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Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

Cindy Sheehan and Ray McGovern led an action late this afternoon to the home of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Below is a report I just wrote, which needs to be updated somewhat. The action is still going on as this is being written.

Four activists, two who are participants in DAWN, have been arrested at Rumsfeld's home, apparently after going through the bushes and up to Rumsfeld's porch, nearly to his door. At least two of the activists do wish to be named (as I understand it), and they include Pete Perry and David Barrows. The other two with them were female activists unknown to me at this time.

I have no further information except the report I just wrote from my time at the action:

***Many, including, McGovern and Sheehan, now holding Rumsfeld's house under siege***

I've just gotten back from the action outside of Donald Rumsfeld's Kalorama home, which is still ongoing, and I must say I was impressed.

People took the streets and blocked much of Connecticut Avenue, ironically forcing cars to take Kalorama, which was then inundated by protesters.

Although Free Republic stood at the home, presumably to guard the space from their arch nemesis Code Pink, protesters paid little attention to them, and moved not only up to the bushes but onto the grounds of Rumsfeld's property, where they then began sitting in (including people we know very well). Free Republic, for their part, while they kept up spirited chants, looked bewildered and surprised by how the action was playing out.

This was ongoing...the vibe was at times pleasant and calling for peace, at times angry and indignant. The marchers seemed to get angry with people in Dupont who waved but would not join.

There was at peak perhaps 100 people in the march, which included former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, and peace movement celebrity Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq.

It was a fantastic blend of forces and shows the power of a house demo. Rumsfeld is rarely if ever at that home, but I think the action has been very uplifting for people who see that there are protest opportunities.

It would be a good idea to go back or actually to go to a home where someone is home.

I loved the time of day, though, since traffic was heavy and forced to confront the reality of the march.

There was no permit, to my knowledge.

I know others will fill in the blanks, but it was a very positive and yet forceful action.
 
 
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Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

5/18/2006 Gael Murphy 202 412 6700

Four Peaceful Demonstrators Arrested On Rumsfeld’s Doorstep

Activists attempted to deliver a message asking peace in Iraq and Iran

Four peaceful demonstrators were arrested at 5:30pm today as they attempted to deliver a message of peace to Donald Rumsfeld’s residence on 2206 Kalorama Road in Washington, D.C. They were charged with unlawful entry for nonviolently attempting to deliver the message, which urged the Secretary of Defense to end the war in Iraq, not go to war with Iran, bring all U.S. troops home now, and stop the torture of detainees.

The four arrested are: Peter Perry, 36; David Barrows, 52; Katie Heald, 27; and Mari Blome, 50. The protesters are members of the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN) and CODEPINK: Women for Peace.

The attempted delivery and subsequent arrests followed a march from the White House to Donald Rumsfeld’s residence. The 150-person march down the streets of Washington, D.C. began after demonstrators delivered a petition with 40,000 signatures to the White House, calling on the Administration not to attack Iran.

“I came all the way from Portland, OR to give a message from my community that Donald Rumsfeld should be fired for taking us into this disastrous war,” said Katie Heald of CODEPINK. “The American people want the troops to come home from Iraq,”

David Barrows, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and black hood reminiscent of the infamous Guantanamo prison, said “torture is illegal and immoral, and Donald Rumsfeld is responsible for the inhumane treatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. He must be held accountable.”
 

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

Donald Rumsfeld has an office - thats were any messages should be delivered. If you creep around in the shrubs outside someones house, you're a stalker and should be arrested.
 

Re: Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

People were arrested for trying to deliver a message to his office.
 

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

They were arrested for protesting the Rumsfeld-Cheney-Bush-Rice-Powell-Wolfowitz-Negroponte-Feith UNLAWFUL ENTRY AND TRESPASS of Iraq where there were no WMD or Al Queda terrorists.
 

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

US soldiers killed in Iraq: 2,454.
Total soldiers killed on the day of this protest: 5
The DC Police arrested the wrong person. They should have arrested Rumsfeld.
 

Re: Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

No fewer than 633 Iraqis have died in the first 19 days of May due to the war.
 

Re: Re: Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

Yes, and how many of them fired upon coalition forces before being shown the error of their ways?
 
Reply: Re: Re: Re: Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home / 19 May 2006

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

They were arrested for protesting the Rumsfeld-Cheney-Bush-Rice-Powell-Wolfowitz-Negroponte-Feith UNLAWFUL ENTRY AND TRESPASS of Iraq where there were no WMD or Al Queda terrorists.
 

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

As to the comment on firing on coalition forces:

I bet you cheered during the movie Red Dawn. I did.

Remember that one? About some average non-political [U.S.] youngsters fighting a gorilla [sneak attacks and all] style war against military [coalition: Cuba officially but backed by Soviet Union] forces that had invaded their country [U. S. A.] on a mission to [re]educate the populace to a better political system [according to that coalition - communism.

Good movie, I thought at the time. I was young and really not watching movies for the acting quality.
I remember thinking that, yeah, I'd do it. I did like many things about the U. S., but if someone had invaded my town, killed my friends, and tried to tell me how to live, I'd have taken up arms and gone to the hills to resist the buggers. I'd try to rake up my kills as high as possible before they got me too. And break my buddies out of their holding cells. And though some or most of the invaders would just be following orders, I'd kill them all until they left.

Now let’s shuffle a few names around. Let’s replace the movies hypothetical U. S. A. for Iraq [ect. Sounds about like what is happening right now.

So if an invasion happened here, what would you do? Change your political/cultural beliefs? Become a collaborator? Or would you scrap up every weapon you have and fight the buggers til they get the hell out?

I know what I still think would be the right thing to do. Do you?
 

Re: Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

Good point. But one thing you forgot to mention was that the Iraqi people were living under an oppressive murderous dictator who regularly slaughtered his own people (Kurds, mostly). Another key element: the greater majority of the people we are fighting in Iraq are not Iraqis. They are Iranian, Sudanese, Syrian, etc (this info from close friends who are working the PW prisons on the ground in Iraq).

I fully understand the point you are making here, and you're damn right I'd round up my considerable arsenal and start splittin' domes as soon as an aggressors boots hit American soil, as would everyone else in this country I think. I read somewhere that of all the guns in the world, American civilians own about 80% of them. A "Red Dawn" scenario wouldn't last long here. Everyone with a gun would be blasting away like the wild west.

The point I was trying to make with the previous comment was centered more on exposing propaganda than anything else. Too many people scream and yell about Iraqi civilian casualties without first bothering to tell their audience that the people being killed are attacking US forces (IEDs, snipers, guerilla tactios, etc).
 

All four now released; 1 other briefly detained outside Negroponte's home

All four of the arrestees are now out of jail, charged with disorderly conduct and unlawful entry. Their first court date is June 1. One reports that a US Marshal, after discovering that he was a protester, said, "I should be thanking you for what you've done. I came back from Iraq, and I don't believe in anything we are doing over there."

This same activist reports that another activist managed to get a letter to Rumsfeld slipped to through his mail slot, which was the point of the direct action.

Last night, another DAWN activist was detained by police outside the home of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte at 3100 Cleveland Avenue. As the group was leaving, a CIA police officer came out of Negroponte's home, approached the one remaining activist as he was trying to ready himself to ride his bike, asked if he could talk with him, whether he was in a group, and then immediately grabbed the activist (and briefly his bike), putting him in a painful grip, saying he was being detained. Other activists saw what was happening and returned. Neighbors who witnessed it actually crossed the street to plead for the activist's release, bewildered that peaceful protest automatically can mean detainment. He did not let go, handing him over to the DC police, but when they realized that no crime had been committed, let the activist go.

Negroponte was home.

More is on the way. You can also read a bit more on this at jsmacdonald.blogspot.com or on the DAWN discussion listserve.

The Negroponte action also involved a visit to Senate Majority Bill Frist's huge mansion about 4 blocks away.
 

Re: All four now released; 1 other briefly detained outside Negroponte's home

One follow-up that should be noted here on Negroponte...the CIA police officer (and that's how he identified himself), when asked why he was detaining this one activist was told that "Negroponte wanted someone arrested for this." Whoops, John, in this one case the MPD decided that every so often the political speech laws cannot be trumped by an illusory reference to national security.

Also, I want to say that when the minutemen types talk about law, talk about obeying the law, as a means to justify bigotry inherent in the law, we should know that something is strange about our system of government. When one goes on to realize that the laws on the books that do seem to defend the rights of people are thrown away as easily as an old newspaper, one again realizes that it's not moral righteousness behind either the laws or our system of government. What's going on is a defense of the status quo, especially the rights of the rich. The minutemen are pissed that the rich want to ease the racist immigration rules, not understanding that racism has merely been a tool to keep people divided in American history, but instead of going at the rich, going to the home of Senator Frist, for instance, they go after the poorest of the poor in the name of LAW. But, as they are finding out, law in the context of our government is a mythical idea used merely for social control. In the hands of a man like Negroponte, it doesn't even apply, if he can convince enough other people in power that their safety is at stake. When the myth of this country plays out against the reality, it's funny to see the myth sometimes when like it did last night in the end. But, it's nothing any of us can count on, and we must take up some kind of resistance against it. At the very least, last night was sure an education for the liberal neighbors who got to see a small taste of repression tactics firsthand. They weren't around to see the happy and lucky conclusion.

If we hadn't been there for our friend, those chants by the freepers to send David Barrows to Guantanamo might not have been as far-fetched. If you had been out there in those streets and witnessed what I had, you wouldn't have thought it was as crazy as it sounds on paper.

And, even so, we are encouraged to go back.
 

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

reformat so that all postings can be read on an IE browser
 

Video of Petition and Rumsfeld Protest

video
 

Another Video

 

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

Hello,

Four of us went onto Rumsfeld's front yard in order to deliver a letter asking that he not wage an illegal and immoral war of aggression against Iran.

We were charged for illegal entry and disorderly conduct. Rumsfeld was the chief architect of an unlawful military entry of a sovereign nation and the continued disorderly conduct in the occupation of this nation -- Iraq.

I wonder if a neighbor delivery an invitation to a block part could be charged with unlawful entry for simply sliding something through a door mail slot?

One of us was successful in getting the letter through the mail slot. She is a wonderfully courageous woman from Portland.

Clarifications on the original post:
*No, the march definitely did not have a permit. It went well.

*David spent the night in Central Lockup. One of the Code Pink women and I had to stay the night at 3D. The other woman was released, as she used her own parents as a reference.

*Also, we didn't really get angry with people we passed by in the march. But several individuals decided to spontaneously join us.

*We have a court date June 1st at 9 a.m.
 

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

Hey - since we all know Field Marshall Rumsfeld's home address now (2206 Kalorama Rd. Washington, DC)
AND since one of the Secet Service (der SS) primary concerns during the protest was "DON'T DAMAGE THE PLANTS"?

What's to stop us from stopping by the local home improvement store and purchasing a gallon or two of DEFOLIANT and demonstrating to Field Marshall Rumsfeld exactly what Chemical Warfare is really like - especially when it affects someone's home - as it surely did in Falluja and Baghdad?
 

Re: Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

And what chemical warfare are you referring to? OH! You must mean the chemical warfare conducted by Saddam Hussein against his own people.

Unless you've been there, you know fuck squat about the place or anything else that happens there.
 

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

> the Secet Service (der SS)

Please do not make casual and inaccurate references to Nazi Germany and the holocaust. The secret service is not analogous to the SS (and if you think it is, then I have to wonder what peculiar or revisionist views of Nazi Germany you hold).

I'm sick of DAWN's antisemitism and cavalier co-opting the holocaust for whatever political issue happens to be on their plate. It's shameful. Stop it.
 

Re: Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

ANTI SEMITISM, you need to shut up, I am Jew, I was born a Jew, I grew up seeing pictures and videos of the horrors of the holocaust. Seeing what the Secret Service has done and continues to do is some what Naziesque, it might not be as brutal a Hitler but it is still very very bad. If want want to talk about anti semitism then go yell at the right wing bible thumping anti woman(or as they call it abortion, we love women) nuts, they are claiming that getting a voluntary and sometimes very nessecery abortion is reminisant of the holocaust and they call pro choice people nazis and they make it seem like abortion is the work of Hitler, that is very much worse than SS being used for secret service, their job is to serve the leader, that was the SS' job serve the leader (Hitler) I can say sometimes certain people can take it a bit far, but not as far as the right wingers!
 

Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

If any of you fuck-stick progressives ever creeped around my house, I would blow your fucking pinko heads off. Thanks to Rumsfeld and the US Military, the US has not had a terror strike since 911, but I guess that doesn't make you happy.
 

Re: Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

Dude, you have to remember that as far as most of these "progressive" ass-hats are concerned, 9/11 didn't even happen. It was something they saw on TV. Reality has never set in for these goons, and it probably won't until they get through the last fitful throes of puberty.

And nothing, but NOTHING makes a leftist happy. They live in a constant state of self induced delusional depression. They want everyone to think that the world sucks and that we're all victims so they can garner support from the young and the angry.
 

Re: Re: Four activists arrested at Rumsfeld's home

...and what exactly does 911 have to do with the Iraq War, where many young are dying, making the rest angry?
 

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