In the days before the war, activists stuffed Hartford City Hall’s second floor Common Council chambers. The protestors carried signs and filled the tiny room to the brim in hopes that their presence would embolden City Council to pass an anti-war resolution before the invasion of Iraq.

Unfortunately, then-councilor Elizabeth Horton-Sheff’s resolution failed, 5-4. Mayor Eddie Perez didn’t stand behind it, and some councilors, even though opposed to the war, said their duty wasn’t foreign policy.

Fast forward to Monday, March 10, 2008, approaching the fifth anniversay of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and now Working Families Party councilman Dr. Larry Deutsch puts an anti-war resolution on the table, item #39.

Click here to continue reading Ken’s report.

The West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice host a forum on the case for impeachment this Sunday with award-winning journalist David Lindorff.

Lindorff, who co-authored the book “The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office,” will lead the discussion at St. James Episcopal Church, 1018 Farmington Ave., West Hartford. The event is scheduled from 2 to 5 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information about Lindorff checkout his web site: This Can’t Be Happening.

West Hartford Citizens for Peace & Justice present a Town Hall forum titled: The Role of Dissent in Our Democracy.

The forum at West Hartford’s Town Hall will begin at 7 p.m., Oct. 9 and will include a discussion with special guest Colonel Ann Wright.

An excerpt from their press release and more details about the event are included below:

Continue reading "Town Hall Forum on Iraq Tuesday" »

Some of U.S. Congressman John Larson’s constituents are asking why Congress hasn’t aggressively pursed impeachment proceedings against the White House.

At a Sunday forum on the Iraq War, Lois Bromson of East Hartford said the biggest mistake Democrats made when they took control of the House was continuing to fund the war. She said she watched Bill Moyers Journal Friday and is now convinced “impeachment is the way to go.”

The room of about 50 people gathered at the Pitkin Community Center in Wethersfield applauded Bromson’s comments.

Larson was quick to caution, but not entirely dismiss, the idea of impeachment.

Continue reading "Residents in 1st Congressional District Call for Impeachment" »

Iraqi Labor leaders spoke candidly Saturday afternoon at a union hall in East Hartford about the occupation of their country and what they’re doing to uphold the Iraqi people’s right to control their country’s oil, while also seeking an end to the U.S. occupation.

Faleh Abood Umara, general secretary of the Southern Oil Company Union and Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, said through a translator that “I deeply believe the U.S. occupation is because of oil.” He said in 2014 the U.S. will need about $28 million a day to cover its demand for petroleum.

Umara who was detained in 1998 by Saddam Hussein’s regime said since Saddam was toppled his laws against unionizing public workers remained.

Continue reading "Iraqi Labor Leaders Against the War" »

This sign, held by a protester from Boston, was one of the more positive aspects of a protest/counter-protest that unfolded outside the Coast Guard Academy in New London Wednesday morning as President Bush was speaking to graduates inside the gates.

The police estimated a thousand anti-war protesters gathered under a warm spring sun (including, left to right, New Haveners Allie Perry, Ioanna Gutas and Stephen Kobasa holding the anti-torture banner), as world music blared from the public address system and speakers called over and over again to bring the troops home now.

Another New Havener, Frank Panzarella, sang an updated version of Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm.”

Click here to continue reading Melinda’s report.

U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, who came to Central Connecticut State University Friday to talk to students about campus security, called for another political truce on the war.

Lieberman said Congress made its point by passing legislation earlier this week that sets deadlines for troop withdrawal. The president will veto it and “we can cool it for awhile,” he said.

He said Congress needs to give the “new general, new strategy, and new troops” a chance to work. He said there are encouraging signs the surge is working, but people are fooling themselves if they think there isn’t an Al-Qaeda counter-insurgency going on.

Continue reading "Joe Comes to Town" »

Valda Jones (pictured) and Rabbi Israel Stein joined 50 antiwar protesters outside U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman’s downtown New Haven home to urge him to start saying “no” to George Bush’s escalation of the war in Iraq. The interfaith Passover/ Easter vigil made the point with a new twist on the seasonal song, “Go Down Moses.”

Chanting “Go down, Joseph/ Way down to Washington/ Tell George Pharoah Bush/ Bring our troops back home,” the wet but impassioned protesters first gathered on the Green Sunday evening.

Click here to continue reading the report from our New Haven bureau.

An estimated 1,500 people from across the state turned out for the Connecticut Opposes the War rally Saturday at the Old State House in Hartford.

They came with mega phones and hand painted signs to hear from a number of elected-officials, military personnel, and clergy about what it will take to put an end to the war. And more importantly, what they can do to help.

Continue reading "Anti-War Rally Draws 1,500" »

Hartford’s St. Patrick’s Day parade may be cancelled but the anti-war protest organized by Connecticut Opposes the War is still on.

The protest that marks the fourth anniversary of the United States invasion of the war in Iraq is expected to bring thousands to the Old State House Saturday from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

Continue reading "Anti-War Protest Saturday, March 17" »