Mike Ferner

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

You can also listen to Jack Lessenberry’s Review of “Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq”

Monday, November 13, 2006

Listen to the Program - Today on Flashpoints: Veteran for Peace and independent journalist Mike Ferner describes life in US-occupied Iraq and stories he encountered that the US corporate press ignored.

November 12, 2006

Download Part 3 (8MB MP3): Mike Ferner served as a Navy Corpsman from 1969 to 73, was discharged as a conscientious objector, and is a member of Veterans for Peace. Mike Spent time with Christian Peacemaker Teams and Jim Loney on a two-month trip to Iraq in early 2004. He is a freelance writer from Ohio. Mike joins us to discuss his anti-war activities and his recently published book Inside the Red Zone.

Feb 17, 2006
Ron Jacobs interviews Mike Ferner

On Wednesday, February 15, 2006, a group of war resisters began a 34 day liquids only fast in Washington, DC. The fast is sponsored by the Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV)—a nonviolent action group made up of regular citizens who are fed up with the direction of the US government, especially as regards its foreign policy. The name VCNV has given the campaign that this fast is part of is the Winter of Our Discontent.

One of the fast participants is a man named Mike Ferner. I first heard of Mike when he traveled to Iraq in the winter of 2003 just before the US/UK invasion in March of that year. Mike is a Vietnam vet who served as a Navy Corpsman and then received an honorable discharge from the service as a conscientious objector. He is also a union organizer, member of Veterans for Peace, and served on the Toledo, Ohio city council. His book on his trips to Iraq (he went there again in 2004) is titled Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq, and is due out in August, 2006. I have maintained a rather loose email contact with Mike over the past several months and, when I heard he was participating in this fast, decided to ask him a couple questions. The email “conversation” follows.