12-Year-Old Des Moines, IA Peace Activist Faces Trespassing Charge for Antiwar Protest at Offices of Sen. Harkin

12-Year-Old Des Moines, IA Peace Activist Faces Trespassing Charge for Antiwar Protest at Offices of Sen. Harkin


We turn now to an antiwar mother and daughter from Des Moines, Iowa. Last week, Renee Lynn Espeland was charged with “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” after her twelve-year-old daughter Frankie Hughes refused to leave Senator Tom Harkin’s office while protesting the war funding in the current appropriations bill. This week, the Des Moines police dropped the charges against Espeland, but her daughter still faces a trespassing charge.

We turn now to an antiwar mother and daughter from Des Moines, Iowa. Last week Renee Lynn Espeland was charged with “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” after her 12-year-old daughter Frankie Hughes refused to leave Senator Tom Harkin’s office while protesting the war funding in the current Appropriations bill. Frankie Hughes was also charged with trespassing.

At the time Police Sgt David Murillo told the Des Moines Register: “I understand and fully appreciate a person’s constitutional right to free speech. However, this was a case of brining a child into a criminal arena.”
Well, this week the Des Moines police dropped the charges against Renee Espeland. Her daughter will still have to see someone in Juvenile Court over the delinquency charge of trespassing.
For more on this story we’re joined now via Democracy Now! video stream by twelve year old Frankie Hughes and her mother Renee Espeland.
Frankie Hughes, twelve-year-old who was charged with trespassing after protesting war funding at Iowa Senator Tom Harkin’s office last week.
For more on this story we’re joined now via Democracy Now! video stream by twelve year old Frankie Hughes and her mother Renee Espeland.
Renee Espeland, charged with “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” last week after her twelve-year-old daughter refused to leave a protest at Iowa Senator Tom Harkin’s office. The charge was dropped this week.

Read more

US Aid to Israel

Read more

Iran attacks US Afghan role

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has accused the US of playing a "double game" in Afghanistan, following talks in the country with his counterpart Hamid Karzai.

The accusation, made in the capital Kabul on Wednesday, was the same as that made against Iran by Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, on a trip to Afghanistan this week.

Asked at a news conference with Karzai about Gates' comments, Ahmadinejad responded: "The question is what are you [Gates and troops] doing here in this region?

"You are 12,000km away on the other side the of the world. What are you doing here? This is a serious question.

"They are not successful in their fight against terrorists, because they are playing a double game. They themselves created this excuse of terrorism themselves, and now they say that they want to stop them. It is not possible.

"The fight against terrorism is not a military one it requires the work of intelligence, through respecting nations and to separate people from terrorists."

'Double dealing'

While on a three-day visit to assess a US and Nato troop increase in the country, Gates had said that Tehran is "double dealing" in Afghanistan by stating that they are a good neighbour to Kabul while providing "low level support" to the Taliban.

Gates was on the last day of his visit in Afghanistan when Ahmadinejad arrived on Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad and Karzai had met to talk about "bilateral relations between the two countries and expansion of economic relations between the two countries", Siamak Hirawi, Karzai's spokesman, said.

Common concerns

Al Jazeera's James Bays, in Kabul, said, that until the issue of the US arose, the news conference mostly concerned regional co-operation.

"The two sides [Afghanistan and Iran] share a very long border," he said.

"They are both concerned about the Taliban and [the illegal trade in] opium."

It is the first meeting between Karzai and Ahmadinejad since they were both re-elected in disputed elections in 2009.

The US military invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to remove the Taliban, who they accused of supporting al-Qaeda operatives, from power following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US of the same year.

Washington's forces remain in Afghanistan in an attempt to quell Taliban and al-Qadea attacks against Karzai's government.

Read more