Iraq War

Passing this along:

Never Forget, Always Forgive

By Jarrod Cochran

I, like so many in the United States, will never forget where we were and what we were doing when we heard of the attacks on the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. I was climbing up a ladder and making entry into a second-story window in my firefighter recruit class. I was but a little over a month in as a recruit for the fire department that I work for and I still knew that the job was forever changed by the events of that day.

We all know the rest of the story. Our country went to war on the pretenses of faulty “intelligence” as a way to exact revenge for the deaths of American citizens on our soil. We lost 2,752 lives that day. According to a report from The Washington Post in October of 2006, the Iraq War death toll had reached 655,000. I would say that our misplaced vengeance has, by simple calculation, been sated about 238 times over. To put that another way, we have killed over two-hundred-thirty-eight times more people in Iraq in 2006 than those who had died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Last week, partisans from both sides of the aisle seemed to suggest that Scott McClellan's new tell all book was insignificant and somehow did not speak well of the man. From the Right, the talking points went out and we heard things from "puzzled" to much worse in Senator Dole's comments: "There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues. No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique." Rather talking about the issues raised in the book, the attack machine pointed the barrels at their former native son.

On the Left, the general criticism was "too little, too late" questioning why he didn't speak up during his years in the White House when it could have done some good. These criticisms are fair, but we ought not look a gift horse in the mouth. I agree with Jim Ramelis that there's very little new in what the former Press Secretary said (http://www.crossleft.org/node/6252), but I do believe the fact of who was discrediting the warmaking enterprise is extremely important.

"I am calling to urge the Representative to put the timetable and troop readiness restrictions back into the Iraq funding legislation. I oppose any Iraq funding which gives the President another blank check for war."

Call your Representative right now.

Two weeks ago we celebrated the House's historic vote to cut off Iraq war funding. Progressives stood strong and insisted on a strict timeline to end the war. We also won troop readiness standards and a new 21st century GI bill which provides expanded education benefits for our returning veterans.

Then the bill got to the Senate. It was exciting to see that we grew the number of Senators who voted against blank-check war funding. But, in the end, they stripped out all the readiness restrictions and timelines and voted to continue funding a war without end.

Right now our Representatives are back in their home districts. They need to hear from us this week -- before they get back to DC. They need to know that progressives stand united in opposing this watered down bill sent back by the Senate. Tell your Representative to put the timetable and readiness restrictions back into the Iraq funding legislation.

Make the Call Right Now:
http://www.truemajority.org/warfunding

If your enemy is hungry feed him” “ Romans 12:20

I know that many of you out there are likely planning your own event to observe the upcoming anniversary of the Iraq War, but I would like to invite you to join the Summit Interfaith Peace Coalition in what we hope will become at least a statewide movement in NJ, but who knows how far it could spread. No matter what your plans we ask that you incorporate a food drive into your observance. If the peace groups can reinforce the same theme that we choose to spend money on bullets and bombs and neglect to feed our children I think at the very least we can get some good media attention.

The Summit Interfaith Peace Coalition, of which Pax Christi Summit is a member, is reorganizing. Instead of monthly vigils and peace walks we will begin meeting monthly to promote a broader agenda of peace and justice. Our first meeting is this Thursday January 10th at 7:00 pm at the Unitarian Church at the corner of Waldron and Springfield Avenue in Summit.
On the Agenda is the planning of the annual observance of the anniversary of the Iraq War.