A crossroads has been reached. Millions of people voted in November because they wanted, above all else, to end the wars the Bush Regime has unleashed. On January 27, hundreds of thousands demonstrated, demanding to put an end to the wars, now. Millions more support that demand.
But the wars continue. The wars are escalating. The wars could expand to other countries very soon. What must be done to stop all this? Upon whose efforts must we rely?
For the hundreds of thousands of us who marched on Saturday,
and for the millions more who support and agree with the demand of the marchers
to end the war, a return to routine would set back everything we marched for.
The reality and urgency of the situation confronting us is that the world can’t
wait; the Bush Regime must be driven out, and yesterday wouldn’t have been soon
enough. The determination we expressed on January 27 must expand and
reverberate throughout all of society.
Intense conflict is roiling through the ranks of the political elite in this country. Many Democrats, and even some Republicans, finally seem to have found the ability to challenge Bush. Anger, outrage, and political questioning are percolating throughout society. And Bush has once again declared that he is “the decision maker”, and he is proceeding with his murderous aggression and escalation.
Both Bush and the leading Democrats are arguing from the same foundation, and for the same essential goals. Bush said in his State of the Union address that what exists today in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the Middle East is a “tragic escalation of sectarian rage and reprisal that continues to this day. This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in”. Newly elected Senator James Webb said in the Democrat’s response, “not one step back from the war against international terrorism. Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos.”
Only a massive political movement, which embraces the millions of people disgusted and furious at the direction Bush has driven the world, can turn this situation around. This can only be accomplished by political activity which relies on the energies and activity of the people, from all walks of life and all parts of the country.
The Bush Regime has set in motion a dynamic which has already proved disastrous for the world. The “fight he entered” is a fight to reshape the planet under an unshakeable U.S. dominion. With this, the Democratic leadership has no disagreement. Their differences are over how to best achieve these aims.
The complex conflicts boiling in Iraq cannot change the basic point that everything about the aims, goals, and methods used by Bush and Co. to achieve their goals are unjust and immoral. The response of the Democratic Party leadership to Bush’s plan – ruling impeachment as being out of the question, blaming the Iraqi people for the devastating turmoil in that country, and urging “phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months, while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat to training, logistics, force protection and counter-terror”, as House Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently did in a letter to Bush – argue for a different approach to fighting the same unjust war.
Making their terms of opposition to Bush’s policies and methods of waging war our terms of opposition to the unjust wars raging throughout the Middle East and Central Asia will lead to nothing good for the people. Many leading Democrats have spoken as if the Iraqi people have just burst into a spasm of sudden, inexplicable violence against each other, and that the U.S. invasion and occupation have nothing to do with it.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said that “the Iraqis ” must meet the challenges that lie ahead. And they must know that every time they call 911, we”re not going to send 20,000 more American troops”. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid chimed in on the same theme, saying that “our troops and their families have already sacrificed a great deal for Iraq. They have done their part. It’s time for the Iraqis to do their part”. Nancy Pelosi added that “the president knows that because the troops are in harm’s way, that we won’t cut off the resources.”
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These people speak as if the U.S. isn’t responsible for the horrific bloodshed in Iraq. As if Bush didn’t orchestrate an unjust invasion and occupation – with the approval, expressed and tacit – of Congress and the political leadership of this country generally. As if the unending torture, unjust imprisonment, and destruction of an infrastructure that could provide even a minimum of daily needs to the people of Iraq weren’t caused and in fact done by the US. As if the destruction of entire cities and areas of cities had been done by some other force than the American military. As if Iraq had been convulsed in violent sectarian conflict before the US invasion. As if the people who have been put squarely “in harm’s way” were not the people of Iraq. As if the decisions responsible for sending US soldiers into an unjust, immoral, and illegal war of conquest for empire were not made in the corridors of the White House, the Pentagon, and to this day have not been meaningfully opposed in Congress.
The arguments made by Democratic leaders such as Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy, who also argued that Congress is powerless to cut off funding for the troops, are a thin pretence meant to cover their approach of waging the wars more “effectively”. But the wars are unjust. They must be stopped.
The troops who should be supported are those who refuse to participate in these unjust wars. As Lieutenant Ehren Watada, who is the first officer to refuse deployment to Iraq said as he announced his historic action, “My participation would make me party to war crimes. It is my conclusion as an officer of the armed forces that the war in Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law. Although I have tried to resign out of protest, I am forced to participate in a war that is manifestly illegal. As the order to take part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well, I must as an officer of honor and integrity refuse that order.”
Bush and Cheney have made it perfectly clear that they are going ahead with escalating and expanding the war. The Democratic leadership has made it clear that they have no intention of moving to impeach Bush or forcing the troops to be pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan and for the wars to end.
In November, millions voted to end these unjust wars. In January, hundreds of thousands, representing the sentiments of countless others, marched in D.C. and throughout the country to end the wars. In the days and weeks ahead we must take our energy and passion, determination and conviction, and pour our all into mounting a sustained and growing effort that reverberates throughout the entire country, and inspires people all over the world, a movement to end the war, now, and drive Bush’s criminal regime from power.