Action Alert = DEFEND WIKILEAKS!!

DEFEND WIKILEAKS -
END THE SECRET WARS

We believe that WikiLeaks and those whistleblowers who declassify documents in a time of secret war should be welcomed as defenders of democracy, not demonized as criminals.

We support their First Amendment rights and welcome their continued disobedience in response to a long train of official deception.

Our government and its allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan have stretched the labels "national security" and "secrecy" beyond all reasonable definitions, because they wish to keep the realities of these wars hidden from the American people. "National security" is becoming the last refuge of scoundrels. Only consider -

- Our government prohibited the media from photographing the returning remains of our dead soldiers, until public pressure forced a change in policy;

- The Abu Ghraib torture scandal only came to public attention when photographs were leaked by an MP;

- The war in Pakistan is shrouded in secrecy because it violates that country's sovereignty, results in the killing of innocent civilians, and is deeply unpopular;

- According to the new information from WikiLeaks, our Special Operations Task Force 373 operates outside the ISAF mandate to kidnap and kill targeted insurgents in a repeat of the discredited Phoenix program of the Vietnam era.

- Gen. Stanley McChrystal was forced to resign after a Rolling Stone reporter uncovered attitudes hostile to civilian authority;

- The same Rolling Stone article quoted a top official saying if the truth about these wars was known by the American people, they would be even more unpopular.

Given this context of cover-ups, whistleblowers have been a last resort in keeping democracy alive.

We understand the embarrassment of high officials when exposed, but it is Orwellian for the Pentagon to accuse the WikiLeaks of having "blood on their hands." We are in the tenth year of a war which has claimed over 1,100 American lives, and where Afghan and Pakistan casualties are obscured deliberately. Many of America's killed and wounded are listed as non-combat, minimizing the actual toll. WikiLeaks has been careful to delete information which might expose individuals to lethal risk. Those who really have blood on their hands are the authors of this war. We stand with those who expose them.
. . . .

WHAT YOU CAN DO: 1. End the silence in the face of government threats against WikiLeaks. 2. Circulate the petition online, in your community and organizational circles. 3. Forward the petition to decision-makers in your community. 4. Turn the petition into letters to the editor, leaflets and creative forms of public protest. Sign the petition here.

Oppose Afghan Funding, Support the McGovern/ Feingold Legislation (HR 5015/S. 3197) View text of the legislation here. View list of current co-sponsors here. Contact your representative and urge them to co-sponsor the bill here.

Rethink Afghanistan Wathch Rethink Afghanistan's: We're f*#!ing losing this thing. Tom Hayden serves on the board of Brave New Foundation and contributes to its Rethink Afghanistan outreach campaign.

Just the Facts Find out what the war is costing your community here. Quick facts on Afghanistan here.

Join a Local Network! To add your name to our regional activist lists, please write us at: contacthayden@gmail.com with your e-mail and location.