No WAR on IRAQ:

A Gulf War Veteran's Crusade for Peace

Maher Bages wants to see peace between the U.S. and Iraq, and he spent this summer walking across the Iraqi desert in an effort to draw attention to the devastating impact of U.S. sanctions - and a possible war - on Iraqi civilians.

Bages, who received his master's degree from ISU earlier this year, has a unique background for a peace activist: he's a former Marine who fought against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. But Bages doesn't seem to see much of a contradiction between his old job and his new one: "the Marine Corps taught me the self-discipline someone requires for this work." His background as a politically active Palestinian may help explain why he has made this transition from a warrior to a peacemaker.

Bages and the others in his group walked from the Iraqi border with Jordan to Baghdad, rejected the air-conditioned buses that Iraqi officials tried to provide for them: "It's not a pleasure trip for us." The members of the Iraq Peace Walk were interviewed by Reuters, AP, and CNN about the experience. [Full Story]

Bush's War on Iraq:

A Threat to Civilization

During the months after September 11th, Bush has looked beyond Afghanistan to permeate the world with his "war on terrorism." In his State of the Union address, Iraq was one of the countries that he labeled in the "axis of evil." Bush seems to be on a non-stop, tunnel-vision path to expand the war to Iraq. The Wall Street Journal reports, "a showdown with Iraq appears nearly inevitable."

But behind Bush's pro-war propaganda campaign to "end terrorism," there really are no legitimate reasons to invade Iraq. U.S. foreign policy has nothing to do with protecting the U.S., the Iraqi people, or the rest of the world from Saddam and his "threat to civilization." However, it has everything to do with the expansion of multinational corporations' drilling for Middle-East oil.

Saddam Hussein is a tyrant. There is no question about that. However, the U.S. has never dictated its policies towards Saddam based on his atrocities. Actually, the U.S. supported Saddam through his worst atrocities. Saddam and the U.S. were wonderful trading partners during the 1980s. During this time, Saddam carried out his worst crime of gassing of the Kurds in 1988 with the chemical weapons that we sold him. [Full Story]

9/11 in McLean County

Everyone, everywhere, is obligated to memorialize 9/11, and the McLean County Museum of History is no different from the rest. "9/11: McLean County Responds" is hastily put together by the standards of historians, but it provides at least a glimpse into how Bloomington-Normal reacted to the events.

The exhibit, which opened September 7, may seem to be a lesser part of the endless parade of media coverage on the anniversary of 9/11. McLean County, after all, was a long way from New York, and we cannot lay claim to the heart-wrenching stories of survivors and victims.

The exhibit does feature the predictable mix of tragedy and cuteness, of fundraising buckets made by kids juxtaposed with the somber reasons behind the event. Visually, the exhibit is laid back, a combination of local photos, newspaper headlines, and t-shirts and hats celebrating New York police and fire units. [Full Story]

Greens Chopped from McLean Co. Ballot

On September 5, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Robb upheld the decision of the McLean County Officers Electoral Board to remove Green Party County Board candidate Phil Huckleberry from the ballot on a technicality. It marked the possible end of a five-month attempt by the McLean County Green Party to place candidates on the ballot for County Board and the end of any real electoral alternative in the upcoming local elections. Voters in the 4th and 5th McLean County districts are left with is, at best, a choice in the November election between Republicans and Democrats, but in reality, not much of a choice at all.

The state of Illinois, dominated by the Democratic Party in the Chicago area and the Republican Party almost everywhere else, is notorious for the barriers to placing third-party candidates on the ballot. In 2000, the Illinois Greens withstood a legal challenge from the state Democratic Party to put the Nader/LaDuke presidential ticket on the ballot. In 2002, the Prairie Greens worked feverishly to get the 5,000 signatures required for Green Congressional candidate Carl Estabrook's campaign, as the signature requirement in Illinois is many times higher than the same office in neighboring states. [Full Story]