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Is anti-war activism on the wane? What can revive it?
May 2012

Reports from Palestine
Oct-Nov 2010

Earth Day in Israel: Apartheid Showing through the Greenwash
April 23, 2010

Occupied Washington, DC
March 30, 2010

AIPAC: Telling a Whopper
March 27, 2010

Questioning Our Special Relationship with Israel
Feb 13, 2010

Assedio di Gaza: Rompere l'indifferenza
Dec 2009

My Memories of Fort Hood
Nov 9, 2009

Italy's Fallen Soldiers
Sept 23, 2009

Yes We Camp
July 10, 2009

Absurdity is the Norm in the Gaza Strip
June 10, 2009

Il pacchetto di sicurezza viola i diritti umani
March 2009

U.S. Military Base in Vicenza, Italy Gets Final Approval
February 2009

“Unofficial” Referendum in Vicenza, Italy:
95% Opposed to New U.S. Military Base

Oct 2008

Mat and Yvonne Say: No Dal Molin
Sept 2008

U.S. Military Interests Reign Supreme in Italy
July 2008

Italian Court Blocks Construction of U.S. Military Base
June 2008

Movimenti contro le basi militari negli USA
May 2008

As Italy's elections go from bad to worse, Vicenza remains the silver lining
April 2008

What Do You Know About the U.S. Base Camp Darby?
Feb 2008

Tired of Promises, Vicenza, Italy Demands Action Against New U.S. Military Base
Dec 9, 2007

Not Your Ordinary 4th of July in Vicenza, Italy
Or How To Get Kicked Off a U.S. Military Base

July 4, 2007

Italian Women Opposing New U.S. Military Base Lobby Capitol Hill
May 11, 2007

No Peace or Justice: America's plans to Expand a US Military Base in Vicenza, Italy
March 2007

Anti War March in DC
Jan 27, 2007

March for Palestine
Nov 18, 2006

Travel Advisory
Oct 17, 2006

Letters from Camp Casey
Aug-Sept 2006

Don't Iraq Iran
May 18, 2006

Italian National Assembly of the Anti-War Movement
Feb 11-12, 2006

International Peace Conference in London
Dec 10, 2005

Concert in memoriam in Rome: Marla Ruzicka and the victims of war
July 9, 2005


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versione italiana

My Memories of Fort Hood

The following is a translation of a letter published on the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa.

When I read of the tragedy at Fort Hood in my home state of Texas, where a soldier killed 13 of his fellow troops and wounded 30, I couldn't help thinking of my brief experience at the base.

It was the summer of 2006. I was in Crawford, Texas, home to Bush's ranch and Camp Casey, the activist campout organized by Cindy Sheehan who lost her son in Iraq. It was the second year for Camp Casey. But this time, Bush had chosen to spend his holidays elsewhere, leaving us with more free time.

Fort Hood, the largest army base in the U.S., where most soldiers heading off to war pass through, is an hour and a half from Crawford. We decided to go there to give information to members of the military. With us were veterans of the war in Iraq and we had leaflets from the GI Rights Hotline, an organization that provides counseling to soldiers, including information on how to get out of the military.

We set up about a hundred meters from the entrance during evening rush hour as soldiers left the base. I expected to find myself in a hostile environment, but that's not the way it turned out.

We had signs with a very simple message, "You don't have to go." It was enough to cause many soldiers to stop for more information, even in uniform, violating the military code and in sight of the guards at the entrance to the base. Some drove by in their cars and flashed us the peace sign. Others stopped just long enough to jot down the toll free number for the GI Rights Hotline written in large letters on the side of our van. Spouses, mothers and fathers of soldiers stopped to get material to take home.

Fort Hood has the highest suicide rate of all U.S. bases. Nidal M. Hasan, the soldier who killed his fellow troops, had spent six years, from 2003 to 2009, as a psychiatrist at Walter Reed military hospital in Washington treating soldiers with post-traumatic stress syndrome. He was soon set to deploy to Iraq.

Over three years have passed since I was at Fort Hood. At the time, the Republicans controlled the House, the Senate and the White House. Now the Democrats have the majority. But I feel certain that if I were to go stand in front of the base with the same sign, the scene of three years ago would repeat itself.

Stephanie Westbrook

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Our Eyes Wide Open Film Series is suspended; for further information click here.


Upshot of our Nov. 9th group discussion on current politics:

It wasn't the Russians that got us Trump. Or Comey. Or even the massive GOP election fraud. It was the DNC.*
*Dem National Committee

To learn how to stop the DNC from delivering us another Trump, read Autopsy: the Democratic Party in Crisis.


Photo of a school in Yemen bombed by Saudi Arabian jets supplied by the U.S. and fueled in the air by the U.S. Air Force. Tell Trump to STOP THIS CARNAGE, not fuel it! Click here.

Also participate in the CodePink email and/or phone initiative:




Click here to sign a petition, to put an end to the sanctions against Syria - their only effect is to take a terrible toll on the population, causing them to migrate! And click here to see the video by the Italian Committee to lift sanctions against Syria.



Iraq Deaths Estimator
Did someone tell you that U.S. military intervention in Iraq was over? Not true: we're at it again. This time the pretext to drop bombs is "curbing ISIS" (which was created by the U.S. in the first place, to overturn al-Malaki in Iraq and then Assad in Syria, and is now out of hand. Like what happened to "our" creature al Qaeda in Afghanistan). And the death toll continues to rise...
Write your senators and tell them: "Enough! U.S. out!! Iraq has shown it can curb ISIS by itself!"

Copyright © 2008 Stephanie Westbrook  All rights reserved.
U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice - Rome, Italy