The war we resist today began in 2001; declared as a reaction to 9/11, it was fully prepared for prior to 9/11. In less than a year, Bush was agitating for war in Iraq – searching there for weapons of mass destruction. Three nuns found them in Colorado. Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson enacted a Citizens’ Weapons Inspection – cutting the fence at the N-8 Missile Silo to expose the presence of a first strike nuclear weapon on high alert.

And I look at the struggle of the Palestinians whose ties to their land go back centuries and whose children can only see giving their lives in that struggle. And I look at the Colombians and the peasants of Central America who have to renew their strength every day and every generation. And I look at the history of our own country and the struggle of working people and people of color and women. None of these struggles is won – like a ball game; each must be borne daily. Clearly, we don’t get everything we struggle for but we have to fight for everything we get. One of the tragedies in this country is the sense that freedom is a possession. We can own it; it can’t be taken from us! It has made us the most pathetic and enslaved people of the world.

In late June Holder asked an aide for a copy of the CIA inspector general’s thick classified report on interrogation abuses. He cleared his schedule and, over two days, holed up alone in his Justice Depart ment office, immersed himself in what Dick Cheney once referred to as “the dark side.” He read the report twice, the first time as a lawyer, looking for evidence and instances of transgressions that might call for prosecution. The second time, he started to absorb what he was reading at a more emotional level. He was “shocked and saddened” he told a friend, by what government servants were alleged to have done in America’s name. When he was done he stood at his window for a long time, staring at Constitution Avenue.” Independent Day, Daniel Klaidman, NEWSWEEK dated Jul. 20, 2009

For several years, members of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR] have tried to speak truth to power. For example, after an exuberant rally in Washington, D.C.’s John Marshall Park on June 25, Torture Accountability Action Day, NCNR led a march to the Department of Justice to seek a meeting to discuss the indictment of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney.

A letter had been sent on May 11 to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting a meeting. He never responded, so we marched to the DOJ entrance on Pennsylvania Avenue with banners calling for the prosecution of members of the Bush Administration for war crimes.

Last year, we sent a similar letter to then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Since he did not respond, we rallied on November 10 outside the DOJ’s Constitution Avenue entrance. A public relations person came out and said he would only deliver our letter. Since we were denied a meeting, sixteen of us did a die-in on the sidewalk. The police declined to arrest us.

The same PR person came out on June 25 and took a copy of the Holder letter. This time he claimed we would receive a response, but said nothing about a meeting. So again we did a die-in, and twelve of us got on the sidewalk to express our disgust. First, representatives of the DOJ were refusing to meet with concerned citizens, and second, it seemed the illegal machinations of the Bush administration were not going to be investigated. The police had orders not to arrest, so we remained on the sidewalk for at least an hour. Afterwards, we resolved that we would continue our efforts to challenge the Department of Justice.

Media reports surfaced in July suggesting Attorney General Holder is seriously considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate torture and other abuses that occurred during the Bush-Cheney administrations. This was remarkable, more so considering the Obama White House is opposed to digging up the skeletons.

It is difficult to ascertain what exactly Holder intends to do. Will this be another whitewash, designed to placate the protesters who are demanding justice for all? Or will Holder actually try to restore the rule of law with a thorough investigation followed by a vigorous prosecution of the war crimes?

What interests me is what effect, if any, Torture Accountability Action Day and the other protests might have had on Eric Holder. Is he a government official with a conscience? Is he prepared to go against the president and his advisors?

Members of NCNR have frequent discussions about “effectiveness.” Presumably all groups have similar discussions. Of course, these discussions have to be grounded in the reality that we are challenging the actions of the U.S. government, the greatest imperial power in world history. And it is essential to recognize we have the best Congress corporate lobbyists can buy.

We have no idea if anyone in government, except for the police, notices NCNR’s acts of civil resistance. It was decades later before it was revealed the Vietnam War protests did affect the likes of Robert McNamara and Richard Nixon. We still have not yet received a response from the attorney general, but we are prepared to remind him it is his duty to investigate further the high crimes and misdemeanors of possibly the most notorious administration in the country’s history. Calling for a serious investigation would ensure Holder’s place in history.

Presumably, our actions directed at the Department of Justice have had no effect on its decision-making. Nevertheless, we will continue to act against injustice regardless of our effectiveness. Any nonviolent direct action can have an effect on those who are participating, those supporting, those observing and those being challenged. Quantifying the effect is very difficult.

The need to speak truth to power is an essential part of my life, and I try to be effective. But in these times when our government persists in its warmongering, refuses to stop shredding the Constitution, passes lame climate change legislation and ignores single payer heath care reform, we must act regardless of our effectiveness.

Max Obuszewski has been a member of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance since its inception.

Dear Senator Kerry,

I am unsure whether you remember me when I visited you during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on May 21^st of this year. Admiral Mike Mullen was testifying about the current status of our government’s entanglement in Afghanistan.

Last Friday I was found guilty of Disruption of Congress. A nonviolent and victimless crime committed in order to prevent a much greater crime perpetrated every single day in Afghanistan.

I was pleading for you and your colleagues on the committee to realize the futility of this 8-year-old war, which was based on revenge and has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and a thousand honorable American men and women. I believe this war is immoral and unlawful and serves absolutely no interest of the American people. Polls now show a majority of Americans agree with me.

During a pause in the testimony, I rose and directed a question to you. This question ought to be familiar to you, as it was your own in 1971:

“How do you ask someone to be the last American soldier to die for a mistake?”

Indeed, continuing the war and military occupation of Afghanistan is a mistake. It was a mistake for the Persians, it was a mistake for the British, and it was a grave mistake for the Russians. A mistake not unlike our own nation’s mistake in Vietnam. A tragic and immoral war you are intimately familiar with and came to resist in your own way.

The only remaining question is when will the last American soldier die in Afghanistan?

Not unlike your younger self, on May 21^st I was resisting this war, and calling for a change in our nation’s priorities. A change away from funding massive violence and destruction, and instead investing in domestic needs at home and cooperative diplomacy abroad. I was arrested that day for the crime of petitioning our government for a redress of grievances. This is a right I thought was enshrined within the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In the past I have visited your office with a group of Massachusetts residents (at the time I was a DC resident and therefore lacked representation in Congress), more than once, to voice our dissent to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet you continually vote to fund them. People are feeling disconnected and desperate. What happens when a representative government fails to represent the wishes of its own people?

I continue to implore you to work for peace and justice, not destruction and some costly and misdirected attempt at empire. While the national debt grows, the cost of the war in Afghanistan now exceeds $229.8 billion. Death and hatred is what we are gaining from this expenditure. Please help prevent President Obama from following the same destructive course taken by President Johnson.

On December 15^th, Judge Lynn Leibovitz in DC Superior Court will sentence me. I will likely face jail time. I will spend a finite amount of time in the correctional system. However, my call for peace and justice will never end.

In peace and resistance,

Pete Perry