Tonight I met these two people (legends)

[Partridge]

David Rovics (singer songwriter extrodinaire) and Joshua Casteel (ex Abu Ghraib interogator, now in Iraq Vets Against War).

I was at a fundraiser for the Catholic Woker Five - basically bunch of songsmiths and speeches in aid of an excellent cause (these five heros smashed up a US plane in Shannon Airport and are now charged all sorts of henious crimes).

First off, David is a legend as far as I'm concerned. A Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger or Phil Ochs of the present age - or as he was introduced at the gig tonight, "the troubador of the international anti-war movement". A really nice guy and no mistake. It's nice to meet someone who you like musically, and they're actually clued up about politics - cos I've met a few 'celebritries' and you couldn't hold a converstaion with them, well I couldn't. He even played two songs for me - Song for Chavez and St. Patrick Battalion. I hope I'll get a proper meeting with him in the future - if he ever comes back to Ireland and I'm not basically running for a bus home, which I was tonight after the gig.

Before that Joshua spoke for about 10 mins about his opposition to the war and his terrible time in Iraq as grunt and an interrogator (95% of the people he was forced to interrogate were farmers swept up in randon sweeps). I had the chance to chat with him when we were smoking some fags outside. He's another legend. A quite religious person, and he's now part of the Catholic Worker Movement. I hope he'll be to the AWM what DRG is to the 911TM. Also I have to say that Josh was posted to Abu Ghraib AFTER the whole torture thing was exposed. I don't know if it continued, but hopefully I'm meeting him on Thursday again, so I'll ask him then.

Two heroes. (Not to mention the five heroes the gig was in aid of)

[Partridge]

I should add that "smoking a fag" in Ireland means "having a cigarette" (outside cos its illegal to smoke in Irish pubs).

[Partridge]

And David - a Jew - dedicated his song Falluja to ...[drum roll]... Hezbollah.


I said to him "that's gonnna come back n get ya". He said "good!"

[Gold9472]

What is AWM?

[PhilosophyGenius]

I really need a fag right about now.

[Partridge]

What is AWM?

The anti-war movement.

[Partridge]

I'm happy to be able to report that a little over two hours ago the Catholic Worker Five were found not guilty by a jury of twelve of their peers.

Despite being obviously 'guilty' of the action they carried out (decommissioning a US warplane in Shannon airport), the jury found them not guilty. One can put this down to a mixture of a great legal team (so I was informed by one of them on Saturday night), and an ever increasing revulsion at the US war agenda among ordinary people in Ireland.

However, as usual the government continues to bow to the Empire instead of its own electorate on this issue, and the US war flights into Ireland continue.



Pitstop Ploughshares statement on Not Guilty Verdict

The jury is the conscience of the community chosen randomly from Irish society. The conscience of the community has spoken. The government has no popular mandate in providing the civilian Shannon airport to service the US war machine in it's illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

In 1996 in Liverpool the Jury acquittal of the four 'ploughshares' women contributed to the end of arms exports to the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia and the independence of East Timor.

The decision of this jury should be a message to London, Washington DC and the Dail that Ireland wants no part in waging war on the people of Iraq. Refuelling of US warplanes at Shannon Airport should cease immediately.

Ciaron, Damien, Karen, Deirdre, Nuin

ENDS