April 22 is celebrated as Earth Day, in Texas and around the planet. From tending trees in Austin's "Peace Grove" (Zilker Park) and attending the Living Green Festival to Mothers for Clean Air 5K in Houston, tens of thousands of Texans will celebrate our planet this weekend. Plenty more will be out enjoying wildflowers, sunshine or tending to gardens. Everywhere people are searching for better ways to be good stewards of nature.

On this day, we are pleased to bring you the following essay to reflect (and act) upon:

On Earth Day, by Alex Steffen, executive director of World Changing

Green is the new black. No buzz-phrase better sums up both the excitement many of us feel about the blooming environmental and social consciousness around us and the essential hollowness of the answers being promoted by many newly-minted eco-pundits.

The flood of environmental magazine cover stories, documentaries and advertisements has pushed us over a public-opinion threshold, which is great. But the solutions being touted by many of our new-found allies are themselves creating a new kind of problem -- people who should know better are selling a muddle-headed, style-over-substance, "lite green" environmentalism at a time when we need to be rebuilding our civilization to avoid disaster. To be blunt, we're being sold out.

People are being told to buy organic cotton T-shirts, keep their tires inflated and recycle their beer bottles. But the reality of the situation is that the impacts of these sorts of actions are totally out whack with the magnitude of the planetary problems bearing down upon us. Those of us who care about the future of the planet need to reclaim this moment from those who would have people think that our biggest challenge is picking the most stylish vegan shoes.

With every passing day, we are discovering that things are worse than we thought. Our climate is ripping apart at the seams at a rate that's surprising even the so-called alarmists. Natural systems are collapsing. The ocean seems headed towards a series of catastrophic tipping points. Economic inequity is producing a planet of billionaires and a billion desperate people. Our political systems are suffering a massive crisis of legitimacy, while insane fundamentalists, violent criminals and two-bit dictators (wearing both uniforms and Armani suits) are stealing or destroying everything they can get their hands on. Everywhere on the planet we find an empty consumer culture so accepted we barely speak of it, except perhaps to make an ironic joke. We have placed a Great Wager on the future of humanity, and the odds are getting worse.

In the face of this reality, recycling a bottle is an act so insignificant as to be merely totemic. Paper or plastic? Who the hell cares?

In the developed world, few of us, essentially none of us, currently live a "one-planet life." The vast majority of us, even of those of us who have committed ourselves to change, consume more resources and energy than our sustainable share: indeed, it is very, very difficult to live an individually sustainable life, because the very systems in which we are enmeshed -- which enfold and make possible our lifestyles -- are themselves insanely unsustainable. We're driving our hybrid SUVs down the highway to the Collapse.

Most of the harm we cause in the world is done far from our sight, created through the workings of vast systems whose workings are often intentionally hidden from us, and over which we have very little influence as single individuals. Alone, we are essentially powerless to change anything that matters. We can't shop our way to sustainability.

I believe we are bombarded with messages encouraging us to take the "small steps" precisely because those steps are a threat to no one. They don't depress sales of fashionable crap we don't need. They don't bring people into the streets or sweep corrupt politicians from office. They certainly don't threaten the powerful, entrenched interests who are growing fantastically rich off keeping us locked into the systems that make our lives such a burden on the planet and impoverish our brothers and sisters elsewhere.

Buying a hemp hoodie is not a blow for better world, it's at best a mere gesture towards the idea that the world ought to better. And, here in the Green Spring of 2006, we must finally admit to ourselves that gestures are no longer enough. That to be focused on lifestyle tweaks and attitudinal adjustments at this moment in history is like showing up with a teaspoon to help bail out a sinking ship. If the New Green degenerates into handing out more stylish spoons, we're screwed.

We don't need more carpool lanes. We need to eliminate fossil fuels from our economy. We don't need more recycling bins. We need to create a closed-loop, biomimetic, neobiological industrial system. We don't need to attend a tree-planting ceremony. We need to become expert at ecosystem management and gardening the planet. We don't need another unscented laundry detergent. We need to ban the vast majority of the toxic chemicals upon which our livestyles currently float and invent a completely non-toxic green chemistry. We don't need lite green fashions. We need a bright green revolution.

To really change the world we need to hand out real tools: rugged, free, collaborative tools for understanding the world and our role in it, for seeing the systems in which we are trapped; tools for learning how to work together to either transform those systems or destroy them completely and bioremediate the rubble. Tools that help us as people make meaningful changes in both our own lives and the world. We need to make people participants, not consumers. We need answers that address peoples' lives, not their lifestyles.

We need to take back the ballot box. With the exception of a couple small nations like Finland, most governments on earth are now seething messes of corruption, oppression and entrenched privilege, and our government here in the U.S. is worse than many. We need transparency, accountability, genuine equity, real democracy and human rights. No environmental or social issue transcends the need for worldwide political reform, and none of our huge planetary problems can be solved without it.

We need to seize the trading floor. Most large corporations, and most of the markets we've established through regulation, incentive and tradition, demand that we participate (as employees, consumers or investors) in ecological destruction, unfair labor practices and an assault on the public realm. We need to grab hold of these economic systems, strip them down to their component parts and rebuild them anew. That means supporting (or becoming) clean energy entrepreneurs, green builders, sustainable product designers, socially-responsible investors, and so on. We need a new generation uncompromisingly innovative and determined regulators, planners, bankers, insurers. We need to take back business as a realm of service and do away with the dinosaurs who dominate it today, and we need an army of people ready to put their careers and investments on the line to do it.

We need to share. There is no sustainable future without a vigorous and lively public realm. We need to defend the commons, from the air we breath to the culture we create together. That commons is everywhere under attack from those who would privatize it for profit and stifle innovation to protect the status quo, the way, for instance, that the music and film industries are trying to take away our ability to freely (and legally) share our own music and videos, because they're worried not only that someone might illegally share some of their music or videos, but because the explosion of free music and video we're seeing threatens their out-of-date business models. We must counter-attack, supporting open culture and public ownership, and working everywhere to redistribute the future.

We need better mousetraps. The stuff that surrounds us is crap: toxic, wasteful, unjust, ugly. We need innovation everywhere, real innovation, stuff that isn't just marginally better or superficially green, but stuff that is actually, right now or as soon as possible, an order of magnitude more efficient, completely non-toxic and closed-loop. We need to support the folks out there trying to design these things. We need to laud their efforts, invest in their inventions, and generally do everything we can to get better design, technology and thinking applied to every aspect of our lives. Then we need to help regular people separate the bright green from the greenwashed.

We need to grow new systems. The systems which surround us are awful. Some of them we can hack. Some of them simply need to be replaced. Suburban sprawl, for instance, is simply wrong: there's no way to make it sustainable. We should simply bring it to a halt. Farming, on the other hand, needs to be reformed -- and through conscious buying, political activism and ethical leadership, we can help steer agriculture away from petrochemical factory farming and towards innovative local sustainable farms. Some of our choices nurture changed systems -- those are the choices we need to show people how to make.

We need to help each other. Consumer-based approaches and "simple things" lists tend to reinforce our sense that the only sphere in which we can act is our own little private lives, and that isolates us. But the isolation we all sometimes feel in the face of the magnitude of the problems is itself a major part of the problem. None of us can change the world single-handedly: as Wendell Berry says, "to work at this work alone is to fail." We need to organize, mobilize, join together, act in concert. We need to seek out our allies and get their backs when they need us. That happens through applied effort, not impulse buying.

We need to admit that we're at war over the definition of the future. There are a lot of powerful interests spending a lot of money to keep people ignorant, make them uncertain, postpone action, encourage cynicism and apathy, and lock them in the mental prison of thinking that no better future is possible. To the extent they are successful, nothing we advocate can happen. We need to fight back. We need to speak clearly, intelligently, and, if possible, with humor and passion. We need to label our opponents (from climate denialists to apologists for the status quo) what they are -- enemies of the future. We need to make the nature of our times crystal-clear for all to see. We need to hew to the demanding standards our actual real situation imposes on us -- that we achieve measurable sustainability, honest-to-goodness one-planet living, for everyone, within our lifetimes -- and scorn the mental tyranny of small goals. We need to break through the meaningless chatter around environmental and social issues, and point to genuine alternatives, hold real conversations, and create a culture that speaks to the soul of our times.

We need, above all else, to show that another world is possible, indeed, it's here all around us, though we do not see it. We need to inspire not only our fellow citizens but ourselves with visions of what we're beginning to accomplish together, visions of what a planet brought back to sanity will look and feel like, visions of how we will live in a bright green future. That future should be beautiful and stylish, dynamic and creative, but it must before all else be genuinely sustainable, or it's not much of a future at all, is it?

The world is listening. It's our obligation to tell it a better story.

Dallas building greener

Dallas has joined the short list of major American cities to pass comprehensive environmental building standards for both residential and commercial construction. On April 9, the City Council unanimously adopted a green construction ordinance aimed at reducing energy and water consumption in all new houses and commercial buildings.

The newly enacted ordinance will be implemented in two phases beginning in 2009. The first phase requires that homebuilders construct their homes to be 15 percent more efficient than the base energy code and meet four out of six high-efficiency water reduction strategies. For commercial projects, Phase 1 of the new ordinance requires buildings smaller than 50,000 square feet to be 15 percent more efficient than the base energy code and use 20 percent less water than required by the current Dallas Plumbing Code.

El Paso Catholics urge Pope to create "peace shield" for Iran

Catholics in El Paso, concerned about a possible U.S. attack on Iran, have issued a call to Pope Benedict XVI to go to Iran, and invite other dignitaries to join him, to set up a Peace Shield. "Iraq has already been devastated. Over 4.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes. Will we launch another unjust war in this already troubled and unstable region? We must not!" the Christians say.

The initiative for this urgent, prayerful call began with the Catholic peace community in St. Louis, Missouri where the Massive Ordinance Penetrator bomb is made and recently was delivered to the military. This call has been sent to Catholic peace communities in New York and Washington, D.C. where the Pope will be visiting and giving talks in the following days. It recently became a focus for El Paso's Border Peace Presence as well.

May 1 - Day Off for "Silent Majority"

Americans, disatisfied with the state of national and international affairs, are urging one another to take a day off from work, school and shopping on May 1 - the "real" Labor Day. This "silent majority" is concerned about poor labor conditions and wages, Administration torture policies, rising gas prices and taxes, racist immigration bashing, the War in Iraq, and other issues.

"We need to visit our congressmembers' local offices at high noon," says David Swanson of After Downing Street, "and demand change." Other groups joining the call include: Immigrant Solidarity Network, American Postal Workers, West Coast Longshormen, Stop ICE Raids, and a possible trucker shutdown across the U.S.

Evironmental laws ignored on border wall

The Bush Administration has announced that it will ignore some 30 environmental laws and regulations in order to accelerate its project to wall along the Texas-Mexico border by the Department of Homeland (in)Security (DHS). The border "fence" is one of those harebrained schemes that might be funny if it weren't so cynical and racist.

Passed by the House and Senate in September 2006, the Secure Fence Act mandated the construction of a barrier stretching along a 700-mile portion of the 1,969-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Aside from the fact that wall a costly mess of a project that has angered people across the political spectrum, the administration has infuriated local municipalities by systematically overriding their say in what happens in their own backyard - including protecting the fragile environment along the Colorado River.

By the time President Bush leaves office, Americans will have already spent more than $1 Trillion on war - more than the entire costs of the Korean and Vietnam wars combined - and an additional $5 Trillion on other "defense" and "security" projects.

Who is funding this? You and me.

Of the nearly $3 Trillion annual U.S. federal budget, a full 54% ($1,449 Trillion) is now going to pay for present, past (including interests) and future wars. America accounts for more than half of military expenditures worldwide.

It now takes nearly four months of labor, for the average worker, to pay one's tax burden as government grows and continues to dominate daily life. "Americans will still spend more on taxes in 2008 than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined," says Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge.

The costs of war had risen to $2.5 Billion per week and the White House was asking for hundreds of billions more. Newly appointed Defense Secretary Robert Gates was afraid to venture outside the walls of the Green Zone.

Wise men and women long ago noted that where people put their treasure is where the heart lies. Martin Luther King, Jr. echoed that sentiment in describing the richest and most powerful country in the world. "America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam (Afghanistan and Iraq) continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube." Since he spoke those prophetic words, U.S. military expenditures have continued to climb and militarism and profit motives continue to outpace human development.

GSD&M, a creative and talented agency in Austin, this week heralded its award of a 10-year $372 Million advertising contract from the U.S. Air Force. This comes at the same time that the USAF is accused of committing daily war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the past two weeks, airstrikes in those countries have killed and injured dozens of women and children as they targeted residential neighborhoods and homes - a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions. Tyler refiner, Delek, will see a tripling in Defense contracts for aviation fuel. Shell Oil, in Deer Park, will receive $883 Million and San Antonio's Valerio $397, also from the USAF.

Amarillo and Fort Worth business leaders are crowing at $10 Billion in new contracts for their local community. Even small towns, like New Braunfels, get in on the action. Meanwhile in Houston, Halliburton's former subsidiary KBR - the single largest defense contractor - is implicated in another rape. These are only a few of your Texas neighbors who profit from death and destruction.

And where does the money come from? You and me of course, if we pay taxes.

However, there are growing movements to change the equation, to redirect taxes into peaceful pursuits or refuse to pay them at all.

The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund has been working for passage of the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill (currently H.R. 1921) which would allow federal taxes of designated conscientious objectors will be placed in a non-military trust fund. The bill has 32 congressional co-sponsors but faces an uphill battle against the military-industrial complex that gorges on the country's treasure.

Another movement, the Campaign to establish a U.S. Department of Peace, is working to create a federal department which would be funded by 1% of the Department of Defense (DoD) budget. It currently has 69 co-sponsors. Texas DoP groups plan "Peace of the Pie" actions on Mother's Day.

A more historic, but fast growing, movement is of war tax resistance.

In 1202 King John of England imposed the first income tax to pay for a war with France, infuriating local landowners (Barons) who marched on London - and in 1215 the Magna Carta was born. In 1709 Quakers refused to pay for an expedition into Canada, replying "it was contrary to their religious principles to hire men to kill one another". During the American Revolution many Quakers were jailed or had their property seized for their war tax resistance.

Henry David Thoreau was briefly jailed in 1836 for refusing to pay taxes in protest of the Mexican-American War. His "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" became a seminal part of American literature and social action. In his Autobiography Martin Luther king said of Thoreau's work: "As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest". Mahatma Gandhi noted that "Withholding payment of taxes is one of the quickest methods of overthrowing a government."

During WWI in England, there were so many war resisters that the British government added a 'the conscience clause' to the 1916 Conscription Act. Over 16,000 men claimed the right to military exemption in that country.

Up until WWII, most war tax resistance in the U.S. primarily manifested itself among members of the historic peace churches - Quakers, Mennonites, and Brethren - but after than time it began to spread to other faith and non-religious groups. War tax refusal succeeded in achieving nationwide publicity in 1949 when forty-one peacemakers from Chicago refused to any longer pay income tax (six were eventually imprisoned). In 1963 the Peacemakers published the first handbook on war tax resistance, appropriately titled Handbook on Nonpayment of War Taxes.

During Vietnam, Joan Baez announced in 1964 her refusal to pay 60% income taxes because of the war. By the 1970's nearly 20,000 joined in.

Today, war tax resistance has grow into a nationwide movement. The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC). They have called for all taxpayers who oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to "join together in nonviolent civil disobedience and show Congress how to cut off the funds for this war and redirect resources to the pressing needs of people," by refusing to pay at least a portion of taxes. More and more information on methods can be found all over the Internet. and in many cities, people will conduct "penny polls" in front of IRS facilities and post offices. There will be other tax day protests.

While pundits and presidential candidates discuss some future state (what's wrong with taking action now Senators Clinton, McCain and Oboma?), of the U.S. government and its relationship to the citizenry and the world economy, the war in Iraq grows by $12 Billion every month. It could eventually cost between $2.4 and $3 Trillion - all monies that could have been spent on the betterment of people at home and abroad.

Paying for war has become an institutional part of every American's life and we are burdening our children and grandchildren with the dept of the folly of past decades. The militarization of our society (mil·i·ta·rism n. Predominance of the armed forces in the administration or policy of the state) continues as more and more citizens suck at the teet of a golden cow.

As our society militarizes and more citizens suck at the teat of camo cow, we need to demonstration that these are our earnings - not theirs - and we will decide how they are spent. Together we can reset the priorities for our family, nation and world. "We must move past indecision to action," said Dr. King, if we are to find new ways to speak for peace and justice in our world. And, we must do it today, before we are "dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight."

What will it take to make a change? You and me.

40th Anniversary of MLK's Assasination Remembered

Throughout Texas - from Amarillo to Austin and the world, the 40th anniversary of the assination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was honored in song, marches, vigils and other events. MLK, America's foremost peace and justice leader, was killed on April 4, 1968 in Memphis.

King was a champion of nonviolent protest for social change, and his writings and speeches still stir followers. "The world still listens to Martin," says Rev. C.T. Vivian, a former King associate. "There are people who didn't reach for him then who reach for him now. They want to know this man. What did he say? What did he think?"

Texan elected to Nt'l CAIR board

A Muslim peacemaker from San Antonio, Sarwat Husain, was recently elected to the board of the National Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Sarwat, publisher of Al-Ittihaad Monthly, came to the U.S. from Pakistan more than thirty years ago.

Since that time, she has become an instrumental leader in San Antonio and throughout Texas - becoming particularly active after 9-11. "I thought, What will happen to Muslims in this country? It will never be the same. My whole self changed." She is now invited to give talks on American Muslims and minority media around the country.

New El Paso office for TX Civil Rights

The Texas Civil Rights Project is inviting everyone to the grand opening of their new office in El Paso, on April 17. The TCRP promotes racial, social, and economic justice through education and litigation and the new "Paseo del Norte" will be the first civil rights office in that city.

Texas deadly for children

Children living in Texas are up to three times more likely to die before adulthood than elsewhere in the U.S. Anew study that puts Texas among the bottom 10 states in the nations for child well-being.

Lack of pre-natal care, access to healthcare, and poverty are just some of the failiings to children in one of the richest places on earth. In Texas, a child is five times as likely to be uninsured as a child in Rhode Island. And, Texas' teen birth rate is 3.5 times that of New Hampshire's, according to "Geography Matters: Child Well-Being in the States," by the Every Child Matters Education Fund

Failed High School? - Work for the U.S. govt.

Don't have a college degree and worried about getting a job? Worry no more. The Department of Homeland Security has reduced requirements that its agents (carrying a badge and guns) need to have a high school diploma or a GED. The only major qualifications for the job are that you are younger than 40, a US citizen (they're considering eleminating this provision), possess a driver's license and pass tests. You don't even need a worry about a record by the FBI, security checks have been outsourced!

In May 2006, President Bush outlined a plan to increase the border protection force by 50 percent, from 12,000 agents to 18,000 and to further militarize Texas. Equipping agents is expected to cost $2 Billion. Recently border control officers and customs agents have been accused of bribery, drug trafficking, and immigrant smuggling. Be careful the next time you get stopped while traveling in South Texas.

(ARCHIVES: March10, 2008) 5 years later, Iraq is still a "Red Zone"

PART 3 - The war surges on (2007- March 2008)

…and so the war grew.

As the fifth year of war opened, things looked worse than ever. Violence was reaching record highs and conditions looked like they were headed for all out civil war. More than 3,000 American soldiers were reported dead bringing to 25,000 the total of American dead or wounded in the current war.

IThe Iraqi Health, Defense and Interior Ministries reported that 13,896 Iraqi civilians, police officers and soldiers died during 2006. Of these, 12,000 were civilians caught in the crossfire of war. Iraq was also the deadliest country in the world for journalists, with 32 killed the prior year.

The costs of war had risen to $2.5 Billion per week and the White House was asking for hundreds of billions more. Newly appointed Defense Secretary Robert Gates was afraid to venture outside the walls of the Green Zone.

Nearly at wits end, President Bush announced a major escalation in the war. He planned to send a "surge" of as many as 30,000 additional troops with the first waves to focus on neighborhood deployments in Baghdad and Fallujah.

Baghdad, in 2007, began to look more like Fallujah of 2004 as residents began fleeing the capital in large numbers. Door-by-door searches of home, detentions of thousands of Iraqs and airstrikes on civilian neighborhoods became a daily occurrence with intense fighting throughout the urban area. Hundreds were being killed and injured each week. Critical infrastructure was being destroyed at a rapid pace. From bridges over the Tigris, to the bombing of the Iraqi Parliament, nowhere seemed safe from the battle between Iraqis and coalition forces. Baghdad neighborhoods were turned in to "gated communities"with concrete blastwalls and biometric checkpoints. Civilian movement was heavily restricted and curfews became the norm. The number of refugees fleeing the country rose to 60,000 per month.

As residents fled Baghdad, violence continued to rise in other parts of the country. From Tal Afar to Basrah, bombings and killings grew. In April, Twenty-nine members of the U.S. 82nd Airborne were killed and injured in a single attack on their patrol base in Diyala province. Sixteen helicopters were destroyed when mortar rounds hit Taji Air Force base. The total of U.S. troop casualties (dead and injured) climbed to more than 800 and Iraqi casualties rose to over 15,000 for the month of May.

Reports of "war crimes" being committed by U.S. troops continued to grow, particular in cases where airstrikes and artillery barrages were called in on civilian neighborhoods and villages. Air Force and Navy aircraft dropped 437 bombs and missiles in Iraq in the first six months of 2007, a fivefold increase over the 86 used in the first half of 2006, and three times more than in the second half of 2006, according to Air Force data. In Husseiniya said U.S. helicopters attacked three houses in a four-hour period, killing at least 18 people and wounding 21 more, including women and children.

The number of detained Iraqis rose to 28,000 in U.S. prisons and thousands more by the Iraq military. The two remaining minarets of the Samarra Mosque were destroyed in a repeat of the bombing that shattered its famous dome in 2006. Hundreds of residents marched through the streets of Sadr City, Kut, Diwaniyah, Najaf and Basra. Intense military operations continued throughout the summer. Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, admitted that Baghdad residents could count on only "an hour or two a day" of electricity.

Things began to look better in September, after a surprise announcement by Moqtada al-Sadr for a complete ceasefire. The decision was to halt all armed action in Iraq by the Mehdi Army, including attacks on American troops, for six months while it cleaned out 'rogue elements'. After that, there was a significant fall in the number of daily attacks. By December, the number of monthly U.S. troop deaths was down significantly, although the total for 2007 - 899 servicemen and women dead - was the highest of any year since the invasion began.

Oil prices hit $100 per barrel. UNICEF reported that "around 2 million Iraqi children continue to face threats including poor nutrition, disease and interrupted education." The Iraqi Minister of Defense, Abdul Qadir, speculated that the U.S. would need to remain ten more years … until 2018.

There were some signs of improvement, particularly in the Baghdad area. Fallujah and Ramadi were returning to somewhat normal life but were still occupied by more than 5,000 U.S. Marines and had been partitioned into 10 "security zones". Baghdad's scenic Abu Nawas Street was finally reopened to traffic and life returned to some of the restaurants along the boulevard, but many residents were unable to travel freely throughout the city due to security restrictions. The Iraqi government made some progress on security and reconciliation issues. Najaf worked to bring in more tourism. Basra, despite its troubles, remained relatively peaceful.

The American presidential elections began to take more of the media's attention as 2008 opened, and Iraq fell from the front pages. As violence diminished in Baghdad, it continued to grow in from one end of the country to the other. Mosul was unraveling and Baqouba remained a major hot zone. Turkey began bombings in the Kurdish north.

Is the Surge Working?

No. Administrative and Military propaganda continues to tout the line that the "surge is working". This refrain is taken up by much of the uncritical American press to justify inaction in the midst of a political election year.

In actuality, the situation on the ground in Iraq is as bad, or even worse, than it was during 2004-2005.

Both military and civilian deaths, despite the continued ceasefire by the Medhi Army, remains at critical levels. Here is the tally during the first two and one-half months (through March 10)

* U.S. Dead 70
* U.S. Injured 223
* Iraqi Dead 1,574+
* Iraqi Injured 4,000+

In addition to the fighting, many Iraqis are still without electricity, heating fuel, jobs, and medicine. In January the government reduced spending on food rations and hunger is a growing problem for much of the country. One third of students no longer attend school. Many parts of Baghdad resemble a ghost town. In Basra, only 2% of the population have access to improved drinking water. The number of refugees continues to grow.

Reconstruction continues, but at a pace too slow to rebuild the infrastructure that is damaged during the fighting. The Iraq economy, is recovering slowly, but unemployment is still above 50%, even with millions of dollars given to "Awakening Councils" to patrol local neighborhoods and villages. The oil industry is barely functioning.

Major military offenses in Mosul, Diyala Province and the Kurdish areas are resulting in the emptying of small villages. War crimes continue to surface. Ambassador Crocker and General Petreaus have both announced that they are returning to the U.S. At least one young American will die and another two will be injured in Iraq, on average, every day of 2008.

While America enjoys the luxury of selecting presidential candidates, the world suffers the agony of a fifth - and upcoming sixth - year of war in the land between the two rivers.

…and so the battle of Iraq continues. Get the FACTS ABOUT IRAQ - and share with your friends.

'Lifetime Achievement' for Sissy Farenthold

Sissy Farenthold has made her life an achievement for social justice and the rights and knows the struggle herself. She was one of only three women in her law school graduating class and later went on to become an attorney for the ACLU and served as a legal aid director. She and Barbara Jordan were also among the two first women to serve in the Texas Legislature.

In 1972 she was the first U.S. women ever nominated for a spot on a presidential ticket (McGovern). During the past several decades, Sissy's thirst for social justice has taken her around the world where she works tirelessly for the rights of women and other humanitarian causes.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas award Sissy with the Molly Ivins lifetime achievement award at their annual banquet in March.

Record Texas primary turnout

Many areas of Texas reported record-breaking primary turnouts on March 4. In Harris County (Houston) more than 1/2 million Texans joined with their neighbors in an exercise of Democracy. North Texans were still tallying caucus results a week after the primary. Long lines didn't deter voters from El Paso to Beaumont. All in all, more than 5 million Texans voted in either the Democratic or Republican primary for 2008 to select local and national candidates to run in the Fall alongside Libertarian, Green, Consitution and Socialist and Independent candidates.

Winter Soldiers march on D.C.

Soldiers who have returned from the war in Iraq, along with their vietnam-era brethren, will march and testify in Washington, D.C. From March 13-16th, These veterans will participate in Winter Soldier by testifying in Washington about what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground in these occupations. The four-day event will bring together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan - and present video and photographic evidence.

Many other organizations are planning protests in D.C. next week to draw attention to the end of the 5th year of war in Iraq - 5 Years Too Many! However, members of Congress will be back taking a "break" in their local districts.

Col. Wright continues to speak out

Col. Ann Wright resigned her post with the U.S. State Department in March 2003, in protest of the Bush Administration's decision to invade Iraq. Since that time she has been an active war resister and helped many returning veterans to deal with the issues faced in Iraq.

Ann will be in Austin this week and will be promoting her new book "Dissent: Voices of Conscience". Ann Wright and Susan Dixon tell the stories of government insiders and active-duty military personell who risked careers, reputations, and even freedom out of loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law.

(ARCHIVES: February 19, 2008) 5 years later, Iraq is still a "Red Zone"

PART 2 - An escalating crisis (2004-2006)

As the year 2004 dawned in Iraq, it became abundantly clear the Administration had not planned well for the occupation and reconstruction of the country. Colossal mistakes in judgment were being made at every leve. Bremer, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz particularly refused to heed the advice of experts and the reality of the situation on the ground and instead relied on their own pre-conceived notions of war and "nation building". The interim (i.e. puppet) government in Iraq was staffed primarily with Iraqi expats who parroted their masters in D.C.

It was already clear that unless improvements were made in Iraq's economic and social sectors, that the situation could quickly unravel.

The U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division was to take over operations in the Baghdad area and prepared to embark on a strategy of civic reconstruction and economic development. General Chiarelli had the 1st Cav team work the City of Austin to better understand the operational needs of a large city (water, sewer, waste removal) and with the University of Texas to prepare an economic development plan for Baghdad. [It should be noted that Casey Sheehan, son of Cindy Sheehan, was part of 1CD and had not yet been sent to Iraq]

Since I had just returned from Iraq, and also had a background in economic development, I was asked to lead the team from U.T. The result was a plan that focused on meeting the basic needs of Baghdad - economic and social - through a set of "momentum shifter" activities: job creation, family health care, residential renovation, agricultural repairs, public schools, and other improvements.

1CD arrived in Iraq with high expectations, but soon had their mission undercut by orders from Washington and the worsening security situation. Young soldiers from middle America suddenly found themselves confronted with killing or being killed.

In January, more than 100,000 Iraqis marched in the streets of Baghdad protesting U.S. handover plans and calling for direct elections. After being ignored, attacks on U.S. and contractor forces began to spread throughout the country. In April, four Blackwater contractors were ambushed and their bodies hung in public display in Fallujah. Rumsfeld ordered an aggressive operation to pacify Fallujah that resulted in the destruction of at least one-third of the city of 450,000, hundreds killed and injured, large waves of refugees and reports of use of WMDs by American forces.

Then the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison began to surface in the public media. For months, there had been rumors of abuse of the 28,000 Iraqis who were imprisoned by coalition forces. Once the story, along with photos of physical and sexual abuse, broke in the American press, a firestorm erupted around the world. It was clear that coalition troops were guilty of war crimes and purported aims of "democracy and freedom" were at risk.

The result was that many Iraqis - Sunni, Shiite and Christian - began joining the "insurgency" in big numbers and many reconstruction projects ground to a halt as violence surged.

The summer and fall saw major fighting in other cities, including Kerbala, Najaf and Sammara. A second assault on Fallujah involved a force of 10,000. The Green Zone is bombed and Margaret Hassan, British-Iraqi director of CARE International, is abducted in Baghdad. She is later presumed dead.

Troop and civilian deaths continued to rise as the insurgency grew and the crisis accelerated into 2005, including the death of Marla Ruzicka a peace activist from California.

Iraqis began to see glimmers of political success in mid-2005. An election for a 275-seat National Assembly went ahead as scheduled and was broadly supported by the people, despite a boycott by some. Since this was the first popular election after the invasion, and would lead to a new Constitution, Iraqis began to hope that they would soon be out from under Washington's control and occupation by foreign troops.

In late 2005 I returned to Iraq once again. This time I was looking forward to seeing the progress of rebuilding efforts and learning if circumstances had improved. I knew that the telecommunications area was growing, many water and sewer systems had been repaired, new schools were opening and that many Iraqis had returned to help with projects. Coalition forces had obtained a truce with the Medhi "Army". This was good news.

Much to my chagrin, I found that other areas had actually worsened since my last visit and it was much more dangerous to be an American in Iraq.

Infrastructure - electricity, petrol, manufacturing - had declined. There was a growing refugee crisis as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were forced from their homes in all parts of the country. U.S. reconstruction efforts were being mismanaged and there was little evidence of international assistance - governmental or non-profit. Stories of new prison abuses and activities of "dark forces" were growing.

During this trip I visited Baghdad's only electricity plan and refinery, both in al-Doura, to speak directly with officials there about the lack of electricity and fuel. Both pointed to the lack of oil and the fact that much of their supply was being siphoned off for use by the coalition (Green Zone and other operations) leaving little for Iraqis. The facilities that we toured were in terrible disrepair, short of money and lacking foreign assistance.

Our team also made the harrowing trip to Kerbala and Najaf to investigate the situation in those cities. Despite the security risks we were able to meet with humanitarian, civic and religious leaders, visit with refugees, tour the world's largest cemetery and get lost in the souks (marketplace). Some of us also met with Muqtada al-Sadr, one of Iraq's religious politicians.

In Baghdad we met with Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church (who was recently elevated to Cardinal), key Shiite leaders, and the Association of Muslim Scholars, the largest Sunni group and other leaders. During our meetings it was pointed out that Iraqis watched the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on television, viewing the same images - and lack of government response - that the rest of the world saw. After then, confidence in America's ability to help Iraq had diminished even further. As one leader put it, "Bush can't even take care of his own people, what does he care about ours?"

Unlike my previous visits, during this trip I was unable to attend mosque services or to visit the homes of many of my friends and families, due to the danger (to both myself and them). We were no longer allowed to wander around university campuses on our own, visit parks, or walk on foot through some areas of Baghdad. Even our routes and methods of getting around Iraq were much more circumspect than before, especially when it came to encountering U.S. troops, for fear that we might accidentally be fired upon or become victims of an IED attack.

We did make one brief trip into the Green Zone, to meet with fully-armored U.S. commanders (even inside the Green Zone) on the topic of Iraqi civilian deaths and compensation. They tried to impress us with their slideware, but admitted that few Iraqis received compensation due to the barriers that were presented to the process.

Despite the risks, we briefly ventured out on our own to nearby stores and Internet cafes during our time in Iraq, always trying to generate as little attention as possible. Where before children would greet us on the street this time they had obviously been told to keep away from "the foreigners". Shop owners were anxious to have us gone quickly. I defied my colleagues by wearing a bright yellow "End the War in Iraq" t-shirt in plain view of Green Zone security snipers on September 24, in solidarity with the antiwar marches in Washington.

As before, I returned to the U.S. concerned that policymakers in Washington still did not understand the forces in Iraq. It appeared that the military was becoming much more attuned to the reality, but was constrained by their own focus on security and decisions made thousands of miles away.

One month after my return, four members of the next delegation were on their way to the Association of Muslim Scholars when their car was pulled over and they were taken into captivity. I received news of the kidnapping almost immediately as CPT began to scramble a response and called upon Texans for Peace to help with manage the media. Alyssa Burgin, took the lead in this area and quickly began advising on how to keep the lid on the situation (needed at first to protect the hostages) while anticipating and responding to media inquiries.

The hostage crisis was to consume the next several months (from November to March) as James Loney, Norman Kember, Harmeet Singh Sooden, and Tom Fox were held hostage. Rush Limbaugh announced that "part of me likes this." He explained: "Well, here's why I like it. I like any time a bunch of leftist feel-good hand-wringers are shown reality," after first suggesting that the entire kidnapping "could all be BS ... could all be a stunt."

Tom Fox's daughter went on Al Jazeera television and pleaded for the hostage's release, but efforts to communicate with the hostage takers proved fruitless. The body of Tom Fox, a Quaker and former Marine, was found dumped in Baghdad on March 10, 2006, raising fears that all of the hostages might have been killed. [I still remember my conversations with Tom, about this sort of situation, as we cooked dinner together in Baghdad]

Two weeks later a tip led coalition forces to the site where the three remaining hostages were being held. The hostage takers were gone, creating suspicion that the entire kidnapping and the motives of the agencies behind it.

While the hostages were being held, Iraqis watched in horror as a clandestine operation bombed the golden-domed Mosque of Samarra. Iraqis of all types were incensed at the pointless destruction of a cultural icon by agents obviously trying to foment religious and ethnic divisions. During the next few months attacks - against Iraqi and U.S. Forces and on civilians - became even more furious and the country appeared to veer towards complete anarchy.

More and more stories of atrocities committed by troops surfaced (as the Haditha Massacre) as the toil of ongoing occupation and war affected soldiers - some who were on their second or third tours. By now, U.S. casualties had reached nearly 3,000 dead and 20,000 injured as attacks reached 960 per week. A report by the British medical journal The Lancet declared that 655,000 Iraqis or more had been killed since the invasion of 2003.

A bipartisan report prepared by the conservative Iraq Study Group recommended major changes to U.S. strategy to the "grave and deteriorating" situation in Iraq. However, it was rejected by President Bush and his policy team who refused to be "caught in a mission that has no foreseeable end."

NEXT WEEK: Five Years Later, Iraq is still a "Red Zone" Part 3 ( Iraq Today 2007-Feb 2008)

Presidential races heat up in Texas

It's been a long time since Texans have had an opportunity to play a pivitol role in national primaries, but on March 4 Texas voters will cast their votes to select Huckabee, McCain or Paul, or Clinton or Obama in respective party races and to select from among many local candidates for other offices. Austin is in a frenzy as more than 20,000 signed up for a chance to see Obama and Clinton debate. Only 100 tickets to the Thursday event available and will drawn by lottery. In addtion to the Democratic and Republican primaries, there will be candidates from other parties on the national ballots in the fall.

Election officials are already predicting a record-breaking turnout for the election. The Secretary of State's office and the state party officials are working to make sure that local officials are ready with plenty of ballots and voting equipment for their precincts.

Texans for Peace is a non-partisan organization for ALL Texans and does not endorse or recommend any particular candidate. Instead we are calling for volunteers to attend political events wearing "End the War in Iraq" t-shirts and hand out "Another Voter for Peace" stickers to draw attention to ongoing occupation of Iraq.

Polluter granted new permit

Hundreds of citizens, including the mayor, of El Paso trecked to Austin last week to speak against a new permit for the polluter-company Asarco at the hearing of the Texas Commission Enviromental Quality (TECQ). Asarco a copper mining smelter operates some of the largest open pit mines in the world.

Asarco received permission to restart its smelter, idled nine years, after a near two-hour discussion by the TCEQ.Immediately after the decision, some members of Texans stepped to the front of the hearing room and demanded Asarco and the TCEQ explain itself for the years of illegally burned hazardous waste.

Mayor John Cook said he was "not surprised" by the ruling, bu the city would not stop its battle to stop Asarco. Opponents of the permit, including El Paso city officials and an area legislator, have long argued that allowing Asarco to restart smelter operations in El Paso would pose a serious health risk to residents in El Paso, Ciudad Juárez and Sunland Park NM.

Iraq Veterans Against the War Fundraisers

Your help is needed to support brave soldiers who have returned from Iraq and said "no" to continued war. From March 13-16th, U.S. veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will participate in Winter Soldier by testifying in Washington about what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground in these occupations. The four-day event will bring together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan - and present video and photographic evidence. They need your financial support. Benefits for Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) Texas chapters are planned throughout Texas:

Austin - February 22 8:30pm House Party with Scott Ritter at 4107 Wildwood Road with music by Bill Passalacqua

Houston - February 23 3 pm Dan