Joan Baez banned at Walter Reed

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON - Folk singer and anti-war activist Joan Baez says she doesn't know why she was not allowed to perform for recovering soldiers recently at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as she planned.

In a letter to The Washington Post published Wednesday, she said rocker John Mellencamp had asked her to perform with him last Friday and that she accepted his invitation.

"I have always been an advocate for nonviolence and I have stood as firmly against the Iraq war as I did the Vietnam War 40 years ago," she wrote. "I realize now that I might have contributed to a better welcome home for those soldiers fresh from Vietnam. Maybe that's why I didn't hesitate to accept the invitation to sing for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In the end, four days before the concert, I was not 'approved' by the Army to take part. Strange irony."

Baez, 66, told the Post in a telephone interview Tuesday that she was not told why she was left off the program by the Army. "There might have been one, there might have been 50 (soldiers) that thought I was a traitor," she told the paper.

more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070502/ap_on_en_mu/people_baez_1

[Hardrada]

1. I will die loving her.

Always have treasured her music and once heard her in concert. Those people will miss a lot.

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. Proof: Supporting The Troops Means Supporting The War

and I for one am sick and tired of supporting such a bloated, self-righteous institution such as the military and their retrograde agendas.

[izzie]

5. It is big business. And Bush is the CEO

I bet his father has made millions off this little war. I think that corp. (private one) he is in deals in arms.

[2008]

7. Have the repukes ever been unclear on that?

"Proof: Supporting The Troops Means Supporting The War"

that's the way it's been with these asshats since the beginning of the war

opposing the war, according to the RW talking points, means pissing on the troops, the flag, the bible, your mother, her apple pie, and Mickey Mouse

[flyarm]

3. she has my utmost respect..and lifelong love !! eom

[ngant17]

4. the Pentagon is afraid of the truth

From Wikipedia:

"The (Baez) family was forced to move frequently because of Albert Baez's work, living in different towns across the United States, as well as in France, Switzerland, Italy, and the Middle East, including Iraq, where they stayed in 1951. Joan, at the time only ten years old, was deeply influenced by the poverty and inhumane treatment suffered by the local population in Baghdad. While there, she saw animals and people beaten to death, and legless children dragging themselves down filthy streets begging for money. She later wrote that she felt a certain affinity with the beggars in the streets, and that Baghdad and the suffering of its people became a "part" of her."

[Laughing Mirror]

11. Yes it is

It is itself responsible for so much of the kind of suffering today that 10-year old Joan Baez lived through in Baghdad. Can't have her telling stories or singing to the war wounded and maimed about what she has seen and felt.

[bemildred]

6. There is no end to these people's need to embarass themselves, apparently. nt

[TacticalPeek]

8. Cowards!

(stronger language available in some areas)

[Straight Shooter]

9. The Army has no problem with traitors. Proof? They let bush visit soldiers at Walter Reed. n/t

[LibDemAlways]

10. John Mellencamp is on the anti-war train as well.

Apparently whoever approved his appearance missed that.

Joan Baez is a national treasure and has been for decades. Depriving the soldiers of hearing her beautful voice is a damn shame.

[Desperadoe]

12. John Mellencamp is on the anti-war train as well

Hell, these jerks are still reliving the 60s. They don't know who the hell John Mellancamp is.

[ngant17]

13. Why I Wanted to Sing at Walter Reed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101572.\
html

Why I Wanted to Sing at Walter Reed
Wednesday, May 2, 2007; Page A14

Regarding the April 28 Style article "At Walter Reed, Mellencamp Shuts His Mouth and Sings":
Recently, John Mellencamp invited me to be his guest at a concert for recovering soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I said yes immediately. Only later did I realize how the passage of time had informed my decision to join him.

I have always been an advocate for nonviolence, and I have stood as firmly against the Iraq war as I did the Vietnam War 40 years ago. During that war, I could not, in good conscience, have "sung for the troops." Doing so would have meant condoning a war that was tearing soldiers, civilians, this country, Vietnam and, in some senses, the world, apart. I do not regret that decision.

What I do regret is having ignored the needs of the men and women who returned from Vietnam. For some who were relatively unscathed, it seemed possible to get on with life, with or without all of their limbs intact.

But it's clear that, for many, returning was hell.

I realize now that I might have contributed to a better welcome home for those soldiers fresh from Vietnam. Maybe that's why I didn't hesitate to accept the invitation to sing for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the end, four days before the concert, I was not "approved" by the Army to take part. Strange irony.

JOAN BAEZ

Menlo Park, Calif.