I received an email this morning that got me to thinking about the lily livered cowards who are responsible for the deaths and torture of hundreds of thousands of my co-habitants of this planet and how we all need to be protesting in front of the houses of the slime who “rule” here in the U.S. Unfortunately many of the fascists who live in AZ live in gated communities, so you really can’t get very close and the rent-a-cops who guard such secure palatial estates are often inexperienced, untrained, and far more likely to shoot…. but we still need to be doing these actions all over the country. The comfort these war criminals enjoy must be ended.
Isn’t it amazing how quickly Negroponte screams that he needs someone arrested when his space is compromised? I wonder is he now sees how his victims might have felt at the onset of his evil practices — before the actual torture or murder was carried out. I cannot condone violence, and such demonstrations are perhaps psychically violent, but there is a part of me that is actually happy that these “leaders” have probably begun to feel some of the same sort of fear which they have so casually injected into the lives of so very many people in so very many places.
Anyway, here is a portion of this a.m.’s email that discussed the DAWN action.
We in the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN) Weekly Action Group returned to
Director of National Intelligence’s Negroponte’s 3100 Cleveland Avenue NW
home last night for a silent vigil in memorial for the dead and tortured
throughout the world (specifically, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua,
Iraq) and instead were welcomed to the strange security world of John
Negroponte. Ten days previously, a DAWN activist had been detained for
half an hour by a CIA police officer, though was subsequently released by
the DC police without charges. The activist had been on public ground
protesting and had not committed a crime, but the CIA police officer had
explained that the Ambassador wanted someone arrested for this, a quote
that has been corroborated by audio tape. (For last time, see jsmacdonald.blogspot.com.)
This time, a security person (didn’t identify himself this time except
over his phone as “John” – and we didn’t ask being that it was a silent
vigil – but may have been CIA like last time) immediately came out of an
SUV to announce upon the arrival of 12 of us (ultimately 15) that he had
called the police and that they were on their way.
We set up outside of his house and were as quiet as could be, holding
signs and banners and lighting candles. Inside were John Negroponte and
what appeared to be a wife and someone else. Within a few minutes, they
looked out the window, put down their shades, and turned off the lights.
Occasionally, we could see them peaking out the window at the spectacle
below.
Several MPD (DC police) showed up, a secret service agent, another
security person related to the home. If they were CIA like last time I
can’t say, but they were belligerent and as nasty as one might expect.
They went around with notepads taking notes on each participant (and later
photographs), saying out loud their description, sometimes with derogatory
things to say about people’s weight or their hair color or what was on the
signs. They had to admit that we were being “very peaceful,” “very quiet”,
though the security man John was quick to point out, “with a lot of
attitude.”
As mentioned, several DC police showed up. One higher ranking one
attempted to engage us in conversation, but we stayed silent. Another of
our group was getting concerned by police presence and was trying to
protect others in the group by keeping his bike between John and the rest
of the group, which led to a testy moment. Our friend thought it best to
get himself out of the situation, and he did by leaving the vigil.
As for the neighbors, one set of neighbors called us derogatory names, but
another set toward the end drove up and asked if we were protesters. One
of our group came up and told her that it was a silent vigil aimed at
Negroponte to which she exclained loudly, “I’m so glad! It’s about time
somebody protested him!” Then, police quickly whisked her away while John
said, “That’s rude.”
At times, while most of us continued to aim our stares and our signs
toward Negroponte (and thankfully, the security/CIA? wrote down what every
sign said, not to mention what people’s t-shirts said, what brand of bag
people were carrying on their backs, etc.), it was absolutely impossible
not to notice the darkness of 31st street glaring with several police
cars, with officers walking amongst and between us, attempting to bait
people out of silence.
The police chummed up to John and his co-worker having banter. Early on,
one police officer asked John who lived here. He quietly said something
like, “Ambassador John Negroponte.” The cop quizzically said, “Who’s
that?” Then, a very quiet inaudible explanation, followed by a look of,
“Oh, that’s who it is” on the police officer’s face.
At the end, one officer told us we needed to be off the road we’d been on
for one hour. So, we walked onto the sidewalk in front of his house, which
forced the police out of the way. A few minutes later, an hour having
passed (which was the generally pre-agreed upon target time for staying)
we left as a group or in small groups of two, as John for a short time
decided to follow us down the street. He wasn’t done taking pictures and
was frustrated that some hadn’t given him a clear shot. Of course, they
could see us through security cameras, so I don’t know why they needed the
mug shots in addition.
We took our own pictures, audio, and video to document what was happening.
We’ve had very noisy protests that drew almost no police presence. This
one drew an enormous amount, probably due to last time or out of boredom –
who knows?
We were there to disrupt John Negroponte and express to him our outrage,
albeit this night silently. We were also there to remember the dead and
tortured, which despite the police, was how I spent most of my time. I
noticed a huge, beautiful tree in Negroponte’s yard and wondered how he
would feel if someone had destroyed it. What a tragedy that would be, and
I became sad at the thought. And, yet that tree serves to mask the
murderer and torturer that is John Negroponte, a man who has no qualms
about spying on any one of us. I went to think of people killed by death
squads and was forced to confront a lot of intimidation tactics. Perhaps,
we were the intimidators last night. The truth hurts, and in this case, it
should.
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