Faith & Resistance Retreat Court Update: FIVE PENTAGON RESISTERS SENTENCED TO FINES AND PROBATION | CLOSING STATEMENT

Alexandria, VA — June 16, 2009

Five participants of the Holy Week Faith and Resistance Retreat held in Washington, D.C., were tried, convicted, and sentenced to fines and probation today in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, VA for their Good Friday Pentagon witness. They were arrested as they prayed in silence around a cross near the Pentagon Metro entrance, while about 40 other
retreatants, dressed in black robes and white masks to mourn the dead, vigiled in silence to the beat of a drum in the designated protest zone.

Faith & Resistance Retreat | August 5-9, 2009

Join us at St. Stephen and the Incarnation, 16 Newton St, NW, Washington, DC

In the year 1945 an “ORIGINAL CHILD” was born

64 years later, let us
Remember the Pain
Repent the Sin
Reclaim the Future
in a Faith and Resistance Retreat

We’ll gather August 5, 2009, for dinner
and continue through the morning of August 9, 2009
entering together into a praxis of reflection and action.

We’ll give special attention during this retreat to two films.

Original Child Bomb A documentary based on Thomas Merton’s book by the same title. Merton described the book as “Points for meditation to be scratched ont eh walls of a cave”–presumably the cave in which survivors of atomic war would have to live. Merton’s points are loaded with ironic understatement; they will be a source for our meditation and prayer together.

On Paper Wings A documentary about Japan’s secret balloon bomb project. It exposes the balloon bombs’ history and the lives it impacted. The film tells the stories of three communities touched by the project. The bombs were intended to strike mainland US , and though the Japanese launched thousands of them, they had no idea whether the project was effective. Meanwhile, the US military censored reports of the mysterious explosions; families were required to not speak about their origin. The film is a moving presentation of forgiveness and reconciliation.

We also hope to feature a speaker from the Center for Defense Information who will help to intensify grassroots participation in the Year Long Preparation for the 40th anniversary of the Nuclear nonproliferation Treaty and its implementation.

We will plan, enact and evaluate acts of peace witness and resistance together. We sincerely hope that you can make time in these days to join sisters and brothers in saying:

No More Hiroshimas!
No More Nagasakis!
No More War–War Never Again
Abolish Weapons of Mass Destruction Forever

Please let us know if you can be with us…You can phone, e-mail or write

Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, (202) 882-9648 artlaffin@hotmail.com
or Jonah House, (410) 233-6238 or disarmnow@jonahhouse.org

Grim Milestone: 5,000 GIs Dead in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars

original post at http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2009/06/02/grim-milestone-5000-gis-dead-in-iraq-afghanistan-wars/

June 2, 2009 in News by Margaret Griffis

Among the six U.S. servicemember deaths so far reported in June, one soldier has become the 5,000th casualty of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Icasualties.org the wars have cost at least 4,308 lives in Iraq and 695 in Afghanistan. The official count from the Department of Defense, however, has the total number of deaths at 4,996 in both military campaigns. The D.O.D. figures often lag slightly behind those reported in the mass media.

These figures include both combat and non-combat deaths, as well as those servicemembers killed outside the main theaters of action. In some cases, however, a servicemember who may have died months or years later of wounds received during service might not be included in official figures.

Military Families Speak Out noted the milestone in a press release published today. The antiwar group, which was formed by military families in 2002, asked President Obama to swiftly end the wars, as promised during last year’s presidential campaign. However, as the U.S. Congress returned from a weeklong Memorial Day break yesterday, the lawmakers’ main war concern was not ending either campaign, but in finalizing a new war funding bill for the president to sign.

President Obama originally asked for $84.3-billion to continue the wars. Both chambers then added their own items, bringing the final tally for the House to $96.7-billion and the Senate’s to $91.3-billion in additional funding.