September 15 - The Start of Something 

Big this Fall?

Bethany at the Capitol

     The United States government has presented the citizenry, in the Fall of 2007, with a crisis. The military occupation of Iraq has entered a phase of permanence. Bush and Cheney have clearly stated that they are pursuing a policy that will maintain maximum troop levels in Iraq until 2009. Coupled with this amoral war strategy is an economic crisis. In 2000, when Bush took office, gold was $273 per ounce, oil was $22 per barrel and the euro was worth $.87 per dollar. Currently, gold is over $700 per ounce, oil is over $80 per barrel, and the euro is nearly $1.40 per dollar. (U.S. Banks Brace for Storm Surge as Dollar and Credit System Reel, by Mike Whitney, Counterpunch, 9-18-2007) 

     The “surge” in Iraq is a political strategy more than a military one. By pursuing this path, Bush ensures that he will be able to claim a hope for victory, even in the face of complete failure. There can be no victory, of course, because there is no enemy in a war of occupation. There are only people, factions, a swirl of battles. None of the battles will be lost, yet, “progress” will not exist. It is a lesson experienced by the British in Afghanistan several times, by the French in Algeria and Vietnam, by the US in Vietnam. General Petraeus was accurately characterized by the Move On ad – he is an ambitious man who has betrayed the citizens by lying for the Bush agenda. His reward is his position, and his legacy will be linked to abject failure and needless death. 

     The so-called “anti-war movement” has scheduled, in a factionalized fashion, a series of demonstrations and actions this Fall. On September 15, the ANSWER coalition held a rally, march and die-in at the Capitol. On September 29, Troops Out Now will stage another rally in DC, and in late October, United for Peace and Justice is calling for a series of regional actions. 

     September 15 was a crisp, clear day. The speakers at Lafayette Park were clear about the task that lies before us. The speakers included The crowd of about 10,000 was energetic and upbeat. On the March to the Capitol, the streets along Pennsylvania Avenue were lined with sad-looking right wing anti-anti-war protesters, from “The Gathering of Eagles”. They support the war, the war that is clearly not in their interest as they eagerly sacrifice themselves and their children to a struggle that will never bring any benefit to the working people, the people who actually serve as soldiers in these wars of empire. The Bush propaganda line has conflated patriotism with support for the war and these unfortunate citizens have swallowed this, hook, line and sinker. 

     At the Capitol, about 200 veterans and supporters were arrested on the steps, for demonstrating their outrage at the toll in blood that this war is claiming. Many of the speakers had mentioned the recent passing of David Cline, a Vietnam War veteran who devoted his life to speaking out for peace and for veterans. His death was a result of the effects of Agent Orange. For many, this day and this action commemorated his life. Below are the remarks of three of the speakers, Cindy Sheehan, Ramsey Clark, and Ralph Nader. –Joe DeRaymond 

     Cindy Sheehan, September 15, 2007 

     I have said I would never go to another march, in Washington, DC, where we’re just marching down the street, reading each other’s signscongratulating each other for being here, then we go home, have a beer. Well, beer’s good, I like a beer.

      And then the war goes on…It’s time for everybody in this country with a conscience, with a heart, with a love for our brothers and sisters in Iraq, in Afghanistan, with a love for our troops, to lay our lives on the line and say, “We have had enough.”  We must demand that Congress represent We the People, not the corporations. We the People need to stop this war machine that kills our kids, kills our brothers and sisters for profit. We need a Congress that represents We the People, not this fascist elite that is taking away our country, as we stand here. We don’t want to become like Nazi Germany, and we know these people want us to become like Nazi Germany, and it’s time for us to stand up to the White House, and time for us to do civil disobedience on a massive scale. 

     A thousand people signed up to lay down for the die-in, and I want everybody here to lay down for our troops and for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s no excuses anymore. No excuses. These people mean business and it’s time to show them that we mean business. We have to shut this town down. I want to take the time to talk about my dear friend who has been a warrior for peace since he was a soldier in Vietnam. Dave Cline of Veterans for Peace, he was one of the founders of the GI resistance during the Vietnam War. And all the time he encourage our current war resisters, “I don’t want you to go over there and die."

     So, today, I want you to lay down for peace, and for accountability and for Nancy Pelosi to put impeachment on the table. They are already waging war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and are planning on attacking another country in Iran, and we will not let them do that. Applause, cheers, Impeach Bush chant 

Ramsey Clark, September 15, 2007 

    Bush started a war of aggression with criminal intent to occupy the cradle of civilization for the foreseeable future. We have to face that constantly. Every soldier has to come home. They’ll settle for 50,000. We can’t believe a word this administration says. They don’t know the meaning of truth. They are guilty of many international crimes: torture, summary execution, kidnapping. In Iraq, nobody knows where they take you or what happens to you. Human dignity means nothing to this administration. We have to stop them now. Their goal is occupation and domination of Iraq and the region. 

     We don’t hear enough about what we’ve done to the people of Iraq, the people who live there. We have been attacking Iraq since almost 1989, and today the situation is almost unliveable there. People are living in one of the most primitive societies on Earth today. Over 4 million have left their homes, 2.2 million exiled. Refugee camps in neighboring countries. Jordan has 5 million people and has taken on a million Iraqi refugees. They live in misery, they need food, water. In the United States, it would be equal to 60 million more people. We don’t like immigration, our country doesn’t like poor people, our government is oppressing poor people all over the world. 

     Very few people in Iraq have good drinking water. When I visited Iraq, I saw that people didn’t have enough water, bad or good. They don’t have electricity, people only have hours of electricity during a day. There’s no air conditioning, refrigeration, they just try to survive. A fourth of the population are malnourished, there’s some starvation. 7000 in the last few weeks came down with cholera, which could wipe out a large part of population. Infant mortality has skyrocketed in that country. It’s unprecedented. That’s what we’ve done to the people of Iraq. 

     Why don’t we talk more about that, why don’t we recognize the humanitarian crisis? We need to cut the military budget by 50% right now. We spend more on arms than the rest of the world combined. We don’t need them. We could take that money, and put $100 billion right now for Iraq, and not for US corporation. They have lost their right to profit from the reconstruction. Reparations are essential.

     We have 550,000 on our petition to Impeach. Go to http://www.impeachbush.org and let’s go over a million. 

Ralph Nader, September 15, 2007

    Go home and get your friends to vote on it. Let’s impeach Bush and his gang. Ralph Nader This war was launched on a platform of lies, deceptions, and cover-ups. The administration is violating our Constitution, our treaties, as well as our federal laws. 70% of the people of this country want out of Iraqj, the majority, 2-1, want this regime ended as soon as possible. 

     We have a Zogby poll of January, 2006, of US soldiers in the field in Iraq, that showed that 72% of them want out of Iraq. That was a year and a half ago, and things are worse now. You have military families now, in opposition to the war, you have hundreds of former generals, admirals, intelligence chiefs, cabinet secretaries, diplomats who have spoken out against the war. People like General Zinni. 

     How many more impeachable offenses do those spineless, gutless, hapless, Democratic congresspeople need before they act? Bush and Cheney have literally taken our laws and treaties and thrown them into a White House prison. There has never been a situation in our country where the chief executive has so damaged the fabric of the separation of powers and so threatened the American people with this dragnet…violating their civil rights and civil liberties…they have distracted attention from enormous problems here at home by spending close to a trillion dollars pulling Iraq apart as over 700,000 Iraqis have died, thousands of Americans have died, 70,000 more injured – they continue lowballing those figures, don’t believe the 27,000 figue, they have continued lowballing those figures. 

     And remember, if you don’t feel you have the power to change Congress, they won’t be changed. Back home, where it counts, increase the number of people so the Democrats who couldn’t stop Bush, who even won an election in 2000 and had it stolen from them. They won it in 2004 and it was stolen from them, …they could stop the war, they control the hearing mechanism, they control the funding mechanism, the impeachment mechanism, they don’t even want to demand that Bush and Cheney resign the way Nixon and Agnew did, they didn’t even support the Feingold resolution to censure this criminal regime of Bush and Cheney. 

     A few days ago, Senator John Warner, in the hearing with General Petraeus asked a very fundamental question, he asked the General, “Is the war in Iraq making America safer?” and the General replied, “I don’t know, actually.” It’s making the oil companies richer… 

(gap in transcription due to poor quality of recording)...should at least have hearings in support of the Israeli-Palestinian peace movement and the reserve officers in Israel who have sworn, never again to fight in the West Bank and Gaza…1500 officers and combat soldiers in Israel have signed this declaration that says, “We will refuse to fight beyond the 1967 in order to dominate, expel, starve, humiliate an entire people.” 

     Congress should move to support a solution supported by the majority of Israeli and Palestinian people. And as far as the million bomblets, the cluster bombs left in South Lebanon, the UN has asked the Israeli government, as well as the State Department, rather quietly, to give the algorithms, the locations, of those million bomblets that are unexploded that are tearing into the flesh and bones of children, men and women in South Lebanon. The American Taskforce on Lebanon is leading the way toward a treaty that has the support of almost 50 countries led by Norway to end forever the production of cluster bombs. 

     It all comes down to the following: there are 535 congresspeople out there, some of them are on your side, some of them would love to be on your side, they just need you to give them the spine, the guts, and a sense of urgency back home. They know the polls are against the war, and the soldiers are against the war, they know all of this, but they want that intensity by the voters back home, to surround their congressional offices with peaceful protest. Organize little clusters in your neighborhood and community. 535 members of Congress who put their shoes on the way we do. 

     That’s the way to turn it around and be responsible and pull out of Iraq, internationalize the area, get some sustained international aid, international peacekeepers. And once we get out of Iraq, we will have the bargaining power to bring the factions together because it is in their own self interest to rule Iraq together, and the sectarian conflict would fade away once we got out, including the bases, the oil. Give resources to anti-war groups and peace groups, check out http://www.democracyrising.us for more information. 

Adelante 

Onward!