Taking it to CAPITOL HILL
Ghosts of the Iraq War Shut Down the Senate
By Max Obuszewski
On Mar. 12, 2008, members of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR] again went inside the U.S. Capitol with a message to end the funding of the Iraq War.
NCNR activists and their supporters gathered in the gallery of the U.S. Senate. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) was speaking, and Senate Budget Chairperson Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) was managing the debate for the Democrats over the budget resolution. Acting President Pro Tempore Sen. Ben Cardin (D-M.D.) was also present.
Ghosts of the Iraq War Action in the Senate Gallery
By Joy First
I went to Washington, DC on Monday March 10, 2008 to participate in the “Ghosts of War” action on March 12. This was a planned action of nonviolent civil resistance, following the nonviolent principles of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance. The plan was to do this action in the Senate gallery where we could directly address the Senators, demanding that they stop funding the war. All of us who would participate have spent hundreds of hours calling, writing, and visiting our Senators and Representatives asking them to end the funding for the war. We have participated in marches and rallies, written letters to the editor, talked to families and friends, and taken many “legal” actions to try to end the war and occupation of Iraq.
Following Kennedy’s oration, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) was speaking at 2:20 PM, when Eve Tetaz stood up wearing a We Will Not Be Silent tee shirt and a gauze shroud over her head and said, "I am a ghost from the Iraq War. While I died needlessly, I am here to demand an end to the funding of the war so that others do not have to die."
As she was removed, the ghost of Tim Chadwick with a We Will Not Be Silent tee shirt and a gauze shroud stood up. I would be the third ghost. Eventually, ten Ghosts of the Iraq War would haunt the august Senate chamber.
We subsequently found out that after we were removed, Sen. Lincoln praised our passion and indicated she was just as passionate to end the war. Our ghostly voices were captured on C-Span.
Two of our supporters, Janie Stein and Martin Bates from Salina, Kansas, were in Sen. Sam Brownback’s office awaiting an opportunity to meet with him. Since the TV was tuned to Fox News, they asked a staff person to turn on C-Span. When our voices were heard, they applauded, as did some members of the Republican senator’s staff.
Once the ghosts were in custody, we were all handcuffed and held in a hallway. The others were Maria Allwine, Ellen Barfield, Joy First, Judith Kelly, Art Landis, Linda Letendre and Manijeh Saba. While in the hallway, we continued to condemn the funding of an immoral war. Various media representatives were straining to interview us, but the Capitol Police intentionally kept them away. While I was being cuffed, the officer yelled out to keep the press away.
Each one of us would continue to speak out as we were escorted by a Capitol Police officer to one of two police wagons. We were transported just a few blocks away to a Capitol Police precinct behind the Senate office buildings.
I was with Tim, who walks with a cane because he had a knee replacement about a month ago, and Art, a senior citizen who shuffles along with a cane. Art was handcuffed in the front which allowed him to use his cane. Tim, though, had his cane taken away and was cuffed in the back.
Since Tim, Maria, Joy, Judith and I were convicted for the NCNR crypt action in September, we were prepared to serve our suspended jail sentences. Art was convicted in January for crossing the line last November at the School of Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. He is awaiting an order to report to jail to serve his 30-day sentence. Ellen and Eve are familiar faces, so they inevitably are held over. Linda accepted the stet offer issued after her arrest at the Supreme Court on Jan. 11 calling for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo. However, a condition for the stet was that she would not be arrested for six months.
So almost all of the arrestees recognized the possibility of being held in jail. We were all experienced activists, and dedicated in our desire to continue to act against this awful war, regardless of the consequences.
Because Art has had a series of mini-strokes, he takes an aspirin a day. The police would not give him a pill, but during processing they took him to George Washington Hospital.
The gathering of personal information for each defendant was conducted in a small office. While there I was handcuffed by one wrist to a wall. We could have been processed in a few hours, but efficiency is not the order of the day in most police stations. Around 9 PM, the remaining six prisoners were to be transported to Central Cell Block for identification checks. Officer Wilson was in charge of the precinct, and he placed the cuffs on us. Our complaints that the cuffs were biting our wrists were disregarded. Earlier that evening, he told me that he served two tours of duty in Iraq, the first in Desert Storm, the second in the more recent invasion. He added that we should protest the incarceration of soldiers convicted of torture at Abu Ghraib.
Once at the entrance to Central Cell Block, Eve, who suffers from glaucoma, asked if a police officer could apply her eye drops. Instead, she was taken to George Washington Hospital.
Once we were in CCB, the cuffs were removed and we had the opportunity to drink some sugar water. This would be the first fluids we consumed since entering the Capitol. Tim and I shared a cell, and the women were taken to the other side of the jail. One by one, we were taken to be fingerprinted and photographed. Today, this is done by computer. While in the room, I was asked what was going on. Once I explained STOP-LOSS CONGRESS, the jailers were very sympathetic to the idea that Congress should not go on vacation until all the troops were home.
Prior to our release from CCB, Art returned from the hospital. He looked much better, as he was provided with intravenous fluids, an aspirin and a sandwich. Later, we heard that there were 28 other arrests that day. Those activists were taken to the Capitol Police mass arrest garage.
Our citation release called for us to be arraigned at 10:30 AM on Mar. 13 in Superior Court, facing a charge of disorderly conduct/disruptive conduct, which carries a possible sentence of six months in jail and/or a $500 fine.
The next day in court was agonizing; at 11:30 AM we were told our cases would not be heard until the afternoon. Jack Baringer, an attorney, discovered that Ellen, Joy and Linda--whom we hadn't seen since they were arrested--were in custody. Eve was not in lock-up. By 5 PM., she was.
The government called every other case, at least 75. The intent was to clear the courtroom before our cases were called. There were eight marshals in court when Linda was brought in at 6:20 PM, followed by the other three women.
The judge authorized stay-away orders from Capitol Hill for the defendants. He set up a status hearing date of May 27. A number of us are scheduled for trial that day for the Close Guantanamo action at the Supreme Court.
The six of us given citation release were then called up. At 7 PM, outside the courtroom, the Ghosts of the Iraq War were reunited. Those held over were perplexed to find out the others were released. It made no sense.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia has been trying to clamp down on the antiwar resistance movement. The government can jail the resisters, but not the resistance.
Max Obuszewski, a member of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, is involved with the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance.
