by Sandy Mayes

The US military will have to think twice before it ever again tries to use Olympia, WA as a launching point for war.

For 13 unforgettable days in November, people in this small community engaged in a courageous and spirited campaign of resistance to the war in Iraq. Sixty-six arrests were made and untold numbers were assaulted by police during a campaign which made national and international news. Day after day, and night after night, people put their lives on hold and their bodies on the line to prevent movement of military equipment from the Port of Olympia to nearby Fort Lewis.

An Army Stryker vehicle, fresh from Iraq, speeds through Capitol Way, and avoids the demonstrators. Nov. 13. (Photo by Jim Mayfield)

Nov. 16. Local high school and community college students gather on the steps of the State Capitol during a student walk-out in protest of the war in Iraq. (Photo by Anne Fischel)

by Zoltan Grossman

I attended the Port of Olympia protests as a witness taking video documentation, much as I have in conflicts back home in Wisconsin. Some of these videos are posted at http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=zoltangrossman .

I want to share some of my perspectives, not only on the street confrontations, but on the development of local antiwar activism as a social movement.

by Kyle Taylor Lucas

Though conspicuously absent from mainstream media coverage, evidence of authentic democracy was demonstrated by 39 women who locked arms and placed their bodies on the line at the Port of Olympia on Nov. 13. They took action for human rights and to stop use of the Port of Olympia as a revolving door to perpetuate war on an innocent nation, as well as to stop the killing and maiming of our men and women in the armed forces. They stood in solidarity on behalf of human rights and in support of Iraqi women who are being murdered and whose families, lives, country, and culture . . .

by Peter Bohmer,

Updated, December 9, 2007

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

--Mario Savio, the steps of Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley, December 2, 1964

by Mark Jensen, United for Peace of Pierce County (ufppc)

october 28, 2007—A review of the mainstream media organs of the Pacific Northwest shows that they downplayed and misrepresented a strong and significant outpouring of antiwar protest in covering the End the War Now march and rally in Seattle on Saturday, October 27.

by Phan Nguyen

Representative Brian Baird of Washington’s 3rd Congressional District has been in the media spotlight ever since returning from a trip to Iraq in August and proclaiming both his support for the troop “surge” and his rejection of a timeline for withdrawal. He has made several media appearances, including MSNBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, and conservative talk radio, where he is portrayed as a stauch antiwar Congressman who made a complete turnaround after he witnessed the reality on the ground of Iraq. But what’s missing from this picture?

How many Iraq trips?

The view of Iraq looks great from here! Iraq summer trip, August 11, 2007. From left to right: Gen. Petraeus, Rep. Baird, Rep. Hall (R-TX), Ambassador Crocker, and Rep. Shays (R-CT).

data compiled and graphic created by Phan Nguyen

by Janet Blanding

War resisters Agustín Aguayo, Seth Manzel, and Aguayo's wife Helga spoke recently to a group of local peace activists gathered at Traditions Café on July 17. In defiance of the unspoken army policy of remaining silent after returning from war, they are speaking out about the injustices they have witnessed. Again and again the same themes emerged: a pattern of wartime abuses of civilians, tolerated and covered up by the military; deception and false promises used by recruiters to entice young people to enlist, followed by coercion and manipulation of enlisted men . . .

by Gar Lipow

On July 10 and July 17, the Olympia City Council addressed an issue in which the city and the Olympian stopped an 85-year-old woman from handing out brochures in the Olympia Center public areas.

The result: The City Council said that there is definitely a right to hand out literature in lobbies and foyers of public buildings so long as it is done in a non-disruptive manner. This also includes the right to carry signs not on sticks -- again subject to common sense, like not blocking traffic or visibility. The exclusion of people with literature and flimsy cardboard signs from the . . .

Ruth Lipow (with umbrella) marching in the Lakefair parade. Her son Gar Lipow is on the far left, holding a sign that says "We have public fire depts., why not public health care? (Photo by Jane Blanding)

by Marco Rosaire Rossi

Every generation is faced with a responsibility, an event that tests the humanity of all people for that time. For our generation that challenge is ending the conflict in Iraq and working to bring peace and prosperity to the Middle East. No other single event intertwines all the crises of our age: environmental, economic, cultural. And no other region of the world focuses our attention more, whose future is more likely to determine if the world will rise to peace or plunge into a third world war.

Marco Rossaire Rossie marching with the Veterans for Peace in the Lakefair Parade. (Photo by Janet Blanding)

The preceding chart lists known deaths of the 3rd and 4th Stryker Brigades during their most recent deployments, to the extent documented by the US Dept. of Defense. The 3rd Stryker Brigade is currently serving its second tour in Iraq. Its Stryker vehicles and related equipment were shipped from the Port of Olympia in late May 2006, a month before the actual soldiers were sent to the Middle East. The original mission of the 3rd Brigade was to secure "enduring" (a.k.a. permanent) military bases in Mosul. However, upon arrival, almost half of the brigade was routed to Baghdad. The Mosul . . .

Chart compiled and created by Phan Nguyen.

Click here for a printable and readable version of this image as a pdf file

Army-provided photo of the 3rd Stryker Brigade, whose vehicles, such as the one pictured here, shipped out of the Port of Olympia on May 31, 2006. The government-supplied caption reads: "US Army soldiers secure an area in Mansour, Iraq, March 20, 2007, while tracking down negative influence in the region in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom." (Photo by Spc. Elisha Dawkins, Joint Combat Camera Center)

We will be there in our ports, our streets, in our media, our jails, our courtrooms, and everywhere else they dare commit violence in our name

[Speech delivered by TJ Johnson at the March 24 Olympia peace rally]

This week we mourn the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, an illegal and immoral act of aggression that many Americans now understand to be the greatest foreign policy blunder in US history. As we reflect on the past four years, it is also important to remember that the drumbeats of war began long before March 2003. In fact, they started just five hours after the terrorist . . .

by Colonel (Retired) Ann Wright

Courage is not only shown on the battlefield by military personnel. It takes guts and courage for a soldier to refuse to deploy to Iraq with his unit because he believes the war is illegal. Very few in our country resign from their careers, much less risk imprisonment, on a point of principle and conscience.

Retired Army colonel and State Department diplomat Ann Wright demonstrates outside of Fort Lewis at the start of Lt. Watada's court martial on February 5. (Photo by Jeff Paterson)

by Jeff Paterson

In the Army court martial of First Lieutenant Ehren K. Watada, the first officer to publicly refuse to fight in Iraq, military judge Lieutenant Colonel John Head orchestrated a legal mulligan. The prosecution had just rested a poorly argued case before the jurors. This "do over" proclamation appeared to offer the government a chance to get their act together and try again in the spring. However, given the likelihood that the entire case against Lt. Watada will eventually be dismissed due to the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, the question is why?

Navy veteran Wally Cuddeford and Iraq war veteran Tina Bean march with 2000 other Watada supporters to the gates of Fort Lewis.

The crowd of Watada supporters stretched from Lafrati Park in DuPont, over the Exit 119 overpass above I-5, and up to the gates of Fort Lewis. (Photo by Sasha Crow)

Darrell Anderson of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) -- Portland, and Chanan Suarez-Diaz of IVAW -- Seattle outside of Fort Lewis, at the rally in support of Lt. Ehren Watada on the first day of his court martial. (Photo by Sasha Crow)

Stryker convoy rolling through Olympia on Plum Street, May 2006. Photo by Sandy Mayes.

by Janine Gates

"I swore no oath to the Commander-in-Chief, but to the Constitution," said Lt. Ehren Watada, a Fort Lewis, Washington commissioned officer, who is facing court-martial and a possible four year prison sentence for refusing to go to Iraq.

Watada spoke before a crowd of several hundred in Olympia at South Puget Sound Community College Wednesday night. Most were sympathetic with his cause and interrupted Lt. Watada several times, often with a standing ovation, during his nearly two hour speech.

Tacoma--In an unprecedented two-day Citizens' Hearing held over the weekend, more than 600 citizens joined a distinguished tribunal panel in listening to testimony about the legality of the US invasion of Iraq.

The Hearing was convened to present evidence that Lt. Ehren Watada would have presented in his February 5 court martial on the question that the military ruled barred from entry last week -- the question of the Iraq War's legality.

by Jeff Paterson

After surrendering earlier this week on subpoenas intended to force journalists to testify against Lt. Ehren Watada for his critical statements of President Bush and the Iraq War, the Army today dismissed subpoenas targeting three anti-war activists as well.

In December Olympia, Washington anti-war activist Phan Nguyen, and Veterans for Peace (VFP) Seattle Chapter organizers Tom Brookhart and Gerri Haynes were placed under order by the US Army to appear for the prosecution in the case of US v. Watada.

Activists were under order to help prosecute public speech

Subpoenaed activist Phan Nguyen speaks out in Tacoma, 1/3/07. Photo by Jeff Paterson.

by Wally Cuddeford

On Wednesday, Dec. 15, sexual assault survivor Suzanne Swift appeared before a hastily assembled court-martial. She was charged with going Absent Without Leave from her unit at Fort Lewis, on the eve of their deployment to Iraq. Swift's court-martial wasn't going to happen until January, but it was hastened when she agreed to make a deal with the military. The terms of Suzanne Swift's deal are as follows:

Swift will spend up to 30 days in the brig.

She has agreed to stay in the military until January of 2009.

She has been reduced in rank from Specialist to Private.

Spc. Suzanne Swift takes on the enablers of sexual assault in the military.

Lieutenant Ehren Watada's pre-trial hearing is set for January 4. Local supporters will hold a vigil on the bridge at Exit 119, I-5 at dawn and dusk.

Watada takes the position that the war in Iraq is illegal, and that the conduct of the war and occupation is directed illegally, from above. At least six generals have spoken out against the direction of the war. The Lieutenant is not alone in expressing concern for the innocent people of Iraq and the lives of US soldiers caught in a bloody civil war. 1,000 soldiers just submitted a petition to Congress resisting service in Iraq.

Lt. Ehren Watada takes on the illegal war in Iraq. Photo by David Belisle.

by Janet Blanding

Suzanne Swift, a victim of rape and sexual harassment by her superior officers, is being forced to continue military service against her will as the army drags its heels over investigating her complaints. A group of Olympians refuse to tolerate this institutionalized abuse. They have formed an organization called the Swift Action Network and are engaged in actions to bring this issue to public attention and force the military to deal with it swiftly and openly.

Camp Suzanne demonstrators make their demands clear outside of Fort Lewis at the Exit 119 overpass above I-5. Photo by Jeff Paterson.

by Mike Ferner

Reporting from the Veterans For Peace convention in Seattle in August, Dahr Jamail reprinted a speech by Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned US Army officer to publicly refuse orders to Iraq, who stated on June 22, "As the order to take part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well, I must refuse that order."

In his speech to the VFP members, Watada laid down the most critical challenge to the anti-war movement yet: Will we show soldiers that if they quit fighting this insane, criminal war and go to jail that we will provide for their families as long as necessary?

VFP Convention: Lt. Ehren Watada was joined at the podium by over 50 members of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Photo by Jeff Paterson / http://www.ThankYouLt.org

Support Lt. Watada as he Faces Pre-Trial Hearing

On August 17, U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada will face a pre-trial hearing for refusing to deploy to Iraq. "It is my conclusion as an officer of the armed forces that the war in Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law. The war and what we're doing over there is illegal," explained the first military officer to publicly take such a stand.

Lt. Watada with Phoebe Jones (left) and Selma James (right) of the Global Women's Strike on June 21.

(photo by Jeff Paterson)

Fort Lewis, Washington - U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren K. Watada reported to duty at 2:00 a.m., Thursday, June 22, and refused orders to move to the adjacent McChord Air Force Base to prepare to fly to Iraq. Lt. Watada believes that the war and occupation in Iraq are illegal, and thus participation in the war is also illegal. At this time he has been restricted to base and has been ordered to have no communication with non-military personnel.

June 24, 2006 -- Vigil in support of Lt. Ehren Watada on freeway overpass near Ft. Lewis. Photo by Carrie Lybecker

(June 7, 2006) - Family, Friends, Members of the Religious Community, Members of the Press, and my fellow Americans -- thank you for coming today.

My name is Ehren Watada. I am a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and I have served for 3 years.

It is my duty as a commissioned officer of the United States Army to speak out against grave injustices. My moral and legal obligation is to the Constitution and not those who would issue unlawful orders. I stand before you today because it is my job to serve and protect those soldiers, the American people, and innocent Iraqis with no voice.

Protesters held daily vigils at the corner of State and Plum opposing the Stryker convoys and military use of the Port of Olympia. (photo by Sandy Mayes)

Stryker convoys rolling through Olympia on Plum Street, May 2006. (photo by Sandy Mayes)

by Kevin Benderman

On 28 July, a US court-martial sentenced Sergeant Kevin Benderman to 15 months' imprisonment, after he refused to return for a second tour of duty with the US army in Iraq. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for his conscientious objection to the war in Iraq. Benderman is currently encarcerated at the Regional Correction Facility at Fort Lewis.

From left to right: Conscientious objectors Aidan Delgado, Kevin Benderman, and Camilo Mejía on the day of Benderman's court martial, 29 July 2005. (photo by Maritza Mejía)

Vigil for conscientious objector Kevin Benderman on March 25. Vigils are on 4th Saturday of each month, from noon to 2, at Exit 119, the Dupont-Steilacoom Rd overpass next to Fort Lewis. The next vigil scheduled is April 22. (photo by Robert Torre)

by Doug Nielson

On Saturday March 18th Maria Cantwell and Barack Obama made a campaign appearance at Garfield High School in Seattle. Stand Up! Seattle made an appearance also displaying a banner that read, "MARIA CANT. SAY NO TO WAR" and "DON'T BARACK O BOMB IRAN." Our primary purpose was to expose Senator Cantwell for the unrepentent war criminal that she is.

Banner unfurled as Maria Cantwell begins a speech at Garfield High School in Seattle. (Photo by Alexander King)

by Joe Carr

March 12, 2006

I first met Tom Fox in Chicago at a Christian Peacemaker Teams' training and we became good friends through our work together. He was a father with children about my age, and was like an uncle to me.

He was my team's coordinator during my month in Iraq. Shaggy, a young Iraqi friend and translator, nicknamed him "Uncle Tom" because of his paternal but playful manner. He provided a calm and steady presence, and an open and compassionate ear. His warmth and humor helped me to hang on through my depressing and fearful time in Iraq.

by Jody Tiller and Audrey Daye

Three years ago I thought I was small and couldn't make a difference. That's not how I wanted to be in this world- so when I was offered a chance to speak as a veteran against the war, I took it- even though I had no idea how to speak over the lump in my throat and the buzzing in my ears. What I feared was being shy so that friends would say that I had done a good job, and no one else would say anything. Instead, people still come to tell me how that speech inspired them. What carried me over my lump of fear? I am committed to creating a peaceful world. . . .

Jody Tiller (left), along with Audrey Daye, fasted on the Capitol steps to send a message to Governor Gregiore to bring the National Guard home.

by Sandy Mayes

As any regular WIP reader knows, there are a lot of people in this town working at various levels and through a variety of tactics to bring an end to the war in Iraq. Considering the diversity of perspectives and philosophies among the many local peace and justice groups, there is an amazing degree of goodwill and cooperation between them. But there are differences of opinion about strategy and style which often revolve around the question of managing the movement's public image -- through direct contact with the public and, in particular, through the media.

Vigilers line the Fourth Avenue bridge to mourn the victims of the war in Iraq. (photo by the Olympian)

The USNS Fisher docked in the Port of Olympia with hardware from the war in Iraq. (photo by Robert Torre)

Spontaneous demonstration at the Port of Olympia in response to the arrival of a military ship. (photo by Robert Torre)

by Bob Rudolph

a member of VFP109

It was to honor our fallen military brothers and sisters in Iraq. For those not there, we had a great turnout for the memorial. We had a silent and solemn procession with honor guard, a flag draped coffin and 1,970 grave markers to recognize and symbolize the fallen. We went to Tivoli Fountain on the Capitol grounds where caring and thoughtful individuals placed the markers, Crosses, Stars of David, Crescents, and Grave Stones for people of other faiths or what ever their beliefs happen to be. The opening ceremony and closing ceremony were done in a true . . .

Arlington Northwest Memorial, sponsored by Veterans For Peace NW, Chapter 109 - 10/16/2005

[The following is an edited version of a speech delivered by Peter Bohmer on 9/23/2005 at Latrati Park in Dupont. Bohmer, along with Nikki Miller, was a key organizer of the march from Olympia- and rally at the gates of Fort Lewis. The event was sponsored by the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace.]

We are here to protest war and tell people around the world that we oppose this immoral and illegal war. We are part of a renewed growth of activism against this war and for economic and social justice at home.

Oct 17: Candlelight vigil at Heritage Park Fountain in support of Cindy Sheehan (Photo by Scott Yoos)

Nikki Miler, one of the key organizers of the September 23, 2005 Olympia to Fort Lewis march, speaking to the media. (photo by Zoltan Grossman)

"No more Iraqi lives destroyed, no more U.S. lives destroyed in our name," Peter Bohmer.

by Peter Bohmer, member of Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace (OMJP)

On Friday, September 23rd , The Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace(OMJP) invites you to join us in an 18 mile walk from Sylvester Park in downtown Olympia all the way to Ft. Lewis. The purpose of this march for peace is to make a strong and visible stand against the U.S. war and to build a movement calling for the withdrawal of the United States from Iraq. We believe that the time is ripe to connect the growing anti-Iraq war feelings in the U.S. to visible protest and a growing anti-war movement. We have the . . .

Grave markers at Camp Casey commemorate US troops who have been killed during the US war on Iraq.

"Support our troops -- Impeach the murdering bastards who sent them to die for a pack of lies." http://www.freewayblogger.com

by Larry Mosqueda, Ph.D.

By August of 2005, the majority of Americans have turned against the US war against Iraq, which has been going on for 2 1/2 years (or for almost 15 years if the continuing Iraq war is dated from 1991). President Bush's approval rating has dropped to the level of Richard Nixon's during the height of Watergate.

(by M. Wuerker)

by Greg Weiher

On Sunday, Iraq announced that it would try Saddam Hussein and three others for the deaths of 140 Iraqis in Dujail, the site of an attempt on his life in 1982. National Public Radio's story about the announcement was a masterpiece of understatement.

NPR reporter Tom Bullock allowed as how it might seem strange that Saddam was being tried for a relatively minor crime compared to gas attacks on Iraqi Kurds or the brutal repression of Iraq's Shiite majority after the first Gulf War, actions that killed thousands of Iraqis. But he explained that Iraqi investigators "are . . .

Then President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Donald Rumsfeld, and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein shake hands in 1983.

(cartoon by M. Wuerker)

by Joe Carr

[The following are edited excerpts from the journal of former Olympia resident Joe Carr. Carr spent May and part of June in Iraq with the Christian Peacemakers Teams (CPT), documenting and bearing witness to the impact of the US occupation of Iraq. His complete Iraq journal can be read at http://www.lovinrevolution.org . He has recently returned to the United States.]

The Resistance

(Late May 2005)

A woman’s body lies in a street.

(Photo by Robert Torre)

[Joe Carr is a former Olympia resident. In 2003 he worked with the International Solidarity Movement in the Palestinian city of Rafah, where he witnessed the Israeli military killings of Olympia activist Rachel Corrie and British activist Tom Hurndall. He subsequently volunteered with the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in the southern West Bank. In early May, he joined CPT in Baghdad, as one of the few internationals based outside the US-fortified Green Zone. The following is an edited excerpt of his ongoing journal, which can be read in its entirety at http://www.loveinrevolution.org .]

(Photo by Joe Carr)

Strategizing event on July 9

by Emily Lardner

In the early 1930's, John Dewey wrote that the public has no hands except those of individuals. There is no public, only individuals who decide to act on behalf of themselves and of others, including people who live far away. The U.S. is engaged in a war that is illegal under international law, a war that has no justification. Hundreds of thousands of people are suffering and dying, their lives and homes are being destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. have expressed their view that the war is wrong. A majority of Americans think the . . .

Military vessel, USNS Pililaau, carrying equipment back from the Iraq war, is the largest on record to unload at the Port of Olympia. (Photo by Robert Torre)

by Jonathan Coleman

(Edited by Alice Zillah)

The second national assembly of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) was held over President's Day weekend in St. Louis, Missouri. Along with Trish Ryder, I had the opportunity to attend as a delegate representing the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, one of over 1000 local and national peace organizations that are members of this coalition.

by Lou Plummer

Cindy Sheehan's eyes showed no fear, only fierce determination. The co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace stepped forward and a crowd of nearly four thousand people slowly began to follow her up a steep hill and into the nation's consciousness. The mother of Specialist Casey Sheehan, a soldier who now lies in a grave in Vacaville, California, traveled all the way across the country to Fayetteville, NC, the town outside of Ft. Bragg. She came to grieve and to add her righteous anger to a growing sentiment among military families and veterans that the war in Iraq is wasting . . .

(Photo by Drew Hendricks)

by Tom Wright

"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever." --George Orwell

Nearly a year has passed since the lurid photographs of Abu Ghraib first surfaced, briefly capturing the attention of the nation. Even to a public saturated by every imaginable form of transgression, the bizarre images of "Hooded Man," the piles of naked bodies and sordid sexual domination stood out, whether because they seemed like demons lurching from the Puritan unconscious, or just because they were so baldly at variance with the fairy tales through which much of the nation . . .

Saturday, January 15, in the midst of a freezing rain, approximately 600 Puget Sound residents gathered on Capitol Campus to honor slain Iraqi civilians and mourn all those killed in the Iraq war. Most of those present laid on the ground for one hour, representing actual Iraqi victims; the dead recently estimated at 100,000. http://100thousandandcounting.org (photo by Kathy Strauss)

(photo by Brooke Greiner)

On the first Friday of each month, residents of the Hospital Hill neighborhood gather at the intersection of Harrison and Perry between 7:30 -- 8:30 am, greeting morning commuters with a simple yet surprisingly powerful message. All are welcome to participate in the monthly vigil , regardless of neighborhood affiliation. Or ... consider organizing your own neighbors. (Photographer unknown/ photo edited by Melissa Roberts)

Seen here in the early dark of a December evening, against a backdrop of the capitol dome and Heritage Park fountain, is a long row of women dressed in black. These are the Olympia Women In Black who stand vigil every Friday at 5 pm across from Percival Landing on 4th Avenue. They "stand in silent vigil to protest war, rape as a tool of war, ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses all over the world. We are silent because mere words cannot express the tragedy that wars and hatred bring." (photo by Larry Freytag)

Every Wednesday since March 5, 1980, Glen Anderson (far left) and other members of the Olympia chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation have held a noon-hour peace vigil at the NW corner of Sylvester Park on Capitol Way. These dedicated souls, among others, can also be seen at Percival Landing every Friday afternoon at 4 pm. This vigil began in 1998 in response to economic sanctions that were devastating Iraq. http://www.olyfor.org (photo by Pat Tassoni)