Michele Catalano links to
this story:
For the first time since the abortive efforts of the "human shields" who volunteered to protect Saddam Hussein from American missile strikes, radicals are putting themselves on the battle line. An organization calling itself the “International Occupation Watch Center” has set up shop in Baghdad with the express purpose of inciting U.S. troops to seek discharges and be sent home as conscientious objectors. It is inciting defection of troops at war by (technically) other means.
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As Americans come under fire, Occupation Watch wants to deplete the number of Americans who will be shooting back. Weakening the American military -- which is what the peace movement has generally intended -- encourages further terrorist resistance and killing. It puts American soldiers at greater risk , emboldens the enemy and -- if successful -- will shift the battlefield advantage to Saddam and al-Qaeda. Which is exactly what "International Occupation Watch Center" intends.
And to put away question that these people are just misguided:
The organizers of this sabotage effort have a long history of supporting America's enemies and the enemies of freedom generally. The Baghdad effort is the brainchild of Medea Benjamin, a long-time Castro acolyte and a key organizer of the "anti-war" protests as head of "Global Exchange" and instigator of "Code Pink" (a feminist front for the anti-war radicals). She is abetted by long-time Communist Party member and pro-Castro spear carrier, Leslie Cagan. Cagan is the leader of the "moderate" wing of the peace movement, United for Peace and Justice, a brainchild of People for the American Way. Cagan maintained her membership in the Communist Party even after the fall of the Berlin Wall. As head of the anti-Semitic and pro-Communist Pacifica radio network, Cagan is a key promoter of the anti-American cause. Benjamin, who once described Castro’s gulag as “heaven,” was a key proponent of the effort to send “human shields” to terrorist rogue states like Iraq. She was also one of the planners of the 1999 Seattle "anti-globalization" riots. These anti-capitalist farragoes were the real spawning ground of the "anti-war" crusade.
Medea Benjamin laid out a skeletal blueprint for Occupation Watch in her essay “Toward a Global Movement," which was published in the flagship organ of the anti-American left -- The Nation. “Working with local communities where U.S. troops are based, let's start a Bring All the Troops Home campaign to stop the expansion of U.S. bases and start dismantling some of the hundreds of existing bases overseas.” She also called upon these “grassroots teams” to “link up with appropriate local and regional groups” in terrorist states. What are these “appropriate groups”? The fedayeen, perhaps? Hamas? The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades? Benjamin does not name names, but her exhortation for the Left to “channel the bursting anti-American sentiment overseas” speaks volumes.
At least one member of the Advisory Board for Occupation Watch has called for the murder of U.S. troops and anti-Saddam Iraqis. Author Tariq Ali, who intimated that 9/11 gave America a taste of its own medicine, made his bloodthirsty goals explicit in the May-June 2003 issue of New Left Review.
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Other luminaries include:
*Jodie Evans co-founder (with Medea Benjamin) of Code Pink. As Jean Pearce has noted on FrontPage, Evans is also institutionally tied to Mike Roselle, founder of the domestic terrorist organization Earth Liberation Front (ELF), “which along with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is ranked the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat by the FBI. The FBI attributes over 600 criminal acts and $43 million in damages to the two groups since 1996.”
The rest of the list is just as bad as the ones quoted.
Can we lock these people up for treason?