanne arrived in quick order, with Frannie making a cameo appearance just before 7.

In the previous seven days, the Department of Defense reported no military deaths in Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria -- and maybe not in Jordan too, as our excellent guest poster above points out --nor in any of the other named U.S. operations underway around the world.

[Roberta]

Sorry to miss, traipsed around the hotel bar and dining room all day into the evening in our winter MPV shirt. Then a successful aurora hunt in multiple layers making -16(F) at 2a.m. bearable, sort of.

[peace in middle east]

US escalates conflict in Middle East that they claim to want to deter

www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/09/u-s-chooses-genocide-over-diplomacy-in-the-middle-east/

February 9, 2024
U.S. Chooses Genocide Over Diplomacy in the Middle East

by Medea Benjamin - Nicolas J. S. Davies

[Nancy]

I'm sorry I missed the vigil last week. I felt like such a creep when I read our administrator's post about it - leaving you in the cold - laterally! My tax appt ran into overtime and with administrative caca afterward, I ran out of time. I missed you all. Signing off with the thought of how so many people will remember love at the same time on Wednesday.

[Brian]

The temperature was ten degrees warmer at this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, which might account for the large numbers of pedestrians and more road traffic than last week.

And perhaps the excellent turnout too, 14 participants:  Anni, me, Dennis, Roberta, Zari, Ross, John the Realtor, Jeanne, Nancy, Bruce, Mike, Mary, Jim and Frannie, in order of appearance.  It was wonderful to see Ross on the corner again, all the way from Echo Park.  Ross was a founder of the vigil in Eagle Rock, which lasted from November 2002 until last April.

The Department of Defense reported no casualties in the previous seven days.

[Brian]

I hold a sign at an intersection every week to display a message of peace and to hang out with friends old and new, but the most rewarding interactions lately have been with randomly passing pedestrians, especially those who were not born when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 or were too young to remember anything that happened way back then.  A young man, I guess 14 years old, approached us early at this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil with something to say.  Noah had relatives still living in Syria and Lebanon, so he was anguished about what was happening to people in Gaza, who spoke Arabic like he and his family do and who just want to live in dignity.  He said he stopped to tell us that he appreciated seeing us on the corner with our signs.  Noah stayed awhile to talk about some of the problems and possible solutions with Roberta, Dennis and me.  He seemed impressed to learn that we've been demonstrating every week for 18 years!

The temperature was 70 degrees at vigil time, and foot and wheel traffic were bountiful.  We also had a good turnout of regulars -- in order of appearance:  Anni, me, Roberta, Dennis, Zari, Frannie, Jim, Russell, Justeen, Jeanne, Bruce and Nancy.  My weekly census summarized:

• Feb. 2 - 11
• Feb. 9 - 9
• Feb. 16 - 14
• Feb. 23 - 12

This month's weekly average rounds up to 12 participants, the same as January's, after averaging 13 in December, 11 in November and October, 9 in September and August, 11 in July and June, 12 in May, 13 in April, 12 in March and 10 in February 2023.

For the third week in a row, no U.S. casualties in named operations were reported by the Pentagon.