On a small hill next to Deer Hill Road in the City of Lafayette, over 6,000 crosses have been erected and displayed as an on-going tribute, and to memorialize the soldiers, who have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The hillside has been marked with controversy, and has sparked anger and even attracted counter protests to its existence.

The hillside was once owned by a woman named Louise Clark. Her husband was a WWII veteran, and though both have passed away, volunteers tirelessly continue to maintain the site. Jeff Heaton is the man who started the installation that continues to grow.

Read More with Video and Photos | See Also: 2006: Update on Crosses in Lafayette | 2007: Crosses in Lafayette-Update | 2010: Memorial Day Vigil at the Lafayette Crosses

On September 16th, Daniel Ellsberg, US Army Col. and diplomat Ann Wright (ret.), senior CIA analyst Ray McGovern (ret.), and KPFA morning host Aimee Allison spoke in Oakland to kick off a nationwide campaign to free alleged whistleblower Bradley Manning, accused of leaking thousands of documents and combat video showing the gunning down of Iraqi civilians and journalists. The event started at 7pm in Oakland's Humanist Hall, and was broadcast live on Indybay as well as Michael Moore's website.

View the recorded live broadcast | Audio & Photos | Event Announcement

Courage to Resist and other organizations also led a march and rally to free Bradley Manning in San Francisco on Saturday, September 18th, starting at 2pm in front of the SF War Memorial Building and ending at 4pm in Union Square.

Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Audio | Photos: 1 | 2 | Event Announcement

Daniel Ellsberg, who helped end the war in Vietnam when he leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press in 1970, says “Soldiers' sworn oath is to defend and support the Constitution. Bradley Manning has been defending and supporting our Constitution."


Former senior CIA analyst McGovern, who prepared daily security briefings for both President’s Reagan and George H.W. Bush, says combat video of civilians being machine-gunned should be released: “And it is that video that Private Manning is accused of giving to Wikileaks.” In contrast he says, “Our Secretary of Defense had not one word of regret about the dozen human beings, including two employees of Reuters, murdered on that fateful day in July 2007—or about the now-fatherless children who were seriously wounded.”

The combat videos and other documents released by Wikileaks and available at collateralmurder.com led to the arrest of Manning, now being held in Quantico, Virginia. If convicted, he faces up to 52 years in prison and is currently being held in solitary confinement.

Courage to Resist press release | Open Letter from Ann Wright

On December 1st 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that he would send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan in the coming months, bringing the total number of American troops occupying Afghanistan to nearly 100,000. Describing the war as "not just America's war," Obama vowed to start bringing the troops back home by the middle of 2011.

The ANSWER Coalition has joined with six other national anti-war organizations and issued an appeal asking people to take immediate action in their communities against the war in Afghanistan the day that the Obama administration announces its plans to expand the war. On December 2nd, several hundred protesters gathered at 5pm at Powell and Market in San Francisco to voice their opposition for Obama's war plans.
Photos | Event Details

Democracy Now Report | Oppose Obama’s escalation of the Afghan-Pakistan war! | Vietnam Vet, Scholar Andrew Bacevichon Obama War Plan | Kucinich on Afghanistan War | American Party of Labor Response | Juan Cole: Top Ten things that Could Derail Obama's Afghanistan Plan | Obama issues order for escalation in Afghanistan | More troops to Afghanistan, but the public is wary | In Afghan Debate, Few Antiwar Op-Eds in Nation's Two Leading Newspapers | Obama Partnering with Afghan Gov't But is there any there there?

Previous Indybay Coverage: Afghan Women Speak Out Against Occupation and Fundamentalism | Protest in SF on 8th Anniversary of the War in Afghanistan | SF Action in Response to Escalation of the War in Afghanistan

On Sunday, October 25th, Zoya, a member of the radical underground organization Rawa, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, will speak at the SF Friends Meeting House, 65 9th Street. Zoya talk is part of national tour in the U.S. against the ongoing U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and the threat of fundamentalism posed by the Taliban. In a message to Obama and Congress she says: “liberation can only come from within – end the US occupation.”

Zoya was a child during the Soviet invasion of her country. As a teenager, the mujahideen or warlords killed her activist parents. She fled with her grandmother to a refugee camp in neighboring Pakistan but later returned to her country to document life under the Taliban rule. She has been an outspoken critic of the US and NATO invasion of Afghanistan.

For more than thirty years RAWA has organized inside Afghanistan and in the refugee camps of Pakistan for a nation free of war and fundamentalism, that respects women’s rights and human rights. As President Obama prepares to widen the war and commit more troops, it is important to hear from those most affected.

Read More | UPDATE: Audio from 10/25

Voices from Afghanistan: Afghan Women's Activist Zoya Speaks Out on Eight Years of Occupation | RAWA.org: Afghan Activist Calls for End to US Occupation Interview with Zoya, member of RAWA