Stop the war!

author : Peter Bohmer topic : Iraq occupation

[The following is an edited version of a speech delivered by Peter Bohmer on 9/23/2005 at Latrati Park in Dupont. Bohmer, along with Nikki Miller, was a key organizer of the march from Olympia- and rally at the gates of Fort Lewis. The event was sponsored by the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace.]

We are here to protest war and tell people around the world that we oppose this immoral and illegal war. We are part of a renewed growth of activism against this war and for economic and social justice at home.

We are in a crucial period of opportunity to make a difference. Prior the invasion of Iraq there was there was massive resistance; on 2/15/2003, ten million people world-wide took to the streets. Since then, there has been some decline in activism in the U.S. and around the world, a lot of despair - partly tied to the re-election of Bush. Also, some have accepted the rhetoric that if we oppose the war we are against the U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The shameful Democratic Party complicity with the war also has fueled defeatism; few major politicians speak out against the war.

Yet, we need to be long-distance runners not sprinters for peace and justice.

One reason that has held many of us back from speaking up and organizing for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq is the feeling we have no answer to what happens if the U.S. withdraws -- will it be worse for the Iraqi people? Will it be civil war.?

At the very least we can say that life in Iraq has not improved for the vast majority of people -- less electricity, water, worse sanitation, far fewer jobs than before the most recent war; and the U.S. led sanctions from 1991 to 2003 had already caused a heavy toll in lives and in the quality of life for the Iraqi people.

The U.S. should totally withdraw from Iraq; it is an occupying army. We must build a bigger movement in the U.S. renouncing of all U.S. military bases and calling for all U.S. troops to leave. The U.S. should pay money for the destruction it has caused. These funds should be administered through the UN, not Halliburton and the U.S. government. Iraqis have the right to control their economy and resources, not private U.S. companies.

We demand that the U.S. begin troop withdrawal now and complete it in a short and definite time period. If most of the groups in Iraq, the Iraqi people, want peacekeepers -- they should come from the UN or Arab League, not the U.S.

What about blood bath - civil war - if the U.S. withdraws from Iraq? Iraq is closer to this than two years ago. The longer we stay, the greater the likelihood that Sunnis will have no power in current system. And sectarian violence is increasing. If the U.S. left, various groups will have to negotiate a settlement, including most of the various groups fighting the U.S., trade unions, students, various organizations and political parties organized along religious and other lines. The groups targeting and killing civilians solely because of Shia or Sunni identity, would be isolated.

It won't be peace and justice when the U.S. is forced to withdraw but the current situation is horrible for Iraqis, and is getting worse. The U.S. wants to control Iraq, not set up a democratic Iraq. The sooner is the U.S. withdrawal, the greater the possibility that peace can come to Iraq. Given U.S. objectives and its history of foreign interventions, the continuing U.S. occupation of Iraq can only be part of the problem, not part of the solution. We need to build a massive and militant movement so that this position becomes a possibility and then a reality.

We are protesting today and are here today to say, No more Iraqis lives destroyed, no more U.S. lives destroyed in our name!

For the U.S., the costs of this war are huge: almost 2000 soldiers dead, 10 times that many wounded physically for life; many times that many with mental scars for life because of what they have seen and been part of . . . for being occupiers.

This is in addition to the lifetime suffering and cancer caused by depleted uranium (DU) and the 50% or more who will come back from Iraq with PTSD. The human costs to Iraqis are far greater; we must protest against all casualties - Iraqis and U.S. - from this murderous war.

To support the troops and the Iraqis means calling for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. To say nothing more than "support the troops" means not thinking about and counting Iraqi lives.

We are not more secure by the U.S. occupation of Iraq; Iraq was not the source of 9/11. The U.S. occupation of Iraq has increased the number of people who belong to groups such as those that carried out 9/11, making us less safe not more safe as Bush claims.

250 billion dollars and counting have been spent on this war by the U.S., with cuts in social programs such as Medicaid, less funding for college scholarships, less for anti-poverty programs and public housing, and reductions in spending for maintaining and repairing the physical infrastructure of this country - like the levees that collapsed when Katrina hit almost three weeks ago.

This government claims to support the troops and they do so in rhetoric as did George Bush senior in the first Gulf War.

In practice, the Administration sends U.S. troops to their death, encourages them to commit human rights violation like torture - beating detainees and holding people indefinitely. Also, the soldiers will come back to an unequal U.S., where wealth is in fewer and fewer hands, where real wages are falling for the majority as the costs for college, health care, housing and energy are skyrocketing, whereas affirmative action and reproductive rights are under attack and only the wealthy get tax breaks. This is what the troops come home to and this will hurt them and their families. The administration does not support the troops. Supporting the troops does not only mean ending the war, it also means quality and affordable medical care, living wage jobs and more generally economic and social justice.

It means for the society as a whole and ourselves showing compassion and solidarity for the people of Iraq and Bolivia, in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of the United States. The damage, destruction and death caused by Hurricane Katrina has fallen most heavily on people of low income, particularly low income black people -- in a system where racial and economic inequality are woven into all institutions, in government policy, in the media, where one lives, jobs, and in the criminal justice system. The hurricane is a natural occurrence but its intensity and impact are furthered by global warming, cutbacks in public programs and racism. As rap artist Kanye West said on ABC TV after Katrina hit, "George Bush doesn't care about Black people."

We live in a country where low income people join the military and many of us do not fully see what the U.S. is doing in Iraq, or what is happening in the United States where the minimum wage in most places is $5.25 an hour and less and less jobs have health and retirement benefits, and two million people are in prison. . All human being deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. So let us speak up and act effectively against the war in the two Gulfs -- in Iraq and in the war in the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Mississippi--and against the war at home on immigrants, on poor and working people, on women, on most of those who join the military and their families and most of the American people.

Our slogan is support the troops by U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. We come to Ft. Lewis not to blame the troops but to dialog with them and to target not the soldiers but Ft. Lewis which is a major institution in carrying out this war and a major part of the U.S. military-industrial complex. One cause of the end of the Vietnam War was the increasing opposition to the Vietnam War by U.S. soldiers, increasing numbers of whom who refused to fight and spoke up against the Vietnam War. Those in the military who resist are truly the bravest and most courageous. In Tacoma, in the early 1970's, there was a GI coffee house where GI's and anti-war activists hung out and talked. The time is ripe for this to happen again.

I think we have a real opportunity today to build a movement to get the U.S. out of Iraq. I mentioned earlier why a feeling of despair has gripped many who opposed the war in early 2003--the feeling of powerlessness.

There are improved possibilities today -- the lies of those in power are becoming clearer to most people: that Iraq had WMD was a lie, that Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda were connected, that we are more safe because of the war in Iraq is a lie. There is declining support for the war and for the current administration. Hurricane Katrina has shown the incompetence and indifference to human life of an administration whose main concern is furthering corporate profits and the wealth of those who already have too much. 35% of the National Guard of Louisiana and Mississippi were in the other Gulf -- they were not available for rescue efforts.

Spurred by the devastation of New Orleans and its people; there has been huge donation of money and materials and increased activism against poverty and racism -- particularly in the black community

Another sign of renewed activism and hope is Cindy Sheehan. Hers is a compelling story. In August, 2005 she brought together concern for troops and strong anti-war stance. President Bush couldn't and wouldn't explain to her, why her son Casey died. She is calling for immediate withdrawal. She has inspired many people of all ages, primarily women, to become active against the war. She broke through feeling of powerlessness and that nothing could be done that many of us have felt. Her courage and voice is inspiring but she is not acting alone. She is part of a larger movement, groups such as Code Pink and Gold Star Mothers for Piece have played a central role in getting her voice out, organizing Camp Casey and the caravan to Washington, D.C.

So speak up to your friends and neighbors. Talk to people in the military and their families, organize a meeting in your home, write a letter to the newspaper, go into a high school and work with and tell students about alternatives to joining the military. Get your local church, neighborhood organization, group, union . . . to take a stand against the war. Join demonstrations against the war, organize one at the local recruiting station, at your Congressperson's or Senator's office, at a corporation benefiting from the war. Join an anti-war organization. Link the war to the many other social problems facing us. Let us build an ongoing movement, not a one shot affair, to stop this war and build a society based on need not greed, it won't come from the Democrats or Republicans but from us.

Power to the People, Thank You!