By Midge
I was arrested yesterday, Monday February 5th, along with 10 others in the first of many action of a sustained campaign to end the Iraq War called “The Occupation Project”
Senator McCain was targeted yesterday because he is a staunch supporter of the ongoing occupation of Iraq. The message brought to McCain’s Capitol Hill office by Voices For Creative Non-Violence, CodePINK, Veterans For Peace was “Stop Funding the War!” Two time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly was among those arrested. There were also coordinated actions at McCain’s offices in his homestate of Arizona, as well as other demonstrations nationwide including sit-ins at Barrak Obama’s and Dick Durbin’s offices in Chicago which resulted in 8 additional arrests.
We got a little news coverage including just one paragraph in an AP article about the demise of the Senate’s non-binding resolution denouncing Bush’s “troop surge.” However, that very article was edited in some publications, including my hometown paper The Springfield News-Leader, which cut the article short without mention of the McCain protests.
Here is what the AP reported which was left out by the News-Leader: Republicans and Democrats carried out their clash as 10 members of “Code Pink,” an anti-war group, were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct during a protest in front of McCain’s office in a building across the street from the Capitol. “They were absolutely compliant, peaceful,” Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said of the protesters.
If you live Southwest Missouri, email the Springfield News-Leader and ask them “Why did you edit out news reported by the AP?” I mean, how Orwellian is that? Is this 1984 or what?
Oh well, I heard that CNN Headline News showed footage of the arrests, and the action did get very good coverage by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now.
Peace & Freedom,
Midge
