Iraq

Take 1 Minute to End the Killing:

Congress Members have received thousands of phone calls, and some of them are committing to voting no on Iraq funding. The vote won't happen until next week, so keep the calls coming: Call your Congress Member now at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote No on the war funding.

More Detail:

Pelosi does not have the votes to pass the Rule, a procedural vote that must pass prior to votes on each of the three amendments (1. war money, 2. a nonbinding "timeline goal," re-banning of torture and permanent bases, redundantly banning a Bush-Maliki treaty without consent of Senate or both houses of Congress, and forcing Iraqis to pay for the reconstruction, 3. other spending including military spending and veterans spending).

She doesn't have the votes because of Republican opposition to the whole maneuver (which will involve amending a bill that's already passed in order to avoid a vote on the whole package - except for the Rule vote), and because of "blue dog" (right-wing) Democratic outrage over spending some $11 billion on something useful when they want to stay focused on wasting over $100 billion on killing. Democrats who do plan to vote No on the war funding have not threatened to vote No on the Rule. But they should if they want to block this thing.

If Pelosi buys off the blue dogs somehow, progressives could still step in and block the war money by blocking the Rule. There may be some progressive resistance to the Rule anyway, because Lee and Kucinich both want to be permitted to bring up amendments. (Lee's would resrict funding to a withdrawal. Kucinich's would ban the use of funds for attacking Iran, Syria, etc.)

So, call your Congress Member now at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote No on the war funding and on any Rule that would bring it up for a vote! And tell them to make their position clear to the Speaker. Tell them that you will REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER. Make clear to them that voting for either of the other two amendments will be no excuse for voting for the war funding amendment. You can remind them (92 of them) of this letter in which they committed to voting No.

As Congress considers President Bush's request for another $100 billion for Iraq, 68% of Americans want Bush to bring U.S. troops home within 6 months, according to a Democrats.com telephone poll of 628 adults conducted from May 1-4, 2008 by ICR ( http://www.icrsurvey.com ).

The poll marks a 14% increase from 54% in September. Most of that increase (11%) came from those who want Congress to require Bush to use existing funds to bring our troops safely home, bringing that total to 51% - a majority of Americans.

Broken down by party, 85% of Democrats want our troops home within 6 months, as do 78% of Independents. By contrast, only 32% of Republicans want our troops home soon.

Democratic support grew by 15% since September, and Independent support grew by 20%. By contrast, Republican support was unchanged.

The new poll differs slightly from last September's poll because Congressional Democrats have proposed giving President Bush $70 billion more than he requested in order to avoid another unpopular funding vote before the November election.

The new poll asked: "President Bush wants Congress to spend 100 billion dollars more in tax dollars this year to keep U.S. troops in Iraq." The comparison data below is only for the identical questions, with last September's data immediately below in italics.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS:
http://democrats.com/iraq-poll-2

Media covers plans for wedding between Jenna and Henry:
Click:

By David Swanson

Here is the perfect Mother's Day gift for your mother, your mother in law, your grandmothers, and in fact for the men in their lives as well - who ought to be shamed into action. Joan Wile has published a book called "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace." As far as I know, this is her first book. It is very much an account of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. If more people did the same, we would put an end to war.

By David Swanson

The collateral damage in Iraq is most of the damage, and intentionally producing it is most of the mission. This is one of the conclusions I take away from an important new book by Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian called "Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians."

The authors published a related cover story in the Nation magazine's July 30 / Aug. 6, 2007 issue called "The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness." The book is quite short by book standards, but longer and more useful than the article. The authors interviewed 50 U.S. veterans of combat in Iraq over a period of seven months. The book does not just record these veterans' statements. It synthesizes what the authors learned.

RVA4Peace Urges Democratic Senators to Shift funding from war crimes and support food banks
By Rev. Greg Thomas

While Democratic Senators gathered at the posh Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va., for a fundraising event and weekend retreat, a group of vocal protesters were there to urge them to stop funding war crimes in Iraq and concentrate more resources on those in need here in this country.

Friday evening, RVA4Peace gathered 30 or more citizens collecting 225 pounds of food for the Central Virginia Food Bank as they called on Senators to recognize the negative effect that spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the war has had on the economy. Prior to the event, the offices of attending Senators were contacted, asking them to make donations to the Food Bank. Though their staffs said that they would consider it, no donations were made.

The Democrats in attendance, which included Senators Webb, Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid, Charles E. Schumer, Patrick Leahy, and several others, have been outspoken critics of the War in Iraq, yet they have failed to follow through by using the power of the pursestrings that they control to put an end to the occupation. As one member of Fridays protest put it, they need to stop talking and take action. “Democrats are in the majority now and they have the ability to stop the funding, which in turn, would stop the war.”

By David Swanson

On Friday outside the gates of Stratcom, the strategic command center outside of Omaha, Nebraska, that controls U.S. nuclear weapons and military space technology and from which the next war of aggression will be run, a group of activists gathered from all over the world. A number of people gave speeches in the freezing bone-chilling wind and snow. This was mine:

By David Swanson

During an endless airplane trip from hell yesterday that included an extended stay in Chicago's scenic O'Hare airport, I had the misfortune to read one book about where our tax dollars go and another book that was, indirectly, about where they do not go.

Nick Turse has done something pretty amazing in producing an entertaining account of the almost limitless variety of ways in which our money is wasted by what he calls the military industrial technological entertainment academic media corporate matrix, or "The Complex" for short, and that's the book's title. This mammoth beast is funded by about half of your tax dollar combined with the borrowing of trillions of dollars, largely from China, a nation which - incidentally - represents the closet thing to a military rival to the United States and which as late as September 10, 2001, was being hyped by right-wing pundits as the Enemy, and which is about as much a threat to the so-called American "homeland" as Switzerland is.

Linda Bilmes is a full-time faculty member at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She has testified a number of times before Congress on the cost of the occupation of Iraq. Together with Joseph Stiglitz, she has authored "The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict." Bilmes will be speaking live this evening, April 9th, and taking your questions, between 8 and 9 p.m. ET. Go to: http://thepeoplespeakradio.net to learn more. Go to http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/listen-live to listen live. You'll find instructions there to enter a paltalk chat room where you can post questions. You can also phone in and ask Bilmes your questions on the air. Call in tollfree from anywhere in the United States or Canada at 888-228-4494 or anywhere else in the world at 877-489-6350. It's a tollfree call, and I try my best to get every caller on the air. Following the show, the audio file will be posted at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/audio/2008 and you can find there now the recordings of numerous shows with amazing guests. To support The People Speak Radio (and we need the support badly!) please donate at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/donate

Leslie Cagan, www.unitedforpeace.org

1) Sign on to a letter to Rep. John Murtha, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. This letter, initiated by our friends at Win Without War, will be sent to every member of Congress later this week so it's important to get as many signatures as quickly as possible. The letter calls on Congress to:

* Stop funding the war: Give the Pentagon only enough money for the safe and orderly redeployment of US troops out of Iraq;
* Support a diplomatic offensive -- as recommended by the Iraq Study Group -- to build a comprehensive solution involving many countries;
* Stop funding the construction of permanent military bases in Iraq and military contractors;
* Refuse to fund any permanent "security agreement" between President Bush and Iraqi President Maliki unless first approved by Congress and the Iraqi parliament.

2) On Thursday, April 10th, join the nationwide congressional call-in day. Let your representative and senators know that you don't buy the Petraeus line, and they shouldn't either. Tell them to vote no on more funding for the war and occupation in Iraq. We are reaching out to other coalitions and groups in the antiwar movement and asking them to join us in spreading the word on this national call-in day. Let's flood their offices with so many calls that they can't do anything else but answer the phones. You can find phone numbers for your representatives and senators at the link above or call the congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121.

3) Participate in Town Hall meetings and show testimony from the Winter Soldier hearings organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War. The Town Hall meetings are being organized in congressional districts all around the country. The idea is to get your representative to participate, but even if they refuse to come you can organize an event that allows people to express their outrage about this new fundiung request. To find out what's happening in your area, or to learn how you can organize one, click here. For information about the Winter Soldier hearings, visit http://www.ivaw.org

4) Go to the district offices of those who represent you in Congress. Your group can try to set up a meeting with your rep. or their key staff. Or you can just show up! Set up a picket line or a vigil outside their offices. If you do meet your representative or their staff, be sure to ask them to contact the House Judicary Committee and sign onto the letter from Rep. John Conyers to President Bush explaining he will be impeached if he attack Iran.

5) Throughout this week, call radio talk shows and write letters to the editor explaining why you want the war and occupation in Iraq to end, and why you don't want Congress to allocate more funds.

Finally, with the domestic economic crisis getting worse every day, this is a critically important time to strengthen connections with those organizations fighting for economic and social justice here at home. One way to do that is to join the Healthcare Not Warfare Campaign. And we urge you to reach out to groups in your community working on the housing and banking crisis, groups fighting poverty and hunger, groups working for decent educational opportunities, and so much more!

Letter printed in the Richmond Times Dispatch

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I was disturbed by the way the newspaper covered a peaceful march protesting the fifth anniversary of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

By David Swanson

Senator Jim Webb, (D., Va.) and Roger Ebert, a movie reviewer with the Chicago Sun-Times have announced a joint initiative.

"This partnership makes perfect sense," Ebert said in a press statement. "Over the past year, Senator Webb's role has been, like mine, that of a critic." In fact, a survey of media reports finds that Webb is identified as a critic more often than as a senator:

Former Marine Corps Sergeant Adam Kokesh served in a Civil Affairs Group in Iraq’s Western Anbar Province from February to September 2004. Since his return from Iraq, Kokesh has become a leading activist with Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was arrested for disrupting General Patreaus’ testimony before Congress last September. He will discuss what he did and saw in Iraq and why he is working to end the occupation. Listen live and call in with your questions tonight 8-9 pm ET: http://thepeoplespeakradio.net

By David Swanson

In 2006 we elected a Congress to end the occupation of Iraq. If we don't hold that Congress to it, we will not have the power in 2008 to elect anyone for any stated purpose. Fulfillment of campaign promises will be entirely optional in 2009. Our last chance to hold the current Congress to its commitment is in the coming month of April, when the House takes up Bush's request for another $102 billion of our grandchildren's money.

All over the country, ordinary citizens are taking on the role of leaders - many of them for the first time - and are beginning to plan town hall meetings in their congressional districts to demand that their representatives oppose any more funding for the occupation. This is not an effort to leave troops without body armor, but to bring them home where they do not need it. We've had enough of nonsensical excuses, and we're demanding action. We applaud the House of Representatives for (thus far) refusing to back telecom immunity, and we insist that it similarly refuse to back the occupation of Iraq.

Remarks at American University Teach-In on March 22, 2008
By David Swanson

Robert Dreyfuss's presentation that I now have to follow was tremendous and I learned a lot, but I disagree with his pessimism. I am fond of the saying "Let's save our pessimism for better times." It's a choice to be a pessimist, and it is a wrong one, always.

By Mac McKinney

Tuesday, March 19, 2008 was a day of protests across the country, as it marked the Fifth Anniversary of the bloody holocaust in Iraq, with no end in sight. A fairly large protest was even staged in Norfolk, Virginia, home of Naval Station, Norfolk, the largest U.S.Navy base in the world. Protesters included ex-Navy men. Report and Photos.

Several Democratic House candidates have backed what they call the "Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq": http://www.responsibleplan.com

The downside of this, as I see it, is as follows:

There is no "war" in Iraq, which is something that can be won or lost between two armies. There is a permanent illegal hostile occupation of a people by a single army. It can never be won or lost and should not be called a "war." It should be called a crime.

There is no irresponsible plan to end the occupation of Iraq, and the implication of the "responsible" plan's title can only be slowness. The sooner the occupation is ended the better.

WAKE UP AMERICA! STOP THE WAR! STOP TORTURE!
Join CCPJ, Food Not Bombs, and Code Pink on THE DAY AFTER the 5th ANNIVERSARY of the WAR IN IRAQ
STOP War and STOP Torture Theater Action and Demonstration This Thursday MARCH 20, 2008
WHEN: Thursday, March 20, 2008, 5:00 -­ 6:00 pm
WHERE: Federal Building, corner of Ridge and Water Streets, Charlottesville.
Map and more info: http://www.charlottesvillepeace.org/thursday
Bring signs, statements, pink, orange, impeach
For more info: Rian: 295-3381, rianchandler@gmail.com

NOTE: A demonstration of the torture technique called waterboarding is planned.

By Seth Rosen, srosen@dailyprogress.com
Charlottesville VA Daily Progress

Last week David Swanson tried to "stop-loss" Congress.

Swanson, a Charlottesville resident who has become a nationally prominent antiwar activist, delivered "orders" to senators and representatives to remain at their posts and not return to their home districts for Easter recess until American troops are removed from Iraq.

Later in the week when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified before the House Appropriations Committee, Swanson sat in the back of the room, holding up his red-stained hands in protest.

By David Swanson

In a wide-ranging hour-long discussion on live radio, General William Odom said he sees two useful things Congress can do: cease funding the occupation of Iraq, and impeach Bush and Cheney.

The TrueMajority.org "IranMobile", a Dr. Strangelovian thermonuclear missle/bomb that rises for launch 20 feet in the air with George W. Bush astride, is coming to Charlottesville, Va., as part of the NotAnotherWar.org campaign to stop an impending war on Iran. Lights, smoke, music, audio are part of the presentation. Citizen activists will provide written materials and encourage discussion of the U.S. policy of aggressive war that was born 5 years ago this week.

Please come out and join us!

WHEN: Friday, March 21st

WHERE: In the parking lot between Water Street and South Street downtown beginning at 4 p.m.

WHY: The American public elected a Congress to end one war in 2006, and -- far from ending it -- our government is threatening to launch another war, this time against Iran. The current issue of U.S. News and World Report includes an article with the headline "Six Signs the U.S. May Be Headed for War in Iran." The illegal occupation of Iraq is entering its sixth year.

More information about the IranMobile is available at http://notanotherwar.org

More about the threat of an attack on Iran is available at http://dontattackiran.org

The Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice (CCPJ), which is assisting in this event, is at http://charlottesvillepeace.org

Stephen Sossaman and Bob Hoffman of Veterans for Peace led a discussion with those who remained behind after a screening of "In the Valley of Elah" on Friday, March 14, 2008. Here's the video (m4v).

College Students, Veterans, Old Folks Shut Down Capitol Hill (VIDEOS)

http://afterdowningstreet.org/stoplossvideos

By David Swanson

Today was the day for Stop-Loss Congress. We notified every Congress Member and Senator over the past two days that they were being stop-lossed and denied permission to leave until they end the occupation of Iraq. Today we took action. A group of activists dressed as Ghosts of War stood and spoke in the Senate and closed the place down - 10 arrests, I'm told.

Some protest war on streets of Richmond; others pray for peace
By LISA CRUTCHFIELD, Richmond Times Dispatch

Nearly five years after the start of the war, area peace activists remain passionate about their causes.

And their numbers are growing, says Adria Scharf, executive director of the Richmond Peace Education Center.