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| News
Week of 16-22 May 2004
Camilo Mejia and Ivan Medina |
Irving Medina
Killed 14 November 2003. |
Iraq veteran, twin brother of slain soldier, supports Camilo Mejia. Camilo Mejia was convicted of desertion on Friday, 21 May, and sentenced to a year in prison and a bad conduct discharge. (Damned if you do and damned if you don't: Sgt. Mejia received almost the same sentence for refusing to commit war crimes that Spc. Jeremy Sivits got for committing them.) Mejia refused to return to Iraq in October because of the attacks on civilians and the abuse of prisoners, and applied for conscientious objector status. He's been laying low in New York, but turned himself in to the authorities in March.
But one of his most interesting supporters is Ivan Medina. Medina, of Middletown, New York, served 11 months in Iraq, taking part in the initial invasion. His sister Jenny is a sergeant in the Army Reserve. And his twin brother, Irving, was killed in Iraq. Irving had joined up in September 2001; he was killed on 14 November 2003. Ivan was discharged after his twin brother was killed.
Initially, the Mejia family had little to say on political matters; their public statements were about their lost son and brother. Then came President Bush's infamous clowning around and jokes about not finding any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The journalists attending the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association's black-tie dinner laughed. The Mejias didn't.
"You know, these men � are liars, bold-faced liars � and I believe that he doesn't care about the soldiers, and he doesn't care about the lives who are lost there. You know, I feel very upset with this man," said Jorge Medina - father of Irving, Ivan and Jenny.
Ivan Medina commented: "President Bush chose to, what he has done is just taken a bad situation and made it worse. He has lied about the weapons of mass destruction, and to cover up his tracks he is trying to make jokes about it. It's a disgrace to any soldier, and it's definitely a disgrace to any family member that lost a loved one out there, because he's making fun of something that he supposedly decided to go to war to, and he can't even back up now his own story, so now he's trying to make fun of it, saying oh, maybe it's the best way. And It's wrong. It's wrong for the soldiers, we are not honoring the soldiers that way. We're making fun of why they died. It's just � it just shows that we need a new President and new Commander in Chief that will honor the soldiers, and that will care about what we do and why we go to war."
If you've been following the story of Camilo Mejia, you've seen one young man appear in the news photos time and time again. That young man is Ivan Medina, seen above with Mejia on 19 May.
Nate Reens of the Savannah Morning News quotes Ivan Medina as saying that others shouldn't question Mejia's choice unless they've put their lives on the line and served in a war.
"'He'll always be a soldier no matter what,' Medina said. 'I think he had a right to decide what he thought was right. He came back and said this isn't right.
"'We still support the troops, make no mistake about that. We all don't support what is happening there.'"
Gorm, 21 May 2004.
More on this story:
� Irving Medina. - The Iraq page, 29 Nov. 2003.
� Army Spc. Irving Media - Military City.
� Family of Slain Soldier Calls Bush WMD Jokes "Disgraceful." - Democracy Now, 26 March 2004.
� Sft. Camilo Mejia: First Iraqi War Veteran to Refuse Further Military Service. - Citizen Soldier.
� Court-martial starts against soldier accused of desertion. - Savannah Morning News, 20 May 2004 (for Ivan Medina's comments).
Judge dismisses Ashcroft attempt to shut down Greenpeace. "Nothing better illustrates the frivolous nature of this prosecution than the fact the judge threw the case out without even needing to hear from the defense." Greenpeace, 19 May 2004.
www.bigbrother.gov. "The feds want to know who's been visiting the Web site of voting watchdog Bev Harris, and they're likely to get what they want." Seattle Weekly, 19-25 May 2004.
Iraqi Assyrians Seek Self-Administered Region. Old news; sometimes it takes me a while to catch up. They say the "cultural survival of the indigenous Christian Assyrians depends on their ability to administer their own affairs in the Nineveh plain." Assyrian International News Agency, 19 April 2004. See also: An Ancient People's Last Stand: The Plight of the ChaldoAssyrians in Post-Saddam Iraq, by Robert W. DeKelaita. AINA, 30 April 2004.
Peaceful Protesters Slaughtered by Israelis
Latest in seemingly unending string of Israeli atrocities.
A man carries the body of a child killed in the attack.
Protesters flee in panic.
See the following stories:
� Israelis fire on crowds in Gaza - BBC News, 19 May 2004.
� Amnesty International: Stop destruction of homes and land by Israeli army. - Amnesty International, 18 May 2004.
� IDF forces move into new neighborhood. - Ha'aretz, 20 May 2004.
� Palestinian Red Crescent: Humanitarian Emergency in Rafah. - Axis of Logic, 19 May 2004.
� Israelis fire on Rafah demonstration. - Guardian Unlimited, 19 May 2004.
� Auf Deutsch: Tote und Verletzte bei Panzerangriff auf Demonstration. - Spiegel, 19 May 2004.
� Ten killed as Israel shells Rafah protesters. - Independent, May 2004.
� Kids who can�t play, teen alcoholics. One-third of Israeli children and 100% of Palestinian children are directly affected by violence. 70% of Israeli children surveyed "reported increased subjective fear or hopelessness;" 70% of Palestinian children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. - JTA Global Jewish News, 19 May 2004.
The Jesus Landing Pad: Shrub White House consults with fundie extremists. "'Everything that you're discussing is information you're not supposed to have,' barked Pentecostal minister Robert G. Upton." Village Voice, 18 May 2004.
Michael Berg calls Shrub a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Islam Online, 19 May 2004.
Reuters says three of its reporters were abused at Abu Ghraib. BBC News, 18 May 2004.
Giuliani heckled by 9-11 families.
"'You're simply wasting time at this point,' commission head Thomas Kean told the family members.
"'YOU'RE wasting time!" came the angry reply."
Chicago Sun-Times, 19 May 2004.
U.S. denies bombing wedding. Those children were insurgents, right? BBC News, 19 May 2004. See also Al-Jazeera, 20 May 2004 and Spiegel, 19 May 2004 (auf Deutsch)
Israeli tanks open fire on protesters. But so many others wanted to do it. Al-Jazeera, 20 May 2004.
Tony Blair get flour-bombed by a group of divorced fathers. But so many others wanted to do it. Al-Jazeera, 19 May 2004.
U.N. Security Council condemns Israeli atrocities. Only the United States refused to speak up for justice; we're just glad Shrub didn't have our delegation veto the resolution. The resolution passed 14-0 with the U.S. abstaining. Al-Jazeera, 20 May 2004.
Sivits sentenced in abuse case. He gets a year in prison, a reduction in rank, and a bad conduct discharge. However, the sentence can still be reduced or dismissed. Graner, Frederick, and Davis face hearing 21 June. Chicago Sun-Times, 19 May 2004.
Romney seeks to block marriage licenses for out-of-state couples. Boston Globe, 19 May 2004.
Sonia Gandhi declines premiership of India; throws support to Manmohan Singh. Singh is set to be the first Sikh Prime Minister of India. Boston Globe, 19 May 2004.
Same-Sex couples in Massachusetts are Free to marry. Boston Globe, 17 May 2004. More stories from the Globe:
� After long wait, seven pioneering couples take their vows.
� Meet the couples.
� Same-sex couples begin marrying in Massachusetts; Boston mayor greets plaintiff couple.
� Questions and answers about gay marriage in Massachusetts.
� In middle America, a mix of hope, anxiety.
� Cambridge plays host to a giant celebration.
� Municipalities say residency won't be an issue.
� A wedding toast [Editorial].
� Lynch interprets law to allow same-sex marriages to stand in R.I.
� Attorney General Patrick Lynch's statement on same-sex marriage.
� Vermont's lessons on same-sex marriage [by Howard Dean].
� Clerks in tight spot politically.
� At churches, acceptance nudges opposition.
� Blumenthal says gay marriage not permitted in Connecticut.
� Romney among key figures invited to nuptials -- but he won't attend.
� Statement of Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley on same-sex marriages.
� Statement from Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople.
� Bush renews his call for banning gay marriage.
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