Senn Strategic Plan Meeting Going Forward in the Face of a New Attack

   The April 5th meeting of the Senn Strategic Planning Committee underlined its dedication to the five-year plan to develop every part of the program and environment of Senn High School as a general community high school open to all students. This Committee, created by the Local School Council, and with input from over 2,000 students, parents, teachers, and people from the community, has been working hard for last 19 months.  

In spite of this, some other forces have been trying to take steps to stop progress on the plan and break up Senn High School and turn it into three or four schools with selective entrance requirements, including the naval academy. This has been a four-year effort to destroy Senn High School, but Senn supporters have been four years in beating back these forces. We know and take pride in Senn’s diversity and openness to all students. Thousands of people in the community have shown they feel the same. This includes the Editorial Board of the News-Star, which wrote in the March 20th edition–
“Nowhere else in Chicago can young people get a greater lesson in democracy than at Nicholas Senn High School in Edgewater.

“Students have opportunities to brush elbows with students who hail from 60 different countries around the globe. There are also opportunities to learn compassion and understanding through Senn’s open-arm embrace of students from all economic levels and intellectual capacity [at this] … general attendance neighborhood school serving students from all walks of life…

“Senn needs to be restored to its glory days as one of the city’s top public schools. The fortunes of the school have improved over the years thanks to the dedication of students, faculty and parents. To accomplish this goal, Senn should remain open as one school that serves the entire neighborhood….”

The Strategic Plan Roll-out– with over 200 participants held at the school last month, featured, among other things, Gerod Sherley, from the Chicago Public Schools, who said, “We are committed to helping Senn with this plan.”

It is very important for students, parents, teachers and others to insist that a democratic process be carried out. The Save Senn Coalition urges everyone to hang tough in the continuing struggle and insist that the voices of the community be recognized– to build and strengthen Senn High School with the Senn Strategic Plan, and to see to it that the naval military academy be removed from the Senn High School building. We are one with the city-wide demonstrations and protests against the threats to public education posed by the Daley Administration’s taking power from the parents’ and community’s Local School Councils and moves to privatize and militarize public education in Chicago under the name of Renaissance 2010.

RESPONSE TO READERS: We have been asked to explain some of our stands. Here is an example. Feel free to ask about more…

Readers have said– The Save Senn Coalition has called for removing the naval academy from the Senn High School building, but has not worked to remove the Army Junior Reserve Office Training Program from Senn High School.

The readers, who talked with us at different locations during the March distribution of Anchors Away, made it seem as though we are inconsistent in our stand in some way. We think this deserves a reply. Our answer–

The Save Senn Coalition has three main points of unity–

● further development of the quality of Senn High School as a general community high school,

●removing the naval academy from the school building because it squeezes Senn High School programs and interferes with the full development of the Senn student body,

●opposition to militarization of youth

Because we oppose militarization of youth, we have had many articles about how veterans of the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have urged others not to join in such wars, and to resist and get out if they are already in the military. We have urged students to fill out the opt out form to keep military recruiters from legally calling or visiting students at home. It follows from this that we urge all students not to join the Army Junior ROTC or to take up some other military programs or be recruited into the military.

Interestingly, and importantly, many of the students in the Senn Army Junior ROTC are loyal to Senn first, and to the military second. Many have actively worked with the Save Senn Coalition and their fellow students on the campaign to remove the naval academy from the Senn High School building and to keep Senn as a general community high school open to all. We support that stand and, as a result, do not give equal weight to fighting every single battle against militarization of youth all at once.

Since we do support all efforts to end all forms of trying to recruit youth into the military, we urge each of our readers to join with us to accomplish this.

For the Rights of Immigrants & All Workers Rally & March Thursday, May 1st Rally 10 a.m. Thursday, May 1 at Lake and Ashland–Union Park; March at noon

Workers, and students who will become workers, and workers’ families have a big struggle for rights– for jobs, for the right to unionize, for a decent wage, foraffordable health care and housing and quality education, to be free of illegal and unjust wars, to decide the future direction of the government.

This takes unity, among all workers, immigrant and non-immigrant, documented and undocumented. It takes overcoming the attempts by those who try to divide workers, such as by those who cover over the fact it is NOT a crime to be undocumented. It is only a civil violation. It takes overcoming the lies that reduced wages or job loss come from immigrants rather than from corporations who want to make maximum profits at the expense of workers.

The government has conducted massive raids on immigrants, broken into homes with guns drawn, detained citizens and non-citizens alike with no warrants and with no crime committed, disappearing thousands, breaking up families. This is a logical extension of the anti-people government branding whole countries as “terrorist” or “evil” and using this as an excuse to conduct illegal and unjust wars, such as against Afghanistan or Iraq, and to threaten Iran.

Just as many immigrants have been denied their human rights, so many workers have been denied their rights to organize, to go on strike, to have a good quality of life. We need to unite to overcome this problem.

So it is fitting that there will be a rally and march this May 1st, International Workers’ Day, May Day, for immigrant and workers’ rights. Students from a number of Chicago area schools have announced their plans to participate. We hope Senn High School folks will also support the May Day actions. If you have questions, call 773.250.3225.

WINTER SOLDIER– Veterans Target the Crimes Of Occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan

  Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), including vets from Chicago,  held hearings March 13-16 in Washington, DC  o expose the brutal nature of the U.S. military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and show that war crimes against humanity are a necessary and systemic part of these illegal  occupations. And they showed that this is the source of a tremendous amount of guilt that  veterans are carry around. Theylso focused on  the growing resistance among soldiers to committing such crimes. 
  A number of people at the hearings have written reports (and live video is archived at ivaw.org/wintersoldier). For example, Elaine Brower, mother of a Marine, writes about the testimony showing that Rules of Engagement are not followed. Instead, young men and women talked about how they shot civilians who were holding nothing more threatening than a cell phone, groceries, a shovel, a white flag, or a pair of binoculars. Anyone deemed suspicious by the particular soldier  on watch was fair game to the orders, “Take ‘em out!” The Rules of Engagement, as stated by Garrett Rapenhagen were “a joke and disgrace, and ever changing.”   Camilo Mejia    spoke about how soldiers were trained to dehumanize the opposition,  how they are taught to think of Iraqis as “hajjis.”   
 The hearings are having a powerful effect in uniting veterans in resistance  to what the government has made them do, creating sympathy and support for the huge numbers of Iraqis and Afghanis affected, and calling for an end to U.S. wars of aggression and occupation..

Report on March 19 – 20 Demonstrations, Actions– “Stop Funding War and Occupation. Bring All the Troops Home Now”

 These demonstrations and actions were quite successful in Chicago, involving thousands of people in rallies, marches, and various forms of direct action. They brought out that we are facing a   continuing brutal occupation with no end in sight,   hundreds  of thousands dead and maimed, and a  trillion dollars of American taxpayers’ money spent for death and destruction. Yet what do presidential candidates and prominent Republicans and Democrats stand for--More 

military spending, no vigorous opposition to torture, bankrolling Israeli occupation of Palestine and starvation in Gaza; threatening U.S. aggression against other countries including Iran to make them follow U.S. commands. Actions continued into Easter Sunday, with the interruption of service at Holy Name with Cardinal George calling on parishioners to support the aims of the anti-war protesters (although not their methods).

Oppose the Terror Training of the U.S. School of the Americas

The struggle to close down the U.S. government terrorist training facility at Fort Benning, Georgia, called School of the Americas, continues as a number of people enter federal prison for entering the military base and making political statements there. Tens of thousands have been rallying in front of the base each year, with more each year, in an attempt to force closing of this school. In late April there will be an international time of action. Call 250.3225 for more information or see www.soaw.org

Successful Community Forum The Struggle to Strengthen Senn Continues

 In the face of continuing attacks on the existence of Senn High School as an excellent and diverse general community high school open to all students, Senn’s Local School Council and the Strategic Planning Committee hosted a well received rollout of the Senn Strategic Plan on Monday evening, March 10,  to an audience of over 200. 
 For the last 19 months, teachers, parents, students and community people have worked hard to develop a plan to lift every aspect of the learning environment at Senn. This plan for an on-going process to be implemented over the next five years, was launched with enthusiastic presentations by   students, teachers, and community people.   The event, with students front and center, reflects the unity and strength of the students and others to continue to build on Senn’s successes. 
  It was very important to have this forum.  It shows community interest in Senn-- both to maintain the school and to have the Board of Education recognize and respect the sentiments of the community about the school.    
 This is a continuation of the struggle to beat back an attempt by Alderman Mary Ann Smith four years ago to   break up Senn High School, which included placing the naval military academy in the school building over the objection of students, teachers, parents, and the community. The  same sort of issue is reflected in city-wide demonstrations and protests against the threats to public education posed by the Daley Administration’s taking power from the parents’ and community’s Local School Councils and moves to  privatize and militarize public education in Chicago under the name of Renaissance  2010. 
 During the forum, Gerod Sherley, a Chicago Public Schools official, stated, “We are committed to helping Senn with this plan.” We   hope the Board of Education goes along with this positive expression of support.

$$$$ FOR WAR ON IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN, NOT THE NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE

 When more of OUR tax dollars get spent on the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, less of those tax dollars are available for people’s vital needs.  
 Did you know that Chicago taxpayers alone have paid well over $4.8 billion for the first 5 years of the Iraq War? (www.nationalpriorities.org --“The Cost of War…Bringing the Federal Budget Home”) For that same $4.8 billion, here are examples of what could have been provided in Chicago for each of the last 5 years:
            ●  health insurance for 350,000 children       AND
            ● 1,000 additional public school teachers      AND
            ●5,500 additional children’s Head Start placements. 

(and there would still have been enough money left over to build 10,000 affordable housing units here in Chicago). The same is true on the national level. More than $609 billion have gone for war on Iraq and Afghanistan–more than $15 billion a month–in addition to the Pentagon budget of more than $450 billion a year (Lori Montgomery, “The Cost of War, Unnoticed,” Washington Post, May 8, 2007). This does not count the over $700 billion in interest on money that is borrowed to fund the wars. (Ken Kilanian, “War costs may total $2.4 trillion,” USA Today, October 23, 2007). For those amounts of money, it has been estimated that one year of the Pentagon budget could eliminate hunger worldwide. (See The Millennium Project of the UN.) Inside the U.S., the continuing funding of the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan could provide 8 million schoolteachers, over 3 million affordable homes for New Orleans and more. There is plenty of money. Let’s be part of the movement to have that money be spent on the needs of the people.

March 19 – 20 Demonstrations, Actions Stop Funding War and Occupation Bring All the Troops Home Now STOPPING ILLEGAL U.S. WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES HAS NEVER MATTERED MORE: After nearly 5 years of war in Iraq, what do we have? ● A continuing brutal occupation and no end in sight. ● Hundreds of thousands dead and maimed.● A trillion dollars of American taxpayers’ money spent for death and destruction.

Wednesday, March 19 — Protest! 6 p.m. rally, Federal Plaza at Adams & Dearborn, then march from the Loop to the “Gold Coast” via Michigan Avenue (permitted). Thursday, March 20 — A day of creative actions followed by a permitted “Convergence” at 5 p.m. at the Federal Plaza. You and your friends are invited to join in.

RESPONSE TO READERS: We have been asked to explain or provide evidence for some of our statements. Here are a few points. Feel free to ask about more… ● “Navy personnel are being used as ground soldiers in the…U.S. occupation of Iraq.”– The Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs reported that as of October 4, 2006, there were “approximately 11,000 Sailors serving on the ground in the Central Command area of responsibility (CENTCOM AOR) More than 4,000 of those are serving on the ground in Iraq” (www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?storyid=25889). Plans have been for the Navy to play an even bigger role on the ground in Iraq according to Admiral Michael G. Mullen. ● Much of the naval fleet is poised off the coast of Iran, to be engaged in a war on Iran if the U.S. government decides to attack militarily– Last May, over 17,000 navy personnel were on ships right off the coast of Iran. (www.usatoday. com/news/world/2007-05-23-us-iranN.htm). Various other reports indicate that much of the fleet remains in or near the Persian Gulf today.

● The U.S. attack on Iraq was “illegal and unjust”– The U.S. war against Iraq is illegal because no country has a right to attack another country unless it is has been attacked first. It’s in the UN Charter, and is U.S. law since the U.S. signed the Charter. Iraq did not attack the U.S. or even threaten it

Winter Soldier Hearings–Iraq Veterans will Target the Crime of Occupation March 13-16 Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will be holding hearings March 13-16 in Washington, DC to expose the brutal nature of the U.S. military occupation of Iraq and show that war crimes against humanity are a necessary and systemic feature of this occupation. They are also saluting the resistance among the soldiers to committing such crimes. Geoff Millard, president of the IVAW Washington chapter says, “It’s not simply that we’re going to outline these huge atrocities. It’s mainly to show how the systematic nature of occupation is oppression…. The common U.S. soldier is not a bloodthirsty animal. “The problem is the occupation of Iraq itself.” Perry O’Brien, 25, an Afghanistan veteran and key leader of Winter Soldier says what Winter Soldier will do is argue, through testimony from soldiers and Marines who fought in the Iraq war, that Abu Ghraib and Haditha in Iraq are standard military behavior not ‘excesses…the disconnect between the [soldiers’] code and what soldiers are asked to do in the war is the source of a tremendous amount of guilt that many of us carry around.” Iraq Veterans Against the War also plans to host live streaming video of the conference on its website (ivaw.org), where archived footage of direct testimony will remain. (from an article by Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent, indymedia.org)

SUICIDES IN THE MILITARY–

According to Pauline Jelinek of the Associated Press, multiple new efforts aimed at stemming suicides in the Army are falling short of their goal: The service anticipates another jump in the annual number of soldiers who kill themselves or try to, including in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones. 
Ms. Jelinek has quoted U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., as 

saying the new figures are “heart-wrenching.” Murray is a leading critic of the treatment given returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. She says, “Until they [the government] come to grips with how long and frequent deployments are straining soldiers and shattering lives we will continue to see this frightening trend,” she said. (On the internet, see “Jelinek on military suicides” to learn more about this.)

A GUIDE TO NON-MILITARY ALTERNATIVES AFTER HIGH SCHOOL. The military is not a necessary option. See It’s My Life, new from the American Friends Service Committee. Go to www.afsc.org/itsmylife It may be free to you.

ANOTHER ANTI-WAR ACTION– Pax Christi is planning a silent march this Saturday, March 15, at 3 p.m. from Granville and Glenwood to mark 5 years of war in Iraq and the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and 4,000 U.S. troops

OPT- OUT– Encourage everyone to fill out an opt-out form to keep military recruiters from contacting you at home. This is an effective tool in keeping the military from recruiting more young people for the illegal and unjust U.S. wars. At the January 31st hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Personnel dealing with recruitment, a Marine recruiter talked about the recruitment lists from schools and said that a lot of students take their names off the list (opt-out), which makes the job for the recruiter more difficult.

Community Meeting to Unroll the Senn Strategic Plan for Senn’s Future

Monday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Senn H.S. The Senn Local School Council and the Strategic Planning Committee will be presenting their plan for the future improvement of Senn High School on Monday, March 10 at 6:30 at Senn. For the last 15 months, students, teachers, parents, and others from the community have been developing a strategic plan to strengthen academics, campus safety, involvement of the community, and a well-rounded and positive learning environment. This plan will presented to everyone at this Roll-Out of the Strategic Plan, students, parents, teachers, other people from the community–everyone. If you have questions, call the school at 534.2365. A student talent show will begin at 6 p.m.

Senn students and others have several events coming up before the holiday break.

We are asking for the community to attend the student action on

Wednesday December 19th @ 3:30

on Senn’s front lawn (5900 N Glennwood ).

This is a Candlelight/Book rally to support Senn and the Strategic Plan. The action is to promote the students, the school and gather support before our meeting with Arne Duncan on Friday, December 21, 2007. At the event, participants would either hold a candle (representing unity for Senn) or a book (education). [Student-made flier attached in English and Español]

Please spread the word and come out if you are available!

Also—-

2) Saturday, December 15th

9 am

Meet at Dominicks - 6009 N. Broadway Ave

Flier the neighborhood with fliers and post in store shop windows

3) Monday, December 17th

11 am

Parent press conference in front of Senn, 5900 N Glenwood

4) Wednesday, December 19th

Parents speaking at Board of Ed meeting

125 S Clark

Oppose the Surprise Attack Against the Senn Strategic Plan

Fifteen months ago, Senn students, faculty, parents and community members began a Senn Strategic Plan process. The resulting Senn Strategic Plan is intended to help build on Senn’s strengths to make it into a World-Class, First Choice school for the community. Input was sought far and wide. Over 1200 responded. One of these was Alderman Smith. She helped get funding from the Board of Education for the committee’s work, and appointed her educational staff member to the committee. In the fall of 2007, the Senn LSC approved the plan. Then in a bizarre twist, Alderman Smith suddenly began promoting a scheme of her own, in direct opposition to the Strategic Plan’s conclusion that Senn needs to remain one general community school, a diverse school to benefit everyone.

What is the aim of this surprise attack by Mary Ann Smith? It is identical to her expressed intention of three years ago– to “Close down Senn” and put four small selective and/or restrictive schools in its place. Three years ago the naval academy was all she could get, and Senn survived, despite inequities and hardships. Now, she wants it all. Never mind that the LSC voted no three years ago. Never mind that her own committee voted no two years ago. Never mind that the 48th ward overwhelmingly passed a referendum of inquiry, which both she and the Board of Education ignored. And now, again, never mind the committee’s conclusions derived from a lengthy and inclusive planning process with her involved. It just doesn’t fit with what she wants. It would seem she is convinced that what she wants, she should get. However, the opposition to this latest attack is strong and passionate.

Students, faculty, parents, and community are not taking this attack lying down. Immediately after Smith’s attack, over 125 people showed up early on a Saturday morning at the scheduled Senn Strategic Planning meeting. Another 100 attended the following meeting of December 1st. Participants strongly expressed support for the Senn Strategic Plan, and expressed outrage at the alderman’s scheme. A need for two initiatives quickly emerged: the need 1) to strengthen and gain support for the Senn Strategic Plan, and 2) to immediately take action to inform and mobilize the community in opposition to Smith’s scheme.

What actions are being planned to defend having a stronger Senn High School and beat back Mary Ann Smith’s plan to break up Senn High School? Look for announcements of an action to be coming up in the near future, perhaps as soon as next Wednesday, December 19. Join in this, and also participate in informing the community with leaflets that have been printed up. (Call 250.3335 if you need information.)

As well, look at and sign the on-line petition that has already been signed by hundreds of students, former students, faculty, and other people. See the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/SennHS/petition.html and on the SaveSenn.org web site. It says:

PETITION The most diverse high school in Chicago is under attack again by Alderman Mary Ann Smith. Four years ago, she undemocratically forced a Naval Academy inside Senn High School, despite a united school and community against the plan. http://www.substancenews.com/content/view/144/81/

The Naval academy continues occupying our school to this day. Only 5% of the Naval Academy’s students come from within our attendance area.

Now, the Alderman wants to take away the rest of our school and open 4 small schools inside of Senn. Despite outright lies by the Alderman, Senn serves 70% of students in our attendance area.

The undemocratic Alderman had an opportunity to make Senn a better school by working with the Senn Strategic Planning Committee. In fact, she had a representative on the committee. The committee was open to the public and included teachers, parents, and community members of Senn. After a year and a half of work, the committee developed a plan to improve Senn. However, the Alderman secretly developed her own plan, which plagiarized language and stole ideas from the Senn Strategic Plan.

Using her stolen ideas, she wants to kick out the type of students attending our school and replace them with “higher class” students. The Naval Academy would stay of course!

Senn is not the first school to be attacked. This is part of Mayor Daley’s Renaissance 2010 plan. Many schools, like Austin and Englewood High Schools have already been shut down. More will be threatened. Help us stop gentrification and the destruction of public education in Chicago!

Our school serves Blacks, Latin@s, Asians and immigrants from all over the world. Our school has students from over 70 countries! Alderman Smith wants to change that. WE WILL NOT LET HER!

We the undersigned are against the Alderman’s undemocratic plan to close Senn. WE SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC DECISIONS AND SUPPORT GIVING THE SENN STRATEGIC PLAN A CHANCE!

Some Comments on the Petition

Christine Godoy, Senn Local School Council Student Representative– Support the Senn’s Strategic Planning committee. Many Senn students are involved in this process to help save Senn High School from being closed so that our current and future students may have the opportunity to have a good education.

Lily Sarmiento– I was against the naval academy being put into Senn High School. I will fight as many times as needed to save the school that gave me the opportunity to become who I am today.

Wendy Boatman, Counselor– Support Senn! Save the high school! Fight Alderman Smith!

Ashley Lepse– I am a graduate of Senn High School. I was in the IB program, which has done an excellent job at preparing me for college. I now attend Illinois State University. Senn’s diversity has given me a huge advantage over many people from rich suburban schools.

Erwin Maldonado– SAVE SENN AND LETS DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. DONT LET THEM TAKE OUR FUTURE!!!

Restrict Military Recruiters in the Schools

A grouping of people opposed to the militarization of the Chicago Public Schools has convinced the Board of Education to put on its agenda proposed guidelines to restrict military recruiters in the schools. Right now in many schools the military recruiters come and go as they want everywhere and anywhere in the school. They may go into classrooms and hallways to find students and talk them into signing up for the military. They do this because they have a quota to meet. The military is having deep trouble recruiting during these years in which the U.S. illegally and unjustly invades countries like Iraq or threatens Iran. They promise the students anything, if only they will sign up, often lying about money for college, not being in combat, gaining citizenship if they are undocumented immigrants, etc. There was an open meeting at the Board of Education on this topic Monday, December 10. The final resolution is scheduled for the next Board of Education full meeting, Wednesday, December 19. The aim is to at least restrict military recruiters to a table, to have them not actively solicit students, to have them not give out valuable items, and to register to enter a school a day or so in advance.

An Open Letter to the Cadets at Rickover Naval Academy (excerpts) By one of the regular distributors of Anchors Away

Cadets: …It’s safe to assume that we all love our country and want the best for it, both for ourselves and for future generations of Americans… Our differences–not with you cadets, but with the people responsible for establishing Rickover Academy at Senn — are by now well-known to you… It is clear to see (and also to understand why) the Navy is providing you with an education that serves to channel many of you into the military.

That wouldn’t be so objectionable if our country was fighting off a threat to our security and freedoms. But those of us in Save Senn, along with the majority of Americans and a great number of widely-respected political and military figures (including many generals and active duty personnel) believe that the war on Iraq is counter-productive and serves wealthy corporate interests at the expense of most Americans…. … keep in mind that critical thinking can be tricky, especially when an issue seems clear—because things aren’t always as they appear at first glance. … Critical thinking is far superior to blind trust in leaders… It simply requires you to evaluate for yourself…assertions so that you can decide for yourself whether or not you buy into it.

In wars today, as well as wars in the past, many young soldiers have committed terrible atrocities. Do you think they were all evil people, or was it that many were taught, trained, and intimidated into allowing others to think for them, to follow wrongful orders, to act in inhumane ways… Had they critically evaluated their leaders—by watching what their leaders were doing instead of simply listening to what they were saying—they might have been effective at amassing the numbers and strength to replace their poor leadership before things got out of control. …Unquestioning faith in leaders is an unacceptable substitute for true patriotism. We at Save Senn can only ask that you ask yourselves these questions:

1. Do I know why our armed forces invaded Iraq in the first place? If no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, and indeed our leaders later admitted that they were wrong, how could those same leaders tell us earlier that they had proof of their existence? And what were the consequences of Americans believing what they were saying without demanding reasonable proof?
2. If Iraq had nothing at all to do with 9-11, why do so many people here still want to connect the two? Who stands to gain by keeping Americans misinformed?
3. Can I “follow the money”—that is, draw a connection between who is pushing a certain agenda and their possible reason for doing so? For example, are the huge profits earned by oil companies being spent to influence the information being provided to us by political leaders and the media (many of whom have significant ties to that corporate wealth)? Does that fact that many in the Bush Administration have ties to corporations growing wealthy on this war indicate anything to me (the Bush family to the oil industry, Cheney to Haliburton, Condaleezza Rice to Chevron, etc…)?
4. If our soldiers are really fighting for democracy in Iraq, how does the benchmark that requires Iraq to turn over most of its oil to American and British oil companies support that mission?…