Monday marked the end of the first phase of the campaign. I submitted my nominating petition to the Alaska Division of Elections, with over 4750 signatures attached. I wish to thank everyone who signed, especially those who did so enthusiastically and those who actually thanked us. Each signature was a victory, and a shot in the arm. And that goes double people who helped collect them. The other thing that kept me going through hard times was the unflinching conviction that we had historic right and historical necessity on our side. Never has the choice, “socialism or barbarism”, been more clearly posed.
I am fairly confident of making the ballot. The DOE has been consistently helpful in answering questions, and I found out that they carefully examine every signature, attempting to establish “voter contact”, thus updating their rolls. I trust their diligence and objectivity.
I hope to use the brief period of relative rest to keep my blog updated.
Below is the text of a letter sent to the BBC/PRI program “The World”.

In today’s [22 Aug] broadcast, anchor Marco Werman interviewed a French foreign relations expert, Dominique Moisi on France’s broken promise to lead an international force to join the existing UNIFIL “peacekeeping” contingent in Lebanon. Mr. Werman asked why France was reluctant to do more than double its existing 200 troops and interrupted the response to suggest, “They might be fired upon by Hezbollah…or caught in the crossfire….” I was left to wonder which war your reporter had been watching for the past month and a half.
UNIFIL made world headlines on July 26th when a well-established outpost was shelled all day and finally bombed by Israel, killing four peacekeepers. Two other UNIFIL people were killed in the hostilities, a staff member and his wife, whose house in Tyre was bombed by Israel. UNIFIL reports twelve of its forces were wounded, eight by Israel and four by Hezbollah.
UNIFIL also made news early in the war when a post turned away villagers fleeing Israeli warnings in Marwaheen. Later that day some twenty of these refuge seekers, mostly children, were killed when Israeli bombs “incinerated” the vehicles in which they were traveling. It's possible that the UNIFIL officers on the ground recalled the “First Qana Massacre” of 1996, when an Israeli attack on a UNIFIL base killed and wounded hundreds of Lebanese civilians, and wounded four UNIFIL troops. If so, their memory is obviously far better than Mr. Werman’s. Perhaps bombs going off in all directions have that effect on memory.
Earlier in the interview, Mr. Werman asked, “How much credibility has France lost in this whole thing?” Mr. Moisi replied that it would be “very seriously damaged.”
That your reporter can make such an egregiously misinformed and obviously biased “small interjection” leads inevitably to the conclusion that “The World’s” credibility has been “very seriously damaged”, to say the least.

The signature drive enters the homestretch. The required number is 3145, 1% of the number who voted in the last general election. We were close to that three weeks ago, and the current goal is to get an additional 50%, or a total of 4720. I am confident of reaching that goal, and if the signatures collected by volunteers can be rounded up, we can make 5000. After that, I’ll be looking for 5001, right up to the 22nd of August. (Okay, I may knock off on the 21st.) So, it’s critical that anyone holding signatures, even if there’s only one on the page, get them in next week. Please mail them no later than Wednesday, the 16th, to: Bill Ratigan, P.O. Box 22394, Juneau AK 99802. The last signature is as important as the first, for a number of reasons: we don’t know how many will be disqualified by the Division of Elections; there’s “strength in numbers”; and above all, every citizen who has stood up to defend our democratic rights deserves to have his/her statement recorded.
The drive has involved much more than signatures: getting the word out and recruiting supporters; learning about issues that concern people around the state; and just putting the issue of impeachment out in the open. Many who signed did so because they feel every voice should have a chance to be heard. Many who didn’t sign said they supported impeachment, or at least didn’t like Bush. A few got angry and called me names, but that at least indicated that they were getting past denial – the first goal of the campaign. One thing is certain: those who “strongly agree” vastly outnumber those who “strongly disagree”.
There were many memorable encounters, such as one outside the Anchorage Library this week. Mark was talking with a middle-aged signer who saw a friend walking by. “Come over here,” he called. “Strike a blow for freedom!” Another dynamite slogan is unveiled!

All in all, I would judge the signature drive a success. But one area with lots of room for improvement is in organization, not my strong suit. As the campaign enters the next phase, I am looking for people who can help in many various ways, such as arranging speaking engagements at schools, union meetings, civic organizations, and interviews on radio, TV, and in newspapers. I need local campaign managers, and a “campaign chairperson”. Up until now, I have refused contributions, but I will accept them once I’m on the ballot, so I need someone to do the bookkeeping, since I may have to report to the House Ethics Committee. I’ll probably need a lawyer before we’re through. I need artistic help in designing posters or buttons, etc. Who can help me set up a web page (a must)? Places to stay, meals, massages, etc. on the road – you name it.
Volunteers, at first anyway, would be unpaid. Politically, all I ask is that you agree Bush and Cheney should be impeached. I make no secret of my socialist beliefs, and the need to break with the two parties of Big Business. You’re free to try to convince me otherwise, as long as I retain the same right with you. Just as it “happens” that the Republican and Democratic Parties gave us the Iraq War and continue to support it along with Bush’s domestic spying, etc., it “happens” that the only candidate calling for impeachment is a socialist. And neither policy is an accident.

Once again, my e-mail is: impeachmentalaska@yahoo.com.
Strike a blow for freedom!

by Bill Ratigan

Fairbanks was settled as a gold rush town, and the construction of the Richardson Highway from Valdez and up the Tanana River in the early 1900’s led to its becoming a commercial hub, Alaska’s major interior city. The University of Alaska built its first campus here, and large air and army bases are nearby. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline project in the 1970’s brought jobs and growth, but it remains essentially a military-college town.
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Fort Wainwright abuts residential streets and is less than two miles from downtown Fairbanks. The top local news story for the past week has been the extension of the Stryker Brigade to four(?) more months in Iraq.
The Brigade was to have come home in late July and early August. Anticipation was naturally high, with parties planned and relatives flying in from around the country. On Wednesday the rumors surfaced and on Thursday, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld made it official. Some soldiers had already come home and now must return.
After doing a year in northern Iraq, around 3600 soldiers are now being deployed to Baghdad, where the top U.S. general, Abizaid, makes the daring prediction: “I think it’s possible that in the period ahead of us in Baghdad that we’ll take increased casualties – that’s possible.”

Another story that hasn’t been covered by the local news media also involves Fort Wainwright. Two days ago, on Aug. 2nd , over a hundred building trades workers were putting the finishing touches on 128 new housing units when work was abruptly halted. The word given to workers was that four 100 lb. chemical bombs (mustard gas?) were discovered buried on the site.
There have been a number of other incidents involving workers’ exposure to hazardous chemicals, not all reported. The most serious occurred at the end of June, when two workers were hospitalized after exposure to “hazardous petroleum products”. Unconfirmed reports say the men suffered serious, permanent damage to the esophagus. Now, neighborhood residents, as well as workers, are justifiably concerned.
Driving along the Steese Expressway, a friend pointed out a new Baptist church that gets safe water trucked in from the fort, part of an agreement where the Army acknowledges its responsibility for contaminating the church’s well. Several new (civilian) houses are going up along the road. Sure, they’ll be on city water, but dangerous pollutants have other ways of poisoning us, such as through the air we breathe.

It’s bad enough that the U.S. Army has considered its bases, at least in Alaska, as dumping grounds for all kinds of dangerous chemicals, including chemical weapons. But no one even bothered to keep a record; they were just tossed “haphazard”. And even now, the Army can build a large housing project almost to completion, before checking to see if the area is safe. But then, the housing was only for enlisted men and their families.
The final irony is too obvious to ignore: while the Stryker Brigade was sent halfway around the world on a fool’s errand, to find “weapons of mass destruction”, they could have stayed at home and uncovered all they wanted.

Postscript: The finding of the chemical bombs (two, in the story) was reported in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, under a full front-page headline on Saturday 4 August, and picked up by other media outlets in the following days. My first scoop!