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the

vol. 22, no. 3, april 2008 http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

Earthday 2008

State of the Planet Report

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Welcome to . . .
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H ighlights
Our planet’s life support systems are not holding up well to destruc-
tive human activities. In honor of Earth Day, The PeaceWorker takes a
closer look at just how the planet is faring. See pages 16-17.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:
 In the Vietnam Era, the beginning of the end was when service members
turned their back on the war and the military. “Thoughts of an Ex-Marine
Officer Turned Peace Activist” updates that trend and “‘Winter Soldiers’
Demand Elimination of War” explores today’s soldier-activism.......4 & 10
 Is it just too expensive to cut carbon emissions by the 80%
required? “One-Third of Military Budget Could Cure U.S. Carbon
Addiction” says it’s possible and affordable... ............................. 21
 Remember nuclear weapons? They’re still a major threat to life on
earth, but we may be able to eliminate them. “Seize the Opportunity
to Abolish Nuclear Weapons” explains........................................... 25
Table of Contents
Live Links Below
Page One
Iraqi War Price Tag Tops $3 Trillion.......1
Iraq War Protest at Ports May 1............1
Opinion
Military Budget Threatens Survival........... 2
Warfare and Healthcare .......................... 3
Analysis
Thoughts of an Ex-Marine Officer............. 4
Real US Threat is Debt Crisis................... 8
How to Deal with the Democrats.............. 9
The Big Picture
“Winter Soldiers” Demand ..................... 10
Paying the Penalty for Nonviolence........ 11
Beltway Bulletin. ......................12-13
Letters to the Editor.....................15
Focus: Earthday 2008
Planetary Health Demands Action . ....... 16
Wars & Other Conflicts Cripple World.... 17
Brief-ings.........................................20
5% Solutions to Global Warming
1/3 Military Budget Could Cure US......... 21
Studies: Need Near Zero Carbon . ........ 22
Holy Shift! Baptists for Climate Change... 23
Blumenauer’s Bike Share Program........ 24
Smart Stuff
Climate of Fear: Global Warming........... 25
Seize Opportunity to Abolish Nucs......... 25
What’s Happening
Hold Abusive Military Accountable.......... 26
Progress: Halting Nuclear Development.... 27
State OPW News
Give Peace a Dance April 26...............28
5% Solution Project Surges Forward...28
Calendar . ...................................30-33
 peaceworker
the
vol. 22 no. 3, april. 20078 http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Iraq War Price Tag Tops Three Trillion Dollars
T
he Bush administration was wrong
about the benefits of the war and
it was wrong about the costs of
the war. The president and his advisers
expected a quick, inexpensive conflict.
Instead, we have a war that is costing more
than anyone could have imagined.
The cost of direct U.S. military
operations  not even including long-
term costs such as taking care of wounded
veterans  already exceeds the cost of
the 12-year war in Vietnam and is more
than double the cost of the Korean War.
Even in the best case scenario, these
costs are projected to be almost ten times
the cost of the first Gulf War, almost a
third more than the cost of the Vietnam
War, and twice that of the First World
War. The only war in our history which
cost more was the Second World War,
when 16.3 million U.S. troops fought in
a campaign lasting four years, at a total
cost (in 2007 dollars, after adjusting
for inflation) of about $5 trillion.
Iraq War Protest at Ports on May 1
According to the website of the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
(ILWU), nearly one hundred Longshore
Caucus delegates voted on February 8 to
support a resolution calling for an eight-hour
“stop-work” meeting during the day-shift on
Thursday, May 1 at ports in CA, OR and WA
to protest the war by calling for the immediate,
safe return of U.S. troops from Iraq.
“The Caucus has spoken on this
important issue and I’ve notified the
employers about our plans for ‘stop
work’ meetings on May 1,” said ILWU
International President Bob McEllrath.
Caucus delegates, including several
page 
By Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes
With virtually the entire armed forces
committed to fighting the Germans and
Japanese, the cost per troop (in today’s
dollars) was less than $100,000 in 2007
dollars. By contrast, the Iraq war is
costing upward of $400,000 per troop.
Public Has Not Felt the Cost
Most Americans have yet to feel these
costs. The price in blood has been paid by our
voluntary military and by hired contractors. The
price in treasure has, in a sense, been financed
entirely by borrowing. Taxes have not been
raised to pay for it  in fact, taxes on the rich
have actually fallen. Deficit spending gives
the illusion that the laws of economics can be
repealed, that we can have both guns and butter.
But of course the laws are not repealed. The
costs of the war are real even if they have been
deferred, possibly to another generation.
On the eve of war, there were
discussions of the likely costs. Larry
Lindsey, President Bush’s economic
adviser and head of the National
Economic Council, suggested that
military veterans, spoke passionately about
the importance of supporting the troops by
bringing them home safely and ending the
War in Iraq. Concerns were also raised about
the growing cost of the war that has threatened
funding for domestic needs, including
education and healthcare. The website refers
to Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph
Stiglitz and Harvard economist Linda J.
Bilmes, who recently estimated that the true
cost of the war in Iraq to American taxpayers
will exceed $3 trillion  a figure they
describe as “conservative.” [See above article.]
The union’s International Executive
Board recently endorsed Barack Obama,
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OPW’s Mission is to educate and
activate people to work for peace,
justice and environmental protection.
they might reach $200 billion. But this
estimate was dismissed as “baloney”
by the Defense Secretary, Donald
Rumsfeld. His deputy, Paul Wolfowitz,
suggested that postwar reconstruction
could pay for itself through increased
oil revenues. Mitch Daniels, the Office
of Management and Budget director,
and Secretary Rumsfeld estimated
the costs in the range of $50 to $60
billion, a portion of which they believed
would be financed by other countries.
(Adjusting for inflation, in 2007 dollars,
they were projecting costs of between
$57 and $69 billion.) The tone of the
entire administration was cavalier, as if
the sums involved were minimal.
Even Lindsey, after noting that the
war could cost $200 billion, went on to
say: “The successful prosecution of the
war would be good for the economy.” In
retrospect, Lindsey grossly underestimated
both the costs of the war itself and the
costs to the economy. Assuming that
Congress approves the rest of the $200
(Continued on page 6)
citing his opposition to the war in Iraq
as one of the key factors in the union’s
decision-making process.
Caucus delegates are democratically elected
representatives from every longshore local who
set policy for the Longshore Division.
ILWU International President
Robert McEllrath has written letters to
President John Sweeney of the AFL-
CIO and President Andy Stern of the
Change-to-Win Coalition, and to the
presidents of the International Transport
Workers Federation and the International
Dockworkers Council to inform them of
the ILWU’s plans for May 1. 
july/august 2007
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
COMMENTARY
Excessive Military Budget
Threatens Our Survival
E
ven though the U.S. already
spends more for its military
than the rest of the world’s
countries put together, all three leading
presidential candidates are calling for
increased military spending. April is the
month when the bill for this profligacy
comes due for U.S. taxpayers and it’s
also the month in which, since 1970, we
have observed Earth Day.
Survival Demands
Huge Changes
Continuing military spending at the
current level is literally likely to doom
life on the earth. This is not just rhetoric,
it’s the sad, but sober truth. Being a
fundamentally optimistic person, I’m
not usually inclined to engage in such
massive negativity, but we Americans
can’t keep ignoring this situation with a
sigh and a shake of the head. “Yes, but
what can I do?” just won’t cut it any more
if human survival is of interest to you.
Those are pretty flamboyant
statements, I can hear you thinking. How
can you justify them?
I was hoping you’d ask.
First, current military spending
endangers Americans more than it
protects them. More on that in a minute.
More importantly, the “opportunity cost”
of devoting so much of our wealth to the
military is that we then lack the money
to address genuine threats like global
warming, inadequate health care and the
other environmental threats mentioned in
my focus topic article on page 17.
The Opportunity Cost
The more I study the dangers posed
to humanity and other life forms on this
planet by global warming, the more aware
page 
Editor ’s Viewpoint
By Peter Bergel
I become that the situation is not just
urgent, it’s dire. We have very little time
to make enormous changes and if we fail
to make them, we are literally cooked.
The good news is that it really wouldn’t
take all that much money, compared to
the military budget, to address global
warming. A Scientific American article
lays out a plan for meeting about a third of
U.S. energy needs with solar technology.
The price tag is $420 billion between now
and 2050  a mere $10 billion per year.
That’s less than today’s fossil fuel subsidies.
As the article concludes, “The greatest
obstacle to implementing a renewable U.S.
energy system is not technology or money,
however. It is the lack of public awareness
that solar power is a practical alternative
— and one that can fuel transportation as
well.”
Still, as Gar Lipow notes in
“Eliminating fossil fuels is friggin’
cheap” on the Grist website, the Scientific
American timeline is too long, the
plan is not ambitious enough and it
has some other shortcomings (which
Lipow explains). Addressing these and
shortening the timeline by half (20
years), raises the price quite a bit 
to an estimated $3.4 trillion over 20
years. Nevertheless, even with Lipow’s
conservative assumptions, that amounts to
about $170 billion a year, or about a third
of the Pentagon’s annual budget (which
does not even count the cost of the Iraq
and Afghanistan occupations). Another
way to look at it is that the occupations
themselves are expected to cost pretty
close to that amount during the next year.
Where’s the Money
Come From?
We are probably all aware that our
economy is quite unstable right now. The
U.S. is the world’s largest debtor nation
and is running up huge trade deficits
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Photo: Frank Barnett
every month. Congress has allowed the
government to “borrow” the surplus from
an otherwise healthy Social Security
system in order to understate the size of its
annual budget deficits to the point where
retirement benefits duly earned by working
Americans are now at risk. The dollar has
been falling steadily in value. Family wage
jobs have been moved to other countries
by so-called “free trade” policies, while
irresponsible and greedy lending practices
are undermining the solvency of our
banking system. It’s not a good time to be
proposing additional federal spending.
On the other hand, global security
demands that we quickly make the kinds of
changes Lipow mentions. Today’s security
challenges are not the kind that can be met by
military action. Compared to the threats posed
by global warming and peak oil, international
terrorism is a minor inconvenience and the
occupation of Iraq is nothing but a distraction.
Conclusion: the money has to come
from the military budget. That money
was supposedly appropriated to make us
more secure. (Well, to be honest it was
appropriated in order to make the reelection
of members of Congress more secure, but
let’s not go there in this column.) If security
is the goal, then let’s focus on some real
security threats. Global warming is at the
top of that list and Lipow’s suggestions
begin to suggest what that kind of security
will cost. We can’t afford not to do it.
Cut the Military 
Improve Security
Additional good news is that cutting the
military budget substantially is likely to actually
improve our national and global security.
Suppose we cut the military budget
by two-thirds. One-third goes to dealing
with global warming a la Lipow, thereby
acting to secure our environment. The
other third goes to repaying the “loan” to
(Continued on page 7)
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Solomon’s Searchlight
Warfare and Healthcare
By Norman Solomon
I
t’s kind of logical -- in a pathological
way. A country that devotes a
vast array of resources to killing
capabilities will steadily undermine its
potential for healing. For social justice.
For healthcare as a human right.
Arriving at Spiritual Death
Martin Luther King Jr. described the
horrific trendline four decades ago: “A
nation that continues year after year to
spend more money on military defense
than on programs of social uplift is
approaching spiritual death.”
If a society keeps approaching spiritual
death, it’s apt to arrive. Here’s an indicator:
Nearly one in six Americans has no health
insurance, and tens of millions of others
are badly under-insured. Here’s another:
The United States, the world’s preeminent
warfare state, now spends about $2 billion
per day on military pursuits.
Gaining healthcare for all will require
overcoming the priorities of the warfare
state. That’s the genuine logic behind
the new “Healthcare NOT Warfare”
campaign, http://pdamerica.org/articles/
news/2008-03-05-12-05-43-news.php.
I remember the ferocious media debate
over the proper government role in healthcare
— 43 years ago. As the spring of 1965 got
underway, the bombast was splattering
across front pages and flying through
airwaves. Many commentators warned that
a proposal for a vast new program would
bring “socialism” and destroy the sanctity of
the free-enterprise system. The new federal
program was called Medicare.
“Socialism”
These days, when speaking on
campuses, I bring up current proposals
page 
COMMENTARY
for a “single payer” system — in effect,
Medicare for Americans of all ages. Most
students seem to think it’s a good idea.
But once in a while, someone vocally
objects that such an arrangement would
be “socialism.” The objection takes me
back to the media uproar of early 1965.
Today, we’re left with the unfulfilled
potential of Medicare for all. It could
make healthcare real as a human right. It
could spare our society a massive amount
of money now going to administrative
costs and corporate gouging. At last
count, annual insurance-industry profits
reached $57.5 billion in 2006.
On Capitol Hill, lobbyists for the
corporate profiteers are determined
to block H.R. 676, the bill to create
a universal single-payer system to
implement healthcare as a human right.
In the current presidential campaign,
none of the major candidates can be heard
raising the possibility of ejecting the
gargantuan insurance industry from the
nation’s healthcare system. Instead, there’s
plenty of nattering about whether “mandates”
are a good idea. Hillary Clinton even has
the audacity (not of hope but of duplicity) to
equate proposed healthcare “mandates” with
the must-pay-in requirements that sustain
Social Security and Medicare.
For Clinton’s analogy to make
sense, we’d have to accept the idea that
requiring everyone to pay taxes to the
government for a common-good program
is akin to requiring everyone to pay
premiums to private insurance companies
for personal medical coverage.
“Soaring Costs”
A recent New York Times story was
authoritative as it plied the conventional
media wisdom. The lead sentence
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declared that an “immediate challenge
that will confront the next administration”
is the matter of “how to tame the soaring
costs of Medicare and Medicaid.” The
news article pointedly noted that current
federal spending for those health-related
programs adds up to $627 billion.
I’ve been waiting for a New York Times
news story to declare that an immediate
challenge for the next administration will be
the matter of how to tame the soaring costs
of the Pentagon. After all, the government’s
annual military spending — when you
factor in the supplemental bills for warfare
in Afghanistan and Iraq — is well above the
$627 billion for Medicare and Medicaid that
can cause such alarm in the upper reaches
of the nation’s media establishment.
Assessing the current presidential
race, the Times reported: “The
Democrats do not say, in any detail,
how they would slow the growth of
Medicare and Medicaid or what they
think about the main policy options:
rationing care, raising taxes, cutting
payments to providers or requiring
beneficiaries to pay more.”
There are other “policy options”
— including drastic cuts in the Pentagon
budget. And healthcare for all. 
Norman Solomon, the author of War
Made Easy, is on the advisory board
of Progressive Democrats of America.
PDA’s new nationwide petition for
Healthcare NOT Warfare is online at
http://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/309/
defaultasp?formid=healthpet. The film
based on War Made Easy was recently
released to the national home-video
market. For a review, visit http://www.
indiewire.com:80/movies/2008/03/
review_awinning.html.
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Analysis
Thoughts of an Ex-Marine Officer
Turned Peace Activist
By Camillo “Mac” Bica
O
ften, as I’ve marched and
www.bestcyrano.org
demonstrated for peace,
I’ve been verbally assaulted,
accused of being un-American,
unpatriotic, even treasonous by those
who carried American flags, sang
inspiring hymns, and boisterously and
stridently asserted their patriotism, love Camilo “Mac” Bica
of country and support for the troops
through bullhorns.
Thought Experiment
Most of this criticism I dismissed as a failure to understand the
nature and the reality of war and the moral and political obligations
of citizens in a democracy. I was confident in my patriotism,
my love of America and my concern and support for the troops.
I had, after all, served honorably as a motivated United States
Marine Corps officer in Vietnam. But when this disparagement
and denunciation began coming from fellow veterans, I became
disquieted and felt the need to seriously ponder the possibility that
perhaps I had gone astray, violating some sacred trust or bond.
So, what I offer in this essay is a thought experiment in self-
examination, an introspective journey into the mind and motivation
of a former Marine turned peace activist.
Perhaps my first realization in this exercise was that I allow at
least the possibility that war, under very specific circumstances not
easily or often met, may be just, moral and necessary. Therefore, I
am not an absolute pacifist and, in the strict sense, I am not antiwar.
Opponent of THIS War…
I realized as well that I believe in the Constitution, the rule of
law, and support the fundamental purpose and mission of the United
Nations, flawed though it may be, “to maintain international peace and
security and to take effective collective measures for the prevention
and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of
aggression or other breaches of the peace.” According to the United
Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX), (international
law), the unjustifiable and unwarranted “use of armed force by a State
against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence
of another State,” is a crime of aggression. Therefore, I am anti
aggression and unjust, immoral and unnecessary war.
Further, I believe in the rights and dignity of all human beings.
Rational analysis of the facts has convinced me that the invasion
page  Table of Contents
of Iraq was a mistake - unjustifiable and unwarranted - based as it
was on false or distorted intelligence, deception and lies. Not even
President Bush still believes, if he ever did, that Iraq possessed
weapons of mass destruction or was linked to the terrorist attacks
of 9/11. While the Bush administration has offered, after the fact,
various other explanations for the war, e.g., removal of a tyrant,
democratization, etc., none seem sincere nor constitute justification
under international law. Consequently, the invasion of Iraq is
aggression. I am anti the Iraq war.
…and the Bush Administration
At this writing, many in our country are celebrating the
“success” of the surge and of the “new” military strategy in
Iraq. However, military success and improved strategy does not
afford a moral and legal basis for continuing, even escalating, the
occupation - the aggression against the Iraqi people. How could
achieving “victory” in such a scenario, i.e., the triumph of the
aggressors over their victims, be legally and morally justified? I
am anti the continued occupation of Iraq.
My personal experiences in war led me to conclude that
the morally tragic and legally reprehensible incidents such as
have occurred at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Abu Ghraib,
Haditha, Fallujah and elsewhere in Iraq and Afghanistan
were not the anomalous actions of a few aberrant individuals
(I do not blame the troops) Instead, they were the direct
and inevitable consequence of the Bush administration’s
incompetence, arrogance and contempt for the Constitution and
the dictates of international law and treaties. What threatens
the fabric and foundations of our way of life in these dangerous
times is not some amorphous, enigmatic horde of bloodthirsty
terrorists. Rather, it is the assault upon truth, individual freedom
and the values of justice and morality we hold sacred. I am anti
the Bush administration.
It is clear from history that such criminal behavior, arrogance
and hypocrisy - the characteristics of a rogue nation - brings no
credibility, prestige or standing in the world, only disdain, animosity,
hatred and righteous indignation. Nor do acts of aggression bring
glory or vindication to those already killed or wounded in battle.
Justice and morality, the values I associate with being an American,
require that an unjust and immoral war be ended immediately; that
the aggressors possess the moral courage to acknowledge their
crime; that they make retribution to the victims of their aggression
and apologize to the citizens of the aggressed nation and the rest of
the world community for their transgression. I am anti rogue nation.
(Continued on page 5)
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Thoughts of an Ex-Marine Officer
Continued from page 4
Pro-Military Troop Supporter & Critical Patriot
My respect for the military convinces me that the lives and
well-being of our young men and women are not automatically
forfeit upon enlistment, relegating them to the status of cannon
fodder. Sending inadequately prepared National Guard troops
into combat and then failing to provide them with body and
vehicle armor is unconscionable and criminally negligent.
Repeated combat tours and insufficient time for rest and
rehabilitation between deployments increase the likelihood
and inevitability of psychological, emotional and moral
injury that is devastating and life-altering. Finally, the “stop-
loss” provision that prevents our servicemen and women
from leaving the military once their term of service has been
completed is disingenuous and a violation of contract. I am pro
military. I support the troops.
It is apparent that the burden of this war is not being shared
fairly by all Americans. Only a fraction of our citizenry
is directly affected, while the vast majority go about
their consumption-driven lives as usual, oblivious to the
sacrifices of our soldiers, sailors and Marines and to the
death and destruction being prosecuted in their names. It
is not support, therefore, nor is it patriotic, to remain silent
when our troops are placed in harm’s way unnecessarily, to
kill and be killed subject to the whims and ineptitudes of
our political leaders. I am anti apathy and I have learned
that if patriotism means unquestioning allegiance and blind
obedience, such patriotism is inconsistent with democracy
and with basic human decency. Such patriotism is an
abeyance of our human reason. Such patriotism is inhumane
and immoral. Such patriotism is to surrender our power to
think critically. Such patriotism is a profound failure, both
intellectually and morally.
Pro-Vet and Anti-Recruitment American
As has been clearly demonstrated by the unconscionable
treatment of our wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army
Medical Center and at Veterans Administration facilities across
the country, our returning veterans are not receiving the quality
of care they deserve and require to recover from their injuries
and experiences in war. I am outraged by this lack of concern
and support for those who sacrificed so much for our country. I
am pro veterans.
The fundamental moral principle of respect for persons
requires that we protect those most vulnerable from being
enticed, seduced, brainwashed and deceived into becoming
complicit in crimes of aggression and cannon fodder for
corporate war profiteers and opportunists. We are morally
obligated, therefore, to protect our impressionable young
people by striving to ban recruiters from our high schools and
colleges and by urging our representatives to rescind the No
Child Left Behind Act’s military recruitment provision which
requires schools, in order to receive financial assistance, to
provide military recruiters with students’ contact information.
page  Table of Contents
Second, we must inform the underprivileged - who see
the military as their only alternative to poverty, crime and
unemployment - of other educational and employment
opportunities available to them other than by joining the
military. Finally, we must make clear to all prospective
enlistees the realities of military service, the horrors of war
and the immorality and futility of the war in Iraq. I doubt this
information is contained within a recruiter’s motivational
packet of hats, tee-shirts, bumper stickers and violent video
games. Under this administration, with potential enlistees
facing the inevitable prospect of fighting an immoral war of
aggression, I am anti recruitment.
The fact that so many of our heroic sons and daughters are
languishing abandoned, their emotional and psychological injuries
untreated and their needs ignored, is a national tragedy and
disgrace. The fact that America has become isolated in the world,
respected no longer for our ideals but feared for our brutality, no
longer admired for our values of justice and freedom but hated for
our hypocrisy and intolerance, should bring a tear to the eye and
anger to the heart of every true patriot. I am pro America.
Better Patriot Now
As a result of this exercise in self-examination, I have
realized that I am anti aggression. I am anti unjust, immoral,
and unnecessary war, but not anti war. I am anti the Iraq war,
however; anti the Bush Administration, anti rogue nation and anti
recruitment. In addition, I am pro military, pro veteran and pro
America. I have realized as well that the outrage I feel regarding
the corrupting and disgracing of America by those political
leaders and their co-conspirators who cherish not our values and
way of life but only wealth and power requires, no demands, the
true patriot to embrace truth and to cry out in condemnation and
protest. Finally, despite the criticisms and disparaging comments
and accusations by credulous veterans, I have realized that my
activism and dissent are an expression and fulfillment of my
moral and patriotic duty. I am confident, therefore, that I am more
the patriot today as I demonstrate for peace than when I wore the
uniform of a United States Marine. 
Camillo “Mac” Bica, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at
the School of Visual Arts in New York City and a contributing
editor for military affairs at Cyrano’s Journal.com. His focus
is in ethics, particularly as it applies to war and warriors. As
a veteran recovering from his experiences as a United States
Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War, he founded, and
coordinated for five years, the Veterans Self-Help Initiative, a
therapeutic community of veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder. He is a long-time activist for peace and justice, a
member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and a founding
member of the Long Island Chapter of Veterans for Peace. Articles
by Dr. Bica have appeared in Cyrano’s Journal, The Humanist
Magazine, Znet, Truthout.com, Common Dreams, AntiWar.com,
Monthly Review Zine, Foreign Policy in Focus, OpEdNews.Com,
and numerous philosophical journals.
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
billion war supplemental requested for
fiscal year 2008, as this book goes to press,
Congress will have appropriated a total of
over $845 billion for military operations,
reconstruction, embassy costs, enhanced
security at U.S. bases, and foreign aid
programs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Understating the Costs
As the fifth year of the war draws to
a close, operating costs (spending on the
war itself, what you might call “running
expenses”) for 2008 are projected to
exceed $12.5 billion a month for Iraq
alone, up from $4.4 billion in 2003,
and with Afghanistan the total is $16
billion a month. Sixteen billion dollars is
equal to the annual budget of the United
Nations, or of all but 13 of the U.S.
states. Even so, it does not include the
$500 billion we already spend per year
on the regular expenses of the Defense
Department. Nor does it include other
hidden expenditures, such as intelligence
gathering, or funds mixed in with the
budgets of other departments.
Because there are so many costs that the
administration does not count, the total cost of
the war is higher than the official number. For
example, government officials frequently talk
about the lives of our soldiers as priceless. But
from a cost perspective, these “priceless” lives
show up on the Pentagon ledger simply as
$500,000  the amount paid out to survivors in
death benefits and life insurance. After the war
began, these were increased from $12,240 to
$100,000 (death benefit) and from $250,000 to
$400,000 (life insurance). Even these increased
amounts are a fraction of what the survivors
might have received had these individuals lost
their lives in a senseless automobile accident. In
areas such as health and safety regulation, the
U.S. government values a life of a young man at
the peak of his future earnings capacity in excess
of $7 million  far greater than the amount that
the military pays in death benefits. Using this
figure, the cost of the nearly 4,000 American
troops killed in Iraq adds up to some $28 billion.
The costs to society are obviously far
larger than the numbers that show up on
the government’s budget. Another example
of hidden costs is the understating of U.S.
military casualties. The Defense Department’s
page 
Iraq War Price Tag
Continued from page 1
casualty statistics focus on casualties that result
from hostile (combat) action  as determined Power£1 billion for war spending. As of late 2007,
by the military. Yet if a soldier is injured or
dies in a night-time vehicle accident, this is
officially dubbed “non combat related” 
even though it may be too unsafe for soldiers
to travel during daytime.
In fact, the Pentagon keeps two sets of
books. The first is the official casualty list
posted on the DOD website. The second,
hard-to-find, set of data is available only on a
different website and can be obtained under
the Freedom of Information Act. This data
shows that the total number of soldiers who
have been wounded, injured, or suffered
from disease is double the number wounded
in combat. Some will argue that a percentage
of these non-combat injuries might have
happened even if the soldiers were not
in Iraq. Our new research shows that the
majority of these injuries and illnesses can be
tied directly to service in the war.
From the unhealthy brew of emergency
funding, multiple sets of books, and chronic
underestimates of the resources required
to prosecute the war, we have attempted to
identify how much we have been spending
 and how much we will, in the end,
likely have to spend. The figure we arrive
at is more than $3 trillion. Our calculations
are based on conservative assumptions.
They are conceptually simple, even if
occasionally technically complicated. A $3
trillion figure for the total cost strikes us as
judicious, and probably errs on the low side.
Needless to say, this number represents the
cost only to the United States. It does not
reflect the enormous cost to the rest of the
world, or to Iraq.
Same Problems Affect the U.K.
From the beginning, the United Kingdom
has played a pivotal role  strategic, military,
and political  in the Iraq conflict. Militarily,
the U.K. contributed 46,000 troops, 10 per
cent of the total. Unsurprisingly, then, the
British experience in Iraq has paralleled that
of America: rising casualties, increasing
operating costs, poor transparency over where
the money is going, overstretched military
resources, and scandals over the squalid
conditions and inadequate medical care for
some severely wounded veterans.
Table of Contents
Before the war, Gordon Brown set aside
the U.K. had spent an estimated £7 billion
in direct operating expenditures in Iraq
and Afghanistan (76 percent of it in Iraq).
This includes money from a supplemental
“special reserve”, plus additional spending
from the Ministry of Defense.
The special reserve comes on top
of the U.K.’s regular defense budget.
The British system is particularly
opaque: funds from the special reserve
are “drawn down” by the Ministry of
Defense when required, without specific
approval by Parliament. As a result,
British citizens have little clarity about
how much is actually being spent.
In addition, the social costs in the U.K.
are similar to those in the U.S.  families
who leave jobs to care for wounded
soldiers, and diminished quality of life for
those thousands left with disabilities.
By the same token, there are
macroeconomic costs to the U.K. as there
have been to America, though the long-
term costs may be less, for two reasons.
First, Britain did not have the same policy
of fiscal profligacy; and second, until 2005,
the United Kingdom was a net oil exporter.
We have assumed that British forces
in Iraq are reduced to 2,500 this year
and remain at that level until 2010. We
expect that British forces in Afghanistan
will increase slightly, from 7,000 to
8,000 in 2008, and remain stable for
three years. The House of Commons
Defense Committee has recently found
that despite the cut in troop levels, Iraq
war costs will increase by 2 percent this
year and personnel costs will decrease
by only 5 percent. Meanwhile, the cost
of military operations in Afghanistan is
due to rise by 39 percent. The estimates
in our model may be significantly too
low if these patterns continue. 
Joseph Stiglitz was chief economist
at the World Bank and won the Nobel
Memorial Prize for Economics in
2001. Linda Bilmes is a lecturer in
public policy at the Kennedy School
of Government at Harvard University
View this story online at: http://www.
alternet.org/story/77663/ .
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Editor’s Viewpoint
Continued from page 2
social security and transitioning to a single-payer national health
plan, thereby providing true security to our elderly and ensuring
health protection for all.
We would have to reduce both our domestic and overseas
military presences, but our military budget would still be the
largest in the world and would continue to dwarf those of any
likely adversaries (the so-called “axis of evil.”)
Cutting the military budget could offer a number of other
security benefits.
• It would protect our people by eliminating the
manufacturing and testing of nuclear weapons, every
aspect of which spreads deadly radioactive pollution
and potentially endangers Americans.
• It would protect our youth by involving fewer of them
in combat activities.
• It would curtail investigation into new nuclear,
chemical and biological weapons technologies,
reducing the risk that they will become public health
hazards.
• We would be less tempted to settle international
conflicts by military means and less likely to
engage in international bullying, thus arousing less
resentment.
Americans are Ill-Served
A military budget that consumes half our discretionary
national spending is not sustainable. Not only can we not afford
it, but it also forecloses other crucial policy options and warps
our worldview in ways that threaten our survival. The majority
of U.S. taxpayers, who do not profit from military spending,
are ill-served by continuing to foot the bill. We are all ill-served
when we ignore major security threats merely because they are
not amenable to military solutions.
As candidates for public office seek your vote, demand that
they respond to these security concerns. 
page  Table of Contents
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Starhawk,Margaret Hepziban, John Byrn, Gar Lipow, Juliet Eilperin,
Glenn Carroll, Code Pink Staff, Fred Miller
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Analysis
Real U.S. Threat is Debt Crisis, Not Terrorism
By Bill Towe

T
he greatest threat to the U.S.
is not terrorism but the debt
crisis due to military spending,
budget deficits and trade deficits.
The President’s fiscal year 2009 budget
proposes an additional $70 billion in war-
related spending, on top of the $102.4 billion
the administration continues to pursue for
fiscal year 2008. The amount requested for
fiscal year 2009 is merely a placeholder for the
first few months of the next fiscal year, vastly
underestimating what would be required to
continue the war in Iraq at the current level
of involvement. The administration plans to
seek additional funding for the war in Iraq and
Afghanistan according to the Congressional
Data Service. From fiscal year 2001 to fiscal
year 2008, the war in Iraq has cost $514
billion and in Afghanistan $149 billion for a
total of $663 billion.
and military spending increases are good for
the economy. In fact, most economic models
show that military spending diverts resources
from productive uses, such as consumption and
investment, and ultimately slows economic
growth and reduces employment.” Military
Keynesianism does not work – it’s a form of
economic suicide. Due to excessive military
spending, the U.S. did not modernize or replace
our capital assets resulting in the U.S. becoming
less competitive in the global market.
…in Fact, We’re Dead Last
In 2007, the U.S. trade deficit was
$711 billion, a slight decline after setting
records in five consecutive years. A telling
comparison that reveals just how much
worse the U.S. is doing can be found in the
“current accounts” of nations. The current
account measures the net trade surplus
or deficit of a country plus cross-border
payments of interest, dividends, capital
gains and other income. The U.S. is dead
last on the list. In 2006 the current account
deficit for the U.S. was $811 billion.
To finance the growing military
spending, budget deficit, and trade deficit
the U.S. is borrowing funds from foreign
countries, particularly China and Japan. As
the dollar weakens, foreign countries are
becoming reluctant to finance U.S. wars.
Just on economic grounds, the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan cannot be justified.
We urge Congress to end the Iraq war
and work to reduce military spending
in order to fund human and community
needs: healthcare, housing, environmental
protection and public transportation.
Bill Towe is the Coordinator for
North Carolina Peace Action

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and does not include the additional
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later in the year by the President.
The Center for Economic and Policy
Research released a report in May, 2007 on
the long-term economic impact of increased
military spending. The research showed that,
after an initial demand stimulus, by about
the sixth year the effect of increased military
spending turns negative. Dean Baker, an
economist who worked on this research
project stated, “It is often believed that wars
page  Table of Contents april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
How Should Progressives and Peace Activists
Deal with the Democratic Party?
P
aul Craig Roberts speaks for
a lot of us when he says that
arguably the “greatest failure
of 2007 was the newly sworn in
Democratic Congress” in his article
“Thinking for Yourself Is Now a
Crime” in the February 2008 Issue
of The PeaceWorker.
As a lifelong progressive, activist and
pacifist I feel many of these same concerns.
The “Homegrown Terrorist Act” that
Roberts references, which was drafted by
Jane Harman (D-CA), and overwhelmingly
passed (404-6) by a newly Democratic-
controlled House of Representatives (yes,
sadly only six brave Democrats actually
voted against this bill), clearly curtails the
United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights
and sets a terrible precedent. Roberts
rightly points out that this bill has a very
loose definition of what actually constitutes
homegrown terrorism and could easily
lead to a new McCarthyism in the United
States where anyone could claim that
another with whom he or she has a grudge
is a “homegrown terrorist” and create
witch hunts by employing scare tactics.
However, I think it is important to note
that one prominent Democrat and former
Presidential contender did vote against this
poorly drafted piece of legislation: Ohio
Congressman Dennis Kucinich. I remain
convinced that Kucinich represents a small
but significant portion of elected Democrats
who see peace and social justice as key
issues in our national agenda.
Former Socialist
Turns Democrat
For many disillusioned voters, the
temptation to abandon the Democrats
and jump ship to a third party (such as
the Greens) is certainly inviting. Because
I was an ideological liberal when I
first registered to vote at the age of 18,
I found the Democrats insufficiently
page 
Analysis
By Brock Turner
progressive and registered with the
Socialist Party USA. I continue to
suspect that the Socialists, Greens and
certain other third parties’ progressive
movements are more committed to
promoting peace and justice, yet
pragmatically I am not sure that casting
votes for or contributing funds to such
parties is the most effective strategy in
enacting progressive positive change.
Dennis Kucinich has famously
stated “A lot of people ask me why
I’m still a Democrat, well, I see myself
as a missionary!” Inspired by the late
Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and
Congressman Dennis Kucinich I reluctantly
changed my voter registration from Socialist
to Democrat in 2000. I have found that,
at least for me, it is more practical to get
involved in the local Democratic Party and
try to promote change from within. To that
end, I served as a Precinct Committee Person
for the Democratic Party of Oregon for two
years and also was a delegate to the 2004
Oregon State Democratic Party Convention
representing Kucinich as a presidential
candidate. The Kucinich delegates to the
Democratic Party of Oregon’s annual
convention were successful in getting
Congressman Kucinich’s call for the creation
of a cabinet-level U.S. Department of
Peace implemented into the Oregon State
Democratic Party Platform.
Best Hope Remains with Dems
Kucinich’s tireless attempts to establish
a cabinet position for the Department of
Peace clearly show his interest in peace
activist community issues. While I have
personally become utterly disgusted with
the Democratic Congress’s continued
submission to President Bush in practically
everything he requests  from war
funding to domestic eavesdropping to harsh
interrogation tactics  I still believe that
trying to work within the Democratic Party,
rather than against it remains our greatest
hope for progressive positive change.
I am one of those strange progressives
Table of Contents
who actually voted for Democrat Al Gore
over Green Party candidate Ralph Nader
in 2000, but voted for Green David Cobb
over Democrat John Kerry in 2004. I
admit, part of me felt pretty sure, based
on polling, that Kerry was going to carry
Oregon. All of us in the progressive
movement know of the many betrayals
experienced by progressive causes during
the eight years of Clinton-Gore. These
include welfare reform, increased military
spending and the war in Kosovo, and I
think it is safe to assume that, had Al Gore
assumed the White House in 2000 he
would have retaliated against the attacks
of September 11, 2001 with a bombing
campaign in Afghanistan similar to that
of President Bush. However, Gore was an
early outspoken critic of the Iraq War and I
feel some comfort in knowing that had Al
Gore become president (and I believe he
was elected) that the disastrous episode in
Iraq would never have occurred.
As a former third party member
myself, I certainly feel for those who
believe the Democratic Party is simply
not responsive to peace and social
justice concerns, but I have personally
found working within the party to be the
most effective way to bring about real
change. If anyone thinks they can find
an effective way to actually convert at
least ten or so U.S. House Members and
least one or two U.S. Senators to the
Green Party or another truly progressive
alternative to the Democratic Party, I am
certainly open to hearing about it. 
Brock Turner is a student at Portland
Community College majoring Political
Science. Turner served as a delegate
for Dennis Kucinich at the 2004 Oregon
State Democratic Party Convention and
has been an active participant in rallies
and vigils calling for the closure of the
School of the Americas in Fort Benning,
Georgia and in other peace and social
justice actions. His views are likely to
be controversial among readers of The
PeaceWorker.
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

government nuclear disarmament DEMOCRACY

peaceTHE BIG
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JUSTICE
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“Winter Soldiers” Demand Elimination of War
by Jack Dresser, Ph.D.

I
n the winter of 1777-78, after
suffering three terrible defeats
by the much larger British force
and marching hundreds of miles,
the 11,000-man Continental Army
retreated to a winter headquarters
at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Food
was in desperately short supply, 2,000
men were without shoes, and many
were without blankets. Typhoid fever,
dysentery, malnutrition and exposure
claimed some 2,500 lives that winter.
American patriot morale had declined
severely and whole militia companies
had deserted to return home. The
soldiers remaining formed powerful
bonds that led them to eventually
prevail in our war for independence.
Of these men, and the 700 women
who fed, nursed and warmed them
through that winter, revolutionary
figure Thomas Paine wrote, “The
summer soldier and the sunshine
patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from
the service of their country; but he
that stands it now, deserves the love
and thanks of all men and women.”
Those that endured have come to be
called the “winter soldiers.”
Isolated Exceptions?
Every veteran once swore to “support
and defend the Constitution of the United
States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic.” Many do not foreswear that
oath upon removing the uniform. Thus,
in 1971 following the court-martial of Lt.
Calley for the My Lai massacre in Vietnam,
some 150 honorably discharged  many
highly decorated  members of Vietnam
Veterans Against the War (VVAW) gathered
in Detroit to share their experiences.
Remaining faithful to their oath beyond
their obligated service and harkening back
to Paine’s words, they named this the
“Winter Soldier Investigation.”
Atrocities like My Lai had ignited
popular opposition to the war, but
political and military leaders insisted that
such crimes were isolated exceptions.
The members of VVAW testified at that
time on the systematic brutality and war
crimes they had witnessed and inflicted
upon the people of Vietnam, stating that
unspeakable practices such as “free fire
zones” were in fact U.S. government
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and other international treaties which are
defined by Article VI of our Constitution
as “the supreme law of the land.”
Missed Turn
Invited by Chairman William
Fulbright to present their findings before
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
Lt. John Kerry delivered ringing
testimony on behalf of the group. Kerry
concluded his testimony, “We wish that
a merciful God could wipe away our
own memories of that service as easily as
(Continued on page 14)
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peaceTHE BIG
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Paying the Penalty for Nonviolent Action
T
oday is March 16. Five years
ago, I was in a small village
in the Occupied Territories
of the West Bank of Palestine with
a group of volunteers from the
International Solidarity Movement,
which supports nonviolent resistance
against the occupation.
We had gone because the villagers
were being menaced by tanks from the
Israeli military, and wanted witnesses,
but by the time we arrived, the tanks had
gone. Instead we wandered through the
olive groves, studded with pink cyclamen
and blood — red anemones, and ate
barbecued lamb in the courtyard of an
ancient stone house with domed ceilings
and arched portals. It was a strangely
idyllic day — until on our way back to
Nablus we got a call. Down in Rafah, in
the Gaza strip, a young volunteer named
Rachel Corrie had been crushed to death
by an Israeli military bulldozer as she
attempted to prevent the demolition of a
Palestinian family’s house.
Denied Entry
Today I sit in a room in Washington
D.C. overcome by grief as in the next
room my new friend Laurie writes out
card after card with the names of the
dead — American soldiers and Iraqi
civilians  pile after pile of them.
I’m grieving for all the dead, and a
bit for myself, because I meant to be
back in Palestine, or at least in Israel,
now. But I have been denied entry and
sent home, because of my past work
with the ISM. I have been denied entry,
even though my intentions this time
were strictly to work with permaculture
and ecology groups, including the three
page 11
By Starhawk
Israeli groups that have sent me formal
invitations, and even though Israel
claims to be a refuge of last resort for
everyone born Jewish, as I am. The fact
that I’m here, not there, is a measure of
how much the Israeli authorities fear a
movement of nonviolent resistance in
general, and the ISM in particular.
Deep inside is still the perception
that Israel is tiny, fragile and weak
and anyone who attacks her is the
giant with the club.
Why is Nonviolence
So Threatening?
Violence attacks the body, but
nonviolence threatens something
deeper and more tenuous — the self
— perceptions and rationalizations that
let basically good people act in cruel
and heartless ways. The Israel/Palestine
conflict enacts on a mass scale some
of the same dynamics as family abuse.
Israel is like the abused child who grows
up to be an abuser.
Abusers generally feel like victims
— and truly the Jewish people have been
victimized, again and again in history,
culminating in the still unhealed wounds
of the Holocaust. Every rocket attack,
every shooting spree in a Yeshivah,
every suicide bomb in a bus reinforces
that sense of fear and persecution that
seems to cry out for violence in return.
Once in Germany I walked through
an exhibition on the propaganda of
the Holocaust. One cartoon seemed
to illuminate the dynamics of the
current conflict: a burly, blond, muscle
— bound body — builder of a German
Table of Contents
DEMOCRACY
clubbing a weak, cringing, forelocked
Jew. Israel was founded by a generation
that said, “Never again will we be the
ones who cringe and get clubbed.”
Instead, she has spent sixty years on the
Nautilus, building her military muscle.
But somewhere deep inside is still the
perception that Israel is tiny, fragile and
weak and anyone who attacks her is the
giant with the club. So, the suffering of
the Palestinians, the real disparities in
power, become invisible.
What Nonviolence Does
Nonviolence dramatizes and makes
visible the true power differentials. Week
after week, unarmed Palestinians and
their allies march to the Wall to face tear
gas, rubber bullets, clubs, and at times,
live ammunition. Women sit in front of
bulldozers, children march out of school
to confront soldiers.
Nonviolence humanizes the enemy.
When the Palestinians are seen as
‘animals,’ as filled with blind, irrational,
implacable hatred, it is easy to hate
them in turn and to justify every system
of control and every incursion. But
nonviolence gives the enemy a face.
Moreover, in the demonstrations against
the Wall and the peace camps set up in
the villages, Israeli peace groups often
come to stand with their Palestinian
allies, shattering the myth that Israelis
and Palestinians can never get along,
never collaborate or work together for
common ends. Abuse is perpetuated
by secrecy and silence. The ISM and
other peace groups such as the Women’s
International Peace Service and the
Christian Peacemaker Teams have
brought thousands of witnesses into the
places that outsiders are not supposed
(Continued on page 29)
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
B
ELTWAY
ULLETIN
By Phil Carver
F
or up-to date reports on many progressive issues
see the Center for American Progress at www.
anprogressaction.org/ and the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities at http://www.cbpp.org/. For justice issues
see the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) at www.aclu.
org/ and Amnesty International at www.amnestyusa.org/. For
the issues of national defense and the Iraq war see the Friends
Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) at www.fcnl.org
. For the issues of energy and global warming see the Union of
Concerned Scientists (UCS) at http://www.ucsusa.org/ and the
Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) at www.nrdc.org .
2009 Federal Budget
President Bush released his proposed budget following his
State of the Union address. The president proposes $3.1 trillion
in spending for the fiscal year 2009 that starts Oct. 1.
The budget includes an overall cut of almost $500 million
from energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, while
increasing funding for fossil fuels and nuclear energy by more
than $350 million. The proposal also includes $8 billion in loan
guarantees for coal (including liquid coal projects), $18.5 billion
in loan guarantees for new nuclear facilities, and $2 billion for
reprocessing nuclear waste. In addition, the president proposes
cutting $104 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund,
the principal source of funds for acquiring lands for parks, wildlife
refuges and other conservation use. The proposal would leave the
fund with only $45 million, less than one-third of its current level.
The president also would cut $134 million from the Clean Water
State Revolving Fund.
For the first time in history, the total 2009 U.S. military budget
proposed by the president will surpass one trillion dollars. Even
without including Iraq war spending, the military budget has
increased by 70 percent since President Bush took office, according
to the White House. The Friends Committee on National Legislation
estimates that the increase may be closer to 100 percent. Richard
Kogan of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes that
from 2001 to 2008 “The defense/security category also has grown
four times as rapidly as all domestic programs combined — a
category that includes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the other
entitlements, and the domestic discretionary programs.” http://
www.cbpp.org/3-5-08bud.htm.
Congressional Democrats, including Sens. Clinton and
Obama, have not challenged this warped sense of priorities.
Linda J. Blimes of Harvard University and Joseph E. Stiglitz
of Columbia University have just published a book titled The
Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. This
war will be the second most expensive in U.S. history, adjusted
for inflation. It will only be exceeded by World War II. Adjusted
page 12 Table of Contents
for inflation it will be more than four times as expensive as the
Vietnam War. All this for a war and occupation of a country that
never threatened the U.S. In 2001 Iraq was not an ally of Al Qaeda
and had no military delivery systems. So even if its mythical
weapons of mass destructions had actually existed, it had no way
to deliver them. This was common knowledge at the time.
While much of the world is working toward nuclear disarmament,
the Bush budget asks Congress to fund the first new U.S. nuclear
weapons in two decades and requests additional funding to build a
new nuclear bomb making plant. The budget requests $10 million for
the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program and $100 million
to begin construction on a new plutonium pit facility.
Ban Cluster Bombs
The Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 594) would
effectively ban the U.S. from using or exporting cluster bombs. In early
March, two new senators signed on as co-sponsors of this bipartisan bill.
But still only 18 senators have agreed to co-sponsor this legislation.
The majority of those killed by cluster bombs are ordinary
people, civilians walking down a road, farming, or playing
where deadly unexploded munitions have been left behind.
U.S. cluster bombs also kill U.S. soldiers. Travis Bradach-Nall was
only 21-years-old when he was killed by a U.S. cluster munition while
serving as a U.S. Marine in Iraq. Watch this short video of his mother,
Lynn Bradach, telling her son’s story and urging that the U.S. ban
cluster bombs.
Increased support for this legislation would also send a
message to the rest of the world. In two months, more than half of
the world’s governments will gather in Dublin, Ireland to continue
negotiations on a global treaty banning cluster bombs. The
U.S. will not be there. But by increasing support for the Cluster
Munitions Civilian Protect Act you can show the world that many
members of Congress and millions of people in this country want
to ban these horrible weapons.
U.S. Iraq Contractors Outside the Law
As the United States engages in the “war on terror,” it
is outsourcing key security and military support functions,
particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, to private companies to carry
out the work. Currently, U.S. contractors in Iraq operate in a virtual
rules-free zone. They are exempt from Iraqi law per a Coalition
Provisional Authority order and they fall outside the military chain
of command. They have not been prosecuted under U.S. law.
Late last year, at a Congressional hearing of the Committee
on Oversight and Government Reform, the general counsel of
Blackwater admitted that one of its employees had shot and
killed an Iraqi security officer on December 24, 2006. However,
the U.S. Attorney’s office of the Western District of Washington
refuses even to confirm if an investigation is underway and if
charges will be filed.
Most recently, the media has reported that former KBR contractor,
Jamie Leigh Jones, was allegedly gang-raped in 2005 by KBR colleagues.
While the Dept. of Defense refuses to probe the charges, citing the case’s
status as “open” with the Dept. of Justice, even repeated inquiries by U.S.
Congressmen have been met with Justice Department silence.
(Continued on page 13)
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Beltway Bulletin
Continued from page 12
Learn more about Amnesty International USA’s efforts to hold
private military contractors accountable for human rights violations
in the “war on terror.”
Remove Block on States’ Clean Car Effort
H.R. 5660 directs EPA to grant California the waiver it needs to
move forward with requiring cleaner cars. Thirteen states (California,
Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New
Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont,
and Washington) have now adopted the standards that will reduce
tailpipe greenhouse gas pollution by 30 percent by 2016.
All together, automakers would have to produce clean cars
for 30 percent of the U.S. auto market, drastically reducing global
warming pollution and saving Americans money at the gas pump.
By 2020, these thirteen states will have reduced national global
warming pollution by 434 million metric tons, an additional 89
percent over the new federal fuel economy standards of 35 mpg by
2020
Report Confirms Domestic
NSA Dragnet Spying
The American Civil Liberties Union cited reports that
show the NSA has effectively revived the Orwellian “Total
Information Awareness (TIA)” domestic-spying program. The
program was described by current and former intelligence
officials in the March 10 edition of the Wall Street Journal.
The ACLU said the new report confirmed its past warnings
that the NSA was engaging in extremely broad-based data mining
that was violating the privacy of vast numbers of Americans. This
program was banned by Congress in 2003.
“Congress shut down TIA because it represented a massive
and unjustified governmental intrusion into the personal lives
of Americans,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the
Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU. “Now we find out
that the security agencies are pushing ahead with the program
anyway, despite that clear congressional prohibition.
The Total Information Awareness (TIA) program was a
mammoth data mining program that envisioned programming
computers to trawl through an extensive list of databases
containing personal information about Americans – including
communications, medical, travel, education and financial data
– in an attempt to detect supposedly “suspicious” patterns.
Congress shut down the program amid bipartisan objections that
it was the most far-reaching domestic surveillance proposal that
had ever been offered.
“Year after year, we have warned that our great nation is
turning into a surveillance society where our every move is
tracked and monitored,” said Barry Steinhardt, Director of
the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Project. “Now we have
before us a program that appears to do that very thing. It brings
together numerous programs that we and many others have
fought for years, and it confirms what the ACLU has been
saying the NSA is up to: mass surveillance of Americans.”
According to the new Journal report, the NSA was engaging
page 13 Table of Contents
in broad domestic spying operations that involve collecting and
analyzing the personal information of Americans in ways that are
“essentially the same” as TIA. The elements that reportedly make
up the new spying encompass a variety of mass surveillance and
data mining programs about which the ACLU has previously
warned, including:
• TIA and other data mining programs
• The NSA’s illegal wiretapping program, the so-called
Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP)
• The Patriot Act’s broadening of FBI power to collect
third-party personal information without a subpoena
through Section 215 searches and National Security
Letters
• The Treasury Department’s expanded surveillance
of financial transactions through Cash Transaction
Reporting and Suspicious Activity Reporting
• The CIA’s illegitimate access to the SWIFT database to
monitor international financial transactions
• DHS’s efforts to increase collection and monitoring of
airline passenger data
• Partnerships between these government agencies and
private sector entities to collect and monitor customers’
data and transactions
• The erosion of privacy through the judicial creation of
a distinction between content and “transactional data”
(such as the recipients of e-mails or phone calls and the
times and dates of each communication) through the
Patriot Act and prior developments.
“Congress needs to investigate immediately whether its will
has been thwarted, and the media needs to give this program
the attention it deserves as a radical departure from the privacy
that Americans have always expected,” said Fredrickson. “Just
how many times is Congress going to sit back and watch this
administration run roughshod over its prerogatives?”
The Freedom of Information request the ACLU filed March
13 is intended to gain information about the “role that the NSA
plays as a hub for the collection, analysis and distribution” of
“transactional information of Americans.” It seeks information
from the NSA as well as the FBI, CIA, the Office of the Director
of National Intelligence, and the Departments of Treasury,
Justice, Defense, and Homeland Security.
In 2006, the ACLU published a summary of what it believed
the NSA was doing, based on the various media reports citing
current and former intelligence officials. In the piece, entitled
“Eavesdropping 101,” the ACLU warned that the NSA was not
just carrying out warrantless wiretaps on selected individuals,
but probably carrying out broader data dragnets that violated
the privacy of millions of Americans. This prospect has not
always remained in focus during the debates over the agency’s
illegal spying.
The ACLU white paper “Eavesdropping 101” is online at
www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/23989res20060131.html. 
Phil Carver, a former OPW Board Chair, writes this column
exclusively for each issue of The PeaceWorker.
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

“Winter Soldiers”
Continued from page 10
this administration has wiped away their War Crimes Charged
memories of us. But all that they have
Testimony was recorded over three
done… by this denial is to make more
days by 55 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans
clear than ever our own determination to
describing racist dehumanization of the
undertake one last mission  to search
enemy, the impacts of war upon civilians,
out and destroy the last vestige of this
and systematic violations of the Rules of
barbaric war, to pacify our own hearts, to
Engagement which limit use of deadly
conquer the hate and fear that have driven
force, resulting in regular, widespread
this country these last ten years and
atrocities including indiscriminate firing
more... So, when thirty years from now
and deliberate, unreported murder of
our brothers go down the street without a
civilians made inevitable and routinely
leg, without an arm, or a face, and small
tolerated by government policy.
boys ask why, we will be able to say
Witnesses repeatedly emphasized that
‘Vietnam’ and not mean a desert, not a
the wars themselves are war crimes under
filthy obscene memory, but mean instead
international law and the Constitution,
where America finally turned and where
and that the brutal, horrific and terrorizing
soldiers like us helped it in the turning.”
conditions of war inherently produce specific
But America has failed to turn and
war crimes. When faced with choices
thirty-two years later launched another
between rules and morality on the one hand,
equally brutal, equally mindless, equally
and the survival instinct on the other, the
unjustified attack on the nation of Iraq,
latter invariably prevails. “I am here today
again in violation of international treaty
to pass judgment not on my fellow soldiers,
laws  the U.N. and Nuremberg Charters
not on my commanders, but on war itself,”
that prohibit wars of aggression  and once
said one soldier. Said another, “I’m very, very
more violating Article VI, Paragraph 2, the
sorry. I’m no longer the monster I once was.”
“Supremacy Clause,” of our Constitution.
So once again winter soldiers are needed.
War Must Be Eliminated
Different War, Same Lies The only answer, they concluded,
is the elimination of war altogether.
Thankfully, a current generation
To achieve this, imperial American
of outraged veterans is arising and a
militarism must be confronted and
Winter Soldier II investigation was
ended. IVAW calls for immediate
held March 13-16 at the National Labor
and full withdrawal of troops from
College in Maryland where members of
both countries, full reparation and
www.bandonhealthfoods.com
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)
compensation to our victims, and full
replicated the model of their VVAW
benefits and health care for veterans.
predecessors. “Over 30 years later,”
Supplementary panel discussions
IVAW states, “we find ourselves faced
explored the impacts of wars on civilians,
with a new war, but the lies are the same.
enemy dehumanization, the breakdown of
Once again, troops are sinking into an
the military, the costs of war at home, and
increasingly bloody occupation. Once
the key role of the growing GI resistance
again, war crimes in places like Haditha,
movement in bringing peace. Panelists
Fallujah and Abu Ghraib have turned
included un-embedded photojournalist Dahr
the public against the war. Once again,
Jamail and Amy Goodman, who hosted
politicians and generals are blaming ‘a
streaming audio coverage on Pacifica Radio.
few bad apples’ instead of examining the
The sessions were broadcast on Free
military policies that have destroyed Iraq
Speech TV (DishNetwork channel 9415),
and Afghanistan.”
and streaming online video was provided on
Eugene’s Veterans for Peace bus took
www.truthout.org and www.ivaw.org,
several Oregon veterans to Washington
where archives may now be viewed. 
DC for the hearings. One Eugene
Jack Dresser is a Vietnam Era
veteran, Sergio Kochergin, testified.
veteran turned peace activist..

page 14 Table of Contents april 2008

the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

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page 15 Table of Contents april 2008

the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Planetary Health Demands Immediate Action
W
e all know that our
planet’s life support
systems are not holding
up well to the mistreatment we
humans have been subjecting it to,
but this month The PeaceWorker
takes a closer look at just how the
planet is faring. The news is bad in a
lot of different areas.
Global Warming
Arctic ice cover has been shrinking
at the rate of about 8% per decade since
1980. Not only does this melting raise
ocean levels, but the loss of large white
areas that reflect sunlight back into space
has the effect of raising temperatures
more rapidly as well. Scientists project
that the Arctic may be ice-free in
summer before mid-century. Greenland’s
ice shelf, already shrinking steadily,
is at risk of disappearing entirely, a
phenomenon that would threaten many
coastal areas around the world with
flooding.
Nice of the ten warmest years on record
have occurred during the past decade.
Please see additional articles
in the 5% Solution section of this
PeaceWorker.
Fiercer Storms
Between 1975 and 1989 there were
171 category 4 or 5 storms. Between
1990 and 2004, there were 269. Such
storms are worsened by unusually warm
ocean surface temperatures in the tropics
 temperatures that are rising due to
global climate change.
Population
Incredibly, the world’s population
has grown more in the past fifty years
page 16
Earthday 2008
By Peter Bergel
than in the preceding four million. Today
our numbers have surged to nearly six
and half billion and our population is
increasing by nearly 80 million people
each year  220,000 each day. Natural
processes typically act to limit the
population of any species when it exceeds
the carrying capacity of its environment.
Deforestation
Deforestation is the permanent
destruction of forests and woodlands.
A majority of people in rural tropical
areas — about 800 million — live
in or around vulnerable forests or
woodlands, depending on them heavily
for survival. Yet deforestation at five
percent a decade is steadily depleting
this resource base, contributing to 20
percent of annual global CO2 emissions
and seriously threatening biodiversity.
Although tropical forests cover only
about 7 percent of the Earth’s dry land,
they probably harbor half or more of all
species on Earth.
Deforestation is driven largely
by economic incentives to expand
agriculture, create new grazing land for
ranching and profit from commercial
Table of Contents
logging. Some deforestation is caused by
poor people desperately seeking a way
to survive. Some is caused by corporate
greed. Either way, the carrying capacity
of the planet is decreased.
It does not have to be this way.
François Bourguignon, Chief Economist
and Senior Vice President for
Development Economics at the World
Bank says, “Compensation for avoiding
deforestation could help developing
countries to improve forest governance
and boost rural incomes, while helping
the world at large to mitigate climate
change more vigorously.” However, this
approach would depend on financial
assistance from developed countries,
such as the United States, which is
crippling its ability to address world
security problems like those mentioned
in this article by devoting half of its
discretionary national spending to its
military.
Desertification
About 3.6 billion of the world’s 5.2
billion hectares of useful dry land for
agriculture has suffered erosion and soil
degradation. In more than 100 countries,
one billion of the six billion world
population is affected by desertification,
forcing people to leave their farms for
jobs in the cities.
Desertification is devouring more
than 20,000 square miles of land
worldwide every year, affecting 74% of
North American lands. In Africa, more
than 2.4 million acres (73% of its dry
lands) are affected by desertification.
Desertification takes place in dry land
areas where the earth is fragile, rainfall
is minimal and the climate harsh. Topsoil
depletion is followed by loss of the
land’s ability to sustain crops, livestock
(Continued on page 18)
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

State of the Planet Report

Wars and Other Conflicts Cripple the World
By Margaret Hepziban & Peter Bergel 

T
he U.N.’s technical definition According to GlobalSecurity.org, 322 entity’s resources are coveted by another
of the term “major war” is “a international land boundaries separate because of overpopulation, famine,
military conflict inflicting 1,000 the 192 independent states and 70 drought or just greed. Others result from
battlefield deaths per year.” In 1965 there dependencies, areas of sovereignty and injustices, religious and ethnic conflicts
other miscellaneous entities. In many and domination of one group by another.
were ten major wars underway. As of mid-
cases, ethnicity, culture, race, religion In viewing the list below it is
2005, eight major wars were underway and language have divided states into interesting to note how little most of us
(down from 15 at the end of 2003) with separate political entities as much as in the U.S. know about most of these
as many as two dozen additional conflicts history, physical terrain, political fiat or wars and the suffering they cause.
proceeding with varying degrees of conquest, sometimes resulting in arbitrary
intensity. The majority of these wars are and imposed boundaries. Maritime states Currently Ongoing Wars
intrastate or civil conflicts. have so far established over 130 maritime
The following list, including links
boundaries and jointly developed zones
to more detailed explanations, can be
Most of the casualties are now civil- to allocate ocean resources and to provide
ians. In World War I a small percentage found at http://www.globalsecurity.
for national security at sea.
of casualties were civilians (5-10%), but org/military/world/war/index.html.
Many wars are the result of cross- (Continued on page 19)
today 75% or more (some sources say as border resource conflicts where one
many as 90%) of those killed or wound-
ed in war are non-combatants.
Africa, to a greater extent than any
other continent, is afflicted by war. Since
1960, Africa has suffered over 20 major
wars. Angola, Sudan, Liberia, Burundi and
Rwanda are among those countries that have
recently suffered serious armed conflict.
These wars have caused untold economic
and social damage. Food production is
impossible in conflict areas, and famine often
results. Widespread conflict has condemned
many of Africa’s children to lives of misery
and, in certain cases, has threatened the
existence of traditional African cultures.

This month’s cover, “A World of

Opportunity” was created by Florida
artist Deborah Kleinow. A lifelong
artist, Kleinow, has worked in a
variety of media, specializing in
colored pencil, which she uses to
create detailed, realistic portraits
and mixed media collages. She
has created a large body of work in
support of humanitarian and peace
causes including several covers for
The PeaceWorker magazine.

page 17 Table of Contents april 2008

the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Planetary Health Demands Action
or human activity. The economic
impact of the loss of more than $40
billion per year in agricultural goods
falls disproportionately on the poor as
agricultural prices increase. According
to the World Wide Fund for Nature,
the world lost about 30% of its natural
wealth between 1970 and 1995. As the
land dries out, the potential for wildfires,
such as those seen last year in Southern
California, increases.
Dust from deserts and dry lands is
blown into cities around the world. Dust
from Africa reaches Europe through the
Pasat wind, and even reaches U.S. cities.
Dust particles, which are less than 2.5
millionths of a metre in size, are inhaled,
causing health problems and have been
shown to boost death rates.
Global Poisoning
Lead: The “e-waste” produced by
unrecycled cell phones, computers,
televisions, monitors and other
technological equipment is being
exported to the developing world,
especially to China and sub-Saharan
Africa. This is being done under the
guise of providing developing nations
with high tech equipment which can
be repaired and re-used. However,
there are estimates that up to 75% of
the imports are irreparable and end up
in unlined landfills, burned (directly
releasing toxins into the environment) or
in open air dumps. Thus the poisons they
contain reach the soil and groundwater.
The average desktop computer contains
an average of 8 pounds of lead. The
scavenging of gold, copper and other
valuable raw materials, without adequate
safety measures or protective gear,
is opening a Pandora’s box of toxic
materials, including lead, for the people
least capable of monitoring or managing
its long-term health effects.
People of any age are susceptible to
the health effects of lead, but children
are most vulnerable.
Depleted uranium, the material
left over after fissionable uranium (U-
235) is removed from uranium ore, is
page 18
Continued from page 16
a very heavy, dense metal that is ideal
for armor-piercing artillery shells and
for making especially solid armor plate.
It has been used by the U.S. military in
the Balkans and in Iraq. When it is used
it creates mildly radioactive dust that is
contaminated with alpha particles. Alpha
particles are known to cause cancer
and other negative health effects when
ingested. Although the U.S. military has
not acknowledged the dangers of DU, it
is widely suspected of being a factor in
“Gulf War syndrome.”
Mercury: This naturally occurring
element is toxic to humans, interfering
with the brain and nervous system. It
is released into the environment in a
variety of ways and finds its way back
into human bodies primarily through
fish, where it concentrates as it moves
up the food chain. Large predatory fish
can have mercury concentrations in their
bodies that are 10,000 times higher than
those of their surrounding habitat.
These are just a few of the thousands of
toxic substances human routinely release
into the environment and are mentioned
as examples. The more poisons we use in
our industrial and agricultural processes,
the more we contaminate our surroundings
with them as they inevitably escape or are
disposed of irresponsibly.
Radioactive Waste
Radioactive waste is a special case.
It derives from generating electricity
in nuclear power plants, building and
exploding nuclear weapons, and using
nuclear materials in industrial and
medical technologies. Of these sources,
the overwhelming majority in terms of
volume stems from nuclear weapons
production, but the commercial waste
contains a much higher amount of
radiation. All of this material, regardless
of its level of intensity, is highly
dangerous to humans and must be
prevented from entering the biosphere.
Of course a great deal of it already has,
due to fallout from nuclear weapons
testing, various radiation spills and
accidents, and unsecured “tailings” from
Table of Contents
uranium mining. Radioactive waste can
be dangerous for periods ranging from a
few days for some types (isotopes), such
as Iodine-131, to quarter of a million
years (for Plutonium-239). During the
period for which they are dangerous,
radioactive wastes must somehow be
confined. Since no way has been found
to do this for the time periods involved,
particularly for plutonium, all the “high-
level” waste that has been generated
since the dawn of the nuclear age in the
1940s is still in “temporary” (sometimes
leaky) storage.
Despite the monumental failure of the
nuclear industry and the government to solve
the waste storage problem, nuclear weapons
are still being manufactured and new nuclear
power plants are being planned.
Clean Water
One in five people on the planet
today survive on less water per day than
it takes to flush a toilet. In 2000 18% of
the world’s people did not have access
to adequate water supplies. By 2015
that percentage is expected to nearly
double to 34%  more than a third of
all humans.
Wetlands once covered 12 percent of
the planet’s land area. Today half of that
wetland area is gone as rivers run dry or
wetlands are converted to farmland or
human settlements.
Worldwide, 70% of the water used
by humans is used for agriculture while
22% is used by industry and 8% is used
for domestic purposes. In the wealthier
countries, industrial water use moves up
to 59%, domestic use goes to 11%, while
agricultural use declines to 30%. Rich or
poor, though, the industrial and agricultural
uses are polluting the water so as to make
it increasingly unfit for consumption.
Species Depletion
Loss of biodiversity is one of the
most consistent signs of ecosystem
distress. Estimates range widely, but
generally current estimates of species
loss are ten-fold to a thousand-fold
(Continued on page 19)
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

Planetary Health Wars Cripple World

Continued from page 17
Demands Action
Continued from page 18 Algeria Insurgency 1992
Angola Cabinda 1975
greater than historic levels, leading some Burma Insurgency 1950
to speculate that the earth is already China Senkaku Islands 1968
entering the sixth major extinction of life China Spratly Islands 1988
on the planet. This extinction, however, A FULL-LINE GROCERY Colombia Insurgencies 1970
differs from the rest because the primary Fresh organic produce, bulk foods, Congo (Zaire) Congo War 1998
cause appears to be the effects of human organic herbs, teas, coffees, Georgia Civil War 1991
activity. Thirty-five percent of existing
species could be extinct by 2050.
wines & microbrews, supplements, India Assam 1985
books, gifts and much more. India Kashmir 1970s
India Naxalite Uprising 1967
Conclusion FRESH DAILY Indonesia Aceh 1986
The effects of global warming
Your choice of soups, juices, muffins Indonesia Kalimantan 1983
caused by human activity are potentially
disastrous for the future of life on & scones, hot soup & baked goods. Indonesia Maluku 1999
earth, but the planetary threats resulting Organic salad bar Monday - Friday. Indonesia Papua / West Irian 1963
from human activity go beyond global Israel Al-Aqsa Intifada 2000
warming to a spectrum of other threats. OPEN DAILY Israel Lebanon 2006
Looking at the big picture, it is hard to Ivory Coast Civil War 2002
M-F 8-7, Sat. 8-6, Sun. 10-6
escape the perception that the planet Korea Korean War 1953
is acting to control an out-of-control 159 S.E. 2nd Street, Newport, OR 97365
Laos Hmong Insurgency 2000
species (us  though other species will (541) 265-8285 Moldova Transdniester 1991
perish in the process).
There is good news, but it is highly www.oceanafoods.org Namibia Caprivi Strip 1966
Nepal Maoists 1996
conditional and very demanding. We can
(probably) avoid the most destructive Nigeria Civil Disturbances 1997
consequences of global warming and the Pakistan Baluchistan 2004
other threats listed above, but to say that Palestine Civil War 2007
it will not be easy is the understatement Peru Shining Path 1970s
of the century. Fortunately, the lifestyle Philippines Moro Uprising 1970s
to which OPW’s 5% Solution program Russia Chechen Uprising 1992
points can address most of these threats, Somalia Civil War 1991
either directly or indirectly. The bottom Spain Basque Uprising 1970s
lines are these:
Sri Lanka Tamil Separatists 1983
1. Every person, business, institution
Sudan Darfur 1983
and government must learn to live more
lightly upon the earth and must pledge Thailand Islamic Rebels 2001
and deliver a 5% carbon footprint Turkey Kurdistan 1984
reduction each year. Uganda Civil Conflict 1980
2. The world, led by the United United States Afghanistan 1980
States, must redirect its military United States Djibouti 2001
spending toward addressing these threats United States Iraq 1990
rather than focusing on far less serious United States Philippines 1898
threats and global power projection just Uzbekistan Civil Disturbances 2005
because they are amenable to military
Yemen Sheik al-Houti 2004
approaches. 
Peter Bergel is OPW’s Executive Rev. Margaret Hepziban is a pastor
Director and founding editor of The in the Abiding Love Fellowship of
PeaceWorker. Christ Jesus, in Lake Oswego, Oregon
and is pursuing a Master’s Degree in
Counseling Psychology at Portland State
Please Recycle University. Peter Bergel is the Executive
Director of Oregon PeaceWorks.
page 19 Table of Contents april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
BRIEF-INGS . . . bRIEF-INGS . . . BRIEF-INGS
Bush Vetoes Torture
Prevention Legislation
President Bush has vetoed legislation
that would have barred the CIA from
using waterboarding — a technique that
simulates drowning — and other harsh
interrogation methods on terror suspects.
Bush said the bill would harm the
government’s ability to prevent future
attacks. Supporters of the legislation argue
that it preserves the United States’ right to
collect critical intelligence while boosting
the country’s moral standing abroad.
“The bill would take away one of the
most valuable tools on the war on terror,
the CIA program to detain and question
key terrorist leaders and operatives,”
deputy White House press secretary
Tony Fratto said.
The bill would restrict the CIA
to using only the 19 interrogation
techniques listed in the Army field
manual, barring it from using
waterboarding, sensory deprivation
or other coercive methods to break
a prisoner who refuses to answer
questions. Those practices were banned
by the military in 2006.
The legislation cleared the House in
December and won Senate approval in
February. 
page 20
San Francisco
Gets Greener
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
last month signed into a law a require-
ment that the city’s taxi fleet be con-
verted to low-emission vehicles by 2011;
ordered all city departments to purchase
100 percent recycled paper and reduce
overall paper use by 20 percent by 2010;
and announced his support for a tidal-
energy project in the San Francisco Bay,
despite a recent study’s conclusions that
the project would be more expensive
than it’s worth. Newsom has proposed
strict green-building standards for his
city and will submit a carbon tax to
voters. San Francisco residents also live
happily without plastic bags or toys con-
taining bisphenol A and phthalates. 
 Grist Magazine, grist@grist.org
. blown off course by the fluctuations
Obama Pledges
In a YouTube video at http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=dl32Y7wDVDs
&feature=related, Barack Obama made
the following pledges specifying what he
would do as president:
1. End the war in Iraq.
2. Cut tens of billions of wasteful
military spending.
3. Cut investment in unproven
missile defense systems.
4. Not weaponize space.
5. Slow development of future
combat systems.
6. Institute an independent board
to ensure that the quadrennial
defense review is not used to
justify unnecessary spending.
7. Set a goal of a world without
nuclear weapons.
8. Not develop new nuclear
weapons.
9. Seek a global ban on production
of fissile materials.
10. Agree with Russia to take ICBMs
off hair-trigger alert and seek
deep cuts in nuclear arsenals.
If he is nominated and elected, peace
people will want to remind him of
these promises. 
Table of Contents
Cheney’s Arrogance
Reaches New Heights
by John Byrne
On the fifth anniversary of President
George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq,
President Bush said he has no doubts
about waging the unpopular war despite
the “high cost in lives and treasure.”
Vice President Dick Cheney had
a different message. Informed during
a Good Morning America interview
broadcast March 19 that two-thirds of
Americans now think the war was not
worth fighting, Cheney said: “So?”
“So you don’t care what the
American people think?” ABC’s Martha
Raddatz asked.
He added: “I think we cannot be
of the public opinion polls. There has
in fact been fundamental change and
transformation and improvement for the
better. That’s a huge accomplishment.”
Cheney added that the economy was
going through a “rough patch, there’s no
question about it.”
The Vice President was in Oman.
That day, he went fishing in the waters
between Oman and Iran, borrowing the
Sultan of Oman’s 60-foot royal yacht.
A Cheney spokeswoman told the
Associated Press that the vice president,
his wife Lynne, and daughter, Liz, a
former State Department official who
is traveling with her father as a private
citizen, headed out under sunny skies
into the Gulf of Oman on “Kingfish I,”
owned by Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
Oman allows the United States to use
four air bases -- including one just 50
miles from Iran -- for refueling, logistics
and storage of pre-positioned military
supplies. 
John Byrne writes for RAW STORY,
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Asked_
about_US_opposition_to_war_0319.html.
To view video from ABC’s Good Morning
America, March 19, 2008: http://
rawstory.com/news/2008/Asked_about_
US_opposition_to_war_0319.html.
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
5% Solutions to
One-Third of Military Budget
Could Cure U.S. Carbon Addiction
S
cientific American’s grand plan
to provide a bit over a third of
U.S. energy from solar sources
provides insight into what it would
cost to phase out all, or most, U.S.
greenhouse emissions. Bottom line: a
lot less than current military spending.
The total cost of the Scientific
American plan: $420 billion over the
course of that 40 years, or slightly over
ten billion dollars per year  less than
current fossil fuel subsidies, less than the
new subsidies “clean coal” would require.
The authors suggest phasing out
fossil-fuel powered electricity over
the course of forty years, using a
solar dominated electricity grid. They
suggest Compressed Air Electricity
Storage (CAES) and thermal storage to
compensate for the intermittent nature of
solar electricity, and High Voltage Direct
Current (HVDC) transmission lines to
move solar electricity from where it is
generated to where it is needed.
Move Quickly 
Pay the Premium
However, we can’t wait 40 years, and
we especially can’t wait 40 years for a
35% reduction in emissions. So suppose
we tripled the investment, and spent over
the course of 20 years. That would be
about $1.26 trillion, or $63 billion a year
over twenty years  a rounding error in
the Pentagon budget.
Unfortunately, it is not that simple.
The “Grand Plan” saves a lot of money
via slow implementation, giving the
technology time to develop. Implementing
it more quickly, with less mature
technology, would cost more, probably
page 21
Global Warming
by Gar Lipow
requiring more solar thermal and less
photovoltaic power (unless PV prices
drop a lot faster than Scientific American
projects). So we can double to ~$2.5
trillion, or $126 billion per year. This is
still a fraction of our military budget.
One more step raises costs further. In
the Scientific American projections, around
two thirds of the electricity passes through
CAES storage. CAES is a hybrid system,
burning natural gas to use the compressed
air more efficiently. Emissions from this
natural gas are around 30% per kWh
compared to our present grid. That implies
total emissions of 20% per kWh compared
to today, or an 80% reduction.
Global warming is just that  global.
If we, the most intense greenhouse
polluters, cut our emissions by only
80%, that does not leave room for
development by the Global South, which
produces one fifth, or fewer, greenhouse
gases (GHG) per person than we do.
Reasonably, we need to reduce by 95%
or better, to leave some possibility of
fossil fuel use for others.
So, no more than 30% of our kWh
should pass through CAES storage.
Scientific American suggests that the
next least expensive storage method
costs about double CAES. At most that
increases total costs of the proposed
system by a third. Extrapolating from
SciAm’s own figures, that suggests
a total cost of ~$3.4 trillion over the
course of twenty years, or less than $170
billion a year to completely eliminate
fossil fuels over the course of 20 years.
Thinking Through the Costs
However, Scientific American
actually made a number of expensive
technology choices. Making other
Table of Contents
choices could lower these costs further.
First, the grand plan contains almost
no demand reduction, other than what
would occur as a side effect of less
fossil fuel use, plus electrification of
transport. However, we know there is a
huge potential for inexpensive efficiency
improvements. At the low end, the
McKinsey group calculates that we
could reduce by around 11% in absolute
terms at a savings. My own book
suggests that efficiency improvements
alone could reduce emissions by more
than 60%, at a cost lower than the
current cost of coal electricity.
Secondly, we can use non-electrical
solar to displace a lot of generation.
Even in existing buildings, low
temperature solar thermal could replace
a lot of electricity used for space, hot
water heating, and other low temperature
purposes. (Scientific American does
already suggest a smart grid, including
low temperature storage of climate
control energy in buildings.) In new
buildings, passive solar is the next
cheapest choice after efficiency.
Third, under-using wind costs the
Scientific American plan a lot. I understand
why the authors concentrated on solar. Solar
potential in the U.S. is hundreds, perhaps
thousands of times current U.S. consumption.
Commercial wind potential, in contrast,
may be as little as ten times projected U.S.
consumption in 2100. But wind electricity
is also currently much cheaper than solar
electricity. In addition, studies have shown
that wind, when produced at multiple sites a
great distance apart, has potential to provide
a certain amount of very reliable power, even
before storage is used.
Still another saving is that the
Scientific American plan included
(Continued on page 24)
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
5% Solutions to
New Studies: Need Near Zero Carbon Output
T …Politicians Don’t Get It Yet
he task of cutting greenhouse
gas emissions enough to avert
a dangerous rise in global
temperatures may be far more difficult
than previous research suggested,
say scientists who have just published
studies indicating that it would require
the world to cease carbon emissions
altogether within a matter of decades.
Their findings, published in
separate journals over the past few
weeks, suggest that both industrialized
and developing nations must wean
themselves off fossil fuels by as early as
mid-century in order to prevent warming
that could change precipitation patterns
and dry up sources of water worldwide.
Radical Change Needed…
Using advanced computer models to
factor in deep-sea warming and other
aspects of the carbon cycle that naturally
creates and removes carbon dioxide
(CO2), the scientists, from countries
including the United States, Canada
and Germany, are delivering a simple
message: The world must bring carbon
emissions down to near zero to keep
temperatures from rising further.
“The question is, what if we don’t
want the Earth to warm anymore?” asked
Carnegie Institution senior scientist Ken
Caldeira, co-author of a paper published
last week in the journal Geophysical
Research Letters. “The answer implies a
much more radical change to our energy
system than people are thinking about.”
Although many nations have been
pledging steps to curb emissions for
nearly a decade, the world’s output of
carbon from human activities totals
about 10 billion tons a year and has been
steadily rising.
page 22
Global Warming
By Juliet Eilperin
For now, at least, a goal of zero
emissions appears well beyond the reach
of politicians here and abroad. U.S. leaders
are just beginning to grapple with setting
any mandatory limit on greenhouse gases.
The Senate is poised to vote in June
on legislation that would reduce U.S.
emissions by 70 percent by 2050; the two
Democratic senators running for president,
Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack
Obama (Ill.), back an 80 percent cut. The
Republican presidential nominee, Sen.
John McCain (Ariz.), supports a 60 percent
reduction by mid-century.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who is
shepherding climate legislation through
the Senate as chairman of the Environment
and Public Works Committee, said the new
findings “make it clear we must act now to
address global warming.”
“It won’t be easy, given the makeup
of the Senate, but the science is
compelling,” she said. “It is hard for me
to see how my colleagues can duck this
issue and live with themselves.”
James L. Connaughton, who chairs the
White House Council on Environmental
Quality, offered a more guarded reaction,
saying the idea that “ultimately you
need to get to net-zero emissions” is
“something we’ve heard before.” When
it comes to tackling such a daunting
environmental and technological
problem, he added: “We’ve done this kind
of thing before. We will do it again. It will
just take a sufficient amount of time.”
Until now, scientists and policymakers
have generally described the problem in
terms of halting the buildup of carbon in the
atmosphere. The United Nations’ Framework
Convention on Climate Change framed the
question that way two decades ago, and many
experts talk of limiting CO2 concentrations to
450 parts per million (ppm).
Table of Contents
Warming Continues
After Emissions Decline
But Caldeira and Oregon State
University professor Andreas Schmittner
now argue that it makes more sense to
focus on a temperature threshold as a
better marker of when the planet will
experience severe climate disruptions. The
Earth has already warmed by 0.76 degrees
Celsius (nearly 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
above pre-industrial levels. Most scientists
warn that a temperature rise of 2 degrees
Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) could
have serious consequences.
Schmittner, lead author of a
Feb. 14 article in the journal Global
Biogeochemical Cycles, said his
modeling indicates that if global
emissions continue on a “business as
usual” path for the rest of the century,
the Earth will warm by 7.2 degrees
Fahrenheit by 2100. If emissions do not
drop to zero until 2300, he calculated,
the temperature rise at that point would
be more than 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
“This is tremendous,” Schmittner
said. “I was struck by the fact that
the warming continues much longer
even after emissions have declined.
. . . Our actions right now will
have consequences for many, many
generations. Not just for a hundred
years, but thousands of years.”
While natural cycles remove roughly
half of human-emitted carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere within a hundred
years, a significant portion persists for
thousands of years. Some of this carbon
triggers deep-sea warming, which keeps
raising the global average temperature
even after emissions halt.
Researchers have predicted for a long
time that warming will persist even after the
world’s carbon emissions start to fall and
(Continued on page 23)
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
5% Solutions to
Near Zero Carbon Output
that countries will have to dramatically curb
their carbon output in order to avert severe
climate change. Last year’s report of the U.N.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
said industrialized nations would have to cut
emissions 80 to 95 percent by 2050 to limit
CO2 concentrations to the 450 ppm goal, and
the world as a whole would have to reduce
emissions by 50 to 80 percent.
Common Sense and
Weasel Words
European Union Environment
Commissioner Stavros Dimas, in
Washington last week for meetings
with administration officials, said he
and his colleagues are operating on the
assumption that developed nations must
cut emissions 60 to 80 percent by mid-
century, with an overall global reduction
of 50 percent. “If that is not enough,
common sense is that we would not let
the planet be destroyed,” he said.
The two new studies outline the challenge
in greater detail, and on a longer time scale,
than many earlier studies. Schmittner’s study,
for example, projects how the Earth will
warm for the next 2,000 years.
But some climate researchers
who back major greenhouse gas
reductions said it is unrealistic to expect
policymakers to think in terms of such
vast time scales.
“People aren’t reducing emissions
at all, let alone debating whether 88
percent or 99 percent is sufficient,” said
Gavin A. Schmidt, of NASA’s Goddard
Institute for Space Studies. “It’s like
you’re starting off on a road trip from
New York to California, and before you
even start, you’re arguing about where
you’re going to park at the end.”
Brian O’Neill of the National Center
for Atmospheric Research emphasized
that some uncertainties surround the
strength of the natural carbon cycle and
the dynamics of ocean warming, which
page 23
Global Warming
Continued from page 22
in turn would affect the accuracy of
Caldeira’s modeling. “Neither of these
are known precisely,” he said.
Although computer models used
by scientists to project changes in the
climate have become increasingly
powerful, scientists acknowledge that
no model is a perfect reflection of the
complex dynamics involved and how
they will evolve with time.
Still, O’Neill said the modeling “helps
clarify thinking about long-term policy
goals. If we want to reduce warming to
a certain level, there’s a fixed amount of
carbon we can put into the atmosphere.
After that, we can’t emit any more, at all.”
The Bottom Line
Caldeira and his colleague, H. Damon
Matthews, a geography professor at
Concordia University in Montreal,
emphasized this point in their paper,
concluding that “each unit of CO2
emissions must be viewed as leading to
Holy Shift! Baptist Leaders
Urge Climate Change Action
Over 40 prominent Southern Baptist
leaders released a statement last
month urging action against climate
change, asserting that “the time for
timidity regarding God’s creation
is no more.” The declaration is a
notable departure from a statement
released after the denomination’s
2007 annual meeting that questioned
human impacts on climate change. “We
believe our current denominational
engagement with these issues have often
been too timid, failing to produce a unified
moral voice,” the new declaration says.
Table of Contents
quantifiable and essentially permanent
climate change on centennial timescales.”
Steve Gardiner, a philosophy
professor at the University of
Washington who studies climate
change, said the studies highlight that
the argument over global warming “is a
classic inter-generational debate, where
the short-term benefits of emitting
carbon accrue mainly to us and where
the dangers of them are largely put off
until future generations.”
When it comes to deciding how
drastically to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, O’Neill said, “in the end, this
is a value judgment, it’s not a scientific
question.” The idea of shifting to a
carbon-free society, he added, “appears
to be technically feasible. The question
is whether it’s politically feasible or
economically feasible.”
Juliet Eilperin writes for the Washington
Post; http://www.washingtonpost.
com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/09/
AR2008030901867_pf.html
“Our cautious response to these issues in
the face of mounting evidence may
be seen by the world as uncaring,
reckless, and ill-informed. We can
do better.” The signatories also
urged action on other environmental
ills and called on churches to preach
about caring for the environment.
One of the signatories, Jonathan Merritt,
stressed why environmental protection is
so important. “[W]hen we destroy God’s
creation, it’s similar to ripping pages from
the Bible,” he said. 
 Grist Magazine, grist@grist.org.
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
5% Solutions to
Blumenauer
Announces
Capitol Hill
Bike-Share
Program
Thirty bicycles will be made
available to government employees
on Capitol Hill under a pilot bike-
share program announced by
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) at
a National Bike Summit month
week. “You have such a huge
concentration of people” on the Hill,
he said, “and so much of the errand
running doesn’t need to fire up an
engine.” Blumenauer, founder of the
160-member Congressional Bike
Caucus, hopes bike sharing will take
off nationwide. Currently, only 1
percent of all journeys in the U.S.
are made by bicycle. As Blumenauer
pointed out, “How many people are
stuck in traffic on their way to ride a
stationary bike at a health club?” 
 Grist Magazine, grist@
grist.org.
page 24
Global Warming
One-third of Military Budget Cure
Continued from page 21
overbuilding to handle an extreme case
where volcanic activity greatly reduces
available solar energy for a year or two.
A grid that was more evenly divided
between sun and wind would still need
overbuilding for both the volcano case
and for wind draughts. But since the two
are unlikely to occur simultaneously
over as long a period as either one
by itself, the overbuilding would not
need to be as large. In addition, while
wind by itself needs less storage than
sun by itself, a grid that combines
approximately even amounts of both
will need even less storage. In fact, one
very important part of the designing a
combined solar/wind grid is to figure
out the ratio of wind to sun generation
capabilities to get maximum reliability.
(For example, the Midwest and Great
Plains are probably a lot steadier source
of power than California.)
A Bargain, Compared
to the Alternative
This assumes pretty complete
electrification of transport and
industry, and that backup for solar in
climate control comes from renewable
electricity, not fossil fuels. It also
assumes we replace at least feedstock
for chemicals with biomass, and perhaps
tiny amounts of biofuel to run freight
trains, short run freight trucks, and
perhaps backup engines on plug-in
hybrids as well. I don’t think we can
do completely without liquid fuel, but
we can probably reduce liquid fuel
consumption to four or five quads.
If natural gas inputs into the electrical
grid are already producing all the
emissions we can afford, then we have
to get liquid fuel from net zero emission
sources. Alternatively, maybe this is an
argument for spending another 70 billion
or so annually on storage so that our
electrical grid is truly fossil fuel free,
Table of Contents
and then using 3-4 quads of fossil fuels
(mostly natural gas) for transport and
industry.
So conservatively, the cost of
eliminating 95% of fossil fuel use over
the course of 20 years would be $170
billion annually if we can get small
amounts of genuinely sustainable, net-
zero-emissions biomass. Alternatively,
for $240 billion annually we can do it
with no biofuels. So we can completely
phase out fossil fuels for around a third
of current military spending.
(Zero biofuels is absurd, though. If
nothing else, we want to tap methane
from waste, if for no other reason than
to convert that methane into CO2 that
will produce far less warming. Similarly,
after we close all coal mines, we want
to tap the non-biomass methane they
emit into the atmosphere. Sustainable
biomass potential may be small, but it is
not zero.)
This assumes no breakthroughs in
renewable production or storage 
which is also absurd.
This only tackles fossil fuels, not
agriculture and forestry. Though these
are extremely important, I also suspect
that converting them to sustainability
would cost an order of magnitude less
than eliminating fossil fuels. In the
course of increasing energy efficiency,
we would probably make a start
by reducing paper use, substituting
agricultural waste for a large part of
wood use, and supporting more energy
efficiency in agriculture. I further
suspect that half or more of the cost
subsidizing more sustainability could
be paid by converting existing subsidies
into less perverse incentives. 
Gar Lipow is the author of the book
Cooling It! No Hair Shirt Solutions to
Global Warming. This article was posted
on Gristmill http://gristmill.grist.org/
story/2008/2/15/151252/412.
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
SMART
 Seize the Opportunity to
T Abolish Nuclear Weapons
U By Glenn Carroll
F W
F Information relevant to the
SMART Security Plan
Climate of Fear:
Global Warming
Security
Threats
A new report from the European
Union’s two top foreign-policy officials
warns of a wide range of security threats
that will be caused or exacerbated by
climate change. The report echoes the
concerns of earlier U.S. and U.K. reports,
warning of “significant potential conflicts”
over energy resources, climate-related
mass migration, economic instability,
and more. A growing rich-poor and
north-south divide is forecast in the E.U.
report, caused by resentment over richer
countries having released far more climate-
changing greenhouse gases and poorer
countries bearing the brunt of the effects.
The thawing Arctic is another potential
flashpoint, according to the report, as
countries and companies rush to exploit
newly accessible energy sources in the
region. “Climate change is best viewed
as a threat multiplier which exacerbates
existing trends, tensions, and instability,”
the report says. “The core challenge is that
climate change threatens to overburden
states and regions which are already fragile
and conflict-prone. The risks include
political and security risks that directly
affect European interests.” 
Sources: The Guardian, Associated
Press, Grist Magazine, grist@grist.org.
page 25
ithout a word of public debate, nuclear weapons became a
seemingly inevitable fact of life and death on our planet. After
World War II ended with two single bombs destroying the Japanese
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The Bomb became big business with vast
factory complexes on government reservations in several states across the
country.
A government agency, now called U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), was formed
to oversee private contractors who churned out no less than 30,000 nuclear warheads
over the next four decades and established the nuclear industry as an economic force
in human affairs.
Nuclear Competition
A people’s movement to “Ban the Bomb” formed instantly in response to the
wartime bombing of Japan, and to the “test bombings” on the lands of the Western
Shoshone Nation in Nevada and Utah and the Pacific islanders of the Moruroa Atoll.
From protests on the street to civil disobedience at weapons sites, the public has
been vocal and insistent that our only reasonable option is to abolish nuclear weapons.
Indeed, in 1996 the World Court issued a landmark decision defending this basic ethic
when it declared the manufacture, possession or use of nuclear weapons to be illegal.
The Cold War bomb factories were built in secret in the 1940s and 1950s. They
operated without public oversight until the Cold War ended in 1991, when crumbling
Russian and U.S. nuclear bomb factories and reactors were forced to shut down.
With the Cold War’s end, shocking security issues and environmental
contamination throughout Russia and the U.S. bomb complexes were discovered.
Huge inventories of U.S. nuclear waste and weapons-grade plutonium had piled up
and were stored in slipshod, temporary containers  even cardboard boxes tossed into
landfills.
The U.S. is for the third time seeking permission from its people to rebuild the
nuclear weapons complex. There are eight sites that would be involved in the current
DOE vision: Savannah River Site (SRS) near Augusta, Oak Ridge in Tennessee, Los
Alamos and Sandia labs in New Mexico, Pantex in Texas, the Kansas City Plant,
Lawrence Livermore in California and the Nevada Test Site.
There are literally dozens of facilities proposed to be spread around at these eight
sites, and the sites are being pitted against each other to lure DOE to set up the new
facilities there. SRS, for example, is competing against Los Alamos for a consolidated
plutonium center.
Window of Opportunity
Thanks to the National Environmental Policy Act, DOE is now required to hold
public hearings for an environmental impact statement before it can build new bomb
factories. The public has spoken clearly and unequivocally at each opportunity that we
reject nuclear weapons under any and all circumstances.
It has been nearly 20 years now since our country has manufactured new nuclear
weapons. Momentum is on the side of nuclear disarmament and the final abolition of
weapons of mass destruction. Our national security lies down the path of nuclear waste
(Continued on page 29)
Table of Contents april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

what’s happening in the movement

Hold Abusive Military Contractors Accountable
By Members of the Code Pink Staff

War is hell of fraudulent and abusive behavior, Code Pink Also Notes…

Photo: justiceseekers.com
for everyone including fostering a work environment CODEPINK held 11 kiss-ins around
involved. For conducive to violence against its own the country on Valentine’s Day with the
women, this employees, we call upon Mr. Robert message “Don’t Enlist, Stay and Kiss...
hell can be Kittel, Suspension and Debarment that way everybody makes out!”
especially deep. Official of the U.S. Army Legal In Berkeley, CA and Gainesville, FL,
Recruiters Services Agency, to debar Halliburton/ peaceful kissers shut down the recruiting
don’t tell those KBR from future contracts in Iraq. stations for the day.
who enlist that For more information, please read the Click here to see photos and news
30% of military Jamie Lynn Jones recent New York Times article, “Limbo coverage of kiss-ins in DC, NYC,
women will be for U.S. Women Reporting Iraq Assaults” Berkeley, and Pittsburgh.
sexually assaulted while serving. Women and see www.jamiesfoundation.org. Bring the spirit of Berkeley to your
who work as contract employees in Iraq Please sign our petition in support city by starting a Military Recruiting
face similar dangers. of the Jamie Leigh Act of 2008, which Zoning Initiative in your city. If that
Jamie Leigh Jones, a former mandates that companies report criminal sounds like gibberish, stay tuned for easy
Halliburton/KBR employee in Iraq, violations and provide this information recipes for zoning recruiters away from
recently testified at a Congressional to new employees. Thank you for kids in your city  to be posted soon on
hearing that she was drugged and brutally helping us hold abusive companies our website. 
gang-raped by her co-workers in 2005. accountable and provide justice to
Three years later, KBR and the military courageous women like Jamie Leigh.
have failed to punish the perpetrators or
provide redress for Jamie Leigh.
We met Jamie Leigh in Washington
and we were moved by her courage 
under tremendous pressure  to speak
out publicly and start an organization, The
Jamie Leigh Foundation, to help other
women. Since Jamie Leigh spoke out, 38
U.S. women, all contract employees in
Iraq, have come forward to report crimes
of sexual harassment and assault in the
workplace. Halliburton/KBR has failed to
protect the safety of its contract employees,
and, in fact, has fostered an environment
wherein sexual violence is accepted.
Moreover, the company requires employees
to sign a private arbitration agreement,
forcing them to give up their right to sue the
company or have a trial by jury.
“Halliburton is trying to force this into
a secret proceeding, which will do nothing
to prevent continued abuses of this nature,”
Jamie Leigh told Congress. “The United
States government has to provide people with
their day in court when they have been raped
and assaulted by other American citizens.”
Due to Halliburton/KBR’s pattern
page 26 Table of Contents april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

what’s happening in the movement

Progress Made on Halting Nuclear Development
By Fred Miller

Last year, we got Congress to cut funding
for “Complex 2030”, the administration’s
plan to completely rebuild the nuclear
weapons complex. The program could easily
cost $150 billion, and would produce 125-
150 nuclear bombs per year. Of course, more
nukes will stop terrorism, right?
Despite their failure in Congress (we
also got Congress to cut funds for the
nuclear bunker buster and the Reliable
Replacement Warhead, a nuclear trifecta), Your calls pay off. 
the administration is trying again. They’ve Fred Miller is the President of
made some changes to the program, and Washington State Peace Action. You can
are trying to hide aspects of it behind new contact him at 425.774.5701.
names. They still are betting on nuclear
holocaust, though, as the door to peace
and prosperity. To make comments about
the Bombplex, click on http://salsa.
emocracyinaction.org/o/161/t/288/
campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=22268

Got a Tax Refund Coming?

Put it to Work
for Social Change!
Donate all or part of it
to Oregon PeaceWorks.
George W. may not know
what to do with it, but we do!
Just endorse it to Oregon PeaceWorks and mail it to
104 Commercial St. NE,
Salem, OR 97301.
To double your effectiveness,
photocopy the front and the back of
your check and send the copy to the White House.
Tell George this is how you want your money used.
www.DonnellyColt.com

page 27 Table of Contents april 2008

the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Statewide
Give Peace a Dance Returns to
Salem’s Grand Ballroom April 26
O
regon PeaceWorks’ popular
Give Peace a Dance
(GPAD), Oregon’s grandest
annual peace party, is scheduled
for April 26th at Salem’s Grand
Ballroom. Tickets are available on
OPW’s website right now.
The popular Ty Curtis Band will
headline the festivities, which will
celebrate Earth Day in accordance
with OPW’s new 5% Solution Project.
Twenty-one-year-old Ty Curtis and his
band are an Oregon sensation. Driven
by Curtis’ guitar and vocals, the band
delivers listenable and danceable blues
with admixtures of rock, funk, and even
swing. Backing Curtis are Jim Smith on
5% Solution Project
Surges Forward
OPW’s innovative 5% Solution to
the Climate Crisis Project is gathering
momentum. The project seeks
pledges from individuals, businesses,
institutions and governments to cut
their carbon footprints by 5% per year
in order to reach cuts of 88% by 2050
as the International Panel on Climate
Change prescribed. Some examples
of what we’re calling “Emissionary”
work:
• Regular presentations
about the project are being
made throughout the mid-
Willamette Valley.
• Pledges from both individuals
and supportive business are
being collected.
• An extensive set of project
materials is available on
OPW’s website, including
page 28
OPW News
bass and Davis Brown on drums. This
is a show you’ll want to catch. Kicking
www.corvallisfallfestival.com
off the evening, Dr. Atomic’s Medicine
Show will perform its special brand
of political satire, always popular with
GPAD audiences. An extra special treat
this year is a performance by Salem-
based duo The Undertones.
In addition, OPW Director Peter
Bergel will again serve as auctioneer as
great donated items and services go on
the block to raise much-needed funds
for Oregon PeaceWorks. This is always
a hilarious part of the evening so come
prepared for bidding fun.
Ty Curtis Band
Plan now to join the festivities and,
especially needed in coordinating the
if you have some time to volunteer, call
fundraising auction, which is an exciting
this year’s GPAD Coordinator Winter
part of the evening’s entertainment.
Pope (503.999.0465). Assistance is
For additional information, or to
purchase tickets at a saving of $3 each,
visit OPW’s website now. 
OPW Wish List
the pledge, links to carbon OPW needs the follow-
footprint calculators, ing items. Please contact us
suggested ways to cut your (503.371.8002) if you can help.
own footprint, an extensive
1. Laptop computer with a
bibliography and the 5% video output port running
Solution PowerPoint Windows XP or Vista for 5%
presentation. All of this can be Solution presentations.
conveniently downloaded. 2. A researcher to figure out
• OPW is negotiating how large the current gaso-
partnerships with other line subsidy is and a donor
organizations to promote to fund that research.
the 5% Solution as an action 3. Volunteers who can help pro-
component of their own mote the 5% Solution.
programs. 4. People to sponsor 5% Solu-
tion House Parties.
Visit the website or call Melissa
5. People who want to be
Austin at 503.585.2767 today to host trained to give 5% Solution
a 5% Solution house party, schedule a presentations using OPW’s
public presentation, learn when you can 5% Solution PowerPoint as a
attend an already-scheduled presentation, basis.
volunteer to help promote the 5% 6. A volunteer who can help keep
Solution or obtain other information.  OPW’s website current. 
Table of Contents april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

Paying the Penalty Seize Opportunity

Continued from page 11
to go: into refugee camps under siege, day, under fire from Israeli sniper towers
into villages and streets and checkpoints in the distance. Tom Hurndall ran under
and the daily, dehumanizing grind of life bullets to rescue children under fire from
under occupation. They witness, they Israeli snipers, who targeted and murdered
write, they take pictures and videos, and him. There are many, many more.
then they go home and talk to people. I feel somewhat overrated to be
They go where the mainstream media is counted among their company. My plans,
unwilling to go, and tell the stories that as I’ve said, were actually different
are not being told. this time. I had hoped to work with the
land, to teach some of the techniques of
People of Amazing Courage bioremediation that I know and to learn
from the many wonderful groups there.
The ISM, in particular, has heroes and
I feel great grief that I cannot do
martyrs. Working with the ISM, I’ve been
that work. But if that is the price of my
privileged to meet people of truly staggering
commitment to justice and nonviolence,
courage — among whom I do not rank
I am willing to pay it. It’s a tiny price,
myself. My own courage is middle rank.
indeed, a miniscule sacrifice, compared
Yeah, I’ll stand in front of a tank, but at the
to those, like Rachel, who have given
end, if it doesn’t stop I’ll get out of the way.
their lives.
I’ve known a woman who would walk up
Starhawk is an author, activist,
to artillery and put her hand over the mouth
nonviolence trainer and spiritual teacher.
of the gunbarrel. Rachel and her team stood
Her latest book is The Earth Path.
out in front of Palestinian wells, day after
A BENEFIT CONCERT AND AUCTION FOR OREGON PEACEWORKS
APRIL 26TH
Continued from page 25
management, environmental restoration
and securing the bomb materials from
dismantled weapons.
We have a rare window of
opportunity to establish a turning
point in human history  to publicly
express the vision and goal that
may inspire our country to lead the
world in ending the global nuclear
nightmare.
Nuclear weapons are a human
artifact and it is humanly possible
to turn away from the wasteful path
of nuclear madness. We can turn our
hearts and minds to a new frontier of
human ingenuity  honoring treaties
to dismantle nuclear weapons,
managing radioactive nuclear
waste and securing weapons-grade
plutonium and uranium from future
use as nuclear weapons.
We are standing at a choice point
in history. If it is human nature to
learn from our mistakes, then it is
wise for us to remember that it was
the Bomb itself (and the rockets we
developed to deliver them to the
other side of our Earth) that showed
us the stark and glorious revelation
that our planet is finite, fragile and
destructible and  most important of
all  that we are all in it together. 
Glenn Carroll of Decatur is

2008
2008
coordinator of Nuclear Watch South.
This editorial was published in the
Atlanta, GA Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/
content/opinion/stories/2008/03/03/
bombsed0303.html
FEATURING
THE TY CURTIS BAND
Also Performing
Dr. Atomic’s Medicine Show ~ The Undertones
Appetizers, Desserts & No Host Bar
Silent and Oral Auction
$15 in advance $18 at the door
Doors open at 6 pm ~ Tickets are limited!
Grand Ballroom, 187 High Street NE, Salem Oregon

503-585-2767 - Buy tickets online at - oregonpeaceworks.org

page 29 Table of Contents april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Calendar
To offer calendar items email
:pbergel@igc.org (electronic copy
preferred) or hard copy to The Peace-
Worker before the 12th of the month for
following month’s issue.
April 1: Salem, 7 p.m. “Fair Trade for a
Fair World” - Free Workshop sponsored by
and at the Straub Environmental Learning
Center. Roxanne Magnuson, a representative
from Equal Exchange, will discuss the
economic and social values that fair trade
brings to those who produce our food and
beverages was well as the value overall to the
world population. Corey Knudson will tell
artisans’ stories to show the importance of
buying fair trade goods. He will also display
goods from countries all over the world,
fairly traded at the store 10,000 Villages
located in Salem. Straub Environmental
Learning Center, 1320 A St. NE, next to
Olinger Pool, near North Salem High.
April 4: Eugene, 7 p.m. 40th
Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s
Assassination. Free showing of two
films: “360 Vision” – a short film
explaining the King family lawsuit
against federal conspirators, and “JFK”
by Oliver Stone - a drama about the
assassination of President Kennedy. PLC
180, 14th & Kincaid Univ. of Oregon.
April 4: Memphis Tennessee. “The
Dream ... Reborn” - Marking the 40th
anniversary of the assassination of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Ella
Baker Center for Human Rights will host
a major gathering to celebrate Dr. King’s
life. We will focus on the ecological
solutions that can heal the Earth while
bringing jobs, justice, wealth and health
to vulnerable people, especially positive
solutions from today’s generation of
visionary leaders. King would have
worked for a peaceful, green economy
page 30
- strong enough to lift people out of
poverty and restore hope. Contact:
www.ellabakercenter.org.
April 5: Salem, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Statewide annual gathering offering
information and skills needed to help
stop the passage of new mandatory
minimum sentences in Oregon. Kevin
Mannix’s proposed ballot initiative (IP
40) would be the worst thing to happen
to Oregon’s criminal justice system since
Measure 11. At this event we will: 1.
Provide detailed information about IP
40 and its potential impact on Oregon;
2. Provide detailed information about
the legislative measure that is directly
competing against IP 40; 3. Discuss the
most effective messages for educating
voters and making our movement for
criminal justice reform stronger; 4.
Provide training on how you can ensure
your family, friends, and neighbors are
registered to vote; 5. Plug you into to
our core campaign strategies. Free,
but registration is required so we know
how many people to plan for. Please
call 503.335.8449 or email denise@
safetyandjustice.org for more information
and to register. (If you have previously
registered, please call or email to confirm
1027 Willamette Street, Eugene, 541.683.5903, www.harlequinbeads.com
 all ORGANIC
Coffee & Milk
 Weekend Breakfasts
8am-2pm
 open ‘til midnight
every day
 veggie & vegan menu
Table of Contents
your attendance on this new date.)
Childcare will be provided, but you
must let us know in advance if you need
childcare. Coffee and light breakfast food
will be served in the morning and lunch
will be provided. Claggett Creek Middle
School, 1810 Alder Dr NE, Keizer, OR
April 5: Salem, Nonviolent
Communication Workshop. Nonviolent
Communication (NVC), also called
compassionate communication, helps us
connect us with what is alive in ourselves
and in others, moment-to-moment, and
what we or others could do to make life
more wonderful. NVC strengthens our
ability to inspire compassion from others,
respond compassionately to others and
ourselves and guides us to reframe how
we express ourselves and how we hear
others. Learn how to resolve conflicts
by focusing on what we and others are
observing feeling, needing, and requesting.
Westminster Presbyterian Church 3737
Liberty Road South. For more information
visit http://www.cnvc.org/.
April 6: Salem, 2 - 6 p.m. Nonviolence
Workshop. Sponsored by Peace Village,
Inc. and presented by Cathey and
Charles Busch. Title: “You must be the
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
plant identification, focusing on plant Featuring “Gift of Peace” a play by

Calendar
continued
To offer calendar items email
:pbergel@igc.org (electronic copy
preferred) or hard copy to The Peace-
Worker before the 12th of the month for
following month’s issue.
change you wish to see in the world,”
(Gandhi). Interactive workshop on
nonviolence. Contact Cathey or Charles
Busch 541.996.4766, cathey.charles.
busch@charter.net . Hatfield Room,
Willamette University 503.370.6213.
April 8: Salem, 7 p.m. Hollywood and
Beyond Film Series: “No Regrets for Our
Youth.” A film, set in post-World War II
Japan and inspired by the life of Hotsumi
families among the 4,000 plants native
to Oregon. Details about the April
12 field trip will be announced in the
classes. The program costs $5 and is
open to the public. It is co-sponsored
by the Friends of Straub Environmental
Learning Center and the Willamette
Valley Chapter of the Native Plant
Society of Oregon. To register, please
call 503.391.4145. Straub Environmental
Learning Center, 1320 A St. NE, next to
Olinger Pool, near North Salem High.
April 10: Salem, 11:30 a.m. University
Convocation: “Is God Green?” The
Impact of Religion on Environmental
Issues. The Center for Religion, Law
and Democracy and the Center for
Sustainable Communities present a
conference on the impact of religion on
environmental issues. A panel discussion
will follow the convocation later in the
day. Free. Info: 503.370.6654. Cone
Chapel, Willamette University.
April 11 - 13: Vancouver, WA., 6
p.m. Friday-4 p.m. Sunday. Regional
Conference of the Campaign for a U.S.
Department of Peace. Keynote speakers:
Marianne Williamson, Riane Eisler.
youth, and Art for the Sky. Sliding scale
registration. More information: http://
www.peak.org/~innercom/ORSDOPC.
html. Red Lion Hotel at the Quay, 100
Columbia St. Contact: David Hazen,
541.343.2109, innercom@peak.org.
April 12: Corvallis, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Second Saturday’s first Open Mic hosted
by Cassandra Robertson. We welcome
your participation with song or poetry,
for a seven (7) minute slot (if you are a
duo or a trio, you can have a double slot).
Send an email with “open mic signup” in
the subject line to Cassandra Robertson,
cassiopia11@yahoo.com. All ages
welcome to perform. Please mention what
microphones and plug-ins you will want.
We will have a basic amp with 4 inputs,
and we are hoping to keep the technology
simple! The show is (as always) at
Sunnyside Up Cafe, 116 NW 3rd. St, from
6 - 8 p.m. . Please come by 6 unless you
make arrangements otherwise. We will also
have signups that night, IF we still have
space. Sunnyside Up Cafe, 116 NW 3rd. St.
April 12: Salem. Wildflower
Identification Field Trip. Details about
the April 12 field trip will be announced

Gregory Kafoury
Ozaki, who was executed for treason for his
assistance to the Soviet spy Richard Sorge.
A discussion will follow the film, led by

Mark McDougal
Willamette Japanese Professor Ron Loftus.
Info: 503.370.6280. Free at Roger Hull
Lecture Hall, Hallie Ford Museum of Art,
Willamette University. Of counsel: Linda Williams
“Justice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere.”
April 8: Salem, 7 p.m. Panel presentation on
sustainable business practices. Kim Dinan, People’s Lawyers
Marion County’s Waste Reduction Coordinator, 202 Oregon Pioneer Building, 320 S.W. Stark Street, Portland, Oregon
will present an overview of Marion County’s
Phone: 503/224-2647
Earthwise certification process. Panelists from
Salem local landscaping, medical, recycling,
and auto repair businesses who have attained
their Earthwise certifications will discuss
their experience with the certification process
as well as their experiences on the path
towards becoming more sustainable. Straub
Environmental Learning Center, 1320 A St. NE,
next to Olinger Pool, near North Salem High.

April 9 & 10: Salem, 7 p.m. - 8:30

p.m. Wildflower Identification. Learn
to identify common flowers of forest,
field, woodland, riparian areas in this
three-part class. Dr. Morris Johnson,
Professor Emeritus at Western Oregon
University, will explain the basics of

page 31 Table of Contents april 2008

the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Calendar
continued
To offer calendar items email
:pbergel@igc.org (electronic copy
preferred) or hard copy to The Peace-
Worker before the 12th of the month for
following month’s issue.
at the April 9 & 10th classes. To register,
please call 503.391.4145.
April 15: Salem, 7 p.m. Free
Household Sustainability Workshop.
Deborah Topp, the Natural Resource
Outreach Specialist of the City of
Salem’s Public Works Department,
will discuss water conservation and
storm water issues. Bailey Payne, the
Recycling Coordinator from Marion
County Public Works - Environmental
Services will provide information
about composting. A representative
from the Energy Trust of Oregon will
lecture about conserving energy on an
individual level. Straub Environmental
Learning Center, 1320 A St. NE, next to
Olinger Pool, near North Salem High.
April 19: Salem, Native Plant Garden
Tour. Tour native plant gardens at
various Salem and Keizer locations. The
tour, hosted by the Friends of Straub
Environmental Learning Center and the
Willamette Valley Chapter of the Native
Plant Society of Oregon, will start at the
Straub Environmental Learning Center,
1320 A St. NE, next to Olinger Pool.
Directions to the gardens and plant lists
will be provided. There will be guides at
each garden. The tour will highlight five
different kinds of native plant gardens.
These include a small front yard in
downtown Salem, an Oak savannah
restoration project, an elementary school
garden, and the Martha Springer Garden
on the Willamette University campus.
The tour is free and open to the public.
For more information, call 503.391.4145.
page 32
April 21: Salem, 7:30 p.m. Global Warming 2008. The program begins at 7 p.m. at the
Roadshow. Oregon Secretary of State Bill Hudson Hall (inside Rogers Music Center)
Bradbury was chosen as one of the first ten to at Willamette University. Free.
fly to former Vice President Al Gore’s property
in Tennessee and receive training on how to
present Gore’s lecture on global warming.
April 26: Salem, 6-11 p.m. “Give
Peace a Dance.” Oregon’s best peace
Bradbury’s enthusiasm and optimism is party, featuring the Ty Curtis Band.
uplifting as he shares scientific findings on a Also presenting Dr. Atomic’s Medicine
subject that will affect us all. Info: 503.370.6465 Show and The Undertones. Appetizers,
Smith Auditorium, Willamette University. Free. desserts and no host bar. Silent and oral
auctions. Admission: $15 in advance
April 22: Salem, 7 p.m. “Hop on the or $18 at the door. Doors open at 6
Biodiesel Bandwagon” - free workshop. p.m., event begins at 6:30. Contact
Lee Litvin of Pacific Biodiesel will 503.585.2767 or buy tickets online at
discuss the technology and science behind www.oregonpeaceworks.org. Grand
large scale production of biodiesel. James Ballroom, 187 High Street NE.
Santana of Flower Power will discuss the
resources available in and for the Salem April 29: Salem, 7 p.m. Sample Green
biodiesel community. There will also be a Cuisine Workshop. Learn about cooking
demonstration on the process of making and eating sustainably from top chefs and
biodiesel at home. Straub Enviromental local farmers as they explain the basics of
Learing Center, 1320 A St. NE, next to “green” cuisine and offer some delicious
the Olinger Pool, near North Salem High. samples of sustainable foods when the April
Sustainability Workshop series concludes.
April 24: Salem, 7 p.m. “The Tie Discover where to get fresh, locally grown
Between Global Warming and Energy produce in Salem. Wilson- Hines Room
Policy” - Energy policy expert Ralph of the Goudy Commons at Willamette
Cavanagh will talk about the inextricable University’s campus. Visit http://
link between energy policy and climate willamette.edu/map/ for a campus map.
change policy as the Straub Environmental Free. Registration is required. To register or
Lecture Series continues on April 24, for more information, contact the friends of
Support Peace on
That’s right! Oregon PeaceWorks is
raising funds with online auctions and . . .
WE NEED YOUR STUFF!
Visit www.OregonPeaceworks.org to learn more,
call 503-585-2767, or come by the OPW office.
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Table of Contents april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Calendar
continued
To offer calendar items email
:pbergel@igc.org (electronic copy
preferred) or hard copy to The Peace-
Worker before the 12th of the month for
following month’s issue.
the Straub Environmental Learning Center
at 503.391.4145 or email fselc@fselc.org.
April 30: Salem, 7 p.m. Free Wind Power
Workshop. Free seminar sponsored by the
Energy Trust of Oregon and the Friends of
Straub Environmental Learning Center will
explain small wind technology and how
much energy landowners can generate from
a residential system. Participants will also
learn about costs, financial incentives and
tax credits, and how to assess the available
wind resource. Straub Environmental
Learning Center at 1320 A Street NE.
June 15 thru July 13: Palestine. The
Palestinian Summer Celebration
2008 Month #1 in the Bethlehem Area.
Come and join Palestine, learn Arabic,
study history, know the people and their
culture, share some time with local
families and volunteer with a local
community organization. Everything
is optional, the Palestinian summer
celebration is a unique annual program
page 33
that gives people from all over the
world the chance to encounter the life
and culture in Palestine in addition
to donating some of their time to a
local community organization through
voluntary work and internships.
June 6 to June 22: The Super-T for Social
Action Trainers. Take your facilitation to a
new level of creativity, range and effectiveness
in this intensive 17-day super-training:
4 state-of-the-art workshops, plus 3 rest
days, sequenced for maximum growth for
participants. The Super-T is for experienced
and less-experienced trainers and facilitators
who want to take their work to a new level of
creativity and effectiveness, as well as new
trainers who want to learn the major principles
of this rapidly-developing field. The Super-T
is ideal for a trainer’s sabbatical, for facilitators
looking for inspiration and fresh approaches,
and for international trainers wanting to make
a study trip to North America. (There is a
June 4-5 orientation for overseas participants.)
To register contact Training for Change.
Registration forms are available on the web
at www.rainingForChange.org, phone
612.827.7323, or email peacelearn@igc.org
July 4-7: Seabeck, WA. “Seabeck
2008 - 50 years of Peacemaking in
the Puget Sound.” The Fellowship of
Reconciliation has been conferencing
for 50 years at the Seabeck
Conference Center to plan for a
more peaceful and just future for all.
Workshops, keynoters, a talent show,
a wonderful children’s program,
lots of great music and fun amidst
the serious business of planning
for peace. Contact: 503.585.543 or
jrw45@comcast.net.
July 18 – 20: Peace Action’s 50th
Anniversary National Congress.
Trinity University, Washington,
D.C. Followed by a Congressional
Table of Contents
Education Day on July 21 or Capitol Hill
in Washington, D.C.
August 14 - August 31: The Peace Cycle
2008. Starting in Amman, Jordan, and
cycling through Arab villages in Israel, then
touring the occupied West Bank meeting
with groups, individuals and families, and
ending in Jerusalem. Cyclists must raise
the costs of the trip plus a donation towards
humanitarian charities in Palestine. This year,
the Peace Cycle will raise funds for Medical
Aid for Palestinians. MAP is a U.K. charity
providing support to the health and medical
needs of vulnerable Palestinians living in
Gaza, the West Bank and across the Middle
East. For more information email cyclists@
thepeacecycle.com for a cyclists information
pack. www.thepeacecycle.com.
Sept. 7 - 9: Europe. The Peace Cycle
2008 in Europe. Cyclists from all over
Europe will converge on Brussels for 2
days of media events and demonstrations
to demand the European Parliament
takes action to end the occupation and
give peace a chance in the Middle East.
For more information on taking part in
TPC2008 email cyclists@thepeacecycle.
com for a cyclists information pack.
www.thepeacecycle.com.
Advertise
in
The PeaceWorker
Now ONLINE 10 times a year
Free link to your website.
For rates or other information
Call Jeanette
541.752.5860 (9am-5pm)
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Your NATURAL Baby Store
Organic Teething Dolls
Chemical-Free Wood Toys
Organic Cloth Diapers
Ergo Baby Carriers
Maya Wrap Slings
Wooden Baby Toys
Robeez Soft Baby Shoes
120 SW 4th St  Corvallis  541.753.8733
page 34 Table of Contents
Clip these Handy Lists
White House Contacts
Comment Line: 202.456.1111; Fax:
202.456.2461
Bush: president@whitehouse.gov
Cheney:vice.president@whitehouse.gov
White House: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave,
Washington, DC 20500
Congressional Contacts
Capitol Switchboard: 202.224.3121; Toll
free: 1.877.762.8762 (SOB-U-SOB).
U.S. Senate, Washington D.C. 20510,
House of Representatives, Washington
D.C. 20515
Senator Ron Wyden
DC: 202.224.5244; Fax: 202.228.2717;
Portland: 503.326.7525; Fax:
503.326.7528; Eugene: 541.431.0229.
wyden.senate.gov
Senator Gordon Smith
DC: 202.224.3753; Fax: 202.228.3997;
Portland: 503.326.3386; Fax: 503.326.2900;
gsmith.senate.gov/webform.htm.
Rep. David Wu, 1st District
DC: 202.225.0855; Fax: 202.225.9497;
Portland: 503.326.2901; Fax:
503.326.5066; www/house.gov/wu/,
click “contact information.”
Rep. Greg Walden, 2nd District
DC: 202.225.6730; Fax: 202.225.5774;
Medford: 541.776.4646; walden.house.
gov, click “email”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, 3rd District
DC: 202.225.4811; Fax: 202.225.8941;
Portland: 503.231.2300; Fax:
503.230.5413; house.gov/blumenauer
Rep. Peter DeFazio, 4th District
DC: 202.225.6416; Fax: 202.225.0032;
Eugene: 541.465.6732; Fax: 541-
.65.6458; 800.944.9603; www.house.
gov/defazio/, click “email me.”
Rep. Darlene Hooley, 5th District
DC: 202.225.5711; Fax: 202.225.5699;
Salem: 503.588.9100; 888.446.6539; Fax:
503.588.5517; www.house.gov/hooley/,
click “contact Darlene.”
Oregon Contacts
Oregon Legislature:
800.332.2313; 503.986.1187; http://www.
leg.state.or.us/; State Capitol, Salem, OR
97301
Governor Ted Kulongoski:
503.378.3111; http://www.governor.
state.or.us; State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310
april 2008
the peaceworker http://www.oregonpeaceworks.org

Oregon Peace Contacts Neighborhoods for Peace, 541.686.2531

Beyond War/PSR, 541.485.0911; www.
pjw@pjw.info; www.rdrop.com/~pjw
Portland Peace and Justice Center,
beyondwar.org;  beyondwar@beyondwar.org 971.223.2268; 3758 SE Milwaukie Av-
Oregon PeaceWorks enue, Portland, OR 97202; http://www.
104 Commercial St. NE Faith in Action, 541.484.6671
Florence portlandpeace.org
Salem, OR 97301
Citizen Democracy Watch, Stuart Portland Peaceful Response
Voice: 503.585.2767
Henderson, 541.997.3345; P.O. Box 5112, 97208-5112, 503.344.5078;
Fax: 503.588.0088
shenderson88@hotmail.com pprcnews@yahoo.com
info@oregonpeaceworks.org
Grants Pass http://www.pprc-news.org/
www.oregonpeaceworks.org
Steve Furey, monk@echoweb.net Physicians for Social Responsibility
Hood River 503.274.2720; info@OregonPSR.org
Albany
Columbia River Fellowship for Peace SOA Watch Oregon
Albany Peace Seekers, jmagru2@msn.
PO Box 33, Hood River, OR 97031; 503.285.5165; portlandcw@aol.com
com
www.columbiariverpeace.org United Nations Association - OR
Ashland
Wasco County Citizens/Human Dignity Elaine Nelson, 4336 NE 40th, Ave.
Peace House, 541.482.9625, info@
WCCHD@gorge.net; Trish Leighton, Portland, OR 97211; 503.591.0160;.UN-
peacehouse.net, http://www.peacehouse.
541.298.5890 AOregon@aol.com; www.una-oregon.
net/index.php
Klamath Falls org.
Astoria
Klamath Basin Peace Forum kb- War Resisters League 503.238.0605
North Coast Peace Coalition,
peaceforum@gmail.com; 541.885.1402; Women’s Int’l League/Peace/Freedom
503.325.3825
541.882.0297; Sillinge@oit.edu; 503.224.5190
Bend
McMinnville Port Orford
Central Oregon Peace Network
Yamhill Valley Peacemakers Foncy Prescott, 541.332.1032
Phil Randall, 541.388.1793, phil@
503.434.1198; elliegunn@gmail.com; labrea@harborside.com
tiedyed.us
http://www.yamhillvalleypeacemakers.org/ Roseburg
Human Dignity Coalition, PO Box 6084,
Medford Mike Barkuff, 541.672.2398; Gape
Bend, OR 97708, http://www.humandig-
Medford Citizens for Peace & Justice Triplett, gabepeace@hotmail.com
nitycoalition.org;office@humandignity-
PO Box 8243, Medford, OR 97504; info@ Salem
coaltion.org
medfordcpj.org; http://www.medfordcpj. Fellowship of Reconciliation
Brownsville
org 503.566.7190; ofor@open.org
Cathy Staal, 541.466.5343
Newport Salem Resistance Diane Sim-
Coos Bay
Department of Peace, Claire McGee, mons, 503.884.0567 or Betty James,
Monica Schreiber, 541.756.2042
541.265.9647, djk2008@secure.corp1.net, 503.363.6340.
Corvallis/Albany
www.dopcampaign.org Silverton
Alternatives to War, 541.753.1343,
Pendleton nrakha@teleport.com
nowar@peak.org; www.alt2war.peak.org
Pendleton Peace Net, 541.966.4168 http://www.silvertonpeoplefor peace.org/
Citizens for Global Solutions, boboz@
Portland Springfield
peak.org
Action Speaks/Code Pink, 503.241.3388 Anita, 541.747.5886 or Jeannie,
Cottage Grove
American Friends Service Committee 541.747.9045; jeannieechenique@aol.
Stand for Peace, Scott Burgwin,
mgonzalez@afsc.org; 503.230.9427 com
541.767.0770, scottburgwin@hotmail.
Americans United for Palestinian Human The Dalles
com
Rights Contact: Peter Miller PeteskiToo@ Wasco County Citizens for Human Dig-
Gail and Birdy Hoelzle, 541.942.7414;
aol.com  www.auphr.org nity; Trish, 541.298.5890; WCCHD@
ratcreek@aol.com
Citizens for Global Solutions, E. Kennedy, gorge.net
Eugene
503.231.4978 Tillamook
Women’s Action for New Directions
Friends of Sabeel—North America Tillamook County Citizens for Human
541.338.8605; scundiff@rio.com
503.653.6625; friends@fosna.org; Dignity, Linda Werner, 503/355-8509; P.O.
Eugene PeaceWorks, 541.343.8548,
www.fosna.org Box 415, Rockaway Beach OR 97136;
eugpeace@efn.org; www.efn.
Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death riverland@oregoncoast.com
org/~eugpeace
Penalty, info@oadp.org Waldport
Justice Not War Coalition, 541.606.2877;
Oregon Network for Compassionate Coastal Progressives Joanne Cvar,
jnotwar@efn.org
Communication (Statewide) 503.450.9909; 541.563.3615; 541.563.3615; cvar@
Taxes for Peace Not War, 541.342.1953;
www.orncc.net peak.org
jyotisue@yahoo.com
Oregon Peace Institute 503.725.8192; White Salmon, WA
CALC/Progressive Response,
http://orpeace.org/ Kathy Thomas, 509-493-2071;
541.485.1755; calcdev@efn.org; cal-
Peace and Justice Works, 503-236-3065; kthomas46@gorge.net.
clane.org

page 35 Table of Contents april 2008

Mark Your Calendars! GIVE PEACE A DANCE - April 26, 2008