* RNC Protests * “Wars Overseas Will Come Home”

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Common Dreams reports: “With Media Enamored by U.S. Presidential Race, Israeli Massacres in Gaza Get Even Deadlier.” The International Court of Justice will issue its opinion on the legality of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land on Friday.

COLEEN ROWLEY, rowleyclan@earthlink.net @ColeenRowley
A resident of Minnesota, Rowley was just with a group of peace activists at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They had a big red “Stop the Genocide” banner. See “For many RNC protesters, there is dissatisfaction with both Republicans and Democrats.” She notes that the local police were “dialogue police” who actually helped ensure peaceful protests.

She has long connected an increase in domestic U.S. violence with wars. See her 2018 interview “FBI Whistleblower: America’s Culture of Violence Starts With Perpetual Wars.”

Rowley is a retired FBI agent and was named one of TIME magazine’s Persons of the Year in 2002. Since 2004, she’s been speaking at academic and other professional venues with an emphasis on ethical decision-making. She is a long-time member of Women Against Military Madness and Veterans for Peace.

MATTHEW HOH, matthew.hoh@icloud.com, @MatthewPHoh
Hoh is the associate director of the Eisenhower Media Network. He is a former Marine Corps captain, an Afghanistan State Department officer and a disabled Iraq War veteran. He just wrote the piece “Defending Democracy” on his Substack. “The elected majorities of both political parties argue Israel’s genocide of Palestinians must be supported because Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. $175 billion, in just 2 1/2 years, has been appropriated for war in Ukraine to defend democracy. The GOP and the Democrats have brought about a needless and reckless cold war with China, again, because of democracy.

“The wars I took part in, Afghanistan and Iraq, were waged by the U.S. under banners of freedom and democracy. The same with Libya and Syria. Millions were killed, wounded and made homeless. The hot wars of Cold War I that killed tens of millions were justified by the need to make the world safe for democracy.

“For generations, U.S. political and military leaders, amplified constantly by an enthusiastic media, have asserted to the American people that the slaughter of millions around the world has been necessary to protect democracy from what are almost always described as historically dangerous forces. …

“Wars overseas will come home.”

Hoh is a board member of the Institute for Public Accuracy.