"A stellar list of speakers highlighted today’s event in the filled-to-capacity Seattle Labor Temple. US Congress members Jim McDermott and Jay Inslee, Bert Sacks, and two representatives of Military Families Speak Out led off a high-energy afternoon co-sponsored by Progressive Democrats of America and the Backbone Campaign. Also partnering were Code Pink, the Majority Visibility Project, and Veterans for Peace.
When asked why he was participating in this event, Rep. McDermott answered, “I think this war will be brought to a halt by people making themselves heard. It is incumbent on us as public officials to support and encourage this sort of thing. Vietnam didn’t end because the government decided it wasn’t working. It ended because of people exercising their right to free speech.”
Asked the same question, Rep. Inslee answered, “We lost 11 of our best yesterday. Today we are here to demand action by Congress to return Iraq to the Iraqis.”
Tagged by war proponents “Baghdad Jim” after a pre-war trip to Iraq to assess the reality of the situation, McDermott has been an outspoken opponent of the invasion of Iraq from the beginning. McDermott spoke forcefully about the absolute necessity of winning back Democratic Congressional seats from all over the country. (Helping to illustrate the point, Darcy Burner, (www.darcyburner.com). who is running to oppose Republican Dave Reichert in Washington’s 8th District, was in attendance. An advocate for Congress asking the hard questions in holding this administration responsible for the lies leading up to the Iraq war, Darcy is an excellent candidate who would be happy for the help of anyone reading this who resides in Bellevue, Mercer Island, and eastern Pierce and King counties.)
McDermott recalled being on Crossfire before the invasion began. He asked the general appearing with him what will happen if the war “goes bad.” The general answered that the military leadership would make “a quiet visit to the White House and say it was time to go.” According to McDermott, Congressman John Murtha’s call for withdrawal in late 2005 was the result of such a visit from the generals.
McDermott believes that, as big and as serious an issue as the war is, an even bigger issue is that freedom and democracy are at risk. This excessively secretive administration wants to silence all dissent. “They want one party, one country, one voice—THEIRS.” He feels we need two exit strategies—one for Iraq and one for getting rid of this administration. He believes that the only adequate response is to investigate the means of impeachment.
He concluded by saying that “there is a tide moving that will bring our people into Congress. That’s how we’ll prevail.”
Rep. Inslee hosted the public event in his home district at which Ambassador Joseph Wilson was quoted as saying he was looking forward to “Karl Rove being frog-marched out of the White House.” (This correspondent was privileged to have been at that event.) Inslee began his speech by saying, “I don’t have the exact definition of ‘frog-march’, but we’ll know it when we see it.”
Before discussing the war, Inslee first reminded us of three positive things that we accomplished in 2005:
1) We drove a stake through the heart of the effort to destroy Social Security
2) We beat down the attempt to drill for oil in the Arctic Refuge
3) We helped him to pass an provision against domestic violence
Instrumental in organizing two-thirds of the Democrat House members to vote against the invasion of Iraq, Inslee believes our country will be made stronger by withdrawing our troops from Iraq. We will be stronger because our pre-eminence in speaking up for democracy and human rights around the world will be restored. We cannot advocate for freedom if we are not speaking from a position of moral strength. He also spoke strongly for stopping this administration from spying on Americans.
Inslee listed things that we can do right now to bring our troops home:
1) We need to pass the Apollo Energy Project, his prime legislative project, to break our addiction to oil, to stop global warming, and to grow jobs in the US. He added that Harry Reid, the House Minority Leader, has said that energy independence must become a major part of the Democratic Party platform.
2) We must replace the people who voted for the war.
Bert Sacks, an activist with Physicians for Social Responsibility, began bringing medicines to Iraq during the embargo started in 1991 under the Clinton administration. His efforts led to US government action against him and a $10,000 fine. He said that the Iraqi people have felt under attack by the US for 15 years. Over one-half million children died of hunger, dehydration, and preventable disease during the years of the embargo. For that reason, he believes that the changes we need to make must go beyond the removal of the Bush administration. It must go beyond electing Democrats to an awareness of what kind of country we truly want to be in the long term. We are horrified at dozens of death each day by suicide bombers, but where is the horror at the deaths of 195 children a day under a cruel embargo? Destruction of water and electric systems are in effect acts of biowarfare because of their known results.
Stacy Bannerman, Board Member of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), author of When the War Came Home, made an impassioned appeal for advocacy for returning veterans and their families. An unprecedented percentage of National Guard and Reserve troops are in need of psychological counseling. At least 50 percent have lost jobs due to their deployment and many must now deal with being deeply in debt. Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder are estimated to be as high as 90 percent.
Judy Linnehan, also of MFSO, shared her experiences at the Global International Peace Conference in London. Of 1200 delegates, 40 were from the US. Among these were Cindy Sheehan, David Swanson, Steve Cobble, and Medea Benjamin. The presence of the US delegation was a source of hope to those from other countries.
The group then split into four breakout groups to discuss how to monitor the media for war coverage, public and direct actions against the war, legislative action, and how to meet the needs of returning vets.
Three poster-size letters were available to be signed by attendees. These were to be posted at the corporate offices of the local television stations, asking them to report on the activities of the administration and the events in Iraq with honesty; to be responsible citizens. The group then marched through the streets of Seattle to the stations in the immediate neighborhood and presented these letters.
THE AFTERNOON WAS GREAT. Thanks a thousand-fold to all who organized it."-from the post by Rita Weinstein on AfterDowningStreet.org. There are also posts there from around the country about yesterday's events.
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