Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 19. januar 2006 / Time Line January 19, 2006
Version 3.518. Januar 2006, 20. Januar 2006
01/19/2006
Call to an International Gathering for the Abolition of All
Foreign Military Bases
The construction of foreign military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq;
the cases of torture at the bases in Guantanamo and Diego Garcia;
the construction of new bases in Okinawa; the "realignment" of
military alliances in Asia; and the dramatic increase of joint
military exercises as part of the so-called "global war against
terror" have highlighted how foreign military bases, other forms of
military presence, and militarization of whole societies are used
to secure certain states' and corporations' interests at the cost
of democracy, justice, and sovereignty around the world.
Another world will not be possible without abolishing these bases
and demilitarizing global and national societies.
Over the past two years, we have been building up an international
network to achieve this aim. Many of us have come together for the
first time at the World Social Forum and other meetings or through
the internet so as to form a global community. Our approaches vary,
our concerns are multi-faceted. But our objective is the same: the
closure of foreign military bases around the world.
The times demand that we escalate our actions and improve our
coordination. The next step in consolidating our community is to
organize an inaugural conference for our network. After much
communication and deliberation we decided to hold this conference
in Ecuador in March 2007.
We hope that this conference will be the biggest gathering of
anti-bases activists in recent history. We intend for the
conference to provide a rare opportunity for closer, ongoing
interaction; for sharing experiences, exchanging strategies and
lessons learned; for laying the groundwork for more effective
global coordination, and for building strategies for more effective
international campaigning
In organizing the conference, we hope to further broaden the
network, remaining conscious of the critical importance of
grassroots anti-bases activists to be involved and to take the lead
in building our global network.
We call on all anti-bases activists, individuals, and organizations
to be part of building this international network and campaign.
We call on the global movements for peace, justice, and ecological
sustainability; those working in campaigns and mobilizations
against war; the movement against corporate-led globalization and
against militarism and imperialism; movements for disarmament and
demilitarization; and movements against racism and for liberation
and sovereignty.
We call on grassroots women's, indigenous rights groups,
environmental groups, faith-based organizations, youth
organizations, sexual minorities, trade unions, social movements,
human rights groups and other local, national and international
progressive formations to be involved in and to contribute to
building this global movement.
We call on all those committed to abolishing military bases to send
representatives to this meeting. Where possible, we call on
anti-bases formations in a country to come together and send a
national delegation.
While we hope to have the participation of the broadest range of
groups possible, we also intend for the conference to be a working
meeting that will come up with a concrete plan of action. Our
challenge is to ensure participation that is both broad and at the
same time manageable.
We call for solidarity in spreading the word about this initiative;
in building a broad range of groups committed to this effort; in
reaching out to grassroots or community-based anti-bases groups
wherever they may be; in building links across movements and
struggles; and in providing concrete support to sustain this
long-term effort.
Abolishing foreign military bases around the world and working
toward demilitarization is essential in the struggle against war.
Abolishing foreign military bases around the world is one step to
establishing another world that is possible and necessary.
5 November 2005
NO BASES NETWORK
International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military
Bases
[For regular updates on the conference, visit www.abolishbases.org
.
To let us know your interest in attending the conference and to
give us an idea of the possible number of participants, please
e-mail us (herbert@focusweb.org) your intent to participate, as
well as the number of possible participants from your
organization/delegation, by March 15, 2006.]
ENDORSERS as of November 2, 2005:
Peace and Justice Service (Ecuador)
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador
Regional Advisory Foundation on Human Rights (Ecuador)
Campesino Social Security (Ecuador)
Pro-Human Rights Collective (Ecuador)
Tohallà Movement (Ecuador)
Altercom (Ecuador)
Ecumenical Human Rights Comisión [(Ecuador)
Conscientious Objector Group (Ecuador)
Christian Youth Association (Ecuador)
Migrants, Refugees, and Displaced [(Ecuador)
Llactacaru Migrant Association (Ecuador)
Pakistan Peace Coalition (Pakistan)
American Friends Service Committee - Peacebuilding Unit (US)
US Peace Council (US)
Nonviolence International (US)
American Friends Service Committee (US)
Bangladesh Krishok Federation
Gathering for Peace (The Philippines)
People's Task Force for Bases Clean-Up (Philippines)
For Mother Earth (Belgium)
Campaign for the Demilitarisation of the Americas
Focus on the Global South
Fellowship for Reconciliation (US)
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK)
LALIT (Diego Garcia / Mauritius)
Asian Peace Alliance - Japan
Bangladesh Sramajibi Kendra (Bangladesh)
Cuban Movement for Peace and Sovereignty (Cuba)
Centro Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (Cuba)
Stop the War Coalition (Greece)
SEATINI (South Africa)
Japan Peace Committee (Japan)
Transnational Institute
01/19/2006
CIA SECRECY CHALLENGED ON PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
UC Davis Professor Appeals Lower Court Decision
Withholding Two 40-Year-Old Memos to LBJ
9th Circuit to Consider Whether Presidential Privilege is Immortal,
Whether Intelligence Reports Qualify as Intelligence Methods, and
Whether Content of Documents or Their Letterhead Should Govern
Release
For more information: Professor Larry Berman 530/752-3076
Thomas R. Burke, Duffy Carolan, Davis Wright Tremaine
415/276-6500
Meredith Fuchs, Thomas Blanton, National Security Archive
202/994-7000
http://www.nsarchive.org
Washington D.C., January 19, 2006 - A federal district judge's
opinion last year ordering more secrecy for two almost 40-year-old
CIA memos to President Johnson contradicted Supreme Court precedent
and the plain language of the Freedom of Information Act, as well
as time limits on presidential privilege set in the Presidential
Records Act, according to the appeal filed yesterday with the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by University of California,
Davis professor Larry Berman.
Represented by Thomas Burke and Duffy Carolan of Davis Wright
Tremaine LLP, and by Meredith Fuchs of the National Security
Archive at George Washington University, Professor Berman sought
declassification review and release of two President's Daily Briefs
prepared by the CIA for President Johnson during the Vietnam War,
one from the day before and one from the day after two other Briefs
that had previously been declassified by the CIA.
In response, the CIA argued - and U.S. district judge David Levi
upheld CIA's claims - that, regardless of their age and content, no
Briefs could be released even in part without damage to U.S.
national security and to the presidential privilege of confidential
communications with advisers. During the same month in which
Professor Berman filed his legal complaint, however, the CIA
actually declassified two other LBJ-era Briefs when they appeared
in cable format rather than on President's Daily Brief
letterhead.
Judge Levi declined to review the two Briefs at issue in the case,
ignored the millions of pages of declassified and published CIA
intelligence products already available (including 35 other
declassified Briefs introduced into the record by Professor
Berman), and ruled that the Briefs are themselves an "intelligence
method" that must be protected. Attorney Duffy Carolan commented,
"Judge Levi's decision offers no logical distinction between the
CIA's secret methods of gathering intelligence and the intelligence
product it prepares for its customers. It essentially ignores 40
years of FOIA history and practice."
Judge Levi also ruled that presidential privilege still applies to
the LBJ-era briefs, despite the Supreme Court's finding in the
Nixon tapes cases that privilege erodes over time, and Congress's
clear finding in the 1978 Presidential Records Act that the
privilege no longer applies 12 years after the president leaves
office.
"This case is not about revealing intelligence sources and
methods," remarked Professor Berman, a noted Vietnam War scholar.
"This case is about whether the CIA can declare its factual
briefings to the president, no matter how old and no matter what
they say, off limits to history and to the American public, forever
and without review."
A number of noted scholars of the American Presidency and the
Vietnam War, as well as the nation's leading history and political
science associations, are planning to file an amicus curiae brief
on January 25 in support of Professor Berman's appeal.
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