Nonviolent Resistance Experiences in Iraq, to U.S. Military & in U.S. Prisons

by Ploughshares Wed May 18, 2005 09:34 087 918 4552

PRESS RELEASE

A U.S. peace activist, who has spent a total 44 months
in U.S. prisons and jails, is visiting Dublin to
encourage further nonviolent resistance at Shannon
Airport.
Frank Cordarro, a former priest, is the
founder of the Des Moines Catholic Worker community in
Iowa, USA.

Cordarro was recently released from jail after serving
a sentence for trespass at the Iowa National Guard
Headquarters. He stated "29 members of the Iowa
National Guard have been killed in George Bush's
illegal and immoral wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
These are not professional soldiers, they are weekend
warriors who receive minimal training before being
shipped to the battlefied. It saddens me that Ireland,
with its traditions of peacemaking and neutrality,
provides the major pit stop at Shannon Airport for
these young men and women from my state to kill and be
killed. Over 95,000 U.S. military personnel have
passed
through Shannon in the first three months of this
year".

Cordarro has come to Dublin to support the Pit Stop
Ploughshares community who face a second trial in
Dublin's Four Courts on October 24th. The five peace
activists have been charged with $2.5million criminal
damage for disarming a U.S. Navy war plane en route to
the Iraq war in February 2003.

Frank Cordarro will address a public meeting at the
Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square, on Wednesday May
18th at 7.30pm.

The meeting will also include an address by Dublin
peace activist Michael Bermingham, who witnessed the
bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad in August
2003. UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was killed in
the attack. Michael was present in Iraq throughout the
invasion and occupation.

Interviews: Phone Frank Cordarro 085 158 2751
More information: Phone Ciaron O'Reilly 087 918 4552

PRESS RELEASE ENDS

by Pit Stop Ploughshares Sun May 08, 2005 18:04 ploughsharesireland at yahoo dot ie At Large! 087 918 4552

in 1998, Frank was involved with 4 others in a plowshares disarmament action on a B-52 Bomber. at Andrews Air Force Base.

Andrews AFB is where the American body bags retrun from Iraq in the thick of night. During this 1998 action Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was detained by the military while covering the action.

Check link below on the "Gods of Metal Plowshares" in which Frank participated........

by Pit Stop Ploughshares Sun May 08, 2005 17:59 ploughsharesireland at yahoo dot ie At Large! 087 918 4552

Most of Frank's nonviolent resistance that has lead him to prison has been at the Strategic Air Command(StratCom), located near Omaha, Nebraska.
Check link below for background on StratCom & brief history of nonviolent reistance to it.........