Food for Hungry; Drink for the Thirsty
By Ray McGovern, April 4, 2024
My friend Coleen Rowley told me yesterday that she is joining the “Gaza Flotilla to Break Israel’s Siege.” (See below for detail on the Flotilla.) She wanted to explain this “extreme action” (she referred to what Aaron Bushnell might call it). You will find her explanation below.
Since, however, Coleen has been mostly out of public view for several years, it might be helpful to provide some background information on this courageous woman of Justice, who was named TIME person of the year in 2002 together with two other whistleblowers.
Coleen Rowley was FBI Division Counsel/Special Agent at the FBI office in Minneapolis. In a straightforward letter to then-Director Robert Mueller, Coleen warned on Feb. 26, 2003 (more than three weeks before the attack on Iraq) that the attack would have disastrous consequences for domestic law enforcement as well as foreign relations. She also questioned the evidence behind FBI acquiescence in the evidence impoverished Bush-government claim of operational ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda. (There is no indication that Mueller warned Bush, as Coleen had suggested.)
An earlier, 13-page letter from Coleen to Director Mueller on May 21, 2002, which was quickly leaked by Congress and published in full, at least online. This article by James Risen on the 25thprovides some flavor for how pointed the memo was about FBI disregarding several signs that the 9/11 attacks were coming, and – not least – that Robert Mueller had lied. This May 31, 2002 NYT article by Phil Shenon provides additional flavor.
The full text of Coleen’s May 21, 2002 letter cannot be now be found (at least by me) on line. TIME Magazine’s online edition did publish what it called an “edited text.” (It is in a league with Dan Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers; says a whole lot about the FBI – and the subsequently canonized Mueller.) Read it here. https://raymcgovern.com/2024/04/05/coleen-rowleys-memo-to-fbi-director-robert-mueller/
Coleen was the inspiration for the creation of the annual Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence and is its first recipient, heading a list of now 22 awardees (including Dan Ellsberg). Despised and rejected by most of her colleagues for telling the truth about FBI failings, she was saved from worse punishment only because Coleen, like then-ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Charles Grassley, is an Iowan. Grassley is said to have extracted a promise from Mueller not to retaliate.
Here is the citation read at the Sam Adams Award ceremony on January 10, 2003.
Know all ye by these presents that Coleen Rowley is hereby awarded The Corner-Brightener Candlestick*, presented by Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence.
Knowing that truth ignored is truth suppressed, that error tolerated is error magnified, she endured the scorn of her peers and the hostility of her superiors to break the bureaucratic bonds and boundaries of her agency and tell truth to power at a moment of grave peril to the United States of America.
Thanks to her perception, wisdom and courage, our country is better prepared to grapple with that peril and bring it to ground. She risked her livelihood that our lives might be safeguarded.
Presented this 10th day of January, 2003, at the Seat of Government (well, very near it) by admirers of the Sam Adams tradition.
*Commercial value certified at less than $20, candle included.
(Coleen was a stickler for adhering to FBI rules – including those regarding the value of gifts that could be accepted!)
Here is Coleen in her own words on her forthcoming Justice action.
I, like others, have been traumatized these last six months seeing the faces of my own grandchildren in the images of the thousands and thousands of babies and children in Gaza that have already been and continue to be murdered, maimed, starved and orphaned there. Along with others, husband Ross and I have been marching, calling on political leaders and constantly displaying the big red “Stop The Genocide” and “Ceasefire on Children” banner and signs (that I painted right after this horrible genocide started) at intersections and on footbridges over highways in the Twin Cities, but as the situation worsens, these responses just don’t seem enough. I just think we have to all TRY, at least TRY to do more.
The second, more self-interested reason is that I’m desperately worried about the even worse horror that awaits my own grandchildren (and all future generations here and in the world at large). The CIA is (unfortunately) right about at least one thing! Blowback. I know that “what goes around, comes around,” that we “reap what we sow,” and (more euphemistically) that “the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice,” all ways that the world’s religions and philosophers have attempted to warn the human race not to commit evil as it will always tend to migrate home, boomerang or blow back. Unfortunately our warhawk-incensed leaders have been so focused on manipulation of public opinion and the belief in their own exceptionalism that they seem to have fallen for their own war propaganda. They have thrown away the basic tenets of the rule of law. U.S. complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide is just one further step (along with its dangerous brinkmanship in waging its other wars of aggression and proxy wars) in ratcheting up World War III, which is so very likely to quickly turn into nuclear omnicide.
I know that this horribly scary reality is something most people here in the Superpower cannot or will not–many do not have the emotional fortitude–to face but that obliviousness is frankly why we are all sleepwalking into this nightmare. Based on the historically well documented prior “near miss” incidents that include the “Cuban Missile Crisis,” it seems our main hope of avoiding the worst outcome, requires waking up more people to the current dangerous reality. We all must therefore do our part. Please share the info below and consider helping this important cause.
Coleen Rowley
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International Civilian Aid Flotilla to Break the Siege of Gaza
https://freedomflotilla.org/2024/04/04/civilian-aid-flotilla/
The international Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) will sail in mid April with multiple vessels, carrying 5500 tons of humanitarian aid and hundreds of international human rights observers to challenge the ongoing illegal Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. This is an emergency mission as the situation in Gaza is dire, with famine setting in in northern Gaza, and catastrophic hunger present throughout the Gaza Strip as the result of a deliberate policy by the Israeli government to starve the Palestinian people. Time is critical as experts predict that hunger and disease could claim more lives than have been killed in the bombing.
Getting humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza is urgent, but it is not sufficient. We must end Israel’s unlawful, deadly blockade as well as Israel’s overall control of Gaza. Allowing Israel to control what and how much humanitarian aid can get to Palestinians in Gaza is like letting the fox manage the henhouse. And yet, this is what the international community of states is allowing by refusing to sanction Israel and defy its genocidal policies in order to ensure that enough aid reaches the trapped, beleaguered and bombarded civilian population.
The Cyprus maritime corridor, the U.S. floating pier project, and symbolic air drops of food are all distractions from the fact that these methods of aid delivery are insufficient, and still leave Israel in control of what aid can get to the Palestinian people, all while Israel actively prevents thousands of aid trucks from entering Gaza through the land crossings.
On January 26 the International Court of Justice ruled that, ‘the State of Israel remains bound to fully comply with its obligations under the Genocide Convention and with the said Order, including by ensuring the safety and security of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.’ On March 28, the ICJ ordered additional preliminary measures, which included requiring the Israeli forces to stop “preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance” to Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has long violated its responsibility as occupying power to ensure the health and wellbeing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Now, it is engaging in full scale genocidal conduct in Gaza and using starvation as a weapon of war. Israeli military and political leaders have repeatedly declared their intention to collectively punish the entire population of Gaza, including by denying them food, water and other life-sustaining aid. We therefore reject Israel’s control over the humanitarian aid that can enter Gaza and reject any Israeli inspection of our cargo. For everyone’s safety and to ensure aid is delivered to those who need it, the FFC is bringing hundreds of international humanitarian observers, from many countries and different backgrounds.
“The International Court of Justice’s preliminary measures ordered against Israel are very clear” comments Ismail Moola of South Africa’s Palestine Solidarity Alliance, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. “The court’s ruling requires the whole world to play their part to stop the genocide unfolding in Gaza, including unobstructed access to vital aid. While our governments fail to lead in these urgently required humanitarian responses, people of conscience and our grassroots organizations must act to take leadership. When governments fail, we sail!”
The FFC is a non-partisan international coalition of campaigns who stand for freedom and human rights. We have sailed since 2010 with the goal of breaking the blockade of Gaza, in solidarity with Palestinians cries for freedom and equality. Our non-violent direct action missions support the dignity and humanity of Palestinians, working with civil society partners, rather than any party, faction or government.
For more information or to arrange interviews, contact Freedom Flotilla media spokespeople https://freedomflotilla.org/media-contacts/
You can help by donating at: https://usboatstogaza.org/ “donate button” is at bottom.