As the strange story of Robert and Bowe Bergdahl continues to evolve this week, associations are coming out that add to the picture. Many of them seem to fit very well with the anti-American, pacifist quotes attributed to his son, Bowe. Just a few days ago, Gateway Pundit published a piece showing that Bob Bergdahl had been a signer of Code Pink’s anti-drone petition. This cause is really not surprising, considering his reported communications with UK radical Carol Anne Grayson, who is currently producing an anti-drone movie. In addition, you will see promotion of Code Pink on the Bergdahl’s own site, highlighting her YouTube message about closing Guantanamo. However, this is not the extent of the radical associations he seems to have.
Also found on his site are two key associations that are very much related. The Bergdahl’s have promoted the Afghan Tree Project on the site and also feature a video on Gene Sharp’s Waging Nonviolence theories.
The Father’s notes from the Tree Planting in Hailey 22 June 2013
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
سُوۡرَةُ العَصر
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
وَٱلۡعَصۡرِ إِنَّ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِى خُسۡرٍ
إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ
وَتَوَاصَوۡاْ بِٱلۡحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوۡاْ بِٱلصَّبۡرِAfghan Tree Project
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-afghan-tree-project?c=homeTREES FOR BOWE
WHY DO WE PLANT TREES TODAY?
FAITH AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
DOZENS OF YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN FROM THIS VALLEY ANSWERED THE CALL AFTER 9/11
MY SON WAS JUST ONE OF THEM
HE PLAYED IN THIS PARK
HE ROAMED THESE MOUNTAINS
HE TRAVELLED THE WORLD… AND HE BELIEVED HE COULD HONESTLY HELP THE AFGHAN PEOPLE
… AND HE HAS HELPED THE AFGHAN PEOPLE
WE PLANT TREES BECAUSE WE IN THIS MOUNTAIN VALLEY HAVE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
… AND WE TRY TO COMMUNICATE THAT TO THE AFGHAN PEOPLEGIVE TO THE AFGHAN TREE PROJECT
GIVE TO NON PROFITS THAT WILL HELP THE PEOPLE AFGHANISTAN
NOW LET ME SAY SOMETHING DIRECTLY TO THE TALIBAN
BISMILLAH AL RAHMAN AL RAHIM…
AL ASR (recite in Arabic)
AS TIME GOES BY HUMANITY IS AT A LOSS
EXCEPT THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH
AND DO GOOD WORKS
AND STAND FOR TRUTH
AND HAVE PATIENCEZE PLAR YEM
DA JINGA BANDI AMERICAYE AFGHANISTAN KI
CHIRTA DEY DAFTAR QATAR DEY?
I AM THE FATHER
THE AMERICAN PRISONER OF WAR
Where is the office in Qatar?
ZE AFGHAN NA YEM ZE AMERICAYI YEM
I AM NOT AFGHAN, I AM AMERICAN
ASSALAMUALLAIKOM RAMAHTULAHI WARABAKATU AFGHANISTAN, AMEEN AMEEN
THE PEACE OF GOD AND THE BLESSINGS OF GOD BE UPON THE PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN
MAY THIS COME TO PASSBOWE
YOU ARE PART OF THE PEACE PROCESS FOR AFGHANISTAN
HAVE FAITH
DO GOOD WORKS WHERE EVER YOU ARE
STAND FOR THE TRUTH
HAVE PATIENCE
I LOVE YOU
YOU ARE MY SON
A FATHER DOES NOT LEAVE HIS SON ON THE BATTLE FIELD
I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU
THIS TOWN WILL NOT LEAVE YOU
IDAHO WILL NOT LEAVE YOU
COUNTRY WILL NOT LEAVE YOU
AFTER 12 LONG YEARS IT IS TIME TO COME HOME
IT IS TIME TO FOR AMERICANS TO LEAVE AFGHANISTAN
The Afghan Tree Project is a project from Afghan refugee Mariam Raqib, director of the Afghanistan Samsortya, defined as “revitilization of the environment”. As seen here on the Facebook page, it is part of their overall promotion of global activism and sustainable development. Her sister, Jamila Raqib, assists with the promotion of this effort.
Mariam does not appear to be a big supporter of the USA and their mission in Afghanistan:
When I got to Jalalabad I shared the story of the sickly boy with a State Department official there, explaining that he was the future of Afghanistan. She responded that he was not the future of the country–that the future of the country belonged to educated Afghans. As hard as I tried, I could do nothing to receive her sympathy for this poor child and the other poor children I had seen. With shifty and unfocussed eyes, she repeated several times, “We are here to help”. Did she leave the base, I wonder? Her realities seemed restricted to the activities inside the base, or to her infrequent trips outside the city in heavily armored vehicles, or by helicopter. I doubt very much she knew the people she thought she was “helping”.
Promises were made to the Afghans after the invasion of the country in 2001. Promises that were never kept. Instead, the funds that were allocated for reconstruction, or development purposes are filling the bank accounts of the small elite pandering to the whims of the foreigners.
Just this past week on sister Jamila’s Twitter feed, Bergdahl pledged to continue supporting their tree project.
What would apparently link the Raqib sisters to the Bergdahl web site’s promotion of Gene Sharp’s Waging Nonviolence video would likely be the fact that Jamila happens to be the Executive Director of Gene Sharp’s Albert Einstein Institute, where she has worked since 2002. You may recall Sharp’s “waging nonviolence” methods being used in the Color Revolutions and as an instrumental part of training young Egyptians for their Arab Spring. This training was done by AYM (now “movements.org”), co-sponsored at the time by the State Dept.
With Gene Sharp, Jamila worked on the 2011 film, “How to Start a Revolution”. The timing was interesting, released just a day after the first Occupy protests began on Wall Street. Described as the “unofficial” film of the Occupy movement, Occupy groups worldwide appreciate and promote Gene Sharp’s methods. Taking it a step further, she was actually a guest on Occupy Radio, discussing how to fight the power.
Many radical groups have adopted the techniques, as seen here on a Code Pink website. Code Pink was also one of many groups who backed Stephen Zunes, when he tried to convince everyone that these methods had nothing to do with the Color Revolutions overseas:
Fortunately, there is now an effort underway to fight back. Activists from groups ranging from the Fellowship of Reconciliation to Code Pink to the Brown Berets – as well as such radical scholars as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Paul Ortiz – are signing onto an open letter in support of Gene Sharp and the Albert Einstein Institution.
Jamila Raqib is also on the “Waging Nonviolence” Board of Advisors, in partnership with groups including Occupy, Truthout and The Nation. Other board members include John Dear, former director of the radical Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and at one time, Srdja Popovic, organizer of the Otpor revolution in Serbia.
The radical pacifists that Bergdahl is currently associating with sound very much like the Bowe Bergdahl personality as it has been described; anti-American, wanting to change the world, pacifist “change”. In Part Two, we will look closer at Jamila’s association with the historically radical Fellowship of Reconciliation.
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