Iraq Vets Announce Tri-Folded Flag Campaign to Hold Congress Responsible:
"FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING THE TROOPS"
Washington, DC : Iraq Veterans Against the War: Iraq Veterans Against the War is urging a rapid and safe withdrawal of troops from Iraq , adequate funding of the needs of veterans when they return and the rebuilding of Iraq by Iraqis.
According to Garett Reppenhagen , Chair of Iraq Vets Against the War: "Iraq Veterans Against the War is a growing movement of Iraq War era veterans and active duty service members that are opposing the occupation of Iraq .
Through our military experience we have learned that the continued presence of US troops in the Middle-East is instigating further hatred toward American Armed Forces and undermining our nation's security.
"FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING THE TROOPS"
Washington, DC : Iraq Veterans Against the War: Iraq Veterans Against the War is urging a rapid and safe withdrawal of troops from Iraq , adequate funding of the needs of veterans when they return and the rebuilding of Iraq by Iraqis.
According to Garett Reppenhagen , Chair of Iraq Vets Against the War: "Iraq Veterans Against the War is a growing movement of Iraq War era veterans and active duty service members that are opposing the occupation of Iraq .
Through our military experience we have learned that the continued presence of US troops in the Middle-East is instigating further hatred toward American Armed Forces and undermining our nation's security.
As a result, our military in Iraq is viewed by the majority of the world as occupiers and not peace keepers. The Iraq Veterans Against the War stands by the belief that funding the war is killing the troops."
IVAW will be holding a press conference, rally and the delivery of Tri-Folded American Flags to Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, and Majority Whip Clyburn on Tuesday, July 17th at the Upper Senate Park at 1:00 PM. A rally will be held at 2:00 PM and flags will be delivered at 3:00 PM. http://democracyrising.us/content/view/998/151
Speaking at the press conference will be Garett Rappenhagen, Adam Kokesh - who recently gained national media attention when the Marines threatened him with discipline for his anti-war advocacy and Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. is the President of the Hip Hop Caucus, an Air Force Officer who is being threatened with discharge from the Air Force Reserve Individual Reserve Program as a 'national security threat' due to his anti-war, climate change and civil rights activism.
Adam Kokesh described how funding the war is killing the troops saying "As a proud combat veteran who believes in a strong US military and national defense, I find the Iraq war most offensive. Resources that could be allocated to a multitude of other projects to enhance our security are instead being diverted into the futile occupation of Iraq . The brave men and women who have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution deserve better than to risk their lives in a misadventure that is detrimental to our security, and our Constitution. Further funding of this quagmire will only result in more needless deaths."
Rev. Yearwood put the blame for failure to end the war on the Democratic Party leadership saying "On Nov 7, 2006, America went to the polls to demand an end to the war in Iraq, yet this Democratic Congress continues to fund the occupation. As a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, I can say we did not vote for a Democratic Congress or a Republican Congress, we voted for a Human Congress.
IVAW will be holding a press conference, rally and the delivery of Tri-Folded American Flags to Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, and Majority Whip Clyburn on Tuesday, July 17th at the Upper Senate Park at 1:00 PM. A rally will be held at 2:00 PM and flags will be delivered at 3:00 PM. http://democracyrising.us/content/view/998/151
Speaking at the press conference will be Garett Rappenhagen, Adam Kokesh - who recently gained national media attention when the Marines threatened him with discipline for his anti-war advocacy and Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. is the President of the Hip Hop Caucus, an Air Force Officer who is being threatened with discharge from the Air Force Reserve Individual Reserve Program as a 'national security threat' due to his anti-war, climate change and civil rights activism.
Adam Kokesh described how funding the war is killing the troops saying "As a proud combat veteran who believes in a strong US military and national defense, I find the Iraq war most offensive. Resources that could be allocated to a multitude of other projects to enhance our security are instead being diverted into the futile occupation of Iraq . The brave men and women who have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution deserve better than to risk their lives in a misadventure that is detrimental to our security, and our Constitution. Further funding of this quagmire will only result in more needless deaths."
Rev. Yearwood put the blame for failure to end the war on the Democratic Party leadership saying "On Nov 7, 2006, America went to the polls to demand an end to the war in Iraq, yet this Democratic Congress continues to fund the occupation. As a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, I can say we did not vote for a Democratic Congress or a Republican Congress, we voted for a Human Congress.
Representatives Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn are putting the interests of the Democratic Party before the interests of humanity, and until they use their leadership in Congress to de-fund the war, Iraq Veterans Against the War holds them personally responsible for the deaths of U.S. soldiers." Yearwood is also a board member of VotersForPeace which puts 'peace before partisanship.'
The Tri-Folded Flag Campaign is being spearheaded by Iraq Veterans Against the War but already other anti-war groups are joining in. Among the groups already signed on to the multi-month campaign are Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, VotersForPeace , Grassroots America, the Hip Hop Caucus and Democracy Rising. The campaign will let the House Democratic leadership know that voters will be holding them responsible for failing to end the war by sending them tri-folded flags between now and the end of September.
Impeachment or War?
The Tri-Folded Flag Campaign is being spearheaded by Iraq Veterans Against the War but already other anti-war groups are joining in. Among the groups already signed on to the multi-month campaign are Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, VotersForPeace , Grassroots America, the Hip Hop Caucus and Democracy Rising. The campaign will let the House Democratic leadership know that voters will be holding them responsible for failing to end the war by sending them tri-folded flags between now and the end of September.
Impeachment or War?
Cheney Urges Bush to Strike Iran
By GARY LEUPP
"Cheney Pushes Bush to Act on Iran. That's the headline of a very frightening article by Ewen MacAskill and Julian Borger in the London Guardian. Sub-heads:· Military solution back in favour as Rice loses out · President 'not prepared to leave conflict unresolved.
'What a nightmare Dick Cheney is visiting on our planet! Isn't it time we awaken to the fact that he's a crazed monster egging on a vain, cruel, delusional religious fanatic of a president as he inflicts incalculable suffering on the Middle East, sacrificing American blood and treasure in the process?
Of course many of us have awakened to that fact, one reason why 54% of us want to see Cheney impeached. Yet he's still there, operating in his highly secretive fashion, gaining rather than losing influence according to MacAskill and Borger.
"The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months," they write.
They cite a "well-placed source in Washington" as stating "Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo." The source also states, "The balance has tilted [ towards the advocates of an attack on Iran].
There is cause for concern."Surely that concern is felt among the highest ranks of the military as well as the average citizen whom polls indicate feels no enthusiasm for the planned assault.
But Congress has cooperated fully by passing every bill or resolution against Iran backed by the horrifically influential AIPAC lobby.
Recall how Nancy Pelosi omitted a requirement for Congressional authorization of any Iran attack from legislation at the Lobby's behest?
The prospect of yet another war-based-on-lies boggles the rational mind. But according to the Guardian, there was a meeting between Bush, Cheney, and Pentagon and State Department officials on Iran last month, and Bush sided with Cheney when the latter "expressed frustration at the lack of progress" on Iran.
That is to say, lack of progress in moving ahead with the bombing of Iran. Undersecretary of State Nick Burns, the key State Department official responsible for Iran and an advocate of negotiation, indicated at the meeting that diplomatic talks with Iran would probably continue beyond the end of Bush's term. For Bush and Cheney that is unacceptable, especially because they don't believe the next administration will have the guts to bomb.
Patrick Cronin, director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies suggested to the Guardian that Israel is calling the shots. "If Israel is adamant it will attack, the US will have to take decisive action.
The choices are: tell Israel no, let Israel do the job, or do the job yourself."
According to the Washington source, the administration is "reluctant for Israel to carry out any strikes because the US would get the blame in the region anyway.
"The handwriting is on the wall here. All these reports from unnamed sources about Iranian support for Iraqi "insurgents" of this or that faction.
The display with much fanfare of captured weapons in Iraq identified as of Iranian manufacture. All these confident allusions to a nuclear weapons program Iran denies exists, for which the IAEA finds no evidence.
All these assertions that Iran plans to cause a second Holocaust through a nuclear attack on Israel. Norman Podhoretz's Wall Street Journal op-ed piece praying for the U.S. to bomb Iran.
John McCain's crooning "Bomb-bomb-bomb Iran." The disinformation, distortion, even vilification of Iran in popular culture.
The propaganda barrage is reminiscent of that which preceded the criminal invasion of Iraq.The uniform support for keeping an attack "on the table" among nearly all presidential candidates.
The incessant arm-twisting of governments to back sanctions on Iran. The abuse of the IAEA, forced by a majority vote to find Iran "in non-compliance" with the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The huge naval buildup in the Persian Gulf.
The provocative arrest of Iranian diplomats in Iraq, protested by the Iraqi puppet government itself. The demand that Iran renounce its legal right to enrich uranium---a demand designed to be rejected and to constitute a pretext for regime change.
The handwriting is written in big conspicuous letters on the wall. That doesn't mean the attack cannot be stopped. How to do so? By not giving Cheney/Bush the remainder of their term.
If 54% want Cheney impeached, he should be impeached. NOW, before he's allowed to further terrorize the world.
Cheney impeachment hearings will weaken Bush and increase the percentage of Americans (now 45%) favoring the president's own impeachment.
All that is required here is political will in a Congress that has seen its approval rating plummet due largely to its failure to stop the administration's war.
Those wishing to reverse that have an easy option: vote to impeach. And while you're at it, vote to insist on Congress's exclusive power according to the Constitution to declare war.
Gary Leupp is Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Religion. He is the author of Servants, Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan; Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan; and Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch's merciless chronicle of the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, Imperial Crusades.
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Bush’s Last Ditch Effort
It is what Marine infantrymen call a final protective fire: a last ditch effort to repel the enemy using everything in the arsenal, including fixed bayonets. It will be its diplomatic equivalent that the president is likely to announce today.
Mr Bush will set out the administration's plan to his vision of "two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security" before leaving office and nearly five years after proclaiming it his goal. At last, Mr Bush plans to cash in the political capital he earned through his consistent support of Israel since 2001.
With deepening crises in Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Iran, Syria and especially Iraq, this may not only be the last shot for this administration to repair its Middle East legacy, but a very long shot indeed.
No longer constrained by Hamas' inclusion in the Palestinian Authority, and with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, more politically secure, the Bush administration - prodded by the determined secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice - plans to announce an aggressive sequence of events. A drive to improve the living conditions of Palestinians will also likely coincide with the convening, likely before year's end, of an international summit including Israelis, Palestinians, and Arab neighbours to define the permanent borders of the future Palestinians' state.
You cannot have daily democracy without daily citizenship- Ralph Nader
Bush’s Last Ditch Effort
It is what Marine infantrymen call a final protective fire: a last ditch effort to repel the enemy using everything in the arsenal, including fixed bayonets. It will be its diplomatic equivalent that the president is likely to announce today.
Mr Bush will set out the administration's plan to his vision of "two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security" before leaving office and nearly five years after proclaiming it his goal. At last, Mr Bush plans to cash in the political capital he earned through his consistent support of Israel since 2001.
With deepening crises in Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Iran, Syria and especially Iraq, this may not only be the last shot for this administration to repair its Middle East legacy, but a very long shot indeed.
No longer constrained by Hamas' inclusion in the Palestinian Authority, and with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, more politically secure, the Bush administration - prodded by the determined secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice - plans to announce an aggressive sequence of events. A drive to improve the living conditions of Palestinians will also likely coincide with the convening, likely before year's end, of an international summit including Israelis, Palestinians, and Arab neighbours to define the permanent borders of the future Palestinians' state.
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