Beltway Area Indymedia

On September 4 members of the Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) will start a month long fast against war and military recruitment at the doors of the Armed Forces Career Center (military recruiting station) on Forbes Ave. Throughout the fast, participants and supporters will remain camped out in front of the station to put a spotlight on one of the most grotesque symbols of militarism in our community. We invite our friends and supporters to join us in our campout and, as your health situation and work schedules allow, join us for all or part of the fast.

1:
Colombian President Uribe,a US trained imperialist thug, visited DC on May 2 to push the embattled US-Colombia Free Trade area. He was over an hour late to his event at 1333 H st-and was confronted in person, face to face, when he arrived!

An estimated 200 protestors were on hand, and at first it appeared he would do a Tony the Rat and try to wait everyone out. Finally he arrived-and his offer to meet a delegation of three people was rebuffed.

(Audio: 3 min 57 seconds)
At a little after noon on April 26, protesters from many antiwar groups staged a noisy, disruptive joint action inside the Hart senate office building. Protesters demanded NO funding for the war on any terms-and the impeachment of Bush and Cheney!

As things began, cops were busy chasing what looked like the usual protests and the usual protesters inside the Hart building. On the way in, one cop even asked "uniformed" Code Pink activists if they were expecting "a short day."

With Turkey threatening an invasion of northern Iraq to attack Kurds and rebel forces stationed there, the Iraqi Parliament warned that any such military action would be "repulsed". Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, Speaker of the Iraq Parliament, said any Turkish "hand" interfereing "in our internal affairs will be cut, if not today then tomorrow." The warnings echoed statements from the Iraqi Kurdistan assembly, which called Turkey's threats of invasion a "dangerous escalation" and a "threat to the Iraqi people."

The government of Turkey has launched a major military operation against the Kurdish Workers Party, known as the PKK, in southeast Turkey, and the Turkish military officially requested permission from the government to cross the border into northern Iraq. Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit stated, "An operation into Iraq is necessary."