U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice - Rome Italy anti-war demonstration in Rome

Past Events


Solidarity with Bradley Manning
December 17, 2011

No to "war as usual"
March 19, 2010

Winter Soldier Europe
March 14, 2009

Palestinian Flags Flutter
Alongside Peace Banners

January 17, 2009

Close Guantanamo Now!
January 17, 1009

10-Day Vigil for Gaza
January 8-18, 2009

Supporting La'Onf
October 29, 2008

Free the Cuban 5
Sept 13, 2008

Cheney in Chains
Sept 8, 2008

No Bush, No War
June 11, 2008

May Day ILWU Solidarity Action
May 1, 2008

War Tax Day
April 15, 2008

World Social Forum Global Day of Action
Jan 26, 2008

Shut Down Guantánamo Now!
Jan 11, 2008

No U.S. Military Base in Vicenza
Dec 15, 2007

Meeting Iranian Artists
Dec 05, 2007

End the War in Iraq, No War on Iran
Oct 27, 2007

Report on Final Days of No Dal Molin Festival in Vicenza, Italy
Sept 16, 2007

Camping for Peace in Vicenza, Italy
Sept 12, 2007

Impeach Them Both +
Judiciary Fax Blast

July 23, 2007

I-M-P-E-A-C-H !
April 28, 2007

4th Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq
March 20, 2007

No Dal Molin, Vicenza, Italy
Feb 17, 2007

Congress: Act Now to End the War
Jan 27, 2007

No Military Bases, Vicenza, Italy
Dec 2, 2006

No War, No Cluster Bombs
Sept 23, 2006

Protest Calling for Cease-fire in Lebanon
July 26, 2006

Military Spending
Bean Poll

July 18, 2006

Stop the Escalation
in the Middle East

July 17, 2006

Refusing to Kill
July 06, 2006

Shailja Patel:
Poetry in Times
of War

July 05, 2006

Troops Home Fast
July 04, 2006

Italian Vote on
Military Missions

June 27, 2006

Peace Parade
June 02, 2006

Michael Uhl of
Veterans for Peace

April 29, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Hidden in Plain Sight

April 26, 2006

War Tax Day
April 15, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Hotel Palestine: Killing the Witness

April 12, 2006

National Anti-war Protest in Rome
March 18, 2006

Soldiers Against War
March 18, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Aristide and the Endless Revolution

March 15, 2006

Women (and men!) Say No To War
March 8, 2006

An Eyewitness Account of Post Katrina New Orleans
March 2, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Life and Debt

February 09, 2006

Vote to Renew Italian Mission in Iraq
February 09, 2006

Cindy Sheehan
February 06, 2006

NBC Today
Show Blitz

February 06, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
The Revolution Will
Not Be Televised

January 26, 2006

Cindy Sheehan
In Rome

January 18, 2006

Crimes & Lies:
with Dave Lindorff
and Maurizio Torrealta

January 13, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Peace Propaganda and
the Promised Land

January 12, 2006

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
The Oil Factor

December 15, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Plan Colombia

December 01, 2005

Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre
November 30, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Wal-Mart

November 17, 2005

Protest at U.S. Embassy: White Phosphorus in Fallujah
November 14, 2005

Control Arms Petition
at Piazza Chiesa Nuova

November 12, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Invisible Ballots

November 10, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
The Corporation

October 27, 2005

Movie Night:
Viva Zapatero

October 25, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Hidden Wars of
Desert Storm

October 13, 2005

Anti-war rally
at U.S. Embassy

Sept 24, 2005

USC4P&J Social
at the Beehive

June 22, 2005

Die-In with
Articolo 11
at Palazzo Chigi

June 21, 2005

Collecting Photos
with Control Arms

June 18, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Unconstitutional

June 16, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Outfoxed

June 09, 2005

Eyes Wide Open
Film Series
Weapons of
Mass Deception

May 19, 2005

Vigil at Palazzo Chigi with Articolo 11
May 05, 2005

Vigil at Palazzo Chigi with Articolo 11
April 28, 2005

Vigil at Palazzo Chigi with Articolo 11
April 21, 2005

International Day of Protest
March 19, 2005

War in Iraq: Crimes & Lies
Dave Lindorff and Maurizio Torrealta

On Friday, January 13th, 2006, David Lindorff, a U.S. investigative journalist and writer, and Maurizio Torrealta, an Italian journalist with RAINEWS24, made a presentation to about seventy-five (75) people at an event organized by U.S. Citizens for Peace and Justice-Rome and the coalition of Rome peace groups, Romacittapertallapace. “Voices from the other America, Voices from the other Italy” was held at the Casa delle Culture in Trastevere. This was one of the first events of a new campaign entitled “Crimini e Bugie” (Crimes and Lies) whose intent is to inform the public about the crimes and lies, both U.S. and Italian, surrounding the war in Iraq and mobilize for two important dates, the vote for renewal of the Italian mission in Iraq in late January or early February and the International Day of Protest set for March 18.

Dave Lindorff, who is currently writing his fourth book, “The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office” focused his comments on the case for impeachment, war crimes, the media and to a lesser extent on the complicity of European nations (Italy, France, Germany…) in assisting the U.S. regime in their war effort.

Maurizio Torrealta, co-producer of the video Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre, talked about the importance of independent information from the battlefield, where experimental weapons, such as those based on microwave or laser technology, are put to the test, albeit under tight cover. Journalists, by uncovering the use of these new horrifying weapons, give power to public opinion, which in turn helps keep the use of these weapons in check. He also talked about the growing military power, concentrated among just a few countries, that is leading to less and less democracy in the world.

During the lively question and answer session that followed, Lindorff was asked to name the top three crimes committed by George W. Bush that would warrant impeachment. He mentioned that a recent poll stated that 53% of the U.S. public thought that the President should be impeached if it is found he lied about the war in Iraq. He thought that number one would be Bush’s recent admission of authorizing “spying” on U.S. citizens who were thought to be engaging in “terrorist” activities because this act has angered both conservatives, for whom citizens’ privacy is highly regarded, as well as civil liberties proponents. Reason number two might be Bush’s lying/falsifying information that he thought was necessary to win Congressional and citizens’ support for going to war with Iraq, such as the fabrication of the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Saddam’s link to Al Qaeda. The third reason that he gave was the “outing” of the CIA operative, Valerie Plame, by members of his administration (Libby and possibly others) as this effected national security and would strike a cord with both sides of the political debate.

Lindorff acknowledged that the mainstream media, both television and newspapers, was not showing the horrible images of war like it did during the Vietnam era. The American people are not seeing the body bags (2,000 and more) arriving back home. They are not seeing the decimated bodies of civilian victims of white phosphorous on their TV’s or the cover page of their local newspapers. He suggested that the internet is playing a role in keeping people informed and this needs to increase. Lindorff also mentioned that the peace movement has been reactivated, gave credit to the creativity of Cindy Sheehan and the Camp Casey efforts, and described a grassroots initiative that travels around the country with a pair of boots for each serviceperson lost in Iraq and how this was having an impact on public opinion.

On the question of how the peace movements in Italy and the U.S. could cooperate, Lindorff said the most important thing the Italian movement could do is to make sure that incriminating information on the Bush administration comes to light and to pressure elected leaders to investigate crimes with U.S. involvement, such as the forged documents from Niger, the kidnapping of Abu Omar in Milan and rendition flights.

In the short term, Lindorff was optimistic about the midterm elections coming up in November 2006 (although he did not address the question of an accurate vote count). He was hopeful that with more Democrats elected to Congress, impeachment efforts, among other things, would be moved forward. When questioned, he did state that he thought that Democrats, as well, were also pro corporation and pro imperialistic, but that the Democratic Party was a balance of power force to keep the more conservative Republican Party in check.

Though, a number of Italians questioned whether anything really changes with elections, bringing up, as an example, the fact that Clinton was in the White House and the left in power in Italy when Kosovo was bombed.

In the long term, Lindorff did posit that instead of the neocon “fantasy” of making itself the only superpower on the planet, that within twenty years, the U. S. government may self destruct, from within. He pointed to the weakened economy (a new estimate puts the total cost of the war in Iraq at $2 trillion), the worsening levels of corruption, the mishandling of the Katrina disaster as a few indicators.

One person disagreed with Lindorff's theory that the U.S. would inevitably lose the war in Iraq and therefore be forced to abandon its plans for world domination. This was a war about oil, so how could we possibly think that the U.S. would some day give up or be driven from the country. She also said the same could be said of Italy, with the promise of oil in the Nasiriyah.

On a Friday the 13th, with a full moon, a group of Italians and U.S. citizens gathered for 3 hours to hear from two journalists dedicated to uncovering the truth. They asked provocative questions and offered their own opinions. It was an opportunity to share information and ideas in an effort to bring about change.

Kathy Ford and Stephanie Westbrook

Special thanks to Andrea Spila of Translators for Peace for providing translations.

Photos copyright © 2006 Thomas Fieselmann

Additional Resources

Dave Lindorff: for more information on his articles and books, see his site: thiscantbehappening.net

Maurizio Torrealta: co-producer of the video on the use of white phosphorus in Fallujah. See the video: Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre

Romacittapertallapace:
coalition of Rome peace groups promoting a counter information campaign Crimes & Lies as a mobilizing force for the upcoming vote to renew the Italian mission in Iraq and the global day of protest, March 18, 2006.

The Crimes & Lies Campaign focuses on the lies of the U.S. Government and the complicity of the allied countries such as Italy.

Translators for Peace: association of translators and interpreters working to spread the message of peace in many languages. Traduttori per la pace

Ongoing/Future Events


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!"

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Copyright © 2006 Kathy Ford and Stephanie Westbrook  All rights reserved
U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice - Rome, Italy