by H.F. Tomlinson
(the following article is excerpted from
an email sent out by H.F. Tomlinson, a peace activist in North Texas)
By way of introduction, I have been an
antiwar activist since 2003. I work with an organization named North
Texas for Justice and Peace. I filed as a Green Party candidate for
the US Senate seat occupied by Hutchison in 2006 and was nominated.
What NTJP is organizing right now is,
in partnership with DFW Industrial Workers of the World, a trip to participate
in the protests at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. I ask
that you bear with me, while I cover some of the issues we have with
the Democrats.
As I said above, I am an antiwar activist,
so most of the issues I have with the Democrats have to do with ending
the wars we are engaged in or supporting. First, the voters gave the
Democrats a majority in the Congress in the 2006 election, with a clear
mandate to end the war in Iraq. In spite of that mandate, and definitely
spiting the American voter, the Democratic Congress has yet to fail
to approve ONE FUNDING REQUEST for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
AFTER BEING IN POWER FOR TWO YEARS. Even though before the 2006 election,
the Democrats were pushing for “timetables” for withdrawal
and “residual forces” left behind to run Iraqi death squads,
both of which would mean more deaths in a war which should never have
started, and therefore unacceptable to us, they haven’t even achieved
these half measures.
Also, just one day after passing the
administration’s latest funding request, Congress voted to give the
telecom companies who helped President Bush perform warrantless wiretapping
and other illegal surveillance on Americans and others immunity from
litigation.
What issues do we have with the Democrats’
presumptive nominee, Barack Obama? He has voted in favor of nearly $300
billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a candidate,
he favors a “phased withdrawal” of American troops from Iraq
within 16 months. At the rate at which Americans have been dying in
Iraq since the invasion, over two per day, close to 1000 more Americans
will die in 16 months. (At the rate at which they have been dying this
last year, 1.3 per day, over 750 will die.) I couldn’t begin to estimate
how many Iraqis will die.
Obama also wants to leave a “residual
number” of troops in Iraq. Although in this letter I am trying
to paraphrase Obama’s own words, he hasn’t said how many troops he wishes
to leave behind. Some analysts have said up to 50,000.
Obama’s position on the “War on
Terror” is becoming more and more scary. The Washington Post reported
that ‘He (Obama)wants to add 65,000 troops to the Army and recruit 27,000
more Marines to fight terrorism. He wants the American military to “Stay
on the offense, from Djibouti to Kandahar” and he believes that
“the ability to put boots on the ground will be critical to eliminating
the shadowy terrorist network”.’ More recently, he has said he
would immediately transfer three divisions from Iraq to Afghanistan,
and called on Germany and other European nations to send more troops
to Afghanistan. He has also spoken of deploying
troops to Somalia and of unilateral strikes against groups in Pakistan.
Referring to Obama’s position on keeping
nuclear weapons out of Iran, the Friends Committee on National Legislation
reported that “Obama would keep all…options on the table, including
the use of force.”
Also important is the fact that this
trip is going to be fun! The events are listed at recreate68.org. On
Sunday, 8-24 there is a rally and march to end all occupations, on the
25th a march for human rights and political prisoners, and an evening
“Shake Your Money Maker”, in which we will levitate the Denver
Mint, turn it upside down and shake it. On Tuesday, there is the No
Borders Rally and March, on Wednesday the No Global Warming Rally and March and on Thursday,
the No Racism, No Imperialism Rally and March. The Festival of Democracy
will include rallies, teachins and music and will run every day. The
Alliance for Real Democracy will put on a Free University, workshops
and music. Food not Bombs will provide two meals per day, but ask that
you bring your own dishes.
I would also guess that the weather will
be cooler than here.
From my understanding, Barack Obama did not vote for the war in Iraq. He was against that. But however, he did approve the funding for the war. There is a big difference there. Even though he voted no, our troops were going to Iraq anyway. He knew they would need supplies and whatever else they needed. Food, shelter etc… He does think about the troops. Now for me, I very much disagree for the war in Iraq. But I do see the logic in Mr. Obama’s decision.
Thanks
Missy