Barbara Lee said she would get this into the Congressional record!
I was hoping hearing the Winter Soldiers would spark action. A woman in her 80's left me and many others ardent phone messages urging us to listen up and--especially--to take action including effective lobbying.
Thank you and kudos to everyone who made this happen including KPFA staff, supporters, and of course those who testified so movingly.

its only a blurb but the BBC website have a brief video on this event.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm

thank you from the bottom of my heart for you courage and integrity.

mena

I am really proud of everyone who is testifying, those working to make this event possible (including my brother, a Vietnam vet), & those making sure all of us have access to the broadcast: I hope people are listening all over the world, today & into the future. This makes me proud of my country, in a way this tragic war has failed to do. And, if anyone thought Americans can't learn from our history, the voices of Iraqis, alongside American soldiers, show that we can challenge their dehumanization, even before our occupation is ended.

The massive mainstream news blackout, & the failure of so many elected officials to support the event-- even in a year when Democrats and those claiming to want us out of Iraq are doing exceptionally well-- is a real blot on our democracy. It is clear we can't wait for the big media or politicians to do the right thing, & we must keep up the pressure!

I was in shock and sometimes near tears from the testimonies from the panelists yesterday, and from today's presentations I would add a growing sense of outrage.

It is truly shameful the lack of mainstream coverage this remarkable, multi-day event is receiving. It is shameful the notable lack of representatives of Congress (the very ones callously sending our troops abroad should be required to attend these proceedings).

I expected C-SPAN to provide coverage (they have in the past of protests on the DC mall, though it is easier to dismiss "dirty hippies" then those troops at the tip of the spear I suppose), but when I flipped over only saw the face of Steny Hoyer going on about something other than the tragedy that is Iraq.

I was so grateful for the Iraqi-American woman/medical professional who reminded me of the anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie (another aspect of media selectivity in that her murder conflicts with the "official narrative"). She courageously provided the linkage between the dehumanization of the Arab "other" and the Israeli agenda. She offered concrete examples of, as far as the media is concerened, the lives of Israelis, Americans, and non-Arabs counting more.

When I find myself despairing over the character of Americans, the people participating in Winter Soldier 2008 remind me that many are working tirelessly so this message gets out and that these enlightened voices are heard.

Thank you all so very much from the bottom of my heart. These broadcasts have moved me in ways I could not have even imagined. You are all an undeniable inspiration for the rest of us to keep up the fight for peace and justice.

I hear all the time "this administration does this & this administration does that" etc but this type of heinous crimes has been committed over hundreds of years with the SAME pretexts! And people always complain AFTER the facts that they were duped!
Ever asked the question: why is it that the same population gets duped by the same pretexts to invade some other population( apparently for some loot, land, water, fluids....)?
Why is it that those who think they have the best democracy in the world, the most religious in the world, the most generous in the world, the most of everything ...keep on feeding like carnivores? And then cry afterwards?
As people are shedding these pathetic tears, those who will wage next crimes are wringing their hands for a better plan, for a better sanitization of the loot & boot, laughing away to the banks(or of whatever will be left of it). And those who will cry are oblivious of the process of how they will accommodate the next carnage.
Answer my friends is in the air: I propose that this is fundamentally a war-mongering society, every vestige of it is laid out bare, in every aspect of life, laws and mores.
I also submit that unless you ask the fundamental question of where this originates from , you will forever be crying in the wilderness & the rest of the world with less gun power will have to bear. Sadly, rest of the world is fast catching up with the knowledge that one can possess "peace with superior fire power" as reads the neighbor's license plate.
I would like to advance this further & come to conclude what has to be abandoned from the past and what has to be adopted for a radically different yet better future.........
-anon

As a first generation American, who has lost one side of my entire family (My father was a sole survivor) to war, I have experienced what the scars of war leave on families and the next generation.

We have a Moral obligation to pick up a phone, pick up a pen and contact our congressional representatives- not once but not twice- but daily-- ring their phones with our words calling for peace--for the U.S. Government to end the absurd wars- We need a global Marshall Plan --
We have a recession -a trillion dollar debt - no healthcare.

Please stop listening to the liars and the media who sell you their corporate sales pitch to keep the war industrial complex going.

Bring our soldiers home and create programs to help ALL veterans to get healthcare and healing.

Listening to these words of eyewitnesses is moving and I hope they move you to peaceful action.
Please encourage others. Read the Nuremberg Principles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Principles

I have been listening as much as I can since Friday at 6 a.m. Excellent work by Aaron and Amy (love you!) and huge thanks to the brave vets. I was around for the first "Winter Soldier" in 1971, was engaged to a conscientious objector, and finally married a guy who made himself sick with amphetamines so as not to pass his draft physical and got rated 4-F. I'm a writer with a CD called "Make Love Not War," which can be found at cdbaby.com/orvino. Here's a poem in honor of the vets. My heartfelt appreciation for KPFA, and to Aaron for starting this "war comes home" site months back.
Jennie Orvino
Rohnert Park, CA

VALENTINE M.I.A.

The world is out of kilter
because a war
wrecked the men of my generation
and ravaged us all,
58,000 names
on a black marble wall.

“Soldier’s Heart”
is an older name for
shell-shock,
post-traumatic stress; the heart
balks
at self-
destruction

night upon night
bomb blasts rocked their beds—

Want some boom-boom, mister?

Boom-boom my sister?

Like the gardens of DaNang
now meters-deep with Agent Orange,
I absorb the residue:

lovers missing, wounded and fatigued
from battle, unable to love
as they could

and a new generation inherits
sex inscribed with violence

pornographic films rev the pilots
before their bombing runs
and the infantry inhales poisoned dust
right down to each
tender scrotum

so the act of love
fathers children
with paws for hands,

Iraq to Alabama the same.

Will another woman
thirty years from now
ask where
all the men have gone?

In my unending night-
mare, the veteran returns
alive

but smelling death in my hair,
has forgotten how to kiss.

I am listening to the dehumanization panel and having been moved to tears again for the I don't know how many times during the last two days..need to thank these men and women whose humanity is so clearly obvious in the testimony they are giving. I have never been through what they have been through, and could never provide such strong arguments against the war as the testimony from these veterans. Thank you for your courage, and the hope you provide that our country can recover its humanity even after such dehumanizing experiences in the example you provide. Thanks to the organizers for this amazing event, and thanks to Pacifica and KPFA for the coverage they are providing.

None of this will make any sense to you unless you view the U.S. Government as nothing more than an 'ongoing criminal enterprise' and the two parties (Republican and Democratic) are nothing but two crime families that have the same goal which is to steal the wealth of the American public and give it o the international bankers and corporations.
The only real power it has is the power of deception.
"So loose not heart nor fall into despair for you must gain mastery if you are true in faith". Holy Quran 3:139

Who is going to pay for these crimes against humanity? What roles the soldiers have palyed in this killing field? How are they being held accoutable? We all need to realize that we should not keep digging deep to find out how America lost the war.
this should not be about mistakes made in Iraq. This should be about colonial wars of occupation
there needs to be a serious critique of military as tool for US Imperialist expansionst polices instead of personal patriotic narratives. This is not a defensive Army. Defending your country? When was the last time you had to defend the mainland? Be real!
This is a military at the service of imperialist agenda!!!!!

This is the true parallel between Iraq and Vietnam - another generation of young Americans forever traumatized by the things they were forced to do in the false belief they were 'serving their country'. To hear your program where it is clear the horrors are all occurring again, fully forty years later - to another generation of our best and brightest - is truly disheartening... The members of your panel are incredibly brave to tell their stories - and are now - truly serving their country...

To the hosts:

I appreciate your efforts, but please, please, try not to fall into the classis trap of feeling obliged to sound "professional"......the last thing we all need is to hear this riveting testimony followed by detached commentary from the hosts...there is absolutely nothing "professional" about that....we need to hear sadness and rage and compassion in the voices of the hosts....if they have become numbed to it all, (as Aimee Allison herself readily stated, without seeming to realize that this is a fault) then the hosts should feature one more host who can keep in touch with his feelings...Do you want an example?...Blaise Bonpaine is one person who reflects humanity and anger and compassion at times, without losing his cool.....

Really, it would be better to hear no commentary at all...the emotion that comes through when the soldiers speak should not disappear when commentary comes on....better to get absolute novices in their to host who would show emotion in their voice...hearing hosts crying would be totally appropriate.....the sound of sobs would say all that needs to be said...

I have been anti war since I was in high school, went to the May Day demonstrations against Viet Nam War in Washington and have continued to demonstrate and protest wars all these years later, I am sorry that it appears people never learn from the horror and folly of war. Thanks for this show it is great to hear people who have experienced this first hand come to the places these guys have, I am sorry they have had to experience these horrors to arrive at this place I want to commend them for coming forth, I just hope the people who need to hear this get to being that our mainstream press has ignored all of this Peace

This is absolutely remarkable! Thank you for providing a platform to get this information out.

Absolutely heart wrenching. This is criminal. Who is going to pay for these crimes against humanity?

The Americans destroyed birth certificates in Fallujah? Kill babies? This is reprehensible.

Thank you for your reporting, but would you please interview the soldiers and ask them if they feel remorse for what they've done?

These crime are still being committed as we hear this testimony.

Are these men still proud of their country and their service even though they had to endure such events?