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Mike Ferner is a freelance writer and former Toledo city councilman. His book, "Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq" is just out from Praeger Publishers.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 I Woke Up One Morning And The War Was Over (2 comments)
The American War in Iraq will never end for more than 4,000 families of U.S. troops killed, tens of thousands of wounded and their families and the hundreds -- yes, hundreds -- of thousands of young men and women who will suffer the terror of PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury for the rest of their lives.
Thursday, February 3, 2011 This is Not a Place for Life (2 comments)
Veterans for Peace board member, Mike Ferner, reports from Kabul, Afghanistan with an on the ground look at the stories and faces of "Internally Displaced Persons," -displaced by the war being waged in the region by the United States. These are the stories that the corporate media are not inclined to headline.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011 "Dear Afghanistan" A Global Listening Project for Peace (2 comments)
As I began to realize how dangerous the Peace Volunteers' work could be, the global call-in project dubbed "Dear Afghanistan," became much more than a chance for callers to meet a handful of charming, brave boys. It was the beginning of an international support committee that at some moment may need to quickly mobilize to demand governments intervene to protect these young men's lives.
Saturday, December 25, 2010 "Dear Afghanistan:" A New Year's Call for Peace (2 comments)
Message from Mike Ferner, Veterans for Peace, currently in Kabul: On New Year's Day, 01/01/11, people around the world are invited to raise their voices, through Facebook, Twitter, Free Conference calls, Skype, and blogs in a massive refusal to accept this war any longer. Let your New Year's resolution be to stand for the people and end wars by sending a digital or spoken peacemaking message to people in Afghanistan.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010 Veterans for Peace Seeks Obama Meeting (1 comments)
Veterans for Peace seeks a meeting with President Obama and will send a large delegation of veterans to the White House is their request is turned down.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 38 Antiwar Groups to Obama: No Escalation! Troops Home Now! (6 comments)
Veterans For Peace drafted a letter to Obama that dozens of people cooperatively and patiently commented on over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The simple message is NO ESCALATION! TROOPS HOME NOW!
Friday, October 9, 2009 Veterans For Peace Reacts to President Obama Receiving Nobel Peace Prize: "Something is wrong with this picture" (3 comments)
Once you had to helplead one of the most important social movements in U.S. historyor minister to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Now you can promise change and international cooperation while ordering more drone bombings that kill innocent civilians -- and still get a Nobel Peace Prize. There's something wrong with this picture.
Monday, September 28, 2009 Robocops Come to Pittsburgh...and Bring the Latest Weaponry with Them (4 comments)
No longer the stuff of disturbing futuristic fantasies, an arsenal of “crowd control munitions,” including one that reportedly made its debut in the U.S., was deployed with a massive, overpowering police presence in Pittsburgh during last week's G-20 protests.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Strother Martin Nailed It: "You gotta get your mind right!" (4 comments)
In Paul Newman's 1967 classic, "Cool Hand Luke," the prison boss in the white suit, played memorably by Strother Martin, repeatedly tells Luke to "get your mind right." That turned out to be literally a grave warning for Luke, but it's exactly what we need to hear today.
Sunday, June 7, 2009 We Don't Need the General Motors Corporation (1 comments)
Times are anxious indeed, but simultaneously we are face-to-face with an extremely rare chance to replace our transportation system with something we can literally live with. To take advantage of this uncommon opportunity we will have to do something far more profound, yet less costly, than a government bailout or an act of Congress.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 I'll Have a "Draught Dodger!" (1 comments)
For the second time in 10 months, Canada's House of Commons told Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government, including Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, to stop deporting U.S. soldiers resisting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 A Few Days in Hyde Park, a Lifetime in The Empire
Standing outside for five days in the Windy City under skies of lead and the thermometer below freezing provides an opportunity to make certain observations. Standing three blocks from the home of the next president of the United States the day he leaves for a new home in Washington, D.C....well you can't help but observe certain things.
Friday, January 2, 2009 Obama's Hometown Kicks Off "Camp Hope" (2 comments)
Sub-freezing temperatures and a brisk wind did not darken the day in Drexel Park for the kick off of Camp Hope, an 18-day vigil just down the street from Barrack Obama's home on Chicago's south side, yesterday.
Organized by a coalition of social justice, religious and peace organizations from the Chicago area, Camp Hope's goal is to remind President-elect Obama of the progressive themes he sounded in his campaign.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Camp Hope Holds Obama to "Change" Pledge (1 comments)
Determined to keep President-elect Barack Obama true to his promise of change, peace and economic justice activists kick off an 18-day outdoor vigil January 1, four blocks from the Illinois Senator's home in Chicago. Camp Hope, headquartered in the Windy City's Drexel Square Park, seeks to have Obama swiftly enact eight initiatives on issues he supported during his campaign.
Monday, December 15, 2008 It's not about them...it's about us: Why we must prosecute Bush and his administration for war crimes (10 comments)
During the Nuremberg Tribunals, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Robert Jackson stipulated,"...Let me make clear that while this law is first applied against German aggressors, the law includes, and if it is to serve a useful purpose it must condemn aggression by any other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment." Can there be a better reason for prosecuting the Bush administration for war crimes than those words?
Monday, December 8, 2008 With Shot and Shell or "Modular Crowd Control Munitions" - We Must Bend to Empire's Will (5 comments)
The Army Times report of September notes that the First Brigade Combat Team's commander, Col. Roger Cloutier, said his soldiers will learn how to use the first ever package of so-called "nonlethal" weapons the Army has fielded, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and weapons designed to subdue individuals without killing them. Where are these unruly American crowds. What is in the Pentagon and police arsenals?
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Let Us Shed Tears of Gratitude for This Moment of Grace. It Will Be Brief.
Many of us surely will "shed tears of gratitude for this moment of grace," no matter how brief. The best thing [Obama's] campaign and election offers is the way it has inspired millions of people to become active, to expect more, to work hard with many people towards something larger than yourself in short, to gain a sense of purpose.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 It's Our Turn Now: Resistance as if it Really Mattered (4 comments)
"Of all the people I interviewed for my book, "Inside the Red Zone," the words of one have never left me. In a little farming village 50 miles north of Baghdad, I spoke with a local sheik who described his arrest and detention by the U.S. Army."
Author, Mike Ferner, discusses civil disobedience throughout history and reminds us of Howard Zinn's counsel: "Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is obedience."
Sunday, January 14, 2007 A Vet Answers Back (2 comments)
Go to Iraq and see what life is like for people in Iraq and for the
soldiers you've sent there. Stay a few days--no quick photo op and back home.
Be sure you drink the water. Then go to Walter Reed Army Hospital and visit the ortho ward...THEN come back and say this war is worth one more person's life or health or
family. Come back and tell us that if you can. If you can't, get the hell out of here.
